On this the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War, the World Council of Churches has launched a new initiative, calling on churches within the Middle East to pressurize Israel into disengaging from the territories captured in 1967. The WCC, a world body representing many so-called Christian denominations, will launch the initiative in Amman, Jordan this weekend. Secretary General of the ecumenical organization, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, is due to visit the region in the next few days. During his stay, he will tour the Galilee, visit to Yad Vashem - the Holocaust Museum, and the Western Wall. He will also attend several "Christian" services, expressing solidarity with the churches in the Holy Land...

Quote: "Taking place immediately after the launch of the WCC-sponsored Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum in Amman, Jordan (see the WCC press release of 12 June), the visit aims to express worldwide church solidarity with the churches in the Holy Land. It also intends to convey concern for the future of both peoples affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "The member churches of the WCC believe that Christian communities in the Holy Land are an historic and essential part of the region and that their future and well-being is linked to the future and well-being of Muslims and Jews," says Kobia. Kobia will meet the heads of churches in Jerusalem, preach at St. George's Cathedral there and visit a number of biblical sites in the Jerusalem area and Galilee.

He will also visit Palestinian towns and refugee camps, witnessing first hand the hardships many Palestinians are under due to the Israeli "occupation".

Quote: "This was announced during the World Council of Churches International Peace Conference, which kicked off today in Amman. The conference aims to call all churches and related organizations to work hardly and put an end for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and Arab lands, according to the General Secretary of the WCC Samuel Kobia.

My guesses are, he won't be visiting Gaza to witness first hand the suffering of the Arabs under the Hamas "occupation". It's horrific to think that even as an Islamic terror government takes control of what was once a Jewish settlement, organizations claiming affiliation with Christianity are calling on Israel to hand over the rest of its territory to its enemies, Syria and the Palestinian terrorist organizations. Even today Christians are in fear for their lives in Gaza, following the Hamas take-over of the region. My friend Julie has a friend who runs a Christian ministry in the Gaza Strip, who says things are really getting desperate over there. Over the past few days a number of attacks have been carried out on Christian schools and churches by Muslims loyal to Hamas.

Quote: ""The masked gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to storm the main entrances of the school and church," he said. "Then they destroyed almost everything inside, including the Cross, the Holy Book, computers and other equipment." Musalam expressed outrage over the burning of copies of the Bible, noting that the gunmen destroyed all the Crosses inside the church and school. "Those who did these awful things have no respect for Christian-Muslim relations," he said.

If anyone burned a Qur'an, there would be protests in every Islamic state across the globe. But if it's a Bible, nobody seems to care. It's not the first time the WCC has been accused of anti-Semitism either. About this same time last year, the body accused Israel of being the sole cause of conflict in the Middle East. Earlier last month, the WCC slammed Israel over its "40 year occupation" of what they term Palestinian land. And the churches in the Middle East aren't much better either, supporting Hamas and slamming Christian Zionism (read "Scriptural view of Israel"). When the Apocalypse finally comes, sad to say, it will be the churches of this world that will be leading the battle against Jerusalem, and the Jewish nation. But I guess that really shouldn't be surprising, for many of them don't know the God whom they claim to follow, so why would they obey His laws and love His chosen people?

Source WFN, Petra, Jerusalem Post