On March 20, 2006, I traveled from the Little Town in Occupied Territory of Bethlehem to the Mount of Beatitudes in Israel. This awe inspiring site sits above the shimmering Sea of Galilee where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and I ended up delivering my own Sermon on that Mount
Four Franciscan Sisters, one each from Syria, Jordan, Malta and Italy care for the shrine and the pilgrim guests at the Hospice Center where I spent two nights and a day of silent reflection of all I had witnessed the previous nine days during my third of five reality tours through occupied Palestine.
At dinner a Catholic Pentecostal from Scotland introduced himself and asked me why I was there and what church I was from. I responded that I have Irish Roman Catholic, Polish Jew, Russian Orthodox and Episcopal roots; but that my rock is The Beatitudes.
He looked even more perplexed when I told him I came to the Mount of Beatitudes to decompress and reflect upon my nine days in Occupied Territory. I asked him if he were aware of the work of Sabeel, the Palestinian Christian founded organization that promotes a theology of liberation based on justice, peace, non-violence and reconciliation for all, regardless of faith path or nationality.
He sternly admonished me, “God gave this land to the Jews! The Bible never mentions Palestine, and that is that! God gave this land to the Jews and that is that!”
I responded just as fervently that the Palestinian Christians are the descendants of those who first followed Christ and they have been denied inalienable human rights by the Israeli government. I told him the Christians in the Holy Land have shrunk from 20% of the total population to less than 1.3% since 1948 and if things don’t change soon, there will be no Christian witness in the land where Christ promised that it is the peacemakers who are the children of God.
He sputtered, “But the Jews have suffered! God gave this land to the Jews and that is that!”
This really got my Irish up and I retorted, “Yes they did because good people did nothing for far too long, and now the oppressed have become the oppressors. In the 21st century good people are unaware, ignoring or are in total denial of the injustice in the Holy Land. And what about all the Hebrew prophets, such as Micah who reminded the people of what the Lord requires: To be just, to be merciful and to walk humbly with your God!”
I could NOT shut up although I knew that that Scotsman was trying to get away-he also looked a bit terrified! But, I was on a tear and barely took a breath as I told him that instead of staying in Israel for his entire visit, he should go and witness life in the occupied territories; go and see the effects of The Wall on his spirit and see what it has done to the Palestinian economy. I told him he should go and tour some of the Bethlehem refugee camps and see the ruins of all the uncompensated home demolitions. I brought it on home by telling him that I also doubt that God was ever in the real estate business!
His eyes had bugged out and his mouth had dropped open while the torrent of words spewed out of me. After I finally shut up, he stammered, “But there is suffering everywhere!”
“Yes there is and Christ always stood up for the poor and the oppressed. And he told us what ever we do or don’t do for the least and the outcast; we do it or don’t do it unto God.”
He shook his head and turned and walked quickly away and never again looked my way.
Nobody else spoke to me the rest of the evening or the next day. That was fine with me, for I was listening to the voice within and what I kept hearing was Luke 23:34: “Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
But when you know, if you are of good will, you must do something and education is the way to compassion and compassion is the way to change.
Those needing the most education are those who have been misled into the fastest growing cult in the USA-and also perhaps in Scotland-the cult of Christian Zionism.
What is Christian Zionism?
Christian Zionism is an extremist Christian movement which supports the claims of those who believe that the State of Israel should take control of all of the land currently disputed between Palestinians and Israelis. It views the creation and expansion of the modern state of Israel as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy toward the second coming of Jesus.
Christian Zionism is a modern theological and political movement that embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism, thereby becoming detrimental to a just peace within Palestine and Israel. The Christian Zionist program provides a worldview where the Gospel is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism. In its extreme form, it laces an emphasis on apocalyptic events leading to the end of history rather than living Christ’s love and justice today.
What is the Christian Zionist connection with the Holy Land?
Believing that God fights on the side of Israel, Christian Zionists call for the unqualified support for the most extreme political positions. They do not have eyes to see or ears to hear their sisters and brothers in Christ, or cousins in the family of Father Abraham who are caught in the crossfire of the military minded.
Christian Zionist spokes persons have attributed Hurricane Katrina to God’s wrath over our failure to stop Israel from pulling out of Gaza. They consistently oppose any moves towards a solution to the conflict which would validate the political aspirations of both Palestinians and Israelis.
Who Supports Christian Zionism?
Christian Zionism has significant support within American Protestant fundamentalists, who number between 10 and 20 million. Its reach is broad, by virtue of its favorite themes related to the “End Times” and an Israel-fixated Christian media.
