Speaker Mike Johnson claimed during a speech on Monday that “We have to make certain that the entire world understands that Israel is not alone and God is going to bless the nation that blesses Israel. We understand that that’s our role. It’s also our biblical admonition. This is something that’s an article of faith for us.” For someone who proudly professes to be a Christian, he should have known how sacrilegious it is for someone of his faith to claim a religious obligation to support Israel.
Johnson was referring to Genesis 12:3 where the Lord said to Abraham that “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” This passage among other pieces of evidence from their Holy Book has been interpreted by Jews as proof that they’re “God’s Chosen People”, which is their right to believe. The problem is that Christians believe that the New Covenant that was brought about by Jesus’ teachings made everyone equal in God’s eyes.
All that one has to do to be saved is to believe and practice what His Son taught them, with it no longer being the case that someone’s blood connection to one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and adherence to the Old Testament’s Jewish traditions is a prerequisite, at least according to Christian theology. Regardless of whatever one might think about this, it’s Christians’ right to believe it just like it’s Jews’ right to believe that they’re “God’s Chosen People”.
To be clear, Christians don’t believe that the New Testament’s revelation means that the Old Testament isn’t worth reading. Rather, the former is considered to be an update of the latter, and it’s considered important for understanding Christian history seeing as how this religion evolved from Judaism. Nevertheless, some of the New Testament’s teachings did indeed replace some of the Old Testament’s, which is a matter of faith for Christians and the reason why Jews don’t believe in that religion.
Among the top examples is the New Covenant replacing the Old Covenant, or in other words, building upon the religious basis created by Judaism to broaden the community of believers by making it so that anyone can theoretically be saved instead of just the select few of “God’s Chosen People”. Some Christian sects inexplicably don’t believe this despite it being a fundamental tenet of their faith, however, and continue to insist that Jews remain above Christians in a religious hierarchy.
What’s so sacrilegious about this notion is that it implies that those who follow the teachings of Jesus, Who they believe is the Son of God, aren’t as favored by God as those who reject these same teachings and remain committed to what Christians regard as the Old Covenant from the Old Testament. Simply put, it’s a tacit renunciation of their religion’s fundamental tenet that Jesus is the Son of God Whose teachings are divine, yet those sects who hold this belief obviously don’t see it that way.
For reasons that only they can account for if politely requested, they simultaneously believe that Jesus’ teachings are indeed divine and therefore the authoritative annunciation of God’s Will, but they also believe that the Jews are still “God’s Chosen People” above them in a religious hierarchy. By holding the second-mentioned belief and voluntarily subordinating themselves to second-class status in God’s eyes, they’re contradicting the first-mentioned belief that represents their religion’s fundamental tenet.
Everyone has the right to believe whatever they want, but folks of other faiths like top Jewish influencer Avi Yemini from Rebel News shouldn’t try to manipulate Christians’ views by relying on Genesis 12:3 to guilt them into supporting Israel with the innuendo that not doing so will lead to God cursing them. Doing so is immoral and could even stoke anti-Semitism like in the aforementioned case since it’s being done for political purposes that amount to misleading Christians into tacitly renouncing their faith.
The State of Israel, which describes itself as a “Jewish State”, is a modern-day geopolitical creation whose legitimacy owes a lot to the USSR convincing the Security Council Membership Commission that this country did indeed meet the criteria for membership despite that body’s initial report being inconclusive. Most people, even Israelis themselves, aren’t aware of this but Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN reminded everyone about it during last week’s Security Council meeting here.
Although Jews might think differently as is their right, no other religion has the obligation to regard the modern-day State of Israel as God’s creation, especially not Christians. They might support Israel for whatever their personal reasons might be, once again per their right, but nothing from their faith obligates them to do so despite what Johnson claimed during Monday’s speech. Those who claim otherwise are either misinformed, represent Christian sects, ore are trying to manipulate Christians.
