Israel - Not the best at marketing!

This morning BBC news reports are telling us that Israel are to take some 400 hectares (almost 1,000 acres) of Palestinian land near to Bethlehem. Having had a quick look I find the following:

The official statement
"On the instructions of the political echelon... 4,000 dunams at (the settlement of) Gevaot is declared as state land," the army department charged with administering civil affairs in occupied territory said, adding that concerned parties have 45 days to appeal."

The expansionist statement
The Etzion settlements council welcomed this expansion of the current Gevaot settlement as it:
"Paves the way for the new city of Gevaot."

The response from the US State Department:
 "Counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians".

The response from Abbas:
This 'land grab' will “lead to more instability” and “inflame the situation after the war in Gaza."

Expected response from Palestinians:

The Bible assessment (Micah 2):
What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans.
You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out, simply because you have the power to do so.
When you want a piece of land, you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house, you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property, stealing his family’s inheritance.

But this is what the LORD says:
“I will reward your evil with evil; you won’t be able to pull your neck out of the noose.
  You will no longer walk around proudly, for it will be a terrible time.”

In that day your enemies will make fun of you by singing this song of despair about you:
“We are finished, completely ruined! God has confiscated our land, taking it from us.
  He has given our fields to those who betrayed us.”

Others will set your boundaries then, and the LORD’s people will have no say in how the land is divided.

For those of us who are Christians - pray for peace in Jerusalem and for right-thinking on the part of those who govern the nation state of Israel.

Pax

Amnesty Internation and Gaza

A challenging image and a testing question - especially for us as Christians as we seek to bless Israel and yet stand with the words of Micah, Leviticus and many other places calling upon us to live with humility seeking justice with mercy and loving our neighbours too!

I understand the rockets and am appalled at the lack of proportionality from Israel (and the proximity of civilians where due to space the 'human shield' challenge is often circumstantial rather than purely designed in hypocrisy) and wonder which is the chicken and which is the egg.

A challenge for prayer and reason for us all methinks:

The darkness becomes more obvious

The words of John 1.5:

The light shines in the darkness - and the darkness . . .

are probably some of the best known words from the Bible; everyone appearing to know it.

This and, 'It's always darkest before the dawn,' are definitely two of the top trite phrases of 2014 thus far. Used by well-meaning folk who are seeking to bring some cheer and hope in what appears to be a cheerless and rather hopeless world.

We need only to open our newspapers or turn on the TV or radio to realise that we live in a world where the darkness is becoming more obvious and the light, which my scientific training and empirically derived knowledge of the properties of darkness and light tells me the light is destined to win, is appearing to be overcome!

Experience, from working a hundred feet or more underneath London, tells me that even the smallest light (literally at the end of the tunnel) can dispel the blue-black that swamps you once your Tilley lamp (a pressurised paraffin lamp) goes out. As the light vanishes the darkness greedily washes over you and your senses, swamped and confused by the loss of light, renders you totally lost. Hearing is affected too - and standing between the two tracks - you begin to feel the panic rise, just a little, in the pit of your stomach and that little space at the back of your brain.

Apart from the bizarre knowledge that being a smoker would mean you had a lighter to see momentarily with (and destroy for longer any chance of seeing in the longer term) you stand still and, collecting whatever composure you might be able to muster, reach out to the side of the tunnel. Your hands seeking two copper wires which, should you have the field telephone to hand, would enable you to communicate with people who, oblivious to that which you're experiencing, are living in the light!

These two wires also tell you which you're going - East or West - something that offered you a little control in an otherwise potentially out of control situation. Feeling them on the right of the tunnel meant you were facing East. This knowledge allowed you to start the journey to the nearest station and safety.

Having read the news, seen the dawn break and experienced the relative darkness that is night be dispelled it seems to me that the spiritual darkness is slowly, like fog on the Thames, creeping in and gaining the upper hand. It's removing clear vision and touching the emotions and muddling the senses. Our clear sense of direction, whilst intellectually maintained, is replaced by something more akin to panic!

So how do we proceed in a world:

Where war crimes abound in Syria, Iraq, Israel and Gaza?

Where innocent lives are taken by lunatics armed with weapons provided by more powerful lunatics?

Where ordinary people in an affluent Western world find themselves relying on Food Banks to survive?

Where 'drug resistant' Malaria and untouchable Ebola virus are tightening their deadly grip*?

Well, of course I would say this, the answer is simple.

We pray - we keep calm - we act like Jesus tells us to act - we give our money - we give our time - we tell it as it should be told (excuse me Israel, you're not acting like God's people, you're acting like very naughty unbelievers - love The Lord your God and your neighbour as yourself, humility, justice and mercy - and that sort of thing) - we tell our politicians what we feel they should be doing to make things right - we teach our children right from wrong - and (you know what the 'and' is don't you?)"

It's not really dark at all - try removing you head from under the covers and you'll not only see the light dispel the darkness but you'll also see it's probably later than you think too!

This is your 'Happy Friday' wake-up call ;-)

* I got pinned in a corner at a party by a medical researcher some years back. A nice chap who told me how if we spent just 2% of the money the world spends on weapons and armament, how we would eradicate malaria, polio, diabetes and the other 'popular' diseases in the world - doubt this scenario has changed much!

Got five minutes? Then please pray

Here are just four of the things that need our prayer - if you have five minutes to spare - please read and pray (and discuss these issues with others) - Thank You:


Iraq and Syria
In Iraq those who oppose the ISIS forces, or are from different sects within Islam or different faiths, are being put to the sword or fleeing for their lives.
Churches are desecrated and bear the writing shown below - proclaiming that they are now the property of the state.
In Syria, in the northern province of Raqa, ISIS militants have killed at least 85 soldiers - more than 50 being summarily executed (which is murder and a war crime) - UN spokesman says:
'Some of the executed troops were beheaded, and their bodies and severed heads put on display in Raqa city.'
This is as much of a humanitarian tragedy as the Israel conflict - and yet is now generally unreported - please pray that people will understand what is going on and will call upon their governments to act.

