How Christians opened the Zionist dream…
Overture:
O that the chosen band might now their brethren bring: And gathered out of every land present to Zion’s King. Of all the ancient race not one be left behind, but each impelled by secret grace his way to Canaan find. (Charles Wesley: 1762)
Like many supporting a home for the Jews, Charles Wesley was likely unaware of the history of the Jews in the Diaspora, and especially the background to modern Jewry. In not knowing the correct ancestry of the Jews of Eastern Europe; the early pioneers of the Restoration Movement wrongly believed they had a genuine right to Palestine. It was their first major mistake. That once returned to Jerusalem, the Jews would openly accept Jesus was the second. Sadly, there have been a lot more errors that followed…
The Restorationists: In Thrall to the Jews
O to see the sight, next to Christ’s coming in the clouds the most joyful! Our elder brethren the Jews and Christ fall upon each other’s necks and kiss each other! They have long been asunder; they will be kind to one another when they meet. O day! O longed-for and lovely day-dawn! (Samuel Rutherford)
The Jews embracing Jesus and His Gospel, was the fervent hope of many at the time of Rutherford’s prayer. Puritan, John Owen wrote …wherein the generality of the nation of the Jews, all the world over, shall be called and effectually brought to the knowledge of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. English pastor, John Gill and concurring Baptists, Keach and Spurgeon, shared his view, as did William Pitt, William Wilberforce, John Newton, Wesley and Darby, in accord with a growing number of influential leaders across United Kingdom, America and Europe.
John Owen was among the first to suggest a home for the Jews. His view, they could be brought into knowledge of Jesus, rejected outright by Rabbis, did however plant a seed in the Churches. Scottish theologian, Samuel Rutherford, who like many of his generation saw Jews as ‘elder brethren,’ believed Jewish restoration would be the stimulus for Christ’s return to Jerusalem beginning a new age. The start of the 19th Century saw a shift to a pre-millennial standpoint, regarding the Jews and the return of Jesus that Jews restored to Palestine must precede His Second Coming.
While much of this thinking was largely centered in the United Kingdom, it remained undeveloped until John Darby took his ideas to America. It was brought it to life with the publication of the 1878 Niagara Creed, which included the statement, ‘the Jews must first be restored for the millennium to begin.’ The Jews in Palestine soon after became a fundamental principle of Christian thinking.
An early advocate was American professor of Hebrew, George Bush. Published in 1844: The Valley of Vision; the Dry Bones of Israel Revived: called for ‘elevating the Jews to a rank of honourable repute among the nations of the earth,’ by their restoration to the land of Israel where they would convert to Christianity. According to Bush, it would be of immense benefit, not only to Jews, but all mankind ‘forming a link of communication between humanity and God.’ Yes he actually wrote that.
Although not everyone was as charitable in their opinion regarding a Jewish homeland; many just wanting them out of their countries and out of sight. But common to all supporters, was a genuine hope of resettlement and conversion: that once in Palestine, the Jews, earlier punished by God for their sin, would accept the Gospel and come willingly to Christ upon His return. Wrongs would be righted, and a new era of peace would reign when they had a self-governing land of their own. They couldn’t have got it any more wrong..!
Jews and Jesus:
While conversion of the Jews was a central theme, history points in another direction. The reality of the crucifixion was always going to be an issue; they didn’t believe Jesus when He was here, and they don’t believe Him now. Apart from the fact Jews have little respect for Jesus, a major sticking point is the trinity; any religion that tears its God into three pieces is seen as abhorrent. Practicing Jews will never come to any reconciliation as imagined by the Church. If wiser heads had prevailed at Nicaea, declaring the Scriptures as given: the LORD is one Lord (Deut 6:4; Mark 12:29) things may have turned out differently, if not for the Jews, perhaps for the Church.
Evangelical supporters of the Zionist State either ignore the facts, or have been blinded to the truth; the Jews will continually refuse the Christ they preach. The Talmud clearly states that if any man claims to be God, or part of God, he is a liar. This was the mindset of the Pharisees and continues today. Only their Messiah can bring in the Messianic age; and gather the Jews to rebuild the temple. He will reign, and have the entire world know the wrongs done the Jews in the name of Christ and Kings. According to Jewish rule and decree, Jesus was an imposter and will forever remain so. And some Evangelicals, need to seriously check their faith!
