After World War II, many Christians saw the return of some Jewish people to their historical homeland as a partial fulfillment of biblical prophecy, particularly passages like Ezekiel 37:21–22, which speaks of God gathering his people back into one land.
However, I believe in the decades that followed, poor theology and sloppy exegesis … especially of verses like Genesis 12:3 (“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you”), led to a dangerous trend: scripture being wielded as a political free pass.
It became an unexamined license for corrupt elites to operate without accountability, propping up flawed alliances and duping the misinformed, the under-taught, and even the well-meaning into complicity.
This misuse of scripture is not unique to any one side. We’ve seen the political left weaponize verses like “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44) or “love your neighbor” (Mark 12:31) to justify anti-war stances, lockdown mandates, the shutdown of churches and schools, and even the forced adoption of experimental mRNA vaccines … for a virus with a 99.9 percent survival rate.
It wasn’t exegesis. It was exploitation. Bad theology, poorly interpreted, becomes a Trojan horse for political manipulation. And no side is exempt from quoting Bible verses out of context to serve their own agenda.
As tensions surrounding Israel continue to escalate and the reality of past corruption is exposed, I see a new danger: swinging the pendulum too far in the opposite direction.
Scroll social media for even a moment, and you’re bombarded with “Free Palestine!” and graphic images of suffering children. The answer is found in the tension, and we find our example in Christ.
Jesus Himself boldly rebuked the corrupt Jewish religious leaders: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.” John 8:44
He called them blind guides (Matthew 23:16) and whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27). Why? Because they had twisted Israel’s divine purpose … to bear witness to the living God and prepare the way for the Messiah.
Jesus’ words were not an indictment of the Jewish people as a whole, but a prophetic judgment of corrupt leadership.
And even as He rebuked, He wept over Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem … How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Matthew 23:37
Jesus rebuked corruption in leadership, but never abandoned the covenant promises of God. Neither did the Apostle Paul. “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite … God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.” Romans 11:1–2
Israel’s rejection of Christ resulted in some branches being broken off from the olive tree, but not the destruction of the tree itself. Gentile believers are grafted in, not as replacements, but as sharers in the promises.“Do not be arrogant toward the branches. Remember it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.” Romans 11:18
Paul warned Gentile believers to stay humble. God’s plan is to use Gentile belief to provoke Israel to jealousy and ultimately to bring about their salvation (Romans 11:11, 26).
If God could break His promises to Israel, why should we trust His promises to the Church? We stand with Israel not because they are perfect, but because their calling is irrevocable (Romans 11:29), and because our own faith is built on the root God first planted through them. Corruption must be confronted … always.
Jesus’ rebuke of Jewish leaders was not anti-Semitic, it was anti-corruption.
That should be our model.
At a Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, Tucker Carlson said, “I’m not anti-Israel. It’s not anti-Israel to ask questions about the Israeli government.”
He also said he has friends in the CIA, but “That has never prohibited me from saying I think the CIA has done some horrible things. Murdered a bunch of people, participated in the murder of a sitting U.S. president. It’s got a whole trail of crimes.”
However, he added, “That doesn’t make me a disloyal American. It doesn’t make me anti-American in any sense. …
“Criticizing the behavior of a government agency does not make you a hater. It makes you a free person. It makes you a citizen. You’re allowed to do that, because you’re not a slave. You’re a citizen. And you have a right to expect that your government will not act against your interest.”
This is the posture we need: Loyalty with accountability. Loving something does not mean excusing its corruption. We should demand transparency wherever corruption exists, especially in positions of power.
And yet, it remains in America’s best interest to remain allied with Israel, the only stable democracy in the Middle East. We should be clear-eyed here. Ninety percent of global terrorism is funded or fueled by ideologies rooted in anti-Israel sentiment. That matters. We cannot afford to be sympathetic toward regimes that fund global instability, even while acknowledging Israel’s imperfections. Beware the power of propaganda.
War is horrific. And one side always loses more than the other. But losing is not “genocide.” Nor does it automatically indicate moral superiority.
What if social media had existed during WWII? Would we have seen images of innocent German mothers weeping over their children killed in Allied bombings?
Without a doubt.
Would those images have made Nazi Germany the righteous side in that war?
Absolutely not.
One side in WWII believed in national sovereignty and flawed democratic ideals. The other believed in racial extermination and totalitarian rule. Not perfect … but clearly not morally equal.
Which brings us to the chilling and sobering reality that ideas have consequences … and bad ideas, when framed as good, have victims.
I came across a post on TikTok that shared facts about North Korea.
They believe Kim Jong Il invented the hamburger. They punish three generations of a family for one person’s crime. Citizens can’t leave the country, own a Bible, or speak freely.
Propaganda controls every TV channel, every textbook, every photo. North Korea’s 26.5 million people don’t know this isn’t normal, because they have no access to truth! One of the comments below the video said, “I don’t know why the rest of the world even allows this.”
Bad ideas are often sold to good people as necessary, compassionate, or noble. Satan’s strategy has always been the same.
In the garden, Adam and Eve, who walked in relationship with God, fell for a bad idea that was framed as good. That is always Satan’s strategy: to convince even God’s people that evil is virtue.
It’s how some professing Christians, like Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, fought for slavery in the Civil War. It’s how a majority Christian Germany gave rise to Nazism.
It’s how well-meaning believers today are deceived by propaganda and misused Scripture. As Abraham Lincoln said in his second inaugural: “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other.”
We need clarity. We need conviction. We need compassion rooted in biblical truth. Stand against corruption in Israel, in America, in every nation. But do not mistake prophetic rebuke for covenant rejection. Hold leaders accountable, but hold God’s promises as sacred and unshakable.
“The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Romans 11:29
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