PREMILLENNIAL DISPENSATIONALISM, CHRISTIAN ZIONISM, TERRORISM: IS THERE A CURE?
ESCHATOLOGY.COM

My intent in titling this article obviously worked for you, and that is to give you enticing bait to approach a subject that is of utmost concern in our time. The title, “Premillennial Dispensationalism, Christian Zionism, and Terrorism: Is There A Cure?” may seem a bit volatile at first, but rest assured, my objective is to bring us to a better understanding of the virtually inseparable relationship between premillennial dispensationalism, and terrorism, and, of course, premillennial dispensationalism’s connection with Christian Zionism and American foreign policy in the middle east.

Because of the nature of this article and the facts that will be presented, some may erroneously conclude that I am a racist to some degree or another. I emphatically assert that this is not the case. The apostle Paul stated:

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; {25} Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; {26} And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; {27} That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: {28} For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.


The first and primary reason for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was to abolish the enmity between God and man, and second, to abolish the enmity between Jew and Gentile, regardless of race. Therefore, if you come from this seminar with a feeling that a form of racism was promoted, it is because you have misunderstood or misinterpreted my statements. In fact, Christ came to abolish racism and to establish unity among His people. God does not look upon the outward, but God looks upon the heart. The facts that I present today are intended to show the devastating effects of a carnal and human-centered theology, and that the cure for this carnal theology and its effects is found entirely in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Sadly, as I began my study, I lost sight of this centerpiece. That is, I approached this subject without the object of our faith in mind. And yet, as I delved through the many statements of scholars and important figures in recent history, I became acutely aware that apart from Christ we can do nothing. However ambitious we may be in our endeavors to quell the division that has gripped the middle east, all such endeavors will be fruitless without recognizing the object of our worship, the Lord Jesus Christ. Though my aspirations appear to be noble, just, and honorable, if I lose sight of the Prince of Peace, I would merely be attempting to provide you with a human-centered antidote, destined only to fail along with so many of the vain systems that our world offers as “roadmaps” to peace. We can eliminate settlements, weapons of mass destruction, torture chambers, and even, God forbid, Donald Rumsfeld, but if we do not rely solely upon the power, presence, and person of Jesus Christ, we will simply follow the tradition of those who have gone before us, and that is to die knowing that there was still war in the middle east.

But I am confident that we are on the brink of something pointedly alive and powerful—a host of exhilarating truths that, when presented in love and boldness can at last solve what still remains utterly visible to all, and that is the problem of tension in the middle east. Since September 11, 2001 I have become more convinced than ever that a proper worldview is directly related to one’s theological perspective, and in the case of the affairs of the middle east, eschatology will play an integral part of curing what I call the heartland of the world, and of course the world itself.

You may think it strange for me to spend a good portion of this article quoting various people concerning this topic. But in order for us to understand the significant role dispensationalism has played in terrorism we must get it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

