Christian Zionism, Evangelicals and Israel

Christian Zionism, Evangelicals and Israel
Gary M. Burge, Ph.D.

Gary Burge earned his Ph.D. at King's College in Aberdeen, Scotland and
is professor of New Testament at Wheaton College & Graduate School in
Wheaton, Illinois. He is the author is The Anointed Community: The Holy
spirit in the Johannine Tradition (1987), Who Are God's People in the
Middle East? (1993), Interpreting the Gospel of John: Guide to New
Testament Exegesis, No. 5 (1998), and Whose Land? Whose Promise (2003).


If there ever were doubts about the ongoing presence and influence of
Christian Zionism in Israel, you only had to visit Jerusalem earlier
this month to witness the Christian Embassy's one week Tabernacles
Festival. On Tuesday the 14th 15,000 people paraded outside Jerusalem's
Old Walled City. The predominant colors for clothes were red, white and
blue, and many Americans wore necklaces sporting a Star of David, a
Menorah and a Christian fish symbol. American flags were distributed
liberally to cheering parade-watchers. A delegation from the South wore
gallon-sized cowboy hats and steer-horned belt buckles while they
carried a large banner, "Oklahoma loves Israel." The city predicts that
the assembly pumped about $10 million into the struggling Israeli
tourist economy.


Who are these people and what do they stand for? And how do they link
their religious faith, politics and commitment to Israel?
The Bible and the Romance of Palestine


It would be wrong to think of Christian Zionism as a recent phenomenon
invented by Gary Bauer and Tim LeHaye. Some scholars think that its
roots go as far back as the pilgrims who saw their journey as a
re-creation of the Israelite pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They did not
apply this to Judaism, however, but took the Biblical story as an
allegory for their own pilgrimage. Nevertheless this created a
sympathetic understanding of the religious refugee that is seated deeply
in the American psyche and likely shapes many of us even today.


The more important story begins in the 19th century. Religious interest
in Ottoman Palestine grew dramatically during the Victorian era as
travelers - romantic travelers - sought adventure by ship, train and
horseback. And they came to Palestine in great numbers. The 1880s
found a number of influential preachers there too. Rev. DeWitt Talmage
pastured the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York and returned home from such
a pilgrimage to publish his Twenty Five Sermons from the Holy Land. In
it he offered a romantic picture of a Jewish renaissance in the country.
He praised philanthropists such as Montifiore and Rothchild for
financing the return of Jewish life there. Here is a sample from one of
his sermons:


"[Many who are] large-hearted have paid the passage to Palestine for
many of the Israelites, and set apart lands for their culture; and it is
only a beginning of the fulfillment of Divine prophecy, when these
people shall take possession of the Holy Land. The road from Joppa to
Jerusalem, and all the roads leading to Nazareth and Galilee, we saw
lined with processions of Jews, going to the sacred places, either on
holy pilgrimage, or as settlers. All the fingers of Providence nowadays
are pointing toward that resumption of Palestine by the Israelites."


In 1891 George Adam Smith wrote his popular The Historical Geography of
the Holy Land and there portrayed an empty, biblical land awaiting the
return of Judaism. Such publications resonated with a growing public
interest in Palestine and the Bible, especially in Britain,. And during
WWI when the prospect of the fall of the Ottomans, Jewish Zionist
leaders influenced by men such as Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) could
capitalize on these British interests. The little letter of Nov. 2,
1917 from the British foreign office - now called the Balfour
Declaration - is likely the final synthesis of this religious vision and
politics in Britain.
Dispensationalism


Among conservative Christians in Britain, this unity of political
destiny and religious fulfillment was given its theological form in the
hands of an Irish pastor J.N. Darby. As Herzl was the father of Jewish
Zionism, one could argue that Darby was the father of Christian Zionism.
Darby's system - soon called Dispensationalism - taught a literal
fulfillment of prophesies in the near-present age. He used the biblical
books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Revelation to weave a consistent
picture of the Last Days. The church is raptured, the anti-Christ
arises, Armageddon erupts, and Christ returns to establish his kingdom
on earth. But above all, the revival of Israel is the catalyst of the
End Times.


Despite eight missionary trips to America, Darby was greeted here with
indifference. But when leading evangelists such as Dwight Moody, Billy
Sunday and Harry Ironsides saw how the drama and fear and hope in this
scenario influenced audiences, Darby's views caught on like wildfire.
In 1881, for instance, Horatio and Anna Spafford and 16 friends opened
the American Colony in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City to watch - as
they put it - "prophesy being fulfilled."


