We really are in trouble

This week I placed a news item on the Christians for Zion Web site concerning an organisation called Medical Aid for Palestinians which has launched a campaign in the United Kingdom which misinforms and incites hatred towards Israel. During September the campaign was centred in Oxford. It is believed that MAP have distributed over 50,000 leaflets to resident’s homes apart from advertisements being placed in the local press. The campaign has alleged that Israel refuses Palestinians Arabs from Gaza receiving medical aid in Israel. That there are over 500 checkpoints preventing movement of Palestinian Arabs and that Israel refuses to allow fuel in to Gaza. They make other allegations which are also untrue. What is more disturbing is that Baroness Morris of Bolton who is the president of MAP is also the Governments Trade envoy to the Palestinian Territories should know that the allegations which MAP make are untrue.

There are some facts which we all know are true and cannot reasonably be opposed. I think all of us know that the Security barrier was erected to prevent suicide bombings which were executed by terrorists entering Bars and Restaurants and on public transport. I have experience with such killings and know victims who are still suffering. The barrier is their only defence. Before the security barrier, in 2002, 47 terror attacks left 452 Israeli civilians dead. Such attacks have been known to include the use of ambulances to conceal and transport terrorist weapons. See the film at this link to understand how important it is to have a security fence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltAV4goqWf0

We all should know that Israeli hospitals treat patients without regard to nationality and religion.  Although we may not know the detail which is that in May of this year 30% of the child patients in Hadassah Hospital Jerusalem are Palestinian Arabs. The hospital is currently training 60 Palestinian physicians who will be returning to the West Bank to care for their community. Israeli Hospitals treated nearly 220,000 Palestinian Arabs in 2012, including Suhila Abd el-Salam, the sister of the Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza. Reports show that Israel do all they can to facilitate the entry of Palestinian Arab patients from Gaza for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. 91.5% of the applications for medical treatment in Israel were approved, 7.2% were pending security check and only 1.3% of the applications were rejected. There are many examples of Hamas punishing Gaza's citizens over its Political disagreements with Fatah by refusing to allow citizens to receive medical treatment in Israel. The EU has commented on a number of occasions that Palestinian policies, not only make it harder for Palestinians to access Israeli hospitals, but they even damage Palestinian hospitals. The EU condemns Hamas for its role in worsening the humanitarian situation of the Palestinians in Gaza. Patients from Gaza continue to enter Israel through the Erez Crossing for medical treatment. MAP omits to mention that shortages of medical supplies, to the extent there is one, is due suppliers being reluctant to sell to Gaza since there are issues with non-payment. I have been an observer at this crossing and can only witness to Israel’s co-operation and courtesy with the Palestinian Arabs entering and leaving Gaza.

In 2011 Hamas elected to discontinue the purchase of fuel from Israel for Gaza’s power plant. We must also not forget such incidents as the murder of two Israeli’s as they were in the process of supplying fuel to Gaza in September 2008 at the Nahal Oz fuel terminal.

My question is why does someone like Baroness Morris of Bolton, who clearly has professional responsibility in Israel for trade, does she allow her Charity, for which she is president, to distribute lies.

I can’t answer that because I don’t know her and have not asked her to explain but I do have an explanation from Tony Laurence CBE who is he CEO of MAP and he states that the “Separation Wall and other Barriers are an intolerable impediment to the wellbeing of Palestinian civilians who have been living under occupation for 46 years- People who have much right to health as someone living in Oxford or anywhere for that matter”. Do you think that someone who has expertise in the area would know that the Israeli’s suffered indescribably by the suicide bombings which the security barrier prevents. Does he think that Israeli’s have no right to defend themselves.

If a Charity such as MAP, headed up by a member of The House of Lords, misleads the public to believe that Israel are not helping the ordinary Palestinian Arabs when  they are we in the UK really are in trouble.

Michael Fryer

I have, over the last few weeks, become increasingly aware of the off the cuff statements some make that Israel is an Apartheid state. I have had a number of conversations during which I find myself speaking against this unfounded allegation. The root of this is often a lack of knowledge coupled with an exposure to antisemitic rhetoric from various sources including Media and sadly some Christian organisations.

In 2008 Rev Samuel Kobia the General secretary of World Council of Churches which claims to represent over 500 million Christians worldwide compared the current Middle East conflict to "another apartheid situation” he also accused Israel of being an occupying force.