Christian Zionism is both a political movement and a way of interpreting current events. Its focus is on Israel and the Middle East, as much an ideology as a “movement.” Its promoters share many beliefs but are not organized through any one institution.
Throughout history Christians have at times twisted scripture to justify violence: for the Crusades, for Anti-Semitism, and for slavery. Too often the church has been slow to respond to these biblical distortions and with disastrous results.
Today Christian Zionists - particularly those with dispensationalist leanings - are well organized and although their motives are couched in terms of compassion toward the Jewish people based on a literal reading of scripture the political agenda of territorial expansion advocated by Christian Zionists has given rise to the brutal injustices against Palestinians, which fuels the fire of all conflicts in all the Middle East.
For some time, individuals, and theologians have spoken out against Christian Zionism. In the past few years, whole church bodies are adding their official voices to the distortions and injustices perpetuated by Christian Zionism.
The GOOD NEWS is that some mainstream churches have spoken out against this inherently anti-Semitic theology. What follows are but a few words from some of those who have.
The Presbyterian Church in the USA at its July 2004, National General Assembly issued a statement on Confronting Christian Zionism: “Christian Zionism promotes a theology that justifies grievous violations of basic rights of people who are also made in the image of God, and is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The United Church of Christ in July 2003, at its National General Synod offered An Alternative Voice to Christian Zionism: “We believe that the tenets of Christian Zionism neither reflect the intention of the teachings of Jesus and the prophets, nor promote peace in the Middle East, and respectfully recommend …an alternative voice to this theology.”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in June 2005 at its Chicago Metropolitan Synod issued a Resolution to Encourage the Study of Christian Zionism: “the movement of Christian Zionism based on these biblical interpretations seeks to influence U.S. policy toward Israel in a manner that would arguably facilitate mistreatment of Palestinians, continued occupation of the land, opposition to a two-state solution, and exclusive Israeli control of Jerusalem.”
The United Methodist Church, in June 2005 at its Illinois Conference on Unwrapping the Rapture warned, “Every household should give prayerful consideration as to how God will actually judge us for our silence about and complicity in the crushing of the Palestinian people.”
The Episcopal Church, in November 2004 at its Diocese of Chicago Confronted Christian Zionism: “A partial response to Christian Zionism would be to say that we read Scripture in light of [Jesus’] two great commandments - to love God and our neighbor.”
In 2006, The Nation reported that Christians United for Israel/CUFI pressed White House officials to adopt a more confrontational posture toward Iran, to refuse aid to the Palestinians and to give Israel a free hand as it ramped up its military conflict with Hezbollah.
The White House has not revealed the names of the officials who met with the CUFI lobbyists, which is a venomous tentacle from the Armageddon-based foreign-policy view of its founder, John Hagee. Hagee is a fundamentalist, fire-and-brimstone preacher and a leader in the fastest growing cult in America: Christian Zionism, which is inherently anti-Semitic.
While Jewish Zionism began with the hope that all Jewish people would have a safe and peaceful dwelling place, these corruptors of the gospel Christ preached, adhere to a 200 year old convoluted interpretation of disparate scriptures that they have chosen to weave together to support their fear based judgmental narrow minded doctrine.
Hagee has mesmerized nearly 18,000 misled Christians at his Cornerstone Church with his take on whom the anti-Christ is. He also hosts a major TV ministry where he explains his views of how the end times will unfold. He blatantly corrupts and denies the message that Christ preached.
Hagee, Hal Lindsay and the Left Behinder’s are doomsday false prophets who believe that the only way to defeat-what they and the current USA Administration refer to as- “Islamist fascists” is with a full-scale military assault.
The cult of ‘Christian’ Zionism is what the concept of the Anti-Christ is all about.
This heretical theology of Premellenial Dispensation worships a god of Armageddon and not the God of love, forgiveness and compassion that Jesus/AKA The Prince of Peace modeled even while being nailed to a cross.
The Left Behind series of fiction is the epitome of what millennia of theologians have always understood to be what the term anti-Christ is truly about
The term “antichrist” only appears five times in the Bible, but a cult not based on sound theology has created an urban legend that seeks Armageddon. The term “antichrist” never appears in John’s Revelation or Daniel, two disparate works of literature written three centuries apart and under very different circumstances, yet the Left Behinder’s weave them together.
