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Presbyterians meet with Hezbollah October 22, 2004 A delegation from the Presbyterian Church, USA, have met with a leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon and have demanded Israel withdraw from so-called occupied Palestinian territories. The meeting with the terrorist – Sheikh Nabil Qauq, the leader of Hezbollah in south Lebanon – occurred Sunday during a visit by the 24-member delegation to various countries in the Middle East. As WorldNetDaily reported, in July the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA, voted 431-62 to divest from companies that are invested in Israel. The vote set the stage for the church to divest itself from companies that receive $1 million dollars or more in profits per year from investments in Israel or have invested $1 million dollars or more in Israel. PCUSA has foundation and pension funds totaling approximately $7 billion. The Rev. Nile Harper is head of the Presbyterian delegation. [There is only ONE Reverend. He is in Heaven. Call no man on earth 'Reverend' - for all have sinned] "The occupation by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza must end because it is oppressive and destructive for the Palestinian people," the Rev. Nile Harper said in an interview with The Associated Press. Why fight to build that which the Lord already said He will destroy?
The group also visited Syria and Jordan. "We are interested in peace and justice for Palestinians as well as in the relationship between Syria and Lebanon and Syria and Israel," delegation coordinator Peter Sulyok is quoted as saying. "We will be looking to see what new initiatives there might be, what possibilities there might be for peace." A Christian cannot sit at the table of those who call the Son of God an abomination - and sit at the Son's table also.
Leaders of the Anglican Church, which in the U.S. includes the Episcopal Church, USA, are preparing to follow in the footsteps of the Presbyterians by also divesting from Israel.
The church report recommending divestment, signed by 29 Anglican representatives who toured the Holy Land last month before reaching their decision, will be delivered at a 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, to be held in Wales. The Anti-Defamation League has released a statement saying it was "deeply disturbing that leaders of the Presbyterian Church would seek out a meeting with members of a terrorist organization responsible for attacks that have killed both Americans and Israelis." The group points out Hezbollah is on the U.S. State Department's watchlist of global terrorist organizations. ADL noted a comment made by one of the Presbyterians who took part in Sunday's meeting with the Hezbollah leader. "As an elder of our church, I'd like to say that according to my recent experience, relations and conversations with Islamic leaders are a lot easier than dealings and dialogue with Jewish leaders," the group quotes Elder Ronald Stone as saying. [Islamic leaders say that the Son of God is an abomination and that those who say such things - are liars. That calls all of the witnesses of the New Testament - liars! What lord is it - that these self-professing 'Christian' leaders are bowing to? It is not the Christian's Lord. Therefore - they can not be Christians - even though they say they are] Stone of Pittsburgh, Pa., reportedly praised Hezbollah at the meeting, saying, "We treasure the precious words of Hezbollah and your expression of goodwill toward the American people." Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, and Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, ADL director of interfaith affairs, issued a joint statement in response to the visit, saying: "Coming in an atmosphere where interfaith relations between Presbyterians and Jews have been sorely tested by the church's proposal to disinvest from Israel, it is disturbing that the Presbyterian leaders made the irresponsible decision to meet with Hezbollah, an organization whose self-stated goal is the total destruction of the Jewish State and the establishment of Islamic rule over Jerusalem. It is outrageous that, rather than seeking out moderate voices working for positive change in the Middle East, the Presbyterian leaders decided to seek out the leader of a terrorist organization." Since its founding in 1982, Hezbollah has been responsible for hundreds of attacks against Israelis and Americans, including the 1983 suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 200. Hezbollah also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 and the Israeli cultural center in Buenos Aires in 1994.
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