Category Archives: Theology

With God on our Side: US Film Tour

Photo taken by Emily Stock

This week I am helping Porter Speakman promote the film With God on our Side at the invitation of Christian universities and churches in the USA.

Porter used my book Zion’s Christian Soldiers as one of the background sources for the film. The Bible Study Guide which accompanies the film is also based on the chapters of my book. Perhaps not surprisingly, some folk are not so happy that the spotlight has been turned on the dubious link between Christianity and Zionism.

I have been called a lot of things over the years. The more printable ones include a liberal, an anti-Semite, and a supercessionist (an advocate of Replacement theology). Lets begin by debunking these three red herrings.

Liberals and Evangelicals
Dispensationalists like to think they alone read the Bible literally and are more consistent than other Christians who, for example, ‘spiritualise’ away the promises made to the Israelites. That is probably why they get upset when some conservative evangelicals beg to differ. It would be more accurate to say that sometimes Dispensationalists accept a literal interpretation without acknowledging how Scripture interprets Scripture, for example, how Jesus and the Apostles use Old Testament promises and terminology in new ways. By imposing seven ‘dispensations’ on the Bible, some Dispensationalists seem to turn what is intended to be a unified plan of salvation for a sick world into separate isolation wards for different races.

Zionism and Anti-Semitism
It is true that at various times in the past, churches and church leaders have tolerated or incited anti-Semitism and even attacks on Jewish people. Racism is a sin and without excuse. Anti-Semitism must be repudiated unequivocally. However, we must not confuse apples and oranges. Anti-Zionism is not the same thing as anti-Semitism despite attempts to broaden the definition. Criticising a political system as racist is not necessarily racist. Judaism is a religious system. Israel is a sovereign nation. Zionism is a political system. These three are not synonymous. I respect Judaism, repudiate anti-Semitism, encourage interfaith dialogue and defend Israel’s right to exist within borders recognised by the international community and agreed with her neighbours. But like many Jews, I disagree with a political system which gives preference to expatriate Jews born elsewhere in the world, while denying the same rights to the Arab Palestinians born in the country itself. Jimmy Carter is not alone in describing the Zionism practiced by the present government of Israel as a form of apartheid.

Supercessionism or Replacement Theology
This is a favourite ‘straw man’ of Christian Zionists. They criticise their opponents for implying the Church has ‘replaced’ Israel. The implication is that the Jewish people cease to have any role within the purposes of God. This is clearly refuted in Romans 9-11.
The Scriptures are however unambiguous in distinguishing between the old and new covenants. In Hebrews, the writer says, “By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” (Hebrews 8:13). There is therefore, from a Christian perspective, no sense in which the old covenant can be viewed as still in force or applicable. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20). When Jesus died on the cross, a new covenant was established with his precious blood that supercedes the basis of the old covenant. The writer to Hebrews continues, “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:15).

Here then is the biblical basis for a kind of supecessionism. But notice the succession is first of all from one covenant to another, not from Israel to the Church. This is because both covenants were, in their first instance, made with the people of God who at that stage were predominantly Jewish. “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” (Jeremiah 31:31). This is why Jesus initially sent his Apostles only to the Jews. “These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.’” (Matthew 10:5-6). But when the majority rejected his ministry, Jesus warned, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43). Jesus here describes the succession that would occur within a generation.

The apostle Peter, preaching after Pentecost, and citing Moses, similarly warned those who rejected Jesus, “Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.” (Acts 3:23). Covenantalists believe there has only ever been one people of God – whether under the old or new covenant – and one way to God – by grace alone and through faith alone. Both Israel and the Church have been a mixed company of believers and unbelievers, Jews and Gentiles. Only God knows who is numbered among his faithful remnant. At various times in history it has been clearer than in others – for example when all but the family of Noah perished or the entire generation who entered Sinai, perished there apart from a handful. That is why many Covenantalists are uncomfortable describing the Church as the ‘New Israel’. The term never appears in the Bible. However, as we shall see in more detail in chapter 3, Peter uses language describing Israel and applies it to the Church.

“They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:8-10)

It is not that the Church has replaced Israel. Rather, in the new covenant church, God has fulfilled the promises originally made to the old covenant church. So, for example, when Jesus affirms Peter’s declaration of faith and says, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of death will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18), the word translated for ‘church’ in Greek is ‘ekklesia’ – the very word used in the Greek Old Testament to describe God’s people. No – Covenantalists are not liberal, anti-Semitic or into ‘replacement’ theology.

Is there an Elephant in the Room?
I hope you are beginning to see why this is such an important subject. There is a giant elephant in the room and its time we started talking about it. As I intimated in the foreword, fear of being accused of anti-Semitism for challenging the Zionist agenda is enough to keep many evangelicals under their beds. In my view, and that of an increasing number of other evangelicals, it is time to speak out because Christian Zionism has become a formidable and dangerous movement. Portraying the modern state of Israel as God’s chosen people on earth, the role of the Church has been reduced in the eyes of many to providing moral and biblical justification for Israel’s colonization of Palestine. Those who oppose her are demonised.

While not all Christian Zionists endorse the apocalyptic views of Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye, the movement as a whole is nevertheless leading the West, and the Church with it, into a confrontation with Islam. Using biblical terminology to justify a preemptive global war against ‘the Axis of Evil’ merely reinforces stereotypes, fuels extremism, incites fundamentalism and increases the likelihood of nuclear war. Do I think the Bible predicts all this? No I don’t.

It is not an understatement to say that what is at stake is our understanding of the gospel, the centrality of the cross, the role of the Church and the nature of our missionary mandate, not least, to the beloved Jewish people.

Taken from the Introduction to Zion’s Christian Soldiers

Runnymede Mayor’s Civic Service: Church and State

Runnymede Mayor’s Civic Service Romans 13 from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Thomas Jefferson once asked the rhetorical question: “Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?”

In the 18^th Century, on both sides of the Atlantic, there might have been a consensus that the answer was self-evident – at least in Britain if not in France. When the same revolutionary spirit infected the North American Colonies it became a more debatable question there also. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which Jefferson helped write, provided one solution – separate church and state.

While originally intended to protect the church from the state, since 1947, the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted it to mean that religion and government must stay separate for the benefit of both. Not so today. Most people believe the Church should keep its nose out of politics. Which is why our Bible reading from Romans may have sounded somewhat reactionary or fundamentalist depending on your political affiliation?

Even the idea of holding a religious ceremony to inaugurate the appointment of a new civic leader may to some, appear eccentric or inappropriate. What has religion got to do with politics? I suggest a great deal, and worthy of our attention today. Please turn with me to our Bible reading from Romans.

That we have responsibilities to both God and the state was clearly implied in Jesus’ enigmatic epigram, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ (Matthew 22:21)

Now the Apostle Paul enlarges on the state’s God-appointed role and on the responsibility of Christian citizens in relation to it. His emphasis however, is on personal citizenship rather than on any particular theory of church—state relations.

1. The Authority of the State
2. The Role of Government
3. The Responsibility of Citizens

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The Servant Leader (Nehemiah 5)

Have you ever wondered what leads most people into debt? It’s trying to catch up with people who are already there. It’s the same with nations. Do you remember the Jubilee 2000 Campaign? The international campaign to have the crippling debts of the poorest countries in the world cancelled. How are we doing? Hasn’t most of the debt been cancelled? The good news is that $100 billion of Third World debt has been written off. The bad news is that the total debt owed by the developing world is still $3.7 trillion. In order for the poorest countries of the world to meet their basic needs, a further $400 billion needs to be written off. That is unlikely. Unlikely because most debt relief is administered through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Both are controlled by wealthy creditor nations. We set the rules that allow poor countries to qualify for debt cancellation. If countries do not follow the demands of the IMF or World Bank they cannot get debt relief. To make matters worse, for every £1 developing countries receive from developed countries in aid, they return £5 in debt service repayments. Five times more money still flows out of the developing world than is given in aid and support. [See the Jubilee Debt Campaign]

