By Patrick Grimm
Here is an interesting and lengthy comment I received from a gentlemen named Jack who was politely critical of my work. Following Jack’s words are my own thoughts and criticisms of his well-phrased assertions.
Jack said…
Dear Sir,
Is Zionism the problem, the “bottom-line” if you will, that we must “get” [1] or is Zionism, and it’s attack on the true conservative foundation of America the net result of an underlying factor that one must first consider?
Throughout your posts you describe the assault on Christians from Jewish controlled media, corporations, etc. While I’m in agreement that one can objectively ascertain that the vast majority of this “smut” is indeed the product of Jewish organizations, I have to ask however: Is the Jewish controlled media the root cause of this corruption, or is their an existing foundation that would explain the resulting grotesque products of said Jewish establishments?
Again, concerning the attack on Christianity that you mention often, and using historical reference as the objective grounds for the following question: What was the fundamental cause of first, second and third century Christian persecution known for its extreme inhumane brutality? Was it anti-Christian Roman culture which bred the vary hate that led Roman historian Tacitus to proclaim that Christians “are hated for their abominations” [2] or did a principal factor exist which in turn resulted in Nero’s “refined cruelty” [2] towards the Christian faith? Furthermore, since you bring up the Christian religion in many of your posts, what was the Christian response towards the atrocities of being burnt alive, torn by wild dogs and beheaded for their faith? [2] Anthenagoras of Athens, a first century Christian and philosopher writes in response to Roman injustice against Christians:
for we have learned, not only not to return blow for blow, nor to go to law with those who plunder and rob us, but to those who smite us on one side of the face to offer the other side also, and to those who take away our coat to give likewise our cloak…those who, like us, pray for your government, that you may, as is most equitable, receive the kingdom, son from father, and that your empire may receive increase and addition, all men becoming subject to your sway [3]
Should Anthenagora have instead written scathing political letters against the Roman Empire while using Christianity as an afterthought to his reasoning?
Going back to the subject of Zionism, and in reply to your usage of Christianity, is the basis of Zionism (and every other deplorable thing) simply sin? Is it not sin that leads these Zionist you mention to produce pornography and support homosexuality? Is it not sin that causes people (gentile and Jew alike) to fall into the snares of pornography and homosexuality? Is it not sin that leads a person to believe that blowing up “infidels” will result in glory? Is it not sin that leads a nation against other nations purely out of an act of greed while “pimping” the Christian religion? Is it not sin that controls the misconstrued, perverted reasoning of groups like the ACLU or ADL?
In closing, please understand that I’m not preaching or trying to be “holier than thou”, I’m simply replying to your blog as a Christian, since you mention Christianity in many of your articles. Fortunately, from a Christian perspective, it easy to see the cause of the issues you write about. It is so very simple in its reasoning, yet so logically complete. It is sin. To blame Zionism, for example, as the leading cause of the United States’ problems, my response could simply be, “its not Zionism, its Islamic radicals”, or its not the “Jewish control of a society…” [1], its George Bush’s presidency. One could provide almost infinite arguments from all sides of the political spectrum. The problem logically, is the causality dilemma that occurs when searching for political causes (i.e., Zionism) of the world’s problems, simply due to the fact that there exists, no correct answer. After all “which came first, the chicken or the egg.” No matter how hard one searches, there is no political process, there is no political “truth” [1] or political ideologies or political knowledge that will save this country, much less all of mankind. What is your answer to the salvation of this nation? Awareness of Zionism?! And then what?! The United States magically transforms into a conservative, Anglo-Saxon, Christian utopia free of Jewish rule?! History certainly tells of a different story, simply look at ancient Rome or modern day China for the unjust treatment of Christians! The irony is that you skip around or barely touch on the only Truth (redemption through Jesus Christ) that actually exits while dwelling on issues that are of relative unimportance. Keep in mind that I’m not discounting the importance of political science or other secular studies, I enjoy and have studied them quite thoroughly myself. I am, however, approaching from a Christian intellectual point of view, since, as I have stated numerous times, you mention Christianity throughout many of your articles, which now brings me to my conclusion. Since you agree with and cite Christianity throughout your blogs, and since the root cause, beginning with the Fall, of all of life’s problems from a Biblical standpoint, is sin, wouldn’t that make the only logical truth that we need to “get”, [1] redemption through Christ which therefore is the only rational answer to the problem of Zionism (sin)?
