Posted on 12/18/2002 11:59:08 PM PST by Michael2001
For those of you who don't know the story of Chanukah, I'll give you a short summary:
The year is 300 BC and the entire world is Pagan except for the small Jewish tribes sitting in Israel. Israel is taken over by the Syrian King, Antiochus, who forces the Jews to either bow down to the Syrian Gods or be killed. In all the towns and all the cities of Israel, the good little Jews did as they were told and lined up to bow down to the Pagan Gods.
Only one Jew, Judah Maccabee, refused to bow down to the Pagan God. He slayed the Syrian soldier, and vowed that he would rather die than bow down to a false God. Judah ran to the hills with his four brothers and started a guerilla warfare against the Syrian troops. At first most of the Jews refused to join him, but eventually as he was successful, more and more joined his fight. Eventually the Jews won and kicked the Syrians out of their land, and were once again free to worship their God in peace.
As a Christian, the story of Chanukah has always been one of my favorite stories. It is the story of a man who will not be forced to bow down and do what he knows is wrong.
Fast forward 2,300 years to the United States. Muslims kill 3,000 Americans and our media and politicians are out praising Islam 24/7, while our President is attending services at a Mosque. We are told we must accept that Islam is just as good as Christianity, Allah is just the same as God, and Mohammed is just as good as Jesus Christ. If we don't, we are attacked by the PC police, who call us haters and bigots and what not.
Only a few public figures have stood up to them. Most notable of the group, IMO, is Franklin Graham. Graham is one of the few willing to stand up and say NO. No Islam is not as good as Christianity, Allah is not as good as God, and no Mohammed is not as good as Jesus Christ.
Franklin Graham will not sit and pretend that all religions are equal. He will stand up and say that the God of Christianity is in fact the one true God, and he is not the same as Allah, the God of Islam. For that he is a modern day Judah Maccabee, and I applaud him.
I also like the story of Daniel - he would not bow either!!
Not exactly accurate. Judah's father, Mattathias the Hasmonean, was the Cohen Gadol. The Hellenist Syrians felt that traditional Jewish worship was discriminatory and insufficently multi-cultural. So they issued an edict that all Jews must embrace Hellenist multicultural principles. Circumcision and kashrut were out, idolatry, intermarriage, homosexuality, pedophilia, and so on were in. Practice of "traditional" Jewish worship was made punishable by death. They replaced the Cohen Gadol with a compliant "reform" rabbi who would go along with whatever they said. Judah's father slew his replacement before he could complete his first sacrifice, and began a rebellion which lasted for several years.
Details can be found here.
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