Free Republic

Israel has held a special place in my heart ever since the summer of 1971, when I helped Roy Gustafson, one of my father’s associate evangelists, lead Bible teaching tours of the Holy Land. Roy also connected me with two fearless missionaries in Mafraq, Jordan, the late Dr. Eleanor Soltau and nurse Aileen Coleman, who operated a hospital for patients with respiratory diseases. My time in the Middle East during my late teens and early 20s, working alongside these godly men and women, shaped my life profoundly, culminating in 1974 when—after reading in John 3 about Jesus’ encounter with the...

Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have considered it unbelief. Of course, I have long regarded it as unbiblical, and that came through a long time ago in my preaching as a young pastor and in all my writing since then. Yet despite the fact that it’s by far the most popular teaching in churches today, the assertion that the church is the “new Israel” is a denial of what the Bible clearly teaches. The harm that this teaching causes extends far beyond the walls of the churches where it’s proclaimed. The belief that the church, rather than Israel, fulfills all...