The Spiritual Condition of America, Politics, Culture, and Current Events Analyzed Through the Lens of Scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. Should Christians be supportive of the nation of Israel? Hi, Alex McFarland here, and I say an emphatic yes. I do believe that Christians, especially, really all American citizens, but certainly those that are followers of Yeshua, we should be supportive of Israel and we should condemn the hatred of the Jewish people that we see manifested in our times, anti-Semitism.
And this is part B of a two-part series that we began a few days ago on why I believe Americans, freedom-loving, moral citizens, and especially Christians, should support the nation of Israel. The Bible says in very famous verses like Genesis 12: God said, I will bless them that bless thee and curse those who curse thee. God made that promise to Abraham, and I've often said, That the greatest favor any president could do the American people is to be a strong ally to Israel. You know, in recent weeks, America, President Trump has bombed Iranian bomb-making facilities and hopefully, for the safety of the world, reduced their nuclear capabilities, maybe eliminated their nuclear capabilities. And in this administration, at least, we've shown ourselves to be a friend of Israel, and that should always be the case.
Now, I want to be clear about some things: that God loves all people, and the Arabic people and the Palestinian Muslims, God loves them. But they need to be saved. They need Jesus Christ. And just because God loves all people and whosoever will may come, in no way does that mean that Israel does not have the right to self-defense, that Israel does not have the right to defend what is their land. And also, out of love and morality and human compassion, it doesn't mean that we as a nation can't stand for the only really stable democracy in the Middle East, our longest ally in the Middle East, and we can stand against terrorism.
In standing against terrorism and injustice, it doesn't mean that we've compromised our Christian compassion.
Something else that I want to be clear about is that there must be a distinction made between the nation of Israel and the Church of Jesus Christ. In fact, just a few days ago, I was speaking at a conference over the July 4th weekend, and a gentleman came up to the book table and was fairly incensed that I was talking about support for the nation of Israel when he said, as a Christian, we are the new Israel. And I said, well, look, I'm aware of the verse that people use to try to defend that point, but I've got to respectfully disagree. Galatians 6, 16 speaks of God's blessing on, quote, the Israel of God.
Now, there is the church, and it talks about Gentiles, a wild sprout being grafted in to the true vine, which Jesus is the vine, but really the original body of believers, which are the seed of Abraham. And we talked about Romans 3.3 and Romans 9, where Paul very emphatically says that Israel's unbelief has not nullified the covenant promises to God.
Now, let me make a little distinction in this first segment from the get-go about the difference between Israel and the church.
Now, both are important, and we know that the church, the ecclesia, the body of believers, Purchased by the blood of Jesus and brought out of sin, we have some specific assignments, and Israel had some specific assignments. And every Christian is part of the church, but not every Israelite is a Christian.
Now, one day I believe, and you read this in Zechariah and elsewhere in the Old Testament, Israel will occupy their land in a state of belief. But let me lay out, you know, basically the differences between Israel and the church. People, purposes, parameters, Prohibitions and promises. And I don't mean to be contrived in my alliteration here, use of the letter P to begin each one of these, but it it works. Israel and the church are two different yet very specific people groups.
All right, Israel is the children of Abraham by birth. Uh the Church is the children of the Father. By the new birth, through faith. The seed of Abraham through birth. ethnic Israel, but the church is the the children of the Father through faith.
Now what are their purposes?
Well, the nation of Israel was commissioned by God to be the moral and spiritual revelation to the world. Really, the Bible says unto the Jews were committed the oracles of God. And the Bible says, quote, salvation is of the Jews, meaning that the promised Messiah would come through the nation of Israel, and Jesus did. The purpose is commissioned by God to show the moral and the salvific revelation to the world. That was Israel.
the Church, what are our purposes to fulfill the Great Commission? Right? Or as the catechism would say, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. But we who know Christ have a purpose to show Christ to the world. That's part of what the church does.
What about the parameters, the boundaries? Psalm 16:6, the boundary lines laid out.
Well, the parameters. The church and Israel have some different parameters. Israel was delivered from the bondage of Egypt and sent to the promised land. The church has been delivered from the bondage of sin and sent to the very ends of the earth. What about prohibitions or warnings or things that we are vehemently told not to do?
Israel was to have no idols, no partial obedience. Those were the parameters. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one. That's the great Shema, Deuteronomy 6:1 through 4. And of course, the very first commandment, they were not.
To set up any false gods or graven images. Very much prohibitioned not to learn the customs of the people of the land. Israel, among other things, Prohibited from idolatry and from partial obedience.
Now, what about the church? What are our prohibitions?
