What Have the Children Done to Deserve Death?

 There are some pictures that never leave your mind. There are some voices that continue speaking long after the television has been turned off and the videotape has been put away. For me, one of those voices belongs to an Iraqi grandfather whom I never met.

During the war in Iraq, I produced and directed a television program called Issues in Indiana. Someone gave me a videotape showing the destruction the United States government was bringing upon Iraq. The scenes on that tape were not the clean, carefully selected pictures shown on the evening news. They showed what war looked like to the people underneath the bombs.

I watched interviews with ordinary Iraqi citizens. They were no different from the people living next door to me. They were mothers and fathers, grandparents and children. They worked, worried, laughed, prayed, and loved their families. They wanted their children to grow up. They wanted to live without fear.

One interview has remained with me through all the years since.

An Iraqi grandfather was holding the lifeless body of his grandson, a little boy about five years old. With tears in his eyes and grief breaking his voice, he asked why America had killed his grandson. That child had done nothing to America. He had threatened no soldier. He had carried no weapon. He had harmed no American. He was simply a little boy who should have been playing, laughing, learning, and growing up surrounded by those who loved him.

That grandfather asked a question our government could not answer:

“Why did America kill my grandson? What had he done to America?”

His story was not told by the mainstream American media. His grandson disappeared into a casualty total. He became one more number among thousands. Yet behind every number was a name. Behind every number was a family. Behind every number was a mother, father, or grandparent whose heart had been torn apart.

Governments speak of military operations, strategic objectives, national interests, acceptable losses, and collateral damage. Such language makes war sound clean and reasonable. But there was nothing clean or reasonable about that grandfather holding his dead grandson. Political language could not dry his tears, restore that child’s life, or answer his question.

Today I hear that same question rising from beneath the rubble of Gaza.

A Starting Date Without a History

Much of the American public was told that the present story began on October 7, 2023. What Hamas did that day was evil. The murder of Israeli civilians was wrong. The taking of hostages was wrong. No honest defense of Palestinian rights requires us to excuse the killing of innocent Israelis.

But October 7 did not occur in a historical vacuum.

Americans were seldom taught the full history of Palestinian displacement beginning in 1948, the military occupation that followed the 1967 war, the growth of Israeli settlements, the demolition of Palestinian homes, restrictions upon movement, imprisonment without trial, or the long blockade of Gaza. We were given a starting date, but not a history. We were shown the explosion, but not the pressure that had been building for generations.

If the American people had understood how Palestinians had been displaced, occupied, restricted, and mistreated for more than seventy years, I believe they would have demanded a different response in Gaza. Most Americans do not like bullies. When they understand the facts, they tend to sympathize with the underdog.

Israel is not the helpless underdog that its defenders have so successfully portrayed. The Israeli government possesses overwhelming military power, receives enormous financial and military support from the United States, and exercises immense control over Palestinian life. Yet a powerful public-relations effort has persuaded many Americans to associate the whole population of Gaza with terrorism.

Hamas is not the Palestinian people.

A child buried beneath a collapsed apartment building is not a terrorist. A mother searching for bread is not a terrorist. A doctor treating the wounded is not a terrorist. A journalist recording the destruction is not a terrorist. Palestinian Christians are not terrorists. Two million people cannot be stripped of their individuality and assigned collective guilt for the crimes of an armed organization.

This criticism must also be stated with care: I am speaking about the actions of the Israeli government, its military, and the political forces defending those actions. I am not condemning Jewish people. Many Jewish and Israeli voices have courageously opposed occupation, collective punishment, and the destruction of Gaza. Criticism of a government is not hatred of an ethnicity or religion.

Unequal Numbers and Unequal Grief

More than 73,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza. Compared with the approximately 1,200 people killed in Israel on October 7, that is roughly sixty Palestinian deaths for every death on that terrible day. If Israeli military deaths during the subsequent war are added, the ratio is lower, but the disproportion remains staggering. Thousands of Palestinians may still be beneath the rubble, and deaths caused indirectly by hunger, disease, exposure, and the collapse of medical care are not fully represented in the direct-death total.