Before I begin, I would like to share with you my background. I was born a premillennial dispensationalist. Seriously, I was born into the home of a Plymouth Brethren father and Southern Baptist mother. Dad’s mother was a faithful teacher in the popular movement, Women’s Bible Study Fellowship, which is foundationally dispensational, under the influence of Wetherell Johnson and Rosemary Jensen. My mother was also a teaching leader of this group for 10 years. My father had the complete works of John Nelson Darby and William Kelly. I attended a covenant church which was southern baptistic in nature and certainly dispensational in its eschatology. But it didn’t preach dispensationalism as a regular topic. Therefore Dad stayed home. Mom, my sister, and I attended there until the age of 10. When I was 10 Dad began to experience conviction from not attending church. So he found a local dispensational church which was an offshoot of the Plymouth Brethren movement. It was the closest thing he could find to what he wanted. The pastor received his ThM. from Dallas Theological Seminary, the fountain head of dispensational thought. He regularly preached messages out of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation, showing their striking parallels with current events. He regularly provided field trips for the church to hear such dispensational greats as Dwight Pentecost, John Walvoord, Charles Ryrie and John MacArthur. At the age of 17 I accepted a Sunday school teaching position and the songleader position of the same church. At the age of 18 I left this church to attend a 5000 member mega church that was dispensational and had hip music. Ok, so that is not the complete truth. A pretty girl I met in college invited me to attend this church. But I really dug the music. Eventually I began leading bible studies with musicians from the church, teaching the pre-tribulational, premillennial perspective. And I taught it with authority. At the age of 22 I graduated from California State University with a degree in music. However, 6 months before my graduation I got engaged to a girl who later would dump me. However, during our engagement I came under the conviction that I needed to go to seminary, start a rural dispensational church, and have all the lovely old ladies bring me doughnuts and meals as I would study into the wee hours of the night. So, I set off to attend Talbot Theological Seminary located on the campus of BIOLA University, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, over which, Dr. David Hocking (long time national radio bible teacher of the BIOLA HOUR )served as president. He convinced me that Russia was the bear of Daniel. I began attending his church during my first month at Talbot. They had great plans to begin using me as one of their primary adult Sunday school teachers. At this time my dispensationalist grandmother passed away and I inherited such outstanding works as the Theocratic Kingdom, Lewis Sperry Chafer’s Systematic Theology, Dwight Pentecost’s Things to Come, Charles Ryrie’s Dispensationalism today, and of course, Lindsey’s the Late Great Planet Earth, among a truckload of other dispensational greats. However, I was experiencing severe discouragement with seminary. I was under the impression that in seminary I would be able to immerse myself in Greek and Hebrew and become a real dispensational preacher. Instead, I was getting bombarded with seminary material, commentaries, and this nagging little Calvinistic undergraduate pest who would teach me about the sovereignty of God in a day. I withdrew after 2 months. I returned to Sacramento to become music director of that 5000 member mega church. I learned quite a bit more about the Russian Bear mentioned in Daniel while ministering there. Then I resigned after a year and nine months because I just wanted to teach the Bible. A week after my resignation, the former college pastor of Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, who had started a church just north of Sacramento asked me if I wanted to be his music director. “No,” I thought to myself. “I want to be a Calvinistic dispensationalist when I grow up,” though my wording was somewhat different. I simply told him I wanted to teach the Bible. He said, “Well, you can do that here too. Start a college Bible study.” So I accepted. That relationship lasted about 7 months. However, I learned a little more about the Russian Bear mentioned in Daniel. He took us to lots of Calvary Chapel associated events, Greg Laurie crusades, Raul Ries revivals etc. But for some reason my interest in the Russian Bear mentioned in Daniel was waning. Presently, I don’t even believe that the locusts in Revelation are Cobra Helicopters. The Virginia Slims motto was ringing loud and clear: “Ward, you’ve come a long way, baby.” And the rest is preterism, or, history.

Whenever I approach a topic of concern and debate as heated as the Israeli-Arab conflict, I almost always find out what the opposition is saying. In my studies and preparation for these messages, I am continually awed by the media’s complete disregard for the foundation of America’s alliance with Israel and the media’s unwillingness to search out the history of the matter. And of course, since abandoning premillennial dispensationalism I have been able to see and become convinced that the eschatology that developed in the 19th century called dispensationalism has brought about the devastating effects on America through Christian Zionism and the American-Israeli alliance. Again, I am in no way shape or form advocating violence, or support for Islam and Israel. I am no left-wing liberal waving a flag of peace on the steps of the capitol. In fact, the vast majority of those who protested the war in Iraq did so with complete ignorance to the fact that this is an eschatological issue. I am an American and love my country but I despise our ignorance. And having been a die-hard dispensationalist for 26 of my 36 years of life, this issue is all too real for me. It remains an open wound for me and will continue to remain an open wound until America changes its policy in meddling in others’ affairs based upon dispensational eschatology. At first, today’s message may seem merely indirectly related to preterist or fulfilled eschatology. But if you follow this presentation attentively, you will hopefully see how the fulfilled view of eschatology (i.e. preterist or transmillennial eschatology) can drastically affect not only the middle east, but the world as well.

The present middle east problem has as its foundation a view of Judeo-Christian eschatology known as premillennial dispensationalism. Terrorist organizations pertaining to this situation are secondary issues, or what I would view as tributaries coming from a lake. America, ultimately in the name of the second coming of Christ and the regathering of Jews to Israel (under the guise of peacemakers), have meddled in an affair that is not ours in blatant contradiction to the command of God and His work in the first century:

Proverbs 26:17  He that passes by, and meddles with strife belonging not to him, is like one that takes a dog by the ears.

If we are to have an impact on the middle-east, we must have an impact on American foreign policy. If we are to have an impact on American foreign policy, we must have an impact on American politicians. If we are to have an impact American politicians, we must have an impact on fundamentalist Christian Zionists. If we are to have an impact on Fundamentalist Christian Zionists, we must use the Bible. For they claim that justification for their agenda can be found in the pages of what we know as the Old and New Testaments.

