Christians Are Turning From Israel In Droves Because Of Gaza!

Stunning news. Christians are turning away from Israel in droves because of Gaza. That's our message. The text is taken from Revelation 19:11-21.

In obedience to God's command, I pray for the peace of Israel every living day, at least twice a day, in fact, with all my heart. And so do many Christians everywhere in the world. However, Christians all over the world are faced with the greatest dilemma today as they watch with horror the things that are happening between Israel and the Palestinians of Gaza. Should Christians turn from Israel and support the poor Palestinians as the world accuses God's chosen of committing genocide? Well, the Lord says, call it what it is. He sent out a warning in Isaiah chapter 5, saying, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." He promises that those who do not call evil out will become like the stubble of straw or like dry grass with rotted roots. In fact, their blossoms will blow away because they rejected God's command.

Father, we give You thanks and praise for Your love and mercy. We thank You for Your blessings upon this message today. We thank You for Your love, Your mercy, and all of your wonderful goodness. We pray especially for believers in Christ that they will continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And we pray for the Jewish people that You may bless and keep them and protect them, Father. But we also pray for the Palestinian people. We pray for them all to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We thank You, Father, in Jesus name. Amen.

I cannot bear to watch the everyday news stories about the never ending war between Israel and Hamas. The scenes of children with empty bowls struggling to get soup are heart-rending. The reports of food trucks unable to get into Gaza are baffling. The scenes of men running to get food packages being air dropped are mind-boggling. Do we not need three meals a day in order to survive? How will they survive? And now the UN has declared there's a man-made famine in Gaza. The experts confirm it. Then there are cries from the suffering Israeli hostages and the constant cries of their family members.

These are the shameful horrors of war. Neither can I be convinced that this is all being staged when I hear of people being shot on food lines. Anyone with a heart will be touched by this complicated mess of hate on both sides. The lines are no longer clear as all of this makes it easy to forget that hate for Israel and hate for the one true God is the real issue here and is at the bottom of this conflict.

As these reports dominate the news cycle day after day, one comes to the point where he no longer knows who or what to believe about what is going on in Gaza. I am saddened about the how the tides have turned against Israel in this conflict. I'm disappointed about the way in which Israel is losing the humanitarian aid war and it is discouraging that they're losing the media wars while clearly dominating the ground and air wars. Now the world is beginning to turn against them as world leaders sympathetic of Israel's plight in the past have now turned against them. They're changing their position and now condemning Israel and calling for a Palestinian state to be recognized. And many of them are throwing their support behind Hamas and the Palestinians because Hamas is doing such a masterful job of playing the victim game while Netanyahu is doing such a masterful job of playing the game of the heartless beast. Several credible sources say almost 147 out of 193 United Nation member states have recognized the state of Palestine. France and Malta have announced their plan to recognize Palestine as a state this September. At the General Assembly of the United Nations, Canada and the United Kingdom recently stated that they will also recognize Palestine as a state under certain conditions. While the Palestinian problems are rooted in hate for God's chosen people, Israel's problems are rooted in disobedience to God's Word. Did Jesus Christ not say that the greatest commandment is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind?" And did He not say that the second greatest commandment is like the first? You shall love your neighbor as yourself? And did He not say that all that encompasses the law and the teachings of the prophets hang on these two commandments? Which means if we keep these two commandments, we will also keep all the others because they will lead us to obedience to all of God's laws and all the teachings of His prophets. And so instead of trying to forgive and love the Palestinian people, Israel is clearly trying to beat them down, beat them into submission by displacing them, by starving and killing them instead of having compassion on their hateful neighbor who refuses to give in. Netanyahu plans to crush them and remove them all from the land by sending them to the war torn South Sudan. This will not work. It cannot work and will bring severe consequences down upon Israel's head. If the truth be told, Israel does not have to fight this war.

According to Romans 12:19, Deuteronomy 32:35, the Word of God declares, "Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord." And God has promised to deal with our enemies Himself. He will not abandon His chosen people. Indeed, the Palestinians will not surrender. Yet they cannot possibly win. Perhaps Israel should back off and try loving them. Unfortunately, we are already told in scripture that this will not happen. Yet, we must diligently pray for the peace of Jerusalem because our prayers will bring forward the coming of the Lord. He will come when the enemies of Israel all band together to take them out in one final devastating attack. It will be a monstrous effort by the enemies of Israel to obliterate them from the face of the earth. Then the Lord will swoop down and rescue His beloved city and rescue His people at the very last moment. But many lives will be lost in Israel. Secondly, the Word of God says, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." Proverbs 16:7. This tells us that Israel's ways must not be pleasing to the Lord at this time. Otherwise, wouldn't the Palestinian people be forced to live at peace with Israel? According to God's Word, they would have no choice. They would have to live at peace with Israel if the ways of the Israeli people were pleasing to God.

There are many believers in Christ today who are frustrated by their enemies. And the Word of God in James 4:6-10 clearly says that God Himself will resist the proud. He will resist the arrogant and ruthless people of the earth who come against His children because of hate for Him. He promises to give grace to the humble and therefore in facing persecution we are to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand and He will bless us with His grace and of course with His great mercy. He has given us the formula for victory over our enemies. His word tells us, "Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." Now, let's be truthful. Living at peace with those who want to annihilate you is easier said than done. Living at peace with those whose sole desire is to destroy you is very difficult for the very best of us.

