For Zion's Sake we will not keep silent...

Why is Pres. Obama obviously humiliatiing Prime Minister Netanyahu?

2010-03-31T11:11:00.002-04:00

Wednesday, March 31, 2010by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

Why is President Obama so obviously humiliating Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu?

Why is Secretary of State Clinton negating everything she said when she represented New York state and piling on the Jewish state?

They want Benjamin Netanyahu out.

Specifically, they want him to feel such pressure that he dumps his right-wing coalition partners and forms a new government with the center-left party Kadima headed by former Prime Minister Tzipi Livni.
Livni, who thinks nothing of trading land for peace, no matter how flawed the peace might be, will then hold Netanyahu's government hostage and force it to bend to the will of Washington and sign a deal with the Palestinians that cedes them land in return for a handful of vague vapors and promises none of which will be kept.
On March 3, Livni said in a Knesset debate that since Netanyahu took control, "Israel has become a pariah country in the world." She is trying to use Obama's and Clinton's rejection of Netanyahu's course to force her way into the government.
And Obama and Clinton are intent on helping her do so by publicly humiliating Netanyahu.
But Netanyahu insists that he'd be happy to negotiate a peace accord. But, as he told me last year, "I just don't have a peace partner with whom to negotiate."
The Palestinians are expert at playing "good cop/bad cop" with Israel. The good cop -- the Palestinian Authority -- wants to negotiate a peace deal and insists on signs of Israeli good faith in order to do so.
Meanwhile, the bad cop -- Hamas -- fires missiles at Israel from Gaza, land Israel ceded to the Palestinians in order to promote the peace process earlier in the decade.
Any peace deal with the Palestinian Authority will not be binding on Hamas, and the pattern of Gaza will likely play out again: First, Israel ceded land to the Palestinian Authority. Second, Hamas seizes the newly ceded land through elections or military action. Third, Hamas refuses to recognize the peace deal and uses the newly acquired territory as a base from which to launch further attacks against Israel.
Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome each time. When Hillary Clinton and Obama explode in indignation against Israel for building apartments in East Jerusalem, they deliberately miss the point: There is no reason for Israel to catalyze peace negotiations when there is no single entity that is both committed to peace and speaks for the entire Palestinian people.
Without a peace partner, negotiations are either a trip to nowhere or a slippery slope to more Gaza-like concessions that do nothing but strengthen the enemies of Israel without providing any advancement to the cause of peace.
The merits of building in East Jerusalem or the need for a moratorium on all settlement construction are quite irrelevant as long as a substantial body of Palestinian opinion wants a war with Israel and the prevailing political authority in Gaza insists on the Jewish state's eradication.

Clinton's and Obama's studied humiliation of Netanyahu during his recent visit to Washington suggest a more sinister agenda at work.
They are trying to show the Arab world that the United States is quite willing to throw Israel into the sea. When Clinton characterized the American commitment to Israel as "rock solid" while, at the same time, warning that Israel faced destruction unless it concluded a peace deal with the Arabs, it illustrates how conditional U.S. support really is.
Unless Israel toes the U.S. line -- to the satisfaction of the Arab world -- American support won't really be there.
The rocks to which the secretary refers will be tied to Israel's foot as she is thrown overboard by the Obama administration. By raising the profile of the housing issue and by lending legitimacy to the idea that it is Israeli construction that is frustrating the peace process, Obama and Clinton both redirect pressure that should be aimed at Hamas' refusal to honor or participate in any peace talks or accord.
So why are Obama and Clinton so intent on raising the profile of the construction issue and publicizing it?
One suspects that an effort is afoot to link Israeli resistance to the peace process to the ongoing loss of American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, if not to the global terrorism of al-Qaida.
Gen. David Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee that "Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples (in the region). ... Enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the area of responsibility."
In other words, blame Israel.
And ultimately, the administration agenda may be to explain its withdrawal of support for Israel by blaming its stubborn insistence on housing construction.
One can well see the Obama administration learning to live with an Iranian nuclear weapon while blaming Israel for fomenting Iranian hostility by building housing.

All the while, through American aid to Gaza, the Obama administration is helping Hamas to solidify its position in Gaza and lengthen its lease on political power -- the very power it is using to torpedo the peace process.

A letter to Obama published as an AD on Sept 4 2009

2009-09-22T23:05:00.005-04:00

The Muslims and Arab Nations are embraced by Obama; to the Jews and State of Israel he is dismissive and critical.

God embraces the Jews and State of Israel... we would be in THE BEST company to do the same.

(The following letter was published as a full page ad in the September 4, 2009 edition on page 3 of the Washington Jewish Week newspaper.):

Dear President Obama,

Our organizations, representing the views of millions of Americans, are deeply troubled that current Mideast policy initiatives by your administration will compromise Israel's security and undermine the longstanding U.S.- Israel alliance. You have expressed a willingness to consider a broad range of views. In this spirit, we urge you to address the concerns of the important segment of both the Jewish and Christian communities which our organizations represent.

Your calls for a freeze on construction in the so-called "settlements" only serve to promote the anti-Jewish bias of Israel's enemies. Stifling the growth of thriving Jewish communities will not bring peace. Therefore, we urge you to take the following fundamental factors into account when formulating U.S. policy regarding the Middle East:

1. Israel is entitled to be recognized by all nations as a Jewish state that protects the rights of all of its citizens and freedom of worship for all faiths. The Jewish people became a nation over 3,000 years ago in the Land of Israel, which encompasses Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") as well as the city of Jerusalem. Based on the Jewish peoples deep historic and religious connection with the land, their fundamental right to settle throughout this land was explicitly recognized under international law by the League of Nations (Mandate for Palestine, unanimously adopted 1922). This internationally guaranteed right has never been abrogated or revoked by any international successor organization. Therefore, U.S. policy must support the right of Jews to live anywhere within the Land of Israel.

2. It should be understood that the United Nations recognized the State of Israel in 1948 based on the historic and biblical right of Jews to live in their ancestral homeland, not only because of the Holocaust. The Arab nations' refusal to accept this fact has been demonstrated countless times over the last 60 years by their hostile behavior towards Israel.

3. The "two-state solution" currently promoted by your administration is incompatible with the goals of peace. Establishing a terror-sponsoring Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and in the heart of Jerusalem, where no Jews would be allowed to live, would seriously undermine Israel's security as well as violate the internationally guaranteed right of Jewish settlement.

4. Israel, as a sovereign nation, has the unconditional right to designate an undivided Jerusalem as its capital. Jerusalem was established as the capital of the Jewish nation in biblical times. The city was divided by illegal Jordanian occupation of its eastern neighborhoods in 1948, and then reunified under Israeli sovereignty in 1967. Jerusalem stands today as a free and unified city. Therefore, U.S. policy must clearly reflect recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and firmly reject any proposal which would redivide the city.

A just and lasting peace can be achieved in the Middle East only when the Palestinians and all the nations in the region first recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. They must clearly demonstrate their recognition of Israel by permanently ending all acts of belligerency and incitement directed against Israel and the Jewish people.

Mr. President, we urge you to give these issues your serious attention.

Respectfully,

Hon. Marc Caroff
(President, Louis D. Brandeis District chapter of the Zionist Organization of America).
ZOA (local Brandeis District chapter): 301-384-7637; hsaaba@aol.com

Richard A.Hellman
(Founder and President, Christians' Israel Public Action Campaign).
CIPAC: 202-234-3600; RAHellman@cipaconline.org

Herbert Zweibon
(Chairman, Americans For a Safe Israel).
AFSI: 212-828-2424; afsi@rcn.com

Esther Levens
(Founder and CEO,Unity Coalition for Israel).
UCI: 913-648-0022; www.israelunitycoalition.org

Warren Manison
(Washington,D.C.representative, Unity Coalition for Israel)

In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth...

2009-08-22T10:09:00.004-04:00

Obama Empowered Islam...

2009-07-25T10:06:00.004-04:00

From Jerusalem Post Jul 13, 2009 15:52

By NONIE DARWISH

During his landmark speech in Cairo, President Barack Obama's reference to "the story of Israa" in the Koran was a particularly poor choice, because Muslims use this tale of Muhammed's night journey to "the farthest mosque" in support of their claim to Jerusalem's Temple Mount over Judaism and Christianity. Muslims do this even though the name Jerusalem never appears in the Quran, and there was no mosque at all on the site during Muhammed's lifetime.

US President Barack Obama bows before the Saudi king.

Eight years after 9/11, Obama apparently justified Muslim expectations of apologies even when they are in the wrong, and abandoned logic when he declared that Islam has "demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities ofreligious tolerance and racial equality." The truth is that under Islamic Law, all men and women are not created equal. Islamic law discriminates against women and minorities, and burdens Muslim men with many exclusive rights over others.

President Obama said he will allow Muslims to practice their zakat , which is part of a Muslim's obligation under Sharia Law. However, he should have said in no uncertain terms that this can only be done within the boundaries of US laws.

With kid-glove care, President Obama apologized on behalf of America, for Iraq as a "war of choice" and for so-called "torture" of alive-and-well Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

In Obama's speech, every word was carefully measured in order not to expose glaring realities and offend those who curse, flog, stone, behead and terrorize. Obama gave the impression that prior to his administration, the US was arrogant and wrong in its relationship with the Muslim world, and that he represents a new, more compassionate America - a black president with a Muslim father who understands and sympathizes with the Muslim world. The Muslim audience, which included members of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, enjoyed Obama's obvious infatuation with Islamic culture.

Some say it is the Iraq war that caused Muslim hatred of America, but that is not true. Virulent anti-American propaganda was common in the Arab media when I visited Egypt in the summer of 2001. If anything, the Iraq war gave Muslims' brewing hatred an excuse for jihad, a way to excuse themselves from responsibility for, and even defend the actions of terror groups such as Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizbulla. To make matters worse, the Arab street and media, which never gave a damn about the oppression and torture of Iraqis under Saddam, were now being told by Western media that Bush was killing Iraqi civilians and babies, and suddenly the Arab street cares. What a way to empower radical Islam!

But now Bush is out and Obama is in, and the same Western media must quickly fix eight years of propaganda against America. But that will not be so easy. Arab countries will not reciprocate Obama's self-criticism by forgiving America or by examining their own actions. Indeed, Arabs do not consider such self-criticism a virtue to emulate, but a sign of weakness to exploit, and it will reinforce the Muslim belief that they were right all along. Obama's speech has empowered Islam and reinforced its unrealistic expectations of America.

An Egyptian girl said after he spoke: "Words are good, but let us see the action."

What more can America give? Israel?

Note:
The writer, Noni Darwish is a former Muslim and the author of Now They Call Me Infidel; Why I Renounced Jihad and Cruel and Usual Punishment; The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law. I have posted more information about her for you in a separate post. Karen

This article first appeared in the print Jerusalem Post Christian Edition.

About Noni Darwish from Wikopedia

2009-07-25T09:51:00.005-04:00

I've posted an article by Noni, therefore I am giving some background on her for you. There is more on her if you google. Karen

Nonie Darwish is an American writer and public speaker. She is the author of the book Now they Call Me Infidel; Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror. Her second book out in January 2009 is Cruel And Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law. She is also a public speaker and founder of "Arabs for Israel". She states her mission is to "promote reconciliation, acceptance and understanding" between Israelis and Arabs.

Born in Egypt, Darwish is the daughter of an Egyption Army lieutenant general, who, when assassinated by the Israeli army in 1956, was called a "shahid" by the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, although Darwish blames "the Middle Easter Islamic Culture and the propaganda of hatred taught to children from birth" for the assassination. In 1978, she moved with her husband to the United States, and converted to evangelical Christianity there. After September 11, 2001 she has written on Islam-related topics.

Born in Cairo, Egypt, Darwish moved to Gazain the 1950s when her father, Lt. General Mustafa Hafez, was sent by Gamel Abdel Nasser to serve as commander of the Egyptian Army Intelligence in Gaza, which was then occupied by Egypt. Hafez founded the fedayeen who launched raids across Israel's southern border, that between 1951 and 1956, killed some 400 Israelis. In July 1956 when Nonie was eight years old, her father became the first targeted assassination carried out by the Israeli Defence Forces in response to Fedayeen's attacks, making him a shahid. During his speech announcing the nationalization of the Suez Canal, Nasser vowed that all of Egypt would take revenge for Hafez's death. Darwish claims that Nasser asked her and her siblings, "Which one of you will avenge your father's death by killing Jews?"
Darwish explains:

"I always blamed Israel for my father's death, because that's what I was taught. I never looked at why Israel killed my father. They killed my father because the fedayeen were killing Israelis. They killed my father because when I was growing up, we had to recite poetry pledging jihad against Israel. We would have tears in our eyes, pledging that we wanted to die. I speak to people who think there was no terrorism against Israel before the '67 war. How can they deny it? My father died in it."

After his death, her family moved back to Cairo, where she attended Catholic high school and then the American University in Cairo, earning a BA in Socialogy/Anthropology. She then worked as an editor and translator for theMiddle East News Agency, until emigrating to the United States in 1978 with her husband, ultimately receiving United States citizenship. After arriving in the US, she became a Christian and began attending a non-denominational evangelical church. About a year after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Darwish began writing columns critical of Islamic extremism and the silence of moderate Muslims.

"After 9/11 very few Americans of Arab and Muslim origin spoke out and from my experience it took us a long time to get noticed by Western media. Western media still regards Muslim organizations such as CAIR as representative of moderate Muslims in America. This is not the case. Muslim groups in the U.S. try to silence us and intimidate American campuses who invite us to speak. I often tell Muslim students that Arab Americans who are speaking out against terrorism are not the problem, it’s the terrorists who are giving Islam a bad name. And what the West must do is ask the politically incorrect questions and we Americans of Arab and Muslim origin owe them honest answers."

Darwish's Arabs for Israel website describes itself as an organization of Arabs and Muslims who "respect and support the State of Israel", welcome a "peaceful and diverse Middle East", reject "suicide/homicide terrorism as a form of Jihad", and promote "constructive self-criticism and reform" in the Arab/Muslim world. She often says "Just because I am pro- Israel does not mean I am anti- Arab, its just that my culture is in desperate need for reformation which must come from within".

She has spoken on numerous college campuses including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Brown, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Oxford, Cornell, UCLA, NYU, Virginia Tech, UC Berkley and several others. She has also spoken on Capitol Hill, the House of Lords, and The European Parliament.

Views on Islam
Darwish believes Islam is an authoritarian ideology that is attempting to impose on the world the norms of seventh-century culture of the Arabian Peninsula. She writes that Islam is a "sinister force" that must be resisted and contained. She remarks that it is hard to "comprehend that an entire religion and its culture believes God orders the killing of unbelievers." She accuses Islam and Sharia of forming a retrograde ideology that adds greatly to the world's stock of misery.

She claims the Qur'an is a text that is "violent, incendiary, and disrespectful" and says that barbarities such as brutalization of women, the persecution of homosexuals, honor killings, the beheading of apostates and the stoning of adulterers come directly out of the Qur'an.

Messianic Believers serving in the IDF...

2009-07-25T09:44:00.004-04:00

From the Jerusalem Post : Jul 24, 2009 7:49
Serving in the IDF, 'for the sake of God and Jesus'
By MATTHEW WAGNER

Jesus supports the IDF and he wants his believers to be the best soldiers they can be.

That was the message conveyed by members of the local Messianic Jewish community via sacred texts, prayer and talks, to a group of 18-year-olds who took part this week in a premilitary program called Netsor.

"I am a soldier of God," said Boris, an intense redhead accepted to an elite combat unit, who is one of the 28 young men and women who participated in Netsor.

"I will do my best during my service in the IDF to serve God spiritually and physically. Not for the sake of state authorities but for the sake of God and Jesus," added Boris, as we sat in the dining room of a guest house that overlooks Lake Kinneret on Wednesday.

Not far from here, according to Christian tradition, Jesus walked on water, healed the sick and preached. Now, nearly two millennia later, young "believers," as they call themselves, convinced they are walking in Jesus's footsteps, hope to become the next fighter pilots, reconnaissance soldiers, paratroopers, tank commanders and sailors.

Some 150 highly motivated believers will join the IDF this year. Many of them will serve in combat units. Some of them have been through Netsor's week of mental and spiritual preparation offered by the Messianic community. Netsor is a Hebrew word that means "to guard" or "to stand vigilant."

The return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel with the establishment of the State of Israel brought with it a small but growing group of Messianic Jews, numbering today between 10,000 and 15,000. These Christians celebrate their own version of Jewish holidays such as Pessah and Succot and set aside Friday night and Saturday as a day of rest.

But they also believe that Jesus is the messiah and that he is the only path to redemption.

Messianic Jews, who distance themselves from the more in-your-face proselytizing tactics of Jews for Jesus, are nevertheless very open about their beliefs, including their conviction that traditional Jewish faith is not sufficient for redemption.

Due to their religious beliefs, Messianic Jews have been subjected over the years to physical attacks and discrimination, including in the IDF.

M., a platoon commander in an elite demolition unit who is one of the founders of Netsor, asked The Jerusalem Post to leave out identifiable personal details of individuals who agreed to be interviewed out of concern that they would be singled out and blackballed by antagonistic elements with connections in the army.

"In the end, we believe that God opens and closes doors," said M. "And if he does not want someone to advance in the IDF it won't happen. But we don't want to make any mistakes that will hurt someone's IDF career."

For Messianic Jews, military service in the IDF is not only a mandatory civil duty, it is a religious obligation. Lacking an exegetical tradition but serious about the sacredness and relevance of the biblical text, "believers" learn this obligation to serve in the army right out of the New Testament.
Romans (13:1-7) warns not to resist political authority, because it is "the ordinance of God."
Colossians (3:22,23) teaches that one must excel as a faithful servant of one's superiors, not for personal aggrandizement but to serve God.

The group's interpretation of these texts, combined with a strong religious faith, transform them into soldiers of God determined to do his will during their stint in the army of the Jewish state.

Other verses, such as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, 5-7), which some Christians interpret as Jesus's support for pacifism, are seen by Messianic Jews as an obligation to love one's enemies while fighting and killing them.

"I hate what Palestinian terrorists do, therefore I will do anything, including kill, if necessary, to stop them," said Tzvi, an educator and counselor at Netsor. "But I do not allow that to prevent me from loving them as human beings."

Many Messianic Jews see their obligation to serve in the IDF as no different from the obligation of other Christians in the US, Britain or even Jordan and Egypt to serve their respective countries.
"If I lived in Jordan I would have the same feelings for the Jordanian army," said Tzvi.

But for some, serving in the IDF has special theological meaning. Yoel, who was an officer in an IDF combat unit, believes the return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel is part of God's plans.

"The IDF is an instrument in the hands of God because it facilitates his plan," said Yoel. "But I would not call it a holy army or the army of God."
The Netsor program, which began three years ago, has quadrupled the number of students from seven in 2007 to 28 this year.

Yoel, one of Netsor's founders, hopes one day to create a premilitary academy for Messianic Jews modeled after existing academies for religious and secular Israelis.

"We pray that sometime in the future we will succeed in establishing a full-fledged premilitary academy that will offer a one-year program; with God's help."

Roi selflessly gave his life for all of Israel on July 26, 2006 - Three years later...

2009-07-25T09:34:00.006-04:00

From the Jerusalem Post: Jul 24, 2009 16:46
The Moor has done his work
By SARAH HONIG

Once upon not too many decades ago - before globalized media crassness took over and when Israelis were way more erudite - folks around here freely quoted such literati as German poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller. It wasn't considered elitist or esoteric. So when the Palmah was disbanded and its altruists felt they were used and then ungratefully discarded, they resorted to Schiller's comment in his 1783 play Fiesco: "The Moor has done his work, the Moor may go."
The Palmahniks may well have overdramatized their sense of rejection. Their undeniable voluntarism and sacrifice weren't discounted. They were hardly castigated. They may not have gotten their political way, but they were the establishment's adored sons, lauded in song and lore. And they rose high in its hierarchy.

The same isn't true for the Palmahniks' latter-day heirs at Israel's frontlines - both in pioneering and on the battlefield - those collectively and (all-too-often) scornfully dubbed "settlers." If any allusion to Schiller's dispensable Moor were appropriate, it certainly is in the case of decorated war-hero Roi Klein. Rather than being the exception, his story is emblematic of the thankless attitude to his entire milieu.

Roi selflessly gave his life for us all on July 26, 2006 - almost exactly three years ago. Last week his name made the news again (admittedly not on all airwaves or in all papers and definitely not in noticeable front-page headlines). Peace Now had declared war on the family he left behind - his widow Sarah and small sons Gilad and Yoav. As could only be expected, Peace Now won handily. It could hardly be otherwise. The judicial dice are plainly loaded in its favor.

BUT WE'RE getting ahead of ourselves. Let's first return to Roi's last day during the Second Lebanon War. Maj. Klein, the 31-year-old deputy commander of Golani Brigade's 51st battalion, suspected an ambush in the Hizbullah stronghold of Bint Jbeil. His requests for backup, air support or a more offensive advance were denied out of concern for Arab noncombatants who might be holed up there. Roi's life was deemed expendable already at that stage. His senses were sharp. His company was indeed waylaid by grenade-hurling terrorists in civilian garb.

One grenade landed directly near Roi. Shouting "Shema Yisrael" (Judaism's most definitive affirmation of faith, recited twice daily and uttered when one believes he is about to die), Roi jumped on the live grenade, saving his comrades at lethal cost to his own body. Some fellow fighters say they heard him calling out seconds before the fatal blast: "Tell my family I was killed."

Roi could have saved his own life but he cared more about the soldiers under his command. The Ra'anana-raised officer had everything to live for. He left a young wife and two kids at home, in a new neighborhood of Eli, near Ariel. The neighborhood, where some 45 families reside - many of them of IDF officers - was founded in 1998 on Israel's 50th birthday and was therefore suitably called Hayovel (the jubilee).

