Posted on 09/22/2002 4:51:32 PM PDT by Weirdad
No one outside the Jewish community has been more supportive of Israel than US evangelical Christians, and they've just begun to get better organized
From her office in a small town located 45 miles north of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Diane Cudo reaches out halfway across the world every day to help the people of Israel.
As North American Director of Christian Friends of Israeli Communities (CFOIC), Cudo, a devout churchgoer, spends the bulk of her waking hours lobbying for the Jewish state, praying for its welfare, and raising funds to assist towns and villages in Israel with a range of humanitarian projects.
"I was tremendously impacted by the struggles of the Jewish people while still a teenager," says Cudo. "Later, as I studied the Bible, I virtually lived in the ancient books. They were very much alive to me, and full of the history of God's chosen people."
Though she was active on behalf of Israel for many years, it was the current Palestinian intifada, launched in September 2000, which instilled Cudo with a new sense of urgency, propelling her to get more deeply involved in CFOIC and assume a leadership position within the organization.
"Six months into the current intifada, I was moved to take a more active role in what was happening in Israel For the sake of what the Jewish people have brought to us as Christians, we surely owe compassion and kindness in return," she explains.
Founded in 1995 by businessman Ted Beckett, CFOIC has helped to galvanize grass-roots Christian support for Israel in America's heartland. On its website (www.cfoic.com), the organization defines itself as "a vehicle for Christians to become better informed about events in Israel, particularly with regard to the Jewish communities in the heartland of Biblical Israel, to visit these areas and become personally connected to the people living there, and to provide practical support for vital community needs."
CFOIC's Adopt-A-Settlement program has matched dozens of rural and urban churches throughout the United States and Canada with Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, generating not only a copious stream of donations, but also some much-needed political support for Israel's counter-terror operations in the Palestinian-controlled areas. Participants in CFOIC programs are provided with updates about the situation in the Middle East, and many use the information to write letters to the editor and contact their local, state and federal representatives to press Israel's cause in the halls of power.
The group also organizes solidarity trips, where visitors, many of whom are seeing Israel for the first time, go to religious and historical sites, meet with victims of Palestinian terror, and get a first-hand glimpse of life in the Jewish state.
Late last November, Cudo found herself in Newark Airport outside New York, waiting to board a flight to Israel, when news came in of the double suicide bombing attacks in Jerusalem. "That is when you have to decide if you are going to 'walk the walk' and not just 'talk the talk'", Cudo says. Several hours later, she was on the plane to Tel Aviv.
"A deep commitment to the Jewish people is not just something one picks up; it is a gift from God to be used in the most meaningful ways possible," she explains.
JUST a few years ago, stories about Christian groups such as CFOIC advocating passionately on behalf of Israel might have sounded far-fetched, even fanciful. Though the Jewish state has always enjoyed broad support among the American public, its most vocal and influential backers were, not surprisingly, American Jews.
But that has begun to change in recent years, as Bible-believing Christians take on an increasingly important role in American politics, particularly since George W. Bush recaptured the White House for Republicans in 2000. There are an estimated 50 million evangelical Christians in the United States, an overwhelming majority of whom are guided by conservative political beliefs and loyally vote Republican.
"President Bush's election gave Christian conservatives a measure of influence with the executive branch of the United States government that they had not enjoyed since the Reagan administration," according to Robert P. George, a professor of politics at Princeton University and an astute Beltway observer. "Their influence is greater than it was with the administration of President Bush's father and, of course, they had no influence with Clinton."
Conservative Christians, says Prof. George, are "a crucial part of the 'base' for President Bush and the Republican Party as a whole. It is very important from the perspective of the administration and the Party that they not be alienated. They are in a position roughly equivalent to that of the labor unions for the Democrats."
Hence, according to George, "Christian conservatives are a force to be reckoned with in Washington. They are not in a position to dictate policy, but they almost always influence it on issues of concern to them."
And one of those issues of concern is Israel.
Nowhere was this more apparent than at the "Israel Solidarity Rally," which took place in Washington, DC on April 15 earlier this year. Among the hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the Mall in the nation's capital were thousands of Christian supporters of Israel, many of whom came from great distances to voice their support.
Undoubtedly recognizing the conservative Christians' growing role as a pro-Israel political force, organizers invited popular radio-talk show host Janet Parshall to address the crowd. Parshall, host of "Janet Parshall's America", is an evangelical Christian and devoted supporter of Zionism and Israel. Her show reaches millions of listeners across the United States every day.
In a short, but impassioned speech laced with Biblical references, Parshall said, "We stand with you now and forever We will never limp, we will never wimp, we will never vacillate in our support of Israel We stand together with our Jewish brothers and sisters, and as God said to Joshua four times in the first chapter of that book, Stand firm. Be courageous."
