US elections, Israel and Evangelicals: an update

Posted by Ellen

All prospective candidates in this year’s presidential campaign have expressed their obligatory devotion to Israel, and have also pledged their robust allegiance to Jesus. The evangelical camp has splintered, and I don’t envy American Jews come November 2008 - as this campaign is taking some bazaar turns….

Lauded conservative pundit, Ann Coulter - author of "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans", - has cast her lot with Hillary Clinton. McCain simply isn’t conservative enough for her. Watch as she batters McCain and bats for Clinton:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HuTqgqhxVMc


You remember Ann. She expressed her wishes - via a televised interview - that it would be preferable if all Americans were Christian. She then went on to expound upon Christian theology and the need for Jews to be “perfected”. Liberal Jewish groups denounced her, while a predictable group of Jewish Republican personalities ran to her defense.
A couple of months ago Ann, penned an essay with these ominous words (and, incredibly, many purportedly G-d fearing American Jews believe her):
“The survival of Israel is inextricably linked to the survival of the Republican Party and its evangelical base.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=D3B08D44-E1A6-4996-B19D-2F35624B45CB


Not to be outdone, Lebanese Christian Pro- Israel Conservative Brigitte Gabriel has warned Jews against voting for Obama, and she also dropped the “H” bomb.
"No Jews should support him. Jews should vote for Hillary Clinton."
http://www.jstandard.com/categories/World-News/


Meanwhile liberal Jewish Barbara Walters suggested that some consider Obama to be, “almost like a Messiah - he can do no wrong”.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4291403


John McCain doesn’t quite rate as the Messiah, but not to worry because Senator Joe Lieberman - the man who likened CUFI’s Pastor John Hagee to Moses - has compared John McCain to Judah Maccabee (rumor has it that Joe sees John as more of a personal savoir, in that he hopes to garner the position of running mate).
http://www.forward.com/articles/12586/


For McCain's full comment on hs buddy James Baker, go to

http://www.spectator.org/blogger.asp?BlogID=10749


Mike and the Devil
And speaking of personal savior, Pastor Mike Evans of the Jerusalem Prayer team is sending out personally addressed email in which he declares, “God has spoken to me as the Chairman of the Jerusalem Prayer Team to launch the Save Jerusalem Campaign. It seems that “Satan knows his command and control center for spiritual warfare is in Jerusalem!” and Mike has put himself in the position of “intercessor”.
It’s ironic that it was Ehud Olmert who launched the Jerusalem Prayer Team with Mike back in 2002
I got a hankerin’ for history and my Jewish roots, so let’s go way back to 1977 when Mike Evans – a protégé of Pat Robertson - was featured in an article in Time Magazine entitled,'Yeshua Is the Messiah': "Fraud . .. deception ... playing with religious tradition."
(Excerpt):Leader Mike Evans, 29, presided like an auctioneer over fund-raising appeals ("Tell every single person what you want them to do. Lord") and faith-healing marathons ("There's a man with a gall bladder problem sitting over there. Well, you're God's beloved"). At one point Evans appealed for commitments to Jesus, blending Jewish terminology with tent revivalism: "Great God of Israel, I need forgiveness for my sins. I believe that Yeshua Jesus is the Messiah."...Evans says: "We are just a bunch of young Jewish kids." ....Despite his Jewish emphasis, he gets backing from such Gentile Pentecostal stalwarts as Christian Broadcaster Pat Robertson and Evangelist David Wilkerson.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945786,00.html?iid=chix-sphere


According to his website http://www.mikeevansministries.com/ Evans was present in Geneva in 1988 (where Yasser Arafat officially denounced terrorism), the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991, the White House Peace Accords in 1993, and the State Funeral of Yitzhak Rabin. Pardon my lapse into evangelical rhetoric, but it seems he has been everywhere the Devil has been.
Mike may have lost the Midas touch. His presence, along with Walid Shoebat’s, at a recent Night to Honor Israel Dinner in Florida – which was to raise funds for bomb shelters - did not produce impressive results. It was “less successful and less well attended” than previous events. According to the Heritage Florida Jewish News, an estimated $20,500 was raised, which fell far short of the goal of $76,000. Jewish participants reported that there was a distinct Christian tone to the evening with fiery rhetoric and references to the Antichrist, Armageddon, and blasphemers.
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Meanwhile Dr James Hutchins, a regional director of CUFI is reporting in the Jerusalem Connection International that “The Evangelical support for Israel is shrinking”. And that “more and more Evangelical pulpits are silent about Israel”
For those of you unfamiliar with Hutchins, please note that he graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California with a Doctor of Missionary (Multi/Cross-Cultural Studies). His dissertation was entitled, "A Case for Messianic Judaism."
http://www.israelunitycoalition.org:80/sbureau/jhutchens.php
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Hamodia reports that Norwegian Jews are very unhappy with a decision taken by the Israeli embassy in Oslo to distribute tourism-ministry leaflets jointly sponsored by Christian groups such as the United Christian Council in Israel, believed to be a missionary group. “While we are fighting tooth and nail to hold on to the Jewish identity of our community, the missionaries are receiving support from the tourism ministry,” wrote one outraged leader.http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s18&SecId=18&AId=57958&ATypeId=1


Arutz 7 reports that an Education Ministry '60th Anniversary of Israel' poster features a non-existent Christian church over the Western Wall and asks whether it’s an attempt to 'internationalize' the city?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125248

Now I wouldn’t pin the whole blame on those Leftists in the Education Ministry.
I reported back in November that Natan Sharansky established the Temple Mount as a holy place to Christians on the One Jerusalem website.
“We must continue to do everything in our power to stop the Palestinians fromdestroying historical evidence and to preserve the Temple Mount as a holyplace to Jews and Christians.”

Thankfully, It appears the page at http://www.onejerusalem.org/natanReplies.asp has since been removed

I had written in that November update that, “If the Temple Mount is now being claimed by the three major religions, then the obvious diplomatic solution (a la Rice) would be to call for theinternationalization of Jerusalem - and that is something the Vatican has always endorsed.”

Our Jerusalem Prayer Team friend, Mike Evans, referred to East Jerusalem as “the home of Christianity” in his January update:

Dr. James M. Hutchens, president of The Jerusalem Connection International and a regional director of Christians United for Israel says “There is a lot of Christian DNA in East Jerusalem”

The Jerusalem Post recently reported that, "There is a growing trend of Christian or evangelical real estate investors buying assets in sacred areas.”

And Israel Today Magazine ran a feature by Messianic Jew Mike Decker on How Messianic Jews and Christians can purchase property in Israel

The moral of the story: If Israel wants a Judeo-Christian alliance with very passionate Evangelicals, then there is a price to be paid and don’t be surprised if a claim to Jerusalem is part of the deal.

This is who we are partnering with (the following is a John Hagee production):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9SDjzW43XrY
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Jews for Judaism has launched a new branch in Jerusalem
Executive Director Rabbi Benzion Kravitz and Jerusalem Branch Director Penina Taylor spoke at the inaugural event at the OU Israel Center. http://jewsforjudaism.co.il/
Penina Taylor’s office will be located in the center of Jerusalem. She would very grateful for any donations of computers, office furnishings, or supplies. Contact: director@jewsforjudaism.org.il

This item just in:
The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ) is requesting assistance to relocate 800 Sudanese refugees – many of them Christians - in the Tel Aviv area (temporarily, of course).