Christian Zionists Snap at the Heels of A Man From Galilee

Archbishop Elias Chacour is a rotund 69 year old dynamo. As a child of eight he was made homeless by the Israeli army, but against all odds he stayed in Israel long after most of his villagers became forced refugees elsewhere. He went on to become one of the most important educators of Arab children, and a Christian citizen of Israel. There he built schools that teach some 4000 thousand children in Galilee, northern Israel. Now he has been appointed Archbishop over several Melkite Catholic Churches that are sanctioned by Israel within its territory. Bishop Chacour is author of “Blood Brothers” (Arabs and Israelis) and is a proven advocate of peace, preaching love of all races as his “only weapon.”

Archbishop Chacour pulls no punches in describing his background. He remembers vividly when, in 1948, the state of Israel drove them from their home the family had owned for generations. He relates with the vivid memories of a child how the Israelis separated the village men from their families, shipping the men including his own father to the borders of Israel. The men gone, they ordered the women and children out of their homes to seek refuge wherever they could find it. Later, Israel’s new Air Force bombed the empty homes to rubble so no one could not sneak back to live. It is this part of his life's story that, in part, seemed to arouse the ire of Christian Zionists in his audience.

Elias Chacour’s life seems to demonstrate peace, love and sacrifice. But he also challenges Israel’s right to take life and property from his Christian and Muslim Arab friends. And he speaks with passion to his belief that his Christian God hates killing regardless of what race of human is being killed. And he emphasizes that God has no favored race held above His Commandments.

It seems these statements, which Chacour made with indelible clarity, were enough to elicit a charged response from a dozen or more who attended his talk at SBC. We can guess at their number by counting those who either spoke out or walked out! We will examine this strange and un-Christ-like reaction to this unimpeachable presentation because it is We Hold These Truths goal to expose and reclaim Christian Zionists, most of us having once had and rejected this virus.

Chacour’s lecture, at which perhaps a hundred attended, was not, we are told, a formal function of SBC, but was arranged privately and without church advertising, nor was the meeting even noted in the Church bulletin. This seems to suggest that the church leadership had reason for concern about the reaction to Chacour’s words. The invitation was spread, not by the church, but by word-of-mouth through sponsors, Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding, and friends, including We Hold These Truths.

In contrast to Chacour’s life of self-sacrifice, Israelists, the most extreme of which call themselves “Christian Zionists,” are invariably preoccupied with what they consider political Israel and its absolute right, as they see it, to take any and all land in the Middle East. And, if taking or holding land involves killing Arabs they feel the Bible justifies killing. And, they invariably believe that political Israel and its Jewish settlers are favored by God, and are still the “chosen people” of God. Finally, they wrap these three beliefs around their borrowed “end times” eschatology, to come up with "Israelism," posing as evangelical Christianity.

Hamas: the Best Chance for Peace in the Land of Palestine

For peace between Israel and the Philistines each side must have a government with an honest intent to represent its own tribe and to negotiate in good faith with the opposing one. This seems self evident, and we will assume it is so.

This writer believes Israel's two year blockade and the December holocaust in Gaza demonstrates that Hamas is the only qualified government, and that the United States and Israel must allow it to negotiate. Instead, the negotiating has been done by the Palestinian Authority (formerly the Palestinian Liberation Organization), which the people rejected two years ago in a free election. Corruption has been exposed at the very top of the PA, just as it was in Yasser Arafat’s PLO, a blow to the PA, and affirmation for Hamas.

Israel’s reputation for honesty in office is worse. A Google search on the words “Israel corruption” turns up no less than 688 articles containing the exact phrase. A broader search reveals thousands of articles in Israeli publications about graft and criminal acts at the top of every administration in Israel’s history. Ehud Olmert stands officially accused of massive financial misdeeds. Ariel “The Butcher” Sharon slipped into a coma three years ago; his crimes can be more easily forgotten if he is kept on life support for the next 10 years.

From its very beginning, the Likud has a history of constant wars on its neighbors, and it has campaigned on more war. Israel’s wars have destroyed two smaller, more helpless neighbors--Lebanon and Gaza--in as many years; occupation and division have destroyed the West Bank. The 2009 coalition government’s Avigdor Lieberman publicly boasted that the US Government will do anything Israel wants it to do. He wants to bomb Iran tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the noble and historical ancient Philistines, who populate two provinces but have no nation, are led by two separate and opposing movements, each claiming to represent the people: the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Americans are constantly reminded that the PA leaders are well-meaning but bumbling drones who don’t cause much trouble and are ready to compromise for peace; Mahmoud Abbas seems to be just such a drone…dull, pliable but honest. But we are learning that Mr. Abbas is a profiteer, like his predecessor, Yassar Arafat.

Hamas has faults. It has often dealt violence when faced with violence. Some, including American Arabs with long memories, believe Hamas was at one time backed and funded by Israel in order to create a counterbalance to PLO growth and power. This was probably true at one time, but it does not matter now because it is clear from the Gaza holocaust that Israel has a bull’s eye on every Hamas leader, who must be dedicated to want the job. Hundreds have been killed and arrested, so it is safe to say these were not Israeli agents.

