• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
TWO CHRISTIAN VIEWS ON ZIONISM
Dispensational Christian ZionismRoman Catholic Supercessionism
 Articulated by:
 Professor Tommy Ice Executive Director The Pre-Trib Research Center  Liberty University Lynchburg, Virginiawww.pre-trib.orgtdice@liberty.edu John Salza
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/zionism.html http://www.scripturecatholic.com/john_salza.html  johnsalza@scripturecatholic.com
 For an alternative, but unofficial, pro-Zionist Catholic position, please see:http://catholicsforisrael.com/ 
Michael:Answers to many of the questions you askare found in the twobooks I recommended:Ronald Diprose,
Israelin the Development of Christian Thought
 
andespecially BarryHorner's more recentrelease,
Future Israel:Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must BeChallenged
.Your confusionbetween my quotedstatement and Stephenin Acts 7 arises over the fact that Stephen'scomments concerningthe Temple rather concerned the idea of God's presence beingrestricted to an earthlybuilding, and, likeJesus, of theinadequacy of claiming
Zionism is a movement that seeks a spiritual and nationalrestoration of Israel, the land of the Jewish people. Specifically,Zionists believe that the Jews have a divine right to the real estateit formerly possessed during the reign of King Solomon, based onthe promises that God made to Abraham in the book of Genesis: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "Toyour descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to thegreat river, the river Euphra'tes, the land of the Ken'ites, theKen'izzites, the Kad'monites, the Hittites, the Per'izzites, theReph'aim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gir'gashites and theJeb'usites.” (Gen. 15:18-21).Zionism is part of a greater eschatological worldview that sees therestoration of Israel as a sign of the end-times (this is often called “Dispensational pre-millennialism”). Christian Zionists believe that,once Israel’s land is restored and its ancient borders are secured,Christ will come again to rule with the Jews in Israel for amillennium. They base their beliefs on the “1,000 years” of Apoc.20:2-6 (even though this apocalyptic language is only symbolic).During His reign, Christ will appoint 144,000 Jewish leaders to rulewith Him over the Gentiles until the end of the world (Apoc. 7:4;14:1,3).However, prior to Christ’s earthly reign from Jerusalem, Zionistsbelieve that Gentile Christians who are still living at this time will besecretly taken up into heaven. This will pave the way for the Jews torule with Jesus for the millennial period. They call this secret takingof Christians up to heaven “The Rapture,” and base this belief onPaul’s letter to the Thessalonians: “For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who arealive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precedethose who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend fromheaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and withthe sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will risefirst; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up
1
 
the Temple of God as apromise of securitywhile at the same timeliving in rebellion to theGod of that Temple.Like the prophets whocondemned trusting inthe Temple whileviolating the Law for which the Templestood, Stephencondemns those whohave rejected Jesus,whose purpose was tofulfill the Law (Mt 5:17–18) and who Himself identified with theprophets in their message against theLaw-breakers (cf. Mt.12:5–8). The passagespeaks favorably of David (Acts 7:46) andSolomon (v. 47) inrelation to the Temple.Stephen is speaking of God's immensity andincomparability fromthe Isaiah passage, notsuggesting that aTemple in which Godwill one day dwell withIsrael is impossible.The Temple relates toGod choosing tomanifest His presencetemporally, spatiallyand locally as He did at
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and sowe shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15-17).The “rapture” (a word that is not used in Scripture) will supposedlyoccur in connection with a period of tribulation for the Church(based in part on Dan. 9:27). Some Zionists believe the rapture willoccur before the tribulation, and are thus called “pre-tribulation” rapturists. Some believe the rapture will occur during the tribulation(“mid-tribulation” rapturists), and some believe the rapture will takeplace at the end of the tribulation (“post-tribulation” rapturists).This schema of events can be summarized as follows:
Tribulation (7 years) Christ’s 1,000 year reign The end _________________|_____________________________|Pre mid post(Rapture)
After the period of tribulation and rapture, Christ and the Jews willrule the Gentiles through an earthly kingdom for 1,000 years.During Christ’s millennial reign, most Zionists believe that there willbe a mass conversion of the Jews to Christianity. They base this onPaul’s letter to the Romans, where Paul says “and so all Israel willbe saved” (Rom. 11:26; we exegete this passage below). At the endof the millennial period, Christ will bring an end to the world and judge the living and the dead.Proponents of Zionism view the war in Iraq as fulfilling biblicalprophecy. Israel will have an easier time removing Christians andMuslims from Palestine (the land Israel believes is theirs by divineright) if Islamic military forces are weakened or eliminated. TheUnited States military (which happens to be led and advised bymany Fundamentalist / Evangelical Christians) is helping to makethat happen. A weaker Muslim world means a stronger Israel, andthat will help the Israelis secure the land it believes God haspromised them (even if they secure it through violence and humanslaughter). This, Christian Zionists believe, will usher in the returnof Jesus Christ.Zionism is based on a distorted and erroneous reading of Scripture,and began with the English preacher John Nelson Darby. Zionismwas perpetuated in America by Cyrus Scofield during the early 20
th
century, who published the popular Scofield Reference Bible in1909. Zionist eschatology is held by most Fundamentalist,Pentecostal, and Evangelical Protestant sects, and is one of thebiggest falsehoods ever fabricated about the end times. We willbriefly address some of the most obvious problems with Zionismfrom a biblical perspective below.1.
God does not owe the Jews any land or protection
.Zionism is based on the faulty assumption that God still owes the
2
 
