1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,800 Before I read the scripture, you'll remember maybe or maybe 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:08,560 not, that that last week I had said I was feeling led to 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,640 address the situation in the Middle East, particularly the 4 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:17,000 conflict between Israel and Iran and Hamas and Hezbollah, from 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:21,000 the pulpit. And I am proceeding with that 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,320 today. I will. 7 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:27,360 For what it's worth, this is the hardest sermon I've ever had to 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:33,600 prepare and I pray God's grace upon us as as I share it that 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:36,800 anything that's just of me that it would be quickly forgotten 10 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,960 and everything that's of God would would take root in US and 11 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:45,040 grow. I, I do want to say that I'm 12 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,560 Full disclosure upfront. I'm taking sides in that 13 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:56,600 conflict in in the sermon today, but I I really don't believe I'm 14 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,560 doing this out of partisan politics. 15 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:07,400 I my political beliefs are all over the all over the place and 16 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,600 some of my beliefs align with things the Democrat Party does 17 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,120 and teaches. Some of my beliefs align with 18 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:14,960 things Republican Party does and teaches. 19 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,440 Some of my beliefs say, you know, neither party wants to 20 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:24,200 have anything to do with there is no party large, prominent or 21 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:29,120 small that I am aware of that, that I wholeheartedly brace and 22 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:31,440 endorse everything they say and do. 23 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:39,560 So, so I, I, I what I have sought in this is to share a, a 24 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:45,680 biblical faithful framework that we can use to analyze this and 25 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,520 other situations. And I believe that framework 26 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:50,480 takes us in a specific direction. 27 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:57,520 I really don't care about the political parties behind it, 28 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,560 which which operate out of motives that that generally have 29 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,880 little or nothing to do with with Scripture in the Bible, 30 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,280 except to the extent that those parties can use those to promote 31 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,120 their agenda. And now I don't want to go down 32 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,600 that route either, but I'm treading as close to this line 33 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:20,960 as I ever care to get. If I, if I cross that line, 34 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,560 please see that as an inadvertent crossing of that 35 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,920 line. I don't mean to, I will say 36 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:31,360 again, as I've said before, you know, no one's ever going to go 37 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:36,280 to hell for disagreeing with me. And, and if what I say today you 38 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,840 take issue with and you want to talk about that, I am happy to 39 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:44,160 do that. I, there's a lot of, I went way 40 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:48,920 too long at Chester and, and, and so I got to even shorten it 41 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:52,880 down a little bit here, but there's a lot of information and 42 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,400 data behind what I'm saying. But I don't have time in this to 43 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:58,280 give source citations for everything. 44 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,880 If you want source citations and want to talk about where I got 45 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,080 the information, we can talk about that too. 46 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,600 But it, it'll just slow down things too much if I, if I cite 47 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:11,040 sources for every bit of data and information I present today. 48 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,240 So all of that said, I want to say that upfront by way of, I 49 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:19,200 don't know, free introduction or disclaimer, maybe just fair 50 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,680 warning, but here we go. The Scripture reading today is 51 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:27,160 Deuteronomy chapter 15. I'm sorry, Scripture reading 52 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:31,240 today is Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 15 through 20. 53 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,120 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and 54 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,000 destruction. For I command you today to love 55 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,320 the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep 56 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:45,920 His commandments, decrees and laws. 57 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,800 Then you will live an increase, and the Lord your God will bless 58 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,560 you in the land that you are entering to possess. 59 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:57,720 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you 60 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,320 are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I 61 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,160 declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. 