GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 185

What Is Replacement Theology Part 3

The Jews Hatred Is Still Here

As if the history of the Church up until current times is bad enough with all its hatred of Israel and talk of even God turning His back on them, theologians you may highly esteem also are adherents of Replacement theology. As much as it saddens me to show their words and who they use to advance their beliefs, it is necessary to make the point. I already mentioned Chuck Colson, but he is far from the only theologian that makes this infamous list. I will cite the article I used a lot in the second installment of these lessons, one written by Dr. David Reagan since he researched it well. Here he brings us to today as he connects this to a usually trusted seminary, one that trained the esteemed D. James Kennedy:

A good example of the new form of anti-Semitism can be found in a document issued by James Kennedy’s Knox Theological Seminary in 2002. It was entitled, “An Open Letter to Evangelicals Concerning Israel.” It has since been endorsed by hundreds of theologians and pastors, including such luminaries as R. C. Sproul.

The document begins by denouncing those who teach that the Bible’s promises concerning the land of Israel are being fulfilled today “in a special region or ‘Holy Land,’ perpetually set apart by God for one ethnic group alone.” It then proceeds to proclaim that the promises made to Abraham “do not apply to any particular ethnic group, but to the Church of Jesus Christ, the true Israel” (emphasis added)

To be fair, D. James Kennedy was not antisemitic and didn’t sign off on the aforementioned document. But at least 60 evangelical leaders did like these people:

Other American Christian leaders who signed the letter to Bush were Clive Calver, president of World Relief of the National Association of Evangelicals; John Dellenback, former director of the Peace Corps and former member of the House of Representatives; author Colleen Townsend Evans; John Ortberg, teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago; James Skillen, president of the Center for Public Justice; Glen Stassen, Fuller Seminary professor and former professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Richard Stearns, president of World Vision U.S.; and author Philip Yancey.

No Right To The Promised Land

Dr. Reagan goes on to note that in the document the Jews have no claim to the land promised to them by God to Abraham:

The document then specifically denies the Jew’s claim on any land in the Middle East by asserting: “The entitlement of any one ethnic or religious group to territory in the Middle East called the ‘Holy Land’ cannot be supported by Scripture.” Then, incredibly, the document asserts that “In fact, the land promises specific to Israel in the Old Testament were fulfilled under Joshua.”

Adding salt to the wounds, the document concludes with the following observation:

“The present secular state of Israel…is not an authentic or prophetic realization of the Messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, a day should not be anticipated in which Christ’s kingdom will manifest Jewish distinctives, whether by its location in ‘the land,’ by its constituency, or by its ceremonial institutions and practices.”

Dennis Prager, a Jew himself, wrote a book titled Why The Jews? In it says this:

The contention that anti-Zionists are not enemies of Jews, despite the advocacy of policies that would lead to the mass murder of Jews, is, to put it as generously as possible, disingenuous. If anti-Zionism realized its goal, another Jewish holocaust would take place…Therefore attempts to draw distinctions between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are simply meant to fool the naive.

A New Form Of Anti-Zionism

Reagan then moves to an even newer way to be antisemitic and that is the Christian Palestinian Movement (CPM):

In recent years a new form of this anti-Zionism has raised its ugly head in the form of the Christian Palestinian Movement that Dr. Paul Wilkinson has spoken about several times.

James Showers, Director of The Friends of Israel, has defined the movement in the following words:

“Christian Palestinianism claims modern Israel has no biblical connection with or justification for owning the Promised Land; therefore, it concludes, Israel has become an apartheid state, occupying territory belonging to the Palestinian Arabs.”

In a previous two-part series, I addressed whose land it is citing a whole host of sources. And I dealt with the myth of the Palestinians as a people in the series as well. There are even more disappointing evangelical leaders who adhere to this movement as we read in the Reagan article who are avowed Christian Palestinians:

The Movement’s most prominent leaders over the past few years are the following:

Stephen Sizer — Anglican vicar of Christ Church in Surrey, England; Gary Burge — Ordained Presbyterian minister and professor of New Testament at Wheaton College; Donald E. Wagner — Ordained Presbyterian minister and director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University in Chicago, Illinois; John Stott — The late theologian and rector emeritus of All Souls Church in London; Hank Hanegraaff — President of the Christian Research Institute and host of the “Bible Answer Man” radio program; Tony Campolo — Baptist minister, author, and professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University in Pennsylvania; Lynne Hybels — Wife of Willow Creek Church senior pastor and founder, Bill Hybels; Naim Ateek — Founder of Sabeel, the Palestinian Ecumenical Liberation Theology center in Jerusalem; Mitri Raheb — Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem.

The article went on to note these points giving specific examples from the list above:

Stephen Sizer is the recognized champion of the Christian Palestinian Movement. He has denounced Israel as an “apartheid state” which he claims is guilty of ethnic cleansing, and he has demonized Christians who support Israel as “heretical Armageddonites” whose interpretation of the Bible “provides a theological endorsement for racial segregation, apartheid and war.”

He then quotes one of my favorite authors and then one of the best defenders of the faith. Both are usually men I respect:

The proponents of the movement hold Christian Zionists in open contempt. John Stott denounced Christian Zionism as “biblically anathema to the Christian faith.” Hank Hanegraaff wrote, “Christian Zionist beliefs and behaviors are the antithesis of biblical Christianity.”

He ends with this rather disturbing bit of information:

One British journalist, Alan Hart, who supports the Christian Palestinian Movement, went so far as to state on his website:

It’s time to give Israel’s hardcore Zionists their real name. They are the New Nazis…If Europeans and Americans don’t stop the New Nazis, it’s likely their endgame will be the extermination of millions of Palestinians.

How did we get to the place that if we believe that Israel still has rights to the land promised to them and that they are still the people God uses to bless the world as well as a key player in end time prophecy we are now as bad as the Nazis is truly startling. And upsetting as well.