Christian Right & Israel

A Sermon by Donel McClellan
First Congregational United Church of Christ
Bellingham, Washington

In the passage from Deuteronomy which we read today, the Hebrew people, coming out of exile in Egypt, completing their long desert exodus, are addressed by God through Moses. This band of wandering exiles is promised what they had longed for over so many years, the blessing of a good land. Not only were are given a land to be their own, they are warned to remember that the land is the gift of God and not the result of their cleverness and industry.

The nation of Israel was sustained for centuries by the promise that God would provide a land for the chosen people. The biblical story tells us that a future was promised to Abraham and Sarah. Their descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sands upon the seashore. Jacob, awakening after a night of wrestling with the holy one, was promised a land.

Israel did enjoy sovereignty under its own rulers for a relatively brief period in the three thousand years of biblical and post biblical history. But for the majority of that time, Israel and the Jewish people have lived under the rule of other monarchs and foreign nations. The promise of a homeland has been a vision and a dream for centuries.

It is only in the last century that the dream was, in part, fulfilled. In 1917, Chaim Weizmann persuaded the British government to propose the establishment of a national Jewish homeland in Palestine. That statement, known as the Balfour Declaration, prompted many Jews from other countries, where they were suffering persecution, to immigrate to Israel.

This arrival of new people troubled the Arab residents of Palestine who feared they would loose their historic homeland. Conflict broke out between the two groups and a long siege of terrorism from both sides ensued. The dispute was finally addressed by an intervention of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. In November of 1947, a partition plan—U.N. Resolution 181—was passed by the U.N. General Assembly. It identified the geographical division of Palestine creating both a Jewish and a Palestinian homeland. In addition, it established an international zone around Jerusalem.

As you know, this division has been under dispute ever sense. In fact, the Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the most stubborn and persistent conflicts in modern times.

The United States plays a significant role in addressing this issue. In recent months there have been large rallies in America to encourage support of Israel. Curiously, these rallies have not been sponsored by American Jewish groups or even by lobbyists from Israel. They have been sponsored by American Christians.

Last April, a rally in Washington D.C. was organized by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Gary Bauer, president of America Values, a conservative Christian group, told the crowd, “whomever sits in Washington and suggests to the people of Israel that they have to give up more land in exchange for peace, that is an obscenity.” ^{^[1]}

This is quite contrary to the American sponsored Road Map to Peace in the Middle East which calls for Israel to abandon its settlements in occupied territory and to relinquish land under its control to the Palestinians. There are two sides to this, as to every issue, and the rally in Washington was encouraging unquestioning support of the Israeli side.

Just over a year ago, Palestinian terrorist bombings in Israel were followed by retaliation in which the Israeli army demolished several cities and refugee camps in the West Bank. Under international pressure, President Bush appealed to Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the West Bank city of Jenin.

Hearing this, a pro-Israel coalition including the Christian Right mobilized and delivered over 100,000 emails, calls and visits, urging the president to avoid restraining Israel. Not another word of caution or criticism was heard from the president, and Ariel Sharon continued the offensive.

"There's 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, . . . I really believe when the chips are down Ariel Sharon can trust George Bush to do the right thing every time."

Falwell is one of a growing number of Christian Zionists who believe that the modern state of Israel represents the fulfilment of biblical prophecy and is therefore deserving of unconditional political, financial and religious support.

This conservative Christian theological position creates a strange union of fundamentalist Christians who believe only Christians will be saved, and modern Jews who welcome all the help they can find in supporting Israel.

This morning I would like to try to give a little historical background to this phenomenon.

Early Christians believed that Jesus would return in a Second Coming within their lifetimes. They devoted much speculation to what would happen during that end time and they wrote about it in books called Apocalypses. Most versions of this pre-millennial speculation included a battle in which the forces of evil that rule the earth would be overthrown by God’s power. It was generally believed that Christ would then rule on earth for a thousand years. The only book of this sort which made it into our Bible is Revelation. This is a primary source of authority for the strand of Christianity I want to trace.

As time went on, it became apparent that the second coming was not to be as soon as some had predicted. Some early church leaders interpreted this millennium of Christ’s rule as a physical reign on earth. Others treated it allegorically as a spiritual reign which could not be seen.

St. Augustine devoted a great deal of attention to this subject in his theological work, the City of God. Although many people had tried to calculate the exact date of the return of Christ, Augustine concluded that it was an impossible task. With considerable wisdom he writes, “To those who make . . . calculations on this subject comes the command, ‘Relax your fingers and give them a rest.’”

Alas, that was not to be the case. Through the years, leaders emerged and gathered followers to await the end. William Miller, a Baptist layman, calculated the end to be in 1884. Many of disappointed followers went on to become Seventh Day Adventists. Charles Russell, influenced by other adventists, started the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1881. He predicted the second coming in 1914. His successor postponed this to 1918 and later to 1925. In 1930 the group was renamed Jehovah’s Witnesses.

