Zionism and Redemption
359526
I bought this book after reading Lions Gate by Pressman( About the 6-Day War) , thinking it would also focus on the 6-Day War, with some details about the later lives of the paratroopers who recovered the Old City.  But this book is less about the '67 war than about the soul of modern Israel itself. The journey begins with the largely secular and socialist ( even pro-Stalin) kibbutzniks who believed that they could create a Jewish country which would be just like other nations, and would thereby be accepted by them.  The 6-Day war shattered the faith many still held in the USSR, and the formation of the PLO and other events revealed that Israel was not going to be allowed to dwell peacefully among the nations. Although this book covers too many topics to enumerate, the superstory is a gradual but inexorable movement from secular Zionism to religious redemptionism, the belief that Israel has a special purpose and its people have a calling to inhabit the land of their ancestors.
95294
It is time to return the favor to the Jewish people; we as gentiles have experienced Salvation on earth and were re-established before God.  Let us strive to evangelize Jewish people to become One New Man with them and a great revival will come for the rest of the world.  Yeshua's second return is inminent.  Let's not delay, be blessed!
3235704
This is an outstanding book.  I am studying for a master's degree in theology and have been studying the relationship of Judaism with Catholicism for the last three years.  Roy Schoemen starts the book by saying that he is in the best position to explore the true meaning of Judaism.  "To understand salvation history, one must be a Christian, since the Incarnation, death, and Resurrection of Christ are at the center of salvation history, and the fullness of the relevant doctrine is contained in the teaching of the Catholic Church." He believes that by being Jewish he has a more concrete and complete understanding of the connections between Judaism and Catholicism. He makes an excellent point throughout the book that Jews who "convert" to Catholicism do not really consider that they convert. Rather they consider themselves "fulfilled Jews", since they did not "turn away" from Judaism, "but rather they entered Judaism's completed or fulfilled form, the Catholic Church, i.e. "post-messianic" Judaism.
Schoeman's point is that "God created the Jews with a very special and noble purpose...that of bringing salvation to all mankind. He imbued them with particular qualities and characteristics-some of these have always engendered administration and respect, while others have at times been met with suspicion or distaste. Nevertheless, all were put there by God to serve His purposes."  The author makes an excellent point that Christianity was originally meant for the Jews and God has been grooming them for this purpose.
Schoeman has an excellent section on the Jewish meaning of the Holocaust. He says that the Christian view of reward/punishment in this life, as opposed to in the afterlife is different from the Jewish view. For Jews, reward is supposed to come in this life not the next.  Christians know the power of the Cross and see pain and suffering in relation to Christ.
The author also includes biographies of several Jews who embraced Catholicism. These stories show how the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways to bring salvation.
The author also believe that more Jews would become Catholic if they were able to retain more of their identities as Jews. Recently Pope Benedict made overtures to the Anglican community to bring about unity.  Pope Benedict  has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such  reunion by establishing personal ordinariates which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony. Personal ordinariates  are similar to the structures created throughout the world to provide pastoral care for members of the military and their families. The structures are, in effect, non-territorial dioceses, provided over by a bishop and with their own priests and seminarians. I realize that this is a very different situation with the Jewish people but I wonder if something could be done to bring about the eventual union of Jews and Christians.
1534294
Well documented.  Many prior authors now have a big " I told you so", for what they wrote about the Jews in the past.  Poncins is vindicated too, thank you for adding him.  I feel Michael even held back some.  He could have added a chapter on the Young Turks and the slaughter of 1-2 million Armenians.
All in all, there are too many cases where the Zionists are proven to be hypocrites with double standards.  Plus all the Israeli false flag operations that have been exposed leads me to think that more and more people are fed up with Israel and its antisemitism against the Palestinians.  They sure are sick of the "Lobby", major media, neoconservatives, etc.  Fortunately, God is Sovereign, everything will turn out according to His plan.  Jesus Christ reigns.
366131
A collection of essays that are an homage, both to the founders of the Modern State of Israel and to the God of Israel, from prominent educators, pillars of the faith, and leaders of the Messianic-Jewish movement.  An academic work, it brings balance to Gods promises for Israel in light of recent writings by Christian authors critical of Israel and Christian Zionism.

The essays are logically grouped into four sections: 1. THE BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS [of Israel], 2. THEOLOGY AND CONFLICT [Israel and the Church], 3. YESHUA IN THE MIDST OF THE CRISIS [Jewish Messianism in Israel and the Palestinian Church], 4. CURRENT CHALLENGES TO PEACE IN ISRAEL [The challenges of Christian support for Israel and Dividing the Land]

If you love Israel, or maybe you don't but are open to hear another perspective, I commend this book to you.  Israel is the epicenter of World politics and the culmination of history.

