InterVarsity: Shameful!

As pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, Munther Isaac is something of a spokesman for Palestinian Christians. Also director of the “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference (in even-numbered years), Isaac is a sophisticated face of anti-Israel worldview, much easier to serve as a propagandist than the scruffy Yasser Arafat or Mahmoud Abbas.

Of course, those Muslim terrorists did not identify as Christian, something Isaac does. Still, he is just as good at what he does as they were/are at their diabolical skillset. Munther Isaac seeks to pry evangelicals away from supporting Israel.

I think he’s doing a pretty good job.

Sadly, he is aided in his hatred of Israel and Jews (and their Christian supporters!) by an evangelical publishing house, InterVarsity Press. The Chicago-based publisher just released Isaac’s propaganda tool, The Other Side of the Wall. When I worked in Christian publishing, I’d stop by the IVP booth. They had some good books. Over time, though, they went the way of almost all Christian publishing houses: compromise with the Left.

In the early years, IVP published such authors as Francis Schaeffer and J.I. Packer. Eventually they would move on to progressives like Eugene Peterson (The Message). Schaeffer wrote important things, but none of these men were pro-Israel.

Isaac’s new book seeks to fool evangelicals into thinking that the Palestinians are oppressed…in the West. Painting himself as a victim of anti-Palestinian bias, Isaac makes the following claims:

“Being a Palestinian means that I am disqualified from sharing about life in Palestine in many Christian gatherings or even from leading Bible studies in Christian conferences!”

He makes an interesting comment about the sovereignty of God:

“Such beliefs tell me that I do not belong in the land where my forefathers have lived for hundreds, if not thousands, of years because God already decided thousands of years ago who owns this land, and I simply have to accept it!”

Munther Isaac, you see, doesn’t accept it. He detests the Old Testament passages that promise the Jews the land for eternity. Years ago I had a conversation with a faculty member at Bethlehem Bible College, a Palestinian, and he told me that he simply doesn’t accept these land promises!

I could say that I don’t accept this or that directive from the Lord, but that wouldn’t erase the directive. God does what He will.

He gets into the theology of the matter in his book:

“The strong and powerful control the narrative. Language matters here. Consider, for example, the notion that Jews ‘returned’ to ‘their’ land. Does this mean that if someone who is born in any country can prove their Jewish heritage, they have more right to live in this land than a Palestinian refugee who was born here and who can trace their roots in the land back for hundreds, if not thousands, of years? In that narrative, Jews returned to an empty wasteland. Palestine was barren and desolate, only for the new Jewish arrivals to make it fertile and populated. The idea of Palestine being a wasteland is not only factually wrong, it is also insulting to us Palestinians.”

In Isaiah 35, we read just one of many, many passages that discuss the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland:

And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. (Isaiah 35:7)

Munther is factually wrong, but I suspect he knows this. Ancient and more modern accounts of travel to the region paint a vivid and bleak picture of a land destroyed by Roman occupation, roasting under an unforgiving sun…until the moment God decided to redeem it.

As late as the 1940s, the land of Israel was either parched, like a moonscape, or swampland. The influx of Jewish immigrants brought the land back to life. Until they did indeed return, the land lay uncultivated.

Munther wants to present his own narrative, one that sees the Jews as interlopers, even criminals that “stole” Palestinian land. He’s a smart man; he knows history. But he is an effective propagandist for the Palestinian Authority/PLO.

The thing that disgusts me most though is the involvement of InterVarsity Press. I actually can’t name a single Christian publisher today that might publish a pro Israel book. Perhaps Harvest House. It is an astonishing place to find ourselves in, from those years when I was growing up. Then, pro Israel fervor was high in the churches.

No more.

What Isaac doesn’t tell his readers is that support for Israel has eroded so badly among Christian Millennials that there won’t be much reason for him soon to diss the Jews.

As we watch the world convulse and our country teeter on the edge, remember that societies that harass the Jews eventually side into ruin. America—specifically churches—is so biblically illiterate they are easy prey for the Isaacs of the world.

Judgment is coming.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

Rare Courage

This past week I (along with many others around the world) celebrated the life of Jonathan Netanyahu, the Israeli commando leader that fell rescuing hostages at Entebbe, Africa, 44 years ago. I’ve told the story in this space before, but it is more relevant than ever, with courage in short supply from our “leaders.”

This week, his brother secured his countrymen’s safety a bit longer with another bold strike, this time against the evil Iranian regime. More on that in a minute.

On June 27, 1976, PLO and German terrorists hijacked an Air France jetliner in Athens, demanding that the crew fly on to the heart of Africa, far away from the supreme capabilities of the IDF.

Or so they thought.

In a matter of hours, the Israeli cabinet, along with the military establishment, decided that a very daring rescue attempt would proceed. Lt. Col. Netanyahu, commander of the Israel’s most elite counter-terrorist unit, drew up an operational plan. Entebbe was 2,500 miles from Israel. Netanyahu would lead a 30-man strike force, while 170 other troops would secure the rest of the airport.

The whole remarkable story is told in a riveting book by Iddo Netanyahu (the youngest brother and also a member of the Unit), Entebbe. Jonathan, like his brothers steeped in Zionism through their remarkable father, Benzion, seemed to have a premonition that he would not return. He was 30 years old.

Fifteen years ago, I spent an amazing evening with two of the Entebbe commandos. They told me the story in such chilling detail that I still recall it all easily.

One of them was assigned to be the “tip of the spear,” the first man in the door. He said that the one thing they had to have was the element of surprise.

They had it, and succeeded in freeing 102 hostages; three were killed in the crossfire. From the time the Israeli planes touched down, to the time it took to get back in the fair, a mere hour had passed. They killed all the terrorists, blew up Ugandan planes on the ground, and headed back to Israel.

Jonathan Netanyahu’s body was wrapped in a silvery bag. Amir told me that he saw “Yoni” hit, but ran past him to the terminal door where the hostages were being kept. Netanyahu’s orders called for the safe release of all hostages before any IDF wounded were tended to.

Eight hours later, around noon on July 4, the planes re-entered Israeli airspace and the country exploded in wild jubilation.

In this epic story, there is a long list of things to remember. One that I have not forgotten is the report that on the way to Entebbe, Netanyahu confided to the pilot that if Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was there, he—Netanyahu—would kill him.

The pilot was surprised, arguing that they didn’t have authorization for that, but Netanyahu insisted. His reasonsing? Amin was a bloodthirsty killer of his own people and it would be the moral thing to do to take him out.

I agree with him.

Very, very few at any given time have the very rare courage to do the right thing.

This week, Israeli Prime Minister undoubtedly approved an operation to strike an Iranian depot. The Iranians know very well that the Israelis will do everything in their considerable power to derail and/or destroy the terror regime’s nuclear facilities.

World diplomats and politicians don’t have the nerve to end the suffering of millions. They are elitists, so self-absorbed that they either do nothing or push failed policies.

The Netanyahus are made of stronger stuff. The right stuff.

The world sees a man like Jonathan Netanyahu only every several hundred years, if then. Yet something tells me that many of us are going to be faced with doing the right thing for our families, sooner rather than later.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com