Anti-Semitism in Mainstream Christianity

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Anti-Semitism in Mainstream Christianity
http://www.bible-prophecy...stream.html#axzz0tEee6LNH
By Joel Richardson
Joels Trumpet

In 1992, Dr. Michael Brown, a Jewish believer in Jesus, wrote the book "Our Hands are Stained with Blood." Not only did Brown carefully document the shameful history of anti-Semitism in the Christian church, he also laid out a proper path of repentance. Perhaps the most wonderful trend within certain segments of the Christian church over the past 20 years has been an awakening to the truths laid out in Brown's work. Many Christians have come to recognize the centrality of the Jewish people in God's plan for the ages, the Jewish roots of their own faith and the church's dramatic historical shortfall in appropriating these realities.

Sadly, however, many other segments of the church have not only failed to acknowledge the long historical slide away from their Jewish roots, but they have actually turned their backs on the clear warnings of Scripture, joining the growing global slide toward anti-Semitism.

To the sorrow of numerous Jewish leaders and organizations, the Methodist Church of the United Kingdom, at their annual conference this year, made it abundantly clear that they do not support the Jewish people.

One commentary, written by Avner Boskey, an Israeli theologian, writer and director of Final Frontier Ministries thoroughly documents the historical turn of the Methodist Church from a fiery revivalist movement with heart for the Jewish people to Ichabod, meaning in Hebrew "the glory has departed."

John and Charles Wesley, the founders and spiritual fathers of Methodism, were themselves both fiery supporters of the Jewish people. Charles, the younger of the two Wesleys was one of Christiandom's most notable and prolific hymn writers, authoring such classics as "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "Jesus Lover of my Soul" and "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing."

Quoting one such hymn, Boskey says, "Consider the lyrics of one of Charles Wesley's hymns that touches upon God's heart for the Jewish people and God's many biblical promises to restore Israel to their own promised land":

    Calling the Hebrews Home

    O that the chosen band might now their brethren bring
    And gathered out of every land present to Sion's King.

    Of all the ancient race not one be left behind
    But each impelled by secret grace his way to Canaan find!

    We know it must be done for God hath spoke the word
    All Israel shall their Saviour own to their first state restored.

    Rebuilt by His command Jerusalem shall rise
    Her temple on Moriah stand again, and touch the skies.

    Send then Thy servants forth to call the Hebrews home
    From west and east, and south, and north let all the wanderers come.

    Where'er in lands unknown Thy fugitives remain
    Bid every creature help them on Thy holy mount to gain.

In considering Charles Wesley's burning heart for the restoration of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and their Messiah, it is all the more sad to consider the recent radical decision made at the Methodist conference.

At the conference, a vote was taken and passed to boycott Jewish goods and services produced in Judea and Samaria as well as to endorse a brazenly anti-Semitic document known as the Kairos Palestine Document.

As Boskey notes, "Up to this point, the Methodist Church has never boycotted any country; Israel has the distinction of being the first." He then brings to remembrance two other historical boycotts against the Jewish people.

The first example cited is Hitler's boycott of Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, which started on April 1, 1933. The second example cited was "the Muslim Arab boycott of all Israeli products from circa 1922 until the present day."

Some may argue that the Methodist boycott of particular Israeli goods cannot be rightfully compared to Hitler's boycott. But anti-Semitism is not a mere cold; it's a disease. And apart from repentance, history shows that it is always progressive. As Boskey notes, in Hitler's case, what began as a mere "selective boycott of certain Jews in certain territories ended with a total anti-Christ onslaught against the Jews, known today as the Holocaust." It was six years after the initial boycott that Hitler declared his ultimate purposes: "Today I will once more be a prophet. … the result will be … the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe."

The Arab League Council's boycott of Israeli goods was formally declared on Dec. 2, 1945: "Jewish products and manufactured goods shall be considered undesirable to the Arab countries." All Arab "institutions, organizations, merchants, commission agents and individuals" are called upon "to refuse to deal in, distribute, or consume Zionist products or manufactured goods."

Today it is common to hear those from the left adamantly declare that they are not anti-Semitic, but merely anti-Zionist. Such a distinction, however, is a thin smoke-screen. Of the Arab League's boycott, Boskey takes note, "the terms 'Jewish' and 'Zionist' are used synonymously. … their boycott was of all products produced by Jews."

Regarding the anti-Semitic Kairos Palestine document endorsed by the Methodists, Boskey says, "A bold one-sentence summation of the entire article by its authors is starkly clear: 'In this historic document, we Palestinian Christians declare that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity.'"

The Kairos Palestine document condemns the beliefs of John and Charles Wesley who ardently believed the Scripture's championing of the restoration of the Jewish people to their ancient land referring to their beliefs as "precisely the error in fundamentalist biblical interpretation that brings us death and destruction." Not surprisingly, the Kairos Palestine Document nowhere condemns or calls for an end to terrorism, but instead endorses it, referring to brazen terrorist acts in glowing and positive terms. According to the Kairos Palestine Document, "The Palestinian people has … engaged in peaceful struggle, especially during the first Intifada."

If you are person of conscience, please stop and consider what is being stated here. According to Kairos Palestine, the existence of the state of Israel "is a sin against God and humanity" and as such, violent resistance, including the bombing of cafés and killing innocent civilians, is not only justified, but something to be praised.

Boskey asks how much different this sentiment truly is from the famous statements of Adolf Hitler, who said, "By defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord" (Mein Kampf).

This is what the Methodist Church of the United Kingdom has endorsed.

And they are not alone. Among the co-signers of Kairos Palestine are the Catholic patriarch, the Greek-Orthodox archbishop, the Lutheran bishop and the former canon of the Anglican St George's Cathedral.

Throughout history, the Christian church has committed uncountable and unspeakable acts against the Jewish people. Today, millions of Christians are awakening to this dark stain on our collective history. They are repenting for their sins and awakening to God's eternal promises to the Jewish people as made clear throughout Scripture. These Christians, regardless of their denominational affiliation, are behaving as true spiritual children of Charles and John Wesley. Many other Christians however having chosen the dark path of anti-Semitism, have taken for themselves quite a different father altogether (John 8:44).

Read more: Anti-Semitism in Mainstream Christianity ~ Bible Prophecy Today http://www.bible-prophecy...stream.html#ixzz0tEep5oE5

 

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The Kairos Palestine Document
A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering

Introduction
We, a group of Christian Palestinians, after prayer, reflection and an exchange of opinion, cry out from within the suffering in our country, under the Israeli occupation, with a cry of hope in the absence of all hope, a cry full of prayer and faith in a God ever vigilant, in God’s divine providence for all the inhabitants of this land. Inspired by the mystery of God's love for all, the mystery of God’s divine presence in the history of all peoples and, in a particular way, in the history of our country, we proclaim our word based on our Christian faith and our sense of Palestinian belonging – a word of faith, hope and love.

Why now? Because today we have reached a dead end in the tragedy of the Palestinian people. The decision-makers content themselves with managing the crisis rather than committing themselves to the serious task of finding a way to resolve it. The hearts of the faithful are filled with pain and with questioning: What is the international community doing? What are the political leaders in Palestine, in Israel and in the Arab world doing? What is the Church doing? The problem is not just a political one. It is a policy in which human beings are destroyed, and this must be of concern to the Church.

We address ourselves to our brothers and sisters, members of our Churches in this land. We call out as Christians and as Palestinians to our religious and political leaders, to our Palestinian society and to the Israeli society, to the international community, and to our Christian brothers and sisters in the Churches around the world.

