Who will you serve, vileness or Jesus Christ?

J. Bruce Campbell writes for Veterans Today. I have yet to find any of Veterans Today’s sister sites that will or have linked to his writings, although they use all of the other writers from VT. But Campbell and his writings are the final outcome of the kind of trash that appears on any of the sites. In this posting I am pleading with the leadership of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to read and understand that through the Israel/Palestine Mission Network and their postings and links we as a denomination are sliding into the vilest kind of bigotry and hatred.

The IPMN has linked to Veterans Today. They continue to link to the sister sites of VT. And they continue to acknowledge and post articles by James Wall although through his writings and sources he also has become a vile anti-Semite. As I have written before he has clearly praised Veterans Today.

J.B. Campbell blames the Jewish people for most of the ills in the world, He advocates for the death of Jewish Rabbis: he believes that the Jews were the cause of World War II and that the Nazis were the good guys. He advocates for a citizen’s take over of the United States and the hanging of all leadership.

Campbell has commented on David Fischler’s blog, Reformed Pastor, making some of the most irrational and insulting statements:

Mr. Fischler puts the Judeo in Judeo-Christianiy [sic]. Many Jews have infiltrated the Christian churches in order to monitor and guide Gentiles in the pro-Israel direction. Calling himself a church planter gives him the cachet of the old-timey Yankee Protestant but he is in fact a hard-core commissar whose mission is to keep the faithful in the Zionist yard.

I purposely made a very pointed statement to him. I will put my comment and his response here:

My comment: JB,The incarnation, God in human (Jewish) flesh is God’s love for lost sinners. You are one of those, an extreme example in fact. If you continue to reject what God has done through Jesus Christ, who in his incarnation is Jewish, all you have left is to continue to do evil and end in the fires of hell. May God have mercy on you and cause you to turn.

This is Campbell’s response: Powerful argument: believe my way or end in the fires of hell. Christians aren’t so goody-two-shoes as one might think.

Where you Christians get fooled is equating Jews (I assume you mean Levites or Canaanites or maybe Hebrews) with humans, that is, yourselves. But that’s not how the Jews think. They think that only Jews are human and the rest of us insects or cattle or other non-human things to be exploited.

They consider Christians such as yourself to be useful idiots who would be so silly
as to admit to worshiping a Jewish messiah, one which they for mysterious reasons deny.

You because of your basic good nature want to think of God as love, but that’s not how Jews see it. Their god, Yahweh, is a god of war, annihilation and inexplicable hatred. Any god that would slaughter all life on earth except for old Noah and his menagerie cannot be mentioned in the same sentence as the word “love.”

And James Wall calls Veterans Today, “a progressive website that sees injustice and calls it for what it is …”

James Wall’s endorsement of VT and those who write there places him in the same position as the German Christians who followed Hitler. Israel/Palestine Mission Network’s endorsement of James Wall and others connected to VT and their sister sites places them in the same position as the German Christians under Hitler. The PC (U.S.A.)’s refusal to do anything about these connections places our denomination in the same position as those German church members who failed to stand against the growing hatred in the German Church during the Nazi years.

The only difference is that Gordon Duff, the editor of VT, or any other member of this ungodly group of sites, is not the dictator of the United States. They are just very broken, confused, mistaken evil men and women. But this does not keep those who feed on their material from being any less guilty than the German Christians were.

Not many years ago this kind of anti-Semitism raged on the extreme right. The speakers, writers and publishers kept up their diabolical rage and soon followers of their ideology were committing crimes. A Jewish talk show host was killed. Banks were robbed to finance some of the actions. Jewish centers became targets for lone followers with guns. And in the city where I live, Sacramento, three synagogues within just a few moments of each other were set on fire. Two were badly damaged, one was destroyed.

As this kind of slanderous material becomes acceptable among the progressive community there is much more to fear than lone extremist or even hidden militias with their stacks of guns. There will be a new kind of politics, built by conspiracy theorists, and an ideology creeping into the theology of mainline churches that is ever more ready to reject the Old Testament. This is a problem for biblical believers to weep over, pray about and surely not ignore.

The wicked things are not eternal

Alas! Mordor draws all wicked things, and the Dark Power was bending all its will to gather them there. (J.R.R. Tolkien)

He didn’t win, he never will. I had an interesting experience Tuesday Night. I was reading some very blatant radical propaganda on a site that the Israel/Palestine Mission Network linked to. Yes, it did make me think of Mordor and its evil Lord. And then my husband asked me to come and watch a video of a Christian Church in the Netherlands with people singing praise songs.

The church setting was very different. The sanctuary was filled with people of all ages with Down's syndrome and other such conditions. They were helping the various musicians, some stood by the singers, some by the drummers, some played the keys of a piano while the pianist played the song, and still others wandered here and there clapping their hands, many, sitting in the pews, joined in the joyous singing. And then I remembered that the Dark Power tried to kill all of these beautiful people more than seventy years ago.

That power also aimed its darkest assaults at the Jewish people. And then the thought, he didn’t win, he will never win, popped into my head and heart.

But like some constant rotating scene from The Lord of the Rings, such wickedness keeps gathering. The Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is linked to an article entitled Christmas Resistance Activities in Palestine: The Best Christmas Ever. It is in the Salem-News.com and written by Mazin Qumsiyeh. The Salem-News is one of the sister sites of Veterans Today using many of the same writers, including Gordon Duff, editor of Veterans Today.

The Anti-Defamation League writes that VT “features anti-Israel and Holocaust denial materials,” and describes their editor, Gordon Duff, as a conspiracy theorist.” Their words are an understatement; VT does much more than that. They advocate for the death of Jews in the United States and the destruction of Israel.

Mazin Qumsiyeh offers a link to his web site, Qumsiyeh: A Human Rights Web, at the end of his article. He has linked to Christian resources including the PCUSA. But at the end of the list Qumsiyeh links to what he calls another Christian perspective which is mostly somebody’s gathering of news articles, but at the top is an absurd batch of material including a Bible verse which is ripped totally out of context.

But even more absurd and untruthful is this: “96% OF THE WORLD'S JEWS ARE ASHKENAZIM, WHO CAN TRACE THEIR ANCESTRY TO KHAZARIA, A CONGLOMERATE OF ARYAN TURKISH TRIBES WHICH CONVERTED TO JUDAISM IN A.D. 740.THE ASHKENAZIM HAVE NO HISTORIC RIGHTS TO 'RETURN' AND OCCUPY LAND IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY SHOULD 'TRANSFER' TO THE STEPPES OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA OR STRAIGHT TO MONGOLIA WHERE ALL TURKISH TRIBES ORIGINATED!”

And this leads to one of the biggest sections of Qumsiyeh’s site, his book, “Sharing the Land of Canaan.” In his book Qumsiyeh takes the historical minimalist view discounting the journey of the Israelites out of the land of Egypt and thus eliminating much of the important history of the Jews and desecrating the foundations of Christianity.

Qumsiyeh attempts to trace all of the indigenous peoples of Palestine to the Canaanites but goes much further. He attempts to make the case that most of the Jews who returned to Israel after World War II were converts to Judaism and related to the Khazars a small kingdom of warriors who converted first to Judaism and then to Greek orthodoxy. He writes:

“The claims of a "single Jewish origin" are not well substantiated with a wide variety of incredibly rich data from historical, archeological, and other sources. The research of Arthur Koestler, who happens to be an Ashkenazi Jew himself, clearly demonstrates that most Ashkenazis are convert Khazar's with closer ties to Turkish people than to Semitic people (20). This conclusion is further bolstered by evidence from language development (e.g. Yiddish origin and history and absence of use of Aramaic in ancient Khazar Jewish sources), and now genetics.”

Additionally he writes, “In both Koestler's and Kevin Alan Brook's books … ample archeological and historical sources are examined leading to the conclusion that the origins of the majority of present day Ashkenazi Jews are Khazar-Turkish rather than Semitic.” This is an old anti-Semitic ploy and has not been proven; I refer the reader to Jacob’s Legacy: A genetic View of Jewish History by Davis B. Goldstein.

And an important point here is that while there is some positive proof that the Khazar’s converted to Judaism, one must remember that this was a small kingdom and does not at all cancel out the genetic relationship of any large group of Jews such as the Ashkenazic from their ancient Israelite ancestors.[1]

There is another section in Qumsiyeh’s book where he attempts to prove there was collaboration between the Nazis and the Zionists as though there was something evil about Zionist leaders trying to quickly get as many Jews as possible out of Nazi Germany.

