How Long After Isreal Becomes a State Again Does It Take for Jesus Return
Diana Butler Bass (@dianabutlerbass) holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of 10 books on American faith and civilization, including "Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Cheers" (forthcoming, HarperOne: Apr 2018). The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN)As I watched Donald Trump announce that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as Israel'southward upper-case letter and movement our embassy to that urban center, I could only recall of i thing: my high schoolhouse youth grouping Bible study.
I know that sounds odd. Especially coming from a liberal Episcopalian like me. Just there you have information technology. The President makes a world-important declaration about global politics, and an absurdly apocalyptic thought arises, "Jerusalem? The Final Days must be at paw!"
When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I attended a "Bible church," a nondenominational congregation that prided itself on a singular devotion to scripture. We read the Bible all the time: in personal Bible report and evening Bible classes. We listened to hourlong Sun morn sermons. For us, the Bible was not merely a guide to piety. It as well revealed God's plan for history. Through it, we learned how God had worked in the past and what God would do in the futurity.
Central to that plan was Jerusalem, the city of peace, and the dwelling place of God. It was special to the Jews because it was the home of Abraham and David. Information technology was special to u.s. because it was where Jesus had died and risen. We believed that ultimately, Christ would return to Jerusalem to rule every bit its rex. We longed for this upshot -- and nosotros prayed that homo history would help bring virtually this biblical conclusion.
Jerusalem was our prophetic bellwether. God's plan hung on its fate. Whenever Israel gained more political territory, whenever State of israel extended its boundaries, it was God'south will, the finish-times unfolding on the evening news. Jerusalem, as the spiritual heart of Israel, mattered. Jerusalem was God'south holy urban center, of the ancient past, in its conflicted nowadays, and for the biblical future.
For many conservative evangelicals, Jerusalem is not about politics. It is non nearly peace plans or Palestinians or ii-state solutions. It is near prophecy. About the Bible. And, most certainly, it is about the terminate-times.
When I was immature, our pastor insisted that Jerusalem had an important office to play in these end-times events. When the Jews rejected Jesus as the messiah, he explained, God chose the church to achieve his mission. Soon this "church historic period" would finish with the rapture of true believers.
Simply God even so loved the Jews, he told u.s.a., and wanted to redeem them. Thus, absent-minded the church building, the Jews would experience a slap-up religious rebirth and rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. This would spark a series of cataclysmic events that would culminate in the Battle of Armageddon, the last war of humanity. Only it would also cause the Jews to finally accept Jesus as their savior. After all this occurred, Jesus would return in glory and God'southward kingdom -- a thousand-year reign of peace. And it would brainstorm in Jerusalem.
This theology -- a literal conventionalities that all these things must happen before Jesus will return to reign on World -- is called "dispensational pre-millennialism" and it is not the quirky stance of some isolated church. Although the majority of Christians practise not share these views, versions of dispensational pre-millennialism boss American evangelicalism.
It originated as a small movement in the 1840s, but by the 1970s, millions of evangelical and fundamentalist churchgoers had embraced some form of information technology. Dispensationalism was popularized in a best-selling book called "The Tardily, Great Planet Globe" past Hal Lindsey; and later, in the 1990s, it reached an even larger audition through the "Left Behind" novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The theology spread via Bible camps and colleges, through theological seminaries and revival meetings, in films and videos, by Lord's day school materials, and in daily devotional guides -- all pedagogy that the cease of the world was almost, and that Jerusalem was the concrete identify where this apocalyptic drama would unfold.
If yous know evangelicals, chances are very good that you know this theology, whether you believe information technology or not. You cannot avoid information technology. And if you hear the President of the United States say something about Jerusalem, you accept discover. Especially when that President won 81% of the white evangelical vote.
When the President issued his order, I was not the only person hearing echoes of dispensationalism. Robert Jeffress, i of Trump's evangelical advisers, declared: "Jerusalem has been the object of the affection of both Jews and Christians downwards through history and the touchstone of prophecy."
Other evangelical pastors and teachers besides praised the action as "biblical" and likened it to a "fulfilled prophecy."
While that may sound benign (or peradventure nutty) to the theologically uninitiated, they are referring to the "prophecy" of the conversion of the Jews, the 2nd coming of Jesus, the final judgment, and the end of the world -- the events referred to as the biblical apocalypse.
I doubt that President Trump could explain dispensational pre-millennialism. I dubiety he knows the term. Simply his evangelical supporters know it. Some of his advisers are probably whispering these prophecies in his ears. Trump might not actually care how they interpret the Bible, merely he cares that white evangelicals continue to stand with him. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem is one fashion to affirm his commitment to these evangelicals -- reminding them that he, Donald J. Trump, is pressing biblical history forrard to its decision and that he is God'southward man in the unfolding of these last days.
I may non believe it -- anymore, at least. You may not believe it. Donald Trump might not fifty-fifty truly believe it. But millions practise. That matters. Non only for American politics, of grade. For the peace of Jerusalem. And for peace for the rest of united states of america as well.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/08/opinions/jerusalem-israel-evangelicals-end-times-butler-bass-opinion/index.html
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