Coulter in Context and Christian Zionism's Conversion Problem
Richard Bartholomew printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 09:51:15 AM EST
She taught that Jews were "completed" when they became Christians. She told her readers of visiting a hospital where she met a terminally-ill Jew whom she urged to accept Christ; with satisfaction, she recounted that the man prayed to Jesus with what was almost literally his dying breath.(1) Not Ann Coulter, but the late evangelist Corrie ten Boom, who often spoke of her love of the Jewish "Chosen People", and who famously saw her father and sister perish in concentration camps after the family was arrested for harbouring Jews from the Nazis in her native Holland.

Coulter's recent comments that Jews become "perfected" when they become Christians has resulted in a predictable furore. Of course, it's hardly remarkable that a conservative Christian (or, at least, a purported conservative Christian - last year Max Blumenthal tried and failed to find anyone who had seen her in church) would want non-adherents to join the faith, and this is no more sinister than followers of any other ideology seeking to convince outsiders of what they consider to be the truth. However, for obvious historical reasons, a special emphasis on Jewish conversion will often appear distasteful, and the Roman Catholic Church recognised this at Vatican II, when a liturgical prayer for the conversion of Jews was watered down. The desirability of Jewish conversion has recently been a source of tension for the alliance between Christian Zionists and the Israeli right.

In Israel, Christian Zionist activities have in recent months provoked the ire of anti-missionary groups. According to a report in Arutz Sheva :

Ze'ev Shtieglitz of the anti-missionary Lev L'Achim organization has presented evidence of actual missionary activity by ICEJ [the International Christian Embassy] to the Chief Rabbinate. "For instance," he recently told Arutz-7, "ICEJ Liaison Officer Doron Schneider is the head of the Messianic Jewish community in Maaleh Adumim... Dr. George Giacumakis, the one-time Chairman of the Board of Trustees of ICEJ, has said straight out that it is hoped, through various 'friendship' organizations with Jews, and by giving financial and political support to Israel, that Jews will start showing interest in Christianity."

The report focuses particularly on a quote from British Christian Zionist David Pawson (emphasis in report):

"One day the people of Israel as a whole will become Messianic Jews... Prayer for Israel is not enough; preaching is also necessary. The church's silence over the holocaust was bad enough; her silence about hell would be a worse betrayal... True lovers of Israel will speak on behalf of Jews to Christians and on behalf of Christ to Jews...We cannot help but be missionaries, and I have discovered that some Jews despise us if we pretend not to be..."

Further:

...Jack Hayford, was one of 1,100 Christian Zionists and Messianic Jews who took part in the Road to Jerusalem conference in California last year.  He spoke there of "helping the church understand what God's doing among Jews today and how to relate to it." Co-speakers at that Road to Jerusalem event were co-founder Rev. Raleigh Washington -- who said, "when a Jewish person recognizes that Jesus is his messiah, he becomes a Jew who has now found his messiah" -- and Rev. Mike Bickle of Kansas City, Mo., who used the phrase "unsaved Jews" and said a Satan-like leader "will be required to exterminate the Jewish race."

The result of all this is that the Chief Rabbinate Council's Committee for the Prevention of Missionary Work in the Holy Land has now announced that it is forbidden for Jews to participate in Christian Zionist events, particularly the Feast of Tabernacles, which is usually addressed by high-profile Israeli politicians.

This is a controversy that has been running for some time, and the Rabbinate told Jews not to attend a Christian Allies Caucus event in May. One Christian Zionist leader, Janet Parshall, complained in March that Israel's attitude was

"We'll take your aid, your support and your tourist dollars, but we won't take your Jesus." Christians should not have to "choose between the cross or Israel," the American evangelical says.

However, Christian Zionist organisations have been cautious to avoid causing offence, which is why Lev L'Achim's "evidence" against the ICEJ is rather lame. Indeed, some Christian Zionists have avoided the subject altogether, despite Pawson's blunt formulation of Christian exclusivity - that non-Christian Jews face a worse fate than the Holocaust, namely, hell itself. For Christian Zionists who believe that the end of nigh, the impending return of Jesus paradoxically means that converting the Jews is less urgent, since many of those living now be converted miraculously. One quote attributed to John Hagee (I haven't been able to track down the source, although someone has spammed it over numerous blogs) is that he and a Rabbi associate

...both know that one day when we're dancing in the streets of Jerusalem together, one of us will have to seriously reevaluate our beliefs.

Hagee has also at times apparently made statements supportive of "dual covenant" theology (at other times he has denied it). This polemical source provides discussion, and gives an alleged quote from a 1988 Houston Chronicle article in which Hagee tells us:

I believe that every Jewish person who lives in the light of the Torah, which is the word of God, has a relationship with God and will come to redemption.

The "dual covenant" concept means that Judaism and Christianity remain equally valid today, and therefore Jews who follow Judaism do not need to be converted to Christianity (although what this means for non-Jewish converts to Judaism remains murky). Some have seen this as a way forward for Jews and Christian Zionists, and there was an attempt last year to ascribe this belief to Jerry Falwell - which Falwell denied vehemently. Agape Press provided a bit of commentary about this from Jews for Jesus:

But [David] Brickner says the incident illustrates an "ongoing agenda" among certain Jewish leaders who he says want to "undermine Christian evangelism by trying to shape Christian theology."

In fact, the Southern Baptist Convention denounced such an agenda in 1996:

Meeting in New Orleans, LA, in 1996-JUN, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) passed its 10th resolution on Jewish evangelism... The resolution passed by an overwhelming majority. It urged the membership to "direct our energies and resources toward the proclamation of the Gospel to the Jews." It criticized "an organized effort on the part of some either to deny that Jewish people need to come to their Messiah, Jesus, to be saved or to claim, for whatever reason, that Christians have neither the right nor obligation to proclaim the gospel to Jewish people."

The mistrust, it seems, is mutual.

Footnote

(1) The anecdote appears in Tramp for the Lord (1974, pp. 105-06), which was ghost-written by Jamie Buckingham. Buckingham was neo-Pentecostal writer who was close to Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who today runs the Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Eckstein's enthusiasm for Buckingham and Charismatic Christianity has also been controversial, as I explored on my blog here.

Incidentally, one person who has been keen to claim ten Boom's mantle is Mike Evans, who founded the Corrie ten Boom Foundation in Holland. As Bill Berkowitz noted in Talk to Action in July, Evans is a best-selling Christian Zionist author, and he is currently pushing for an attack on Iran.




Display:

WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (375 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (203 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (65 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (109 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (164 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (149 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.