As we remember Rees Howells, we toast the courage of Welsh Christians

Two reviews ahead of Advent, including a Hebraic offering that might just change your Christmas.

Burqa-clad woman tells of her new-found freedom

Amidst all the unprecedented shaking of our troubled world, especially in the wake of the terrorist attacks on churches in Sri Lanka, it was wonderful to be reminded over Easter of the greatest truth of all – that Jesus is risen! Not only that, but he is also coming back in glory to judge the living and the dead.

We were attending a joyful Passover celebration with friends in a community hall near Sheffield when this truth was driven home afresh. It was explained that in Jewish tradition, when a guest who had left the table for some reason wished to indicate that he was coming back to finish off his meal, he would fold the napkin beside his plate.

In the same way, when the stone was rolled away on that first Easter morning, the burial cloth that had covered Jesus’ head (also translated ‘napkin’) was folded up by itself, separate from the rest of the grave-clothes (John 20:7), which was perhaps another way of saying: “I am coming back!”

Expressions of Freedom

The emphasis of the entire Passover feast was one of freedom, powerfully re-telling the message of how the Jews were freed from their slavery in Egypt through carrying out God’s instructions in daubing the blood of a sacrificial lamb on the doorposts of their houses.

All the guests had done the same – figuratively speaking – by marking the blood of Jesus, the ultimate Passover Lamb, on their hearts. The freedom from being enslaved by worldly passions felt by all of us was palpable, and was also expressed exuberantly through music and dancing.

Amidst the unprecedented shaking of our troubled world, it is wonderful to be reminded of the greatest truth of all: that Jesus is risen – and is coming back in glory!

Fear and Hatred

This is a freedom open to all who embrace what Christ has done for us on the Cross – including ‘A’ (name withheld for her protection) who caused quite a stir when she addressed an Israeli congregation in a black burqa with just a small opening for her eyes.

You could have heard a pin drop as she began to tell her story: “I was born and raised in a Muslim country. The word Yehudi [Jew] was instilled in me as a bad word, a cuss word. The Yehudi should not exist…they should be killed. I never thought to question why.¹

“I was with my father on one occasion as a crowd gathered and we were pushed to the front. I saw a woman tied up, sitting on a box. A man pulled out a long sword and beheaded the woman. My legs were shaking, my heart beating fast, and my father said, ‘If you don’t listen to our teaching, this will happen to you one day.’

“I was a broken person. In my prayer time I lifted up my hands and cried out to Allah for help. ‘Please help my father stop beating my mother. Please help my father stop beating me.’ But no help came.

“Eventually our family went to America, and when my grandmother died of a heart attack, I was devastated. I lost my best friend. I was hurting so much only crying helped. A woman called Paula asked me if I was OK, and I started to cry. She put her arms around me and gave me a hug. Then she said, ‘Would you like to go to church with me?’

Love and Acceptance

“When I walked into this church I experienced love and acceptance from these people like I never had before. For the first time in my life I heard a message from the Bible. It was about Yeshua [Jesus], how he read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, give sight to the blind, and to proclaim liberty to the captive.’

“It was the first time I heard words of freedom and healing. I was blinded with so much hatred in my heart and I was desperate to be freed. I knew the decision to leave Islam was a big one. But I was desperate to know a living God.

There is freedom available to all who embrace what Christ has done for us on the Cross.

“The day I gave my life to becoming a follower of Jesus I said, ‘God, forgive me. I did not know I hated your people.’” And taking off her burqa, she announced to the congregation: “Now I don’t need this anymore.”

She explained: “I love the Jewish people because it is their God and their Messiah I’m following and he told me to love them. This is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the nation of Israel is God’s heartbeat.

“I had never heard about the Holocaust, and now I meet with Holocaust survivors. I hear their stories and I share mine with them, saying: ‘Your Messiah changed my heart; he rescued me and brought joy in my life again. I’m a blessed woman.’”

