Jackson Lahmeyer is many things: founder of Pastors for Trump, lead pastor of Sheridan Church in Tulsa, a married father of five, and now the most talked-about candidate in Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District primary. He is also a man who publicly preaches that the Antichrist will be Jewish, and yet, on the eve of Tuesday’s primary election, one of the most prominent Orthodox rabbis in the Jewish-Christian alliance world issued a letter urging Jews to stand behind him.
Rabbi Tuly Weisz, founder of Israel365 and publisher of The Israel Bible, the man who has spent years building the very bridges Lahmeyer now walks across, did not mince words. “I want to express my deep appreciation for Jackson Lahmeyer’s steadfast support for Israel and the Jewish people,” Weisz wrote from his home in Beit Shemesh, Israel. “Oklahoma is a state that truly stands with Israel, and Jackson embodies that spirit.”
The letter came at a turbulent moment for Lahmeyer’s campaign. Days before the June 16 primary, a British tabloid published text messages allegedly exchanged between the 34-year-old pastor and Caitlin Key, a former Miss Oklahoma USA and one-time campaign fundraiser, in which Lahmeyer wrote that he found her “very cute” and expressed a desire to see her. Lahmeyer acknowledged the messages in a Facebook post, writing that he “owns crossing a boundary line through text messaging” and that the matter had already been resolved “privately between me and my wife, Kendra, through counsel and prayer with God and spiritual advisors.” President Trump, undeterred, reaffirmed his endorsement on Truth Social Monday, calling Lahmeyer a “MAGA Warrior” and urging Oklahomans to vote for him.
But it is Lahmeyer’s theology, not his personal life, that poses the more complicated challenge for the Jewish community in Oklahoma’s 1st District, a district that is home to a thriving Jewish community, multiple large Jewish organizations, and Schusterman Family Philanthropies.
On October 8, 2024, one day after the first anniversary of the Hamas massacre, Lahmeyer told his church livestream: “The Antichrist will be a political leader of Jewish descent. That is how the Jews will worship him.” He has made similar claims going back to at least 2023, when he posted on X that the Antichrist would be “Jewish” and a “homosexual.” When a Jewish supporter pushed back, writing that the statement was “abhorrent” and that antisemitism was “at an all-time high,” Lahmeyer replied: “This is not anti-Semitic AT ALL. The Christ is Jewish. Scripture indicates that the Antichrist will also be Jewish.”
Multiple representatives of the Jewish Federation of Tulsa declined to comment on his candidacy.
Rabbi Weisz took a different approach. Acknowledging the theological divide head-on, he wrote: “As an Orthodox rabbi, I am well aware that we do not see eye to eye on eschatology or the concept of the Antichrist. But that has never been, and should never be, a barrier to friendship, partnership, and mutual respect. Jews and Christians can disagree on theology and still be the best of allies and friends.”
Lahmeyer has a long history of supporting Israel. He co-founded Pastors for Trump specifically to mobilize evangelical Christians around a pro-America, pro-Israel agenda. He serves on Trump’s National Faith Advisory Board and the White House Faith Office. He hosted Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and FBI Director Kash Patel at his Tulsa church. When anti-Israel voices like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens gained traction on the Christian right, Lahmeyer did not join them. “Both Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, they’re Roman Catholics,” he said at an event marking the second anniversary of October 7. “To them, the church has replaced the Jewish people, the state of Israel, and that is why they can make these claims.”
Rabbi Weisz acknowledged that the fear in the Jewish community is not irrational. “I understand why some in the Jewish community react with alarm to certain theological statements rooted in Christian tradition,” he wrote. “Our history together has been long and painful, and that context is real.” But his conclusion was direct: “I would gently encourage my fellow Jews to appreciate the nuance here, and to recognize a genuine friend when we have one.”
The primary Lahmeyer faces today is the largest in Oklahoma’s 1st District history, with eleven Republicans on the ballot and a runoff scheduled for August 25 if no candidate clears the threshold. The seat opened when incumbent Rep. Kevin Hern departed to run for the U.S. Senate. Trump won the district 60 to 38 percent in 2024, and it is rated R+11.
The tension Lahmeyer embodies, sincere support for Israel combined with theological views that many Jews find deeply unsettling, is not unique to him. It runs through the entire Christian Zionist movement. What is unusual is having a major Orthodox rabbinic voice step in publicly to say that the alliance is worth preserving anyway. “That is, in fact, the very foundation of the work we do every day at Israel365,” Weisz wrote. “I wish Jackson Lahmeyer every success in today’s election.”
