In the West Bank & Israel, Again
by Paul Alexander

When you visit the Palestinian Territories and Israel once, you think you can write a book. When you visit the Palestinian Territories and Israel twice, you think maybe you can write an article. When you visit the Palestinian Territories and Israel three times, you realize it’s too complicated to say much at all. Having just returned, again, here’s what I think is clear.

1. Jewish cities should not be built on Palestinian land.
What we call “settlements” are thriving cities built on Palestinian land for Jewish citizens of Israel: 500,000 Jewish people live in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. This is illegal, since under international law, occupying states are forbidden to move citizens into occupied territory.

This is clear: if the state of Israel wants to build cities for its Jewish Israeli citizens it should build them in the state of Israel, not in the West Bank—especially if it’s disputed territory. Not a single additional stone should be laid for Jewish housing in East Jerusalem or the West Bank.

2. The wall is built in the wrong places.
The US is building a wall along its Mexican border. While the need for or usefulness of this wall can be disputed, its legality cannot. It’s legal because it’s being built on the internationally recognized border. The wall is not being built on Mexican land. If the US built the wall inside of Mexico then the Mexican government and people could rightfully call it “illegal” and “unjust” and question whether the motive was to keep immigrants out or to confiscate Mexican land.

The wall being built by the State of Israel is not on the internationally recognized border: 88% of it is being built in the West Bank—effectively transferring thousands of acres of land and hundreds of thousands of people to the Israeli side of the wall.

This is clear: if Israel wants to build a wall, they should build it on the Green Line, the 1949 Armistice line that is the internationally recognized border. If Israel needs help tearing down the existing (mostly illegal) wall, perhaps a troop of 5,000 grandmas could take a hummus and falafel picnic to the soldiers and the grandmas could start chipping at the wall with hammers and picks. And perhaps the rest of us could eat the wall, one very tiny bite at a time, while the soldiers eat apple pie and baklava.

3. Beyond mere existence: security for a thriving Israel
Israel does not need to militarily control the West Bank nor sell its resources in order to thrive economically and be secure. The State of Israel has one of the most powerful militaries and the 14th strongest economy in the world. Israel can and will continue to do much more than simply “exist” as a state. Israel will thrive as a state and will continue to defend its borders with superior military might. The question is not at all about Israel’s “existence.” The question is about the kind of state Israel is going to be. Will the militarily and economically strong state of Israel enact policies that allow Palestinians to thrive as well?

Existence for the state of Israel? Of course. Security for the state of Israel? Of course. Approval of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, exclusively Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and the wall not built on the Green Line? No, no, and no. Further, the state of Israel can and must build its economic strength on its own resources and through trade with the Palestinian Territories, not by exploiting natural resources that don’t belong to them.

4. Criticism of violence
Rockets are fired into southern Israel from Gaza and this should be condemned. Violence begets violence. I criticize any use of violence against the state of Israel, and I will also criticize the violence of the state of Israel against Palestinians. But criticism of rockets from Gaza should always be accompanied with criticism of the occupation and illegal West Bank settlement cities.

This is clear: The few Palestinians who do fire rockets into the state of Israel need to cease and desist, and never fire another rocket of any kind into Israel (or anywhere else).

5. Criticism of the Palestinian Authority
When the Palestinian Authority enacts policies that do not uphold human and civil rights for all, Palestinians and US citizens should speak up. We can be equal opportunity criticizers of bad government policies.

On the flip side, just as we continually acknowledge the right of the state of Israel to exist, it is critical for the US, along with the state of Israel, and Israelis, and Jews, to acknowledge the right of the state of Palestine to exist. Failing on either side to do this “de-legitimizes” the other and is therefore a serious stumbling block.

This is clear: To criticize either the Palestinian Authority or the state of Israel without criticizing the other is insufficient.

6. Weariness and hope
Structural injustice wears individuals down and out. In 2005 I marched and protested against the wall’s path and settlement expansion on confiscated Palestinian land. I’ve done it numerous times since then. I did it again last month. In most cases, the State of Israel built the wall or the settlement anyway. My body and my voice, along with thousands of others, have not been enough to stop the State of Israel from building cities and walls (and roads and other infrastructure for Israelis only) in the West Bank.