It is also well known that PLO leaders were at times protected by the USA government. The Philistines only supported the PLO as long as there was no one else. It is natural they would turn to Hamas because the PLO had a long history of losing ground every year while its leaders became more wealthy.

We Hold These Truths listened to Jimmy Carter when he said the election that brought Hamas to power in 2007 was legitimate and represented the will of the people. His team had talked to the voters. Carter said democracy demands that the world recognize Hamas and let the people work out their own problems. Carter stood for self-determination--a decidedly American principle, and some Israeli's now agree.

We went a step farther after the December annihilation of the Gazans, when we stated Hamas appeared to be an amazingly efficient and accepted governing body, functioning under impossible conditions. We based this conclusion in large part on Hamas’ development of the tunnel system that is saving the lives of the men, women, and children in the gulag called Gaza.

What more can a government do than help its citizen feed and care for themselves under impossible conditions? For their life-saving efforts, many Hamas leaders and their families have been systematically hunted and killed by Israelis. Whoever and whatever Hamas is, it has support because it delivers.

Israel’s Death Culture Is a Dragging Anchor

Israel Defense Forces trains snipers to kill, but who are they trained to target? Many of us had military training at one time or another and the thought of killing a human is something soldiers must be prepared for. But based on the result, something about Israel's sniper training must be very different, for the thought of killing a woman, much less a child, never entered the mind of any soldier I have ever known.

These graduates of IDF sniper school came out wearing t-shirts that promoted killing children, women, and especially graphically about killing pregnant women. Israel has played the “self defense” card since 1948. It no longer works. The t-shirt orders were approved by officers, or at least by Platoon Sergeant, according to Haaretz. That means the commanders also had to know. Haaretz, the leading daily paper in Israel, broke the t-shirt story soon after it featured another story involving murders in Gaza admitted to by active duty IDF solders, which made it plain that this attitude is not confined to barracks’ latrines talk.

The sniper-graduates of the IDF kill school intended that these shirts be seen. They are not ashamed of what they’ve been taught to do and what some of them surely will do; they want to advertise it. Only those who do not want to know can fail to recognize the pride Israel takes in its death culture. Its young men and women are trained and conditioned to hate and kill Arab men, women, and children without reservation. In recent Haaretz new stories, veterans of the January campaign in Gaza revealed that they see nothing wrong with executions because their leaders expect it of them.

A soldier knows he can get away with any murder, so long as he does not do it at point blank range in front of a camera held by an Arab news service like Aljazeera. If he makes this mistake, then some minimum discipline may make him out as one bad apple in the Israeli barrel. Israel’s death culture extends beyond the mass killing fields of Lebanon and Gaza. Israelis also kill their own kind with impunity. They have killed many more Jewish Israeli babies (some 20,000 a year or more) than all the Philistine men, women, and children they have shot, burned, and starved in its 60 year life. Israel’s low live birth rate is the principle reason it cannot compete in a democratic society with the Arabs. This should horrify Christian Zionists who claim to be pro-life almost to a man.

Arabs have families in both Israel and Gaza. With rare exceptions, they do not abort their children. Israelis, however, have a high rate of abortion, subsidized by its national government. The most dangerous months of a young Israeli’s life are not those spent carrying a gun in the IDF, but those spent in his mother’s womb. Blame for the ongoing abuse of the Palestinians rests with the Israelis, with American Zionist Jews, the cowardly Congress, and flagrantly biased, Zionist-monitored media. How many times have you seen the t-shirt story, or the IDF confession story on ABC, NBC, or CBS? Once for ten seconds would be more than expected.

But the real villains who enable Israel’s Death Culture are the 70 million evangelical Christian Zionists who are led by a handful of fanatical leaders who reap huge personal profits from their Israel-worshiping donations and junkets. “Christian Zionism” is the oxymoronic name we gave this biggest of all cults nine years ago, and it stuck. We defined it as “Those who believe the State of Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophesies.” Christian Zionists worship Israel and feel they have authority to pronounce curses upon anyone who criticizes Israel. I know, because I have had curses pronounced on me to my face, not to mention the silent ones I have been told about.

Conclusion:

Israel is a dragging anchor weighing down our Ship of State. Once we were a giant luxury liner, and the weight of Israel hanging from our bow was not noticeable; but now we have hit an iceberg and we are taken on water in a rough sea. The dead weight on our bow is enough to sink us. Israel is lionized by Jewish Zionists and deified by the American Christian Zionists movement, but is not respected by one else in the world. Every government including ours knows this and most say it. Evangelical Christian Zionists can also no longer afford their love affair with Israel because it is a toxic ungodly affection that abandons traditional Biblical values.

The American Government must cut loose the anchor and let Israel sink to its natural level; but for this to happen evangelical Christians must let go of the anchor chain. Israel’s Death Culture was always there, but it has been exposed in Gaza and Lebanon, and even the American media cannot put it back in the bottle. It is time to end Israel’s free ride on America’s bow.

