Feb 8

Calling Rand McNally

I think I’ll spring for one of those GPS systems. Like most men, I’ve always fancied myself as a fellow who could “tell directions.” Sure, I’ve been lost a few times, but overall, I’ve been to quite a few places, and I’m still here.

But the need for a navigation system stems from the fact that I have no idea where “Palestine” is. Several Christian leaders from a variety of denominations feel that they know for sure where it is, but I’m scratching my head here. I’ve looked at maps, Googled, and called a few people. Like the Spaniards who searched in vain for the fabled city of gold, I cannot find the elusive Land of the Palestinians.

Oddly enough (and this is almost comical), a growing number of Christians seem to know where Palestine is. They refer to it, long for it, nurture it. For FOPS — Friends of Palestine — there is only one impediment to realizing the dream.

Israel.

“Palestine” was the name of a region in the Middle East for almost 1,900 years. When the Romans expelled large numbers of Jews from what was known as Judea (originally, Canaan) in the second century, they renamed the area “Palestina,” a reference to the ancient Phoenicians. The aim was to erase any reference to the Jews.

Nothing has changed. Since the modern state of Israel was established in 1948, the Arabs have worked to convince a (shockingly) naïve West that the Jewish presence in the Middle East, down through history, was either sparse or non-existent. This was a favorite lie of Yasser Arafat, who used to say out loud in front of Bill Clinton that there never was a Temple in Jerusalem. The blood-soaked dwarf would allege that the Temple had stood in Hebron!

It’s one thing for an arch-terrorist to spout such sick revisionist history. It’s beyond sad that American Christians would hop onboard the Propaganda Train.

Take the Disciples of Christ, for instance. The liberal, mainline denomination is one of several (officially, the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) groups that refer to Palestine as if it exists. It’s really quite odd.

Imagine if I insisted that the eastern half of Missouri is really Twainistine. Would anyone believe me? No. So why do some people believe in Palestine?

Because it furthers their political agenda. There are plenty of people who so detest Israel that they fantasize about Palestine, which is intended to be an Arab state. There are already 22 Arab states.

Think about that. Palestine does not exist, has never existed as a sovereign entity. Yet significant groups virtually demand it. It is the height of arrogance to refer to “Palestine” when it doesn’t exist. Again, simply referring to Palestine, as if it were a state somewhere in or near Israel is mind-boggling.

In a press release late last year, the Disciples of Christ website announced that December 6 was “Prayer for Israel and Palestine” Sunday. In order to appear balanced, leftwing lovers of Palestinian Liberation Theology speak about Israel and sometimes express concern for Israel’s security.

But if you know what the Palestinians in fact intend for Israel, you’ll know that a two-state solution is a death sentence for the Jewish state.

According to the Disciples’ press release:

“In that spirit of humbleness and hope we come before your presence to intercede for the peoples of Israel and Palestine… For over sixty years these two communities have been trying to live together in peace, in the midst of violence, terror, deaths and wars! For more than six decades these two nations have been trying to discover the path of justice, in a world of aggressions, occupations, invasions and resentments! For over half a century these two peoples have been trying to create the necessary conditions to discover, promote, affirm and enjoy the results of a just peace!”

Right.

Notice first the reference to Israel and “Palestine.” I ask again: where is Palestine? Where is its seat of government? Where is its navy? What is Palestine’s GNP? What is the state’s chief export?

No one knows, because Palestine as an Arab state is a myth. It doesn’t exist.

The press release also refers to the “Sabeel Liberation Center,” a radical think-tank in Jerusalem. When someone positively references Sabeel, just as Germans once waxed enthusiastic about the National Socialists…you know where things stand. I encourage you to Google “Sabeel Center” and investigate for yourself just how “even-handed” this group is.

