The state of Israel has long maintained political power in the US Congress, especially among Democrats. Its brilliantly conceived lobbying rocket ship has an American coat of paint and lots of US citizens fuel it.  We have published a book about AIPAC, One Nation Under Israel, by Andrew J. Hurley. The title describes the problem. (1) But, other, more clever and ominous Zionist fronts operate within US Christian circles.  Israel’s vast influence with Republicans has been accomplished through its influence over the so-called “Christian Right.”

 

Long before there was an Israeli state, a fledgling and much ridiculed religious movement was being cultured around the notion of a predictable end to the present world.  It became generically known as “evangelicalism” or “dispensationalism.”  It called for a political state of Israel in Palestine as a Christian imperative, and it did so even before Zionism was formalized as the World Zionist Organization in 1895.  Later, Zionists used an American pastor-pretender Cyrus I. Scofield to add hundreds of new pages to the old Authorized King James Version of the Bible by 1908. (2) Ingenious Zionists transplanted their agenda into many Christian denominations amidst the ashes of the two world wars. 

 

The new Zionist friendly religion was to rewrite the Bible to establish the future racially pure Jewish state called Israel as a vital precursor to Christ’s return to earth.  Israel was to be a sign of Jesus’ “second coming.” The coveted real estate was to be the ancient land of the Philistines; provinces of Syria.  Zionists correctly perceived that American Christianity would someday be strong enough to give the land to them over the objections of the owners, providing enough Christians could be convinced that Jesus expected them to do it.

 

Unity Coalition for Israel Is new.  Its stated purpose is to help control and direct the sprawling “Christian Right” by controlling how churchgoers view current events in Israel.  It is an umbrella organization of American Christians who are for Israel, right or wrong.  Writers at American Israeli-patriot think tanks, including Ed Lasky, Editor of American Thinker, generate UCI’s “educational” fodder for the public.  

 

The best way to deal with the outrageous dishonesty of Judeo-Christian thought is to quote it, and expose its error.  A recent article by Lasky in American Thinker, “Splitting the Evangelicals from Israel”, was republished by Unity Coalition for Israel on January 30, 2007.  We quote from Mr. Lasky extensively, and link to his complete story (3).  Mr. Lasky seems to be worried about Israel’s declining image.  He has good reason for this concern.  We have taken the liberty of emphasizing some of his text with italics.

 

Ed Lasky: “A new strategy seems to be emerging that seeks to weaken American support for Israel.

 

While there has been much attention given to challenges Israel faces on college campuses, in the media, and increasingly in the halls of Congress, the historically solid and vitally important support given by Evangelical Christians towards Israel is now being threatened. How is this happening and who are the actors?

 

Evangelicals support Israel for a variety of reasons, among them a belief that Israel is a fellow democracy with which we share a common Western culture and that we value as a friend. Israel has also been victimized by Islamic terrorism, as have we. Israel is also a strategic ally in the war against Islamic radicalism- a lone Western outpost in a faraway land that gave birth to two major religions: Judaism and Christianity-the foundation of Western civilization.

 

Editor WHTT:  We hope we have been a part of “threatening” Israel‘s evangelical support.  It is one of our goals.  We will not devote space debating Lasky’s self-serving claims of a “democratic Israel” and an “ally” against Islam except to note that many have done a good job of defrocking each claim.  “Judeo-Christianity” is a synonym for Christian-Zionism, which is certainly not the foundation of “western civilization.”

 

The following statement by Lasky is a greater abuse because it is a lie that some 70 million Judeo-Christians have come to believe:

 

Ed Lasky:  “However, the core reason that Evangelicals have affection for the Jewish people and a strong desire to protect Israel is found, unsurprisingly, in the Bible.

 

What may surprise people is that the foundation of this support has nothing to do with end-of-days scenarios or the desire to convert the Jews. Instead, there is a belief that God has a covenant with the Jewish people and with Israel.

 

Christians have a religious mandate to support Israel. Throughout the Bible there is language that calls upon Christians to honor and cherish the Jewish people.  A key section is found in the very first book of the Bible: Genesis. The promise of Genesis 12:3 is that…“he who blesses Israel will be blessed, and he who curses Israel will be cursed”.”

