Geo-Strategy#2: Christian Zionism and the Middle East Conflict

We're continuing our discussion of the United States-Iran War. As I've said previously, the United States will invade Iran. We don't know when—it might be two years from now, it might be six years from now—but eventually, it will happen. I want to go over some of the reasons why the United States will invade Iran, and I believe there will be three major reasons.

1. The United States must defend its Empire.
2. The United States will be pressured by its allies, mainly Saudi Arabia and Israel, into invading Iran.
3. The Israel Lobby.

Today, I want to explain what the Israel Lobby is, but first, I need you to understand what Christianity is.

The Promise of a Second Coming

Christianity is a religion about a man, Jesus, about whom we know very little. We think that he was born in 4 BCE and died in 31 CE (Common Era). We know that he is from a place called Galilee, we know that the Romans crucified him, and that's about it. What his believers say is that he is God come to Earth, and he was preaching a gospel, or a message, that God is returning—the Kingdom of Heaven is coming. After he was crucified, he was resurrected and then went to heaven.

What's really important is that Jesus will eventually return. This is called the Second Coming. When he comes, he will bring Heaven onto Earth, and we will all live forever in peace.

The question then is, why did this religion become so popular? So popular, in fact, that today about two billion people believe in it. It's the most popular, most powerful religion in the world. At first, the appeal of Christianity was that it was a revolutionary religion that promised a better world to the world's oppressed. If you look at the early people who followed Christianity, it was slaves, peasants, and women—people who were marginalized in society. The idea of Jesus is that a better world is coming where everyone will be equal. "The meek shall inherit the earth."

If you think about it, Christianity is appealing because it's a free lottery ticket. It costs you nothing, and hey, if it's right, then you go to heaven.

At first, Christianity was an extremely revolutionary religion, and its basic characteristics in the beginning were that it was revolutionary, egalitarian, and anti-authority. To individuals who were formerly outcasts, like criminals, Jesus promised hope, salvation, and redemption. Before, if you were a criminal, there was really no way for you to redeem yourself in society, and Jesus is the promise of your salvation and redemption. That's why it was so appealing.

It became so popular that it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Now, there's a problem. Remember, Christianity is a revolutionary, egalitarian, and anti-authority religion, and now it's become an Empire. They had to develop new theories to reinvent Christianity as an establishment religion. The person who did this was Augustine. As we discussed last semester, we read City of God and Confessions, which were really about adopting Christianity as an establishment religion to reduce its revolutionary nature.

One problem that Augustine had was the idea of a Second Coming—that the world will end. He had a major problem with this idea for many reasons. The first reason is, if the world's going to end, why do we have to do anything? Why can't we just drink and party and play video games every day? What's the point of working? That's the first problem. The second problem is, well, why is Jesus coming back? It's because the world sucks. Well, who's in charge of the world? The Catholic Church is in charge of the world. So, Jesus is coming back to destroy the authority of the Catholic Church. That's not good.

For many reasons, Augustine basically said, "Second Coming? Don't worry about it. Jesus will come back whenever he wants to come back, but before he comes back, we, the Catholic Church, will take care of everyone."

Divergent Views on the End Times

This is important because from Augustine onwards, we've had divergent understandings of what the Second Coming means.

For people who believe in the Second Coming, the term we use is premillennialism. The Second Coming promised a thousand years of peace. Premillennialism means that when Jesus comes back, he will give us a thousand years of peace and prosperity. "Pre" means before—he comes back before the thousand years.

What Augustine said is, "No, no, no, that thousand years is just a metaphor. It's not actually going to happen. In fact, it's already happened because the Catholic Church is giving us this thousand years of peace and prosperity." He's called an amillennialist, which means "no millennium"—that thousand years is a metaphor; it's not going to really happen.

As we know, because all power became concentrated in the Catholic Church, there was a rebellion against it called the Reformation. The idea of the Reformation is that God did not mean for his authority to be established in the church and held by priests. God is meant to speak to all of us through the Bible. The major difference between the Catholic religion and the Protestant religion is that Catholics are not allowed to read the Bible—they don't read the Bible—whereas Protestants must read the Bible. They must seek meaning and guidance from their interpretation of the Bible. Because of the Reformation, you now have thousands, tens of thousands, of different religions spawning.

The Reformation and the American Experiment

Let's look at England. England has a king, and before, the Catholic Church was supposed to have authority over the king. Of course, the king did not like that, so he supported the Reformation. He changed the Catholic Church and called it the Anglican Church, or the Church of England, which he would have authority over. But once the Reformation started, you were now allowed to read the Bible, and because of that, you have thousands of new religions coming up in England. They believed different things, but one thing that they all believed in is that the Bible is the supreme authority—not the king.

This started a major conflict between these groups and the king. These people are called dissenters, and eventually, this led to something called the English Civil War, where the dissenters—the Puritans—killed the king. But then the king was reestablished, and this led to decades and decades of fighting in England.

One way that the king tried to resolve this conflict was by sending all these dissenters to America. The idea was this: these dissenters believe that the Bible is the supreme authority, and the Bible asks us to do certain things. For example, you're not allowed to drink, you're not allowed to dance, you're not allowed to have any fun. You must focus on your own spiritual improvement. You're not allowed to have slaves. Because they believed these things, they were constantly in conflict with the establishment and with people in power. So the king was like, "Guys, if you really believe in these things, go to America. Why? Because there's nobody in America, so you can build your own kingdom of heaven."

This is the origin of the United States. The United States was founded as a Christian nation which put the Bible as the supreme authority. You guys probably don't know this about the United States. You think the United States is a non-religious, secular, multicultural nation that believes in science. That's what it looks like from the outside. But inside, its soul, its history, it is a Christian nation dedicated to achieving the kingdom of God on Earth and using the Bible as the supreme authority and guide to achieve this kingdom.

Four Views of the Apocalypse

These people in America, these dissenters, always asked themselves one question: "Why isn't Jesus back yet?" Different people have different explanations, and from this group come two more groups.

You have some people called postmillennialists. Postmillennialists believe that Jesus will come back after we establish a thousand years of the Christian church in the world. We have to prove that we are worthy of God. God's not going to come back and establish this for us; we have to do it ourselves.

Then you have another group called dispensationalists.

So now the premillennials are split into two other groups. The historic premillennialists are people who believe what the early Christians believed: Jesus is going to come back. Don't worry when he's coming back; just be a good person, and he'll come back eventually. It's not up to us to ask when he's coming back. He's God. He has a plan, he knows what he's doing. Just be patient, guys.

Then you have another group called the dispensationalist premillennialists. What they believe is something different. They believe that if you read the Bible very, very closely, it tells you how and why Jesus will return. What the Bible says is that there must be a nation called Israel, and Israel is of Jews. Then Israel has something called the Temple, because that's where God resides. It must have the Temple.

Then what will happen, according to the Bible, is that the Antichrist, or Satan, will arrive. There will be an Antichrist, Satan, who will be the Great Deceiver. He'll pretend to be God, he'll pretend to be the Messiah, but he's really Satan. And then he will launch a war where all the nations of the world will try to attack Israel. At this point, Jesus will come back, and he will destroy the Antichrist, he will save Israel, and he will usher in a thousand years of peace. A thousand years later, you'll have the Last Judgment, where God will judge us to be either worthy or not worthy. If we are worthy, we'll live on forever. If we're not worthy, then we'll burn in hell forever.

There are different variations of this prophecy, but that is what they believe.

In other words, what historic premillennialists believe about the coming of Jesus is that it's a promise. Jesus promises to return. He's God, he will keep his promise. He's probably very busy right now with other things, so don't worry about it, guys. Let's just be patient and trust in Jesus.

But the dispensationalist premillennialists believe that the prophecy is a plan. It's something that we must achieve to bring Jesus back. We do what the Bible tells us to do, which is to have Israel as a nation run by the Jews, to have the Temple, and then to face the Antichrist. Then Jesus will return.

So these are the four different views of the end times.

• Historic Premillennialists: Believe that Jesus has promised to return. Let's just wait, guys.
• Dispensational Premillennialists: Believe that we have to work hard to bring Jesus back by following a plan.
• Amillennialists: Believe the thousand years is just a metaphor; it's not going to happen.
• Postmillennialists: Believe that it's up to us to establish a good world, and if we do this, then Jesus will return.

