Did God Give Palestine to Israel Before He Gave Nigeria and North America to Britain?
If ancient promises still counted as deeds, the Romans would reclaim London, the Moors would return to Spain, the Mongols would take half of Asia, and Indigenous peoples would inherit all of the Americas.
History is full of peoples who believed heaven signed their property papers. Every empire that rose in God's name claimed it was chosen to rule.
The truth is simple. When faith becomes a land claim, peace becomes impossible
How the Idea Began
In medieval Europe, kings ruled “by divine right.” They said God Himself had placed the crown upon their heads. To oppose the monarch was to defy God.
When monarchy lost its grip, the idea survived by changing shape. Instead of God choosing a king, He supposedly chose a nation. Whole countries began to see themselves as instruments of divine purpose, charged with spreading truth and order across the world.
Britain's Holy Empire
Britain's story shows how that belief grew into global conquest.
- God chose the monarch to rule. Kings and queens claimed sacred authority from heaven, answerable only to God.
- God chose the nation to spread truth and order. Britain saw itself as a Christian light in a dark world.
- Christian nations had a right to claim non-Christian lands. The “Doctrine of Discovery,” inherited from papal decrees, allowed Christian powers to seize any territory ruled by non-Christians.
- Moral duty to civilize and Christianize others. Empire was framed as service, not domination. Missionaries marched with soldiers. Conquest became charity.
Under this divine license, Britain claimed or conquered:
- North America: Canada and the Thirteen Colonies
- The Caribbean: Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad
- Africa: Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Sudan
- The Middle East: Egypt, Palestine, Iraq
- South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
- Southeast Asia: Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore
- Australasia and the Pacific: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji
Religion gave the empire its halo and made domination sound like duty.
Spain, Portugal, and France: The Same Script
Britain was not alone in turning divine authority into global dominion.
Spain, Portugal, and France used the same theology of entitlement, each convinced that God had chosen their nation to rule over vast territories of non-Christian peoples.
- Spain claimed much of the Western Hemisphere in the name of God and crown. From Mexico and Guatemala to Peru, Chile, Argentina, and the Caribbean, Spanish conquistadors and missionaries arrived together, baptising conquest as salvation.
- Portugal, guided by papal charters, spread its empire across continents. It took Angola and Mozambique in Africa, Brazil in South America, Goa in India, Malacca in Malaysia, and outposts from Macau to East Timor, all “for the faith.”
- France followed the same model. It seized Canada and Louisiana in North America, Haiti and Martinique in the Caribbean, Algeria, Senegal, and Madagascar in Africa, and Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in Asia. Its mission civilisatrice—the “civilizing mission”—was simply another way to say that God favoured French rule.
Every one of these empires claimed divine sanction. Faith became empire's flag, and God became the witness to their deeds.
Final Thoughts
Israel's claim that God promised the land to the Jewish people thousands of years ago rests on the same reasoning that once crowned European monarchs and blessed their empires.
It is no more defensible today than when Britain believed its kings ruled by heaven's command and therefore had the right to govern Nigeria, North America, and Pakistan. Spain, Portugal, and France used that same sacred logic to justify dominion over Mexico, Brazil, and Vietnam.
The pattern never changes. A ruler or a nation declares itself chosen. A holy story is treated as proof of ownership. Faith becomes a weapon of entitlement, and the result is always the same, lands taken, peoples displaced, and peace postponed.
In Israel and Palestine this logic has reached its darkest form. An ancient promise is used to defend a modern campaign that has demolished over 80% of Gaza's infrastructure, killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, including over 20,000 children and inflicted lifelong trauma on countless survivors.
The world's courts and human-rights bodies are debating whether the scale of destruction in Gaza meets the definition of genocide. Whatever the legal term, the moral tragedy is clear: sacred entitlement is again being used to excuse the annihilation of a people, their homes and future.
A divine promise may give comfort to believers, but it cannot be a border or a title deed. To claim Palestine or any part of a “Greater Israel” on that basis is as historically and morally untenable as the empires that once claimed half the planet in God's name.
History has already shown where holy entitlement leads. The world no longer needs gods who draw maps; it needs human beings willing to share the ground they stand on.
About the Author
Scott Oliver is a British writer and former Royal Marines Commando who has lived abroad since 1985. Over the last 66 years, he’s called twelve countries home, including twenty-five years in Spanish-speaking nations such as Spain, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. He has also lived in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Cyprus, the USA, Grand Cayman and now lives in Mauritius.
A warrior by nature, Scott is living with prostate cancer and writing from the front lines. He speaks directly to men about health, masculinity, freedom, and strength, physically, mentally, emotionally, and sexually. His views are proudly independent: he questions conventional medicine, challenges destructive treatments, and tells the truth most men never hear.
Scott Oliver is an officially accredited member of the National Writers Union (NWU) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s largest organization of professional journalists. He spent ten years on Wall Street and another decade as an offshore wealth manager, specializing in globally diversified, multi-currency hedge fund portfolios. He is the author of What If Cancer’s Best Defense Is Free? — Sleep as a Defense Against Cancer: A Former Royal Marines Commando’s 4,000-Hour Research Roadmap, where he reveals how sleep repairs DNA, restores immunity, and strengthens your fight against cancer. He’s also the author of books on offshore investing and Costa Rica real estate and has written thousands of articles in English and Spanish on living abroad with courage, clarity, and conviction.
You can always contact Scott Oliver here with your questions and suggestions.