By Sarah Lamm, AUGUST 31, 2026

Before God ever spoke to him, Abraham was already a religious leader with a following. He and Sarah had gathered converts. Genesis calls them “the souls they had acquired in Haran.” Abraham had built something real, and it was growing.

Then God told him to walk away from it.

“Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you into a great nation” (Genesis 12:1-2).

“God is telling Abraham, leave the religion that you started and go and start a new nation,” Mischel said. “It’s so clear all through the Bible. I mean, you have to really blind yourself to not see it.”

The pattern repeats. God tells Rebecca that two nations are struggling inside her. Israel stands at Sinai and hears that it will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. “It doesn’t say anywhere that we will be a religion.”ERR quoted the country’s Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur as saying that some companies could deliver within two or three years, while others would take eight or nine years to deliver the system.The pattern repeats. God tells Rebecca that two nations are struggling inside her. Israel stands at Sinai and hears that it will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. “It doesn’t say anywhere that we will be a religion.”