Christian Zionism - Second Edition: Enraptured Around a Golden Calf

By Abraham A. van Kempen

When asked on my first day in kindergarten, 'where were you born,' I sparkled with pride: 'Palaestina!' Later, I realized I was born as a refugee, on a British ship on the outskirts of Israel-Palestine. To complicate matters, I was born a Jew in Palestine. My mother was Jew and I look Hawaiian, a long story.

The region is home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abraham van Kempen
• Release date: Aug 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088254066

Book preview

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Golden Calves...

What Does Christianity Say About One People, One Land, One God?

When asked on my first day in kindergarten, ‘where were you born,’ I sparkled with pride: ‘Palaestina!’ Palaestina, pronounced in Dutch, sounded so exotic.

Later, I realized I was born a refugee, onboard a British ship on the Red Sea, between Africa, Asia, and Europe; on the outskirts of Israel-Palestine, of Dutch parents with a dual nationality, English and Dutch, making me more European than most (but I look Kamaāina, Hawaiian; a long story). To complicate matters, I was born a Jew -- my mother was Jew -- in Israel- Palestine; a life, without borders.

The region is home. Inside my soul and within all of my being, I am attached to the splendor of its many colors, their tints and hues; and, ALL my people. I understand intuitively why neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis will ever leave.

My story is the story of many Jews. We are blessed with diversity. That we are one immortal pure-race tribe, exclusively begotten from the seeds of Abraham is spiritual. Physically, it is improbable and genetically, implausible. Nonetheless, myths abound.

What is not mythical is that many indigenous Palestinians are more heritably linked to the Ancient Israelites than most European Jews who have wandered into the Region, seeking refuge from 1,900 years of persecution, especially after World War II. Historically, many Jews in the Diaspora descend from pagan converts into Judaism.

Will a shared identity prompt the ‘cousins’ to share the land? Is there another choice?

‘Christian Zionism … Enraptured Around a Golden Calf’ pits the Holy Trinity of Zionism – One People, One Land, One God – against the Holy Trinity of Christianity– ALL people, ALL nations, One God.

The New Testament ‘in-gathers’ and redeems ALL people, not just one tribe; ALL the nations, not just one state; indeed, glorifying the ONE ‘I Am’ with Many Names – in Hebrew: Hayah asher hayah, ‘I Will Be Who or How or Where I Will Be’ or just Eloah; or, in the Arabic sound-alike, Allah.

Our New Covenant 1) frees Modern Jews from their Jews-only, ancestry- ghetto-mentality; 2) renounces Modern Israel's obsession for possession of a Land once promised and fulfilled; and, 3) refutes the Israeli edict: What is mine is mine, what is yours is mine also.

‘Christian Zionism … Enraptured Around the Golden Calf’ aspires to gently hammer Christians into fully embracing the Good News. Many Evangelicals unwittingly sideline the Gospel’s stance on the Promised Land

by replacing the Promised Land with Modern Israel. Christian Zionists confuse Biblical Zionism with Pagan-Zionism, their Golden Calf.

Will Evangelicals rediscover New Testament Revelations? Is restoration -- a revival -- imminent?

When theology becomes too puzzling and perplexing even for the theologian; and geo-politics, too convoluted for the politicians; students, scholars and researchers, and just plain folk from all walks of life come out of the woodwork to help disentangle the ambiguities, to combine the contradictions creatively. What sort of people are they? People with common sense!

The result?

A provocative perspective to review and reevaluate in line with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity! What's he saying?

A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions, says Holmes.

What does Jesus say about the Promised Land?

The ‘Promised Land,’ says Jesus Christ, the Messiah, God in the flesh … the Promised Land is the Spiritual Kingdom of God, a ‘Land without borders.’

The Title of Ownership in the Promised Land, the Spiritual Kingdom of God, the ‘New Jerusalem,’ the ‘City of God,’ 'Zion,' is vested in the New Testament, inscribed in blood on Calvary; for all people of all nations; indeed, endowed by God, the one ‘I Am’ with many names of ALL, for ALL.

And what is salvation? God residing in your soul! He is part of you and you are part of Him. Salvation is being cognizant, mindful and aware -- the consciousness -- that God, through His Spirit, His Omnipresence, dwells within you. You know you are 'saved' when you know incontrovertibly that God's Spirit and His Kingdom resides within you as evidenced when you treat the 'other' the way God treats you. But your will supersedes God's presence. You've got to want and walk the many steps on your own to love your enemies as God loves you.

We are all chosen – invited – to be redeemed, to be welcomed in the Kingdom of God. Just ask in faith! From that moment, you’re enveloped in His Spiritual Kingdom with the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit inside your conscience. Eternity starts at the moment of salvation.

