Orthodox Reflections

By Nicholas – member of the Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America

In the 2020’s, Evangelicalism is in freefall. There are multiple blogs and YouTube channels that are tracking the fact that thousands of Evangelical Churches are closing as millions of their victims are walking away. Even megachurches are closing or drastically reducing services. The various commentators all have theories about why American Evangelicalism is dying.

Some commentators note the theological problems with Evangelicalism. For a group that puts so much emphasis on the Bible, much of what Evangelicals do is “unbiblical.”  Regular Evangelical activities not found in the Bible include “altar” calls, babbling in “tongues,” being “slain in the spirit” (falling down in a trance), dancing around and screaming “in the Spirit,” replacing the Eucharist as the central act of worship with a TED Talk, and rocking out to praise and worship bands. It takes 10 minutes on the Internet for anyone with questions to figure out that Evangelicalism is not even Christianity, let alone Apostolic Christianity. It is a modern cult movement that is likely a Jewish-funded PSYOP heavily in bed with the National Security State.

Imagine growing up thinking that people falling down in fits was a work of the Holy Spirit. A totally unbiblical practice brought to you by “Biblical literalists.” Once you realize this is a method of psychological control used by a brainwashing cult, you can’t find the exit fast enough.

Other analysts attribute the rapid decline of Evangelicalism to overt politicization. They quote former Evangelicals saying things like, “I went to church for God, and instead got a Republican Party rally.” It is true that many Evangelical leaders made fools of themselves lavishly endorsing a thrice divorced, foul mouthed, narcissistic, serial adulterer (possible rapist of underaged girls) casino mogul as some kind of holy man of God. It was truly embarrassing, even for those outside the Evangelical movement, and led many Evangelicals to believe their leadership was more concerned with access to worldly power than spiritual truth.

If cringe could kill, thousands of Evangelical churches would be crime scenes after the last 10 years. Who foresaw the rise of Evangelical iconography depicting not Jesus and His Saints, but Donald Trump?

Other observers of Evangelical decline focus on the many high-profile scandals. Evangelical Churches have very little, if any, denominational oversight. Pastors are really more like independent business owners than members of an organized body. They are typically overseen only by their own hand-picked Church board. This lack of accountability has led to all kinds of problems. Evangelical pastors regularly fall into bizarre teachings that range anywhere from ancient heresies to new age syncretism. Other pastors run their churches as personality cults. Some have been publicly caught engaging in financial improprieties (including outright theft), sexual improprieties, sexual assaults, covering up sexual assaults, abuse of staff, and even child trafficking.  With no authority structure to appeal to, Evangelicals that have had enough simply walk away, leaving empty pews behind them.

Just one of many scandals of politically-connected Evangelical pastors getting outed as criminal hypocrites. 

Many other reasons are put forward for Evangelical decline such as: Evangelical leaders too closely identifying with the out-of-favor American establishment (including too close cooperation / support for police and the Military Industrial Complex), people searching for a more traditional worship experience, and a demand for deeper theology that is beyond Pastor Jim Bob’s abilities to understand or teach. However, one major reason for Evangelical decline, perhaps even the major reason, is often left out of expert analysis of the trend – Zionism.

Unapologetic, strident, non-negotiable Zionism is killing Evangelicalism.

As a child growing up in a Pentecostal denomination, support for Israel was crammed down my throat nearly every Sunday. In sermons, my pastor would recount made-up “miracle” stories from the 1948-1949 war for Israel’s founding. God Himself had seemingly intervened to grant victory to His Chosen People over their more numerous, more powerful Arab adversaries. It was a regular David versus Goliath moment in history.

Our pastor was so infatuated with Jews and Judaism, that during “worship” services he would even experiment with pseudo-Jewish rituals. Which was weird, considering we were taught that any kind of ritual was demonic, unless (for some reason) it was a ritual patterned after Rabbinic Jewish practices. In which case, God loved it. Two-thousand year old Christian liturgical practices were bad. Talmudic Jewish practices invented by Rabbis were good. It is a miracle all of us growing up in such an environment didn’t end up self-medicating with Heroin.

