Aug 10, 2026
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Aug 10, 2026 | 0 comments
Introduction
Last year I was briefed by the MLB. TV app that I had watched or listened to over 130 hours of baseball in 2025. I wasn’t surprised. Major League Baseball is a sport that plays well without having to view the game on TV; one can also savor the radio feed. Yet, the listening quality of a baseball game depends on the expertise and sensitivity of the sports broadcaster.
As an NY Yankees fan, I took pleasure in the years I spent listening to the radio voices of John Sterling and Susan Waldman call the Bronx Bombers’ baseball games. Since I now live in Southern California, I also relished the broadcasting skills of LA Dodgers legendary announcer Vin Scully.
One of the skills of a crack baseball commentator is knowing when to stop talking and let the game breathe! Scully was a master at detecting the intensity of a game when the Dodgers were in a win-or-lose situation.
It’s the bottom of the ninth. The Blue Crew are down by one run with two outs and two eager runners on second and third. The opposing pitcher has a full count on the batter. The crowd is edgy, but silent.
What in the world would Scully say? Share a few recent stats on the perspiring pitcher’s record with men on base in the bottom half of the ninth inning? How about several fresh analytics on how the LA hitter performs in these situations?
Nope! Scully would remain silent.
Vin waited on the inhale of bated breath of the LA crowd, and the exhale of the next pitch, to call the game any further. His baseball broadcasting was priceless.
For expert broadcasters of America’s National pastime, a crowd’s intense silence at the bottom of the ninth needs no additional baseball banter. Instead, the hushed anticipation of baseball fans poised to see their team take the lead speaks louder than any barrage of statistics, analytics, and speculation. It is prime time to let the game breathe.
When the Hebrew Scriptures Need to Breathe
The same observation applies to how some pastors interact with the Jewish Scriptures, which Christians refer to as the Old Testament.
At times I perceive evangelical pulpiteers unnecessarily throttle the Hebrew Scriptures by carpeting the ancient text with Christian themes and far-fetched applications. These biblical orators feel the need to insert Christian theology into a text directed at ancient Israel and sidestep the message God originally steered towards the Jewish nation.
When this scenario occurs, the original application of a passage is lost. In other words, the pastor refuses to allow the Jewish Scriptures to breathe on their own. Instead, he flings an NT blanket to smother the words of the Hebrew text lest his non-Jewish Christian audience be confused by a passage that contains a present-day or future message to the Jewish people.
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Apr 3, 2026
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Apr 3, 2026 | 0 comments
Introduction
As I pen these words in March 2026, Israel and the United States are locked in an aggressive attempt to permanently damage the repressive regime of the Islamic State of Iran. With that important goal, the objectives of the US and Israel are to disrupt Iran’s program to refine enough nuclear material to build a nuclear bomb and to crush Iran’s aim to finance world terrorism aimed at the destruction of the modern state of Israel.
While my purpose of this post is NOT to argue the pros and cons of the current war effort, I am concerned with the many voices that are blaming Israel for “pulling the US into another war in the Middle East.”
Sadly, a sizeable force of Israel’s detractors exists inside evangelical Christianity. Many of these evangelical influencers are opposed to any effort that positions Christians in a supportive role to the nation of Israel. Therefore, to prevent any hint of evangelical support of Israel, Christian critics of the modern Jewish state are bent on a mission to delegitimize the modern state of Israel. How?
Some evangelical leaders are adamant in denying that today’s Jewish people have any connection to the biblical Israel. In other words, the Jewish people living in Israel and the Diaspora outside Israel are “fake Jews.”
Consequently, why would Bible-believing Christians want to support a nation of impostors who are pretending to be part of the nation that Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, belonged to while He was on earth 2000 years ago?
Then we witness other Bible-clutching leaders and theologians who claim the Church is the true Israel. In other words, a more genuine spiritual Israel, i.e., evangelical Christians, are now replacing Jewish people who are OUTSIDE the Body of followers of Yeshua.
Where do these Israel-denying efforts by Christians leave the Jewish people? In part 1 of this post, I surmised that any denial of Israel’s rightful place in the ongoing promises of God assigns Israel to a “phantom status.” If Gentile followers of Yeshua replace Jewish people, or if Jews are proven to have no connections to the biblical nation of Israel, the Jewish state is a nebulous nation with a “stolen identity.”
This post will answer one question: “Who is the nation of Israel?” Are those, like myself, who call themselves Jewish, embracing a false identity? Most importantly, is there any indication in the New Covenant Scriptures that the nation of Israel no longer exists and has now been replaced by the Church? If so, we should be able to find solid evidence in the NT scriptures that Israel’s identity has undergone a radical transformation. The modern state of Israel is nothing more than a “p” antom Israel.”Israel’s identity
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Feb 10, 2026
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Feb 10, 2026 | 2 comments
Are the biblical Israel and the modern state of Israel the same?
