Life Matters - July 31, 2024
The snubbing of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s address to Congress by Kamala Harris and 80 Democrat lawmakers may not be so glaring if she had not, according to Sean Hannity, supported students ‘’speaking their truth’’ when a horde of them came out in protest of Israel and in support of Hamas. Less than a month after the brutal raid of Hamas on Israeli soil where they killed more than 1200 Israeli citizens and took 115 men, women, and children hostage on October 7, 2023, Harris spoke approvingly of pro-Hamas college students protesting Israel’s retaliation against the West Bank, a Palestinian stronghold for Hamas, telling reporters, ‘’I do understand their (the protestors) concerns and I will never attempt to stifle or silence young people from expressing their concerns.’’ Harris is now the prospective Democrat nominee for President and has done a 180, now saying, ‘’I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate Israel and kill Jews.”
Is Harris now sincere? It is hard to say for sure, but her absence at Netanyahu’s address to Congress coupled with her lack of apology for past statements strongly suggest a lack of sincere change, only a statement for the acquisition of votes. ‘’When people tell you who they are, believe them the first time’’ quoth the sage. It would be a sad world indeed of no one could ever repent and change, but change for the better without repentance cannot last. As Donald Trump has said, ‘’A politician always goes back to where they started’’ (before elected) I would add “when there’s no repentance.”
The anti-Trump campaign platform organizers seemed momentarily struck by a sense of contrition after the attempted assassination of our 45th President. The post-assassination remarks from liberal politicians and their media did seem to reflect a sense of contrition. But context matters…and taking Trump statements out of context is already creeping back in. A conservative-thinking friend from years past to the present sent the concerned question; ‘’What does this mean?’’ with the following Trump quote, as reported by The New York Times this past week; ‘’Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore, you know what? Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to do it anymore, my beautiful Christians.’’ Hmm’’, I thought, ‘’that does indeed sound like a wannabe dictator, as the liberals claim to be the case, which they couple with charging Trump of being an ‘’existential threat to democracy’’. ‘’But wait’’, I thought, ‘’that could be a quote taken out of its context.’’ So I listened to the entire speech in question and this is what I found to be the context; that Trump still claims the 2020 election to be fraudulent and stolen, that he has a plan, upon his election, to fix the problem, i.e. one day voting, all paper ballots, (hand counted) all voters needing to show proof of U.S. citizenship, and that he is hoping to win this election by such a landslide that even the fraudsters will be overcome. Oh. Context does matter. Voting practices will be so repaired, he thinks, that ‘’getting out the vote’’ will be less urgent than now. Overconfident? Maybe. Deceptive? No.
‘’Americans of faith are the soul of our country,’’ Trump says, and, ‘’I will create a new task force to fight anti-Christian bias.’’ No other religion is as openly mocked in our present-day world as Christianity. Which is happening because Christianity, being generally peace-loving, and believing our ultimate war is spiritual, is, historically and to the present day, vulnerable to mockery and attack in a world of materialism. The flesh is at enmity with the spirit. (James 4:4)
I am not in favor of war, in settling our differences by killing each other. I am a believer in loving our enemies, blessing them that curse us, doing good to those that hate us, praying for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. (Matthew 5:44) I am not naturally as long-suffering as God is, I need the Spirit of Jesus Christ to reach any semblance of it.
I also recognize that the Old Testament principle of God charging earthly governments with the responsibility to keep the minions of evil in check, thereby promoting good behavior, has been carried over into the New Testament, notably via Romans chapter 13 and as applied to Israel means that Netanyahu, through Israel’s Defense Force (IDF) is charged with protecting the borders of Israel against terrorism. Israel’s Iron Dome System, as reported by news outlets, has intercepted and detonated thousands of Hamas-launched rockets in the air above Israeli territory in the past years of the Biden administration and before.
As materialism rages, the church is to support and build a God-fearing populace who recognize that ultimately ‘’…the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.’’ (2 Corinthians 10:4) We are, indeed, in a spiritual war. Where Truth Matters! Let us pray and fight for it, speaking the Truth in Love.
Life Matters!