'Property of the Islamic State' - on the wall of a former Christian Church

Israel
It is right to pray for the peace of Jerusalem - and for that of the Palestinian territory.
To pray that those who fire rockets into Israel would stop and choose a path of dialogue and peace.
To pray that the nation of Israel would remember that the law calls on them to act with proportionality and to avoid retaliation that endangers those who under the law have protected status.
It is right to pray that the US, rather than vote 'No' and turn its eyes away from the humanitarian tragedy that is this conflict makes a stand for that which is right, moral and courageous.
That those nations who fuel this conflict through arms, political means and self-interest seek instead justice, mercy and peace.

Why can't we be friends?

Ukraine
Please pray for those who sift through the wreckage: For their protection and their sanity as the engage with such a scene of loss and devastation.
Pray for the relative and friends of those who were lost and for their protection and support as they come to terms and live life without loved ones.
Please pray for the political situation and for peace and commonsense to come to the fore.
Please pray for those who seek power everywhere that they would understand the results of their actions and, even if they will not repent, step back.

The greed of men is paid out with the lives of the innocents

Education
Please pray for the education of our children in this country of ours as Academies fail to deliver, reforms of the student loan system look likely to increase the fees Universities can charge and schools are seeing more and more teachers leave, or crumple, because of the pressures on them
Pray that education is seen as means of delivering a well-rounded and fulfilled population - it's about living to our potential, not maximising our earning (isn't it?)

Money and Education: when did it become such big business?

Israel - Palestine: Proportionate and Legal?

Once again the naughty UN have put themselves into the firing line after a shell has hit a UN-run school (being used as a shelter) in Gaza - killing some 15 people and wounded something in excess of 200 injured. The Israelis are suggesting that it could have been caused by a failed Hamas rocket whilst others are suggesting that the MO points to Israel.

Foolishly thinking that they might be somewhere safe there were 'hundreds of Palestinians' taking refuge from the fighting in the school in Beit Hanoun (a place that made the news in 2006 when the Israelis shelled it).

Regardless of whose shell it turns out to be, things are looking bad with the Israeli's managing to kill one child per hour for the past couple of days. Add to this the fact that the death toll is looking rather unbalanced (Palestinians 750  - Israel's 33) and you'll see that the situation has gone past grim and is now something much worse!!!


Ban Ki-moon said in a statement regarding this:
'Many have been killed - including women and children, as well as U.N. staff'

Please pray for peace and comon sense to prevail

Integrity amongst the nations

Now, although some might think I'm totally against Israel I have to say that I am not at all pro-Palestinian (as some have suggested).

BUT

As much as I think it is right to take up arms against a bunch of people whose stated intent is to eradicate Israel. I also think it is right to get down and dirty with people who are firing rockets into Israel with the intention of making life uncomfortable and bringing them harm with said rockets.

AND

My beef with Israel is that they need to comply with international law in the way that they engage and the people that they seek to wound - for at the moment they are (from what I see and hear and read) sitting on the wrong side of the line that separates right from wrong).

I see the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) have been discussing the situation and have voted on a resolution to establishing  an independent Commission of Inquiry into violations that may have been committed during Israel's latest military offensive in Gaza.

How did your country do?

Sad to see that amongst abstentions we find the United Kingdom but at least they didn't join with the United States who had the solitary 'No' vote :-(

It was good to see the emphasis, by UNHRC's Navi Pillar has said that Israel might have committed war crimes during its current military campaign in Gaza. Speaking of accountability she said,  'The first step toward ensuring the cycle of human rights violations and impunity is brought to an end. . .  A lasting peace can only begin with respect for human rights and human dignity on both sides, and ultimately, in the full realisation of the right to self-determination.'

Pillar went on to condemned Hamas' practice of using indiscriminate rocket fire on Israeli civilians and spoke of them, 'Locating military assets in densely populated areas or launching attacks from such areas.' Words that are right and most welcome and yet destined to be as much ignored by Hamas as the other words will be by Israel I would imagine.

Pillar rightly pointed out what any right thinking person already knows:

'International law clearly states that the actions of one party does not absolve the other party of the need to respect its obligations under international law!'

So here we are with rockets on one side and a lack of restraint on the either.

Neither hold the morally high ground of integrity and in terms of proportionality Israel is a good few goals down as I see it.

This needs to stop and there needs to be a truce and some real move towards curbing expansion, stilling the rockets and getting something real and meaningful in place with regards to bringing about a peaceful settlement to all this.

But of course that was probably needed in 1948 I guess :-(

Please pray for peace in this troubled place.

Jesus - the Prince of peace?

Met someone who spoke, perhaps a little glibly, of Jesus as the Prince of peace? as they did, behind them was a wall of newspapers with headlines proclaiming the news, those things of  importance that sell newspapers.

Palestinian death toll rises (now 500+)

Flight MH 17 crashes in Ukraine (305 lives lost)

van Gaal heralds new United era (there's always one paper that misses the point isn't there?)

Christians flee Mosul as they are order to pay to live there or 'face the sword'

Christians often speak of Jesus as the 'Prince of peace' and yet, some 2000 years since He was born round the back of a pub in Bethlehem , there doesn't seem to much of the stuff flying around does there? All that 'peace of earth - goodwill to all men' is most definitely lacking when Israeli tanks can purposely target a hospital - something which according to the Law of Armed Conflict and the Geneva (and other) conventions confers the title of 'war crime' upon them. It surely isn't seen when the militants of ISIS are sweeping across Iraq and engaging in ethnic cleansing of the Christians. It's nowhere to be found when some wicked geezers with a piece of hardware apparently take out a civilian airliner (with the tacit approval of a nation whose record on integrity was pretty much zero before this all began and is now in the negative numbers).

