Palestinian Christians and Christian Zionism

 

a few thoughts on Palestinian Churches and Palestinian Christians

What is the role and purpose of the Palestinian Christian in God’s good plans concerning Israel? Where do the Palestinian churches and Christians fit in Christian Zionism?

Many Palestinian Christians strongly believe that Christian Zionism ignores them, or even wishes that they did not exist.

Isaac Munther; “Christian Zionism has ignored us Palestinian Christians at best.”

Johnathan Kuttab; “There is no room in Christian Zionism for Palestinian Christians”

A significant portion of Palestinian Christianity feels that ‘if modern Israel is the fulfilment of prophecy, then we are disinherited, have no right to be here. Our very existence and validity depend on Israel not being of God! Otherwise, we would be squatters, strangers on a land given to others. We need Israel to be illegitimate, because otherwise we are. We cannot co-exist.’

Palestinian Christians have too often felt ignored or viewed as an impediment to God’s will re Christian Zionism. The story of an American lady who told a Palestinian church “God wants you all to leave” has undoubtedly been weaponized, repeated to American audiences endlessly, but also contains a genuine perception, that Christian Zionists see Palestinian Christians as a spoke in God’s gear-box. This is horrific! As someone who has been a Christian Zionist for nearly 50 years, my emphasis has been on trying to convince an often-disinterested church about the blessings of God concerning the re-establishment of the Jewish state, that God is not done with Israel etc. Palestinian Christians have not been a priority in this, a message to the universal church about God’s continuing love for the Jewish people. I would like to rectify that.

This article will be looking at the story of the Palestinian church. What is their history, their future, what is their place in the big picture? Never forget also the remnant saved by grace! Palestinian pastor Hanna Massad said; “My father was a good man, and he prayed that there would be peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis I his lifetime. He died without seeing it.”

Dreaming of Mount Gerizim; the blessings and the important responsibilities Christian Zionism would see for the Palestinian Christians

Israel, a blessing

So, where do Christian Palestinians fit in Christian Zionism? Do Christian Zionists wish that the Palestinian Christian community did not exist? How does the return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel affect the Palestinian Christians? What comfort can Christian Zionism offer to this community? What part might they have in God’s plans of salvation? The answer to this question lies in a specific application of the general, foundational principles of Christian Zionism.

1.      The Jewish people are brought back to be a universal blessing

2.      The Jewish people being brought back to be blessed and saved!

3.      The Jewish people are saved with the aid of Gentile Christians

God has brought the Jewish people back to the land for their blessing and for the blessing of the nations, he has brought them back for their salvation, and for the salvation of the nations! Like the prophets of old, we need to search intently and with greatest care concerning this salvation. We need to examine the time and the circumstances, prepare our minds for action and be self-controlled, as we all live as strangers here in reverent fear!

For Christian Zionists, the presence in that land of a pre-existing Christian community should always have been viewed as an act of grace.

“What we need is not so much a theology of the land as a theology of salvation!” Colin Barnes

As a Christian Zionists we need to move beyond a discussion of a theology of the Land, and focus rather on a theology of salvation. As we look at Romans 15, and its theological predecessor, Acts 15, we find something vital. God promises to restore the fallen tabernacle of David, to confirm the promises to the Patriarchs, why?? In both cases, so that the Gentiles might glorify God! So that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name,

Romans 15:8-11; "For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs SO THAT the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. Likewise, in Acts 15:13-17 James declares that the Gentiles are included in the Gospel on the basis of a promise to restore Israel; “Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: " 'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, SO THAT the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things'

These verses are about the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles! The restoration of Israel is not irrelevant to Gentiles, rather they are its goal. Israel is restored so that Gentiles may be blessed! (God obviously loves the Jewish people also!!, but the thrust of these verses is clear.) As Evangelicals either we take the word of God seriously, or we do not. Both James and Paul declare that God will restore Israel SO THAT Gentiles might seek and glorify God. This was always central to God’s promises to Abraham – “And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.' (Acts 3:25 - a long time before Acts 15!) This is why Christian Zionism would hold that the regathered Jewish nation will be a blessing to all the world. It was never an end in itself! Micah 5:7 “The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass.” Do we believe this is true for the Palestinians?? As the closest to the Jewish community, the Palestinian Christians could have been in a place of exceptional blessing! All they had to do was show love and mercy to the stranger, the refugee, their neighbour. In Biblical Christian Zionism, Palestinian Christians are both loved and needed!! 

While they may have been ignored by Western evangelicals,

The Arab believers were never ignored or unwanted by God! 

Rather they could have been a first fruits of universal blessing! They could have found that God had given them special promises to help them through this difficult time; see Isaiah 14:1 “The LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Aliens will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.” And Isaiah 56:6-8 “And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant-- these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’ The Sovereign LORD declares-- he who gathers the exiles of Israel: ‘I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.’"

The tragedy is that they largely chose to side rather with their ethnicity, with the Moslem community, rather than with the commands and promises of their God. This is their shame and this is their tragedy. 

Beyond survival and blessing, there remains a glorious calling

"I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding." (Deuteronomy 32: 21, quoted in Romans 10:19)

So, where do Christian Arabs appear in Christian Zionism? What is their role in all this? Put another way, what is the role of Gentiles in the salvation of Israel?

Romans 11:11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. Romans 11:31 “so they [the Jewish people] too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you [Gentiles].”

Christian Zionism seeks a role for Gentiles in the salvation of Jews; Romans 10:19 "I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;" Romans 11:13-15 “I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.” (Again, see Acts 3:19-21!)

Envy for the riches we have in Christ is how the Jewish remnant are saved. Is it also how “all Israel” are made aware of the only name given under heaven by which they might all be saved?? It is the children of Israel, desperate for the food of the Egyptians that go down and seek out Joseph, still unaware of who he is, knowing only that they will die without his help, and without the food the Egyptians under his rule have gathered. Jesus says you will not see me again until you say; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” As the Christian community with the greatest exposure to the re-gathered Jewish community, might not God have a special role for the Palestinian Christians in provoking Israel to envy?

Romans 11:30-36; Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

First fruits

In the Song of Moses and elsewhere, we see a restored Israel being a blessing to the nations (“Rejoice, O nations, with his people”). All this occurs after the return of Jesus. At present, we see only a remnant of Jews saved by grace, and across the nations we see only the scattered children of God (John 11:51-52). And so we read, Deuteronomy 32:21 “I will make them envious by those who are not a people.”

Let us now look therefore, not at the denominational splendor of the Palestinian churches, but rather at the still, small voice of the remnant.

