When Does Criticism Cross the Line? [Featuring Samuel Smadja]

Culture & Christianity: The Allen Jackson Podcast

Pastor Allen Jackson

Christianity, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 885 Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is anti-Zionism simply antisemitism in disguise? In this episode, Pastor Allen and Israeli Pastor Samuel Smadja explore how anti-Zionism (often viewed as political or cultural) is deeply spiritual, and it mirrors something seen throughout history: a supernatural hatred for the Jewish people. The language may have changed, but the spirit behind it has not. The Jewish people are living evidence that God is who He says He is, and His Word is true. Scattered, persecuted, and regathered—Israel's survival is more than historical. It’s prophetic. The same spirit that hates the Jews also hates the Church, and we need to learn to recognize that spirit so we're prepared for what's ahead.
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It’s up to us to bring God’s truth back into our culture. It may feel like an impossible assignment, but there’s much we can do. Join Pastor Allen Jackson as he discusses today’s issues from a biblical perspective.

Find thought-provoking insight from Pastor Allen and his guests, equipping you to lead with your faith in your home, your school, your community, and wherever God takes you.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Culture and Christianity.
0:19.0	My guest today is a friend for full disclosure. He's Israeli.
0:23.6	Israeli businessman is the way I have known Samuel for the majority of our friendship. His father was a pastor in Jerusalem.
0:32.6	He began a congregation, a Hebrew-speaking congregation in Jerusalem in the 1960s, when his father passed away,
0:39.4	the elders in that church asked Samuel if he would take the leadership role. So for several
0:43.9	years now, Samuel has also been a pastor on top of his business interest and activities. So he is an
0:50.4	Israeli businessman, and now a pastor of a church has been existence in Jerusalem since the
0:55.4	60s. He has about as much clarity and understanding of the believing, the group of Israelis
1:02.1	that believe in Jesus of anybody I know. He also has one of the largest privately owned tour
1:07.1	companies in Israel. So his contact list includes just about everybody you could imagine.
1:12.8	But to help us kind of unravel what's happening in Israel and the Middle East, I couldn't
1:17.1	think of a better voice, a more reasoned voice, a more thoughtful voice than Samuel Smajas.
1:23.6	So I'm delighted that he can be with us.
1:25.2	There's some things he's going to share that I want you to listen for. He's going to make an argument or at least present a case that there is both a supernatural hatred and a supernatural love at work in the Middle East. I don't think you can understand what's happening in Israel and the larger Middle East only in terms of nation states or geopolitics or ideologies or even religious confrontations.
1:48.8	I think the only way to truly understand it is in terms of spiritual forces. And the reason that's
1:54.0	relevant is those same spiritual forces are pulling our nation apart. Israel is as divided and polarized
1:59.2	as the United States is. And in the states, I don't think it's
2:02.4	Republican or Democrat. I think there are really spiritual forces behind it, and that's true in the
2:07.1	Middle East as well. I believe we have a debt to the Jewish people. Without them, we have no story.
2:13.4	We would have no faith. We would have no prophets. We would have no scripture. We would have no
2:16.9	law. We would have no Messiah. we would have no prophets, we would have no scripture, we would have no law, we would have no Messiah.
2:19.3	The New Testament, all of our heroes in the New Testament, almost without exception, are Jewish.
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