Religion Under Assault in America

 

A couple of hundreds of some of the most prominent Christian leaders in the United States who came from across all denominations came together in Nashville, Tennessee where they signed a missive called the “Nashville Statement.” They conveyed their total support for the New Testament reaffirming over two millennia of Biblical injunctions and directives declaring the reaffirmation that marriage is between one man and one woman, G0d made us male and female and therefore transgenderism is incompatible with the Christian faith, and that the Bible lists homosexuality as a sin thereby rendering its acceptance as incompatible with the Christian faith. This drew many denunciations from among which the condemnation by the Mayor of Nashville, Megan Barry, seemed unexpected. The most preposterous condemnation came from those who objected to the timing coming as the people of Houston and surrounding areas of Texas are suffering from Hurricane Harvey. I’m sure when these leaders of faith planned their assembling months ago they did it with the divine providing them with information that a hurricane would have devastated a large area of the southern United States and this was included in their plans. Please, give the world a break and please, if you are going to object, please find something more believable and applicable, something more real than attempting to shame them for a natural disaster coinciding as if such could be planned. But these were the least of the objections and the least damning as well.

 

When the content of the “Nashville Statement” was officially released, there were numerous condemnations denouncing the signatories as hateful, homophobic, as well as deceitful and not speaking in the nature or with the passions of Jesus. The word “hate” appeared to be the favorite uncivil invective thrown with obvious intent to harm the signers. But not to worry, keepers of the faith in all ages share one remarkable quality, their ability to shrug off scorn over their treasured beliefs as they often have experienced far too much practice allowing such to pass without taking offense. Their skin has developed a tender strength allowing them to be sympathetic and to understand that the people are defending their pet political beliefs and, they hope, not their deep moral beliefs. Religious people have come under more and more rejection for their beliefs which is regrettable as they mostly are the ones least likely to reject those who show them disregard. Religious faith is supposed to allow for people to come together but in this instance, it appears to have had the opposite effect. For that reason, despite my not being anywhere near an expert on the New Testament or, unfortunately, the Torah and remainder of what is referred to as the Old Testament, I wish to contest one of the reported points and make a distinction as a matter of mending fences.

 

Hebrew Bible and Christian Bible

 

The accusation made that they stated that the Bible lists homosexuality as a sin has to be inaccurate. If my knowledge is near accurate, the Bible states that sodomy is a sin, not homosexuality. One may love whomever they choose but the act of sodomy, whether performed between two men and by a man with a woman are equally a sin as both are sodomy. The Bible teaches us not to hate anyone else but to love everybody. We are to love the person and hate the sin, and that makes a huge difference as we are instructed to love the person including homosexuals and to hate the sin of sodomy no matter whether it is homosexual or heterosexual in nature. Unfortunately, the fact is that the act is the sin, not the emotions between people, which are to be judged. But this is lost in the arguments because if an act which can be either heterosexual or homosexual in nature, thus applicable to all men and not just those attracted to other men, then the argument loses all its political clout. What good is the naming of an act as a sin which has no political application when one can make a political stand claiming that religious people hate a certain group of people. One of the major problems with society today is that a certain group of political positions have decided that religion is their enemy and that if their visions of the world are to come true, then the first step is to rid the world of religious beliefs.

 

The absolute worst result from the “Nashville Statement” would be its use in the political war against religion and to attack and besmirch people of religious faith. The war against religion is simply a manufactured war being used as a ploy to attract disaffected people to a certain political viewpoint. Those of the viewpoint that the state must replace religion because religion ties people to a false premise and the state can be and is better suited to caring for people, are ignoring the benefits which came from religion as the force responsible for caring for those in need and the government taking care of the structures such as roads and other inanimate objects. The war against religion desires to claim that man has no divine spark and is no different than an amoeba, just a few million years more evolved which permits eugenics and other forms of population control and the classification of people instead of treating all people with respect and love. The war against religion would reduce humanity to cold calculations and nothing more and that would be a sad world in which to live. But that is exactly how the cold of heart will interpret the “Nashville Statement” and make nothing more of it than claiming it comes from those who hate, but the real question one need answer is who are the real haters, the ones who wish to turn humanity into nothing more than statistics in a government ledger. When one has that answer, then they will understand which respects and treasures people more, the political or the religious. I know which group we would trust our future to between the two.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Israeli and IDF Morality Irrelevant