That the alleged return of Jesus, is tied to the Restoration of Jews, was perverse thinking then and is today. Another grand error was they did not know the origin of the Jews they supported. That all Jews today are the lineal descendants of Judah, Benjamin or Levi is deeply flawed; their parentage points to a very different path.
As to the return of Jesus, it happened as He said it would. And if truth be told He never really left. His Holy Spirit and Comforter, is in all who believe Jesus is LORD. And if Christians today actually studied their Bibles, they would find a great deal more truth than their Pastors are telling them.
Ancestry: The open secret
For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. (Isa 28:15)
It is quite remarkable that Christian Zionists have supported the return of a people to Palestine who never came from there in the first place. The bulk of Jews today have no ancestral link to ancient Israel, or the Jews and Pharisees of New Testament times. They are a foreign people who adopted the Babylonian Talmud around the 8th Century. Now the vanguard of modern Jewry and Zionism: the Ashkenaze Jews are descended from the Khazars of Eastern Europe.
At the end of the eighth century … the Chagan (king) of the Chazars and his grandees, together with a large number of his heathen people, embraced the Jewish religion … The Jewish population in the entire domain of the Chazars, in the period between the seventh and tenth centuries, must have been considerable. It appears as if all the Chazars were Jews and that they had been converted to Judaism only a short time before … It was one of the successors of Bulan named Obadiah, who regenerated the kingdom and strengthened the Jewish religion.
He invited Jewish scholars from Babylon to settle in his dominions, and founded Synagogues and schools. The people were instructed in the *bible, Mishnah and the Talmud and in the `divine service of the hazzanim’… In their writings the Chazars used the Hebrew letters … the Chazar languages predominated. *(Essentially Moses, Joshua and Histories)
The Russian Varangians established themselves at Kiev … until the final conquest of the Chazars by the Rus … many members of the Chazarian royal family went to Spain … Some went to Hungary, but the great mass of the people remained in their native country. (The Jewish Encyclopaedia 1912: History of the Jews: Vol IV)
After meeting with Byzantines, Muslims and Rabbis from Babylon; Bulan, the ruler of the Khazars named Talmudism as their state religion of choice: rejecting Islam (which slowed its advance in the region) and Christianity now established in Kiev, the first city of the Russians. The Talmud became their official handbook, and as noted by historians of the day, the Khazarian Kingdom was soon after known as, the Kingdom of the Jews.
The Khazars were an Asiatic people now recognized as Turco-Fins. Authorities agree they originated in Eastern Asia Minor and related to the Turks. Due to their aggressive nature they were pushed out of the area, then further by the Tribes of the Steppes (Caucasus) into Eastern Europe. They built a powerful kingdom, made wealthy through extortion and piracy by control of the major rivers and waterways. At its height the Khazarian Empire controlled an area comprising; parts of lower Russia, Poland, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, and including parts of Crimea.
The distinguished German-Jewish historian, Heinrich Graetz wrote of them: The Chazars professed a coarse religion, which was combined with sensuality and lewdness … After Obadiah, came a long series of Jewish Chagans, for according to a fundamental law of the state, only Jewish rulers were permitted to ascend the throne … For some time the Jews of other countries had no knowledge of the conversion of this powerful kingdom to Judaism. (Graetz: Origin and History of the Jews in Eastern Europe: 1853-76)
The following is from Arthur Koestler’s seminal work of 1976: But the cumulative evidence makes one inclined to agree with the consensus of Polish historians that ‘in earlier times the main bulk originated from the Khazar country’; and that, accordingly, the Khazar contribution to the genetic make-up of the Jews must be substantial, and in all likelihood dominant … but evidence indicates that the Khazars themselves migrated to Poland and formed the cradle of Western Jewry. (Koestler: The Thirteenth Tribe: The Khazar Empire and its Heritage)
Over the years, several leading academics have written about the origin of Eastern European Jews. In his 2009 book: The Invention of the Jewish People – Those who say they are Jews and are not: Shlomo Sand raised the ire of many in Israel and America, who preferred their Khazarian origin remain hidden. But that cat, is now well and truly out of the bag. In fact, in more recent articles in the Times of Israel, Jewish and other media, it is quite apparent they no longer care…
Secular Zionism:
Jewish tradition states they were banished for their sin: any possible return to Jerusalem would be God’s doing, not by any other means. Zionism, by advocating a political and military end to the Jewish exile, denies the very essence of our Diaspora existence. We are in exile by Divine Decree and may emerge from exile solely via Divine Redemption. (truetorahjews.org)
Grand Rabbi Teitelbaum fervently opposed the idea, calling Zionism the work of Satan; a sacrilege and a blasphemy. He forbade involvement with anything remotely related to it, stating Zionism would call the wrath of God upon His people. Thus not many Rabbis were convinced that national-political Zionism, or the proposed return of the Jews to Palestine, was a good idea.
