[1] The ubiquitous "rapture" story, elaborate end-times
constructs, and fervent, unquestioning support for the state of
Israel are now firmly embedded in U.S. Christian culture. Among
these touchstones of pre-millennialism, a new "Christian Zionism"
has found its way into the congregations of the ELCA. It is
doubtful that many ELCA pastors teach or preach the tenets of
pre-millennialism. The question is whether or not these leaders are
willing to challenge the implications of a popular belief that has
no place in Lutheran doctrine, because there is too much at stake
to take it lightly anymore.
[2] The Rev. Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Jerusalem, has gone so far as to urge western Lutherans
to consider the new Christian Zionism to be "heresy," in an effort
"to alert all Christians everywhere to its dangers and false
teachings."[1]
[3] Support among Christians for Israel as a safe homeland for
the Jews is one thing, a form of Zionism that involves
participation in a Jewish political movement leading to the
establishment of the nation state of Israel.
[4] "Christian Zionism" as manifested in the programming of the
Christian Broadcasting Network (cbn.com) and the Trinity Broadcasting
Network (tbn.org) is another thing
altogether. It is a movement with serious political and economic
leverage that advocates Israel as a nation that reaches from the
Mediterranean to the Jordan River or even the Euphrates; the
transfer of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza to other Arab
states; the destruction of the mosques in the Old City of Jerusalem
and the rebuilding of a Jewish temple there. When the Christian
Coalition of America met in October 2002 the conference began with
a videotaped benediction direct from the Oval office. Some of the
most influential Republicans in Congress at that time addressed the
group, including - not once, but twice - Tom DeLay, arguably one of
the most powerful people on Capitol Hill. The web site of the
International Christian Zionist Center (israelmybeloved.com) puts
forth the most recent theme to emerge, and one that participants
have raised in every ELCA setting where I have been the speaker
lately: "There never was a Palestine."
[5] Lutheran scholars and pastors may once have grimaced at
fundamentalist biblical interpretations or scoffed at the more
inventive readings of Revelation, but it just isn't funny
anymore.
[6] In Bishop Younan's experience, Christian Zionism is
anti-justice, anti-peace, and anti-reconciliation. It calls for the
transfer of Palestinians out of the land of their homes. "Christian
Zionism is the enemy of peace in the Middle East," Younan wrote. It
is imported into the Middle East and is not limited to one or more
church bodies, but its adherents can be found in every church body,
he said. The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek called pre-millenialism a "heresy"
and Christian Zionism a "menace" when he spoke at Perkins School of
Theology in Dallas on Nov. 7, 2002. Ateek is director of the Sabeel
Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, Jerusalem. He said the
implications of Christian Zionism are "life or death to people in
Palestine on a day-to-day basis."
[7] Apocalyptic lore has been present in U.S. religious
communities since the Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth was
published in 1970. In recent years the Left Behind fiction series
has captured the imaginations and bookshelves of countless U.S.
Christians - Lutherans among them.[2] A show
of hands in any group of ELCA pastors will indicate the startling
presence of the Left Behind phenomenon in their congregations, a
tribute to the success of this $8 million franchise.
[8] Dr. Barbara Rossing of the Lutheran School of Theology at
Chicago describes the situation this way: "Many Americans interpret
God's action in the world through pre-millennialism, as evidenced
in the popular Left Behind series (nine novels, a web site, two
movies, a board game). Sales of so-called "prophecy" books have
surged since September 11, 2001. Their understanding of Revelation
is consumed with the 'rapture' -- the belief that God will snatch
true Christians up into heaven before the disastrous events of
Revelation's seven-year tribulations are visited on the earth. This
belief unfortunately is connected to unquestioning political
support and military aid for Israel, arguing that the Jewish Temple
must be rebuilt in order for Christ to return and usher in the
end-times." This belief results in a peculiar understanding of the
very nature of the state of Israel and its relation to the
fulfillment of a covenant with God and the second coming of Jesus.
Rossing writes, "No Lutheran or mainline Christian doctrine
endorses such an escapist theology of the rapture or such Middle
East policies, yet this view of the end-times has virtually taken
over American Christian views of the book of
Revelation."[3]
[9] So where are our people getting this stuff? In addition to
the "Left Behind" products, there's television, especially cable
TV. The enormously popular televangelists Jerry Falwell, Pat
Robertson, and Benny Hinn broadcast this biblical interpretation
over religious cable channels every day.[4] The ideas of Jack Van Impe
and Kenneth Copeland, receive generous play on Christian TV.
