Against American Heresy

The Ancient Heretical Roots Behind the U.S.-Israel Relationship

“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.” (2 Peter 2:1 NKJV)

As I started to work on my upcoming series on the impact of occultism on American Christianity, the unthinkable happened. Last Friday, Israel launched a series of “preemptive strikes” on its enemy Iran, days before scheduled negotiation talks. After at least thirty years of claiming Iran was “months” from developing a nuclear weapon¹, Israel refused to wait. Now the two countries are embroiled in a hot war, which has already killed 1,968.²

The question now is whether the United States will also declare war on behalf of its greatest blackmailer ally. In a dizzying twist of events, the ‘anti-war’ candidate who ran on a platform of “No More Wars” is now voicing his unequivocal support for the bellicose state of Israel. According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump secretly approved Israel’s strikes but is still holding off a “final order.”³ Despite the protestations of many within Trump’s own cabinet⁴, the famous billionaire seems hell-bent on financially and militarily supporting Israel at all costs.

While economic factors most likely play a significant role in President Trump’s decision⁵, religion also occupies a key role. On Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, the president shared a personal text (shown above) from the 29th United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Formerly a presidential candidate and the governor of Arkansas, Huckabee is also a devout Evangelical and avowed Zionist. He refers to the West Bank as ‘Samaria’ and refuses to acknowledge any Israeli occupation. In a recent interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Huckabee made a shocking statement that further revealed his zealous motivation as well as the toxic, corrupt nature of America’s “partnership” with Israel. When asked if the relationship between America and Israel was experiencing any tension, Huckabee replied: “America has friends. It has allies. It only has one partner. And by partner, I mean the relationship is like a marriage (emphasis mine). It is so tight. And that's Israel.”⁶ Huckabee elaborated further:

“And the reason is, is because we share intelligence at a level with which we share with no other country. We share military capacity, hardware and strategy. In a way we don't share with anybody else for both of our benefits. We do this, and it's a true partnership. And the reason the marriage is not about to break up is because neither side could afford to pay the alimony if we ever got a divorce."⁷

But before I could fully process Ambassador Huckabee’s astounding statement, Tucker Carlson stole my attention. On Wednesday, Carlson dropped a nearly two-hour in-person interview with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) from Washington, D.C., in which Senator Cruz revealed similarly shocking sentiments to Huckabee but admitted even more. Like Huckabee, Cruz has vocalized unwavering support for Israel and military action against Iran.

Initially, the interview started very friendly. But when Carlson started grilling Cruz on the amount of money he’s received from AIPAC (the American-Israeli Political Action Committee), Cruz admitted “individuals” raised money for him but then boasted, “I came into Congress thirteen years ago with the stated intention of being the leading defender of Israel in the United States Senate.” (32:23) Visibly confused, Carlson pushed Cruz to explain how AIPAC represents America’s interests and why it should not be registered as a foreign lobby. At this point, the interview turned increasingly contentious. Cruz vehemently denied that AIPAC lobbies on behalf of the Israeli government, even after Carlson reminded him of his own “stated intention,”. Cruz became visibly uncomfortable and defensive to the point that he started to insinuate, “It’s a very weird thing… the obsession with Israel… the question - “what about the Jews?” (41:20) Predictably, questions about Israel, a foreign government, led to implied accusations of “antisemitism,” even after Cruz himself admitted that he entered Congress with the “stated intention of being the leading defender of Israel.”

It was an astonishing moment of political theater that quickly confirmed the growing suspicions of the American public: Israel has overwhelming influence on U.S. policy. And if you question this influence, you will suffer the accusations of “anti-semitism.” Don’t believe me? Consider the state of Texas (Cruz’s state), which recently passed legislation that would make it illegal for any retirement system to invest in companies that boycott Israel.⁸ Or the Trump Administration’s recent decision to restart the foreign visa process for international students hoping to attend university in the U.S. That is, unless said student’s social media poses a “national security threat,” a similar excuse provided for deporting and detaining pro-Palestinian students.⁹ In other words, you can criticize the American government but not the Israeli one.

