Evangelical Left Targets Israel

From FrontPageMag:

Anti-Israel activists rightly see American evangelicals as key to U.S. support for Israel. That is why they are targeting evangelicals with messages of pro-Palestinian solidarity as supposedly central to Christian compassion. A new evangelical film, “With God on Our Side,” is coming out this month to rebut pro-Israel Christians and persuade them to champion the Palestinian cause...read more

Let there be no mistake: President Obama’s attack on Israel’s right to govern in eastern Jerusalem has nothing to do with American national interests, and nothing to do with a “peace process.” Other American leaders may have disagreed with Israeli policy, but none of them made it a casus belli.

No other prominent politician sought to impose the “two-state solution,” based on 60-year-old cease-fire lines with Jordan, instead of a negotiated agreement. Obama’s move leaps beyond all previous “accords,” plans and “road maps.” Never before has the United States sought to dictate the terms of Israeli surrender, thereby undermining its only reliable ally in the region...Obama’s Two-State Delusion

As U.S.-Israel tensions climb to unfamiliar heights, they recall a prior round of tensions nearly thirty years ago, when Menachem Begin and Ronald Reagan were in charge. In contrast to Binyamin Netanyahu’s repeated apologies, Begin adopted a quite different approach...When Israel Stood Up to Washington


From CAMERA:

As stated in other CAMERA reports, the Presbyterian Church will be voting on a number of issues related to the Arab-Israeli conflict at its upcoming General Assembly scheduled to take place in early July. In addition to an overture accusing Israel of the crime of apartheid, and another calling on the PC(USA) to rebuke Caterpillar for selling products to Israel, delegates at the assembly will also decide whether or not to endorse a report about the Arab-Israeli conflict written by a partisan Middle East Study Committee established by the denomination's 2008 General Assembly...Presbyterian Peacemakers Omit Relevant Facts About Ghassan Kanafani


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Israel in the news...

From American Thinker:

Barack Obama has achieved the impossible: He has managed to bring together secular Israelis and ultra-Orthodox Jews in a heated campaign against him. His administration's determination to use an Israeli housing construction project in Northern Jerusalem as the pretext for a diplomatic crisis has set him on a collision course not just with Israelis of all stripes, but even with American Jews, who are growing increasingly apprehensive of just where this president intends to lead them...The President's Middle East Playbook

At the Republican Jewish Coalition's recent leadership conference, President George W. Bush recalled his first official visit to Israel...The Exploitation of Israel's Vulnerability

The Bible says that the Jews are descended from twelve brothers, and they have always acted that way. Throughout recorded history, Jews have spent almost as much time fighting each other as they have fighting their enemies. Yet each time they are attacked from the outside, they coalesce and support their brothers like a close-knit family. And that pattern goes double for the multi-party world of Israeli politics...Obama and Israel: Making the Same Mistake Again and Again


From Pajamas Media:

Samau’ al al-Maghribi converted to Islam from Judaism in 1163 C.E., and shortly afterward wrote an anti-Jewish polemic entitled Silencing the Jews. Al-Maghribi’s “Silencing” — ostensibly a “philosophical” tract — employs Islamic Biblical criticism to characterize the Jews as ignorant, unreasonable, and hypocritical, complemented by their Koranic depiction as accursed prophet-killers who transgress Allah’s will, corrupt his message, and harbor the most intense hatred for the Muslims. Moshe Perlmann (d. 2001) translated al-Maghribi’s tract into English and was the preeminent scholar of Islam’s medieval polemic against the Jews. In his introduction to Silencing, Perlmann (in 1964) observed that this literature was redolent with motifs from the Muslim creed’s foundational texts...Silencing the Jews

For weeks newspapers across Europe and the Middle East have been obsessed with the January 19 assassination of Hamas terror chief Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Although he was a man whose hands were dripping with the blood of innocent victims including infants, the press corps was far more critical of what was described as an Israeli assassination team of 26 that used foreign passports to conceal their identities and commit the murder...Guilty Before Trial: The Mabhouh Assassination and the Incrimination of Israel

