Written by Jim Fletcher
It was my privilege last month to speak at a “Flashpoint 2012” conference in New Mexico (www.flashpoint2012.com), with one of my favorite people, Dr. Thomas Sharp of Creation Truth Foundation.
“Doc” is one of the most insightful Bible teachers around today; during the course of one of his talks, one realizes that he is saying so many profound things that it isn’t necessary to take notes; his entire talk is a note that is meant to be digested and processed.
In particular—and I know this topic is controversial for many of my Christian brothers and sisters—Doc has pierced the mystery of the relationship between “beginnings and endings.” His statement to me last year that in all his years of studying, teaching, and defending Genesis 1-11 from Darwinian philosophers, he had somehow missed the significance of Genesis 12-50!
Do you understand? He was saying that in order to understand fully and fully anticipate the Second Coming (and the subsequent conclusion of all things), we must understand the philosophical attacks on the historicity of Genesis. In other words, Israel is welded to reality, to God’s overall plan for the ages, and this understanding has been virtually hidden from millions of believers, due to evolutionary presuppositions.
In short, if one accepts humanist views of origins, which places a premium on seeing the historicity of Genesis as myth/metaphor, then one also tends not to see the Jewish people for what they are. If Genesis 1-11 is not true, then Genesis 12-50 is also widely open to reinterpretation.
If Adam and Eve and the patriarchs were not real people, how do we know Abraham was real? Moses? Isaiah? Et cetera.
Stay with me!
As Doc has written in the opening chapter of Flashpoint 2012—the new book that is a support resource for the Flashpoint seminar program—“If we lose the legitimacy of the beginning, we lose the reality of the ending.”
Believe it or not, this is a huge reason why Christians today can refer to modern Israel as “Palestine.” It is more than a political statement; it is a theological statement that is rooted in a false story that has been presented as a subtle alternative to biblical truth.
In other words, diabolical teachers for quite some time have removed the Jewish roots of Scripture, at the same time they have developed a humanistic view of origins. This has produced a false gospel, as it were; one that has produced the astonishing result of millions of Christians embracing evolutionary theory, which inevitably leads to abandoning an expectation of the Lord’s imminent return. Please read 2 Peter 3.
It was from the dust of humanistic thinking that the theology of Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Tony Campolo, and a growing number of evangelical teachers was formed.
It is a false reality.
In my pro Israel work, which has many facets, I constantly encounter people who miss the significance of Israel. In the feedback I get weekly from readers who are supportive of Israel, I am asked why people don’t “get” Israel.
One of my standard answers now will be, read Dr. Sharp’s chapter in Flashpoint 2012.
Is this a commercial, an infomercial? Yes it is; what’s wrong with that? I recommend resources only if there is a good reason to do so. For those of us who call ourselves pro Israel, it is imperative that we educate ourselves and remain vigilant against the false teachers who are laying waste to our religious landscape.
I recently read an otherwise good apologetics book that in one instance used the word “Palestine” for modern Israel. Some would think I am straining at a gnat here, but I am not. The writer wrote “Palestine” because he is influenced by Replacement Theology, which springs from this attack on Genesis that I’ve mentioned.
This kind of thinking has produced a strange, almost exclusively “New Testament” Christianity that somehow misses the fact that the Bible came through the Jews and that our Messiah is Jewish.
I noticed the reaction of the crowd to Doc’s messages last week, and they “get it.” I ask you to consider these matters for yourself, as you continue the good fight on behalf of the miracle, Israel.
Originally published in Rapture Ready, Israel Watch. March 28, 2011
About the author
Jim Fletcher is director of Prophecy Matters. The longtime editor for Master Books, the world’s largest publisher of creationism books, Jim now travels and speaks on the subject of apologetics. Incorporating his impressions gleaned from numerous trips to Israel, and with a keen eye on the culture, his talks are up-to-date and relevant. Jim writes for a variety of publications, including the Jerusalem Post, WorldNetDaily, and OneNewsNow. He blogs weekly at the “Israel Watch” section of RaptureReady (www.raptureready.com).
