Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, we must focus in upon a very important issue that intersects politics, race, and religion. And that question is, how should the American Christian think about Israel and our relation to her? And then, religiously speaking, where do the Jews fit into our understanding of Christ and the Church, future eschatology, and present politics? Oh, how divisive and incendiary have been these questions in our recent politics.

Now, a distinct polarity has appeared since the vicious 9-11-style attack of Hamas upon Israel on October 7, 2023. Over 6,000 Muslim Gazan attackers murdered, raped, and plundered Israelis in over 21 communities. It is estimated that 1,221 citizens were slaughtered that day. Nothing like it has been seen in all of Israel's history, and they compare that day to what happened to us on 9-11 in 2001. For them, this was their 9-11.

Well, in response, Israel has been on a mission to eradicate the pestilential threat of Hamas. So, it must be understood, Americans, it must be understood by us exactly what this Muslim terrorist organization is. Now, Hamas is Arabic for zeal or strength or bravery. Correspondingly, a Hamas fighter is zealous for complete triumph of Islam over the blasphemers and occupiers personified in the Jews of Israel. In its very founding charter, the 1988 Hamas Covenant, they dedicate themselves to the eradication of the State of Israel.

The language of that covenant is of such vitriolic nature that it is indistinguishable, really, from Muhammad's universal condemnation of Jews in the Quran. Israel is constantly referred to as an illegal entity, and Jews as enemies and usurpers of rightful Muslim territory. Well, when it comes to Hamas, I want you to note the following features, Hamas. First of all, the Gazan Palestinians have a deep-seated hatred for Israel and for Jews. You cannot overestimate the vicious, raging antipathy felt towards Israel and Jews by Gazans.

It is difficult for naive Westerners raised in the nominally tolerant environment of the West, created by broadly Christian principles like love your neighbor as yourself and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It's hard for us, raised in this environment, to conceive that an entire culture could be devoted to little more than the destruction of another people. Note also with me, Palestinians would rather kill than create. Not only are the founding documents in Gaza dedicated to destruction, but the whole of Palestinian culture is marinated in death and hatred and violence.

Palestinian school books, beginning in primary school, inculcate hatred for Jews and hold out the glorious destiny of the destruction of Israel and the triumph of Islam and the return of Palestine to Palestinians. Imams in the mosques teach hatred of the Jews and the destruction of Israel. Palestinian television indoctrinates its viewers with hatred of the Jews and the destruction of Israel.

From simple news broadcasts to specials and commentaries, every cultural institution in Palestine, in Gaza, if you could call what Gazans create culture in any meaningful sense, well, all of their institutions are geared to indoctrinate hatred of Jews and the destruction of Israel. From simple advertising in shops and markets to greetings on the street. For example, the phrase, from the river to the sea, is a prime example.

When one meets another friend or neighbor or relative in Gaza, it is common to hail them with, from the river to the sea, which means the eradication of Israel and the Jews, and the establishment of a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, from the river to the sea. Note also with me, Palestinians regularly return Hamas, the party of Hamas, to power.

One reason I have very little sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza is precisely because they keep voting in these Hamas monsters, knowing full well what they stand for and what will happen in the future with men like Abu Marzouk or Khaled Mashal leading them. They nevertheless keep electing these men to office. The old adage has never been truer. People get the government they deserve. Note also with me then, Palestinian leaders cynically use the wealth and aid given for Gaza for themselves.

Palestinian leaders are notorious for looting monies given by a naive West that is meant for the people. For example, so-called exiles live in luxury in places like the French Riviera or Egypt with billions diverted from funds given by the United Nations, the European Union, and America that was intended for humanitarian relief for the beleaguered Palestinians. Well, this has been a constant theme throughout the decades. For example, Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat was Exhibit A of this, who funneled millions and millions of dollars of aid into his own bank accounts.

But it finds its latest iteration in Hamas leaders like Abu Marzouk or Khaled Mashal or Ishmael Hanayah. These men live lavish lifestyles all over the world while their people live in poverty and misery. Also, these men rely upon the bleeding heart sentimentality of progressives, Hamas does, the bleeding heart sentimentality of progressives in the West to keep shoveling resources into Gaza, which promptly get diverted into the bank accounts of a few privileged leaders. Precious little trickles down to the ones who need it most, that is the people of Gaza.