Any open-minded person who has either visited Israel, kept apace of the documentary evidence, or honestly examined the tainted “bona fides” of Israel’s accusers would realize that Israel has been set up as the target for what is nothing less than an illegitimate campaign of delegitimation. Orwell’s Hate Week has escaped the boundaries of the novel, whose “Enemy of the People” is someone with the surname — what else? — Goldstein. (Oddly, the enemy of the Jewish people is someone with the surname Goldstone.) And as Orwell writes about the Two Minutes Hate period instituted by the Party, “Before the Hate had proceeded for thirty seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the people in the room.”...Getting Israel Right


From The Christian Science Monitor:

Although the inevitable endpoint of anti-Zionism is not always openly expressed, Omar Barghouti, a star of last year’s Apartheid Week and a leader of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, described with chilling frankness that the goal is to replace Israel with “a unitary state, where, by definition, Jews will be a minority.”...Israeli Apartheid Week: a ritual of discrimination and incitement against Israel


From Joel Rosenberg:

AVERTING A TRAIN WRECK: PLEASE BLESS ISRAEL BY CONTACTING CONGRESS, CLINTON TODAY


Finally, don't forget the latest Off The Wall News!

"Israeli Apartheid" Week

Every March, extremists converge on campuses across the country. For a week or two, they strive to sow divisions, encourage prejudice, and incite hostility...Read More

From CAMERA:

Revisionism is big, at least when it comes to Jerusalem. For example, Ikrima Sabri, until recently the Palestinian Authority-appointed mufti of Jerusalem, told the German daily Die Welt in 1997 that "In the whole city, there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish history... The Jews cannot legitimately claim [the Western] wall, neither religiously nor historically."...AP’s Historical Revisionism on Jerusalem

The charge that Arabs suffer inequitable treatment in Israeli society — usually simmering on a back burner — flares up anew from time to time....Ha'aretz Flubs the Facts on Arabs in the Knesset

CAMERA's Senior Research Analyst Gilead Ini was interviewed on the Steel on Steel Radio Show on Thursday 4 March, 2010 to discuss Israeli Apartheid Week...Listen to it here


From Joel Rosenberg:

TRAIN WRECK: ANALYSIS OF EMERGING CRISIS IN U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONS: Obama administration is trying to divide Jerusalem. How should Christians respond?


From Pajamas Media:

Any open-minded person who has either visited Israel, kept apace of the documentary evidence, or honestly examined the tainted “bona fides” of Israel’s accusers would realize that Israel has been set up as the target for what is nothing less than an illegitimate campaign of delegitimation. Orwell’s Hate Week has escaped the boundaries of the novel, whose “Enemy of the People” is someone with the surname — what else? — Goldstein. (Oddly, the enemy of the Jewish people is someone with the surname Goldstone.) And as Orwell writes about the Two Minutes Hate period instituted by the Party, “Before the Hate had proceeded for thirty seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the people in the room.”...Getting Israel Right


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Israel and the “Christian Zionists”

There are several “ministers” of different “religions” who seem to oppose Israel’s claim to the land and habitually either lobby or write articles along those lines. I often read the term “Christian Zionists” in a derogatory manner and whenever I do so it immediately suggests to me several things about the person using that term.

First of all it’s certain the person will be a Supersessionist. Following on from that position, it is then highly likely the person will formulate all kinds of arguments that will attempt to reduce the validity of national Israel’s claims on the small parcel of land they now possess. Second, the term “Christian Zionist” will probably have been uttered by someone who is anti-Dispensational. The person holding to this view will often attribute far too much political power and influence by Dispies on Middle Eastern affairs.

A heated debate is raging over who owns the land upon which modern Jerusalem sits. Recently-labeled “Christian Zionists” (1) say God originally gave that land to the Jews, therefore the Palestinians have no real “right” to it at all. These Christian Zionists have urged President Bush and U.S. politicians to reject the proposed Road Map to Peace as offensive to God because it grants Palestinians equal rights to live on the land – and to have their own state – next to Israel. The Road Map has even been labeled "a Roadmap to hell" (2) – a denial of God's ancient promise to give His chosen people that specific piece of real estate...Read it HERE

Reading the above simplistic statement could easily lead someone to conclude that “Christian Zionists” and Israelis are somehow complicit in conspiring against the Palestinians. Is this the case?

