Religious extremists...Christians, Muslims and Jews

The threat to global peaceful coexistence is not restricted to Islamic extremists.

Increasingly, right-wing Christian and Jewish extremists, acting under the direction of a born-again U.S. president, introduced a major change in direction in a nation that had strictly and successfully adhered to separation of church and state.

Thus, the "Bush-Sharon Axis" was born whose actions/INactions have led to ever-growing anti-Americanism (read: anti-Bushism), anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism all around the globe.

Hopefully, rational, decent Christians and Jews will see to it that this madness is stopped by ensuring "regime change" both, in the U.S. and Israel...before it is too late:

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0420/perlstein.php - May 18th, 2004 10:00 AM

Bush White House checked with rapture Christians before latest Israel move
The Jesus Landing Pad by Rick Perlstein

It was an e-mail we weren't meant to see. Not for our eyes were the notes
that showed White House staffers taking two-hour meetings with Christian
fundamentalists, where they passed off bogus social science on gay marriage
as if it were holy writ and issued fiery warnings that "the Presidents [sic]
Administration and current Government is engaged in cultural, economical,
and social struggle on every level"-this to a group whose representative in
Israel believed herself to have been attacked by witchcraft unleashed by
proximity to a volume of Harry Potter. Most of all, apparently, we're not
supposed to know the National Security Council's top Middle East aide
consults with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on
Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios.

But now we know.

"Everything that you're discussing is information you're not supposed to
have," barked Pentecostal minister Robert G. Upton when asked about the
off-the-record briefing his delegation received on March 25. Details of that
meeting appear in a confidential memo signed by Upton and obtained by the
Voice.

The e-mailed meeting summary reveals NSC Near East and North African Affairs
director Elliott Abrams sitting down with the Apostolic Congress and
massaging their theological concerns. Claiming to be "the Christian Voice in
the Nation's Capital," the members vociferously oppose the idea of a
Palestinian state. They fear an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might enable
just that, and they object on the grounds that all of Old Testament Israel
belongs to the Jews. Until Israel is intact and David's temple rebuilt, they
believe, Christ won't come back to earth.

Abrams attempted to assuage their concerns by stating that "the Gaza Strip
had no significant Biblical influence such as Joseph's tomb or Rachel's tomb
and therefore is a piece of land that can be sacrificed for the cause of peace."

Three weeks after the confab, President George W. Bush reversed
long-standing U.S. policy, endorsing Israeli sovereignty over parts of the
West Bank in exchange for Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with the Voice, Upton denied having written the document,
though it was sent out from an e-mail account of one of his staffers and
bears the organization's seal, which is nearly identical to the Great Seal
of the United States. Its idiosyncratic grammar and punctuation tics also
closely match those of texts on the Apostolic Congress's website, and Upton
verified key details it recounted, including the number of participants in
the meeting ("45 ministers including wives") and its conclusion "with a
heart-moving send-off of the President in his Presidential helicopter."

Upton refused to confirm further details.

Affiliated with the United Pentecostal Church, the Apostolic Congress is
part of an important and disciplined political constituency courted by
recent Republican administrations. As a subset of the broader Christian
Zionist movement, it has a lengthy history of opposition to any proposal
that will not result in what it calls a "one-state solution" in Israel.

The White House's association with the congress, which has just posted a new
staffer in Israel who may be running afoul of Israel's strict
anti-missionary laws, also raises diplomatic concerns.

The staffer, Kim Hadassah Johnson, wrote in a report obtained by the Voice,
"We are establishing the Meet the Need Fund in Israel-'MNFI.' . . . The fund
will be an Interest Free Loan Fund that will enable us to loan funds to new
believers (others upon application) who need assistance. They will have the
opportunity to repay the loan (although it will not be mandatory)." When
that language was read to Moshe Fox, minister for public and interreligious
affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, he responded, "It sounds
against the law which prohibits any kind of money or material [inducement]
to make people convert to another religion. That's what it sounds like."
(Fox's judgment was e-mailed to Johnson, who did not return a request for
comment.)

The Apostolic Congress dates its origins to 1981, when, according to its
website, "Brother Stan Wachtstetter was able to open the door to Apostolic
Christians into the White House." Apostolics, a sect of Pentecostals, claim
legitimacy as the heirs of the original church because they, as the 12
apostles supposedly did, baptize converts in the name of Jesus, not in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Ronald Reagan bore theological
affinities with such Christians because of his belief that the world would
end in a fiery Armageddon. Reagan himself referenced this belief explicitly
a half-dozen times during his presidency.

While the language of apocalyptic Christianity is absent from George W.
Bush's speeches, he has proven eager to work with apocalyptics-a point of
pride for Upton. "We're in constant contact with the White House," he
boasts. "I'm briefed at least once a week via telephone briefings. . . . I
was there about two weeks ago . . . At that time we met with the president."