For some Americans, it is not only shocking but almost unbelievable. After decades of propaganda and Hollywood conditioning, it is still difficult for some Americans to open their eyes to the truth, especially within the Baby Boomer generation. But for other younger generations, it is less surprising. Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in October 2022 opened the floodgates to information. Anyone with a phone could suddenly see not only footage of the genocide in Gaza but also videos previously long-buried, like the Zapruder film of JFK’s assassination or the ‘Dancing Israelis.’¹⁰ The questioning of COVID-19 led to a questioning of science, and the questioning of science led to a questioning of history. Under the bright lights of the microscope, the history of Israel is not pretty.¹¹

Yet a sizable and powerful subset of Americans who are still “loyal” to Israel have a very particular reason for doing so. Cruz even utilizes this same reason later in the interview. “Growing up in Sunday school, I was taught from the Bible, ‘Those who bless Israel will be blessed. And those who curse Israel will be cursed, and from my perspective, I want to be on the blessing side of it.” (51:10) When Carlson clarifies, “Those who bless the government of Israel?” Cruz quickly retorts, “Bless Israel, is what it says. It doesn’t say the government, but it says the nation of Israel. So, that’s in the Bible, and as a Christian, I believe that.” In one of many embarrassing moments for Cruz, Carlson asks him where in the Bible that statement is made, and Cruz tells him he can look it up. “It’s in Genesis,” Carlson responds correctly. Genesis 12:3. For full context, Genesis 12:3:1-4 reads:

“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s house, to a land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you; and in you all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed.’ Then Abram departed as the Lord said to him, and Lot went with him.” (New King James)

As we can see from the text, Cruz’s biblical interpretation is a stretch. The Lord is speaking directly to Abram, one of the direct descendants of Shem, son of Noah. The Lord cannot speak to the nation of Israel because there is no nation yet. God has not even offered His covenant, though this blessing certainly implies a blessed future. However, Cruz reiterates what is a fairly common, though relatively young, theological heresy called Dispensationalism.

Dispensationalism is the theological brainchild of John Nelson Darby, an Anglo-Irishman and one of the leading figures and founders of the Plymouth Brethren. The Plymouth Brethren were a radical Protestant sect that followed sola Scriptura. Therefore, they emphasized reading and interpreting the Bible literally in English without any guidance from the Church. Famously, this form of exegesis has led to beliefs such as ‘the rapture,’ one of the hallmarks of premillennialism and Dispensationalist theology. Based on this reading, Dispensationalists taught that the Church and Israel were separate entities; an innovation not found in the early Church. However, it spread like wildfire in 19th-century America, where very few Christians lived within historical bishoprics or dioceses and instead had to rely on itinerant preachers and evangelists like Dwight L. Moody. The heresy gained even more popularity after Oxford published the reference Bible of an uneducated American preacher named C.I. Scofield. Though it claimed to be a copy of the original King James, Scofield’s Bible included new, peculiar commentary, including a very particular interpretation of Genesis 12:3. It reads:

“‘I will bless them that bless thee.’ In fulfillment closely related to the next clause, ‘And curse him that curseth thee.’ Wonderfully fulfilled in the history of the dispersion. It has invariably fared ill with the people who have persecuted the Jew—well with those who have protected him. The future will still more remarkably prove this principle.”

The Scofield Reference Bible became the Bible for American Evangelicals, but its publication was financed by wealthy Zionist Jews like Samuel Untermyer, a Wall Street lawyer.¹² In other words, a very powerful and very wealthy Zionist Jewish-American, who also helped usher in the Federal Reserve Act, financed the biblical commentary of a petty criminal with no basic, professional, or theological eduction of any kind. And it became a bestseller. The 1984 edition, The New Scofield Study Bible, added to Scofield’s commentary: “For a nation to commit the sin of anti-Semitism brings inevitable judgment.” Whether Scofield was merely an unsuspecting participant or a cunning sell-out, we may never know. But compare his interpretation of Genesis 12 to a truly Christian interpretation by one of the great Church Fathers.

St. Irenaeus (c. 125- c. 202 AD) was the Bishop of Lyons (then Lugdunum), a large and strategically important city for the Roman Empire located in central France. Originally from Smyrna in modern-day Turkey, St. Irenaeus heard the teachings of St. Polycarp, the martyred Bishop of Smyrna, who had studied under St. John the Evangelist. While he was in Rome visiting Pope Eleutherus, many Christians in St. Irenaeus’ bishopric were persecuted and even martyred. However, God used his suffering to embolden and inspire St. Irenaeus. As various sects of Gnosticism threatened to corrupt orthodox Christianity in the second century, St. Irenaeus became a fierce apologist for the faith, writing one of the most celebrated and concise refutations, Against Heresies.

