Anti-Jew and Israel, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant-be careful

Sometimes interesting information just pops up when I am not expecting it. Now I am going to mention four words I just keep writing about, but this is not about them. Really. On the web site of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network (and please notice that Israel and Palestine are two words) there is another video.

The IPMN has entitled this video “Dr. Norman Finkelstein explains how the Israel/Palestine Conflict can be resolved easily.” And this one is about international law, crime and Israel and supposedly the pro- Israel, Jewish interviewer gets told off, but I will withhold my thoughts on that since that is not what my posting is about.

The actual name of the video as found all over the net is “Norman Finkelstein Interviewed on Danish TV November 13 2009.” And if you go to You-Tube you will find that every site that has this video is getting it from a posting at akawakurusa's Channel.

On this particular posting the poster offers several web sites where more information may be found. He points to Balder.org. This strange site offers a blog and different articles in several languages. But all of this comes from Denmark.

Now I will backtrack a bit. Several months ago I did some postings on a party in Britain called the British National Party. You can find the series here under The British National Party and NeoPagan Racism. Just scroll down to start at the beginning.

The BNP is a party that advocates for the white races only and this last year they won two seats in the European Parliament. In the past they have been anti-Semitic but generally they are an anti-immigration party. And they are now known for being very anti-Muslim.

There is now the rise of political parties and movements that are, anti-immigration, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim. And the You-Tube site where the video, “Norman Finkelstein Interviewed on Danish TV November 13 2009” can be found is a part of the movement as is Balder.org.

Hopefully the readers remember when I did my series on the BNP I likened some of their ideas to the racist Asatru and Odinist groups which attempt to return to ancient pagan tribes and hold race as intrinsic to their religion. I incorporated another article, “The NeoPagan Movement and Racism” I wrote several years ago into my article on the BNP.

I noticed when exploring the You-Tube site that one of the comments left there was “Hail the nordic tribes.” This is a movement with layers and layers of racism. Some layers are blatant other layers more subtle.

So here is a word of warning to any Christian, myself included. There are some very dark movements rising in our present world. They hate the Jews and Israel, hate the Muslims, hate the immigrant, hate anyone who is not white or western. So we must all be careful from where we pull information. That is why the word of God and its authority in our lives is so important. That is why Jesus Christ the rock we stand on is ultimate.

Some people accidently started following Hitler in the 1930’s. Martin Niemöller was at first enthralled with Hitler. He felt that Hitler would bring morality back to Germany. When he learned the truth about the Nazis and Hitler he became their archenemy. He became the hated personal prisoner of Hitler. Some followed Hitler because they thought he was God’s gift to Germany. They never wavered-they followed him into hell.

The only safe place is under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

First Sunday of Advent: a Star out of Jacob

The first Sunday of Advent:

"The words of him who hears the
words of God
and knows the knowledge of the Most High.
Who sees the vision of the
Almighty,
falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered.
I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near;
A star shall come forth from Jacob,
A scepter shall rise from Israel ... (Numbers 24: 16-17a)"

From the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries:

"That Balaam evidently senses a gap between his vision and its fulfillment is suggested by verse 17: I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh. Thus, though these predictions were fulfilled for the first time, partially at any rate, some three hundred years after Balaam in the reign of David, traditional Jewish and Christian interpreters have seen another fuller realization of these prophecies in the Messiah. And this is the characteristic of many messianic passages in the Old Testament. On one level they are but expressions of hope for a good and righteous king. but on another plane, they must be looking for something more, for no real king ever came up to the ideals expressed (e.g. Ps. 72:; Is. 11, etc.). In interpreting these last words of Balaam both perspectives must be respected. Primarily they refer to royal triumphs in the period of the early monarchy, but these victories prefigure the greater conquests of Christ at his first and second advents."

"There shall a Star from Jacob come" Felix Mendelssohn

Thanksgiving joy

Thankful for Jesus:

Almost fifty-five years ago I walked down the aisle in a very small store front church, meaning to join. But when I heard the pastor ask me “Do you believe the blood of Jesus cleanses you from sin?” somehow a light bulb went off in my head and heart.

God was answering the prayer I had prayed a month before that he would truly show me what it was he wanted me to know from the pages of the Bible I was reading. As a young teenager I had been exploring all kinds of spirituality. Christian Scientist material and occult information intertwined my Bible reading. Little did I realize God was leading me home although I was traveling some strange paths.

I had already read a great deal of the Bible- I loved the word I just did not know why. After acknowledging that Jesus blood did wash my sins away- yes I did admit it was true, it was as though someone opened the pages of a familiar and loved book and told me a wonderful new story I had not noticed.

I began in Romans and continued reading about the savior, Jesus, who lived, died and rose for my salvation.

While I am so very thankful for a loving husband, six children and their wonderful spouses, 18 grandchildren , two great granddaughters, and a whole batch of amazing friends, it is Jesus Christ himself that I am the most thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Although I have often failed him, I can, in truth, say he has never failed in his care. His promises are forever.

Read Jude ....

