Don’t mess with Jerusalem world – God has his eyes set upon it!
Vee over at the Living Journey blog has written an interesting piece looking at the implicit Biblical dangers lurking for nations and organisations that meddle with Jerusalem and Israel. CBN have also picked up on this theme.
There is a flood of online activity relating to the recent spat between the Obama administration and the Israeli government, especially following the recent visit to Israel by US vice president Joe Biden.
The US administrations recent overtures towards Israel has prompted the evangelical group “Christians United for Israel” (CUFI) to call for action:
The Obama administration’s unprecedented criticism of Israel these past few days over settlements has sparked bi-partisan outrage on Capitol Hill. And for good reason, as Barry Rubin points out in this penetrating, must read piece.
Now evangelical Christian groups, which are among Irael’s staunchest and most loyal supporters, are calling out the Obama administration as well over its shocking treatment of a steadfast and vital ally (whose popularity among American voters, by the way, is actually higher than President Obama’s and has never been stronger).
Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is calling on its supporters to e-mail the White House and urge the President to end the current diplomatic crisis with Israel. The effort has gathered momentum throughout the day, CUFI spokesman Ari Morgenstern tells CBN News:
On top of all this, Israeli security forces are dealing with the Palestinian “Day of rage” in East Jerusalem:
Thousands of police, border police and special forces were deployed on Jerusalem’s streets on Wednesday morning, for the case Palestinian riots in the capital might continue.
However, the official estimate is that the unrest will not reignite, and the Temple Mount compound will accordingly be open for visitors of all persuasions.
In what they called “a Day of Rage,” Palestinians rioted across east Jerusalem on Tuesday, throwing rocks, setting tires and garbage bins ablaze and even using live fire against police forces deployed by the thousands in the capital.
The violence spread from one neighborhood to another. In one incident, youths hoisted a Palestinian flag and shouted, “We shall die and Palestine shall live!”
A police officer was shot and lightly wounded in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras el-Amud on Tuesday evening, after the widespread rioting saw more than a dozen security forces wounded and upward of 60 arrests.
The policeman, a member of the elite Yasam unit, sustained a gunshot wound to the hand and was evacuated to the capital’s Hadassah-University Hospital, Mount Scopus. Security forces were searching for the assailant.
The rioting erupted in the Muslim quarter of the Old City, along with the east Jerusalem neighborhoods of Wadi Joz, Ras el-Amud, Isawiya, the Shuafat refugee camp and Jebl Mukaber, among other locations.
“They are donkeys and dwarfs!” a woman screamed as riot police and plainclothes security men hauled away a handcuffed, hooded youth.
Throughout the day, more than 60 rioters were arrested for throwing rocks, among other violations, and 15 policemen were wounded. Four of those officers were evacuated for medical treatment, while the rest were treated at the scene.
Israel is currently under immense stress from all directions including some quarters of the US church, namely, the The Presbyterian Church.
NEW YORK – American Jewish leaders are slamming a report by the Presbyterian Church USA that blames Israel for the “Palestinian resistance” and denounces companies doing business with Israel.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which circulated a memo to its member agencies and board of directors Monday, said the biased report reduced the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a caricature, demonizing Israel and delegitimizing its right to exist as a Jewish state.
“It’s a highly-selective use of text, history and circumstances to form an anti-Israel narrative,” said JCPA vice president Ethan Felson. “They give significant voice to anti-Zionists, condemn companies that sell to Israel and allow for the demonization of Israel. That’s several red lines.”
The 172-page report, written by the church’s Middle East Study Committee, is to be debated at the church’s General Assembly this July. But Jewish leaders say its recommendations renew old tensions over the church’s previous divestment policies toward Israel, threatening Presbyterian-Jewish relations.
The current report charges the US government with “complicity in the Israeli occupation” and suggests that the government consider withholding aid to Israel until it agrees to stop building settlements. The report singles out Caterpillar, which manufactures construction equipment, for its “continued profit-making from non-peaceful use of its products.”
It also endorses the Kairos Palestine document, a manifesto by Christian Palestinians that calls for an end to Israel as a Jewish state and uses words like “evil” and “sin” to describe Israeli actions.
Rabbi Steve Gutow, president of JCPA, said in a statement that Jewish leaders were dismayed at the attempt to “delegitimize and demonize” Israel.
“We hope that before this report is brought for a vote at the church’s General Assembly, significant revisions are made,” he said, noting that the report threatened relations with the church.
Church leaders were not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
*heavy sigh*
Details of the Kairos declaration mentioned in the above article can be found here.
Tags: Christianity, Church Life, Israel
March 17th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Thanks for the cross post Stuart. Did you see the comment by attending the world… Their site speaks about blood libel and such.
He/She says that because Israel has killed more Palestinians and has quoted one Jew who speaks about annihilating the children of Palestinian that that seems to be the Israeli/Zionist agenda.
The last I heard it was Hamas who wants to get rid of all of Israel as well as Iran… their Covenant speaks loud and clear about that.
I even have a link what is said in their Covenant…
http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm
They also cite blood libel from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic forgery!
I can’t think of any other situation in which the prevailing side in a war has been labelled unfair because they’ve killed more and lost less than the other side. Can you?
March 17th, 2010 at 9:33 am
I did read it Vee and sometimes commentators are so far off the mark you don’t even know where to begin.
These folk are simply parroting the propaganda, but what really worries me is that we are seeing some elements of the church doing likewise!
March 17th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Exactly. It won’t take long for “Liberation Theology” to move against Israel and for Israel to give up Jerusalem as their God given capital!
The commenter didn’t get that I was coming from a biblical perspective rather than a political one anyway.
Interesting though his point that more Palestinians have died pretty much supports the fact that anyone who messes with Israel will suffer the consequences!
March 17th, 2010 at 10:10 am
I have even witnessed those that claim to hold an evangelical theology, spouting an anti-zionist position, which I personally find absurd. Stephen Sizer is a prime example of course, as he is aligned with the conservative evangelical Anglican world here in the UK.
Perhaps this is the influence of liberation theology on the evangelical world….
The reality is that anti-zionist Christians have the potential to create an existential threat to Israel:
‘Liberal Protestant churches pose growing threat to Israel’ – Rabbi Abraham Cooper says some theologians “are seeking to destroy Israel from Above.”
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) a Christian response?