Kirk Cameron has done much good for the Gospel over the years. From his early days as a Hollywood actor to his outspoken Christian witness today, I have no doubt about his sincerity or his love for Jesus. But sincerity doesn’t excuse serious error, especially when it comes to Israel.
Cameron recently responded to an interview between Tucker Carlson and Senator Ted Cruz, venturing into theology regarding Israel, Zionism, and the Church. Unfortunately, Cameron’s words weren’t just slightly off, but instead they struck at the heart of God’s promises to Israel. With a confident tone and an open Bible in hand, he essentially argued that Israel has been replaced by the Church.
This is no small matter. Entire movements in Church history have gone astray by embracing what’s known as replacement theology (or “supersessionism”), the idea that God abandoned Israel and replaced her with the Church. But if God’s covenant promises to Israel can be discarded, then what does that say about any of His promises, including to believers?
Cameron begins by referencing Genesis 12:2–3, the cornerstone of God’s covenant with Abraham. He paraphrases the verse as if it merely applied to Abraham personally, not to his descendants or the nation of Israel. This is the first exegetical error I see in Cameron’s presentation.
Look at the full text out of Genesis: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2–3)
These words of God to Abraham are not vague, pointing beyond Abraham as an individual. God promises to make Abraham into a nation. That nation is identified later as Israel, the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. To shrink this promise down to a generic “those who believe” is to twist the text and rob it of its plain meaning.
Cameron then leaps to Romans 9:6–8 to suggest that Paul “demystifies” who the children of Abraham are. He highlights Paul’s phrase: “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.” Ripping the words from the Scripture and without context, he concludes that true Israel is simply those who believe in Christ—Jew and Gentile alike.
This sounds super spiritual and benevolent, but it is a misapplication. Paul’s point in Romans 9 is not to erase Israel, but to show that within Israel there is always a believing remnant. Not every Jew is saved simply by being Jewish, but that does not cancel Israel’s national identity or God’s promises to them. In fact, Paul immediately pushes back against the very conclusion Cameron draws. Just a few chapters later, in Romans 11:1, Paul asks: “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.”
If Paul believed God had replaced Israel with the Church, why would he still call Israel “his people” and why would he spend three chapters (Romans 9–11) painstakingly explaining how Israel’s current unbelief is temporary and how her future salvation is guaranteed? The answer is because God’s plan for Israel as a nation stands above all and the coming of Jesus in his first Advent, his second coming, and his eternal reign hinges on God’s covenant with them. That is why Satan works so tirelessly against this tiny nation.
Perhaps Cameron’s most troubling statement is his claim that Israel “didn’t have a nation or a land to call their own for almost 2,000 years since the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.” Additionally, He reduces Israel’s rebirth in 1948 to the work of “political operatives after World War II.”
This is breathtakingly dismissive of both Scripture and history. Did Israel ever cease to exist? Scattered? Yes. Persecuted? Absolutely. But destroyed? Never. God Himself promised otherwise: “Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night… ‘If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.’” (Jeremiah 31:35–36)
As long as the sun, moon, and stars are in the sky, Israel exists. Dispersion is not destruction. The Holocaust is proof enough of that. Ask the six million Jewish men, women, and children murdered by Hitler if Israel ceased to exist. Ask the survivors who clung to their identity even in the gas chambers. To deny Israel’s existence during the dispersion is to deny their suffering.
Is not God the Author of history and over all the nations? The survival of Israel for centuries, especially in dispersion, is a miracle in of itself. The rebirth of Israel in 1948 was more than political happenstance. It was a prophetic miracle. The prophets spoke of it with striking clarity:
- Ezekiel 36:24 — “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.”
- Amos 9:15 — “I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted.”
- Isaiah 11:12 — “He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of
The return of the Jewish people to their homeland is one of the greatest fulfillments of prophecy in our time. It is living proof that God’s Word is true. To dismiss it as political maneuvering is not only wrong, it usurps the God who keeps His promises.
Cameron rightly noted that theology has consequences. He’s correct that how we interpret Genesis 12 and Romans 9 affects geopolitics and even life-and-death matters. But his conclusion that Christian Zionism is misguided and dangerous. Never before in history do churches need to get our theology, relationship, and blessing of Israel correct.
If God’s covenant with Israel is null and void, then God cannot be trusted. If God’s promise to Abraham’s descendants has expired, then so might His promise to us in Christ. But if God is faithful to Israel, then we can be sure He is faithful to the Church. That’s the real takeaway. Paul himself makes the future plain in Romans 11:26: “And in this way all Israel will be saved.” That’s prophecy. When Christ returns, a believing remnant of Israel will look upon Him whom they pierced and mourn (Zechariah 12:10). Israel will finally embrace her Messiah.
Let me be clear: I respect Kirk Cameron, but I do see the need for correction for his sake and those who listened to this presentation. Cameron got it wrong. I appreciate his zeal, but zeal without knowledge can be dangerous (Romans 10:2). Replacement theology has fueled antisemitism for centuries. It has justified persecution, pogroms, and even the Holocaust itself. To see it repeatedly resurface in Christian media is deeply troubling.
Let the Church be a blessing to Israel. Let us pray for her, speak up for her, celebrate her greatness in the Kingdom, and rejoice that the same God who keeps His covenant with Abraham’s descendants is the God who will keep His covenant with us.