The small texts that mention the “antichrist” were written to attack the Gnostic understanding of who Christ was. A Gnostic relies on intuition and not on dogma and doctrine. Gnostic’s were most certainly free spirits and most all of the writings we have about Gnostics, have been the attacks upon them. That all changed when the Nag Hamadi Library was translated and published, for what had been deemed heretical by those in power in the fourth century can now be read in most every language.
Biblical scholars today agree that many books of the Bible were written by others in the name of an apostle, for the quickest way to gain credibility is to trade on another’s reputation. We may never know if the author who coined the term “antichrist” was actually the apostle John who wrote I John and 2 John-the only sources where the term appears.
John also say’s much more: “Dear Children, as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many have come.”- I John 2:18
“This is how we know who the children of God are not: anyone who does not do right; nor anyone who does not love his brother.”-I John 3:10
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Let us love with actions and in truth.”-I John 3:17
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out all fear because fear has to do with punishment [and God is love].”-1 John 4:18
The theology promoted in the Left Behind fiction is a theology based on fear and punishment. These misinformed Christians worship a punitive father as God. They do not have eyes to see that nature is God’s primary temple, and war the greatest abomination.
The theology of the fictional Left Behind series is the epitome of the spirit of the anti-Christ: which is the evil within ones own heart that leads one to fear “the other” and compels them to violence.
Thomas Jefferson did America and the world a great service when he penned The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth which illuminates just how far these Christians have strayed from the message Christ delivered and modeled with his life: which was consistently compassionate and nonviolent. To be just: justice comes from virtue which comes from the heart. To treat people the way we want to be treated. To always work for PEACEFUL resolutions, even to the point of returning violence with COMPASSION. To consider valuable the things that have no material value. Do not judge others, do not bear grudges, be modest and unpretentious. To give out of true generosity, not because we expect to be repaid and that being true to ones self is more important than being loyal to ones family, and those who think they know the most are the most ignorant.
According to Christ, to be his follower, one must do what the Father requires. The Hebrew prophet Micah summed it up best: “What does the Lord require? He has already told you o’man: Be Just, Be Merciful and walk humbly with your God.” -Micah 6:8:
To be just is to be fair and reasonable. To be merciful means to treat all people the way we want to be treated. To be humble is knowing oneself; the good and the evil, for both cut through every human heart.
Jesus taught that the only way to resist evil is with good and he modeled that one must always work for peaceful resolutions, even to the point of returning violence with compassion and forgiveness. Jesus did just that, even after being mocked, whipped and nailed to a cross for he prayed: “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”
What will it take for those that call themselves Christian, to actually be one?
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And so, I spin The Beatitudes for the 21st century:
About 2,000 years ago, when Christ was about 33, he hiked up a hill and sat down under an olive tree and began to teach the people;
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."
In other words: it is those who know their own spiritual poverty, their own limitations and sins honestly and trust God loves them in spite of themselves who already live in the Kingdom of God.
How comforted we will all be, when we see, we haven't got a clue, as to the depth and breadth of pure love and mercy of The Divine Mystery of The Universe.
God's name in ancient Aramaic is Abba which means Daddy as much as Mommy and He/She: The Lord has said, "My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not yours." -Isaiah 55:8
Christ proclaimed more: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
The essence of meek is to be patient with ignorance, slow to anger and never hold a grudge. In other words: how comforted you will be when you also know humility; when you know yourself, the good and the bad, for both cut through every human heart.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be filled."
In other words: how comforted you will be when your greatest desire is to do what "God requires, and he has already told you what that is; BE JUST, BE MERCIFUL and walk humbly with your Lord."-Micah 6:8
"Blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy."
In other words: how comforted you will all be when you choose to return only kindness to your 'enemy.'
"For with the measure you measure against another, it will be measured back to you."
Christ warns his disciples as he explains the law of karma in Luke 6:27-38.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they see God."
In other words: how comforted you will be when you WAKE UP and see God is already within you, within every man, every woman and every child. The Supreme Being is everywhere, the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. Beyond The Universe -and yet so small; within the heart of every atom.
"Blessed are The Peacemakers: THEY shall be called the children of God."
And what a wonderful world it would be when we all seek justice and pursue it, for there can be none without the other.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires, theirs is The Kingdom of Heaven."
"What does God require? He has told you o'man! Be just, be merciful, and walk humbly with your Lord." -Micah 6:8
And one fine day the lion will lie down with The Lamb and man will make war no more and that is the Kingdom of God.
+ Godspeed on it!
eileen fleming
Regardless of one's views of the politics of Christian Zionism, the real issue here is that this opinion represents a very liberal view of Christianity that seems to me is not at all consistent with the perspective of this web site and the affiliated local congregations. For example, most local Christian believers would not advocate a view of the Bible that "many books of the Bible were written by others in the name of an apostle, for the quickest way to gain credibility is to trade on another’s reputation." This would be considered very liberal by the standards of most of these congregations.
Even worse was the endorsement of the Jefferson Bible. Perhaps many of your readers do not realize that the Jefferson Bible radically cut out (literally) almost all references to Jesus Christ as Redeemer, Saviour, etc. and only left the passages that deal with Jesus' moral teachings. It would seem to me that this "edition" of Scripture would be quite inconsistent with the aims of the "Come and See" website and its affiliated churches.
With these kinds of liberal views of Scripture it is no wonder that the "Christian Zionists" could not continue talking with her, as she reports. They simply had no common ground! Just because someone no longer talks with you does not mean that you "won the argument", as implied in this article.
Because of the strong political views expressed in this article, I sincerely hope that the "Come and see" website has not turned into just another Middle Eastern political mouthpiece, that ignores the basics of the Christian faith. Is the only criteria for future articles in "Come and See" going to be a particular view of the politics of the Middle East, regardless of the kind of Christianity that is represented?
The Arab Christian community in the Middle East desperately needs the reconciliation, power, and the changed lives that only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can provide. I hope that in the future there will be more focus on the Gospel and with testimonies of how God is still working to change lives in this land, and with less focus on politics, regardless of one's political views.
However it is a view that readers of "Come and See" should be aware of. We are open to publish articles that argue against it.
Where the Christian Zionists get it wrong is that they have traded the original mandate of proclaiming the gospel and baptizing believers (which requires personal accountability) with a political utopian vision of an ethnic aristocracy (which requires only having a political opinion).
TV preachers in the US dare not tell their congregations that they hold the same ideas as Meir Kahane's Kach Party, which was outlawed by the Israeli government as racist and anti-democratic. Facts like these are conveniently ignored by the Prophecy Industrial Complex in order to keep the faithful on board. Christian Zionists must play the same game of omitting points of history- the same game played by the anti-Israel jihadis. But its okay to gloss over inconvenient facts as long as you’re loyal to Israel.
These popular end times beliefs started out as theory in the 1960s but have been elevated to doctrine in recent years and continue to move closer to being the center of the Christian message. The center of this new Christianity is no longer Jesus but rather a utopian Israel. Prophecy has become an obsession and almost its own religion.
Would a Christian Zionist lay down their life for a Palestinian brother? Would they wash the feet of a Palestinian brother? I hope that any Christian who has trouble answering this can begin to see how low Christian Zionism has brought us, and how far modern evangelicalism has departed from the original message of the Gospel. In having to make the choice between unconditional love for their Palestinian brethren or Israeli ethno-nationalism, it is a shame that American Christians have chosen the path least consistent with the message of Jesus.
At the Last Day, God isn't going to look at us and say "What's your opinion on the Israeli capture of the Golan Heights?" No, instead, He is more likely to ask the prophecy experts and Christian Zionists why they stabbed the Palestinian Christians in the back. American Christians want a place of honor at Israel's table but they will not extend the same respect to their own brothers.
That means He will always preserve the Jews as an identifiable people who are meant to live in the Holy Land. But there is one thing that the Christian Zionists get wrong, and that is their belief that sovereignty in the Land belongs to the Jews. In fact it belongs to the Throne of David because of another covenant which God made with him: to settle the royal office on him and on his descendants down to the Messiah.
If you want peace, then everyone must treat the Throne of David as being over the Land here and now, and deserving of the allegiance of all the people.
No one really says this, nor implies this. I haven’t seen it among the many Christian and Jewish critics of Israeli and Christian policies. Even the very critical Jewish Neturei Karta does not.
So the statement that these critics do, seems to be the product of Jews and Christians that oppose to this criticism. They may assume these critics do, or even think it is inevitable in their way of thinking. But it is not. Many like me value the Covenant, but think differently about it’s implications. For instance like this:
The Covenant does nót say the 20th century was the moment for the Jews to return from the Diaspora.
It does nót say, it allows such brutal methods to gain the land from who ever may live there.
It does nót say Joshua’s methods can be repeated in the 21st century, and can automatically be regarded to as the ‘will of God’.
It does nót say the best way for true Christians to help Jews is, to turn a blind eye to all atrocities, we normally tremendously oppose to, and keep on supporting them while they keep on committing them.
It does nót imply, we should give in to everything they want from us. One may compare it with naughty children or drug addicts: being good friends to them, merely asks for correcting them, even in though ways, rather than giving in to what they demand from us, while they go on doing what they do.
