The Truth about the Kairos Palestine Document

In the 60 Minutes report “Christians in the Holy Land” in March 2012, CBS correspondent Bob Simon attempted painted Palestinian Christian leaders with as non-violent brush towards Israel especially the Israel Defense Force (IDF).  Simon’s goal was to pin a “I support Martin Luther King” button on Palestinian Christians and  portray Israelis as evil ” segregationists” standing in the way of Palestinian civil rights. Nothing could be further from the truth once we delve outside the small box of  the 60 Minutes report.

Here are the words from the 60 Minutes transcript:

In 2009, this group of Christian activists did something unprecedented. They published a document called Kairos, criticizing Islamic extremism and advocating non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation which they called a sin against God. It was endorsed by the leaders of 13 Christian denominations including Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican.

The CBS correspondent continued to explore the Kairos Palestine Document by interviewing Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Christian, the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem:

Mitri Raheb: They [the Israelis] are fearful of this document because they are afraid this might influence the Christian world

Reverend Raheb, who helped write the document, says it’s anything but anti-Semitic.

Mitri Raheb: This document is– doesn’t ask for violent. It doesn’t ask for revenge. The most powerful thing in this document actually is that asking for hope and love and faith.

But is this document merely asking for “hope and love and faith”? How much do we as Christians in the Western World know about the Kairos Palestine Document? (more…)

Is the Christian Population in the Holy Land Really Shrinking?

On April 22, 2012 the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes ran a controversial segment featuring correspondent Bob Simon, in which he stated, “the Palestinian Christians have been leaving [the Palestinian territories] in large numbers for years. So many, the Christian population there is down to less than two percent.”

Father Marwan Dides, a Franciscan, expressed this dire concern that the continuing presence of Christians in the Holy Land is non-negotiable, “If there is no people, no Christians here, it will never continue.” He offered no proof that Israel is making any attempt to rid the Holy Land of Arab Christians.

Theophilos the third, the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church has witnessed the alleged decline of Christians in the land of the Bible.  Simon asked the patriarch of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, “When you first came here in 1964, what was the percentage of Christians in the old city?” Theophilos responded, “There were around 30,000 of – Christians living in the Old City.” In response to Simon’s request for an update, the Greek Orthodox cleric said, “Very few.”  Simon hmself added information from CBS’ research, “So few, some 11,000 Christians out of a population of almost 800,000 – just one and half percent.” 

I am blogging the 60 Minutes segment once again because the journalistic approach taken by CBS is very significant.  The reporting of the major media outlets like CBS, ABC, CNN and NBC are quick to paint Israel as an “evil nation,” but offer no proof other than inferences.  Their reporting lacks the data and figures verified by experts of the claims they are making about the shrinking Palestinian Christian population due to the “occupation.”

The underlying question is “why is the Christian population in the Holy Land shrinking?” Simon called the Palestinian Christian an “invisible people, squeezed between a growing Muslim majority and burgeoning Israeli settlements.”

The Underlying Anti-Israel Message by the Media

The message CBC correspondent Bob Simon is driving at is exposed in his discussion with Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States.  Oren argued the duress experienced by Palestinian communities in the West Bank is from Muslim extremists.  Simon shot back, “And this duress is coming from Muslims, not from the Israel occupation?”

So is the shrinking Palestinian Christian population from Israeli policies due to what opponents of Israel call “the occupation” or is it due to Islamic mistreatment of Christians as we are currently witnessing in Egypt?

According to a report published by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the idea that Israel’s policies are causing a mass exodus of Palestinian Christians from Israel is a myth. In fact, the narrative of a decreasing population among Palestinians Christians is a major argument used to build support for and sympathy for their cause. When this message plays among evangelical Christians the results are even more serious.  The more evangelicals Palestinian Christians can convince to support their cause, the more evangelical leaders will publicly criticize Israel and join the growing cry for anti-Israel initiatives including boycott, divestment and sanctions.

According to the JCPA report from August 2011 Christians in America are being sold a bill of goods by Palestinian Christians,

. . . the JCPA report reveals, the Palestinian Christian population has grown in both Israel and in the West Bank – and has growing been since 1967. This flies in the face of a misinformation campaign that has been used by anti-Israel groups to add “urgency” to their criticism of Israeli policies.

