A recent documentary titled “Til Kingdom Come” is being shown in Jewish film festivals sponsored by local Jewish community organizations here, here and here.
The film goes out of its way to portray American Evangelical Christians in the most unflattering way possible and send the message that their support for Israel should be rejected by Jews.
Last week, Nashville’s Jewish community hosted speakers who consider mainstream Republicans white supremacists.
In 2015, Abbie Wolf, the Nashville Jewish Community Relations Director, published an article in the Nashville Jewish paper questioning the value of a relationship with Christian Zionists so it wouldn’t be a stretch to see this film pushed out to their viewing community. Wolf wrote:
“While Israel benefits from Christian Zionism, some members of the Jewish community have a host of questions about this fervent support. Some find the gamut of views advocated by Christian Zionists to be disquieting.
So what are some of the concerns about Christian Zionism? One is a distrust of the motives behind their support. What’s the catch, we wonder? What will they ask of us, and when? Is there an expectation of quid pro quo? If it’s support for their domestic agenda they seek, that would be challenging. For example, on many issues like maintaining a strong wall between church and state, we tend to part ways.
Another concern is that Christian support of Israel comes at the expense of our ultimate survival as a people. We fear their support is grounded in Christian biblical prophecy. If their support for Israel is based on their belief that the ingathering of Jews in Israel is a prerequisite for the End of Days, where does that ultimately leave the Jewish people? Further, many believe we must exercise caution in dealing with Messianic Jews – Christians who consider Jews who haven’t accepted Jesus to be ‘incomplete.’
Still others in our community feel that Christian support for Israel comes at the expense of the Muslim community, both here and abroad. Some Christian Zionists’ views are strongly rooted in the belief that there are no moderate Muslims and that Islam is a faith rooted in violence. This broad-brushing of Islam doesn’t consider Muslims who want nothing more than peace for their families and communities.”
To round out the cynical views of Israeli filmmaker Maya Zinshtein, the anti-Trump message is included because as everyone knows, President Trump was the worst thing ever to happen to Jews and their ancestral homeland Israel. Viewed through Zinshtein’s lens, the sole reason Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and endorsed Israeli sovereignty over the security strategic Golan Heights, was to snare the votes of America’s large Evangelical voting bloc.
The German funded internet portal Qantara, designed to “promote dialogue with the Islamic world,” has also reviewed the entire film. They note that Zinshtein likely had “unique access” to her film’s subjects simply because she is from “the Promised Land.”
Most revealing is the reviewer’s impression that “Zinshtein is evidently irritated by this unqualified love for her country. Yet the leaders of the Evangelical movement who feature in the film don’t seem the slightest bit interested in her critical distance to Israel, which she makes absolutely no effort to hide at any point during the film.”
Zinshtein also appears to be warring against Trump supporting Jews, using her medium to further divide Jewish communities:
“Among other things, Zinshtein filmed during a gala dinner where money was being raised for the IDF. The dinner was attended by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has supported both Netanyahu and Trump with huge sums of money. On that evening, Eckstein told Adelson that Jewish communities around the world are not growing, but that evangelical communities are.
The message is crystal clear: pro-Israeli Christians – some of whom refer to themselves as “Zionist Christians” – are much more important allies for Israel’s nationalists than Jewish communities around the world, most of which are liberal and are more critical of this one-sided support than all other religious communities in the USA.”
Political commentator and anti-Trumper Michael Medved spared no criticism of the film – describing it as “hopelessly one-sided,” relentlessly cynical,” and “profoundly misleading.”
The supposed draw for why liberal and leftist Jewish groups would show this film is to show that the mix of conservative politics, support for President Trump’s MidEast policies, and Evangelical “end of times” prophecy, where supposedly 2/3 of Jews are killed and 1/3 convert to Christianity, does not serve the best interest of Jews in the U.S. or Israel.
Nashville’s Jewish community takes a protectionist approach in their relationship with the anti-Zionist Muslim organization AMAC despite the fact that Jews don’t fare any better under the Islamic end of times; in fact neither do Christians – “He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizyah. Allah will perish all religions except Islam.”
Palestinian Islamic scholar Mraweh Nassar, stated in a February interview that “Jews were ‘the most dangerous enemies’” and that “Muslims will experience a golden age ‘after the Jews are killed, in the time of Jesus.’”
If you have concerns about the showing of this film in Nashville, contact Deborah Oleshansky the current Nashville Jewish Community Relations Director – deborah@jewishnashville.org
