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

In the book of Ezekiel Chapter 35 verse 5 we read ‘Because you harboured an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity, the time their punishment reached its climax, ⁶ therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you”. In the book of Zechariah Chapter 1 we read in verse 5 “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, ¹⁵ and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.’

Both these prophecies concern how the nations have dealt with Israel and how God has seen exactly what they have done. The ancient hostility referred to in the Ezekiel prophecy refers to Edom and we can see that there is hostility which is rooted in the past.

The Scriptures record the ancient hostility as follows;

The Nation of Israel is descended from Jacob, the Nation of Edom is descended from Esau GENESIS 25:23.

The Lord told Rebekah that there were two nations in her womb and that the two peoples will be separated GENESIS 25:19-26. One of Rebekah’s sons Esau sold his birthright and blessing to Jacob the other son. GENESIS 25:29-34. 

This was common practice in the time of Abraham as we can see from historic documents found near a place called Nuzi in the Chaldeans near to Abraham’s birth place which show us that one could sell his inheritance.  The Nuzi documents, as these ancient records, are called show us that one older brother sold his birthright to his younger brother for three goats.

Then we see Edom in scripture when he refused to allow Israel to pass through the land NUMBERS 20:14-22. After that point Israel’s Kings had constant conflict with Edom Saul - 1 Samuel 14:47 David has conflict with Edom - 2 Samuel 8:13, 14, and then Solomon- I Kings 11:14-22 and Jehoram - 2 Kings 8:20-22 and 2 Chronicles 21:8. This conflict continues today as the Arab nations founded by Edom attempt to destroy Israel by whatever means.

What then can we understand from the scripture in Zechariah? The point here is that when God scattered the Jewish people throughout the farthest corners of the earth the nations themselves added to that punishment by murdering, persecuting and abusing the Jewish people. God is angry with those nations and as we see in Mathew 25 verses 31 -33 Yeshua will return and Judge the Nations as sheep and goats for their abuse or kindness towards Israel. When Yeshua makes this proclamation He is quoting from Joel 3 v 2.

When we look at both Ezekiel’s and Zechariah’s scripture there are principles that can be identified within Christendom. Christendom has been hostile to the Jews since Marcion bon 85 AD an early church Gentile leader who refused to accept Old Testament scripture and the book of Mathew because he didn’t want to connect Yeshua to His Jewish family. From that time on Church leaders have vilified, Jews, Israel and Judaism. So great was this hatred that Christendom became the Jews greatest adversary murdering millions throughout the centuries, particularly during the Crusades and Inquisition and then finally fuelling the hatred which led to the Holocaust. All Holocaust historians, Christian, Jewish and secular agree that without Christendom the Holocaust could not have taken place.

The question has then to be asked does Christendom still carry this ancient hostility and does Christendom still persecute the Jewish people. To answer these questions fully you have to research the current trends and teachings within Christendom and examine the subject on an individual nation basis. For example in Holland there is a strong Christian support for Israel. In many states in America that is also the case. However there is a growing number of Christians in America and here in the UK who hold with the non-biblical and false Political view that Israel does not have rights to certain areas of the land and are an occupying force.

The Church of England, The Church of Scotland, The Methodists, Presbyterians, and Church in Wales have over recent years, called for boycotts of some description or another against Israel. Christian organisations such as Sabeel, The Amos Trust and Christ at the Check Point have distorted views of scripture and a clear hatred of the idea that Jews have Biblical and Political rights over the land of Israel. Many of the leaders of the Emerging Church movement speak in terms of social justice as a means to vilify Israel. The Emerging Church movement also carries with it an ancient hatred towards Israel and The Laws of God. The teaching within this movement is aligned more with theosophy rather than Scripture and their idea that Israel is a barrier to world peace is in line with the writings of the founder of theosophy Helena Blavatsky of the late eighteen hundreds rather than Christianity.

I wrote in my blog last week that at least two of the Christian summer camps in the UK will host teachers who refuse to accept the many scriptures promising the Jews the Land. Many refuse to accept the prophecies in the book of Daniel and Revelation both speaking about the end times. We can write to the leadership of these organisations, as I have done, and point out the wrong teaching but the leadership often display a very hard hearted position. The replies we receive appear to be couched in love and blessing towards ourselves as complainants but are in fact a denial of the truth of scripture and the facts on the ground. This of course is a continuation Christendom’s position over centuries.

The simple truth is that many within Christendom believe they are completely separated from any connection with Israel. They have disregarded the scriptures which tell of Yeshua shepherding Gentiles into the same fold as the Jews -John Chapter 10. Or the teaching of Paul that tells us we are grafted in Romans 11. They ignore the words of Paul that we are to uphold the Torah –Romans 3 v 31. They simply believe that God has finished with the Jewish people and the Torah and have raged against Israel and The Laws of God for two thousand years.