But the nonviolent movement against the occupation is growing and there are 15 or so peaceful protests happening every Friday now in the West Bank. More Palestinians are finding their voices, taking nonviolent action, and being heard and seen. More US citizens are becoming aware of the injustices that the State of Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinians. More Israelis are working to end the occupation. More Israelis are marching with Palestinians and working in support of human rights and civil rights for Palestinians. More people are realizing that it is necessary to criticize the policies of the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority and the USA and to advocate for better policies.

I am weary, but I am hopeful. Not hopeful enough to just trust that it will be better someday, but hopeful enough to believe that we should be resilient in our determination and increase our actions for justice.

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Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Justice and Peace (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2012)

Paul Alexander, Editor

“Few international issues are more urgent than a just settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And few issues divide evangelicals so severely. This is an important book where key evangelical scholars with differing views dialogue respectfully and carefully about central disagreements. The result clarifies difficult, complex issues and points the way toward a just solution.”

—Ronald J. Sider
Professor of Theology, Palmer Theological Seminary, Eastern University
President, Evangelicals for Social Action

“At a time when Evangelicalism in general, and the Charismatic movement in particular, are in danger of being absorbed by a Dispensationalist theology that legitimates the removal of Arabs from the Holy Land, this book serves as a balance and necessary corrective.  Those who believe that the Bible calls for justice for both Jews and Palestinians (and specifically our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ) will find substantial support from its writers.”

-Tony Campolo, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Eastern University

• Order it directly from Wipf & Stock now.

Contributors include: Paul Alexander, Alex Awad, Sami Awad, Darrell Bock, Gary Burge, Tony Campolo, Mae Elise Cannon, Yohanna Katanacho, Jonathan Kuttab, Manfred Kohl, Salim Munayer, and Mitri Raheb

I’ve just finished editing a book that will be coming out next spring, Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Justice and Peace (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2012). It’s a collection of many of the presentations from the Christ at the Checkpoint 2010 conference. Here’s the preface that I wrote for it.

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This book is a work of love. The Palestinian Christians who organized the conference at which these essays were presented are motivated by their love for God, their love for Israelis, and their love for their fellow Palestinians. In March 2010 the Christ at the Checkpoint conference in Bethlehem brought together evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, pastors, activists, and others in an unprecedented way to discuss the situation in Palestine and Israel. Many others from various Christian traditions have reflected on these issues, as have many from the Jewish and Muslim faiths. But Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Justice and Peace was organized and hosted by Palestinian evangelicals. The goals of the conference were and are stated as follows.

The aim of Christ at the Checkpoint is to provide an opportunity for evangelical Christians who take the Bible seriously to prayerfully seek a proper awareness of issues of peace, justice, and reconciliation. The conference will: 1) Empower and encourage the Palestinian church. 2) Expose the realities of the injustices in the Palestinian Territories and create awareness of the obstacles to reconciliation and peace. 3) Create a platform for serious engagement with Christian Zionism and an open forum for ongoing dialogue between all positions within the Evangelical theological spectrum. 4) Motivate participants to become advocates for the reconciliation work of the church in Palestine/Israel and its ramifications for the Middle East and the world.[1]

The love in the lives of these Palestinian Christians is manifest in their courage to address these issues in public. Their prayerful work for peace, justice, and reconciliation is loving work – love not only for the people in their Middle East context but also love for the world.

