Home » October 1998

We have quoted New York Times’ columnist A.M. Rosenthal a number of times in our newsletters. In my view, he has the most clear-eyed perspective on the situation in Israel.

New York — It has been a pretty fine vacation for Americans, hasn’t it, a vacation from the whole world for the better part of a year.

Thanks to President Bill Clinton, we could take our minds off things that are a real bother to think about — how Saddam Hussein has smashed the United Nations inspection system, the China-North Korea missile-peddling partnership.

For a few days, Mideast terrorists did penetrate American defenses and consciousness by blowing up two U.S. Embassies. Then U.S. missiles blew up two terrorist targets, we think.

Talking at the rostrum of the United Nations and around New York is a man trying to tell us something: There is no vacation ever for his people or America’s.

Maybe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is not saying it clearly enough, because people keep telling him to be nice and diplomatic, neither of which I have to be.

He is saying that Israel and the United States are the two countries most in danger from the Iraqs and Irans of the world, from the China-North Korea proliferation combine, from the whole universe of terrorism, whether sponsored by states with weapons and cash, or with decades of propaganda that is anti-American, anti-Jewish, anti-democracy, anti-peace, anti-everything except hatred, hatred.

Also, Mr. Netanyahu is saying that despite misgivings he shares with most of his people, he is ready to give the Palestinians more than they had dreamed of — until the previous government gave them reason to believe they could get all they wanted in the way of land, statehood and arms.

Mr. Netanyahu is saying he was elected precisely because he did not sign on to that much largesse. But he is willing to sign on right now to giving Palestinians 13 percent more land, Washington’s drummed-up figure.

The Palestinians would have control of 40 percent of the West Bank, with a final settlement still ahead. Yasser Arafat already governs almost 100 percent of West Bank Palestinians. Israeli rule over Palestinians has already ended.

But the prime minister says there are three conditions, and that for a change he would like Washington to help him, by pushing Mr. Arafat to carry out his promises.

First: As promised, Palestinians must dismantle and destroy the terrorist machinery that otherwise would be forever at the gates of Israeli cities.

Second: The 13 percent would be handed over in three months, as anti-terrorism goals were met and, as promised, the hateful Palestinian covenant scrapped.

Third: Three percent of the 13 is critical to Israel border and water protection. No building or Palestinian forces would be allowed; the Israeli Army would see to it. It would be the first real Palestinian compromise in five years of negotiation.

There are those in Israel and in America, including myself, who have no expectation that Mr. Arafat will accept a peace secure for Israel. They believe that hatred spread by many Muslim regimes and Palestinian officials is so deep and foul that it will take years to clear away the muck.

But I also believe that Mr. Netanyahu deserves the chance to try. At his meetings this coming week with Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Arafat, Mr. Clinton can tell Palestinians that unless they carry out the conditions they will lose the 13 percent and possibly a lot more.

Mr. Netanyahu knows that if there is an agreement, it will create what he calls a Palestinian entity and what the world will correctly call a Palestinian state.

But he told me that if Mr. Arafat went ahead with his threat to declare an independent state on May 4, without a peace agreement, that would be a unilateral change in status that would “collapse” the Oslo declarations and free Israel to take unilateral action itself, such as annexing parts of the West Bank.

I asked him to repeat that, and he did — slowly, so I could put it down right.

Dear Friends,

There was more excitement about Israel in Washington than in Jerusalem during September. I was in the Holy Land with our Fall Tour group, during which time peace broke out still again. In 59 tours of Israel we have never seen the violence so thoroughly advertised by CNN and the networks, and in fact, our pilgrims are always amazed by how peaceful and secure the place feels.

The excitement in Washington was about Netanyahu and Arafat meeting with Clinton, but I think that had more to do with Clinton’s problems than any supposed problems in Israel. Nothing was accomplished on the “peace process,” and so there is little to worry about at the moment. My chief concern about the Oslo accords is that they will actually put the thing into effect and create a Palestinian nation from which the Arabs can much more conveniently attack Israel, their true goal.

Arafat himself may not last much longer. He has apparently had a series of strokes, I was told in Israel, and is able to only speak in short statements from a written or prepared text. Who will succeed him? We can only hope that it will be one of the more intelligent and sincere Palestinian leaders, or at least not another international terrorist. I think that agreements between the Jews and the Arabs of Israel are possible, but only if the Arabs are not controlled by gangsters.

A fourth minister of Arafat’s cabinet has resigned because of the corruption. If the Arab people in Israel or anywhere else could have free elections and choose leaders they can trust, or at least recall, the whole world would be better off. An Israeli spokesman recently said that though many countries of the world favor forming a Palestinian state, which one of them would like it to be right within their own country. For example, Palestinians stole 45,000 Israeli cars in 1997, averaging one every 11 minutes. The cars are re-licensed by the Palestinian authority within two weeks.

A whole new theological idea occurred to me during our tour when we visited Caesarea Philippi. That remarkable area is the site of hosts of ancient Greek and Roman gods, whose statues decorated a huge rock of a mountain at the time of Christ. It was at this singular site that Peter made his confession that Jesus was the Son of God, to which the Lord replied, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The Lord’s play on words is usually taught as a reference to Peter, whose name was Cephas which means “rock,” but another thought occurred to me at that one-of-a-kind location. If the mountain indeed showed all of the Greek and Roman gods of the time, perhaps our Lord was also saying, “Upon this rock — this very place where all these false gods are represented and worshipped — I will place my true church,” meaning that the Lord would build His own organization in Greece and Rome despite their paganism. And of course, that is what happened in the New Testament. The Christian Church was born in Jerusalem, nurtured at Qumran and Galilee, and became a force of world importance in Greece and Rome.

I don’t say the above dogmatically, of course, but only as an illustration. Dr. Tom McCall, who was with us, said the idea was “interesting.” I certainly don’t mean to start a new doctrine (or some new church with its headquarters at Caesarea Philippi!).

Israel remains a place of beauty and peace, and I wish every Christian could see it. Isaiah said the desert shall blossom as a rose (Isaiah 35:1), and that certainly is happening now. This former desert country exported three million roses to England for the funeral of Princess Diana.

Why not see Israel for yourself? Departing on December 12 and returning on December 27, our extended Christmas/Hanukkah Tour includes a fascinating extension into Jordan to see the ancient rose-red city of Petra, as well as two luxurious nights in the resort city of Eilat on the Red Sea. The extension also offers a visit to the Shepherd’s Fields of Bethlehem, where our Lord was born, and a Christmas party on December 25. Our deluxe Israel-only tour departs December 12 and returns on the 22nd, just in time for Christmas with your family and friends at home. This is our most economical tour of the year, but you’ll still receive all the benefits of luxurious tour buses, and the same elegant hotels and itinerary as our high-season tours. We’re taking registrations now, so please call 1-800-WONDERS (966-3377) for our travel folder, or call Loretta at 214-696-9760. [Or click here for an on-line request.]

Since December is our lowest-priced tour, it may be that you can get on it at a real savings. My idea is as follows: Tell all your friends that rather than giving Christmas presents bought at American stores this year, you are going to plant a tree with your own hands for every one of them, including the children, in God’s country. You will bring back to each of them a certificate attesting to their tree and its location in the state of Israel. Our tour will stop at one of our two forests, and the trees should save you so much on Christmas gifts that your tour will practically be paid for. Add to that the fact that we are leaving from gateway cities throughout the U.S., so there’s little or no domestic airfare involved. Our 60th anniversary tour could be your bargain of a lifetime!

For the first time ever, we are offering a Caribbean Cruise February 5-8. We will sail through the lovely Bahamas, Nassau and Cococay, enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of our luxury cruise vessel. In addition to having plenty of time to work on a winter suntan, take interesting optional island trips, etc., I will be speaking and conducting Bible studies every day. The cruise starts when you leave your home on Friday morning, February 5, and you’ll be back on Monday evening, February 8. Please call 1-800-WONDERS (966-3377) for a brochure, and 1-800-769-9466 for more details. [Or click here for an on-line request.]

Our Love Stories of the Bible series is playing now, and we would love to hear what you think of this teaching.

Remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Your messenger,

Many of you have received letters from Criswell College this past month defending the Gundry textbook still again, and lashing out at this ministry for supposed attacks on the college itself. Most of you who forwarded these letters to us have deplored the attitude of the college, though a few of you were convinced by their versions of events.

Their accusations against us amount to a cover up of the real issue. We went to them as Christian brothers to report that we had found a bad textbook in their college, and they are talking about everything but that textbook. They act as if we came to burn the place down.

Well, no matter how “unfair” we’ve been to the college, no matter how brutal this enormous ministry (of twelve people!) has been to them, it’s still a bad textbook. If the college had simply gotten rid of the thing at the time we pointed it out, there would have been no such issues and no such silly diversions and irrelevancies to confuse our readers.

What intrigues me now is just why the college is so defensive. After all, Southeastern College in Lakeland, Florida, simply examined the textbook when our viewer brought its shortcomings to their attention, and summarily threw it out. Liberty College phoned me to reassure us that they once used the textbook for a summer course in 1992 but discovered the truth about it and also threw it out. Why is Criswell College making a federal case out of this simple and routine complaint? In truth, probably many evangelical colleges will drop this book without really announcing it to us. There will never be an issue of the Levitt Letter with a long list of colleges that have “thrown out the trash.”

I am shocked and embarrassed that my brothers in Christ could not take a simple criticism. I am ashamed of how these men have behaved, who purport to run a Baptist school and defend erroneous Bible doctrines. I think more needs to be changed at Criswell College than a mere cleaning of the bookshelves. It is not the place of these particular administrators to criticize a ministry of twenty years experience, especially in the very subject where the errors are being committed — Israel and the Chosen People. If these men have such a problem putting up with the criticism of a single textbook, whose author is well known to be at least off to the edge of accepted evangelical theology, then what would happen if we had a real problem with their college? What if a professor there denied the virgin birth or the doctrine of salvation? How then would we approach a seminary so defensive that they cannot take the most obvious censure concerning a single textbook? Would we expect them to lash out at sister ministries and make up all sorts of distortions about them and defend their position at the cost of Christian fellowship?

Is it possible that the administrators truly believe in this textbook and want to teach Replacement Theology and the other errors to their student body? It was reported to us by a former faculty member of Dallas Baptist University, which also uses the Gundry textbook, that this is exactly what happened there. Faculty members were replaced by those who hold these erroneous doctrines, and there is simply no talking to them. (They have ignored all of our correspondence other than a letter from one department head who could find nothing wrong in the textbook though, as he testified, he has over 50 years of theological experience!)

Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, where Professor Gundry himself teaches, is absolutely proud to embrace his strange ideas. And an on-line secular bookstore’s review of his book presents proudly the fact that the Church is going through the Tribulation, the Rapture won’t be until the end of it, and so forth. First the Antichrist trumpets false teacher Gundry whose inane defenses of his textbook were refuted in this newsletter by Dr. Tom McCall last month. Let's bear in mind that Gundry was drummed out of the Evangelical Theological Society and that this singular event took place at Criswell College.

So far as Israel goes, I would say that the majority of American seminaries are inexplicably opposed to that nation, and have little use for the Chosen People. They hold approximately the same position toward the Jews as St. Augustine and the Roman Catholic Church: Israel has been replaced as the Chosen People by the new Gentile Church. This particular error, which simply cannot be derived from Scripture, is the result of an aversion to the Chosen People and the Promised Land, and only comes about among those who have those preferences.

And that brings me to my third possibility in the odd behavior of Criswell College. Could it be that with all their pedigree about experience in Israel, Hebrew language expertise, etc., etc., at heart they are pulling away from the Jews and the Holy Land? A few years ago we had quite a quarrel with a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, who made his anti-Israel philosophy very clear on a radio program in Dallas. We immediately complained to the seminary, and they were courteous enough to sit down with us in a meeting in that professor’s presence. I confronted him about what he had said on the radio — that conceivably, these people (the Jews) might be driven off the Land — and asked him how that squared with prophecy about the Jews holding the Land forever. His first defense, like Criswell College’s, was to say he never said that and the attack was unfair. I pulled out a transcript of a tape we had made of the radio program, and I asked him if he would like me to read his exact words to the gathered officers of the seminary. He protested that he loved Israel, and I just told him to love someone else for a while. He left the seminary at the end of the semester. Despite his extensive travels to Israel, he had fallen into anti-Israel ideas.

And that’s the amazing part of the relationship between organized Christianity and Israel. Many people, including professors, have gone to Israel and studied for years, but were somehow seduced by Arab complaints and their ideas about possessing the Land (and still others were seduced by rabbis to embrace legal Judaism rather than the Christ-honoring Messianic Judaism). These individuals, like Walter Rodgers of CNN, prefer to eat and sleep in the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem, but spend the rest of the day talking with kindred spirits in Arab neighborhoods and trumpeting their anti-Israel views.

It’s possible that some college administrators were raised by a previous generation who were taught that the Jews killed Christ and therefore God had nothing more to do with them, the substructure of Replacement Theology. Though they might have gone to correct Bible schooling after that, as Professor Gerald Schroeder puts it, “We will always sing the song we learned in our youth.”

And lastly, it is just possible that these men do not know how to interpret constructive criticism. Perhaps as academicians, they are so used to being bowed to by students and celebrated by committees of board members and admirers, that they start to think they are indeed infallible. Criticism is simply unfamiliar to them and they don’t know how to receive it. So, even so mild a criticism as to point to the errors in one single textbook, becomes in their minds an attack on their seminary and on the men themselves.

In short, it is difficult to see why Criswell College continues to defend this patently bad textbook and even lashes out at a sister ministry that has done it no disservice. In any case, I apologize for the way this college behaves, and I’m sorry you have had to read their long letters. Once again, the issue is the Gundry textbook. If they will really and truly stop using the thing, the matter is over. As long as they say things like, “It won’t be used as the main textbook,” we’ll keep a close eye on them and continue to report to you.

And finally, can anyone out there tell me why they persist in using that book?

Dr. McCall’s critique of Criswell College Executive Vice President Lamar Cooper’s defenses of the textbook shows that Dr. Cooper is willing to defend Replacement Theology, the use of the term Palestine, and even Gundry’s most preposterous idea that the 4,000 Jesus fed were Gentiles. (In truth, he cannot bring himself to exactly defend that craziness, but instead gives a sort of “no comment” kind of answer. But he can’t seem to cough up the fact that the Lord, who in the same chapter [Matthew 15:24] said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” did in fact practice what He preached and fed the lost sheep of the house of Israel.) Dr. Wells, Criswell’s president, signed the letter bearing these defenses, and so the two of them seem to hold to Gundry’s views.

And so my final theory of why they have difficulty accepting our legitimate objections to this textbook is that they simply cannot accept hearing this from a Jewish brother in Christ. They take terrific offense at the things I say, particularly on television, and they completely ignore the fact that Dr. Thomas McCall, a Gentile and a Baptist theologian of at least equal credentials with their own, sat with me in total agreement.

People ask me how I got my odd first name. It is actually from the name of Emile Zola, a French author who at the end of the previous century wrote a dynamic book which pointed out the anti-Semitism of the French government. They had discovered a spy somewhere in the military ranks and arbitrarily selected a Jewish captain to be prosecuted for this crime. The title of the Zola book was J’Accuse [“I Accuse”]. I’m not quite ready to formally accuse anyone of holding in their hearts any non-Christian doctrine like anti-Semitism. But however this textbook situation turns out, I think we all have a right to expect an apology from the administrators of Criswell College for their behavior.

