4 reasons why people are hostile to ‘Christian Zionists’

1. DOUBLE ENTENDRE

A “double entendre” is a word or phrase that can have two different meanings.

There’s a story (probably a fable) of “the king and the golfer” that’s been around for a long time in several different variations. It goes like this: A king (or prince or sheik, depending on the variation) of a rich Middle-Eastern country invited an American pro-golfer to teach him how to play golf. When they were finished, the king was so impressed and grateful that he told the golfer he wanted to give him a new golf club as a gift to show his appreciation. When the gift tarried, the golfer thought the king must be getting the golf club custom-made and wondered if  would have a precious stone mounted on it or a gold-plated shaft. Then, after a few weeks, the golfer received in the mail a title deed to a 500-acre golf club.

Many people who use the term, “Christian Zionist,” think of something far different than what most of us Chrisian Zionists think of ourselves. They think of Christian Zionists more in terms of  a stick to hit a golf ball. They think we engage in a cult-like worship of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF and “strike” everyone who speaks out against Israel like a #3-iron striking a golf ball while teeing off. They think we abandon all patriotism of our own home country in order to “sell-out” to all things Israel. 

However, we Christian Zionists see ourselves more like a 500-acre golf club, much bigger and more complex—with 18 unique holes, each with its own fairway, green, and in some cases, sand bunkers, water hazards, and wooded areas. This type of golf club requires dozens of employees, including golf professionals, grounds keepers, food and beverage staff, office staff, and security. There’s far more depth to our belief system than they think. We support Israel’s God-given right to be in the land and recognize God’s eternal covenant with the Jewish people because of our in-depth knowledge of the Scriptures, not the 3 to 4-foot-long golf club of emotion. 

2. LACK OF UNDERSTANDING

Soon after 9/11, a reporter from my local newspaper called me and asked if she could interview me on the financial challenges of the airline industry. She called me because I was one of the few airline employees in my small hometown. I was happy to do it, and one of the things I mentioned was that the yields were too low because there were “too many seats flying.” (Yields are the average revenue per passenger mile, or simply put, how cheap or high the tickets are going for). That was because—between my company and the competition—there were so many available seats, it drove the prices down. The reporter mis-quoted me as, “too many EMPTY seats flying,” but that wasn’t the case at all. Flights were quite full at the time, but the seats were sold too cheap. She figured that’s what I meant because she didn’t understand how the airline industry worked.

Unfortunately, we have a lot of influential people out there today, like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, who have a very shallow understanding of the Scriptures, so they “write-in” what they think our enthusiasm for the state of Israel means and often refer to it as “a brain virus,” “Christian heresy,” and “Baal worship.”

Many of those who have a lack of understanding have been indoctrinated with Replacement Theology, an erroneous doctrine taught in many churches on the belief that the church has replaced Israel in scripture. 

3. IGNORANCE 

Ignorance is kind of a “cousin” to lack of understanding, but it’s a little different. The aforementioned individuals with a lack of understanding—like Carlson and Owens—tend to replace what they don’t understand with their own ideology. Those who are ignorant just “don’t know what they don’t know.” Using the airline analogy, they may understand what “yields” are but are ignorant of whether they are high or low at the time.

They are ignorant of both the legal processes, as well as the biblical references that give the Jewish people a right to be in the land. The legal process began with the Balfour Declaration by the British government in 1917, and it was acknowledged by the international community. It was endorsed by the post-World War I San Remo Conference in 1920, which was incorporated into the Mandate for Palestine and approved by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922. But about 4,000 years before any of that legal process happened, God promised Abraham and his descendants a certain area of land in Canaan (Genesis 15:18 ̶ 21) and reaffirmed that promise to Moses about 600 years later (Numbers 34:2 ̶ 12). God reiterated the promise yet again some 800 years after Moses through the prophet Ezekiel, even while the Jewish people were in exile in Babylon (Ezekiel 47:17 ̶ 20). The boundaries of the land were very specific, and probably the most detailed description of the land is the Numbers 34 account.

And yet, unlike virtually all other nations on earth, the Jews are continually scrutinized on whether or not they have the right to be in the land. In 2011, President Obama had the audacity to suggest that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations should be based on pre-1967 borders. Had I been Prime Minister Netanyahu, I would have told Obama that I would return to pre-1967 borders only if he would agree to pre-Louisianna Purchase borders! Highly-educated world leaders are not immune from ignorance.

4. PRIDE AND ARROGANCE

The recent letter from The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem on “Unity and Representation of the Christian Communities in the Holy Land’ opened up a whole new category. In my view, the real driving force behind this group of patriarchs attacking Christian Zionists was pride and arrogance. 

In the very title and opening line of the letter, they self-proclaim themselves as the “Heads of Churches in the Holy Land.” Excuse me, the last I checked, Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18). But even from the standpoint of human authority, who “anointed” them as the heads of the churches in the Holy Land? Oh yeah, that’s right … it was them! There is no organizational structure of all the churches in Israel. Perhaps they should have Romans 12:3 (ampc) stuck on their refrigerators: “I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance].”

The letter rebukes “local individuals who advance damaging ideologies such as Christian Zionism.” That’s quite prideful and arrogant to assume that any idea that circumvents their teaching is automatically “damaging.” Why do they get to decide what’s “damaging”? Throughout the Scriptures, we see that the God Who the patriarchs claim to serve is a Zionist (Psalm 132:13, Isaiah 62:1, Zechariah 8:3, Romans 11:26, 1 Peter 2:6), so how can it be damaging? It seems the sanctimonious religious crowd in Jerusalem hasn’t changed much in 2,000 years. Jesus told the Pharisees and scribes, “For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men” (Mark 7:9).

They also claimed in the letter that Christian Zionists “seek to push a political agenda.” That’s simply not true in the mainstream. There are a number of issues that may be political and also biblical—like abortion, same-sex marriage, and others. But all the Christian Zionists I know just want to be bearers of the truth and let the chips fall where they may politically. 

The letter said, “to claim authority outside the communion of the church is to wound the unity of the faithful.” It’s difficult for prideful and arrogant religious leaders to recognize that anyone else can be given authority from God. Let’s not forget, the chief priests and elders even asked Jesus, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” (Matthew 21:23).

“Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6).