[10] My guide to this pre-millennial TV world was Robert O.
Smith, a student at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, who traveled to
Israel and Palestine with a Lutheran group in November
2002.[5] They sought to encourage
justice by living among Palestinians and helping with the olive
harvest. Smith was raised amid fundamentalism in Oklahoma. When I
spoke to him, Smith said, "People are suffering and dying because
of this way of reading the Bible."
"I'm very familiar with the
view that we're all moving toward this goal of bringing Christ
back, but I simply don't read the scriptures in that way," Smith
said. "I don't equate the modern state of Israel that has been
established with the Israel spoken about in scripture." …
Smith said Lutherans must take careful stock of complicity for
atrocities against Jews throughout history. … "But the other
side to the establishment of the Jewish state is the victimization
of the indigenous population of Palestinians," he said. (St. Paul
Pioneer Press, Nov. 18, 2002)
[11] Our history calls Lutherans to a particular sensitivity in
their relations with the Jewish people. In discussing the problems
of pre-millennial Christian Zionism, it is crucial that we not
endanger authentic Lutheran/Jewish dialogue. The ELCA Department
for Ecumenical Affairs provides a helpful web page:
http://www.elca.org/ecumenical/interreligious/jewish/index.html.
[12] Mindful of our history and informed by our dialogue, we
should not fear to speak honestly about Israel. At an event for
journalists in April 2002, Benny Avni of Kol Israel Radio said that
criticism of Israel or U.S./Israeli policy should not ever be
misunderstood as anti-Semitism.[6] With
some care, the same principle can work in our congregations.
[13] "They don't love the real Jewish people," the (Israeli)
author Gershom Gorenberg told the CBS programme "60 Minutes." "They
love us as characters in their story, in their play, and that's not
who we are. If you listen to the drama that they are describing,
essentially it's a five-act play in which the Jews disappear in the
fourth act."
[14] A member of an ELCA congregation in Texas wrote to me
recently to ask my opinion of a news story from the Christian
Broadcasting Network's web site:
"...Israeli Ambassador Zalmon Shoval stated: The whole land
between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is ours ...
historically, morally, and by virtue of international law. We do
not see ourselves as "occupiers;" of anyone else's country; there
never having been a Palestinian or other sovereign state in what is
now usually referred to as "the territories." Nor, is it illegal
for Jewish people to live anywhere in the area. These are not Arab
lands, the way the press routinely defines them.'"
She concluded, "My husband and I, both, would like to know if
the ELCA is not in support of Israel. The Bible says that God
blesses those who bless Israel."
[15] I responded that the ambassador's point of view represents
the present administration in Israel, but certainly not all
Israelis. Many citizens of Israel who seek peace with security for
their country consider the area established after 1948 to be the
extent of the Israel, as does the United Nations. I explained that
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem has asked us to help
in communicating their story and to encourage ELCA members to pray
for them and for the peace process. And I tried to clarify for this
earnest Lutheran our church's support for Israel. While seeking
peace with justice for Palestinians, our ELCA has always continued
in support of peace and security for Israel.
[16] My hope is that ELCA pastors and leaders will make good use
of our strong Lutheran theology to help our members understand
these issues, to guide them beyond the cartoon stories provided by
pre-millennial Christian Zionism. In a letter to President Bush in
October 2001, former presiding bishop George Anderson vouched for
the ELCA's affirmation of Israel's "right to exist peacefully
within recognized and secure borders and its call upon the
international community to recognize the same right for the
Palestinian people." Bishop Anderson also described the violence
which torments the region, "The cycle of violence includes the
violence inherent in decades of occupation: imprisonment without
trial, demolition of homes, torture, intimidation, destruction of
thousands upon thousands of olive trees and other crops,
confiscation of land and the building of settlements in disputed
areas, economic strangulation, and so on. Addressing the root
causes of the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is in
the best interest of both parties."[7]
[17] My hope is that we will not shrink from addressing in our
congregations the peril facing Palestinians in the new Christian
Zionist movement. At the Sabeel Conference[8] in 1998, Dr. Stephen Sizer
said:
At its simplest, Christian Zionism has been defined as
"Christian support for Zionism." Central to Christian Zionism is
the belief in the abiding relevance of the promise God made to
Abraham in Genesis 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you, and
whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be
blessed through you." [9]
But Sizer also quoted Louis Hamada's (author of Understanding
the Arab World) definition: "The term Zionism refers to a political
Jewish movement for the establishment of a national homeland in
Palestine for the Jews that have been dispersed." On the other
hand, a Christian Zionist is a person who is more interested in
helping God fulfill His prophetic plan through the physical and
political Israel, rather than helping Him fulfill His evangelistic
plan through the Body of Christ.
