‘Fiddler on the Roof’ story behind Gospel outreach to Jews

With the annual Holocaust Memorial Day fast approaching, it is worth being reminded not only of how many perished, but also of those who escaped the jaws of Nazism – often miraculously.

It is a little-known fact that in spite of terrible persecution in Eastern Europe, thousands of Jewish people were very open to the message of Jesus. In fact, research is currently being undertaken on the so-called ‘Messianic’ believers who died in the Shoah.

Among those who experienced miraculous deliverance from the death camps was Jakob Jocz, a Lithuanian-born third-generation follower of Yeshua who became an evangelist to the Jews of Poland under the auspices of CMJ (the Church’s Ministry amongst Jewish people), a British-based international society already reaping a plentiful harvest of souls throughout Europe and North Africa by the 1930s.

Such was the response to their work that the Warsaw branch CMJ chief Martin Parsons expressed the need for over 700 staff rather than the mere ten suggested at the time.

Miraculous Deliverance

Jocz was sent to Birkenhead, near Liverpool, to train for Anglican ordination, and when he returned to Poland, he wrote: “In spite of anti-Semitism and increasing hatred, the Jews met us in many places with an open mind and with great readiness to hear the gospel.”¹

He added: “Today when the cross is being twisted into a swastika…Jewish men and women flock into the mission halls to hear and to learn about the wonderful Saviour.”

In May 1939, he received an urgent call to England to replace the main speaker of the Church Missionary Society’s annual summer conference, who was unavailable due to illness.

It is a little-known fact that in spite of terrible persecution in Eastern Europe, thousands of Jewish people were very open to the message of Jesus.

In a recent research paper The Rev Dr Jakob Jocz, Dr Theresa Newell writes: “This was indeed a miraculous deliverance as members of his family died at the hands of the Nazis soon afterwards…” Jakob’s father Bazyli was betrayed to the Gestapo and shot to death.

Rich Legacy

The family’s story has something of a Fiddler on the Roof² ring to it. Jakob’s grandfather, Johanan Don, was the local milkman in his shtetl (village) who first encountered the good news of Jesus when seeking medical help for his teenage daughter Hannah (Jakob’s mother) who had been crippled in a fall.

The doctor was a Jewish believer and gave Johanan a Hebrew New Testament. He subsequently became a disciple, but died soon afterwards.

In order to make ends meet, his widow Sarah took in a boarder, a young rabbinic student named Bazyli Jocz. When he read Isaiah 53, he asked his teacher, ‘Who is the prophet speaking about?’ It was of course a situation very reminiscent of the Ethiopian eunuch’s conversion in the Book of Acts (chapter 8). But the teacher was no evangelist, instead hitting him over the head and calling him a ‘detestable Gentile’ for asking such a ‘foolish’ question.

Bazyli was shocked, but undeterred, and after consulting the same doctor who had pointed Johanan in the right direction, he too became a believer.

He duly married Hannah, and Jakob was born in 1906. He became a noted evangelist and theologian whose writings represent a rich legacy of inspiration and encouragement for Christians – all called to preach the Gospel to Jews.

To the Jew First

As the Third Reich stormed across Europe, he wrote a booklet appealing to churches to speak out against the persecution of his people. As an Anglican bishop pointed out in the foreword, “he rightly calls attention to apathy in the church on the subject of missionary effort amongst the Jews.”

Indeed, he challenged the Church to become ‘missional’ as its raison d’etre and to remember the call in that mission is “to the Jew first” (Rom 1:16).

If the Church has no Gospel for the Jews, it has no Gospel for the world.

If the Church has no Gospel for the Jews, he believed, it has no Gospel for the world. He had total confidence in the authority of Scripture and stood on the premise that “loyalty to Jesus Christ is the ultimate test of the disciple”, adding: “Commitment to Jesus Christ makes universalism [the idea that all roads lead to God] impossible.”

He was highly critical of rabbinic Judaism, lamenting that “making Torah into a religion robbed it of life” and saying that the removal of the sacrificial system (following the destruction of the Temple in AD 70) without their acceptance of the “once and for all times sacrifice” of Jesus led Judaism into a pre-occupation with the study of the law. The irony of this, of course, is that the law was anchored in the fact that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin” (Lev 17:11).

One of his theses was that the early Church was much closer to the Old Testament than rabbinic Judaism is today. And he advocated Jewish believers to fulfil the prophetic call to take the Gospel to all nations.

Life in the Midst of Death

Jakob certainly practised what he preached. It is estimated that, through outreach efforts like his, there were as many as 100,000 Jewish believers in Yeshua by the time war broke out in 1939, many of whom would no doubt have shared the fate of their brethren in the concentration camps but who would also no doubt have shared the life-giving Gospel of their Saviour.³

Notes

1 The Rev Dr Jakob Jocz (Olive Press Research Paper, CMJ) by Dr Theresa Newell, to whom I am greatly indebted for the basis of this article. Find out more about CMJ at www.cmj.org.uk.

2 The musical about Jewish survival amidst the oppression of early 20^th Century Tsarist Russia starring a poor milkman famously played by Topol.

3 Peace in Jerusalem (olivepresspublisher.com) by Charles Gardner, p28.

Shameful treatment of Jewish ‘illegal immigrants’ recalled as migrant crisis takes hold

Among the incidents reported over a Christmas period during which I was largely preoccupied with the death of my dear mother were the illegal immigrant crisis and the potential disaster of a rogue drone that brought Gatwick Airport to a standstill. There is a poignant connection between the two that has an important message for Britain in the new year.

Jews trying to escape the gas chambers were once prevented by the British from entering their own fatherland, a nation that has now come to our rescue by providing the technology used to ground the unmanned flying machine.

Before, during and immediately after World War II, British soldiers were ordered to deal with ‘illegal immigrants’ to Israel, and the grossly insensitive way in which they handled it still reverberates in the hearts of those who experienced it and their descendants.

The greatest injustice of that tardy episode in our history was the fact that Britain had been charged by the League of Nations to prepare the Holy Land for re-settlement by Jews who had been scattered and persecuted among the nations for almost 2,000 years.