Well, if we've received sonship, we are to live in fellowship. We are to repent, believe, be changed, and not revert back. To our old ways. Those are the prohibitions and the warnings. And of course, the New Testament is very clear about backsliddenness.
And you read Hebrews 6, and I do believe in eternal security. I do. I believe in the eternal security of the believer. But I mean, if you read Hebrews 6 and 1 John 2, about those that went out from us, but were not Of us. If they had been of us, they would have stayed with Christ.
And you read Matthew 7:24. Many say in that day, Lord, Lord, and Jesus says, I never knew you. The prohibitions of the church are not to fall away.
Well, what about the promises?
Well, God said, I'll fight for you, I'll undertake for you, I will give you the land I've sworn to your fathers.
So, by historical precedent and by divine right and promise, the land of Israel. Belongs to the nation of Israel. What a novel concept that Israel should belong to the Israelites. But the promises to the church that Christ would never leave or forsake us, that nothing could pluck us out of his hand, and that we who have been saved are predestined to one day fully be conformed to the image of Christ. That's called glorification.
So there are a specific people with specific purposes, specific parameters, very clear prohibitions, and God's ironclad promises, the differences between Israel and the church. Stay tuned. We've got a brief break. We'll come back and talk more about Part B in our series: Why Christians Yes, should support Israel. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert.
Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Charlie Kirk is coming to the Grand Strand August 21. He's one of the world's most influential social media voices and one of the people most responsible for the resurgence of young people standing up for America, getting registered to vote, and learning about our Constitution. Hi, Alex McFarland here. You are invited to part three in our speaker series, Conversations That Matter, with Charlie Kirk, Thursday night, August 21, 7 p.m.
at the Alabama Theater on Highway 17 in North Myrtle Beach. For tickets, visit the Alabama Theater website at alabama-theater.com. Hear Charlie Kirk, August 21, and there will be open mic question and answer. For complete information on the Speaker Series, go to alexmacfarlane.com slash conversations. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely.
Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Is modern Israel a fulfillment of Bible prophecy and therefore Christians should support the state of Israel? I believe the answers are yes and yes. Hi, Alex McFarland here. Welcome back to the program.
We've been talking about why Christians should support Israel. And reformed theology basically says that Israel, in rejecting their Messiah 2,000 years ago, they forfeited the covenant promises. And I've had Christians say to me that Israel, the nation of Israel, certainly the modern state of Israel, really doesn't mean anything right now. And I would respectfully disagree. For one thing, Israel did not completely reject her Messiah.
There were many Jews that did believe Nicodemus, the earliest disciples, were Jewish. And so while the Sanhedrin and the religious hierarchy, they did call for Christ's crucifixion. But he was rejected by the Jews, but nailed to a Roman cross. Cross. It was Gentile and Jew that caused Jesus to go to the cross in love.
And so Paul is very clear in the book of Romans, and the Bible is clear. And we have to make a distinction between the church, yes, the spiritual body of believers that are added to daily as people put their faith in Christ. But modern Israel is a divine work and is in the process of fulfilling Bible prophecy. And I believe that Israel as constituted Today is a work of God in progress, preparing, well, leading history to this culmination. There will be a seven-year tribulation.
Ultimately, there will be a national conversion. The second coming of Christ will happen, and his millennial reign will begin. But let's, just to lay some groundwork, let's look at what Judaism is about. Because Judaism emerged around 2000 BC with Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, in covenant with God, Yahweh, the true and living God, the one and only God. And the covenant between God and the seed of Abraham is very, very central to their Jewish identity.
Around 12. 1200 to 1400 BC at Mount Sinai. God gave the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, to Moses, and they were en route to the Promised Land. After the death of Solomon, there was a divided kingdom. Which was never God's intent.
Israel and Judah, the divided kingdom stage, and ultimately in the 6th century BC, they were exiled into Babylon. But eventually, as God so often does, God faithfully, miraculously intervenes, and the people begin to return to Jerusalem.
Now, think about this. Today, you know, some people say that modern Israel really doesn't mean anything, and I could. Potentially understand that sentiment, trying to make sense of what the Bible says if it were prior to May 14, 1948.
Now the modern state of Israel was rebirthed May 14, 1948. And prior to that, since March of 70 AD, Israel had not existed. I mean, think about that. What an amazing thing that for really 1878 years, there had been no state of Israel. And I can understand where people might have said, well, maybe these promises of God are nullified.
But 600 years before the birth of Christ, there began to be a return to Jerusalem. And around 200 years before the birth of Christ, there was this evolution of rabbinic Judaism, the Rebbe's, the teachers. And of course, they translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek. That was called the Septuagint, because tradition says 70 scholars worked 70 days. And so the Jewish Bible, which is really the same as the Christian, what we call the Old Testament or the Old Covenant, with a special emphasis on the Torah.