In Book V, St. Irenaeus provides not only a Christian interpretation of God’s promise to Abraham but also an apostolic one based on the teachings of Christ. He teaches:

“So, then, God’s promise which he promised to Abraham remains firm… Yet he received no inheritance in it, not even a footprint, but was always a pilgrim and a stranger in it. And when Sarah his wife was dead, and the Hittites wanted to give him freely a place for her burial, he would not accept it… He awaited the promise of God, and did not wish to seem to accept from men what God had promised to give him, saying to him again, ‘To your seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.’ If, then, God promised him the inheritance of the [promised] land, but in all his sojourning there he did not receive it, it must be that he will receive it with his seed, that is, with those who fear God and believe in him, at the resurrection of the just. For his seed is the Church (emphasis mine), which receives through the Lord adoption to God, as John the Baptist said, ‘That God is able from these stones to raise up the sons of Abraham.’ The apostle also says in the Epistle to the Galatians, ‘But you, brothers, are like Isaac the sons of the promise.’ Again in the same he says clearly that those who have believed in Christ will receive Christ, the promise of Abraham, saying, ‘To Abraham were the promises uttered, and to his seed; and it does not say, And to seed, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ.” And again, he says, confirming what has been said ‘Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. You know therefore, that those who are of faith, they are the sons of Abraham. Now the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, foretold to Abraham, ‘In you will all nations be blessed. Therefore those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.’ So, then, those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham, and they are sons of Abraham.”¹³

Unlike the confused interpretation of Scofield, St. Irenaeus reminds us that Christ’s Church inherits the promises to Abraham, not his genetic descendants or a political nation. This is partially because in the second century, Gnosticism was not the only heresy threatening the young, persecuted Church. From the Church’s inception, some Christians mistakenly taught that Christians had to adopt Mosaic law and live according to the Torah. This early conflict is first illustrated in the Book of Acts at the Council of Jerusalem, where St. Paul, a pious Pharisee, teaches that Gentiles do not have to live according to the Torah to join the Church. Thus, Gentiles increasingly joined the Church, and God’s promise to Abraham that “in you all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed” came to fruition. The belief that followers of Christ would have to become Jews to receive salvation became known as the Judaizing heresy.

Despite the Apostles’ instruction, another form of Judaizing became popular in the second century, that of the Ebionites. Ebionites rejected the divinity of Christ and the Virgin birth, teaching instead that Christ was merely a “prophet.” Instead of turning to the Church for salvation, they erroneously taught that ‘Christians’ must observe the Torah, including circumcision and strict dietary laws. They rejected the teachings of the Apostles and introduced confusion into the Church, especially in areas heavily populated by Gentiles such as Gaul. But St. Irenaeus also refuted the Ebionites, reminding them that “the Jews departed from God, in not receiving His Word, but imagining that they could know the Father [apart] by Himself, without the Word, that is, without the Son.”¹⁴ If one rejected the Word, which is the Incarnate Christ, who appeared to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets before His Incarnation, one rejected God, regardless of familial or ethnic descent.

Although St. Irenaeus successfully refuted the Ebionites, Judaizing did not disappear. It has often reappeared in various forms throughout history, one of those being Dispensationalism. This especially became the case during the Reformation, when many well-meaning Christians mistakenly turned to Talmudic Jewish interpretations of Holy Scripture rather than the Church Fathers.¹⁵ As we shall see in upcoming essays, many heresies have developed because Christians have consulted Jewish, pagan, or esoteric belief systems rather than the Church.

America is no exception. Similar to Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, Dispensationalism developed because Christians attempted to reinterpret scripture outside the guardrails of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Rather than submit to the authority of the Church, many American Christians, like Scofield, unwittingly submitted themselves to the world. For if anyone, Jew or Gentile, rejects Christ, they belong to the world and not the Church.

