There seems to be a new trend going around within the political arena and garnering quite a bit of support from the Evangelical community. It is known as Christian Palestinianism (CP) and is a new approach to the middle-east crisis that once again has the world fooled into thinking that a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict can easily be reached. Reconciliation seems to be its primary goal, but many questions arise as to the real catalyst for such a movement?
Could there be a hidden agenda and even another goal than peace? Is Christian legitimization of a Palestinian plight a worthy cause?
Christian Palestinianism opposes and rejects the basic tenets of Christian Zionism. It is antithetical to an honest biblical view of Israel and the Jewish people. As a matter of fact, a historical-grammatical method of Bible interpretation will only lead to one conclusion: God Himself is a Zionist!
Psalm 132:13 For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation.
14 “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
15 “I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy with bread.
Once again, the liberal camp is leading a pack of “peace activists” who appear to be fully committed to seeing justice (albeit solely from a Palestinian worldview) and reconciliation in the middle-east. Unfortunately, politically correct and tolerant liberals end up promoting the anti-Semitic views put forward by Islamists. Do not miss the irony of a group of people whose liberal ideology encourages them to promote the repressive and dictatorial ideology of another! The potential for a lethal backfiring against Western Civilization seems obvious.
Part of the process of Christian Palestinianism is a progressive removal of the Jewish roots of Christianity. Judeo-Christian ethics are replaced with “Christian” ethics, fully deprived of any of their Jewish heritage. This systematic removal of the Jewish roots of Christianity facilitates the delegitimization of Israel as God’s chosen people and further justifies her removal from the world as we know it, even though this might not be the most apparent agenda.
In her book Eurabia: the Euro-Arab Axis released in 2006, Jewish author and activist Bat Ye’or almost prophetically calls it “Palestinian Marcionism”:
The Christian policy that would eliminate the Jewish source of Christianity by suppressing the link between the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels represents an old and lingering trend, always opposed by the Church. It was first formulated by Marcion, a second-century Byzantine priest of pagan background who was strongly influenced by Gnoticism. Today, Palestinian Marcionism (Palestinianism) paves the way for the Islamization of the Church as it prepares mentalities for an Islamic replacement theology[1].
Bat Ye’or’s assessment has tragically proven true in the last 5 years. Christian Palestinianism is well on its way to de-judaize Jesus – a job that the gentile branch of Christianity generously contributed to, out of ignorance or pure hatred of the Jews over the centuries. CP will also continue to invalidate much of the Jewish Scriptures as history gets re-written and Jewish references get replaced to accommodate the “Islamization” of the Bible.
Additionally, British expert Paul Wilkinson documents the movement as he traces its origins and agenda:
“Christian Palestinianism is an inverted mirror image of Christian Zionism. All the basic elements of a Christian Zionist eschatology are reversed, so that the Bible is seen to be Christian, not Jewish, the land of the Bible is Palestine not Israel, the Son of God is a Palestinian not a Jew, the Holocaust is resented not remembered, 1948 is a catastrophe not a miracle, the Jewish people are illegal occupiers not rightful owners, and Biblical prophecy is a moral manifesto and not a signpost to the Second Coming. Despite enlisting support from the theological community and seeking validation through academia, the overriding thrust of Christian Palestinianism is political, not Biblical.
A tragic example of this ideology is the recent movie Little Town of Bethlehem that came out in 2010, painting the portrait of three men who wanted peace and reconciliation in the region: an Arab Muslim, an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian Christian. They promoted their views of reconciliation against all odds. Really, who would disagree with that?
The issue does not lie in the validity of such an aspiration but in how the different sides were being portrayed. Palestinians were being compared to African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement following the leadership of Martin Luther King and fighting the National Guard for their freedom, while Israelis were being painted as the oppressors and invaders of Palestine.
It is a shame to see that many Evangelical are buying into the lies of Christian Palestinianism. Endorsements of such projects by former World Vision US President, Robert Seiple; Stephen Sizer, Vicar of Christ Church in the UK, Lynne Hybels, wife of Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church or even Gary Burge from Wheaton College, only add insult to injury.
