Christian
Zionism:
Article originally published in Churchman
(Summer 2001) and given as a lecture at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and as part of a s eminar for the Muslim World Forum for
Global Connections (Evangelical Missionary Alliance) Whitfield House, Kennington
in March 2001.
Ariel
Sharon’s provocative visit to the courtyard of the Al Aqsa Mosque protected
by over a thousand armed Israeli
soldiers wiped out any hope of a peace agreement between Jews and Palestinians.
It simultaneously ended Barak’s short lived coalition government, ignited a
renewed Palestinian Intifada, led to over 350 deaths, the vast majority
Palestinian including many children, with a further 10,000 injured.[1]
It has also sparked a revival in Christian Zionist support for Israel.[2] A Christian Zionist may be defined in
general terms as,
...any Christian who supports the
Zionist aim of the sovereign State of Israel, its army, government, education
etc.; but it can describe a Christian who claims to support the State of Israel
for any reason.[3]
The Zionist dream, so forcefully
articulated by Theodor Herzl in Der
Judenstaat in 1896 and a year later at the First Zionist Congress, may
actually be attributed to the writings and activities of Christians like Lewis
Way, Joseph Wolff and Edward Irving who formed a broad coalition of Christian
Zionists from the 1820's[4],
some sixty years before similar views were being espoused by Jewish leaders.[5]
When it was known, for example, that Herzl was wavering on the option of
Palestine as a Jewish homeland in favour of Uganda or South America, he
received a Bible from William Blackstone, the American Christian Zionist, in
which every reference to ‘Israel’ or ‘Zion’ had been underlined in red,
together with a letter urging him to insist Zionists settle only in Palestine.[6]
Christian Zionism is born of the
conviction that God has a continuing relationship with, and covenantal purpose
for, the Jewish people. This is based on an ultra-literal reading of Scripture
and the conviction that Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel are being
fulfilled in the contemporary State of Israel.
For Christian Zionists, God’s promise to Abraham remains unconditional
and eternal. “To your descendants I give
this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates... The
whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting
possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their
God." (Genesis 15:18; 17:8).
In 1975, the United Nations condemned
the ethnic exclusivism of Zionism as, ‘a form of racism and racial discrimination.’ This Resolution was revoked
in 1991 under pressure from the USA
[7]
At best, it seems, the Israeli State views Palestinians
as an inferior species to be herded into Bantustan townships and refugee camps,
and at worst treated like animals, expendable to be sacrificed before the
god of Zionism. Israel’s continuing illegal settlement plans, land seizures,
house demolitions, expulsions, deportations, military occupation, use of torture
and ‘extra-judicial’ killings of Palestinians is seen by many as a form of
racially motivated ethnic cleansing.
[8]
Essentially, Christian Zionists see
themselves as defenders of, and apologists for, the Jewish people, and in
particular, the State of Israel. This
support involves opposing those deemed to be critical of, or hostile toward
Israel, but also inevitably leads to the justification of apartheid on so
called ‘biblical’ grounds. As tensions increase in the Middle East, so the
stakes are raised to gain the moral high ground, and the Bible is used as
another weapon to silence Israel’s critics.
Increasingly, anti-Zionist convictions are equated with anti-Semitism
and the Shoah exploited by what even some Zionists admit is ‘holocaustology.’[9] For example,
Hal Lindsey is not alone in accusing those who oppose Zionism of anti-Semitism,
..the same error that founded the
legacy of contempt for the Jews and ultimately led to the Holocaust of Nazi
Germany.[10]
Similarly,
Tony Higton, General Secretary of the Churches Ministry Among Jewish People
(CMJ) laments the polarisation of positions.
It is so politically correct in many
church circles to condemn Israel (as the recent ritual condemnation from
Christian Aid illustrates) that to make balanced comments about her brings
accusations of being a right wing, fundamentalist, Zionist...[11]
In
a previous Churchman article, the
author offered a critique of Christian Zionism and provided an alternative
theology of the Holy Land.[12]
This
article will elaborate on what Christian Zionists believe about current events
in the Middle East, why they support the State of Israel, lobby for an
exclusively Jewish Jerusalem, advocate the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple,
resist Palestinian aspirations for self determination, and are generally
pessimistic about any peace deal between Jews and Arabs. Material has been
drawn from the most influential evangelical Christian Zionist in Britain and
the USA. These include the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People, Jews for
Jesus, Christian Friends of Israel, Bridges for Peace and the International
Christian Embassy Jerusalem.[13]
The primary motivation driving Christian Zionism today is the conviction that ‘the Bible tells them so.’[14]
1. Ultra-Literalist Biblical Hermeneutic
The rise of
biblical literalism and a futurist reading of scripture, which equates biblical
references to Israel with the modern State of Israel and not the Church can be
attributed to Christian Zionists like Lewis Way, Henry Drummond, Edward Irving
and their associates at the Albury ‘Unfulfilled Prophecy’ Conferences of the
1820's.[15] In 1821, for example, Way published a
pamphlet called ‘The Latter Rain’ in
which he called Christians to pray for the Jews out of the conviction that Old
Testament prophecies have a ‘primary and
literal reference to the Jews’.[16]
This movement was the catalyst not
only for the founding of the London Jews Society (now CMJ) but also for John
Nelson Darby, Edward Irving and Cyrus Scofield to develop an innovative
premillennial dispensational theology which, historically, is the theological
basis for Christian Zionism. Rob
Richards, former UK Director of CMJ, offers a contemporary paraphrase of that
position. “Israel is Israel is Israel.”[17]
It will be shown that, following
this literalistic and essentially pre-Christian hermeneutic, Christian Zionists
claim that the borders of the land promised to Abraham - from the Nile to the
Euphrates - must become the future borders of the State of Israel since the Jews have never inherited
all the land. Similarly, because the Jewish temple described by Ezekiel has
never been built, it must one day replace the Moslem Dome of the Rock. Promises
made during the Babylonian exile of a return are made to apply 2500 years later
to the emigration of Soviet and Eastern European Jews because the language appears
to suggest a ‘final’ return, one more extensive than has ever occurred before.