The ruination of sound doctrine at a seminary often seems to start with a single professor who turns out multiple copies of future teachers promulgating his same errors. When I taught at Dallas Baptist University in the early ‘80s, a Professor Bell, who is still there, taught amillennialism in the classroom next door to mine. To my knowledge, Dr. Bell was the only amillennialist there at the time, but what I hear about that university now, from a former faculty member who is a viewer of ours, is that the whole place has deteriorated into incorrect doctrine. Our viewer announced that several faculty members were fired for not supporting the idea of a gender-equal Bible (God is neither male or female, etc., etc. Feminism comes into sound Bible reading somehow.) I was amazed at the ideas some of my students had picked up from this professor. One of them, Dr. Paul Wolfe, is now the head of the New Testament Department at Criswell College (see our “Letters to Zola” section in this issue for commentary on him). Now Dr. Wolfe in turn will teach his replacement theology to hosts of students as the administrators of this seminary valiantly defend the Gundry book, and so it goes. Bible-reading Christians have got to put a stop to this nonsense and restore correct doctrinal teaching, love of the Holy Land and the Chosen People, and a real reverence for Scripture. Spiritual slogans and sugar-coated words will never take the place of sound Bible understanding.

I must admit that I was a bit troubled by some of the voluminous amount of mail we received in reply to Gerald Schroeder’s appearances on our television program. There were several kinds of objections to his theories, a few of which bothered me. Some of the objections were very ordinary, but others were thought-provoking.

Among the ordinary objections to what our guest said about the six days of creation and 15 billion years being the same period of time were the supposedly elementary errors by the professor. There’s a certain mentality out there that almost suggests a Biblical police force. These folks are going to defend their own understanding of Scripture no matter what new idea might come along. I suspect they were like those in the Church who tormented Galileo and Copernicus in their time, and some of them are after Dr. Schroeder right now.

The first group are those who just don’t grasp the idea that six 24-hour earthly days as seen from God’s throne can be 15 billion years and more as seen across the huge interstellar distances of our universe. No matter how many times Dr. Schroeder has gone over this explanation, we still get letters demanding that he understand that God made the world in six days. Well, he does understand that, and that is what he said on our program.

Then there are the people who accuse Schroeder of embracing evolution, even though he said just the opposite. And there’s a certain group among them that insist that he is an evolutionist simply because his theory allows enough time for evolution to have occurred, even though Schroeder doesn’t believe in it! In other words, if you say that the universe started out 15 billion years ago, then you are saying men came from monkeys. In reality, the two theories are in no way connected.

Then there’s a third group who doubt everything Dr. Schroeder said because he is not a believer in the Messiah, but is rather an Orthodox Jew who wears a skullcap. That would be a credible objection if God revealed truth only to believers in this world, but I think we’ll all have to admit that in the fields of science, medicine, and other academic disciplines, God has revealed valuable secrets of His creation to unbelievers also. In Scripture, the Lord used such Gentile personalities as Cyrus of Persia and Rahab of Jericho to bless His people and to reach profound spiritual conclusions that escaped even the Jewish believers of the times. Ruth, a Moabitess, discovered God from within a pagan land and was willing to go with Naomi to Israel, saying, “Your people are my people, and your God is my God” (Ruth 1:16). The Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip, “Of whom doth the prophet speak?,” finding his way to truth through contemplating the Bible in the same manner that Professor Schroeder contemplates the Bible.

Still other letters took cheap shots at Dr. Schroeder for simply being Jewish and covering his head. But to such profoundly faithful Jewish believers through the ages, God committed the Scriptures themselves, and the reason we have our Old Testament and New Testament is because of their faithfulness. We really must avoid cursing the Chosen People (see Genesis 12:3).

But after all of those letters, there remained a few well-written and thoughtful messages asking if I had considered the work of the creation scientists, believers in Jesus Christ who have also studied the origins of the universe. Well, I had done that some twenty years ago when I wrote a book called Creation: A Scientist’s Choice [no longer available], and I learned the “young earth” theories, the flood geology, and so forth. I thought they were interesting theories at the time, and I still do (and Professor Schroeder does). But to me, Schroeder’s ideas were a different order of thinking. According to his theories of time dilation in the universe, he would agree with all of the young earth theorists, and yet still provide for the 15 billion years or so found by secular scientists as they study cosmology (origins of the earth and the universe).

What bothered me over the years was that I never found a non-religious scientist who opted for the young earth and the other Biblical theories of creation. They seemed always to require a scientist wearing a white coat but with a test tube in one hand and a Bible in the other. I secretly wondered if the creation scientists weren’t more preachers than scientists. And I was nervous about them “bending the science” to fit their ideas of what Scripture meant.

With Gerald Schroeder, I could “have it both ways.” He agreed with the most conventional theories of Genesis and also with the most conventional theories of non-religious scientists.

Any number of people sent in creation science literature for me to see, and among those books was Starlight and Time by D. Russell Humphreys, Ph.D. This fascinating little book is available through your Christian bookstore; it is published by Master Books.

Dr. Humphreys, like Dr. Schroeder, started out to work on the great distances of the universe through which light has always traveled. After all, we can see objects as far as 12 billion light years away, and if the earth is only 6,000 to 10,000 years old, how is it that the light has reached it? Another way of saying that would be that, in order to see the birth of that star, I would have had to stand on the earth gazing through a telescope at its location for 12 billion years!

