David Jeremiah on the election
A brother after church asked me to review this sermon .....I told him I would need to email that response to him so here it is. Just watch the video by clicking on the top line before you read my response. Thanks, Jonathan
Hi Brother,
You asked me what
I thought of David Jeremiah’s video.
That is a huge question but it is a job I welcome because it’s important
for me to clarify things in my own mind.
I was eager to listen to David Jeremiah because I have a friend who went to Liberty University
who now lives in California
and attends his church. I knew he was
broad cast on WDAC but I rarely listen to the radio unless I am driving so I
never heard him before. But I
understand the theological stream from which he comes so what he said was not a
surprise to me.
I appreciated the
respectful tone of his address. I
suspect he is a genuinely nice guy. And
I genuinely feel in agreement with him on almost everything related to abortion
and the sanctity of marriage issues.
I’ll need to explain why as a Mennonite
Church we strongly
disagree with his assumptions related to the Nation of Israel. I also need to explain why the inclusion of
economic and justice issues are important to us in the Mennonite Church
and why those issues were exempt from David’s message.
David sees the
message of the Bible as the message of salvation. The Mennonite Church
does too. It is the story of God
reaching out to Man in our sinful condition and offering forgiveness/redemption
and new life to walk with God. David
sees the creation of the nation of Israel as the creation of the
people of God. When the Jewish people
were obedient they prospered …..when they worshipped other gods their enemies
came and conquered them. Sin was
redeemed through blood sacrifice of a lamb.
Jesus came as the Lamb of God and became that sacrifice; that by
believing in his Lordship we claim that sacrifice for our self and we are redeemed/saved.
David also sees God’s covenant with Abraham and promising
him that he would be father of a great nation…. Plus the second covenant…. that
he would give them the land that he would show them as being God’s forever
promise to the Abraham’s children as being very significant. God did fulfill these promises. As a Mennonite Church
we believe those promises of land were fulfilled 3000 years ago.
But the ultimate promise was that through these promises the entire
world should be blessed…..we believe through Jesus the Son of God.
The funny thing that happened was, Jesus called himself the
King of Jews but he took no throne. The
Temple was central to Jewish worship…..but Jesus said destroy this temple and
in three day I will raise it up….meaning that He Himself was God’s idea of a
Temple…..and today we believe he resides in each person who names his name
which means as we gather together we are the temple. Jesus told the Samaritan women that the day
is coming when we will not worship in Samaria or
Jerusalem but
in spirit and in truth. In other words his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom and the Gospel is
now for all people everywhere and not just for the Jews.
David Jeremiah believes this too. But a strange thing happened in Christian
history around 1900. Jewish people were
treated badly by Christians for generations in Europe
and some dreamed of reclaiming a nation for themselves. Some persons dreamed creating a colony in South America and others dreamed of their ancient homeland
which was occupied by the Ottoman Turks.
When the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany
in WW1 and they lost….the Ottoman Empire was
broken up and divided among the allies.
Great Britain thought
that they could solve their Jewish problem by exporting them to Israel. The migration from Britain and especially
from Eastern Europe proved too difficult to England to handle protecting the
natives.…..At first the Palestinian people welcomed them…..they had lived for 2000
years with Jewish people almost always in peace. These people came with European education
and money giving them jobs and income that they had not had before. But soon the natives were taken advantage of. These new immigrants became occupiers and started fighting against the Arabs and
Palestinians, forcing them from their land….. then in 1948 claiming their
independence becoming rulers of the country. As a result millions of
Palestinians were either killed or forced into refugee status in the West Bank and Gaza.
A large number of Christians in this country watched all of
this with awe. Could this be the hand
of God?? A view of prophesy called premillennialism or dispensationalism developed which David Jeremiah would
support claimed that it was.
It essentially says that modern Israel is the fulfillment of
ancient prophesies. Jews will retake
their land and occupy the temple once more.
Then Jesus will come and rapture his elect. Then the Anti Christ will come and reign for
7 years over the whole world….first as an agent of peace but then everyone will
get the mark of the beast….666... and if you don’t have it you will be
slaughtered. After this time of
tribulation Jesus will come again in a great battle conquer and defeat
Satan…bind him in hell….and Jesus will reign from Jerusalem for 1000 years of peace when the
lion will lie down with the lamb. It is
during this time when it will make sense to follow Jesus teaching of the Sermon
on Mount……because it sure doesn’t make sense to follow it now because Satan is
loose on this earth and need to be restrained…..sometimes violently. After 1000 years there will be the second
judgement and we live in heaven forever and ever. Probably I left out some additional
complications and lot’s of preachers add their own creative twist but I think
this is its essence.
