Welcome back to Shemis Popery. I'm Joe Heschmire. And one of the most contentious topics right now

is this question of whether we should support Israel in its ongoing fight against Hamas and now against

Iran. And there are people who I respect who answer both sides of that question. But I want to look at

one particular argument that is sometimes made. It was made recently by Senator Ted Cruz and his Tucker Carlson

interview. It's this argument that Americans need to support Israel attacking Iran because the Bible

says that those who bless Israel will be blessed. I want to first say thank you to everybody

supporting this channel over at Shamelessjo.com. It's a beautiful community. I love your questions and comments,

hearing from people like Madison T, who asked me last week about the biblical and historical basis

for why we have bishops, priests, and deacons, Senez, who asked about St. John Christ's view of St. Peter,

and on and on. I love answering your questions each Monday and each Friday. And I hope that you enjoy having

ad-free versions of these episodes. But now I want to explore this Ted Cruz clip and then explore

whether this theology is biblical or not. I'm talking about the political entity of modern Israel.

Yes. And that is. You believe that's what God was talking about in Genesis. I do. But that

country's existed since when? For thousands of years. Now, there was a time when it didn't exist and then it was

recreated. So the passage that Ted Cruz is trying to remember is in fact from Genesis. More particularly,

it's Genesis 12, 1 to 3, in which God makes a couple of very important covenantal promises. First,

he tells Abraham, I will make of you a great nation. And then he says, I will bless those who

bless you, and him who curses you, I will curse. And by you, all the families of the earth

shall bless themselves. Now, this is the beginning of what is known as the Abrahamic

covenant, and it contains promises both to Abraham personally and to the great nation formed by

his descendants. Well, for many evangelicals, particularly, as I say, coming from a dispensationalist

theology, that great nation is obviously Israel, not just the ancient kingdom of Israel formed by God,

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