This book digs deeper into those promises of Israel and its future, at a most timely occasion, and it is built on a solid Rock foundation.
4856511
Great for Christians who are anti-sematic and have no heart for Israel. I just don't know any actual Believers that hold that view.  It s a good example how judgments in our hearts can turn into extreme bias, as described in the book using Martin Luther's satanically-inspired hatred toward the nationality and people of Israel.  As far as Jesus coming back to build up a nation that is strictly Jewish in nationality, I don't think that is His whole point.  I think nationalism is a far-off end and that Jesus' actually appreciates mankind in all of our culture and that His point isn't our conversion at the end of the age.  Anyway, I can see that Joel has encountered anti-Semitism and preterism (which, again, I don't know anyone in my circle that hold that view either) in the church and this clearly is his response.
3043577
A fascinating book! The author shows that much of the academic research in social sciences dominated by Jews is an exercise in deception or self-deception. He explains this behavior in terms of group psychology determined by evolutionary mechanisms. But a few issues require further elaboration or are entirely missing:
1) The author's explanation of Marxism as a strategy to emphasize the division of society along lines other than Jew/gentile is open to a question. The most salient feature of Marxism is its apocalyptic messianism. Paradoxically Israeli scholar Gerschom Scholem (whom the author considers over-rated) may have provided a better insight in the origins of Marxism in his book The Messianic Idea in Judaism, in the chapters on Sabbatai Zevi, even though he does not explicitly say so. But the similarity between the two aberrant messianic movements is hard to miss. The author is well aware of traits often found among the Jews such as messianism, self-conceptualization as "the light of the nations", "secret dreams of reversal and triumph", "desire for malignant vengeance", "dark emotions", and tendency towards sectarian, cult-like behavior. But he never uses any of these in his analysis of Marxism.

2) MacDonald notes that Judaism has the best chance of continuation in liberal, individualistic societies. Why would it be in the interest of the Jews to construct totalitarian doctrines such as Marxism? It is not. Marxism is not a product of an adaptive group evolutionary strategy but an extreme, irrational response born out of frustration.

3) The author argues that Jewish radical leftist organizations recruited a few gentiles for the purposes of window dressing. (It sounds a little like the conspiracy theory.) The author makes the case that the Communist Parties of Russia, Poland, Hungary, and USA were initially dominated by Jews. He argues persuasively that these Jews, in spite of their universalistic and internationalist rhetoric, never lost their Jewish identity. Be as it may, the recruitment of the gentiles was not camouflage but proselytization. All the above mentioned parties soon fell under the control of the gentiles and even became anti-Semitic. How could have a few window dressing gentiles got the upper hand in Jewish organizations? Furthermore the communist parties in the Far East probably never had any significant Jewish membership.

4) There is no discussion of the fact that Jews were the most ardent proponents of pan-Germanism in Austria and Germany in the beginning of this century. The author mentions former Trockyists masquerading under the politically correct label of "neoconservatives" around the magazine The Weekly Standard. They advocate establishing an American world empire under the codeword "benevolent global hegemony." The author does not discuss their resemblance to the Jewish pan-Germanists.

5) The author correctly notes the irrationality of doctrines such as psychoanalysis. (He does not mention the irrationality of Marxism.) But there is practically no analysis of why the superior Jewish intellect is unable to discern irrational ideas. The author would probably say that such delusions are a byproduct of group evolutionary strategy. But I presume that the author does not mean by "rationality" (i.e. being in accordance with logic, facts, verifiable) as something that is relative and exists only in the eyes of the beholder.

5) There is no discussion of Gestalt psychology.

6) The author correctly states that monogamy has been the norm in "Western Europe" and polygamy existed in the Orient from Middle East to China. He leaves us guessing if polygamy has been practiced in Greece and Russia.

