Dividing the land

Submitted by Bart Willruth (United States), Jan 30, 2008 at 09:21

I have written to you several times in the recent past about the inherent danger of allying with Evangelicals who support Israel. Your proposal to let Egypt have Gaza gives me the perfect opportunity to be a prophet.

The Evangelicals who support Israel do so out of an apocalyptic vision of a reconstituted Biblical Greater Israel encompassing all the lands alleged to have been held by Kings David and Solomon. They see this scenario as a necessity and as a precursor of the unfolding of events of the end times when the Christian believers will be raptured (taken up to heaven) leaving unbelievers, Jews, and the antichrist to endure 7 years of tribulation before the reign of Jesus on earth. They believe that the Israeli rule over all the Land must be complete and that it would be a sin (not to mention an interference with prophecy) to separate any of the Land from Israel.

Already, preachers like Pat Robertson have attributed Sharon's stroke to a judgment of God upon him for "dividing the land." I will predict right now, that if your proposal gets traction and publicity, the Evangelical leaders will come out against it and you. If Israel were to adopt it, the Evangelicals will begin predicting disaster for the leaders of Israel as a well-deserved judgment of God soon to fall on their heads for disobedience. I will further predict that if the policy goes forward, there will be a drying up on funding and support.

If the policy were to succeed and persist, they will begin to suggest that God will humble Israel for disobedience and maybe even suggest and pray for an attack upon Israel from its neighbors to teach them the cost of dividing the land. They will of course believe that ultimately, Israel will control all the lands of ancient Israel, but they will cheer on any current calamities to befall Israel to bring the policies back into line with their prophetic program, ultimately expecting a conversion of many Jews to Jesus and divine judgments upon those who refuse to convert.

The presence of a number of these apocalyptically minded Evangelicals within the U.S. military leadership should not be discounted as the source of a potential problem.

It is important to remember that while Evangelicals have some similarities of goals with yours, they ultimately end up with the same expectation that has plagued Christian and Jewish relations for a long, long time; the ultimate necessity to Christianize the Jews. I will repeat by previous cautions; they are not your friends. Israel is only a means to their ends.

Bart Willruth, M.Div.

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