Message to Christian Friends of Jews

by Steven Shamrak

There are many different Christian churches, groups and movements. Some call themselves Zionists or good and true Christians. Many of them are deeply antagonistic toward mainstream Catholics and Anglicans. And they disassociate themselves from the actions of their church in the past.

Just recently, the Pope, leader of 1.1 billion Catholics, deliberately omitted Israel from the list of countries suffering from Islamic terror in his speech. Following his example, an Anglican archbishop did not mention two Jews as victims of London bombings. Some Church leaders are still advocating divestment from Israel, but not from Muslim countries linked to Islamic terrorism!

We have not been hearing condemnations made by "true Christians" of the anti-Semitic behaviour and Israel-bashing by their Christian brothers in the past and the present. Most of them are silent about Arab terrorism in Israel, anti-Semitic acts in their own countries and anti-Israel discriminatory behaviour of the UN, EU, Red Cross and USA as well. True friendship can be measured only by actions!

The inaction of church leaders and the Christian leadership of the US and European governments against the spreading of Islamic terror is appalling and borders on criminal negligence. For many years they have been ignoring the warnings about Islamic expansionistic ambitions. They ignore the fact, that true Islamists hate Christians even more than Jews. Now they are experiencing the result of their duplicity. Europe is under the flame of Islamic fire but the hypocrites still are not able to face the reality and are playing the dangerous game of political correctness, ignorance and providing false justifications to basic Islamic hate toward anything that is not Muslim!

From the Jewish point of view it is difficult to distinguish the true friends among the Christian groups. Most of them claim friendship but actually have sinister motives. The Messianic Christians, for example, consider themselves as 'good Christians'. This is in spite of the fact that the main objective of the Messianic church is to prove the validity of Christian teachings by converting lost Jewish souls to Christianity. They believe, as many before them, that the increase in the number of Jewish Christians is an indication that the Church is G-d's true religion. In the past the forceful conversion of Jews was a preferred method, but proved ineffective.

Unfortunately, many Christian groups and organizations still believe and practice the old traditional theology of hate or misguided envy toward Jews. They ignore the fact that conversion of Jews to Christianity is actually against the will of the G-d and undermines the most important Christian doctrine of the Second coming. It diminishes the chance of all Jews to come to Israel, as He commanded for the arrival of the Jewish Messiah. Effectively, due to deeply imbedded anti-Semitism or pathological jealousy, many branches of the Church have been sabotaging the Second coming of their Messiah by evangelising Jews.

I respect any belief system as long as they do not discriminate against others. At the same time, I demand the same respect toward my people, our traditions and our rights from others. True friendship is a two way street.

Jews welcome moral and political support for Israel from the non-Jewish friends. But it must be given without any ulterior motives. The good Christian friends must not be frustrated when Jews criticize the anti-Semitic behaviour of the Church. Most often, the Church practice and religion have very little in common! If you follow the Bible’s message of love, you are on the right side and have nothing to be concerned about. The bottom line is - your teacher was a Jew and it is difficult to distort his message of love!