This ancient hostility is fuelling many within Christendom today but is in direct opposition to God is opposing God and in fact opposing many the Political agreements of the past. Christendom has aligned with the hostility of Edom and perpetuating that today.

In the scriptures of Ezekiel and Zechariah, as mentioned at the beginning of my blog, it is clear that God is watching everything that is done and said. These scriptures make it clear that there is without doubt a punishment attacked to our actions against Israel.

The last verses in Mathew 25 also make this very clear as when we read the least of these He is referring to the Jewish people;

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.^{43 “}Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

For twenty centuries many within Christendom have left the Jews hungry, thirsty, unclothed, sick and in prison and continues to do so today.

What then should we Bible believing Christians do? The non-Biblical and ill-informed Political positions of those who hate Israel often lie and deceive as an expression of that ancient hostility. This has gone on for centuries and continues today with some leaders using their position as Church leaders a mask for their antisemitic motives.

The first thing we have to do if we are part of a church movement or organisation which opposes Israel, or is even apathetic towards Israel and Gods Laws is to say sorry to God.  We have to repent of being a part of an organisation or Church which is opposed to the very words God spoke through the prophets. Repentance is the only way to be right with God. We also have to learn to speak out and to have the courage to join with those congregations who do support Israel. With God we cannot be a bystander and neither can we condone the actions of others by remaining silent because silence is often a confirmation to those leaders that you are their followers.

If you would like to join with Fathers House or Christians for Zion in our support of Israel and our goal of biblical education just send me an e-mail and we will welcome you.

Michael Fryer 

Indoctrinating our young people

I don’t want to boast in what I have done because my boast is in God alone, but I want to tell you a little about some of my experiences as a way to express my shock at the extraordinary indoctrination taking place in some of the Christian summer camps here in the UK.

I first went to Israel just after the six day war in 1967 and that visit certainly impacted me. I began revisiting Israel in 2003 and from that time I have been gathering information, film footage, interviews, witnessing the results of suicide bomber attacks and experiencing rockets hitting the very street I walked along.  I would say that I have some understanding of what is happening in Israel and how certain situations affect the people who live there.

In 1994 I took a lorry of aid to refugee camps in Bosnia and encountered many difficulties ordinary people faced in a war zone and I saw a great deal of suffering amongst Muslim and Croat communities.

I served as a Police Officer for over 27 years and dealt with crimes involving murder, child abuse, and drug trafficking and I saw many sad and very distressing situations. I was a uniformed officer at the Toxteth riots and on the picket lines in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire during the Miners’ strike. I have experienced those in authority deceiving and lying to protect themselves or manipulating the truth in order proceed with their own agendas.

I have been a Pastor for over twelve years and studied Holocaust at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem for four years. This has given me a deeper insight into the capabilities of man to destroy even the most innocent of human beings.

I am not, as you will imagine, shocked by much but I am shocked about the “mass indoctrination” of the Christendom community within the UK, particularly among our young people. Many of the leaders within Christendom today are not only teaching young people to disregard scripture and the tenets of our faith but they are teaching their followers to hate a nation and a people who have done nothing to warrant the accusations made against them. Israel seems to be the target of so many ministries now and the imminent Christian summer camps will teach non biblical and non – factual matters regarding Israel and the Jewish people to thousands of unsuspecting Christians.

The organisers of events such as Greenbelt and New Wine have again this year invited speakers who have their own non biblical agendas. Greenbelt who have their festival in Gloucester in August, have invited speakers who have a distorted view of what Christians should know about Israel both biblically and politically. At least two of their speakers this year are outspoken critics of Israel and are actively involved in promoting an anti-Israel Political Agenda which will at this event be passed on to our young people.     

Dr. Mark Braverman of the USA is speaking at Greenbelt this year. He is described as someone who “was transformed by witnessing the occupation of Palestine”….” He is on the advisory board of Friends of Sabeel again an anti-Israel organisation. He is also on the Board of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions-USA. He is a cofounder of Friends of Tent of Nations North America, which is described as a non-profit organisation supporting Palestinian land rights in historic Palestine. Dr. Braverman consults to and writes for the Israel Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church USA and is a consultant for Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding. Dr. Braverman presented an address at the launch of the Kairos Palestine document in Bethlehem in 2009 and at the global Kairos conference in Johannesburg in 2010. In 2012 he led a panel on Kairos theology at the “Where We Dwell in Common” International Ecumenical Conference in Assisi Italy and led a weeklong seminar on Kairos theology at the Iona Abbey in Scotland. We all know that that document is based on anti-Israel rhetoric.

