And the topic I'm going to be speaking on is the appeal of Zionism, the appeal of Zionism.
Why is this a doctrine that people want to believe in, or when people are confronted
with the clear truth on this subject, why do they want to stay with the false doctrine?
I mean, if you show someone something out of the Bible, and they refuse to believe it,
it means that it's because they don't want to believe it.
People end up believing what they want to believe, and if people don't want to believe
something, it doesn't matter how much evidence you show them, they will just not believe
it because they don't want to.
And if people really want to believe something, they're going to believe in it, right?
It's our will that decides what we believe.
Jesus said, you will not come to me that you might have life.
He said, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
So if there are people who believe in this false doctrine of Zionism, and even when they're
shown the truth on it, they don't seem to want to budge on it, and they want to stay
with it, there has to be some reason why they don't want to see the truth on this, right?
So the question is, what is the appeal of Zionism?
What is it that's appealing about it that people want to hold to this doctrine, even
though it's false?
And I'm going to submit to you that it appeals unto the flesh.
And what I mean by that is that once we get saved, we have the spirit, the new man, the
inward man, and then we have the flesh, or the old man, or the carnal mind.
Now this doctrine must be appealing to one of those two.
And since it's the truth, it must not be appealing to the flesh, I'm sorry, the truth would not
appeal to the flesh, but if something's a lie, it must not be appealing to the spirit.
Because obviously the spirit would not delight in a lie, that would be our flesh that would
delight in a lie.
Now let me start out by saying this.
I used to believe in the Zionist doctrine, and I used to believe that the Jews were God's
chosen people, and that we need to support Israel, and that if America supports Israel,
we're going to be blessed.
The reason that I believed in it was just out of ignorance, because I had never even
heard that there was even a possibility to be a Christian and not to support Israel.
I didn't even know that was an option.
I just thought if you're Christian, you support Israel.
I mean if you're Christian, you're for the Jews.
I mean of course the Jews are God's chosen people.
I was so brainwashed with that growing up, and it's all I'd ever heard.
I didn't even know there was an alternative.
Now if somebody would have handed me a copy of Marching to Zion or something like that,
then I would have just embraced it in a heartbeat.
I'd never even heard that.
So I wasn't stuck on that doctrine, but I just believed in it out of ignorance.
And I think that's how most people are.
A lot of people just haven't heard the facts.
They haven't seen the scriptures.
So be gentle with people.
Don't just assume that someone is willfully ignorant, because there are a lot of great
pastors and great people out there who are wrong on this, because they just simply haven't
been taught.
Okay.
But I'm talking about the people who dig in on this.
I mean you show them scripture after scripture, and they don't want to accept it.
It's the flesh.
It's the carnal mind that doesn't want to accept this.
Now let's see what the Bible says here in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4.
The Bible says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds.
Pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
So the Bible is really clear here that our battle is a spiritual battle, that the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal.
The Bible says something similar over in Ephesians 6 when it says, for we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
So the Bible is clear, our fight is a spiritual fight, but the flesh wants a physical fight.
The flesh wants that which is carnal, that which is physical, that which can be seen
with the eye.
The Bible says the things that are not seen are eternal, and the things that are seen
are temporal.
Now there's a fight going on today in this world, and it's Israel versus the neighbors
of Israel.
It's Israel versus Palestine, Israel versus the Arabs, and Christians today want to get
involved in that fight because they're carnal.
See if they were spiritual, then they would want to be involved in a spiritual battle.
You know we were out soul winning today, and we're preaching the gospel door to door.
We were in a spiritual battle this morning.
We were out there on the front lines, and let me tell you, when you're out soul winning,
that's where the action is.
I mean you're in the hottest part of the battle when you're knocking on people's doors and
giving them the gospel, and we that are spiritual Christians, we thrive on that.
You know we love that battle.
We love fighting the good fight.
We love to fight the Lord's battle.
We love to have weapons that are not carnal, spiritual weapons.
We love to fight that fight that's a spiritual fight, and we consider that the battle today.
But those who are carnal, when they read the Old Testament scriptures, and they read about
Israel fighting this battle, or Israel fighting that battle, or the Spirit of the Lord came
upon him, and he slew all these people.
You know people that are carnal, they apply that to a physical fight, whereas we apply
that to the spiritual battle.
You know when I'm reading the Bible and the Old Testament, I take all those war stories
and battles as an allegory of my Christian life when I'm actually going out and winning
souls or going out and preaching to people.
You know we're not here to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
So we're not out killing the Philistines, but we are out winning people to Christ.
And we are out preaching against false doctrine.
And we are raising up families and children that would be another generation to march
forward with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's all spiritual.
It's not tangible.
The carnal Christian though delights in picking up the newspaper and reading about Ariel
Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu, and oh man the Israelis did an air strike over here,
and they bombed this country, and they shot some Palestinians here, and you know they
delight in that, and they thrive on that, and they're like, yeah man I just wish Israel
would just wipe them out.
I wish Israel would just take all that land and just wipe out the Palestinians and just
take over the whole region, you know, take over even Jordan and other countries around
it.
