My Dear Friends,
Because I call myself Jesus of ZION I often get people who misunderstand and think that somehow my use of this word means that I might be a ZIONIST… When asked I say “No, I am a ZionITE.. Not a ZionIST .”
(see: Zionism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )
My view on Zion is quite different than the Zionist view and frankly I teach that Zionism is a dangerous political movement which promotes racism, elitism and the idea that God somehow favors one group of individuals because they were born into the Hebrew bloodline and gives them the right to take control by force of land they claim was given them by God.
In 1967 I was a mere 6 years old yet I still recall my parents getting all excited that the 6-day war (see: Six-Day War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) resulted in what they saw as the fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecy of the Jews being restored to Israel in preparation for Christ’s return.
Years later I would be in Churches as a preacher (I began preaching in churches at the age of 14) teaching the very same thing without researching anything of the history. I had been taught it and surely somebody authoritative must have checked it out and if they said it was the way it was.. Well then …who was I to question it?
I was taught the Zion was merely a single hill in Israel and that Zionism was just another word for being a Jew and thus All Jews = Israel = Zion(ism) = The Chosen People.
I was taught (and then spread and defended) this idea because I was told it was correct by Pastors, Teachers, Books and all the other religious media. I had never questioned it or explored the alternative ideas of Zion until I was in my Late 30’s and what God revealed to me eventually not only rocked my world but put me up against the entire Evangelical Christian Community.
But before you go and read what God revealed to me (at http://www.wwjsnl.com/ ) the first thing I need to do is educate you as to why Zionism (Both Nationalistic & it’s offshoot “Christian Zionism”) is absolutely 100% wrong.
Those who have been raised in traditionalist conservative Christian Evangelical faiths were, like I was, trained incorrectly and I plead with you to realize I am not asking you to deny your entire faith.. Just deny the parts that turn out to be untrue.
Yes, I know change is hard but if I am right YOU NEED THIS INFORMATION so you don’t lose your faith entirely later.. Because I will tell you right now what will happen all too soon will not jive with the “Dispensationalist” theologies you have often blindly accepted.
I wrote a Blog back some time ago regarding why Dispensationalism has dubious beginnings and was promoted by a man whose history and character is quite questionable named Cyrus Scofield .
(see: Scofield: The Man Behind The Myth )
C.I. Scofield was the man behind the “Scofield Reference Bible” and his notes became the unquestioned beliefs of many (including myself for most of my life.. Until I actually bothered to do the homework required to find out the facts.)
Now some of you are saying “I don’t have a clue what you are talking about.. I’m not a dispensationalist.. I’m a Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist…etc!”.. Well, guess what… If you are in any Church that is listed there or claims any association to Evangelical Conservative Christianity… You were taught Dispensational Theology and need to get some education about it’s history as soon as possible.
(see: Dispensationalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )
Realize that most Dispensational Teachings include the idea and philosophy of “Christian Zionism”.. which, by the way is why our own country aligns itself with Nationalistic Israel and why John Hagee ( a rich and popular evangelical leader) had a huge conference and started a whole organization in support of Zionist Israel (usually ONLY referred to as “Israel”.)
Israel is NOT a country or a land .. It is a “People“.. TRUE ISRAEL is not at all related to race or Blood. It means literally “People of EL (God)” and is inclusive to all who believe in the God who is Love.
Most people do not even realize that there are Jews who are NOT ZIONISTS.. In Fact many Hebrew Rabbi’s denounce Zionism as being “satanic” and I fear I must agree.
The very idea that a single race of people can claim they are have a divine right to own a small piece of overpopulated desert real estate and then run out the residents because “God said it’s ours” is beyond ludicrous.. It’s just plain EVIL.. And if God worked that way I would actively oppose such a god.
I admit at one time I might have disbelieved what I am presenting.. But I cannot deny what I have learned after God gave me a vision to “SEEK THE TRUTH OF ZION for in ZION is hope of all mankind” (in this vision I was likewise informed that all that is popular regarding “Zion” in today’s conventional faiths is errant and I myself have been utterly blown away to find out this vision is showing itself thus far correct).
Nothing new is ever widely accepted.. Nor popular ..but please read all I present here and do the research yourself . See if perhaps you were following as blindly as I was taught to.. Because once again I cannot overemphasize that if man cannot learn how to LOVE then ZION will truly be our only real hope.. And soon we will be witnessing something that will cause the old view to be provably wrong which is sure to lead many to a huge crises in faith.. (SO.. Hear me now.. believe me later)
The History of Zionism & Judaism
This text is from an article called "An Open Letter" published in the Jewish magazine, "Hachoma". We think it provides a good historical overview of the history of Zionism and why the Zionist ideology is opposed by religious Orthodox Jews.
The Jewish people, from its inception, has been unique by its identity as a religious entity. Through the centuries its religious character had been a premise agreed upon by Jews and non-Jews alike. Our faith demands as the fundamental condition for recognition as a Jew, belief and adherence to the word of G-d, as was revealed to our forefathers on Mount Sinai. This is in itself, according to the tenets of the Jewish religion, sufficient to fulfill the definition of a Jew. Our religious and traditional history bears no aspect of racism.
Hence, one of non-Jewish origin is capable of being proselytized and attaining the same status as a born Jew. Conversely, one of Jewish birth who does not recognize his being bound to the Jewish Torah, is by Jewish law a heretic, and therefore forfeits his spiritual birthrights as a Jew.
The purpose of the Jew is to bear witness to the existence of G-d, through his adherence to the Torah. The Al-mighty granted the Jews the land of Israel as the particular setting which would serve as the most conducive atmosphere to their performance of their duties to G-d.
The Jews in ancient times were banished from the land of Israel because they had failed to fulfill their obligations to the Al-mighty. Every Jew acknowledges this in his prayers (Umipnei Chatoeinu Golinu Meiartzeinu). They accepted the penalty of exile and were at that time expressed sworn by the Al-mighty not to accelerate their redemption on their own, and especially not to rebel against the nations under whose rule they were found. To the contrary, every Jew is commanded to pray for the peace and well being of the government of which he is the subject.
