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AUGUST 2012

ISSUE 61

The Israeli v Palestinian Conflict


Editorial by Philip L. Powell
I will give to you and to your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God Genesis 17:8. Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people; and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession - Genesis 48:4. Origins of the name Palestine Though the definite origins of the word Palestine have been debated for years and are still not known for sure, the name is believed to be derived from the Egyptian and Hebrew word peleshet. Roughly translated to mean rolling or migratory, the term was used to describe the inhabitants of the land to the northeast of Egypt - the Philistines. The Philistines were an Aegean people - more closely related to the Greeks and with no connection ethnically, linguistically or historically with Arabia - who conquered in the 12th Century BC the Mediterranean coastal plain that is now Israel and Gaza. A derivative of the name Palestine first appears in Greek literature in the 5th Century BC when the historian Herodotus called the area Palaistine (Greek - ). In the 2nd century A.D., the Romans crushed the revolt of Shimon Bar Kokhba (132 CE), during which Jerusalem and Judea were regained and the area of Judea was renamed Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel. Under the Ottoman Empire (15171917), the term Palestine was used as a general term to describe the land south of Syria; it was not an official designation. In fact, many Ottomans and Arabs who lived in Palestine during this time period referred to the area as Southern Syria and not as Palestine. After World War I, the name Palestine was applied to the territory that was placed under British Mandate; this area included not only present-day Israel but also present-day Jordan. Leading up to Israels independence in 1948, it was common for the international press to label Jews, not Arabs, living in the mandate as Palestinians. It was not until years after Israeli independence that the Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were called Palestinians. In fact, Arabs cannot even correctly pronounce the word Palestine in their native tongue, referring to [the] area rather as Filastin. The word Palestine or Filastin does not appear in the Koran. The term peleshet appears in the Jewish Tanakh no fewer than 250 times. 1 The name Palestine has been highjacked by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), which was established in Jordon in May 1964. The PLO is now recognised .... as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United Nations since 1974. The PLO was considered by the United States and Israel to be a terrorist organization until the Madrid Conference in 1991. In 1993, [the] PLO recognized Israels right to exist in peace, accepted UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, and rejected violence and terrorism; in response, Israel officially recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. 2 Both the world and the church in general have bought the two outrageous lies sold by the PLO: 1) that Palestine was never owned by Israel, and; 2) that those presently laying claim to it, do so by right of prior inheritance. I am reminded of a joke about the previous Israeli Prime Minister meeting with the late Yasser Arafat to discuss the ownership of the land. The Israeli Prime Minister began with a story of how the Israelites complained about the disappearance of their clothes after swimming in the waters created by Moses after he struck the rock. Its those Palestinians up to their usual tricks. Theyve stolen our clothes when our backs were turned. Now wait a minute chimed in the PLO leader, the Palestinians were NOT around at that time. Well, now that weve settled that, lets begin our talks.

Palestine is a borrowed term of convenience to create lies.


The Middle East like most parts of the world suffered warfare resulting in dispossession and dispersal, throughout history. In 1948 Israel regained what was

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/palname.html
2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization

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part of her rightful possession, which was rightfully extended in 1967. It is all part and parcel of the above prophecies to Abraham (Genesis 17:8) and to Jacob (Genesis 48:4). The land is the rightful inheritance of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as an EVERLASTING bequest by God Almighty who owns the whole earth and can assign it as He determines. He made a promise and in the final analysis He will keep it. It is impossible that the promises relating to the land can in any way be transferred to Christ or to the Church. For this reason Replacement Theology is absurd as the main guest speaker at our Conference has ably proven in his long article about his encounter at the ecumenical Church gatherings in Bethlehem earlier this year and previously, when he caused a sensation by accusing those gathered of antiSemitism see pages 3 to 33 herein.

possibly the most important Conference CWM has ever conducted. We are ALL standing at Christs Checkpoint on many issues, including the use of our time. With this in mind we have dedicated this particular issue of CETF to publicising the Conference with its speakers and theme. Please see also the end of this magazine, pages 38 to 40 especially page 39 which details a special accommodation arrangement in Brisbane Gateway Resort which is close to the CWMFellowship property. You can obtain a 20% discount by inserting the code CWMCONF when you make your booking on-line.

you consider the annual financial appeal see page 21 herein. (This issue of the magazine will cost an estimated extra $1000 to produce in Australia.)

Standing @ the CHECKPOINT


While a major thrust of the Conference will be the Israeli v Palestinian issue with two notable speakers focussing on Bible prophecy in respect of the End Times, it will not be the only emphasis. Christ is checking His people out in respect of TRUTH - thats my topic at the first meeting; EVANGELISM thats the topic Lionel Letcher will address; LEARNING & TEACHING Lawrie Cornish; WORSHIP & WITNESS Mark Mullins; GETTING TO & CROSSING THE FINISHING LINE Bob Bailey. I am excited and trust that a whole bunch of excited people will join the Conference. Feel free to photocopy the publicity material and pass it around. Alternatively we will gladly mail extra copies of this CETF to you upon request. At this stage theres plenty of room for more bookings.

CHANGES WITH CETF

CWM Brisbane Conference September 13 16, 2012 The Church at Christs Checkpoint. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem Zechariah 12:2.
The world cannot and never will be redeemed. Only people can be redeemed, individually as they personally surrender to Christ. When that happens, those people become part of the company of the redeemed the Church of Jesus Christ. Its a sad state when the so called church joins the ranks of the enemy and supports those who deny the promises of God and the truth of His Word. This is the issue we plan to confront in the forthcoming Conference in Brisbane in September and we invite you to join us. Please do your utmost to be with us. IT IS IMPORTANT Andrew (Drew) Caswell who has done a remarkable job over the past several years as Graphic Designer has reluctantly stood aside, mainly for health reasons and other pressures. Please pray for Drew and his family. As editor and on behalf of all involved I personally place on record my deepest thanks and appreciation for the great job he has done. How we will proceed long term has yet to be determined. This CETF was produced under the pressure of time constraints with the involvement of a professional Graphic artist. If we are to continue it is likely that we will have to pay for the work done, which will place considerable extra financial pressure on us. Currently we exist on a financial knife edge in Australia, New Zealand and UK, meeting only print and postage costs. We commend this matter to your prayers as

We are grateful to the Lords people for their prayerful and practical support that enables CWM to continue publishing and distributing CETF. People tell us that in some cases its their only spiritual life line in these days of great departure from the faith. Thank you in the Name of the Lord. May Jesus Christ be PRAISED

Philip L. Powell
www.cwm.org.au www.cwmfellowship.org

CONFERENCE ACCOMODATION DISCOUNT - see page 39 - insert code "CWMCONF" for 20% discount when booking on-line

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The Church at Christs Checkpoint


By Paul Wilkinson
Due to space constraints the following is an adaptation of the original document which can be viewed at www.cwm.org.au and is available in printed form from the publisher - Hazel Grove Full Gospel Church, 68 London Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire, SK7 4AF. UK upon application. At the beginning of March 2012, I attended the second Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in Bethlehem. Over 600 delegates from 20 nations gathered at the 5-star Intercontinental Jacir Palace hotel, in what is today classified as an Area A zone administered by the Palestinian Authority. Organised by Bethlehem Bible College, the five-day event built on the first conference, which was held in March 2010. (see http://www.christian-witnessministries.com/index.php?option=com _jdownloads&Itemid=61&view=viewdo wnload&catid=3&cid=71) Representative organisations included the World Council of Churches, the World Evangelical Alliance, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, Christian Aid and World Vision.

The conference took place during the global Israeli Apartheid Week and the Jewish festival of Purim!
The stated aim of the conference was to provide an opportunity for evangelical Christians who take the Bible seriously to prayerfully seek a proper awareness of issues of peace, justice, and reconciliation. As this report will show, the conference was informed and underpinned by a Replacement Theology which denies that the modern State of Israel was established

by Gods sovereign intervention. The conference also gave a platform for speakers to delegitimize the State of Israel by rejecting its biblical, theological, historical and legally-established foundations. The strategy adopted by the conference organisers was more subtle than previous conferences of a similar nature, in which anti-Israel sentiment was more blatant.

has become increasingly politicized over the years, and today enjoys wide-ranging support from individual Church leaders, denominations, charities, and associated mission and humanitarian groups. The document emphasized the speed with which alliances have been forged by Evangelicals with secular, political and non-Christian religious groups, in what can only be described as a mounting anti-Israel crusade. (These documents, which help to provide a theological and historical backdrop to the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, are produced by my home church at Hazel Grove, UK - see above for full address, and are available free of charge.

In 2004, I attended the 5th International Sabeel Conference in Jerusalem, which included a meeting with Yasser Arafat. In my report, I wrote of the union of mainstream Protestant churches with Rome and the Islamic world in their opposition to Jewish and Christian Zionism. I cited some of the prime movers, notably Naim Ateek, Stephen Sizer and Gary Burge. In 2011, I wrote Prophets Who Prophesy Lies In My Name, a document which highlights the developing trends within what I have labelled the Christian Palestinianist movement. This movement

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Christ at the Checkpoint: Conference Goals
1. Empower and encourage the Palestinian church. 2. Expose the realities of the injustices in the Palestinian Territories and create awareness of the obstacles to reconciliation and peace. 3. Create a platform for serious engagement with Christian Zionism and an open forum for ongoing dialogue between all positions within the Evangelical theological spectrum. 4. Motivate participants to become advocates for the reconciliation work of the church in Palestine/Israel and its ramifications for the Middle East and the world. Alex Awad Dean of Students at Bethlehem Bible College; Board Member of the Council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land. Yohanna Katanacho Academic Dean of Bethlehem Bible College and of Galilee Bible College; Coauthor of the Kairos Palestine Document (2009). Salim Munayer Founder and Director of Musalaha Reconciliation Ministries for Israel & Palestine; Faculty member of Bethlehem Bible College. John Angle Anglican Minister; associated with Bethlehem Bible College. Manfred Kohl Chairman; formerly in leadership with World Vision; Vice-President of Programs & International Development with Overseas Council International. Steve Haas Vice-President of World Vision Sami Awad Executive Director of Holy Land Trust

(continued)

Stephen Sizer Vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water, in England; Patron of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions; Trustee of Friends of Sabeel UK; Member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign; press accreditation with Holy Land Trust

Final Emailed Instructions from Conference Organisers, 24 February 2012


I would like to draw particular attention to the instruction given in the above email, which effectively told conference participants to lie when they arrived in Israel:

For your information, when you arrive at the Ben Gurion Airport and you are asked about the reason for your visit, DO NOT mention the conference or Bethlehem. Only say that you are here to see the holy sites or that you are here on a Christian pilgrimage. Do not give more information than asked for.

Organising Committee
Bishara Awad Founder and President of Bethlehem Bible College (above). Munther Isaac Conference Director; Vice-Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College. Jack Sara Vice-President (and incumbent President) of Bethlehem Bible College; Senior Pastor of the Jerusalem Alliance Church.

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As this report will show, the conference was informed and underpinned by a Replacement Theology which denies that the modern State of Israel was established by Gods sovereign intervention. The conference also gave a platform for speakers to delegitimize the State of Israel by rejecting its biblical, theological, historical and legally-established foundations.

During his address, Fayyad spoke of how his government defended the rights of Christian minorities in Palestinian-controlled territories. This, he proudly asserted, is what it means to be Palestinian. It has since been reported that the First Baptist Church of Bethlehem, pastored by Revd Naim Khoury (below) and openly supportive of the State of Israel, has been denied legitimacy by the Palestinian Authority. Fire-bombed fourteen times in the past, the church has been told that any birth, death, or marriage certificates it issues will not be recognised. According to a report on The Algemeiner website (an American Jewish newspaper), posted 13th March 2012,

UNDERLYING POLITICAL AGENDA


Opening Address: Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, Dr Salam Fayyad (Formerly the Minister of Finance under Yasser Arafat)
Fayyad (right) was introduced by the conference director, Munther Isaac, as someone who has worked so hard to prepare Palestine for statehood He opened with Welcome to Palestine, and spoke of the opportunity delegates had to see what it is like for Palestinians to be living under occupationcondemned Israels capricious regime and monstrous wall and conveyed greetings from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the same Abbas whose 1982 doctoral thesis was entitled The Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement 1933-1945. It was published in Arabic in 1984 under the title al-Wajh al-Akhar: al-Alaqat as-Sirriya bayna an-Naziya was-Sihyuniya (The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism). Critics of his work have accused Abbas of Holocaust denial.

