The Pop Church and Race Hatred

By Gordon Ginn, Ph.D.

Open Letter to Christians, I and II aroused a cloudburst of comments and controversies. In this letter Dr. Ginn approaches the question of how a contemporary Christian view of he Middle East is inciting race hatred… ED.

OPEN LETTER TO CHRISTIANS, No. 2 By Dr. Gordon Ginn

The prophet Jeremiah was a lone voice crying out to an entire nation to stop, look and listen to God’s warnings. We are living in similar times and there are comparatively few voices calling out to Christian dispensationalists to stop, look and listen.

The Immediate Problem

Since the awful tragedy of September 11, 2001, Arab and Muslim individuals in America have been subjected to insults and even attacks. The whole populace has now been saturated with the usual mass media concentration of alleged facts that consciously place the Israelis in a favorable light and unconsciously put Arabs in an unfavorable light. These insults and attacks attest to the effectiveness of this all-out endeavor to guide Americans into the cattle chutes of a singular mind-set.

The saddest thing about all this is the part played by the dispensationalist dogma of millions of Christian preachers, teachers and media persons. Thousands of dispensationalist churches in the U.S. have emitted a steady stream of "prophetic" messages and comments urging their constituents to pray for Israel, Jerusalem, and Jews in general because they are God’s chosen people. Billions of Pro-Israel printed materials have been distributed since 1948. Christian talk shows expose the evils of Islam but never the sins of Israel. I am glad that these efforts are protected by the First Amendment, and I am thankful that the First Amendment protects mine. However, when urged to stop, look, and listen to Biblical interpretations differing from their own, dispensationalist Christians often call the messengers anti-Semites.

Dispensationalism has taken evangelicals and fundamentalists by storm, but probably 90% of them haven’t a clue about its origins. And now Christians are in open verbal war with one another since the attack on the World Trade Center. This is precisely what our great Adversary wants, and he is “laughing all the way to the bank" of temporary victory.

A few days ago I telephoned a Christian ministry that operates a radio talk show. Their guest that day has been an apologist for contemporary Israel for many years, and he represents another Christian ministry with a colorful magazine that extols the virtues of the "chosen ones." I told the host and the V.P. of that non-profit corporation that they were glaringly pro-Israel. They are selling a $5 booklet revealing the evils of Islam, but they have nothing that reveals the evils of the Jewish Talmud and Cabala. I said, "We are Christians; why are we fighting one another?" I was accused of being anti-Semitic. They hung up on me.

I ask the reader, Have you studied the history of dispensationalism? From where did it arise? Do you know how it began and who labored to promote its success? Who benefits from the doctrine? If you are not personally acquainted with its origins, then why not devote some time to honest, fair-minded investigation? Surely the Lord will reward an honest approach. Contact us for help if you wish.

Dispensationalists should stay clear of promoting Israel in these times of inflamed passions. Such a biased approach has for years caused dissension in the Middle East, and it has now invaded our own land.

Dispensationalist views help to incite hatred. Arabs were once great friends of the West. They helped England defeat the Ottoman Empire in World War One but the West then betrayed them and later assisted the Zionist take-over of a U.N. partitioned Palestine. Misinformed Christians became enamored of dispensationalism, an idea rooted in the minds of ancient Jewish chiliasts whom Jesus had rejected, and now we are up to our eyeballs in an inflamed world impasse. All of this has acute eschatological implications, but dispensationalist doctrines obfuscate them. May God have mercy on all of us.

Gordon Ginn, Ph.D. Smyrna Publications smyrnagg@yahoo.com

Gordon Ginn’s books and audio tapes are also available at the WHTT Bookstore.