On another page of Qumsiyeh’s site are links and information about his most important project. That is attempting to bring about a one state solution for the Middle East, which Qumsiyeh refers to as the United States of Canaan.

It would not be a Jewish State. And the underlying principle of the plan is that the “occupation” covers the whole land of what is referred to as Palestine. The histories, used as a foundation for one state, are incomplete and misleading; nothing is told of the Arab nations attacking Israel in 1948, or of their threats to attack in 1967. A one state solution is a harmful solution based on half-truths.

Almost everyday there are bad, anti-Semitic sites linked to by IPMN. Constantly there are derisive and jeering words spoken against the Jewish people, Zionism and Israel by leaders and friends of IPMN on their Facebook site. Alas! Mordor draws all wicked things, and the Dark Power [is] bending all its will to gather them there. But he did not win and he will never win.

And they sang the song of Moses, the bond servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
Great and Marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy; for all the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. (Rev. 15:3-4)

[1] See, “Genes and Identities” A review by Jerome Groopman and relating to this subject, “A Plea for Justice: A Historical Analysis:” false beginnings, twisted thoughts- part 2

* David Fischler of Reformed Pastor has written two postings on both the Qumsiyeh link and another bad link: IPMN: Into the Dumpster Again and IPMN: More From the Gutter

When do we seek agreement, when do we, instead, stand for righteousness?

Someone, who I respect in many ways, offered me some advice in the comment section of an article linked to several weeks ago at CHURCHandWorld.Com. The article “The Presbyterian-Jewish Divide that Need Never Be,” had to do with both a controversy between the Simon Wiesenthal Center and supposedly the Presbyterian Church; the article had as its background the Middle East peace problems.[1] I suggested that many Jewish people and organizations are confused because they see the actions of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as the actions of the whole Presbyterian Church.

In disagreement the commenter wrote, “Viola, how about working for how we can AGREE with one another, rather than how we DISAGREE? Maybe God’s shalom will break through if we don’t help the sides rub salt in the wounds.”

And this is an issue that I think needs to be addressed because it is an important statement about how issues are sometimes, but not always, resolved. We want reconciliation and are even willing to compromise in order to reach peaceful agreements. Sometimes that is good and right. But sometimes it isn’t. The truth is that sometimes we are so desirous of seeking reconciliation that we become confused about the difference between standing for righteousness and dialoguing for unity.

And so questions ensue. What does one do in the face of evil? And how should we as Christians, who are often seen as peacemakers, oppose evil. When is a compromise a good position to take and when is it wrong? When do we quit looking for what we agree on because the other person or group has become so involved in evil that all we can do is stand and oppose them?

Israel and the Palestinians with their horrendous problems and the PCUSA’s IPMN’s involvement in their problems are perhaps the ultimate reasons for answering those questions. I believe that Rev. Dr. Byron Shafer, a member and lone dissenter, of the past PCUSA Middle East Study Committee, gave the clearest answer in his speech at the GA breakfast for Presbyterians for Middle East Peace. We must love both sides, Israel and the Palestinians, and act accordingly.

So where and how can Christians and Presbyterians agree with the IPMN. We can not and, please, listen very carefully to why I say this. Many of us oppose most of the settlements, we may oppose where the wall is placed, we must oppose any racism, we must criticize Israel as well as the Palestinians, but we cannot discuss issues or talk about agreement on Middle East issues with the Israel Palestine Mission Network. They have crossed a line that must never be crossed again by any church or Christian organization in the modern or post-modern eras. Here is their offense:

1. They have slandered the Jewish people of the United States without apology. That also happened in the past and was part of the many acts of anti-Semitism against the Jewish people that led to the holocaust.[2]

2. They have allowed themselves to be pulled into a circle of vile anti-Semitic writers who are willing to tell lies about Israel and the Jewish people. Some of the writers even advocate for the death of the Jews, insisting they are trying to take over the world.[3]

3. They promote a one state solution and insist that Israel should not be a Jewish State, thereby denying the Jewish people any place of safety.[4]

4. They make common cause with and defend those who believe that Jewish refugees are not genetic Jews and that they should be pushed out of Israel and return to the countries in which they were persecuted.[5]

5. They make light of the Holocaust equating the death of six-million people with the suffering of the Palestinian people.[6]

If we make common cause with the IPMN we will be on the side of those who do nothing but rub salt in the wound of the Jewish people and their wound is deep, cruel and very, very old. If we unite with IPMN around any common agreement we will be connected to that other part of them which is now so deeply entrenched in anti-Semitism that it causes our whole denomination to reek with the same odor that drifted over the world in the 1930’s.

William Buckley, that great conservative who loved debate, knew when to do so and when to cut away that which would poison his own morals. He refused connections to the John Birch Society because of their early anti-Semitism and their conspiracy theories; he severed Patrick Buchannan from conservative fellowship because of his anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism has no place in the life of a Christian individual or organization. I pray that all who are members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will begin to move away from any connections with those who are tainted with such immorality.

The Lord of the Church is truly Lord of the Church. No ideology, no group of advisors tainted with prejudice and bigotry, no leadership which allows worldly lies to enter our decision making has a right above his rights. Salvation is “from the Jews” Jesus told the woman of Samaria. Our heritage is in both the New and the Old Testament. We are not allowed to cut ourselves free from any of those pages. We are forever connected to God’s promises to Israel that through them he would bless the world. As we hold that blessing, Jesus Christ, close, we will not allow his Hebrew children to be maligned and hated.

May Christ Jesus have mercy on us and help us.

[1] I have it from a very good source that the original title of the article sent by the SWC to the Wall Street Journal was not Presbyterians but mainline denominations. The WSJ changed it.
[2] See An overture filled with fury: anti-Semitism again and Slandering the Jewish people-more on overture 08-09
[3] For further information on this see, Veterans Today: anti-Semitism moving from the right to the left and IPMN: More From the Gutter. Also click on the link provided above, vile anti-Semitic writers which is an article prepared by the ADL.
[4] The IPMN’s endorsement of the Kairos Document, which condemns the idea of Israel as a Jewish State (Which it is) and this article is part of this problem: Israel is a Jewish State: IPMN's Noushin Framke would like that to end
[5] See Were Holocaust victims linked genealogically to biblical Israel?
[6] The footnotes for this could go on forever I will just leave it at that.

In Iraq Christmas is silent

Iraqi Christians are unable to celebrate Christmas.

One headline states: "No Christmas festivities for some Iraq Christians." The news article by Mustafa Mahmoud states:

"Some church leaders in Iraq have told Christians not to celebrate Christmas except with prayer after lethal attacks and continuing threats by militants against the Iraqi Christian community."

And:

"Mukhlis Kyriakos, a priest at Our Lady of Salvation, said the decision to limit festivities was made in part because of ongoing threats from militants, who had warned parishioners not to use traditional methods to honor those killed.

"The Archbishop Council of Iraq decided that celebrations are to be limited to prayers at churches only. No celebrations, no parties," he said.

'We are still receiving threats from terrorists. Even families of those killed inside the church were threatened that if they hang a banner marking their lost relatives, their houses will be blown up.'"

And:

"'What is happening to us these days is similar to what happened to Jews in Iraq before,' Kyriakos said. 'Christians are being displaced from their country.'"

In a Catholic news article, Persecution leading Iraqi Christians to draw harsh conclusions, this:

"Fr. Jahola acknowledged stories that have circulated among the Iraqis who are fleeing their homeland. He said he believes reports that Christian homes have been marked with red crosses as targets for Islamic extremists. The crosses are a warning of violence to come, he said. They are a sign, he said, that “these people are in (the) Church, so they are still alive. … that we still need to eliminate them.”

No place in Iraq, not even the more peaceful Kurdistan region, provides certainty for Christians to live safely, he said."

And this:

"The Baghdad cathedral attack inspired in him [Fr. Jahola] strength and resolve that he did not know he had.

“This for me is the strength of the martyrs who witnessed to their faith in the Church,” he said. “For me, I haven't yet done what I need to do, so that awaits me.”

Soft light through which we see the world,

held in your strong arms incarnate One,

we sing your praise Holy Child, they close their mouths

in faithfulness and whisper none.

