Today (May 14), Israelis and most Jews around the world celebrate the 77th birthday of the nation of Israel. Tomorrow (May 15), Palestinians will commemorate the Nakba (“catastrophe”). What is a time of celebration for Israelis and many Jews around the world is a time of remembrance for Palestinians of the loss of land (over 500 Arab villages were either depopulated in order to be inhabited by Israelis or destroyed in 1948) and the expulsion of 750,000 Arabs. When it... Read more
Christian Nationalism is an oxymoron? How so? I begin by pointing out that the mere fact that we have to answer this question is proof enough. Perhaps, one of the greatest exhortations in the book of Revelation is found in 18:4, “Come out from her, My people.” NB: All translations from the book of Revelation are my own. The “her” in this passage is the Great Harlot, which, as I argue in my commentary, represents the commercial side of... Read more
While the world watches on, and while many Christians in the US continue to support Israel’s assault on Gaza, the genocide continues. In addition to the 52,000+ that are dead, over 15,000+ of whom are children, and these numbers are most assuredly low, Israel refuses to allow any supplies into Gaza. As a result, over 70,000 children have been hospitalized for severe malnutrition, over 1.1 million lack nutrition requirements for survival, over 2 million face food insecurity, and things are assuredly only... Read more
The claim is often made that all that is needed to end the war on Gaza is for Hamas to lay down its weapons and return the hostages: “If Israel lays down their weapons, there will be war, but if Hamas lays down its weapons, there will be peace.” This statement reflects a profound ignorance of the situation in Israel-Palestine and of the nature of violent reprisals in general. Huckabee’s ignorance Last week, Mike Huckabee, former pastor and now US... Read more
Israel continues its assault on Gaza A few days ago, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that Israeli attacks killed 50 Gazans and wounded more than 150 others in the less than 24 hours. One of the attacks killed three Palestinians when an IDF drone hit a distribution center while Gazans were queuing up for the little available food. At the same time, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was visiting the US. Gvir claimed during his visit... Read more
Virtually everyone today agrees—80 years later—that the Nazi effort to eliminate European Jewry was one of the greatest travesties to face humankind. The few Holocaust deniers out there are rightly silenced. My question is, “Why does it take so long for everyone to agree that a genocide is a genocide?” What if more people spoke up when the Holocaust was happening? Would it have made a difference? Would it have saved lives? What about 80 years from now? What will... Read more
John 8:32: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” As I noted in my last post, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) failed to account for all of the phones from each of the 15 Red Crescent emergency workers they killed in Gaza just under 2 weeks ago. As a result, the IDF’s initial explanation of what happened was a lie. NB: The fact that the IDF attempted to bury the bodies of the 15... Read more
An interviewer asks a medical doctor, “Are children in Gaza being shot by snipers?” His reply was, “Definitively! I have two children who were shot so perfectly in the chest that I couldn’t put my stethoscope over their heart more accurately and directly on the side of the head in the same child. No toddler gets shot in the head by the world’s best sniper. And they were dead-center shots. All of the disasters I’ve seen combined–40 mission trips over... Read more
“Savages,” “Terrorists,” “Human animals,” “Fundamentalists,” “Religious Extremists.” This is the language we use to depict “the other.” Ever wonder what they say of “us”? Dasein ohne Leben In 1942, the Nazis produced a film for German doctors and medical professionals to justify their euthanasia program. That is, the killing of Germans that were deemed “not worthy of living. “The film’s title is Dasein ohne Leben (Existence without Life). I first watched the film in the early 1990’s. To this day,... Read more
In my recent book, Land of Contention, I noted, “An essential feature of Christianity and the kingdom of God is that the people of God are to be fundamentally different from the world. After all, we follow a different King whose kingdom follows a different set of rules. To make our King known entails a call to a radical, self-denying, cross-bearing love for the other. We must love the way Jesus loved. But we must also pursue peace and justice”... Read more
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