Among Evangelicals, A Kinship With Jews: Some Skeptical of Growing Phenomenon

The Washington Post ^ | January 8, 2006 | Alan Cooperman

[RegulatorCountry]

"Why not Semitophile?"

I don't know. Maybe it just sounded funny, or they wanted a more symmetrical counterweight to "anti-Semite?"

[DX10]

"What are the commandments that we are asked by Y'shua to keep?"

Just got back from Tennis.

Christ declared that He was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, though he did defer to Gentiles on occasion. He operated under the Mosaic Dispensation in keeping the old law and also expecting others to do the same. He also expected the Jews to accept the dispensation of John the Baptizer, submitting to this baptism Himself and His disciples baptizing more than John. Once He took the old law out of the way, nailing it to His cross, the world was in transistion from the old covenant to the new covenant, with the new covenant beginning to be disclosed with the first Pentecost following His resurection and both covenants continuing until the gospel had been fully preached. (Col 1:23) Christ gave authority to His disciples to bind the new covenant to us. "But whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love God perfected...." (1st Jno 2:5) ("eth" implies continuing action. One of the benefits of old English.) The commandments of the new covenant are contained in the New Testament. Hope I have answered your question. Regards.

[Thinkin' Gal]

but I'm not one of the Chosen People

He may very well be correct, even if he doesn't know what he is saying (or because he doesn't know what he is saying)

Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect* from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

1588 eklektos {ek-lek-tos'}
from 1586; TDNT - 4:181,505; adj
AV - elect 16, chosen 7; 23

1) picked out, chosen
1a) chosen by God,
1a1) to obtain salvation through Christ
1a1a) Christians are called "chosen or elect" of God
1a2) the Messiah in called "elect", as appointed by God to the
most exalted office conceivable
1a3) choice, select, i.e. the best of its kind or class,
excellence preeminent: applied to certain individual
Christians

Oops.

[the-ironically-named-proverbs2]

You're not saying that the left-behind people may be themselves left behind are you? ;-)

[Salem]

There's even some Evangelical Christians who support Israel because it annoys the heck out of readical leftists and Islamists!  

[Free Baptist]

"'"Christian support for Israel is hardly a new "phenonemon".'"

(FB) "This is correct. I too was wondering where the author of the article had been. I've been listening to pro-Israel Christian preachers since early childhood. President Reagan was very much in tune with Christian preachers who were pr-Israel."

Zionist Conspirator: "It goes back a lot further than Ronald Reagan."

ZC, my "early childhood" goes back a lot further than Ronald Reagan's political days. I was stating that it was a characteristic of his thinking.

I have articles in my possession written by Jews in England long before 1884, speaking of establishing their homeland in the Abrahamic/Davidic land. They were compiled among writings of Premillennial Christian prophetic writers who were publiching journals of their conferences from 1884 to 1915. They speak of Jewish settlements as far east as Shanghai, China being in existance in that day. MOST interesting.

[Convert from ECUSA]

"There's even some Evangelical Christians who support Israel because it annoys the heck out of readical leftists and Islamists!"

Same goes for some of us Catholic Christians, too!

[Convert from ECUSA]

Ping!

For Catholic FRiends, please see Zetman's comments at #97, which contains some good, honest questions you all might be able to answer better than I, having been Catholic longer than me. Thanks!

[Zionist Conspirator]

I have articles in my possession written by Jews in England long before 1884, speaking of establishing their homeland in the Abrahamic/Davidic land. They were compiled among writings of Premillennial Christian prophetic writers who were publiching journals of their conferences from 1884 to 1915. They speak of Jewish settlements as far east as Shanghai, China being in existance in that day. MOST interesting.

The Niagara Prophecy Conferences held in Niagara, NY in the 1870's had a similar theme. And of course anti-Zionists love to cite John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren as the "inventors" of chr*stian Zionism, but as I said, even Increase Mather back in the seventeenth century had written a book entitled The Mystery of Israel's Salvation that insisted that Israel's rejection of J*sus did not end G-d's covenent with them. Unfortunately his son Cotton, who was raised with this belief, later rejected it.

[Bear_Slayer]

many religions have contended that their supporters would be blessed and their opponents cursed

The Jewish blessing goes far beyond a tribal blessing of those that support her.

In fact, it says that ALL the nations of the world will be blessed through her. (I paraphrase, but its accurate)

The messiah came to the jews and was later made available to the gentile world. All the people of the world are made blessed in their reception and faith in the messiah of the jews. Many christians are not supporters of the jews. They have an indifference usually based on ignorance, sometimes on learned animosity, but they are still blessed in Christ through the jewish religion.

No other tribal deity can make so grand a claim. At the least, they can not support such a grand claim.

[TChris]

Shouldn't the terms be "Semitiphilic" and "Semitiphobic"? Those sound better to me than the "anti-" and "phili-" variants.

[TChris]

Correction: Those sound better to me than the "anti-" and "philo-" variants.

[Giant Conservative]

Consider this: if A=B, and Group X rejects both B and the very equation that A=B, then either A=B is true and thus by rejecting B Group X is rejecting A... or A=B was never true to begin with, and perhaps B is something much greater than A ever was.

[Jeremiah Jr]

I love these posts, you can watch the tares being bundled before your eyes.

[Bear_Slayer]

That's about as confusing as my response.

:-)

[Giant Conservative]

In the equation, B is representative of Jesus Christ.

A is representative of the tribal deity known as the god of Abraham.

Group X is en toto all those who followed that tribal deity prior to the time of Christ's corporeal ministry, and also those who follow the same tribal deity now and don't believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Group Y then, previously unmentioned if explicitly implied, is en toto everyone who believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ and don't believe in the tribal deity known as the god of Abraham.

[Free Baptist]

"The Niagara Prophecy Conferences held in Niagara, NY in the 1870's had a similar theme. And of course anti-Zionists love to cite John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren as the "inventors" of chr*stian Zionism, but as I said, even Increase Mather back in the seventeenth century had written a book entitled The Mystery of Israel's Salvation that insisted that Israel's rejection of J*sus did not end G-d's covenent with them. Unfortunately his son Cotton, who was raised with this belief, later rejected it."

Wow, I'd love to have a copy of Increase Mather's book. Evidently there are many who post on these pages who have gotten this part of history so wrong by ignoring the information available in the preaching and teaching of the 17th and 18th century churchmen. There is a wealth of historical data in the transcribed sermons of those days that indicate the mindset of the colonial people and what they intended to make of the American Continent and then the new United States by the preaching of the Gospel. Many willfully choose to ignore the true place of Bible Christianity upon our founders, and that is why we are floundering around this thing today. So many, even on these so-called "conservative" pages who, I believe, out of a selfish and hedonistic use of their liberties, want this and future generations to believe that Bible Christianity had only a marginal influence on our original leaders and Constitution framers.

Yes, and we are aware that an understanding of the Zion of God, as far as Israel's kingdom future in that land promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, etc., was in the hearts of many who had a literalist frame of mind in their Scripture reading. A literalist approach is what we take. Israel, as a redeemed and restored people belong in that land -- and their promised territory is much, much more expansive than that little vulnerable little strip they inhabit at present!