During the week covered by this review, we received 3 articles on the following subjects:
Christian Zionism
Anti-Missionary Activity
Christian Zionism
Haaretz, May 15, 2019; Makor Rishon, May 15, 2019
The first article reported that a year after the U.S. government moved its embassy to Jerusalem, American Evangelicals are wondering what their next move should be. Transferring the embassy had been a decades-long goal, and once accomplished, it became unclear what new political goal Israel-supporting Evangelicals should strive for. One suggestion has been to focus on moving the embassies of other countries. To date, only Guatemala has followed the United States in transferring its embassy. Robert Stearns, an Evangelical pastor and Christian Zionist, is quoted as saying, “We’re going global. Evangelicals are becoming a political force in different parts of the world, and wherever that happens, we are working to support the State of Israel.” There is, however, also a generational gap. Younger Evangelicals are less likely to support Israel, as political science professor at Washington State University, Samuel Goldman, said in the article. “Young Evangelicals in the United States seem to be more diverse in their opinions and views about Israel and, in general, not as interested in the subject. It’s not as much of a priority for many of them as it was for previous generations,” he said.
The second article had to do with John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), which boasts 4.5 million members, and is considered a religious and economic media empire. The goal of the organization is to support Israel. It is argued that historically, Evangelicals changed their attitudes towards Judaism by changing how they interpreted the term “Israel” in the Bible. If in the history of Christianity, the church considered itself the “new Israel” which had replaced the old, Evangelicals dismissed this interpretation, arguing instead that the Jewish nation never lost its special status as chosen. Hagee has argued that the Bible, properly understood, is a Zionist document. Furthermore, he maintains that Christians are biblically required to show unconditional love and support to the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
Anti-Missionary Activity
BaKehila, May 16, 2019
In light of Yad L’Achim’s “successful” magazine entitled “Mechapsim” (“Seekers”), the organization has decided to put out another, shorter, magazine called “HaMa’amin” (“The Believer”). The new magazine will be four pages long, and will tell the stories of those who have left Messianic Judaism. It will also argue that missionaries deliberately fake verses found in Qumran, as well as twist Torah verses, in order to trick “Jews they have caught in their nets”. The magazine will be published in both Hebrew and Russian.