Through all the years of exile, pious Jews as individuals were attracted to reside in the Holy Land because of its innate holy character and the opportunity it offered for the observance of various precepts bound in the land. Jews as a whole continue to pray that the Al-mighty return his Divine presence to the Land of Israel, by the coming of the Messiah, who will build His Temple, from whence will emanate Divine Wisdom and ultimate spiritual fulfillment of the entire human race.
Through the many years that Jews resided in the Holy Land for this purpose, they enjoyed tranquil and cordial relations with the non-Jewish population there.
The Zionist movement which was formed at the latter part of the last century, sought to endow the Jews with a nationalistic character which was heretofore strange to them. It sought to deprive them of their historically religious character and offered in substitution of faith in G-d and adherence to the Torah, and belief in their ultimate redemption by the coming of the Messiah, a nationalistic ideology and the possibility of establishing through political media, a Jewish national homeland.
During the period of the British Mandate, the Balfour Declaration, which recognized the eventual possibility of founding a Jewish national homeland, in Palestine, was affirmed to be the British government. The Jewish Agency, who then was the Chief representative of Zionist interests in the Holy Land, was entrusted with the issuance of visas to the Holy Land, thus resulting in an increased Zionist immigration from various parts of the world, which ultimately succeeded in superceding in numbers, the veteran Orthodox dwellers.
Orthodox Jewry all over the world and the Orthodox Community in the Holy Land in particular, immediately sensed in this stage of Zionist success, the threat of grave danger for the religious future of Jews. The Arab inhabitants began to exhibit open hostility to their Jewish neighbors. The British government failed to distinguish between the Orthodox community, who for generations in habited the Holy Land, and the newly arrived Zionist immigrants.
With the acquisition by the Zionist nationalists of the power to organize communities in Palestine, they formed the Vaad Haleumi Leknesset Yisroel (National Jewish Council Committee). This committee ignored the rights of the Orthodox veteran dwellers who did not recognize this validity of Jewish nationality, and whose identification as Jews was solely with their loyalty to their religious heritage. The religious inhabitants, on the other hand, shuddered at the prospects of spiritual disintegration of World Jewry, with the new rise to power of the Zionist nationalists.
The Orthodox inhabitants actively objected to being subject to the authority of the secularists. They appealed their cause to the League of Nations, who consequently granted them a "Right of exclusion" to the subjugation to the Vaad Haleumi, which rights provided that any Jew wishing not to be incorporated into the Vaad Haleumi, may remain lawfully independent if he so stated his wish in writing. Thousands of Jews did so.
Such was the case until November 1948, when the United Nations finally sanctioned the establishment of a Zionist State. We do not doubt that their success in finally realizing their goal was due in great measure to their having misled the world into viewing the
Zionist cause as the Jewish cause. The formation of the Zionist state resulted in the automatic deprivation of the autonomy heretofore possessed by the Orthodox inhabitants of the Holy Land.
The Zionists grasped in the acquisition of their new powers, the opportunity to openly disassociate themselves from any identification with Jews as a religion. They systematically began to orient the minds of their generations according to the tenets of Zionist nationalism. Through the Ministry of Religions they employed part of the Rabbinate to assist them in their aims.
The religious Jews who by virtue of their faith, clearly contradicted Zionist nationalism, and who had lived peacefully with their Arab neighbors for generations, became unwillingly identified with the Zionist cause and their struggle with the Arabs. They requested the United Nations that Jerusalem be designated as a defacto international city. They appealed to the diplomatic corps assigned to Jerusalem -- but to no avail. They were hence confronted with the choice of either becoming a part of the Zionist State, which diametrically opposed the interests of Jews as a religion, or abandoning the land of which their forefathers were the first Jewish settlers.
We find it of supreme importance to emphasize that we are fearful of the consequences of the Zionist rebellion against the Creator, as stated expressly in Jeremiah, "For it is bad and bitter your renunciation of G-d..." We wish not to be affected by the behavior of this government who in the name of Israel, persist in their renunciation and utter disregard of religious Judaism such as is clearly attested by their laws expressly permitting wanton autopsies (Law of Anatomy and Pathology, 1953), forcible desecration of the Sabbath (Law of Emergency Labor Draft 1967: PPS 1, 19; 27, 36), profanation of Holy Sites by retaining non-religious custodians, desecration of Holy Cemeteries by Safed, Beth Shearim and elsewhere, and countless more examples, proof of which is readily available.
Insofar as all human being find necessary the protection of their rights as human beings, we hereby request all those that find it within their power, to aid us in reacquiring the rights we possessed prior to the formation of the Zionist State*, to remain lawfully independent of the Zionist authority.
_____________* The Laws of Palestine -- Robert Drayton -- Volume 3, Page 213B -- Chapter 126, Paragraph 17(4) -- January 1, 1928.Any person who desires his name to be struck off the register shall, within one month of the publication or the relevant portion thereof, give notice, either personally or by an agent duly authorized in writing, to the General Council (Vaad Leumi) which shall acknowledge the receipt of the notice and strike off his name accordingly; he may send a copy of such notice to the office of the district commissioner. _____________
Historical Progression of Zionism
18th century: The German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn initiates a Jewish secularism, which focused on Jewish national identity.
1862: The German Jew Moses Hess publishes the book Rome and Jerusalem where he called for a return of Jews to Palestine. He also said that Jews would never succeed by assimilating into European societies.
1881: Pogroms of Russia result in heavy emigration to USA. Some few Jews even emigrates to Palestine, as they are motivated by religious ideas of Palestine as Jewish homeland.
1893: Nathan Birnbaum introduces the term 'Zionism'.
1896: The Austrian Jew Theodor Herzl publishes the book The Jewish State, where he declares that the cure for anti-semitism was the establishment of a Jewish state. As he saw it, the best place to establish this state was in Palestine, but this geography was no precondition.
