McChurch - Spinning Out of Control in Zion

MESSAGE FROM DAVID BROG, CUFI'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

I have noticed that a very common defense mechanism with the Christian Right is, “They will not succeed.” I suppose that is what was said about Gideon – “He will not succeed.” Joshua fell under the same verdict…Jesus, with only a handful of disciples scattered to the four winds, was finished with the crucifixion, so thought the religious right of His day…

I scoured this letter from David Brog for any mention of Christ…Apparently, those with the loudest voices win, thirty evangelical (leaders, by the way) not being sufficient to overcome the “sound” of 4,500 wing nuts on parade in Washington…

Brog asks a relevant question: “Where have they been for the last decade?” My guess is that they, meaning “we,” have been campaigning for George W. Bush instead of campaigning for Jesus…Now we have to watch that we are not caught up in campaigning against John Hagee, who, in the final analysis, is a flea on the hind end of divine progress…

Brog leaves us puzzled…The first Camp David Accords, 1978, achieved Israel’s compliance with UN Resolution 242, calling for withdrawal of forces from the West Bank and Gaza…The Accords were rejected by the Arab community…Israel turned over the Sinai to Egypt and accelerated settlements on the West Bank and Gaza…

The second Camp David Peace Negotiations broke down…Whatever Prime Minister Ehud Barak may have offered, it was made moot in September 2000 with his reluctant permission for Ariel Sharon, in an act of political grandstanding, to take several hundred Israeli soldiers onto the Temple Mount as a symbolic occupation…Sharon did this as an objection to the Oslo peace process…This kicked off the Second Intifada…

Four years into the Second Intifada, Israel had lost around 1,000; Palestinians had lost some 4,500…This was justification for building the Concrete Curtain, confiscating large portions of the West Bank and East Jerusalem…Brog is guilty of misfeasance in leaving out the event that kicked off the Second Intifada…

Hamas was the legitimately-elected government of Palestine but not to the satisfaction of Tel Aviv and Washington…The Gaza rebellion was prompted by the squalor and congestion in Gaza, one of the most populated cities in the world and totally isolated…Gaza is, in fact, a prison of 1.4M people in an area slightly larger than Washington, DC…By comparison, the population of Washington, DC is less than 600,000…

It is suggested that the Hamas uprising in 2007 was orchestrated by DC and Tel Aviv, with Eliot Abrams playing a key role…The purpose was to dissolve the Palestinian National Government and put it in the hands of the more moderate Abbas, more or less confirmed by the immediate release of $190M in US aid…

Brog states, “We all want peace.” In fact, CUFI has made it very clear that peace negotiators are tools of the Anti-Christ, pointing to the hated one-world order which, ironically, would seem to hasten the very chaos longed for by Christian Zionism…

In short, I would suggest that David Brog, in light of his obvious withholding of critical information in his letter, is a liar…Since biblically, however, “All men are liars,” David Brog may well be like all men, God forbid…I think 30 Evangelicals may be enough to get the job done…

Stan Moody is the author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry

Last Friday, a group of over 30 evangelical Christians wrote a letter to President Bush to "correct a serious misperception among some people ... that all American evangelicals are opposed to a two-state solution and the creation of a new Palestinian state." They made reference to the "cycle of violence" in the region and the fact that "Israelis and Palestinians must both accept each other's right to exist."

It's no coincidence that this letter was sent barely a week after our second annual Washington, DC summit. As we grow, those who disagree with us, however few they may be, will be shouting at the top of their lungs in an effort to equal the sound of 4,500 Christians gathered in the DC Convention Center cheering our cause. They will not succeed.

This letter raises many questions. But the biggest question is this -- where have these people been for the past decade? Don't they realize that Israel not only accepted the Palestinian right to exist, but repeatedly sought to give the Palestinians land on which to build their state? At meetings in Camp David in 2000, Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians 100% of Gaza, over 90% of the West Bank, and sufficient land from Israel's Negev Desert to compensate for every inch of the West Bank that would not be returned. He also offered them control of the Muslim areas of Jerusalem. What was the Palestinian response to this unprecedented offer? Celebration? A counter offer? No -- sadly, the Palestinians chose this juncture to start the second intifada with a spree of bus bombings and killings.

In 2005, Israel actually did pull out of the Gaza Strip and left it to Palestinian rule. What did the Palestinians do? Did they take over the Israeli greenhouses left behind and begin to build their economy? Did they take this opportunity to demonstrate that they wanted to live side-by-side with Israel? No -- sadly, Hamas terrorists took over the Gaza Strip and now use it as a base from which to launch rocket attacks against Israel.

The letter's use of the term "cycle of violence" is particularly troubling. There is a fundamental difference between terrorists on the one hand and Israeli and American soldiers on the other. The goal of terrorists is to kill as many civilians as possible, and when they succeed in doing so they celebrate. Israeli and American soldiers seek to stop the terrorists from killing innocent civilians. When our soldiers kill civilians, however few, it is a tragic error. As both of our nations continue to fight terrorists around the world, we must never permit the morally callous equation of these opposite roles.

We all want peace. No one wants peace more than the Israelis who live on the front lines. But wishes don't always come true. To survive in this world, love is important. So is understanding. And so is realism. Sadly, given this track record, only a dreamer or a foe would press Israel for further concession at this juncture. I pray that those who signed this letter are the former.

Pastor Hagee immediately drafted and is circulating a letter to President Bush which will demonstrate the widespread support for CUFI's position that America not pressure Israel for further concessions at this time.

Beyond this, our best response is to continue our work. Let us continue to build and to grow. Let us demonstrate with results that we have the momentum and that we represent the future