This is how Munther Isaac (seated in picture) introduced Prime Minister Fayyad: Palestinian Christians have always

" The irony is that the PAs announcement comes right after the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference. It seems more than coincidence that the Christ at the Checkpoint conference ended and now the Khourys are being targeted. One of the dignitaries who followed Salam Fayyad onto the platform was Victor Batarseh, the Mayor of Bethlehem. In December 2011, following his annual Christmas address, Batarseh appealed to the international community to boycott Israel a tactic he said had worked with South Africa. In his conference address, Batarseh, a professing Roman Catholic, said As Christians and Muslims we always have hope that God will give us the right to self-determination. He went on to speak of the death of Christ, before declaring:

enjoyed the support of the Palestinian leaders. We worship with freedom and exercise our rights like all Palestinians. To emphasise this, we are deeply honoured to have with us the support of Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Dr Salam Fayyad ... Dr Fayyad is a man of vision, and his vision is one of prosperity and peace for the Palestinian people. And it is only fitting that his name in Arabic literally means abundant peace.It is my privilege and honour to invite to the stage to speak to us, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Dr Salam Fayyad.

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The Church at Christs Checkpoint

(continued)

of the Arab League in Cairo. Sizer posted this photograph on his blog in February 2012.

YOHANNA KATANACHO
Title of Paper: Introduction to the Church of the Arabs
47th anniversary of the founding of the Palestinian political party Fatah. Palestinian Media Watch, who posted his speech on their website, reported that the Mufti was welcomed onto the platform by the chair of the Fatah ceremony, who declared: Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs [i.e. the Jewish people] is a war of religion and faith. Long live Fatah! In the spirit of his notorious predecessor and ally of Adolf Hitler, Haj Amin al-Husseini, Sheikh Hussein took the microphone and, citing the Hadith (traditional Islamic teaching attributed to Muhammad), declared: Academic Dean of Bethlehem Bible College Ordained with the Christian Missionary Alliance Church (CMA) in the Holy Land Theologian and Author

Artwork: ar-ar.facebook.com

Here in Palestine Jesus is again walking the via dolorosa. Jesus is the powerless Palestinian humiliated at a checkpoint In this season of Lent, it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him ... The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily.
Mayor Batarseh was followed onto the Checkpoint platform by Dr Hanna Issa, General Secretary of the Islamic-Christian Committee for Protecting Jerusalem and the Holy Sites. Anticipating a Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital, Issa declared:

The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews.
The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call:

Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.
Pictured with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is Stephen Sizer (2nd from right). On the far left is Mohammed Sobeih, the Assistant General Secretary

Jerusalem is under occupation and the Palestinian people are under siege.
Issa began by greeting delegates in the name of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and in the name of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. No stranger to controversy, the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein (pictured centre), received international condemnation following a speech he gave on 9th January 2012 at a ceremony commemorating the

Katanachos book, The Land of Christ: A Palestinian Cry (2012), was promoted during the conference. In it he challenges the biblical distinction which Christian Zionists have made between Israel and the Church, describing any identification of the modern State of Israel with biblical Israel as a common error. He argues that in both Testaments there are multiple meanings and a spectrum of nuances whenever the names Hebrew, Israel, or Jew are mentioned, and that there is a territorial fluidity with regards to the Land an argument clearly designed to break the inextricable link which exists between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.

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We the Palestinian people are also crucified now.

KAIROS PALESTINE: THE TIME HAS COME


Katanacho is one of the authors of the Kairos Palestine Document (December 2009), which appears as an addendum in his book. He claims that the Document guides Christians as stewards of the land that Christ owns, and calls on all believers to be advocates for biblical hope, love, and justice to both Palestinians and Israeli Jews, suggesting that an appropriate step would be endorsing the Palestinian Kairos Document. This document was published in the wake of international conferences convened in Jordan (2007) and Switzerland (2008), which condemned the so-called Israeli occupation, called upon the international community to act against Israel, and criticized any interpretation of the Scriptures which connects the modern State of Israel with biblical Israel. These conferences provide the immediate backdrop to the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, and were alluded to from the platform:

decision of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and launch the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum as an instrument to catalyze and co-ordinate new and existing church advocacy for peace, aimed at ending the illegal occupation in accordance with UN resolutions, and demonstrate its commitment to inter-religious action for peace and justice that serves all the peoples of the region.

themselves to ecumenical and inter-religious formation ... so that we might more rigorously analyze the conflict, interrogate ideologies like antisemitism and Christian Zionism, and contribute toward peace making and peace building in Palestine-Israel.

Kairos Palestine Document: A Moment of Truth


A Word of Faith, Hope and Love from the Heart of Palestinian Suffering (Bethlehem, Israel, 11 December 2009) Issued by the Palestinian Christian community In his Christ at the Checkpoint presentation, Yohanna Katanacho declared: Love is an opportunity to pursue justice and the Kairos Document is a document of love, because we talk about where sin is It is a document of hope We faced, and face, radical Islam at some times as well as Israeli occupation at other times. We believe, and I believe, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza strip is a sin, and people need to repent from that sin.

The Bern Perspective


(Bern, Switzerland, 13 September 2008) Issued by the World Council of Churches, the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, and the Reformed Churches Bern-Jura Solothurn

The Amman Call


(Amman, Jordan, 20 June 2007) Issued at the World Council of Churches International Peace Conference Churches together for Peace and Justice in the Middle East For the last forty years the Christian churches have called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine The Palestinian Christians from Gaza to Jerusalem and to Nazareth, have called out to their brothers and sisters in Christ with this urgent plea: Enough is enough. No more words without deeds. It is time for action Thus, in Amman, Jordan we representatives of Christian churches and churchrelated organizations from every corner of the earth, affirm the

After decades of dispossession, discrimination, illegal occupation, violence and bloodshed in PalestineIsrael, Christians are challenged to continue to study, critique and re-vision theologies of land A central issue for the conference was how the Bible is read. We are called to recognize distinctions between biblical history and biblical story as well as distinctions between the Israel of the Bible and the modern State of Israel ... Let us affirm that a new discourse on these issues develops as a new generation emerges. Therefore, our churches should commit

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The Church at Christs Checkpoint


This statement is extremely significant (1) because of the way the alleged occupation is portrayed as sin, and (2) because it represents an example of MORAL EQUIVALENCE, which forces comparison between radical Islam and the alleged Israeli occupation, in order to say that the one is as evil as the other. Presented as the Christian Palestinians word to the world about what is happening in Palestine, the Kairos Palestine Document is the Palestinian equivalent of the original Kairos Document, which was released in 1985 by a group of 150 black South African liberation theologians in Soweto, who issued a plea to the churches in South Africa to stand against the Apartheid regime. Not surprisingly, Palestinian theologians and human rights activists have formulated their own version of this document by capitalising upon South African history as a basis for laying the blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict squarely at the feet of the Israeli government. According to the authors of Kairos Palestine: the document requests the international community to stand by the Palestinian people who have faced oppression, displacement, suffering and clear apartheid for more than six decades. The suffering continues while the international community silently looks on at the occupying State, Israel. Our word is a cry of hope, with love, prayer and faith in God. We address it first of all to ourselves and then to all the churches and Christians in the world, asking them to stand against injustice and apartheid, urging them to work for a just peace in our region, calling on them to revisit theologies that justify crimes perpetrated against our people and the dispossession of the land [The document] seeks to be prophetic

(continued)

Signing Ceremony in December, 2009

in addressing things as they are without equivocation and with boldness, in addition it puts forward ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and all forms of discrimination as the solution that will lead to a just and lasting peace with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds [Jerusalem] as its capital. (emphasis mine) The authors of Kairos Palestine are: His Beatitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah, His Eminence Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Rev. Dr. Jamal Khader, Rev. Dr. Rafiq Khoury, Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, Rev. Dr. Yohanna Katanacho, Rev. Fadi Diab, Dr. Jiries Khoury, Ms. Cedar Duaybis, Ms. Nora Kort, Ms. Lucy Thaljieh, Mr. Nidal Abu El Zuluf, Mr. Yusef Daher, Mr. Rifat Kassis. The document, originally written in Arabic, presents the Palestinian Christian narrative by providing a list of various oppressive Israeli measures taken against Palestinians, and by presenting the real nature of the conflict, which is not an

Israeli war against terror but an Israeli occupation faced by Palestinian legal resistance. Conspicuous by its absence is any censuring of Palestinian suicide bombers, Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and other Islamic fundamentalist groups. Section 4.3 gives us a clue as to why this is so:

The roots of terrorism are in the human injustice committed and in the evil of the occupation.
[Note how the word terrorism is placed within quotation marks] At the time of writing (23 April 2012), the Kairos Palestine Document boasts 2797 signatories and 2131 endorsees, including Stephen Sizer, who is actively promoting the document on his blog, along with an accompanying study plan. The document has the full endorsement of the World Council of Churches (WCC). According to former General Secretary of the WCC, Revd Dr. Samuel Kobia,

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Love is an opportunity to pursue justice and the Kairos Document is a document of love, because we talk about where sin is It is a document of hope...

This cry of the Palestinian Christians and their church leaders provides the fresh basis and reference point in this renewed struggle for justice. It is, therefore, inevitable, that the Kairos document is affirmed and its implications be actively pursued in the particular contexts that member churches of the WCC are located in ... The Kairos is an instrument and its launching is the beginning of a new phase of work.

Key LYING Statements


As witnessed with our own eyes, the treacherous conditions imposed by the Israeli occupation on Palestinians and their land have reached a level of almost unimaginable and sophisticated criminality. This includes the slow yet deliberate and systematic ethnic cleansing and the geo-cide (sic) of Palestinians and Palestine as well as the strangling of the Palestinian economy The government and state of Israel is now regarded as an apartheid regime in terms of international law We call the Israeli occupation of Palestine a crime and sin. We reject any theological or political justification for the Occupation We reject any argument aimed at convincing Palestinians and the international community that the problems are caused by Muslims rather than the Occupation We demand that the Right of Return for all Palestinian refugees be enforced We support and commit ourselves to the dismantling of Israeli apartheid

We commit to engage in creative, nonviolent resistance in response to the call from our Palestinian sisters and brothers to this end, including BDS [boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel].

The Bethlehem Call ends with a Roman Catholic Franciscan Benediction.


In the Kairos Palestine Document (2009) we read the following:

The Bethlehem Call


(Bethlehem, Israel, 13 December 2011) Issued by the Kairos Palestine committee, following a Kairos conference in Bethlehem which hosted more than 60 delegates from15 countries According to the Preamble, The cry for justice in Palestine reached a pivotal moment when, in December 2009, Palestinian Christians launched the Kairos Palestine document. The Bethlehem Call begins with the following instruction to the reader:

the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is a sin against God (2.5) The aggression against the Palestinian people, which is the Israeli occupation, is an evil that must be resisted. It is an evil and a sin that must be resisted and removed (4.2.1)

Mary and Joseph denied access to Bethlehem


Read and interpret this text with a Kairos consciousness and gaze of prophetic.

Those responsible for writing and endorsing such statements seem to be completely unaware that what they are actually doing is accusing God of an evil and a sin, by denying that Israels re-establishment was in accordance with His sovereign will and purpose as revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures.

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The Conference (falsely) affirmed - the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land Is a sin against God (2.5)

writings of men like Stephen Sizer and Gary Burge, two of the main theological linchpins of the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference.

According to a Christ at the Checkpoint reading of history, the momentous events which paved the way for the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948 were a grave mistake, the consequences of which need to be undone: In Section 4.2.6 and Section 7 of the Kairos Palestine document we read the following: Palestinian civil organizations, as well as international organizations, NGOs and certain religious institutions call on individuals, companies and states to engage in divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the occupation ... [W]e call for the beginning of a system of economic sanctions and boycott to be applied against Israel. In Prophets Who Prophesy Lies In My Name I document how, in recent years, an increasing number of Church denominations and ecumenical organizations have issued statements which condemn the alleged Israeli occupation, and which have supported campaigns to boycott Israeli goods and/or divest from multinational companies operating within Israel. These include the Church of England, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is striking to note that many of the denominational synods and councils were influenced in their decision by reports based on the

We are taking this particular action in response to requests from Palestinian Christians and the World Council of Churches and a growing number of Jewish organisations both inside Israel and worldwide. It is in our tradition to challenge and draw attention to situations that we believe are unjust, and the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories continues to make a lasting peace in the region more difficult to achieve. This years Christ at the Checkpoint Conference coincided with the 8th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), with events being organised in cities across the world. According to the IAW website, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW)is an annual international series of events held in cities and campuses across the globe. The aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement.