Not she-ass or ewe to breathe warm barn smells there;

but smells of death and hatred scattered on every straw.

There will be no bells or songs or pleasant praise;

The cross grows where the praise stood a thousand years

or more.

Holy One as you came in a still night with boundless angel song

come soon again and undo the pain that lingers still.

In many folds and in Iraq where children whisper not

your praise but hope in you. Come soon again,

but comfort now or more.

-

(Picture, La Vierge De Tolede, by Picasso)

The video I am placing below is certainly not a Christmas hymn, nor is it a Catholic or even Presbyterian song, it is an Anabaptist hymn and I think fits the mood of this post:

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas-Some of my thoughts

Several months ago I finished reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. The book is written by Eric Metaxas who also wrote a biography of William Wilberforce. I find myself quoting from Metaxas’ book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer extensively as I write on my blog. It is relevant for this day and speaks to the many current issues surfacing in the United States today
.
The book provides material that had not yet been used in other bios of Bonhoeffer, for instance there is a whole chapter devoted to Bonhoeffer’s romance and engagement to Marie Von Wedemeyer. There is new material on Bonhoeffer’s reaction to Union Theological Seminary in New York, and American liberal theology in general. The book provides a better understanding of Bonhoeffer’s willingness to become a part of the conspiracy to kill Hitler, a conspiracy, which, by the way, involved German military intelligence, over a thousand people and several years of commitment.

And this is one of the more poignant parts of the book. The devastation Hitler caused to the aristocratic families of Germany as he sought vengeance against those who attempted to kill him. Under the subtitle, “Bonhoeffer Leaves Berlin,” meaning he was headed to a concentration camp, Metaxas writes:

In the early afternoon of February 7, Bonhoeffer and a number of other prominent prisoners were taken from their cells and made to wait near two vans that would take them to the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Flossenburg. There were twenty men all principal figures in the conspiracy. A more stunning array of personages can hardly be imagined.

Among them was the former chancellor of Austria, Dr. Kurt Von Schuschnigg whose treatment by the Gestapo was one of the blackest marks in the history of the Third Reich. Here, too, was Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, former head of the Reichsbank, who had enabled Hitler’s rise to power and later fought in vain against the monster he’d helped create. Schacht had spoken against the treatment of the Jews early on and was part of the 1938 plot. Like so many others, he was arrested after the failed Stauffenberg plot. And here stood Admiral Canaris, General Oster, and Judge Sack. …

Metaxas goes on naming many more of those who were well known and respected in Germany and yet would suffer and die in the two concentration camps. And this is just one small part of a well researched book that not only gives attentiveness to historical details but also guides the reader to see the strength experienced in the life of a devout and faithful Christian. Bonhoeffer’s devotional life is included in the details.

I had intended to write a review, and still may. But sometimes the web provides helpful material and in this case a great deal of material.

Here is a video of the author speaking about his book. Beneath it I am putting a link to a speech he made in New York for C-SPAN. The video for C-SPAN is an hour long but very good. Metaxas is speaking at the Y before what seems to be a group of older Jewish people. During the Q&A time one person reveals that they are a Holocaust survivor and another that his uncle was in a concentration camp. Their questions and comments are very good.



‎[Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy] - C-SPAN Video Library

Renting in Israel and the Simon Wiesenthal Center

On the front page of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network is a small article entitled, “The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s perverted stance on ‘tolerance’” by Martha Reese. One of the issues the author is decrying is that the Simon Wiesenthal Center has nothing to say about the Rabbis in Israel who published a letter forbidding their people to rent to non-Jews. At the beginning of the article the author asks:

Why does the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) have nothing to say about the rabbinical edict circulating in Israel—currently signed by more than four dozen rabbis—forbidding the sale or rental of homes to non-Jews?

This is a rather complex issue, but in a manner of speaking there has been a statement by a leading member of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It can be found at Cross-Currents, and is written by a friend, Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, the Director of Interfaith Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, as well as holder of the Sydney M. Irmas Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics at Loyola Law School.

What should be understood here is that the issues have to do with Jewish law and the kind of complexities that only those qualified to speak on such matters can address. My posting concerns two articles and I have read both. But it would be dishonest of me to say I understand everything. They are very interesting and very difficult. But the important point I want to make is that the issue has been addressed and the Rabbis’ edict found faulty by a member of the SWC.

The first article is by Adlerstein, “How To Respond to the Renting Ban – And How To Fail At It.” In the article he refers to another article as the proper way to address the problem. That article is, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein's Response to the Letter Banning Sale of Homes to Gentiles in Israel. This latter article is much easier to read for a Gentile like myself.

Adlerstein is calling for kindness, use of all the legitimate literature on the subject and he is pointing to Lichtenstein’s response as the good example. Lichtenstein’s last paragraph is:

I conclude with what should be self-evident. At stake are key questions that involve meta-halakhic [the Jewish body of law] considerations. The willingness and ability to consider and assign appropriate weight to wide-ranging components related to halakhic content and its connection to both historical and social realities mandates a much wider discussion. We, who dwell in the beit midrash, remain committed to our belief and desire “to proclaim that God is upright, my rock in whom there is no wrong.”

If that sounds like an interesting read, please go and read. Just know that there is concern about the Rabbis’ edict.

The problem here is that secular people with a definite ideology are demanding that all of the Rabbis, both orthodox and otherwise conform to their way of making statements. That is not the way one listens to the other.

So while I hopefully have the readers attention, the IPMN wants Presbyterians to go and vote on a different issue so please do: 'Israeli War Crimes' signs to go on Metro buses (There is no longer voting on this issue.) Instead read, Metro considers changing policy over anti-Israeli bus ads.

James Wall & Hamas

David Fischler at Reformed Pastor has an excellent article on James Wall's last article, "The “Little Town of Bethlehem” Still Waits for Its Stolen Democracy." Fischler's article, James Wall: Hamas Supporter (UPDATED), begins with this:

"James Wall, the former editor-in-chief and still contributing editor of the Christian Century, comes out today as an unabashed, enthusiastic supporter of Hamas, the terrorist movement sworn to the destruction of Israel. He does so by way of mourning the fact that after the 2006 Palestinian election, Hamas was not permitted to takeover the Palestinian Authority and significantly increase the resources it had to pursue its war against the Jews."

Wall is also the writer that the PCUSA's Israel/Palestine Mission Network keeps linking to; they, in fact, think he is so good they have several of his articles on their web page.

After you read Fischler's article in which he quotes Wall, "Israel could not allow Hamas to be seen as a political party that had won an election the way parties do in a democracy. Hamas had to be peddled as a “terror” organization that is a threat to world peace, a narrative pattern that continues to this day, as Israel and its US neoconservative allies pound the war drums against Iran," come back and watch this video.

The video was made on Dec. 14th, just this past week, and covers a rally set up by Hamas marking their 23rd anniversary. The speaker is the Prime Minister of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh. He is making it quite clear that Hamas will never recognize Israel.

His is a kingdom with a reality that shatters

In Gabriel’s message to Mary his promise about Jesus is, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his Kingdom will have no end.” Is this political cast in the spiritual or is it spiritual cast in political terms? Or is it both?

Perhaps it is that both modern and post-modern people are such materialist that a King whose kingdom is not of this world isn’t much of a king at all. Or if they want to make him some kind of worldly leader or guru they cut away all of the biblical meaning of his kingship. But he is truly King. He is king whether we want him to be or not.

But my thought about Jesus being a King who isn’t much of a King at all, it is because of the way we see the world, its because we have lost touch with the realities that are greater than any worldly realities. This causes such hardness and faithlessness. And Advent isn’t just about the first coming of Christ; it’s also about his second coming. And he is coming.

That One who is seemingly so weak and unreal with his coming will break through the broken certainties of this sinful world with a hugeness of reality none of us expect. It will be like the grass of Paradise in C.S. Lewis' Great Divorce. It was so real it hurt the feet of those who traveled there from darker regions.

Political will mean what it could not mean now. Jesus' kingliness is the measure of all kings and rulers. His power is full of perfect justice, perfect comfort, perfect mercy, perfect judgment, and perfect love. We shall tremble before him, and some shall rejoice but all will kneel in acknowledgement that he is truth.

He is the hidden one now, and often his people are also hidden. But he is a King, he will come and he will never leave us. Praises for his birth, praises for his second coming.

