It’s time to nail our colours to the mast

As we sail into stormy seas over Brexit, it’s time for both Church and state to nail their colours to the mast – over their stand with Israel in particular, and with biblical truth in general.

We have seriously lost our way, thanks to little political co-ordination and much confusion. What we really need is a heavenly compass. Have our politicians asked God for directions? Has the Church made its position clear? Most importantly, whose side are we on?

Anchor for the Soul

In 1947, the United Nations voted – by the required two-thirds majority – to recognise a reborn Jewish state. But Britain, badly bruised by her shambolic oversight of the region she was charged to prepare for this purpose, abstained in the vote and has been reeling from the blow of betraying God’s chosen people ever since.

Another key moment was the bold step taken more recently by President Trump in recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But none of the major powers have yet followed his lead, preferring instead to seek appeasement with Israel’s enemies, which is one reason Europe is in crisis.

In the midst of the turbulence in Parliament over the prospect of a future outside of Europe, our only hope of steadying the ship of state is in returning to the Judeo-Christian values espoused by the Bible-believing MPs from Northern Ireland, who currently hold the balance of power. And as a further acknowledgement of the God of Israel, and the source of Western civilisation, we need to start seriously standing with the Jews.

Our only hope of steadying the ship of state is in returning to Judeo-Christian values and standing with the Jews.

Do Everything in Your Power

When, during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Israel came perilously close to defeat, Prime Minister Golda Meir appealed to President Nixon for help, and his response in sending reinforcements saved the day – and Israel!

Years later Nixon said: “When she was talking [on the phone], I could hear my mother reading stories from the Old Testament to me when I was a boy.”

He recalled one thing in particular. “I could hear her tell me: ‘One day Richard, you will be in a situation where the Jewish people will need your help. When that day comes, do everything in your power to help them.’ It confirmed all my instincts and I knew I had to act. I suddenly realised why I had become President of the United States. It was the moment I had to do what I had to do.”¹

With a legacy blighted by the Watergate scandal, which saw him authorise illegal activities in pursuit of being re-elected, I guess few people realise the crucial part he played in Israel’s preservation.

Call to Churches

In righting wrongs of past sins committed against Israel, Britain’s Tory Government has made a start with an apology of sorts for restricting immigration to the Holy Land for Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe.

Yet in some respects things have worsened, with the opposition gaining in the polls in spite of being plagued by anti-Semitism, while both the South African and Irish governments have made their anti-Zionist feelings known.

In light of this and especially of the threat posed by Iran, Christians United for Israel UK is calling on churches to stand with Israel as corporate institutions, rather than leaving it to individuals and para-church organisations.

Confidence in the Gospel

The Church as a whole, meanwhile, badly needs to recover confidence in the power of the Gospel. This was brought home to me forcefully as I watched Scotland make what one pundit called a ‘miraculous’ comeback against England in last Saturday’s Six Nations rugby test match at Twickenham.

Down 31-0 in as many minutes, they were facing a humiliating slaughter, but came right back with a brilliant second-half display to lead 38-31, before the hosts tied the match by scoring under the posts deep into injury time.

It reminded me of David and Goliath, especially after picking up a 4oz weight from a display of vintage balance scales in a café that same morning. On being surprised at how heavy it felt, I understood how the Philistine giant failed to survive the shepherd’s lethal slingshot.

The Church as a whole badly needs to recover confidence in the power of the Gospel.

The comparison was complete when I realised that Scotland had scored five tries – all converted – plus a penalty, whereas the young David had picked up five smooth stones for his fight. But he only needed one!

The Sea of Galilee, where Jesus calmed the storm with a word. Photo by Charles Gardner.The weapon we have been given is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:17), while our power is the Gospel, which is “the power of God that brings salvation to all who believe: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Rom 1:16).

Jesus made it clear that if we fail to publicly acknowledge him, he will disown us (Matt 10:32f). Speaking of the signs of his imminent return, he said it would be a time when his disciples will be hated and when many will turn away amid much deception and wickedness. But he who stands firm to the end will be saved - and the Gospel will be preached to the whole world in preparation for his return (Matt 24:9-14).

Opportunities Ahead

So, in the midst of the great trials ahead, Gospel opportunities will come – perhaps as never before – as spiritually hungry people seek solace and comfort. Amidst the hardship, there will be a harvest.

As the tempest rages, remember that Jesus is the one who calmed the storm on Galilee!

References

1 Davies, P, 2018. The Miracle that is Israel. True Vine Media Limited.

Paul Luckraft interviews author Steve Maltz about his latest book, ‘Shalom’.

Over the years, I have reviewed most of Steve’s books for Prophecy Today and in the past I interviewed him to find out what motivated him to go on writing. “I was born to write, that is my gift” was his reply, and it would seem that with Shalom, his 25^th book, that gift is still in full flow. But a valid question remains: why another book? And why this particular book?

Steve admits to being on a personal journey and that writing books is his way of continuing that journey. As he explains in the preface of Shalom, “every book is a personal odyssey and a time of great learning” (p9). Pressing him further on this, he added that “I always write what is on my heart and each time I finish a book I think the journey may have ended, but so far it hasn’t.”

The journey actually started when he was crossing London Bridge ten years ago and God began to show him how the Church had lost ‘the Way’ by detaching itself from its Hebraic roots. Many books later, Shalom brings that vision into greater focus.

Its theme is an exploration of what Paul in Ephesians calls the ‘One New Man’ (Eph 2:15). If the Church is ever to recover what it lost in the past and achieve God’s shalom, God’s peace, it will need to embrace the truth that Christ has broken down the barrier of hostility between Jew and Gentile and that Gentiles are Gospel heirs together with Israel: members together of one Body, sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:6). Steve’s argument is that embracing this truth will bring renewal to the Church, individually and corporately.

Searching for Answers

As such, Steve isn’t just writing for his own benefit. He believes others are asking the same questions that God has put on his heart, and seeking the same answers. This was dramatically illustrated just an hour or so before meeting up with me in London.

If the Church is ever to recover God’s shalom, God’s peace, it will need to embrace the truth that Christ has broken down the barrier of hostility between Jew and Gentile.

Prior to our interview, Steve visited a major London bookshop to introduce his new book and drop off a couple of copies. While talking to the staff there one of the customers overheard him explaining the book and suddenly burst into tears! “This is just what I’ve been looking for!” she explained. And then added that she had been on a train on the Underground when God had told her to get off at that station and go to the bookshop there. She had no idea why at the time, but clearly God knew what she needed!

Just like this lady in the bookshop, readers new to Steve’s books can start with Shalom without having to read all that has gone before. Each of his books stands alone and usually contains several quotes or references to previous ones. To this end, the first part of Shalom takes us back over how the Church lost the Way, the Truth and the Life by severing ourselves from Israel and our Hebraic roots. Here, Steve explains the problems in the Church that show our need for God’s shalom, found only in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).

