Is ‘Christian Zionism’ Heresy?

“A brain virus.” That is how Tucker Carlson described “Christian Zionism” in an interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes in October. Referencing American politicians like Ambassador Mike Huckabee and Sen. Ted Cruz, Carlson said, “I dislike them more than anybody … because it’s Christian heresy and I’m offended by that as a Christian.”

The idea that Christian Zionism is heresy isn’t held only by commentators. It has pastoral support. A January 17 letter by Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa and other Christian leaders in Israel put Christian Zionism among “damaging ideologies” that “mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock.”

Carrie Prejean Boller, a former panelist for the United States Religious Liberty Commission, sparked outrage at a February 9 hearing on anti-Semitism at Washington’s Museum of the Bible. Boller, who was wearing a Palestinian flag pin, claimed anti-Zionism isn’t synonymous with anti-Semitism and that “Catholics do not embrace Zionism.” After commission chair Dan Patrick removed Boller from her post, commentators like Candace Owens claimed “Zionists” pressured the commission to remove Boller because she was a “Christian.”

What is “Christian Zionism”? Is it heresy? For people of faith, these questions demand answers.

What Is Zionism?

Encyclopedia Britannica defines “Zionism,” named after Jerusalem’s Mount Zion, as a “Jewish nationalist movement with the goal of the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews.” It defines “Christian Zionism” as a “theological and political Christian movement that supports the return of the Jewish Diaspora to a Jewish homeland in Palestine based on readings of biblical texts that consider that region a sacred land promised to the Jews by God.”

Much has happened since the State of Israel was established in 1948. Modern Christian Zionism concerns itself with the following issues:

• Should Israel hold onto parts of the Holy Land it has gained since 1967 and integrate them as part of its historical heritage?
• Should Israel have overarching control over holy sites of non-Jewish religions?
• Should Israel be uncompromising in its fight against Palestinian terrorism?

What Does the Bible Say?

The Bible is explicitly clear: God gave the Holy Land to the people of Israel anciently. Genesis 12 shows the original covenant He made with Israel’s ancestor, the patriarch Abraham. The book of Joshua records God’s commission to Joshua to conquer the Holy Land for Israel. God gave Jerusalem to the Israelite tribe of Judah, the ancestor of the Jewish people (Psalm 78:67-70). Even after God sent the Jewish people into Babylonian captivity for their sins, He regarded them as His people and caused them to return to the Holy Land (see Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah).

But does this mean that God still considers the Jews His people, even in New Testament times?

The Apostle Paul wrote to the congregation at Rome, a mixture of Jewish and Gentile Christians, on this subject in Romans 11. In verse 16, he calls the Jewish people “holy.” Verses 17-21 compare the nation of Israel to an olive tree and the Jews among its “natural branches,” with the Gentiles branches of wild trees artificially grafted in. Paul tells Gentile converts, “Boast not against the branches” (verse 18). Verses 25-32 show God still has “mercy” on the Jewish nation despite their “unbelief,” not believing in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. When many Jews were persecuting Christians—“they are enemies for your sakes”—they were still “beloved for the fathers’ sakes” (verse 28).

Romans 3:1-2 state the Jews’ “advantage”: “unto them were committed the oracles of God”—the Old Testament scriptures and Hebrew calendar.

Jesus Christ was born a Jew. The Apostle John in his Gospel, written decades after Christ’s crucifixion, called the Jews “His own” people, even though “His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11; New King James Version). The title written on Christ’s cross was “the King of the Jews” (John 19:19). One of His current titles as an all-powerful God Being is “the Lion of the tribe of Juda” (Revelation 5:5).

Further, many end-time prophecies show God working with the Jewish people in the Holy Land as a nation in the future (e.g. Zechariah 12:5-9).

The Bible’s verdict then is that the Jews are a part of God’s chosen nation, even if they don’t recognize Jesus Christ today. (Although they are not the exclusive descendants of ancient Israel. Herbert W. Armstrong’s free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy explains in detail.) There is ample biblical support for Christian Zionism.

More than this, God prophesies in His Word that His Church would give the Jewish state a positive message of encouragement—again, before the establishment of the Kingdom of God (Isaiah 40:9-10; New International Version). Psalm 102:13-15 state that before “the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord,” God would “have mercy upon Zion” and His servants would “take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.” True Christians would take pleasure in learning of Jerusalem’s stones and dust—its archaeological heritage, most of which traces back to ancient Judah.

The further archaeologists dig into the layers of Israel’s ruins, the more proof they find of the Jews’ heritage in the Holy Land and the Bible’s validity. Israel’s tangible, scientific discoveries pointing to a Jewish homeland in the Holy Land for millenniums reinforce the claim that the Jews should have that homeland.

