Tag Archives: Jesus

German Christians protest Christ at the Checkpoint speaker’s racist theology

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Mitri Raheb – pushed racist theology at CATC 2010

The Stonegate Institute reports:

Since 1992, the German concern Media Control has awarded an annual prize, known as “Deutscher Medienpreis.” According to the company website, it is given “to a person who had outstanding importance in the media during the past year.” Remarkably, the list of yearly awardees has mostly lived up to that ambitious description, including many illustrious and deserving personalities. Until this year, that is.

Four awardees were named for the 2011 prize in a press announcement on January 13, 2012. While three seem to be meritorious enough, the fourth is a Palestinian pastor who has devoted all his theological energies to delegitimizing the State of Israel. No, he does not just oppose “the occupation.” He maintains that Israel is a foreign European body that lacks his own DNA connection to the people of the Bible. Moreover, Media Control has lined up a former President of Germany, Prof. Roman Herzog, to come and praise him.

Part of the problem may be that for this year, the twentieth anniversary of the prize, Media Control decided to abandon its previous winning formula. According to that press announcement: “For the jubilee of the Media Prize, this tradition is being broken in order to honor personalities who are quiet peacemakers and whose activity takes place without great media attention.” In other words, people whom we do not know much about and who may not have done anything of note recently.

Lutheran Pastor Mitri Raheb of Bethlehem, however, is by no means an unknown character in Germany. He has published books there and he has given countless speeches in churches and church-related institutions. On February 19 next, he is scheduled to preach in the Berliner Dom, the principal Protestant church in Berlin, and to deliver a keynote lecture in the afternoon at another major church, the French Dom. Very handy for the award ceremony of the Media Prize on February 24.

To give a taste of his theology, we shall give an extract from a speech that he held in Bethlehem in March 2010. For nearly two years, anyone in the world with a computer, including the people of Media Control, has been able to read this speech and even to listen to it.

Said Mitri Raheb: “Actually, Israel represents Rome of the Bible, not the people of the land. And this is not only because I’m a Palestinian. I’m sure if we were to do a DNA test between David, who was a Bethlehemite, and Jesus, born in Bethlehem, and Mitri, born just across the street from where Jesus was born, I’m sure the DNA will show that there is a trace. While, if you put King David, Jesus and Netanyahu, you will get nothing, because Netanyahu comes from an East European tribe who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages.”

And he continued in this vein. I have written about Raheb’s speech in another article, which is available in German. The article was even published in Germany last December by the official “Circle of Friends” in Baden that promotes good relations between German Protestants and the Jewish people (Freundeskreis Kirche und Israel in Baden e.V.). Media Control and its prize-awarding jury should have known about this major aspect of Raheb. Yet his citation for the prize, according to the press announcement, is for being a “quiet peacemaker” who “stands for understanding between Christian, Muslims and Jews” and is “the alternative to violence and radicalization.”

Let us paraphrase this citation in words that do not disguise the reality. Raheb is a noisy denier of the very legitimacy of the State of Israel, which he seeks to undermine not by physical violence but by a radical theology that awakes enthusiasm among Christians, Muslims and even a handful of Jews who long to see Israel vanish from the map.

Whereas the Nazis spoke of “race” and “blood,” Raheb is modern enough to speak of “DNA,” but what is the difference? It is not just that for the Nazis Jews did not belong in Germany because their blood was non-Aryan, whereas for Raheb they do not belong anywhere near him because he thinks their DNA is European. The difference is also that Prof. Roman Herzog represents the new Germany that arose from the ruins of Nazism, yet he is slated to come along on February 24 and praise such a person. A former German president will be praising the man who delegitimizes an elected prime minister for having the wrong DNA.

Prof. Herzog has been placed in an embarrassing position by the decision of Media Control’s jury. Since he is doubtless asked to deliver such speeches on many occasions, one cannot expect him personally to research everyone he is supposed to talk about. But the embarrassment goes further. He is also the patron of the Roman Herzog Institute in Munich, created by friends who cherish his ideals. Praise of DNA-theologian Raheb will not bring much honor to that institute nor, for that matter, to Media Control itself.