That message appears to be getting through, both to Jews and Christians, as the scenes on American television of Palestinian suicide-bombings, and Yasser Arafat's campaign of terror against Israel over the past two years, have roused many people into action.
Says Rebecca Needler, spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC): "The Christian community has been one of Israel's most outspoken supporters in recent months. Like Jews, Christians understand that it is more important then ever to verbalize and demonstrate support for Israel during this critical time."
A senior official at a major Jewish organization echoed these sentiments, saying that Christians have come to play an even more prominent role in the past year: "Israel is in crisis and it needs its supporters to be vocal. In this respect, the Christian community has really led the charge," the official said, adding, "they have been among the most outspoken supporters of Israel. When you need them, they turn out en masse. They really do deliver."
THERE are several reasons behind Christian support for Israel, according to Princeton's Professor George. Firstly, he says, is their belief that Israel's "cause is just and that the enemies of Israel are driven by anti-Semitism and a desire to drive the Jewish people from their historic homeland." Secondly, Christians believe that "this homeland was given to the Jews in perpetuity by God Himself." Thirdly, George notes, "the Bible says of the Jewish people that 'whoever blesses them shall be blessed; whoever curses them shall be cursed'."
Anther reason behind traditional Christian support, according to George, is the fact that "Israel represents democracy and civil liberties and in this way sharply contrasts with the authoritarian Arab and other Islamic regimes." Finally, many Christians view Israel as a reliable and dependable ally of the United States.
The horrific events of September 11, when America came under attack from Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, have also served to reinforce many Christians' sense of identification with the Jewish state.
"Since 9/11, the unanimity with Israel and the Jewish people is based more on mutual survival than political or social agendas," says Dr. Elwood McQuaid, a prominent Christian author and broadcaster who has visited Israel more than 50 times in the past 30 years.
Diane Cudo agrees, asserting, "September 11, 2001 gave Americans just a taste of what Israel faces on an almost daily basis."
Indeed, prior to September 11, support for Israel in some circles had begun to soften, according to Dan Glickman, Director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Glickman attributes this to Israel's need to employ greater military force against a rising tide of Palestinian terror. That, however, changed after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"I think popular American support for Israel, certainly after 9/11, has gone back up again," says Glickman, a former US Secretary of Agriculture who served in the United States Congress for 18 years. "After 9/11, that support is firmer now than it was before" he feels.
Translating that support into political power, however, is the key, and it is a challenge that may prove more complex than some imagine. For all the media hype about the power of the Christian right, many observers remain skeptical about the movement's political cohesion and organizational skills.
"The formal organizations of the Christian right are in disarray," argues Professor Clyde Wilcox of Georgetown University's Department of Government. "The Christian Coalition is nearly bankrupt and cannot maintain a functioning state organization even in Virginia... There remain many 'Christian right' voters, but the actual movement has faded dramatically," he says.
As proof of his assertion, Wilcox points to the nature of the political "payoffs" that the Christian right has received versus those that have been doled out to other conservative Republican groups.
"The Christian Right is usually rewarded by Republican administrations with symbolic gestures - a bit more money for abstinence sex education, a few more restrictions on abortions in military hospitals... but other conservative groups get much bigger payoffs: think of the huge tax cut that Bush pushed through... So on broad policy terms, the [Christian right] movement is perhaps spectacularly unsuccessful, given its size and electoral clout."
Timothy Wilcox, a professor of church history and dean of the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois, offers a similar assessment of the current state of Christian right groups.
"As a well-oiled political force, the New Christian Right is only a shadow of its former self these days," says Wilcox, who has written about the growing bond between evangelical Christians and Israel. "Its two most visible organizations - the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition - are now defunct. Of course many of their concerns are still very much alive, but the bottom line is that the New Christian Right simply failed to achieve most of its political agenda on the national scene."
Other Washington observers suggest that while conservative Christians are certainly a potent political force, at least some of their clout stems largely from overblown perceptions of their power.
"The Christian Right is powerful only insomuch as politicians and the media want to believe it's powerful," says John Podhoretz, a columnist for the New York Post. "There is a conspiracy of sorts between left and right to believe in the awesome power of the Christian right. The Left needs the powerful Christian right as an ominous enemy against which to organize. The Right needs the powerful Christian right to frighten middle-of-the-road politicians into following policies the Right likes," he argues.
Hence, when it comes to Israel, Podhoretz believes that "the Christian Right's position on Israel is actually more influential than it might be if everybody were looking at the political situation straight-on".
But efforts are already underway to more effectively organize Christian support for Israel and fortify the ever-expanding base of supporters. Interestingly enough, a central figure in this undertaking is none other than an Orthodox rabbi, named Yechiel Eckstein.
