Israel You Are Not Alone, Whether We Like It or Not!!

January 8, 2006

We are witnessing a war against the infidels––all non-Muslims. Christians and Jews are main targets in this war. As a biblical Zionist, I am often shocked by so-called respectable Christian denominations, including the Presbyterian and United Methodist denominations that promote economic sanctions against Israel. However, it is even harder to understand when the same Christian leaders are remarkably silent where the persecution of Christians is well documented. This fierce persecution is taking place in locales, where these same denominations have churches and fellowships meeting regularly.

Christians Are Being Persecuted in the Palestinian Authority

Palestinian Christians are a religious minority, whose unique interests and problems have received scant notice. Consider a recent study by Jewish human rights advocate Justus Reid Weiner called Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society. Weiner points out that, “Despite the attention paid to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the voice of one very significant minority, that of the autochthonous Palestinian Christian community is often disregarded. Even the majority of analyses of Palestinian society by experts on human rights ignore this significant religious minority.”

I am not the only one who is perplexed about Christian leaders and denominations, who don’t speak out on behalf of their persecuted brothers. Weiner, a Jewish scholar, is very critical of some Christian leaders after years of personal consultation with many Palestinian Christians.

Weiner tells the story of one such Palestinian Christian, Ahmad El-Achwal. He was so moved by the courage and witness of this Arab Christian that Weiner dedicated his book to him. Ahmad was a Palestinian convert to Christianity. He was a father of eight, who lived in the Askar Refugee Camp. Because of his faith, he was imprisoned several times. He suffered severe beatings, arson, intimidation, and torture. Through all of this, Ahmad clung to his religious beliefs and even ran an informal church in his home. This brave believer was murdered January 21, 2004 at the entrance of his home. Justus Weiner said he suffered at the hands of the Palestinian Authority (PA), but very few people know his story.

In the face of intense persecution of Christians, the church (in some places) is silent and so is the Western media. There is a censorial dictate on “political correctness.” Those who so loudly protest any suggestion of censorship are hand in hand today, censoring truth. Yeshua (Jesus) said, “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32b, NIV). It is the absence of truth that is spiralling the entire world into bondage and fear. Good and honest people are made to feel like critical monsters for simply speaking truth.

Christians and Jews Facing Common Threat

Let us try and connect the dots. After 9/11, the United States and President George W. Bush declared war on terror. First, they fought in Afghanistan and now are actively engaged in Iraq. Yet, terror keeps popping up in diverse locations around the globe, and Islamists are always involved. So, let me ask some questions. If the Americans, some time in the next year begin to remove troops from Iraq, how long will it be before the U.S. army is back in uniform, fighting for human rights in Iran or Syria? What is it that drives Iran to be such an international threat?

Recently, the world was stunned when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed 4,000 students at a Tehran conference on “The World Without Zionism.” He called for “wiping the State of Israel off the map.” Immediately, international leaders made appropriately warm and fuzzy speeches of denunciation. Excuse me, but I get concerned by speeches that are made, instead of action taken. The Bible says, “Be doers” (James 1:22).

Immediately, when I saw the name “The World Without Zionism,” I considered Jews and Christians as those targeted. After all, there are both Jewish and Christian Zionists. I’m a Christian Zionist. So this conference was about having a world without me and my fellow Christian Zionists. Nasty!

“There’s No Nation Named Israel!”

However, the 2005 Iranian statement was not a new thing. In 1979, the Ayatollah Khomeini-led Iran called for the destruction of Israel. As a result of their declared goal, Iran deepened its ties with extremist groups throughout the Middle East, including Hizbullah in Lebanon, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the West Bank and Gaza. Iran has maintained an international public-information campaign, aimed at selling the world the peace plans they want us to buy. The diplomatic sales-pitch that Iran is giving the world is severely contradicted by what they say to their own people. For example, Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khameine addressed senior officers of the Iranian Air Force on February 8, 1996, claiming that: “The government and people of Iran are of the opinion that the Israeli entity is false and artificial. In fact, there is no nation named ‘Israel.’ The Zionists scraped together some people from all over the world and based only on racism, brought about the Zionist regime by virtues of the conquest of Palestine.” In another example, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Velliati, said in February 1996, “Iran is the only country which is opposed to the basic existence of Israel.”

