With Friends Like These: The Strange Bargain of Christian Zionism - Redacted

Photo credit: Western Wall Heritage Foundation

Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson is on a summer break and he spent it with his constituents... Not in Louisiana. In Israel.

Speaker Johnson led a delegation of House Members on a visit to Israel this weekend along with U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee and his daughter, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

He said, "Our prayer is that America will always stand with Israel. We pray for the preservation and the peace of Jerusalem. That's what scripture tells us to do. It's a matter of faith for us and a commitment that we have."

Why do older members of the religious right say this about Israel?

It’s rooted in Christian Zionism—a theological belief that Jews must return to the land of Israel to fulfill biblical prophecy. According to this interpretation, their presence sets the stage for the final battle at Armageddon, after which Jesus returns, defeats evil, and establishes His kingdom.

In this view, modern Israel isn’t just a nation—it’s a prophetic countdown clock. But after the final battle, the land is no longer Jewish. Those who convert are saved. The rest... are not.

So Christian Zionists support Israel—for the Jews, but only temporarily.

Why, you might wonder, would Jews want an alliance whose end goal is for them to stop being Jewish?

Some say Israel needs every friend it can get. Others say that since Jews don’t believe in the second coming of Jesus, the whole prophecy is irrelevant. Either way, it’s a strange bargain—faith-based support, with an expiration date.

And here’s the twist: younger Christians aren’t buying it.

Support for Israel among young evangelicals has collapsed in recent years. Studies show it dropped from 75% in 2018 to just 34% by 2021—while sympathy for Palestinians quadrupled during the same period.

They’re rejecting Armageddon politics—and questioning why faith should come with a foreign policy agenda.