Now in its thirty-sixth year, the annual Feast of Tabernacles celebration, sponsored by the International Christian Embassy (ICEJ—the J stands for its headquarters in Jerusalem), attracts thousands of Pentecostal Christians from around the world to Israel. Timed to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles is intended as a public show of Christian support for Israel. The prime minister of Israel almost always sends a personalized video greeting, and the mayor of Jerusalem usually delivers an address. Attendees tour holy sites and West Bank settlements, and they march in a “Parade of the Nations” through the streets of Jerusalem in front of curious Israeli bystanders.

The ICEJ has been around since 1980, but in the last decade has enjoyed a surprising ascent. It has become the new face of Christian ­Zionism, in many ways surpassing more familiar American Evangelical leaders ­Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and the large lobby group Christians United for Israel. At the same time the demographics have changed. The usual list of Christian Zionist leaders over the last forty years has been overwhelmingly American, white, and deeply influenced by apocalyptic theology. The new face of Christian Zionism, however, is mostly not American, white, English-speaking, or overly concerned about the end of history. 

This shift hints at changes that are afoot in the global relationship between Christians and Israel. ­Israel has found potential allies in the Global South who vastly outnumber American Christian Zionists. They are driven less by apocalypticism and more by a type of nation-based prosperity theology—an outgrowth of their Pentecostalism, which is the fastest-growing segment of Christianity in the world today.

The new Christian Zionism in countries like Brazil, Nigeria, and China is not only remarkable as a religious development. It could have major geopolitical implications. For much of the last seventy years, and especially after the Arab-Israeli War in June 1967, the Third World, including the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, was generally hostile to Israel in international venues such as the United Nations. Many countries, including most states in the Middle East, still do not have official diplomatic relations. But given the growth trends of Pentecostal ­Christianity and the expansion of ­Christian Zionist lobbying in dozens of countries, historical attitudes toward Israel may be changing.

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