Well, Dr. Humphreys, a creation scientist with a deeply-felt belief in Jesus Christ, reaches many of the same conclusions as Dr. Schroeder. The two would have a lot to talk about.

Without trying to review his whole theory, I can see this much: The two scientists agree on God and that He created the world in six days, and those are 24-hour normal-length earth days. They further agree on the flood, and they both agree that no “evolution” ever took place on this earth. And finally, they agree that time changes throughout this universe, so that a clock in one place keeps time entirely differently than a clock far away. Time dilates with distance, both men acknowledge. And both men agree that the first six days of creation were profoundly different from the rest of history. Dr. Schroeder said that we have not yet finished the sixth day, and Dr. Humphreys says, “God stops the expansion before the evening of the sixth day.”

Dr. Humphreys keeps earth time separate from time in the rest of the universe by calling it EST — “Earth Standard Time.” Dr. Schroeder says that God switched to the earthly clock we now know and use at the moment He placed the soul in Adam. In any case, these men substantially agree.

And both are modest, prayerful men. It is a subjective judgement on my part, but I found both of them humble before their God and very impressed by His creation. Both are unassuming men who do not claim that their theories are precisely true, but only stepping stones to greater truth. In the words of Dr. Humphreys: “We need more and better creationist cosmologies. I say ‘more’ because mine may prove to have fatal flaws of its own, but if we have a variety of good theories to choose from, we are much more likely to find the truth.”

And sure enough, the viewer who sent that book also sent a very complex creationist publication called Technical Journal, which absolutely crossed my eyes as I studied it. That publication has already criticized Dr. Humphreys’ theories, with still other ideas of creation. And so science goes. All this dialogue on the part of men profoundly believing in a creating God can only lead us into further light and further truth.

I was personally very moved and very relieved to see Christian believers holding to a similar theory with Dr. Schroeder, whose scientific credentials and experience are beyond question. I am looking into having one of the creation scientists on our program by way of contrast to Dr. Schroeder, and I very much thank all of you who sent the creationist literature.

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Dear Zola,

A young professor came and “taught” at our church about two weeks ago. He brought a “lesson” on Replacement Theology. He supposedly set out to “prove” that the church is now Israel. It was really quite pitiful. He teaches at Criswell College which was also a surprise. Anyway, thank you for teaching the Bible.

Occupying until He comes, S.P.

We wrote asking if she would identify that particular teacher and received the following letter.

The teacher at Criswell College teaching Replacement Theology is Dr. Paul Wolfe. He seemed to be proud of the fact that he made his students angry and set about to “prove” to them that he is correct. It is a dangerous thing to blatantly teach falsely. Thank you for sending him materials.

Sincerely, S.P.

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We need better books in our seminaries, and perhaps some better men. Not all mail that arrives is critical. I was certainly delighted with the following e-mail.

I have been a Christian for 17 years, and Zola’s program was one of the first that I ever found. I used to watch it on CBN [now FAM] every weekend. Through the years, I have witnessed so much hype and false teaching in the Christian world, and I have always considered Zola’s program to be a refuge in the storm. What impresses me the most about how topics are handled is that I can tell Zola doesn’t approach a “hot” issue out of a desire to “shove” his opinion to the viewers. The views that he holds are so obviously confirmed by Scripture that he only needs to go to God’s Word to reveal what the truth actually is. Plus, he has a wonderful sense of humor that he is not afraid to expose. I remember a few years back, during a wild week in the Middle East, that he shook his head in awe and wondered aloud how much more could possibly happen before Jesus zoomed back to earth to get us outta here. I consider him to be one of my spiritual mentors in my Christian walk, and it is so wonderful to be able to tune in and watch someone who I consider my Christian friend. I have been visiting a Messianic fellowship… and am finding out more and more just how important Jewish holidays and imagery reveal God’s wonderful truth. I love all of you, and am planning on ordering some of Zola’s music. It sure beats listening to the rap sounds I have to endure sometimes at the office.

C.M.

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One letter related an appalling example of anti-Israeli sentiment displayed at a Christian college’s recent graduation exercises. I was not surprised to find out that author Gundry himself taught at that college.

Shalom,

My daughter just graduated from Westmont College, where [Robert H.] Gundry was her Greek professor. We traveled to Santa Barbara for her graduation, and I was broadsided! On Friday night the Baccalaureate program included three students’ reminiscent view of four years at Westmont. The first two were wonderful and encouraging. The third was given by… an Egyptian student graduating with a 4.0 in all four years of classes! According to my daughter, he had had no “campus life” because of his study schedule. Why he was honored with the platform was beyond most. His speech was not about campus life, the friends he had made, or how much he had grown in the L-rd, as were the first two. His tale was one of a trip he took to “the Middle East” while on Europe Semester. He met a woman who was awakened early one morning; she and her children were thrown out of their home and watched as the “oppressive Israeli soldiers” bulldozed the home of her dreams. A home that she had finally been able to afford on property her husband’s family had owned since the Turkish occupation. Zola, I was enraged with righteous indignation. First, that this boy would tell half-truths and lies. You and I know that only the homes of convicted terrorists are destroyed, and the fact that the woman’s husband was not evident validates this.