In 2009 the Kairos Palestine document a "cry of hope" called for the world to "stand by the Palestinian people who have faced oppression, displacement, suffering and clear apartheid for more than six decades". Other Anti-Israel Christian organisations supported and promulgated this message and today that false accusation has spread as a form of demonising Israel.

Standing with Israel means we look first of all at the Biblical principles and then look at any facts which may support the outworking of those principles. Let us remember that it was through the Jews the descendants of Abraham that God gave a command to give a higher regard for your neighbour than yourself (Exodus 20 & Mark 12 v 31). The command you shall not oppress the alien in your land (Exodus 22 v 21) was another such message given by God and there are many more.

Apartheid however is a contrary position to these commands so the question must be asked –does Israel practice a lifestyle opposite to the lifestyle they were commanded to follow by God. International Law defines apartheid as establishing and maintaining an institutionalised regime of oppression by one racial group over another. This definition fully encompassed apartheid in South Africa in which a small minority of whites subjected the majority black population to severe political, economic, and social discrimination. They could not be citizens, vote, or participate in the government, and they were segregated in every aspect of daily life.

In Israel’s own  declaration of Independence in 1948 it is written that Israel “will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.” So can we also ask the question does Israel not only break the commands of God but its own Political promises.

Israel’s social diversity is amazing and people from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East, Muslim, Christian and others have their liberty, equality, freedom from discrimination, and freedom of religion protected by law. Israel’s 25% non-Jewish minority has equal voting and political rights. Arab Israelis were elected to the first Israeli Parliament in 1949 and have since won as many as 14 seats in a single election. Of these some hold important positions in the government, court system, and the military. Arabs and other non-Jews have attained high positions in the government including Deputy Speaker, Acting President, and member of the Prime Minister’s cabinet, Ambassador, and Consul General. In 2011 the Arab-Israeli Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran sat as judge in a case against former Israeli president Moshe Katsav and convicted him of misconduct. Israeli Druze, Bedouins, and Arabs fight in the Israeli Defence Forces and have attained ranks as high as Major General.

Between 1967 and 2000 Israel built water and the electricity Infrastructure in Gaza for the Palestinian Arabs when prior to that Egypt, who governed the area, did nothing. Israel raised the quality of living for Palestinian Arabs in Gaza. Christians in Gaza were respected and flourished but now Gaza is governed by HAMAS the Christian community is vastly reduced due to emigration caused by oppression.

I have visited Israel many times and have observed the behaviour of Jews towards Arabs, I have listened to the stories of victims of Palestinian Suicide bombers and have experienced the mixed cultures but never once heard or seen anything remotely like apartheid. How many of those who accuse Israel of apartheid policies have been served by very happy Arab waiters in Israeli owned restaurants or have travelled in Taxi’s being driven by Arab drivers who often charge more than Israeli drivers, or considered that Israeli drivers are not allowed to take you into Arab areas. How many of those critics have been to the hospitals caring for Palestinian Arab patients. Maybe it would be a good thing for these very same critics to visit the medical centres in the north of Israel who are treating both military and civilian casualties of the war in Syria. In all my interviews with Israeli’s who have been traumatised by the 29,000 fired at them from Gaza in the last thirteen years, I have never heard hatred towards the Palestinian Arabs.

The accusation that the security fence and checkpoints are symbols of apartheid is absurd.  When Palestinians launched the second Intifada and the suicide bombing campaign against Israeli civilians in 2000, Israel had to protect its citizens. Checkpoints, bypass roads, and the security barrier were put in place to prevent terrorists from attacking Israeli civilians, not to oppress or dominate the Palestinians. When the Palestinians make peace with Israel these measures will be lifted but for Israel to fail to defend her citizens from the unbelievable violence of a suicide bomber upon innocent men women and children is not an option. Would those who call Israel an apartheid state call for less security at our airports after 9/11 and 7/7.

Why do they not accuse Arab countries who have legislation specifically to oppress Christian minorities of being apartheid states? In Lebanon Palestinian Arabs are denied access to education, property ownership, medical care, and many forms of employment.  The Palestinian Arabs in Jordon are treated in an appalling way but you don’t hear such allegations of oppression or apartheid about Jordon. Women in many Arab countries have less rights than men and this gender apartheid goes unchallenged despite its openness. Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive. In some Arab countries women are not allowed to wear modern clothing. In 2002 fifteen girls burned to death in Saudi Arabia when Police refused them to leave a school which was on fire because they were not dressed appropriately.   The evidence of women in court is not regarded as being as valuable as men’s evidence thus those who are raped are less likely to be listened to. Women are subject of honour killings in HAMAS territory. In some cases simply speaking to a man outside their own household has caused their death.  Four thousand homosexuals have been hung in Iran between 1979 and 1999 but many Christian organisations don’t mention that.