So how do we, as Christians, give an answer for the lack of that peace (shalom) that Jesus is supposed to have brought? Have stocks run low and so supply is limited perhaps? It could be, as one foolish person said, 'That the shalom Jesus brings is only for those who are His!' An explanation that denies the words of John 3.16 where we are led to believe that God loved ALL the world so much that He sent His Son Jesus, the Christ, to come to save and bless ALL within it.

Now I happen to think I might have an explanation. Of course it could be a comfortable and convenient way of making me feel good about all the stuff that's going on in the world around me, but I don't think so (because I'd hate that). It goes like this:

Jesus came into this world to reconcile the people on it with the God what made it (because the wrong stuff had caused a divorce between Him and us).

Jesus, realising that 'without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness' - Heb 9.22 - takes our place on the cross - his blood paying the debt that the wrong stuff has brought into being and restoring the relationship with God and man.

Jesus, job done, goes back to be with God (the father) and in His place we have the third member of the Trinity (Father, Son and) the Holy Spirit, who guides, comforts and counsels us in the things and thoughts we should have.

Now the shelves are stacked high with Shalom and yet there is a distinct lack of Shalominess to be found because although all that is required is for each of us to take this peace from the shelves for ourselves (and those around us) - and for us to become a source of that Shalom; the reality is that we'd rather do it in our own strength and intelligence.

Now wonder the world is pants then is it?

All we need to do to accept the gift of live Jesus has won for us by His death on the cross is to take it from His hands (a 'Thank You' would be nice) and live within the reality of that act.

The same is true of His Shalom - we need merely to take  it upon ourselves and, beacon like, shine it into every corner of our world and if we were only to do this then I believe we'd be in a very different place because truly the darkness cannot overcome the light (John 1).

So today whilst the wicked do their works of darkness - why not choose life in Jesus and taking His light and Shalom upon you oppose their deeds and step by step change the world where you are and, as others join the effort, across the world.

Not proselytising but setting free.

Not opposing those who choose not to follow Jesus, the Messiah, but blessing them because that's what being Christian should be about.

Not ignoring the written word because all we need is love but keeping it because loves is what it's all about.

All you need to realise is that God's peace is limitless!

He's the supplier and looks to us to be the distributors and find more who are willing to act as agents for the product!

Pax

Israel - Palestine: A test from God?

Let's begin by making the pro-Israel folk smile as I say that those who fire rockets into Israel from Palestinian territory should stop their actions - they are surely wrong!

And now let's upset the pro-Israel folk by saying that the shelling of a hospital by a tank (this is not artillery errors - but determined and despicable aggression) and the fact that those killed by Israeli action now exceeds 500 - of which something around 170 of them were militants (against Israeli losses of 18).

The bottom line is this: It's time to stop!

Even UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has criticised the Israelis for their engagement in the densely populated area of Shejaiya last Sunday. Something he calls, 'An atrocious action!'

So here we are - two peoples, One previously displaced and another currently displaced acting in the classic force and immovable object scenario; something Cliff Fenn, our mechanics lecturer when I was an apprentice, broke his hand demonstrating (fist and blackboard - blackboard wins!!!). Once again, with the same scenario, played out differently, there is only pain to be found).

Here we are in the situation that 'God's people' and 'not God's people' are lined up against each other. One supported by the West and the other by the Arab nations.

The Jews have it as their historic homeland - the others are one of two groups:

i. Those who settled during the mid seventh century Arab conquests, or
ii. Those who were there before the conquests began alongside the Jews and remained after they left

Those in 'i'. are 'modern' settlers (after all they've only been there for some 1,350 years) but those in 'ii' have a much longer claim to be there. But it's not about who was holding the ball when the whistle blew or who dropped it. It's not about whose ball it is!

So some questions:

As the inhabitants of a land who have been moved off to facilitate the creation of the nation of Israel do the Palestinians (hereafter called 'arabs') have any claim to the land?

Does Israel's claim that a promise from God that the land would be theirs forever mean that the issue is cut and dried?

A radio interview with someone who was historian and expert on this subject presented the idea that Palestine and Philistine are synonymous and this people group (who date back to Abram's times) having married other non-Jewish (for which we can read Muslim) people are the descendants of the Palestinians and this being parallel occupants with the Jews gives them a valid claim for the territory (what they had until the West acted to remove them)!

So those who support the 'God's promise' route turn to their Bible and the Patriarchal Narratives (Genesis 12 to 50) - their point of interest being God's promise to Abram (Genesis 15.18-21):

'On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” '

Before you can ask a question (and without missing a beat)  they continue with another passage. This time it's Joshua 13.1-6 that interests them:

'Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, 
“You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess. This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim, in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath, all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. 
I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel.'

'How's that then?' they ask - feeling they have made their point and welcoming any challenge that comes from their place of God-appointed possession having been confirmed.

Great! God has promised them a land and the way forward is to turf out all the tribes who get in the way as the move forward and possess the land. So they've gone and the land is clearly the rightful possession of the Jews.

But what's that Sooty? Sweep says that the Philistines didn't go and were still there when we open the book of Judges. Let's have a butcher's at chapter three:

'Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. 
These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 
They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.'

Blimey - could it be that they (the Philistines) were there before the promised land was promised and after it was possessed too?

I am struggling with the clause:

'They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.'

Struggling because if the Palestinians are a test to see how God's people respond and seek to keep His commandments and live as He would have them live - I have to say I think they've failed the test badly. In fact I think they're on a 'U' grade at the moment!

I keep coming back to Leviticus chapter thirteen (verse thirty-four):

'When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.'

Now I believe that Jerusalem has an important part to play in the life of Jew and Christian alike.
I believe that it will be the centre of things that herald the coming of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah.
I pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the spiritual entity that is Israel.

But it seems to me that the modern nation state and the spiritual nation, who keep God's word, are two very different animals. One I can bless - the other I can but despair over.

Of course, I'm happy to be proved wrong - and happier still to find the BBC reporting of what is a contravention of all conventions of wars and Laws of Armed Conflict

A postscript
I was going to use this in my next post but think it might be of assistance within this blog post - it's Leviticus 19.17-18:
'You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbour, lest you incur sin because of him.
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.'

Beggars the question someone else asked jesus regarding this: 'Who is my neighbour/"

Israel - how do you see it?

In various discussion with others over the issue of Israel and Palestine I found myself writing this to explain my position:

 The origins of the nation (with or without a God) are set in time and the religion of the Jewish people and their identity is inseparable and has, on many occasions, been the source of great opposition throughout the ages - finding its culmination in the Shoah. The happenings in the Ancient Near East put upon them (from others - not self-assigned),  or at least confirmed, the 'chosen people' label. Something I think, from the early dealings, might just be right.

The blood guilt felt after the War (1939-45) resulted in the the Israel we see today (modern Israel) and that which Balfour proposed  towards the end of the First World War was done - a formalised homeland for the Jews; and like the Samaritans almost two thousand years before them, the Palestinians became displaced. Winners and losers - and one had the backing of Western might. Not the best solution but  there was never going to be one.

The problem is (for me) that some acted to do God's job for Him and so putting the Jews back where "they ought to be' is up there with those who seek to rebuild the temple. It fits the conditions of prophecy physically and yet the key, as the God I cannot leave out tells us, is not the outer (physical) condition or appearance but is the heart and this is where the conflict ( // to the greater Jihad of Islam) really begins.

Modern Israel is a physical reality and, if the broadcast on it I watched a couple of years back is true it is a generally secular state. This means that Israel is but an ersatz offering in the spiritual sense.

I listened to a most interesting discussion on the World Service recently. Interesting and disturbing because it sounded like something that preceded Kristallnacht as the US Jews were portrayed as those who controlled the bulk of the nation's wealth. Shylock-like they hold the US to ransom and by dint of this ensure US (and UK where apparently the situation is the same) support for modern secular Israel. A worrying listen in every sense.

I understand that the placing of the Jews back into Jerusalem, a place found in Palestine, fitted the bill and fulfilled the Seder hope of ' next year in Jerusalem' - the cry of a displaced people but of course, like the Jews the Palestinians aren't going to go away as they take upon themselves the displaced label - but they haven't the warrant of the West and the emotional credentials that the Shoah brings, have they? 

But no one thought of that when the homeland became a nation did they? And so the scene is set and the conflict continues without charity or understanding from Israel and with bitter recriminations and a blood feud to settle from Palestine. (This is where God's 'leave none alive' policy in the OT saved lives - but that was something for then, not now!)

I find myself turning to the prophet to the Jews, Micah, and his call that those who would please God and live as His would exercise humility, seek justice in everything they do (and are) and exercise mercy - see little of that from them. Nothing of the stuff that confirms being God's people just the actions of people defending the rights of ownership without exercising the responsibilities YHWH would desire from them. My view will undoubtedly be unpopular with Zionists (Christian or otherwise) who, in the same way that many Americans fail to see their nation's actions as wrong, do the same with Israel.

The view that Israel, right or wrong, is always right because they are God's people is in itself wrong but if they are then surely God will call them to account and in the now see them live in a place where blessing them is difficult. I think that goes for those who support them too.

Really?

Just been talking to a 'Christian' who thought they might put me straight - not that they asked me whether I needed to be put straight or even had the grace to find out if I agreed with their views before they launched into their view of what Church should be.

And it goes like this (don't think she even stopped for breath):

'Church needs to stop being so sexist and stop being homophobic and stop supporting Israel and stop being so stuck in the past and should realise that marriage isn't the norm' anymore and should lock up all the paedophile priests and get rid of the Pope and stop lending money to people that can't afford to pay it back and should stop trying to make everyone feel guilty just because they are having fun and should leave Christmas alone and stop going on about God and Jesus and making everyone feel like they're doing it all wrong.

If Church just told everyone that they're doing alright and got on with helping the poor and doing what it was supposed to do then it would be more popular!'

So I asked if they were Christian and the response was in the affirmative.

So I asked what church they attended (thinking of praying for their pastor/minister/priest) and the response was, 'Oh, I don't go to church, I don't believe in God!'

'But you started by telling me that you were a Christian,' said I (just a little confused by now).

Her response placed the cherry on the whole pile of patisserie she had just baked for me:
'I am, I was christened!'

So I thanked her for her advice and said I'd pass it on (Justin, Ruth, Gavin - are you watching?) and left her to her campaign of world domination and the sunshine (and looked for a suitable wall to bang my head against)

And it's only ten to nine in the morning!!!!!!

ps. assume the lending bit referred to Wonga - glad Justin has stopped doing that :-)

An inside edge on my week thus far

And we've only just reach Wednesday!

I woke up this morning and my body said, 'Monday!'
My brain said, 'Friday!'
The alarm clock (for the mortals in the house) read, 'Wednesday!'

So I climbed out of bed and got on with it. Paper work done - emails answered and diary filled just that little bit more (now booking into mid-2105 for some stuff). It's been an amazing week - so full that I haven't managed to blog and yet full of stuff that has challenged, blessed and incensed me. Here's just a glimpse of the first two days:

Was surprised to meet a vicar of the female persuasion who confided that she'd be glad when 'that' vote was over and we could get back to, 'Doing what we should be doing rather than getting bound up in all that's been going on over it!' I wasn't surprised that she was was a woman with that view but at the fact she shared it (I barely know her).

Went to meet with someone I was sure would have been all for a 'Yes' vote and found them bemoaning the rift it would cement between Roman Catholicism and the CofE (something I'd not really given much thought to). A fascinating insight into the situation and the thought that, having come from a positive engagement with Francis, Justin might encourage slowing things down to see how Rome (with an apparently professed 2% of paedophile priests in their midst who will have to go) might look towards women's ministry and try to get some coherence. Knew that was never going to happen though!

Had a friend (and colleague) write:
'Women bishops aren't going to be any better (or worse) than male ones. Remember the woman Prime Minister? And the first black President hasn't exactly lived up to all the hype and hope. So, no, I'm not "#excited" or whatever. I'm long past caring on this one. God bless 'em all and I'll just carry on as before i.e. by lying low and staying out of their way. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." But better not to meet the boss at all if you can help it!'

I was surprised by the many (male and female) who were quite ambivalent towards women bishops - although more surprised by the women because I though there was a party line on the topic.

I was happy for those who were happy over it and sad with those who were saddened by it - I don't have an axe to grind either way and since I don't like the world of rights and inequality; or as I said to one lovely lady what might never talk to me again - positive discrimination has the word 'discrimination' and I'm never for that word - you perhaps do because you're the one hoping to be positively discriminated towards. Needs to be thought out that one I reckon. I'd rather see equality on the basis of the inability to differentiate on anything other than calling and ability (and that covers colour, sex, gender and anything else you might like to think of). It should be about righteous and right living - a quick and lively faith and the desire to preach (and live) Christ in and out of season. Anything else is religion (and probably politics).

Met a cleric who has decided to get on and do it all themselves after yet another Sunday came and went and the people who had taken jobs supporting, and in, the service failed to deliver. They made the very valid point that some of those who never do took great pleasure in moaning about stuff being wrong or not done well and the recipient of those moans was, of course, the cleric. So, they thought, 'I'll just do whatever needs to be done and then it'll work and if it doesn't then at least the complaints are rightly mine.'

Bumped into three people who had found themselves at odds with the 'We have to support Israel' brigade because they have the view that 'Palestine needs to be protected from Israel'! Also bumped into two who are trying to defend Israel by pointing to Syria and other places where, 'Even more atrocities are happening!'

Now that's some defence - don't deny that the nation is doing wrong but deflect criticism by telling those who criticise to look at someone else because they're worse - how cheap is that? Bet God loves that one ;-)

Apparently those who support Israel have the view that Israel is a spiritual nation and yet all I see is an increasingly secular state whose stated intentions of 'getting them before they get us' using the shoah* as some sort of defence+ denies everything that the God of the Jews calls Israel to be. I'm all for praying for the peace of Jerusalem and Gaza and Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and  . . . .  . but I would like to see Israel be peacemakers as well (and I know the views that it's a small nation surrounded by people who wish to conqueror and destroy - been like that since always - not an excuse!).

Are you busy Vicar?

Had a fantastic time with 50+ young men and women who having donned military uniform got to hear about the spiritual realities of being Green and the Values and Standards that make our Army one of the very best in the world. To see so many people with a quick and ready mind and the enthusiasm of youth take up spiritual themes and be willing to consider, examine and discuss (not always positively) them and the resonances they might bring was a heart-gladdening event indeed.

Had a good meeting to harmonise baptisms around the parish and are moving on to do the same with weddings.

Got excited about the prospect of offering Mission Shaped Introduction and Mission Shaped Ministry across the diocese.

Got even more excited about the 24/7 prayer as it enters its last week of a four week offering (four locations across Tamworth) and at the people who had committed time to find (or rediscover) the joy of praying for more than four minutes during a Sunday service!

Got more excited still about the young woman who is fired by God to 'do something new' for God and is seeking to make this a reality (such joy when people hear and do).

So there we are - a brief insight into the first two days of the week - Praise God or what?

Now I need to go and pray about them all - perhaps some have touched you and challenge you to pray too - hope so :-)

* shoah Hebrew word for desolation, used in favour of the word 'holocaust' which means a burnt offering (often in the context of a sacrifice to gods/God).

+ The defence goes: 'Look what they did to us before - everything we do is defence as per the Bible's command 'Get them before they get you!'

Guenter Grass

Once again we find Israel acting like a petulant five year old! This time the focus of the fingers in the ears and shout antics is German writer, Guenter Grass, who has been declared "persona non grata" as part of yet another spisode of petulant foot-stamping! The reason for the action against Grass is that he's written a poem that is critical of Israel as a nuclear power, Germany as provider (or as Grass puts it,'sub-contractor') of weaponry and even has a pop at the leader of Iran as being a 'loudmouth'.

The majority of the world knows, and acknowledges, that Israel takes to criticism as someone with a nut allergy takes to snickers bars and so I guess that this means that the majority of the world
will not be at all surprised by Interior minister, Eli Yishai's banning of Grass entering the country. The sadness is that I still come across people whop will point to the shoah, the 'fact' that all around Israel are nations conspiring to destroy it 'at any minute' and who would consider pre-emptive strikes, missile attacks and many other, what I would call 'excesses' to be legitimate.

I struggle with the middle East conflicts as there is much posturing, many broken promises and too many awful acts carried out by both sides and the position taken by supporters has, apparently, little to do with right or wrong and morality and truth are but shifting attitudes. I struggle with a nation who, despite many resolutions and findings against them, of the international law sort, continues to build, turn off power, blockade and kill innocents (and no, I'm not ignoring the Palestinians and those within their borders who fire rockets and cause death!) and genrally act in a totally ungodly way. If these are the people of God (meaning here He who is depicted by the tetragrammaton) then I would be very afraid if I were them, for I see little or nothing of Him in this secular (and therefore Israel in name only) state.

Have heard bits of the poem read today but not read the whole but surely stir up, challenge and reflect is part of the process of being a poet. It is their job to reflect and challenge (isn't it?).

