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Do
Not Let Anyone Fool You! ... You Need To Know the difference:
The Enemy are
NOT the Jewish people, the enemy are the Zionists
Israeli, as a term used today, does NOT
equal being
Jewish, or vice versa. Israeli is a member of a modern political
ideology that equals Zionist.
Zionist are European
escapees,
with a terrorist ideology,
who fled from the German government forces during WWI and WWII to
Palestine, to be joined by poverty
stricken riffraff from all regions of the world such as Germany,
Austria, Poland, Russia, Africa, Iraq, Morocco, Egypt... etc, in
search for relative materialistic comfort and "free" wealth in the
"promised land, the land of milk and honey!", which they were
promised by the Zionist.
On November 10, 1975 the United Nations General Assembly adopted, by
a majority vote, its Resolution 3379, which states as its
conclusion: Zionism is a form of racism
and racial discrimination.
The resolution also endorsed an August 1975 statement by the
Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Non-Aligned Countries
(Lima, Peru), that: ...severely condemned
Zionism as a threat to world peace and security and called upon all
countries to oppose this racist and imperialist ideology.
Zionist does NOT
equal being Jewish,
or vice versa. Zionism is a political ideology synonymous with
Israeli.
The biblical genetic decedents of Jacob grandson son of
Abraham are known as Hebrews or Jews,
NOT
Israelis or Zionist. If you want to be picky: The sons of
Jacob are Egyptian, and Abraham was an Iraqi (Babylonian) from
the city of Ur, who escaped to Palestine on his way to Egypt
fearing the prosecution of his people after desecrating their
"gods", where the Palestinians took him in, and bestowed their
hospitality and protection upon him and his family.
The term "Jewish" has different and distinct meanings.
One is attributed to theology, and the other to genetic
ancestry.
It is
important for the reader to understand that the conflict in Palestine is not
between the Palestinians and the Jews (race), it is between the Palestinians
(the natives of Palestine) and the occupying Zionists (from Europe...etc.)
To elaborate, you can be "Jewish" if:
1. You
believe and follow the faith and teachings of Prophet Moses
and the Torah.
Hence, by this definition, anyone
in the world could be labeled as "Jewish", as would be the
case with using the terms "Christian" or "Moslem" for example.
2. Being
of Hebrew ancestry (genetic descendent of the twelve sons of
Jacob the Biblical patriarch).
The modern occupiers of the Holy
Land of Palestine (known today to some as "Israel") are
NOT by
majority ancestral Hebrews, they are followers of the
Zionists political ideology from all over the world.
The Hebrews describe themselves as "God's chosen people"
in historical texts, well by the same texts, "God's chosen people" are those who uphold the TRUTH":
The ninth commandment prohibits swearing falsely against your
neighbor in matters of law and civil proceedings, but, on a deeper
level, it implicitly indicates the responsibility to be a witness of
the truth at all times. Note that the Hebrew word for "truth"
(emet) is composed from the first, the middle, and the last
letters of the Hebrew alphabet, thus indicating that it encompasses
the first things, the last things, and everything in between. Thus, in
relation to our neighbor (who is really everyone), we are to be
truthful and bear witness to the truth in all our moments of life. By
lying, by bearing false testimony, we effectively deny the
relationship to the One who said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the
Life." By this definition it is safe to say that the
Israelis/Zionists do not qualify to be in the ranks of "God's" chosen
people!
"Thou shalt
not bear false witness against thy neighbor"
— Ex. 20:16
So, next time you hear the term "Jewish":
Think! Does it imply a follower of the faith? or is it
describing a genetic descendent of Jacob? or is it being used
as a propaganda tool? ... And above all, it is critical to
remember, that being Jewish does NOT mean being Israeli or
Zionist.
PS: For all of us less knowledgeable Christian people,
especially in the USA, who go to church and donate 1,000,000's
of Dollars annually, in person, by mail and by phone to support
Christian Zionist churches, that support "Israel"
and the Zionists in the occupied Holy Land of Palestine...
| Defining Christian
Zionism... |
Christian Zionism and its Impact on
Justice
Dr. Stephen R. Sizer
The Revd. Dr. Stephen Sizer is the vicar of
Christ Church, Virginia Water, Surry. He is acting
Chairman of Living Stones, Chairman of the International
Bible Society (UK), and an area tutor at the School of
Theology, Westminister College, Oxford. He has written
three books: Panorama of the Bible Lands, In the
Footsteps of Jesus and the Apostles, and Christian
Zionism, Road Map to Armageddon?.
