The religious right would like you to believe that all it wants is to give social conservatives a place at the table. But as any religious right watcher will tell you, that gets exposed as a transparent lie whenever a religious right leader thinks no outsiders are listening. Well, the folks at People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch found a lovely instance of this. One of the religious right’s most prominent leaders told a church full of followers that Christians ought to get rich in hopes of making Jews jealous enough to convert to Christianity.
Cindy Jacobs is one of the leading voices of the New Apostolic Reformation, an overtly fascist offshoot of the religious right that believes it can bring about the Second Coming by taking over the world. Her organization, Generals International, oversees a federation of statewide prayer networks that form the backbone of the NAR. She’s best known for claiming that birds keeled over dead in Arkansas after the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” No, I’m not kidding.
Right Wing Watch recently discovered that in February, Jacobs traveled to King of Kings Worship Center in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. About 41 minutes into her sermon, she suggested that one way to make Jews accept Jesus as their Messiah and Savior is to get rich. Right Wing Watch got a clip.
Jacobs told the audience that there was “a great harvest of Jews” in the offing–and it was going to be brought on when Christians get rich. Supposedly, the sight of so many Christians becoming “profoundly wealthy” is going to make Jews envy them–and want what they have.
“The wealth and the riches that we’re able to obtain is going to make them jealous. Do you think our poverty is going to make a Jew jealous? Come off it! No, we are meant to prosper. Why? Because they understand, in their culture, that obedience to God brings blessing.”
If I’m hearing this right, all the talk from religious right leaders about being supportive of the Jews suddenly rings hollow. When they think no one else is listening, they want to see them converted. How else do you explain a suggestion that Christians ought to deliberately make Jews “jealous”?
I’d wondered why the religious right largely remained silent when Donald Trump’s final ad turned out to be one of the most blatantly anti-Semitic ads ever seen on American television. Well, this screed from Jacobs may be part of the answer.
(featured image courtesy Jacobs’ Facebook)