And for those who will engage in the fine art of the ad hominem, denying any credibility for Grass' words because he was once a member of the SS (a bit of an oversight but one to which he suitably, and adequately, responded in 2006). In fact, the act of forgetting to tell people of his SS connections when he was the focus of germany's conscience was perhaps understandable and might even makes his earlier days of being the 'voice of conscience' all the more powerful.

But when German (or any one else) speaks out against Israel they are not being anti-semitic any more than someone who speaks out against green or animal rights issues or homosexuality are destroying the earth, murderers or homophobes. There are just, all too, convenient ways of denying the right to speak out and belittling those who might have differences of opinion with them.

Just as Israel is doing with Grass today.

Pax

Israel - stepping back a little

I've already had a couple of mails telling me that Israel was 'merely defending itself from foreign invaders when it shot those people' and therefore, under international law acted lawfully.

Let's look at some of the ways that others dealt with protesters coming together to remember the 'nakba', the 'catastrophe ' that for them saw Israel established with a homeland and others (them) made homeless.

In Cairo the security forces fired warning shots and used tear gas to disperse protestors outside the Israeli embassy.

The Lebanese authorities fired in the air as they sought to disperse the protesters.

The Jordanian police used tear gas to disperse protesters gathering near the Israeli border.

Israel started with tear gas and rubber bullets but, characteristically, allowed itself to be baited and led down its usual excessive path. It was obvious that some of the crowd were being stirred up and the key to the managing the situation is proportionality and containment. The problem comes in that those who seek to arouse and enflame the passions of the protesters find that they no longer need to do so once the first dead person is carried away.

Those who protested might not have carried firearms, but sticks and stones can indeed break bones, and whilst some are claiming that those who died were innocent and unarmed, there is plenty of guilt to go around. Both sides have transgressed and both are guilty, but sadly some are made more guilty than others because of the wounded and the number of dead protesters.

What is assured is that Israel's General Mordecai sees the situation correctly when he says that, "We are seeing here an Iranian provocation, on both the Syrian and the Lebanese frontiers, to try to exploit the Nakba day commemorations,". The problem is that if you knows that you are being provoked, the best response is not to give those provoking the ammunition they seek to escalate the situation. In the current situation, Israel has failed to do that and given the sea change in Egypt's attitudes to israel, the unsettled state of affairs in so many nation, the call of a senior Hamas leader for Islam to rally and unite against the usurper and aggressor, Israel, this could prove very costly on both world and Middle East stages.

The finger pointing will doubtless continue. Israel will continue to claim it used sensitive, minimal force and Hamas and pro-Palestinians will claim the people were unarmed and merely protesting. Neither are telling the truth. Neither have any integrity. One side has the dead to make them look, once again, excessive and wrong - which, as I read and watch, they are!

Pax

ps. No SC, I'm not pro-Palestinian, or anti-Israel, I'm for justice, mercy, humility, balance and a peaceful response and solution.

Protesters shot by Israeli forces

Reports are coming in regarding people having been killed by Israeli troops who opened fire on protesters at the various border points as they marked the founding of Israel in 1948.

Although the Israelis are pointing to the fact that the protesters had broken through the border fencing and claiming that these people posed a threat, I have to say that I fear the greatest threat to Israel is their shooting of unarmed demonstrators. Israel considers themselves to have merely used 'selective fire' but the deaths and wounded will only cause more tension and erode the already lessened goodwill from Egypt. Just how much of a threat the man dancing before a camera only to be shot, as shown on the ten o'clock news tonight, remains to be seen. How much damage footage like that will do is obvious and demonstrates a lack of balance, perspective and political (let alone moral) intelligence.

The news has already shown people calling for the Islamic world to unite and make a stand against Israel and this is only, sadly, the tip of the emerging iceberg that seeks to sink Middle East peace and drag the US (and therefore by inference and association) others into yet another area of conflict.

What a sadness.

Pax

Israel - Christian Zionism

The term 'Christian Zionist' has cropped up a great deal and having attempted to define what zionism is, I assume it would be useful to define this also.

There are groups, such as the International Christian Embassy (Jerusalem), Christians United for Israel, Bridges for Peace and others who are actively calling themselves 'Christian Zionists' (CZ). All function from Christian (protestant) fundamentalist beliefs that see modern Israel as the fulfilling of biblical prophecy. It appears wrong to label CZ group as evangelical in the generally accepted sense and more correct to label those who support CZ as being 'fundamentalists' of the generally excessive (or as I'd see it, a condemnation of) Christian belief type. By this I mean the book-burning, closed-minded, closed-theological understanding, point-making rather than dialogue Christians who do the mainstream Christian so much damage.

A hallmark of the CZ group appears to be the unquestioningly literal application of all before them. They appear to be hung up on matters eschatalogical and are taken up with Israel as the focus for the parousia, the tribulation, antichrist and the final battle. It draws greatly on Darby and others premillennial dispensational thinking (AKA Dispensational premillennialism, DP). Within DP there are three distinct epochs:

1. Before Pentecost: Creation - Fall - Noah - Babel - Abraham - Moses - Jesus

2. Pentecost: Age of the Spirit - Christ's return (Rapture)

3. Millenium:

The hallmark of PMD is the literal interpretation of texts and the alignment (often quite creatively) between prophecy and happening in our own time and a fixation with period threwe - Millenium.

Once a broader group, it has now been fined into a 'conservate' Christian grouping, the home of the 'fundamentalist 'Evangelical' Christian and a hot bed of reactionary thinking against the negatives and evils of our modern society. Oddly though, as antagonistic as this group is to the goings on in our society they are supportive and willing to ignore the same within the nation state of Israel!