Eckstein, founder and President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (www.ifcj.org), has been working for over two decades to build bridges between evangelicals and Jews, often in the face of suspicion and even hostility from much of the mainstream Jewish establishment.
In recent years, Eckstein's group has come to play a more prominent role on the Jewish stage, successfully raising tens of millions of dollars every year from American Christians, money which is then disbursed to a wide variety of social and humanitarian projects benefiting Jews both in Israel and abroad.
Through his work with Christians across the United States, Eckstein discovered that while there were many churches and groups that cared for Israel, there was no organized outlet for them in which to express their pro-Israel views politically.
"You had groups starting pro-Israel projects such as prayer groups, but no political lobby," he says, noting that, "no one was successful in trying to build political leverage or unite that community on behalf of lobbying for Israel. There was no AIPAC for Christians."
Seeking to remedy the situation, Eckstein joined forces with Ralph Reed, a former chairman of the Christian Coalition who now heads the Republican party in Virginia. Together, they launched the Stand for Israel campaign in early June, which aims "to strategically mobilize leadership and grassroots support in the Christian community for the State of Israel."
Using fax alerts, media campaigns and other promotional materials, Stand for Israel hopes to get 100,000 churches and some 1 million American Christians to express support for the Jewish state.
Given its target constituency, the group is also using a tool not normally associated with grassroots political campaigns: prayer.
Working together with other groups, Stand for Israel (www.standforisrael.org) is sponsoring a "Day of Prayer and Solidarity" with Israel on Sunday, October 20. Citing the Biblical imperative to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psalms 122:6), Eckstein and Reed are encouraging American Christians to pray for the Jewish state.
Toward this end, they will be distributing tens of thousands of "Action Kits" to churches throughout the country. The kits will include information on terrorist attacks in Israel, music and educational literature, instructions on how to contact elected officials, advertisements and graphics that can be used in church newsletters, and even sermon notes. In a recent press release describing the project, the group said, "We believe this program offers your church a unique opportunity to educate your congregation and enable them to fulfill their responsibilities as Christians to pray for Israel."
Such efforts, says Eckstein, "are more important now than ever before, because when you had a Democratic president, the Jewish community had its own leverage and involvement within the party. But now, with a conservative Republican administration, that is no longer the case."
Pro-Israel Christians, Eckstein believes, "are people who could serve as partners with the Jewish community. They are conservative in their views and can get the President's ear. They can speak to him as a constituency, both in political and moral terms. But until now, no one was really tapping into that".
EVEN without much formal organizing, though, pro-Israel Christians have been remarkably effective in conveying their sentiments to the top echelons of the Bush administration.
Bush "respects the counsel of competent evangelicals. There are those within the administration who have an ear to what Christian Zionists are saying," says Christian broadcaster McQuaid, who has met with senior Bush Administration officials.
"You must remember that the most potent voices in the evangelical community are leaders committed to Israel, and in total they represent millions of Christians who, of course, also go to the polls," he said, though he stresses that it is Bush's "inherent commitment to Judeo-Christian moral values, sense of justice, and his personal faith" which underlie his support for Israel.
Columnist Podhoretz agrees, saying, "The influence of the Christian Right on President Bush is more a matter of the president's soul than his politics. He himself is a born-again Christian and a member of the Christian Right. To the extent that he remains true to his own core beliefs, his views on Israel will remain constant - and noble."
A senior official of a major Jewish organization concurs, noting that pro-Israel Christians "play a very important role in the Administration's policies. This President is a religious man and he definitely listens to what the main component of his party is thinking."
So, one might wonder, if pro-Israel Christians are already having a big impact on Administration policies, then why go to the trouble of getting them better organized?
"The need," answers Eckstein, "is greater than ever before, and the potential is greater than ever before. Being pro-Israel today is a hot subject among Christians. As a result of the events of the past two years, there are more Christians who feel more passionately and more intensely about the need to do more for Israel and the Jewish people."
Thus, concludes Eckstein, "we need to seize the moment and build a political force in the evangelical pro-Israel community. We need to institutionalize their political support for Israel, and that is what we aim to do. Whether it is possible or whether it is doable, we just don't know yet. But you never know how these things are going to develop.
Disappointing to hear it bluntly stated how unsuccessful Christians have been at promoting proper government, but it's largely true that we've mainly been placated.
Should I be surprised that Christian support seems to be news to Israel?
1. Politics makes strange bedfellows. Boy is this ever true here. Among my dozens of jewish friends and family members, I can honestly say that there has been (over the years) a unanimous disdain for christian conservtives. Their opinion of these conservatives generally has ranged from bemusement to fear (they have guns,you know).