What does God think about this? Does he care? Yes, he does, most emphatically. Today we come to chapter 5 in the story of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of God’s people as well as their walls. Last Sunday in chapter 4 we saw there were three different threats to God’s people. Their enemies used both verbal abuse and violent threats. They were provocative and powerful. But the biggest threat was internal. It came from vision fatigue. Their initial enthusiasm was waning. They had begun to focus on their problems and become demotivated. We saw how Nehemiah inspired them to have a mind to work, a heart to pray and an eye to watch. Today in chapter 5 the external enemies and the city walls recede from view, to reveal a more subtle and more fundamental problem. Here the menace is hunger and exploitation, and the structure at risk is not the walls but the community of God’s people itself.

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With God on our Side: iPhone App

“With God On Our Side” takes a look at the theology of Christian Zionism, which teaches that because the Jews are God’s chosen people, they have a divine right to the land of Israel. Aspects of this belief system lead some Christians in the West to give uncritical support to Israeli government policies, even those that privilege Jews at the expense of Palestinians, leading to great suffering among Muslim and Christian Palestinians alike and threatening Israel’s security as a whole.

This film demonstrates that there is a biblical alternative for Christians who want to love and support the people of Israel, a theology that doesn’t favor one people group over another but instead promotes peace and reconciliation for both Jews and Palestinians.”

iPhone Apps Store

How Can I Handle Discouragement? (Nehemiah 4)

How can I Handle Discouragement? (Nehemiah 4) from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

10/10/10. Today is going to be one of the busiest days of the year for Registry Offices. Couples are joining hands today in the hope that this auspicious day will bring them happiness. Some register offices, like Chichester, are opening for the first time on a Sunday due to the demand. Manchester Register Office is opening today for only the third time on a Sunday since it was established in 1837. Today is also Micah Challenge Sunday when we join hands in prayer with 100 million Christians around the world. We are joining hands to express our solidarity with the poor. We are joining hands to call for justice, ten years after nations around the world committed themselves to halve global poverty by 2015.

The apostle Paul writes in Galatians, “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” (Galatians 2:10). As Christians we want to declare God’s heart for the poor. We want to remind our political leaders that halving poverty is worth every effort. That is why we are asking you to leave your hand print before you leave today. Make a personal promise before God to do something to end world poverty. Then we will send this scroll with our handprints to our MP. So many proverbs refer to the hand.

A bird in the hand…. Lend a hand… Many hands make…. Hands that do dishes….

You know what the world’s most deadly but preventable disease is? No, its not cancer, polio or even AIDS. There is something even more debilitating. Its discouragement. Its easy to become discouraged when you consider the enormity of halving global poverty by 2015. Or reversing climate change, or even building a Church in Virginia Water. Three things make discouragement a deadly disease:

It’s universal. One in four of us will suffer from depression this year. But everyone of us gets discouraged sooner or later. I know I do. I am sure you do. We all do. Its universal.

It’s recurring. You get multiple opportunities to become discouraged every day. It’s universal. It’s recurring. Thirdly,

It’s contagious. In fact it is highly contagious. My discouragement will infect you and vice versa. It rubs off. But there is good news. Discouragement is curable.

The next instalment in the story of Nehemiah illustrates the causes and cures for discouragement. We are going to see that together, when we join hands, when we work together, when we watch one another’s back, when we encourage one another we can banish discouragement. We can make a difference.

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The Case for Anger Management (Genesis 4)

The Case for Anger Management (Genesis 4) from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Before the age of television, I remember as a child playing Cleudo with my grandparents. Cleudo is a detective game of deduction devised by Anthony E. Pratt, a solicitor’s clerk from Birmingham in 1949 and originally published by Waddingtons of Leeds.

