Book Review:

Forcing God’s Hand: Why Millions Pray for a Quick Rapture - And Destruction of Planet Earth

When Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, in addressing his congregation recently said that all Arabs hate Jews and that all of Jerusalem belongs to the Jews, it came as no surprise to me. Right wing Christian evangelists, including Jerry Falwell, John Hagee, Ken Baugh, Jack Van Impe, Stuart McBirnie and a host of other leaders from Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal, Southern Baptist, independent Baptist, and charismatic churches have long been towing a similar line. 

This phenomenon, called dispensationalism, is “a belief system that holds, among other things, that the signs of the Second Coming of Christ are clearly spelled out in Scripture and can be identified with current international events.” 

The dispensationalist theology, less than 200 years old, was popularized by John Darby in England and by Cyrus Scofield in America. Scofield’s Reference Bible states that God has interest in only two peoples: the Jews, said to be on an “ earthly” track, and the Christians who are on a “heavenly” track. 

Author/journalist and former speechwriter for President Johnson, Grace Halsell, has extensively investigated this belief system, and reports the findings of her painstaking research in her critically acclaimed book, Forcing God’s Hand. 

Dispensationalism is increasing by leaps and bounds in America. Reportedly, it has 25 to 30 million followers in the U.S., and that number is growing. 

Coming from all walks of life, followers include politicians Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, Presidents Reagan and Carter, Congressman Tom Delay and many others. Former President Jimmy Carter, who recently distanced himself from the Southern Baptist Convention, is on record as saying, “The creation of Israel in 1948 means ‘a return, at last, to the biblical land from which the Jews were driven so many hundred of years ago’… The establishment of the nation of Israel is the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and the very essence of its fulfillment.”

Halsell identifies four main aspects to this growing phenomenon. First, those who preach this Armageddon theology are themselves anti-Semitic. They believe that God has destined the Jews to return to “Israel” and form their state in the Middle East. Following a very literal interpretation of the Bible, they believe that, unless and until Israel is “in place,” there is no landing base for the Second Coming of Christ to the Christians. 

Falwell, who has on numerous occasions made disparaging remarks regarding Jews, has no qualms, however, about his outspoken support for the state of Israel. His comments include, “Who will the Anti-Christ be? Of course he’ll be Jewish;” and, “As long as they don’t convert, Jews are spiritually blind.” Yet, he hops around in a million dollar jet provided by the Israelis. Why? Because the marriage between the two groups is a matter of convenience for both. The Israelis get vital monetary and political support from America while fundamentalist Christians are enriched on the way.

Second, dispensionalists have a very narrow view of God. They believe that only the 14 million Jews on the “earthly track” and the billion Christians on the “heavenly track” are the only people who matter to God. The other five billion or so human beings, including the billion strong Muslims, are simply not in the picture… until God calls them to be massacred at Armageddon. This explains their utter disregard for the aspirations of the original inhabitants of the holy lands, the Palestinians. 

Third, Halsell writes that the dispensationalists assume that they understand God’s mind, and that they are the in-crowd. “They provide a scenario, like a movie script, that unfolds with time sequences, epochs or ‘dispensation’ – all ending happily with an end-time escapism called the Rapture – for a chosen few like themselves.” This explains the bumper stickers that we see all over proudly proclaiming, “When the Rapture comes, this car will be unmanned.”

Fourth, while believing that world is worsening by the day, the dispensationalists insist that they can do nothing about it. This aspect, called “Fatalism,” is the most dangerous because it states that God not only wants but also demands that we destroy the planet earth. “They declare God does not want us to work for peace but rather demands that we wage a nuclear war that destroys planet earth.”

The book also documents, in detail, the history of the Holy Lands; the Fundamentalist Christian-Zionist conspiracy to destroy Al Haram Al Sharif; the fundraising trips of Zionist terrorists to the U.S.; and the efforts of American scientists to photograph the Masjid Al Aqsa area by satellite. 

Halsell contends that dispensationalist beliefs have nothing to do with original Christianity, that calls for non-violence and non aggression. She says, “Each of us can choose to define the character of our Creator, electing to follow a God of war or a God of universal love – and peace.”