Islam, Israel and Christianity

Islam, Israel and Christianity

by Malcolm Blog Christianity Israel Middle East Muslim

 

“For the love of Christ compels us, because we

judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died.”

Christianity—–               2Corinthians 5:14


“You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress

him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

Judaism———-Exodus 22:21


“Do not hanker for peace with infidels, behead

them when you catch them.”

Islam————-Quran 47:4

To equate the violence of Islam with Christianity is just off the wall apologetics and a denial of the reality on the ground facing us all today. Nowhere, in the world, for the past hundreds of years, has Christianity sought to bring about a global political kingdom. Christianity has and can thrive within any political system and it does not seek to usurp the host cultural/political order in which it finds itself as Islam does and is attempting to do.  Christians do have a right to “compete in the market of ideas” but this is done peacefully and democratically and, to be sure, the influence of these ideas have made the West great and produced a world leader in values related to freedom in the United States of America. This is not to deny that Christianity, some five hundred years ago did not build a kingdom known as Christendom, but this is not the dictate of its biblical revelation and the religion has thrived everywhere without such a goal. Its adherence merely seek to be “salt and light” in every community that they find themselves and the New Testament exhorts believers to submit to the governing authorities and indeed to pray for them; all the while being exemplary citizens. (Romans 13:1-7)(1Timothy 2:1-7) Our kingdom is presently not of this world and our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20) and so we seek no earthly kingdom other than the one that will arrive with the dramatic and visible return of Jesus to Jerusalem.

Islam by contrast is a religious civilization based on the acquisition of land. It seeks for, believes in and is prepared to wage war (Jihad) and kill for a political kingdom called a Caliphate, which will rule the world according to Islamic law which is called Sharia. This is its stated revelation and teaching in the Quran and the Hadith and it is openly proclaimed on the streets of London, Paris, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Berlin, Oslo and New York! Where Islam is in the dominant position of power, as in the Middle East, it will not tolerate the free propagation of Christianity and indeed, if a Muslim converts to Christianity, he or she will be beheaded. This is a regular practice in Saudi Arabia. The freedoms that Muslims enjoy in western democracies, which have been predominantly influenced by Christianity, are not afforded to Christians and Jews in the Islamic world.

Israel’s journey to nationhood was in the context of suffering violence, genocide and barbarism the depth of which we know nothing of and do not appreciate. To become a nation she, having been committed to servitude by her Egyptian overlords, had to flee to a harsh wilderness where, once again she was set upon by foreign nations and then she had to enter a land that, by the gift of God, was hers but which was filled with violent warlike tribes. These uncivilized tribes were not simply unceremoniously removed by Israel’s conquest of them. In fact scripture reveals that God waited  400 years for them to repent and change but when they entrenched themselves in the very worst forms of wickedness and violence God sent Israel into the region as His instrument of judgment. (Genesis 15:13-16)(Deuteronomy 9:4) Israel was the hope of the world since without her presence and revelation in the world God would have destroyed everything! This was the message of the great flood and immediately afterwards the book of Genesis introduces us to the call of Abraham.  (Genesis 6:5) God’s divine mission, embedded in Israel, was in fact a blessing for all nations and families of the world but Israel had to get a foothold in the Promised Land for this blessing to be realized. (Genesis 12:1-3) Thereafter the Jews have never been a warlike people and they have never embraced a mandate for global conquest. By contrast their revelation, called the Bible, has civilized the world with its remarkable code of conduct but they have remained a small people wishing only to be left alone! (Numbers 23:9) In fact it is the Jews who have been routinely subjected to genocide by empires, big and small, that have set out to destroy them. No nation on earth has had to fight for its survival as they have had to do and still do. To equate their journey with that of Islam and thereby attempt to prove some sort of equivalence is ridiculous and intellectually dishonest. Much of the conflict over Israel has had to do with unseen demonic powers that are determined to frustrate her role in history as the vehicle of world redemption; they are determined to extinguish her light. Sadly, too many willing idiots are seduced by this sinister agenda.