It was thus an obvious refuge for Jews desperately trying to flee Nazi-occupied Europe. But in order to appease the region’s Arab population, who used violence and intimidation to discourage Jewish repatriation, we disgracefully limited the quota of immigrants.

Although we had recognised, finally, that you couldn’t negotiate with fanatical dictators like Hitler, we failed to apply the same lesson to our dealings with the Arabs of the Middle East.

Where Are You My Child?

The story of one particular family, as told by Aliza Ramati in Where Are You My Child? (published by Zaccmedia), is especially harrowing and helps to bring the current migrant crisis into perspective.

Theirs was a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire – escaping from the Fuhrer’s claws only to be crunched by the jaws of the British lion. After fleeing Czechoslovakia in November 1940, they eventually joined 1,800 refugees boarding a rickety old ship designed to carry only 300 people.

The grossly insensitive way in which Britain handled Jewish immigration to Israel still reverberates in the hearts of those who experienced it and their descendants.

Because they didn’t have the necessary papers, the crew were reluctant to press on with any haste for fear of incurring the wrath of the authorities themselves, so the desperate passengers kept bribing them with jewellery and other gifts. But the journey was perilous, with much sickness and death. And when, after some months, they finally caught sight of Haifa, they were surrounded by the British navy who treated them like dogs before re-routing them to detention camps in the faraway Indian Ocean island of Mauritius as well as in Atlit, near Haifa.

The Exodus, the most famous ship carrying Jewish immigrants back to the Land. Photo taken in 1947, after the British boarded the vessel.Some were transferred to a bigger ship, the SS Patria, which was subsequently blown up and sunk with the loss of 250 lives.

The Haganah, an underground Jewish movement fighting the British, planted a bomb on the vessel with the apparent intention of only disabling it in order to prevent the deportation of its passengers, but the plan went horribly wrong.

As a result, the family at the centre of this true story got separated in the chaos following the explosion – husband from wife, and wife from baby, feared drowned. Another described swimming to safety through a sea of blood. But a Viennese man had saved the child, who was reunited with his mother some time later.

The family somehow survived their ordeals to realise their dream of settling in Israel, though it took a circuitous route via Mauritius where, with the help of the Czech consulate in South Africa, the storyteller’s grandfather enlisted as a Czech soldier fighting the Germans and was eventually posted to Israel, where he deserted in order to join the Haganah.

His wife, however, was treated with compassion by one British officer, who paid for it with imprisonment and who wrote: “I joined the British army with the intention of fighting the Nazis…To my sorrow, I was not sent to the battlefield, as I had hoped. Instead, I was sent here to assist in taking care of the Jewish illegal immigrants…I’m a soldier, and I must obey orders, but I am doing everything I can in order not to lose my humanity…”.

Exploring the Jewish roots of our faith adds clarity and insight to the truths of Scripture.

Connecting to Our Roots

The book is the product of a school ‘Roots’ project undertaken by 13-year-old Roni, who successfully traced the tortuous and heroic path of her ancestors with the aid of cassette recordings of her great-grandparents.
Family tree searches have become quite fashionable – and that’s a good thing as knowledge of our roots helps us appreciate the positive influences of past generations.

In the same way, it is vitally important and hugely enriching for Christians to explore the Judaic roots of their faith, adding clarity and insight to the great truths of Scripture which, of course, came to us through the Jewish people and patriarchs.

A better understanding of our roots might well have prevented much of the persecution suffered by Jews at the hands of ‘Christian’ Europe.

Western civilisation itself is based on the framework of biblical teaching perfectly reflected in Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, and if we cut ourselves off from its influence, we will lose the sap that gives us life, light, wisdom and compassion – and will wither and die as a tree does when cut off from its roots (see Rom 11:17f).

The future of our civilisation depends on remaining connected to these roots. Those who oppose Israel need to understand that we cannot do without them. Even the technology that brought down the drone at Gatwick was developed in Israel, whose expertise in dealing with terror is proving beneficial to all.¹

The future of Western civilisation depends on our remaining connected to our Judeo-Christian roots.

As for the Iranian and other migrants risking their lives trying to cross the Channel, there is a need for compassion, mixed with wisdom. Above all, we must not repeat the shameful response of the British to the Jews trying to escape the gas chambers.

Jesus famously said: “Do to others what you would have them do to you” – the so-called ‘golden rule’ – “for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matt 7:12).

References

1 Israeli anti-Drone Technology Helps Reopen London’s Gatwick Airport. United with Israel, 23 December 2018. 

British delegation repents over shameful episode

A dark shadow of imminent war hangs over Israel’s 70^th anniversary celebrations, just as it had done at the nation’s re-birth in 1948.

President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran hastened the prospect of the rogue state taking out its frustration on Israel for striking its military installations in Syria.

In the latest incident (on Tuesday night), at least nine Iranian soldiers are reported to have been killed.¹ And in the early hours of Thursday, the IDF launched an unprecedented massive air strike destroying Iranian and Syrian targets in response to a barrage of rockets fired from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Britain’s Shameful Past

Also coinciding with what should have been a joyful birthday is an event recalling a very sad – indeed shameful – episode in Britain’s history.

At a special ceremony organised by Love Never Fails (an alliance of Christian groups supporting the Jewish state) and held today in Atlit, near the port of Haifa, Israelis spoke of how they suffered at the time and UK representatives responded with expressions of sorrow for our failures both then and now.

Granted a League of Nations mandate to prepare a safe homeland for Jews, we instead severely restricted immigration just when it was needed most during the Nazi genocide.

A dark shadow of imminent war hangs over Israel’s 70^th celebrations, just as it had done at the nation’s re-birth in 1948.

Atlit detention camp, Israel.And in the immediate aftermath of World War II, we shattered the hopes of traumatised survivors by turning their ships away or by herding them into detention camps. Some were even sent back to Germany where millions of their fellow Jews had been slaughtered.

Thousands of Jewish refugees were held in the Atlit Camp, interred behind barbed wire complete with watchtowers – and this in their own land, promised by Britain in 1917.

Declaration of Sorrow

As part of a prepared declaration of sorrow, the UK delegation told their Jewish friends: “We grieve that [Britain’s policies] led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews who could have escaped Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ if the gates to their ancient homeland had been fully open.”

