BIG SEMINARY TRIES TO ADJUST THEIR STAND ON ISRAEL!

Recently, a big local seminary gave over an entire brochure/booklet to the issue of The Gospel and the Jewish People. Dr. Tom McCall believes they did it because they received a lot of complaints in trying to distance themselves from the present State of Israel. While there were some good things in the publication, they said some things that I believe revealed their true feelings about the Jewish people.    One of the professors contributing to the publication said that Jews could worship in their ethnic practices just as Christians who are African-Americans or who are Koreans. In one sense I agree with this statement. For a Jewish Christian to celebrate the feasts of the Old Testament publicly, they are expressing something more. They are showing something that is very biblical and spiritual in nature because of their connection with the Scriptures, and because of the importance of these celebrations even to Gentiles who have been saved through the blessings that were revealed through the prophets of ancient Israel. African-American practices are not the same as that which comes to us through the Bible!     I am not sure what another professor is trying to get across when he writes: "One mistake is to equate the modern secular state of Israel with Israel, the people of God. For those with this point of view, no matter what Israel does, it's considered ok. If the present nation of Israel isn't the nation to come, it's the foundation for it."    It must be remembered that the present day Jewish people are "right now" "from the standpoint of God's choice [His sovereign election] BELOVED [by God] for the sake of the [ancient] fathers [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]" (Rom. 11:28). The reason is that "the gifts and the calling [election] of God are irrevocable [unchangeable]" (v. 29). If the Jews are presently loved by Him, we should then also have a great and deep concern for them as well.    One professor noted that some people say that in our support for Israel, we should stand by them no matter what they do that may be wrong. I have never met anyone who had that view! No one would support Israel if they are wrong in their actions. I have gone to Israel twenty-three times for a total of about one year in time in that nation. And I never saw the Jewish government do anything unjust to the Arabs. How the Jews have kept their cool with all the hate spewed at them by the Muslim Arabs, I just cannot figure out!    By the way, one professor pointed out that recently a "prominent [big] church in Dallas held a seminar on Romans that covered Romans 1-8 and 12-16, but then completely left out Romans 9-11 which is about God's future prophetic plans for Israel. Wow! Unbelievable!      The bottom line: the article could have been stronger and more supportive toward the Jewish people suffering under the world's hate there in the land. And Dr. McCall is probably correct, the articles were written to counter that school's soft ball approach to the Jews in past articles. In my opinion, and Dr. McCall's also, is that an undeserved criticism toward Israel is a first step towards a kind of liberalism and even a denial to dispensationalism. Watch carefully what our evangelical schools are doing in their criticism toward the Jews. – Dr. Mal Couch (Dec., 09)