German-speaking Christians have already begun writing to Prof. Herzog to warn him about what he has got into. We await the response of international Jewish organizations.

Jonathan Romain on Yeshua’s fulfilled prophecy

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Jonathan Romain is a rabbi whom I greatly respect. He wrote an article in the Guardian in 2010 asking whether Jews For Jesus leader Moishe Rosen died as a Jew or a Christian. The obvious question immediately, is whether “Jew” and “Christian” are contradictory terms.

If a Jew is someone whose mother is Jewish, then regardless of whether that Jew has beliefs widely seen as heretical, he is still a Jew. A Christian is anyone from any background or race, Jew or Gentile, who believes that Yeshua of Nazareth is the Christ or Messiah.

Here is Romain on Rosen’s apparent “crime” (he hesitates to use the word “sin”!):

His “crime” was not that he attempted to convert Jews to Christianity – the church had been doing that for centuries – but that he added a new and subversive element to the missionary campaign by asserting that those who did so were not reneging on their Jewishness but fulfilling it.

It meant that he removed one of the great barriers to any Jewish individual contemplating conversion – guilt at denying their roots and rejecting their family. He claimed that they could remain Jews, and even become better Jews, by accepting Jesus as the messiah.

Rosen’s message was given added potency by the fact that he himself had been an Orthodox Jew, and he could speak from personal experience. He sought to negate the position assumed up till that point by both the Jewish and Christian hierarchy that one had a choice between either Judaism or Christianity. Instead, said Rosen, a person could be both.

Now I would say that it is slightly revisionist, to imagine there was no-one before Moishe Rosen challenging the barriers of Jewish and Christian identity.

We have the likes of Paul Philip Levertoff and Isaac Liechtenstein, long before Rosen challenging traditional assumptions. Levertoff even wrote a book Love and the Messianic Age bringing together ideas about the divine love, from the Chabad tradition and from the gospel of John, amongst other fascinating writings.

Before these of course, we could look back to Paul himself, who worshipped in the Temple in Jerusalem for over a decade after his initial experience of believing in Yeshua, and openly, gladly identified as a Pharisaic Jew with Roman citizenship.

In Romain’s mind, however, Paul’s Jewish identity never, ever features relevantly in Christianity:

It was this blurring of the differences between the faiths that so enraged Jewish authorities. Ever since Christianity had begun, it had been recognised that although there was much in common between the two faiths – notably a shared system of ethics based on the teachings of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible – there had been one crystal clear division: acceptance or rejection of Jesus. By calling his new movement “Jews for Jesus”, Rosen undermined that distinction.

In his introduction, Romain describes Rosen as a “hate figure”, writing:

The death of an extraordinary hate-figure has just occurred. Moishe Rosen was one of the most detested figures in recent decades in some Jewish circles – for religious reasons rather than for murderous policies.

Here is Romain’s explanation of said hatred:

What infuriates many, though, is that its adherents still maintain Jewish customs such as observing dietary laws and Jewish festivals as part of their claim to Jewish authenticity

If taken at face value, this means that if Messianic Jews wish to have a Shabbat meal in peace and quiet, we are justifying our relatives or neighbours hating us. Anyone who thinks this is okay, just take a step back and see how it sounds!

Moreover, Romain writes about Rosen as if he represents all Messianic Jews. But this is another case of writers confusing the missionary institution Jews For Jesus with the socio-religious group known as Messianic Jews.

Having dealt inadequately with the Jewishness of Messianic Jews, Romain then gets into the question of Jesus’ Messiahship.

There is an admission of the fact that Jesus has fulfilled many Biblical prophecies:

Rosen may have died, but the challenge he posed still looms large : can a Jew who accepts Jesus still claim to be a Jew? This raises the question of why most Jews do not follow Jesus despite the apparent way in which he is claimed to have fulfilled various biblical prophecies.

Here is Romain’s response:

The answer is that, like statistics, biblical verses can be manipulated to suit one’s own purposes, but they are not enough by themselves. Many people, for instance, have been born in Bethlehem (Micah 5.1) or have ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9.9) but that did not mean they were the messiah.

