This weekend’s reading in the Torah is from the Book of Numbers, chapter 16, the story of Korach and the rebellion against Moses’ God-given authority to lead the Israelites. The Jewish sages say that there are two types of “disputes.” There are disputes that are “for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven” (that have as their goal the resolution of a key area of legitimate disagreement) and there are those disputes that are not “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” Korach’s rebellion was a dispute that was not for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. It was against God and His authority in selecting Moses to lead the Israelites and was therefore not a legitimate disagreement.
What many people don’t know is that Korach was upset that he had been passed over for leadership of the clan of the Kohathites, which had been given to Elizaphan, the son of the fourth son of Levi, whereas Korach was the son of the second son of Levi. Due to this dispute, which had more to do with his ego and self-elevation to office, he decided to take on Moses’ authority in claiming that it did not stem from God.
A very similar kind of dispute is going on today between radical Islam and the Jewish /Christian world. Radical Islam (note: most Moslems are “moderates” and they want to live in peace with their Jewish and Christian neighbors) seeks to destroy all Jews and Christians rather than to live in peace. This is not a legitimate “dispute” that is for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a dispute that seeks to force Islam onto Jews and Christians against their will. Sort of a 7th century mentality of brutality and violence that some scholars believe was (originally) a reaction to radical Christianity of many centuries ago (i.e. from Constantine in 325 AD and on, through the Crusades of the 11th century and the Inquisitions of the 15th century).
But another important dimension to this dispute (beyond the religious dimension) is the cultural and political dimension. Radical Islam seeks to maintain a society that is ruled by totalitarians and which is a closed society. That means that most radical Moslems have a great difficulty in living next door to neighbors which promote a form of Western democracy and an open society. This is according to Dan Shaham, Israeli consul for the Southwest, based in Houston. He was interviewed on Shalom Y’all the last two weeks and his comments on the Israeli /PA conflict were insightful. Mr. Shaham believes that it is to the benefit of a totalitarian regime (like Iran and Syria /Lebanon) to support the PLO’s fight against the Jewish State (and the West) in order to eventually obliterate the Jewish State from within their (Islamic) midst.
But the real issue is the Judeo-Christian culture of openness, democracy, justice and righteousness – core values that are taught in the Bible, wherein brutality, violence, intolerance and the oppression of others (of strangers) are all prohibited. Even the “replacement theology” of some Christians is being renounced today. It is the last remaining “vestige” of the mentality that brought us the Crusades, the Inquisitions and even (indirectly) the Nazi Holocaust. Replacement theology claims that the Jews are no longer in a covenant relationship with the God of the Bible, and that Christians have somehow replaced the Jews (contrary to Romans Chapters 9-11). Some people think that a “measure for measure” judgment against those segments of Christianity which teach this view (not all Christians accept replacement theology) is Islam! Radical segments within Islam teach that Islam has “replaced” both the Christians and the Jews in God’s plans and purposes (not all Moslems accept this form of replacement theology either). Intolerance and oppression of people of other religions, or faith traditions, is against the teachings of both the Bible and the Koran. In the Koran, the Jews and Christians are called the “People of the Book” and are not to be molested in Moslem countries.
Most of this battle (on the ground) is being waged against Israelis and the Jewish State. But it is at heart a war against the Judeo-Christian culture everywhere.
There is another battle being waged, and that is in the media and in “cyberspace”. In a totalitarian state, there is no freedom of the press, so the oppression of journalists is commonplace. This past week it was reported on WND that a CNN crew was shot at in Lebanon (at Beka’a farms). This oppression of journalists is also true in Palestinian society. And at the end of May, members of the PA-affiliated Fatah Hawks kidnapped Newsweek correspondents.
Another aspect of this “war” is going on in the courts. In Belgium, there is now a lawsuit filed against Israeli PM Ariel Sharon for the massacres of Sabra and Chatilla, which were refugee camps in Lebanon. The historical background to the situation is that Lebanese people welcomed the Moslem Palestinians who left Israel due to the War of Independence in 1948-49. But later, Yasser Arafat himself turned those same Palestinians against the people of their host country. According to Naji Najjar, “Before indicting a brave general defending the only democracy in the Middle East, facing a fundamentalist Islamic enemy striking out at the West with no mercy, indict the ruthless Islamic despots that are using terrorism as an effective diplomatic action against the West and America. These Islamists use the same traits of Yasser Arafat that made him a famous man of ‘peace’ by torching embassies in the world, targeting U.S., Israeli, and foreign diplomats, destroying and hijacking airplanes, and planting terrorism as a daily seed of life. These are de facto policies today in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the PLO.”
Western countries (the United States, Great Britain and Europe) need to wake-up soon to the threat of radical Islam and realize that the State of Israel is only the frontlines of this war against the West. Radical Islam will never agree to peace, only to temporary cease-fires that promote their long-term agenda of total and absolute destruction and annihilation of democracy and biblical values.
