L IFESTYLE /C ULTURE
Documentary ‘’Til Kingdom Come’ Investigates
Evangelical Support for Israel
FI L M
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
IT TAKES YAEL ECKSTEIN
three days to get from her
home in Israel to Middlesboro,
Kentucky, but it’s a journey she
is happy to make.

Th at’s because the city’s
residents are staunch supporters
of the International Fellowship
of Christians and Jews, one
of the largest organizations
supporting humanitarian
projects in Israel. At the time of
fi lming, Christians had donated
$1.4 billions to Israel through the
fellowship. It was created by Yael
Eckstein’s father, Rabbi Yechiel
Eckstein, who named her as his
successor. Middlesboro’s residents are
not wealthy. Th eir community
is blighted by the decline of
coal, economic recession and
addiction. Yet they pool their
small-dollar donations to the
fellowship at their church under
the guidance of the Bingham
family, a local dynasty of pastors
who preach that God will bless
the nations who support the
nation of Israel.

18 MARCH 4, 2021
Director Maya Zinshtein
zooms in on this relation-
ship between evangelicals
and Israel in her documen-
tary “’Til Kingdom Come,”
which screened online at the
Gershman Philadelphia Jewish
Film Festival last month. In
the fi lm, Yael Eckstein explains
that the fellowship supports
programs that off er aid to
Israel’s most vulnerable popula-
tions, including minorities
and Holocaust survivors, but
Zinshtein probes the darkness
behind the fervor of its donors.

Evangelicals, Pastor Boyd
Bingham III says in the fi lm,
believe the return of Jews to the
biblical land of Israel is crucial
to bringing about the rapture,
the second coming of Jesus
Christ. It’s a period that will be
marked by great “tribulations”
in the region, including armed
confl ict, disease and natural
disasters, which will culminate
in the battle of Armageddon.

Two-thirds of Jews will perish,
and the other third will be forced
to accept Christ as their savior.

“Tribulations” are key. Since
the coming of Christ is suppos-
edly heralded by upheaval
An evangelical congregation prays in “’Til Kingdom Come.”
in Israel, many of the fi lm’s
evangelical subjects react to
news of violence in the region
with eerie excitement.

“As I listen to news reports
from Israel, I heard about
the bombings and they were
bombings even near children.

When we see all of these things
happening to the nation of
Israel, it should give us all hope,
that when we hear of these wars,
we can look at and say that
our redemption will begin,” an
evangelical radio host says in an
early scene.

Th e paradox of providing
financial support for Israel
while preaching the eventual
downfall of the Jews clearly
makes Zinshtein squirm, and she
succeeds in making her audience
just as uncomfortable as she is.

Zinshtein interviews Jewish
leaders, many of them secular
and progressive, who are alarmed
by the role of Christianity in
Middle East policy and see it
as an erosion of the boundary
between church and state.

She also speaks with Israeli
correspondent Barak Rand,
who says with the election of
President Donald Trump and
Vice President Mike Pence in
JEWISH EXPONENT
2016 and the appointment of
prominent evangelicals like
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,
evangelicals had the power to
combine prophecy and politics.

Th ey advocated to move the
U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, he
says, because they believed it
was a step toward the rapture.

“Th is is political Christianity
in which politics is a continua-
tion of a prophetic vision,” Rand
tells Zinshtein.

Evangelical involvement in
the region also alarms some
Palestinian Christians.

“When they look at the
future, honestly, they see a horror
movie, wars and Armageddon
and battles. Th eir scenario is not
one that will help us Palestinians
and Israelis coexist,” said Rev.

Dr. Munther Isaac, who leads a
congregation in Bethlehem.

Even Eckstein acknowl-
edges the elephant in the room.

“When the Christian
community speaks about what
they think is going to happen
and what they envision, I agree
with 99% of it. But the end is
diff erent. Only one of us can be
right,” she said.

Zinshtein’s research is
exhaustive, and the sheer
Photo by Abraham Troen
number of perspectives she
obtains on the relationship
between evangelicals and Jews
is both overwhelming and
necessary in such a multifaceted
story. Keeping track of the major
players’ various political and
religious motives and anecdotes
makes for a dense viewing
experience in a 76-minute fi lm.

Th e director’s greatest strength
is her ability to balance tough
questions with the humanity of
her subjects. From Pastor Boyd
Bingham IV’s story of how faith
helped him overcome a deadly
illness to Eckstein’s close relation-
ship with her father and Rev.

Isaac’s fear of increasing violence
in his region, Zinshtein’s inter-
views convey that the personal
is inseparable from the political,
and every dollar donated extracts
a hidden cost.

In addition
to the
Gershman screening, the
documentary will be available
to view through other theaters’
online offerings, including
the Acme Screening Room in
Lambertville, New Jersey, on
March 4 and 5. ●
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM