I recently received a signed complementary copy of the new book “The Jewish People: Rejected or Beloved?“, from Dr. David R. Reagan. After I read the book, I thought it was important to do a book review on my Blog to help get out his message. Others need to get more informed about the history of the Jews and about certain heretical theologies that Christendom has regarding the Jews. This book accomplishes that job.

First, let me say, that Dr. Reagan is the founder of Lamb & Lion Ministries. The ministry has an active website, a TV program called “Christ in Prophecy”, and a magazine named “LAMPLIGHTER”. Dr. Reagan and Nathan Jones of this ministry also speak at Bible prophecy conferences and at various churches. “Lamb & Lion Ministries” is designed to keep people informed about the soon return of Jesus Christ and about relevant Bible prophecy issues pertaining to the end times that we are living in.

“The Jewish People: Rejected or Beloved?”, has profound information, but it is written so clearly that anyone should get the message. The book totals 231 pages and has nine chapters. The last 21 pages contains an appendix that gives “The Willowbank Declaration On The Christian Gospel And The Jewish People”. That is followed by references footnoted within each of the nine chapters. The book is well documented, I counted 256 references.

The book begins with a preface that talks about how Dr. Reagan’s very first message at Lamb & Lion Ministries was “The Jews in Prophecy”. He did that message in 1980. Not long after, a person heard his message on cassette tape and contacted Reagan. He thought that Reagan needed to get out this message over the radio. The long story is in the book, but the short story is that Reagan received a $4000 check from this man to get this radio ministry going. This launched a weekly radio program in Dallas Texas.

The leader of “Jews for Jesus” got a copy of the message and he also encouraged Reagan to keep getting out the message, as did Reagan’s wife. With that trilogy of encouragement, Dr. Reagan realized that this message about the Jews and the soon return of Jesus Christ was his calling from God and he has never looked back.

The book is broken up into nine chapters titled:
1. Is There Any Hope For Israel?
2. The Middle East Crisis in Biblical Perspective
3. The Most Important Prophetic Development of the 20th Century
4. The Horror of the Holocaust
5. The Evil of Replacement Theology
6. The Tragedy of Duel Covenant Theology
7. Israel’s Covenants with God
8. The Phenomenon of Messianic Judaism
9. The Hope of Christian Zionism

Chapter 1, asks the question, is there any hope for Israel? Reagan says the majority of Catholics and Protestants today would say no. He then explains from the scriptures why the prevalent view of Replacement Theology is wrong. He then lists seven prophetic fulfillment’s that have occurred since 1948 and he goes into detail on each one.
1. The Regathering of the People
2. The Re-establishment of the State
3. The Reclamation of the Land
4. The Revival of the Language
5. The Resurgence of the Military
6. The Reoccupation of Jerusalem
7. The Refocusing of World Politics on Israel and Jerusalem

Finally, Dr. Reagan lists five prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled and explains how the fulfillment will soon come about.
1. Another Holocaust
2. Repentance
3. Salvation
4. Regathering in Belief
5. Primacy

The conclusion that we should draw from chapter one, is that there is no doubt that after a time of trouble for Israel, the remnant of Israel will receive grace from God and be saved.

Chapter 2, talks about the covenants that God made with Israel, and how Israel is being brought back in unbelief. Then Reagan gets into the Arab position today and what they claim. He also explains the Jewish position today and why they now think they can secure peace by trading land.
1. Humanistic Leadership
2. Desire for Acceptance
3. American Pressure

Dr. Reagan finishes the chapter with the meaning for the Church.
1. Proof of God’s faithfulness
2. A Testimony of God’s Grace
3. Evidence of the Soon Return of the Messiah

Chapter 3, is about important prophetic developments of the 20th Century and how the state of Israel came into being and how the populations in Israel increased. It is an interesting history lesson. Sub-chapters are:
The Relevant Prophecies
Herzl’s Vision
The Motivation to Return
Major Surges of Immigration
Operation Solomon
The Purpose

The conclusion of this chapter is that the worldwide regathering of the Jewish people was the most important prophetic development of the 20th Century.

Chapter 4, explains the sufferings that both Israel and the Church go through. Then Dr. Reagan suggests a reason for the Holocaust. He says that there were “prophetic” voices telling the Jews to migrate to Palestine but the Jews wanted to live in comfort in Europe and refused to listen.

