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President Michael Dimock explains why. T he reason that conservative Christians—opposed to abortion and gay marriage and critical of political liberalism—can feel kindly toward Jewish liberals and support Israel so fervently is rooted in theology. One finds among fundamentalist Protestants a doctrine called dispensationalism. The dispensationalist outlook, which began in early-nineteenth-century England, sees human history as a series of seven periods, or dispensations, in each of which God deals with man in a distinctive way.
The seventh and final dispensation, yet to come, will be the Millennium, an earthly paradise. For the Millennium to come, they must be living in Israel, whose capital is Jerusalem; there, the Temple will rise again at the time of Armageddon.
On the eve of that final battle, the Antichrist will appear—probably in the form of a seeming peacemaker. Fundamentalists differ over who the Antichrist will be at one time he was thought to be Nero, at another time the papacy, and today a few have suggested the secretary-general of the United Nations , but dispensationalists agree that he will deceive the people, occupy the Temple, rule in the name of God, and ultimately be defeated by the Messiah.
Many dispensationalists believe that how a person treats Israel will profoundly influence his eternal destiny. Christian dispensationalists were early Zionists and continue to support Israel today, for it is there that they believe Christ will return.
In , William Blackstone, a well-known dispensationalist and the author of Jesus Is Coming , wrote a document that argued for a Jewish state in Palestine. It appeared in , five years before Theodor Herzl called for a Jewish state and six years before the first Zionist Congress. Blackstone got more than dignitaries to sign his document, including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the Speaker of the House, John D.
Rockefeller, J. Morgan, and several other prominent Americans, almost all of them Christians. After President Benjamin Harrison ignored the petition, Blackstone tried again in with President Woodrow Wilson, who was more sympathetic—and who supported the British foreign minister, Arthur Balfour, a devout Protestant, when in he issued his famous declaration calling for a Jewish home in Palestine.
E vangelical and fundamentalist Christian preachers enthusiastically promote this pro-Israel vision. In a study of preachers in 19 denominations, political scientist James Guth of Furman University found that evangelicals were much likelier to back Israel in their sermons than mainline Protestants or Catholics were, a difference that persisted after controlling for age, sex, party identification, and type of media used to reach congregations.
Evangelical preachers are reinforced by popular Christian books. Lindsey can claim more than 35 million sales, and the Left Behind books have sold 60 million. These bestsellers tell the dispensationalist story, discuss Armageddon, and argue for the protection of Jews and of Israel. Whatever one makes of his prediction, Lindsey is unambiguous about the importance of Israel to him—and, by extension, to his millions of readers.
Where Palestine has at least five ambassadors, including to London and Berlin, Israel has none although its deputy ambassador to Norway is Christian.
The Knesset bans Christmas trees which sprout all over Palestine from public display on its premises. For sure, some Palestinian movements claiming to represent the downtrodden deride the outsized role that Christians and Western powers wield over their economy and politics.
In the early days of Hamas rule in Gaza, some militants firebombed a church and attacked its worshipers uncannily close to a police station. But the Islamists have since clamped down on their own; their prime minister, Ismail Haniya, pointedly attended church to honor a local Christian politician. Israel does give its Christians native citizenship, but when its leaders endlessly trumpet their status as a Jewish state, many feel they have second class status. Exacerbating Christian anxieties,hate-graffiti — such as "Mary is a prostitute" - is daubed on church doors, and increasingly rife.
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