I never thought I’d be asking this question in 2026. Let me state this question differently: Are the modern state of Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu and the biblical Israel under King David two distinct entities with no connection between them?
Of course, many centuries separate the two bodies called “Israel.” Yet, why should a doubt be raised whether Jewish people descended from Abraham and his offspring now residing in Israel are not the same?
When one fantasizes that the Israel of the Hebrew Scriptures no longer exists and has been replaced by the New Testament Church, that person has transformed modern-day Israel into a shell of its former self. This Christian belief is called “replacement theology.” I view this newly rendered Israel as a “phantom Israel.”
Replacement theology is the primary source of the mystification of Israel. Those who redefine biblical Israel into a spiritual Israel need to have their view of a shadow Israel demystified.
Kirk Cameron’s Bizarre Views on Israel
In a recent YouTube video from the messianic ministry, First Fruits of Zion, the podcast host Jacob Fronczak discusses Christian celebrity Kirk Cameron’s views on the modern state of Israel. In brief, Cameron questions whether the ancient nation of Israel and the modern Jewish state are identical. Several evangelical pastors, such as Andy Woods, and other scholars have astutely responded to Cameron’s misguided view on Israel.
The Promises to Abraham Are Meant ONLY for the Patriarch
As an example of Cameron’s baffling position on Israel, he maintains the blessings promised to Abraham apply ONLY to the patriarch, but NOT to his descendants. The former TV star appears to be wearing foggy lenses when he suggests the nation of Israel does not appear in the establishment of God’s covenant with Abraham, “And I will make of you a great NATION, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing (Genesis 12:2 ESV) (bold font added by author).
If Israel is not the nation promised to Abraham, according to Kirk Cameron, who is the nation God promised would come forth from Abraham? Could it be Edom or Turkey? Perhaps the nation God promised to the patriarch is Great Britain. I’ll let the reader answer this question.
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Apr 4, 2014
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Apr 4, 2014 | Comments Off on Not All Israel Is Israel Part 3
The controversy over God’s continuation of Israel as a viable nation despite their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah looms large in the Christian church.
Most followers of Jesus are not even aware of the various Christian theologies regarding the Jewish nation. Yet when uninformed evangelicals are exposed to such anti-Israel beliefs such as Replacement Theology (the view that Israel is no longer God’s elect people but replaced by the Church), these Christians are conflicted over what they are hearing and what the Bible teaches.
As a representative of Replacement Theology (though he prefers the term “Fulfillment Theology”) Gary Burge, New Testament professor at Wheaton College, in his book Whose Land? Whose Promises? the author states, “Abraham can become the father of many nations because when Gentiles share in Abraham’s faith, he becomes their father too (Romans 4:16). Physical lineage, therefore, has been spiritualized into a lineage based on faith (emphasis mine). The ‘land of Israel’ is likewise spirtualized now to include the entire world” (pg. 182).
The key concept to focus on from Burge’s theology is, “physical lineage . . . has been spiritualized into a lineage based on faith.” Israel is no longer a physical nation, according to the Wheaton professor, but has become a spiritual entity that one enters into by faith in Christ not by physical heritage through Abraham. If the physical seed has been “spiritualized” then the “physical” is no longer relevant, hence the physical nation of Israel is moot to God’s spiritual program.
The glaring mistake Burge makes is twofold: first, the physical lineage of a member of the nation of Israel never implied the individual within the nation has a relationship with God, and second, within the physical nation of Israel there has always existed a spiritual remnant of Israelites who remained faithful to God. These two truths do not redefined the nation of Israel, but describe the reality of a spiritual remnant within the physical Jewish nation.
In contrast to Gary Burge’s fulfillment theology which pushes aside God’s plan for the physical nation the Apostle Paul teaches that Israel still exists as a nation even after the first coming of the Messiah. In Romans 9:3-4a Paul pleads, “For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” To Paul, “those of his own race” are “the people of Israel” quite alive and not replaced by or fulfilled in the New Testament church. (more…)
Mar 20, 2014
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Mar 20, 2014 | Comments Off on Not All Israel is Israel Part 2
To many students of the Bible Paul’s comment in Romans 9:6 that “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (NIV) sounds very strange. Is Paul saying the part of Israel that is “descended from Israel” is no longer part of the nation known as Israel? Then that would mean the only people who are actually Israelites are Jewish people who believe in Yeshua as Messiah and the “not all who are descended from Israel ” group are no longer members of the Jewish nation. Yet if you follow that logic, any examples of the NT apostles addressing the segment of the Jewish nation who have not accepted Yeshua as Messiah as still “Israel” makes no sense.