1897: The 1st Zionist Congress is held in Basel in Switzerland. 200 delegates participates. The Basel Program is formulated, which calls for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, where Jews could live safely under public law. The World Zionist organization is also established, and establishes its head quarters in Vienna, Austria.
1903: Britain offers an area of 15,500 km² in Uganda in Africa, an area of virgin land to the Jews of the world, where a Jewish homeland could be established.
1905: 7th Zionist Congress refuses Britain's Uganda proposal. Israel Zangwill forms the Jewish Territorial organization, which sought to find territory for a Jewish state, no matter where this would be. His organization got only few supporters. — After the Russian revolution is defeated, many young Jews emigrate from Russia.
1917: The Balfour Declaration, issued by the British foreign secretary, gives official British support to the work on establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
1922: Britain gives The World Zionist organization the mandate to administer Jewish immigration and settlement in Palestine. This immigration and settlement was funded by American Jews.
1939: The British 'White Paper' gives the Arabs of Palestine de facto control over Jewish immigration.
1942: A call is issued from Zionist leaders for the establishment of a Jewish state in all of western Palestine, when World War II ends.
1948 May 14: The State of Israel is founded. The World Zionist organization continues to back Jewish immigration to Israel.
1970s: The World Zionist organization puts its muscles into helping Jews in the Soviet Union to emigrate to Israel.
1975 November 10: UN General Assembly passes Resolution 3379, in which Zionism is declared "racist", with 72 votes to 35 (32 abstentions).
1991 December 16: UN General Assembly revokes Resolution 3379, with 111 votes to 25 (13 abstentions).
"Zionism" by Tore Kjeilen, article in the Encyclopaedia of the Orient, Oslo, Norway. Last modified Aug. 22, 2004.http://lexicorient.com/cgi-bin/eo-direct.pl?zionism.htm
SOURCE: http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/zionism/history.cfm
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Also Read This when you have time:
Jewish leaders wake up to dangers of campaign to delegitimize Israel
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2007/07/jewish-leaders-wake-up-to-dangers-of.html
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The Following is an Article from a Jewish Source regarding CHRISTIAN ZIONISM:
LINK: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/christianzionism.html
Christian Zionism can be defined as Christian support for the Zionist cause — the return of the Jewish people to its biblical homeland in Israel. It is a belief among some Christians that the return of Jews to Israel is in line with a biblical prophecy, and is necessary for Jesus to return to Earth as its king. These Christians are partly motivated by the writings of the Bible and the words of the prophets. However, they are also driven to support Israel because they wish to “repay the debt of gratitude to the Jewish people for providing Christ and the other fundamentals of their faith,” and to support a political ally, according to David Brog, author Standing With Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State.
Christian Zionists interpret both the Torah and the New Testament as prophetic texts that describe future events of how the world will one day end with the return of Jesus from Heaven to rule on Earth. Israel and its people are central to their vision. They interpret passages from the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Isaiah as foreshadowing the coming Christian era. The New Testament Book of Revelation is read by many Christians as a prophetic text of how the world will be in the End Times.
Christian support for Israel is not a recent development. Its political roots reach as far back to the 1880s, when a man named William Hechler formed a committee of Christian Zionists to help move Russian Jewish refugees to Palestine after a series of pogroms. In 1884, Hechler wrote a pamphlet called “The Restoration of Jews to Palestine According to the Prophets.” A few years later, he befriended Theodor Herzl after reading Herzl’s book The Jewish State, and joined Herzl to drum up support for Zionism. Hechler even arranged a meeting between Herzl and Kaiser Wilhelm II to discuss Herzl’s proposal to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. The two men remained close friends up until Herzl’s death in 1904.
An important milestone in the history of Christian Zionism occurred in 1979, almost a century after William Hechler approached Herzl and offered to mobilize Christian support for a Jewish state: the founding of the Moral Majority. Founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Moral Majority was an organization made up of conservative Christian political action committees that succeeded in mobilizing like-minded individuals to register and vote for conservative candidates. With nearly six million members, it became a powerful voting bloc during the 1980s and was credited for giving Ronald Reagan the winning edge in the 1980 elections. One of the Moral Majority’s four founding principles was “support for Israel and Jewish people everywhere.”
In 1980, Falwell, who ran a television ministry that reached millions of viewers, said of Israel: “I firmly believe God has blessed America because America has blessed the Jew. If this nation wants her fields to remain white with grain, her scientific achievements to remain notable, and her freedom to remain intact, America must continue to stand with Israel.” Falwell disbanded the Moral Majority in 1989, but conservative Christians have remained vocal supporters of Israel though they lacked a strong formal structure for pro-Israel political action.
Christian Zionists, through their volunteer work, political support, and financial assistance to Israel and Jewish causes, have shown that they are stalwart friends of Israel. They have donated large sums of money to support Israel, including to charities that pay the costs of bringing Jews from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia to Israel. For example, Pastor John Hagee has raised more than $4.7 million for the United Jewish Communities. Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to help poor Jews across the world move to Israel.
When Israel’s tourism industry was at a low point between 2000 and 2003 due to the Palestinian War and terrorism, Christian tourists visited Israel in numbers that were sometimes greater than that of the Jewish community. Televangelists such as Pat Robertson and Benny Hinn visited Israel during this period and used their broadcasts to tell their millions of viewers it was safe to visit Israel. Another pro-Israel group, the Christians’ Israel Public Action Campaign, sponsored four missions to Israel. Christians also helped the Israeli tourism industry and economy from home by attending “Shop Israel” days where Israeli merchants would come to America and sell their products.
Despite their support for Israel, many Jews however, are uncomfortable with Christian Zionists. This discomfort is fed by Christian anti-Semitism, Christian replacement theology, evangelical proselytizing, and disagreements over domestic and political issues.
