Usually, “Israel Watch” is devoted to topics that directly relate to the Jewish state, of course. But one of my hobbies is engaging in what David Horowitz calls “discover the networks,” which enables one to get the bigger picture. In other words, I am almost obsessed with learning why things are the way they are.
In this case, what are the human agents of change that cause Israel to be a pariah on the international stage? We know the real backstory: the Bible predicts it. But because we have been given a front-row seat to the conclusion of history, I like to know how we got here.
In the heyday of dispensationalism (I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church, in the Midwest), fervor for Israel was everywhere. It grew from our reading of the Bible, although I wonder how many people actually loved/liked Jews, and how much of our Israel focus was because “that’s how you get to the end.” There was some good teaching and then some teaching that wasn’t so great. Personally, we were taught almost nothing about Jewish roots, the Holocaust, or even clear, concise information about Israel’s role in history.
Having said that, I like to think that our churches then were light years ahead of mainline churches, in understanding the specialness of the Jewish people. Liberalism had infected our seminaries for generations (even within the SBC), and the liberal institutions were busy reimagining Scripture so that it was all about the Church.
Classic Replacement Theology.
I’ve outlined in this space before some of those influences, including the Darwinian philosophy that destroyed Europe, and the German Higher Criticism that deconstructed the Bible for millions.
Yet it is most intriguing today to look at America, post World War 2. The rise of Fuller Seminary, Leadership Network, which spawned the Church Growth Movement, celebrity pastors, and today’s Christian Millennials.
America today is thoroughly engulfed in really bad teaching in the churches. I always have to qualify that statement by saying there are still thousands of great pastors and churches out there. There are. But nationally, they do not have the voice that Rick Warren enjoys. The result is that the so-called Evangelical Industrial Complex (what I also don’t shy away from calling the Christian Illuminati) has a stranglehold on messaging and media, nationally.
Go into any Christian bookstore chain. There you will find all sorts of bad books. It used to be that store managers would carefully look over the myriad catalogs they received from publishers, then when a company’s sales rep came in, the manager placed his or her order.
That changed some time ago; now, sales reps by and large simply inform the manager what books will be shipped. In other words, in the old days, a manager could order some Charles Spurgeon, some good prophecy stuff, more Bibles, etc. Today? It’s floor and counter displays of Max Lucado, Joel Osteen, and Jesus Calling (a horrific book, which is also standard reading in most evangelical churches), etc.
In a certain sense, the culture demanded it and the publishers provided it. But both are complicit in the grotesque offerings in Christian media today.
And the networks all feed and feed off each other. Dr. Russell Moore, president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (after the ERLC board got rid of the pro Israel Richard Land), wrote a book last year, Onward, which won Book of the Year from Christianity Today magazine. Now, a generation ago, that wouldn’t have happened. Why? CT for decades has been a left-leaning mouthpiece for all sorts of change agents. The magazine’s editorial staff/board doesn’t like Bible prophecy, young-earth creationism, or discernment teachers like Warren Smith or the late Ken Silva. So if Moore and CT are chummy, that doesn’t spell anything good for old-school evangelicalism.
By the way, if you want a primer on Moore’s views of Israel, read Dr. Randy White’s piece here, which outlines how far the SBC leadership has drifted from pro Israel support. Then, if you have some hours to kill, check out Moore’s blog, “Moore to the Point.” Search for “Israel” and “Palestine,” and oh, you’ll see where he’s going with it.
Bottom line: where Israel and Bible prophecy are concerned, almost all the top evangelical leadership today opposes them.
Now, the old complaint that some prophecy teachers cried wolf one too many times is valid. Many prophecy teachers over the years have come right up to the edge of telling us that Jesus is returning next Tuesday at 3 p.m. They just have. That has helped glaze-over the eyes of countless people in the evangelical world, not to mention the mainline. They just aren’t listening anymore.
However…overwhelmingly, these evangelical leaders don’t like prophecy teaching and Israel because they don’t like prophecy teaching and Israel. “Moore to the Point”: they don’t like Jews.
Anti-Semitism is a scourge in the American church. It is also a very individual choice. One can be exposed to anti-Jewish invective and embrace it, or leave it. I chose the latter as a young person. Once, I was speaking in a church and during the Q&A, an older gentleman raised his hand and said that as a child, he was encouraged to stay away from Jews.
“Why was that, do you think?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, obviously perplexed at the old memory.
People teach others to steer clear of Jews because they buy into the old Middle Ages stereotypes: Jews are greedy; Jews start wars. Et cetera. Jew hatred is a spiritual sickness that afflicts individuals, who choose to allow the virus to remain within them. Many of them in turn influence others and the virus spreads.
I can document plenty of cases of teaching from church leaders that points to a downturn in pro Israel support today. I think of Philip Yancey’s reference to Jesus as a “Palestinian rabbi.” This is of course false (First-century Jews knew nothing of a “Palestine”), and both a political and religious statement. Interestingly, Yancey’s false portrayal of the Lord came around the time Yasser Arafat was telling mainline church leaders in Washington that Jesus was a Palestinian.
