Does anyone know about Christian Zionism?
I found this article giving its beliefs. I wonder how true is it.
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/April_2007/0704058.html
Christian Zionism centers on a literal and fundamentalist interpretation of five biblical beliefs—beliefs, it should be noted, that are not shared by most mainline Protestant churches, or by Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christians—and not even by many moderates who consider themselves Evangelicals.
Its core Bible interpretations are:
* That God’s covenant with Israel is eternal (including the promise of “the land” belonging to Israel in perpetuity;
* That God’s plan was always the redemption of Israel as God’s chosen people. When Israel rejected Christ, the Christian church replaced Israel, but only temporarily. At the Rapture, the church will again disappear and Israel will again become God’s primary agent in the world;
* That one verse in the Book of Genesis—12:3: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you”—is pivotal, must be taken literally and applied to the modern state of Israel. Hence, Christians are divinely mandated to support the state of Israel and will face divine wrath if they do not;
* That the Bible’s prophetic books—including references to events like the Babylonian Exile, which occurred in 800 B.C.—predict current and coming political events, especially cataclysmic natural disasters signaling Christ’s *Second Coming. Favorite biblical books are Daniel and the Book of Revelation, both filled with obscure symbolism and elaborate descriptions of the end of the world;
* That modern Israel is the catalyst for the countdown to the End Times (persecution, the Rapture, coming of the Antichrist, etc.), and that current political alignments will determine the future. A major contemporary belief is that the state of Israel (with financial backing from Christians) is destined to war with the pagan nations (Iraq, Iran, etc.), thus bringing about Armageddon, or the end of the world, and thus hasten the Second Coming of Jesus.
Christian Zionists believe that support of the state of Israel is a divinely mandated obligation in order to ensure their own salvation and to hasten the Second Coming of Jesus. Ironically, Jews are then expected either to convert and accept Jesus (which Christian Zionists consider unlikely) or be damned along with other “infidels” (e.g., Muslims) with whom they war. God is only “using” Israel to save Christians, the new heirs to the new Israel.