Weekend Plug-in 🔌

Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” features analysis, fact checking and top headlines from the world of faith. Subscribe now to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr. at therossnews@gmail.com.

(ANALYSIS) Good morning, Weekend Plug-in readers!

No big deal. OK, it’s sort of a big deal: I’m headed to Arlington, Texas, today for Game 1 of the World Series. Let’s go, Rangers!

Speaking of the Fall Classic, Marvin Olasky writes here at ReligionUnplugged.com that the World Series “reflects life and what little we can control.” I sure hope my favorite team can control its bullpen and win its first title ever.

But you signed up for religion news, not my baseball analysis, so here goes: The new speaker of the U.S. House is a Southern Baptist who has served as a trustee of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Baptist Press’ Brandon Porter notes.

Rep. Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, suggested his election as speaker was ordained by God, according to Religion News Service’s Jack Jenkins.

This is our weekly roundup of the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith. We start again with the Israel-Hamas War, this time focusing on questions about the end of the world.

What To Know: The Big Story

End times debate: The Israel-Hamas war has sent Christians in search of prophetic meaning, as the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner explains:

Evangelical leaders are looking to the Bible’s end-of-days prophecies as congregants seek to understand the Israel-Hamas war.

While the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of Matthew offer details of what is to happen before Christ’s return, apocalyptic Scriptures have often been cited when global tensions flare up, such as Israel’s war of independence in 1948, the 1967 Six-Day War and the October War of 1973.

Believers also sounded alarms after the eruption of World War II, the Cold War and the 9/11 attacks.

“I think even secularists would tell you never have we faced so many severe threats in the world that we’re facing right now,” said the Rev. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas.

“Bible scholars and secularists both have wondered why the final world conflict would take place in a country no bigger than the size of New Jersey,” Mr. Jeffress said in a telephone interview. “But I think we’ve seen in recent days, how what starts as a regional conflict could quickly escalate and world powers conflict, fighting against one another.”

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.”

2. Republicans and Israel: Support for Israel has become a top issue for Iowa evangelicals key to the first Republican caucuses.

The Associated Press’ Thomas Beaumont reports from Newton, Iowa.

3. Two sides of a Catholic divide: “As the pope and church leaders meet in Rome to discuss the Roman Catholic Church’s future, they face a chasm between conservatives and progressives in the pews.”

During the global synod, the New York Times’ Ruth Graham spent time at “two very different parishes in Chicago.”

More Top Reads

Chaos has erupted over a Southern Baptist Convention legal filing in a Louisville, Kentucky, abuse lawsuit, Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana reports. … Even though former Vice President Mike Pence can’t draw a crowd of 15 to a Pizza Ranch, he felt called by God to run for president, Poltico’s Adam Wren writes. … The Deseret News’ Kelsey Dallas checks in on Colorado baker Jack Phillips five years after his U.S. Supreme Court win. … A Texas prisoner leads worship on Death Row, according to Christianity Today’s Emily Belz. … Violence forced them to flee. Now faith sustains these migrants on their journey to the U.S. The Associated Press’ María Teresa Hernández reports from Tijuana, Mexico.

Inside The Godbeat

I missed this in real time, but apparently, there was a dust-up between Christianity Today and The Daily Wire over political donations by staff members.

MinistryWatch.com’s Warren Smith writes that the episode “provides a teachable moment.”

Charging Station: ICYMI

Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from ReligionUnplugged.com.

Collective trauma from the Hamas terror attack will forever scar the Jewish people, Gil Zohar writes.

Read that essay and all of Zohar’s coverage from the Middle East.

The Final Plug

Did I mention the World Series yet? 😂

I wrote a column for The Christian Chronicle about my experience watching my Rangers play in the postseason while on a reporting trip to Cuba.

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.

Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for ReligionUnplugged.com and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.