ALLIES FOR ARMAGEDDON This page intentionally left blank 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 contact: U.S. Offi ce: [email protected] yalebooks.com Europe Offi ce: [email protected] www.yalebooks.co.uk 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 This page intentionally left blank 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