Israel, NZ Baptist Union and “Treason”:
Part I of a Response to NZ Baptist Union

Part I of Perry Trotter’s response to NZ Baptist Union 

This statement is supported by Ariel Ministries NZ and Christians For Israel NZ

TAGS: Baptist Union NZ • Laidlaw College • Dr Philip Church • Rev Dr Stephen Sizer • Tear Fund NZ • UK Anglican Church • Rev. Joseph Kemp • NZ Bible Training Institute • Charles Spurgeon • Judea and Samaria • decolonisation • Indigeneity • Gaza • Hamas • Israel

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NZ Baptists, Israel and “Treason”

Part I

The purpose of this video is to begin to respond to material that has been published in recent times by NZ’s Baptist Union, relating to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Over the last two years Christians have been murdered at an alarming rate in places like Nigeria, DRC and India. Based on the output of the Baptist Union, however, persecution of Christians does not concern Baptists anything like the actions of the only democratic state in the Middle East - one that is fighting for its very existence in a war it did not start and did not want. 

Israel, the only nation in the region where the rights of Christians are fully protected, has come under harsh criticism from various Baptist leaders, while the persecutors of Christians are, to a large degree, ignored. 

Of course, not all NZ Baptists are represented by the various problematic articles, statements and podcasts publicized by the Baptist Union. I'm pleased to say that we have been able to speak at a number of Baptist churches that would strongly disagree with the material promoted by the Baptist Union.

Many of the mainstream libels against the Jewish state peddled by groups like the UN have been repeated by the Baptists. Indeed, one recent statement speaks of “indiscriminate bombing, murder, sexual violence, torture”. [1] This is deeply irresponsible and only contributes to surging levels of antisemitism.

It is sad to see ostensibly evangelical institutions willing to substitute the victim for the aggressor, distort history, promote aberrant theology and engage in promoting modern day blood libels.

Before addressing a few of the problems with the Baptist material, some background information will be helpful.

A major contributor to the statements is Dr Philip Church who at the time of this filming is listed on the Laidlaw College website as a senior research professor.

Unfortunately, Laidlaw College has a record of controversy in this area. In 2012, in cooperation with Tear Fund NZ, Laidlaw College hosted UK Anglican Priest Rev Dr Stephen Sizer, notorious as perhaps the leading Christian anti-Zionist of the period. Sizer had long been accused of antisemitism and association with Holocaust deniers and terrorists. He was ultimately formally charged and found guilty of antisemitic acts by a disciplinary tribunal of his own UK Anglican Church, hardly an institution known for its support of Israel.

None of that is an obstacle to the Baptists however. A few weeks after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, they published an anti-Zionist piece that points to Sizer’s work as a resource providing “context for the current conflict…” [2]

This tells us much about the well from which many of the Baptist leaders are drinking.

Laidlaw College has not always been host to such views. Indeed, it is helpful to look back a century to the founding of the institution under the name New Zealand Bible Training Institute. Rev. Joseph Kemp is considered the primary founder and his views on Israel’s restoration were unambiguous. In an article published in the organisation’s monthly magazine, The Reaper, Kemp set out Jewish history, past, present and future. Kemp considered the present condition of the Jew as ‘de-nationalised’ and ‘dispossessed’. Yet he marvelled that the Jews had retained their identity and were preserved as a people after centuries of persecution. He considered this a miracle. Kemp, also a Baptist, clearly looked forward to Israel’s predicted regathering and argued that the welfare of the nations was bound up in Israel’s restoration. This is all the more significant in that he was writing more than two decades prior to Israel's national rebirth in 1948.

What a contrast to the positions held by some associated with Laidlaw College and New Zealand Baptists today. Strong support for restorationism has been replaced by antagonism toward the Jewish state and open contempt for the beliefs of the Baptist founder of Laidlaw College. 

Of course, many famous Baptists have taken a position diametrically opposed to the New Zealand Baptist material. Instead, they have held a biblically grounded support for the ultimate restoration of Israel. 

The English preacher Charles Spurgeon writing in 1864 made a striking statement about those who negate and spiritualize the very many biblical predictions of Israel’s regathering and ultimate restoration. 

In commenting on Ezek 37 Spurgeon declared it nothing less than treason to God's Word to neglect the prophet’s primary meaning.
…if words mean anything… …there shall be a political restoration of the Jews to their own land and to their own nationality… [3]

I think Spurgeon was right to describe the machinations of replacement theologians as treason to God’s word.

