“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life..."

Battling with cancer, Billy Graham's daughter urges support for endangered Israel

Nearly three-quarters of a century has passed since the Red Army liberated the notorious Auschwitz death camp on 27 January 1945, a date now marked by the annual Holocaust Memorial Day here in Britain and elsewhere.

It is held with the intention of ensuring that it never happens again. But alas, anti-Semitism is back to haunt us, proving the point often made that we never learn from history.

Taking Sides

In the UK, we face the dreadful possibility of having a Prime Minister with strong anti-Israel sympathies if the party currently holding onto power by the skin of its teeth does not get its act together.

In the US, they have witnessed the ghastly spectre of a congresswoman who took ‘swearing in’ quite literally as she launched a profanity-laced tirade against President Trump upon taking office.¹

Democrat Rashida Tlaib and Representative Ilhan Omar are the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, with the latter having already expressed her opposition to Israel.²

Anti-Semitism has also been cited among issues affecting the Women’s March movement in America.³ In fact, it is on the rise worldwide, with left and right forming an unholy alliance against God’s chosen people.

Anti-Semitism is back to haunt us, proving the point often made that we never learn from history.

On the other hand, there is increasing support for Israel from unexpected quarters. Take Brazil, for instance. Its new President, Jair Bolsonaro, has boldly declared his intention of following the US lead in moving his embassy to Jerusalem. And Wilson Witzel actually requested the sound of a shofar to accompany his inauguration as a Brazilian state governor, so strong is his support for the Jewish state.⁴

Sheep and Goats

So, what does this mean? Nations, communities and individuals are lining up for battle (whether knowingly or not) in anticipation, no doubt, of the day of judgment when the sheep are separated from the goats (see Ezek 34:17; Matt 25:31-46; Joel 3:2) on the basis of how they treated the Jewish people.

In the midst of all this, the silence from most leaders of the Christian Church has been deafening – just as it was in Germany and elsewhere during the Shoah. I guess this is largely because of the dangerous and heretical Replacement Theology that has certainly swept through much of the British Church.

We should be witnessing stirring calls from our pulpits to stand with the Jews, but somehow church leaders don’t see the connection. That’s because they have been disconnected from the roots of their faith, and have forgotten that we worship the God of Israel, who has sent his Son as Messiah, first for the Jews and also for the Gentiles.

We owe them everything – the Law, the Prophets, the Patriarchs, the entire Bible (Luke being the only Gentile author) and most of all Jesus, who will soon return as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5).

As the world lines up for battle, the silence from most leaders of the Christian Church has been deafening.

Message of Warning

Anne Graham Lotz.

That the Jewish state is once more under severe threat was illustrated by the surface-to-surface missile fired into Israel by Syrian-based Iranian forces on Sunday.⁵ Thankfully, it was successfully intercepted.

Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham, is currently suffering severe side-effects from cancer treatment which she believes could be a message for Israel.⁶

Recalling that God had some of his prophets live out the message he gave them, she wonders if her current life and death battle relates to the Jewish nation, reborn just a week before she came into the world.

“The warning I feel deep within is that Israel is in danger of a surprise attack in this, her 70^th year,” she writes, urging them to return to the Lord (Joel 2:12-14) and us Gentiles to pray for the peace of Jerusalem “and for the whole House of Israel”.

If we truly love Jesus, we will love the Jews – as many of our Arab friends testify on finding peace and reconciliation at the Cross. Wake up, Church!

References

1 Jerusalem News Network, 6 January 2019, quoting INN.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid, quoting Algemeiner.

4 JNN, 6 January 2019, quoting Jerusalem Post and INN.

5 JNN, 23 January 2019, quoting Israel Today.

6 Joy! News (South Africa), 17 January 2019, sourcing Steve Warren at www1.cbn.com.

Holocaust Memorial Day should drive us to our knees.

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

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

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

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

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

The Power of Words

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

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

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

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

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

Enemies All Around

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mountains Can Move!

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

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

Notes

1 27 January.

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

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

Diana's death was a merciful release for an undeserving nation.

Near my home there is a bridge on a bend of the road where a young man lost his life in an accident. Friends and relatives decorated the bridge with bunches of flowers in plastic covers which have remained for more than a year.

Little shrines like this are now to be seen throughout the land in towns as well as the countryside in what appears to be a new form of religion as Christianity declines in Britain.

