Special Statement on UN Resolution

by Malcolm Abbas anti-Semitism Arafat Bible Blog Christian Zionism Church evangelical evangelicals Israel justice Palestinians Prayer UN West Bank

On November 29th the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state of the United Nations. This decision gave increased credibility and leverage to the Palestinians in their future negotiations to make this a reality and so the consequences of this decision will be far reaching. It will not escape the astute observer of these things that this decision by the world community to disinvest Israel of her land and Capital took place on the 29th November; for it was on this date 65 years ago that this same body recognized the existence of Israel as a nation state. Now this world forum is seeking to give added strength to a people who through their leaders have waged a relentless war of terror against the Jewish people. This war is not for a state of their own but for the removal of the Jewish State in its entirety. This is not a radical right wing position but rather one that is based on the track record, charter, declarations and deeds of the Palestinian Authority.

Their unaltered charter, in violation of the Oslo Accords, continues to call for Israel’s destruction; their school text books do the same and incite hatred of the Jews, their public statements in Arabic over the years, as monitored by Palestinians Media Watch and MEMRI, have called for Israel’s destruction and removal and in April 1994 in Johannesburg after Nelson Mandela’s inauguration, Yasser Arafat assured a Muslim audience that the PLO had not moved away from the 1964 Phased Plan for the destruction of Israel. Faced with an unprecedented offer of peace from the Israeli government a few years later, that included most of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, he rejected it and provoked a second Intifada. This Intifada deliberately targeted and killed hundreds of Israeli citizens including school children of all ages. Sadly, much of the Western media excused these atrocities and thereby found a way to always blame Israel for them! At no time has Israel ever gone after civilians in an attempt to protect herself from this unrelenting and sustained conflict. Yasser Arafat was not a freedom fighter but a terrorist and indeed the father of modern day terrorism and now his Holocaust denying successor Mahmoud Abbas has been rewarded with statehood by the international community. This is a disgrace and more of a commentary on the evil that lurks in the corridors of the United Nations than anything else. Thankfully Canada and the United States of America called it for what it was and rejected the motion.

The recent war with Hamas in Gaza is part of the same conflict. Having pulled out of Gaza in 2005 with good intentions Israel was rewarded with over 12000 missiles that have rained down on her southern towns and villages. No nation would accept this without a permanent holt to this aggression but once again, by the pressure of the international community, Israel has been bullied into pulling back from a total defeat of these terrorists and this by an Islamist in Egypt who certainly fully supports Hamas and seeks only by this move to consolidate his power base before moving on to deal with Israel in the future! It is a sad day when international politicians of all stripes can no longer discern between good and evil and thus, in the near future, there will be a campaign to rehabilitate Hamas and give it legitimacy!! These calls are already being heard.

We are therefore witnessing the rise of global anti-Semitism and with it a sustained attack against Israel. This attack has been pursued through two strategies: First, that of conflict and terrorism and second, by litigation, the smear of Apartheid leveled against Israel and campaigns to disinvest boycott and sanction Israel. Sadly, many main line churches have given their support to this attack. We are looking at warfare and “lawfare” against Israel and now this will escalate! The goal is to discredit Israel, delegitimize Israel and finally dismantle Israel. The Israelis are putting a brave face on the UN decision but nevertheless it is a serious development and the future will demonstrate how this will be played out. The UN decision of the 29th November has put “the wind at the back” of Israel’s enemies and they will now take full advantage of this. For the present we thank God for the USA and Canada that have stood firm in their support of Israel but we must know that the enemies of Israel will do all that they can to corrupt and break the unshakable relationship that exists between the USA, Canada and Israel.

Seventy years ago thirteen million Jews were threatened in Europe and six million were exterminated while much of the world watched silently. This must not happen again. Now is the time for Christians everywhere to stand up and be counted. We must do all that we can to befriend the Jewish people and Israel. We all have a sphere of influence that we can tap into.

The following words are by Canada’s Foreign Minister, John Baird, please note them carefully:

“In choosing not to stand idly by as the age-old hatred of the Jewish
people has been transferred to the “collective Jew”, I have been speaking
up against the new anti-Semitism that is so pervasive today in the world.
It targets the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, as the source
of injustice and conflict in the world. It is perversely couched in the language
of human rights. Just as conventional ant-Semitism denied Jews the right to
live as equal members of humanity, the new anti-Semitism denies the State
of Israel the right to live as an equal member of the international community.
Worse still, when this new anti-Semitism expresses itself in the call for the
destruction of Israel and the Jewish people, it is no longer hate speech,
it is incitement to genocide. And we have to name it for what it is.”