Lecture given at the National Conference on Justice for Al
Quds Saturday 6th May, 2000. Wyggeston Queen Elizabeth 1
College, Leicester.
This will form but
a brief introduction to Christian Zionism. I propose to
introduce you to some leading Christian Zionist agencies and
leaders under three headings, history, theology and
politics. In my conclusions I will attempt a preliminary
critique and alternative. May I reassure you at the outset
that the majority of Christians do not endorse or support
Zionism. If you are interested in reading further material
on Christian Zionism I will direct you to some useful
sources. Lets begin with a definition.
1. A Definition: What is Christian Zionism?
At its simplest, Christian Zionism has
been defined as 'Christian support for Zionism.'1
In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed
resolution 3379 defining Zionism as, 'a form of racism
and racial discrimination.'2
Contemporary Christian Zionism is in part a reaction to
increasing world-wide criticism of Israel's form of
apartheid.
So, for
example, in 1967, following the passing of U.N. Resolution
242 condemning Israel's occupation of the West Bank when the
entire international community closed their embassy's in
Jerusalem, the International Christian Embassy moved to
Jerusalem expressly to show solidarity with Israel.
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.3
Anti-zionism is equated quite wrongly
with anti-semitism. Yet it is also rare therefore to find
Christian Zionists who feel a similar compassion or
solidarity with the Palestinians. Walter Riggans defines the
term 'Christian Zionist' in an overtly political
sense 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.'4
Christian
Zionism then describes a broad coalition of agencies, some
predominantly Gentile, others Jewish Christians who believe
Jesus is their Messiah. There are today well over 250
Christian Zionist organisations operating in America alone.5
2. The History of Christian Zionism
In Der Judenstaat, published in 1896, Theodor
Herzl forcefully articulated the aspirations of Jewish
Zionists for their own homeland, but the Zionist dream was
largely nurtured and shaped by Christian Zionists especially
from the 1820's long before it was able to inspire
widespread Jewish support a century later. This was in part
a result of the rise of Evangelicalism - a belief in the
literal interpretation of the Bible and especially the
Hebrew scriptures, the growth in travel literature about the
Middle East, the rise of 19th Western pilgrimages to the
Holy Land, and above all by French and British Colonialist
strategies for controlling the Middle East as a bridgehead
to the trade routes to India and China. British politicians
like Lord Shaftesbury, Palmerston, Lloyd George, Balfour,
T.E. Lawrence and General Allenby were all Christian
Zionists.6
Just one example,
Writing to the the British ambassador in Constantinople in
1840, Lord Palmerston claimed,
There
exists at the present time among the Jews dispersed over
Europe, a strong notion that the time is approaching when
their nation is to return to Palestine... It would be of
manifest importance to the Sultan to encourage the Jews to
return and to settle in Palestine because the wealth which
they would bring with them would increase the resources of
the Sultan's dominions; and the Jewish people, if returning
under the sanction and protection and at the invitation of
the Sultan, would be a check upon any future evil designs of
Mohamet Ali or his successor... I have to instruct Your
Excellency strongly to recommend [the Turkish government] to
hold out every just encouragement to the Jews of Europe to
return to Palestine.7
In the 20th Century
many leading American politicians were Christian Zionists
including Ronald Reagan and Jimmie Carter.
3. The Theology of Christian Zionism
3.1 Biblical Literalism
Christian Zionism originated essentially in the 1820's
when a group of influential Christian leaders began to
speculate that promises made in the Hebrew scriptures that
has not been yet fulfilled literally must therefore await
future fulfilment. So for example the borders of the land
promised to Abraham and the descendents of Isaac - from the
Nile to the Euphrates - will Christian Zionists claim,
become the future borders of the State of Israel.
Because the Jewish temple as described by the prophet
Ezekiel has never been built, it must one day be built in
place of the Dome of the Rock. Promises made during the
exile of Jews in Babylon in the 5th Century BC are made to
apply 2500 years later to the emigration of Soviet Jews to
Palestine today.
It is this biblical literalism - where every word must be
taken literally and unconditionally - that fuels Christian
Zionism. Instead of allowing Jesus and his Apostles to
interpret the Hebrew Scriptures they are made to speak about
present and future events almost as if the Christian
Scriptures were never written. Just one quote from the New
testament that refutes this position.