In September 2009, the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) met in Geneva and released its Statement on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Statement called for an international boycott of goods produced in the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. In an interview with Stephen Sizer during the first Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in March 2010, Revd Naim Ateek, the founder of Sabeel, spoke of the way Christians in the United States were enthusiastically supporting B.D.S. Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. As Ateek stated, I feel that thats the way forward its the way of resisting non-violently. At its June 2010 annual conference, the Methodist Church of Great Britain issued a resolution supporting the boycott campaign. This was its rationale:

One of the speakers at the London IAW event was vociferous anti-Israel campaigner Ben White, pictured (far right) at the 2012 Checkpoint Conference with (left to right) Stephen Sizer, Gary Burge, Porter Speakman Jr., and Salim Munayer. In an article entitled, Is it Possible to Understand the Rise in Anti-Semitism?, posted on the American Counterpunch website, Ben White wrote:

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English anti-Semitism has nearly always been an underground movement, protected by the pretense that it does not exist Journalists have become as expert in avoiding the charge of anti-Semitism as they are in dodging the law of libel. (Malcolm Hay, Europe and the Jews: The Pressure of Christendom over 1900 Years [1992], p.292)

Comparisons between the Israeli government and the Nazis is unwise and unsound, since the Israelis have not (at the time of going to press) exterminated in a systematic fashion an enormous percentage of the Palestinians. Cold-blooded killings, beatings, house demolitions, vandalism, occupation, military assaults, and two historical pushes at ethnic cleansing yes. Fully fledged genocide no.

In his books, Israeli Apartheid: A Beginners Guide (2009) and Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy (2012), White states the following: For political Zionism to come to fruition it was necessary to carry out as large a scale as possible ethnic cleansing of the countrys unwanted Arab natives ... Since 1948, Israel has maintained an apartheid regime over the territory it controls. (Israeli Apartheid, pp.39,91) One of the important aspects of the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign is the way in which the three simple demands are focused on rights: The right of Palestinians to be free from military rule in the post-1967 occupied territories. The right of Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality. The rights of Palestinian refugees to return and reparations. (Palestinians in Israel, p.90)

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN


On April 1, 1933, one week after taking power in Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, and businesses. This order was implemented by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The same anti-Semitic spirit which drove the Nazi regime in 1933 and beyond, is today driving the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (B.D.S.) campaign, with its often menacing and intimidating methods.

(Note the provocative nature of Whites loaded statements)

Clearly defending himself against the charge of anti-Semitism, White, a freelance journalist, asserts: I do not consider myself an antiSemite, yet I can also understand why some are. There are, in fact, a number of reasons. One is the state of Israel I have just provided a by no means comprehensive list of reasons why I can understand very well that some people are unpleasant towards Jews.

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The Church at Christs Checkpoint


THE LEOPARD TRIES TO CHANGE ITS SPOTS
Gary Burge
Title of Paper: Theology of the Land in the New Testament Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, Illinois, USA Advisory Board member of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation Board member of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding

(continued)

In his conference paper Gary Burge made a number of statements, often with an element of mockery in his voice: This country may be the only place in the world where millions of people have chosen to justify their claim on land by appealing to a single man who died somewhere around 2000BC, and they are dead serious. Immediately some of my friends will accuse me of Replacement Theology or supercessionism. Burge was introduced by Sami Awad, who described his book, Jesus and the Land (2010) as one of my favourite books not surprising, since Burge presents the classic Replacement Theology view concerning the Land of Israel. For example, in his book Burge writes: Jesus does not envision a restoration of Israel per se but instead sees himself as embracing the drama of Jerusalem within his own life In some manner, the initial restoration of Israel has already begun inasmuch as Christ, the new Temple, the New Israel, has been resurrected (p.60) Burge presented a diagram proposing another way to write this equation. He said, I think I might call it Messianic Fulfilment. What I mean by this is that we have another way in which we need to see it (i.e. Replacement Theology). By changing their terminology to Fulfilment Theology or Messianic Fulfilment, Burge and his Checkpoint colleagues are hoping to disarm their premillennial, pro-Israel opponents and parry the criticism they have received on account of their replacementist views. Using revisionist language, Burge never referred to Israel when speaking of the future salvation of the Jewish people.

Bewilderingly he used the term Judaism instead, as the following example illustrates: But Judaism holds an incomparable place in history. Because of its legacy it is not rejected ... Therell be a great consummation of history when Judaism then accepts its Messiah, joins the Church, and then all Israel will be saved. During the Q&A session that followed Burges presentation, Jerusalem-based pastor Wayne Hilsden (pictured above with Burge and Isaac) stated his belief that Israels re-establishment in 1948 was part of Gods prophetic fulfilment, to which Gary Burge replied: And I think thats where we differ because I think then I would look at that and I would say many of the passages that you read from the Old Testament strike me as post-exilic passages, and I would see many of the anticipations coming from the Old Testament realised in Christ. We both have very traditional positions on this, but it would be easy from where I stand then to recognise the political legitimacy of Israel, but not concede the spiritual significance of what God is doing in Israel.

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On April 1, 1933, one week after taking power in Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, and businesses. This order was implemented by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The same anti-Semitic spirit which drove the Nazi regime in 1933 and beyond, is today driving the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (B.D.S.) campaign, with its often menacing and intimidating methods.
The Palestinian Wailing Wall so-called peace activists have turned the concrete sections of the security barrier in Bethlehem into a canvas for their propaganda
(Dexter Van Zile, Exclusive: Baptist Church in Bethlehem Declared Illegitimate by Palestinian Authority, The Algemeiner, 13 March 2012). In his conference address, Sami Awad spoke of his vision of Jerusalem becoming a city where everyone can worship Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Like many of the speakers, Awad claimed to speak for the Lord regarding the future of Jerusalem. He maintained that Jesus told him: I will give you this [vision] when I see Jews, Christians and Muslims stop looking [at] and blaming each other for everything and begin to look at me. Awad was not alone in advocating a multi-faith Jerusalem. Several speakers, including Awad, poured scorn on the notion that security was the main reason for the checkpoints and the wall. But what would happen if the wall did come down? Ryan Jones, an Israeli journalist who attended the conference, answered that question in an article for Israel Today (7 March 2012): It is indeed an imposing, intimidating and even depressing structure. Passing through is a great inconvenience compared to how easy it was to move from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and vice versa, just 10 years ago ... And I can sympathize with those whose only crime is being born Palestinian, but nevertheless have to endure such hardships. But you know what else is depressing, inconvenient and insulting? Being blown up while riding the bus.

Through Christ I joined biblical Israel, and the Old Testament becomes mine Old Testament prophecies which speak of the restoration of the Jewish people to the Land were all conditional and all spiritual in nature and this is why I challenge Christian Zionism

Munther Isaac
Title of Paper: Help Me Shine! A Palestinian Christian Response to Christian Zionism Munther Isaac was the director of the conference. He is the Vice-Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College, and a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. On his blog, Isaac lists among his favourite works anything NT Wright writes. Wright, a British theologian and former Anglican Bishop of Durham, stands within the amillennial tradition, reinterpreting and redefining the Scriptural promises which were given by God to Israel. In what was essentially a personal testimony of his journey to faith in Christ and his struggle to understand the theology of the Land he calls Palestine, Isaac outlined his replacementist beliefs and pointed an accusing finger at Evangelical Christians who interpret the prophetic scriptures literally. Here are a few of the statements he made in his address:

One thing that really makes me angry about many forms of Christian Zionism is its certainty

Sami Awad
Title of Paper: Non Violence Sami Awad, the son of Bishara Awad, is the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust (HLT), a Palestinian non-profit organization which he founded in Bethlehem in 1998, and with which Stephen Sizer has press accreditation. Holy Land Trust seeks to empower the Palestinian people to resist the alleged occupation non-violently. This call to non-violent resistance echoed throughout the conference. One of the International Associates of HLT is Ben White, whose books are promoted on its website. In 2010, at an event hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, White called on students to boycott Israel. He was sharing a platform with Islamist Palestinian academic and advocate of Palestinian terrorism, Azzam Tamimi, with whom Sizer has also shared platforms.

Ron Sider
Title of Paper: Biblical Justice Non-violent resistance was also a theme of Ron Siders paper. Siders book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (1977), has been hailed as one of the most influential Evangelical books of the last 30 years. In his conference address he shared his utopian dream, suggesting that if leaders like the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Desmond Tutu joined together in a call for non-violence, then there would be a way forward in achieving a non-violent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Millions of dollars, he said, would be needed to make this utopian dream a reality.

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The Church at Christs Checkpoint


Stephen Sizer
Title of Workshop: Seven Biblical Answers to Popular Zionist Assumptions In my book, For Zions Sake: Christian Zionism and the Role of John Nelson Darby (Paternoster: 2007), I detail the theology and some of the political/ religious associations of the Evangelical Anglican vicar, Revd Dr Stephen Sizer. Sizer is the champion of the Christian Palestinianist movement, which relentlessly crusades against Israel and her Christian allies. These photographs, which Sizer has published on his own website, illustrate how deeply involved he is with proPalestinian/Islamic groups. From top to bottom: 1. The 5th International Sabeel Conference, held in Jerusalem, 2004. Sizer with Yasser Arafat in the Muqataah compound in Ramallah (photo from Sizers own Powerpoint presentation). 2. Lecture tour of Iran, October 2007. Sizer receiving gifts from Zahra Mostafavi Khomeini, daughter of the late Ayatollah Khomeini who led the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. She is allegedly a supporter of Hezbollah and an advocate of child suicide bombers. 3. EvangelicalMuslim Dialogue Conference in Toronto, May 2010. Sponsored by the World Islamic Call Society, which was founded and funded by Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi. 4. Palestine Solidarity Campaign Summer Conference, 2011. Sizer actively supports boycott, divestment, sanctions against Israel. 5. Guest in June 2011 at the Malaysian branch of the British-based charity Viva Palestina, which was co-founded by British Member of Parliament George Galloway.

(continued)

During his 2011 visit to Malaysia, an Islamic country, Sizer posted on his website an article based on an interview he gave to a Malaysian newspaper. The article begins, Absolute rubbish, replies Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer when asked about the popular Christian view that Jews are the chosen people and that Israel is the Holy Land which gives them the right to return. During his visit to Malaysia, Sizer interviewed Syafig, a young Muslim representative of the Hamas-supporting Malaysian branch of Viva Palestina, who stated that his organisation, which supports Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel, was currently targeting four companies McDonalds, Coca Cola, LOral and Nestl. The reason, he said, was because these companies channel their profits to the Zionist agenda. Sizer can be heard agreeing with him. At the time of writing, Viva Palestina Malaysia has posted on its website an article from the web pages of the notorious Holocaust denier and former Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke, which proposes that all Jews living in Palestine be relocated to Birobidzhan in Siberia. In two separate interviews for Malaysian television, Sizer equated Zionism with racism, and called upon Malaysians to support the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The flotilla hit the headlines in May 2010 when IDF soldiers were attacked as they attempted to board the Turkish ship, the MV Mavi Marmara. In his interview, Sizer made the following remarks: Getting behind the flotilla is a fantastic way people here in Malaysia can help ... It embarrasses America and it embarrasses Israel. The ordinary human beings are willing to risk their lives to sail supplies into Gaza So were really excited about what we can do together.

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THE WALL - "is indeed an imposing, intimidating and even depressing structure. Passing through is a great inconvenience compared to how easy it was to move from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and vice versa, just 10 years ago ... But you know what else is depressing, inconvenient and insulting? Being blown up while riding the bus. - Ryan Jones - Israel Today March 7, 2012

calling on the government to reinstate its diplomatic relations with Iran and engage with the Iranian authorities to address all outstanding issues. Other signatories included notable anti-Israel campaigners George Galloway, Bruce Kent, Lauren Booth (Tony Blairs sisterin-law), and Moazzam Begg, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay accused of supporting al-Qaeda and receiving military training in al-Qaeda-run camps in Afghanistan. Stephen Sizer describes himself as an active member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which promotes Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel. One of its patrons is Baroness Jenny Tonge (bottom left), a former Liberal Democrat Member of the British Parliament. Tonge was sacked as childrens spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats in 2004, after suggesting that she would consider becoming a suicide bomber if she was a Palestinian. Speaking at Middlesex Universitys Free Palestine Society in February 2012, she declared:

During the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, Stephen Sizer gave a workshop entitled, Seven Biblical Answers to Popular Zionist Assumptions, which he has posted on his website. It was originally given at the Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding Executive Briefing in Fremont, California, in November 2011. Sizer made the following allegorical statements: When we talk about Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures, we are not talking about a racial identification Israel as a racial identification, as a national people, was never how the Old Testament understood Gods people In my Bible when Christ died on the cross, he was Israel, he was the remnant When he says I am the vine he is saying I am God and I am Israel When Jesus says I am the vine he is replacing Israel

On 23rd March 2012, the Jewish Telegraph newspaper ran the following front-page headline: Flytilla To Invade Israel. Mimicking the flotilla of 2010, the newspaper reported that the flytilla had been organised by the Welcome to Palestine Initiative, and was being supported by members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign to which Sizer belongs. Over one thousand activists were scheduled to fly into Israel on Sunday 15th April, in a publicity stunt designed to create as much havoc as possible as Jewish people returned to and from Israel after Passover.

