Posted on 04/28/2011 2:49:15 PM PDT by GiovannaNicoletta
For some time, I have been raising the alarm that evangelical Christianity has been infiltrated by theological leftists. Among other things, this impacts our nation’s view of Israel.
Recently, I was made aware of a movement of young evangelicals who are embracing what the British lecturer Paul Wilkinson calls “Christian Palestinianism.” Loosely, this means a Christian who supports the Palestinian Arabs, and dismisses Jewish claims to the land. Obviously, these “Millennial Generation” Christians (18-34) do not embrace Bible prophecy. Their worldview is different.
A battle for Israel is being fought in the United States right now. Traditionally, Americans have supported the Jewish state, and the U.S. has always been one of the few friendly havens for Jews. I believe that is changing.
Chris LaTondresse, CEO of Recovering Evangelical (recoveringevangelical.com) is such a leader. By embracing new media and technologies, they are reaching vast numbers of young people. To be perfectly frank, while many of us in the Bible prophecy community cling to old models in presenting our worldview, young people aren’t paying attention at all. They are running to the “recovering evangelicals.” Listen to what LaTondresse posted on his website:
“Our generation’s tutors are child-soldiers in Uganda, girls rescued from sex-slavery in Thailand and homeless youth living in the crumbling remains of America’s inner-cities. Our primary classrooms are Brazilian favelas, rural villages in Kenya and bombed-out neighborhoods in Gaza. These people aren’t our causes. They’re our friends.
“For these reasons and more, we’re turned-off when faith becomes a bludgeon used to condemn those outside of our tribe. We think the world needs fewer culture warriors and more peacemakers, reconcilers and bridge builders.”
Of course, he is interested in building bridges with those of like-mind. I seriously doubt the young evangelicals who consider themselves centrists or left-leaning are interested in building bridges with what I’d call Bible-believing Christians. And, it is perfectly acceptable for them and Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo — mentors of a sort — to use their faith as a bludgeon against those with whom they disagree.
Amazingly, McLaren is considered to be a voice of reason and a compassionate voice, at the same time he lambasts Bible-believing Christians.
LaTondresse has been impacted by the teachings of Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Catholic from the Galilee who promotes the “Palestinian narrative” which essentially blames the Arab refugee problem on Israel. As LaTondresse claims, Chacour “loves Jesus,” but one isn’t clear if these men acknowledge that Jesus is a Jew. Certainly, the godfather of modern terrorism, the self-proclaimed leader of the Palestinian people, Yasser Arafat, absurdly identified Jesus as a Palestinian. This lie has also been peddled by such “evangelical icons” as Phillip Yancey.
The leadership team of Recovering Evangelical, seven-strong, is comprised of college graduates — including one from Princeton Theological Seminary. One hundred years ago, Princeton was in the midst of a transformation from being a bastion of conservative scholarship, to a liberal school. That is why such wonderful teachers as Robert Dick Wilson departed Princeton. The spirit of the age was against them, and it is against us.
Interestingly, one of Recovering Evangelical’s senior contributors, Brian Kammerzelt, currently serves on the faculty at Moody! He also taught at Wheaton, which many Christians do not realize is more liberal than conservative. He also attended Willow Creek, the seeker-friendly church in north Chicago started by Bill Hybels.
Hybels’ wife, Lynne, has become more and more vocal about supporting the Palestinians. On her blog (lynnehybels.blogspot.com), she recently posted some comments about a sermon her husband had delivered the month following the 9/11 attacks.
Predictably, Bill Hybels decried what he described as unfair characterizations of Muslims, by Americans. This after 19 Muslim terrorists had murdered more than 3,000 Americans. ABC’s Peter Jennings went down the same path, almost immediately holding a town-hall meeting to present Muslims as misunderstood peaceniks.
Lynne Hybels wrote this about her husband’s message:
“He talked about ‘hot reactors,’ people who ‘opinionate before they reflect, before they bow down and pray; who ventilate before they ask God for sober-mindedness and self-control; who indict whole races of people before they know the facts. Let’s call this what it is: not good. Not good behavior. Not good Christianity. This is Christianity gone awry.’”
Lynne Hybels also spoke at the “Christ at the Checkpoint” International Conference, organized by Palestinians and Christians who oppose Christian Zionists. On the website (christatthecheckpoint.com), we also learn that Tony Campolo characterizes Christian Zionism as “theology that legitimates oppression.”
Christian Zionism is a theology that legitimates oppression? That is a lie.
These kinds of potshots and smear tactics against Christians who support Israel are growing in number. Christian Zionists, in my view, must determine to do two things:
1. Read, study, and educate. Learn the arguments. Study the issues related to Israel and the Jewish people. Then use your brain to articulate these things to your circle of contacts. A word of caution: the nastiness of the proponents of “Christian Palestinianism” will be a continual problem. Yet we must engage these attacks, which are ultimately attacks on the Jewish people.
