Antisemitism and Iran

There are many forms of discrimination, racism, xenophobia, genocide. But a unique form of hatred is antisemitism: Jew hatred.

It is as old as the Jewish people itself.
In Egypt Pharaoh tried to systematically exterminate the Jewish people.
In Persia Jew hater Haman tried to do the same, and he would have succeeded in his evil intentions if not Esther would have realized her responsibility and pleaded with king Xerxes of the Medes and the Persians. King Xerxes (Hebrew: king Ahasuerus) therefore issued a law of Medes and Persians in which it was determined that the Jews were allowed to defend themselves during the planned massacre of the Jewish people by Haman.

“King Xerxes issued a law allowing  the Jews to defend themselves during the planned massacre of the Jewish people by Haman”

Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Muslims, Crusaders, Turks, Arabs, Palestinians: over and over again this small Jewish people and nation was struck through the centuries by senseless hatred and threatened with total extermination. Not for what they did, but for who they are: Jews.

A minor means of escape from their terrible fate over the centuries was sometimes offered to them in the Christian world: if the Jews converted to Christianity and renounced their Jewishness, they were permitted to save their skin. But in daily reality even that didn’t make a big difference. They were persecuted anyway. And ultimately the Nazis didn’t care at all what faith Jews would hold. Whether they were dealing with pious Jews or non-religious Jews, with Christian-Jews, or with liberal or Chassidic or orthodox or ultra-orthodox Jews:  Jews were Jews and therefore had to be destroyed. Imagine this. That you are being hated not for what you do or do believe but for who you are: Jew. And of course you can’t change your “race”. You are born that way. So nothing you can do to escape your deadly fate: not even by converting to another faith than being Jewish.

Hatred against Israel is ultimately hatred against the God of Israel. This is what the poet of Psalm 83 has come to understand. And in the lands of Christendom – it has to be said with deeply felt shame – Jew hatred and persecution of Jews has grown to an unprecedented extent. Jews were better off in the lands of Islam than in the lands of Christendom in the past centuries. Although in the Islamic countries, crimes were sometimes committed against the Jewish population as well, a systematic extermination like in the lands of Christendom, never took place there.

In Jerusalem there is the impressive memorial monument “Yad Vashem”. About the fate of the Jews in the past centuries and its climax: the extermination of over six million Jews of whom one and a half million children in the Holocaust. It is a breathtaking and impressive monument. But what affected me most profoundly was the explanation that was given at the beginning of the tour in  the new museum about the role of Christendom in the past centuries. Plain but to the point it was explained that Christian theology created the climate in which these atrocities in Western and Eastern Europe were made possible. Fortunately there is also mentioning the fact of the “Righteous ones among the gentile nations”. People – including Christians – who dedicated their own lives to save Jewish people. And actually they did save many Jews from a certain death, sometimes even at the expense of their own life.

Jew hatred has many faces. Religious, Christian and Islamic antisemitism. Racist antisemitism, like under the Nazi regime. Humanistic – Hellenistic antisemitism, for the first time among the successors of Alexander the Great. Political antisemitism. Economic antisemitism by means of economic boycott actions. Boycott of Jews at major sporting events. Or at song contests. And political antizionism, whereby “Zionism” is applied as political term to accuse Jews of colonialism and of expelling Arabs and Palestinians from their residential areas.

Projection of a guilty conscience of the Western world that for centuries extensively colonized the rest of the world, enslaved and pillaged? Accusing someone else of crimes you committed yourself? Jewish pioneers who live in different parts of the Promised land of Israel are being called in the Western world “colonists”. But they are not “colonists” in the colonial sense of the word, but they are pioneers who with great zeal and sacrifice try to develop the Promised Land of Israel that was given by God to the Jewish people. With a friendly attitude from the beginning towards the Arab population that sometimes lived here and there in an almost uninhabited and neglected land. These pioneers said: there is room enough for everyone!

““Zionism” is not a political plan of action but shows the desire that the Most High God arouses in the Jewish soul”

By the way: the phrase “Zionism” is not a political plan of action but shows the desire that the Most High God arouses in the Jewish soul. A desire to return to Zion, Jerusalem, to Israel, to the land Promised by the Most High to Israel, from their exile all over the world. So, using this phrase “Zionism” as a political slogan is actually Jew hatred disguised as anti-Israel politics. Actually, ordinary antisemitism. With an endless series of anti-Israel resolutions in the United Nations. But cloaked in whatever garb, it is always the same: Jew hatred!

