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December 2, 2009
In classical rhetoric, it’s known as procatalepsis — that is, answering your audience’s objections before they can raise them (as in, “Right now you’re thinking I found this definition on Wikipedia. And what if I did?”).
If you stayed home during the Rev. Robert Stearns’ address at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston on Monday, you missed a bravura display of the technique. As a leading Christian Zionist, whose Eagles’ Wings ministry trains followers to become impassioned advocates for Israel, Stearns knows his Jewish audiences — and their suspicion about evangelical support for Israel.
“I know what you’re thinking: What’s it really all about?” said Stearns, whose shaven head and neat goatee make him look like a scale model of the once-famous wrestler Bill Goldberg. “You think the goal is ‘getting us all back to Israel…and then Jesus will return.’
“But if anyone knows how the End of Days will play out — then they’re probably selling you a book on a late-night infomercial,” he continued. In two decades of pro-Israel activism, he said, “I never heard any discussion [among movement leaders] of how we have to hurry up and get Jews to Israel because this is the formula to bring Jesus back.”
So it must be something else, he procatalepsized: He’s after converts, right?
Stearns acknowledged that as a Christian he believes that accepting Jesus is a “wonderful way to be and live.” But he delivered this pledge: “Evangelical Christian support for the Jewish people and Israel is unconditional.”
Those objections out of the way (I can think of a few more, but Stearns joked that he promised organizers he’d keep his speech under three hours) he pivoted to talk about the positive motivations for his Zionism. Part of that motivation is the “depth of gratitude” owed Jews by Christians, for demonstrating through our very perseverance that God keeps his promises. He’s also motivated by a sense of guilt over the atrocities carried out on Jews “in the name of Jesus, under the banner of Christianity.”
“We must bear the burden of teshuva, of repentance,” said Stearns, whose facility in Hebrew extended to the killer rendition of “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav” he sang later on.
Finally, his work on behalf of Israel is based — “sadly,” he said — on a “common enemy”: presumably, radical Islam.
“The core foundations of Western civilization are under attack for Jews, for Christians, for moderate Muslims,” he said. “Israel is the front line in the battle for Western civilization.” Stearns pledged support of the movement for a nuclear-free Iran, and ended with this: “We are with you, unconditionally, wholeheartedly, unreservedly.”
That brought warm applause, and more than a few in the crowd of 200 rose to their feet. That must have been good news to the organizers, including the temple and the Community Relations Committee of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Councils of Central New Jersey and Northern NJ. The combined councils have been talking with Stearns about various joint activities. (Stearns is also northeast regional director for Christians United for Israel, a national coalition of pro-Israel evangelical churches.)
Stearns’ talk was arranged in large part to set the groundwork for more cooperation; earlier this year, the CRCs hosted a talk by Zev Chafetz, the Israeli-American journalist who wrote an approving book about Christian Zionism.
It’s a touchy embrace, they know: Many Jewish liberals see Evangelicals as the enemy when it comes to abortion, gay rights, and a host of other social issues. And there’s the theological gap. Never mind Stearns’ assurances; an influential blogger like the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg is typical of those who aren’t buying it: “I don’t want to be friends with someone who hopes that I will convert to Christianity and then die,” Goldberg (the blogger, not the wrestler) wrote just this week. “These hopes don’t conform to my understanding of what makes a reasonable and healthy friendship.”
(After Stearns’ talk, a woman buttonholed me by the coffee. “I don’t trust them,” she said. “I think they just need us to look after the Christian holy places in Israel.”)
But the hosts of Stearns’ talk seemed largely convinced of the Evangelicals’ sincerity, and insist there is no quid pro quo. And at a time when Israel seems under siege in the press, when radical Islam is on the ascent, and when the West seems indifferent when not actually hostile, they think it is crazy to reject the overtures of a global movement that is perhaps 600 million strong and growing.
“I know that most of the Jewish community is toward the left, whether it is on issues of marriage or pro-life, and evangelical Christians are more toward the right,” said Stearns. “But I don’t see what one has to do with the other…. Let’s keep the main thing the main thing, and focus on the things that unite us.”
Andrew Silow-Carroll is Editor-in-Chief of the New Jersey Jewish News. Between columns you can read his writing at the JustASC blog.
Reader Discussion
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Ellen
December 03, 2009
That a very charming Rev. Stearns was able to win over this crowd by dismissing End of Days scenarios and conversion designs on the Jewish people is indicative of a lack of understanding and awareness of evangelical intentions.
Stearns is a missionary extraordinaire and he is not trying to bring Jews to the church, rather he is bringing Christian love, comfort and belief to the Jews and calling for a spiritual reconciliation and fusion of faiths. This is the evangelical End of Days plan - One new man, Jew and Gentile together under Christ.
American Jews may feel comfortable and secure in a so-called Judeo-Christian embrace. A theological partnership may have benefits in the Diaspora, but it backfires once it’s exported to the Jewish state – where evangelicals are wielding increasing influence in every sector of Israeli society.
Robert Stearns is actively promoting a “messianic restoration” in Israel and he partners with, endorses and promotes the “ messianic Jewish” community and some of the most active missionaries in Israel.
That “many Jewish liberals see Evangelicals as the enemy” may – unbeknownst to them - go beyond political agendas and have something to do with an innate and existential concern with Jewish national and spiritual continuity. They key to our survival is unity and the last vestige of Jewish unity is a non-belief in Jesus as lord and savior.
Learn about the disturbing facts on the ground in Israel on this issue and visit Jewishisrael.com
Ted Hewlett
February 04, 2010
I visited the website mentioned by Ellen, and was appalled at the hostility and distortion evident in even a cursory examination of it. It is disquieting to see that some Jews are so willing to trash those who would be their sincere friends. It seems impossible for them to imagine that anyone who wishes their conversion to Christianity could nevertheless support Israel out of a sincere desire for its welfare.
I am a Protestant and work closely with Catholics. I know that they would like me to convert to Roman Catholicism, but that in no way makes me view them with hostility or doubt their goodwill towards me.
I was brought up in an Evangelical home and a love of Israel was instilled in me. I know the sincerity of Evangelicals who support Israel. (Some, it is true, go overboard, and are more Zionist than the average Jew—but their intentions are good.
Please, Ellen and others like you, cease your apparent efforts to alienate Jews from their friends and allies.