the Tabernacle and inthe First Temple. Israelsometimes forgot thisimportant distinctionand treated God astheir local deity inkeeping with thefashion of the nationsthat surrounded them,or acted as though Godwas obligated to thembecause of their servicein building andmaintaining His house.In opposition to thisway of thinking,Stephen reminded hisaudience of theHeavenly Temple. Paulmakes the same pointin Acts 17:24–25. Bothof these texts arguethat the proper place of God is in the HeavenlyTemple and that theearthly Temple, incontrast to the templesof all other peoples,does not contain God,but only manifests Him.These words takenat face value could onlycontradict the entirepremise of a MillennialTemple only if you limitthe scope of biblicalteachings on this toRevelation 20 as you
Jews the land He promised to give to Abraham’s descendants.Scripture, however, teaches that God has already fulfilled Hispromises to the Jews. For example, regarding the land in question,God says through Joshua: “Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give totheir fathers; and having taken possession of it, they settled there” (Jos. 21:43).God also declares through Solomon that all his promises to Israelhave been fulfilled:"Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel,according to all that he promised; not one word has failed of all hisgood promise, which he uttered by Moses his servant” (1 Kings8:56).God further says through the prophet Nehemiah that His promise togrant the land to Abraham’s descendants has been fulfilled: “Thou art the LORD, the God who didst choose Abram and bring himforth out of Ur of the Chalde'ans and give him the name Abraham;and thou didst find his heart faithful before thee, and didst makewith him the covenant to give to his descendants the land of theCanaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Per'izzite, the Jeb'usite, andthe Gir'gashite; and thou hast fulfilled thy promise, for thou artrighteous” (Neh. 9:7-8).Thus, those who believe that God still owes the Jews land andprotection by divine decree deny the plain meaning of Scripture andmake God a liar.In fact, the loss of Israel’s ancient holdings is a sign of God’s divine judgment against the Jews for rejecting His Son, Jesus Christ, theirMessiah. God warned Israel in the Old Testament Scriptures: “But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, anddo not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have setbefore you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then Iwill cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and thehouse which I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of mysight; and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among allpeoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyonepassing by it will be astonished, and will hiss; and they will say,`Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?' Thenthey will say, `Because they forsook the LORD their God whobrought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on othergods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORDhas brought all this evil upon them.’” (1 Kings 9:6-9).Scripture is clear that God owes the Jews nothing more, andsuggests that the Jews are suffering the ramifications of rejectingJesus Christ. They have been “broken off” of the root of Christ “because of their unbelief” (Rom. 11:19-20). However, Paul says
3
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...