Recalling the times in his paper: The Role of Zionism in the Holocaust: Rabbi Gedalya Liebermann wrote: From its inception, many rabbis warned of the potential dangers of Zionism and openly declared that all Jews loyal to G-d should stay away from it like one would from fire. They made their opinions clear to their congregants and to the general public. Their message was that Zionism is a chauvinistic racist phenomenon which has absolutely naught to do with Judaism.
They publicly expressed that Zionism would definitely be detrimental to the well being of Jews and Gentiles and that its effects on the Jewish religion would be nothing other than destructive. Further, it would taint the reputation of Jewry as a whole and would cause unreserved confusion in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities.
The reason for this initial lack of support from traditional Judaism was Zionism’s unspoken denial of their Diaspora existence and heavenly redemption. Together with its methods of coercion, secular Zionism was seen as deeply offensive; maintaining they were driven out of the land by God and would be reinstated by God, and only by God. And upon reflection, the traditionalists got much of it right. It has indeed become a racist event, has certainly caused dismay in non-Jewish communities, has little to do with the Jews religion, and of late, has further destroyed their reputation.
Rabbis were universally opposed to the plan for a Jewish homeland, not so much because it was a Christian proposition, but it ignored Jewish conventions. Any idea of nationalism or statehood was unthinkable to Orthodox Jewry after centuries of religious tradition. As historian, Michael Hoffman observed: ‘Without divine permission, the rebuilding of the hypothetical Israelite commonwealth would be, as Spinoza had the prescience to foresee in the 17th century, dependent on the secularization of the Judaic people.’ (Hoffman: The Judaic Reader: Judaism’s Strange Gods: 2000)
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) saw secularism as the only way for such a state to come into existence. His foresight was remarkable, and as expected, caused a major upheaval within Orthodox Jewry. As the acknowledged founder of Jewish Secularism, intellectuals of the period greatly admired Spinoza for ‘freeing Judaism from the restraints of religion.’ He was considered the well of inspiration for Jews taking a stand against tradition, and paving the way to a new approach to Jewishness. It was this revival, which led some to imagine the dream might be possible.
But the realization of a homeland was due largely to the efforts of Theodore Herzl (1860-1904). In his pamphlet, Der Judenstaat (The Jews’ State) published in Vienna in l896, he outlined the factors he believed had lead to ‘a universal Jewish problem’ and proposed to address this alleged crisis ‘by the exodus of unhappy and unwanted Jews’ from Europe to a self-governing territory of their own.
However, due to the wording of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, more radical figures were drawn to the cause. The Declaration had committed the British Government to assist; only with the creation of an autonomous Jewish homeland in Palestine, not the supposed Jewish State many had hoped for. As envisaged by Britain; Palestine would be partitioned allowing for Egyptian, Arab and Jewish lands, together with the creation of the northern Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It would also guarantee Egypt control of much of the Sinai and Gaza, all of which has been taken back by Israel.
The debate on Homeland or Autonomous State took center stage, and saw division among the ranks when Ze’ev Jabotinsky launched the Zionist Revisionist Movement. It also brought to a head his loathing for Britain, believed to have gone back on its word, which they hadn’t. He challenged the establishment, especially the statesmanlike approach of Chairman, Chaim Weizman. Yet all agreed resettlement was primarily about security; the sticking point was how to achieve it.