When politicians came calling for an endorsement, there was only one hard and fast rule – absolute devotion to Israel. A politician could be personally corrupt. He could waffle on abortion, on taxes, on spending, on pretty much anything else, and still get a standing ovation on Sunday morning. But not on Israel. That was non-negotiable.

For every sermon I heard as a child from the Gospels, I probably heard ten from the Old Testament.  More than once, growing up, I thought, “If Jews are so special that we have to devote ourselves to them, why don’t we all just become Jews then?” We were told, of course, that was impossible. Jews were born. Not made. The Jews were the blood descendants of Abraham. You couldn’t just convert. Our only hope, as Gentiles, was to follow Christ as the “Abrahamic covenant” was closed to us at the moment of conception. My “church” literally raised me believing that I was less important to God than even the most secular, sinful Jews.

When everyone you know, everyone you are related to, all have the same belief system – it is difficult to look at those teachings objectively enough to realize they are insane. 

This was small town Southern America in the 1970’s and early 80’s. There was no Internet. There were few competing churches in town that weren’t themselves unabashedly “Dispensationalist.”  There was barely a library downtown. There was no way to fact check Pastor Elmer on anything he said. (Yes, he really was Pastor Elmer.) No one encouraged you to, either. Quite the opposite. Pastor Elmer was God’s representative on Earth. To question him was the same as questioning God. So, kid, sit in the pew and shout “Amen” with everyone else every time Pastor Elmer yelled at us, “God only blesses America because we support Israel!” 

Then I graduated and went on to a major university. After about 5 minutes on campus, all the doubts I had had growing up about Pentecostalism were confirmed. I met real Jews for the first time. Heck, I even dated a Jewish girl. The experience was enlightening. Most of the Jewish students had this sense of being special, even though few of them took their Judaism seriously. Some were outright atheists. Yet, somehow, they were still the Chosen People of a God they considered a myth. The young, secular Jews I got to know partied, slept around, lied freely when it benefitted them, backstabbed, and almost never did anything “religious.” But they were still “chosen.” After all, they had the “magic” DNA the rest of us lacked. God really is a respecter of persons, after all.

According to Zionist Evangelicals, no matter what evil they do, Rabbinic Jews are still “chosen.” Even Jewish pimps are special in God’s eyes. 

I took real history classes, including Christian history, and quickly figured out that Pastor Elmer was either ignorant, a liar, or both. To my shock, I learned that Dispensationalism was invented in the 19th Century, and popularized by a conman turned Bible editor. Going to class made me realize that my whole religious upbringing had been one lie after another.

I also met Palestinian students, mostly Christians, and learned their personal stories of Israeli persecution. Their personal experiences at the hands of vindictive Israelis made me want to punch Pastor Elmer square in the face. Even though I managed to not do that, attending Pentecostal services with my parents was nerve wracking. Sitting through the shouting, the speaking in tongues, and the constant pro-Israel propaganda made me want to retch. Fortunately, I took a part time job back home working one weekend a month and on school breaks. The job usually had me working on Sundays. That way I could avoid the pain of having to sit through sermons from Pastor Elmer that I knew to be false.  By the time I got out of college, I was ready to officially break with Zionist Evangelicalism and find a real path to God.

Just as when I was a child, “Christian” Zionism is still the default setting for most of American Evangelicalism, which is itself the default setting for most of what is left of the “Bible Belt.” The big difference now, however, is that no child has to wait until college to find out the truth. The Internet is in everyone’s pocket. No one has to blindly trust Pastor Elmer and his degree from a little Bible college no one ever heard of. Anyone of any almost any age and educational level can quickly figure out “Christian” Zionism is a heresy within a larger heresy known as Evangelicalism.

