Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf. Abraham A. van Kempen
to as Heathen-Zionism.
Toward the end of our talks, I wrap it up with, “what are your comments, your questions? What matters most to you?”
“You seem to deflect from what everyone wants to know about prophecies … I mean it’s prophesized that the Jews will return home.”
“Absolutely, but let’s get on the same page with nomenclature, terminology, definitions, language. First and foremost, prophecies will come true because prophecies are God-given schemes, which will come to fruition. Second, the prophecies foretell a future for all Israelites, not just Judeans. Third, here is the kicker, many present-day Jews are not all descendants of the Israelites, including the Judeans. Most Jews are not genetically connected to the Israelites. Today’s Jews are not yesterday’s Israelites.”
“I’m confused. Explain!”
“Most present-day Jews, like me, are descendants of Gentiles who have been proselyted into Judaism. In fact, the term ‘Jew’ is a recent invention, used for the first time in the 18th Century.”13
“What about 1948?”
My response: “The Israel of my parents’ dreams still does not exist. Modern Israel is not yet the Light Among Nations … but I believe it can and will but not as an exclusive people. Jews will become the Light Among Nations together with Gentiles. That is prophesized. That is what is biblical.”
“I’m really confused.”
“Let me explain it this way,” I respond. “Remember the biblical Jacob, the scoundrel, the rogue, the rascal, the villain, the swindler, the con artist? By entrapping and double-crossing and duping Esau, his older brother and by tricking, deceiving, and deluding Isaac, his father, Jacob underhandedly embezzles the Birth Right of the First Born originally bequeathed to Esau. But the biblical Jacob has a conscience as do most people. And God deals with Jacob. Jacob genuinely atones and reconciles with God. And, God changes Jacob’s name to Israel.
Today’s ‘Israel’ is NOT Israel. It is Jacob.”
Silence. Not a sound!
“But I want to get back to 1948. The presumption is that in 1948 Israel has become a nation. Wrong! Israel is still not a nation. It is a supra-national state for Jews-only. There is no such thing as an Israeli nationality. It still does not exist. Israel is also devoid of a Constitution. To this day, Israel remains a micro-supranational state without defined borders, still in search of itself for all the Jews in the world. And ironically, more Jews live in the diaspora than in the one and only state for Jews-only.
All Jews can become Israeli citizens. And, why are 1.8 million Palestinians Israeli citizens? As a condition to becoming a United Nations member, Israel must declare the Palestinians who remain inside the Green Line, Israeli citizens. They represent 21 percent of the Israeli population and have endured Martial Law for more than 20 years. They still withstand second-class citizenship status, though not the third-class to no-class status of the refugees from Africa, notwithstanding, the indigenous Palestinians imprisoned behind iron walls in Gaza and the West Bank."
“Okay, I got the drift of where you’re going … I’m still stuck with God’s commandment to drive the ancient Palestinians out of the land … if they killed everyone in ancient times, the present Jews wouldn’t have the same problems, right?”
“Aren't the Israelites in ancient times commanded to kill all the inhabitants in the Land?
Deuteronomy14 20: 10-14 says: “Make a peace offering first then kill everyone who doesn’t greet you in peace.” First and foremost, God prohibits the ancient Israelites from slaughtering everyone. In fact, only 23 ‘nations’ are completely cleansed out. Why are they executed? Primarily due to sexual promiscuity”! Most are spared and guess what, just about all are proselyted into the religious traditions of Ancient Israel.”15
“Hasn’t God commanded the present-day Israelis to drive the Palestinians away for the same reasons”?
“Forgive me … permit me to chuckle. If God were to command the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to massacre those engaged in sexual promiscuity, they don’t have to go far. Tel Aviv is not the only Sodom and Gomorrah in all of the Middle East. Many of Israel’s kibbutzim, with all its free sex, built on fertile soils, seized from the dispossessed, displaced and imprisoned Palestinians, fall in the same category. They too will have to be trashed.”
Again, silence.
“Well folks it’s been a bit more than three hours. You must be exhausted. May I impart a few more words. Can we move the conflict to a new paradigm, from an Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, essentially a civil war among brethren, to the Israeli-Palestinian Quest to Co-Exist of brothers and sisters? Some are converted to Judaism, some to Christianity, and some to Islam?”
Christians, if you truly LOVE Israel, pray for their release from bondage.
Christians, if you truly LOVE Jesus, LOVE the people of Palestine.
“Abraham, hold on please. I’ve got a burning question … before we adjourn, do we have time; otherwise, I’ll ask you privately. I had wanted to ask but I thought someone else would have.”
“Let’s see, it’s almost midnight. It’s been a great session. Folks, is it okay if we continue this for a few more minutes?”
Everyone sits on the edge of their seat. No one is chained to their chair. “Okay … Shoot, what’s your question? Can this be the last question tonight”?
“It’s about the Second Coming.”
My pastor says, “The Jews have returned to their land … Israel’s return to its land fulfils all the biblical prophecies … now that Israel is restored to its land, is this the end … I mean, the Second Coming is around the corner, so to speak”?
“Is your question, 'The Israelites or the Jews have returned to their land ...'
Most Jews are not genetically linked to Ancient Israelites. Many indigenous Palestinians are more genetically linked to the Ancient Israelites than most modern-day Jews.
Again, in all due respect, please so not confuse modern Jews and Ancient Israelites as one and the same. They are not. Also, don’t confuse the Palestinians as being purebred Arabs. They are not. Many Palestinians are more Israelites than the Jews who have emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe.
Many of the Israelites who have remained in Palestine are not Jews who have wandered from Eastern and Central Europe. They refer to themselves as 'Israeli.' Most present-day Israelites in Israel are Palestinians, not Israelis.”
So, let me further dissect your question. First, none of the prophets in the Old Testament has ever talked about ‘Jews.’ The term ‘Jew’ is relatively new. Some may have referred to the Judeans, but the Judeans are but one tribe of the twelve tribes of Israel. The prophets talk about the Israelites, not Jews.
As I have stated earlier, most Jews are not genetically linked to the Tribe of Judah or to any other tribe of Ancient Israel.
The Jews have a spiritual link to the land, just like all Christians and all Muslims. Many, if not most indigenous Palestinians have a physical link to the land.
Third, you said: ‘their land’ … inferring that some ethnic tribe owns the land. Wrong! The Old Testament unambiguously and clearly insists the Land does not belong to anyone, not even to Ancient Israel. The Promised Land belongs to God and only God (Leviticus 25: 23) and it is entrusted to ALL of Abraham’s descendants as the Father of a Multitude of Nations, conditioned upon the Covenant, that the Israelites shine as a light among nations (Isaiah 49: 6).
Notice! The Bible stipulates a 'multitude of Nations' not one nation and certainly not one ethnocentric group. Multitude of nations foreshadow multiple ethnic groups. Abraham’s children