Posted on 05/26/2021 7:40:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
My family name originates from Palestine, and from the beginnings of my family line, we have been Christians. Because of regional war, my family emigrated to the U.S. when I was a child. I grew up in San Diego, and was part of a non-denominational church that loved the Bible and loved Israel. With my Palestinian background, I was confused by some things, but I didn’t question the Zionist position of the church.
The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12); Paul’s love for his ethnic brethren (Romans 9-11); and a regular reminder of prophetic fulfillment were enough for me to support Zionism. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration for me to say that nearly every Sunday for a decade I heard the importance of standing with Israel; that they are God’s chosen people; and if God goes back on his promises to the Jews, we couldn’t trust his promises to us through Christ.
Are these things true?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a long history, and, as we can see today, keeps erupting. Where does the Church come in? Is there a role to play and a position to speak?
As those who understand that our world is broken, we should be bold with the Gospel and graciously nuanced in other matters. But sadly, the Western Church (primarily American Evangelicals) have loudly and unashamedly chosen a side. It has come to be called “Christian Zionism.”
As a believer and minister of the Gospel with Palestinian roots, my aim isn’t to convince the Church to become pro-Palestine. I’m not speaking out because I have family living in Bethlehem, Gaza, and Haifa – and have friends throughout Israel. This is a plea to see that the blind and insistent support of Israel not only affects our Gospel witness, but has greatly injured our ignored Christian Palestinian brothers and sisters – believers who have been faithful to Jesus since Jesus lived in Palestine.
It’s a call to consider Jesus and his work on the cross before taking the first opportunity to defend your side or to attack the other. It’s an appeal to speak truth and condemn wickedness no matter the cost. It’s a reminder that allegiance to an agenda other than the Great Commission is a compromise to our witness.
Simply defined, Zionism is the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. The term was coined in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum. Consequently, Christian Zionism supports the right of Jewish return based on biblical grounds.
If “right to return” was just about supporting an ethnic people’s desire to return to the land of their ancestors, Palestinians would have the same rights to the same land. However, Christian Zionism believes the land belongs to the Jews based on the Abrahamic Covenant. Specifically, it has to do with the invoked blessing that’s attached to the covenant. “I will bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you; and all the families of the of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) Their hermeneutic is simple: Bless Israel so God will bless you.
Is God’s blessing attached to the Hebrew people; or in Jesus the Messiah, the promised Seed? The answer is always Jesus. Herein lies the primary Gospel issue with Christian Zionism: it elevates one ethnic group (Jews) over all others, and brings condemnation on a particular ethnic group (Palestinians).
Can the Church, which proclaims the Good News of salvation in Christ alone, elevate one people over another? Did Jesus not shed his blood to create one new person, and tear down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile? Is it not a disservice to the Jews to make them think that they’re chosen for anything other than God’s wrath like the rest of humanity?
Most Christians who support Israel have not connected these dots, but Zionism inevitably leads to the removal of the Palestinian people from the land. This has always been the case. As recorded historically, it’s always been about the Jews expelling people from their promised land in order to live and rule alone.
The systematic and forced removal of Palestinians is real and it’s happening in Israel. This happened to my grandparents in 1948 when they were forced out of their homes at the birth of the Israeli nation. The current eruption of violence was sparked by the expulsion of families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood (a neighborhood of families who were previously removed from Jaffa and Haifa in 1948). And in 2006, I saw it in Jerusalem with my own eyes.
I was in a Palestinian neighborhood with my Israeli friend (a Messianic Jew), standing in front of a recently demolished home. He told me the Israeli government bulldozed the house because of a dispute. I’m not able to confirm the details of this particular incident, but there are countless similar cases that have been documented by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. My friend was embarrassed and appalled. I couldn’t believe family homes were often destroyed like this. But they were. God was kind to use an Israeli Jew who loved Jesus to open my eyes to the unspoken horrors of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It was then that I first considered you can support a people while still holding them accountable for their actions. That you can support a people, but stand against their government agenda.
It can be argued that Jesus himself addressed this during his earthly ministry. The common Jewish expectation in the first century was that the coming Messiah would set them free from Roman occupation, and give them their land and position back. Part of the reason Jesus was betrayed and the crowds turned against him was because it became clear this wasn’t his purpose. When questioned by Pilate about his kingdom, Jesus acknowledged that he is a King, but his kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36)
Jews hold to their side because they don’t know Jesus. Muslims hold to their side because they don’t know Jesus. But we know Jesus, and our great joy is to proclaim the message of a new and eternal kingdom where all are welcome to enter. Christian Zionism confuses that message.
There is space in one’s theology to believe that God is not done with ethnic Israel. I believe that. But under the New Covenant, and in the name of Jesus, we cannot unabashedly support any earthly government without critique or accountability, let alone one that is charged with severe injustices by Palestinian, Israeli, and international NGOs.
I can say from personal experience that America’s pro-Israel stance has not only made sharing the Gospel with Muslims in the Arab world more challenging, but has brought injury and great discouragement to Palestinian Christians. We trust our sovereign God when the Gospel is an offense and stumbling block for people, but let nothing we do cause someone to stumble or close their ears to the only message that saves.
And as a forgotten footnote: Palestinian Christians. There are some who will read this and for the first time realize that there are Arab and Palestinian Christians. Arab believers have been gathering together in the same buildings and places for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Friends, we have family in the faith who are living in some of the worst conditions imaginable; and they’re not only overlooked as a people, but the ones who have brought much trouble and suffering upon them are heavily funded, supported, and prayed for by Christians. Can you imagine what that would be like?
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, since He who promised is faithful. Let us not only pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but also for Gaza and Bethlehem. May we pray and labor so that Christ would be worshiped throughout this region. May we live today with our hope set on Christ, and eyes fixed on the New Jerusalem.
It appears that SBTS is currently awarding degrees to some students who cannot read and lack critical thinking skills.
RE: It appears that SBTS is currently awarding degrees to some students who cannot read and lack critical thinking skills.
Can you elaborate further regarding this critical thinking skills?
So all those Arab chrstians are actually descendants of the original Jewish chrstians? Wow.
BTW, the vast majority of "palestinian" chrstians aren't Evangelicals but members of churches that Evangelicals consider to be "baptized heathenism."
“Christian Post” is a Leftist anti-Christian rag.
Jordan is Arab Palestine. If this man is an Arab Palestinian, he is a Jordanian.
The Palestinian area belongs to the Arabs because they stole it fair and square from the Christians and Jews who were living there centuries before the Ottoman Empire. LOL
The systematic and forced removal of Palestinians is real and it’s happening in Israel. This happened to my grandparents in 1948 when they were forced out of their homes at the birth of the Israeli nation. The current eruption of violence was sparked by the expulsion of families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood (a neighborhood of families who were previously removed from Jaffa and Haifa in 1948). And in 2006, I saw it in Jerusalem with my own eyes.
IOW, he's an Assistant Jihadist.
How many countries forcefully removed jews, or in some cases just killed them?
I’m up there in years, but cannot understand the Jewish hate thing at all. I’m not an atheist, but confess to being agnostic. So not understanding the reasoning behind the hate between culture/religions that foster so many wars and so many people attacked on the streets for their faith.
I bet I pass or am in the presence of many Jewish and other religions daily and have no idea of a persons faith by just passing them in the market. Understandably some that wear distinctive clothing or items that ascribe them to a specific faith will stand out in the sea of humanity out there.
So, if you don’t know what a persons faith is just by looking at them then why the attacks on the streets? Are the attackers just guessing? I’m just puzzled why anyone would care what faith or culture another person they don’t know are and why would it be a hate or violence trigger. If a specific person has attacked you then respond to that one person.
Like I stated, it’s puzzling to me. Even if you don’t agree with a culture or religion gives you no earthly reason to hate on that entire faiths population.
Well, the obvious if Germany but also Spain, Russia and Italy. There may be more in the Middle East and Egypt that I am not aware of.
In the real world, most private land in Israel is owned by Arabs, a disproportionate number of whom are Christian. The Arab population of Israel is 23%. There are Arabs in the parliament, general staff of the IDF, and Supreme court. A temporary acting president of Israel was an Arab. The general in charge of the West Bank is an Arab. There are three times more Arabs in the disputed territories today than in 1967. And Israel is the only country in the region with a growing Christian population and where Christians try to migrate to.
As for the Sheikh Jarrah dispute, this too undermines the claim lying pastor. The land was purchased by Jewish families in the 1870s to 1890s and they lived there until the Jews were killed or ethnically cleansed in 1948 as part of the genocidal campaign by Transjordan. The newly renamed Kingdom of Jordan then settled Jordanian colonists on the land, renting it to them. In 1967, Israel retook the land, keeping the Jordanian colonists as renters. The Jewish families who owned the land sued Israel and won in court as they had deed to the land. They were required to keep renting to the Jordanian colonists, now called Palestinians, for as long as these Arab settlers paid rent. a few years ago, the Arab settlers stopped paying rent and the Jews went to court to evict the squatters. That's not ethnic cleansing by Israel.
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