In just a few minutes, anyone can learn that “Christian” Zionism is an invention of the 19th Century that was popularized via the Scofield Bible in the early 1900s. It is not the Christian Faith of the Apostles. At this point, hundreds of thousands (millions?) of blog posts, online books, social media posts, and videos are standing by to attest to this fact. Growing up, I had absolutely no idea that descendants of the earliest Christian communities still lived in Palestine, and that their leadership considered “Christian” Zionism to be a dangerous political ideology – not Christianity. Their declaration to that effect is posted on every social media app, just waiting to be discovered by any Evangelical with questions.

As I said, growing up I had heard very little about Christians in Israel. Maybe some talks by an Evangelical pastor here or there that ran “pilgrimages” to the Holy Land or something. I did not find out that historic Christian communities (Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian, etc.) lived in Israel proper and the occupied territories until I got to college. Only then did I find out that ancient Christian populations still live and worship in Palestine, and that they are horribly abused by “God’s Chosen People” our “Greatest Ally.” In fact, the modern state of Israel was born of Christian oppression, with an estimated 85% of Palestinian Christians being rendered homeless thanks to the Nakhba (expulsion of the Palestinians at Israel’s founding).

The founding of Israel was presented to me in childhood as a miraculous fulfillment of prophecy. No one mentioned that Palestine had had a thriving, ancient Christian community which was largely wiped out by Israel’s “miraculous” founding. Since no one ever mentioned them, no one had to explain why God would will so much suffering on Christians who professed Christ, while favoring Rabbinic Jews who reject Him. 

The Christians that weren’t driven out continue to suffer abuse. Anyone can pull up images of Rabbinic Jews spitting on Christians, assaulting Christians, and Israeli authorities interfering with Christians attending holy days in their historic Churches. Of course, Christian land continues to be stolen. The following was reported by Ihab Hassan, a Palestinian Christian human rights activist, concerning the ongoing brutality visited upon Christians in the West Bank:

A horrifying testimony from a Palestinian Christian family attacked by Israeli settler terrorists in the town of Birzeit, in the West Bank. The settlers who assaulted the elderly Palestinian Christian woman and other family members told them: “This is our land.”

 

Israeli settlers first began herding their livestock on the family’s private property. When the elderly woman confronted them and demanded they leave, they refused. The settlers then began attacking the home and throwing stones at it.

 

For simply asking them to leave, the settlers attacked the elderly woman, striking her in the head with a stone, forcing her to the ground, and brutally beating her. When her son saw them attacking his mother, he tried to defend her.

 

Later, the settlers returned with the Israeli army, which stormed the family’s home while searching for family members. Instead of arresting the attackers, the Israeli army arrested the elderly woman’s son, who was simply trying to defend his mother.

It is one thing to grow up hearing all about how Jewish DNA is a land grant from God. It is quite another to continuously see on social media the brutalization of peaceful Christian communities by vicious, land-grabbing Zionist settlers. The videos of Christian suffering have driven many young Evangelicals to either abandon religion, or to seek a different one.

Of course, not only Christians are being murdered and abused. Young people especially are turned off by the blatant disregard Christian Zionists show for human life. The live coverage on social media of Israel’s actions in Gaza shook many younger Evangelicals. They saw videos of Palestinian babies being massacred live on their phones, then went to church on Sunday to endure sermons on how much more valuable Jewish lives are to God than any others. The cognitive dissonance of being in a “pro-life” church that excused the slaughter of innocent civilians is too much for regular humans to endure.

Trump’s own family dynamics have also shredded the “magic” DNA theory of Zionism many of us were raised to believe. Trump’s daughter is a convert to Judaism. Who knows? Maybe Trump is too. Because of her conversion, and the rejection of Jesus Christ that it required, she is now a “child of Abraham.” That fact raises uncomfortable questions about how many such conversions may have taken place historically. Add uncertainty concerning the modern Rabbinic Jews even being in the “lineage of Abraham” to the DNA studies showing the Israelite lineage of Palestinians, and the result is more and more young Evangelicals questioning the “magic” DNA basis of Zionism.