 

We read and hear of the anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-IDF protesters all repeating that everything Israel is immoral, of lesser rights, unjustifiable, everything negative that those who hate us believe they can make stick and our responding to them only strengthens their arguments. They use our defensiveness as proof that they have hit a nerve, found some hidden nugget of truth and thus that makes all their hateful messaging correct and true. It had nothing to do with Israel or the IDF. Every Western nation has sent their representatives of the government or military to Israel since the last war in Gaza against Hamas to learn two things, how to effectively gather the necessary intel on the terror groups operating in their nations and how to fight a just and moral war. The first has to do with technical items which we in Israel have depended upon to keep us alive. The second, how to fight a war even close to the level of morality and at best at avoiding civilian casualties against a foe using innocents as their bunkers against attack as Hamas and their ilk have taken to doing. So, there is sufficient proof that Israel is a just and merciful society and the real world outside of academia knows it leaving only the anti-Semites and those they can sweep off their feet with lies are against the truth. The sad thing is that they too know what Israel represents and that scares them more than anything else.

 

That brings us to the crux of the matter, why then if they know that Israel is just, moral and so above the level in act and purpose do they desire to tear us down and destroy us. The reason is twofold and half of it is because we are just, moral and so above the level in act and purpose. The truth is proven by our actions that Israel in its new revival is proof that there is a Creator and that that Creator is Hashem. Our return as a nation built in a single day is proof of Hashem and that Hashem is real; His covenant with the people of Israel who are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have returned to their Promised Land; and the covenant has again been verified. They are the equivalent of those who opposed the land of Israel back then and they too have survived unto this day. They live and breathe deceit and all those traits that Israel does not and our existence frightens them beyond belief. This is why they are sworn to tear us down.

 

If these are the modern idolaters and worshipers of the false gods such as the tribes that rose against Israel in the Bible, the Old Testament, then how is it they were not vanquished over time. The truth is their original societies did fall but the people continued on. Many were converted to modern faiths and the majority held no religious belief beyond the worship of man as the ultimate entity, the supreme beings above all else. To these heathens the human being is god and they are the leading example of this truth. They still have their pantheon of gods and it is they and they must tear down the proof of any Higher Creator which disproves all that they believe and hold as truth. If there is a Creator then their rules and beliefs all crumble before Hashem and Hashem’s covenant is the proof of Hashem’s existence. As long as there are inheritors of the land of Israel who serve Hashem and keep the covenant then there is a Creator, a Higher Being and man is but one of Hashem’s creations, perhaps His greatest creation, but still simply one of those created and placed here by Hashem. This they must destroy.

 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Dome of the Rock
Jerusalem circa 1860 in disarray and in ruin
after centuries of disrepair and lack of concerns or interest

 

Thus the best way to destroy the fact that there exists a Creator is to cast those who serve and enjoy a covenant with Hashem down and make the holders of His covenant to be craven low beasts who are less than men and thus we are to be cast as jealous and weaker beings because of our false beliefs of which the most preposterous and most vile is this belief that mankind is not the highest of all life forms and that it is our weakness that we follow Hashem and his covenant to toil and care in the lands granted us by Hashem’s promise. They must divide up this land and steal as much as possible for as long as those who hold this covenant with Hashem do not possess all of the Promised Lands, then the promise has been broken. This is what is behind every attempt to establish two states for two peoples within the lands between the Jordan and the Sea as these are the lands Hashem did promise to Abraham and to Isaac repeatedly in the Bible, in Torah. Having taken Gaza is not sufficient as they know that the ancient Hebrew tribes did not necessarily have Gaza as part of the Promised Lands but they know without a doubt that Judea and Samaria were part of the Promised Lands and they know that Jerusalem, especially the Temple Mount, were crucial parts, the heart, one might say, of the Promised Lands. So they claim that these lands were never the holdings of the Hebrew People of the Bible as described in Torah as those are simply stories with no truth. They know as long as they cast doubt on the validity of the Bible and Torah in particular, then they have negated the covenant, denied the fulfillment of Hashem’s promise to return his children to the lands that Hashem had promised them as their inheritance. The covenant was that the Hebrew tribes would tend the land and the land would reward them as long as they served Hashem by keeping the laws and observing the words of Torah and thus receiving the rains and water for the land such that it would sustain them.

