‘Israel is the apple of God’s eye,’ she boldly declared…

The entrance gate of Cornerstone Church was locked firmly shut, so I went down the side street, and entered by a side door. At the front, in place of the usual Anglican altar, was a see-through plastic podium, an acoustic guitar propped up on a stand and a tall ICEJ aliyah-themed poster.

Like at school, I slipped into the furthest back-row seat. I was here as an objective observer, not as a participant. Behind me, tables set for lunch; one hosting a menorah with seven unlit candles.

About fifty middle-aged attendees sat listening to the lead speaker talk passionately about the dangers of  “replacement theology”* in an American accented voice.  Above the heads of those sitting on the left side of the aisle were an array of large flags on raised poles. Many nations were represented, the glaring exceptions being some Muslim nations.

Towards the front, a videographer recorded each speaker, bar the Jewish speaker, not mentioned even on the event flier. Such needful anonymity was presumably because of their preference in these anti-semitic, febrile times.

At the podium was Aaron Jones speaking excitedly into a cordless microphone. He used many bible verses to explain from scripture about God’s certain plans and purposes for contemporary Israel and the modern-day Jews. In particular, he referenced those making aliyah – otherwise known as the ‘right of return’ of Jews from the diaspora.

He proclaimed: “…the end (of prophecy) has Jesus in Jerusalem ruling the nations….God loves the Gentiles, God loves the church…but His covenants, his promises and his election is to the Jewish people…you and I should love that because if God is going to be faithful to them, then we know He (will be) faithful to us (also)… God has made a promise to His specific people (the Jews) for his specific land (Israel) and for a specific Kingdom (of Messiah, God’s Son)…a lot of these scriptures and verses we take and twist to make them fit our agendas,” he reminded the listeners.

As he spoke, some attendees took notes, others flicked through their bibles and yet others cheer-led, letting out loud Amens and Hallelujahs. At the mention of what Zionism really meant in these “end days”, one or two men loudly whistled and many people clapped. The atmosphere came across like a somewhat subdued Pentecostal revival meeting.

Of the circa-50 participants, at least 75% were female: curious gender imbalance. A quick demographic scan revealed about three people aged in their 30s. Paul Coulter, director of ICEJ Republic of Ireland, previously mentioned to me the lack of interest from millennial-aged Irish Christians concerning the biblical importance of Israel.

That’s a big change from the 70’s and 80s, when many young Christians read Hal Lindsay’s The Late Great Planet Earth. He wrote about biblical prophecy and believed that applying Scripture to the “signs of the times”  demonstrated that Scripture was not only relevant to modern life but also urgent.

Next, a young, shaven-headed Israeli Jewish male speaker took the podium. He started off by referring at some length to the classical biblical fight narrative of good over evil – pitting the hardly-armed David against the giant Goliath, who yielded a massive sword and shield, protected by much armor and a helmet. Whatever could go wrong?!!

“David had a slingshot – but a slingshot is a very, very accurate and deadly weapon in the right hands. We can say that David was more agile, he was faster and essentially came to a sword fight with a ‘gun’ – and he stood at a very safe distance. Was he the underdog? Was he weak in the situation?“ (Cue biblically-literate laughter from those who knew how that underdog story ended).

‘And Dovid put his yad in his keli (bag), and took from there an even (stone), and slung it, and struck the Pelishti in his metzach (forehead), that the even (stone) sunk into his metzach; and he fell upon his face to the ground.

So Dovid prevailed chazak over the Pelishti with a sling and with an even (stone), and struck down the Pelishti, and killed him; but there was no cherev in the yad Dovid.

Therefore Dovid ran, and stood over the Pelishti, and took hold of his cherev, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slaughtered him, v’yikhrat his rosh therewith. And when the Pelishtim saw their gibbor was dead, they fled.’ Shmuel Alef 17 (Orthodox Jewish Bible).

The speaker was asking – ” really is David and who is Goliath ” – in the current Israel versus Hamas / Hizbollah / Houthi war scenario. One side (Israel) says they have historical claims for the land – the other side (Palestine) says they also have historical claims on the land. Both sides give proofs to their claims, but some proofs are right and (historically) factual and some are  not.

You either an oppressor or you get oppressed. Is it really maybe a little more complex? Who is David (now) in this war between Israel and the Arab world, or Gaza? Is Israel the ‘light’, because it’s stronger? Is Israel like David – because it’s a tiny country being attacked on all fronts in this war as well? (Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, Syria, etc.)

The irony is that Jews were always a minority (being surrounded by millions of Arabs). Once the state of Israel came to be, Jews had an army, had power, had the protection of the Iron Dome, etc, etc. They are no longer weak. So, if you are not weak, you cannot be a David-type of metaphor.

Israel knows that it can’t win the numbers game, so when / if people are open-minded enough for a calm discussion, we can try challenging wrong perceptions, by asking simple questions like – “what do you mean when you say Israel is a ‘colonial state’? Sometimes things are more complex than what we “feel” they are (especially the Gaza / Lebanon war).

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Lastly, I interviewed a black Zimbabwean young woman. She is a masters level psychology graduate, and a biblical Christian believer who is passionate about all things Israel. When I asked her why she came to this event, she beamed and said,

“We’re living in a time where biblical prophecy is literally unfolding in front of our eyes.’

She had a love for Israel and for the Jewish people for a long time. Her seeing what God is doing in real time was “just amazing” and noted much antisemitism in Ireland as well.

“Israel is the apple of God’s eye,” she boldly declared, echoing her mum’s vision of God’s love of Israel. In her circa-30’s age group, few Christians are interested in Israel. She thought that the primary issue in her age group is lack of knowledge about Israel, the Jewish people and what God’s plan is for His people.

When she tries to talk about Israel and the Jewish people at work, there is pushback. So much for inclusion and diversity, I would add. Fellow-employees expect her to be more liberal just because she is a black person. We both ironically laughed at the people who try to calling a black African person as being “genocidal”.

Her deep interest in Israel stems from her mum’s long-standing passion for Israel. Her mum organized two tours to Israel, bringing African friends there to help them understand Israel better. She noted that “replacement theology” * in Africa is quite predominant.

In ending our brief interview, Tari told me with a broad smile that her name derives from the Hebrew word ‘Tikva’, meaning ‘hope’.

Let’s hope that ICEJ and other biblically motivated Christian groups can provoke God’s hope and God’s specific plans, for Israel. That can be very challenging for the nation that most liberals love to hate… and the Jews which many Muslims seem to despise unto death…

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* Replacement Theology — reduced to its simplest form — teaches that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan. The term “Replacement Theology” is relatively unfamiliar to many. Its proponents teach that God has set aside Israel and made the Church “new Israel,” the new people of God.

Only a few centuries earlier, the Church had been almost exclusively Jewish! Messiah was Jewish; writers of the Bible were Jewish; Jesus’ apostles were Jewish; the earliest Christians were Jewish; the first congregation (in Jerusalem) was Jewish; and the first New Testament era missionaries were Jewish!

Replacement Theology: Its Origins, Teachings and Errors By Dr. Gary Hedrick

https://shema.com/replacement-theology-its-origins-147/