The Golden Gate

The sealed Golden Gate awaiting the triumphant return of the Messiah. Photo: Charles GardnerAnother reminder of the Messiah’s second coming is the Golden Gate, regarded as particularly sacred as it is said to be close to the site of the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple, where the High Priest would sprinkle the blood of bulls and goats on the ‘Mercy Seat’ to atone for the sins of the people.²

The gate was sealed shut in 1541 by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to prevent the much-anticipated entry through this portal of the Jewish Messiah. And to make doubly sure it could never be fulfilled, the Turkish occupiers established a Muslim cemetery in front of the gate, knowing that a Jewish priest would not be able to pass through it.

Jesus is thought to have passed through this gate on Palm Sunday, when he came down from the Mount of Olives and entered the Temple (Luke 19:28-48). Once in the city, he said he would not be seen again until Jerusalem recognises him as Messiah (Matt 23:37-39).

According to Zechariah, his feet will one day touch the Mount of Olives, after which he will liberate the city from her slavery to sin and strife and bring lasting peace to both Arabs and Jews.

References

1 News & Views, newsletter of CMJ Israel. Testimony also available on YouTube courtesy of One for Israel.

2 Israel Today, April 2019.

Bible-believers chased out of Britain for not keeping to the script

It is perhaps ironic that, on the approach to the 400^th anniversary of the Mayflower’s sailing in 1620,¹ the British nation is plunged into the same sort of fractious, volatile scenario that led to that great exodus of the faithful.

When, following the Elizabethan era, James I ascended the throne in 1603, he introduced a policy enforcing religious conformity which almost blew up in his face.

First, there was the unsuccessful ‘gunpowder plot’ through which Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators registered Catholic opposition to the new king with their attempt to reduce Parliament to rubble.

Then the Puritans and Separatists came in for the monarch’s ire. At a time of significant political and religious tension, he tried to steady the ship by ensuring that all his people followed the same pseudo-Protestant script.

Harrying Out the Faithful

As with the Catholics, he also saw the Puritans as potential enemies, warning that he would “harry them out of the land”.

And indeed his dire threat duly succeeded in driving out the so-called ‘Pilgrim Fathers’, who had inaugurated the Separatist Church on the borders of Yorkshire and north Nottinghamshire.

Like other Puritans, they were devout Christians who believed the Church needed purifying from ritualistic dross. But whereas the Puritans sought change from within, the Pilgrim Fathers were convinced such endeavour was a lost cause and that they needed to “come out from among them” (Isa 52:11).

But some were fined, others were imprisoned and the pressure of persecution eventually led, in 1608, to their escape to a more tolerant Holland.

In the 17^th Century, devout Christians were imprisoned, persecuted and driven out of the country.

James I, whose policy of religious conformity made life difficult for Puritans like the Pilgrim Fathers.Seeking Freedom

It was a further dozen years before they sailed for the New World in the Mayflower, the king having changed his mind and given them permission to establish a colony there.

And so these Christians laid the foundations of what was to become the greatest nation on earth, built firmly on the principles of the Bible that had been challenged back in England.

These courageous pioneers were thus used to loose us from the chains of slavery to religious conformity which saw communities forced to attend the state-recognised Church where ritual and dead orthodoxy reigned, and where the Bible was chained to the pulpit.

Those who sought to experience the vitality of New Testament Christianity with its emphasis on freedom of the Spirit and a personal relationship with God were deemed outcasts.

Back to the ‘Dark Ages’?

It seems we have come full circle. Faced with the ever-present threat of terrorism, along with aggressive lobbying of secular humanists, we are now urged to follow the politically correct script - or else.

The Bible has been jettisoned in favour of what is effectively cultural Marxism, commanding what is and is not permissible to say and do.

Politicians condemn Brunei for proposing draconian new laws on corporal and capital punishment, seen as a return to the ‘Dark Ages’. But we are hardly squeaky clean ourselves in the way we have driven a coach and horses through the Ten Commandments, seriously undermined marriage (which is designed to create safe boundaries for the protection of family life and society in general) and by proposing state-sponsored child abuse through the indoctrination of children as young as four with the idea that they can choose their gender.

I suppose, in a way, this is the natural outcome of the state-sanctioned massacre of nine million unborn babies over the past 50 years.

Today, we are all urged to follow the politically correct script – or else.

The Blame Game

When will we acknowledge our own guilt? When will we stop pointing a finger at other people’s sins and take the ‘plank’ out of our own eye?