The fact is, the American Church in particular is so lost and groping when it comes to biblical truth that warming to “Palestine” seems like a perfectly good idea.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is not the only denomination that has it wrong on this issue. And here I’d like to say — because I get emails from Lutherans and Presbyterians and Methodists who take me to task for making blanket statements — I’m aware there are quite a few individuals in these denominations who do get Zionism.

My point is that on the whole, the mainline is almost hopelessly lost on this issue. Their obsession about the Arab-Israeli conflict is vexing.

Because I don’t know where Palestine is.

jim@prophecymatters.com

Feb 1

Israel’s Dear Christian Friends

I encourage you to visit the following link, an article written by Mark Tooley: http://frontpagemag.com/?s=Brian+McLaren)

Mark Tooley, one of the most courageous watchdogs around (he’s president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy; if you are a member of a mainline denomination please visit their website), has done a better job than I could articulating the damage being done to Israel by Emergent spokesman Brian McLaren’s recent visit to the region.

“’Emergent Church’ guru Brian McLaren is a key figure on the Evangelical Left who is trying shift Evangelicals, who are America’s most pro-Israel demographic, into a more neutralist stance. Currently, he is leading a delegation through Israel and ‘Palestine’ to broadcast the sins of Israeli oppression against Palestinians by ‘listening, learning, thinking, observing, reflecting.’ His blog is providing daily updates of his discoveries, all of which confirm his previously often declared bias against Israel.

“’I hope you will start questioning what you think you know about the situation here,’ McLaren warned on his blog recently, with the assumption that most readers are deceived by pro-Israel partiality. ‘I’ve been an avid reader on the subject for quite a while, but being here now, I see how many of my most basic assumptions were skewed from a lifetime of half-truths, unfair and imbalanced news, well-planned propaganda, and misinformation.’”

I knew McLaren would bash Israel during his trip. Here is the most stunning sentence in Tooley’s article:

“Amazingly, he has discovered a ‘lack of hatred’ and a thirst for ‘non-violent’ action among Palestinians, despite all the abuse from their Israeli ‘victimizers,’ and the mischaracterizations from the purportedly pro-Israel U.S. media.”

The idea that the Palestinians have a lack of hatred for Israel/Jews and a thirst for non-violent action is either from an infantile, naïve mind, or it is purposely disingenuous. There are no other options.

Israel has fought for its very life on a daily business for 61 years. For McLaren to claim otherwise is grotesque, and proves he has no regard for the Jewish state. He’s not stupid. He knows very well that he is spouting Arab propaganda.

And please note this: pro Israel Christians are constantly accused of visiting the region and engaging only with Zionists. Does anyone seriously believe that McLaren and his delegation actually look for balance? Are they going to sit down with Uzi Landau or have lunch with a group of IDF soldiers?

Of course not.

The goal was to go over and photograph Israel’s security fence and then come back home to describe it as an apartheid wall.

The goal was to go over and talk with Palestinians with ties to terrorism and then come back and present them as peaceniks.

The goal was to go over and drive past Jewish homes and then come back and present them as squatters-on-Arab-lands.

McLaren is a key member of a unique community. He moves through a community of folks who do not view modern Israel as a fulfillment of predictive prophecy. This thought ties together people from different backgrounds: lefties like McLaren (although he cleverly aligns himself with evangelicals), “right-wingers” like Pat Buchanan, and then more mainstream Christians who come from, say, a Reformed background.

These different groups would not normally make common cause about anything, but Israel-bashing is too good to pass up.

McLaren’s dispatches from Israel (which he longs to see called “Palestine”) are now circulated among students in America, liberal Christians, and seminary professors.

Let me be clear: these efforts are largely going to be successful. That can be a depressing thought, but it is realistic. What we must do, as Christian Zionists, is determine to push through and reach those who can be reached. It is a worthy and attainable goal.

It would have been wonderful if McLaren could have spent time with Benjamin Netanyahu and perhaps his father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu, who would have given him a primer on Zionism. This great Israeli family, courageous and resourceful in defending the Land of Israel, are the antithesis of McLaren, whose smarmy leftwing worldview endangers people, because he doesn’t confront real threats.