In his article; “the 21^st century Palestinian church in Israel” [found in “Israel, the Church and the Middle East”] Tom Doyle writes of meeting with a small group of Palestinian Christians in Gaza in 2002. He speaks of their vibrant faith. They were led by Ali, a guitar-playing former Muslim from the West Bank. He also noted that the guitar had bullet holes through it. Ali explained that while he was entering through the crossing, he was speaking to a soldier, Aaron, whom he had gotten to know as he crossed back and forth. Aaron was concerned about his guitar case, as the week before, a terrorist had tried to smuggle a bomb through that way. He had the IDF robot put the bullets through it.

“Aaron was just doing his job. I didn’t get mad, and the Lord used it. I was able to tell this young Jewish soldier that I was no longer a Muslim. He asked if that was possible, and I said; “yes, I’m a Jesus follower now. … the Jewish messiah changed my life!” I then hugged him and told him he had a rough job and that I would be praying for him. Aaron was speechless. The Holy Spirit as dealing with him. How privileged I was to tell a young Jewish Israeli about Jesus. The bullet holes? Totally worth it!”

Another young Gazan, Sami, shortly after his conversion, was convicted by the Sermon on the Mount to pray that he would love his enemies. “I expected Jesus to forgive me for my hatred, and to change my heart in the process. He could do that, of course, but I thought I might merely tolerate Jews, and that would be the end of that. I was not prepared for the complete fulfilment of this prayer. Jesus not only took away my hatred for Israel and the Jews, but he replaced it with a love for them. This was unexpected. How could I love the Jewish people while living in the Gaza Strip?” When another young Palestinian Christian in Gaza was murdered by Islamic extremists, Palestinian churches and Messianic congregations came together to establish a trust for his wife and children.

Sami himself, along with the other young members of the Gazan Baptist Church, was relocated to the West Bank by Israel, for their own safety. “By the time I reached Jerusalem, I’d read through the Scriptures several times. How could I doubt that God loved the Jewish people? It was all over the Bible.” Today, Sami is passionate about reaching Jews. He is learning Hebrew and has a heart to reach out to Orthodox Jewish men. “Jesus has called Jews and Arabs in Christ to serve him together. This is deep within the heart of God. I used to hate Jews and run from them. Now I run to them. God has called me, a humble Palestinian to reach the lost sheep of Israel. I have trouble fathoming this at times. Recently, I shared with an Orthodox man on a bus. I told him I was from Gaza and used to hate him and all Jews. But then Jesus, the Jewish messiah came into my life and gave me a deep love and respect for Jewish people. I think he was in absolute shock. He finally asked me if I would come to his house that night and share my story with his family. I did come and was overwhelmed with the opportunity to share Jesus with an Orthodox family at their Sabbath meal. Me, a Palestinian from Gaza in an observant Jewish home in Israel and being invited to tell them about Jesus? Only God could have orchestrated this one.” Sami also speaks of a harvest among Muslims in Gaza. Speaking of witnessing to Jews, Sami stated that, rather than presenting the proofs for Jesus as Messiah, “I aim the Gospel at me, and tell them how Jesus changed me and took away my hatred for Jews and the State of Israel. … Can you imagine being Jewish and seeing how anti-Semitism is growing in Europe and soaring in the Middle East? Then to have someone confess their hatred to him or her from Gaza like us and ask for their forgiveness? The question I am always asked is ‘what caused your change of heart? Was it being in the West Bank and actually seeing Jews for the first time, other than just soldiers?’ Then I tell them that my change of heart happened when I lived in Gaza. The Jewish messiah set me free from my hatred of Jews and Israel. My wife and I have this deep burden for Jews to come to know Yeshua!”

Tom then asked him; “The team you serve with and lead in the West Bank has many former Muslims. Do they have the same heart you have to reach Muslims and Jews?” “Yes, one of the brothers named Mahmoud is also learning Hebrew like us. He has the Shema tattooed on his forearm in Hebrew. It is hard for Jewish people to fathom this on a former Muslim!” 

Hanna, again a Gazan Christian, said “I knew in my heart that God was not finished with the Jewish people because of what I read in the Scriptures. Then, at a meeting, a messianic believer stood up and prayed; “Lord, give me so much love for my Palestinian brother here that I would be willing to die for him.” A Palestinian brother then stood up as well and said; “Lord, give me so much love for my Jewish brother that I would be willing to die for him too.” That is the body of Christ in action. Every time I meet with my messianic brothers and sisters The presence of the Lord falls upon us when we are together and we are overwhelmed by the love of God.” This is the new man the apostle Paul talked about. “If the world can see Jews and Arabs come together in love peace and harmony in Israel because of our Jesus, how can they doubt that this is a work of God?”

God has always chosen the things which are not to shame the things which are (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). The poor and despised to reach the rest. Might He not now choose the tiny faithful remnant of the Palestinian church (“I will make them envious by those who are not a people”), along with the tiny Messianic community to proclaim his love and mercy to Israel? The Messianic community, Simeon, held captive (“I Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ”) by Joseph in an attempt to draw the sons of Jacob back to him?

Think of the blessing Palestinian Christians could be! To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile (God loves Muslims also!!!) Think too of the Palestinians killed at the fence in Gaza – how quick we are to say “80% were Hamas!” So its all OK. What might a Palestinian Christian say? “They are my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh – I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart because they are not saved!”  God desires all be saved – have we indeed ignored or dismissed the Palestinians in our love for Israel, or do we cry out to God for them? This does not mean we agree with or support Hamas!! Rather it means our God loves sinners! What an incredible blessing the Palestinian Christians could become!! Pray for them!!

 Murree Christian School, Graduation 2013

Baccalaureate

It is a real privilege, and a delight, to have been asked by our graduating class to give this message. We are here to give thanks to God for them, to help consecrate their memories of their time here, and to send them out in Jesus’ name. Jesus asks; “To what shall I compare this generation??” So, today, to what should we compare this generation, this class of 2013? I finally settled on the image of Abraham and Isaac, Isaac, a student at MCS.

You see, your story at MCS starts not with you, but with your parent’s faith in coming to these lands. Never underestimate the cost of that obedience for your parents, to raise you here and to send you to boarding school. We sometimes wonder at Job, and at his insistence that he has been righteous. We need to remember his friends were demanding that his sufferings, including the loss of his money, health and even the deaths of his own children, were his own fault, whereas he insisted that he had been obeying God. That why he needed so desperately to be vindicated by God. And so too, for us today. I well remember a teacher at a Christian school in Jerusalem sharing how, when he told his church he was taking his family to Israel, was met by a member at the door who said; “I hope you have had your children measured for coffins”, and then walked away. Friends here have shared how when they first heard God’s call to Pakistan, close relatives said; “if you want to throw your own lives away that’s your business, but spare your children, don’t take them with you.” Speaking as a parent, placing our children in God’s hands can be one of the hardest things we are ever called to do, even as we know He loves and cares for them even more than we do. So how did Abraham do it? How did the father of the faithful give his only child to God? When Abraham is questioned by his companions about what he is doing, he says something amazing; “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” This is the first time the word worship is used in the Bible, not of singing songs in a church, but of placing your only child in God’s hands. As Hebrews 11 assures us, Abraham did not obey in despair, or in hopelessness, but rather it was by faith that when tested, he offered Isaac as a sacrifice, and received him back. God willing, your parents also placed you here as an act of faith, as an act of worship.

