End of communism not good for Catholicism?

Brazil and its large Catholic population are prisoners of socialism, but the Vatican has been worried (for about 1,000 years!) about the Orthodox Church

By Julio Severo

While the world is celebrating the end of communist tyranny in Europe, its end was not all positive for Catholicism, a senior Vatican official indicated on Monday. According to Reuters through WorldNetDaily, the Catholic official thinks the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago brought religious tensions between Rome and Russia back to the surface. These tensions are much older than the Soviet Union.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, the top Roman Catholic official for inter-church relations, said the re-emergence of Catholic churches in Ukraine and Romania is creating major tensions with the Russian Orthodox Church. For decades during communist tyrannies, these churches were largely suppressed.

“The changes in 1989 were not advantageous for ecumenical relations,” Koch told Vatican Radio.

Koch, who spoke a week after the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall, noted that talks on closer ties between Catholic and Orthodox theologians were suspended between 2000 and 2006 because of tensions between the two sides.

Persecution of Christians in the Middle East has brought Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants there together, he said, but behind the Ukraine crisis there is a conflict of interests between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Russians, who make up two-thirds of the world’s 300 million Orthodox, are wary of the efforts of Pope Francis, who will visit Turkey to meet Patriarch Bartholomew, the Orthodox leader in Istanbul.

Because of his more progressive stances, it is not only Orthodox Christians who are wary about this pope. Conservative Catholics and evangelicals are also worried about his non-conservatism and about how liberals, including homosexual activists, have welcome him.

Problems between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are not new. Since Orthodox Christians left the Catholic Church and the supremacy of the pope about one thousand ago, their relationship has been hard, even in our days.

Yet, both churches were not supposed to have a so bad relationship, because, in important ethical points challenging Christianity today, they have been champions of truth.

The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church have a good stance against abortion, the gay agenda and population control. Of course, they have also theological problems, including the replacement theology, which says that the Catholic Church replaced Israel. Both the Orthodox Church and the Protestant Reformers inherited this theology from Catholicism.

Because of this theology, the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and many traditional Protestant churches do not have a good relationship with Israel.

About communism, the senior Vatican official should know that if it has fallen in Europe (I doubt it, because its milder anti-Christian and pro-Islam forms are advancing fast, at least in Western Europe), this is not true about Latin America. In fact, this is not true in the largest Catholic nation in the world: Brazil.

While the Orthodox Church had to be suppressed in Russia and other places in the communist times, the Brazilian Catholic Church never suffered any suppression from a communist rule. On the contrary, after a military rule saved Brazil from a communist tyranny in the 1960s, prominent Catholic leaders defended communist leaders and attacked their opposition.

The most outspoken critic of the 1964-85 Brazilian military rule was Bishop Helder Camara, a liberation theology advocate. He was called “Red Bishop” because of his Marxist stances.

In 1973, Camara was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a U.S.-based leftist organization, the American Friends Service Committee.

According to Dr. Constance Cumbey in her book “The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow,” the Brazilian bishop played a prominent role in international New Age events.

Camara was one of the founders of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (NCBB), the most powerful Catholic organization in Brazil.

For decades, NCBB has kept the Catholic population in Brazil under its Marxist spell and it is credited for having helped to found the ruling Workers’ Party, which has kept Brazil enslaved under its pro-Cuba socialism for 13 years.

In Russia, the most Orthodox nation in the world, the relationship between the Orthodox Church and communism was not easy. In his book “Their Blood Cries Out,” Paul Marshall says, “In the 1920s and 1930s approximately two hundred thousand Russian Orthodox priests, monks, and nuns were slaughtered. A further half million were imprisoned or deported to Siberia.”

While in Russia and other nations the Orthodox Church was violently suppressed to serve communist ambitions, in Brazil no such violence and suppression was necessary. NCBB has voluntarily and wholeheartedly worked to make Catholics and Brazil more communist.

So instead saying that the end of communism was not all good in Russia and Eastern Europe, the senior Vatican official should worry that socialism has never had an end in the largest Catholic flock in the world.