Sources:
[1] http://zionistwatch.blogspot.com/2007/03/do-you-get-it-yet.html [2] Gonzalez, J. The Story of Christianity. P. 27[3] http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/athenagoras-plea.html
[2] Gonzalez, J. The Story of Christianity. P. 27[3] http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/athenagoras-plea.html
[3] http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/athenagoras-plea.html
Jack,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful, but somewhat myopic feedback. I appreciate the time it took you to issue forth a response, though not as specific of a response as I would have liked, to the ideas, assertions and polemical exercises that constitute my humble and unassuming little blogspot entitled Zionist Watch. I sincerely hope that this discourse and dialogue continues in the future, and that we are able to discuss these matters in a spirited, but civil and mutually respectful manner. I want my writing to be iconoclastic and thought-provoking, but I am certainly capable of engaging and conversing with both critics and friends alike. Intellectual queries, questions and even criticisms and friendly attacks are all welcomed here, and are what make Western civilization the smashing success it has been for so many centuries. The pursuit or declaration of truth is a rigorous and unending quest which historically has always ruffled a few feathers.
But enough of my verbal indulgences. Let’s get to the crux of the matter here. You begin your retort to my website (and I do wish you had addressed some of my op-ed pieces a little more specifically, though that never seems to be your intent) by conceding many of my points, and I must say, how could you do otherwise? You know as well as any politically right-leaning Christian out there that the charges I make against organized Jewry in America and indeed in most European nations are essentially beyond dispute. You state clearly that “I’m in agreement that one can objectively ascertain that the vast majority of this ‘smut’ is indeed the product of Jewish organizations.” But of course, Jack. It is here that we have no argument, for you as a thinking American, are surely as chagrined and appalled by the unending flood of perversion, anti-Americanism and anti-Christian hate coming from Jewish entertainment, media and political groups, as I am. But this is where our agreement seems to end, and this is also the place where you lapse into an argumentative style based on self-righteous truisms that no honest Christian could disagree with, but which could also be utilized as “stock answers” for any issue of political or public moment. Though I don’t fault some of your points, they do at times seem contrived, pat and self-indulgent. This is not a shot against you personally, for like you, I too come from a Christian milieu. But I must say with all honesty that your critique of my work is a perfect case study on the fallacies of non sequitur.
Non sequitur -
1. An inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premises or evidence.
“That’s too harsh!” you might protest with indignation, and that is certainly your right as a participant in this hearty little back and forth. But to do so misses my point completely. You address me in your first paragraph in an almost ominous tone, as if you have been informed of some unique knowledge from the Almighty that the rest of us have somehow missed. “Is Zionism the problem, the ‘bottom-line’ if you will, that we must ‘get’ [1] or is Zionism, and it’s attack on the true conservative foundation of America the net result of an underlying factor that one must first consider?” And yet despite the provocative nature of this opening little paragraph teaser, and all the promise that it holds, you add nothing unique to this debate. As Shakespeare penned so ingeniously in Macbeth “It is a tale … full of sound and fury; signifying nothing.” I would tweak the aforementioned quote and say “It is a response … full of sound and fury; signifying nothing original.”
What do I mean? Well, let me give you an example of your reductionist attempts to either neutralize the entire debate over Zionism, or barring that, to somehow place yourself above it with pious platitudes and truisms. Here is one such entry: “Going back to the subject of Zionism, and in reply to your usage of Christianity, is the basis of Zionism (and every other deplorable thing) simply sin? Is it not sin that leads these Zionist you mention to produce pornography and support homosexuality? Is it not sin that causes people (gentile and Jew alike) to fall into the snares of pornography and homosexuality? Is it not sin that leads a person to believe that blowing up ‘infidels’ will result in glory? Is it not sin that leads a nation against other nations purely out of an act of greed while ‘pimping’ the Christian religion? Is it not sin that controls the misconstrued, perverted reasoning of groups like the ACLU or ADL?”