This is a very simple version of the four different beliefs. Even within each belief, there are variations, because again, there are two billion people who believe in Christianity, and they all believe something different. But there is a concern, an obsession, as to when Jesus will return and how he will return.

The Prophecy as a Plan

Most Christians don't believe in dispensationalist premillennialism. In fact, most Christians believe that dispensationalist premillennialism is actually pretty evil. Why would it be evil?

Why would a Christian think this is evil?

The idea is that with this plan, you're trying to manipulate God. You're trying to force God to return, and you shouldn't do that. If you believe in God, then you will trust God, and you will try your best to be a good person, which is what the Bible asks you to do. When God returns is none of your business. It's not our concern.

So the dispensationalist premillennialists are an extremely controversial minority within Christianity. Most Christians don't actually believe this, and they find a lot of these beliefs to be evil and maybe even blasphemous. You're insulting God with this sort of thinking.

The problem is that of all these groups, the dispensationalist premillennialists are the most organized and the most fanatical. They really believe that this is true. We know that throughout history, those who achieve their objectives are people who tend to be the most united and who are the most fanatical in achieving their objective.

The second point is that this sort of belief thrives in a time of massive uncertainty and inequality, like the time that we are living in today, where inequality is growing and there's more instability and uncertainty. In other words, there are more and more people who believe in dispensationalist premillennialism.

Christian Zionism and the Path to War

This is important because dispensationalist premillennialists, as Christians, have done a lot to cause conflict in the Middle East. They're the ones who are actually encouraging conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. They're the ones who want Israel and Iran to go to war.

Why are they actively encouraging a war between Iran and Israel?

Because it's part of the prophecy. The prophecy is that Israel must first be reconstituted as a nation. This happened in 1948. And then Israel must go to war with other nations. So these Christians are actually promoting war between Israel and its neighbors.

After the Reformation, they developed a new theology called Christian Zionism. Christian Zionism is the belief that as a Christian, you must support Jews in their return to Israel. Remember that Israel as a nation was only founded in 1948. In about 70 CE, the Romans burned down the Temple. So for about almost 2,000 years, the Jewish people have not lived in—or rather, were not in control of—Israel. There are Christians who believe that it is our responsibility, our duty, to help Jews take control over Israel. They believe this for many different reasons. Some Christian Zionists may believe that's what the Bible says: God promised Israel to the Jews.

Christian Zionism intersects with dispensationalist premillennialism. There are Christian Zionists who believe that for Jesus to return, we need Israel back, and we need Israel to be in conflict with the Middle East.

You can make the argument that Christian Zionism is a pretty evil idea. Why? Because they're using the Jewish people as a tool, as a mechanism, in order to achieve what they believe, which is the return of Jesus. Christianity believes that if Jesus returns, then Judaism as a religion will cease to exist. Two-thirds of all Jews will die in the battle, and the rest, a third, will immediately convert to Christianity. So you can make the argument that Christian Zionism is a pretty cynical and a pretty evil idea.

From Christian Zionism, we have the idea of Zionism. Zionism is the belief among certain Jews that two things are true: one is that the Jews are the chosen people of God, and that Israel is the promised land, and therefore Jews must return to Israel.

What's important is that before Christian Zionism came along, Jews didn't really think this. It was the Christians who supported this idea of Zionism. And even when this idea came about, which was about 200 years ago, it was an extremely unpopular idea. The reason why is that Jews didn't think they were a race of people; they felt they were a religion. They felt that, "I'm in Iraq, well guess what? I'm an Iraqi like everyone else. I may have a different belief, but I'm still Iraqi." They didn't put their religion above their nationality or their race. Zionism is like, "No, being a Jewish person is a race, and therefore you must return to Israel."

The problem with all this is that in Israel/Palestine, it was mainly Arab people. There were very few Jewish people. In fact, Zionism couldn't convince anyone to come to Palestine. But then, of course, the Holocaust happened, and after the Holocaust, many Jews started to go to Israel, and in 1948, they established the state of Israel. The Christian Zionists and the dispensationalist premillennialists were very happy with the establishment of Israel because they felt that we've achieved the first step in this plan to bring Jesus back.

