Say, did you know that the Zionist movement, started at the end of the 1800s, at one time considered using some land in Africa for starting a new nation, to be the homeland of the Jews.
When some great pastors of the 1800s (i.e., Christians who believed God) heard that, they apparently met with some of the Jewish leaders to show them that the Bible said they would be “in the land” and that they (the Zionist leaders) should reconsider and look to the land of Israel. And, so the Zionist leaders did — and they are there now...
Interesting.
Nehemiah dispersed a tribe to Africa (Ethiopia).
Many of them returned to Israel in the 80’s and 90’s.
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:nAt05JHvxYgJ:www.hadracha.org/he/dl.asp%3Fid%3D1102+Nehemiah+dispersed+a+tribe+to+Ethiopia&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
For thousands of years, Jews in Ethiopia maintained a strict pre-Talmudic biblical Judaism. They kept Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), the laws of ritual cleanliness, and observed the Jewish Sabbath and festivals. The Kesim (religious leaders) were respected as the rabbis of each community and presided over festival services in the ancient liturgical language of Ge’ez. They passed down Jewish tradition orally and maintained the Jewish books and torah scrolls that some communities had preserved in Ge’ez.
WOW.
I didn’t know that.
PRAISE GOD.
Hi Quix, I was just catching up on some older posts and some information that I had wanted to include.
I had said the following to you — “Say, did you know that the Zionist movement, started at the end of the 1800s, at one time considered using some land in Africa for starting a new nation, to be the homeland of the Jews.”
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They were considering Uganda for a homeland for the Jews.
That information is hard to come by. And I’ve read bits and pieces of it over the years. But, the Jews want to suppress some of that information, because they think it’s some kind of “political ploy” to the current status of things, to bring that piece of information up. And there’s some “re-writing” of history, it seems to me, as to what really happened (by some of the Jewish sources). This is just what I’ve seen over the years by reading various things. So, one source or another one is not going to tell the whole story, and probably not exactly accurately. But, the basic information is there.
The country the Zionists were considering (at least some of them, anyway, including Herzl), was Uganda. But, as you’ll see there was a split, and different factions emerged within the Jews themselves. Although Herzl was the recognized leader, many went against him.
First, in regards to some Christian leaders contacting Herzl, about relocating Jews to Uganda for a homeland for the Jews — I’ve read several different accounts, and like I said, this information is hard to come by, and trying to round it up again from what I know I have read in the past, is difficult. But, I did come across this one piece. It mentions
The rise of Evangelical Christian Zionism in the United States can be traced directly to John Nelson Darby (1800-82), by far the most important personality for the development of Evangelical Christian Zionism. His preaching of Future Premillennianism influenced prominent Evangelicals such as Dwight L. Moody, C.I. Scofield and William E. Blackstone. [Blackstone, in his bestselling book, “Jesus is Coming,” called Zionism the fulfillment of prophecy.4 In 1891, he organized a national campaign to urge President Harrison to back a Jewish state in Palestine, and gathered extensive support from governors of leading states, major newspapers, and financiers such as John D. Rockefeller, Charles B. Scribner, and J.P. Morgan. It is likely that this campaign was the first organized lobbying effort in the U.S. on behalf of Zionist causes. When Blackstone heard that Theodor Herzl was considering Uganda or Argentina for the Jewish state, he sent the Zionist leader a Bible marking every passage that referred to Israel and Palestine, with instructions that Palestine alone should be the Jewish state.5]
[ http://www.christianzionism.org/Article/Wagner04.asp ]
This is an article discussing Christian Zionism, which was prevalent and strong back in the 1800s, and as a result of Premillennialism and Dispensationalism (i.e., the correct ways of viewing and interpreting the Scriptures).
Note that there was also a *organized* and well-funded, well-represented and national campaign in the United States to establish a homeland for the Jews in “Israel” (then having the name of Palestine) — and this was done *before* the Jews themselves organized the Zionist Congress with Herzl.
The above quote said...
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William E. Blackstone. [Blackstone, in his bestselling book, “Jesus is Coming,” called Zionism the fulfillment of prophecy. In 1891, he organized a national campaign to urge President Harrison to back a Jewish state in Palestine, and gathered extensive support from governors of leading states, major newspapers, and financiers such as John D. Rockefeller, Charles B. Scribner, and J.P. Morgan. It is likely that this campaign was the first organized lobbying effort in the U.S. on behalf of Zionist causes.
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SO..., you’ll see that establishing a homeland for the Jews was going “full-force” in the 1800s and was well-established and funded and by Evangelical Christians.
You’ll also see in that article, this comment, too...
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The most important instrument at the popular level for advancing futurist premillennial theology was the 1909 publication of the “Scofield Reference Bible,”which quickly became the primary edition used by most American Evangelicals and fundamentalists for the next sixty years.
