Apocalypse Bias
Christian Zionism is something aware people need to be aware of.It is an element of dispensationalist theology, which is the dominant theology of the Religious Right. The particulars are complicated, but in a nutshell, that's where the idea of The Rapture originated. Christian Zionists, nearly all of whom are conservative evangelicals, believe biblical prophecy reveals a series of events leading up to the earthly return of Jesus Christ. The hugely popular Left Behind series is all about dispensationalism and Christian Zionism. Exponents of this belief system are militant supporters of Israel, and they side with hard-line Israeli politicians at every turn. Support of American evangelical Christian Zionists is increasingly important to Israel for tourism revenue and political support . The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is a primary Christian Zionist institution.
The Jerusalem Post is a respected international newspaper with a reputable history. It lately skews center-right, but is still highly readable. Alarmingly, their website, jpost.com, has been running ads for something called "The Jerusalem Post Christian Edition" published in conjunction with the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. Christian Zionists see middle east peace as an obstruction to God's will and the return of the Christ. While this overt editorial bias is confined to the pages of an auxiliary publication, one wonders what signals the editors of The Jerusalem Post are sending.
Does this portend a new trend for other publications? Will there soon be a Minneapolis Star-Tribune Christian Edition? How about an US Weekly for Christians? These things might not become a reality, but the alarming Christianist trend of building an isolated, insulated parallel reality seems unstoppable. How this has anything to do with Christianity remains mysterious.
The significance of The Jerusalem Post is obviously much greater than Christ-centered yoga or Christian nights at Major League Baseball games, particularly now. One hopes "the birth pangs of a new middle east" is not coded language for "advancing the kingdom."
posted by Compliance Coordinator at 12:33 PM
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BULLETIN: One historian is the only one who has spent 36 years discovering long forgotten primary documents, including many in Britain, that cast fascinating light on the earliest development of dispensationalism, the key feature of which is the "any-moment, pretribulation rapture" which Lindsey, LaHaye etc. have turned into bestselling books. The highlights of the above historian's research can now be enjoyed by typing in "Pretrib Rapture Diehards" on Google. If you think, as many have assumed, that John Darby originated the same "pretrib rapture" view, this Google article is definitely for you! Also learn the reactions of leading scholars to this new research by typing in "Scholars Weigh My Research." L.N.
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