Under the proposed ‘no-fault’ divorce law, adultery will no longer be regarded as a sin – not even legally. It is supremely ironic that in a culture in which we are encouraged to blame everyone else for our troubles at a cost of millions, we are about to be exonerated in a key area of life on which almost everything else depends – that is, marriage and the family.

It means that no-one will officially be to blame for break-ups which will have caused untold heartbreak in countless homes. If we are no longer to be held responsible for solemn vows we have made in front of witnesses, what hope do we have of carrying out honest business in the wider world, or of being trusted by others?

What sort of spineless adults will emerge from witnessing their parents split at the drop of a hat? Throwing your toys out of the pram is surely an indulgence reserved for babies who are subsequently disciplined to consider the wider effects of their tantrums.

Shirking Responsibility

New housing estates cannot be built fast enough to keep up with the ever-increasing number of people who no longer know how to live with one another. It’s surely time we encouraged people to take responsibility for their actions.

Instead of honouring role models of commitment to family life, we fawn over celebrities and sportsmen who become the heroes we worship even though, as in some recent high-profile cases, they have set a shocking example of leadership in the home.

On the other hand, rugby stars soon get knocked off their pedestals when they express Christian beliefs on the subject, as did multiple Wimbledon champion Margaret Court.

It’s surely time we encouraged people to take responsibility for their actions rather than resorting to the default position of blaming someone else.

The Way of Escape

The fact is, there is always someone to blame – not just for break-ups, but for the mess we get ourselves in every day, including the Brexit botch-up. That is why Jesus came – to set us free from the burden of brokenness, guilt and regret, and give us new hope, especially with broken relationships.

As we celebrate Easter, we remember that Jesus became our Passover Lamb who frees us from sin through his blood shed on the Cross, prefigured in Egypt 1,500 years earlier by the freedom from slavery of the Jews who marked their doorposts with the blood of a sacrificial lamb.

What Jesus has done for us can be likened to the action of a First World War chaplain who, when asked for prayer by an officer who was about to embark on a dangerous mission into ‘no man’s land’, said he would do more than that – he would go with him. And when a shell exploded near the two men, the chaplain threw himself on the officer and died in his place.²

Offer of Peace

Do not follow the politically correct script. When ancient Israel disobeyed the Lord’s commands, the Prophet Isaiah warned them that “there is no peace for the wicked” (Isa 48:22). But there is peace - and forgiveness, and life - with Jesus!

References

1 Find out more on the Mayflower 400 website.

2 CWR’s Every Day with Jesus, 15 April 2019.

Testimony: The harvest is ripe in our schools. Following Charles Gardner’s report last week on the positive response of schoolchildren in Doncaster to the Easter story and the Gospel message, we copy below a testimony from David and Jean Foster at the Manor Park Christian Centre in London, celebrating a similar openness in schools in Newham.

From David and Jean Foster

On the same note as Charles Gardner’s article, we have been astounded at the openness of the primary schools here in Newham to hearing about Christianity and the Gospel. Back in December, we had a primary school contact us (Manor Park Christian Centre) about sending 180 children before Christmas in order to share with the children the story about why Christians celebrate Christmas.

At the end of each two-hour session (the children were split into two groups of 90), we presented every classroom a copy of ‘The Christmas Story’ by J. John and gave every teacher a copy of the Gospel tract ‘Why Christmas’. During both of the sessions, I clearly explained the Gospel to the children and then prayed for them.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, we had 300 children come from three different primary schools over a two-day period to do ‘The Easter Experience’, promoted by the Christian organisation Faith in Schools. We offered six workshops for the children, all of which told the reason that Christians celebrate Easter. In one workshop, for instance, the children made an Easter garden while two of our ladies told them about the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus. We gave all the classes a copy of ‘The Easter Story’ by J. John and every teacher and many of the children took away the Gospel tract ‘Why Easter’. At the end of each of the four two-hour sessions (75 children in each), I clearly explained the Gospel to the children and then prayed for them.

98% of the children coming have never been inside a church building. The majority of the children come from families of Muslim backgrounds. I had one Muslim trainee teacher come up to me after I had prayed for the children and beg to also have a copy of ‘The Easter Story’ by J. John that I had given to every class.

