http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/zionists-who-love-jesus/#ixzz2utj5dPjr
In a recent essay in Mosaic Magazine, I called upon Jews and evangelical Christians to put aside their differences and stand together in support of Israel. Naturally I was delighted to receive positive feedback from four prominent experts, all of whom endorsed the core thesis of my argument. Yet I was sorely disappointed upon reading some of the readers’ comments that appeared below my essay, especially those from Jews espousing the very myths and fears about evangelicals that I hoped the essay would debunk. Each of them fixated on the menacing specter hidden inside the “Trojan Horse” of Christian Zionism:
As a Jew/Israeli, I like the political support for Israel. But I do find the undercurrent drive to convert us, in that political support, disgusting. Martin Luther at first liked us. But when we didn’t convert, he called on his followers to burn us. . . . Will they love us when we don’t convert?
If you want the truth, I don’t trust you. It’s as simple as that. . . . When your church stops preying on Jews to lead them into your faith and destroying ours, when you stop financing these missionary factories to wipe out our faith and our culture, then and only then might I start to believe you actually don’t have the age-old ulterior motive.
I dislike the idea I must agree with evangelicals, whose main purpose is to convert me, because they support Israel. . . . Sorry but why would I support or form a strategic alliance with someone who supports me only so far as it fits his purposes and, more than likely, would throw me under a bus if I didn’t?
These readers are clear: Christian Zionism is only tolerable insofar as it disclaims any belief that the Jewish people need Jesus. The dark history of Jewish-Christian relations is too tragic to allow for anything less. Do I blame these readers for feeling this way?
Honestly, not really. Because it’s true: many people claiming the name of Christ, including Martin Luther, have said and done things to Jews over the centuries that are unspeakable. Yet it’s also true that a fundamental tenet of Christianity, especially evangelical Christianity, is telling the world about the arrival of the Messiah. Regrettably, at least as far as some Jews are concerned, “the world” also includes the Jewish people. As an evangelical who affirms both the “Great Commission” and the right of the Jewish people to govern themselves in their ancient homeland (yes, it is possible to hold these two things in one’s head at the same time), I would submit to my Jewish friends that they needn’t fear. A few points: