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The Episcopal Church and Israel

The conflict in the Middle East should not be as complicated as our world has made it.  The so-called religious leaders are ignoring the Word of God and listening, instead to the politicians.  The mistake that politicians and the so-called religious leaders make when debating the political future of Israel is that they ignore through chosen ignorance the theological implications.

 

Genesis 15:8 identifies the land that God promised to Israel.  Since Abraham had two sons, it is clarified to which land boundaries were for Israel through Jacob whose name was changed to Israel.  The land promised was “from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.”  This includes everything “from the Nile River in Egypt to Lebanon (south to north) and everything from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River (west to east).  Today this includes modern Israel, plus all of the land of the Palestinians (the West bank and Gaza), plus some of Egypt and Syria, plus all of Jordan, plus some of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.”1

 

So, it is clear that all this land for peace conflict could be solved if politicians and so-called religious leaders would read and obey the Word of God.

 

But, where does the Episcopal Church stand in support of scripture.  So far, they have been holding out as a denomination to any serious divesting in Israel.  But their rhetoric seems superficial.  Simple perusal of Episcopalian letters and comments exposes their one-sided bias in the situation.  They seem to perpetuate the notion that the Palestinians are the victims while ignoring the brutal terrorist’s attacks by the Palestinians against the Israelis.  In a quote from Frontpage Mag they write of the Episcopalians leaderships comments of Israel as “bullying, intimation, and detention are practiced; and where the demolition of homes and the uprooting of olive tree orchards are commonplace causing further humiliation and insult, along with the destruction of livelihoods.” The article continues by stating that “nowhere do they (the Episcopalian leadership) admit that Israel is surrounded by adversaries, many of whom openly call for its destruction.  Nor do they fault any Palestinians for inflexibility towards Israel.”2

 

On the other hand, Presiding Bishop Katherine Jeffers Schori told Episcopal News Service: “We cannot build a lasting peace by directly imposing strategies on others.”3 However, Ms. Schori equally ignores scripture as do the others when it applies to Israel.  In her pastoral letter on the Israeli-Palestinian Peace problem she states that peace “can be achieved by bilateral negotiations between the two parties” and says a that “a two-state solution provides for the security and universal recognition of Israel and the safety of all its people, the viability and territorial integrity of a state for the Palestinian people, and a sharing of the holy city of Jerusalem.”4 Again, Ms. Schori ignores the Word of God.

 

The Episcopal Church is only one step behind the other denominations who are trying to destroy Israel through divested monetary interests and favoring the support of anti-Semitic countries, including the current USA with her anti-Israel President.  One day not only the Episcopal Church will be in full force against Israel but so will the USA and all the other countries as so clearly stated in the prophetic words of Zechariah 14:1-4a, “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.  For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity; and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.  Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations; as when he fought in the day of the battle.  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.”

 

Who does not want peace?  But peace will only come to Israel when the Lord Jesus Christ sets up His throne in Jerusalem.

 

 

 

 

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