On the final episode of the Good for the Jews podcast, hosts Yael Eckstein and Zvika Klein are joined by Pastor Allen Jackson, who heads the World Outreach Church in Tennessee and Allen Jackson Ministries.
Jackson reaches millions of people each week, and at the center of his messaging is his love for Israel and the Jewish people.
For the pastor, his love of Israel started at a young age when he was brought by his parents to Jerusalem, where the tour guide taught him the Hebrew alphabet from the sides on King George Street.
“I thought that was normal,” he said. “I thought all little boys learned to love the Jewish people.”
In the years since, he has brought hundreds of different tours to Israel, and he claims to see how this has helped Christians better develop a love of Israel and Jews.
Standing united: Christian appreciation of the Jewish story
“I think a lot of Christians, and I think a lot of them have been coached to that, that the Bible and those narratives kind of live in a mythical form,” Jackson explained.
“It's like long, long ago and far, far away, or once upon a time. And when they come to Israel, and they realize that there's actual physical places that correspond with that. But I also, you know, and just watching and listening with my Israeli friends, I think I have a bit of jealousy. There's as much diversity within the Jewish community as there is within the Christian community, which I think is probably healthy. But even among my secular Israeli friends, Jeremiah is not a fictional character. You know, he's like their great uncle, Jeremiah.
“You have a connection with the land and the narrative that Christians do not have, because they come to it primarily, or at least initially, through literature. And that's unfortunate, because I think there's a strength that you have that comes from that just candid acceptance of the narrative. It's your story. And most Christians don't understand it that way, and that's why I think there's a tremendous strength if they can learn to be appreciative of the Jewish people, that we stand together, that there's far more things that bind us together than things that would push us apart. And if they can grasp that, then we truly are united.”