Mother Agapia advised the audience: “Do not be afraid to speak because according to her Russian Orthodox tradition, ‘by silence, God is betrayed.’” She then quoted an Orthodox hymn "Lord, grant patience to the oppressed and fear of God to the oppressor."
Views on the Crisis in the Holy Land
Rev. Dr. Donald Wagner, North Park University, Chicago, IL.
Rev. Wagner began his talk about the influence of the Christian right in the United States by decrying Jerry Falwell's recent television address in which he called for the 70 million evangelical Americans to become Israel's safety net in the U.S. Wagner noted that such messages are often deliberately provocative and that, in other cases as well, the alliance has deliberately inflamed Arabs and Muslims to justify the control that the Israeli government exerts over Arabs and Muslims.
He reminded listeners that the Christian right is not "newly" Zionist, citing an Anglican priest who called for the creation of Jewish state in 1585, so that Biblical prophecy could be fulfilled. By 1800, Christian Zionism had taken root, though it was still not called Christian Zionism. At this point, there were a variety of fundamentalist theologians arguing that the Bible must be read literally and taken as the infallible word of God. The Church, and Arabs in particular, are called, within the movement, "a parenthesis that will be removed from history" in the “Rapture”, when all who will be saved, will ascend into heaven in a cloud. The covenant with God, in Christian Zionist theology, has shifted to Israel. It is not with the Church of all Christians. Clearly, this is heretical teaching and is not based on Christian theology.
Views on the Crisis in the Holy Land
Rev. Dr. Donald Wagner, North Park University, Chicago, IL.
Rev. Wagner began his talk about the influence of the Christian right in the United States by decrying Jerry Falwell's recent television address in which he called for the 70 million evangelical Americans to become Israel's safety net in the U.S. Wagner noted that such messages are often deliberately provocative and that, in other cases as well, the alliance has deliberately inflamed Arabs and Muslims to justify the control that the Israeli government exerts over Arabs and Muslims.
He reminded listeners that the Christian right is not "newly" Zionist, citing an Anglican priest who called for the creation of Jewish state in 1585, so that Biblical prophecy could be fulfilled. By 1800, Christian Zionism had taken root, though it was still not called Christian Zionism. At this point, there were a variety of fundamentalist theologians arguing that the Bible must be read literally and taken as the infallible word of God. The Church, and Arabs in particular, are called, within the movement, "a parenthesis that will be removed from history" in the “Rapture”, when all who will be saved, will ascend into heaven in a cloud. The covenant with God, in Christian Zionist theology, has shifted to Israel. It is not with the Church of all Christians. Clearly, this is heretical teaching and is not based on Christian theology.