Emissaries of the Devil
For more than 2,000 years, the great imitation has gone on. And over the same period, millions upon millions have placed their hopes for health, happiness, economic prosperity, and communion…
EDITORIAL
The Rip Van Winkle Syndrome
Remember the story about Rip Van Winkle, the likable fellow of Dutch descent who slipped away from a nagging wife and bedded down for a nap under a shady…
So Much for the Divine Spark
Most of us have had such sentiments thrown at us when we’ve lamented the current state of affairs and extolled the virtues of the “good old days.” Well, since the genocidal…
The Certainty of Our Security
As the year turns, Americans find themselves moving into a new political reality. The operative word in most quarters is uncertainty. Where will the “new direction” take us? No one…
Questions That Beg for Answers
Here we go again. Just as they exploded with rage over 12 cartoons published in a Danish newspaper in September 2005, Muslims again are demonstrating that they will not extend freedom of the press…
Rediscovering Evil
The TV news anchors were discussing an unspeakably vicious murder that had been committed without provocation. The report was shocking but, unfortunately, the fare we have come to expect on the evening…
Ignoring the Obvious
While Americans burn time arguing the merits, or lack thereof, of the absurd fiction The Da Vinci Code (24 percent of its readers said the novel aided their “personal growth and spiritual understanding”), a real-time…
Sixty Years From Now
While rummaging through some photos recently, I ran across a picture of the Corrie ten Boom tree of honor at the upper end of the Street of Righteous Gentiles at the Yad Vashem Holocaust…
The Day Rose-Colored Glasses Turned Green
On January 25 things looked pretty good for wishful thinkers who perpetually see the world through rose-colored glasses. The Palestinian election polls were showing a 10-point spread between Palestinian President Mahmoud…
A War Strictly off the Record
The teenagers were on their way to their Christian school in Poso (Sulawesi), Indonesia. As they walked through a cocoa plantation, none could have imagined the horror awaiting them. Hiding beside the path, hooded jihadists…
What’s So Special About Christmas?
When it comes to the holidays, and I’m asked to name a favorite, it’s not difficult. Thanksgiving is the day. It’s a time when the air is crisp and clear…
A Grave for Israel?
In light of the situation in the Middle East, the poet’s words are hauntingly prophetic. Not only do they carry refrains from Israel’s ancient prophets, but they echo the Holocaust, pogroms, and the perpetual anti-Semitism…
A Hand of Help for Gaza
Although the context is far removed from the essence of that ancient encounter, if you have ever ventured into the Gaza Strip you have likely thought something similar. On my last visit…
You Only Get One Mistake
I have a friend who spent his military career in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a sapper—a military demolitions specialist. His job was to defuse land mines and other lethal explosives. Upon being inducted…
When Forgetting Is Unforgivable
It is the choice of the educational system on both sides of the Atlantic. The West buries the grim realities of historical atrocities beneath a gloss of contemporary superficiality. Our obsession to pursue pleasure…
School’s Out for Aviel
Three-year-old Aviel Atash was excited as he boarded the bus with his mother headed for his first day in school. Aviel never made it. A short distance from where he and his mom boarded…
The Wahabi Invasion of America
In February of 2003 a University of South Florida professor and six others were charged with aiding Islamic Jihad, a global terrorist organization. In July a federal grand jury…
Where Do We Sign Up?
Colonel Teddy Roosevelt, later to become the twenty-sixth president of the United States, was certified as an American icon during the Spanish-American War of 1898. The Spanish presence in North America, especially in Cuba…
Israel’s Significance Is Insignificant
Geo-political Israel today is not to be understood as God’ s promise to Abraham and Joshua. IT IS NOT! …It is fair to say, the world owes them a homeland. But, and this is important…
The Cell Phones Wouldn’t Stop Ringing
A friend of mine who lives in Jerusalem was on his way to work on the morning of January 29. He was suffering the usual heavy morning traffic, three cars behind an Egged bus…
Pondering Life in the ‘New Jerusalem’
That’s the dream. But dreams rarely reflect reality. And nocturnal pleasantries inevitably vaporize when exposed to the harsh light of morning. Such will be the case when foreign interlopers, dreamers, and wishful thinkers impose..