2. The overwhelming number of my Jewish friends and family members are serious PC liberals. They oppose almost every single thing that these christian conservatives believe for america (school prayer, abortion, gun control....you name it). It is a real mystery to me how the christian conservatives can so easily put this all aside and become the core support for Israel. I'm sure that most Jews are mystified by it as well.
3. The theology is bogus. These folks spend too much time reading books about Revelations. Salvation in christianity comes through one thing: belief in Jesus as your savior. It does NOT come from holding the correct political opinions about the Arab/Israeli dispute.
Is this a two-way street? Does God bless Jews who bless Christians?
God bless all of the Christians standing by Israel, and Jews now. They are our beloved friends.
Actually, your point is bogus! No one is claiming "salvation" because they favor Israel. To me, you can not, repeat, NOT, claim to be a good Christian and also be against the Jews or the Nation of Israel, which was formed by divine appointment.
This is what you get when you mix obscure theology with complex political questions.
First of all, what is the definition of "being a good Christian" if the point in question does not involve the salvation of one's soul? Many folks on these threads imply that one's soul is imperiled by a disagreement over political issues with Sharon. That is idiocy. The salvation of one's soul depends only upon one's faith in the Savior....irrespective of one's opinions about the current situation in the Middle East.
Second, your statement of "against the Jews and the Nation of Israel" is misguided. Who decides what "the Jews" and what "the nation of Israel" is for? "Peace Now" is an organization of Israeli Jews who oppose Sharon's policies. Are those the Jews you mean? Does that mean that anyone who opposes Peace Now's belief in land-for-peace is a bad Christian? Or is it the other group of Jews in the Likud block with whom I must agree in order to pass the pearly gates?
It looks like I'm going to have to go to church every sunday with a copy of the latest gallup polls on Israeli public opinion....just so I can secure my salvation by being on the right side of the latest political controversy there.
...Nation of Israel, which was formed by divine appointment.Wow! That must be the first time anyone, I mean anyone, has spoken of the 1st Earl of Balfour as "divine."
Outside the bedroom, of course.
(He was pretty cute in hose).
What guides my opinions about other nations, however, is how closely they follow our ideals-- "we our endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights . . . ."
Israel is not above criticism but right now they are the good guys. The Palestinians, and pretty much the rest of the Arab/Moselm world, sneer at what is in our Declaration of Independence.
I will also never forget how those Arabs were cheering when our people were dying.
Her naivity is scarey for she seems not to even know who "God's chosen people" really are. She is a chicken ripe for plucking.
Most American Jews are not considered as "real jews" by many Israeli Jews. This is a religious, not a political viewpoint issue.
Also, the liberal PC mindset of many of the American jews is not the mindset of many of the Israeli Jews.
Of course the sins of the Northern Kingdom Israelites were also egregious prior to their capture and diaspora via Assyria. Each group of Israelites had/has it's own punishment, including diaspora. Now the time draws closer for the Kingdoms to come back together.
That verse is rightly cited by the pro-life movement, but originally it spoke of God's love for his chosen people Israel.
Furthermore, aside from one's religion, I don't know how anyone with a speck of moral sense could look at Arafat and respect the man, or look at what has happened in the middle east over the past fifty years and support the Arabs.
Thank you for your words.
They will be my politics and bible lesson for my eight year old son today.
Your scriptural reference really helps explain christian support for Israel.
We gentile christians are rich with flaws, we are most able to display our worldliness, but we love God, we learn from His Word to ask for forgiveness, repent and seek Him.
One place we KNOW His heart is is in covenant support of Israel.
This is a tired libel. The Nazis, when they thought of religion, were pagan. Good Christians, like Deitrich Bonhoeffer, et al, were killed under Hitler. The Third Reich was in no way an attempt at Christian theocracy.
BINGO! (Not to be confused of course with anything to do with the historic Biblical genetic links...)
Wow! That must be the first time anyone, I mean anyone, has spoken of the 1st Earl of Balfour as "divine."
I guess if I also didn't believe that a sovereign God rules in the affairs of men, I too would be a simple minded scoffer. But I don't, so I'm not!
Here's what the Holy One of Israel has to say on the matter:
(33) "THE IS THE COVENANT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THAT TIME," declares the LORD." I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (34) No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD." For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (35) This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar--the LORD Almighty is his name: (36) "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "WILL THE DESCENDANTS OF ISRAEL EVER CEASE TO BE A NATION BEFORE ME. (37) This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel BECAUSE OF ALL THEY HAVE DONE," declares the LORD. (38) "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. (39) The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. (40) The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the LORD. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished." Jeremiah 31:33-40
So was the army that landed on Omaha Beach. What's your point?
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