Paliban Daily

Update: 11/24/2009, Keith Olbermann reports on Sarah Palin’s beliefs about Jews, Israel, and the Rapture.

Back in July of 2000, Christian economist Dr. Gary North wrote an essay explaining why Christian fundamentalists support Israel. This bizarre and disturbing message exposes the twisted hatred behind the concept of the Rapture.

The full article may be found at Preterist Archive or at Lew Rockwell.com.

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Here’s the short version:

We can avoid death, but only because two-thirds of the Jews of Israel will inevitably die in a future holocaust. America must therefore support the nation of Israel in order to keep the Israelis alive until after the Rapture.

WHAT?

That’s it, in a nutshell. Now for the explanation of that statement:

Vocal support of a pro-Israel American foreign policy is basic for the leaders of American Protestant fundamentalism. This has been true ever since 1948. Pat Robertson and Rev. Jerry Falwell have been pro-Israel throughout their careers, beginning two decades before the arrival of the New Christian Right in the late 1970’s. These men are not aberrations. The Trinity Broadcasting Network is equally supportive. So are the best-selling authors who speak for, and influence heavily, Protestant fundamentalism, most notably Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet Earth (1970), and Tim LaHaye, the husband of Beverly LaHaye of Concerned Women for America, which says on its Web site that it is “the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.” Rev. LaHaye and his co-author have each earned some $10 million in royalties for their multi-volume futuristic novel, the Left Behind series. They have a very large audience.

People may ask themselves, “Why this support?” Fundamentalists earlier in this century were sometimes associated with anti-Semitism.

…

In his 1977 book, Armageddon Now!: The Premillenarian Response to Russia and Israel Since 1917, Christian historian Dwight Wilson cites numerous examples of fundamentalist theologians in the late 1930’s who regarded Hitler’s discriminatory policies against Jews as part of God’s judgment on the Jews. He writes: “Pleas from Europe for assistance for Jewish refugees fell on deaf ears, and ‘Hands Off’ meant no helping hand. So in spite of being theologically more pro-Jewish than any other Christian group, the premillennarians also were apathetic. . . .” [pp. 96-97].

What was it that persuaded almost the entire fundamentalist movement to move from either hostility or neutrality to vocal support of Israel? No single answer will fit every case, but there is a common motivation, one not taken seriously by most people in history: getting out of life alive.

Here, North describes the basics of Christian eschatology — end-times doctrine. To sum up, the Bible refers to Jesus’ reign of 1,000 years on Earth before the Judgment. This is “the Millenium”.

• Premillenialists believe that Jesus will return before the Kingdom is established, and will reign from a literal throne in Jerusalem. That is, Jesus will do it, people aren’t capable.
• Postmillenialists believe Jesus will come after the Kingdom has been established by people on Earth. That is, people have to do it; “If we build it, He will come” might be their refrain.
• Amillenialists see the “Kingdom” as spiritual, not physical. This view, dominant among “mainstream” Christians since Augustine’s City of God, differentiates between the spiritual and permanent “city of God” and the temporary cities and nations of men. They believe it can only come after Judgment, when the world is populated solely by sin-free Christians (everyone else being tortured for eternity in Hell).

What does all this have to do with Israel?

I’m getting to that. Be patient!

As Dr. North put it, Israel is key to the premillenialists’ desire to “get out of life alive”. He’s talking about the “Rapture”.

There’s going to be another list, isn’t there?

How did you guess?

Amillenialists and premillenialists believe that, before Jesus establishes His kingdom on Earth, there will be a time of great persecution known as the Tribulation.

• Amillenialists believe that Christians will be persecuted by their enemies.
• Premillenialists believe that Jews (and other non-Christians) will be tormented by God, and that “Born Again” or “Saved” Christians will not be tortured. Many (if not most), the “pre-Tribulation premillenialists” or “dispensationalists“, believe the “Saved” Christians will have been “Raptured”.

The concept of the Rapture has only been popular since the 1870s, but has captured the fantasies of millions of Christians worldwide; witness the success of the Left Behind series, which has even spawned video games! As it is said, “everyone wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die.” They believe it because it’s what they want to believe.

This is getting really long. Wasn’t this about Israel, and why so many billions of MY tax dollars are sent to support them?

Sorry. That’s enough on the Rapture for now. I’ll do a separate article on basic eschatology and definitions soon. Back to Israel’s role!

Jesus is recorded in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 describing the destruction of Jerusalem.

And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21:20-24).

Until the rise of dispensationalism, this was viewed as a reference to the conquest of Jerusalem by Rome in 70 AD. Dispensationalism “moves” this destruction to a future holocaust, at which time 2/3 of Israel’s people will be slaughtered (Zechariah 13). Before the re-establishment of Israel in 1948, the “people of Israel” were viewed as Jews, worldwide. (Was Hitler trying to bring about the Rapture?) Now, Israel is again a specific place.

North continues his explanation:

In order for most of today’s Christians to escape physical death, two-thirds of the Jews in Israel must perish, soon. This is the grim prophetic trade-off that fundamentalists rarely discuss publicly, but which is the central motivation in the movement’s support for Israel. It should be clear why they believe that Israel must be defended at all costs by the West. If Israel were militarily removed from history prior to the Rapture, then the strongest case for Christians’ imminent escape from death would have to be abandoned. This would mean the indefinite delay of the Rapture. The fundamentalist movement thrives on the doctrine of the imminent Rapture, not the indefinitely postponed Rapture.

Every time you hear the phrase, “Jesus is coming back soon,” you should mentally add, “and two-thirds of the Jews of Israel will be dead in ‘soon plus 84 months.’” Fundamentalists really do believe that they probably will not die physically, but to secure this faith prophetically, they must defend the doctrine of an inevitable holocaust.

This specific motivation for the support of Israel is never preached from any fundamentalist pulpit. The faithful hear sermons – many, many sermons – on the pretribulation Rapture. On other occasions, they hear sermons on the Great Tribulation. But they do not hear the two themes put together: “We can avoid death, but only because two-thirds of the Jews of Israel will inevitably die in a future holocaust. America must therefore support the nation of Israel in order to keep the Israelis alive until after the Rapture.” Fundamentalist ministers expect their congregations to put two and two together on their own. It would be politically incorrect to add up these figures in public. [Emphasis added. -MD]

North concludes:

Their eschatology has produced a kind of Catch-22 for fundamentalists. What if, as a result of evangelism, the Jews of Israel were converted en masse to Christianity? They would then be Raptured, along with their Gentile brethren, leaving only Arabs behind. This scenario would make the immediate fulfillment of prophecy impossible: no post-Rapture Israelis to persecute. So, fundamentalists have concluded that the vast majority of the Jews of Israel cannot, will not, and must not be converted to Christianity.

This raises an obvious question: Why spend money on evangelizing Israelis? It would be a waste of resources. This is why there are so few active fundamentalist ministries in Israel that target Jews. They target Arabs instead. Eschatologically speaking, the body of an Israeli must be preserved, for he may live long enough to go through the Great Tribulation. But his soul is expendable. This is why fundamentalists vocally support the nation of Israel, but then do very little to preach to Israelis the traditional Protestant doctrine of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Fundamentalists have a prophetic agenda for Israelis that does not involve at least two-thirds of the Israelis’ souls. Israelis are members of the only group on earth that has an unofficial yet operational King’s X against evangelism by fundamentalists, specifically so that God may preserve Israelis for the sake of the destruction of modern Israel in the Great Tribulation. The presence of Israel validates the hope of fundamentalists that Christians, and Christians alone, will get out of life alive.

[Emphasis added. -MD]

Perhaps most prominent in the manipulation of George W. Bush by Donald Rumsfeld (as reported by the previous editor of the Paliban Daily), this perspective has corrupted the United States’ Middle East policy for decades. Given recent statements by the current administration, I see no reason to think this will change.

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