Zola Levitt

Ministry and life

Levitt's church's main goal is to bring Jews to realization of Yeshua as their Messiah. He was one of a number of evangelical ministers to realize that there was an economic and spiritual niche in "missions to the Jews." With his visits to evangelical churches dressed as an ancient Levite, he built his organization to the point that its budget was reckoned in the millions of dollars. Levitt wrote a large number of books. He also produced and starred in his own radio and television shows, many of which were broadcast on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Levitt's radio shows, because of their intention to convert Jews to Christianity through the use of Jewish scripture, were a locus of "vehement protest from the Jewish community, who object to what they feel is a distortion of Jewish teachings." He died of lung cancer in April 2006.

Theology

Levitt was a classical dispensationalist, believing that the nation of Israel would play a crucial role in signalling the beginning of the end times. In 1975, he announced that the Yom Kippur War was the beginning of the end of the world; Thomas S. Kidd, in his book American Christians and Islam, states that Levitt "among others" (pg 132) "did leave open the possibility" that Henry Kissinger might be the antichrist because of the peace deal Kissinger brokered ending the Yom Kippur war. Levitt used his print publication The Levitt Letter, to criticize progressive dispensationalism. His main targets were theologians at the Dallas Theological Seminary, the Moody Bible Institute, and the Talbot Theological Seminary. The gist of his quarrel with the brand of dispensationalism putatively taught at these institutions was, according to Levitt, that they claimed that aspects of the Millennial Kingdom were present in the modern world. Levitt strongly opposed such a stance because he believed that it minimized the role of Israel in God's plan for the world. For much the same reason, Levitt was opposed to efforts to bring a negotiated peace to the Middle East. As an expression of his dispensationalism, Levitt sponsored a grove in Israel to which his followers could donate trees, the stated purpose being to make that country green in preparation for Christ's return.