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Admonished to “let the Spirit lead, not the trigger,” Pentecostal Christian pastors and academics recently heard from a Charismatic Christian who called for their support of Palestinians.
Holy Land Trust Executive Director Sami Awad spoke March 1 at Converge 21, a joint meeting of the Society of Pentecostal Studies (SPS) and Empowered 21, a grouping of Pentecostal clergymen and ministry organizations. While much of the Converge 21 event at Regent University in Virginia Beach featured separate, parallel events for SPS and Encounter 21 participants, the evening session featuring Awad was a joint session.
Often counted among the strongest advocates of Israel, some Pentecostal Christians may be shifting away from consistent support for the Jewish state, if Awad’s invitation to speak and the response to his address is an indication. Themed on “peacemaking and social justice/righteousness,” participants in this year’s SPS gathering also viewed a screening of “Little Town of Bethlehem,” a film with a subtle anti-Israel message aimed at usually pro-Israel evangelicals.
Many Pentecostal Christians cite a special role for Israel in dispensationalist end-times theology as a basis for their support for the modern Jewish state. Others, along with many Evangelicals, cite reasons such as support for Israel’s constitutional democracy surrounded by hostile Arab dictatorships.
Introducing Awad, SPS Vice President Paul Alexander of Palmer Theological Seminary said in the decision to focus on Middle East peace “we got a lot of pushback on this” and “many e-mails” from concerned Pentecostals, but the group decided to go forward with the program.
In recounting his family’s history, Awad portrayed Palestinians as victims of a brutal Israeli system. Awad recalled his grandfather’s death in 1948 at the hands of a sniper as he attempted to raise a white flag above his family’s home in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Christian’s presentation before the Pentecostal audience was softer than his words in “Little Town of Bethlehem,” in which he is interviewed alongside a Muslim Arab and a secular Israeli Jew, each of whom are critical of Israel.
During his talk, Awad listed his visit to the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz as a time he began to sympathetically understand the horrific deeds perpetrated upon the Jewish people.
“Continue to support Israel, but your heart has room for the Palestinians as well,” Awad advised.
In contrast, “Little Town of Bethlehem” shows Awad observing young Israelis transported to Auschwitz, where he alleges they are indoctrinated into believing that genocide is “what Arabs and Palestinians want to do to us now.” In the film, Awad portrays the concentration camp visits as both “implanting fear” and distrust of Palestinians.
In his address, Awad admitted to formerly allowing for the use of violent resistance, but explained that his reading of Matthew Chapter 5 verse 42 “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” shifted his thinking into the need to love enemies in non-violent ways.
Awad expressed frustration about events following the 1993 Oslo peace accord, saying “Peace means bringing people together, what was happening was separation.”
“It’s not about treaties or resolution to the conflict, it’s about love,” Awad said of Christ’s command.
The Palestinian Christian claimed that Israeli Jews had a lack of trust due to an absence of “closure and healing” over their history. Christian community, Awad proposed, was about bringing peace and justice to those who are oppressed.
“It’s not easy when I talk to Palestinians in this language, because we love to play the role of the most victimized people in the world,” Awad explained.
At the conclusion of his address, Awad encouraged the gathered pastors and academics to understand that “there is a narrative behind the conduct” in the conflict – namely that “If the story was different, the child would be different.”
Awad received a standing ovation, and was followed by a response from Pastor Wayne Hilsden of the King of Kings church in Jerusalem. Hilsden’s presentation also focused on scriptural appeals to peacemaking, and did not address Israel’s military vulnerability or other secular concerns.
“God takes what Satan uses for evil and changes it toward redemption,” Hilsden noted, adding that Israel will resume a divine calling “to be a hope to the nations.”
The Jerusalem pastor noted that not just dispensationalists asserted this, but that many reformed Christians also believed in a future for Israel. Observing that “never before have so many Jews been brought to Christ in such a short amount of time since the [events of] the book of Acts,” Hilsden said there was hope to establish “microcosms of the Kingdom,” all over the land so that people could see “what the whole world can be.”
“We don’t wait for an end-times eschatological plan,” Hilsden stated, listing prayer, proclamation and challenge as demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit.
“The Oslo agreement failed, the intifada failed,” Hilsden assessed. “Our faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Hilsden centered his response on the Ezekiel Chapter 36 verse 26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
“God can bring down that wall of hostility if we make Jesus the center and the cross the message,” Hilsden predicted. “Hope is a heart transplant – until we have a heart of hope, we will never have peace in this world.”
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