| After 37 years of boasting of "inalienable solidarity" with the people of Israel, the Netherlands' second largest church plans to reexamine its stance this fall. A group of notables from the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PCN) warned last week that the organization, which has over two million members, is in danger of being "hijacked" by pro-Palestinian activists. |  | | |
The warning - coauthored by Dr. Jan van der Graaf, who served for 35 years as PCN's general secretary, and three other prominent church figures - was an open letter against changing the reference to Israel. It was addressed to Minister Henri Veldhuis, a General Synod member who said the clause made the church adopt a biased view that ignored Israeli actions against Palestinians.
At a speech last month in Utrecht for Friends of Sabeel (a Jerusalem-based Palestinian organization), Veldhuis said the church should commit to a bond with Israel "as people of the Torah" instead of the "Jewish people as an ethnic group." Veldhuis also complained that currently, "the church has a stronger bond with a non-believing Alaskan Jewish person than a Palestinian Christian."
The open letter accused Veldhuis of a slanted and hypocritical approach. "We were astonished by your address before a Palestinian liberation organization that pretends to be promoting reconciliation," it read. "You accused Israel but ignored Hamas's Jew-hating ideology. You overlooked the alarming anti-Semitic upsurge in Arab countries."
Veldhuis responded that the signatories "were regrettably and falsely" trying to portray Sabeel and himself as radical left-wing activists. In a conversation with Haaretz, Veldhuis said: "It is important to preserve the lessons of the Holocaust and never forget the Jewish roots of church and bible and to fight anti-Semitism, but we have to take a more realistic position on the Jewish people as an ethnic group and on the State of Israel. The PCN's theology is now idealizing both."
He added that he believes the coauthors - Van der Graaf, Dr. Theo van Campen, Dr. Wulfert de Greef and Dr. Henk van der Meulen - are circling the wagons because of "mounting criticism of Israel's policies."
Van der Graaf said that those who advocate changing the church's charter are "only a highly motivated minority" within PCN, and he believes the clause will ultimately remain unchanged.
The PCN, which was formed in 2004 as a merger of the country's three largest protestant churches, is scheduled to discuss revising its stance on Israel in November. | |
 | Blah Blah Blah,Wy don't they just admit, that The Netherlands is no more, It is now just as much Islamistan as is Gaza |
 | bettyseiley wrote on Sep 19, '07, edited on Sep 19, '07 Our Father God chose Israel as the nation that would bring the Messiah, Jesus, into the world to save the lost. It is a dangerous thing to stand against Israel. History's graveyards are full of nations and empires that opposed and persecuted Israel. God's love for Israel is fierce, and his warnings are prolific in His Word. Pray that the Protestant church in the Netherlands will be set on fire with the fire of the Holy Spirit and be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, as Jesus said the Church is, and that the Church in every nation will do the same, to the Glory of the Lord. |
 | Talk about Gaza, dit you see Barak is now calling it Hamastan and an enemy entity?
His idea to cut electricity to the areas from where the kassams are launched, is also perhaps a good idea if it is, of course, possible to control where the electricity goes. Goodness, I never thought that I would give Barak credit for something! |
| Spot on bettyseiley, but I'm sure it goes even further than that during the Millennium in that Messiah will rule from an earthly domain with its home base Jerusalem and a territory the size of the dynasty of king David.
Let him reign from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. Ps 72:8-11
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| Amen and amen!!! Israel will own and live in ALL of the land given to her by God in this passage, and I like the one in Joshua 1:4. And, yes, Messiah will rule physically over the whole earth during His Millennial Reign, from His throne in Jerusalem, King David's throne. |
| zionsake wrote on Sep 19, '07, edited on Sep 19, '07 Hallelujah, we need to SHOUT it out to believers! Stop trying to visualize the Kingdom in spiritual terms only!
Yeshua is God in a physical human body - it makes him a LIVING God, vs. demon gods with objects to represent them like Allah (Lucifer's) black rock, buddhas, etc. Yeshua will sit on a physical throne ruling over the physical world. That will be His Kingdom for a thousand years! Grasping this starts with realizing Israel's centrality in it. We will live in the tents of Shem! |
| AMEN!!! HALLELUJAH!!! YES, WE NEED TO SHOUT IT FROM THE HOUSETOPS!!! JESUS, MESSIAH, WILL RULE AS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS FROM PHYSICAL JERUSALEM FOR 1000 YEARS! GLORY TO YAHWEH FOREVER AND FOREVER!!!!!!! |
 | Let God arise and HIs enemies be scattered |
| This time last year I was camping in the dark and I prayed desparately for hours, esp.about WHEN God was going to bring down this white washed wall and the whitewashers. I had a word that caused me to think he was going to it by an earthquake that would damage or destroy the mosques on the Temple Mt and thereby start a revolt from the Muslims - Arafat's boasting about a "million martyrs to Jerusalem" came to mind. The camping went on for months, as well as the praying and begging for God to do something. Then at last the answer came: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit."
I knew he was going to do it by influencing people's thinking - perhaps also a hardening of hearts, as with Pharaoh. What also comes to mind, is the history of God putting hooks in people's mouths and dragging them into wars. |
| zionsake wrote on Sep 20, '07, edited on Sep 20, '07 Hey Don, Aukina also felt this scripture is on the Lord's agenda for this time! She quoted from the Psalm about it at the "Red Alert" discussion.
This for sure is confirmation in line with: "When two or three agree in my Name....!" |
 | We still exist, thank God... But living in the time that good = bad, and bad = good.
That's wath's going on,... not only in the Netherlands, but World- wide.
Even in Israel to day,..look to the politics...ectr. Some people on hier places say something,
or dooing things...Wat's not exeptebel even noth worthy to talk about...
The book Mein Kampf. A.H. is forbidden in the Netherlands,...last week Mistr.Pasterkamp (P.v.d.a.)
Duch Govenerment said: It must be posible to by it in the bookstore,...it gives a storm in our country..and now..the talk it over in the parlement..and, its still forbidden.
And now.. Mrs Pasterkamp says he mean it not like that way.. he say before.
In Turky its a Best Seller.. It go's on and on, it's possible to write a book about this all..
But thanks for the info keep it in my mind..
On the words you have given from Him, I wil say.. amen .
Peace be with you, Ton |
| About things that don't make sense, etc., the Israeli Foreign Ministry is having a fit over Ahmadenajab speaking at the Colombia U and their Minister Tzipi Livni is personally going to take part in a demo against him, One of the main reasons is that he denies the Holocaust Meanwhile Israel regards Abbas of the so-called Palestinians as a peace partner in spite of fact that he did a thesis for some degree that dealt with denial of the Holocaust! |
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Talk about Gaza, dit you see Barak is now calling it Hamastan and an enemy entity? 