Bartholomew's Notes

When I read a while back that Bush ghost-writer and confidant Karen Hughes considered that God had arranged things so that George Bush had “come to a royal position for such a time as this”, I assumed she must be some sort of Christian Reconstructionist, thirsting for Christian dominion over society. But her Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church would same to have a different, quite mainstream perspective. Although Calvinist, the church belongs to the Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination, which holds the position that:

Because we live as Reformed Christians in this tension between obedience to civil authority and critical evaluation of it, we have strongly supported the separation of church and state as institutions. While this does not mean that we have put our faith aside as Christian citizens, it does mean that we have not only felt free to challenge those in authority but also have resisted efforts to impose the beliefs of any particular religion, including our own, upon the whole of society through the use of governmental authority.

What’s more:

It is the job of the church to see clearly the “idolatries in church and culture” that we are called to “unmask” (Brief Statement of Faith). The pastor of one of our large Presbyterian churches, preaching in the aftermath of “9/11,” raised the question, “Are we going to take off our WWJD (“What Would Jesus Do?”) bracelets and replace them with the American flag?” We may well wish to wear both, but we should never be in doubt as to which one deserves our highest loyalty…we can challenge every earthly authority to remember that they serve at the pleasure of a God who is just and merciful and requires the same of them.

Also of interest: Hughes’s pastor, Douglas Fletcher, appears to be a supporter of Palestinian rights. Perhaps he could have a word…

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Jesus’ General recently [May 3, second item] brought to my attention Rep. Jay Love of Montgomery, Alabama. In the run-up to the National Day of Prayer Love got some attention for decreeing that those praying outside could move inside the state capitol in the case of rain, whilst those attending a rival Atheist Law Center rally would just have to get wet, on the grounds that:

Many of the beliefs that [ALC head Larry Darby] espoused and said publicly, a great deal of my district finds offensive. A great deal of the people of Alabama would find offensive.

Standing in the rain would have been especially just, since, according to Love’s Calvary Baptist Church, Montgomery:

all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse (Romans 3:19-23)

Love’s church has an exceptionally long list of things that must be believed, including:

the King James version of the Bible is the divinely preserved word of God for the English-speaking people

We believe the Genesis account of creation is to be accepted literally and not allegorically or figuratively (Genesis 1); that the creation was accomplished in six (6), twenty-four (24) hour days

the unbelievers left behind [after the Rapture] will go through a seven year period called the Tribulation

At least Love takes his church’s positions seriously. And any other Christian group wanting to use the state capitol had better be careful:

We are opposed to the ecumenical movement, neo-orthodoxy, new evangelicalism, liberalism, and modernism that emphasize an unequal yoke with unbelievers.

“New evangelicalism”, by the way, means the likes of Billy Graham, Carl Henry and Christianity Today.

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Since we’ve heard so much about Kerry-the-pro-Choice-Catholic, I’ve decided that checking out the actual places of worship of other political figures might be fruitful. First up, from the statement of faith of the First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa:

In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel agaist [sic] God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care…

But:

…In a broken and fearful world the spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in the church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.

So how does church member Rep. James M. Inofe get from that to his now-infamous remarks supporting the torture of prisoners in Iraq?

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It seems that Florida is not the only place where conservative Christian groups will have a captive audience of prisoners: apparently Christian television will soon be piped to prisons in Russia. Speaking to ASSIST, Rev. Igor Nikitin, president of the Association of Christian Churches in Russia, claimed that:

The movies we have on secular television are terrible. So the head of the prison [in Volgograd] wrote me a letter saying he needed our television. They’re willing to put educational television for all our prisoners. He wants to exchange secular television to Christian television, and they know it’s going to bring a positive impact.So this is amazing. I believe every prison in Russia will soon be watching Christian television. Imagine millions of people serving in the prison now.

The Association was founded in by Nikitin in 1995 as an umbrella for Charismatic churches, and received official government recognition in 1998 (see here – scroll down). According to a report by the Kansas Prayer Mission (scroll down again), the Association provides “Christian programming in partnership with TBN”. The Trinity Broadcasting Network, as readers may know, is run by Paul and Jan Crouch, and, as stated on its website, “offers 24 hours of commercial-free inspirational programming that appeal to people in a wide variety of Protestant, Catholic and Messianic Jewish denominations” – Hal Lindsey and Benny Hinn being particularly prominent.