Sadly neither do they fight for justice for Copts Christians in Egypt or Churches in Pakistan who have been persecuted for decades and still have Churches burnt down or blown up as we have seen in the last two months in both those countries by Islamic fundamentalists. Conversion to Christianity from Islam is punishable by death in The Palestinian controlled areas, Iran and Saudi Arabia and I have not heard a single call for them to be categorised as apartheid. 

I believe Israel although not perfect is trying her best to keep to the command of God and her own Political promise. I am not tired of replying to accusations that Israel is an apartheid state because it gives me an opportunity to highlight the hypocrisy and the fact that this allegation is totally unfounded and that Israel is indeed a democratic free country. What I am tired of is the arrogance of some of those in leadership particularly in Christendom who make this allegation in the assumption that ordinary people like you and I would fall for this lie.

Michael Fryer

Two thousand years ago at this time of the year a child was born in the Jewish Town of Bethlehem. He would draw both Jew and Gentile to the God of His Fathers –The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was named Yeshua which means God Saves.

The Feast of Tabernacles at which Yeshua was born is the final Feast in Gods Calendar and He commands us all, Jews and Gentiles, to remember that when the Jews were in the wilderness after escaping the persecution in Egypt He Tabernacled with them and provided for all their needs.

During the time of His ministry in Israel, Yeshua continued the age old practice of teaching Biblical Judaism which is the oldest religion in the West. Biblical Judaism is the way in which God separated the Hebrews from the ways of the heathen Nations, enabling the Hebrews to teach the Nations about the one true God.  Biblical Judaism is 2000 years older than Christianity and 2700 years older than Islam.

Yet the majority within these two younger religions still persecute the Jews and want to divide their homeland including the Holy City of Jerusalem. Yeshua wept over Jerusalem, the city whose name means PEACE. He said there would come a time when he would return to that city and to the Jewish people and again dwell with them as their King. In the meantime we are commanded to pray for the peace of that, the holiest of all cities.

But the story didn’t begin at the time when Yeshua was born. The story began with the call of Abraham over 4000 years ago. Abraham became the Father of the Nation of Israel which is the oldest Nation in the West.

God had Abraham, whom He called His friend, to establish the Nation of Israel in the Middle East as an everlasting possession for the Jewish people and as a sign that there is a God in Heaven. He gave Abraham a piece of land which at that time, and even through to the time of David, extended from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates which in modern times would take within her borders, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordon, Lebanon and Egypt. Since the time of Abraham Israel has been constantly attacked by the Nations who surrounded her.

On three separate occasions Jews were forced out of the land by Nations far larger than her. The last time being in 135 AD, some sixty years after the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem.

For nearly 2000 years Jews have never lived through a generation when they have not been persecuted, murdered and abused by the people with whom they lived. Despite them blessing those communities they were never allowed to assimilate.

But God said that one day He would gather them back into the land of Israel and there, they would be a reminder to the nations that there is a God in Heaven who is faithful to all His promises.

On 14^th May 1948 before the eyes of the world Israel was again made a Jewish nation. This was a place where at last, after the horrors of Europe over centuries, culminating in the most horrific slaughter of Jewish men, women and children, Jews could live in Peace.

A place where the Jewish people could once again have a land--- the land of the Bible which was promised to them 4000years before.

A land on which they could finally live in peace.

 A land in which they could speak their own language - Hebrew, the language of the Bible.

A land to use their own currency - the Shekel, the currency of the Bible.

A land on which they could keep Gods Festivals, Days of rest and worship as He had commanded them to do.

A land on which they could establish communities of their own, without fear of being persecuted by their neighbours simply because they were Jews.

Sadly this was not to be. Despite the promises of 1917 regarding the borders of Israel, 73% of the land promised to them was given to the Arabs to form a new nation called Jordan.

On 15^th May 1948, within 24 hours of being re-established, Israel was attacked by the Arab nations which surrounded her. This newly formed small nation of only 600,000 people, mainly unarmed and still staggering from the tortures of the Holocaust, in faith that their God is a faithful God, stood firm against the might of those Arab nations whose population numbered more than 45 million. God was with them and they survived a second attempt at genocide within a decade.