PEACE NOW - always on hand to fan the flames of discord, its moniker notwithstanding - considers Hayovel an illegal outpost. And always ready to snitch and curry favor with assorted Obamas, Peace Now petitioned the High Court to order the government to demolish many Hayovel homes, the Klein family's included. Needless to say, the consistently left-leaning court didn't hesitate to side with the left-wing petitioners.

Thus, 11 years after its birth, the court conferred illegitimacy upon a neighborhood constructed with Jewish Agency backing, with infrastructure prepared by the Defense Ministry and with full approval and support from the first Netanyahu government. Nonetheless, red tape for beyond-the-Green-Line projects is far more snarled than inside said Green Line. That's the Achilles' heel for Hayovel and similar so-called unauthorized outposts. There, final rubber-stamping is required from the highest political echelons and it frequently comes post factum, after construction is already under way with officialdom's endorsement.

Had Peace Now merely sought to alter this state of affairs from hereon, it could only be accused of obstructionist bureaucratic pedantry. Peace Now, though, sets its officious sights retroactively too. Contrary to prevalent perceptions, which it avidly and deliberately fosters, it doesn't just target those it portrays as wild-eyed zealots who skip madly from barren hill to barren hill with beat-up trailers in tow. It targets normative families who worked hard to erect their normative homes in normative neighborhoods. In Hayovel's case, many of these families are military families, headed by idealistic officers who daily put their lives on the line to defend the likes of the Peace Now leadership which misses no opportunity to undercut them.

Thus Peace Now in effect posthumously turned Roi-the-hero into Klein-the-felon. And he, in his grave, won't even know how he was dishonored. Sarah and the boys will pay the full price for his crimes of loving the land, of willingness to sacrifice life and limb for the Jewish state, of adhering to a creed upon which Peace Now frowns and of living where Peace Now prohibits Jewish residence. The family home is slated for demolition and it's not clear if even the most sympathetic government can save it now that the inimical highest court in the land has swung its ax.

Petitions are already circulating to save the dwelling and further legal steps are afoot. But whether the house that Roi built is eventually spared somehow is almost beside the point. That house is symbolic. There are others around it and in other maligned settlements that are just as threatened and inhabited by families just as dedicated as the Kleins.

BEFORE US is another installment in the nightmare mistreatment of Israel's best sons and daughters. It's a smaller-scale reenactment of the massive travesty of disengagement. The 9,000-plus expellees were Israel's most altruistic citizens. Their devotion was repaid with a contemptuous kick-in-the-teeth, fully abetted by our supposedly humanitarian above-reproach Supreme Court. Disengagement's victims have still not been rehabilitated. Some of them, nevertheless, subsequently fought and fell in the service of their country.

Yet their gallantry is anathema to Peace Now. Strictly toeing the Peace Now line, the previous government nixed a monument to Roi in Eli, on the technical grounds that the law which pertains to memorials doesn't apply in Judea and Samaria. A proposed amendment to the law was vigorously opposed and defeated by the Olmert-Livni coalition in the last Knesset.

Not only was Roi proverbially cast by ingrate Peace Now as Schiller's disposable Moor, but even the service that he did render mustn't be acknowledged and certainly not be commemorated in his own hometown.

Nevertheless, solace can also be found in another Schiller quote: "Our own heart, and not other men's opinions of us, forms our true honor."

My Father the Nazi by Leithgob & Lisa Rudiger

2009-06-19T14:03:00.005-04:00

Werner Oder is the son. He's been kind enough to let us share his story with you.
Karen & Roger

Son of Austrian SS officer discovers love for Jews-

Given some of his earliest memories, it’s hard to believe Werner Oder is a Christian pastor today, much less one who loves the Jews and Israel.“When my father came home from prison, it seemed as if someone had turned off the light. I remember distinctly how darkness descended on the whole family with incredible and evil chaos,”

Oder recently recalled.His “father” was Wilhelm Oder, a notorious Nazi SS officer who trained his comrades in the most efficient methods of executing Jews. After World War II, he managed to elude capture for a while, before finally being jailed in his hometown of Linz. It was upon his release that a young Werner got to know his father for only a brief period, an encounter that haunted him for decades.Werner was only three years old then, but he remembers it clearly. “When he came home, he brought all his demons with him. My sister and I were totally traumatized.”It seems Werner had been born into a family infested with a dark obsession of anti-Semitism. His maternal grandfather worked for the German ambassador Hans Ludin in Bratislava who deported 22,000 Jews to the death camps. Ludin was arrested in my home town by the Americans and later hanged for war crimes.As a young man, Wilhelm Oder joined the national socialist party in Austria, which was banned until Hitler staged the Anschluss (annexation) in March 1938. To destabilize the country, the Germans had been sending in agitators to commit violent acts against the government, and assasinate politicians. Wilhelm was one of the Nazi collaborators. When Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated in 1934, the government arrested the Nazi agitators, including Wilhelm, who was tried as a terrorist and was just about to be executed when the Wehrmacht marched in and “merged” Austria with the Third Reich. The move actually spared his life.

Wilhelm then joined the Waffen-SS and was trained in the concentration camp at Dachau. Afterwards, he was sent to the Polish village of Rabka, where the Nazis turned a girls’ school into a center for training the Einsatzgruppen death squads which were operating throughout Eastern Europe. They rounded up Jews and Poles and shot them in the woods behind the school. Children were used as live targets for machine gun practice.For the duration of the war, Wilhelm stayed at the training center and became an expert in killing Jews. He developed the Genickschuss method of shooting a victim in the nape of the neck, which proved the most efficient means of execution other than the gas chambers.When the Russians pushed the German army back into Poland, Wilhelm was captured and put in a prisoner of war camp. Fearing execution if his SS past was discovered, he managed to escape and make his way back into Austria, where he hid out with other Nazi fugitives. But eventually American forces identified and arrested him, with the help of Simon Wiesenthal, who had survived the nearby Mauthausen camp and immediately started his hunt for the perpetrators of the Holocaust. In his book, “The Murderers among us,” Wiesenthal mentions that Oder was one of the first Nazis he was tracking down.

For the next few years, a probe was conducted and he was finally put on trial in Linz. War crimes trials in Austria often tended to be ‘kangaroo courts’ that mocked the accusers and relied on questionable ‘character witnesses’ to hand down acquittals or easy sentences.The court archives in Linz show that the witnesses against Wilhelm Oder were neutralized by positive testimonials, resulting in a relatively light sentence of six years hard labor. Within a few short months, he was free and living as a hero near his home town, known as an early breeding ground for Hitler’s Nazi movement. Wilhelm was a womanizer and was still imprisoned when he fathered Werner. Now three years old, the lad was soon to dread the sight of his father.“At first my family lived in a beautiful country estate, but was forced to moved to a slum after the release of my father who was incredibly violent, had five women at the time, and sired many children,” says Werner. “When he came home from prison, he brought all his demons with him which affected me badly.”“I became insane, intensely violent, aggressive, and developed a blind hatred towards the Jews. This is not something which just happens, it is a learned behaviour. I started to develop nightmares as a child. I was screaming every night out of fear, because I saw demonic beings in our home that I thought had came to kill me. I tried to explain this to people, but no one believed or cared enough to help.”These nightmares lasted for six years, every night the same nightmare, the same screaming. “I was a very sick child which spent most of his time curled up in bed like a terrified animal. I knew sooner or later I was going to die.”

Finally at the age of 9, he cried out to God for the first time in his life: “I do not want to die, I want to live!” "That was my first prayer, although there was no God in our home, and I knew nothing about who He was, or where He was.”Sadly, his situation only got worse, but unbeknown to Werner, God had heard his prayer.

It took seven more years until he met Peter Wiegand, a young German Christian that had been called to be an evangelist in Austria at the same time as Werner’s desperate prayer. Peter was the first person who told Werner about the love of God.“This was an incredible concept for me, that somebody who is called God loves me! I could not believe what I heard,” recalls Werner. “From the moment I decided to trust in Jesus the torment and nightmares stopped, the demons left and my sanity was restored to me. I was changed. Not just forgiven, I was set free!”Nevertheless, giving his life to Jesus was not a quick fix for Werner. “I had to allow God time and space to work on me. My moral and psychological life had been such a mess.” For the next seven years, he was taught Christian principles at a Christian youth center in Austria.

Slowly, his life got back on track, and he made another big discovery – Jesus was Jew. An inexplicable love for the chosen people of God started to grow in his heart. Werner began to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. “I went back to my family, who were still committed Nazis and anti-Semites, and I said: ‘What did you do to the Jews, do you know that Jesus is a Jew?’ It was like throwing a hand grenade. All hell broke loose. I was accused of things; I was shot at. I still have the scar where a bullet grazed the back of my head. I was harassed. The police picked me up for no reason. It was really bad.”In the midst of the turmoil God provided a way out for Werner. In 1972, he called him to the north of England to attend Bible school in Capernwray. A few years later Werner, with his wife Avril, a native of Yorkshire, returned to Linz, where they lived a normal middle-class life for a few years. Then again, Werner felt God call him back to England for more Bible college training and eventually he became the pastor of Tuckton Christian Fellowship in Bournemouth. [www.tucktonchristiancentre.co.uk]

Werner has now visited Israel several times and developed very warm relations with the Jewish community in England. “Because of my love for Israel, which has grown over the years, God gave me a lot of opportunities to speak at Holocaust memorial days, where I’ve met a lot of Jews. Once I shared my testimony in London, in the presence of almost 1000 people, many of them Jewish business men. I am well received by them. People know I love them, they are friendly and they respect me for my belief in Jesus as the Messiah.”

In Austria, everyone he spoke to pretended not to know anything about the anti-Semitic past of the country. “There is a conspiracy of silence which strangles the Austrian people”, he explains. “The first generation died without repentance and the second and third generation has therefore still inherited the curse as a consequence. Austria could be a free country in so many ways, if that would be resolved.”

Nevertheless, Werner has hope and a deep love for his homeland. He feels a stirring in his heart to share his testimony in Linz, where Eichmann lived and Hitler went to school.“Whenever I share my testimony, God does amazing things. I’d like to take it to Linz. I believe the Lord can create an amazing bridge to Israel from there.”

What Bibi (Netanyahu) didn't say.. by Sarah Honig

2009-06-10T21:10:00.003-04:00

A voice from Israel...

In salvaging the image of a beleaguered country like Israel, it's not merely the justice of the case which counts, and not only how convincingly it's made in private. The key is to ensure listenership. Even the most effective of arguments is useless without an audience.
Binyamin Netanyahu had that audience, and with it the opportunity to stress the most elementary facts of our existence, which are, alas, too often overridden by simplistic slogans and shallow conventional wisdom. He could have done more good than Israel's entire diplomatic corps and then some. Whatever he accomplished behind the scenes, Bibi missed the opportunity to sound the voice of sanity in obsessively kitschy and dangerously unrealistic America.

Lots of ears were perked to hear what Israel's newly reelected PM would say when he visited Washington (for the first time after reassuming office) to meet with new US President Barack Obama (whose posture vis-a-vis Israel is more than a little disconcerting). Contention between the two simmered barely below the surface, tension was in the air and the media was on the lookout for good copy. America was listening.

