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NOTABLE BOOKS ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM AND CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS 

Book of the Month

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Whose Promised Land?

by Colin Chapman

"This fully revised and updated edition, including new chapters on Zionism, Christian Zionism, and dispensationalism, provides an evenhanded approach that does not automatically assume a pro-Israel stance from an evangelical perspective. Instead, it seeks to present an honest appraisal of modern Israel while clearly delineating the inter-related issues surrounding the crisis in the Middle East. Beginning with the history of the territory from the 20th century BC to the present day, it explains the development of the conflict and the complexity of the issues."

-from the back cover


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Rapture Culture:  Left Behind in Evangelical America

- by Amy Johnson Frykholm


Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism

- by Victoria Clark 

MORE BOOKS!



NEWS N BLOGS ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM and CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS

Updated  27 August 08

Christians United for Israel and Attacking Iran

- Foreign Policy in Focus

 

Taking Aim at Goliath (Christian Zionism and Israel Lobby)

- TheNational.com

Christian Zionists Hit Holy Land Harmony

- Timesonline.com

How Would New Israeli PM Affect Key Issues with US?

-  Cleveland Jewish News

Rise in Gay Tourism Stirs Unease in Israel

- Christian Science Monitor

US Christian Zionists Threat to Peace in the Holy Land

- Times Online

Neo-cons Fumble Another Political Football

- EastValleyTribune.com

US Jews Dislike Hagee and Lieberman

- Jerusalem Post

New Video Shows Hagee's Preoccupation with Judaism, Promotion of Anti-Semitic Tropes

- israelenews.com

Survey:   Most US Jews Don't Support Christian Zionist, Hagee

- The Christian Post

Lieberman Backs Christian Zionist Hagee Despite Calls from Jews to Break Ties

- Jerusalem Post

Lieberman Appearance at Christian Zionist Hagee's Conference Sparks Objections

-Washington Post

Criticism Cuts into CUFI's Support from Fellow Christian Zionists

- eisraelnews.com

Lieberman Looks Past Controversy Related to Ties with Christian Zionist Group

- Conneticutt Post

Why Aren't Evangelicals Denouncing  Hagee?

- Vancouver Sun

Exclusive:   How Israeli PM Wooed, and lost, Christian Dollars

- Reuters

Christian Zionist Hagee`s Media Suppression Scandal Threatens To Splash Embattled Lieberman

- israelenews.com

Hagee's Revenge?  Videos of Hagee's Sermons Forcibly Removed from YouTube

- The Huffington Post

Christian Zionist, John Hagee's Beliefs Concerning Jews and Israel

- israelenews.com

NY Congressman Eliot Engel Mulls Hagee Appearance At Christian Zionism Event

- Israelenews.com

So-called "Former Terrorist" turned Christian Zionist, Walid Shoebat, Declares Allah to be the Anti-Christ

- Bartholomew's Notes

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Is Pastor Hagee Good for the Jews?

- Time Magazine

FRIENDS 

A Texas Lutheran's Voice for Middle East Peace

Jews on First

Holy Land Christian Foundation 

Center for Middle Eastern Studies

Churches for Middle East Peace

Sojourners

Jerusalem based blog site

Christians offering an alternative to the biblical and political distortions of Christian   Zionism - because if we remain silent they'll assume we agree.  MORE
The La Grange Declaration, 1979 - This statement was prepared and endorsed in 1979 by 5000 American church leaders, including many in the evangelical community. Much of what it addresses is sadly still unresolved 

Gary Bauer & Israel's Tribal Deity

wpeA.jpg (1738 bytes)Former Reagan advisor and presidential hopeful, Gary Bauer, who is now advising John Hagee and his lobby group, Christians United for Israel (CUFI),   wrote a short biblical reflection for the CUFI e-letter this week based on Genesis 28: 13-15.  This is the passage where we hear God declare divine fealty to Abraham and his descendents:

"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go,and I will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Like other Christian Zionists, Bauer makes a direct connection between this promise and the contemporary state of Israel, the suggestion being that God is a kind of tribal deity to Israel, fighting for her political perogatives no matter what the consequences for her neighbors. Here is how Bauer puts it:

Fortunately for Israel and for all of us who believe in the God of Abraham, the Lord's promises are like a rock. God didn't say to Jacob:  "I will bring you back to the land if the U.N. agrees."  He didn't say, "I will give you this land if it is OK with the radical Islamists."  He didn't say, "I will not leave you unless there is danger."  God's promises to Israel and to all of us are unchanging and unhedged, direct and reliable."

