June 1998 Personal Letter

Dear Friends,

“ …of making many books there is no end,” (Ecc. 12:12). That would be fine with me if they were all good books. But sometimes I run into something really discouraging.

One of our ministry’s most tedious duties is responding to churches, seminaries and the like to correct their anti-Israel and anti-Jewish biases. When my son Aaron went to a Christian high school, a teacher said one day that Christianity did not start in Israel, but actually in Greece. I ended up sitting in the principal’s office, having to inform a so-called Bible teacher that thousands of people were saved in Israel at Pentecost, in Antioch, in Ephesus, etc., before the Gospel took real root in Greece. I informed him that Jesus Christ is Jewish. So were all of His disciples and all of His apostles. I explained that all of the New Testament writers were Jews and that Christianity is part and parcel of Judaism. I reminded him that Jesus came to this earth and declared to His disciples, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5,6).

I was discouraged that this teacher, in a denominational school, had so little comprehension of Scripture. Most of the large denominations put the Bible away long ago and are almost unaware of the roots of their faith.

I was relieved when Aaron graduated and went on to Dallas Baptist University, and then to Criswell College to take up serious Bible studies. But lately I have been very disappointed. A perfectly awful textbook called A Survey of the New Testament, by Robert H. Gundry, is in use at both colleges. It is the most anti-Israel, anti-Semitic and biblically wrong-headed textbook I personally have ever seen. I used to teach at Dallas Baptist University, and I realized then the sober responsibility of those who would train future pastors and other ministry workers. I would not have had such a book in the same building with my students.

Let me give you a few quotations:

• Trying to leave out the Jews, the author asserts, “‘And they glorified the God of Israel’ (Matthew 15:31), shows that the 4,000 whom Jesus now feeds are Gentiles.” This preposterous idea on the part of the one who said “I am come only unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24) is followed by a vain attempt to create a non-Jewish following of Jesus. The author goes on, “Together then, with the preceding Gentile woman and, earlier, the centurion and the Magi, they represent the great mass of Gentiles who are flocking into the church of Matthew’s time.” Naturally, there was no Church in Matthew’s time, nor any “great mass of Gentiles” saved in the Gospels, though they are to come in considerable numbers later on.
• The author subscribes to Replacement Theology: “Matthew writes his Gospel for the Church as the new chosen nation, which at least for the time being has replaced the old chosen nation of Israel.”
• “Luke was probably a Gentile … his name is Greek. His facility in using the Greek language also suggests that he was a Gentile …” The same things were true of Paul, certainly a Jew and a “Pharisee of the Pharisees.” Other inane arguments on this point are contradicted by our excellent study by Dr. McCall entitled “Was Luke A Gentile?,” which appears in the March 1996 issue of the Levitt Letter. You can read it on our website at www.levitt.com
• When Peter converts Cornelius, he has to “defend himself against parochially minded Jewish believers in Jerusalem who criticize his going to the Gentiles.” Naturally these Jewish believers were questioning of Peter because they had never seen Gentile salvation before. Evidently they missed author Gundry’s 4,000 Gentiles fed, followed by “the great mass of Gentiles flocking into the Church of Matthew’s time.”

I could go on and on. This is a book a competent Bible teacher can open almost anywhere and want to laugh, or cry, out loud. Truly the author has an agenda to promote an anti-Israel Replacement Theology doctrine, and he utterly misunderstands the mission of Jesus Christ, who came, as He said, to bring the Kingdom to Israel. If secular colleges are bothered by PC (political correctness), the Bible colleges need to watch out for PD (Progressive Dispensationalism), the awful doctrine behind these distortions.

This must be the first book on the New Testament whose index does not even mention Israel. The book refers to the land as Palestine, has a map called “Palestine in the Time of Jesus” (as does the new MacArthur Study Bible), and calls Peter, John, etc., Jesus’ “Palestinian disciples.” I can’t say it strongly enough: this textbook is a travesty. I am amazed that any believing Christian anywhere would try to defend it.

