"THE RISE OF ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE U.S. - DESPICABLE, DEADLY, AND UN-CHRISTIAN"- by Chuck Colson and Roberto Rivera, Breakpoint.org,; Oct. 30, 2018;
http://www.breakpoint.org/2018/10/breakpoint-the-rise-of-anti-semitism-in-the-u-s/
On Saturday morning, a terrorist entered Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh and opened fire during Shabbat services. Before being shot and captured by police, Robert Bowers killed eleven people, including two brothers, a married couple in their 80’s, and a 97-year old woman.
This shooting took place in what is literally Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, and has left some American Jews asking a question they should never have to ask: Are they safe? In America even, are they safe?
It’s not an overreaction. What’s believed to be the deadliest attack on worshipping Jews in American history is only the most recent, and most extreme, example of the increasing anti-semitism in the United States. Yes, I said “increasing.” Jews are only 2 percent of the American population but according to the FBI, they “account for more than half of the Americans targeted by hate crimes committed due to religious bias.” According to the Anti-Defamation League, 1,986 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in 2017, compared with 1,267 in 2016. That’s a 57 percent increase in a single year.
Most incidents include things like bullying–especially but not exclusively on social media—and vandalism, especially the defacing of Jewish institutions with swastikas. This happened at a Jewish community center near a colleague’s home last year.
Still, even non-violent incidents cannot be dismissed as merely words or pranks. The Jewish heritage, as one person put it, comes with a “paranoia confirmed by history.” The ADL is correct to warn that the anti-Semitic poison currently rampant on Twitter, Facebook, and especially social media sites like Gab, find their way into mainstream discourse and, in extreme cases, inspire violence.
As Christians called by God to this cultural moment, it’s not enough to merely avoid being anti-Semitic. We ought oppose this vile ideology wherever and whenever we come across it.
Years ago, at an inter-faith dialogue featuring a Hindu, a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, and me, a skeptic asked the three monotheists: “If your God is a God of love, why do you proselytize others?” Setting aside the loaded postmodern assumptions in the question itself, I remember being surprised by the answer given by the representative of Judaism, “We don’t proselytize,” he said. “We believe God made a special arrangement with us through our father Abraham. If He made a deal with any of you, we don’t know.”
Christians, of course, agree that God made a special arrangement with Abraham. However, Christians also understand that in that agreement, God launched his plan of redemption and that through Israel, “all nations on earth will be blessed” (Gen 22:18). This, of course, God did through Jesus, who was, as the Scriptures make abundantly clear, thoroughly Jewish.
In a short piece on anti-Semitism, Francis Schaeffer wrote “…we should keep constantly in our minds that our Lord Himself was a Jew—born a Jew, lived a Jew, died a Jew.” And we should remember, as Russell Moore wrote in his blog, Jesus remains a Jew. As fully God and fully man, He was not resurrected from His Jewishness. So, as Moore bluntly put it, “to hate Jews is to hate Jesus.”
In light of that reality and acknowledging fully the Church’s checkered past when it comes to the Jewish people, we must not allow the tiniest whiff of anti-Semitism into in our heads, our homes, or our hearts. We hear too much of it today, sometimes in the name of preserving Christian America. There’s nothing, and I mean nothing, Christian about anti-Semitism in any form. As the little poem quoted by Francis Schaeffer back in 1943 reads,
“How odd of God to choose the Jew,
But not so odd as those who choose
The Jewish God and hate the Jew.”
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
RESOURCES
"The Fundamentalist Christian and Anti-Semitism" - Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer | The Independent Board Bulletin | October 1943; http://www.pcahistory.org/documents/anti-semitism.html
"If You Hate Jews, You Hate Jesus" - Russell Moore | RussellMoore.com | October 28, 2018; https://www.russellmoore.com/2018/10/28/if-you-hate-jews-you-hate-jesus/
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"The Remedy for Evil" - Tony Perkins, Washington Watch, Oct 29, 2018; https://www.frcaction.org/updatearticle/20181029/remedy-evil
"America Has Always Been a Safe Haven for Jews. An Evil Killer Won’t Change That." - Jarrett Stepman / @JarrettStepman / October 29, 2018;
https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/10/29/america-has-always-been-a-safe-haven-for-jews-an-evil-killer-wont-change-that/
PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." - Karl Barth; "Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is the one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer." - Stan
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Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:To learn more, please go to -https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/
Praying for North Korea - For the last 17 years, North Korea has been #1 on the World
Watch List as the most dangerous place in the world for Christians. Yet the North Korean church, an estimated 300,000 members strong, continues to persevere. Throughout October, join us we pray for and encourage our persecuted family living in the face of oppression.
Watch List as the most dangerous place in the world for Christians. Yet the North Korean church, an estimated 300,000 members strong, continues to persevere. Throughout October, join us we pray for and encourage our persecuted family living in the face of oppression.
October 30 | ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Pray for daily life in Gaza, where the handful of believers struggle to survive. There is limited electricity available,
water is not drinkable and temperatures are high. Pray for the people, including our brothers and sisters, who suffer.
*Name has been changed to protect identity.
Anti-semitism is wrong. I was surprised at the statistic that Jews comprise 2% of the nation, but experience over 50% of religious-based hate crimes. My friend is a Jew and he's as human as me. An attack on Jews or anyone else is an attack on humanity.
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