This isn’t the heritage critics of Christian Zionism are interested in, however. They are interested in a different heritage.

Catholic Nationalism?

Steve Bannon, like Tucker Carlson, is an influential commentator among conservative Americans. Around the same time Carlson gave his broadcast calling Christian Zionism a “brain virus,” Bannon broadcast his own views of supporting Israel. Policymakers around the world encourage Israel to embrace the “two-state solution,” splitting the Holy Land between a Jewish and a Palestinian state. Bannon, a self-described “Catholic nationalist,” said there should be a “three-state solution”: one for Jews, one for Muslims and one for Middle Eastern Christians. “The only solution here,” he said, “if you’re going to have a two-state solution, you have to have a three-state solution … you have to have a Christian state.” Less than 200,000 Christians live in Israel and the Palestinian territories among millions of Jews and Muslims.

Many, if not most, of the significant New Testament sites in the Holy Land—Nazareth, Capernaum, Cana, Caesarea, the Sea of Galilee—lie in Israel proper rather than the Palestinian territories. That is, they lie in territory that is almost universally accepted by the international community as belonging to Israel. Bannon may not have been focused on precise geography when making his statement, but he may have been implying that if his dream of “Catholic nationalism” were ever fulfilled, Israel would have to give up territory nobody else is saying it needs to give up.

Pizzaballa’s letter not only criticized Christian Zionism; he also wrote, “The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem reiterate that they alone represent the churches and their flock in matters pertaining to Christian religious, communal and pastoral life in the Holy Land.”

In other words, If you don’t agree with our dogma, you can’t call yourself a Christian. You can’t claim what is or isn’t Christian policy in the Holy Land. Per the letter, that teaching officially includes rejecting Christian Zionism.

If the Catholic Church and other churches don’t believe the land of Israel has a fundamentally Jewish heritage, what heritage does it have?

Biblical Heritage?

The news cycles will feature accusations of Israelis attacking “Christian sites” and local Christian leaders condemning the incidents. Last July, Israeli settlers in the West Bank reportedly set fire to a Palestinian community’s church. (The actual story was Israeli settlers trying to put out a grass fire that was close to the archaeological site of a ruined church abandoned long ago.) Pizzaballa and his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Patriarch Theophilos iii (who coauthored the January 17 letter), visited the site soon afterward to condemn “settler aggression.” In most cases, these “Christian sites” date hundreds of years after biblical times, when Catholicism became the Roman Empire’s state religion. Yet when Palestinians vandalize Jewish sites in places like the Mount of Olives or Jericho, places that actually have a connection with the stories of the Bible, the Catholic Church is silent.

Both Judaism and Catholicism claim the Bible as their heritage, but their cultural foundations couldn’t be more different. This is at the heart of the dispute over Christian Zionism. Starting in the second century, Catholicism’s “church fathers” began teaching that God replaced the people of Israel with the Roman Catholic Church as His people. The Jews were branded “Christ killers”—an irredeemable race.

When Catholics and affiliated groups say Christian Zionism is heresy, this is the foundational view: The Jews are no longer the people of God—we are. God replaced the Jews with the Romans. The Holy Land is ours, not theirs. Our tradition of cathedrals and crusaders is the Holy Land’s actual special heritage. We will fight tooth and nail to claim what is rightfully ours, and woe to any who side with the Jews over us.

This is apparent with the kind of heritage the Catholic Church advertises. The Vatican Museums in Vatican City display all kinds of pagan statuary and other relics of pre-Christian Rome but very little material from the lands of the Bible itself. The Terra Sancta Museum, the Catholic Church’s archaeological museum in Jerusalem, puts the heaviest emphasis on postbiblical Catholic traditions and artifacts from Catholic Europe.

In summary, those who claim a need to defend the Holy Land’s “Christian” heritage from Israelis and “Christian Zionists” at best don’t know what they’re talking about. At worst, they are deliberately attacking the land’s actual biblical heritage and trying to replace it with a counterfeit.

In this post-truth world where the Holy Land’s civilizational history and identity are under increasing attack, it has never been more imperative to be grounded in actual Bible history and to separate historical fact from fiction.

The Trumpet’s parent organization sponsors a biblical archaeology magazine titled Let the Stones Speak. Mailed bimonthly, its mission is “sharing Israel’s biblical archaeology with the largest audience possible.” Featuring articles about the Holy Land’s latest archaeological discoveries and interviews with leading experts, it is an indispensable resource for those wanting to deepen their understanding of the State of Israel’s archaeological heritage. Like the Philadelphia Trumpet, it is absolutely free with no cost or obligation. Request your free annual subscription today.