“Israel is the West’s man on the spot—the tip of the spear in the battle against Islamist terrorism and secularist nihilism alike. But the old-guard voices advocating for the full support of Israel as a nation-state and as an idea are being drowned out from all sides—theistic, secularist, right, left, and everything in between.” ~Josh Hammer
The first time I heard Josh Hammer speak, in a short segment interview with Steve Bannon, I was blown away. Here is a thirty-something news analyst who spoke with authority and understood the issues at hand with a depth seldom seen.
Then I heard of his new book release this month– “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West”—and I snapped it up on dove in. Why not? Israel has been in the news quite a bit lately, and as usual, has evoked an abundance of praise and criticism from people across the political and theological spectrum.
I want to begin with a full disclosure: As a young buck right out of high school, I attended a theological college that advocated “replacement theology.” It made sense to me. While Israel had been God’s chosen people in days past, tasked to compile and steward the scriptures and preserve Abraham’s family tree, once Jesus came in the scene, everything changed. Christ, the “stone that the builders rejected” became the cornerstone for a whole new framework: the church. Below are Biblical texts to underscore the point:
“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” (Psalm 118:22)
“Jesus asked them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures?’
‘The stone that the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone.The Lord is responsible for this,and it is amazing for us to see’
That is why I can guarantee that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce what God wants. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken. If the stone falls on anyone, it will crush that person.’”Matthew 21:42)
“He is the stone that the builders rejected, the stone that has become the cornerstone. No one else can save us. Indeed, we can be saved only by the power of the one named Jesus and not by any other person.” (Acts 4:11-12)
The whole redemption chart was inverted because of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The password to the kingdom had been changed to John3:16. Without the password, Jews were left outside in the dark, right along with the unbelieving Gentiles. All of the above is true.
But we are left with the $64,000 question. What about the nation of Israel today? Has God moved on from them? What should the posture of the church be in the context of 21st Century geo-politics?
The clear argument from scripture is that God’s promises to Abraham in regard to the land will be fulfilled. Literally. He promised, through the prophets to bring them back to the land. His word is on the line, and to spiritualize those promises is to water down the promise and create a theological slippery slope.
In this powerful book, Josh provides answers for the 21st century mindset. I highly recommend reading the whole book, but here are a few brief takeaways:
AMERICA’S FOUNDING FATHERS WERE PHILO-SEMITIC
Many of them recognized Israel’s unique role in the world and were very outspoken about it. They believed in the moral underpinnings of the Hebrew scriptures were a key element in America’s foundation, with some even suggesting the Hebrew language should be the “official” language of the new Republic.
John Adams, a devout Christian, said the Jews “are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth.” George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, William Bradford, and later, Abraham Lincoln, revered the Hebrew scriptures, the Hebrew people, and their touted their contribution to Western Civilization.
Why is this important? Because as time passes, people tend to forget who they are and why they exist. This is how civilizations collapse and movements that were once pulsating with purpose go into atrophy and eventually die.
The riptide of globalist internationalism is seeking to rip the Judeo-Christian foundations of Western civilizations to shreds to make way for a new world order marked by open borders, international governance and an “anything goes” morality.
In response, what we see transpiring across the globe is a grassroots movement to return to civilizational nationalism, a desire to preserve Judeo-Christian foundations, traditions and culture. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in the United States. After four disastrous years of the Biden administration that touted “new world order” policies, we are seeing massive turnaround in the opposite direction. It’s like night and day.
THE JEWS ARE INDIGENOUS TO THE HOLY LAND, NOT THE PALESTINIANS
Despite claims made by Palestinians that Israel has encroached on their land, the Jewish people are the only remaining indigenous people from the land of Israel and Palestine. It is true that in the days of Joshua, the Israelites conquered various people groups in the land of Canaan (at God’s direction, because of “their wickedness…and detestable practices”), but all those people groups have perished, and only the Jews remain to this day.
The Palestinians are, in fact, Arabs, not of Canaanite-Philistine origin, as some have tried to claim. A 2019 DNA study of exhumed Philistine skeletons in coastal Israel found that the Philistines came from a “southern European gene pool” and thus bear no relation to the Palestinian Araba of today. PLO officials themselves have confirmed that Palestinian-Arabs are ethnically indistinguishable from any other Arabs.
ANCIENT ISRAEL WAS, AND STILL IS, A MODEL FOR CIVIC SOCIETY AND NATIONALISM
Populist nationalism is a wave that is sweeping the globe. In contradistinction to globalism, nationalism seeks to preserve the traditional foundations. The United States is a nation built on a Judeo-Christian foundation that champions a civil society.
Israel was, in fact, the first nation state with a civil society. In Biblical times she was surrounded by tribes, barbarians and empires, and stood out as unique among the peoples of the world. Today Israel is a functioning, civil democracy surrounded for the most part by tribes, barbarians and empires.
The Hebrews were and are the people of the Book. As such, they were and are the model for the modern, law-abiding nation state. They share this distinction with the United States. For this reason, the USA and Israel stand together, joined at the hip, in a world being infiltrated by godless, destructive world views. Perhaps this is what they have been tagged as “the little satan” and “the big satan” by the Islamists.
Make no mistake: the Islamist view of the world stands in contradistinction to the Judeo-Christian view of the world it seeks to destroy. For those demonstrators on University campuses and online protesters who seek to carry the torch for the Palestinian cause, a little bit of “big picture” thinking should give them pause. The hard truth is that if the Islamists who drive this narrative had their way, our precious freedoms a democratic republic would be swept into the dustbin of history, and the harsh realities of sharia law would fill the vacuum.
The saying “wisdom is justified of her children,” spoken by Jesus 2000 years ago, has been proven true throughout history. In coining this phrase, the Master was saying that wisdom is proven right (“justified”) by its results or followers (“her children”). Essentially, the value of wise actions or teachings is shown by their outcomes or the people who follow them. When compared to Islamism, Marxism or totalitarian globalism, the West, founded firmly on Judeo-Christian principles, wins hands-down.
Indeed, “Israel is the West’s man on the spot—the tip of the spear in the battle against Islamist terrorism and secularist nihilism alike.” And America, so long as it remains a democratic republic with Judeo Christian foundations, shares that distinction.
