{"id":806,"date":"2016-04-07T16:18:39","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T20:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/isittheendoftheworld\/?p=806"},"modified":"2016-04-07T16:18:39","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T20:18:39","slug":"israel-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/isittheendoftheworld\/2016\/04\/israel-churches.html","title":{"rendered":"Israel and the Churches"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just returned from speaking at a church on the East Coast, and it was instructive for several reasons.<\/p>\n

My topic was Israel and her \u201cplace among the nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turnout was excellent but at dinner that evening, the pastor gave me a lay of the land, literally. He said that in his county alone, there are 39 other churches in that denomination. Around eight of them would be open to my message. I also scanned the community during the trip and concluded there are a handful of other denominational churches that might participate in a pro Israel seminar.<\/p>\n

\"Pilgrims<\/a>
Pilgrims in Jerusalem’s Old City.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A generation or two ago, this situation would have been reversed. Around 75 percent of churches would have been enthusiastic to hear about Israel. Several things have changed:<\/p>\n

\u2022A hundred years of seminaries teaching Replacement Theology, or casting doubt on the historicity of biblical accounts\u2014particularly those in the Hebrew Scriptures\u2014produced legions of pastors who skew a significant amount of the Bible to fit liberal worldview.<\/p>\n

\u2022As the horrors of the Holocaust fade (soon, no survivors will remain alive), Jew-hatred is able to come into the light and in many places, flourish. This includes too many American churches.<\/p>\n

\u2022Churches, following the un-biblical model of the \u201cseeker-driven\u201d model, or the mega-church model, teach topically now. Serious preaching through the Bible, and actual, real Bible study, is largely a thing of the past. The result is a nation that is biblically illiterate.<\/p>\n

\u2022Much of America\u2019s evangelical leadership is now cozying-up to the Palestinian narrative.<\/p>\n

These factors and more have ravaged the landscape with regard to pro Israel teaching. A parallel outcome is the severely depleted list of churches eager to hear teaching about Bible prophecy. Many of the same above factors apply here, as well, but I must acknowledge that with the latter, the Bible prophecy community has also shot itself in the foot with antiquated teaching methods, date-setting, and flaky topics.<\/p>\n

Two things come to mind: Israel, in a secular sense, is a moral nation. Her PR efforts are sometimes lacking, but from security to cultural openness to innovation, Israel is a remarkable place. This is the opposite of what most people hear through media.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the Bible itself is remarkably self-authenticating. There is no good reason not to believe the biblical accounts, ranging from origins to the birth of the Jewish people, and the New Testament events.<\/p>\n

Yet an intense assault on both the Bible\u2019s veracity, and the legitimacy of Israel has been launched.<\/p>\n

If younger generations aren\u2019t given real Bible instruction, these realities I\u2019ve outlined will get worse.<\/p>\n

Which itself is foretold in the Bible. Apostasy is already in the American Church.<\/p>\n

Ironic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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