By James Wilson
(Editor’s Note: As we celebrate the birthday of Modern Israel this week
let us give her the best gift there is. Let us stand with her.)
I will never forget the night my Dutch friend warned me about my baseball cap. We were volunteers serving together on an Israeli military base repairing radio antennas for two weeks and touring Israel on the weekends. I wore my IDF baseball cap one night as we hung out after work and Engel told me if I wore that cap on the streets of Rotterdam at night I might not make it back to his flat alive. Anti-Semitism has enjoyed such a worldwide resurgence under jihadi tutelage that such warnings are necessary.
The danger is far greater in Israel. In one recent attack Palestinian Bashar Masalha attacked twenty on Tel Aviv streets, injuring eleven and killing American tourist and grad student Taylor Force. An eagle scout, Force was studying innovative Israeli methods after multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Palestinian Authority, celebrated his death on their Facebook page. They describe Force as a settler, their term for Jews (Force was not Jewish) they say occupy their land. They claim international law authorizes killing settlers on sight.
Their viewpoint has problems. One is the land never belonged to them. Palestine is a name imposed by the Romans on the region; there has never been a Palestinian people and the Jews have lived there four thousand years. Another is no real Palestinian Government; governments provide water, sanitation, electricity, and opportunities to build homes and businesses. These things are provided by Israel in the Palestinian controlled areas and Fatah uses the building materials to build terror tunnels and launch attacks. Still another is these people have been offered their own state on multiple occasions. They don’t want it unless it includes Israel and only after the Israelis are exterminated. Until then everyone not working with them on the extermination project – especially if they are located nearby – is fair game for any Bashar Masalha with a knife.
The Palestinians are not without allies. One of the most verbally virulent is a quasi Christian cult known as Sabeel. Founded in 1989 by a former Anglican official of St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem, they demonize Israel and Jews as Christ killers who tried to murder Jesus as a baby. Students of Scripture and history know King Herod – who ordered the murder – was a non-Jewish king imposed on the Jews by those same Romans, but facts are rarely important to cult leaders – be they faux Christians or Muslim terrorists.
Many Christian leaders representing leadership have spoken out against Sabeel, especially the Anglicans. What most Christians do not get is that if they believe what is known as Replacement Theology they give tacit consent to replacement – by violence, politics, or spiritual abuse – of the Chosen People of Yahweh.
Replacement Theology is the simplistic notion that God is tired of the Jews rejecting His reign and has passed His blessing to a new people embodied in the Church of Jesus Christ. There is a twisted warrant for it in the Gospel references to a new Israel, but Jesus – Yeshua is His Hebrew name and He bears it proudly today – makes it crystal clear His redeeming work is to transform hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, beginning with His own people. He is not, as Sabeel preaches, a Palestinian living under an occupation, but rather One Who is sent first and foremost to the Jews – stated to Gentiles of Canaanite, Syro-Phoenician, and Samaritan extraction before the Resurrection and to His apostles in the Great Commission. Paul seals the deal in Romans 9-11. The only condition for Kingdom acceptance is authentic repentance and the fruit is grafting onto the Jewish vine – for Jew and Gentile alike. There is no replacing those of God’s irrevocable choice, only redemption of as many as are willing.
The hard truth is Christians are accountable not for neutrality – that chooses evil – and not for insisting on peaceful replacement – that too sides with evil. We are responsible for standing with God as He stands with us. That means – paraphrasing Richard Foster – loving those He loves and supporting those He has chosen. It means recognizing the Palestinians are not victims but bullies. It relocates our embassy to Jerusalem, Israel’s capitol – and remembers we address bullies with resolute strength followed by compassion only once the threat has been eliminated.
When Ronald Reagan stood against Iran American hostages were released. When George Bush stood against Iraqi insurgents a nation was freed until his successor abandoned that nation. We Christians need always remember – center stage – Yeshua gave His life for every one of the Palestinians. Standing with Yeshua’s chosen ones is the beginning of living that compassionate message today.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
