Parshall Partners

Evangelicals, Israel and the Bible

         I, for one, am stunned that after the massacre that took place in Israel on October 7^th, 2023, anti-Semitism sky-rocked.  And that spiritual blindness has only gotten worse since then.

         The unprovoked attack in Israel claimed over 1200 lives, resulting in 240 hostages and thousands who were injured.  But rather than creating global sympathy, Jewish hatred showed up on college campuses, in street protests and through podcasts.  One of the most pernicious lies repeated incessantly was that evangelical support for Israel was fading.  But research done by two renowned scholars says otherwise.

         Drs.  Kirill Bumin and Mordechai Inbari have coauthored the book Christian Zionism in the Twenty-First Century: American Evangelicals Public Opinions on Israel.   They surveyed 3,806 American Protestants and compared results with earlier pre- and mid-war surveys.  What they found bears no resemblance to the hatred being spewed by some popular podcasters.  They found no “sweeping evangelical break” but “a much more stable pattern”.  American evangelicals support for Israel has remained steady.

         In a recent Opinion piece published in The Washington Times, Bumin and Inbari wrote:   

Months of war coverage, harrowing images and mounting criticism did not produce the evangelical realignment many assumed. If the claim is that evangelical support for Israel is shallow, fragile and one news cycle away from collapse, then our data does not support it.

         This does raise the question as to why evangelical Christians remain faithful to Israel.  Bumin and Inbari have some insight on the question.  They note the support is not “merely political or tribal but moral”, writing, “That tells us many Christians are not beginning with a pundit’s script or a party line. They are beginning with a moral judgment about terrorism, self-defense and the obligations of a country that has been attacked”.

         But the other reason for continued support from evangelical Christians is even more profound.  The support for Israel is rooted in sound theology.  The authors note:

The belief that God’s covenant with the Jewish people remains in effect strongly predicted support. That’s important because it shows this is not just habit, sentiment or reflexive Republican loyalty.  For many evangelicals, support for Israel is rooted in what they believe Scripture teaches about the Jewish people and God’s purposes in history.

         The scholars noted that overwhelmingly evangelical Christians believe what the Bible teaches about the Jewish people and the role they have and will play in history.  But the most important finding of all was this:

The deeper the Christian commitment, the stronger and more durable the support for Israel tends to be.

         Being biblically grounded, always applying the Truth of His word to the culture around us, shapes our worldview and affords us clarity and a heavenly perspective on the headlines of the day. 

         So, forget what the protestors, the pundits and the podcasters have to say.  Find out what God has to say about Israel.  His word is what matters most.

         Those are my thoughts.  I’m Janet Parshall.