Beware Israel! Israel is not going to be there forever Israel will lose its support and then they will reap what they have sown.
Israels UK Ambassador, Daniel Taub, gave his response to this latest Tongelashing against Israel: It was shocking to hear a member of the House of Lords saying Israel will not be there for ever. Im sure I speak for everyone here when I tell Baroness Tonge we have no intention of going anywhere. Tonges unbridled anti-Israel comments drew widespread condemnation. When her parliamentary party leader Nick Clegg asked her to apologise for the offense her remarks had caused, she refused and duly resigned.

Another Tonge-lashing
In 2011, Sizer was a signatory to a letter condemning the British governments decision to sever diplomatic relations with Iran, following the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran in November that year. The letter appeared in the Guardian newspaper on 23rd December,

Sizer says: Jesus is Israel

When Sizer presented this workshop in California, he was introduced by Tom Getman (above), a former staff member in the U.S. Congress who later served as Executive Director for International Relations with World Vision, and who was responsible for World Visions liaison activities with the UN and the World Council of Churches. Getman enthusiastically thanked Sizer for what he had done to put steel in our spines and give us hope.

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The Church at Christs Checkpoint


This is pebbles in the pond. Youve got some of the most senior leaders here, strategic leaders and others that are interested in reading your [Sizers] books and reading your [Sizers] blogs and so on that will help build this movement.

(continued)

Foul Play on Facebook


On 4th October 2011, Stephen Sizer posted on his Facebook page the following link to The Ugly Truth, a blatantly anti-Semitic website: In an interview conducted at a conference in St. Marks Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C., Sizer asked Getman about his hopes for the Obama administration in relation to the Middle East. Getman made a revealing statement: We have friends in the Mitchell team [George Mitchell was Obamas Special Envoy to the Arab-Israeli Peace Process], we have friends inside the White House, we have friends in the Senate, like people in this room today, who really are intent on putting steel in the spine so that Obama can follow through on what he has said so were trying to encourage the Christians who are in the administration, or active Jews within the administration, to really stand up and let Obama be Obama in terms of what his heart says we must do in terms of dialogue. [In 2007, then Senator Barack Obama (above) declared: Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people.] In his interview with Stephen Sizer, Getman stressed the scale of impact which the pro-Palestinian conferences he and Sizer had participated in were having: On 13th March 2012, the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) issued a statement in response: We consider this to be wholly unacceptable. We cannot accept it was an accident, because Mr Sizer was alerted to the antisemitic nature of the website in November [2011] and again in December, but only removed the link in January [2012] when contacted by the Jewish Chronicle. The content and the delay in removing the link from Mr Sizers Facebook page was disgraceful and unbecoming for a clergyman of the Church of England to promote. Members of the CCJ have described the website as obscenely antisemitic. (Rt. Revd Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester and Chairman of the CCJ) The Revd Stephen Sizer is fully entitled to his views on the Israel/Palestine conflict but he has to be aware that criticism of Israel is one thing while publicizing websites with antisemitic content goes beyond what is tolerable. (Revd David Gifford, Chief Executive of the CCJ) The statement concludes: CCJ has expressed grave concern to the Bishop of Guildford in whose diocese Mr Sizer is a priest and has drawn the attention of the Surrey police to what they claim was an action tantamount to encouraging race hatred.

Sizers website activities have been tracked by Anglican minister Nick Howard (the son of former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard). Here is a sample of the incriminatory evidence which Howard compiled in his 2011 report, The Church of England must take action against Rev Stephen Sizer: Below is one of the more moderate images featured on The Ugly Truth website, to which Howard and the CCJ have drawn attention. On 11th November 2011 the headline read:

Holocaust Denier Set For Key Role in Greek Government?


Homer Simpson, a cartoon character from the animated American t.v. show The Simpsons, expresses his delight at the news.

During the first Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in 2010, Sizer posted these photographs of Israeli soldiers in Beit Jala on his flickr page [photo sharing website], under the headline:

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"Stephen Sizer is fully entitled to his views on the Israel/Palestine conflict but he has to be aware that criticism of Israel is one thing while publicizing websites with antisemitic content goes beyond what is tolerable. (Revd David Gifford, Chief Executive of the CCJ)

Herods Soldiers Operating in Bethlehem Today


In October 2010, Sizer reported on former White House correspondent Helen Thomas (below), who retired from journalism after being recorded outside the White House calling on Jews to get the hell out of Palestine and return to Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else. Describing Thomas as one gutsy 90 year old lady, Sizer concluded with the words: Bring it on.

It would have been perfectly possible for Stephen Sizer to criticise Israel without posting links on Facebook to racist websites; or joining forces with recognised antiSemites across the world; or, when accused of anti-Semitism, turning to a known anti-Semite for support; or alluding to the archetype of the Christ-killing Jew; or downplaying the Holocaust by using the same word to describe Israels actions towards the Palestinians; or promoting the global Zionist conspiracy myth; or endorsing a disgraced journalists call for Jews to get the hell out of Palestine; or spreading the outrageous myth of Israeli involvement in 9/11; or making distasteful references to Monica Lewinskys Jewishness; or backing the anti-Semitic hate preacher Sheikh Salah. Each of these actions defiantly crosses a line. They do not demonstrate permissible criticism of the state of Israel. They demonstrate a mixture of explicit anti-Semitism; implicit antiSemitism; and complicity with antiSemites Stephen Sizer is bringing disgrace on the congregation of Christ Church Virginia Water, who happily put up with him; the wider Church of England, which springs to his defence; and this nation, of which the Church of England is the established church. Sadly, when presented with this evidence, Sizers bishop, the Rt. Revd Christopher Hill, retreated behind ecclesiastical lines and issued this response to Howard: I see nothing which would merit disciplinary matters, not least because differing political opinions are definitely exempted from disciplinary proceedings in the Church of England according to the Clergy Disciplinary Measure.

(Sizer is currently doing all he can to vindicate himself, by appealing to Jewish, Christian, and political leaders for support)

Throwing Down The Gauntlet


Standing on the shoulders of Goliath, todays Palestinianist champions are taunting those in the pro-Israel camp. In his endorsement of Stephen Sizers book, Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon? (2004), Colin Chapman issued the following challenge:

Sizer has thrown down the gauntlet in a way that demands a response from those who support the state of Israel for theological reasons. Colin Chapman Defending the Indefensible
Title of Paper: A Christian Response to Radical Islam

In March 2010, Sizer reported on Hillary Clintons criticism of Israels decision to build new settlements in East Jerusalem. He headlined his report, Payback for Monica? Clinton Rebukes Israel Twice in Two Weeks Nick Howard comments: This unbelievably tasteless insinuation that Monica Lewinskys Jewishness motivated Hillary Clintons criticism of Israel shows how Rev Sizers mind works. Summing up in his prosecution of Sizer, Howard writes:

Former lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology, Beirut. Author of several books, most notably Whose Promised Land?, which was first published in 1983 and has been reprinted several times. Chapman plays into the hands of the Islamists with the following irresponsible and misguided statements:

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BALFOUR DECLARATION - November 2nd, 1917 - "His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration
In many cases I believe they [Muslims] have good reason to be angry I have begun to understand a little of the anger that led to 9/11 I have to say that if I were a Muslim, if I were an Arab, I would feel some of this anger and would have to add that in many cases I believe they have good reason to be angry I would dare to suggest that if Israel had complied with the famous UN Resolution 242 in 1967, Hamas might never have come into existence, and if Israel had not invaded Lebanon in 1982, there might be no Hezbollah today If I had time I would also want to look at the Koranic verses about the Jews I suggest we need to be careful of trying to tell Muslims how to interpret their scriptures. We should be willing to listen to how they interpret their scriptures There are strong similarities between Islamic fundamentalism and Jewish fundamentalism Dare I say that perhaps the rest of the world needs to be more patient and give Islamists time to show whether they can run a modern state. The theme was A Common Word Between Us and You. Speakers included Stephen Sizer (seated above right), Gary Burge, and Colin Chapman. Along with Chapman, other signatories to the Loving God and Neighbour Together document include Checkpoint speaker Chris Wright, committee member Salim Munayer, and conference chairman Manfred Kohl.

influential Muslim clerics representing every school and sect of Islam from around the world. It has been hailed as the worlds leading interfaith dialogue initiative between Christians and Muslims. The principal architect of A Common Word is Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan, Chief Advisor to King Abdullah II of Jordan and allegedly a direct descendant of Muhammad. Tony Blair (below at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Americas oldest Catholic and Jesuit university) is one of the leading advocates of the Common Word initiative.

Th "H co of re

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Manfred Kohl
Title of Paper: Very Stupid and Very Ecstatic Creating Our Own Conflict Regarding the Theology of the Land Focus on land is very stupid and very ecstatic Jesus showed no interest in Israel as a kingdom In Pauls Christology the land, like the law, becomes irrelevant The term Replacement Theology is correct, but an even better term is Fulfilment Theology (continued on page 24)

Ca

What Has Light In Common With Darkness? A Common Word


Colin Chapman was a signatory to the 2007 document, Loving God and Neighbour Together: A Christian Response to A Common Word Between Us and You, which was drafted by scholars at Yale Divinity School in the United States. Rick Warren was another notable signatory. The document was presented as a Christian response to A Common Word Between Us and You: An Open Letter to World Christian Leaders from World Muslim Leaders (October 2007), which was sent to Church leaders on behalf of 138

Extracts from A Common Word The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians. Thus in obedience to the Holy Quran, we as Muslims invite Christians to come together with us on the basis of what is common to us, which is also what is most essential to our faith and practice: the Two Commandments of love. In April 2009, Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, hosted the Third Evangelical ChristianMuslim Conference.

O Fi Te

A an

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THE SEDUCTION OF MESSIANIC CHRISTIANITY
The true people of God is a worldwide community, not an ethnic group associated with a particular land According to the Christ at the Checkpoint organising committee, A unique aspect of the conference was the presence and presentations by members of the Messianic community including Richard Harvey, Evan Thomas and Wayne Hilsden, who provided an integral contribution to the dialogue. These men had been challenged by the wider Messianic community about the appropriateness of their involvement. Two weeks prior to the conference, on 17th February 2012, leaders of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC), the International Messianic Jewish Alliance (IMJA), and the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues (IAMCS), issued a joint statement raising deep concerns over the anti-Israel and indeed unbiblical nature of the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference. Wayne Hilsden is the Senior Pastor of King of Kings Community in Jerusalem. In his paper he outlined the biblical basis for understanding the ongoing purposes of God for Israel as a nation. However, one statement he made gives cause for concern. At one point he unexpectedly paused to address the previous speaker, Gary Burge, whom he commended for having done a wonderful job. Referring to Burges theology of Messianic Fulfilment, Hilsden declared: I think Im with you there. As stated above, Gary Burges theology of Messianic Fulfilment is nothing more than Replacement Theology dressed in new garments. I had a brief opportunity to speak with Pastor Hilsden afterwards, and questioned his public affirmation of Burge, respectfully suggesting that he had not understood Burges theology of Israel, which, to reiterate, has no place for Israels national restoration.

(continued)

nave comments about how Messiahcentred he felt the conference had been, were made in an interview with Stephen Sizer, which Sizer has posted on his website. It has been very Messiah/Christcentred conference. I go away so built up in my faith and so enormously challenged.

Richard Harvey
Title of Paper: Reconciliation from a Messianic Jewish Perspective Im here to listen, to learn, to make new friends. Im here to ask you to help me make the journey. We need to see Jesus within his Palestinian context as well.

Evan Thomas
Title of Paper: The Day I Choose Evan Thomas is the Pastoral Elder at Beit-Asaph Messianic Congregation in Israel and is a member of the Board of Musalaha, an organisation which seeks to promote reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. The founder and director of Musalaha is Salim Munayer (pictured behind Thomas), who shared the platform with him. Thomas Richard Harvey is the Academic Dean and Tutor in Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at All Nations Christian College in Hertfordshire, UK. He has served as UK Director of Jews for Jesus and as President of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance, and is currently VicePresident of the British Messianic Jewish Alliance. He is also a member of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism. Stressing that he was not attending the conference on behalf of any group, Richard Harvey began by expressing gratitude to Chris Wright for his earlier presentation, and commended him

Wayne Hilsden
Title of Paper: The Place of the Jewish People in Gods Purposes

I think Im with you there (Gary Burge), I want to talk to you more about that later, but I think Im with you on that...I love that diagram, I want to get a copy of that, and thats why I think were on the same page.

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Gary Burges theology of Messianic Fulfilment is nothing more than Replacement Theology dressed in new garments. I had a brief opportunity to speak with Pastor Hilsden afterwards, and questioned his public affirmation of Burge, respectfully suggesting that he had not understood Burges theology of Israel, which, to reiterate, has no place for Israels national restoration.

for his continued leadership within the Lausanne Movement. He also said how overwhelmed he had been by the welcome he had received at the conference. In what was largely a philosophical and sociological presentation, Harvey drew upon the writings of the Trappist monk and mystic, Thomas Merton, and concluded by asking what his heroes Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Buber, and Moses Ben-Maimon (Maimonides) would be saying if they were at the Bethlehem checkpoint. His own reason for being at the conference was to listen and to learn and to make new friends, and to ask you to help me to make the journey to reconciliation. He continued, Im looking for my reconciliation partners within the Church, identifying two of those partners as Christian anti-Zionists and anti-Christian Zionists. Suddenly turning his attention to two of the anti-Israel speakers, he made what can at best be construed as an astonishingly nave declaration: And then Im going to please forgive me Stephen Sizer if youre here I need reconciliation, and within the Church as the Body of Christ we need reconciliation, between what I would label Christian anti-Zionists actually Ben White, if youre here, and hes a good friend as well, Im labelling you just for the moment Christian anti-Zionist Stephen Sizer, if youre here, and I count you a friend as well anti-Christian Zionist And then the Christian Zionists, we even need to love Christian Zionists, do you know that? In the light of their proven proPalestinian track record, Richard Harveys acknowledgement of Ben White and Stephen Sizer as his friends was troubling to say the least. Not surprisingly, however, he received a standing ovation, at which point he broke down in tears and was physically embraced by several of the conference organisers. For all his sterling work within

the Messianic community, it was sad to witness what had all the appearance of being a capitulation. In a subsequent panel discussion led by Stephen Sizer headlined, Where do we go from here?, Harvey stated his personal commitment to continue the wonderful and beautiful conversation he had begun with his Palestinian brethren. In his closing address, Jack Sara, Vice-President of Bethlehem Bible College, drew particular attention to Richard Harvey, commending him for his presentation.

organisation, World Vision, to the Middle East. He was given recognition by Bishara Awad during the conference.

Checkpoint Propaganda
Along with short films produced by Porter Speakman Jr., two documentaries were also screened during the conference:

1. With God on Our Side 2. Little Town of Bethlehem


In Prophets Who Prophesy Lies In My Name, I reported on the screening of With God On Our Side by Speakman Jr. and Stephen Sizer at an event hosted by Irish republican party Sinn Fein in Belfast in November 2010.

Student Solidarity
One notable feature of the conference was the presence of a sizeable student delegation from Wheaton College, Illinois (where Gary Burge is based), and Eastern University, Pennsylvania (where Tony Campolo is based). Many students expressed their solidarity with the Palestinian cause by wearing the black and white headdress known as the keffiyeh. It was sad to see so many young people being caught up in the spirit of this conference, a spirit which was exemplified in the highly politicized words of Len Rogers (below), who declared: Im an American, but in my heart Im a child of the Arab.

A recorded interview with Revd Samih Mouris (above) was also shown during the conference. Introduced as the most influential Evangelical in the Arab world, , Mouris is the senior pastor of Kasr El Dobara Church in Cairo, the largest Christian Arab church in the Middle East. After greeting delegates, he spoke of his belief that the Arab spring was a good thing, and condemned Christian Zionism. Solidarity with the Palestinian cause was further nurtured during the conference through the following optional workshops and on-site visits:

Rogers, the Executive Director of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding (EMEU), is credited with having introduced the Christian relief

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A Long Theological Tap Root
Much was left unsaid, or toned down, during the Checkpoint Conference because of the reconciliation agenda being pursued. However, the antiIsrael message rings loud and clear in the books, articles, websites, blogs, Facebook pages, letters, petitions, sermons and manifestos of many of the conference speakers.

(continued)

EVANGELICAL GRAFFITI
During my time in Bethlehem, I visited the walled section of Israels security barrier and saw some of the anti-Israel graffiti that had been daubed across it. Far more disturbing, however, is the amount of Evangelical graffiti which appears in the writings of many of the Christ at the Checkpoint speakers. The following is merely a sample of their highly provocative graffiti:

WORKSHOPS Alex Awad ABC of Palestinian Israeli Conflict


for those who have no previous knowledge or experience

TOURS Tent of Nations Daoud Nassar


visit to the home of the Nassars, to hear their story of resistance to Israeli settlement policy

Imad Shehadeh Global Implications of the Middle East Conflict


harmonizing the implications of the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant to the present

Hebron
trip to the old city, including meetings with the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee and the Christian Peacemakers team, and a visit to the Ibrahami Mosque

Paul Alexander Jesus Third Way: Neither Passive Nor Violent


the transformative power and hope of nonviolent direct action

Beit Jala, Walaja, Refugee Camps and the Wall


tour of Bethlehem area to hear stories of non-violent resistance

Ben White & Daoud Kuttab


Media: Which Story Do They Tell? debunking the myths about Palestinians, Palestinian Christians, and the conflict

Holy Sites
Visit to the Old City of Jerusalem I opted for this tour. Our guide, who was also one of the organisers, drew attention to the Bethlehem checkpoint, condemning Israel for herding Palestinians like animals into cages. This thought came to mind: but they are not herded onto cattle trucks, transported to camps, gassed in chambers, and thrown into ovens! There is absolutely no moral equivalence between what Palestinians have endured, and what happened to the Jewish people in Nazi Europe.

The Palestinian Kairos Document/ Kairos USA


exploring the Document released in December 2009 by Palestinian theologians and activists, and endorsed by the leaders of Palestinian churches

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Len Rogers, the Executive Director of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding (EMEU), is credited with having introduced the Christian relief organisation, World Vision, to the Middle East. He was given recognition by Bishara Awad during the conference, where he said, Im an American, but in my heart Im a child of the Arab.

FROM WHITE HOUSE TO FUN HOUSE


The following speakers are listed here not because of any overtly controversial statements they made about Israel, but because of their influence within the Evangelical world as theologians, pastors, authors and, in one case, as a spiritual advisor to the U.S. President. What they undoubtedly took back from the conference, to their considerably large constituencies, is a deepening solidarity with the pro-Palestinian, antiIsrael movement.

Joel Hunter
Title of Paper: A Western Reading of Scripture Senior Pastor of a 15,000 mega-church in Orlando, Florida Prayed with Barack Obama on the day of his inauguration (Hunter seated left). He remains one of Obamas spiritual advisors. In 2009 Hunter was appointed to Obamas Advisory Council on FaithBased and Neighbourhood Partnerships

no single ethnic identity can claim to be Gods chosen people. Gods election of Old Testament Israel was for the sake of the eventual creation of this multinational community of Gods people We strongly affirm, therefore, that no single ethnic group holds privileged place in Gods economy of salvation or Gods eschatological purpose. Thus, we strongly believe that the separate and privileged place given to the modern Israeli state, in certain forms of dispensationalism or Christian Zionism, should be challenged.

John Ortberg
Morning Bible Studies Senior Pastor of the 4000-member Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California Best-selling author Graduate of Wheaton College, Illinois, and of Fuller Theological Seminary, California Although Ortberg said very little about the theological issues being discussed during the conference, he did on one occasion hail the British supercessionist academic, N.T. Wright, as a great writer (NOTE: Munther Isaac, Stephen Sizer, and Gary Burge have all expressed their debt to Wright who, in his book, Jesus and the Victory of God (2001), writes: The promises to Jerusalem, to Zion, are now transferred to Jesus and his people.) John Ortberg tweeted the following statement on his twitter page: Unforgettable trip to Christ at the Checkpoint in Bethlehem. He expressed how he had been particularly inspired by Gary Burges presentation.

Lynne Hybels
Title of Paper: Daughters of Abraham Wife of Bill Hybels, founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, which has been cited as the most influential church in America. She spoke mainly about Palestinian women whose stories have inspired her, describing women as the greatest untapped resource in the world. Described Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi as inspirational, quoted Mother Teresa, and concluded with a Chinese proverb: When sleeping women awake, mountains move.

Chris Wright
Title of Paper: Pray for the Peace of Babylon International Ministries Director of Langham Partnership International, succeeding the late Evangelical theologian John Stott (left of centre picture above with Wright). Stott uncritically endorsed Stephen Sizers writings Former Principal of All Nations Christian College in Hertfordshire, England Chairman of the Lausanne Theology Working Group which issued the following statement before the 3rd Lausanne Congress in Capetown in 2010:

Tony Campolo In The Fun House


Title of Paper: Using the Red Letters of the Bible as Guides to Peace and Reconciliation Ordained Baptist minister; author Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania

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Spiritual advisor to President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal Subject of an informal heresy trial in 1985 based on his statement that Jesus is actually present in everyone. (He made similar statements in his address.)

(continued)

I do understand a kind of praying where you say nothing and you hear nothing but in quietness and stillness you centre down on Christ, and you wait patiently for the Spirit to flow in and to envelope you and penetrate you and saturate you with his, or her, presence My Catholic friend taught me other ways of praying. One of the ways I pray these days is to be absolutely still, to centre down on Jesus The spirituality which Tony Campolo advocates, and which he promoted during his address, has come to characterise the latter-day apostasy known as the Emerging Church. His 2004 book, Speaking My Mind: The Radical Evangelical Prophet Tackles the Tough Issues Christians are Afraid to Face, has a back-cover endorsement from Brian McLaren, one of the recognised leaders of the Emerging Church movement and an avowed antiChristian Zionist. Tony Campolo made the following statements in his address: I see the sacredness in every human being, and if there is a sacred presence there, then there is something of God in every person waiting to be encountered I think the Spirit equips us to enter into the sacredness of the other. I wanted to be filled with the Spirit. Strangely it was a Roman Catholic that helped me along the way He introduced me to the writings of St. Ignatius [founder of the Jesuits], and I began to learn other ways of praying Salvation comes by having a mystical encounter with the resurrected Jesus I have to create what the Celtic Christians called the thin place ...the God you want to love comes to you sacramentally through the poor and the oppressed. Thats an interesting phrase, it comes from the Franciscans. You need to look into your enemys eyes and feel Jesus staring back at you It was notable throughout the conference how speakers named particular historical and present-day figures from whom they had derived inspiration. Tony Campolo referred to the Celtic Christians, the Franciscans, Ignatius of Loyola, an anonymous Roman Catholic friend, Erich Fromm (a disciple of Sigmund Freud), and Mother Teresa. The following page presents a somewhat disturbing gallery of politicians, philosophers, pacifists, and theologians who, on account of their endorsement by Checkpoint speakers, are in some way spiritually feeding into this movement:

Tony Campolo was introduced by Manfred Kohl as a real witness to the cause of Christ at the Checkpoint. Campolo began by describing himself as a red-letter Christian [based on the red letters of Jesus words in some Bible translations], a term he prefers to Evangelical. He and some of his red-letter colleagues acquired this new name from a secular Jewish countryand-western disc jockey in Nashville, Tennessee. Despite referring to Israel as a little nation that has survived primarily because of the wealth and the war materials supplied by the U.S. government, his address was controversial not for any overtly antiIsrael or anti-Zionist statement he made, but because of the crudeness of his language, his unwholesome biblical humour, and the way he flaunted a kind of spirituality which finds no basis in Scripture (his unorthodox testimony of salvation is recorded in his 2006 book, Letters to a Young Evangelical). The conference hall was frequently filled with laughter, and he received a standing ovation at the end.

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Tony Compalo's address was controversial not for any overtly anti-Israel or anti-Zionist statement he made, but because of the crudeness of his language, his unwholesome biblical humour, and the way he flaunted a kind of spirituality which finds no basis in Scripture (his unorthodox testimony of salvation is recorded in his 2006 book, Letters to a Young Evangelical).

GALLERY OF INSPIRATION
For the time will come when they will not suffer wholesome doctrine: but after their own lusts shall they (whose ears itch) get them a heap of teachers and shall turn their ears from the truth
(2 Timothy 4:3-4, William Tyndales New Testament 1526)

GLOBAL AFFIRMATION OF THE CONFERENCE


Sang Bok David Kim
Karl Barth (Swiss theologian) Chairman of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), which represents approximately 600 million professing Christians Likened the plight of the Palestinians to what happened in Korea under Japanese and Communist rule We feel the pain for you.

