A feeling of a false sense of spiritual superiority pervades much of Israel, especially Jerusalem. The sentiments aren’t restricted to Orthodox Jews. Many Muslims, Catholics and Protestants who dwell there seem to think God has especially ordained their presence there.
Secular Jews who have no real interest in the faith beyond following rules and traditions such as the Sabbath shutdown of the country are content to call themselves the Chosen People in the Holy Land.
Christian groups that have gained control of once holy sites sometimes turn them into commercialized spots. Very little is intact from Jesus’ day, and if the locales are genuine they likely were 10 to 15 feet below the current street level. Is this really the location of the Upper Room? Who knows? Some of the supposed holy areas seem downright cheesy. The Via Dolorosa is now a winding path of Muslim shops selling shoes, jewelry, scarves, wooden figurines and “Free Palestine” shirts.
At various sites around the country, caretakers of Christian churches that abut aren’t on speaking terms. The ornate shrines that Christians have built to commemorate the founder of Christianity seem to contradict the values for which he stood.
The most egregious example is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Various Christian traditions — Ethiopian Orthodox, Copts, Armenians, Greek Orthodox Russian Orthodox and Catholics — all claim a part of the structure. Some have property rights, others only ritual rights.
They try to outdo each other, with pomp-filled ceremonies that are an assault on the senses: a cacophony of chanting, singing, clanging church bells and pounding of wooden stakes on the floor. Pilgrims bend on the floor to kiss icons, lay handkerchiefs on a rock, light candles and toss incense. It all seemed like a spiritual Disneyland, offering entertainment to the masses that pass.
Because of the bickering between these streams of Christianity, a Muslim family has held the keys to the church for generations. No wonder Christianity isn’t very attractive to outsiders.
Meanwhile, fundamentalist and charismatic American pastors bring their flocks over by the planeload, believing they have the inside track to deciphering the end times. Because they apply scriptural prophecy to 21st century events, they think they are the solution to bringing about Jesus’ Second Coming. They teach that Christians need to be kind to any Israeli, no matter if that person is oppressing Arab Christians or Messianic Jews.
Several people have told me visiting Israel changed their lives. I didn’t have that transformational experience. It’s nice to know where biblical sites are located, or were 2,000 years ago. Yet our spiritual state shouldn’t depend on a geographic location, or how we view that real estate. It should involve how we treat others in light of Jesus’ revelatory words.
I ran into several Americans who naively thought that secular Jews only needed a simple gospel presentation in order to suddenly see the light and convert to Christianity.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
PRETRIB RAPTURE POLITICS
ReplyDeleteMany are still unaware of the eccentric, 180-year-old British theory underlying the politics of American evangelicals and Christian Zionists.
Journalist and historian Dave MacPherson has spent more than 40 years focusing on the origin and spread of what is known as the apocalyptic "pretribulation rapture" - the inspiration behind Hal Lindsey's bestsellers of the 1970s and Tim LaHaye's today.
Although promoters of this endtime evacuation from earth constantly repeat their slogan that "it's imminent and always has been" (which critics view more as a sales pitch than a scriptural statement), it was unknown in all official theology and organized religion before 1830.
And MacPherson's research also reveals how hostile the pretrib rapture view has been to other faiths:
It is anti-Islam. TV preacher John Hagee has been advocating "a pre-emptive military strike against Iran." (Google "Roots of Warlike Christian Zionism.")
It is anti-Jewish. MacPherson's book "The Rapture Plot" (see Armageddon Books etc.) exposes hypocritical anti-Jewishness in even the theory's foundation.
It is anti-Catholic. Lindsey and C. I. Scofield are two of many leaders who claim that the final Antichrist will be a Roman Catholic. (Google "Pretrib Hypocrisy.")
It is anti-Protestant. For this reason no major Protestant denomination has ever adopted this escapist view.
It even has some anti-evangelical aspects. The first publication promoting this novel endtime view spoke degradingly of "the name by which the mixed multitude of modern Moabites love to be distinguished, - the Evangelical World." (MacPherson's "Plot," p. 85)
Despite the above, MacPherson proves that the "glue" that holds constantly in-fighting evangelicals together long enough to be victorious voting blocs in elections is the same "fly away" view. He notes that Jerry Falwell, when giving political speeches just before an election, would unfailingly state: "We believe in the pretribulational rapture!"
In addition to "The Rapture Plot," MacPherson's many internet articles include "Famous Rapture Watchers," "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," "Edward Irving is Unnerving," "America's Pretrib Rapture Traffickers," "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)," "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy" and "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" (massive plagiarism, phony doctorates, changing of early "rapture" documents in order to falsely credit John Darby with this view, etc.!).
Because of his devastating discoveries, MacPherson is now No. 1 on the "hate" list of pretrib rapture leaders who love to ban or muddy up his uber-accurate findings in sources like Wikipedia - which they've almost turned into Wicked-pedia!
There's no question that the leading promoters of this bizarre 19th century end-of-the-world doctrine are solidly pro-Israel and necessarily anti-Palestinian. In light of recently uncovered facts about this fringe-British-invented belief which has always been riddled with dishonesty, many are wondering why it should ever have any influence on Middle East affairs.
This Johnny-come-lately view raises millions of dollars for political agendas. Only when scholars of all faiths begin to look deeply at it and widely air its "dirty linen" will it cease to be a power. It is the one theological view no one needs!
With apologies to Winston Churchill - never has so much deception been foisted on so many by so few!