Note also with me that Hamas cynically sacrifices the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza for political ends. It's another reason I have very little sympathy for the Palestinians in Gaza because the leadership is willing to sacrifice huge numbers of Palestinian civilians in order to achieve the personal power of ambitions of Hamas leadership. They know that the higher the body count amongst the general populace of Gaza, the higher the outrage will be in the West and the louder will be the call for an independent Palestinian state. It's a proven strategy.

For example, despite the futility of the October 7th, 2023 attack into Israel by Hamas, knowing that such a maneuver could never topple the state of Israel, but only sow terror among the people, nevertheless, they launched that attack. Based upon past experience, they knew that Israel would respond out of all proportion to the attack. At least that is how the rest of the world would view it. But is Israel's aggressive response really disproportional when Hamas deliberately establishes headquarters and weapon caches in hospitals, schools, daycare facilities, and mosques?

Additionally, Hamas spent years developing an elaborate network of underground tunnels that ran throughout civilian neighborhoods in Gaza. And in them, Hamas moved men and materiel throughout Gaza with a series of military bases connected by these tunnels. So when the Israeli Defense Force came in to destroy these military targets, civilian casualties were inevitable. Although the IDF did its best to avoid them whenever possible, but Hamas knew that this rationale would not be picked up by the international media, all they would focus in upon were the civilian casualties.

But who admits that these casualties are a deliberate strategy employed by Hamas to achieve their own political ends? You now know this, dear listener. Behold, one of the reasons for supporting the state of Israel, insofar as their interests coincide with those of the United States of America. And more on that momentarily. But first, I want to tell you, all of our listeners, the reasons I don't find grounds for supporting Israel.

I support Israel in the Jewish state, but not because of these reasons. And let me articulate those for you here briefly. First of all, I am not a Zionist Christian. I am not a Zionist Christian. The dispensational premillennial view on Israel and the Jews is profoundly erroneous.

For most American Christians, dear listener, Jesus will return again very soon, but only after Israel is wondrously reconstituted as a state, which did indeed happen in 1948. And the Jewish temple is rebuilt and animal blood sacrifices are reinstituted. And then the church is raptured out of the world into heaven. And the great seven-year tribulation will begin by the Antichrist, who many feel is now alive, waiting to reveal himself in the temple. And then the battle of Armageddon is fought on the plains of Megiddo.

Well, supposedly, Christ will come back just in the nick of time to save Israel before it is consumed in a nuclear holocaust. He will then establish his throne, Jesus, well, in Jerusalem and reign over the world for a thousand years. Well, for nearly two centuries now, this teaching has completely overwhelmed the Christian church. That church knows no other way. Well, when once you realize how important the reconstituted state of Israel is to evangelical end times teaching, well then, you know, it is equally understandable why the American evangelical church so vociferously and uncritically supports Israel, no matter what she does.

In fact, these enthusiastic supporters are called Christian Zionists because they uncritically give the okay to whatever Israel does. John Hagee in San Antonio, Texas is exhibit A of this school of thought with his church. For John Hagee and those like him, Israel is essential to the prophetic agenda. Without the state of Israel, all of the prophecies sensationally expected in the near future and preached on with great enthusiasm, all that goes away without Israel. But is this right, dear listener?

Essentially, we must assert strongly, no, this is not right. The view presented in summary fashion above is known as dispensational premillennialism. That may be a tongue-twisting mouthful for some, but in brief, it means that these believers think that in God's plan, Jesus Christ will return before the great time of peace and prosperity and glory begins, known as the millennium, a thousand-year period predicted in the Bible. Well, we believe that these teachings seriously distort what the Bible teaches. It is new in the history of the church, and it's filled with many distortions and errors in interpretation.

Now, on our website, americastruths.org, americastruths.org, I have a series of radio podcasts that lay out these interpretive errors, and also propose an alternative to dispensational premillennialism. Which alternative is really the doctrine of Christianity for thousands of years? Well, that series can be found at our website, americastruths.org. I recommend three of them for you. First of all, how do we interpret prophecy and the book of Revelation?

