Saturday, March 27, 2010
Christian truth against occupation
The Western media never fails to focus on "clashes" and "conflict" in the Holy Land, making sure to frame their news in a suppposedly balanced way, but which is anything but. Western media routinely fails to place into the public mind Palestinian non-violent resistance to occupation. In this video, you can see Christian Palestinians' non-violent protest including prayer against the illegal building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank area of Beit Sahour, their home. What is the reaction to their legitimate and peaceful opposition? You can clearly witness the Israeli forces use of tear gas and concussion grenades against these unarmed people standing up for their legal human rights.
Christians of Palestine, KAIROS PALESTINE, have issued a statement, The Moment of Truth, in many languages, asking support from Christians around the world. "In this historic document, we Palestinian Christians declare that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity". Here is part of their statement in its English language version. I will print it up for my mother, who is a devout Christian, to read:
"This document is the Christian Palestinians’ word to the world about what is happening in Palestine. It is written at this time when we wanted to see the Glory of the grace of God in this land and in the sufferings of its people. In this spirit the document requests the international community to stand by the Palestinian people who have faced oppression, displacement, suffering and clear apartheid for more than six decades. The suffering continues while the international community silently looks on at the occupying State, Israel. Our word is a cry of hope, with love, prayer and faith in God. We address it first of all to ourselves and then to all the churches and Christians in the world, asking them to stand against injustice and apartheid, urging them to work for a just peace in our region, calling on them to revisit theologies that justify crimes perpetrated against our people and the dispossession of the land."
please read the entire text in English here.
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5 comments:
I saw the video--sickening the way the Israelis react... Hugs, M.
yes. Hopefully, more people will become clear on what the issues actually are, rather than be hoodwinked by pressures to conform to the dominant view.
This was painful to watch. I hope many people will see this.
(I, Salemah, viewed this paper on the web, am sharing it)
PRETRIB RAPTURE POLITICS
Many are still unaware of the eccentric, 180-year-old British theory underlying the politics of American evangelicals and Christian Zionists.
Journalist and historian Dave MacPherson has spent more than 40 years focusing on the origin and spread of what is known as the apocalyptic "pretribulation rapture" - the inspiration behind Hal Lindsey's bestsellers of the 1970s and Tim LaHaye's today.
Although promoters of this endtime evacuation from earth constantly repeat their slogan that "it's imminent and always has been" (which critics view more as a sales pitch than a scriptural statement), it was unknown in all official theology and organized religion before 1830.
And MacPherson's research also reveals how hostile the pretrib rapture view has been to other faiths:
It is anti-Islam. TV preacher John Hagee has been advocating "a pre-emptive military strike against Iran." (Google "Roots of Warlike Christian Zionism.")
It is anti-Jewish. MacPherson's book "The Rapture Plot" (see Armageddon Books etc.) exposes hypocritical anti-Jewishness in even the theory's foundation.
It is anti-Catholic. Lindsey and C. I. Scofield are two of many leaders who claim that the final Antichrist will be a Roman Catholic. (Google "Pretrib Hypocrisy.")
It is anti-Protestant. For this reason no major Protestant denomination has ever adopted this escapist view.
It even has some anti-evangelical aspects. The first publication promoting this novel endtime view spoke degradingly of "the name by which the mixed multitude of modern Moabites love to be distinguished, - the Evangelical World." (MacPherson's "Plot," p. 85)
Despite the above, MacPherson proves that the "glue" that holds constantly in-fighting evangelicals together long enough to be victorious voting blocs in elections is the same "fly away" view. He notes that Jerry Falwell, when giving political speeches just before an election, would unfailingly state: "We believe in the pretribulational rapture!"
In addition to "The Rapture Plot," MacPherson's many internet articles include "Famous Rapture Watchers," "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," "Edward Irving is Unnerving," "America's Pretrib Rapture Traffickers," "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)," "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy" and "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" (massive plagiarism, phony doctorates, changing of early "rapture" documents in order to falsely credit John Darby with this view, etc.!).
Because of his devastating discoveries, MacPherson is now No. 1 on the "hate" list of pretrib rapture leaders who love to ban or muddy up his uber-accurate findings in sources like Wikipedia - which they've almost turned into Wicked-pedia!
There's no question that the leading promoters of this bizarre 19th century end-of-the-world doctrine are solidly pro-Israel and necessarily anti-Palestinian. In light of recently uncovered facts about this fringe-British-invented belief which has always been riddled with dishonesty, many are wondering why it should ever have any influence on Middle East affairs.
This Johnny-come-lately view raises millions of dollars for political agendas. Only when scholars of all faiths begin to look deeply at it and widely air its "dirty linen" will it cease to be a power. It is the one theological view no one needs!
With apologies to Winston Churchill - never has so much deception been foisted on so many by so few!
20th C Woman, as with the exposure of apartheid in South Africa, I believe more people will come to see the truth of Israeli apartheid.
Salemah, thank you for posting the overview of rapture politics. The role of Christian Zionists needs to be made clear in this unmitigated support for Israel. Unfortunately, Canadian politics has many Christian Zionists among its representatives, who are coloring our policies and politics with their short-sighted racism.
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