10 Errors of Christian Palestinianism

What’s wrong with Christian Palestinianism? A great deal. Here are 10 of its most obvious errors:

1. It blames Israel for much of the conflict between Israel and the Arabs living in Israel and not only dismisses Islamic terrorists, but aligns with them in opposition to Israel.
2. It attacks Israeli sovereignty but ignores the fact that Israel came to control the land because of Arab wars that sought to eliminate Israel. Its leaders fail to admit peace cannot be obtained simply by Israel withdrawing from the West Bank; Palestinian Arabs must recognize Israel as a nation and promise to live peaceably with it.
3. It ignores the biblical names for Israel. In the Bible, the West Bank is called Samaria and Judea. The biblical name for the entire land is Israel, not Palestine. The Romans renamed the land Palestine after they squelched the second Jewish revolt in A.D. 135. The renaming plays into the desire of Israel’s enemies who say, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more” (Ps. 83:4). Refusing to call the land Israel identifies one as an enemy of Israel and of God, according to Psalm 83.
4. It ignores the biblical people of the covenant. There are no Palestinian people in Scripture. There has never been a Palestinian nation in the Bible or in history. However, Israel is referenced from Genesis 12 through the end of the Bible as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These descendants are the recipients of God’s everlasting covenant promise of the land.
5. It manufactures a Palestinian history that does not exist, and it redefines Jesus as someone He was not. In the process, it changes the purpose for which He truly came: to save the world from sin.
6. It is founded on a bias against Israel, rather than from a careful study of Scripture. The fact that Christian-Palestinian scholars say difficult passages should be ignored and the Bible should be “de-Zionized” confirms this error. God’s Word says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16, emphasis added).
7. It diminishes God and the authority of His Word. Twisting Scripture to justify one’s position violates the basic rules of language. Christian Palestinianism ignores context and literal meaning and selectively infuses its own meaning for some texts, while outright dismissing the meaning of other texts. The apostle Paul warned his protégé Timothy to be diligent in “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).
8. It corrupts the understanding of what God is doing on Earth—His plan for the ages as revealed through His written Word—by redefining God’s purpose for history and for His Redeemer, Jesus Christ. The Bible warns against preaching a gospel that differs from the true one (Gal. 1:6–9).
9. It presents God as covenant breaker by stealing the promises He gave to Israel, as well as Christ’s promised earthly inheritance.
10. It greatly exaggerates the Christian-Zionist influence on U.S. foreign policy. Christian Zionists wish they had such power. But in reality, it does not exist.

Jim Showers is the executive director and president of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.