All Christians are Zionists. God's Spirit resides in their souls. Christians 'reside' spiritually in Zion, His Spiritual Kingdom. Ideally, Christians live on Earth as in Zion (Heaven). Modern Israel is NOT Zion. Modern Israel is NOT a heaven on earth. Modern Israel has become a hell on earth for all my people. Why, then, do so many Evangelicals idolize Modern Israel?

'Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf' examines why many Christians are confused and bewildered when it comes to the Promised Land?

Where is the Promised Land? Wherever God is! Hallelujah!

Mankind cannot live up to the Law of Moses!

Gracefully God amends the Law with redemption. I’ll redeem all their sins on the cross, God says. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, dies on Calvary, sacrifices His blood for all of mankind -- Jews and Gentiles --, rises from the dead and returns to heaven. But before He ascends into heaven, He grants us a Divine Surprise: the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit combined with God’s Spiritual Kingdom, potentially inside every one of us.

God has never left us. One is free to leave Him. That's 'free will.' Nonetheless, God believes in you.

Will Christ come soon?

Will Christ come soon? NOT, if Evangelicals denigrate the 1.8 billion Muslims as enemies! NOT, if Christians mindlessly aid and abet the Israeli modus operandi to steal, kill and destroy (John 10: 10) while piously waving the banner of Holy Goodness! NOT, if Christians just talk the walk.

Jesus Christ wants Christians to BE mindfully Christian, not mindless sheep following and idolizing other mindless sheep.

Has Jesus ever mentioned Modern Israel as a sign for his Second Coming? No! Has Jesus ever rejected Samaritans? Muslims? No!

When will Christ return? When Christians Share and Witness the Good News; NOT the talk, the WALK!

14 And this Good News about the Kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all people; and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14 Good News Translation GNT).

Are you mindful – alert, aware, cognizant, conscious, heedful – of God's presence within you, inside your being, your soul? Are you mindful of others around you? God says: love me ... AND, love your enemies. Loving God is easy. Loving your enemies without God is impossible.

The people of Israel - Palestine must and are meant to be living side by side within one homeland inside two borderless zones, rejoicing freedom of

movement and the right of passage, sharing Jerusalem and the Region to, gradually, become a light of all nations.

What's stopping them? The 15 million+ Israelis and Jews alive today or the powerful, politically-connected 70 million Evangelicals in the US with 600+ million followers world-wide?

Are Evangelicals waiting on God to break the peace or is God waiting on the Evangelicals?

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.

Aleksandr L Solzhenitsyn reminds the best and the worst of us: … truth eludes us as soon as our concentration begins to flag, all the while leaving the illusion that we are continuing to pursue it. This is the source of much discord. Also, truth seldom is sweet; it is almost invariably bitter.

To paraphrase Solzhenitsyn, I am sharing with you a measure of bitter truth. ‘Christian Zionism … Enraptured Around a Golden Calf’ hopes to guide Christians back to the Land Without Borders.

So often, we navigate the highways of life, thinking we’re on the right track, only to discover we’re about to hit a brick wall. To reset our coordinates, we rely on tools, like a hammer to smoothen our dents caused by the many bumps on the road.

Some pick up their hammers to shatter glass, to harm, injure and destroy. Others work their hammers to forge steel, to shape something that lasts.

It's a love feast sharing this theo-geo-political eye-opener expounded with compassion, common sense and conviction; sprinkled with lots of personal

anecdotes; and, amplified with 500+ quotations, excerpts and testimonials, including more than 150 biblical references.

I look forward responding to your reaction. With every good wish to you, dear reader, I am,

Abraham A. van Kempen

A Word from Saint Pope John Paul II

"Prayer is not only speaking but, above all, listening. 7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them with its shadow, and a voice came from the cloud, This is my own dear Son—listen to him! (Mark 9: 7 Good News Translation GNT)"

Dedicated to All Our Children ...

Our Children ... Jewels More Precious Than Stone

My wife and children and the Staff of the Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague, join me in dedicating this work to all the children in the Region. Too many are now imprisoned. Too many are being emotionally, mentally and spiritually molested. Too many kids are killed, beaten, and kidnapped. Our future generation should be in school, not foregoing their optimism, innocence, and youth in tyrannical and exploitive military jails.

Some slap a soldier in the face. Others throw stones. Many are in jail for no reason at all, other than they fit the profile, not necessarily the crime; or, their brother or sister might just have been picked up.

If the baseball pitcher in Yankee Stadium throws a stone, it is lethal. But kids? Israeli Journalist Larry Derfner reports that 99 percent of the time, stones thrown by kids, land on other stones, on the street or against a building. If, in the most unlikely event, a stone strikes a soldier, rest assured the soldier wears riot gear, protected with a helmet and a bulletproof vest.

Nonetheless, the reprisals are 1,000 Eyes for 1 Eye.

On the other side are children who do not know better. They follow in the footsteps of their role models. They, too, are traumatized for life.

We dedicate our work to all children, the future of our planet, especially those who are presently in anguish, separated from their parents, because of a regime that knows not better. They fix blame rather than fix problems. Isn't it time to unbridle our moral imagination?

Our hearts are with all the children, everywhere.

Let’s Get Radical … Be Kind!

Prologue

What is better? A cataclysmic apocalypse or a catalytic thrust toward mutual trust! Is an Israeli-Palestinian Quest To Co-Exist on the horizon? Should terror for or against, perpetrated by either or both with the inevitable repercussions of reprisals, reign? Blood begets more blood, triggering the warring parties to fortify their resolve to regain their dignity; and, the world is enraged; and the people of Israel are split apart as are the people of Palestine.

Can we quietly Cross the Boundary of Life and Find New Meaning in Our Tangled Roots of Our Combined Histories,¹ a whisper of hope from American poet, Dario Robleto²?

Imagine, the Israelis and the Palestinians in full reconciliation, living side by side, within one homeland inside two borderless sovereign zones, working together as one alliance, rejoicing freedom of movement and the right of passage, sharing Jerusalem and the region not too different from the BENELUX countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), the forerunners of the open borders of the European Union (EU)?

We live in a very surprising world where nobody has anticipated the way the Berlin Wall would fall or the Arab Spring would rise up, says author Rebecca Solnit³ to Krista Tippett on On Being.⁴

As stated by Rabbi Michael Lerner⁵, in ‘Embracing Israel/Palestine’: The task is no longer a question of ‘who is right’ but to focus on building a path that will be best served for all, a path that embraces human courtesy predicated on kindness and a generosity of spirit.⁶

Can and will the GOOD Israelis and the GOOD Palestinians destroy their enemies by becoming friends with all the give and take to make and keep the friendship? Hope, unlike optimism, demands action. It is a struggle from darkness – both real and imagined – to reaching the light at the end of the tunnel. "Optimism without hope is mere wishful thinking."⁷

A Catalytic Thrust Toward Trust!

Israelis cannot love Israel enough unless they also love Palestine, all of Palestine and I’m not referring to merely the granules of sand sculpturing the land; and, the same is true on the other side. Palestinians cannot love Palestine enough unless they recognize the divine inspired and inherent goodness of Israel, despite some rotten apples spoiling the bunch, a minority tyrannizing the majority. And, all the sand in Israel and all the sand in Palestine are ONE. So, permit others to call the Land by the name of their conscience.

What’s in a name if it’s the same? ‘Holland’ and 'The Netherlands' are one and the same; two different names, same country, the densest populated nation in the world; inhabited by a diverse populace who are still dealing with all the ups and downs of coping with each other. Nonetheless, sharing a tiny piece of earth, the Dutch have created one of the highest living standards. The Israelis and the Palestinians could be as successful, if not more. Instead, Israel is but a state on the dole, dependent on foreign aid to finance, viewed by many as, Israel’s Final Solution, to annex more land for Jews-only, ‘cleansed’ of the indigenous natives.

Zion … A Heaven On Earth

For millennia, many have called the Region Palestine. Just as many have called the same region, Israel. And, Israel is often referred to as Zion.

However, Spiritual Zion, the City of God, the heart of human consciousness, stands central. Geographical Zion, the City of David, has always meant to be a place where people have been called to become the Light Among Nations. But historically and hysterically many people of Zion have failed God and fall prey, dancing around Golden Calves.

The geographical Zion of history foreshadows the heavenly Zion, the Spiritual Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. The Spiritual Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ is the Promised Land for EVERYONE⁸; a land without borders for EVERYONE; for ALL the descendants of the biblical Abraham, the Father of a Multitude of Nations, not just of one tribe (Genesis 17: 1-6, 20; Matthew 21: 43; 25: 32; Romans 11: 17; Galatians 3: 29; 6: 14-16 GNT). The heavenly Zion of the heart, not an earthly Zion, brings peace and salvation. Faith in Christ is universally directed. It is inclusive for all peoples. All are chosen to be invited to be redeemed into salvation, conditioned upon accepting Jesus Christ (God in the flesh) in faith. Zion is the climax of God's victory in Christ. It is never meant to be a specific geographical place.

Time for Real Zionism⁹ … Creating a Heaven on Earth

It is time for real Zionism. Simply stated, ‘Zionism’ means doing God’s work, God’s people creating a heaven on earth; ordinary people doing

extraordinary things; exemplary in every way, the Light Among Nations.