I wrote to Yancey and he was reluctant to concede my point that Jesus was never and will never be a Palestinian.
Then there was the letter I received in the mid-‘90s from Maxie Dunnam, then president of Asbury Theological Seminary. I had asked him what he thought of Israel theologically, and he replied that he didn’t think modern Israelis were connected to the biblical Hebrews. This is a common theme among evangelical leaders today. Asbury is considered to be the most evangelical seminary within the United Methodist Church.
In the last hundred years, American seminaries have been run by liberals, who do not place a premium on the sufficiency of Scripture. One of the natural outcomes of such thinking is a denial of much of Jewish history. For example, if you knew how many evangelical professors don’t believe the Exodus story actually happened…you’d be sickened. If you knew how many teaching materials relegate the Old Testament to semi-myth, you’d be enraged.
This is how we’ve gotten to where we are regarding Israel and Bible prophecy. The biggest evangelical ministries and churches shy away from these topics; they either find them embarrassing, controversial, or the pastors don’t want people to know what they personally believe about Jews and Israel.
David Gushee is a self-described “Christian ethicist.” In 2011, he and his friend Glen Stassen (then a professor at Fuller Seminary) penned an open letter to Christian Zionists, making the outrageous claim that we are “sinning” by our support for Israel! The duo also mentored such Millennial leaders as Jon Huckins and Jer Swigart, who are in turn promoting the Palestinian Narrative to young people.
Last week, Gushee tweeted: “The culture wars now are a threat to academic freedom. How did we get here?”
This is classic leftist misinformation. What he means is that conservatives are a threat to academic freedom. Yet it has been obvious for a half-century at least that leftist professors are the real threat to academic freedom. Hal Lindsey has remarked that when he was involved in Campus Crusade for Christ in 1961, Berkeley was already totally infected by Marxist teachers.
Gushee sees the world in a certain way. His worldview is left. But interestingly, people like Gushee are gaining in influence in the evangelical world.
But outright leftists aren’t the only ones. There are stealth campaigns having sway, as well. Check out the speaker lineup for the upcoming National Religious Broadcasters Convention, in Nashville.
Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby, will speak. In recent years, the Green family’s relationship with Jews and Israel has been…problematic. The flap over a Jewish person in a Hobby Lobby looking for a menorah, being told that the company doesn’t cater to Jews, caused the company some bad national press. The 2010 documentary hit piece on Israel, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” produced by Green’s brother, Mart, has been roundly panned by pro Israel supporters.
I’ve asked Mart Green numerous times, including three times in person, to clarify his views on Israel and the Jews.
I’m still waiting.
This kind of influence at NRB is interesting to me. Not so longer ago, the late Brandt Gustafson was leading NRB, and he was pro Israel.
Now, NRB still has pro Israel speakers, such as Kay Arthur. But the introduction of speakers with a different worldview is quite disturbing.
Rick Warren will also speak. His closeness to Muslims is cause for concern; his 2006 meeting/fawning over Syria’s Bashar Assad, has never been adequately explained. He has also tweeted news items spotlighting Israel’s anti-missionary laws, and his close mentoring relationship with pro Palestinian Millennials like Cameron Strang tip Warren’s hand when it comes to Israel. And here I’m not even addressing his involvement with Leadership Network and Church Growth gurus/change agents like Peter Drucker.
Writer Jon Acuff hangs with anti-Israel evangelicals.
In his NRB bio, Jake Press (CEO, HelloMogo Inc.) is doing his part to introduce Jesus Calling to evangelical audiences: “He has been responsible for implementing strategy and deployment for top companies; experienced success producing the #1 book app, Jesus Calling; and most recently launched Disciplr.com as a co-founding member of the new tech brand.”
As I’ve said, Jesus Calling is a Trojan Horse within evangelicalism, yet it has sold more than 10 million copies. Check out Warren Smith’s strong investigation of this book.
My point here is that at all levels, including the Christian book publishing industry, anti-biblical worldview has pushed its nose under the tent and is becoming mainstream thought.
This does not bode well for pro Israel support.
What happens when I expose these networks within evangelicalism? I get attacked for being mean-spirited. I am told to stop naming names.
The failure to name names is precisely why we’re in the position we’re in today.
After a century of attacks on the Bible, from within the fort, one of the outcomes is a downturn in support for Israel. If you are a student who has been told that early Jewish history is really murky and might be in some part myth, then you are naturally not going to believe Israel has legitimate rights in its ancient homeland.
That’s where we are today. The rising generation of evangelical leaders is turning away from Israel, and they do not at all embrace a correct eschatology.
Next week, I’ll reveal more of these left-leaning networks that have so damaged the American church and in particular, pro Israel support.
Reprinted with author’s permission from Rapture Ready