By calling
this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and
what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear... The law is
only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not
the realities themselves. For this reason it can
never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after
year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
(Hebrews 8:13; 10:1)
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. The question is 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 assumption which
Christian Zionists consistently fail to acknowledge.
3.2 Covenant Chosenness
Because of their biblical literalism Christian Zionists
believe that the Jews remain God's chosen people and have a
unique relationship to God. The promises made to Abraham
remain true today for the descendants of Isaac, Jacob and
Joseph. In Genesis 15 God indicates the extent of that land,
"On that
day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your
descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the
great river, the Euphrates."
(Genesis 15:18)
Christian Friends
of Israel 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.8
Bridges For Peace
similarly affirm,
'Through programs both in
Israel and world-wide, we are giving Christians the
opportunity to actively express our biblical responsibility
before God to be faithful to Israel and the Jewish
community.'9
The Messianic
Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) claims to be the largest
association of Messianic Jewish believers in the world,
founded in 1915. MJAA has affiliations in 15 countries, 250
Messianic Synagogues, and 350,000 Messianic Jews world-wide.
They insist they are 'the leading representative
organisation for American Jews who believe in Messiah
Yeshua' 10
Their simple statement of belief states,
We believe in G-d's
eternal covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We,
therefore, stand with and support the Jewish people and the
State of Israel and hold fast to the Biblical heritage of
our forefathers.11
Christian Zionists
err because they fail to recognise in the Hebrew and
Christian scriptures, 'chosenness' becomes the gift of God's
grace to all who trust in Him, irrespective of their racial
origins.
3.3 Restorationism
The theology of Christian Zionism is based on a belief
in Restorationism, that is the promise of the land made to
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph was unconditional and
eternal, therefore Christian Zionists encourage Jews to
return to Palestine and occupy what they see as their
eternal heritage.
The International Christian Embassy is
the most politicised Christian Zionist organisation. At the
Third International Christian Zionist Congress held
in Jerusalem 25-29 February, 1996 under the auspices of
ICEJ, some 1,500 delegates from over 40 countries
unanimously affirmed an affirmation of Christian Zionism
including 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.12
Lewis Sperry
Chafer, founding president of Dallas Theological Seminary,
in tghe United States, the most influential Christian
Zionist academic institution in the world, claims,
'Israel is an eternal nation,
heir to an eternal land, with an eternal kingdom, on which
David rules from an eternal throne'13
Perhaps now you can
begin to see how their theology influences or determines
their politics.
4. The
Politics of Christian Zionism
I'd like to briefly highlight
three aspects of the politics of Christian Zionism that
impact the search for justice in the Middle East.
4.1 Attitudes toward Arabs and Palestinians
Christian Zionists while lovers of Israel are invariably
also hostile toward Arabs and Palestinians. The demise of
the Soviet Union, the rise of militant Islam, the success of
the Allies in the Gulf War, and the approaching third
millennium have only fuelled more imaginative speculations
among fundamentalists, while the same anti-Arab prejudices
and Orientalist stereotypes persist. Hal Lindsey is the most
popular Christian Zionist writer author of over 20 books
with sales exceeding 50 million copies. He 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.14
Charles Dyer, a
professor at Dallas Theological Seminary warns that Saddam
Hussein plans to attempt to repeat Nebuchadnezzar's conquest
of Israel, the only Arab ever to have done so. 'The
Middle East is the world's time bomb, and Babylon is the
fuse that will ignite the events of the end times.'15
For American
Christian Zionists, in particular, America is seen as the
great redeemer, her role in the world providentially and
politically preordained.16
The two nations of America and Israel are like 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 Communist and Islamic regimes antithetical to
the values of America and Israel.17
4.2
Apocalyptic View of the Future
The 1967 'Six Day War' marked a
significant watershed for evangelical 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... Macho or muscular Christians such as
Falwell credited Israeli General Moshe Dayan with this
victory over Arab forces and termed him the Miracle Man of
the Age, and the Pentagon invited him to Vietnam and tell us
how to win the war.18
The titles of Hal
Lindsey's books show an increasingly exaggerated and almost
pathological emphasis on the apocalyptic, on death and
suffering.19 They are
replete with categorical assertions that biblical prophecy
