Against Christian Zionism
February 16, 2017
The Trumps and the Netanyahus this week
THE Protestant pastor and author Church Baldwin, writing on the occasion this week of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netyanhu’s visit to the White House, condemns the Christian Zionism he once supported and warns of war with Iran. He writes:
Since my lengthy personal research and study into the Biblical teaching on Israel, I have come to learn this: the entire faith system of many professing Christians depends on their allegiance to the modern State of Israel. These Christian Zionists might recite a pledge of allegiance to the United States of America, but their true allegiance is to the State of Israel.
It is no hyperbole to say that for many professing Christians, the modern State of Israel is every bit as important as Jesus Christ Himself and their own personal salvation. In fact, many of these folks equate their allegiance to the State of Israel with their own personal salvation. And they are quick to condemn anyone to hell who does not share their allegiance to the State of Israel. I find this extremely perplexing. I truly wonder if this cultish infatuation with the modern faux Israel might be the great “falling away” and devilish deception of the last days. But I digress.
Faithful readers of this column and followers of my ministry know that for most of my adult life I subscribed to dispensational modern-Israel-is-the-fulfillment-of-Bible-prophecy theology. And while I would debate with people holding alternative opinions (as I hold now), I never felt that their differences of opinion on this subject somehow invalidated their Christian faith.
So, why is it that so many Christians are so dependent upon a commitment to the modern State of Israel to the point that it is part and parcel to the very core of their Christian faith? For some nineteen centuries there was no modern State of Israel, and believers were quite cemented and steadfast in the Christian faith. In fact, most Bible scholars who wrote previous to 1948 had an entirely different perspective on the subject. Try reading some of them, and see for yourself.
Today, however, anyone who challenges the scriptural validity of the modern State of Israel is cast off by many professing Christians in the meanest and most vitriolic terms. Why does the modern State of Israel hold such a strong grip on people’s faith? It’s as if their faith itself depends on the modern State of Israel, not Christ.