Notice something very subtle here?

Romain admits that Jesus has fulfilled prophecy, but the prophecy he concedes as having been fulfilled, is prophecy regarding superficial details of Jesus’ ministry. By “superficial”, I mean, details which can be seen and appear mundane, and do not seem particularly remarkable.

I agree that it’s not so impressive to ride into Jerusalem in a donkey or be born in Bethlehem. But by only partially quoting these verses, Romain underwrites their power. Zechariah 9.9 states that:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

This king is humble, like Jesus, and so to accept that the Messiah will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, we must also accept that the Messiah does so humbly. Jesus’ humble first coming, and his special love for the meek, should make the light bulbs flash in one’s mind, that his riding humbly on a donkey into Jerusalem is more powerful than it initially seems.

And then, we have the verse in Micah that Rabbi Romain highlights:

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

It is not just that the Messiah, the ruler of Israel, is to be King of Israel. Rather, the Messiah’s coming is from “ancient days”. The Hebrew phrase is מִימֵ֥י עוֹלָֽם – from the days of eternity.

עוֹלָֽם (olam) is frequently used in Hebrew to describe the eternal – the Shema ends with the phrase le’olam va’ed - for ever and ever. לְעוֹלָ֔ם clearly means “forever” in the Bible  -  מִימֵ֥י עוֹלָֽם is “from the days of forever“.

So if Rabbi Romain sees the prophecy of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem as unimpressive, then surely with that prophecy is the concept of Messiah being from the days of eternity – something he could only accomplish were he divine.

Yet this exploration of the text, is lost amongst Romain’s rhetorical devices.

We could also note how Romain has not looked at the more obviously shocking passages like Psalm 22 or Isaiah 53, whose parallels with the death of Yeshua are unavoidable. The life and identity of Yeshua breathes palpably through these verses.

Romain justifies his position that Jesus is not the Messiah, thus:

For Judaism, the litmus test for that title is that on his arrival, peace will descend on the world and a time of universal harmony begin. That is why many Jews prefer to talk about the messianic age, rather than the messiah, emphasising that what is crucial is the era not the person. Peace has not happened and so Jesus failed the test. He was clearly an inspirational preacher, but not the messiah.

According to Romain, Jews care more about the messianic age of peace, than the identity and ministry of Messiah himself. Yet most Jews throughout the ages have believed in a Messiah figure – indeed, entire revolts, cults, and mass-movements have originated out of community belief in Jewish personalities as the Messiah. I think in particular of Shimon bar Kochba and Shabbatei Zevi.

Romain concludes:

Of course, Jews for Jesus insist otherwise, and that it is possible to inhabit two religious worlds simultaneously; but for most other Jews, they have crossed a line that makes them good Christians but no longer Jewish.

For Romain, to believe in a Messiah personality who has not brought world peace, makes you not Jewish any more. I find it hard to believe what Romain is saying.

50% of Jewish institutions in the UK are controlled by Chabad, along with half of British rabbis.

According to Romain’s logic, half of Britain’s rabbis are not Jewish, because they believe in a messiah who did not bring world peace before his death – he died, and these Jews carry on believing he is the Messiah – still keeping the Torah.

If Romain were to write about Chabad in the Guardian:

What infuriates many, though, is that its adherents still maintain Jewish customs such as observing dietary laws and Jewish festivals as part of their claim to Jewish authenticity

Well, you can guarantee there would be uproar!

Jewish journalist strangely drawn to the story of Jesus

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The story of Jesus is the ultimate political drama

I shouldn’t be interested in the life of Jesus, but I can’t help it – his story makes for gripping entertainment. Wrote Jonathan Freedland on Christmas Eve for The Guardian newspaper.

I shouldn’t like it. Not at all. My upbringing – regular synagogue attendance, Hebrew classes twice a week, a kosher home – was meant to inoculate me against it, ensuring that I would recoil at the mere mention of the word. And yet – and here I need to lower my voice to a whisper – I am strangely drawn to the story of Jesus.