Psalm 120:7 says, "I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." Nevertheless, friend, living with our enemies while showing love is the command of God, and we can do it. God's Word must always be at the forefront of our will, and His Word always works. Woefully, it appears Israel has become consumed by hate for their neighbor instead of love. Christians living on earth today are therefore faced with a real dilemma as they try to decide how to deal with the conflicting emotions they are feeling. Frustrating emotions stirred up in them by what they see, by what they hear and read about this war between Israel and his neighbors. And they have many questions. Should they curse or bless Israel for the atrocities that they accused of committing against the Palestinian neighbors on the Gaza Strip? Has Israel gone too far in their retaliation against Hamas for the atrocities of October 7? Has Netanyahu lost his mind? Or is he simply trying to stay out of jail? Is Israel really committing genocide? And how should Christians respond to this? Should the world believe anything that Hamas and the Palestinians say? Is the UN complicit with Hamas? Are they deceiving the world as they accuse Israel of starving the Palestinian people in an evil plot to commit genocide? And who is really keeping the score here? What would happen if Israel stopped fighting today? Would that be the end of the conflict? There are so many hard questions. I dare not boast of having the ability to answer many of them in this message or perhaps in any other. However, this message attempts to give insight to believers in Christ about how to deal with great tragedy, how to deal with problems that are unfolding right before their eyes.

As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem daily, let us pray for both the Palestinian people and the Jewish people to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord. And this we must do and we must continue doing it no matter what happens. Recently, I heard a speaker say that the Lord did not say that all who blesses Israel will be blessed and all who curses Israel will be cursed. He was referring to Genesis 12:3, insisting that all that is said in that scripture is that all who blesses Abraham will be blessed and all who curses Abraham will be cursed. He also stated that the Zionist state called Israel was not even in existence at the time. So this could not have included them. And he went on to rail against Israel. Hateful words. At this point, I lost patience and did not want to hear anymore.

My friend, the fact is that the Lord God has miraculously restored Israel just as He promised. The fact is that the people of that nation are blessed and the evidence that all who bless Israel are blessed is all around us. Let us continue to bless Israel in our prayers. Furthermore, the Word of God assures us that Israel will be the victor of this age-old conflict when the dust finally settles. For God Himself shall fight for them just as we are told in Zechariah 14. The one thing that is clear is that hate for the Israeli people has skyrocketed all over the world as of recent. Israel is seen as the beast in this conflict. While Hamas is executing its plan to paint a deceitful picture of Israel as the aggressor, many are convinced that Israel is the aggressor even though Palestine is the real aggressor and manipulator of the media behind the scenes. Believe it or not, this war is on track for the fulfillment of the Word of God as it moves parallel to Old and New Testament prophecies. Soon the enemies of Israel will band together against him in the greatest onslaught that this nation has ever experienced. They will come from every corner of the earth. And the God of Israel will rise up to defend them in accordance with Zechariah 14.

In Revelation 19:11, the Apostle John said that he saw heaven opened and he saw a white horse and the One who sat on the horse was called faithful and true. He is the righteous judge who will make war. The description of His appearance says that His eyes were like a flame of fire and on His head were many crowns. The scripture goes on to say that He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and His name is called the Word of God. This is a picture of none other than Jesus Christ, our Savior, our redeemer, preparing to come to the earth and bringing with Him the armies of heaven. And those of His army will follow after Him riding on white horses clothed in white and clean fine linen. The Word of God tells us, "And the one called the Word of God will have a sword coming out of His mouth, which He will use to smite the nations." It goes on to say that He shall rule the nations with a rod of iron and He shall tread the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God.

On His vesture will be written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is the majestic picture of Christ coming to the earth to vanquish His foes and to establish His millennial reign. The battle will be called the battle of Armageddon. God will fight against Israel's enemies. He will become a warrior and vanquish the enemies of Israel. The false prophet and the antichrist will be captured. Both of them will be cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest of their army will be killed with the sword which will proceed from the mouth of Him which sat on the horse. The Word of God tells us. And the fowls of the earth will be filled with their flesh and all flesh shall see it together. God bless and keep you in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

Having heard this message, perhaps you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Well, we want to give you an opportunity to make that commitment today. Please engage your heart and say this prayer after me.

-Father, I am a sinner and I'm sorry for all my sins.

-I crave Your forgiveness.

-I need Your forgiveness.

-I thank You for your patience with me. Thank You, Lord.

-Today, I invite Jesus Christ into my heart.

-Dear Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Make my heart Your home.

-Today, I give You the key to my heart because I want to belong to You forever.

-Please keep the key forever.

-Please give me the Holy Spirit to lead me into all truth.

-Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul. Amen.

Welcome, friend, to the body of believers in Christ. There are many of us here waiting for the return of the Good Master. In the meantime, we encourage you to become water baptized as quickly as possible. This is a part of the salvation process and the fulfillment of all righteousness. Begin reading the Word of God every day. Begin in the book of John and then go to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Reading audibly as often as possible because faith comes by hearing the Word of God. The more you hear the Word of God, the stronger your faith will become. Pray daily. Attend at your local church. And one glad morning, the Savior will come and receive us all unto Himself. And we shall indeed forever be with the Lord. God bless and keep you in Jesus mighty name. Amen.