 

The fact that the IDF is such a moral fighting force is further proof that those serving Israel are also serving the will of Hashem as they guard the Promised Lands for Hashem’s people and keep them safe. Look at the first wars fought to reestablish Israel and there are miracles galore. Virtually any military historian will try and give a thousand and one reasons that the nascent Israeli Defense Forces which were nothing but some ragtag collection of groups which had been terrorizing and harassing the British to get them to leave as the land was no longer worth their time and efforts, a formula which worked but also saw some British officers from World War II recently decommissioned taking a new assignment upon themselves to aid the Arab armies of Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and others and they did so even in some instances sharing command advisory positions cooperating with Nazi officers also from World War II. The Arab armies had air forces, armored divisions and thousands of men for every Israeli fighting and had many Arab villages behind the Israeli lines ready to strike at the rear disrupting the Israeli, the Jewish efforts and allow for an easy victory. This was not to be as Hashem had promised that we would return and tend the lands once again for Hashem and he would care for us and provide as long as we kept our side of the bargain.

 

The efforts under way using discrediting accusations of immorality of actions and impure acts by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in any effort, they have been forced to fight against a relentless set of foes. The Six Day War was just as much a miracle as was the wars of 1948 and 1949. The Yom Kippur War was an even greater miracle than was the Six Day War and there have been those miracles witnessed by so many IDF troops and some have become stalwarts known by many throughout the world. They must all be proven to be anything but the miracles they are so when they are recounted they are claimed and sworn by Israel’s detractors to be fables and Israelis nothing but boastful liars. Those making these accusations know who is doing the lying but as lies are the stock of their trade, what else could one think. They also use the traces of anti-Semitism to gain any additional following that will join just because they oppose Jews, that is another front to this entire assault upon Israel. These people who appear, and there is a concerted effort to achieve this result, to be a loosely strung groups of grassroots gathering is a highly organized and well-financed assault upon Israel and the love of Hashem. This is highly funded by the Palestinian Authority, the United Nations, the European Union, Oxfam, numerous other NGOs, numerous governments from every corner of the globe and incorporating some of the most deeply pocketed nations on the planet and even some so far in debt they cannot see the top of the hole, and all from small to large, right to poor, apparently religious to completely secular, free to dictatorial, professing morality to the most hedonistic all group together as they all rely on the Hebrew Creator, Hashem, be proven false by breaking his covenant which requires the destruction of Israel.

 

Getting to the bottom and finding the dark core requires a long and often seemingly fruitless endeavor as one peels back the layers of this onion and at its core one will find a small number of individual seed cores, the Vatican, the Palestinian Authority backed by Sunni Muslims, Iran and Shiite Muslims, and a core group of secular humanist anti-religious NGOs. This would appear to be a group completely unrelated and potentially adversarial but they all have as their greatest enemy the covenant the Children of Israel have with Hashem as to each should that covenant and special relationship prove valid and true then their entire defining principles and core beliefs go up in a puff of smoke. For that reason and that reason alone these groups would stand with Satan, a nonentity in Judaism as there is no deity, even of sin and the underworld (hell), other than Hashem and all supreme power lies with Hashem, the Creator who came before and will be after and exists in all He Created and there is a truth to hang one’s hat (or yarmulke) on. Hashem promised the land to the seed of Abraham and Isaac for eternity and our exiles were punishments for not following the playbook, the Torah, and using it as our guide for a happy and fruitful life.

 

We are now being gathered as promised by the prophets and our ingathering is being facilitated by these anti-Semites who are spreading their virus of hate infecting the world. The Muslim World had this virus from their inception. So too the Roman Catholic Church and a fair number of the Protestant reformers and the idolaters too have had it from the start and others were gathered along the way all aligned to destroy Hashem’s jewel, a land that never gave its bounty up to any other but always favored the Children of Israel, not by accident. Has it never struck anyone as unexplainable that places on earth where there has never been a Jew for people to meet are still rank with Jew hatred and thus Israel hatred? Another item which is often called an anomaly as Jew hatred is considered the norm, almost every nations which has had a catastrophe which all but wiped their peoples off the map, the earthquakes in Haiti, Nepal and Japan, the typhoon in the Philippines and Viet Nam and countless other places where Israel was the first aid in and first hospital up and running and the last to leave and often leaving behind fully stocked clinics for remote places or particularly bad areas such as an orphanage in Haiti or a remote village deep in the interior in the Philippines and in each clinic they also left a few key people to train and when they left their final act was to assure that the monitors all worked, all the equipment was calibrated, the stocks filled, and then the tearful good-byes and these places who have met real Israelis love Israel, and that is how it will remain, where Israel touches the world it will heal. Where Israel is rebuked and maligned they will remain pitted in petty differences and hatreds and eventually eat their civilized world and all will be lost. It may sound insane but Israel is the world’s future or the world will become a place of perpetual darkness and that will end poorly for mankind. Learn to witness what Israel is and not the lies you have been told. Is Israel perfect, no, but Hashem is and in His service and in keeping His Torah we are slowly getting closer.

 

Doctor Tali Shaltiel of IsraAid an Israeli Humanitarian Relief NGO
funded by donations and Israeli government as part of IDF relief efforts
wades into the water to take a small Syrian child from drowning
after her rubber raft she and other refugees had overturned

 

One last point, what about those who are secular and fight against the religious inside Israel amongst her Jews? Their numbers shrink every year, every month, every week and every hour. The IDF is becoming an army of religious and believing Israelis who worship Hashem. This scares the top generals as has become evident in a small crisis centered around the General Staff and former Defense Minister Ya’alon. That is an example of the IDF moving in a correct direction and the top will change as those below it in the chain of command have changed. Israel still has a way to go but she is heading there as your read. We are getting there as well and the ride has had its challenges but it has also had rewards beyond description. A number of years ago while still in the United States this article would have been beyond our knowledge and now it is our daily lives. That itself is a testament to Hashem and the way Hashem permeates these lands. It may take centuries or it may already be happening. But all what Hashem promised will come to be, Period.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

American Jewish Reggae Star Matisyahu Star Disinvited

 

American Jewish Reggae Star Matisyahu was disinvited from appearing at the Rototom Sunsplash festival in Benicassim, north of Valencia, Spain. The refusal was based on his refusal to sign a sworn affidavit professing support for the Palestinian State’s rights to exist, which actually means support the end of Israel as the Arabs have made it evidently clear their replacing the Jewish state is the only acceptable solution to their quest for statehood. None of the other performers were demanded to sign such an affidavit and we are willing to bet that everyone attending the concert will not be pressed to sign such an affidavit, well, unless they are found to be Jewish, or worse, Israeli. This demand was made because Rototom Director Filippo Giunta and the others who are arranging the concert buckled from the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction on Israel and Jews) pressures demanding that Matisyahu be banned or made to publically state his belief in the Palestinian cause, which is also an affirmation against Israel, or be banned from performing. The result was Rototom Director Filippo Giunta reportedly turning to Matisyahu and demanding he produce a “signed statement or video” which stated “in a very clear way” that he supported the establishment of an Arab “Palestinian” state. This episode clarified some other developments by having a torrent of thoughts coalesce leading one to a singular theme as a disturbing progression by one of the major political parties in the United States. The rise in anti-Semitism is not only healthy and growing in Europe, but has been showing signs of blossoming with the left in the United States.