I do have a problem with Dr. Reagan’s prophetic voices theory. There were other voices telling them to stay where they were at. How would the unregenerate know anything about “prophetic voices”? Even if there were warnings by a few, what makes them prophetic? People are giving warnings today that pretty much cover the whole spectrum of all possible outcomes in our nation and the world, but I would hardly call them prophetic voices, in the sense that they came from God. When there are voices on all sides of every possible outcome, people are going to find voices that got it correct in hindsight. That does not make them prophetic voices.

It is my opinion, that the real reason why there was a Holocaust is that Satan wanted to wipe out all the Jews and He was allowed to attempt to do that through Hitler and his Nazis. However, God raised up forces against the armies of Satan and Hitler, and two-thirds of the Jews in the world were spared.

The Holocaust did lead to the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948, but I often wonder if the Satanically controlled U.N. allowed the State of Israel to come back into being so that they could get all Jews on earth in one small area. The Satanic goal then would be to finish the destruction of the Jews there. That certainly seems to be the objective of much of the world today and that is where things look to be heading. My belief is backed up with what Bible prophecy says will happen in the future, and the 180 degree left turn against Israel by the UN.

Even so, God is still in control, and He has His own objective for Israel coming back to the land in unbelief to fulfill Bible prophecy. A third of the Jews will survive the next holocaust. They will be refined through the fires of the great tribulation (Zec 13:9), and then all Israel will believe on the Messiah that they had crucified.

Most of what Dr. Reagan said in this chapter is well founded, but obviously I do not buy into a couple of his reasoning’s.

Chapter 5, starts by explaining how the majority view in Christendom called “Amillennialism”, fosters Replacement Theology. This theology cannot be supported if the scriptures are to be fulfilled in any literal sense, so many spiritualized all these prophetic passages. Dr. Reagan gives the history of Replacement Theology from its theological roots in the 1st Century, to its persistent antisemitism today. This chapter contains very good documentation and this chapter alone is reason enough why Christians need to get the book. Reagan documents many things in church history that I was not aware of.

One does have to wonder why so many Christians fall for this lie, and why they did despicable things to the Jews? Can it be that the leadership of Christendom has been mostly occupied by Tares for almost two millennia? The wretched History of the Christendom leads me to no other conclusion. I can say the same thing about the leadership in Christendom today. Dr. Reagan is not afraid to name names in this chapter. He identifies well-known “Christian” leaders even today that are pushing anti-Zionism and Replacement Theology.

Dr. Reagan points out that even the reformation did not stop the evils that came as a result of Replacement Theology. Marten Luther became very anti-Semitic and his view of the Jews was used by Hitler as justification  to purge Germany and Europe of Jews. It confirms that Christians should not make any of their leaders idols. Antisemitism and demonic influence are directly related.

Reagan then gives a very sound refute of this evil from the scriptures and concludes ,”Replacement Theology is an abomination. It is unbiblical, and it has resulted in virulent anti-Semitism that has in turn resulted in the deaths of millions of Jews.”

This is one of the outstanding chapters in this book.

Chapter 6, is about Dual Covenant Theology. If you want to know all about it, this is the book to get. Reagan talks about its definition and origin. Dual Covenant Theology seems to be the theology of John Hagee even through he denies have it. Hagee seems to have back-tracked somewhat, but unfortunately he cannot erase his own recorded words. Hagee’s book “In Defense of Israel” makes astonishing heretical claims that Dr. Reagan totally refutes through scripture.

Dual Covenant Theology is a heresy that generally says that Jews can get saved without going through Jesus. They believe Jews can be saved by keeping the Mosaic Covenant and Gentiles can be saved by obedience to the Noahic Covenant. It is a ridiculous theological position, because nobody ever kept all the laws of the Mosaic Covenant other than Jesus.

The theology did not start with Hagee.  One of the things that I learned from this chapter that I have not been aware of, is that whole liberal denominations have Dual Covenant Theology. Even certain persons in conservative denominations endorse the concept. The Catholics have even been struggling with it.

A group of Evangelicals have addressed this heresy in what they affirm and deny. What they said in response to Dual Covenant Theology makes up the appendix in this book. It is named “The Willowbank Declaration On The Christian Gospel And The Jewish People”.

