See also Vatican’s pact with Islam
US church versus Israel
Giulio Meottin YNET
Most of America’s presidents since James Madison were members of the Presbyterian Church. It has the reputation of being the wealthiest and most mainstream among US churches. Presbyterians gave to the United States dozens of presidents, Supreme Court justices, secretaries of state (Condoleezza Rice is daughter of a Presbyterian priest,) cabinet officials and members of Congress. Even pastor Billy Graham, known as “the ear of US presidents,” has been a dedicated Presbyterian.
However, in recent years, the US church appeared in the headlines for a virulent anti-Israel campaign in which money, theology and politics are mixed together.
Pro-Palestinian activists, allied with anti-Jewish Protestant zealots, won a victory in 2004 when the church divested its $8 billion portfolio from companies doing business with Israel. A few days ago the Presbyterians and three other US Protestant denominations endorsed the Palestinian UN bid for statehood.
Meanwhile, the church just hold a conference in Louisville titled “Bible, Land and our Theological Challenge”. It embraced the “Kairos Document,” which says that Israeli security policies are “a sin against God”, likens the security fence to “apartheid”, rejects the Jewish State, supports terrorism when it talks about the “thousands of prisoners who languish in Israeli jails”, and proclaims that “resistance to the evil of occupation is a Christian’s right and duty.”
At the Louisville’s symposium, Rev. Eugene March, professor emeritus of Old Testament at Presbyterian Seminary, said the Jewish right to the holy land is “invalid,” while Rev. Gary Burge, professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, said that “Jesus subverted the land politics of Judaism” and criticized “the territorial worldview of Judaism.” It is hard to imagine uglier slander.
The Presbyterian Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment just urged the General Assembly to fully embrace the so-called BDS movement and to divest from Caterpillar, Inc., Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola (a decision is expected in few months.) The Presbyterians own hundreds of thousands of shares of stock in these companies through their pension fund for retired workers and through foundations. The church accused these companies of selling helicopters, cellphones, night vision equipment and other items Israel uses to enforce its “occupation.”
False allegations
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called the campaign “a recipe for Israel to disarm” and the Presbyterians’ actions “functionally anti-Semitic.” The church’s 2010 report, titled “Breaking Down the Walls” – characterized as “toxic” by the Anti-Defamation League – legitimizes doubts about Israel’s right to exist and calls on the United States to withhold military aid to Israel.
According to the Camera watchdog group, the Mideastern Mission Network of the Church promoted anti-Jewish incitement even through Hezbollah-controlled television station al-Manar, including false allegations about Israel tunneling beneath the Temple Mount (which in the past have incited violence in Jerusalem.)
This week in Atlanta the Presbyterian Church hosted another symposium, “From Birmingham to Bethlehem”, likening Martin Luther King to the Palestinians. A main speaker was a Palestinian cleric, Father Naim Ateek, whose influence in contemporary Protestantism is immense, not least through his Sabeel Centre in Jerusalem. Ateek’s denunciations of Israel include imagery linking the Jewish State to the charge of deicide that for centuries fueled anti-Jewish bloodshed.
Writing in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Adam Gregerman observed that theologians like Ateek “perpetuate some of the most unsavory and vicious images of the Jews as malevolent, antisocial, hostile to non-Jews.” For example, Ateek wrote about “modern-day Herods” in Israel, referring to the king who the New Testament says slaughtered the babies of Bethlehem in an attempt to murder the newborn Jesus.
Indeed, many voices in the US are now suggesting that the Presbyterians have left behind the commitment “never again” to “participate in, contribute to, or … allow the persecution or the denigration of Jews” (from the 1987 Statement on the Relationship Between Christians and Jews.)
In the Middle Ages, the “mystery plays” that portrayed the Jews as the executioners of Jesus helped fuel burnings at stake and pogroms, until the Holocaust drove dark theology underground. The Presbyterian Church is now staging a XXI century mystery play, in which Israel is the Jew of the world.
Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel’s Victims of Terrorism
Something is definitely wrong in the Presbyterian Church. A few years ago I had a discussion with a local Presbyterian Pastor. He said he had to go because he had a counseling appointment with a man who was sexually attracted to small children. It went like this:
Me: Did you tell him to repent?