In His Service…and at yours, M.C.

Gundry’s influence has gone on a long time.

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Dear Zola,

In a recent letter you asked for names of colleges that use A Survey of the New Testament. Undoubtedly, you are aware that Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA, uses it, as my daughter took that class under Robert H. Gundry himself about 10 years ago.

I want to thank you for pointing out these errors in its teaching and I will discuss them with my daughter.

Would you believe that just this summer one of our church members (Evang. Free Church) presented a Sunday School class on the differences of the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000 and said the 4,000 were Gentiles? Thanks too for your article in your last newsletter (I get your letters through a friend) pointing out the error in that. I will give a copy of the article to this man who led that Sunday School class.

Also I want you to know that my husband and I have ordered Dr. Gerald Schroeder’s video, and also my husband ordered his books. We have been sharing them with others who find this theory very interesting and worth considering.

I have your ministry on my prayer list.

Sincerely in Christ, A.B.

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Some readers seek our advice in their selection of a Christian school.

Dear Zola,

In your response to your personal letter dated June, 1998, I wanted to be faithful to your request. You mentioned the use of the textbook A Survey of the New Testament, by Robert H. Gundry. I agree with your opinion that it is anti-Israel. I called D.B.U. [Dallas Baptist University] and asked who used it to teach from, and I was told Professor Tabares.

I am a prospective student seeking admission for this fall semester. The receipt of your letter today confirmed the reservations I had about this college, and yet I desire to go to a good Baptist college desperately. Can you please recommend a “Jewish-friendly” school here in the U.S.? I am somewhat partial toward Liberty University in Virginia, headed by Dr. Jerry Falwell. What do you think? I very much respect you and your staff’s understanding of the faith.

Your Gentile brother in YESHUA, R.V.

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Continue attacking Gundry’s book! We are amazed to learn (from you) he was tossed out of the very seminary that now uses his book. Hypocritical! Thank God your son is alert to anti-Semitic literature. God bless him and you for speaking out.

We Gentiles have been misled too long and you have given us the Light. We support you and Jews for Jesus when we can.

S.B.

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You can’t trust everything you are taught, even in a Vacation Bible School class, as the following letter attests.

Dear Zola,

This summer my daughter (in-law)…was given curriculum to use in a Vacation Bible School class. As she was telling me about it, she mentioned that the 4,000 fed by Jesus were Gentiles. That sent me right to my Bible, as I’d never heard that before. I couldn’t find anywhere that was stated. Though I’ve studied the Bible for 22 years, taken Bible college courses and taught Bible studies on occasion, I’m certainly no expert. I was about to chalk up the 4,000 “Gentiles” to my ignorance, when your letter came. I took it to [my daughter-in-law] and she was amazed. She said there was no way she would teach that the 4,000 were Gentiles after reading what you said and what Thomas S. McCall wrote. She was very grateful I’d shown her the Levitt Letter. Oh, by the way, [she] is Jewish on her dad’s side.

So please don’t apologize for spending so much space in the Levitt Letter on the erroneous textbook written by Robert H. Gundry. You have alerted me and I’m sure many others to a very serious matter. I now listen more carefully to sermons and Bible teaching. And I check the Bible as soon as I hear something questionable. That’s what we are taught to do in 2 Timothy 3:16,17, after all.

It is always a shock to me when I encounter anti-Semitic sentiments in “Christians.” Only God can know a person’s heart. That they go to church is not proof of anything. Corrie ten Boom said, “Just because a mouse lives in a cookie jar, it doesn’t make him a cookie!”

I have had a lifelong love for the Jewish people. I was raised in a predominately Jewish neighborhood in Los Angeles. Most of my friends were Jewish and I learned a little of the Jewish culture. When I became a Christian at age 36, my love and appreciation for the Jews became even deeper. My late husband became a Christian at the same time and shared my feelings about the Jews.

We were really excited when we discovered you on television! Through the years we have learned so much from you.

For one whole summer we traveled 180 miles round trip from our home in Chehalis, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, every Friday evening to celebrate Shabbat with the Messianic congregation of Am Shalom. The Bible came alive to us as never before under the anointed teaching of the young Jewish men. And to worship Yeshua in song in Hebrew (spelled phonetically for us “goyim”) is a joy I’ll cherish forever.

It would well do all us Gentiles to occasionally read Romans 11:17-36 concerning our positions on the olive tree.

Shalom, J.E.

In the Garden of Gethsemane I often point out to our pilgrims how the new young tree trunks grow right out of the gnarled, old olive tree. This is exactly Paul’s image in Romans 11. The church rose out of the old Jewish roots and takes its sustenance from those.

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Dear Zola,

Your letter concerning the “faulty” textbook by Mr. Gundry was passed on to one of our nieces, as she is attending one of the colleges mentioned. Thanks for the information.

Dr. McCall’s study: The Feeding of the 4,000 — Were They Gentiles? is excellent and greatly appreciated.

There are two other unrelated subjects that I wish to know more about. Once again I have heard (recently) a seldom-made reference to the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” Though I am a constant Bible reader, I don’t know how to look this up. Which captivity? Surely believe that God preserved at least a remnant of each of these tribes. Wondering if anyone knows if all of the twelve tribes are now represented in Israel?? Possibly here in the States also?