Numbers alone, however, do not reveal the deepest injustice. There has also been unequal grief.

Israeli victims have often been presented to Americans as individuals. We learn their names, see their photographs, meet their families, and hear their personal stories. They should be remembered that way. Every innocent Israeli life is precious.

Palestinian victims, however, are too often presented as an anonymous mass. We hear that “the death toll has risen,” as though the dead were numbers rather than people and as though no one caused their deaths. Palestinian casualty figures are questioned while official military claims are often repeated. Israelis are “murdered” or “slaughtered,” while Palestinians simply “die” in an airstrike.

When the children of one people are individually mourned while the children of another people are reduced to disputed statistics, the public is quietly being taught that some lives matter more than others.

God does not accept that distinction.

The apostle Peter declared, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34, KJV). An Israeli child and a Palestinian child possess equal worth before God. Their nationality does not increase or diminish the value of their blood.

The Silence of Evangelical Christianity

One of my greatest concerns is the silence of evangelical Christians. Many who preach that every unborn child is precious have closed their eyes to children killed after birth by American-made weapons. They speak loudly about innocent life when doing so supports a favored political cause, but become strangely quiet when innocent Palestinian children are buried beneath the ruins of their homes.

That is not a consistent defense of life. It is selective morality.

Some evangelical leaders have allowed Christian Zionism to replace the teaching of Jesus. They defend nearly every action of the modern Israeli government as though questioning a nation’s military policy were the same as questioning the Word of God. The modern State of Israel is a government. Like every other government, its actions must be judged by truth, justice, mercy, and the moral law of God.

The Church is not called to give any earthly government unconditional approval. Our allegiance belongs to Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament prophets did not remain silent when Israel shed innocent blood. They did not excuse injustice because Israel possessed a covenant history. They spoke more forcefully because those who claimed the name of God were accountable to His righteousness.

Isaiah cried, “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isaiah 1:15, KJV).

If the prophets refused to overlook innocent blood, how can the evangelical Church overlook it today?

We cannot condemn the murder of Israeli children while defending the killing of Palestinian children. We cannot call one an atrocity and dismiss the other as collateral damage. We cannot claim to follow the Prince of Peace while blessing every bomb dropped by a government we have placed beyond moral examination.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9, KJV). He did not say, “Blessed are those who manufacture excuses for killing children.”

Children Sacrificed to the Gods of War

The United States government has sacrificed far too many children upon the altars of war. We may no longer call our idols Molech or Baal, but we continue offering innocent lives to the gods of military power, national pride, political ambition, and economic gain.

The psalmist spoke of those who “sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood” (Psalm 106:37–38, KJV). We read those words and condemn the cruelty of ancient people, yet remain silent while bombs purchased with our tax dollars fall upon children in distant lands.

We disguise their deaths with respectable phrases. God does not see “collateral damage.” He sees children created in His image. He sees their blood, hears the cries of their parents, and remembers those responsible.

Scripture declares that among the things the Lord hates are “hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:16–17, KJV). That condemnation applies to Hamas when it murders Israeli children. It applies to Israel when its weapons kill Palestinian children. It also applies to the United States when our government supplies the weapons, finances the destruction, protects those responsible from accountability, and then pretends that we bear no responsibility.

Many Americans remain silent because the children live far away, speak another language, or follow another religion. Distance does not make their blood less innocent. Nationality does not make their lives less valuable. Silence may protect our comfort, but it cannot hide injustice from God.

The Lord does not look upon the shedding of innocent blood with approval. He looks upon it with righteous anger. Nations may escape human courts through wealth, influence, and military power, but no nation escapes the judgment of God.

“Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!” (Habakkuk 2:12, KJV).

A nation cannot continually sow bombs and expect to reap peace. It cannot shed innocent blood and expect the blessing of God. Judgment may not come according to our timetable, but Scripture gives us no reason to believe that God will forever overlook the killing of the innocent.

