Comments to Episode 1: Political Influence
As usual, Al Jazeera’s reports are very professionally done. In that, I commend you. However, I humbly disagree with this report’s premise that evangelicals desire Armageddon; far from it. No one in their right mind would want or pray for such an event. I love Lee Fang’s reporting style and he did a stand-up job of telling a story, but the story he told is extremely slanted. The desire of evangelicals is for people to avoid the terrors of the Tribulation and worse yet, the horror of being separated from God for eternity. Evangelicals do desire that our political leadership are well informed for this purpose. But the video (parts 1 and 2) leave the impression that evangelicals are 1) looking for a fight, and 2) are praying for Armageddon. The real evangelical reads the scripture and follows the precepts laid down by the Lord. For example in Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” and Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” One interviewee, in particular, is looking for a physical fight. This is far from what Jesus taught. Dr. Hagee’s words were twisted purposefully. Yes, he used the words “warrior” and “fight,” (rather strongly) but their context in the story was skewed to look as if he was calling his congregation to fight a physical battle when his context was, and is, spiritual. Christians do not proselytize by force nor do we pray for Armageddon. A Christian warrior is one who will carry the gospel (the way to avoid Armageddon) to the ends of the earth. To tell a Christian to “get in the fight” is to encourage them to persevere and to share the gospel without any kind of physical harm to others. For we know our faith is that of peace, self-sacrifice, and service as we “turn the other cheek.” It’s true that some of us don’t do it very well. There are misunderstandings and different levels of spiritual maturity, but the premise of Christianity is to share the gospel peacefully.
Specific Problems with the Video
Timestamp
1:30 – Gary Burd of Mission M25 Ministry said that “Jesus asks us to fight.”
Rebuttal: Jesus never asks us to fight. He tells us to pray, to fast, to go and share the gospel, and to make disciples, but he never asks us to fight. Scripture supports a governmental militia in Luke 3:14, Romans 13:3-4, and 1 Peter 2:13-14. In John 18:36 Jesus indicates there are servants who fight but only in the realms from which they belong. This implies the reasonable existence of a heavenly realm and earthly realm armies. But Jesus never asks us to fight.
1:40 – Mr. Burd said Jesus said, “I didn’t come to bring peace.” This is a true statement from Matt 10:34 where Jesus was teaching that some will accept His message and others will vehemently oppose it. He was not teaching that we should cause damage or hurt anyone. He knew that teaching His cultural shift message of the gospel would cause others to become violent. Trouble will find us even when we lovingly share the gospel.
2:08 – Mr. Burd quoted Jesus from Luke 22:35-38 where He tells His disciples to buy a sword.
Rebuttal: Yes, He told His disciples to buy a sword because they were about to be treated as thieves and thugs rather than rock stars like they had been for the last three years. Self-defense became a very short topic at that moment. In fact, when they replied they had two swords already, His reply was “it is enough” which is best interpreted as “enough talk of that.” Jesus did not call them to arm themselves heavily and form a militia. That is the job of a nation state.
3:25 – Mr. Burd said, “The Bible says, ‘the warrior must be funded; an evangelist must be sent.’”
Rebuttal: Mr. Burd pulled that out of thin air. That statement is not in the Bible.
5:12 – Dr. Hagee describes (for the first of many times) the catastrophes of the Tribulation.
Rebuttal: Those happenings are amazing and movie worthy, but our job as believers is not to focus on those times but to love people enough to tell them how to avoid the catastrophes, because the rapture of the believers will occur prior to the Tribulation. If you don’t believe that, I’ll explain it to you on the way up.
6:30 – Dr. Hagee made a dramatic and emotional statement that we are “called to be warriors, and we need you to get in the fight.”
Rebuttal: The fight, he so dramatically speaks of, is to boldly and lovingly share the gospel with the world. It is not to physically fight anyone. I can see how this clip and others could be misunderstood.
7:25 Frank Schaeffer stated, “Generally they believe the Believers on Earth will be raptured to Heaven before things get really bad and that’s the promise to the evangelical that they will not taste death if Jesus comes back and the Rapture occurs in their lifetime.”
Statement: This is a true statement, which should, in a logical mind, change our focus from the terrible times of the tribulation, to lovingly sharing the gospel to as many people as we can, like Jesus told us to do in Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
13:25 Lee Fang “Ralph Drollinger used the Bible to justify the Corona Virus blaming gays and members of the LGBT community and really engage in the type of radical right rhetoric that you might hear on kind of dark corners of the internet.”
