So Where Is Their First Loyalty?

By Al Benson Jr.

Recently there was a mild flap over the fact that Netanyahu spoke before Congress and some even made the absurd remark that some Congressmen “clapped slower than others” during his speech, the implication being that those who “clapped slower” were not firm enough in their support for Israel.

Someone made that statement about Rand Paul and he was quoted on www.teapartyupdate.com  as saying: “You have these gossipy websites who really demean themselves by putting stuff like that out. I gave the prime minister 50 standing ovations, I co-sponsored bringing him here…we have gossipy websites looking at, you know, the metric of how fast you clap…”

It would appear, then, that Rand Paul has not chosen to take the non-interventionist position that his father took in regard to foreign entanglements. He supports Israel, but then so do just about all the Republican contenders for president in 2016. This includes Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker,  and Rick Perry. It would appear that one of the main signs of their political orthodoxy is their support for Israel.  My question is, should this be the criteria that Americans use to select (as if they had any real say in the matter) a presidential candidate?  In fact, Lindsey Graham even threatened to deny US funding to the United Nations if they try to take over the peace negotiations with Iran in regard to Iran’s getting nuclear weapons. Now I have no problem whatever with denying funds to the United Nations.  This country should have done that decades ago, but we have still continued to fund the lion’s share of this Marxist monstrosity. Should we defund the UN only because it has problems with Israel? The right solution for the wrong reason.

The comments of our Founding Fathers in regard to foreign entanglements should have been more than enough to lead us to keep our long noses out of the Middle East, but other interests have prevailed and so we end up being in an area we shouldn’t be in. The idea seems to be, for some folks, that you support Israel—no matter what—and regardless of what they say, I do not feel you can make a case from the Bible that we should support the secular nation of Israel unconditionally. I realize that comment will gain howls of dismay from some who read this, but I think Galatians 3:29 really explains what Genesis 12:3 is all about.

This is a complicated question with a lot of nuances, not the least of which is the ethnic ancestry of many of those today who embrace the religion of Judaism. Subtle hint: Many of them are not originally descended from the 12 tribes of Israel. Years ago I read a book called Conquest Through Immigration—How Zionism Turned Palestine Into a Jewish State.  Another interesting book I read is Heirs of the Pharisees by Jakob J. Petuchowski, and he noted, on page 60 what I thought was an interesting quote. It said: “’Who can express the mighty acts of the Lord,’ thus sang the Psalmist of old, ‘or make all His praise to be heard?’ (Psalm 106:2). But a modern Zionist Hanukah song proclaims: ‘Who can express the mighty acts of Israel?’ And it goes on to relate that ‘in those days, at this time, the Maccabee  was the savior and redeemer. But in our days, the whole people of Israel will unite and arise to redeem itself.” Sounds to me rather like the modern state of Israel has no redeemer because they will take care of their own redemption and they don’t need any help to do it and they surely don’t need Jesus Christ to do it. These kinds of attitudes are one reason that I, as a Christian, cannot support the modern secular state of Israel.

Having said that, such does not mean that I support Obama’s friends, the Muslim extremists, either. The Muslim religion, political movement, or whatever you want to call it, has a bloody record in the Middle East and their record of conquest gives the lie to their statements about being a “religion of peace.”

 But modern Judaism does not recognize Jesus Christ as Savior any more than does Islam, so for presidential candidates to run  around shouting about their support for Israel as a mark of their political orthodoxy bothers me. That should not be what they are bragging about, yet it is. I wonder if any of them could tell us how much foreign aid we have given to Israel since 1948.

Folks, go back and read your New Testaments. Where did Jesus’ main opposition come from? It was from the religious leaders of Israel, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Where did Paul’s opposition come from in the Book of Acts? The Jewish religious leaders. If this bothers some, I’m sorry, but it’s history and history isn’t always what we’d like it to be.