I will be the first to admit I don’t fully grasp all of the particulars of the Israeli-Palestine on-going saga, but one thing I do know completely and absolutely is calls for the extinction of any people group are beyond the pale and must be meet with forceful and vocal opposition, most especially from the professing Evangelical Church.
I am abhorred by the President Biden’s tepid and belated condemnation of the open calls for the genocide of the Nation of Israel. It is clear, in my humble opinion, by President Biden’s putrid response that he cares much more about re-election than he does about moral integrity. So much for Personal Courage, one of the cherished Army Values so highly emphasized to soldiers during my military career.
Now, I am sure Israel, like all nations, including the United States of America, is guilty of some mis-adjudication of justice towards the Palestinians. Any form of government that involves human beings will always be contaminated with sin. So Israel can never be viewed as totally innocent but such an admittance does not rise to the level of calls for their extinction nor anyone else’s for that matter.
So, while I am sure there are some legitimate concerns expressed by Palestinians there can be no cover whatsoever given to the radical voices from the Far Left that endorse and unapologetically call for Israel’s demise with slogans like the following:
From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free
America was birthed upon the concept of civil protest. African Americans gained much of their human rights through the ardent protest of the Civil Rights movement. The Reformation of the 1600s came from passionate and sacrificial theological protest from valiant men like Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin, to name just a few.
As diligent and astute Evangelicals, it is imperative we understand and celebrate the vital distinction between calls for reformation versus calls for revolution.
Calls for reformation are always biblical, while calls for revolution are generally, though not absolutely, non-biblical.
You see, the Bible reveals that God ordained civil government (see Romans 10), and God commands citizens within those civil governments to obey the civil government. Thus, it would be a sin to incite an armed rebellion because, in effect, to rebel against God’s ordained authority is to rebel against God Himself.
In passing, this is why I continue to submit God did not sanction the American Revolution, though I am fully aware other committed Evangelicals come to different conclusions regarding the American Revolution.
Qualified, though never absolute, obedience and loyalty to civil government is correctly understood when one considers God made the decree to obey the civil authority even as Rome was the civil authority in power at the time of the Apostle Paul writing Romans 10. Rome's civil authority was oppressive and hostile to Christianity specifically , not to mention perversely wicked and sinful in general.
When Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of the Church of Wittenberg, it was never Luther’s intention to incite revolution within the visible church. Luther merely wanted to have an academic debate within the Roman Catholic Church. It was the Roman Catholic Church and not the Reformers who resorted to violence toward those who dared register dissent.
So, for the Evangelical, it is imperative we always wisely support calls for reform but never calls for revolution. One of the principal reasons Israel rejected Jesus Christ as the long-awaited Messiah was He refused pleas for revolution.
One of the principal reasons the Apostle Paul or any of the Apostles or the early Church Fathers never made calls for the overthrow of slavery is revolution is never the telos [end] of the Gospel.
There are many calls for liberation today. Liberation is the buzzword of our day. You see calls for liberation prominently in the rhetoric and propaganda from organizations like Black Lives Matter, the Pro-Abortion [I refuse to play the game and employ the euphemism Pro-Choice] movement , you see it in the sexual revolution, and you see it move full steam ahead with the gender revolution.
All of these calls are fleeting, misguided, and ill-focused. Similarly are the calls for liberation from most Palestinians, especially from those of Hamas.
Most assuredly if you ask the wrong question, invariably the wrong answer will be the result. The liberation of each of the groups mentioned above should be their liberation from their sin, found only via the meritorious, atoning works of Jesus Christ.
But, of course, Satan works hard and long to make sure man’s liberation from their sin is not what is being sought. In fact, the Bible teaches unless God removes the scales, fallen man will always seek the false mcoy.
So, while Palestinians invariably have legitimate concerns yet because they do not bend the knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, they transverse on the broad road whose only inescapable destination is eternal Hellfire.
Not surprisingly, yet still tragically, this is why you see mingled with legitimate concerns are the calls for the extinction of an entire people group, namely the Nation of Israel.
Satan always injects a sliver of truth amongst his demonic lies. He must do so because very few people are brazen and stupid enough to accept propositions utterly devoid of any positive light. As one example, Hitler extolled positive traits like ethnic pride mingled with his demonic hatred of the Jews. You see the same commingling with evil entities skinheads and the KKK.
Mix just even a little truth with a whole bunch of falsehoods, and those trapped in darkness will drink the Kool-Aid with full unabashed gusto. That is always why Evangelicals must seek to be truly amazed by grace. For, if it was not for grace we would readily fall prey to the wiles of the Adversary.
Falling so easily prey to Satan’s devices must not be so with Evangelicals. When Evangelicals endeavor to think critically and biblically, we will renounce calls for revolution wherever and whenever they are found. Be they found overseas or on college campuses throughout the U.S.A.
I support the rights of all Americans to protest as long as the protests are peaceful and the protester accepts the consequences of their actions, when applicable. This acceptance must be peaceful, and it must be dignified.
You see this example of civil protest decorum modeled when the Apostles Peter and John were thrown in jail. When confronted for their proclamation of the Gospel Peter and John response to the governing authority was that they must always choose to obey God and never men.
One does not find Peter and John organizing a violent response to their arrest. No calls from the Apostles to rebel against the governing authorities. On the contrary, you find them celebrating their ability to suffer like their Lord and Savior.
When people and institutions ground their passions and energies towards temporal liberation then Satan will use this opening to keep them steering off course.
With the limited time and resources available to us in this short span of life we would be better suited promoting the only liberation that truly matters in the end. That is man’s bondage to sin. That’s the liberation fallen mankind needs so desperately.
That is not to say as we have opportunities that we are not to seek the warfare of the city but we must never make those calls for liberation our chief occupation or aim.
Again, I am not wise enough to speak too forcefully on just what is the proper balance to bring equity to the Israeli-Palestinian question but what I do know and declare is calls for Israel’s extinction arise from the very pit of Hell.
Thus, Evangelicals must register their vehement dissent with Anti-Seminitism whenever and wherever it may be found.
The Evangelical must never be guilty of the passivity and moral cowardice displayed by so many German Evangelicals during the early part of the 1940’s.
History sadly contains stories of German churches resorting to singing louder as the trains, loaded with Jews on their way to concentration camps, whistled by during their Sunday morning church services.
Even without wading in the specifics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict I know Israel was violently and immorally attacked by Hamas in October 2023.
As a result, Israel has every right to defend herself, just as America did in response to 911.
I full support any and all calls for reform in Israel but never calls for revolution or Israel’s extinction. One does not have to regard Israel as God’s covenant people to arrive at such a conclusion.
Tepid response from prominent college campuses like Harvard, Penn and now Columbia and most importantly from the White House only reinforce my loathing and rejection of the Democratic Party in general and radical Leftists in particular.
Speak now and speak loudly or forever hold your peace. Every professing Evangelical will be judged on what we did say and what we did not say concerning the Nation of Israel and the people of Palestine.
As usual, let me know what you. Until then, keep your hands to the plow and seek to serve for an Audience of One
‘With fear and trembling
Ricky Kyles Sr., DEd.Min
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