 

 

American Jewish Reggae Star Matisyahu disinvited from appearing at the Rototom Sunsplash festival in Benicassim, north of Valencia, Spain. The refusal was based on his refusal to sign a sworn affidavit professing support for the Palestinian State’s rights to exist in the borders they choose. Rototom Director Filippo Giunta and the others who are arranging the concert buckled from the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction on Israel and Jews) pressures demanding that Matisyahu be banned or made to publically state his belief in the Palestinian cause which he refused. Matisyahu was the only performer placed under such a requirement because of his Jewish faith. Because he was so singled out for this treatment it was blatant anti-Semitism.

 

 

Let’s go back a number of years and we might remember when Senator Joe Lieberman appeared to have fallen on the wrong side of the Democrat Party leadership. Some claim it was his placing Israel ahead of party loyalty and others claim it was his apparent abandonment of liberal principles, especially his support of the Iraq war. Senator Joe Lieberman had run afoul of the Democrat Party so they put up a challenge opposed to him for voting wrong way on Middle East Iraq votes, particularly the surge. Were there other Democrat Party Senators who voted the wrong way, yes but perhaps not as consistently. The reason being that the Democrat Party had started to pull away from supporting Israel with blanketed support as the Palestinians had started to become a cause celeb. Part of the turn was initiated in parallel to the opposition to the war in Iraq and especially the surge. Senator Lieberman fell on the wrong side of everything Middle East and foremost by supporting the surge and the last hope for the military to prove successful rather than accept defeat and find a politically acceptable manner of pullout with whatever loss of face and repute as might be occurred. This led to the Democrat Party running Ned Lamont against Joe Lieberman with full Democrat Party guns behind Lamont in an intra-party shootout. The result, unsurprisingly, was Ned Lamont; so, Senator Lieberman made a run as an independent against his Democrat nemesis and the Republican and took them both to school winning his last hurrah and a final stint as Senator from Connecticut. There were some who posed the question that perhaps some of the reasoning for the turning against Senator Joe Lieberman was at least partially due to anti-Israel sentiment or even anti-Semitism.

 

Perhaps if the debacle with Senator Lieberman had been a one off situation then there would have been no reason to hold suspicions but going forward a short time and we come to the Democrat Convention of 2012. There was one embarrassing situation for the Democrat Party Convention Chairperson who was presenting the floor with a motion to amend the Party Platform to restore to the platform faith in G0d and support for Jerusalem to be the recognized capital of Israel. The vote was taken three times with the Ayes and Nays each growing proportionally larger as the two sides each attempted to be heard and thus each call for a vote gave the same result which was insufficient to accept the motion. The desperation was evident on the Chairperson’s face who in the end simply declared the motion passed despite the vote from the floor. We have shown the video before in our article Some Misperceptions of the Arab Israeli Conflict. The display would be amusing if not for being so particularly sad. This time the culprit is not only Anti-Israel and Anti-Zionism and plain but also blatant anti-religion. If only this were the last instance.

 

The latest two incidents occurred really recently. The more intense and obvious was the treatment served to Senator Schumer, the Senior Senator from New York, a faithful Democrat Party stalwart who also has lobbied very strenuously for President Obama’s agenda and many other Democrat positions over the years placing him in line to replace Senator Reid as head of the Democrat Party in the Senate once Senator Reid steps down. Then Senator Schumer informed President Obama that he was going to vote against the Iranian Nuclear Agreement in the Senate and requested to be permitted to announce this the next morning quietly. That was not to be permitted. The White House came out shooting breaking the news almost as immediately as they were notified and a coordinated all on assault against Senator Schumer came charging with all guns blazing from the far left of the Democrat Party. Senator Schumer was denied his quiet announcement after which he had promised he would not lobby others to vote with him thus making as small an effect and as few ripples as possible. But that was not to be; instead Senator Schumer was to be pilloried from pillar to post and made a great spectacle as a warning to the rest of the Democrat Senate and House members. Senator Schumer was also used as to further President Obama’s spectacle of claiming the only opposition to his Iran Deal came from Israel and only Israel as there, according to the White House and friends, were no other nations against the Iran agreement. There were even accusations which claimed that Senator Schumer was a traitor as were any supporters of Israel who were against the deal, especially those who, like Schumer, were Jewish. This was resorting to an old libel against the Jews as being more devoted to some amorphous Jew conspiracy which was always against the ruling party or group thus all Jews were traitors. There have been leftist sources who have utilized the fact that Schumer is a Jew and pro-Israel in his voting record to piece together the obvious problem that if Schumer was the poster boy for the Jews influence, money, media, lobbyists and world behind-the-scenes influence by the Jews working, now against the President, the deal with Iran and the good of the United States; then every Jewish group would be against the treaty but there is J-Street, three-hundred-forty Rabbis and another groups of Jews from Hollywood among others supporting the President. The seeming open anti-Israel and anti-Zionist slant and outright defamation, especially pertaining to Senator Schumer and anyone or any group supportive of Israel or Jewish group in opposition of the Iran Agreement must be traitors and only their allegiance to Israel over the United States can be behind such opposition. Senator Schumer, and I am willing to bet any Jewish Democrats opposing the President’s pet foreign policy project, the Iran Nuclear deal, can only be driven by their traitorous allegiances. There have also been calls and threats and even covered promises that Schumer not only can forget being placed at the top spot which his untiring work for the Democrats over his career most definitely qualify him for, but this one “sin” of supporting Israel and, as he has stated, the United States from a bad deal which is being made with a regime that is notorious for cheating on every treaty and agreement they have ever entered and allowing them to continue without dismantling their entire nuclear program and with an inspection routine with holes large enough to fly a B-52 through and not even clip either wingtip, for this Schumer and any others of the Democrat Party are being denied any future top positions or chairmanships and will likely face a challenge placed to defeat them in their next election cycle. Is this the new Democrat Party, pull the extreme leftist anti-Israel line and toe it religiously or the Democrat Party will call out the shock troops and destroy you no matter your prior service to the Party?

 

 

Democrat Presidential Candidate and apparent front-runner Bernie Sanders greets and thrills an extremely packed house up to the rafters with enthusiastic supporters. Bernie Wow’s the crowd who responded with explosions of applause and yells of approvals. Bernie loves Oregon and Oregon loves Bernie, too bad the chiefs of the Democrat Party don’t particularly like Bernie Sanders. One can wonder why but it does appear to be the going trend among Democrats to dis anybody who even fairly takes Israel’s side even if only half the time.

 

 

To answer that question we can go to a Jew who is seeking the Democrat nomination for President, Bernie Sanders. Bernie is not an ideologue when it comes to supporting Israel but still he was questioned about holding dual citizenship both American and Israeli. He does not and never has as far as we here could ascertain though he has visited Israel a number of times, big crime there, Bernie. The interesting item has been with Hillary falling victim to her own perfidy and dropping in the polls like a lead balloon, Bernie Sanders is rapidly becoming the Democrat Party frontrunner. This has spawned some in the leadership of the Democrat Party from disparate states and organizations to panic and begin desperately seeking anybody but Bernie candidates. They have gotten so desperate as to float the names of John Kerry and Al Gore, two men who have proven their worth as Presidential candidates by losing to who the Democrats believe was the worst President in all of history, George W. Bush. There have been calls to get behind Joe Biden for President. These actions are more proof of the Democrat panic of having a Jew, even a socialist and extreme leftist Jew as their front runner. I will not claim that the leadership of the Democrat Party are all anti-Semitic, or even that there is a sizeable such persuasion in the leadership. But I will suggest that the leadership of the Democrat Party feel quite assured that they cannot win the Presidency placing a Jew at the top of the ticket or likely anywhere on the ticket and that is what has them in such a panic. The saddest thing is they can still count on receiving well over seventy-five or even eighty-five percent of the Jewish vote no matter who they run or do not allow to be their frontrunner. I am unsure which is more distressing, the clamor for anybody but Bernie or the near complete support for a Party which would not have a Jew as their leader by the Jewish voters. Somewhere there is a disconnect and I am afraid it is with the Jewish voters who vote with blinders on so they will see only that which they are meant to see. Bernie Sanders, next target?

 

Beyond the Cusp