Tag Archives: Bible

April 14, 2026 · 4:49 PM

Most Christians in the United States still support Israel and the Jewish people!

We know this because we sponsored a survey in December 2025 where we asked American Christians about their views on Israel and the Jewish people. An independent firm deployed the survey and analyzed the data to ensure it was high quality and as objective as possible.

We were almost certain that Christians would be less supportive of Israel because of all the negative reporting about Israel and the rise of global antisemitism, especially in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. But I am happy to tell you after our recent and very comprehensive survey of Christians that this fear is unfounded. While the anti-Israel antagonists received a lot of attention, they do not outnumber the number of Christians who still love Israel and the Jewish people.

This letter is my way of saying thank you! Thank you for standing with Israel, praying for Israel, and supporting our work to reach God’s chosen people around the world. I hope you are as encouraged as I am as you read our analysis about these new survey results. Most Christians, especially those with a high view of Scripture, support Israel. As the leader of a historic, 132-year-old Mission to the Jewish people, I know that Christian attitudes toward God’s people make a world of difference in our witness. A genuine love and concern for Jewish people should be our motivation to share the gospel.

Christians Remain Strongly Pro-Israel

The numbers are clear. What encourages me is not only the steadfast support of Israel but the reasons for Christian support of Israel. Far too often Christian Zionists are accused of caring about Israel only because some see Israel as playing a key role in the end times.

While I believe Israel’s critical role in the end times is biblically accurate (Matthew 23:37–39; Romans 11:25–29; Zechariah 12:10), we found that Christians love Israel for a deeper and very biblical reason! The survey shows that Christians stand with Israel because they believe that God’s covenantal promises to the Jewish people are as true today as in the days of our forefather Abraham.

Let’s take a moment and explore this more deeply.

Why Do Christians Support Israel?

Core Theological Commitments

I need to explain a distinction we made—for the first time—on this round of surveys. We wanted to know how evangelicals’ views compared with other Christians who held positions outside the standard evangelical beliefs. So we asked respondents whether they agreed with these four statements from the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE):

The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

Those who strongly agreed with all four statements were labeled “evangelicals,” and we compared their answers to others who identified as Christians but could not strongly agree with these beliefs. This makes a huge difference.

Belief in the authority of the Bible, the centrality of Christ, and the need for evangelism consistently correlate with stronger support for Israel and Jewish people. This connection does not surprise me at all! But now we have the numbers to show it.

The survey also revealed another truth that is foundational to our ministry: Standing with the Jewish people and believing that Jesus the Messiah is the only way to salvation are not mutually exclusive! Respondents were asked whether they agree with the statement “Christians should love and support Jewish people whether or not they accept Jesus as Messiah.” Among those who reported strong agreement that salvation is in Christ alone, 87 percent agreed with this statement.

We do not stand with Jewish people as some type of evangelistic strategy. We share the gospel because we believe spreading the message of eternal life is the most loving act we can do. Our love and concern for Jewish people are not a means to an end. We love because that is what our Messiah calls us to do.

God’s Covenant with Israel

Most evangelicals (69 percent!) and others who profess Christianity (51 percent) believe that God’s covenant with the Jewish people remains intact today. Note that evangelicals (who agreed that the Bible is the highest authority for what they believe) were 18 percent more likely to affirm God’s ongoing covenant. The survey analysis states that this belief “consistently emerges as one of the strongest reasons for why a Christian supports Israel.”

In our most recent survey, those who affirmed that the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:1–3) is still valid were 81 percent more likely to express strong support for Israel. This confirms what I have observed over decades of speaking in churches and meeting Christian leaders from around the world: Affirming the covenant God made with Abraham and taking it literally leads to the support of Israel today.

God repeatedly and specifically promised to give a particular land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 15:18–21, 28:13). If we take these promises at face value, and pair this with the fact that the modern State of Israel is now home to more than half the world’s Jewish community, then we can conclude that Christian support for Israel today is not grounded in ever-changing Middle East politics but in God’s unchanging Word. Believing that God has an eternal covenant with the Jewish people does not mean endorsing everything Israel’s government does. But it does mean we accept the right of the Jewish people to live in, protect, and govern the land of Israel.

Another promising insight from this part of the survey is that 21 percent of evangelicals and 35 percent of other types of Christians were not sure whether the covenant is intact. In a way, this is good news because these people—a significant portion of respondents—are not ruling out the ongoing nature of the covenant. They just do not know either way. This represents an opportunity to educate our brothers and sisters in the biblical view of Israel. These numbers should encourage you to persevere in praying for Israel, sharing the gospel with Jewish people, and equipping other Christians to do likewise.

Our Rebuilding Israel Tour

One of the best ways to experience the importance of Israel—in the Bible, now, and in the future—is to visit. I am excited to invite you on our Rebuilding Israel tour from October 20–30, 2026. This is your opportunity to see the land of the Bible and discover how God is working in Israel today. We will tour biblical sites, visit our Messianic centers in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and meet Israelis who have come to faith in the last few years. To learn more and register, go to chosenpeople.com/event/rebuilding-israel-tour/. Again, I want to thank you for standing with Israel. Because of you, we are not alone!