I agree with what Bauer says about God's promises being unshakable.  What I take issue with is whether or not Bauer has interpreted this passage correctly.  I think not.  I think not because what it assumes is that the God who demands justice for all peoples has decided in this case to act unjustly.  Bauer, Hagee and all others who buy into the political ideology of Christian Zionism, assume that God was behind the expulsion of 750, 000 Palestinians from their homes in the '48 war, and continues to stand on the side of those who encourage Israel to refuse  any recompense for what they lost.   Ethnic cleansing in this case becomes part of the divine plan.    They assume, also, that Israel has the right to take even more land than they have already taken, either to occupy or annex outright.   The West Bank, Gaza Strip, parts of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, all belong to Israel to take whenever and however she wishes.   Bauer  doesn't say that here, as Christian Zionists tend to disassemble on this point, but it is a given of the Christian Zionist position which operates with a biblical map.

This map:

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If God is, as Bauer and other Christian Zionists assume, Israel's tribal deity, then, yes, I would agree that we should join CUFI in opposing any and all moves towards a negotiated peace (desired by the majority of Israelis)  between  Israelis and Palestinians.  We should join Christian Zionists like John Hagee and Gary Bauer in encouraging the most militant Israeli voices in their call  for the expulsion of Palestinians from the territories.    In this case, however, the contradiction with what we know to be true about God from the whole testimony of scripture -- that his compassion is all-embracing, his justice without favortism -- is too glaring.  In this case people who take the whole testimony of scripture seriously cannot endorse the Hagee- Bauer platform.

"Let justice roll down like the waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

Amos 5: 24


Check out JewsOnFirst's exclusive coverage of the CUFI event.

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and their new video

Pastor John Hagee and His Obsession with the Jews

 


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Bill Moyer's Journal VIDEOS on Christian Zionism 

March 6, 2008

McCain and Hagee:  How Responsible are Candidates for the Views of their Supporters?


Nov 30, 2007

Christians United for Israel (CUFI)  as Barrier to Peace in Israel/Palestine

An Evangelical Leader and Jewish Rabbi Speak on CUFI and Peace


October 5, 2007

Israel's New Best Friend 

End Game in the Holy Land?

 

Arab Christians and Christian Zionism
George Sabra

Rice University Webcast 

Lecture by George Sabra, Associate Professor in Systematic Theology at the Near East School of Theology, Beirut 


Resources for the Study of Christian Zionism and  Christian Zionists

 

An Adult Christian Education Course: Left Behind: Israel, the Bible, and the Future

             Left Behind, Israel the Bible and the Future

The Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism


Downloadable Brochure 

(English,Hebrew,and Arabic versions)


Excellent Resource on Christian Zionism from 

The Mennonite Central Committee Peace Office


Selling fear to Christian Children:  The latest outrage from the authors of the Left Behind Series

*     *     *

Left Behind: The Kids Series Books

The Road to War and Triumphant Return

buy now!

In one shocking moment, millions around the globe disappear. Those left behind face an uncertain future—especially the kids who now find themselves alone. As the world falls in around them, Judd, Vicki, Lionel, and the others must band together to find faith and fight the evil forces that threaten their lives! These books are great for kids 10-14.

Left Behind: The Kids series—more than 10 million copies sold!

| read more |

ARTICLES and MULTI-MEDIA PIECES ON CHRISTIAN ZIONISM AND CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS 

Interview with Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Palestinian Lutheran pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethelehem


Rapture and Apocalypse: How Real is the Evangelical Hold on U.S. Foreign Policy?

A British/Iranian PhD student ponders the phenomenon of Christian Zionism in America

by Sadegh Kabeer

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That religion plays a prominent role in American politics is undeniable. The pollsters at the Pew Research Center have found that 85% of Americans regard religion as an important part of their lives. Moreover, the separation of religion from the political sphere doesn’t feature highly on their list of priorities. In the same set of polls, 70% of Americans stated they desire their President to be a person of faith.