is being fulfilled in this generation signalling the
imminent destruction of the world. Hal Lindsey dogmatically
asserts,
We are the generation the
prophets were talking about. We have witnessed biblical
prophecies come true. The birth of Israel. The decline in
American power and morality. The rise of Russian and Chinese
might. The threat of war in the Middle East. The increase of
earthquakes, volcanoes, famine and drought. The Bible
foretells the signs that precede Armageddon... We are the
generation that will see the end times ...and the return of
Jesus.20
Lindsey's last but
one book, The Final Battle, includes the statement on
the cover,
"Never
before, in one book, has there been such a complete and
detailed look at the events leading up to 'The Battle of
Armageddon.'"21
Lindsey confidently
asserts that the world is degenerating and that the forces
of evil manifest in godless Communism and militant Islam are
the real enemies of Israel. He describes in detail the
events leading to the great battle at Megiddo between the
massive Russian, Chinese and African armies that will
attempt but fail to destroy Israel. He offers illustrated
plans showing future military movements of armies and naval
convoys leading up to the battle of Armageddon.22
These will merely hasten the return of Jesus
Christ as King of the Jews who will rule over the other
nations from the rebuilt Jewish temple on the site of the
destroyed Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.23
Obstacle or no obstacle,
it is certain that the Temple will be rebuilt. Prophecy
demands it... With the Jewish nation reborn in the land of
Palestine, ancient Jerusalem once again under total Jewish
control for the first time in 2600 years, and talk of
rebuilding the great Temple, the most important sign of
Jesus Christ's soon coming is before us... It is like the
key piece of a jigsaw puzzle being found... For all those
who trust in Jesus Christ, it is a time of electrifying
excitement.24
An indication of
how seriously Christian Zionists take the military aspect of
their apocalyptic scenario can be seen from the content of
the itinerary used by Jerry Falwell, in his 'Friendship Tour
to Israel'. It includes meetings with top Israeli government
and military officials and,
.....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.25
Given the fact that
Christian Zionists are essentially pessimistic about the
future, there is also,
4.3
Hostility toward the Peace Negotiations
The International Christian
Embassy, Jerusalem, as the semi-official voice of Zionist
organisations, is frequently cultivated, exploited and
quoted by the Israeli Government when ever a sympathetic
Christian view point is needed to enhance their own
policies, and rebut Western criticism. Every Israeli Prime
Minister since 1980 has spoken at their annual international
gatherings in Jerusalem.
For example, in
October 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu the Israeli Prime Minister
spoke at the Jerusalem 3000 rally organised by the
International Christian Embassy, Jerusalem, to support
Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem. Following the
provocative opening of an underground tunnel by the Israelis
from the Western Wall through the Moslem Quarter, he was
cheered when he insisted the tunnel, 'is open. It will
stay open. It will always stay open.'26
The
religio-political agenda of the International Christian
Embassy is made quite explicit in this declaration.
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. As a faith bound
to love and forgiveness we are appreciative of the attempts
by the Government of Israel to work tirelessly for peace.
However, the truths of God are sovereign and it is written
that the Land which He promised to His People is not to be
partitioned... It would be further error for the nations to
recognise a Palestinian state in any part of Eretz Israel...
The Golan is part of biblical Israel and is a vital
strategic asset necessary for the security and defence of
the entire country....
To this end we commit to work with
Israel and to encourage the Diaspora to fulfil the vision
and goal of gathering to Israel the greater majority of all
Jewish People from throughout the world.27
Not surprisingly
therefore the Oslo Peace-Accord has been sharply criticised
by Christian Zionist groups who see it as a threat to the
realisation of Eretz Israel. In particular they have opposed
the handing back of the West Bank and the threat to the
status of the Jewish settlements. For example, Theodore
Temple Beckett, Chairman of the Christian Friends of Israel
Community Development Foundation has initiated an 'adopt-a-settlement'
program among American Evangelical Churches. The Jewish town
of Ariel has already been adopted by Faith Bible Chapel in
Denver. By the end of 1995 it was Beckett's expectation that
around 70 Jewish settlements would have been adopted by
churches,
...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.28
5.
Conclusions: A Critique of Christian Zionism
I realise that this has been
just a taster for the history, theology and politics of
Christian Zionism. And I reassure you again the majority of
Christians do not identify with what we regard as heresy and
apostasy. Nevertheless it is very influential and an
impediment to justice and peace in the Middle East.
Karen Armstrong is not alone in tracing in Western Christian
Zionism evidence of the legacy of the Crusades.