In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin whose assassination took place ten years ago, told the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) that Israel’s struggle “against murderous Islamic terror” was “meant to awaken the world, which is lying in slumber.” He warned about the dangers of Muslim Shi’a fundamentalism. When speaking of Iran he said, “Death is at our doorstep.” I want to renew Rabin’s campaign to awaken those who slumber.

If Islamic militants had their way and Israel no longer existed, the Bible would be invalidated. To remove Israel is to prove the Bible to be a fake. It isn’t just a threat against Israel, but a threat against God. It is important to realize that Islamic militants are motivated by a hatred for the Jews, Christians, and the Bible. What a diabolically cunning ploy! Surely, atheists would be happy to join that campaign!

“Do Not Take the Jews and Christians as Allies”

There is no difference to the violence and hatred of the Islamic militants in the Middle East to anywhere else in the world and the attack is not isolated to Jews alone. During a live broadcast on official PA television on October 13, 2000, Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, a member of the PA-appointed “Fatwa Council” and former acting Rector of the Islamic University in Gaza, stated during a Friday sermon from a Gaza mosque: “From here, Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them…as Allah said: `O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies, for they are allies of one another.

Who from among you takes them as allies will indeed be of them’” (Middle East Media Research Institute 2000). There is no secret. Jews and Christians are allies. Some Christians and Jews may not know this truth but the Islamic preachers do. Jews have long felt the effects of persecution. Now, Christians are experiencing anti-Christian persecution in many ways throughout the world.

Pakistani Christians were recently targeted. Dr. Tashbih Sayyed, a moderate Muslim, in an article printed in the Muslim World Today told of the incident, “Muslim faithful in Pakistan had broken through the walls of a church, torching and tearing open its doors. They were reacting to a rumor that a Christian had desecrated their holy book, the Koran. They smashed the marble altar of the Holy Spirit Church and shattered its stained glass windows. They torched a Christian residence and the neighboring St. Anthony’s Girls School. Within moments, flames were licking the walls and black smoke filled the sky. For days, the Wahhabi clerics kept calling their Muslim followers to come out from their houses and defend their faith by unleashing a reign of terror against Christians.”

In Sudan over the past few years, Christians have been the target since the National Islamic Front regime declared a jihad (holy war) against the religious ethnic minorities that resist forced Islamization. It is estimated that 1.5 million people have died in the conflict and five million out of eight million people that live in the south have been displaced since the fighting began in 1983.

(For more information about the persecution of Christians around the world, check out the following Web site: www.persecution.org/newsite/index.php)

Even in the democratic West, Christians are becoming targets. A few recent examples include: attempts to remove Christ from Christmas, the removal of prayers from school, and the fight to display the Ten Commandments publicly. Consider the absurd lengths to which it can go. For instance, a school in America is throwing out any children’s books with pig references, presumably because they might be offensive to Muslims. Who ever thought we would see the day when The Three Little Pigs would be banned? Now some financial institutions are banning piggy banks for the same reason. These struggles are all connected to the same evil plan––to disprove God, His Bible, and His followers. How far will this insanity go before we hear Yitzhak Rabin screaming, “Wake up!”

Call to Action

In the midst of this full-frontal assault on the people of God, both Jews and Christians, what can God-fearing believers do?

• Pray fervently. “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16b).
• Support Israel. “I will bless those that bless you” (Genesis 12:3a).
• Keep the main thing, the main thing. Be certain you are standing on the Word of God.
• Learn to question the politically correct media hype, which is flooding the world. With such a deluge, we need to be like Noah and rely on God in the face of the flood.

May I also suggest you buy Justus Weiner’s book, Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society. Be warned it is not politically correct, but it is the truth. Go to www.jcpa.org to order.

Scriptures taken from the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

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