Thursday, July 11, 2019

Christians United for Israel - How the Republican Party is Rallying the Anti-Iran Forces

Updated September 2019

Washington's chief warrior, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence recently found themselves sharing the podium at the annual Christians United for Israel (CUFI) summit in Washington, D.C.  The attendance at this event by these three headlining gentlemen shows us how important Donald Trump values his pro-Israeli evangelical Christian base.  At this event, all three men gave rousing speeches that included comments on the ever present boogeyman in the room, Iran, the existential enemy of Israel.  In this posting, I will provide you with key excerpts from all three speeches, showing how Washington is playing into Israel's narrative of Iran.

Let's start with the Vice President.  Here is what Mike Pence had to say about Iran to his Israel-friendly Christian audience:

"And let me assure you, while any peace will undoubtedly require compromise, you can be confident of this: The United States of America will never compromise the safety and security of the Jewish State of Israel. (Applause.)

In the wake of all those actions, finally the President also made one other promise.  He promised to stand up to the world’s leading state sponsor of terror.  And he did just that when he withdrew the United States of America from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. (Applause.)  There will be no more pallets of cash to the mullahs in Iran. (Applause.)

Now, Pastor Hagee mentioned that I served in the Congress of the United States.  I was on the Foreign Affairs Committee.  And back when I was in the Congress, there was actually a bipartisan group of members of Congress who brought together sanctions on Iran, years ago.  And those sanctions were isolating a regime that was — and bringing tremendous pressure on it.

But, in 2015, we all remember, when the Iran nuclear deal was signed, all of that pressure went away.

The previous administration’s so-called deal didn’t prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.  It simply delayed it for roughly a decade.  In exchange, the deal gave away billions of dollars in cash and sanctions relief that Iran has used to fund more terrorist attacks on innocents across the region.

President Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, and we have re-imposed every last sanction that was lifted. (Applause.)

And under this President, we’ve implemented a maximum-pressure campaign to change Iran’s malign behavior and hold the regime accountable for its destructive actions.  It’s remarkable to think that, as we speak, our actions are already having an effect.  They’re cutting off the regime’s ability to support their terrorist minions across the Middle East.

The Iranian economy is reeling under unprecedented U.S. sanctions. And now — now Iran must choose between caring for its people and continuing to fund its proxies who spread violence and terrorism throughout the region and breathe out murderous hatred against Israel.

Over the last several months, despite promises and hopes to the contrary in 2015, Iran has been even increasing more of their malign activity and violence in the region.  We’ve all witnessed it.  Last month, Iran attacked tankers passing near the Strait of Hormuz, and they downed an unmanned American drone.

And last week, Iran exceeded the amount of low-enriched uranium it can have.  Today — today, it actually proclaimed it was going to start enriching uranium beyond the levels permitted by the agreement."

He then went on to discuss his trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau, reminding his audience that another holocaust could lie in wait, just around the corner, thanks to malign actors like Iran.

Now, let's look at what Mike Pompeo had to say.  Here is a video of his entire speech:


Here are some key excerpts:

"This administration has made a real effort to protect Christians and other threatened religious minorities in Iraq and elsewhere, and we’re making real progress.  (Applause.) The flame of existence of Christians must not be snuffed out.  Their unalienable rights – Christians’ unalienable rights in the Middle East – their right to worship must not be taken away.  (Applause.)

Persecution of the faithful is especially intense inside the Islamic Republic of Iran.  The regime’s militant adherence to the noxious tenets of the Islamic Revolution dictates all elements of life – and especially the suppression of other faiths.

In Iran, if Muslims try to convert non-Muslims, the penal code calls for a death sentence.

The government does not recognize converts to Christianity. It levies beatings and solitary confinement on Christians caught worshiping in violation of government dictates.

Last year, an Iranian court upheld a 10-year prison sentences on four Iranian Christians who were “acting against national security” by, quote, “promoting Zionist Christianity,” end of quote, and running house churches. This is something we know in America.

Instead, instead of following the normal summons procedure, authorities raided their homes, beat them, and used electroshock weapons on them. They then threw them into Evin Prison – a regime dungeon inside of Tehran.

Every day I pray, and I’d ask you too, to pray for our brothers and sisters in Iran – and not just for them, but people of all faiths who are persecuted there in Iran.  (Applause.)

