Why do evangelicals support Israel so strongly?

Why do evangelicals support Israel so strongly? Is the American Jews' fear of fundamentalist Christianity based on constitutional principle, or social and cultural snobbery and political partisanship?

A Match Made in Heaven is a funny, readable, book. It is the most entertaining way to struggle with questions such as "Why do evangelicals support Israel so strongly? Is their philo-Semitism just a front for their true purpose to convert Jews? Do the evangelicals, as their opponents charge, really want to use the Jews as cannon fodder at the battle of Armageddon? Or are they simply responding to the biblical commandment to love Israel? Finally, is the American Jews' fear of fundamentalist Christianity based on constitutional principle, or social and cultural snobbery and political partisanship?"

We will discuss these questions this week, and readers, as usual, can send their questions to rosnersdomain@haaretz.co.il.

Paradoxically, Orthodox Jews have the fewest problems with a Jewish-Evangelical relationship.

For one thing, a lot of Orthodox Jews and Evangelicals share conservative social and political positions. Orthodox Jews, for example, are rarely troubled by church-state separation issues. They send their own kids to parochial schools; they're glad to get government money via faith based programs; many are opposed to abortion, and they tend not to be too concerned about the good opinion of the "international community" - ie, Europeans.

Most Orthodox Jews also have a stronger connection to, and concern about, Israel than the secular or liberal majority. Orthodox Jews are more likely to care about a candidates' position on Israel. As a Democratic activist told me, if Cynthia McKinney ran for President as a Democrat, she'd get fifty percent of the Jewish vote.

Great discussion!

The following is a post by Freeper 'Stingray' (don't know if he's still around)from 5-6 years ago,for some reason he couldn't get it to post and mailed it to me to post for him.I kept it and am posting it again for the discussion in it's entirety.

God bless

Posted by Stingray...5/11/2001

For some reason, I can't get FR to accept this post. Could you please post it for me? Thanks... Sorry, but just one more post on the link between Revelation and it's significance to "end-time" Jews... Note the following:

"...I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last..."

And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. Revelation 1

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands:"

Revelation 2:1

I did a search of the O.T. to see if there had ever been any mention of the "seven stars" there. Not only did I find a passage, but it's in the book of Amos! Look!

"Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, O you who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth!

He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name, who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress." Amos 5:6-9

Now look at this:

Pleiades , in astronomy, famous open star cluster in the constellation Taurus; Six stars are easily visible to the naked eye—Alcyone (the brightest), Electra, Celaeno, Sterope, Maia, and Taygete. Known as the Seven Sisters, this group was named by the Greeks for the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione; the seventh Pleiad was, according to legend, lost or in hiding. Many faint stars associated with the other six are visible with the telescope; one of these stars may have been much brighter and visible to the naked eye in ancient times, thus accounting for the many early references to seven stars.

And again, from Strong's:

Strong's Ref. # 3598

Romanized Kiymah Pronounced kee-maw' from the same as HSN3558; a cluster of stars, i.e. the Pleiades: KJV--Pleiades, seven stars.

The more I dig into the parallel passages and imagery between Revelation and the Old Testament prophets, the more thoroughly convinced I am that the message in the Book of Revelation is not for Gentile Christians, but for "End-time" Jews. Read the whole chapter of Amos 5! It's all about the prophet telling the children of Israel to straighten up their act, or terrible judgement would be visited upon them. Look at the message to some of those same "churches" in Revelation 2 & 3! It's the same message! Finally, look at this, from Revelation 1:

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. Revelation 1:10-20

Every image of the glorified and risen Christ presented in this passage, is paralleled in the Old Testament prophets. The imagery here would mean nothing to a 1st century Gentile who had just received the gift of salvation. Likewise, it would mean nothing to a 19th century African tribesman who had just received the gift of salvation. It would mean nothing to a 21st century Amazonian Indian who had just received the gift of salvation.

It would mean everything to a Torah trained and believing Jew looking for Messiah, especially during the outpouring of God's judgement, what Amos calls "the day of the Lord."

"Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light.

"It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.

"Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light-- pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?"

Amos 5:18-20

Again, I am convinced (but not yet dogmatically so) that the message in the Book of Revelation is not for Gentile Christians (we will be taken out of harm's way) but for Great Tribulation Jews. And the message is clear:

"Here, within these pages, is your Messiah, and He will save you from the impending 'day of the Lord' if you repent and believe."

In truth, Revelation is a book that every Jew ought to be reading now, before it's too late. I welcome comments and critiques of these views. I really would like to know what y'all are thinking. Click on the link in post 140 or 149 for more on this topic. Later...

End Stingray's post.

I'll add something myself here to the discussion,to do with the church not being mentioned after the first few chapters of The Revelation.

Rev 4:6 "And before the throne [there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal..."

A 'sea' of glass before the throne?A sea sometimes represents a vast multitude of people,and a sea of 'glass' could just mean a calm multitude but one 'like unto crystal' sounds like something else.A sea that is crystal clear.ie: unable to conceal impurities.

I'm not dogmatic about this either,but that sea before the throne could be the church.

Psa 27:5 "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock."

I do believe in the pre-trib rapture scenario but I'm certainly not beyond being convinced otherwise.Just one more point though.It's often stated that this is a new doctrine,as though it can't be right because it's too recent.

Dan 12:9 "And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end."

Therefore the fact that the rapture may be a 'recent' teaching doesn't necessarily negate it.

Again,great discussion from all.

God bless

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