Unwavering vigilance is called for. In the name of many thousands of Christians – in the Netherlands and worldwide – we as “Christians for Israel” call with unwavering and great commitment over and over again to recognize and fight these old and new forms emerging of Jew hatred. In education and in politics. In Churches, in mosques and in society. Because Israel is God’s firstborn son, the apple of His eye, through which He has promised to bless the entire world and all the nations. And in the future He will bless the world even more through them, when His Shalom will cover the whole world from Jerusalem. True Peace and true righteousness coming from Jerusalem. Then ten Gentile men from all kinds of languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and will say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’ (Zechariah 8:23). While in the Netherlands the anti-Jewish measures were abundantly applied in 1941, my father – Rev Willem Glashouwer Sr – as a young minister preached fearlessly about these Bible verses in the “Grote Kerk” of Naarden in the Netherlands. Do not remain silent, but speak up. Whatever the consequences may be. My father was imprisoned twice in the Second World War.

“Do not remain silent, but speak up. Whatever the consequences may be”

Isaiah 62:1-9 says: “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name

that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”

“I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. The Lord has sworn by His right hand

and by His mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, and never again will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled; but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary.”

That is why Psalm 122:6 says: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”. To make this prophetic dream come true.

What can I do about that?
Just one example. I recall what happened when the book “Why Israel?” was translated into Polish and Hungarian in the past. This new translation was made by a teacher at the Gymnasium of Budapest – Hungary. Initially she reported enthusiastically that she had already found a Christian publisher for it. But shortly afterwards I received an e-mail from her in which she wrote that this Christian publisher had a good second look at the book once more and decided against it after all. Maybe possibly print it, but not put their name to it. Why not?

Literally they said: “The Church today cannot be held accountable for what the Church/Christendom in the past said and did against the Jews.” This book only gives the Church a bad conscience! We are not to blame.” Enquiries revealed that they didn’t even bother to read the detailed documentation in the back of the book “Why Israel?” – included as addendum A – about the relationship between the Jews and the Church in the past 2000 years.

It clarifies the spiritual battle we are in. And how necessary it is to make Christianity aware of what happened in the past – and is still happening today. Because the theological mindset that enabled this horrifying Christian antisemitism still exists in large parts of Christendom. The many forms and variations of the Christian theological concept that is called “replacement theology” has created a climate in Europe in which millions of Jews could be slaughtered, time and again. Not only in the last great destruction of the Holocaust, but in all centuries in the lands of Christendom. Only when the Church is aware of this, repents and pursues a new direction in her relationship with Jews, with Judaism and with Israel, cleansing and renewal can take place. A process of change that needs to take place in the leadership of the Church, but that must also penetrate the grass roots of the Church. The pastors, priests, preachers, elders and deacons, committee members and ‘ordinary’ believers, the ‘lay’ people. From top to bottom. When this would happen, it could lead to a spiritual revival and renewal despite all decline and fading away of the Christianity in our post-Christian era. Certainly the Lord would welcome and bless such a new attitude.

If ever there was a time to stand with Israel it is today. The Jewish people need us more than ever. We, as Christians for Israel in the Netherlands but also internationally. “Christians for Israel International” which is the missionary department of our work worldwide. As we speak, right now in Islamic Malaysia Bible studies about Israel and Jerusalem are systematically broadcast and repeated through modern mass media. Next month (September 2024) I am invited to explain by invitation of six graduated Thai Christian pastors in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Korat about “Why Israel?” that has already by now been translated into over 40 languages, spreading into the entire world. Recently it was translated into Sinhala for Sri Lanka, into Chinese for Taiwan and mainland China and into Farsi for the Christians in Iran.

“Despite the dominance of Islam, Iran has the number one growing Evangelical population in the world”

Iran – Elam
Speaking about Iran: Iran has momentarily one of the most repressive Islamic regimes in the world. It tries to obtain a nuclear weapon to wipe Israel off the map. But the good news is this. Despite the dominance of Islam, Iran has the number one growing Evangelical population in the world. There are many ‘Elamites’, many Iranians, who hope to find an exit strategy to escape the repression of the Iranian government. And it is very difficult for these people to leave the country

The Gospel is entering into Iran. There are three important satellite television programs that reach Iran. One of them is “Iran Alive Ministries”, TBN has one, and CBN also has one. TBN’s station is called Nejat TV and they reach the households of many Iranians going over the Ayatollah’s heads. Many Muslims in Iran are fed-up about Islam. The major part of Iran’s population, about 80 per cent is younger than 30 years of age. They were indoctrinated into the ayatollah’s teachings who took over the country in 1979 and subsequently waged an eight-year war with Iraq. They heavily oppressed their own people. And so, Christianity and the Christian faith is very attractive for the Iranian people, and in large droves they come to faith in Jesus as their Lord.