William Blackstone (1841-1935) was a Chicago evangelist and student of
Moody. In 1878 he published Jesus is Coming which was America's first
Dispensational best-seller. The book went through three editions and
was translated into 42 languages. In 1890 Blackstone was visiting
Jewish settlements in the Holy Land and organizing conferences in
Chicago to restore Jews to Palestine. Blackstone worked closely with
Jewish Zionists and in 1918 was hailed by the Zionist Conference of
Philadelphia as a "Father of Zionism." In 1956 Israel memorialized him
by naming a forest in his name.


In 1909 Cyrus Scofield published a popular study bible, the Scofield
Reference Bible, and in its footnotes readers throughout America
inherited Darby's theological program. (To date over 2 million of them
have been sold.) In 1917 five weeks after the Balfour Declaration, the
Turks handed Jerusalem over to Britain to the amazement of prophesy
watchers. In 1918 dispensationalists organized their first prophesy
conferences and they continued for decades. Before long - throughout
the 1920s and for the next 40 years - Dispensationalism tied to Israel
and prophesy became the litmus test of evangelical orthodoxy.


Dispensationalism had a variety of detractors over time and today we
cannot think of all evangelicals as dispensationalists. Nevertheless,
while formal Dispensationalism with its complex view of the covenants
has lost a large following, what remains is the skeleton of its
eschatology. Technically called pre-tribulation, pre-millennialism it
defends Darby's basic outline: Israel returns to the Holy Land, the
church is raptured, a tribulation brings Armageddon, and Christ returns.


This framework remained prominent for evangelicals but throughout the
1940s dispensationalists began to believe that the birth of Israel was
imminent. When it occurred in 1948, Dispensationalists were euphoric.
The key piece was now in place. Israel's swift victory in 1967 - hailed
by many as a divine miracle - sparked even more zeal for prophesy.
Writers such as Walvoord and Ryrie viewed modern history through this
Biblical lens for a new generation. In 1970 Hal Lindsey then published
The Late Great Planet Earth which popularized and dramatized the
unfolding of political events in Israel and how the Bible predicted
them. To date, Lindsey's original book has sold 25 million copies.
More recently Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' popular Left Behind series
fictionalizes this eschatology and has sold over 50 million copies in 11
volumes.


These remarkable numbers of publishing sales are important because they
show that among countless Christians in America, there is a residual
eschatology at work - and most of them have no idea where it came from.
Just ask someone who goes to church how they think the world will end.
Many will recite Lindsey to you claiming that this is what the Bible
teaches.
Christian Zionism


Today a movement called Christian Zionism has harnessed these disparate
parts. Its advocates have shed much of Dispensationalism's theological
program but have kept its eschatology. Christian Zionism weds religion
with politics and interprets biblical faithfulness in terms of fidelity
to Israel's future. Its spokespersons are today well-known among those
on the Christian Right: Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Ed
McAteer, Gary Bauer, and Kay Arthur. Those committed to Christian
Zionism share the same five core beliefs:


(1) The Covenant. God's covenant with Israel is eternal and
unconditional. Therefore the promises of land given to Abraham will
never be overturned. This means that the church has not replaced Israel
and that Israel's privileges have never been revoked despite unfaithfulness.
(2) The Church. God's plan has always been for the redemption of
Israel. Yet when Israel failed to follow Jesus, the church was born as
an afterthought or "parenthesis." Thus at the rapture the church will
be removed and Israel will once again become God's primary agent in the
world. We now live in 'the times of the Gentiles' which will conclude
soon. This means that there are two covenants now at work, that given
through Moses and the covenant of Christ. But the new covenant in no
way makes the older covenant obsolete.
(3) Blessing Modern Israel. We must take Gen. 12:3 literally and apply
it to modern Israel: "I will bless those who bless you and curse those
who curse you." Therefore Christians have a spiritual obligation to
bless Israel and "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." To fail to bless
Israel, to fail to support Israel's political survival today, will incur
divine judgment.
(4) Prophesy. The prophetic books of the Bible are describing events of
today and do not principally refer to events in Biblical times.
Therefore when we look at, say, Daniel 7, if we possess the right
interpretative skills, we can see how modern history is unfolding. This
quest for prophesy has spawned countless books interpreting Middle East
history through the Bible.
(5) Modern Israel and Eschatology. The modern state of Israel is a
catalyst for the prophetic countdown. If these are the last days, then
we should expect an unraveling of civilization, the rise of evil, the
loss of international peace and equilibrium, a coming antichrist, and
tests of faithfulness to Israel. Above all, political alignments today
will determine our position on the fateful day of Armageddon. Since the
crisis of 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it has been easy to
persuade the public that history is unraveling precisely as
dispensationalism predicted.


It would not be difficult to offer fatal criticisms of this theological
framework. Many biblical scholars have already done so. For instance,
the covenant's promises are conditional and their blessings are revoked
when there is faithlessness. The Babylonian exile is the best example
of this. But in addition the New Testament is making a stunning claim
about genuine continuity between the covenants, that Christians are the
children of Abraham and heirs of his promises.


But the most important critique - and here I think we discover the
Achilles' heel - is that Christian Zionism is committed to what I term a
"territorial religion." It assumes that God's interests are focused on
a land, a locale, a place. From a NT perspective, the land is holy by
reference to what transpired there in history. But it no longer has an
intrinsic part to play in God's program for the world. This is what
Stephen pointed to in his speech in Acts 7. The land and the temple are
now secondary. God's wishes to reveal himself to the entire world. And
this insight cost Stephen his life. Such an understanding is a far cry
from the views of Christian Zionists like Ed McAteer who recently
commented, "Every grain of sand, every grain of sand between the Dead
Sea, the Jordan River, and the Mediterranean Sea belongs to the Jews."
Stephen would be alarmed.
Blessing Israel


The theological commitments of Christian Zionism are therefore not new.
But today they are boldly proclaimed and closely linked to a political
agenda in America. And today evangelicals are told that we hold a
spiritual obligation to "bless Israel." When pastors such as John Hagee
of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, can deliver $1 million to
Israel, a new definition of evangelical missions is at work. But
blessing Israel is not simply a matter of giving money. It is also
found in political advocacy. For instance, when Israel invaded the West
Bank in April, 2002 following the Passover bombings, President Bush
urged Ariel Sharon to withdraw from Jenin. Christian Zionists mobilized
an email campaign that produced 100,000 letters for Washington. And it
worked. Bush never said another word.


Leaders like Jerry Falwell thus see their mission as protecting Israel
politically. On CBS's 60 Minutes (June 8, 2003) he remarked, "It is my
belief that the Bible Belt in America is Israel's only safety belt right
now." Falwell continued, "There is nothing that would bring the wrath
of the Christian public in this country down on this government like
abandoning or opposing Israel in a critical matter. And when the chips
are down Ariel Sharon can trust George Bush to do the right thing every
time." These words were as much warning to Bush as anything since
Bush's political analysts believe that Falwell's "Christian public" is a
core constituency.


Today the same strategy is at work. On May 19, 2003, 23 Christian
Zionists sent President Bush a letter outlining what was wrong with his
Roadmap to Peace and urging him to end it. Its signatories included
Jerry Falwell, Gary Bauer, John Hagee, James Kennedy and others. In a
similar manner Gary Bauer spoke at this year's AIPAC convention. Even
Pat Robertson can rebuke Israel's foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, on
his nationally syndicated "700 Club."


In recent days no one has matched House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R,
Texas) for his zeal to bless Israel. Delay is often sought in
Washington as a spokesperson for Christian Zionism. And he is
forthright in his commitment even when it contradicts the president. On
July 30 of this year he addressed the Israeli Knesset and his views were
so extreme that the Labor Party leader Danny Yatom commented afterwards,
"Geez, Likud is nothing compared to him!" Another legislator commented,
"Until I heard him speak, I thought I was the farthest to the right in
the Knesset!"


Delay announced that he was an "Israeli at heart" and then upon his
return home challenged the Bush's Roadmap openly. He has appeared at
meetings of the influential Christian Coalition with Benny Elon, the
leader of the pro-ethnic cleansing Moledet Party arguing that a
"transfer" of Palestinians out of Israel could be justified on Biblical
authority. Recently the Los Angeles Times condemned DeLay for using
"the considerable power of his office" to "promote his personal
apocalyptic views."


But in addition to blessing Israel, Christian Zionists are clear that
those who fail to bless will be punished. Kay Arthur appeared with
Falwell on CBS's 60 Minutes and there surprised her audience when she
suggested that the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin was linked to
his involvement in the Oslo Peace Accord.


In June CBN (The Christian Broadcasting Network which produces Pat
Robertson's 700 Club) published a news item warning America about
natural disasters that will be God's punishment on America. The day
after Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in and the Roadmap was set in motion, CBN
told us that the next day began the worst month of tornadoes in
America's history. Their best example happened on Oct. 30, 1991, when
former President Bush (Sr.) met with Israelis and Palestinians to
discuss compromises. CBN commented, "That same day, thousands of miles
away, a powerful storm was brewing off the coast of Nova Scotia. On
October 31, what would be called 'the perfect storm' smashed into New
England pummeling the president's Kennebunkport, Main, home with waves
30 feet high. It was a storm so rare that the weather patterns required
to create it only happen once every 100 years." The deduction was
clear: Bush had angered God in his negotiations and God had sent
America punishing weather in response.


As odd as all of this may sound, it is consistent with the theological
worldview embraced by Christian Zionists who believe that Christian
faith and politics must be wed in Israel. To deny this synthesis is not
only to contradict the Bible, but it is to stand in the way of what God
is doing in history, a history foretold millennia ago by the Biblical
prophets.


http://www.christianzionism.org