If I Forget Thee… A Very Personal Recollection

Freedom's Cost ^ | 05/22/2009 | Chaim

[chaimke]

Today is Jerusalem Day - celebrating the day Jerusalem’s Old City (including the Western Wall) was liberated by Israel’s Defense Forces… I thought I would share some thoughts…

I arrived in Israel on Friday before the Six Day War, as a volunteer. For Shabbat (Parshat Bamidbar) we stayed in Savyon, a ritzy neighborhood close to the airport and not far from Tel Aviv. The view was absolutely breathtaking! On Sunday morning I was taken to Kibbutz Lavi, strategically perched atop a hill overlooking the Tiberias-Haifa road.

Within minutes of arriving, the secretary of the kibbutz assigned me a room overlooking the road and gave me a quick tour. The first thing we did was to climb to the highest point of the Kibbutz, the water tower. “We are one minute away from Syria by Mig’s flight,” he said… I wasn’t sure that I wanted to hear that… not just yet… The rest of the tour did not seem as important, in fact… I barely remember it.

By the afternoon I was joined by 10 more volunteers from England, Ireland, France and the US. At dinner time, in the kibbutz’ dining room surrounded by people I’d never met before, somehow, it felt like a homecoming. For the first time in my life whether I lived in Montevideo (Uruguay - where I grew up), Buenos Aires, Richmond, VA, New York City or traveling through Europe, I felt that this land was mine. Every pebble, every grain of sand, everything was mine, MINE! It’s hard to describe the emotions running though me at the time, but believe me, I am reliving every single one of them as I write…

[Star Traveler]

The article said — “Im eshkachech Yerushalayim, tishkach yemini! - If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, let my right arm loose its cunning!” Though we lived in exile for thousands of years, our prayers always spoke of Jerusalem. No Holy Day ever ended without the words: “Beshana haba beYerushalayim! - The next year in Jerusalem!” Jerusalem, Jerusalem, your Jews NEVER forgot you…

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There are Christians who believe that God has not only forgotten Jerusalem, but that He has totally abandoned Jerusalem and that God will never have anything to do with Jerusalem again.

These Christians say that God’s attention is not on the Christians, and no longer on the Jews and that God will have nothing to do with the Jews, as a nation in the future, and all the promises of God to them, are *forfeited*.

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Fortunately, God didn’t say that — only some really dumb and stupid Christians say that. I’m a Christian, but I’m *not* one of the *dumb and stupid ones* that say that .... LOL...

I don’t read the Bible that way.

I did write something about those Christians that basically say that, and it pays to know who they are, as there are other Christians who do not say that God has nothing to do with Israel or Jerusalem any longer.

I point out who those Christians are and what the beliefs are that encourage and *demand* the support of Israel... (as opposed to other Christians who seem to gleefully support Palestinians in opposition to Israel and its survival.

The following is something I wrote about it earlier...

Unrequited Love: Evangelicals and Jews
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2249869/posts

[ from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2249869/posts?page=7#7 ]

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The article said — Christianity continues to throw aside a long history of anti-Semitism to embrace what increasingly powerful Evangelicals see as God’s view of the Jewish people.

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This is sort of a misleading statement. The fact of the matter is that “Christianity” is *not* throwing aside a long history of anti-Semitism.

The *same anti-semitism* of “Christianity that was represented in the past, is still in evidence and practice today in the so-called Christian circles, because they have not changed their attitudes that result from the *false theology* that they’ve been carrying along, all these past centuries. That theology is still in play today. And that leads to the continued anti-Semitism.

Where you will find the *overwhelming support* of Israel, is from the Christians who believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, in all that it teaches *and* in all that it says (on anything it says). And along with that goes the absolute confidence that the Bible describes the future events related to Israel, very literally, in the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament. It’s that conviction that these prophecies will be fulfilled exactly as God says they will that leads to that support of Israel.

Now, there’s a very long history in the so-called “Christian church” where there’s a theology (in many churches) that says that Israel has no more significance with God, any more than any other nation in the world does. There’s nothing special about Israel, as far as God is concerned. And that God has basically “given up” on Israel, since they refused to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, and now the “church” is the one who takes the “driver’s seat” and God is concerned with the “church” and *not* with Israel any more.