1. The reality on the ground
1.1 “They say: 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace” (Jer. 6:14). These days, everyone is speaking about peace in the Middle East and the peace process. So far, however, these are simply words; the reality is one of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, deprivation of our freedom and all that results from this situation:

1.1.1 The separation wall erected on Palestinian territory, a large part of which has been confiscated for this purpose, has turned our towns and villages into prisons, separating them from one another, making them dispersed and divided cantons. Gaza, especially after the cruel war Israel launched against it during December 2008 and January 2009, continues to live in inhuman conditions, under permanent blockade and cut off from the other Palestinian territories.

1.1.2 Israeli settlements ravage our land in the name of God and in the name of force, controlling our natural resources, including water and agricultural land, thus depriving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and constituting an obstacle to any political solution.

1.1.3 Reality is the daily humiliation to which we are subjected at the military checkpoints, as we make our way to jobs, schools or hospitals.

1.1.4 Reality is the separation between members of the same family, making family life impossible for thousands of Palestinians, especially where one of the spouses does not have an Israeli identity card.

1.1.5 Religious liberty is severely restricted; the freedom of access to the holy places is denied under the pretext of security. Jerusalem and its holy places are out of bounds for many Christians and Muslims from the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Even Jerusalemites face restrictions during the religious feasts. Some of our Arab clergy are regularly barred from entering Jerusalem.

1.1.6 Refugees are also part of our reality. Most of them are still living in camps under difficult circumstances. They have been waiting for their right of return, generation after generation. What will be their fate?

1.1.7 And the prisoners? The thousands of prisoners languishing in Israeli prisons are part of our reality. The Israelis move heaven and earth to gain the release of one prisoner, and those thousands of Palestinian prisoners, when will they have their freedom?

1.1.8 Jerusalem is the heart of our reality. It is, at the same time, symbol of peace and sign of conflict. While the separation wall divides Palestinian neighbourhoods, Jerusalem continues to be emptied of its Palestinian citizens, Christians and Muslims. Their identity cards are confiscated, which means the loss of their right to reside in Jerusalem. Their homes are demolished or expropriated. Jerusalem, city of reconciliation, has become a city of discrimination and exclusion, a source of struggle rather than peace.

1.2 Also part of this reality is the Israeli disregard of international law and international resolutions, as well as the paralysis of the Arab world and the international community in the face of this contempt. Human rights are violated and despite the various reports of local and international human rights' organizations, the injustice continues.

1.2.1 Palestinians within the State of Israel, who have also suffered a historical injustice, although they are citizens and have the rights and obligations of citizenship, still suffer from discriminatory policies. They too are waiting to enjoy full rights and equality like all other citizens in the state.

1.3 Emigration is another element in our reality. The absence of any vision or spark of hope for peace and freedom pushes young people, both Muslim and Christian, to emigrate. Thus the land is deprived of its most important and richest resource – educated youth. The shrinking number of Christians, particularly in Palestine, is one of the dangerous consequences, both of this conflict, and of the local and international paralysis and failure to find a comprehensive solution to the problem.

1.4 In the face of this reality, Israel justifies its actions as self-defence, including occupation, collective punishment and all other forms of reprisals against the Palestinians. In our opinion, this vision is a reversal of reality. Yes, there is Palestinian resistance to the occupation. However, if there were no occupation, there would be no resistance, no fear and no insecurity. This is our understanding of the situation. Therefore, we call on the Israelis to end the occupation. Then they will see a new world in which there is no fear, no threat but rather security, justice and peace.

1.5 The Palestinian response to this reality was diverse. Some responded through negotiations: that was the official position of the Palestinian Authority, but it did not advance the peace process. Some political parties followed the way of armed resistance. Israel used this as a pretext to accuse the Palestinians of being terrorists and was able to distort the real nature of the conflict, presenting it as an Israeli war against terror, rather than an Israeli occupation faced by Palestinian legal resistance aiming at ending it.

1.5.1 The tragedy worsened with the internal conflict among Palestinians themselves, and with the separation of Gaza from the rest of the Palestinian territory. It is noteworthy that, even though the division is among Palestinians themselves, the international community bears an important responsibility for it since it refused to deal positively with the will of the Palestinian people expressed in the outcome of democratic and legal elections in 2006.

Again, we repeat and proclaim that our Christian word in the midst of all this, in the midst of our catastrophe, is a word of faith, hope and love.

2. A word of faith
We believe in one God, a good and just God

2.1 We believe in God, one God, Creator of the universe and of humanity. We believe in a good and just God, who loves each one of his creatures. We believe that every human being is created in God’s image and likeness and that every one's dignity is derived from the dignity of the Almighty One. We believe that this dignity is one and the same in each and all of us. This means for us, here and now, in this land in particular, that God created us not so that we might engage in strife and conflict but rather that we might come and know and love one another, and together build up the land in love and mutual respect.

2.1.1 We also believe in God's eternal Word, His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom God sent as the Saviour of the world.

2.1.2 We believe in the Holy Spirit, who accompanies the Church and all humanity on its journey. It is the Spirit that helps us to understand Holy Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, showing their unity, here and now. The Spirit makes manifest the revelation of God to humanity, past, present and future.

How do we understand the word of God?

2.2 We believe that God has spoken to humanity, here in our country: "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days God has spoken to us by a Son, whom God appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds" (Heb. 1:1-2)

2.2.1 We, Christian Palestinians, believe, like all Christians throughout the world, that Jesus Christ came in order to fulfil the Law and the Prophets. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and in his light and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we read the Holy Scriptures. We meditate upon and interpret Scripture just as Jesus Christ did with the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. As it is written in the Gospel according to Saint Luke: "Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures" (Lk 24:27)

2.2.2 Our Lord Jesus Christ came, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was near. He provoked a revolution in the life and faith of all humanity. He came with "a new teaching" (Mk 1:27), casting a new light on the Old Testament, on the themes that relate to our Christian faith and our daily lives, themes such as the promises, the election, the people of God and the land. We believe that the Word of God is a living Word, casting a particular light on each period of history, manifesting to Christian believers what God is saying to us here and now. For this reason, it is unacceptable to transform the Word of God into letters of stone that pervert the love of God and His providence in the life of both peoples and individuals. This is precisely the error in fundamentalist Biblical interpretation that brings us death and destruction when the word of God is petrified and transmitted from generation to generation as a dead letter. This dead letter is used as a weapon in our present history in order to deprive us of our rights in our own land.

Our land has a universal mission

2.3 We believe that our land has a universal mission. In this universality, the meaning of the promises, of the land, of the election, of the people of God open up to include all of humanity, starting from all the peoples of this land. In light of the teachings of the Holy Bible, the promise of the land has never been a political programme, but rather the prelude to complete universal salvation. It was the initiation of the fulfilment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

2.3.1 God sent the patriarchs, the prophets and the apostles to this land so that they might carry forth a universal mission to the world. Today we constitute three religions in this land, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Our land is God’s land, as is the case with all countries in the world. It is holy inasmuch as God is present in it, for God alone is holy and sanctifier. It is the duty of those of us who live here, to respect the will of God for this land. It is our duty to liberate it from the evil of injustice and war. It is God's land and therefore it must be a land of reconciliation, peace and love. This is indeed possible. God has put us here as two peoples, and God gives us the capacity, if we have the will, to live together and establish in it justice and peace, making it in reality God's land: "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it" (Ps. 24:1).

2.3.2 Our presence in this land, as Christian and Muslim Palestinians, is not accidental but rather deeply rooted in the history and geography of this land, resonant with the connectedness of any other people to the land it lives in. It was an injustice when we were driven out. The West sought to make amends for what Jews had endured in the countries of Europe, but it made amends on our account and in our land. They tried to correct an injustice and the result was a new injustice.