Dispensationalist Christianity, an interpretive or narrative framework for understanding the overall flow of the Bible, teaches that Christianity did not replace Judaism, but that it restored lost elements of it. The dispensationalist view of the Bible is that the Old Testament is foreshadowing for what will occur in the New Testament and, at the end, Jesus returns to reign on Earth after an epic battle between good and evil. Israel plays a central role in the dispensationalist view of the end of the world. The establishment of Israel in 1948 was seen as a milestone to many dispensationalists on the path toward Jesus’ return. In their minds, now that the Jews again had regained their homeland, all Jews were able to return to Israel, just as had been prophesied in the Bible. As described in the Book of Revelation, there is an epic battle that will take place in Israel after it is reestablished — Armageddon — in which it is prophesied that good will finally triumph over evil. However, in the process, two-thirds of the Jews in Israel die and the other third are converted to Christianity. Jesus then returns to Earth to rule for 1,000 years as king.
Although these Christians do hope for a Messianic age, the majority of them do not wish for the deaths of thousands of Jews during Armageddon. Dispensationalist Christians believe that the Jewish people, not Christians, are the ones who were promised Israel in the Bible. In their view, Christianity did not come into existence to replace Judaism, but to restore it. This view has surpassed replacement theology as the dominant form of Christian thought regarding Israel in America today. Jews who are suspicious of Christian Zionist motives are usually unaware that many Christian supporters of Israel have abandoned replacement theology.
Aside from anti-Semitism and Christian replacement theology, many Jews are wary of the fact that many evangelical Christians simply want to convert them to Christianity or speed up the Second Coming of Christ. David Brog refutes this claim:
“Evangelicals who support Israel most certainly do want to convert people. Evangelicals who don’t support Israel also want to convert people. The mission of sharing the ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ is central to being an evangelical. But it is important to note that this is not about converting just the Jews — Christians want to share their faith with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and their Christian friends and neighbors who have yet to be born again. The important question is this: Is evangelical support for Israel merely a tool in the effort to convert the Jews? Is this merely some scheme to soften the Jews up so that they can better sell Jesus to them? And the answer to this question is absolutely not. If anything, the opposite it true.
Christian Zionists say Jews have no reason to distrust their motives for supporting Israel because they do not believe they can speed up the Second Coming of Christ. In the Gospel of Matthew, it is written that Jesus said about his return, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
Pastor John Hagee, a longtime supporter of Israel, based at the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, heads Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a pro-Israel group established in 2006. Hagee has denounced replacement theology, and says of Israel: “We believe in the promise of Genesis 12:3 regarding the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. We believe that this is an eternal covenant between God and the seed of Abraham to which God is faithful.” Evangelical leader Pat Robertson echoed this statement while on his tour of Israel during the Israel-Hezbollah war, saying, “The Jews are God’s chosen people. Israel is a special nation that has a special place in God’s heart. He will defend this nation. So Evangelical Christians stand with Israel. That is one of the reasons I am here.”
Pastor Hagee claims that he and other Christian Zionists support Israel because they owe a debt of gratitude to the Jewish people, and not because they want Jews to convert to Christianity. The Jewish people gave the world Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, of whom there were “not a Baptist in the bunch...The Jewish people do not need Christianity to explain their existence. But Christians cannot explain our existence without Judaism. The roots of Christianity are Jewish.”
Jews are also uncomfortable with Christian Zionists because most have few other common political interests besides their support for Israel. The majority of American Jews are politically and socially liberal. Christian Zionists are on the whole politically conservative Republicans who, for example, oppose abortion and gay marriage, and support prayer in public schools. Most Jews are particularly concerned over what they see as the Christian Right’s efforts to weaken the separation between church and state. The Anti-Defamation League’s director, Abe Foxman, has been particularly outspoken and has said that if the domestic agenda of the Christian Right ever materializes, it will turn American Jews into “second-class citizens in our own country.”
Christian Zionists are also more conservative on Israel than many Jews. They favor Israel maintaining all of its settlements in the West Bank, and were opposed to the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Some prominent Christian Zionists have been highly critical of Israeli government policy of giving over parts of Israel to the Palestinian people. Christian Zionists, like followers of the Israeli Right, believe that Israel should never cede any section of Israel to the Palestinians because Israel was given to the Jews by God. After former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon implemented the disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip and then fell ill a few months later, Pat Robertson claimed that his illness was divine retribution for giving up part of biblical Israel. When asked about Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s convergence plan to evacuate settlements in the West Bank, Robertson said, “It’s an absolute disaster...I don't think the holy God is going to be happy about someone giving up his land.”
Conservative Christians, in general, are viewed as particularly influential with the Bush Administration and Republican Congress, and Christian Zionists are consequently viewed as also having greater access to decision makers. It is not clear, however, that pro-Israel Christians have exerted decisive influence on any significant decisions and their clout is expected to decline if Democrats regain the White House and/or the majority in Congress.
Sources: Brog, David. Standing With Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State. FL: Frontline, 2006.; Wikipedia; David Brog; International Fellowship of Christians and Jews; Christians United for Israel; JTA; Q and A with Kathryn Jean Lopez, “Jews And Evangelicals Together: Why some Christians are pro-Israel,” National Review Online, (May 22, 2006); Tovah Lazaroff, “‘Evangelicals the world over are praying for Israel,’” The Jerusalem Post, (August 9, 2006).
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Please Check, Study, Cross Reference and Fact Check .. Because Before you will ever believe the next step of what ZION really is you first need to dispel the many errors that have resulted from false teachings so ingrained in the popular religious culture. Remember POPULAR is a WIDE PATH and rarely is the WIDE PATH the RIGHT PATH.. Right?
(MORE TO COME on this and for even more go to all the tabs marked “Zion” at: www.wwjsnl.com)
I know this was super long but if I am right then it’s important and I pray you recall at the proper time where you read it.. As I said earlier.. “hear me now.. Believe me later”
BE LOVE & BE LOVED!
