Prophetically Confused?

By Michael Griego on July 11, 2025 • ( 0 )

Here we go again. World events trigger another wave of Bible prophecy. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Who cares? Should we care? Actually, yes. ◊

A Christian politician quotes the Bible and expresses his belief. A Christian news pundit questions him and the application of his belief to US foreign policy. A Christian pastor says both are wrong and they should listen to him.

Who’s right or wrong? Should we even care?

I believe we should.

To avoid being confused by politicians, media pundits, and even pastors, I believe all adults should have more than a rudimentary understanding of national politics, global and BIblical history, and the spectrum of Biblical prophetic interpretations.

Global Politics and the Bible
Just less than one month ago, many believed the world was on the precipice of a global war centering on the conflict between Israel and Iran. Anti-Israel protests were popular across certain college campuses, and US citizens maintained their own public and private debates on US involvement in the middle east in support of Israel.

Meanwhile, some pastors saw the opportunity to claim the “rapture is near” and that this could (once again) be the beginning of the “end times” and the “return of Jesus.”

During this time, a case in point was triggered by a fascinating interview conducted between Senator Ted Cruz (Republican-Texas) and news/internet personality Tucker Carlson.¹In the context of a general discussion about US foreign policy and support for the nation of Israel, Cruz offered up the real reason for his support of Israel:

“…I was taught as a child, from the Bible, that those who bless Israel would be blessed. And that those who curse Israel will be cursed. From my perspective, I want to be on the blessing side…” (Ted Cruz)

When Carlson asked him to cite the verse, Cruz said he did not remember. Carlson later claimed that it comes from Genesis 16. What transpired was a heated discussion between the two men (both avowed Christians) over the existence of a Biblical mandate that supports the current modern government of the state or nation of Israel.

Cruz held his ground with his long-held convictions, and Carlson countered that Cruz as a US Senator was driven by dubious theology he could not even cite. Carlson then asked a series of pointed questions:

“So we’re commanded as Christians to support the government of Israel?
“You mean the nation starting Abraham is the same nation run by Benjamin Netanyahu.”
“So you’re saying that if I believe in Jesus then I have to support the modern nation of Israel? (Tucker Carlson)

It was a spirited debate and brew worth the time to review, particularly because it reflected the full spectrum of opinions that even Christians will heartedly argue over. Then add in an anti-Israel and/or anti-Christian side to really stir up the pot.

It all raised quite the buzz on social media.

Global Politics, the Bible, and End Times Prophecy
Now add in the popular end times prophecy pastors and the pot boils over. A week later, Pastor Jack Hibbs chimed in on his own podcast to dress down Tucker Carlson and claim that Ted Cruz “got caught with his Bible down.” ²

Hibbs turned it all into the recurring theme of Dispensationalism (Left Behind, Late Great Planet Earth, etc.) – that we are in the Last Days and that the Rapture is close at hand when Christians will be physically removed from earth either right before or right after Jesus appears in the clouds and begins His reign on earth for 1,000 years.

Just prior to this, from his own church pulpit, Hibbs reminded his large church (Calvary Chapel Chino Hills) that Ezekiel 38 is possibly coming to pass right before our eyes.³He then boldly stated the same claims of Hal Lindsey from his widely debunked 1970’s book The Late Great Planet Earth – specifically, that Rosh, mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39, is Russia and that the hordes of armies on horseback with swords, bows and arrows and clubs attacking unwalled cities and taking plunder of gold, silver and cattle, are actually modern Russian soldiers and tanks.⁴

Does the Bible Really Say All That?
Yes, and no. But like all things, literary and historical context is everything. Best to read it and study the Bible yourself rather than just take people’s word for it.

First, going back to the Ted Cruz/Tucker Carlson interview and the topic of support for Israel, the actually Biblical reference they refer to is from Genesis 12 in the Old Testament:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

Note here that God is giving instructions to one man directly, not to a future nation. The descendants of Abram (later named changed to Abraham), would become the people or nation of Israel. This promise was that all the nations or peoples of the world would be blessed or realize a blessing through the line of Abram’s descendants.

