Without Merritt

One of the examples of infiltration of the American Evangelical community by the Left can be seen in the rise of Millennial “journalists” who are in fact change-agents determined to remake America along socialist/Marxist principles.

It almost goes without saying that a big target of this group is the Jewish state. From the time of Israel’s founding until now, the Left has hated the commitment to freedom and Zionism that defines the state of Israel.

In all this mix is a key change-agent: Jonathan Merritt. He is what I call “evangelical royalty,” as the son of former Southern Baptist Convention President James Merritt. A graduate of Liberty University, young Merritt now lives in New York City, where he writes for Religion News Service, the Atlantic, and the Week.  From these perches, Merritt writes from a left-wing perspective even as he pontificates about evangelical issues.

A few years ago, he spoke at an event hosted by the Telos Project, a pro Palestinian group. Merritt addressed “storytelling,” a foundational issue for Millennials. In essence, “storytelling” helps a person shape his or her perspective, for the consumption of a particular audience.

An example of storytelling is the claim by Palestinians that the Israelis oppress them. They do this by claiming, as a specific example, that Israel steals “Palestinian land.”

It is very difficult for a person in the United States reading one of these sad stories to verify its truth. Just as past generations actually believed that evening news anchors were unbiased readers of the news (they were anything but), many readers and viewers believe the negative stories about Israel.

Merritt helps the Palestinians and their advocates peddle the narrative that Israel and her supporters oppress the Palestinians.

Last week, Merritt tweeted the conventional wisdom in Washington and New York that Trump’s pledge to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a provocative act, and one that could lead to violence:

“This move could ignite conflict across the region. Scary.”

His comment was in response to a Politico tweet, quoting Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway as saying that moving the embassy is a “big priority” for Trump.

According to Caroline Glick in the Jerusalem Post:

“Since 1948 the US has refused to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – or even as part of Israel. This policy of non-recognition – embodied by the US refusal to transfer the US Embassy to Jerusalem – has been maintained by a bipartisan consensus despite the fact that for the past 20 years, US law has required the State Department to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy to Jerusalem.

“When Trump promised to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, his words were greeted with cynicism.

“In one fell swoop, moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem will correct a great deal of the damage that eight years of President Barack Obama’s foreign policies have caused to US credibility worldwide.

“There is no single step the US can take that will do more to rebuild US credibility as an ally than moving the embassy to Jerusalem. By taking the step that none of his predecessors would take to stand in support of the US’s most embattled ally worldwide, Trump will show that America can again be trusted. And moving the embassy will accomplish this goal without placing one US soldier at risk, and will cost US taxpayers no more than a few million dollars for construction and moving fees.”

Now, Merritt’s tweet reveals what I believe to be both his left-wing bias about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and his lack of broad-based understanding of the conflict.

Why do I say that?

Because one can rightly wonder where Merritt has been the last 20 years, as the Arabs and specifically Muslim terrorists have burned the whole of the Middle East, accounting for untold casualties.

Ignite conflict? The Palestinians ignited conflict 50 years ago and have never let up, not for a day. Over 20,000 acts of terrorism have been aimed at Israeli Jews.

Really, Jonathan Merritt? An American embassy in Jerusalem—which would be our nation’s first-ever acknowledgement of Israeli sovereignty in its chose capitol—would be the catalyst for conflict in the region?

I call for accountability for his statement. Is Jonathan Merritt so ignorant of geopolitics and Middle East history that he actually believes his tweet? Or is he merely using a left-wing tactic by dispensing false information?

Further, has a 20-year pattern by American presidents to refuse to move the embassy (in violation of the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act) to Jerusalem resulted in peace and calm?

In fact, it has led to the opposite, for whenever the Palestinian leadership squeezes a concession from the West, 30 more demands surface immediately. This display of American weakness and not standing with a key ally gives the PA/PLO energy and strength.

Americans of a certain age, who stay abreast of the news and history, understand that Merritt’s tweet crosses over into useful idiot status that would have pleased the Soviet leadership. However, to Merritt’s intended audience—next-generation students and leaders—the tweet is akin to any typical Black Lives Matter propaganda: it sounds reasonable.

So long as “journalists” like Jonathan Merritt get away with their propaganda, we can be assured that conflict will continue to be ignited across the Middle East.

Scary.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

Fake News

In the world of Marxist-style propaganda we now live in, when truth is turned on its head by media and political forces, it should come as no surprise that CNN’s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is bashing Israel again.

