JERUSALEM, Israel – Media influencer Tucker Carlson, listened to by millions, recently fired a shot heard around the world by labeling Christian Zionism a heresy and a brain virus. However, Christian Zionism has a history that goes back centuries, and its adherents say its roots are found in the Bible.

Tricia Miller from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) wrote an article tracing the history of Christian Zionism.

She told CBN News, Christian Zionism is simply the Christian belief in Zionism, which is simply the right of Jews to self-determination in their ancient homeland. That's it. It's not more complicated than that.”

Miller contends that the roots extend almost to the time of Jesus.

“It goes back to the first century," she explained. "Actually, with Jesus and his apostles, you can see references in the Gospels to the expectation of the future restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. It wasn't called that then; we've labelled that now, maybe in the last couple of hundred years. But there is a 2000-year history of Christian belief in the restoration of Israel.”

Miller points out that in the 3rd century AD, the early church father Tertullian wrote, "It will be fitting for the Christian to rejoice and not to grieve at the restoration of Israel. If it be true, as it is, that the whole of our hope is intimately united with the remaining expectation of Israel."

A large number of medieval and Protestant Reformation theologians agree. In the 18th century, Jonathan Edwards, an influential biblical scholar living in the American colonies, wrote, "Israel would again be a distinct nation, and Christians would have free access to Jerusalem because Jews would look on Christians as their brethren."

Miller asserted, "We are living in that day now. We're seeing Israel as a distinct nation, and Christians have free access to Jerusalem because Israel ensures freedom of religion for everyone here, and the Jews are understanding Christians to be their brethren.”

Christian Zionists, including England's Lord Arthur Balfour and U.S. President Harry Truman, helped establish the modern State of Israel. Later, Christian leaders such as Billy Graham and CBN Founder Pat Robertson affirmed Israel's rebirth as a fulfillment of prophecy. 

In an interview with CBN News, National Religious Broadcasters President Troy Miller declared, “I'm a proud Christian Zionist.”

He explained, “Because I believe that the Jewish people have a homeland; this homeland is called Israel. It was promised to them by God. The Old Testament is full of those promises that are specific about the land and the ethnic Jewish people. And as a Christian, I believe they have the right to govern in their own homeland.  That's what Christian Zion is about. And I think every Christian should be clearly able to embrace that.”

Throughout scripture, each Hebrew prophet except Jonah prophesied about the return of the Jewish people to their own land.

The prophet Isaiah wrote, "God will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (Isaiah 11:12) 

Jeremiah prophesied, "The Lord will bring them (the Jewish people) back into their land which He gave to their fathers." (Jeremiah 16:15) 
In Ezekiel, it says, "The Lord says, I will place you in your own land." (Ezekiel 37:14)

Stephen Briggs, host of the Israel Matters podcast, noted, "There's hundreds of scriptures that talk about it, and they're very, very specific and are a lot of people who are whole to the Christian Zionism, don't take any notice of it, don't realize that God says that he will bring them from the north to south and the east and the west, and bring the Jewish people back to the land as a prerequisite for the next stage of world history. So the idea of a Christian Zionist is simply one who believes the Word of God, holds fast to it, and sees that the word tells us that Israel is going to be restored before the Messiah returns.”

Tricia Miller urges Christians to become informed. "My message to Christians is that they need to understand this is a biblical belief. Tucker Carlson called it Christian heresy. It is not heresy. It's biblical, it goes back to the beginnings of Christianity historically, but it's rooted in our belief all the way back to Genesis, that God made this unconditional and eternal covenant with the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

She indicated that in Genesis, chapter 15, God made an eternal covenant – not with Abraham, but with Himself.

“And this is important for Christians to understand, "Miller said, "Because so many times throughout history, Christians have said the Jews are done, God's finished with the Jewish people. He doesn't care about them because – and then they have all kinds of reasons for something they've done or haven't done, that the covenant no longer is in place. But the covenant is in place because Abraham wasn't even part of making it, so it doesn't matter what the Jews do or don't do; it's only dependent on God keeping it. And God does not fail. God keeps his covenant.”

In response to skeptics, many Christian Zionists recommend that critics learn the history, read the Bible, and come here to Israel to see the restoration for themselves.