It’s been a week since the attack on Israel by Hamas, the death toll and amount of injured have continued to increase by the day. On Saturday, October 7, 2023, Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist political and military organization, invaded and killed Israelis. The number of deaths reported went from 200 to 400, to over 600 and now at about 900 deaths and over 2,000 injured with an unknown number kidnapped.
At the time I’m writing this most heads of government and political leaders around the world have already stated their condemnation of the attack and have shared their diplomatic support for Israel, and as the days have gone by and war has been declared, countries like the US have also discouraged Israel from harming civilians in Gaza in their retaliation, even President Putin remarked that both sides should keep women and children out of this fight.
Accusations are flying as to who is to blame: is it just Hamas? Is it foreign sponsorship from countries like Iran that support Hamas militarily? Is it the Israeli defence for being negligent despite some intell that Israel was warned of the attack beforehand but never took precautions? Or is it Deep State actors and warmongers that want to make use of any conflict to set the world ablaze? Opinions are also flying around as the internet does what the internet does. In this public square that is the World Wide Web everyone has something to say, and yes ironically so do I here on this post.
Many videos are trending on news updates of the area and info on the geopolitical history of the area. Currently, social media sites are not only rife with opinions but also satire and jokes really show a sort of cultural-political self-awareness with memes like this:
Even physical manifestations of online debates have begun, as this morning I heard of clash demonstrations in New York City between those for Israel and those for Palestine, also in other major cities in Australia, Canada and UK etc.
Meanwhile, within Israel itself, the locals have had no time to mourn, and are currently calm but active and bracing themselves: gathering supplies for soldiers and families immediately affected, while the experts are beginning to analyze and question Israel’s defence failures and failures in its leadership (Israel’s defence system is the most sophisticated in the world, so it raises eyebrows as to how it could be so easily penetrated).
In all this turmoil I felt the need to postpone some other introductory posts to focus on this issue.
I was going to let it be and leave the issue but I realized 2 things:
1. In a world full of opinionated people and many times the wrong opinions, it also doesn’t make someone (like me) a hero or better because they are silent about their thoughts. Even though one should avoid ‘adding to the noise’, it is also true that many events in the past 3 years (since covid) have shown the more you let a group of people spread their ideas, no matter how small the group or how crazy their ideas, don’t think they could never become mainstream. Normal people who just want peace and quiet end up with infiltrated and increasingly radical institutions when they don’t speak when the others are shouting.
So despite all the noise on the internet, I will add my voice in denouncing the attacks by Hamas and in supporting Israel by advocating for peace. It is clear to me that this story goes beyond Israel and Palestine, there are forces wanting us all to be thrust into a global conflict but in the name of Jesus, this will not be so.
2. The reason I even thought about making this page was because there was a lot of current affairs and news I wanted to discuss beyond my immediate community. I wanted to join the modern social journalist of today but from a faith-based perspective, because mainstream news and media is dead and no longer reliable. Christians for the longest time have relied on the world to tell us things when that’s not God’s plan. We are not meant to be conformed to this world and it’s hard not to be when the world speaks to us through different channels every day. Maybe It is such a time as this is the best time for us all to be our own journalists and our own decision-makers basing our logic on God’s ways, from his Word.
…
I do not desire to go on a long rant about who is wrong and who is right but instead, I wanted to write a short message to support Israel and support for peace, which I regard as also support for the innocent civilian Palestinians. I believe that unlike a lot of the rhetoric I have heard online to support Israel does not mean to want civilian Palestinians to die but it’s actually to be mature and well-educated enough to realize right from wrong in conflicts, just like how looking back at wars past we understand that to condemn Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan does not mean to hate the average German or Japanese person.
Ultimately I urge Christians to maintain peaceful conduct and communication at this time and to pray without ceasing for the nations: for peace, and salvation of souls. Yes we support Israel but violence/ the anger of men does not achieve the righteousness God desires (James 1:20). In other words our support for Israel should not lead to fighting with Muslims or other groups who are pro-Palestine. Rather we should pray, trust God and understand that our enemy is not flesh and blood but principalities and powers, rulers of darkness that would love to see us divided and at war (Ephesians 6:12).
Maybe we Christians are alive today for such a time as this, like Queen Ester in the bible (Ester Chapters 3-8). When the Jewish people were faced with death, she was the right person at the right time to bring about salvation for her people, but first, she called for prayer and fasting from all the Jews and afterwards, she received strategy from God and was able to approach the King in the right way and outwit the man (Haman) who had plotted death upon all her people. An important point in this story is it took her cousin, Mordecai, to remind her that she has some responsibility to do something, that if they (the Jews) perished, she would not be spared, nevertheless if she didn’t help surely God would have another to help. Like Mordecai, I urge you today to join the good fight, to watch and pray and to advocate peace.
(Inspired by -Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s teaching in Loveworld Specials)
Links and Resources:
Where I got my news info:
(All these news articles where accessed between October 11 and 12, 2023)
Aljazeera – Jerusalem Post – Jerusalem Post – Global News
Loveworld News (Christian News)
Join Prayer with us live/ watch Christian programs:
Christian Television on the go (mobile app)
Get more info from a conservative perspective:
Bible Resources/ Scripture References:
A Mad World 
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