What they’ll do to you if they think you’re Jewish
As distressed as you might be by the many antisemitic incidents taking place worldwide, you might want to hold off on that sigh of relief, if you’re not Jewish, because your safety is not necessarily assured.
A recent clip, forwarded to me by a British friend, sends the disturbing message that no one is immune from the fast-spreading hatred that is overtaking our planet.
Chris Wickland, a British Christian clergyman, shares the chilling true story of what happened to his own teenage son, presumed to be Jewish, simply because of his olive complexion and curly hair.
While out, riding his bike with friends, he was confronted by a group of youths who called him an expletive, followed by “Jewish scum.” At that point, they forcibly took his expensive bike, disassembled it, and burned the hoodie he had been wearing, emblazoned with the words, “Faith over Fear.”
The vicious attack didn’t just stop there. A few days later, he received a phone call, repeating the words, “Jew, Jew, Jew.”
Pastor Wickland ’s impassioned angry response: “We are living in days where we’ve given permission for evil to walk in our streets.” “For years, since October 7, when Israel was brutally and savagely attacked, we’ve had hate marches on our streets every weekend, allowed by the government, who has refused to deal with it.”
“This is why they feel emboldened, that they can attack Jews freely. It’s not just an epidemic that’s in the system of the British society.” It’s rampant in the church,” and that is, perhaps, what is most infuriating to the pastor.
Noticing that too many Christians, within those four walls, will not take a stand, he believes that the problem stems from the fact that the church has gone “Woke, liberal and politicized.”
Wickland blames Christians for their failure to call out the antisemitism. He says it’s because, for them, Israel has no relevance to anything, despite what the scriptures teach.
As he says, “there is still a third of Old-Testament prophecy which is still yet to be fulfilled, having a direct context to Israel.” Wickland, also refers to the New Testament – quoting the book of Romans, chapters 9-11 which categorically states that God has not finished with the Jewish people.
Nonetheless, Wickland says that the church has chosen to ignore what was written and, consequently, places no value on Israel whatsoever. As vexing as all this is to the clergyman, putting aside the clear Biblical teaching, Wickland is unable to fathom how any true Christian could not react to the events of October 7 by simply saying, “That was wrong!”
Why would they not stand up for justice and integrity, at the very least? But, from where he sits, all he hears is a silent church. This includes many influential Christian friends he knows, and once respected. They are writers, leaders and influencers but have also gone radio silent.
Instead, he sees more and more prayer meetings turning political, focusing on prayer for Gaza and Palestinians. Calling this a type of blindness, he says he’s never been so disappointed in the church as he is at this moment, calling it “filthy, vile and disgusting.”
But what can you do, he asks, when you live in a nation which allows antisemitism to be taught in schools, colleges and universities, resulting in the indoctrination of British children being taught to hate Jews.
This is not speculation on his part, but factual knowledge, told to him by friends who know first-hand just how bad the situation is in academia.
Sadly, anyone like Wickland, who refers to himself as pro-Jewish and pro-Zionist, is being called a Nazi. Wickland’s extremism is his belief in the Bible, which points to a Jewish homeland.
Wickland also calls out his government, favoring the protection of mosques over synagogues, designating more money to the Muslims. Unwilling to condemn terrorism on their own streets, he claims that the police force is not committed to fight against antisemitism.
For him, the two-tiered justice system is an offshoot of politicians who don’t care, and a society rife with antisemitism that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Citing the cowardice among leaders, who fail to put an end to the injustice of Jew-hatred, he looks to Christians, who he says must grow a backbone and stop being “evangellyfish,” calling it embarrassing!
Wickland warns that people who think they will not be affected, are in for a big awakening, as he believes much trouble is coming to his nation. For him, that warning hit home when his son was unjustifiably bullied for “being a Jew.”
Ending his YouTube message with a heartfelt apology for his intense anger over all that’s happening, he offers a sincere prayer for his nation, which he describes as being infested with hatred and headed for bad things,
The sobering words, spoken by a Christian vicar, are meant to shake up listeners who, perhaps, knew these things were happening but felt distanced from them since they have not been the targets of vilification.
But the attack suffered by his son, a non-Jew, is a shocking reminder that hate is fueled by ignorance as well as a malicious intent to harm people they believe are unworthy, but with no justification, other than their intense disgust and hostility for a particular group.
While no one stopped to ask the ethnicity or faith of Wickland’s son, it was irrelevant at that moment, because how he looked provided the ammunition for the attack.
What seems to be lost on many who would identify as “part of the church,” is that such an evil sickness, of that magnitude, leads to the need to expand its pool of victims, and that’s where Christians come in.
The naïve and erroneous belief that they are a protected class, by virtue of the fact that they are not Jewish, is an enormous miscalculation, leading them to a false sense of security which will swiftly come to an end. Once Jews are no more, the hate will not subside. It will seek to invade a new, unsuspecting group, and that will be “the church.”
If you’re among those who don’t think it can happen, don’t get too comfortable, because, sadly, that day is not far off!
A former Jerusalem elementary and middle-school principal who made Aliyah in 1993 and became a member of Kibbutz Reim but now lives in the center of the country with her husband. She is the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, based on the principles from the book of Proverbs - available on Amazon.
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