Bush checked with rapture Christians before latest Israel move

[corporatewhore]

Bush White House checked with rapture Christians before latest Israel move

The Jesus Landing Pad
by Rick Perlstein
Village Voice
May 18th, 2004 10:00 AM

It was an e-mail we weren't meant to see. Not for our eyes were the notes that showed White House staffers taking two-hour meetings with Christian fundamentalists, where they passed off bogus social science on gay marriage as if it were holy writ and issued fiery warnings that "the Presidents Administration and current Government is engaged in cultural, economical, and social struggle on every level"—this to a group whose representative in Israel believed herself to have been attacked by witchcraft unleashed by proximity to a volume of Harry Potter. Most of all, apparently, we're not supposed to know the National Security Council's top Middle East aide consults with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios.

But now we know.

"Everything that you're discussing is information you're not supposed to have," barked Pentecostal minister Robert G. Upton when asked about the off-the-record briefing his delegation received on March 25. Details of that meeting appear in a confidential memo signed by Upton and obtained by the Voice.The e-mailed meeting summary reveals NSC Near East and North African Affairs director Elliott Abrams sitting down with the Apostolic Congress and massaging their theological concerns. Claiming to be "the Christian Voice in the Nation's Capital," the members vociferously oppose the idea of a Palestinian state. They fear an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might enable just that, and they object on the grounds that all of Old Testament Israel belongs to the Jews. Until Israel is intact and David's temple rebuilt, they believe, Christ won't come back to earth.

Abrams attempted to assuage their concerns by stating that "the Gaza Strip had no significant Biblical influence such as Joseph's tomb or Rachel's tomb and therefore is a piece of land that can be sacrificed for the cause of peace."

-snip-
In an interview with the Voice, Upton denied having written the document, though it was sent out from an e-mail account of one of his staffers and bears the organization's seal, which is nearly identical to the Great Seal of the United States. Its idiosyncratic grammar and punctuation tics also closely match those of texts on the Apostolic Congress's website, and Upton verified key details it recounted, including the number of participants in the meeting ("45 ministers including wives") and its conclusion "with a heart-moving send-off of the President in his Presidential helicopter."
Upton refused to confirm further details.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0420/perlstein.php
edited for size

[yardwork]

1. Very interesting. The End-Timers are bed-rock Bush supporters.

Publicizing that fact will drive most other Christians (and everybody else) away from the Bushites.

They'll be left with the End-Timers and nobody else. In fact, nothing could scare main-stream Protestants and Catholics more than the knowledge that Bush is hobnobbing with "those crazy End-Timers."

[SharonAnn]

2. Just received Newsweek - Has "Left Behind" authors on cover.

Whew! Don't know if I can open it.

[lovedems]

3. That is a very scary thought. He has Rove/Cheney in one ear

and end timers in another.

[Classical_Liberal]

4. The Village Voice has really been hitting hard lately

.