I have held out posting my views for over a month now, as I have sought as much accurate information as possible while attempting to sort through the propaganda. But it is time to speak my mind and inject a bit of honesty into the situation.

I was absolutely heartbroken when the news of the Hamas incursion and mass terror event broke on October 7, 2023. My heart sank, I felt quite nauseous and then I began praying. My prayers were not only for the many civilians that were facing even at the time, death at the hands of terrorists who were specifically targeting civilians, with a particular taste for the blood of women, children, and infants. I, like so many others, was crushed at the thought of babies being beheaded, stomped, burned, and otherwise brutally tortured to death right in front of their parents right before the parents were also murdered, often also via torture. I was startled to see women who had already been brutalized literally tossed into vehicles to be transported who-knows-where by these seemingly inhuman terrorists. Or the self-filmed atrocities being uploaded by the terrorists themselves all over the internet.

And then I began thinking that this was going to draw the largest response from Israel in my lifetime. I knew that their response this time would be ugly and result in a lot of “collateral damage”. Modern-day Israel has faced terrorism at various levels for its entire history. In that history, the international community, including the United States, has often demanded that they use restraint in dealing with the several terrorist organizations it has suffered from. I vividly remember the arm-twisting towards Israel regarding Israeli settlements in so-called Palestinian areas. Even when Israeli families acquired land legally (purchased), they faced being forcefully evicted by their own government as a means of attempting to appease the Palestinian (and international) demands. Yet what did half a century of appeasement purchase for Israel? October 7. Even the “ceasefires” attempted, brought heartache to Israel. Israel has even offered the Palestinians their own full-blown state/nation – yet they rejected it with more war.

But before we get too deep in this, I want to make something quite clear – I am not a “Zionist” (as I have been accused of more than once). In fact, one of my early blog posts some time ago actually dealt with the relationship (or lack of) between Old Testament/Biblical Israel and the modern nation of Israel. I simply believe Israel is a sovereign nation with the inherent right to self-defense. Israel is every bit as justified in taking whatever steps it deems justified to protect itself. And when you consider the geographic and logistical form of the nation, it is already squashed in a very difficult-to-defend narrow strip. Pretty much every square inch of the country is within range of even the most basic weapons possessed by its terrorist enemies. And as we saw on October 7, most of the country was within striking distance for even the lower-tech Hamas militants.

So – here we have a sovereign nation (don’t even begin trying to argue whether Israel is “legitimately” in possession of the land, having been brutally attacked on a scale not seen since 1967. I have done more studying on the history of the area than the average internet armchair expert (and that does not mean I am an expert). But I don’t cling to he-said/she-said arguments or the revisionist history that seeks to hide the reality of history. I don’t care if you are Muslim, some variety of Jew, or one of the many “Christian” groups that seem to have opinions – Israel is a nation, has the right to exist, and to defend itself. Period. I won’t debate that. But at the same time, I do not give them a blanket pass – for they represent some of the most egregious sin against God going on in our world today. Israel has a disgusting and wicked abortion rate, and Tel Aviv is known as one of the most homosexual” cities in the world. Further – while Israel has a history of being relatively tolerant of other faiths (and surprisingly tolerant of Islam despite claims to the contrary), they are only tolerant of Christianity for the tourism dollars it brings in. One cannot travel to Israel as a “Christian missionary” or church planter. And while “evangelical Christianity” has become a massive cash cow, don’t try to stick around and witness of the Messiah – especially among the Jewish citizens. They rapidly become quite intolerant. Indeed, I found in my 2016 trip there that the Muslim population was more friendly towards us Christians than the Jewish Israelis. So again, no free pass from me.

But here is the extremely over-simplified, yet still long synopsis of what is going on there today:

Hamas is a terrorist organization. It has always been a terrorist organization. And much like every Islamic terror organization, they do not care about the lives of fellow human beings, even those of the same faith. How do we know this? Beyond their obvious primary acts of terrorism against Jewish people, beyond their rabid and frequent calls for complete extermination of Israel and Jews in general (with a wide assortment of colorful epithets to describe their hated enemy), and beyond their documented school curriculum that spend more time teaching children from the youngest age to hate Israel, Jews, and to commit their lives to killing as many Jews as possible), is in how they treat their own people. Now, remember – Hamas was ELECTED by the people of Gaza – in an election supervised by international observers. Hamas has received $Billions in aid for “humanitarian” and “infrastructure” over the years. Money that almost never went to the purposes for which it was designated. Other nations and groups have built hospitals, schools, and other important helps to the people, all while Hamas leaders live lavish lifestyles in other countries! And likewise, Hamas has always used civilians as human shields. Historically, they have fired rockets towards Israel, then literally run to hide in school yards, near hospitals, and among the civilian population to stave off a strong response by Israel. And for the most part, Israel has allowed that to prevent them from taking decisive and strong action to stop Hamas.

Then along comes October 7, when over 1400 (mostly civilian) people in Israel were slaughtered and hundreds of others taken hostage. Netanyahu said “Enough is enough” and declared that Hell was going to be unleashed. BUT, in an effort to minimize civilian casualties, they began their campaign with direct targeting of clearly-Hamas targets while using every avenue available to warn the civilian population to evacuate to the South of the Gaza strip towards Egypt. They delayed their ground entry to give plenty of time for civilians to get to safety. BUT – when civilians attempted to flee – Hamas opened fire on them – blowing up cars and executing those walking (and blaming Israeli air strikes). But the video evidence proves it was Hamas committing more war crimes against its own people (Again – Hamas only cares about people when they are human shields).

In the last 5 weeks since the initial attack, Israel has bombarded Gaza City with aerial bombing, drone strikes, artillery, and even tank action, resulting in much destruction and loss of both terrorist and civilian life. Nobody wants to see children suffering. Nobody wants to see civilians injured or killed. But such is the outcome when your own government has picked a fight they cannot win with a neighboring nation, then uses the very same civilian population as their defense. Unimpeachable evidence now exists that Hamas set up rocket launch equipment, massive weapons stores, and terrorist “nests” in shopping centers, schools, adjacent to church buildings, and even within mosques. Hospitals have been used both logistics and command centers, and one of the most extensive underground tunnel networks has been found beneath major hospitals and schools. Video exists of Hamas fighters running into hospitals while firing at IDF forces, of RPGs and other weapons being fired from hospital windows, and many more blatant war crimes. Yet the international community seems to be willing to listen to the incredible flood of propaganda that has used now-documented actors, make-up, and creative filming to stage tragic scenes for the media. I myself have now been able to recognize faces that keep reappearing in supposed videos of children whose parents were “murdered by Israel”. Just how many sets of parents are these kids losing?

With terrorists hiding among civilians, yet waging a war against you (and remember the practically indefensible geography of the current borders of Israel), what are you supposed to do? How do you defeat an enemy that literally wants you wiped off the map and your ethnicity permanently erased from the planet? If they care so little for their own people that they would steal fuel for generators, thus risking the lives of patients and infants in hospitals (while the supposedly genocidal Israeli government actually trucks in medical supplies, medical personnel, incubators for babies, medications, and also creates safe-escape paths for civilians to evacuate), then how do you stop the never-ending attacks on your own nation?

Yet that is the untenable position Israel is in. They are at war with an enemy that has a growing support base around the world, as Islam is taking root across the globe thanks to unmitigated and functionally un-vetted immigration (under the guise of refugee status). Hamas (and the other Palestinian terror organizations including Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and even the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank (formerly the PLO – look up “Black September” of 1970-71 – for a primary reason these people calling themselves Palestinians are not welcome in their Arab-speaking neighboring countries). But that brings up another interesting tidbit in the debate – just who are these people identified as Palestinians? The answer isn’t so simple. First, they are not a distinct people or ethnicity, but a hodgepodge of Arabic peoples from North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, and even Iran who have long been some kind of refugees who have never had a “homeland”. In the post-WW2 era when modern Israel was established, the land was sometimes referred to under the generic name of “Palestine” (from the Roman term for Philistines), but the inhabitants were made up of a relatively sparse population of Muslims, Jews, and others. I won’t take the time in this long post to further dig in – as it is worth a serious study of its own, but there was no prime claim by “Palestinians” at the time because there was no identifiable people group by that name.

What amazes me (but shouldn’t) is that while so many are condemning Israel for their heavy response to the attack of October 7, it seems that there is almost no call for Hamas to release their hundreds of hostages (some of which have died since being kidnapped). No-one seems to be demanding Hamas lay down their weapons and surrender for the sake of the children. And there is a really simple reason: Anti-Semitism. For the last 3500+ years, those who identify as Hebrew/Jewish have been hated by the world. Some of this has a firm biblical history behind it, and much is based on centuries of conspiracy theories and bent theology even among Christians. And from its very beginnings, Islam (via Mohammed) has considered Judaism to be the blood enemy. When pro-Palestinian crowds in cities around the world are chanting mantras used by Hitler’s Nazis regarding the extermination of Jews – we know the real agenda. But this leads to another question before I close –

Eschatology – Is This A Sign Of the End?

From the first day of the Hamas invasion, I have been asked and have seen questioned, if this was one of those biblical prophecies pointing to the imminent end of the world/return of Christ. What many cant’ seem to understand – this is not a new scenario. There was a much more clear apparent event matching some of those prophecies in the 1967 6-day War, when Israel was literally surrounded by its enemies and attacked from all directions. Yet the world didn’t end then. But what we do see in this most recent struggle, is that God is most definitely reminding us that we (Christians) have work to do because we are (regardless of the actual time of Jesus’ return) another day closer to that Great and Awesome day of the Lord. The point of eschatology is not so that we can build a calendar and name names but as a terrifying and serious reminder of what we are supposed to be about (the Father’s business). The abject evil we see on our screens and in print media ought to be a stark call to check our priorities and to be certain we are ready to see Jesus, whether it is His return in glory to judge, rule and reign on this earth, or He is calling us home to Heaven. The question is: Have you truly trusted in the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, proven and sealed in the victory of His resurrection? Have you not only confessed with your mouth but believed in your heart? Have you been crushed for your sin (for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God) and been lead to repent (to reject/turn away from sin)? Or will you, in that day, stand in your own condemnation as the recipient of eternal wrath which He has promised to pour out on all unrighteousness of men? Lest we forget – the real answer to the hate, wickedness, destruction, death, and evil is not war. But the peace that only comes from being justified by faith, having been regenerated by the Spirit of God in salvation. And remember: