Christians and Israel

09/13/06 Update: There has been an interesting development concerning the question of Christian Zionism. The paper which the Washington Post article refers to, below, is called The Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism, written by Latin Patriarch Michael Sabbah and other church leaders in Jerusalem. The leaders of Bridges for Peace, Christian Friends of Israel, and International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (noted below) together wrote a response, correcting the errors about Christian Zionists which the Jerusalem Declaration asserts.

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Original post dated 09/11/06:

There were some interesting items in the news at the beginning of September. While the majority of Protestants and believers in the South think Israel belongs to the Jews, the Roman Catholics came out condemning the evangelical support of Israel (Broken link, active September 13, 2006) as Christian Zionism, which is somehow responsible for all the unrest in the Mideast. I don’t get that. Wouldn’t the unrest settle down if the Islamists stopped trying to kill Jews?

Those who believe Christians — and all men — should bless Israel, are working in practical ways to do that. The Jews, nervous because they do not want to be proselytized, are beginning to believe Christians can be sincere in their desire to be a blessing. Some ministries are working to do just that (if you know of any others, let me know in the comments; thank you!):

Bridges for Peace
Christian Friends of Israel
International Christian Embassy Jerusalem
Christians for Israel International
The Watchman International

While I do feel the need to bless Israel in any way I can, by electing office holders who will not pressure Israel to trade land or prisoners for peace; and insisting they remain steadfast in their support of Israel when they are attacked by Islamist terrorists; I do not at all feel the need to proselytize Israelis. When the Lord desires to bring them again to Himself, He will be more than able to do so. Just as He was more than able to bring them up from Egypt, with only the help of His own mighty outstretched arm.