And what of you, missionary children, sent away to boarding school? You trusted your parents, you knew they loved you, yet it was so hard to be sent away. Those first months sometimes seemed more than you could bear. In a very real sense, you were Isaac, being sent to a place of sacrifice, for a vision you had not seen, for a voice only your parents had heard. So, how did Isaac feel about being sacrificed by his father for a voice he had not heard? Well, firstly, we know that Isaac obeyed his father. He trusted him. Not only that, but his father needed his help to do God’s will in this. It was Isaac who carried the wood. God is not stupid, he knows your parents have children, and if it is his will that they be here, then it is his perfect will that you also be here. You are not excess baggage, or collateral damage, rather you are here by the same calling God gave to your parents; “Here am I and the children God has given me, signs and wonders to the house of Israel”. We all affirm the necessity of prayer support to be here, yet how many parents realise that their best prayers are often their own children? When there was trouble up north last year, it was Havy and MinHa who were continually praying for them in junior high girls. And it is not only prayer; when the Sindh was flooded, Lizzy spent her holiday helping her parents care for its victims, just as many others here have helped in their parents work. So parents, let your children be part of your ministry here, share your prayer needs with them. God’s calling on your family includes them, they need to understand it and be part of it. Isaac asks questions of his father as they climb the mount, and Abraham doesn’t shut him out or tell him to be quiet, but answers in a way that centres on God, honours God and shares his trust in God. In the same way, you parents need to listen to your children’s concerns. Hear them and help them through them. Dont be angry if they have questions or needs. Hug them and share with them your faith in our loving heavenly father.

During your years at MCS there have been hard times for both you and your parents. You parents included and shared with your children what you were doing, you glorified God in your words and deeds, your children affirmed you and were so proud of you, yet still that moment came when you had to say goodbye and then drive away from them. Having done all things well, still you came to the place of sacrifice. Indeed, it was only because you had done well that you arrived at that place! Had you not done well, had you or your child just said I cant do this, lets go back to America, Korea or wherever, only then would you have avoided that place. Not all sorrow is wrong, Simeon tells Mary that a sword will pierce her heart also, a grief she could have avoided only by staying away from Golgotha, from Jesus. And even here, it was right and needed that you share even this with your children. They needed your tears at parting to tell them how precious they were to you. Because Isaac never was excess baggage or collateral damage. God says simply; “take your only son, whom you love”. He was God’s gift, and in him all God’s promises to Abraham rested. He was always needed and loved, and handing him to God was the hardest thing Abraham ever did. You are and always have been a vital part of your parents lives and ministry. Just by being here, safe happy and growing, you were carrying wood for your parents and helping them in God’s will for your family. As a direct result of Abraham’s trust, God blessed Abraham, Isaac and all his offspring, and that blessing and promise are the anchor of our souls to this day, for we likewise are children of Abraham. I am convinced that the blessings which have flowed to the wider mission work as a result of faithful parents and obedient children will only be truly known once we are in heaven. By faith you endured the separation for the sake of the kingdom.

How does the story end? God indeed provided, when his own dear son also carried wood on those very same hills. Through his own sacrifice he turned yours into a blessing. Isaac means “he will laugh,” and for us here, MCS is undeniably a place of much laughter, creativity, happiness and deep friendships. Most of our students, like our staff, have grown to love living at MCS. Its a great place! The extravagant farewells at the end of term, and rapturous reunions after ten days apart witness this. God did not call your family here to curse you, but because he loves you, and desires to bless you. Isaac did not grow up hating his father and resenting his father’s God, but rather, his father’s God became his God, and Jesus speaks of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is no man’s debtor, and your children have grown in their faith here. God has shown he can be trusted, that he is real. I was speaking with a year 12 class some years ago about how God draws people to himself, and a student shared how a man had a vision in Afghanistan and walked overland from there to his dad’s bookshop, and asked what must he do to be saved. Other students then shared similar stories, again of people they knew, who had lived in their houses. I thought how in the West, a really keen student might have said, “I read about some guy”, but here it was someone they knew personally, who had lived with them for months. God has indeed blessed these students, and they know the reality of him. Interestingly, the God of Abraham also becomes the Fear of Isaac. Isaac’s own son will tell Laban “If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night." Isaac had learnt from an early age that God is truly some one to fear, but also, that he is on his side. Jacob tells Laban that it is the Fear of Isaac who has protected him. Isaac had personally experienced both the holiness and the mercy of God, had personally experienced God himself providing the sacrifice that was demanded. He understood the power and supremacy of God in a way few people have. He was indeed a living sacrifice. He loved and worshiped God and he also feared him. As the beavers tell Lucy, he is not a tame lion, but he is good. In Isaiah we read “and your heart shall fear, and be enlarged;” not fear and as a result shriveled or embittered, but fear and be enlarged. And the God whom you have obeyed in the hard things as well as the smooth has not embittered but enlarged these young hearts before us now.

Ezekiel 14 speaks of “sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled... ²³ You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign LORD." I mentioned earlier Job’s need for God to vindicate him. A very real part of God’s vindication of us are sitting in the front row today, and indeed, in all of the rows. When we look at these young people here, their conduct and their actions, we can affirm God’s goodness and blessings. He indeed has done all things well and we praise him for them. We are here today to thank him, and to give him all the glory. We would also affirm the wisdom and courage of their parents in bringing them here. You did not do wrong to obey God’s call and bring your children with you. Praise him who is worthy to be feared and trusted with even those who are most precious to us. This is true worship!

Turning to the simpler rhythms of our lives, MCS has been more than schooling and training for our graduates, it has been their childhood. For ten months a year, this is where they lived and grew up. Captain Torr and the clones in the Blue Crystal, Lizzy crying because Laney was going to be with the big kids in Junior high while she was stuck in elementary for another year (we have known Lizzy since she was this tall!!), their childhood joys and sorrows, memories and anecdotes, largely took place here. As they leave here on Thursday, they leave their childhood, and step out as adults into an adult world. And they will take from their time here both positives and negatives. We have already touched upon some of the positives, the incredible experience of the reality of God, knowing that he loves them, added to this, and contained within it, close supportive friends and teachers, teachers God personally called from the other side of the world to be a blessing to them and to their parent’s ministries. What about the negatives? Here I will not dwell on the small griefs and dramas of childhood, for as you graduate, these are already largely forgotten, which shows how little most of them really mattered anyway. No, the real negatives you might take away from here are in direct proportion to the blessings God has showered upon you here.

