Let me try to explain something about these “end-times prophecy” Christian fanatics. The present situation concerning this Israeli-Gaza war has exposed their hypocrisy like nothing before has. See, the final result of the supposed end of the world with the return of Jesus is not to save the world, or to remake the world, or anything else other than this. The goal is that, in the end when Israel thinks it is about to be annihilated by its enemies, the Jewish people will finally call upon Christ and be saved!

But let me take a step back for the moment and explain that Christians actually have differing viewpoints as to exactly what constitutes “Israel” as far as our present time and end-times prophecy are concerned. Some have a viewpoint roughly similar to that which is common among those who follow liberal Judaism today. That viewpoint basically espouses a worldwide vision so that all Jewish people, wherever they may be, are Israel. This is roughly in line with the thinking of many Christians that the Church is “spiritual Israel”. Others, both Jewish and Christian on the more conservative/evangelical side embrace the idea that the concept of “Israel” is inextricably tied to the land that Abraham was promised, according to the Bible. In some respects, then, for these latter folks, those outside of the “land” of Israel don’t really count.

It is worth mentioning that in or about 1947 there was quite a debate as to what the new nation should be called (not to mention where it should be located). Not everyone thought that the name “Israel” was the proper choice. Many preferred “Zion”. I think there might have been other suggestions too. But the name “Israel” was chosen, and the location was accepted, both based, in part, on the Bible, including biblical prophecy. Let it be understood that there actually were some who were determined that this name and location be chosen exactly because they wanted to see it as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Frankly, this episode in history is akin to the debate during the time of Constantine as to exactly which scriptures were to be accepted as canonical for the Christian Bible. Christians are taught that the men who made these decisions were inspired by the Holy Spirit, so, naturally, they got it right. And concerning the establishment of the modern nation of Israel, both Christian and Jew are taught that it was all done according to the will of God. From my perspective as someone who has studied Christianity all of his life, and also studied a fair amount of Judaism at the academic level, but who has rejected both along with any form of monotheism – these were really decisions made by men, period. In my view, there was no inspiration when the canon was created, nor was there any fulfillment of prophecy in the creation of modern Israel.

It is not antisemitic to make such a statement. Many Jewish people would agree (contrary to what most will be told by others) that the modern nation of Israel has little to nothing to do with the ancient nation of Israel. The ancient nation was destroyed by the Assyrians in about 720 BCE and was never revived until modern times. In the meantime, at least nine or ten of the twelve tribes were scattered, most never to be heard from again. Of course, we have the Samaritans who claim (probably correctly) to be descended from some of these peoples. But the only time Christians generally ever refer to Samaritans is when discussing the woman at the well or when using the phrase “good Samaritan”.

Regardless, many Jewish people today don’t really want to move to Israel exactly because they don’t really see the new nation as having any real connection to the ancient one. And they don’t see it as a fulfillment of prophecy. Trust me, I have studied under Rabbis myself. And for the Christian evangelical who is constantly concerned about end-times prophecy, those who are in this category don’t really matter except when they can convert an occasional Jewish person to Christianity. The only ones who really matter to those concerned with biblical prophecy are those who actually reside in Israel. Because THOSE are the ones who will suddenly be saved by Christ at the end of the Tribulation.

Now, this is where the rubber meets the road where evangelical hypocrisy concerning the Israelis and the Palestinians is concerned. See, they focus so much on the nation of Israel and the Jewish people who reside there who, as I have stated, are to be saved at the end of the Tribulation when Christ returns to save them, that they almost totally ignore the fact that there have been Christians residing within the borders of the modern nation of Israel, as well as Gaza and the West bank and other areas, for thousands of years – at least since the time of Constantine. Christians – who just happen to have all kinds of ancestral backgrounds, but very little of it from the ancient Hebrews. These are descendants of various peoples who settled and were settled in that area of the world in ancient times because of the constant change of one empire after another. These include Greeks, Scythians, Romans, Egyptians, and Arabs, as well as others. These peoples mixed to some extent over time and are today generally referred to as “Palestinians” because, following the Bar Kokhba War, the Roman Emperor, Hadrian, renamed the area Syria-Palestina. The name “Palestine” generally stuck until the modern nation of Israel was created. So, when you hear some televangelist or evangelical or end-times doomsayer state that there is no such of a thing as a Palestinian, they may as well say that there is no such of a thing as an American. As we are a “melting pot”, so are those referred to as Palestinians, right? Frankly, so too are the modern Jewish people or any other people we can refer to today. No people have arrived into modern times without becoming a mixture of various peoples from ancient times.