I’m from Kansas, and there are – yeah, I love it, we’ve got Kansans out there.  I’m sure there’s more and you’re just quiet people.  (Laughter.)  A lot of people get spun up with the wrong ideas that American evangelicals want to impose a theocracy on America.  I wish they would be concerned about the real theocratic takeover that has been happening in Iran for the last four decades.  (Applause.)  The ayatollahs have grievously deprived the Iranian people of that most basic, simple, fundamental right, their right to worship.

That same twisted, intolerant doctrine that fuels persecution inside Iran has also led the ayatollah and his cronies to cry out, quote, “death to Israel” for four decades now.  This is similar to a cry that came out of Iran – then called Persia ‒ many, many years ago.  The Book of Esther teaches us about this.  It was in the 5th century B.C.  There was a wicked advisor named King Xerxes.  A fellow named Haman hatched a plot to kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire.  He secretly wrote letters with the king’s seal to all the provincial governors, ordering the people to rise up and attack the Jews.  This edict, once issued, could not be revoked.  But thanks to the courageous intervention of Queen Esther, who begged the king to show mercy to her people, Haman’s plot was exposed and the Jews were ultimately spared.  Today this marks the Jewish holiday of Purim and it commemorates this amazing miracle. (Applause.)

I wanted to tell this story today for a couple of reasons, because similar threats to the Jewish people have marked other eras as well – think of the Roman devastation of Jerusalem, the vicious pogroms throughout European history, and the Holocaust.   The Jews have had a target on their back in every era of history. And as the Book of Ecclesiastes says, “There is [indeed] nothing new under the sun.”
But thank God.  Thank God we have a leader in President Trump – an immovable friend of Israel. (Applause.)  His commitment, his commitment – President Trump’s commitment is the strongest in history, and it’s been one of the best parts of my job to turn that commitment into real action.  (Applause.)

You know the stories, but we’ve implemented the strongest pressure campaign in history against the Iranian regime, and we are not done. (Applause.)

We’ve cut off billions in funds that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s leadership would have used for various nefarious purposes, not the least of which would have been their efforts to destroy the state of Israel.

It is also the case that under President Trump, the Israel haters such as Hamas and Hizballah and Islamic Jihad receive far less blood money from Iran to pursue their terrorism than ever in recent history.  (Applause.)"

While some of John Bolton's comments were cut off on this recording, here is a 20 minute-long video of his speech:


Here are some key excerpts:

"I am here to tell you today, President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran is working. (Applause) A little over a year ago, our critics predicted we couldn’t do it. Our unilateral sanctions, they said, would not be effective. Since then, the United States has levied the toughest ever sanctions on the Iranian regime and Iran’s economy is, to quote the Financial Times, “collapsing under their weight.” (Applause)…

As I said earlier this year in Miami, under this administration no regime that chants “Death to America” or “Death to Israel” will get a deal from this administration. (Loud Applause) We will continue to increase the pressure on the Iranian regime until it abandons its nuclear program and ends its violent activities across the Middle East, including conducting and supporting terrorism around the world."

In case you haven't heard enough from the 2019 edition of CUFI, here is a three hour and forty-five minute video of some of the speeches given:


Since these three men represent America's Christian community, Israel's very best friends forever, let's close with this brief look at what the Bible has to say about the topic of peace.  Various forms of the word "peace" are used 429 times in the King James Version of the Bible.  One of the best known verses that invokes peace is found in Matthew 5:9 as follows:

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God."  

Two other pertinent verses that invoke peace are found as follows:

"Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." Psalm 34:14

"So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding."  Romans 14:19

These three gentlemen who are being used to solidify the electoral support of America's Christian right seem to have forgotten that one of the key tenets of Christianity is the concept of peace.  Their "turning of plowshares into swords", particularly when it comes to Iran, stands in complete opposition to what they claim to believe in their religious lives.  That, to me, is a prime example of "Cafeteria Christianity" where one picks and chooses what they believe.

11 comments:

  1. Unfortunately, the heresy of Premillenial Dispensationalism (PD) has captured a wide swath of North American 'evangelicals'. Pence and Pompeo are among that group; Bolton and Trump find the group easy to manipulate, especially with John Hagee leading CUFI. Your quote from Jesus 'Sermon on the Mount' from Matthew is irrelevant to this group because their heretical doctrine declares that this sermon of Jesus, plus much of Jesus other teachings, do not apply to Christians today. Rather, these teachings will apply to National Israel after the 'rapture' of Christians from this earth. The whole of PD doctrine is based on some totally erroneous interpretations of both the Old and New Testament. In general, the perpetrators of PD are Bible 'preachers' but neither Bible students or Bible scholars.