After a short second part on ‘The Shalom of Salvation’, in the third part we are reminded how the key to recovering the Hebraic nature of the Christian faith is function, not form. In other words, it’s about discovering and developing our roles and callings – who we are and what we do - rather than about offices and structures; it’s about being and doing ‘church’ rather than church as an institution or set of rituals. This is a significant theme in his previous books.

After this comes Part Four, which is devoted to exploring what shalom means when it comes to the Church and the idea of the One New Man. It should be stressed that just because the title is ‘Shalom’, the book is not merely a study on this particular word. Rather, as the subtitle emphasises, here we discover ‘God’s Masterplan’ for oneness or completeness, which Steve unpacks through seven other Hebrew words (simcha, chaim, kadosh, chesed, mishpocha, limmud, berakhot). Through these we can reverse all the Greek thinking that has dominated Church life since the 2^nd Century and undo the unbiblical practices introduced by Constantine and others.

In short, Steve asks the big question: what would the Church look like if there had been no influence from Greek philosophy or Roman emperors? Through these Hebraic concepts the answer starts to emerge. The next big question is, who will be brave enough to try it the Hebraic way?!

Steve believes that others are asking the same questions that God has put on his heart, and seeking the same answers.

Joyous Conclusion

The final part of the book came as a surprise, even to Steve. “Here’s a chapter I never intended to write because it references a series of events that came after the writing of the first draft of this book” (p215). At the ‘Foundations 10’ Hebraic conference in Devon, Steve saw Hebraic church come alive, in practice – ‘it happened in Devon!’ is the joyous conclusion to the book.

Shalom is being launched this weekend at the 'Foundations 11' conference, being held at The Hayes in Swanwick. The conference is appropriately entitled ‘One New Man’ and will continue to explore the theme further through teaching and discussion.

That walk over London Bridge many years ago has certainly borne a lot of fruit. Is the journey reaching a conclusion? I doubt it. The next book, and 'Foundations 12', are already being planned!

‘Shalom’ (234 pages, paperback) is available from Saffron Planet Publishing for £10.

The Church has remained silent on Israel for too long

As Jews the world over next week mark a feast they have celebrated annually for the past 2,500 years, it presents a perfect opportunity for the Church to step into the breach on behalf of God’s chosen people.

The feast of Purim recalls the time when a beautiful young orphan queen known as Esther saved her people from annihilation in ancient Persia.

Her identity as a Jew was a secret at the time of her accession to the throne, as the potential for anti-Semitism was so great that the Bible’s account of her heroics only mentions God in code.

But when her guardian, Mordecai, alerted her to Haman’s genocidal plot against all the Jews in an empire stretching from India to Egypt, he challenged her with these words: “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Est 4:14).

Esther knew it would be dangerous to approach the king without being summoned but, just as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego risked the fiery furnace rather than compromise their faith, Esther too bit the bullet, defiantly declaring: “If I perish, I perish” (Est 4:16).

Modern Threats

Is it not time for the Church to stand up for the Jews as Esther did? The Church in Germany were, for the most part, silent as they watched Hitler’s anti-Semitic cancer spread.

Thankfully, para-church organisations like Christian Friends of Israel, representing thousands of individual Christians, have until now played the part of Mordecai in their attempt to alert the Church to the dangers.

One of them, Christians United for Israel, has actually launched a campaign called 'Operation Mordecai', warning of the danger posed by Iran (modern-day Persia) to Israel and the West, and is encouraging churches to nail their colours to the mast by showing corporate support for Israel rather than leaving it to individual believers.

Is it not time for the Church to stand up for the Jews just as Esther did?

Israel’s existence – and by extension that of the Jewish people – is threatened once again. First Pharaoh tried to obliterate them, then Haman, followed by Herod and Hitler. Now the likes of Hamas are inflicting their murder and mayhem on Israel’s southern borders while, in the north, Hezbollah have some 120,000 missiles hidden among Lebanon’s civilian population.

At the same time, a harrowing new wave of anti-Semitism is sweeping across Europe and America, while in Britain we are witnessing an unholy alliance between hard-left Labour and the far-right - including Islamists - viciously persecuting innocent Jews.

Time to Stand Up!

The Tory Government has made a start in repenting of past sins committed against the Jews. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has apologised for Britain’s blocking of those trying to escape the Nazi butchers and for its holding of others in detention camps like Atlit, near Haifa, during the 1940s. And Home Secretary Sajid Javid has finally pronounced a full ban on Hezbollah.

But the Church in Britain – as a whole – has badly neglected the Jews. We are not only responsible for the scourge of social engineering now blighting our beloved country, but also for the disgraceful scandal of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party.

Where have the strong Christian voices of support for Israel been over the years? Do we really think God has reneged on his promise of everlasting love for the Jews (Jer 31:3)? Do we realise that such misguided belief gives carte blanche to the sort of unbridled hatred for Israel pronounced by many of those seeking to wrest power from the Conservatives?

Jeremy Corbyn and his close allies – like terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas – believe Israel has no right to exist. It’s time to make amends for our indifference by taking on the role of Esther – intervening on behalf of an endangered people, both in prayer and action.

The Tory Government has made a start in repenting of past sins committed by Britain against the Jews. But the British Church – as a whole – remains silent.

Cursing Turned Around

In modern Persia, the ayatollahs are determined to wipe Israel off the map, using nuclear weapons if necessary. But the tables were turned on the anti-Semites of ancient Persia. Haman literally made a rope on which to hang himself and the evil scheme he had devised came back on his own head. Those who dare to stand against the Jews or their Messiah will surely come to ruin!

Indeed, the tables were turned on Germany, and it all came back on their own heads as their cities were reduced to rubble – Darmstadt, for instance, had its own 9/11 when, on 11 September 1944, the city was destroyed, leaving 12,000 dead and many more homeless.

Similar devastation awaits those who touch the apple of God’s eye today (Zech 2:8).

Jeremiah's first public prophetic word.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 2:2-3)

This is the first word that Jeremiah was given to declare publicly in his ministry. Previously in his communication with God, the words he heard were for him personally. This first message to the nation was highly significant. Although Jeremiah knew that he was going to have to say some very hard things that would not be well received, this first word was a message of love which would have been easy for him to declare publicly. It was just what the young prophet needed to begin his ministry.

All the prophets of Israel constantly referred back to the history of the nation and what God had done for them. Here, Jeremiah is reminding the people of the amazing way God had cared for them, provided for them and protected them throughout their 40 years’ journey between leaving Egypt and entering the Promised Land.

Israel’s Spiritual Sojourn

For most of that period, Israel travelled through the desert. It was an exacting time for the tribal leaders and a time of enormous strain for Moses in maintaining order, discipline and unity among the tribes. But it was also a formative time when the Children of Israel became a nation.

There is nothing so powerful as shared hardship and danger in bringing unity to a disparate group of people. This is what happened to Israel in the desert. They were a group of nomadic tribes living in tents with no homeland, but the shared experience of facing the dangers and privations of the wilderness welded them together. They learned the value of community, co-operating in the gathering of manna, and caring for each other - especially the weak and the elderly.

The first word that Jeremiah was given to declare publicly was a message of love.