What Will the Church Do?

The question is not merely what Israel, Hamas, or the American government has done. The question is what the Church has done while it was happening.

Did we speak for those without a voice? Did we protest the killing of innocent people on both sides? Did we demand that our government stop financing the destruction? Did we pray for Palestinian families as earnestly as we prayed for Israeli families? Or did we turn away because the truth disturbed our politics and challenged our theology?

Proverbs commands us, “Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8–9, KJV).

The Church must open its mouth. We must condemn terrorism without blessing collective punishment. We must oppose antisemitism without excusing the oppression of Palestinians. We must pray for Jewish people and Muslim people, for Israelis and Palestinians, remembering that our enemies are souls to be saved—not people to be hated or children to be killed.

I still see that Iraqi grandfather holding his dead grandson. His question has followed me through the years. Today it is repeated by Palestinian fathers and mothers standing amid the ruins of Gaza:

“Why did they kill my child? What had my child done to deserve death?”

Military officials may offer explanations. Politicians may change the subject. News organizations may move on to another story. Preachers may remain silent because speaking could offend members of their congregations.

But God has heard the question.

The blood of innocent children cries from the ground. God hears that cry even when governments, churches, and news organizations refuse to hear it.

It is time for America to repent of its addiction to war. It is time for evangelical Christians to open their eyes, recover a consistent concern for innocent life, and follow the Prince of Peace. It is time to stop asking whether a dead child was Israeli or Palestinian, Iraqi or American, Jewish, Muslim, or Christian.

The question before us is much simpler:

Was this an innocent child created in the image of God?

If the answer is yes, then the Church must care enough to speak.

Children Sacrificed to the Gods of War

The United States government has sacrificed far too many children upon the altars of war. We may no longer call our idols Molech or Baal, but we continue offering innocent lives to the gods of military power, national pride, political ambition, and economic gain.

The psalmist spoke of a nation that “sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood” (Psalm 106:37–38, KJV). We read those words and condemn the ancient people for their cruelty, yet remain silent while bombs purchased with our tax dollars fall upon children in distant lands.

We disguise their deaths with phrases such as collateral damage. We discuss military objectives, acceptable losses, and national interests. But God does not see collateral damage. He sees children created in His image. He sees their blood, hears the cries of their parents, and remembers the governments responsible for their deaths.

Scripture declares that among the things the Lord hates are “hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:16–17, KJV). That condemnation applies to Hamas when it murders Israeli children. It applies to Israel when its weapons kill Palestinian children. It also applies to the United States when our government supplies the bombs, finances the destruction, protects those responsible from accountability, and then pretends that we bear no responsibility.

Many Americans remain silent because these children live far away, speak another language, or follow another religion. But distance does not make their blood less innocent, and nationality does not make their lives less valuable. Silence may protect our comfort, but it cannot hide injustice from God.

The Lord does not look upon the shedding of innocent blood with approval. He looks upon it with righteous anger. Nations may escape human courts through wealth, influence, and military power, but no nation escapes the judgment of God.

The question is not simply what Israel, Hamas, or the American government has done. The question is also what we have done while it was happening. Did we speak for those without a voice? Did we protest the killing? Did we demand that our government stop financing it? Or did we turn away because the truth made us uncomfortable?

The blood of innocent children cries from the ground. God hears that cry even when governments, churches, and news organizations refuse to hear it.

“Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!” (Habakkuk 2:12, KJV).

A nation cannot continually sow bombs and expect to reap peace. It cannot shed innocent blood and expect the blessing of God. Judgment may not come according to our timetable, but Scripture gives us no reason to believe that God will forever overlook the killing of the innocent.

It is time for America to repent, lay down the idols of war, and become a peacemaker rather than an accomplice in destruction.