Being a Christian means, taking the Covenant very seriously, but also to be very open to what God’s will or plan may be? Does anyone really see a ‘divine process’ going on, ever since 1917? The Jews didn’t go back because of an act of God, or because of some unity with God inspiring them, but because of anti-Semitism in Europe. Anti-Semitism is not the work of God. Winning wars is not a sign of God’s support. And God’s approval of everything history has shown here is very questionable: al the violence, atrocities, robbing, expulsion policies, all misleading propaganda, the hatred, the indifference to what happens to humans..
The Covenant simply has nothing to do with the history of the creation of the state of Israel.
It is a lot easier to show that religion opposes to all this, than supports it. Many signs and teachings show that.
It seems to be a form of wishful thinking among these Christians and Jews, the time has come.
And to be true, there is a lot of plain benefit in connecting the two.. Israeli Jews benefit from it. It creates new identity and generates questionable support. And both Jewry and Christianity benefit from the new excitement that arose from the idea that God’s plan really is being realised in our times.
That looks like some kind of advertisement for religion in modern times, were churches and synagogues were emptying..
As a Christian I feel Neturei Karta is right: it all is a very materialistic process, having nothing to do with true religion.
This does not mean Israel has to be wiped of the map or something, but it does mean believers have to watch carefully and respectfully over their own religion, and have to make sane distinctions more than ever. Religion is not a joke. And not a mind game. Of God’s Plan, there is no consumer-version in the form of a puzzle, to satisfy believers. We better watch where we are going.
On the side of the ones that criticise Israel, there is a tremendous consensus about what is going on. And the products they make, like books, articles, documentaries, websites etcetera, show a real library of good human qualities, that God ever gave to us! These people are courageous, they sacrifice, they are truthful, they have a bright Christian consciousness, they have a recognisable good moral sense, they love, they are sensitive to all parties, their visions are balanced (and NOT ‘pro-Palestinian’), their logic is outstanding, their writing of history correct. I’d say, they are the pride of humanity, the pearls of the earth. If you are among them, or open your heart to what they do, there is no doubt to be united in God. It is that strong, I feel about this. Just look at it, and you know!
But what do you see at the side of those that want to keep on supporting the state of Israel, in spite of all it’s violations of land rights, human rights, 4th Convention of Geneva, the destruction of the Palestine economy and infrastructure, it’s expansionism, it’s delay of all possible peace processes, and it’s state of denial?
I see violent attitudes and lots of hatred. I see ignorance, and false images of history. I see preposterous accusations and propaganda in the media. A lot of unwillingness to face the truth of the conflict. So many lies and twisted stories. So many forms of manipulation. Unwillingness to accept every human as a human. I see fear and self-interest, I see politicians only caring about their own position, lots of dumb remarks, lots of self-righteousness, lots of unwillingness to understand people with different cultures. There is racism and one-sidedness. And their methods of discussing and their priorities are often pretty lousy. Are they God’s children? How fare away from that are they? Often I merely see the modern Pharisees in them, often like technical robots handling the teachings, not able to touch the soul of the Script anymore. Concerning the conflict they have to be educated and educated again and again.
And if this was only about some theological issues, some differences in view, some different angles.. But it is not. It is about mass crime, mass deception, lots of suffering and a serious lack of responsibility.
Someone here opposed to this view, saying we Christians should keep together in this, and work this out together? But who is saying it? Is he sure he commits himself or herself to Christ? Should we Christians accept anything? Anyone who says to be Christian? Or is this the moment where it is required to actually show you are one? I’m afraid it is. When it comes down to mass crime, there is a limit to what you can call ‘respectable’, and to the usual tolerance. The basic line is, respect has got to be earned, and cannot be taken for granted.
Someone else here says something like “Hey, is this site going to be another political site, as so many others?” Well, let’s say first: I am not part of this site, but a rather liberal catholic, who without any problems work with all kinds of protestants in this issue. But I tell you this: after WW II the whole world, including all Christians, made a clear distinction between the terrain of ‘politics’, and the terrain of mass criminality. And we made the basic UN-rules for peace to distinguish one from another. And huge- and/or long lasting violations of these rules, per definition overgrow the terrain of ‘politics’ to step in to the terrain of mass crime. And that’s were we are now:
There is nothing political on this site, nor in the excellent article of Eileen Fleming, nor in my views here. This pure is an issue of Christian ethics, and probably the most urgent one at hand, and the most intrusive one. A real test case for Christianity.