God loves Israel! He loves Israel far more than did the Apostle Paul, who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. … 1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. (Romans 9:1-5; 3:1-2)
What does God say to those who harm Israel? “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye” (Zechariah 2:8). As with the rest of mankind, Jews who do not believe the gospel will be eternally lost (Romans 11:28a), but nonetheless “as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Romans 11:28b-11:29).
What is the greatest blessing Jehovah has ever given Israel? The Messiah, the Savior of the world, God blessed for ever, Jesus! To that end, we have designed the T-shirts pictured below, which have been added to the collection of evangelistic T-shirts and other materials I posted about some time ago. Both sides of the T-shirt reference the evangelistic pamphlet Truth From the Torah, Nevi’im, and Kethuvim (the Law, Prophets, and Writings) for Jews who Reverence the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, which is online at https://faithsaves.net/Messiah/. The front has this evangelistic website as well as the text of the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4:
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָֹה אֶחָד׃
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
While the back has the evangelistic website and Isaiah 53:8b: “For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.”
along with, on both sides, the flag of Israel. (We did not see a way to design the shirt so that the vowels and accents could be included, although we recognize the Biblical and historical case for their inspiration and preservation.)
We believe that these shirts can be blessed by the God of Israel for Jews to embrace their crucified and risen Messiah, Jesus, as well as to help Gentiles come to repentance and faith in Him. If you get to evangelize Muslims because of this shirt, Isaiah 53 is good for them also, since Muslims deny the Lord Jesus died on the cross, claiming the Gospel accounts are fabrications. But Isaiah 53, which clearly predicts His death by crucifixion and resurrection, and which we have physical, pre-Christian evidence for in the Dead Sea Scrolls, cannot be so explained away by Muslims. This T-shirt can also help you explain the powerful evidence for the Bible from prophecy for agnostics and atheists and the powerful impact of Isaiah 53 to both Jews and Muslims. Furthermore, God promises to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel (Genesis 12:1-3). Do you want to be blessed by the living God? Bless Israel!
The immediate motivation for our making these shirts was a pro-Hamas, anti-Jewish rally we saw in Los Angeles. Jew haters there held signs such as “Resistance is not terrorism,” glorifying the murder of 1,200 Jews on October 7, 2023, the largest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust:
They also promoted “from the river to the sea,” advocating the destruction of the Jewish state and the murder of the Jews:
The protesters were part of the anti-Israel hate group, the A. N. S. W. E. R. coalition, who argue that to say “Hamas is a terrorist organization” is a “lie.” (By the way, if you need more reasons to stop using Google as a search engine, note the pro-terrorism, anti-Israel search results that come up first if you search for “answercoalition.org Hamas terrorism”; compare those results with what you get on Duck Duck Go, where the top result [as of the time I am writing this] is the Anti-Defamation League explaining why Hamas is a bloodthirsty terrorist organization that calls for the eradication of Israel.) The protestors also reproduced lies pumped out by Hamas about civilian deaths in Gaza, while saying nothing about the fact that Hamas wants civilians in Gaza to die and Israel does not. Of course, Islam allows Muslims to lie–after all, Allah is the best of deceivers.
They were blocking the street so that we could not keep going on the bus we were on in Los Angeles. Our destination was not far away–a museum in LA. We decided to get off the bus and walk there. A few blocks away we saw an orthodox Jewish man walking in the direction of the advocates of terrorism. We told him about the protest; he thanked us, and re-routed. After we got home from the museum we designed the T-shirts. It is right to stand against terrorism and for the Jewish people. It is especially right to stand for the greatest Jew of all, the resurrected Lord, Jesus.
We saw posters like the following a few blocks away. The anti-Jewish, pro-Hamas protestors did not say anything about these people.
They also said nothing about United States citizens killed by or held hostage by Hamas. They are also not important, it seems. (Let me add that the large majority of inhabitants in Gaza and the West Bank support Hamas’ murder of Jewish civilians–the large majority “extremely support” terrorism, while in a recent survey only 7.3% of survey participants were “extremely against” such terrorism, combined with 5.4% who are “somewhat against” it, for a total of only 12.7% of the population who are against terrorism; it is certainly possible survey results reflect some bias, but the overall picture is likely to be accurate.)