A New Kind of War in a New Kind of World
Talk to most people over sixty and you’re apt to detect an air of nostalgia in the conversation after a while. References to “the good old days” bore younger listeners to tears but are rewarded…
Five Big Words
When speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, visited Israel recently, he said cryptically, “Israel’s fight is our fight.” Just five words to be sure, but words defining what the conflict in the Middle…
Reliving the Thirties
The struggle over suppressing discrimination in Western societies is an ongoing problem that will grow with the ever-increasing influx of third-world minorities into more affluent nations. Additionally, judicial decisions that grant…
Potholes in the Road Map
Just how difficult it will be to negotiate the much-ballyhooed “road map” to peace in the Middle East was summed up by Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, after the Israeli cabinet recently approved the plan…
Duty, Honor, Country—Still Alive and Well
A quiet debate reportedly has arisen in the Bush administration over whether our victorious men and women in uniform should be awarded ticker tape, flag-waving parades down New York City’s 5th Avenue…
Show Us the Map
During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the infamous Berlin Wall and issued a challenge. “Mr. Gorbachev,” he said, “Tear down this wall…
Selling Islam in America
The one-year commemoration of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon spawned a huge irony. While Americans and masses of people the world over held solemn…
Confused About Who the Bad Guys Are?
If you’re not confused, give America’s largest teachers’ union time to work on a few more lesson plans, and you can be sure that the next generation will be. As though it’s not enough…
Standing Tall in the Rose Garden
When George W. Bush strode into the White House rose garden in June, much of the world waited somewhat eagerly to hear what the U.S. chief executive would say. He said a mouthful. Some likened…
Rerunning the ‘30s
We’ve seen it all before. Swastikas in the streets, arms raised in infamous SiegHeil salutes, preposterous statements being made that hark back to the 1930s in Hitler’s Europe. But this is not the ‘30s. We…
Say It Isn’t So!
A favorite occupation of liberal American politicians over the years has been to vilify the “religious right.” It is, they say, inhabited by politically incorrect, intolerable bigots guilty of impeding the march toward a secular…
Palestinian Flags Over the Churches of Jerusalem?
Hours before Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Yasser Arafat made his December pledge to stop the suicide bombings and terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli civilians, he made another promise. Speaking in a mosque in Palestinian-held Ramallah…
It’s Up to You
In the heyday of the theological stampede toward liberalism, radical notions fluttered in the wind like puffs from a seedy dandelion. Sin, human depravity, judgment, and hell were all subjects banished from “liberated” pulpits…
Peace–Present and Promised
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Lk. 2:13–14).
U.S. Embassy–Closing the Door Once More
Early in June the current administration opted to follow the lead of former President Clinton, at least temporarily, by closing the door on moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Citing security interests…
The Voice of the Devil
It started in the Garden of Eden. His voice was soothing and persuasive; the objects of his intentions, receptive; and, as a result, we live today with some very regrettable consequences.
Transition
Among the most difficult phases in the life of any Christian organization is the transition of leadership. We all, of course, recognize that it is a necessary yet sometimes hazardous undertaking.
Christians and the Jerusalem Giveaway
When, during the 1967 Six-Day War, Israeli Colonel Mordechai “Motta” Gur uttered the electrifying words, “The Temple Mount is in our hands!” Jewish people danced in the streets; and Bible-believing Christians shared their unbridled joy.
