Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem

Prayer Points From an African Evangelical Perspective

By Rev. Moss Ntllha, CP Guest Contributor Sunday, October 18, 2015

A masked Palestinian protester hurls back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron October 18, 2015. Forty-one Palestinians and seven Israelis have died in recent street violence, which was in part triggered by Palestinians' anger over what they see as increased Jewish encroachment on Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound. | (Photo: Reuters/Mussa Qawasma)

As a South African, I have visited the Holy Land several times at the invitation of Jewish as well as Palestinian friends and it grieves me to say that the similarities between Apartheid South Africa and Israel today are stark. I feel retraumatized every time I visit Israel, and here is why:

The policies pursued by the Israeli government deliver the same result on the ground as those practiced by Apartheid South Africa: pain, suffering, discrimination and no hope that things will change.

This is because once one accepts the fundamental belief that others belong and others don't, government actions and laws must cohere with that foundational belief. The fact that the Israeli narrative is clouded by legitimate security needs does not justify the dispossession of others by military might and cannot be rationalized by religion into a political framework without disastrous results.

I speak from experience here. Consider the constitution of Apartheid South Africa, written by white South Africans, was prefaced by the following:

In humble submission to almighty God, who controls the destinies of people and nations, who gathered our forebears together from many lands and gave them this their own, who has guided them from generation to generation, who has wondrously delivered them from the dangers that beset them ...

Israel's misuse of religion and trust is misplaced in their nationalism and military power which means that all conversations between Israel and Palestinians is a conversation between unequals.

The strong win, not because they are righteous or correct. As a regional superpower, South Africa was able to enforce and sustain apartheid for a long time and there is no end in sight for the oppression of the Palestinians unless the international community, particularly people of faith, take strategic actions as they did to help black South Africans end Apartheid.

One of the biggest theological challenges for the Christian Church today worldwide as touching the Holy Land, is Christian Zionism.

As Christians, many of us come at the story of Israel from our reading of the Bible and what our church leaders told us. We don't bother to consider the context of the inspired scripture or study the actual history of the Holy Land but instead see in modern day Israel a continuity with Israel of old, and therefore we uncritically proceed to place ourselves in Israel's corner fearing that if we criticize Israel, we are advocating "Replacement Theology". On the contrary, Christian Zionism fuels "replacing" Israel's prophetic role as God's chosen people with a nationalistic ideology that is a poor substitute and cannot "bless the nations".