- I first went to Jerusalem in 1979 to research a book
dealing with Christians, Muslims, and Jews. While there I met many third
generation Americans, such as Bobby and Linda Brown of Brooklyn, who together
with 25 other couples -- half of them from the United States -- moved onto
land of the Palestinians and took the land at gunpoint. They staked off
750 acres and put a strong iron fence around it. Israeli soldiers guard
this settlement night and day. That is illegal under every international
law.
-
- One evening, we sat under the stars looking at the flickering
lights of Palestinian villages. Bobby Brown, with a wave of his arm, said:
"All the Palestinians have to leave this land. God gave this land
to us, the Jews."
-
- This incident made a deep impression on me. I knew Bobby
Brown could not use an Uzi and confiscate land at gunpoint in Brooklyn.
What made it all right for him to use a gun and take land from Palestinians?
-
- And moreover, why did we, as American taxpayers, give
Israel the money to pay for the weapons to confiscate Palestinian land?
-
- Had God deeded the land to Bobby Brown?
-
- Had the Palestinians been living there for 2,000 years,
just holding it until Bobby Brown could claim it?
-
- I had to ask myself: Did I believe God had a Chosen Land
and a Chosen People?
-
- I returned home, and the questions remained. To research
these questions, and how others felt about them, I signed to go on a conducted
tour of the Holy Land with Jerry Falwell.
-
- On arrival in Jerusalem, our group went to the old City
and we approached the large Muslim grounds where the Dome of the Rock and
Al- Aqsa Mosque are located. "There" said our Israeli tour guide,
pointing to the mosque, "we will build our third temple."
-
- As we left the site, I remarked to Clyde, a retired Minneapolis
business executive, that the guide said a temple would be built there.
But, I asked, what about the mosque? It is one of the three most sacred
shrines in all Islam, and holy to a billion Muslims around the world.
-
- "Oh" said Clyde, "the mosque will be destroyed.
One way or another, it has to be removed. You know, it's in the Bible that
the temple must be built. And there's no place for it."
-
- Clyde was convinced that Jews, aided by Christians, should
destroy the mosque, build a temple, and reinstate the killing of animals
in the temple -- all in order to please God.
-
- Many Christians throughout this land feel the same as
Clyde. They have organized a Temple Mount Foundation to raise money to
help Jewish terrorists destroy the Muslim mosque. I talked with several,
including Terry Reisenhoover of Oklahoma, and the Reverend James deLoach
of Houston's Second Baptist Church.
-
- The Rev. DeLoach visited in my apartment in Washington,
and was proud to tell me he had raised and spent tens of thousands of dollars
to defend Jewish terrorists charged with assaults on the mosque. He was
also pleased to relate that he had entertained, in his Houston home, Jewish
terrorists charged with assaults on the mosque. He was also pleased to
relate that he had entertained, in his Houston home, Jewish yeshiva students
who were studying how to slaughter animals, to be used as sacrifice inside
the temple they hope to build.
-
- The Christians who want the mosque destroyed -- and a
Jewish temple built -- follow a belief system called dispensationalism.
In all the world, in all of history, they place Israel on center stage.
-
- They contend that we must all go through seven time periods.
The countdown on history began, they tell us, in 1948, with the gathering
of Jews into Palestine and the creation of the modern state of Israel.
The dispensationalists believe in a God not of love, but of war: they believe
in what is termed Armageddon theology.
-
- Our group also traveled to Meggido, located about an
hour's drive north of Tel Aviv.
-
- As we left the bus, I walked alongside Clyde, the retired
business executive. As we looked out over the valley, Clyde exclaimed:
"At last! I am viewing the site of Armageddon."
-
- We continued to gaze at fields -- that in size would
be lost in any Texas ranch -- and Clyde talked of a 200-million-man army
that would invade Israel: "Right here!" he said. And a great
decisive battle would ensue that would involve all the armies of the Earth.
This battle, involving nuclear weapons, would kill most of the inhabitants
of this Earth.
-
- A couple years passed, and I received a colored brochure
of a Falwell- sponsored trip. Like the first brochure, it was printed in
Israel. In this brochure, Falwell did not once mention that we would be
traveling to the Land of Christ. Nor, for that matter, did he once mention
the name of Christ.