When Aaron originally came to me, troubled about what he was hearing in class and reading in this textbook, I consulted Dr. Tom McCall, senior theologian of our ministry, and asked what to do. Aaron had selected 49 different passages that were unacceptable, even to a 19-year-old freshman Bible student. Dr. McCall, an ordained Baptist minister and theologian of great experience and skill, counseled me to schedule a meeting with the college administration. We discussed the fact that these two colleges were not unique. Dr. McCall mentioned other conservative seminaries, including Moody Bible College and Dallas Theological Seminary, whose doctrines concerning Israel seem to be subject to Progressive Dispensationalism. I would appeal to our readers and viewers to ask questions at their own local Bible schools about such doctrines as amillenialism, Progressive Dispensationalism, and all the other fancy “isms” for cutting Israel and the Jews out of faith in the Jewish Messiah. The problem seems endemic. Of course, the liberal seminaries, the public media, and certain Christian magazines are a lost cause on this issue. They have long ago written off the family of our Lord.

But back to Criswell College. Aaron and I met with the President and the Executive Vicepresident, and we discussed his 49 points. We were treated courteously and both administrators substantially agreed with all of our complaints. They seemed disappointed and taken aback that such a textbook had gotten into their college. They knew the author’s doctrine was suspect, they admitted. They told me they would correct the situation in good time. Two months later I was obliged to write and ask if anything was being done. And nearly six months later I finally received a letter defending the textbook — even defending the use of the term Palestine for the Israel of Jesus’ time!

Realizing that the end of the term was May 14, I got our television crew together and in 24 hours we had finished a program on this appalling textbook. Twenty-four hours later it was edited and post-produced, and 24 hours after that it was distributed nationally for airing on May 9–10. I hope you saw it. If not, you can order the tape called A Textbook Case with the enclosed insert. If these colleges continue to use this textbook, we will continue to run this program or a similar one periodically. We may call other theologians and academicians to help combat this problem. They won’t be hard to find.

The publisher of the textbook is Zondervan Publishing House at 5300 Patterson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49530, 800-727-1309. When I wrote for Zondervan in the ’70s, it was extremely careful about Bible doctrine. Times seemed to have changed, or its philosophy has changed. You may write or phone directly to the institutions I mentioned at:

Criswell College, 4010 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, TX 75246-1537, 800-899-0012

Dallas Baptist University, 3000 Mountain Creek Pkwy, Dallas, TX 75211-9299, 214-333-7100

I would appreciate it if, when you check your local Bible schools, you would ask at the bookstore if they are using this book in any of their classes. I would like to know how wide-spread this kind of publication has become. Thank you for standing with us on what is truly an important problem.

Instead of experiencing our Lord’s ministry in an anti-Israel textbook, why not join us on our next tour in September? If you have never taken the opportunity to visit the Land of our Lord, our Fall Festival Tour may be the most exciting time ever to visit Israel, when that country is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Our Deluxe Israel Tour is September 15–26, and covers Israel from the lovely Galilee to Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. Our Grand Tour, leaving September 11, includes the same sites, as well as the luxurious resort city of Eilat on the Red Sea, the Negev Desert, and a journey into Jordan to see Mt. Nebo and the ancient, rose-red city of Petra. We will celebrate Rosh haShana, the biblical Feast of Trumpets, while we are in Israel. (If the Rapture occurs, it will be just a domestic flight!) Please write to us or call our answering service at 1-800-WONDERS (966-3377) for your travel folder, or call Cynthia at 214-696-9760.

Our newest television series will be on love stories in the Bible, and I think everyone will enjoy it. Since the Scriptures address the human condition, it’s no surprise that love relationships are an important part of them. And, of course, the relationship of the Church and our Lord is characterized as a marital relationship: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25).

We’ll tape these programs on location in the Holy Land during our upcoming Spring Tour, May 24 to June 3. This will be one of those location tapings done in conjunction with the tour so that the ministry spends as little as possible in making the programs. We have the buying power of the whole group to get very reasonable prices on hotel rooms, equipment, meals, etc. It has saved our ministry quite a bit of money over the years, and enabled us to make these programs in Israel “where they happened.”

At this stage, when we are starting out for Israel to do the initial taping, we have a terrific expense with a new series. It won’t be ready until September, but the big bills come now as we must take our men and equipment to the Holy Land. Obviously we do it as carefully and inexpensively as possible, but having to go thousands of miles away to do our taping is still a heavier burden than the average Christian television program has. On the other hand, we have an authenticity that those other programs don’t offer. Could you kindly help us with this important project? Your gift now will count much more than later on when the series is showing. Thanks.

And pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Your messenger,