This book is a work of Godly Love. The study of Godly Love is an emerging interdisciplinary field devoted to examining benevolent action in the world. Godly Love is defined as

the dynamic interaction between divine and human love that enlivens and expands benevolence (see also Poloma and Hood 2008:4). This perceived interaction provides the framework for a scholarly investigation of the Great Commandment: love God and love neighbor as self. Godly Love is not a synonym for God’s love. It is rather an attempt to capture a process of interactions between an individual’s “vertical” relationship with God and “horizontal” relationships with other people in which benevolent service becomes an emergent property. This is not to suggest that all benevolent service necessarily requires a vertical dimension. But the Flame of Love Project is predicated on the assumption that God is a “significant other” (Pollner 1989:92) for at least some people and that perceived interactions with God play an important role in the nature and extent of their expression of compassionate love.[2]

Several of the organizers and presenters at the Christ at the Checkpoint conference are exemplars in a theological and social scientific study of Christians engaged in high-risk peacemaking, justice seeking, and social action.[3] These Christians certainly perceive God as a significant other who empowers them as they work for reconciliation, justice, peace, and transformation in Israel, Palestine, and beyond. I see their organization of the Christ at the Checkpoint conference as a work of Godly Love flowing through them into the world. They are followers of Christ passing through checkpoints in the West Bank, seeking to loving those who have created and who maintain the checkpoints.

Love is not always easy. Love is not sentimentality. As Sami Awad states so clearly in his presentation,

My favorite point: Engage in continuous acts of love to your oppressor. For it is not a choice we have as followers of Jesus to love the other and the enemy, but it is a commandment that we are to abide in. I will not accept any argument that says that engaging in actions of expressing God’s love to the other undermines or underestimates our goal and aspirations as Palestinians or that it makes us look as if we are weak or vulnerable. It is only in strength that you can express love.

Yohanna Katanacho’s academic presentation argues for a peaceful, rather than violent, eschatology in the Psalms and his commitment to loving enemies and peacemaking is inspiring.

I didn’t know how I could relate to the Jews. I read my Bible. Matthew says, “love your enemies” and when I was looking at that it wasn’t like multiple choice, who is my enemy? The answer was clear for me. And I didn’t know what to do. I would go in the streets and there would be Israeli soldiers stopping me and telling me, “Come and give us your ID card. We want to see it.” I would pull out my ID card and many times they would ask me to stand in a corner for one or two hours; it was humiliating. It was a way in which they provoked my anger, provoked my hatred and, and just, all the time nourished that hatred. And I go to the Bible and read again and the Spirit of God was whispering in my ears one time after the other, “Love your enemies. Love your enemies.” And eventually I gave up, I said, “Lord I can’t. I don’t know what to do. How can I love my enemy? I’m living in a context that is horrible. The hatred is being nourished all the time.” And the first thing, as if God was again whispering in my ears, God says, “Witness to them. This is the way you love them. Witness to them.” So I said okay, you know I will follow my spiritual pilgrimage. I don’t know where God is leading me but I’ll take a small step of obedience. I went to a restaurant and they had a flyer called Real Love and on the flyer was a quotation from Isaiah 53. And it was written in Hebrew as well as in English. So I decided to take that flyer, put it in my ID card, and when the soldiers ask me, “Give us your ID card,” I will pull it out and give it to them and in this way I will obey my Lord. In the sense that, you know, God said, “Witness to them.” I said, “Lord, this is what I’m doing.” So the soldiers would call me and say, “Come, give us your ID card.” I would pull my ID card, give it to them, and they would open it and say, “What is this?” And I would say, “This is how God wants me to relate to you.” I didn’t want to lie, I didn’t want to tell them this is how I feel about you because I really didn’t feel any love in my heart, but I also wanted to obey the Lord. So they would look at it and say, “Ah, this is from the Hebrew Bible.” And they would read it and then we’d have a discussion and they would let me go. Sometimes they would ask me more questions and I did that so many times to the extent that without observing my heart and mind and emotions started changing, but I didn’t pay attention. God was shaping my heart and I would walk in the same streets, seeing the same soldiers, and I would pray in my heart, “Lord, please let them stop me. Because when they stop me I can share your love with them.”[4]

Yohanna’s experience reveals one way that interactions between divine and human love can enliven and expand benevolence in the world. Rather than choosing violence or passivity, Yohanna’s experience of God’s love and leading in his own life led him to pass that love on to his enemies even in a context of oppression. This is Christ’s love at the checkpoint. The stories, theologies, and arguments in this book written by Palestinian Christians reflect perspectives of children of God who have passed through many checkpoints and who have brought much love into the world even when the opposite could reasonably be expected of them.

But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you…. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same…. But love your enemies…. (Luke 6:27-28, 32-33, 35a NASB)

This book is a work of Godly Love because the Palestinian Christians who organized this conference and commissioned this book do not just love those who love them, as so many tend to do. They also seek to live lives of love that include all of those around them.

This book is a work of justice and “justice is what love looks like in public.”[5] Justice is righteousness. Justice is holiness. Justice is right relationships with and right treatment towards other people. “Loving kindness and truth have met together; Righteousness/justice and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 85:10 NASB). Love, truth, righteousness, justice, and peace go together. Hate, lies, unrighteousness, injustice, and violence tend to go together as well. The essays in this book are concerned about what followers of Jesus ought to think and do about issues of land, economics, and politics. Scripture is replete with references to land justice, economic justice, and political justice. Social righteousness – righteousness in society – is a continual call in Torah, from the Prophets, from Jesus, and beyond. Social righteousness is needed today in Israel and Palestine, and the Christians who have written this book – including the dispensationalists – agree that working for justice in society is a call from God to which we should respond.

This book is a work of Godly Justice. The Christians who have written this book believe that God is a just God. God is a God who desires that humans practice justice. “For what does the Lord require of you? To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Where people work for justice, God is at work. Where people are less oppressed, God is at work. Where resources are divided fairly, God is at work. Where land is not stolen, God is at work. Where water is shared evenly, God is at work. Where matrices of control are dismantled, God is at work.

If we experiment with the definition of Godly Love a bit we could have an inviting definition of Godly Justice, and I submit that the work in this book aspires to embody Godly Justice in the world. “The dynamic interaction between divine and human love justice that enlivens and expands benevolence peace.” In fact, the title of the book The Love That Does Justice captures well the theological understanding of a God who desires justice and who inspires people to work for justice in loving ways.[6] The imperative to love God and love others draws us to consider what that kind of love looks likes in public, and as many of the essays in this book argue, it looks like justice.

This book is a work of peacemaking. The authors of this book do not all agree with each other on everything that is presented in this book. We are not speaking with one theological voice or one perspective on biblical studies and the land. The fact that I have edited this collection of presentations and essays does not mean that I endorse all the arguments contained herein, and there could not be one editor who could since there are contradictory positions offered. This book is a book of arguments, even arguments on different sides of these issues. But that was part of the goal of the conference, and peacemaking does not mean that we must only work with those with whom we completely agree, peacemaking is actually quite opposite from that. Peacemaking means arguing and disagreeing and working things out. This book is a work of peacemaking because it presents evangelical voices who desire justice and peace for Israelis and Palestinians, yet who do not all offer the same perspectives. There are dispensationalists and non-dispensationalists, and both the dispensationalists and non-dispensationalists do not even agree among themselves. I am not a dispensationalist and I disagree with some of the theological and biblical arguments of other non-dispensationalists in this book. Yet it is crucial that the nuances of these evangelical arguments be shared if evangelicals are to participate in peacemaking and justice seeking in the land of the Holy One.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” Sometimes my oldest daughter will tilt her head just so and shoot a cute look, and she looks just like her momma. I can see her momma in her when she acts that way. And that’s what Jesus said about peacemakers – people can see your ‘Father’ in you when you make peace, you’re acting like God when you’re a peacemaker. This book seeks to help make peace between not only Israelis and Palestinians, but between Christians who are at odds with each other on these most crucial issues. Peacemaking is not about avoiding conflict, it requires engaging in the most contentious of conflicts with patience, humility, and love.

This book is a work of Godly Peacemaking. According to most Christian theologies, God is a peacemaker. God loved the world by sending Jesus (John 3:16), and while we were still enemies Christ reconciled us (Romans 5:10). When people work for peace in difficult situations God is with them, for this is who God be – God works for peace in the midst of conflicts. People often ask, “Where is God?” I believe that God is in the work of the people who are working for peace in Palestine and Israel.