Last spring, after President Bush announced his Road Map plan for peace in
the Middle East, the Apostolic Congress co-sponsored an effort with the
Jewish group Americans for a Safe Israel that placed billboards in 23 cities
with a quotation from Genesis ("Unto thy offspring will I give this land")
and the message, "Pray that President Bush Honors God's Covenant with
Israel. Call the White House with this message." It then provided the White
House phone number and the Apostolic Congress's Web address.

In the interview with the Voice, Pastor Upton claimed personal
responsibility for directing 50,000 postcards to the White House opposing
the Road Map, which aims to create a Palestinian state. "I'm in total
disagreement with any form of Palestinian state," Upton said. "Within a
two-week period, getting 50,000 postcards saying the exact same thing from
places all over the country, that resonated with the White House. That
really caused [President Bush] to backpedal on the Road Map."

When I sought to confirm Upton's account of the meeting with the White
House, I was directed to National Security Council spokesman Frederick
Jones, whose initial response upon being read a list of the names of White
House staffers present was a curt, "You know half the people you just
mentioned are Jewish?"

When asked for comment on top White House staffers meeting with
representatives of an organization that may be breaking Israeli law, Jones
responded, "Why would the White House comment on that?"

When asked whose job it is in the administration to study the Bible to
discern what parts of Israel were or weren't acceptable sacrifices for
peace, Jones said that his previous statements had been off-the-record.

When Pastor Upton was asked to explain why the group's website describes the
Apostolic Congress as "the Christian Voice in the nation's capital," instead
of simply a Christian voice in the nation's capital, he responded, "There
has been a real lack of leadership in having someone emerge as a Christian
voice, someone who doesn't speak for the right, someone who doesn't speak
for the left, but someone who speaks for the people, and someone who speaks
from a theocratical perspective."

When his words were repeated back to him to make sure he had said a
"theocratical" perspective, not a "theological" perspective, he said,
"Exactly. Exactly. We want to know what God would have us say or what God
would have us do in every issue."

The Middle East was not the only issue discussed at the March 25 meeting.
James Wilkinson, deputy national security advisor for communications, spoke
first and is characterized as stating that the 9-11 Commission "is
portraying those who have given their all to protect this nation as 'weak on
terrorism,' " that "99 percent of all the men and women protecting us in
this fight against terrorism are career citizens," and offered the example
of Frances Town-send, deputy national security adviser for combating
terrorism, "who sacrificed Christmas to do a 'security video' conference."

Tim Goeglein, deputy director of public liaison and the White House's point
man with evangelical Christians, moderated, and he also spoke on the issue
of same-sex marriage. According to the memo, he asked the rhetorical
questions: "What will happen to our country if that actually happens? What
do those pushing such hope to gain?" His answer: "They want to change
America." How so? He quoted the research of Hoover Institute senior fellow
Stanley Kurtz, who holds that since gay marriage was legalized in
Scandinavia, marriage itself has virtually ceased to exist. (In fact, since
Sweden instituted a registered-partnership law for same-sex couples in the
mid '90s, there has been no overall change in the marriage and divorce rates
there.)

It is Matt Schlapp, White House political director and Karl Rove's chief
lieutenant, who was paraphrased as stating "that the Presidents
Administration and current Government is engaged in cultural, economical,
and social struggle on every level."

Also present at the meeting was Kristen Silverberg, deputy assistant to the
president for domestic policy. (None of the participants responded to
interview requests.)

The meeting was closed by Goeglein, who was asked, "What can we do to assist
in this fight for these issues and our nations [sic] foundation and values?"
and who reportedly responded, "Pray, pray, pray, pray."

The Apostolic Congress's representative in Israel, Kim Johnson, is
ethnically Jewish, keeps kosher, and holds herself to the sumptuary
standards of Orthodox Jewish women, so as to better blend in to her
surroundings.

In one letter home obtained by the Voice she notes that many of the
Apostolic Christians she works with in Israel are Filipino women "married to
Jewish men-who on occasion accompany their wives to meetings. We are
planning to start a fellowship with this select group where we can meet for
dinners and get to know one another. Please Pray for the timing and
formation of such." Elsewhere she talks of a discussion with someone "on the
pitfalls and aggravations of Christians who missionize Jews." She works
often among the Jewish poor-the kind of people who might be interested in
interest-free loans-and is thrilled to "meet the outcasts of this Land-how
wonderful because they are in the in-casts for His Kingdom."

An ecstatic figure who from her own reports appears to operate at the edge
of sanity ("Two of the three nights in my apartment I have been attacked by
a hair raising spirit of fear," she writes, noting the sublet contained a
Harry Potter book; "at this time I am associating it with witchcraft"),
Johnson has also met with Knesset member Gila Gamliel. (Gamliel did not
respond to interview requests.) She also boasted of an imminent meeting with
a "Knesset leader."