Therefore having come to specific conclusions pertaining to eschatology and the middle-east, I went to one of the strongest sources of pro-Israel/anti-Islam propaganda, and that is the Anti-Defamation League. I wanted to see their presentation. I have compiled what the ADL feels are the strongest statements and complaints from Islamic leaders about the United States and the primary reason those leaders are angry with us.

http://www.adl.org/terrorism_america/bin_l.asp

Statements from Osama Bin Laden.

"Our terrorism is a good accepted terrorism because it's against America, it's for the purpose of defeating oppression so America would stop supporting Israel, who is killing our children."

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"To all the Mujah: Your brothers in Palestine are waiting for you; it's time to penetrate America and Israel and hit them where it hurts the most."

September 23, 2001 - "We hope that these brothers (Muslim casualties in Pakistan) are among the first martyrs in Islam's battle in this era against the new Christian-Jewish crusade led by the big crusader Bush under the flag of the Cross; this battle is considered one of Islam's battles.

We ask Allah to make him (Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar) victorious over the forces of infidels and tyranny, and to crush the new Christian-Jewish crusade on the land of Pakistan and Afghanistan...

May 1997 - During an interview with CNN, bin Laden reaffirms his call for a holy war against Americans. "We have focused our declaration of jihad on the U.S. soldiers inside Arabia…The U.S. government has committed acts that are extremely unjust, hideous and criminal through its support of the Israeli occupation of Palestine."

Bin Laden in an interview with CNN’s Peter Arnett: "If the American government is serious about avoiding the explosions inside the US, then let it stop provoking the feelings of 1,250 million Muslims. Those hundreds of thousands who have been killed or displaced in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, do have brothers and relatives. They would make of Ramzi Yousef [convicted for his role in 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center] a symbol and a teacher. The US will drive them to transfer the battle into the United States."

Sunday November 24, 2002 In answer to the question, Why are you fighting us? Bin Laden’s first response: “Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its*price, and pay for it heavily.

(ii) It brings us both laughter and tears to see that you have not yet tired of repeating your fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine, as it was promised to them in the Torah. Anyone who disputes with them on this alleged fact is accused of anti-semitism. This is one of the most fallacious, widely-circulated fabrications in history

The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq. These tax dollars are given to Israel for it to continue to attack us and penetrate our lands. So the American people are the ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected candidates.

Also the American army is part of the American people. It is this very same people who are shamelessly helping the Jews fight against us.

Osama Bin Laden in answer to the question: * What is the responsibility of the Muslim populations towards the international campaign against Islam?

“What bears no doubt in this fierce Judao - Christian campaign against the Muslim world, the likes of which has never been seen before, is that the Muslims must prepare all the possible might to repel the enemy on the military, economic, missionary, and all other areas.”

STATEMENTS FROM OTHERS CONCERNING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE U.S. SUPPORT OF ISRAEL AS INSTIGATING TERRORISM.

FROM THE ADL

In discussing the U.S.-led campaign to oust Saddam Hussein, newspapers in the Muslim and Arab world turned to classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, suggesting that Israel and the Jews were the "invisible hand" behind America’s foreign policy toward Iraq.

Editorial cartoons appearing in popular daily newspapers, including those of America’s strategic allies in the region, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, regularly turn to classical anti-Semitic canards in depicting Jews and Israel:

With the war against Iraq, newspapers in these and other Arab nations used the classic canard of "Jewish control" to suggest that Jews were steering American foreign policy. Others published cartoons that suggest that the U.S. war was a diversion manufactured by Israel to turn international attention away from its treatment of the Palestinians.

Arab News, online Saudi English Language Daily, Hussein Shobokshi "This War Lacks Credibility" March 18, 2003 Arab News, online Saudi English Language Daily, Mohammed Al-Khereiji, "How a Cabal Manipulates America's Post-Sept. 11 Psyche," March 17, 2003

"George W. Bush has been on a mission to get rid of rogue regimes in the name of his war on terrorism. That mission, while noble in its objectives, lacks credibility and legitimacy. The main reason for that is its failure to address the criminal record of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister. For those who realize the special relationship which exists between the neocons who have taken over the American foreign policy and Israel, it should not come as a surprise when Sharon goes out on a killing spree every week to murder women, men and children without encountering the slightest criticism . . . The real problem is that these acts of terrorism come with the support and blessing of important political figures in America, people who have made the security of Israel as important (some will argue more important) than America's. Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and their henchmen have made no secret of their desire to dismantle and change all political systems in the Arab world in order to ensure Israel's safety.