2.3.3 Furthermore, we know that certain theologians in the West try to attach a biblical and theological legitimacy to the infringement of our rights. Thus, the promises, according to their interpretation, have become a menace to our very existence. The "good news" in the Gospel itself has become "a harbinger of death" for us. We call on these theologians to deepen their reflection on the Word of God and to rectify their interpretations so that they might see in the Word of God a source of life for all peoples.

2.3.4 Our connectedness to this land is a natural right. It is not an ideological or a theological question only. It is a matter of life and death. There are those who do not agree with us, even defining us as enemies only because we declare that we want to live as free people in our land. We suffer from the occupation of our land because we are Palestinians. And as Christian Palestinians we suffer from the wrong interpretation of some theologians. Faced with this, our task is to safeguard the Word of God as a source of life and not of death, so that "the good news" remains what it is, "good news" for us and for all. In face of those who use the Bible to threaten our existence as Christian and Muslim Palestinians, we renew our faith in God because we know that the word of God can not be the source of our destruction.

2.4 Therefore, we declare that any use of the Bible to legitimize or support political options and positions that are based upon injustice, imposed by one person on another, or by one people on another, transform religion into human ideology and strip the Word of God of its holiness, its universality and truth.

2.5 We also declare that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is a sin against God and humanity because it deprives the Palestinians of their basic human rights, bestowed by God. It distorts the image of God in the Israeli who has become an occupier just as it distorts this image in the Palestinian living under occupation. We declare that any theology, seemingly based on the Bible or on faith or on history, that legitimizes the occupation, is far from Christian teachings, because it calls for violence and holy war in the name of God Almighty, subordinating God to temporary human interests, and distorting the divine image in the human beings living under both political and theological injustice.

3. Hope
3.1 Despite the lack of even a glimmer of positive expectation, our hope remains strong. The present situation does not promise any quick solution or the end of the occupation that is imposed on us. Yes, the initiatives, the conferences, visits and negotiations have multiplied, but they have not been followed up by any change in our situation and suffering. Even the new US position that has been announced by President Obama, with a manifest desire to put an end to the tragedy, has not been able to make a change in our reality. The clear Israeli response, refusing any solution, leaves no room for positive expectation. Despite this, our hope remains strong, because it is from God. God alone is good, almighty and loving and His goodness will one day be victorious over the evil in which we find ourselves. As Saint Paul said: "If God is for us, who is against us? (…) Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long" (…) For I am convinced that (nothing) in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God" (Rom. 8:31, 35, 36, 39).

What is the meaning of hope?

3.2 Hope within us means first and foremost our faith in God and secondly our expectation, despite everything, for a better future. Thirdly, it means not chasing after illusions – we realize that release is not close at hand. Hope is the capacity to see God in the midst of trouble, and to be co-workers with the Holy Spirit who is dwelling in us. From this vision derives the strength to be steadfast, remain firm and work to change the reality in which we find ourselves. Hope means not giving in to evil but rather standing up to it and continuing to resist it. We see nothing in the present or future except ruin and destruction. We see the upper hand of the strong, the growing orientation towards racist separation and the imposition of laws that deny our existence and our dignity. We see confusion and division in the Palestinian position. If, despite all this, we do resist this reality today and work hard, perhaps the destruction that looms on the horizon may not come upon us.

Signs of hope

3.3 The Church in our land, her leaders and her faithful, despite her weakness and her divisions, does show certain signs of hope. Our parish communities are vibrant and most of our young people are active apostles for justice and peace. In addition to the individual commitment, our various Church institutions make our faith active and present in service, love and prayer.

3.3.1 Among the signs of hope are the local centres of theology, with a religious and social character. They are numerous in our different Churches. The ecumenical spirit, even if still hesitant, shows itself more and more in the meetings of our different Church families.

3.3.2 We can add to this the numerous meetings for inter-religious dialogue, Christian–Muslim dialogue, which includes the religious leaders and a part of the people. Admittedly, dialogue is a long process and is perfected through a daily effort as we undergo the same sufferings and have the same expectations. There is also dialogue among the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as different dialogue meetings on the academic or social level. They all try to breach the walls imposed by the occupation and oppose the distorted perception of human beings in the heart of their brothers or sisters.

 3.3.3 One of the most important signs of hope is the steadfastness of the generations, the belief in the justice of their cause and the continuity of memory, which does not forget the "Nakba" (catastrophe) and its significance. Likewise significant is the developing awareness among many Churches throughout the world and their desire to know the truth about what is going on here.

3.3.4 In addition to that, we see a determination among many to overcome the resentments of the past and to be ready for reconciliation once justice has been restored. Public awareness of the need to restore political rights to the Palestinians is increasing, and Jewish and Israeli voices, advocating peace and justice, are raised in support of this with the approval of the international community. True, these forces for justice and reconciliation have not yet been able to transform the situation of injustice, but they have their influence and may shorten the time of suffering and hasten the time of reconciliation.

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The mission of the Church

3.4 Our Church is a Church of people who pray and serve. This prayer and service is prophetic, bearing the voice of God in the present and future. Everything that happens in our land, everyone who lives there, all the pains and hopes, all the injustice and all the efforts to stop this injustice, are part and parcel of the prayer of our Church and the service of all her institutions. Thanks be to God that our Church raises her voice against injustice despite the fact that some desire her to remain silent, closed in her religious devotions.

3.4.1 The mission of the Church is prophetic, to speak the Word of God courageously, honestly and lovingly in the local context and in the midst of daily events. If she does take sides, it is with the oppressed, to stand alongside them, just as Christ our Lord stood by the side of each poor person and each sinner, calling them to repentance, life, and the restoration of the dignity bestowed on them by God and that no one has the right to strip away.

3.4.2 The mission of the Church is to proclaim the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, peace and dignity. Our vocation as a living Church is to bear witness to the goodness of God and the dignity of human beings. We are called to pray and to make our voice heard when we announce a new society where human beings believe in their own dignity and the dignity of their adversaries.

3.4.3 Our Church points to the Kingdom, which cannot be tied to any earthly kingdom. Jesus said before Pilate that he was indeed a king but "my kingdom is not from this world" (Jn 18:36). Saint Paul says: "The Kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom.14:17). Therefore, religion cannot favour or support any unjust political regime, but must rather promote justice, truth and human dignity. It must exert every effort to purify regimes where human beings suffer injustice and human dignity is violated. The Kingdom of God on earth is not dependent on any political orientation, for it is greater and more inclusive than any particular political system.

3.4.4 Jesus Christ said: "The Kingdom of God is among you" (Luke 17:21). This Kingdom that is present among us and in us is the extension of the mystery of salvation. It is the presence of God among us and our sense of that presence in everything we do and say. It is in this divine presence that we shall do what we can until justice is achieved in this land.

3.4.5 The cruel circumstances in which the Palestinian Church has lived and continues to live have required the Church to clarify her faith and to identify her vocation better. We have studied our vocation and have come to know it better in the midst of suffering and pain: today, we bear the strength of love rather than that of revenge, a culture of life rather than a culture of death. This is a source of hope for us, for the Church and for the world.

3.5 The Resurrection is the source of our hope .Just as Christ rose in victory over death and evil, so too we are able, as each inhabitant of this land is able, to vanquish the evil of war. We will remain a witnessing, steadfast and active Church in the land of the Resurrection.

4. Love
The commandment of love

4.1 Christ our Lord said: "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" (Jn 13:34). He has already showed us how to love and how to treat our enemies. He said: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous (…) Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:45-47).

Saint Paul also said: "Do not repay anyone evil for evil" (Rom. 12:17). And Saint Peter said: "Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called" (1 Pet. 3:9).

Resistance

4.2 This word is clear. Love is the commandment of Christ our Lord to us and it includes both friends and enemies. This must be clear when we find ourselves in circumstances where we must resist evil of whatever kind.

