Ali Ataie – Christian Zionism A Major Oxymoron
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Now at this point, I wanna turn to
the topic of Christian Zionism. And again, there
will be
a bit of repetition from our last podcast.
So again, these two words, Christian Zionist, they
should never be in opposition to each other.
Right? This is this is oxymoronic.
It's jumbo shrimp. It's a 4 sided triangle.
Now first of all, we know that Theodore
Herzl
himself met with pope Pius the 10th in
19 4 and asked for the Pope's support
for Zionism. And the Pope said, absolutely not.
That was in 2000 that was in 19
4. So part and parcel to design this
project from religious from from a Jewish religious
standpoint is the construction of the 3rd temple
on the so called Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Of course, the first temple was built by
Solomon in 1,000 BCE, was destroyed by Babylonians
in 586 under Nebuchadnezzar.
The second temple was built, around 550
sorry, 515
BCE
and destroyed, in 70 by the Romans under
general Titus. And now Jewish Zionists want to
build a third temple. Now traditionally, the Jews
for the last 2000 years
have believed that when the Messiah comes, he
will build
the 3rd temple, right, the Beit Ham Yitzgash,
Beit Hamakdis.
The difference between the Zionist Orthodox and the
Haredi Orthodox is that the Zionists want to
take the initial steps to hasten the coming
of the Messiah, which includes seizing the land
and purifying the land, as we said. The
Haredi believed that they must wait patiently for
the Messiah before doing anything.
Okay. So the construction of the 3rd temple
is mainstream traditional Judaism.
The difference is the circumstance under which the
temple will be rebuilt.
So there was a story of
a rabbi, he actually lived, he was a
Zionist, he lived in Israel. And then after
a few years, he realized
that, you know, we're oppressing these people in
a major way. And then he turned anti
Zionist. And the thought that came to him
was that, you know, that David has become
Goliath,
that any Israel has become the pharaoh,
right? At least the original pharaoh did not
kill the women and girls,
right? This new pharaoh slaughters indiscriminately.
So if Israel is a new pharaoh,
then Christian Zionists are the new Korah and
Haman, Khorun and Haman.
That is to say the money and military
that supports the pharaoh.
Now one of the largest and most influential
Christian Zionist organizations
in the world is called Kufi,
Christians United for Israel,
led by a loud mouth preacher from Texas
named John Hagee.
Why is it blasphemous? Right? Why is Kufi
Kufir?
Well, before I get to that, here's an
interesting piece of
trivia. Up until a few years ago, the
executive director of Kufi was a man named
David Brog,
who was the cousin
of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Very interesting. The executive director of Christians United
for Israel was Jewish, the cousin of the
Israeli prime minister.
And you can't make this stuff up.
So in the New Testament, Jesus himself, of
course, is the new temple. Now I don't
believe this. I don't believe that
Isa alaihis salaam is the new temple. But
this is what the New Testament teaches. This
is what Christians are supposed to believe, given
their canon of scripture. And of course, there
are problems with their canon, no doubt. But
I want the audience to see what I'm
doing here.
I'm taking the Christian scriptures as they are
and examining them vis a vis Zionism. Because
that the Christian scriptures, that's their huja. That's
their proof text. So the Quran
says Bring your book, bring your scripture if
you speak the truth, right? Does Zionism hold
up to scrutiny?
When we examine
the plain and obvious meanings of the Christian
scriptures as they are? If not,
then Christians must abandon their Zionism if they
want to remain true to their scriptures.
The gospel of John, of course, begins with
the prologue, the hymn to the logos, where
in the beginning was the word, the word
was with God, the word was God, and
the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.
And I quote the original languages here because
this is the key to understanding. I mean,
Okay? Today, there are Christian pastors
who don't know a lick of Greek or
Hebrew or Latin.
So that's that's a big problem.
Right? John
1,
So literally, the word became flesh and tented
himself,
tabernacled
himself. I like that. I've heard the translation
tabernacle because it really brings out the the
Jewish,
context.
That is literally what it says. And and,
you know, and dwelt among you would never
get that from an English translation.
I mean, you miss so much of what's
being said there. In other words, what the
author is saying here is that Jesus is
the new temple, the new Mishkan
that houses the Shekhinah, the presence of God,
right? Destroy this temple, I'll raise it up
in 3 days. It took 46 years to
build this temple. How are you going to
raise it up in 3 days? And then
John says, but he spoke of the temple
of his body. So this is very, very
clear that Jesus is the new temple.