In spite of these shortcomings the book throws plenty of light on a hitherto unanalyzed subject.
4607143
H. A. Ironside provides the reader with enough of the background of the Nation of Israel and their spiritual separation from GOD, but causes the reader to enter into a prayerful self-examination of the Christian believer and the sad state of the church. You will see that the sins of Israel are common in the Church and in the believer! These Notes guide the believer in a devotional along with the HOLY SPIRIT to show that HE does punish us for our sin as a loving Father who desires to correct us and to restore us to proper fellowship with him. He will do the same for the remnant of Israel!
4217916
Too often, images of Palestinians in the West are dominated by suicide bombings and terrorist groups, and their cause is not presented in a way that could lead any person to sympathize with it. This book tells the story of the Palestinians you don't see on TV-the ordinary men, women, and children who were robbed of their land by an alien group whose ancestors had been gone from that land for 2000 years. Sabbagh refutes some commonly held-but very inacurate-beliefs, such as the idea that the name "Palestine" is a 20th century invention, and the idea that Palestine was uninhabited before the Israelis came-indeed, he tells the stories of the Arabs-including his own ancestors-who lived on the land for hundreds of years before Zionism was thought up. The history moves into the 20th century, relating the stories of Sabbagh's ancestors along with a history of British control of Palestine that reveals the injustice of the Zionist idea, and its proponents to be fanatical ideologues willing to use any means-even terrorism-to advance their ideas at the expense of the Palestinian population. The book culminates with the creation of Israel and the deportations conducted by the new state to rid its territory of Arabs, a tragedy described in mornfull detail by Sabbagh. Read this book-your view of the Arab-Israeli conflict will never be the same.
4013227
Murray Dixon's 'Rebirth and Restoration of Israel' is an excellent account of the Biblical basis for the restoration of Israel and the history of the fulfilment of this prophecy with the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. He clearly outlines the Church's Jewish roots, the history of Christian Jewish relations and the responsibility the Church has towards Israel.  I was so glad to find copies in good condition on Amazon.
3567201
_The Jews_ is a series of reflections by the Roman Catholic English writer Hilaire Belloc on the source of friction between Jew and Gentile.  Belloc argues that the Jews are an alien body in the society in which they live and must be understood as such, the problem not being denied, and their cohesiveness being understood for what it is.  In order to examine the causes of friction, Belloc takes a look at both anti-semitism and the Jewish role within both capitalism and as a source of revolutionary Bolshevism.  Indeed, the founder of communism, Karl (Mordecai) Marx was of Jewish extraction and many of its earliest followers were Jews.  This source of instability has led to the extreme opposite response among Gentiles, that of anti-semitism, taking its most extreme form in Nazism.  Belloc also examines the phenomenon of Zionism as well as the concerns that go with the founding of a Jewish state in Palestine, involving the native Arab population there.  Various theories have been proposed to explain the Jewish presence, including those involving Biblical accounts of the Jews in the time of Christ.  Belloc expounds on these theories for a while and shows how some of them are problematic in themselves.  The large percentage of Jews involved in usury is also shown, something that was outlawed in Biblical society.  Belloc was a unique historian who presented a perspective opposed to the dominant Anglo-American perspective on the Reformation as well as a political alternative to both the excesses of capitalism and the evils of socialism, which he termed distributism.
1926010
Have you ever considered whether the resurrection of Jesus really happened?  Rabbi Pinchas Lapide, a devout Orthodox Jewish man has not only thought about it, he sets out in this book to prove it.  When an  Orthodox rabbi says Jesus rose from the dead, you can expect some  interesting discussion.  The book does not disappoint.  Lapide looks at the  resurrection with Jewish eyes.  Resurrection, he says, is a Jewish concept  in the first place.  Furthermore, the gospels are just too honest about the  disciples' faithlessness to be fiction.  While Lapide is not a follower  of Jesus, his book made a splash in the religious world when it came out in  1979.  Time Magazine ran an article on this book in the religion section  (May 7, 1979).  Lapide sees Jesus' resurrection as ordained by God to bring  in non-Jewish people to monotheistic faith.  The book is an easy read  for anyone interested in the subject and the discussion is compelling  throughout.  Some of Lapide's arguments will surprise, even shock some  people of Christian or Jewish background.  Although it is out of print,  this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Jewish-Christian  dialogue, in the resurrection, in modern Judaism and its trends, or in the  Jewish roots of Christianity.
4174876
Even in translation, the poetry of Kaniuk's prose comes through, in an old tale that bears repeating, especially at a time when the anti-Semitism that is never far below the West's benign surface is adding old darkness to modern light.

It's instructive to be reminded that the Arab-Israeli conflict didn't begin with contemporary Palestinian grievances and terrorism, but is at least as old as the 1920s, when a tiny minority of Jewish settlers were almost powerless to stop the periodic assaults of their majority Arab neighbors.

Or that American and British resentment of (and opposition to) European Jewish aspirations for a resettled Israel began long before there was a state. Even, as hard as it may be to accept, before, during and immediately after the Holocaust.

