The Wailing That Two Peoples of Promise Brings

“Two Wailing Walls and the Peoples of Promise”
Today, October 2nd, Multnomah is sponsoring a conference. “This conference seeks to draw attention to the often-unrecognized sufferings of the Palestinian people, and to pursue peace that benefits them as well as Israel. The Western church needs to be concerned for Palestinians (including Palestinian Christians) as well as Israelis and other peoples in the region in view of God’s promises made to Abraham for his sons Isaac and Ishmael and which are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.”

The wording from the quote that describes this conference is a subtle reflection of the covenant theology of Paul Metzger, head of New Wine New Wineskins at Multnomah Biblical Seminary. Dr. Metzger’s concern is that Christians in America favor Israel so much that Christian Palestinians are overlooked. Palestinian believers in Jesus Christ are my brothers and sisters in the Church, yes. They do need the concern and support of the American Church. Since Metzger believes that the Church is the new Israel, any future hope for the nation of Israel is irrelevant to his eschatology. That is the agenda of the conference, and in my opinion, this teaching is opposed to clear teaching of God’s Word regarding God’s promises to Israel. I am very concerned that Dr. Paul Metzger’s covenant theology that teaches that the church fulfills promises to Israel and eliminates any future for national Israel is behind this conference. Sadly, this theology is not “new” nor does it reflect the historic position of Multnomah. Worse yet, this is the only public image of the seminary that is endorsed by Dr. Lockwood, the Board of Trustees, and the administration of Multnomah.

New Wine New Wineskins sometimes leaves out the alternative views, especially the views expressed in Multnomah’s early years. This conference related to the Middle East needs a representative from Friends of Israel or Jews for Jesus. See these websites — http://www.foi.org/ or http://jewsforjesus.org