'Flaming pyre': Why a Texas evangelical is quietly funding an Old Testament ritual in Israel

14 July

fire in the dark during night time

Far-right white evangelical Christian fundamentalists have a very complex relationship with Jews and Israel.

On one hand, they believe that Jews will be condemned to eternal damnation if they don't convert to Christianity and accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. But on the other hand, they consider themselves very pro-Israel because of the role they believe Israel will play in the End Times. And they reject outright white supremacists and neo-Nazis because of their anti-Israel views.

In an article published by Religion News Service (RNS) on July 11, reporter Jerry Pattengale details the connection between evangelicals and an esoteric ceremony described in the Old Testament's Book of Numbers. The ceremony involves burning the body of a "red heifer" — a cow that hasn't given birth — and Texas-based evangelical/businessman Byron Stinson is helping with the practice.

"Some evangelical Christians like Stinson, as well as some Orthodox and Messianic Jews, believe the red heifer ritual described in the biblical Book of Numbers could pave the way to rebuilding a Jewish temple in Jerusalem," Pattengale explains. "A new temple, which would replace a temple destroyed by the Romans in the first century, would usher in the kingdom of God, ruled by a messianic figure. According to Numbers 19, the sacred ceremony — in which the cow is slaughtered and then burned — must take place on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem with a view of the site of the former temple, said Rabbi Yitzchak Mamo, president of Boneh Israel, an organization that works to build up and revive biblical sites in Israel and oversaw the practice ritual."

Stinson helped such a ceremony take place in Israel on July 1, according to Pattengale.

"That video shows a flaming pyre on a remote hilltop with what looks like the animal carcass engulfed in flames," Pattengale notes. "A rabbi led the ceremony after the heifer was driven there from Shiloh in the West Bank, where the selected red heifers have been kept. Plans for the ritual have been years in the making. Stinson, who has a home in Israel and lives there part of the year, funded a search to find heifers that would fit the exacting requirements found in the biblical text. Those requirements include having no flaws or blemishes, even from the ear tags commonly used by ranchers in the United States."

Stinson even wrote a book about the practice: "The Hunt for the Red Heifer," published in 2024.

"After a review by rabbis working with Stinson, and months of red tape, five were flown to Israel in 2021," according to Pattengale. "Stinson, whose family runs trucking and transportation companies, helped fund the selection of the five heifers, rented a plane and shipped them from Texas to Tel Aviv."

Read Jerry Pattengale's full Religion News Service article at this link.

From Your Site Articles