Jews don’t even like saying the name too loud. The Talmud refers to him only as “that man”. Plenty of Jews use the Yiddish name Yoshke, which sounds more unflattering than it looks on the page. Now that I think about it, I remember my grandfather preferring the word “Yoizel”, which has a slightly gentler ring to it – so maybe I picked up this habit from him.

The point is, Jews don’t go in for Jesus. So-called Messianic Jews, “Jews for Jesus”, are ostracised almost universally by other Jews. The religion founded in Jesus’s name may have been good news for Christians, but it usually spelled trouble and persecution for the Jews. So, for people like me, an interest in Jesus is a little taboo.

Not that I’m a crypto-follower or Christian-curious or anything, don’t get me wrong. I know lots of lefties bang on about how Jesus was the first socialist and all that, but that’s not the draw for me. No, what pulls me in is the Jesus story.

I wasn’t taught it in school and I didn’t read it in the gospels. My first exposure came on TV, in the form of those Jesus films they always show at Easter. I think it was the ATV movie, Jesus of Nazareth, that got me hooked (produced, incidentally, by the unmistakably Jewish Lew Grade). But from then on I was a sucker for any telling and retelling: whether Hollywood epics, such as The Greatest Story Ever Told, musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar, or even cunning modern-day adaptations – think Godspell or Jesus of Montreal. I lapped them all up.

A psychologist would say it’s the taboo that does it. Especially if they knew that that first, childhood viewing of Jesus of Nazareth coincided – as Easter so often does – with the first night of the Jewish festival of Passover. I was watching Robert Powell get crucified when I should have been preparing the seder table. What for most people is a tale associated with Sunday school tedium carried for me the frisson of the forbidden.

But I’m afraid I don’t think that explains it. The truth is, the Jesus story is the ultimate political drama. Imagine it: a radical firebrand, whom the powerful want to silence and shut down. But the threat is not only external. He also faces a hidden challenge from within his own inner circle, a traitor in his midst …

I admit that I brace myself when I come to hear the story told again, whether through radio drama, rock opera or, say, some BBC experimental production on the streets of Manchester. I worry: will this version blame the Romans or the Jews? Of course it’s always best when Pilate, the Roman occupier who gave the order, is the bad guy; certainly better than any suggestion, coded or otherwise, that it is the Jews who should bear the weight of guilt.

I like to think Jesus himself would understand this nervousness on my part. After all, and this is remembered less often than it might be, he was Jewish too.

Simon Wiesenthal Center denounces Christ at the Checkpoint 2012

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The dean and director of interfaith relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center writes for the Jerusalem Post today:

One of the most troubling purveyors of this stealth theo-terrorism lies within sight of Jerusalem. In 2010, Palestinian Christians convened the Christ at the Checkpoint (CATC) conference under the aegis of the Bethlehem Bible College, aimed specifically at Evangelicals. CATC repudiated Christian Zionism as a false teaching, an erroneous misreading and manipulation of Scripture.

One of the architects was Anglican vicar Stephen Sizer, who denies that he is an anti-Semite but hangs out with Holocaust revisionists and whose trip to Tehran included a defense of Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial. Other CATC participants, however, came from churches and schools completely identified with the traditional Evangelical mainstream.

Evangelicals who came with an open-minded commitment to hear both sides heard Mitri Raheb, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem deny the connection between modern Jews and those of the Bible.

“I’m sure if we were to do a DNA test between David… and Jesus… and Mitri, born just across the street from where Jesus was born, I’m sure the DNA will show that there is a trace. While, if you put King David, Jesus and Netanyahu, you will get nothing, because Netanyahu comes from an East European tribe who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages…. I always loved to say that most probably one of my grand, grand, grand, grandmas used to babysit for Jesus.”

No one stormed out in protest. Rather to the contrary: Some participants, like Lynne Hybels (who is married to the head of the Willow Creek network of 13,000 Evangelical congregations), returned to the US as committed workers for the Palestinian cause.

THE LIST of 2012 CATC conference participants includes names of those who used to be firm and unequivocal supporters of Israel. Among the scheduled speakers is the president of the World Evangelical Alliance, Sang-Bok David Kim. The WEA is the parent group of the National Association of Evangelicals, the largest Evangelical network in the US.