You know that's the way a lot of Christians feel.
And I can relate to it a little bit because I remember back when I used to be wrong on
this before I knew the truth about it, I can remember getting the newspaper and reading
about Israel fighting against their neighbors and just wishing that Israel would just go
further and just defeat the enemy.
That's the flesh talking that delights in that carnal fight.
The flesh delights in violence.
And if I'm wrong about that, then explain to me why the movies and TV shows are filled
with such violence, such disgusting graphic displays of violence.
Somebody must want to see it.
It must be what sells if that's what they're pumping into so many movies and TV shows.
But let me tell you something, your spirit does not delight in violence.
That's the flesh talking.
That's the carnal mind.
And if you think about it, every false doctrine, if you stop and think about it, appeals to
the flesh, not the spirit, right?
Because the flesh is going to delight in lies.
The spirit wants truth.
Okay.
So think about some of the other false doctrines that are out there that we deal with a lot.
Like how about the pre-trib rapture?
You can see how that appeals to the flesh because the flesh says, I don't want to go
through the tribulation.
I don't want to go through hard times.
I don't want to suffer.
So you can see how that doctrine appeals to the flesh.
Or this doctrine that says that homos are fine.
You can see how that appeals to the flesh because you know what, people don't want to
be persecuted.
And they know that if they take a stand on that issue, they're going to be persecuted.
The flesh wants to be comfortable, wants to relax.
And not only that, the flesh wants to listen to a bunch of music and movies produced by
the sodomites.
So they don't want to believe that the sodomites are haters of God, reprobates, all these different
things, Leviticus 2013, because they want to listen to that music.
They want to watch those movies.
They want to enjoy and delight in them, but that's the flesh that wants those things,
right?
Okay, think about works-based salvation.
I mean, that's the biggest heresy of all time, salvation by works, but it appeals to the
flesh.
Why?
Pride.
Pride of, I'm going to heaven because I'm such a great person or I've repented of my
sins or I've turned over a new leaf.
That's the flesh talking because it's pride.
And we could go down the list of false doctrines and just name your false doctrine, you know,
a doctrine that speaks against soul winning.
It's the laziness of the flesh that doesn't want to go soul winning.
And all of us in our flesh would be too lazy to go soul winning.
We got to put on the new man.
We got to walk after the inward man in order to get motivated about soul winning.
So no matter what the false doctrine, it ends up appealing to the flesh because the
spirit's not interested in false doctrine.
The spirit wants the truth.
This doctrine is no exception.
This Zionist doctrine appeals to people's carnal desire for a physical battle, a physical
fight, or a struggle that they can look at with their physical eyes instead of one that
they have to believe in spiritually, which is the soul winning battle or the preaching
battle and so forth.
Go to Matthew chapter number 16, if you would.
And in Matthew chapter 16, there's a famous verse where Peter begins to rebuke Jesus,
if you can imagine that.
You know, Peter is so presumptuous as to rebuke our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Jesus Christ is explaining the gospel, it says in verse 21 of chapter 16, from that
time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer
many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again
the third day.
That's a pretty important doctrine.
I mean, that's the key points of the gospel here, the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ.
Then Peter took him, verse 22, and began to rebuke him saying, be it far from thee, Lord,
this shall not be unto thee.
Verse 23, but he turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense
unto me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
And this is the rebuke that I would give to those who want to just stay with the Zionist
doctrine, even after being shown the truth, even after they've seen scripture, they still
want to hang on to that carnal, physical, fleshly nation of Israel, which is a counterfeit.
You know what?
They're savoring the things that are of men.
Instead of savoring the things that be of God, they're savoring the things that be of
men.
They're glorying in the flesh of other men.
They're glorying in the works of other men, the achievements of other men, the exploits
of other men.
They're looking at a struggle that happened in 1947 or 1948 or 1967 or last week or next
week, all these different physical, carnal fights that have nothing to do with them that
are on the other side of the world, and they want a glory in those people's flesh.
They want a glory in their military victories.
They want a glory in a fight that's carnal and not spiritual.
But God forbid that I said glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know, Peter didn't want to hear about the cross.
He didn't want to hear about the resurrection, and Jesus rebuked him and said, hey, get behind
me, Satan.
You're an offense unto me.
He said, thou savoureth not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Instead of savoring the death, burial, resurrection of Christ, the Gospel, the birth of Christ,
his sinless life, his works, his preaching, his message, and the spiritual commission
that he's given us as the Father has sent me, so send I you, and the spiritual commission
that he's given us when he said, you are the light of the world.
Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
Hey, that ought to keep us busy winning people to Christ and baptizing them and teaching
them to observe all things Christ commanded.
I mean, that's a lot to teach.
We've got a lot to do.
We've got to get people saved.
We've got to get people baptized, and then we have to teach them everything in the Bible.
And it's a war.
It's a spiritual fight because people resist the truth.
There are so many lies out there, false teachers.
Boy, we're fighting that battle, fighting that battle, fighting for the truth of Scripture
and the truth of the Gospel.
That is what we ought to glory in, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, not glorying in
other men's flesh.