Dr Church makes more problematic statements than I could possibly address. From the promotion of maps that have been widely exposed as factually incorrect (even MSNBC issued an apology after promoting those maps), to downplaying or ignoring Palestinian terror and Arab intransigence. His telling of the history of the region is simply misleading. Those matters will be addressed by a learned colleague. 

But to briefly illustrate the problem, let me report this peculiar statement: Dr Church describes ‘Judea and Samaria’ as the “Israeli government name for the West Bank.” Well, yes that is true, but Christians might be interested in the fact that Judea and Samaria are the terms used by none other than Jesus …and four or five New Testament writers.

In contrast the term “West Bank” in political discourse seems to have its origin with Israel's enemies. I was not able to find an example prior to 1949.

There seems to be a concerted effort to minimise or downplay Jewish connection to the land of Israel - and neither history nor the Bible is going to stand in the way.

Dr Church frequently uses the term “indigenous Palestinian Christians”, but asserts that “only a tiny minority” of Jewish people are indigenous to the land. My most charitable reading of this is that it demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of Indigeneity, or historical reality, or both.

There are several markers of indigeneity. One is the ethnogenesis of a particular group in a particular land, in which a unique culture and language develops. Jewish connection to the land of Israel has a thoroughly documented connection extending more than 3500 years. It is exceptionally well attested by archaeology - and, of course, the Bible. Much more could be said but the Jewish people are most certainly indigenous to Judea. 

Remarkably, Israel existed in the very same land 3000 years ago, with the same name, and  very similar language, religion and culture. How many nations can make the same claim?

Mainstream media and much of academia portray Israel as a settler colonialist project. In reality, Israel is a clear example of decolonisation by an indigenous people group re-establishing themselves in their ancestral homelands - with their unique cultural practices intact and their ancient language restored. That is why Israel serves as an inspiration to many indigenous people.

Portraying Israel as an occupier is as absurd as painting Ngapuhi as occupiers of Northland.

Yes, the Arab people are indigenous too - but to the Arabian Peninsula. It is there that their unique cultural markers developed. The presence of Arabic speaking peoples throughout the broader region is not a mark of indigeneity but rather evidence of colonialism. As a result of the Islamic conquests of the 7th to 9th centuries, Arabic spread to North Africa and the Middle East. Peoples across the region were made to submit to Islam, and the language of the Islamic imperialists was imposed on native inhabitants. Many Indigenous languages were banned and some were subsequently lost.

None of this is to deny that some Arab families have lived for generations in the land of Israel. They have indeed. And some of those Arabs today contribute greatly to Israeli society, and even serve alongside Jewish soldiers in the IDF. Much more could be said. My point is that any implication that Jews are not indigenous to the land of Israel is patently absurd.

Before moving to the biblical and theological matters that are my primary concerns with the Baptist material, let me make a further comment on the present conflict.

7 October 2023 saw the greatest number of Jews raped, mutilated, burned and slaughtered in a single day since the Holocaust. Dr Church describes the massacre as “unconscionable”. Good. But then he quotes with approval the words of a Palestinian friend: "how long would you let me stand on your neck before you started retaliating?” This is an egregious justification of terror. Church says that he is “keen to set the context in terms of 17 years of utter oppression of the people of Gaza.” 

No, that is plainly not the context.

Israel withdrew fully from Gaza in 2005 in the hope that the Gazans would establish a thriving society. Instead they elected the terror group Hamas, who turned Gaza into a terror base and built 500km of tunnels under schools, hospitals and homes, with billions in humanitarian aid. Israel attempted to prevent the flow of arms to Hamas, but despite this, about 20,000 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israeli citizens from Gaza since 2005.

That, along with Hamas determination to annihilate the Jewish people, is the context of October 7. That is the context in which following October 7 Hamas vowed to repeat their atrocities again and again and again.

In a future video I will address some of the biblical and theological problems in the Baptist material. The Christian viewer can then decide if the positions promoted by the Baptist Union are faithful to Scripture, or in the words of Charles Spurgeon, treason to God's Word.

[1] https://baptist.nz/statement-concerning-gaza-israel-the-west-bank-and-east-jerusalem/

[2] https://baptist.nz/pondering-the-historical-context-for-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict/

[3] https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-restoration-and-concession-of-the-jews/#flipbook/