Continuing the experimentation with the definition of Godly Love leads me now to consider a definition of Godly Peacemaking, “The dynamic interaction between divine and human peacemaking that enlivens and expands _______.” What does Godly Peacemaking enliven and expand? When conflicted peoples who are in conflict listen to one another, hear one another, learn from one another and change their injurious behaviors in response to the needs of others, there can be greater justice in the world. Godly Peacemaking enlivens and expands justice.

The theme of the conference and this book is Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Justice and Peace. In conclusion, I’d like to explore some words in the title for their potential since they illumine what God is doing through this movement. For Christians, Christ is God – and God is love. It is theologically appropriate to say that Christ is love. So we could consider that Christ at the checkpoint is God at the checkpoint, Christ at the checkpoint is love at the checkpoint, Christ at the checkpoint is Godly Love at the checkpoint.

The “Checkpoint” is an intersection of Israeli fears, desires for security, and attempts to control the behavior and resources of others, with Palestinian frustrations, desires for freedom, and resistance to injustice. The checkpoint is a place of both power and disempowerment. The checkpoint is a place of competing claims and conflict. Christ at the Checkpoint is Godly Love in a place of conflict, as clearly revealed in the testimony shared by Yohanna Katanacho.

Theo-logy is God’s (theos) word (logos), the study of God, or words about God. To claim to know the way of God is audacious, yet that is what Christians claim is possible through Jesus Christ. What words we say about God and what lives we live because of God reveal our theology, and I think it is a fair claim to say that the best words about God are words that bring about justice (righteousness) and peace. And this is exactly what Godly Love looks like in a place of conflict. Godly Love – the dynamic interaction between divine and human love that enlivens and expands benevolence (justice, peace, reconciliation). Godly Justice – the dynamic interaction between divine and human justice that enlivens and expands peace. Godly Peacemaking – the dynamic interaction between divine and human peace that enlivens and expands justice. As you read Christ at the Checkpoint I invite you to attune yourself to the possibility of experiencing Godly Love in a place of conflict and hearing words about God that bring both righteousness and peace.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Pentecostals Criticize Airstrikes in Libya

Dallas, Texas, March 24, 2011 – Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice (www.pcpj.org) has issued a strong statement criticizing the war in Libya and affirming nonviolent social change.

“Airstrikes authorized by resolution of the United Nations Security Council and by allied governments of European and North American countries are presently underway in Libya. We, the leadership team of Pentecostals and Charismatics for Peace and Justice (PCPJ), write this statement fully aware that by virtue of our citizenship in the United States we are complicit in the actions of the current administration.

We are also aware of the violence the Gaddafi government continues to perpetrate against the people of Libya. However, the actions taken under authority of the Security Council and by the hands of the governments of European nations and the United States re-inscribe the colonial past and neo-colonial present these governments enacted. Therefore, we stand with those who nonviolently oppose the Gaddafi government in Libya.

We simultaneously condemn the violence, injustice, and oppression manifest by the Gaddafi government, and oppose the increased violence now manifest by the United States, French, Italian, British, and allied governments. We affirm that a true, lasting, and just peace cannot be created by violence, and we question the motives of these governments who now claim to be defending civilians.

Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa, and the ninth largest oil reserves in the world. The control of this oil will most likely shift to US and European corporations when Gaddafi is removed. We name and reject this re-inscribed colonial violence in the name of freedom in nations with vast natural resources.

In the tradition of the biblical prophets, we testify, “‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6 NRSV). As the United States executes wars in three largely Muslim countries, we strengthen our commitment to justice and peace through nonviolence throughout the whole of God’s creation, and we pray and call for a cessation of all hostilities, violence, and economic exploitation in Libya.