Fundamentalists have, she claims, 'returned to a
classical and extreme religious crusading.'29
Rosemary Ruether also sees the danger of this kind of
Christian Zionism in its, 'dualistic, Manichaean view of
global politics. America and Israel together against an evil
world.'30 The
following quote from Senator Bob Dole is a good example,
American-Israeli friendship is
no accident. It is a product of our shared values. We are
both democracies. We are both pioneer states. We have both
opened our doors to the oppressed. We have both shown a
passion for freedom and we have gone to war to protect it.
31
This 'simple
dualism' and 'highly dogmatic thinking' is something Bishop
Kenneth Cragg, probably the greatest English Christian
Islamic scholar alive today, comments on. Satirically, he
writes,
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.32
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
assert Christian Zionists have aggressively imposed an
aberrant expression of the Christian faith and an erroneous
interpretation of the Bible which is subservient to the
political agenda of the modern State of Israel. Indeed they
represent 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.33
It is therefore
perhaps not surprising that among the Middle East churches
generally, Christian Zionism is regarded as a devious
heresy, an unwelcome and alien intrusion into their culture,
which advocates an ethnocentric and nationalist political
agenda running counter to their work of seeking justice and
reconciliation among both Jews and Muslims.34
Essentially,
Christian Zionism fails to recognise the deep seated
problems that exist between Palestinians and Israelis; it
distorts the Bible and marginalises the universal imperative
of the Christian message that God loves all people; it has
grave political ramifications and ultimately ignores the
sentiments of the overwhelming majority of indigenous
Christians.35 It is a
situation that many believe the Government of Israel
exploits to her advantage, cynically welcoming Christian
Zionists as long as they remain docile and compliant with
Israeli government policy. Kenneth Cragg offers this astute
critique of Christian Zionism,
The overriding criteria
of Christian perception have to be those of equal grace and
common justice. From these there can be no proper exemption,
however alleged or presumed. Chosenness cannot properly be
either an ethnic exclusivism or a political facility.36
Christian Zionism
offers an uncritical endorsement of the Israeli political
right and at the same time shows an inexcusable lack of
compassion for the Palestinian tragedy. In doing so it has
legitimised their oppression in the name of God. In the
words of Kenneth Leech, Christian Zionism as a form of
fundamentalism,
"...represents a
narrowing of vision, a closing of doors, a diminishing of
human beings, and a backward force in human history..."37
Christian Zionism :
A Critique
|
Constructive38
|
Destructive |
|
1. Encouragement of dialogue
between Jews and Christians |
1. Justifies apartheid in an
exclusive Jewish State |
|
2. Opposition to
Anti-Semitism |
2. Supports ethnic-cleansing
of Palestinians and building of Jewish settlements in
the Occupied Territories to create Eretz Israel |
|
3. Education of the Jewish
origins of the Christian faith |
3. Encourages religious
intolerance, demonising Islam and any opposition to
Israel |
|
4. Humanitarian work among
Jewish refugees |
4. Incites religious
fanaticism in supporting building of Jewish Temple on
Mount Moriah |
| |
5. Dismisses moderate Jewish
position who are willing to negotiate land for peace |
| |
6. Undermines Christian
faith by justifying the denial of human rights |
| |
7. Apocalyptic Eschatology
is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. |
To be frank, Israel is a
materialistic and apartheid State practising repressive and
dehumanising measures against the Palestinians in flagrant
disregard of the United Nations and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Christian Zionists who endorse
such policies would do well to heed Joshua's final words,
Now I am about to go
the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and
soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God
gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not
one has failed. But just as every good promise of the Lord
your God has come true, so the Lord will bring on you all
the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from
this good land he has given you. If you violate the covenant
of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and
serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord's anger will
burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good
land he has given you. (Joshua 23:14-16)
Like Isaac's children Jacob
and Esau, it is time to stop fighting over the birthright
and start sharing the blessings.39
May
the justice of God fall down like fire and bring a home for
the Palestinian.
May the mercy of God pour down like rain and protect the
Jewish people.
And may the beautiful eyes of a Holy God who weeps for His
children
Bring the healing hope for His wounded ones
For the Jew and the Palestinian.40
John Hubers, Autumn 2002
America, in part, owes its
national identity to the prevalence of powerful myths which
arose out of its early history. Many are attached to
founding "fathers", others to the experience of nation
building. Perhaps the most powerful myth is that which
developed out of the frontier experience of an emerging
nation. Manifest destiny is how historians label it, the
belief that the settlement and taming of this vast largely
uninhabited land by European colonialists was a divinely
destined event. Here's how the story goes:
More…
Father Daniel Swires, June 2004
In the Name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit.
