[2] Some Radical Views of Early Christian Zionists Regarding Their Opponents
In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.
When Protestantism came, a new doctrine was born about the Jewish past, present, and even the future. This doctrine is “Christian Zionism, which was described as a Hebrew or Jewish resurrection, as it repudiated the Catholic belief about the Jews, promoted the idea that the Jews are God’s chosen people, a favoured nation, the Old Testament as the main source of Christianity and a book of history related to the end of time.
The founder of this Christian Zionism, Martin Luther, declared his revolution against Catholicism for its distortion of Christianity and thereby prevented the Jews from embracing it. He aimed to convert the Jews to Christianity, however, when he saw that they would not convert, but rather worked to “Judaize Christianity” and influence it, he turned against them at that time and expressed his hatred for them in his book that was published in the year 1544 entitled “The Jews and Their Lies,” in which he demanded their expulsion from Germany, and even from Europe.
In summary, Christian Zionism, since its founding, was a strong protest against the Catholic Church and heralded a new era of Christian-Jewish tolerance. I mentioned previously that after the separation of King Henry VIII from Rome, Christian Zionism stormed Britain and was established by a royal decree issued in the year 1538 when Henry VIII replaced the Pope of Rome as Supreme Head of the Church of England. Thus, the opposition remained manifest between the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, Christian Zionism, and Judaism. Pope Pius declared Catholicism’s opposition to the Balfour Declaration, which was issued in 1917. However, after World War II, some Catholics began to sympathise with Zionist ideas on several issues, which may be mentioned in section four of this chapter. It is worth noting that with the emergence of Christian Zionism in America, especially in the last third of the twentieth century – I mean the emergence of its strength and effects in Many areas – its trends have penetrated Catholic circles. In statistics prepared by the Gallup Institute, 17 Catholics considered themselves fundamentalists and believed in the Jewish resurrection and the second coming of Christ. [Footnote a] Thus, the “Protestant” Zionist Christian influence on Catholics developed to the point that “Pope John Paul II began to approach Zionist ideas, affirmed the innocence of the Jews from the sin of killing and crucifixion, as well as affirmed the Jewish origin of Jesus Christ in a document approved by the Vatican in 1985. [Footnote b]
Catholics traditionally voted for Democratic Party candidates for the presidency and Congress, and the Catholic Church has tended to connect the “Catholic voice” with the candidate who supports the church’s social program. However, with the influence of the rise of religious revival in America in the 1980s, the Catholic vote shifted to the Republican Party, which is historically a party of white Protestants, instead of the Democratic Party, which is historically a minority party. The Catholic vote had an impact on the victory of President Ronald Reagan, and the Republican Party’s share in the 1994 legislative elections was 53% of the votes of white Catholics. Thus, the traditional connection between Catholics and the Democratic Party was broken, with the Catholic vote in favour of the Republican Party, which was traditionally associated with Protestantism. This new Catholic-Republican connection emerged as a result of the connection between religious and political conservatism within the Christian Right, which brought together the Protestant and Catholic religious right and the political right within the Republican Party.
The above, and others, confirm that Catholics in America, although they have a deep religious connection to the Vatican, Christian Zionism, both religious and political, has affected them a lot, especially regarding their stance towards the Jews and some Zionist ideas. The Orthodox Church, and all the churches of the East, neither support Christian Zionism nor Jewish Zionism, but rather believe that Jerusalem should always belong to Christians only and that neither Jews nor Muslims have any right to it. However, we find their writings indicating that the Jews and all Christians of the West are closer to them in contrast to the Muslims, and there is an apparent loyalty between them. [1]
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Footnote a: The Anti-Christ DAJJĀL, the Return of the Messiah, JESUS Son of Mary and the Unleashing of Gog and Magog: https://abukhadeejah.com/dajjal-false-messiah-jesus-gog-magog/
Footnote b: Prophet Isa [peace be upon him] was never killed nor crucified in the first place, so this apology is based on a false belief. Allah says:
وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا ٱلْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ فِيهِ لَفِى شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًۢا
بَل رَّفَعَهُ ٱللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا
And because of their saying (in boast), “We killed Messiah ‘Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allah,” – but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of ‘Iesa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man), and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not [i.e. ‘Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary)]; but Allah raised him [‘Iesa (Jesus)] up (with his body and soul) unto Himself (and he is in the heavens). And Allah is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise. [Surah Al-Nisaa. Ayaat 157-158]
[1] An Excerpt from “As-Sahyuniyyah An-Nasraaniyyah, Diraasah Fee Daw’i Al-Aqeedah Al-islaamiyyah”. p404 -407