Iranian Christians are the number one growing Evangelical population in the world. They are growing at a rate of 19.6% compared to the USA with a rate of 0.08%. These Iranian new Christian people experience amazing phenomena like supernatural dreams, miracles and healings

In the background Iran plays a leading role in the hate campaigns and the massacres being committed in Israel and among the Jewish people by Hamas and Hezbollah. The “arrows” in the form of missiles and drones fired at Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah are the extension of assault weapons and ultimately nuclear missiles that the Iranian regime (not the Iranian people as such!) wants to fire at Israel to destroy it completely. Does the Bible have anything to say about that? The prophet Jeremiah speaks about “the bow of Elam”. Bow and arrow. So, in this era ‘arrows’ in the form of drones and missiles.

Maybe someone can think with me about the explanation of this mysterious prophecy from Jeremiah 49: 34-39. There is a heading in the NIV translation: “A Message About Elam”. [= Persia, = Iran].

“This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah: This is what the Lord Almighty says: “See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. I will bring against Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; I will scatter them to the four winds, and there will not be a nation where Elam’s exiles do not go. I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who want to kill them; I will bring disaster on them, even My fierce anger,” declares the Lord. “I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them. I will set My throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials,” declares the Lord. “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,” declares the Lord.”

God explains in verse 35 how this judgement will take place. “See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might.” There is something that infuriates the Lord. It has to do with the one thing that Elam/Iran wants to launch or fire at someone with their bow. They obviously target someone. If this passage does not only speaks of wars in bygone eras, but is also applicable to the present – and being prophecy in this case probably is – then it is Israel that is targeted by Iran. Biblical prophecy is like a rock in a pond. There are ever widening waves that are constantly relevant in ages that are following. In the days that the prophet spoke the prophecy. And again in the ages thereafter. Until the final fulfilment hits the shores of eternity.

Elam wants to attack Israel, but God will break their bow. He will thwart their ability to attack Israel with utmost imaginable power and force. It could refer to today’s fast growing Iranian nuclear program and its destructive power.

It is very interesting that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu many times has expressed major concerns about Iran. Iran is not only building a nuclear program and enriching uranium with ultra-centrifuges, but Iran is simultaneously developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM’s). Today we hear Netanyahu constantly talk about why Iran should not be able to produce ICBM’s. He says that the only purpose of these missiles is to load them with a nuclear warhead to destroy Israel. At the United Nations he has argued very clearly why Iran should not be allowed to continue producing enriching uranium. For these same reasons Netanyahu wants every reactor in Iran to be dismantled. With hardly any result. Apparently the United Nations are blind and deaf, Isaiah 25:7. Whatever Iran promises to the United Nations, it just continues with its plans.

Breaking Elam’s bow is an idiom, an expression as a way of saying. Isaiah 22:6 tells us that the Elamites were renowned ‘archers’. If your bow is broken, you cannot load the arrows from your quiver, or in a more modern sense, the rockets from your silo. Their destructive power will be broken.

“Israel is cornered more and more. Not only the Israelis in Israel, but also the Jewish people worldwide feel the increasing Jew hatred”

Israel in dire straits
Israel is cornered more and more. Not only the Israelis in Israel, but also the Jewish people worldwide feel the increasing Jew hatred. Hatred against the God of Israel. And hatred against His Messiah, the Anointed One, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords: Jesus the Christ. If it starts to rain on the Jews, it also begins to rain on the Bible-believing Christians. Just look at the increasing persecution of Christians worldwide. It is an unreasonable hatred. It is an intense blinding caused by the powers of darkness. Invisible powers of darkness are in control of earthly rulers. The United Nations plot against the Lord and against His Anointed One, says Psalm 2.

We live in a worldwide increasingly challenging era. An era of tribulation and oppression. An oppressive and distressing time. Painful as birth-pangs, that precede the birth of a new era: God’s Kingdom of true peace and true righteousness. First there will be a time of purification and tribulation. For the world and for us. For Israel as well. But finally it will lead through the depths of an increasing darkness to the light of the Coming of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Messiah of Israel. He will establish His Kingdom of peace and righteousness all over the world from Israel and from Jerusalem. And again He will bless the world by his instrument of salvation: His chosen Jewish people. Salvation was from the Jews. Salvation is from the Jews. And salvation will be from the Jews, John 4:22. What a glorious future will be arising , beloved Church of God!