← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · weisbrot
Thread ID: 14274 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2004-06-21
2004-06-21 02:36 | User Profile
*Please don't allow this information to interfere with the ongoing, interminable and so far nearly 100% unsubstantiated bugle call to fight the rampant Satanism within the tsunami-like Goth movement (we know it's gathering speed because the last Smiths album sold an alarming 749 copies). Still, this little microsmidge of information might be of interest- if only to those visitors scanning these pages for new and more interesting ways of burying traditional Christian influence in American culture. Maybe they'll buy your son or daughter that much-needed ticket to neocon Gehenna...er, Jerusalem.
That said, please return to that spoooooky stuff, before your very soul is stolen by that sixteen year old loser with the black nails...*
[url]http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/440547.html[/url]
Christians want a Birthright program, too
By Daphna Berman
A Christian version of Birthright - a program in which young Jews can receive a free trip to Israel - may sound like a strange proposal to some, but Adam Watson, a senior at George Washington University, certainly doesn't think so.
The political science major was walking around his Washington D.C. campus earlier this year when he saw a huge sign advertising a free trip to Israel. "I went up and tried to apply, but I was rejected," recalls Watson, who wears a pin with adjoining Israeli and American flags fastened to his jacket lapel. "I didn't realize that you had to be Jewish to go on Birthright."
And so the fourth year student from Pennsylvania signed up for the Israel Experience College Scholarship Program - a new and completely subsidized Christian evangelical initiativ```e sponsored by the New York-based Eagle's Wings Ministry. The program has been recently dubbed by some as "Birthright for Christians," and for good reason, it seems.
For Watson, and for the nine other devout young Christians who accompanied him, the trip to Israel this month has been something of a spiritual mission. Though it is geared towards preparing the students to help in public relations for Israel, it is also intended to give them an appreciation of Christianity's roots in the Jewish faith and Jerusalem - a Birthright-esque program for the next generation of active and identified Christian evangelicals.
"I've always had a heart for Israel because of religious and spiritual reasons," Watson added. "Now I can go back to my college campus and say that I support Israel and not just because the Bible says so."
The program, which is in its first year, is the brainchild of Reverend Robert Stearns, a minister from New York and the founder of the Eagle's Wings Ministry. Stearns is a long time Zionist and lived briefly in Israel several years ago, where he worked with the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. He didn't even know about the existence of Birthright-Taglit when he first developed the Israel Experience, and he insists that "it was the Israelis who came up with the idea" that it was a Christian version of the Jewish program. Stearns realizes that the analogy may seem presumptuous or offensive to some and is quick to clarify that "God has given this land to the Jewish people." Jews, and not Christians, he also explains, "are custodians of this land. But having said that, Christians share a spiritual claim to Israel. Rome is not our mother. Jerusalem is our mother."
Only 10 students participated in the three-week pilot trip this month because of the $5,000 dollar per student cost, but Stearns insists that it's a project worth expanding. The battle for Israel is being lost on university campuses across the world, he says, and Christian students have a unique opportunity to change that with a larger "global network." Since arriving in Israel two weeks ago, students like Elijah Sung, from the University of California, Irvine, for example, have already learned to counter the pro-Palestinian propaganda on campus by "learning to stand for freedom as a Christian." And like many of the other students, Sung says he has every intention of waging the pro-Israel battle when he returns to campus in the fall to complete his master's degree in English literature.
Stearns has every intention of expanding the program and already talks about increasing registration tenfold. "We'll have 100 participants next year and 1,000 the following year," he told the Christian Allies Caucus at the Knesset on Wednesday in a fiery speech to several members of Knesset and prominent leaders of the Christian community in Israel. "There are millions of Christians for whom Israel needs to be put on the radar screen."
Stearns is hoping to initiate a partnership with Birthright, which by the end of the summer will have brought over 70,000 young Jewish adults to Israel, using a five-year budget of some $160 million. He would like to see his own program reach those numbers as well, but doesn't have the funds to see it through. He has a meeting scheduled for next week with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and plans to broach the subject with him. According to Stearns' own estimates, his ministry will be able to fund a third of the cost, and local churches would then supplement an additional third. All he needs is for the Israeli government to cover the remainder of the cost, as they pledged in the past with the Jewish Birthright program.
Meanwhile, though, the government contribution to Birthright was down to $900,000 this year, from $ 9 million in 2003, and even former Tourism Minister Benny Elon, one of the more vocal friends of the American evangelical community, is hard pressed to see a financial contribution in this age of government cutbacks. Gidi Mark, the international director of marketing for Birthright, also told Anglo File that he has no interest in organizing a partnership with the Christian alternative to his program, simply because Birthright is interested solely in fostering Jewish identity. Still, Stearns is convinced he'll be able to get the money and support. "If it's God's idea, then he'll provide for it somehow," he says.
2004-06-21 02:54 | User Profile
"I've always had a heart for Israel because of religious and spiritual reasons," Watson added. "Now I can go back to my college campus and say that I support Israel and not just because the Bible says so."
John 18:36 *Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. *
Romans 14:17 *For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. *
2004-06-21 17:47 | User Profile
Weisbrot,
This is a "target rich enviroment. There is so much to comment on.
Israel Experience College Scholarship Program
Does this come with the free lobotomy too? It seems that when these people come back from Israel they all parrot the same ââ¬Åchristianââ¬Â Zionist nonsense that one could hypothesize comes from having a ââ¬Åmicky flinnââ¬Â slipped in their drink and while unconscious have what little of their brains left removed.
The program has been recently dubbed by some as "Birthright for Christians," and for good reason, it seems.
More like ââ¬ÅSuckers for Israel.ââ¬Â If it only affected them I wouldnââ¬â¢t care but this cultish superstition known as ââ¬Ådispensationalismââ¬Â effects everyone else that lives in modern times.
"I've always had a heart for Israel because of religious and spiritual reasons," Watson added. "Now I can go back to my college campus and say that I support Israel and not just because the Bible says so."
Iââ¬â¢d rather he go back to Israel instead. There he can serve his masters in the orchards. The Israelis need somebody to pick fruit now that they donââ¬â¢t have the Palestinians. This person has the mentality of a slave. He should just take this to the logical conclusion and become a Noahide and be done with it.
The program, which is in its first year, is the brainchild of Reverend Robert Stearns, a minister from New York and the founder of the Eagle's Wings Ministry. Stearns is a long time Zionist and lived briefly in Israel several years ago, where he worked with the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. He didn't even know about the existence of Birthright-Taglit when he first developed the Israel Experience, and he insists that "it was the Israelis who came up with the idea" that it was a Christian version of the Jewish program.
Yeah, in this case I can believe him. No doubt the Israelis came up with this idea and this ââ¬Åshepardââ¬Â is just the one to help set of the sheep for a fleecing. I bet this ââ¬Åreverendââ¬Â is a big fan of Elmer Gantry if he isnââ¬â¢t a cultist.
Since arriving in Israel two weeks ago, students like Elijah Sung, from the University of California, Irvine, for example, have already learned to counter the pro-Palestinian propaganda on campus by "learning to stand for freedom as a Christian."
One can do this without being a Zionist bootlick.
"There are millions of Christians for whom Israel needs to be put on the radar screen."
Who does he think heââ¬â¢s kidding? The dispensationalists and those prone to this nonsense have been on their radar screen for years.
According to Stearns' own estimates, his ministry will be able to fund a third of the cost, and local churches would then supplement an additional third. All he needs is for the Israeli government to cover the remainder of the cost, as they pledged in the past with the Jewish Birthright program.
Iââ¬â¢m wouldnââ¬â¢t put it past that that ââ¬ÅMan of Peaceââ¬Â Ariel Sharon can get his friend ââ¬ÅWââ¬Â to pony up the cash if he makes the effort. Bush hasnââ¬â¢t been able to say ââ¬Ånoââ¬Â to him up to this point and doesnââ¬â¢t appear capable of doing so in the future.
Still, Stearns is convinced he'll be able to get the money and support. "If it's God's idea, then he'll provide for it somehow," he says.
Centinel,
Good response to the zealots.