Hmmm, not exactly the discovery of the age, is it? You are surely correct that it is sin which causes these things and any other type of degenerative or soul-destroying behavior. This is a basic tenet of Scripture. But what exactly does this have to do with the merits or demerits of the points I make at Zionist Watch? How does this even begin to serve as adequate criticism of the approach I have taken in confronting and exposing radical Zionism and Jewish supremacist subversion in America? We are all acutely aware that ‘sin is in’ in our society, but you would have to concede that this is true of every society. Again, not exactly the discovery of the age, and obviously not anything as profound and revelatory as you seem to insinuate with the weighty prose you wield to address this obvious fact of reality.
But I suspect that there is a deeper and more profound reason for the types of obfuscation you engage in than a concern about sin. I suspect that you would not employ this obviously disingenuous debating style if the title of my website was ‘Jihad Watch’ or ‘Islam Watch’, would you? You would surmise, and quite accurately surmise, that the only way to fight radical Islamist radicals was to use American intelligence, American know-how and even American military if necessary to stop their attacks upon this nation. You would support closing our borders to the threat of Middle Eastern terror and barring that, you would at least want the FBI to keep a watchful eye on mosques which were suspected of supporting extremist elements in the Islamic religion. You wouldn’t write a piece telling me that all we need to do is somehow convert these wild-eyed radicals to Christ, would you? You wouldn’t say that we need to ignore Muslim terror, take no action against their attacks against us and instead focus on all “sin.” But that is essentially what you have done with the Jewish issue. You want to cover up their obvious sins under the rubric of “sin” on a grandiose and universal scale. That’s intellectually dishonest, though I don’t charge that it is an intentional dishonesty on your part. But you don’t seem capable of taking the blinders off.
But I don’t entirely blame you either, Jack. You, like most Judaized, Zionized American Christians, have been taught to have a reverential, almost worshipful tone when discussing Jews. You have been taught by fundamentalist ministers, many of them well-intentioned men, to be uncritical, indeed fearfully uncritical, when the subject turns to the “Chosen” or the “Chosen’s” activities. You have been brainwashed into believing that the Bible teaches you to never rebuke anti-Christ Jews and their evil works, but the Bible teaches us nothing of the sort. The Bible shows us a radical Christ who prayed “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” This was obviously a swipe at the rampant and heartless usury of the Pharisees.
Many of Christ’s other parables convey the same message. And who can forget the big “anti-Semitic” fit he threw when he charged into the temple, overturned the moneychangers’ tables and stated “My house shall be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.” Luke 19:45-46. This is only one of countless occasions where Jesus thundered against the Jewish supremacists of His day for their arrogance and greed, or for their racism against the Samaritans or their self-righteous view of themselves as holy and chosen and special. Christ had more charity toward prostitutes and drunkards and sundry other sinners than He ever had for the evil Jewish leadership of His time, and whose lineage of hatred for His words continues to this very day. Are Christians not supposed to follow His perfect example? To do so would mean that they too need to stand against the Jewish elite who have become a “stumbling block.” This was the common view of most ministers throughout history, starting with Martin Luther. This view persisted until about 40 or 50 years ago. Not coincidentally, this was about the time when Jews gained almost total control over America’s media.
What you would never keep silent about were it committed by Islam, abortion clinic bombers, black racist demagogues or what have you, you are all too ready to sweep under the rug if the always innocent, always persecuted “Tribe” is involved. Or at the very least you are ready to cast suspicion on those, like myself, who are concerned mainly about criminality and violations of religious rights being perpetrated on Christians and others by extremist (not all) Jews. It would be akin to a man coming to burn down your church and you insisting that instead of calling the police to nab the arsonist that everyone should try to witness to him as he poured the gasoline.
