World Vision: Zionism is an ‘Evil ideology’

Saturday, 14 February 2015

World Vision: Zionism is an ‘Evil ideology’

Posted on February 14, 2015

Steve Haas, vice-president of World Vision US, a pro-Israel Christian Zionist organization has irked the organized Jewry by criticizing the Zionist entity and its butt-licking 65 million Christian Zionists in a latest article All of Me published by World’s leading Christian evangelism movement, Lausanne Movement’s official website.

As apartheid came to an end in South Africa, one of our World Vision operatives involved with the struggle for freedom asked Bishop Desmond Tutu what more he could do. Tutu replied that he should go to Palestine. We took the Bishop’s advice and World Vision has been active in Palestine for the better part of 30 years, growing to become one of the largest organizations there, said Haas.

Yet, for over 60 years, many evangelicals have clung to a very narrow theological narrative that weds Christian theology with a political ideology known as Zionism. This is a national movement to return Jews to Israel, which Jews perceive as their sovereign homeland. Evangelicals have used this theology in affirming biblical Israel as being the equivalent to the present political entity bearing the same name, with all of the rights, privileges, and promises directly conferred, adds Haas.

Christian Zionists have tied what they have seen in numerous military victories and in the massive social work that is taking place to certain Bible verses, all to affirm the full circle of prophetic expression. To them, the strength of the nation of present-day Israel underlines the strength of our own Christian faith, as though it is an expression or a direct link. They have become so tied to these theological interpretations that they have labeled any critical comment against the nation-state as antithetical to Christian belief and even anti-Jewish. This theological position has backed the largest and longest occupation of another people group in modern history, an oppressive Israeli legal system which Tutu and many other church leaders have called ‘apartheid on steroids’, said Haas.

In October of 2010, over 4,000 Christian leaders from 198 countries met in Cape Town, South Africa, to discuss critical issues of our time as they relate to the Church and evangelization. This was the Third Lausanne Congress, convening nearly 35 years after the original Lausanne Congress in 1974, called by Rev. Billy Graham, a long-time friend of the Zionist entity. The statement issued on the conclusion of the conference, known as the Cape Town Commitment said that Christians must repent for their part in the Holocaust of Palestinian people as result of their blind support for the state of Israel.

Robert Stearns, director of Eagles’ Wings, wrote for Netanyahu’s Likud-linkedJerusalem Post that the article was an example of the toxic mix of lies, ignorance, and half-truths that drive the global movement to delegitimize Israel, accusing Haas of leveling the familiar and intellectually bankrupt apartheid charge against Israel.

On January 30, the Israel lobby, Simon Wiesenthal Center, also condemned Steve Hass’ article. “Hass embraces the big lie of Israel practicing apartheid on steroids. Hamas and Hizbullah are criticized, albeit not by name, for violent reprisals. Hass implies that suicide bombers, terror tunnels, and thousands of rockets aimed at Israel’s civilians are nothing more than expected reprisals for the crimes of Israelis including contrary to the fact – the largest and longest occupation of another people group in modern history. The worst is his dismissal Israel’s existence as a Jewish state,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper.

In January 2014, Jewish Buzzfeed reported: The campaign by a coalition of religious leaders, international nonprofits, and activists has taken place in recent years largely behind the scenes and away from the prying eyes of the political press — and it’s being driven by a generation of Evangelicals alienated by the way their faith was yoked to Republican foreign policy during the Bush years. Now, organizations like the Telos Group and the large Christian nonprofit World Vision have joined a small army of ministers and Christian opinion-makers working to reorient Evangelicals’ stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – producing documentaries about the plight of Palestinian Christians, providing theological rationale for a more “balanced” view of the issue, and taking Evangelicals on trips to the Middle East.

According to a 2009 report by Amnesty International, Palestinians on average get 70 liters of water per day, well below the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 100 liters per day. In contrast, Israelis get 300 liters per day, and in settlements that figure escalates to 350 liters.

It should challenge people when they hear the average income (GDP per capita in 2010) for an Israeli is $26,000, but for a Palestinian it is around $2,100.

The church needs to deal with the injustices found on both sides. Everyone, Palestinian and Israeli, should have the benefits of a life lived in safety and freedom. And so we need to challenge any party in this present conflict that promotes either violent reprisals or an apathetic response. As followers of the Prince of Peace, our means of confronting conflict are conditioned by the life and teaching of Jesus himself, concludes Haas.

Bishop Dr. Stephen Sizer who was banned by the Church of England to discuss Israel at any forum or his blog over 9/11 post on his Facebook page a few days ago, explains Zionism in his book Christian Zionism: Road Map to Armageddon. Listen to Bishop Sizer’s speech below on Zionism, Israel and power of Jewish Lobby.