“And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son (Isaac), thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall ALL (capitals mine) nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
Genesis 22:15-18
To test Abraham’s faith, God instructed him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. As Abraham was about to do as he was instructed, God called him off and Blessed him for his faith. In the Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 15, God then promised Abraham’s descendants a great nation; a Savior; personal blessings and protection; and, blessings and curses to all other nations dependent on how they treated the Jews, the descendants of Abraham. God even outlined the geographical boundaries of the land He gave to the Jews for eternity in verses 18-21. Unfortunately, with the various terrible trials the Jews have endured since because of their own sinful actions for thousands of years, they had every reason later to ask a VERY serious question of the Lord:
“I say then, Hath God cast away his people (the Jews)? God forbid. For I am also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.
Romans 11:1-2
Even though the Jews had numerous examples of disobeying God, He NEVER forgot His Promise to them. He brought them back in the last days to their God-given land of Israel as He Promised He would and gave them many, many Blessings. The miracle of the Jews returning to Israel after the Holocaust massacre of World War II where 1/3 of all Jews in the world were killed; the refounding of their nation even as they were immediately attacked by their Arab neighbors vowing to completely and finally annihilate them is absolutely incredible! I simply don’t believe anyone could recognize all the accomplishments of the Jews with God at their side for the past 70 years and still disbelieve the original Promises God made to the Jews. How much clearer could it be but to hear directly from God His Words to Abraham?
“As for me, behold, my covenant with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings will come out of thee. I will establish my COVENANT (capitals mine) between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an EVERLASTING (capitals mine) covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
Genesis 17:4-8
God DOES NOT lie! Men lie and are deceitful, just like Satan. But God DOES NOT lie! And, his Ultimate Plan for mankind is unwavering and will culminate with Christ’s Second Coming at Armageddon EXACTLY as He said it would.
Why then do so many “Christian” denominations say God has since forgotten Israel and the Jews and instead “replaced” God’s original Promises to Abraham and has now given them to the Christian Church?
Replacement Theology (also referred to as “supersessionism”) is an ideology taught for centuries by many churches that the Christian church has now “officially” replaced the Jews and Israel in God’s ultimate plan. These believers of Replacement Theology believe the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people under His covenant and they now have NO role in the fulfillment of God’s ultimate Plan. Replacement Theology teaches the church is the actual replacement for Israel through a “second” covenant and His many promises made to Israel in the Bible are instead actually being fulfilled in the Christian church. By the way, Islam ALSO teaches this although they believe the promises made are to Islam, not the Jews OR the Christians. So, the prophecies regarding the Promises made to Abraham and the Jews they teach have now instead been transferred to the Christian Church.
Obviously, major problems exist with this view, such as the continuing existence of the Jewish people throughout the centuries and especially with the rebirth of the modern state of Israel which was officially founded on May 14, 1948. If Israel has been condemned by God, and there was no future for the Jewish nation, how do we explain the supernatural survival of the Jewish people over the past 2000 years despite the many attempts around the world to destroy them? How do we explain why and how Israel reappeared as a nation in the 20th century after not existing for almost 1900 years? Thankfully, many churches have “softened” their views on Replacement Theology AFTER the Jewish nation of Israel was reborn primarily because they COULD NOT explain this phenomena! But, they still have it in their church doctrine! One of the reasons prophecy is NOT being taught today in so many churches is because you can not exclude the role of the Jews and Israel in End Times prophecies and still have a meaningful sequence of events foretold in the Bible to yet occur without them.
This post is a direct result of a conversation I recently had with a friend who asked me if I had ever heard of Replacement Theology. When I told him I had and explained what it was, he said his preacher in a recent sermon said he did not advocate this belief EVEN though his church did! Now, I must say this is not a crazy, far off looney church. This was a mainstream Christian church highly regarded as a conservative, Bible teaching church! In doing research on this subject, I was SHOCKED to discover the number of churches which still teach AND believe in Replacement Theology! By the way, Replacement Theology is NOT just taught by the other guy’s church! Chances are your church teaches it as well. I write this knowing that this may offend many of my Christian friends. But, the facts are the facts. I long ago learned to trust the Holy Bible but question what man may say. As of 2004, the Top 25 American churches in the U.S. by membership that teach Replacement Theology and the numbers of their members are as follows:
2004 Ranking of the Largest Christian Denominations in U.S.
1. The Roman Catholic Church – 66,407,105
2. Seventh Day Adventist – 19,126,438 As of 2015
4. The United Methodist Church – 8,251,042
6. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – 5,410,544
7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – 5,038,006
10. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – 3,407,329
12. The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod – 2,512,714
13. African Methodist Episcopal Church – 2,500,000
16. The Episcopal Church – 2,333,628
17. Churches of Christ, Corsicana, Texas – 1,500,000
18. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America – 1,500,000
21. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church – 1,430,795
22. United Church of Christ – 1,330,985
24. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, Joplin, Mo. – 1,071,616
25. Jehovah’s Witnesses – 1,022,397
Here you see as of 2004 (and I would wager the number of churches which teach this probably have increased since then) over 120 million Americans are being deceived into believing the Jews are NOT God’s Chosen people. Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, etc. teach God’s Promises HAVE CHANGED even though God said “…I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an EVERLASTING covenant…” I imagine you are as surprised by this as I was. But, was I actually surprised?
“At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and DECEIVE (capitals mine) many people.”
Matthew 24:10-11
When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden his purpose was to deceive her into believing God had said something He really didn’t mean. If she ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, would she REALLY die? God said yes. Satan said no. Did Eve (and Adam, and everyone else eventually) die? YES! So who lied? Throughout the Bible we are taught in the last days there would be many trying to deceive us, to lie to us. We are also warned to not add or take away anything in the Bible. The Holy Bible is God’s Word to mankind and we have been given assurance after assurance it is His TRUTHFUL Word.
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him that plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
Revelation 22:18-19
“For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his TRUTH (capitals mine) endureth to all generations.”
Psalm 100:5
“In hope of eternal life, which God, THAT CANNOT LIE (capitals mine), promised before the world began:”
Titus 1:2
“Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the TRUTH (capitals mine).”
Psalm 119:142
DO NOT believe what I say! DO NOT believe what your pastor says. Believe ONLY what God says because He only tells us the Truth and His plan for the Jews and for all of us has NEVER changed. God speaks directly to us through the Bible, His Holy Word. How comforting is it to know you have the Truth from God right there in front of you and need no one to decipher it for you? Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and you will learn the truth directly from God Himself. Knowing this is SO comforting to me that I don’t need to be deceived by anyone I wanted to pass His Words to you. If you agree, then do as we are ALL instructed to do and that is to “…therefore, comfort one another with these words.”
If you want to learn more about Replacement Theology, follow the link below. May God Bless You!
Wikipedia article on Replacement Theology