Stephen Sizer Goes Down Under

From the man who gave us this, screenshot by yours truly

This:

Yes, our old friend the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, CEO of Peacemaker Mediators, so-called, will come amongst his antipodean faithful at last.

Balmain Uniting Church would appear to be a typical leftist-hijacked Protestant church of which there are many like examples  in the English-speaking world.  The Uniting Church in Australia (an amalgam of Methodists and Presbyerians, but not all Presbyterians) has long been known for its antipathy to Israel.

I'll follow these developments with interest!

You'll notice that enquiries are to be addressed to Father Dave (pictured last year)

of the Anglican Holy Trinity Church in Sydney's Dulwich Hill, who's on record as declaring:

 "Al Quds Day is a day when God brings us together ... an intrinsically religious event"

I've featured him on my blog before, for example here and here

Meanwhile, as the scholar Raymond Ibrahim has observed repeatedly, the plight of Islam-persecuted Christians in the Middle East goes almost totally ignored.

Funny (Funny peculiar not Funny Ha Ha) that innit.

Oh, and speaking of Sizer, see page 56 of David Collier's stupendous research report here (Hat tip: J)

Watfa Heck, Stephen Sizer?

Our old friend the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, nowadays  CEO of the Israel-bashing Peacemaker Mediators "charity", has been attending a Christian conference in Hong Kong on the theme of "Love Thy Neighbour".

According to the conference's blurb:

"This year’s conference theme is ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ and there is no more relevant time in history than right now to take a fresh look at Jesus' timeless truth. With social, political, racial, and economic issues at stake, we need to be reminded that Mark 12:30-31 is still our greatest call to Worship and Justice.

Across 2 full days, 6 main sessions, 24 workshops, and 8 different workshop streams, we will open up a conversation on the prophetic call we carry to reach out toward the other in compassion, justice, and love.

During the conference we will hear from international justice voices and practitioners in Asia who will explore practically what it might look like to love our neighbours as radically as Jesus did."

Our old friend gave his talk as foreshadowed in his comment beneath the image at right; it can be read on his website.

To quote him here (I've added the links; do please follow the one to Holy Land Trust to get the lowdown on its hostility to Israel and support for BDS):

'I led a workshop on Christian Jihad, the Biblical Basis for Proactive Peacemaking.

Sami Awad of the Holy Land Trust and Peacemaker Mediators Board of Reference member spoke on “Practicing peace in hostile surroundings. Other speakers included Jackie Pullinger, Eugene Cho and Craig Greenfield.'

Sizer has in the past worked strenuously to turn Christian populations in South-East Asia against Christian Zionism.

Sizer during his Hong Kong spiel; squint at the backdrop

For example through translations of his works, so it would not be surprising to learn that he carried on his anti-Israel proselytism while attending the conference.

I believe, incidentally, that the Beijing authorities rejected his application for a visa to China, probably owing to their crackdown on Christians.

As CEO of Peacemaker Mediators Sizer is no less peripatetic than he was as the spiritual leader of Christ Church, Virginia Water.  (It seems he'll be coming to the Antipodes next March.)

Nice work if you can get it, as one of his followers pointed out the other day, with a query to which the vaguest of responses was forthcoming:

More recent smears against Israel include this casual suggestion of racism:

All nations have the right and obligation to decide their own immigration policies, vicar.  How many asylum seekers has your seemingly beloved Iran taken in?

Surely you have read the Book of Job, being a clergyman.  Recall this verse?

“I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him that I did not know” (Job 29:15-17).

Not a word there about the blind, lame, poor or disadvantaged having to be Jewish to qualify for Jewish kindness.

And in the same vein the modern state of Israel performs humanitarian acts large-scale and small to countries and peoples the world over, including citizens of "enemy" nations such as Syria.  Remember when Israel offered aid to your seemingly beloved Iran following an earthquake in 2003?  And the mad mullahs, preferring to let their citizens suffer rather than be aided by the Zionist Entity,  turned the offer down?

Meanwhile, the Corbynista Sizer's anti-Israel activism proceeds apace:

And as seen here he continues his requited love affair with the Iranian regime's propagandistic satellite channel Press TV:

Watfa heck, vicar?

