Terrorism will never cease to shock the peace-loving people of the world. About two months ago, the world was shocked by the attack that took place in southern Israel by the terrorist group Hamas. The facts of the attack are pretty clear now: innocent men, women, children - even babies - were brutally murdered by the Hamas terrorists who invaded southern Israel. Hundreds have been kidnapped. Rapists dragging terrified girls and children away from home - images as dreadful as the carnage of 9/11. What is more appalling above everything else is that those innocent people are almost an afterthought for most of the world. There are no demands from Hamas to immediately release the hostages. Instead, the lectures go to the government of Israel about “proportional responses”. The hostages have become bargaining chips-something that is a slap in the face of the nation of Israel and anyone who has a little bit of a conscience, particularly as the evidence of the crimes of Hamas are verified.

There is an information war being waged in the media while they, the United Nations, and major universities in the West have become dangerously anti-Semitic, while supporters of the Palestinian terrorists (mostly Muslims and liberal elements) are protesting by the thousands in major cities in the United States and Europe.

The leaders of Hamas who were interviewed on several platforms like RT and Al Jazeera made mention of the fact that the difference between the Jews and the Palestinians (a weakness in their eyes which they exploited to the full) was that “Jews love life and Palestinians have no problem with death.” They were not speaking in hyperbole! The hours after the attack and as the pictures of the carnage was hitting the internet and the media, as the pictures of women and children were being assaulted and kidnapped went online, multitudes of people were celebrating on the streets of Gaza…and then London, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Why were they celebrating? For what reason did they not have the slightest bit of a conscience to see the pictures of children being kidnapped and raped and not feel revulsion-or any other emotion rather than the kind of demonic exultation that would happen at a child sacrifice in the Temple of Moloch in the ancient world? Before anyone talks about Israel having to back off from a full scale invasion, or that there must be a “ceasefire”, they are going to have to answer that question without the usual talking points of blaming Israel for everything under the sun; why did these people celebrate that kind of evil? And now why are they afraid about what the IDF will do next? Did they not ask for death? Do they “not have a problem with death”? Which brings us to the next point. (Job 19:7)

The government of Israel recently condemned several of the mainstream news outlets (namely the AP, Reuters, BBC, CNN, and the New York Times) for the use of what some call “stragglers”-freelance photojournalist and other sources of information-who were with the Hamas terrorist who attacked southern Israel on October 7. According to the Israeli government, some (if not all) were privy to the attack and expressed their joy about it, while in direct proximity to the carnage! And this made it into the above outlets live video feeds.

One has to wonder, what was their motivation? Not the terrorists, but the media outlets. Were they just looking to run the kind of story that would garner the biggest headlines? Did they not care that over 1500 innocent victims, even small children would be brutally assaulted, kidnapped, tortured, and murdered-in front of these “stragglers” as they celebrated? Or is their just a professional animus against the nation of Israel (probably the right answer)? Or is it also that the said news outlets are complete devoid of the Truth and morality (a more accurate answer)?

The point is that the media is playing a game of manipulation in order to maneuver this conflict into a certain end which will be a positive for the terrorists, not for the victims in Israel. I believe that the Biden Administration, particularly the State Department is a driving force behind the information war, but they are not alone. Many other countries are as well. Israel has repeatedly been opened their operations, as much as possible, to the press in order to show everyone that they are not brutalizing the Palestinians. They have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Hamas is using Palestinians (who they purport to defend) as human shields and hospitals and schools as their military headquarters intentionally to shield themselves from the retribution of the Israeli Defense Forces after the terrorism they committed. And yet, in spite of knowing this fact, media outlets like the BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera report allude that Israel is something of a vile destroyer. A question to the media, Have you forgotten the carnage of October 7? Have you forgotten the celebrations on the streets of Gaza?

Western governments have for years opened wide their borders to allow for the migration of what John Adams called the ‘infidel’ nations under the pseudo Christian compassion. The liberal elements in the Church world never considered why discretion was needed with regards to allowing people from nations like Pakistan, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and other Islamic nations was a problem. They chose not to understand that ideas about Freedom and Justice are not universal, multicultural, and especially not relative to the various religions of the world. Infidel ideas, thoughts, people, and money have flowed into western countries, governments, universities, and cultural centers, and in many other forums. They have, in many places, taken over the moral conscience which used to be the purview of the Church.