Scripture is the most important aspect of this subject but, purely from a secular point of view, Israel has every right to the land determined to them post WW2.

We need to understand what size parcel of land was originally allocated to her and whether that was reduced (it was) and why (Arab protest).

We need to understand how and why Israel came to posses the Golan, Jerusalem and the Gaza strip (they were attacked by Arab nations).

We need to understand who the “Palestinians” really are and whether or not they were really displaced by Israel.

Finally, we need to recognize the fact that, by their statements, the “Palestinian” leaders don’t just want a return of “their land” nor do they want to live in peace in a Two State Solution side by side with Israel. The surrounding nations simply want to eliminate Israel from the area.

I’ve listed a number of links below that give a broad overview of the situation between Israel and her neighbors, from both a current and historical perspective. Unfortunately, I’ve come across Christians and secular people who seem to want, or need, to believe that Israel is the sole culprit of the Middle East problem, and nothing will deter them from believing this. This anti-Israel mind-set continues to confound me. Israel is held up to standards of behavior that no other nation is expected to uphold.

Israel’s Right to the Land

Arab Lobby (Groups)

ISRAEL'S HISTORY AND RIGHT TO EXIST

Myths & Facts Online A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Who Is Really Oppressing the Palestinians?

Occupation and Settlement: The Myth and the Reality

Why Israel Is The Victim And The Arabs Are The Indefensible Aggressors In the Middle East

PALESTINE FACTS


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The Jews, Modern Israel and the New Supercessionism

New Book on Supercessionism:

King’s Evangelical Divinity School Principal Calvin L. Smith has edited a new book entitled The Jews, Modern Israel and the New Supercessionism: Resources for Christians, which is due out imminently. Additional contributions include Andy Cheung, Tony Pearce, Jacob Prasch, Howard Taylor, Stephen Vantassel and Paul Wilkinson. There is also a foreword by Mitch Glaser (formerly Jews for Jesus and now President, Chosen People Ministries, New York) and a preface by Mark S. Sweetnam, Research Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin. The book has been endorsed by leading Evangelical scholars such as Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Darrell Bock, Robert L. Thomas and Amos Yong, among others. King’s Talks With Scholars has an interview with Calvin on the main college site, where you can find out further information about the new book. There is also a new website for the book, which is www.thechurchandisrael.com


Book Introduction

By Calvin L. Smith

There are, of course, many Christians who regard Israel as a peripheral issue, even an irritating distraction, not least because getting to theological grips with this complex topic is costly both in time and the effort needed to reach a well-informed and biblically sustainable conclusion. I would agree Israel is not a test of orthodoxy; after all, we are saved through faith in Christ, not because we believe the Jews are God’s chosen people. But as the above Scriptures indicate, neither is Israel a peripheral issue. It already divides the church along hermeneutical (biblical interpretation), systematic theology and practical theology lines. Moreover, as the current debate, which is beginning to trickle down to the church level, becomes increasingly polarised and bitter, inevitably this will push Israel up the theological ladder. For example, recently I came across anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian pamphlets being widely disseminated across a well-known, historic and traditionally conservative denomination.

Much more significant (and ominous) is how the issue of Israel has become a touch paper – how it is symptomatic – of a wider ideological conflict which appears to be brewing within Evangelicalism, certainly here in the United Kingdom but elsewhere too. It mirrors the debate currently being played out in British society concerning how to respond to Islam. Arguably, several of the more vocal and polemical supercessionists have crossed that line which separates legitimate criticism of Israel from an irrational, pathological hatred of the country. Such demonisation of the Jewish state, which comes perilously close to anti-Semitism, goes hand in hand with efforts by such to engage not only in Muslim-Christian dialogue, but also to promote a less confrontational and more sympathetic approach to Islam. In some cases, such an approach includes visits to Islamic centres, attending and speaking at meetings organised by Palestinian solidarity groups, and even visits to rogue Islamic states such as Iran, where these platforms are used to criticise Christians who support Israel and believe the Jews remain God’s chosen people. Even Christians who do not openly support Israel but are nonetheless critical of Islam and what they perceive as an Islamist threat to Britain and the West are being singled out for criticism. A case in point is the recent situation involving Patrick Sookhdeo, a former Muslim convert to Christianity who leads the Barnabas Fund, a charity which speaks out on behalf of persecuted Christians worldwide, including those in Muslim lands. It appears he was recently criticised by some Christians who advocate a gentler, less confrontational approach to Islam, the result of which drew Sookhdeo to the attention of extremist Islamist bloggers. The issue has since been widely reported in the press, several blogs, and on the Barnabas Fund website.(1) Significantly, at least one of the Christians present at the meeting which allegedly criticised Sookhdeo’s frank assessment of Islam is a well-known supercessionist who is highly critical of Israel and Christian Zionism. Thus we see how the Israel issue is increasingly symptomatic of a wider ideological struggle within British Evangelicalism. As such, it cannot be relegated to the periphery as an insignificant theological topic...Continue reading


Another great resource is Dr Renald Showers' The Coming Apocalypse: A study of Replacement Theology vs. God's Faithfulness in the End-Times

Here's a review by Gary Gilley:

In the Western world at least, in which racism is one of the few forbidden sins, the recent rise in anti-Semitism is perplexing. How can civilized, educated, tolerant and pluralistic people despise a race of people solely because of their ethical lineage? But for those who understand the biblical teaching concerning Israel there is no surprise. Unfortunately due to myriad of reasons from biblical illiteracy, to the popularity of Replacement Theology, to lack of interest in prophetic teaching, to an unwillingness to wade through massive tomes on the subject, the average Christian has little understanding of Israel’s past, present or future...Continue Reading


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The Pathology of Jewish Anti-Semitism

From FrontPageMag:

Jewish anti-Semitism. It sounds like a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron or a Jackie Mason joke. If only this were the case.

Jewish anti-Semitism is all around us, part of the political air we breathe, a modern disease. In the twenty-first century the world is experiencing an explosion of it, a virtual plague. Among the most malicious and venomous of all bigots, the Jewish anti-Semites are at the forefront of every smear campaign against Israel and every attempt to cow Jews of America and the West into guilty support for those in the Middle East who would like to annihilate them. Jews today are leaders in the campaigns to boycott and “divest from” Israel, and in the leadership of the “Solidarity with Terrorists” groups. They make pilgrimage to the camps of Hamas and the Hezb’Allah, cheering on terrorists and their atrocities against Jews. They pioneered the smear campaigns to paint Israel as an apartheid regime and to stigmatize it as the moral equivalent to Nazi Germany.

Western campuses are crawling with Jewish anti-Semites. Some even hold leadership positions in Hillel houses. Many others are tenured professors. An anti-Semitic Jewish judge (Richard Goldstone) chaired a UN commission demonizing Israel. A Jewish member of Britain’s Parliament (Gerald Kaufman) compared Hamas terrorists to Jewish fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto and denounced Israel as a Nazi entity. Nor is this only an American phenomenon: a shockingly large number of Jewish anti-Semites are Israelis or ex-Israelis...continue reading

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As I’ve often stated, the phenomenon of Jews attacking their own nation baffles me. Unfortunately, when this occurs it tends to legitimize anti-Semitic sentiment and inherent prejudice. In other words, if a Jew speaks out against Israel then there must be a good reason for it. But the worldwide condemnation of Israel by churches, organizations such as the UN and individuals is patently bizarre when you examine the facts and try to rationalize the behavior. As far as churches are concerned, I lay the blame squarely at the feet of a doctrine called Replacement Theology. But sometimes, eschatology can be the culprit.

Just recently I’ve been reading materials by Steve Wohlberg who is a prolific writer and front man for the Seventh Day Adventist church and who has written a book called “Exploding The Israel Deception”. In his case, the motivation for replacing Israel with the church runs much deeper than RT because his eschatology owes much to the teachings of SDA prophetess Ellen G White.