Surely you have missed David Collier's revelations about Inminds' Sandra here

I mean, you and your Peacemakers Mediators chums don't want to have anything to do with persons who post memes like this one (see Collier's post for more).

Or do you?

(Meanwhile:

Sick?  Oh, I wouldn't say that...  Just a tad fourth form ...)

A Wolf in Peacemaker's Clothing, eh, ex-Vicar? (plus videos)

Only a few days now to the launch (6 May, at Christ Church, Virginia Water) of Stephen Sizer's so-called Peacemaker Mediators, with himself as head honcho and at least one of the persons featured in this photo as a member of the International Board of Reference (whatever that means in practice!):

In the countdown to the launch  of the new venture, our old friend the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, now ensconced in Southampton, has thrilled his faithful by bursting onto social media with this meme.

Pretty words, granted.

But actions are more eloquent than words, and NGO Monitor has the following about Sami Awad, the quotation-provider in question, who is founder and executive director of the Holy Land Trust (HLT).

The HLT, it warns,

Conducts highly politicized tours of Israel and the West Bank promoting the Palestinian narrative and targeting church leaders and the international community, claiming to provide “cross cultural and experimental learning opportunities in both Palestine and Israel.” Suggests that its participants “limit information” given to Israeli airport security and hide the reason for their visits.

HLT runs an annual summer program “Palestine Summer Encounter.” Participants have met with representatives from politicized NGOs like Breaking the Silence, BADIL, and Grassroots Jerusalem.

 Sami Awad  ... has stated that non-violent demonstrations are “not a substitute for the armed struggle.”

Beginning in 2010, HLT, alongside Bethlehem Bible College, has organized the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference (CATC), a bi-annual event held in Bethlehem.

 CATC seeks to advance the Palestinian nationalist agenda within Evangelical Christian churches.

When it comes to demonisation of Israel Sami Awad has form.  His organisation

 Accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and signed an “Urgent call to action” during the 2014 Gaza conflict accusing Egypt of “complicity in Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza.”

 In 2014, Sami Awad joined the “Ads Against Apartheid” campaign, which created billboards displaying to “Americans the devastating human rights abuses by the Israeli military and government against the Palestinian people. When these ads go national in the United States, Americans will start to understand the depth of the suffering Palestinians have endured under the Israeli military occupation.”

In 2013, HLT sponsored a festival in London called “Bethlehem Unwrapped,” featuring “a comedy show called “Stand Up Against the Wall,” a “Bethlehem Christmas dinner,” and a debate titled “Both sides of the Barrier – Separation or Security?” that featured Jeff Halper, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House DemolitionsThe main purpose of the barrier — to protect Israelis from suicide bombings — was erased. The festival was co-sponsored by charities that have exploited the language of morality and human rights to attack Israel for many years, including Amos Trust, Interpal, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)-UK, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, and War on Want.

 In 2013, Sami Awad published demonizing rhetoric in Amos Trust’s Bethlehem Packet stating “No matter where you stand in Bethlehem, you can see the effects of the cold grip of this brutal and humiliating occupation.”

Awad has also minimized Israel’s legitimate security needs as a “manipulation” of the fear of another Holocaust. In a speech given at the “Christ at the Checkpoint” Conference in 2010, Awad stated that “the [Israeli] soldier now, who’s gone through that trauma experience [of visiting Auschwitz] now is trained in this weaponry all of a sudden is also put at a checkpoint inside the West Bank, between Palestinian areas.”

 In 2011, HLT produced a film called “Little Town of Bethlehem,” a 77-minute documentary that tells the story “of three men of three different faiths and their lives in Israel and Palestine. The story explores each man’s choice of nonviolent action amidst a culture of overwhelming violence.” Using a façade of multiple viewpoints, however, the film actually presents a single narrative of Palestinian victimization and Israeli violence.

 Speaking at the National Leadership Conference for the Vineyard Church in 2009, Awad told the audience: “We’ve actually done training in non-violence for Hamas leaders and other militant groups as well” (at 01:20:27 in the audio). Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department and the EU. Further, the US Supreme Court upheld a law criminalizing material support for terror organizations. (Holder, Attorney General, et al. v. Humanitarian Law Project et al. 2010.) The law defines “material support” as including “any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including… training, expert advice or assistance…” (See above for details of US government funding of HLT.)