Another speaker is Lucy Winkett who is Rector of St James’s Piccadilly. She is Chair of Trustees of the Amos Trust, an NGO which is anti-Israel. The Amos trust write in their mission statement “We seek to raise awareness of the impact on the lives of ordinary Palestinian people caused by the occupation, the restrictions on people's freedom, the horror of illegal home demolitions and the building of the separation wall. “

What will Lucy Winkett as Chair of the Amos Trust teach our young people at Greenbelt? 

Speaking at the New Wine Network summer camps is Jeremy Moody Director of Embrace Middle East and supporter of Sabeel and other anti-Israel groups. Mr Moody who last year spoke in favour of the Muslim brotherhood and condemned Israel will speak at two seminars during the summer camps. He described Jesus last year as a Semite from an oriental religion. He vilified Israel in his talk on the Arab Spring. He did not use one scripture to support his argument and did not use any scriptures which support Israel being gathered back to their land. I complained last year about his unbiblical attack on Israel and complained again this year that he had been invited back to New Wine as a speaker. I have had this reply to my complaint from one of the Leadership at New Wine. 

Thank you for your email about Jeremy moody speaking at New Wine.  I can assure you that your letter was taken seriously and many of my leadership team did listen to Jeremy's talk last year and felt that he wasn’t promoting a non biblical anti Israel agenda.  I'm sorry you feel no longer able to support the work of New Wine and Soul Survivor and we wish you every blessings in all that you do.

Clearly those who heard the recording have no knowledge of Scripture or the situation in Israel. So would you trust these leaders to teach your children Christian doctrine or theology? Are they indoctrinating our children and demonising Israel which will lead to a generation of Christians hating Israel. This is all very disturbing bearing in mind that Yeshua (Jesus) says that He will Judge the nations for how they deal with Israel and Paul tells us we owe a debt to Israel because they are our nourishing root.

On the CFZ You Tube site the following comment was made about an Interview I conducted with a Holocaust Survivor “Israel is the evil on earth. All Jews were communists” !!!

Whoever made this comment obviously hates Jews but how that does happen when the likelihood is that they may never have met a Jew, a Holocaust Survivor or a have any knowledge about the subject. The probability is that they will have been taught to hate.

This is the very reason why I am so shocked about what is being taught in Christian Summer camps today. There is a process taking place which unjustly demonises Israel, leaving those who hear the messages with a lasting and unhealthy attitude towards a nation who today are blessing the world. This includes the Arab nations with technology, medical and agricultural knowledge.  Palestinian Arabs are receiving medical help and being given financial and material aid by Israel.

This year in the HAMAS summer camps they will teach over 100,000 School children from Gaza to hate Israel and they will train them in military techniques with which to fight Israel. Christian summer camps may not be so obviously anti-Israel or as violent but it is a fact that they will be teaching our young people to fight Israel on a Political footing and they will lead them to believe that Israel has no Biblical foundation.

All credible Holocaust historians will say that without Christendom the Holocaust could never have taken place. It appears that without some of the Christian summer camps here in the UK, Christian young people and families would not learn to call Israel an occupying power or an oppressive regime or blame them for the situation in Gaza but would learn from the Bible. to love and respect a nation who is called to show the world that thee is a God who is faithful How can we stop this mass indoctrination of our young people? This indoctrination and demonization has the potential to grow and manifest in ways we are not prepared for. We cannot be bystanders any longer we have to act. We cannot expect the Jewish community to step into something which is a stain within Christendom—this is our business.

This indoctrination and is not coincidental, many of these heretical speakers are associates and their goal is to demonise Israel leading to the obvious outcome. American and European Christian leaders with this agenda have planned to infiltrate Christian communities and their goal is being realised today.    

So I want to ask you to answer the question, what can you do to join with us, how you can help and how can we bring scriptural truth to our young people and tell the true story of the events taking place in Israel.

Every Blessing to you

Michael Fryer

  

Woe to those who call good evil and evil good

Winston Church once said that everyone at some time in their life stumbles over the truth but most get up and continue on the same path. That is something which I think the leaders of the New Wine network have done with startling enthusiasm-got up and carried on.

The New Wine Network of Churches was founded in 1982 on Biblical Principles and teaching Biblical foundations to people of all ages. I guess like us all they got some things wrong but the integrity of their leaders led them a path which always desired to follow the truth.

Last year Jeremy Moody Director of the Charity Embrace Middle East spoke at a seminar at New Wine and made statements which were not only untrue but were ludicrous in the extreme. Moody tried to sell the audience the idea that the Muslim brotherhood were safe guardians of Copts Christians in Egypt and then without any foundation to his statements blamed Israel for all the problems Copts Christians were experiencing. He told us that Jesus was a Semite from an oriental religion and that Peter the Apostle spoke Arabic. His talk, which was advertised simply as an explanation of the Arab spring, was nothing more than a diatribe from someone who, not only should be the director of an organisation which was founded in support of Israel by Lord Shaftsbury, but should never be allowed to speak to at any event Christian or otherwise.