Patrick Goodenough of the International Christian Embassy, for example,
insists,
We simply believe the Bible. And that
Bible, which we understand has not been revoked, makes it quite clear that God
has given this land as an eternal inheritance to the Jewish people.[18]
Anne Dexter
challenges those who reject this hermeneutic:
Some Arab believers and expatriate
Christians in Israel feel so strongly about these matters that they will not
read the parts of the Bible that seem to promise the land to the Jews or in any
way uphold their election... Large parts of the Scriptures are effectively
invalidated by this approach.[19]
Instead of recognising how Jesus and
the Apostles reinterpreted the Old Testament, it is made to speak about present
and future events almost as if the New Testament were never written. Under the Old Covenant, revelation from God
came often in shadow, image, form and prophecy. In the New Covenant that revelation
finds its consummation in reality, substance and fulfilment in Jesus Christ
(see Hebrews 1:1-4, 8:13, 10:1). The
question is therefore not whether the promises of the covenant are to be
understood literally or spiritually as Christian Zionists like to stress. It is instead a question of whether they
should be understood in terms of Old Covenant shadow or in terms of New
Covenant reality. This is the most basic hermeneutical error which Christian
Zionists consistently repeat.
2. The Jews Remain God’s
‘Chosen People’
Because
of their biblical literalism, and dispensational roots, many Christian Zionists
believe that the Jews remain God’s ‘chosen people’ enjoying a unique
relationship, status and eternal purposes within their own land, separate from
any promises made to the Church. So, the promises made to Abraham remain true
today for the descendants of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Based on passages like Genesis 15, Christian Friends of Israel,
for example, insist,
The Bible teaches that Israel (people,
land, nation) has a Divinely ordained and glorious future, and that God has
neither rejected nor replaced His Jewish people.[20]
Similarly, Jews for Jesus perpetuate the dispensational distinction between God’s purposes for Israel and that of the Church.
We believe that Israel exists as a covenant people through whom God continues to accomplish His purposes and that the Church is an elect people in accordance with the New Covenant, comprising both Jews and Gentiles who acknowledge Jesus as Messiah and Redeemer.[21]
David Brickner, Executive Director
of Jews for Jesus, affirms the position first propounded by Darby, that the
Jews remain ‘God’s chosen people’
while the church is merely ‘a
parenthesis’[22]
to God’s future plans for the Jews. Christian Zionists fail to recognise that
in the Bible, 'chosenness' becomes progressively universalised, the gift of
God's grace in Jesus Christ to all who trust in Him, irrespective of their
racial origins.
3. Restorationism
Since
the Jews remain forever God’s chosen people, the promises concerning the land
are similarly seen as unconditional and eternal. Therefore Christian Zionists
are active in encouraging Jews to ‘return’ to Zion. At the Third International
Christian Zionist Congress held in Jerusalem in 1996, under the auspices of
ICEJ, some 1,500 delegates from over 40 countries unanimously affirmed the
following,
The Lord in His zealous love for Israel and the Jewish
People blesses and curses peoples and judges nations based upon their treatment
of the Chosen People of Israel... According to God's distribution of nations,
the Land of Israel has been given to the Jewish People by God as an everlasting
possession by an eternal covenant. The Jewish People have the absolute right to
possess and dwell in the Land, including Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan.[23]
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of
the founding of the State of Israel, Walter Riggans reaffirmed CMJ’s continuing
commitment to restorationism.
CMJ
has always been at the forefront of teaching about God's restoration of the
Jewish people to and in Israel, and we are continually excited by, and watchful
of all that is happening... In other words, our prayerful interest in the State
of Israel is as constant and committed as ever.[24]
David
Brickner summarises how Christian Zionists view the contemporary State of
Israel as evidence of God’s continuing protection and favour toward the Jews.