 

Editor WHTT:  Lasky’s statements are outright fabrications, not found in any bible text.  There is no mention of “Israel” in Genesis 12:3 because the man named Israel, the nation so named and the word “Israel” did not yet exist then.  Abraham became the grandfather of Jacob (called Israel) three generations later.  But “Israel” is written into the footnotes on page 19 of the Scofield Reference Bible, 1967 edition, published by Oxford University Press. 

 

Ed Lasky: “To people who interpret Israel to mean the Jews, evangelical Christians, Genesis becomes an exhortation to both Zionism and Philo-Semitism. There is also a feeling of sympathy for the Jews, given the tragic history of Christian anti-Semitism in Europe.

 

Efforts are now underway to erode this base of support. While it is unlikely that there is a concerted effort among the foes of Israel, they do seem to be operating from a common playbook. The tactics seem to rely on a few simple but potentially perilous ideas. One avenue of attack is to question the theology behind the Biblical mandate to “bless the Jews”.”

 

Editor WHTT:  Again, Lasky’s statement that there is a Biblical mandate to “bless the Jews” it simply false.  He uses the word “Jew” that does not occur anywhere in the book of Genesis, nor anywhere else for hundreds of years after Abraham.  “Jew” was derived from Abraham’s great, great, grandson, Judah.   In fact Lasky’s false and misleading admonition comes from the man-made footnotes in Oxford (Zionist) Press’ Scofield Reference Bible, also on page 19, not from the bible anywhere. (4)  

 

Ed Lasky: “The theological argument that a bond no longer exists between God and the Jews (and by extension Israel) is known as “replacement theology”. The Jerusalem-based Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, an anti-Israel Palestinian Christian group, has been among those groups most actively promoting this spurious doctrine… “    Replacement” theology has taken hold in Europe while it has been rejected so far by most American churches.”

 

Editor WHTT:  Lasky now rewrites the definition of Christianity. What Lasky calls “replacement theology” is in fact what the Apostle Paul taught to all followers of Christ.  It is found in all bibles, and is even intact in the referenced Oxford Scofield Reference Bible on page 1268.

 

Galatians 3:24-29 “Therefore the Law (of Moses) has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, and there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” (American Standard Version)

 

All Christian churches teach that the New Testament followers of Christ are the “Sons of Abraham.” New Covenant, led by Jesus who ignore lineage and racial preferences, supercedes the old law.  The authentic new replaces the authentic old; this is God’s order of life.  To every Christian sect and denomination it is the traditional Way of Christ.  We don’t argue with those who wish to believe something else, but this is a basic message of the New Testament.

 

Lasky dragged up the phrase, “replacement theology” to discredit clear Biblical teaching.  Paul’s words crush world Zionism to dust because he defies anyone to be a racist, setting no tribe above the others in God’s eyes.  To repeat Paul: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”  

 

What is so hard to understand, Mr. Lasky?  The political state of Israel is irrelevant to those who follow Jesus in truth.

 

Ed Lasky: “However, there are disconcerting signs that this favorable state of affairs may be changing. The old “mainline” churches such as the Presbyterians have leaders who support the Palestinian narrative….

 

Sabeel periodically gives road shows to propagate this view. The group has had some success: at a recent conference in Chicago, attendees included representatives from a clutch of organizations: Churches for Middle East Peace, American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), the Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Wheat Ridge Ministries.

 

Editor WHTT: UCI resents Sabeel(5) because it is a Christian Arab and Jewish peace organization with the motto: “Those who desire life and desire to see good days…let them never yield to evil but practice good; let them seek peace and pursue it.”  I Peter 3:10-11

 

Ed Lasky: “Jimmy Carter also wants a role in trying to divide Evangelicals. His recent book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid is replete with factual errors, misrepresentations, plagiarism, and outright fabrication. Perceptive critics have pointed out that Carter seems to have a barely hidden agenda in writing the book: to weaken Christian support for Israel. …In Carter’s view, Israel has become a secular nation. No longer being a nation of the Jews, carrying Cauterizing (ill) logic to its conclusion, it has broken its covenant with God. Therefore, it can no longer be offered either the support or the blessings of Christians.”