JoZ
Because I call myself Jesus of ZION I often get people who misunderstand and think that somehow my use of this word means that I might be a ZIONIST… When asked I say “No, I am a ZionITE.. Not a ZionIST .”
(see: Zionism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )
My view on Zion is quite different than the Zionist view and frankly I teach that Zionism is a dangerous political movement which promotes racism, elitism and the idea that God somehow favors one group of individuals because they were born into the Hebrew bloodline and gives them the right to take control by force of land they claim was given them by God.
In 1967 I was a mere 6 years old yet I still recall my parents getting all excited that the 6-day war (see: Six-Day War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) resulted in what they saw as the fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecy of the Jews being restored to Israel in preparation for Christ’s return.
Years later I would be in Churches as a preacher (I began preaching in churches at the age of 14) teaching the very same thing without researching anything of the history. I had been taught it and surely somebody authoritative must have checked it out and if they said it was the way it was.. Well then …who was I to question it?
I was taught the Zion was merely a single hill in Israel and that Zionism was just another word for being a Jew and thus All Jews = Israel = Zion(ism) = The Chosen People.
I was taught (and then spread and defended) this idea because I was told it was correct by Pastors, Teachers, Books and all the other religious media. I had never questioned it or explored the alternative ideas of Zion until I was in my Late 30’s and what God revealed to me eventually not only rocked my world but put me up against the entire Evangelical Christian Community.
But before you go and read what God revealed to me (at http://www.wwjsnl.com/ ) the first thing I need to do is educate you as to why Zionism (Both Nationalistic & it’s offshoot “Christian Zionism”) is absolutely 100% wrong.
Those who have been raised in traditionalist conservative Christian Evangelical faiths were, like I was, trained incorrectly and I plead with you to realize I am not asking you to deny your entire faith.. Just deny the parts that turn out to be untrue.
Yes, I know change is hard but if I am right YOU NEED THIS INFORMATION so you don’t lose your faith entirely later.. Because I will tell you right now what will happen all too soon will not jive with the “Dispensationalist” theologies you have often blindly accepted.
I wrote a Blog back some time ago regarding why Dispensationalism has dubious beginnings and was promoted by a man whose history and character is quite questionable named Cyrus Scofield .
(see: Scofield: The Man Behind The Myth )
C.I. Scofield was the man behind the “Scofield Reference Bible” and his notes became the unquestioned beliefs of many (including myself for most of my life.. Until I actually bothered to do the homework required to find out the facts.)
Now some of you are saying “I don’t have a clue what you are talking about.. I’m not a dispensationalist.. I’m a Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist…etc!”.. Well, guess what… If you are in any Church that is listed there or claims any association to Evangelical Conservative Christianity… You were taught Dispensational Theology and need to get some education about it’s history as soon as possible.
(see: Dispensationalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )
Realize that most Dispensational Teachings include the idea and philosophy of “Christian Zionism”.. which, by the way is why our own country aligns itself with Nationalistic Israel and why John Hagee ( a rich and popular evangelical leader) had a huge conference and started a whole organization in support of Zionist Israel (usually ONLY referred to as “Israel”.)
Israel is NOT a country or a land .. It is a “People“.. TRUE ISRAEL is not at all related to race or Blood. It means literally “People of EL (God)” and is inclusive to all who believe in the God who is Love.
Most people do not even realize that there are Jews who are NOT ZIONISTS.. In Fact many Hebrew Rabbi’s denounce Zionism as being “satanic” and I fear I must agree.
The very idea that a single race of people can claim they are have a divine right to own a small piece of overpopulated desert real estate and then run out the residents because “God said it’s ours” is beyond ludicrous.. It’s just plain EVIL.. And if God worked that way I would actively oppose such a god.
I admit at one time I might have disbelieved what I am presenting.. But I cannot deny what I have learned after God gave me a vision to “SEEK THE TRUTH OF ZION for in ZION is hope of all mankind” (in this vision I was likewise informed that all that is popular regarding “Zion” in today’s conventional faiths is errant and I myself have been utterly blown away to find out this vision is showing itself thus far correct).
Nothing new is ever widely accepted.. Nor popular ..but please read all I present here and do the research yourself . See if perhaps you were following as blindly as I was taught to.. Because once again I cannot overemphasize that if man cannot learn how to LOVE then ZION will truly be our only real hope.. And soon we will be witnessing something that will cause the old view to be provably wrong which is sure to lead many to a huge crises in faith.. (SO.. Hear me now.. believe me later)
The History of Zionism & Judaism
This text is from an article called "An Open Letter" published in the Jewish magazine, "Hachoma". We think it provides a good historical overview of the history of Zionism and why the Zionist ideology is opposed by religious Orthodox Jews.
The Jewish people, from its inception, has been unique by its identity as a religious entity. Through the centuries its religious character had been a premise agreed upon by Jews and non-Jews alike. Our faith demands as the fundamental condition for recognition as a Jew, belief and adherence to the word of G-d, as was revealed to our forefathers on Mount Sinai. This is in itself, according to the tenets of the Jewish religion, sufficient to fulfill the definition of a Jew. Our religious and traditional history bears no aspect of racism.
Hence, one of non-Jewish origin is capable of being proselytized and attaining the same status as a born Jew. Conversely, one of Jewish birth who does not recognize his being bound to the Jewish Torah, is by Jewish law a heretic, and therefore forfeits his spiritual birthrights as a Jew.
The purpose of the Jew is to bear witness to the existence of G-d, through his adherence to the Torah. The Al-mighty granted the Jews the land of Israel as the particular setting which would serve as the most conducive atmosphere to their performance of their duties to G-d.
The Jews in ancient times were banished from the land of Israel because they had failed to fulfill their obligations to the Al-mighty. Every Jew acknowledges this in his prayers (Umipnei Chatoeinu Golinu Meiartzeinu). They accepted the penalty of exile and were at that time expressed sworn by the Al-mighty not to accelerate their redemption on their own, and especially not to rebel against the nations under whose rule they were found. To the contrary, every Jew is commanded to pray for the peace and well being of the government of which he is the subject.