And they added: “We are deeply sorry that our nation caused indescribable distress to untold numbers of your people and their surviving families, and that as a nation we dared to stand against the purpose of Almighty God to restore you to Eretz [the land of] Israel.”

A particularly shocking incident – on 18 July 1947 – involved an attack by British forces on a ship carrying 4,515 Holocaust survivors, spraying fuel and throwing smoke bombs in order to deter the immigrants from landing.

In the aftermath of World War II, Britain shattered the hopes of traumatised survivors by turning their ships away or herding them into detention camps.

I have touched on this and many other aspects of Britain’s role with Israel in my new book, A Nation Reborn (Christian Publications International, 2018).

As Italian author Edda Fogarollo put it: “Quite apart from the suffering experienced by these exiles during the Nazi atrocities, they also had to face the humiliation of having hoped in vain for freedom as their dream turned into a nightmare. After seizing the ship, the British re-routed it back to Europe – to the former concentration camp of Poppendorf, near Hamburg, of all places!”²

Called to Comfort and Bless

One of our great callings as Gentile Christians is to bring comfort to God’s chosen people, who have experienced so much suffering at the hands of those who hate them, just as Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, was despised and rejected of men.

Like him, they were led like lambs to the slaughter during the Holocaust – and we too have blood on our hands, having played our part in causing them to suffer such terrible grief and horror. For that we must repent.

Yet out of the ashes – a valley of dry bones – rose a new nation reflecting something of the resurrection power of Christ. Surviving a series of wars against overwhelming odds to emerge as a world leader in hi-tech innovation and much else besides has been nothing short of miraculous. They are even first on the scene of major disasters to help other nations in distress while their doctors treat the wounded among their enemies.

And they have been so keen to live at peace with their neighbours that they have given up land to which they were legally entitled. But that hasn’t proved enough for Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, who have vowed to wipe Israel off the map.

However, God has not called us to join the UN-sponsored chorus of disapproval, but to “Comfort, comfort my people…” and tell them that “her sin has been paid for…” (Isa 40:1f).

Out of the ashes – a valley of dry bones – rose a new nation reflecting something of the resurrection power of Christ.

Not only must we bless and support them, but we are especially charged to tell them that their sins have been paid for – in other words, that the Lord Jesus, whom we Christians serve, also died for them. We have the awesome privilege of sharing the good news that our beloved Christ is their Messiah, who came to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Furious Battle

But a furious battle for truth rages on as belligerent rioters further inflame tensions on the Gaza border in the mistaken belief that they have been robbed of their land and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is forced to counter Iranian propaganda about their nuclear programme.

Citing intelligence reports, he said Iran had lied about never having pursued nuclear weapons and had continued to preserve and expand its knowledge of the same even after signing the 2015 deal with global powers designed to curb Iranian capabilities.³

The Bible clearly speaks of such deceit, thus: “Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies” (Ps 5:9).

All who desire to follow the truth – specifically manifested in Jesus Christ (John 14:6) – must surely see where the path leads.

References

1 Several Iranian soldiers killed in Israeli strike in Syria. World Israel News, 9 May 2018.

2 Towards the Establishment of the State of Israel, Christians for Israel.

3 JNN, 1 May 2018, quoting Reuters.

Holocaust Memorial Day should drive us to our knees.

As we mark another Holocaust Memorial Day, held each year on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,¹ the ongoing nightmare experienced by the Jewish people – with anti-Semitism once again spreading like cancer – should drive us to our knees.

And I’m glad to say that our African brethren, at least, who have brought much-needed new life and vigour to the British Church, are doing just that by calling a special day of prayer focused on our fractured relationship with Israel.²

Wale Babatunde of the World Harvest Christian Centre in south London is particularly concerned by Britain’s failure to follow President Trump’s lead in recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

This follows a series of betrayals over the years which have undone much of the goodwill fostered by the government’s pledge, through the Balfour Declaration 100 years ago, to do all in its power to re-settle the Jewish people in their ancient land.

Fortunately, African Christians know how to pray, so we are fully expecting God to shake up our complacency over Israel – both in Parliament and in the Church.

The Power of Words

My own MP, Dame Rosie Winterton (Labour, Doncaster Central), has already chaired a debate on Holocaust Memorial Day in the House. In a report to her constituents, she said this year’s theme, The Power of Words, was a reminder that the Holocaust did not start with the gas chambers, but with hate-filled words. She added that words can also be a force for good through which we can demonstrate that we will not stay silent when such vilification and de-humanisation occur.

She’s right – and not staying silent includes speaking words in prayer. Many of us have forgotten, or perhaps never knew, that it was prevailing prayer – not Spitfires and Hurricanes – that won the Battle of Britain. Rees Howells and his Bible College students in Wales were on their knees daily throughout the war.

It was prevailing prayer – not Spitfires and Hurricanes – that won the Battle of Britain.

In fact, according to Norman Grubb, in Rees Howells – Intercessor (Lutterworth Press), “the whole college was in prayer every evening from 7pm to midnight, with only a brief interval for supper. They never missed a day. This was in addition to an hour’s prayer meeting every morning, and very often at midday. There were many special periods when every day was given up wholly to prayer and fasting.” Howells told his students: “Don’t allow those young men at the Front to do more than you do here.”

Jerusalem – focus of conflict. But God calls us to pray for the peace of the city (Psalm 122:6).Over the Dunkirk period, Howells spent four days alone with God “to battle through and, as others have testified, the crushing burden of those days broke his body. He literally laid down his life.”

Enemies All Around

It’s time we did it again. Both Britain and Israel face an enemy just as terrifying as the Nazis, only subtler. This is the belief that we are no longer answerable to a heavenly authority, and that man is his own god – a secular-humanist view that has brought the beginnings of totalitarianism (that brooks no dissent) to a society once proud of its freedom. It was for this that my father’s generation risked their lives in World War II.

But as journalist Melanie Phillips has said on a tour of America, Israel is absolutely central to the recovery of Western values, which are based on the Hebrew Bible. “We’re in this together,” she told the Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries radio programme.