Too bad Bibi failed to seize the opportunity.

Unlike his three predecessors, his heart is in the right place and he was prudent to evade the public semblance of open confrontation with Obama. Yet Obama hardly reciprocated in kind. He preached superciliously from the supposed moral high ground, seeming intent on casting Netanyahu as the obstructionist nay-sayer.

To dodge the baited and primed trap, Netanyahu abstained from trashing the "two-state solution" too stridently, regardless of how deceptive and how much of a survival-threatening proposition it represents for Israel. In our inauspicious circumstances, we should be grateful he didn't obsequiously offer to swallow the poisoned pill, as his three predecessors had with suicidal alacrity.

But Bibi could have challenged other fashionable mantras mouthed unthinkingly everywhere as if they were gospel. Moreover, golden opportunities to set the record straight presented themselves away from the White House turf, where Netanyahu was understandably loath to irk his unfriendly host.

HE COULD, for example, have refuted various facile refrains on Capitol Hill - like the persistent notion that settlements impede peace. This issue of course is intrinsically interconnected with the cliche condemnation of Israeli "occupation" and the sanctimonious clamor for a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu should have unequivocally rejected the false symmetry drawn between settlements and genocidal schemes against the Jewish state. He should have reproved his interlocutors for the grossly unjust moral equivalence they carelessly create. But he seemed resigned to the equation and only demanded reciprocity in its application.

It might have helped to remind opinion-molders abroad that the settlements didn't cause our regional strife and that consequently, visceral enmity for Israel won't disappear, even if every last settlement does. The settlements, Bibi should have emphasized, are red herrings deliberately dragged in - with heaps of malice aforethought - to mislead the uninitiated and thereby undermine Israel.

Arabs regard all of Israel as an illegitimate settlement. Israel was hated, designs for its destruction were blueprinted and terror was rampant before the first settlement was founded on land liberated in the Six Day War of self-defense. Had the Arab world not attempted to destroy Israel in 1967, the territories on which settlements eventually arose wouldn't have come under Israel's control - ergo Arab belligerence predated Israeli settlements.

Israel's head of government might have added that these settlements aren't remote from Israel's heartland. Indeed, they're directly adjacent to its most crowded population centers, besides being the cradle of Jewish history. Jews are hardly foreign interlopers in their homeland. Large Jerusalem neighborhoods - some continuously Jewish from time immemorial - are categorized internationally as objectionable "settlements."

SETTLEMENTS AREN'T the problem and removing them isn't the solution. Israel foolishly dismantled 21 Gaza Strip settlements in 2005. Did peace blossom all over as a result? Precisely the reverse occurred. The razing of Israeli communities was regarded as terror's triumph, expediting the Hamas takeover. Emboldened by seeming success, Hamastan amassed formidable military arsenals and launched rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.

Israel generously left behind costly hothouses and other livelihood-generating facilities - incentives for Gazans to opt for productive pursuits rather than murder and mayhem. Nevertheless, the bequeathed infrastructure was wrecked in violent frenzy and turned into terror bases. So much for addressing Gaza's humanitarian plight.

This pattern should be borne in American minds before Congressional kibitzers admonish Israel. Fatahland stands ready in Judea and Samaria to emulate Hamastan. However, the potential disaster for Israel on its elongated eastern flank makes Gazan aggression in the south appear negligible.

Netanyahu should have spread out maps and pointed to the location of the settlements that so incense the State Department. They adjoin Petah Tikva, Kfar Saba and Netanya - all quite close to Tel Aviv. This is Israel's notorious narrow waistline (nine miles between the Mediterranean and the border near Netanya). The settlements give Israel minimal depth and constitute bulwarks against utter chaos rather than obstacles to utopian harmony. They are precisely the opposite of what latter-day disguised blood-libelers claim.

Maligning the settlements - with such alarming unanimity - is the updated version of blaming Jews for whatever ails the world. Once it was medieval Europe's Black Death. Today it's Islam's insidious inroads into modern Europe. Even responsibility for Iranian nukes can be laid at Israel's door. If only Israeli settlements were sacrificed to appease the savage beast, the rest of the world might enjoy a lulling respite. And when that respite is over, more demands will be made of the Jews - who, as always, upset global equilibrium.

In the plainest language, Netanyahu should have told his listeners that they are going after the wrong side, allowing the real miscreants to gain strength while weakening a true ally and making it more vulnerable to hostile predation. This, Netanyahu should have declared, won't save America, or anyone else. It will only hasten the cataclysm.

Netanyahu should have reminded Americans that during the Six Day War - before any so-called Israeli occupation or settlement activity began - a Jordanian WWII-vintage Long Tom cannon hit an apartment building in central Tel Aviv's Kikar Masaryk, a mere hop from City Hall. That antiquated weapon was fired from a lowly hill outside Kfar Saba. Visible and assailable from that hill are greater Tel Aviv, the extended Dan and Sharon regions and Israel's three power stations (Ashkelon, Reading and Hadera). Were that hill to be ceded, no car could travel safely in metropolitan Tel-Aviv and no plane could land or take off from Ben-Gurion Airport.

Any attempt to hinge "accommodation with Iran" on suffocating the settlements is tantamount to advising Israelis to slit their own throats before Ahmadinejad nukes them. That's what Bibi should have said. Instead he mumbled something about not constructing new settlements.

Never Since the 1930s …By Sarah Honig

2009-05-18T19:39:00.003-04:00

Sarah's article was in the Jerusalm Post last month. She's graciously allowed me to post it. We all need to be reminded of what happened to the Jews in the 1930s and could so easily happen again should we not stand in a firm alliance with Israel and the Jewish people. Please read on...

Minimal intellectual honesty compels us Jews to admit that we live in dangerous times - so dangerous that they cannot but remind us of the noxious atmosphere that led to the incomparable tragedy we will solemnly commemorate this Tuesday.

Never in its annals was the phoenix-like Jewish state - literally arisen from the ashes of incinerated Jewish multitudes - so defamed, so unaccepted by the so-called family of nations and so tossed in a howling tempest of ill will. Never since the 1930s have we experienced isolation so suffocating and so ubiquitous. Never since the 1930s did our collective pariah-status breed among us a resignation so deep-seated that it appears to border on apathy.

What makes our times so chillingly similar to the era that conceived and tolerated the Holocaust is the broad social respectability accorded Jew-bashing. It matters little if the pretext is the fake ogre the Nazis called "International Judaism," or the state that the Jews established so they would never be defenseless again. What matters is that Jewish self-defense in the framework of the Jewish state is as assiduously demonized as was the nonexistent cabal of the Elders of Zion.
JEWISH SELF-preservation today is as illegitimate as it was then, and assailing it is as bon ton as in those dark days before the great cataclysm.

The vulgar bigotry of thugs - whether brown-shirted and in hobnailed boots or skin-headed or keffiyeh-wrapped - was and is facilitated by the ideologically-honed vitriol of an ostensibly exemplary, honorable sort. They rationalize their abhorrence as decent and de rigueur. They were the ones who once made it possible for the storm troopers to terrorize and who now vindicate jihadist terror. Once more the self-professed spokespersons of enlightenment and free speech horrifyingly shout down and shut up the objects of their scorn.

Reviling the Jewish state is today just as proper and urbane as turning sophisticated noses up at Jews was for the prewar smart-set. Verses like T.S. Eliot's "The rats are underneath the piles/The Jew is underneath the lot" were received with knowing winks and smug nods of approval by his literary milieu. Jews were judged as deserving repugnance, and the then-guardians of virtue perceived nothing untoward in the diabolical portraiture.

To be sure, Eliot-style spitefulness is crude by today's slyer standards, but the bottom-line is unchanged. No need to badmouth Jews indelicately when Judeophobic ends can be more effectively achieved via compassion for the Jews' would-be annihilators.

When the latter are painted as oppressed victims, Jews per force emerge as ruthless oppressors. When Jews, moreover, are called Israelis, their maligners can fend off accusations of anti-Semitism. Such accusations are anyhow brandished as proof of manipulative intent to silence all criticism of the Jewish state. Calculated, circuitous reasoning eventually turns Jew-haters into righteous, persecuted underdogs, while Israelis are cast as ferocious hounds.

It's thus possible to seethe with anti-Semitism without admitting it. This in turn enables self-loathing Jews to join the denunciation-fest, present themselves as morally superior to benighted "other" Jews and thereby strive for their own personal exoneration from Jewish guilt.Hate-mongers need only claim that they just cannot abide the suffering inflicted by Nazi-clone Jews/Israelis on pitiable Palestinians. By equating Jewish/Israeli "crimes" with the Holocaust, the ploy becomes altogether irresistible. It no longer matters that Israel's army is humane to its own detriment, or that the Palestinians are merely the vanguard of the pan-Arab/Muslim drive to ethnically cleanse this region of any negligible Jewish vestige.

It doesn't even matter that Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular were avid cheerleaders and collaborators in the original Holocaust. Pop-culture banality nearly casts Jews/Israelis as the bad guys of the Holocaust saga.

In the topsy-turvy reality of shallow pop-conscience, descendents of history's worst mass murderers and most indifferent onlookers now decontaminate their heritage by arrogantly portraying descendents of the most downtrodden as flagrantly evil. Exploiting the Holocaust to condemn the children of Holocaust survivors for seeking to preempt a Holocaust sequel must be the epitome of cynicism. But this cynicism is the basic prerequisite for progressive credentials.
THAT'S WHY The New York Times published Pat Oliphant's cartoon featuring a gigantic, headless, sword-wielding, goose-stepping, uniformed fiend wheeling a razor-fanged Star of David that threatens to run down a tiny, defenseless Gazan woman and baby. Every last demonizing stereotype is there, yet the guise is of an indignant liberal commentary rather than the Der Sturmer calumny it replicates.

The Australian-born Oliphant, moreover, is no gutter-agitator. He's the world's most widely syndicated political cartoonist, the winner of numerous awards, including the Pulitzer, and his works have been exhibited in no less than Washington's National Portrait Gallery. Even more disheartening is the fact that Oliphant's distortive cliche is so commonplace.

In bastions of professed broadmindedness, deploring "Israeli excesses" is the barest minimum expected of upstanding persons of goodwill and forward-thinking inclinations. It's an indispensable accessory for the liberal image. Any young quasi-cultured person one might encounter overseas is likely not to like us. That has nothing to do with malice and everything to do with the trendy indoctrination of the do-gooders in crowd.

Said do-gooders orchestrate sinister demonstrations outside Israeli embassies. They throng at college campuses to heckle and abuse any speaker suspected of pro-Israeli sentiments (or of not being sufficiently anti-Israel). They clamor for boycotts of all Israeli products. In freedom's name they initiate inherently incongruous academic boycotts of Israeli universities (which are renowned for unconstrained nonconformity and pluralism). They disrupt sporting events in which Israelis compete. Some even purport to champion opposition to genocide by abiding chants like "Hamas! Hamas! All Jews to the gas!"