Also, has Dr. McCall written about the Kingdom Age? Surely there are many references that I've missed, but I'm thinking specifically today about Romans 11:26 “and all Israel shall be saved…,” chapter 66 of Isaiah, chapters 12, 13, and 14 of Zechariah, Revelation 20:4.

I would just like to know more from REAL AUTHORITIES like you, Zola, and Dr. McCall. Thanks! (Ephesians 3:19-21)

Sincerely, M.C.B.

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Dear Zola,

Today I saw your show about Gundry’s Survey of the New Testament. I have to admit that I was really appalled. I have an old edition of Gundry which I bought from a co-worker who went to Westmont College in California. I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. After hearing your report about it, I’m not sure I should read it!

Would you please recommend a Survey which you consider reliable? I would like to study something correct. I had assumed that Gundry would be okay since it had been used at Westmont, where many children of Bible translators have gone to college. I guess I should never assume anything! I admire your courage and perseverance in this. There is so much fakery in the church at large these days that we need people like you to denounce it.

I was also appalled to hear about Zondervan. I wondered why they stopped publishing their more worthwhile books. They are one of the few “Christian” publishers on AOL, so I guess that shows something too. I am so glad that the Holy Spirit can’t be controlled by people, even if people are stupid enough to try. Praise God for limited damage.

I often wonder these days if anyone actually believes all the kooky stuff they hear. It seems so ludicrous. Then I’ll hear someone who seems completely taken in by it all gushing the same false teachings. I often wonder if any of them actually know Jesus. I think not. Sure wish I knew what was going on. Please send your recommendations….

Thanks, D.J.K.

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Dear Zola,

We have a new minister at our church… and she often refers to Jesus and some interaction with a Palestinian. Can that be true if there was no Palestine in Jesus’ time? I’m so ignorant that it’s hard to challenge her statements without knowledge of Palestine and its history. Can you direct me?

I’ve enclosed a photocopy of a page out of our son’s Bible, given to him as he entered the 4th grade Sunday School class in the ‘60s. It has a map of Palestine at the time of Christ.

We are about to start a new session of Bible study and I don’t want to be confrontational with the new minister, but don’t want to have misinformation or statements in class either. I’m counting on you.

Sincerely, J.W.

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Memo To: Dr. Thomas McCall and Zola Levitt

I just want you both to know that I am so glad to stand with you and support what you are doing. You are representing the Lord Himself and He will bless you for it. The world around you, even in the evangelical circles, may not stand with you, sorry about that, but He and I will.

I know that the Bible says many will turn from His ways in the last days, but I am amazed that so many from so-called evangelical institutions and churches have strayed from God’s Word. Thank you for hanging in there and stating your case. My part comes in prayer support for you and your ministry and I need to speak up also wherever I come across misrepresentations of God’s people (the Jews) or His Word. Trust me, I do speak up a lot. I do not mince words.

I am enclosing some letters that I have written to our own church’s college and seminary, and one I wrote to Criswell. Bethel [College] does not teach any prophecy to speak of. I have been battling their seminary graduates for years. They teach that the Tribulation has always been on earth and etc. I could go on and on. I tell you one thing, Bethel does not get a dime of money or support from me. I marvel that the Lord lets it go on. Judgement day will come for these professors that have taught untruths about God’s Word and His promises to the Jewish people and Israel. I am sure the Lord is not pleased.

Hang in there. God is with you. A.M.

Here is her letter to Bethel College:

Dear Dr. Versaput:

Recently, I have been made aware of a dangerous theology being taught at some of our country’s Christian schools and seminaries. It’s called Replacement Theology. Also the use of a particular textbook entitled A Survey of the New Testament (third edition) by Robert H. Gundry is particularly offensive.

I am enclosing a letter by Zola Levitt, who happens to be Jewish but also his son was a student at Criswell College in Dallas, Texas. I went to Israel with Zola’s tour in ‘95 and found him, for many years now, to be very Scriptural and well-grounded in God’s Word. I am very concerned that no Christian college or seminary use any material that places Israel or the Jewish people in a light that offends them, and more importantly, the Lord Himself. Since our church has been a contributing member of the Mn. Conference for many years, I definitely want to hear from you stating that this book is not part of Bethel’s curriculum.

Replacement Theology is rearing its ugly head boldly even in evangelical circles. Its theology states that God has taken away his promises to Israel and given them to the Church. This is a terrible lie and I would hope that if any of Bethel’s teachers or staff convey this to the students, I for one want to know about it. This kind of “Replacement Theology” is not Biblical and I’m certain my Lord (who is still Jewish) is not pleased either. When the Lord comes back to earth to set up His kingdom, it certainly won’t be in America, but it will be in Israel (only) as prophesied and God’s Chosen People (the Jews) will be there recognizing and welcoming their Messiah home.

Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to the above, and I wait for your reply.

Sincerely, A.M.

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We are glad to hear from friends who are helping us to identify schools that are using this textbook.

Dear Zola,

Thank you for your TV program and for your letter regarding Gundry’s book A Survey of the New Testament. I phoned three college bookstores to find out whether they carry it. Results: Biola University — yes, they do; Azusa Pacific and Master’s College — no, they do not. Then, I assume that since Gundry teaches at Westmont College, they also carry it, but I did not ask.