This was the scripture.
Now, there was also the Talmud, T-A-L-M-U-D. These were Jewish traditions that the people leaned on heavily. But by the time of Christ, there was a lot of confusion because Rome was an occupying presence in the land of Israel. And ultimately, Jerusalem would be ransacked and overthrown by Rome in March of 70 A.D. And for 18 centuries, the Jewish people would be dispersed throughout the world.
The first Christians were almost exclusively Jewish. But Orthodox practising Jews the world over would be taught that Messiah had not yet come. And without a nation or a temple, with no sacrificial system in place, the full practice of Mosaic Judaism would no longer be possible. And I say all these things, endeavoring to be very faithful and accurate to history, and with the highest, greatest, utmost love for the Jewish people that I could possibly convey. But I do believe Jesus is Messiah.
I'm a personal follower of Jesus Christ. I know many, many ethnic Jews that are Messianic followers of Jesus Christ. And even though the Jews were dispersed for 1,800 years, Jewish cultural practices remained and have been preserved by Jewish people wherever they would go.
Now, by the 19th century, the 1800s, Zionist movements began to call for a return to Jerusalem and the rebirth of the nation of Israel. And this would, of course, officially happen with the help of England and the USA in 1948. And I've told the story many times of how Lord Balfour in England, along with Churchill, and then US President Harry Truman. They were all very complicit and all believers, by the way. And Balfour Churchill and Truman, Among others, believed That in helping the State of Israel be reborn, that they were.
participating in the ushering along of history and really the fulfillment of prophecy.
Now, during the mid-20th century, Reform Judaism grew. Especially in the West, and a more liberal, modernized Jewish faith. Kind of emerged, and belief in the coming of a literal Messiah ebbed away in many Jewish circles. Belief in a literal Messiah may or may not be embraced. Even belief in the afterlife is often denied, and salvation, quote unquote, is understood in terms of one's good works.
Very Orthodox Judaism remains now, and as it was in the past, broken into numerous sects. There have been some would-be Messiahs, like the late Rabbi Menachem Schneerson in the 1980s. And as I'm sure most people know, that the nation of Israel even doesn't have complete control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. But tensions in the Middle East have run high for decades and decades. But I believe, and we've got to take a break, Christians should pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
That's Psalm 122, verse 6. And at every opportunity, we should offer love.
Solidarity and truth to the precious Jewish people in our lives.
Now, when we come back, I'm going to talk about some shocking statistics regarding anti-Semitism and why, as Jude verse 3 says, the faith once delivered to the saints, there should be no reformation or change of the gospel. It is Jesus, the Savior. But part of what a biblical worldview would lead us to is belief in the covenant promises of God for Israel and support for the precious Jewish people. and the nation of Israel. Stay tuned, we're back after this.
Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Do you know prayer is the nerve that moves the muscle of God? Hi, Alex McFarland here, encouraging you to download our free PDF of 31 Days of Prayer for Our Nation. Discover how consistent prayer can transform your heart and our nation.
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So go to alexmacfarland.com and download the free PDF of prayer, and I challenge you to make this next 31 days a time of powerful prayer. Christian author and speaker Alex McFarland is an advocate for Christian apologetics. Teaching in more than 2,200 churches around the world, schools, and college campuses, Alex is driven by a desire to help people grow in relationship with God. He arms his audiences with the tools they need to defend their faith, while also empowering the unchurched to find out the truth for themselves. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex is a sound voice who speaks timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way.
With 18 published books to his name, it's no surprise that CNN, Fox, The Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets have described Alex as a religion and culture expert. To learn more about Alex and to book him as a speaker at your next event, Visit alexmcfarland.com or you can contact us directly by emailing booking at alexmcfarland.com. He's been called Trusted, Truthful, and Timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Hi, Alex McFarland here.
Before we resume our talk about Israel in prophecy and why we should support the nation of Israel, it's rare that I do this, but I want to make a pitch for our next book coming out: 100 Bible Questions and Answers on Prophecy and the End Times. It's our third in a series of 100 Questions books. It technically comes out October 7, but you can pre-order on Amazon.
So check out the book 100 Bible Questions on Prophecy and the End Times with all of this content and much more. And now let's get back to our message on why the church should support Israel. Welcome back to the program. Alex here. Let me thank everyone who's been praying for our very busy summer with the summer camps.
We've just been to Georgia and we're en route to Iowa and upstate New Jersey, the Hudson River Valley, South Carolina. And we had Colorado last week, nearly 600 teenagers. And so God is good, and great, great things are happening. I value your prayers. And for those that have made tax-deductible contributions, that basically it costs us $400 to provide a week of summer biblical worldview camp for these youth.
