Monday, August 27, 2007

The Unacceptable Cost of Christian-Zionism

We Hold These Truths’ objective for nine years has been to explain why members of this loosely knit group we call Judeo-Christianity thinks and acts as though political Israel was a god. Christian Zionism is co-opted by a foreign lobby, AIPAC, and used to carry out Israeli objectives. It was later referred to as the “Christian Right.” Today the millions of people who have made the present state of Israel the centerpiece of their Christian religion have been given the name “Christian Zionists.”

We Hold These Truths’ Pharisee Watch was created as a think-tank to expose Judeo-Christianity’s apostasy. Project Strait Gate was created in 2003 to help correct Judeo-Christian leaders by confronting them in their members’ presence, usually by holding vigils outside churches to protest their use of the bible to support war.

Essential facts about Christian Zionism:

First: It must be understood what Judeo-Christianity (also called “evangelicalism,” dispensationalism, or Christians Zionism) is: by any name, a 20th Century phenomena, an apostate-cult, meaning it practices, in part, a deviant path of following Christ, and it relies upon many varied human sources other than the traditional bible(s) for its theology.

Second: Judeo-Christianity ascribes holiness to a foreign political state, Israel, as though it was itself a god. It placed political Israel on the throne along side of Jesus Christ, and, in so doing, its teachers ignore, if not annul, much of Jesus’ teachings.

Third: Rank and file churchgoers and many lesser known Judeo-Christian pastors think of themselves as moral, even when they are actively contributing to immoral acts, such as supporting mass military assassinations in Gaza and the West Bank. They do not consider these acts immoral because they believe events are ordained, or even demanded, by God. Anger against them is misplaced, because they, too, are victims of their own acts. They probably bring as much suffering upon themselves and their families as on any other middle class group. Because opposing any war that Israel favors is considered a-religious, it is quite likely that there are proportionately as many while, Judeo-Christian boys and girls serving, and therefore killed in military combat, than for instance the sons of agnostics or other religious groups. We have yet to find any date to support or discredit this argument so it is offered strictly as this author’s observation and opinion.

Finally, Judeo-Christianity is much larger than generally believed and is active in every state and community in the USA. The new CNN.com is featuring from an upcoming, six-hour television event, "God's Warriors," hosted by CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour stated in the introductory segment: “A recent poll found that 59 percent of American evangelicals believe Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. She also asserted: “The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates 85 million evangelicals believes God tells them to support Israel — more than six times the world's Jewish population.

For these several reasons Judeo-Christianity can easily be used by its leader, and by the leaders of Israel, to carry out a political agenda that favors that foreign political state over and ahead of the interests of America, and ahead of the interest of any humans in the USA or any other country except Israel.

Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have written a powerful paper, The Israel Lobby, which tells us Israel has too much influence in US Foreign Policy. Christian Zionism gives the Israeli lobby people power making it virtually unstoppable on any issue. Educate the laymen within our own churches, especially mainline churches, can break Israel’s power-hold over our politicians, and it can restore others to follow Christ instead of Israel.

Many more, maybe 100 million, are influenced by Judeo-Christian network TV and big name national and international home Bible studies. AIPAC and many American businessmen have profit interests in war and campaigned for new wars as a matter of business, but it is the Judeo-Christians who have provided the grassroots clout to keep the War On Islam churning.

Christian Zionist leaders like Gary Bauer, John Hagee and Pat Robertson are not the only ones who believe the Christian Zionist vote controls the USA. Politician Tom Delay who was an ardent supporter of every war against Islam, recently was quoted as saying at John Hagee’s Night to Honor Israel in Washington DC, that he not only “believes in the Rapture, I live for it” Too bad Delay left the world in such a mess just before his anticipated departure.

Israel lobby harness Judeo-Christianity:Every politician in Congress and those competing for the presidency know George W. Bush became president because he and Carl Rove found a way to identify Bush with the Christian Right, but to get this blessing one must also be Israel blessed. Even today 70% of Republicans support Bush and his war in Iraq because what is left of the Republican Party is predominantly Judeo-Christian.

Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton know this, and candidates who want Christian Zionist leaders to endorse them must go to Israel first and receive its stamp of approval from Israel’s reigning power, the Likud government. Hillary Clinton was in Israel to courtesy to the Likud leaders, as did Republican Rudi Giuliani. The Israeli press reported Rudi assured their Likud leaders that if he is the US President there will be no problem with Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Israel’s spokesman quoted him as promising there will be no Palestine state in his White House. Giuliani promises four more years of military aid for Israel, and four more years of occupation and starvation for the Philistines. Israel has ample reason to trust Giuliani so he will get its support.

Now, having earned Israel’s endorsement, Giuliani is all set to seek the smiling handshake and endorsement of American Christian Zionist leaders, which then give him access and a forum before 100 million Judeo-Christian US citizens and perhaps as many as 40 million voters. The relationship between the Christian-Zionists leaders and AIPAC is simple and straightforward.

AIPAC pressures Congressmen in Washington to give Israel what it wants; the Christian-Zionist celebrities brainwash the laymen in hometowns to pressure the Congressmen at the polls, and the Congressman takes a junket to Israel and complies. Misguided Christians have been used to fight and support war from the 11th Century Crusades to Iraq.

Judeo-Christianity, like Pope Gregory, teaches we all must honor Israel ahead of America, and even rebuild a temple there before Jesus will come. Celebrity Zionists beat the drums for war that Israel wants, but I have not heard of Hagee or Farwell’s son enlisting, or any of the congressmen’s children.

The scorched foot soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan include a disproportionately large number of Judeo-Christians, who we believe, often enlist because mom and dad raised him in the Judeo-Christian church where volunteering is considered noble, even today after Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Their youths are taught that if we honor Israel we earn blessings for America from God. We owe it to every Judeo-Christian to tell them about the cost of our serial wars against Islamic non-enemies. What has the Judeo-Christian movement given back to America? We need to appeal to the sense of morality of Judeo-Christians.

We conclude there could have been no Shock and Awe or war of occupation in Iraq were it not for the Christian Zionists’ zealous campaign to destroy Muslim nations. The now publicly acknowledged War on Islam is in fact already 17 years old. Project Strait Gate was started to challenge it in its very lair. Jesus and his disciples took their arguments to the temple and the synagogues. We are doing the same.

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