Here is the stark reality of what is facing the Jewish people today: Iran is fast developing nuclear weapons with which to “wipe out” Israel (in the words of the Ayatollahs and Iranian presidents) and, ominously in the eyes of many, the Russian Bear has now established a foothold in the region.³ The current spat between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia further adds to the tension and Gaza-based Hamas is repeatedly firing rockets into the Jewish state, while Lebanon-based Hezbollah continues to pose a serious threat on its northern border.

Secular humanism has brought the beginnings of totalitarianism to a society once proud of its freedom.

Brutal Islamic State are also stalking the area, while the Palestinian Authority incites its people to murder and mayhem, and some Westerners are engaged in a boycott of Israeli goods on the pretext that they are oppressive occupiers of land not their own. But the truth is that, in most cases, Jews are being attacked simply because they are Jews, not for political or economic reasons.

Tragically, the South African government is fanning the flames of anti-Semitism with their ruling party, the African National Congress, having last month announced its intention to loosen diplomatic ties with Israel, citing alleged apartheid policies against the Palestinians along with America’s acknowledgement of Jerusalem as the nation’s capital.

Thankfully, the Zulu King is urging them to reconsider. Goodwill Zwelithini, monarch of South Africa’s largest ethnic group, praised the Jewish state for their help in curbing the devastation of drought through their cutting-edge water technology, along with the spread of HIV/AIDS through Jewish-sponsored medical circumcision.

Mountains Can Move!

But in both Britain and South Africa, we have a God in Heaven waiting to hear our cry for mercy. Jesus said we could move mountains with our faith (Matt 17:20, 21:21; Mark 11:23).

Let’s pray for the mountain of paralysing unbelief and complacency to be removed from our nations, in Jesus’ name!

Notes

1 27 January.

2 Taking place on Saturday 17 February, 10am-12:30pm, at the World Harvest Christian Centre, Enmore Road (entrance on Cobden Road), South Norwood, London SE25 5NQ.

3 And we in the West are in very real danger of unprovoked attack from Russia, according to Army Chief Sir Nick Carter. Daily Mail, 23 January 2018.

500 years ago this coming week, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.

500 years ago this coming week (31 October 1517), Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. In those days, this was the traditional way to initiate a public debate on a given theme.

This time the theme was a 95-fold challenge to the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church of the day, that was bent on fundraising at the expense of the poor by selling so-called ‘indulgences’, whereby the unsuspecting were persuaded that they could purchase forgiveness of sins.

The 95 items¹ were headed with the words:

Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and ordinary lecturer therein at Wittenberg, intends to defend the following statements and to dispute on them in that place. Therefore he asks that those who cannot be present and dispute with him orally shall do so in their absence by letter. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Luther summarised his overall purpose under three headings:

1. Selling indulgences to finance the building of St Peter's is wrong.
   
2. The pope has no power over Purgatory.
   
3. Buying indulgences gives people a false sense of security and endangers their salvation.
   

Thus broke out what became the Protestant Reformation, with the rallying cry of Habbakuk 2:4:

Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.

Luther did not succeed in reforming the Catholic Church of his day but became cut off from this community, instead propelling into existence the Lutheran wing of the Protestant Church, which has spread its influence widely over these 500 years.

Luther did not succeed in reforming the Catholic Church of his day, but propelled into existence the Lutheran wing of the Protestant Church.

Luther’s Blind Spot

This week, we should celebrate this astounding move which brought freedom to millions who were no longer to be chained by the religious orders of the historic Roman Catholic Church, but free to explore the life of faith which pleases God. The later reforms of the Roman Catholic Church surely also owe something to this early proclamation of Luther.

The church door in Wittenberg, Germany, where Luther pinned his 95 theses for all to see. See Photo Credits.

Yet, great though the Protestant Reformation has been, we would also be wise to perceive an unfinished work. Luther had one tremendous blind spot. When he failed to impact the Jewish community with his proclamation of the Gospel, he turned against them. In his publication of 1543 ‘On the Jews and their Lies’, he described Jews as a "base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth." He wrote that they are "full of the devil's faeces...which they wallow in like swine," describing the synagogue is an "incorrigible whore and an evil slut".²

He proposed the following seven actions:

1. To burn down Jewish synagogues and schools and warn people against them;
   
2. To refuse to let Jews own houses among Christians;
   
3. For Jewish religious writings to be taken away;
   
4. For rabbis to be forbidden to preach;
   
5. To offer no protection to Jews on highways;
   
6. For usury to be prohibited and for all silver and gold to be removed, put aside for safekeeping, and given back to Jews who truly convert;
   
7. To give young, strong Jews flail, axe, spade, and spindle, and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their brow.
   

Luther could not have foreseen that this unfortunate after-thought in his later life, following many years of powerful and fruitful ministry, would be taken up literally by Hitler’s Nazis as an impetus to the terrible ‘final solution’, culminating in the horror of the Holocaust.

Let us thank God for the good fruits of Luther’s ministry, but now take responsibility for the completion of the Reformation.

The True Life of Faith

Luther was fluent in Hebrew yet he failed to fully understand Hebraic thought. He saw the Epistle of James as a “perfect straw-epistle” because he did not understand James’ teaching that faith without works is dead (James 2:26).³

No doubt his mind was already so much against those from a Jewish background (like James, whose name was actually Jacob) to consider them as having a doctrine of salvation by works, like the Roman Catholics of his day.

He did not consider the Hebrew emunah sufficiently to observe that it means both ‘faith’ and ‘faithfulness’, so that Hebrews 11:1 can be translated equally “faith is the substance of things hoped for” and “faithfulness is the substance of things hoped for”, which completely validates James’ teaching that the faith which pleases God involves the fruitful outworking of our lives.

Luther was fluent in Hebrew yet he failed to fully understand Hebraic thought.

A Careful Eye on Prophecy

Of course Luther did not live in our day when we see the miracle of Israel’s re-birth as a nation. Nor did he witness the increasing numbers of Messianic Jews declaring faith in Yeshua HaMashiach. Would he have been ashamed if he knew of his own contribution to fanning the flames of Replacement Theology still rampant in the Christian Church?

