Whether it is based on a misunderstanding of Christian Zionism or a misunderstanding of the Bible is for you to judge.   Below are some opinions gleaned from a Google search on "Christian Zionism".  All the first page appeared to be anti.

A Google search on "Christian Zionist" suggests that the body of opposition to Christian Zionism appears to be led by www.christianzionism.org, which is actually totally devoted to opposing Christian Zionism,.    This site is the platform of Dr. Stephen R. Sizer.    The home page contrasts the Christian Zionist position with his position.

It also quotes Revd John Stott, "I myself believe that Zionism, both political and Christian, is incompatible with biblical faith."

The aim of this page is to discuss the accusations, to be clear of what we believe, to check both sides against what the Bible teaches and be ready to refute wrong teaching when we encounter it.   The accusations are presented in black and the opinion from wildolive in brown.   The aim is not argument for its own sake but, as Paul put it,  "We demolish arguments and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God;"   (" Cor 10 4-5 )    The truth is important.

An ever growing number of evangelical Christians who take the authority of scripture seriously are noting that dispensationalists like Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye misread the scriptures and are leading faithful believers astray.

(See the outline of Dispensationalism below)

How should we as Christians view the situation in Israel/Palestine today, where two peoples claim the same territory?   Is Israel a democracy or an apartheid State?    Specifically, do we believe the Israeli authorities should continue to resist Palestinian aspirations to autonomy and statehood?    Should they continue to occupy, settle and annex more and more of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, creating small urban Bantustan reservations for Palestinians living under military occupation within a exclusive Jewish state.

At its simplest, Christian Zionism has been defined as 'Christian support for Zionism.    In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 3379 defining Zionism as, 'a form of racism and racial discrimination.’    Contemporary Christian Zionism is in part a reaction to increasing world-wide criticism of Israel's form of apartheid.                        Dr. Stephen R. Sizer

From the above it is very clear where Dr Sizer’s theology is rooted.    It is not based on an open view of the Bible or upon history but on the arguments proposed by the Palestinian, Muslim groups which are working towards the destruction of Israel.   This appears to be the so called, "Liberation Theology" which sides with the perceived victim or weaker party.    See also Sabeel on the "Christians against Israel" page.

Central to Christian Zionism is the belief in the abiding relevance of the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, 'I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.    Christian Zionists tend to see themselves as defenders of, and apologists for, the Jewish people, and in particular, the State of Israel.   This support involves opposing those deemed to be critical of, or objective towards Israel.    It is rare therefore to find Christian Zionists who feel a similar solidarity with the Palestinians.

It is entirely reasonable for Christians to care that the Jewish people in their land of Israel are targeted for destruction by Islam, working through the Palestinian fighters.   It would be incompatible with this to feel" solidarity" with a campaign of terror against Israel.   However, Christian Zionists who have a Christ centred outlook care deeply about the Arab people generally known as Palestinians.   These people too are suffering, both Muslim and Christian, but the fault lies not with Israel, but with militant Islam.   Many Christian Zionists are praying hard for the salvation of the Palestinians, but are not siding with their erroneous aims.

Christian Zionism is founded upon a literal and futurist interpretation of the Bible which leads proponents to distinguish between references to Israel and the Church.   Injunctions and promises concerning the ancient Jews are applied to the contemporary State of Israel rather than to the Church.

From this hermeneutic flows the conviction that the Jews remain God's 'chosen people', distinct from the Church, whether until the end of the millennium as held by covenant premillennialists, or into eternity as affirmed by most dispensationalists.   God's end-time purpose for the Jews is expressed in Restorationism.   The destiny of the Jewish people is to return to the land of Israel and reclaim their inheritance promised to Abraham and his descendants forever.   This inheritance extends from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates.   Within their land, Jerusalem is recognized to be their exclusive, undivided and eternal capital, and therefore it cannot be shared or divided.   At the heart of Jerusalem will be the rebuilt Jewish Temple to which all the nations will come to worship God.   Just prior to the return of Jesus, there will be seven years of calamities and war known as the Tribulation, which will culminate in a great battle called Armageddon during which the godless forces opposed to both God and Israel will be defeated.   Jesus will then return as the Jewish Messiah and king to reign in Jerusalem for a thousand years and the Jewish people will enjoy a privileged status and role in the world.

