Lux Lucet

“This is like the modern version of Amalek. Until they’re (apparently referring to the Palestinians) wiped out, this is just going to go on and on and on and on.”

These were the words of no less an Evangelical light than John MacArthur in an interview with Ben Shapiro. 

I’d like to say that MacArthur’s words were a rarity among American Protestants, but they are not.  A substantial portion of the American Evangelical church is caught up in the superstition that is dispensationalism, a view of the end times that rose to prominence in the 19^th century.  For them, dispensationalism is the lens that colors their view of events in the Middle East. And so great is that coloring that they end up supporting anti-liberty political Judaism while destroying the Biblical system of political Protestantism set up by their forebears.    

I’m not an expert on John MacArthur’s views on the end times, but I did find this article that seems to be consistent with his statement to Ben Shapiro. In it, MacArthur calls himself a “leaky dispensationalist,” by which he seems to mean that he’s not one of those crazy sorts of dispensationalists but is of a more rational spirit.  Very well.  But for all that, his stance on how Israel should conduct the war in Gaza, and by implication America’s obligation to support Israel’s war efforts, is not much different than Zionist wingnuts like Sen. Lindsey Graham, who called for Israel to nuke Gaza[1] or Nikki Haley writing “finish them” on an Israeli shell.[2]

What I find interesting about men such as MacArthur is that they continue to push the position that the American people have a God-given responsibility to ask “how high” every time the Israel lobby commands them and their elected officials to jump.  By their words and actions, they show that they believe that the American people are, in fact, subordinate to the Israelis based on their warped interpretation of eschatology. 

Take, for example, the Israel lobby’s attack on the First Amendment.  At the behest of Jewish Zionists,[3] the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill called the Antisemitism Awareness Act that would, in effect, make all criticism of Israel and Jews illegal on college campuses.[4] Given the antisemitism laws in effect in Europe and Canada, it’s reasonable that the Israel lobby won’t be satisfied with quashing all criticism of Israel and Jews only on college campuses.  They will work to impose such laws on American society at large, the First Amendment notwithstanding.

The First Amendment prohibits Congress from establishing a church, abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government. It is among the crowning achievements of political Protestantism.  The First Amendment guarantees that Christians have the right to proclaim the gospel of Justification by Faith (Belief) Alone. If faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, then, of course, freedom of speech is critical to the spread of the gospel. And since spiritual liberty begets political and economic liberty, free speech is also necessary to the creation and maintenance of our republic and the rights guaranteed under our Constitution.   

So why do John MacArthur and others, instead of taking the side of political Protestantism as they should, prefer instead to support Zionism, which is an expression of political Judaism?  Political Judaism lacks the necessary ideas to create or sustain a free society.  Do these Christian Zionists not understand that Zionism and our God-given liberties protected by our Constitution are incompatible?  

In the New Testament, we have several clear examples of what those who adhere to political Judaism think about free speech.  They hate it.  They had Christ crucified because they didn’t like his sermons.  Even before the crucifixion, there were attempts on Jesus’s life simply for what he said.

The Sanhedrin beat Peter and John for what? For preaching the gospel. The Sanhedrin didn’t believe in freedom of speech.  In 2024, the modern-day Sanhedrin in the form of the ADL, AIPAC, and other Jewish organizations and individuals[5] likewise do not believe in free speech and call for college kids and professors who protest Israel to be beaten, suspended, doxed, and prevented from working. They are political thugs whose ideas and actions are incompatible with a free society. Many Christians, who, like the Sanhedrin, also do not believe in freedom of speech, agree. But the Constitution, an expression of political Protestantism, says that college students have the right to peacefully protest Israel. 

Political Judaism says, “Don’t say that, or we’ll throw you in jail.” Why do American Protestants fail to take their own side by defending political Protestantism’s principle of free speech? Why do they side with political Judaism against the commands of Scripture and their own best interests? A big part of the answer is their foolish and unscriptural dispensationalist eschatology.

Other Protestants, seeing the problems with political Judaism, prefer to side with Rome instead. One popular expression of political Romanism is Christian Nationalism, which calls for Protestants to make a grand alliance with Romanism and Eastern Orthodoxy to rebuild Christendom. Christians should not side with political Romanism or Orthodoxy, which, like political Judaism, are forms of unbelief lacking the necessary ideas to create and sustain a free society.

Satan fills this world with all manner of distractions, including false theologies and philosophies designed to fool, if possible, even the elect.  It’s time for American Protestants to take Jesus’s words seriously, “Take heed that no man deceive you.”

[1] “U.S. Senator Says Israel Should Nuke Gaza,” by Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy, May 12, 2024, https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/05/12/senator-lindsey-graham-israel-nuclear-weapons-gaza/, accessed 6/23/2024.

[2] “Nikki Haley writes ‘Finish Them’ on Israeli artillery shell, drawing criticism,” by Kanishka Singh, Reuters, May 29, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/nikki-haley-writes-finish-them-israeli-artillery-shell-drawing-criticism-2024-05-29/, accessed 6/23/2024.

[3] See this post of X from AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) from May 1, 2024.  AIPAC, an organization committed to advancing political Judaism, is delighted at the Antisemitism Awareness Act’s attack on the First Amendment.

[4] “New US Antisemitism Law Turns Critics Against Israeli Genocide Into Criminals,” by Joachim Hagopian, Global Research, May 3, 2024, https://www.globalresearch.ca/antisemitism-law-critics-israeli-genocide/5856331, accessed 6/23/2024.

[5] One of the most vocal individuals attacking the right to protest Israel is billionaire investor Bill Ackman.  Ackman demanded that Harvard University (his alma mater) name the Harvard students blaming Israel for the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.  This is a tactic known as “doxing,” which is “Typically…a malicious act, used against people with whom the hacker disagrees or dislikes. Doxing…is the act of revealing identifying information about someone online, such as their real name, home address, workplace, phone, financial, and other personal information.” (Kaspersky, https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-doxing).  Ackman claims to believe in free speech while at the same time acting like some mafia Don, saying to student protestors, in effect, “You’ll never work in this town again!”

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