What about here in the USA? When asked if they support Israel or Hamas, 95% of those over 65 support Israel. The percentages get progressively lower the younger people are. Among 18-24 year olds, only 55% support Israel, while 45% support Hamas. This is a terrible trend, and awful evidence of the anti-God garbage taught in the public school and university systems. Maybe consider getting some of these T-shirts for yourself or as presents for others. Perhaps you are afraid of Muslim violence or anti-Jewish violence if you wear one, since true Islam in America–like all true Islam–is violent and bloodthirsty, not peaceful. Perhaps if you are living in Saudi Arabia or Iran it would be unwise to wear one of these shirts; but if you live in the United States of America, and you will allow threats of Muslim violence to curtail your free speech, something is very wrong. Obviously Christians have liberty to wear or not wear a T-shirt like this, and it is perfectly fine not to wear one, but our decisions must be made out of Biblical principle and for the glory of God, not out of fear. If you say you would have protected Jews in the Holocaust, but are afraid to stand for them and against their murderers now, why should we believe you would have stood were you in Hitler’s Germany? There are Biblical principles here. God’s love for Israel is not saying God loves everything the modern state of Israel does–but God still loves Israel, and Scripture still says to bless Israel. (By the way, if you are born again, God loves you with an infinite and special love, but He still does not love everything you do–He does not love your sin, nor does He love Israel’s sin.) Be salt and light: stand up for righteousness. Do not let the wicked pro-terrorist people be the only ones who are making their voices known. Stand for the God of Israel, for the Messiah of Israel, and for the nation of Israel.
Postscriptum:
As FLAME: Facts and Logic About the Middle East points out concerning anti-Israel, pro-Hamas bias in media reports about Gaza civilian casualties:
[T]he media insist on treating Hamas’s notoriously unreliable information feed as fact. Conversely, they refuse to give precedence to proven, reliable sources of information, such as the Israeli or U.S. governments, the latter of which confirmed Al-Shifa’s use as a Hamas headquarters. Israel presents photographs of Hamas blocking exit highways, so Gazans cannot leave the war zone . . . but Hamas denies it, says NPR. Such is the inane, “he-said, she said” pablum we are fed by the media.
The media also steadfastly refuse to ask the questions demanded by the story—and by any curious reader, listener, or viewer. When reporters interview Palestinians on the street or doctors in hospitals, the viewer cries to know: “Do you ever see any Hamas guys around here? Have you seen any tunnels?” But never does the reporter ask this, let alone questions like, “Do you support Hamas? Do you think there should be a Palestine next to Israel? What do you think about the October 7th attack on Israel?” These are obvious queries that responsible, curious, fact-hungry journalists would and should normally ask their sources. But they never do. Why?
The short answer is that if they asked these questions, the stories they tell wouldn’t fit the narrative they are trying to sell—the narrative in which the Palestinians are an oppressed people, Israel is an evil, colonial aggressor, and Hamas is a product of legitimate Palestinian resistance.
To sell their perverse narrative, international media swallow the wildly inflated death-toll numbers cranked out by the Gaza Health Ministry. For this reason, the media simply repeat the daily growing casualty figures Hamas gives them.
Reuters reports, for example, that as of November 22nd, Gaza’s Hamas-run government says at least 13,300 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, including at least 5,600 children. But Luke Baker, a former Reuters bureau chief who led the organization’s coverage of Israel and the disputed territories from 2014 to 2017, said on X (formerly Twitter), “Hamas has a clear propaganda incentive to inflate civilian casualties as much as possible.”
Moreover, the media almost never give a breakdown of the casualties. They don’t say how many were Hamas terrorists or how many were human shields, killed in residences schools or hospitals where Hamas were hiding. They never tell how many were killed—not by Israeli forces, but by Hamas and other terrorist groups—because of misfired rockets, or by Hamas shooting at Palestinian civilians heeding Israeli orders to evacuate.
In addition, it’s probable that a significant number of the “children” reported killed or wounded by Hamas are youths aged 13 to 18, who were located in Hamas facilities or even took an active part in the fighting.
If you are not aware of the connection between Soviet communist propaganda and modern anti-Zionist lies about Israel as a colonialist oppressor, please read the article here.
