Rick Perry & Christian Zionism

Apostle Don Finto was a keynote speaker at Governor Rick Perry's Aug 6th Prayer Rally in Houston. Together with "Messianic Rabbi" Marty Waldman he delivered the "Prayer For Israel." Rick Finto is a leading member of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) whose mission is to convert the Jews, and to convince evangelicals of the importance of such. In a 2001 book he wrote:

"I have become convinced that Rabbinic Judaism is a more severe departure from biblical faith than I had ever realized in my early days of Jewish recovery...The atmosphere of New Testament carried on the spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures pervasively and profoundly. The essence of Rabbinism is a severe departure, replacing revelation with human reason...We who are Jewish are biblical New Covenant Jews, not Rabbinic Jews!"

I actually think the part about replacing revelation with reason was insightful and complimentary, but then I realized that coming in context and from Finto it is meant to be inciteful and anything but complimentary.

For a fuller (and scarier) discussion of this, of Christian Zionism in general, and its links to the Perry rally (and therefore to Perry himself) see http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/8/16/152647/490

All this would be merely piquant, if it were not for the $100s of millions raised and spent every year by the Christians Zionists and if Rick Perry (now only 5 "points" back of Obama in opinion polls) was not so closely associated with them.

h/t to Richard Silverstein