Through all the years of exile, pious Jews as individuals were attracted to reside in the Holy Land because of its innate holy character and the opportunity it offered for the observance of various precepts bound in the land. Jews as a whole continue to pray that the Al-mighty return his Divine presence to the Land of Israel, by the coming of the Messiah, who will build His Temple, from whence will emanate Divine Wisdom and ultimate spiritual fulfillment of the entire human race.
Through the many years that Jews resided in the Holy Land for this purpose, they enjoyed tranquil and cordial relations with the non-Jewish population there.
The Zionist movement which was formed at the latter part of the last century, sought to endow the Jews with a nationalistic character which was heretofore strange to them. It sought to deprive them of their historically religious character and offered in substitution of faith in G-d and adherence to the Torah, and belief in their ultimate redemption by the coming of the Messiah, a nationalistic ideology and the possibility of establishing through political media, a Jewish national homeland.
During the period of the British Mandate, the Balfour Declaration, which recognized the eventual possibility of founding a Jewish national homeland, in Palestine, was affirmed to be the British government. The Jewish Agency, who then was the Chief representative of Zionist interests in the Holy Land, was entrusted with the issuance of visas to the Holy Land, thus resulting in an increased Zionist immigration from various parts of the world, which ultimately succeeded in superceding in numbers, the veteran Orthodox dwellers.
Orthodox Jewry all over the world and the Orthodox Community in the Holy Land in particular, immediately sensed in this stage of Zionist success, the threat of grave danger for the religious future of Jews. The Arab inhabitants began to exhibit open hostility to their Jewish neighbors. The British government failed to distinguish between the Orthodox community, who for generations in habited the Holy Land, and the newly arrived Zionist immigrants.
With the acquisition by the Zionist nationalists of the power to organize communities in Palestine, they formed the Vaad Haleumi Leknesset Yisroel (National Jewish Council Committee). This committee ignored the rights of the Orthodox veteran dwellers who did not recognize this validity of Jewish nationality, and whose identification as Jews was solely with their loyalty to their religious heritage. The religious inhabitants, on the other hand, shuddered at the prospects of spiritual disintegration of World Jewry, with the new rise to power of the Zionist nationalists.
The Orthodox inhabitants actively objected to being subject to the authority of the secularists. They appealed their cause to the League of Nations, who consequently granted them a "Right of exclusion" to the subjugation to the Vaad Haleumi, which rights provided that any Jew wishing not to be incorporated into the Vaad Haleumi, may remain lawfully independent if he so stated his wish in writing. Thousands of Jews did so.
Such was the case until November 1948, when the United Nations finally sanctioned the establishment of a Zionist State. We do not doubt that their success in finally realizing their goal was due in great measure to their having misled the world into viewing the
Zionist cause as the Jewish cause. The formation of the Zionist state resulted in the automatic deprivation of the autonomy heretofore possessed by the Orthodox inhabitants of the Holy Land.
The Zionists grasped in the acquisition of their new powers, the opportunity to openly disassociate themselves from any identification with Jews as a religion. They systematically began to orient the minds of their generations according to the tenets of Zionist nationalism. Through the Ministry of Religions they employed part of the Rabbinate to assist them in their aims.
The religious Jews who by virtue of their faith, clearly contradicted Zionist nationalism, and who had lived peacefully with their Arab neighbors for generations, became unwillingly identified with the Zionist cause and their struggle with the Arabs. They requested the United Nations that Jerusalem be designated as a defacto international city. They appealed to the diplomatic corps assigned to Jerusalem -- but to no avail. They were hence confronted with the choice of either becoming a part of the Zionist State, which diametrically opposed the interests of Jews as a religion, or abandoning the land of which their forefathers were the first Jewish settlers.
We find it of supreme importance to emphasize that we are fearful of the consequences of the Zionist rebellion against the Creator, as stated expressly in Jeremiah, "For it is bad and bitter your renunciation of G-d..." We wish not to be affected by the behavior of this government who in the name of Israel, persist in their renunciation and utter disregard of religious Judaism such as is clearly attested by their laws expressly permitting wanton autopsies (Law of Anatomy and Pathology, 1953), forcible desecration of the Sabbath (Law of Emergency Labor Draft 1967: PPS 1, 19; 27, 36), profanation of Holy Sites by retaining non-religious custodians, desecration of Holy Cemeteries by Safed, Beth Shearim and elsewhere, and countless more examples, proof of which is readily available.
Insofar as all human being find necessary the protection of their rights as human beings, we hereby request all those that find it within their power, to aid us in reacquiring the rights we possessed prior to the formation of the Zionist State*, to remain lawfully independent of the Zionist authority.
_____________* The Laws of Palestine -- Robert Drayton -- Volume 3, Page 213B -- Chapter 126, Paragraph 17(4) -- January 1, 1928.Any person who desires his name to be struck off the register shall, within one month of the publication or the relevant portion thereof, give notice, either personally or by an agent duly authorized in writing, to the General Council (Vaad Leumi) which shall acknowledge the receipt of the notice and strike off his name accordingly; he may send a copy of such notice to the office of the district commissioner. _____________
Historical Progression of Zionism
18th century: The German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn initiates a Jewish secularism, which focused on Jewish national identity.
1862: The German Jew Moses Hess publishes the book Rome and Jerusalem where he called for a return of Jews to Palestine. He also said that Jews would never succeed by assimilating into European societies.
1881: Pogroms of Russia result in heavy emigration to USA. Some few Jews even emigrates to Palestine, as they are motivated by religious ideas of Palestine as Jewish homeland.
1893: Nathan Birnbaum introduces the term 'Zionism'.
1896: The Austrian Jew Theodor Herzl publishes the book The Jewish State, where he declares that the cure for anti-semitism was the establishment of a Jewish state. As he saw it, the best place to establish this state was in Palestine, but this geography was no precondition.