KJV1611,
I disagree biblically with your position.
You have no biblical justification at this time to believe that the Jews “are loved by God” unless keep it in context to the gospel. There is no Jew or Gentile under the gospel of the grace of God, where Jesus Christ and his church is to take no “political” position with those that hate God, just as does America.
Your whole article is political in stating your premises that “Israel is loved by God”.
This is the conclusion of the matter by Paul through the Holy Ghost!
For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
(1Th 2:14-15)
He finishes with this considering a Zionist regime living in the same filth as this country, who hate Christianity and if you went there, you would be jailed for preaching the gospel.
Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. (1Th 2:16)
A Christian has no part in taking up a political side in any war. Any bible believer should know that the same thing happen to them as it did under Hitler, but even worse (Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.(Mat 27:25))
until the 2nd advent of Christ will come so that “all Israel shall be saved”. God will use Gentile nations as he did before to destroy their obstinate and stiffnecked heart.
God is against them at this time. Paul preached to them in the synagogues and it was almost exclusively the Jew who hated him and would cause all the tumult throughout the known world trying to destroy the preaching of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, I cannot understand why you would take sides against the Lord God in this dispensation of grace, where Israel is hated by God in the context of so many OT prophecies, unless they repent and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Tom
Tom,
What eschatological position do you take? Are you premillennial, amillennial, or postmillennial? Every premillennialist knows God still has a plan for Israel.
Kent,
I am premillennial. The rapture of the church must first occur before God gets directly involved in taking sides with Israel in establishing all the prophetic promises before, during and after the 2nd advent.
God is not through with the Jewish NATION (Romans 11), but that will not come into play until after the rapture of the church. At this time we are not dealing with the physical restoration of Israel, though you could say that the Gentile nations did begin the process since its re-establishment in 1948.
As I reiterate, today Israel is just a God forsaken, God hating “Jews religion” (Galatians 1:13-14) that will worship the devil and give him a seat in the temple when he shows up. They will rejoice as the rest of the world on Christmas day (Rev 11:10) when God’s prophets are killed!
As far as I am concerned, the nation was established by Gentile powers under the control of the devil to eventually setup the place where the two prophets will preach “against the world” and after they are killed, the antichrist will be established in Jerusalem as the false king they have been waiting for. Thereafter, Gods wrath will continue under the vial judgments to destroy the world, including most of the Jews, yet eventually a remnant of Jewish believers will come out of that, and God will come to “save all Israel” during his second coming.
Too much more details can be added, but this should be enough to prove my point.
Tom
Tom,
Thanks for the comment. I do get where you’re coming from, but from what you have just written, I still do not agree with your point of view about present Israel. You would say, like me, that God has not cancelled His promises to Israel. You just believe that every one of them are fulfilled only in the Millennial Kingdom after the second coming.
You believe that Israel today is the Israel that God will fulfill the promise, that nation. That’s what I’m reading in what you wrote. Well, God made unilateral covenants with Israel in Genesis. He swore to keep those covenants (Heb 6). Why is there a nation Israel today? Because God made those promises. You say it is the Gentile nations that did this, but you’re missing that God is sovereign over all the nations and He uses whatever He wants to accomplish that goal. The fact that he used Gentile nations, ones affected most by the Bible, used to save the Jews during the World Wars, to do this, doesn’t take away from God being the One doing it.
Since God will still honor the covenants, Gentile nations would want to bless Israel. It’s true that we care about all people in the world, that they would be saved, but these people that want to eradicate Israel off the earth, like Hamas and the Palestinians, that is against God’s plan. The fact that God has a plan for Israel, will save Israel, Satan wants to eliminate that, and he uses these other people to do that. We can see that even in the tribulation period, and Jesus talks about that in the Olivet Discourse. We are opposed to that, even today. Therefore, we oppose what this plan and will and goal of these Arab people in the Middle East, even if Israel is a rebellious people. Romans 9-10 say that Israel is rebellious, but Romans 11 says that, despite that, God will not cast off Israel. If you are with that plan, then you are for Israel as a nation, not because they’ve been righteous, but because this is in the plan of God, and you know it.