From that time these survivors, many now suffering from malaria caused by the neglected stagnant waters of the desert, cultivated a land which had laid waste for thousands of years, a land which until that time no one really wanted.

 From the sands of Gaza and the Negev, to the rocky hills of Jerusalem and Galilee, and to the heights of Haifa and Carmel they had to build an infrastructure ready to receive the constant flow of Jews who were arriving not only from Europe but also from the surrounding Arab lands. The Arab Nations had thrown 856,000 Jews out of their homes and land, land which is equal to four times the size of Israel. They arrived from over 100 nations and spoke eighty languages with nothing except a hope and a future which God himself has promised them through the Prophet Jeremiah.

Not one nation assisted them on their journeys and even Great Britain hindered their arrival by turning around the boats which arrived with their cargos of hungry, desperate people.

The Jews had not only to create a Physical infrastructure but had to create an economical and Political structure for this new Nation.

In 1967 her neighbours proclaimed that they would drive this new democratic Nation, the only democratic nation in the Middle East, into the sea. Those threats were followed by the six-day war in which Israel took back, in a defensive action, land which in 1948 Egypt and Jordan had taken from them by force.  The Temple Mount, the Holy site for the Jewish people, was again fully under the control of Jews for the first time in 2000 years.  However, under pressure from the international community they resolved to hand back that very place to the Arabs for the sake of peace.

Again there was no peace and in 1993 Yitzchak Rabin, Israel’s fifth Prime Minister, made a speech pleading with the Arabs for peace. In 1994 suicide bombings resumed and Arab terrorists targeted buses and restaurants violently taking the lives of the innocent. In 2000 Yasser Arafat called for another uprising and the attacks on Israeli civilians increased.

In 2005, after years of bombings and mortar attacks which killed over 47 Israeli civilians in the community of Gush Katif, a Jewish community who had lived in Gaza for over fifty years, employing over 500 Arabs in their agricultural and horticultural businesses, were forced to leave there homes, synagogues, businesses and farms after Israel negotiated their withdrawal in return for peace.

Again sadly, the promise of peace by their Arab neighbours was broken and the peace Israel longed for was not achieved. Bombings continued and rockets targeting the civilian communities of Sderot and the surrounding Kibbutz were fired from the land left by the Gush Katif community.   More innocent lives were lost as over 8000 rockets within 8years devastated lives and communities surrounding Gaza.

In December 2009 Israel defended herself by targeting terrorists in Gaza in an operation called operation Cast Lead. Despite evidence that Israel had protected not only her own civilians, but the Arab civilian population of Gaza, she was internationally condemned.

Colonel Richard Kemp, a former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland who is also an expert in world terrorism, gave evidence to the United Nations regarding this operation and gave the following evidence: “Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the civilians in the combat zone (Gaza) than any other army in the history of warfare”. He went on to say, “Israel did so whilst facing an enemy (HAMAS) that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of its own civilian population”.

There are 82 Christian nations in the world, 56 Muslim nations and only one Jewish nation. Israel is less than a quarter of one percent of the size of the Arab world, the same size as Wales as but smaller than the Kruger National Park.

The population of the world stands today at 6.6 billion. There are 17 million Jews in the world -7 million living in Israel. That is despite the efforts of the greatest Empires from Babylon to Rome and Russia to Germany putting their full force behind continued attempts to destroy every Jew on earth.

This is unexplainable hatred of a tiny people group which has more Nobel prize-winners than any other peoples ... They gave us the moral and ethical codes we in the civilised world hold dear.

They are a people who are constantly raising our quality of life today by advancing the sciences, their medical research is today saving lives throughout the world including the lives of Arabs living in Gaza and Judea and Samaria (West Bank).

They are bringing to the world of education and commerce, communication technology advancements which we could never have imagined just a few years ago.

They are a people who are first to help at the scenes of national disasters.

A people who continue to help over 80 nations throughout the world in matters of irrigation and horticultural / agricultural advancement.

The blessings from Jews in Music and the Arts are not only of contemporary significance but also of historical significance.

The murder of thousands of Jewish Doctors, Scientists, Musicians and Artists during the Holocaust has not succeeded in destroying the ability of the Jewish Nation to bless the World as was the promises of God made to Abraham over 4000 years ago.   

Israel is a land spoken of by God throughout the Bible. God never once mentioned a land called Palestine. Jerusalem is a city which God says is the place where His Holy Name shall dwell with the Jewish people for ever.

