In the space of a month, I’ve had two conversations that lead me to believe that, while Israel has many friends in the U.S., there is a hardening toward the Jewish state from some surprising quarters.

More specifically, there is an erosion of support from Christian groups — the leadership — and I think that reality demands that those of us who truly love the Jews take stock and get ready to stand.

In New York, I had dinner with a friend who graduated from a prominent evangelical college; he was active in a pro Israel student organization. He told me that he had direct knowledge that the school’s president had bought into Palestinian propaganda and had turned from supporting Israel. In addition, a wealthy supporter of the school felt the same way.

Two weeks later, a former friend from a major ministry phoned to caution me against “naming names,” since I had written about the same thing I’m discussing today. I won’t go into details here, because the time isn’t right, but just know that those of you who truly love the Jews and Israel would be quite shocked to discover the anti-Semitic views of otherwise excellent ministries.

There is perhaps no greater…strangeness…in our world today than anti-Jewish feelings.

My father’s family came from a long line of Catholics. When my grandfather was in his prime, the anti-Semitic rants of Father Coughlin traveled over the radio airwaves. To a degree, these rants colored my family’s view of Jews. For example, although my father was pro Israel in the sense that he believed the biblical promises to Israel, he also believed that the Jews control the world’s financial systems.

When one lives in a world in which Arabs toy with the economies of superpowers due to their control of oil reserves, one struggles to grasp just how it is that Jews are to blame.

But Jew-hatred is an ancient sickness. It has made large chunks of the Church sick (oddly enough, quite a few Catholics now support Israel, while the evangelical world sinks into anti-Semitism).

Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding (EMEU) met last spring in Chicago; the group aims to be a more “balanced” friend to Arabs and Israelis. That’s officially. In reality they are pro Palestinian, and at best, their insistence on Israeli concessions puts the lie to their professed concern for Israel’s security. Should the Israelis go the distance in the “peace process,” which groups like EMEU advocate, they will be in very grave danger…even existential danger.

At the EMEU event, Lynne Hybels was invited as “an observer.” She is of course the wife of mega-pastor Bill Hybels. Further, in the spring 2009 EMEU newsletter, readers were treated to an impassioned appeal from Doug Ross, president emeritus of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), a mainstream group within the evangelical community.

On the Facebook page for Charisma, the magazine flagship of the charismatic/Pentecostal world, an article appeared from December, 2008, by Steve Strang, who heads Strang Communications. For years, he has been one of Israel’s stalwart defenders.

In the Facebook article, Strang describes visiting Bethlehem; unfortunately, one of his hosts was the Rev. Alex Awad, president of Bethlehem Bible College. Awad, a Christian, usually never misses an opportunity to blame the plight of Palestinian Christians on Israel.

While Strang provides some context in his article for the security fence Israel built to keep out Palestinian homicide bombers, he still refers to it in the language of the Arabs: “wall.” Awad picks up on that theme in the accompanying piece he wrote, but he makes not mention of why Israel built the fence.

If you’ve had the opportunity to arrive on the scene of a bus bombing in Jerusalem — as I’ve had — and seen the mangled bodies of children hanging out windows, you’ll not think first of the inconvenience of Palestinians who are required to wait at checkpoints before entering Israel. In fact, if the security fence around Palestinian terror centers/cities offends the sensibilities of certain American Christians, then let me say clearly that if Palestinian homicide bombings could be stopped by turning the Palestinian areas into giant parking lots, I’m all for it.

This example of Strang’s article, and the work of groups like EMEU, marks a disturbing trend I’ve noticed: steady erosion of evangelical support for Israel. Rank-and-file evangelicals of course will not stop supporting the Jewish state, but the cumulative effect of Palestinian propaganda is to erode support for Israel, and Christian leaders are used to do just that.

If evangelical groups are doing this (mainline churches have loathed Israel for decades), imagine what things will be like in 10 years. By then, we’ll have new generations of American Christians who do not understand Zionism.

There are many, many more examples of evangelicals turning from Israel.

Heads turned when in July, 2002, Dallas Theological Seminary President Mark Bailey articulated his vision of peace in the Middle East. While acknowledging that biblically, the Holy Land had been promised to the Jews, Bailey spent quite a bit of time lecturing (my word) Israel that in order to fulfill their entire destiny, they should pay attention to how they treat people who live in the land. This of course was a reference to the Palestinians. Even though the vast majority of Palestinians, like their greater pan-Arab nation brothers, loathe Israel and the Jews. Grotesque killers like Yasser Arafat, bred on Arab nationalism and the Muslim Brotherhood, along with Marxism, infected whole generations of Arabs. The link, for instance, between Palestinian Arabs and Hitler has been historically documented.

(An aside: as a Christian of German ancestry, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to one day volunteer for duty in a Jewish munitions factory, when the international community one day declares war.)

Bailey’s comments appeared in an issue of Dallas Theological Seminary’s Veritas, and shockingly, were followed by a favorable response from long-time prophecy scholar John Walvoord. The aged Walvoord seemed to give legitimacy to Bailey’s insistence that Israel was bound to treat the Arabs in their midst with kindness. No real mention was made as to how this would be possible in the face of withering, vicious terrorism.

But the stance of Bailey and Walvoord brings me to a further point about eroding support for Israel…among Christian leaders (notice I continue to make a distinction between them and rank-and-file evangelicals).

More than 10 years ago, in an exchange of correspondence, a pro Israel/pro prophecy Christian leader — a very famous one — took me to task for supporting then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies in the peace process. He ranted about Zionism. I was shocked.

I believe the answer to why many Christian leaders who heretofore supported Israel are now choosing a different path is found in their personal commitment to Jews.

A huge wing of the evangelical world supports Israel because it “brings blessing.”

To heck with that.

Either you love Jews and Israel, or you don’t. If the motive involves anything other than loving and supporting Jews because it’s the right thing to do, I will not link arms.

I love the Jews and Israel because they are noble, brave, and because they are loved by the Lord of history. Period.

As the world moves deeper into darkness, let us who love Zion resolve to go with her into the night, and look forward to an eventual emergence into permanent, eternal light.

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Originally published in One News Now, Prophecy Matters. December 14,  2009

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