"The war against Iraq may be just around the corner, worldwide protests notwithstanding. US public protests against such a war have only lately gathered steam - not in defense of Saddam Hussein, whom most detest, but directed at a war to be waged against another nation based on dubious, if not outright fabricated information, and cooked up not by the president of the US, but by a cabal controlling the American administration who were pushing for an Iraqi invasion policy well before George W. Bush's assumption of the US presidency.

In a cynical and well-orchestrated campaign, they manipulated America's post-Sept.11 psyche to push for their anti-Arab, anti-Islamic policies beginning with an invasion of Iraq to cement US hegemony as the world's only superpower. One of the godfathers of this cabal is a brilliant and articulate strategist named Richard Perle. But for his chairmanship of the Pentagon's Defense Advisory Board, Perle would have been just another rabid anti-Arab and anti-Islamic Jewish demagogue espousing Israeli interests within any number of American administrations. But an examination of how Perle, Wolfowitz, and their cohorts in the administration misled the president and the American public is already beginning.

Al-Ahram, Egyptian Government Daily, Ibrahim Nafi', "Facts," March 4, 2003

"… Choosing the Iraqi problem in order to cover up the Israeli massacres against the Palestinians is a brilliant plan by the Israeli Right power that wishes to repeat the events of World War II, when the world was busy with an existential war. In this period, the Zionist groups' massacres were intended to eliminate the Palestinian Arabs. It was the same plan, when (the Zionist groups) destroyed the Arab lands in the 1967's catastrophe…"

Ar-Riyadh, Saudi Government Daily, Dr. Nura as-Sa'ed "Fulfill the Obligation of Reliability," March 3, 2003

"What our world is going through today is the most dangerous thing that was produced by the strategy of the war's lobbyists and the hawks, which are supportive of the Likud, within Bush's administration. The conspiracy is clear, and its application is going through stages that are shocking the certainty of the ingenuous Muslim citizen, which used to believe in the justice institutions in his country. Some of these institutions open their lands, minds and petrol stores in order to help the occupier of the land and petrol, to kill, destroy, and partition the region on behalf of the map of the Big Israel- the Zionist enemy".

Sanaa Republic of Yemen Television in Arabic Official television station of the Republic of Yemen Live sermon by Shaykh Akram Abd-al-Razzaq al-Ruqayhi at Grand Mosque in Sanaa February 21, 2003 (Independent Media Review and Analysis (IMRA) translation of FBIS report in Arabic.)

"[The Muslim brothers] in Palestine and Iraq are suffering from aggression by the forces of arrogance and hegemony, which are dreaming of ruling the world, taking control of its revenues, and imposing their ambitions on the world . . . O God, help our mujahidin brothers in Palestine and Iraq score victory over their enemies. O God, destroy the unjust sons of Zion and the arrogant Americans. O God, shake the ground under them, instill panic into their hearts, and disperse them. O God, destroy them, for they are within your power."

–Saddam Hussein from The Saddam Hussein Interview, Published: 04-Feb-2003 From:

www.channel4.com/news/home/z/stories/20030204/saddam_benn.html

“It seems that the authorities in the US are motivated by aggression that has been evident for more than a decade against the region. The first factor is the role of those influential people in the decision taken by the President of the US based on sympathy with the Zionist entity that was created at the expense of Palestine and its people and their humanity.

”These people force the hand of the American administration by claiming that the Arabs pose a danger to Israel, without remembering their obligation to God and how the Palestinian people were driven out of their homeland”.

Fundamentalist Christian-Zionist Conspiracy by Dr. M. Amir Ali, Ph.D. http://www.iiie.net/Articles/FundChristZionConsp.html The Institute of Islamic Information and Education.

“Colonialism has given to the West the gift of Islam. Islam is here in the Western countries of Europe and North America to stay. For some people in the Western continents the presence of Muslims among them is a matter of concern; some are alarmed; for others, Islam is a curse and they are looking for a cure. The concerned groups are Zionists (Jews and non-Jews), atheists, secular humanists, secular nationalists, some of the immigrant Hindus, and in the forefront are fundamentalist Christians.”

‘Christian Zionist Embassy‘ Vilifies Christian Leader for Criticizing Israel

Sunday, December 08 2002 @ 04:43 PM GMT

"The letter, written in a vitriolic tone, demanded that the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem punish and banish Rev. Hanna Atallah .." http://www.palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021208164336650

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - The so-called “Christian Embassy,” in West Jerusalem, run by a group of European and North American Jews, has sent a threatening letter to the Christian Orthodox Patriarchy headquarters in East Jerusalem, demanding the dismissal of an outspoken Orthodox leader for criticizing ‘Israeli state terror’ against Palestinians.

