Why the Evangelicals Really Care About Israel

Nearly every Sunday, my Pastor would arrive at the podium and rhetorically ask the congregation, “Is today the day that Christ returns?” Depending on the day, my thoughts would range from, “No! I still have things I want to do!” To, “Yes! Let’s get this party started!”

Regardless of my thoughts, the congregation would cheer and shout “Amen!” Some would speak in tongues. Most of the time, all of this was followed by a promotion about their next group trip to Israel, “See the Holy Land, before it’s too late!”

You see, for Christ to return, Israel must be destroyed. It will be rebuilt as “Jesus’s Kingdom.” The Temple Mount will be flattened, so the new Temple can be built. According to the “prophecy,” the world will be raging in war, billions will be killed.

But you too can escape this hell on Earth if you’re a “Born Again Christian!”

However, what happens immediately before and following “Jesus’s return” lacks consensus, about half of all Christians believe we will endure this hell, the other half believes we’ll be taken up before it begins, but who cares because… “Christ!”

This is the same genocidal ideology that causes people to cheer the Noah’s Ark story, when, if it were true, would mean that millions of people — women/children/babies — and billions of creatures were drowned to death.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people would have been beating on the side of the ark, begging for their lives. A mother, begging for Noah’s family to have grace and spare her newborn, as she tried to lift her 9-day old son onto the Ark as the waters rose. Horrific, right?

But… “God!”

NO! Not God!

Can you imagine a parent warning and plotting to kill (at least) two-thirds of their children? Crabs do that, not humans, and DEFINITELY not God.

Religion makes atrocities less horrific by claiming God made it happen and since “we’re” on God’s side, the evil people deserved it!

So, back to “The Holy Land” Israel: according to most Evangelicals, who believe in the literal prophecies in Revelations, it’s doomed, and its destruction can’t happen quick enough because, “Christ is Coming Back!”

Every Sunday I was told to welcome his return. We must “Hasten His return!” by spreading the message of Jesus because “Once all have heard his message, he will return!”

Any doubts in this 2000-year-old prophecy were quickly dismissed because “It was prophesied that once the Jews reclaimed their land, that would be the last generation before Jesus’s return! And that happened in 1948! See, Revelations is true! Armageddon will happen ANY DAY! It’s FINALLY coming true!” Woohoo! Apocalypse Parties!

Again, BILLIONS of people dead, but hey, Let’s do This!

This warped, fatalistic theology is praying and cheering for global genocide. It is begging for slaughter on a planetary scale, and we’re supposed to celebrate this? To hasten this?

According to Evangelicals, Yes! So much so, that they’re booking weekly tours to Israel to see it before it’s destroyed, and with the hopes of the apocalypse starting while they’re visiting.

(They do realize pregnant women will be among the dead, right? What about the fetuses? I digress..)

Doubt what I’m saying? Prominent leaders within the Evangelical movement, like Robert Jeffress, Franklin Graham, and ESPECIALLY Pat Robertson have been saying this for YEARS.

Jeffress, a Dallas evangelical pastor, is one of Trump’s biggest supporters and has stated on numerous occasions that Jews, Muslims, and most of non-evangelical Christians will burn in hell. This megachurch televangelist also claimed that Hitler was part of God’s plan to return Jews to Israel. (1)

Pat Robertson has been laying the ground work since 2004 to blame the Muslims for Israel’s destruction, furthering the prophecies. (2) He also says Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and the Methodists are “The Spirit of the Anti-Christ” (3)

And Franklin, oh where do I begin… Let’s keep this “End Times’ focused. He thinks “Climate change” is a sign of the Apocalypse, and therefore has no desire in stopping or fixing it. Because of this messaging, Evangelicals reject science’s conclusion and label it “divine signs” of Armageddon (4)

It should be noted that in the 1950’s Billy Graham, Franklin’s father, met with the Evangelical Church in Germany which had supported Hitler; so this goes beyond Franklin — the Evangelicals have deep roots in wishing for the demise of Israel so, “Christ can come back!” (5) (6) (7) (8)

For them, it’s bigger than just the Jewish people, it’s about something they’ve been waiting for, hoping for, for more than 2000 years. It’s about the prophecy and the ultimate confirmation of their faith. From their perspective, a few billion dead people won’t stop that.

This is why religion is sick and dangerous. The Jews are led to believe that “Christian America” is protecting them. The Conservative Jewish people have aligned with the Evangelicals because of their “support.” All having no ideal that these people who claim to support “Israel” only do so because they believe it is part of the story. The story where all the Jews are killed and sent to hell, well, except the “converted ones” — 144,000, according to this interpretation.

Prophecy claims that Jerusalem will be destroyed, and it will be transformed into the Christian Holy Land.

The Jewish people’s demise is part of the plan. Because “It’s God’s land!”

Ta Da! “Jesus, and the Christians win! God really does love US the most!”

These Evangelical leaders are the very “wolf in sheep’s clothing” that the JEWISH Jesus spoke about.

To my conservative Jewish friends, to the Jewish Republicans aligning with the Evangelicals, take heed, because the Evangelical movement’s ends, justify their means. It would be wise to remember: A Rancher feeds his cattle, right up until they leave for slaughter.