Brazil and its Catholic Church are prisoners of the socialist ideology, especially loved and promoted by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, and the Vatican is not helping them when it focuses its attention on Russia. Instead of trying to bring Orthodox Christians to the Catholic fold, the Vatican should try to take Brazilian Catholics from the socialist fold and its liberation theology.

With information from WorldNetDaily and Reuters.

Portuguese version of this article: Fim do comunismo não foi bom para o catolicismo?

Source: Last Days Watchman

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A Deadly, Anti-Israel Theological Error

Michael Brown

The idea that God is finished with the Jewish people as a nation and that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan is not only a serious theological error. It is a deadly one as well.

It was this false theology that helped fuel the fires of Jew hatred in one of the early church’s most respected leaders, John Chrysostom (347-407), who once said, “God hates the Jews, and on Judgment Day will say to those who sympathize with them: ‘Depart from Me, for you have had intercourse with My murderers!’ Flee, then, from their assemblies, fly from their houses, and hold their synagogue in hatred and aversion.”

Without this erroneous theology, the Crusades would never have taken place 700 years later.

It was this false theology that helped fuel the fires of Jew hatred in the great reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546), who gave this counsel to the German princes of his day: “First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools. ... Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. ... Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. ... Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb.” (For many more examples, see my book Our Hands Are Stained With Blood.)

Luther’s murderous words were put into action by none other than Adolph Hitler, beginning the night of Nov. 9, 1938, which is called Krystallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when, according to Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich, “815 [Jewish] shops [were] destroyed, 171 dwelling houses set on fire or destroyed ... 119 synagogues were set on fire, and another 76 completely destroyed ... 20,000 Jews were arrested, 36 deaths were reported and those seriously injured were also numbered at 36.”

This is a direct result of a theology that was dead wrong helping to justify deadly actions. (The Nazis were obviously not true Christians, but it was centuries of “Christian” anti-Semitism in Europe that helped make the Holocaust possible.)

To be sure, there are fine Christians today who embrace this same theological error (called replacement theology or supersessionism, meaning that the church has replaced or superseded Israel), and they are absolutely not anti-Semites and they would never sanction the persecution of the Jewish people in Jesus’ name. And they totally repudiate hateful quotes like these just cited.

But the sad fact of history is that it is this very theology that opened up the door to centuries of “Christian” anti-Semitism in the past, and it is threatening to open up that ugly door once again in the present.

In light of the third “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference that just took place in the ancient city of Bethlehem, where issues like these were anything but theological abstractions, it’s important to remember how wrong theology leads to wrong actions.

According to Acts 1, after the disciples had spent 40 days with Jesus after His resurrection, speaking to them “about the kingdom of God” (v. 3), His devoted followers wanted to ask Him one question before He ascended to heaven.

They inquired, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (vv. 6-8).

In other words, that’s a good question, and it certainly makes sense in light of everything we’ve been talking about, but the timing of when that will happen—when God will “restore the kingdom to Israel”—is not of your concern right now. You must concentrate on fulfilling the Great Commission with the help of the Spirit’s power.

But that’s not how John Calvin interpreted Jesus’ reply. As noted by Dr. Paul R. Wilkinson in his book Understanding Christian Zionism, Calvin stated that there “‘were “as many errors ... as words’ in the disciples’ question concerning Israel’s restoration. This, he believed, showed ‘how bad scholars they were under so good a Master,’ and therefore ‘when he [Jesus] saith, you shall receive power, he admonisheth them of their imbecility.’”

Wilkinson also notes, “At the 5th International Sabeel Conference in 2004 [this is an anti-Zionist conference], Mitri Raheb denounced the disciples as ‘very narrow-minded,’ ‘nationalistic,’ and ‘blinded’ for asking such a question.”

To be candid, interpretations like these are nothing more than exegetical nonsense, standing the biblical text on its head.

For example, if the disciples had said to Jesus, “Lord, is this the time for us to take up swords and behead our enemies?” He would not have replied, “It’s not for you to know the time for beheading that the Father has determined. You just concentrate on preaching the gospel.”