And that was the broadcast from April 28 of 2019. Find that on our website, April 28, 2019 broadcast. How do we interpret prophecy in the book of Revelation? The second one dealing with these matters is the blessed hope in the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, or rejoicing in the joyous rapture. Rejoicing in the joyous rapture.

And that broadcast is from May 12 of 2019. May 12 of 2019. And then finally, the third in the series is, in what temple do you find your joys and hope? In what temple do you find your joys and hope? And that one is from May 26 of 2019.

The broadcast from May 26, 2019. And here, you will listen and you will understand then why we can say, secondly, now, the consensus view of the church over the centuries is as true today as it was then. The consensus view of the church, not the Revelation red heifer rapture rants, no, but the consensus view of the church over the centuries is as true now as it was then. Unlike modern teachers who preach the rapture and Israel's crucial place in prophecy, the church of Christ has always taught that there's only one people of God, the church, and not two people of God, the church and Israel.

From the New Testament onward, the church has thought of the people of the Old Testament and the people of the New Testament as essentially one people in Christ. There's a brief saying that goes like this, Israel is the church of the Old Testament and the church is the Israel of the New Testament. That succinctly describes it. There have been two covenants that God has cut with his people, Israel under the Old Covenant and the church under the New Covenant. But now in Christ, they are one people.

Israel looked forward to Christ in the Old Testament while the church looks back to Christ under the New Testament. Consequently, the nation of Israel is of no theological consequence for true Christians. Let me say that again, emphasizing the nation of Israel is of no theological consequence for true Christians. Israel as a nation and Jews as a people are no more in God's good graces than any other Gentile nation or people. In fact, with the rejection of her Messiah, Israel experienced greater judgment than other nations in the destruction of Jerusalem and her temple in A.D. 70, and then her subsequent dispersion among the nations.

Greater judgment! That was God's exclamation point in history, if you will, concerning Israel. Jews may fancy themselves yet as God's chosen people, but God has rejected them and judged them and taken up his elect church. To fawn over Israel, consequently, to fawn over Israel like the sycophant pastor John Hagee and raise millions of dollars to rebuild the temple and do everything but convert to Judaism, which some say he has secretly done, John Hagee, that is heretical and blasphemous.

For example, the book of Hebrews takes great pains to tell his Jewish audience that Christ in his passion and his resurrection has entered the Holy of Holies in the heavenly temple with his own blood and submitted his sacrifice once for all, theme of the book of Hebrews. And consequently, all earthly temples are ipso facto obsolete. In fact, devotion to an earthly temple and its bloody animal sacrifices is an insult, it is blasphemy against Christ and his crucifixion and resurrection. God has done away with it, and to bring it back is to insult Christ and his once-for-all sacrifice for our sins.

For this reason, among many others, every Christian should reject this school of teaching and its logical political extension, that is Christian Zionism. It is destructive not only to the church and her mission, but also destructive to our own nation's interests abroad. On what basis then should we support Israel? Well, that brings me to number three, point number three. Our support for the state of Israel should be based upon political and moral considerations and none other.

Our support for Israel should be based upon the fact that she is the only free parliamentary democracy in all of the Middle East. Think of it, the only free parliamentary democracy in all of the Middle East, an island of liberty in a sea of Islamic tyrannies. Gaza is not the only barbarous, primitive, vicious cesspool in the Middle East. Iran and Syria and Qatar are also Islamic hellholes, where Christians are slaughtered, women are subjugated, and culture is a backward throwback to the 7th century. Who would want to live in these places?

All of the posturing progressives, who self-righteously virtue signal in defending Hamas and Iran and Islam, in general, would be executed on the spot once they were spotted in these countries with their blue hair, nose rings, and trans lifestyles. The imams of Iran regularly repeat this cliche. Israel is the little Satan. America is the big Satan. Can you see now the agenda of Islam?

In almost every respect, the interests of the United States of America in the Middle East coincide with those of Israel. And as long as they do, we should continue to support and defend our only true ally in the region. But when those interests do not coincide, well, that brings me to point number four. Given this understanding, Israel is not above criticism when transgressing American interests. Yes, number four, point number four.

