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The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. Psalm 14:2 (ESV)
When HAMAS terrorists broke through the fences on the northern end of the Gaza Strip on October 7th, it took nearly no time for 3,000 terrorists—by the estimate of Israel Defense Forces—to claim the lives of over 1,400 defenseless men, women, and children using, rockets, rifles, handguns, and then butchering others with shovels and other improvised weapons.
Some took photographs of themselves as they attempted to decapitate some of their victims, while howling, “Allahu Akbar, and then calling back to their families inside Gaza to report their murders. Even the Nazis in World War II didn’t regale in such “victories.” HAMAS incinerated infants in ovens, before they murdered the horrified parents.
I was a junior in college in 1979 when Iran was taken away from the United States’s control, and the dominion of the Shah Reza Pahlavi after about 26 years of his rule. It was given over to a man regarded as practically a saint—if there is such a thing in Islam—called the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It was a big deal, because it was really popular, especially with Islamic men, who really had a problem with western ways, particularly where it concerned women’s rights. The Ayatollah had been hiding out in Paris, to stay out of the Shah’s grasp.
Just like HAMAS took 245 hostages of all ages throughout towns in southern Israel on October 7th, one of the first things Iranian men did was overrun the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 56 hostages for the next 444 days. The Ayatollah immediately declared the United States to be the Great Satan, and Israel to be the Little Satan. They have not only not changed their position, but have substantially financed further terrorism against Israel, and even other Arab nations, and have said they will attack the United States. They do so with the belief in the absolute righteousness of their cause.
The Arab world seems to have a very clear idea of their god and the righteousness of their cause. They are prepared to die for it as martyrs (even if they use unarmed men, women, and children as human shields) in the process. I wish we in the Christian, western world could say the same with such moral clarity.
Among the first things that happened in America, Europe, and around the Middle East were anti-Israel, anti-Zionist protests which broke out in major population areas. Anyone following the news is now familiar with “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” I can say with confidence, at least where it concerns American protesters, hardly anyone knows the geography concerning the area quoted, much less the true historical meaning behind “Palestine” and really need to better educate themselves.
And herein lies the true danger: God and the Enemy of our Souls lies in every detail of this, all the way back to the beginning. Call me a religious fanatic, but those who chant are backing the opposite of Whom I support. I can prove it.
As in many things related to Israel, we never go back in history far enough and we really need to. Lord knows, He is going all the way back and we, Israel, the Palestinians, and all the players in the current debacle should see how far back this really does go.
I don’t believe in accidents and I think it was no accident that the Abraham Accord signed in September, 2020 was one of the most significant steps toward cooperation, understanding, and peace since the founding of Israel in 1948. Even the name of the Accord is of high significance.
When God created the heavens and the earth (you’re welcome to debate this fact with me, and be wrong) He did so with perfection, love for everything He created and with perfect grace and peace. “So, what went wrong?,” you may be asking.
He gave the inhabitants of heaven what we on earth have now: free will. Freedom to love, hate, and engage in any behavior you can imagine. It all started with one creature. You guessed it. The Enemy of Our Soul, Satan.
He was given freedom to believe he could govern better than God Himself and was thus cast from heaven to earth with his minions where they have wreaked havoc to this day.
It started with a question in the Garden of Eden to a woman named Eve (that’s a separate debate for another time). The question was, “did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”
Ever since then, we have had a problematic relationship with God to the point that I would argue that almost no one has a true understanding or belief in Him at all. Adam, who was created to have the relationship with God first, was silent during the exchange between the Serpent and his wife. He bore the responsibility of the Fall of Man we are experiencing now.
Since then, thousands of years have passed. New religions have cropped up around the world many of which have nothing to do with the God of Holy Scripture.
Jews have been the great and recurring focus throughout history, and this also is no accident. Starting with Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob and all of their descendants.
In each millennium from the time of the ancient Egyptians to the Roman era—including the capstone event of all time, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ—into the Common Era or Anno Domini, the Jews have been the lynchpin of events on a broad spectrum up to this very day. Still there are those who deny recent history with ignorant narratives of denial.
The underpinning of all of these events is blanketed in another choice of human beings called antisemitism. Jew hatred, no matter how one glosses over it, cannot be hidden. Zionism is still a form of the same thing, so are calls for a “two-state solution” to the Palestine question. That was never real—and was always a smoke screen for further agitation. Even the name Palestine is nothing more than an English language form of the word Philistine—you may remember David and Goliath—and when Rome left that part of their empire, the name stuck.
What you will never see, and what must be seen is what was exemplified by Jesus Himself. The world, and those who follow according to the world’s ways will answer for this because of our equivocations in how He lived by the only perfect example of Love we have:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4
Mindset, behaviors, have always been choices since the devil was cast out of heaven. They have been our choices since the Garden. They remain our choices today toward one another.
Love one another.
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