Pharisee Watch: True Christians challenging Christian Zionism

LEFTWING-CHRISTIAN.NET

We Hold These Truths is a Christian organization that has been holding vigils in front of Christian Zionist churches around the country, challenging their support for Israel. Here is a report on their latest vigil—held Aug. 28 at Cornerstone Church in Fresno, CA. The report includes a link to a Fresno TV station which covered the event, as well as a separate link to a podcast featuring a group discussion—on the vigil as well as certain other topics. One of the discussion participants mistakenly reports the Israeli Operation Cast Lead as having occurred in "2009-10." (In reality it was 08-09). But otherwise an excellent program, with a number of important points made—by committed, genuine Christians who are following the teachings of Jesus.


Challenging a Disciple of John Hagee, An Angry Evangelical Preacher

Tom Compton Aug. 31, 2011

We Hold These Truths has conducted about 100 vigils for Peace and Justice In Palestine around the country. Typically, the media ignores us but a few vigils have been filmed by local TV stations. The most notiable happening at one of our Project Strait Gate vigils was the time a school teacher from Los Angeles, who was helping WHTT at an "Angry" Evangelical church made the misstake of parking in what he thought was public parking. Turns out it belonged the the church. He was hand-cuffed and detained by the church security staff. So much for Christian love and charity. But that incident is an exception rather then the rule when you follow help from We Hold These Truths.

On August 28, 2011, We Hold These Truths Director, Tom Compton,traveled to Fresno, CA to join with local vigil leader, David Jacobs. David was assisted by his wife Kitty and Patty Ford. Four other local residents joined in at the Cornerstone Church in downtown Fresno. We were there at 7:30 a.m. in preparation for the services that started at 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 am. David Jacobs had mailed a letter to pastor Jim Franklin a week before letting him know about our vigil and why we were going to be there. We walked up to Pastor Franklin who was standing outside the church (an old movie theatre that has been lovingly restored). David Jacobs wanted to make sure the pastor had received his letter. Pastor Franklin said that he had not seen the letter because he had been on vacation. So, David gave him a copy of what he sent. Pastor Jim Franklin's church is called Cornerstone Church, the same name as nationally known "Angry" Evangelical Preacher, John Hagee, who's mega-church is located in San Antonio, TX. John Hagee has called for such un-Christ-like actions as "a preemptive military strike against Iran to protect the state of Israel." The Cornerstone Church in Fresno has sponsored John Hagee and his Christians United For Israel (CUFI).

Much to our surprise, a locat TV News truck showed up before the 11:00 a.m. service. We all looked at each other in amazement because none of us had issued a press release. We found out later from Pastor Franklin's daughter that she had sent the press release out. The TV coverage by Channel 30, KFSN was very fair. In fact, they did some home work on their own and mentioned some things that I said nothing about during the interview: "They say they targeted Cornerstone Sunday because of its association with Televangelist John Hagee who has been criticized for his statements about Israel, the Roman Catholic Church and Islam. Hagee spoke at the church in May."
Let's hope that a large number of our Catholic and Muslim friends were watching that news cast so they could get an idea what "Angry" Evangelicalism is all about. My favorite sign to carry at a vigil is "Choose Life Not War." Most evangelicals claim they are pro-life but seem to ardently support wars in the Middle East to protect Israel and, in large part, unconcerned about the deaths of innocent children, whether they are Iraqi, Afghani or Palestinian. My next favorit sign is "Blessed Are The Peacemakers" followed by "No More Wars For Israel."

If you want to have some fun and challenge the "Angry" evangelicals in your town, let us know.

You can view the news report at: http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=8329657

For more details on this vigil listen to our podcast: http://whtt.podbean.com/2011/08/31/challenging-a-disciple-of-angry-evangelical-preacher-john-hagee/


Tom Compton

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If you listened to the above-linked podcast you heard discussion on how Israeli propaganda functioned in regard to the recent attack carried out from Egyptian territory against an Israeli bus. Here is the original report referenced in the discussion—again from the We Hold These Truths website.

Why Arabs from Egypt Attacked IDF Soldiers Riding on an Israeli Public Bus

Charles E. Carlson Aug. 22, 2011

How Israeli Propagandists Transform Dead Soldiers Into Civilians

On August 18, high noon, Arabs operating from Egyptian territory attacked, killed and wounded an unknown number of Israeli soldiers on a bus that the world was made to believe carried only civilians.

The highway from the Red Sea port city of Eilat, Israel, north to Beer Sheva and on to Tel Aviv goes through some of the most desolate and deserted landscape this bus rider has ever seen, deserted except for camps of Arab Bedouins who live in the wadis. I rode this same Egged bus on this very route near the end of March 2002 on my way to Gaza.

