Why Christian Support for Israel is in Decline
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Article link: https://www.christianpost.com/news/su...
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- Hello, in this video we're going to be covering a story from the Christian Post. As Amillennialism is on the rise, apparently support for Israel is in decline.
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- So more and more Christians are becoming, well, maybe not anti -Israel,
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- I mean that's true to some degree, but yeah, support for the nation of Israel is eroding among Christians and it is because of doctrine.
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- So here is one statistic in the article, among evangelicals under the age of 30, in 2018, get this, in 2018 only 5 % of Christians supported the
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- Palestinians over the Jews. But now that Israel is at war with Hamas, now the number is up to 25 % supporting the
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- Palestinians. So why are Christians becoming less supportive of Israel?
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- Well, according to this article, it's because more and more churches are now adopting Amillennial and Postmillennial theology.
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- So here's what happens oftentimes, the older pastor, he's premillennial, he supports
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- Israel, but he retires and then a younger pastor comes in and this younger pastor is
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- Amillennial and over time, and he's more open to social justice and that kind of a thing.
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- So over time, the church becomes less and less supportive of Israel.
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- And you know, the more churches that do this, yeah, you get statistics like this, where actually a lot of professing evangelical
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- Christians are supporting, maybe not Hamas, although I think that is happening to a degree.
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- I mean, the protesters are out there, there's a lot of anti -Israel sentiment right now, but they're at the very least becoming less supportive of Israel.
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- And it is a doctrinal matter and I'm going to explain that. So according to this article, it's because more and more churches are adopting
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- Amillennial and Postmillennial theology. So here's the crux of the issue. This is about doctrine.
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- What you believe will shape your view of the world. So those who are either, let's say those who are premillennial, right?
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- In their theology, they believe that Jesus comes back before the 1000 year kingdom.
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- So if Jesus comes back before, that's pre, before the millennium. So those who are premillennial and especially those who are dispensational in their theology, these types of people, and I would include myself.
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- I mean, I am premillennial, that's for sure. Those of you who saw my revelation series, you know that people like us, we tend to be supportive of the nation of Israel.
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- That doesn't mean we think Israel is always correct, that they're justified in everything that they do.
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- And they're living in unbelief. I mean, that's true. I'm not like John Hagee or something, you know, where he says that Jews don't even need to believe in, he's so pro -Israel.
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- He says, Jews don't even need to believe in Jesus. They're saved through their covenant. And I don't even think that is a pro -Israel position.
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- I think that actually damns Israel. So I think that's totally misguided at best.
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- But yeah, the premillennial churches tend to be very supportive of Israel. But those who are amillennial or postmillennial, and this is essentially the same position.
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- One is a modified position of the other because they both have Jesus coming back after the kingdom age.
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- The amillennial people, they spiritualize the kingdom. Amill means no kingdom. Or the postmillennial types, they say, yeah,
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- Jesus comes back after the millennium. These churches tend to be less supportive of the nation of Israel.
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- It's just a reality. But here's the thing. If you're premillennial and you believe there is a thousand -year kingdom and Jesus is going to rule and reign from Jerusalem, you're probably going to be pro -Israel most of the time.
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- So the article states, the number of young evangelicals in the United States who supported
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- Israel and view it as crucial to the end times is declining as they increasingly move towards an amillennial and postmillennial eschatology, according to a recent study.
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- The Jerusalem Post noted earlier this year that support for Israel among young or younger evangelicals has cratered by more than 50 % over the past three years.
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- So this is happening, and it's happening fast. And part of it is because of the rise of the social justice movement, which really took hold during the year 2020 with Black Lives Matter and all that.
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- So now social justice is really entrenched in a lot of supposedly evangelical churches.
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- I thought this part of the article, because social justice is usually found within the amillennial and postmillennial churches.
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- All the statistics show that. But I thought this part of the article was especially interesting.
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- It says, as amillennialism and postmillennialism grow, increasingly attractive to evangelicals under the age of 30, that demographic is thinking less and less about the role of Israel and the
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- Jewish people in the end times as a catalyst for the second coming of Christ and salvation.
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- And without explicit eschatological relevance, support for the Jewish people and support for Israel, in the
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- Israeli -Palestinian conflict, it becomes more and more of a peripheral concern.
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- So you see what they're saying. If you're amillennial, if you're in an amillennial church, the pastor isn't preaching about the end times.
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- So why would you be pro -Israel? Why would you see that as important? You know, the
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- Jewish people, you probably don't think there is a future for them. So you just don't care. As opposed to premillennialists, we're always looking at what's going on in the
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- Middle East because we actually think that the end time events could happen at any time.
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- They could start at any time. One expert who has studied all of this, he said that postmillennialism especially gathers younger adherents because of its emphasis on social justice and improvement of the human condition through social activism.
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- They maintain that postmillennialism resonates with younger people and aligns with a pro -Palestinian rather than a pro -Israel view in the current political environment in the
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- United States. So I've noticed this and I've heard it from others.
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- Churches that used to be very pro -Israel, they're not anymore. In fact, sometimes what usually happens is, like I said, the older pastor who was pro -Israel, who was premillennial, he will retire and then the younger pastor comes in.
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- And the younger pastor is more likely to be amillennial or postmillennial. And he leads the church in that direction.
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- Oftentimes he'll do it covertly. So the younger guy, he's more open to social justice and all the rest.
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- And he will bring in elders who agree with him. And oftentimes the congregation doesn't even realize this is happening until there's a big blow up like in 2020 with BLM and everything else.
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- And people might have noticed it then, like, okay, this is in the news and then the pastor makes a comment and he seems almost sympathetic to the social justice movement.
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- Like, you know, BLM, they have some good points and, you know, and he's kind of wishy -washy. I mean, that's an indicator that this is happening in your church.
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- And here's the thing about social justice. And I hate, I hate even bringing this up.
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- But this is just the way they look at it. The social justice warrior, because the
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- Jews are white, most of them are white. They're the bad guys. You know, they stand with the ethnic minorities.
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- And Israel is powerful. The Palestinians lack that power. So they always support the oppressed minority group, which is fine if the minority group actually is being oppressed.
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- But I mean, at least with Hamas, Hamas is a terrorist organization.
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- The Palestinians, many of them support Hamas. They want Israel wiped out.
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- And I'm sure there's a lot of civilians, Palestinian civilians that, of course, we feel sorry for the kids.
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- And there's a lot of people caught in between. I get it. But this has led to Palestinian support and it's happening within the church.
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- And certainly like the whole point of this article and the whole point of this video, support for Israel is really tanking right now.
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- So one last comment. I realize someone could say, well, this article is painting with too broad a brush.
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- You know, yes, I'm in an amillennial church and we support Israel. You know, that's true. And there are amillennial churches who have gone woke.
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- That's true. But if a church actually preaches on this stuff, you know, they preach on revelation.
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- They preach about Bible prophecy in the end times. They are premillennial.
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- And it's not just a point in a, in a doctrinal statement and a filing cabinet that never gets talked about, but they're actually preaching and teaching about this stuff.
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- You know, doctrine matters. A church like that will, will hold the line.
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- But an amillennial church, here's the thing about amillennial churches to hold to that position, you can't take a literal approach to scripture.
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- That's just the way it is. So if you're not taking a literal interpretation of scripture, maybe you can hold the line and fight against liberalism and social justice for a generation or two.
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- But look at all the mainline denominations, the amill denominations, they have all caved to the social justice movement.
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- So I think this is a danger. It's something to keep an eye out for.
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- So at least with our church and churches like ours who are premillennial and we, we preach about this stuff.
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- We're going to continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Thanks for watching. And until next time, may the