Today, The End For Planet Earth?
Judeo-Christians were Zionists Before Israel was a State
Harold Camping is the latest in a long line of Pastors who have made themselves prosperous and famous by predicting the end of the world. He says, based on his own numerology studies, that God will commence the physical destruction of Earth on May 21, 2011, at about 6:00 PM, brought on, as I understand it, by world wide earthquakes. He has a well-funded national campaign to sell this idea.
Camping is not an ignorant nor insignificant person, being founder and de facto owner of The Family Radio Network. According to research done by the UK Independent, the 89-year old Camping has built a tax-free "religious broadcasting organization funded entirely by donations from listeners, and with assets totaling $120 million, owning 65 radio stations." This is at least the third time he has predicted the end of planet earth.
While many Americans, who are self-professing Judeo-Christians, might not be ready to quit their jobs and stop paying their mortgage while waiting for the apocalypse of May 21, 2011, most of some 70 million share various end time shades of beliefs not so different from Camping's. Together they make up the most powerful and coveted voting bloc in America, recently referred to as "Christian Zionists. This author's repeatedly theme is supported by ongoing research by the Pew Foundation and its many polls on religious life.
The question that demands an answer is: why do millions, many of them otherwise logical, thinking Americans continue to follow men like Camping, who are not only illogical but who refute and alter the traditional Christian interpretation of the New Testament of Jesus Christ? Why do they adhere to a neo-religion that was unheard of 200 years ago and that has been proven to be wrong by failed prophets including Pat Robertson, Hal Lindsay, "Left Behind" Tim LaHaye, and the late Jerry Falwell and may more?
Because it is very profitable for Judeo-Christians leaders, who enjoys enormous Jewish and Israeli Zionist support because Christian Zionism is the glue that keeps present day state of Israel alive on the US taxpayer's dole.
To understand this we must define 21st Century Christian Zionists as those who believe the modern political state of Israel is the fulfillment of Biblical Prophesies. This definition was originated by a friend who noticed years ago that there was no adequate definition to explain this misguided neo-religion to his professing Judeo-Christian friends. All Judeo-Christians have one belief in common, their neo-religion is tied to the state of Israel. Traditional Christianity is not.
Men like Harold Camping, an 89 year old civil engineer, claim to know more than Jesus said any man could know. He has learned, it seems, that it is easy to lead people if he will only guarantee "eternal life." This is in reality what Camping is doing and how he has amassed an empire. Followers of end times prophets are taught that each one of them can be part of Jesus' heavenly gathering if they believe that Jesus will return to earth, bringing war and mass destruction with Him, on a certain date.
The second, more obscure but totally logical, reason for the end times craze since 1948 is that Christian Zionism is so important to political Israel that it is promoted by Jewish Zionists more fervently than most sell Judaism. Several of Israel's prime ministers, including the late Arial Sharon, Ehud Olmert, and the current Benjamin Netanyahu are secular Jews, who faun over Christian Zionist leaders, including John Hagee. Sharon used the term, Christian Zionist positively to describe his best American friends. Sharon defined it and popularized the phrase.
It is this author's observation that Judeo-Christianity, not Judaism, is the practical religion of Israel, especially of its leaders, including the last four prime ministers. If they were forced to save one religion and trash the rest, Judeo-Christianity would likely be their choice.
The most un-Christlike result of Christian Zionism is that it relieves followers from the responsibility that Jesus told us a each must accept if we are to follow Him. But Judeo-Christians do not have to give more than lip service to caring for their fellow man. They need not make peace where there is war, nor take responsibility for making the world a better place for a later generation because the world is ending anyway. To be "raptured" with pastor Camping, one must only convince himself that he believe in the arrival of an illogical, warring Jesus, hardly like loving sacrificial Christ of the New Testament. For many, undying loyalty and support for the political state of Israel is a must. Sadly, it is implicit that Judeo-Christians need not worry much about following the real Christ's sacrificial example.
Watch for part II, a review of Christian Zionist's most distorted scriptures. www.whtt.org
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Also by Charles E. Carlson:
The Judeo-Christian Conflict: Zionism vs. Jesus
Scofield: Soft Leather Outside, Corrupt Inside
The Unacceptable Cost of Christian-Zionism
It May Be Time To Leave Your Church
The Crucifixion of Jesus' Words
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Illustration: Gary Horder
URL: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2011/05/21/today-the-end-for-planet-earth