Egged is owned by the state of Israel and is dirt cheap to ride. About a third of the passengers on my bus were Israeli soldiers, male and female. All were dressed in field gear; many carried slung carbines with banana clip magazines in their belts. At times on this long route, there were so many soldiers onboard that some had to stand in the aisles.

Before my bus left Eilat station, I had the answer to one of the questions that had brought me to Gaza ... why do Palestinian human bombs so often pick "public buses" as targets? Not one news report I had ever read told the simple truth: every Israeli bus is a military transport; therefore, for any Palestinian who considers himself to be at war with the IDF, every Israeli bus is a legitimate military target.

I was to suffered a somewhat amusing minor injury from Israeli militarism on that Egged bus. A female IDF soldier, getting off the bus in Tel Aviv, bent 90 degrees at the hip to pick up her travel bag, and in so doing, she clumsily swung her downward slung carbine barrel up behind her, hitting me in the face with her sight blade as I was stooping in the crowd to look for my own bag. She inflicted a welt on my forehead, and she knew it, but she made no apology and was totally indifferent to me once she saw I was still alive and standing.

I consider my minor injury a symbolic scar in the war for Palestinian rights, and I wish I could have kept the Israeli-inflicted wound long enough to show it off back home!

After my visit to Gaza, I investigated some 55 bus bombings and other attacks on military installations where chances of the attacker's survival were very slim. My report, in the form of a 2002-3 series, is again available on our website. It details how the official Zionist propagandists go about changing history to support its claims of "terrorism" every time an Israeli is killed or wounded, whether that person is a member of the military or not.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' language used in the recent August 18, 2011 attack, reporting that the attack "left seven Israelis dead," is used only when some of the dead were soldiers. When soldiers are not killed, the release invariably gives heartrending details of those "civilians" killed. When some of the dead are soldiers, no details are given, implying all are civilians, but not actually saying so; by decoding the language used, readers can know when Israeli soldiers are killed without that fact being admitted by the Israel government.

Whereas every Palestinian victim is portrayed by Israel as a "terrorist," my own studies of bus targeting almost a decade ago revealed that casualties on most of the 55 bus attacks included Israeli military, implying that these attacks were aimed at concentrations of active duty military, and therefore simple acts of war.

The IDF uses a consistent pattern in press releases to create an illusion. For example, first it reported "seven Israelis" died in the August 18 attack. This implied that those killed and wounded were all civilians, since no military was mentioned — these early releases are usually the ones that get carried in the American media.

Later reports may acknowledge IDF deaths but usually cover up the number of wounded. This slightly more truthful report comes out only after the world press has had plenty of time to carry the earlier varnished release. Israel cannot avoid making corrections, because it must give proper recognition to killed IDF members; Israeli soldiers have families too, and the propaganda machine has to make them feel respected.

On August 18, the US and most world news agencies picked up the news release that read:

JTA, Global News Service for the Jewish People, announced on Aug 18, 2011, 7 Israelis Reported Dead in Palestinian Terror Attacks JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinian gunmen attacked an Israeli bus traveling near Eilat — the first in a series of attacks that reportedly have left seven Israelis dead. Palestinian infiltrators from Gaza struck the Egged bus just after noon Thursday, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Israeli media are reporting that there are at least seven Israeli fatalities in the attacks, and that Israeli soldiers have killed three of the terrorists. The IDF has not confirmed the fatalities."

Note there is no mention of any IDF military deaths or wounded, when in fact two of the dead were soldiers. An unknown number of the wounded were also IDF, as was revealed in a later story about Prime Minister Netanyahu visiting the "wounded" military members. But no number of wounded military was released; some observers estimate it to be as many as 17.

The apparent truth is that a handful of Arabs of unidentified residence successfully attacked the bus with all its military support from Egyptian controlled Sinai. It happened more than 175 miles south of the Gaza strip. It is too bad civilians were killed. I took that risk unknowingly when I rode this same bus. Israel's response was to blame the event on Hamas without evidence, and launch reprisals in Gaza.

By any rule of war, if war has any rules, Israeli military personnel killed in Arab commando raids, whether by Hamas or by some other gorilla group, are war casualties. Israel is an occupier, and an occupation is an act of war. Israel's very existence requires a constant stream of organized propaganda, and it cannot tell the truth about the occupation even if some leaders might like to come clean.

While this author is neither Arab nor Muslim, I was inclined to champion the Palestine people even before I went there to see conditions for myself. One hour on the Egged bus left no doubts about what occupation means. Some 200 million plus of us Americans call ourselves "Christian," but when it come to Israel and Palestine far too many do not act like Jesus.

Israelis call Him irrelevant or deny Jesus ever lived; Palestinian Muslims recognize Jesus, many believe His word comes from God, and have told me they follow Jesus in a way of their own. Anyone who calls himself by Christ's name should support the freedom of any suppressed people, especially Palestinians; "Christians" who support Israel should seriously examine if they are hearing Jesus' words, or the words of clever men.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian