UNDER CONSTRUCTION
This article is about the role of
Christian Zionism in the
United Kingdom in the 21st century.
For the history of Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom predating the 21st
century see
Christian Zionism and
Dispensationalism
The role of Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom in the 21st century, as opposed to the history of the beginning of the movement in Britain under Christian Zionism and Dispensationalism, is little known outside of the movement itself. It is a subsection of the Christian right in Britain.
In contrast to Britain, the subject in America is well known and extensively commented on in the print and telivised media.[1][2][3]
In Defending Christian Zionism (2008), David Pawson, a prominent Christian Zionist in the United Kingdom, puts forward the case that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land is a fulfilment of scriptural prophecy, and that Christians should support the existence of the Jewish State (although not unconditionally its actions) on theological grounds. He also argues that prophecies spoken about Israel relate specifically to Israel (not to the church, as in "replacement theology"). However, he criticises Dispensationalism, which he says is a largely American movement holding similar views. Pawson was spurred to write this book by the work of Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer, an evangelical Christian who rejects Christian Zionism. A debate can be heard between the two on Pawson/Sizer debate.
It is an established fact that Christian Zionism has its roots in Britain and that is has played an extremely significant role in that countries politics in the past.[4][5][6][7][8]
It is a commonly held belief, whom some see as an established fact, that within the politics of the UK today the Israel Lobby is extremely influential, as is the case in the US, but admittedly in Britain to a smaller yet still substantively significant degree.
In 2008 Ravender Singh Sembhy[2] wrote in the London Progressive Journal that "A commonly held belief is that certain popular trends in American culture almost always find their way to the UK. But one seldom hears of religious trends being exported across the Atlantic. Is this about to change? Will the recent surge in pro-Zionist Evangelical Christianity in America’s mid-west, the ‘Bible Belt’, filter into the UK too? Last year a new forum, initiated by the UK based Exploits Ministry[3], took place in London to revive Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom and was attended by a range of organisations – both Christian and Jewish."[9]
Etgar Lefkovits wrote in 2007 in the Jerusalem Post that "Attempting to stem the tide of rising Islamic fundamentalism in Europe, a group of British evangelical leaders hosted a conference in London (Jerusalem Summit Europe[4]) on Sunday seeking to rekindle the faded force of Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom."[10]
The Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer states that "Contemporary British Christian leaders such as Derek Prince, David Pawson, Lance Lambert, Walter Riggans, along with Americans like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Hal Lindsey, Mike Evans, Charles Dyer and John Walvoord, have a considerable influence in popularising an apocalyptic premillennial eschatology and Zionist vision on the British Evangelical scene in particular."
Documentaries that cover this subject deeply for Britain include Dispatches: In God's Name by Channel 4 and Balfour to Blair by Al Jazeera.
Christian Zionism is not to be confused with British Israelism or Christian Identity.
Prominent Christian Zionist organisations in Britain are Christian Friends of Israel, UK, the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People (The Israel Trust of the Anglican Church), the Exploits Ministry, Intercessors For Britain (IFB), "Prayer Friends of Israel" (PFI), Council of Christians and Jews, Derek Prince Ministries, the Beit Yeshua, North East Messianic Fellowship, Bridges of Peace[5], C L Ministries[6], Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary[www.marysisters.freeserve.co.uk.], Hatikvah Film Trust, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, UK[7], Messianic (Christian) Educational Trust, Paul Heyman International Ministries.Revelation TV[8], the Israel Britain Evangelistic Association[9] and Christian Zionists for Israel UK[10].
Geoffrey Smith, direct or Christian Friends of Israel, UK states that "There are at least twenty Christian ministries which might be categorised as Christian Zionist in the UK and they form a loose alliance called Love Never Fails[11] with its own website."[11]
