Au contraire, Jeff is being exceedingly rational. You, on the other hand, offer no rational for your innuendos. I suspect that your only rational is... "because Israel and the end times", perhaps buttressed with a bit of NeoCon warmongering (because Russia).
Netanyahu's genocidal war of aggression (justified by a false flag terrorist atta…
Au contraire, Jeff is being exceedingly rational. You, on the other hand, offer no rational for your innuendos. I suspect that your only rational is... "because Israel and the end times", perhaps buttressed with a bit of NeoCon warmongering (because Russia).
Netanyahu's genocidal war of aggression (justified by a false flag terrorist attack) against the people in Gaza has now been expanded to Lebanon, the West Bank/Jordan and Syria in a military campaign to re-create The Greater Israel, all with the backing of the NeoCon USG. The ultimate goal is a joint US/Israel assault on Iran which will open up a second front, along with Ukraine/Poland, against Russia.
The following is what I see as happening and this is being orchestrated by the CIA which is a totally rogue, unaccountable, anti-American, extra-Constitutional organization whose only goal is the subjugation of the entire planet - including the subjugation of the American people. The CIA is an enemy combatant to America: Everything that is happening right now, from the localized attacks to the fight in Congress has the end goal of getting the USG fully committed militarily to the war in Southwest Asia. Netanyahu's genocidal war against his neighbors is only possible with the endless supply of munitions from the USG. This war is preparing the groundwork for full scale US military commitment analogous to the European war preparing the theater for full scale US involvement resulting in WWI/WWII. Our local "terrorist" attacks are CIA operations to psychologically prepare the American people to support US military commitment to Israel's war against the entire Middle East.
The NeoCons who control the CIA and the US military intend to put Trump in a position where he will have "no choice" but to commit the full backing of the US military to Israel's war to re-build the Greater Israel. I put no-choice in quotes because I can't read Trump's mind and, while he is opposed to the Ukraine war, I have seen no sign that he is opposed to Netanyahu's war and I have seen a fair amount of genuflecting to the Zionist lobby. Furthermore, just as with Operation Desert Storm, we will see the American dispensational, evangelical church fully supportive of Israel's war of aggression with no regard to God's prohibition against wars of aggression because... Israel and the end times.
This war will be opposed by both Russia and China but the NeoCons "do not care about anything except power." We will be going up against Russia who has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear missiles on the planet. The NeoCons are willing to sacrifice the American people in their megalomaniac desire to conquer Russia.
The lead editorial in the Israeli daily Haaretz, “Israel Wants to Turn the West Bank Into Rubble, Just Like Gaza”....
...The goal (of the Netanyahu government) to impose Greater Israel apartheid in the occupied territories. If they succeed, they will put an end to any future possibility of a two-state solution and sustainable life in the region.” (“Judea and Samaria” are the extremists’ term for the West Bank.)...
HOPEFULLY, Trump will be opposed to US involvement in a ME war...................................................
...The Sachs clip, all 2:13 minutes of it, was embedded with Hebrew subtitles added, in its article, which otherwise suggested that “U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump may be reigniting tensions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after sharing a video on his social media featuring a scathing critique of the Israeli leader by Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who is Jewish.”...
One thing that gives me a glimmer of hope is that dispensationalism seems to be dying out with the Boomers (of which I am one just barely). A theology that summarized as, "Christ commanded us to be kind and just to others, except for this country created in 1948, it can kill whoever it wants" just isn't morally coherent. If Israel had exercised a modicum of restraint, it may have kept going. However many of those who have abandoned dispensationalism (as I once was one) did so specifically because we could not reconcile Christ's commands with Israel's actions of the last thirty years.
My church (Calvary Chapel) started out as explicitly dispensational but has pretty much abandoned it except for a small group of Boomer pastors. It isn't intellectually or theologically coherent, and it also defies 1800 years of Christian teaching regarding the Church as the New Israel. Many are gradually embracing covenant theology based on a clear reading of the biblical text. Plus the fact that people gradually became aware that Scofield (of Scofield Bible fame) was a scoundrel and charlatan hasn't helped.
Maybe I'm too optimistic as there's still plenty of churches out there flying Israeli flags, which is outright idolatry IMO. But there's less than there used to be, as people gradually came to realize that "the Bible commands us to help this 75 year old country kill people" is ethically indefensible.
Thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear of the changes you report. I lived in CA up to the mid-80s and I always enjoyed Chuck Smith's sermons. We could certainly benefit from more pastors with that kind of oratory skill. Calvary Chapel always had good energy but, as you say, their grounding in the historic faith was a little shallow and the dispensational theology was always suspect to me even when I was just learning about these subjects. But, then again, I find that most of the American church today is lacking in sound understanding of Biblical theology. For me, the watershed came when I determined I was going to ask God for understanding by intensely reading the Gospels with a blank mind or without ANY preconceived ideas and placed my mind in that setting with His disciples as if I was there listening with them rather than 2000 years in the future. In that frame of mind, I found the truths that Jesus was teaching came through loud and clear. I then found that covenant theology filled in many blank areas that most of the church fills in with pure speculation, dispensationalism being most prominent. I am not surprised that the good people in Calvary Chapel churches are maturing in understanding.
I was going to make a similar comment as yours also. Dispensationalism views Israel as having a license from God to kill whoever they want because... the "end times". When the horrible things that are happening in the ME are pointed out, it is excused by the refrain, "This was all prophesied in the Bible." It is a huge contradiction that thinking people are beginning to see through.
Scipio just published a substack that addresses some of this, "The Judeo-Christian Paradox" that you may find of interest.
"...The term “Judeo-Christian” is one of the most insidious linguistic constructs to emerge in the lexicon of modern religious discourse.
It purports to bind two wholly incompatible systems — the Law and the Gospel, Sinai and Calvary, the synagogue and the Church — under a single banner. To the casual observer, it serves as a lexical bridge uniting two faiths that allegedly share the same moral foundation and historical continuity. But to the discerning mind, it is an oxymoron — a paradox that obscures the profound incompatibilities between Judaism and Christianity.
...The myth of a harmonious "Judeo-Christian" tradition must be dismantled to preserve the purity of the Gospel and the Church’s witness..."
Au contraire, Jeff is being exceedingly rational. You, on the other hand, offer no rational for your innuendos. I suspect that your only rational is... "because Israel and the end times", perhaps buttressed with a bit of NeoCon warmongering (because Russia).
Netanyahu's genocidal war of aggression (justified by a false flag terrorist attack) against the people in Gaza has now been expanded to Lebanon, the West Bank/Jordan and Syria in a military campaign to re-create The Greater Israel, all with the backing of the NeoCon USG. The ultimate goal is a joint US/Israel assault on Iran which will open up a second front, along with Ukraine/Poland, against Russia.
https://eir.news/2025/01/news/us-centcom-no-2-visits-israel-tehran-says-us-threats-to-attack-iran-nuclear-program-violate-international-law/
The following is what I see as happening and this is being orchestrated by the CIA which is a totally rogue, unaccountable, anti-American, extra-Constitutional organization whose only goal is the subjugation of the entire planet - including the subjugation of the American people. The CIA is an enemy combatant to America: Everything that is happening right now, from the localized attacks to the fight in Congress has the end goal of getting the USG fully committed militarily to the war in Southwest Asia. Netanyahu's genocidal war against his neighbors is only possible with the endless supply of munitions from the USG. This war is preparing the groundwork for full scale US military commitment analogous to the European war preparing the theater for full scale US involvement resulting in WWI/WWII. Our local "terrorist" attacks are CIA operations to psychologically prepare the American people to support US military commitment to Israel's war against the entire Middle East.
The NeoCons who control the CIA and the US military intend to put Trump in a position where he will have "no choice" but to commit the full backing of the US military to Israel's war to re-build the Greater Israel. I put no-choice in quotes because I can't read Trump's mind and, while he is opposed to the Ukraine war, I have seen no sign that he is opposed to Netanyahu's war and I have seen a fair amount of genuflecting to the Zionist lobby. Furthermore, just as with Operation Desert Storm, we will see the American dispensational, evangelical church fully supportive of Israel's war of aggression with no regard to God's prohibition against wars of aggression because... Israel and the end times.
This war will be opposed by both Russia and China but the NeoCons "do not care about anything except power." We will be going up against Russia who has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear missiles on the planet. The NeoCons are willing to sacrifice the American people in their megalomaniac desire to conquer Russia.