The Feast of Tabernacles is the Feast which God gave to us all to remember His faithfulness to the Hebrews in the wilderness whilst they wandered without a home, AND to point forwards to that very day when He will once again tabernacle with His people in Israel.

As Our Father commanded, Yeshua celebrated all the Feasts in Jerusalem and it was at this very Feast of Tabernacles that He said “I am the Light of The World.” That light and His commands will once again shine and go out from Jerusalem.

When Solomon dedicated the first Temple he prayed that those in the nations who were not Jews would go to the Temple in Jerusalem to pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and would come to know Him.  The Prophet Zechariah prophesied that when the God of Israel dwells again with man the nations who remain after their judgment must visit the Temple in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles and worship God.

God is a God of the miraculous, and He is showing us today the miracle of His restoring the Jewish people to their homeland after 2000 years of wandering and persecution. He has done this to show the world that there is a God, but sadly the world is ignoring this miracle and looking away from the God of hope.

Hatikva meaning “ hope”  is the  title of the national anthem of Israel and is the word that describes the hope that the Jewish people have in God - God who is faithful - God of The Promise.

As Christians, we believe that Yeshua was the Messiah who is to return to Jerusalem as He promised He would. There in that great City He will Judge the world specifically concerning how they have dealt with the Jewish people and divided up the land of Israel. We know that Christendom, more than any other group in history, has persecuted the Jews. So why today, having that knowledge, do many in Christendom speak of dividing the land of Israel and why do so many in Christendom not support Israel’s God- given and political right to exist?

Why is it, when the Quran does not even once identify Jerusalem as an Islamic Holy site, that Muslims claim Jerusalem as their own and say that the Temple Mount is a holy Islamic place?

 Why then do they fight so violently for every inch?  Muslims have their own Holy site, Mecca, and they have many lands filled with oil which brings them tremendous abundance and wealth, and yet they still want to occupy Israel and Jerusalem.

Why does the world want to see this tiny nation, who has suffered so much, suffer more?

Why do the nations want to see this nation, which has given so much to enhance our society, stop giving more?

Why do the nations who remain silent about the cruelty within many countries throughout the world, shout loudly when Israel simply defends herself?

Why do many curse her when we are commanded to bless her and have been so blessed by her?

For those who don’t believe in the promises of God for the Jewish people as detailed in Scripture, they will have to wait for the answer to these questions until Yeshua returns and once again tabernacles with His people in Jerusalem, BUT on THAT DAY it will be too late to put right all the terrible wrongs the world has done to the Jews.

Hope this helps.

Michael Fryer

Please,Please don't be bysitters

During the years which preceded the Second World War Political and Religious meetings were being held throughout Europe during which Jews were condemned as a danger to society. Little was done by Christians to stop this teaching which incited the hatred which enabled the mass murder of men women and children to take place. Ordinary men who before the war were upright members of the community joined such units as Battalion 101 who were reservist Police officers and who became the most violent killers in history. Within five short years those men in that battalion, who numbered less than 500, originally defenders of communities, became the murderers of 83,000 Jews. They, who had families of their own, stripped and shot women and children at point blank range and the local Clergy watched. This happened for many reasons but one reason was that people were afraid to do anything to oppose such violence. If you were caught helping Jews you would be arrested and taken to the murder camps or executed on the spot, as were your family.

On Sunday the 25^th of August the Greenbelt Christian Youth Summer Camp being held at Cheltenham Racecourse will host Reverend Lucy Winkett the Chair of the Amos Trust who will launch, on behalf of the trust, the Kairos Britain network of Churches. This network, which is also being launched in other countries around the world is targeting Israel as an oppressive unjust and racist nation who give no rights to the Palestinians. They condemn Israel and call out for Justice for Palestinians but they ignore the rights of Israel to defend herself and to live on land rightfully her own. They call for what they describe as an end to oppression and injustice by Israel but refuse to address the oppression of Christians in Gaza or the removal of Human rights of women and young men or the summary executions in HAMAS governed areas. They don’t condemn the firing of 29,000 rockets which have been fired at Israeli communities since 2000 or the suicide bombings which are now being prevented by the security fence. They don’t address the increasing teaching of hatred in Palestinian Arab schools. I could go on but I think I have made my point.

Greenbelt are also hosting a number of other speakers who are anti-Israel, one of whom Mark Braverman who calls Zionism Racism. This conference attended by the big names in Christianity such as Graham Kendrick and Steve chalk are inciting our youth to hate in the same way as European Church leaders did in the years preceding the Holocaust. This incitement is no less subtle and neither is it in any way less dangerous.