Check out these examples from the New Testament:
Acts 2:22: “Fellow Israelites, listen to this:
Acts 2:29: “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.”
Acts 2: 36: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
Acts 3:12: “When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you?”
Acts 3:17: “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.”
Acts 4:10: “then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.”
No wonder Christians are befuddled by Paul’s reference to two Israel’s in Romans 9:6.
Twelve Tribes of Israel
In light of Paul’s head-scratching use of the phrase, “”not all who are descended from Israel are Israel”, Christian theologians come up with explanations that confuse the issue even more.
My favorite explanation is the one that states unbelieving Israel has been replaced by the Church. This is called “replacement theology.” In this theological system, “Israel” that accepted Yeshua is none other than the Church. Rather than create clarity, Replacement Theology (aka disguised as Fulfillment Theology or Transformation Theology or Promise Theology) contributes more fuzzy thinking since the reader of the New Testament is forced to think “Church” when he reads the term “Israel”. Try to think “Church” in reading Romans 11:26, “and in this way all Israel will be saved.” Thanks, but no thanks. (more…)
Mar 11, 2014
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Mar 11, 2014 | Comments Off on Christ at the Checkpoint Position Paper by Israeli Messianic Jews
A Position Paper of the Messianic Jewish Community regarding the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference (CatC)
1. The Word of God: the Tanakh and the New Covenant Scriptures together, are the one true, infallible, and unalterable standard of truth and life for all believers. As Yeshua our Messiah declared, “Your Word is truth” (John 17:17) and “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Therefore we affirm that “all the promises of God are ‘Yes’” and ‘Amen’ (not abrogated) in Yeshua (II Cor. 1:20), and that “the gifts and calling of God” for His chosen people, Israel, “are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28b-29 in context). “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew!” (Romans 11:2). Rather, “to them belong [present tense!] the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises” (Romans 9:4).
2. The Messiah Yeshua’s calling for His Body — in the Land of Israel and throughout the world — is to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19) by proclaiming “repentance for the forgiveness of sins…in His name to all nations” (Luke 24:47). Every movement or activity which does not promote or which, on the contrary, distracts us from that central purpose and calling is not of God, no matter what biblical or spiritual language may be used to describe it. Yeshua never commanded, or even suggested, that His followers were to “bring in” the Kingdom of God on earth. Yeshua Himself promised to establish His Kingdom upon His return (Matthew 25:31, 34), and we, who are heirs of His Kingdom and proclaimers of it in the present age (James 2:5; Acts 28:23, 31), are instructed to pray for that day to quickly come (Matthew 6:10; cf. Philippians 3:20-21).
3. Christ at the Checkpoint is, therefore, a false messianic movement, arrogating to itself the role of Messiah in establishing the Kingdom while promoting a humanistic, political “liberation theology.” [All the “evangelical” CatC speakers reflect the same approach and goals, as is evident from the Kairos Document which Yohanna Katanacho, CatC Committee member, helped compose and Bethlehem Bible College endorsed]. Although cloaking its “mandate” in biblical language (“the teaching of Jesus on the Kingdom of God”) and using seductively positive terms (“Peace, justice, and reconciliation”), this movement has one overriding purpose: to sway Evangelical believers worldwide away from belief in the eternal promises of God to Israel by slandering the Jewish people and delegitimizing the Jewish state; painting Israel as a wicked, oppressive, apartheid “entity”—especially in contrast to the supposedly ‘democratic, tolerant and peace-seeking’ Palestinian Authority and people. There is no Gospel here! (more…)
Mar 26, 2013
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Mar 26, 2013 | Comments Off on Not All Israel Is Israel Part 1
Is “replacement theology” becoming the newest fad among Christian? Lately I run across more and more Christians who claim the Church has replaced Israel as God’s people. The sad thing is that most of them don’t know why they believe what they claim. As I dig deeper speaking with these individuals, they all share the same defect – they are sadly deficient in their knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures.
For those who teach Israel has been replaced by the Church, Romans 9:6 is an essential verse in their arsenal. On the surface, the verse can be confusing. 
The verse reads, “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” It’s like saying, “Not all players wearing a LA Dodger uniform on the field at Dodger Stadium and sitting in the dugout are really Dodgers.”
The replacement theologian would say, “Not all Jewish people who are wearing the Jewish uniform and sitting in the Jewish dugout are really members of the team. In fact, the real Jews consist of members of the Church who have placed their faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah.”
Replacement theology can be very confusing. If you follow their line of thinking, in some passages “Israel is the Church” and in other texts, “Israel is the Jewish nation.” Israel keeps switching leagues. Sometimes they are in the National League; then at other times they are in the American League. I don’t know who to root for because I don’t know who is who.