Nikitin attributed this breakthrough to the prayers of the Reverend Lee Jae-Rock, a controversial Korean Christian faith-healer who held a large crusade in Russia last autumn. Well, it certainly is odd. Just a few days ago ASSIST was worrying about freedom of religion for Protestants under Putin, and recently Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned from meeting even in private in Moscow. Soviet laws instructing religious organisations to provide membership details to the state are also making a comeback. Even if the complaints of prisoners denied secular television can be ignored, will the Russian Orthodox Church really want “a wide variety of Protestant, Catholic and Messianic Jewish denominations” to enjoy such a monopoly?

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The Christian Zionist-Jewish Zionist love affair is undergoing another strain with the announcement in Haaretz that a leading religious authority believes Jews should not be accepting cash from the Fellowship of Christians and Jews:

Some two weeks ago, Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu – one of the national-religious camp’s most highly regarded halakhic authorities, alongside Rabbi Avraham Shapira – published a letter in which he backtracked on his ruling that Jews can enjoy the fund’s bounty despite it being a gift from Christians. “Now, it appears otherwise to me,” Eliahu wrote in his new letter. “And as a result, I concur with what was written by the great rabbi, the genius Rabbi Avraham Shapira…and, therefore, my statements or writings from before this letter are all null and void, and I am party to the prohibition.”

The Fellowship, which is based in Chicago and is run by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, invites Christians to support Israel in several areas, such as assisting with Jewish emigration from Russia and, according to its website, helping “victims of terrorism and poverty in the Holy Land”. According to an AP report, the Fellowship

raised $20 million from American Christians for Jewish immigration to Israel last year [2002]. This year it’s giving $2.8 million to welfare programs in 80 communities in Israel, in some cases triple the amount of funding those cities get from Israel’s Ministry of Social Affairs.

But Jewish concerns about Eckstein are long-standing. ADL head Abraham Foxman told the Jerusalem Report (undated) that

Eckstein is selling the dignity of the Jewish people and the state of Israel by pandering to Christians for money…We have a modern state with extensive social services. And we’re not a poor people. What he’s doing is perverse. And for the Jewish and Israeli leadership to accept his money is also perverse.

There are even claims that Eckstein is secretly a Messianic Jew, with a rabbi character in a novel he wrote calling himself a “Jew for Jesus”. Eckstein had strong links with the late Jamie Buckingham, a Pentecostal-Charismatic pastor (and one-time ghost writer for Corrie Ten Boom and Nicky Cruz). Eckstein called Buckingham his “rabbi”, and according to ASSIST News Service, Eckstein claimed that he wrote the novel after receiving a prophecy from a Charismatic Christian:

I happened to be giving a talk at The Community of Jesus in Cape Cod where Jamie would often go to speak. 

There was somebody there and he said that he had a ‘word of knowledge’ that I should write a book about Jamie and I walking through Israel together…

Well, that’s a bit unusual, but not in itself evidence of a secret Christian faith. As MinistryWatch suggests:

Rabbi Eckstein’s comments on faith and evangelism seem to imply a commitment on his part to a kind of religious relativism.

MinistryWatch also notes that critics might think that “Rabbi Eckstein’s total compensation seems excessive at about $381,500 for 2002”, although supporters would point towards the organisation’s “financial openness and transparency”. Eckstein, who enjoys endorsements from the likes of Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed, claims that he has no contact with groups that specifically target Jews for conversion. But, as noted before, it seems that despite the prayer breakfasts and petitions, there is increasing scepticism among Jews and Israelis about their “allies”.

UPDATE (11 May): The AP has picked up the story. Eckstein defended his links to Christians who may wish to convert Jews or bring about the end of the world by stating that

Judaism does not focus so much on motivations as much as deeds…In Judaism, the actions speak louder than words, and certainly louder than motivations.

However, Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee’s Jerusalem office complained that the Christians’ political agenda was more worrying than their possible missionary activities:

There’s support for some of the most extreme political positions in Israeli society…That I find far more disturbing than any suggestion that there could be missionary activity.

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Dave over at The Grace Pages has helpfully cut and pasted a couple of articles about Douglas Goodman, the London-based pastor who has just been sent down for three and a half years for indecent assault and perverting the course of justice (the jury failed to convict on other charges, including one of rape). Goodman’s first trial was last year; this verdict comes after a retrial. The Daily Telegraph reports that Goodman’s former church, the Victory Christian Centre,

was closed down in 2002 when it was unable to pay creditors despite an estimated income for that year of £7 million.

Meanwhile, Goodman

spent lavishly, using £21,000 from the church to take his family on holiday to Hawaii, buying designer clothes and giving expensive presents to a variety of young women, the court heard.

However, the Telegraph fails to note that since then Goodman has been running a new church based in Wembley, called Victory to Victory, or Victory 2 Victory (V2V). Visitors to this church’s website are directed towards a very interesting, purely general, sermon entitled “Is it wrong for Christians to take each other to court?” Funnily enough, the answer is “yes”. As I fear this gem may disappear from the internet before too long, I quote at length:

more and more preachers are living in a state of paranoia as women in the church more and more frequently feel free to stand up and make allegations of sexual misconduct, men and women alike have been known to sue ministries for thousands, even millions of dollars…

“Now therefore it is an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another.” 1 Corinthians 6:1-7 (NKJ)…

There are people that have been wronged in some way or the other, for example lending money to other Christians that may take you into the lending of thousands of pounds. In your heart you can probably justify taking them to court in order to have your money restored back to you, but in doing so you and I would violate scripture…

A young lady named Sally, relates an experience she had in a seminary class, given by her teacher, Dr. Smith. She says that Dr. Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons…On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were many darts. Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them angry, and he would allow them to throw darts at the person’s picture. The class lined up and began throwing darts…Dr. Smith began removing the target from the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus. A hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced. Dr. Smith said only these words… “In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40

Goodman also asks us:

Have you ever wondered why God likened us unto sheep? Sheep are one of the few animals that have no defence system; in fact they rely wholly on their shepherd. This is what God expects for us to do.

Journalistic clichés about fleecing come to mind. Speaking of which, I did wince slightly when the Telegraph stated that Goodman “preached in an American evangelical style”. That’s rather oversimplified. From what I’ve heard of Goodman, and seen of churches like his, Goodman preached a mix of Prosperity Gospel teachings and Norman Vincent Peale-type motivationalism, within a neo-Pentecostal setting.

One unresolved aspect of the case concerns the footballer John Fashanu, who was a member of Goodman’s church. According to accusations (denied by Fashanu) made in both the original trial and the retrial, Fashanu made threats against one of the central witnesses:

The Old Bailey jury was told youth leader Banjo Aromolaran had been told of complaints by some women, but felt intimidated after Mr Fashanu said he could become the victim of an acid attack or sex allegations.

UPDATE (May 13): The V2V website has been updated! The sermon on not taking Christians to court is still available, but there is no link to it from the main part of the site. Plus Douglas Goodman has gone the way of Trotsky: his wife Erica Goodman appears alone as “senior pastor”, and all of Douglas’s products are gone. I also note the 2004 “Women of Excellence” conference advertised on the site is titled “I’m a survivor”.

UPDATE 2 (May 15): More on Erica from the Black Information Link (via The Pagan Prattle of 7 April):

THE WIFE of a pastor accused of rape attempted to exorcise demons from one of her husband’s accusers, a court heard.

Erica Goodman, the wife of Pastor Douglas Goodman, exorcised of the ‘spirit of witchcraft and Jezebel’ from a woman, after the congregation member claimed Pastor Goodman had attacked her.

But after laying her hands on the alleged victim’s head to draw out the evil spirits, Mrs Goodman then accused the woman of sleeping with a 15-year-old boy.

The preferred term is “deliverance” rather than exorcism, a practice I looked at a few posts ago.

UPDATE 3 (11 March 2005): Goodman has lost his appeal (in all senses of the word).