Of course there are lot of Bible verses to put together this
riddle to prove it’s truth….. But the Mennonite preachers, who believe Jesus' teaching as God in flesh trumps all goals of "nation building" found in the Old Testament, just stood back and
shook their heads.
This just didn't
sound like Jesus' way of operating.
They
always believed Jesus would come again ….there would be the judgment and we would
live with God eternally.
Simple as
that.
Why would Jesus need a clash of
nations to provide him with the platform from which he would operate?
Jesus is the God for ALL People.
We have the nerve to believe the Jesus’
teaching is for us to practice right now.
We don’t have a tribal theology with some people chosen and others
not.
All are Chosen including
Gentiles.
We believe we live at peace
with all people following Jesus which means a willingness to suffer as he
did.
We don’t use the sword.
I wrote something in a blog one time about our
difficulties with
”Christian Zionism”
http://jonnychuck.blogspot.com/2011/12/zionism-revisited.html
You may like to read this if you like but we all know how deeply entrenched this conviction is among our American
people. Israel can do no wrong. If Obama so much as passes up and invitation
to visit the Israeli head of state it is call a snub and it makes the
news.
Mitt Romney as a Mormon
believes Jesus is coming again to rule somewhere in Missouri....actually according to Romney Jesus has two headquarters, first in Jerusalem and then also in Missouri. Our ability to occupy the “Land” is very important theologically. The land is something we fight over. So Mormonism and Israeli Zionism really are
not much different. It’s just for
Mormons our country is the promised land for us as we are part of the 10 lost
tribes. As follows of Jesus however we believe part of following
Jesus is a willingness to identify with all people especially the landless….the immigrant/the
refugee…..as a pilgrim…..and hold the things of this world very loosely. We need to recognize the ancient blessing to
Abraham that he will bless those who bless him and curse those who curse
him…..extends to all people even our enemies. Can I curse anyone and not expect to be the recipient of that curse.
This is why I just
shudder when I hear both Candidates express their desire to kill and destroy
those who oppose us. Romney wants to expand the military budget by 5
trillion dollars on another 20 percent tax cut.....Obama entertains the option
of continuing to pressure Iran to submit to our authority and another war is
not off the table. Actually I feel like Obama is pushed to this position
because the political pressure of our unbridled support for Israel is so strong. Romney is just too eager for a war with Iran.
I also don't like
David Jeremiah's inference that if we are righteous nation we will prosper.....this
is the carrot to make us vote a certain way. Certainly China has
aborted more babies then anyone and they own the world. I also wish
that Christians would really care about traditional marriage in their own lives
if they want to uphold traditional marriage as the model of God.
Certainly we believe this whole heartily but if it's true that evangelical
Christians divorce at the same rate as nonbelievers as the studies
show.....then it is tough for us as Christians to have leg to stand on opposing
same sex marriages. When we say "love till death us
part" we really are practicing a minority viewpoint and it certainly
won't win any elections.
I also resent using
Billy Graham as a model for statesmanship even though he has preached the
Gospel around the world. There has never been a war he did not
support especially the Vietnam War, supporting Reagan during his involvement in
Latin America, and praying with George Bush before Iraq. I really fear that
Romney would be a puppet to Benjamin Netanyahu and be quick to start a war with Iran. Actually
I wonder how anyone could know who the person is that they are voting for if
they vote for Romney. His campaign is a joke when it comes to
anything predictable.....which means in office he would be completely beholden
to forces of Rush Limbaugh and the like. He does not have conviction in
his body unless it is to keep his 15% tax rate. He is a salesman and he cares about the bottom line so anything can be said to that end.
I also wish Christians should admit that they have been used
with the Pro Life lip service of the Republican Party....in order to
promote an immoral selfish economic policy. Could Ron have really
been pro life when Nancy
was not....How could George H been Pro Life when Barb was not.
Maybe George W was....because he had some kind of conversion and stopped
drinking at age 35 or so...but how would we know. No Pro Life
president has done a single thing to advance the cause of restricting
abortions.....even Romney says he is Pro Life but then last week he said he
would not do anything to change the laws. So what’s the
point....it's all about selfish economics. So the evangelical
community has been hoodwinked into following a selfish immoral economic policies of the republican party
believing they were voting for God because they claim a Pro Life clause in the
platform but they are just playing games. Whenever someone says what platform supports everyone runs for cover saying we don't mean that.
