Christians are again in danger of being silenced over Israel: Charles Gardner asks if we have truly learnt the lessons of the Holocaust.
Anti-Semitism alive and well in Europe
A controversial church leader has been severely reprimanded for posting a link on Facebook blaming Israel for the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Rev. Stephen Sizer, Vicar of Christ Church in Virginia Water, Surrey, has since apologized for his “ill-considered and misguided” action1 and removed the link. However, he has been banned from using social media for six months.
A Church of England spokesman said it was a matter of “deep sorrow and shame”2 that the posts appeared in the same week as the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, when the full horror of Nazi crimes against the Jews was revealed to the world. The Bishop of Guildford, Rt Rev. Andrew Watson, said Rev. Sizer’s actions were “indefensible” and has set a series of conditions on him keeping his job.3
This small incident forms part of a much more widespread increase of anti-Semitism in recent months. The jihadist attacks in Paris and Copenhagen, where Jewish communities are now living in extreme fear, indicate another source of vehement hatred of Jews: fundamentalist Islam. These examples from within Europe do not touch on the world-wide increase of anti-Semitic action and feeling, most of which is not reported by mainstream media.
Remembering the Holocaust
2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, when the full horror of Nazi crimes against the Jews was revealed to the world. Recently Sister Thekla, a German nun, has spoken of her shame at the suffering caused by her nation through the Holocaust: “It grieves me what my nation has done, especially to the Jewish people,” she told a conference in York on Israel and the Church.4
“We had touched the apple of God’s eye and saw God’s judgment poured out on our nation as a result,” she said, in reference to the repeated bombing of Darmstadt. One 1944 attack on Darmstadt killed 10 percent of its inhabitants and made 60 percent of its population homeless.
“We had touched the apple of God’s eye and saw God’s judgment poured out on our nation as a result” - Sister Thekla, German nun, regarding the Holocaust
The Darmstadt bombings prompted local resident Basilea Schlink to found the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, dedicated to reconciliation with the Jewish people. Mother Basilea and a group of fellow Christians wept under deep conviction of the terrible sins committed by Germany against the Jews, dating back to the time of the Crusades. Subsequently they went to Israel to volunteer their services as nurses, and to seek forgiveness from the Jewish people. She said:
We can never heal the wounds. Only Christ can do that. It is a painful memory, but I confess these crimes...If the German community had stood up as one man, the Nazis would not have been at such liberty to pursue their schemes. Where was the Christian church?5
She warned that today’s church was in danger of repeating history.
Will history repeat itself?
The tragedy of anti-Semitism is not just something in the past. It is flaring up again. And in the not-too-distant future we Christians will all be challenged about our relationship with Israel. Will Christians once more stay silent?
"In the not-too-distant future, Christians will all be challenged again about our relationship with Israel. Will we stay silent?"
Also addressing the York conference, organised by the Emmaus Group, was Sister Glory, a British member of the order with a Methodist background:
Israel is once again hated by the nations, which is a picture of our Lord Jesus, who was despised and rejected of men. We are called to pray for Israel. They need love, born out of repentance, the only kind that will open their hearts. We have often not presented the true image of Jesus to them.
Britain is complicit
Sister Glory also emphasised that the British have blood on their hands concerning Israel. She referred to 1190 when the entire Jewish community of York were herded into Clifford’s Tower, just across the river from the conference venue, and massacred. A hundred years later Jews were expelled from Britain altogether, before being welcomed back at the time of Cromwell through the influence of the Pilgrim Fathers (a radical Christian group who were themselves hounded out of the country before emerging as the founding fathers of the United States).
More recently, following Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917 promising support for a Jewish national homeland, the Government reneged on its pledge by dividing the allocated land, and acting treacherously to appease the Arabs while forcing the Jews to disarm. Many Jews trying to escape the Holocaust to Israel were turned back and some died when their boat sank.
“We betrayed the greatest trust ever given to a nation”, Sister Glory added. And now Britain is in danger of repeating history, with the strong message of support Parliament has sent to the Palestinian Authority over its quest for state recognition.
Those who bless Israel will be blessed
In experiencing the fulfillment of Genesis 12:3 (that those who bless Israel will themselves be blessed, while those who curse her will come under judgment), Britain has suffered the loss of her Empire along with increasing brokenness within the nation itself.
Sister Glory ended by quoting former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: “The Lord deals with the nations as the nations deal with the Jews.”
What will our response be? For if you really love Jesus, you will love His people, the Jews.
References
1 Sizer, S, Statement of Apology, released 30 January 2015.
2 Church of England, Statement on Rev Stephen Sizer, released 29 January 2015.
3 Bishop of Guildford, Right Rev Andrew Watson, Statement on Stephen Sizer, released 9 February 2015.
4 'The Messiah, the Church and Israel' conference, 22 November 2014, Park Inn York, Emmaus Group.
5 Ibid, quote by Sister Thekla.
Charles Gardner is a journalist originally from South Africa, now living in Yorkshire. He is part Jewish and writes for The Times of Israel.