62 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:09,440 You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan 63 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:14,640 to enter and possess this day. I call the heavens and the earth 64 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,800 as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and 65 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:24,440 death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and 66 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,720 your children may live, and that you may love the Lord your God. 67 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,800 Listen to His voice and hold fast to Him, for the Lord is 68 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,200 your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore 69 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:41,200 to give to your father's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 70 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,960 May the Lord add His blessing to the reading and to the hearing 71 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:49,560 of His Word. I only have one slide today and 72 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:53,240 the rest I have in my notes, so I'm going to have my phone open 73 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:55,480 a little bit more than I usually do here. 74 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:02,560 This conflict has been going on for years and years and years 75 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,880 and years and years. It intensified greatly on 76 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:12,960 October 7th of 2023 and, and I thought briefly about addressing 77 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:17,520 the conflict at that point, but I discarded it, maybe out of 78 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:19,120 cowardice, I don't know. This is tough. 79 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:24,240 This is such a divisive thing. But it also at that time, as 80 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,520 important as it was, as significant it was, it seemed a 81 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:29,840 long way away from Meggs County, Ohio. 82 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,480 We don't have a substantial Jewish population in Meggs 83 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:35,600 County. We don't have a substantial 84 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:38,560 Muslim population in Meggs County. 85 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:43,360 And the United States was not directedly or actively involved. 86 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:49,480 And so it seemed, it seemed to be in, in some respects, you 87 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:54,360 know, not my business to speak or preach on that, given how 88 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,880 little connection we had to it. But things have changed. 89 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,280 Things have changed. the United States has taken an active role 90 00:06:03,280 --> 00:06:08,160 in that conflict now. And even more than that, I had a 91 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:12,240 recent interaction at a local retail establishment, small 92 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:16,120 retail establishment. I was standing in line waiting 93 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:19,760 to check out and a conversation was going on in front of me and 94 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:23,400 I eavesdropped. I do that because I find it 95 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,240 entertaining. This time I didn't have a whole 96 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,440 lot of choice. The guy was talking very loud 97 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,960 and very energetically. And I, I entered in part way 98 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:36,000 through the conversation as I heard him saying something to 99 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:40,720 the effect of, and you know, there's going to be an attack on 100 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,680 American ship in the region and the ship is going to be 101 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,520 destroyed. And it will look like that Iran 102 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:51,400 did the attacking, but it'll be Israel operating under a false 103 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:53,160 flag. They're going to run up a flag 104 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:57,000 of Iran on their ship and attack one of our ships to get us to 105 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,960 enter the war against Iran on their side. 106 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:02,520 But it'll really be Israel that's attacking us. 107 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:08,840 And I being who I am, interrupted and said that's 108 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:11,160 ridiculous. That's not going to happen. 109 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,600 Israel is one of the strongest allies of the United States. 110 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:18,000 They're not going to attack one of our ships under a false flag 111 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,080 or any other flag. And then he immediately went 112 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:27,320 into, but don't you know, the Jews control the banks, the Jews 113 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,800 control the media, the Jews control the government. 114 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:34,880 And he started going on and on. And then the other person who 115 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:39,520 was present interjected and said, and, you know, in Germany, 116 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,520 they're demonstrating for our freedom in America. 117 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,400 At that point, I had that look on my face like, what? 118 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:52,400 I had no idea what you're talking about. 119 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,120 I didn't say that out loud. I looked at her and I said, 120 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,560 freedom from what? And she looked at me and said 121 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:08,960 the Jews and I realized this is a Meg's County issue just as 122 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,840 much as it's an American issue and a Middle Eastern issue and 123 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:19,280 an Israeli issue, that that the scapegoating of Jews and 124 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,920 anti-Semitism are rearing its ugly head again. 125 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:30,080 It's been around for thousands of years, and in Christian 126 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:35,559 nations and Pagan nations and atheistic nations and in Muslim 127 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:37,880 nations. Not all of that for the past 128 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,520 two, because not all of those kinds of groups have been around 129 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:43,240 for 2000 years. But over the past 2000 years, 130 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:47,280 all of those different types of nations have scapegoated Jewish 131 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:51,720 people to blame them for problems that existed in and 132 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,320 around them and their cultures and in their civilizations. 