The great evil of this theology is that people like John Hagee think that they do not need to proselytize Jews. How then can Jews become part of the Bride of Christ? Jews that survive through the great tribulation to the time that Jesus reveals Himself to Israel cannot be part of the Bride because Jesus was already married in Heaven. Maybe those that embrace Dual Covenant Theology have some sort of spiritual antisemitism, and they may not even be aware of it.

Chapter 7, covers various covenants with God in the Bible. Dr. Reagan first talks about the forgotten covenants that God made with Ishmael and Mary. He then gets into a description of the 8 covenants held by most that adhere to Dispensational Theology. Each of them were either conditional or unconditional covenants.
1. The Edenic Covenant – Conditional
2. The Adamic Covenant – Unconditional
3. The Noahic Covenant – Unconditional
4. The Abrahamic Covenant – Unconditional
6. The Land Use Covenant – Conditional
7. The Mosaic Covenant – Conditional
7. The Davidic Covenant – Unconditional
8. The New Covenant – Unconditional

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, there seems to be a numbering error in this addition of the book. I see no number five and there are two numbers sevens in the book. I have to assume some editing error. Even so, in spite of the numbering problem, Reagan does explain the eight different Covenants.

Dr. Reagan then gives a fairly long explanation about why the Mosaic Covenant is no longer valid. Those with Dual Covenant Theology, error in thinking that this covenant is still valid to the Jew. The chapter concludes with the fact that there is only one salvation covenant in effect today, and that is the New Covenant. There are not two roads to God. The only road of salvation goes through Jesus.

Chapter 8, is about the history of Messianic Judaism. Dr. Reagan traces it from where it started to where it is now. He also mentions some heresies that came along the way in the Messianic movement.

I have attended Messianic congregations, but over the years I have come to the conclusion that this movement probably is not helpful in growing the Church. Many of these Messianic congregations have Gentiles wanting to act like Jews and others have Jews that claim Jesus is the Messiah but also claim He is not God. It also seems to me that some of these want to stay Jewish and may give greater weight to Jewish tradition than  Orthodox Christian belief and practices. I certainly am not saying here that all Messianic churches are in the same boat.

In my opinion, Until Jesus deals with the Jews, it is probably better that there be no distinction based on Jew or Gentile in the Church. The Church obviously had a Jewish flavor in very early Christianity because the first converts were Jews. However, today, the mostly Gentile Church no longer identifies much with Jewish traditions. Those wanting to make their practice more Jewish, as it was in the first century, are probably doing more harm than good. Many bring in traditional error from the Talmud. This view is strictly my opinion. Christians can disagree and worship the way God leads them. Anyway, if you want to know the issues within Messianic Christianity this chapter will be very helpful to you. Then you decide for yourself.

There is one particular statement and conclusion by Dr. Reagan in this chapter that I would disagree with. I do not think the Holy Spirit has been poured out since 1948 in any fulfillment of Joel 2:18-29 as he claims in this book. I do not think the context of this Joel passage allows for that interpretation.

Chapter 9, speaks about Christian Zionism and gives its history among other things. It talks about those behind the modern attack on Christian Zionism and their arguments. Then Dr. Reagan argues against their views from the scriptures and points out how much of the leadership in the United States since George Bush Senior, until this day, have been working against Israel. Dr  Reagan also identifies the nature of the problem, what the scriptures claim, and refutes those that are against Jews having a State in their promised land.

General conclusions and my final comments on “The Jewish People: Rejected or Beloved:”
I thoroughly liked the book. I learned quite a few things about Jewish issues that I did not know. This book is very timely in light of the current Gaza war, the rise of Iran, and the increasing rise of antisemitism all around the world. Dr. Reagan’s voice is a counterweight against certain well-known Christian voices that get things about Israel all wrong. I cannot think of another book that specifically speaks of all these Jewish issues.

I think all Christians should read this book, and then file it as a reference book. Buy other copies to give to antisemitic or Replacement Theology friends and make their day. They are sure to learn something, if they read it. Caution: This book might bring on brain seizures to “progressives” that harbor deep hatred of the Jewish people and the state of Israel. Send a copy to your pastor and many copies to the White House. No. I am not getting paid to endorse this book.