Israel and the Apocalypse

More on the Politicization of the End Times

If you are knowledgeable about evangelical end times beliefs you might have raised some objections about yesterday's post. The specific issue concerns how Trump features into a lot of end times prophecies and scenarios.

But let me back up.

Over the last ten years I've kept bumping into weird things regarding evangelicalism and Judaism. I won't go into all the details about how I end up in these various spaces, but I often find myself among pentecostal evangelicals, where evangelical support for Trump is strongest. These are the same spaces where end times prophecy is deeply connected with right-wing politics. I'm a bit of a theological and political fish out of water in these rooms, but I'm an affable fellow and get along with people across religious and political divides

I was once in a room where a gentlemen, in the middle of his presentation about our need for Bible study, went off on a tangent about how, secreted away in the Vatican, were New Testament manuscripts written in Hebrew, manuscripts that pre-dated the earliest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. In short, he claimed, the New Testament was actually written in Hebrew but this fact had been hidden. The original Hebrew New Testament was being suppressed and covered up by the church.

This was obvious nonsense, as anyone familiar with New Testament scholarship knows. We have no Hebrew manuscripts of the New Testament that pre-date the Greek manuscripts. Consequently, I looked around the room as the presenter made this claim, citing only Youtube as his evidence, to see if I could detect any signs of incredulity. I didn't spot any. Everyone was just nodding along, taking it all in, hook, line, and sinker.

On a different occasion I was organizing baptisms out at the prison. A chaplain associated with another Christian Bible study asked if he could join us. I did the first few baptisms using the Trinitarian formula, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." After a bit, I stepped aside so our guest could perform the next few baptisms. He did, but used a very different baptismal formula. Speaking in Hebrew, he began to baptize "in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach." And so we went back and forth, between "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" and "in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach." It was such an obvious contrast I visited with the man afterwards about the origins of his baptismal formula. He was an evangelical, he said, but had recently begun to identify as a "Messianic Jew." I found this curious. Generally speaking, ethnic Jewish persons who come to confess Jesus as Israel's Messiah are called "Messianic Jews." But this gentlemen was a Gentile evangelical Christian who was now describing himself as a "Messianic Jew."

Over the years, I've had increasing contact with evangelicals-turned-Messianic-Jews out at the prison. Many of the men in my Bible study have "converted" from evangelicalism to the "Messianic Jewish" community out at the unit. They wear the kippah, adopt Jewish dietary practices, and celebrate Passover. Interestingly, the practices and beliefs of the Messianic Jewish community out at the unit aren't in any conversation with actual Jewish people or communities. The religion they are practicing is wholly of their own invention, guided by self-appointed leaders who have educated themselves in Jewish customs and beliefs. A lot of the men out at the unit are attracted to this group because it seems to be a more "authentic" version of Christianity, connected as it is to Jewish observances and practices. But given its lack of connection with actual Judaism, the "Messianic Jewish" community out at the unit has a mish-mash, do-it-yourself, bespoke kind of feel.

One more story. At the little church I've written so much about, Freedom Fellowship, this year some of our leaders have taken to celebrating the Jewish New Moons every month, complete with blowing a shofar at the start and end of the service.

Now, what is going on with all this?

On the one hand, a lot of the interest in Judaism and the Old Testament is simply due to a healthy and legitimate interest in the Hebraic roots of Christianity. And given the history of antisemitism and supersessionism in the Christian tradition, this is a welcome development.

That said, as illustrated in some of the anecdotes above, there's also some weird stuff going on in evangelical spaces when it comes to Judaism, some of it patently conspiratorial.

Which brings us back to Donald Trump and the end times.

Much of the evangelical interest in Israel concerns the role the Jews are believed to play in various end times prophecies. Specifically, based upon an end times reading of Romans 11, many evangelicals are looking forward to a mass conversion of the Jews, to either "Messianic Judaism" or "Christianity." So if you've ever wondered why evangelicals are so pro-Israel, this is the reason. Israel must be supported and protected because Israel, in its mass conversion, is a historical trigger in bringing about the Second Coming. Consequently, many evangelicals look for signs coming out of Israel of this pending mass conversion. For example, I was in another evangelical space where great excitement was expressed that a "red heifer" had been spotted in Israel. Again, since this isn't my world, I had no idea what the "red heifer" was referring to or why it caused so much excitement. Well, if you didn't know, the appearance of a "red heifer" features in some end times beliefs regarding the re-building of the temple, another purported trigger of the Second Coming.

So here's the thing. You have to be pretty far down the Youtube end times rabbit hole to know about the red heifer. And this is what I think is fueling a lot of the evangelical interest in, and conflation with, Judaism. Specifically, if you want to know more about the timing of the end times you need to know more about Judaism. Judaism is the key that unlocks the end times box. What you find, therefore, in pentecostal sectors of evangelicalism, where end times prophets and prophesies fill the Youtube channels and pulpits, is a fascination and melding with Judaism, some of which, due to the end times emphasis, borders on the conspiratorial.

And this is where Donald Trump comes in. In taking his very pro-Israel stances, like moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, many evangelicals believe Trump is moving Israel toward the end times triggers, like rebuilding the temple and its mass conversion.

All that to say, my post from yesterday ignored this connection. I asked evangelicals to be "consistently apocalyptic," and in this I meant viewing every nation as being inexorably pulled toward Judgment Day no matter who wins or loses an election. Fair enough, but many evangelicals do see Trump as playing a critical part in end times beliefs in how he is a defender and promotor of Israel. In this, evangelicals are being "consistently apocalyptic" given how they feel that Trump is moving us closer to the Second Coming.

Having now made this clarification, I do want to end with an ironic observation.

As I mentioned above, a lot of the evangelical interest in Judaism is legitimate and welcome. And yet, underneath a lot of this interest boils conspiratorial and politicized end times beliefs concerning the state of Israel and fate of the Jewish people. And while a lot of Jewish people have appreciated the pro-Israel support from evangelicals, many Jews have also expressed concern about how evangelical interest in Israel is mainly due to viewing the Jews as an end times domino. Evangelical interest in Israel, we could say, is a sort of eschatological utilitarianism, the Jews as means toward an eschatological end.