God’s Warriors — hurting innocent children
Fuse of Armageddon is just out. (If you click on the video link you will see a short, unpolished interview; more on the novel at www.coolreading.com)
While Publishers Weekly gave Fuse a great review - hey, trumpet the good reviews and hide the bad! - one point in the review was important to me: ‘This novel is notable because several of the characters explicitly and cogently criticize the premillennial dispensationalist theology that has shaped much of evangelical America’s thinking about the state of Israel.’
In other words, does modern Israel have a divine right to the land, as believed by roughly 70,000,000 evangelicals? Does this justify the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, living in poverty level in the shadows of the 15th wealthiest nation in the world? Why are American evangelicals encouraging the conflicts that come with a one-state solution instead of promoting the peace of a two-state solution? Why aren’t evangelicals helping these children more?
I hope and believe Fuse is a great suspense thriller, but it also asks whether ‘Left Behind’ rapture theology widely embraced by American evangelicals is flawed, and how much it fuels Arab hatred of Americans. (One friend emailed that her son, just returned from Air National Guard in Afghanistan, ‘couldn’t finish it because it was too close to the truth’. Another friend emailed me this about Fuse: ‘It is a gripping story, but even more, it opened my eyes to the fool’s paradise I am living in.’)
Yeah, yeah, shameless self promotion. But I think this issue is vitally important and truly affects hundreds of thousands of children who are helpless against the politics. I’m frothing because of an upcoming six-hour CNN story called “God’s Warriors”, where it’s noted that, for example, one rabbi raised $39 million from Christian Zionists for settlements in the west bank. Think that’s not throwing gasoline on a roaring fire? Here’s the link to CNN.com on the story, which includes the quote that Fuse shows is so widely misunderstood: “There is a promise to those who bless Israel to be blessed. Those who curse it will be cursed.”
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/17/jews.christians/index.html
Hopefully, this will be more widely discussed and debated. Here’s what’s else has happened in the last three weeks:
1. Fox reports on John Hagee, who was just in D.C. at a gathering of 5,000 evangelicals, as he condemns and pressures political leaders for encouraging a two-state solution
2. NYTimes ran an article about evangelical pastors bucking the trend by trying to send aid to Palestine. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/us/29evangelical.html?ex=1343361600&en=9ca6b78e881e00df&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)
3. there’s about to be a firestorm because a Harvard prof and a Universty of Chicago prof are releasing a book about a secret and influential Israel lobby, composed of Jews and evangelicals, and that the influence of this lobby hurts America. (www.nytimes.com/2007/08/16/books/16book.html?ex=1188014400&en=c72dd2501ae3ecf7&ei=5070&emc=eta1)
I’m wide open to any comments about this subject or the novel, and would look forward to responding. . .
Admittedly, I wrote these comments to Sigmund before I had a handle on dispensational theology, but this is important information to know.
I also lament the fate of countless Palestinian children. Yet having spent 25 of my 53 years living in Israel, I am acutely aware of the extent to which the Palestinian authorities (and several neighboring Arab governments before them, are to blame for this poverty, and uncertainty. When the 2 state solution was devised (1947), Israel agreed but the surrounding Arab countries attacked when the British left, believing that they could drive the Jews into the sea.
When the War of Independence was over, it was Egypt, Jordan, and to some extent Syria, that kept the Palestinians in a state of distressed limbo. Again the idea was, we will be rid of the Jews any day now. When the Sinai and West Bank fell into Israeli control after the 6 Day War in 1967, some Palestinians remained in refugee camps. But many others actually flourished economically at that time. I lived for a time in Beit Hanina, a northern Arab suburb of Jerusalem. (I was a soldier in the Israeli army at the time, yet lived well with my Arab neighbors.) I wish that I had a house today as nice as the Arab home I rented then. I also used to drive from Jerusalem to Beer Sheba, via Hebron, once per week. Large and beautiful marble clad homes were always under construction.
During the occupation the socialized national medical system was available to all residents. I knew many of the Arab physicians and visited their clinics. The best Israeli hospitals were at their disposal. Bethlehem knew many years of prosperity, thanks to the millions of tourists that visited from 1967 until around 2000. But of course, anyone would prefer self-rule to a “protected status”, so I know that medical care and nice houses isn’t the be all and end all.
The truth is, from well before 1948 and up until this day the Jews and the state of Israel have been subject to terror attacks. These attacks obviously do not go unanswered, and yes innocents do get hurt. BTW, as a matter of course many Palestinian, Hezbollah, and other Muslim combatants in the Middle East launch attacks from civilian centers. They do this knowing that they are using innocents as human shields, and that they can turn to their political advantage any civilian casualties on their side.
After the Oslo accords and the formalizing of the Palestinian Authority, there was hope that the region was moving towards a political solution, such as had happened with Egypt, for example. However, the Palestinians in control, then and now, spent more time posturing, squabbling, and peddling influence, than they did in setting up the kinds of civilian institutions that would benefit their own people. Look at the current conflict and enmity between the Hammas and PLO.
You may not be aware, that there had always been a Jewish presence in the Holy Land, albeit in modest numbers until the turn of the century. You may, or may not, be aware that the Holocaust was just the last in a series of horrific events for Jews in Europe. All through the middle-ages Jews were shunted from one country to the other. For example England expelled the Jews, invited them back, expelled again, invited again several times over. The expulsion from Spain was official in effect until the early 20th century. For these reasons, as much as for the reasons of God’s promise to Abraham and Moses, there must be a Jewish state and homeland in Israel, so that we can be responsible for our own safety, security and prosperity.
Respectfully,
This was my reply to Perry in an earlier email:
“Thank you very much for your respectful email. You might be surprised to discover how much common ground we share, as I would hope that all readers of Fuse will discover the novel equally respectful of the difficult situation for Jews, especially Israeli citizens. At no point in the novel are any simplistic solutions or accusations leveled at either side, which I see happen so often, especially ones made without proper factual or historical grounding.
At one point, the main character, whose wife was a Jew, and who lost his wife and daughter to a Palestinian suicide bomber says this: “I’m pro-Palestine because Israel will never be secure without a viable Palestine. I’m pro-Israel, because Palestine will never be viable without a secure Israel.”
The two main themes of the book are the need to examine American evangelical dispensational theology, which at its core is anti-semitic and portrays God as racist, and the suffering of the children on both sides in the mideast.”
I appreciated it when Perry responded with this:
“I have also gotten a better handle on the dispensational theology context you mentioned, so between your reply, and my research I do see that there is much common ground between us.
Warm regards,
Perry”
Just started, and started well. I’ll let you know what I think as soon as I’ve wrapped it up!