Christians Differ Over Modern Christian Zionism

An article in EWTN News by Madalaine Elhabbal states that the condemnation of Christian Zionism by the Council of Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, is prompting varied reactions by Catholics in the U.S., Israel, and Rome.

According to Philos Catholic Director Simone Rizkallah, “when the patriarchs and other church leaders speak against ‘Christian Zionism,’ they are primarily addressing Christian Zionism as it is commonly understood in Protestant circles. This theological framework, rooted in evangelical and dispensationalist thought, interprets the modern State of Israel mainly through end-times narratives, often flattening both Jewish history and Christian theology into a schematic eschatology,” she told EWTN News.

Philos Catholic is the Catholic wing of the Philos Project, an ecumenical Christian nonprofit organization that advocates for pluralism and Israel’s peaceful existence in the Middle East.

I would state that according to the Qur’an (6:85) the last of the Jewish Prophets were: “Zakariya, John, Jesus and Elias: all in the ranks of the righteous.” Prophet Jesus was also a Messianic figure who will return during the Last Days of turmoil preceding the victory of good over evil in God’s Judgement Day and Messianic Age for all the righteous of mankind. The term for Prophet Jesus “al-Masih” [the Messiah in Hebrew] is used eleven times in the Qur’an in verses: 3:45, 4:157, 4:171, 4:172, 5:17 (twice), 5:72 (twice), 5:75, 9:30, and 9:31

If Prophet Jesus was a Messianic figure, a Messiah of Righteousness, the Branch [descendent] of David; then Prophet Muhammad would be the Khatam an-Nabiyyin, the Seal of the Prophets; who was able to inspire a very long lasting religious community; plus being a Prophet validating previous messengers and their sacred scriptures. This dual role is unique to Prophet Muhammad as the Khatam an-Nabiyyin, the Seal [validator] of the Prophets.

“Indeed, the believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabians—whoever truly believes in God and the Last Day and does good will have their reward with their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve.” (Quran 2:62)

O mankind, We created you from male and female, and made you peoples and tribes, that you may know (respect) one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted. (Quran 49:13)

“Let there be no compulsion in Religion: truth stands out clear from error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah (one God) has grasped the most trustworthy unbreakable hand hold: Allah hears, and knows all things.” (Qur’an:2:256)

“Say: we believe in God and in what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma’il: Isaac, Jacob and The [12] Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus and the Prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another, among them, and to God do we bow our will (in Islam).” (Qur’an 3:84)

Just as all God’s Prophets are muslims in the generic meaning to the word, because they have all submitted to God’s will [although only Prophet Muhammad was a member of the Islamic Ummah]; so too is every one a muslims in the generic meaning to the word, who truly believes in One God, and the Last Days, and does righteousness, kindness and goodness.

Many evangelical Christians, and some Orthodox Jews, believe the red heifer ritual described in the biblical Book of Numbers could pave the way to rebuilding a Jewish temple in Jerusalem. A temple to replace the temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, that would usher in a peaceful kingdom of God, ruled by messianic figures.

Most Orthodox Jews would not commit themselves to any individual as a Messiah unless he successfully rebuilds the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy of Zachariah, “He shall build the Temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, he shall sit on the throne and rule, there shall be a priest before the throne, and peaceful counsel will exist between both of them.” (Zachariah 6:13)

Now that a large part of the Jewish people have returned to the Land of Israel, and resurrected a Jewish State, one might think that rebuilding a temple of the site where Solomon originally built one almost 3,000 years ago, would be relatively simple.

But a Muslim Shrine presently occupies the site called, The Dome of the Rock. Often wrongly called the Mosque of Omar, it is not a mosque and it was not built by Omar. It was built in 691 by Abd-Al-Malik and it is regarded by Muslims as the third holiest site in the world.

There is vacant land on the Temple Mount, and a small 3D digital broadcast Jewish house of worship could be rebuilt as a virtual replica like those made by the Factum Foundation, a Madrid-based nonprofit that creates high-resolution digital replicas of the world’s cultural heritage; could be built about 6-700 feet north of the Al-Aqsa, near the Dome of the Rock, provided the Muslims would cooperate. This fulfills Prophet Isaiah’s statement that in the early part of the Messianic Age: “Torah will be broadcast from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:3)

Thus, a three dimensional virtual reality broadcast station could be erected adjacent to the Dome of the Rock, some 6-700 feet north of the Alaqsa Mosque, fulfilling the vision of Prophet Micah (4:1-3) “In the end of days the mountain of the Lord’s Temple will be established as the highest mountain; it will be exalted above the hills, and (many) peoples will stream to it. Many (not all) nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob. who will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. Torah will be broadcast out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

Most observers agree that anyone who could arrange such Jewish-Muslim cooperation would really be the Messianic Ruler of Peace (Isaiah 9:5) Christian support for such a cooperative venture would also be very important, and anyone who can bring Jews, Christians and Muslims together in mutual respect and cooperation would surely fulfill the greatest of all Messianic predictions: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives; nation shall not take up sword against nation, they shall never again teach war.” (Isaiah 2:4)

Indeed, such Jewish/Christian/Muslim cooperation would not be possible without great spiritual leadership in all three communities. Thus, each community could consider its leadership to be the Messiah. The Mahdi for example, “…will judge among the people of the Torah according to the Torah; among the people of the Gospel according to the Gospel; among the people of the Psalms in accordance with the Psalms; among the people of the Qur’an in accordance with the Qur’an.” says a Hadith from Imam Mohammad Baqir from Nu’mani, Kitab al-ghayba, p.237.

While the Catholic Church recognizes the connection the Jewish people have to their ancestral homeland, Rizkallah explained, it rejects certain Protestant theology that asserts the modern state of Israel as it is today as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy” “Rejecting Protestant Christian Zionism does not require rejecting Zionism altogether, nor does it excuse Catholic ambivalence toward the Jewish people’s return to their ancestral homeland.”

“Catholics possess their own intellectual and moral inheritance here — one that neither baptizes modern geopolitics nor treats Jewish attachment to the land as theologically meaningless.”

“Pope Benedict also advances a claim many Catholics find uncomfortable: that there is something mysterious, even providential, about the modern return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel,” she continued. “This is not a political endorsement, nor a theological endorsement of every action of the modern state. It is an acknowledgment that history, theology, and prophecy sometimes converge in ways that resist easy classification.”

This would fulfill the culminating verses of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy as enlarged upon by Micah (4:3-5), “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives. Nation shall not take up against nation, they shall never again teach war, but every man shall sit under his grapevine or fig tree with no one to disturb him, for it is the Lord of Hosts who spoke. Though all peoples walk each in the name of its God, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever.”