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Israel, Kelowna and St. Paul Street
Written by Peter Youngren on September 11, 2009Article for St Catharines Standard newspaper by Peter Youngren.
The other day I stepped out of Coffee Culture on St. Paul Street. The rain was coming down heavily, so I lingered on the steps hoping for a quick improvement. Suddenly, a lady appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, shouting, “You people – why do you support the Jews over the Palestinians? That land belongs to the Palestinians, you know!” I have no idea who the person was, but she must have recognized me as an “evangelical Christian”, thus the “you people”. I hurried to explain that our organization works in Israel; six of our projects are with Jews and six with Palestinians. My response seemed to bring some calm.
The encounter on St. Paul Street reminded me of last month’s news that Israel played a big part in the discussions at the United Church of Canada (UCC) General Council in Kelowna. The UCC has a history of making political statements, and this convention was not to be an exception. In the final statement the UCC delegates backed away from calling for a national boycott of Israel, although groups within the church were encouraged to consider boycotting Israeli products. Some delegates referred to Israel as an “apartheid state”, and in general the accusations against the small, thriving nation in the Middle-East were fast and furious.
Why does Israel get so much attention? It is a fairly regular occurrence that churches, unions and various academic groups release anti-Israel statements. Of course, any nation has its faults, flaws and botched policies. I have sat in Bethlehem with Palestinians, who lost a relative due to a stray Israeli bullet, and in the same day spent time with a Jewish family, who lost a child due to a suicide bomber. There is deep pain on both sides, and unlike some, I’m not declaring sainthood and infallibility on Israel, but let’s get real. Why is the UCC picking on Israel of all nations?
Why not issuing a statement about Myanmar’s oppressive military junta, that has once again sentenced Aung Sun Ky to further imprisonment? When I visited this nation a few years ago the largest newspaper in the country consisted of four pages of meaningless propaganda and photos of the dictator meeting school classes. No discussion, no real news, a country forced into blind obedience. What about eastern Congo where tens of thousands have been raped and millions have been killed? Or Iran, where the government has suppressed peaceful demonstrators? Why were these countries not on the radar of the United Church? No, it’s all about Israel.
Unlike what many commentators claim, the Israeli-Arab conflict is not based in racism or “apartheid”. The Bible reports that Jews and Arabs journeyed together out of Egypt into the Promised Land, some 3,400 years ago. Any tourist to Israel has seen Jews and Arabs work side by side in a hotel in Jerusalem. Co-existence has a long history in the Middle-East. The Middle-East battle is for land – a battle that has gone on and goes on today in many nations. No, I’m not an apologist for every Israeli policy, but when current Israel is labeled racist and compared to apartheid in South Africa, or even worse to Nazi-Germany, I think enough is enough. Canada has its own history of racism; native residential schools, and sending Jews to death by refusing the ship St. Louis in 1938, just to mention two dark blots in our past.
Modern day Israel is a democracy, made up to 20 % of Arabs, and surrounded by dictatorships, which often thrive on hateful anti-Israel propaganda. The UCC didn’t seem to notice that Israel is the only country in the Middle-East that gives civil rights to homosexuals, an issue that has been of interest to the UCC. Gratefully, the call for a boycott of Israeli products wasn’t approved. Where would seniors get generic drugs from without Israel?
As for me I’m ready to take another tour to the tiny, but amazing country in the Middle-East. Israel is a modern day miracle. When it comes to the current conflict, I learn from Jesus, who set the ultimate example for how to deal with the Middle-East situation. He served Jews, Samaritans and Romans equally and without discrimination. Jews, Samaritans and Romans all jockeyed for a superior position, but Jesus always provided an equal playing field. That’s what I told the lady on St. Paul Street. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt the UCC to spend less time on political declaration, and a bit more on who Jesus is and what He has done for the world.
Pat Kaiser
~ Churchbridge SK
God Blesses those who bless Israel.
Evangelist Denzil
~ Brampton Ontario
Glory be to God, let me say you have hit the nail on the head. We the christians needs to get in the the bible more and ask God for understanding of His written words. there are too much fighting and so little LOVE, Jesus came to show us how to love because we are all one coming from the one vine. We should know the next time the world sees Him, He will be in control and race will not be a factor.
We love you Pastor Peter and you are our most watch program on tv. God blessing be with you and your ministry always.
Ms Elke Morris
~ Winnipeg Manitoba
We are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. How many of us really take that very seriously? We need to be “truly repentent” and submit to this command once and for all!
Eric
~ Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Despite appearances, everything that transpires in and about the Middle East (and especially the nation of Israel), is spiritual in nature, rather than political. The reason you have churches taking political roles in world affairs, be it the Middle East or elsewhere, is because they are spiritually comatose.
Plain and simple: They don’t have a Revelation of Jesus Christ.