They so detest bloodshed and injustice that they vehemently deprecate any remotely feasible plan to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear warheads. The politically correct thing to do is not impede tyrants who broadcast their bloodcurdling intentions before every available microphone.World peace will supposedly be secured by restraining Israel. Submissive Jews/Israelis are presumably assured the affections of do-gooder non-anti-Semites. Which brings us right back to the 1930s, when Jews couldn't have been more powerless or compliant. Nonetheless, their helplessness won them no kind consideration.

"In those days before the war," Chaim Weizmann said in recalling international vexation with the Jews, "our protests were regarded as provocations. Our very refusal to subscribe to our own death sentence became a public nuisance." Words that could be spoken today.

This also goes for Weizmann's warning to Anthony Eden: "The fire from the synagogues may easily spread to Westminster Abbey... If a government is allowed to destroy a whole community which has committed no crime... it means the beginning of anarchy and the destruction of the basis of civilization. The powers which stand looking on, without taking measures to prevent the crime, will one day be themselves visited by severe punishment."

Prophecy Matters: The Real Eschatology of Abandonment by Jim Fletcher

2009-05-18T19:13:00.005-04:00

Is Brian McLaren correct when he labels proponents of Bible prophecy as followers of an "eschatology of abandonment"?

By that he means that those of us who are expecting the soon appearance of the Messiah are escapists who really don't care about the world's resources, the hungry, or those suffering in a host of ways.

Of course I reject his categorization. McLaren, a key member of what has been labeled the Emergent Community, has an agenda to marginalize teachers and students of Bible prophecy. Although McLaren focuses on several agendas, one of the most significant is the drive to marginalize Bible-believing Christians. A key component of this campaign is to throw water on the fires of predictive prophecy.

A tragic outcome of this campaign is the disconnection of Israel and the Jews from American Christians. An outgrowth of the heretical teaching known as Replacement Theology - the idea that God has replaced Israel with the Church - the campaign is active on many fronts.

For some Christians, Jesus was a "Palestinian." In point of obvious fact, the Jewish Redeemer was no more a Palestinian than Sammy Davis Jr. was a Harlem Globetrotter. Yet the label has stuck with too many. This big lie, popularized by Yasser Arafat and the PLO, has found traction with many mainline church denominations. That first-century Jews in Judea would have had no understanding of a "Palestine" should be elementary. But it isn't in this age of sophisticated propaganda.

Another effort has come from otherwise solid ministries. From Hank Hanegraaff (the "Bible Answer Man") to Gary DeMar, Preterism has made inroads. Preterism says that most of the prophecies Christians have hoped for were in fact fulfilled in the first-century, notably in the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. While one can certainly have dialogue with preterists, it is the disconnect it causes in the minds of the laity that is most troubling. It stresses that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land in this generation is not overly significant.

But it is the campaign to label Bible prophecy proponents as practicing an "eschatology of abandonment" that is perhaps most troubling. At a time when young people are becoming increasingly bored with traditional church, smooth spokesmen like McLaren appear reasonable, authoritative, and relevant. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Predictive prophecy is supremely relevant today, for the simple fact that so much of it is happening before our eyes. Jerusalem is a bugaboo for the international community. Israel is reborn. The moves toward both a one-world economy and a one-world religion are aboard the Silver Streak Express.

History is being ushered to its conclusion by the Lord of History. If people aren't ready for that reality, they will be susceptible to every false philosophy out there. In that setting, the failure to recognize the True God will prove fatal. How irresponsible of teachers like Brian McLaren to minimize the marvelous truths of Bible prophecy!

Every Bible prophecy teacher I know - and I know many of them - are responsible, people-loving servants of the Lord. Teachers like McLaren like to paint them as foolish (even dangerous!) escapists. His charge is false.

The late David Lewis was a pioneer in Arab-Israeli dialogue, worked tirelessly to feed the hungry, and was a soft-touch for every downtrodden person he encountered. This Assemblies of God evangelist was a prophet in a way that McLaren, Jim Wallis, and John Spong will never be. He is not alone. Superb men like David Reagan, Don Perkins, Tommy Ice, Terry James, Thomas Sharp, and many, many others are front-line soldiers in the spiritual war that rages all around us.

McLaren's spiritual fathers were men like Harry Emerson Fosdick and Karl Barth. C.H. Dodd, director of the committee for the New English Bible, said in 1962: "It is impossible to think of Doomsday as a coming event in history." Why? Because C.H. Dodd said so.

Notice here a key thing. The bias of leaders like McLaren, Dodd, Fosdick, etc. is often presented as reasoned, "careful thinking." It is nothing of the sort. It is heresy that is sweeping millions into a cold void, where hope has been extinguished.

If the apostle Paul taught that the Day of the Lord was a future event and the hope of the Christian, was he practicing an eschatology of abandonment? Do you think Paul obsessed about the environment? Was he Green? Did he value religious pluralism?

Of course not. He was looking up, as were all the original church leaders. How sad that the opinions of men began to seep into the Church soon after; this spiritual arrogance stretched-out its tentacles then and has become rampant now. This bitter fruit has corrupted everything it's touched. In his book, Principles of Organic Evolution, Arthur Ward Lindsey had this to say: "During this period it is significant that several of the church fathers expressed ideas of organic evolution even though the trend of ecclesiastical thought led more readily into other lines of reasoning. St. Gregory of Nyssa (331-396 A.D.), St. Basil (331-379 A.D.), St. Augustine (353-430 A.D.), and St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.) expressed belief in the symbolic nature of the Biblical story of creation and in their comments made statements clearly related to the concept of evolution."

Do you understand? The early church fathers left reliance on God's Word alone and began to embrace the philosophies of men, such as Greek thinkers. The philosophy of naturalism is a worldview python that squeezes to death the hope of desperate men and women everywhere, who are groping about for Truth.

It is no accident that today, the Emergent leaders and mainline apostates are calling for a return to the teachings of Augustine, Aquinas, and others. These spiritualizers of Scripture are alive and well in 2009, operating in blogs, pulpits, books, and multi-media settings. They are spreading the false view that Bible prophecy and its adherents are crackpots and dangerous.

The true danger lies in taking our eyes off Scripture alone as our guide for life. The true eschatology of abandonment is the diabolical desire to marginalize Bible prophecy at a time when our world most needs to understand it.

I publicly challenge Brian McLaren to a debate on the validity of Bible prophecy, anytime, anywhere.

Jim Fletcher is director of Prophecy Matters (www.prophecymatters.com). He is the co-author of 'The Last War' (2001, New Leaf Press) and his new book, it’s the end of the world as We Know It,' will be released by Strang Communications in March, 2009.

Israel 61 Years Young...

2009-04-30T19:24:00.003-04:00

Excerpt from an article in the Jerusalem Post April 28, 2009

Israel commemorated its Day of Remembrance at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem, where one of bloodiest battles of the 1967 Six Day War was waged. The fortified Jordanian police station that stood on the hill had to be overcome to help clear the way to Mount Scopus, the campus of the Hebrew University and the Old City. Thirty-six men gave their lives to achieve that mission.

At 8 p.m. a siren ushered in memorial services throughout the land. Television and radio broadcast the main ceremony from the Western Wall plaza. Stirring emotions, the cameras showed the memorial flame being lit, the flag at half-mast and the honor guard at attention, with the Wall illuminated in the background.

When dispersed the Jewish people began their return to Israel in the 1880s, who could have foretold that the culmination of that homecoming would be too late for millions of them? Who, moreover, could have known that the 1948 War of Independence would be but a down payment on further wars to come?

Another siren pierced Israeli hearts at 11 o'clock in remembrance of the 22,570 men and women- of the defense forces, police, secret services and the Jewish undergrounds - who fell defending their national renewal; from 1860, when those Jews already in the land first began trying to build their lives outside the Old City walls, up to Operation Cast Lead this year (2009).

What a lot has changed in 61 years. Iran, once friendly, is now an implacable enemy racing to build a nuclear bomb and threatening Israel’s annihilation. Egypt and Jordan once warred against Israel; now there is peace.

But the elusive peace is the one denied 61 years ago. The Palestinian Arabs call Israel’s achievement of self-determination their catastrophe - nakba. In his latest book, One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict, historian Benny Morris writes: "Put simply, the Palestinian Arab nationalist movement, from inception, and ever since, has consistently regarded Palestine as innately, completely, inalienably, and legitimately 'Arab' and Muslim and has aspired to establish in it a sovereign state under its rule covering all of the country's territory."
In other words, even if one has a skewed view of the conflict in which the "occupation," "settlements" and "east Jerusalem house demolitions" block out every other reality, Morris is implying that were these seemingly burning issues made magically to disappear, Israel would still be at fault - for existing.

This explains why, in late 2008, the most moderate of Palestinian moderates, Mahmoud Abbas, spurned Ehud Olmert's overture to create a Palestinian state on the equivalent of 100 percent of the West Bank, plus Gaza.

It also explains why the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative is predicated not just on forcing Israel back to the hard-to-defend 1949 Armistice Lines and on swamping us with millions of Palestinian "refugees," but also on the Arab League's unwavering refusal to accept the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state. Why? Because to do so would be to admit that the Jews have a connection to this place that predates the arrival of the Arabs and the birth of Islam.

It would be an admission that the Jews have a right to share this land Israel.

Three Days and 61 Years By Sarah Honig...