4.2.1 Love is seeing the face of God in every human being. Every person is my brother or my sister. However, seeing the face of God in everyone does not mean accepting evil or aggression on their part. Rather, this love seeks to correct the evil and stop the aggression.

The injustice against the Palestinian people which is the Israeli occupation, is an evil that must be resisted. It is an evil and a sin that must be resisted and removed. Primary responsibility for this rests with the Palestinians themselves suffering occupation. Christian love invites us to resist it. However, love puts an end to evil by walking in the ways of justice. Responsibility lies also with the international community, because international law regulates relations between peoples today. Finally responsibility lies with the perpetrators of the injustice; they must liberate themselves from the evil that is in them and the injustice they have imposed on others.

4.2.2 When we review the history of the nations, we see many wars and much resistance to war by war, to violence by violence. The Palestinian people has gone the way of the peoples, particularly in the first stages of its struggle with the Israeli occupation. However, it also engaged in peaceful struggle, especially during the first Intifada. We recognize that all peoples must find a new way in their relations with each other and the resolution of their conflicts. The ways of force must give way to the ways of justice. This applies above all to the peoples that are militarily strong, mighty enough to impose their injustice on the weaker.

4.2.3 We say that our option as Christians in the face of the Israeli occupation is to resist. Resistance is a right and a duty for the Christian. But it is resistance with love as its logic. It is thus a creative resistance for it must find human ways that engage the humanity of the enemy. Seeing the image of God in the face of the enemy means taking up positions in the light of this vision of active resistance to stop the injustice and oblige the perpetrator to end his aggression and thus achieve the desired goal, which is getting back the land, freedom, dignity and independence.

4.2.4 Christ our Lord has left us an example we must imitate. We must resist evil but he taught us that we cannot resist evil with evil. This is a difficult commandment, particularly when the enemy is determined to impose himself and deny our right to remain here in our land. It is a difficult commandment yet it alone can stand firm in the face of the clear declarations of the occupation authorities that refuse our existence and the many excuses these authorities use to continue imposing occupation upon us.

4.2.5 Resistance to the evil of occupation is integrated, then, within this Christian love that refuses evil and corrects it. It resists evil in all its forms with methods that enter into the logic of love and draw on all energies to make peace. We can resist through civil disobedience. We do not resist with death but rather through respect of life. We respect and have a high esteem for all those who have given their life for our nation. And we affirm that every citizen must be ready to defend his or her life, freedom and land.

4.2.6 Palestinian civil organizations, as well as international organizations, NGOs and certain religious institutions call on individuals, companies and states to engage in divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the occupation. We understand this to integrate the logic of peaceful resistance. These advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly sincerely proclaiming that their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice. The aim is to free both peoples from extremist positions of the different Israeli governments, bringing both to justice and reconciliation. In this spirit and with this dedication we will eventually reach the longed-for resolution to our problems, as indeed happened in South Africa and with many other liberation movements in the world.

4.3 Through our love, we will overcome injustices and establish foundations for a new society both for us and for our opponents. Our future and their future are one. Either the cycle of violence that destroys both of us or peace that will benefit both. We call on Israel to give up its injustice towards us, not to twist the truth of reality of the occupation by pretending that it is a battle against terrorism. The roots of "terrorism" are in the human injustice committed and in the evil of the occupation. These must be removed if there be a sincere intention to remove "terrorism". We call on the people of Israel to be our partners in peace and not in the cycle of interminable violence. Let us resist evil together, the evil of occupation and the infernal cycle of violence.

5. Our word to our brothers and sisters
5.1 We all face, today, a way that is blocked and a future that promises only woe. Our word to all our Christian brothers and sisters is a word of hope, patience, steadfastness and new action for a better future. Our word is that we, as Christians we carry a message, and we will continue to carry it despite the thorns, despite blood and daily difficulties. We place our hope in God, who will grant us relief in His own time. At the same time, we continue to act in concord with God and God’s will, building, resisting evil and bringing closer the day of justice and peace.

5.2 We say to our Christian brothers and sisters: This is a time for repentance. Repentance brings us back into the communion of love with everyone who suffers, the prisoners, the wounded, those afflicted with temporary or permanent handicaps, the children who cannot live their childhood and each one who mourns a dear one. The communion of love says to every believer in spirit and in truth: if my brother is a prisoner I am a prisoner; if his home is destroyed, my home is destroyed; when my brother is killed, then I too am killed. We face the same challenges and share in all that has happened and will happen. Perhaps, as individuals or as heads of Churches, we were silent when we should have raised our voices to condemn the injustice and share in the suffering. This is a time of repentance for our silence, indifference, lack of communion, either because we did not persevere in our mission in this land and abandoned it, or because we did not think and do enough to reach a new and integrated vision and remained divided, contradicting our witness and weakening our word. Repentance for our concern with our institutions, sometimes at the expense of our mission, thus silencing the prophetic voice given by the Spirit to the Churches.

5.3 We call on Christians to remain steadfast in this time of trial, just as we have throughout the centuries, through the changing succession of states and governments. Be patient, steadfast and full of hope so that you might fill the heart of every one of your brothers or sisters who shares in this same trial with hope. "Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you" (1 Pet. 3:15). Be active and, provided this conforms to love, participate in any sacrifice that resistance asks of you to overcome our present travail..

5.4 Our numbers are few but our message is great and important. Our land is in urgent need of love. Our love is a message to the Muslim and to the Jew, as well as to the world.

5.4.1Our message to the Muslims is a message of love and of living together and a call to reject fanaticism and extremism. It is also a message to the world that Muslims are neither to be stereotyped as the enemy nor caricatured as terrorists but rather to be lived with in peace and engaged with in dialogue.

 5.4.2 Our message to the Jews tells them: Even though we have fought one another in the recent past and still struggle today, we are able to love and live together. We can organize our political life, with all its complexity, according to the logic of this love and its power, after ending the occupation and establishing justice.

5.4.3 The word of faith says to anyone engaged in political activity: human beings were not made for hatred. It is not permitted to hate, neither is it permitted to kill or to be killed. The culture of love is the culture of accepting the other. Through it we perfect ourselves and the foundations of society are established.

6. Our word to the Churches of the world
6.1 Our word to the Churches of the world is firstly a word of gratitude for the solidarity you have shown toward us in word, deed and presence among us. It is a word of praise for the many Churches and Christians who support the right of the Palestinian people for self determination. It is a message of solidarity with those Christians and Churches who have suffered because of their advocacy for law and justice.

However, it is also a call to repentance; to revisit fundamentalist theological positions that support certain unjust political options with regard to the Palestinian people. It is a call to stand alongside the oppressed and preserve the word of God as good news for all rather than to turn it into a weapon with which to slay the oppressed. The word of God is a word of love for all His creation. God is not the ally of one against the other, nor the opponent of one in the face of the other. God is the Lord of all and loves all, demanding justice from all and issuing to all of us the same commandments. We ask our sister Churches not to offer a theological cover-up for the injustice we suffer, for the sin of the occupation imposed upon us. Our question to our brothers and sisters in the Churches today is: Are you able to help us get our freedom back, for this is the only way you can help the two peoples attain justice, peace, security and love?

6.2 In order to understand our reality, we say to the Churches: Come and see. We will fulfil our role to make known to you the truth of our reality, receiving you as pilgrims coming to us to pray, carrying a message of peace, love and reconciliation. You will know the facts and the people of this land, Palestinians and Israelis alike.

6.3 We condemn all forms of racism, whether religious or ethnic, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and we call on you to condemn it and oppose it in all its manifestations. At the same time we call on you to say a word of truth and to take a position of truth with regard to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. As we have already said, we see boycott and disinvestment as tools of non violence for justice, peace and security for all.

