Why Christians should stop using the term ‘God of Israel’ — Omokri

I am not a Muslim, but I do read al-Quran. Not because I want to be a Muslim. But because I am from Nigeria, the largest Islamo-Christian nation on Earth. And I want to genuinely understand my fellow country people. And if you do not understand Islam, you cannot truly understand Muslims.

And one thing I find most admirable about the Quran is that it never describes God as the God of Arabia, God of Mecca, God of the Quraysh, or the God of Mohammad, Sallallahu Alayhi Wasalaam, or even the God of Muslims.

God is just referred to by the term Allah, which is the word for God used amongst Semitic Arabs even before the Quran was physically written down. It is from the same root word that produced the Hebrew word, El, which means God.

I find this appealing and inclusive, and I can understand why Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world.

Let me say it point-blank: I have a problem with the term God of Israel. Because it is limiting and gives the impression that the Supreme Being is only for Israel and against all other persons, except they engraft themselves to Israel.

Even more troubling is the fact that God existed in Genesis 1:1, and Black Africa (Cush) was mentioned in Genesis 2:13, whereas Israel, as a concept, did not come until Genesis 32:28.

Adam and Eve, our first human parents, did not know God as the God of Israel. They knew him as God. And they were perfect.

The term God of Israel did not arise until long after Adam and Eve fell.

Then, in Acts 10:34, Peter tells us that “God does not show favouritism.”

Let us think about that for a moment.

Mark 12:27 says, “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

If that is true, then we must realise that until 1948, Israel did not exist as a nation for almost 2000 years. It had died and was revived in 1948.

At that time, Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia worshipped God in churches like the 800-year-old Adadi Mariam Church, which I visited in 2019 and where the attached photo was taken.

Wasn’t God still God in the intervening years before the restoration of the State of Israel?

I urge my Black African brothers and sisters to please jettison that term ‘God of Israel’. Every time you use it, you are making yourself and your race inferior to others. You are basically saying that on my own, I am not sufficient to attract the love of God, so I have to find a way to attach myself to Israel before I can be a child of God.

And that type of mentality makes nonsense of John 3:16, which says:

God so loved the world!

You, as an African, are part of the world. In fact, fossils from the Olduvai Gorge, which I visited six weeks ago, and in Hadar, Ethiopia, where I was six years ago, show that you, as a Black African, were probably part of this world that God loves so much before any other people alive today.

So, God is sufficient for you. He does not have to be from Israel before He can be potent in your life.

I am a believer in God and a follower of the Hebraic Jewish Teacher, Yeshua, Whom some, for reasons best known to them, choose to call Jesus.

If you force me to fill a form, my religion would be Orthodox Christianity, but in reality, I believe that there is only One God and every man, woman, and child on this planet, irrespective of their faith, is my fellow and is loved by the only One God!

Reno Omokri via his Facebook pageFacebook page.

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.