How does Eschatology shape politics here in America? Does the right view really matter?

Thanks again to Terry Cropper for this article:

The relationship between Eschatology and politics is a controversial one. In this articles will look at how eschatology has shaped politics here in America. It is also interesting that other country's such as Iran has use striking parallels of theology to shape their politics as well.

First will look at how theology has shaped politics here in America, then will look at some interesting parallels of theology that has shaped politics in the Middle East in recent years. Unfortunately, the role of eschatology in influencing politics has received little attention these days. The United States has a long tradition of separating church from state, but an equally powerful inclination to mix religion and politics. Religion plays an important role in American politics. Throughout the nation’s history political leaders have used religion to galvanize support, structure policy agendas, and justify political actions. Similarly, religious leaders have taken their faith into the public sphere.

Religion has been a key player in American politics, understand many social and political movements. Much of this article has to do with the impact religious institutions and actors have on politics.

Different theologies translate into different world views, political orientations and policy agendas. Premillennialism is one type of Christian eschatology that is potentially politically significant because proponents suggest that the theology forecasts the rise of a political and religious leader (the Antichrist) who sweeps over the geopolitical and economic landscape ushering in the end of days.

Eschatology (the theology of the last things) or the study of the End Times is one element of Christian theology that has profound implications for politics. Premillennial elites also suggest that disasters and political turmoil of the present put us on the cusp of the final era in human history. Furthermore, this theology has been popularized in New York Times best selling books and is held by some prominent figures in the Christian Right.

American leaders have wisely avoided the topic of eschatology and politicians are rarely asked about their religious belief in the end time and how that faith impacts their politics. Religious institutions like churches, synagogues, temples and mosques, as well as organizations like faith based charities play a vital role in the politics society.

As long as religion plays a role in the identities of people, it will play a role in politics. Religion has always been a major force in U.S. politics, policy, identity, and culture. Religion shapes the nation's character, helps form Americans' ideas about the world, and influences the ways Americans respond to events beyond their borders. In our country and other country's as well Religion and theology and Politics are intertwined greatly.

THEOLOGY IN THE WHITE HOUSE

President Ronald Reagan, appear to be true believers in doomsday theology.

"In the 38th chapter of Ezekiel, it says that the land of Israel will come under attack by the armies of the ungodly nations. For the first time ever, everything is in place for the battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ isn't far off. It can’t be too long now. Ezekiel says that fire and brimstone will be rained upon the enemies of God’s people. That must mean that they will be destroyed by nuclear weapons." (Ronald Reagan, recounted by James Mills, president pro tem, California Senate in San Diego Magazine, 8/85)

Pat Robertson and most of the politically inclined dispensationalists speak about the Soviet Union in this vein. It is indicated that President Reagan shares this view also. James Mills of the California State Senate reported on 1971 conversations with the then Governor Reagan (San Diego Magazine, August 1985). Mr. Reagan referred to the Ezekiel prophecy, noting that "Gog, the nation that will lead all the other powers of darkness against Israel, will come out of the north. Biblical scholars have been saying for generations that Gog must be Russia." And since the only powerful nation on the north is "Russia," the question is settled. Earlier it did not make sense, said Mr. Reagan. "Now it does, now that Russia has become communistic and atheistic, now that Russia has set itself against God."

In 1983 Jerry FaIwell attended National Security briefings and discussed plans for a nuclear war with the U.S.S.R. with top officials. Arrangements for the meeting came from then President Reagan. (See Grace Halsell, Prophecy and Politics, p. 47.)

Bush claims to be guided by Jesus when he makes political decisions, including, presumably, the decision to go to war in Iraq. Evangelicals have been crucial in both his election victories – some say, the decisive factor. We are not talking about a handful of fringe lawmakers who hold or are beholden to these beliefs.

Some of these men had political clout and regular meets with influential national politicians which is the most dangerous element. These politicians are just the powerful tip of the iceberg. A 2002 Time/CNN poll found that 59 percent of Americans believe that the prophecies found in the Book of Revelation are going to come true. Nearly one-quarter think the Bible predicted the 9/11 attacks

Since 1990, when Saddam Hussein of Iran invaded Kuwait, there has been a dramatic increase in the interest in Bible Prophecy, especially related to Armageddon. Mistakenly, most people (including Christians) believe Armageddon is a final political / social / religious battle between the nations of the Earth where nuclear weapons are exchanged. HOW EVANGELIST HELP SHAPE FOREIGN AND AMERICAN POLICY.

The State of Israel has no better friends than American evangelicals. The close tie between evangelicals and Israel is important: It has shaped popular opinion in America and, to some extent, U.S. foreign policy. To understand how it developed, one must know something about how many evangelicals interpret Bible prophecy and what difference their beliefs have made in the world of politics.

Why do evangelicals care so much about Israel? How did this special relationship develop? Many evangelist like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson have find memories of sitting in Sunday school rooms, staring at maps of the Holy Lands and listening to Bible stories (about a rebuilt temple) week after week. (Most of us have at one time or another). They believe the return of Jews to the Holy Land and establishment of the state of Israel are proof of God’s promises to biblical patriarchs. In many way, they think the Promised Land belongs to the National state of Israel as much as it did to Biblical Israelis.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200601050004 Isn’t that amazing? The biblical concept of the jubilee year (Lev. 25:10-18) affirms that no one can own the Holy Land in perpetuity other than God. This verse presents a challenge to the theological claim God gave this land to the Jews and thus the Jews have the sole right and authority. One could argue that those who resist sharing the Holy Land are not denying the Palestinians a place. But who determines whose place is whose in a land where, in the biblical world view, the sole owner is God?