The aim is find out which of six characters, Miss Scarlett, Colonel Mustard, Mrs White, Reverend Green, Mrs Peacock and Professor Plum, committed a murder, why they did it, where they did it and how – which of the implements they used to do it. “Was it really Colonel Mustard in the Billiard Room using the candlestick?”

All very engrossing for a five year old. And no, it didn’t give me nightmares. At 25 I moved on to the Miss Marple and Poirot stories by Agatha Christie. Now its wall to wall CSI programmes. There was something really quite captivating about trying to figure out “who done it” before the end of the episode.

Today we are considering Genesis 4:1-6:4 and where rebellion leads. It leads to Murder #1, the first murder in history, when Cain kills his brother Abel. This is not a murder mystery, however. Moses tells us right away that Cain is the killer, and even if he had not, there really were not exactly many other suspects around.

Although it may lack suspense, the story of Cain and Abel is important because it contains significant lessons for us. As we look at this tale of two brothers, let’s ask the Lord to help us learn from the tragic account of Cain and Abel.

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Women and Men in Leadership (1 Timothy 2)

Men & Women in Ministry (1 Timothy 2) from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

When I meet a couple wishing to get married, the first thing I have to do is ascertain that there are no impediments. I am required to ask them a series of questions. How old are you? Where do you live? Have you been married before? Are you related to one another? In the reading of the banns and at the very beginning of the marriage service we ask publicly if anyone knows of any reason why these persons may not lawfully marry to declare it now. You will be relieved to know that I don’t ask them about their foundation, mascara, lipstick, cosmetic surgery or hair colouring. In 1770 things were very different. In that year the British Parliament passed an Act which specified additional impediments to marriage which applied not only here but throughout the British Colonies including America:

“All women, of whatever age, rank, profession or degree, whether virgins, maids or widows, that shall, from and after such Act impose upon, seduce or betray into matrimony, any of his Majesty’s subjects by virtue of scents, paints or cosmetics, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron-stays, bolstered hips or high-heeled shoes, shall incur the penalty of the law now in force against witchcraft, and like misdemeanours, and that the marriage upon conviction shall be null and void.”

And had you attended a church in that generation you would have heard clergy warn that the use of lipstick was of the devil, used to seduce men into marriage by witchcraft. I hope the Act was repealed but so far my searches have not brought any assurances.

The controversies surrounding what hairstyles, clothing and makeup are acceptable for Christians today goes way, way back before the very birth of the church and the cultural values of Roman, Greek and Jewish society. For example, the Jewish Talmud contains this ruling:

“A woman may not go out on the Sabbath [in the courtyard of her house only] wearing plaits of hair, whether of her own hair or of another woman or of an animal; or with frontlets or other kinds of ornaments sewn to her headgear; or with a hairnet or false curl, or with wadding in her ear or shoe…”

But in Ephesus, immoral and pagan Greek and Roman values were also influential. Young believers, Jewish and Gentile, were confused about how to express their new found freedoms in Christ.

The controversies were dividing the Christians and scandalising their witness. So Paul is inspired to write to Timothy two letters to help regulate the life of the church in Ephesus. As we have already seen, he begins with doctrine in chapter 1, urging Timothy to confront false teaching and to remain loyal to the apostolic faith.

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Who is my Neighbour? (Luke 10) World Vision Day of Prayer

Good Samaritan (Luke 10) World Vision Day of Prayer from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Do you ever worry about your neighbours? About that they may think of you? What impression you give them as a neighbour? When they meet you or see you from a distance, what impression do they get? Is it accurate or a distortion? Are your neighbours threatened or confused by the impressions you give? Do they want to get to know you or do they lock the door and hide? Scientists tell us that the further away your neighbours live, the more likely they are to hold outdated, inaccurate and stereotypical views of you. Did you know, for example, that once broadcast, TV signals begin an endless journey outward into the cosmos at the speed of light? That means our earliest TV broadcasts are probably travelling through star systems more than 400 trillion miles from earth. Do you realise that our neighbours living 60 light years away are watching the first episodes of the Lone Ranger in black and white. 50 light years away they are now watching Rawhide and Bonanza. 40 light years away they have moved on to the original Star Trek series. 30 light years away they are able to watch the Dukes of Hazzard and Knots Landing. Just 20 light years away its Seinfeld and the Sopranos. Those only 10 light years away are being blessed by the Apprentice and countless episodes of Lost. Does it worry you what our neighbours in space may think about us? Does it matter what impression we give? If you want to explore this further I recommend the new film District 9