7. Our word to the international community
7. Our word to the international community is to stop the principle of "double standards" and insist on the international resolutions regarding the Palestinian problem with regard to all parties. Selective application of international law threatens to leave us vulnerable to a law of the jungle. It legitimizes the claims by certain armed groups and states that the international community only understands the logic of force. Therefore, we call for a response to what the civil and religious institutions have proposed, as mentioned earlier: the beginning of a system of economic sanctions and boycott to be applied against Israel. We repeat once again that this is not revenge but rather a serious action in order to reach a just and definitive peace that will put an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories and will guarantee security and peace for all.

8. Jewish and Muslim religious leaders
8. Finally, we address an appeal to the religious and spiritual leaders, Jewish and Muslim, with whom we share the same vision that every human being is created by God and has been given equal dignity. Hence the obligation for each of us to defend the oppressed and the dignity God has bestowed on them. Let us together try to rise up above the political positions that have failed so far and continue to lead us on the path of failure and suffering.

9. A call to our Palestinian people and to the Israelis
9.1 This is a call to see the face of God in each one of God’s creatures and overcome the barriers of fear or race in order to establish a constructive dialogue and not remain within the cycle of never-ending manoeuvres that aim to keep the situation as it is. Our appeal is to reach a common vision, built on equality and sharing, not on superiority, negation of the other or aggression, using the pretext of fear and security. We say that love is possible and mutual trust is possible. Thus, peace is possible and definitive reconciliation also. Thus, justice and security will be attained for all.

9.2 Education is important. Educational programs must help us to get to know the other as he or she is rather than through the prism of conflict, hostility or religious fanaticism. The educational programs in place today are infected with this hostility. The time has come to begin a new education that allows one to see the face of God in the other and declares that we are capable of loving each other and building our future together in peace and security.

9.3 Trying to make the state a religious state, Jewish or Islamic, suffocates the state, confines it within narrow limits, and transforms it into a state that practices discrimination and exclusion, preferring one citizen over another. We appeal to both religious Jews and Muslims: let the state be a state for all its citizens, with a vision constructed on respect for religion but also equality, justice, liberty and respect for pluralism and not on domination by a religion or a numerical majority.

9.4 To the leaders of Palestine we say that current divisions weaken all of us and cause more sufferings. Nothing can justify these divisions. For the good of the people, which must outweigh that of the political parties, an end must be put to division. We appeal to the international community to lend its support towards this union and to respect the will of the Palestinian people as expressed freely.

9.5 Jerusalem is the foundation of our vision and our entire life. She is the city to which God gave a particular importance in the history of humanity. She is the city towards which all people are in movement – and where they will meet in friendship and love in the presence of the One Unique God, according to the vision of the prophet Isaiah: "In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it (…) He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Is. 2: 2-5). Today, the city is inhabited by two peoples of three religions; and it is on this prophetic vision and on the international resolutions concerning the totality of Jerusalem that any political solution must be based. This is the first issue that should be negotiated because the recognition of Jerusalem's sanctity and its message will be a source of inspiration towards finding a solution to the entire problem, which is largely a problem of mutual trust and ability to set in place a new land in this land of God.

10. Hope and faith in God
10. In the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God’s goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land. We will see here "a new land" and "a new human being", capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his or her brothers and sisters.

[Barry]

That is quite a statement you present, Pinky.

I'm not sure what Israel should do right now.  All Israel can do is look at the past behaviour of their enemies as an indicator of future behaviour.

If Israel packed up, took down the checkpoints, and allowed freedom of access between Gaza and the rest of Israel, could we expect Hamas to stop attacking Israel and turn in their weapons? Could we expect radical Islam to stop teaching its children that it is glorious and right to kill Jews? Can we expect another mantra aside from 'drive them (the Jews) into the sea'?

Jerusalem and all of Israel is a cup of trembling right now and it will continue to be such until the Lord's return.

We should pray for all of our brothers and sisters in regions of conflict. We should also pray for their enemies that they should come to a saving faith in the true prince of peace.

[Caretaker]

But we did not accomplish everything we hoped for. Instead of repudiating the Kairos Palestine Document, now a template for anti-Israel activism in churches on both sides of the Atlantic, it remains available for Presbyterians to “study.”

The development with the greatest potential for good was the decision to scrap the horrid history section to be replaced by eight narratives, four Palestinian and four Israeli. For the first time, mainstream Israeli voices will be heard by members of PCUSA.

Whatever good came out of the General Assembly is due to a cadre of indefatigable Presbyterian friends, many of whom worked hours a day for years. The Jewish community should know their names, beginning with a supermensch, the Rev. Bill Harter. Harter began his role in Presbyterian-Jewish relations in 1967 and has been a tireless campaigner for Israel ever since. Many others deserve recognition, including the Revs. John Wimberly, Bob Henley and Jim Berkley, and laypeople Gary Green, Jim Roberts and JoAnn Magnuson.

Another PCUSA friend, U.S. Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.), without fanfare organized an impactful letter to church leadership from Presbyterian members of Congress.

However people score last week’s events, we can take solace from the unprecedented number of Presbyterians who stood up for Israel this year like no year before.

We will need them. We remain deeply troubled that mainline denominations refuse to refer to Israel as a Jewish state and to openly repudiate supersessionism. Dozens of NGOs continue the campaign to push churches, academic groups, labor unions and cultural agencies to smear Israel as an apartheid state. The demands of the global BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) advocates are not to secure a two-state solution but to erase the “historic mistake” of Israel. This campaign first manifested itself at the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism, in Durban, and is buoyed by the World Council of Churches’ decades-long hostility toward Israel.

These groups are beating down the doors of our closest allies across the Christian spectrum, including evangelicals. We must be resolute in battling them on many fronts, including print and digital media. We need a new cadre of informed Jews to reach out to Christian neighbors.

It is not just non-Jews we need to reach. My most difficult moments at the General Assembly were not listening to Palestinian pastors or hearing the small number of vicious anti-Semites in the hall. Most painful was listening to Jews who came to passionately endorse every anti-Israel initiative. Our community needs to work harder to understand how to retrieve Jews who today stand at the forefront of delegitimizing Israel efforts.

As a rabbi, I think it is also important to thank our Presbyterian neighbors for welcoming us and allowing us to take part in their deliberations. Only in America!

Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein is director of interfaith affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

http://www.jewishjournal....rian_church_usa_20100713/

[Caretaker]

The Arab Muslim disinterest in the land was so great that with the exception of the city of Ramleh (perhaps built on the Jewish ruins of the city Ramathaim Zophim, according to some archaeologists) no other city was ever built by the Arabs or the other Muslim conquerors. Even more ironic, it was Ramleh that became the provincial capital of “Filastin.” Jerusalem played absolutely no significance with the major exception of the building of Masjid Al-Aqsa (the Mosque of Al Aqsa) and Qubbat as-Sahra (the Dome of the Rock) over the ruins of the Jewish Temple. And the reason for building these structures was to show the superiority of Islam over Judaism, and to be in “competition” with the Christian Holy Sepulchre which had been built nearby, centuries earlier.

Nothing changed over the centuries as the denuded land of “Palestine” went from one conqueror to another. Finally, in 1917, Britain wrested the land from the Ottomans and after promising the Jews a homeland in their ancestral country, the League of Nations awarded a Mandate to the British which extended over both the western and eastern banks of the Jordan River. It was at this point that the term “Palestine” was revived as a quasi-political entity ruled by a British governor.