What do I mean by that? Well, as my year 11 and 12 Christian Studies students will tell you, God chose to have the descendants of Abraham become a nation, to have their childhood if you will, not at MCS, but in slavery in Egypt. This was not a punishment for sin. God meets with Jacob in Beersheba to confirm that this is indeed his will for them, that it was God’s choice for their childhood. Why would God want that?? Because while called to be a blessing to others, in that very calling, room for pride and arrogance can sneak in. “God called me, not you, therefore I must be better than you. I thank you Lord, that I am not like this tax collector.” This possibility was so serious that God was prepared to spend 400 years in grinding slavery, and to commemorate this every year thereafter during Passover, so that it might be curbed. We read in Proverbs of the 6 things that God hates, and the first is haughty eyes. We see the fruits of that childhood in the Law; be kind to the stranger for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt. Be kind to the widow and the orphan, you know in your bones what it is to be a slave and a stranger, let that knowledge express itself in compassion for others. Now, we don’t regret not making MCS a slave camp, although Uncle Harry and Uncle Hans do have some interesting ideas there, but as I said, the very blessings of your childhood can be a snare to you back in your home countries if you are not careful.  

You will have better stories - earthquakes, floods, Afghanistan, as we said, people coming to Jesus through dreams and visions. Someone starts sharing of God dealing with them this week, and you but in, “thats nothing, listen to my story of what happened in Pakistan!!” There will be a time to share, and also many times not to share, and that will be lonely.

Friendships – at MCS you have made some of the deepest and most intense friendships you will ever make. Roommates often become very close, so a close friend can be someone you wake up in the same room as, brush your teeth together, have breakfast with, go to most of the same classes with, have lunch and afternoon tea with, play together after school, have dinner with, study hall with and then go to sleep chatting to, until Aunti Kosek tells you to be quiet. On weekends likewise you do everything together, and so the months and years go by. You may feel intensely lonely for some time after you leave here. And even after that you may still think you have no close friends, for in the west, if you see someone once or twice a week, they may well consider you a close friend. Dont think you have no friends, rather realise that friendship is different. 

Laziness. You wont like this one, and it most certainly doesn’t apply to all of you, but Mark Dalton once shared how, on returning to America after growing up here, his non-Christian boss told him; “if I had known you were a missionary kid, I never would have hired you. They don’t know how to work, and they think the world owes them a living.” You haven’t had to do dishes, mow lawns or do a host of other chores common to kids back home, and every weekend special activities have been arranged for you that you take for granted, except to complain about the AC. This is something you will have to get over!

Spiritual pride and feelings of superiority are also real dangers you will confront. You have been raised in an unnaturally Godly environment, praise God!! Basically, every adult here would give up home, friends and family for the Gospel (just by being here they already have), and hopefully, every adult here is ready to die for Jesus. That is not and cannot and should not be the case for churches back home. It is also not the situation in the local Pakistani church, though yes, we wish and pray that it were! But we also want people who are just interested to feel welcome in our churches; we want Christians who are struggling with their faith to be included. Isaiah says of Jesus; A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; In Jeremiah he declares; See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. It is not just the strong and the sleek that God calls, but also the blind and the lame, and those who need special care. Such should find a home in our congregations. The weak and the lame are not cursed by God for being so, rather in grace he commits himself to helping them. Remember, weakness is not sin!! Paul writes to the strong and the weak in faith. He doesn’t tell the weak to shape up and be like those great strong in faith ones. Indeed, he has no word of censure for the weak, and only words of censure for the strong, whom he criticizes for not helping the weak.

Two of my own children, Nathan and Naomi went to an MK get together in Brisbane some time ago. Everyone sat around saying how great worship in Africa was, how great the church in China was, how shallow and materialistic and useless everyone in Australia was. The very blessings these MKs had experienced as children had become a source of pride, of haughty eyes as they looked down on those around them. What do we make of this? Firstly, lets be honest, its probably true. A lot of churches in the west are not what they should be. And that forces us to look again at why God called you here in the first place. Why has God has blessed you? So that you can bless others, bless and not curse. As Isaiah again says; Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear.” You think that you are more spiritual that the Christians back home? Then prove it through acts of servanthood, sacrificial giving, encouragement and love!! Use your years here to make you a better servant, not a bitter critic.

He has called you to strengthen and nurture, not to attack and dismiss. May your new church back home be able to say; “you know those new KM kids, all they do is encourage others, do the dirty jobs without being asked, you hardly know they are here, but they are such a blessing to us! They seem to have learned what it really is to be a servant, and to fear God.” Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." So don’t look down on the church back home, but rather ask for the grace to serve Jesus as you serve his body. And that grace is not condescension, it is the very grace you too have needed, when you were down, or missing home and needed a hug, a kind word, parents to just hold you close, because none of us are perfect, and we all need encouragement in times of weakness. Equally, even parents, teachers and house parents do need to be forgiven!

I began this talk with Jesus saying “to what shall I compare this generation?” The word generations in the Old Testament has a great message. You see, it can be spelled two ways, perfect (תּוֹלֵדוֹת), and imperfect/defective (תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת). Now in its first occurrence, in Genesis 2:4, “these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created”, the word is spelled complete, for everything God created was good. But from then on, after the fall, every time we read this word, it is defective; the generations of Adam (defective), of Noah (defective), Seth (defective), Abraham (defective), and yes, of Isaac, (defective), they are all defective. Until at last, we come to its final usage, in Ruth 4:18; “these are the generations of Perez”, and here it at last it is spelled complete. The rabbis said yes, this speaks of the son of Perez, the son of David. Here we see the messiah, who will restore to humanity everything which Adam lost. Speaking of us and Jesus, Paul writes; “as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so we shall bear the likeness of the man from heaven.”

You are indeed descendants of missionary parents, and graduates of MCS. But remember, all generations, even Abrahams and Isaacs, even your parents and MCS, like your friends and church back home, are defective. Build on the strengths you have received from your parents and from MCS, be aware of their dangers, and always remember that only in Jesus are you or any of us made perfect!!

Thank you.