Israel Calls Foul While Continuing to Foul

 Let me state my position plainly: this criticism is not directed against individual Jewish people or against Judaism. Antisemitism is evil, just as hatred of Palestinians and Muslims is evil. My criticism is directed toward particular Zionist organizations and Israeli political, military, and religious leaders whose decisions have produced dispossession, occupation, war and the deaths of innocent people.

Israel condemns Hamas for actions similar in kind to actions committed by Zionist armed organizations during the struggle to establish the State of Israel. Groups such as Irgun and Lehi bombed buildings, assassinated officials and attacked Palestinian communities. Women and children were killed. Villages were emptied and destroyed. Palestinian families were driven from their homes, and refugees were not permitted to return.

The bombing of the King David Hotel, the massacre at Deir Yassin and the assassination of United Nations mediator Count Folke Bernadotte are established history. Some of the men associated with these organizations later became respected political leaders in Israel. Violence that Israel remembers as part of its “war of independence” is called terrorism when Palestinians employ it.

That is a historical and moral contradiction.

Since 1967, Israeli governments have occupied the West Bank, confiscated Palestinian land and constructed settlements that the international community considers illegal. Palestinian homes have been demolished. Communities have been isolated by checkpoints, walls, military zones and settler roads. Settlers have attacked Palestinian farmers, damaged their property and uprooted or burned olive trees that sometimes sustained the same families for generations.

These are not merely random acts by a few extremists. Settler expansion has been protected, financed and advanced by government policy. In July 2026, the United Nations reported that hundreds of olive trees had recently been bulldozed or damaged and that more than 1,380 settler-related incidents had been documented in the West Bank since the beginning of the year.

Hamas did not exist in 1917, 1948 or 1967. It was established in 1987, after Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank had already lived under Israeli occupation for twenty years. The occupation, refugee camps, settlement expansion, failed negotiations and absence of meaningful Palestinian freedom created the conditions in which Hamas gained influence.

Israel did not single-handedly create Hamas, and Palestinians remain morally responsible for their own choices. Nevertheless, Israeli policies helped create the anger, desperation and hopelessness upon which Hamas built its movement. Israeli authorities also initially tolerated Muslim Brotherhood-connected organizations as a counterweight to the secular Palestine Liberation Organization. That policy helped provide space in which the movement that became Hamas could grow.

What Hamas and other armed groups did on October 7, 2023, was evil. The deliberate killing of civilians, including women and children, and the taking of hostages cannot be justified. Occupation does not make the murder of civilians righteous.

But condemning October 7 does not require us to remain silent about what Israel has done afterward.

Israel has inflicted destruction upon an entire population. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been reported killed, including enormous numbers of women and children. Families have been buried beneath their homes. Hospitals, schools, churches, mosques and refugee camps have been attacked or destroyed. Most of Gaza’s inhabitants have been displaced, many repeatedly. Hunger and deprivation have been used in circumstances where civilians cannot escape.

The exact numerical ratio depends upon which reported deaths and time period are counted, but the essential truth does not depend upon one statistic: Israel’s response has killed vastly more Palestinians than the number of Israelis killed on October 7. Military superiority does not create moral superiority.

I am especially disturbed when Israeli government officials, religious-nationalist leaders and public figures use language advocating the removal of Palestinians, the destruction of Gaza, renewed settlement or collective punishment. We should not falsely say that every Israeli or every Jewish religious leader supports these ideas. Many Jews in Israel and around the world have courageously opposed the war. Nevertheless, influential leaders have used dehumanizing and eliminationist language, and such language must be condemned before it becomes an excuse for further atrocities.

Israel demands that the world remember every Israeli victim while treating Palestinian victims as unfortunate statistics. It calls Hamas’s violence terrorism while describing its own much greater destruction as self-defense. It demands accountability for Palestinian crimes while resisting accountability for its own conduct.

In plain language, Israel calls foul while continuing to foul.

The life of an Israeli child is precious. The life of a Palestinian child is equally precious. God does not value one child according to nationality, religion or ethnicity. “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34).