The same can be said for a more vocally Christian project known as With God on Our Side, directed by Porter Speakman Jr. and endorsed by Tony Campolo and current Vice President of World Vision, Steve Haas. It has also received rave reviews from Christianity Today
Christian Palestinianism is Supersessionism gone wild! Where the Church left off with Replacement Theology’s faulty substitution of Israel for today’s Body of Messiah, Christian Palestinianism picked up and ran with it.
With any vestige of the Jewish roots of Christianity eradicated, Israel and the Jewish people will become irrelevant and this is a risk we cannot afford to take!
Palestinianism is becoming the next big wave of Christian anti-Semitism, yet there is a simple solution… READ YOUR BIBLE!
Palestinianism is becoming the next big wave of Christian anti-Semitism, yet there is a simple solution… READ YOUR BIBLE!
[1] Bat Ye’or, Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis (Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2006), p. 213.
Christianity is dead. It cannot stand up to Islam because it is fundamentally flawed. The concept of justification by faith alone makes it a weak effiminate homosexual pussy pushover religion. It should not have rejected the concept of law. Now it must die a painful death at the hands of the religion of peace having its head lopped off by the scimitar. Maybe then a new religion that has the balls to stand up to Islam can rise from its grave on the 3rd day. Let Christianity be crucified so that something better may rise.
By the way, authentic Christianity calls for neutrality. Romans 10 says the powers that be are ordained of God and if you fight against them you are fighting God. In other words, stay out of politics. Anyone embroiled in politics and telling he powers that be what to do, fighting them when they do what they don’t like, is simply NOT a true Christian. That’s fine with me, as per what I said above. But quit pretending that authentic Christianity is supposed to fight the powers that be and try to force them to be nice to Israel — it isn’t — true Christians are suppose to keep their mouths shut and let the powers that be stomp all over themselves and everyone else.
or maybe that’s Romans 13. whatevs.
While I agree that the answer to this problem is reading the Bible, it doesn’t stop there. You also have to believe it, rather than replacing what it says with what you want it to say.
I think a lot of these Palestinian Christians are 1) Not believers, or 2) Not able to think in a straight line, or 3) Are disingenuous. Or a combination of more than one of those. And of course that leaves out being in Satan’s hip pocket.
I believe that the Gentile church today is so largely off-track with what their place is in the scheme of reality, that this sort of thing is, while extremely shocking, exactly what you’d expect to see.
We just have trouble seeing how truly narrow the way actually is.
Praying for the peace of Jerusalem. GOD bless the great nation of Israel….
Every prayer counts, thanks!
Olivier, a useful comment. I particularly appreciated your discussion of how extreme CP downplays or totally ignores the Jewish roots of Christianity, which I discuss and cross-post about on my blog today (www.calvinlsmith.com).
It is as result of the dehumanization and then demonization of the Jewish people that Nazi Germany was able to proceed with the Final Solution at the speed and intensity at which they did. Once the Jews were relegated to the status of subhuman vermin, it was made easier to eradicate them without feeling guilty but actually feeling the opposite, as Nazis thought they were doing the World a favor. I believe that Christian Palestinianism paves the way for a repeat of these events, with the help of Radical Islam after they infiltrate the Church. Actually, they soon might not need to infiltrate anymore, they might just be invited to incorporate as many Christians are compromising the Gospel.
Much like people are doing today with the preborn.
I’m not Jewish, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why or how people come to the conclusion that God doesn’t care for Jews anymore. The Bible says that the Jewish people are special, God’s natural children and gentiles were basically adopted. How hard is this to understand? And why do they think this is such a terrible thing? I think Christians have a serious issue with pride. Personally, everytime I think about the fact that the Maker of the universe decided to pick me, a worthless worm, to be part of His family, I am astounded.
Besides, don’t these people know that Jesus is going to rule from Jerusalem? That’s what the Book says anyway.
An excellent piece that demonstrates how widespread and deep the propaganda machine orchestrated by Arafat has influenced the worldview of the Church. By turning the truth on its head the obvious has become the oblivious. A new breeding ground for Replacement Theology has safely been embedded in evangelical ranks. This, along with the fact that almost half of evangelicals no longer believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation speaks volumes.