Blasphemy Unleashed

I have to admit to being a bit irritated as I write this, and, in fact, it is motivating me to write.

Not only because of the horrible rocket attack by Hezbollah in Lebanon upon a Druze village in Israel, killing 12 children playing on a soccer/football field, without a peep of condemnation from the Palestinian Authority led by its president Abu Mazen; with Hezbollah denying its indiscriminate deadly attack; with the US telling Israel not to escalate the tensions. As long as it is not the Jews or Israelis who are the “aggressor”, the world has little sympathy for victims of atrocities, or for holding seriously accountable the perpetrators. Not to mention that these Druze are Israeli citizens, which makes them guilty right there, and fair game. 

Despite the support of many Christian believers towards Israel and the Jewish people, it is my sense (and I hope that I could very well be wrong) that most Christians are not clear about their support, or why it matters. One does not have to be a believer either to take a position that is discerning. When Israel’s PM Netanyahu was speaking in the U.S. Congress, outside were protestors burning not only Israeli flags, but also American flags, and pulling down the US flag and hoisting Palestinian flags! What side are we going to stand with?! A tree is known by its fruit: what fruit do we like? God likes holy and righteous fruit, which neither “side” is producing; but are we? 

YHVH God of Israel rightly accuses His people of being stubborn and stiff-necked, which is to be idolatrous in “our own way and understanding” that we will not listen to sound advice or be correctable regarding our thoughts and behavior. On the other hand, God has put this stubbornness and stiff-neckedness in the Jewish people to make them resolute in surviving, even thriving, against all of the hatred and persecutions throughout the centuries by those who do not wish us well. God will judge His own people and His household; He will also judge His and their enemies. The antichrist spirit is sweeping in on a lukewarm church, called to be light and salt in the world. 

But what has really irritated me has been the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris, which I thankfully did not see, but have only afterwards heard and seen glimpses. The opening was disgusting and perverse, blasphemous. It has taken away my “taste” for even watching the competitions. I had wished that at least some of the athletes and coaches, who claim to be believers, would have given up all that they had worked for to acquire a temporary crown or medal and removed themselves from the “games” and demonstrated their love and identity as a disciple of the sovereign Lord and Christ/Messiah who died for them on the cross and rose again for an imperishable crown. They would certainly be hated by those who thought that they are just “one of them”, but they would be honored by Him whom they honored and offered themselves a living sacrifice. Better than biting a medal, or kissing a trophy, or gaining the world but losing one’s soul.

As of now I have heard nothing (they don’t want to be distracted) from them to condemn the gross opening ceremony. God will not be mocked! (Phil 3:7-11; Gal 6:7) This morning I have seen that some people (not the athletes or coaches), not all of them even born-again believers, who are speaking up and out, and that some sponsor has pulled out. If brazen antisemitism and Jew- and Israel-hatred are not being sufficiently dealt with, then the door is opened for the Christians and churches to be vilified. Jesus came as a Jew. There is no Jewish conspiracy to rule the world, but YHVH God does have His plan that Yeshua the Nazarene and King of the Jews will return and reign over Israel and the nations from Jerusalem, Israel.

This hideous ceremony was not discrete: It did not attack “faith and culture”, being “inclusive”, as the French Revolution claimed to be about while overthrowing all authority. Can you imagine what would have happened if the “artists” and Olympic organizers had done this, or even included in their seared conscience perversion, against Mohammed or Islam?   No, this ceremony was a direct attack against the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and all that He is. The “Last Supper” was not, in any case, about “inclusivity”: Yeshua that night said that one of His own chosen 12 was going to betray Him. Even though He said that this was according to what was written (in the Scriptures), He made it clear that it would have been better if the betrayer had never been born. “Offenses will come, but woe to the one through whom it comes!” (So much for strict Calvinism and for strict Arminianism!) 

I would also like to hear Jewish leadership speak out against the offensive world-wide travesty. We so much want to have Christians, and others, stand up with us when we are grotesquely caricaturized or attacked. Where are our voices? Do they think that Jesus and those who identify as Christians “deserve” it, and, in any case, His name and memory should be blotted out? Brothers and sisters, we are in a spiritual war; it is not rational or logical. 

I remember back in 1979, a year before I was married, and two years before being saved, the Monty Python movie, “Life of Brian.” Catholics were saying that the movie was blasphemous, and that people should boycott the movie company and also not go see the movie. As a Jew, I did not think that a man could be blasphemed, and that is all that I thought Jesus was. So, even though I was not a fan of Monty Python, I decided to go alone to see the movie. While I was watching it, I said to myself: “If Jesus Christ is who Christians say that He is, then this movie is blasphemous.” And then, in the course of the movie, the befuddled Brian was going to be crucified, and the movie made fun of the crucifixion. I said to myself again: “You do not make fun of a crucifixion, no matter who it is or what he has done. I will never go to another Monty Python movie again!” And by the grace of God, He used that blasphemous movie to give this Jew sympathy for the man, Jesus Christ, who suffered such a horrible death. Until then, I hadn’t really given it much thought. What I am saying here is that it does not take a believer – and as an unbelieving Jew, I was innately against the truth of who Jesus Christ was and is – to be offended by something offensive, and especially if it might be so to God. The fear of God, anyone? 

What testimony do we have as followers of Jesus/Yeshua if we are casual in our attitude or response to the satanically and fleshly inspired burlesque of the Olympic opening ceremony, one of the most watched “cultural” celebrations on world-wide media? What did that ceremony have anything to do with sports? Their inclusivity, which they claim was their “artful expression”, is to hate and exclude the God who determines morality, and who decides who will be included in His Kingdom, and who will be excluded. If we are not willing to be hated with Jesus, why should we expect anyone to take our confession of faith seriously, or want to become a believer in Him. He never promised us a comfortable life here in this world or life. He did promise us tribulation, and that if we live godly in Christ Jesus we will suffer persecution. His Kingdom is not of this world, and the Olympics are of this world, and just proved it, not to mention the increasing skimpiness of the athletes’ uniforms, all of which, of course, is to enhance their freedom of movement to perform. 

May God have mercy on us.