Last week I had another primary school ‘begging’ me to allow them to bring their children to hear the stories about Jesus. So on 8-9 May we will be having another 90 children coming to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is quite obvious that the Lord, in his timing, is at work across the UK amongst the children and planting a hunger within their teachers to find out more about Christianity and this Jesus whom we worship.

God bless,

David

Please keep David, Jean and these school visits in your prayers.

Primary pupils awestruck by popular Easter project

It was an awesome privilege once again this Easter to find myself sharing the Gospel message with many hundreds of primary schoolchildren here in Doncaster.

With regard to the commandments of God which formed the bedrock of our national life today as well as that of Israel long ago, we are told: “Teach them to your children and to their children after them” (Deut 4:9).

As for keeping the Passover (fulfilled at Easter), we are similarly urged to pass on the message to the next generation: “In days to come when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery’” (Ex 13:14).

The Easter Journey

Though much of what we share is unfamiliar to this new generation, many schools warmly welcome our so-called ‘Easter Journey’ project. This involves a group of volunteers virtually taking over school premises for a morning, during which the children are invited to explore the meaning of what Christians believe.

With the aid of scenery, props, costumes and key roles being acted out, pupils are imaginatively transported to Jerusalem as they travel from Palm Sunday to the Passover meal known as the Last Supper, followed by the Garden of Gethsemane and the Good Friday crucifixion, before finally witnessing the wonder of the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

With regard to the commandments of God, we are told: “Teach them to your children and to their children after them”.

In setting the scene for the Upper Room meal, it’s been a sheer delight to explain the significance of the occasion to so many children over the past ten days. Most of them are polite and well behaved – and some of the schools are in quite tough areas.

Volunteers work hard to get the right table setting for the Last Supper for each of up to nine groups of children. Photo: Charles GardnerJudging by the wide-eyed attention of these seven to eleven-year-old pupils, the words and pictures conveyed will no doubt have found much good soil for seeds of faith to germinate.

The Fields are Ripe!

This is the tenth year of the project, for which schools are queuing up; unfortunately, we have to turn down invitations for lack of resources. The feedback from teachers accompanying the groups on the journey is invariably upbeat, speaking of the sense of wonder being captured.

Indeed, the fields are ripe for harvest, yet many Christians are under the mistaken impression that schools are closed to the Gospel. We know there are aggressive atheists working towards that end, but the national curriculum still encourages Christian visitors to share what they believe in the classroom.

Linda Gardner, who became a Christian herself through a Gideon Bible received in school, has been engaging Doncaster’s primary pupils with the Gospel message for the past 24 years, through assemblies and RE lessons as well as special projects such as Christmas and Easter Journeys.

Employed by a trust¹ supported by churches, her diary is bulging with appointments at schools straddling a wide geographical area. About half the borough’s 100 primary schools have been reached on a regular basis over the years, while Linda’s colleague Dan Budhi is making an impact in the secondary schools.

Many Christians are under the mistaken impression that schools are closed to the Gospel, but the fields are ripe for harvest.

The message – particularly of the Easter Journey – is of a loving God who has come to rescue us from slavery to sin and degradation, and whose sacrificial blood cleanses and sets us free. It’s a message that brought freedom to an ancient people who had been slaves for 430 years, and that brought freedom to us in Britain as we turned from paganism to the living God and became world leaders.

Linda Gardner, heading up Christian work in Doncaster’s primary schools. Photo: Charles GardnerMost importantly, in the schools, it’s a message that can change lives. And we pray they will never forget it. This is, after all, why we are urged to celebrate the major festivals – for the crucial lesson they teach us to remember about the path to freedom.

Remembering Hope

Young people have never been so helpless, fatherless and without love, care and discipline. My prayer is that – should darkness, despair or loneliness threaten to lead them astray – these children will remember the lesson of the rescuing servant King who died because he loves each and every one of them; and how, like the Red Sea opening up to let the Israelites cross to freedom, he was raised from the dead to be with us forever.

I pray also that, if ever any of them should be caught up in a web of violence, drugs or sexual abuse, they will recall the hope we shared with them. For no-one is beyond the reach, and help, of Jesus, as the powerful testimony of Bishop Ron Archer forcefully brings home.