Picture -Greenbelt 2012--this is not a small meeting!!!!

The difference between now and then is that we are not going to be rounded up and shot for standing with Israel and speaking out when the rest of the Church is condemning her. So why aren’t we? In every genocide there are victims, perpetrators, bystanders and rescuers. Many Christians in Holocaust were classified as bystanders because of the real threat of being murdered alongside Jews. So today why are many in the Christian community bystanders when there is no threat except that of words from those fuelled by antisemtism?

We are conditioned to believe that by attending a conference or a meeting held by a pro-Israel speaker and giving our money to support such ministries that we are doing all we can to help Israel. We are conditioned because this is how it has always been done and we go home satisfied that we have done the work that God has called us to do. We have actually become by-standers even by-sitters unless we put the knowledge we gain from such meetings into real action. Why aren’t we rallying at Greenbelt or New Wine or any anti-Israel meetings? Why aren’t we gathering together to pray at such events and show these groups that their teaching is heretical and inciting hatred.

The first part of the definition of Hate Speech is “Speech which generates fear on the part of an individual or group” I believe the Jewish community here in the UK are not as much fearful of the anti-Israel meetings as they are of the apathy within Christendom which allows these meetings to take place without a challenge.

I have written to the BBC who will hold their Radio 2 good morning Sunday programme at Greenbelt when this network is launched to point out that we will be attending because there is another side to the story, but they have not replied. I know the Jewish community have asked Greenbelt to allow them a speaker but that has been denied.

As you know Fathers House/Christians for Zion is taking a bus from North Wales to the Greenbelt event on 25^th but I am only aware of one other group who is joining us and that is a car full of passionate believers from Northamptonshire. I am however aware that if there is a Charismatic speaker at a conference in London or Manchester the meeting will be full. Why is this the case, it easier to sit in a conference and enjoy the meeting and do nothing except listen. Is it also because Greenbelt are launching this on a Sunday and all the Israel supporters will be in Church on a Sunday and unable to attend? Is it because it is too far? Is it because it takes us out of our comfort zone? If so then we have become bystanders/by-sitters.

The launch of the Kairos Britain Network a week on Sunday will, I am sure, see many Churches join but few if any in the conference will oppose it. Britain can only boast of 13 who are considered Righteous Amongst the Nations (those who rescued Jews during the War) compared with such as 4,767 in the Netherlands and we in Britain did little to help Jews escape the terrors. I know God wants us to help the Jewish people, in fact Yeshua encourages us to do so in Mathew 25 when He says, and you visited me in prison, clothed, fed and helped me because you did it for one of these my family.   

Ezekiel 36 makes it very clear that God is gathering the Jews back to the land He promised them, not for their sake, the scripture points out, but for His Holy name. Greenbelt and their speakers are denying Gods Holy name and the people within our Nation are being blinded by such organisations from seeing God in action and being faithful to all His promises.  

Please, please, whatever you are doing on Sunday 25^th August, join us at the Greenbelt meeting, write to BBC radio 2 tell your friends pass on this plea and become rescuers not bysitters.

For more information or to join with us at Greenbelt please mail me through the Web sites. We will be there at about 11am and would be really blessed to see you.       

Pastor Michael Fryer

Honour Him with our lips and be close to Him with our hearts

I know that sometimes when I am writing or when I am preaching I may come across as being a little angry about what is taking place in the Church today. I am not angry at all, but the way I write or speak is an expression of a very deep sadness. The reason is that despite the lessons in history many within the leadership of some Christian Churches and denominations are continuing to compromise with the world and are teaching our children to do the same. I am desperate like many of you to try and do all I can to help our young people recognise what is right and wrong so that they won’t make the mistakes that I have made through my lifetime. I am desperate for the lessons of the long history of Christian anti-Semitism not to be repeated and for young people to know the boundaries God gave us to prevent us hurting each other and of course Him. 

The attack against Israel and the watering down of the tenets of our faith by some leaders in Christendom is an alignment with worldly political views and humanistic opinion. How can Church leaders, who consider themselves theologians and well-read, ignore so much scripture in regard to the heart of God for the Land of Israel and the Jews and for the need for mankind to repent for our sins.

The Gospel of Mark shows us that Yeshua was frustrated with the leadership of His day. In Mark chapter 7 we see there was a discussion between the religious leaders about an issue involving the ceremonial washing of hands. This discussion highlighted the fact that the leaders held on to traditions of man rather than the commands of God. Yeshua quoted Isaiah 29 v 13 and said “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honour me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain;     their teachings are merely human rules.