The lead editorial in the Israeli daily Haaretz, “Israel Wants to Turn the West Bank Into Rubble, Just Like Gaza”....
...The goal (of the Netanyahu government) to impose Greater Israel apartheid in the occupied territories. If they succeed, they will put an end to any future possibility of a two-state solution and sustainable life in the region.” (“Judea and Samaria” are the extremists’ term for the West Bank.)...
https://eir.news/2025/01/news/israeli-daily-warns-of-plans-to-reduce-west-bank-to-rubble-for-greater-israel-project/
HOPEFULLY, Trump will be opposed to US involvement in a ME war...................................................
...The Sachs clip, all 2:13 minutes of it, was embedded with Hebrew subtitles added, in its article, which otherwise suggested that “U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump may be reigniting tensions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after sharing a video on his social media featuring a scathing critique of the Israeli leader by Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who is Jewish.”...
https://eir.news/2025/01/news/trump-posts-anti-netanyahu-clip-triggers-guessing-games/
Thanks Phil, good comment.
One thing that gives me a glimmer of hope is that dispensationalism seems to be dying out with the Boomers (of which I am one just barely). A theology that summarized as, "Christ commanded us to be kind and just to others, except for this country created in 1948, it can kill whoever it wants" just isn't morally coherent. If Israel had exercised a modicum of restraint, it may have kept going. However many of those who have abandoned dispensationalism (as I once was one) did so specifically because we could not reconcile Christ's commands with Israel's actions of the last thirty years.
My church (Calvary Chapel) started out as explicitly dispensational but has pretty much abandoned it except for a small group of Boomer pastors. It isn't intellectually or theologically coherent, and it also defies 1800 years of Christian teaching regarding the Church as the New Israel. Many are gradually embracing covenant theology based on a clear reading of the biblical text. Plus the fact that people gradually became aware that Scofield (of Scofield Bible fame) was a scoundrel and charlatan hasn't helped.
Maybe I'm too optimistic as there's still plenty of churches out there flying Israeli flags, which is outright idolatry IMO. But there's less than there used to be, as people gradually came to realize that "the Bible commands us to help this 75 year old country kill people" is ethically indefensible.
Thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear of the changes you report. I lived in CA up to the mid-80s and I always enjoyed Chuck Smith's sermons. We could certainly benefit from more pastors with that kind of oratory skill. Calvary Chapel always had good energy but, as you say, their grounding in the historic faith was a little shallow and the dispensational theology was always suspect to me even when I was just learning about these subjects. But, then again, I find that most of the American church today is lacking in sound understanding of Biblical theology. For me, the watershed came when I determined I was going to ask God for understanding by intensely reading the Gospels with a blank mind or without ANY preconceived ideas and placed my mind in that setting with His disciples as if I was there listening with them rather than 2000 years in the future. In that frame of mind, I found the truths that Jesus was teaching came through loud and clear. I then found that covenant theology filled in many blank areas that most of the church fills in with pure speculation, dispensationalism being most prominent. I am not surprised that the good people in Calvary Chapel churches are maturing in understanding.
I was going to make a similar comment as yours also. Dispensationalism views Israel as having a license from God to kill whoever they want because... the "end times". When the horrible things that are happening in the ME are pointed out, it is excused by the refrain, "This was all prophesied in the Bible." It is a huge contradiction that thinking people are beginning to see through.
Scipio just published a substack that addresses some of this, "The Judeo-Christian Paradox" that you may find of interest.
https://dfreality.substack.com/p/the-judeo-christian-paradox-part
"...The term “Judeo-Christian” is one of the most insidious linguistic constructs to emerge in the lexicon of modern religious discourse.
It purports to bind two wholly incompatible systems — the Law and the Gospel, Sinai and Calvary, the synagogue and the Church — under a single banner. To the casual observer, it serves as a lexical bridge uniting two faiths that allegedly share the same moral foundation and historical continuity. But to the discerning mind, it is an oxymoron — a paradox that obscures the profound incompatibilities between Judaism and Christianity.
...The myth of a harmonious "Judeo-Christian" tradition must be dismantled to preserve the purity of the Gospel and the Church’s witness..."