The Paper Trail
More and more, my interest is turning to changes in the American Church. It is astonishing to watch the speeding train of apostasy running through American evangelicalism.
This is why the move away from support for Israel in the American Church should not surprise. There are reasons for it, political and religious (theological). A tidal wave of change has come, through primarily major evangelical leaders who are in turn mentoring Millennials.
Let me give you an example of the damage being done to America, through its new policies concerning Israel.
Ed Stetzer, recently lately of the Southern Baptist LifeWay Research, is now greatly expanding his ecumenical influence from a new post at Wheaton College. He has been allowing guest columnists to post their views of the presidential candidates at his Christianity Today blog (CT for seemingly forever has been staffed by editors who are far more pro Palestinian than they are pro Israel).
In a post this week, Stephen Waldron (“theologian and Bible teacher”) writes that he is supporting Jill Stein for president.
Wow. She is in the same class as the clueless Gary Johnson, who doesn’t know what Aleppo is. But in particular, I want you to notice a key reason Waldron supports Stein:
“Jill Stein argues that the United States should cut back on its foreign military bases. She also opposes sending billions of dollars in military aid and equipment to countries that have repeatedly violated human rights, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel.”
There you have it. Classic leftist thought: lumping Israel in with serial abusers like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The worst part of it is, Stetzer allows this kind of claptrap to be published and circulated widely.
What Waldron is really saying is that he believes Israel routinely abuses the Palestinians. And notice Waldron’s weird concluding paragraph:
“I don’t agree with everything that Jill Stein has said or done. I do not even believe that she is prepared to actually be president. Like most voters, I haven’t found a perfect candidate. But Stein’s policy positions do generally reflect Christian values in areas where the state has overwhelming influence that can either harm or help vulnerable people: immigration, war, indigenous rights, and economic policy. While I recognize that others have good reasons for supporting other candidates, this Evangelical believes that a vote for a non-practicing Jew is the right one this time around.”
Two things:
•Waldron doesn’t believe Stein is prepared to be president, but he is voting for her anyway. He is, then, not a serious thinker when it comes to this issue.
•His reference to a “non-practicing Jew” is blatantly anti-Semitic. I guess that’s okay with CT and Stetzer. Waldron’s comment is outrageous, but he’ll get away with it. Such is the state of American Evangelicalism in 2016.
There’s plenty more research where that came from to indicate that today’s American evangelical leaders are no friends of Israel. The paper trail is long, wide, and littered with profoundly flawed views of Israel, Jews, and geopolitics across the globe.
We will continue in this space to keep you informed of such things. Christians deserve that, at least.
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