Latest news with #scripture
Fox News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Tame Your Thoughts
Pastor Max Lucado's new book, 'Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools To Renew Your Mind And Tame Your Thoughts,' will provide enlightening perspectives on personal guilt and share how readers can combat negative thought patterns with scripture. Pastor Lucado describes how his bible-based book urges readers to lean into the unconditional love of God when intrusive thoughts take over their headspace. Later, Pastor Lucado shares with Shannon why UFOs are an essential part of his book. Pre-order Tame Your Thoughts here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
Russia Today
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Sacrilege and statecraft: How Christian Zionism distorts scripture to serve empire
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. 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.' Aside from the Tolkien reference – which, to my knowledge, appears nowhere in the Talmud – Richman's quote reveals the ideological terrain Cruz is orbiting: one where collective Jewish identity is quasi-divinized, and adversaries are dehumanized as fantasy monsters. One suspects that the 'Orcs' are a sweeping euphemism for Arabs in the region, many of whom are surreptitious allies of Israel. The only recalcitrant 'Orcs,' apparently, are the Palestinians, whose refusal to accept their divinely appointed overlords remains an intractable problem. Ironically, Persians (Iranians) have traditionally enjoyed a far more favorable depiction in Jewish scripture – from Cyrus the Great to Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther. Modern geopolitical enmity is therefore a historical aberration, not a theological necessity. But if one follows Richman's grotesque logic, does this 'unqualified worship of every single Jew' extend even to those recently implicated in satanic child abuse scandals in Israel? At what point does solidarity become sacrilege, and does support for Israel require a total theological surrender? There is a reason I describe Christian Zionism as a theologically bankrupt subculture masquerading as prophecy. It is an ideology that sanctifies any war crime, any act of brutality by Israeli forces because according to its adherents, personal 'blessing' from God is contingent on political allegiance to a modern nation-state. When not actively mangling scripture, history, and basic morality, this movement manufactures signs and wonders out of thin air. Natural phenomena, especially pareidolic patterns, are routinely interpreted as divine communications. This is not harmless enthusiasm; it reflects a credulous mindset conditioned by groupthink, emotion-driven worship, and manipulative rhetoric. Hypnotic music, staged testimony, and carefully orchestrated atmospheres often whip congregants into a frenzy of expectation, where gullibility becomes spiritual virtue. I once watched a video of Christian pilgrims in a van in Jerusalem who erupted in awe as beams of dappled sunlight flickered through roadside trees. To them, these fleeting light patterns were not a trick of motion and shadow, but 'angelic manifestations.' (They are, in fact, a common optical effect caused by light passing through foliage while in motion.) Today, a large swath of Evangelicals are willing to interpret any mundane occurrence as divine endorsement of Israel's central role in End Times prophecy. But if they are seeking signs, they might consider one that cuts in the opposite direction. Right after Israel launched an unprovoked strike on Iran, a raven appeared to pull down an Israeli flag amid the rubble in an Israeli neighborhood. "Even the birds have had enough" In Jewish Midrash, the raven is considered an omen. In the biblical narrative, it is the creature God used to sustain the prophet Elijah when he was near despair (1 Kings 17). The raven is a creature associated with both judgment and provision. What message, then, was it delivering? Now imagine if the bird had instead torn down a Palestinian or Iranian flag. The Christian Zionist ecosystem would have erupted into mass ecstasy. Social media feeds would overflow with headlines declaring it a sign from heaven. Prophecy blogs would rush to decode its 'symbolism.' Tele-evangelists would loop the footage between pleas for donations. But since it challenged their narrative, the event went studiously ignored. Such is the schizoid reflex of Christian Zionist theology: divine signs are valid only when they reinforce the script. Anything else, however biblical, however stark, is dismissed as coincidence or satanic interference. There's an oft-cited quote – attributed to Joseph Goebbels, though likely first used by Adolf Hitler – that says: 'A lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth.' Christian Zionists have chanted Genesis 12:3 so frequently and with such zeal that few within their ranks ever pause to test the verse against either scripture or empirical reality. Let's do that now. Genesis 12:3 says: 'I will bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you…' If we are to interpret this as a blanket mandate for state-level foreign policy, the evidence should be obvious. So ask yourself: Are Israel's most loyal allies today, particularly in the West, truly 'blessed'? Take the United States. It is arguably more internally divided than at any point since the Civil War. Its cities are decaying, homelessness and drug addiction are rampant, race relations are at its lowest ebb, and nearly 40% of Americans cannot afford a $400 emergency expense without borrowing, selling their family heirloom, or falling into debt. And yet, billions in unconditional aid continue to flow to Israel, year after year. Western Europe fares no better. The continent faces deepening political polarization, a crisis of institutional legitimacy, and escalating cultural clashes fueled by migration and economic inequality. What once passed for democratic consensus is now fractured