In his Twitter message, Warren is telling his adoring audience that mean-spirited "Pharisees" lump false teachers together, unfairly. Oh and by the way, they are also impeding the efforts to reach the lost with the power of the Gospel.This is all a lie, but an effective one, because this message was "re-tweeted" to the max. When Warren gives marching orders, his soldiers' boots become worn-out in no time.Warren is really a key in understanding the growing attacks on Bible-believing Christians, because he is a bridge of sorts between Christian academics and populists like Noble. Warren is able to distill academic ivory tower language and make it popular for the populist foot soldiers in the evangelical world that work 24/7 to denigrate the old-time religion.Warren understands the issues and because he moves in both academic and popular circles, he carries the same message that people like Dr. Mark Noll have preached for years (first at Wheaton, where Rob Bell and others attended, and now at Notre Dame).In his famous book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, Noll obviously has a sauropod-sized bone to pick with Christian mental midgets who believe the Genesis accounts of creation, and Bible prophecy.For 256 tedious pages, Noll bashes dispensationalists and creationists, who do not practice "careful thinking." In order to be intellectual, in Noll's world, one must be open to new ideas and progressive theology. This means, for example, those of us who cling to Israel's supernatural role in modern history are harming the global community, because we are fomenting war in the Middle East. This view of Bible-believers is identical to that of Brian McLaren.As evangelical appetites for Bible prophecy teaching wane, the hunger grows to understand and embrace the "Palestinian narrative." This narrative means that the story being promoted now is that Israel oppresses the native Arabs. That is the story. It is a story, a narrative, being used to bash Israel from every quarter, every minute of every day. Israel's many enemies, including evangelical leaders in the West, no doubt feel fresh and ready to witness the final assault on Israel's sovereignty (the so-called "bi-national state" solution is every bit as diabolical as overt attempts to destroy the Jewish state).A recent letter circulated by David Gushee and Glen Stassen, professors at Mercer University and Wheaton, respectively, displays the blatant nastiness coming from these quarters. In the letter, among other harsh charges, Gushee and Stassen write: "American Christian Zionism as it currently stands is sinful and produces sin."Never have I heard such hate-speech and arrogance directed toward Bible-believing Christians!Gushee and Stassen go on to show how biblically illiterate they are when they allege: "We write as evangelical Christians committed lifelong to Israel's security, and we are seriously worried about your support for policies that violate biblical warnings about injustice and may lead to the outcome you most fear - serious harm to or even destruction of Israel."Wipe your glasses and read that last part again. They actually believe that Israel can be destroyed. The exact opposite scenario - the supernatural preservation of Israel and the judgment on her enemies - is presented in the Bible.Don't be fooled either by those who claim to stand for Israel's security and a Palestinian state. Those conditions are mutually exclusive.Let me give you another example of where the "careful thinker" mind is among evangelicals today in the American Church.Carl Medearis recently penned a blog in which he revealed the same worldview as Gushee and Stassen. Listen to these whoppers: "One of the reasons Jesus was crucified was because of his refusal to embrace a nationalist agenda. But Christian Zionism blesses military action by the modern state of Israel, under the banner of 'national security,' including the demolition of Palestinian homes to pave the way for new settlements."(Talkback: Carl, Jesus wasn't concerned about nationalist agendas.)Here's another gem: "It's true that there are elements of Palestinian society that do not want peace, no matter the price. They need to be isolated and dealt with. The same goes for elements of Israeli society that don't want peace. The good news is that extremists are a minority on both sides of the conflict."This is false.It has been thoroughly documented from numerous sources that there have been many thousands of terror attacks aimed at Israel, by the Palestinians, since Bill Clinton hosted Rabin and Arafat on the White House lawn in 1993. Extremists are not a minority in Palestinian society and, dear reader, they not only hate Jews, but they passionately hate Americans and display their venom following events like 9/11.(By the way, the view of Medearis that Palestinian "extremists" - think Hamas - "need to be isolated and dealt with" is almost comical in its naivete. How does Carl propose to "deal with" Hamas, apart from the IDF? No one knows, including him.)Medearis also alleges that Christian Zionists allow "obscure Old Testament promises" to drive our pro-Israel agenda. The promises are not obscure, except to one who has spiritualized-away plain meanings. The OT promises to the Jews bleed-through on nearly every page.All this is why the film "Little Town of Bethlehem," which promotes the Palestinian view of the Arab-Israeli conflict, has been screened at places like Wheaton College, Calvin College, Gordon College, Willow Creek Church, Bethlehem Assembly of God, and Wycliffe Bible Translators, USA.For the first time in my memory, people from Pentecostal backgrounds, Southern Baptist, and other conservative denominations are linking arms with mainline churches, Catholics, and voices from other religions, for one reason: promoting the Palestinian narrative. You would be stunned if you knew the associations, and how deep and wide the networking is, but I am going to tell you soon.The War on Bible Prophecy is the same as the War on Israel. The left is gaining steam in this effort, and my concern is that conservatives are largely unaware. If we think that John Hagee's visible efforts for Israel mean that a gigantic army for Israel exists in American churches, we are deluding ourselves. Distributed by
Home | Worldview Weekend By Jim Fletcher