Download free computerized mp3 audio file of this column
(To subscribe to my columns at no cost, click here.)
Writing for Newsweek, Palestinian Christian Fares Abraham wrote an excellent opinion piece entitled Who Is This “Godly” Man Calling for Gaza’s Nuclear Incineration? He writes:
As a Palestinian-American Christian leading a ministry dedicated to sharing the hope of the gospel throughout the Middle East, I typically avoid discussing statements made by politicians. However, the recent abhorrent remarks made by an ordained pastor, now shamefully occupying a seat in Congress, have compelled me to break this silence with unyielding condemnation.
The alarming remarks made by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) on March 26, advocating for the annihilation of innocent Palestinians, including Christians in Gaza, demand immediate condemnation. Walberg's suggestion that Gaza should be treated akin to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 is not only repulsive but also fundamentally devoid of Christian values. Furthermore, his callous desire to cut off food and aid to 2.2 million innocent Gazans, who are already on the brink of famine, is nothing short of reprehensible.
Walberg's statements aren't merely poisonous words; their implications hold the potential to bring unimaginable suffering for Gazans and, more personally, for my wife's family, who are presently seeking refuge within the ancient walls of Gaza's historic churches. In times as dire as these, where the lives of innocents hang in the balance and the very essence of humanity is under siege, the imperative to denounce such vile rhetoric could not be more urgent. It falls upon voices of conscience to rise against ideologies—and misguided theologies, I should add—that threaten to tear apart the fabric of compassion and decency, sparing neither thought nor action to protect the innocent women and children of Gaza.
Such remarks are particularly shocking when uttered by any politician, but to hear them from a self-proclaimed Christian is utterly disgraceful. Multiple lawmakers, including Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) with his appalling statement "I think we should kill them all," and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who advocated to "level the place," have openly called for the extermination of Palestinians.
It's crucial to question why similar standards of empathy and support aren't universally applied when it comes to the Palestinian people. Just as Israel has the right to security and self-defense, Palestinians deserve recognition of their basic human rights and self-determination. Advocating for a balanced approach is crucial, acknowledging the suffering and aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians. This involves working towards a just and lasting peace that respects the rights of the two sides.
The cries of the displaced and oppressed in the Gaza Strip are reaching the heavens, pleading for sustenance and healing. These cries bear similarities to the stories of the Lebanese widow and the Syrian army commander, Naaman, whom Jesus mentioned in his first-ever sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:24-27).
It is not merely a matter of belief but a biblical imperative to stand boldly for the life of innocent Palestinians, to tirelessly advocate for peace, healing, and reconciliation. As followers of Christ, we are called to embody his radical compassion, knowing that the transformative power of our Lord has the potential to bring about profound change in even the most desperate of circumstances.
Indeed, in the face of such dire circumstances, discussions about equal standards and balanced approaches can feel futile and irrelevant. When millions of Palestinians, including members of my wife's immediate family, are praying daily for survival, the urgency of their plight cannot be overstated. Walberg's horrifying suggestion of dropping a nuclear bomb on them underscores the immediate threat to innocent lives and the urgent need for decisive action to prevent further bloodshed.
As millions in Gaza face the looming threat of the worst famine since the beginning of WWII, our paramount duty is to safeguard lives and promptly address the urgent needs of innocent Palestinians. Our collective focus must remain steadfastly dedicated to delivering humanitarian aid, ending the ongoing war, and pursuing a peaceful resolution—one that respects the inherent dignity and worth of both Palestinians and Israelis alike.
Brother Abraham, you speak with a heart full of Christian compassion and truth. However, your pleading words will for the most part fall on deaf ears among the people you are primarily trying to reach: America’s evangelical Christians. Why? In large part because America’s evangelical Christians are consumed with Zionism. They have been brainwashed with Scofield Futurism and Premillennial Dispensationalism. And they are almost completely void of the understanding of Christ’s New Covenant.
While your words are filled with the love and knowledge of Christ’s New Covenant teachings of peace and charity for ALL men—as under the New Covenant there is neither Jew nor Gentile, and we are all ONE in Christ—America’s evangelicals are still living in the Old Covenant where the Israelites are “God’s chosen people” and Gentiles, especially Palestinian Gentiles, are cursed people, if they are considered human at all.
Accordingly, Evangelicals still believe that atheistic antichrist Zionist Israel located in Palestine today is a resurrected Israel of the Bible, and Palestinians are Biblical Philistines that must be annihilated—again. The fact that Palestinians could be born-again Christians does not even register with these Israel-worshiping evangelicals. It pains me to say it, but if IDF forces murder your Gazan family, Fares, most evangelicals will not only not shed a tear but they will also cheer their deaths. And you know that’s true.
The theology of most evangelicals has one foot in the New Covenant and one foot in the Old Covenant, and, for the most part, the Old Covenant foot is at least two sizes larger than the New Covenant foot.
In a statement made on October 16, 2023, you wrote the following:
I am a Palestinian-American Christian, born and raised in the Holy Land. And I am pro peace. My wife is a Gazan-American Christian, also born and raised in the Holy Land. And she is pro peace. Our loving families, still dwelling in the West Bank and Gaza, are pro peace. And millions of Palestinians living beside them are pro peace.
We as Christian Palestinians unequivocally condemn violence against all people on all sides. There is no doubt that Hamas does not represent the legitimate grievances of the people of Gaza, and they do not represent the genuine aspirations of Palestinians who desire to live in peace, dignity, and freedom. In the same way, the aggressive response of Israel’s military against innocent Gazans will never bring peace and stability. As followers of Jesus, we cannot allow pain, fear, terror – or even legitimate anger – to justify an untenable retaliation and collective punishment against both Palestinians and Israelis. That path will certainly lead only to more killing and destruction for all sides. War crimes cannot be justified by war crimes.
As Christians, we must unapologetically advocate for peace. We are to be Christ’s agents of healing and restoration to a broken world. We are commanded by Jesus to be peacemakers. We are called to reconcile all people together and to reconcile all people to God.
Amen, dear Brother!
But obviously the pastor/politician you referenced who advocates for the nuclear incineration of the Palestinian people in Gaza does not worship the same Christ that you worship. You worship the Prince of Peace; you recognize the New Covenant Body of Christ as being composed of ALL men who come to faith in Christ, regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, heritage or nationality. You worship the Christ of the New Covenant.
The christ the pastor/politician worships did not tear in two the middle wall of partition in the temple, thus forever removing the “chosen” spiritual distinction from Israel and the spiritual inferiority from the Gentiles; his christ did not make Jews and Gentiles one; his christ did not abolish the Old Covenant and establish a New and Better Covenant; his christ condones genocide, ethnic cleansing and mass murder of innocent women, children and babies. He is still living in the Old Testament. He has been brainwashed with the doctrines of Christian Zionism.
And THAT, Dear Brother, is the biggest problem facing the Church—and America—today.
Even though God would not allow King David to build the first Jewish temple because he was a “man of war, and hast shed blood” (I Chronicles 28:3), evangelicals think that they are going to help the warmongering Zionist regime in Tel Aviv build a third Jewish temple and usher in Christ’s Second Coming through Holocaust-style butchery, savagery, mass murder and wholesale ethnic slaughter.
You and I know better.
As I understand it, you graduated from Liberty University (LU) in Lynchburg, Virginia, and are currently on staff there. That is also my alma mater (1975 graduate of Dr. Harold Willmington’s Bible Institute at Liberty—it was called Lynchburg Baptist College and Thomas Road Bible Institute in those days). Harold and I were good friends. Jerry spoke in my first church several times. He featured me in his Liberty Journal and on his Old Time Gospel Hour television broadcast. I traveled with him on his jet on several occasions and accompanied him on at least two overseas trips.
Of course, LU teaches and promotes, as do almost all evangelical colleges and seminaries, the prophecy doctrines of John Darby and Cyrus Scofield, known as Scofield Futurism/Premillennial Dispensationalism/Christian Zionism, etc. So, I understand this teaching very well.
Tragically, this is the false doctrine that has turned most of America’s evangelical Christians into haters of the Palestinian people (and the entire Arab peoples), worshippers of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Zionist state and lovers of war, death and destruction. And it is the false doctrine that has propelled the U.S. government to the precipice of inciting World War III in both Europe and the Middle East—and even in the Far East.
But when the first nuclear warhead strikes a major city in the United States, and all of these war-loving, Zionist-loving, Old Covenant-loving evangelicals realize that the Rapture did NOT take them to Heaven beforehand, all of these phony prophecy preachers who have been peddling these snake-oil doctrines of Israel-based and Rapture-based false prophecies are going to be out of work, as people will use the tomes of prophecy books they purchased as fireplaces to keep warm.
Brother Abraham, I love your passion. I love your love of peace. And I love your love for our Lord Jesus Christ and for His people of all races. I wish that the evangelical Christian community at large would give their ears and their hearts to your words. Most of them won’t.
They are too ingrained, too ensconced and too enslaved in the hellish doctrines of Christian Zionism to even listen, much less give heed, to what you are saying. But keep saying it, Brother, because the silver lining in this dark, dark cloud of falsehood is that the Holy Spirit is awakening people one at a time to the glorious truth of Christ’s New Covenant.
Most of these enlightened and awakened souls didn’t receive the light in their churches. As it happened in my life: After a lifetime of indoctrination in the false doctrines of Christian Zionism, the precious Holy Spirit convicted and convinced me of the falsehood of what I had been taught without any outside agency. And for over ten years now, I have been studying and teaching New Covenant truth, which includes the truth about Biblical Israel and Bible prophecy.
And thousands of Christians have come to the light of New Covenant understanding and have thoroughly abandoned the false teachings of Scofield Futurism, and many hundreds of unsaved people have been brought to the saving knowledge of the New Covenant Gospel.
So, there is hope, my Brother.
I am praying fervently for the safety of your family still in Gaza.
And I am praying fervently for the scales of blindness that currently cover the spiritual eyes of evangelical Christians by the millions to fall off so that they might come to see the great evil of Zionism and the glorious majesty of Christ’s New Covenant and the unity with Christ that ALL believers have—including Palestinian Christians such as you and your dear family.
By the way, Fares, I had the honor of preaching in both Bethlehem and Jerusalem while I was in Palestine years ago, and the vast majority of the people in both congregations were Palestinian Christians. And, Fares, I have never found more compassionate, kind, considerate, peace-loving and godly people anywhere in the world than those wonderful Palestinian Christians that I met in those churches.
Your friend,
Chuck Baldwin
IMPORTANT NOTE TO READERS: The publisher of the phenomenal book The Ethnic Cleansing Of Palestine by Ilan Pappe sold out their entire stock three times since October 7. For weeks, we have been waiting for a shipment of newly printed books to arrive.
GOOD NEWS: The books have arrived!
This is by far the very best book explaining the Israeli/Palestinian conflict ever written, and it was written by a renowned Israeli author. I rarely read a book twice, but I read this book three times. It is that good!
I urge you to get this book NOW and share it with as many people as you can.
Order Ilan Pappe’s blockbuster book The Ethnic Cleansing Of Palestine here.
© Chuck Baldwin
*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link:
Chuck Baldwin Live Donate Form
I also have many books and DVDs available for purchase online. Go here:
Chuck Baldwin Live Store
To subscribe to my weekly columns, click here:
Subscribe to Chuck's Column
Related
|