| Subject: A WARNING FOR CHRISTIANS1 |
Author:
BRI
[Edit]
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Date Posted: 21:26:29 07/06/02 Sat
(67.243.6.158)
My fellow Christians, I have been compelled by the Holy Spirit to write to as many as possible to warn them against supporting the persecution of our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. We are taught to love all, and yet today there is a great evilness in the world that seduces the innocent into unwittingly supporting the persecution of those in Christ in Israel. I will list two sources here and an excerpt that reveal that many are blindly allowing the persecution of our brethren in the mistaken belief that this what our Father in heaven commands. Please read the material carefully and then remember that God's children are those who do his will and know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The following letter is from a Christian evangelist who spent a deal of time in the M.E. While it was writen some time ago, her message is even more relevant today, as the situation in the M.E. has degraded considerably since she penned her letter. Please read what she had to say very carefully:
Christianity and the Middle East
An Open Letter to Fundamentalist Ministers From a Member of a Christian Fundamentalist Church
By Kathleen Banks
July/August 1998, pages 82, 95
To ministers and leaders of the Evangelical or Fundamentalist congregations who support the State of Israel in its expansionist policies:
I am a member of a fundamentalist or evangelical church. Therefore, for some time I have been much troubled upon seeing your names listed in The New York Times (4/18/97 edition), or The Washington Post (1/22/98 edition) along with a number of other prominent fundamentalist ministers who are “joining together to support our Jewish brethren and the State of Israel.”
The articles indicated that your support for Mr. Netanyahu and/or expansionist Israeli leaders and governments is based on your interpretation of Revelation 7:3-8 and various verses from the Old Testament. I understand that you interpret these verses to mean that when the second coming of Christ is about to occur, the Jews on this earth will again possess all of the lands which were once theirs in the Old Testament.
These verses from the Old Testament you interpret to mean that God has a covenant with all Jews because they are the seed of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and David. (Genesis 12:17, Leviticus 26:44-45, Deuteronomy 7:7-8, David 7: 12-16, I Kings 15:4, Psalms 89: 34-37 and Psalms 105:8-11). In none of these verses is it said that this covenant is with all of the seed of these Jewish leaders and forefathers.
The Christians and Muslims who are presently living in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza may be the seed of these Old Testament Jewish leaders as readily as the Jews who are presently living there, many of whom are immigrants from elsewhere. Many of the disciples themselves were originally Jews who lived in these areas. Would you not expect many of their “seed” to be there still?
Mr. Netanyahu and his government continue to build Jewish settlements on land taken by force and terror from the Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim. He and his government continue to seal off or blow up the homes of families in which one member is suspected of participation in any violent acts.
Suspected Christians and Muslims are deported or imprisoned for years without trial and are tortured while in prison. Christian and Muslim families are never given permits to enlarge their own homes no matter how many children they may have.
Taxes are exceedingly higher for Arab citizens than those for Jewish citizens, so high as to drive many Christians and Muslims out of business and/or their homes. Punishments for the killing of Christians and Muslims are usually so minor as to imply that their lives are worth nothing.
It has been indicated also that you base your support of Israel’s apartheid governments on your interpretation of what appear to be signs in today’s world that you think indicate the time for Christ’s second coming is near.
Christian villages have been taken over by terrorist tactics.
In the light of all the Christian as well as Muslim villages that have been taken over by means of the very terrorist tactics that Mr. Netanyahu and his government now decry on the part of the Palestinian extremists, and in view of the apartheid treatment of both Christian and Muslim citizens in the areas that are controlled by the Israeli government, would it not be more in keeping with the teaching of Christ to consider more carefully the words of Christ in Acts 1:6 and 7:
“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”
Time and time again throughout history, groups of Christians thought they had determined the time and the season by using the signs that are given in the New Testament, but each time they were made to look foolish when these words of Christ proved to be true.
We are told that part of your support for Mr. Netanyahu and his “greater Israel” government is based on Genesis 12:3 where God said to Abraham, “I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee...” God is speaking to Abraham, not to all of his descendants. In the words that follow, “and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,” surely these words refer to the coming of Christ out of the seed of Abraham, not to those Jews who rejected Christ then and now, and continue to persecute Christ through persecuting his followers.
“Who Are My Brethren?”