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Jun 27, 2012
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Jun 27, 2012 | Comments Off on Why Israel Exists ‘for the Palestinians’—and the Rest of the World | Christianity Today
Why Israel Exists ‘for the Palestinians’—and the Rest of the World | Christianity Today.
I am including the final installment of the dialogue between Jew for Jesus head David Brickner and Pastor and author John Piper regarding Israel’s divine right to the land. This four-part article has been helpful to lay out the issues on the table even though many aspects of this discussion left much unsaid. Today Piper attempts to maintain the exclusivity of God’s promise to the Jewish people and yet also hold to the position that the whole world will inherit Israel as well. Though the Gentile world enjoys the blessings of the land of Israel during the messianic kingdom, the prophecies in Ezekiel make it clear that the land of Israel is divided among the twelve tribes of the elect nation.
Pastor John Piper
Piper displays the confusion among Reformed theologians who try to affirm Israel as the object of God’s blessings and at the same time extend those blessings to the world while maintaing Israel as a unique chosen nation. Somewhere in the theological mix as explained by Reformed theologians, the elect status of Israel is lost in the universal blessings God promises to the world. Brickner’s words still stand true, ” “You are taking away with one hand what you give with the other.”
This is the conclusion of a four-part discussion between Bethlehem Baptist Church pastor John Piper and Jews for Jesus executive director David Brickner on the relationship and attitudes American Christians should have toward Israel. See parts one, two, and three. (more…)
Jun 22, 2012
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Jun 22, 2012 | 1 comment
Jews for Jesus Director David Brickner has an online conversation with John Piper, author and pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and speaker at Christ at the Checkpoint Conference. This online conversation centers on the Jewish people’s divine right to the land of Israel. ScriptureSolutions highly recommends to its readers to check out these articles and read the Christian ZIonism side represented by Brickner and the anti-Christian Zionist side purported by John Piper.
God Doesn’t Keep Jews in a Pickle Jar | Christianity Today.
This is part three of a four-part discussion between Bethlehem Baptist Church pastor John Piper and Jews for Jesus executive director David Brickner on the relationship and attitudes American Christians should have toward Israel. See Brickner’s initial letter and Piper’s first response.
Dear John,
Thank you for your insightful comments on a number of the issues brought up in my first letter to you, many with which I happily agree. We both uphold the need and priority of Jewish evangelism as integral to world mission. We both affirm the ongoing election of Israel (the Jewish people) and God’s faithfulness to his covenant people and his promises. We both look forward to the second coming of Jesus and his glorious restoration of all things, including his people Israel. I do want to take issue with two of your comments before voicing my main concern.
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Jun 20, 2012
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Jun 20, 2012 | Comments Off on Just Published! Jesus or Yeshua: Exploring the Jewish Roots of Christianity
Today ScriptureSolutions published a new booklet written by Louis Lapides. This brief book can be found for Kindle at Amazon.
Jesus or Yeshua: Exploring the Jewish Roots of Christianity by Louis Lapides
It came to no surprise to me that when I first became a Jewish follower of Yeshua, I was going to have a cultural crisis trying to fit into a Gentile Church. I lasted a few months before I started asking inevitable questions, “I’m Jewish. Jesus is Jewish. His first followers were Jewish. The New Testament was written by Jews and a lot of the concepts they discussed have a powerful Hebraic background. Then why is Christianity so “not-Jewish”?
Jesus or Yeshua: Exploring the Jewish Roots of Christianity provides the reader with some of the findings I came upon as searched for answers to my questions. For me a lot of the issues were resolved when I studied the origin of most of the terminology used by Christians when describing their beliefs and practices. When I was growing up attending Hebrew school in preparation for my Bar Mitzvah I never expected that Rabbi Printz would tell me that the mass practiced by the Catholic Church across the street from our temple was actually based in the Jewish Passover. Nor was I told that baptism has it’s origins in the Jewish practice of immersion or mikveh used when Gentiles would turn from their paganism and convert to Judaism.
Attending a church for me at age 23 was a shocker as I describe in my opening chapter. Here is a sample section from that chapter that will give you an idea of what Jesus or Yeshua: Exploring the Jewish Roots of Christianity is all about.
Here’s a shocker . . . Jewish people don’t feel at ease in a Christian church. The first time I attended a Protestant congregation, a Southern Baptist one, I couldn’t avert my eyes from the 10-foot tall stained glass mosaic of Jesus looming behind the pastor. I imagined for a few moments the man from Galilee was about to step out of the window, float over to my pew and ask whether I noticed the “Jews Not Welcome” sign at the church’s front door. “Of course,” I would respond, “But Jesus, aren’t you . . . .?”
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