The letter, written in a vitriolic tone, demanded that the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem punish and banish Rev. Hanna Atallah because of “his incitement against Christian Zionism churches.”

The Orthodox Church dismissed the letter as “insignificant,” adding that the so-called Christian embassy of Jerusalem was not an authentic Christian body.

“Those people are not really Christians, they are Zionist Jews in heart who bear Christian names and titles in order to deceive common people,” said a source at the Orthodox Patriarchy offices.

“The raison d’être of this group is to enlist Christian support for Israel’s genocidal terror against Palestinians, Muslims and Christians alike. In light, I would like to ask: Since when (do) supporting terror and murder and all other acts of repression represent the way of Christ?”

The “Christian embassy,” while ignoring Christian Palestinians, often raises money to build Jewish-only settlements on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and also finances the transfer of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Palestine.

Conspiracy Theory or The Worst Theological Blunder to Strike Humanity

The Balfour Declaration

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00pp0

(MFA-Ministry of Foreign Affairs)The Balfour Declaration was an official statement issued on behalf of the British government in 1917, announcing its support in principle of a proposed home for the Jewish people in Palestine.  It was drafted by British Foreign Minister Arthur J. Balfour in concert with prominent Jewish leaders and the British cabinet and was issued by Balfour in the following communication to the 2nd Baron Rothschild on November 2, 1917:

"I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of his Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations, which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

"His Majesty's Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object.  It being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

‘I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.’

This declaration, which Zionists interpreted as a promise for a Jewish state in Palestine, was formally approved by representatives of the Allied governments at Versailles in 1919 and was the basis of the League of Nations mandate for Palestine.


From Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. Darby, British Theologian and founder of pretribulational dispensationalism wrote:

"A very clear prophecy of Israel's condition in the last days is contained in Isaiah 18.  They shall be restored by means of some powerful nation, outside the limits of their then national relationships; but Jehovah stands apart from His own relationship with them, though ordering all things.  Then, when Israel shall begin to bud as a vine in the land, they shall be given up as a prey to the nations.  Nevertheless in that time they shall be brought as an offering to Jehovah, and shall themselves bring an offering too."

Evangelicals and Israel: Theological Roots of a Political Alliance

by Donald Wagner

http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showarticle?item_id=216

Donald Wagner is director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University in Chicago and director of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding. This article appeared in The Christian Century, November 4, 1998, pp. 1020-1026.

“Through Darby's influence, premillennial dispensationalism became a dominant method of biblical interpretation and influenced a generation of evangelical leaders, including Dwight L. Moody. Perhaps the most influential instrument of dispensational thinking was the Scofield Bible (1909) which included a commentary that interpreted prophetic texts according to a premillennial hermeneutic. Another early Darby disciple, William E. Blackstone, brought dispensationalism to millions of Americans through his best seller Jesus Is Coming (1882). Blackstone organized the first Zionist lobbying effort in the U.S. in 1891 when he enlisted J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Charles B. Scribner and other financiers to underwrite a massive newspaper campaign requesting President Benjamin Harrison to support the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

Similar efforts were under way in England, led by the social reformer Lord Shaftesbury, who, like Blackstone, was so taken with Darby's eschatology that he translated it into a political agenda. These seeds of the Christian Zionist movement preceded Jewish Zionism by several years. Loni Shaftesbury is also credited with coining an early version of the slogan adopted by Jewish Zionist fathers Max Nordau and Theodor Herzl: "A land of no people for a people with no land." Both Lord Arthur Balfour, author of the famous 1917 Balfour Declaration, and Prime Minister David Lloyd George, the two most powerful men in British foreign policy at the close of World War I, were raised in dispensationalist churches and were publicly committed to the Zionist agenda for "biblical" and colonialist reasons.”

The establishment of Israel in 1948 gave dispensationalism new momentum. The restoration of a Jewish nation was taken as a sign that the clock of biblical prophecy was ticking and we were rapidly approaching the final events leading to the return of Jesus. During the cold war, dispensationalists readily interpreted the Soviet Union and its allies as the Antichrist. Passages such as Ezekiel 38-39 were read as predictions of an impending Soviet attack on Israel. A ten-member confederation--often interpreted as the European Union--was expected to join the Soviet Union in this attack.

When Israel captured Jerusalem in the 1967 war; dispensationalists were certain that the end was near. L. Nelson Bell, Billy Graham's father-in-law and editor of Christianity Today, wrote in July 1967: "That for the first time in more than 2,000 years Jerusalem is now completely in the hands of the Jews gives the student of the Bible a thrill and a renewed faith in the accuracy and validity of the Bible."