While the Jews began to call their newspapers, charities, and organizations such names as the “Palestine Post” and the “United Palestine Appeal,” the Arabs eschewed the term as being “Jewish” and “Zionist.” For them, they were Muslims first, and “Southern Syrians” second. Indeed, many an Arab politician and historian denied that there was ever a country called “Palestine.” To name the amount of Arab political figures and historians who stated this would require an article all by itself. Suffice to say that Arabs such as the late Hashemite monarch Hussein “Chairman” Arafat, and noted Arab historian Philip K. Hitti, have all candidly admitted that no such country as “Palestine” ever existed. In fact, the latter, while appearing in front of a January 11, 1946 Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry in Washington, D.C. stated "[T]here is no such thing as Palestine in history, absolutely not.” The late King Hussein, who knew about artificial entities (i.e., Transjordan – now “Jordan”) said that "[T]he truth is that Jordan is Palestine, and Palestine is Jordan.” He said this on more than one occasion in the 19070s and as late as December 26, 1981 in an interview with the Paris based Arabic newspaper An-Nahar Al Arabi (“The Arabic Daily”). Many other Hashemites (past and present) have made similar statements. Indeed, without the help of Churchill and Britain, there would never have been a “Hashemite entity” on the East Bank of the Jordan created in 1922 and carved out of the original “Palestine Mandate” for the Jewish National Home. And in one of the most candid admissions ever made, Zuhair Muhsin, little known leader of the PLO splinter gang known as “Al Sa’iqa” (The Storm) and backed by Syria, said in a March 31, 1977 interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw:

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.

Muhsin was eventually assassinated by Israel in 1979. And of course, there was “Chairman” Arafat who in a 1974 interview with The New Republic stated: “What you call Jordan is actually Palestine.”

Regardless, until the founding of the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964, “Palestine” and “Palestinian” had no meaning for the Arabs. As an aside, the fact that the PLO was created in 1964 by the League of Arab States and not after the June “Six Day War” of 1967, is telling enough that Ahmad Shuqayri (original founder of the PLO), and his successor Yasser Arafat, were looking for the total extermination of Israel, while Jordan already had the “occupied territories” of the “West Bank,” and Egypt had the “Gaza Strip.” For them and for the PLO (or PA of today), “Palestine” is just a part of the “Arab Muslim national homeland” that has to be liberated from the “infidel” Jews. As late as 1967, even the UN did not refer to the term “Palestinians” merely calling them “refugees.” (Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967.) However, as the late 1960s turned into the 1970s, the historical terminology of “Palestine” began to be turned upside down, and hijacked by the Arabs. It now became terms synonymous with Arabs, but in reality was only a weapon in the fight to extirpate Israel from the world.

http://www.israpundit.com/archives/24897

[Caretaker]

While some would have you believe the world is becoming a better place and anti-Semitism is on the wane, this is not true. Since 1980, anti-Semitic acts in this country have doubled and redoubled each year. World-wide it is rampant. Israel receives the brunt of media reporting that is tainted with a perpetual negative bias. Israel has become a bastion of self-determination for the Jewish people, and the world cannot accept it. The weak underdog Israel, on equal par in the world, is intolerable.

In my estimation, world opinion of Israel is trapped in the old pit of anti-Semitism. After World War II, as the facts of the Holocaust came to light, many enlightened individuals and groups began to speak out for the Jewish people, albeit too late to save the 6,000,000 who perished. While it was no longer "fashionable" to be anti-Semitic, that did not make the problem go away... it only drove it underground. Currently, it is showing itself in the world opinion of Israel as people and governments have transferred their anti-Semitic feelings to a national level in the disguise of righteous indignation against the "aggressive Zionist state." The new anti-Israel or anti-Zionist trend is nothing more than the old anti-Semitism in new clothing.

http://christianactionfor...rg/antiholo/cantisem.html

[Whrose]

9.5 Jerusalem is the foundation of our vision and our entire life. She is the city to which God gave a particular importance in the history of humanity. She is the city towards which all people are in movement – and where they will meet in friendship and love in the presence of the One Unique God, according to the vision of the prophet Isaiah: "In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it (…) He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Is. 2: 2-5). Today, the city is inhabited by two peoples of three religions; and it is on this prophetic vision and on the international resolutions concerning the totality of Jerusalem that any political solution must be based. This is the first issue that should be negotiated because the recognition of Jerusalem's sanctity and its message will be a source of inspiration towards finding a solution to the entire problem, which is largely a problem of mutual trust and ability to set in place a new land in this land of God.

So Pinky....are you and friends proposing that Jerusalem should be divided among the three faiths, become an international city? One that favors International Law over God Covenants?

Perhaps you would prefer another Islamic state run on Sharia law where Christians and Jews are killed and persecuted. Maybe then those pesky jews will cease to exist and stop being such an upset in your world that defines peace in human terms?

I do not agree with your ecumenical document. I have to give you credit though...it is clever.
 

[Whrose]

Why is the document Pinky presents something we all should be concerned about?

Introducing the Kairos Palestine Document

An ecumenical group of Palestinian Christians issued Kairos Palestine, “A Moment of Truth,” on Dec. 11, 2009, in Bethlehem. The statement’s formal title is “A Moment of Truth – A word of faith and hope from the heart of Palestinian suffering.”

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Should we be concerned about documents that come from the World Council of Churches ecumenical stance?

THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

[Caretaker]

http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles-new/?p=21

    
February 16, 2002
Christians who hate the Jews

Spectator, February 16 2002

It was one of those sickening moments when an illusion is shattered and an ominous reality laid bare. I was among a group of Jews and Christians who met recently to discuss the churches’ increasing public hostility to Israel. The Jews were braced for a difficult encounter. After all, many British Jews (of whom I am one) are themselves appalled by the destruction of Palestinian villages, targeted assassinations and other apparent Israeli over-reactions to the middle east conflict.

But this debate never took place. For the Christians said that the churches’ hostility had nothing to do with Israel’s behaviour towards the Palestinians. This was merely an excuse. The real reason for the growing antipathy, according to the Christians at that meeting, was the ancient hatred of Jews rooted deep inside Christian theology and now on widespread display once again.

A doctrine going back to the early church fathers, suppressed after the Holocaust, had been revived under the influence of the middle east conflict. This doctrine is called replacement theology. In essence, this says the Jews have been replaced by the Christians in God’s favour and so all God’s promises to the Jews, including the land of Israel, have been inherited by Christianity.

Some evangelicals, by contrast, are ‘Christian Zionists’ who passionately support the State of Israel as the fulfilment of God’s Biblical promise to the Jews. But to the majority who have absorbed replacement theology, Zionism is racism and the Jewish state is illegitimate.

The Jews at the meeting were incredulous and aghast. Surely the Christians were exaggerating. Surely the churches’ dislike of Israel was rooted instead in the settlements, the occupied territories and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. But the Christians were adamant. The hostility to Israel within the church is rooted in a dislike of the Jews.

Church newspaper editors say they are intimidated by the overwhelming hostility to Israel and to the Jews from influential Christian figures, which makes balanced coverage of the middle east impossible. Clerics and lay people alike are saying openly that Israel should never have been founded at all. One church source said what he was hearing was a ‘throwback to the visceral anti-Judaism of the middle ages’.

At this juncture, a distinction is crucial. Criticism of Israel’s behaviour is perfectly legitimate. But a number of prominent Christians agree that a line is being crossed into anti-Jewish hatred. This is manifested by ascribing to every Israeli action malevolent motives while dismissing Palestinian terrorism and anti-Jewish diatribes; the belief that Jews should be denied the right to self-determination and their state dismantled; the conflation of Zionism and a ‘Jewish conspiracy’ of vested interests; and the disproportionate venom of the attacks.

‘When I hear �the Jews� used as a term, my blood runs cold - and I’ve been hearing this far too often’, says Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Wales and a contender for the see of Canterbury. ‘Whenever I print anything sympathetic to Israel, I get deluged with complaints that I am Zionist and racist’, says Colin Blakely, editor of the Church of England Newspaper.

