Owen Strachan is the character in Evangelicalism who was completely woke but claims to have changed, only to be revealed as the same person the entire time. His participation in anti-Christian Nationalists sentiments was contributory to the downfall of G3. Even his recent contributions to the discourse are supporting a wife’s ability to defy her husband in the ballot box, which usurps male headship that the bible clearly establishes. This is someone who writes books on complementarianism.
Like many neoconservatives and Never-Trumpers, Strachan took issue with the words of William Wolfe last week at NatCon in Jerusalem, going so far to write a thirteen-hundred-word tweet he described as an open letter to Israel.
I’ve listened to a number of the NatCon talks from Israel. Upon reflecting on them, here are a few of my own thoughts as an evangelical theologian and political conservative.
1. In the simplest terms, many evangelicals are in a different place than several of the NatCon speakers. For a variety of reasons, some geopolitical and some theological, we stand with Israel unapologetically and without significant movement from the traditional America-Israel connection.
2. The tone from some of the NatCon speakers was peremptory and lecturing. Collectively, NatCon seemed dedicated to transmitting the idea that the US-Israel relationship has fundamentally shifted. For many of us, to repeat, it has not shifted. Those speakers *did not* represent many of us–not even a little, just so you know.
Four speakers independently went to Jerusalem and proclaimed a message to the Israeli audience that the dynamic is changing: William Wolfe, Matthew Peterson, Jonathan Keeperman, and Amanda Milius. Milius is the daughter to filmmaker John Milius and has made a documentary advocating the movement of the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They were not speaking to the environment as it was, but the environment as it will become. Just because Owen Strachan claims his views have not shifted with the culture, like they did with BLM, does not mean the overall environment is not changing. Israel is sponsoring various influencer operations to bolster support because they know the dynamic is changing. A year ago, we reported on Show Works By Faith, which was planning to take Israeli money to geotarget Zionist advertising to churchgoers.
3. Nor do many of us think that antisemitism is a lazy leftist trope with little backing in reality. Yes, some aggrieved young men feel this way. But many of us do not agree with them (including many young men). We do concur with some NatCon speakers that it would behoove American Jews who rightly fear antisemitism to align fully and immediately with conservatives, not the left. The left, to be very sure, is no friend to Israel or to Jews. This is not an opinion; this is now established fact. Time to cross the aisle, friends.
4. Antisemitism is indeed a vicious problem today. It has come back with a vengeance in recent years, and the events of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent positive response to that horrific day have shown the world with unmistakable clarity that antisemitism is a grave and terrible threat to civilization in our time.
5. Antisemitism, of course, is not simply a public problem. Wherever it is found, it is first and foremost a corruption of the soul, a poisoning of the heart, and a warping of the mind. Again, antisemitism is anything but a pretend problem ginned up the left. Antisemitism infects and corrupts all who embrace it, and many evangelicals and conservatives stand militantly opposed to it. We are distressed to see some young men lured to antisemitism or adjacent positions, as is happening among the “Groyper” movement today.
This is the equivalent of the woke land acknowledgment where Strachan calls out antisemitism as a unique evil that threatens society. What happened on October 7th had nothing to do with America, yet America has become a fighting ground between the Zionists and the pro-Palestinian factions—both of which are supported by jews. Strachan is wrong to suggest that the Left is no friends to Jews when progressive Soros-type jews bankroll the Democrat Party. Antisemitism is not a threat to America, nor are the groypers, but demographic security is the foremost threat to America, which strangely enough coincides with the rise of pro-Palestinian causes in America.
6. I am so sorry that countrymen of mine went into your country and gave the messages they did on October 7. Wherever one lands on the issues in question, that was a strange and shocking provocation, and needlessly so. I cannot fathom the level of poor decision-making here; I grieve whatever pain this timing caused many of you, to put you on the defensive in your own country on a day of unfathomable grief. The conference organizers would have been far better served to observe a day of mourning with you all on October 7, and hold their event on different days. That would have not only been in good taste; that would have communicated needful kindness, mercy, and sympathy.
This is another apology for words that he did not utter to a people who will not read it. This is a textbook example of Virtue Signaling, a classic woke tactic. Strachan acts as if he speaks for all Zionists when Amanda Milius is a Zionist, Will Chamberlain is a Zionist, and so too is Yoram Harzony, who is Jewish. Harzony’s goal was to bring the American Nationalists to Israel to have a dialogue and build relationships. So, is Strachan against having those conversations when it comes to someone on the Right or are they just not allowed to happen in proximity to October 7th?
