“Zion’s Christian Soldiers”

An Historical Analysis and Critique of Christian Zionism

60 Minutes airs“Zion’s Christian Soldiers”

Oct 6, 2002

“I think that Muhammad was a

terrorist.”

•“70 million” American Christian Zionists

•Unqualified support for Israel based on “end times” theology

•Powerful political force in America

Christian Zionism’s Political Face

There’s nothing that brings the wrath of the Christian public in

this country down on this government like abandoning or

opposing Israel in a critical matter!

Historical Development : A Drama in Three Acts

• Act 1: British Imperialism Marries

Darby’s Dispensationalism

(mid-19th c.)

• Act 2: Darby Takes America by Storm (late 19th c.)

• Act 3: Darby’s American Disciples

Develop a Political Voice

(1960’s-now)

Act 1: British Imperialism Marries Darby’s DispensationalismScene 1: Beginnings

• “the most influential figure in the development of Christian Zionism”

• Controversial reworking of historic premillenialism John Nelson Darby

(1800-1882)

Novel doctrines:

“the prophetic parts of the Bible must be interpreted literally especially those which refer to Israel

God has two separate plans for Jews and Christians. God’s plan for Jews includes the eternal and exclusive possession of the biblical land of Canaan

“the true Church” will be raptured out of history when Jesus returns. At this point the nation of Israel will become God’s covenant partner, but only Jews who accept Jesus will be spared the final battle

History is divided into dispensations. God deals with people differently in each dispensation.

(most dispensationalists consider us to be in the sixth dispensation- the dispensation of grace. The final dispensation will be signaled by the rapture and usher in the millennium. ) Don Wagner

Act 1: British Imperialism Marries Darby’s DispensationalismScene 2: Lord Shaftesbury Gives Darby a Political Twist

• Influential evangelical preacher/teacher

• Had ear of prominent politicians, most notably British foreign minister, Lord Palmerston

• Helped translate dispensationalist themes into political program calling for establishment of Jewish state

• British Jews cool towards his suggestions– Saw as attempt to deport them

Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper,

Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury

(1801-1885)

Act 1: British Imperialism Marries Darby’s DispensationalismScene 3: A Separate Development in the Jewish Community

• Hungarian Jewish writer/journalist sets in motion plans for a Jewish State (Der Judenstaat) – Not first to propose– Organizing genius– 1897- First meeting of

World Zionist Organization held in Basil, Switzerland – 200 delegates mainly from Eastern Europe

– Initial plans made to establish Jewish state in Palestine

Theodor Herzl

(1860-1904)

Act 1: British Imperialism Marries Darby’s DispensationalismScene 4: The Balfour Declaration

Met on several occasions in 1905/06 to discuss Zionist program

Act 2: Darby Takes America by Storm

19171887

“Why not give Palestine back to the Jews again? According to God’s distribution of nations it is their home, an inalienable possession from which they were expelled by force. Under their cultivation it was a remarkably fruitful land . . . Why shall not the power which under the treaty of Berlin, in 1878, gave Bulgaria to the Bulgarians and Serbia to the Serbians now give Palestine back to the Jews?”

Blackstone Declaration – 1891

signed by 413 prominent American political, business and religious leaders and presented to President Benjamin Harrison

Act 3: The Political Awakening of Darby’s American DisciplesScene 1: Early Support from Mainstream Protestants

“The fact that the Arabs have a vast hinterland in the Middle East, and the fact that the Jews have nowhere else to go establishes the relative justice of their claims and of their cause. . . Arab sovereignty over a portion of the debated territory must undoubtedly be sacrificed for the sake of establishing a Jewish homeland.”

Reinhold Niebuhr testifying before Anglo American Committee of Inquiry - 1946

• Early support for Jewish state from prominent mainstream Christian theologians

• Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Daniel Poling, William Albright– The Christian Council on

Palestine– Support on humanitarian

grounds

Reinhold Niebuhr

Act 3: The Political Awakening of Darby’s American DisciplesScene 2: The ’67 War and “The Late Great Planet Earth”

• Dispensationalism revived after “miracle” of ’67 War

– Jerusalem back in Jewish hands after 2,000 years

– New Scofield Bible (1967)– Jerry Falwell and others become

politically activated around this issue

• Hal Lindsey- “Late Great Planet Earth” (1969)

• Classic dispensationalist themes tied to current political events with Israel as centerpiece

• Finds ready audience due to cultural upheaval, general unease

• Best selling non fiction book of the decade

What About the Palestinians?

• Little said by Christian Zionists about plight of Palestinians

• Dismiss their claims to the land– “By Christian Zionist

reckoning God’s decision to return the land to the Jewish people trumps any Palestinian desire to live in the land of their birth.”

“. . . The Balfour Declaration gave Britain the mandate over the entire land of Palestine, the Holy Land. Here we believe was the golden opportunity. She had it in her power and her right to clear the land of its unlawful possessors and make it exclusively the homeland for God’s scattered people.” Dr. M.R. DeHaan

Radio address in 1947

What About the Palestinians?