Edmund Burke said that “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” I guess that only applies if it is anybody but Jews trying to steal our constitutional and religious freedoms. Yeah, it’s a “touchy” subject for you. It’s a touchy subject for a lot of people. You talk about China and its persecution of Christians. I don’t know about you, sir, but I don’t want to live in China. I don’t want to live in a place like Canada where the Canadian Jewish Congress has shoved through hate crimes legislation over the years which have resulted in the fining or jailing of ministers or clergy who speak out against homosexual sin or Jewish misbehavior. Right this very moment, as you are reading this reply, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith is lobbying in the Congress and Senate to pass a hate speech bill which would effectively silence all their critics, starting first with Christians and their “anti-Semitic” New Testament. I suppose since they are Jewish and not Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist, nothing should be said or done about it. It shouldn’t be fought on Constitutional grounds, because, gee whiz, after all it’s just sin and all of us are guilty.
If this is what you are saying, and occasionally I have trouble deciphering whether you are just uncomfortable with my strident tone, or you think that no criticism of world Jewry is ever warranted, then you would basically have to oppose every political movement in history that was guided by Christians and biblical principles, for instance, the anti-slavery movement in the United States and England, or the early suffragettes, who were all Bible-believing, conservative, pro-life women and stood in stark contrast to today’s Jewish-run radical pro-abortion feminist vanguard.
Thankfully, many Christians disagree with your “stand-offish” approach to everything Jewish. Conservative Christian ministers like the Reverend Ted Pike and others are speaking out against the evil Jewish leadership in this country, while at the same time showing the compassion of Christ by witnessing the Gospel to Jewish people. We can do both, you know. But to wish godspeed to Talmudic Judaism, its nefarious network of crime and the terrorist state of Israel that is engaging in an absolute genocide against Palestinians (and read the statements of almost every Israeli prime minister if you don’t believe this fact), is in a word, sin. It is a monumental mistake for Christians and it destroys our witness. Christianity and Zionism are like oil and water. They don’t mix. Bringing them together in some sort of well-financed hackneyed alliance only delivers a death knell to the Gospel message. It is one of countless reasons why Christians are rapidly losing their credibility in the US.
But still you rail on with passages like “No matter how hard one searches, there is no political process, there is no political “truth” [1] or political ideologies or political knowledge that will save this country, much less all of mankind. What is your answer to the salvation of this nation? Awareness of Zionism?! And then what?! The United States magically transforms into a conservative, Anglo-Saxon, Christian utopia free of Jewish rule?!”
Sir, I have never stated anywhere or at any time that the elimination of Jewish or Zionist control of America would result in “a conservative, Anglo-Saxon, Christian utopia.” To infer such an idea indicates that perhaps you are reading things into my work which are not there or that you are simply projecting. You seem to transform into a utopian the minute Jews or Zionism are brought up. Pardon me for not being optimistic about your proposed solutions. To believe that those Jews who hate Jesus Christ, His inclusive teachings of forgiveness and love and who do everything in their power to destroy His holy name in our society, in addition to ripping crosses off of war memorials, banishing any Christian prayers from public schools, making Hollywood films showing His followers as lunatics, criminals, or psychotically insane people, are suddenly going to be open to receiving Him into their hearts, is, to put it mildly, naïve.
I don’t want “a conservative, Anglo-Saxon, Christian utopia” as you word it. I simply want a country where we are masters in our own house and where the values of our Founders are somewhat reflected in our institutions, in our media and in our government. Utopia on earth is not possible apart from the return of our Savior to this planet. I want what every people want. I simply don’t want to be controlled by a foreign entity or a foreign nation (Israel) or by a group with alien values that clash with the traditions this nation was founded on. Not desiring Jewish control of my country is not about hating Jews. It’s about loving freedom and liberty and it is precisely what our forebears strived and bled and died for when they fought against a colonialist power during the Revolutionary War. They fought in order that we wouldn’t be controlled by anyone else. That is all I want, and it is what most Americans want. It doesn’t make a people anti-Semitic to chafe under Jewish domination of both their foreign and domestic affairs, and to desire to remove that parasitic power from atop their collective backs. We have a boot on our throats, figuratively and sometimes literally. You have to see that or you wouldn’t even be reading my work.
But you persist in faulty and literally false allegations when you state “The irony is that you skip around or barely touch on the only Truth (redemption through Jesus Christ) that actually exists while dwelling on issues that are of relative unimportance.” Let me point out a few incorrect factual and logical leaps you make.