You know, the Bible says as many as compel you to be circumcised, he said, you know,
they want to glory in your flesh.
And you know what, there are people today that just, they glorify and glory in that
carnal nation of Israel over there, and they miss the whole point of the spiritual nation
and the spiritual battle.
I mean, they just, they glory in it so much.
And in fact, one of the things that I've heard people say that really gets under my skin
is when they say that the nation of Israel is the greatest proof for the existence of
God.
Who's heard that one before?
Yeah, I mean, hands all over the building.
You know, oh man, that nation of Israel over there, that is the greatest proof of God's
existence or that is the greatest proof that the Bible is true.
I mean, the greatest proof that we can point to is Israel over there, you know, and she
has withstood all her enemies over there.
But hold on a second, that's where your faith is resting?
That's your biggest proof?
That's the object of your faith, basically, well, why do you believe the Bible?
Well, the number one reason is because Israel.
I mean, the number one reason is because of 1948.
I mean, the number one reason is 1967, you know, I mean, come on, look, that is garbage
because it's insulting to the real most powerful reason why we believe in God.
The real most powerful reason why we believe in Jesus is because of the greatest story
ever told of Jesus Christ being born and the angels rejoicing with the shepherds and Christ
coming into this earth and all of Christ's amazing preaching that we read in the Bible
and we read his preaching and never man spake like this man and the powerful preaching of
Christ as he walked on this earth and as he died for us and was buried and rose again
and we love Matthew and we love Mark and we love Luke and we love John and we love all
the Bible, we love Genesis, we love Exodus, we love the Leviticus, the law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul.
My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed.
I trust the ever living one, his wounds for me shall plead.
I need no other argument.
I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me.
I don't need some proof of some fossil to tell me that God is real or that the Bible
is true and I certainly don't need some Rothschild invention over in the Middle East, some United
Nations resolution of some carnal rejecting of Christ's nation.
I mean people who hate Jesus want nothing to do with him.
Like I need that to tell me that Jesus is my savior or that the Gospel of Matthew is
really true because of something I read in the newspaper about Israel defeating their
carnal enemies because they were backed by the Soviet Union, okay, because when Israel
first started you know they were backed by the Soviet Union for many, many years and
it wasn't until the late 60s that they switched from being the ally of the Soviet Union to
being the ally of the United States of America.
I mean they were in bed with the Soviets for a couple decades.
Look how many people have heard of these kibbutzim over there?
Who knows what I'm talking about, the kibbutzim, very few people, but they have communist collective
farms over in Israel.
All these liberals and commies and hippies would go over there and work on these collective
farms in Israel and experimenting and socialism and communism and being allied with the Soviet
Union.
I mean that's why I believe the Bible, Israel, God bless Israel, you know.
It's wicked and you know what, just because they switched from being allied with the Soviet
Union to being allied with the United States of America doesn't change the fact that that
nation is not of God and they're not of God because if any man love not our Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha.
That's what the Bible says.
If you're in Christ, you're Abraham's seed.
It's all about Jesus, folks, and you know why do you believe the Bible, Jesus.
Why do you believe the Bible?
God's word.
That's a circular argument.
I don't care what shape it is.
That's my argument.
I don't care if it's a circle, a square, or a triangle.
I believe in the Bible because the Bible.
I believe in Jesus because the story of Jesus is the greatest story ever told.
I believe in the Bible because the Bible is the greatest book that's ever written and
our heart burns within us when we hear the word of God preached and faith comes by hearing
and it doesn't come from hearing about some military victory over in Israel.
It doesn't come from hearing about some nation that was built carnally by people who acknowledge
Christ not at all.
Zero acknowledgement of Christ.
Oh, but they prayed to who?
If you don't have the son, you don't have the father.
Who are you praying to over there?
Some false god, Shekinah, Moloch, Remphan.
So what's the appeal of Zionism?
Well look, we know that Zionism must appeal to the flesh, not to the spirit.
So how does it appeal to the flesh?
It appeals to the flesh's desire for violence and physical fighting and warfare.
The spirit understands about the spiritual battle, the spiritual warfare, but the flesh
wants that carnal fight and just like, you know, they want to go get the newspaper and
read the sports page about their sports team kicking the other sports teams, but they want
to read about Israel kicking Palestine's butt is the same thing, folks.
It's like rooting for their team or whatever, except the good news is on the football field,
nobody's getting killed.
At least it's just a game.
It's even worse when they put aside the sports page and think they're being more spiritual
by getting out the global, you know, news and whatever about what Israel, who they killed
this week or who they say, yeah, kill them all, bomb them into the, that's, that's carnal.
The spirit wants to win those people, the Lord spirit wants to get the Arabs saved.
The spirit loves the Palestinians and wants them saved.
Amen.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the fact that we don't live our lives glorying in other
people's flash and, and getting involved in some fight on the other side of the world.
Lord, please help us to walk in the spirit and Lord give us an understanding of the old
Testament scriptures that will point us toward a spiritual battlefield and not a carnal battlefield,
not with an AK 47, but Lord with a Bible in our hand, a spiritual weapon for a spiritual
fight.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.