Book Response - The Other Side of the Wall by Munther Isaac

Book Response - The Other Side of the Wall by Munther Isaac

Dr Isaac writes about how Christian Zionism either wishes him invisible, or even non-existent. He also chides western theologians with telling him what his theology should be, saying that as a Christian Palestinian, he should have input into this. He then mentions how, as a child he disliked reading God’s promises to Israel in the Old Testament. He has since endlessly sought out other ways of viewing Scripture, western or not, which might enable him to reject how he first read the Scriptures.

The sad thing is that he never seems to have asked, “where might I, as a Christian Palestinian, fit into a Christian Zionist theology?” All this time opposing it, but never even an attempt to do his own theological work, to discover where his own people might fit into this theology, into this first, simple, child-like reading of the Scriptures.

So. Where do Christian Palestinians fit in Christian Zionism? Do Christian Zionists wish that the Palestinian Christian community did not exist? How does the return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel affect the Palestinian Christians? What comfort can Christian Zionism offer to this community? What part might they have in God’s plans of salvation? Are they unwanted, or could they be honoured, vital and even transformational? Is Christian Zionism exactly what this community does need? The answer to this question lies in a specific application of the general, foundational principles of Christian Zionism.

1.      The Jewish people are brought back to be a universal blessing

2.      The Jewish people being brought back to be blessed and saved!

3.      The Jewish people are saved with the aid of Gentile Christians

God has brought the Jewish people back to the land for their blessing and for the blessing of the nations, he has brought them back for their salvation, and for the salvation of the nations! Like the prophets of old, we need to search intently and with greatest care concerning this salvation. We need to examine the time and the circumstances, prepare our minds for action and be self-controlled, as we all live as strangers here in reverent fear!

As for Christian Zionists, the presence in that land of a pre-existing Christian community should always have been viewed as an act of grace.

“What we need is not so much a theology of the land as a theology of salvation!” 

As a Christian Zionists we need to move beyond a discussion of a theology of the Land, and focus rather on a theology of salvation. As we look at Romans 15, and its theological predecessor, Acts 15, we find something vital. God promises to restore the fallen tabernacle of David, to confirm the promises to the Patriarchs, why?? In both cases, so that the Gentiles might glorify God! So that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name,

Romans 15:8-11; "For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs SO THAT the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. Likewise, in Acts 15:13-17 James declares that the Gentiles are included in the Gospel on the basis of a promise to restore Israel; “Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: " 'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, SO THAT the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things'

These verses are about the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles! The restoration of Israel is not irrelevant to Gentiles, rather they are its goal. Israel is restored so that Gentiles may be blessed! (God obviously loves the Jewish people also!!, but the thrust of these verses is clear.) As Evangelicals either we take the word of God seriously, or we do not. Both James and Paul declare that God will restore Israel SO THAT Gentiles might seek and glorify God.

This was always central to God’s promises to Abraham – “And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.' (Acts 3:25 - a long time before Acts 15!) This is why Christian Zionism would hold that the regathered Jewish nation will be a blessing to all the world. It was never an end in itself! Micah 5:7 “The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass.” Do we believe this is true for the Palestinians?? As the community closest to the Jewish community, the Palestinian Christians could have been in a place of exceptional blessing!

They were also in a place of great responsibility! That is, rather than being irrelevant or unwanted, they were given great responsibility and potentially great blessing, if they could only recognise and fulfil their calling.

Their glorious calling

"I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding." (Deuteronomy 32: 21, quoted in Romans 10:19)

So, where do Christian Arabs appear in Christian Zionism? What is their role in all this? Or, put another way, what is the role of Gentiles in the salvation of Israel?

Romans 11:11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.

Christian Zionism sees a role for Gentiles in the salvation of Jews. Jesus says you will not see me again until you say; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” As the Christian community with the greatest exposure to the re-gathered Jewish community, might not God have a special role for the Palestinian Christians in provoking Israel to envy through their showing of love to them?

Romans 11:30; Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.

All they had to do was show love and mercy to the stranger, the refugee, their neighbour. Has the Palestinian Christian community lived in such a way as to make the Jewish people envious of their grace and faith and kindness??? Have they in humility loved and blessed their Jewish neighbours?

While they may have been ignored by Western evangelicals, the Arab believers were never ignored or unwanted by God! 

Rather they could have been used to bless Israel, and then in turn become the first fruits of universal blessing! They could have found that God had given them special promises to help them through this difficult time; see Isaiah 14:1 “The LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Aliens will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.” And Isaiah 56:6-8 “And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant-- these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’ The Sovereign LORD declares-- he who gathers the exiles of Israel: ‘I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.’"

Frustratingly, on page 87, Dr Isaac quotes from a number of these passages, including Ezekiel 47, to prove that a restored Israel (as envisioned in the Bible and affirmed by Christian Zionism) would be inclusive of righteous others! Look at how God himself introduced these verses!! Ezekiel 47:13-14 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "These are the boundaries by which you are to divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel, with two portions for Joseph. You are to divide it equally among them. Because I swore with uplifted hand to give it to your forefathers, this land will become your inheritance.” Dr Isaac later contradicts God, and rejects the idea that such verses apply to Israel, even after having shown that if they did, then he might be included as an honoured member with them! He argues against his own case, and shows that real Christian Zionism should indeed be inclusive of righteous others!!! The very case that he should be making!! Dr Isaac also claims (88-94) that all God’s promises to Israel are fulfilled in the person of Jesus. This ignores the clear teaching of Romans 15:8 and Acts 3:21. 2 Corinthians 1:20 confirms this. Will God restore Israel as he promised? Yes! Because of Jesus!! He is the Messiah after all! It is only because of him and through him that God’s promises will be realised. He does not do away with those promises, he guarantees them!

Dr Isaac skims too quickly over Romans 11 (Paul’s central teaching on the present and future of Israel). The unbelieving Jews have been broken off, the believing gentiles have been grafted in, but that is not the end of those unbelieving branches! At present they remain beloved of God on account of the Patriarchs, and in the future, they will be grafted back and all Israel will be saved! The implications of these verses should not be ignored.

The tragedy is that the Palestinian Church leaders largely chose to side rather with their ethnicity, with the Moslem community, rather than with the commands and promises of their God. This is their shame and this is their tragedy. 

First fruits – the more excellent way

In the Song of Moses and elsewhere, we see a restored Israel being a blessing to the nations (“Rejoice, O nations, with his people”). All this occurs after the return of Jesus. At present, we see only a remnant of Jews saved by grace, and across the nations we see only the scattered children of God (John 11:51-52). And so we read, Deuteronomy 32:21 “I will make them envious by those who are not a people.”

Let us now look therefore, not at the denominational splendour of the Palestinian churches, but rather at the still, small voice of the remnant.