I
believe the modern day state of Israel is a miracle of God and a fulfillment of
Bible prophecy. Jesus clearly said that "Jerusalem would be trodden down
of the Gentiles until the time of the nations is fulfilled" (Luke 21:24).
It has been 50 years since the founding of that state, but only 30 years since
Jerusalem came under the control of Jews for the first time since Jesus made
that prediction. Could it be that "this generation shall not pass until
all these things are fulfilled?"[25]
These theological presuppositions
clearly have serious political implications. Jewish 'restoration' to the lands
associated with biblical Israel inexorably leads Christian Zionists to support
and defend the contemporary State of Israel.
4. Support for the State of
Israel
Representative
of other Zionist organisations, a CMJ resource pack includes a section
entitled, 'The State of Israel: Why
should we support it?'[26]
... in the biblical worldview one
cannot actually separate theology and spirituality... one cannot divorce the
issue of the people of Israel's relationship with God from their relationship
to their delegated sovereignty in the land of Israel... God.. has made it
possible for Jewish people everywhere to come and live in a restored Jewish
homeland ...it seems to us that God is undoubtedly behind the re-creation of
the Jewish State in the modern world. We are called to a support for the State
of Israel...[27]
For similar reasons, Jews for Jesus
justify the military stance of Israel based on biblical precedence and divine
command, claiming the choice for them is between survival and annihilation.
So
far as force of arms is concerned, the choice for Israel has been to fight or
to be annihilated. It must be remembered that every defensive position entails
some violence. All bloodshed is regrettable; but Israel has no choice when
faced with an intransigent and implacable fore who has threatened in the past
to "drive her into the sea." ... We must also remember that war has not
always been "wrong." In Moses' time the sons of Jacob did not traipse
into the land of Canaan and find a welcoming committee eager to greet them and
congratulate them upon their arrival. God commanded that they take Canaan by
force. At that point it would have been wrong for them not to do it. There may
be some who think that God has learned some new lessons since ancient times,
but to our knowledge, God does not change. It is entirely possible that once
again he might move Israel to resort to force.[28]
Logically, such convictions extend
to the justification of Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and
the Golan Heights.
5. The Territorial Extent of
Eretz Israel
At
the heart of Christian Zionism is the conviction that the Land of Israel in its
entirety was given unconditionally, exclusively and eternally by God to the
Jews. The geographical extent of ‘Eretz Israel’ , as Arnold Fruchtenbaum explains, is nonnegotiable
and covers everything from the Nile to the Euphrates.
So,
then, according to the Scriptures, three promises are made with regard to the
land: first, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all promised the possession of the
land; second, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were promised the
possession of the land; and third, the boundaries of the promised land extended
from the Euphrates River in the north to the River of Egypt in the south. ...At
no point in Jewish history have the Jews ever possessed all of the land from
the Euphrates in the north to the River of Egypt in the south. Since God cannot
lie, these things must yet come to pass. Somehow or other, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob must possess all the land, and second, the descendants of Abraham must
settle in all of the promised land.[29]
Likewise,
Louis Goldberg, of Jews for Jesus, is equally dogmatic.
To
whom does the land belong? Based upon God's statement to Abraham ("Unto
thy seed will I give this land." Genesis 12:7), and corroborated by the
prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, we can only declare that the land belongs to
the people of Israel. Ultimately Israel will have all that was promised in its
entirety to Abraham.[30]
The fourth resolution of the ‘Declaration of the First International Christian Zionist Leadership Conference’ held under the auspices of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem in August 1985, was entitled, ‘All Nations Should Recognize Judea and Samaria as Belonging to Israel.’
The Congress declares that Judea and Samaria (inaccurately termed ‘the West Bank’) are, and by biblical right as well as international law and practice ought to be, a part of Israel.[31]
Jan Willem van der Hoeven of the ICEJ offers a theological interpretation of recent historical events. Speaking of the war in 1967 he speculates:
God wanted to give His people that part of the land which they did not receive in 1948, and by hardening the hearts of the different Arab leaders - Presidents Nasser and Assad and King Hussein - He impelled Israel to react. The result of what became known as the Six Day War was that Judea and Samaria - heartland of biblical Israel - and the ancient city of Jerusalem - King David’s capital - were returned to their original owner... Thus, the Lord, by hardening the hearts of the Arab leaders, caused His people Israel to inherit the rest of the land, especially their ancient city, in a war of self defense! Until then, since 1949, Jordan had illegally held and occupied the “West Bank” and Jerusalem. Thus, when Israel recaptured Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, they did not even take over a territory that legally belonged at that time to any nation! How few in the West have even realized this. God has His own sovereign way to fulfil His Word and promise.[32]
Anne Dexter explains why present or
future negotiations involving a land for peace deal will never appease
Zionists.