There is an ancient belief among some people known as
"millenarianism" or "chiliasm." This is the belief that
Christ will set up an earthly kingdom and will rule it for a
thousand years, usually referred to as the "Millenium."
This belief actually has its origin in post-exilic Judaism.
An anticipation that survived the Babylonian exile was that
one day God would restore the kingdom of David under a model
anointed king, the Messiah. Even though idealized, this
would be an earthly, historical kingdom, and most often its
relation to the end-time was not specified.
More…
Dr. Stephen R. Sizer
At its simplest, Christian
Zionism has been defined as 'Christian support for Zionism.
Central to Christian Zionism is the belief in the abiding
relevance of the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis
12:3, 'I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses
you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed
through you.Christian Zionists tend to 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 objective
towards Israel. It is rare therefore to find Christian
Zionists who feel a similar solidarity with the
Palestinians.
More…
Dr. Stephen R. Sizer, May 1999
There are two essential
questions which this article will seek to address: one
political and one theological. They are multifaceted and
interwoven.
The political question is this:
How should Christians view the situation in Israel/Palestine
today, where two peoples claim the same territory? How
should they regard the State of Israel? As a democracy or
apartheid state? Should the Israeli authorities and
Christian Zionists continue to resist Palestinian
aspirations to autonomy and statehood? Should they continue
to occupy, settle and annexe more and more of East
Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, creating small urban
Bantustan reservations for Palestinians living under
military occupation within a exclusive Jewish state? Or, do
Palestinians have fundamental human rights and freedoms
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? For
example, to live in the land of their birth, to freedom of
movement, to work, education and religious practice, and
collectively to the right of self determination, political
expression, autonomy and nationhood? That is the essential
political question.
More…
Dr. Stephen R. Sizer, May 2000
Lecture given at the National
Conference on Justice for Al Quds Saturday 6th May, 2000.
Wyggeston Queen Elizabeth 1 College, Leicester.
This will form but a brief
introduction to Christian Zionism. I propose to introduce
you to some leading Christian Zionist agencies and leaders
under three headings, history, theology and politics. In my
conclusions I will attempt a preliminary critique and
alternative. May I reassure you at the outset that the
majority of Christians do not endorse or support Zionism. If
you are interested in reading further material on Christian
Zionism I will direct you to some useful sources. Lets begin
with a definition.
1. A Definition: What is
Christian Zionism?
At its simplest, Christian Zionism has been defined as
"Christian support for Zionism." In 1975, the United Nations
General Assembly passed resolution 3379 defining Zionism as,
"a form of racism and racial discrimination." Contemporary
Christian Zionism is in part a reaction to increasing
world-wide criticism of Israel's form of apartheid.
More…
John Hubers, Lent 2004
On October 6, 2002, the popular
American investigative TV program, 60 Minutes, introduced
its viewers to Christian Zionism in a segment they entitled:
"Zion's Christian Soldiers." Outspoken former Moral Majority
founder, The Rev. Jerry Falwell, was the primary guest.
Correspondent Bob Simon interviewed Falwell, asking his
opinion on a variety of subjects related to Middle Eastern
affairs. How he replied astonished many, infuriated many
more. By week's end his words would be published and
republished in every major news venue around the world, most
notably in those countries where Islam is the dominant
faith: "I think that Muhammad was a terrorist," he said.
"I've read enough of the history of his life, written by
Muslims and non Muslims, to say that he was a violent man of
war."
More…
Dr. Stephen R. Sizer, Revised
August 1998
At its simplest, Christian
Zionism has been defined as 'Christian support for
Zionism.'1 In Der Judenstaat, published in 1896, Theodor
Herzl forcefully articulated the aspirations of Jewish
Zionists for their own homeland, although the Zionist dream
was largely nurtured and shaped by Christian Zionists long
before it was able to inspire widespread Jewish support in
the 1940's.
More…
Dr. Stephen R. Sizer, Revised
August 1998
An analysis of the history of
Western Christian attitudes toward the Jews and the Holy
Land lies beyond the scope of this study. Others however
have done so comprehensively.1 Furthermore the development
of non-Jewish Zionism, and especially its early origins in
Puritanism and Millenarianism has also already been ably
researched.2 This chapter will focus on those specific
historical events and theological developments that appear
to have been determinative in the rise of contemporary
Western Christian Zionism.