Martin Buber (Jewish philosopher)

Ignatius of Loyola (16th century founder of the Jesuits)

Thomas Schirrmacher
Executive Chair of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance "The WEA is willing to do everything, including co-operate with the Palestinian Authority"

Maimonides (12th century Jewish sage)

Mother Teresa (Roman Catholic nun) Desmond Tutu (South African archbishop)

Doug Birdsall
Executive Chairman of the Lausanne Movement Organised the 3rd Lausanne Congress in Cape Town in 2010, which denounced Christian Zionism / Dispensationalism

Ghandi (Hindu pacifist)

Martin Luther King Jr. (Civil Rights leader)

God has brought together in Bethlehem the best minds of the Church

Thomas Merton (Trappist monk)

Hanan Ashrawi (Palestinian politician)

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REVISING HISTORY, REINTERPRETING PROPHECY
In the wake of Israels establishment as a modern state in 1948, the myth of a Palestinian people was born. When Jewish forces retook East Jerusalem in 1967, it became even more politically expedient for the Palestinian authorities to promote this myth; they did so by revising history. In AD135, following Bar Kokhbas defeat, Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina by Roman Emperor Hadrian, Palaestina being a Latinised corruption of the Greek name Philistia, the land of the Philistines. Hadrians goal was to sever all Jewish connection with the Land. Thereafter, until 1948, the Jewish homeland was referred to as Palestine. It is important to note that in 1908 the World Zionist Organisation established a Palestine office in Jaffa; during WWII the British Army had a Palestine Brigade comprised solely of Jewish volunteers; the Palestine Symphony Orchestra was a Jewish orchestra; the Palestine Post, today the Jerusalem Post, was a Jewish newspaper; and postage stamps were issued bearing the inscription PalestineEI, where EI represented Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel). The web of lies and myths that the Arab propaganda machine has created plays an important role in the unrelenting quest to destroy the State of Israel. What a shame that the world has accepted most of it! (Arabian Fables (1): How the Arabs soften up world opinion with fanciful myths, FLAME, 2002) The Palestinian myth has become so deeply embedded in the Arab consciousness that Arab believers who spoke of their Palestinian identity during the conference not only paraded this historical revisionism from the platform, but also overlaid upon it a mixture of traditional Replacement Theology and modern Palestinian Liberationism. Read how to the way in which Jack Sara, Vice-President of Bethlehem Bible College, revised Ezekiel 37 in his closing address: The hand of the Lord was on me and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of the West Bank Bethlehem, Qalqilya and Jenin and Salvit and Nablus and Ramallah it was full of bones ... He asked me, Son of Man, can these bones live? Can the Palestinian people live? Then He said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord You see, the Palestinian people were, and a lot are still like this valley of dry bones that is in need of the Church to come and prophesy life on them, and I think through the Christ at the Checkpoint conference there was a lot of prophesying life over the Palestinian people. Will you agree with me? [applause]

(continued)

Recent examples of how the moral equivalence card is being played against Israel include the Easter sermon preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, on 8th April 2012, in which he made the following statement: A visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, will convince you why the state of Israel exists and must go on existing. A visit to any border checkpoint will convince you that the daily harassment and humiliation of Palestinians of all ages and backgrounds cannot be a justifiable or even sustainable price to pay for security. Listening to a rabbi talking about what it is like to witness the gathering up of body parts after a terrorist attack is something that cant be forgotten; neither is listening to a Palestinian whose parent or child has been killed in front of their eyes in a mortar bombing.

PLAYING THE MORAL EQUIVALENCE CARD


One of the major playing cards in the anti-Israel pack is the moral equivalence card, which equates the suffering of Palestinian Arabs with that of the Jewish people. Several Christ at the Checkpoint speakers made reference to the Holocaust, and a few mentioned their visits to Auschwitz, which was commendable. However, some of the speakers have insisted that for Palestinians to truly engage with Auschwitz, the Jews must in the same manner engage with Palestinian suffering under the so-called occupation. To draw such a comparison is unacceptable.

In June 2011, Rowan Williams came under surprising fire from Revd Naim Ateek, the founder and director of Sabeel. In a letter to the Archbishop (which Stephen Sizer duly posted on his blog), Ateek expressed disappointment on behalf of all Palestinian Christians over a BBC interview which the Archbishop had given about the dwindling presence of Arab Christians in the Middle East. He wrote the following:

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The web of lies and myths that the Arab propaganda machine has created plays an important role in the unrelenting quest to destroy the State of Israel. What a shame that the world has accepted most of it! (Arabian Fables (1): How the Arabs soften up world opinion with fanciful myths, FLAME, 2002)

you singled out the extremist Islamists as a threat to Christian presence, but neglected to mention two other extremist groups, namely, Jewish extremists represented by the religious and racist settlers on the West Bank and Christian extremists represented by the Western Christian Zionists that support Israel blindly and unconditionally. With candour the last two groups of extremists, i.e. Jewish and Western Christian Zionists are a greater threat to us than the extremist Islamists. In a 2009 interview which Stephen Sizer posted on his website, and which was broadcast on Irans television network, Press TV, the moral equivalence card was played to full effect. The interviewer on that occasion was Alan Hart, a former correspondent for Independent Television News (ITN) and presenter for the BBCs Panorama programme. During the interview, Hart expressed his view that the State of Israel was created mainly by Zionist terrorism and ethnic cleansing. He then asked Stephen Sizer the following question: Have we ever had a senior, mainstream Christian church leader using the phrase ethnic cleansing? To which Sizer replied: No, Im afraid not, yet. Sizer himself has consistently exploited this phrase to condemn Israel. The interview targeted Zionism in general and Christian Zionism in particular. At one point Sizer was asked: Are they [Christian Zionists] merely in error in their interpretation of the Bible, or are they actually deluded to the point of clinical madness. Sizer replied: Probably both. When the subject of the Holocaust was briefly raised, Sizer took the opportunity to play the moral equivalence card by making this statement: the Holocaust has been perpetuated over the last forty or fifty years; its the Palestinians who are going through their Nakba [catastrophe] now, and one wrong doesnt right another wrong.

Alan Hart went even further than Sizer in a January 2009 article he wrote and posted on his own website. In his article, which appeared on the website of Press TV, he made the following chilling statement: Its time to give Israels hardcore Zionists their real name. They are the New Nazis. Europeans and Americans could have stopped the original Nazis and prevented the extermination of six million Jews. If Europeans and Americans dont stop the New Nazis, its likely that their end game will be the extermination of millions of Palestinians.

4. The Church in the land of the Holy One, has born witness to Christ since the days of Pentecost. It must be empowered to continue to be light and salt in the region, if there is to be hope in the midst of conflict. 5. Any exclusive claim to land of the Bible in the name of God is not in line with the teaching of Scripture. 6. All forms of violence must be refuted unequivocally. 7. Palestinian Christians must not lose the capacity to self-criticism if they wish to remain prophetic. 8. There are real injustices taking place in the Palestinian territories and the suffering of the Palestinian people can no longer be ignored. Any solution must respect the equity and rights of Israel and Palestinian communities. 9. For Palestinian Christians, the occupation is the core issue of the conflict. 10. Any challenge of the injustices taking place in the Holy Land must be done in Christian love. Criticism of Israel and the occupation cannot be confused with anti-Semitism and the delegitimization of the State of Israel. 11. Respectful dialogue between Palestinian and Messianic believers must continue. Though we may disagree on secondary matters of theology, the Gospel of Jesus and his ethical teaching take precedence. 12. Christians must understand the global context for the rise of extremist Islam. We challenge stereotyping of all faith forms that betray Gods commandment to love our neighbours and enemies.
Members of the Organising Committee

THE MANIFESTO
In the Press Release issued by the organising committee on the final day of the conference (March 9th), Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 was described as a major breakthrough in the evangelical world which exceeded all expectations. The following 12-point Manifesto was drawn up by the organisers and released to delegates at the close of the conference: 1. The Kingdom of God has come. Evangelicals must reclaim the prophetic role in bringing peace, justice and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel. 2. Reconciliation recognizes Gods image in one another. 3. Racial ethnicity alone does not guarantee the benefits of the Abrahamic Covenant.

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WEIGHING THE EVIDENCE
Christians who have not fallen foul of the allegorical, predominantly amillennial, and fundamentally supercessionist approach to biblical interpretation which underpinned the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, understand that there can only be one explanation for the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948, and that is the faithfulness and integrity of a covenant-keeping God who does not change! Throughout the history of the Church the Lord has called faithful witnesses to the stand to speak up on behalf of the Jewish people. The following are just a few who faithfully represented the Lord and His Word concerning Israels promised restoration. Sadly their evidence has been rendered inadmissible by Christ at the Checkpoint speakers: I wish never to learn the art of tearing Gods meaning out of His own words Let this be settled that if there be meaning in words, Israel is yet to be restored. (Charles Spurgeon - 1834 - 1892)
Below (left to right): F.B. Meyer and G. Campbell Morgan.

(continued)

his own power But his answer implies that when the fullness of the time was come, national supremacy should be again restored to Israel. (The Holy Bible, With a Devotional and Practical Commentary by the Rev. R. Jamieson and the Rev. E.H. Bickersteth [London: 1861-65]).

Bishop John Charles Ryle (1816-1900)

Bishop Edward Henry Bickersteth (1825-1906)

And so all Israel shall be saved (Romans 11:26) God has many witnesses to the truth of the Bible, if men would only examine them and listen to their evidence. But you may depend on it there is no witness so unanswerable as one who always keeps standing up, and living, and moving before the eyes of mankind. That witness is the Jew The inspired volume which you have in your hands supplies a full and complete explanation. Search it with an honest determination to put a literal meaning on its prophetical portions, and to reject traditional interpretation, and the difficulty will vanish away ... Cultivate the habit of reading prophecy with a single eye to the literal meaning of its proper names. Cast aside the traditional idea that Jacob, and Israel, and Judah, and Jerusalem, and Zion must always mean the Gentile Church, and that predictions about the second Advent are to be taken spiritually, and first Advent predictions literally. Be just, and honest, and fair. If you expect the Jews to take the 53rd of Isaiah literally, be sure you take the 54th and 60th and 62nd literally also. (J.C. Ryle, And So All Israel Shall Be Saved, in Are You Ready for the End of Time? [Fearn: 2001], pp. 149-157.)

Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6) The emphasis is on the words at this time. They had no manner of doubt, nor ought we to have, that the kingdom will one day be restored to Israel But they knew not, nor were they designed to know, how long an interval the times of the Gentiles should interpose, during which Jerusalem should be trodden down ... Haply, even apostolic faith might have quailed at the prospect of eighteen hundred years of waiting and of conflict. Our Lords reply (ver.7), does not countenance the rash charge of carnal expectations, which has been too often levelled against the apostles for their question. He restrains, indeed, their eager gaze into futurity: It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in

Top left: John Nelson Darby, Bottom left George Muller, bottom right Lord Shaftesbury, top right Charles Spurgeon. Below (left) J,C, Ryle, (right) E.H. Bickersteth.

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It is our belief that the Lord Jesus Christ established His checkpoint in Bethlehem in order to inspect the hearts and minds of all who confess His name ... but condemn His people Israel ... and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand

THE VERDICT
Have you not observed that these people are saying, The Lord has rejected the two clans that He chose? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight (Jeremiah 33:24).

Whose Checkpoint did people pass through in Bethlehem?


I believe that the fundamental issue is this: by revising Middle Eastern history and spiritualising Gods prophetic Word, Christ at the Checkpoint speakers are guilty of propagating a theological or spiritual form of anti-Semitism which is damaging the Church, demonizing Israel, and dishonouring the integrity and Name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Conference organisers, along with the majority of speakers and delegates, believed that Christ was at the Israeli checkpoint sanctioning their Evangelical, pro-Palestinian solidarity gathering. On the contrary, it is our belief that the Lord Jesus Christ established His checkpoint in Bethlehem in order to inspect the hearts and minds of all who confess His name, but condemn His people Israel. During the preparation of this document my pastor was led to Amos 7:7, a scripture which we believe applies directly to the flawed foundations upon which the crooked theological walls of the Bethlehem conference stand: and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand (Amos 7:7, KJV).

CONTACT DETAILS AVAILABLE RESOURCE


The original document from which this adaptation was extracted is published by Hazel Grove Full Gospel Church, and is available free of charge in A4 booklet form, on CD Rom, or via email (in PDF format) from the address below. Also available free of charge, together with a variety of other resources, are the 2004 Sabeel Report, the 2011 booklet Prophets Who Prophesy Lies In My Name, and DVDs on Christian Palestinianism. The book, For Zions Sake: Christian Zionism and the Role of John Nelson Darby (Paternoster: 2007), is available at the cost price of 10. Hazel Grove Full Gospel Church, 68 London Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire, SK7 4AF. UK. Tel. 0161 456 8393 or 0161 682 1157 Email: grainforthefamine@hotmail.co.uk Charity No: 1051785 In association with The Fellowship of Christian Assemblies.