A BDSer?  You betcha!  The HLT

Supports anti-Israel BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions), including signing a petition in May 2005 calling for the academic boycott of Israel.Signatory to the 2005 “Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS,” which calls for an end to Israel’s “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands” and promotes a right of “Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties. HLT also supports the Kairos Palestine document.

The Kairos Palestine document calls for BDS against Israel, denies the Jewish historical connection to Israel in theological terms, and blames Israel solely for the continuation of the conflict. It also characterizes terrorist acts of “armed resistance” as “Palestinian legal resistance.”

Its purpose is to rally churches globally to support BDS, delegitimization, and demonization directed at the State of Israel.

Partners with Amos Trust, Nonviolence International, Interfaith Peace-Builders, and Peacemaker Gemeinschaft.

 HLT is a member of Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), which in contrast to ALLMEP’s stated goals of working toward “peace” and “coexistence,” its members include a number of highly biased and politicized NGOs that promote agendas based solely on the Palestinian narrative of victimization and completely omit Israeli perspectives. Members include: Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF), Combatants for Peace, OneVoice International, Sikkuy, Women Wage Peace, and others.

For the full information, with links, see here

Incidentally, if you haven't seen David Collier's recent footage of anti-Israel ferals outside SOAS protesting Mark Regev's appearance there, do have a look (first video below).  Much of the footage is sickening, but there are delicious moments, as when London music teacher Deborah Fink is caught passing off non-Jews as Jewish opponents of the Jewish State.  Also featured: soprano Ms Fink's embarrassed warbling, a gay Israel-hater reacting asked how many gay bars there are in Gaza, and an outspoken black antisemite:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_dVMAjtews

This lady is prone to lend her soprano tones to demonising Israel, I'm afraid. Here's a particularly infamous instance of her minstrelsy:

More anti-Israel clowns outside SOAS:

A Parson Without Honour: Stephen Sizer Suspended

It seems that our old friend the Vicar of Virginia Water has been prescribed a rest cure by his diocesan overlord prior to taking leave of his pulpit and his parishioners on Easter Sunday.

Readers will recall that following Sizer's infamous Facebook post regarding Israel and the 9/11 atrocities he undertook, in the words of his superior Andrew Watson, Bishop of Guildford:

"to refrain, with no exceptions, from attendance at or participation in any conferences which promote or are linked to this agenda; from all writing, tweeting, blogging, emailing, preaching and teaching on these themes, whether formally or informally – a prohibition which of course includes posting links to other sites; and from all background work in this area which may resource others to act as spokespeople in Stephen’s stead.

"Should Stephen be deemed by the Diocese to have broken this agreement, in letter or in spirit, he has pledged to offer me his immediate resignation, which I will duly accept. He has also agreed to desist from the use of social media entirely for the next six months, after which he and I will review that prohibition.

It is fair to say that Stephen seems relieved to be working within this clear new framework, and would now like to redirect his energies into his work as a parish priest...."

By the president of the Board of Deputies

As we now know, Sizer has been redirecting his energies into "Peacemaker Mediators" as I revealed here.

To quote John Bevan on the well-known British blog Harry's Place:

'....[B]etween 28 February and 6 March 2017, Rev Sizer  – in four separate ways – broke his February 2015 undertaking not to write or speak “on any theme that relates, either directly or indirectly, to the current situation in the Middle East or to its historical backdrop”. He did this by linking to two other sites; by preaching on a theme directly related to the current situation in the Middle East; and by then linking to that sermon.

It would seem that Rev Sizer is trying to get away with breaching his February 2015 undertaking. He appears to have calculated that his Bishop won’t now go to the fuss of requiring him to resign, since he will be retiring on 16 April anyway. Yet the Bishop of Guildford’s November 2016 statement was (and remains) clear and unequivocal: the undertaking is to run until the end of Rev Sizer’s tenure of office; and any further breaches will result in that tenure ending with immediate effect.What happens next could be very significant.