More…
Dr. Stephen R. Sizer
The literal interpretation of
Scripture, as opposed to the allegoricalism found in Roman
Catholicism, was generally normative among Protestant
denominations from the Reformation until the rise of
liberalism in the 19th Century. From the early 19th
century literalism increasingly became associated with
evangelicalism and fundamentalism to the point where today
they are now virtually synonymous. Within this broad
movement, which was predominantly postmillennial in outlook,
the development of a distinctive Christian Zionist
hermeneutic can be dated to the early 19th Century and the
influence of a group of British and Irish evangelical
leaders who began meeting together to study what they
perceived to be as yet 'unfulfilled' prophecies concerning
the Jews. The Albury conferences brought together Edward
Irving's innovative and pessimistic form of
premillennialism, Lewis Way's preoccupation with the literal
and futurist fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies and
Joseph Wolff's quest for the 'lost tribes' of Israel. These
meetings and those held subsequently at Powerscourt in
Ireland and the journals and books published by the Albury
Circle, such as in the Morning Watch, provided the
catalyst for what became the increasingly popular conviction
that God had a continuing and separate purpose for the
Jewish people, apart from the Church. The Albury Circle
popularised the belief in the imminent rediscovery of the
ten lost tribes, their mass conversion and return to
Palestine just prior to the return of the Messiah. While the
conviction that such events would occur in their own life
time proved unfounded, the belief that such events were
nevertheless predicted in the Bible became the theological
foundation for 20th Century Christian Zionism.
More…
Dr. Stephen R. Sizer, November
2001
Only one nation, Israel, stands
between ... terrorist aggression and the complete decline of
the United States as a democratic world power... If Israel
falls, the United States can no longer remain a democracy.
...Arab money is being used to control and influence major
U.S. Corporations, making it economically more and more
difficult for the United States to stand against world
terrorism.
Whether you agree with, or
question such assertions made by Mike Evans in his book,
'Israel - America's Key to Survival', the theological
perspective which he and others such as Hal Lindsey, Tim
LaHaye and Dave Hunt espouse, is very popular. Their
combined book sales exceed 100 million copies.
More…
Dr. Stephen R. Sizer
This paper will assess the
hermeneutical presuppositions of dispensationalism, and
Christian Zionism, in particular, which is probably the most
pervasive and destructive theological system in Protestant
circles today. Christian Zionism is founded first of all
upon a literal and futurist interpretation of the Bible
which leads proponents to distinguish between references to
Israel and the Church. Injunctions and promises concerning
the ancient Jews are applied to the contemporary State of
Israel rather than to the Church. From this hermeneutic
flows the conviction that the Jews remain God's "chosen
people," distinct from the Church, whether until the end of
the millennium as held by covenant premillennialists, or
into eternity as affirmed by most dispensationalists. God's
end-time purpose for the Jews is expressed in
Restorationism. The destiny of the Jewish people is to
return to the land of Israel and reclaim their inheritance
promised to Abraham and his descendants for ever. This
inheritance extends from the River of Egypt to the
Euphrates. Within their land, Jerusalem is recognised to be
their exclusive, undivided and eternal capital, and
therefore it cannot be shared or divided. At the heart of
Jerusalem will be the rebuilt Jewish Temple to which all the
nations will come to worship God. Just prior to the return
of Jesus, there will be seven years of calamities and war
known as the Tribulation which will culminate in a great
battle called Armageddon during which the godless forces
opposed to both God and Israel will be defeated. Jesus will
then return as the Jewish Messiah and king to reign in
Jerusalem for a thousand years and the Jewish people will
enjoy a privileged status and role in the world. Each of
these seven doctrines will be considered in turn.
More…
Donald Wagner, June 2004
On a moonlit December evening in
Bethlehem's Manger Square, seventeen year-old Johnny
Thaljiya was outside his cousin's souvenir shop. He had just
finished the evening mass at the historic Greek Orthodox
Church of the Nativity where he served as an altar boy.
Suddenly, Johnny let out a scream and grabbed his throat as
he fell to his knees and collapsed. Family and friends
rushed to his side and realized that Johnny had been shot
through the throat by an Israeli sniper, not an unusual fate
for young Palestinian men these days. Rushed to the
hospital, it was too late to save him. Johnny died within an
hour as the number of Palestinian deaths crept toward 800
over the previous 16 months of the al-Aqsa intifada.