There are many who are rightly worried that this conflict can spiral out of control. Others want to strike and “wipe them all out.” And some who say these comments do not just want to hit Hamas, but also the nation of Iran. While this conversation is exploding in government centers and college campus, a large number of people are openly celebrating Hamas and the Palestinians, justifying the carnage that was committed on October 7.

So where do we go from here?

First of all, if there are sensible people out there in the “civilized nations” of the world, they must have enough sense to call evil, “Evil.” As I wrote in the last essay-the MFGC letter of support for Israel-there is no justification for Hamas or the terrorism that they perpetrated-not now, not a hundred years from now, not a thousand years from now. Call them terrorists! Nations like Canada and even the United Kingdom is having trouble doing that-why? The driving narrative in the media in those nations, as well many of the media outlets in the United States (most notably CNN, MSNBC, the Legacy Media) is that there is “two sides” to this issue-something that the leaders of the nation of Israel have sharply rebuked (and rightfully so).

Secondly, we who are in the Church should understand the ‘moral clarity’ of the world around us is not necessarily on the foundation of the Bible, but rather on the shifting sand of popular opinion and assumptions and therefore it is subject to change via manipulation. And herein lies a serious danger with regards to the viewpoint of this current conflict between Israel and Hamas. We must be very clear. Not only can we not trust popular opinion, but also we must understand that religions do not share the opinion about morality on this issue, and many more.

Islam does not even remotely share the moral repugnance or viewpoint that Christianity does. The God of the Bible is not the same as the one in the Koran. The Allah of Islam is not the same as the Jehovah God, the Holy Trinity, and the person of Jesus Christ in any way shape or form. The Koran is very clear about that, as are the Hadiths (historical interpretative writings from some of Muhammed’s companions and later scholars regarding Koranic interpretation and the events behinds those scriptures from Muhammed’s life.)

Muhammed’s history is something that absolutely nobody who is a Islamic apologists, or its adherents or supporters in the West, want to talk about right now-and for good reason. He was one of the cruelest, most debauched war lords that ever lived. And the Jews of Arabia were the victims who suffered most at his hands (a major reason why no one should be under any illusion that the Palestinians and their supporters only have a problem with the government of Israel and that the Jewish people will be ‘safe and secure’ under a totally fair and freedom loving Palestinian government). One should look at the Islamic nations around Israel and find out about the Jewish populations that were in those nations at the turn of the last century, and which after 1948 quite literally disappeared from those nations.

These are points of verified history. There are people in the West who choose to close their eyes to the facts but that is not going to help anything or anyone in this conflict especially if one wants to end these conflicts or wars with a victory or a reasonable outcome for peace and security. And especially is one considers that Israel is the only Jewish state, the only democracy that guarantees human rights for all in its borders, the only state that as any semblance of Freedom of Thought or Expression.

Thirdly, we must acknowledge that while all War is bad, terror wars are a completely different level of evil. There are international laws (such as the Geneva and Vienna Conventions) governing the treatment of Prisoners of War which apply (strictly speaking) to conventional war between nation states. Terrorism does not apply in that category. It would come under the portfolio of “police action” or some type of heightened law enforcement. The rules of engagement are anything but defined and the reason for this is because the enemy in terrorism never fights fair. Fighting this kind of war as if it were a conventional war between states will end in failure. The United States should have learned that lesson after 20 years of the War on Terror.

This type of war demands the absolute destruction of the enemy. There is no quarter given. This is a fact that goes back all the way to Biblical times. In the history of Israel from the books of Moses all the way to the Kingdom of Israel, there are many terror wars mentioned. One of the most significant was Israel’s war with the Philistines-which (without any irony) happened in the very places affected by this current conflict in Israel with Hamas.

The conflict started in the time of the Book of Judges and it lasted for over a 100 years, punctuated with a type of “peaceful coexistence”. The wars took on new levels of brutality as the years of oppression increased. Samson killed 1000 Philistines on the battlefield. The Tabernacle at Shiloh was later destroyed by the Philistines after the Ark of the Covenant was taken by them in the battlefield (1 Samuel 3). The Prophet Samuel had to fight and deal with them, as did the King Saul, the first of Israel. But the person who was most responsible for their defeat (and this is the operative word) was King David. But that was as bloody a type of warfare as ever seen in human history. He and his soldiers not only killed giants like Goliath. They also struck smaller towns and villages and wiped out everyone; men, women, and children. There was no other way to defeat the Philistines. It was terror war and as good a man as King David was, God kept him away from building the Temple in Jerusalem because of the blood he spilled in his wars.

It should be no surprise that this is not an ideal course of action to pursue but it is exactly what makes a terror war unwinnable. Modern day Islamic terrorism invites total destruction. It invites ethnic cleansing. It invites the death of innocents. It has no value of human life, nor does it do anything for the welfare of the people who it purports to support. But to stop that terrorism, those points that make it repulsive are the “rules of engagement”, which is why nations who have a Biblical worldview or the Western ideas and perspectives that come from it, will never win in a terror war.

Freedom of the Press becomes a tool for the aggressors. And this is especially true with a group of people like the Palestinians. The Palestinians have given “free access” to the afore mentioned western news outlets like the BBC and CNN in Gaza but have never told the truth about anything. Rather the outlets have become tool for “managing the message”. But in reality, Freedom of the Press is not in any Muslim country or area, and yet no one in these outlets have every thought to have second thoughts or to doubt the ‘information’ that Hamas gave. No one has ever wondered where the “peaceful civilians” are among the Palestinians?

Who is not a terrorist among them? Which terrorist group do you want to join? Fatah? Hamas? Islamic Jihad? Which one? Whether it is the PA in the West Bank (what Israel calls Judea and Samaria) or Hamas in Gaza, they all hate the Jews, hate the state of Israel, and do not recognize its existence, and given the chance will exterminate the Jews from that land. And yet Israel is called upon to live in a situation where “land for peace” treaties are constantly thrown at them while Palestinians school children are being taught from kindergarten (even with cartoons) to hate and kill Jews. Meanwhile terror tunnels were used since 2005 to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians for ransom, torture, and murder. Rockets were constantly being fired on Israel. The world did nothing about it. Governments talked and did…nothing about it. Nations around Israel like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria were glad it was Israel’s problem. They did not, and do not want Palestinians anywhere in their borders. And so what is Israel to do?

I am convinced that the world does not want Peace. Moral/Religious relativism has brought us to a point in history where the morally ambiguous is the preferred choice no matter how bloody or debauched the outcome is to the victims. And particularly to Israel and the Christian worldview dominated West-which still means America. But the reason for this is Spiritual (which I will talk about later), not a matter of governmental policies. This will remain so until the next terrorist attack…in the West…in the United States?

The war is unwinnable because the outcomes are almost equally bad. Either Israel obliterates Gaza and all its population, or it subjugates Gaza and its population and absolutely throw its Hamas element out. But no matter what the hatred of the Palestinians will not abate nor will the sorrows of Israel over the Jewish hostages and the 1500 victims (a fact which a world press accused Israel of making up until faced with the actual footage.) And no matter what Israel does to defend itself against terrorism, or even if they did nothing, the last two months have proven that the majority of the world system would rather see tortured and dead jews and sing John Lennons’ “Imagine” rather than doing anything to stop evil or even condemn it.

My constant prayer each day is for the peace of Jerusalem-of Israel as a whole. It is the land of Immanuel. The land itself is as much a part of the prophetic message of the Bible as are the story of the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is part of the God’s plan for this world-past, present, and future. One day, God Himself will come to put a stop to this mess. And on that day, it will not only be terrorism that ends, but rather all the evils of the world. We look forward to that day; the day of Jesus Christ the Messiah, when He will reign in Jerusalem as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Come quickly Lord Jesus.