by Donna Diorio
A truth from Frangipane's The Three Battlegrounds is about the battle being waged in our thoughts.
The battle is for predominance to establish a reality over our lives. It is a tug-of-war over hearts and minds to establish either God's reality or the enemy's.
This same battle is being waged in the media to establish the reality over our nations. The dominant message will shape the thinking of the public, and establishes its vision for the future. We must fight for truth to prevail.
I am seeing this clearly in the current media coverage in the U.S. as a majority of the news media are desperately trying to avoid the conclusion that Palestinian-American soldier/psychiatrist was motivated by radical Islamist thinking. The majority of the Liberal media would rather entertain anything BUT the obvious evidence that Hasan repeatedly expressed jihadist doctrine to fellow soldiers (patients) and his colleagues treating them for PTSD.
In Israel we are seeing the same kind of reluctance to acknowledge the radicalized religious-nationalist thinking that motivated a West Bank Settler to commit murders of several Arabs, attempted murders of a Messianic youth and a Peace Now Leftist professor, and even murder and attempted murder of on duty Israeli police. Each one of those diverse types of Israelis are regarded as the enemy of the religious-nationalist activists' aspirations. Whoever does not accept their doctrine is an enemy of their vision for Israel.
It reminds me of the mantra we have heard since 9/11 in the U.S. that "Islam is the religion of peace." Yes, but in radical Islamist doctrine your only hope for peace is in accepting that Islam is destined to dominate. No matter if we are Christian, Jew or Muslim, if our doctrine does not allow for all others to choose their own religious belief, if we cannot co-exist with "the other" but justify whatever is done to the infidel, then we have become radicalized. Terrorism is not far from translating from thought to act.
If Christians would recognize their true relationship ties to the indigenous Body in Israel instead of making connections with traditional religious-nationalists we would not have such a sticky problem on our hands.
It is touchy ground, I know. God gave Israel a lot more land territory than is currently possessed, but there is something incredibly ungodly about trying to cover over, excuse or ignore the type of vigilante law that many of the settler activists hold to. I am not condemning ALL settlers, but those who are in denial of the dangerous radicalism of some settler activists are not doing themselves any favors.
It is the same as a U.S. media, government and military that is in such denial - and so eager not to be Islamaphobic - as to ignore the clear facts. When that happens, the authorities fail to shut down our vulnerability to their violence. It will happen again. If we are not willing to honestly face the facts, then we are doomed to see repeats of carnage.
It used to be that reporters lived by the creed of following the facts wherever the facts might lead. Their search was for the truth. That has been replaced by a search for only the facts that lend support to the agenda. News journalism is now an ideology driven profession.
I hear a spiritual principle repeated often that whatever is the reality in Israel, it is a sign of the coming reality in the nations. If this is so, then watch carefully how Israel media and law enforcement deal with the facts in the Jacob Teitel case.
UNREPORTED FACT: There were others involved in scouting the Ortiz residence before the bombing, and also in placing the bomb-laden package. The lone wolf theory of the crime does not hold up to the evidence in video security tapes.
It may be yet unclear how many were involved in the conspiracy to murder at the Ortiz family home, but it is clear that there is a dangerously radical mind set, or doctrine, among some religious-nationalist activists. This mindset breeds murderous acts.
Last year, even prominent Christians and government leaders hobnobbed with these activists, not discerning or understanding the underlying radical doctrines of many of them. Many Christians are even funding the activities of these groups, even raising money for more illegal outposts to be built in utter disregard for the democratically elected rule of the Israeli government.
Once again, I understand this is a sticky area of controversy, but I am mightily uncomfortable with Christian and government leaders like Mike Huckabee spending most of his time in Israel visiting settlements and with Yeshiva Ateret Hacohanim's Jewish Reclamation Project picking up his trip tab.
Too many Christian leaders in government and out, do not really know the facts about the religious-nationalist groups wooing them, and whom they support. Indeed, many of them do not WANT to know the facts and have repeatedly ignored those who tried to educate them in the facts. Some have even accused and attacked those saved Jews who tried to tell them the truth of being "jealous" or other nonsense.
The word "disabuse" means "to free (a person) from deception or error." To dis-abuse. To reverse the abuse that is being perpetuated (by a deceiver) on someone bringing them into error or deception. To dis-abuse is also to halt the cycle of abuse that such error and deception puts into motion against others.
In the U.S. we are seeking to "disabuse" those who seek to ignore the links of radical Islamist doctrines to acts of terrorism.
In Israel we are seeking to "disabuse" those who seek to ignore the links between radical religious-nationalist doctrines to acts of terrorism committed against a wide array of "others" in Israel.
In one of the newspaper articles I read about the Teitel arrest, in which a reporter was asking why it took the police and Shin Bet a dozen years to catch him, the reporter said that one of the reasons it took so long was because his targeted victims were so diverse - Palestinians, a messianic Jewish family, a Leftist professor, homosexuals, a few policemen. So many different types of people were hated and targeted that it seemed like many perpetrators instead of one.
Indeed, it may still have been many perpetrators, but all out of the same pool of activists. Teitel could easily have claimed sole responsibility for many attacks he participated in with others. By claiming all, he "martyrs" himself to the cause allowing others the freedom to continue in their vision.
The truth is, the diversity of targets makes perfect sense if one is willing to look for potential suspects in the religious-nationalist activists camp for potential conspiracies and/or lone wolf attackers. It is the same thing in the U.S. where everyone has been brow beaten since 9/11 by CAIR, the Council of American Islamic Relations into avoiding any hint of "Islamophobia" or profiling on the basis of Islamist indoctrination.
And that is our choice. We can ignore where the facts lead us and we can guarantee that we will remain vulnerable to more and greater attacks. Face the truth or deny it.
To face the truth does not mean we crank up hatred for Muslims in the United States or religious-nationalist settlers in Israel.
Ami, David and Leah Ortiz provide a sterling example of the heart of God to live out the Sermon on the Mount in spirit and truth. They grant forgiveness to those who harmed them and mercy to their families. They are praying for and trusting God for the salvation and deliverance of their neighbors in the settlements - both Arab and Jew.
Facing the truth does not mean turning on hatred toward anyone. Our battle is for the truth and part of our warfare is to be able to express the sincere love of the Lord for others even though we know and have faced the truth about them.
The quote from Frances Frangipane I was referring to in the opening is this: "The essence of spiritual warfare is in whom shall define reality: the Word of God or the illusion of this present age."
That is the warfare we are waging not only in the spiritual realm of prayer, but also in the natural realm of speaking the truth in love in the public square.
It is often out of our comfort zone, but if we are not adding "salt" into the world around us, what good are we? Prayers have wings, but faith has feet.
We have to get involved in the battle like they did when the walls of Jerusalem were being rebuilt - a hammer in one hand and a spear in the other. We need to rebuild the walls of protection around our nations facing the truth and remaining true to God's love.
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