I love the Jews because God put a love for them in my heart, because they are brave and noble, because many are personal friends.
By JIM FLETCHERJim Fletcher 88 224(photo credit: )
Not so long ago, I had lunch with a colleague; we worked in the Christian book publishing industry. I was explaining my love for Israel. This man listened for a while, and then he leaned forward and said, "Jim, nobody cares about the Jews."
We haven't had lunch since.
In the heady days of the Six Day War and its aftermath, it was almost easy to love Israel. Prophecy was being fulfilled in front of our eyes! When members of Motta Gur's 66th Paratroop Brigade sent the radio message "The Temple Mount is in our hands!" the Jewish world, and the Christian world rejoiced.
With the passage of time, as Arab and Western propaganda has become sophisticated and literally diabolical, there has been a turning. Some observers feel we are almost in a time warp, in a moment that hearkens back to the rise of the Nazis. Suddenly, the old anti-Semitism is back. Nobody cares about the Jews. That becomes, "Why can't the Jews just settle with the Palestinians?" Tomorrow, it will be, "Those dirty Jews!"
A few years ago, when a British diplomat was overheard at a dinner party referring to Israel as "that s-----y little country," there was some flutter, but not real outrage. I have lived to see Israel besieged militarily, diplomatically, and culturally. A lot of overt hostility is directed at the Jewish state. But all the while, the façade of concern for Israel's security is trotted-out daily. When Bill Clinton famously said that if necessary (notice the key, ambiguous phrase "if necessary"), he would get in a ditch with a rifle and fight and die for Israel, everyone understood he was lying. A duckbilled platypus would be more likely than Bill Clinton to fight and die for Israel.
I don't know what kind of fighter I would make; not much of one, truth be told. But I will tell you how I feel about the Jews:
I will never leave them.
My father loved them because they fulfilled Bible prophecy. I have Christian friends who love the Jews and Israel because they "get a blessing!" America supports Israel for strategic reasons.
Good for all of them. I guess.
I love the Jews because God put a love for them in my heart. I love them because they are brave and noble. I love them because many are personal friends. I love them because the Lord of History loves them. I don't love them because they will bring me more blessings; in fact, I am embarrassed by how many blessings I have. I don't love my fabulous son because he is a channel to blessings. I love him because he is.
I love Jews because they deserve it.
And I know and love something else: Israel's glory is ahead of her. I categorically reject the notion that Israel has a bloody day of reckoning coming. Here is the delicious, little-known nugget that shines from my Bible: it isn't the Jewish state that has reason to fear in the last days; it is her enemies. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told us that in those days, He will take the cup of poison that Israel has been drinking out of her hand, and place it in the hands of her enemies. In Ezekiel 38-39, we discover that an invading army will become food for scavenger birds.
It isn't the Jews who should be afraid. It's the rest of us.
I recently watched a History Channel special on Egyptian mummies. Some researchers feel that they've found the Pharaoh of the Exodus. In this particular documentary, he was shown, and his wife was shown. I marveled at the black, dry, stretched faces, with the hideous gapped mouths.
Then I thought of my live Jewish friends. They have beautiful smiles, blood in their cheeks, light in their eyes. They have been burnt, shot, stabbed, poisoned, tortured…and they are still here. Their ancient Egyptian tormentors gape at some unseen horror just beyond the curtain between this life and the next.
Nobody knows where Hitler's body - burnt and with a self-inflicted gunshot - rests to this day. Haman rots somewhere in the Persian Empire. Stalin has, like the Bible says of Pharaoh, gone down to the pit. Name the rest of the Jews' many enemies and you'll notice that they are dead, lifeless, stinking, hopelessly lost and in torment.
In a very real sense, God "proves" His existence to an unbelieving world by pointing at the remarkable preservation of the Jews. It matters little that the world largely is not paying attention. They will have had their chance and will be without excuse. Nobody cares about the Jews, indeed.
It isn't just the skinheads and pseudo-academic Holocaust deniers who are dangerous to our world. It is also the seemingly benign, well-dressed lunch colleague we encounter, who sneers chillingly that nobody cares about the Jews. Let me say this clearly and with a sense of urgency: may God have mercy on his soul.
No, I love the Jews because God loved them first. Period.
But I have added reasons.
I love them because they went to Entebbe and rescued innocent men, women, and children from the sick, demented creeps working for the PLO.
I love them because in a thousand ways every day, they help keep the rest of us safe through intelligence gathering and sharing, and military action against death-loving terrorists.
I love them because they value human life.
I love them because they show me by their mere survival and presence that Bible prophecy does matter. In the period of history in which I live, the Jews re-entered history when Israel was established! Thank you, God, for letting me see that Israel is alive!
I love them because they gave us the Bible, survived thousands of years of persecution to continue contributing to the good of mankind, and stand as a sentinel in our world today.
Once, I was standing on a street corner in Jerusalem - a busy street corner. A van pulled up beside me; the driver waited for the light to change. I noticed that the driver, a man about my age, had a young son. The boy stared at me; I stared back. Expressionless, he held up a hand and put it against the glass window. We continued to look at each other. As the light changed and their van moved down the street, this boy watched me, with his hand up, until they were out of sight. At the risk of sounding goofy, I have always thought of that boy as the totality of my Jewish friendships, which are precious to me. I felt a connection in this image of this young Israeli boy watching me, and can still recall his face. It was as if my collective Jewish friends were watching to see how long I would watch them.
Forever. That's how long I will feel a connection to the Jews - me, an average gentile.
I have been told that it might be better to be quieter about my support for Israel. I have been told that too close an association with Jews in business would be bad for me. I have been told that I can't trust a Jew. I have been told that no one cares about the Jews.
I find all these assertions repugnant. More than that, they are simply wrong.
Here's what I think about the idea that associating with Jews should be avoided, that it could bring trouble or pain; I like the attitude of the fellow in this small story:
In 1987, my beloved University of Oklahoma football team was preparing to play no. 1 Nebraska in Lincoln. Nebraska was feeling particularly confident that year. They said they were going to hurt OU. A reporter asked one of OU's defensive tackles what he thought about that and he said, "Bring it. I like pain."
That's how I feel. If it is dangerous to associate with Jews and support them, that's fine with me. If necessary, I will stand with a single Jew against everyone else.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Jim Fletcher is director of Prophecy Matters (www.prophecymatters.com). He is the co-author of 'The Last War' (2001, New Leaf Press) and his new book, 'It's the End of the World As We Know It,' will be released by Strang Communications in March, 2009. He can be reached at jim@prophecymatters.comjim1fletcher@yahoo.comPrevious Entries Never mind the human mind The church is changing face Statehood for an enemy Indiana Jones and the spiritual realm The strategy of peace What is the deal with the Old Testament? What if the Bible is true? By the power of God Religion and academiaNot enough good teaching materialOur Jewish Roots - Educate, educate, educate
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