Above all, the sojourn in the desert was a spiritual experience that established them as a covenant people under God. They were his bride, newly brought into a sweet covenant relationship with him: a relationship of growing love and trust, as he practically demonstrated his love and his power in one miracle after another.

The first miracle was in persuading Pharaoh to let the people go. The deliverance from slavery was followed by the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea and the disaster that overtook the Egyptian army who were closely following with the intention of once again reducing them to slavery. But God had amazingly delivered Israel and thereby demonstrated his love and his power to protect his soon-to-be covenant people in fulfilment of his promises.

This love and power was demonstrated numerous times by the Lord’s provision of food and water in the desert. Many times the Israelites would have starved or died of thirst if he had not provided for them. But the desert was not only a time for the people of Israel to learn about the very nature of God, it was a time for sealing their bond with God and learning to trust him completely.

Separation unto God

The desert was not a place of separation from God. It was a place of separation from the world and from foreign gods: for leaving behind the fleshpots of Egypt, for ridding themselves of the pariah mentality of a people in slavery. It was a time of separation unto God, where there were no worldly attractions to compete for their attention. The conditions of the covenant relationship could be fulfilled – “I will be your God and you will be my people”.

The great silence of the desert was filled with the presence of the Living God. It was here that Israel learned holiness – separation – as they learned to love and to trust the Lord. In this first message given to the young Jeremiah, God remembered the devotion of Israel, her dependence upon him and her love for him.

This was to set the scene for all the dramatic warnings of danger that Jeremiah later had to pronounce – none of which were intended to be declarations of judgment so much as loving calls to recognise the folly of breaking the covenant with God by running after false gods. Israel’s worshipping of bits of wood and stone had tragically put them outside the protection of Almighty God and at the mercy of cruel enemy armies.

Israel’s sojourn in the desert was a profoundly spiritual experience that established them as a covenant people under God.

God’s Suffering

This first message reminding the people of God’s great love and care for their fathers in the desert was followed by a plea that was full of pathos:

This is what the Lord says, “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no-one travels and no-one lives?’

I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal following worthless idols.”

God’s question, “What fault did your fathers find in me?” shows the pathos in God’s heart when his people are faithless and turn away from him. It is as though God was saying, ‘After all I have done for you, how could you possibly deny me and turn your back upon me?’

It is almost inconceivable in human relationships that someone would turn against you if you had spent your whole life caring for them. And yet, it does happen! The sense of rejection and personal suffering is intense in such circumstances. But this should enable us to understand the suffering in God’s heart when those whom he has loved and cared for turn against him and no longer trust him.

Foundational Teaching

This is the truth about the nature of God that was revealed to the prophets of Israel, that laid the foundation for the revelation of God as our Father which was at the heart of the ministry of Jesus. The Gospel Jesus gave to his disciples to take to all nations can never be fully understood and embraced without the foundation laid by the prophets of Israel.

God’s question, “What fault did your fathers find in me?” shows the pathos in God’s heart when his people are faithless and turn away from him.

Sadly, this is missing in so many churches today, where the preachers do not bother to preach the whole word of God – because they rarely study the life and teaching of the prophets of Israel.

If we do not learn from the history of Israel, that disaster struck them when they departed from the word of the Lord, we will make the same mistake again!

Surely, the preachers in Britain and all the Western nations should be declaring with all the energy and power of the Holy Spirit that, like the people of Israel in Jeremiah’s day, we too have turned our backs upon truth and embraced powers of darkness that are leading us to destruction.

We too worship bits of wood and stone in our consumerist society where we compete with one another to show off our possessions which are worthless. In so doing we make ourselves worthless to God in working out his purposes of communicating his love, his faithfulness and his good purposes to the nations. We become, like Israel in Jeremiah’s day, useless servants!

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.

The tragedy of Corbyn’s rise to political prominence.

The sick, anti-Semitic hounding of an MP who is not even Jewish takes the scandal within the British Labour Party to a new low.

Former Labour Friends of Israel chair Joan Ryan has suffered death threats since resigning from the Party over what she termed its “culture of anti-Semitism”. She has also been branded a “Jew whore” who should burn “in the ovens”.¹

Corbyn’s Hypocrisy

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s attitude to Israel and the Jews has been brought into sharp focus by Tom Bower in his book Dangerous Hero (William Collins, £20) – an absorbing, shocking read that begs the question of how a man with little intellect or understanding of the world has been raised up as a potential leader of one of the greatest nations on earth.

Over many years as a backbench MP, Corbyn’s overt Marxism went largely unnoticed and ignored as irrelevant since he was expected to remain on the fringe of the political scene.

But these are not normal times. For this ‘man of peace’ who opposes military intervention has at the same time shown consistent support for blatantly violent organisations like the IRA, PLO, Hezbollah and Hamas – the latter three committed to the destruction of Israel.

Much of the electorate seem blind to such hypocrisy, also demonstrated by the unholy alliance between Corbyn’s extreme-left cronies and far-right Islamists who would be happy to stone adulterers and throw gay people off roofs.

This ‘man of peace’ who opposes military intervention has at the same time consistently supported blatantly violent organisations like the IRA, PLO, Hezbollah and Hamas.

Communism is Brutal

It is clear that on many issues, including Marxism, Corbyn holds a very blinkered and simplistic view. He also has no concept of Israel’s long history of persecution or, indeed, any understanding of its emergence as a modern state.

For example, he insists that all conflicts should be settled by the United Nations, but fails to see that it was the UN that legitimised Israel in the first place.

As for Communism, Corbyn seems oblivious to the fact that it has been consistently discredited wherever it has been practised, and keeps flagging up Venezuela as a wonderful example of Marxist management even while its people are starving with inflation running at 1,000%, despite rich oil reserves.

As for Communism closer to home, in the years before the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago, a friend of mine who has been helping Jews escape to Israel since those days² described to a gathering last weekend the appalling conditions experienced there, with people forced to live in crumbling, stinking apartments amidst communities where food was scarce and money virtually worthless.

He recalled with horror the pitiful sight of a child lying on a step, frozen to death in its own urine. “Life under communism was brutal. And it was the Church – along with the prayers of Christians – that changed society in Eastern Europe, not politics. It was these brave people of faith who changed world history, not Gorbachev or Reagan.”

Chaos and Dysfunction

The story of Corbyn’s rise to power is a tragedy, not a triumph. Out of an apparently chaotic, dysfunctional domestic life, he focused his vision and energy on imposing similar disorder on the rest of us – by replacing capitalism with an enforced ‘paradise’ of equality in which the poor are lifted up and the rich dispossessed.

But it is political ideology, not people, he evidently loves. His purpose for living seems to be driven by fury for wealth creators and innovators, and of all middle class folk out to improve their lot, more than by a genuine love for the vulnerable – promising ‘friendlier’ politics, but delivering back-stabbing aggression instead.

It is political ideology, not people, Corbyn evidently loves.

It has clearly been a miserable existence constantly plagued by strife, dissension, vengeance and division even among those who sing from the same hymn-sheet as he does.