Given this understanding we've just outlined for you, Israel is not above criticism when transgression, transgressing, excuse me, American interests. Unlike zealous American Zionists, we must not consider Israel to be a sacred cow or a sacred red heifer, if you will, above criticism and rebuke when she crosses American interests. Three criticisms come to mind for me in this regard. Number one, President Trump was elected in part to keep us out of forever wars. Yeah, Trump promised to keep us out of forever wars.

Bush, Obama, Biden all mired us in endless conflicts. Bush in Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama in Syria, Biden in Ukraine. So despite Bibi Netanyahu's insistence that America participate in a protracted conflict with Iran, Trump firmly declined. And he should keep it that way. Hold your ground, President Trump.

Secondly, second complaint I have, criticism I have, number two, Israel is wrongly killing and dispossessing Christians in Gaza. The rabid pit bulls in Gaza are Islamicists, not Christians. There is a sizable Christian community in Gaza who are very sympathetic towards Israel, but Israel, especially the settlers moving into seize land in Gaza, they are forcing Christians off of the property and in some cases killing them if they do not cooperate. This has to end. And then thirdly and finally, the criticism I have, probably a chief one here is, Israel has an outsized influence in American politics.

Oh yes, the Israel lobby in the swamp, the district of criminals, is large and effective in influencing policy, domestic as well as foreign. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, spends millions in millions of dollars funding politicians' elections campaigns in order to favorably influence policy. Dozens of evangelical Christian organizations regularly bring pro-Israeli messages in their programming. Think tanks, which are pro-Israel, regularly influence how foreign and domestic policy is formed. The American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Foreign Policy Research Institute being prime examples.

And many people have come to feel that Israel has so dominated American politics with severe consequences for criticizing them that the tail is beginning to wag the dog. Oh, dear listener, criticisms of Israel. So, when Israel's interests and the United States' interests diverge, we must call it for what it is. And then fifthly, there are two extremes that seem to rule today, the anti-Semite and the fawning sycophant. Common sense and rational dialogue seem to be lost amid two extreme emotional responses to Jews in general and Israel in particular.

There's always been a subterranean stream of anti-Semitism running through American culture, sometimes breaking the surface and flooding the landscape and sometimes quiet and known only to the denizens of prejudice. Well, that stream has broken the surface again in recent days, and it's becoming a tidal wave in many circles, especially that contemptible Somali representative from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar, and her ilk. If a Muslim breaks a hand now, it's the Jews, the Jews. If a Somali slips on a banana peel, it's Israel, it's Israel. Oh, once more, as it has so often in the past, the Jews are being made the scapegoat for every ill in the world.

Conspiracies abound with Jews as prime plotters. Israel tried to assassinate President Trump. Israel tried to kill Charlie and did kill Charlie Kirk. Oh, on and on it goes. And violence towards Jews increases around the world as synagogues and festivals and individuals are targeted by her enemies.

Oh, even the language has changed, dear listeners, subtly, so that now one makes the plea, I'm not an anti-Semite. I'm just anti-Zionism. Oh, of course, the other extreme is the Jewish-Israeli-Zionist sycophant who sees Israel as God's chosen instrument for bringing in the millennium. And they will sap at nothing to advance Israel's interests. And I pretty much treated them already.

Well, I shun both sides. Let me make a rational decision based upon facts and the best interest of the United States of America. And let me put aside uncritical blinders to Israel's bad policies because the rapture is going to happen soon. And let me also put aside the irrational obsession with eliminating the Jews altogether. Oh, a pox on both your houses.

But what I find is that old dilemma of the man in the middle. If you're in the middle of the road, you get run over by both sides. But I guess I'll just have to take my chances. And then lastly, number six, our enemies use the extremist views on both sides to divide Americans. That's happening, dear listener.

Our enemies, especially progressives, are using it to divide MAGA in particular. It's time to pray for our nation and begin thinking rationally again about Israel, the Jews, and America's best interests. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And I just suggest that you call us for more information or for feedback on this broadcast at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.