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The Jerusalem Post reports on a new Christian Zionist initiative: a referendum among US Christians:

“Do you support the creation of a PLO state in the Land of Israel?” will be the question that Christians across America will be asked to vote on, according to an initiative of the Apostolic Congress’s Global Israel Alliance and Americans for a Safe Israel.

Unsurprisingly, no alternatives are offered, such as:

“Do you support an independent, democratic Palestinian state outside Israel’s 1948 borders?”

or

“Do you support Palestinians and Israelis enjoying equal citizenship of one state consisting of historic Palestine/Eretz Israel?”

Either of which are, I suggest, rather more sensible formulations. But the whole exercise is rather pointless because, as the Post reports:

The referendum ballots will be disseminated through every church and community center that considers itself within the Christian Zionist spectrum. Once tabulated, the results will be presented to every member of Congress, to Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie and to Bush.

In other words, the referendum will be sent exclusively to Christians who believe that Israeli expansionism and Palestinian dispossession represent God’s will. Somehow, I think the result is a foregone conclusion.

But who’s behind this? The Apostolic Congress is indeed Christian Zionist, but with a difference: it represents the Apostolic Christians of the Oneness Pentecostal tradition, which rejects the doctrine of the Trinity. The Congress represents the Apostolics in Washington. According to its website:

In 1981, early in the Reagan Administration, Brother Stan Wachtstetter was able to open the door for Apostolic Christians into the White House…Pastor Robert G. Upton is currently the Executive Director for The Apostolic Congress. Pastor Upton has always had a keen interest in the world of politics, but it was not until he attended a White House briefing in June 2000 that he realized his vision of touching world leaders with prayer for our nation.

Wachtstetter and Upton appear here as part of a delegation to meet Karl Rove in May 2003. The accompanying report features this curious sentence:

Pastor Upton…posed questions about the war with Iraq. Due to the nature of Mr. Rove’s answers, we cannot write his answers to all these questions.

However:

Mr. Rove offered opportunities for these delegates to participate in a bi-monthly conference call and welcomed us to the White House for a meeting every six months for our voice to be heard. This was a milestone for the Apostolic movement in the United States.

The Congress’s Gallery features Upton meeting with a number of conservative political figures, and conservative Christians do not appear to mind his disbelief in the Trinity.  Indeed, Americans for a Safe Israel’s “One State Solution Campaign” consists of him, Gary Bauer and Ed McAteer along with the Jewish Herbert Zweibon (whom I discussed a few days ago).

But such ecumenism in the name of reaction should not be surprising – just yesterday I noted an alliance of two individuals connected to Pat Buchanan and Benjamin Netanyahu in the cause of selling apocalyptic novels. Brother Stan Wachtstetter is also a big fan of the Reverend Moon; according to Unification Reverend Michael Jenkins (whose own contribution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict appeared on this blog at the end of March), in 2001 Moon organised a conference

to continue to break down all religious barriers. Now the conference became a vortex of the first encounter of the major Moslem world leaders with Western Christian leaders. Global Violence: Crisis and Hope. In this historic conference Father showed the standard of True Love. He embraced the Moslem leaders from all backgrounds – moderate, liberal , radical and passive and brought them together as one family with Christians and Jews as well as heads of state. Rev. Stan Wachtstetter told me, ” I saw for myself that Rev. Moon, through that conference, prevented a global Muslim / Christian war. When the people arrived at the conference there was enormous uncertainty, tension and animosity. The Holy Spirit moved and the enemy spirit left the major Moslem and Christian leaders sowing seeds for peace.” I believe that Rev. Wachtstetter was right.

Wachstetter is also involved with Moon’s American Family Coalition, and in 2002 he was handling Faith-Based Initiatives for Mississippi Congressman Ronnie Shows in Jackson.

(PS – click here to see John Gorenfeld’s coverage of Moon’s recent coronation in the Dirksen Senate Office)

UPDATE (20 May): The Village Voice has a piece on the Congress’s more recent meeting with various White House officials. It’s discussed on my blog today.

UPDATE 2 (25 September): Stan Wachstetter has been kind enough to contact me with clarifications and corrections. He tells me that his meetings with Moon are part of his wider ecumenical activities, and are his personal initiatives only. He disagees with Moon, has sympathy for the Palestinians, and thinks that Brother Upton has gone “too far”. As Stan has no leadership position within the Apostolic Congress, I have ditched the “Moon-friendly” part of the title to this entry. Here is Stan’s email (edited for typos and slightly for brevity):

Your article about “Moon Friendly Oneness” is the old, “Hitler drank coffee, Hitler was a Nazi, and thus people that drink coffee are nazis. Your assumption is so wrong that I assume you knew this fact when you wrote this article.

It is true that I, Stan Wachtstetter, have associated with Moon and many other religious leaders such as Catholic Bishops, Steven Couvey, Unitarian George H. Williams, and so many other friends of diverse groups including so many friends that lead in various evangelical groups. This is me, and I do this. My brothers are often accused of being such purists that they are labelled cultists.

Adding to this mix let me assert that I am clearly Oneness, but I am not United Pentecostal and have no leadership nor any other position in the Apostolic Congress. My activities are my activities.

What is absurd is the linkage between Moon’s view of Israel, and Pastor Upton’s view. What little I know of these things it appears they are the opposite.  I question exactly how you link these two positions. I agree with neither of these and I feel the majority of Pentecostals do the same.

From what I understand of Moon’s view, he and they are totally opposed to the defense wall, and favor a two state solution (which in their minds seems to already exist.) Brother Upton by contrast has gotten close to the more right wing groups in Israel, and seems to favor a one state solution.

I certainly do not agree with Moon, and I have told Brother Upton that I feel he has gone to far. He does not believe that Israel must be restored, nor a single state to bring back the Messiah nor anything of that nature. It is true that most Pentecostals favor Israel, and advocate for their right to exist. However, the over whelming majority of Pentecostal see prophecy as something our God will work out, and not us. Thus single state and two state solution have no real meaning to our salvation nor religious view, and thus our political preferences on such matters are diverse.

I am sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians in all the countries of the Middle East. It would be nice to see a Palestinian homeland, and I favor a strong and viable Israel…

I am in retirement. I maintain my right to dialog with anyone I choose, without you or anyone linking me with any religious group to smear them. Pastor Upton has organized the Apostolic Congress, he has done the hard work, and this is his baby. I am supportive of what he is doing. The positional differences between us on such minor issues as a single state solution is not a criticism, but simply differing views on issues.

It is mentioned that I opened the door for Pentecostals into Washington and other governments. This was the work of my youth and I thank God for this. This was based on accommodation that grows out of the first amendment. From Washington and Whitefield, religious leaders have always been welcomed at the White House. All religious groups are welcome there and it seemed to me other fair that Oneness Pentecostals receive the same open door.

There is no special attention given to us. In fact, I am locked out at this administration because I complained about care of our troops in the field. I have been told directly that I will never be invited.  In addition, I have complained bitterly that they (this administration and the Congress) can seldom tell the difference between a Trinitarian Pentecostal and a Oneness. Because of their lack of concern, generally it is Trinitarians invited to honor us. Proportionally, Oneness people are not given fair invitations to events.

In closing let me say that I know nothing of you, and I have no idea what your religious orientation to be, but I urge great Christian care from you.

Stan Wachtstetter

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Chris Lehmann at The Revealer reports on a party for Joel C. Rosenberg’s new book, hosted by World magazine. I discussed The Last Days a month ago, when it was revealed that Madonna’s one-time manager had bought the rights to make movies of this book and its prequel, The Last Jihad. Lehmann credits that 2001 bestseller for the popular belief among Americans that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. Quoting directly:

[Saddam was] not simply…a good friend of the Palestinian people…Saddam Hussein had given the Juma boys the chance to wage jihad against the Jews and against all Americans.

And, of course, this fanatical attachment to jihad allows us to understand the Palestinians. One villainous character recalls that:

From the earliest days he could remember, he had been inspired by the Great Revolution led by Saddam and Yasser Arafat and the imams of his youth.

