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Most of us remember where we were, and maybe even what we were doing, when historically significant events took place.
For instance, I remember where I was when I heard that President Kennedy had been assassinated. I was 11 years old and my family was in Pasadena, Texas, at the time. I was at home with my brother and sister, Bruce and Mary Ann. If you're my age or older, you probably remember where you were, too, when you heard the news.
9/11/2001 was such a day. I was in my study at home that morning when my wife, Marcia, came in and said, "You should turn on the TV. Something just happened in New York City." I quickly clicked on CNN and a minute or so later, another plane slammed into the second tower of the World Trade Center--so I saw it in real time. I'll never forget it.
It's hard to believe it's been nine years already.
Some people are calling 9/11 "Patriot's Day." It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
Remembering significant, history-making events is important. That's why God established the Passover and told the people of Israel to celebrate it throughout their generations. He wants them always to remember what He did for them when they were slaves in Egypt.
Some things are just too important to forget.
On 9/11, the forces of Islamic terror declared war on the USA and on freedom-loving peoples everywhere. Let's pause on this day and remember those brave men and women of our armed forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice in that ongoing war.
With God's help, and by His grace, let's each of us do our part to ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain.
Happy Patriot's Day!
I've never met Glenn Beck. I've only seen him a few times on Fox News and have never heard his radio program. He wouldn't know me from Adam's house cat.
But I do know he's been getting a lot of attention lately! A week or so ago, his Rally for America, with heavy support from the Tea Party movement, packed an estimated half million people (and possibly more) into the area around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
Later, I listened to his "Restoring Honor" keynote speech online and found myself agreeing with much of what he said.
Little wonder. Glenn says a lot of things that resonate with conservative Christians. His emphasis on our American heritage and traditional values is something that's been missing from the mainstream media for a long time.
Even people who say they think Rush Limbaugh is too bombastic, or that Bill O'Reilly is snippy and self-aggrandizing, seem to be attracted to Glenn. Hey, there's just something about the guy. And most folks believe him when he says those crocodile tears aren't theatrics, but are truly heartfelt. He said he was proud of himself for having gotten through his "Restoring Honor" speech the other day without crying.
But here's the deal. Glenn is a Mormon. There have been rumors that he's a pseudo-Mormon—that is, he's secretly a true, born-again believer. However, he publicly states that he's a devout Mormon, so I think we have to take him at his word. (But it was a nice thought.)
One attitude among evangelicals is that Glenn's Mormonism isn't a problem, at least not politically; and in some ways, maybe it's not. After all, Mitt Romney is also a Mormon and a whole galaxy of conservative Christian leaders endorsed Mitt's campaign for the presidency in 2008. They felt that he had a good grasp of the issues and offered workable solutions to many of our problems. More notably, he's been successful on his own in the business world—unlike almost everyone in the upper echelon of the current administration.
The kicker, of course, is that Mormonism is not true Christianity. And I say that knowing full well that it rubs some peoples' fur the wrong way. Not long ago, someone said that the Mormon issue isn't a big deal because after all, we all believe in Jesus, and that's all that really matters.
Come on, people, are you kidding me? By no stretch of the imagination is the "Jesus" of Mormonism even remotely related to the Jesus (Yeshua) of the Bible. So there's no way we're, like, "all believers in Jesus."
For starters, which Jesus are we talking about here? In Mormonism, Jesus was conceived when God the Father had sex with Mary (which would mean, of course, that at that point she was no longer a virgin). Furthermore, the Mormon Jesus is Lucifer's older brother. Messed up, right?
The fact that the Mormon Church doesn't rely on the Bible as the sole authority for its teachings (they have two other holy books) also says something, I think.
But again, these are religious teachings that don't necessarily have any bearing on a person's political, moral, and ethical beliefs. No one can dispute that the Mormons are diligent, smart, innovative, industrious people who literally carved an empire out of the Utah wilderness. They persevered and overcame tremendous adversity. And every Mormon male spends two years of his life as a volunteer missionary for the church. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from them. Not theologically, mind you, but socially, politically, and perhaps even personally.