Had he lived today perhaps he would not have been so foolish as to speak against the Jews as he did and may well have written a 96^th thesis. He may have had a more careful eye on the outworking of prophecy. In his day, just as he discarded the Epistle of James and also that of Jude, he discarded the Book of Revelation. Perhaps he had not the prompting to consider end time prophecy as we have, with signs all around us.

What would this 96^th thesis be? Let me suggest it:

96 For discussion: We live in the sure expectancy that God is drawing together both Jews and Gentiles into the one community of faith which Paul calls the ‘one new man’ (Ephesians 2:14-15). It is now time to rediscover the original roots of our faith together. God, in His wisdom, is enabling a fresh interaction between Messianic Jews and believing Gentiles as never before to firmly establish the common faith. Surely this will be the means of strengthening for the days ahead, for washing away all doctrinal and denominational division when we are united in Spirit and Truth through Faith in the One True God and His Son Yeshua the Messiah. This is to be the goal of all who believe in Him, whether from Catholic or Protestant backgrounds. Surely this will complete the Reformation begun so sacrificially 500 years ago, but now to be completed as we wait for the return of our Saviour.

References

1 Click here for a translation of the entire 95 theses.

2 Anti-Semitism: Martin Luther - "The Jews & Their Lies" (1543). Jewish Virtual Library.

3 Martin Luther and the Book of James. Biblestudy.org.

Christine Burden reviews ‘Rose-Tinted Memory: Holocaust Truths that Can’t Be Erased’ by Michael S Fryer (Perissos Group, 2016).

Michael Fryer draws on his experience as a police officer in the National Crime Squad, as a pastor of Father’s House Sabbath Congregation, in North Wales and as a graduate of Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial in Israel), to investigate the Church’s involvement and complicity in the Holocaust.

For those who believe that the Gentile Church and the general public in Nazi- occupied Europe were all rescuers of Jewish people, this book will be a startling revelation. For sure, there were 25,685 aptly named ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ that are recognised by Yad Vashem and the author does not ignore this fact. However, the thrust of the book is to examine to what extent Christendom was aware of what happened to the Jewish people in Europe during World War II and what its response was.

How the Church Paved the Way

Fryer documents how Christendom in Germany and Europe helped to create the climate of hate which allowed Hitler and his accomplices to introduce their terrible programme of genocide.

“95% of Germans had church affiliation” (p19). The author asks: why did these people allow God’s chosen people to die in their towns and villages?

Fryer documents how Christendom in Europe helped to create the climate of hate that allowed Hitler to introduce genocide.

Even before the rise of Nazism in Germany, the teaching that came from the pulpits began the process of “de-humanising” the Jewish people. Consequently, it was not long before members of the public seemed to have no problem in “voluntarily shooting Jews- men, women and children - at point-blank range” (p50).

On the Protestant side there was the German Christian Movement (GCM). The aim of this group was to integrate the Protestant Church with nationalistic fervour for German culture and ethnicity. “By the mid-thirties this movement had more than 500,000 members who fully endorsed the Nazi ideology” (p49).

Chapter 11, entitled ‘German Christians’, gives numerous examples of anti-Semitic teachings circulated at this time. For me this is one of the most important chapters in the book. Examples include, “removing any idea that Christianity was in any way connected to Judaism” (p51). Hymn books and Scripture were revised to erase all ‘Jewishness’.

Practical Complicity of the Church

The author describes the national census in Germany, in which Christendom played a major role. Churches provided baptismal and marriage certificates plus other documents to establish whether a person was a Jew or Aryan. This information was used to provide lists of Jews, which then enabled officers to round up the Jewish population.

It is also well-documented that the Vatican knew of the existence of the concentration camps and did nothing to help the Jews. Without guidance from the Pope, the clergy did not know what to say, and often remained silent. Even today, the Vatican has papers concerning the Holocaust, which it refuses to release.

German Hymn books and Scripture were revised to erase all ‘Jewishness’.

The Involvement of the Public in the Genocide

Another powerful chapter poses the question, ‘Just a few Nazis?’ Again, our thinking is challenged as to how many people were complicit in Jewish persecution.

“German perpetrators numbered well in excess of 100,000. There were 10,005 camps which included satellite camps situated on the edges of towns and villages” (p43). In addition to this there were other staff and members of the general public who would have known what was happening.

“In Poland, local people were used to exterminate 3 million people. Local people then buried the dead” (p56). Many people, including professing Christians, must have been aware of the atrocities.

Justice and Accountability After the War

The author highlights some startling facts - some of which are well-known, others less so. For instance, there were 13 Nuremburg Trials held between 1945 and 1949, but they did not call many people to account.

Hitler and others committed suicide and therefore escaped earthly justice. Only 24 senior Nazi officers appeared in court and not everyone was found guilty. Meanwhile, many escaped down so-called ‘rat lines’, often with the help of the Church. Before 1949, 10,000 ex-SS officers were allowed into the UK, while only 2,000 displaced Jews were allowed entry into Britain.

Many ordinary people who had committed racially-motivated murders in their communities, or who had been involved with the camps, were never called to account. People returned home and kept quiet or remained in denial.

Modern-Day Considerations

In the concluding chapter, the author shares his concerns about Christendom allowing the Jewish people to be harmed today. He questions whether this will come in a different guise, that of Anti-Zionism, where teaching “that Israel is an occupying force is promulgated by large sections of Christendom” (p73).

Many ordinary people who had committed racially-motivated murders were never called to account.

Before and during the Holocaust, Christian leaders preached messages of hate. Sadly there are many examples of church leaders saying hateful things against Israel today. In the city of Liverpool, Hope University, the only ecumenical Christian university in Europe, staged an exhibition vilifying Israel. A Jewish lady wrote to Mr Fryer sharing her deep concern about the university, and expressing the fear that she feels at times, living as a Jew in Liverpool.

Conclusion

This book serves as a warning to all believers and hopefully will provoke us to study the biblical plans God has for the Jewish people. It documents uncomfortable truths, but truths that I strongly believe every Bible-believing Christian needs to be informed about.

I have no hesitation in highly recommending this well-documented book. Let us thank God for watchmen like Mr Fryer who attempt to highlight the lesser-known realities of the Shoah.

