Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism

342 Pages·2007·2.05 MB·English

by  Victoria Clark

ALLIES FOR ARMAGEDDON
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ALLIES FOR
ARMAGEDDON
the rise of christian zionism
VICTORIA CLARK
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
Copyright © 2007 Victoria Clark
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any
form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright
Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from
the publishers.
For information about this and other Yale University Press publications please
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Set in Sabon and Perpetua by Carnegie Book Production, Lancaster
Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clark, Victoria
Allies for Armageddon: the relentless rise of Christian Zionism/Victoria Clark.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–300–11698–4 (alk. paper)
1. Christian Zionism—Great Britain—History. 2. Christian
Zionism—United States—History conditions. 3. Great Britain—
Relations—Israel. 4. Israel—Relations—Great Britain. 5. United
States—Relations—Israel. 6. Israel—Relations—United States. 7. Jews—
Restoration. I. Title.
DS150.5.C53 2007
320.54095694088’28—dc22
20070120116
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my American friend and mentor
William McPherson
with
love and thanks
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Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgements ix
INTRODUCTION: Chuck Missler’s Tour of the Holy Land 1
PART ONE: 1621–1948
1 ‘One Book of the Whole Bible’ 27
2 ‘This New English Israel’ 39
3 ‘The English Madness’ 51
4 ‘The Americanising Effect’ 73
5 ‘A Great Idea’ 98
6 ‘The Wrong Kind of Jew’ 123
PART TWO: 1948 ONWARDS
7 Apocalypse Loud 149
8 ‘A Disciplined, Charging Army’ 177
9 Watchmen for Israel 201
10 ‘Two Shining Cities upon a Hill’ 231
11 Talking Texan 256
Afterword 284
Notes 290
Bibliography 311
Index 322
Illustrations
1. Title page of The World’s Great Restauration or The Calling of the
Jewes by Henry Finch (1621)
2. Cotton Mather, engraving, after portrait by Peter Pelham
(Bridgeman Art Library)
3. James Leakey, Lewis Way, 1817 (reproduced from The Ways of
Yesterday by Anna Maria Stirling (1930))
4. Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, undated
lithograph (Bridgeman Art Library)
5. John Nelson Darby, engraving (reproduced from John Nelson
Darby by W. G. Turner, 1944)
6. Edward Irving, watercolour by unknown artist, c.1823
7. William Hechler, photograph by C. Scolik, c.1895 (Getty Images)
8. ‘Plan of the Aions’ reproduced from Jesus Is Coming by William E.
Blackstone, 1908
9. Orde Wingate, c.1943 (Bettmann/Corbis)
10. Josiah Wedgwood, c.1930 (Getty Images)
11. Ted Beckett with the author, 2005 (Robert Mayhew)
12. Jerry Falwell, 2006 (Helber/PA Photos)
13. Chuck Missler, 2006 (Melissa Peron)
14. ‘The Rapture’ by Pat Marvenko Smith, 2005 (Revelation Illustrated)
15. Bus 19 on display in Washington, 2004 (Jason Reed/Reuters/Corbis)
16. Christian Zionists processing through Jerusalem, 2006 (AFP/Getty
Images)
17. John Hagee, 2006 (Paul Wharton)
Acknowledgements
Intended for a general and secular audience, Allies for Armageddon does not
set out to tackle the rights and wrongs of Christian Zionist Bible exegesis,
but I am greatly indebted to the works of two theologians in particular
– Dr Stephen Sizer’s Christian Zionism: Road-Map to Armageddon?
(2004) and Dr Timothy P. Weber’s On the Road to Armageddon: How
Evangelicals became Israel’s Best Friend (2004)– for their lucid and detailed
treatment of the subject from a more theological and academic point of
view. A book as wide-ranging in time and space as this one would not have
been possible without copious reference to the work of countless other
historians and journalists to all of whom I am extremely grateful. I have
the British Library in London, the Library of Congress in Washington and
the Internet to thank for access to their works.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude too to the American Christian Zionists
who allowed me to attend their functions and agreed to speak to me,
and even, in the case of Ted Beckett, offered me friendship and generous
hospitality, despite knowing they might be talking to a ‘liberal secular
humanist relativist’. I deeply appreciated their honesty and openness, as
well as their helpful willingness to put me in contact with other Christian
Zionists. I owe a special thanks to acquaintances forged on Chuck Missler’s
tour of the Holy Land; they made what might have been a lonely and
gruelling research trip a real pleasure.
Without Sophie and Alec Russell’s generous hospitality in Washington
for a month in the autumn of 2005, I would not have enjoyed that portion
of my research nearly as much. The hospitality of friends in Jerusalem –
Nasra and Rahme Dahdal, George Hintlian and Fr Athanasius Macora
– lightened the load of my Israel research. Chris Stephen’s company in
Texas in October 2006 was another welcome boon. Michael Cromartie of
the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Dr John Green at the Pew Forum
on Religion and Public Life, both in Washington, gave me early and crucial