By the early 1970s numerous books, films and television specials publicized the premillennial dispensationalist perspective. Hal Lindsay made a virtual industry out of his book The Late Great Planet Earth: it sold more than 25 million copies and led to two films, as well as a consulting business with a clientele that has included several members of Congress, the Pentagon, and Ronald Reagan.

In the mid 1970s at least five trends converged that accelerated the rise of Christian Zionism. First, evangelical and charismatic movements became the fastest-growing branch of North American Christianity. Mainline Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church were declining both in budgets and attendance.

The election of Jimmy Carter; a Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher; to the presidency in 1976 increased the visibility and legitimacy of the once-marginalized evangelical movement. Time magazine declared 1976 "the year of the evangelical." Still, the mainstream media seemed confused by the various traditions and polarities within the complex evangelical movement, failing to distinguish between the diverse political and theological voices clamoring to claim the term "evangelical" for their particular viewpoint.

Israel's occupation of Arab lands after 1967 created tension between many Jewish organizations and the mainline Protestant, Eastern Orthodox and Catholic communities. Many Jewish organizations, particularly lobbying groups such as the American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC), turned to the growing evangelical community for support. As Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum of the American Jewish Committee stated, "The evangelical community is the largest and fastest-growing bloc of pro-Jewish sentiment in this country." AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) added staff to focus on relationships with evangelicals and fundamentalists. The Israeli ministry of tourism eyed evangelicals as a major new market for Holy Land tours and thus a source of revenue.

The fourth factor that stimulated the emerging evangelical Christian Zionist movement's political agenda was the election of Menachem Begin as Israel's prime minister in May 1977. Prior to Begin's election, Israeli politics had been dominated by the secular Labor Party. Begin's Likud Party was dominated by hard-line military figures such as Raphael Eitan and Ariel Sharon, and supported by the increasingly powerful settler movement and by small Orthodox religious parties. Likud constituencies used the biblical names "Judea and Samaria" for the West Bank and employed a religious argument to justify Israel's confiscation of Arab land for settlements: since God gave the land exclusively to Jews, they have a divine right to settle anywhere in Eretz Israel. Evangelicals welcomed the Likud leaders and endorsed their political and religious agendas.

The final development that accelerated the alliance between Likud and the Religious Right was Carter's March 1977 statement that he supported Palestinian human rights, including the "right to a homeland." Likud, when it came to power just two months later; immediately reached out to Christian evangelicals. Likud's strategy was simple: split evangelical and fundamentalist Christians from Carter's political base and rally support among conservative Christians for Israel's opposition to the United Nations' proposed Middle East Peace Conference.

Within weeks, full-page advertisements appeared in major U.S. newspapers stating, "The time has come for evangelical Christians to affirm their belief in biblical prophecy and Israel's divine right to the land." Targeting Soviet involvement in the UN conference, the ad went on to say: "We affirm as evangelicals our belief in the promised land to the Jewish people . . . . We would view with grave concern any effort to carve out of the Jewish homeland another nation or political entity."

The ad was financed and coordinated by Jerusalem's Institute for Holy Land Studies, an evangelical organization with a Christian Zionist orientation. Several leading dispensationalists signed the ad, including Kenneth Kantzer of Christianity Today and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, singer Pat Boone, and dispensationalist theologian and Dallas Theological Seminary president John Walvoord.

The advertising campaign was one of the first public signs of a Likud-evangelical alliance. A former employee of the American Jewish Committee, Jerry Strober, who had coordinated the campaign, made the political connection in a statement to Newsweek: "[The evangelicals] are Carter's constituency and he [had] better listen to them... The real source of strength the Jews have in this country is from the evangelicals."

At times the new alliance was uncomfortable for Jewish leaders. On one such occasion, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Bailey Smith, stated that "God does not hear the prayers of the Jews." Within weeks, the AIC took Smith on a trip to Israel and corrected his views. While Christian Zionists and Jewish organizations agree on many points, the Christian Right's enthusiasm for evangelizing Jews remains an unresolved point of tension.

Evangelicals, major Jewish organizations and the pro-Israel lobby supported Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election. Carter's loss of the evangelical vote played a significant role in his defeat. Likud policy was aggressively represented by AIPAC both on Capitol Hill and within the Reagan administration. For example, when Israel decided to invade Lebanon in the spring of 1982, Begin sent Ariel Sharon, his defense minister, to Washington to enlist the Reagan administration's support. By late May, Sharon was reportedly given the green light by Secretary of State Alexander Haig. Within days of the June invasion, full-page ads appeared in leading newspapers requesting evangelical support for the invasion.