Joan Ryan (left) and Luciana Berger, now ex-Labour MPs, have both received vile anti-Semitic abuse. See Photo Credits.War on God

So why and how has hate-filled, anti-Semitic, anti-bourgeois thuggery like that suffered by Joan Ryan gained such unprecedented popularity in this sceptred isle?

Whether you consider the attitudes of the far-left, or those of Islamists, or those of the far-right, the collective picture should leave us in no doubt that we are witnessing a furious battle for the soul of our nation. The forces of darkness are arrayed against those wishing to defend the Judeo-Christian values which alone have raised us above other nations in the past.

Jesus is the litmus test of all truth (John 14:6) and the devil is the father of lies for whom lying is his native language (see John 8:44; 1 John 2:22). It is no surprise, therefore, that it should feel quite natural for those who peddle godless ideologies – of whatever nature - to lie, deceive and act dishonestly.

It should also alert us to the fact that any ideology (however noble) which rejects the truths of Scripture will inevitably join the war on God, his truth and those who bear his name.

Ultimate Rebellion

The Jewish people are God’s chosen, eternally and irrevocably. Even today, Christians the world over – some 1.5 billion of them – worship the ‘God of Israel’ who, in the fullness of time, sent his beloved Son, the Jewish Messiah, to save his people (and all believing Gentiles) from their sins.

The devil is out to destroy the image of God in this world, which means we would ultimately all lose out if he succeeded, because we are all made in God’s image. Our enemy’s thinking is that, if he can destroy the Jewish people (God’s chosen) as well as non-Jews who believe in God (Christians), then he will have won the battle for men’s souls.

The truth, then, is that anti-Semitism is effectively one of the ultimate expressions of rebellion against God. And God himself, I believe, has allowed it to be exposed.

From Tragedy to Triumph

Jesus said that the devil is out to “kill, steal and destroy”, but that He had come that we might have life in all its fullness (John 10:10). The Bible also says that “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps 14:1, 53:1).

The devil is out to destroy the image of God in this world.

The miserable life led by Corbyn and his cronies is not what God has purposed for us. If you are fulfilled by endless political rows and confrontations, stoked by a hate-driven, destructive ideology, that is truly a tragedy. But Jesus came to turn tragedy into triumph and, by his resurrection from the dead, has proved once and for all that he holds the answer for every hopeless cause.

He will turn your ugliness into beauty, your darkness to light, your hell to heaven, your grief to joy, your pain to purpose, your hate to love. Please pray for Joan Ryan and her colleagues - for their protection and blessing - as well as for Jeremy Corbyn.

References

1 World Israel News, quoting Mail on Sunday, 3 March 2019.

2 Fred Wright’s action-packed adventures in aiding Aliyah (immigration to Israel) over the years is the subject of a forthcoming book.

Britain toughens up over Iran-backed group threatening Israel.

Amidst the ongoing shame of anti-Semitic revelations surrounding the Labour Party, it is no small comfort to hear of positive moves in the opposite direction from Theresa May’s Tory Government.

Following an apology of sorts from Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt over Britain’s disgraceful treatment of Jews during our charge of Palestine, Home Secretary Sajid Javid this week announced the full banning of Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, who have long been committed to wiping Israel off the map.

The Government has finally accepted that there is no distinction, as previously claimed, between the group’s political and military wings.

Israel the Divider

At long last we are seeing a clear dividing line between the two main parties which, for the past two decades, have become more or less indistinguishable from one another on many important issues, including the dreadful liberal social engineering which has seen the Judeo-Christian values of our society progressively replaced by those of aggressive minorities.

But now – over Israel – a gaping chasm has opened up, and Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn had better watch out. A supporter over the years of the IRA, North Korea, Eastern European and other socialist dictatorships, he has also famously referred to Hezbollah, along with equally frightening neighbours Hamas, as ‘friends’.

This certainly suggests that he shares their vision for Israel’s destruction, as apparently does Seumas Milne, Labour’s head of strategy and communications, who is considered so influential that he has been referred to as ‘Corbyn’s brain’.

According to The Mail on Sunday,¹ Milne’s links with terrorist groups dedicated to destroying the Jewish state are decades old. A party staff member, speaking anonymously, said: “Seumas has been supporting groups that deny Israel’s right to exist for many years.”²

At long last we are seeing a clear dividing line between our two main parties: over Israel, a gaping chasm has opened up. 

A Crisis of the Soul

Javid said: “My priority as Home Secretary is to protect the British people. As part of this, we identify and ban any terrorist organisation which threatens our safety and security…”

It will now be a criminal offence to be a member of, or to invite support for, Hezbollah, carrying a sentence of up to ten years’ imprisonment.³

Much of what goes on within the ranks of today’s Labour Party could surely be interpreted as “inviting support for Hezbollah”. Only last Sunday, Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson revealed he had received 50 new complaints relating to Jew-hatred in the previous week!

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Watson urged his boss to address “a crisis for the soul of the Labour Party”.

As I’ve said before, the position taken on Israel by nations, governments and even individuals or church denominations will inevitably have a bearing on their respective fortunes. This is based on a crucial promise in the early pages of the Bible (Gen 12:3) – that if you bless the seed of Abraham, you in turn will be blessed, but that if you curse them, you will come under judgment.

Britain has been under a curse since the time immediately before, during and after World War II when we refused entry to their ancient homeland for many of those Jews trying to flee Nazi Europe, while at the same time betraying our pledge to resettle them there through repeated appeasement of Arab demands.

Righteous Intervention

But a light has dawned at the Foreign Office, and we pray it will grow ever brighter. However, this is not just a political issue; it is intensely spiritual. And it is thanks in some measure to the efforts of Christians United for Israel UK (CUFI) that we have got this far.

Their current campaign, Operation Mordecai, is aimed at alerting Government to the grave threat posed to Israel and the West by Iran – supporter of Hezbollah, who have thousands of rockets on Israel’s northern border ready to fire at the Jewish state.

It was Mordecai who heard of a plot to destroy the Jews of ancient Persia and successfully persuaded his niece, Queen Esther, to intervene.

CUFI know full well the importance for Christians of standing with Israel. But there is a deafening silence from the Church in Britain as a whole. Israel Today journalist Ryan Jones told me: “It always amazes me how even many Christians still don’t grasp Israel’s importance when they can see how much impact policies and positions regarding the Jewish people have on the politics of the world’s greatest powers. How else can one explain the fact that tiny Israel and the Jews are consistently major election issues in the US, UK and other powerful nations?”

The position taken on Israel by nations, governments and even individuals or church denominations will inevitably have a bearing on their respective fortunes.

For the Gospel’s Sake

Clearly, today’s Jews are also under threat from hard-left politicians gaining momentum in our country. But this predicament is just the latest example of centuries of European persecution, as was brought home this week in a moving personal documentary on the Jews of Leeds by Simon Glass,⁴ some of whose Lithuanian ancestors were taken out and shot, along with the rest of their community, by invading Nazi soldiers.

CUFI and others have helped to unveil a modern plot against the Jews. But this isn’t just about preserving freedom, fairness or even lives. We need to clear the obstacles to the preaching of the Gospel – to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile (Rom 1:16).

When Rees Howells and his Bible College students fought the great battles of World War II on their knees in Wales, they were mindful that Hitler’s regime blocked the path to fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission.

The Marxist, atheist agenda of the rising tide of hard-left MPs is a demonic distraction from our chief calling. And we desperately need to lance this poisonous boil – not as an end in itself, but so that we can concentrate on focusing the attention of both Jew and Gentile on the destiny of their souls.

The Gospel is the absolute priority for our nation. As St Paul wrote: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16).

References

1 The Mail on Sunday, 24 February 2019.

2 Quoted by United with Israel, 25 February 2019.

3 Christians United for Israel UK, 25 February 2019.

4 A Very British History, February 25 2019, BBC4.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Plan A’ by Paul Parkhouse (ICEJ, 2017).

Subtitled ‘What modern Israel reveals about the original and unchanging purposes of God’, this short book aims to unpack the reasons behind “an event unparalleled in human history” when “one of the world’s most famous ancient nations suddenly reappeared on the map” (p6, 7). This was not just any nation, but God’s original covenant nation – which makes this event well worth exploring.

Parkhouse’s key concern is to unpack why God’s salvation plan for the world still needs Israel (this may be baffling to some, but for others it is equally puzzling that the common Christian understanding of God’s plans includes no present or future need for Israel).

The author sets out to refute those theologians such as Karl Barth who claim that “The first Israel, constituted on the basis of physical descent from Abraham, has fulfilled its mission now that the Saviour of the world has sprung from it and its Messiah has appeared…Its mission as a natural community has now run its course and cannot be continued or repeated” (p21, quoting Barth’s Church Dogmatics).

This common view is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of covenant, which Parkhouse explores. Jesus initiated the New Covenant in his own body and blood, but not in isolation from the other covenant promises which God had previously made.¹ It is also important to realise that the New Covenant was originally promised to the Jewish people (see Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36). God has to be faithful to all he has covenanted to do if his plan is to reach fulfilment.

‘Divine Delay’

Using the biblical Feasts as a roadmap to guide us through the details of God’s overarching salvation plan, Parkhouse points out that it was always God’s intention that there should be “a long pause between the new covenant being established in Israel and Israel being established in the new covenant” (p68). This ‘divine delay’ comes with a certain amount of irony. Its primary purpose is to allow the Gentiles to come in fully – but it has become one of the main reasons Gentile Christians use to demonstrate that God must have replaced Israel with the Church.

It was always God’s intention that there should be “a long pause between the new covenant being established in Israel and Israel being established in the new covenant.”

Parkhouse makes it very clear that there is no alternative to ‘Plan A’ and that Satan has never been able to derail it, nor will he be able to stop its future fulfilment. It is secure within the purposes of God and we can remain confident that God will see it through.

Invitation to Investigate

The re-emergence of Israel is a sign for our times, and one that must be investigated just as Moses needed to take a closer look at the bush that burned but was not consumed. When he did examine the phenomenon in more detail, Moses discovered that at the centre of the bush was God himself. We are invited to make a similar discovery concerning Israel today.

Overall, the author provides plenty of scriptures and uses them well to bolster his arguments. The book is well written and is of a size and style that makes it useful to give away.

‘Plan A: What Modern Israel Reveals about the Original and Unchanging Purposes of God’ (94pp, paperback) is available on Amazon for £4.99 or from ICEJ. Also on Amazon Kindle for £1.99.

Notes

1 Only one of these (the Mosaic covenant) was superseded by the New Covenant – for further reading on this see for example ‘By God, I will: The Biblical Covenants’ by David Pawson (Anchor, 2013).

How the left-wing turned the Jew from hero to villain

How can a self-proclaimed anti-racist and life-long supporter of the underdog find himself encouraging rampant anti-Semitism within his own Party, to the point that it is now splintering apart? Worse, how can he be found guilty of the same behaviour?

Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-Semitism problem is poorly understood by most, but it is key to explaining Labour’s current crisis. To understand it properly, we have to go back in time.¹

The Early Years

19^th Century socialism, trade unionism and the Methodist revivals combined to give the British Labour movement quite a different flavour to the revolutionary socialism of continental Europe. Christian Socialists such as Keir Hardie dominated the Labour Party’s leadership in its infancy at the turn of the 20^th Century, promoting the interests of the working class.

Indeed, it was Labour Party principles that undergirded the development of the British welfare state, with Labour campaigns for better working conditions and social reforms such as free education, free medical treatment and aid for society’s most vulnerable. Whatever the rights and wrongs of these policies from a biblical perspective, Labour was marked undeniably in its early years by biblically-inspired concerns: justice for the oppressed, compassion for the vulnerable, mercy and grace for those in need.

Labour was marked in its early years by biblically-inspired concerns: justice for the oppressed, compassion for the vulnerable, mercy and grace for those in need.

In this spirit, Labour gladly took up the Zionist baton from Lloyd George’s Liberals. The romantic idealism of the Zionist dream chimed strongly with classic Labour ideals: a down-trodden, persecuted people uniting in common cause of collaborative self-determination, pursuing lives of hard manual labour and bearing one another up through a populist culture of co-operation, shared ownership and mutual benefit, manifested most obviously in the kibbutz system.

Labour leader Arthur Henderson published his own version of the Balfour Declaration three months before the real thing was published under Lloyd George in 1917. Labour endorsed Zionism through the 1920s, 30s and 40s, opposing the Conservative Government’s White Paper limiting Jewish re-immigration and re-iterating strong support for Jewish settlers during and after the war years. Despite some back-tracking from Clement Attlee’s administration, this general support for Zionism continued well into the 1950s and was extended beyond this by philo-Semitic Labour PM Harold Wilson.

Promises of Freedom

It was during the 1960s, however, that the broader political context began to change dramatically, as a new age of rebellion and revolution swept in. As prosperity boomed, empires disintegrated and technology connected up the world, the old class-based politics was replaced by identity politics and a new pre-occupation with the global. Across the West there was a cultural shift as an entire generation rebelled against all forms of authority, choosing instead to experiment – politically, sexually, spiritually.

Under the banner of ‘liberation’ from the old order, a whole host of new movements and intellectual theories gathered, including but not limited to:

• The sexual liberation movement
  
• The anti-capitalist movement
  
• The anti-war movement
  
• The radical green movement
  
• Moral/cultural relativism (the idea that there are no absolute rights or wrongs)
  
• Post-structuralism (the idea that it is impossible to understand the world through universally applicable concepts or ‘grand meta-narratives’)
  
• Third World ‘liberation’ movements
  
• Post-colonial theories (the corresponding academic movement re-narrating the West’s history of colonialism as an unadulterated evil)
  

What unites all of these profoundly influential movements is their pursuit of freedom – by any means necessary - from the perceived ‘oppression’ of the old order of Western culture, grounded as it was in Judeo-Christian beliefs and principles.^2,3

This has manifested most notably through a revival of atheistic Marxism, which turns Judeo-Christian principles on their head and which has been mobilised systematically – and often intentionally - to undermine and overturn them. But Marxism, as we well know, carries within it an illiberal spirit of subjugation and control – not the ‘freedom’ it promises, but tyranny.