In Matt. 12:48-50, Mark 3:33-35 and Luke 8:21, Christ (the seed of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David) stated who His seed are when he said, “Who is my mother? And who are my brethren? And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister and mother.”
Many fundamentalist Christians are following the lead of Christian ministers who are giving support to those very people who best fit the description of the antichrist. I am not speaking of those Jews who truly desire peace with justice in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, many of whom place themselves in great jeopardy by speaking out or writing books to expose the insidious pressures and organized power used as well as the horrible injustice and cruelty practiced by the Zionists in order to obtain their objective of a greater Israel. I am speaking of the Orthodox, right-wing, hawkish Jews, many of whom look upon Christians and Muslims as subhuman and not worthy of human treatment.
In Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Dr. Israel Shahak, himself a Jew, quotes this special curse against Christians from the daily prayer book used by many Orthodox Jews in Israel: “And may the apostates have no hope, and all the Christians perish instantly” (page 92). On page 93 Dr. Shahak says that a devout Jew must utter a curse when passing near a Gentile cemetery, and upon seeing a dwelling inhabited by people other than Jews must ask God to destroy it.
The Israeli government, in response to the demands of these Orthodox Jews, bans the use of the plus sign in mathematics because it resembles the cross.
Should not our Christian leaders consider the possibility that the remnant of converted Jews spoken of in Revelation may consist in part of the persecuted Christians in this area whose ancestors may well have been the earliest Jewish converts, or the Jews who (in a more Christian spirit) abhor the cruelty and injustice inflicted on Christians and Muslims by the Netanyahu government and other “greater Israel” motivated governments? Surely the latter are the more likely candidates for conversion.
Would it not behoove us to walk every day as if the second coming were going to occur on that very day by simply trying to live as Christ commanded, one aspect of which would be to support our fellow Christians and give comfort to them in their suffering even as we forgive the persecutors? Surely Christ would not have us support those who persecute them? By the latter action is it possible that we might be endangering our immortal souls?
Another book written by a Christian minister is Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour, whose Christian village in Palestine was demolished by Israeli soldiers. Pastor Chacour preaches forgiveness. Still another book is What Price Israel? by Alfred Lilienthal, a Jew who served the U.S. government in the Middle East during and after World War II.
In the report by the U.N. Committee Against Torture can be found the verification of the apartheid treatment of Christians and Muslims in Israeli occupied territories. In the May 9, 1997 issue of The New York Times the following quote serves to substantiate my statement regarding the use of torture by the Israeli government or the Shin Bet with the acquiescence of the Israeli government: “According to Israeli human rights organizations, in recent years about 5,000 Palestinians have been subjected to violence in detention annually.” Also the following: “Human rights groups claim that 80 percent of the Palestinians who are tortured are never indicted for a crime.”
If you are interested in verifying anything I have said by reading the sources from which I have quoted and cannot find them in your local library, they can be obtained from the Washington Report , P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC.
May you be constantly filled with and governed by The Holy Spirit, acting in His wisdom and, as such, walking in His peace.
cc: Dr. John Hagee (Pastor-Cornerstone Church, San Antonio); Pat Robertson (Chairman, the Christian Broadcasting Network and President, The Christian Coalition); Oral Roberts (Founder & Chancellor Oral Roberts University); Bishop Charles E. Blake (Pastor-West Angeles Church of God in Christ, Los Angeles); Pastor George Morrison (Pastor-Faith Bible Chapel, Arvada, CO); Dr. Jerry Falwell (Pastor-Liberty Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg, VA); Ed McAteer (President-the Religious Roundtable); Dr. E.V. Hill (Pastor-Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Los Angeles); and Dr. David Allen Lewis (President-Christians United for Israel).
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Kathleen Banks is a Virginia-born teacher who retired in 1985 after teaching in both the United States and the Middle East.
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Here is a letter endorsed by several Christian ministers teaching in the Holy Land:
http://www.salam.org/policy/falwell.html
Letter to Rev. Jerry Falwell
February 1, 1998
The Reverend Dr. Jerry Falwell
Liberty University
Lynchburg, Virginia
Dear Rev. Falwell,
We, Palestinian evangelical pastors serving among the Palestinian evangelical Christian communities in the Holy Land, write to express our concerns regarding statements that you made in January 1998.