That viewpoint leads to many churches condemning Israel and promoting Palestinians issues and politics over Israel. So, when you see a *large segment* of “Christianity” supporting Palestinian issues over Israeli interests and to the detriment of Israel — you can be assured that it’s *this group* of Christians who believe that Israel has no more significance in God’s future plans and that the “church” has taken over the “promises of God” (given in the Bible to Israel). They say that the church is the “new Israel” (and thus the present-day Israel has nothing to do with what the Bible says for these present times).

The ones who *will support* Israel, are the Biblical inerrancy supporters, the supporters of future prophecies being fulfilled in terms of Israel — and more specifically (in some theological terms) — those who believe in the pre-millennial view of Christ returning to earth, and predominantly the pre-tribulational view of the Rapture of the church prior to the Tribulation and the Dispensational view of Scripture.

That’s the area where the support of Israel comes from — and *not* from those who *deny* those positions that I’ve just outlined.

You can be pretty well assured that those who deny the coming 1,000 year reign of Christ on this earth (as Revelation says) will not support Israel as having any significance in God’s future plans. And those who deny the Rapture of the church will for the most part not be supporting Israel. Those who decry “Dispensationalism” as a method for understanding the Bible will also castigate anyone who thinks that Israel should be supported any more than Afghanistan or India or Mexico or Bolivia should be supported or having any significance with God.

In terms of their teachings and theology that leads to denying support of Israel, for the most part, it’s the Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Lutheran Church, and others who deny the theology as listed above (that I noted come from people who *do support* Israel).

Anyone who decries “prophetic events” of today as leading to the “end-times” spoken about in the Bible, as saying that these ideas are not valid from the Bible — are basically the ones who will also deny any support of Israel from any Biblical significance and from any plan of God (for Israel) for the future. You can see them posting here on Free Republic repeatedly, decrying what the Bible says about the future of Israel and denying that Israel has any significance at all.

So, keep in mind, that the *primary support* comes from those who do held to the concept of Biblical Inerrancy, along with a pre-millennial position, and (mostly) from a pre-tribulational Rapture of the Church, along with the acknowledgement that Christ will rule and reign over this earth in the 1,000 year Millennial Reign (in Revelation 20, for example), along with those who hold to a Dispensational viewpoint of the Scriptures. *That* is where the “Christian support” of Israel comes from.

The rest of the so-called “Christian church” is actually *against* Israel and the antagonism towards Israel (in this large segment of the Christian church) is ramping up and increasing. And it’s *this group* that appears to be growing into the *Apostate Christian Church* of the end times, denying what the Bible says that God will do with Israel.

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For reference to the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, a position held by many Christians (and especially those who support Israel, for sure...) see the following link...

Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy with Exposition
http://www.bible-researcher.com/chicago1.html

The “Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy” was produced at an international Summit Conference of evangelical leaders, held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago in the fall of 1978. This congress was sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement was signed by nearly 300 noted evangelical scholars, including James Boice, Norman L. Geisler, John Gerstner, Carl F. H. Henry, Kenneth Kantzer, Harold Lindsell, John Warwick Montgomery, Roger Nicole, J. I. Packer, Robert Preus, Earl Radmacher, Francis Schaeffer, R. C. Sproul, and John Wenham.

The ICBI disbanded in 1988 after producing three major statements: one on biblical inerrancy in 1978, one on biblical hermeneutics in 1982, and one on biblical application in 1986. The following text, containing the “Preface” by the ICBI draft committee, plus the “Short Statement,” “Articles of Affirmation and Denial,” and an accompanying “Exposition,” was published in toto by Carl F. H. Henry in God, Revelation And Authority, vol. 4 (Waco, Tx.: Word Books, 1979), on pp. 211-219. The nineteen Articles of Affirmation and Denial, with a brief introduction, also appear in A General Introduction to the Bible, by Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix (Chicago: Moody Press, rev. 1986), at pp. 181-185. An official commentary on these articles was written by R. C. Sproul in Explaining Inerrancy: A Commentary (Oakland, Calif.: ICBI, 1980), and Norman Geisler edited the major addresses from the 1978 conference, in Inerrancy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980).

Clarification of some of the language used in this Statement may be found in the 1982 Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics [http://www.bible-researcher.com/chicago2.html ].

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The “hatred” of the Jews still goes on in the Christian church. Pay attention to the *specific theology* of the Christian church which *does not* contain that hatred!!

[Quix]

Will try and read your post after a shower.

Sometimes I wonder how many of ‘those’ ‘Christians’ are really Christian in their heart of hearts.