As a distraught ten-year-old, he held a gun to his head wanting to end his short life. But something stopped him, and God soon began speaking to him through the scriptures.

This is a message that can change lives – and we pray that the children will never forget it.

From Pain to Power

Addressing an international conference of the Bible-distributing Gideon movement, the bishop shared how – as a so-called ‘trick baby’ born to a prostitute and one of her clients – he had come to that dark moment.

His mum became pregnant at 16. It wasn’t supposed to happen and the pimps to whom she was indebted did everything they could to kill the unborn child with drugs, alcohol and repeated kicking and stabbing.

But the baby refused to die and was born two months prematurely with neither pancreas nor bladder, unable to function properly and later developing a severe stutter as he grew up being physically abused.

“That baby was me. Life was so horrific with so much vitriol and pain that by the age of ten I had had enough and wanted to die,” Ron recalled.

Then the miracle happened. “There was a teacher with a Gideon Bible who came to my school and saw dysfunctional kids like me as her mission field. She would read me stories of dysfunctional characters whom God used – like Moses, who was also a stutterer. She said, ‘Ronaldo, God will turn your pain into power.’

“And I began to understand there was hope for me. I began to memorise the Bible, I stopped stuttering, stopped wetting my bed…and eventually became a pastor until everyone in my family got saved.”

He said everything changes “when a child begins to understand the love of God and the power of his Word,” adding: “I may have been a ‘trick baby’, but the trick was on the devil because of you [Gideons] and the power of the Word of God.”

For Ron’s full testimony, click here.

References

1 Doncaster Schools Worker Trust, in association with Scripture Union.

Do the biblical accounts of the Passion and the Resurrection agree?

Simon Pease reviews ‘Three Days and Three Nights that Changed the World’ by David Serle and Peter Sammons (2018, Christian Publications International).

Three Days and Three Nights that Changed the World (abbreviated here to ‘Three Days and Three Nights’) is a robust defence of the reliability of the Gospel accounts and their agreement concerning the timing of Jesus’ crucifixion, contrasted with Christianity’s traditional ‘Good Friday’ narrative. Jesus stated that he would be buried for “three days and three nights” which, counting back from his resurrection appearance early Sunday morning, either places his crucifixion on Thursday or possibly Wednesday.

The authors are convinced of the case for Thursday and make a strong argument, presenting compelling evidence against Wednesday on various grounds. For example, if Wednesday was the day, Jesus’ six-mile journey from Jericho to Bethany would have taken place on the Sabbath, violating its regulations. Whilst a Thursday crucifixion does not produce a literal 72-hour period, biblical examples are provided to show how a partial day counted as a day in Jewish thought.

Contradictory Accounts?

John’s Gospel appears to contradict the synoptic accounts; he presents Jesus’ crucifixion as taking place before the Jewish religious establishment celebrated Passover, whilst Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover meal the previous day. However, extensive research uncovers a fascinating reason for this.

The Judean religious leaders adjusted their calendar following the Babylonian exile, whilst other groups such as the Galileans, Zealots, Essenes and Samaritans retained the one established by Moses. This cultural insight highlights some of the rivalries and tensions described in the New Testament.

Here is a robust defence of the reliability of the Gospel accounts and their agreement concerning the timing of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Perhaps most importantly regarding the Thursday crucifixion is how it fits symbolically with the historical calendar of Jewish worship according to the prescribed format of Leviticus 23. Passover was followed immediately by the Festival of Unleavened Bread, of which the first day was a day of rest, or ‘High Sabbath’. Therefore, immediately after Jesus’ crucifixion on the Thursday (Passover), there would have been a special Sabbath on the Friday (Festival of Unleavened Bread), followed by a normal Sabbath on Saturday, with Jesus’ resurrection on the Sunday (the celebration of First Fruits, Lev 23:9-14).

More than a Detective Story

However, the book is much more than just a detective story. It celebrates the wonderful truth of the resurrection and includes a fascinating chapter on Jonah - the one miraculous sign Jesus offered the Pharisees. Several Bible quotations are used to demonstrate that Jonah actually died and was resurrected.