Reading from the playbook now used by American evangelical leaders (such as Lynne Hybels of Willow Creek fame), Amanpour, for a recent segment, interviewed two “peace” activists who are virulently anti-Israel.

(Remember, anti-Israel activists in the evangelical world routinely point to their friends in Israel-“Palestine” who are “committed to achieving peace through non-violent means.” Really? Then why is it always Israel’s fault?)

According to a report from CAMERA:

“Amanpour, broadcasting from London, interviewed a pair from the ‘peace’ group – Ms. Shifa al-Qudsi, in Nablus (West Bank), a Palestinian Muslim would-be suicide bomber who was intercepted by Israeli authorities the night before her planned bombing, and Chen Alon, in Tel Aviv, former Israeli military officer ‘turned peace campaigner.’

“Combatants for Peace consists of former Israeli soldiers and former Palestinian combatants (ie. terrorists). Alon and al-Qudsi, representing the group, convey the message that Israel is mainly (if not entirely) responsible for the conflict. Alon expresses contrition for Israel’s role, but shows no concern for fellow Israelis victimized by Palestinian violence. Meanwhile, al-Qudsi adheres to the Palestinian victimization narrative heaping all the blame on Israel.”

A partial transcript is provided in the CAMERA report, and is well worth your time.

This is all a classic leftist tactic. Claim that you are working for peace, while you are really strengthening Israel’s terrorist enemies. I kid you not, this is exactly the type of evil developed and worked by Lenin and Stalin in the Soviet Union. Publicly utter a direct inversion of the truth, and watch the masses believe you.

Amanpour’s father was an Iranian Muslim, and she was raised in Tehran. She is a classic leftist “journalist” peddling the truth as she wants people to understand it. In her play, Israel is always the villain.

Finally…with Trump’s election, it seems that the scales are falling off. People are now waking up to what we’ve been living in for generations. And when the People begin to understand what our Media really are, they will shed them. This has broader implications.

Just as “secular” media are now scrambling to crawl under rocks, so too are religious types feeling the heat.

For several years, beginning in 2011, I investigated the documentary produced by Mart Green, an heir to the Hobby Lobby franchise. Titled “Little Town of Bethlehem,” the film purported to present a balanced view of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Three principle interviews propped-up the lie, but all three are anti-Israel. I, along with a few others, exposed this propaganda masquerading as balanced journalism, and the evangelical power player Green refused to speak publicly about the controversial film.

Ironically, I just happened to meet Green three times: once in a hotel lobby and twice in airports. Always cordial (if remote), he smiled when I asked if I could interview him. He told me to get in touch with his office and to email him. I did this many times, including a request to Dr. Billy Wilson, president of Oral Roberts University, who has worked with Empowered21, a Who’s Who of global Pentecostal leaders. Empowered21 also moves in the same circles as those traveled by Green.

Silence.

Not a single time did either man, particularly Green, agree to speak with me. Instead, he went silent and virtually underground. “Little Town of Bethlehem” is still available on the EGM Films website.

Just like secular media do not want to answer uncomfortable questions, so too do evangelical power brokers go silent when their dark schemes are uncovered.

Circumstantial evidence sheds some light on Green’s views of Israel and Jews. His EGM Films also produced “Beyond the Gates of Splendor,” and “End of the Spear,” documentaries of famed Christian missionary Jim Elliot, murdered by the Huaorani people, a tribe in the jungles of Ecuador, in 1956. Elliot’s widow, Elisabeth, was an icon in evangelical circles, having carried on her husband’s work and became a prolific writer and speaker in her own right.

In 1968, Elisabeth Elliot published her account of visiting Israel in the weeks after the Six Day War. I have a copy of this book, In the Furnace of the Lord, and view it to be a hit-piece on Israel. While she appears even-handed in part of the book, she resorts to several anti-Israel propaganda techniques. I attempted to interview Elisabeth Elliot about this book in 2000, but she declined. It is important to note that every “Christian Palestinianist” leader in America has declined my repeated requests for interviews in the past several years. They do not want rank-and-file Christians to connect the dots.

(The late Elisabeth Elliot was a member of the Episcopal Church, a mainline denomination that would at the very least not consider the specialness of the Jews and Israel in biblical history to be significant.)

It is no accident that Green felt an affinity with Elliot, and I am certain that their association at least in part fed his anti-Israel agenda.

I’m glad that “the People” are waking up to the profound bias that exists in Media and Religion, and the CNNs of the world are passing from the scene.

Here’s to a new era.