Israel’s unfolding revelation, preached by Jesus her greatest son, gave voice to the internal nature of the Kingdom of God. He said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed for lo, the kingdom of God will be in you. “ (Luke 17:21) Before Pilate Jesus affirmed that He was in fact no threat to Caesar because His kingdom was not of this world. (John 18:36) Therefore, He said, if it were my followers would fight but it is not! By contrast Mohammed’s followers do fight, are called to fight and will continue to fight until their kingdom on earth is established. They will crush little children, crucify Christians and behead anyone who gets in their way, as we now witness, to establish their Caliphate and with it sharia law. Their founder did these things routinely and thus set forth the example for them to follow. Actually on one day he beheaded 800 people who were deemed infidels! Do we see this picture in Jesus? For Him violence was no way to pursue righteousness and had to be rejected and replaced with love for one’s enemies and forgiveness. Indeed He mirrored these very things for He was unjustly convicted, condemned and crucified and yet said, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) Consequently, the Christian Church today nowhere advocates for violence as a means by which to spread its message and those who did centuries ago had no biblical mandate to do so and have not been emulated.

To assert then that Christianity is as dangerous as political Islam is just nonsense and, to use an American word, disingenuous. Those who are making this claim are quite simply engaging in mischief and their position says more about them than anything else.

Islam by contrast advocates for Jihad (holy war) and those who give themselves to it are simply being true to their revelation. True Muslims will do what Mohammed did just as true Christians will do as Jesus did. In actual fact the unfolding revelation of Islam in the Quran is toward violence; as any well educated Muslim will tell you that the “Medina Verses” of the Quran, which were more benign in nature, are subservient (less authoritative) to the “Mecca Verses”, which are more violent and call for the death of Jews and infidels. Even Muslims that fail to pray as they should every day are threatened with death. This is why ISIS, the pure form of Islam, to which Muslims from all over the world are running to join, will destroy moderate Muslims and Muslims who seek to live at peace with their neighbors whoever they might be. They will especially kill Muslims like King Abdullah of Jordan as they consider him a “sell out” to the western democracies. In this regard they have already put him on notice.

Political Islam is gaining strength all over the world and the assertion that it is just a small minority who have hijacked and distorted Islam is just not true. They have now murdered millions of people all over the world including, as they see it, hundreds and thousands of apostate Muslims. In South Sudan alone two million Christians were murdered by political Islam and I could write about Nigeria, Mali, Northern Africa, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Darfur, Afghanistan the USA and of course the Middle East. The carnage will continue until someone has the courage to call this conflict what it is; a war against political Islam! No amount of political correct language is going to solve this problem and if there are so many moderate peace loving Muslims in the world then now is the time for their voices to be heard in mass protests on the streets and Capitals of the world; if not now then when?

Malcolm Hedding.

Denying the Truth and Supporting Wickedness

Denying the Truth and Supporting Wickedness

by Malcolm anti-Semitism Blog Christian Zionism Gaza Hamas Israel Middle East Nazis UN

One of the great spiritual tests of the age facing the nations, the church world-wide and people everywhere is the question of Israel. Israel’s latest war with Hamas has brought this into focus again because the issues are clear but many in all walks of life, including the media, apparently cannot face up to them.

So here are the facts:
The constitution or founding charter of Hamas openly calls for the extermination of all of Israel and of all Jews everywhere. This is no secret and quite simply the truth; I know it because I have a copy of this document in my study. This is clearly evil and unacceptable, or should be, to all right thinking people but apparently our learned politicians and daily commentators, in all spheres, cannot get it!

The founding of Hamas has roots in Nazi Germany since the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin Al Husseini was a Nazi and actually went to Berlin during the war years and gave his full support to Hitler and especially so to his plan to exterminate all the Jews. He, after the war, returned to the Middle East and was one of the founders of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. This too is evil in every way but still the world refuses to condemn them and Jimmy Carter calls upon the global community to legitimize them!

Hamas then provokes a number of wars with Israel by indiscriminately launching 14,000 missiles at Israel’s towns, cities and villages since the year 2005 and again the world cannot bring itself to fully support Israel in this on going conflict. In fact it condemns Israel even though it is the first army in the world to compromise its attack initiatives by telling the enemy beforehand where it is going to strike next. This to save lives and yet when civilians die, as unfortunately they always will in a war zone, Israel is condemned and not the aggressor Hamas. Actually being quite unable to identify evil when they see it the world media seeks to place Israel and Hamas on a platform of moral equivalence. This is wickedness!