‘Rose-Tinted Memory’ (95 pages) is available from Amazon for £2.12.

The story of a remarkable Christian soldier who risked his life for Jewish men.

72 years after the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army on 27 January 1945, Britain and other nations are acknowledging Holocaust Memorial Day at a time when anti-Semitism is once more on the rise.

Israel itself, which has since risen from the ashes of that dreadful scourge that wiped out six million European Jews, is under dire threat from enemies on all sides while attacks on synagogues and other Jewish centres are still being carried out in the ‘civilised’ West. Only this last weekend in north-west London, a swastika-daubed brick was hurled through a Jewish family’s window while others were pelted with eggs.¹

The fragile borders to which the United Nations expect Israel to agree (just nine miles wide in places) have for good reason been described by politicians as ‘Auschwitz lines’, because they leave the Jewish state highly vulnerable to attack from neighbouring states who have repeatedly threatened to wipe them off the map.

It was also in January 1945 that one of the most heroic accounts of the war took place. But the incredible story has only just surfaced because the hero concerned never spoke about it.

The truth was finally unearthed by his granddaughter when asked to focus on a family member as part of a college assignment. Her widowed grandmother gave her the diary kept by her husband during his time in a prisoner-of-war camp which revealed the astonishing fact that, by standing up to the German commandant, Master Sgt Roddie Edmonds, of Knoxville, Tennessee, had saved the lives of 200 American Jews.

Israel is under dire threat from enemies on all sides, whilst Jews in the ‘civilised’ West are increasingly under attack.

‘We Are All Jews Here’

As the highest-ranking officer there, Edmonds was made responsible for the camp’s 1,292 American GIs, 200 of whom were Jewish. Then one day the Germans ordered all Jewish POWs to report outside their barracks the following morning. Knowing what awaited them – being moved to a slave labour camp at the very least – he decided to resist the directive, ordering all his men to fall out the following morning.

The commandant, Major Siegmann, duly ordered Edmonds to identify the Jewish soldiers, to which the sergeant responded: “We are all Jews here.”

Holding his pistol to Edmonds’ head, the commandant repeated the order. But the sergeant – a devout Christian – refused.

“According to the Geneva Convention, we only have to give our name, rank and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of us, and after the war you will be tried for war crimes,” Edmonds had said, according to one of the men saved that day.

Edmonds’ pastor son Chris regards all of them as heroes as they could easily have identified the Jews among them to save their skin. But they all stood together.

Neutrality Not an Option

Late last year, Roddie Edmonds was posthumously awarded the Yehi Or (‘Let there be light’) Award by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. He has also been honoured by Jerusalem’s Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’.²

But as Jews were herded into cattle trucks for transporting to death camps, there weren’t many Roddies about who dared to speak up and stand up on their behalf. These days, where controversial issues are concerned, leaders still prefer to keep their heads below the proverbial parapet while remaining ‘impartial’. But there is a time when we must take sides. We must choose between life and death, between God and evil. If we claim to be Christian, we have no option.

“Neutrality is only an illusion,” writes Robert Stearns. “Those who are not for God are against Him. (Matthew 12.30a) The German public’s unfortunate legacy during World War II lies not in what they did in response to their despotic leader and his horrendous practices, but in what they did not do.”³

These days, where controversial issues are concerned, it seems easier to remain ‘impartial’. But there is a time when we must take sides.

Righteous Among the Nations

This did not apply, however, to Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie, young Christians who led the White Rose leaflet campaign of resistance - for which they paid with their lives. Prophetically, they asked the question: “Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes…reach the light of day?”⁴

Garden of the Righteous, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.

Stearns also points out that, when the Nazis invaded European nations, many monarchs vacated their thrones and fled. But King Christian X stayed in Denmark as he defied the bullies. And thanks to his example, most Danish Jews survived the war.⁵

Princess Alice, the Queen’s mother-in-law, has also been recognised by Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ for saving a Jewish family during the war, and is buried on the Mount of Olives.

As Princess of Greece, she hid Jewish widow Rachel Cohen and two of her five children in her home. Rachel’s husband had in 1913 helped King George I of Greece, in return for which the king offered him any service he could perform, should he ever need it. When the Nazi threat emerged, his son recalled this promise and appealed to the Princess, who duly honoured her father’s pledge. Prince Charles last year fulfilled a longstanding wish to visit his grandmother’s grave.⁶

It’s interesting in this respect that Prince Charles has compared the dangers facing minority faith groups across the world today with the “dark days of the 1930s”.⁷

Are we courageous enough to tell the entire world that we are followers of Jesus and, as such, willing to do all we can to stand up to evil?

I Am One of Them…

The Queen herself is a wonderful example of someone who is prepared to make an uncompromising stand for faith and truth, declaring in her latest Christmas message to the nation: “Jesus Christ lived in obscurity for much of his life and was maligned and rejected by many, though he had done no wrong. Millions now follow his teaching and find in him the guiding light of their lives. I am one of them…”

Are we, like the Queen, courageous enough to tell the entire world that we are followers of Jesus and, as such, will do all we can to stand up to the evil that lurks in every dark corner of our land?

Roddie Edmonds was prepared to die for 200 Jewish men. Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. But the greatest sacrifice of all was when Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus), “though he had done no wrong”, laid down his life for both Jews and Gentiles on a stake outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, after being “led like a lamb to the slaughter” during the Passover feast (Isa 53:7). He bought our pardon; he paid the price.

Notes

1 Jerusalem News Network, 24 January 2017, quoting Algemeiner.

2 Gateway News (South Africa), 1 December 2016, originally published by The Times of Israel.

3 The Cry of Mordecai by Robert Stearns (Destiny Image).

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Torch magazine, Christians United for Israel – UK, Dec 2016-Feb 2017.

7 Saltshakers, 24 December 2016, quoting Premier.org.uk.

Shocking anti-Semitism as Britain prepares to celebrate.

As British Christians prepare to celebrate a famous milestone in Jewish history, battle lines are being drawn up and some shots have already been fired in anger.