Pastor: No.
Me: What did you tell him?
Pastor: I told him to have faith in God.
Me: Jesus said “Except ye repent, ye shall perish.” It doesn’t say that you are a Christian because you call yourself one. I also told him of Mark 9:42.
We did not agree. He preached canned sermons prepared by the Presbyterian Church. I just read the Bible. There was something very different between what he preached and what I do. He should call pedophilia what it is, sin, and not treat it like a disease. When the Bible says to Repent, it is implicit that it means one is capable of repenting. It is a life or death choice. Perhaps the Pastor should have arranged for this man to give his testimony of being sexually attracted to small children to the Church’s Mens Group and see if those men could come up with a solution for him.
NOBODY’s got that market cornered. . . .
Though it’s fair to say that not all inconsistencies betoken hypocrisy.
The terms are not synonymous.
Felix: Antonio Gramsci, 1891-1937. laid out a plan for the promotion of communism.
Felix, please don’t tease the asylum inmates. 🙂
Goodness!
Felix: In Revelation 3, Jesus told people to be Hot, Cold or Lukewarm and that he would spew the Lukewarm out of his mouth and count them with the wicked. The hypocrites and others who refuse to have an opinion or think there can be peace by appeasing are the Lukewarm.
Felix:
Its true. Read the links I posted and Google for more. There is also an article on Wikipedia about it, too.
There were many complicit in the slavery trade including black Africans and Muslims. It matters because there is a plan to destroy America, the West and Israel and part of it is to create chaos to bring in a New World Order. King and Rosa Parks were trained communists and used principles of Saul Alinsky to further Communism. We have all been lied to by the education system, the historical revisionists and the mainstream media.
At least partly true.
My understanding is that there is some substantiation to the reports of sexual peccadilloes — though how confirmed the more lurid aspects of it are is unclear.
He certainly hung out with Communists (and, yes, with Trots too), but then, they would’ve had the most experience when it came to organizing political street-activism.
Whether he was Party himself I’ve never been able to determine.
His support for Margaret Sanger & Planned Parenthood is disturbing, in view of her affinity for the eugenics movement
— and her flagrant advocacy of reduction of the numbers among those nationalities & races that she characterized as “human weeds.”
Seems strikingly incongruous for him, but apparently not.
Stang’s remarks about King’s plagiarising seem based on some well-researched material that was out there even before Stang came across the data. Hard to discount.
Stipes
there are these two reverends who do this show on Talk radio Europe on a Sunday morning. They do not touch the political world.
They claim to be for Israel. yet I bet that if Israel was nuclear bombed this coming week next week they would ignore it.
Do you get my point?
I depend on politics 100 per cent of the way
I am very ignorant of these Churches in America. The only link I have is that there is a Christian hour on talk Radio Europe, and the main thing about them is their cowardice on Israel. They will not openly defend Israel. it is all happy happy singin and dancin etc.
I notice that Newt calls the palis as antisemitism, but still votes for the Pali state. Is that an American Christian way of operating.
To me cowardice is a major feature.
I though hypocricy was mainly British.
It is hard for me to get my head around this stuff about King. Is it true, partly true or all false?
Yet does it matter really? What matters is that the blacks in America are the children of slaves, and this slavery was imposed on the people of Africa, and that is on the historical record, just as the Famine in Ireland was caused by the British, a million died and the nation’s population was cut in half.
Sometimes people cannot see the wood for the trees
This is true.
However, so far as I am aware, unlike the mainline body (PC-USA), which is INDEED on-record as virulently anti-Zionist & anti-Israel, none of those other bodies — e.g., the Presbyterian Church in America [PCA], the Evangelical Presbyterian Church [EPC], etc — have taken a position, one way or another, in re the Arab/Jewish conflict generally or the Israeli/’Palestinian’ issue specifically.
Moreover, even those smaller groups have no problem with the established policy of proselytizing the Jews.
Am I mistaken as to either count?
I am looking forward to Chanukah. It’s so nice to step out for awhile, cling to what is important and precious and not allow the evil doers to monopolize much of my time.
First the Anglicans signed agreements with the Roman Catholic Church (“RCC”), then Lutherans. Later The Presbyterians and Methodists. They are no longer Protestants, they are all Catholics now. Members of these churches at lower levels may have no idea that the heads of their churches have become heretics and false, but the heads have already betrayed them in recent years. I really recommend the online DVD by Prof. Walter Veith called That All May be One which explains all of this and the dangers of Ecumenism. It is important to watch it to learn all of the betrayals and twists the RCC has done to accomplish this. Know thy enemy. The World County of Churches is a band of all religions, and includes Pantheism, Islam, Bahai, Buddhisms, Hinduism, and everything else you can think of. It is supposed to include Christian Churches but in reality, no true Christian would join such a group because it equates all religions as equal, which they are not. The RCC considers itself the Mother of all churches. Raise your hand if you agree.
Presbyterians and Presbyterianism are nowhere near so monolithic as some of the previous comments indicate. Yes, the mainline church is dying, but there are several smaller bodies that are not. And as with any other ethnic or religious group, mere membership joined with some despicable behavior doesn’t necessarily entail the group or the sacred books as the source of that conduct. There are many things so-called Christians have done over the centuries that should shock, grieve, and humble anyone who calls himself or herself Christian. But you will not find a basis for the Crusades or pogroms or racism not even anti-semitism in the 27 books of the New Testament, not to mention the Torah. To be sure, the Jews who wrote the New Testament like other Jewish groups of their era believed they were the true heirs of the tradition and of Israel, but the New Testament does not advocate violence, slander or any such thing against anyone. Apostolic teaching, as Peter said, is “honor all men.” The message and person of Jesus of Nazareth are the things that divide Jews from Christians, but does that mean we cannot respect and be friends with one another? We understand if our Jewish friends have been taught and believe Jesus was a false prophet and imposter, and obviously we disagree. But can we not treat one another with respect and dignity, and be friends? I am a historic and conservative evangelical Presbyterian, and I care earnestly about and pray for Jewish neighbors AND FOR ISRAEL. We who profess to be Christians distinguish between those who merely profess and those who are the real McCoy (Jesus, much like the Prophets, said “you’ll know the tree by the fruit”). Do not conservative and practicing Jews have an ongoing gripe with those who merely Jews in ethnicity? My plea is that those who love Israel who frequent Israpundit understand that not everyone who calls himself “Christian” truly is, if you judge by Jesus’ own teaching, and likewise, there are Presbyterians and Presbyterians. Most mainline Presbyterians I’ve ever met know neither the historic Presbyterianism of their ancestors nor a whole lot about what their denominational leaders are up to. They just go to the Presbyterian church because their parents did. Please put down the broad brush.
The great apostasy in churches is HERE…and thousand signed up under the catholic cult all headed to Rome to be destroyed. those who stand with the enemies of G-d and Israel , We are told in many scripture like Isaiah 64 , that G-d is coming to destroy ALL His enemies and the enemies of Israel and those who destroy the earth. Many are chosen, few are taken. From Genesis to Rev there are so many warning of what G-d will do that those who reject HIM and the Chosen People, yet on they go doing there own thing. One thing for sure…Israel will stand forever and ever , they are my heart too , just as they are G-d’s heart forever. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, time is all but up and I thank G-d and am blessed to know G-d’s heart and not follow the enemies of Israel…
Martin Luther King was a Transformational Marxist and a deceiver. He was not a Christian.
Martin Luther King was a communist.
Billy Graham refuses to speak the truth about Islam:
“On May 30, 1997, on the David Frost program, Billy Graham said: ‘… I think Islam is misunderstood, too, because Mohammed has a great respect for Jesus, and he called Jesus the greatest of the prophets except for himself. And I think that we’re closer to Islam than we really think we are.” Billy Graham and Rome.
Billy Graham is a deceiver. More to follow…
Liar, Liar pants on fire! He did no such thing. He reiterated the prophet Ezekiel, about a long exile before the Jews return home.
I shouldn’t gloat, but it gives me great pleasure, that these anti-semitic dinosaurs are going extinct, while pro-Israel evangelicals are going from strength to strength.
Plus their cell (here we say mobile) phones. Also invented in Israel. Plus any firewall protection in their computers, invented by the IDF.
In 1948 William Randolph Hearst instructed his newspapers to “puff Graham” because he recognized that Graham preached a soft, easy gospel. Billy Graham is a 33rd Degree Mason and therefore cannot be a Christian. Billy Graham said, “I’ve found that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of orthodox Roman Catholics.” Therefore he is a Catholic, not a Presbyterian or even a Christian. Billy Graham praised the Pope as “the greatest” and as “the strong conscience of the whole Christian world.” Billy Graham is one of the chief ones pushing ecumenism, the “Third Way” (Communitarianism) and tolerance. He has maintained ungodly relationships with the most ungodly Illuminist leaders the world over. He is a deceiver.
Vatican II was a lie. The Pope said Protestant Christian churches could continue in their own organizations if they submitted to the Pope being the head. Therefore those Protestant Churches who signed the agreements were no longer protesting Protestants. They were dhimmis. Source: Prof. Walter Veith in this DVD, an excellent expose of the dangers of Ecumenism. That All May Be One.
I had before I moved to Israel 2 Presbyterian girlfriends one I almost married. Family names were Rappaport and Goldring.
Their parents didn’t like Jews all that much especially me and I wasn’t too crazy about them either but their daughters were hot. Ah, Youth!!
Only kingdom in the area was Israel, from about 1000 BC, later called Judea after the Northern Tribes were hauled in slavery off to what we now call Iraq about 722 BC.
Following the unsuccessful Bar Kokhba Revolt against Rome in AD 135, Hadrian revived the name the Greek Sea Peoples had called it since 1150 BC: Peleset, or Philistia in Hebrew. Since there are no surviving writings or monuments from that Greek outpost along the Mediterranian coast of Israel, we know nothing of any King of Palestine or a language called Palestinian.
About 350,000 Arabs lived hand to mouth in the area about 1850, dwindling to just 200,000 in 1880, when European Jews began investing in the land and moving there to farm it. 40 years later there were six times as many, thanks to Western growing and marketing methods and the resulting jobs.
If you have ever been outside of a Presbyterian Church on Sunday when the services let out, you can see from the ages of the parishioners that Presbyterians are a dying breed – literally. Their membership is down to half of what it was 30 years ago, and between their pro-terrorist sympathies and their allowing of gay priests, they probably now have a majority of their churches in rebellion.
Perhaps these Presbyterian church leaders should divest themselves of all the medical and other technology developed in Israel which they benefit from.
Presbyterian theology makes them enemies of the Jews in no way different from those Catholic clerics who gave succor to the fleeing Nazis. The thread of thinking that goes through their heads is that the Jews are impostors, since Presbyterians support replacement theology. For not accepting Jesus, Jews deserve the damnation that comes upon them. The Jews’ need for a land as a basis for existence is an anachronism and needs to be wiped from the consciousness of humanity. And finally, by insisting upon security the Jews become dangerous and evil, simply because they engage in violence to preserve themselves.
In response, the Jews will of course continue to live in Israel without guilt or regrets. However, attempts should be made to undermine the leadership through invitations to the laity of prominent Presbyterian enclaves to visit Israel – not unlike Birthright. When individual members have experiences that differ from the leadership, the direction of the Church will change or they will weaken themselves. Their only response to positive murmurings from their congregants will be to forbid their visitations to Israel. Americans will not tolerate that sort of flagrant mind control.
The response of the Presbyterians to Israel is partially in response to their weakness. They are differentiating themselves from Christian Zionists and less shrill groups in order to strengthen their belief in themselves. As they weaken, their views will become more radical. We know this to be the case, because this is what has already happened to them. They have started upon a path and they do not know how or do not care to turn around. We all make our own He!!, including the Presbyterians, apparently in spades.
Supposedly intelligent people (the members of the church, not the leaders) still swallow this absurd blasphemy: the killing of God.
The Presbyterian church is a corpse. The Mormons and Jehobah’s Witnesses both have more members. Heck, the Presb. Ch. USA has only 2.3 million members, barely edging out the Jewish denominations in the US. They aren’t worth the time of day.