I’ve read some of Wohlberg’s articles on his WEBSITE – he’s articulate and clever but he’s no exegete. He cherry picks verses that he feels support his presuppositions. He has been called courageous by his readers for speaking out against Zionism and Dispensational errors regarding Israel. But far from being brave; he’s joined the biggest club in the world.

His understanding of Dispensationalism appears to be incomplete. There seems to be some confusion as to what Dispensationalism teaches about salvation and Israel. There is only One Way to salvation - for Israel and Gentiles. I am a Christian and belong to the body of the Church but I will never be an Israelite. My ethnic background is Gentile. A Jew can be saved, become a member of the Church and still be an Israelite inheriting all the promises extended to that nation that have NOT been abrogated. However, I realize this is a complex issue that covers much more ground than that.

Also, contrary to popular opinion, Dispensationalists do not think Israel can do no wrong. The purpose in God’s divine plan is to bring the nation back to Himself despite her failings. That will occur when she acknowledges the true Messiah. This is one of the purposes of the Great Tribulation. But judging by what I’ve been reading, I rather think that some people are seeking to find innovative ways to denigrate Israel and hold her up to a standard not applied to any other nation in the world.

One last thing, Wohlberg’s Jewish heritage has been touted as some sort of credibility factor to support the contentions found in “Exploding The Israel Deception”.

My counter to Wohlberg’s 128 page book is to recommend Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s 1000 + page “Israelology” which was his doctrinal thesis. Dr Frucht’s bio.

Jer 31:34-37 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: "If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever." Thus says the LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done," declares the LORD.

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Supersessionism

What is Supersessionism?

Theopedia chimes in:

Supersessionism is the traditional Christian belief that Christianity is the fulfillment of Biblical Judaism, and therefore that Jews who deny that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah fall short of their calling as God's Chosen people.

Supersessionism, in its more radical form, maintains that the Jews are no longer considered to be God's Chosen people in any sense. This understanding is generally termed "replacement theology."

The traditional form of supersessionism does not theorize a replacement; instead it argues that Israel has been superseded only in the sense that the Church has been entrusted with the fulfillment of the promises of which Jewish Israel is the trustee. This belief has served not only as the explanation for why believers in Christ should not become Jews, but is also the reason that Jews are not exempted by the Christian churches, from the call of the Gospel to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation from sin and from the penalties due to sin.

In recent times, the doctrine of supersessionism has been blamed for mistreatment of the Jews in the past. Some liberal Protestant groups have therefore formally renounced supersessionism, affirming that Jews and other non-Christians have a valid way to find God within their own faith, which breaks from historic Protestant teaching. Dispensationalism affirms that salvation is only through faith in Christ, and that Jews fall short of obtaining the kingdom of the promised Messiah, unless they are converted to Christianity. However, in their view, a future mass conversion will result in the restoration of the nation Israel prior to the Millennium, apart from the church dispensation. This anticipation of a future role for the ethnic and geo-political nation of Israel in the plan of God, apart from the Church, is what is meant by some dispensationalists who style themselves as rejectors of "supersessionism" or "replacement theology", and thus they are using the terms in a way that is distinctive to their expectation of future events.


Again, from gotQuestions.org:

What is replacement theology / supersessionism?


TheologicalStudies.org has a list of articles on this subject:

Defining Supersessionism

Three Categories of Supersessionism

The Importance of Supersessionism to Theology

12 Reasons Supersessionism/Replacement Theology is Not a Biblical Doctrine

The Arguments for and against Supersessionism

Famous Theologians Who Affirm a Future for Israel

Does Acts 1:6-7 Teach the Restoration of the Nation Israel?

Justin Martyr and Supersessionism

Origen and Supersessionism

Augustine's Contribution to Supersessionism

Martin Luther and Supersessionism

Karl Barth and Supersessionism

Supersessionism, the Holocaust, and the Modern State of Israel

The Supersessionist View of 1 Peter 2:9-10

Does Matthew 21:43 Support Replacement Theology?

Is the Church Called "Israel" in Romans 9:6?

Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:30: New Testament Evidence for the Restoration of the Nation Israel

Matt 23:37-39 and Luke 13:34-35: NT Reaffirmations of the OT Expectation for Israel