Andrew White, canon of Coventry cathedral and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative in the Middle East, is heavily engaged in trying to promote dialogue and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He says of attitudes in the church: ‘These go beyond legitimate criticism of Israel into hatred of the Jews. I get hate mail calling me a Jew-lover and saying my work is evil.’

The reason, he says, is that Palestinian Christian revisionism has revived replacement theology. ‘This doctrine was key in fanning the flames of the Holocaust, which could not have happened without 2,000 years of anti-Jewish polemic’, he says. After the Holocaust the Vatican officially buried the doctrine, the current Pope affirming the integrity of the Jewish people and recognising the State of Israel. But according to White, the doctrine is ’still vibrant’ within Roman Catholic and Anglican pews. ‘Almost all the churches hold to replacement theology’, he says.

REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY

The Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has spoken out against replacement theology. But unlike the Roman Catholics, the Anglicans have never been forced to confront their church’s role in the Holocaust and their attitude towards the Jews.

Carey, say church sources, is now in an invidious position. Under pressure to make an accommodation with the Muslims, he is also hemmed in by some highly placed enemies of Israel within the church and is reluctant to pick a fight with the establishment view.

Nevertheless, there are many decent Christians who don’t hold this view. The network of councils of Christians and Jews is going strong. Archbishop Williams preached in Cardiff’s synagogue last weekend. Christians who voice these concerns are prepared to risk opprobrium or worse.

But for the Jews, caught between the Islamists’ blood libels on one side and Christian replacement theology on the other, Britain is suddenly a colder place.

[Barry]

Thank you, Caretaker, for bringing clarity to this thread.

[ServantStrike]

Thank you, Caretaker, for bringing clarity to this thread.

I concur, thank you brother for giving some background on the current situation in the middle east.

I remember now having read about the idea of replacement theology, and I never made the connection myself that that is why Christians hate the Jews in Israel. I feel sorry for anyone who believes in that theology though, as I think the bible has an awful lot to say about why that viewpoint is wrong.

Before I dive into this topic further, I do feel compelled to point out that while Yahweh said that Israel would be a stumbling block for all nations, I don't think this means that Israel must be 100 percent blameless in becoming this stumbling block (please READ the rest of this post before flaming me for saying that, as you will see I support Israel as a nation, just not some of her policies).

Israel has conducted a great deal of diplomacy at the tip of the spear, just as the US has done (and yes, I am aware that she is surrounded by enemies intent on killing her). I feel the need to stress that this approach is NOT a good approach when it comes to international relations, as it will always leave some groups angry. Supporting Israel is not an all or nothing situation where everything Israel does is acceptable. I personally don't unconditionally support Israel's policies, just as I don't unconditionally support US policies. I do, however, say that there is no condition under which God has ever said the Christian church is supposed to replace Israel, and that I personally look forward to the day that Israel and the church are united in heaven as Yahweh has ordained.

Let's start with what Jesus said in Matthew 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

Let's go back a bit further to Zecharaiah 12:2-11
 2Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
 3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
 4In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
 5And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
 6In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
 7The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
 8In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.
 9And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
 10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

God clearly says that at some point Israel will be surrounded by enemies, and at that point Israel will know Christ. Note how the bolded verse is in the past tense as well. It shows that at some point, God will pour the Holy spirit upon those living in Israel and show them that the messiah they rejected the first time he came would come again. God doesn't say "and then I shall utterly destroy her (Israel), replacing her with a new branch." More about branches to follow.

While we're on the subject of branches, how about Romans 11
1I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not abandoned his chosen people, so he hasn't replaced them! As we will soon see, he has simply expanded the scope of those who can be saved!

More Romans 11
 10Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
 11I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
 12Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
 13For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
 14If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
 15For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
 16For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
 17And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
 18Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
 19Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
 20Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
 21For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

We see here that Yahweh allowed the Israelites' hearts to be hardened, so that Christ would die and we would live. We also see that God has grafted the Gentiles in. It says nothing about "God burned down the existing plant and planted a new one."

The plain and simple fact is that Christians will not replace the Jews, they were added to God's kingdom because Yahweh desired to save us all. Some day, a large number of Jews will see the light of Christ, and we will all know Him. My only regret is it will have taken 2k+ years for that to happen, and there are a large number of Jews who did not know Christ, and will not know the kingdom of heaven (note I'm saying those born after Christ's death, not those before he was born). No Christ=no heaven.

We aren't supposed to try and destroy Israel, we are supposed to show the love of Christ and eagerly await the day when Yahweh redeems Israel, and when Yeshua Jesus comes back. Until that day, we should be careful about what policies we support whether they come from Israel, the US, or some country that hasn't even become a nation yet, as we live in a fallen world. As Christians, however, we should never even think about suggesting that Israel should be disbanded or that Israel is an illegitimate nation. That is simply asinine in light of biblical evidence that says that Israel is a nation because Yahweh said so!

[Whrose]

Before I dive into this topic further, I do feel compelled to point out that while Yahweh said that Israel would be a stumbling block for all nations, I don't think this means that Israel must be 100 percent blameless in becoming this stumbling block (please READ the rest of this post before flaming me for saying that, as you will see I support Israel as a nation, just not some of her policies).

I agree Savant...no flames coming from this gentile.

That was a beautiful post brother. Thank you for taking the time to share.

 

[pinky]

I posted The Kairos Palestine Document in full because it was quoted in the origional post and I thought it would be fair to read it for ourselves.

Pro 18:13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

I don't necessarily agree 100% with everything in it and yes I am aware of issues with the ecumenical movement.

However, I would think that a Christian response to the Kairos document would be to specifically address the parts of the document itself that we believe are doctrinally wrong and look to the New Testament to show the error .......................and to do so in the spirit of patience and longsuffering.

Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Christians in Palestine are suffering under an oppressive military occupation. When they cry out in their suffering, should we as Christians respond by dismissing or demonizing them because we percieve that we have a superior understanding of Scripture than them?

Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.



1Jo 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
 



Instead of engaging ourselves in personal attacks against other Christians, let us look to our New Testament for clarity and Truth.

[Whrose]

((((Pinky))))

Thank you for posting the Kairos Document. It was quite a read.

Your Christian response is no less important than your brethren who have stated their viewpoint from a Biblical perspective, the difference being is the understanding that the return of the Jews to Israel, the nations that come against them, and the plan God has for them has been told by the prophets. God has revealed to his servants all that was, is, and will be in the 66 books of the Bible.

Anyone with compassion for the Palestinian people are blessed. The work of missionaries and Gods servants in this area changing lives are truly a wonderful thing to behold but not as wonderful as the man, woman, or child that comes to know the Lord. It is my fervent prayer that many will escape the coming wars and the travesty that the Lord has shown us will come upon this land.

That they are oppressed is a political matter that results from spiritual and political forces that they do not understand. It has become easier for them to point the finger at Israel with their Islamic neighbors joining them in chanting war cries and death and destruction to the Jews fueling and supporting their growing hatred. But this is not a simple matter indeed that requires a careful study of ancient and modern history and the inspired teachings in the Bible that clearly describe the conflict from God's perspective.

Many believe in their the cries for peace but I do not see the evidence. Many believe in a 2 state solution will solve the problems, but I do not. I firmly hold the Biblical stance that God returned them to the land given to them as an eternal covenant with their father Abraham for His reasons, and those who oppose that oppose the Will of God.

I hear their cries sister...we all do!

No one here has attacked Christians at all! My particular work in life cares for and holds each man, women, and child no matter what their religion or sin is and I perform it gladly with the Love that Jesus has planted in my heart. I love the people the Lord places in my arms and I am grateful for the work I do knowing that is is not me but the Lord who does it within me.