And so for Christians to support the construction
of a third temple in Jerusalem is essentially
to deny
the New Testament Jesus, because Jesus replaces the
temple according to the New Testament. The New
Testament Jesus never utters a single word about
a third temple.
No. But he he just just look in
great detail like in Mark 13 of the
destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem 8
17 70 rather. It's there in Matthew 24
and Luke 21. And that this is it's
a prophecy that it will be destroyed by
the Romans. So and he doesn't condemn it.
You know, this is the end of the
temple.
Exactly. Yeah. You're right. He emphatically
predicts the disruption of the 2nd temple, never
talks about 3rd temple. So so now then,
we have Zionist Jews rebelling against God's decree
of exile,
and we have Zionist Christians rebelling against Jesus'
pronouncement that he is the new temple. I
actually call this the double Kufur theology of
Judeo Christian Zionism.
For Jews to end the exile and break
the 3 oaths is kufur according to traditional
Judaism. That's one kufur.
That's one disbelief. For Christians to support the
construction of the 3rd temple when Jesus is
the new temple is Kufur according to traditional
Christianity,
double Kufur,
theology. And of course, here's here's a quote
from the catechism of the Catholic church.
We looked at this last time as well.
Christ is the true temple of God, the
place where his glory dwells.
This is what every Christian used to believe.
Of course, here is pastor John Heagy, founder
and chairman
of CUFI.
I mean, you say he's loud mouth, but
if you listen to him on YouTube, and
I have, he really is loud, Mal. It's
actually he's he really is, a very outspoken
guy, and he has a sort of bewitching
charisma, I think, that he, spreads over his
followers, actually. His Yeah. I mean, he's a
master communicator. I mean, the way that he
cast a spell over his audience. Yes. You
know, it's it's I mean,
I mean, you can get a degree in
homiletics. Right? The art of preaching.
Yes. Even if there's very little substance of
what someone's saying, the way that they say
it. Yeah. Yeah. Quite enticing.
Yeah. Okay.
So Christian Zionism is a betrayal of the
New Testament Jesus. Jesus. So Zionism is a
betrayal of the old old testament teaching, and
Zionism is betrayal of the New Testament teaching.
And we mentioned this last time as well
that in in John's gospel,
the author of the gospel of John, he
moved the the day of the crucifixion up
one day,
to the day of the preparation of the
Passover. Why? Because this is when the lambs
of the temple were being slaughtered. And then
we have the Roman Centurion
impaling the crucified, Johann and Jesus, and blood
and water gushed forth from his side. And
we said, well, what was significance of that?
Well, at that very moment, the lambs were
being slaughtered,
for the Passover in the temple. And the
priest would open the side gate and would
wash the blood out with water. Blood and
water would gush forth from the side of
the temple. So we see what John is
doing in his gospel.
He is depicting Jesus as both sacrificial lamb
and temple. Jesus is the new temple.
Again, I don't agree with this Christology.
Okay? However, if Christians would just follow these
teachings found in their own books, they would
not they would not have any reason to
morally,
theologically,
financially, or militarily support the modern state of
Israel. And of course, the world would be
a much better place. And then we can
talk theology and Christology,
and historical and textual problems of the New
Testament canon. That's another conversation.
Christian Zionism is utter blasphemy,
according to the New Testament.
So this is what we have to help
our Christian friends and neighbors and possibly family
members,
to realize. So here's another one here, John
1st John 222.
Right? Who is the liar but he who
denies that Jesus is the Christ?
And then it says, Hutas estin antichristas.
This is the Antichrist.
The one who denies that Jesus is the
Messiah is the Antichrist.
Again, just to reiterate, this is a New
Testament, not my opinion, not the Quran, not
the hadith. This is a New Testament.
Okay?
There's this well known Palestinian
Christian pastor and professor living in Bethlehem
in the occupied West Bank. His name is
Reverend Doctor. Mundur Isaac.
And he's quoted as saying, they and by
they he means Christian Zionists the Christian Zionists
have turned the injil, the good news, into
our nightmare.
I wonder how many I wonder if Christian
Zionists know that every morning at 3:30 in
the morning, a Palestinian Muslim unlocks the door
of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in
Jerusalem.
Right? His name is Adib Juday.
The key has been in his family for
100 of years.
Centuries ago, the Christians entrusted a Muslim family
with the keys to the holiest
site in all of Christianity.
Because they knew that the Muslims would be
just with them.
I wonder how many Christian Zionists actually know
that.
Okay, according to the clear teachings of New
Testament, the Jews are no longer the chosen
people exclusively.
Okay, the New Testament advances replacement theology, right,
covenantal
supersessionism.