Listening for the Chariots
According to a recent report in Ha’aretz, Israel is weighing the prospect of international control over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Israeli newspaper reports that “Israel is not ruling out the possibility of acceding…
Knowing Who Your Friends Are
When a Jewish senator was interviewed on the subject of anti-Semitism, he frankly acknowledged how anti-Jewish prejudice had affected his life. “I believe,” he said, “that from time to time, every Jew looks around…
Never Missing an Opportunity to Miss an Opportunity
Speaking of Israel’s adversaries, someone once commented that “they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity!” If anyone wants proof of that wry observation, he need only consider the events that took place during…
What Goes Around
We are all well acquainted with the names of people like Corrie ten Boom, Oscar Schindler, and Raoul Wallenburg. Each is distinguished for rescuing Jewish people who were marked for death by the satanically driven…
Creating a Generic Holocaust?
A typical question always asked of people standing in line at the pharmacy counter is whether they want a brand name drug or a generic. Are they the same quality? An honest answer would be, “Sometimes yes;
Can Israel and Syria Make a Deal?
In spite of all the optimistic talk in Washington, Jerusalem, and Damascus about peace being on the horizon, there are serious questions about how much, in the long run, can actually be achieved.
Israel Extends Its Arm
Late last summer the Israeli Navy sent its fleet from the port of Haifa on a special mission. In concert with the navy, Israeli Air Force jets swept into the sky bound for the Mediterranean. Their combined mission was to form a gala welcoming committee. The recipient…
Is Everybody Happy? Don’t Count on It!
When the Sharm Agreement was signed at Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, last month, a mini-eruption of euphoria flowed into statehouses and liberal editorial offices all over the world. At long last, the spin was, we are on the road to…
Running Scared
An Orthodox Jewish rabbi recently wrote about his understanding of where society would be positioned just before the coming of the Messiah. The rabbi’s words have the ring of an Old Testament prophet. “Just before the Messiah comes, humanity…
Changing Horses at High Speed
With the dexterity of an old Pony Express rider, America’s current administration appears to have leaped into a new saddle with bewildering speed. Dust raised from the change of direction is causing great consternation in Jerusalem…
Listen to the Children
The assumption now is that some sort of Palestinian state will soon be a fact of life for Israel and the Middle East. With the U.S. administration manifesting a perceptible policy shift in favor of Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians, coupled with…
Suicide on the Temple Mount
Jerusalem Police Chief Yair Yitzhaki confirmed recently that members of a Denver, Colorado-based doomsday cult have entered Israel. Their agenda, however, is reported to be anything but the usual tour of the Holy Land. Cult watchers…
Watching the Russians
For all of the political turmoil we’ve been experiencing in Washington, DC, things are much worse in Russia—that is, for the United States, Christians, Jewish people, and the Russians themselves. In the former mecca of communism…
Nine Minutes Until Midnight
Following the detonation of nuclear devices by India and Pakistan, a collective chill seemed to run down the spines of thinking people across the face of the Western world. So much so, that there was a flurry of activity among the folk who…
Israel Cannot Forget What Many Refuse to Remember
Repeated denials by U.S. officials of any intention to pressure Israel into a posture of appeasement in the interest of approving nods from Yasser Arafat are refuted by their own actions. The heat is on Israel to acquiesce to Washington’s…
Are Christian Zionists Bad News for Jewry?
Jewish people are being warned to watch out for Christian Zionists by “Bracing for the Apocalypse.” In an article published by Forward newspaper (February 6, 1998), Jonathan Mahler produced a classic exercise in manipulative…
The Great American Culture Clash
We should have known what was coming. The warning from the Apostle Paul was simple and direct. “This know, also,” he said, “that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves…
Eggs Over Easy
It was a bad year for the Jewish people in Israel—suicide bombings, more deaths in Lebanon, murders of innocent civilians, and the peace talks at a standstill. To make matters worse, at year’s end the United States was pressing Prime Minister Netanyahu…
Zionism: One Hundred Years and Counting
Most of us hardly noticed that Israel was having a birthday. No, I’m not talking about its upcoming 50th, which will be celebrated in 1998. It was in August 1897 that a group of Jewish representatives in silk hats and frock coats filed into a hall in Basel, Switzerland, to hear…
Treblinka: The Rails Ran Only One Way
A few weeks ago I went into the deep woods in Poland with a friend. For him, it was a return trip, one that members of his family had almost certainly taken some fifty years…
Terrorism: Inflammation of the Mind
When Yasser Arafat rails on Israel and shouts for his Arab listeners to join him in a Jihad (Holy War) against Jerusalem, his apologists say he really means something else…
Voices from the Sideline
Last December, a group calling themselves “Christians for Middle East Peace” placed an ad in the New York Times calling for Christians to lobby Washington to politically partition Jerusalem into capitals for Israel…
You Get One Mistake
I have a good friend who served in Israel’s fledgling army during the 1948 War of Independence. He was fresh from Europe, after having successfully run the Nazi gauntlet in Poland as a disenfranchised Jewish war waif.