To make matters worse Hamas uses child slave labor to construct tunnels wherein many of these children died. Children are also hung on walls to deter the Israel Air force from striking Hamas’ military positions in civilian areas. The pictures are there on Facebook for all to see but there is no outrage; rather Israel is condemned for the fact that 200 children died in the conflict. The fact is, hundreds of thousands of Israeli children would have died if it were not for the Iron Dome missile interception system and the many bomb-shelters that Israel has placed in every home, building and public area. This too is wickedness as is the general use of civilians as shields against attack after they have provoked the war and are the aggressors. Once again Israel must not be allowed to destroy her enemy as this would be the deployment of disproportionate force. The idea is that Israel must lose as many lives as her aggressive enemy and if she doesn’t then she is at fault.

So here we are allowing Jew hatred to spread through the world and Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, is becoming more and more vilified with every passing day. The massacre of thousands of civilians in Syria, Iraq and Africa is totally ignored. This is exactly what the Hamas Nazi radicals want and the western media has fanned much of these flames of hatred by its wicked duplicity in this matter. It has thereby sided with evil even though it knows better.

This conflict will rage on and yet, in the end, the truth will win out just as it did seventy odd years ago and Israel will be vindicated. To stand with Israel now is not a difficult decision because the choice between good and evil is not a complex one. The God of the Bible also found this to be an easy decision because He states that while the nations rage at Israel He will, in the end, defend her and set up His King on His holy hill in Jerusalem. It would be good to choose what He has already chosen that it may go well with you on that day!

Malcolm Hedding.

The Killing of Three Israeli Teenagers

The Killing of Three Israeli Teenagers

by Malcolm Abbas Blog Hamas Israel Middle East Muslim Palestinians persecution PLO Prayer West Bank

The brutal murder of the three Israeli teenagers, Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach, kidnapped nearly three weeks ago is a crime that is unimaginable and can only be committed by people who have lost any understanding of what it is to be human. The killers when caught, and they will be, should be given a fair trial and then, when found guilty, be subjected to the death penalty. This is nothing short of the genocide of three whole worlds and it must be treated as such. It is with disgust that we also witness the celebrations in Gaza of these heinous crimes. To be sure this demonstrates to the world the true nature of the beast that Israel is grappling with. President Abbas is directly accountable for this outrage as he is the head of state of the Palestinian Authority Unity Government. He cannot escape this responsibility and the international community should hold his feet to the fire on this matter. This crime is the true face of his movement and has been for decades. It has thus once and for all unmasked them for what they are.

We rightly mourn with Israel today and thus share her pain and grief but we should all be assured of this; that this cowardly and dastardly act will not weaken Israel’s resolve or intimidate her. No, she will stand strong, uphold civilized values and norms and in the end win this battle against raw evil. We in particular share the grief that must now overwhelm three precious Israeli families and we know that God’s great love will comfort and care for them.

Malcolm Hedding

The Kidnapping of Three Israeli Children

The Kidnapping of Three Israeli Children

by Malcolm Blog Israel justice Middle East Muslim Palestinians PLO Prayer

On behalf of Malcolm Hedding Ministries and its world-wide constituency I wish to express outrage at the global, and yes European Union, response to the kidnapping of three Israeli young people by the newly formed Palestinian Unity Government. This type of barbaric, cruel and cowardly act demonstrates yet again that Israel is dealing with an entity that is tribal and uncivilized having no interest in peace but driven by a religious ideology that is dedicated to the total destruction of the Jewish State. There is no excuse for this evil behavior and it is stunning to hear and read that western politicians are calling upon Israel to demonstrate restraint as she seeks to employ all the means at her disposal to return these young people to their families.

Indeed there should be global condemnation of this crime and most certainly all financial aid to this newly formed Palestinian government should be suspended. I am fully aware that merely calling upon this government to return these innocent children will achieve nothing. We all know this. This is no time for the madness of political correctness and thus Israel must be fully supported as she employs every means available to her to recover these three children safely.

It is our prayer and hope that this will happen speedily.

Malcolm Hedding.

Holy Convocations – May 16th

Holy Convocations – May 16th

by Malcolm Africa anti-Semitism Blog Christian Zionism Church Middle East Muslim racism Sudan


“And the scripture, foreseeing that God
would justify the Gentiles by faith,
preached the gospel to Abraham before-
hand, saying, “In you all the nations shall
be blessed.”
Galatians 3:8

In recent years a number 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 convened in 2010. 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 also in 2010. They agreed entirely with the Bishops of Rome in that their pre-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.” Thankfully, after this convocation and because of much pressure, they altered this statement to reflect a more open and neutral view on the matter. However, it is to be noted that to believe in a national destiny for the Jewish people in the land of Canaan does not in any way deny the “essential oneness of the people of God in Christ” because we believe that all people be they Jew or Gentile can only be saved by appropriating by faith the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

The third convocation is the one just recently held by the Church of Scotland in 2013. This convocation not only stated that Israel’s modern day restoration has no biblical significance but it went on to cast doubt on the historical veracity of the Abrahamic Covenant thus implying that at no time in history did it guarantee Canaan as a homeland for the Jewish people! This abuse of scripture by this gathering of so called learned clergy is breathtaking to say the least; especially in the light of Genesis 17:7-8 and Psalm 105:7-12.

