The American Myth of Manifest Destiny

One of the most hotly contested issues in the 1840's through the 1850's was American territorial expansionism. To most it seemed that it was inevitable that America would expand into the West beyond the Mississipi. It would be inevitable that we would have to displace the residents of that land from Mexico, England and the American Indian tribes. In 1845 John O'Sullivan, editor of the influential "Democratic Review", coined the phrase, "Manifest Destiny". Along with this highly regarded concept came the idea that America's destiny was meant by God to be. The idea of America stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Of course, we should all know by now, how this Manifest Destiny, resulted in death, wars and more over time, to the setting aside of the Indians to reservations but not before many died at the hands of those who so strongly believed it was their manifest destiny to have all the land.
This fierce, individualistic, political idea has continued even today, and because of Darby and his teachings on Dispensationalism and the American public falling in love with the books like LaHay's fictional books the "Left Behind Series, and previous books that swept over the organizational church attendees, "The Late Great Planet Earth, a new mindset has developed which is neither orthodox in scripture or consist of proper Biblical exegesis. This new mindset has created what is known as Christian Zionism and has now transposed into a new Manifast Destiny, that the politicians call the "American hegonomy", and as a Christian I can no better define it as "Christian Nationalism". The idea is the same but it is in my opinion, nothing but pure unadulterated idolatry. I call it Christian Nationalism but there really is nothing Christian about it. In it's purest form, it will result in fascism, totalitarianism, a Police State full of fleshly pride with disregard for all human life as it stands in the way of it's goals and purposes. The goal, to create, what the fundamentalist, the Bush regime of politics, the Israeli influence of dictating American foreign policy call "Democracy" worldwide is actually misnomer for dictatorship. The new Rome has risen it's head out of the sea of history and now proclaims itself God. The American has come to believe that he is somehow to rule the world, and that God means this for us, as assuredly as the Dispensationalist teach Israel is to have their promised land. We believe and listened to a lie to come to believe that we like Israel were a persecuted people, and the American revolution, was won, because we were God's special people and he brought us into this promised land. It is an easy transition to make mentally when one has fleshly pride, and a lust for power. We will justify like Israel, all our sins against all other humanity, for the sake of proving this is so, worldwide. In Iraq alone since 2005 there has been over 35,000 men, women and children that have died as a result of our occupancy there that has created a civil war within the boundaries of this country. Yet, we went there, proclaiming and announcing the horrible practices of Saddam and his killing. We alone have suffered the deaths of over 3,000 men and women of the United States serving in the military. Just as we have slaughtered and justified to kill during the "Christian Crusades" and we slaughtered and killed thousands of American Indians, we will continue to press forward until all the world is America or a clone of ourselves. We desire to make an image of us, the American worldwide, rather than see the image of God restored to the world through the proclamation of the true Gospel of peace and love. This is George Bush's plan and the thought and belief of most of the fundamentalist preachers like Hagee and Robertson and TBN.

They are seriously leading this country toward not the Kingdom of God, but the kingdom of hell on earth! Their doctrine will only feed the Israeli hate for all those but their race, and feed the hatred and warmongering of American foreign policy.

To borrow from a great paper written by John Hubers entitled " "Christian Zionism" and the Myth of America.

"In the eyes of dispensationalists the pivotal event of the 20th century was the founding of the State of Israel in 1947 which was "proof positive" that Darby got it right. This was given more credence by the Zionist state's swift and decisive victory in the 1967 six day war. "Clearly God's hand was in this", trumpeted the dispensationalists. The ancient promises God made to Israel were coming true in front of their eyes - a literal fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy.
This was the position of the dispensationalists. But they were not necessarily the dominant voice of the mainstream evangelical church at this point. That didn't happen until the two myths began to merge-the dispensationalist myth and the American myth."
I use the word "myth" with some hesitancy as there may be those who take this to mean that I believe the biblical message to be on a par with children's fairy tales. Such is not the case. Myth in the sense I am using it here refers more to the power of a story to shape a consciousness which defines truth in a way that transcends the story itself. The myth of manifest destiny functions this way as it draws on historical events to define something larger than the events themselves. The dispensationalist myth does the same with the story of the founding of the state of Israel. Here, too, the historical events are less important than the interpretation given to those events, the way the story is framed giving rise to a larger Truth.
This is the way the story goes, at least in its condensed version: A persecuted people longing for a land where they can practice their faith in freedom overcome great odds and a determined opposition under God's direction and empowerment to create a state of their own. The opposition comes from "savages" who use terrorist tactics to keep these brave settlers from establishing their state, savages whose poor stewardship of the land justifies their removal.

Here, I believe, is at least one explanation for the tenacious hold of the dispensationalist myth on the American consciousness (even beyond evangelical circles)-it echoes themes of the American frontier myth. We hear our own story in Israel's story. We identify with the Zionists because their experience matches ours (or at least appears to match ours as we are dealing less with actual history here than interpretive history.

I agree wholeheartedly with John what he wrote. We have somehow made the transition to believing Israel as a political national world force and chosen by God to have their land we now believe it is our "Manifest Destiny" to force our way of life upon all the world, whether they like it or not. We will do so without consideration of justice, peace, or love. What matters is this great concept of America to be ruler over the world, and Israel to co-rule with us. Rather than a spiritual Israel which encompasses both Jew and Gentile as one in the Spirit of Christ, we desire to show the world it is a physical promise and not a spiritual one. We miss it just as assuredly as the Old Covenant Israel missed it when Christ proclaimed himself Messiah and had Him crucified.

Soon and very soon, this will all backfire in our faces, as it did for Germany and every nation in history that ever sat in the temple and declared themselves to be God. America is about to face the greatest challenge it ever will, when this idea of supremacy over anyone that opposes our ideals, turns in on itself, and destroys it's own people in the form of a massive Police State. It has already begun, and we are just starting to see the storm at the beginning of the tornado, that will rip through this country like a whirlwind destroying everthing we ever knew as freedom, as the voices of politicians and fundamentalist become one, they will cry out for the blood of those that oppose anything that is in any way, oppositional to their way of thinking and believing. They will gain what the Zionist refer to a nation under the "Noahdic laws". I will speak on this greater at another time as to what this law is and it's origins.

I remind Christians once again, Israel received the physical land they were promised, they lose the promise of their spiritual inheritance which is all that is remaining for them unless they come to accept Christ as Messiah. We are one with those Jews that are Christian as all people, as there are many Christians in Palestine, that are Palestinian. There are many former Muslims in Iraq, Iran and other nations that have come to know Christ.
Regardless of what anyone believes our government is not divinely appointed by God nor will it ever be. Only the soon coming Theocracy of God, when Christ does return will be the government of God.
In the meantime we must respect all life, and all culture, all nations, and love them and bring them to the Gospel of Christ. The problem is we want to bring them to a distortion of the gospel which is made up of the ideals of American materialism, American culture, American western theology and the list goes on to that which makes up that we call American Christianity.
It is a false gospel which is doomed for failure, regardless of the Pat Robertson's the TBN er's and others who propagate a lie, that will only turn them into monsters or will imprison them. I know these are harsh words, but I can't stomach what I see happening around me and what people call Christianity and Democracy, and on and on, when they are not! It is a lie from hell, that God has allowed to blind us to truth. We need to wake up, get serious about individual study of the Bible and the verses that clearly show these ideals come anywhere but from our heavenly Father, the Apostles and Jesus, Our Lord. It didnt take that long for Hitler and other dictators to turn Germany into a land of persecutors and death squads. Our time may be waiting to come and I believe it is just around the corner.
It is a time to smell the roses to say, Christians need to seriously step back and look at what it means to abide in Christ versus the new drive of American Zionism-Nationalism. Beware, even Satan can appear as an angel of light. I believe this is his time to do so, and Americans are falling into hypnosis of that light that he pretends to be, right this very moment. I call for an end to American hegonomy and an end to the myth of a Christian nation, and an end to Dispensational teaching in the body of Christ that separates the promises of God for Jew and Gentile. We are one and all the promises have been fulfilled in Christ. It is He, that cried out, "It is Finished." We only await the day of resurrection and His coming, when the sons of God shall be truly revealed. In the meantime we the wheat must deal with the tares, among us. I choose to discern between what is and what is not. Thus, I pray for God to bring His ideals of truth, justice, mercy and compassion back to the Church in America before it's too late. There is a late great America if we do not realize it is He who which we are to draw our strength and not a perverted gospel or perverted sense of American patriotism salted by an Apartheid government in Israel which is no Israel at all, except for the few Hebrews who live there that know Jesus Christ as Lord.

Dr. J