How Christian Zionism distorts scripture to serve empire
Why America’s ‘Blessed Israel’ obsession risks the church, the world – and the truth
During a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, US Senator Ted Cruz displayed not only alarming geopolitical ignorance but also a brazen willingness to distort Scripture in defense of his unwavering support for Israel. The verse he quoted – Genesis 12:3 – was shamelessly truncated, a common tactic used to lend divine legitimacy to Zionist exceptionalism in End Times prophecy. This verse has become the theological bedrock of a militant worldview known as Christian Zionism.
Even Jewish critics of Israeli state policy express dismay at the historical illiteracy and theological crudeness fueling this metastasizing ideology within American evangelical circles. I recall debating this phenomenon over a decade ago on LinkedIn with Jewish and Israeli interlocutors. I had dubbed it a “trailer-trash cult” – a fusion of biblical illiteracy, apocalyptic fervor and geopolitical delusion. Some of my Israeli counterparts, in a strange display of casual prejudice, alternately referred to Cruz and present Secretary of State Marco Rubio simply as “the Mexican.”
Christian Zionism thrives on biblical illiteracy and selective scriptural appropriation. Though often presented as ancient and immutable, it is in fact a relatively modern phenomenon, emerging alongside the rise of political Zionism in the late 19th century. Rather than treating Scripture as sacrosanct, it distorts the biblical canon into a pliable tool – one that must conform to the ideological imperatives of the moment. In a nation such as the United States, which has been at war for nearly 95% of its existence, this distortion often serves as theological cover for an “endless war” doctrine, with cherry-picked verses used to sanctify geopolitical aggression and the confection of new enemies.
After World War II, when the Soviet Union became the first nation to grant de jure recognition to the modern state of Israel, this same movement began feverishly mining scripture to cast the USSR, and Russia in particular, as the apocalyptic villains Gog and Magog. Even Ronald Reagan, the pseudo-religious saint of American conservatism, repeatedly invoked this interpretive heresy to frame the Cold War as a cosmic battle against the “evil empire.” To this day, millions of American Evangelicals and fundamentalist Protestants worldwide continue to see Russia as the eternal enemy of God Himself. The reach and influence of this pseudo-theological subculture should not be underestimated. But before unpacking the wider ramifications of this ideological perversion, let us first examine the verse Senator Cruz so conveniently misquoted.
Blessings and curses of Genesis
Senator Cruz invoked Genesis 12:3 to justify unwavering US support for Israel, but his citation was conspicuously selective. The full verse reads: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” – (KJV)
This is a prophetic promise given to the patriarch Abraham, pointing ultimately to his seed, Jesus Christ. It is through Christ, according to Galatians 3:16, that “all families of the earth” are offered reconciliation with the Divine. If that blessing is universal and messianic in scope, where then is the ethnic or national exclusivity so often ascribed to modern-day Israel? (I’ve explored this topic in greater depth here, here, here and here)
Cruz’s theological framework, in practice, aligns more closely with Talmudic ethnocentrism than Christian soteriology. Consider this remarkable claim from Rabbi Chaim Richman, directed at Christians:
“You guys are worshiping one Jew. That’s a mistake. You should be worshiping every single one of us because we all die for your sins every single day… The Jewish people in the land of Israel are the bulwark against the Orcs, okay? The Orcs are coming not to a theater near you but to your home.”
https://www.rt.com/news/620745-israel-us-christian-zionism/