Time for Real Jihad¹⁰ ... Striving in the Path of God … al-jihad fi sabil Allah

It is time. The word ‘Jihad’ frequently appears in the Qur’an with and without military connotations, idiomatically articulated as striving in the path of God (al-jihad fi sabil Allah). Jihad, Arabic: ﺟﮭﺎد jihād, an expression of hope, literally striving or struggling, especially with a praiseworthy aim.

The word ‘Zion’ ranks among the most sacred words in Judaism and Christianity and, is just as sacred as the word ‘Jihad’ with strikingly similar meanings and connotations. Zion and Jihad are but two words that connect Jews, Christians and Muslims in our Abrahamic Faiths. Judaism and Islam are the two closest religions to each other. What’s more, for centuries Jews and Muslims have lived in harmony side by side. Many classical works of Judaism are written in Arabic. Historically, both have lived a lot better together than within Christian realms.

Lights and shadows with moments of grief characterize the relationship among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Can we work toward real reconciliation among all believers in the one God? Can we become one in the Spirit, to do that which has the most chance of being good for all concerned? Or, can we settle by living together, side by side?

Judaism honors the Almighty as protector of the human person and as the God promulgating the promises of life.

Christianity knows that God is love and expects mankind, created in His image, to manifest Agape¹¹ love.

Islam views God as good, compassionate and merciful. He grants the believers His abundant mercy.

Inspired by these convictions, those who are one in the Abrahamic Faiths – Jews, Christians and Muslims – reject the supposition that hatred threatens the earth; that endless wars continue to plague humanity; that mankind will destroy itself. And yet, peace between our people remains a bridge too far unless trust can be the thrust to bring us together.

Zion has a broad spectrum of meaning that is greater than any one single entity or identity. Zion, which simply means ‘fortification,’ is also known as the seat of power not just for the ‘kingdom’ of Ancient Israel, but especially the [Spiritual] Kingdom of God. Zion is also another name for Jerusalem, the ‘City of David’ but has always been superseded as ‘the City of God. (Isaiah 52:1-2, the City of God, the people of God becoming the Light among nations. Jeremiah 31:6, Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God. Mount Zion signifies the spiritual Kingdom of God as in Hebrews 12:22: you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" … the New Jerusalem that will descend out of heaven (Revelations 21:10-26), the ‘heaven on earth’).

Nothing is More Anti-Semitic than …

But nothing is more anti-Semitic¹² than ultra-nationalist or pagan ‘Zionism." Pagan-Zionists have bastardized a most beautiful, God-given word to veil their crimes and ingratiate themselves on the world stage, to justify their atrocities against a defenseless people under the banner of Holy Goodness. It is worse than FAKE, it is FALSE.

They have grimly misrepresented and gravely misconstrued true Zionism as depicted in the Sacred Texts. Many Jews are atheists not ‘Jewish’ (a religious Jew who observes Judaism). According to a 2015 WIN/Gallup Poll, 65 percent of the Israeli population said that they are either not religious or convinced atheists, compared to just 30 percent who say that they are religious.¹³

Fake Zionism has been a rupture and a rebellion against Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The ‘return to a homeland’ with a modus operandi of ‘taking – attacking, invading, dispossessing, displacing and imprisoning the indigenous people of Palestine – rather than humbly giving as exemplified by the biblical Abraham’¹⁴, defiles all that is good and Holy in our Abrahamic Faiths. When it has emerged in the late 19th century, most religious Jews have rejected this false doctrine, Fascism veiled as Zionism.

Pagan-Zionists reflect their former oppressors by perpetrating an ideology of ethnic cleansing and external expansion and by abandoning democratic

norms in pursuit of redemptive violence against anyone who stands in their way without ethical or legal restraints; equipped with lethal modern warfare, under pretense of defense. Their godless faith is in canons of deception, destruction and decadence. They sing the praises of greed and self-indulgence. Heathen-Zionism, hell on earth, is not the same as Biblical- Zionism, heaven on earth.

Does Heathen-Zionism warrant another world war? In my letter to President Donald J Trump¹⁵, I ask him: How would you respond, Mr. President, to another East Aleppo but this time in West Jerusalem or in Tel Aviv? Mr. President, you didn’t risk an Apocalypse, a world war between the US and Russia to rescue the people of East Aleppo? What if ‘they’ bomb Tel Aviv back into the Stone Age?

Collision Course Against Judaic Conscience …

Revealed as a dark side of Judaism, Heathen-Zionism rules and dominates the Israeli zeitgeist beguiling and chaining many Jews into believing in something they are not. This aberration ruptures civility in Israel-Palestine. Heathen-Zionism has split many Jewish families apart. Worse, Heathen- Zionists, dare in the glare of world television, torment and inter the indigenous Palestinians into concentrated encampments to live a hell on earth.

Without the Israeli - Palestinian Conflict, there would be an internal Israeli conflict that