While the Cold War seemingly dealt a death blow to communism, the Marxist concept of life as a power struggle between oppressed and oppressor, resolvable only through radical system-change and the forced imposition of a new order, was being re-fashioned in the halls of the Western intelligentsia as a socio-cultural (cf. economic) theory. This eventually became the new guiding ideology for most Western educators, politicians and journalists – and it remains so today.

It was, therefore, the 1960s, 70s and 80s and the gradual rise to prominence of ‘cultural Marxism’ under the guise of social ‘progressivism’, that gave us victim culture and identity politics, the doctrine of multi-culturalism, political correctness and the policing of speech and thought, and the extension of coercive state power into every sphere of life, for ‘the greater good’ of enforced equality.

This era saw the re-organising of Western political and legal systems around a new morality marked by permissiveness, boundary-pushing and a lack of respect for the sanctity of human life. It also saw the entry of Jeremy Corbyn into left-wing activism and politics.

The Marxist concept of power struggle was re-fashioned as a socio-cultural theory which eventually became the new guiding ideology for Western educators, politicians and journalists.

Zionism Inverted

Under this new system, Zionism was inverted: it was no longer a socialist dream for the pursuit of national self-determination by an oppressed people fleeing Western persecution (and with every historical and legal right to return to their homeland), but an oppressive outpost of Western colonialism, with the real victims being the Palestinians. Followed through, this thinking has entrenched on the left the belief that the Israeli state is a racist, colonialist, fascist endeavour that has no right to exist.

White Western Jewish immigrants enjoying increasing economic and military success could not (even despite the Holocaust) possibly attain to the level of powerlessness and victimhood claimed for darker-skinned, Muslim Arabs. The former, as oppressive occupiers, could do no right. The latter, as oppressed victims, could do no wrong.

And this is the nub of the problem: because of its a priori ideology, left-wing progressives see the world and its problems through a particular grid of assumed power relationships that dictate who is right and who is wrong, who is righteous and who is evil, before the evidence is even considered. Reality is then contorted to fit this picture.

Appeal to Labour

That the British Labour Party bought into this utterly inverted worldview shouldn’t be entirely surprising. After all, cultural Marxism mobilises emotive, virtuous-sounding concepts that seemingly run close to traditional Labour values, such as the plight of the oppressed and justice for the most vulnerable.

However, concepts of oppression, vulnerability, freedom and equality here are twisted and inverted to serve a very different ideology than the one which motivated Keir Hardie – one which strips God, his boundaries and ethics, from the picture entirely.

And it is this secular humanist, ‘progressive’ version of social justice (really the French Revolution in new clothes), to which Jeremy Corbyn subscribes more ardently and consistently than most of his colleagues.

From Anti-Zionism to Anti-Semitism

Palestinian flags at the 2018 Labour Party Conference. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images.

And so we arrive at today’s situation, where the current Labour leader’s antics place fourth on the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s ‘Top Ten Global Anti-Semitic Incidents’ of 2018. Corbyn makes common cause with Islamist terrorists who overtly seek Jewish genocide while refusing to meet with Israelis, defends and celebrates terror attacks on Israeli Jews and allows anti-Semitic chants to be sung at the Labour Party Conference.

He fails to defend Jewish MPs in his own party as they are singled out for torrents of verbal abuse and death threats, and targeted internally for unseating. He also refuses to recognise that the Party even has an anti-Semitism problem (let alone apologise for it), while his supporters dismiss the allegations as a vicious smear.

Rife within Momentum are Holocaust denials and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that seem more at home on the far-right (indeed, the far-left is blind to them for this very reason). References to ‘Zio-Nazis’ or to ‘apartheid’ Israel degenerate quickly into age-old anti-Semitic tropes, from blood-sucking, baby-killing Jews to Jews as evil masterminds manipulating the world. Israel is singled out uniquely and disproportionately for distorted, ideologically-motivated criticism.

Fuller accounts of Labour’s anti-Semitism problem can be found easily elsewhere. Suffice to say that, in the span of a generation, the Labour Party has completely inverted its position on Israel, and that this has triggered a drastic rise in anti-Semitic attitudes. The inevitability of this slide into anti-Semitism can be argued from both a biblical/spiritual and a philosophical perspective (though many would undoubtedly disagree).

Left-wing progressives see the world and its problems through a particular grid of power relationships that dictate who is righteous and who is evil before the evidence is even considered.

Conclusions

With the whole of the 20^th Century in view, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that Jeremy Corbyn is not a freak accident, but an extreme, outlying example of a general trend: the shift of British politics towards the extreme secular left, in rebellion against our former commitment to biblical ethics and ideals. In the words of Melanie Phillips, “Corbyn is not the cause of left-wing Jew hate – he’s the result”.⁴

The roots of this issue lie in our cutting ourselves loose from our spiritual and ethical moorings in the Judeo-Christian scriptures, a move being described by some as cultural suicide. It is no coincidence that this has brought with it a volte-face regarding Israel and, from there, the Jewish people.

From a biblical perspective, the situation is quite simple. An embrace of God’s word produces not only a love of God’s ethics, but also a respect for all that he has marked as his own – whether land or people. Rejection of his word induces a hatred of all who are connected to it - all who bear his name.

This hatred, in turn, results in a cursing (Gen 12:3) which the Labour Party – despite its honourable beginnings – may even now be experiencing, and from which it may never recover.

Notes

1 What follows is a necessarily potted history. For a lengthier comment on this whole topic, I recommend ‘The Left’s Jewish Problem’ by Dave Rich (2016, Biteback Publishing). Also 'It backed Israel before Balfour: Corbyn stance is stark shift from early Labour' by Robert Philpot for The Times of Israel, 17 April 2018.

2 These movements gained a lot of momentum by piggy-backing on worthier causes, such as the civil rights movement in the USA and the anti-apartheid movement for South Africa (though both of these also had their more violent, revolutionary elements).

3 Read more about this in Melanie Phillips’ book ‘The World Turned Upside-Down’. That these movements cohere around a reaction against the Judeo-Christian West means they find common cause with a variety of other movements with the same agenda (e.g. radical Islam).

4 Jeremy Corbyn is not the cause of left-wing Jew hate, he’s the result. Melanie Phillips, 21 October 2018.

Exploited idealism and deliberate deception.

Editorial introduction: In the first of two articles, David Longworth looks back over a year of the ‘March of Return’ at the Gaza border.

According to Enas Fares Ghannam,¹ it all started in 2011. A Facebook post expressed the dream of a 33-year-old man in Gaza named Ahmed Abu Ratima. Gazing at a tree on the other side of the barbed fence that separates the Strip from Israel, Abu Ratima had thought, “Why can’t I go and sit under that tree just for a while, like a free bird?” The post asked (rather impractically) what could happen if 200,000 Palestinians headed peacefully to cross the border.