With Bible-believing Christians becoming an endangered species, an agnostic population is developing its own religion. Grieving relatives who have little hope of seeing their loved ones in the life hereafter worship at these plastic altars to the dead, creating a kind of necropolis.

Flowers marking the spot of a fatal road accident. See Photo Credits.The Areopagus

It reminds me of the Apostle Paul arriving in Athens and seeing the vast array of shrines to Greek gods. He began telling people about the resurrection of Jesus and some of the local philosophers who loved to debate new ideas invited him to address the Areopagus, an outcrop of rock known as the hill of Mars, which served as the seat of the ancient and venerable supreme court of Athens (Acts 17:19-34).

Paul saw the opportunity to tell them about Jesus but wisely began by referring to an altar he had seen dedicated ‘To an unknown god’. In their polytheistic society, the Greeks were keen not to offend any of the gods by missing one of them, hence this shrine which Paul used to begin his message. His objective was to introduce them to the true God of Creation.

Death of Diana

The plastic altars that are spreading across Britain are symbols of the ‘unknown god’ that have become widespread in the past 20 years since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, when a vast mountain of flowers in plastic bags was built up outside Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace.

With Bible-believing Christians becoming an endangered species, our agnostic population is developing its own religion.

The 20^th anniversary of Diana’s tragic accident was recognised in August this year with more flowers in London and the two princes paying homage to their late mother.

The People’s Princess

The vast outpouring of grief 20 years ago was something never before witnessed in this nation and it took most people by surprise, including the Queen and our political leaders. Newly appointed Prime Minister Tony Blair described Diana as the ‘people’s princess’ which neatly encapsulated the public mood.

Diana was seen as a tragic figure – a beautiful woman deserted by her husband – millions of women in Britain could identify with her. Her TV interview about her divorce in which she had said that there were always three in her marriage touched a chord in millions of hearts. She was the lonely girl deserted by a heartless husband. In crying for her, millions were crying for themselves in socially acceptable grief.

An Orphan Spirit

Diana epitomised the ‘orphan spirit’ that is prevalent in Britain today as family life continues to crumble under the relentless attacks of those who wish to destroy the whole structure of our civilisation by attacking its Judeo-Christian foundations.

Her dispute with 'The Firm' – Prince Philip's nickname for the monarchy into which she had married - became the driving force in her life. She cleverly manipulated public opinion so that she was seen as the helpless victim of a cruel, all-powerful Establishment.

Diana epitomised the ‘orphan spirit’ that is prevalent in Britain today as family life continues to crumble.

Destroying the Monarchy

Her desire for revenge became far more than a personal dispute with her husband. It took on the character of a demonic force determined to destroy the monarchy, bringing chaos and confusion to the nation and tearing down all its major institutions that have held the United Kingdom together for centuries.

In taking as a lover the Muslim son of Mohamed Al Fayed, a man who hated Britain and who had acquired ownership of Harrods by disputed business dealings, Diana struck a blow, not only at the House of Windsor but at the Christian heritage of the nation.

If she had married him the consequences for the future of the nation were incalculable. This is why many people suspected that her death had been engineered by the Establishment to preserve the nation, but Christians saw it as the hand of God and his mercy towards an undeserving nation.

The plastic altar in The Mall in the heart of London at the funeral of the people’s princess represented the new religion of the British people – a nation grieving for its lost soul, deserted by the God of our fathers – now worshipping at the altar of ‘the unknown god’. Our condition is like that described by the faithful remnant of Israel after the destruction of Jerusalem who cried out to God for his forgiveness:

Our offences are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offences are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled on the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. (Isaiah 59:12-15)

Our nation is grieving for its lost soul.

Turning the Nation

Do we have to wait until ultimate tragedy and social disintegration strike Britain before we cry out to God for forgiveness, as the faithful remnant did after the destruction of Jerusalem? Those who understand the times and can see the destruction looming over Britain if the social anarchists continue their divisive and destructive ways must break their timid silence and proclaim truth into the nation!

The plastic altars to unknown gods will not save us! There is no other hope than confessing our sins before the Lord and asking him to heal our land. The loving promise of God is:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. (Jer 18:7-8)

Originally written for HEART of Sussex, October 2017 issue.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘We Are All Jews Here’

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

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

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

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

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

Neutrality Not an Option

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

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

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

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

Righteous Among the Nations

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

Garden of the Righteous, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.

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

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

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

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

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

I Am One of Them…

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

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

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

Notes

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

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

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

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

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

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