-
- Once we arrived, we had no Christian guide -- to any
site where Christ was born, died or had his ministry. There was not a single
planned visit to a Christian church -- or a plan to meet any of the Christians
living there, whose forebears have lived in Palestine since the days of
Christ.
-
- We had only Israeli guides, and the focus clearly was
on military aspects. The Israeli guides gave us endless explanations of
why the Israelis should keep all the land of historic Palestine, leaving
nothing for the Palestinians.
-
- Once we were on a bus tour, and I thought surely we would
stop in Nazareth. "No" said an Israeli guide. The bus would not
stop in Nazareth. No one contested the guide's decision.
-
- On the outskirts of Nazareth, However, our Israeli guide
changed his mind. "We will stop in Nazareth for 20 minutes" he
announced, "to use the toilet facilities." And thus we stopped.
We left Nazareth without having seen it.
-
- We proceeded to Jerusalem, where Falwell chose to honor
Ariel Sharon, the burly general who masterminded the invasion of Lebanon
which injured and killed 200,000 Palestinians and Lebanese, most of them
civilians.
-
- In introducing Sharon, Falwell said that, in the annals
of history, only a few great men came along. He named George Washington,
Abraham Lincoln -- and Ariel Sharon!
-
- On another night, Falwell gave a big banquet to honor
the defense minister, Moshe Arens. Before introducing the defense minister,
Falwell, in an aside to Arens, said: "Mr. Minister, I want to thank
you for that jet airplane you gave me."
-
- Falwell, and other dispensationalists, have a working
alliance with militant Jewish Zionists. My latest book, Prophecy and Politics,
deals with this marriage of convenience between militant Christians and
militant Jewish Zionists. Each group uses the other, gains from the other.
-
- Christian Zionists, or dispensationalists, give Israel
total support because they think there has to be an Israel there, a place
-- not for Jews, but for the battle of Armageddon, which they actually
believe must occur. It's part of the required steps, they believe, that
will lead to their Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ.
-
- Because of their scenario, they make a cult of the land
of Israel.
-
- The seedbed for this dispensationalism is in Dallas,
at the Dallas Theological Seminary. I met with John Walvoord, the president,
an elderly gentleman who said God had given all of Palestine to the Jews.
-
- In talking with Walvoord, I kept referring to the suffering
of the Palestinians. "What about them?" I asked. "I am referring
to land," he said at one point. And he added: "You keep talking
about spirit aspects."
-
- It actually happens: Those who make a cult of the land
of Israel put this cult of land above the teachings of Christ.
-
- Jewish Zionists such as Begin and Shamir and Sharon support
the Christian dispensationalists because the dispensationalists give them
total support. In dealing with the criticism of this alliance between militant
Christians and militant Jews, I think it is important to know the difference
between religion and politics.
-
- True faith, whether one is Christian, Muslim, or Jewish,
is religion. Zionism, whether one is Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, is politics.
And it is politics because it deals with land, not spiritual values.
-
- In closing, I want to mention a trip I made to Basel,
Switzerland. I attended the first Christian Zionist Congress. I was one
of 589 persons from 27 countries attending this Congress.
-
- It was held in the same hall where Theodor Herzl had
called the first Jewish Zionist Congress, about 100 years ago. Herzl had
stressed that Jews were different and should live exclusively among Jews.
Christian Zionists say the same. This conference was supported by the Israelis.
-
- I listened to speakers who were Jewish Zionists as well
as Christian Zionists. Rather than provide hope by suggesting steps whereby
Jews and Arabs might reach reconciliation, and live together, in peace,
each speaker seemed to reinforce the fears of the other. Rather than stress
how much Arabs and Jews -- and indeed all human beings -- have in common,
speakers told us: Jews are different. They must live exclusively among
Jews.
-
- Christian Zionists believe that God has ordained that
the Jews control the land of Palestine, and that they control Jerusalem,
and build a temple, and that they reinstate animal sacrifice.
-
- The Christian Zionists approve every military action
taken by the Jewish Zionists. If Israel bombs Iraq, as it has done, or
invades Lebanon, as it has done, or shoots and kills Palestinian children,
as it has done, then Christian Zionists will say: "Well, that is a
Chosen Land and a Chosen People. All of that is orchestrated by God."