Early Evangelicals wanted to be ready for the Second Coming. That desire, in the past few decades, has been replaced by a drive to actively bring Evangelical understanding of Biblical prophecy to fulfillment. Through their actions, Evangelicals believe they can bring Jesus back. The fact that their actions could actively hasten the rise of the anti-Christ, and result in all kinds of evil, is of no concern to the Evangelicals. They plan to be caught away by God up to Heaven before anything bad happens, thereby skipping the disastrous effects they helped bring about. Evangelical leaders long struggled to keep some kind of balance in this loopy theological system. They wanted us to venerate Jews, but not quite worship them. They wanted us to support policies designed to bring about the end of the world, but not dwell on what that means for humanity, or for our own souls supporting such evil. Just focus on Heaven, and let’s not worry too much about how we all get there.

Well, the balancing act is over. “Christian” Zionism may have started out as a relatively harmless millennialist heresy, but it has now morphed into an accelerationist death cult. The level of crazy is absolutely palpable. Supporting Israel is all that matters to many “Christian” Zionist leaders. They have completely lost any semblance of the original plot.

Zionist Evangelicalism, taken to its logical extent, is the worship of Rabbinic Jews. It has now gone to its logical extent, and many young Evangelicals have noticed the crazy.

Gen Zers are in awful financial and social shape. They are lonely, depressed over their futures, and surrounded everywhere by unmistakable signs of America’s rapid decline. They want careers, homes, families of their own. But they can’t buy homes until they are 50. They have to eat expensive, substandard food they can barely afford. They have to drive crappy cars to dead-end jobs on roads that belong in a Third World country. They are expected to tolerate being ruled by rapacious, pedophiliac billionaire oligarchs that are busy robbing them blind.

Gen Z has noticed that America always has money to send billions to Israel, but never any money to solve domestic problems. But it is not just that Zionist Jews have pillaged the U.S. Treasury of hundreds of billions of dollars. Gen Z has also noticed that many of our social and economic problems are rooted in the efforts of Rabbinic Jews to actively destroy the American nation. Gen Z understands what we published in 2024:

Jews have been at the forefront of many of the changes in American culture including legalized abortion, no-fault divorce, the acceptance of homosexuality, and the sexualization of children. According to the Jewish Daily Forward, “Jewish women were overrepresented in reproductive rights everywhere in the US.” Notable Jewish women involved in promoting abortion included Betty Friedan, Susan Brownmiller, Ellen Willis, and Gloria Steinem. While at a Jewish American Heritage Month event, Joe Biden stated, “I bet you 85 percent of those changes [referring to the public acceptance of gay marriage], whether it’s in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry.”

 

An article from Haaretz celebrated obscene Jewish comedians: “Brilliant actors like Larry David and Sarah Silverman are challenging America’s powerful religious, family-friendly culture and asserting their Jewishness by glorifying obscenity.” Nathan Abrams, a Jewish professor at the University of Aberdeen, summed it up, “Those at the forefront of the movement which forced America to adopt a more liberal view of sex were Jewish.”

By its nature, Zionist Evangelicalism can never be “America First.” It is a subversive faith that forever subordinates any society in which it operates to a foreign, secular state. Nowhere does this show up more than in Evangelical leadership supporting the curtailment of American Free Speech to protect the Zionist narrative. Evangelical leaders would be perfectly happy seeing average Americans muzzled, or in prison, for the horrific crime of “anti-Semitism”. You can criticize America. You can call for the destruction of white people. You can advocate for socialism or fascism or any other “ism.” But, by God, if you want to cut off funding to Israel in favor of domestic priorities – off with your head! Even in the so-called “free state” of Florida, lawmakers are chomping at the bit to censor anyone questioning Zionism.