In his article; “the 21^st century Palestinian church in Israel” [found in “Israel, the Church and the Middle East”] Tom Doyle writes of meeting with a small group of Palestinian Christians in Gaza in 2002. He speaks of their vibrant faith. They were led by Ali, a guitar-playing former Muslim from the West Bank. He also noted that the guitar had bullet holes through it. Ali explained that while he was entering through the crossing, he was speaking to a soldier, Aaron, whom he had gotten to know as he crossed back and forth. Aaron was concerned about his guitar case, as the week before, a terrorist had tried to smuggle a bomb through that way. He had the IDF robot put the bullets through it.

“Aaron was just doing his job. I didn’t get mad, and the Lord used it. I was able to tell this young Jewish soldier that I was no longer a Muslim. He asked if that was possible, and I said; “yes, I’m a Jesus follower now. … the Jewish messiah changed my life!” I then hugged him and told him he had a rough job and that I would be praying for him. Aaron was speechless. The Holy Spirit as dealing with him. How privileged I was to tell a young Jewish Israeli about Jesus. The bullet holes? Totally worth it!”

Another young Gazan, Sami, shortly after his conversion, was convicted by the Sermon on the Mount to pray that he would love his enemies. “I expected Jesus to forgive me for my hatred, and to change my heart in the process. He could do that, of course, but I thought I might merely tolerate Jews, and that would be the end of that. I was not prepared for the complete fulfilment of this prayer. Jesus not only took away my hatred for Israel and the Jews, but he replaced it with a love for them. This was unexpected. How could I love the Jewish people while living in the Gaza Strip?” When another young Palestinian Christian in Gaza was murdered by Islamic extremists, Palestinian churches and Messianic congregations came together to establish a trust for his wife and children.

Sami himself, along with the other young members of the Gazan Baptist Church, was relocated to the West Bank by Israel, for their own safety. “By the time I reached Jerusalem, I’d read through the Scriptures several times. How could I doubt that God loved the Jewish people? It was all over the Bible.” Today, Sami is passionate about reaching Jews. He is learning Hebrew and has a heart to reach out to Orthodox Jewish men. “Jesus has called Jews and Arabs in Christ to serve him together. This is deep within the heart of God. I used to hate Jews and run from them. Now I run to them. God has called me, a humble Palestinian to reach the lost sheep of Israel. I have trouble fathoming this at times. Recently, I shared with an Orthodox man on a bus. I told him I was from Gaza and used to hate him and all Jews. But then Jesus, the Jewish messiah came into my life and gave me a deep love and respect for Jewish people. I think he was in absolute shock. He finally asked me if I would come to his house that night and share my story with his family. I did come and was overwhelmed with the opportunity to share Jesus with an Orthodox family at their Sabbath meal. Me, a Palestinian from Gaza in an observant Jewish home in Israel and being invited to tell them about Jesus? Only God could have orchestrated this one.” Sami also speaks of a harvest among Muslims in Gaza. Speaking of witnessing to Jews, Sami stated that, rather than presenting the proofs for Jesus as Messiah, “I aim the Gospel at me, and tell them how Jesus changed me and took away my hatred for Jews and the State of Israel. … Can you imagine being Jewish and seeing how anti-Semitism is growing in Europe and soaring in the Middle East? Then to have someone confess their hatred to him or her from Gaza like us and ask for their forgiveness? The question I am always asked is ‘what caused your change of heart? Was it being in the West Bank and actually seeing Jews for the first time, other than just soldiers?’ Then I tell them that my change of heart happened when I lived in Gaza. The Jewish messiah set me free from my hatred of Jews and Israel. My wife and I have this deep burden for Jews to come to know Yeshua!”

Tom then asked him; “The team you serve with and lead in the West Bank has many former Muslims. Do they have the same heart you have to reach Muslims and Jews?” “Yes, one of the brothers named Mahmoud is also learning Hebrew like us. He has the Shema tattooed on his forearm in Hebrew. It is hard for Jewish people to fathom this on a former Muslim!” 

Hanna, again a Gazan Christian, said “I knew in my heart that God was not finished with the Jewish people because of what I read in the Scriptures. Then, at a meeting, a messianic believer stood up and prayed; “Lord, give me so much love for my Palestinian brother here that I would be willing to die for him.” A Palestinian brother then stood up as well and said; “Lord, give me so much love for my Jewish brother that I would be willing to die for him too.” That is the body of Christ in action. Every time I meet with my messianic brothers and sisters The presence of the Lord falls upon us when we are together and we are overwhelmed by the love of God.” This is the new man the apostle Paul talked about. “If the world can see Jews and Arabs come together in love peace and harmony in Israel because of our Jesus, how can they doubt that this is a work of God?”

God has always chosen the things which are not to shame the things which are (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). The poor and despised to reach the rest. Might He not now choose the tiny faithful remnant of the Palestinian church (“I will make them envious by those who are not a people”), along with the tiny Messianic community to proclaim his love and mercy to Israel? The Messianic community, Simeon, held captive by Joseph (“I Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ”) in an attempt to draw the sons of Jacob back to him?

Think of the blessing Palestinian Christians could be! To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile (God loves Muslims also!!!) Think too of the Palestinians killed in Gaza – how quick we are to say “80% were Hamas!” So its all OK?? What might a Palestinian Christian say? “They are my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh – I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart because they are not saved!”  God desires all be saved – have we indeed ignored or dismissed the Palestinians in our love for Israel, or do we cry out to God for them? This does not mean we agree with or support Hamas!! Rather it means our God loves sinners!

What an incredible blessing the Palestinian Christians could become!! Pray for them!!

Book Review - The Other Side of the Wall by Munther Isaac

Book Review - The Other Side of the Wall by Munther Isaac

I have been a Christian Zionist for about 50 years now. I have lived many years in Israel and the wider Middle East. I write this because I see much that is admirable in Dr Isaac, and hope that he knows that we all grow more from thoughtful criticism than from bland praise. I have certainly grown through interactions with other Palestinian theologians, and pray that he receives this critique in positive way.

Dr Isaac writes passionately about the evils of empire, imperial theology and the powerful, contrasting this with the meek, the poor and the downtrodden. He also writes about the importance of justice and righteousness.

The problems come when he tries to deploy these terms.

If you looked around the world in the 1880s, where might you find Imperial power? In the dazzling palaces and huge armies of the Tsar’s Russian Empire? Apparently not. So, who were the truly imperial and powerful? They were the small groups of desperate Russian Jews fleeing the state backed pogroms. Who knew?? But, Dr Isaac repeatedly assures us, Israel is the very epitome of empire, and Christian Zionism is imperial theology.