On page four of the International Herald Tribune, January 22, 1998, under the title: Christian Right Backs Israel, the Herald wrote; "Mr. Falwell has said that he and several leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention told Mr. Netanyahu that they would mobilize evangelical churches to oppose steps to give up any more territory to the Palestinians, The New York Times Reported."
We, your brothers and sisters in Christ, prayerfully and in the spirit of love, appeal to you to reexamine your positions regarding Israeli policies in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
We, who live and serve among Palestinians, grasp the harmful effects of denying over 3 million Palestinians living in the Holy Land and another three million Palestinian refugees who are in exile, the right to live in their homeland, the right to freedom and the right to statehood. This denial has been the very cause of much blood shed and suffering in the last five decades.
Please understand that our concern for justice for the Palestinians must not be interpreted as a rejection for Jews to live in security and peace in Israel. As concerned evangelicals, we are called on to approach these complicated issues with Christian compassion for both Israelis and Palestinians and to endorse only a settlement that addresses the legitimate rights and aspirations of both parties. We also condemn all acts of terrorism and aggression regardless whether Palestinians or Israelis are responsible for such acts.
Let us assure you, Reverend, that your statements are hindering the cause of Christ here in the Holy Land, throughout the Arab World (the home of about 250 million people), and throughout the Islamic world (over one billion people). Our task of sharing the love of Christ in this region is becoming increasingly difficult as our brothers and sisters in the West openly express sentiments and endorse policies that produce greater injustice and aggression against Palestinian Christians and Muslims.
Your call on evangelical leaders to write to President Clinton to express opposition to the current peace process, is disheartening to all who seek peace and justice. In the absence of a viable peace process, there will be renewed rounds of violence and the possibility of an all out war. By lobbying against any further Israeli troop withdrawals from the West Bank, you are endorsing the theft of Palestinian lands and adopting the dangerous position of Israeli extremists. To continue to carry out such excessive positions will sooner or later bring major disasters to all Israelis and Palestinians.
As evangelical pastors, teachers and theologians we understand that your positions on these issues may be motivated by your understanding of Biblical prophecies. We also realize, however, that while Christians differ as to the interpretation of Biblical prophecies, we all agree with the following Biblical mandates:
We are called to love all God's creation: "For God so loved the world ..." John 3;16. We believe that this love of God also embraces the Palestinian people, both Muslims and Christians. No man or woman can truly claim to love the Palestinian people, while at the same time, he or she uses every opportunity available to promote injustice against them. God's love cannot be expressed to Palestinians by supporting policies that result in their eviction from their ancestral homelands or by keeping Palestinian refugees stranded in refugee camps.
We are called to be peacemakers: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God" Matthew 5:9. Your statements, Rev. Falwell, indicate that you have a greater passion to see Biblical prophecy come to fulfillment than to see peace and righteousness reign in this land.
We are called to seek justice. "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8
Jesus Christ, after whom we model our faith and action, taught his contemporaries that justice and mercy are the most important aspects of the law.
Addressing religious leader Jesus declared:
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter, without neglecting the former." Matthew 23:23
Finally, Reverend, we pastors and leaders of most evangelical churches in Jerusalem and the West Bank serving among the Palestinians, wish to extend to you an invitation to visit us in the Holy Land. Come and be our honoured guest. We desire for you to travel with us down a modern-day Jericho Road.
We want you to discover for yourself the true victims of this conflict. We wish for you to draw near enough to hear the cry of the oppressed and see with your eyes the wounds of those who are crushed. We pray that you will not decide to walk by on the other side.
Sincerely,
Reverend Musa Abu Ali Bible Baptist Church, Beit Hanina
Reverend Alex Awad East Jerusalem Baptist Church, Jerusalem
Reverend George Awad Bible Presbyterian Church, Bethlehem
Reverend Bassam Bannoura Shepherd Field Baptist Church,Beit Sahour
Reverend Atallah Esawi Church of God, Aboud
Reverend Naju Issa Bible Baptist, Jericho
Reverend Munir Kakish Pentecostal Church, Ramallah
Reverend Ibrahim Mseeh Local Baptist, Ramallah
Reverend Botrus Mualem Church of God, Beit Jala
Reverend Magdi Anwar Missionary Alliance Church, Jerusalem
Reverend Nizar Tuma Nazarene Church, Jerusalem
Reverend Nihad Salman Church of God, Bethlehem
May we all live in Godly peace,
Bri
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