Rebuttal: Mr. Drollinger is doing everything he can to share the soul-saving gospel to our leaders but you put his message on par with the “dark corners of the internet.” Look at what he actually wrote in his study. “Accordingly, the coronavirus could be a form of God’s cataclysmic wrath. But having said that, I don’t think we should label the coronavirus as a form of God’s cataclysmic wrath, such as the form of wrath He manifests in the OT with the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the “unparting” of the Red Sea, because that form of God’s wrath is void of a human curative, and I think we’ll soon see a human cure for the coronavirus.” As for speaking of the LGBT community in his lesson, he simply quoted scripture, and not from a hateful stance.
15:50 Lauren Boebert stated, “There have been two Nations created to glorify God, Israel and the United States of America.”
Rebuttal: Rom 13:1 “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Based on scriptural logic, if a nation has existed, past, present, and future, it existed to glorify God, not just the United States and Israel. Clearly, Israel will exist in the end times. It’s unfortunate that we don’t see the United States in prophecy.
17:50 Francis Schaeffer’s son states “The bedrock of support for the state of Israel is there because American evangelicals think it will bring Jesus back quicker.”
Rebuttal: The reason evangelicals want to support Israel is because God said in Gen 12:2-3 “ And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” In essence, it is our desire for our nation to survive and do well. Based on our national policies that violate the precepts of God, we deserve harsh judgment from God. The evangelical’s thinking is that maybe, just maybe, the Lord will delay His judgment if we support Israel. Concerning the timing of His return, believers rely heavily on Matt 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The truth of the matter is that, over time, the gospel has been provided to every nation in the world, but not all at the same time. Therefore, technically, the Rapture could happen at any moment. You’ll often hear a believer say something to the effect of “come Lord Jesus come…” but it’s usually at a difficult time in life and out of frustration. It’s a request of the Lord to “get us out of here.” It is not a desire for Armageddon. No one in their right mind would desire such a thing. Armageddon is the unbridled destructive capability of man mixed with the wrath of God. We should not wish that on Hitler himself.
18:56 – “The Big Numbers who were there on January 6th protesting him not getting elected were evangelicals.”
Rebuttal: I’d say they may have been “misguided evangelicals.” Jesus never told us to protest our government. What happened at the Capitol that day was despicable.
19:39 – “The modern evangelical is preparing for an actual holy war. Armed training militia groups; plenty of guns, plenty of ammunition.”
Rebuttal: Again, the people who are armed, like those on Jan 6, are misguided. The vast majority of evangelicals would never think of participating in such a vile event. Real Bible believing evangelicals will be busy sharing the gospel, not guns.
20:14 Gary Burd – “He’s [Jesus] not going to send an army He’s going to lead an army. I want to be in that and I want to be right up in the front. Jesus said ‘the first shall be last and the last shall be first’ so if you really want to be at the front with Jesus you got to quit trying to fight to be successful. You’ve got to fight to be at the lower end.”
Rebuttal: We’ve got a number of theological problems in that nonsensical statement. First of all, when Jesus returns, He will be the only one fighting. The believers who have already been raptured will be with Him, but watching metaphorically, in the bleachers. Revelation 19:11-21 “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” Mr. Burd goes on to say he wants to ride right up front near Jesus to see it. I appreciate the enthusiasm and I’m sure we’ll all have a good view but our job right now, in the present, is to share the gospel. What is the gospel? The fact that Jesus is the Son of God, Who came to earth, Who paid for our sins by accepting God’s wrath against those (our) sins, and was murdered for it; Who was raised to life on the third day, as it was prophesied, and Who is now sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for everyone who believes this message. Nothing in the Word of God tells Jesus’ followers to physically fight in a militia. Nothing!
24:38 – 43:22 I have little -to-no personal context from which to comment on the plight of the Palestinian people other than to say, real evangelicals pray for their salvation; for the Palestinians, for Hamas, and for Israel. Real evangelicals want peace but we know our Savior has warned us that “In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”
44:27 – Mr. Burd seems to associate Jesus with the United States. The U.S. may be a tool, like every other nation in God’s plan, but we are not the savior of the world. That position has already been taken.
If you read through this lengthy rebuttal, “May The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”