The dangers are clear and we must rise to meet them, just as John Baird does, knowing all the time that in the end the battle is the Lord’s and He will not fail His people.

Thus prayer and intercession must be the power behind all that we do.

Malcolm Hedding.

Playing with Matches

by Malcolm Bible Blog Christian Zionism Church evangelical evangelicals Israel Jesus justice Middle East Muslim Palestinians

World Council of ChurchesA recent article, featured in the Jerusalem Post, written by Abraham Cooper and Yitzchak Adlerstein, reported on how there is an attempt to undermine evangelical support for Israel by pro-Palestinian agenda groups including evangelicals. Sadly, organizations like the World Council of Churches and some prominent evangelical Christians have joined this “band-wagon.” Not only do they rewrite history in collaboration with their Palestinian friends but, embarrassed by the Word of God itself, they have called for the “dezionisation” of scripture. Theirs is what I call a “Waffle Iron Theology” meaning that those parts of the Bible that contradict their narrative they want expunged from it just as one cuts the batter,  that doesn’t fit in, away from the waffle machine. In short they are playing with matches and those that play with matches should not be surprised if they start a fire! In this game “extreme Palestinian political ambitions are often cloaked in theological garb” as the authors of the article state. They are right! Scripture is twisted and denied in an attempt to overcome its very clear statements about the land of Israel and the return of the Jews to it. These people will never be convinced by a balanced, biblical exposition of scripture. They have made their minds up and will definitely not be confused with facts.

Jesus

In their deluded world Jesus is a Palestinian Freedom Fighter and thus they divorce Him entirely from His Jewish context and roots. He was of course nothing of the sort and He came to Israel because of God’s faithfulness to the Abrahamic Covenant. (Luke 1:46-55) It is this Covenant that is at the crux of the issue, and therefore, they have tried every trick, in their theological box of matches, to try and burn it up. Their problem is even more compounded because the New Testament everywhere fully affirms the Abrahamic Covenant and no where changes or abolishes it. Indeed it is held up to wavering believers as a sure example of God’s faithfulness in the Book of Hebrews. (Hebrews 6:13-20) Paul establishes it in Galatians three and ends the chapter by saying that “if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s children according to the promise (covenant)”. (Galatians 3:29) Jesus was always the object of the Covenant but His people were always the context and platform out of which He came. For precisely this reason God promised the land of Canaan to them as an everlasting possession.  (Genesis 17:7-8)This really “sticks up the nose” of the “matchstick players.” They would much rather expunge the Abrahamic Covenant from scripture for this would free them from their problem and empower them to continue their real agenda which is the extermination of all of Israel! After all Palestinian school books teach this!

The God factor

Christian and Muslim clericsThe conflict in the region is really not about so called social justice. I wish it was but sadly it is not. It has everything to do with the dismantling of the Jewish State that is an affront to Islam! This is the truth! It takes many twists and turns and new strategies are embraced all the time in the pursuit of this one agenda. Christians, without a proper biblical grounding, fall for this intrigue all the time and sadly have no fear of God. Now this is not to say that everything that Israel does is right and certainly the indiscriminate killing of civilians by Palestinian terrorists is routinely ignored by these Christians. It’s all Israel’s fault and they are deaf and blind to anything else. They travel to Iran to meet with Muslim Clerics and there, as they do everywhere, they declare biblical Christian Zionism to be sin. When you have no case biblically name calling and smearing is always the position opted for! However, great Christians who have had a profound impact upon our world have held Christian Zionist views through the centuries because they were, in the first instance honoring God! Theirs was a biblical position first, then secondly a question of living in the fear of God and thirdly a recognition of Israel’s unique place in redemption history. History is filled with the wreckage of people who played with matches on this issue and then were burned by the fire they ignited! It will not be different now.

No amount of trickery, debunking of the scriptures or rewriting of history will change the outcome. The Jews have returned to Canaan to stay! That’s it and Christians, if they want to be honest influencers should quit the blame game and encourage both parties to settle their differences within this context!

Malcolm Hedding.