The “affirmations” representing the beliefs of the organizers have already been published. They include the supplanting of Christian Zionism with a supersessionist understanding of Scripture that leaves no room for Jews. In other words, all Scriptural covenants with the Jewish people, as well as its religious dignity, have been replaced and abrogated.

While most Christians have always believed that the New Testament fulfilled the Hebrew Scripture, many Evangelicals found room for a continued relationship between Jews, Divine promises, and even the physical Land of Israel.

With no one apparently noticing, that nuance is being deleted.

Another affirmation deals with Jewish Zionism.

“Modern Zionism is a political movement created to meet the aspirations of Jews around the world who longed for a homeland,” it begins, quickly growing ugly: “It has become ethnocentric, privileging one people at the expense of others.”

So, Zionism wasn’t always equal to racism, but it is today, according to CATC’s organizers. The UN’s debunked “Zionism is Racism” has been reborn in theological garb, absorbed and preached by some who a few years ago were among Israel’s greatest allies.

Read it all.

I should say, pace the writer of this piece, I support “the Palestinian cause” in seeking a homeland with borders, and a national identity – peaceful and side-by-side with Israel.

On the topic of interfaith, I do think the author could have mentioned the fact that,  unfortunately, three leaders from the Messianic movement - Richard Harvey, Evan Thomas andWayne Hilsden - are booked as speakers at Christ at the Checkpoint 2012.

As I wrote in the Huffington Post:

Many Jews who make a personal decision to believe in Christ, also known as Messianic Jews, now feel very vulnerable because of this conference. Indeed, most Messianic Jews are hugely disappointed that the Checkpoint conference will take place with the blessing of the wider church. We feel let down by many institutions within Christianity, and we are sure they can do more to eliminate antisemitism in Christian theology.

Their participation in Checkpoint 2012 is a scandal, and one that deserves exposure before the wider Jewish community.

Thanks Rabbi Kravitz – Don’t be fooled by David Herzog!

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Jewish for Judaism’s Rabbi Kravitz has at least got it right for once in highlighting the unethical tactics of tele-evangelist and fake healer David Herzog.

David Herzog will feature next month on Jonathan Bernis’ Jewish Voice Ministries show. They present him as a Messianic Jew.

Herzog is also featured on Sid Roth’s circus It’s Supernatural show:

His so-called miracles include things such as instant weight loss and teeth fillings turning gold. Sid Roth is a sham and a shame to the Messianic Movement. David Herzog is a shame to the world of Christian mission. Such methodology as used by Herzog is immoral deception, Rabbi Kravitz is right and we welcome his exposing of this charlatan.

Evangelical missionary David Herzog stooped to a new low deceiving the Jewish community with ads which intentionally avoided any mention of their Christian evangelical agenda.

The half-page ads ran for several weeks in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal. They promoted a Beverly Hills event offering “supernatural healings” based on what the ad termed Jewish mysticism.

The ads were devoid of any phone number or website that would have facilitated an easy investigation into the true nature of the program.

It turns out Herzog’s duplicity was intentional. He writes on the “In Jesus” website that “due to the highly sensitive nature of these 100% evangelistic meetings dubbed as lectures to the Jewish community we cannot give out the location or details.”

A number of Jewish students attended the recent event, only to discover they had been duped by the Herzog ads.

As the founder and director of Jews for Judaism, I know this is not the first time a community newspaper has been the target of such duplicity. A number of years ago we alerted the community that ads for the missionary movie “The Rabbi” were surreptitiously placed in dozens of Jewish newspapers across North American.

Once the Jewish Journal realized Herzog’s true intentions, it refused to accept any more of his ads.

Herzog has appeared on many of the growing number of messianic television shows. He is part of a long line of Christian faith healers running revival meetings. However, in his case, Herzog has a Jewish name and he gloats at his success at conducting major “Jewish Outreach” on the East Coast, West Coast and Israel.

“Even the Jewish newspapers are begging us to put our ads in their next Health Issue,” he wrote online.