Additionally, God says that people would do well to bless Abram and his descendants toward that end, rather than curse Abram and what God was going to do through his descendants.

The fulfillment of this promise, 2,000 years after Abraham, is spelled out in the New Testament. The specific blessing that was foreshadowed here is not tied to a future modern nation, but is simply the advent of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world:

The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ….

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:16, 26-29)

Therefore all peoples, Jewish and otherwise, would benefit from the atoning sacrificial death of Jesus, the Christ (Messiah), the perfect Lamb of God, for the forgiveness of the sins of all mankind.

So is Modern Israel the Same as Israel in Genesis?
No, it is not. Nor is modern Israel the same as the Israel in the New Testament. Actually, the anti-Christ Jewish leaders and people who rejected Jesus as God’s Messiah through the line of Abraham, Isaac, Moses, and David – they are similar to modern Jews, or any secular non-Jewish people, who reject Christ as the Son of God.

What many fail to realize is that God’s command to Abraham actually was very conditional. God’s blessings require obedience to God. The requirements to “keep the way of the Lord” were spelled out later in Genesis 18. In no uncertain terms, the list of great blessings that come with obedience, and the harsh curses that come with disobedience are presented in uncomfortable detail in Deuteronomy 28.

The rest of the Old Testament details the constant rejection of God and His Law by the Jewish/Hebrew nation. Their disobedience ultimately led to curses and their eviction from the Promised Land they were handed originally.

We read in the New Testament’s four Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus and the Book of Acts, how the Christian church emerged from the original 11 Jewish devoted disciples. The evidence in Jerusalem of the resurrected Jesus overwhelmed both Jews and Gentiles alike to convert by the thousands to the New Way.

Christianity was launched and thus, the entire world has been blessed with the only way of reconciliation to the Almighty, One True God, the God of Abraham in Genesis, the Creator of the world.

Bottom Line
Christians can disagree on many things, just not on the fundamentals of the deity of Jesus as Holy God. Ted Cruz, Tucker Carlson, and Jack Hibbs are good men who mean well, just disagree on some elements of Bible history and the application of prophecy to our modern days. It is actually very debatable.

But we should know what we believe. And why.

In a future post, we’ll address Jesus and the Apostle Paul’s own words about who is set up to receive the blessing and curses of God, and the relevance to the modern nation of Israel and the US today.

Do you know why you believe what you believe?
_________________________
Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:12-13

¹NOTE: this entire interview can be found on x.com (formerly Twitter).

²My Reaction: Tucker Carlson, Ted Cruz, and the Bible, on the Jack Hibbs Podcast, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, https://podcast.jackhibbs.com/my-reaction-tucker-carlson-ted-cruz-the-bible-and-israel/, June 26, 2025.

³Could This Be Next? (Ezekiel 38)? on the Jack Hibbs Podcast, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, https://www.youtube.com/watch?, June 15, 2025.

⁴NOTE: Hibbs states that Ezekiel 36 through 48 plays out sequentially. I agree, except he believes it skips ahead 3,000 years to our time now. It’s hard not to see all of the Book of Ezekiel, including these chapters, Daniel, Esther, then Ezra and Nehemiah, as simply the continuation of Israel’s 70-year exile forced by the Babylonians, and God’s promised destruction of Israel’s then-contemporary enemies, and the rebuilding of the nation once they are set free from captivity by the Persians. And by the way, while in exile, the people of Israel, the Temple and the city of Jeruslem were decimated by Bablylonians. The scheming battle in Ezekiel 38-39 seems better explained as the story of the planned attack by Haman, the Agagite or Gog (in the Book of Esther), on disbursed Israel in unwalled villages, and his total destruction by the hand of God. This makes more logical sense than Gog being Putin, as Hibbs now claims.