Transcript
Host/Pastor (0:00)
Well, good evening, everybody. Welcome to church. Who's happy to be in the house.
Rob McCoy (0:03)
Of the Lord tonight?
Rob McCoy (continued) (0:04)
Amen.
Host/Pastor (0:09)
I want to welcome our online viewers as well. Thank you for being with us tonight. I want to just say a few things before we get started, and then I'm going to introduce our special guest this evening. We're dealing with the subject of the rise of anti Semitism, specifically in some circles of the church and in some circles of conservative politics. Because this is a subject about which a lot of people have a lot of strong opinions, I'm going to ask that you remain respectful and not disrupt the service tonight. If you do, our security team will be helping you to find the Leesburg Police Department. We are dealing with this special service of on the topic of anti Semitism tonight and why? Well, as a pastor, I try to keep my eye on Jesus, my nose in the Bible and my ear to the ground. And I try to pay attention to this cultural and the social and the political trends that shape people's thinkings and people's lives. And I will often, as you know, if you've been here long enough, I will often address those things from the pulpit through a biblical lens to help equip you. We need to be wise and discerning about the times, and that will only happen if we know our Bibles and have the discernment of the Holy Spirit. So as I've paid attention to recent events in our culture and the world, the trend is clear that anti Semitism is on the rise. The Anti Defamation League reports anti Semitic incidents have increased 344% over the last five years and 893% over the last decade. Those statistics do not include those who are simply opposed to the Israeli government or its policies. Simply being opposed to some policies of the Israeli government does not make you anti Semitic any more than being opposed to some of the policies of the United States would make you unpatriotic. However, the harm to Jews, or to wish them harm or to constantly blame the Jews for all the problems in the world, is not only anti Semitic, it is delusional and demonic. And of course, Of course Satan wants to blame the Jews. That's his M.O. in Revelation 12:10, he is referred to as the accuser of the brethren. In John 8:44, Jesus called him a liar and the father of lies. And in Revelation 12:13, the Bible says, now the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, and he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. That verse in Revelation 12:13 is a reference to the fact that the dragon is Satan, the woman is Israel, and the male child that Israel gave birth to was the ultimate Messiah who would come for the redemption of the whole world. And because this redemptive plan of God was put in place to rescue the whole world, this plan came through a Jewish nation that gave birth to a Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ. And so of course, Satan will do all he can to attack all things related to the Jews, and he is using people and organizations in that effort. The Catholic Church and its allied denominations in Jerusalem just declared war on Christian Zionism. In a statement released just a few days ago on January 17th, the Patriarchs and heads of churches in the Holy Land, led by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, along with Eastern Catholic, Orthodox and other traditional church leaders, condemned Christian support for Israel as, quote, a damaging theology that misleads the public and harms Christian unity. That alone is a troubling statement. In addition, I am also very troubled by some comments by Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson over the past few months, and I will share some of those comments and let you see in their own words why I am troubled. As influencers with millions of followers, they are persuading people to believe some things about Israel and the Jewish people that I believe are damaging to our nation and dividing conservative circles, even dividing Christians. This is evidenced for me by some of the slanderous emails that I've received just about this service tonight and the outlandish and inaccurate comments posted on our social media. Candace herself two days ago posted my Instagram announcement on her podcast about this service, mocking me and our guests tonight. And by the way, Candice, if you're going to mock us, get the name of our church right. It's Cornerstone Chapel, not Cornerstone Church. We're not affiliated with John Hagee. That's a separate church. So get our church's name right if you're going to slander us. If your allegiance is to a person like Candice or Tucker or myself for that matter, more than it is to Jesus, then you will always be open to deception and misinformation. Follow Jesus, read the Bible and pray for discernment. Tonight is about a few things. Ephesians 5:11 for one Paul instructs us have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. And at the same time, 2 Timothy 2:23 26 instructs me don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because, you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel. Instead he must be kind to everyone able to teach, not resentful, those who oppose him. He must gently instruct in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will. So I will do my best tonight to expose the darkness without being mean spirited towards Candace or Tucker. I will let them speak for themselves in their own words tonight. I will not return insult for insult. We should pray for them as we would for anyone. So let me begin with prayer and then I'll introduce our guest tonight. Father, we come before you tonight because we want you to be exalted in this place. We want to understand the biblical view of Israel and the Jewish people. I do pray for Candace and Tucker. I pray for others who have influence in our country. I pray, Lord, that you would help them to see, as patronizing as they think this prayer probably is, that you would help them to see the truth about Israel and the Jewish people. That they would be enlightened, Lord, to see what you say in your word and that together we would just love them and pray for them, that we would speak a blessing over them. Lord, we want no harm for them. We want, Lord, for you to help them to understand the truth and that you would help us to understand the truth. We are all sinners, saved by grace and we just want to come alongside what your view is, what your stance is, what you tell us in your word. So help us tonight to do the best we can to expose the darkness while exalting you at the same time. And we commit all these things to you in Jesus name. And everyone said amen.