by populism, apathy, and unrest. Social cohesion is unraveling across the transatlantic alliance. Now compare that to East Asia and Southeast Asia, where most countries maintain measured, neutral stances on the Israel-Palestine conflict. With a combined population nearing 2.4 billion, this region encompasses countless ethnicities and religions, yet remains strikingly more stable. Aside from Myanmar, whose military junta has been supplied with Israeli weaponry, there are no continent-wide wars, nor the sort of existential societal fractures plaguing the West. Immigration is limited, social harmony remains comparatively intact, and all major Asian nations support a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders. No nation sucks up to Israel in this part of the world. So the question practically asks itself: If Genesis 12:3 is being used to evaluate foreign policy toward Israel, then who exactly is being blessed, and who is being cursed? The consequences of blind allegiance don't stop with economic decline. Consider the proxy wars fed by Israeli strategic calculations. In Syria, Israeli support for jihadist factions has contributed to the decimation of ethnic and religious minorities. Just this past Sunday (June 22), a suicide bomber detonated inside St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church, killing at least fifteen Christian worshippers. These are not isolated tragedies. These are the fruits of Christian Zionism: a theology conflating realpolitik with divine mandate. Why is it essential to confront and correct this narrative? Because the religious ideology peddled by Senator Cruz and his ilk bears no resemblance to authentic Christianity. It is a dangerous theological counterfeit – a den of wolves in sheep's clothing, precisely as Matthew 7:15 warned. Far from defending the faith, Christian Zionism actively endangers Christians across the globe. In its zeal to uphold Pax Americana, idolize the modern State of Israel, and force-fit current events into a contrived apocalyptic script, it sacrifices actual Christian communities on the altars of geopolitics and eschatological fantasy. As someone descended from one of the world's oldest Christian traditions – whose roots reach back even to the Old Testament – I say this plainly: Have no fellowship with these murderous idolaters (1 Corinthians 5:11). They invoke Christ but serve the ambitions of empire, the delusions of man, and the devices of Satan. If that is what it means to be 'blessed,' then your church should beware of what it is really worshiping.
New York Times
13-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
When Myth Is the Message
This personal reflection is part of a series called The Big Ideas, in which writers respond to a single question: What is history? You can read more by visiting The Big Ideas series page. We in the modern world tend to understand the word 'myth' as a synonym for 'falsehood.' But that is not how our ancestors understood it. Indeed, the ancient mind did not draw the same line between myth and fact that we do. Whether we are speaking of Zeus forcing his father to vomit up his siblings or Jesus being born in a manger, these tales were never meant to be read as factual reports. They were meant to fire the imagination, to illuminate hidden truths and, most of all, to bring about transformation. The power of myth lies in its capacity to move a listener from one state of being to another — from confusion to clarity, from despair to hope, from disorientation to meaning. Myths are the packaging for truth. They are the language of religion. Scripture deals in what might be called 'sacred history,' a narrative realm that blends fact and fiction to convey timeless truths. The authors and transmitters of these sacred texts were not seeking facts; they were seeking meaning. Our modern conception of history — the critical analysis of observable and verifiable past events — is only a handful of centuries old. It arose alongside the Enlightenment and the scientific method in the 1600s, and while immensely valuable, it is not the lens through which sacred texts were written. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bible or Book of Mormon? The books of scripture Latter-day Saint leaders used in global conference
The 32 speakers referred to the Bible 297 times at April's international general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They referenced the Book of Mormon 226 times, according to citations found in talk transcripts and footnotes published on 'The Savior is the Prince of Peace,' President Russell M. Nelson said, for example, a reference to Isaiah 9:6. 'We are to be his instruments for peace.' In all, messages at the two-day conference were rooted in holy writ. They included 702 quotations from, allusions to and mentions of scripture. The citations sorted out this way: New Testament — 229 Book of Mormon — 226 Doctrine and Covenants — 145 Old Testament — 68 Pearl of Great Price — 34 The Bible, then, made up 42% of the scriptures cited by Latter-day Saint leaders. Restoration scriptures comprised the other 58%. A historian said the count is interesting in a world of increasing scriptural illiteracy and in the context of how Latter-day Saint scriptural preferences are viewed inside and outside the church. The scripture references in the April conference track in interesting ways with historical scriptural usage in the church's general conferences and an increasing emphasis on scripture reading and study in the church. 