 

Editor WHTT:  It is irrelevant to followers of Christ whether Israel is secular or religious because God’s blessing to mankind is through Jesus Christ, not the state of Israel.  This is the basis of 100% of Christianity, no matter how apostate it may have become.  It is beside the point that Israel is secular (which it is!) 

 

Jimmy Carter would be 85% correct if he said every Jew in Israel is non-religious.  In fact only about 15% are.  Jimmy Carter has changed, leaving behind in 2000 the Southern Baptist Convention, which teaches Scofieldized or Judaized Christianity.  Mr. Carter has openly broken with the core beliefs of the Christian Right, the very views Mr. Lasky, a Jew, is selling.  Jimmy Carter, like this Editor, was once willing to ignore the official positions of the Southern Baptist Convention.  My slumber ended in 1990, when the SBC supported the first war on Iraq. 

 

Ed Lasky writes of Carter: “One of the lines of arguments that [Carter tries] to get readers to swallow is that Israel is not deserving of the sympathy that has been a hallmark of Christian support for Israel because of supposed mistreatment of Palestinians (both Christians and Muslims).”

 

Editor WHTT: Israel spends many millions of US aid dollars on propaganda to convince Americans it does not mistreat those they occupy.  The Zionist movement is upset about Carter because followers of Christ are beginning to desert Judeo-Christianity.  We Hold These Truths welcomes this as The Great Turning back to the Way of Christ and a culture of peace.

 

 Ed Lasky: “Christians are fleeing the Holy Land. Palestinian Christians have a higher rate of emigration than Palestinian Muslims and the Palestinian population has plunged from 20% after World War II to less than 1.7% now. Research demonstrates that the precipitous decline of the Christian population is primarily a result of social, economic and religious discrimination within Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza Strip….

 

…that the Christian Arab population within the pre-1967 borders of Israel has grown from 34,000 in 1948 to 130,000 in 2005. Ironically this is the only part of the Middle East where the Christian population is growing …This is the result of the Palestinian Authority adopting Muslim religious law in the territories in contrast to Israel which safeguards the religious freedom of its citizens.”

 

Editor WHTT:  The reason the Arab population in Israel grows is that Arabs have babies and don’t abort them, as the Israeli Jews often do.   Arab families are large; Israeli families are small.  Using Mr. Lasky’s numbers of Arabs, the Arab population has doubled twice in 75 years, a growth rate of about 3% a year.  The Jewish population growth rate from birth is a negative number; its abortion rate is about 125% of the US rate.  It would be even higher were it not for its one million or more Arab Muslims, and the 130,000 Arab Christians who do regenerate and whose abortion rate is near zero. Christians should logically support the Arabs because they are pro-life.

 

Lasky: “There have been many other examples of Muslims attacking Palestinian Christians. See the editorial “Christians attacked” involving an attack on a Christian village in the West Bank, setting buildings on fire and destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary; “Christians threatened,” where Christians in the Gaza Strip had buildings bombed and warned them to close up missionary buildings or face destruction.”

 

Editor WHTT: The myth of Arab racism is debunked in a few hours in Gaza, as I witnessed in 2002 when I walked in by myself and stayed for a week alone.  There I found an Arab Baptist church next to a big mosque, with no problems that anyone can remember.  The Orthodox Church has a beautiful little cemetery in its courtyard with white limestone headstones, old ones, undisturbed by its Muslim neighbors for centuries.  The flight of American missionaries is because their home churches withdrew them, those I met did not want to leave.  Christians in Gaza are a minority among Muslims, but every one I met was far more fearful of American-built Israeli missiles that fall on them every day. 

 

Ed Lasky laments: “Recently, Jimmy Carter (along with Bill Clinton) has announced a new effort to bring together moderate Baptists in a “robust coalition” that would serve as a counterweight to the conservative Southern Baptist Convention (the SBC)….The invited churches have a combined membership of more than 20 million, outnumbering the Southern Baptist Convention…..