So what are we to make of this? Is it possible to formulate a coherent approach that tells us how we as Bible-believing Christians can (or can't) cooperate and interact out there in the world with groups whose beliefs differ in important ways from our own?
After all, we're not hermits. We don't live in secluded monasteries high in the mountains. We rub elbows every day with people of many different stripes and backgrounds. So here's the question: when our interests happen to coincide with those of another group, even one that's non-Christian, can we join forces with them to further those common interests? Or do we only participate cooperatively with people from our own camp?
Here's one suggested approach from our friends at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary: click here
Their proposal seems reasonable enough. I like pictures, so the imagery of those "concentric circles of affinity" appeals to me. (I also loved comic books when I was a kid. I remember when they were 10 cents!)
In the meantime, while we take time to sort this out, I'll say this: I have great admiration for Glenn Beck, a self-professed down-and-outer who's not bashful about sharing how he woke up one day, took responsibility for his shattered life, and proceeded to turn it around. It's a great success story. Kudos, Mr. Beck!
But I hope you'll forgive me if I don't jump on the bandwagon just yet.
You may not be accustomed to receiving New Year's greetings at this time of the year, but we are.
You see, Rosh HaShanah is the New Year on one of the Jewish calendars (they have several of them, but this is the one they adopted during the Babylonian Captivity). In Hebrew, rosh hashanah literally means "head of the year." The biblical name for this observance is Yom Teruah (Day of Blowing the Shofar; Lev. 23:24-25).
The traditional Hebrew greeting on Rosh HaShanah is "L'Shanah Tovah," or "For a Good Year."
According to rabbinic tradition, Adam and Eve were created 5,771 years ago. (We're pretty sure that's not accurate; but hey, it's tradition. So what can you do?) On the Jewish calendar, therefore, we're just beginning the year 5,771.
Rosh Hashanah begins the "Days of Awe," a 10-day countdown to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), the most holy observance in traditional Judaism.
Of course, if you have one of our Messianic Jewish Home Calendars, you already know most of this.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia article about Rosh HaShanah: click here
So from all of us at CJF Ministries, L'Shanah Tovah!
You can read the full article here: at The Jerusalem Post.
I always hate it when people tell me, "See? I told you so!"
Especially when it's my wife, Marcia (because she's usually right).
But in this instance, it's true—because I predicted this development in an earlier blog.
The "peace talks" are doomed to fail because (1) the Palestinian Authority cannot govern its own people, let alone negotiate with another government, and (2) you cannot negotiate with someone who does not respect your legitimacy.
This is precisely why the Bush Administration refused to engage in direct negotiations with the government of Iran, which is blatantly anti-Semitic and a known state sponsor of terrorism worldwide. To have done so would have been to imply Washington's recognition of the Teheran government's legitimacy. The Obama Administration has since changed that policy vis-à-vis Iran, but my point still stands. Negotiations require a mutual recognition of legitimacy. Israel cannot negotiate with the Palestinians as long as they refuse to recognize the Jewish State.
One of the reasons for the establishing of the modern State of Israel was to provide a safe haven for the Jewish people in the midst of a dangerous world. In 1948, this tiny, fledgling nation was raised up in the shadow of the Holocaust. Six million Jewish people had perished alongside millions of others in the Nazi death camps during World War Two.
Let that sink in for a moment. Six million Jewish people—including men, women, the elderly, and children—were brutally and systematically murdered by the Nazi regime. Do you know how many people that is? It's roughly the same as the population of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's almost the size of Cairo, Egypt. (Gideon and I were in Cairo a few years ago, so we have seen first-hand the teeming masses inhabiting that sprawling megalopolis.)
And each Jewish person who died—especially those who were younger and could have later had children—represented not just himself (or herself), but future generations, as well. The true loss in the Holocaust was many more than six million.
Have you ever been to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem? We routinely take our tour groups there. If and when you go, you will be confronted with the stark reality of evil and the horrible scars it leaves on our world. The experience (I hope) will break your heart and you will never be the same.
The cry of the Zionists was, "Never again!"
The official Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (formally issued on May 14, 1948) said:
The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations.
It is unconscionable that the Palestinians stubbornly and maliciously refuse to recognize the Jewish State. The Israelis are bending over backwards trying to accommodate them, trying to come to some sort of mutual agreement, trying to make it work.
Sadly, it's not working. But I won't say I told you so.
The big news this past week was the coming together in Washington DC of the Israelis and the Palestinians for peace talks. On Thursday, the major news networks carried the opening statements of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from the East Room of the White House while their aides looked on.
Middle East peace talks have been ongoing for decades. Here's an Arab perspective on and timeline of the history of the talks. My first memories of the talks go back to the early 1970s, during the Nixon Administration when Henry Kissinger was secretary of state. These talks have always been fraught with problems. The current talks are also doomed to failure (yes, I'm one of the naysayers) because the Palestinians cannot negotiate in good faith while they are themselves embroiled in a civil war between secularists (the Palestinian Authority) and militant Islamists (Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north). There are essentially two different governments—one in the Gaza (run by Hamas) and another in the West Bank (the Palestinian Authority). This two-headed political monster is incapable of governing the Palestinian people as a unified whole. The situation is exacerbated by deeply-ingrained, cultural anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in the Arab world. Many children in this culture are taught as early as preschool that the State of Israel doesn't exist. They are also indoctrinated with the notion that Jews are descended in an evolutionary chain from pigs and that it's a great honor to die as a martyr (shahid) while killing Jewish men, women, and children. Yes, there is a Palestinian elite of wealthy and well-educated people, including intellectuals like Mahmoud Darwish, the late Edward Said (of Columbia University), and others; but they comprise a relatively small group. To put it bluntly, too much of the Palestinian populace is simply uncivilized. They have a rabid and irrational hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. These extremists do not respond to reason or logic—yet another reason why they don't function well as negotiating partners.
Seriously now, folks, how much bona fide negotiating can happen when you're sitting across the table from someone whose constituency includes individuals and organizations who want you dead? I mean, let's get real about this.
There is hope, however. The love of God can pierce those walls of ignorance and prejudice on both sides. When Albert Nessim, one of our Israeli staff members was in the hospital in Haifa a few years ago, a Palestinian man was in the bed next to him. The two families—one Jewish and the other Palestinian—got to know each other and a relationship developed as the Nessims shared the love of God with Albert's Palestinian roommate. He and his family were deeply moved when Albert unexpectedly died in January of 2007—while still in the hospital. Since that time, Ruth, his widow, has cultivated that relationship. Before she had her heart attack a few months ago, she had started meeting regularly with an Arab pastor and was staying in touch with her Palestinian friend in the West Bank. She even had him and his Muslim friends reading Arabic New Testaments and other Gospel materials! She has had to curtail some of those activities since then, of course. But still, this relationship represents the power of Yeshua the Messiah to reconcile former enemies and change hearts and minds on both sides of the divide.
This is the best kind of “peace process”—one that really works.
If you received our most recent newsletter, you know how concerned we are over the recent international incident vis-à-vis Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
Amid all the criticism that’s been heaped on Israel in the mainstream press, it’s hard to sift through the mountain of information and separate fact from fiction. Fortunately, a few journalists have managed to maintain a balanced approach to the issue. We’d like to highlight one such article today:
“If Israel Is Not Evil, the World Is in Big Trouble” by Jewish radio talk show host Dennis Prager. To view the article, click the link and it’ll open in a new page.
One of the things we’ll be doing in this blog is to bring thoughtful, informed perspectives like Dennis Prager’s to your attention. Hopefully, this information will help balance the input we’re all getting from other, “mainstream” media. It should also remind us that God is working today through world events that are unfolding all around us. That bigger picture is very important.
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Your friend and brother,
Gary