As the Arab Spring swept the region, Abu Ratima and his friends issued a statement entitled ‘The Palestinian Refugees Revolution’, calling all Palestinian refugees to gather peacefully at the nearest point by the Israeli border to call for their ‘rights’. At the time, they were considered crazy. But in 2018, Abu Ratima and his friends found encouragement.

In early 2018, Gazan journalist Muthana al-Najjar, whose family originally hailed from Salama (near Jaffa), pitched a tent near the border. He stayed for over a month, while others began planting olive tree seedlings in the area. But these idealised aspirations were soon taken over by the Hamas authorities.

Public preparations for a mass protest started to appear in February. On the 6^th, Hamas official Isma'il Radwan said that the activity would begin on 30 March and would reach its peak on 15 May, ‘Nakhba Day’.² He stressed that this activity "should take place without clashes [with Israel] in order to protect the young people...The plan of action focused on organizing a march of hundreds of thousands towards the border in order to pressure the occupation."³

Idealism Exploited

On 22 February 2018, the ominous image on the right was posted on Facebook:⁴

The UN symbol and the ‘194’ refer to UN Resolution 194 (of December 1948), which resolved that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date” (my emphasis), the so-called ‘Right of Return’. When the resolution was passed it was envisaging those who had just become refugees, not the millions of later generations.

The key evokes memories of those who left having locked their homes and retained their keys: another powerful symbol of ‘Right to Return’. However, notice that the key is held in a red clenched fist, a not-so-subtle suggestion of aggression.

Note also that the area between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean is entirely covered by the colours of the Palestinian flag. This image therefore denies not only the territories agreed under the Oslo Accords, but also UN Resolution 181, of 29 November 1947, which agreed the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states.

By 28 February 2018 the Great Return March Facebook page featured a much clearer emphasis on violence, as the left-hand picture illustrates (the text reads, ‘We will strike the Guard Fence’, i.e. the international border security fence).⁵ 

Incitement from the Beginning

At the March’s official start on Friday 30 March, an inflammatory Islamic sermon was preached and broadcast on Hamas’s al-Aqsa TV:

We are very near our blessed land, which is being trampled by those descendants of apes and pigs. We are here to embrace the blessed land with our hearts and our eyes, which is being trampled by those accursed descendants of apes and pigs, the remnants of the brutal, savage, and barbaric colonialism, which continues to drain our resources…⁶

So much for the idealist peaceful origins! By 6 April, three Palestinians penetrated the border and planted two improvised explosive devices.⁷

Worse rhetoric was to follow. Two weeks later, at the March venue, Gaza scholar Khaled Hany Morshid, said:

Khaled Morshid, speaking at the March venue. Video initially released on social media, 14 April 2018. Image from MEMRI, used with permission.…when the Jews of the Qurayza tribe violated their treaty with the Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet Muhammad exterminated them…The best way to describe the record of the Prophet's treatment of the Jews is one of violence and force…This is what all the Muslims should know. The relation between us and them is one of eternal enmity. The Jews will never stop this enmity unless the sword of Jihad for the sake of Allah is brandished, and they are made an example of, as was done by the Prophet Muhammad…I call upon every Muslim: Do not stand idly by and let those Jews spread corruption upon the land. Carry out glorious deeds against them!⁸

Social media posts called Palestinians to clash with Israelis after breaching the fence and entering their communities. 'Emad 'Aql, of Gaza, tweeted, "Sderot is only 700 meters east of [the Palestinian town of] Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. The headquarters of the Israeli army is there, and houses about 800 pigs. It can be reached in two minutes on motorcycles or in five-eight minutes at a brisk run…Murder, slaughter, burn and never show them any mercy."⁹

The left-hand image was posted with the following text: "Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, east of Rafah, is only 300 meters from the border. It has turkey pens, a football field and a pool, it houses only 15 families. Pounce on them with knives."¹⁰

Deliberate Deception

By May, things were literally hotting up. Thousands of tyres were burned to create smokescreens for those attacking the fence, while mirrors were used to blind IDF soldiers. Meanwhile, Western media were decrying the injuries caused to ‘peaceful protestors’ by Israel’s defensive actions.

On 13 May, the day before the originally-planned climax of the March, Mahmoud Al-Zahhar a co-founder and senior member of Hamas, was interviewed on al-Jazeera TV, Qatar. Questioned about Hamas adopting Fatah’s ‘peaceful resistance’ policy, he replied,

This is a clear terminological deception…This is not peaceful resistance…when we talk about 'peaceful resistance’, we are deceiving the public. This is a peaceful resistance bolstered by a military force and by security agencies, and enjoying tremendous popular support…This deception does not fool the Palestinian public.¹¹

On 16 May, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, was interviewed for the same channel, saying,

I must emphasize a great strategic goal accomplished on May 14. Our people in Gaza recorded, for the whole world to see, their testimony over the transfer of the United States embassy to Jerusalem and the declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of the occupation entity. On behalf of the Arab Palestinian people and all the Arab and Islamic peoples, our people in Gaza have rejected that decision and that move, by this great activity and by recording its testimony for the sake of history, and by signing this testimony with the blood of the martyrs – our people sacrificed sixty martyrs on May 14, as well as three thousand wounded…Many of them took off their military uniforms and put their weapons aside…¹²

Here we can clearly see the shameless use of ‘martyrdom’ as a motivating factor when inciting aggression against Israel. Sinwar openly admits to satisfaction in the gruesome outcome. Moreover, he also admits that many protestors weren’t ordinary civilians!

The involvement of militants was confirmed in more detail in a broadcast on Baladna TV, Gaza, on the same day, by a member of the Palestinian National Council:

50 of the martyrs were from Hamas, and the other 12 were regular people…What did Hamas gain? 50 martyrs...I am giving you an official figure. 50 of the martyrs in the recent battle were from Hamas. Before that, at least 50% of the martyrs were from Hamas.¹³

Other Tactics

In addition to the above, in the last year tactics have included hand grenades, stones and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) being hurled across the border. Snipers have been in action. Hundreds of rockets and mortars have been deployed.

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, by mid-October almost 3,300 acres of forest and 4,000 acres of farmland had been destroyed by incendiaries carried by kites and balloons from Gaza.¹⁴ In the forest nature reserves, thousands of animals perished and conservation work was set back by decades. Earlier, as the wheat harvest was imminent, the loss of crops by farmers was estimated at £1.4 million. On one kibbutz alone, some 320 acres of irrigation equipment was also destroyed. In addition, honey farms, avocado and jojoba orchards were devastated.¹⁵

Sometimes explosives were carried similarly, such as those attached to gaily-decorated helium balloons which landed close to a kindergarten in late December.

Another tactic has been deception by false news reports and the posting of staged video clips on social media. Of one such incident on 4 May, IDF video footage shows a group of Palestinians rushing away a seemingly-injured man on a stretcher; then, after smoke and bushes provide some screening, the man clearly rolls off the stretcher, gets up and walks away!¹⁶ Also in May, the death by tear gas of 8-month-old baby Layla Ghandour was widely reported. By 26 June it emerged that the father is a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade who admitted that his daughter died from a prior condition and that he had been paid $8,000 by Hamas to lie.