This subject of economics brings me to another dimension of
what it means to be “Saved” in our Mennonite
Church. We agree wholeheartedly that to be saved
includes forgiveness from sins to live a life of righteousness. But how did Jesus himself introduce himself
to his people? "The Spirit of the
Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He
has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the
blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
The year of the
Lord’s favor comes from the Old Testament law where God told them:
Leviticus 25:10
Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all
its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to
his family property and each to his own clan.
The Law goes on and on….but the point was some people
because of their gifts, ambition and sometimes good fortune like having rain fall
prosper and do well. They are able to
buy up the land of the neighbors and make them their servants. God said this is natural but all people are
equally loved by him so after 50 years we must redistribute his blessing to all
the families and we start over again. It
was called the year of Jubilee. They
never kept it very well…..so when Jesus brought it up they wanted to kill
him. It’s a justice practice…..we don’t let the
financially blessed dominate forever.
In our country it’s called inheritance taxes. To have a population of trust fund kids is
really harmful to the country. As a
Mennonite people we don’t believe economics, titles, or position separates us
from each other. In our congregation I
like to think we are the poor and the voluntarily poor so that all might
live. I'm sure that statement would get a lot of
votes. I can’t understand why the
Republican Party is so resistant to the idea of progressive taxation. This message of justice is one that David
Jeremiah does not talk about.
But sharing economically is really central to Jesus message
of his new Kingdom. Think about Mary’s
song rejoicing that God found favor in her and the rich are sent empty
away. Also think about all the times things are said
that if you don’t love your neighbor how can you love God. If you see your brother in need and don’t
share how do you think you have the love of God in your heart. In fact our love for God is defined by caring in concrete ways like providing water, shelter, or sitting with those least among you. Yet it is the Food Stamp program & health services set up for the needy which get sliced the quickest especially by the
Republican party.
If I believe in a foreign policy of non intervention such as
Ron Paul, environmental and conservation policies of the Green Party, comprehensive
health policies such as Canada has, marriage between a husband and wife as a life
long commitment, believe in progressive taxation as a expression of our
commitment to Jesus, living our expression of Jubilee economics, view
abortion as sin, who could I vote for? So I also take exemption when
David Jeremiah says to not vote is a sin…..because no matter who you vote for
you feel dirty when presidents do things that make you cringe…..such as killing
people with drones...which both say they are quite willing to do.
These nationalistic elections have divided my
congregation. I don't know but I think that most churches which divide - divide
during election years. Certainly this was our case. We
had prayer meetings where we prayed for over an hour straight. People
would pray prayers thanking God for George Bush and what a good job he was
doing......it was like we were making political speeches to each other with our
eyes closed. Even though most of us traditional Mennos did not vote
it was still a tension. I just wish people would be a bit humble
about their political persuasions and say, Yes....both sides are full of sins
.....Now let's go about building the kingdom
of God on earth as it is in heaven. It’s so good we go to church with a bunch of
refugees who work for $8.00 an hour and survive on food stamps. I feel like
our best vote is to walk in step with this world’s most vulnerable. If I
believe that Romney would cut food stamps again as our Governor already has should
I vote against Romney to support the people in my congregation? It would
be his tradition to balance the budget on the backs of the poor. Should I
vote for Obama because he has come out in support of the dream act? At least he
is a little bit sensitive to the "stranger and alien even though I understand he has deported more people the George Bush......or
should I Trust the Lord? These are hard questions
So yes I enjoyed watching the video. I also want
to write to my friend to tell him I watched it. It's just David
Jeremiah is so out of touch with the world as we see it as Mennonite Christians. He is concerned about a nation.....we see the
world. He thinks Jesus still has a tribe defended by horses and
chariots when we think God cares about all people especially those oppressed
such as Palestinians. He wants to stone the sinner....when we think
Jesus reserved his greatest and only condemnations for those who brought judgment on others. He thinks prosperity is really important....the
motivating factor for righteous living and we think we are totally out of sync
with the world as pilgrims/refugees.....like voluntarily identifying with the
refugees....to the point that we sacrifice our own life that they might
live. He thinks waging an advertising campaign spending 3.5 million
dollars is a good use of funds......and we have no idea where that kind of
money could come from. Gracious! a Christian Super Pac.
I just want us as Christians to understand this political world is something
we cannot trust and if we get involved in it we should do it with hardly any
passion at all....After all we are pilgrims.
I am sure this is a bigger answer then you expected but you
asked for it so I needed to respond.
Thanks, Jonathan