More…
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...
You are wasting your money, for it will not
be "buying you a ticket to heaven", on the contrary, you are
supporting genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism,
Supremacism, triumphalism,
and a few other negative "isim's"... and if you
think that these churches care about you and your challenges
in life, and want to help you heal, find a job, a significant
other... etc. you are wrong again! The media is full of
stories exposing this fact, and if
you doubt what I am saying, read the following recent news
article:
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By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer ,11/2/2006
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Some of the letters
are comical (a man asking God to let him win the lottery,
twice), others are heartbreaking (a distraught teen asking
forgiveness for an abortion, an unwed mother pleading with
God to make the baby's father marry her). The letters —
about 300 in all, sent to a New Jersey minister — ended up
dumped in the ocean, most of them unopened.
The minister died two years ago at 79.
How the letters, some dating to 1973, wound up bobbing in
the surf is a mystery.
"There are hundreds of lives here, a lot
of struggle, washed up on the beach," said Bill Lacovara,
a Ventnor insurance adjuster who was fishing last month
with his son when he spotted a flowered plastic shopping
bag and waded out to retrieve it. "This is just a hint of
what really happens. How many letters like this all over
the world aren't being opened or answered?"
Many of the letters were addressed to
the Rev. Grady Cooper, though many more simply said
"Altar." According to the text of several of them, they
were intended to be placed on a church's altar and prayed
over by the minister, the congregation or both.
Some were neatly written in script on
white-lined paper, others in a feverish scrawl on tattered
scraps of parchment or note cards. Many were crinkled from
being in the water and then dried out after Lacovara
fished them out of the sea.
A dog-eared business card inside one of
the letters identified Cooper as associate pastor of the
Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Jersey City. A woman who
answered the phone at the church office confirmed Cooper
once was a minister there, and had died nearly two years
ago. The current pastor did not return several calls from
The Associated Press over the past few days.
Other documents in the bag, including
bank statements and canceled checks, also listed Cooper's
name and an address for him in Jersey City. A death
certificate issued in 2004 for a Grady Cooper lists the
same address as those on the bank documents and some of
the letters.
His wife, Frances, whose name also
showed up on some of the letters at the same address, died
in 2000, according to Hudson County records.
No one answered the door last week at
the address where Cooper once lived, and a neighbor said
he did not recall anyone by that name. Attempts to locate
Cooper's relatives were unsuccessful.
Lacovara speculated that someone
cleaning out Cooper's home found the letters and threw
them on the beach in Atlantic City, about 100 miles from
Jersey City.
"I guess rather than just throw them in
the garbage, maybe they thought they'd set them out to sea
to bless these people," he said. "So they made a trip to
Atlantic City, maybe went to a casino, and put the letters
in the water."
The letters, wrapped in several smaller
brown paper bags inside the larger plastic bag, did not
appear to have been in the water too long, Lacovara said,
though about half were too badly damaged to be legible.
He opened a few with his son, Rocky, on
the beach. The first few were humorous.
"I'm still praying to hit the lottery
twice: first the $50,000," one man wrote. "Than after some
changes have taken place let me hit the millionaire."
Another asked God to make a certain
someone "leave me alone and stay off my back," while still
another asks God to calm a woman who "call the Internal
Revenue on me."
One woman complained that her husband
always talks about sex, and another writer anonymously
dropped a dime to God on someone cheating on his wife,
complete with dates, times and locations.
But those, Lacovara soon found, were the
exception.
Many more were written by anguished
spouses, children or widows, pouring out their hearts to
God, asking for help with relatives who were using drugs,
gambling or cheating on them. One man wrote from prison,
saying he was innocent and wanted to be back home with his
family. A woman wrote that her boyfriend was now closing
the door to her daughter's bedroom each night when it used
to stay open, and wondered why.
A teenager poured out her heart on
yellow-lined paper in the curlicue pencil handwriting of a
schoolgirl, begging God to forgive her and asking for a
second chance.
"Lord, I know that I have had an
abortion and I killed one of your angels," she wrote.
"There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about
the mistake I made."
One unwed mother wrote that her baby was
due in four weeks, and asked God to make the father fall
in love with her and marry her so the child would have a
father.
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