Prophecy fulfilled — or not: Josh Shepherd, in a piece for The Roys Report republished here at ReligionUnplugged.com, cites opposing viewpoints on the subject:

On Oct. 8, the day after Hamas massacred more than 1,400 people in southern Israel, prominent California megachurch pastor Greg Laurie devoted about 10 minutes of his nearly hour-long sermon to the topic. 

“You’re seeing Bible prophecy fulfilled in your lifetime, in real time before your very eyes,” Laurie said. “The Bible predicted hundreds of years ago that this large force from the north of Israel would attack her after she was regathered.”

Yet author and theologian Joel McDurmon counters this application of the Bible to current events. “What is happening in Israel is tragic, terrible, and unnecessary for multiple reasons,” he posted on X. “And it has nothing to do with Bible prophecy or Bible promises.”

A main factor influencing evangelicals’ views on the current conflict is their opinion of Israel. Is it merely a modern state without spiritual significance? Or, is Israel the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy that factors into end times events?

American evangelicals and Israel: In a story we first highlighted last week, the New York Times’ Ruth Graham and Anna Betts note that some evangelicals “see Israel’s existence connected to biblical prophecy about the last days of the world before a divine theocratic kingdom can be established on earth.”

Read more analysis via Stephen Mihm at Bloomberg.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. ‘The left has really let us down’: Why do many American Jews feel abandoned? The Los Angeles Times’ Jaweed Kaleem delves into the reasons.

Meanwhile, Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron and Jack Jenkins write that “Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel broke the hearts of American Jews everywhere. Now it’s also tearing them apart.”