Jabotinsky knew the Arabs were naturally tied to the land, and would not give it up willingly that they would see through any Zionist rhetoric to the contrary, in fact he initially preferred co-existence rather than their removal. But the key issue for the Zionists was how to prepare everyone for the Jewish occupation of Arab lands. Not only did they need to persuade the Arabs, they also needed to convince the world, and one approach was to downplay the number of people living there.
Weizmann was one of many to speak of Palestine as unoccupied. Coinciding with the outbreak of the First World War, he said: ‘there is a country which happens to be called Palestine, a country without a people, and, on the other hand, there exists the Jewish people, and it has no country.’
Although such statements are denied by Zionists, it is public record that governments such as Britain and America used this, and similar language, to present Palestine as empty, despite the fact over a million people, mainly Arab Muslins and Christians, were already in residence. In fact, migration of Jews to Palestine had seen a steady stream over the years, growing in the 1920’s with 42,000 new arrivals by 1924, living peacefully with their long established Muslim and Christian neighbours. The 1931 British census, accounted for 850,000 Arab Muslims and Christians, and around 175,000 Jews.
But in 1948, after several years of guerrilla warfare with Arabs and mandated British Forces, Zionist militia began driving out 700,000 Palestinians, to make way for an expected influx of over a million Ashkenaze settlers initially from Southern Russia and Poland; converted Jews with no familial right to the land, which they continue to occupy by force to this day…
The Sum:
Beginning in the 17th Century, church leaders set about their task of finding a home for the Jews in Palestine. Their Restorationist belief put the world on a course from which there was no return. Zionism, Communism and Socialism: conflict in the Middle East, can be laid at its door. The fathers of Restorationism paved the way for the Secular State of Israel: a State born, not at first of Jewish longing, but through delinquent Christian ideas.
And while they may have set out with good intentions, its bitter fruit is self-evident. Adolf Hitler set out with good intentions to rebuild a united Catholic Germany; Ibn al Wahhab, set out with high ideals to purge Islam of impurities, and Ignatius Loyola, set out armed with good purpose to admonish the rebels of Roman Christianity: all resulting in unmitigated carnage. Good intention is no excuse when it plumbs the depths, as the sowing of Christian and Secular Zionism has done.
Restorationists campaigned for a converted people, not the descendants of Jacob they imagined. It was a foolish and devastating mistake. Early Christian Zionists were seduced by the delusion they were doing God’s work, when God’s work is to believe on Him! Instead of looking inward, they looked at the things of this world. In place of learning all there is to know about the LORD and His Christ, they instead, supported a proselyte people who despise Him and all He represents.
When venting His frustration with the Pharisees, Jesus said: For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. (Matt 23:15) These timeless words are hard to ignore when we remember the proselyte lineage of the Zionist State. A state born of violence and deceit: that practises apartheid and genocide: that has unleashed desolation upon its neighbours. Run by those, who think everyone else is less than them.
The legacy of Restorationism is a fractured Christianity and global disagreement. Their blunder was to believe they knew the mind of God, when they in fact ignored it, and within this monumental error, laid the ground for an alleged rapture, the return of Jesus, and New Jerusalem upon the Earth. Along with the great lie Jesus was a Jew, when He is actually….
the LORD from Heaven. (1Cor 15:47)
Falling away from the truth of the Gospel is seen in those who support the Jewish State: that they named it Israel is a perversion of all that is good. Owen, Rutherford and Darby, sowed the seeds of a distorted belief, and a bitter delusion, now raging in the Christian Church, the truth of Jesus now set aside in favour of a religion and the teachings of men. If not for mistaken Christian belief, none of it may have transpired.
But in the end, there is only one unfailing truth: we know Him by name: the same yesterday and today and forever: the LORD Jesus Christ. And this is the truth now crumbling before our eyes, in a deliberate attempt to wipe His Faith from the face of the earth. We were told it would come…
So, we must seek the LORD’S Mercy for how we have wronged Him, and pray His Grace will fall. Let your Holy Spirit enliven our faith LORD, so your truth may reign in all. That we put down works, and raise your Rest eternally instead, and cleanse ourselves in your precious Blood, just once so lovingly shed.
In peace and love as always,
James