You Can’t Understand Israel Without God
Many are calling the savage Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023 “Israel’s 9-11.”
On that bloody day, over 1300 people were cruelly murdered, thousands maimed, and hundreds taken hostage. It was the greatest single-day slaughter of Jewish people since the Holocaust.
As many have pointed out, it was worse than America’s 9-11 because the percentage of Jews killed was far greater than what America lost twenty-two years ago.
Why did it happen?
You can’t understand Israel without God.
You Can’t Understand Israel Without God
Be very careful watching the “news” these days about the current Middle East conflict if they make no mention of God or give historical context. As we should have learned in grade school. “Any text out of context is a pretext.”
Here’s how the online dictionary defines “pretext:”
“A reason given in justification of a course of action that is not the real reason” (emphasis mine).
Many blinded or deceived pundits/groups (including news outlets) applauded the Hamas murder spree. They included thirty student groups from Harvard, the foolish “squad” in the U.S. House of Representatives, rogue nations like Iran, and numerous other Muslim radicals or secular progressives.
They said by way of pretext (not the real reason) that Israel deserved it because they are oppressors, occupiers, have persecuted the Palestinian people, and should cease firing back and not use “disproportionate” force in retaliation.
All nonsense and unjust.
Let’s examine their “pretext” claims one by one:
“Oppressors” – Israel is the only genuine democracy in the Middle East. When they formed of necessity a “nation of refuge” after the horrific killing of six million Jews during World War II, the new government invited those living in Palestine to become citizens of the state and enjoy the benefits of freedom. Many Arabs did–but most did not for political reasons (hatred and genocide).
“Occupiers” – Israel possessed a strong right to establish a sovereign nation in the Holy Land due to a 4,000 year history which included God himself giving them the land (Genesis 17). They weren’t faithful during those four millenniums. God removed them via Assyrian and Babylonian conquests, partially renewed them in Jesus’ day, and then miraculously restored their nationhood in 1948 by U.N. edict (with U.S. President Harry Truman’s support).
If any nation has a right to the land they possess, it is Israel in Palestine–a tiny piece of global real estate (8,639 square miles, about the same size as New Jersey). Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank had two good options in 1948. 1) Become citizens of the new democracy, or 2) Move to a nearby Arab nation (many choices). Both options were far more benign than how most nations are settled or unsettled (in a fallen world).
“Persecuted the Palestinian people” – Yes, Gaza is a densely populated slum. But the Palestinian Authority has no power and Hamas controls the territory. Their goal is to annihilate Israel. Anybody living in Gaza who doesn’t support killing the Jews is silenced.
The idea of a “two state solution” which President Biden dutifully mentioned in his recent 60 Minutes interview is ridiculous. Hamas controls Gaza and exists to exterminate Jews. Can you imagine living in a neighborhood where your next door neighbor has one reason for existence–to kill you? Would you live next door? No.
“Israel should enact a cease-fire and not use disproportionate force.” I’ll let former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich destroy that argument in “Pure, Unadulterated Evil” Requires the Necessary – Not the Reasonable.”
This is a unique moment when evil can be destroyed.
However, destroying Hamas will require doing what is necessary – not what is reasonable. You win wars by overwhelming your enemy with asymmetric force – not meeting them with proportionate force.
What is necessary may include full military occupation of Gaza. This is a war, and it should be treated as an occupied warzone. This means fully securing the area and deploying the best surveillance and control apparatus Israel can muster in Gaza.
What is necessary may require Israel aggressively routing out Hamas in Gaza – including people who have been supporting and celebrating their evil and terror.
What is necessary will take months not days – and it must be methodically prosecuted.
Importantly, destroying Hamas would liberate the Palestinian people whose lives have been limited and impoverished by a corrupt terror dictatorship. The people of Gaza would have a dramatically better future if Hamas ceased to exist.
Every time someone tells you we have had enough violence, and that Israel should “be reasonable,” quote President Biden to them. “Pure, unadulterated evil must be destroyed – not negotiated with or offered compromise.”
This is the real challenge – and the only road to safety in Israel and Gaza.
In the coming weeks Israeli forces will work to eradicate Hamas from Gaza causing the secular media to gnash their teeth over Palestinian people dying. Muslim radicals and secular progressives will parade photo after photo of women and children being killed in the Israeli assault. The drumbeat has already begun.
These outlets want Israel to pretend nothing happened on October 7, 2023–and allow Hamas to kill another day. Yes, we lament every loss of innocent life. But in war, the just side must win and the evil one lose–for the sake of long term peace. Armstrong Williams gives this perspective:
Each time armaments and missiles are directed toward Israel, Israel retaliates by immobilizing these weapons. But, alas, the terrorists house their weapons in schools and residential buildings. Does Israel bear responsibility for Hamas deliberately storing those weapons in schools with the intention of using the bodies of children as a defense mechanism? Must Israel simply allow their own children to continually be bombarded by rockets?
These behaviors are consistent with criminal savages, not saints, and they are certainly not deserving of adoration. However, they are given it, and in this world, we will perpetually contend with savages and those who support them. Savages are doomed to exist. They are unreceptive to rationality.
I firmly believe that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians, like people everywhere, are good-hearted individuals seeking peaceful lives free from the constant shadow of conflict.
So what is really going on in Israel that must be put into truthful context?
First, the battle for nations and individual souls on earth is a contest between good and evil, God and Satan, and righteous angel armies clashing with demonic forces in the unseen realm. God will be victorious, but we must participate in spiritual warfare prayer.
Second, the demonic forces have deceived many into believing that Israel is the problem and should be restrained. The truth is Satan has persecuted Israel for centuries because they bear the image of their Creator because they were originally commissioned to teach God’s ways to the world (Isaiah 40-55).
Third, Israel’s existence as a nation stands as a testimony to God’s reality. Many Jews have turned away from God in the 21st century, but he is using their survival as a country to direct world history toward its final battle of good versus evil (Armageddon) and the establishment of the eternal reign of Messiah Jesus.
Finally, either most Jews will come to salvation in Jesus during the last days, or Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus (the true Israel of God–Galatians 6:16) will multiply God’s family to the ends of the earth together (Romans 11:26).
That’s what the war in the Middle is all about–not just land and safety, but salvation.
That’s why you can’t can’t understand Israel without God.