The question of the ancient boundaries
cannot be ignored. It underlies the policies of many Israeli statesmen. It
explains why Sinai is always negotiable - it has twice been captured by Israel
and returned to Egypt. It is the reason why Jewish settlements on the West Bank
and Golan Heights is not just a matter of secure and defensible borders. It is
the guiding principles in Israel’s interpretation of West Bank autonomy, which
insists that whatever the degree of self-determination allowed the people, the
land itself belongs to Israel.[33]
In her view, Palestinian Christians must accept Zionism, and learn to live with it. "Arab Christians are squarely faced with the biblical election of the Jews, and their role throughout history, particularly in the present."[34]
Tony Higton concedes that
Palestinians are unhappy with the size of the ‘areas’, a euphemism for the
Bantustans, which the Israeli’s are offering in a ‘land for peace’ deal.
However he justifies Israel’s claim to the illegally held Occupied Territories
on three grounds. The Palestinians have Jordan, the British allegedly went back
on promises made in the Balfour Declaration and the amount of land agreed by
the League of Nations in the 1948 Partition Plan was too small anyway.
I understand Mr Safieh’s feeling that
the Palestinian areas are too small. However, we must remember that Jordan is a
Palestinian area too. It was part of the Mandated Palestine and, after we
British reneged on the Balfour Declaration, the UN gave the Jewish people -
Holocaust survivors and all - far too little land in 1948.[35]
Higton’s arguments contain several
errors of fact. According to Uri Avnery, the Jewish historian, the Green Line
agreed after the war of 1948 actually gave the State of Israel 78% of Palestine
although the UN had only agreed to allow them 55%.
When the Palestinians agreed to a peace
settlement based on the pre-1967 border (the Green Line), they were already giving
up in advance 78% of the land between the sea and the Jordan river. They are
ready to set up their state in the remaining 22%. Our government wants to
‘compromise’ over this area. Meaning: ‘What’s mine is mine, about what’s yours,
we shall compromise.’ [36]
The Peace Plan brokered by Clinton
and Barak would have given the Israeli’s a further 30% of the West Bank leaving
the Palestinians isolated ‘Palestans’, that is isolated pockets of land
surrounded by barbed wire, electric fences, mines and Jewish settlements.
Christian Zionists cannot understand why Palestinians are not grateful. Richard
Harvey, for example, points out that,
The
Arab minority in Israel lives in better economic conditions than in many
neighboring Arab states, and is certainly treated far more humanely than a Jew
would be in an Arab land.[37]
Christian Zionists therefore
invariably oppose the dismantling of the Jewish settlements in the Palestinian
Territories. Theodore Beckett, Chairman of the Christian Friends of Israel
Community Development Foundation, for example, has initiated an 'adopt-a-settlement' program among
evangelical churches. The Jewish town
of Ariel, for example, has been adopted by Faith Bible Chapel in Denver.
Seventy other Jewish settlements have also apparently been adopted in this way,
...with larger churches adopting larger
settlements and smaller churches adopting smaller settlements and giving all a
morale boost to show them they are not alone and are loved by many.[38]
Tony Higton questions whether
Israel’s willingness to allow the Palestinians a measure of autonomy should
extend to returning territory illegally occupied since 1967.
But should this involve giving them any
further territory, including part of Jerusalem? Israel’s borders are scarcely
viable now. Would any other country in the world give up half of its capital?[39]
Jews for Jesus go as far as to compare Israel’s continued occupation of the Palestinian Territories with the United States claim to Texas.
Many might wish that the Israeli
government could feel secure enough to withdraw the settlements on the West
Bank. But on the same basis, the United States should seriously consider giving
Texas back to Mexico and, indeed, should never have settled it in the first
place.[40]
Christian Zionists also downplay or
denigrate the role of the United Nations and human rights issues since they
believe the Land has been given to Israel unconditionally and in perpetuity by
God. Jews for Jesus, for example, have been
consistently critical of Christians who point out Israel’s failure to uphold
the human rights of Palestinians living under military occupation. Brickner
even criticises agencies such as Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding
(EMEU), founded by John Stott and directed by Don Wagner, who have challenged
Israel’s failure to respect human rights.
There
are, however, others who describe themselves as evangelicals who want
"middle east understanding"-- when in fact they are merely
mouthpieces for anti-Israel propaganda. They allow their politically correct,
over-wrought sense of moral outrage over the suffering of Palestinians to
dictate their view of Scriptures. They point to injustice in the land and the
fact that Israel is in unbelief, and conclude that God is through with the Jews
and the land of Israel is illegitimate in His eyes. [41]
This tension between those who seek
the implementation of international law and Christian Zionists is no where more
clearly polarised than on the status of Jerusalem.
6. Jerusalem, The Eternal and Exclusive Jewish Capital
In 1992, the
ICEJ sponsored various receptions marking the 25th anniversary of what they
referred to as the “Reunification of
Jerusalem.”[42] In
1996 this position was reiterated.
