There's a lot of mindless drivel on the internet these days. It's one of the downfalls of the information age - the information readily available does not have to be factual, it simply has to be. There's no bar of entry for blogs, videos, tweets, posts, etc. No code for standards or ethics, and no policing force that ensures you check your facts before you add to the teaming masses of thoughts that are thrown onto the internet like garbage in a trash heap. Because of this one should rarely be shocked by what they see anymore on the internet: anti-semitic, racist commentary is rampant especially on sites such as twitter and in the comment threads of YouTube, where people can facelessly proclaim their most perverted and despicable thoughts for the world to see with little fear of rebuke that will effect them past the browser window.


The First Amendment is a wonderful thing, and by no means should its existence ever be brought into question, but as with all things there are downsides. A quote from Evelyn Beatrice Hall in The Friends of Voltaire (wrongly attributed to Voltaire himself) once said, "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Yet even this quote doesn't feel rightfully applied to the documentary I am about to discuss in this blog. While a good portion of what Anderson says is scripturally supported (these details he at least backs up accurately), there is the fact of the matter that many focal points of the video are clearly edited in a way to deceive and misinform those who do not pay closer attention to what they are being shown, furthering a cause based on doctrines that most Christians believe either vary in translation or are no longer applicable.

 I caught myself pausing the video on several occasions when quotes from certain books were used, such as the Talmud and Peter Schafer's book Jesus in the Talmud, and was sad, albeit unsurprised, to find that Anderson was cherry picking certain text, as well as carefully editing aspects of his interviews, to emphasize points that he wished to highlight and make credible in the eyes of the viewers.

(A tip if I may, Mr. Anderson; the next time you wish to take quotes out of context, don't provide viewers with the rest of the page to show that you are, in fact, lying.)

I feel very bad for the rabbis that Anderson clearly deceived to contribute to this documentary, all of whom come across as highly educated individuals (often surrounded by their own books in what appear to be home-based studies) and add various flavors in perspective to the different practices of Judaism. Anderson was at least broad in his choices for interviewees, although certain articles suggest that these might have been the only rabbis in the local area that even responded to his summons for dialogue.

Regardless, the real sin isn't that such a film exists, as it is in its right to do so, but that people are taken in by this way of thinking purely on deception.

As a non-believer this probably isn't as horrifying for me as it would be to those that actually are Zionist Christians, so if you are one such person and are reading this, please let this inspire you to speak out against pastors the likes of Steven Anderson. He is not the representative your faith needs in this day and age.

With that lets - as they say - get on with the show.

Marching to Zion opens with a very dramatic voice-over in a Sparknotes rendition of the Old Testament, which in less than five minutes covers everything from Abraham's first contact with god to Israel being reestablished as a modern Jewish state. No one scene lasts for more than a minute or two, and between the dialogue and the constant cuts it might be easy to feel overwhelmed. In truth, it's really just very poor editing by the director/editor Paul Wittenberger. This style persists throughout the length of the documentary, and really made me question the choice of his editing skills. Even more so when I looked him up on IMDB. Paul's credentials go pretty far back, but rarely extend beyond camera and lighting, which I guess attributes to the professional look of the film, but tells me he didn't pick up on much else while actively working in the industry.

We actually see Paul a lot throughout the movie (I will not use the word "documentary" often in reference to Marching to Zion) but he is not actually identified until about twenty minutes before the credits roll. I didn't see the reason for him being in here at all except to perhaps make Anderson look as though he had a disciple of his own throughout this process, as Paul looks quite young save for the smattering of gray in his hair around the temple region. He says only one word throughout the course of the video, and that's in what one might suppose is an interview with Texe Marrs, although it is Marrs who actually does almost all of the talking during his time with Paul.

Now, the presence of Texe Marrs is a telling one for this movie. I had never heard of him before this, and I plan on keeping an eye on him from this point on. Marrs runs a ministry himself and seems very ensconced in multiple conspiracy theories which he writes a great deal about; not the least of which being claims of Illuminati and the supposed evils of Free Masonry (I was once a Free Mason and I can attest to their being no evil plans laid out in their temple meetings). My favorite claim is the accusation that Hillary Clinton has "Orwellian" goals as a politician. I challenge that Marrs likely either hasn't read anything by George Orwell, or fundamentally misunderstood those readings.

He's also reported to have anti-semitic literature sold on his ministry's website, despite claiming that he himself is not one. His webpage can be found here. I'm afraid that due to the disorganized nature of it I can't leave a singular link for his works, but it won't take much digging to find them once on the site. Below is one example that you can probably make some pretty sound judgments on for yourself.

Martin Luther's anti-semitic rhetoric with an approving preface from Texe Marrs.

One book that is sold is the title depicted to the left here. For those who may be unaware, here are some quotes from Martin Luther on his views of the Jews, two of which were included in the movie. (To improve upon this, all quotes are read with a highly over acted voice over that is almost comical).

"They are our public enemies and incessantly blaspheme our Lord Jesus Christ, they call our Blessed Virgin Mary a harlot and her Holy Son a bastard and to us they give the epithet of changelings and abortions."

"Their synagogues should be set on fire, and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread over with dirt...their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed. They should be deprived of their prayer books and Talmuds in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught."




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Sources not linked in this post & other references.

1. 1-2 - Jewish Virtual Library
2. Rawstory Article on the Rabbis Anderson Interviewed after the fact: http://www.rawstory.com/2014/12/anti-gay-arizona-pastor-tricks-holocaust-survivor-into-appearing-in-his-anti-semitic-film/
3. Shekinah references; http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13537-shekinah ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhinah