These are my thoughts from the past week that have been traumatic for many of us.
I was watching a video as a woman told her story of how she escaped. She ran, along with her friend, from the cars stopped on the road, as the terrorist’s used their machine guns and fired at them. She found an orange grove and hid in it. There were others who were seeking safety in that grove, and she watched as many of them were found and shot by Hamas. She sought a way to survive, and found it by hiding.
Hiding to save your life is good but, in the last few days I have thought about how many people are hiding, not to save their lives, but for acceptance, assimilation, antisemitism, fear of the past and for many other reasons. Here are some statements that I have heard from those who are hiding:
- “I have Jewish family members but, I’m not Jewish” – I have heard this comment from people whose father/mother are Jewish, who have grandparents who are Jewish but, because they weren’t raised in a “religious” household they don’t think of themselves as Jewish. My father-in-law, Joe, would say (when he heard something like this), “Tell it to Hitler”. The reason he would say that was because no matter what you thought, no matter what you did, what mattered in Germany were the Nuremberg Laws. It didn’t matter that they weren’t “religious”. It also didn’t matter that they were good German citizens. The hatred of Jews is so deep that if there is one drop of Jewish blood in you, then you must be destroyed. Hiding that you have Jewish blood that runs in your veins will not save you. Whether it was the Nazis or Hamas, the object is to obliterate every drop of Jewish blood.
- “I’m a Christian now, I have converted”. If you have accepted the Messiah Yeshua and are trying to hide out in your local church, it won’t work. During the Spanish Inquisition and during the Holocaust, this was a tactic that was used. Whether the individual was earnest in their acceptance of the Messiah or not, the end result was the same. The Jewish blood that runs in your veins will supercede any commitment that you have made to the Messiah. They will still come into that church and drag you out. You cannot hide who you are, by accepting their “Jesus”.
- “We’re Christians and that fight between Jews and Muslims has nothing to do with us.” In the past week while we watch rally’s supporting the Palestinian’s all throughout the United States, the church could think that it’s safe. They are not. In a rally held in New York City, the speaker had the audience repeat after him that all of the city would follow Islam. First, it’s the Jews, then it’s the Christians. Their objective is for all of us to become part of Islam. According to Islam there is no room for anyone to worship any other god than Allah. Your large mega church with the coffee shop will not offer you a safe hiding place, because whether you’re Jewish or not, you are not acceptable unless you worship Allah. This is an important point for those in the church who want to ignore what has happened, because they need to wake up and realize that they also have a target on themselves.
The time to stop hiding is over. If you are Jewish, be a Jew who is proud of who you are and connect to your community. If you are not Jewish, support Israel in every way that you can. Am Israel chai!
“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14-15