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April 7, 2006
Bible backs Israel, says ICEJ
Christian Zionist says Iranian leader is issuing challenge to
God.
PAT JOHNSON
The contemporary atmosphere for Jews in Europe is the same as it
was in the 1930s, says a leading evangelical Christian Zionist.
But this time, says Rev. Malcolm Hedding, "If you attack these
people, you have to attack us."
Hedding, executive director of the International Christian Embassy
Jerusalem (ICEJ), was in Vancouver March 30 as part of a North American
tour of synagogues and churches. His visit here was sponsored by
the local Jewish-Christian Action Committee.
Drawing a multicultural audience of about 100 to the sanctuary of
Beth Israel Synagogue, Hedding spoke to a supportive crowd, outlining
the biblical passages he said obligate Christians to defend and
support Israel.
Hedding, a minister ordained by the Assemblies of God of South Africa,
explained the Old Testament and New Testament justifications for
his fervent Zionism, citing passages in the Book of Numbers that
he said views the Children of Israel as "the vehicle of world
redemption" and a passage of Revelations, which forbids placing
a stumbling block before the children of Israel. God, Hedding said,
has decreed the land of Canaan for the Jews. Hedding and other ICEJ
officials educate "the wider church" about the importance
of Israel in biblical prophesy, he said.
To the president of Iran, who famously declared his intention to
see Israel wiped from the map, Hedding stated: "You'll have
to remove God from his throne before you can remove Israel from
the face of the earth."
While Israelis and others were horrified by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
call for the annihilation of Israel, Hedding said the Iranian leader
is taking on an enemy he can't defeat – and it's not the Israel
Defence Forces.
"He is not taking on Israel by this statement, so much as he
is taking on the kingdom of heaven," said Hedding.
A member of the Israeli Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus, Hedding
is one of the foremost Christian Zionists operating in the Holy
Land. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was founded
in 1980, about the time 13 international embassies were relocating
from Jerusalem to Tel-Aviv to protest the Israeli government's declaration
of the Holy City as the eternal and undivided capital of the Jewish
people. To show their support for Israel's historic, ancient and
eternal claim to the city, ICEJ opened its doors with the support
of 1,400 Christians from 40 countries.
ICEJ now works in 114 countries and has offices in 60. It is a think-tank,
Hedding said, as well as an advocacy group for Israel. The embassy
has organized evangelical Christians and others to march for Israel
in European capitals and operates major projects within Israel.
After the fall of communism in eastern Europe, ICEJ brought 51 Boeing
747s to Israel, filled with olim (immigrants) from the former
Soviet Union and it operates social programs in Israel for the newcomers.
In the 1980s, the German branch of ICEJ funded a synagogue in Israel
as a symbolic recompense for the German synagogues destroyed on
Kristallnacht.
Speaking just days after the Israeli elections, when voters cast
their support behind the disengagement plan, Hedding continues to
see Judea and Samaria as divinely assigned to the Jews. Israel does
not currently control all of the biblical land of Canaan, Hedding
said. "The fact is that she will one day."
While he is in the midst of a long North American tour, Hedding
has taken his message global. He was recently in Port Harcourt,
Nigeria, at a prayer conference with 10,000 African Christians.
Africa is seeing the greatest expansion of evangelical Christians
anywhere in the world and Hedding said the Zionist perspective of
his organization has resonance for the flocks in that troubled continent.
One day of the massive conference was set aside to pray for and
learn about Israel, he said, resulting in the sight of "African
leaders praying for Israel with a zeal and a love that is astonishing
and humbling."
"The new power of Christianity is in the Third World,"
he said. "People who have nothing materially but have everything
spiritually – because they just love the Bible, they've come
to love Israel."
Christians and Jews believe in the same Messiah, Hedding claimed.
"When he comes, we'll ask him if he's been here before,"
the minister quipped. "A glorious day of peace and rest is
promised for Israel and the world."
Thanking Hedding and the audience of primarily Christian Vancouver-area
supporters, Beth Israel's Rabbi Charles Feinberg closed the evening
event, expressing gratitude for the support of Israel and the Jewish
people. Feinberg said he found much to love in many of Hedding's
comments, noting he would be interested in discussing further some
of the minister's assertions. The rabbi emphasized that adherents
of all three monotheistic faiths centred in the Holy Land share
common heritage and ancestry as descendants of the biblical Abraham.
Hedding, who is accompanied on the tour by Chuck King, ICEJ's musical
director, will continue his ministry in the United States until
May 1.
Pat Johnson is editor of MVOX Multicultural Digest, www.mvox.ca.
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