Begin developed a unique relationship with Reagan and many fundamentalist leaders, especially Jerry Falwell. Falwell and his Moral Majority had long supported Israel. In 1979, Grace Halsell reports, Israel gave Falwell a Lear jet and in 1981 gave him the prestigious Jabotinsky Award during an elaborate dinner ceremony in New York. When Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear plant in 1981, Begin called Falwell before he called Reagan. He requested that Falwell "explain to the Christian public the reasons for the bombing."

In March 1985, while speaking to the conservative Rabbinical Assembly in Miami, FaIwell pledged to "mobilize 70 million conservative Christians for Israel and against anti-Semitism." He also takes credit for converting Senator Jesse Helms (R., N.C.) into one of Israel's staunchest allies. Helms soon became chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Reagan administration regularly conducted briefings and seminars for its Christian Right supporters, briefings in which the pro-Likud lobby (Americans for a Safe Israel and AIPAC) participated. Among the approximately 150 Christian fundamentalist leaders invited to each event were Hal Lindsay, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim and Tammy Bakker; Pat Robertson and Tim and Bev LeHaye.

Reagan himself was a committed Christian Zionist. His support for Israel derived from both strategic political concerns and a vague dispensationalist perspective. He told Tom Dine, AIPAC's executive director; "I turn back to your ancient prophets in the Old Testament and the signs foretelling Armageddon, and I find myself wondering if we re the generation that is going to see that come about." The remark was published by the Jerusalem Post and widely distributed by the Associated Press.

Likud also turned to evangelical and fundamentalist Christians to offset the decline in contributions for Israel from the American Jewish community. In response to the increasing power of the Orthodox parties in Netanyahu's government and the second-class status these parties assigned to non-Orthodox Jews, Reformed and Conservative Jewish communities cut back their usual generous contributions to the Jewish National Fund and other agencies in the U.S. that support Israel. But the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, led by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein of Chicago, raised more than $5 million for the United Jewish Appeal, almost all of it from evangelicals and fundamentalists.”

In a separate initiative, John Hagee, pastor of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, and a signer of the Christians for a United Jerusalem Statement, announced in February of this year that his church was giving more than $1 million to Israel. He claimed that the money would be used to help resettle Jews from the former Soviet Union in the West Bank and Jerusalem. "We feel like the coming of Soviet Jews to Israel is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy," Hagee stated. When asked if he realized that his support of Israel's Likud policies was at cross-purposes with U.S. government policy and possibly illegal, Hagee retorted: "I am a Bible scholar and a theologian and from my perspective, the law of God transcends the law of the United States government and the U.S. State Department."

Important Developments of Christian Zionism

1978: "...a Likud plan to encourage fundamentalist churches to give their support to Israel" was published. The Likud is a conservative party in Israel; as of 2002-JUL, they are the leading party in a coalition government. The guide was written by Yona Malachy, and was titled "American Fundamentalism and Israel: The Relation of Fundamentalist Churches to Zionism and the State of Israel." It was published by the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

1985: At a "National Prayer Breakfast for Israel," on FEB-6, Benjamin Netanyahu discussed how "A sense of history, poetry and morality imbued the Christian Zionists who, more than a century ago, began to write, plan and organize for Israel's restoration (Very likely Netanyahu was referring to John Nelson Darby, founder of premillennial dispensationalism)." 1

1985: The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem hosted the first International Christian Zionist Congress, in Basel, Switzerland.

2002-MAY: The Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, organized a prayer breakfast for Christian Zionists. "Present were Alonzo Short, a member of the board of 'Promise Keepers'... Michael Little who is president of the 'Christian Broadcasting Network' (as well as) Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson."

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_isra.htm

F. William Engdahl, author of Mit der Ölwaffe zur Weltmacht F. William Engdahl is Chief Economist of Virginia-based Pacific-Tech Bridge, a strategic consultancy engaged in hi-tech partnerships in emerging markets, Japan, North America, Europe and the Middle East. He is the author of “A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order”, a widely acclaimed book. He has written extensively on energy and economic themes for numerous publications in the USA and internationally, and has served as a private strategic consultant. Mr. Engdahl graduated from Princeton University with a BA in International Politics with postgraduate studies in economics at the University of Stockholm.

http://www.studien-von-zeitfragen.de/Weltmacht/Neo-Cons_Manuscript/neo-cons_manuscript.HTM

From the article: American Power: A great debate has just begun

“Christian Zionists and the Israeli right wing  Likud Party firmed their alliance in 1980, when J. W. van der Hoeven, and several other Christian Zionists founded the International Christian Embassy-Jerusalem (ICEJ), as a defiant support of Begin's illegal annexation of Arab East Jerusalem. The ICEJ receives financial support from Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network and other U.S. Christian Zionist groups.