Once again, simply put, this means that for these church movements 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 and wishful thinking!

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 or somehow reconstructed 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 of Jesus. (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  Jewish believers as an example of God’s faithfulness to his word, character and promises. Apparently he was wrong!

The Lausanne Conference, the Catholic Bishops and the Church of Scotland are not only guilty of dispensationalism but of also casting doubt over the character of God in that He has lied! But God is not a man that He should lie. (Numbers 23:19) (Titus 1:2) 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 having to be 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, Professor Jacob Janeway of the Scottish National Church, Robert Murray McCheyne, Sir Isaac Newton, the early church leaders, as reflected by the documents of the early church, and many thousands more down to the present time.

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? And, what of the thousands of Christians who are being murdered across the Middle East and Africa today by Muslims not to mention the hundreds of thousands of Muslims that are being murdered by their fellow Muslims in Libya, Syria and Iraq? Obviously righteousness and justice for these convocations is a matter of “special selection.” Or, are these people left without hope because, in most cases, they are African?

Malcolm Hedding.

Global Hypocrisy and Selective Morality

by Malcolm Blog Hamas Iran Israel justice Middle East UN

“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that
the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be estab-
lished on the top of the mountains, and shall be
exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow
to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to
the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us
His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For
out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge
between the nations, and rebuke many people;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war anymore.”
Isaiah 2:2-4

As I write the global media has wrung its hands and gnashed its teeth over the civil war in Syria and the killing of some 13,000 civilians by Assad but done nothing! Well this is to be expected but one cannot help but wonder why there are no rallies and riots all over the world protesting the killing of civilians as this war drags on to its inevitable end?  Where were the screaming masses that took to the streets in London and elsewhere when Israel, legitimately, defended itself against Hamas initiated terrorism in 2008? They were protesting the loss of plus/minus one thousand civilian lives in Gaza. As things turned out just on six hundred of these were Hamas terrorists and combatants.

This war in Syria has seen countless thousands of civilians lose their lives and thousands more have been displaced in the last month alone! Did the United Nations, set up to be the guardians of peace, intervene with swift military action, as they did in Libya? Of course not;……and, what of the European Union? Apart from a few statements, they pursued “business as usual”. This was not Israel so no one cared and no one took to the streets on behalf of the suffering civilian population. States like Russia and China actually blocked all attempts to condemn Syria in the UN. They have “their vested interests”; more often than not the sale of weapons! This is nothing short of hypocrisy! But we’ve become used to it since it happens time and time again.

Ahmadinejad can deny the Holocaust and call for the destruction of Israel on a global stage, and arm himself with nuclear weapons to do it, and he can walk the halls of government around the world with impunity. The masses will not turn out to protest and Iranian flags will not be burned. In fact western European governments will continue doing business with him where and how they can in spite of the sanctions. This is the morally bankrupt world we live in. Selective morality is the name of the game and one thing stays constant; Israel will always get a bashing!

Her antagonists want concessions from her without recognizing her right to exist and the world, that is the Western World, goes along with this. This, in itself, demonstrates that the goal of those seeking concessions is not a two state solution living side-by-side in peace security but rather a one state solution with Israel consigned to oblivion. How odd that Western politicians can’t see through this or, is there another agenda? The recent termination of the gas flow from Egypt to Israel is a flagrant violation of the Peace accords signed between the two nations in 1979. Once again Israel gave up land for an agreement on paper that is being torn up! The same happened with Lebanon in 2000 and with Gaza in 2005. Land for peace is in fact land for more conflict! When will the lesson be learned?

Politics is always filled with intrigue and betrayal not to mention corruption. For these reasons it is good to know that there is a God in Heaven who has planned a day of reckoning for all nations. On that day the truth, and only the truth, will come out and Israel will be the place from which real peace will radiate to the world. The vision will not fail because Isaiah saw it!   Even the United Nations has inscribed this vision upon its walls! How ironic!

