This coming March, the third Christ at the Checkpoint Conference (CaTC) will take place in Bethlehem. The theme for this year’s conference is taken straight out of the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:10: “Your Kingdom Come”. By their own declaration, the organizers of CaTC have a mission defined as follows:
The mission of Christ at the Checkpoint is to Challenge Evangelicals To Take Responsibility To Help Resolve the Conflicts in Israel-Palestine By Engaging With the Teaching of Jesus on the Kingdom of God.
They have a noble cause –so it appears– as they claim to be promoting reconciliation. As a matter of fact, reconciliation is an important part of the conference manifesto and appears in the first two of their 12 articles:
1. The Kingdom of God has come. Evangelicals must reclaim the prophetic role in bringing peace, justice and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel.
2. Reconciliation recognizes God’s image in one another.
For a more complete analysis of the CaTC Manifesto, see my 2012 article going over each of the twelve articles in details with biblical support.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, reconciliation can be defined as: The act of causing two people or groups to become friendly again after an argument or disagreement.
So one would expect that in order for reconciliation to genuinely take place, both sides of the disagreement would seek to find the best common ground through dialogue AND compromise. Last time I checked, dialogue and compromise required both sides of the argument to be involved in a quest for a viable solution. Is it the case for the upcoming CaTC conference or are we again brain-washed by some one-sided propaganda in favor of Palestinian victimization?
Agreeing that the needed reconciliation is between Israeli and Palestinians over the disputed territories and rights to the Land of Israel/Palestine and taking in consideration that the conference is organized by Christians, we should be able to define our expectations. Additionally, we should be able to determine if the choices were biased or unbiased.
Let’s start with the location of the conference being Bethlehem (in the biblical land of Israel), currently part of the disputed territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Anytime one wants to bring two disputing parties to the table, it is never recommended to set that table within the boundaries of one of the two parties at odds. The United-States, Canada or even Europe might have been a better choice. VERDICT: BIASED
The conference website opens to a banner picturing the security fence from the Palestinian side with a Palestinian man planting a tree, watched by a boy. A Christian Church building is depicted on the left, also on the Palestinian side. No sign of anything Jewish, Israeli or even any Hebrew letters. Additionally, a tab in Arabic is available from the homepage while no link to a Hebrew version exists. Of the the 21 links provided under the “Multimedia” tab, only one “Ha-aretz” is a link to a Jewish News site. The rest of them all link to sites heavily tipping the scale towards the Palestinian cause. VERDICT: BIASED
The resources provided under “multimedia:” include twelve books and DVDs. I am familiar and own several of them that I have reviewed. The one-sidedness of every single one of these resources is so blatant that after reading just a couple of chapters you start realizing that the authors must have a different definition for the word reconciliation. Many of the authors promoted there, are also speakers at each conference. VERDICT: BIASED
The Manifesto starts with the statement: The Kingdom of God has come. This sets the stage for the rest of their theological foundation, and frankly I believe that it establishes a false premise on very fragile theological grounds. Kingdom Now Theology also known as a variance of Dominion Theology claims among other things, that Yeshua’s Kingdom was inaugurated at His first coming while Scripture states that He will reign as Messianic King on the throne of David from Jerusalem in the yet to come Millennial Messianic Kingdom (Psalm 72:8, 11, 17; Isaiah 9:7, 11:6-11; Jeremiah 23:6, Zechariah 3:10). The Bible also never mentioned that Jerusalem was in “Palestine”. The only mention of Palestine in the Bible is in the maps section, and last time I checked, it was not part of the inspired Word of God!) VERDICT: BIASED
In gathering all these elements, I cannot help but ask myself what kind of reconciliation is CaTC seeking? Instead of genuine reconciliation, are they seeking the humiliation of Israel as they are forced to admit their wrongdoing unilaterally? But what wrongdoing is Israel really admitting to?
The Bible is more than clear about the Land of Israel belonging to the Jewish people, yet support of Israel is dwindling fast. World demographics are constantly changing but I fear that Christian demographics are also to be considered. The days of biblical Christian Zionists who supported Israel yet prayed for all people including Arabs and Muslims are almost gone. The fabric of evangelical Christianity has changed and with it comes the demonization of Israel and the heavy promotion of Christian Palestinianism. This of course is contrary to what the Bible teaches, but wait, I forgot…most people don’t read their Bible anymore!
I would support Christ at the Checkpoint wholeheartedly if it was truly a Christian endeavor seeking to moderate a dialogue between Jews and Arabs, but they have clearly showed their colors. Recently they turned down the testimony of British-born Israeli tour guide Kay Wilson who survived a terrible and brutal terrorist attack in 2010 (she was more fortunate than her Christian friend accompanying her who was killed). They claimed that the conference had no more room for speakers.
As long as they belittle, denigrate and humiliate my people, I can only call them a fraud. All the while I will continue to pray for true reconciliation of Arabs and Jews through the shed blood of Yeshua the Messiah.
As long as they belittle, denigrate and humiliate my people, I can only call them a fraud. All the while I will continue to pray for true reconciliation of Arabs and Jews through the shed blood of Yeshua the Messiah.
Christ at the Checkpoint organizers are not fooling me, they are certainly not fooling the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and my prayer is that they wouldn’t fool you either.
Christ at the Checkpoint is another propaganda campaign in the same vein as Jimmy Carter’s poorly written: Peace Not Apartheid. I agree, as true bible believing Christians, we understand Jesus loves Jew and Arab, we want peace, and such an endeavor could be supported. Unfortunately, at the core of this so called peace movement the blame game is being played again. The Jews have been chased all over the world for centuries…now the media and ill advised so called reconciliation movements are doing the same with words. What a shame. My blog: concerning the times.blogspot.com
I agree. Satan is working hard to get the world to go against Israel. He is doing a good job. Replacement theology is rampant in the churches today.
Christ at the checkpoint is a disgrace. In order for there to be true reconciliation between two adversarial parties there must be honesty and truth at the very heart of it. There must also be a sense of good will on the part of both parties. i have always believed that Israel was sincere in wanting peace with the Palestinians, but there is no reciprocity on the part of the Palestinians toward Israel. They lie, cheat, deceive, propagandize, commit murder and mayhem. Not all of them of course, but their leadership truly stinks!! It is profoundly disgusting what these sol-called Christians are doing.
I seriously doubt if those supposed Christians who get involved with Christ at the Checkpoint are genuine Christians. To stand and side with evil and not even show a modicum of concern for Christians who are suffering in Nigeria, etc is most odd. They love to dance and sup with the crocodile in the name of false peace. The world does not need another Muslim state, too many already and the Church should read their Bibles and know that the Almighty is a Zionist.
Not only do I doubt the reality of these supposed Christians I have also to question their powers of reasoning and intellects. Frankly the problem is not the wall, not the checkpoints but the ideology which festers hatred amongst so many of the Palestinians. Islamists tend to hold fast to supremacist, fascist religious political ideologies. The warped ideologies have much in common with Nazi ideologies and that is the barrier to peace. Meddling supposed Christians will not bring about peace. I am an unashamed Christian Zionist, I read my Bible, I trust I have discernment from the Lord and thus support Israel. I have a degree in History and again I can recognise fascism. I truly fail to understand how educated supposed Christians can be so gullible, unless of course they dance to Satan’s drumbeat.
The Lord had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. II Kings 21:7 Israel is God’s dream…The title deed belongs to him. It is his to bestow on whomever he wills. He has given that right of occupation to the Jewish people, The Abrahamic Covenant Genesis 12:1-3. When God made his eternal promises to Israel, there was NO United Nations, no United States, no Russia, no European Union, and no Arab League. There were only pagan nations to challenge this dream, to challenge God and His Word. Those same pagan voices are challenging the right of the Jews to occupy their own land and a unified Jerusalem. Those who are apathetic toward God’s divine Plan and eternal promise, means they are rejecting the Lord’s divine assessment to the Church. God’s prophetic time clock has been set on Jerusalem time throughout history, and the spotlight of Heaven is still on the Jews as His Chosen People. It began with them and it will End with them, and whoa to those who try every deception and lie under the sun to divide and pry Jerusalem from the rightful owners….the Jews!
My wife and I visited Israel to our great blessing. What we did not know before going was that while we were told we were going at the request of the mayor of Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas, this was through the Portland Singing Christmas Tree, and would ‘the first night there get to eat supper with Palestinian Christians, we did not know: That our tour guides were Palestinian, bus drivers Palestinian. We were not told that on the Travel and Encounter calendar for the Holy Land Trust our time there was shown as on there itinerary. My wife and I were not up to date on Sami Awad and the Bethlehem Collages agenda. We thought ‘Great we get to meet Palestinian Christians the will be praying for Israel, helping Israel.’ Little did we know we were part of a propaganda tool. We were in a group of over 100 Christians from different states. We got to observe the increase in negativity towards Israel grow within the group as our trip progressed. We also heard our Palestinian guides blame their own government and people for many of the restrictions upon the Palestinian people that typically are blamed on Israel. Of course these things were not said in the open, some I overheard between them. They spoke of Jesus being Palestinian: not Jewish. The angelic announcement of the birth of Christ was to Palestinian shepherds-NOT JEWISH. The promises to Israel in the Bible belong to Palestinians. They talked ‘nice’, they talked ‘peaceful’ while always subtly creating the picture of their pain at the hands of ‘blind’, perhaps well meaning Israeli’s persecuting them. We pray for the Palestinians, especially those that need salvation, but we KNOW what God has STATED in many places and different ways in Holy Scripture: He formed a people who were not a people: Israel, There is an unbreakable land promise to Israel, and connection as His chosen special people. The Church DOES NOT REPLACE Israel, but does stand to benefit as joint heirs on Some of Israel’s promises found in Holy Scripture. God lifts the church and turns back to redeem ALL of Israel. Plus much, much more, in detail, in Scripture that denounces this check point propaganda and Lifts up the Mighty name of Jesus, King of the Jews, Come quickly, Lord Jesus!!
C
I wonder why these people deal with more urgent and serious situations. Like; bring reconciliation between North and South Korea. Or in Sudan. But maybe they don’t have the courage for that kind of peace work?
Spot on truth!
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We living very hard time in around the word and hate for Israel are DANGERIOUS TO DESTROY PEACE ON THE EARHT WITH ALOT THE WAR AND DARKNES AND THE BIBLE TELLS US BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO BELSS ISRAEL AND CURSE ARE THOSE WHO CURSE ISRAEL!”MY friends pray for Israel to be protect from hate,thanks and bless and joy,keijo sweden