The Associate Press has previously reported on Israel’s preliminary vote of 25-24 in favor of annexing Judea and Samaria.
However, there are prominent Americans who are not in favor of Israel’s decision, such as Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Vance stated the vote was an “insult” and a “stupid political stunt,” claiming that the Trump administration does not condone the annexation of the West Bank.
But politicians are not the only ones disgruntled. In fact, some Christians also don’t believe that Israel has the right to take back its land.
Tucker Carlson (pictured at right) recently stated on his podcast he dislikes Christian Zionists more than anybody, reports The Christian Broadcasting Network.
Christian Zionism is the belief that God’s covenant with the Jewish people is eternal and still valid, supporting the state of Israel and their right to God’s promised land.
Carlson said that, as a Christian, he was offend by the notion, claiming that Christian Zionism is “Christian heresy” and that those who believe in it are “seized by this brain virus.”
Dr. Gerald McDermott is distinguished professor of theology at Jerusalem Seminary. He spoke with Tony Perkins on Washington Watch regarding Zionism and biblical perspective regarding Israel.
What he previously believed, the professor shared, is commonly referred to as "replacement theology," a belief that stemmed from his education. Replacement theology is the belief the Church replaced the Jewish people as God’s chosen people, and God’s previous promises to the Jewish people are no longer applicable, making it a stark contrast to Christian Zionism.
“I had been told by all my professors at Chicago and in Iowa that the land promise had dropped out of the New Testament. And so, you know what happens when you're told that something does not exist? You tend not to see it,” says McDermott.
The “land promise” refers to Genesis 15:18, where the Lord made a covenant with Abram that gave his descendants the Promised Land. Replacement theology disregards that promise, believing it is no longer relevant because it is part the Old Testament.
It wasn’t until he was leading a church tour in Israel, and the tour guide questioned his knowledge on Israel, that McDermott, when he returned to the states, researched books that the guide recommended.
“After I looked at all of this deeper research that had been coming out since the 1970s in response to the Holocaust, and wondering how this happened in the most Christianized country in the world and the birthplace of the Reformation, all of a sudden the gospel looked different.” says McDermott. “As I read deeper into the Greek New Testament, I started to see the land promise all over the New Testament.”
That does not discard the mentions in the Old Testament or the fact that Jesus believes in it. For an example, McDermott references Matthew 5:17-19.
“Jesus is talking in verse 17 about the law and the prophets, the Jewish shorthand for all what we call the Old Testament. Every stroke of the pen is given by God,” explains McDermott. “All the places that the land promise is repeated, either directly or indirectly in the Old Testament, is over 1,000 times. And Jesus says every stroke. So, it's very clear that Jesus believed in the land promise.”
McDermott also draws correlation between Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:5 and Psalm 37:11. The New Testament verse reads that the meek are blessed because “they shall inherit the earth.” Meanwhile, scholars are realizing that Jesus is quoting Psalm 37:11.
“In Psalm 37:11, five times this phrase is repeated — to inherit the land. Now the Hebrew word there is eretz, which can be translated ‘earth’ or ‘land.’ But scholars agree that in Psalm 37, all five times that that phrase is repeated, it refers to the land of Israel,” states McDermott.
Therefore, McDermott concludes that the meek shall inherit the land of Israel.
“So, according to Tucker Carlson then, Jesus was a Christian heretic, and Paul is a Christian heretic,” McDermott concludes.
The professor also speaks of the irrevocable gifts of God mentioned in Roman 11:29, which includes the land promise. He states that this is verified by what Luke wrote in Acts 13. At the time, Paul was preaching in Antioch of Pisidia, otherwise known as modern Turkey.
“He says that the God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers — and he meant the patriarchs, so Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — and gave them their land as an inheritance. You cannot be any clearer. Paul could not have been any more direct,” says McDermott.
For further assurance of God’s promise, he points to Jeremiah 31: 35-36 as assurance that this promise is still valid and cannot expire.
“Jeremiah says that, as long as the sun, moon, and stars are in the sky, the Jewish people will be — and here's the Hebrew word — a nation before me. So, the Jewish people are still a nation before God because the sun, moon, and stars are still in the sky, and that's a biblical promise,” informs McDermott.
He emphasizes that God’s word is eternal. This also includes the promise God made to Abram in Geneses 12, stating that He will “bless those who bless you” and “curse those who curse you.”
“Now, that doesn't mean we have to support every single policy of the state of Israel,” clarifies McDermott.
He continues by saying that the state of Israel is not prophesied in the Bible. However, it does say that the Jewish people would return to the land. He emphases that every people, especially the Jewish covenant people, needs a state to protect itself.
“Hamas have shown us that, if the Jewish people don't have a state to protect them, then all their neighbors want to destroy them,” concluded McDermott. “They need a state to protect them because all their neighbors want to destroy them. The last two centuries have shown that. So, fulfill the biblical promise to bring His covenanted people back to the land.”
