Jim’s assessment is blunt but spot on…
Remember, the darker it gets, the brighter and farther our little light shines!
Maranatha, Lord come quickly!
myblessedhope
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Sep 1, 2014
This week, I wrote a piece for the Times of Israel (http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/israels-battle-of-the-burge/), warning again about the growing attacks on Israel and Jews, from America’s evangelical leadership. This time, the Huffington Post allowed Wheaton professor Gary Burge to spread more of his propaganda.
Although many pro Israel sources lament this very troubling trend, most aren’t aware of how we got to this place. That background is what continues to fascinate me, and I think it’s important to understand what forces and conditions led to this moment, when Israel has a new threat to deal with: Evangelicals Against Israel.
The current American Church — which I would argue is now virtually synonymous with the Church Growth/Seeker-Driven model — is a strange mixture of liberalism and corporate structure.
When Peter Drucker and Leadership Network made the decision to infiltrate evangelicalism a few decades ago, they selected certain up-and-comer pastors like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels, who would be open to ecumenism and center-left perspectives. With regard to Israel, Hybels and his wife, Lynne (co-founders of the Willow Creek Association) had been mentored by pro Palestinian sources for years. Warren, of course, loathes Bible prophecy because it conflicts with his agenda of creating the Kingdom of God here, now.
It took a long time, but these change agents managed to begin changing the landscape in the American church, with regard to Israel and Zionism.
We now have Burge and many others advocating for the Palestinians.
But what were the other contributing factors to this erosion of support for Israel?
I’ve discussed before how liberal scholarship kicked into high gear in this country more than 100 years ago. Harry Emerson Fosdick, the famous “preacher” of the early last century, began to wage open warfare against Bible-believing Christians, and the results of the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial,” in Tennessee (where evolutionary concepts were mainstreamed and marketed) contributed to a marginalization of Christians.
This was the stage-setting period, which would take decades to bear fruit for liberals. The key idea was to introduce doubt in people’s minds about the Bible and in particular, the Old Testament.
In Calvin Johnson’s terrific book, “Beyond the Point of No Return,” we discover the beginnings of this agenda:
“The institutions of learning responsible for preparing the preachers for the pulpit had turned to humanism and universalism by at least the 20’s and 30’s. Most had adopted Darwinian humanistic psychology.”
Further, Johnson gives specifics that show an opening was created by these liberal teachers:
“Neo-Orthodoxy gave credence to two Biblical truths – the sinfulness of man and the need for a life-changing encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. However, it did not accept the miracles and the historical events of the Bible as true.”
The liberal, mainline denominations were already attacking the veracity of the Bible’s creation accounts in Genesis, and then they began casting doubt on the very origins of the Jewish people: the accounts of Abraham, Moses, Joshua…all were relegated either to myth or the misty realm of “semi-legend.”
Do you see how this would build a foundation to undermine Israel’s legitimacy later? In point of fact, many, many evangelical leaders would later forge a disconnect between modern Israel and the ancient Israelites.
Let me be clear: there is plenty of evidence that the modern Israelis are the direct descendants of David, Mordechai, Gideon, etc.
To allege otherwise is bizarre? Yet, major evangelical leaders have done just that. Men like Chuck Colson, D. James Kennedy, and Maxie Dunnam (former president of the only evangelical seminary of the United Methodist Church, Asbury) have denied that modern Israelis are connected to the biblical patriarchs.
This, my friends, is how we have arrived at a place where Israel’s natural alliance with the U.S., and specifically, evangelical Christian, is now in peril.
As I’ve stated many times, NOW is the time to commit more time to prayer, Bible study and, by extension, advocacy for Israel wherever you can.
We are in the endgame. Let’s finish well.
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Click on the article title for a link to full original referenced article.
In Romans 10 Paul lays out how salvation is open to all, Jew and Gentile. He writes:
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” – Romans 10:4-5
What he is saying is now it is not about works or how closely to a “T” you follow the law. But that it is through God’s gift of grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is really that simple, and yet a hard step for some of us.
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9
Christ is the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14), through faith in Him you will be saved. It is the only “works” that God requires for eternal salvation.
It is The Gospel of Jesus Christ. To learn more check out the following link.