2009-04-30T18:51:00.005-04:00

One of the best books anywhere about the lead-up to Israel's independence is perhaps the most unlikely, least attractive and inordinately trivia-laden little volume imaginable. It was composed by a man considered to have been one of old Mapai's particularly lackluster functionary figures - Ze'ev Sherf.
The pinnacle of his career was his brief elevation the post of finance minister in 1968.
In actual fact, however, his greater distinction was to have served as Israel's first-ever cabinet secretary, a position that grew out of his appointment in December 1947 to head the committee charged with all practical preparations for Israel's declaration of independence and with the establishment of a working administration ready to take over authority as soon as the British mandatory forces depart.
Sherf in effect was the state's bureaucratic midwife, carrying out the un-heroic but indispensable tasks that are later forgotten and taken for granted. As such, Sherf possessed an accumulation of seemingly tedious incidental material, the sort which is really the most telling and vital of all.
In 1959 he collected these esoteric minutiae into a thin hardcover entitled 'Three Days'. It listed in extraordinary detail every move in the three days that preceded independence and its culmination was the actual declaration at the tiny Tel Aviv Museum auditorium in what previously was the home of the city's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff, on 16 Sderot Rothschild.
The venue was no one's top choice.
Jerusalem was besieged, while Tel Aviv's Habima Theater was ruled out precisely because it was bigger and could accommodate more participants. Even a marginally larger affair was reckoned undesirable for fear that publicity about when and where the Jewish state's birth is slated to be announced would invite Egyptian air-strikes. It was, therefore, thought advisable to keep everything hush-hush, make do with fewer honorary guests and cram them all into a minuscule hall (although the secrecy was quickly breached anyhow, in keeping with local proclivities).
The invitation (including a request to keep it confidential) was mimeographed and sent unsigned. The declaration itself was placed for safekeeping in a bank's basement vault, lest it be destroyed by enemy bombardments.
Only one-hour before the ceremony, was its final wording at last approved - after nit-picking objections over every syllable and turn of phrase.
A laborious version authored by Moshe Sharett was roundly rejected and the debates continued until David Ben-Gurion took the text home, trimmed, honed and rewrote everything himself. He accepted Bechor Sheetrit's proposal to commence the declaration by noting that it was in Eretz Yisrael that the Jewish nation was born. Caught between religious delegates who demanded mention of the Almighty and Marxists who'd hear nothing of the sort, Ben-Gurion's compromise was to affirm "our trust in the Rock of Israel."
Contrary to popular misconceptions, the declaration never features the word "democracy" and only cursorily lists freedoms "in the light of the vision of the prophets of Israel."
Considering the meticulous attention to every nuance, this omission was no accident. Ben-Gurion repeatedly argued that "this declaration is no constitution," and that the terse reference to civil liberties was required by the General Assembly Partition Resolution. "We inserted the basic elements demanded of us by the UN," he explained to members of the Provisional People's Council (the embryonic parliament).
Ben-Gurion also decreed that the new state's borders would remain unspecified. Again he reiterated that "this is a declaration of independence. The Americans declared independence without stipulating to which territory it would apply." "Suppose," Ben-Gurion conjectured, "the Arabs launch a war against us. If we then foil their plans to destroy us and, for instance, capture the western Galilee and the road to Jerusalem, these then would become part of the state -assuming our strength suffices. Why should we obligate ourselves not to hold on to what the enemy forces us to fight for?"
Ben-Gurion's far-sightedness was gutsy. Bloody battles already raged and Gush Etzion fell just when the secretary who typed the declaration (the parchment-like scroll was inscribed after the event) rushed down (on her own initiative) to the nearest neighborhood stationary store to buy blue paper with which to wrap the pages, to "dress them up."
The newborn state possessed no resources or military hardware. Its population of 600,000 also comprised the old, the infirm and the very young. The risk was enormous but the spirit and grit no less colossal.
How different Israel is 61 years on. Its population has multiplied more than ten-fold and its military power exceeds anything Ben-Gurion could rationally have dreamed of.
Sherf, whose documentation no one will bother to air out on the state's birthday, recounted that at 4 o'clock on the fateful Friday afternoon 61 years ago "no foreign flags were lowered, our national banners weren't hoisted, celebratory shots weren't fired, the army didn't march, speeches weren't delivered. In barely 32 minutes was declared the liberty of the nation subjugated for 1887 years."
Following Ben-Gurion's proclamation, Hatikva was played by the orchestra in the building's upper story (there wasn't room below) "and as the sounds descended from above, it was as if the heavens had opened up. Everyone stood silent, motionless and listened to the wondrous hymn, emanating from an unseen place."

Israel Always: Formula for Disaster

2009-03-23T20:46:00.004-04:00

This is an Article by Earl Cox that I read in the Jerusalem Post. I had to share it. It's right on the mark!

I am an American Christian. I love my country and I also love Israel. I embrace the principles upon which America's founding fathers established our democratic system of government and I fully embrace Judeo-Christians values.
This past November the American people elected a new president. Everyone was looking for 'change, change and more change.' I was one of them but the change I was looking for was a thread of hope that someone seeking the Office of President of the United States would openly declare support for Israel recognizing that this tiny democracy is America's only friend and ally in the Middle East and right now we need all the friends we can get.Sadly, I cannot say that I found what I was looking for - hoping for. Senator McCain said, "America needs a new direction." Senator Obama, who is now President Obama, said America needs "fundamental change." Does America need change? Absolutely but change solely for the sake of change is not necessarily good or right. What seems to be lacking in America is a clear understanding of where the new administration wants this "change" to take this nation. Do the American people want their country and their traditional Judeo-Christians to be "changed" or redefined?
New plans and new ideas require a careful weighing of the pros and the cons. This is essential in any successful business plan and it should also be the core process upon which the American government implements and manages itself on the micro and macro levels. A shotgun approach to problem solving is not an acceptable technique yet it seems to be the only plan in place for addressing the current financial crisis in America and the current political situation in the Middle East. Americans must remember that what happens in America is not confined to American shores. The ripple effects or, as is the case with the current economic crisis, the full force of the mighty tsunami, impacts the entire world. The same is true with the situation in the Middle East. What happens in that part of the world eventually impacts us all. "Change" eventually affects everything from the price of oil to the price of freedom.
As a super power, America has a responsibility to the world to act carefully and responsibly. America's leaders must have a clearly defined and solid platform from which to launch any change in America and any plan for peace for Israel and the Middle East. Change simply for the sake of change is risky business if America wants to hold fast to the Bible based values articulated by America's founding fathers in their charter documents; part of which guarantee Americans the benefit of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
In the beginning, America possessed a common, solid foundation upon which its societal norms and practices were based and they date back thousands of years to teachings found in ancient Hebrew texts. At one time America proclaimed to be "one nation under God" as stated in the Pledge of Allegiance and "in God we trusted" as stated on America's dollar bills. From where did this idea of a country and a people centered on the worship of God come from? It came from the ancient Hebrew Scriptures but America is changing; moving away from those fundamental values which were the glue of our society and no one is saying a word. It is the same in Israel. While there is much "religion" in America just as in Israel, where are the hearts of the people? Have we grown cold? Have we turned away from God in favor of man's ideas and manmade institutions and doctrines?
At one time the American people placed a premium upon individual as well as corporate honesty, integrity, truthfulness and hard work. America's educational system taught students to study hard and learn well in order to secure independent and successful futures not only for their personal benefit but in order to be contributing members to society as a whole. Somewhere along the way America began to go astray. America's vision as a nation has become blurred. It seems there is no longer a common thread uniting American society. That great "melting pot" quit blending and instead began to separate and solidify into polarizing elements.
Did this happen overnight? No. Like a lobster being boiled alive which has no idea it is about to die, America's decline has been gradual and is now partially manifesting itself in the current economic crisis. Greed and a "me first" attitude have slowly chipped away at America's foundational values of fairness, honesty and personal integrity. No longer is a person's word their bond. No longer is a handshake as binding as a signature on a contract and no longer is a good reputation valued above the possession of glitter the world has to offer. The true measure of a person's (or a nation's) character is not what is done when people are watching but rather what is done when no one is looking. What does this say for so many of America's (and Israel's) elected officials and those corporate CEOs "managing" Wall Street's financial markets?
America now has a new president and Israel now seems to have a new prime minister. Change is taking place around the world and not just in terms of new leadership. Islam is rising at a phenomenal rate threatening to unravel the very fabric of every nation and country which has traditionally held fast to faith in God - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If America continues to stray from the basic, fundamental, Judeo-Christian values upon which she was established, the rise of Islam will soon be apparent in every neighborhood in America and when this happens the fundamental freedoms that Americans enjoy will be changed forever and American support for Israel will dwindle to zero. Israel is on the front lines in the world's war of terror and America owes this tiny nation nothing less than our full support not only because God says we should but because it is the right thing for all who love freedom and democracy.

Strength is the only card recognized when dealing with Arabs at the peace table.

A Faithful Witness at the Beach ...

2009-03-22T20:17:00.004-04:00

I want to tell you what happened today while I was at the beach sitting at a picnic table with my husband and seven friends. A young woman walked up to our table and asked, "Would anyone like to hear one scripture?" Three of us said yes immediately. Me because I was interested. I can't answer for the other two. Before I continue I will say that of the 9 of us at the table I know that Roger and I are believers, another is Catholic and takes his grand-son to church, and the 7 other's beliefs are a total mystery to me. I bought the book "Purpose Driven Life" for a few of them over a year ago as gifts and never heard a peep back about whether they read it. So with that background, back to today...
As soon as this young lady read the scripture there was dead silence. To break the silence I asked, "what book does that come from?" I expected dialogue. She couldn't tell me. She said it wasn't marked on the little paper she was given. Everyone at the table realized that she was't prepared for the task of sharing she had taken on. It took a second or two one of the men asked her if she knew John 3:16. Again silence so again, I jumped in with my paraphrase of John 3:16 giving her a second to recover. Then she started to ask if we knew that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that those who believed would have everlasing life... right here someone interupted her and asked if she wanted a beer and got elbowed by his wife; another asked her how she knew what she was saying was true? She was extremely gracious trying to answer and getting interrupted because they didn't really want answers. I could see now that they were going to make sport of her. I butted in and told them that, "we know it is true because Jesus the Messiah was born, died and resurrected; stood up and told them to stop giving her a hard time." They were being unkind and it was because she was making them uncomfortable. I got up to go to the beach and she was walking away at the same time. I put my hand on her shoulder and told her that they weren't really bad people and that I was sorry. She asked my name and said it was nice meeting me. I told her the same. This young lady was full of grace and as I walked away I heard her asking the next person she met, "would you like to hear a scripture." I thought, "good for you, they didn't get to you. Go girl!"
At the end of the day I was still bothered and annoyed over it and commented to my husband that, "it took faith and courage for her to come to a table full of strangers." So what did it take for those very strangers to try and shake her faith and humiliate her? I know the answer is ignorance and satan. Lot's of lessons for me to learn through this occurance and the young ladies strength, grace and faith.

Joel Rosenberg's book, The Ezekiel Option A+

2009-03-18T19:44:00.003-04:00

Just finished reading The Ezekiel Option. Partial description off the back cover - "A dictator rising in Russia... Iran building nuclear bombs. An ancient conspiracy ripped from the headlines. And two Americans caught in the crossfire." And that doesn't even begin to describe the content of this book. The hair on my arms stood up stright a few times while reading it. Put it on your list, it's a must read! With the economy being - wait! strike that - what economy? I'll say it this way, "with most of us having a lot less money to spend and not knowing if we'll be employed next month I will suggest that since times are uncertain go to the library and get this book if money is tight."

Living in the present, but grateful for the past! by K.B.

2009-02-04T19:08:00.008-05:00

That’s how I see my Family History.

Let me encourage you. Genealogy is exciting! It’s investigating old things; old trunks, boxes, books, diaries, letters, and newspapers. Then there’s looking through the pockets of old garments. Traipsing through courthouses, libraries, and the occasional cemetery. Meeting distant relatives you never knew you had and hearing stories you can hardly believe. Historical research is a wonderful game, a treasure hunt with hidden and forgotten information as the prize. I recommend it highly for a number of reasons.

It’s a window into the past that opens to reveal sadness or joy, defeat or triumph, good and evil, brilliance or stupidity. It’s endlessly fascinating and occasionally heartbreaking. You meet your family. They may be villains and heroes, saints and criminals, the famous and just plain folks. You journey in your own private time machine and spend time in the lives of your very own ancestors. Family that may have spent a little time with you in your youth before they passed away. People that you didn’t really know or appreciate while they were here. The appreciation for these people comes when you learn about their individual goals, hardships, health, and “the secrets of their generation”. As the past is revealed, you can descend miles down a mine shaft that was home to a great-great grandfather 6 days a week; or sail across the Atlantic on the tiny vessels that brought them all from the Old World to settle on the shores of the New World. Watch them fight Indians on the East Coast or go west with them in covered wagons to settle the Oklahoma Territory. I speak of these because they were the journey I took on my quest for our family history.