The New Testament writers emphasised strongly not just the importance of Messiah’s death (literally on the day of Passover), but also the symbolic significance of First Fruits - as the very first harvesting of the religious year – as resurrection day. Jesus is the ‘first fruits’ of those raised from the dead: the promise of the resurrection to come.

First Fruits vs. Easter

Three Days and Three Nights usefully includes a summary of Peter Sammons’ ‘The Jesus Pattern’ (which is effectively a prequel), which explores all seven ‘moedim’ (Levitical festivals) as they relate to Jesus and their spiritual significance for believers.

Born-again believers are ‘First Fruits people’ rather than ‘Easter people’. The authors attack institutional Christianity’s choice of a feast day based on pagan fertility rites, especially since the decisions for dating Easter and ‘Good Friday’ were motivated by a profound hatred of the Jews. The historical evidence for this is clearly presented.

By contrast, Scripture indicates that the New Testament Church at the very least kept the Jewish Passover and used all the Levitical festivals as an important part of their teaching about Jesus – a model Christians could learn from.

Born-again believers are ‘First Fruits people’ rather than ‘Easter people’.

Removing the Veils

Three Days and Three Nights is crafted carefully to help readers make sense of a technical subject by providing several diagrams, the most of impressive of which is a fold-out chart tracking all the events of the ‘Passion week’. As well as providing a handy reference point throughout, this shows how the events of the religious calendar relate specifically to Jesus. For example, the Passover lamb was carefully examined for blemish at exactly the same time as Jesus underwent extensive cross-examination regarding his Messianic credentials and sinlessness.

The appendices include Scripture references and a suggested timeline of the events between Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, specifically to repudiate attacks on the authenticity of the biblical narrative.

Ultimately, Three Days and Three Nights provides an important testimony concerning the reliability of the biblical account, at a time when many believers are rediscovering the Jewish context of Scripture. The book makes an important prophetic point: just as the scriptures affirm that Jewish recognition of Messiah has been veiled until his imminent return, so too did Christianity once lose sight of Messiah’s Jewishness and God’s faithfulness towards the Jews. However, the Lord will finally remove both these veils and accomplish his purpose of ‘one new man’ in Christ. Three Days and Three Nights makes a contribution to the unfolding of this plan.

‘Three Days and Three Nights that Changed the World’ (202pp, paperback) is available on Amazon for £16. Find out more about the book and accompanying resources on the Christian Publications International website.

Labour’s dark secrets exposed by the light of truth

As Britain’s Labour leader continues to face fire over anti-Semitism claims, I am reminded of the words of Jesus that what is said in the dark will be exposed to the light.

The light of truth has exposed the dark underbelly of Labour leadership, and it is surely time for serious questions about whether Jeremy Corbyn is fit for office.

The latest row has the Opposition Leader defending his decision to celebrate Passover with a controversial far-left Jewish group called ‘Jewdas’, which, at its 2017 seder, included a prayer asking God to “smash the state of Israel” and “burn down Parliament”.¹

This after Corbyn landed in hot water for his historic defence of an artist who painted a mural showing ‘hook-nosed’ bankers and businessmen sitting around a Monopoly board counting money.²

As the Tower Hamlets mayor rightly said at the time, the images “perpetuate anti-Semitic propaganda about conspiratorial Jewish domination of financial and political institutions”.

Mr Corbyn expressed regret that he did not look more closely at the image, “the contents of which are deeply disturbing and anti-Semitic,” he said.

Skeletons in the Cupboard

The fact that the string of allegations which have now come to light are historic as well as current just goes to prove how the past can come back to haunt us, as it often will for those with skeletons in their cupboard.

But there is a way of escape, and that is to make a clean breast of it all, to repent of past wrongs and put them right. After all, Jesus died for our sins, which is what we have been remembering over the last week!

In this respect, Mr Corbyn’s stated intention to meet with Jewish leaders to discuss the issue is to be commended.

It is surely time for serious questions about whether Jeremy Corbyn is fit for office.

With his reputation reeling, he has been forced to issue multiple statements and has MPs from his own party lining up against him. In addition, members of the Jewish community have taken to the streets in force, claiming “enough is enough”.