Veterans Today: anti-Semitism moving from the right to the left

In the very early 1920’s the Brown Shirts who followed Hitler were generally considered a gang of buffoons. Once known as the German workers Party, even before Hitler, their main ideas were to fight capitalism and communism, uphold nationalism and despise the Jews. They were a small group of radicals who participated in street fights with the communist. In the end they were not a joke, but were responsible for the murder of millions of people including six million Jews.

I write this having just read an article in the left leaning Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.com, Bloggers claim WikiLeaks struck deal with Israel over diplomatic cables leaks. The article written by Danna Harman, unwittingly, includes a small interview with the publisher of Veterans Today’s Senior Editor, Gordon Duff. While Veterans Today majors in progressive views its Editor, Duff, and its writers believe not only that Wikileaks was instigated by Israel but also 9-11.

Veterans Today is one of the more vile anti-Semitic sites on the internet offering material by one of the vilest anti-Semitic writers, J.B. Campbell, who advocates the death of Jewish rabbis and American leadership in both government and business. He also pushes for the destruction of Israel and believes Germany was the good nation during World War II.

In one article, DEFENSE AGAINST ZIONIST AGGRESSION, Campbell writes:

“Jews are in controlling positions in every segment of our lives, from the financial collapse of Wall Street, to the collapse of our currency by the Federal Reserve Corporation, the collapse of the US military from Jewish wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a de facto Jewish war against Pakistan and a threatened Jewish war against Iran. Trillions of tax dollars have been lost to the pockets of Jewish bankers and speculators.”

And:

“The only foreign enemies we have are in Israel. You don’t need to mess with them. The real enemy is domestic, the Jew who sends you to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran to kill people who never threatened us but who are hated by Jews. We have to clean up this country by wiping out the Jewish organization.”

This is a new move of anti-Semitism from the right to the left. The far right has always had an anti-Semitic bent. But now with the constant push by those involved in leftist movements to delegitimize the State of Israel, which they see as a symbol of all that they hate about the West, many publications, religious groups and newspapers are being infiltrated by leftist anti-Semitism.

Just recently I posted an article about James Wall, former publisher and Editor of Christian Century praising Veterans Today.[1] He wrote, “The website Veterans Today is not a “sludge-bucket”. It is a progressive website that sees injustice and calls it for what it is …” He is a contributing writer for a site connected to Veterans Today, My Catbird Seat. Also, along with Gordon Duff, Wall believes Israel is the instigator of the Wikileaks.

A Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) organization the Israel/Palestine Mission Network, with mostly a progressive membership, continues linking to Wall and his diatribes against Israel and the Jews. Such is the infiltration of radical anti-Semitism into the progressive community.

This growing movement feeds on itself. At least eight anti-Semitic sites pull in articles by Gordon Duff and others who write for Veterans Today. Interestingly enough no one has yet used any of the articles written by the ultimate anti-Semite who writes there, J.B. Campbell. But like the Brown Shirts and Hitler with which I began this article, all of this awful anti-Semitism can move swiftly into a movement that one will no longer think of as a small group of buffoons, but rather a movement of large scary orcs straight out of a JRR Tolkien book.

[1] Please note, Christian Century does not prescribe to any form of anti-Semitism. In fact before the Presbyterian General Assembly James Wall in anger wrote an article, which among other things, denounced one of their articles which stood up for the Jewish people. See, “Israeli “Agents” Infiltrate Presbyterian General Assembly.

An experiment with Belhar: racism or unity?

Dr. Charles Wiley and the Office of Theology and Worship have provided a public forum for discussing the Confession of Belhar, almost continuously since the 219th General Assembly. The discussions have been extremely interesting and helpful. One part of the discussion I read offered by Pastor Edward W. Eissabake of St. John's Assyrian PCUSA, struck me as an excellent and convincing argument against adopting Belhar. It is his experiment and its results should be shared. I asked if I might print his remarks on my blog and he graciously has allowed me to post them.

After thanking Dr. Wiley for allowing all of us to share our views Pastor Eissabake wrote:

“Besides standing on all my theological and confessional views on Belhar in this forum, I did something different and practical. I read the Belhar over and over and read it to the people who did not know the background and reason for composing Belhar.

I read it to the following people: 1) a friend of mine who is an African American and Executive Director of a company in field of human and social services; 2) a Cambodian student with Master degree in Sociology; 3) to a Mexican lady and Office Manager of a foster care company; 4) to a Caucasian with doctorate degree in English literature; 5) to a Kenyan Director of Development in an multicultural business. I did not tell them ABOUT the Belhar. I simply read it to them and asked them what they concluded from the message of Belhar. None of them mentioned anything about racism and racial conflicts!!! They all stated that the message of Belhar is about unity.

This was an eye opening action that the matter of racism has been mentioned in Belhar only in two TINY references under 11.3 paragraphs 3 and 5. I realized that we all are focusing on notes ABOUT Belhar rather than Belhar by itself. The whole Belhar is talking about unity in an inclusive form, not racism.

Please try it. Do not read ABOUT Belhar or its background. Simply read it, and you will find me true. I conclude my notes on Belhar in this forum by repeating my two fundamental questions: B) WHY do we need Belhar as a confession while the matter of racism has been considered in a stronger way in C67 and even A Brief Statement of Faith? Why do we need it while we have a mechanism that is functioning very well in handling racism in our denomination? B) HOW does Belhar examine the false doctrines? The simple and general/inclusive language of Belhar lacks the message of racism and lacks the theological standards to determine and reject a false doctrine. Thank you again."

I encourage all to try this; here is a copy of the confession, The Belhar Confession

He shall wipe away our tears

And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn.

Hesitant, but hopeful, I went with my husband last night to a dinner at a maximum security prison for young men in the small town of Ione in Northern California. Two young men sat at each table with the rest of us. Most were hesitant and hopeful too.

The food was very good. A plate full of cookies ended the meal. But God’s good word followed.

Two of the young men read the biblical text and the chaplain, who is chaplain over all prison chaplains in California, spoke in between the reading, about the angels and the shepherds …

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Why to shepherds we were asked? David was a shepherd we were reminded. But as Dave, the Chaplain, spoke he reached all the way to Revelation. Out of all other needs, and these young men have many needs, as do we all, they need Jesus. And in Revelation is that beautiful picture of the Shepherd.

These [those dressed in white robes] are the ones who come out of great tribulation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God; and they serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Several people spoke about their past as prisoners and how they were changed because of Jesus. One man, who was at Preston in the early fifties, is now a pastor and works with Teen Challenge. One person, in particular, touched me, she married one of the past prisoners and then they both received Jesus as Lord. Her 17 year old son was killed, her husband died of aids and still she comes every Monday night to minister to young men, telling them that she sees the face of her son in their faces, telling them that when she kneels to pray she prays for them.

I thought of Jesus being born in a stable in Bethlehem and how much this place full of kids from the streets and gangs were like those that Jesus came to in that ancient world of Judea. He came to save them and us by his life, bloody death and resurrection. He, the Holy perfect Shepherd gives eternal abundant life.

At the end there was a small choir formed from the prison wards. Their songs were beautiful, full of the hope, the only hope in this world, the Lamb, the shepherd, the king born in a stable.

Israel/Palestine Mission Network: Getting revenge; sweet or hateful?

Are you tired of this? I am; it is Christmas and I want to concentrate on this sacred time, celebrating the first coming of Jesus, writing about the incarnation and posting beautiful Christmas hymns. But one of our Presbyterian organizations is at war with the Jewish people and because I belong to Jesus Christ I cannot back away from this terrible time.

Saturday, Dec. 11th, the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) linked to an awful article about the Simon Wiesenthal Center which not only slandered the center but also its Dean & founder, Rabbi Marvin Hier. The IPMN when linking to the article written by Lawrence Swaim, wrote, “Time to point the finger back at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.”[1] Their point is bigoted and shallow. Did they even read the article?

The article “Israel’s War Against the Dead: Mamilla Cemetery and the Simon Wiesenthal Center,” is about the Museum of Tolerance that the Center is building in Jerusalem.[2] They are accused, in the article, of building the museum on top of a Muslim cemetery. But there is much more than complaints about the museum at the end of the article.