No one was born here unless they happen to be a Native American so the research has to take you to other countries, This is where more excitement enters your life. If your serious, you get to follow your family back, back, and back even further to find those long lost grandparents so many generations ago.

Our very first trip into history was to visit our Biblical Genealogy. A trip through the Bible had me wanting to go to Israel in the worst way. I wanted to be where it all took place. Where Jesus was born, lived, ate, walked, wept, slept, died, and resurrected. 1985 I realized my dream, I was in Israel. It was an absolutely perfect journey, a step back into time and a walk through history. I came home with more than I had ever anticipated and hungry for more. More turned out to be many more trips.

I’ve descended deep into the earth to the coal mining shafts of the Rhonnda Valley where the Thomas men worked from dawn to dusk six days a week. I’ve visited the three room row houses where the women worked day in and out as they also waited anxiously and prayed against hearing the whistle that announced a mine cave in. If the whistle blew they had more waiting, as it might be hours or even days before they knew if their fathers, husbands, sons, and/or brothers would be coming safely home or carried out to be buried.

A short summer tour of Scotland had us visiting the hunting grounds of Roger’s ancestors the McDougalls. Hunters they were, and not only of the days meal. They were hunters of men and the Campbell’s in particular. A sad history.

By the time your research is done, you’ve digested it all, entered all the data into a nice neat Family Tree package to share with the rest of your family; there is something different about how you view life. You have a new respect for those who paved the way for you; a determination to set a good example for those who will follow. And a deep gratitude to God for allowing you a glimpse into the lives of those who truly did play a big part in your life, even though you never knew it. Genealogy is the one time you get to look at the bigger picture. It’s a real reality check.

I’ll tell you one great thing that happened for my husband directly through my genealogy research. We found his father who he hadn’t seen since he was 14 yrs. old. They had a few years to get reacquainted before his father passed away. He also met two sisters and nieces and nephews he never knew he had. And one of his sisters and her husband have become very good friends of ours as well as being family. We spend a lot of time with them. Their home is in England, but they come to see us twice a year.

I say, hand that TV remote to someone else and start researching. You won’t be sorry.

Happy Hunting!
Karen

Why I Love the Jewish People by Jim Fletcher

2009-02-03T19:15:00.006-05:00

This letter was posted on the Jerusalem Post by Jim. It is exacly how I feel about the Jewish people, but I would be hard-pressed to be able to state my feelings as well. It's actually a love letter. I asked Jim if I could post this and he graciously gave me permission.

From Jim -
Not so long ago, I had lunch with a colleague; we worked in the Christian book publishing industry. I was explaining my love for Israel. This man listened for a while, and then he leaned forward and said, "Jim, nobody cares about the Jews." We haven't had lunch since.

In the heady days of the Six Day War and its aftermath, it was almost easy to love Israel. Prophecy was being fulfilled in front of our eyes! When members of Motta Gur's 66th Paratroop Brigade sent the radio message "The Temple Mount is in our hands!" the Jewish world, and the Christian world rejoiced. With the passage of time, as Arab and Western propaganda has become sophisticated and literally diabolical, there has been a turning. Some observers feel we are almost in a time warp, in a moment that hearkens back to the rise of the Nazis. Suddenly, the old anti-Semitism is back. Nobody cares about the Jews. That becomes, "Why can't the Jews just settle with the Palestinians?" Tomorrow, it will be, "Those dirty Jews!"

A few years ago, when a British diplomat was overheard at a dinner party referring to Israel as "that s-----y little country," there was some flutter, but not real outrage. I have lived to see Israel besieged militarily, diplomatically, and culturally. A lot of overt hostility is directed at the Jewish state. But all the while, the façade of concern for Israel's security is trotted-out daily. When Bill Clinton famously said that if necessary (notice the key, ambiguous phrase "if necessary"), he would get in a ditch with a rifle and fight and die for Israel, everyone understood he was lying. A duckbilled platypus would be more likely than Bill Clinton to fight and die for Israel. I don't know what kind of fighter I would make; not much of one, truth be told. But I will tell you how I feel about the Jews: I will never leave them.
My father loved them because they fulfilled Bible prophecy. I have Christian friends who love the Jews and Israel because they "get a blessing!" America supports Israel for strategic reasons. Good for all of them. I guess.

I love the Jews because God put a love for them in my heart. I love them because they are brave and noble. I love them because many are personal friends. I love them because the Lord of History loves them. I don't love them because they will bring me more blessings; in fact, I am embarrassed by how many blessings I have. I don't love my fabulous son because he is a channel to blessings. I love him because he is. I love Jews because they deserve it.

And I know and love something else: Israel's glory is ahead of her. I categorically reject the notion that Israel has a bloody day of reckoning coming. Here is the delicious, little-known nugget that shines from my Bible: it isn't the Jewish state that has reason to fear in the last days; it is her enemies. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told us that in those days, He will take the cup of poison that Israel has been drinking out of her hand, and place it in the hands of her enemies. In Ezekiel 38-39, we discover that an invading army will become food for scavenger birds.
It isn't the Jews who should be afraid. It's the rest of us.

I recently watched a History Channel special on Egyptian mummies. Some researchers feel that they've found the Pharaoh of the Exodus. In this particular documentary, he was shown, and his wife was shown. I marveled at the black, dry, stretched faces, with the hideous gapped mouths. Then I thought of my live Jewish friends. They have beautiful smiles, blood in their cheeks, light in their eyes. They have been burnt, shot, stabbed, poisoned, tortured…and they are still here. Their ancient Egyptian tormentors gape at some unseen horror just beyond the curtain between this life and the next.

Nobody knows where Hitler's body - burnt and with a self-inflicted gunshot - rests to this day. Haman rots somewhere in the Persian Empire. Stalin has, like the Bible says of Pharaoh, gone down to the pit. Name the rest of the Jews' many enemies and you'll notice that they are dead, lifeless, stinking, hopelessly lost and in torment. In a very real sense, God "proves" His existence to an unbelieving world by pointing at the remarkable preservation of the Jews. It matters little that the world largely is not paying attention. They will have had their chance and will be without excuse. Nobody cares about the Jews, indeed.

It isn't just the skinheads and pseudo-academic Holocaust deniers who are dangerous to our world. It is also the seemingly benign, well-dressed lunch colleague we encounter, who sneers chillingly that nobody cares about the Jews. Let me say this clearly and with a sense of urgency: may God have mercy on his soul.

No, I love the Jews because God loved them first. Period. But I have added reasons. I love them because they went to Entebbe and rescued innocent men, women, and children from the sick, demented creeps working for the PLO.
I love them because in a thousand ways every day, they help keep the rest of us safe through intelligence gathering and sharing, and military action against death-loving terrorists. I love them because they value human life.
I love them because they show me by their mere survival and presence that Bible prophecy does matter. In the period of history in which I live, the Jews re-entered history when Israel was established! Thank you, God, for letting me see that Israel is alive! I love them because they gave us the Bible, survived thousands of years of persecution to continue contributing to the good of mankind, and stand as a sentinel in our world today.

Once, I was standing on a street corner in Jerusalem - a busy street corner. A van pulled up beside me; the driver waited for the light to change. I noticed that the driver, a man about my age, had a young son. The boy stared at me; I stared back. Expressionless, he held up a hand and put it against the glass window. We continued to look at each other. As the light changed and their van moved down the street, this boy watched me, with his hand up, until they were out of sight. At the risk of sounding goofy, I have always thought of that boy as the totality of my Jewish friendships, which are precious to me. I felt a connection in this image of this young Israeli boy watching me, and can still recall his face. It was as if my collective Jewish friends were watching to see how long I would watch them.
Forever. That's how long I will feel a connection to the Jews - me, an average gentile.

I have been told that it might be better to be quieter about my support for Israel. I have been told that too close an association with Jews in business would be bad for me. I have been told that I can't trust a Jew. I have been told that no one cares about the Jews. I find all these assertions repugnant. More than that, they are simply wrong.
Here's what I think about the idea that associating with Jews should be avoided, that it could bring trouble or pain; I like the attitude of the fellow in this small story: In 1987, my beloved University of Oklahoma football team was preparing to play no. 1 Nebraska in Lincoln. Nebraska was feeling particularly confident that year. They said they were going to hurt OU. A reporter asked one of OU's defensive tackles what he thought about that and he said, "Bring it. I like pain." That's how I feel. If it is dangerous to associate with Jews and support them, that's fine with me. If necessary, I will stand with a single Jew against everyone else. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Jim Fletcher is director of Prophecy Matters (www.prophecymatters.com). He is the co-author of 'The Last War' (2001, New Leaf Press) and his new book, 'It's the End of the World As We Know It,' will be released by Strang Communications in March, 2009. He can be reached at jim@prophecymatters.comjim1fletcher@yahoo.com

A Letter to God from Karen. Why Don't I Share You Lord?

2009-01-24T10:37:00.008-05:00

These two scriptures below are awesome!

“When I consider the heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars that You have ordained; What is man, that You art mindful of him, and the son of man, that You visit him? Psalm 8:3

They brought the boy to Him. When He saw Him, immediately the spirit threw the boy into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him:” And the father said, “From Childhood. It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, “If you can? All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “ I do believe; help my unbelief.” Mark 9: 22-24

This has been so true throughout my life. When I allow myself to rest fully in YOU God and my belief in You - I am at peace with everything that affects me. I am strong, stand firm, and don’t have any qualms about anything. When I get caught up in the world and don’t rest in my belief, I am paralyzed with whatever I want to address or accomplish that’s about You God.

I realize that right now I am at that place of not resting solidly in my belief in You and Your strength. I want desperately to share with my family and friends the gift of love and salvation I’ve been given by You God and the total grace given by You Jesus (Yeshua). But I don’t share it or You. Not really. I say little things, just enough to see the uneasiness and fidgeting when Your name is mentioned. I’ve given as gifts books that could get them thinking and possibly be a catalyst toward You. But then of course, they would actually have to open the book and I’ve never received any feedback saying, “Thanks. I read the book and … “ So they probably never read it. Why don’t I boldly share you Lord? The answer, or rather my excuses came to me this morning, but I’m sure You are the one that gave this answer to me. It’s so simple! I tell myself I don’t share You with them because I don’t want to intrude in their lives or upset them. I don’t want to push my belief in You on them and maybe make them uncomfortable. As You know, my reaction was “Wow” and when I actually thought about this reasoning I was taken back. I can’t believe, that loving my siblings and other relatives as I do, that I would take the chance of letting them suffer eternity without You because I don’t want to make them uncomfortable for a few brief moments talking about You and what you’ve given for all of us! Satan has done his job well. I stated before that, ‘I desperately wanted to share Your love and salvation with my family and friends.’ But now I have to acknowledge to myself, ‘that I can’t be that desperate if I don’t even share your Gospel with them as You instructed?’ I’m an ineffective witness for You because I allow myself to get caught up with the worldly things you’ve told me to walk away from.

