In his talk at Wasilla on August 17, 2008, with Palin in the audience, Brickner described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" on Jews who have not converted to Christianity.
"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television," Brickner said. "It's very real. When [my son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."
In his Hebrew-laced sermon, Brickner also told the congregation that "Israel is an example of what all humanity has been saying to God since the beginning of time, shaking its fists at the heavens and saying 'You'll not rule over us'."
At the conclusion of Brickner's sermon, the congregation contributed money for Jews for Jesus' mission of converting the Jews and and prayed that Jews would come to accept Jesus.
Brickner, who was not born Jewish, has lead Jews for Jesus since 1996.
Here is a link to the text of Brickner's sermon from the church's website, where you can also hear the audio of his talk.
UPDATE #1:
John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate has already cost him the vote of at least one prominent Jewish politician -- former New York City Mayor Ed Koch.
Koch, who endorsed George W. Bush in 2004, said that McCain's choice of Palin has led him to endorse Barack Obama.
"She's scary," Koch said.
UPDATE #2:
See Palin's New Jewish Problem: Paster Says Take Banks from Jews
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Comments
Guess she's the opposite of Joe Lieberman.
Appalling.
- es
Here's how serious this is: I totally agree with Madame Bitch.
Certainly one cannot assume that Sarah Palin agrees with everything said in the church. But the problem is that we don't know what she agrees with and what she doesn't. The only way to find out is to ask. But this leads to endless questions and speculations and explanations. Frankly, if these church issues gain traction, I don't see how she's going to have time to campaign, because most of her time will be spent dealing with this stuff.
Fundamentalist churches are divided over the issue of the Jews. In fact, this is an issue that goes back to the very origins of Christianity. Today there are two extreme-- but common -- positions. The first is that God specifically punishes Jews for their rejection of Jesus through the Holocaust, terrorist attacks, etc. The second is that Jews are God's chosen people, living on land that God reserved for them, and that therefore Christians have an obligation to support them. And speaking of foreign policy, the second position in particular has many foreign policy implications. McCain rejected Rev. Hagee's endorsement, but he may have a running mate who agrees with some of Hagee's theology. Time for the press to ask more questions.
By the way the "rapture index stands at 161 down somewhat from its all time high.
There's a bumper sticker I see now an then that says;
"Caution, driver may disappear at any moment."
Plus, this is pretty standard fundie speak. You can find stuff like this all over the right. After all, who can forget this one - http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/mccain-rejects-hagee-backing-as-nazi-remarks-surface/?hp
Taking things a little far, aren't we? :)
I cannot agree more with Mishma666, regarding the sort of crazy that probably gets said in that church of hers on a weekly basis.
The fact that the leader of Jews 4 JC was not born into the Jewish fate is awful.
1) how long will we wait for Palin to publicly and explicitly distance herself from these clearly anti-semitic remarks?
2) aside from being anti-semitic doesn't it also happen to be insane to believe that the 9-11 attacks were God's retribution for anything, especially against one demographic group?
3) sarah palin has herself explained away the US invasiion of Iraq and the necessity to extend oil drilling/pipelines as expressions of the "will of God". Do we really need a possible President of the USA who basically underwrites each position coming out of the ruling GOP-hardline as "the will of God" or "God whispering in his ear" (GW Bush on Iraq invasion)? Isn't that just admitting it's beyond reason and the politician doesn't need to explain it further?
http://forums.hannity.com/showthread.php?p=35251261&posted=1#post35251261
http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah-palin-and-african-americans-in.html
Sarah Palin may or may not have a Jewish problem, but there is NOTHING in your column that justifies Jewish people not voting for Palin.
What you are doing here is the unfortunate guilt-by-association game. This is the same rationale that leads many people to oppose Barack Obama -- his pastor has said nutty things so Obama must believe those nutty things.
Actually, what you're doing is much worse since the Jews for Jesus guy is a visitor to the church.
Frankly, I would love to see you do some research on Sarah Palin and write a column on HER beliefs. As a Jew, I would love to see if, in fact, she is anti-Semitic. At some point in his political career, George Bush Jr. made what I construe as anti-Semitic comments although he stopped doing it after a minor backlash during his 1994 run for governor of Texas. I have cousins who go ballistic at the mention of Bush's name because of what he said in 1994.
For now, though, I give Palin the benefit of the doubt. And, for the record, I don't accept the premise that she believes what people in her church believe. To me, the evidence against her has to be words out of HER MOUTH.
Sorry for giving you an assignment. I'm an editor. It's a sickness.
Shalom,
ZWrite
I beg your pardon, but with what we know, or think we know, about the historical Jesus EVERYTHING in his life was about Judaism. Jesus was a Jew who preached only (or almost exclusively with a couple of noted exceptions) to Jews. He was born a Jew and died a Jew, This entire other religion was concocted in his name, after he was dead or otherwise departed the scene. As Erich Gruen, Professor of History & Classics, at U.C. Berkeley said: “Christianity may have been possible without Jesus; it certainly would not have been possible without Paul.” Those are the historic facts as clearly as we can know them.
There are very many reasons that Sarah Palin is unqualified for national office; the unpleasantness of her toxic religious fanaticism is just another fragment in that ugly mosaic.
Sarah Palin's judgement is obviously defective. Lack of sensitivity of the magnitude that allowed these repulsive opinions to be preached in her presence, reflects on John McCain's judgment. If he didn't know about her unfitness, he's incompetent; if he did consider Palin's defects, John McCain placed a big bet on the ignorance, bigotry and gullibility of the American voter to fall for her charisma. McCain went all-in on Sarah Palin, we'll soon know how his wager pays off.