Debunking the Myths about the Shrinking Arab Christian Population in the Holy Land

Some of the fallacies used by those who want to make it appear as though Israeli policies are pushing the Palestinian Christians ut of the Holy Land are as follows:

• they over-report the population prior to Israel’s creation, sometimes by more than 200%. In turn, they underreport the current population, sometimes by comparing the entire region in 1948 with smaller areas today.
• they fail to report the West Bank Christian population dropped under Jordanian rule but has increased since 1967, when it came under Israeli and later Palestinian Authority control.
• they fail to report how Palestinian Christians are being persecuted by the Palestinian Authority. The First Baptist Church of Bethlehem, pastored by Rev Naim Khoury, who is openly supportive of the State of Israel, has been denied legitimacy by the Palestinian Authority. Fire-bombed fourteen times in the past, the church has been told that any birth, death, or marriage certificates it issues will not be recognized.
• They make a major blunder in not reporting that the Christian population in Israel proper has increased even more dramatically – in some years outpacing Jewish growth. This, of course, stands in stark contrast with surrounding Islamic countries in which the decrease of Christian communities is astounding and very real. Over and over I hear Israeli dignitaries claim Arab Christians living in Israel as Israeli citizens experience more freedom to worship than in any other Middle East country.
• they use questionable figures that fit their own view of how much the Palestinian Christian population should have grown. According to Palestinian Christian advocates, they state their population should have grown at 2% annually. However, it has not reached that growth due to emigration related to Israeli policy. However, the average growth worldwide today is almost half that.

I would recommend reading the full report put together by the JCPA. By reading this report one starts to realize all the issues not reported correctly or fairly by the CBS report.  The JCPA admits to the pressures the Palestinian Christian community faces due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Palestinian Christians face restrictions on visas and travel, family reunification, poor economic opportunities and the difficulty of living everyday with checkpoints and the security.  Let us not forget that most of these restrictions are in response to Palestinian terrorism.  No one is wild about the security barrier that separates Palestinian communities from Israel proper. However, ever since the wall was erected, terrorism within israel by Palestinian terrorists has decreased 90% according to Michael Oren. Bob Simon had no response to that fact.

The Poor Conditions of Palestinian Christians Due to the Muslim Majority

The Palestinian Christian community also faces pressures related to the Muslim majority inside the territories as cited above.  These factors also contribute to Palestinian Christians leaving the West Bank.

Let us not forget that Christian communities throughout the Middle East are decreasing.  However, the Palestinian Christian narrative fails to focus on persecution they experience from Muslims.  When confronted with the duress they experience from the Palestinian Authority or Muslim extremists, they blame the Israeli occupation for the “radicalization of Muslims.” No matter what the narrative of the Palestinian Christian, they are out to demonize Israel for their problems.

The Questionable Data Used to Verify the Shrinking Palestinian Christian Population

Then there is always the reality of faulty calculations in reporting changes in the Palestinian population.  Once again, I quote from the JCPA report:

There are many complexities in analyzing changes in the Palestinian Christian population.  First, the data are scarce. The PA either doe snot collect or doe snot broadly report information related to the Christian population. Second, demographic data are often inconsistent in how they treat cities and regions. Third, some data have been misreported in the past. These unsubstantiated data have been used in subsequent, inaccurate, analysis.

The JCPA report even states the PA Prime Minister reported that “data from 2009 indicates that for the first time in years, more Palestinians are returning than leaving.”

In the JCPA all the references for these statements are accurately provided. Many charts and graphs related to population growth among Christians in the Holy Land are included. In contrast, CBS’ Bob Simon failed to refer to any studies or reports from Palestinian Christian sources. He only relied on his “cleric on the street” interviews. The fact Simon did not provide any figures from the PA on the alleged shrinking Palestinian Christian population says it all. He was out to demonize Israel and he ignored any contrary evidence to his major premise that “occupation” is causing Palestinian Christian to leave the Holy Land.

Here’s the bottom line: Christians in America are being exposed to a steady stream of propaganda by Palestinian Christians aimed to convince the evangelical world to reject Israel as a legitimate state and to jettison their beliefs that the return of the Jews to the Promised Land is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Arab Christians Rewrite the New Testament on 60 Minutes

From the 60 Minutes report “Christians of the Holy Land”  last Sunday night [April 22, 2012) moderated by CBS reporter Bob Simon, the viewer was fed the idea that Palestinians started Christianity and gave faith in Christ to the world.

Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Christian and a Lutheran minister from Bethlehem accurately claimed, “Christianity started here.”  Then Raheb adds, “The only thing that Palestine was able to export so successfully was Christianity.”  Yet no where in the New Testament is name “Palestine” is ever used. The closest we come is in Matthew 15:22 where a Canaanite woman came to Jesus seeking healing for her daughter, “A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

According to Wikipedia, “The first clear use of the term Palestine to refer to the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt was in 5th century BC Ancient Greece.  Herodotus wrote of a ‘district of Syria, called Palaistinê” in The Histories, the first historical work clearly defining the region, which included the Judean mountains and the Jordan Rift Valley.”

In the Bible Palestine is never mentioned as another name for Israel or the original name of Israel prior to the Jewish exiles from Egypt entering the land under Joshua around 1400 B.C.  We read, “The Hebrew name Peleshet (פלשת Pəlésheth)- usually translated as Philistia in English, is used in the Bible more than 250 times. The Greek word Palaistinē  is generally accepted to be a translation of the Semitic name for Philistia; however another term – Land of Philistieim  was used in the Septuagint, the second century BCE Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, to refer to Philistia.  In the Torah / Pentateuch the term Philistia is used 10 times and its boundaries are undefined. The later Historical books include most of the biblical references, almost 200 of which are in the Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel, where the term is used to denote the southern coastal region to the west of the ancient Kingdom of Judah.”

Getting back to Mitri Raheb, he has the nerve to say, “Christianity has actually on the back a stamp saying, “Made in Palestine.”  Raheb could not be more mistaken.

Given the tenor of the entire article, it appears that Arab Christians are the original followers of Jesus in the Holy Land. I find it odd that Bob Simon did not interview the other Christians living in the Holy Land – Jewish people who have embraced Jesus as the Messiah aka messianic Jews. (more…)

60 Minutes’ Discrepancies about Christians of the Holy Land

Sunday night April 22, 2012 CBS aired a 60 Minutes report entitled “Christians of the Holy Land.” The report was piecemeal and failed to include anything but what CBS correspondent Bob Simon wanted to accomplish – to make Israel the perpetrator of all that ails Arab Christians in the Holy Land.

Simon started off his report admitting Christians in the Middle East today are not have an easy time.  Yet when the seasoned CBS correspondent lists examples of mistreatment of Christians in the Middle East, he fails to mention which group or groups are giving Arab Christians a hard time:

Christianity may have been born in the Middle East, but Arab Christians have never had it easy there, especially not today. In Iraq and Egypt, scores of churches have been attacked, hundreds murdered. In Syria, revolution seriously threatens Christian communities. The one place where Christians are not suffering from violence is the Holy Land: but Palestinian Christians have been leaving in large numbers for years.

Does anyone notice some missing words in this paragraph?  Who is persecuting Christians in Iraq and Egypt?  Dare I mention the word “Muslims”? Bob Simon refused to utter radical Muslims as the culprits attacking Arab Christians.

At the close of the 60 Minutes report Simon added an appendage to the original footage by including a brief discussion he had with Michael Oren, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States. Prior to the airing of the show, Oren called head of CBS News, Jeff Fager, Simon’s boss, about his concerns regarding the story.  Simon claims Oren had information that “our story was quote ‘a hatchet job.'” (more…)

The Book James Cameron Does Not Want You to Read

James Cameron is best known for his films Titanic and the Terminator series. Cameron is somewhat of an entrepreneur.  He seems to always find himself in the middle of some edgy project beyond his movie making. Camerons’ latest endeavor is launching a meteor mining company with Ross Perot and Google Founder Larry Page.  Sometimes I wonder if Cameron really believes what he said when he received the Oscar for Titanic, “I’m the King of the World.”

Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was putting together a documentary in March 2007 intended to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. According to the Discovery Channel description of the show we learn,

Since the 1970s, hundreds of tombs and thousands of ossuaries (limestone bone boxes) have been discovered in the Jerusalem area. These ossuaries served as coffins in first-century Jerusalem. One of these tombs was found to contain ten ossuaries. Six of the ossuaries in this tomb have inscriptions on them. As it turns out, every inscription in this particular tomb relates to the Gospels. In the feature documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus a case is made that the 2,000-year-old “Tomb of the Ten Ossuaries” belonged to the family of Jesus of Nazareth.

In other words, the “King of the World” has found the tomb of the King of Kings – Jesus of Nazareth, thus proving the resurrection never took place.  Now that the invincible James Cameron has successfully destroyed Christianity he can get back to making inane anti-U.S. military films like Avatar.

When I first watched The Lost Tomb of Jesus I was surprised at how naive viewers were in even considering the validity of the documentary.  In response, I started to do my own research about the Talpiot Tomb, where the alleged bones of Jesus have been hidden for 2000 years just waiting for Cameron and his camera crew to come along and expose Christianity to be founded on a lie.

In 2007 I wrote a short booklet in which I examined  the “proofs” offered by James Cameron and writer Simcha Jacobovici, an Israeli-born filmmaker. To give you an example of the content of my book entitled, “Burying the Jesus Family Tomb Controversy,” here is the opening chapter:

The Lost Tomb of Jesus, a documentary recently aired on the Discovery Channel, claims an ancient tomb discovered in Jerusalem may have held the bones of Jesus. The project’s producer, James Cameron, commented that the implications of such a find could drastically change the sacred faith of Christianity.

If Jesus’ bones really are among those found in the tomb’s ossuaries ¾ limestone bone boxes ¾ believers around the world have a major problem with their faith. His resurrection would be proven false, and Christians could no longer attest to the fact that they have been born again through the power of the Holy Spirit. As the apostle Paul said in I Corinthians 15:7: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” (Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New International Version).

TV host Ted Koppel interviewed several religious scholars immediately after the feature ended. He asked a priest on the panel, “What if Jesus’ bones are in the box?” The priest responded that it would not affect his faith. “My faith would go on,” he said.

While watching the panel discussions, I asked myself, “What is my faith in? If there is no resurrection, am I going to continue in the faith? Faith in what, assuming the resurrection — the foundation of our faith — has been ripped away?”

As I considered my own questions in the days that followed, a member of my church admitted to me, “Well, if Jesus’ bones are in the box, we have to close down this congregation.” This believer grasped the implications of the claims made by Cameron and his team.

If Jesus had an ossuary, it would contradict the major tenet of the New Testament faith: that Jesus was resurrected and ascended to heaven. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3-4). “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3).

The New Testament is built on the veracity of the resurrection of Yeshua. It is neither an option nor a hypothesis; it is the bedrock of our beliefs. In answer to my own questions, if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, my life and faith are in ruins!

Unfortunately, many spirit-filled and active believers have chosen to ignore the documentary, feeling they do not want to increase the ratings of the show or to lend credibility to the program. However, this attitude robs us of an opportunity to share the reliability of our faith with others. Since the show aired, I have encountered many secular individuals who watched the program and had serious questions about what it all means.

After prayerfully pondering the Discovery Channel documentary, I wrote this brief booklet “Burying the Jesus Family Tomb Controversy” to equip my fellow Christians and interested seekers with a response to Cameron’s fictitious documentary . This booklet addresses the fallacy of Cameron’s documentary — and others like it — that dispute the life, death, and resurrection of Yeshua, our Lord Jesus the Messiah. I trust that my words will strengthen your faith, and give you the confidence to talk to any who may have questions about this controversial documentary.

I want to give you a copy of this booklet – for free. All I ask is that you become a subscriber to the ScriptureSolutions blog and I will send you the booklet. For the first fifty people who sign up as subscribers to ScriptureSolutions, the booklet is yours.  No strings attached. ScriptureSolutions is not a non-profit organization so I can’t even accept a donation even if you wanted to offer one. I’d rather you give the gift to your congregation.

To receive your free copy of Burying the Jesus Family Tomb Controversy, please click here and subscribe to the blog. You can also go to the Subscribe Now widget on the left side of this page.