• There are plenty of other places they can go!

• No valid Palestinian identity – “a land without a people

for a people without a land.”*

*-Attributed to Theodore Herzl - actually based on phrase coined by Lord Shaftesbury

“The so called “Palestinian” people are, in reality, Arabs whose mother tongue is Arabic, whose religion is Islam, and whose culture is shared by most of the 22 surrounding Arab countries. There simply is no distinct Palestinian identity.” Dr. James Hutchens on the Christians for Israel website

What About the Palestinians?

Palestinian identity is attached to the land!

“Whether or not there was a nation called Palestine is less important than the fact that this is the place they have called “home” for hundreds of years .”

What About the Palestinians?

“One of the great oversights of Zionism is that when the Jewish homeland in Palestine was founded, sufficient attention was not paid to relations with the Arabs. . . Even Theodore Herzl’s brilliantly simple formulation of the Jewish question as basically a transportation problem of “moving people without a home into a land without a people” is tinged with disquieting blindness to the Arab claim to Palestine. Palestine was not a land without a people even in Herzl’s time; it was inhabited by hundreds of thousands of Arabs who, in the course of events, would sooner or later have achieved independent statehood, either alone or as a unit with a larger Arab context.”

Dr. Nahum Goldman

Co founder of World Jewish Congress and former president of World Zionist Organization

What About the Palestinians?A “maximalist”stance on land ownership akin to militant settlers

movement***************************************

4th International Christian Congress on Biblical Zionism:

“Biblical Zionism is the firm belief that God chose the Jewish people and bequeathed to them as an everlasting possession the Land of Canaan. Christians must take courageous action to support the return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel in all its parts . . “

“. . . The Bible puts its full weight behind the Return of the Jewish exiles to Eretz Israel. Therefore Christians have no biblical grounds upon which to base support for Palestinian nationalism.”

Feb, 2001

Militant Settler Jews

The Wall

Analysis and Critique

Primary Question:

Does the ministry and teaching of Jesus validate Christian Zionist belief?

“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the world.” Hebrews 1:1-2

Analysis and Critique• Two Redemptive Streams

– In and through God’s faithful adherence to His chosen people, Israel

– In and through the person of Christ

• Two Separate Ways of Working– Promise of land– Promise of Heaven

“Yes, in bringing physical Israel back home, God has been raising up an announcement, a banner to the nations – one they are unable to ignore no matter how unpopular it is – confronting the world with the reality of God’s eternal existence; His undiminished sovereignty; and His unlimited might and power.”

Dr. Alan Lazerte On the “Christian Action for Israel” website

Analysis and Critique

• Jesus’ ministry of reconciliation– In divisive times

brought people together

– Embraced “untouchables”

– Challenged exclusivism

“He is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups (Jews and Gentiles) into one and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between us . . .” Eph. 2:14 (NRSV)

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross.”

Col. 1: 19-20 (NRSV)

Analysis and CritiqueThe Promises:

“I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their ancestors”

Jer. 16:14-15

The preaching of Christ– Silence on land promises– Focus on “The Kingdom of God”

Utopian Nature of Promises• “shalom” – impossible for any nation• “New Heaven and New Earth” as fulfillment

“All of these (Abraham and other ancient Hebrew people of faith) died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on earth . . . If they had been thinking of the land they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.”

Hebrews 11: 13-16 (NRSV)

Concluding ObservationsChallenge to Christian Zionist Teaching

Note: Not questioning Israel’s right to exist!

1. Misreading of God’s purpose revealed in Christ

2. Denial of justice to Palestinians – uncompromising position

“ “To do the work of God in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories today is to stand with those who are seeking justice and working for reconciliation. The Bible in its entirety leaves no room for doubt on this matter:

“Thus says the Lord: maintain justice and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.”

Isaiah 56:1

Resources

• Website: www.christionzionism.org

Numbers and Influence

• “Stand for Israel” poll– 2/3 American evangelicals

support Israel in actions against “Palestinian terrorism”

• 56% - political reasons• 28% - “end times”

• “ The majority of American Christians who give unqualified support to Israel today have been influenced in one way or another by the tenets of Christian Zionism.”

“Challenging Christian Zionism”

– paperwww.rca.org

Mission / middle east

Reasons for Concern: Reformed Church in America statement

1. “Christian Zionists have used their considerable political clout to attempt to block any negotiated settlement between Palestinians and Israelis that could lead to a just peace.”

2. “. . . we believe that it is important that we carefully examine and, when necessary, critique, the teaching of any movement which claims to speak on Christ’s behalf when there is evidence that such teaching is negatively impacting the lives of our neighbors.”

3. “Our primary partner in the Middle East – the MECC –has noted on numerous occasions the harm they believe American Christian Zionists are causing them.”