Related to righteous war, we could quibble about that and how that is waged. God set up nations. There is opposition with that from globalists, who want to take away those boundaries. This tends toward greater apostasy. I think that Israel should send out all the Palestinians. I don’t think a two state solution will work. In light of this and the covenants of God with Israel, I want Israel to send away the Palestinians. I understand right now that’s probably not going to happen. If we use the guidelines God gave OT Israel, and understand those to be righteous, and Israel decided to follow the civil laws God set up for them, some could interpret that as barbaric. Maybe you look at things that way. I wouldn’t think so.
Where did you get this point of view? I don’t hear it from premillennialists, ever. What kind of church do you attend, Tom?
Kent,
Since you asked, I will give you a synopsis of where I stand.
I get that point of view from reading the whole bible, and understanding how to rightly divide the word of truth. I do not put God in “a camp”,
I have a Baptistic background, but disagree with the division and separation of distinct local churches without regard to the one body of Christ, under one Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, one Bible, one baptism (spiritual and physical). It would be great if men of God and his the Lord’s churches would get together and work together under biblical articles of faith (similar to the Baptist Confession of Faith) where they would work as one in a biblical fashion to allow God to manifest his power through it, rather than this disjoined, striving, separatist bunch of Nicolaitans who love to have it so.
I am a King James Bible absolutist. I have read what you wrote, and even though I agree with its preservation because God’s word cannot be broken, it has no value except to show that to be true (Historical texts, manuscripts to prove its “blood line”). Other than that, the final manifest declaration of God is finished in the King James Bible text, therefore believing that God will rapture his church with the world still speaking English.
I see that history has come to pass exactly as the bible is describing it. I see that we are probably in the last stage of the church, the Laodicean era. I also teach that those types exist as both current examples of churches throughout historical time of the church as well as the “seven churches” completing time periods throughout the church age.
I teach that the Catholic church is the devils church, the woman that rides the beast, which brings together all apostacy that includes every false Christian denomination throughout the world that are not part of the body of Christ (Individuals that assembly together in local assemblies, yet also caring for the body, by ministering together throughout the world). In the devils triune formation whose head is Catholicism, as well as both Zionism (current Judaism) and Islam. All of these are represented in Jerusalem, which is spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified (Revelation 11:8).
I can teach both a 7 year or 3.5 year tribulation period. I find both have problems, but one of them is true, that is why I do not take a firm position.
I teach that the current dispensation the church of Jesus Christ is the bride of Christ, therefore no nation is important, and God will allow Satan (the god of the world) to rule the Gentile nations as he pleases. As I said, the only possible intervention of the blessings of God are upon nations who has a strong Christian presence (England and America to name the last front, but God’s hand is allowed to be weakened by a powerless, non confrontational church against sin and the preaching of the gospel).
That should be a good start.
Tom
Tom,
Thanks for your comment. We disagree on so many things that I don’t think I want to address your comment. It would take way too long for us to sort through it. I decided not to go down that path.
Kent,
You wrote, “We disagree on so many things..”
Tell me if you agree on anything? If so, just mention it without discussion.
Tom
Tom,
I agree there is one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and one Bible. I agree that history has come to pass exactly as the bible is describing it. I agree those types of churches in Revelation 2 and 3 exist as current examples of churches throughout historical time of the church. I agree the Catholic church is not of God, but of the devil. Thanks.
Hi Tom!
You are dead wrong. You said:
You have no biblical justification at this time to believe that the Jews “are loved by God” unless keep it in context to the gospel.
But the Bible says exactly the opposite about the Jews:
Rom. 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Rom. 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
1 Thess 2 says nothing about God not loving the Jews. It says that they will be eternally lost, despite God’s love for them, unless they embrace the Jew Jesus, the Messiah. The national conclusion you are drawing is exactly the opposite of what the very same Apostle Paul-a Jew-who wrote 1 Thessalonians said: “not that I had ought to accuse my nation of” (Acts 28:19)
So who is taking a side against Jehovah in this? You, or this blog post?
I noticed you said not a syllable about the rape, torture, and murder of more Jews in one day than on any time since the Holocaust by Hamas in your comment. Is the Lord God against Islam, Hamas, and Allah? Hitler’s thugs sought to hide their murders of the Jews because they knew many Germans would be against it. Hamas glories in their murders in accordance with their Muslim faith. They are worse than Hitler.