2. Embrace the new technologies. Use tools like social networking, PowerPoint presentations if you speak to groups, etc. If you think you’re too old for Facebook, think again. “Tweet” on Twitter. Realize that cell phones are the new delivery systems for young people. While we are fumbling with overheard projectors and slides, our opponents are laughing, while providing the content they want young people to digest via new technology.
Leftists will always present themselves as reasonable, compassionate, “careful thinkers.” They focus heavily on social justice issues, and love causes that would make the Pacifists’ Hall of Fame.
Yet there is a malevolence associated with their loathing of Christian Zionists. Check it out for yourselves.
We have work to do.
ABSOLUTELY INDEED.
And he fullfilled it 2000 years ago.
So, the Jews of today are not the chosen people any more?
No. That all ended when they killed their Messaiah. “We have no king but Caesar” was an irrevocible decision. Now there are only Christians (”There is no Jew, there is no Greek”) and the damned. And which side of that line one chooses determines their eternity. Choose wisely.
Where in hell did you come up with that? And why do you believe that God has somehow reneged on an eternal covenant he made with Abraham and Israel?
Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’
Jeremiah 32:37-41
God fullfilled all his promises to the Jews.
What part of “everlasting covenant” do you not understand?
Cronos: While you're responding to OPC's and other of their ilk, what about this co-religionist of yours?
And for the record, it was the Romans who put Jesus on the cross, not the Jews.
Christ fullfilled that covenant. Christ was always the fullfillment of the unconditional promise.
And for the record, Jesus said those who delivered him to the Romans had the "greater sin".
You know darn well that “Christian” Zionism has nothing to do with traditional Christianity. If Americans support Israel for geopolitical reasons that is one thing, but there is no Christian moral imperitive to intervene in religious disputes between Muslims and Jews. Both these religions reject Jesus as the Messiah and share the same dietary rules.
"Would that they were Noachides!"
Dispensationalists, some of them, sure keep some odd company, for a supposedly Christian school of thought.
Maybe it isn't chr*stian. Maybe Fundamentalist Protestantism isn't chr*stian. Maybe that's the wrong word.
Maybe they're "Biblical."
After all, why does any Protestant believe in chr*stianity in the first place? Only because "the bible says so," correct? Isn't J*sus ultimately just another biblical character--the most important one, perhaps, but owing his claims and his authority to nothing other than Biblical assertions?
The "old testament" is a lot longer than the "new." It covers a lot more history. The "new testament" is but a snapshot of the church's birth; the "old" describes the world from the day it was created until the end of the First Exile. Catholics and Orthodox have two thousand years of history to look to for heroes and for systems of how the world should work. Fundamentalist Protestants have the "old testament."
Now . . . just how much critical thought does it take to simply consider the possibility that the "new testament" may not be what it claims to be . . . maybe it doesn't belong, maybe it was added by men? Fundamentalist Protestants have no trouble whatsoever dismissing the Apocrypha or the "book of mormon" . . . isn't it just an application of that same logic to judge the "new testament" by the "old" that preceded it . . . and find it wanting?
Dispensationalist-type Protestants are drawn to the Jews and Judaism by their Biblical sentimentalism. One wonders where the sentiment of supersessionist Protestants (who reject the Hebrew Bible and the two thousand years of liturgical chr*stendom) draws them? They don't seem to have much of anything.
Chr*stianity is not self-evidently true. It is true only if it is authorized by the Biblical G-d. All it would take is a little critical thought, the ability to read the Hebrew Bible without the assumptions imported from the "new testament" (a logical fallacy known as "affirmation of the consequent").
But don't worry. I once had hopes that this would happen, but I have given up. The Dispensationalists, and all the other chr*stian Zionists, have a "new testament" in their bibles and they would no more question it than they would the first eleven chapters of Genesis. They don't know how it got there; they don't care how it got there. All they know is it's there, and that settles it. So unfortunately, my friend, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Would that it weren't so!
Christians are the new covenant people of God.
"But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9)
For the sake of the old covenant, the official policy of traditional Christianity toward Judaism is toleration, beyond that extended toward Muslims or pagans. However, there is no traditional Christian endorsement of post-messianic Jewish religion, since Christ is the sole means of salvation. Christians are under no obligation to take sides in external religious disputes among Muslims, Jews, or pagans.
Mlizzy, I'm also pinging you, because you seem to know a lot about Voris.
“there is no Christian moral imperitive to intervene in religious disputes between Muslims and Jews.”
Christians should not intervene in “disputes” between terrorists and their innocent victims?
The video sounds like a solid presentation of Catholic doctrine.
Intervening in this case would be protecting a victim against an aggressor, not favoring one non-Christian religion over another.
Thanks for the ping, but Voris himself does a great job of answering questions in his commentary section of his YouTube. Take a look-see. :)
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