So supersessionism
is this idea that the Christian church has
superseded the nation of Israel
as God's covenant people.
Okay? Of course, this is not a total
replacement because Jews can still believe in Jesus
and must believe in Jesus if they want
to remain God's people. That's traditional Christianity.
Now Christian Zionists love to quote this verse.
Genesis 12:3.
Okay. This is their, you know, what we
say bread and butter. I don't know if
you use that expression in Oh, we do.
You do. I think you came to the
UK first actually, and then you borrowed to
EMI.
That makes sense. Yeah.
123. So this is where God says to
Abraham, I will bless them that bless you
and curse him that curses you.
So Christian Zionists take this to mean that
they must bless Abraham and his chosen seed,
the Israelites.
Therefore, if they don't bless and support the
modern state of Israel, then God won't bless
them. So this is what they say. Where
are they getting this from? A blasphemy called
dispensationalism.
This is not biblical. They were hoodwinked.
And the history is fascinating, and we'll get
into it in a minute Insha'Allah.
Of course, Paul of Tarsus was a supersessionist
to his very core. Right? So listen to
what Paul says in Galatians 3 16 about
God's covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. And
Christians again are supposed to believe the New
Testament writers,
not you know, John Hagee or John Nelson
Darby or C. I. Scofield.
So this is what Paul says, the promises
were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.
Right? And of course, a Christian Zionist will
say, yes, of course, amen.
But Paul continues.
Scripture does not say, and to seeds, meaning
many people, but to your seed, meaning one
person who is Christ.
So that's Galatians 316. In other words, according
to Paul,
God in Genesis
was only referring to Jesus Christ as being
Abraham's seed.
Only Jesus and the Christians who believe in
him are blessed,
Not the disbelieving Israelites and certainly not the
modern genocidal blasphemous
state of Israel.
Not Tel Aviv that hosts the largest pride
parade in the world, a 100 miles away
from Sodom and Gomorrah, right? And who spitefully
used the rainbow
as a symbol of their degeneracy and rebellion.
Of course, the rainbow was the sign of
the covenant that God made with humanity in
Genesis chapter 9,
not that Israel. So according to Paul, God
in Genesis was only referring to Jesus and
the Christians who believe in Him. This is
New Testament.
But Paul's not finished. He goes on to
say, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there
is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male or female, you are all one in
Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ,
then you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to
the promise.
So that's Galatians 3 2829. This is called
a conditional statement.
If you look in the Greek, it says,
a,
epsilon, iota is a conditional particle in Greek.
It's very clear this is a conditional particle.
If you belong to Christ,
then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according
to the promise. What does it mean to
belong to Christ? It means to believe in
Jesus. It's very clear what Paul is saying.
So Christians are the new chosen people according
to the New Testament. You're only chosen and
blessed
if you believe in Jesus.
There's another one here. It's not on the
slide here, but first Peter 29.
I I saw this later. So this is,
you know, apparently Peter talking to Christians,
but you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. So
he's talking to the Christians.
And here
here at 1st Thessalonians
2 14 and 15,
Paul is writing to his Christian congregation in
in Thessalonica.
This was in the mid fifties in the
1st century.
For you brothers and sisters became imitators of
of God's churches in Judea, which are in
Christ Jesus. You suffered from your own people
the same things those churches suffered from the
Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and
the prophets and drove us out and plea
displeased God and opposed all men.
So that is Paul of Tarsus. This is
not the Quran. This is not the hadith.
I'm sure that Christian apologists can defend these
things. But why is it that we never
hear these defenses?
We are always on the defensive. You know,
explain the verse of the sword, explain the
so called wife beating verse,
explain polygamy,
explain,
the jizya, explain jihad, explain this, explain that.
We're always on the back foot. So I
think we need to rethink our strategic engagement,
the public discourse. I mean, I've been answering
the jihad question for over 20 years. If
people don't know what jihad is by now,
then God help them. Right?
So now we have a few questions. Right?
It's time for us to ask a few
questions.
Romans, 6 and Hebrews 10, Paul says that
Jesus' sacrifice for sin was the be all
end all sacrifice.
So Jesus is the ultimate temple, the ultimate
high priest and the ultimate sacrifice. This is
New Testament Christianity.
Yet Christian Zionists fully support the 3rd temple
where both the priests
and sin sacrifices will return one day according
to Jewish messianism.
How can the followers of the New Testament
support this and call themselves Bible believing Christians?
They can't. Christian Zionism
is indefensible
from a biblical perspective.