I know now that I have been trying to do this my way with my thoughts; and I’ve gotten nowhere. And I also know that Your ways and thoughts are the only way for me to go. I can’t continue to coast along hoping that someone will come up to me and say, “I heard you believe in God, will you tell me about Him.” The truth be told, those friends that do know that I believe in and have faith in You tend to make little remarks that don’t make me happy and I know don’t make You happy either. So Lord, God, please give me unwavering strength and Your wisdom to know how to reach out to everyone with Your message and gift of salvation. Please give me Your words to tell them that without their accepting You and Your gift of salvation, they will have eternity without You. Lord, I need Your love and gentleness to show through, because as we both know, I am not very diplomatic. Father, I ask you this through Jesus (Yeshua), Your Son, my Messiah. Thank you Father.

Jan 24, 2009
Father, as You know, with everything I do in life, I just jumped into writing my thoughts down to You 4 months ago in the above letter. I meant them to be a prayer request to You. Then I filed it away. This morning reading “The Journey” by Billy Graham, I decided to grab a couple quotes from the book and came across this prayer to you. I re-read it, and it all still applies because I’m still me struggling along. But when I finished reading it, my favorite hymn about You came to mind and … well, You know it Lord. “How Great Thou Art” by Carl Boberg. I hear it, I sing it, but I’ve never sat down and thought about it. The music became my focus not the words. I just pulled out a hymnal and read the words without the music, and now that I’ve taken the time I am reminded again of all You’ve created and done for us and can only say How Truly Great You Are Lord!

“How Great Thou Art”
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Your Hands have made; I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Your power through out the universe displayed. When through the woods, and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur and see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze. And when I think, that You God, Your Son not sparing; Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; that on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. When Christ (Messiah) shall come, with a shout of acclamation, and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow, in humble adoration, and then proclaim: "My God, How great You Are!" Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to You, How great You Are, How great You Are.

Note: I’ve taken the liberty of changing the word Thou to You (Your) and Art to Are so it’s more in tune with the way we speak now and makes it more personal for me.

I've chosen to share this prayer and my thoughts for two reasons. One, because I know I am not alone with my frustration over not being obedient to sharing the gospel; and hope it may help someone else going through it. And two, because I have decided with God's will, grace, strength, and guidance to get bold in declaring God's salvation and plan for us! Putting this letter and additional writings on this blog is the first step.

The Zion Lecacy Series

2008-08-03T14:22:00.002-04:00

I’ve just finished reading the Zion Legacy Series written by Bodie & Brock Thoene. They are exquisitely timed for a readership hungry for superb storytelling, historical authenticity, and spiritual adventure of all kinds.

Book One Jerusalem Vigil of the series opens as the British are withdrawing from Jerusalem in 1948 and tells the enthralling and dramatic story of several richly drawn characters who are caught up in this momentous time in the world's most sacred city.

The second book Thunder from Jerusalem opens in the early-morning hours of May 19, 1948. The new State of Israel is just five days old, and the entrenched Muslim and Jewish forces fight furiously over a holy land they are willing to die for. At this moment, after months of struggle, the siege of Jerusalem's Old City is lifted as patriot soldiers break through the Zion Gate. But the celebration cannot last long, for this is only the beginning of a long battle, ancient in its roots, and as harrowing as it is glorious. This reader was transfixed by the striking cast of characters who are involved in this momentous turning point in the history of the world's most sacred city. Moshe Sachar, a professor and strategist for the Haganah group, must keep the Haganah momentum alive in the face of a dissenting mayor and a disguised SS assassin who has infiltrated the group. Rachel, his pregnant wife, tends to the growing numbers of wounded soldiers and civilians at the hospital. The extraordinary blend of superb storytelling weaved with historical authenticity, and heart-stopping adventure that the Thoenes capture in this superb saga make these books unforgettable and impossible to put down.

Jerusalem's Heart, the third riveting episode, plunges us into the maelstrom of the conflict between Jewish and Muslim forces during five brutal days of struggle to defend the Old City from a treacherous takeover. Again we meet the richly drawn cast of characters whose ongoing heroism and faith, passions and destinies, are interwoven with the soul of the city and played out in its bloodstained alleys. With its gripping drama, Jerusalem's Heart is an unsurpassed and timely blend of superb storytelling, historical authenticity, and spiritual adventure that will stay with readers forever.

In an exciting twist to the series, the Jerusalem Scrolls, the fourth book, takes the story back in time to tell an ancient tale of love, faith, and redemption. After days of brutal fighting, the Israeli forces, overpowered by the Arabs and running out of supplies, are positioned for defeat. Moshe Sachar, their courageous leader and one of only few Israelis remaining in the Old City, has followed the dying wishes of an elder rabbi and has escaped into a secret tunnel under the city, where sacred scrolls that tell the history of their faith and people are safely hidden. Moshe opens a scroll and becomes immersed in the extraordinary story from the first century A.D. of Miryam, a beautiful yet troubled young widow, and Marcus, her Roman suitor. While Marcus, a centurion who is fighting to keep his position in the empire in the face of corrupt officials and a native population on the brink of rebellion, feels passionately for her, Miryam, shamed by an act of sin and haunted by the death of her mother, is still searching for true meaning in her life. When a mysterious prophet threatens the security of the Roman Empire, Miryam's quest for love and forgiveness puts them all in the middle of a dangerous, manipulative plot that will change the course of history. With stirring accounts of many events and character from the Bible, The Jerusalem Scrolls is a page-turning novel .

Stones of Jerusalem, the fifth episode, continues this extraordinary tale of faith and love set in the first century A.D.The Old City has fallen. In the midst of the destruction, Moshe Sachar, the courageous Israeli leader, remains in a tunnel safely hidden deep below ground. There he guards one of the few remaining treasures of Jewish antiquity: ancient, sacred scrolls that tell of a long, heroic history. With the instructions of an elder rabbi, Moshe opens a scroll as he has done before, and again he becomes immersed in the story of Marcus, a Roman centurion, and Miryam, the troubled young woman he loves. Their timeless love story is set against the corrupt and tumultuous politics of the Roman empire. Caught up in this dramatic moments in history is Avel, a poor young Jewish orphan fighting for survival on the streets of Jerusalem, who, searching for comfort after his best friend is killed by Roman soldiers, vows revenge. As word of miraculous deeds performed by the mysterious prophet Yeshua spreads throughout the people, his followers swell in numbers, and Roman officials fear a threat to the state. When Yeshua's cousin is brutally murdered at a Roman festival, tensions escalate, and Yeshua's fate becomes all the more uncertain.

Jerusalem's Hope, the sixth book in these ongoing chronicles, vividly recreates a timeless tale of faith, love, and redemption from the first century A.D. As the book opens, strategist Moshe Sachar remains hidden in a secret tunnel beneath the Temple Mount, safely removed from the chaos of Israel's 1948 war of independence, while mourners at the funeral of an elder rabbi weep above him. Using the instructions the rabbi gave him before his death, Moshe opens another sacred scroll and is transported again to the dramatic biblical story of a charismatic but mysterious prophet, Yeshua. As word of the miracles performed by Yeshua spreads, people whose lives he has touched are caught up in destiny. A Roman centurion -in love with a Hebrew beauty- is torn between his growing admiration for the enemy and his duty as a soldier. Three "Sparrows," ragamuffin orphan boys, find comfort while in hiding with Yeshua and become his vital messengers to a shepherd in Bethlehem. As all these characters converge on the dangerous road to Jerusalem at Passover, Bloody violence erupts, threatening the future of the Roman state, and the surprising identity of Yeshua is revealed. Riveting storytelling combined with a fascinating historical setting. If you love fiction and are tired of the same old same old, read this heart-stopping drama series. Here’s one site that sells them http://www.thoenebooks.com or visit your local library.

Also see: The A.D. Chronicles, Zion Covenant, Galway Chronicles, Zion Chronicles, and many more by Bodie & Brock Thoene.

False Concepts by Pete Benson

2008-08-01T12:30:00.005-04:00

Originally, Christian scholars thought of early Christianity as mainly an emerging Gentile institution which had quickly come out of Jewish roots, almost within five to six years after the founding of the Church in Jerusalem, with the conversion of Paul and his subsequent spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles. These scholars had ignored almost completely what the early Church of God in Jerusalem was like, as well as what the Judeo-Christians churches were like later on in Asia Minor.
But following World War II, due to the exposure of the huge Nazi atrocities against the Jews in Europe, Christian leaders and historians began to refocus their attention on the early Christian church and specifically its Jewish roots. Also following World War II a tremendous revival of spiritual fundamentalism and a complimentary explosion of radio and televised evangelism occurred. Some labeled this the Sunday morning comedy hour, but much of it was real nonetheless, and fundamental evangelical churches and denominations were springing up all over the place.
A hunger developed for the early history of the Christian church, fueled by a sincere spiritual desire to "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered" as Jude admonished. So people were asking, very sincerely, "What was that 'Faith' like?" Good question. What was it like? Honest church and religious scholars, both secular and believing, delved deeper into the past to find answers. They sought to find out what the early Church of God in Jerusalem had been like, as well as what Judeo-Christianity was like in Asia Minor. Coupled to this sincere historic research was a virtual knowledge explosion in Middle Eastern archeology, especially as key Middle Eastern countries opened themselves up willingly to outside archeologists. Even Saddam Hussein welcomed foreign archeological digs in ancient Babylon (Turkey, or ancient Asia Minor was not left out either). This all contributed to a far more accurate understanding of early Church history, focusing on the early Christian community that subsequently moved out of the Holy Land into Asia Minor during the period between the first and second Jewish wars with Rome (70AD-135AD).
What was the effect of all this new knowledge?
Even in the mid to late 1960s it led to a huge paradigm crash for many Christians. Why? Early Christianity was nothing like what they'd been taught or assumed it had been like. It was Jewish. Many were stunned. Close examination of the history showed it was Jewish in Jerusalem, all of Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and then as it spread up into Asia Minor it continued to be Jewish and maintain Jewish days of worship. Even up into the 300s AD, Asia Minor held in excess of 3 million Judeo-Christians.

An Overview
1. Early Christianity during the apostolic age under the 12 apostles was developing into a large Judeo-Christian community focused toward Jerusalem. Most of its’ members were Jewish. With the death of the apostles at the end of the 1st century, due to lack of a somewhat centralized apostolic church government to look to in Jerusalem (and later Ephesus under John), Christianity had separated into hundreds of independent groups, small congregations and house churches, and the like. Judeo-Christianity doesn't die out yet though. Through Polycarp (disciple of the apostle John) and Policrates (disciple of Polycarp), it survives into the 2nd century.

2. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries a "different Christianity" arose within the Gentile Greco-Roman churches which dwelt among the pagan population.

3. It started to call itself "orthodox", and ended up overpowering the older original Judeo-Christianity, and ultimately crushed Judeo-Christianity out of existence during the 4th century AD.

4. By the 5th century, this "orthodox" Greco-Roman church had tens of millions of adherents, and sought total control of "Christianity". It determined to - and did almost totally succeed in its quest to eliminate all other forms of Christianity, especially, as we shall see, Judeo-Christianity.

Want to learn more? Go to:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm