Choosing life or death is what we're talking about today.
So I said last week that I was I was feeling led to preach on and
address the the conflict between Israel and Iran and the Middle
East and ask for your prayers about that.
And then I'm going forward with that today.
Will you can let me know at the end of the message whether this
is was was God's plan or or just too much sun yesterday.
This I will tell you upfront, this is a hardest sermon.
I I have never had such difficulty preparing messages
for this one today. And so if I stumble a little
bit, I ask your your understanding and your patience.
I have committed to you and to myself over the years not to get
partisan or political in in certain not to get partisan.
You can't help but be political in the truest sense of the word
and things that that affect the polity, the community, the
country, but not to be partisan. And, and, and I, I am committed
to that this morning, too. I believe what I'm going to be
sharing is not partisan. It might look like it at times.
And I'll tell you up front, Full disclosure, I'm, I'm going to
take a side in this conflict and in this sermon, but not based on
partisanship or politics. I tell you that there are some
things that I believe that that are in line with what the
Republicans do. There's some things that I
believe that are in line with what the Democrat Party does.
There's some things that I believe that neither of them
care about and some things that they care about deeply that I
don't care about at all. I'm, I'm all over the board when
it comes to politics. And, and my goal here, and the
intent here is not to preach a, a, a message that would be
better suited for a news outlet, but to preach the good news of
Jesus Christ as it bears upon this situation.
And, and I this conflict in, in its renewed form has been going
on for well over a year and a half now since October 7th of
2023. And I haven't addressed that
from here. And part of that is because it
felt like in many respects from, from this ministry setting, from
our community setting, it really is a long way away.
It's very important, but it's, it's doesn't seem to directly
bear upon us. We don't have a large Jewish
population in Meggs County. We don't have a large Muslim
population in Meggs County. We don't have military or at
least then we didn't have military actively involved in
the conflict, military from the United States.
So it seemed like this is this is very controversial.
It's very divisive. It doesn't directly bear on the
ministry that we have right here and right now.
And so I'm I'm maybe I was just a chicken, but I just said I'm
not going to I'm not going to talk about it from the pulpit.
Then a couple of things happened more recently.
One is the United States got directly involved and the other
is, is I found myself involved in a very distressing
conversation at a local small retail establishment where I was
waiting to check out and the person in front of me was
speaking to another person that was there and talking about.
And I, I, I walked up, I eavesdrop.
I don't apply. Apologize for it.
You're really interesting things.
And this guy was talking loud so he didn't have to work hard at
it. And, and I was, I, I, I was
heard it midway through the conversation, but he was saying
something that affected not an exact quote because he was
talking fast that that there's this going to be a strike on an
American vessel in the Middle East, a ship.
And, and it's going to be under a false flag.
It's going to look like it's Iran, but it's really Israel
attacking the United States to make sure we get involved in the
war over there. And I being me, said that's
nuts. I just interjected myself into
the conversation and said, that's nuts.
That's not going to happen. Israel's not going to do that.
Israel's one of our strongest allies.
And he immediately went on all, you've got to be crazy.
The Jews do this and the Jews do that, and the Jews do this.
And then the other person that was present interjected and
said, yes, and they are demonstrating for our freedom in
Germany. Now that puzzled me.
So I looked at her and I said, freedom from what?
And she said the Jews, and I thought, this is not far away,
This is right here, this is right here.
And, and, and I need to address it.
There's no room in the Kingdom of God for bigotry of any kind,
whether it's anti-Semitism or Islamophobia or, or, or bigotry
against women, any ethnic class, any group.
There's just no room for it in the Kingdom of God.
And, and that conflict that's happening in a military fashion
on the other side of the world is in reality part of a larger
war that affects all of us, particularly those of us who are
committed to following Jesus Christ.
And, and so as it was at that point that I really began to
think, I need, I need to start addressing this.
And so here we are. And, and this, I got way too
much material and, and, and I, I'm not going to be able to, I'm
going to forget stuff. And, and this is not going to be
a perfect sermon. I apologize for it.
I'm going to be sharing information because there's so
much material. I'm not going to give source
citations if you, I have source citations.
If you want source citations later, feel free to reach out to
me and I'll provide those if if you disagree with what I'm
saying today, as again, that no one ever goes to hell for
disagreeing with the pastor, OK, particularly when the pastor is
me. So feel free, feel free to share
that with me. I'm happy to have conversation
about this. It's incredibly difficult
subject. It's incredibly divisive.
And there are there are people all over the spectrum of
positions on this. And, and I am sharing to you
what I believe to be a faithful way to look at this conflict
through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And like I say, I don't want to do this from a partisan
perspective. This isn't about, you know,
political alliances. And it's not about the type of
biblical framework that says, well, the Jews are God's chosen
people and Israel is the homeland of the Jews.
Therefore we have to support Israel whatever they do.
I don't I don't think that's true.
I think the Jewish people are God's chosen people, But being
Jewish doesn't inoculate someone from being a bad actor and to
simply, you know, Christians are part of God's chosen people too
now. And, and Christian people do
awful things sometimes and, and Jewish folks do awful things
sometimes. And I think that kind of
analysis is too simplistic and and lends too easily to simply
offering a blanket endorsement no matter what is done.
But I do believe that the heart of the gospel in the heart of
the Scripture give us a framework that we can use to
look at this and analyze this and other kinds of conflicts to
say where and how can we step in?
Whether it's through political action, whether it's through
military participation, if we want to join the military or
have loved ones that want to do that, or, or whether it's
through how we have conversation with people around us in the
community and on social media about this.
And that framework has to do with the scriptures that we read
already this morning. Question that I like to ask.
I don't always do it because again, I'm me, but is where is
God in any situation that I'm faced with?
Where is God and what is God doing?
And one of the things that we know definitely about God from
the Scripture, it's repeated over and over again in the Old
Testament and in the New Testament, is that God is a
giver of life. God created life and he called
it good. God put Adam and Eve in the
middle of the Garden of Eden, where they had all that they
needed for a wonderful life. And he put a tree in that garden
that was the tree of life. And then he just gave them one
rule. Don't eat.
I don't know. I've been preaching on this.
Why are you saying this again, Blevins?
It's short this time. Don't eat from this.
There's one tree. You don't eat from the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat the fruit of that
tree, you will surely die. And they did, and they brought
death into the world. God is a giver of life.
Evil is a bringer of death. And so a question to ask when
we're faced these with these kinds of situations is who or
what is bringing life into the world and who or what is
bringing death into the world. And that can be a clear
indication, or at least a way to gauge an indication of where God
is and what God is doing and how we as God's people can follow
him in that by action and by word.
We Rayan read this from John, Jesus saying quite upfront, I
came that you might have life and have it to the full.
So the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, stealing,
killing, destroying. There's a lot of that going on.
But Jesus said I came that you would have life and that you
would have it fully. And in Deuteronomy we get, we
give it even a starker, clearer statement.
This is this is the children of Israel.
They've they've left slavery in Egypt.
They've journeyed through the promised land.
They're on the verge of entering the after 40 years in the
wilderness, they're on the verge finally of entering the land of
promise that God is giving to them.
And Moses gives this very long speech and he's speaking on
behalf of God and he's saying, I'm offering you life.
I'm giving you this land. It's, it's in, in some respects,
a second Eden. It's not perfect like the Garden
of Eden was, but it's a land flowing with milk and honey.
It's a land of abundance. And if you follow me and live
out my way in this land, you will have life.
And if you don't, you will have death.
And Moses offers this startling question or statement.
I've lain before you. 2 choices, life and death.
Choose life, choose life. And I think that's a framework
that we as God's followers can use.
Now, there's a lot of things about that Deuteronomy story
that we cannot directly apply to us.
God was making a land covenant or had made a land covenant with
his people, the Israelites, to give them real estate.
That land covenant is not part of our covenant that we live
under. We live under the new covenant,
a covenant of forgiveness of sin through the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so this is not appropriately
used to say we get to go and take whatever land we want in
the name of Jesus and claim God's blessings on that.
That's not what this is about. But what it is about and where
we can find a place to intersect with this story in our thinking
is this business of the choice between what brings life and
what brings death. And God's way brings life and
the way of evil brings death. And when our choices are
bringing death in our own life or into the lives of others, we
need to ask real hard, am I following God?
When our choices are bringing life for ourselves and those
around us, we need to look around and thank God and thank
God for that. And so that's the framework that
I want us to take into this and the mindset who and what is
bringing life and who and what is bringing death.
Now, that question is complicated in the midst of a
military conflict where both people on both sides are
bringing death. That's how war works.
And, and we, you know, I, I've grown up in a generation far
removed from war long past, You know, I, I was still very young.
Some of you will be jealous of this and think, man, he's just a
kid. Others of you will think, man,
he really is old. But I, I was a little kid when
the, when the Vietnam War ended. I have no living memory of the
Vietnam War. I have no living memory at all
of World War 2. And the other wars we fought
have been real. There's been conflict, there's
been trauma, there's been death. But, but they were far removed
from me. Nothing really ever touched
American shores aside from the occasional acts of terrorism.
But war is hell. I don't know who originally said
that. I can't remember.
I've been told, but it is reality.
There is no war without death. There is no war without killing.
And that includes the killing of military combatants, and it
always includes the killing of civilians.
Always. And so in war it seems like
everybody's bringing death. But unless we are going to
commit to the path of pacifism, total pacifism, and some
Christian groups have decided to do that, our Amish sisters and
brothers committed to pacifism, I think most of those folks
will, maybe not gladly, but will faithfully suffer death
themselves rather than lift up arms and violence against
another Quakers or other Christians in that tradition who
have committed to pacifism. Here's the challenge with
pacifism is that I don't think nations can choose that route in
any meaningful way unless they're so small that no one
really cares to conquer them or they're surrounded by larger
nations that do their fighting for them.
To be a nation in the world where there are bad actors means
sometimes committing to violence.
I think it is worth asking what's the purpose of the
violence? Is the purpose of the violence
ultimately to pave the way for bringing life, or is the purpose
of violence simply death and destruction of the enemy?
And, and again, this is, I wish this, I wish I could lay this
out and say it in a, in sort of a black and white clear cut way,
but but I can't see it that way. So I can't lay it out that way.
If you can see it that way again, come talk to me.
I'd be happy to hear that too. But I think there is, when you
look at history and when you look at culture, that there is a
group in this conflict that is committed to bringing life.
And there's a group in this conflict that is 100% committed
to bringing death. And I just want to take a look
at that. I'm going to start with Israel
and this. And, and I should say this too,
I don't think there is a perfect nation in the history of the
world. Whether it's the nation of
Israel or the United States or any other nation, no nation is
perfect. All make mistakes, all do bad
acts at times, all have done bad acts at times.
There's plenty in the history of the United States of America
which is not praiseworthy or laudable or of God.
But what's the overall impact? What's the overall movement of
the culture and civilization that that nation is moving
forward and out into the world? I can tell you this, that, that
Israel, Israel small, the only Jewish nation in the world, the
only Jewish nation in the world. They have a population of right
around 7 million people. By contrast, there are 56 Muslim
nations in the world with a population of about 2 billion
people. If you do the math, and my
calculator did that relative, that makes the number of Jews in
Israel .35% of the number of Muslims in all the Muslim
countries in the world. And, and in that nation of
Israel, it is the most democratic, most free society
within the Middle East. Now, all of those other nations
are not in the Middle East. There's, there's, and I get, I
don't want to get lost in the weeds, but Israel has a
democracy, a Democratic Republic similar to ours with free
elections and minority representation.
There are Arabs and Muslims in the Hebrew Knesset, which is
their version of Congress. There is a Palestinian on the
Supreme Court and the nation of Israel and, and there are equal
rights, sort of, sort of Jewish folks have advantages in terms
of land ownership. And Palestinians, particularly
in Gaza, in the West Bank, have fewer privileges and fewer
rights and live under a different kind of system than
the Palestinians that are citizens in Israel.
There are many Palestinians that are citizens in Israel, but the
government is inclusive. Citizens, regardless of
ethnicity or religion, can participate in the democratic
process and have representation in their government.
Israel supports and affirms freedom of speech and press and
religion, including the freedom of protest within Israel.
You can say bad things about the government.
You're free to, just like you are in the United States.
Israel guarantees freedom of religion to Jewish, Muslims, and
other religious minorities, including the freedom of worship
and the ability to practice their faith openly.
Religious freedom for Christian worship, including in Israel,
freedom for limited proselytization to go out and
seek converts to Christianity. You can do that in Israel.
They have restrictions. You can't proselytize.
You can't evangelize children without the permission of the
parents, and you can't offer incentives for conversion.
Hey, convert and you get a timeshare.
Nothing like that. But you can't proselytize in
Israel. Christians can.
And there's tension in Israel between the secular and the
religious, just like there's tension in the United States
between the secular and the religious.
The role of women in Israel. Women and women's rights are
strongly protected in the nation of Israel.
Israel guarantees equal opportunities.
Women can work in all sectors, including high political
positions. There was gold in my ear, one of
the his first female, the first woman Prime Minister of the
nation of Israel, one of the greatest leaders in history.
According to some, not everyone agrees with that.
There are no clothing restrictions on women in Israel.
They can wear what they choose, whether it's modest or western
style. Ultra Orthodox Jewish women have
cultural pressure to dress in a certain way, but that's not.
Legal pressure and they're free to address our And when there's
marriage equality, women have the right to choose their
spouses, their work and leave marriages.
The law supports women in family court and protects their rights
in divorce and custody cases. There's freedom of expression
and arts, music and media in Israel.
Just a small look at it. And again, it's not to say
Israel's perfect, but these are political realities in Israel.
I want to compare that with Iran under the current regime, the
Islamic Republic of Iran, which is very, very different than the
government that existed in Iran before the Islamic Republic,
which was established in 1979. In Iran, freedom of speech is
restricted and it's heavily controlled, and criticism of the
government and religious leadership is punishable,
sometimes by imprisonment, sometimes by violence.
The media is subject to censorship.
The government controls media outlets.
Journalists who challenge the regime face harassment,
imprisonment and execution. There are people in jail in Iran
now because they've criticized the government.
Media state controlled, with most outlets promoting
government approved narratives. Independent journalism has
stifled. Websites including social media
like Facebook are censored or banned.
Widespread Internet censorship. Online dissent is monitored by
the government, and political protests and dissent are
prohibited in a harshly repressed civil rights are
limited. The regime operates under
Islamic law, Sharia law. Religious minorities have
limited rights. Now, interestingly, the largest
Jewish community in the Middle East outside of Israel is in
Iran. It's in Iran.
They are very, very limited. They're not allowed to
participate in government, don't know if they can participate in
elections or not. Government limits personal
freedom of political opposition. Only those loyal to the
government are allowed to hold high office.
The Supreme Leader and religious figures hold ultimate power and
opposition parties are banned or repressed.
Religious minorities face persecution, including Muslim
minorities, and have limited rights and subject to
discrimination. Government crackdowns.
Women's legal rights are very limited in Iran.
They're restricted under Islamic law imposed by the regime, and
while they can vote, work and attend university, they're
subject to strict rules concerning dress, behavior and
movement. Women face gender segregation in
many areas of their life. Their rights are often curtailed
by male guardianship. They face significant
discrimination at work. Equal pay laws are weak.
They're underrepresented in high political positions and
professional positions. Their ability to travel and
pursue certain professions is controlled by the state of their
dress codes. Women are required by law to
wear the hijab, and that's any woman, not just Muslim women.
Any woman, visitors or citizens are required to wear the hijab.
Women who fail to comply face punishments including fines,
imprisonment, and harassment by the morality police, including
violent physical harassment. Marriage and family rights are
limited. Women's rights within marriage
are controlled by Islamic law. They must obtain permission from
their husbands for certain things, including traveling.
Women's testimony in court is considered to be half as
valuable as a man's, and polygamy is allowed for men
under certain situations. Hamas, which is the governing
body, The political military governing body in Gaza right
now, or was, is even more restrictive.
Iran's attitudes toward Israel have been clearly stated.
The Ayatollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic,
says Israel must be wiped off. Well, he said he's dead now,
said Israel must be wiped off the map.
He made that in a speech in 1980.
They're different. They're very my phone.
I apologize for doing so much reading today, but I could not
hold all of this information in my head.
The Ayatollah Khomeini, who is the current Supreme Leader,
published a nine point plan for eliminating Israel back in 2014,
where he refers to armed resistance until Israel is
destroyed. He did clarify that he doesn't
support genocide of Jews, but rather the elimination of the
Zionist regime. The Constitution of the Islamic
Republic of Iran explicitly states that the oppressed well
promote Islamic unity and defend the rights of the oppressed.
And they oppose all forms of domination, especially by the
world of arrogance, which is a phrase that they use to refer to
the United States and Israel, IRGC Commander Hossein Salami in
2019 said the Senate, Speaking of Israel, the Senator Stur
regime must be wiped off the map.
And there is no longer, this is no longer a dream, it is an
achievable goal, Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said. Israel must be wiped off the
map. Hamas's attitude, Iran, and it
has to be acknowledged, explicitly denies genocide and
explicitly and all their official publications call only
for the destruction of the nation of Israel, only for the
destruction of the nation of Israel, but explicitly do not
call for genocide of Jews everywhere.
However, Iran is the sponsor, trainer, equiper and supporter
of Hamas and Hezbollah, and they are not nearly so discerning.
Hamas's founding charter in 1988 said this Israel will exist, and
will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it just as
it obliterated others before it, and that Hamas strives to raise
the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.
And that the day of the enemies, the day the enemies usurp part
of Muslim land. Jihad becomes the duty of
individual, every individual Muslim.
Their 2017 revision endorses complete liberation of Palestine
from the river to the sea, which can only happen if the nation of
Israel is destroyed. It does not recognize the
legitimacy of Israel. Some key leaders in Hamas have
said things like this. Deputy Speaker Ahmad Bar in 2012
said called to eliminate for the eliminating the Jews and says O
Allah destroy the Jews and their supporter And Imam Yusuf Al
Zahar in 2008 said it more clear, said this Jews are people
who cannot be trusted. Fadi Hamad, former Gaza Interior
minister, said, all of you, 7 million Palestinians abroad, you
have Jews everywhere and we must attack every Jew on the globe by
way of slaughter and killing with Allah's help.
Ghazi Haman, Hamas's political Bureau, said Israel is a country
that has no place on our land. We must remove the country.
We must teach Israel a lesson and we will do this again and
again. This was, he said this, by the
way, in 2024. So the AL Aqsa flood, which was
the name that Hamas gave to their attack on Israel in 2023,
the AL Aqsa flood is just the first time.
And Hamas affiliated TV says our doctrine and fighting you, the
Jews, is that we will totally exterminate you.
We will not leave a single one of you alive.
I see, and I'm going to say that this is, I see a world of
difference between those two cultures and those two regimes.
I see one of them as life bringing, not perfect but life
bringing and the others as committed to death, destruction,
stealing, killing and destroying.
Part of that has been the rising tide of anti-Semitism around the
world. Literally riots.
Hundreds of thousands of people rioting in the United States,
Canada, Europe, Australia calling for global Intifada.
Globalize The Intifada, which is a call for global violence
against Jews. The nation of Israel has been
accused of genocide or attempted genocide against the Palestinian
population. Interestingly, in 1948, when the
modern nation of Israel was established, there were 156,000
Palestinian citizens in Israel. In 2024, there were two million
Palestinian citizens in Israel. Palestinians in Gaza, in the
West Bank when they came under Israeli control and directorship
in 1967. There were 1.4 million
Palestinians in Gaza. In the West Bank in 2024, there
were five and a half million. If Israel's attempting genocide,
they're doing a terrible job. The calls and claims that Israel
is an apartheid state like South America, South Africa are at the
very best, misleading. The rights that Palestinians,
even those in Gaza and the West Bank, have are far greater than
the rights that blacks ever had. Under the apartheid regime of
South Africa, Blacks couldn't vote.
Blacks couldn't participate in the legal system, not as judges
at the higher levels. And all of those are allowed for
Palestinian citizens of Israel. Now.
Israel withdrew from palace, from Gaza in the West Bank in
2005. Hamas took over in Gaza in 2007.
I believe there is war going on in Gaza that has been horribly
destructive. I might get this number wrong.
I heard it said. I believe I'm getting it right,
but if you want to challenge me on it again, challenge me on
anything, we'll look it up together.
If I'm wrong, I'll own it. The international standard for
legitimate urban warfare. The the standard to which all
nations participating in international law or to strive
in urban warfare, you will be horrified to know is that for
everyone Military death. It has allowed three civilian
deaths and urban urban warfare is awful.
It's a warfare itself. Urban warfare is the worst.
But the international standard is if you go, if you have more
than three civilian deaths for everyone military death, that's
bad. That's a violation of
international law. That's war crime area.
In its war in Gaza since 2023, the ratio has been 1:00 to 1:00.
It's the most precise urban warfare in history.
And lots of civilians are dying, but not because Israel has been.
Israel drops Flyers and sends out messages to alert civilians
when there's going to be a military strike so they can get
out. Hamas hides their military
behind civilians to say if you want to kill us, you have to
kill them too. As IDF forces have gone through
Gaza inspecting homes, looking for entrances to tunnels and
hidden armaments and music munitions, they consistently
find the entrances to the tunnels and the weapons and
explosives in the nurseries of the Palestinians.
They hide the weapons in the tunnels in their children's
bedrooms. To me, there's no It's hard.
I find it hard to support war of any kind.
I do. I can't say that I'm a pacifist.
I'm not. But every time someone is killed
in a war, someone that Jesus died for has been killed and
placed beyond the possibility of repentance and redemption if
they were not already a Christian.
And yet, if you have an enemy that is explicitly stated and
and graphically and violently acted upon their intention to
destroy your country and to kill every single one of your Jewish
citizens, both in that country and if possible around the
world, and to defend yourself, you have to attack the enemy and
the enemy's hiding behind civilians.
Here's the thing. I can sit back and armchair
quarterback those decisions all day long because I have 0
responsibility politically, legally, officially, for
protecting Israeli citizens. The government of Israel has a
responsibility to protect Israeli citizens.
And if they are not to be destroyed, I don't know how they
do it without violence. And when the people firing the
guns and the Rockets are hiding behind children in places of
worship and hospitals, I don't know how they do it without
awful civilian casualties. And I don't say that to excuse
those things. I say that to say as as we're
talking about these things, our perspective is different because
we're not the ones responsible. Benjamin Netanyahu is not
perfect, but if I were Prime Minister of Israel, I don't know
what I would do if I had a response.
And I it's my job to protect. It's my job to protect.
I think God, I don't have to make those decisions, but we as
followers of Jesus Christ, we do have a responsibility to seek
out and look for where is the life, what culture, what
civilization, what regime seems to be more like it's promoting
life and which one seems to be more like it's promoting death.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we have a responsibility to stand
against bigotry, whether it's Islamophobia or homophobia or,
or, or anti-Semitism or sexism or racism or any of these other
things. We have a responsibility to
stand against that. And, and when we look through
history and see that for at least the last 2000 years in
Christian civilizations and Pagan civilizations and
atheistic civilizations, the number one scapegoat always
seems to be the Jews. When you look as far apart as
the Nazis were and the Soviet Communists were ideological
opposites in every way, nearly every way, the one thing the
Nazis and the Communist Soviets agreed on was scapegoating and
killing Jews. The Nazis murdered 6,000,000.
The estimates are that the Soviet empire murdered 7 million
or more Jews. Why is it always the Jews that
get made the scapegoats? I heard one person say recently
when before the creation of the nation of Israel, one of the
reasons used to justify suspicion of Jews is they're
just a Vagabond mongrel race with no nation of their own.
That's why we hate them. After the nation of Israel is
created there, they have this nation, and that's why we hate
them. They don't have a right to have
their own nation. We as Christians have a
responsibility to stand against scapegoats, whoever they are.
And lots of different groups are scapegoats.
There are lots of different groups that have been scapegoats
in the history of the United States, including Jews, and we
have a responsibility to stand against that.
As followers of Jesus, our responsibility is to take
responsibility for the problems in our cultures, in our
communities, and work as hard as we can in the name of Jesus to
make our communities better and more life giving, not to
scapegoat and blame people for problems.
That Jesus has sent us to be part of the solution.
And so all I ask for us as we look at this situation is to ask
where's the life and where's the death?
And that we would faithfully choose life.
Lord gone for times when we have chosen death rather than life.
Have mercy on us, Lord, for times when we choose life over
death. Give us strength and grace and
mercy even when opposition rises.
We pray your grace and your wisdom and your mercy on us, on
this community, on in this world, in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen.