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Now Whose Side is God On?
By Jan Markell
www.olivetreeviews.org
In April of 2010
I wrote my e-newsletter on the new film titled,
Whose Side Is God On?
In its own promotion, it aimed at changing the end-time views of
evangelicals and the theology that says the Jews are God's
chosen people and that they have a Divine right to the
land
of Israel.
The movie's spokesman, Porter Speakman, explains that there is a
biblical alternative for Christians who want to love and support
the people of Israel. He says
that there is a theology that doesn't favor one people group
over another. Instead, it promotes peace and reconciliation for
both Jews and Palestinians unlike "Christian Zionism" that is
outspoken in its favoritism toward all things Jewish, based on
biblical verses.
I am not sure
why Israel
can't have a little group of supporters.
We have just seen the world
get behind the Palestinian push for statehood in the U.N.
But what really troubles me is that the bashers of Christian
Zionists don't really care one whit about Israel's friends. They can't stand
us, in fact. According to
the film's Web site, pro-Israel Christians like me have
helped create "the largest refugee population in the world." We
are participating in "ethnic cleansing" of the Palestinians, and
we sanction "Israeli apartheid." Does this sound like the film
is unbiased?
With God
On Our Side
tries to provide a portrait of desperate Palestinians but
doesn't spend a nanosecond explaining that their plight is at
the hands of their corrupt and selfish leadership, starting with
Mahmoud Abbas who has done a song and dance in the
U.S.
in recent days. There is no reference to the new terror
state in Gaza run by Hamas or the
fact that Palestinians danced in the streets with joy on 9/11.
The promotion in the film and its Web site of
Stephen Sizer, well known for his blatant anti-Semitism,
dashes any hope that the film cares proportionately for the Jew
and the Palestinian. Sadly, the so-called Bible Answer Man,
Hank Hanegraaff, loves to give Sizer credibility on his radio
program which serves to gain recruits for Israel-bashers.
Hanegraaff's Preterism is tough enough to swallow but calling my
friends and me supporters of "apartheid" as well as "racists"
takes the argument way too far.
Now that the
film has had almost a two-year shelf life and global
circulation, it has gained new and troubling advertisers. One is
Frank Schaeffer, the son of the late Francis Schaeffer. If he
speaks for a lot of people, times are scarier than I thought. He
says in
The Huffington Post,
"My father was a key evangelical founder and leader of the
American religious right. I grew up in a home where the 'return
of the Jews to
Israel' was seen as 'proof' of
'God fulfilling prophecy' in order to expedite the return of
Christ. I changed my mind and I changed my politics. I explain
why I quit the evangelical movement in my book. I no longer
believe that any 'prophecy' is being fulfilled in Israel or anywhere else. I don't
believe anyone is 'chosen.' If there is a God, then God either
loves all people or none."
Frank
Schaeffer, most of the world believes as you do.
Why can't you folks allow a very tiny little band of Christian
Zionists to stand with Israel? Why must you throw verbal
stones at us? But it gets worse. I am not sure your dad would be
proud.
"Speakman's
film presents an authentically Christian and evangelical
perspective to the warmonger far right views,"
he states.
"As such, this film is literally the most important document of
its kind -- because it was made by an insider. It is the key to
understanding why evangelicals have become the permanent party
of war in the name of 'helping Israel.' " Schaeffer
doesn't stop even here. He is about to get even more intense.
He says,
"If we go to war with Iran, you'll know why after watching
this film. Hint: It won't be to protect American interests. The
film presents an opportunity for Christians of all denominations
as well as Jews, Muslims, atheists -- whomever -- to engage
for peace as vigorously as the Christian Zionists root for war."
Wait! I'm not
rooting for war! Wars are lethal. Are you rooting for war? I'm
also not rooting for terror or any kind of violence. It is the
Palestinians, whom Schaeffer and this film champion, who broke
into an Israeli home in March and literally slaughtered the
Fogel family, Jewish settlers. A young daughter came home at
midnight to find rivers of blood and only one family member
left. The intruders were careless and missed one.
Schaeffer says
that it is American Christian Zionists who have driven American
foreign policy over a cliff. He says we jeopardize America's future due to our
"hair-brained biblical prophecy beliefs." Now, if Frances
Schaeffer isn't turning in his grave yet, he is about to. Frank
says, "To a Christian
Zionist, defending Israel is just a
handy pretext for indulging their obsession: Egging on, even
helping the fulfillment of biblical prophecies about the return
of Christ. But their worst sin isn't just embracing dumb
theology but that they have enabled a nefarious group of
losers (emphasis mine) to irreparably harm America
and contribute to the needless killing of our men and women in
uniform worldwide: The neo-conservatives."
I do get it
that today it is not cool to be a conservative, a
neo-conservative (whatever that is), a Zionist, a prophecy buff,
or an end-time watcher hanging on to
my blessed hope. If we fit into any of these categories, we
are among the "nefarious group of losers." Even I don't call
theology I don't agree with "dumb." I might call it "unsound" or
"unbiblical" or "man-made." Five-year olds call ideas "dumb."
You really have to have an axe to grind to talk like Frank
Schaeffer & Co and he clearly has an axe in his hand! He has
called good people just about everything short of some
four-letter words. We're losers, hair-brained nuts, nefarious,
obsessed, in favor of ethnic cleansing and apartheid,
warmongers, racists, and fools. And, we control American foreign
policy.
Well, it was
American Christian evangelicals and Christian Zionists who
sounded an alarm to be wary of the "Arab spring."
We warned that it was not a ploy for democracy-- rather, an
effort by the Muslim Brotherhood and other radicals to
destabilize the Middle East and the world--and to unite and wipe
out Israel.
So much for our influence. Nobody listened.
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