Ezra Taft Benson and the State of Israel - Brandeis Institutional ...

and Peter Grose describe the frustrations that Protestant missionaries in Palestine faced asZionists pushed forward for a Jewish homeland. 93“Everyone zealous for Christianmissions,” explains a Presbyterian veteran of the faculty at the American University ofBeirut, “must feel a veritable heartbreak for the way in which the hasty and ill-advisedendorsement of the Zionist program by Congress has nullified the sacrificial labors ofgenerations of missionaries and educators.” 94The central issue for these Protestant and Catholic groups was essentially Jewishrejection of Jesus as the Messiah, 95 and especially for the Protestants, rejection ofmissionary labors to help correct that perceived fault. Per Osterbye in his book TheChurch in Israel (1970) condemns Israel for its anti-missionary attitude. Still, heexplains that most people of Protestant faith believe that the formation of the State ofIsrael represents “a direct fulfillment of someOld Testament prophecies,” and concludes that “the Jews are still God's chosen people.” 96Yet, despite their belief in the Jews as God's chosen people, many Christians remainedstaunchly opposed to the Jewish State on the basis of the Christ issue. “The centralquestion between Judaism and Christianity lies in their answer to the question: What doyou think of Christ?” insists Millar Burrows of Yale University. “The present resurgenceof Jewish nationalism is a repetition of the same fatal error that caused Israel's rejectionof Jesus.” 979394959697Oren, Power, Faith and Fantasy 428; Grose , Israel in the Mind of America, 214.Grose, Israel in the Mind of America, 214.Grose, Israel in the Mind of America, 214.Per Osterbye, The Church in Israel (Denmark: Vinderup Bogtrykkeri I/S 1970), 136.Grose, Israel in the Mind of America, 214.34