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Pope Benedict, the Church of England and the Challenge of False Teaching

The historic visit to the UK this weekend of Pope Benedict 16^th has rightly received considerable media attention. There are several reasons for the media interest: Although Pope John Paul II came on a pastoral visit in 1982, this is the first ever state visit by a Pope. The invitation came from Her Majesty the Queen. More controversially, while the Church of Rome forbids its clergy from marrying, it is embroiled in a deeply damaging scandal of child abuse that is truly global in scale. Then, just before Pope Benedict arrived, one of his senior advisers – Cardinal Walter Kasper – suggested to a German magazine that arriving at Heathrow airport was like landing in a “Third World country”. Benedict has also offended some humanists by associating their view with the “Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society.”

While journalists have focused on these controversies, few have asked the more fundamental question of why England is not Catholic like France, Spain and Italy. Why is England Protestant? On Friday Benedict gave an address in Westminster Hall. It was here that Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor, was tried and condemned to death for defending his ultimate allegiance to the Holy See rather than his loyalty to King Henry VIII. This is why English Monarch can never be Roman Catholic. Pope Benedict came on this historic visit, in his words, to heal wounds and extend the hand of friendship to the British people. This dialogue is welcomed.

The impression given though, even some religious journalists, is that the RC and Anglican churches believe much the same thing and that our differences are trivial, or the result of Henry VIII’s testosterone levels. The fact is there remain serious theological differences between the Church of Rome and England.

Since the Reformation both churches have believed that the other has departed from the true faith. This is why studying 1 Timothy this Autumn is going to be so important and relevant. We will find practical guidance on how to live as Christ followers. We will also find answers to the questions that continue to divide Christians. Lets recap what we learnt two weeks ago.

The Purpose of 1 Timothy

The central purpose of First Timothy is found in 1:3 and 3:15:

“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer.” (1 Timothy 1:3).

“if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Tim. 3:15)

The primary focus concerns false teaching and its devastating effects. But the letter also contains positive instruction that inoculates against the errors of the false teachers. Paul’s real concern is with the results of the false teaching – promoting speculations (1:4; 6:4), arrogance (6:4), and greed (6:5–10). Paul focuses on how authentic faith leads to godly lifestyles. Lives not shaped by the gospel have turned away from the faith. 1 Timothy is therefore a clear call for Christians to live out the gospel – to live like Jesus.

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The Dynamics of Effective Servant Leadership

Nehemiah 1 The Priority of God’s Call from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.

The singing of William Blake’s poem, immortalised by Sir Hubert Parry’s music, has become a national institution. It is sung every year by tens of thousands of people on the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and simultaneously in the Proms in the Park venues around the country. Since 2004, it has also been the anthem of the England cricket team. And at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, Team England will use “Jerusalem” as the victory anthem from 2010 onwards. The Commonwealth Games Council for England conducted a poll of members of the public which decided the anthem for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The three options were “God Save The Queen”, “Jerusalem” and “Land of Hope and Glory”. Jerusalem was the clear winner with 52% of the vote. It has literally become the nation’s hymn.

But what many people do not realise is that beneath this poem, in the illuminated hand written original, which appears in the preface to his epic Milton a Poem, Blake wrote a verse from the Bible: ‘”Would to God that all the Lord’s people were prophets” (Numbers 11:29). The New International translation reads, “I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29).

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