The Case for Zionism

Dr. Tommy Ice is the director of the Pre-Trib Research Center which he co-founded in 1994 with Dr. Tim LaHaye. He has authored or co-authored over 30 books, written hundreds of articles and is a frequent conference speaker. He's also served as a pastor for 17 years. He appeared on Crosstalk to discuss his book, 'The Case for Zionism: Why Christians Should Support Israel'.

According to Dr. Ice, Zionism involves people, including Christians, who believe that God has given Israel the land of Israel.

There are Christian anti-Zionists. This goes back to the 2nd century of the early church when people began to say that the church was the new Israel. That developed into the belief that the church has replaced Israel (Replacement Theology or Supersessionism). This has been the majority view down through church history especially within the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.

Dr. Ice disagrees with Replacement Theology. He noted that there are 3 chapters in Romans where Paul says that God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Paul then goes on to note that their hardness is temporary and that sometime in the future all Israel will be saved. For Dr. Ice, that means every Jew that's alive toward the end of the tribulation will become a believer.

Dr. Ice's book teaches that the world has witnessed (in the last few years) the greatest increase of anti-Semitism since WWII. Dr. Ice believes this to be especially true when you factor in the Islamic world. Up to about 70 years ago when Israel became a nation, anti-Semitism involved hatred toward Jewish people. Today that includes hating the nation of Israel and Zionism.