Jews opposed to Zionism

In 1990 I was on a ship that docked at Zada on the Adriatic Coast of Yugoslavia. The place looked so inhospitable. When I came ashore further down the coast at Split, I had a similar impression. The outward indicators were that the officials were officious; the modern architecture was bland; there were few flowers around the streets. Others had told me that you get a certain feeling in a Socialist country. And I felt it. The feeling was more normal when I mixed among the local people.

Surprisingly, I had a similar feeling as I flew into Tel Aviv for the first time, which surprised me. And it was there when I visited a kibbutz which had been founded by people with a socialist mind-set. I had thought that Israel would be a bigger version of my childhood neighbours’ place.

As a child, I had lived for a time next door to the Jewish Club in Wellington, New Zealand, a few years after the Second World War. The cook’s son and I played together. I still remember the fresh platted bread loaves with sesame or poppy seeds on top. Sometimes I would see men with a haunted look at the club and my mother told me that they had suffered in the war. Even with these sad reminders of the recent past, there was a sense of hospitality and of faith in God about the club.

 Things fell into place when I came across Jewish people on the Internet who are opposed to Zionism. Their beliefs seemed much closer to the ones that I had experienced as a gentile child amongst Jews.

http://www.nkusa.org/index.cfm

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/

http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/index.htm

Jews opposed to Zionism think that secular Jews have taken matters into their own hands to get back the Promised Land.  From my reading of it, Jews opposed to Zionism believe that they were dispossessed of their land in the first century because they had been unfaithful to God and His Law. God would restore them to the Holy Land in his time and in his way.

Inspired by their earlier history, they say that the Jewish people are to be productive citizens in their places of exile. (See Jeremiah 29:7, 10) God will intervene by choosing a gentile instrument like King Cyrus (See 2 Chronicles 36:19-13) who would provide them with the help to return home. They are to believe and not to interfere in God’s work.

Such an approach does raise interesting questions. Do Zionists unwittingly carry out the socialist plans of their financial backers?  Does God have a plan to restore the Jewish People to their historic homeland so that they can live in peace and justice with the people around them?  Are the Muslims neighbours not so much opposed to people of Jewish faith as they are to secular Zionists? In other words, do they smell a rat, something to do with a socialist New World Order?

The faith of the Jews opposed to Zionism inspires me to think even further. They believe that God will restore them in his time and in his way to their land. The God they worship is also ‘the God of all the kingdoms of the world’ (Isaiah 37:16). Then, if the Christians among us are as faithful to our Gospel as they are to be to their Law, the Peace of Christ will come to the earth. (See Luke 2:14)

A Robust Faith

Whether we are up against the agents of the NWO or the Islamization of our culture, we need a robust faith.

Jesus encourages a robust faith.

‘Seek first the kingdom…all these other things will be given to you as well.’ [Mt 6:33]
‘Since John the Baptist came, up to this present time, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm.’ [Mt 11:12] This is the violence of wrestling and God rewards wrestlers. [See Gen 32:29-31] ‘Have faith in God. In truth I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Be pulled up and thrown into the sea”, with no doubt in his heart, but believing that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” [Mk 11:22-23]
‘In truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works because I am going to the Father.’ [Jn 14:12]

The Vision of Faith is Massive.

At its core faith is about salvation from sin through the person of Jesus. But faith is not just a "me and Jesus thing". God's plan for saving the world is to use a People that is devoted to him and is immersed in humanity.
This People is called the Church and it's mission is to establish the Kingdom of God in the world right now. That is why the Church is called 'The Universal Sacrament of Salvation.'
When Jesus returns in glory, "The whole of creation itself must be freed from the slavery of corruption and brought into the same glorious freedom of as the children of God." [Romans 8:21]Wow!!


Writing of such robustness, Scot McKnight has a good article "The 8 Marks of a Robust Gospel" in Christianity Today.

Catch the Fire

The way to catch the fire of the Spirit is to follow Jesus. He would begin a very busy day’s work by going off by himself to spend time with God (See Mk 1:35). He would address God as “Father”; he was familiar with figures from the Old Testament and he talked of pressing issues (See Lk 9:30-31). His prayer was caught up in loving God “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Mt 22:37)

So spend time each day with the indwelling Spirit on God’s terms (See Rm 8:8-9). Think of God as revealed in the Scriptures. When you have a “movement of the heart” towards God stay with it for as long as it lasts. Then move to the next thought. A sense of awe, thanksgiving, sorrow and determination are examples of movements of the heart, as is a simple “gaze” towards God.

Sometimes you will experience only “aridity”, which is a spiritual dryness. Check to see if there is unconfessed sin. If there is none, stay in prayer for your regular amount of time presenting your aridity to God. It is likely that God is strengthening your faith for an even closer walk with you. Watch out also for attachment to even “the things of God” instead of to “the God of things”. The Spirit will be leading you to a more simple faith in God, like the faith of Abraham (See Heb 11:17-19) so that you depend on nothing else but him.

When you leave such a daily time of prayer, you will find it easier to think like Jesus, feel like Jesus and act like Jesus. And when you follow Jesus that closely, you will catch the fire of the Spirit. Then nothing that the New World Order throws at you will overcome you for you will be "clothed with the power from on high" (Lk 24:49).