I boldly confront those in the church who knit their heart in replacement theology fables and apostate activities. Disagreement and standing firm in the word of God is not demonizing another or hate speech...that is unless you happen to subscribe to the growing sentiments outlined by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and Human Rights Council?

  Peace to you sis Pinky 

[kaijuu]

something I learned(thanks to God) not to give a coin for politics.
yeah, "the ones who rule over the nations are called benefactors" or something like that, something I try to keep in my sould for my time in this life, ecumenical my sound bad, but antichristian may sound worst... or maybe are those the same? whis is the difference, maybe we are missing a prat from the scripture, ??¿?¿ does not all the path end in babilon? is ever there be any secular goverment which wont submit to babilon and the antichrist? why we focuse so much into what goverments say instead of the people?? did we ever firgured out what is thaught about christians and our Saviour in all other world religions ? did we care about the gospel , or about supporting secular goverments?  or secular policies? are not secular movements all around the world promoting that religion is the sourse of evil and into that description they put us too

[pinky]

Hello Whrose, my dear sister in Christ, and hello to the brethren here.



I pray the Lord is keeping you all well.



Thank you Whrose, for the gentle spirit of your response. I sincerely appreciate it. It sadly seems inevitable that we as Christians are going to disagree on various issues. However, i pray that we can still maintain a brotherly spirit when we do disagree and not let our emotions be our guide. Instead let our patient reading of the New Testament guide us and shape our understanding.



Eph 4:13   Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 
14   That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 
15   But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 


Amen.



I just would like to try to briefly touch on something you said:

I firmly hold the Biblical stance that God returned them to the land given to them as an eternal covenant with their father Abraham for His reasons, and those who oppose that oppose the Will of God.

Now please understand that the following question (which is an open question for all) is not for the purpose of causing strife, but to draw some Gospel Truth to the matter and give cause for reflection. I'm just going to put it plainly, not to be rude but just to keep it simple and straight forward.



Where in the NT are we instructed about this 'eternal' land covenant? Surely Jesus and His apostles would have given a teaching about it.



I have even seen some people say or imply that it is a salvation issue (not necessarily in this forum). That if you don't give unconditional support to the state of Israel, then you are not saved and are hellbound. Like John Hagee for example:

It is important to be right on the Israel question when you consider that being wrong brings you under the curse of God and headed for eternal, everlasting fire with the devil and his angels. Israel is not a “take it or leave it” subject. It is a life and death matter-eternal life! (John Hagee, The Lord Has Chosen Zion)

If Hagee is correct and this is a salvation issue, then surely this would be taught somewhere in the Book of Salvation. So where are we told that our salvation depends on whether or not we support a violent return to the land?



In defence of the purity of the Truth, this is no small matter. This is a very serious question that we as Christians need to take into consideration.



Gal 1:6  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 
7   Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 
8   But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 
9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. 


Perhaps Hagee needs to be mindfull of the curses from preaching another gospel, that he sadly seems to have made the centerpiece of his ministry.



I understand the desire to want to bless the Jewish people, and of course I appreciate the heart that longs for them to recieve Christ. This is my greatest desire for them too. I also want to see the Jewish people live safely and in peace, as I wish this for all men. However, I percieve that we are to bless them through sharing the Gospel and calling them to repent, just as Christ and the apostles did. And of course to pray for them also.



Yet, we still need be mindful that our good intentions are not manipulated to lead us astray.


2Cr 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.



Is there really more than ONE 'eternal' Covenant?



The ancient pharisees saw the promises and prophecies as having an earthly and carnal fulfillment. They did not understand the spiritual, heavenly and eternal context of their fulfillment. This erroneous and worldly eschatology caused many of them to reject their Messiah when He came to fulfill the prophecies. This is a great tragedy indeed.

What is even more distressing  is that this pharisee eschatology is still alive and well today  in modern 'zionism'............ and has been seeded in the churches through footnotes in the Scofield bible.



Just think about this for a moment. This idea of an unfulfilled eternal land covenant is taught in Babylonian Talmudic and Kabbalistic eschatology. This is a fact. Ask any rabbi.



Where does the NT teach it?



Mat 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.



Gal 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.





If we feel the Truth is on our side, then I don't see reason to fear inquiry into the matter. I would think that we would embrace the opportuntiy to make a case for what we feel is sound doctrine out of our love for the Lord Jesus.



Jud 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 
4   For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 


I'm certain all here are familiar with the fact that Hagee has denied Christ as the Messiah. 

What does that say about his entire ministry ?



I'll leave it at that though. I've said enough.



Here are some parting verses for reflection, may they resonate in our hearts, souls and minds:



Luk 9:54   And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 
55   But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 
56   For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. 




2Cr 10:3   For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 
4   (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 
5   Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 





Sorry this turned out to be way longer than I intended.



God bless you all in the Name of Jesus Christ,

pinky

[Whrose]

God Bless you Pinky

Once again you have presented a challenge that those of us who believe the Lord will preserve a remnant of the Jewish people to show you this in the NT.

This has already reached a certain unwillingness or open disagreement with you because you do not hear what the Lord has said regarding Israel in the Old Testament. You have already disagreed with the prophetic words concerning Israel in Zechariah 12 as noting them to already be fulfilled. Further debate with you concerning the prophetic Words about the remnant the Lord told us He is going to Redeem in the OT and Revelation of Jesus Christ will be fruitless as I detect by your arguments that you will find these "already fulfilled" as well or see Israel as the church. My understanding is they are two entirely different group of people according to Scripture saved by Faith in Jesus Christ.

I do not know what your eschatological viewpoint is...are you a preterist? amillennialist? Knowing this in advance would certainly give fair understanding of your views. The differences between eschatological viewpoints have been debated by those who are far more knowledgeable than myself with no change in either position.
The body of Christ has experienced these divisions through out the history of the church. It is not been given to me to enlighten or change these divisions but to find mutual charity and love for my brethren who understand the Scripture differently. I can not open your eyes to this sister. Only the Lord can...and I lift you to HIM in love and peace.

Your linking of John Hagee to my statement was far to liberal of you. I have major disagreements with Mr Hagee from what I know of him. My statement in no way is the same what he claims. This was a serious false error on your part to join them together.

I treasure each brother and sister and our WOP membership share quite a broad spectrum of differences in their eschatological viewpoints. What knits us all together...IN PEACE are the Essentials of Salvation. When theological debates occur on forum often the essentials become buried in the opposing viewpoints. Sadly this is an ever present reality between Christians engaged in debates past and present. As moderator it is my position to understand when such differences become a hindrance to our members, and your challenge has reached this point ( both in past topics where you have expressed anti semitism and now.

I asked you privately to avoid stirring divisive debates and now I am asking you once again as moderator whose goal is to prevent another drawn out anti- Jew debate.

I close my dear sister in Christ with a few verses that we love. and know, and celebrate.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.
John 14:6

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

Thank you sister for understanding. I am sure there are other forums which you can find others willing and ready to have a sword fight with you about your viewpoints about Israel. It is not going to happen here again.
I welcome each to share their viewpoints but further posting that invites debate will be moved from the post.

 

 



 

[Barry]

Fair enough, Whrose.

Both sides have been explained and we should leave it at that.

[pinky]

I close my dear sister in Christ with a few verses that we love. and know, and celebrate.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.
John 14:6

God bless and thank you for sharing this verse for reflection dear sister.

Yes indeed, just as this verse tells us.......... NO MAN has fellowship or a 'covenant' with God the Father outside of JESUS CHRIST.

Yours truly in sincerity to defend the Gospel Truth, without 'hatred' or malice for any man, but for the love of our Lord Jesus and the Truth He and His Word has delivered unto us and sancitfied through His precious blood,
 
pinky