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A theme that returns to my mind again and again as time passes is the criticism of Israel, from within the United States. Specifically, from within the Christian community.
There is a situation unfolding now that I’ll be able to elaborate on at a later time, but it involves the white-washing of information that alerts Bible-believing Christians about unjust criticism of Israel and the Jews.
Suffice to say for now that powerful religious forces are cleverly and consistently tightening the noose on the Jewish state. By doing so, they are unaware that they are fulfilling the Bible prophecy they so despise.
Many of these critics have never visited Israel. They do not know, for example, that the country is tiny and therefore vulnerable to threats from the Arabs. Before elaborating on that, I want to say clearly that I do not believe many of them would care about the truth, about the realities Israel faces every day. The real danger in all this is that the constituencies of these Christian leaders are fed a steady diet of untruth.
As to Israel’s size, not only is it small geographically, but hundreds of Israeli communities are right next to Arab communities. If you live in hilly or mountainous country, imagine driving along a highway and looking over at a hill. On the hill is a town. At the base of the hill is a town. Each is populated by a different ethnic group.
This is Israel today. Jews and Arabs within a stone’s throw, literally, of each other.
Arab terror incubates in such an environment. Yet this truth is never acknowledged by Israel’s Christian critics. In fact, the critics say that Jewish presence fosters Arab frustration, which leads to Arab anger, which leads to Arab “resistance” (terrorism).
All this impacts an area dear to my heart, and which I write about from time to time. In the arena of Christian books, there is a hardening of positions toward Israel. A generation ago (a decade ago!), one would find much friendlier folks, regarding Israel, than one finds today.
Strang Communications publishes pro Israel books, because the publisher, Stephen Strang, is personally supportive of Israel. Many kudos to him and his publishing entities. There one finds ads for Israeli tourism, articles, and facts that help the Jewish state.
Balfour Books also publishes pro Israel material. Harvest House — bless them — still publishes Bible prophecy.
But many other publishers are “going contemplative.” That is to say, they are following new streams of thought in Christendom. Those streams are polluted with much anti-Israel sentiment, and it is going to get worse, my friends.
Another publisher that is worthy of your dollars is Gefen Publishing, based in Jerusalem. There, the Christian Zionist will find perhaps the best list of information-packed books one could hope for. For example, the other day Harry Hurwitz died. His 2004 book, Begin: His Life, Words and Deeds chronicles the life of perhaps Israel’s greatest prime minister. Check out Gefen’s extraordinary list at http://www.israelbooks.com/.
Sadly, many more publishers are turning their backs on Israel, and one day I’ll write an expose of all that.
RaptureReady represents one of the most important facts about Israel today: the justness of her cause. Todd and Terry have developed a web-based outsourcing of material that spreads truth by word-of-mouth (or word-of-electricity!). This is vitally important in an age in which Emergent teachings are rotting the Church from within.
With regard to Israel, it is too bad that more people can’t see the place for themselves and then return home armed with facts that refute the lies and propaganda of the Palestinians and their friends on the Left. I’ll give you a concrete example.
The security fence that runs north and south in Israel has dramatically — dramatically — cut down on the loss of Jewish life. The fence meanders around communities in Judea and Samaria. Yet what one hears from “peace and justice” groups that spring from liberal American churches is that Israel is cutting off the Palestinians from their land and families and livelihood.
History will stand with me one day on this: the Jews are the most justice-seeking humans on the face of the earth. They always have been. Even when deep in existential threats, when war is repeatedly forced on it — Israel struggles to keep down civilian casualties. This is a fact. Notice this:
Beginning with the 1982 war in Lebanon, Israel has been charged with murdering civilians (Sabra and Shatilla). In point of fact, they send troops into towns and villages to root-out terrorist killers one-by-one, rather than opting to use the deluxe Israeli air force and flatten said towns and villages.
This is never discussed by the Left. It isn’t discussed by the Left because the Left, including liberal Christianity, is immoral. Lying is simply a means to an end, in this case, the end of Israel.
Here’s a fascinating little fact: in Ariel Sharon’s autobiography, Warrior, he recounts the great pains to which Israel has gone to avoid “taking” Arab land. He mentioned that when he was Israel’s agriculture minister, he sent teams out into the land and took samples from the ground, to determine is animal feces was present, thus indicating Arab livestock grazing in the fields. If present, Israel would not use the land for establishing dwellings.
This is never discussed when the Christian Left parrots PLO propaganda and says Israel has stolen Arab land. This is so because the goal of the Left is to demonize Israel, period.
As a pro Israel Christian, I urge you — again — to support the aforementioned publishers. Read and support such sites as http://www.camera.org/ and http://www.honestreporting.com/, along with http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/. All this is vital to Israel’s security.
Remember, you can’t take what someone says at face value, not in today’s culture. Arm yourself with facts about Israel and the Jews, then act accordingly.