In Zionist Evangelical churches, Gen Z is bombarded with messages that Rabbinic Jews are eternal victims in need of our protection. That was an easier message to swallow when I was a kid. We didn’t see the Zionist wizards behind the curtain pulling all the strings. We have now reached an undeniable “peak” of Zionist Jewish supremacy in almost every facet of our society: media, music, economics, culture, technology, foreign policy, domestic policy, fiscal policy, academia, censorship – everything.

Gen Z are now coming into the age where they will be expected to die in wars for Zionism. Most of them want absolutely nothing to do with dying on foreign soil for a foreign government. But that is exactly what “their” government seems to expect them to do. On the one hand, Evangelicalism tries to posture as American patriotism. On the other hand, Zionist Evangelicalism tells young people that it is God’s will for them to suffer and die for the greater glory of a foreign nation. Therefore, many Gen Z see Zionist Evangelicalism less as a “Christian” religion, and more as a foreign-controlled PSYOP designed to exploit American patriotism.

Recent polling notes that support for Israel has completely collapsed among younger Democrats, and that even among younger Republicans only 24% are sympathetic to Israel. Gen Z has seen the truth, and they want nothing to do with an American “establishment” that hates them, abuses them, strips them of their rights, and treats them as second class citizens in their own country. Do you really expect such an awake, angry generation of young people to keep attending Zionist churches that tell them to shut up and obey Zionist pedophile oligarchs?

Not a chance. “Christian” Zionism is doomed. Americans of all ages, but particularly the young, have figured out that allegiance to a foreign nation, and a religion that blatantly denigrates Jesus Christ, are the essential features of Zionist Evangelicalism. Many are walking away, either joining non-Zionist churches such as Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, or abandoning organized religion altogether. This has sent Zionism Incorporated into a panic, causing them to tighten their grip even harder while actively seeking new bases of support.

The Roman Catholic Church has done such a poor job that many Latin Americans have converted to Evangelicalism. A huge group of them made it into the U.S., and the Zionist ADL seems to see them as replacements for the white Evangelicals who are leaving in droves:

The ADL announced the partnership on October 16, 2025, creating educational materials for distribution across Hispanic evangelical churches in the United States. The collaboration encompasses a 12-month antisemitism awareness curriculum distributed to pastors, youth leaders, and congregants, with specific modules designed for K-12 private schools. Faith-based resources include sermon guides and prayer materials promoting solidarity with Jewish communities.

How’s that for irony? The remaining white Zionist Evangelicals, who are mostly against immigration, are allied with Jewish Zionist groups that want to import useful Latin Americans to shore up Zionist control of our nation. Just in case you were wondering why we don’t really have mass deportations and Congress is actively discussing amnesty with a path to citizenship for illegals…

Will it work? Short term, probably. Using the remaining strength of native, and imported, Christian Zionists the U.S. government will keep sending money to Israel as long as it can. Americans will keep dying in wars for Israel, as long as cannon fodder is willingly available. States and the Federal Government will keep restricting speech to enforce the Zionist “narrative.”

But, the hand writing is on the wall. In the not too distant future, the average American will either be irreligious, or belong to a religion that does not worship Rabbinic Jews. The true believers in Zionism will be a tiny, electorally and culturally insignificant minority. At that point, keeping Americans hostage to a foreign parasite becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible.

There is no salvation in Zionist Evangelicalism. It is a demonic construct. There is no truth in Zionist Evangelicalism. It is all based on lies. There is no safety in Zionist Evangelicalism. It is an accelerationist Millenarian movement seeking to bring about the end of the world through evil means. There is no American patriotism in Zionist Evangelicalism. The whole goal is to subordinate American interests to a foreign nation. There is no authentic tradition in Zionist Evangelicalism. It was all made up mostly in the last 100 years.

America is waking up to the truth, and no amount of censorship or persecution is going stop that.