Virgil Walker, Sola Veritas, Oct 23, 2025
When Tucker Carlson asked Senator Ted Cruz why America should “support Israel no matter what,” Cruz didn’t hesitate.
“Because the Bible says, ‘Those who bless Israel will be blessed.’”
It sounded definitive—until Tucker pressed him: “What does that actually mean?”
Cruz froze. The verse that had become a political mantra suddenly felt weightless.
That exchange exposed more than a political divide. It revealed how deeply confused the American Church has become about Israel, Scripture, and antisemitism itself.
The Verse Everyone Quotes but Few Understand
Cruz was referencing Genesis 12:3, where God says to Abram:
“I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
That verse is not a command for modern nations to fund Israel unconditionally. It’s a covenantal promise, not a foreign-policy guideline.
God was promising to preserve Abraham’s line until the coming of the Messiah, the true Seed through whom all nations would be blessed. The fulfillment of that promise is Christ, not a twenty-first-century government in the Middle East.
Paul makes this explicit in Galatians 3:8, 16:
“The Scripture… preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ … Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring… who is Christ.”
The blessing of Abraham was always about salvation, not sovereignty.
To “bless Abraham” means to honor God’s redemptive plan through His Son—not to suspend moral judgment for any earthly regime.
When Christians collapse those categories, they replace theology with tribalism and confuse covenantal love with political loyalty.
The Confusion We Created
Because so many pastors and politicians quote Genesis 12:3 without context, a generation of evangelicals now believes that to question Israel is to curse God’s people.
So when anyone raises hard questions—about military actions, foreign aid, or historical claims—the modern reflex is immediate: “That’s antisemitic!”
The word antisemitism has become the new racism—a rhetorical weapon that ends conversations instead of illuminating them.
But the Bible calls us to discernment, not silence. To love truth means refusing both hatred and flattery.
We bless Israel rightly when we bless the Gospel that came through her—not when we baptize the decisions of secular leaders as sacred.
The Data: America’s Oldest Hatred Is Back
None of this denies that antisemitism is real. It is.
- A 2025 national survey found that 24 percent of Americans now hold extensive antisemitic attitudes—more than double the rate from 2014 (NORC/ADL survey).
- The ADL recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents in 2024, the highest total since record-keeping began (U.S. House report, July 2025).
- The same figure was cited by the House Bipartisan Task Force on Combating Antisemitism (press release).
- 83 percent of Jewish college students say they’ve experienced or witnessed antisemitism since October 7, 2023 (Hillel International survey).
- Among high-schoolers, seven in ten Jewish teens report harassment or mockery for their faith or heritage (BBYO survey).
Hatred toward Jewish people isn’t imagined—it’s measurable. Christians should be the first to condemn it. But condemnation requires definition.
What Antisemitism Is
Antisemitism is hatred, prejudice, or hostility toward Jews because they are Jews—ethnically, religiously, or culturally.
It’s when a synagogue is defaced with swastikas.
When “the Jews” are blamed for global conspiracies.
When a Jewish student is targeted for the actions of Israel’s government.
When Jewish existence itself becomes the offense.
That’s not critique—it’s contempt.
And for Christians, it’s sin.
God’s covenant with Abraham stands as proof of His faithfulness. “Those who bless you I will bless” is not a political slogan—it’s a theological warning. Paul cautioned Gentile believers, “Do not be arrogant toward the branches” (Romans 11:18).
To despise the Jew is to despise the God who keeps His promises.
What Antisemitism Is Not
But the modern use of the term has drifted far from its meaning.
It is not antisemitic to question the policies of the Israeli government.
It is not antisemitic to examine history, ask about foreign aid, or critique war strategy.
It is not antisemitic to hold a Jewish individual accountable for sin or corruption.
And it is certainly not antisemitic to preach that salvation comes only through Christ.
When every question becomes “hate speech,” truth becomes hostage.
To “bless Israel” biblically is to honor God’s redemptive plan—not to grant political immunity.
Where the Line Gets Crossed
The line is crossed when criticism becomes caricature—when people deny Jewish humanity, spread conspiracies, or hold all Jews guilty for the sins of some.
That’s hatred.
That’s antisemitism.
But when Christians speak plainly about truth, righteousness, and the Gospel—even when that challenges Jewish or Israeli institutions—that is not hate; that is faithfulness.
The Evangelical Reckoning
The Cruz–Carlson exchange should have been a moment of reckoning for the Church. Too many evangelicals have traded exegesis for emotion.
They conflate God’s covenant with Abraham with America’s alliance with Israel. They treat blessing as if it meant funding. They mistake silence for loyalty and sentimentality for faith.
We are called to love the Jewish people—but not to idolize a nation.
We are called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem—but not to excuse injustice or unbelief.
We are called to stand against antisemitism—but not to surrender discernment.
Why This Matters Now
A generation is growing up confused—discipled by TikTok politics, sound-bite theology, and internet rage. Many young Americans see Israel as an oppressor and Jews as privileged elites. Others see any criticism of Israel as blasphemy.
Both are wrong.
One side cloaks hatred in activism; the other cloaks sentimentality in Scripture. Neither is grounded in truth.
If the Church doesn’t reclaim biblical clarity on these issues, the next generation will inherit the world’s confusion rather than Christ’s compassion.
The Gospel doesn’t flatten history or erase identity—it redeems both.
It calls us to love the Jewish people enough to tell them the truth, and to love the truth enough to resist false accusations of hate.
Cruz was right about one thing: those who bless Israel will be blessed.
But blessing doesn’t mean blindness.
It means loving the truth enough to tell it—even when the world calls that hate.
Speaking as a Christian, I’ll not be one who points at the splinter in Israel’s eye while ignoring the beam in their own eye.
Israel is a tiny country surrounded by large unfriendly nations, each with a beam in their own eyes. That beam is Islam, which is a warrior cult pledged to destroy all non-Muslim religions such as Israel’s which follows the Old Covenant, the Law of Moses. Islam is also pledged to destroy Christianity, which is the New Covenant. That makes Islam the aggressors and the bad guys and Israel the good guys defending themselves. That was the basis for The Crusades wasn’t it – Mohammedan aggression?
Oct. 7th was instigated by Hamas Islamic bad guys but those with a beam in their eyes recast that as Israel’s fault, because Theophobe bad guys will be bad guys.
Theophobes will hate Christians and Jews and love other Theophobes, like Godless Leftists and Islamists do. Theophiles who love and serve the One True God should also love and serve each other.
What’s the policy question here, that some Jews aren’t serving their true master but rather another artificial political one? Who knows?_ perhaps God Himself is holding Israel together with Divine Intervention.