A Stunning (Predictable) Silence

Now here’s a site that caught my attention. I just found it today. I have never commented on a blog site yet. I think that I will begin with this site. Here is what the header says:

THIS ONGOING WAR

Many people lack a factual understanding of events in our region because the media often report them inadequately and inaccurately. Our daughter Malki, murdered at the age of 15 in a restaurant massacre in 2001, was a victim of jihadist hatred and barbarism. Jihadism will end in Israel (New York, Madrid, London, Bali) only after people first understand the scale on which it’s happening. This war is killing us.

That will kick religion out of a man, won’t it? Not a whole lot of niceness here. Whatever this man has to say, I’m listening. What caught my attention was an article written on Monday, Feb. 18 entitled Knowing your enemy and burning the books. Here are some of his comments:

There’s something deeply resonant, even symbolic, in the fact that this past Friday a library was destroyed just across the border.

12 gunmen launched an assault, yet another in a long series of attacks on Christian figures and institutions, on the YMCA library in Gaza City. The ever-reliable Palestinian-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh writes that the library was completely destroyed ‘in response to the re-publication of cartoons “ridiculing” the Prophet Muhammad in a number of Danish newspapers last week.’ All 8000 books were destroyed. A BBC report says the gunmen asked the guards why they worked for ‘infidels’

If you haven’t noticed, several jihadist groups in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have previously claimed responsibility for earlier attacks on Christian figures and institutions, and murders of prominent Christians, over the past two years. The BBC quotes them saying ‘they would continue their attacks until all 3,000 Christians had left the Gaza Strip.’ Clear enough?

This is pretty alarming stuff. Not the bombing – we fully expect barbarism from the jihadist. But the stunning silence from the leaders of the Christian world.

It’s not as if the writing isn’t already on the wall: the manager of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore was kidnapped, stabbed and gunshot to death four months ago in central Gaza City. The World Alliance of YMCAs condemned the Gaza bombing. And that just about exhausts the list of official Christian voices of outrage.

Stan Goodenough of the Christian news-service JNewswire based here in Jerusalem, describing the process as Moslem ethnic cleansing, puts it pretty pungently: ‘For Gaza’s Muslims, ridding themselves of any active Christian presence would be cherry on top after successfully forcing Israel to remove every single Jew from Gaza in 2005’. (bold in original)

Beloved, this is the reason that I started this site. Here is an Israeli man who is astute enough to understand that the Christian community is dormant and certainly not outraged by such incidents. Where is our called-out nature? Have we simply turned into a mega-religious culture? Do we not understand that there is rampant evil in this World and that we are in a war? It seems sometimes that it is only the Church that does not understand that there is a cultural, spiritual, physical war going on. They are murdering our daughters! Is our religious success (in numbers) causing us to become cowards?

It took murder to activate this man. What will it take to activate the (remnant) Church? This astute man understands that the destruction of the library is not the most troubling aspect of this event, but rather that the community that should have stood up and demanded answers for this vile act remained mute. How sad!

I agree with this man on every point that he has to make, except one. He claims that only when we understand the scale in which jihadism is acting upon our World society will that same jihadism end. But I seem to disagree with everybody in that respect. Jihadism, murder, ethnic cleansing, etc, etc, will not end with knowledge, good will, reason, education, ecumenism, cooperation among peoples, or any other man-made religious effort - no not ever! Why should mankind change after 6000 years of human history?

To this heart-broken man and his wife, I say, remain faithful to the task that is before you. To the Christian activist community, I say the same. Only we have the Light. Let’s engage an enemy who hates us and who hates the Lord who gave us new life. Let’s not water down His message - We are not a religion, we are a called-out people. Act like it!

Arnold: Jihadism will end only when the Messiah of Israel returns with the armies of heaven to defeat the enemy who hates your people, hates your daughter and who hates your soul and my soul!! I know that you disagree with that assessment, and that you still have hope. Just give the World a little more time. That too will be taken from you. I have lost too many people that I love; my heart is with your heart.

TAFTCom…