“This bizarre but deliberate alliance of Christian Zionist groups such as the Christian Coalition, with the pro-Israel neo-conservatives who back Sharon and Netanyahu, has become one of the most influential political interest groups in U.S. politics... Christian Zionist financial contributions to specific U.S. Congressmen give them enormous influence over Congress. Christian Zionist "friends" in Congress include Senator James Inhofe or Republican House whip, Tom DeLay, and Senate Foreign Relations head, Jesse Helms, all closely tied to the support of Christian Zionist Israel policy”

An interesting quote. (Stephen Sizer): While browsing through articles on the internet, I found a spectacular article perhaps on par with Donald Wagner’s article. I won’t tell you the author until the end. (Revised April 11, 1999)

“Hal Lindsey is undoubtedly the most influential of all Christian Zionists of the 20th century. Although rarely quoted by others, he has nevertheless been described by Time as 'The Jeremiah for this Generation', and by the New York Times as 'the best selling author of the decade.'1 His newest publisher describes him as 'The Father of the Modern-Day Bible Prophecy Movement,'2 and, 'the best known prophecy teacher in the world.'3 He is apparently one of very few authors to have had three books on the New York Times best seller list at the same time.4

Like Darby, Lindsey claims his novel interpretations to have been revealed directly and personally by God.

‘I believe that the Spirit of God gave me a special insight, not only into how John described what he actually experienced, but also into how this whole phenomenon encoded the prophecies so that they could be fully understood only when their fulfillment drew near.

There is no doubt that Lindsey has had a profound and lasting impact on the American as well as British Christian scene. Indeed, the popular influence Christian Zionists such as Lindsey have had, even in American political circles, is highlighted by Don Wagner who claims that as long ago as 1980,

The election of Ronald Reagan ushered in not only the most pro-Israel administration in history but gave several Christian Zionists prominent political posts... Once the Reagan Administration opened the door, leading Evangelical Christian Zionist televangelists and writers were given direct access to the President and cabinet members. Rev. Jerry Falwell, Christian Zionist televangelist Mike Evans and author Hal Lindsey among them.45

'White House Seminars' became a regular feature of Reagan's administration bringing Lindsey into direct personal contact with national and Congressional leaders. Lindsey subsequently became a consultant on Middle Eastern affairs not only to the Pentagon but also to the Israeli Government.

By 1994, while persisting in his belief that Jesus meant this present generation, Lindsey had begun to prevaricate and lengthen a 'biblical generation' since Jesus had not returned by 1988 as he had confidently predicted. Based on his revised calculations Lindsey claimed Jesus would return some time between now and 2067.

Jesus promised us that the generation that witnessed the restoration of the Jewish people to their homeland would not pass until 'all these things' - including his return to Earth - would be done. The Jewish people declared the rebirth of their nation in 1948. They recaptured Jerusalem in 1967. A biblical generation is somewhere between 40 to 100 years, depending on whether you take the example from Abraham's day or from the discipline of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. In either case, you do the arithmetic, folks. No matter how you cut it, there's not much time left.294 I also said that 'if' a generation was 40 years and 'if' the generation of the 'fig tree' (Matthew 24:32-34) started with the foundation of the State of Israel, then Jesus 'might come back by 1988.' But I put a lot of ifs and maybes in because I knew that no one could be absolutely certain.295 Many biblical scholars have pointed out the fact that a generation in the Bible is generally regarded as 40 years. Some people point out that 40 years has already passed since the rebirth of Israel and Jesus has not returned. Well folks, we simply don't know for certain how long a biblical generation is. In addition, we're not certain when that final countdown began. Did it begin in 1948 when Israel was reborn? Or could it have begun in 1967 when Jerusalem, the apple of God's eye, was recaptured and reunified under Jewish control? We simply don't know and that is the way God wants it.296

http://www.virginiawater.co.uk/christchurch/articles/hallindsey.HTM

--Stephen Sizer

In understanding the facts it is evident that the American-British-Christian-Jewish alliance is not merely a conspiracy theory. It is a fact that has its roots in an eschatological paradigm invented by dispensationalist John Nelson Darby and systematized by C.I. Scofield. Their agenda is to usher in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ through the regathering of Jews into the land of Israel, regardless of the loss of life that must take place to do so. If we can prove that Christ has fulfilled this prophecy then we can begin a roadmap to peace in the middle east.


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