I think it is unfortunate that evangelicals are pointing their fingers at President Bush and Condoleezza Rice, and saying that to the extent you allow for a two-state solution in Israel, you are poking your finger in the eye of God. This is because they want a racially exclusive state in the Middle East. I think that is unwarranted. God doesn't put Arabs or Palestinians on a different footing than Jews. He doesn't judge us according to race or gender. To see that, read Galatians 3, which says, "In Christ there is neither male nor female, and there's neither Jew nor Greek.”

The character Reverend Jonathan Silver begins as a stock character, a not so subtle caricature of some TV evangelists. Did you base him on anyone in particular?
Brouwer: I’m glad you notice that he begins as a stock character. He was easy to create, based, of course, on the stock characters who are very prominent as evangelicals in the American public domain. While some will rightfully argue that these high-profile individuals do not truly represent all evangelicals, it appears that they do, especially to the rest of the world, and more especially to the Arab world. However, I’m also glad you see that this stock character changes. We did not want to set him up as a ‘straw man’ to make a point, but to have him become a real person dealing with unexpected adversity with true faith and courage.
 
Of all the characters in the novel, Rev. Silver’s change is the most dramatic. Who do you want Silver to speak to, and how do you want readers to interpret Silver?
Brouwer:  From the beginning, we understand that evangelicals like Silver have sincere motivations. His change is dramatic because he sees the consequences of a flawed theology. Readers might not agree, but we hope readers will at least carefully examine whether Left Behind theology is flawed, as shown in the novel.

International police agencies linked actual Islamic schools to recruiting and training terrorists. To my knowledge, nothing similar has been tied to any Christian college. Yet, in Fuse of Armageddon, Rev. Silver’s fictional bible college plays a major role in recruiting religious radicals. 
Brouwer:  To our knowledge, this is strictly fictional too! However, the Crusades against the Muslim world were not (fictional), and many historians make the point that this has lead to a deep and continued distrust within the Arab world against Christians.

Does Fuse sound a warning about the possibility that evangelical colleges could recruit and train holy warriors?
Hanegraaff: Not literally. Yet there is a point to be made. Many prominent evangelical colleges require students to sign on to dispensationalism, without leaving room for other points of view within Christian orthodoxy. I don’t understand why this restriction of intellectual freedom is not fought against. If dispensationalism is an accurate theology, why do young people have to be forced to accept it?

Fuse presents the possibility that certain end-times theology can negatively impact events in the Middle East. How do you see this happening? How has dispensational end-times theology influenced American involvement in the Middle East?
Brouwer: Evangelicals are no longer on the bleachers watching events unfold, but are on the playing field now, helping things unfold. For example, you have people like Tim LaHaye trying to herd Jews into the Holy Land. They're trying to inflame the fires of Armageddon by helping to fulfill the prophecy of a rebuilt temple where the Dome of the Rock now stands.

 

•    In late July of 2007, as just one example, nearly 5,000 evangelicals gathered in Washington, D.C., at a conference called, Christians United for Israel. The essential message to politicians: Don’t pressure Israel into peace deals or giving up any land. The essential reason: It’s against God’s will. Unfortunately, this view is backed by a large percentage of 70 million evangelicals, willing to exert significant political pressure against a two-state solution in the Middle East and the peace it might bring. It’s a long and unfortunate tradition.

 

•    “The Christian fundamentalists were vehemently opposed to the peace process,” says Itamar Rabinovich, Israeli ambassador to the United States from 1993-1996. “They believed that the land belonged to Israel as a matter of divine right. So they immediately became part of a campaign by the Israeli right to undermine the peace process.”

•    In 1998, evangelical leader Jerry Falwell threatened to mobilize thousands of pastors if U.S. President Bill Clinton pressured Israel into peace efforts. Clinton quickly backed down. High-profile evangelical John Hagee is continuing this pressure through CUFI.

Much of the Arab world’s shared outrage against the United States began and continues over the Palestinian land claims conflict. Without questioning in any way Israel’s right to exist, crucial geo-political decisions ought not to be affected by a theology that needs critical examination, especially since orthodox Christians disagree markedly among themselves on Israel’s divine right to the land. During his time on earth, Christ stated his mission was to establish a heavenly kingdom, not an earthly one. Furthermore, the apostle Paul tells us that the true Israel includes all of those with faith in the divine Christ – Jews or non-Jews. In short, God is not a land broker. What’s truly frightening is the broad evangelical belief, behind the support for Israel, that God wants a rebuilt temple on the site of the Muslim Dome of the Rock. If there ever was the potential to trigger Armageddon, this is it.

What do you say to Christians who believe their influence on American foreign policy over Middle-Eastern events is biblical?  
Hanegraaff:  First, Paul tells us that we are all Jews under Christ. It’s not about ethnicity, but relationship. Second, as mentioned, Christ stated his mission was to establish a heavenly kingdom. We should not focus on a little piece of land on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea as the hope of the believer. The hope is not that people are going to be gathered into Jerusalem.

The hope of Scripture was always to leave Jerusalem with the Gospel message. There’s a danger in trying to limit Jews to an inheritance of a small piece of land while giving Christians all of heaven. Third, we should carefully examine whether the term “Israel” used in the Bible corresponds directly to “Israel” as a modern geo-political state, especially since polls show that today’s Israel is a very secular society.

What is the take away message for readers of Fuse of Armageddon?
Hanegraaff: God is not pro-Jew, God is pro-justice. God is not pro-Palestinian, God is pro-peace.

Do your previous collaborations have similar themes to Fuse of Armageddon?
Hanegraaff: No, but the theme of trying to understand Revelation runs through all our projects. Reading Revelation correctly is crucial, because it impacts how a person reads the rest of the Bible.

Are you planning to collaborate on another novel? If so, please tell us about it.
 Brouwer: The Last Temple will wrap up our historical series. It will show how the fall of the temple in A.D. 70 to the Romans fulfills the prophecy that Jesus made to his followers.

 

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About the authors:
Sigmund Brouwer, author of numerous adult and children’s books, recently collaborated with Hank Hanegraaff in Last Disciple fiction series, 2004. Brouwer is married to recording artist Cindy Morgan.

Hank Hanegraaff hosts the Bible Answer Man daily radio program. Hanegraaff’s nonfiction books, Resurrection and Christianity in Crisis won the Gold Medallion for Excellence in Christian Literature awarded by the Evangelical Christian Publisher’s Association. He also wrote The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction? and Seven Questions of a Promise Keeper.

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