My story begins with my speech at a Rally for Peace in Jerusalem that was organized by Muslim friends and held at Sheridan Circle, Washington DC, a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol Building.  It ends 48 hours later, in front of a war-making church that is actively engaged in blocking the path to peace.

Al-Quds means “Jerusalem” in Arabic.  Peace-seeking speakers from Christian, secular, and pro-peace Jewish groups added their voices to the Muslims, first in Jerusalem, and then world-wide.  The rally began not far from the Capitol Building, where war upon Iran is being planned by war-making lobbies and a willing Congress, and ended with a dinner in St Stephens Church.   I was moved by the hospitality of our Muslim hosts.

In my talk, I concentrated on the warring impact of evangelical church teaching that the state of Israel is the fulfillment of Biblical prophesy, and that to them Israel can therefore do no wrong and all the land of the Philistines, including Al-Quds, belongs to Israel.  I explained that one such evangelical church, McLean Bible Church, was only a few miles away, and is one of about 3000 mega-churches that may be the single biggest obstacle in the U.S. to freedom for the Philistines.

How can it be that a Christian church is a greater stumbling block to peace than the Israeli occupiers and the Congress that finances them?  America is a war-based economy and certain identifiable evangelical churches have elevated Israel to Jesus level support the political forces who bring war upon us.  Rally attendees of all ages let me know they understood.

Christian Zionism, as I define it, is the last grass roots stronghold of the institutionalized war machine in the U.S.  Polls now show clearly that more than half of all Americans trust neither their elected Congress, nor the media that filters and distributes the news and the political ads.  Fox News, USA Today, and MSNBC are rated at the bottom for believability. Other polls show the trust rating for Congress is even lower than the media. *1. (Pew Poll)

I ask, who are the 49% of Americans who still trust the media?  If 75% of the public did not believe Congress or the media, the war-based economy would be cooked…no politician or TV station could withstand such exposure. The answer is that Americans who are brainwashed weekly in Christian Zionist churches are a large part of the 49% who still go along with the war makers.

We must realize that these churches are a part of the media, and that about one third of all churchgoers in America are taught that political Israel has a right to occupy the land of the Philistines, and that killing, maiming, and destroying for Israel’s interests is just.

The vast majority of the 40 to 70 million Americans who identify with churches like McLean Bible Church accept the notion that America’s internal problems can be solved by political regime change, so long as the new regime supports Israel’s interests.  This is what “Christian” TV networks and two or three national bible study groups preach.  The luckless Philistines are simply in the way of Christian Zionists’ support for Zionism, which often trump the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Thirty-six hours after addressing the Muslim crowd in Sheridan Circle, I joined Francis, a former member of McLean Bible Church, for a vigil outside that most successful Christian Zionist church in the DC area, led by Lon Solomon, who writes in his audio biography, what is “a nice Jewish boy like me” doing making his living in this “business.”  Some will find it odd that a self-professed, proclaiming Jew runs a huge “Christian” church. It is not unusual.

Indeed, Mclean Bible Church is ostensibly a very good “business,” occupying a group of massive structures that includes a two-story concrete parking garage that will hold about 3500 cars at one time.  Located next to a busy freeway in Vienna, Virginia. A one mile long, four-lane private highway encompasses the church. A private forest shields the entire front of the complex from the highway so that only two corners of the complex can be glimpsed through the trees.  McLean Bible Church reeks of power and money.  It has two entrances off the freeway, where on-duty local policemen spend their morning and early afternoon directing traffic in and out at taxpayers’ expense.

I stood at one entrance supporting a visual display that read WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB in the face of every auto that came in or went out past my post.  Francis stood at the other entrance, a quarter mile north of me, with a similar message.  Each of us held up a second symbolic display depicting a crucifixion with “PALESTINE” AND “IRAN” on the crossbars of bloody crosses.

I would guess a minimum of 10,000 to 15,000 attendees and thousands of passersby read our messages.  The only way an attendee could fail to see our message was to stiffen his neck and force himself to look away, but for most it was too late.  Children and youth stared as they passed.  Most mothers tried to appear indifferent, perhaps sensing that Pastor Solomon would not approve if they read the signs.  Some offered an encouraging honk or wave; a few marred the day with an obscene gesture; fewer still slowed down to exchange words…”don’t you know there never was a state of Palestine”, one challenged.

Two young men came out and reported how Pastor Lon explained our presence to the congregation: “We are being picketed…they are against Israel.” Pastor Lon may be a “nice Jewish boy” as he claims, but on August 19th he played his media card, creating his own version of the truth, just as MSNBC and Fox news do.  He knew we were not “picketing” the church, but challenging what he teaches. He wanted his flock to think we were there to attack them, not to correct his own errors of scripture.

We know Pastor Lon knew our purpose, because we sent him and most members of his large staff a two-page letter that told them exactly what we would do and why we were doing it. *2.

One of those few who came out made my day. He is a former Air Force veteran, and he showed me the spot on his substantial forearm where he said he would soon have the words from our message tattooed: “WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB.”  He said something like this: I want this on a tattoo because it is the essence of the conflict between war and Christianity.  He is one who was not afraid to face the truth….that the McLean Bible Church is part of the war-making problem.

Wrapping it up:
The Imam at the park is right, America is part of the Philistines’ problem.  An ever increasing percentage of all our people, are willing to say our media cannot be trusted.  America’s evangelical Christian Zionist churches are part of this media, and their false doctrine is the largest obstacle to correcting the course of our war-based economy to one that seeks justice and peace for all men.

Who would Jesus Bomb?  Maybe I am just the right age for my first Tattoo!

*1. Further Decline in Credibility Ratings for Most News Organizations

*2. Letter to Pastor Lon Solomon

*3 Click “View Vigils” at many churches