Taking a slightly different direction with this post. It’ll likely be unpopular with some, and that’s okay, but I need to say it.

Everyone lives through uncountable defining events. Some of them end up global. In recent memory, one was the thing-that-shall-not-be-named (aka that little bug everyone panicked over in 2020). It revealed those who preferred government control over liberty. Who preferred fear-mongering over reason (on all sides).

Could what happened in Israel be another defining event? Some claim it’ll lead toward WWIII. Others believe it’s one more step toward the seven-year-tribulation (although technically it’s 3-1/2 years; the first 3-1/2 is when Israel will enjoy peace) as mentioned in Daniel and Revelation.

I’m skeptical of both, although this mere human is unqualified to say one way or another.

Yet what I’m seeing is similar to the response to the-thing-that-shall-not-be-named. People are taking sides, many showing who they truly are with their rhetoric and vitriol. It’s an ugly thing.

Yes, I side with Israel, but it’s largely due to my faith as a Christian. Israel must exist, because the Bible clearly states that it must. It is the geographic center of my Christian faith. To see it and the people within it suffer makes my heart ache, and yes, rightly or wrongly, I want to lash out at anyone who seeks to destroy it.

Yet I also know propaganda abounds. On both sides. Is Israel completely innocent? Of course not. It is a country run by humans, so it makes human error. Yet I also can’t reconcile the idea it somehow deserves to be eradicated anymore than the Palestinians deserve to be eradicated (which they don’t).

I’m also wise enough to know that Israel (and the rest of us for that matter) will never know peace until God decides the time has come.

That’s where our focus needs to be. Jesus warned us there would be wars and rumors of war. We are to recognize the times and be prepared, but we are not to know the actual time of Jesus’ return and God’s judgement. Even Jesus didn’t know.

May God tally one more day so more will find Jesus and know real peace for all eternity.