Switch to the 1930s, where would you find an example of the evils of empire? In the expanding power of the Nazi regime? Again, apparently not. Look rather to the Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, of whom in 1938, an American writer wrote: “What is to be done with these people, with the millions who are clawing like frantic beasts at the dark walls of the suffocating chambers where they are imprisoned? The Christian world has practically abandoned them, and sits by with hardly an observable twinge of conscience in the midst of this terrible catastrophe.”

That is where Dr Isaac finds the practitioners of imperial power! Imperil power = small groups of Jewish refugees returning to the land of their fathers, legally purchasing malarial land and building a new city on sand dunes. Zionism was not conceived as an Imperial venture, but as a rescue mission. In 1926, Ben Gurion wrote that; “the Arab community is an organic, inextricable part of Palestine; it is embedded in the country where it toils and where it will stay. It is not to disinherit this community nor to thrive on its destruction that Zionism came into being … Only a madman can attribute such a desire to the Jewish people in Palestine. Palestine will belong to the Jewish people and its Arab inhabitants.” In 1937, he wrote; We do not wish and do not need to expel Arabs and take their place. All our aspiration is built on the assumption – proven throughout all our activity in the Land – that there is enough room in the country for ourselves and the Arabs.” Again in 1937, at the Twentieth Zionist Congress, he declared; “No Jewish State, big or small, in part of the country or in its entirety will be [truly] established so long as the land of the prophets does not witness the realize of the great and moral ideals nourished in our hearts for generations; one law for all residents, just rule, love for ones neighbour, true equality.” In 1938, in its submission to the Peel commission, the Zionist movement undertook “not only to respect the civil and religious rights of its non-Jewish citizens, but also to safeguard and, to the best of its ability, to improve their positions.”  

Ze’ev Jabotinsky likewise foresaw the Arab minority as full citizens, participating on an equal footing “throughout all sectors of the country’s public life.” As early as 1905 he stated that “we must treat the Arabs correctly and affably, without any violence or injustice.” The tragedy is that this goodwill (which was not perfect, but nevertheless genuine) was not reciprocated. 

Which brings us to his usage of justice and righteousness. He seems to think that these are on the side of the Palestinians!

It was apparently justice which inspired the Palestinian Christian communities to join and lead the General Strike of 1936, whose main aim was to prevent Jewish refugees (like those in the above quote) finding sanctuary in Palestine. Slamming the door shut on Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi death camps is now a form of righteousness? Seriously? Chapter 5 of Dr Isaac’s book is all about “Who is my Neighbour?” and he speaks positively of advocacy work on behalf of refugees. Who was your neighbour in 1936 when the [Palestinian Anglican] PNCC declared that it “abhorred the tide of Jewish immigration.” In 1935, a congress of Christian Arab clergy issued a declaration forbidding the sale of land to Jews. “whoever sells or speculates in the sale of any portion of the homeland is considered the same as one who sells the place of Jesus’ birth or his tomb and as such will be considered a heretic against the principles of Christianity and all believers are required to ban and interdict him.” These churches said you would lose your salvation if you sold land to a Jewish refugee!! Was this showing love to your Jewish neighbors? On page 178 he quotes Jesus “I was a stranger and you did not welcome me.” He then says; “this is about welcoming the refugee.” In the 1930s, the Jewish people fell into the hands of robbers. How did the Palestinian Christians make them feel welcome?? "Then the King will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, … for I was a stranger and you did not invite me in.” On page 118 Dr Isaac writes; “My theology of the Jewish people is this, love your neighbour as yourself.” Did your church live up to this when it would not sell them land, and shut the doors to their desperate refugees? Or does it need to repent? As he writes on page 125, “no good theology whatsoever can justify hating, rejecting or even slightly discriminating against any people group.”

After the war, when the cries of the Jewish community in Palestine, mocked at the time by Palestinian Christians, were proven to have been true, when the full extent of the Holocaust was revealed, did the Christian community then repent and confess, “we closed our doors and our hearts to you in your time of need, and now millions are dead – please, bring your survivors here, and let us live together”? No. They publicly pledged their support to a friend of Hitler, a known Nazi war criminal who had taken a role in that very Holocaust! The Mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini. In 1947 a meeting of Arab Orthodox clergy in Jerusalem sent a telegram to the Arab Higher Executive, officially led by Haj Amin al-Husseini expressing “absolute confidence in its leadership,” and announcing “to the whole world the cooperation of the Arab Orthodox Community in weal and woe, with its sister, the dear Muslim community.” They also sent another to the British High Commissioner, stating their community “supports the faithful leaders and the Arab Higher Executive.” The Arab Anglicans also pushed a strong nationalist agenda throughout the 1940s. Bishop Stewart (who also opposed a Jewish state) feared that “their nationalist spirit is both strong and wrong.” Bishop Stewart indeed protested a document circulated by the Christian Church Union in Palestine that claimed the Christian community was “in complete agreement both in principle and in deed with the Moslems” and was signed by members of the Arab-Anglican community. In 1947 the Latin Patriarch’s secretary similarly wrote to the AHC assuring it that they would never sell land to the Jews. “for I was a stranger and you did not invite me in.”

In the War of Independence, 1947-48, who were the more righteous? The Palestinians, under the leadership of said Nazi war criminal, who rejected every compromise, every peace plan, who even refused to extend the cease fire? Or the Jewish community, who accepted every compromise, every peace plan, and were ready to extend the cease-fire to their own detriment? The Palestinians who cut off all food, water and electricity to the 100,000 Jewish civilians of Jerusalem, waging a war of ethnic cleansing, or the Jewish community who baked bread on the Sabbath to encourage the Arab population for Haifa not to leave? The British mediator at the talks between the two communities in Haifa said to the Arab representatives, after they announced their decision to leave; “You have made a foolish decision. Think it over, as you will regret it afterwards. You must accept the decision of the Jews. They are fair enough. Don’t permit life to be destroyed senselessly. After all, it was you who began the fighting and the Jews have won.” The truce terms included that Arabs were expected to “carry on their work as equal and free citizens of Haifa.”

Now, it was war, neither side were perfect, but who were the more righteous??

Dr Isaac does not like the Israeli checkpoints or wall. He says Jesus does not like them either. I remember a friend telling my daughter how she loves the wall – before it was there, she had been shot at and had rocks smash her window, even as her baby son was asleep in the back. Now, when driving that section of road, she feels safe. At present, those checkpoints and wall save civilian lives. Pray that the violence that makes them necessary disappear, then they can go. Until then, they inconvenience Palestinians and save Israeli (Jewish and Arab) lives. Unless you think Palestinian inconvenience is a higher moral priority than Israeli lives, they should be supported.