133 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:01,640 And egregious acts of violence were done against Jews simply 134 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:06,280 because they were Jews. And it's back. 135 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,320 It's back. And so I felt the need and 136 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,200 continue to feel the need to address this. 137 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,120 Now what? As I said before, my goal here 138 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,400 is not to address this from a partisan political perspective. 139 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:26,680 My goal is not even to address it from a a more generally 140 00:09:26,680 --> 00:09:29,520 political National Alliance perspective. 141 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:36,760 Some histories involved, because history tells us what's been 142 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,440 happening and what's going on and puts things in context. 143 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:45,520 But really my goal here today is to to give us or remind us of a 144 00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:51,120 faithful biblical framework through which we can analyze, 145 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,920 examine, and respond to this situation as well as many other 146 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:58,720 similar kinds of situations, whether on a very small personal 147 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:01,920 level or a global, international kind of level. 148 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,000 And this framework, I believe, is at the very heart of the 149 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,560 Scripture and of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 150 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,920 And it really has to do with, and I didn't design things this 151 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:17,720 way. I hope it's the Holy Spirit and 152 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:20,360 not just getting too much sun in the heat yesterday. 153 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:29,680 I really believe that the framework is the question of 154 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:33,720 life and death, which we've been looking at since we jumped into 155 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:35,880 this walk through the Bible and the book of Genesis. 156 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,240 Again, I was not planning to preach this sermon as part of 157 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:43,720 this series. It just worked out that that 158 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:46,960 what I've been preaching for a few weeks now is relevant to 159 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,040 this today because we see from the very beginning, God is a God 160 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:54,200 of life. God created the heavens and the 161 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,160 earth, and God brought life into being and then and for humans 162 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:02,400 themselves, them, us, ourselves. He breathed into us His very 163 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:04,720 breath of life, and we became living beings. 164 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,120 God treated a garden and placed human beings in the garden where 165 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:13,360 we had everything that we needed for abundant, peaceful, joyful 166 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:16,040 life. And they're growing. 167 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:18,280 In that garden was a tree of life. 168 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:21,280 But there was another tree, the tree of the knowledge of good 169 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:22,920 and evil. And God said that's the only one 170 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:24,800 you can't eat from. Don't eat that. 171 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:27,080 Don't eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 172 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,000 If you do, you will surely die. And they did. 173 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:36,240 And Adam and Eve brought death into the world and then Cain 174 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:39,160 took it a step further and causing the death of his 175 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:41,760 brother. And things just snowballed 176 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:47,520 downhill and out of control from there until violence, death and 177 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:53,280 destruction became the normal thing across humanity. 178 00:11:55,720 --> 00:12:01,000 Jesus touched on this issue that goes all the way back to 179 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,240 creation explicitly when he said this. 180 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,000 He said I'm the Good Shepherd. I'm the Good Shepherd. 181 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,280 The sheep know my voice, they know my name. 182 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:12,880 They said thieves, Thieves come to steal, kill and destroy. 183 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,560 But I have come so that you can have life and have it in all of 184 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:22,200 its fullness. Life is at the heart of God's 185 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:27,800 purposes in this earth and among us to bring life, not death. 186 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,240 And I think that gives us a framework for looking at lots of 187 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:37,320 situations and making decisions in those situations to say, when 188 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,360 we say where is God in this situation, what is God doing? 189 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:48,560 God is almost always acting to bring life where our enemy, the 190 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:53,680 devil wants to steal, kill and destroy to bring death. 191 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:56,920 And that's why Moses, when they were at the edge of the promised 192 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,720 land, they'd spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness. 193 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:03,200 God freed them from slavery and, and, and they spent 40 years 194 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:05,240 wandering in the wilderness. Now they're on the verge of 195 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:07,800 entering the land that God had promised with him, not the 196 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:10,640 Garden of Eden itself, but a land of prosperity, a land of 197 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:12,560 plenty of land flowing with milk and honey. 198 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:17,400 And Moses said, look, you can have life or death when you go 199 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,400 into this land. If you follow God and stay 200 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:23,720 faithful to him and faithful to his ways of doing things, you 201 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,920 will have life. If you do not, you will have 202 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,560 death. And Moses framed the question in 203 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:36,240 very stark terms. I set before you life and death. 204 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:43,440 Choose life, choose life. So I think when we're looking at 205 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:48,320 challenging situations and divisive situations and 206 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:51,120 conflicts, including this conflict in the Middle East, a 207 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:57,720 good way to look at it is to ask who's bringing life and who's 208 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:01,920 bringing death, Which culture and civilization is bringing and 209 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,520 promoting life? Which culture and civilization 210 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:08,960 is bringing and promoting death now in the context of an active 211 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,520 war? Both sides are killing, right? 212 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:13,760 That's how war works. I don't remember. 213 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:15,520 I've been told I've read it before. 214 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,440 The first person that said war is hell, But war is hell. 215 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,120 There is no war without death and destruction. 216 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:26,120 Movies that glamorize it and make it look sexy and beautiful 217 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:29,040 and heroic and wonderful and there are many acts of heroism 218 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,640 that happened during war. But war is hell. 219 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:37,880 Urban warfare is even worse. It's the worst kind of hell 220 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,960 because you can't engage in urban warfare without cantilling 221 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:45,920 killing significant numbers of civilians, men, women and 222 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:51,560 children. And right now death and 223 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:53,600 destruction are coming from both sides. 224 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:58,800 So how do we sort out is 1 civilization and one culture 225 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,360 promoting life and one promoting death while both are killing? 226 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:08,160 But if we look at those cultures and at those civilizations, I 227 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:12,440 believe you can disagree with me, but I believe one of those 228 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,880 cultures and civilizations is promoting life and the other is 229 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:21,600 promoting death. Let's just compare. 230 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:25,080 And this is where I went along with with Chester I. 231 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,120 I got into reading my notes and it took too long. 232 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,920 I'm going to summarize because we don't have time to go through 233 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,720 all of the details, thinks about the things that in our culture 234 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:37,160 and civilization we know promote life. 235 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:39,880 Things like the freedom of speech, press, and religion, 236 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,160 allowing differences of opinion to be expressed freely and 237 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:47,880 openly. Israel has freedom of speech, 238 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:51,560 press, and religion. You can criticize the government 239 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:54,080 in Israel. You can do that as a private 240 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:55,760 citizen. You can demonstrate against the 241 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:57,680 government. You can do it in the media. 242 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,480 You can do it in social media. You can do it online. 243 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:02,880 You can do it on television. You can do it in print. 244 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,480 You can. You can criticize the 245 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:05,920 government. It's built into their 246 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:08,120 constitution, built into their DNA. 247 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,120 Israel and Hamas, the two other main actors in here, you cannot 248 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:14,600 criticize. There is no freedom of speech, 249 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,400 press and religion. Speech is controlled. 250 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:21,640 Protest and dissent against the government is restricted, 251 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:27,640 forbidden and punished, often by arrest and torture, or at least 252 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:29,960 arrest and imprisonment if not torture. 253 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:39,360 Israel is a democratic state. Free elections where where 254 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,520 people and it's an incredibly ethnically diverse country and 255 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:45,720 and people, whether it's Palestinian citizens or Jewish 256 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:48,520 citizens or Arab citizens or Christian citizens or Dru 257 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:51,560 citizens, they all get to vote and they get the same vote and 258 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:53,440 each one of their votes counts just as much. 259 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:57,800 Israel and Hamas are authoritarian. 260 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,560 Authoritarian 1's a military dictatorship, the other's a 261 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:06,400 theocracy. And when there are elections, 262 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,560 those elections are controlled and dominated to ensure a 263 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:14,000 particular outcome. There is no free participation 264 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:18,440 in the political process. And in Iran, in Iran, if you're 265 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,359 not part of the right religion and the right political 266 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:24,960 persuasion, you cannot hold high-ranking positions in the 267 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,560 government. In Israel, did you know there 268 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:31,600 are Arab members of Israel's governing body, that Knesset, 269 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:33,200 their equivalent to our Congress? 270 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,880 There are Arab members there. Did you know there is an Arab 271 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:42,200 person, I believe a Palestinian person on the Supreme Court of 272 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:48,280 Israel on this? Israel, from its founding, has 273 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:53,000 attempted to create a culture, a civilization there that allows 274 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:57,960 for freedom and openness and the expression of many different 275 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:00,200 viewpoints, many different perspectives. 276 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:04,680 Arts and the media are incredibly free in Israel, not 277 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:08,560 in Iran or with Hamas. The treatment of women might be 278 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,200 one of the clearest examples. In Israel, women's rights are 279 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,160 protected. They are equal with men. 280 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,640 They can choose who they marry. They can choose to get divorced. 281 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:21,320 They can choose what kind of clothes to wear. 282 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:24,680 And no clothing is forbidden for religious or you know, there's 283 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,200 nothing that's required or forbidden for religious or other 284 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,400 reasons. Women can hold have as much 285 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,520 education as men. They can hold high level 286 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,720 professional jobs like men. They can held high level 287 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:41,640 government and political jobs. One of the gold of my ear was 288 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,120 their first woman Prime Minister. 289 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:46,360 And when considered by many, not by everyone, there's, you know, 290 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,640 every group, every political leader, there's their promoters 291 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:54,680 and detractors was certainly a very powerful and influential 292 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:57,800 leader in Israel. Women cannot hold high level 293 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:02,400 positions in Iran or in Hamas. Their freedom and decision 294 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,360 making is limited. In Iran, a woman's testimony in 295 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:10,120 court is considered legally considered 1/2 as valuable as a 296 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:14,920 man's testimony. Women are restricted in what 297 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:19,080 they can wear. They required all women whether 298 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:23,240 Muslim or not are required to wear the hijab and if a woman 299 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:28,120 doesn't wear it properly she can be arrested, assaulted, beaten 300 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:34,520 in prison. Women have restrictions in their 301 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:38,480 freedom of movement and often have to get permission from 302 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,760 their husband or another male in their in their family for travel 303 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:50,530 and movement. One of the ways you can see the 304 00:19:50,530 --> 00:19:52,930 difference between life and death in the two countries is, 305 00:19:52,930 --> 00:19:55,770 is and the two cultures is how they wage war. 306 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:01,120 There is no doubt in Israel's war against Hamas in particular 307 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:05,600 and, and Hamas is a proxy Iran equips, trains, supports, 308 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:12,920 supplies, funds Hamas that in their war, particularly with 309 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:15,600 Hamas, lots of civilians have been killed. 310 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:18,200 They know that. Do you know the? 311 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:23,880 I might, I heard this from a credible source. 312 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:25,920 There was I was listening to a podcast. 313 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:28,440 I didn't write it down. I might be getting these numbers 314 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:30,920 wrong. If you want to challenge me on 315 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:32,800 it and check it if I'm wrong, I will certainly own it. 316 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,600 But I believe I heard this accurately that the 317 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:39,160 international standard for urban warfare, if you're going to wage 318 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:43,840 urban warfare, the international standard is that there should be 319 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,800 no more than three civilian deaths for everyone, military 320 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:53,600 death and urban warfare. So if you if you go into an 321 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:57,480 urban situation and there are 100 military personnel you're 322 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,680 trying to take out international standard is as you can't kill 323 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,480 more than 300 civilians while trying to take out the 100 324 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:08,320 military personnel. More than that you're looking at 325 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:16,000 war crimes. Israel's military urban warfare 326 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:21,120 against Hamas since 2023 has been a one to one ratio. 