No decent person – and certainly no Christian – should want anything to do with “Peacemaker Mediators”, a charity whose CEO will be Stephen Sizer and whose International Board of Reference will include Jenny Tonge. Yet if his Bishop now takes no action, Rev Sizer will retire after Easter, like the soldier who is discharged with honour. He will then, no doubt, trade on that relentlessly in his fundraising and future work. Yet if the Bishop upholds the twice-stated agreement, Dr Sizer will be forced to resign his parish ministry prematurely and with dishonour. This would have well-deserved negative effects on his future activities.

And so Bishop Andrew Watson once again faces a challenge. Will he now act on his strong and unequivocal warning of last November? Or will he meekly retract it, now the time has come for enforcement? Let’s hope he has the courage to do the right thing.' [Emphasis added]

And to quote a new statement (10 March) by the Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson:

“I have become aware that Dr Stephen Sizer has again contravened the agreement he made in February 2015 just five weeks before his planned retirement on Easter Sunday, 16 April 2017. Needless to say I am very disappointed by Dr Sizer’s actions.

“Dr Sizer admits that material shared on his Facebook page in the past two weeks has breached our agreement, and so I have required him to cease all preaching, teaching and leading of services with immediate effect. He will also desist from all use of social media until his retirement takes effect. 

“To allow the parish of Virginia Water to say a proper goodbye, I have conceded that Dr Sizer leads ministry over the Easter weekend.”  [Emphasis added]

(I notice, incidentally, that Sizer's sermon concerning the Temple, which I mentioned here and which was one of the factors in the bishop's decision to suspend Sizer, is present in video format on the Christ Church Virginia Water website.)

As a commenter on John Bevan's article remarks, "Sacking Church of England ministers is really very difficult. I wouldn't envy the Bishop trying to get him dismissed in the few weeks he (Sizer) has got left in post."

But as Mr Bevan observes, "No decent person – and certainly no Christian – should want anything to do with “Peacemaker Mediators”, a charity whose CEO will be Stephen Sizer and whose International Board of Reference will include Jenny Tonge."

To read click here

Will the launch of "Peacemaker Mediators" take place at Christ Church as planned, I wonder, or in view of Sizer's latest breach of faith will the bishop order him to find another venue?

Sadly, Sizer, in breaking his agreement, has given Bishop Watson the proverbial "two-fingered salute".   More sadly still, this latest suspension, though morally justified, is only likely to make Sizer more popular in the eyes of the Israel-haters who have jumped on his bandwagon.

I can just imagine the grin on the turbulent priest's face.

Sequel here

Itching for the Itchen, Vicar?

Image: media_camera

Our old friend the Vicar of Virginia Water's new outfit, Peacemaker Mediators, has apparently changed its registration address.

No longer, it seems, is it headquartered in Windsor but in a part of Southampton that fronts the River Itchen.

Woolston, to be precise.

That our old friend is itching to swap his pulpit for the new venture by the Itchen is suggested in a sermon of his that he has linked to on Facebook.

Although by agreement with his diocesan overlord, the Bishop of Guildford, he's supposed to desist from referring to the Middle East until he relinquishes his pulpit (on Easter Sunday) or immediately resign, there's a reference there to the contemporary situation, as well as an overt plug for Peacemaker Mediators (which the vicar is plugging separately on social media now):

"[T]he most valuable piece of real estate in the world, is the Haram al Sharif, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The site on which Abraham offered Isaac, on which Solomon and Herod built their temples. The Temple Mount is sacred to 16 million Jews as well as 1.6 billion Muslims, and of interest to 2.2 billion Christians.... Were it for sale, there would be no problem getting a deposit Orthodox Jews pray 3 times a day that the Temple will be rebuilt in their life time.

More ME. The vicar shares a video.

Many Fundamentalists are dedicated to destroying the Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock to achieve it. And millions of Bible-believing Christians are convinced it must happen for Jesus to return....  [T]hose who advocate the rebuilding of the Temple are regressing into a pre-Christian sacrificial system, superseded, made redundant and annulled by the finished work of Jesus Christ....

What are the implications? What was the Temple intended for? What is the Church intended to be? Open or closed? Inclusive or exclusive? The Temple was the place of mediation. It still is! And what are we called to be? Mediators. What is our primary ministry as a church? Peacemaking. That is why we are launching a new charity, Peacemaker Mediators, on Saturday 6th May here at Christ Church. This is your invitation...."

 Wouldst that the likes of David Collier might be there, to report the details of the launch!