Barefooted as I waded into the Sea of Galilee, I couldn’t help pondering on how Jesus might be received today. As a historian who has trekked the world from Europe and Asia, Africa and Latin America, to the Arctic and South Pacific, I have been to no place that has made upon me a bigger impact than the tiny nation state of Israel.
I followed Jesus’ footsteps from Galilee to the Jordan River to the Mount of the Sermon. And to Golgotha where He was crucified and died. I stood at his empty tomb in the Garden.
And I pondered his persecution.
More than six million Jews died in Hitler’s Holocaust. In today’s 21st Century, a handful of Jews in Israel and around the world are again being scapegoated, targets not only of Islamist Jihad but also of what appears to be a compulsive insanity to blame Jews for all the ills in the world.
Almost 2,000 Israelis have been murdered and over 10,000 maimed by radical Islamist terrorists since the 1993 Oslo “peace” process began. In recent months, terrorists prowl Israel stabbing and blasting innocent civilians.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon justified the murders, terming them a result of “Palestinian frustration.” He held a moment of silence at the UN for countries affected by terrorism—and left out Israel when he named those nations attacked by terrorists.
President Obama did the same thing, leaving out Israel when he also listed those countries victimized by terrorists.
The Palestinian Authority pays pensions to the families of terrorists who murder innocent Jews. The U.S. Government doles out $500 million to the PA every year, a portion of which goes into these pensions.
Everyday anti-Semitism is on the rise in the U.S. and Europe. In America, most synagogues and Jewish groups now station armed guards in front of their buildings.
During the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, demonstrators outside burned U.S. and Israeli flags.
U.S. campus rallies march against Jews in support of Palestine and call for an “intifada” against Jews.
So I stood before the empty tomb in Jerusalem. Jesus was a Jew. Should he reappear in Philadelphia or Paris or Hong Kong or Cairo, chances are he would be crucified on the cross all over again. And the masses would mindlessly cheer.
NEW BOOKS: Charles W. Sasser will publish four new books within the next few months: Shadow Mountain, a historical adventure-romance set during Stalin’s Great Famine of the 1930s; Night Fighter, the biographer of Navy Captain Bill Hamilton, former CIA covert agent, founder of Navy SEALs, fighter pilot, advisor to President Reagan. . .; Blood in The Hills, a Vietnam book about a Marine during the Khe Sanh “Hill Fights;” and The Collective: Chains We Revere, a historical look at the decline of empires and Western Civilization.
A sobering thought. Insightful and incisive, as usual.
Morning, Julie. Thank you. God bless. chuck sasser
Very moving. Very true.
Morning, Carol. Always good to hear from you. I hope all is well? chuck sasser
In Snakish/Serpent hook line and sinker fashion, the endgame for Progressives — cultural terrorists — and other so-called freedom fighter fellow travelers is to get rid of The People and The Bible so they can implement what they say is “good” and get rid of what they say is “evil”. Too many do’s and don’ts that have engendered good traditional families and prosperous societies which just have to go don’t ya know.
Morning, Mark. We are truly living through the decline of Western Civilization. chuck sasser
I’ve come to believe that the very best college course I took 40+ years ago was “Logic and Critical Thinking”. After completing it I could pick out the lies, illogical assumptions, and circular reasoning in news articles and political speeches as if they were in 18-point type and yellow highlighted. Every year it seems the deluge of such “progressive?” crap increases exponentially and the ability of Americans to realize it is propaganda diminishes proportionally. College and high school students are being brainwashed by teachers who drank deeply from the sewer on socialism and are passing around the poison. God, save us from the forces of darkness. Amen.
Morning, Jim. Logic has become its opposite. and “Critical thinking?” I would settle for just plain old “thinking” these days. God bless, Jim.
chuck sasser
You’re right on, as usual, Chuck. God bless! Keep writing the truth.
Morning, Sally, old friend. And God bless you in these trying times. chuck sasser
First, I want to say how much I enjoyed your presentation at TNWC last night. Seldom will a member of an organization speak out about the First Amendment and our diminishing rights. As to Israel, the UN has sanctioned that tiny country more than any other. Israel is considered an occupier, yet it is not against international law to “occupy” a land.