Evangelical
Christians in the [u]nited States are unhinged.
Which usually means one thing:
not that the Church is under attack, but that the nation-state of Israel is (in this case, as they see it, by UN Security Council Resolution 2334).
Such
a mindset comes from a misunderstanding of who the true Israel is. Seraphim Hamilton has some helpful words in this
regard:
. . .
I
belabor this point for one reason: understanding that Jesus Christ is the
one-man Israel allows us to
understand the relationship of Israel
and the Church. God has not cast off Israel, only to call a new people. Instead, God has focused Israel’s
election onto one man—Jesus of Nazareth—who is faithful unto death and finds
life in the resurrection. As a result, all who are “in Christ” are constituted
as the “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16–17). Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
counts for anything; only a new creation. This is why Paul says that he “bears
on his body the marks of Jesus.” The marks of Jesus are opposed to the ‘marks of
circumcision,’ since to be ‘Israel,’ one must be ‘in Jesus.’
The only way to be ‘in Jesus’ is suffering with Him—a
sentence-unto-death we all receive in the waters of baptism.
The
restoration of Israel
from exile took place in the resurrection of our Lord. As such, Israel’s
identity depends on union with him. To deny that the Church is identical
with Israel
is to deny that God has fulfilled His promises in the crucified and risen
Messiah. And that is why this
is all so important: The true Israel
is not Israel ‘according to
the flesh,’ because “you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit” (Rom. 8:9).
. . .
Proponents
of a distinction between Israel
and the Church often argue that to understand the Hebrew Bible on its own terms
is to grant an ongoing, covenantal election of Israel in the flesh. But on the
contrary, the opposite is
true. If Israel
is constituted by ethnic Jews and not the Church, God has failed in his
promise.
Moses
promised that there would be one exile and one return, and that return would be
accompanied by the circumcision of the heart and the endowment of the Spirit.
As N. T. Wright demonstrates in The New
Testament and the People of God, Israel
understood their exile as ongoing in the first century, having only partially ended with the return from Babylon. However,
if a second exile began under the Romans in A.D. 70, then the words of
both Moses and the prophets are thwarted. The Old Testament becomes a
‘lifeless, dusty, and mostly useless archive’ of promises that have failed. Only if the return from exile
is constituted by the resurrection of Christ are the words
of the prophets kept alive.
. . .
Source: http://blogs.ancientfaith.com/onbehalfofall/israel-and-the-church-why-does-it-matter/,
opened 4 Jan. 2017
Christopher
Pisarenko also has some interesting thoughts on evangelicals and their support
for the modern state of Israel:
. .
. It is by no means accidental that the Puritanical belief that Americans are
God’s Chosen People was then projected on to the Zionists. Indeed, more and
more Americans came to consider the Jews as a special kindred people – as being
like themselves. It is therefore easy to see how it is an integral part of
American culture to be pro-Jewish – this has been true, historically, since the
earliest days of colonial settlement, long before the official establishment of
the state of Israel
in 1948. Today, it is even highly doubtful whether a genuine American identity
could exist without there being a firm pro-Jewish ethos in place, despite what
the ever-dwindling numbers of paleoconservatives have to say. It all goes back
to the civil millenarian tradition which arose out of a Puritanical religious
source in the 17th century and then mixed with a late 19th
century imperialist worldview.
Hence the fanatical support for Israel among evangelicals (aka Christian
Zionists) in the United
States. The evangelical belief in the
rapture and Judeocentric prophecy interpretation, in addition to the central
role which the Jews and the state of Israel play in the evangelicals’ overall
belief system – all these fundamental pillars of the Christian Zionist
worldview translate to mean that evangelicals (and Christian Zionists in
general) have to support
Israel and the Jewish lobby in America. It is quite literally a part of their
religion – and I dare say the number one tenet of their entire Weltanschauung –
to be pro-Israel. Their support for Israel
is so important, in fact, that if Israel ever ceased to exist, their
religion would be proven wrong. So the evangelicals/Christian Zionists must do
whatever they can to support Israel
in any way possible.
. . .
Source: http://katehon.com/article/roots-american-christian-zionism-part-2,
opened 2 Jan. 2017
The
people of Israel,
that is, those descended from the Abraham according to the flesh, are now no
different from any other people: They will
be blessed if they enter the Orthodox Church, the Body of Christ, the True
Israel, and they will be cursed if they refuse to do so.
Does
the return of the Jews to Palestine
mean anything prophetically, then, as the evangelical Dispensationalists are eager
to claim? Yes. But it is not the blessing that they think it
is: i.e., moving us closer to the
‘rapture’ of the Church (which will not happen) and Christ’s Second Coming. It is in fact a step toward the enthronement
of Antichrist:
. . . The
initial phase of this plan [of Antichrist becoming world ruler--W.G.] will be
the achieving of popularity among the Jews.
The Antichrist will put forth every effort to induce the Jews to
acknowledge him as their promised messiah.
He will be successful in establishing a Jewish realm and will undertake
also the restoration of the Temple
of Solomon, realizing a
dream the Jews have cherished for thousands of years. Then, “compelled by the people, he shall be
proclaimed king. And the Jewish people
shall love him much, and he shall reach Jerusalem
and raise up their Temple”
(Lenten Triodion, loc. cit.). (Archpriest Boris Molchanoff, Antichrist, St. John of Kronstadt Press,
p. 6)
Modern
Israel
is certainly acting the part of a friend of Antichrist. Since the current state was established in
1948,
Christians in Jerusalem
have gone from 50% of the population to under 4% (around 10,000);
Christians in all of Palestine have gone from 13-25% of the
population to less than 2% (60,000 at most);
3,000 Christians have left Bethlehem since 2000;
the Ascension
Church on the Mount
of Olives was bulldozed by the Israelis in 1992;
1979 and 1995 witnessed the martyrdom of Christians
at the hands Israeli Jews;
and in 2012 many Christian holy sites were attacked
by the same (Saint Herman Calendar 2013:
Orthodox Saints of Palestine, St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, pgs. 6 and
77).
The
evil Elite’s efforts to transform mankind into subhumanity (as Fr Seraphim Rose
called it in Nihilism) through
various chemical, biological, radiological, etc. means (GM crops, Wi-Fi
blasting everything, harmful vaccines, and all the rest) is preparing the world
for the appearance of their false savior.
The adoration of evangelicals for the old Israel of the flesh is also
helping. May God help us all to repent,
and save us.
--
Holy
Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the
Souð!
Anathema
to the Union!
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