I came across an interesting piece the other day that deserves comment.
It is an opinion piece penned by a rabbi for the
Jerusalem Post. In the article,
“The True Nature of the Struggle”, Berel Wein says that the “Arab-Israeli struggle is at its core a religious dispute”. Mr. Wein goes on to explain how the Israeli leadership has completely turned it’s collective back on traditional Jewish beliefs in favor of the secular.
Here is the meat of his argument:
“The secularization of Israeli society has brought much harm - physical, social, economic and psychological - to the Jews here in Israel. It has torn families apart, embittered vast sections of the public against one another, blinded generations to the richness of their Jewish heritage and distorted any understanding of the true nature of the struggle for the existence of the State of Israel. “
As I read this, the first thought that hit me was, is this not also the call of America’s conservative Christians? Just substitue the word “Christian” for “Jewish” and “America” for the ‘State of Israel” and see how it reads.
I’ve long maintained that the every major battle we face today, whether as individuals or a nation, is primarily a spiritual one.
“For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.” (Source)
This goes greatly ingnored by most of us in the world and for good reason.
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (Source)
Wein further states that religion is the motivating force in the current Arab-Isareli struggle:
“…a Jewish state in the heartland of the Muslim Middle East is a denial of the tenets of Islam as they have been interpreted for centuries on end…”
As well as in America’s war against terror:
“America can label Osama bin Laden an arch-terrorist, which again he certainly is; but in the Muslim world he is viewed as a religious leader, an accepted interpreter of the Koran and of Islamic principles. The Muslim world does not speak out strongly against him - not so much out of fear as out of Islamic faith.
And this is why victory for the secular West - even born-again Christian George W. Bush is pretty much secularized and, in any event, certainly an “infidel” - in Iraq or anywhere else in the Arab world is so difficult and problematic.”
Again, we are told in the Word of God:
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.” (Source)
Mr Wein concludes his comments with this truth:
“A religious struggle conducted from a purely secular point of view cannot really ever be concluded successfully, for the true core problem remains unrecognized. And this is the true religious-secular fault line that divides Israel (and America) today. “
How true it is.