The laws and commandments of God were never given with the goal of saving a sinfully lost mankind. Nobody was ever able to keep even one of the more than 600 laws written in the Old Testament. The whole intent in giving the law, was to paint a very clear and unmistakable picture of God’s holiness, and compare it to man’s unquenchable sin nature.
Every letter, of every word, of every verse, of every chapter, of every book in the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is there for one reason only: To give a Revelation of Jesus Christ!
Unfortunately, many church leaders don’t have this revelation, and perhaps neither do they want it, since it would cause them to lose their grip over their congregation.
Roland Coppelmans
~ Mississauga,Ontario
Hi Pastor Peter,
First of all very well said of you,and again The Bible says:
That we should love our nabour as we love ourselves,
But how can we love our nabours, if we don’t know what love is…..
Or,if we are hurt inside, or,had a bad experience with, a muslim,a boedist, a homosexual, a lesbian,
a christian, a girlfriend, boyfriend. If people do wrong things, they need healing, healing deliverance and every healing starts with love, the love of christ that lives within us, forgiveness plays a big step in that.
The enemy does not like; love,forgiveness, because that is what jesus did
LOVE CRACKS EVERY WALL FROM THE ENNEMY, SO IT CAN FALL DOWN AND RELEASE FREEDOM IN THE LAND.
So it is very important to have a loving, forgiving haert, the bible talks about praying for your enemies, that is dynamite in the camp of the enemy.
And i will prove that with the word of GOD….Mathew 18:19
The word of GOD says; it is not by might, not by power but by my spirit says the lord.
I greet everyone who reads this, with the love that jesus the son of GOD thought us. If you are hurt, muslim, boedist, homosexual, lesbiene, christian, prostitute,
violent man, woman black yellow, green, come to jesus he will give you what you need, the bible says; that he will provide in all of our needs according to his riches and glory in CHRIST named JESUS.
He will take away all of your pain, sin, iniquities, there is a lot of christian with pain or unforgiveness in their haerts,.....let it go…..ask the Holy Spirit to take it away so that you can grow again.
I didn’t want to write all of this, but while i was writing it just came out of me,
Don’t take anything wrong, but remember it came out of a loving hart,
May GOD bless you all richly,and pastor Peter may GOD enlarge your terretory and bless you richly with more GOD’s wisdom,
a brother in Christ JESUS,
SHALOM todoroba,
joe
~ london, ont
God bless Peter Youngren and World impact ministries for their kindness and love towards all people. You represent the body of the Lord Jesus Christ in the most heartfelt and honest way. May Almighty God continue his work through his servant Peter Youngren, Amen.
pv
~ Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
dont forget when thinking of conflict or any controversy in the news that the dead are being raised constantly and oftentimes a Jew and an Arab and a representative of the UCC end up to reconcile peace in the physical Body of Christ regardless of their opinions or activities while breathing in their past physical bodies. The dead being raised is so often not discussed but they are raised and forced to live with their enemy in peace in this world before they are allowed to exit it. For this the Body of Christ is the grounds for them to learn to love respect and live with each other within a living breathing body and their hatred and misgivings are known but not allowed in that existence. Not to worry about the news, the Body of Christ fixes all misgivings through the resurrection of the dead amongst us.
Barbara Journeay
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the interesting article.
I have been in Israel and totally agree with you.
As far as UCC goes….well as they said “people who live in glass houses,should never throw stones”.
Keep the good work up….
take care,
Barbara
G
~ ON
Racism is a function of mental deficiency.
One of the pre requirements to join KKK is to believe in Jesus on top of being mentally deficient & racist. Do you know that the KKK philosophy or whatever, it’s the #2 source for all Christian homeschooling supplies. That is one of the reason Jewish people don’t want to hear about the name of Jesus.
The proper pronunciation for” ku ku klan” should be “KOO KOO KLAN”
Hagere
~ Earth.
Well, The only way to keep “hate” alive is to push the race button.
Just yestarday the right wing media is fanning the flames of hate ‘Rush Limbaugh’ said… “it is a sad time to be a white man in America.”
The days are not over yet.
Sonia (Sunny*)
~ Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Very moving comments! I have believed in Jesus for a long time, and had “gone through the motions” of acknowledging Him as Lord & Saviour.
Only recently have I actually “received” Him into my heart and felt the Holy Spirit fill me up - to overflowing, I may add!
My poor family has been experiencing the love of God through me…should we run or hug her???? Giggles :D
My prayer is that all mankind will feel this love that is surging through me as I speak (rather, type) and be set free!
God, please continue to bless Pastor Peter and the staff at Grace TV and your plan for delivering the people of Earth, our awesome home that you built!
Here’s a funny…due to my recent health issues and at the ripe old age of 62 yrs. old, I heard a funny joke on TV the other day, from another pastor - “My body used to be a temple of the Holy Spirt - now it’s a building project for the Lord!”
Have a blessed and joyful day!
Love in Christ!
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Simon kiarie kimani
~ kenya
continue delivering the world God is with you