Several presidents have been unabashed in their use of religious nomenclature, symbolism and allusion. Edifying homilies, packed with open professions of faith by Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and more recently George W. Bush were inveterate features of their respective presidencies. Though the separation of church and state remains the writ of the land, recent decades have seen a resurgence in religiosity and, to use a somewhat oxymoronic phrase, “postmodern-revival” of the role of religion in public life, whereby ancient symbols are refashioned and packaged to suit contemporary needs and agendas. An unrepresentative, but powerful coalition of groups have since the eighties been aggressively pursuing their politico-theological program with a hitherto unparalleled vigor. Though the situation is hardly as alarming as some commentators would have us believe, there is, o little doubt that the Christian Evangelical movement has emerged as a powerful and highly influential group with a wish-list they expect their political representatives to translate into policy.

Leaders of this movement include the late Jerry Falwell, Gary Bauer, Pat Robertson and John Hagee, and politicians such as former House Majority Leaders Tom DeLay (R-TX) and Richard Armey (R-TX), and Senator James Inhofe (R-K). The growing pervasiveness and political tenor of televangelism, e-vangelism (internet-vangelism) and religious activism have been part and parcel of the aforementioned trend and its recent buoyancy. The pervasive influence of the Christian Right is by no means a figment of “liberal America’s” imagination. In fact it’s very real, with some experts contending the provenance of American exceptionalism and unilateralism is to be found in Evangelism and its political cognates. For example, Professor Duane Oldfield of Knox College has argued that:

“Although the Christian right's unilateralism is not new, its proximity to power is. Three developments have helped make the Christian right a significant player in U.S. foreign policy: the election of a president with close ties to the movement, the growth of the Christian right's grassroots organizational strength, and the development of an alliance with neoconservatives, who have come to play a crucial role in the present administration.”

An important subset of the politically-minded Christian Right are the so-called Christian Zionists. The origins of Christian Zionism reside in the theology of dispensationalism which emerged in nineteenth century England, largely through the efforts of Anglican ministers Louis Way and John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism constitutes a form of premillenarianism which asserts that the world will experience an era of turmoil, hardship and catastrophe before Christ returns.

READ ON

 


Afraid You’ll be Left Behind?
The Rapture Trap.

from the National Review online

by Rod Dreher

n 1980, I was 13 years old, and someone had given me a copy of Hal Lindsey's mega-selling The Late Great Planet Earth to read. The Soviets were in Afghanistan, the American hostages were in Tehran, I had become fixated on the fear of nuclear war and — suddenly, thanks to Late Great, the chaos all made sense. There was no need to be afraid. This was all part of God's plan. Accept Jesus as your personal savior, and you wouldn't have to suffer through the worst of what was to come, for you would be spirited away in the Rapture. And if you didn't — well, too bad for you when the Antichrist comes knocking.

The premillenial Rapture is the belief, held by many Protestant Christians, that believers will, "in the twinkling of an eye," be taken body and soul into heaven to meet Jesus Christ — this, just as the world is on the brink of seven years of unprecedented suffering and strife, preceding the Second Coming and the end of history. If you think the end of the world is upon us, it's easy to see why believing you won't have to suffer the worst of it would be calming. On the other hand, you might exchange one set of fears for another. When I was in Late Great's grip, I would wake up every morning in a mild state of panic, wondering if the Rapture had happened while you were sleeping, and I'd been … left behind!

I don't believe in the premillenial Rapture anymore, but it's easy to see why so many people want to. For Christians and others whose religious beliefs predict an apocalyptic final act (even Islam and the New Age have their own versions), these days are unusually anxious. It isn't difficult to find in today's headlines — wars, rumors of wars, natural disasters, plagues, religious strife and technology run amok — evidence for the belief that history is quickening toward some sort of climax.

No wonder, then, that the same sensational theological teachings that excited believers in the 1970s and earlier are more popular than ever. The Left Behind fiction series, whose title refers to those who weren't raptured before the Apocalypse, may well be the best-selling Christian books of all time, not counting the Bible.

Given the amount of popular publicity given to the Rapture and its attendant doctrines, it may surprise (and disappoint) many Christians to learn that this set of beliefs, generally called "dispensationalism," is not explicitly taught by the Bible, nor has ever been widely held by Christians.

FULL ARTICLE


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