Let’s say your wife and daughters were kidnapped by Hamas, tortured, raped, and held hostage. Let’s say the US military sent soldiers to send the Hamas terrorists to Allah and free your wife and daughters, and stop Hamas from ever doing that again. Would you say that you should take no sides on whether Hamas or the US military was in the right, and you would refuse to take either side?
A Christian missionary family in Israel that are non-citizens may have their visas revoked. That is a shame, and they should not do that. Citizens of Israel can evangelize and they can’t legally do much about it, even if they don’t like it. However, if you are a Christian missionary in Gaza they will probably do something like rape your wife and daughters before your eyes, then gouge out your eyes, then perhaps cut your bowels out, apply electric shocks to sensitive parts of your body, and then kill you in a gruesome way. So where is there more room for the gospel to spread–in Israel, where Jewish citizens can legally evangelize, or in terrorist-controlled, Muslim Gaza? Where are there more churches?
KJV1611,
“I noticed you said not a syllable about the rape, torture, and murder of more Jews in one day than on any time since the Holocaust by Hamas in your comment. Is the Lord God against Islam, Hamas, and Allah? ”
The Lord God is not dealing with killing anyone on any side! He has no sides at this time unless the nation, like America (and England) during its founding, had many bible believers and churches who went into the world preaching, that God showed favor to them as a nation. Biblically speaking, during this dispensation, that is the only kinds of nations God will bless.
Why do you not see this? If I was an Israelite who had family tortured while laughing, I would have a HATRED that would kill! How far would that hatred go? Would I go into Gaza and just kill with the same desire and vengeance?
Is that the Christian heart we should have in taking political sides at this time? I say… no way.
Have you ever taken the time to look at footage during WWII? Do you believe any bible believing Christian is justified killing others?
Have you ever thought for one minute that a born again American might have killed a born again German, Japanese or European Christian or vise versa because of this ungodly idea called “patriotism”?
A brother in the Lord and I were witnessing to a German Luftwaffe pilot in visiting his home in Germany (He was great uncle to my brothers wife). We seen his picture as he was standing next to his Messerschmitt that had 10-15 “kills” emblems. As we were witnessing to this Catholic, we asked him, after noting how much Catholicism was rooted in America, “What if you killed an American Catholic”? He was startled and his countenance fell, saying, “I never thought of that!”
Most Christians never thought of that!
We are not even willing to die ourselves for the preaching of the gospel, or be afflicted, but we are so willing to take “patriotic” sides of godless nations?
Go figure.
Tom
KJV1611,
“I noticed you said not a syllable about the rape, torture, and murder of more Jews in one day than on any time since the Holocaust by Hamas in your comment. Is the Lord God against Islam, Hamas, and Allah? ”
The Lord God is not dealing with killing anyone on any side! He has no sides at this time unless nations, like America (and England) during its founding, had many bible believers and churches who went into the world preaching, that God showed favor to them as a nation. Biblically speaking, during this dispensation, that is the only kinds of nations God will bless.
Why do you not see this? If I was an Israelite who had family tortured while its killers were laughing, I would have a HATRED that would kill! How far would that hatred go? Would I go into Gaza and just kill shamelessly with the same desire and vengeance? If I were not saved, I certainly would! I would justify “almost” anything.
Is that the Christian heart we should have in taking political sides at this time? I say… no way.
Have you ever taken the time to look at footage during WWII? Do you believe any bible believing Christian is justified killing others? Unbelievable tragedy that sin brings upon mankind. 60-80 MILLION total killed. 2/3 were civilians. Only 4-6 million were Jews. 24 million were Russian, 14 million were Chinese.
Have you ever thought for one minute that a born again American might have killed a born again German, Japanese or other European Christian or vise versa because of this ungodly idea called “patriotism”?
A brother in the Lord and I were witnessing to a German Luftwaffe pilot in visiting his home in Germany (He was great uncle to my brothers wife). We seen his picture as he was standing next to his Messerschmitt that had 10-15 “kills” emblems. As we were witnessing to this Catholic, we asked him, after noting how much Catholicism was rooted in America, “What if you killed an American Catholic”? He was startled and his countenance fell, saying, “I never thought of that!”