I wasn’t going to link at all and didn’t in my last post, but evil toward another needs to be held to the light. When a lady, Kelley, explains that she was raped but kept her baby because she, as a Christian ,values life, and others insult her it is time to be responsible.

In my last posting on the Manhattan Declaration I referred to the “Pastor’s Emergency League” and posted its four vows of purpose. One of those was, “I hold myself responsible to the utmost of my ability for those who are persecuted on account of this confessional stand.”

I want to point out that if the rest of society reacts the way followers at John Shuck’s “Shuck and Jive” are toward Kelley we all need to make that vow toward one another.

Kelley has fallen into a hornets’ nest and those who write there are acting out what is truly in their heart. I can only think here of a quote by C.S. Lewis that I have used before:

“…the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. … There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”

I once again hope that Shuck’s Presbytery takes note. And yes I did commend Kelley but my comment was of course deleted.

Answering some critics about signing the Manhattan Declaration

Reading around the internet both on web sites and comments on other’s blogs, I have found several specific complaints about the Manhattan Declaration. The document, produced by orthodox Christians of various communities of faith, including the Reformed, Catholic and Orthodox, upholds the sanctity of life, the importance of biblical marriage, and religious freedom.

These are what I see as some of the main complaints:

· Its acceptance by those reformed who place reason beneath revelation. That one was aimed at me but at others also.

· That it does not address Christology or soteriology.

· That there are too many writers and signers who are Southern Baptist.

· That too many Evangelicals are involved with it.

· That too many Catholics are involved in it. (Hey-what happened to the Orthodox and the Methodist and Presbyterians?)

· That it is badly written. (I won't even answer that)

· That the producers of the document are doing that old thing of likening our government to Nazi Germany.

· And finally a crazy one or two- like the conservatives have already written so many declarations so this one won’t count anymore than the others-or they are all just busybodies sticking their noses in other people’s business. (In other words it isn’t any of their business.)

Now I know that is not all but it’s a good start. Also some of those complaints are more important than others.

For instance the first and second complaints are very important. But first it should be said that the complainers weren’t necessarily arguing that what they believed about revelation and reason, or Christology and salvation were something they were bothered about by this document but that those who signed, like me, didn’t agree with the views they signed on to. So let’s look at that.

The writers stated, “We set forth this declaration in light of the truth that is grounded in Holy Scripture, in natural human reason (which is itself, in our view, the gift of a beneficent God), and in the very nature of the human person.”

Is that placing reason and nature on a par with God’s revelation. Can I still hold to that statement and at the same time believe that Jesus Christ as he is revealed in Holy Scripture is above reason and human experience? Can I hold to that statement and believe that reason has fallen under sin as well as human nature.

Of course, the statement does not say that the “truth” is made known by reason or the human person but is grounded in them. And given that Catholics were involved in the document that is amazing. There is room here for those reformed, like myself, who wade or swim in Barth’s theology. Remember it was Anselm, Barth’s, so to speak mentor, who wrote:

"I do not seek to understand so that I can believe,but I believe so that I may understand; and what is more,I believe that unless I do believe, I shall not understand." (But the understanding does follow)

The second complaint that the document does not address Christology or soteriology is meaningless because this is not a confession nor is any person suggesting that it be entered into a book of confessions. A Confession should, of course, first of all confess the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what a confession is about. I think that this declaration is more or less like the declaration declared by the Pastor’s Emergency League in Germany during the Nazi era. It stated:

1. I engage to execute my office as minster of the Word, holding myself bound solely to Holy Scripture and to the Confessions of the Reformation as the true expositions of Holy Scripture.

2. I engage to protest, regardless of the cost, against every violation of this confessional stand.

3. I hold myself responsible to the utmost of my ability for those who are persecuted on account of this confessional stand.

4. In making this pledge, I testify that the application of the Aryan paragraph within the Church of Christ has violated the confessional stand.[1]

And so of course my above statement about the Pastor’s Emergency League leads into another complaint. That the writers of the Declaration should not have appealed to the Confessing Church of Germany.

The closest wording I can find in the document that comes near to such an accusation is, “Eugenic notions such as the doctrine of lebensunwertes Leben (“life unworthy of life”) were first advanced in the 1920s by intellectuals in the elite salons of America and Europe. Long buried in ignominy after the horrors of the mid20th century, they have returned from the grave. The only difference is that now the doctrines of the eugenicists are dressed up in the language of ‘liberty,’ ‘autonomy,’ and ‘choice.’”

This coupled with the general push by President Obama and others to advance further the availability of abortion including partial birth abortion ties the whole scenario together. The writers are not suggesting that our government is nazified or even near it. But they are pointing out a real truth. We are heading down a road that others before us have traveled. And, in fact, it was from the United States that the doctors of Nazi Germany learned to value eugenics.[2]

The next few complaints should instead be reasons to rejoice. We are all one body. It is the Lord that makes it so. And He knows who is His and who is not. Our unity is connected to His Lordship, that is comforting. And this is also an answer to that last complaint. We all belong to a King. He rules the whole universe. His subjects are called to go where he sends them-and that might mean nosing into business that someone thinks is theirs when it actually belongs to a King. The King.

Oh and it doesn’t matter if the Declaration falls by the wayside what matters is faithfulness.



[1] The Aryan paragraph was a statement saying that any non-Aryan (Jewish person) could not be a member of the Church.
[2] See Christine Rosen, Preaching Eugenics: Religious Leaders and the American Eugenics Movement, Oxford University Press 2004, and Robert Jay Lifton, The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, Basic Books 1986 paper edition 2000.

The Manhattan Declaration: Having done all stand

I have placed at the top of my links list The Manhattan Declaration. This is a declaration written by Robert George, Professor, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University, Timothy George, Professor, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University and Chuck Colson founder of, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview (Lansdowne, Va.).

Its original signers include:
Joseph Bottum, Editor of First Things (New York); Most Rev. Robert Wm. Duncan, Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America (Ambridge, Pa. ); Carmen Fowler, President and Executive Editor, Presbyterian Lay Committee (Lenoir, N.C.); Rev. Tim Keller Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York); Dr. Peter Kreeft Professor of Philosophy, Boston College (Mass.) and at the Kings College (N.Y.); and Dr. Tom Oden, Theologian, United Methodist Minister; Professor, Drew University (Madison, N.J.). This includes just a few.

The document includes statements on life issues, marriage and religious freedom. I have signed it and encourage my readers who agree with its statements to also sign. It is a very important document.

It can be read here: Download The Manhattan Declaration

Living (dying) for Jesus

Several weeks ago I started a review of a Horizons magazine by explaining why I did not review an earlier edition.(1) I wrote:

“Security in the Midst of Violence,” was a very good edition. I started a review of the articles making a comparison between some of the articles and Fox’s Book of Martyrs. Several of the stories were about Christians under persecution and how they lived through the ordeal. They all caught my attention, including one about a pastor and his family fleeing from Iraq and the violence they experienced because of their Christian faith.

I had about two pages written and then looked at some of the resource material offered. An inset beneath the Iraqi article pointed to www.pcusa.org/worldwide/middleeast and www.pcusa.org/peacemaking. Most of the material I found on those two sites was about dialogue between Muslims and Christians and the problems and issues between the Israelis and Palestinians. And of course on that last item it was all pro-Palestinian. But there was nothing about the persecution of Christians by radical Islam.

Something inside of me stopped. I simply could not go farther despite a reasonably good issue. The contradiction was just too blaring. I thought of recommending such non-Presbyterian organizations as The Voice of the Martyrs. But my most basic thought was that Presbyterians in the PC(U.S.A.) have nothing to offer those who are facing persecution from radical Islam.”

Likewise, this posting is about living, which entails dying, for Christ. It was Dietrich Bonheoffer who said “when Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.”

Reading about the martyr Martin Burnham I discovered that of the 70 million Christian martyrs that have existed since the time of Christ, 60 million lived (died) in the twentieth century. Here is an article about Garcia Burnham who with her husband was held captive by Abu Sayyaf, a group in the Philippines. who are linked to Al Qaeda.

It is entitled “The Believers” and written by Eliza Griswold and, no surprise, found at a Catholic site, Christian Catholic Resource center.

The article begins:

“Gracia Burnham needed a backpack. Months earlier, she and her husband, Martin, had been kidnapped and dragged into the jungles of the Philippines by members of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, or "Bearer of the Sword," and they had nothing in which to carry their few belongings. Until, that is, one morning when one of their kidnappers was shot and killed in the midst of a blundered rescue effort by the Filipino army. As the other militants divvied up the dead man's belongings, Gracia snatched his backpack, and she and Martin shoved in their possessions—a batik sheet, some underwear, a shared toothbrush. Gracia and Martin, both evangelical missionaries, were nearly starving: The kidnappers had kept them unfed and on the move. At various times, they had watched a male hostage led off to be beheaded or several women taken to be raped. "Abu Sayyaf thought of themselves as pious and holy," Burnham told me recently. "All this lofty chivalry crumbled before our eyes. Anything they wanted or desired, all they had to say was, 'This is jihad and the rules don't apply.'"

Garcia recounts that fleeing with her husband and the Abu Sayyaf captors, from an attack, she forgot the backpack. The author of the article goes on in finer detail:

“During months of hunger, fear, sleeping on the mosquito-infested ground, and hiking for hours seemingly in circles, Gracia's faith occasionally failed her. "The worst part was seeing who I really was," she said. She coveted food sent into the jungle for them, which Abu Sayyaf refused to share. She tired of praying to "a God who sometimes seemed to have forgotten us." She would say to Martin, "You know, scripture says these words: If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.' In my situation, that verse is not true, so why is that in there?" But Martin encouraged her. "You believe it all, or you don't believe it at all," he told her gently.”

The article covers more than the Burnham’s story. And it is worthwhile reading. The reality of our time as American Christians in history sometimes seems, well, like a bed of roses. Perhaps we should take deeper notice of our times which are His times.





1. Horizons is the magazine of the Presbyterian Women of the PCUSA