So, Hamas executes six hostages and the pressure is on Israel to cut a deal and stop the war – does that not seem backwards? Six are executed and that is supposed to bring on peace. The threat is that the other 101 will be executed if Israel doesn’t stop. The harsh reality is that the 101 will likely not survive – even if Israel does stop their “aggression.” Hamas brutally killed 1,200 on Oct 7 and if Israel stops short of completing their punishment of those who perpetrated the crime – they got away with it, so what’s 100 more?
Then there are a few (2,000 of 40,000 or so) at Columbia University demanding full support of Hamas which is driven to totally eradicate Israel from “the river to the sea.” And now our government is saying that Netanyahu should be doing more, thus signaling less than full support for the effort to get the bad guys, free the captives, and protect Israel from future Oct 7’s.
The peace negotiations fail in part because Israel demands a couple of things: 1. a control of the Gaza and Egypt border to stop the arms flow to Hamas and 2. a corridor in the middle of Gaza for defense purposes. And Hamas rejects both. Why? They want war! They want arms and they want to be unchecked for future Oct 7 evils as they are bent on racism, hatred and evil!
Now, many in the USA are now calling for Israel to stop. Why? Because too many in the USA have a “close-is-good-enough” mindset. Close works in horseshoes and hand-grenades, but seldom anywhere else!
We stopped WW I on Nov 11, 1918 only to have to return to war because we didn’t finish it the first time. We engaged in the first gulf war (1991) and stopped short, necessitating a second gulf war (2003). We stopped short of victory in Korea, so that today half the 3rd Army is deployed in Korea because we are still at war now 70 years later. With criminals we give them a swat on their hand or on the rump thinking we have rendered discipline only to have to rearrest the criminal again and again! Everybody groans when two teams struggle to a tie so there are rules in place to help bring about a victory for one team or the other. So 70% or 80% might be good enough in a political vote, but seldom elsewhere. The Boeing Starliner is good enough at 90% or 95%? Ask two astronauts!
It seems to me that the church is largely at fault here. In 1984, Lutheran pastor, Richard John Neuhaus wrote the book, “The Naked Public Square”, in which he talked about a crisis of faith which will result in a rejection of values and morals which will lead to the death of democracy. I think we are seeing that played out before our eyes.
I think the church, in addition to not standing up for God and His Ten, is actually guilty of bad teachings concerning Israel. More and more churches, pastors and Christians buy into a teaching that God is forever finished with Israel – called preterism! The argument is that the church has permanently replaced Israel as God’s “dove” and He is forever finished with Israel (called Replacement Theology – Supersessionism).
I don’t buy it and I have a host of reasons why! Here are three:
- Matthew 23:38-39, “See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
The declaration of a coming desolation is immediately followed by Jesus stating that it is only UNTIL they come to embrace Him which in time they will do, Zech. 12:10-14.
- Romans 11:24, For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
The church is the “wild” grafted in and God declares that the “natural” – the Jews – will again be blessed!
- Daniel 9:26, And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week…
So weeks #1- 69 are continuous until suddenly they are NOT! From the death of Jesus in 30 AD to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD followed by wars and desolations is a gap – a huge gap – until the 70th week happens. In the 70th, once again the Jews and Jerusalem will be front and center as they were in the first 69. In the gap is the church. The point: God is NOT done with Israel!
The church’s poor or bad teaching about Israel has contributed to the antisemitism seen today.
a PK Musing 
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