-
- Although our aid to Israel is more than we give to many
countries, including all India, Africa, and South America, Christian Zionists
will support these billions of your taxpayer dollars going to Israel, because
of their interpretation that God wants that land as the landing base for
the Second Coming of Christ. It is the LAND for which they care. They want
it there, in place, so that the rest of their scenario, including their
Rapture, can come to pass.
-
- Somehow, in all the sermons of Jerry Falwell and other
Christian Zionists, I miss their telling us about the Sermon on the Mount.
And I miss these militant Christians reminding us that Christ possessed
a way that was NOT based on military strength.
-
- His way was not to steal property and kill people for
the sake of a temporary political kingdom on Earth. Rather, as we know,
Christ came to advance and enhance life. He came not to speak and support
a cult of land. But he came to speak for the suffering, the destitute,
the oppressed.
-
- Indeed, He has a Chosen People. We are all chosen to
do good, not evil. Chosen to seek and to work for peace, in the Middle
East and in the world.
-
- ***
-
- About the author: Grace Halsell was a White House speech
writer for President Lyndon Johnson and has covered both the Korean and
Vietnam wars as a journalist. She is the author of several books including
Prophecy and Politics (Lawrence Hill & Company, Westport, Connecticut)
and The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read (1993, Kendall-Hunt Publishing
Company, P.O. Box 539, Dubuque, Iowa, 52004- 0539), from which this article
was reprinted. Actually, the above article appeared in The Spectrum, Vol.
4, Number 10.
-
- ***
-
- Another AIPAC/neocom first
-
- Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia) became the first black
Congressman to have her career ended for her outspoken advocacy of an independent
U.S. foreign policy. Rep. McKinney publicly voiced her suspicion that the
Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 attacks, opposed war in Iraq
and even said that Washington D.C. doesn't make a move without first checking
with Tel Aviv. Rep. McKinney's remarks were contrary to the goals of the
American Israel Political Action Committee -- the pro-Israel lobby -- and
a group of influential individuals called neo-conservatives that include
William Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Michael Ledeen and Richard Perl.
-
- It is foolish for Americans to slide the influence of
pro-Israeli interests in U.S. government under a Persian rug. To ignore
the pro- Israeli lobby while the U.S. is fighting a war in the Middle-East
is as strategically astute as believing the Iraqi people welcome a U.S./Israeli
liberation (occupation) of their Islamic nation.
-
- ***
-
- Editor's Note: There is an entire spectrum of issues
related to the Holocaust: The creation of Israel, U.S./Israeli relations,
Arab/Palestinian/Israeli relations, Christian/Jewish/Muslim relations,
the Middle-East "peace" process, Gulf War I and its sequel Gulf
War II. They represent layer upon layer of historical/political/social/theological
and economic intrigue. To ensure that common people are kept thoroughly
in the dark about these issues they have been conditioned to respond emotionally,
not logically, when these subjects come up and label those who question
the motives of Zionist Jews as "anti-semites."
-
- The Idaho Observer has refrained from publishing material
relative to these subjects, partially because we have plenty of other issues
to cover, partially because we attach all responsibility for all behavior,
good or bad, to the individual and not the group to which they claim assiciation
and, partly, because we publish from north Idaho where the good people
from this area have survived the legacy of Richard Butler and his "anti-Semitic"
Aryan Nations Church. To understand the historic and contemporary truths
behind "Zionism"and its effect on current events the reader must
be an objective, insightful student of history; he must overcome the conditioned
tendency to lose one's ability to think logically about facts when they
are presented.
-
- However, as we watch our world unravel, we no longer
have the luxury of sidestepping these issues: Powerful Zionists in the
U.S. and Israel have been instrumental in moving the Middle East toward
war in a way that benefits Israel and the U.S.
-
- The Idaho Observer P.O. Box 457 Spirit Lake, Idaho 83869
Phone: 208-255-2307 Email: <mailto:observer@coldreams.com>observer@coldreams.com
Web: <http://idaho-observer.com>http://idaho-observer.com <http://proliberty.com/observer/>http://proliberty.com/observer/
|
