Sacrilege and statecraft: How Christian Zionism distorts scripture to serve empire ...News

Why America’s ‘Blessed Israel’ obsession risks the church, the world – and the truth

During a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, US Senator Ted Cruz displayed not only alarming geopolitical ignorance but also a brazen willingness to distort Scripture in defense of his unwavering support for Israel. The verse he quoted – Genesis 12:3 – was shamelessly truncated, a common tactic used to lend divine legitimacy to Zionist exceptionalism in End Times prophecy. This verse has become the theological bedrock of a militant worldview known as Christian Zionism.

Even Jewish critics of Israeli state policy express dismay at the historical illiteracy and theological crudeness fueling this metastasizing ideology within American evangelical circles. I recall debating this phenomenon over a decade ago on LinkedIn with Jewish and Israeli interlocutors. I had dubbed it a “trailer-trash cult” – a fusion of biblical illiteracy, apocalyptic fervor and geopolitical delusion. Some of my Israeli counterparts, in a strange display of casual prejudice, alternately referred to Cruz and present Secretary of State Marco Rubio simply as “the Mexican.”

Christian Zionism thrives on biblical illiteracy and selective scriptural appropriation. Though often presented as ancient and immutable, it is in fact a relatively modern phenomenon, emerging alongside the rise of political Zionism in the late 19th century. Rather than treating Scripture as sacrosanct, it distorts the biblical canon into a pliable tool – one that must conform to the ideological imperatives of the moment. In a nation such as the United States, which has been at war for nearly 95% of its existence, this distortion often serves as theological cover for an “endless war” doctrine, with cherry-picked verses used to sanctify geopolitical aggression and the confection of new enemies.

After World War II, when the Soviet Union became the first nation to grant de jure recognition to the modern state of Israel, this same movement began feverishly mining scripture to cast the USSR, and Russia in particular, as the apocalyptic villains Gog and Magog. Even Ronald Reagan, the pseudo-religious saint of American conservatism, repeatedly invoked this interpretive heresy to frame the Cold War as a cosmic battle against the “evil empire.” To this day, millions of American Evangelicals and fundamentalist Protestants worldwide continue to see Russia as the eternal enemy of God Himself. The reach and influence of this pseudo-theological subculture should not be underestimated. But before unpacking the wider ramifications of this ideological perversion, let us first examine the verse Senator Cruz so conveniently misquoted.

Blessings and curses of Genesis

Senator Cruz invoked Genesis 12:3 to justify unwavering US support for Israel, but his citation was conspicuously selective. The full verse reads: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” – (KJV)

This is a prophetic promise given to the patriarch Abraham, pointing ultimately to his seed, Jesus Christ. It is through Christ, according to Galatians 3:16, that “all families of the earth” are offered reconciliation with the Divine. If that blessing is universal and messianic in scope, where then is the ethnic or national exclusivity so often ascribed to modern-day Israel? (I’ve explored this topic in greater depth here, here, here and here)

Cruz’s theological framework, in practice, aligns more closely with Talmudic ethnocentrism than Christian soteriology. Consider this remarkable claim from Rabbi Chaim Richman, directed at Christians:

“You guys are worshiping one Jew. That’s a mistake. You should be worshiping every single one of us because we all die for your sins every single day... The Jewish people in the land of Israel are the bulwark against the Orcs, okay? The Orcs are coming not to a theater near you but to your home.”

Aside from the Tolkien reference – which, to my knowledge, appears nowhere in the Talmud – Richman’s quote reveals the ideological terrain Cruz is orbiting: one where collective Jewish identity is quasi-divinized, and adversaries are dehumanized as fantasy monsters. One suspects that the “Orcs” are a sweeping euphemism for Arabs in the region, many of whom are surreptitious allies of Israel. The only recalcitrant “Orcs,” apparently, are the Palestinians, whose refusal to accept their divinely appointed overlords remains an intractable problem.

Ironically, Persians (Iranians) have traditionally enjoyed a far more favorable depiction in Jewish scripture – from Cyrus the Great to Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther. Modern geopolitical enmity is therefore a historical aberration, not a theological necessity.

But if one follows Richman’s grotesque logic, does this “unqualified worship of every single Jew” extend even to those recently implicated in satanic child abuse scandals in Israel? At what point does solidarity become sacrilege, and does support for Israel require a total theological surrender?

Signs, omens and pareidolic delusion

There is a reason I describe Christian Zionism as a theologically bankrupt subculture masquerading as prophecy. It is an ideology that sanctifies any war crime, any act of brutality by Israeli forces because according to its adherents, personal “blessing” from God is contingent on political allegiance to a modern nation-state.

When not actively mangling scripture, history, and basic morality, this movement manufactures signs and wonders out of thin air. Natural phenomena, especially pareidolic patterns, are routinely interpreted as divine communications. This is not harmless enthusiasm; it reflects a credulous mindset conditioned by groupthink, emotion-driven worship, and manipulative rhetoric. Hypnotic music, staged testimony, and carefully orchestrated atmospheres often whip congregants into a frenzy of expectation, where gullibility becomes spiritual virtue.

I once watched a video of Christian pilgrims in a van in Jerusalem who erupted in awe as beams of dappled sunlight flickered through roadside trees. To them, these fleeting light patterns were not a trick of motion and shadow, but “angelic manifestations.” (They are, in fact, a common optical effect caused by light passing through foliage while in motion.)

Today, a large swath of Evangelicals are willing to interpret any mundane occurrence as divine endorsement of Israel’s central role in End Times prophecy. But if they are seeking signs, they might consider one that cuts in the opposite direction. Right after Israel launched an unprovoked strike on Iran, a raven appeared to pull down an Israeli flag amid the rubble in an Israeli neighborhood.

"Even the birds have had enough" pic.twitter.com/0OpIevHLu1

In Jewish Midrash, the raven is considered an omen. In the biblical narrative, it is the creature God used to sustain the prophet Elijah when he was near despair (1 Kings 17). The raven is a creature associated with both judgment and provision. What message, then, was it delivering?

Now imagine if the bird had instead torn down a Palestinian or Iranian flag. The Christian Zionist ecosystem would have erupted into mass ecstasy. Social media feeds would overflow with headlines declaring it a sign from heaven. Prophecy blogs would rush to decode its “symbolism.” Tele-evangelists would loop the footage between pleas for donations. But since it challenged their narrative, the event went studiously ignored.

Such is the schizoid reflex of Christian Zionist theology: divine signs are valid only when they reinforce the script. Anything else, however biblical, however stark, is dismissed as coincidence or satanic interference.

Blessings and curses: The reality check

There’s an oft-cited quote – attributed to Joseph Goebbels, though likely first used by Adolf Hitler – that says: “A lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth.”

Christian Zionists have chanted Genesis 12:3 so frequently and with such zeal that few within their ranks ever pause to test the verse against either scripture or empirical reality.

Let’s do that now. Genesis 12:3 says: “I will bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you…”

If we are to interpret this as a blanket mandate for state-level foreign policy, the evidence should be obvious. So ask yourself: Are Israel’s most loyal allies today, particularly in the West, truly “blessed”?

Take the United States. It is arguably more internally divided than at any point since the Civil War. Its cities are decaying, homelessness and drug addiction are rampant, race relations are at its lowest ebb, and nearly 40% of Americans cannot afford a $400 emergency expense without borrowing, selling their family heirloom, or falling into debt. And yet, billions in unconditional aid continue to flow to Israel, year after year.

Western Europe fares no better. The continent faces deepening political polarization, a crisis of institutional legitimacy, and escalating cultural clashes fueled by migration and economic inequality. What once passed for democratic consensus is now fractured by populism, apathy, and unrest. Social cohesion is unraveling across the transatlantic alliance.

Now compare that to East Asia and Southeast Asia, where most countries maintain measured, neutral stances on the Israel-Palestine conflict. With a combined population nearing 2.4 billion, this region encompasses countless ethnicities and religions, yet remains strikingly more stable. Aside from Myanmar, whose military junta has been supplied with Israeli weaponry, there are no continent-wide wars, nor the sort of existential societal fractures plaguing the West. Immigration is limited, social harmony remains comparatively intact, and all major Asian nations support a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders. No nation sucks up to Israel in this part of the world.

So the question practically asks itself: If Genesis 12:3 is being used to evaluate foreign policy toward Israel, then who exactly is being blessed, and who is being cursed?

The consequences of blind allegiance don’t stop with economic decline. Consider the proxy wars fed by Israeli strategic calculations. In Syria, Israeli support for jihadist factions has contributed to the decimation of ethnic and religious minorities. Just this past Sunday (June 22), a suicide bomber detonated inside St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church, killing at least fifteen Christian worshippers. These are not isolated tragedies. These are the fruits of Christian Zionism: a theology conflating realpolitik with divine mandate.

Endangering Christians worldwide

Why is it essential to confront and correct this narrative? Because the religious ideology peddled by Senator Cruz and his ilk bears no resemblance to authentic Christianity. It is a dangerous theological counterfeit – a den of wolves in sheep’s clothing, precisely as Matthew 7:15 warned.

Far from defending the faith, Christian Zionism actively endangers Christians across the globe. In its zeal to uphold Pax Americana, idolize the modern State of Israel, and force-fit current events into a contrived apocalyptic script, it sacrifices actual Christian communities on the altars of geopolitics and eschatological fantasy.

As someone descended from one of the world’s oldest Christian traditions – whose roots reach back even to the Old Testament – I say this plainly:  Have no fellowship with these murderous idolaters (1 Corinthians 5:11).

They invoke Christ but serve the ambitions of empire, the delusions of man, and the devices of Satan. If that is what it means to be “blessed,” then your church should beware of what it is really worshiping.

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