RABBIS ANGRY EVEN AT SILENT CHRISTIANS!
By Harmony Grant
25 Sep 07
Rabbis in Jerusalem forbid Jews from participating in a major
evangelical event this week.
Thousands of Christians will arrive in Jerusalem for the 28th annual
Christian celebration of Succot, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles.
This holiday is observed yearly by Israelis and also thousands of
evangelicals. They have been welcomed some past years.
This year, Jews
are banned from attending—even though Christians promise
to say nothing about their Lord and Savior!
Evangelicals must, of course, view the ban as a slap in the face. But they
have no right to be surprised. Jews—both in Israel and the US —have
long been leery about accepting support from the millions of “Christian
Zionists” who want to hurry Christ’s return by unconditionally
blessing the Jewish state.
Many American rabbis refuse to embrace this alliance, even boycotting
John Hagee’s “Nights to Honor Israel .” They support
Israel ’s bans on Christian witnessing. Jewish activists of
the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith seek to ban
the Bible and Christian evangelism in our country as well, through
ominous “anti-hate” legislation.
Some Jews appreciate Christians’ support and disagree with
the rabbis’ decision to forbid Jews from joining their celebration.
But even these Jews accept Christian Zionists without supporting
authentic Christianity at all.
Jerusalem Post columnist Michael
Freund nagged that this is “no way to treat our Christian
friends.” But he disapproved of the rabbis’ decision
only because Christian proselytizing was already banned. How much
friendship does he offer real Christians, who seek to spread their
eternal hope? Precious little. Freund writes that “The threat
posed by missionary activity in Israel is real, and steps must
be taken to curtail it.” He says evangelists “surreptitiously
seek to bring about our spiritual demise,” and he’s
glad their work is illegal. He’s only sorry that Christian
Zionists—who’ve promised to forbid the name of Jesus—are
falsely grouped with these subversives.
I’m sorry, too. Things would be simpler if those who agree
to be silent about the gospel would quit calling themselves “Christian
Zionists.” Zionist would do. Their actions are not those of
Christians. And because they deny the name of Jesus, He
has promised to deny them before God.
Unfortunately, far too many misled evangelicals accept the lie of a “dual
covenant” in which Christ’s blood is only needed by Gentiles, and
Jews can be saved without accepting Him. Such Christians have silently and
voluntarily accepted a ban on sharing the gospel, for the past 27 years of
parades and tours of Israel .
Their big September event will add $18 million to the local Jewish
economy, and hugely boost its tourism industry, according to the International
Christian Embassy Jerusalem. This means that evangelicals contribute
$18 million in one week to a society and government that bans them
from speaking, with love, of our Savior!
This self-imposed gag on the Holy Spirit would nauseate believers throughout
history and in other countries, who spill their own blood before denying the
gospel. Throughout Christian history, believers have been martyred, imprisoned,
and tortured rather than shut their mouths about Christ.
John Bunyan, an English preacher, spent nearly twelve years in
prison where he wrote his masterpiece Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s
said John was offered his freedom if he promised not to preach and
he replied, “If you let me out of jail today, tomorrow I will
be preaching again.” That is the spirit of a true Christian.
Yet modern evangelicals have gone silent voluntarily! They are like a woman
who left her husband for the seductive lover of Zionism, only to slowly wake
to a cold reality of being beaten by that lover. Evangelicals have lost their
theological loyalty to Jesus Christ and to His church in this world, which
is presently being persecuted by unrepentant Jews in Israel and in the United
States as well.
Such Christians should return, repentantly, to Jesus whose name
is worth any price.
And the Jews who persecute their message would do well to remember
the Pharisee Gamaliel, who wisely advised a group of rabbis about
to persecute some early believers. Gamaliel said to let the Christians
go. “For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it
will fail,” he
said. “But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop
these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
Why are Jews so afraid of Christians’ witnessing? Maybe it
is because true believers, throughout the world, testify to the real
power of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Maybe it is because two thousand
years after Jesus returned to heaven, His light still brightens our
world with a power that persecution only intensifies.
Modern evangelicals must value this light far more than they do,
and proclaim the name of Christ as the joyful news it is. They should
exalt His name in Israel as loudly as they should in the US . When
they do, then there will truly be something to celebrate in Jerusalem
.
Harmony
Grant writes and edits for the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative
watch dog organization.
Let the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith teach you how they
have saddled 45 states with hate laws capable of persecuting Christians: http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp.
Learn how ADL took away free speech in Canada and wants to steal
it now in the U.S. Congress. Watch Rev. Ted Pike's Hate
Laws: Making Criminals of Christians at video.google.com. Purchase
this gripping documentary to show at church. Order online at www.truthtellers.org for
$24.90, DVD or VHS, by calling 503-853-3688, or at the address below.
National Prayer Network, P.O. Box 828, Clackamas,
OR 97015