© May 2005
Journal of Lutheran Ethics (JLE)
Volume 5, Issue 5
[1] Bishop Munib
Younan&=javascript:goNote(39s newsletter can be found at the
web site of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy
Land: http://www.holyland-lutherans.org.
The text that makes his point on Christian Zionism is
as follows:
Bishop Younan Declares Christian Zionism to be a
Heresy
Recently Bishop Younan was interviewed by a Danish newspaper. He
was asked for his opinion of Christian Zionism and the bishop said,
"I hereby declare that Christian Zionism is not only a sick
theology but it is a heresy, right along with Arianism and
Nestorianism and others. I believe it is time we named this
misinterpretation of Christ and the gospel for what it is."
First of all, the bishop states, Christian Zionism promotes
Christ not as the Savior but as a military general, readying his
forces for a huge battle, Armageddon. "The true Christ is the
Christ of the cross and the open tomb, bringing hope, peace,
reconciliation and new life. This is the Christ in whom I
believe."
Secondly, Christian Zionists pretend to be philosemitic, to love
the Jewish people, but in the long run they are actually
anti-Semitic in their teachings. The Jewish people are simply
characters in the Christian Zionist heresy and in the so-called
final battle; two-thirds of the Jewish people will be destroyed
because they do not believe in Christ, while the other one-third
will be converted to Christ. As Palestinian Christians we cannot
accept such a heresy that loses sight of the core Gospel of Christ
which is love for everyone, not only the Christians, without
discrimination.
Thirdly, Christian Zionism is anti-justice, anti-peace,
anti-reconciliation. Bishop Younan states that the teachings are
racist, calling for the transfer of Palestinians out of this land.
"Christian Zionism is the enemy of peace in the Middle East."
Christian Zionism is imported into the Middle East and is not
limited to one or more church bodies, but its adherents can be
found in every church body. Declaring Christian Zionism to be a
heresy, Bishop Younan states, is intended to alert all Christians
everywhere to its dangers and false teachings.
January 2003 Newsletter
BISHOP DR. MUNIB A. YOUNAN
[2] ELCA page with Left
Behind resources: http://www.elca.org/communication/culture/.
[3] Dr. Barbara
Rossing&=javascript:goNote(39s article, "The Rapture in
Reverse: Reading Revelation So No One is 'Left Behind'" appeared in
Good Courage, resource and reflection publication of
Holden Village, fall 2002 (www.holdenvillage.org).
[4] The Trinity Foundation monitors
televangelists: http://www.trinityfi.org.
[5] The Rev. Robert O. Smith was editor
of The Concord student newspaper at Luther Seminary.
He wrote about his trip to Israel and Palestine in the December
2002 edition dedicated to "The Land." Smith is presently
Director for the Europe and Middle East desk in the ELCA's Global
Mission unit.
[6] Radio journalist Benny Avni was a
presenter at "Megaphones and Muffled Voices: What Constitutes Full
and Fair Media Coverage of Israeli-Palestinian Issues?" April 2002,
New York City. Information at the web site of the World
Association for Christian Communication: http://www.wacc.org.uk/.
[7] Bishop George Anderson's letter to
President George W. Bush appears in the Lutheran Office for
Governmental Affairs policy overview for the Middle East:
http://www.elca.org/advocacy/issues/middleeast/elcapolicyoverview.html.
[8] The web site for the Sabeel
Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center is http://www.sabeel.org.
[8] Dr. Rev. Stephen Sizer is a Vicar
at Christ Church, Virginia Waterand an area Tutor at the School of
Theology, Westminster College Oxford. His speech "Christian
Zionism: A British Perspective" was presented at the 3rd
International Sabeel Conference, Bethlehem University, February
1998.