McLaren and his friends will never seriously internalize the threat from the jihadists. For them, radical Islam doesn’t exist.

It’s been my experience that there are plenty of Israelis who understand who their real friends are, and that community is comprised mostly of Christian Zionists.

Not diabolical change agents like Brian McLaren.

jim@prophecymatters.com

Jan 25

Israel is Getting McLarened

(before we get into today’s discussion, I encourage you to join the Facebook community:

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=432075225332&ref=mf)

From time to time, I log-on to Brian McLaren’s website. He is of course (I just typed “curse”!) the Emergent writer and speaker.

Sadly, he is in Israel now, until January 28; this doesn’t bode well for Israel in mainline and Emergent circles, who will have their Israel-bashing clubs strengthened by McLaren’s reports. They will have heavy doses of Palestinian suffering, with a sprinkling of “concern” for Israel’s security.

McLaren’s visit coincides with several interesting developments in the region, including the ascension of Muhammad Badee as head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Badee is “conservative,” which means he embraces the extreme views of this extreme group, which is spiritual father to Al-Qaida.

More disturbing news from Egypt is the assessment of military chiefs who warn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Sinai is “porous,” meaning, terrorists are smuggling weapons at an alarming rate. Israel is confronted with constructing some sort of barrier there.

In the north, Syria has been emboldened by warmer ties with Turkey and Iran. And if anyone thinks Iraq in the east will be a peace partner better get a clue.

But I doubt McLaren will address these concerns. He will focus on the plight of the Palestinians, the foot-dragging of the Israelis, etc. Christian leaders like McLaren, Stephen Sizer, Tony Campolo and others routinely denigrate the Jewish state and her supporters, particularly Christian Zionists.

Also, a new report by Human Rights Watch bashes Israel, criticizing the country for actions in Gaza, to root-out the Hamas killers. It is popular for such groups to lump Israel with the worst form of terrorism.

"Local and international human rights groups working in Israel have experienced a more hostile climate than ever before after documenting abuses committed by Israel, as well as Hamas, during the December 2008-January 2009 fighting in Gaza and Israel in connection with Israel's ongoing blockade of Gaza," according to Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW.

Back to McLaren. A new posting on his website is a guest blog from Greg Barrett; note the bias:

“Seeing the infamous Wall built by Israel to imprison the Palestinians, I was reminded of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals. In it, Alinsky writes about ‘the rules pertaining to the ethics of means and ends.’ First among them is the belief that a person’s concern with the ethics of a social action correspond to one’s distance from the consequences of action or inaction. Alinsky quotes seventeenth-century French philosopher La Rochefoucauld, who concluded, ‘We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.’”

Barrett refers to the “infamous” wall (which is in reality a security barrier). He writes of the intent of the Israelis to “imprison” Palestinians.

Both charges are absurd, yet they make hay with certain American Christians who are already predisposed to anti-Semitism or what is more gently termed “Anti-Zionism.”

Further, McLaren, Barrett, and their friends of course refer to the region they are visiting as the “West Bank,” the term coined by Muslim dictator King Hussein of Jordan. Anything to erase the Hebrew history (in the Bible, the area is known as Judea and Samaria).

Barrett’s invocation of La Rochefoucauld also serves to make his high-brow friends giddy with intellectualism. It enables one to move away from a straight-forward reading of the Bible. This mindset infects seminary students, as well.

This kind of exercise makes it more difficult for a person to, say, simply take at face value to remarkable prophecies of Deuteronomy, where God tells the Jews exactly what will happen to them, even up to the “last days.” When we love philosophy and intellectual rabbit trails more than the Word of God, we don’t hear Him.

And that’s how a Christian pilgrim in Israel misses the breathtaking miracle of the rebirth of the Jewish nation, and instead chums around with those who seek to kill her.

Not a smart move.

jim@prophecymatters.com