Dear Theophilus Archive: Dec. 2000

Word from the Frontline*

Dear Emmanuel,

Greetings from the Middle East! My name is J.ohn Par.k and I am one of the career missionaries that Emmanuel Church currently supports. I am serving in the Middle East as a church planter in an Arab country. I arrived just five months ago on my first long-term assignment, so I am by no means an expert on Middle Eastern affairs. In light of the current crisis in Israel, I wanted to share what it is like to live in this part of the world during this tense time in history.

Hatred: one word sums it up. The Jews despise the Arabs and the Arabs despise the Jews. Whose fervency is greater? Both sides detest the other with equal intensity, and neither is innocent. I have never before experienced so much hatred. The current crisis in Palestine has been the most violent in decades, and more than a hundred people have been killed in clashes between the Israeli military and the Palestinian people. Ever since the formation of Israel in 1948, the Jews and Arabs have been fighting for the land of Palestine. Religious and historical reasons validate both claims. The problems are complex and there are no easy answers. Robert Fisk, a well-respected British journalist who has covered the Middle East for years, summarizes the situation well:

This is a story about lies, bias, hatred and death. It is about our inability after more than half a century to understand the injustice of the Middle East. It is about a part of the world where it is quite natural, after repeatedly watching on television the funeral of 11-year-old Sami Abu Jezar, who died two days after being shot through the forehead by Israeli soldiers, for a crowd to kick two Israeli plainclothes agents to death. It is about a nation that claims "purity of arms" but fires missiles at civilian apartment blocks and then claims it is "restoring order." It is about people who are so enraged by the killing of almost a hundred Palestinians that they try to blow up an entire American warship.

For the past two months, there have been many demonstrations in support of the Palestinians. Everyone is talking about what is happening in Palestine. In numerous conversations with friends and teachers about the Middle East, sentiments toward the Jewish population are revealed through comments such as: "The Jews are pigs and donkeys." "We only have rocks and stones, but they shoot us with guns and helicopters." "The Jews control America."

Many Muslims with whom I have spoken are ready for Jihad, a holy war against the Jews. Some have already gone to Palestine to fight and others wish they could. The people here are tired of political rhetoric and think that war is the only solution. They believe the Jews must be completely destroyed, not only to bring about true peace in the Middle East, but also to please Allah. The Jews are also pursuing their eternal claim to Israel, disregarding the rights of others in the land. No one is innocent, and the violence continues with no end in sight.

So what does this mean for a Christian worker like myself in the Middle East? Furthermore, how is each of us to respond as Christians in the midst of this global crisis? I am reminded of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." (Luke 6: 27, 28)

The longer I live here, the more I realize that the work of the Holy Spirit is the only solution. Jesus' command to love our enemies is absolutely impossible without the Holy Spirit in our lives. Real peace may seem like an impossible dream, but as Christians, we have the power of prayer on our side.

Will you then join me in prayer? Please pray that the Holy Spirit would have His way in the Middle East. Only He can change hearts filled with hatred into hearts filled with love. There will never be peace unless the God of all nations intervenes by bringing the peace of salvation to individual lives. Pray that many will become disillusioned with Judaism and Islam and come to the true Savior and Peacemaker. Jesus Christ is the ultimate Peacemaker who reconciles an unholy people to a holy God. Let's join our hearts together to see His church established in the Middle East!

Your co-worker,
Jo.hn P.ark
Nov 9, 2000

* Due to security reasons, the name of the country in which our brother John is serving cannot be mentioned.