Lehmann brings to our attention Peter Robbio, “a freelance publicist who represents a number of conservative religious authors”. Good to see Robbio back in action (mostly hawking Regnery wares judging from his web presence) since his resignation as Steve Forbes’ New Hampshire campaign manager in 1999 after he was arrested for pulling a gun on someone at a restaurant.

Funnily enough, Robbio worked for Pat Buchanan back in 1996, around the time that Rosenberg was working for Benjamin Netanyahu. Happily, working respectively for an anti-Jewish bigot and an anti-Arab bigot does not seem to have stood in the way of an alliance in the cause of making sure that ordinary Americans remain in the dark about the actual nature of the Middle East and the USA’s involvement in it. And with luck, Daniel Pipes might be able to force all universities to teach the book in the name of avoiding “bias”.

Next in line to cash in on the LaHaye phenomenon will be Omen author David Seltzer, whose new mini-series is due out over the summer.

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Languishing in the “European news briefs” section of the NY Times is a Reuters report that:

A court has reimposed a death sentence on a history lecturer for blasphemy — a verdict that sparked mass student protests when first announced in 2002. Zekrollah Ahmadi, judiciary chief in Hamadan Province, said the judge had confirmed his original ruling against Hashem Aghajari after a review of the case ordered by the Supreme Court. Mr. Aghajari was convicted after the Hamadan court found him guilty of blasphemy — a capital offense — for a speech in which he said Muslims were not “monkeys” to follow blindly the teachings of senior clerics.

So, having reviewed his own case, Ahmadi has decided to approve his original judgement that judicial murder was the appropriate response to someone criticising the religious hierarchy.

The report does not add if the other sadistic elements of Aghajari’s punishment have also been reimposed. According to Human Rights Watch back in 2002, reporting on the original trial:

In addition to the death sentence, Aghajari received a sentence of 74 lashes of the whip, eight years imprisonment and internal exile, and a 10-year prohibition from teaching.

However, Aghajari, who lost a leg fighting Saddam Hussein, does have a lot of popular support, especially among students. There’s more detail here.

Human Rights Watch also reports that

Iranian authorities are holding scores of professors, lawyers, students and activists arrested after expressing their views.

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The British Daily Mail has explored Madonna’s faith in Kabbalah, or, as the tabloid inevitably puts it, her attachment to “a sinister cult”. Apparently there is a certain amount of expense involved for members of the Kabbalah Centre, London, including a tithe of 10% of one’s income. And if that’s not bad enough:

[Guy] Ritchie’s own blind adherence to the strictures of the controversial ideology has exacted a toll on his once glittering career.

Clearly, when people put their religion before their career or accumulating cash, the only explanation must be brainwashing!

Naturally, no one from the Kabbalah Centre is interviewed for the piece, or any academics, although we do hear a lot from Rick Ross. We also get the Chief Rabbi’s take:

Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks, has publicly disassociated the Jewish faith from the London Kabbalah Centre because of the claims of abuse and profiteering.

Well, Sacks is very good at issuing excommunications. Some of us remember his characterization of Rabbi Hygo Gryn, a Holocaust survivor and popular British figure, as a “destroyer of the faith” after his death simply because Gryn’s Reform tradition accepted some of the Biblical scholarship that has been fairly mainstream for the last hundred years or more.

The Mail does, however, provide interesting accounts of what the group believes:

They variously assert that through the ‘positive flow of energy’ believers can heal themselves and stop the ageing process…

More bizarre still is their declaration that negative energy can be absorbed by swinging a chicken above the head.

Plus, Richie gave up shooting because

the souls of dead pheasants might come back to haunt him.

As well as this there is, of course, the famous water, sold at £2.80 ($5) a bottle. All of which, the paper notes, has led to Jewish commentators labelling the Centre as “McMysticism”.

But why is the Mail coming on so strong? The paper’s basic formula is reactionary politics mixed with New Age “inner self” stuff. It regularly serialises books by the likes of Graham Hancock, and I recall the paper giving a lot of space to Michael Drosnin’s Bible Code. Drosnin, who claimed to find secret codes in the letters of the Torah, was following the lead of a particular practice in Jewish mysticism, although in a rather debased way. But then, I suppose, the Mail was cashing in, so that particular example of Jewish “McMysticism” was just fine.

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