Thoughts, Prayers & Art

Every few days, someone jumps into my comments trying to argue scripture with me, defending Israel’s violence or America’s “Christian roots” as if God has somehow blessed empires.

I don’t argue back. I delete the comments. Because this isn’t a debate, it’s desecration.

Zionists have done to the Torah what Christian Nationalists have done to the Bible: they have diminished it.

Both have taken the living Word of God, meant to liberate, heal, and restore, and shrunk it into a political weapon.

Both have traded covenant for conquest, prophecy for propaganda.

And this did not happen overnight. It is the result of a long, intentional twisting of scripture to serve power.

Zionism: From Covenant to Conquest

The Torah’s vision of land was always conditional on justice and humility. Israel was called to care for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan,”You were strangers in the land of Egypt, therefore love the stranger as yourself” (Deut. 10:19). Land was never a blank check. It was a holy trust tied to obedience and mercy.

But modern political Zionism, born in the late 19th century, reinterpreted that covenant through the lens of European nationalism. Theodor Herzl and other secular founders framed Zionism not as a spiritual return to covenant faithfulness, but as a political project, a state built on ethnic exclusivity and military defense, modeled after Western empires.

By the mid-20th century, as Israel expanded, Torah was increasingly read selectively: promises to ancient Israel were lifted out of their prophetic context and wielded as divine justification for occupation, settlement, and displacement. The prophetic tradition of justice was muted. Passages calling for care of the foreigner, for jubilee release of debts, for mercy toward the oppressed, those fell silent under the roar of nationalism.

The prophets warned against this exact distortion.

“Woe to those who make unjust laws, who issue oppressive decrees” (Isaiah 10:1).

But power rarely listens to prophets.

Christian Nationalism: The Gospel Dripped in Empire

The misuse of the Bible to justify empire is just as old. European colonizers carried scripture in one hand and swords in the other, preaching Christ while slaughtering Indigenous peoples. But modern Christian Nationalism the explicit fusion of Bible and state power gained momentum in America during the Cold War.

In the 1950s, political and religious leaders branded the U.S. a “Christian nation” to combat communism, wrapping faith in patriotism. By the 1980s, movements like Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority turned this into a political machine, weaponizing scripture to legislate morality, suppress civil rights, demonize LGBTQ+ people, and sanctify racism.

They draped the cross in the American flag and declared Jesus a champion of “family values” all while ignoring His actual teachings. The Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the peacemakers… love your enemy… the last shall be first” was pushed aside for a theology of dominance and “peace through strength.”

Just like Zionism, this is not faith. This is idolatry.

The Prophets Still Roar

Both movements share the same sin: they have shrunken God to fit their politics.

They bless bombs in the name of the God who commanded swords to be beaten into plowshares. They sanctify nationalism in the name of the God who called for love of all nations. They shout about chosenness and exceptionalism while trampling the very people God calls us to protect.

But the Word of God cannot be diminished. It still speaks, and it still resists empire.

Amos roars: “You trample on the poor… therefore you will not live in the stone houses you built” (Amos 5:11).

Micah whispers: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

Jesus flips tables and declares, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

Do not mistake my words: this is not about Jews or Christians as people of faith. This is about those who twist God’s name to bless injustice. The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus is not mocked.

BLESSED ARE THE RESISTERS

Let it be said: not all are silent. Not all bow to this idolatry.

There are Jews who refuse to let Zionism speak for Judaism, rabbis and activists who risk arrest to say “Not in our name.”

There are Christians who will not bow to MAGA’s golden calf, Christian pastors and laypeople who preach love over nationalism, even when it costs them their pulpits.

There are Muslims standing in solidarity, refusing to let ancient hatred divide children of Abraham.

There are human rights workers, journalists, and ordinary citizens risking their lives to tell the truth.

These are the true heirs of the prophets.

These are the ones God blesses:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

If you are among them, take courage. You are not alone. The same Spirit that roared through Amos, wept through Jeremiah, and turned over tables through Jesus lives in you still.

To every leader who uses God’s name to justify injustice, hear this:

God is not mocked. Your walls will crumble. Your flags will burn to ash. Your guns and bombs will rust.

Your name will be remembered in history books the way Pharaoh’s is remembered, not as righteous, but as the cautionary tale of what happens when a ruler defies God.

The Torah will outlast you. The Gospel will outlast you.

And the Word of God, undiminished, untamed, will remain.

A Prayer for the Faithful

God of Torah and Gospel,
God of prophets and peacemakers,
save us from those who shrink Your Word to fit their power.

Give us the courage of Amos to roar,
the tears of Jeremiah to weep,
the boldness of Jesus to turn over tables.

Let us not be silent while Your name is used to bless violence.
Let us live as if we actually believe You meant what You said:
to love the stranger,
to feed the hungry,
to protect the least of these.

And when the empires rage,
may we stand firm,
rooted in Your truth,
until justice rolls down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amen.