- Miracles can happen, even in the lazy heat of summer.
At the end of July, 34 evangelical leaders signed a remarkable letter to
the President. It urges a more balanced view of Israel than is generally
heard from the American pulpit.
-
- "Precisely as evangelical Christians committed to
the full teaching of the Scriptures, we know that blessing and loving people
(including Jews and the present State of Israel) does not mean withholding
criticism when it is warranted," say these leaders, "Genuine
love and genuine blessing means acting in ways that promote the genuine
and long-term well being of our neighbors."
-
- Their letter endorses a two-state solution and acknowledges
that "both Israelis and Palestinians have legitimate rights stretching
back for millennia to the lands of Israel/Palestine."
-
- Though unlikely to fully satisfy all anti-Zionists, the
letter writers still powerfully disagree with Christian pro-Israel groups
such as Pastor John Hagee's influential Christians United for Israel (CUFI).
CUFI lobbies for a preemptive strike of Iran; it ardently opposes any return
of illegal Jewish settlements to the Palestinians who were violently expelled
from them. Christian Zionists like Hagee believe that "blessing God's
chosen people" means supplying Israel with fervent moral, financial,
and military support. Most believe this will hasten Christ's return.
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- Not all evangelicals agree! The letter's 34 signers seek
"to correct a serious misperception among some people including some
U.S. policymakers that all American evangelicals are opposed to a two-state
solution and creation of a new Palestinian state that includes the vast
majority of the West Bank. Nothing could be further from the truth."
-
- Hagee himself quickly responded. He fired a rebuttal
letter to the White House, denouncing his dissenting brethren-who include
the editor of Christianity Today, presidents of Fuller Theological Seminary
and The Christian and Missionary Alliance (of 2,000 churches), and chairman
of World Relief, among others.
-
- These letters show a very healthy, unforeseen and public
rift in the Christian evangelical church! The Jewish Week quotes Richard
Cizik, VP of the National Association of Evangelicals, saying the letters
reflect a deepening theological split among evangelicals over the church's
duty to Israel and the Jewish people.
-
- This question deeply matters: How do we bless the descendants
of Abraham? What we owe Israel matters to all Americans, church-going or
not. We are giving almost $2.5 billion to the Jewish state this year, more
than to any other nation. Our struggle in Iraq, which can largely be blamed
on our loyalty to Israel, costs us more $3 billion http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/200
- 7/08/28/AR2007082801984.html?hpid=topnews
- every week! (Yes, you read that right: $3 billion a week.) The
largest pro-Israel lobbying group, AIPAC, is one of the most powerful lobbies
in Washington DC, period. Politicians say that what Israel wants, Israel
gets. The seemingly distant struggle in the Mideast is actually very close-relevant
to every taxpayer and voter, both to us and to our children.
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- Hagee Twists Scripture
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- John Hagee claims that "Bible-believing evangelicals
will scoff" at the letter sent by the 34 Christian leaders. His organization,
CUFI, opposes "America pressuring Israel to give up more land to anyone
for any reason." Hagee says, "God gave to Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob a covenant in the Book of Genesis for the land of Israel that is
eternal and unbreakable, and that covenant is still intact." This
point of view is prevalent in the American church but is not based on a
truthful reading of the Bible.
-
- I sometimes think Christian Zionists must have an alternate
Bible that's missing passages like Gen.18:19 which says Abraham's descendants
can claim the covenant promises given to Abraham only when they "keep
the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice." Maybe the
Zionist Bible is also missing Deut. 4: 26, 27 and 30:1-3 which promise
God's exile to Jews who reject His law, requiring obedience before they
can return. God's judgment of sin is as timeless as His blessing for the
obedient! In three dramatic expulsions (after the covenant was given),
God deprived rebellious Jews of the right to occupy the land. Are these
conditional terms-repeated through the Old Testament-somehow missing from
Hagee's Bible?
-
- In July, journalist Max Blumenthal made http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7335500121260885880&q
- =blumenthal cufi&total=3&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&
- plindex=0
- Rapture Ready, a brief documentary about one of Hagee's
"Nights to Honor Israel." () A member of Hagee's audience told
Blumenthal that a sign of the "beast" is that he will force Israel
into a peace treaty with the Arabs. This audience member reflects the irrational
and unbiblical passion for Israel that has turned evangelicals-from church
pews to the White House-into the servants of right-wing Jewish Zionists.
-
- "Obviously, we have to be connected to Israel in
order to enjoy the second coming of Christ," former House majority
leader Tom DeLay told Blumenthal.
-
- But this is not at all obvious! Should we be connected
to Israel through unconditional support of her actions, whether just or
unjust-or as the righteous prophets and Christ Himself were connected:
through loving rebuke? The Bible provides strong reasons to disagree with
Hagee's passionate and undiscriminating support of the Jewish state.
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- Christians Speaking the Truth
-
- Last March, prominent talk radio host Janet Parshall
publicly dropped out of a Jewish-Christian caucus in Jerusalem after it
condemned Christian evangelism of Israeli Jews.
-
- "I thought, wait a minute. We can't just blindly
support Israel," Parshall said. "We have to be able to tell them
[about Christ] as a friend, you can't do that. You can't silence us."
She says she realized that Israel was telling evangelicals, "We'll
take your aid, your support and your tourist dollars, but we won't take
your Jesus."
-
- Like all true Christians, Parshall wants to bless Israel
as God commands. But she realized blind moral and financial support is
not a true blessing! Rather, Christians must speak the whole truth in love,
seeking first to share the blessing of redemption through Christ. She criticized
Christian Zionists for suggesting that Jews can be saved apart from obedient
trust in Christ. "That's not true," she said.
-
- She's right. And Cizik (VP of the Nat. Assoc. of Evangelicals,
remember) said Parshall's position is "gaining traction" among
evangelicals. "I hear that a lot," he told the Jewish Week.
-
- I think St. Paul would be very pleased. He said divisions
must come in the church, in order to prove who is standing with the truth.
Paul himself publicly rebuked his fellow apostle, Peter, for reverting
to Jewish laws out of fear, instead of standing on the salvation Christ
brought. Today, the Zionism and increasing Judaization of the American
church would certainly earn his public rebuke! Evangelical debate over
our duty to Israel is long overdue, and I only pray it will grow. It's
high time the church exalted the whole Biblical truth. In this case, contention
is good!
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