It is true that Christian Zionists take what the Bible says literally, which many opponents are unwilling to do. However, if they claim that promises made to the ancient Jews apply to the State of Israel, they would be on shaky ground.   Promises made to Jews apply only to Jews and to gentiles who are grafted in to God’s Israel. Check out David Pawson’s teaching on Romans for who is God’s Israel and on "Israel in Revelation" concerning how Israel figures in the events described in Revelation.    Christian Zionists are Christians who believe what the Bible says about Israel coming back to the Land, but they do not all hold the same view about the timing of events, particularly "the Rapture".    Most Christian Zionists known to the Author reached their views from reading the Bible rather than as part of a denomination, or from packages like Dispensationalism, Covenant Premilleniumism or Restorationism.

The term Christian Zionism is a relatively recent category, rarely utilized prior to the early 1990s.

Self -proclaimed Christian Zionist organizations such as the International Christian Embassy-Jerusalem and the U.S. based Bridges for Peace, both with offices in Jerusalem, have been operating for twenty years but have been under the radar of most Middle East experts and the mainstream media until the post-September 11, 2001 era. Donald Wagner

The lack of interest in Christian Zionism appears to have more to do with general Christian unwillingness to shake off the legacy of Replacement Theology, and to read the Bible with an open mind.

If you want to know what the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem believes,  check out their own statement on www.icej.org/about/about_doctrines.html .

Hal Lindsey is undoubtedly the most influential of all Christian Zionists of the 20^th century. Although rarely quoted by others, he has nevertheless been described by Time as 'The Jeremiah for this Generation, and by the New York Times as 'the best selling author of the decade. His newest publisher describes him as 'The Father of the Modern-Day Bible Prophecy Movement, and, 'the best known prophecy teacher in the world. This chapter will explore the significance of Hal Lindsey within Christian Zionism, his dispensational hermeneutic, unconventional view of prophecy and eschatology, his distinctive apocalyptic Zionism and his stand against anti-Semitism.               Dr. Stephen R. Sizer

Christian Zionists do not come from any one denomination but are willing to consider the teachings of those who are open to application of Bible prophecy.   This they weigh against their own reading of the Bible.   Hal Lindsey is one who is worth listening to, although many Christian Zionists do not share all his views.

What is a "conventional view of prophecy and eschatology"?   While so much of the Church is asleep, the conventional view is probably one of complete ignorance and indifference.

Is a stand against Anti-Semitism a bad thing?

There is an ancient belief known as "millenarianism" This is the belief that Christ will set up an earthly kingdom and will rule it for a thousand years, usually referred to as the "Millenium."   This belief actually has its origin in post-exilic Judaism.   An anticipation that survived the Babylonian exile was that one day God would restore the kingdom of David under a model anointed king, the Messiah.   Even though idealized, this would be an earthly, historical kingdom, and most often its relation to the end-time was not specified.        Father Daniel Swires

Surely, belief in the restoration of David’s kingdom and the "Millenium" comes from the Bible, especially the book of Revelation. Perhaps those who have problems accepting Revelation should just admit it.

Believes in unconditional support of Israel’s government

According to author Grace Halsell, Christian Zionists believe that "Every act taken by Israel is orchestrated by God, and should be condoned, supported, and even praised by the rest of us.    www.religioustolerance.org

Hopefully, Christian Zionists have not succumbed to such a simplistic view.   In fact many Christian Zionists may have gone too far in opposing the government of Israel over the Disengagament.   See Malcolm Hedding’s teaching on Biblical Christian Zionism.

Christian Zionism is one of America's most widely held religions. It is also as close as Constitutional decorum will permit, to becoming an official state religion.            www.911-strike.com/christian-zionists

This view appears to confuse Evangelical Christianity with Christian Zionism.   Even then, it sounds like the paranoid fringe, since even Evangelical Christianity is fighting a rearguard action against the forces of liberalism, which are seeking the removal of Christian values and practices from American life.

Christian Zionism is the prodigy of Dispensationalism.

Dispensationalism is one of the most influential theological systems within the universal church today. Largely unrecognised and subliminal, it has increasingly shaped the presuppositions of fundamentalist, evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic thinking concerning Israel and Palestine over the past one hundred and fifty years.

John Nelson Darby is regarded as the father of dispensationalism and its prodigy, Christian Zionism.   It was Cyrus. I. Scofield and D. L. Moody, however, who brought Darby's sectarian theology into mainstream evangelical circles.   R. C. Sproul concedes that dispensationalism is now '...a theological system that in all probability is the majority report among current American evangelicals.'      Today, virtually all the 'televangelists' such as Jerry Falwell, Jim Bakker, Paul Crouch, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart and Billy Graham are also dispensationalists.

Probably the most significant Christian organisations to espouse dispensationalism have been the Moody Bible Institute, Dallas Theological Seminary and the International Christian Embassy, Jerusalem.            www.informationclearinghouse.info

The accusation that all the "televangelists" named above are dispensationalists sounds quite bizarre.  Check out how the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem defines Christian Zionism and you will not find Dispensationalism.         www.icej.org

Dispensationalism is based is the Authorised Version translation of 2 Timothy 2:15, where the Apostle Paul calls upon Timothy to '... rightly divide the word of truth.'   Scofield took this verse as justification for his way of 'dividing' Scripture into discrete dispensations.

Following Darby and Scofield, dispensationalists claim to find in Scripture evidence of seven distinct dispensations during which humanity has been tested in respect of specific revelation as to the will of God.

Outline of dispensationalism by Charles Ryrie.

These dispensations are seen by proponents as literally 'providing us with a chronological map to guide us toward the seventh and final dispensation which will be inaugurated by the imminent return of Jesus Christ and the climax to world history.

While the above appear to be a brief way of categorizing Bible periods (the bible in a seven line table) their theology is, of necessity, very crude.   The author has not come across any preaching from Christian Zionists which attempted to use the above "dispensations" to frame teaching.   Respected Christian Zionist teacher, David Pawson taught specifically against Dispensationalism in his teaching on Romans, given at the ICEJ Feast in Jerusalem.   

Dispensationalists believe that God has two separate but parallel means of working - one through the Church, the other through Israel.   Thus there is, and always will remain, a distinction, 'between Israel, the Gentiles and the Church.

Christian Zionist teaching, in my experience, springs from the "wild olive branch" viewpoint advocated by Paul, which emphasizes the gentile believer being grafted into God’s olive tree of Israel. (Israel here being the ongoing people of faith within God’s chosen people; not just those who are genetically Israel, but are in rebellion against God)    Within this olive tree, for now, the Jew and Gentile retain a separate identity but are one in God’s love and purposes.

Christian Zionism should not be confused with Dual Covenant Theology, which maintains that Jews are saved by the Abrahamic Covenant while Christians are saved through faith in Jesus (Yeshua the Jewish Messiah).   There is no scriptural basis for this theology and it is not Christian Zionist doctrine.   Hard though it may be to accept, Jews have always been saved by trusting in the God of the Covenants and the Torah , not by legalistic adherence to them.   The Jews of today need to be trusting in God (who has revealed himself in Yeshua)

Darby was not the first to insist on a radical distinction between Israel and the Church.   Marcion stressed the radical nature of Christianity vis-a-vis Judaism.   In his theology there existed a total discontinuity between the OT and the NT, between Israel and the church, and even between the god of the OT and the Father of Jesus.

Christian Zionist teaching refutes Marcionism and emphasizes the unchanging nature of God through Old and New Testament.

Some Jews in Israel are concerned that the Christians who come and take an interest in them are only interested in seeing them suffer the prophesied tribulations in order to speed up the return of their Jesus.

Christian Zionists come with purer motives.   What must come before Jesus returns ( the Messiah comes ) will come regardless of Christian interest in Israel.   Christian Zionists are concerned at the vulnerability of the Jewish people and their isolation from Christian love and care.   Christian Zionists attempt to rectify the damage of the centuries which has distanced Jewish people from their own Messiah, by building bridges of repentance and love.

Some Evangelical Christians fear that Christian Zionists hold to Dual Covenant Theology

Some Jews are concerned that Christian Zionists are Missionaries who come to take them away from their God to a new religion.

Christian Zionists do not seek to convert Jews into Christians.   We recognize the validity of the Jewish faith of the T.   However, the Tanakh points to the coming(s) of the Messiah, who is the fulfillment of everything.   We long to see Jewish people coming to completion of their faith by accepting their Messiah.   What we want to do is break down the barriers which Christianity and Judaism erected.