ROY ADAMS

y original intention for this editorial was to do a retrospective on the passing year. But as I leafed through back issues of news magazines to refresh my memory, the March 25 Time magazine cover story gripped my attention and would not let it go.

Centered on the carnage in Palestine and Israel following the suicide attack March 10 that killed 11 people in a Jerusalem café, the account carried (on page 34) the picture of an Israeli man in deep mourning at a funeral the day after. The facing page showed a frightened Palestinian boy (about 5 years old) just after his father and grandfather had been killed in the resulting fighting March 12. He sat amid the rubble of a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, a half-eaten sandwich in his hand, and a confused, where's-my-daddy look on his bewildered face. I found it impossible to shake the images from my mind, or to consider other events of the year begging for inclusion.

Where is the civilized person anywhere whose heart does not bleed for the innocent sufferers of this troubled region? Who can possibly have an interest in seeing that horrifying struggle continue?

With such questions lingering in my mind, I sat down to watch the October 6, 2002, broadcast of CBS's 60 Minutes. According to the report by correspondent Bob Simon, the Christian Coalition "wants to make sure that the Bush administration sees the struggle in the Middle East between Jews and Muslims their way-the Christian way." The Reverend Jerry Falwell, who later in the program would call Muhammad "a terrorist," expressed the belief that "the Bible Belt in America is Israel's only safety belt right now." And Moral Majority cofounder Ed McAteer came on camera to say that the struggle in Palestine is the beginning of the final battle.

Fueling this attitude, said Simon, is the popular Left Behind series, a string of novels by evangelicals Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, sensationally depicting (in Simon's words) "the final battle in the history of the future . . . fought on an ancient battlefield in northern Israel called Armageddon. It will follow seven years of tribulation." The bottom line is that "the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland is . . . a precondition for the Second Coming of Christ."

Firm in this belief, these evangelicals have no qualms insinuating themselves into the volatile mix of Middle East politics. Last April, when the U.S. president called on Israel to withdraw its tanks from Palestinian towns on the West Bank without delay, "Falwell shot off a letter of protest to the White House," said Simon, "which was followed by a hundred thousand e-mails from Christian conservatives. Israel did not move its tanks. Bush did not ask again." Said Falwell, looking back on the incident: "I really believe when the chips are down Ariel Sharon can trust George Bush to do the right thing every time."

Outrage
"God save us from these people," said a frustrated Yossi Alpher, political analyst and former Israeli intelligence officer appearing on the program. "They are leading us into a scenario of out-and-out disaster." "We have to get God out of this conflict," he boomed, his voice breaking with outrage, "if we're going to have any chance to survive as a healthy, secure Jewish state."

What a disgrace to the cause of Christianity, these evangelicals! But that's what you get when you build your theological edifice on faulty biblical exegesis. How I wish they each could read the chapter "The Role of Israel in Old Testament Prophecy," in volume 4 of The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary!

Two thousand years ago angels lit up the sky over this hotly contested land, proclaiming peace (Luke 2:14), a message totally lost on these misguided followers of the Savior. In their zeal to force the Second Coming, they completely ignore the reason for the first, staging rallies and making incendiary statements that exacerbate an already precarious situation. "They don't love real Jewish people," said Jewish author Gershom Gorenberg. "They love us as characters
. . . in their play."

How true! It's sheer nonsense-theological nonsense in God's name. More than that, it's dangerous. Millions of precious human lives could be in peril.

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Roy Adams is an associate editor of the Adventist Review.