Not on their own dime. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid for it. Flights, hotels, all of it. The largest Christian delegation ever brought to Israel — funded by a foreign government.
They called it the Friends of Zion Ambassadors Summit. December 3rd through 7th, 2025. The organizer, Mike Evans, didn’t hide what it was. He said it himself: “This is not a tour to Israel. This is a high-level briefing to commission these evangelical pastors to be partners with the State of Israel to achieve its ultimate objective.”
Partners with the State of Israel. Not with Jesus. With a foreign government’s military and political objectives.
Before they left, they received a guidelines document. Dos and don’ts.
One of the don’ts: do not speak the name of Jesus. Preaching is not allowed.
Same City, Same Order
A thousand Christian pastors. Jerusalem. And they agreed — in writing — not to mention the man they built their entire careers on.
A Palestinian Christian minister who grew up under Israeli rule and still runs ministry in the West Bank pointed out something that should stop every Christian cold. In Acts chapter 5, the spiritual elites of Jerusalem summoned Peter and the disciples and gave them the exact same order: do not speak the name of Jesus.
Two thousand years later. Same city. Same order. This time the pastors said yes.
So what did they do in Jerusalem?
Military briefings. Visits to October 7th memorial sites. Meetings with Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and the IDF Chief of Staff. A prayer gathering at the Western Wall.
What was not on the itinerary: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The site Christians have venerated for 1,700 years as the location of the crucifixion and the empty tomb. One mile away. Not on the schedule.
None of them visited a single Christian church. None of them met with the local Christian population — people whose families have been in that land since the first century.
They prayed at a Jewish wall, sat through Israeli military briefings, and skipped the tomb of Jesus.
Who Was in the Room
Clint Pressley — current President of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Jack Graham — former SBC President, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist.
Doug Clay — General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God.
Max Lucado — one of the most widely read Christian authors in America.
Ralph Reed. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.
John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel.
to name a few.
These men preach to tens of millions of Americans every week. And they came home from Jerusalem with certificates — physical certificates — declaring them official “Friends of Zion Ambassadors.”
Not ambassadors for Christ. For Zion.
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, spoke at the summit. He told the room there is a “growing cancer within the evangelical movement” — his words — because some Christians won’t read Scripture his way on Israel. He said disagreeing with his position “borders on blasphemy.”
A U.S. Ambassador calling Christian dissent a cancer and blasphemy. At a summit paid for by a foreign government.
What Was Happening Outside
Meanwhile Tucker Carlson said on his show what none of these certificate-holders would say: “We are not, as Christians, allowed to kill the innocent. Period.” He had a Palestinian Christian minister on who was born in 1980, grew up under Israeli governance, and left a successful DC career to do full-time ministry because — his words — the Christian presence in the Middle East is on the verge of extinction.
The Christian Arabs survived the Romans. The Crusaders. The Ottomans. The British.
Under Israeli governance they’re disappearing.
The pastors were a mile away. They didn’t visit.
Here’s what was happening while those pastors waved Israeli flags at a military cemetery in Jerusalem and were told not to mention Jesus.
Israel was bombing Gaza daily. By the time the summit ended on December 7th, over 70,000 Palestinians had been killed — including 20,000 children. Christians were among the dead. Israel had already bombed two churches in Gaza. The death toll was climbing every single day those men sat in military briefings.
In Largely Christian parts of Lebanon, Israel was violating a ceasefire almost daily. By December 2nd — the day before the summit started — France had already counted 52 Israeli ceasefire violations. On December 1st, the IDF killed several people it said were firing from a church in South Lebanon.
While 1,000 pastors were waving Israeli flags at a military cemetery in Jerusalem and being told not to mention Jesus — Israel was bombing Christians in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Money Behind It
There’s big money behind bringing all these pastors to Israel. Israel’s Foreign Ministry had a $150 million budget in 2025 specifically to shape global public opinion. Netanyahu called it their “eighth front.” Not military. Ideological.
The 2026 budget: $630 to $730 million. For social media campaigns, delegations, influencers, and pastors.
On top of that, a California PR firm called Show Faith by Works — registered as a foreign agent for Israel under FARA — ran a $3.2 million campaign that included geofencing churchgoers with pro-Israel ads inside their own churches. Targeting Americans at worship. Paid for by a foreign government.
American evangelical leaders are a line item in a foreign government’s influence budget.
The Beatitudes don’t cover this. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the merciful. Nothing in there about taking a government-funded trip, agreeing not to say the name of Jesus, skipping his tomb, and flying home with an ambassador certificate from a foreign state.