Having made an appointment I spoke at length to one of the leaders of New Wine and detailed the sad event. With the belief that this would be dealt with in manner worthy of mature Christian leaders, I resolved to trust that Mr Moody would not be invited back.

WRONG, my discernment let me down and I now find that Mr Moody is returning to New Wine this summer. Maybe they didn’t take my word alone and were not convinced by my appeal. NO, that can’t be, the message was recorded! Ha! But maybe it wasn’t a clear recording NO, that can’t be I have the recording loud and clear. May be it is OK to call Jesus a Semite and Judaism an oriental religion, or try to sell the idea that Peter spoke Arabic. BUT, He was a Jew and taught and practised Judaism, so why try to mislead Christians to think differently. ( If you want a copy of that recording please mail me)

Is it then that they have invited him back because as Mr Moody suggested Israel really is the cause of Christian persecution in the Middle East? NO again, Christians in Gaza and throughout Israel have been far safer and even flourished under Israeli governance. In fact often I receive e-mails from Jewish organisations pointing out that they are concerned about the Christian communities in Gaza and Bethlehem.

After the removal of the Gush Katif community from Gaza in 2005 Christians in Gaza began to face increasing persecution from their new Leaders. HAMAS began to govern Gaza in June 2007 and I checked my records to find the following incidents took place in Gaza.    

On 6^th October 2007 Rami Ayyad, 29, a prominent member of Gaza Baptist Church and manager of a Christian bookstore owned by the Palestinian Bible Society, was kidnapped shortly after he had closed the store for the day. His body was found the following day about a mile from the store. (The Photo is of Rami).

  

No one has claimed responsibility for his death. He had been shot twice and struck with a blunt object. Rami leaves behind a wife, Pauline, who is pregnant with their third child, and two children under the age of 3. Hundreds of fellow Christians gathered Oct. 7 for his funeral. He was buried next to his father. During that period, tensions between Muslims and Christians escalated. The Bible Society store had been attacked again when a bomb was detonated at the door of the building, damaging the first floor. No one was injured. Other Christians had been robbed and threatened.

In August 2007 The Baptist Press reported that a Christian university professor in Gaza Sana al-Sayegh was kidnapped on June 24^th 2007, and was forced to marry a Muslim professor at the same university. Five days later, she contacted her family to say she was being held against her will so she could be married to a Muslim man.

In April 2007 a bomb severely damaged the Palestinian Bible Society building. The building, located in the city centre, and housed the Teacher's Bookshop, Gaza's only Christian bookstore. Hanna Massad the Pastor of the Baptist Church in Gaza  said the massive explosion occurred around 2 a.m., causing damage. Before setting the bomb, masked gunmen kidnapped the store security guard, beat him and left him in a deserted area near the city, Hanna said. The guard is now in stable condition; there were no other reported injuries.

A press release from the Bible Society confirmed Hanna’s report, stating that gunmen abducted the security guard and placed the bomb at the door an hour later. Similar attacks aimed at Internet cafes and music stores occurred the same day throughout Gaza.

In June 2007 Hanna reported   "In the last few days, the Palestinian Authority Police took our church building as a watching point," He said the church attempted to deny the police request to take the building, but officers broke in. Massad later discovered that a computer and other equipment, valued at about $4,000, had been taken. He also said he had to stop an evening worship service on June 10 due to shooting nearby. The apartment of a church member was bombed as well, slightly injuring the person occupier.

There have been many incidents since the time HAMAS took control of Gaza which have caused many in the Christian community of Gaza to leave. Only last month I reported HAMAS legislation will now force the last examining Cristian Schools in Gaza to close.

There is not one scrap of evidence that Israel has been the cause of the demise of the Cristian communities in Israel or Egypt but there is a great deal of evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood are a threat to Copts in Egypt and HAMAS are certainly a threat to Christians in Gaza. 

  

My wife has been involved with new Wine since day one and we have taken our children back to New Wine and Soul Survivor the off shoot many times since. I have even served as a steward and supported the ministry, I have taken our Church to the summer camps. Sadly we will not be attending this year because I cannot say that I trust the leaders of New Wine to teach truth to my children or my friends when it is absolutely clear that they call good evil and evil good.

So why have they invited him back? These are the times when truth is not spoken and Christians are being deceived by their leaders who do not regard truth.

 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” Isaiah 5 v 20.

Michael Fryer