In a pitch to solicit donations, Herzog claims his historic outreach meetings will be, “packed with unsaved Jewish people wide open to the gospel presented with healings and miracles.”

Speaking of past meetings Herzog claims, “miracles broke out, many were healed, and American and Israeli Jews received salvation after God powerfully healed them.”

Although missionaries are less visible on street corners, the Herzog episode demonstrates that attempts to convert Jews have not diminished.  They have simply implemented new tactics and taken advantage of the Internet to reach unsuspecting students and young adults often within the comfort of their homes and dormitory rooms.

As a community we must remain vigilant and increase our positive educational and spiritual promotion of Judaism. Additionally, missionary claims must be continuously refuted and individuals must be taught to think critically to avoid being fooled and taken advantage of.

Jews for Judaism is already planning a campaign to prepare the community for a Chosen People Ministries crusade scheduled to target the Los Angeles Jewish community in 2012.  This time we have enough notice to plan in advance, and it is imperative that the entire community rally together and join us in presenting a strong front.

Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz is the founder and director of Jews for Judaism. source 

“Jesus, not Israel”

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 Judah Gabriel writes:

How do you feel about the following statement from well-known Protestant preacher John Piper?

image

When I saw this tweet, I was a bit uncomfortable. When I saw that it was retweeted by 97 other Christians, I squirmed. Then when I read the full blog post by Jonathan Parnell, I face-palmed.

Jesus, not Israel? Is that what Christians really believe?

Hail Jesus, King of not-Israel.

Piper links to his church’s blog, where the post by Parnell starts good: citing Romans 9 as an example of the irrevocable nature of God’s election. (Unspoken: God’s election of Israel.)

But he speaks of election only to suggest that God’s choosing of Israel was done in order to elect Yeshua. Thus, Israel’s election is made irrelevant because God’s purposes for Israel are fully carried out in Yeshua. Roll the credits, because in Jesus, it’s Israel: The End.

Though he cited Romans 9, it’s as if he didn’t read it at all.

I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Messiah for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.

-Romans 9

To Israel belongs these things. Not belonged. Belongs. The promises of God belong to Israel. They didn’t disappear when Jesus showed up.

The problem with the statements from Parnell is not whether the nations are blessed through Yeshua – they positively are. The problem is that these statements imply a kind of subtle replacement theology: because Yeshua came, Israel is no longer relevant, no longer the vehicle of God’s blessing, no longer relevant in God’s plans, and is just another ethnicity, and Judaism just another non-Christian religion.

God’s important people, then, are Yeshua’s followers – the Church – and if they are the important people, Israel is merely an historical vehicle to get us to the Church, and we are left with nothing but a certain replacement theology, where Jesus’ church has replaced God’s Israel.

“Jesus, not Israel” implies Yeshua ended the specialness of Israel. Consider the absurd implications: Yeshua, the King of Israel, Israel’s Messiah, prophesied by Israel’s prophets, the Holy One of Israel and son of Israel’s David, he comes and does his thing, and what’s the end result? Supposedly, the result is Israel becoming irrelevant. Some King of Israel! A King who makes his people irrelevant.

Huh? Is this making sense to anyone, or are we too occupied with retweeting popular pastors to think clearly?

Christians who want to understand why Jesus is an offence to Jews, take note. When you say, “Israel used to be special, but Jesus changed all that, so now instead of being God’s special people, you’re a heathen going to hell! Isn’t that good news?”

Even though it may not have been Piper’s intent, there remains this sense that Christendom still believes that, because of the work of Israel’s Messiah, it has replaced her. Jesus, not Israel.

Fine and chin-rubbing blog readers, am I being too sensitive? What do you think of Piper’s statement, “Jesus, not Israel”?

Christ at the Checkpoint speakers claim to oppose violence and racism

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The Christ at the Checkpoint conference scheduled for 2012, aims to:

“provide an opportunity for evangelical Christians who take the Bible seriously to prayerfully seek a proper awareness of issues of peace, justice, and reconciliation.”

To do so in a Christian way, you would need a commitment to truth.