"At this point and for all future mails it is important for me to note that
this country has very stiff anti-missionary laws," she warns the followers
back home. [D]iscretion is required in all mails. This is particularly
important to understand when people write mails or ask about organization
efforts regarding such."

Her boss, Pastor Upton, displays a photograph on the Apostolic Congress
website of a meeting between himself and Beny Elon, Prime Minister Sharon's
tourism minister, famous in Israel for his advocacy of the expulsion of
Palestinians from Israeli-controlled lands.

His spokesman in the U.S., Ronn Torassian, affirmed that "Minister Elon
knows Mr. Upton well," but when asked whether he is aware that Mr. Upton's
staffer may be breaking Israel's anti-missionary laws, snapped: "It's not
something he's interested in discussing with The Village Voice."

In addition to its work in Israel, the Apostolic Congress is part of the
increasingly Christian public face of pro-Israel activities in the United
States. Don Wagner, author of the book Anxious for Armageddon, has been
studying Christian Zionism for 15 years, and believes that the current
hard-line pro-Israel movement in the U.S. is "predominantly gentile." Often,
devotees work in concert with Jewish groups like Americans for a Safe
Israel, or AFSI, which set up a mostly Christian Committee for a One-State
Solution as the sponsor of last year's billboard campaign. The committee's
board included, in addition to Upton, such evangelical luminaries as Gary
Bauer and E.E. "Ed" McAteer of the Religious Roundtable.

AFSI's executive director, Helen Freedman, confirms the increasingly
Christian cast of her coalition. "We have many good Jews, of course," she
says, "but they're in the minority." She adds, "The liberal Jew is unable to
believe the Arab when he says his goal is to Islamize the West. . . . But I
believe it. And evangelical Christians believe it."

Of Jews who might otherwise support her group's view of Jews' divine right
to Israel, she laments, "They're embarrassed about quoting the Bible, about
referring to the Covenant, about talking about the Promised Land."

Pastor Upton is not embarrassed, and Helen Freedman is proud of her
association with him. She is wistful when asked if she, like Upton, has been
able to finagle a meeting with the president. "Pastor Upton is the head of a
whole Apostolic Congress," she laments. "It's a nationwide group of
evangelicals."

Upton has something Freedman covets: a voting bloc.

She laughs off concerns that, for Christian Zionists, actual Jews living in
Israel serve as mere props for their end-time scenario: "We have a different
conception of what [the end of the world] will be like . . . Whoever is
right will rejoice, and whoever was wrong will say, 'Whoops!' "

She's not worried, either, about evangelical anti-Semitism: "I don't think
it exists," she says. She does say, however, that it would concern her if
she learned the Apostolic Congress had a representative in Israel trying to
win converts: "If we discovered that people were trying to convert Jews to
Christianity, we would be very upset."

Kim Johnson doesn't call it converting Jews to Christianity. She calls it
"Circumcision of the Heart"-a spiritual circumcision Jews must undergo
because, she writes in paraphrase of Jeremiah, chapter 9, "God will destroy
all the uncircumcised nations along with the House of Israel, because the
House of Israel is uncircumcised in the heart . . . [I]t is through the
Gospel . . . that men's hearts are circumcised."

Apostolics believe that only 144,000 Jews who have not, prior to the Second
Coming of Christ, acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah will be saved in the end
times. Though even for those who do not believe in this literal interpretation of
the Bible-or for anyone who lives in Israel, or who cares about Israel, or whose
security might be affected by a widespread conflagration in the Middle East, which is everyone-the scriptural prophecies of the Christian Zionists should be the least of their worries.

Instead, we should be worried about self-fulfilling prophecies. "Biblically," stated one South Carolina minister in support of the anti-Road Map billboard campaign, "there's always going to be a war."

Don Wagner, an evangelical, worries that in the Republican Party, people who
believe this "are dominating the discourse now, in an election year." He
calls the attempt to yoke Scripture to current events "a modern heresy, with
cultish proportions.

"I mean, it's appalling," he rails on. "And it also shows how marginalized
mainstream Christian thinking, and the majority of evangelical thought, have
become."

It demonstrates, he says, "the absolute convergence of the neoconservatives
with the Christian Zionists and the pro-Israel lobby, driving U.S. Mideast policy."

The problem is not that George W. Bush is discussing policy with people who
press right-wing solutions to achieve peace in the Middle East, or with
devout Christians. It is that he is discussing policy with Christians who
might not care about peace at all-at least until the rapture.

The Jewish pro-Israel lobby, in the interests of peace for those living in
the present, might want to consider a disengagement.<<