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    1. Spot on... we have the Zionists & Scofield to thank for that. Even so the Western churches needed be more fervent in guarding the Truth, and they definitely dropped the ball, and succumbed to the influence of the world & worse...

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  2. Disgusting grovelling sell outs....all under the banner of their phallic worship (judeo-christianity)........americans are in for a shock...

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  3. I don't blame these three monkeys, I blame the evangelicals (of which I am one) for their sheer stupidity and immoral value systems related to their alleged guiding light: Scripture. Anyone who can be manipulated by the fat thug, John Hagee is a simple moron. Last man out carry the flag.

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  4. When Jewish nationalists rebelled against Roman rule of Judaea in 66 CE, they ritually murdered some two thousand Roman legionaries manning the garrisons at Jerusalem, Jericho, and Masada. The Zealots treacherously promised the men safe conduct out of the country if they would lay down their arms, but instead when the soldiers agreed they were bound and their throats were cut like the lambs ritually sacrificed at Passover. When Roman troops restored order to Judaea, they systematically avenged the ignominious deaths of their comrades in rivers of blood. Roman attitudes further hardened against Jews after the North African rebellion of 115 - 117, in which Jews, acting in concert with their brethren living in Rome's mortal enemy, Parthia (modern Iran), staged wholesale massacres of Roman citizens, in order to draw away troops from Trajan's war against the Parthians, killing perhaps 200,000 innocent men, women, and children. Rome's patience was finally exhausted in the Bar Kochba rebellion in Hadrian's reign, when male Jews were formally expelled from Jerusalem, which was rebuilt and reconsecrated as the holy city of Capitoline Jupiter, patron deity of the empire.

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  5. One look at the US foreign policy and one knows instantly it's in fact the Apartheid State's foreign policy.

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  6. Thank you for writing about this, and thanks to the others for their comments here... As a follower of Christ, this topic is pivotal to me in both a spiritual & geopolitical sense. I used to be one of those blind supporters of Israel, until I started digging into the truth of it's creation and the atrocities committed by that illegal settler state for the last several decades. In addition to the verses you shared, I would like to add this, even more ominous warning, from Jesus Himself: "21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt.7:21-23
    The only thing missing from those verses is mentioning the above 3 by name, but the essence is there. Although I do not profess to know the hearts of men, I am "fruit" inspector, i.e. "by their fruits you shall know them". Do we see the fruit of the Spirit or Christ-likeness in any of these 3? As far as I can tell, no. And these 3, and others like them are in such positions of influence, and as such, rest assured, they will be held to account, along with the Zionists who maim & genocide innocents (including Christians) in the Middle East & elsewhere. Those 3 are the blind, leading the blind (other fake, weak or nominal "christians"). Jesus must weep at all this carnage done in His name. All of them will be in for a surprise on Judgement Day. I will leave you with the apropos quote by Ghandi, bringing us full circle on the peace premise of this piece: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ" And doesn't that say it all?

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  7. So Jewish Purim is a record of how the Persian King (old Iran) did not execute the Jews like happened in Europe for hundreds of years. Making peace between Iran and Israel is just as important as making peace with Russia and China.

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  8. It is indeed sickening to see how many so called Christians have been subverted by the zionist cause .So deluded are they to use hate and lies as their weapons of destruction.Their false spiritual leaders like Haggee and thier ilk will be held responsible for the harm that they have done to mankind .

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  9. The whore Esther manipulated a King to kill his own people wholesale.

    Around 80,000-100,000 Persians were slaughtered based on lies and malicious deception. Children, women and men. All innocent. And todays nefarious Rabbinical Talmudic Jews celebrate such bloodshed of innocents is indeed a collective sickness.

    Or how about Israelis who let their kids write messages addressed to Palestinian children on 500 lb and white phosphorous bombs attached to bombers before being dropped on Gaza or the West Bank.

    Its no wonder that Jews have been expelled and/or exiled 109 times from 84 different places since 250 A.D. Carthage, till 1948 Arab countries. Now why is that? Why only them?

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  10. Mike Pompeo's speech was spoken like a true Zionist blowjob. In fact, if I had his address I would send him pillows to kneel on while he serviced his Zionist cousins Jewish Israeli cousins.

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