Just for clarity’s sake: I, and mainstream Christians who believe the Jewish people have a God-given right to live in Israel, do not blindly support Israel, as we’re often accused of doing. Israel absolutely does not get a free pass to excuse sin or evil, under any circumstances. The only thing I unconditionally support is their right to exist as a nation and live in the land God gave them. (That belief is called Zionism, by the way.) That’s basic humanitarian ground any decent person can stand on.
A higher standard, not a free pass
Israel is different in that it is the only nation God has given land to as a permanent inheritance, and vowed to protect and sustain until Christ returns. But that doesn’t mean Christian Zionists would defend or support evil if Israel were found guilty of it.
If they are found guilty of evil, Christians have a moral obligation to condemn it, just as we would with any nation, and to seek justice for the victims, just as we would for any nation. I firmly believe that is God’s will. If anything, Israel should be held to a higher standard, as God held them, because of their position as the ones given the revelation of God to share with the world.
Why Satan wants the Jewish people gone
The problem is that there has always been a satanic push to eradicate the Jews from the earth. If Satan could succeed, he would prove the Bible false by invalidating every prophecy, covenant, and promise God made to the Jewish people. If he can show that God doesn’t keep His covenants, he has invalidated Christianity.
So throughout history there has been an ongoing, demonically driven push to slander and demonize the Jews, in order to justify their destruction in the eyes of the world. Whether you realize it or not, the destruction of the Jews would lead to the destruction of Christianity and make God a liar.
“Just asking questions”
The latest push has come, surprisingly, from people who used to be staples of the conservative movement. They claim to be “just asking questions,” but what they’re really doing is inventing suspicion where there’s no real evidence of wrongdoing. The sources of these rumors have been caught lying over and over. They fabricate stories out of thin air, and as soon as one is debunked, they spin another.
Their followers react the same way, repeating the same slander as if in a spiritual stupor that keeps them blind to the constant contradictions and falsehoods the people they’re repeating have already been caught in.
That is what I’m standing against. I have zero problem holding Israel accountable for its actions. In fact, that’s the only appropriate thing for a Christian to do. What I have a major problem with is blindly accepting unsubstantiated slander from people who have been caught lying again and again. I do look into the claims. I research whether they’re true, and so far they have proven to be nonsense, or at best so far-fetched that they can be neither proven nor disproven, which is also slander. The people you should be asking questions about are the ones with hard evidence that they’ve lied to you.
The problem with replacement theology
Alongside the political attacks on Israel, another dangerous theology is being promoted inside the church: replacement theology, the claim that the church has replaced the descendants of Abraham in every way. In many ways it seems harmless, because it doesn’t change much in practice. We all still believe faith in Yeshua the Messiah is, and always has been, the only way to salvation.
The insidious part is that it has led, among other things, to the belief that the descendants of Jacob no longer have a right to the land of Israel, because it supposedly belongs to the church now. That leads believers in this theology to side with movements like Free Palestine, whose leading groups have vowed to wipe out the Jews if they ever controlled the land.
It would be a literal genocide. But because these deceived Christians don’t believe the Jewish people have a right to the land, they start believing the narratives that the Jews are colonizers and evil. Popular opinion, even in the church, turns against the Jews and toward those who want to destroy them. And as I’ve said, if the Jews are destroyed, God is made a liar and Christianity is invalidated.
Replacement theology also leads to misreading Scripture. For instance, its supporters use passages like Hebrews 8, which talks about the passing of the Old Covenant now that Jesus has established a new and better one, to suggest that God broke His covenant with Israel. That makes God out to be a liar. The passage clearly refers to the Mosaic Covenant (the law), not the Abrahamic Covenant (Jacob’s descendants becoming a great nation in the land until the end of time).
Theology like this matters. Understanding it correctly matters. It connects to so many other things, and getting it wrong can lead you down a dangerous path. (For more on what the covenant does and doesn’t mean, read Are Jews Still God’s Chosen People?)
If Satan could talk angels out of Heaven, he can talk you into Hell. Be careful who you listen to. There is so much deceit floating around right now. Stay in your Bible.