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And a lot of people still used the Scofield Reference Bible (for the side notes and other verse references). It’s been updated and expanded, of course, since then. I remember one pastor of mine saying that the best Bible to get (this was back in my early years) was the Scofield Bible. Actually, now I have a Thomas Nelson Study Bible, which I think is very good. I got it because of Earl Radmacher being the General Editor, and he was President of Western Seminary (at that time, known as Western Conservative Baptist Seminary) at one time, and he preached several times at our church and I had read a certain amount from him. Also, another good reason was Moishe Rosen from Jews for Jesus was a contributor to articles in that Bible, along with Susan Perlman from Jews for Jesus, too, having worked with her on a Portland campaign of Jews for Jesus. And then, there’s Thomas Ice, from the Pre-Trib Research Center, who is a strong supporter of the Rapture. I use a lot of his materials here on Free Republic, too.
And then in the following is another account of the “Uganda Scheme” from a Jewish source. They’re not going to mention the Evangelicals that contacted Herzl about his idea of Uganda, but you can find that from other sources.
The Uganda Scheme
A. The Kishinev Pogrom At Easter 1903, a pogrom of unprecedented dimensions swept through Kishinev. It deeply shocked the Russian intelligentsia, including Gorky and Tolstoy, as well as European public opinion.
B. Herzl in Russia The Russian government now sought to soften the effects of the pogrom and invited Herzl to Russia for “discussions” with its heads government. Herzl responded favorably, because he wished to obtain permission for the Zionist movement to operate legally in Russia. He also felt this would be an opportunity to show support for Russian Jewry and moderate the authorities’ attitude towards its Jews.
In Russia, Herzl met Minister .... von Plehve. Although there were no direct outcomes from this encounter, his visit provided the opportunity to meet with the Jewish masses who came to see their “king”, an overwhelming and emotional experience in itself. He returned home under the impressions of this encounter and their hardship, determined to reconsider the Uganda proposal as a temporary option. Almost immediately followed the sixth Congress in Basle.
C. The Uganda Proposal - The Rift and its Consequences
Herzl reported to the six hundred delegates at the Zionist Congress on his journey to Russian as well as the failure of negotiations with both Turkey and Germany. Then he dropped his Uganda “bombshell”. A furious argument erupted between supporters of this proposal and its opponents. A proposal was brought to send out a committee of inquiry to Uganda. 295 delegates voted in favor; 175 against; 132 abstained. The rift was unavoidable. Most of its supporters were from western Europe, while its opponents were the Russian Zionists [including the Kishinev contingent]. The Russian Zionist leaders accused their west European colleagues, and particularly Herzl, of not understanding the terrible tragedy taking place in eastern Europe. Weizmann [later, the first President of the State of Israel] said they had not understood that, “Russian Jewry, with all its suffering, is not prepared to translate its dreams and longings for the land of their fathers to any other location.”
The leader of the “nays” was Dr. Yehiel Chlenov, who maintained that Herzl’s victory would herald the downfall of the Zionist movement. At the height of the furious debate, many of the dissenters to the proposal left their seats, wept openly, fainted or sat on the floor as a sign of mourning. There was serious concern that the Zionist movement had come to the end of the way. Herzl now appreciated the force of the opposition and the only way open to him was that of reconciliation. In his last addreess to the Congress, he reiterated that Uganda was only a temporary solution, raised his right hand and vowed: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning.”
The Uganda Proposal demonstrated that Herzl failed to understand the depths of belief in Zionism, in particular among the Russian Zionists [and despite the fact that it was intended to resolve the situation of Russian Jewry.]
Herzl, after the failure of the Uganda Proposal, was a broken man. Over the seven years he had led the Zionist movement, his health had deteriorated; after “Uganda”, there was a further deterioration. Nevertheless, he continued his efforts towards the ultimate goal and traveled to meet the Pope and the King of Italy. In July 1904, he died of heart disease.
“Only once in several millenia is such a wonderful person born,” wrote seventeen-year old David Gryn [later, David Ben Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel] of Herzl at this time. His words spoke for many.
In August 1949, Herzl was reinterred in Jerusalem, under the terms of his will, on the site of the Mount Herzl, named in his honor.
The Education Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel
Unit for Jewish Education in the CIS
Editor: Yossi Pnini Internet Version:
Editor: Gila Ansell Brauner
[ http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/act/14zion.html ]
You can see that God started working through both Jews *and* Bible-believing, Premillennial, Dispensational, Evangelical Christians — for a *movement* to create a homeland for the Jews, about 100 years before Israel became a nation again in 1948.
And remember, this “movement” (on the “Christian’s side”) certainly did not come from those of the “Reformed Faith” (or Covenant Theology type of churches) or Catholics — which teach and abide by “Replacement Theology” (a defective and totally unbiblical teaching, which is teaching “doctrines of demons”). And those groups (in their theology, teaching and majority of memberhip) are still *against* Israel, to this day.