Now, the most powerful country in the world has found itself “married” to a rogue nation, itself a creation of imperial power-brokering. Politicians like Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, who wield the power to influence millions of human beings, unknowingly adhere to a heresy the Church successfully refuted almost two thousand years ago; a heresy steeped in the teachings of Jews who rejected Christ rather than the Jews who followed Him. The stakes could not be higher. After decades of cultural, political, and military hegemony, the United States faces trillions in debt, unprecedented rates of mental illness and addiction, crumbling infrastructure, and an increasingly disillusioned citizenry. It is in no state to engage in another disastrous and costly war across the world on behalf of another country.

For over a century, Evangelical Americans have unknowingly followed a false gospel antithetical to the teachings of the Holy Apostles. As St.Peter warns us, listening to false teachers will lead us to destruction. Whether this false gospel will lead to America’s destruction is unknown.

1. Anonymous, X post, 18 June 2025, x.com/YourAnonCentral/status/1935229074340987025.

2. “Day Six of Israeli Strikes on Iran: An Overview of the Events.” Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), 31 Oct. 2024, www.en-hrana.org/day-six-of-israeli-strikes-on-iran-an-overview-of-the-events/.

3. Dave DeCamp, “Report: Trump Privately Approved Plans To Attack Iran but Has Withheld Final Order.” Antiwar.com

4. Olivia Nuzzi, “Trump and Tulsi Gabbard Disagree on Whether Iran Is Building a Nuclear Weapon,” New York Magazine, 18 June 2025, nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-tulsi-gabbard-rain-israel-nuclear-weapon.html.

5. Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-American billionaire, donated $100 million to Trump’s reelection campaign and PAC, larger even than Elon Musk’s $75 million. Asaf Elia-Shalev, "Miriam Adelson Gives $100 Million to Trump Campaign, Making Good on Reported Pledge," The Times of Israel, Times of Israel, 16 Oct. 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/miriam-adelson-gives-100-million-to-trump-campaign-making-good-on-reported-pledge/.

6. "Huckabee Points to Israel's Biblical Right to Land: Connection Goes Back 3,800 Years," CBN News, The Christian Broadcasting Network, 13 Nov. 2024, https://cbn.com/news/israel/huckabee-points-israels-biblical-right-land-connection-goes-back-3800-years.

7. Ibid.

8. “Texas Government Code, Title 8, Chapter 808, Section 808.001. Definitions.” Texas Statutes, Texas Legislature, statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.808.htm#808.001.

9. Julia Manchester, “Trump Administration Requires Social Media Vetting for Foreign Students Applying to Harvard,” The Hill, 31 May 2025, thehill.com/homenews/education/5359059-foreign-student-visa-social-media-trump-harvard/.

10. Keith Woods, X post, 11 Sept. 2024, x.com/KeithWoodsYT/status/1833881046183547177.

11. Several great resources on this subject from objective reporters and historians. Against Our Better Judgment: How the US Was Used to Create Israel by Alison Weir is currently free on Kindle here. Weir was a small-town journalist who decided to quit everything and travel to Gaza to see what was happening firsthand. After seeing the horrifying evidence, she began a research project into the origins of the US-Israeli relationship. This is a great “just the facts” reporting on how Zionists used Jewish Americans and Evangelical Christians to financially and politically support the creation and protection of the state of Israel. Another incredible resource is Daryl Cooper’s podcast, Martyr Made. His series, Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem, is the most comprehensive, sympathetic, and insightful breakdown on the history of Zionism and Israel I have ever encountered. But get ready, because there is no sanitizing here, and it’s long. Perfect for a long drive. You can listen to it here. I also recommend Sheldon Richman’s collection of essays, Coming to Palestine. Richman is a Jewish-American political writer who accurately predicted Trump’s plan to help colonize Palestine with commerce and tourism. He passionately and very succinctly argues from a non-Zionist but Jewish perspective. You can buy here.

12. Maidhc Ó Cathail, “The Scofield Bible—The Book That Made Zionists of America’s Evangelical Christians,” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Oct. 2015, www.wrmea.org/2015-october/the-scofield-bible-the-book-that-made-zionists-of-americas-evangelical-christians.html.

13. St. Irenaeus, "Book 5, Chapter 32," in Early Christian Fathers, ed. Cyril C. Richardson (New York: Touchstone, 1996), 392-3.

14. St. Irenaeus, “Book 4, Chapter 7” in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Translated by Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103407.htm>.

15. Anthony of Westgate, “Kabbalah and the Protestant Reformation,” The Reversion, 20 June 2025, substack.com/@thereversion/p-144881720.