Light From The Tunnel
The infamous tunnel incident in Jerusalem, which saw more than 70 people killed and scores of others wounded, shook the Middle East peace process to its very foundations. Predictably, the Western media lurched into action…
Jesus Is Coming… Look Busy
I’ve seen my share of bumper stickers—most of them many times. The one I saw recently, however, is in a class by itself. “Jesus Is Coming,” it proclaimed. “Look Busy!”…
Now More Than Ever
The ascent of Benjamin Netanyahu to the position of Prime Minister in Israel gave rise to a considerable amount of hand-wringing among international politicians, as well as liberal and anti-Israel elements in the news media.
A Deadly Difference
Social issuesThere is a current fascination with the Islamic religion rising in the United States, and it is being fostered at the highest levels of the current administration and political establishment in Washington.
Americans on the Line
If the militant Islamic Mujahedeen have it their way, the tenuous position of the American peacemakers in Bosnia will be made even worse. According to a recent New York Times News Service release, black-garbed Afghan…
Israel’s Darkest Day
Israel’s era of innocence died with the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Theirs was not an innocence bred by naiveté. At its core it was tough—much like the exterior of the Sabra cactus after…
Jerusalem: Showing the Right Stuff
When Captain Scott O’Grady emerged from the Bosnian underbrush and gave a relieved America the “thumbs up” sign, Newsweek magazine hailed the young pilot as a gutsy American kid who had “the Right Stuff.”
Scalp-Hunting Christians
The Jewess was livid with anger. She had been approached by a man on the street in Jerusalem who had offered her a tract and tried to strike up a conversation about Jesus…
American Troops on the Golan: Another Bad Idea
In a world awash with bad ideas and catastrophic consequences, it is not out of line to counsel caution and offer a bit of good sense to those who make the decisions that affect us…
The Specter of the Holocaust
“We still have the option of Jihad.” These were the words of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat after three Palestinians were killed when Israeli soldiers returned fire leveled at them in the Gaza Strip.
Two Faces of the Middle East
The trees look a bit better along Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv these days. New leaves have sprouted on limbs that were denuded of foliage when a mad bomber from Hamas triggered an explosive device…
A Clear and Present Danger
Life in the Middle East is often fraught with danger for citizens who hope only to live in peace. It goes without saying that the current peace process is a risk-taking venture that reflects…
The Messiah’s House Is Empty
In the village of Kfar Chabad, just off the highway linking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, stands a large brownstone house. I wrote about it in this space shortly after its cornerstone was laid in 1992.
Come September
One of my treasured childhood memories is of trips taken to the farm home of my grandparents in upper Michigan. Old barns smelling of leather harnesses and farm animals are a great source of fascination…
Mainstreaming Madmen
A few nights ago I watched a documentary on the early years of Adolf Hitler. I’d seen it all many times before, but this time around a couple of spine-chilling facets engrossed my mind.
A Window in Sudan
The clamor for a Palestinian state on the West Bank in Israel continues to rise. It is now an established perception in the West, particularly in the media, that the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Accord…
Reading the Handwriting on the Wall
A pop philosopher once said, “If you want to know how things really are, read the graffiti.” Strange as it may seem, there is some biblical basis for such a statement.
Who’s at the Controls?
