> > "Zapanaz" <http://joecosby.com/code/mail.pl>
wrote in message
> > news:48SdnUWEjro1AC_anZ2dnUVZ_oPinZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >
> > > > Do you believe that Winston
> > > Churchill was part of some international "zionist conspiracy"?
What,
> > > exactly, is this conspiracy? For the Zionists to take over the
world?
Conference on Christian Zionism
13-16th March 2002
1. Christian Zionism in the Churches
We, the undersigned Christian spiritual leaders, communicating weekly to
more than 100 million Christian Americans, are proud to join together in
sup****ting the continued sovereignty of the State of Israel over the holy
city of Jerusalem. We sup****t Israel's efforts to reach reconciliation
with
its Arab neighbors, but we believe that Jerusalem or any ****tion of it
shall
not be negotiable in the peace process. Jerusalem must remain undivided as
the eternal capital of the Jewish people. [1]
That quote formed part of a full page advert which appeared in the New
York
Times in 1997 entitled, "Christians Call for a United Jerusalem". It was
signed by 10 evangelical leaders including Pat Robertson, chairman of
Christian Broadcasting Network and president of the Christian Coalition;
Oral Roberts, founder and chancellor of Oral Roberts University; Jerry
Falwell, founder of Moral Majority; Ed McAteer, President of the Religious
Roundtable; and David Allen Lewis, President of Christians United for
Israel.
In October 2000, a month after Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to the
Temple Mount torpedoing any deal between Barak and Arafat on the status of
Jerusalem, a similar advert appeared in the New York Times, this time
sponsored by Jews for Jesus. It was entitled 'Open Letter to Evangelical
Christians from Jews for Jesus.' In it they called upon evangelicals to
show
sup****t and solidarity with the State of Israel.
Now is the time to stand with Israel. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
our hearts are heavy as we watch the images of violence and bloodshed in
the
Middle East... Christian friends, "The gifts and calling of God are
irrevocable" (Romans 11:29). So must our sup****t for the survival of
Israel
in this dark hour be irrevocable. Now is the time for Christians to stand
by Israel. [2]
Why such unequivocal sup****t by Christian leaders for the secular State of
Israel? Mike Evans in his book, "Israel, America's Key to Survival"
explains.
Only one nation, Israel, stands between ... terrorist aggression and the
complete decline of the United States as a democratic world power... If
Israel falls, the United States can no longer remain a democracy. ...Arab
money is being used to control and influence major U.S. Cor****ations,
making
it economically more and more difficult for the United States to stand
against world terrorism. [3]
Some Christians see America as the great redeemer, her role in the world
providentially and politically preordained. [4] The two nations of America
and Israel are like Siamese twins, linked not only by common self interest
but also by religious foundations. Together they are pitted against an
evil
world dominated by Communist and Islamic regimes antithetical to the
values
of America and Israel. [5] So, for example, in February 2002, in an
interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club, Pat Robertson
was asked, "As for the Muslim immigrants, Pat, it makes you wonder, if
they
have such contempt for our foreign policy why they'd even want to live
here?" Robertson replied,
"I have taken issue with our esteemed president in regard to his stand in
saying Islam is a peaceful religion," he said. "It's just not. And the
Quran
makes it very clear, if you see an infidel, you are to kill him... The
fact
is that our immigration policies are now so skewed to the Middle East and
away from Europe that we have introduced these people into our midst and
undoubtedly there are terrorist cells all over... Islam is not a peaceful
religion that wants to coexist. They want to coexist until they can
control,
dominate and then if need be, destroy." [6]
The theological perspective which Pat Robertson, Mike Evans and Jerry
Falwell espouse is known as Christian Zionism. As the prodigy of
Dispensationalism it probably represents the most influential movement
within the evangelical and Pentecostal churches of North America today,
directly impacting not only domestic politics but also foreign policy and
international diplomacy.
1. Christian Zionism Defined
....any Christian who sup****ts the Zionist aim of the sovereign State of
Israel, its army, government, education etc.; but it can describe a
Christian who claims to sup****t the State of Israel for any reason. [7]
Christian Zionism is born of the conviction that God has a continuing
exclusive relation****p with, and covenantal purpose for, the Jewish people
apart from the Church and that the Jews have a divine right to possess the
land of Palestine. |As we shall see in our next session, this is based on
an
ultra-literal reading of Scripture and the conviction that Old Testament
prophecies concerning Israel are being fulfilled in the contem****ary State
of Israel. For Christian Zionists, God's promise to Abraham remains
unconditional and eternal.
To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great
river, the Euphrates... The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an
alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your
descendants
after you; and I will be their God. (Genesis 15:18; 17:8).
[1]'Christians Call for a United Jerusalem' New York Times, 18 April 1997,
www.cdn-friends-icej.ca/united.html
[2]'Open Letter to Evangelical Christians from Jews for Jesus: Now is the
Time to Stand with Israel.' The New York Times, 23 October 2000.
[3]Mike Evans, Israel, America's Key to Survival, (Plainfield, NJ: Haven
Books, 1981), back page, p. xv.
[4]Michael Lienesch, Redeeming America: Piety and Politics in the New
Christian Right (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, University of North
Carolina,
1993), p. 197.
[5]Merrill Simon, Jerry Falwell and the Jews (Middle Village, New York,
Jonathan David, 1984), pp. 63-64, 71-72.
[6]Ellis Henican, 'Pat Robertson Is at It Again' New York Newsday.com
February 24, 2002.
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/newyork/ny-nyhen242600311feb24.story
.
Based on an interview with Pat Robertson, the 700 Club, Thursday 21st
February 2002.
[7]Walter Riggans, Israel and Zionism (London, Handsell, 1988), p. 19.
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