He emphasised “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

Yeshua then said “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions” This is what many leaders in Christendom continue to do today. Who are hey honouring themselves or God?

The word of God is the foundation of our faith but that has been ignored throughout Church history by many whose pride has led them to create their own rules and traditions rather than submit to anyone else’s rules even God’s. These rules and traditions of man have led us into keeping pagan festivals i.e. Christmas Easter and Sunday worship rather that the Feasts of The Lord- Sabbath then Passover through to the feast of Tabernacles. Traditions of man have stood in the way of believers sharing bread and wine as families or in small communities without the need of a priest or leader and have created one man ministries above the ministry of all believers. This has removed our call to bless others through our individual gifts and ministries. The non-biblical traditional teaching that the Church has replaced Israel has created an antisemitic spearhead to the intended spreading of the Gospel and made the Church the Jews aggressor.

Today anti-Israel propaganda and that Palestinians have rights but Jews don’t is a continuation of that antisemitic spearhead. Another teaching that sin is acceptable in this modern society is simply a tradition of all societies since the year dot and allows many in Christendom to ignore the rules of God which are outlined in the Scriptures.

In our criminal law if a child under the age of ten years of age commits an offence then the Police have to prove that he or she knew they were doing wrong before a charge can be brought against them. The age of criminal responsibility is now under review and a study has suggested that at the age of ten the brain is still developing its decision making abilities. This may lead to a change in the age of criminal responsibility. I know from experience however that children who have been correctly taught not to steal or damage from a young age do know if they are doing wrong. They recognise that what they are doing is opposed to what they have been taught by their parents. Parents who teach children to steal, and I have known some, raise children who don’t know it is wrong. Teaching a child from a young age can help children determine what is good and bad behaviour.

Recognising wrong is often not always connected to our ability to work it out for ourselves but is connected to what we have been taught. Many in Christendom today are not being taught the rights and wrongs of what is happening in Israel or how we should practice our faith and therefore many are struggling with recognising our spiritual responsibilities towards God, sin and Israel.

The Bible makes it clear that sin is anything outside the commands of God and repentance and the belief in Yeshua’s sacrifice is an integral part of our salvation. Yet we hear some Church leaders supporting sin and in some cases advocating other ways of finding Salvation. Yeshua makes it clear that He will judge the Nations on the very subject of our behaviour towards Israel and yet we see Church leaders condemning Israel. In the same way many ministries are led by men and women who hold to the traditions of men and ignore the commands of God because they believe they have the right to overthrow the Laws of God in favour of their own ways and they teach others to do the same. Yeshua makes it very clear in Mathew 5 v 17-19 that they will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is also my sadness that these leaders will not hear the words good and faithful servant, so for us to remain silent is not an option.

We should of course speak out, we can’t be silent, Yeshua, as did His followers spoke out. If we are to speak out how can we do that? We have to put ourselves in a position to do so. If we are not able to do so on our own then we should join with others who can. Fathers House Sabbath Congregation, a congregation of Spirit filled Bible believing Christians, has arranged for a bus to take believers to the Greenbelt summer camp on 25^th August to pray outside the event because of Greenbelts non-biblical opposition to Israel. If you live outside of North Wales and can join us please do so. If you want a place on the bus please mail me. This is a way of making active what God has put in our hearts.

The New Wine summer camps, originally created to teach Biblical truths, are now not an option for us to take our children and Church families to because of their anti-Israel speakers. So what can we do , Fathers House Sabbath Congregation is planning a summer camp in Mid Wales between 18^th to 22^nd August next year. This is specifically to teach Gods word in regard to the Tenets of our faith, the Biblical practices of our faith and the need to support Israel with the Power of The Holy Spirit. I can’t encourage you enough to join with us in this time to learn together how we abandon the traditions of man and follow Gods laws and to teach our children to recognise right from wrong.

God is calling us to honour Him with our lips and be close to Him with our hearts and these things are a way of doing so alongside brothers and sisters who have the same passion for God, His Laws and His people.

Michael Fryer   

Lovers of themselves

Those charged with the responsibility of overseeing and regulating our National Institutions have a huge responsibility. Not only do they need to ensure that the organisations which they regulate operate in integrity and in the best interest of their clients, meaning members of the public, but they themselves have to operate in integrity.

