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Culture.

the u.s. Church: Israel first, Christ second

8/23/2017

5 Comments

 
We decided to post this one under the Culture heading since religion is part of culture.
NSS staff

Before you read the below article, we recomment you view this video: 
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/396315-uss-liberty-attack-aircraft/
​

By Vahan Bogdasarian 

The mainstay of the Christian Cult of Israel (known as Christian Zionism in its more explicit form), which has existed for over 60 years and largely dominates American Christianity, is the description in Ezekiel 37: 1-14 of the prophet’s dream of a valley of dry bones that come together to form a living body, which the prophet says represent Israel, whose people God had banished from their land for disobedience. The challenge with this and most other prophecies for scholars is the absence of a time frame for its fulfillment and a lack of further details as to the nature of the Israel resurrected -- ´perhaps just after the prolonged captivity in Babylonia. The majority of churches now believe that this resurrected Israel of prophecy is in fact that one with its capital in Tel Aviv. And because Christians are arguably the largest voting bloc, their will translates into national policy, particularly foreign policy, the one that keeps the US constantly embroiled in war after war that the nation loses consistently.
US policies are regularly blamed on a putative “Deep State,” but the backbone of the nation is the people -- which I call the Shallow State for the purpose of this article, which in fact controls the U.S. government to a vast extent not understood by most.

The dry bones prophecy was reportedly recorded in the year 587 BC, 10 years after the start of the first diaspora, ie, the Babylonian captivity. Anyone reading this prophecy around the time it was written would have been convinced that the dry bones were the now-ancient Israel that had just then ceased to exist in the land given the Hebrews by God. In fact, the diaspora ended starting in the year 538 when Persian King Cyrus released all the Israelite captives and allowed them to return to their ancestral land. Was this return of the captives to Israel not analogous to the re-assembling of dry bones?

Indeed this first diaspora ended in 538 BC, when Jewish captives began to return to their homeland. What would that have been but a resurrection of the once-dry bones? However, subsequent Bible scholars prior to the Zionist movement had their own take on this and their words were often spoken with clarity and zeal as well as with what seemed like air tight Biblical logic at the time.

For instance, in 1864, the renowned preacher Charles Spurgeon preached a different slant on the dry bones prophecy than that of today’s “Christian Zionists.” He firmly believed that there would indeed be a resurrected Israel but one that accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Thus, compared to today’s Christian Zionism, Spurgeon’s vision of the future Israel was a frankly Christian one. In that sermon he said:

“There shall not be two, nor ten, nor twelve, but one—one Israel praising one God, serving one king, and that one King the Son of David, the descended Messiah.”
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By contrast, the modern Christian supporters of Zionism include Pastor John Hagee, whose theology is centered squarely on Israel and who once preached that Jews could be a kind of honorary “Christians” if they were faithful to their Abrahamic God and His commandments. A far cry from Christ’s words “no man cometh unto the Father but through Me.” Mainstream Christians could not stomach this perversion of their scriptures, and Hagee was eventually pressured into recanting this heresy. Even so, there are well-known Christian leaders like Texas Senator and ex-presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who hold to the proposition that Christians are called upon to wholeheartedly support the modern state of Israel and all its policies, despite its high percentage of atheists and scarcity of true believers in the Old Testament—and despite the fact that this contemporary Israel is, for example, wholeheartedly in favor of same-sex marriage, which the senator rejects on Christian grounds.

This is a far cry from Spurgeon’s view of Ezekiel’s Israel prophecy, a Christ-centered view that has almost completely died out, along with a lot of other articles of the faith, and along with a firm grasp of family values and a sense of family security. And along with the loss of family security, we have lost a feeling of national and economic security as well. Spurgeon would have told us that the material and the spiritual go hand in hand and when one fails, so does the other.

But he would not have been allowed to speak in today’s churches.

Please post your comments by clicking on Comments at the top of the page. America needs this dialogue as much as any other today!
Thank you!
5 Comments
Susan D. Harris link
8/24/2017 12:32:57 pm

"...the absence of a time frame for its fulfillment" - funny. It reminds me of a woman asking a teenage girl why she was crying. The girl began "Well, there's this boy..." The woman sighed and said, "Ah, how many problems begin with 'There's this boy.."

The riddle of the time frames is answered best with one sentence, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Reply
Jackeagle
8/25/2017 06:06:48 am

This is about the most incisive and insightful article that I have read on this subject. Have sent to my list. I suspect that you are one of the remnant spoken of in the NT. Somewhere in the NT there is mention of false Jews. Ties right in with what we know. God bless you, Sir.

Reply
daniel link
10/29/2017 11:21:14 am

Unless we recognize that what is now viewed and accepted as Christianity nothing will change.

What is the Church?
It's not about Religion, mans self-appointed priesthoods and denominations, solicitation of money to build extravagant buildings, leading to a "church" modeled after mans desire to lord over others.

The "Church" as understood by first century Believer is:
Jesus Christ and Born Again Believers having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit our True Teacher, our True Guide, our True Comforter, and God's Written Word. That is the Church which is referred to as the Church Of God in the New Testament.

God's model for His Church is best exemplified by what we read of the original Believers worshiping in homes, open fields, and large available public buildings. Nowhere in the New Testament is there a call to raise money and resources to "construct buildings to worship in". However there is a call to support the Church i.e. fellow Christians who are individually and collectively the Church in Scriptures.

1 Peter 2 (KJV)

2 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

The modern church is falling and will continue to fail as we have been warned two thousand years ago. We need return to Gods pattern for His Church which will restore the family (which after Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit) I submit to you is the missing part of the Church. Men are to be the Spiritual head and teacher in the home with his wife as his first councilor if you please. To this end both were called by God not men or men's spiritual organizations.

Fathers are be an example living a God centered life along with his wife at his side. Fathers are to pray and laying hands on family members in sickness, give blessings to his children especially on significant occasions in their lives, God has charged men to teach God word to his family, and Fathers as the spiritual leader of the home are to baptize his children.

After the fist century church (religion) was patterned after man organizations...we were warned of this in Scriptures. After which came what history refers to as the dark ages until the first light of the awakening occurred in the Reformation until now.

We now live on the cusp of the end of Babylon and mans Babylon inherited churches as we witness the alignment of churches into a one world religion.

There is much that could be said but I will stop here.
I started a letter to my family to awaken them which turned into a website. NOT TO WORRY there is nothing for sale there in fact money has no value there.

At the top of the home page:
Please first click on (About) for a "short" introduction.
Then click on (The Church?) Scroll down and read Parts 3-4
If you are so-inclined read other parts of the website.

Best to all and their loved ones in Christ name.
Daniel https://www.knowingforyourself.com

Note: It's a secure site and has a translator for many languages.





Reply
Jackieeagle
10/29/2017 06:24:31 pm

Hi Daniel, got to agree with everything you wrote. That is in fact the essence of Christianity. But as the author of that article said, America has not received Christ, but instead a false God and a false Jesus.

Reply
Janelle link
12/2/2020 10:26:17 pm

Thank you for bbeing you

Reply



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