Dramatic events played out in areas of the world far removed from one another often appear and are, in fact, unrelated. Occasionally, however, a cohesive dimension developing on a larger scale reflects the fact that…
Viewing the Evidence
Looks of revulsion marked the faces of primly dressed Aryan ladies who pressed handkerchiefs against mouths and noses as a defense against the acrid stench rising from the piles of bodies and charred remains draped…
Death With Dignity
The State of Michigan has taken legal steps to shut off Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s “death machine.” In the name of “death with dignity,” the doctor helped more than 10 people hasten their leap into eternity…
Inside Hitler’s Mind
Probing the mind of Adolf Hitler is not an exercise in the macabre that would better be forgotten. For decades, Jews, who were insisting that we remember the Holocaust, were advised to stop their morbid…
Christ in a Kaffiyah?
Turning fiction into fact has become a favored pastime of writers and film producers in the Western world. Their books and docu-dramas using names of actual people and historical events as a backdrop for writing…
Muslim-Christian Alliance?
Coexistence with the West is a high agenda item in the world of Islam. For Muslims, there is much to be gained in the Middle East and among Western nations through infusive relationships…
A Thousand of Them
When Yitzhak Rabin was swept into office last June, he promised to slow the growth of settlements, get the peace talks back on track, shore up relations with the U.S., and rearrange the national priorities.
The Schneerson Syndrome
Judging by the number of signs in Israel bearing the slogan “Prepare for the Coming of the Messiah,” one would be led to believe that the nation is gripped by Messianic fervor unparalled in modern…
Menachem Begin
The passing of Menachem Begin, Israel’s sixth Prime Minister, on March 9th, marked the end of a singular period in the history of the modern State of Israel.
Lowering the Flag
Momentous events are often captured in a phrase or some symbolic gesture that, in itself, seems relatively insignificant. Such was the case in the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The Truth Will Out
For years a perception prevailed that cast the liberal wing of mainstream Christianity as the true friends of Jewry, whose dialoguing with Jews was earmarked by no mention of Christ, and who actively promoted…
Burying a Swastika
We have written in this space a number of times about neo-Nazis and their fellow travelers who dispense hatred for the Jewish people with a passion reminiscent of their mustachioed champion, Adolf Hitler.
Europe’s Siren Song
Western Europe’s Economic Community enthusiastically endorsed the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian people, condemned Israel for “violation of human rights,” and lectured about understanding “that peace doesn’t come from armed violence.”
The Games People Play
The chilling revelation of neo-Nazi video games that have become popular among young people in Germany and Austria threw yet another shock wave across a world that, to many, just doesn’t make sense anymore.
Do You Need Heaven?
We don’t hear much about Heaven these days. The reason is quite simple. For a generation now, we have been occupied with being well-adjusted people in the here and now and enjoying our affluence…
Patriots All
When the first SCUD missiles broke the night skies over Tel Aviv, Israelis raced for gas masks and the world braced for what Israel would do in retaliation to the attacks.
Salad Bar Sanctuaries
Yuppies have finally had it! Bad marriages, barren lifestyles, and children adrift in a culture devoid of coherent values have caused many from the affluence-is-everything generation to go looking for a better way.
A Prescription for Terror
Anti-Semitism is rising like a dark tide across the face of our planet. Over the past seven months there has been a dramatic upswing in anti-Semitic activity.
Staging for Armageddon
When Saddam Hussein violated the borders of another Arab nation, he set an ominous precedent and caused alarms to go off in practically every Arab capital in the region. Analysts interpreted the intrusion correctly as…
Scalp-Hunting Christians Apr/May 1990
The Jewess was livid with anger. She had been approached by a man on the street in Jerusalem who had offered her a tract and tried to strike up a conversation about Jesus…
Editorial Feb/Mar 1990
The hour speaks eloquently for itself: Time is running out. Our fragile planet, with its recurrent environmental crises and diminishing ability to supply the demands of a soaring population, is reeling toward a time…