7. Some who stand with Israel are indeed “dispensationalist.” In truth, there are numerous flavors of “dispensationalists,” and they not a monolithic group. They have made many and varied contributions to American evangelical life, and for that reason lots of Christians honor them, even if they do not hold their system in full. Indeed, others who stand with Israel are not “dispensationalist,” me included. Whatever happens with “dispensationalism” as a system in days ahead, I want you to know that there are many Christians both dispensational and non-dispensational who love Jews, care for Jews, pray for Jews, and want the good of Jews, including the scores of Jews who live in Israel.
Belief that Israel retains a land promise or that they have rights to the land absent repentance is fundamental to Dispensationalist doctrine. Since Darby, Dispensationalism has undergone various transformations, but as some of the original teaching fades, its tenets have merged with other theological camps, which is why Doug Wilson’s philosemitism mirrors Dispensationalism or even Catholics can be Christian Zionists. All the stats show that the youth have largely rejected this theology, which in many ways was promulgated by dying televangelist networks. Dispensationalism might not be a monolith, but it is the strongest ideological basis for US support for Israel. Absent this religious fervor, Israeli-American relations would be no different than American relations with other allied nations.
Strachan then extorts the value of Israel as an ally before shifting the letter to Wolfe’s statements on Vice President JD Vance.
10. It was presented to you as a fait accompli that JD Vance will be the next American President. He may be; he has many strengths and gifts. But that is not determined, and the forcefulness with which that matter was treated does not represent how tons of us are thinking about the next Republican nominee. Vance of course has tremendous cache here as our Vice President, but please do not make the understandable mistake of thinking that certain NatCon speakers spoke to this concern with prophetic authority. They have no such authority, and they did no such thing.
Strachan claims to speak for the evangelicals in America, who overwhelmingly supported Trump three times, and all polling indicates will support JD Vance going into 2028. One of the ongoing fights on the right is the fight over JD Vance for this reason. James Lindsay is the most overt opponent who goes so far as to equate him with the Democratic Socialists of America. His peers, like Joel Berry, are attempting to claim him as their guy. Others like Ben Shapiro are pushing for an alternative like Marco Rubio. The reason they countersignal Vance is because he will continue MAGA, and he distinguishes between American interests and Israeli interests.
11. While we are on this theme, the NatCon messages represented the views of some in America (a small group at this time). They in no way represented many of us. To give one example, William Wolfe and others in no way spoke for us. We did not ask William and his peers to voice our platform; we did not deputize him to go to Israel on our behalf; he spoke, but he did not speak for many of us, down to a single syllable of what he said.
He proceeds to argue against Christian Nationalism, which was not even a subject of Wolfe’s speech, to claim that the size of his movement is insignificant, unlike his niche of Reformed public theologians. None of these attacks hold any water when three other Americans spoke similarly to Wolfe. William Wolfe did not argue against dispensationalism, only speaking to its declining influence. Either this is true, or it is not, and all polling suggests that it is true. Strachan refuses to address the crux of Wolfe’s argument.
Ultimately, Strachan’s rant against Nationalism at NatCon sets up his preference for globalism.
13. Many of us, further, want a strong and connected global order. We may or may not be “neocon,” but the point is that we do not champion an “America First” vision in which we leave our traditional allies out in the cold to defend themselves from those who would destroy them.
American Evangelicals overwhelmingly voted for some form of American Nationalism via Donald Trump. As a slogan, Make America Great Again implies that the greatness of America was subverted by globalism and immigration. Strachan prefers globalism to any form of nationalism, contrary to the white evangelical bulwark which supported Trump in repudiation of a “strong and connected global order.”
Ultimately, Owen Strachan might not go woke for black lives matter as he once did, but he is plenty woke to the Israelis who will unlikely read his letter. He clings to the dying reality of unwavering support for Israel. Plenty of Zionists acknowledge the changing relationship between America and Israel. They see the writing on the wall. Owen Strachan is ironically advocating something worse for Israel than William Wolfe. Wolfe offered them an off-ramp, while Strachan placates them to their own detriment.