Passions of indignation from left-wing politicians and others are being stirred in response to plans for marking the centenary next year of the Balfour Declaration, through which the British Government promised to do all in its power to facilitate the return to their ancient homeland of the Jewish people.

From Balfour to the Birth of Israel

Lord Arthur Balfour was British Foreign Secretary at the time, the Government having over the previous century been influenced by a succession of anointed Christian leaders – such as William Wilberforce, Charles Spurgeon, Lord Shaftesbury and Bishop J C Ryle – along with the fledgling Zionist movement among the Jews themselves.

As it happened, Britain was perfectly positioned to fulfil the pledge she had made within weeks of this announcement, when General Edmund Allenby and his forces marched into Jerusalem to end 400 years of Turkish rule over the region.

It should not, of course, have taken another 31 years for the Jewish state to be re-born, but this extraordinary political act clearly paved the way for this eventual outcome. And it is something for which British people can be justly proud, in spite of the unnecessary delays caused by appeasement in the face of Arab opposition.

The extraordinary Balfour Declaration paved the way for the Jewish state to be re-born.

New and Old Denials

But the tide of world opinion has once more turned against God's chosen people. In 2017 we will also be marking the 70^th anniversary of the United Nations vote recognising Israel - in which Britain shamefully abstained. But it was carried by the required two-thirds majority, to the great jubilation of world Jewry along with Bible-believing Christians across the globe who were excited by the imminent fulfilment of many ancient prophecies about the return of exiled Jews from the four corners of the earth.

But now this same body has denied historic Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, recognising them only as Muslim holy sites. Since Islam only emerged in the 7^th Century AD, and mountains of archaeological and biblical evidence point to Jewish existence in Jerusalem for thousands of years, how absurd is that?

As Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu put it, "To declare that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the Pyramids."¹

Anti-Semitism in the House of Lords

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority leaders have – not for the first time – threatened to sue the British Government over Balfour! Perhaps this is what encouraged the outrageous meeting held last week in the House of Lords – called to launch a campaign to apologise for the Balfour Declaration – in which Jews were blamed for the Holocaust.

Hosted by Baroness Tonge, a former Liberal Democrat MP who sits as an independent, the meeting provoked concern about the level of anti-Semitic discourse in mainstream politics and sparked off the subsequent resignation from the party of the Baroness. An Israeli Embassy spokesman described the gathering as "a shameful event".²

Participants at the event said that some in attendance made anti-Semitic statements, including blaming Jews or Zionists for the Holocaust. Participants also reportedly drew comparisons between Israel and Islamic terrorists.³

Last week a campaign was launched calling for Britain to apologise for the Balfour Declaration.

This is just the latest in a series of such occurrences involving Tonge, who recently blamed Israel's treatment of Palestinian Arabs for the rise of anti-Semitism in Britain. In July this year she said that "the treatment of the Palestinians by Israel is a major cause of the rise of extreme Islamism and ISIS."⁴ Back in 2004, she said she would consider becoming a suicide bomber if she were an Arab living in the Palestinian Authority.

Violence on Campus

Also in London last week, police were called to the University College after anti-Israel protesters stormed an event organised by pro-Israel advocacy groups. Things were said to have "got out of hand" and officers apparently warned attendees to stay inside for their own protection.⁵

A similar event took place at King's College, London, earlier this year when protesters violently disrupted a talk by Ami Ayalon, ex-Commander of the Israeli Navy and former head of the Shin Bet internal security operation.⁶

The Ultimate Battle Lines

Attempts by the UN and others to rewrite history will ultimately fail because God will have the last word. In Zechariah 12:3, the Bible warns that a day will come when the nations will attempt to wrestle Jerusalem from the Jewish people. But they will only 'injure' themselves.

Better to give up opposing Israel now than face the fury of the Lord when he comes in his glory round about the time this prophesied event occurs (read Zechariah 12-14).

Jesus, the Jew, is coming back to reign on earth. Make sure you are on his side!

Notes

1 Ravid, B and Khouri, J. UNESCO backs motion nullifying Jewish ties to Temple Mount. Haaretz, 13 October 2016. See also Prophecy Today commentary, 14 October 2016.

2 Dominic Kennedy, The Times of London, 27 October 2016.

3 Arutz-7/Jerusalem News Network, 31 October 2016.

4 Ibid.

5 Algemeiner/Jerusalem News Network News Network, 31 October 2016.

6 Ibid.

Paul Luckraft reviews 'When the Cross Became a Sword' by Merrill Bolender (2011, 80 pages)

This book is described as a primer on the origin and consequences of Replacement Theology and as such it is slight in terms of pages and inexpensive. Its value is that its size makes it a simple reference guide and it has large print for easy reading.

The author admits his intention is not to provide a comprehensive treatment but "to paint a clear picture with 'broad brush strokes'" (p11). He adds that he is not trying to demean or judge others, but to help people to "learn and move ahead so that we can avoid repeating similar mistakes in the future" (p12).

Endorsing a Hebraic Mindset

He upholds the view of those who insist that Replacement Theology is nowhere to be found in the Bible being based on nothing more than presupposition, but he is aware that its impact can be highly destructive. He shows how small errors made early in its history has thrown the Church off course and has led over time to greater and greater divergence from biblical truth.

Bolender starts with an examination of Romans 11 and exhorts a Hebrew mindset which enables us to interpret Scripture in a plain and literal way, without always having to resort to an allegorical or spiritualising approach. He shows how the early Church Fathers abandoned their Hebraic roots and embraced Greek thinking, in particular a 'Christianised' form of Plato's philosophy.

Bolender's book is a short and inexpensive primer on the origin and consequences of Replacement Theology – ideal for giving away to those new to the topic.

From Cross to Sword

As he works his way historically from Constantine through the atrocities of the Middle Ages to the Crusades there are plenty of examples and quotes which back up his main thesis that indeed the Cross became a sword. A particularly telling comment is that "the early apostles would not have recognised the Church in her new form" (p37).

