Hatred of Israel and the Jewish People Exposes Sharp Disagreement Among Churches – Dr. Mike Spaulding

A further heresy clouds premillennial interpretations of Scripture – their exultation of racism into a divine principle. Every attempt to bring the Jew back into prophecy as a Jew is to give race and works (for racial descent is a human work) a priority over grace and Christ’s work and is nothing more or less than paganism…There can be no compromise with this vicious heresy.[1]

In the last few days, I have had a discussion with other believers on a social media platform. That discussion has focused on the status of Israel both current and future. Specifically, the discussion centered on the differences between a Dispensational view of Israel and a Covenant Theology Postmillennial view of Israel.[2] One simple post that I made ignited a storm of counter-post responses. My post simply said, “Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel are not spiritually realized in the church. Two separate entities.” I expected “push-back” from some people due to their different views. Still, I did not expect to be called a blasphemer, false teacher, and enemy of Christ by others, who acted as if I had somehow denied Jesus by making a distinction between the church and Israel. What exactly has happened within the body of Christ that we have arrived at a place where calling other believers blasphemers is acceptable, especially over things that there is wide disagreement about?

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The Theological Basis For Why Israel Should Matter To Christians – S. Douglas Woodward

Anti-Semitism Arises Once Again – What is the Biblical Basis to Oppose it?

It’s quite unusual to find a Christian author or teacher that favors Israel who isn’t also a dispensationalist.  And it is difficult to find a dispensationalist who isn’t also a Christian Zionist.  Nevertheless, in Gerald McDermott, we have an Anglican theologian, Israel scholar, and author who is not dispensational, but who advocates for Jews everywhere, especially those living in the present state of Israel.  McDermott has written extensively on the subject of why Israel should be valued by Christians rather than repudiated for their historical rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Given the intensifying controversy surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the growing disapproval of the Israeli government by many Christian groups, a timely analysis of the situation appears most warranted.

In this article, I begin by pointing out while McDermott’s advocacy of Israel is welcomed and proceeds from an eschatological basis, his rationale owes as much to “Christian guilt” over our historical treatment of the Jews, as it does to truly biblical commitments for why Israel should matter to Christians.  To be more specific, his theological basis dismisses the dispensational hermeneutic, seeing Dispensationalism as a birthplace for wild prophetic speculation and fundamentalist dogma. McDermott offers an alternative basis for favoring Israel. His viewpoint is gaining traction and thus, it is worthy of consideration. My goal in penning this piece affords only a short analysis of his perspective, it is a relevant way to begin when considering the conventional basis for supporting Israel, commonly identified as Dispensationalism.  Additionally, while affirming Zionism (limited in its proper meaning here, advocating solely for Israel’s right to exist in its historic Middle Eastern land), I will provide a counter-argument to McDermott’s point of view, which comprises my main reason for writing; that is, asserting that Dispensationalism is a respectable, historical, and indeed, the strongest hermeneutic for why Christians should care about Israel.  Obviously, one could write an entire book on the subject.  This I hope to do in the months ahead.  Here I will provide what amounts to no more than a prolog.

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