UMJC RSS Feed| Exec urges fairness toward Israel |
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The UMJC Exec issued the following statement on February 23, urging the Presbyterian Church (USA) not to take a strong anti-Israel position as its General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC) convenes in Louisville, KY, Feb. 23-25. The position is being promoted by the denomination’s Israel-Palestine Mission Network (IPMN), whose blog, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, “has hosted anti-Semitic videos and material from Muslim terrorist groups.” [See http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=5812645. For a copy of the IPMN letter to the GAMC, see http://www.pcusa.org/gamc/business/feb10/information/231.pdf]
The Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) calls upon the General Assembly Mission Council of the Presbyterian Church(USA) to reject the recommendations made by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network in their February 13, 2010, letter, which delegitimizes the nation of Israel. We are grateful that the church membership rejected a divestment policy toward Israel adopted in 2004, but the recommendations in this new letter are far more serious.
The Messianic Jewish movement and the Presbyterian Church(USA) share a historic relationship going back to the nineteenth century and continuing into the development of the modern Messianic Jewish congregational movement. Messianic Jews and PC(USA) also share in recognizing the authority of the Bible, the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. It is that same Bible that calls for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland. In fact, one great evidence of the truth of the Scriptures in the modern era is the continuing existence of the Jewish people, their rebuilding the ruined cities (Amos 9:14), and their causing the desert to bloom (Isaiah 35:1). Jesus himself recognizes this when predicting the fall and later restoration of Jerusalem, declaring, "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (Luke 21:20). The Apostle Paul challenges Gentiles in his letter to the Romans to support the Jewish root of the faith (Romans 11).
We recognize the difficult situation in which the Palestinian people find themselves. We support a plan that would lift them from poverty and political chaos, but not at the expense of the security of the only democratic state in the Middle East, Israel. We urge the PC(USA) to reject the recommendations of this recent letter and to assist in bringing genuine peace between the Palestinian people and the nation of Israel.
Executive Committee of the UMJC
Howard Silverman, president
Jeffrey Feinberg
Jason Forbes
Kirk Gliebe
Russell Resnik
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