Yaalon: IIsraelis and Evangelicals are 'All in the Same Boat'

Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon spoke at a high profile Christian evangelical conference in the United States on Saturday, and stated that the Israeli government wants to continue to strengthen its relationship with evangelical Christians. Israelis and evangelicals are "all in the same boat," the former Chief of Staff added.

According to CBN analyst Erick Stakelbeck, Yaalon was “undoubtedly the most anticipated speaker for the roughly 1,500 in attendance and 20,000 tuning in via satellite from around the world” to the 2010 Epicenter conference in Philadelphia, which focuses on Bible prophecy, Israel, and the Middle East. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138288

WRH -

Memo to the Christian Zionists who hold Israel with such reverence; if you really understood what Israelis, and particularly those in government, thought about you, you would be shocked, and your feelings hurt to the very core.

I don't know what the Hebrew phrase is for "useful idiots", but I am betting this would be a close English translation.

I would like to point out to you that Israelis and evangelicals are not "... in the same boat", either theologically or geopolitically.

And any Israeli attempt to sucker you into supporting any more massive wars (like the impending war with Iran) to bring about the so-called "end times" doesn't have a real foundation in Christianity per se, but in Premillennial Dispensationalism.

As noted at:

http://www.nyu.edu/fas/projects/vcb/ChristianMedia/prophecy_premdisp.html

"Beliefs about the end of the world come out of a complex system of biblical interpretation known as dispensationalism, which is a version of premillennialism (the belief that Christ will return before setting up his millennial kingdom).

Dispensationalism divides up the Bible and human history into various eras or dispensations, based on how God deals with humanity. The system detected two distinct divine plans, one for an "earthly" people (Israel) and the other for a "heavenly" people (the church). The key to this entire prophetic plan is the refounding of Israel as a nation state in Palestine."

There is no consensus in the Evangelical community on eschatology, the theology of the "last things." There are many Evangelicals, however, that do not accept Premillennial Dispensationalism."

"Books like Daniel and Revelation were written in times of persecution and were purposely opaque to those outside of the communities that generated them. Much of their imagery and theology is connected more to ancient texts left outside the biblical canon than the books contained in the Bible. Second, followers of PD seem never to be satisfied with Christ's own warning that "No one knows the day or hour." Hal Lindsey has been embarrassed by the need to "adjust" his Last Day predictions made in The Late Great Planet Earth. In his book, he predicted that the end would come within a generation (usually 40 years) of the founding of Israel: 1948. Now prophecy proponents begin the timetable at the Israeli capture of east Jerusalem in 1967."