To continue, evangelicals and biblical prophecy people tend to see all of the people of that area, except for the Jewish people, as being Arab or Egyptian (trust me, it’s what they say, not what I say). This is exactly because they generally don’t know much of anything about the history of the area beyond what they may read in the Bible or be told by their favorite pastor or televangelist. They literally know just about nothing about the history of the area beyond that save, perhaps, a bit of Crusader history. But during and after the war of 70 CE, many, many Jewish people were either killed or enslaved and sent to various parts of the Roman Empire and beyond. And after the Bar Kokhba War it was even worse for them. Emperor Hadrian was SO mad about that war that he attempted to eradicate the area of Jewish people altogether. Many historians consider his actions to have been practically genocidal, and I agree. There weren’t many Jewish people left in the area after that war up until modern times. This is just a fact. They did trickle back in over the millennia, but not to any great extent until modern times. And all of that time, neither Israel or Judah/Judea existed as far as a land area or nation is concerned. Of course, there was no real opportunity to create such a nation either because of the domination of one empire after another in the area, culminating with British rule prior to its creation.

But let’s get back to the Palestinian people who, just like any other people on the earth as I have hopefully demonstrated, deserve just as much recognition as any other people on the earth. These people were all Pagan at first, except for the few of Jewish faith among them. Not very many of them became Christian until the time of Constantine and soon thereafter, with many still remaining Pagan for at least decades. I won’t get into how they were literally forced to become Christians just as so many others throughout the Roman/Byzantine Empire were over the course of a couple of centuries. Be that as it may, by the time of the Islamic conquest most of them had converted to Christianity. But the imposition of Islam changed that dynamic so that most afterward became Muslim. I’m not going to spare Islam here either. They also used force to convert people, contrary to what some modern propagandists would like for others to think. But that is simply the way of monotheism anyway.

Regardless, many did and still do remain Christian. And THIS is the point of hypocrisy that is so evident now when looking at the present war when at the same time considering biblical end-times prophecy. You see, these modern Christian doom-sayers ignore the fact that it is estimated that among those of the Palestinian diaspora (yes, the term can be sued for them as well as other peoples along with the Jewish people), up to 500,000 adhere to some form of Christianity. Yes, only a small percentage who reside in either Gaza or the West Bank are Christians – between 1 and 2.5 percent. But does that justify ignoring them? Still, by contrast, Jews who identify as Christians number in the millions. Of course, there are many more persons of Jewish heritage than Palestinian heritage in the world too. I’m not sure what the percentages are for people of Jewish heritage.

But part of the point is that there are already more people of Jewish heritage by far who call themselves Christians than Palestinians. So, one has to ask, then, why it is so important that the Jewish people accept Christ in this end-times scenario. Why indeed does no one seem to care at all about the Palestinians who call themselves Christian, even though they are vastly fewer in number. Does Jesus not care about them too? Well, if you read biblical prophecy, it would seem that the answer is “no”. And that is exactly part of the crux of the matter. See, to the end-times doom-sayer, “Israel” HAS to be the land and the Jewish people who reside in it. They don’t consider the Diaspora of Jewish people (which some of them actually believe started in Roman times, falsely, of course). And they don’t consider any other people who also reside within those borders. The ONLY ones who matter to the prophecy-mongers are those of Jewish faith who also reside within the borders of modern Israel. They are what the end-times and the Tribulation are all about! The culmination of literally everything, from the beginning of the “Church Age” to the end of the Tribulation hinges on Jesus returning to “save” Israel. And, again, they mean the modern nation and the Jewish people who reside there.

In a way, this scenario literally leaves out anyone else who professes to be Christian, as well as all of those who have done so throughout the ages. Because, in the end, they don’t really matter either. Oh, they will be “saved”. But the focus has never been on the gentile convert, after all, if you read biblical prophecy and understand that it is all about Israel anyway. In actuality, literally everything that has taken place was done toward the expectation that whoever would be living in Israel at the end of the Tribulation who was of Jewish faith would be saved when they finally called upon Christ to save them from their annihilation. NOTHING ELSE REALLY MATTERS, if you read biblical prophecy in this way.

Thankfully, some of both faiths, and even within Islam, read all prophecy as allegory. Thus, they do not have to accept this literal and, in my view, damaging, interpretation of world events. Sadly, I don’t see the allegorical interpretation winning out in the end.