Most Christians never thought of that!
We are not even willing to die ourselves for the preaching of the gospel, or be afflicted, but we are so willing to take “patriotic” sides of godless nations in killing other in so called “just wars”?
Go figure.
Tom
KJV1611,
“if you are a Christian missionary in Gaza they will probably…”
They will probably…?
Do you just hate certain kinds of people?
I will agree that certain people are more barbaric than others.
If so, in our own country, have you seen the barbaric activities of abortion doctors?
Why not go an kill them?
Are you trying to understand a more clear picture when you start taking “sides”.
You have the last word, because if you do not get it by now, there is no point in going any further.
Tom
Hello Tom!
I noticed that you said nothing at all about this:
You are dead wrong. You said:
You have no biblical justification at this time to believe that the Jews “are loved by God” unless keep it in context to the gospel.
But the Bible says exactly the opposite about the Jews:
Rom. 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Rom. 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
1 Thess 2 says nothing about God not loving the Jews. It says that they will be eternally lost, despite God’s love for them, unless they embrace the Jew Jesus, the Messiah. The national conclusion you are drawing is exactly the opposite of what the very same Apostle Paul-a Jew-who wrote 1 Thessalonians said: “not that I had ought to accuse my nation of” (Acts 28:19)
So who is taking a side against Jehovah in this? You, or this blog post?
Instead, you talked about a great many other things.
In relation to your new argument, it would be great if the Hamas terrorists would repent and believe the gospel. But when they murder innocent people God says that they deserve to be killed:
Gen. 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Killing terrorists who have murdered, raped, and tortured others is a good thing:
Prov. 11:10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
If a murderer comes to your house, kills your wife and attempts to rape and kill your daughter, and you shoot him, or the police shoot him, the criminal is guilty of murder. You are not, and the police are not. If a large group of murderers known as Hamas come and kill many wives and daughters, and a large group from the government called an army kill these wicked murderers, the terrorists are guilty of murder, and the army is not. God has given the government the power of the sword (Romans 13). The blood of the terrorists is on their own head. A Bible-believing Christian can be in the military, like Cornelius in Acts 10, or like the Roman soliders John the Baptist told to be content with their wages but did not command to leave the military, or like the centurion in Matthew 8 concerning whom Christ said he had great faith. Neither Christ, nor John the Baptist, nor the Apostles, told these men to leave the military. Neither the Old or New Testament teach pacifism.
In any given war, at least one side is committing murder. I don’t know why you are talking about Catholics, since Catholicism is a false gospel:
https://faithsaves.net/catholic/
But there should not be born-again Baptists on both sides of a military conflict. True Christians had no business being in Hitler’s army fighting an aggressive war to invade and murder others. His army was committing murder each time someone died. The British pilots trying to stop Hitler from invading their country and murdering their families were not committing murder when they shot down Hitler’s planes. The Polish military did not commit murder when they tried, unsuccessfully, to stop Hitler and Stalin from invading and dividing up their country. Hamas terrorists were guilty of murder when they slaughtered innocent civilians, gang-raped women and sodomized men, and engaged in necrophilia. The Israeli military is not guilty of murder when they send these wretches to Allah. If the Israelis just rounded up civilians who had nothing to do with any crime and killed them for fun, like Hamas did, then they would also be guilty of murder, but they aren’t doing that, and if they did, the government of Israel would prosecute them.
By the way, if the Hamas terrorists will not repent, it is better for them to be killed by the sword of the government (Romans 13) than to be allowed to keep killing and sinning. Each sin that they commit makes hell worse for them. It is actually better for them to be killed after they murder, rape, and torture five people than it is to allow them die in peace rejoicing that they have killed, raped, and tortured 500 people–not just for the 500 people, but for them as well, as their hell will be worse after they commit even more sins.
Of course, your assumption that I am arguing this because of an unbiblical hatred is totally invalid. It is the teaching of Scripture.
Finally, I should not kill abortionists because I am not the government and, as an individual, I do not have the power of the sword (Romans 13) except in individual self-defense (Ex 22:2). But would I favor a law treating abortionists like other murderers? Yes I would. If that became law, then I would be happy to vote for the death penalty as part of a jury after the abortionist was given a fair trial and was found guilty of the gruesome murder of helpless infants.
