I believe the hostility toward Israel and the Jewish people that we are witnessing today - even among people who identify as Christians and politically conservative - is the result of several things coming together at the same time.
First, we have witnessed an extraordinarily effective information and influence campaign on social media, particularly among younger generations. Platforms such as TikTok have allowed emotionally charged, historically distorted, and sometimes completely false narratives about Israel to spread at enormous speed.
Complex history has been reduced to slogans. Images are stripped of context. Lies are repeated until they are accepted as facts. And an entire generation that often knows very little about the Bible, Jewish history, or the history of the Middle East is being discipled by an algorithm.
Then came the podcasters and influencers.
Once well-known and trusted voices began repeating some of these narratives, they gave them a stamp of approval. Ideas and accusations that would once have been immediately recognized as antisemitic, conspiratorial, or historically false suddenly became acceptable in circles where they previously would have been rejected.
And then political forces recognized an opportunity.
Politicians, governments, and movements discovered that hostility toward Israel could generate attention, followers, votes, and political support. Israel became an easy target because attacking it carries enormous political currency in certain constituencies.
But as a Bible believer, I believe there is something much deeper behind all of this.
Above all of it, I believe we are witnessing a dark spiritual cloud gathering around Israel and the Jewish people.
The Bible tells us that behind what we see taking place in the physical world there is also a spiritual battle:
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12
This is why I don’t believe we can explain what is happening merely through politics.
How do people who claim to believe the Bible suddenly embrace ideas that fundamentally contradict what their own Bible teaches concerning Israel and the Jewish people?
How do people who call themselves Christians find themselves repeating some of the same accusations against the Jewish people that have followed them for centuries?
A major part of the answer is biblical illiteracy, bad teaching, and complete ignorance concerning God’s purposes for Israel.
For generations, many Christians have not been taught the whole counsel of God concerning Israel. Some have been taught, directly or indirectly, that God is finished with Israel, that the church has replaced Israel, and that the promises God made to the Jewish people have somehow been transferred to someone else.
Yet Paul could not have been clearer:
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
Romans 11:29
And God Himself said:
“For I am the LORD, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
Malachi 3:6
Political conservatism is no protection against biblical ignorance.
Calling yourself a Christian is no substitute for knowing the Word of God.
If your worldview is being formed more by TikTok, your favorite podcaster, or your political movement than by Scripture, eventually you can find yourself opposing the very things God says He will accomplish.
And this brings me to something I believe is extremely important:
Israel is a test - and many are failing it.
Throughout Scripture, God reveals what is in the hearts of individuals and nations by how they respond to what belongs to Him - His Word, His purposes, His people, and His land.
Joel could hardly be clearer:
“For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I will enter into judgment with them there
