As a pastor, I try to keep my eye on Jesus, my nose in the Bible, and my ear to the ground. I try to pay attention to the cultural, social, and political trends that shape people’s thinking and lives. I will often address those things from the pulpit through a biblical lens to help equip my congregation. We need to be wise about the times—and that will only happen if we know our Bibles and have the discernment of the Holy Spirit.
As I’ve paid attention to recent events in our culture and the world, the trend is clear that antisemitism is on the rise.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports anti-semitic incidents have increased 344% over the last 5 years and 893% over the last decade. Those statistics do not include those who are simply opposed to the Israeli government or its policies. Simply being opposed to some policies of the Israeli government does not make you anti-Semitic any more than being opposed to some of the policies of the United States would make you unpatriotic. However, to harm Jews, to wish them harm, or to constantly blame the Jews for all the problems in the world is not only anti-semitic, it is delusional and demonic.
The Catholic Church and its allied denominations in Jerusalem just declared war on Christian Zionism. In a statement released just a few days ago on January 17th, the patriarchs and heads of churches in the Holy Land, led by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, along with Eastern Catholic, Orthodox, and other traditional church leaders, condemned Christian support for Israel as “a damaging theology that misleads the public and harms Christian unity.” That alone is a troubling statement.
In addition, I am also very troubled by some comments by Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson over the past few months. As influencers with millions of followers, they are persuading people to believe some things about Israel and the Jewish people that I believe are damaging to our nation and dividing conservative circles—even dividing Christians.
This was evidenced for me by some of the slanderous emails that I’ve received, as well as the outrageous and inaccurate comments posted on our social media, about our recent service with a panel of experts, titled “The Rise of Antisemitism in Christian and Conservative Circles.”
Candace herself, two days before the service, posted my Instagram announcement on her podcast, mocking myself and our guests. By the way, Candace, if you’re going to mock us, you should get the name of our church right! It’s Cornerstone Chapel, not Cornerstone Church. We’re not affiliated with John Hagee. That’s a separate church.
Of course, Satan wants to blame the Jews. That is his MO. In Revelation 12:10, he is referred to as the “accuser of the brethren.” In John 8:44, Jesus called him a “liar” and “the father of lies.”
In Revelation 12:13, the Bible says, “Now the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, and he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.” The dragon in this verse is Satan, the woman is Israel, and the male child that Israel gave birth to was the ultimate Messiah who would come for the redemption of the whole world.
This redemptive plan of God was put in place to rescue the whole world. This plan came through a Jewish nation that gave birth to a Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ. And so, of course, Satan will do all he can to attack all things related to the Jews—and he is using people and organizations in that effort.
If your allegiance is to a person like Candace, Tucker, or myself for that matter more than it is to Jesus, then you will always be open to deception and misinformation. Follow Jesus, read the Bible, and pray for discernment.