In keeping with the overall aim of providing a brief introduction, Bolender provides short chapters (in some cases just two or three pages) on the Inquisition, examples from Russian history, the Reformation and Luther, and inevitably the Holocaust. Much of this material is found elsewhere in much more detail (see, for instance, other books previously reviewed in Prophecy Today, those by Gordon Pettie and Joel Richardson) but this book is perhaps the one that is the easiest to give away to those who need their eyes opening to this important topic. There is a good four-page glossary at the end to help those coming to this for the first time, and a useful two-page bibliography to enable further reading.

The author wants Gentiles to see how blessed they are by being grafted in to all the wonderful advantages of a rich Jewish heritage.

Above all, the author wants Gentiles to see how blessed they are by being grafted in to all the wonderful advantages of a rich Jewish heritage, and he strongly advocates that although we cannot correct past wrongs, we can certainly can do something about the present and, in so doing, we can help change the future.

'When the Cross Became a Sword' is available as an e-book for £3.07 via Amazon Kindle. Available elsewhere in paperback.

As UK Christians remember the Holocaust this week (27 January marking the day in 1945 when Auschwitz was liberated), they have been reminded that it was spawned by godlessness and the rejection of faith.

Amalek Cruelty

Steven Jaffe,¹ a member of the UK's Jewish Board of Deputies, was addressing a largely Christian audience at a church in Sheffield, Yorkshire. He said the exodus from Egypt was immediately followed by the battle with Amalek, who had no reason to attack Israel. There was no territorial dispute or history of conflict, for example. And they attacked the sick and the elderly – those who were most vulnerable (Deut 25:17-18).

"The conflict with Amalek is not over", he said. Amalek denied God and his power in the same way the Nazis did, and the latter mirrored their lack of mercy. Jaffe recalled that Britain's former Chief Rabbi, Lord Sachs, was once asked where God was during the Holocaust, to which he is said to have replied: "Where was man?"

Growing Godlessness

My worry is that the growing influence of rank atheism in Britain and Europe will have a bearing on the future of anti-Semitism. The poisonous view that God does not exist naturally leads to godless behaviour and thought, even among those previously tutored in godly ways. The result is that even some who claim to have faith, and who perhaps stand in pulpits, start believing the lie that is proclaimed so often through almost every strand of media.

My worry is that the growing influence of rank atheism in Britain and Europe will have a bearing on the future of anti-Semitism.

It is indeed frustrating that, as fast as we spread word about the horrors of the Holocaust, vowing that it should never be repeated, the vile infestation of anti-Semitism creeps into every crack and crevice of our broken society, as the walls of our Judeo-Christian civilisation come crashing down around us.

Loathing of Israel

In polite Britain, hatred of Jews is generally not expressed openly, but often takes the form of a loathing of Israel, so that the very mention of the Jewish state is enough to raise the hackles not only of the politically-aware man in the street, but of the semi-biblically aware man in the pew.

As Jaffe told the Bush Fire Church, such loathing cannot be explained in rational terms. But he was spot on, I believe, in linking the phenomenon with a society that has thrown God out of the window. Pledges of never letting it happen again are not enough, in my opinion; without a recovery of faith in the God of Israel, there can be no guarantee that another holocaust won't take place.

In recent months, Iran has been boasting of how its nuclear deal last year "has provided an historic opportunity to...face threats posed by the Zionist entity"². It is well to recall that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, collaborated with Hitler, setting the stage for today's jihad against Israel.³ And yet, bizarrely, former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and current Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have both publicly denied that the Holocaust ever took place.⁴

In polite Britain, hatred of Jews is generally not expressed openly, but often takes the form of a loathing of Israel.

Holocaust memorial, Berlin. See Photo Credits.

Light in the Darkness

Against such a dark background, however, there is plenty of encouragement. The Sheffield gathering heard much about the heroic acts of so-called 'righteous Gentiles' like Sir Nicholas Winton, who rescued 669 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in 1938. Generations of people – almost 7,000 of some of the world's greatest doctors, lawyers, teachers and inventors – owe their lives to the act of one man's efforts to help Jewish children escape the Nazis.

Last year in Leeds the Shalom Declaration was launched, with hundreds signing a commitment to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, fight anti-Semitism and promote solidarity with Israel. Steven Jaffe himself said that this is sending out a clear message of Christian support for Britain's Jewish community. "There isn't a corner of the British Isles that the Shalom Declaration has not been signed", he said.

On the faith front, we were told that "there are more Jews learning the Torah today in Israel that at any time in our history", preparing them well for the great event we are perhaps soon to witness when Jesus reveals himself on a grand scale to his brothers in the flesh.

Forgiveness Vital

Though many Jews quite understandably have a problem with this, especially with the Holocaust in mind, we are reminded that the key is forgiveness. When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he had already long since forgiven them for acting treacherously against him.

Pledges of never letting it happen again are not enough: without a recovery of faith in the God of Israel, there can be no guarantee that another holocaust won't take place.

British television viewers were recently treated to a remarkable Channel 4 documentary, The Girl Who Forgave the Nazis,⁵ recounting the story of how Hungarian Jew Eva Kor, now 81, a former inmate of Auschwitz, has publicly forgiven 94-year-old Oskar Groenig, the death camp's former accountant, who was recently sentenced to four years in jail for his part in the Nazi's evil scheme.

Eva and her twin sister Miriam were experimented on by the infamous Dr Josef Mengele, but survived the camp. Eva said: "It's time to forgive, but not forget...I believe that forgiveness is such a powerful thing...and I want everybody to help me sow these seeds of peace throughout the world."

This takes amazing courage. But it is worth remembering that Jesus, our Messiah, made the first move when he prayed as he died in agony on a cross in Jerusalem: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases..." (Ps 103:2-3)

"Seek the Lord while he may be found...for he will freely pardon." (Isa 55:6-7)

Charles Gardner is author of Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com.

References

1 Jaffe works with the British Board of Deputies as a Communal Engagement with Israel Consultant. See Board of Deputies website. Jaffe has previously reported elsewhere on Christian support for Israel.

2 Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Beirut, 12 August 2015. See Times of Israel coverage here, written by Newman/AFP.

3 Soakell, D. Christian Friends of Israel's Watching Over Zion newsletter, 21 January.

4 Ibid.

5 Originally broadcast on Channel 4, Saturday 23 January, 8pm. Still available on 4oD.