Swaim writes of the The Simon Wiesenthal Center:

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an extreme rightwing Jewish organization, tinged by neo-fascism and with many of the characteristics of a hate organization. It is based almost completely on a vulgarized, pervasive form of religious nationalism. Its vision for Israel is consistent with the neo-fascist Jabotinsky tendency within Zionism that was modeled on Italian fascism, and it also promotes the Likudnik doctrine that Judaism itself has no practical or demographic existence separate from Israel. The SWC supports the neo-con belief in permanent war in the Middle East, and it engages in the vigorous dissemination of religious bigotry against Muslims in the US. It portrays anti-Semitism as worse than it is, partly for fund-raising purposes and partly to establish an imagined victim status. It similarly uses the Holocaust both to
discourage criticism of Israel and to justify Israel’s own violence, aggressively insisting that every criticism of Israel is really aimed at destroying the Jewish people. Above all, the SWC is a dangerous cultural force that seeks religious war as the standard for religious authenticity.

Of SWC's leadership Swaim writes:

The fight over Mamilla Cemetery is a dispute in which Rabbi Hier, the very incarnation of the charismatic but morally corrupt religious fanatic, seeks to invent a new Judaism that, like medieval Christianity, defines itself by its ability to wound and torment the underdog.

Of the membership of the Simon Wiesenthal Center the author writes:

One has the sense that Hier’s followers are primarily lower (and middle) middle-class people, perhaps small businesspersons and conservative professionals who reject Judaism’s traditional concern for social justice, whose level of cultural literacy is not particularly high, and who are attracted to the us-against-them aggression of religious nationalism.

To put it very succinctly, I consider the Rabbis at the Simon Wiesenthal Center my friends. I know them to be men of integrity. The IPMN may consider it important to get revenge against those they consider their enemies, but it seems to me that such action fails to honor the Prince of Peace. More than that, using a despicable insulting article full of fraudulent, contrived and exaggerated content to get revenge dishonors the One who is truth himself.

May God have mercy on us all.

[1] The author of this diatribe, Lawrence Swaim, is listed as Director of the Interfaith Freedom Foundation, an organization that apparently has no web site. The article was taken from a Muslim paper for which Swain writes a column, InFocus News. After clicking around on the site I could not come up with past articles, but here is an overview by the Jewish organization, The Anti-Defamation League.

[2] To read about the dispute over the Museum read the article that Swaim has written and then go to the Simon Wiesenthal Center and read their page on the Museum, read the whole page, The Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem.

Israel is a Jewish State: IPMN's Noushin Framke would like that to end

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a policy of a two state solution for the troubled Middle East. I have been writing for over a year that the Israel/Palestine Mission Network was and is pushing for a one state solution. On November 9th I posted, Is an overture for a one state solution looming on the horizon? I was wrong about the overture but I was not wrong about the IPMN’s attitude toward a one state solution. Noushin Darya Framke of the IPMN, (She is chair of their communications committee), has written an article for Ecclesio.com. The article, Ye Shall Share the Land calls into question the very concept of a Jewish State.

There are details in the article that I am going to skip over and refer my readers to an excellent post on Framke’s article written by my friend David Fischler at Reformed Pastor. His article is “The Mask Comes Off,” and as always he carefully goes into the details. But I want, instead, to deal with this continuing arrogance that permeates the IPMN. And at the same time the great need for the Jewish people to have a Jewish State.

The IPMN’s attitude toward Israel as a Jewish State is troubling. In the article Framke quotes Tony Judt writing that she prefers his way of seeing Israel. She writes:

Judt famously called Israel an anachronism, saying it was a good idea for the nineteenth century but an idea whose time had passed in the 21st century. Judt said Israel arrived too late: “The very idea of a ‘Jewish state’—a state in which Jews and the Jewish religion have exclusive privileges from which non-Jewish citizens are forever excluded—is rooted in another time and place. Israel, in short, is ananachronism.”

The truth is Israel as a Jewish state was created for the care and safety of Jewish people. And its Arab citizens are not excluded. They can vote and hold office. They have freedom of religion. Yes, there are problems, serious problems, recently racist problems, but they are solvable but the destruction of Israel as a Jewish State is a disaster.

I have watched from my distant computer chair the speed with which the Israel/Palestine Mission Network has entered into the dark world of radical anti-Jewish thought and ideas. I have watched with fear, because rather than pushing for solutions between two peoples they have excluded anything good done by Israel and have made her the ultimate enemy. Entering the radical world of the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions movement they have embraced a movement that believes Israel should never have existed and that one state with an Arab majority is the solution.

IPMN has not entered the world of Israel at all; Israel is the other. Neither have they entered into the world of the Palestinians, but instead into the world of Hamas and Hezbollah, and further into a world of dark sinister hatred for the Jew.

Just two days ago IPMN, once again, linked to another James Wall posting in which he was suggesting that the Israelis were the source of Wikileaks. Wall was using as a source another writer who writes for Veterans Today. The article he referenced was on another anti-Semitic site, but it was also on VT since the writer, Jeff Gates, is a staff writer for them.[1]

Veterans Today is the awful anti-Semitic site that James Wall thinks “is a progressive website that sees injustice and calls it for what it is …” At the same time that Wall was referencing a VT writer, a different writer on that site was explaining that all of the United State leadership during the last presidency was controlled by the Jews (he still thinks leadership is controlled by the Jews) and he wrote:

These people must all be hanged, which is the accepted and traditional American punishment for capital crimes and especially for war crimes. They have already committed the crimes that call for their hanging, so they feel they have nothing to lose by nuking Iran and Syria for their Israeli masters. … We are up against a combination of cunning, greed and insanity that is hard to describe, let alone argue with. It can only be exterminated, as we do with dangerous or filthy insects and vermin in our homes. And when we’re dealing with rats and cockroaches, we don’t take any of them prisoner.

After writing that he wrote this about Israel:

The various agencies of the gangster state of Israel must be similarly disposed of. No more Jewish rules of conduct, and no Jewish Rule under the North American Union. Do we want to be the laughingstock of the world? I should say, do we want to continue to be the laughingstock of the world? To be big, tough Americans who let a bunch of creepy Jews run us like cattle?[2]

None of this bothers the leadership of IPMN. They are sliding into a dreadful place. But what is truly shameful is that they are themselves perpetrating the very reason that the Jewish State of Israel needs to exist. Anti-Semitism is growing around the world, it is growing in the United States, and even in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The IPMN’s actions, including Framke’s article, is proof enough that there must be a Jewish State.


.
[1] If all of this seems confusing please see, “The Israel/Palestine Mission Network, James Wall and conspiracy theories

[2] The article is an old one written in 2006, but it was posted at Veterans Today because it was thought relevant.

The story that is always new-so held in awe

Arguments concerning the challenges to proposition 8 were given this week in San Francisco before the Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. That is the referendum that was passed in California upholding traditional marriage. The Covenant Network reports that there was a rally for same gender marriage outside and that one of the speakers was their Executive Director Pam Byers. They have posted her speech and she ends with this comment.

“And as a young college friend said to our recent national conference, ‘Jesus had two dads, and he turned out all right!’”

One wants to say all kinds of things like are you suggesting the family was polygamist, meaning one wife and two husbands. Or are you equating Joseph’s relationship to God with a homosexual coupling?

But what does it really mean that Jesus had a heavenly Father and an earthly step father? Doesn’t that take in the whole sweep of God’s revelation to his church? Isn’t that the whole story of Holy Scripture? Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the Father, taking on human flesh, living and dying for our redemption.

There are surely two Christmas stories sweeping through our Presbyterian Church. One is God’s revelation, met with awe, devotion and worship. That story is always new, it is the story saints and martyrs never grow tired of hearing. It is the push and shove that plants their feet in hard places. It is God’s promises fulfilled in history. It is God’s light that shines in our awful darkness.

The other Christmas story, the plot is somewhat the same, but the words have lost their meaning because they seem unbelievable, old and stale. So old and stale that the story can be used blasphemously to hopefully bring about something ‘new’ while putting Jesus in the funny box. It is simply a means to an end, a way to hurry on to some new vision or some new activity.

But Jesus, the Incarnation, his life, his word, his death, his resurrection, that is our story that is our song.



Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son; and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins." (Matt. 1:20b-21)

The Israel/Palestine Mission Network, James Wall and conspiracy theories

It isn’t going to end soon, there are too many radical anti-Semitic sites that many of us, who don’t make a habit of reading conspiracy driven web sites, know nothing about. But obviously James Wall of Wall Writings, along with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Israel/Palestine Mission Network is very aware of such sites. They link to them, use material from their sites, and in Wall’s case, write for them.

After being totally rebuffed by moderator, Carol Hylkema, of IPMN in my plea that they not use James Wall since he writes for, praises and cites writers for such web sites, they are again linked to Wall, and he is using and is linked to another radical anti-Semitic site, Sabbah Report.

Wall has written an article entitled, “Could Israel Be Using Wikileaks to Prepare US for Air Strike Against Iran?” He begins his article by referring to Jeff Gates and quoting, with some approval, from Gates article on Sabbah Report. That article is “Wikileaks: More Israeli Game Theory Warfare.” Both writers, stuck in their anti-Semitism, are suggesting that the Wikileaks were perpetrated by Israel as a means to cast a bad light on the United States and to further war plans against Iran. And in fact all of these sites are at the moment pushing this particular conspiracy idea.

Besides Wall Writings, Sabbah Report and Israel/Palestine Mission Network, one can include, My Catbird Seat, Veterans Today, Salem-News.com and Wake Up America: Your government is hijacked by Zionism. All of these sites, and there are others, use each other’s material; they all feed off of each other. They are all guilty of spewing hate in America.

The way it works is one writer writes about conspiracies such as this article, Is the "Times Square Terrorist" more Field-based Warfare, in which Gates, the writer Wall used in his article, blames, among other things, the destruction of the two ancient Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York, the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, etc., etc. on Israel. Everyone picks up those parts that either interest them or that they find credible. And it is supposed that if enough people write about the theory it must be true.

The IPMN is starting to do this by connecting to all of the writers through Wall’s writings. It is an easy way to slam not only Israel but also the Jewish people of the United States.[1] It is an easy way to avoid doing real homework about your main subject. It is an easy way to spit on the roots of your faith and deny the grace of God given through that One Jew on the cross.


[1] One Jewish Rabbi, Rabbii Gershon Steinberg-Caudill, who comments on the IPMN Facebook links is seemingly getting a bit more discerning about what they post. after reading Wall's posting he writes, "I think the movie [Fair Game: a movie Wall uses to make his point.] should be required viewing while I do not believe that Israel has any relationship with Wikileaks.'

After another link, Encountering Peace: Five minutes to midnight, about whether Israel can be a Jewish State and a Democracy at the same time, the Rabbi states: "There CAN be BOTH a Jewish State AND a Democracy. England is a Christian State and a Democracy. It CAN be done." In what appears to be a sassy contradiction to the Rabbi, IPMN's Noushin Framke writes:"Yes. But only if being Jewish doesn't give citizens any privileges. Problem is, Israel is based on Jewish exceptionalism."

Perhaps some other friends of IPMN will start speaking out.

Please see also, "James Wall: At It Again" by David Fischler at Reformed Pastor, and Disturbing Signs of Anti-Semitism in the PC(USA) by Greg Scandlen at Greg Scandlen's American Awakening

The second Sunday of Advent

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given …

Last night for some reason I started thinking of all my Christmases; the sad ones, the joyous ones, the just plain fun ones. I remember a Christmas when my Dad took our wagon across an icy stream, with my sisters and I bundled up, sitting on the wagon floor. We cut down one of our own pine trees and decorated it with crepe paper and popcorn. There were sleds for Christmas, and something extra for each of us. My extra was a toy nurse’s kit because until I found out that science wasn’t my favorite subject I thought I wanted to be a nurse.

If my Mom and Dad gave us a doll it was usually sitting unwrapped under the tree, just like a new baby born on Christmas morning. And there was always, bowls of fragrant oranges, the ribbon Christmas candies that come in many colors, and different kinds of nuts.

Now, each year, after Christmas I wrap our decorations in tissue paper and place them in a box and write on the top “for a holy Christmas” and then I put the next year’s date. So many memories are boxed up. There is the tiny fading tin Santa that belonged to my husband’s mother, Juanita, also her little porcelain angel that is a bell that rings. The kids use to fight over who would hang that one.

There is also the little gold colored train with a red setting that Juanita brought to hang on the tree just three days before she would die on a snowy, sleety road in a terrible car accident near Bend, Oregon. There is so much in that box.

Juanita was a young teenager during the years of the depression and the dust bowl. She traveled with her family from Oklahoma to California, living in a tent with her family. Her mother worked in the canneries in Monterey and her father; he was a hard evil man, an occultist, who helped put together the Egyptian museum in San Jose. He was proud and arrogant making his children suffer in ways that are inappropriate and impossible to write about.

But Juanita found some peace and joy in the Lord when she became a Christian. And that is what Christmas is about, finding life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Joy, sorrow, happiness in a box of ornaments, but it all circles around Jesus and the great gift he has given with his birth at Bethlehem, his life, death and resurrection.

Bonhoeffer, using Isaiah 9:6-7 writes of all the different aspects of Christ’s identity. He spoke in a sermon:

What kings and statesmen, philosophers and artist, religious leaders and moral teachers have labored for in vain is now brought about by a new born child. Here a child, born in the midst of world history, has put to shame the wisdom and efforts of the strong. A child, born of a human mother, a Son given by God. That is the secret of the salvation of the world. All the past and all future is here encompassed. The unending comfort of the almighty God comes to us, humbly and in the form of a child, his Son. That this child is born, for us, given for us, that this human child, God’s Son, belongs to me, that I know him, have him, love him, that I am his and he is mine, means that now my life depends only on him. A child has our life in his hands.[1]

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Christmas Sermons, Editor and translator, Edwin Robertson, Zondervan (Christmas 1940)

Lying to the United Nations, lying about a movement

People lie all the time that is probably why one of God’s commandments is “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” But when you do it before the United Nations there should be serious consequences. There of course will be before the judgment seat of God, alone, without Christ as an advocate. But then if you are a communist and probably an atheist I suppose you don’t think about such things.

Reformed Pastor David Fischler has just put up a posting entitled, “Spokesperson for the mainline.” The posting contains a video and is about Judith LeBlanc, Vice Chairperson of the Communist Party speaking to the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on behalf of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. That is an organization that is supported by most of the mainline churches. It is the group supported by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

In the speech LeBlanc makes several comments that are to be expected. She refers to the occupation of Palestine and states that it is a sixty year occupation. And she speaks about overcoming the complete occupation. This has been the goal of most people in the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions movement, to turn all of Jewish Israel into an Arab state.

But what is unexpected is the blatant lie that LeBlanc uses in her speech. Speaking of the need of the campaign against Israel to focus on the United States, changing its citizens thinking, she states:

There are new and important examples toward this end. In California member groups of the U.S. Campaign to end Israeli occupation successfully campaigned to place a referendum on the state wide ballot in the next election. It calls on the state to divest teacher and student worker’s retirement pension funds from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. (Bold mine.)

But the truth is that those involved in the campaign have no idea about whether it is succeeding or not. In an interview by the Socialist Worker, one of the activists, Chris Yatooma, when asked about their success states:

Two and half months into the campaign, we don't have a realistic count of the signatures gathered. In early December, we plan to hold a statewide conference call with our county and regional coordinators to see how many signatures we have gathered at that point. Still, because most of the petitions are being circulated via the Web site and e-mail attachments, we won't have a good grasp of the numbers until mid-January.

At the web site for the ballot initiative there is no notice that the referendum is already successful. This is a ploy many in the BDS movement have been using as I explained in an earlier post, IPMN, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement and its many hoaxes...UPDATE...and now a correction. On the Divest From Israel site several other supposedly successful campaigns are listed. But at least one is a complete hoax; the other is not at the moment successful.

Not only is LeBlanc lying to the UN; the whole BDS movement is lying about what their final goal is. At the blog, Divest This, one can gather several very good resources to help those at both universities and other institutions fight against divestment. One such resource can be down loaded; it is The BDS Cookbook - Recipes for defeating BDS

In the resource is a link to a video that explains the true goals of the BDS movement. I am placing it below. To see the video of LeBlanc speaking go to “Spokesperson for the mainline.”

