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National Prayer Network

REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY: EASY TARGET FOR ZIONISTS

By Rev. Ted Pike
14 May 12

A minority of Christian thinkers and activists has watched helplessly for a century as a spiritually lawless and geopolitically dangerous nation of Christ-rejecting Jews has risen to power over the Mideast and the western world. The fuel for Zionism’s meteoric rise is almost entirely the aura of chosenness and divine protection mistakenly drawn from the Bible.

A similar aura was exploited in the 16th century by Spanish conquistador Cortez. With his tiny army, he approached the vast sprawling empire of the ancient Aztecs and their crown jewel, Mexico City. Knowing something of Aztec beliefs, Cortez shrewdly announced he was Quetzalcoatl, god incarnate, coming in fulfillment of Aztec scripture. Montezuma, king of the Aztecs, virtually gave him the keys to the kingdom. This resulted in Montezuma’s death and Cortez’s conquest of Mexico.

For more than a century we have seen a similar strategy from a small minority of dedicated and devious Jewish Zionists. Exploiting Christians’ belief that Jews are favored by God, Jewish supremacists have conquered the dominant culture, morality and power of the historically Christian west.

Many frustrated Christians, watching this happen, are attracted to a seemingly perfect solution: to persuade the church and society that God is now done with the Jewish people. They say the Bible once encouraged the “chosen people” mystique, but now the physical chosenness of Jews has been replaced with spiritual chosenness of both Jew and Gentile. All who trust Jesus are now just as much “God’s chosen people” as were the Jews. Galatians 3 is quoted as proving God’s “replacement of Jews with Christians of all races” (Gal. 3:7-10, 14, 29).

“those who are of faith… are the sons of Abraham” (v. 7) “… blessed in Abraham, the believer” (v. 9) so that “in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles…” (v. 14) “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (v 29)

Is Replacement Theology Really Biblical

Galatians indeed seems to present the perfect way to replace a very destructive, civilization-destroying cult of Jew worship with one that is broad, wholesome, truly spiritual and Christ-exalting. But is replacement theology really taught by the Bible?

Actually, replacement theology is a half-truth. It correctly says that all who trust Jesus are now the Israel of God. But it is wrong in its claim that, by such enlargement of Christ’s kingdom, Christ has done away with His covenant to the Jews. It is untrue in its claim that He no longer has a unique destiny for Jews that includes repentance of a minority at His second coming.

In Romans 9:4 Paul says that (present tense) to Israel “belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the temple service and the promises…”

He goes on to say that God is very capable of re-grafting a remnant out of unbelieving Israel into their native stalk, Jesus (Romans 11:2,15, 23, 24). That will indeed happen, as the prophets predicted for “all Israel shall be saved; just as it is written ‘the Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob’ ‘and this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’”

The Bible is not as simplistic as replacement theology would have us believe.

Far too much Scripture prophesies the conversion and regathering of Jews for it to be tossed aside by the supposed “spiritual” interpretation of Galatians. God has an enormous investment in Jews of the past and amazing intentions for them in the future. The Bible emphasizes this throughout. Our duty as Christians who must resist ascent of Babylon the Great is to embrace this continuing Jewish destiny while honoring its powerful restraints, which demonstrate the conditions of a holy God.

Restrictions upon God’s covenant with Jews are explicit in Scripture and are more than adequate to criticize, restrain, and understand the modern state of Israel. These restraints include the following premises:

  1. Not all who are of Jewish descent are “Jews” (Rev. 3:9, Rom. 9:6-8). Wicked Jews are cast away, “not of Israel.” (Rom. 11:2) (Yet a remnant shall be saved Rom 11:12, 28)
  2. The church owes no debt of gratitude to most Jews of the Bible, only a small minority who were faithful. Paul says Christ will honor the piety and sacrifice of the righteous fathers, by someday bringing salvation to “all Israel.” (11:26)
  3. Evil Jews and Israel are subject to constructive Gentile/Christian criticism as well as universal laws of justice and morality. Such criticism is not anti-Semitism.
  4. Scripture is emphatic that God’s holy land cannot be occupied by a nation of Christ-rejecting Jews at any time in history (See List of Conditional Salvation/Conditional Occupation Verses).
  5. Apostate Israel is not the “apple of God’s eye” but Babylon the Great, continuation of the archetypal whore of the Old testament (See ‘Babylon the Great’ is Israel)
  6. In Ezekiel 38 and 39 Scripture clearly portrays the counterfeit return of Jews to Palestine. This is the first, apostate national return which we now witness. It fulfills Scripture, but not the hundreds of prophecies of the second, final and obedient return after repentance.
  7. To criticize evil Jews and their leaders is not to curse them but to actually bless them, hopefully leading to repentance. Such constructive criticism is actually philo-Semitic, tending to make Jews less abrasive to the world and thus less prone to hatred by the Gentiles.
  8. We best bless Israel not by moral and military support but by sharing the good news of salvation in Jesus with all Jews. No one is more greatly blessed than by hearing the message that Jesus loves them and that if they repent and trust in Him they will share eternal life with Him forever.
  9. The Jerusalem which Psalms tells us to pray for is not “Sodom and Egypt,” which is how God and the angels view the city of Jerusalem today (Rev. 11:8). Instead, we are to bless the invisible Zion “Christ’s kingdom of heaven” that Jesus said “is within you.”

Summary

From the above we see that it is unnecessary to “replace” Jews in Christ’s continuing plan in order to hold back Zionism. Just as Jesus and the prophets had plenty of biblically sound reasons to criticize evil Jews in their times, Christians have the same resources. Unfortunately, replacement theology alienates evangelicals from vital truth about the threat of Jewish supremacism. They instantly recognize replacement theology as “boasting against the branches,” a mortal threat to God’s plan for the Jews. In this the evangelicals are correct: It is hard to imagine a greater boast than saying God has taken away Israel’s unique covenant and given it to everyone.

It is no accident that when both Zionist and evangelicals want to vilify the “epidemic of anti-Semitism” their first target is replacement theology.

In contrast, both ADL and Zionist evangelicals are apprehensive concerning the balanced biblical view and eschatology found at truthtellers.org. They do their best to ignore us. In imitation of the biblical prophets, we provide salty penetrating rebuke of evil Jewish leadership. Yet we never lose sight of the fact that, despite the deepest Jewish apostasy, Christ will be glorified as the ultimate Redeemer through final Jewish repentance. This will glorify Christ to an extent perhaps only equaled by the power of His death at Calvary.

 

Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative watchdog organization.

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