We could still use some people to scholarship, kids that are giving their life to Christ, kids that are making decisions. I could tell you so many wonderful things. But also, in the interest of time, our summer speaker series, August 21, is coming up. Charlie Kirk will be with us. We've been in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
And Myrtle Beach, we've been at some great theaters down there. We've had Dinesh D'Souza. We've had the great family leader, Dr. Gary Chapman.
Well, you still have time to register and attend if you go to alexmacfarland.com slash conversations. And it's on the front page, alexmcfarland.com, the speaker series, Conversations That Matter. We've also got Lauren Green coming in September. We're having a roundtable discussion on the state of the church. And the Lauren Green event, there will be someone there from the Trump administration.
I was on a call with President Trump a week ago, the faith board that I've been asked again to participate on. And we don't exactly know the name, although I'm pretty sure, and it is a name you will know. But yes, the faith office in the West Wing has offered for some of their staff to attend Christian events.
So on September 14, when we We have Lauren Green from Fox News, and we'll have Caleb Collier from the Church and State podcast. There will be present with us a member of the Trump administration.
So, these are exciting things that we are doing, and we believe are elevating the level of conversation among Christians. Your prayers, your participation, your support is vital. You can go to alexmcfarland.com, and if you would consider making a tax-deductible contribution today, we'd be very grateful as we call our nation back to Christ, people of all ages, through events, publishing, and broadcasting. You know, we're talking about Israel and why I believe Christians should stand for the nation of Israel. And let me just wrap up by talking about the fact: it is good news, there's generally support for Israel among evangelical Christians.
But a lot of people, even professed Christians, don't. Speak up against the anti-Semitism that is present in our times. And I want to challenge my fellow ministers and clergy to preach sermons on why the racism that is anti-Semitism. We should not let that go by without speaking out against it. And so there have been people that have said some heinously.
not only uncaring, uncompassionate but frankly inaccurate things. About Israel not mattering or not having the right to self-defense. Yeah, I disagree with that. And let's remember that Hamas weaponizes. For instance, food distribution against their own people.
The terrorists have shot hospitals and they have exacted violence and starvation against their own people. And, you know, just recently in early summer, the Glastonbury Music Festival, there was a punk duo, I'm not even going to say their name, but they were shouting death to the IDF. death to the Israeli Defense Fund and making threatening comments with PA systems. And you know, not only was that shouted, this festival known generally for peace and Entertainment, the crowds were chanting Free Palestine, death to the IDF. And later that chant was shouted at a governmental meeting in Wales.
Listen, the Israeli Defense Fund has the right to defend the people of Israel. And as the world marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, we should take an honest look at the current state of anti-Semitism across the world. There are basically seven countries with the largest Jewish populations outside of Israel. and these would be in no particular order, by the way. Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the United States.
And ironically, The crisis of anti-Semitism, Jew hatred, has only intensified since the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023. And there's been a marked rise of anti-Semitic incidents around the world throughout the J7 countries. I mean, think about it, every week. There is anti-Semitic, racist violence against the Jewish people, Jewish schools, synagogues, businesses, individuals. And you think about this, from twenty twenty one to October seventh, Anti-Semitic incidents increased like ninety percent in the UK.
11% in Australia, 23%. But in the United States, in the period leading up to. The October Attacks, anti-Semitism from 2021 to 23 increased 227% in the United States.
Now brace yourself. nine thousand three hundred and fifty four. anti Semitic incidents in the United States of America in twenty twenty four. The highest level ever recorded in one year.
Now of surveys. As we're almost out of time, nearly 50% of people believe, quote, Jews have too much control over global affairs. Nearly 37% agree with this statement, Jews have too much control over the media. End of quote.
Some sixty one percent agree with this statement, quote, Jews have too much power in the business world. And these very disheartening statistics are true in America. And so I want to ask everyone, as we're almost out of time, to pray. There's been this spike of anti-Semitic incidents all around the world and the repeated targeting of Jewish institutions, including synagogues. And oh my goodness, we can't even get into the online hate.
and a growing feeling of insecurity among Jewish communities. leading some people Really, for the first time since World War II, to begin hiding their Jewish identity. And the failure of many governments to hold accountable those who engage in anti-Jewish violence. and the calls for support. For terrorism.
Well, we're out of time, but this is Alex McFarlane saying that I stand with Israel. I encourage people, especially Christians, to do the same and to remember, in the spirit of Psalm 122, verse 6, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Alex McFarland ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at alexmacfarland.com.
You may also reach us by calling 1-877-YESGOD and the number 1. That's 1-877-Y-E-S-G-O-D-1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarlane Show.