You are a blessing to our worldwide staff who are bringing the good news to Jewish people in Israel, the United States, and a total of twenty countries around the world through Your Mission to the Jewish People.

Finding Hope

Shalom.

Maybe, like me, your sense of hope is running thin as we begin this eighth month of the pandemic. You are not alone. Optimism and hope may well be the most sought after, invaluable, and yet intangible life quality people are seeking today. We are all longing for hope—the belief that the future will be better and brighter than today!

We were entirely unprepared for the impact COVID-19 would have on our everyday lives. Most of us know very little about the Spanish flu of 1918 and how it ravaged American life and killed 675,000 Americans.[1] Some of what happened at that time would seem familiar today, including people wearing masks and socially distancing!

We remember more modern-day plagues like Ebola, AIDS, Legionnaires’ disease, polio, measles, mumps, and many others. Today, thank God, we have vaccines and treatments for most of these scourges.

Few of us remember World War II. However, many of us remember and maybe even served in more recent wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, in which we lost a combined total of more than 100,000 beloved American heroes.[2]

I remember the Cold War tensions, the Cuban missile crisis, and the atomic threat that drove school children to hide under their desks periodically (as if this would provide safety from a nuclear attack)!

We endured 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, and massive storms in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas that wreaked terrible devastation and death upon people we love and care about, not to mention costing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. We can now add the devastating West Coast wildfires to this list.

In some ways, COVID-19 is a crisis unlike any other as we face a deadly enemy we cannot see. Now, it seems that this dreaded disease will impact almost every area of our country, and, at the moment, we are hovering around 200,000 deaths. If we add the economic struggles and social unrest we are experiencing, who could blame someone tempted by hopelessness? How do we cope and find hope during these dark and difficult days? Ignoring what we are facing today is not going to work.

I especially appreciate those around me who are more upbeat and hopeful! May their tribe increase! I am grateful for every pair of smiling eyes peering above a mask, trying to help me look toward the brighter side and face the future in hope. I pray you have a few family and friends who bring you this kind of joy and inspiration, but even these wonderful people cannot always be by our side. So, how can we find hope in a seemingly hopeless situation? Is it possible? I believe it is!

Finding Unwavering Hope During a Pandemic

Hope comes from connecting with someone or something that is above and beyond the shifting circumstances of our day. We need to fix our hope on what is unchanging and eternal if we are going to find security and peace today. I believe we can find the hope we long for so desperately in a personal relationship with the God who made and loves us.

A God Who Keeps His Promises?

I find this hope in the story of the Bible. The Bible teaches us that God created a perfect world, but then something went wrong. Though He placed our first parents in an exquisite garden, they veered off the path He wanted them to follow. We followed suit, and every generation since then has suffered the results of these bad decisions. But, according to the Bible, God will reclaim and recreate the world He made.

God has not abandoned us and will one day heal our broken world.

In Judaism, this idea is called “tikkun olam,” the healing of the world, and it is vital to the Jewish view of life, as men and women may partner with God in the healing of the world. Jewish tradition understands that something is fundamentally wrong!

The Hope of Israel Fulfilled

How do we know what is written in the Bible is true?

So often we need something we can see to help us believe. I did! Let me tell you what convinced me. Briefly, here are three reasons.

He has kept His promises to Israel and the Jewish people. Despite the devastation of the Holocaust, the Jewish people—after multiple millennia and against incredible odds—have returned to the land of promise. This was predicted by the Jewish prophets, like the well-known Ezekiel who wrote thousands of years ago, “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land” (Ezekiel 36:24).

If God can orchestrate Israel’s regathering and return to the land, He can be trusted to fulfill His other promises in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and New Covenant Scriptures. This is undeniable. If the Bible was correct in predicting the unlikely restoration of Israel, then what else in the Bible is true?

The Hope of Messiah Fulfilled

I also believe God demonstrated His trustworthiness by sending the Messiah. His name is Yeshua, or Jesus in English, and there are hundreds of prophecies detailing His identity and mission penned by Israel’s prophets over multiple centuries. If what the Bible promised about His first coming has come to pass, then what is predicted about His second coming should be true as well.

The prophets of old prophesied His place of birth (Bethlehem) (Micah 5:2), His death for our sins (Isaiah 53:1–12; Psalm 22), His resurrection from the grave (Psalm 16), and so much more! He will return as judge and king to: restore our planet; remove sin, death, and disease; and, according to the Bible, He will wipe every tear from our eyes. Isaiah promised, “He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 25:8, also Revelation 21:4).

This is a foundation for hope that will never disappoint.

Personal Experience

Finally, without being unrealistic about the level of tragedy we have experienced, I am convinced that God is trustworthy. When I accepted Yeshua as my Messiah, He filled my heart with hope. I cannot easily explain it or prove it logically. When you have a personal relationship with God and believe the promises in the Bible, hope invades your soul and enables you to face the future with confidence.