Hardly! Instead, He would have rebuked them in no uncertain terms.

But that’s not what He did here, despite the fact that His words are constantly interpreted as if He had said, “You idiots! Don’t you know that I’m through with Israel? Don’t you know that the church has replaced Israel? Have I been with you so long and you still don’t get it?”

Instead, He simply told them it was not for them to know exactly when the Father would restore the kingdom to Israel (something that Jesus and Peter and Paul affirmed; see Matthew 19:28; Acts 3:19-21; Romans 11:28-29; 15:8); their mission was to be His witnesses.

Unfortunately, in our day, as we are seeing an increasing number of Christians turning against the modern state of Israel—and I don’t simply mean that they are criticizing Israel when Israel deserves criticism but that they are rejecting it as a prophetic fulfillment in any sense of the word, also embracing the Palestinian narrative of Israel as an evil occupier and claiming that no prophetic promises remain to the Jewish people as a nation—we are seeing the seeds of Jew hatred being planted again in the hearts of many of these believers. Their hostility to Israel is hardly a secret.

Be careful, people of God!

History could well repeat itself—to the reproach of the name of Jesus, to the disgrace of the church, and to the spiritual and physical harm of the Jewish people—unless we get our theology right.

You have been forewarned.

Source: Charisma,

Via Julio Severo in English

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Palestinian evangelical in “propaganda tour” of Brazil

Christian leader questions group's sponsorship of 'anti-Israel' message

Michael Carl

A Christian leader in Brazil says he’s alarmed by what he regards as a campaign by evangelicals to spread pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli propaganda.

Julio Severo, a pro-family activist and blogger, told WND he’s concerned about a speaking tour in Brazil that features Bethlehem Bible College President Emeritus Bishara Awad in support of Open Doors, International.

Severo told WND that at an event in Brazil, Awad spoke of “the Palestinian plight provoked by Israel.”

“He did not mention anything about Muslim violence against Christians,” Severo said.

Severo worries that the tour will gain credibility because of the sponsorship.

“I am only a very small Christian, and to expose Open Doors for opening doors to such anti-Israel, Christian Palestinianism is a big challenge,” Severo said.

He said his concerns are both political and theological.

“In the speech, he repeatedly mentioned that he and his people are under occupation,” Severo said. “As a Christian, he didn’t give the Israeli point of view.”

Bethlehem Bible College is the host of the controversial Christ at the Checkpoint Conference. The Jerusalem Post quoted Awad as being critical of American evangelicals’ support of Israel.

“Many Christians support Israel whether it is right or wrong, but don’t look into the issues of peace and justice,” Awad said. “If that’s being political then fine, but unfortunately, some people, instead of coming and listening and participating, just attack us. We want to have serious engagement with Zionist groups, and have open forum for ongoing dialogue.”

Awad told WND in an interview that his ethnic background is an important factor in how he sees the Palestinian-Israeli issue.

Bishara Awad

“I am an Arab and my people are under occupation. But I am also a Christian and love the Lord Jesus,” Awad said. “My people are suffering greatly under the occupation. The economy is terrible and my people are under great economic stress.

“We aren’t suffering at the hands of the Muslims in Palestine,” Awad said. “Some people don’t want to believe this and that is their right.”

Severo is skeptical and he points to a report by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. In that report, Awad is quoted as saying an Israeli-built wall completely encircles Bethlehem.

“We have many problems in this land. We are under military occupation. The Israelis built a wall around us and this wall goes around Bethlehem,” Awad said.

But the committee report points out that a map shows that the wall doesn’t completely encircle Bethlehem.

However, Awad added that he knows the situation would only be more severe for his people if Bethlehem and the Palestinian Authority territory were under the control of the surrounding nations.

“Looking at the countries around us, like in Syria and in Lebanon, there certainly is persecution of Christians, and Christians are leaving. The people here are leaving because they don’t like to be under occupation,” Awad said.

“However, if the tables were turned (and an Arab neighbor controlled the territory), I would be very scared because of what I see around those countries,” Awad said. “I see how the Muslims are treating people and how they’re ever treating their own people. They’re killing their own people. There’s no mercy; there’s no love.

“It’s becoming more and more extreme with extreme Muslims. Even some moderate Muslims are happy about what’s going on in Syria with Muslims killing Muslims,” Awad said.

“The Middle East is in an uproar altogether, and I’m afraid the table will be turned around one of these days and the Palestinians will be under a worse regime than right now under Israel,” Awad said.

But Awad emphasized, “I don’t want my people to be under anyone’s control, under anyone else’s guns.”

Open Doors spokesman Paul Estabrooks said neither Open Doors nor Bethlehem Bible College is anti-Israel.

“Bishara thoroughly enjoyed his trip to Brazil celebrating OD-Brazil’s 30th anniversary. He was there to promote OD, not to promote his school or Palestinian causes.

“I spent one week at BBC and heard not one word of negativity toward Israel,” Estabrooks said.

Estabrooks explained that there is a significant theological debate surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict and even whether Israel has a right to the land the modern state of Israel occupies.

Awad said he and Bethlehem Bible College reject what is termed by critics as “replacement theology,” the belief that the Christian church has taken Israel’s place as the inheritor of God’s covenant blessings and promises.

“I do not believe in replacement theology, and I believe in the right of Israel to exist,” Awad said.

Estabrooks confirmed Awad’s claim.

“He expressed that he does accept Israel as a nation and he does not personally, nor does the Bible college, hold to replacement theology. In recall, he thought that his emphasis at the meeting was just on the New Covenant, not on anti-Israel propaganda as charged,” Estabrooks said.

In a search of the Bethlehem Bible College website, the college’s “FAQ” page has this comment about the relationship between the college and Israel: “Due to Israeli occupation, Bethlehem residents have lost thousands of dunums of land for the purposes of Israeli settlement construction and the building of the separation wall.”

The site says, “Political violence during the 2nd Intifada and the continual loss of land have created a desperate economic situation in the city of Bethlehem, which has an unemployment rate of 22.4 percent, the highest in the West Bank.”

The college has not responded to WND’s requests for comment.

Estabrooks said: “Let me assure you that Open Doors also does not endorse or propagate replacement theology nor are we in any way anti-Israel as a nation of God’s chosen people. Neither have I heard this expressed or taught in my many experiences at Bethlehem Bible College over a 20-year period.’

Estabrooks explained Palestinian Christians have a different view of Israel, because they are both Palestinian and Christian.

“Furthermore, Christians I have met in Palestinian Israel are far more aggrieved at the mistreatment they receive from Israelis than the minimal challenges presented by Palestinian Muslims against them. Is it not understandable then that Palestinian Christians might express publicly the frustrations under which they live each day?” Estabrooks asked.

Estabrooks said that Open Doors subscribes to Christian author and pastor John Piper’s views of Israel. Piper’s seven points are as follows:

1 God chose Israel from all the peoples of the world to be his own possession.

2 The land was part of the inheritance he promised to Abraham and his descendants forever.

3 The promises made to Abraham, including the promise of the land, will be inherited as an everlasting gift only by true, spiritual Israel, not disobedient, unbelieving Israel.

4 Jesus Christ has come into the world as the Jewish Messiah, and his own people rejected him and broke covenant with their God.

5 Therefore, the secular state of Israel today may not claim a present divine right to the land, but they and we should seek a peaceful settlement not based on present divine rights, but on international principles of justice, mercy, and practical feasibility.

6 By faith in Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Gentiles become heirs of the promise of Abraham, including the promise of the land.

7 Finally, this inheritance of Christ’s people will happen fully at the Second Coming of Christ to establish His kingdom, not before; and till then, we Christians must not take up arms to claim our inheritance; but rather lay down our lives to share our inheritance with as many as we can.

Portuguese version of this article: Evangélico palestino em “turnê de propaganda” no Brasil

Spanish version of this article: Evangélico palestino en “tour de propaganda” en Brasil

Source: WND, via Last Days Watchman

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