EDITORIAL COMMENT Explanation by Philip Powell.


This entire article by Paul Wilkinson makes for fasinating and instructive reading and forms a base to his topics at the forthcoming CWM Conference September 13 -16, 2012. Unfortunately, due to space constraints we could not reproduce it in its entirety here. However you can read the full article at www.cwm.org.au plus all the Conference details including bios and photos of speakers and their topics plus the full Conference Programme and registration form. The full document plus other resource material can be obtained from Paul's home church - see start of the article for contact details.

God bless you.

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Tattoos - Part 3 (final)


By Lance Goodall
Tattoos - No Longer Taboo

Prelude to The Mark of The Beast


Editorial Comment To read the first part of this article go to www.cwm.org.au where you can also read Parts 1 and 2 on web site, also in CETF # 59 and # 60.
Tattoo Tension Although I've written about the music of Hillsong, this apostasy and deception concerning Tattoos is one of the most disturbing elements of the current falling away.It is one of the most divisive issues in the Body of Christ today! Many Christians try to trivialize the issue, by saying these parts of the Old Testament don't apply anymore, without giving due diligence to what's being said; as long as you glorify God with your tattoo, it's fine! As we have seen, prominent Christians are doing the very opposite, and ending up being 'inked' with occult symbology. "....and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." - Judges 1:10 "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." - Judges 17:6 To say that this trend is nothing more than a fad or fashion is to blur the lines between what is honourable and dishonourable. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. - Romans 12:1-2 God declares that it is better to obey, than to sacrifice. - 1 Sam 15 : 22 God commanded Saul to kill the Amalakites, to kill all the people, to destroy all cattle, and other livestock. But he kept some back, because the people saw value in the booty. Modern Christians in the same way try to redeem things! For example if we use Rock Music, we can appeal to the young, and win more of them to Christ.'Christian' Casinos to win the gambler and the drunkard. The idea is absurd, and eventually brings God's judgement! Some things, God doesn't want us to redeem, He doesn't want it 'Christianised', He simply wants it put it to death! The church has taken on a 'Theme Park' mentality; I'll choose whatever ethics I want,what scripture verses apply to me, and if anything restricts this, I reject it. This is the Church of the Babylonian Captivity! Pagan Piercings Recently a woman wrote asking why I had not mentioned piercings in my article. This woman who incidentally who chose to get Tattoos as a Christian, thought I was focusing too much on Tattoos. So should Christians have Tattoos and/ or body Piercings? We are confronted by a revival of the old tribal practices of body scarification, body piercing and body mutilation. Nose rings, eyebrow rings, belly rings, tongue studs, multiple earrings, tattoos and other disfigurements it is all part of an aggressive fashion statement which is challenging the Christian Church. The Bible forbids such mutilation of the body that God created.

"You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor print or tattoo any marks upon you; I am the Lord." - Leviticus 19:28 (see also Lev 21:5) The present obsession with body modification is a revival of tribalism. It involves a painful initiation rite, which produces identification with a certain tribe, clan or sub-culture. Amongst the Nuba tribes in Sudan, multiple earrings, nose rings, body scarification and body painting are prevalent. The Dinka and Nuer tribes in Sudan are easily identifiable by the pattern of scars across their foreheads. While Westerners rush into new age religions, body piercing and occultism, many in the tribes mentioned in Africa, and elsewhere, are being converted to Christ, and are abandoning the body piercing practices of their pagan past. Piercings were fairly rare in the West. Then after World War II, it began gathering steam among the gay male subculture. The following testimony of a former Hindu confirms only too well that body piercings and tattoos are a form of witchcraft: I entered a chatroom, and they were discussing about tattoos and piercing (tongue). One of the believers there was telling them it was wrong for Christians to get a tattoo. Since I was formerly a Hindu, I know tattoo is from Hinduism and also witchcraft. Also, Hindus pierce their tongue with small spears and prick the entire body with little hooks and go into trances. I have witnessed these things personally. 4

So much of this culture of tattoos is a resurgence of people's right to choose, one that says, "I'm free to do what I want, when I want" but I won't back down on what I have concluded is the Tattoos' satanic origin. It's more than mere coincidence as less and less Christians know and read their Bibles, and more and more reject God, and his counsel,that these pagan practices are flourishing in our lifetime.

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Mixed Messages: This is one of the arguments thrown up as a reason to excuse or condone tattoos. "If you say Tattoos are wrong, but you wear clothes with mixed yarns then you are being hypocritical." "You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you." - Lev 19:19 This verse seems to fit right into our modern time, with genetic modified seeds, cloning and other forms of experimentation, which are tools of the coming Anti Christ. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's Commentary on verse 19 in Leviticus make some suggestions; "This prohibition was probably intended to discourage a practice which seemed to infringe upon the economy which God has established in the animal kingdom. This also was directed against an idolatrous practice, namely, that of the ancient Zabians, or fire-worshippers, who sowed different seeds, accompanying the act with magical rites and invocations; The reason of the prohibition was due to the practice of mingling seeds being injurious both to flowers and to grains. In addition to Leviticus 19:19, Deuteronomy 22:11 also informs us that a mixture of wool and linen is forbidden in clothing. The law did not prohibit the Israelites wearing many different kinds of cloths together, but only the two specified; and the observations and researches of modern science have proved that "wool", when combined with linen, increases its power of passing off the electricity from the body. In hot climates,it brings on malignant fevers, and exhausts the strength; and when passing off from the body, it meets with the heated air, inflames, and excoriates like a blister" [WHITLAW]. (See Eze 44:17, 18). Another helpful source is the great Maimonides, (aka Moses ben-Maimon). Maimonides was a pre-eminent medieval Jewish philosopher of the 12th Century. In his Guide to the Perplexed, he points out that ancient pagan priests used to wear wool and linen together, because they knew how to make use of it for occult practices, including idol worship and other terrible things. 5 God detests mixture, which is the very reason Christian Tattoos are not

permitted, because its the mixing Pagan and Christian concepts. Modern Witchcraft Lev 19:26 -32 Given all that we have learned so far, how are we to understand these verses in Leviticus? If we invert Gods commandments as outlined in Leviticus 19 we end up with Witchcraft. Remember, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. - 1 Sam 15:23 In the above verses of Leviticus (26 32), both Tattoos and Piercings are part of this demonic list! The scriptures clearly teach us regardless of any external source, that Tattoos must have their origin in paganism.For this reason we cannot just bypass verses we consider outdated. So what is the main purpose for all these laws? Look at Verse 1 and 2 of Leviticus 19 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. and again - Leviticus 19:28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord." The phrase "I am the Lord" appears 16 times throughout Chapter19 alone! And it appears a further 34 times in the rest of the book of Leviticus. This emphasis is to teach us the importance of obedience and worship, God's way.The phrase "I am the Lord" is found throughout the whole of Leviticus. When it is mentioned often a law is laid down. It is God's way to affirm his authority on our lives.God is concerned about our sanctification, as an integral part of our salvation, not as an optional extra. We are to be a distinct and unique people, set apart for God. "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. 8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you." Leviticus 20:7-8 "And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." - Leviticus 20:26 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all

manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. - 1 Peter 1:14-16 These former lusts include Tattoos and Piercings! Tattoos A Prelude to the Mark Scientific breakthroughs seen as beneficial to mankind are often trumpeted with great fanfare in the media. Recently for instance, a tiny, high-tech, electronic body monitor resembling a temporary skin tattoo was a top story on news sites worldwide.

This small skin tattoo, the Epidermal Electronic System (EES) consists of circuits which could contain electrodes to measure brain, heart and muscle activity, transmitting data wirelessly.6 Back in the 1970s, Dr. Hanrick Eldeman, Chief Analyst of the Common Market Confederacy in Brussels, unveiled a plan to "straighten out world chaos," via a three-story computer complex located in the administrative building of the headquarters of the Common Market, in Brussels, Belgium. The plan requires a system of digital enumeration of each human being on earth. Thus the computer would give each inhabitant of the world a number to be used for each purchase or sale. This number would be invisibly tattooed by laser (or implanted with a microchip) either on the forehead or on the back of the hand, which would establish a foolproof credit card system. Dr. Eldeman pointed out that by using three entries of six digits each, (in a version of the current Universal Product Code or UPC) every inhabitant of the planet would be given a personal, computerized number.7 The Mark both a passive transponder and an active homing device could keep precise track of the whereabouts of everyone in the world at any point in time. The Kingdom of Antichrist is prophesied to be the most repressive and the most controlling in world history, using such a homing device implanted under the skin of everyone on earth. The prophetic Mark of the Beast could simply be a Satanic insert!

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Tattoos - Part 3 (final)


A Wired News article stated: "SecurityLink, a subsidiary of telecommunications giant Ameritech, said the Satellite Monitoring and Remote Tracking system, or SMART, allows corrections officials to watch an offender's every move. It gives prisons and jails the ultimate electronic monitoring solution when they need it most, said Security-Link project director Ed Maier."8 Now you know why your cellphone is called a SMART phone. The computer chip in future smartphones will give your location down to a few centimetres. A patent was issued in March, 1999 to Houston, inventor, Thomas W. Heeter. Heeter's patent "abstract" reads: "A method is here presented for facilitating sales transactions by electronic media. A bar code or a design is tattooed on an individual. Before the sales transaction can be consummated, the tattoo is scanned with a scanner... Once verified, the seller may be authorised to debit the buyer's electronic bank account in order to consummate the transaction." 9 Right now there is a computer chip the size of a grain of rice (6mm long) and can carry all information on any individual and is self-charging. It is charged by the bodys heat, and after planners invested $1.5 million dollars, they found out that the best places to put this chip would be in the right hand or if that is missing or impractical, in the forehead. This chip will be injected in the hand or in the forehead in the same way as a shot. It has a microchip that stores nine items: name and a digital picture, digitized fingerprint data, physical description, your address and previous addresses, family history, present occupation and income, tax information and any money owed, your criminal record if any and your new social security number. There will be 18 digits, your zip code, plus the extra four digits after the dash and your social security number, burned on the chip. These 18 digits will be grouped in three groups of six numbers, (000000 000000 000000), 6+6+6!10 David Berg had a dream in 1983. The dream was that "The Mark" was not merely an identification tag, but it was to tell even what you were thinking, and to also be able to actually program your thoughts and your behaviour so that you were their slave! 11

Prelude to The Mark of The Beast


"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." - Revelation 13:17,18 This was written over 2000 years ago, and it validates beyond question the Bible's inspiration, its accuracy, and inerrancy. It gives detail of a microcomputer chip implanted under your skin, and/or a three, six-digital unit can be tattooed precisely as described in the Book of Revelation. Computer chips are being placed in driver's licenses, passports, and credit cards as part a new wave of security efforts. How far away is it before the hand or forehead will be the preferred placement? Please note, Scripture says the mark shall be received IN the hand or forehead, not ON. Could this be because the Lord knew an insert would be used rather than a simple surface mark? iJesus A website called Technical Jesus describes the purpose of these future advancements." In the coming years we will be able to apply the full power of technology to spiritual growth and so enter a state of hyper evolution. There will be a safe and rational path to continually diminishing hardship, and eternal life. God's will in this matter is revealing itself in todays quickening changes imposed by the forces that guide our society; science, technology, spirituality, and even economics. Humanity is about to merge with what is the Technical Singularity and so (shall) transcend this world. It seems the bible prophecies will come to pass and the "Antichrist" will fully manifest, so be careful which path you choose..." "Soon, a wise culture will use technology to apply the full power of love and so enter a state of hyper-evolution. They will enjoy continually diminishing hardship, and eternal spiritual growth."
12

(continued)

The claims are that this new technology will lead directly to a tremendous spurt of "spiritual growth" in all of mankind. According to this occult view, the very physical interconnectedness that this technology delivers will increase mankind's "love" for one another. What kind of person is against "love"? Therefore, this argument for implanting everyone with the chip will focus on "LOVE", harmony and peace among all peoples. The website continues; as an example ...engineers build a church as a place of worship. They build roads to the church. They design modern modes of transportation for getting to the church. Then it is up to us to get to the church and use it in the spirit of love. This technology is just another church, a place to worship. The kingdom of God is within us all, so these technologies are expanding the environment. Yes there will be challenges, but God is all powerful love..." 13 When the peoples of the world have this Chip in them, all will worship the beast! But, before that happens people have to be convinced that they will receive great and valuable benefits, including eternal life. It is is the same lie Satan told Eve in the Garden "Ye shall not surely die ... ye shall be as gods,..." - Gen 3:4-5 The essence of the Biblically-prophesied "Mark of the Beast" is worship! Some have struggled to understand this aspect of the chip. "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, ... the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name." - Rev 14:9-11 Thus, you can see that prophecy ties the taking of the "Mark of the Beast" with worship of that Beast. We are seeing so many End Times prophecies being fulfilled, the emergence of a chip, a most sophisticated insert that can fulfill every requirement of Revelation 13:16-18.