 

…Dr. Richard Land, head of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission… stated in a Washington Post article: “…one of the areas where there would be significant disagreement would be our view towards Israel, as highlighted by President Carter’s new book”.

 

…Clearly, Israel enjoys strong support within the evangelical movement. Groups such as the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (founded by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein) have pioneered the way in fostering close ties between the Jewish community, Israel, and the evangelicals. Former Presidential candidate Gary Bauer has also been a leader in trying to mobilize evangelicals to support Israel. More recently, Pastor John Hagee, who has been in the forefront among evangelicals in supporting Israel, formed Christians United for Israel to serve as a lobbying group for Israel and has already, achieved great success…”

 

Editor WHTT: Israel manages its Judeo-Christian leaders through umbrella organizations, including Unity Coalition for Israel.   UCI serves as a whip for Judeo-Christian organizational leaders in the USA.  CUFI (started by John Hagee) is another of these.

 

Lasky:  “Evangelical Christians are probably the most philo-Semitic group in the world today. Evangelicals do not support Israel for end-of-days or for conversionary motives …

 

… the affection and support that evangelicals extend to Jews and to Israel should be cherished and appreciated for what it is: a gift from God.

 

…Will Jimmy Carter and his allies rend asunder what God hath joined together? Only time will tell.”

 

Editor WHTT: Ed Lasky quotes from the familiar passage used in Christian marriage ceremonies to sell Judeo-Christianity.  Lasky pompously declares that the unholy alliance between the political state of Israel and the Judeo-Christians is “made in heaven…what God hath joined together…” The Bible often refers to the relationship between true followers of Christ and Jesus as an ideal marriage based upon absolute honesty and fidelity.  But it is world Zionism, not God, who fashioned the “Judeo-Christian” marriage.

 

Suppose instead that we pray this: Let God put asunder what weak and evil men have joined together.  UCI spawns itself by engaging the likes of John Hagee to generate his own brainchild for world Zionism “Christians United for Israel (CUFI).   It promotes Israel as an alter image to display beside Jesus at evangelical churches.  It is no longer uncommon to see the Israeli national flag flown over evangelical churches. To those like Hagee who now quite proudly call themselves “Christian-Zionists,” the love of Israel is a religious matter of faith, transcending national sovereignty. 

 

In spite of the brilliance and financial power of the Zionist movement, the State of Israel is having serous concerns about losing the vote of America’s Christian Right, and with good reason.  We Hold These Truths detects a rising tide of resentment among Christ followers against Serial Wars upon Islamic states in deference to the wishes of Israel.  Many are now horrified by the loss of life on all sides and are beginning to abandon the “Christian” sub-culture of war worship, no matter what name it is called.

 

Judeo-Christians (Christian-Zionists) are increasingly seen as willful enablers of the annihilation of nations and tribes, including the Iraqis and Palestinians.  Even Israel is suffering from too much war.  Worse yet, this compromised, unholy pseudo-alliance is corrupting the faith of those who serve it.  Christ’s work is the true victim of the Christian Right.

 

 

Links and sources noted in the article:

        

(1)          ONE NATION UNDER ISRAEL

Author: Andrew Hurley
Exposes the power and tactics of the Israeli lobby in the US Congress, and warns of the inevitable backlash to come.  Highly recommended to understand the roots of the Middle East agony.  Paperback 345 pgs.      $14.50

http://eshop.whtt.org/eshop.php?id=28

 

(2) The Incredible Scofield and his Book

 

Author: Joseph M. Canfield
A ten-year comprehensive study of evangelical dispensationalist’s most influential figure of 20th century.  If you have a friend or loved one caught up in dispensationalism, you need to read this book.  Hardcover 1988. 314pp $17.50

http://eshop.whtt.org/eshop.php?id=28

 

 

(3) Unity Coalition for Israel

http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/article.php?id=817

 

 

(4) Christian Zionism’s Roots

-a free online narrated slide show at:

https://whtt.org/show

 

 

(5) Sabeel Ministries

(http://www.wiamep.org/sabeel/)