Who cares? An exchange of e-mails between myself and IPMN

I sent an e-mail to Carol Hylkema, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Israel/Palestine Mission Network, concerning their link to Veterans Today and to James Wall who not only writes for My Catbird Seat but also praises Veterans Today. Below is my e-mail and then the E-mail she sent me. The e-mail is signed by Hylkema but was sent by Jeffrey DeYoe, chair of the IPMN advocacy group.




Carol Hylkema
Israel Palestine Mission Network
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Dear Ms Hylkema,

I am writing this to inform you that the person you have been linking to both on your front page and your Facebook page, James Wall, has connected to several highly anti-Semitic web sites and insists that they are not anti-Semitic. He, in fact, is writing for them. I know that he was once the Editor of Christian Century but nonetheless he is involved in radical anti-Semitism. Today you linked to his essay, Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve in which he insists that Veterans Today is not anti-Semitic. He writes:

“The website Veterans Today is not a “sludge-bucket”. It is a progressive website that sees injustice and calls it for what it is, which explains why these days, I find myself more at home with my new friends at Veterans Today and My Catbird Seat than with any Presbyterian blogger who has failed to realize that the Israeli occupation is a moral evil which must be ended. Perhaps this is a new ecumenism of the faithful.”

But this is the latest article on Veterans Today, “Dam of Lies.” It not only denies the Holocaust, it says that in World War II the Germans were the good guys. Most of the writers on the site believe the Israelis are the ones who brought down the towers in New York. And yet Noushin Framke placed a comment on Wall's posting about how the site is not anti-Semitic praising Wall and directing people to your site. And you have linked on Facebook to at least one article on Veterans Today.

To be very blunt, I and others are outraged by this and are pleading with you and/or others to do something about the problem. You, of course will not like my blog posting about this but I am sending them to you so you will hopefully understand that this is a very big problem. http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-want-to-scream-draw-close-to-jesus.html

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Viola Larson

Cc Linda Valentine, Executive Director
Hunter Farrell, World Mission Director

Dear Ms. Larson,

Thank you for your letter expressing your concern regarding our network's endorsement of James Wall and his writings. From where we stand, James Wall is a beacon of light in a place where debate has produced more heat than light.

Mr. Wall's reference to other writers are his choice, not ours to make. As far as your concern on articles not referenced by James Wall that appear on a website that he has referenced, we feel uncomfortable practicing guilt by association. The Israel Palestine Mission Network never condones anti-Semitism and does not believe that James Wall is anti-Semitic. His record of speaking out against racism and human rights violations in the world speaks for itself and we support his work in this regard.

Grace and Peace,

Carol Hylkema, Moderator
IPMN


cc: Linda Valentine, GAMC Executive Director
Hunter Farrell, World Mission Director

I want to scream, draw close to Jesus and get away from such monsters (Update)

James Wall, in his article, Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve ,writes that my friend David Fischler and I are telling lies when we accuse him of being a writer for anti-Semitic web sites. And he defends one person whose site he writes for, “One US Presbyterian blogger, for example, has accused Debbie Menon, a blogger located in Dubai of linking to a ”horribly anti-Semitic site”, not mine in this case, but another blog, bringing back the old “guilt by association” line of attack.” That was my posting, Please share my anger: IPMN, James Wall & hanging Jewish people . [1]

Wall also writes, “The website Veterans Today is not a “sludge-bucket”. It is a progressive website that sees injustice and calls it for what it is, which explains why these days, I find myself more at home with my new friends at Veterans Today and My Catbird Seat than with any Presbyterian blogger who has failed to realize that the Israeli occupation is a moral evil which must be ended. Perhaps this is a new ecumenism of the faithful.”

This is an article just published at Veterans Today, “Dam of Lies.” It is written by J. Bruce Campbell, a staff writer for Veterans Today. Here are some of his thoughts from the article:

Disgrace and redemption. The disgrace is of course our acceptance of Jewish domination of our lives, thanks entirely to the mind control system of tax-exempt Christianity in which we are all immersed regardless of our piety, our agnosticism or our hard, heathen rejection. America is a Christian nation and that means that we have not been allowed to defend ourselves against Jews. Christianity protects Jews from being killed, which is its main purpose. That’s why it is tax-exempt.

Or this:

Jewish mind control isn’t limited to Christians, of course. It’s just based on Christianity, which is the necessary ingredient. If it weren’t for Christian gullibility there could be no Holocaust guilt and extortion racket. That is, if it weren’t for the Old Testament there could be no New Testament. Are we really expected to believe the crazy whoppers in the Old Testament? They’re as wild as the Holocaust whopper. The New Testament people are told to love the Old Testament people, whom the Jews pretend to be, even to themselves. This is the schizophrenic nature of Judeo-Christianity. Old Testament-New Testament.

And very sadly, this:

Germany was the good side. That’s the big bitter pill that Americans will someday have to swallow. Now that the vicious fairy tale known as the Holocaust has been shown to be a complete fabrication of the Jewish Allies (America, England and the Soviet Union) at Nuremberg, what exactly is there to dislike about Germany’s behavior before, during and after World War II? Those snappy uniforms? Hitler’s mustache? Rounding up Jewish declared enemies and trying to deport them?

I hope my readers are sick enough now to realize that James Wall’s connection to and defense of Veterans Today places him in the same category as Nazis. And it also places the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the same category if they keep linking to Wall’s articles or to Veterans Today.

I amit, I want to scream all kinds of things! Draw closer to Jesus and get away from such monsters. Of course pray for them; they are walking in fire, preparing to burn down all the great blessings Christ has showered on his church. And yes I am writing about both James Wall and the IPMN.

This, below, is from Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. It is Bonhoeffer’s reaction when he heard about the burning of Jewish synagogues and businesses on what was called, Kristallnacht during the early Nazi years.

In the Bible that day or the next, Bonhoeffer was reading Psalm 74. This was the text he happened to be meditating upon. What he read startled him, and with his pencil he put a vertical line in the margin to mark it, with an exclamation point next to the line. He also underlined the second half of verse 8. ;Sie verbrennen alle Häuser Gottes im Lande’ (‘They burned all of God’s houses in the land.) Next to the verse he wrote: 9.11.38. Bonhoeffer saw this as an example of God speaking to him, and to the Christians in Germany. God was telling him something through his Word that day, and as he meditated and prayed, Bonhoeffer realized that the synagogues that had been burned in Germany were God’s own. This was when Bonhoeffer most clearly saw the connection: to lift one’s hand against the Jews was to lift one’s hand against God himself. The Nazis were attacking God by attacking his people. The Jews of Germany were not only not God’s enemies; they were his beloved children.” (316)

The author, Eric Metaxas, goes on to give more of the scripture that Bonhoeffer used and then to explain that this did not mean that Bonhoeffer as a Christian thought he was not to take the gospel to the Jews. No, on the contrary this was one more thing he had to fight for. But please remember “To lift one’s hand against the Jews was to lift one’s hand against God himself.”

[1]I tried writing a comment on Wall’s posting. He of course did not post it.

Update: On the comment section of James Wall's posting is a comment by Noushin Framke who is chair of the IPMN Communications group. Also the IPMN have linked to James Wall's article.
Noushin Framke
November 30, 2010 at 6:51 am
"Jim,Not all Presbyterians in the U.S. are blindly defending Israel as if it answers to an unearthly law. Israel, the nation, needs to be held to the same standards as we hold all other nations. Those who are working themselves into a lather about calls like yours to hold Israel accountable are just showing how effective your clarion call is. The more effective you are, the louder they get. Let them foam at the mouth and spin their wheels while defending egregious human rights violators. There are plenty of Presbyterians with you! see here: http://www.theipmn.org/"

This is the comment that IPMN have placed with the link to Wall's article: "Israel Palestine Mission Network Americans who speak out against Israeli human rights violations are villified - please support Jim Wall's latest post on his site!"

Please share my anger: IPMN, James Wall & hanging Jewish people

Eric Metaxas, author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, writes of Bonhoeffer’s “holy anger” over the suffering of the Jews in Germany on Kristallnacht (night of the broken glass). That was the night when most of the synagogues and Jewish businesses in Germany were destroyed and burned. I hope the anger I am feeling at the moment has at least a tiny amount of holiness.

How do you feel when you read the statement below?

This is the way the world is, and this is Israel, the remorseless, unprincipled barbaric in the most and truest sense, of nations. I think the ruthless barbaric sense of superiority and invincibility Israel is, is in the myth of their “Nation” if not their blood, for there is no such thing as an ethnic or blood Jew or “people.” These God’s chosen people? My God!

I tire of this charade, and it is time someone began calling these shenanigans, what it is, spades are spades, and naming Zionist Israelis for what they are and, not simply calling them to account, but going to their house, knocking on their door, dragging them out, holding their feet to the fire and calling them to account… at the end of a figurative rope if necessary, and virtual ropes if at all possible!

The quote is by Debbie Menon, writing on a site that is a blog connected to Veterans Today, the horribly anti-Semitic site I wrote about several days ago. The site, My Catbird Seat, has many of the same writers that Veterans Today has including VT’s Senior Editor, Gordon Duff, who pushes the theory that Israel conspired to down the twin Towers on 9-11. My Catbird Seat has a list of their contributing writers. At the bottom of the list the name James M Wall is listed.

James Wall, once the Editor and Publisher of The Christian Century and now a contributing editor, is a writer often used by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) In fact; they have several of his articles on their web page. And on their Facebook page they just recently linked to one of his article from his blog Wall Writings, “US Offers Bibi 20 F-35 Fighters, The Jordan Valley and a Free UN Pass.”

Pastor David Fischler at Reformed Pastor has just written about Wall’s article, James Wall: Sewer Dweller (UPDATED). Fischler points out that Wall in his article was using resources from Veterans Today. He also raises some great questions and suggests that The Christian Century, for the sake of their own integrity, needs to rid themselves of any connection with Wall. “He [James Wall] has inextricably linked and identified himself with them through the sites he writes for and uses as sources. He is a blot on the Christian Century, and on the mainline churches that have looked to him for journalistic wisdom.”

I believe the same question needs to be asked of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network as well as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Rarely does the IPMN miss linking to Wall’s articles if they are about the Middle East. If they realize that he is connected to such extreme groups will they disconnect from him? Will the PCUSA ever understand that they have an organization, the IPMN, with too many connections by linkage, to radical anti-Semitic groups?

The truth is, after looking at many of the posts on My Catbird Seat, I realize that their articles and links are not that much different then the ones posted at IPMN. Only those that have to do with 9-11 conspiracy theories and rabid ant-Semitism are missing form the IPMN site. Other wise the articles and authors are mostly the same. And the continuous rant about Israel and Jewish people and organizations in the United States are also the same.

I am angry. It is almost Thanksgiving, I have a review to write, pies to bake, great grandchildren to read to, but still I am angry. I will go to the mountains for dinner with my oldest son and his wife, and I will go angry. I will carry this anger with me not from hate but from love. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, has called us to peace and truth. He is truth; how can we hold such dishonesty in our hearts. How can we use information and organizations that tell lies about those God chose to bless the world with his great grace, Jesus Christ? How can we in any way be connected to those who wish to use “virtual ropes” on the Jewish people? Please share my anger.

IPMN, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement and its many hoaxes...UPDATE...and now a correction

[2] A correction see below.

UPDATE: I just received this (Nov. 24) from Mr. Lawler at DePaul; please read the rest of the posting, if you have not, to see what it is about:

"Hello again Ms. Larson:

Here is an updated statement on the hummus issue at DePaul:

DePaul University has asked its food services vendor to reinstate the sale of Sabra hummus on its Chicago campuses. Last week, university personnel asked them to temporarily suspend the sale of Sabra hummus following a request to do so from a campus student group on political grounds. It is policy when the university receives such a request, to first forward it to its internal Fair Business Practices Committee for thorough review and consideration before taking any action. The student group’s request has now been forwarded to that committee.

The primary purpose of DePaul’s Fair Business Practices Committee is to protect the integrity of the University's mission and values with regard to DePaul's contracts and contractors. The Fair Business Practices Committee receives and examines complaints and makes recommendations to the president consistent with the University's mission and values.



EDMUND LAWLER
Communications Specialist"


Several articles about supposed successful divestment from companies doing business with Israel have been linked to on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Israel/Palestine Mission Network site. At least one of them, an important one, isn’t true and another is in the decision process. Perhaps the reading public would like to help with that decision.

The first and biggest story was that a major Dutch Pension fund had divested from Israel. That was not the case. The link was to the E-Magazine, The Electronic Intifada. The article, “Major Dutch pension fund divests from occupation” by Adri Nieuwhof and Guus Hoelen begins:

The major Dutch pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), which has investments totaling 97 billion euros, has informed The Electronic Intifada that it has divested from almost all the Israeli companies in its portfolio.

PGGM, the manager of the major Dutch pension fund PFZW, has adopted a new guideline for socially responsible investment in companies which operate in conflict zones.

In addition, PFZM has also entered into discussions with Motorola, Veolia and Alstom to raise its concerns about human rights issues. All three companies have actively supported and profited from Israel's occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.

But a different article in the Huffington Post, “Another Israel Divestment Hoax,” by Ben S Cohen, begins:

When I read this report on the Electronic Intifada website claiming that the largest pension fund in The Netherlands had divested from the Israeli companies in its
portfolio, it struck me that the campaign to subject Israel to a regime of Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions - BDS for short - had hit a milestone. No longer, I said to myself, is this a matter of campus gesture politics. The long-awaited South Africa effect is finally manifesting.

Then it occurred to me that the story might not be true. I contacted the fund's managers, the Dutch company PGGM, and they confirmed my suspicions.

Cohen goes on to explain:

Back in May, Israel's economic vibrancy secured its admission into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD,) which gathers together the world's developed countries. As a result, funds focused upon emerging markets were obliged to withdraw their investments from Israeli companies, who'd moved to the different benchmark for developed markets. Bottom line: this had absolutely nothing to do with politically-motivated divestment.

Cohen then explores some other hoaxes perpetrated by the BDS movement. And there are many: Hampshire College, Motorola hoax and like the hoax above, Harvard University. Cohen writes, "The University has not divested from Israel,’ a spokesman calmly explained. “’Israel was moved from the MSCI, our benchmark in emerging markets, to the EAFE index in May due to its successful growth. Our emerging markets holdings were rebalanced accordingly.’”

So now the minor divestment story. The IPMN linked several days ago to this story: “DePaul divests from Israeli hummus product.” This is a blog with postings by Sami Kishawi. He begins:

Today marks another win for the global boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement against corporations that profit from severe human rights violations. Chicago’s very own DePaul University just announced that their dining services will be discontinuing the sale of hummus manufactured by Sabra, an Israeli brand known for its vocal and material support of Israeli Defense Forces. The administration has temporarily suspended the sale of Sabra products and will likely move towards permanently banning the brand from campus.

And this is not different from another article not linked to by IPMN, The Hudson Valley Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement: to end Israeli Apartheid. They begin:

Today marks another win for the global boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement against corporations that profit from severe human rights violations. Chicago’s very own DePaul University just announced that their dining services will be discontinuing the sale of hummus manufactured by Sabra, an Israeli brand known for its vocal and material support of Israeli Defense Forces. The administration has temporarily suspended the sale of Sabra products and will likely move towards permanently banning the brand from campus.

Both the blogger and the BDS group insist that, “The ultimate success of this modest divestment campaign isn’t that it resulted in the removal of a product from campus cafeteria shelves but, rather, that it has undoubtedly set the framework for future campaigns in college campuses throughout the United States.”

This statement is being handed out by some larger organization and it is only half true. Here is the statement sent to me by DePaul's Communications Specialist, Edmund Lawler:

“Hello Ms. Larson:

Here is the official statement issued by DePaul today:


DePaul University’s Dining Services has temporarily stopped the sale of Sabra hummus pending a review by the university’s Fair Business Practices Committee. The temporary suspension of the sale of the Sabra product was prompted by a request by the Students for Justice in Palestine at DePaul. The organization expressed concern that the company that makes the product has been a voice of support for the ongoing Israeli occupation. In the meantime, Chartwells, DePaul’s dining services vendor, will make hummus and serve it in the dining halls."[1]


This is not finished and hopefully, though a small matter the DePaul College will understand that most of the BDS movement is calling for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish State and will not bend to a small group of people who are seemingly returning to the early days of the 1930’s.

[1]Mr Lawler asked me to not include his information in my posting.
[2] Kishawi is the person who wrote the first announcement and he corrected his statement on the 22nd. However IPMN never connected to his correction. Now as far as I can tell no one is announcing that the boycott failed, which it did.