Most of those who gathered in Washington to show their support for Israel believe that the Holy Land will be ground zero for events surrounding the second coming of Jesus Christ. God's dealings with Israel are the key to the dispensational system. When the Jews rejected Jesus, as the prophecy said they would, God unexpectedly postponed Jesus' return, started putting together a new people, the church, and unplugged the prophetic clock. Thus, for its entire history, the church has existed in a prophetic time warp, what dispensationalists call the "great parenthesis."

God must remove the church from the earth before focusing attention again on the Jews. After Jesus comes for his saints in the "Rapture" (1 Thess. 4:13-17), the prophetic clock starts ticking again. Once the church is gone, Daniel's Seventieth Week (the "great tribulation" of Matt. 24, 2 Thess. 2, and Rev.) can begin, after which Jesus will return with his already raptured saints to defeat Antichrist, the great persecutor, and establish his millennial reign.

Tune in to any of America's 2,000 Christian radio stations or 250 Christian TV stations and you're likely to get a heady dose of dispensationalism, an End-Time doctrine invented in the 19th century by the Irish-Anglo theologian John Nelson Darby. Darby wasn't the first premillennialist author to leave his mark. While there are many divergent End-Time theologies and sects, the most politically influential are the dispensationalists and Christian Zionism. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5897.shtml

Even secular people who normally ignore the Bible may, during times of crisis, pay attention to someone who uses the Bible to explain what is going on when the world seems to be falling apart. The dispensational views about Israel and the course of history have influenced popular opinion far beyond the boundaries of the dispensational movement.

By the time Lindsey wrote The 1980s, conservative American evangelicals were finding their political voice and that we are what dispensationalist writer Hal Lindsey calls "the terminal generation." Such teaching attracted more followers in times of stress, as it offers one explanation for disturbing world events. American evangelist use current events in the newspapers like hurricanes hitting Florida, gay marriages in San Francisco, the 9/11 attacks and Iran’s Nuclear ambitions as proof that the world is spinning out of control.

Hal Lindsey's 1970 End-Time "non-fiction" work, The Late Great Planet Earth, is the classic of the genre; the movie version pummels viewers with stock footage of nuclear blasts, polluting smokestacks, raging floods, and killer bees.

William Blackstone, a fundamentalist lay preacher in the US, wrote a 1882 bestseller, "Jesus Is Coming," and in 1891 organized the first campaign in support of a Jewish state in the Middle East. Premillennialists in the British imperial government included Lord Arthur Balfour and Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who were the first to officially promise a Jewish homeland with the 1917 Balfour Declaration.

In the US, premillennialist teaching has spread through TV and radio evangelists and, most recently, the "Left Behind" novels and prophecy websites. American Protestant dispensational fundamentalism --by means of the wildly best-selling Left Behind series of novels--is having an impact (both direct and indirect) on US foreign policy, especially in the Middle East.

One of the strangest teachings from proponents of dispensationalism is the assertion that the ancient Jewish temple will be rebuilt. It is understandable why some Orthodox Jews would desire to have a rebuilt temple, but logically it makes little sense why so many Christians are clamoring to see a third temple. Revived Sanhedrin discusses temple No doubt Mr. Lindsey is a fine Christian but his teaching are full of errors and both theological and political concerns. This fatalistic scenario distorts the political and biblical realities, of millions of readers, and has become a major barrier to a genuine peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

"Before the Six-Day War, dispensationalists were content to sit in the bleachers of history explaining the End-Time game on the field below, pointing out events and identifying players," "But after expansion of Israel into the West Bank and Gaza, they began to get down onto the field and be sure the teams lined up right, becoming involved in political, financial, and religious ways they never had before."

"The danger is that, when people believe they 'know' how things are going to turn out they act on those convictions. Christians and politicians who are under the spell of such potent prophecies cannot be expected to worry about the environment. Why care about the earth when the droughts, floods, and pestilence brought by ecological collapse are signs of the Apocalypse foretold in the Bible? Why care when you and yours will be rescued in the Rapture? And why care about converting from oil to solar when the same God who performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes will destroy the word? Such believes in the end time by politicians who use that faith to guide their legislating should frighten you.

The stakes are higher than many Americans understand. The influence of Religion cannot be overstated particularly as it pertains to the end time and the system of government they set in motion. When studying Bible Prophecy, it is essential that the various prophecies are understood in their correct context and application. Since the Bible is God's Word, and 30% of that Word has to do with prophecy, Christians have a significant interest in this area?

In Lindsey’s article, he is clearly very excited about the prospect of a rebuilt temple. He asserts that plans to rebuild the temple are part of Bible prophecy. The big question is does Bible prophecy talk about a rebuild the temple?

Political Problems of a Rebuilt Temple

Christ replaced the old covenant temple and temple worship. Sacrifice for sins are not atoned for through the blood of bulls and goats at a temple, sacrifice for sins were accomplished once and for all through the sacrifice of Christ. The Dispensationalist temple theology runs directly counter to what is taught in the book of (Hebrews 9:8–14).

So the right views of eschatology does mater. In our next article will look at one central religious theology that framed politics in ... "Islam."