These Adventist groups have had a significant impact upon American Culture and the way we look at the future. However, the more important source of theological direction came from the writings of an Irish clergyman, John Nelson Darby. Darby came up with a way of interpreting apocalyptic texts and spread the doctrine.

At that time, traditional Christian thinking held that God's covenant with the Jews had been broken by the Jews failure to accept Jesus as the Messiah. The Church considered itself to be the continuation of the Israel of God, made up of Jews and Gentiles alike who accepted Christ. Christians inherited the promises of the Bible and replaced the Jews as God’s Chosen People. All earlier religions, including the Jews, had to accept Christ or would be lost for eternity.

With the writing and teachings of Darby a new view was promoted. It suggested that God’s dealings with humanity had a number of separate stages or dispensations. The Bible could only be truly interpreted by understanding which dispensation scripture addressed.

The apocalyptic portions of the Bible were emphasized by Darby, and a pattern of events which would occur before the advent of Christ’s return were outlined. The Rapture would transport believers from the earth in the twinkling of an eye. This led to some serious speculation about what would happen to traffic when all Christians were immediately transported to heaven leaving their cars without drivers. There were also signs that the return of Christ was nearing. These include the return of the Jews to Israel, the rebuilding of the Third Temple, the rise of the Antichrist, and a buildup of armies poised to attack Israel

1. Jews are to be saved by repentance and will remain here on earth as God’s earthly people.

2. Gentiles are to be saved by faith and will be taken to heaven after the rapture.

3. The church is a parenthesis—a mere pause—in God’s plan for the world. The church will depart from the path of faith and end in apostacy.

4. The Kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are separate. One refers to the reestablishment of David’s reign on earth, the other to God’s heavenly reign.

5. God deals with humanity differently in the seven eras or dispensations of history.

Darby brought these doctrines to America during eight separate missionary journeys. His vision inspired many American clergy and Bible teachers including evangelists Dwight L. Moody and Billy Sunday. But the most important American convert was Cyrus I. Scofield who incorporated the theories in his Scofield Bible published in 1909. This became the Bible used by most evangelical and fundamentalist Christians for the next half century.

Today, the list of Christian Zionists who generally accept this version of God’s salvation history include Gary Bauer and Jerry Falwell, who have been mentioned, Billy and Franklin Graham, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Hal Lindsay and the authors of the popular Left Behind book series, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Their books have sold over 25 million copies. Less well known supporters of this theology are Brandt Gustafson, president of the National Religious Broadcasters; Don Argue, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; and Ed McAteer of the Religious Roundtable. Groups supporting Christian Zionism include most of the Southern Baptist Convention, the charismatic, Pentecostal and independent churches and evangelical wings in the Presbyterian, United Methodist and Lutheran churches.

Because the views of Christian Zionists support our nations interest in military and economic might, they are influential with the present administration. The problem with the views of the Christian Zionists is that they depart from what our theological tradition sees as the clear message of the Bible, that justice and righteousness are required of those who follow God. Let’s conclude with a critique of weaknesses of this theological assault on our culture.

Robert Jewett, professor of Biblical Studies at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, notes that some rapture theology teaches that the apocalyptic end of world history is predetermined by God in our time. Consequently, there is nothing we can do to avert it.

In this view, peacemaking is both futile and sinful, and all efforts to promote international cooperation are inspired by Satan. Every compromise with our adversaries is viewed as a betrayal of divine trust. Every effort to achieve arms control and to reduce the danger of accidental nuclear wars is a sellout to the demonic powers.

Similarly, efforts to deal with pollution or global warming are seen as futile and counterproductive [because the end is near]. While rapture advocates don't wish to promote a holocaust or a global ecological crisis, they are convinced God wills it and thus there is absolutely nothing humans can do to stop these dangers.^{^[2]}

By giving the restoration of Israel such high priority in God’s plan, the Christian Zionists elevate it to a political entity which has no responsibility to keep Torah or obey the norms of international law.

Even more problematic is the tendency to elevate the state above the church as an interpreter of the will of God. This is contrary the biblical and historical understanding of the roles of church and state. To conclude, with Darby, that the church is a parenthesis, allows Christians to ignore the plight of other Christians in Palestine as they promote the rights of Israel but ignore the rights of others in that region.

Finally, the alliance of the Christian Right with Israel deepens the rift between the Moslem world and the West. There is much distrust of America in the Arab world. It is fueled by statements from public officials and conservative religious leaders condemning Islam as a religion of violence. The narrow focus of American foreign policy on Israel with little attention to the plight of Palestinians increases the gap.

The foundation of peace in the world is justice, not for Israel alone, but for all people and all nations. When Justice is forgotten, or neglected because of a theology of apocalypse and divine retribution, then peace will be delayed.

[1]. Donald E. Wagner, Marching to Zion: The evangelical-Jewish Alliance, The Christian Century, June 28, 2003, p. 20

[2]. Spinning Dispensationalism In-Depth, The Dubya Report April 8, 2002