The Geopolitical Collision Course

To summarize, the main message is this. Here's what you need to know:

1. There are many Christians who believe that Israel and the Jews must be used as a tool to bring Jesus back.
2. America was founded as a Christian nation. Therefore, its soul is Christian. Its first leaders were Christians who believed in Christian Zionism. Their descendants now control the military and the foreign policy apparatus of America.
3. Israel as a nation thinks that it can use Christian Zionism in order to advance its geopolitical interests, which is to basically gain control over the Middle East.

That's what's driving the conflict between Israel and Iran. What's driving the conflict between Israel and Iran is that America believes it has a religious responsibility to protect Israel against Iran. In fact, if there's a war between Iran and Israel, that's a good thing because it's going to drive this prophecy and the return of Jesus.

And the people in Israel are like, "You know what? If we go to war with Iran, America is going to fight for us. So why not? We don't have to fight this war. America is going to do it for us. So why not fight this war? We lose nothing; we gain everything from this war."

The idea is that all this is driven by a religious worldview, an understanding of the world. And over time, this worldview will only become more popular in America.

Why are these beliefs becoming more popular?

Let's go back to the founding of Christianity. Why did Christianity become so popular? It became popular in the Roman Empire. At that time, there was something called the Pax Romana, which meant the "Roman peace." The Romans controlled everything, therefore there were no wars, and people were at peace. You'd think that's a good thing. The problem is that if there's peace, then you have massive inequality, because war was a mechanism back then of social mobility. War killed people, and if war kills people, that creates opportunities for the people who are alive. But if there's no war, then what happens is if I'm a rich person, I become more rich. If you're poor, you become more poor.

As a poor person, you think that life is hopeless, life is pointless, there's no future, there's no hope. And so Jesus comes along and says, "Listen, if you believe in me, then I will bring the Kingdom of Heaven onto Earth, and I will destroy inequality. Everyone will be the same." Again, back then, it was a free lottery ticket.

Today, we live in something called the Pax Americana. And the Pax Americana is the same thing, where for the past 70 years, there's been peace around the world. Very few people have died. But all that really means is that inequality has increased. Fewer and fewer people have money. Billionaires make no sense. Why should a few people have all the money? That makes no sense, because money is meant as a mechanism of exchange and transaction. You should use money, you should spend your money. If it's all in the bank, what's the point of that?

Having billionaires is a bad thing. And if you go to America, you'll find that there are many young people who feel that life is pointless. So they're looking for alternatives. This idea of dispensationalist premillennialism, which is that what's happening right now in Israel will lead to a better world, is kind of attractive to you.

Because you're poor and you're stuck being poor.

Imagine you are a delivery person in China, in Beijing. What hope do you have for the future? Your life is pointless and hopeless. No one's going to marry you. Even if someone marries you, you can't have children because you can't afford to have your children go to school. You can't buy a house. You can't afford anything. You're stuck being a delivery person for the rest of your life. There are millions and millions of young men who have no hope in the future.

But Jesus is coming, and he's going to destroy the world we live in. That's exactly right. Christianity is a free lottery. It costs you nothing, and if you win, you win big. What does it cost you? Nothing. That's why it will become more popular over time.

You support America, you support Israel, you support the war against Iran. You want more conflict in the Middle East because the conflict in the Middle East will drive the prophecy. That's what you want. You want more war. What good does peace do you? Peace just means that tomorrow you'll still be poor and hopeless. But war is an opportunity for a new world.

All this inequality is making people much more extreme and desperate, which will lead more people to believe in dispensationalist premillennialism. The government, of course, does not want any instability, but what can the government do about it? It could provide social welfare to poor people, but where will the money come from?

Who's more dangerous to you: a few rich people or millions of poor people? A few rich people are much more dangerous than millions of poor people. Poor people don't know how to unite.

This is hard because this is religion. We're not religious, I'm not religious, you're not religious, so we don't understand how religious people think. But remember that on this planet, on Earth, most people are religious, and they take their religion very, very seriously. They're willing to die for their religion because they think that if they die for their religion, they'll go to heaven.

You're not giving people any hope, and religion gives people hope. In the real world, the poor will always lose. The rich will always win. No matter what happens, the poor will lose. The poor don't realize that. That's why they're poor.