1897: The 1st Zionist Congress is held in Basel in Switzerland. 200 delegates participates. The Basel Program is formulated, which calls for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, where Jews could live safely under public law. The World Zionist organization is also established, and establishes its head quarters in Vienna, Austria.
1903: Britain offers an area of 15,500 km² in Uganda in Africa, an area of virgin land to the Jews of the world, where a Jewish homeland could be established.
1905: 7th Zionist Congress refuses Britain's Uganda proposal. Israel Zangwill forms the Jewish Territorial organization, which sought to find territory for a Jewish state, no matter where this would be. His organization got only few supporters. — After the Russian revolution is defeated, many young Jews emigrate from Russia.
1917: The Balfour Declaration, issued by the British foreign secretary, gives official British support to the work on establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
1922: Britain gives The World Zionist organization the mandate to administer Jewish immigration and settlement in Palestine. This immigration and settlement was funded by American Jews.
1939: The British 'White Paper' gives the Arabs of Palestine de facto control over Jewish immigration.
1942: A call is issued from Zionist leaders for the establishment of a Jewish state in all of western Palestine, when World War II ends.
1948 May 14: The State of Israel is founded. The World Zionist organization continues to back Jewish immigration to Israel.
1970s: The World Zionist organization puts its muscles into helping Jews in the Soviet Union to emigrate to Israel.
1975 November 10: UN General Assembly passes Resolution 3379, in which Zionism is declared "racist", with 72 votes to 35 (32 abstentions).
1991 December 16: UN General Assembly revokes Resolution 3379, with 111 votes to 25 (13 abstentions).
"Zionism" by Tore Kjeilen, article in the Encyclopaedia of the Orient, Oslo, Norway. Last modified Aug. 22, 2004.http://lexicorient.com/cgi-bin/eo-direct.pl?zionism.htm
SOURCE: http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/zionism/history.cfm
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Also Read This when you have time:
Jewish leaders wake up to dangers of campaign to delegitimize Israel
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2007/07/jewish-leaders-wake-up-to-dangers-of.html
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The Following is an Article from a Jewish Source regarding CHRISTIAN ZIONISM:
LINK: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/christianzionism.html
Christian Zionism can be defined as Christian support for the Zionist cause — the return of the Jewish people to its biblical homeland in Israel. It is a belief among some Christians that the return of Jews to Israel is in line with a biblical prophecy, and is necessary for Jesus to return to Earth as its king. These Christians are partly motivated by the writings of the Bible and the words of the prophets. However, they are also driven to support Israel because they wish to “repay the debt of gratitude to the Jewish people for providing Christ and the other fundamentals of their faith,” and to support a political ally, according to David Brog, author Standing With Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State.
Christian Zionists interpret both the Torah and the New Testament as prophetic texts that describe future events of how the world will one day end with the return of Jesus from Heaven to rule on Earth. Israel and its people are central to their vision. They interpret passages from the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Isaiah as foreshadowing the coming Christian era. The New Testament Book of Revelation is read by many Christians as a prophetic text of how the world will be in the End Times.
Christian support for Israel is not a recent development. Its political roots reach as far back to the 1880s, when a man named William Hechler formed a committee of Christian Zionists to help move Russian Jewish refugees to Palestine after a series of pogroms. In 1884, Hechler wrote a pamphlet called “The Restoration of Jews to Palestine According to the Prophets.” A few years later, he befriended Theodor Herzl after reading Herzl’s book The Jewish State, and joined Herzl to drum up support for Zionism. Hechler even arranged a meeting between Herzl and Kaiser Wilhelm II to discuss Herzl’s proposal to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. The two men remained close friends up until Herzl’s death in 1904.
An important milestone in the history of Christian Zionism occurred in 1979, almost a century after William Hechler approached Herzl and offered to mobilize Christian support for a Jewish state: the founding of the Moral Majority. Founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Moral Majority was an organization made up of conservative Christian political action committees that succeeded in mobilizing like-minded individuals to register and vote for conservative candidates. With nearly six million members, it became a powerful voting bloc during the 1980s and was credited for giving Ronald Reagan the winning edge in the 1980 elections. One of the Moral Majority’s four founding principles was “support for Israel and Jewish people everywhere.”
In 1980, Falwell, who ran a television ministry that reached millions of viewers, said of Israel: “I firmly believe God has blessed America because America has blessed the Jew. If this nation wants her fields to remain white with grain, her scientific achievements to remain notable, and her freedom to remain intact, America must continue to stand with Israel.” Falwell disbanded the Moral Majority in 1989, but conservative Christians have remained vocal supporters of Israel though they lacked a strong formal structure for pro-Israel political action.
Christian Zionists, through their volunteer work, political support, and financial assistance to Israel and Jewish causes, have shown that they are stalwart friends of Israel. They have donated large sums of money to support Israel, including to charities that pay the costs of bringing Jews from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia to Israel. For example, Pastor John Hagee has raised more than $4.7 million for the United Jewish Communities. Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to help poor Jews across the world move to Israel.
When Israel’s tourism industry was at a low point between 2000 and 2003 due to the Palestinian War and terrorism, Christian tourists visited Israel in numbers that were sometimes greater than that of the Jewish community. Televangelists such as Pat Robertson and Benny Hinn visited Israel during this period and used their broadcasts to tell their millions of viewers it was safe to visit Israel. Another pro-Israel group, the Christians’ Israel Public Action Campaign, sponsored four missions to Israel. Christians also helped the Israeli tourism industry and economy from home by attending “Shop Israel” days where Israeli merchants would come to America and sell their products.
Despite their support for Israel, many Jews however, are uncomfortable with Christian Zionists. This discomfort is fed by Christian anti-Semitism, Christian replacement theology, evangelical proselytizing, and disagreements over domestic and political issues.