I agree with you completely that this book is heresy, but since I know other things about Biola and Westmont that are very troubling, I’m not surprised by very much of anything they do.

Sincerely yours in Him, C.P.

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The following writer names names and places. You may want to follow up.

Dear Zola,

This pertains to your letter about A Survey of the New Testament… We asked a Dr. Overstreet of Northwest Baptist Seminary in Tacoma, WA, if they were using this Gundry’s book in their classes and he said, “Yes, we do.”

I'll give you the address and web site — www.nbs.edu.

Northwest Baptist Seminary
4301 North Stevens                   Fax:  253-759-3299
Tacoma, Washington  98407         E-mail:  
Mark Wagner — President

Dr. Overstreet may be reached by phone from 9 to 4 at 253-759-6104, ext. 106.

I’m sorry to say we were not surprised… we have talked to two graduates of that school, a pastor and a missionary, and they don’t want to accept the Jews’ return to Israel as prophecy being fulfilled.

Thanks for bringing Gundry’s book to our attention.

G. & M.D.

The “Cover-Up” letter many of you have received from Criswell College contains a supposed dialogue between my son Aaron and Vice President Cooper. I passed this remarkable dialogue to Dr. Tom McCall for his comments.

The quotations imply that Aaron had a conversation with Dr. Cooper, and that Aaron’s statements and questions are accurately represented. Actually, Dr. Cooper was working from a list of 49 points, condensed into six major areas, which Aaron prepared. Only page numbers and brief notations were in the list. It is not at all clear where the quotes attributed to Aaron came from, and they are not accurate representations of what he said or wrote. The only time Aaron discussed these matters with Dr. Cooper was in the presence of Zola and Dr. Wells, and, according to Zola, none of the statements attributed to Aaron were made at that meeting.

Below are the questions that Aaron supposedly asked and Dr. Cooper answered:

1. Aaron reported that Dr. Wolfe, the head of the New Testament Department, informed him that not all of the faculty members are dispensationalists. Dr. Cooper replied that all the faculty are premillennialists, and all are dispensational to some degree. It appears there is a difference of opinion between Dr. Wolfe and Dr. Cooper as to whether all of the faculty are dispensationalists.
2. The statement attributed to Aaron concerning Christianity being the completion of Judaism is not clear. Aaron says he never made such a statement. Dr. Cooper says Christianity fulfills what the Old Testament anticipates, because the Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah. However, the Old Testament did not anticipate the Church age. The Church age was not revealed in the Old Testament, and was a mystery that was not revealed until after the death and resurrection of Christ.

   The Church did not replace Israel. Israel’s covenantal relationship with God remains intact, just as before, although the nation continued under the Lord’s discipline. The Church (composed of believing Jews and Gentiles of this age) was introduced to accomplish its purposes of proclaiming the gospel in this age, and has its own covenantal relationship with the Lord, distinct from God’s covenant with national Israel.

   Dr. Gundry states that the Church has replaced Israel, at least temporarily. Dr. Wells appears to agree with this statement. The idea is that, if you think the Church replaces Israel only temporarily, and not permanently, you are not promoting Replacement Theology. However, if you believe the Church has replaced Israel at all, you have to believe that the covenant with Israel has been terminated, “at least temporarily.” This is still Replacement Theology, even though modified.

3. Aaron complains that Gundry states that Jesus went into “Gentile territory,” after having commanded His disciples, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles” (Matt. 10:5-6). Dr. Cooper says that he could not find any statement in the book referring to Jesus’ going into “Gentile territory.”

   One place Gundry makes this statement is on page 186 of A Survey of the New Testament:

   “With no concern for ritual purity, Jesus withdraws from his persecutors (Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, 15:1) and goes into Gentile territory.”

4. Aaron is attributed as expressing concern about Gundry’s referring to the Feeding of the 4,000 as being Gentiles, who were symbolic of the Gentiles who would “trust in Jesus as Savior in the time of Matthew.” Dr. Cooper agrees with Gundry that the 4,000 were Gentiles, and explains that the great throng of Gentiles who came to Christ in Matthew’s time refers to later when Matthew wrote his gospel, not in the time Matthew was writing about during Jesus earthly ministry.

   There are two problems with this. Gundry uses very shaky reasoning to establish that the 4,000 were Gentiles of Decapolis. The evidence strongly indicates that the 4,000 were Jews in the area of the Tetrarchy of Phillip near the Sea of Galilee just as were the 5,000 who were miraculously fed before. Two articles in the Levitt Letter (July & August, 1998) deal with this question extensively. Also, the way Gundry uses the phrase “in the time of Matthew” is ambiguous. If he meant several decades later in the Church age, it would have been helpful if he had made it more clear.

We responded to all of these points in subsequent correspondence, which is not indicated above. The implication is that Zola and Aaron should have been satisfied with these explanations, and are being unreasonable if they are not satisfied.

November 22

King of Glory Lutheran Church — ELCA
Rev. Jon R. Lee, Senior Pastor
Dennis Guill, Director of Education
Dallas, Texas
972-661-9435

December 12 – 22 / 27

Hanukkah/Christmas Tour
Israel — Petra/Eilat

February 5 – 8

Caribbean Reunion Cruise
Nassau — Cococay — Miami