Kaniuk's perspective is that of a patriotic Israeli providing the background to the state's creation story, but he leavens his judgments through the worldly understanding of his main character, the sabra revolutionary Yossi Harel, the commander of the SS Exodus 1947.
3570985
This is an intimate memoir of a boyhood in Jerusalem in the 1930s and '40s, a time that is scarcely imaginable now. Prof. Boullata writes of his family, not of politics and what comes across is a place of tolerance and interaction, where Christians (such as Prof. Boullata), Jews, and Muslims lived side by side. The little observations of daily life resonate, and when the inevitable shadow of political strife intrude, the reader feels the regret that Boullata feels as his life and those of his family and friends are changed forever. One comes away from this book with a sense that a different future is possible for Palestine, one that returns to the humanity of the past. Nostalgic, perhaps, but relevant, definitely. A necessary read for anyone who cares about the future of Palestine and Israel.
3070310
The general theme of Texe Marrs is that Zionist Israel has gotten away with infinite injustices, all in the name of Israel and the "Chosen". Modern DNA science has proven otherwise to the point that modern day Jews have no right to Palestine what so ever, as they are descendants of Mongol Turk foundation stock from Khazaria and only converted to Judaism in the 800's; their claim to be descended from Abraham is false!. The sources are credible, the subject researched deeply; it is well worth reading.
1338592
This book is a delight for all those interested in the history of Israel and the Middle East. The author gives us a fresh take as he goes behind the scenes to uncover the untold stories and key turning points that have shaped "Zion's" history and the history of the region.  After reading this book, I feel that I have a much better understanding of these events.  He brings both the key personalities and the conflicts to life.
3416573
Good for Fern Chapman as she attempts to make sense of family roots in a tourist-level return to Europe, even while knowing that a previous generation is largely inscrutable, fragmentary, and ultimately impressionistic. Much to the book's credit, both mother and daughter, as protagonists, explore this generational divide.  The book's stated purpose of pursuing WWII understandings "Beyond the Holocaust" promises new insight into unresolved moral issues.  Chapman hopes to liberate the reader from that form of simplistic guilt-conveyance which stifles further thinking about the Holocaust.

Chicago-based Chapman plunges us into a post-Christian and post-Judaic landscape, a brave new world of secular humanism that hopes to compete with the centuries-rooted religious foundation that we've come to respect in the book we've come to know as the Bible.  We find ourselves adrift in the modern world of American and European apostates, no longer tethered to ancient heritage, but reluctantly forced to bear the social mantle of being either a Jew or a Christian.

The character Mina is representative of the WWII Christian German who never left: "I mean, I was brought up in the church every Sunday and I prayed.  But we weren't a deeply religious family."  Her family, dysfunctional to the point of abandoning her to the servant needs of a local Jewish family, attributes their lack of faith to the Christian disorientation resulting from the World War I, untimately a civil war in which Christians and Jews were destroying each other.  World War II would be the same unfortunate imploding of the Judeo-Christian bulwark.  Our sympathies to mother and daughter!  Even so, Mina is forced to shoulder the guilt associated with Holocaust, even while the visitors from America remain speculative.

The mother Edith deserves our sympathies as well. "After the war, however, she had little use for religion.  When I asked her why, she said, 'I want nothing to do with it.  Look what happened in Germany--that was among mostly Christian people.  After that, I couldn't trust any religion.  I just couldn't believe in God.'"  Edith simply cannot fathom the horrible waste of internecine warfare.

Chapman is often superb in "Getting Beyond the Holocaust" with its propaganda-like group-think. During the war, German Jews seemed to know as little about the Holocaust as did everyday German Christians.  Neither knew much, if anything.  This accounts for several characters offering only "symbolic" protests against Nazi incursions into their lives.  Knowing more would presumably have led to ever more forceful resistance from both communities.

Nor does Chapman attempt to whitewash typical Holocaust guilt formulas.  Mina represents the easier vantage, i.e. that "You are a Nazi to the end of your life.  You are stamped."  Yet the Nazis voiced principle-based (to them, at least) complaints that might be acknowledged: apostate Jews, not faith-based Jews, were leading the godless Bolshevik revolution.  Marx himself had descended from a long line of rabbis before his family's desperate plunge into Lutheranism and religious disorientation, ultimately a cogent formula for atheism, socialism, and secular humanism.  Overall, the book leaves us with a sense of tragic loss among "should have been" partners in a unified Judeo-Christian Europe, rallying around the Old and New Testaments.  Too bad today that a weak, self-propagandized Europe has replaced the Jews with its real historic enemy, jihadist Islam.