If I had to start working out where the Christian Zionist (CZ) move started amongst those I know
I would have to point to the 1970's with Hal Lindsey' s 'Late Great Planet Earth' and the film 'Thief in the Night) and the many books (I have many on my shelf which have provided me with my own position before this foray and have given me insights) of Colin Chapman, Ken Burnett and many others. I also have a number of people who find in the 'Left behind' series of books and films a resurgence of CZ impetus.

What we have before us is, thanks to CZ, a system that sees unconditional and eternal promises regarding the nation and people of Israel. It doesn't matter if the people believe, it's all about God being consistent (which ironically I see as therefore being ALL about how Israel believes and acts) and all about Israel being the focus, and steward, of God's grace to the world (through the blessing and promise to Abram).

Additionally, we also now have The Church - A good position to have else we'd all need to become Messianic Jews (as some have done in their quest to be sure!).

God put off his dealing with His people, Israel, to embrace and save those who are Church because Israel rejected the offer He was.

Now, Jesus will come and take the Church, who are almost a distraction from Israel and the main focus,, and will restore the final bits of israel and bring on the millennial stuff and the end will happen and 'game over' man - eternit with Him!

So here we are, stuck with a bunch of people who see prophetic signs and will do whatever it takes to support the Israel described above. They struggle to set the condition for God and support, without question, Israel for the reasons given above. They have the state of Israel (which they see a threatened and in danger of eradication from 'the dogs') and now yearn for the temple and I guess hope for the antichrist to come too as they march towards Armageddon and the end of all things.

A hallmark text for the CZ has to be Gen 12:3 and their belief that Judgement will come to those nations and individuals on the basis of how they 'bless Israel'. The problem comes in the shape of a question. "Is pointing out error not blessing Israel?" (Watchmen role from Ezekiel?) Is pointing out the failings of the covenants, promises and the hallmarks of YHWH not seeking to bless - after all, it the the fatherless who remain uncorrected. Correction is surely 'blessing' and not the curse that any comment is taken to be (with the all to readily issued 'anti-Semite' label attached )?

Seems that CZ are less likely to be found within wider theologically and ecclesiologically aware groups of believers, this is probably the reason that so many of them buy into the whole CZ thing i.e. they aren't always the brightest biblical believing bunch (now that's going to upset some - sorry!).

They are wonderfully protective of Israel and terribly condemning of the palestinians and all other 'enemies' of israel, including, or perhaps especially, of course Islam.

What is especially sad is the way that those who embrace CZ and those who oppose (or even question) it are immediately demonised by the other side and the levels of ad hominemn and vitriolic wickedness takes being awful to new heights (should that be lows?).

So here's the next installment - read so many papers that my head is spinning, but I can see the next step in this journey.

Apologies if I have clouded the issue and for anyone I might have offended in this honest attempt to understand where, what and how I should relate to israel.

Pax

EDIT MADE 13:02 18/04/2011 - poor editing on my part dealt with (Thanks Simmy)

Israel - Victim of their own victimisation?

In reading about PTSD and the effects of conflict I chanced across an interesting paper (which typically I can't lay my hands on). This paper spoke of the effects of war in socialising those engaged in, surrounded by, or being victims of atrocities. Those affected by it, in some way, become dehumanised and, ironically, behave in the same way as those with whom they contended or (in the case of victims) were abused by.

I first came across this on a first-hand basis when talking to a veteran of the Far East conflict who spoke of the difficulty he found in trying to live 'normally' after the war because the "boundaries has all been moved or even removed."

Watching the final episode of 'The promise' and seeing Israelis move from house to house in the Arab village (9th April 1948) I was stunned by the parallels between that place and many other places where those doing the shooting were Nazis. I saw no difference between this and see none even still in the goings on of today's Israel.

The comment that the army weren't present in the settlements to keep the peace, merely to protect the Jews and that killing, beatings and abuse would draw no attention other than perhaps support for the acts brought me back to the ghettos and the acts within them.

The labelling of the arabs and the dehumanising and parallels with the Jews of 1938 onwards displayed the same dehumanising, gratuitous, senseless, and repeated, acts of atrocity and violence of the 1930's and beyond. The abuse of those who are rendered powerless, homeless and voiceless (other than through the mortars and 'terrorist acts of some' is no different at all from the Nazis.

And so I ask myself, are the Jewish perhaps a dehumanised victim of that which the Jews suffered during the shoah? Is Israel, the nation state, so far from God because it is a nation that has lost its soul to bitterness and wickedness as a response to its modern past?

The terrorist acts that saw many die in the early stages of modern israel's history (including of course the King David Hotel in 1946) were done by the same people who saw power in the government of Israel. Were they terrorists or 'freedom fighters'? Are those who have lost their homeland of Palestine terrorists or freedom fighters now in exactly the same way?

Questions, questions and more questions!

Lies, misrepresentations and deliberate spinning of the truth make this an even more difficult subject as each layer is peeled away. Could this explain how, and why, the nation state is so far from the God who promised the land they occupy and His commandments and a relationship with Him?

Israel dehumanised victims or inhuman territorialists?

You tell me!

Pax

Israel - 'The Promise'

I was advised to take a look as Peter Kosminsky's 'The Promise' and I managed to watch a few episodes to find that the same forces that drive me each year to commemorate the shoah were slowly aroused to find me despair in exactly the same way with the Jews and the way the Nazis engaged with the Jews then, and the ways the Jews engage now.

As I read and dialogue, I find that Israel has nothing to do with the day-to-day realities of the majority and yet it is a place, an issue, which sees great polarisation. All is condoned or condemned. Israel is poor little country on the brink of extinction, fight for her life every day or she is a territory grabbing, murdering, American-aided demon.

I find little or no balance regarding the issue (something that was admirably demonstrated by the responses I had from some when I supported an 'Israel and the Church') and even less intelligent dialogue. So I am going to have to work from scratch, it seems.