Malcolm Hedding.

Christian Zionism and Social Justice

by Malcolm anti-Semitism Blog Christian Zionism Church Gaza Hamas Israel Jesus Middle East Palestinians

A new initiative

Segments and leaders of the evangelical church are being drawn away from the traditional and mainstream position on Israel by an initiative that claims to take the high moral ground by proclaiming a commitment to social justice. This invariably means that Israel constitutes an occupying oppressive regime and that the Palestinians are the ones requiring social justice. To bolster this narrative images of the defensive barrier wall are displayed to achieve maximum propaganda effect. After all images like this return our thoughts to the Berlin Wall, the Belfast Wall and the walls of one type or another put in place by the Apartheid regime. One has to admit that the imagery is powerful and it takes well informed minds to counter them. The lack of such information has duped many evangelicals; some of them very well known. This new initiative, designed to discredit pro-Israel evangelicals breeds on ignorance and in fact on lies! It also seeks to smear Christian Zionists as uncompassionate Palestinian and Arab haters. This is just not true! David Solway observes that, “The usual understanding of Israel as an aggressive, colonial, apartheid state robbing the Palestinians of their heritage is quite possibly the greatest political scam of modern times. It is the outcome of a mixture of historical amnesia, ideological prejudice and reflex hostility, which keep it mind-proof.”

An old story

Newt Gingrich, a Republican Party candidate for the US Presidency recently shocked the media world when he stated that the Palestinians were an “invented people.” However, being the astute and very well qualified historian that he is, no one was able to challenge him; not even the liberal anti-Israel academic world! His facts were “water-tight!” This is just a reality. This however does not mean that he was demeaning the people who now claim a Palestinian national identity. It simply means that he told the truth and, as we found out, the truth hurts! Social justice must be built on the truth. This is why it was necessary to dismantle the Apartheid regime since the awful record of white minority government and oppression was true. It could not be disputed; but in the Middle East we have a claim to land by a people that were in fact invented and indeed never did have a history of national statehood! The people who do are the Jews and their claim has a four thousand year history!! Isn’t that amazing; but you would never believe it if you listened to the narrative projected by the “new initiative people.” When we “sell the truth” we will, in the end, fall. The book of Proverbs declares, “Buy the truth, and do not sell it…” (Proverbs 23:23) Social justice is placed in jeopardy when the truth is “sold.”

At the beginning of the 20th Century and up until 1948 all peoples living in British Mandated Palestine were designated “Palestinian”, even Jews! I have personally seen many identity documents testifying to this. It is a fact! This means that there never was a Palestinian People as we know them today. The truth is the new Palestinian people were invented by the PLO as a tool to further their struggle to completely destroy the State of Israel. Yasser Arafat, probably the most famous Palestinian, was in fact an Egyptian! This “invention” took root in 1964 at a time when the PLO and its various partners had everything they say they want now; even the Old City of Jerusalem, and yet they drew up a charter that called for the destruction and removal of Jewish sovereignty over all the remaining areas of the region. This they called the “Phased Plan” for the removal of the State of Israel. Note; they drew up a charter calling for the destruction of Israel and not a constitution calling for Palestinian statehood! In short they created a people group as part of their strategy to destabilize all of Israel and, as they put it then, “drive the Jews into the sea.” This is the truth and social justice must take this into consideration. This in turn means that the Palestinians never existed before as a state and therefore Israel has never occupied their so called territory. Israel’s claim to all the territory west of the Jordan River is also legal under international law as it was verified by the League of Nations in 1922 and thereafter confirmed by the United Nations. This too is the truth! How embarrassing to the “new boys club!”

This of course brings us to the Oslo initiative of the 1990s. The fact that Israel, by a process of negotiation, agreed to cede territory to the Palestinians changed the equation but it did mean that Israel, that had a right to the land by international law, was demonstrating a commitment to social justice by agreeing to give it away. It also meant that if she remained on it after the agreements she would be an occupier. However, it also meant that the Palestinians, through their leadership, would have to be honest peace partners and disavow violence. Thus up until the Oslo Accords Israel was not an occupying force. As we all know the Oslo agreements were hammered out between the Israeli leadership headed up by Yitzhak Rabin and the PLO leadership headed up by Yasser Arafat. The truth is Arafat was a dishonest broker and peace partner; he never intended to keep his side of the agreements and even said so in Johannesburg in 1994 just five months after he had shaken the hands of Bill Clinton and Yitzhak Rabin on the lawns of the White House. All the while Israel, by September 2000, had fully withdrawn from the Palestinian territories in compliance with the Oslo dictates.