First, I have “touch”ed on “the only Truth” in my work. Here is one such excerpt from my most recent article Deconstructing the Jews. “Jews, however, like all peoples, are free to accept the salvation offered by God’s Son, Jesus, given as a gift to the repentant sinner, bought and paid for by His death on the cross and His resurrection on the third day.” Doesn’t get more crystal clear than that, does it, Jack? That in a single sentence, explains the entire Gospel message to the reader, doesn’t it? If you would read my writings more carefully, you would see this. I don’t know if you are just skimming my work or perhaps reading your own prejudices into it, and I won’t pretend to presume either.
Secondly, you are using flawed reasoning and applying it selectively to my site because it suits your purposes. Your purposes seem to be twofold.
1. To protect your own innate and Pavlovian pre-conditioning of avoiding any negative discussion of Jews, Jewish behavior or misbehavior or anything other than glowing praise and adoration inculcated in your psyche by a lifetime of fundamentalist brainwashing.
2. To place yourself as somehow “above” the discussion (though I don’t think you do it intentionally) with supposedly high-minded bromides against sin of a very generalized variety, so as to again avoid discussion of an uncomfortable and taboo topic.
Thirdly, your flawed reasoning is obvious. It’s quite simple. You set up a goal or purpose - i.e. pointing people towards Jesus Christ - and apply it at random to whatever object you choose to relate it to. Think about it this way. Let’s just imagine you were a business major and you are taking an economics class. The fact that you chastise my blogspot for not being evangelistic enough would be like me walking up to your economics professor and saying “Why do you talk so much about economists like John Maynard Keynes and Adam Smith and John Kenneth Galbraith? Why aren’t you telling your students about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and urging them to accept Christ as their Savior?” The economics professor would probably look at me like I had lost it and say “Well this is an economics class. We don’t delve into religion here, Christianity or otherwise.”
Here’s another example for you, Jack. Let’s just propose that you join the Republican Party as a recruiter for the Young Republicans. You then proceed to go into neighborhoods, door to door and witness to people the truth of Jesus Christ and the salvation found through faith in Him and lead several people to Christ. Later you come back to your local Republican Party headquarters and they ask you how many new Republicans you have registered for the party. You retort “I didn’t make any new Republicans, but I told a lot of people about Jesus.” I don’t have to tell you that you probably wouldn’t have your job for too long after that.
There is one simple rule you need to remember. It is an elementary tool of reasoning that will assist you in every area of life and I am probably not the first person to say it. Everything fails by irrelevant standards. Let me say it again in different words. Everything in life will fail the test when you apply irrelevant standards to it. It would be like saying “My cook book doesn’t really teach a moral lesson.” It’s not supposed to teach you anything but how to concoct tasty dishes. It’s like complaining to a mechanic that he hasn’t brushed up on the finer points of the Hippocratic Oath or Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. It’s irrelevant.
Zionist Watch is a political website. http://townhall.com/ is a political website, though much bigger and better financed. You wouldn’t proceed to Town Hall and chastise them for their indifference to spreading the Gospel message, would you? Of course you wouldn’t. So why do you insist on applying “irrelevant standards” to a political site devoted to Zionism which you would never apply to a political site devoted to any other topic of interest? I think the answer is obvious. You are so discomfited by its subject matter. You are disconcerted by uncomfortable truths that you wish to avoid dealing with or thinking about. Zionist Watch, though written by a Christian, is not a virtual online church, a Christian apologetics resource or a religious not-for-profit organization. There are many fine outlets for those subjects, but this is not one of them.
In closing, Jack, I would like to thank you for your feedback and input and I do hope to hear from you again. If you feel at all insulted by my response, please know that this was never my intention. I only wish to explain myself, to give a reason for writing the things that I write and perhaps clear up any confusion that might arise in the minds of the modest number of readers who frequent this site. I will continue, without apology, to expose the truth about the world’s most virulent supremacism and its threat to the entire world. As Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer boldly stated “Here I stand. I can do no other.” May we all be unafraid to stand for what is right, noble and good.