In a departure from its usual Alabama-focused discussions, "1819 News: The Podcast" tackled the hot topic of so-called "replacement theology" on its most recent episode, featuring Birmingham Trinity Presbyterian Church pastor Rich Lusk.
Replacement theology is the belief that the Christian Church has replaced, or "superseded," Israel as God's chosen people, while opponents, called dispensationalists, believe God still has promises to fulfill for Israel separate from the church.
Host Bryan Dawson said it's one of the subjects he's asked about most often when he visits college campuses, and that those who hold the view are being demonized at an increasing rate.
"Who is the Israel of God, or what is this country that was invented in 1948? What is Christian's relationship to it? Does the United States owe fealty to this nation that was created in 1948 because of biblical prophecy? There's all manner of questions that kind of surround this," he said.
Dawson and Lusk, who prefer to call it fulfillment theology, acknowledged the subject's controversial nature, which has only grown more contentious amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
"It may not be important to the state of Alabama in the same way that a lot of other issues are because it's obviously more of a broad theological issue and foreign policy issue and that kind of thing," Lusk said. "But I think it's still a very important issue for Christians in particular to really understand well."
"Jesus is Israel," he explained. "... It's like you could take the life of Jesus and lay it over the history of Israel, and you would see that they match. He's reliving Israel's history with one major change. Whereas Israel failed again and again and again, Jesus is going to do Israel right. He's going to be the Israel that is faithful."
Lusk said the Old Testament points to Christ, who fulfilled the law in the New Testament.
"You can find old covenant scriptures, Old Testament scriptures, where the nation of Israel is called God's church," he said. "And you can find New Testament scriptures where the church is called God's Israel… So the church is Israel. When a gentile becomes a Christian, he is getting Israelized. In the same way, Jews who reject Jesus as the promised Messiah get gentileized. So those who Gentiles who believe in Jesus get incorporated into Israel. Jews who don't are no longer part of the Israel of God."
Lusk continued, "God's plan all along was to create a worldwide family that we call the church. You could say small C, catholic church, the universal church, that is composed of people drawn from all tongues and tribes, every people group, every nation. And God would form them into one family. That's the family God promised Abraham. And that's the point that Paul is making in Romans chapter 4."
While Israel is often referred to as America's greatest ally, Lusk said support should not be based on religious grounds. He also said simply criticizing the Israeli government and not giving unconditional support did not equate to anti-Semitism.
"Israel should be viewed as any other nation. And if aligning or allying with Israel serves American interests, if it's a righteous thing to do and it serves American interests, fine. But the case has to be made on those grounds," Lusk argued. "You cannot appeal to Genesis 12 to make that case. That is a misuse. That is a twisting of what the Bible says."
"Bad theology gets people killed. Bad theology can send people to hell, but it can also get a lot of people killed," he said, referring to the ongoing war in Iran.
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