Because of the sovereign purposes of God for the City, Jerusalem must remain undivided, under Israeli sovereignty, open to all peoples, the capitol of Israel only, and all nations should so concur and place their embassies here.[43]
In 1997 the
ICEJ gave support to a full page advert placed in the New York Times entitled,
“Christians Call for a United Jerusalem”
signed by 10 evangelical and fundamentalist leaders including Pat Robertson,
chairman of Christian Broadcasting Network and president of the Christian
Coalition; Oral Roberts, founder and chancellor of Oral Roberts University;
Jerry Falwell, founder of Moral Majority; Ed McAteer, President of the
Religious Roundtable; and David Allen Lewis, President of Christians United for
Israel.
We, the undersigned Christian spiritual
leaders, communicating weekly to more than 100 million Christian Americans, are
proud to join together in supporting the continued sovereignty of the State of
Israel over the holy city of Jerusalem. We support Israel’s efforts to reach
reconciliation with its Arab neighbors, but we believe that Jerusalem or any
portion of it shall not be negotiable in the peace process. Jerusalem must
remain undivided as the eternal capital of the Jewish people.[44]
Readers were
invited to:
Join us in our holy mission to ensure
that Jerusalem will remain the undivided, eternal capital of Israel. The battle
for Jerusalem has begun, and it is time for believers in Christ to support our
Jewish brethren and the State of Israel. The time for unity with the Jewish
people is now.[45]
Tom Getman, director of World Vision
in Palestine, responded with an open letter to the ICEJ calling them ‘either hopelessly naive or liars.’
Two things you may want to consider in
your blatant partisan support:
1. For 5000 years any time this city
has been under the exclusive control of one power it has been the cause of
untold bloodshed; and 2. Israel’s so called “exemplary record in guaranteeing
access to biblical sites” has been significantly sullied in recent years, and
even over this past Easter weekend, when in and around the Old City, streets
were blocked off to all traffic except Jewish Pessah worshippers. For those of
us who could not get to Good Friday and Easter services, and for your Palestinian
brothers and sisters in Christ who could not even get out of Bethlehem, you are
setting yourselves up to be perceived as either hopelessly naive or liars.
Jerusalem is the spiritual home for 2 billion people... Only 15 million are
Jewish. The better part of wisdom would be for “God’s chosen” to share it or
they will absolutely guarantee being proven the world’s rejected once again.[46]
Nevertheless Israel has
progressively built more and more settlements in East Jerusalem while at the
same time demolishing Palestinian homes and depriving Palestinians of residence
permits thereby shifting the demographic balance in favour of Jews. David
Pileggi is therefore not surprisingly confident that the ‘facts on the ground’ will ensure Jerusalem remains under Israeli
control.[47] Probably
the most controversial issue uniting many Christian Zionists with more extreme
Jewish Zionists is the issue of the Temple Mount.
7. The Rebuilding of the
Temple
The rebuilding
of the Jewish Temple is something many Christian Zionists assume will happen
soon. David Brickner basis his belief on passages such as Daniel 9.
Obviously
the Temple has been rebuilt because Daniel tells us this ruler puts an end to
sacrifice and sets up some kind of abomination (a loathsome horror that would
be anathema to Jewish worship) right inside the Temple in Jerusalem. Ultimately
this ruler is destroyed in a final conflagration of enormous proportion. Who
exactly is this "ruler" who makes a treaty with Israel? Why will the
Temple be rebuilt in Jerusalem, and what will this final conflagration alluded
to be like?[48]
While Jews for Jesus claim they do
not endorse the activities of Jewish groups committed to rebuilding the Jewish
Temple, it nevertheless provides information on, and offers direct Internet
links to, eight extreme Jewish organisations involved in attempts to destroy
the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, rebuild the Jewish Temple and
re-institute Temple worship and sacrifices. These include the Temple Institute
and Temple Mount Faithful.[49]
Indeed, Zhava
Glaser of Jews for Jesus praises Gershon Salomon, founder of ‘The Temple
Faithful’.
Very
few Jews have the courage to talk about the most important subject in the
Jewish religion: that is, the question of the Temple, the high priest, the
altar and the place of sacrifice. Gershon Salomon is a man of such courage.
This 53-year-old scholar is the founder and head of a group called, "The
Temple Faithful." His credentials as an Israeli patriot are impeccable,
beginning at age eleven when he was arrested by the British authorities for
putting up Zionist posters during their occupation of Israel. He has stood up
for what he believes to be true ever since... One must take Salomon seriously.
Nine thousand people are on his "Temple Mount Faithful" membership
list.[50]
Sam Kiley regards Salomon as
representing the ‘...almost acceptable
face of millennial cults.’ In an interview with him, Salomon insisted that
the Islamic shrine must be destroyed.
