The Silent Sway of Christian Zionism is Growing Louder

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Stephen Blinder: While President-elect Donald Trump has never shied away from the unsubstantiated, his statements on Israel are perplexing even by Trump-era standards. For example, Trump has repeated in various ways that “our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of [his policies on Israel]…than the people of the Jewish faith,” while demanding Jewish Americans “appreciate what they have in Israel…[b]efore it is too late.” 

Such assertions should raise alarm bells on their own, but they reflect neither novel nor untraceable ideas. Rather, Trump’s stances on Israel mirror the tenets of Christian Zionism and thereby tacitly condone the ideology’s most divisive excesses.

Christian Zionism is not a modern phenomenon but can be traced as far back as mid-17th century Europe, wherein it constituted “political action, informed by specifically Christian commitments, to promote or preserve Jewish control over the geographic area now comprising Israel and Palestine,” according to University of North Texas Professor Robert Smith. Over time, however, two distinct strands of Christian Zionism have emerged, each derived from different biblical sources and entailing different logical conclusions: premillennial dispensationalism and the “blessing” account.

Premillennial dispensationalists believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ prior to his presumed one-thousand-year reign on Earth – the Millennial Kingdom. Applying a literal, apocalyptic conception of biblical texts, they view the concentration of Jewish people in Israel as a prerequisite for the catalyzation of the so-called “end-times.” Specifically, premillennial dispensationalists predict that the uniform Jewish control of Israel will corrupt and degrade society to such an extent that the supposed “Antichrist” assumes power and proclaims divine authority. 

Ultimately, a defining battle at Armageddon in which Antichrist troops confront “a 200-million-man army under the ‘kings of the east’” spurs the Second Coming of Christ, leading to the annihilation of both sides. Under this view, surviving Jewish people and other non-Christians must submit to “Jesus as their Lord and savior” or be punished to death.

The “blessing” account, the alternate subsect of Christian Zionism, reads the pronoun “you” in G-d’s command to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 – “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” – in reference to the Jewish people of Israel. 

Hence, adherents to this outlook understand the passage to command blessings for the Jewish people of Israel – principally political support for the country – in return for those handed down by G-d. Conversely, they believe that those who – in an individual or collective sense, such as the American people – fail to bless Israel sufficiently will be cursed by G-d. This strand of Christian Zionism is growing, but it remains a minority view.

Many of the first Trump administration’s most significant–and, indeed, controversial–decisions concerning Israel came at the express approval and encouragement of prominent Christian Zionist organizations, especially Christians United for Israel (CUFI), that embrace premillennial dispensationalism. 

Founded and led by Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement then-2008 presidential candidate John McCain notably rejected after a leaked sermon in which Hagee claimed that G-d “sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land,” CUFI has grown to comprise over ten million members. 

However, the organization’s influence can be measured beyond numbers; Hagee acted as an informal advisor to Trump. In fact, he persuaded Trump to move the U.S Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “[on the basis] that Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem to ‘set up His throne on the Temple Mount where He will sit and rule for a thousand years of perfect peace.’” For his part, Trump’s rationale could not have been clearer: “And we moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the evangelicals.”

Trump has elevated and normalized voices all too willing to weaponize religion. Whether featuring at a reception celebrating both Hanukkah and an executive order to mitigate antisemitism a Christian Zionist pastor who infamously proclaimed that “Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, [and] Hinduism…lead people to an eternity of separation from [G-d]…in hell” or stating, without context, that Jewish Americans must value Israel “before it is too late,” Trump’s dog whistles are a dire threat domestically and globally. It has never been more important–nay, more patriotic in defense of America’s pluralistic democracy–to call them out.

Stephen Blinder is a staff writer for On the Record. He is a senior studying government and philosophy in the College of Arts & Sciences.