Dispensationalist Christianity, an interpretive or narrative framework for understanding the overall flow of the Bible, teaches that Christianity did not replace Judaism, but that it restored lost elements of it. The dispensationalist view of the Bible is that the Old Testament is foreshadowing for what will occur in the New Testament and, at the end, Jesus returns to reign on Earth after an epic battle between good and evil. Israel plays a central role in the dispensationalist view of the end of the world. The establishment of Israel in 1948 was seen as a milestone to many dispensationalists on the path toward Jesus’ return. In their minds, now that the Jews again had regained their homeland, all Jews were able to return to Israel, just as had been prophesied in the Bible. As described in the Book of Revelation, there is an epic battle that will take place in Israel after it is reestablished — Armageddon — in which it is prophesied that good will finally triumph over evil. However, in the process, two-thirds of the Jews in Israel die and the other third are converted to Christianity. Jesus then returns to Earth to rule for 1,000 years as king.
Although these Christians do hope for a Messianic age, the majority of them do not wish for the deaths of thousands of Jews during Armageddon. Dispensationalist Christians believe that the Jewish people, not Christians, are the ones who were promised Israel in the Bible. In their view, Christianity did not come into existence to replace Judaism, but to restore it. This view has surpassed replacement theology as the dominant form of Christian thought regarding Israel in America today. Jews who are suspicious of Christian Zionist motives are usually unaware that many Christian supporters of Israel have abandoned replacement theology.
Aside from anti-Semitism and Christian replacement theology, many Jews are wary of the fact that many evangelical Christians simply want to convert them to Christianity or speed up the Second Coming of Christ. David Brog refutes this claim:
“Evangelicals who support Israel most certainly do want to convert people. Evangelicals who don’t support Israel also want to convert people. The mission of sharing the ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ is central to being an evangelical. But it is important to note that this is not about converting just the Jews — Christians want to share their faith with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and their Christian friends and neighbors who have yet to be born again. The important question is this: Is evangelical support for Israel merely a tool in the effort to convert the Jews? Is this merely some scheme to soften the Jews up so that they can better sell Jesus to them? And the answer to this question is absolutely not. If anything, the opposite it true.
Christian Zionists say Jews have no reason to distrust their motives for supporting Israel because they do not believe they can speed up the Second Coming of Christ. In the Gospel of Matthew, it is written that Jesus said about his return, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
Pastor John Hagee, a longtime supporter of Israel, based at the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, heads Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a pro-Israel group established in 2006. Hagee has denounced replacement theology, and says of Israel: “We believe in the promise of Genesis 12:3 regarding the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. We believe that this is an eternal covenant between God and the seed of Abraham to which God is faithful.” Evangelical leader Pat Robertson echoed this statement while on his tour of Israel during the Israel-Hezbollah war, saying, “The Jews are God’s chosen people. Israel is a special nation that has a special place in God’s heart. He will defend this nation. So Evangelical Christians stand with Israel. That is one of the reasons I am here.”
Pastor Hagee claims that he and other Christian Zionists support Israel because they owe a debt of gratitude to the Jewish people, and not because they want Jews to convert to Christianity. The Jewish people gave the world Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, of whom there were “not a Baptist in the bunch...The Jewish people do not need Christianity to explain their existence. But Christians cannot explain our existence without Judaism. The roots of Christianity are Jewish.”
Jews are also uncomfortable with Christian Zionists because most have few other common political interests besides their support for Israel. The majority of American Jews are politically and socially liberal. Christian Zionists are on the whole politically conservative Republicans who, for example, oppose abortion and gay marriage, and support prayer in public schools. Most Jews are particularly concerned over what they see as the Christian Right’s efforts to weaken the separation between church and state. The Anti-Defamation League’s director, Abe Foxman, has been particularly outspoken and has said that if the domestic agenda of the Christian Right ever materializes, it will turn American Jews into “second-class citizens in our own country.”
Christian Zionists are also more conservative on Israel than many Jews. They favor Israel maintaining all of its settlements in the West Bank, and were opposed to the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Some prominent Christian Zionists have been highly critical of Israeli government policy of giving over parts of Israel to the Palestinian people. Christian Zionists, like followers of the Israeli Right, believe that Israel should never cede any section of Israel to the Palestinians because Israel was given to the Jews by God. After former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon implemented the disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip and then fell ill a few months later, Pat Robertson claimed that his illness was divine retribution for giving up part of biblical Israel. When asked about Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s convergence plan to evacuate settlements in the West Bank, Robertson said, “It’s an absolute disaster...I don't think the holy God is going to be happy about someone giving up his land.”
Conservative Christians, in general, are viewed as particularly influential with the Bush Administration and Republican Congress, and Christian Zionists are consequently viewed as also having greater access to decision makers. It is not clear, however, that pro-Israel Christians have exerted decisive influence on any significant decisions and their clout is expected to decline if Democrats regain the White House and/or the majority in Congress.
Sources: Brog, David. Standing With Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State. FL: Frontline, 2006.; Wikipedia; David Brog; International Fellowship of Christians and Jews; Christians United for Israel; JTA; Q and A with Kathryn Jean Lopez, “Jews And Evangelicals Together: Why some Christians are pro-Israel,” National Review Online, (May 22, 2006); Tovah Lazaroff, “‘Evangelicals the world over are praying for Israel,’” The Jerusalem Post, (August 9, 2006).
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Please Check, Study, Cross Reference and Fact Check .. Because Before you will ever believe the next step of what ZION really is you first need to dispel the many errors that have resulted from false teachings so ingrained in the popular religious culture. Remember POPULAR is a WIDE PATH and rarely is the WIDE PATH the RIGHT PATH.. Right?
(MORE TO COME on this and for even more go to all the tabs marked “Zion” at: www.wwjsnl.com)
I know this was super long but if I am right then it’s important and I pray you recall at the proper time where you read it.. As I said earlier.. “hear me now.. Believe me later”
BE LOVE & BE LOVED!
JoZ
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