‘It’s satanic to be antisemitic,’ Hibbs warns
Were the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel a glimpse into Bible prophecy?
In a special July 16 service at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Chino, California, Pastor Jack Hibbs and bestselling author Amir Tsarfati, explored the intricate connections between biblical prophecy and contemporary events, with a particular focus on what they view as the state of Israel’s role in the End Times. The discussion largely centered on the spiritual and prophetic significance of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, with both Hibbs and Tsarfati framing it as a pivotal moment in God’s divine timeline.
Drawing on Old Testament prophets like Joel, Ezekiel and Isaiah, Hibbs urged believers to discern current events through the lens of biblical prophecy, specifically the Oct. 7 attacks and the brief Iran-Israel war last month. He introduced Tsarfati, a former major in the Israeli Defense Force and founder and president of Behold Israel, as a trusted friend of 28 years and a prophetic voice, adding, “It’s not his fault that every book he writes seems to be a national bestseller.”
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Tsarfati set the stage by describing the Oct. 7 attacks as “an amazing event that not only opened the eyes of the Israelis to understand who we are dealing with, but also it opened the eyes, I believe, of everyone around us to understand that the presence of Israel is not something that they can play with and bring about an end to.”
The founder of Behold Israel appeared to dismiss allegations of genocide against the Palestinians, saying, “October 7th, a lot of people think that it was just an event that obviously came out because Israel oppresses the Palestinians, blah blah blah, all of that nonsense.” He then cited an unidentified source that he says revealed “the grand plan of the Iranian plot to destroy Israel,” by using Iranian proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah, which they “built very carefully for the last 20 years.”
Tsarfati noted that nearly two years after the Oct. 7 attacks, “Hamas is almost gone. Hezbollah is almost gone. All the militias in Iraq and Syria are almost gone. The entire Syrian Army is gone. And Israel was flying freely in the skies of Iran. And thanks to you guys [the U.S. military], there are no nuclear sites anymore in the hands of the Iranians.”
The conversation then turned to Joel 3, which Hibbs cited as a cornerstone for understanding God’s plan for Israel: “For behold, in those days … I will bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them … on account of my people.” This passage, he explained, predicts God’s restoration of Israel and His judgment on nations that oppose it, a prophecy he sees unfolding in increasing antisemitism and attempts to divide Israel’s land.
“God announces through the prophet Joel that His people are a particular people. Notice that we’re talking about the Valley of Jehoshaphat. That’s not in San Fernando Valley, folks. That is in Israel,” said Hibbs, connecting the nation of Israel in the Old Testament to the people of the modern-day state of Israel. “We’re talking about the future. We’re talking about Judah. We’re talking about Jerusalem. And he says he’s going to enter into judgment on account of my people. God says my heritage, Israel, whom they, the world, have scattered among the nations. They have also divided up my land. Is that remarkable? Always, always the discussion to divide up Israel’s land for peace.”
Tsarfati highlighted Isaiah 17’s prophecy about Assyria — believed to refer to the modern state of Syria — which states that “Damascus will cease from being a city.” He suggested that ongoing Syrian conflicts might signal the fulfillment of this ancient prediction, urging attendees to watch the Middle East closely.
“Isaiah Chapter 17 says that something’s going to happen in Damascus. There’ll be a fire within the walls of Damascus,“ Hibbs added. “And whatever it is, whenever it goes off, the Bible says it will never again be inhabited by humans. So it must be nasty. What’s there?” The pastor suggested that it could be a reference to “Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction that we said never existed.”
“Why did Colin Powell, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry at the time stand before the United Nations? Are you guys listening?” he said, reviving a decades-old theory that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein moved stockpiles of chemical weapons to Damascus prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. “They stood before the United Nations and they showed the world photographs of Saddam Hussein moving his weapons of mass destruction to Damascus to the city center into warehouses.”
Hibbs, referring to the prophecies in Joel and Ezekiel, described the establishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 as a fulfillment of God’s promise to bring His people back from exile, a precursor to End Times events.
“God says in the past in the prophet, I’m going to gather my people out of the world and bring them back into their land,” said Hibbs. “And the world is going to seek to do something. The world, first of all, scatters them. And then the world, once they’re back in the land, the world is going to seek to divide up the land of Israel, which belongs to God, obviously.”
Near the end of the event, Hibbs condemned antisemitism as “demonic” and “satanic,” adding, “The Messiah came out of the land of Israel. And of all things, the God of creation identified Himself physically as a Jew. Don’t you think there’s a correlation?” he asked. “ … It’s satanic to be antisemitic and it’s satanic to say God doesn’t have a son … ”
Tsarfati added that he believes the existence of the state of Israel is further evidence of Bible prophecy being fulfilled in our lifetime. “Another part of this […]thing is Israel has to exist in order for Jesus to return, because He Himself said, ’You will not see me again until you say Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,’” he said, quoting Matthew 23:39. “So they want to destroy us in order for him not to come.”
While the debate over the prophetic identity of the state of Israel has long been a controversial topic, it rose to national prominence last month after a now-viral interview between conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz over theology, foreign policy and national priorities in which the Texas lawmaker appeared to equate the Israel of the Bible with the modern Israeli government.
The debate over the identity of the modern-day political state comes as the number of young Evangelicals in the U.S. who support Israel and view it as a sign of the End Times is declining, as amillennial and postmillennial eschatology grows in popularity.
The Jerusalem Post noted last year that one study found support for Israel among young Evangelicals has cratered by more than 50%, as laid out in the 2023 bookChristian Zionism in the Twenty-First Century:American Evangelical Opinion on Israel, by Kirill M. Bumin, Ph.D., and Motti Inbari, who serves as professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