'Clearly, a dividing line between those who hear the music of faith and those who are tone deaf or off key is the active study of the scriptures,' a senior church leader, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said earlier this month at BYU Women's Conference. New Testament references centered on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. For example, President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, led the conference through much of Luke 24, the report of the third day after Christ's Crucifixion and burial, when his disciples learned Christ was resurrected and had appeared to his disciples. The footnotes to one paragraph in another talk illustrate how some scriptural references were made. The first counselor in the church's children organization, Sister Amy A. Wright, of the Primary General Presidency, described the Christ that parents and teachers should share with children. She said, showing scriptural footnotes only: 'This Jesus should not be a fictional Jesus (See 2 Peter 1:16–18; Joseph Smith—History 1:17), 'Or a simplistic Jesus (See Doctrine and Covenants 110:1–4), 'Or a bodiless Jesus, 'Or a casual Jesus, 'Or an unknown Jesus (See Acts 17:23; Alma 30:52–53), 'But a glorified (See John 17:3–5), 'Omnipotent (See Mosiah 3:5), 'Resurrected (See Luke 24:1–6;3 Nephi 11), 'Exalted (See Philippians 2:9–11), 'Worshipful (See 2 Nephi 25:29), 'Powerful (See Exodus 19:16; Luke 4:32; John 1:12; Romans 13:1; 1 Nephi 17:48) 'Only Begotten Son of God (See John 3:16), 'Who is mighty to save (See 2 Nephi 31:19; Alma 7:14; 34:18)." Her reference to John 3:16 was one of 10 by conference speakers — 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' Speakers also used footnotes as a call to action for further scripture study. One suggested 11 chapters of Old Testament reading. Elder Gerrit W. Gong spoke about Joseph saving his family in Egypt and added a footnote for Genesis 37-47 that said, 'Joseph's bringing his father, Jacob, and his family to Egypt represents the tender reuniting of a long-separated son and father. It also becomes the means by which Jacob's family and covenant posterity, who will include Lehi and his family, are preserved.' Scripture reading and study has been a major emphasis of Latter-day Saint leaders for more than half a century, with one major landmark the 1986 conference talks of the church's new president, Ezra Taft Benson, who called for more emphasis on the Book of Mormon. Sales of the English Book of Mormon jumped 700,000 over the previous year, according to a 1999 study by Noel Reynolds in BYU Studies Quarterly. President Benson also emphasized the Book of Mormon in his first instructions to the church's general authorities, according to a 1989 BYU devotional delivered by Elder James A. Paramore of the Quorum of the Seventy. 'Brethren, I've read many of your talks again, and they are wonderful, but you don't use the Book of Mormon enough,' President Benson said, according to Paramore. 'May I ask you to know it and use it more, to testify of it to the world, and to have it go into every corner of the world.' The number of Book of Mormon scriptures used in general conference spiked from about 15% of citations in 1981 to 40% in 1987, according to data compiled by Richard C. Galbraith and reported by Reynolds. Book of Mormon references made up 32.2% of references in April 2025. The findings may be of interest to church members and outside observers, even though American culture has grown less biblical, said Nathan Oman, a church member, historian and professor of law at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. 'I will say one of the things that I think is striking is that among most people today, scriptural illiteracy is pretty high,' he said. 'Not very many people know the Bible particularly well, even people that go to church I don't necessarily think know the Bible or the scriptures really well.' April 2025 general conference speakers referenced John 64 times, Matthew 55 times, Luke 32 times and Mark, Isaiah and 1 and 2 Corinthians 16 times each. The April 2025 data that general conference speakers cited the Bible an average of 9.3 times challenges any remaining stereotypes among evangelical Protestants that Latter-day Saints don't believe or pay enough attention to the Bible, Oman said, though he believes that's a small number of people. April's speakers referred to the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon most often, 55 times, followed by 35 citations each for 2 Nephi and Mosiah and 28 for 3 Nephi. The Reynolds study showed that Latter-day Saints in the 1830s revered what they considered as the miraculous coming forth of the Book of Mormon. However, the Bible was the core of their teachings because all of the church's members were converts steeped in it, and there had been no time to build a curriculum around the Book of Mormon. While some leaders called for emphasizing it in the 1800s, major shifts toward it waited until the 1900s. Reynolds found that Book of Mormon study at BYU grew when the first significant increase in sections of a class on it began in 1948. The next big jump came in 1961, when the Book of Mormon became a required freshman course. The church made the Standard Works the curriculum for an eight-year cycle of study in 1972 and condensed it to a four-year cycle in 1981, with one year each dedicated to the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants/Pearl of Great Price. President Benson's re-emphasis was a key, and the curriculum for the church's Seminaries and Institutes, religion classes at its colleges and universities, and its Preach My Gospel manual for missionaries are steeped in all of the Standard Works. Latter-day Saint leaders led the way last month. In one interesting example, seven speakers referred to Matthew 25 a total of 17 times as they led the church through three of Christ's major parables. Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson shared the 13 verses about the parable of the 10 virgins. Elder Steven D. Shumway, a General Authority Seventy, spoke about 15 verses on the parable of the talents. Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles completed the chapter in his message on the lessons of those two parables and the concluding parable of the sheep and the goats. 'The best advice ... for you and for me is to follow the Savior's teachings,' Elder Renlund said. 'His instructions are neither mysterious nor complex. When we follow them, we do not need to fear or be anxious.'