Arafat therefore, and by implication the Palestinians, did not negotiate in good faith. Thus, in what way do they now cry out for social justice? In the end, as it has always been, the Palestinian form of social justice is the complete and utter destruction of Israel. This is the old story that never changes and, if you doubt it, just take a look at the school books given to their children and listen to the sermons preached by their clerics. Palestinian Media Watch will be more than willing to give you unedited copies of these! Golda Meir was right when she stated in 1957 that, “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate Israel.”

Moreover, consider the recent Palestinian alliance with Hamas and who can doubt the truth? So, given the duplicity that was employed under the Oslo agreements, it is clear that those who require justice, given the painful concessions that they made up until September 2000, are the Israelis! They made ridiculous agreements in their pursuit of peace including being willing to hand over the Temple Mount to the Palestinians, arming them and offering them 97% of the West Bank and, if this was not enough, they unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and were rewarded with 12,000 missiles! You talk of social justice; well surely the displaced Gush Katif people would like to receive it! But sadly this narrative is denied, distorted and conveniently ignored because of an old hatred and ideology that cannot abide the existence of a Jewish State in the region. And this too is the truth!

The fact is; the Palestinian leadership has time and time again robbed their people of justice and should be held accountable. By now they could have had a state with significant parts of Jerusalem as its capital but they do not; all because they could not embrace social justice, courage and honesty.

The new reality

That a people now exist called Palestinians is a reality. Three generations have brought this people to a place of viable existence. No one can or should deny it. This means that at least two generations have been trapped in the never ending cycle of violence and intrigue and yet it will surprise many to learn that today Palestinians on the West Bank enjoy a higher standard of living, education and economic prosperity than their counterparts in the region and thus the gross domestic product of their region is in strong positive territory and expected to grow even more during the next fiscal year. Why is this? Because their economy is intertwined with one of the most successful economies in the world today; that of Israel’s. Given the chaos of the so called “Arab Spring” the West Bank is an island of prosperity! Sounds like economic justice to me or am I mistaken?

Sadly at a political level the plotting and hatred continues unabated and so Mahmoud Abbas, as noted, has recently cemented his relationship, and therefore that of his people, with Hamas. There must be no mistake about the significance of this in that it puts the Palestinians on a collision course with Israel. Since this partnership affirms their commitment, as it always was, to annihilate Israel the Israelis must tighten security to protect their citizens from harm. At a joint statement after their meeting Abbas and Mashaal of Hamas said, “We are determined to resist the enemy and achieve our national goals.” So, once again there will be no social justice for the Palestinians as the Israeli pullout from Gaza demonstrated. Hamas did not see this as a token of goodwill and an opportunity to build a new economic and social order for their people but rather as an act of weakness and immediately set about launching missile attacks in their thousands against the southern villages of Israel. Is this social justice? Jihad against Israel will continue and the Palestinian people will pay the price in having to be continuously subjected to checkpoints, searches, general security measures and barrier walls. We should all weep over this human tragedy and truly Jesus does weep at the checkpoint but not for reasons espoused by some evangelical leaders today! If you ask the attendees at the “Christ at the Check Point Conference” who is responsible for Palestinian suffering their answer will be Israel but the facts tell a different story. But this “different story” will never be heard because it is not politically correct to tell it.

The need for compassion

So, where should the church be in all of this? The answer lies in first getting hold of the truth and the facts surrounding the big picture. I have very briefly given these above. When we do this we are better enabled to put forward the call for social justice as we can get a comprehensive perspective of the issues. Social justice will take hold when leaders are transparent, honest and really committed to peace. What does the history of this conflict tell us? I will leave my readers to answer that question. No wonder Paul exhorted us to place leaders at the very top of the prayer priority list. Secondly, we need to recognize that there is a small picture that begs for our attention as well. That is, that real men, women, boys and girls are trapped in this conflict on both sides and they need help, care, love and compassion. In Jesus’ day whole communities of one type or another were caught in the conflict that Rome brought to the region. Jesus, almost exclusively ignored the conflict but healed the sick, fed the hungry, loved the stranger (even the Roman one) and lifted up the broken-hearted. He blessed the children, sat with sinners and taught the multitudes about God. Scripture affirms that He moved from one check point to another as He travelled from the Galilee to Jerusalem and never said a word about them! He knew that the big picture was in the hands of the Father as it is today.