Dear Bro Brandenburg,
Agreed, good points about Romans 9-11.
Perhaps I am missing your point, but I don’t think Israel should use arms to force every one of the Arab Palestinians out of the West Bank and Gaza. That would seem highly questionable to me in terms of its justice, and it would also be highly impractical politically, and extremely unpopular with, for example, the 20% of Israel’s population that is non-Jewish and enjoys equal rights. Furthermore, that would also involve driving out (for example) those Arabs that are not only not terrorists but are in Christendom and have been oppressed by Muslims for many centuries but have hung on.
I don’t know, Thomas. I’ve been in Israel too. We had an orthodox Jewish guide in Jerusalem and I asked her how many Palestinians want the Jews gone. She said, 99 percent. Could some Palestinians say? Yes, But for all intents and purposes, I don’t think any of them. The percentage, as I wrote recently, is that 90 plus percent of Palenstinians want the Jews eliminated. The Jews don’t want the Palestinians eliminated, and fairly large percentage still want to try to get a two state solution. There are those, like me, (I’m sure a larger percentage than ever, maybe over 50 percent now?) that just don’t think that will work, sort of like trying to make Afghanistan a “democracy.” They can’t live that way. Look, they voted in Hamas in the West Bank.
You’re right that I don’t share your view of justice accomplished in the Middle East. Should Hamas be rooted out even if that means killing thousands of civilians and children, because they use them as human shields? I know the politics won’t work, but from my experience with humanity and then seeing Israel and talking to Jews, I don’t think it will work to have them sharing the same land. Yes, some could live that way, but it would have to be a significantly smaller number, who would integrate into a Israelite point of view.
Dear Bro Brandenburg,
Unfortunately, you are right that a very high percentage of the Muslim Arabs are against Israel and want them gone. (I am not aware of any of the ones in Christendom blowing themselves up and so on, even if too many of them are also anti-Jewish in accordance with their Catholic or Eastern Orthodox religion.) There are far better rational reasons for Israel being there then there are for having a Palestinian state (there never was one, Jordan controlled the area before, not a state called “Palestine”), or for Pakistan existing, etc., but huge percentages of the world’s population does not care–they just hate the Jews, as does the father of all who are not born again and who controls the world’s nations with God’s permission and in His limits, namely, the devil.
The problem is, based on Deuteronomy, that the Jews will never have long-term peace as long as they reject the Messiah. Even if all the Palestinians were gone, most of the Muslims in Jordan and Egypt and Syria would hate them. Iran would still want to blow them up with a nuclear bomb. They will always be hated because Satan hates them and wants to kill them all and they are under God’s judgment for rejecting the Lord Jesus. So will they have peace with the Palestinians all around them? No. Would they have peace if they forced them all to move, in so doing losing US support, alienating the non-Jewish 20% of their population, alienating the more moderate Jews in their population, etc.? No. They will never have peace until the Antichrist gives them a false one for a short time in the Tribulation and then they have real peace with the Lord Jesus in the Millennium. But we can still bless them and love them ourselves–and the best way, as you know, we can do that is by pointing them to the Messiah.
Thomas,
I’m thinking of what will bless Israel in the short term. Yes, we want the gospel for them, but we want to contribute toward their survival, believing what God says His plan is for Israel. This shows our faith in God.
Brother Ross, thank you for writing, I agree with you.
Israel, even in unbelief, needs to be supported and loved by born again Christian peoples, even also if they don’t return the sentiment.
You likely know this already, Palestine’s race, culture, language, and history are all Arab, their religion – Islam; their name’s sake, “Falastin” in Arabic, comes from the Latin “Palaestina,” the name given to Judaea by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. He renamed Judaea to Palaestina after the Bar Kokhba revolt in the 2nd century. This was done as a punishment and to suppress future Jewish nationalism efforts against Rome.
Dear Bro Ben,
Thanks for the comment. Yes, one could just as well speak of the region in question as “Judea and Samaria” instead of “Palestine.” I don’t have a problem with the term Palestine because of these verses:
Ex. 15:14 The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.
Is. 14:29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
Is. 14:31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.
Let me point out that before 1967 the Jews were frequently called “Palestinians.”