Calling on his party to get their act together, Labour MP John Mann asked: “What kind of Labour Party is this?”³ With 300+ allegations of anti-Semitism since 2015, numerous high-profile suspensions and resignations including discipline chief Christine Shawcroft, the issue is beginning to look like a cancer riddling the party’s entire body.

Owen Humphreys/PA Wire/PA Images

Indeed, Mr Corbyn and some of his colleagues are bringing a curse on the party from which it is unlikely to recover unless drastic repentance is forthcoming. For the Bible is absolutely clear in promising blessing to those who bless Israel, and cursing to those who don’t (Gen 12:3; Num 24:9).

Social Media Complicity

The latest furore comes just weeks after revelations that Mr Corbyn was part of several secret Facebook groups trafficking Jewish conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial and the like. One allegedly showed Corbyn participating “right up until his first weeks as leader of the Labour Party”, according to the UK’s Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, and another he only quit after his membership was exposed last month.

The Labour leader deleted his personal Facebook account over the weekend.

In turn, a number of Corbyn-supporting Facebook groups spreading anti-Semitic hate have now been reported to the police by a group of 11 Jewish peers, including Lord Alan Sugar.⁴ Whatever the Labour leader’s personal views, it is clear that he is a rallying point for anti-Semites around the country.

Too Close for Comfort

As I’ve said before, these shameful reports serve to emphasise all the more strongly how the squabbling Tories urgently need to get their own act together and line up squarely behind Prime Minister Theresa May. Or else, never mind Brexit – hard, soft, or none at all – Britain could find themselves undoing all the sacrifices made in two world wars by allowing something too close to Nazism for comfort to flourish on our own shores.

Corbyn and some of his colleagues are bringing a curse on the party from which it is unlikely to recover unless drastic repentance is forthcoming.

Labour’s hard-left leader has already come dangerously close to power despite negative press coverage linked with anti-Semitism such as his reference to terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah as ‘friends’.

What is Hidden Will Be Made Known

In light of the dark shadow of a possible war looming in the Middle East, there is surely an urgent need to hone and clarify our relationship with the Jewish state. We need to get used to the idea that Europe is not our future. But a strong relationship with Israel and the United States would most definitely be in our interest – certainly promising hope and blessing.

Speaking of Israel, the Prophet Isaiah warns: “For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined” (Isa 60:12).

Battered and bruised by social disintegration as values based on our Judeo-Christian legacy are recklessly jettisoned, Britain could sure do with some blessing rather than the curse that would inevitably follow lack of comfort for the people who gave us the Bible, Jesus and indeed Western civilisation itself.

It’s time for our politicians to guard their words, say what they mean and mean what they say. Jesus was specifically warning against hypocrisy when he said: “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops” (Luke 12:2f).

References

1 Corbyn criticised for attending Passover seder of group that prayed for Israel’s destruction. CUFI, 3 April 2018.

2 Daily Mail, 23 March 2018. 

3 BBC News, 27 March 2018.

4 Jewish News, 5 April 2018.

Two meditations for Holy Week.

Reading the Gospel accounts of the last week in the earthly life of Jesus, there are two points that I want to offer for meditation. The first concerns what is known euphemistically as Jesus’ ‘triumphal entry’ into Jerusalem and the second focuses upon his last meal with his disciples.

Riding on a Colt

Matthew records the instruction Jesus gave to his disciples to go to the village ahead where they would find a donkey with her colt. They were to bring them to him for his entry into Jerusalem. Matthew quotes a verse from Zechariah, “See your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zech 9:9 and Matt 21:15).

I often wondered why Jesus chose to ride into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I could understand his choice of a donkey as a sign of his humility; but why choose the foal of a donkey. It was one of my colleagues in the Issachar Ministries team who pointed to a verse in Exodus that I had not previously noticed. It says, “Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck” (Ex 34:20).

A little research reveals that the donkey was the only animal in God’s creation whose firstborn foal had to be redeemed by offering the sacrifice of a lamb. Donkeys were very important for transport. They carried heavy loads and were usually willing workers. They were certainly very important in an agricultural community: in fact, so important that the owner had to give thanks to God for the firstborn foal before it could be used. The strength of this command was enforced by the instruction in Exodus 34:20.

Of course, Jesus knew this command! But this was the very reason why he chose to ride on the foal rather than the donkey. Here we see Jesus, having deliberately set his face to go up to Jerusalem, with the full knowledge of the murderous intent of the religious authorities to end his life, he now chooses to ride on the foal of a donkey. The foal had not yet been redeemed, hence it was still with its mother. But in this action, Jesus himself was redeeming the foal.

Here was Jesus, the Lamb of God, offering himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world, symbolically redeeming the foal on his way to the cross.

For the One I Love

The incredible humility and determination to go through with the terrible events that he foresaw show something of the amazing character of Jesus. But, added to this, his incredible love is shown a little later in the week when he met with his disciples to share a last meal with them. This is the second point in this meditation.

One of my lasting memories of the late Lance Lambert whom I was proud to call my friend, was on one occasion when my wife and I shared a meal in his Jerusalem home with him and his sister. It was a Friday evening, a Shabbat meal. At one point in the meal Lance took a piece of bread, dipped it in the cup and gave it to me, and similarly to Monica, saying to each of us a little expression of love. He explained that in many Jewish families it was the custom for either the father of the family or the mother of the family to do this, particularly if they had guests as an expression of love.

Lance said it was a particularly poignant practice for the mother to do this for one of her children who had been away and was now back at the family table, or one who had been sick and now was recovered. She would say “This is for the one I love”. Her love was being expressed particularly for the one who had a special need, or to show joy at the reuniting of the family around their table.

At the Last Supper Jesus took bread and broke it and gave a piece to each of his disciples – a symbolic act through which he was giving himself to them and showing his indescribable love. Judas, the man who would betray him was also there and it is surely one of the most poignant acts of Jesus to give bread to the man who was going to be responsible for his betrayal into the hands of his enemies (John 13:26).
The act of giving the bread dipped in the cup symbolising his blood, was highly significant for each of his disciples.

But the most amazing act of Jesus at the Last Supper was surely to dip the bread in the cup and give it to Judas, who was to betray him, conveying the message (whether spoken or unspoken): “This is for the one I love”.

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Will we watch with him?

This week can we too watch with him, for one brief hour, in this his time of victory through life laid down (John 12:24-25; Rom 12:1)? Let us join these beautiful, ancient olive trees, who once watched their Lord and Maker, so hard-pressed, give all for us: that we might lay down our lives too, for him, much fruit to bear, and by his death, receive new life in him.

GETH-SEMANE – garden of the olive oil press

O Garden, Garden, Gan Gat-Semenah, was this sight just for you, to keep?
Your Lord in such dire straits, alone, His friends asleep?

Did you watch with Him one brief hour, while He did seek to flee
From His afearéd choice. “Avi, my Father, take this dread cup away from Me!
Yet not My will, O Lord of Mine, but Yours be done”.

O Garden, full of Tears, and witnessing such awe-some things,
Oil so hard-pressed, now poured out, Your Master held by satan’s rings.
Trees that He planted, olive-healing for His blinded sheep,
You witness such deep pain and agony, His death-door openings.

Was ever garden formed for this, to wait like Miriam for her heaven's sword?
Mirror of Gan Eden, broken, yet through great love, to be restored?
Ancient trees, all-giving, and like Father, watching in His perfect time
For Jesus - come to weep His life full out, to give in all-surrender, and
In suffering now, His learned obedience, laid down His will before His Lord.

We, too, do need this breaking, willingly, no sentient feeling
Only - our will surrendered too with heavy tears before the King.
Our hiding place, security, is found alone in Him. Cross-bound, alone;
And broken, willingly, like Him we too may learn obedience through
Our suffering - “Thy will be done”. Ourselves now to this Love unknown,
Embraced and held, in our reflecting all-surrender, we must bring.

This garden will again be new, restored to pristine beauty now,
And man, like olive trees that watched the victory of their Lord, will bow
The knee to Him. His sweat, like blood - expression of His love
Out-poured in prayer, His life laid down - will bear the promised fruit.
And we, brought back to Eden, fruit of His fruit, no longer sleeping-mute,
Will give Him all our thanks and praise, for death and life hard-won by Him,
And yes, for His long-suffering, our very life in Him, and to complete our vow.

Gan Gat-Semenah, Good Friday