An observation from the frustration that the journey has been thus far has to be that surely those who see their support of the state of Israel, the rebuilding of the temple and the many other things that they drone on about as being necessary for 'The Return' all seem to forget one thing. If God is God then He doesn't need us to manufacture the condition for 'The Return', He is surely bid enough and powerful enough to do what is required Himself. It is immature, naive, outrageous even to assume that we can engineer the conditions so that, Genie-like, He will appear at our command 'out of the bottle'.

Any sympathy, any 'blood guilt' over the shoah, is slowly fading as the generation that witnessed the second world war, that perhaps saw the liberation of the camps (I know of three who were there and am trying to get them to share their experiences). The new anger, the new awareness of the slaughter of innocents is not about the Jews, but from them and they are losing ground in the eyes of many because of it.

I get the feeling that somewhere underneath it all, there is a parallel in a car I hired when working for a firm in Newark, NJ. It said 'Mustang' on the paperwork, it said 'Mustang' on the tail (and the steering wheel) but it wasn't and it was soon relabelled 'Ford Probe'. Is this the case here - are people reading the label 'Israel' and setting about bring God back on their terms and timing? Are people looking at the physical location and confusing it with a spiritual entity? Are 'all believer; now the 'New Israel' (as put forward by one person I am in dialogue with) and are we looking at double revelation or was the return to the 'Promised Land' something that took place long before Palestine was partitioned?

If I were Palestinian and saw my land taken from me, the homes of my forebears snatched by force and found myself excluded, pushed further away and acted against, would I maintain my intellectual and moral veneers or would I be firing rockets too?

Being acted against, however badly, does not provide warrant to act badly against others and so the case for supporting Israel slowly wanes if that's the excuse. The shoah has passed and all must learn from the wickedness that is was, and still is in the genocide to be found even today, and seek to make true the words 'never again'

Pax

Zionism - What is it?

In order to have a sensible dialogue we need to make sure that we all have the same understanding of the terms used. So let's make sure we are all meaning the same things when we use the same words.

From the many mails I have received, I have come to the baseline definition that Zionism is:

+ 'The belief in a Jewish homeland for THE Jewish people, in the geographic location that is Israel',

+ 'The possession the the human right of self determination, for the Jewish people' and

+ Concerned with the nation state of Israel, a modern secular nation where Judaism is to be found, but where nation and religious belief are separate.

+ It is about the return of the territory to the people who once occupied it as a God-given right.

I was also told that the label 'antisemitism' * applies to:

+ Those who oppose Jewish human rights,

+ Those who oppose the existance of a homeland for the Jewish people, and

+ Those who support and/or spread hate about Israel

(* Apparently this is the European Union's definition of antisemitism.)

I am taking myself off to watch 'The Promise' (and visit the gadget Show Live) and as I do, I wonder if there are any additions, modifications or subtractions that need to be made to the elements above to ensure that we have an agreed datum from which to work.

As it stands, I don't think I'm a zionist and I'm definitely not antisemitic (unless being critical of the nation's behaviour is to be considered antisemitic).

Thank you for those who have offered their views on zionism and antisemitism, the elements of which have been reduced to the lowest common denominator here.

So, are the definitions right?

If not, tell me where and why and we can move on.

Pax

ps. Thought I'd posted this before I left for Gadget Show (excellent) - apologies.

Something Rotten with the State of Israel?

I am going to try to get to grips with a subject that tests and vexes a great many people. The horribly difficult issue of Israel. My postbag has attracted some quite judgemental and cruel comments regarding this issue and, sadly, nothing of any substance or reason (biblically or otherwise).

I have to be honest, this is an area I struggle with at a number of levels and for a number of reasons and am more than happy to be 'informed' of errors (nicely please) but don't fancy the prospect of more of the 'you are cursed because you oppose God's people' stuff!

Today
As I see it, the issue of Israel is coloured, and even hampered, by the modern nation state (a secular place) and the overly indulgent attitudes of Zionists. The spiritual people of God, the heirs of the promises and those who bear God's name don't appear to be the same people as the modern secular Jew. Just because it's called Israel doesn't mean that God sees the same label. Some will scream about Israel being merely about 'possessing the land' and tell me it's all about territory.

When I was younger, I used to assume Israel was a land full of God-fearing Jews, but the more I became engaged with it, the more I realised that the conflict between secular and 'religious' Jews was engaged and that it was becoming an increasingly secular nation. An assumption that is perhaps supported by the fact that Israel's Proclamation of Independence doesn't even mention God (although there is a passing nod to the ‘Rock of Israel’).

Israel ‘will be based on the principles of liberty, justice and peace as conceived by the Prophets of Israel; will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of religion, race, or sex; will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, education and culture; will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and will loyally uphold the principles of the United Nations Charter’.

Excellent - but of course the words ring a little hollow when we think of many of the realities (outside of Palestine and Mordecai Vanunu), but that's true of all nation states I reckon. But there are requirements from God that need to be maintained, and of course they ain't. Still, this could just make them a sinful and fallen nation couldn't it?

Modern Israel is about Jewish nationalism, not the Jewish faith and not about the spiritual nation of Israel, heir of the promise. The conflicts between the various Jewish interests, ultra-orthodox, orthodox, middle of the road, reform, liberal and the like all add to the mix, and to the conflict. Then there are groups like the Haredi who feel the nation state is a denial of God's promise to Israel because it's linked with obeying commandments, which secualr Israel not only isn't, but appears to break with impunity.

Influences outside of Israel don't help. The support of America and the whole spectrum of Zionists offering support for as biblical people, condoning the nation's action and raising funds to rebuild the temple all complicate an already complicated political and national picture and supports what, unkindly, some have described as a self-serving, Godless, ghetto mentality.

And then we have the American fundamentalists (like Phelps, Jones and Sapp perhaps) who offer unconditional support as well.

See my difficulty (and we haven't even started yet!)?

Pax

ps. And then there's God's people!