You will be able to read about the experience of others in this newsletter who had similar experiences to mine.

So, how should we respond to the hope God offers to humanity? We could just give up or become cynical about life in general. We could also choose to put our hope in our fellow human beings working hard to find a vaccine and a cure for COVID-19. Or, we could trust in the God who created us! Maybe a combination of the last two?

I can tell you that, even if we find a cure, we will still experience ongoing tragedies and challenges in this life and that only our relationship with our loving and immovable Creator will shelter us against the storms of life.

One More Thought

It is a mystery as to why God allows His beloved creation to endure difficult times: the loss of loved ones, jobs, educational opportunities, the separation from friends and family, and more that you and I have faced recently. It might be tempting at times to question if God is even good, whether or not you are a person of faith.

Right now, it might be a difficult season for some to keep the faith! It is understandable—times are tough! Maybe you would like to know and trust God but have a hard time believing what the Bible says about His unchanging character.

I wish I could give you an easy answer. I believe God is good by nature. He is Lord of all creation and mysteriously uses life’s most profound disappointments to shape us and make us strong.

I encourage you to hope in God! Even though the road may be dark, He is the Guide we need who lights our path and leads us through the valley of the shadow of death to green pastures.

You might have an unshakable faith in God, secured by the Messiah Jesus, or perhaps you are seeking hope that has been elusive so far. I wish you blessings on the journey, whatever your starting point might be, and thanks again for taking your precious time to read.

I hope you will enjoy the rest of the newsletter!

Sincerely,

Mitch

[1] Nina Strochlic, “U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Now Surpass Fatalities in the Vietnam War,” National Geographic, April 28, 2020, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/04/coronavirus-death-toll-vietnam-war-cvd/#close.

[2] Ibid.

Understanding the Hebrew Scriptures

Shalom!

For decades we have dedicated the October edition of our newsletter to addressing both those who already believe in Jesus and those who are seeking the Lord. If you are one of those curious and brave individuals who is pursuing a relationship with the living God, let me especially thank you for taking the time to read the newsletter. This month, we are focusing on the Hebrew Scriptures, or as it is known to many, the Old Testament. Of course, if you are Jewish and do not accept the New Testament as holy Scripture, then there really is no such thing as an Old Testament! The Hebrew Scriptures is simply known as the Jewish Bible, with the first five books being referred to as the Torah.

We will discuss the impact and importance of the Hebrew Scriptures in Western society and in the hearts of those who believe these words were spoken by God Himself at Mount Sinai and through the mouths of prophets.

The Hebrew Scriptures impact every area of life: from issues of the heart, to practical wisdom, amazing prophetic predictions of the age to come, and of course our moral code and behavior. The older testament—if you can appreciate this new terminology—has been extremely influential in our lives, personally and corporately, even when we did not realize it! In fact, as the article will suggest, the Hebrew Scriptures have helped shape our culture and society more than the Constitution and Bill of Rights combined. Additionally, a good argument can be made to demonstrate that these documents that were so foundational in the formation of our country were based upon the words of the Hebrew Scriptures.

It would be virtually impossible for me, as a Messianic Jew, to believe in Jesus if I did not believe that the Hebrew Scriptures referred to Jesus in the promises and prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah. This rationale for faith in Yeshua (His Hebrew name) is critical for a Jewish follower of the Messiah and also for those who are not Jewish. When more than a thousand years of biblical prophecy are so remarkably fulfilled in this one person, it gives us tremendous confidence in Him and also in the Old Testament where He is described. So much of what we understand about salvation, the nature of God, and His plan for each of us is firmly rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures. As King Solomon wrote so beautifully,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5–6)

Admittedly, at times, the Hebrew Bible is not the easiest to understand, especially in light of today’s cultural trends and ideas about morality. Frankly, the Hebrew Bible might seem out of sync with our modern world upon a first, surface-level glance. But, consider that the voice of the Hebrew Scriptures, though contrary to many of our current cultural values, might very well be a voice worth listening to. It has led so many of us to a fulfilling and meaningful life. The Psalmist David wrote about those who read, meditate, and obey what is written in the Hebrew Scriptures:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1–2)

I hope that you will enjoy the rest of the newsletter. My prayer is that it will motivate you to study the Hebrew Scriptures, to learn more about God’s plan for you, and that the very specific predictions about the coming of the Messiah will become personally meaningful to you. There is so much in these 39 books of the Old Testament to understand, and I hope you will take the time to read through the entirety of the Hebrew Scriptures to try and better understand one of the world’s great works of literature. You might not take my position in believing that the Old Testament is the inspired Word of God, but I think, if you have an open heart, you will find so many of the statements in these ancient pages to be comforting, relevant, and life-changing.

Enjoy the journey, and, if you are seeking the Lord, may I encourage you to take a look at followmessiah.com, which is a 16-part video study of the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, which will help guide you towards a deeply personal relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

A belated Happy Jewish High Holidays!

Mitch