So we need to ask a Christian Zionist,
are the Jews who wrote the Talmud
still chosen and beloved by God? Are the
Jews that wrote the Talmud still the apple
of God's eye, who cursed and slandered Jesus
and his mother in the Talmud?
And I might have referenced this last time
as well, a book by Peter Schaeffer,
published by Princeton University, Jesus at Talmud,
where we're told what the Talmud says about
Jesus and Mary. Of course, we have this,
famous,
Can I just can I just interrupt here?
That's a bit rude, but this is the
book. I do actually recommend it quite strongly,
Jesus in the Time by, Peter Shafer that
you're recommending. It's an excellent book. Highly,
some excellent,
critical reviews on the back,
scattered throughout the town with the founding document
of religious, and We find quite a few
references to Jesus, and they are not flattering.
And this matters, obviously, for a bunch of
reasons, but your point yeah. Sorry. Yeah.
I I know that, you know, Ben Shapiro
was was on Joe Rogan's podcast recently.
And Joe Rogan said, so you believe that
Jesus was just a prophet or something? And
he and he said, no. He was just
a Jewish guy who tried to start a
rebellion against the Romans and was killed for
his trouble. I see. And when he said
that, a lot of Muslims and Christians were
offended. I mean, it's offensive. Jesus was just
another failed some insurrectionist who died a criminal's
death. But let me tell you this, what
Shapiro, yeah, said was the g rated version
of what his Talmud says about Jesus.
However, just for the sake of balancing my
comments and being a bit fair here,
and I'm not defending the Talmud, obviously, but
we have to put its comments about Jesus
into context. So the rabbis who wrote these
things were reacting
to the New Testament Jesus.
Okay. As well as
the Jesus of Christian faith, not the historical
Jesus of Nazareth, not the real Isa Al
Islam. So this is really important. The New
Testament Jesus,
the Jesus of Christian faith claimed to be
God. So this is absolute blasphemy from a
Jewish perspective. It is the height of Kufur,
Numbers 23/19. I always try to quote this
at every podcast we do, Paul. Lo'yishnabikhaseif,
God is not a man that he should
lie. Right? The New Testament Jesus, the Christian
Jesus committed blasphemy.
So the Talmudic rabbis felt compelled to offer
a sharp critique. But rather than using more
academic and historical arguments, they opted for extremely
depraved
ad hominem attacks.
So so covenant covenantal supersessionism
was also the teachings of Christians
throughout the centuries.
John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo,
John Calvin, Martin Luther, the early church fathers
from the East and the West,
as well as pioneers of the Protestant Reformation,
all were advocates of replacement theology to a
certain extent. Martin Luther, the spearhead of the
Protestant Reformation,
he wrote he wrote a treatise called On
the Jews and Their Lies. And you will
be shocked to your core what he says
about the Jews. You won't believe your eyes.
I mean, Luther lost his mind.
Despite Luther being the main force of the
Protestant movement,
most Protestants are absolutely right to reject his
hateful anti Jewish
rant. And he was anti Jewish.
However, Christian, Zionist Christians are absolutely wrong to
reject Luther's main contention that the Jews who
disbelieved in Jesus as the Messiah
are no longer chosen by God. Why are
they wrong? Because this is the clear cut
teaching of the New Testament.
So here's the bottom line. Zionism is kufur
according to the New Testament,
and according to traditional Christianity. In the Gospel
of John chapter 8, Jesus tells the Jews,
it says, Hoi Iwo dihoi. So no longer
scribes and Pharisees. He tells the Jews that
if they were truly Abraham's seed, they would
do the works of Abraham. In other words,
the true seed of Abraham are those who
follow Abraham.
And then he says, no, you are children
of your father, the devil. Because you seek
to kill me, Abraham did not do this.
That's the New Testament Jesus. The Jews who
disbelieve in Jesus are the seed of Satan,
according to the New Testament Jesus.
It was New Testament passages like this that
prompted the Talmudic rabbis to say what they
said. You know, beware of the leaven of
the Pharisees, says the New Testament Jesus. This
is a teaching of the New Testament. That's
not the Quran or Hadith. I don't agree
with this teaching.
And I don't believe that the historical Jesus
of Nazareth taught these things.
But why is it that we almost never
hear Christians defending these things?
It's time for us to ask them. Are
are they embarrassed? Are they afraid?
I mean, do they consider these teachings indefensible?
Maybe Jesus was being hyperbolic
here.
But we don't hear anything from them. Do
they consider these teachings,
these these statements antisemitic? If so, why do
they continue to believe in them? We need
to get clarity. We need to ask them.