The Israeli Government must do it. We
must have a war. There will be many nations against us but God will be our
general. I am sure this is a test, that God is expecting us to move the Dome
with no fear from other nations. The Messiah will not come by himself, we
should bring Him by fighting.[51]
Such sentiments are shared by many
Christian Zionists who support Jewish groups dedicated to rebuilding the Jewish
Temple. One book, in particular, has galvanised Christian Zionists on this
issue, namely, Ready to Rebuild: The Imminent Plan to Rebuild the Last Days
Temple, by Thomas Ice and Randall Price. From their dispensational
perspective they anticipate the imminent rebuilding of the Jewish temple next
to, if not in place of, the Dome of the Rock.[52] This Jews for Jesus review of the book
implies that the State of Israel is behind such moves.
Something is happening in Israel! For
many years there has been speculation as to whether the Second Temple,
destroyed in 70 AD, will ever be rebuilt - even though Scripture predicts it.
Now you can read the startling evidence. The move is already underway. This
fascinating, fast-moving overview of contemporary events shows why the Temple
is significant in Bible prophecy and how, more than ever, Israel is ready to
rebuild.
“A masterpiece presenting all the
various views with substantiating evidence... A mine of information for those
concerned about prophecy... A solid basis for faith and what can actually be
expected in regard to the rebuilding of the Temple... (it) is highly recommended.”
- John F. Walvoord, chancellor, Dallas Theological Seminary. Chapters include:
The Temple in transition; The Temple and Islam; Activity on the Mount; An
ancient tunnel uncovered; Temple Mount alternatives.[53]
8. Antipathy Toward Arabs
and Palestinians
Christian Zionists, while lovers of Israel, rarely show the same emotions toward Arabs and Palestinians. Anti-Arab prejudices and Orientalist stereotypes are common in their writings.[54] Comparisons between Hitler and the Arabs are common.[55] Hal Lindsey, probably the most popular Christian Zionist writer, insists,
Long ago the psalmist predicted the final mad attempt of the confederated Arab armies to destroy the nation of Israel... The Palestinians are determined to trouble the world until they repossess what they feel is their land. The Arab nations consider it a matter of racial honour to destroy the State of Israel. Islam considers it a sacred mission of religious honour to recapture Old Jerusalem.[56]
Franklin Graham, President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, made similar remarks in a recent newspaper interview.
The Arabs will not be happy until every Jew is dead. They hate the State of Israel. They all hate the Jews. God gave the land to the Jews. The Arabs will never accept that.[57]
Many Christian Zionists are
reluctant even to acknowledge the existence of Palestinians as a distinct
people group. Dave Hunt is typical of those who wrongly equate Palestinians
with the ancient Philistines, and who use the term Palestinian in an entirely pejorative sense.
Central to the Middle East conflict today is the issue of the so-called Palestinian people... Palestinians? There never was a Palestinian people, nation, language, culture, or religion. The claim of descent from a Palestinian people who lived for thousands of years in a land called Palestine is a hoax! That land was Canaan, inhabited by Canaanites, whom God destroyed because of their wickedness. Canaan became the land of Israel given by God to His people. Those who today call themselves Palestinians are Arabs by birth, language, and culture, and are close relatives to Arabs in surrounding countries from whence most of them came, attracted by Israel’s prosperity. The name Palestine comes from the Philistines, who were not Semites, but invaded Canaan from Crete and parts of Asia Minor. Yet Arafat, an Arab, claims that ancestry.[58]
Similarly,
David Pileggi laments,
Palestinians cannot be entrusted with a
state in the heart of Israel... No delegations have lectured the Palestinians
on peace and justice like those that endlessly besiege Israel. Is it only
reprehensible when Israelis kill Palestinians, but somehow acceptable when Arabs
murder each other? [59]
Rob Richards justifies Israel’s
apartheid regime on the grounds that Palestinians are the biblical equivalent
of the ‘alien’ residents in Eretz
Israel, to be respected but not entitled to the same status, or equal rights,
as the Jews.
The alien has rights and we can remind
Israel of this. Palestinians and Arabs who have made Israel their home come
under that biblical word ‘alien’.[60]
Richards ignores the fact that
Palestinians over the age of 50 were living in their own land of Palestine long
before the State of Israel was unilaterally imposed upon them. Brickner similarly uses the term 'sojourner' to describe the status of Palestinians in Eretz Israel.
God
commanded Israel to be kind to sojourners because we were once sojourners in
the Land of Egypt and we know what it is like to be treated harshly.[61]
Jews for Jesus even go as far as
defending Israel’s denial of basic human rights to Palestinians on the grounds
of national security. In a response to Gary Burge’s criticisms, Jim Eriksen
made the following assertions.
Burge continually gives the reader
personal examples, derived from his trips to Israel, of alleged Israeli abuses
in the occupied territories. In addition, he attempts to cite human rights
studies and international norms that may be applicable to Israel. In doing so,
he exposes the weaknesses of his analysis. For example, although Israel is a
signatory of various international human rights documents, it has signed with
reservations; namely, it has reserved the right to derogate certain rights in
times where national security is threatened. This derogation of rights by
reservation is not unique to Israel; most nations make a similar reservation to
preserve national sovereignty during times of unrest or war. No mention of this
is made by Burge, and the reader is left to believe that Israel has refused to
abide by agreements it signed.[62]
While the United Nations is
invariably viewed with great mistrust, for many Christian Zionists, the two
nations of America and Israel are seen as Siamese twins, linked not only by
common self interest but more significantly by similar religious foundations.
Together they are perceived to be pitted against an evil world dominated by
Islamic regimes antithetical to the values of America and Israel.[63]
It is therefore not hard to see why Christian Zionists are pessimistic of, or
even oppose, the current peace process.
Walter Riggans, for instance, believes the Oslo Peace Accord threatens
to legitimise Palestinian claims to Jerusalem and the West Bank.
...many Jewish people are quite
devastated, and feel they have been betrayed into the hands of cunning and
ruthless Palestinians who are exploiting the accords as a first step towards
the elimination of Israel.[64]
Neil
Cohen is equally pessimistic.
Partnership of Jew and Arab is
untenable in Israel... we live in an age of political correctness which claims
we live in a world where all people have equal rights. I don't agree with that
because I don't think it squares with the biblical record... the search for
peace in the Middle East, laudable though it is, is a wild goose chase.[65]
Regrettably such a stance which sees
the land as exclusively Jewish, in which Palestinians are 'aliens' and to which Jews from around the world are encouraged to
settle, not only undermines the witness of the indigenous Jewish and
Palestinian Christians who live there, but also disregards the New Testament
ethic which requires us to live by equal grace and common justice.
9. Anxious for Armageddon
It
is with regard to their perspective on the future that Christian Zionists
appear to be ‘Anxious for Armageddon’.[66]
The 1967 ‘Six Day War’ marked a significant watershed for Christian interest in
Israel and Zionism. For example, Jerry
Falwell did not begin to speak about
modern-day Israel until after Israel's 1967 military victory.
Falwell changed completely. He entered
into politics and became an avid supporter of the Zionist State... the stunning
Israeli victory made a big impact not only on Falwell, but on a lot of
Americans... Remember that in 1967, the United States was mired in the Vietnam
war. Many felt a sense of defeat,
helplessness and discouragement... Many Americans, including Falwell, turned
worshipful glances toward Israel, which they viewed as militarily strong and
invincible. They gave their unstinting
approval to the Israeli take-over of Arab lands because they perceived this
conquest as power and righteousness...[67]
Hal Lindsey asserts,
The Bible foretells the signs that precede Armageddon... We are the generation that will see the end times ...and the return of Jesus...[68] Never before, in one book, has there been such a complete and detailed look at the events leading up to 'The Battle of Armageddon.'[69]
Jerry Falwell’s 'Friendship Tours’
to Israel include not only meetings with top Israeli government and military
officials but also,
.....On-site tour of modern Israeli
battlefields... Official visit to an Israeli defence installation... strategic
military positions, plus experience first hand the battle Israel faces as a nation.[70]
Invariably therefore Christian
Zionists are pessimistic and even antagonistic toward peace negotiations in the
Middle East.
Because of the sovereign purposes of God for the City,
Jerusalem must remain undivided, under Israeli sovereignty, open to all peoples,
the capital of Israel only, and all nations should so concur and place their
embassies here... the truths of God are sovereign and it is written that the
Land which He promised to His People is not to be partitioned...[71]
Neil Cohen expresses the sentiments
of many Christian Zionists as to why peace cannot be negotiated, and why
continual conflict is inevitable.
At no time in history did God cancel
his covenant with the Jews. What he promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
remains true to this day and will remain true at least until Jesus returns and
the search for peace in the Middle East, laudable though it is, is a wild goose
chase.[72]
Christian Zionists sometimes attempt
to silence critics with the threat of divine retribution. For example, Brickner
warns those who do not share his particular Zionist perspective that they are
fighting against God.
Peril
awaits those who presume to say that God is finished with His chosen people:
"And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples.
All who lift it shall be slashed, and all the nations of the earth will be
gathered against it" (Zechariah 12:3). Woe to anyone who joins those
nations to gather against the Jewish people who are now back in the city of David.
Just as God judged the nation of Egypt for her ill treatment of His people, so
will He judge nations today. Evangelicals who would understand the Middle East
must pay close attention to the teaching of Scripture, and take note of the
cosmic forces that now do battle in the heavens but will soon do battle on
earth. They must choose carefully which side to uphold.[73]
10. A Critical Summary of
Christian Zionism
This
article has sought to show that behind their commitment to work with God in his ‘continuing purposes’ for the Jewish
people, another agenda is being
pursued by many Christian Zionists, best summarised in Kelvin Crombie's own
epilogue.