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This chip is being touted at the occult spiritual level as having the capability to "save" all mankind. They will endeavour to deliver eternal life to the world without Jesus Christ. What person in his or her right natural mind would not be attracted by this glittering promise? Truly, the End of the Age is upon us! Marked for Us The Lord Jesus Christ died as the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world! He fulfilled biblical prophecy. "But he was wounded for our transgressions,he was bruised for our iniquities:the chastisement of our peace was upon him;and with his stripes we are healed." - Isaiah 53:5 He was whipped, wounded and scarred. Christ was pierced in his side, and blood flowed out. Christ was pierced in his head with thorns, and blood flowed. Christ the Lord nailed, and so He was pierced through Christ was held up, suspended hung from a cross to die for you and me. I have concluded from all my research that Tattoos, Piercings, and other forms of body mutilation are a copy; a corrupt counterfeit and perversion of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus! Marked for life, or Marked for Death? "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." - Rev 20:15 "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." - Rev 21:27 Where is your name? In which book does your name appear? Whose name will be in your forehead? We shall appear before the judgement seat of Christ. Will your destiny be eternal life or eternal death?The bible says that all have gone aside, all together become filthy:there is none that does good, no, not one. (see Psalm 14:3) If we look at some of the Ten Commandments Exodus 20:3-17 The First Commandment. You shall have no other gods before me. Some people make gods of themselves, of money, of their life's ambitions. Some people go year after year, never giving God a single thought!! You shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold

him guiltless. Have you used God's name or his Son's name as a cuss word? You shall not kill. Have you had bitterness in your heart against someone? You shall not commit adultery. Have you lusted in your heart for someone? Have you coveted your neighbour's house, coveted your neighbour's wife, or anything that is your neighbour's? "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." - James 2:10 "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." - 1 John 1:10 "And the times of this ignorance God overlooked; but now (He) commands all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man Christ Jesus, whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead". - Acts 17:30-31 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." - John 3:16-18 Christ paid the penalty of your sin, and mine. By turning from our sin to faith in Christ, accepting him as Lord (owner of your life), and Saviour He will transfer your name into his Book of life, and save you from death and destruction. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Repent and turn to him today.

3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=6VNFwlzQiuc&feature=youtu be_gdata_player 4 - http://www.bible.com/bibleanswers_ result.php?id=254 5 - http://www.beingjewish.com/ mitzvos/shatnez.html 6http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ sciencetech/article-2025102/ Electronic-skin-How-hi-tech-tattoomonitor-patients-vital-signs.html

7 - http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/ False%20Religions/Illuminati/ illuminati_exposed.htm http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/ theaim.htm 8 - http://www.infowars.com/newmicrochip-knows-your-location-towithin-centimeters 9 - http://www.wnd. com/1999/09/1836/ 10- http://www.msnbc.msn.com id/6237364/ns/health-health_care/t/ fda-approves-computer-chiphumans/ http://www.prolognet.qc.ca/clyde/ microchip_and_mark.html http://home.iae.nl/users/lightnet/ world/mark.htm 11 - http://deeptruths.com/daily-bread/ computer_chip_dream.html 12 - http://www.cuttingedge.org/News/ n1875.cfm http://www.hyper-evolution.com/ http://www.technical-jesus.com/ 13 - http://www.technical-jesus.com/ technology.htm Other references: http://buxtonilluminati.webs.com/ idcardsimplants.htm http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/chip/ part_3.htm http://darkthirty.livejournal.com/25172. html http://openeye.weebly.com/ uploads/2/0/6/3/2063270/the_new_ mark_of_the_beast.pdf http://www.hyper-evolution.com/ ultimate_fear_of_god.htm http://www.countdown.org/end/mark_ of_the_beast_06.htm

Endnotes:
1- http://www.chron.com/news/article/ Montrose-church-spreading-itsmessage-through-3354183.php http://www.christianpost.com/news/ emergent-church-members-gettattoos-of-jesus-death-for-lent-70258/ http://www.dallasnews.com/ incoming/20120223-houston-pastorasks-church-members-to-get-tattoosfor-lent.ece 2- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_ Groeschel

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There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the ways of death - Proverbs 14:12

PUBLISHED BY

AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA P.O. P.O. Box 353, LochSport VIC 3851 Box 353, Loch Sport VIC 3851 t: 03 5146 0280 (within Australia) t: 03 5146 0280 (within Australia) +61+61 3 5146 0280 (outside Australia) 3 5146 0280 (outside Australia) 03 5146 0270 (within Australia) f: 03 f: +61 3 5146(within Australia) Australia) 5146 0270 0270 (outside +61 cwm-au@cwm.org.au Australia) 3 5146 0270 (outside e: e: cwm-au@cwm.org.au NEW ZEALAND NEW ZEALAND159 P.O. Box 15 P.O. Miramar, 159 Box 15 Wellington 6243 t: 0275 111 888 6243 Miramar, Wellington e: cwm-nz@cwm.org.au t: 0275 111 888 UNITED KINGDOM e: cwm-nz@cwm.org.au 83 Retford Road UNITED KINGDOM Handsworth SHEFFIELD S13 83 Retford Road 9LB t: 0114 269 Handsworth 9554 e: cwm-uk@cwm.org.au SHEFFIELD S13 9LB WEBSITES t: 0114 269 9554 www.cwm.org.au e: cwm-uk@cwm.org.au www.christian-witness.org www.cwmfellowship.org WEBSITES MAILING LIST www.cwm.org.au CETF is sent free of charge www.christian-witness.org upon request within Australia, www.cwmfellowship.org New Zealand MAILING LIST & UK
By Post: Write to your nearest CWM

Christian Witness Ministries Christian Witness Ministries

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There is a way The Church @ that seems right Christ's Checkpointbut the to a man, end is15 September the ways Thursday 13 September Saturday If these stars change their minds about their tattoos, it begs I am question why Jesus said: the the Way, Lord, willofat this time restore again You death should actors and celebrities be our the Truth and the Life the kingdom to Israel? John 14:6 Acts 1:6 yardstick for what is fashionable, right or Proverbs 914:12 moral? Session 1 Session
Statistics suggest Fox is far from alone. Since 2008, the number of US tattoo parlours has fallen by 10 per cent and laser removal treatments are booming, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. One of the most tragic stories Walking in the culture surrounding this impetuous Truth is the The Biblical checkpoint in Johns recent death of Amy Winehouse, the gospel and epistles English singer who died last year, at the Session is age of 27. Amy Winehouse 2 known for 11:00am - Paul Wilkinson her bluesy voice, her wild behaviour and a baker's Standing on the shoulders of Goliath: dozen of tattoos. Since her career An introduction to began in 2003, Winehouse Christian went rapidly Palestinianism
9:00am - Philip L Powell

Continued from page 30

Christian Witness Ministries Conference 2012

Sadly Winehouse sought protection from The the god of Churchs boycott of Israel found the sky. She should have The fruit of Replacement Theology solace and protection from the true Session Lord kinsmen redeemer, the10 Jesus Christ, 11:00am - Paul Cohen instead she was 'struck' down, in the prime ofThe King without a land is her life. Is it coincidence that her abusive Session 11 relationship, theMark LR Mullins 1:30pm - excessive drinking, the drugs Witnessing at work and occurred over and the tattoos, all leisure the same period? Winehouse's death was Being salt and light no one foretold by gruesome pictures of matter what or where bloodied sneakers, and near death Session 12 experiences fromLionel Letcher 7:00pm - drugs, publicly retold by her lovers. It almost seems The spiritual believer unsurprising that, to think the Winehouse Learning in death, joins many of her heroes - Kurt Cobain, thoughts of God Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison - all of whom died aged just 27. Sunday 16 September Therewill arise, and haveseems on Zion: a You is a way that mercy right to man, for the time tois the waysyes,death but the end favour her, of Proverbs 14:12 time, is come the set CONCLUDING NOTE - Todd Bentley's Session 13 Australian 9:00am - Paul Cohen Tour Jan 25 through to early February 2012 was cancelled. Australian Is Israels current return to Immigration denied prophecy?the into the Todd entry land in Bible country.for blessing or for judgement? Is it Session 14 ED - Let the righteous rejoice. Next
11:00am - Paul Wilkinson The set time has come. Psalm 102:13 a Church without a promise

9:00am - Paul Wilkinson

By Post: Write to your nearest CWM http://cetf.co/tF5G1x office (see addresses above) LETTERS TO EDITOR Web: (PDF, ePub and Kindle versions) By Post: see above http://cetf.co/tF5G1x e: editor@cwm.org.au LETTERS TO EDITOR RESOURCES By Post: full catalogue of all CDs, DVDs, see above For a e: editor@cwm.org.au media & books available, contact CWM Australia (see above) RESOURCES For a full catalogue of all CDs, DVDs, DONATIONS: media & books payment to Please make available, Christian Witness Ministries contact CWM Australia (see above) DONATIONS: EDITOR: Philip L. Powell Please make payment to e: philip@cwm.org.au Christian Witness Ministries ASSISTANT EDITOR: EDITOR: B. Michael Bigg Philip L. Powell e: bmbigg@cwm.org.au e: philip@cwm.org.au
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Finally, brethren, Session 3 1:30pm - Lionel are true, whatsoever things Letcher whatsoever things are before God Every believer, a workman honest, The believers responsibility in whatsoever things are just, the harvest whatsoever things field pure, are Session 4 whatsoever things are lovely, 7:00pm - Paul Cohen whatsoever things are of Jesus the if there be only goodIsreport;Jewish Messiah orany the virtue, and Churchs Christ? any if there be Daniel 9:25, 26 cf Matthew 16:16 praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have Friday 14 September both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in you need You ought to be teachers, [but] me, do: and[someone to] teach you the God of peace Hebrews shall be with5:12 you
9:00am - Lawrie Cornish - Philippians 4:8-9.

Psalm 102:13

Session 5

lancegoodall21@gmail.com Footnote: GRAPHIC DESIGN: [30] http://cetf.co/J8VOaJ include the list of speakers and their biographies. EDITORIAL Caswell Drew (Andrew)COMMENT: Due to space constraints we could not http://cetf.co/J16erA Also [31] http://cetf.co/Il8RCO And Want to comment on an article? However these are published e: drew@cwm.org.au you at the on our web site - www.cwm.org.auhttp://cetf.co/I1yGt9 Read more: http://cetf.co/IXX55c And visit We hope we'll see Brisbane Conference. Please do your best to publicise the Conference. Thank you. http://www.cwm.org.au
http://cetf.co/J8WHjA

The fifteen. [30] Depicting from no tattoos tomaturing process Session 6 a large number of self-reflected objects, 11:00am - Markbody when she she said she painted her LR Mullins needed a boost the Lord in Spirit and Truth Worshipping out of boredom, or a desire forWorship confidence.OneLord her more acceptable to the of tattoos was a according to His Word symbol lightning bolt. This in mythology is the god Thor, the god of Session 7 1:30pm - Thor, is supposed thunder and lightning. Bob Bailey to be a provider and the finishingBut Albert Crossing protector. line Pike, the Reachingranking 33rd line high and crossing the degree Mason, tells us on page 381 of his book, Session 8 Morals and Dogma, Paul Wilkinson 7:00pm - that Thor was the Sun, the Egyptian Palestinian Jesus Osiris, and Kneph, the The Phoenician Bel or Baal. The Bible tells us How Evangelicals are that worshipping Baal is identical to reinterpreting the Bible worshipping the Devil himself. [1 Kings 16:30-33, 22:53; 2 Kings 17:16] [31]

Learners becoming teachers

Part 3 - Tattoos - The Prelude to the Mark 12 of the Beastnoon - 12:30pm


Aeron Morgan or Philip Powell about the author Communion and Conclusion

ChristianNorilyn left Ministries church Witness the Australian


www.cwm.org.au both have a concern for the
growth movement in 2009. They

Lance Goodall and his wife

for the salvation of the lost. Lance can be contacted via email

Gods honour, for His Word, and Email: conference2012@cwm.org.au

Phone:They carry in their heart, a love for +61 7 3137 1031

knowledge of God and His glory.

36

CETF 60 June 2012

www.cwm.org.au

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