327 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:25,920 They have killed civilians. They have gone out of their way 328 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:29,520 to limit the number of civilian deaths and achieved a better 329 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:33,160 ratio than any nation in urban warfare and known history. 330 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:39,760 They've killed civilians. When Hamas attacked Israel on 331 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:45,080 August 7th, 2023, they intentionally killed civilians. 332 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:49,120 They went to the homes of civilians and they murdered men 333 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:51,760 and women and children. They raped women. 334 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,480 They put babies in ovens and turned the ovens on. 335 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:03,760 And they went on social media and filmed themselves, and they 336 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:08,080 celebrated in it, and they rejoiced in it, and they gloried 337 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:12,080 in it, and they were praised back home for it. 338 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,280 And here's the thing they were doing. 339 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:24,680 They were just doing what Hamas had said from the very beginning 340 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,240 of Hamas's formation they wanted to do. 341 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:33,680 Built into Hamas's original charter is the total destruction 342 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:37,160 of the nation of Israel and the killing of Jews. 343 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:42,880 Now Iran has built into their constitution the Islamic 344 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,640 Republic of Iran, established in 1979, built in their 345 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,200 constitution the total destruction of the nation of 346 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:50,240 Israel. It's an explicitly stated goal. 347 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:55,800 They don't explicitly state anti-Semitism, that we're going 348 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,680 to kill as many Jews as we can. They don't explicitly state 349 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,320 that. Here's an interesting factoid, 350 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:02,400 right? More than a factoid. 351 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,760 The largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside of 352 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:11,240 Israel is in Iran, 8000 I believe. 353 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,840 Largest community, Jewish community outside of Israel is 354 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,440 in Iran. Their rights and their freedoms 355 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:19,600 are restricted and limited, but they're there. 356 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,960 Iran doesn't have to, doesn't state it explicitly, but it's 357 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:30,360 very clear from their support of Hamas and Hezbollah that they're 358 00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:35,080 perfectly OK with that ideology. And some of their leadership has 359 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,800 said off record not acting their official capacities have called 360 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:45,120 for the death of Jews as well. But one Hamas leader, just as 361 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:52,840 one example said, and this was in 2024, said all of you 362 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,760 Palestinians living in the rest of the world, 7 million 363 00:23:55,760 --> 00:24:01,000 Palestinians living outside of Palestine, you said there are 364 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,640 Jews all around you. It's your responsibility to kill 365 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,920 as many of them as you can. It's not a direct quote. 366 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,240 Again, if I get into my notes, I'll get lost in the weeds, but 367 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:20,320 that's the substance of it. There is a a moral, spiritual, 368 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:24,920 qualitative difference, I believe, between killing 369 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:29,480 civilians in an effort to defeat a military enemy that has 370 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:36,120 devoted itself to destroying you, and killing civilians just 371 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:40,320 to kill civilians to promote your own agenda and your own 372 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,720 politics and your own death seeking ideology. 373 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,200 I think there's a world of difference between those two 374 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:52,200 things. There have been accusations made 375 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,360 that Israel is committing genocide against the 376 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:59,640 Palestinians. History simply does not bear 377 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:00,360 that out. I am. 378 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,480 I'm going to get the numbers on this, so I am going to look this 379 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:07,240 one up. I got to get to the right spot. 380 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:13,320 Please be patient. See all of these notes. 381 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:15,080 This is why I was late getting here today. 382 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,720 Here we go. Palestinian citizens in Israel. 383 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,360 There have been Palestinians. Not not those living in Gaza, 384 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:33,200 the West Bank, but actual citizens of Israel. 385 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:37,920 Palestinian citizens in Israel. In 1948, when the modern nation 386 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:41,920 of Israel was established, there were 156,000 Palestinian 387 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:48,760 citizens in Israel. In 2024, there were two million 388 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:52,080 Palestinian citizens living in Israel. 389 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:58,320 Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank came under Israel's control 390 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:02,640 in 1967. Israel withdrew from them 391 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:08,360 completely in 2005. But in 1967 there were 1.4 392 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:11,560 million Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank. 393 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,880 In 2024, there was five and a half million. 394 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:22,720 You cannot claim genocide when a population is growing dramatic 395 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:29,160 dramatically and when even in warfare, Israel is doing 396 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,640 everything they can to limit civilian casualties. 397 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,080 Israel has been called a colonial nation. 398 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,400 I think that's a misleading statement as best There's no 399 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,880 mother country. You can't leave Israel and go 400 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,520 back to the motherland of the Jewish folks. 401 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:52,160 Israel is the motherland of the Jewish folks. 402 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:58,680 Israel is a refugee country where Jewish folks from all over 403 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,760 the world have moved moved to Israel. 404 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:05,600 More than half of the population in Israel are Jews who are 405 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:10,960 native to the Middle East. They're not a colonial country. 406 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:17,520 They're a refugee country providing life and hope to a 407 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:21,320 group of people who have been persecuted over and over and 408 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:25,480 over again, discriminated against, shunned, limited and 409 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:30,240 legal representation and rights and privileges, and out and out 410 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:35,560 killed and driven out in country after country for the past 2000 411 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:39,560 years. And Israel, the nation of 412 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:44,960 Israel, created to give them a safe place as refugees that they 413 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,400 can go. the United States, you might know this already. 414 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:53,440 Prior to entering World War 2, Jewish refugees coming on boats 415 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:56,680 to the United States were sent back to Germany. 416 00:28:02,050 --> 00:28:07,210 Our country didn't want Jews here or any more Jews here, so 417 00:28:07,210 --> 00:28:10,040 we sent them back. We didn't enter World War 2 to 418 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,440 save the Jews from the Nazis. It was a happy accident. 419 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:16,720 It was good that it happened, but that's not why we entered 420 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:18,720 the war. We entered to collect, protect 421 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:20,360 political and economic interests. 422 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,480 I've heard this said. I don't know if it's true. 423 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:33,200 I haven't traced it out, But I challenge you. 424 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,200 I, I don't know. I'm not even sure how you do the 425 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,800 research. I haven't had time to try, but 426 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,560 I've heard it said again from knowledgeable people that every 427 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:48,520 country in history that have has welcomed and embraced the Jews 428 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,840 that lived among them has prospered during the time that 429 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:56,880 they welcomed and embraced the Jewish folks living among them. 430 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,640 But that takes us back to that promise God made Abraham. 431 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,680 Through you, all nations of the world will be blessed. 432 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:07,640 Through you all nations of the world will be blessed. 433 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,200 And we know that the most dramatic fulfillment of that 434 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,960 prophecy is through Jesus Christ himself, who was and is Jewish 435 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,040 and is a blessing to all the peoples of the world so that 436 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,200 that family has been opened up. And we too can become part of 437 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,680 God's chosen people in the family of God through the saving 438 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:30,840 grace of Jesus Christ. But it also seems to be true 439 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,400 that simply through embracing and receiving the people God 440 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:39,040 chose to begin with, the Jewish people, that nations are blessed 441 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:46,000 with prosperity. There is. 442 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,360 I'm not trying to say Israel's perfect any more than I would 443 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:52,080 say that the United States is perfect. 444 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:56,600 I'm not saying that that being Jewish is an inoculation against 445 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,320 doing evil things. There are plenty of bad actors 446 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,400 in the world who are Jewish, just like there are plenty of 447 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,400 bad actors in the world who are Christian, plenty of bad actors 448 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,280 who are atheists, plenty of bad actors who are Muslims. 449 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:13,920 It's not an inoculation, but the culture and the civilization 450 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:18,160 that Israel is promoting and growing in that region is a 451 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,000 culture and civilization of life. 452 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,640 The culture and civilization of the Islamic Republic and of 453 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:28,040 Hamas and of Hezbollah is a culture and civilization of 454 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:33,280 death and destruction. And I believe that we as 455 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:40,480 followers of Jesus Christ have a responsibility to promote life 456 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,480 and have a responsibility to support life and those cultures 457 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:48,600 and civilizations that are promoting and supporting life. 458 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:59,360 One of the ways we can see it's you and I, we don't have any 459 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,800 direct impact on what's happening in the Middle East. 460 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:08,160 We don't through prayer, through prayer, but as individuals, no 461 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,000 one's calling us and asking our opinions. 462 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,800 And, and sometimes I think, boy, I wish they'd call me and ask my 463 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,680 opinion. I'm glad I don't have Benjamin 464 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:22,920 Netanyahu's job. I don't know what I would do if 465 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:27,760 if I had an enemy that was determined and equipped and able 466 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:32,120 and demonstrated its willingness to kill and destroy my entire 467 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:34,600 nation and every one of my fellow countrymen. 468 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:38,360 If I had an enemy that was doing that and they were hiding behind 469 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:44,920 hospitals and places of worship and and nurseries and preschools 470 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:46,880 and schools. If they were hiding behind there 471 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:49,360 saying you can kill us, but you'll have to kill them first, 472 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,320 I don't know what I would do. I'm glad that's not my 473 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:58,000 responsibility. So one of the things that we can 474 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,800 and we need to do is to approach this situation with humility, 475 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:09,880 recognizing that that that leaders get placed in very 476 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:13,800 difficult positions, having to make very difficult decisions. 477 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,600 And no matter what they decide, people will die. 478 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,720 And we can pray for those leaders that they listen to God, 479 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:24,880 that they choose life when possible. 480 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:36,960 I think the other thing that we have a responsibility for is to 481 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:41,280 stand up against scapegoating and bigotry in whatever form 482 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:45,040 they present themselves, whether it's anti-Semitism or 483 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:50,880 Islamophobia or racism or sexism, homophobia, any type of 484 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:54,080 bigotry that looks at a group of people and says, because they're 485 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,760 like that, you know, we can treat them badly. 486 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,600 And then when, when thing bad things are happening around us, 487 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:03,880 we find ourselves sayings, well, it's those people. 488 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,440 It's those people. They're bringing the wrath of 489 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:08,800 God on us. They're the ones causing it. 490 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,800 They're the ones that we have a responsibility to stand up 491 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:16,360 against that because there's nothing of Christ in that. 492 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:21,400 Nothing. In fact, it's the opposite. 493 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:26,240 I believe that to be a follower of Jesus Christ gives us the 494 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,120 responsibility to take responsibility. 495 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,240 There's a problem in our community that we don't get to 496 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:35,160 look for scapegoats and point our fingers at them. 497 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,520 It's our responsibility to bring life into our community. 498 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,680 And when there's death and destruction coming into our 499 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:45,600 community, it's not. We don't get the privilege to 500 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:49,040 find scapegoats and point at them and say it's their fault. 501 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:54,160 Let's just get those people out. It's our responsibility to take 502 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:59,760 responsibility for bringing life and hope and love and joy and 503 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:05,080 peace into a situation. And so we can't directly affect 504 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:09,719 what's happening in the Middle East, but we can stand against 505 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:14,000 bigotry in our community. We can pray for leaders. 506 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:20,080 We can take humility and, and, and, and, and exercise humility 507 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,880 when engaging in conversations about the situation. 508 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,120 We can do all of those things. And I believe that is choosing 509 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:31,040 life over death. I believe that is our 510 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,840 responsibility. I don't. 511 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:36,520 Again, this is the hardest sermon I've ever had to preach. 512 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,880 I've preached a lot of sermons over a lot of years and a lot of 513 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:40,880 difficult things. Hardest sermon I've ever had to 514 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,040 preach. And, and, and if I have left you 515 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,600 dissatisfied or, or disgruntled in some way because of this, 516 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,719 please come talk to me about it. I'm, I'm, I'm going to be out of 517 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:53,880 town this week, but you can message me. 518 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:57,360 We'll set up a time, we'll get together, have coffee, have a 519 00:34:57,360 --> 00:34:59,440 slice of pizza, foxes, whatever you want to do. 520 00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:02,480 And, and we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it. 521 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,800 But my hope and my prayer is that whatever we're doing, our 522 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:11,640 motive behind it is to choose life, the life of God, over the 523 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,440 death that our enemy wants to bring upon us.