On page 190, Dr Isaac writes about the wars in Gaza. Rather than say ‘while we disagree on many things, the Israeli efforts to protect our civilians, especially our women and children during these conflicts, spark real hope among us of the possibilities for future peaceful coexistence,’ he wrote “the Israeli military was disproportional and inhumane, with no regard for civilian life, especially innocent women and children.” Col. Richard Kemp was a British commander in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, and was a member of an international military committee who investigated Israeli actions during that conflict. He wrote; “[listen] to Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said last November that the I.D.F. had taken extraordinary measures to try to limit civilian casualties. Or to a group of 11 senior military officers from seven nations, including the United States, Germany, Spain and Australia, who also investigated the Gaza conflict recently. “None of us is aware of any army that takes such extensive measures as did the I.D.F. last summer to protect the lives of the civilian population.” Proverbs 25:18 “Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow is the man who gives false testimony against his neighbor.” Exodus 23:1 "Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness.”

He briefly notes that Islamic Dhimma law treated Christians and Jews as second-class citizens. The reality was much worse. For a few examples, in 1823, after an elderly Christian peasant from Beit Jalla was shot and beheaded, his head was stuck on a pike in Jerusalem and the local Muslim boys spat and threw rubbish at it for three days while the local Christians were unable to rescue it or show any grief. In 1828, in Nazareth, a Christian girl who refused the advances of a Muslim man was killed by being dragged through the streets behind a horse. Indeed, prior to 1845, James Finn wrote that Christian women were “dishonoured with impunity.”

He also repeatedly (e.g., 124-125) calls anti-Semitism a Western problem. On page 129 he states that Jews had it better in Islamic lands than Christian ones. Hardly setting a high bar, and doubtful nevertheless. Writing about their experiences in Egypt, from 1825-1835, Edward Lane and Edward Poole described the conditions of the Jews there; “They are held in the utmost contempt and abhorrence by the Muslims in general, … the Jews are detested by the Muslims far more than are the Christians. … many a Jew has been put to death upon a false and malicious accusation of uttering disrespectful words against the Kur-an or the Prophet.” In 1835, the British diplomat Percival Barton Lord recorded how Jews in North Africa still had to walk barefoot when passing a Mosque, while in some cities such as Fez, they were forced to go barefoot at all times. There were pogroms in Lebanon and Jerusalem in 1847 and Syria in 1848 and in 1850 (the same year as attacks were also carried out against the Jews of Morocco). Within the land of Palestine, they were forbidden access to their holy sites and subject to constant humiliations and abuse from both the Muslim and Christian communities. Within Hebron, Jews were banned from entering into the Cave of the Patriarchs, and only (as a sign of their degradation) permitted to go up to the seventh step of the entrance outside it. As they went up these steps, Muslim boys were encouraged by their elders to hit and throw stones at them, to remind them of their proper place.

Chapter six, about his Jewish neighbor, contained the aforementioned quote “My theology of the Jewish people is this, love your neighbour as yourself.” In this chapter, he then goes on to quote Gideon Levi and JVP. This leads into a discussion of “your other Jewish neighbour.” Here he describes Neturei Karta as a beautiful group unjustly shunned, prophets fighting for justice and peace. He quotes Robert Cohen and says that Christians need to find some new Jewish friends. Like the above-mentioned ones. This is profoundly disturbing. Neturei Karta number a mere 5,000 and the Guardian wrote "even among Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox circles, the Neturei Karta are regarded as a wild fringe." After an attack on a Jewish religious Chabad house in India, Neturei Karta issued a leaflet criticising the Chabad movement for its relations with [according to wikipedia] "the filthy, deplorable traitors – the cursed Zionists that are your friends." These are the good Jews, the new Jewish friends that we should make? What message does this send to the overwhelming majority of Jewish people who love Israel? And this in a chapter supposedly all about loving your Jewish neighbour! This highlights the target demographic for this book; well-meaning but uninformed gentile American Christians, who see this and think “how wonderful, here is this Palestinian Christian who just wants to love his Jewish neighbours!” but any Israeli, seeing the names that he mentions, knows that Dr Isaac is sending them a very different message.

In his chapter about Muslims, he totally ignores the 1300 year history of Palestinian Christian experience of Muslim rule (see the quotes above). Concerning the present, a poll taken in 2016, conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, found a majority of Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza supported attacks on Israeli civilians (important when you consider if wall and checkpoints are still needed!). Another poll taken in 2013 found that 89% of Palestinians favor the imposition of Sharia Law into their society. He should mention that the moderate Muslims he rightly admires remain a tiny minority, and that his hopes for the advocacy by the less than 1% of the population who are Christian for a secular state are doomed to failure.

There are also basic Biblical/theological errors in the book, such as when he says the while God promised it would last forever, the throne of David will not last forever (p80). In this he contradicts the essential Christian understanding of Jesus - see Luke 1:32.

Dr Isaac also tries to deliberately make important concepts too difficult and too obscure to be used. This is not about bringing clarity to an issue, it is about trying to muddy the waters. The concepts of “the land of Israel” and “the Jewish people” are both apparently so convoluted and self-contradictory, so endlessly confusing and complex, that they can have no actual role in any meaningful discussion. This is foolish!

The borders of the Land of Israel are not that difficult, the brook of Egypt is a stream just inside the Sinai also known as Wadi Arish, not the Nile, which is named differently in Hebrew. Joshua 23:4 and other verses show the boundaries were clearly known, and did not initially include land on the far side of the Jordan (Joshua 1:12-17 etc). Genesis 17 says the land of Canaan, and Numbers 34 details this. See also Ezekiel 47 for the future version. Dr Isaac thinks it means the whole world, because the Psalms speak of God ruling the whole earth, but this ignores Deuteronomy 32:8 which shows both God ruling the whole earth, and allotting land to other nations! (see also Acts 17:26).

Concerning the identity of the Jewish people, Dr Isaac does not understand that they are just that, a people. A community with a common history, religion etc. A people who are free to invite and welcome in others who wish to join, and free to disown any who wish not to be a part. A people with an unbroken history from the time in Egypt till this day. Yes, individuals were welcome to join, but that did not mean the community as such lost its identity – 100,000 French refugees were welcomed into England after the French revolution – that did not mean the idea of the British people or culture suddenly had no meaning! Equally, if someone chose to disown the community, to separate themselves from it, by conversion to a different religion etc, they and their offspring ceased to be counted as Jewish. See Genesis 17:14, Exodus 12:19 etc. This Jewish people were scattered in 70AD, dispersed among the nations, endured persecution there, and have now returned to their own land. Just as God promised.

This is not difficult, unless you really, really want it to be.