A head-turning CNN analysis article warning that “prophecy, not politics, may also shape America’s clash with Iran” was published this week, seemingly taking aim at evangelicals who believe in various end times theological constructs.

From the Rapture – the notion Christians will be taken up to heaven before or during the Tribulation period — to positions on Israel, the piece in question struck some critics as strange, incomplete, and even leading.

Most notably, the article provided voices critical of these theological ideals, while offering no voices who endorse or believe in the ideals derided.

Author and prophecy expert Todd Hampson, who is one such voice, told CBN News the article was “not journalism” but instead an attempt to diminish Christian ideals surrounding eschatology.

“It really is a very caricatured view of biblical Christianity on many levels,” Hampson said. “It’s just not fair, not balanced, not accurate, and not journalism.”

The CNN article in question, “Prophecy, Not Politics, May Also Shape America’s Clash With Iran,” made a plethora of proclamations, including a number of quotes and arguments, but one such mention of the Rapture claims the term isn’t in the Bible and also says many see Revelation as not depicting end of days events.

“Most mainstream biblical scholars say the word ‘rapture’ does not appear in most translations of the Bible or the Book of Revelation,” CNN’s John Blake wrote. “Many mainstream Biblical scholars say the Book of Revelation does not depict the literal end of the world: It’s an anti-Roman tract that used coded language to tell Christians that God would destroy Rome’s evil empire.”

But Hampson said these arguments are misplaced.

“Those arguments have been blown out of the water so many times,” he said. “They’re not factual. They didn’t do the research. Yes, technically, the word ‘rapture’ is not in the original Greek language, but the word ‘harpazo’ is, which means ‘a violent or quick snatching away, a removal from something,’ and it has other meanings. And that word is used several times in Scripture.”

He continued, “And that word in the Latin was translated to ‘rapturo,’ and then that’s how we get the transliterated term ‘rapture.’”

Beyond that reality, Hampson also noted other words central to the Christian faith, like “trinity” and “Bible” also aren’t mentioned by name in the New and Old Testaments, though believers see the concepts described within. The Rapture, he argues, follows the same pattern.

Of course, there’s certainly debate over the Rapture in Christian circles, with some disagreeing on when it will happen and others denying it’s a separate event from the Second Coming of Christ. But that’s beside the point, as divergent perspectives weren’t included in the CNN piece.

This, Hampson said, is just one of the “many straw man arguments” he saw in the article.

One of the more specific claims in the piece is that views on prophecy could be impacting U.S. policies in the Middle East.

“Many critics of Iran say it is a theocracy led by someone who reduces the world to a clash between good and evil and whose foreign policy is driven by apocalyptic religious myths,” the article concludes. “What if America’s clash with Iran is driven in part by some of the same religious forces?”

Hampson again felt this was a “stretch” and explained that, while both Shia Islam and Christianity hold end times theologies, he believes it’s Iran’s end of days views driving chaos, not America’s perspective.

“Israel is seen as the little Satan,” he said. “America is seen as the great Satan. … To say that it’s eschatologically driven, it is from that perspective, but not from our perspective.”

Hampson also said anyone thinking practically — Christianity aside — would see Israel as a U.S. ally and the “only true democracy in the Middle East.” Considering America’s relationship with Israel since its inception in 1948, continuing to partner makes logical and political sense.

“They’ve been constantly attacked over and over again since their founding in 1948,” he said. “It makes sense for us to protect them when they are being attacked and when there’s a nation that is developing nuclear weapons saying, ‘We’re going to destroy Israel with this as soon as we have it.’”

Despite this support, Hampson said the U.S. is under no obligation to agree with every single move Israel makes. That said, a general defense against Iranian aggression, he believes, is common sense.

Much of this, of course, goes back to the debate over Israel more generally, with some viewing the modern-day nation as a fulfillment of prophecy and others rejecting such a claim.

Jemar Tisby, a historian, told CNN that Israel in the Bible isn’t the same as the nation created in 1948.

“If you conflate the two, you end up supporting all kinds of actions that hurt people in the name of politics,” he said. “It leads to the reluctance to recognize the rights of Palestinians. It blinds us to the human rights and justice issues that are at stake in the Middle East.”

Hampson, though, very much believes the Bible is clear on God’s relationship to Israel and the Jewish people.

“From a Christian perspective, we are called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant,” he said. “Those are unconditional covenants that find their fulfillment in the end times when God returns His attention back and wins His Jewish people.”

He continued, “Paul talked about this. It’s not just an Old Testament thing. In Romans 11, Paul … [is] warning the church, ‘Don’t get prideful because you’re allowed to be grafted into God’s original plan.’ But there’s coming a time when all Israel will be saved. So there’s a future time that has not yet been fulfilled when God is going to turn His attention back to Israel. And Zechariah 12 says, very plainly, ‘They will look upon the one they pierced. They will mourn for the one who they killed’ … they’ll finally realize that he was their savior.”

Ultimately, Hampson said believers should “support Israel” but do so “not in a blind eschatological way.”

Another arena CNN tackled is dispensationalism, addressing the topic under a header that read, “A controversial form of Christianity drives evangelical views on the Middle East.”

According to Blake, Tisby is joined by other religious scholars in claiming the recent U.S. bombing of Iran might have been influenced by 19th-century pastor John Nelson Darby.

“Darby looked at certain passages in the [Bible’s] book of Revelations and devised the concept of ‘dispensationalism,’” Blake wrote. “It divides history into distinct ‘dispensations,’ or periods through which God interacts with humanity differently. Many adherents to this tradition believe in a fiery apocalypse and the ‘Rapture’ — a moment when Christians are suddenly lifted to heaven before a period of tribulation on Earth.”

The idea, according to the CNN piece, is that dispensationalism views Israel as significant in the last days, particularly in its geographical presence and its role in preceding Jesus’ return. Israel’s success is thus important for this to unfold.

Hampson gave his own definition of dispensationalism, though, noting it “teaches that God’s whole story is one grand story [and] that you can track the narrative of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation like a story in a chronological manner.”

However, he also became more specific in explaining how the concept works through a biblical lens.

“In each era, like, say, before the fall, when Adam and Eve were in Garden of Eden or before the flood or after the flood, in these different time periods or dispensations … God worked with those people and gave them a mandate of something to do and that they were responsible for what they knew at the time,” Hampson said. “For example, Adam and Eve, they didn’t know about the death, burial, and resurrection. They did know the prophecy that there was coming a future descendant of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head, but that’s all they knew. … It’s not like they had a full theology built at that point, but, in every era, salvation is always by faith, by grace through faith. So they always have to trust God, the revelation that they have at that moment, and God’s grace is given to them. They understand they can’t earn it on their own, that God’s grace is needed.”

The “Prophecy Pros Podcast” host is fully aware of the fact that many believe dispensationalism isn’t in the Bible, but he said it’s plainly observable in the “progressive revelation of God” throughout Scripture.

“Different periods have slightly different ways that God works, but it’s based on the progressive revelation of God,” Hampson said, later adding his belief that the Lord’s promises to Israel still matter. “We believe the Bible — that God says what He means, and means what He says. And, therefore … God’s unconditional, open-ended promises to Israel still stand.”

CBN News reached out to Blake to ask clarifying questions about the article in question, mainly why no diverse voices — particularly people like Hampson who believe and understand these concepts — were included. We have not yet heard back, but will update the story if and when we do.
Sources:faithwire

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