Tag Archives: Stephen Sizer

A Year of Silent Complicity: The Church of England and Gaza Genocide

This article was originally published in May 2024. Between October 2023 and February 2024, the Church of England Archbishops and Bishops issued five statements on the genocide in Gaza (carefully avoiding using the term). Since February 2024, they have been completely silent despite mounting and indisputable evidence of genocide and war crimes, reported by the United Nations, to the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, by human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and indeed even by Christian leaders in Palestine. It has indeed been a year of shameful silent complicity, not just by the Church of England but virtually every Western mainstream denomination.

“Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world”, insisted the Reverend Dr. Munther Isaac in his 2023 Christmas sermon, entitled, “Christ in the Rubble.” After his sermon went viral, his words were subsequently quoted by UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed.

A short video introduction to the article – viewed 18k times in the first week.

Lamentably, many Christian leaders in the USA and Europe have stood by, silent and complicit, unwilling to criticise Israel for what is increasingly recognised as a genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people. 

This article will analyse the Church of England official statements about Gaza since 7th October 2023, together with criticisms, and provide an assessment of the Church’s moral integrity in its stance on Gaza.

Download the complete article (and also in booklet form for printing) – or continue to read the summary conclusions:

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How to Pray to the Trinity: Ephesians 1:3-14

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:3-14)

In May 1844, a young biblical scholar found himself in St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai. Constanin Von Tischendorf wrote in his diary, 

“In visiting the library of the monastery, I perceived in the middle of the great hall a large and wide basket full of old parchments; and the librarian, who was a man of information, told me that two heaps of papers like these, moldered by time, had been already committed to the flames. What was my surprise to find amid this heap of papers a considerable number of sheets of a copy of the Old Testament in Greek, which seemed to me to be one of the most ancient that I had ever seen. The authorities of the convent allowed me to possess myself of a third of these parchments, or about forty-three sheets, all the more readily as they were destined for the fire. But I could not get them to yield up possession of the remainder. The too lively satisfaction which I had displayed had aroused their suspicions as to the value of this manuscript… On my return to Saxony there were men of learning who at once appreciated the value of the treasure which I brought back with me. I did not divulge the name of the place where I had found it, in the hopes of returning and recovering the rest of the manuscript.”

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Advent Sunday: Jesus is Coming

If you were like me, when you were very young, there were only two really important events in your life. You felt like they could not come soon enough. What were they? The first was… your birthday. The second was… Jesus’ birthday. Both involved presents. Lots of presents.  Then when you were old enough to know that Father Christmas was not in the Nativity Play and you were allowed to stay up late, there was a third special day. New Year’s Eve.  There were no presents but you still looked forward to the party and seeing in the New Year. We love to celebrate beginnings. We celebrate new life. Our birthday. Family birthdays. Jesus’ birthday. The birth of a new year.

So, what is it with the Church?  When does the Church year begin? Not at Christmas and the birth of our Saviour. Not Easter and the resurrection to new life. Not even Pentecost and the birth of the Church.  The Church year begins with Advent. Advent simply means coming.  Our Bible readings  reveal that Advent is not about Christmas or the birth of Jesus. No. Advent is about the return of Jesus. So why does the Church year begin with the return of Jesus? Because it is the most important event still to come.  Jesus is coming to bring an end to this corrupt, godless world order. Jesus is coming to reign as Lord and King and inaugurate a new heaven and a new earth. Our gospel reading gives us three reasons why we begin the church year with the end of this world as we know it. 

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Christian Zionism: Its origins, goals, and influence

Few people in the world are unaffected by the brutal war in the Middle East. The slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon now threatens to expand into a world war against Iran and her allies. Israel is regarded by many Christians as the innocent victim, and many of those same Christians support the massive supply of US and Western bombs and munitions that kill and mutilate. How can Christians support war and killing in this way? Why do many Christians believe that Israel cannot be criticised or stopped?

UK Column first interviewed Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer in May 2023. That interview, The Price of Honest Discussion about Israel and Palestine, can be found here.

From his background and experiences as an author challenging Christian Zionism, Stephen Sizer describes the Church of England and the wider campaign against him as one based on three successive tactics: intimidation, isolation, and incrimination. This strategy is employed to shut down debate regarding what is happening within the State of Israel and the territories it controls. His criticism of Israel has been relentless, but principled. It is based not on antisemitism, but rather on a human-rights-based analysis.

In our second and latest interview with Stephen Sizer, Brian Gerrish looked deeper into Stephen’s research and analysis of Christian Zionism, focusing on his excellent books: the detailed Christian Zionism Road Map to Armageddon? as well as the shorter Zion’s Christian Soldiers? The Bible, Israel and the Church.

Brian Gerrish states to Stephen upfront that he had been prompted to learn more about Zionism after watching the brutal slaughter in Gaza and experiencing an often cold, callous, and aggressive support for the war by those calling themselves Christians.

Read more on UK Column here

Palestine House, London

it was a delight to attend an amazing brunch at Palestine House in High Holborn in Central London, opposite Holborn tube station recently. I shared a table with friends from Croydon PSC.

Offered every Sunday 11:00-13:00, the cafe and restaurant also serves Lebanese and Palestinian food every day. Palestine House is available as a venue for events as well as a place to chill.

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The Path to Spiritual Maturity (James 1)

During the Munich Crisis of September 1938, as Hitler rallied his forces and the world slid inexorably toward war, more radios were sold than in any previous month. In this atmosphere of tension, Orson Welles and his staff prepared for their weekly Mercury Theater radio play. Auspiciously, on the night before Halloween, listeners found themselves listening to the innocent sounds of “Ramon Raquello and his orchestra”, only for the music to be interrupted by the first of a series of increasingly alarming news stories. First came reports of several explosions of “incandescent gas” observed on the planet Mars, then after a brief interlude of more music came a hook-up to Princeton Observatory professor Richard Pierson (played by Welles) who assures the listeners that there is nothing to be alarmed at. Then there are reports of a meteor impact in an unassuming sleepy little hamlet called Grover’s Mill. That night it became the centre of the universe as the beachhead for a Martian invasion advancing on New York City, brushing aside American defenders and destroying dozens of familiar place names along the way. An emergency government announcement gave credence to the story, and huddled about their radios, panicked listeners (all over the USA) began to bombard local police stations with calls. From Trenton comes the account. 

“We were petrified. We just looked at each other, scared out of our wits. Someone was banging on our front door. It was our neighbour across the street. She had packed her seven kids in their car and she kept yelling, come on, lets get out of here.”

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National March for Palestine

The best of the photos taken at the Gaza Rally in London on Saturday 3rd August. It was heartening to see so many young activists.

Chris Nineham of Stop the War said this evening that 100,000 attended the protest in London today. It was the 17th demonstration since October last year and as large as the first. This is no longer a protest against Israeli genocide in Gaza, it is a protest against Israel’s agenda to lead the West into a war against Iran and Lebanon. We are now in uncharted waters.

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