For if the Bible is true, literally,
then Israel would be restored, first physically, then spiritually. The CMJ work
in Israel was founded during the last century upon such a belief. The
establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was surely an indication that such
beliefs were correct... Those who established the work at Christ Church...
believed in the future physical restoration of Israel to its land... it reminds
us that throughout the history of the Church a remnant of believers has
remained faithful to God's covenant relationship with Israel.[74]
Such literalist assumptions of
restorationism preclude any possibility of an alternative reading of the Bible,
history or a just and lasting outcome to Middle East peace negotiations. While
there is a commitment by Jews for Jesus
and CMJ to evangelise Jewish people, their solidarity with other
non-evangelistic Christian Zionist agencies such as Bridges for Peace and the
International Christian Embassy has led many Evangelicals to equate their faith
with Zionism, becoming apologists for the State of Israel itself and defending
apartheid and human rights abuses in the name of God.[75]
Kenneth Cragg summarises the
implications of Christian Zionism’s ethnic exclusivity.
It is so; God chose the Jews; the land is theirs by divine gift. These dicta cannot be questioned or resisted. They are final. Such verdicts come infallibly from Christian biblicists for whom Israel can do no wrong-thus fortified. But can such positivism, this unquestioning finality, be compatible with the integrity of the Prophets themselves? It certainly cannot square with the open peoplehood under God which is the crux of New Testament faith. Nor can it well be reconciled with the ethical demands central to law and election alike.[76]
The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), representing the indigenous and ancient Oriental and Eastern Churches, has been highly critical of the activities of Christian Zionists. They regard Christian Zionism as a deviant heresy which is subservient to the political agenda of the modern State of Israel. It represents a tendency to,
...force the Zionist model of theocratic and ethnocentric nationalism on the Middle East... (rejecting)... the movement of Christian unity and inter-religious understanding which is promoted by the (indigenous) churches in the region. The Christian Zionist programme, with its elevation of modern political Zionism, provides the Christian with a world view where the gospel is identified with the ideology of success and militarism. It places its emphasis on events leading up to the end of history rather than living Christ's love and justice today.[77]
What should evangelicals make of
Christian Zionism and its claim to biblical certitude regarding Israel? Christian Zionists make much of Romans 9-11
suggesting, wrongly in the opinion of the author, that the promises of future
spiritual revival are synonymous with physical restoration. It is rare, however
to find any analysis among Christian Zionists of Hebrews 8:13, which, it is
suggested, provides not only the hermeneutical key to unravelling the Christian
Zionist case, but also to explaining Paul’s vehemence at the Judaizing
tendencies corrupting the church in Galatia.
By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. (Hebrews 8:13)
It may be argued that it should be
impossible for Christians to view claims and promises made to the Jews by God
in the Hebrew scriptures without now reading them through the cross and its
irrevocable consequences for the Jews. Now we find that it is Gentiles (and
Jews who believe in Jesus) who are declared to be the true children of Abraham
and Sarah. Jews outside the new covenant of grace have, through the cross, and
because of their rejection of Jesus, become the children of Hagar. (Galatians
4:21-26). This is no excuse for arrogance or worse. With sensitivity and compassion
we must rightly share our faith in Jesus praying that our Jewish friends find
their Messiah and complete their faith. However, any suggestion that the Jewish
people continue to have a special status or exclusive rights to the lands of
the Middle East, as advocated by Christian Zionists is surely, in the words of
John Stott, ‘biblical anathema.’[78]
1. The Old Testament promises about the
Jews’ return to the land are comforted by promises of the Jews’ return to the
Lord. It is hard to see how that secular, unbelieving State of Israel can
possibly be a fulfillment of those prophecies.
2. The Old Testament promises about the
land are nowhere repeated in the New Testament. The prophecy of Romans 11 is a
prophecy that many Jews will turn to Christ, but the land is not mentioned nor
is Israel mentioned as a political entity...
3. The Old Testament promises according
to the apostles are fulfilled in Christ and the international community of
Christ. The New Testament authors apply the promise of Abraham’s seed to Jesus
Christ. And they apply to Jesus Christ the promise of the land and all the land
which is inherited, the land flowing with milk and honey, because it is in him
that our hunger is satisfied and out thirst quenched. A return to Jewish
nationalism would seem incompatible with this New Testament perspective of the
international community of Jesus.[79]
Essentially, Christian Zionists are
viewing biblical prophecy through the wrong end of the telescope. In doing so,
they distort the Bible and marginalise the universal imperative of the gospel
which is of equal grace and common justice. It may therefore be argued that it
is actually Christian Zionists who are anti-Semitic through their partisan
support for Israel’s apartheid regime, their antipathy toward Arabs, and their
almost pathological conviction which makes them ‘anxious for Armageddon’.[80] In so doing, they have, whether
intentionally or otherwise, legitimised the oppression of Palestinian
Christians in the name of God.
© Stephen
Sizer
5
March 2001