An editorial in today's Wall Street Journal reports on the growth of Anti-Semitism (hatred toward the Jewish people) in the Western world. It should come as no surprise that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the leader of Iran, calls for the "destruction of Israel." But such hatred is getting much closer to home. The Nowegian writer Jostein Gaarder declared in Aftenpost, Norway's leading newspaper, "There is no turning back. It is time to learn a new lesson: We do no longer recognize the state of Israel... The time of trouble shall soon be over... The state of Israel does not exist."
But this hatred is not limited to the Middle East and Europe. Two well-known professors from prestigious universities (Harvard and the University of Chicago) recently spoke to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and attacked the Bush administration for allowing several Jews to serve under President Bush. These Jews were unworthy to serve because of their special "attachments" to the Middle East. Their unfair attachment turned out to be their belief in Judaism. Recently in the news, the Moveon.org activists helped raise millions of dollars to defeat Senator Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary. When one Moveon member celebrated the defeat of "Jew Lieberman," 95% of the responses to the comment were positive. We have serious problems in this country.
Early in the twentieth century, the British journalist William Norman Ewer wrote: "How odd / Of God / To choose / The Jews." To this, Cecil Browne responded: "But not so odd / As those who choose / A Jewish God / But spurn the Jews." We must remember that God never removed His original promise to Abraham: "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). For four thousand years, Satan and his forces have attempted to destroy the Jewish people. Throughout history, every nation and people that has thrown the force of its hatred against God's chosen people have perished while the Jews remain as a testimony to God's promise. We would do better to believe God than to follow the prejudices of man.
