Editor’s Note: In light of the online controversy surrounding the current War with Iran, and the many Christians hoping to negotiate troubled conversational waters with a Biblically-aligned perspective, we offer this from Pastor Tim Brown.
Israel is not more or less moral than any other nation on earth. To paint Israel darker than all other nations is intellectual dishonesty and self-deception. I recently received this from a fellow pastor:
I’m in this “Israel” debate with beloved family members who have become vehemently anti-Israel and I’ve also seen an entire generation turn against Israel. There have been some salient points made by the anti-Israel crowd that while I have my responses and answers, I’d love to get your thoughts on this.
• Many Christians do now single out Israel as MORE evil than other nations because of an explicit rejection of Jesus, (i.e. = “synagogue of Satan”…”of their father, the Devil”, etc.)
• They will say that the Judaism that Jesus grew up in was/is entirely different than the “Judaism” of today because of the rejection of the Messiah, destruction of the Temple, and that today’s “Judaism” is a “Talmudic Judaism” and the Babylonian Talmud states that “Yeshua is being boiled in hell in feces” (though this is disputed for various reasons as holding authority in Judaic teachings, etc.)
My response to my friend …
What nations have the smallest percentage of Christians? Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Mauritania, Laos, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, North Korea, Cambodia, Maldives, Bangladesh.
Israel is not on the list.
What nations are most resistant to the gospel? Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Maldives, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Japan, Nepal, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey.
Israel is not on the list.
What nations persecute Christians the most? Nigeria, North Korea, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, Somalia.
Israel is not on the list.
The synagogues which did resist Christians in Revelation were called the Synagogues of Satan. How many synagogues can you find today that resist and oppose and persecute Christians? And even as there were synagogues of Satan – those which persecuted the Church – today there are Islamic Mosques of Satan, and Buddhist Temples of Satan, and Hindu Shrines of Satan, and Communist Politburos of Satan.
The Judaism of today is different from Second Temple Judaism, but so what? Both reject Jesus as Messiah.
The Gaza Strip had about 2.3 million Palestinians in 2024 and 2.1 million Palestinians in 2025.
Conclusion: Israel is lousy at genocide!
2005 = About 18 Evangelical Churches in Israel // 2025 = About 25.
2005 = About 70 Messianic Congregations in Israel // 2025 = closer to 200.
Over 20 years, the number of Christian congregations has roughly doubled, driven almost entirely by the growth of the Messianic Movement.
The protest against Israel is selective morality. And selective morality is a faux morality. Those who rail against Israel don’t raise a whisper against the systematic genocide of Christians in Nigeria and Somalia or the persecution and stripping away of rights of Christians in totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. I find it hard to think that they are concerned for universal human rights as much as they are for a particular political end.
An unrighteous prosecution of a war does not delegitimize a nation. Again, if it did, there would be no United States of America. The blade being used against Israel today is a double-edged blade. Jesus said to take the log out of your eye before you take the splinter out of another’s. Use the blade of moral outrage against yourself before you use it against others.
Tim Brown has been in some sort of ministry since February of 1973 – as a youth pastor, an assistant pastor, and a senior pastor. Tim planted Calvary Chapel Fremont in January of 1997 and continues to pastor there. Tim has been married since August of 1976 to Fran. They have three children and nine grandchildren.