Sadly, the damage of these ‘news’ items is done by their high initial impact, with later revisions mattering little.

Conclusions

Whatever the original intentions of the March of Return, it has clearly turned into an ugly, deceitful battle, on the ground and in the media. Next week we will ask where things are now, in 2019, and put the Palestinian ‘cause’ in greater context.

Meanwhile, watchfulness, discernment and prayer remain essential weapons for Christians in the battle for truth.

Part 1 of 2. 

References

1 Ghannam, EF. Despite Israel’s threats of violence, Gaza protesters have peaceful dream. Mondweiss, 29 March 2018.

2 ‘Nakba’ means ‘catastrophe’, originally used by Arabs to refer to the 1920 partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. Informally used by groups of Palestinian Arabs to refer to their displacement during the establishment of Israel by 14 May 1948. Later adopted by the PLO, Nakba Day was inaugurated by Yasser Arafat in 1998.

3 Palinfo.com, 6 February 2018. Obtained from MEMRI.

4 Picture obtained from the official GRM Facebook page by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. Originally posted as the GRM Facebook page profile picture on 22 February 2018 (the profile picture has since been modified slightly, but the original image can also be seen in other photos on social media, such as this one).

5 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue preparing a mass march to the Israeli border ('the great return march'), planned for Land Day, March 30, 2018. Meir Amit, 8 March 2018. Picture obtained from the official GRM Facebook page, February 28, 2018.

6 Gaza Friday Sermon: Our Blessed Land Is Being Trampled by the Accursed Descendants of Apes and Pigs - Scenes from Gaza "Return March". Sermon transcript, MEMRI, Clip no. 6500, 30 March 2018.

7 Gross, JA. IDF: Palestinians who breached fence planted explosives. Times of Israel, 8 April 2018.

8 Gaza Scholar Khaled Hany Morshid Calls to Brandish the Sword of Jihad, Fight the Jews - Scenes from Gaza "Return March". MEMRI, Clip no. 6537, 14 April 2018.

9 Twitter.com/imad_aql, May 13, 2018, reported via MEMRI.

10 Picture obtained from Facebook, 14 May 2018. Translation by MEMRI.

11 Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar on Gaza Protests: This Is Not Peaceful Resistance, It Is Supported by Our Weapons. MEMRI, Clip No. 6573, 13 May 2018.

12 Hamas Leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar: Our People Took Off Their Military Uniforms and Joined the Marches… MEMRI, Clip No. 6576, 16 May 2018.

13 Hamas Political Bureau Member Salah Al-Bardawil: 50 of the Martyrs Killed in Gaza were from Hamas, 12 Regular People. MEMRI transcript, Clip No. 6575, 16 May 2018.

14 Thousands of acres of forest land have been destroyed in 6 months of Gaza arson balloons. JTA, 10 October 2018.

15 Zikri, AB. We Flew a Drone Over the Fires Raging Around Gaza. This Is What We Saw. Haaretz, 26 June 2018.

16 Zitun, Y. WATCH: Hamas fakes injuries, uses children in Gaza border protests. Ynet News, 5 May 2018.

Arab family links up with Jews to spread gospel in the region

When the Israeli town of Nazareth is mentioned, most people immediately think of Jesus. It’s where he came from.

But when Nathanael, one of Christ’s first disciples, heard that the Messiah was from Nazareth, he responded rather sceptically with the question: “Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46).

The same question is sometimes asked today, as the Galilean town is now an entirely Arab community with very few Christian believers.

Discovering Forgiveness

Step in the Sakhnini family. Although part of the town’s minority Christian-Arab population, there was a time when being ‘Christian’ merely described their culture – it just meant that, unlike most of the Arab world, they were not Muslims.

That is until 2007 when Bishara, a barber and head of the family, was betrayed by a close friend – and soon afterwards received news that his sister-in-law was dying of cancer, with only a month to live. In the midst of it all, his wife Sarah was found to be expecting their fourth child.

A pastor from Haifa then befriended Bishara and began to share what the Bible teaches, especially about forgiveness. As a result, Bishara forgave his friend and received true forgiveness for his own sins.

Not only that, but his whole family, including his three pre-teen sons, agreed to fast for three days as they prayed for their stricken relative, who subsequently walked out of hospital completely healed! And Sarah had a healthy baby soon afterwards despite an initial scare.

When Nathanael heard that the Messiah was from Nazareth, he responded rather sceptically: “Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46).

One New Man

Bishara and Sarah Sakhnini and their four sons pose for a selfie on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem. Picture courtesy of maozisrael.org.

Having witnessed such miracles, including the power of fasting and forgiveness, the family’s transformation sent shockwaves through the community. But they were scorned by their Arab neighbours, just as Jesus had been at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders.

And their world understanding was further rocked when some Jewish believers came to visit. The family hadn’t even realised Jesus was Jewish, let alone that an increasing number of Jews believe in him. Now they worship together with their Jewish brothers on a regular basis.

“Seeing us sing and dance together as we worship the same God,” writes Messianic musician Shani Ferguson in Maoz Israel’s January report, “was mesmerizing to outsiders and always elicited questions.”

She adds that “there is no greater testimony to unbelieving Jews that Yeshua [Jesus in Hebrew] has power over all than when Arabs embrace them as the people of their Saviour.”

It’s a little known fact that Arabs and Jews are meeting together at an increasing number of fellowships all over Israel, demonstrating the truth of the Gospel that true peace and reconciliation can only be found through what Jesus has done on the Cross.

The Apostle Paul wrote: “For he himself [Christ] is our peace, who has made the two groups [Jew and Gentile] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…” (Eph 2:14).

Arabs and Jews are meeting together at an increasing number of fellowships all over Israel, demonstrating the Gospel’s power of true peace and reconciliation.

Worship Initiative

The Sakhnini brothers at home in their music room. Picture courtesy of maozisrael.org.The Sakhnini brothers – Adeeb, Eliya and Yazid – are particularly skilled musicians and are now engaged on a project to reach the Arab world with a blend of Arab and Jewish sounds as part of the Israel Worship Initiative.

They are currently working on a unique album – including some original and some old Arab hymns – which will cost about $20,000 to complete.

• If you wish to help reach the Middle East with Arabic gospel songs, contact www.maozisrael.org or their UK branch at www.maozisrael.uk/.
  
• For Shani Ferguson’s full story on the Sakhninis, click here.
  

Maoz Israel Ministries is a non-profit organisation founded by Ari and Shira Sorko-Ram and dedicated to reaching Israel with the good news of Jesus as well as providing humanitarian and other aid. Ari is a former film actor who has also played professional rugby and football.

• For more information on Arab-Jewish reconciliation, read my book Peace in Jerusalem (available from olivepresspublisher.com as well as from Amazon and Eden Books) or access the excellent Highway19 project.