What can we do personally about Israel’s Death Culture? Tell your Congressman you blame him for the blood and lives lost. Refuse to purchase products of any kind that are imported from or use materials from Israel; check labels or ask merchants and let them know what you’re doing; withdraw your patronage from anyone who supports Israel. Ask local merchant, and then walk out if they do. Followers of Christ should not take a tour to Israel until it grants full equality to the Palestinians. Tourism supports Israeli killing. If you know a church that offers tours, go to members, including the tour leader and the pastor, and show them why they should stop!

Would Jesus Concur or Weep?

Looking at the photo of an innocent, dead, Palestinian child, I want to weep. It appears that the child is a girl of around 3 years old. Her parents are probably Muslims because the population of Gaza is predominantly Muslim. However, there are Christians peaceably living there, side by side with the Muslims. So, there is a small probability that this little girl’s parents could be Christians. Of course, it doesn’t make any difference whether her parents were Muslims, Christians or Jews. If her parents are still alive, they would be grieving. And, we as Christians should be grieving.

Americans and our Congress have overwhelmingly supported the actions by the Israelis against the Palestinians in Gaza in the first few weeks of January, 2009. Probably hundreds of young children, as the girl pictured here, were killed. Typically, a large percentage of Americans view the loss of such young lives as “collateral damage.” This is an euphemism used by our military to sooth the American public. We’ve all heard about the collateral damage in Iraq and Afghanistan. It wouldn’t be nice if it were called what it really is: murder. One group in the United States that religiously and fervently supports Israel, no matter how it conducts itself against the Palestinians that reside in Israel, are Christian Zionists. They believe that the modern state of Israel is a fulfillment of Old Testament, Biblical prophecy.

In a nutshell, Christian Zionists believe unconditional love must be bestowed upon Israel; not doing so would result in condemnations and curses from God. The idea that the modern state of Israel is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy is a debate topic that can be carried on between Christians of different viewpoints. As Christians, our first and most important allegiance must be to Jesus Christ. No where in the New Testament does Jesus or another writer require that a belief in a physical state of Israel is necessary for salvation. Jesus’ kingdom is based in the spiritual realm.

We are all equal in the sight of God. He displays no favoritism based on race, social status, or gender. Jesus Christ gave his life out of love, not to save a tiny plot of land or a favored ethnicity, but for all mankind. Not for inanimate shrines and places, as much as we may love what they represent to us, but for the forgiveness of sins and salvation of all who will receive Him. His sacrifice was to make us “living stones” in one glorious temple, not built by human hands, but by a living God who wants relationship with us. That is the gospel. The question for the American church today is simple: What gospel are we believing and preaching?

Evangelical Zionist’s Dilemma: Love Your Enemy or Starve Him

Evangelical Zionism is our own descriptive term. It is not a denomination, but an acquired disease in the body of Christianity. The universal symptom is the belief that “the political state of Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophesies.” Jesus said, love you brother, even your enemy; Evangelical Zionism, in its extreme morphs, holds that Old Testament scripture allows the extermination of the Palestinians.

Elena has recovered from it, and this is her story. She wrote to us and called with several questions common to recovering Evangelical Zionists making them feel quite alone amid the hatred that is directed toward the people of Palestine and, in fact, toward all of Islam. She is learning to be a missionary for peace within her own church. Her story is not unique, but her tactful determination is. We have asked her to allow us to share her experience with you. Elena was raised a Catholic and became an evangelical protestant during her years of child-rearing. There she stayed for most of her adult years until she discovered that the church she had joined had a primary dedication to evangelical Zionist teachings and beliefs. This became clear to her as she learned of Israel’s abuse of the Palestinians, and her church’s unconditional and unquestioning support of Israel.

Like so many of us she had left one or more churches she found infected with Evangelical Zionism, looking for the prefect church. She did not find it. She finally settled into a small congregation with a Reform theology. She became an active part of the congregation and started a home bible study to encourage other church members. Strangely, it was here she was to discover her worst frustration. While her denomination’s theology denies evangelical Zionism, some of its members believe and teach a form of it.

On the positive side, her pastor says he shares her anti-war view and sympathy for Palestinians, but does not discuss it from the pulpit. He does not seem to have the disease but perhaps he fears to speak out against it. However, the volunteer leader of the Bible study, Carl, is a denominational church planner assigned to her church. When war became a hot issue, Elena discovered that all the class supported the U.S. wars and Israeli occupation. The study leader horrified her by telling her privately, “if it was up to me I would kill them all.”

Elena responded by purchasing and giving away a detailed secular book on Zionism in an attempt to show her friends what Zionists privately think of Christians, but it did not work. Elena’s letter ended with familiar and painful words asking if we can recommend another church for her and saying,

“I feel like an outcast and I did nothing wrong! I know I believed the scoffed, dispensationalist lie for almost my entire Christian life, but when you read the truth you just can’t turn your back on it.”

She provided an exchange of messages with their Bible study leader, Carl. In it he denies he told her he would kill all the Palestinians; Instead he now asserts “he would cut off food and water to them.”