So, our hearts should break as we witness ordinary Palestinian people recalling the trauma of having to live caged in behind walls and impeded on a daily basis by security checks etc. We should also weep for Jewish families that have had their children brutally murdered and torn from them. This is no way to live and these images, projected in a way that divorces them from the bigger picture, can turn anyone into a radical activist and they do; on both sides of the divide. A distorted image is no foundation upon which to build social justice.

Thus, while some evangelicals gather to reinforce their distorted narrative and lay blame for everything at Israel’s door let us ask them how many millions of Shekels they have invested in the social upliftment of Palestinians? Good question. I am the erstwhile leader of one of the biggest Christian Zionist organizations in the world. I therefore know for a fact that considerable amounts of money were constantly invested in Palestinian communities. In fact the organization distributed its social welfare relief into the region strictly according to its population demographics. We cared for everyone just as Jesus did and still do. This is social justice on the move! It is not selective but gives “voice” to the biblical truth that Jesus loves all people the same. He has no favorites. Compassion is not endless words and an attempt to win an ideological battle. The truth is the truth but compassion reaches to the heart and says because God loves you I will help you. One cannot be unmoved by the tears that flow down children’s faces or by the distress that comes to mothers and fathers trying to get by in a world that traps them in endless discouragement.

The Christian message demands that we hold to the truth, that which is biblical and historical, and that we bring to all the peoples of the Middle East a message of love and hope. When we do this we will be mediators of social justice.

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.

The War Against the Jews

by Malcolm anti-Semitism Blog Hamas Hitler Iran Israel Middle East Muslim Nazis Palestinians PLO
Holocaust Survivors
Holocaust Survivors

The war against the Jews has been waged from the dawn of history and is relentless until this very day. It is a saga of great proportions and significance though many fail to see it or appreciate it. It has one goal in mind and that is the liquidation of the Jewish people and the Jewish state. The world wants a new world order that is “Juden rein” (free of Jews). The attempt to murder the Jews has taken many forms including open hostility and wickedness as we witnessed in the Second World War although, unable to achieve this end by conventional war, in recent years this attack against the Jews has been political and very often couched in the language of peace. It is waged according to a narrative that is inaccurate and pure myth but one that is accepted in most circles as truth. Just the idea of “occupation” is totally untrue but accepted everywhere. The Palestinians never had a state ever in history and the ground they claim was in fact occupied for centuries by the Ottoman Turkish Empire and then illegally by the Jordanians from 1948 to 1967. Before that from 1917 onwards it was mandated to the British Empire as a consequence of the First World War. Of course these facts mean nothing to those who seek only the destruction of the Jew and Israel.

Collaborating with Evil

PA Cartoon: Jew Eating Dome of the Rock
Palestinian TV: Jew Eating Dome of the Rock

Today Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah and all their fellow travelers are fully committed to the liquidation of Israel. This fact is not hearsay or rumor, no it is enshrined in their charters and statements made frequently in the Arabic speaking press. The school books and TV programs for children in the Palestinian Authority and in Gaza, and indeed all over the Arab world, constantly demonize the Jewish people and Israel and thereby incite their impressionable minds to hatred. This too is on public record and can be verified by a visit to the website of Palestinian Media Watch. It’s all out in the open for all to see. The Jews are likened to pigs and apes and suicide attacks against them are glorified as the ultimate goal in life! Those who carry out this call are honored by having streets and squares named after them in Palestinian towns and cities.

This same radical Islamic menace collaborated with Hitler in the hope that his triumph would also bring about the complete annihilation of all Jews. He came close but thank God was defeated and yet today the world community expects Israel to sit down and make peace with “Hitler!” That is, with people who fully embrace his vision and seek to complete it today. Hamas and Fatah now have a unity agreement that according to the Hamas leadership must go further by pursuing the total destruction of Israel.

Sadly, a world without a moral compass and unable to identify evil is therefore pressurizing Israel to make what would be a suicide pact with a new version of Nazism! Many of the nations pushing for this would not do it themselves but somehow it is good enough for the Jews! One has to wonder why all this is happening? Are these people stupid, just ignorant or is there another agenda being followed? Or, maybe still there is a spiritual reality behind the War against the Jews!

The God of Israel

Given that the very essence of sin is rebellion against God, not only in terms of where He is and what He is but also who He is, it therefore is not surprising that anything that reminds a rebellious world of God will also be attacked. This is the nature of sin that lurks in the heart of every human being. If then this God calls into existence a people to reflect His character and take His name one can expect this people to be the target of rebellion or evil. From the very day of Israel’s calling and association with the only true God this war began and it has never stopped. It separates the world and as long as the Jew exists it will rage. It is a desperate war and,if it were not for the faithfulness of God, the Jew would have vanished a long time ago. Psalm 83 gives voice to these truths in that it clearly states that humankind’s War Against the Jews is in fact a war against God Himself! Note the first four verses:

“Do not keep silent, O God!
Do not hold your peace,
and do not be still, O God!
For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
and consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from
Being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no
More.”

It is to be noted that the enemies of God strike out against Him by making War Against the Jews!  This war will then not stop until the evil in the human heart has been overcome by redeeming love or destroyed by judgment! Needless to say, the honour and existence of the only true God is at stake in this war and thus Israel will never be destroyed because God Himself, the God of the Bible, has vouched safe her existence! This is the promise of His word. We however are invited to “show our colours” by standing with and praying for Israel. In this we don’t work for God but with Him against those who, from generation to generation, pursue the War Against the Jews.

Malcolm Hedding.

The Signs of the Times

by Malcolm Blog Carmel Christian Zionism Egypt fish dying Israel Jesus Matthew 24 Middle East Muslim persecution

Jesus warned that, just prior to His return, cataclysmic upheavals would take place in the world that would defy human explanation and strike fear into the hearts of men. In just the last few weeks our eyes have witnessed a rampaging fire in the Carmel heights of Israel, snow storms in Europe and the USA never witnessed before, rain storms and flooding in Australia on a scale that boggles the mind and the weird death of thousands upon thousands of fish and birds in the USA and South America.

When one adds to this picture the wholesale murder of Christians throughout the Muslim world and in Africa plus the rise of anti-Semitism and the hatred of Israel in all international spheres then the words of Jesus become more important and most worthy of our careful consideration. No wonder He said that we are to watch and pray and, more important still, be ready for His sudden appearing.

Nations buckling under huge mountains of debt coupled with nuclear proliferation add to the dangers of an unstable global situation not to mention the wars that continue to rage in Iraq and Afghanistan. Anxiety levels are increasing everywhere! World leaders are void of real answers and their political theories have proved to be bankrupt. No wonder they are now openly calling for a one world government, a new global currency and human controls never imagined or seen before. As things get worse the masses, longing for safety, will join this call thinking that their only way out of the present distress will be totalitarianism with its promise of peace and order.

Freedom, as we know it, will become a thing of the past and a brave new one world order will arise totally transforming the present social, political and economic order. All of this will be hailed as progress and another step forward in humankind’s evolutionary development!

Naturally, giving leadership to this new globalist regime will be a dynamic, benevolent and “wise” leader such as the world has never seen but certainly longed for. Absolute obedience will be given to him by universal decree and those who fail to surrender and obey him will be removed from society under the charge of being enemies of the global order. Celebrations will everywhere abound and a new one world religious system will be established. The Bible, once the world’s most loved and read book will be banned!

With every passing day this picture is emerging with frightening clarity and what was once only written about by “whistle blowers” is now openly being stated and published without shame. Economic pressure, natural upheavals, wars, nuclear threats coupled with fear and anxiety have enabled the globalists to “show their hand” with increasing brazenness. The followers of Jesus; die everywhere across the Middle East and North Africa, are mocked in nations that once called themselves Christian and are accused of being bigots in many others. Jesus is the problem!

Nevertheless, is it not amazing that His words in Matthew 24 have been fulfilled with pin-point accuracy. He is hated only because He tells the truth and thereby unmasks the wickedness of the human heart. He himself declared that His people would be hated by all peoples because they bare His glorious name. What did He do to these peoples to arouse such hatred and rejection? The answer is simple; He loved them and gave His life for them!

In the end the “signs of the times” will prove to be the only “road map” worth following. The coming new world order will only bring humankind closer to utter destruction. Indeed, Jesus said, “Unless those days be shortened no flesh will be left on the earth.” A serious read of the signs of the end ,as recorded in Matthew 24, will go a long way to reassuring the heart and to reminding it of the things that really matter and which are worthy of standing up for.

Malcolm Hedding