This has not been the case over the past few years. The Independent Committee on Standards in Public life who are responsible for the behaviour of our Politicians does not appear to have been as diligent as it should have been when it came to MP’s expenses. False claims by both Members of Parliament and the House of Lords have been widespread and only came to an end when the Daily Telegraph exposed it. The Financial Standards Authority whose regulation on the banking system failed to deal with the dishonesty in banking, left the British Tax payer bailing out financial institutions which today are still paying huge bonuses to their executives. The Press Complaints Commission and the Independent Police Complaints Commission failed to deal with the corruption of Press and Police and we have seen Editors, Senior Police Officers and Political Leaders working together to undermine normal rights to privacy. I have personal experience of Police and leaders in the education system lying to protect an agenda. I have even seen regulatory bodies such as Estyn the Welsh education inspectorate play down situations in Schools, undermining Policies which protect the rights of parents to complain about poor management and care of our children. The Care Quality Commission has the responsibility to inspect and regulate our health care systems but has buried evidence of poor standards which led to deaths and suffering of the most vulnerable within our society.

The news that the Church of England are investing “Wonga” a company which gives pay day loans at massively high rates of interest to poor families is not therefor surprising. The Church is investing in such companies for their pension funds and to make a profit. Their own regulations allow them to do so. They can invest in a company which has no more than a 25% stake in such business activities. This means that the Church of England could invest in a Company which sells arms to Tyrannical Governments, or pedal pornography as long as that company has less than 25% of their business in such activities.

We cannot say we are innocent in this because it is our generation which has allowed this behaviour to develop. It is a culture which we, born in the late 40’s 50’s and 60’s have allowed to grow. After the Second World War free speech, free will, free love and free me at the expense of others has been top of our agenda. We have sought to build up our empires, no matter how great or small leading to a situation whereby money certainly has become the root of all evil at the expense of Moral, Ethical and most of all Godly behaviour.

We have forgotten the past and have focused, not on the future to make things better for our children, but on ourselves. Christendom is no different, the Church has historically vilified Judaism as being a system of restriction and legalism, when in fact it is just the opposite. Biblical Judaism is the adherence to Gods Laws which were put in place to look after the best interests of others by releasing debts, not stealing from others, obeying Moral laws so that others are not hurt or abused. God gave us the Laws to help us live healthy good lives and told us to teach our children to do the same. Deuteronomy 6 v 7 makes it clear that we are to teach our children the Laws God gave to us. Christendom, having thrown these Laws out in favour of Grace, so that God cleanses us of all sin whether we continue to sin or not is what we now teach. Verse 5 of his passage says you shall love The Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your might. We in the Church and many within our society have changed this to read love yourselves with all our might.

We are so bound up in believing that we should love ourselves, that the messengers of the command that we should Love anyone one else, even God, any more than ourselves are the target hatred and abuse. The Jews, who recorded in the books of the Bible the evidence that there is someone greater than ourselves, a message which is abhorrent to mankind have been persecuted throughout history because of this.

Theosophist Helena Blavatsky who at the end of the 1800’s founded the Parliament of World Religions hated one particular religion, that of Judaism. She said Judaism was; “A religion of hate and malice toward everyone and everything outside itself.”

Today Israel is blessing the Nations, including the Palestinian Arabs, in medicine, |I.T, agriculture and science and yet some in Christendom have such hatred that they call Israel and occupying force by living on 1% of the Middle East. Blavastsky got it wrong, we in the nations hate and have Malice against everything which would oppose us loving ourselves rather than God.

The message that we should love God more than ourselves has caused the Jews to be hated throughout the centuries. We as Christians are called to continue to share that very same message that we should love God and our neighbour more than ourselves. This year again, Christians in summer camps across the country will hear speakers abuse Israel and will do all they can to teach our young children to hate Israel, which is opposite to the teachings of the Bible. Shouldn’t we be joining with Israel rather than trying to destroy them!  

As we have seen, the Church of England would rather invest money in a company who abuses the poor, because like many other social structures many of its leaders are not Christian and love their own pensions and comfortable lifestyle at the expense of others. In fact many in Church leadership, not only within the Church of England but within the Catholic and Charismatic Church movements love mammon more than God. They love power rather than The Power of God and love influence rather than be influenced by The Word of God. They are not living in the world as light in the darkness but have become part of the dark world. The Power of leadership has corrupted the Church as it has in society.

I will conclude now by quoting Paul who warned Timothy;

“People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them”. 2 Tim 3:2-5

Michael Fryer