In the name of Jesus and the in the power of the Holy Spirit, Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice Leadership Team”

Contact:

Rev. Sam Martinez
sam@pcpj.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: (214) 341-0700

Rev. Paul Alexander, PhD
paul@pcpj.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: (484) 887-0082
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After worshiping at a Palestinian Pentecostal church in the West Bank one Sunday, I participated in this nonviolent demonstration against the wall’s destructive path.  This is part 1 of a 4 part story that shows the use of violence to repress nonviolent protests in the West Bank.  The sound grenades, or sound bombs, that were thrown at the men, women, and children in the march have caused serious bodily injury and have been lethal – yet this was the first response to this completely nonviolent demonstration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYWDJfGUkh8

Please endorse The Bethlehem Evangelical Affirmation, educate yourself and those around you, and vocally work for a just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.

I presented this at the Society for Pentecostal Studies conference March 4, 2010 in Minneapolis, as a response to Margaret Poloma’s book “The Assemblies of God: Godly Love and the Revitalization of American Pentecostalism.”

….reading your book about the denomination of my faith heritage provoked many thoughts about the roads, the paths, that the AG at the crossroads can now take, but I will focus only on four that I think will help us know if we’re going to be more or less faithful to Jesus and revitalized by the Spirit.

My context – I am a fourth generation Assembly of God kid from Kansas – my great grandparents and grandparents came into the movement in the 1930s and 40s, my parents were raised in the AG and so was I. Almost every night of my life until I was eighteen years old and left for college, my father would come into my room, kneel down next to my bed, lay his hand on me, and weep and pray for me, our family, the church, and the world. The essence of my father’s theological and practical advice for me, that he has repeated repeatedly my entire life, is “Seek Jesus.” I attended an AG college, an AG seminary, AG summer camps, went on AG mission trips, taught at an AG college for nine years, and I’m still an AG minister.

So I’m responding to Margaret’s sociological study of the AG and trying to listen to my father’s advice to “seek Jesus.”

1) Racism

Regarding the founding of AG – racism was a significant factor in the 350 white ministers leaving the Church of God in Christ to form the AG in 1914.

a. Official AG USA publications need to refer to this openly, with repentance, and with theological explanations of diversity and white privilege.

b. I was a tongue talking racist, that’s part of my testimony. I once was blind but now I see, I now see the reality of white privilege and how deeply prejudiced I was (even though I was in church multiple times a week, youth camp every summer, etc. In fact, I learned many of the racist jokes from my youth group leaders and friends), and I gain nothing from denying that. Honesty, confession, repentance, transformation – these are marks of sanctification and maturity and the AG USA would do wonderfully well to keep its historical sins front and center, and it’s reasons and strategies for addressing them and being healed from them front and center as well. The door for this has been opened by the AG statement against racism, which reads in part:

“The church calls to repentance any and all who have sinned against God by participating in racism through personal thought or action, through church and social structures, or through failure to address the evils of racism.”

“We pray for God to give us the courage to confront the sin of racism where it may be found in our lives, in our churches, in our society structure, and in our world.” We must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in actively rooting out racism and seeking the reconciliation of men and women to God and to each other.

c. Pentecostals testify, so the AG USA should share it’s testimony that it has a sinfully racist past (the origin story should be modified to reflect this), still perhaps struggles with racism and prejudice, and that it’s being delivered as it explores the intricacies of race and ethnicity as a predominantly white denomination founded primarily by white ministers who had left an interracial denomination (COGIC).

2) War – Military Service Article

a. Many of us know that the early AG, and most early Pentecostal denominations, were peace churches and took their stands as conscientious objectors or noncombatants during World War I and even during World War II. They justified this theologically, based on Jesus. They had a christocentric hermeneutic that justified their commitment to loving their enemy.

I should also mention here that “pacifism” does not mean being “passive” and does not necessitate being ‘apolitical.’ Pacifist simply means “peace maker” so laying down one’s sword and supporting nonviolent direct action to attain political goals can certainly go together – Dr. King was a Christian pacifist, but he was certainly not apolitical.

b. As many of you know the AG changed its statement in 1967 to be pro-choice, leaving killing in warfare up to the individual conscience of each Christian. There is a reference to Romans 13, warfare in the OT, but nothing about Jesus. Combatant participation in war could be justified better than the statement currently does, and I think the just war tradition/theory/criteria should be articulated.

c. Therefore, I have a concrete suggestion for the AG at this crossroad between the road of uncritical nationalism and uncritical militarism and the road of thoughtful, reflective, and engaged conversations about these challenging issues.

d. The AG should form a task force that writes well developed rationales for 1) combatant participation, employing just war tradition and written by AG folk who believe that it is justifiable for Christians to kill in warfare, 2) nonviolence, written by AG folk who believe in consistent nonviolence and who could speak theologically and pastorally about conscientious objection and noncombatant service, and 3) Just Peacemaking practices that invite both just war theorists and pacifists to work for peace and justice together to prevent war and reduce violence, which is a goal of just war theory. Just Peacemaking theory is an excellent attempt to move past the age old arguments of “it’s okay to kill” and “Christians should never kill” to working together on the things that make for peace. I recommend Glen Stassen’s book Just Peacemaking: The New Paradigm for the Ethics of War and Peace.

e. Christian explanations of all three should be present in our curriculum, ‘position statements’, on our website. This would reflect what we officially as a denomination have already affirmed with our participation in the unanimous NAE vote to adopt “For the Health of the Nation.” The NAE, of which the AG is a member, has already stated that each denomination should teach just war, pacifism, and just peacemaking.

3) Israel/Palestine

a. On page 213 Margaret points out that 11% of AG USA folk do not think that the US should support Israel over the Palestinians in the Middle East. In other words, we should support the Palestinians and the Israelis equally. I think this 11%, this prophetic minority, represents the road that the AG should travel if we are to be as biblically solid, theologically healthy, and Spirit-led as we claim to be.

b. I suggest that AG USA learn from our Palestinian Pentecostal Christian brothers and sisters so that we can read scripture better and become less dispensational and less one-sidedly Zionist. We can love Israel, love Jewish people, and support the existence of the state of Israel while also helping the state of Israel make wiser choices regarding the settlements, the occupation of the West Bank, the wall not being built on the green line, and the implementation of a just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.

c. This means that American Pentecostals in general, the AG USA in particular, could put ourselves in humble learner positions and hear the testimonies and prayer requests (the subaltern voices, and theology and experiences) of the Palestinian Pentecostal and Evangelical Christians who have lived under occupation in the ‘Holy Land.’

4) Gender

a. The AG ordains women and has since its inception. George Wood has even defended this position against Southern Baptist and fundamentalist critiques.

b. But we need more intentionality in promoting and empowering women in pastoral and denominational leadership. 28% of AG ministers do not support women serving as senior pastors, 43% do not support women in district or national leadership, and 47% do not support having women on deacon boards. These are serious problems, and as a theologian I would suggest that these attitudes represent less than healthy, less than faithful, and less than ‘pentecostal’ understandings of scripture, gender, and leadership. I think is not the road that the AG should travel on in the future.

c. A way to pave the road for smoother travel into a more faithful future is to intentionally include women in leadership positions in district and national offices, even if there are quotas – not tokenism to fill a slot for political reasons – but intentional reduction of male leadership and increase of female leadership to reflect what the Spirit really would like to happen so the church can be better equipped to fulfill her potential. However, there’s a lot of theological work that has to be done so that men can realize that it’s not their ministry to share any way, it’s not ‘their’ power or their place that they then graciously open up to women. Ministry and leadership are God’s gifts to give, it’s God’s ministry, not men’s.

In conclusion, I think the AG can even now “seek Jesus” and choose roads of life, and pave those roads, and that we can journey forward in confession and truth-telling regarding our racist past so that we can authentically and deeply experience healing and transformation; that we can journey forward by expanding the conversations about war and peacemaking by articulating just war criteria, nonviolence, and just peacemaking practices; that we can best support Israel by also supporting the Palestinians and listening to the voices of that part of our Pentecostal family that has been suppressed; and that we can intentionally work to change the minds of thousands of AG men (and women) who are against women in leadership and intentionally changing the structure of the AG so that women must be included. I believe that this is at least part of what the Spirit is doing today to expand Godly Love.