Holy Convocations

by Malcolm Africa bishops Blog Catholic Christian Zionism Dispensationalism evangelicals Israel Lausanne Middle East Sudan

Two recent church convocations have come to conclusions that are unbiblical but widely believed in Christian circles. The first was the special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Catholic Bishops. Speaking of Israel’s place among the nations they concluded that, “the Abrahamic Covenant has been annulled.” By doing this they can remove Israel’s divine right to the land of Canaan and to Jerusalem. Naturally, if this be true, then Israel enjoys no biblical significance, her modern day restoration is an accident of history and she takes her place amongst the nations of the earth like any other. God has no more purpose for her than He does for Zambia or Switzerland!

The second convocation was that of the Lausanne Conference of Evangelicals that gathered in Cape Town. They agreed entirely with the Bishops of Rome in that their conference statement noted that, “…..we strongly believe that the separate and privileged place given to Jewish people today or to the modern Israeli state in certain forms of dispensationalism or Christian Zionism, should be challenged, inasmuch as they deny the essential oneness of the people of God in Christ.”

Once again, simply put, this means that for these evangelicals Israel’s modern day restoration enjoys no biblical significance whatsoever. Christians can and should ignore it and move on to more important spiritual things. The Catholic Bishops were at least honest in that they recognized that to hold their position on Israel they have to define the “battle ground.” That is, they must declare the Abrahamic Covenant entirely obsolete and abolished by God Himself. There is just one problem for them in this regard and that is that scripture nowhere says it. It is an argument from silence!

In fact, if anything, the New Testament scriptures everywhere affirm the ongoing efficacy of this covenant even going so far as to declare that it cannot be annulled (Galatians3:17), that it constitutes an example to believers of God’s truthfulness and unswerving faithfulness (Hebrews6:13-20) and that the finished work of Jesus on the cross was to make good its promises (Galatians3:9; 13-14;). Indeed, if we are Christ’s we are “Abraham’s children according to the promise (covenant).” (Galatians3:29)

Moreover, I know of no Christian Zionist who affords a privileged place to Jews or Israel. If anything, the call of God over the Jewish people was never a “privileged place” but a place of servant hood, suffering and rejection for the sake of the world! As a gentile believer in Christ Jesus I would not want their role in history, but truly I have been eternally enriched by it because “salvation is of the Jews”, “we share in their spiritual things” and from them “Christ came who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”

To assert then that, since Jesus’ coming, the Abrahamic Covenant has been abolished is quite frankly theological ineptitude! The scriptures nowhere support this theory. In fact, if accepted, these convocations are guilty of the very theological position that they claim to be against! That is, they are guilty of being dispensationalists because they endorse the movement of one plan of God to another throughout history. This is classic dispensationalism! We reject dispensationalism in all its forms because there has only and forever been one plan of God for the salvation of the whole world (Revelation13:8). This plan was unveiled and promised in the Abrahamic Covenant which, according to Paul was the first and foundational proclamation of the Gospel (Galatians3:8) The fact that this saving initiative also promised land as an everlasting possession to the Jewish people (Genesis17:8-9) has always “stuck in the throat” of many people and groups. (Nehemiah2:19-20; 4:1-3; 6:1-2)

The fact is all nations are blessed and saved by faith in the finished work of Jesus because of the peculiar servant role that Israel has played out on their behalf. A calling that Paul admits is irrevocable! (Romans11:29) For this role or call to be removed the Abrahamic Covenant has to be removed but, if that ever happens and it will not, God’s decision to save the world also has to be removed! It is worthy of note that, years after Israel’s rejection of Jesus Messianic credentials, the writer of the book of Hebrews holds up the Abrahamic Covenant to wavering believers as an example of God’s faithfulness to his word, character and promises.

The Lausanne Conference and the Catholic Bishops are not only guilty of dispensationalism but of also casting doubt over the character of God. They have thereby disqualified themselves from participating in one of the most remarkable acts of God in history and have failed to “rightly divide” the word of God. One wonders whether the pressure of being politically correct has caused them to do this?

It needs to be borne in mind that the position held by Christian Zionists today was also held by great Christian leaders throughout history including the Wesley’s, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Bishop Ryle of Liverpool, Sir Isaac Newton, the early church leaders as reflected by the documents of the early church and many thousands more.

That we are and all should be concerned about issues of justice and righteousness in the Middle East and elsewhere is a given. We should be committed to the “whole counsel of God” and are. However, I want to know why these church convocations have abandoned the people of South Sudan where two million Christians, in the last decade and more, were killed at the hands of Muslims and why they have said and done nothing about the “forgotten war” in central Africa that has thus far claimed the lives of four million people? Obviously righteousness and justice for them is a matter of “special selection.” Or, are these people left without hope because they are African?

Rev. Malcolm Hedding