Here is the 3rd affirmation of Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 conference:

As followers of Jesus Christ we regret more than 60 years of conflict. We look forward to the time when the conflict will end and both peoples will enjoy genuine reconciliation. We commit ourselves to be peacemakers and to this ministry of reconciliation. As such we stand resolutely against all forms of violence and racism, regardless of the perpetrators.

Is Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 against all forms of violence?

They claim to be.

More importantly – do Christ at the Checkpoint organisers and speakers, tell the truth about political violence?

Here is Christ at the Checkpoint organiser Stephen Sizer, speaking about the 2010 flotilla to Gaza, that was intercepted by Israeli forces:

Getting behind the flotilla is a fantastic way [that] people here in Malaysia can help. Getting relief supplies into Gaza, breaking the siege. It embarrasses America and it embarrasses Israel. The ordinary human beings are willing to risk their lives to sail supplies into Gaza. We saw what happened to the Turkish flotilla. Coming up very soon there’ll be a larger flotilla [...] so we’re really excited about what we can do together.


Remember – Christ at the Checkpoint organisers and participants claim to be against violence.

Let’s just remind ourselves of the Turkish flotilla’s cargo.

Adam Deifallah writes:

There are five easy, safe and legal crossing-points in Israel through which to reach Gaza: the northern Erez crossing, the eastern Karni crossing (specifically designed for cargo), the southern Sufa crossing, the Kerem Shalom crossing and Rafah. If the flotilla’s real intention were to deliver aid to Palestinians, it could be done wth no problem by passing through any of these points.

Items truly for humanitarian aid get through to citizens already. It is only those deemed as “dual-use” — things like steel pipes, fertilizer and cement — that are blocked. Some of the items on last year’s flotilla included ballistic vests, gas masks, night-vision goggles and clubs. You can expect more of the same this time.

Strange cargo to call “relief supplies”, surely.

Moreover, the Turkish flotilla was all about raising funds for Hamas, and open anti-Semitism, Jew-baiting, and martyrdom. Yet Sizer supports this outfit without hesitation.

Earlier this year, Christ at the Checkpoint speaker Ben White addressed a PSC meeting, commemorating one year on from the flotilla.

Here is what Sami Awad – another Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 speaker – had to say about the flotilla, in the week after the event:

The world woke up Monday morning to a shocking and tragic scene, as Israeli commandos launched an unprovoked raid on a flotilla carrying nonviolent activists attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

According to Sami Awad, the flotilla activists were “nonviolent”.

Yet this was found on-board their cargo:

As were these:

Here are the “nonviolent activists” of the Gaza flotilla, loading weapons on-board:

Here they are calling for the murder of Jews:

Here is one of the flotilla leaders, calling for participants to throw Israeli commandos overboard:

You can see antisemitic hate preacher Raed Salah in the front row, on the flotilla.

Salah thinks Jews did not turn up for work on 9/11, and Jews baked matzah bread with the blood of Christian children, during the Middle Ages:

Sizer, White and Awad all support Raed Salah as a political voice.

So CATC 2012 speakers like Ben White, Stephen Sizer and Sami Awad, claim to oppose violence and racism, but are happy to pretend the Gaza flotilla 2010 was non-violent and non-racist.

This is dangerous theological and moral ground.

Here is a full list of speakers, at Christ at the Checkpoint.

Shmuely Boteach on Proselytising

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Shmuely Boteach has a piece in the Jewish Journal of Greater LA entitled “An Evangelical Attempts to Proselytize Anthony Weiner“.

So what happened in this proselytising episode?

The piece begins:

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, tweeted a message to Congressman Anthony Weiner saying, “Dear Congressman Weiner: There is no effective ‘treatment’ for sin. Only atonement, found only in Jesus Christ.”

Oh, how terrible!

All Mohler did was to tweet his opinion on atonement, and that’s proselytising.

Shmuely then goes on to write a 700-word article on the nature of Jewish redemption!

So Mohler is proselytising but Shmuely isn’t?

It is tremendous chutzpah from Shmuely, although not as cheeky as his suggestion that the Catholic Church could avoid paedophilia scandals if the Pope kept Shabbat.

Shmuely, I take my hat off to you!