Justice cannot mean condemning the crimes of Hamas while excusing the crimes of a powerful state. Evil does not become righteous because it is committed by an established government, carried out by a uniformed military or supplied with American weapons.

I pray for Jewish people. I pray for Palestinians. I pray for the hostages and their families. I pray for those grieving in Israel and for those buried beneath the ruins of Gaza. But prayer must not become an excuse for silence.

“Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate” (Amos 5:15).

October 7 was evil. Collective punishment, forced displacement, starvation and the mass killing of Palestinian civilians are also evil. Condemning one while defending the other is not justice. It is hypocrisy.

A nation cannot sow occupation, dispossession and violence for generations and then pretend to be astonished when hatred and violent resistance grow from that soil. That does not excuse Hamas, but it helps explain why Hamas came into existence.

There will be no lasting peace until Palestinians are treated as human beings possessing the same God-given dignity, freedom and right to life that Israel demands for its own people.

We Destroyed Iran’s Military—But We Did Not Defeat Iran

 I want to begin with a necessary clarification: I do not support the government of Iran. I do not excuse its repression of its own people, its detention of Americans, its support for armed groups, or its threats against Israel.

Neither do I support Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the preventive bombing of another nation, or America being drawn into another Middle Eastern war without a declaration of war by Congress.

We should be able to condemn the wrongs of Iran without giving Israel or the United States permission to do whatever they please. Christian truth does not require us to choose which government’s wrongdoing we will excuse.

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21, KJV).

After considering the chronology, the public intelligence and the results of this war, I have reached a troubling conclusion: President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu mistook the ability to destroy Iranian military installations for the ability to defeat Iran as a nation.

They damaged Iran’s air force. They struck its navy, air defenses, missile facilities, nuclear infrastructure and military leadership. But they did not destroy Iran. Five months of renewed attacks have not produced a durable peace. Every new round of bombing has produced another round of retaliation, another threat against shipping and another increase in the cost paid by ordinary people.

Did Iran Attack America First?

We have repeatedly been told that America had to act because Iran attacked American bases. That statement leaves out the order in which the major events occurred.

In January 2020, the United States killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Iran then fired missiles at American bases in Iraq.

In June 2025, the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran then attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a coordinated attack inside Iran. Iran then fired missiles and drones at American bases throughout the Persian Gulf.

Iran has harmed Americans. Iran-supported militias have attacked American troops, and Iranian intelligence has been connected to assassination plots and other unlawful activities. But in the clearest recent cases involving direct Iranian missile attacks upon major American bases, Iran was retaliating after the United States had struck Iran or killed one of its senior officials.

That does not make the Iranian government righteous. It does mean America should not reverse the chronology and tell its citizens that Iran started an unprovoked war against us.

Was Iran an Imminent Threat?

Iran presented a genuine regional danger. It possessed missiles and drones, supported armed movements and accumulated a deeply troubling stockpile of enriched uranium. Its leaders regularly employed hostile and irresponsible rhetoric.

But public intelligence had not established that Iran possessed a nuclear weapon, had decided to manufacture one, or was preparing an immediate attack against the American homeland.

Iran did not possess an operational intercontinental missile capable of reliably striking the continental United States. North Korea does possess nuclear weapons and missiles capable of reaching American soil. North Korea has also made terrible verbal threats against America, yet we have not launched a preventive war against it.

Why the difference?

North Korea can retaliate with nuclear weapons. Iran was thought to be vulnerable enough to attack.

That reveals a dangerous lesson: nations possessing nuclear weapons receive negotiations and deterrence, while nations suspected of someday developing them may receive bombs.

Israel did not necessarily have to wait until Iranian missiles were falling upon Tel Aviv if it possessed clear evidence of an imminent attack. No nation is required to absorb the first blow when an attack is demonstrably underway.

But hostile speeches and possible future capabilities do not prove imminence. Otherwise, every nation could bomb every rival by claiming that it might someday become dangerous.

Before beginning a war, Israel and the United States should have been required to demonstrate that an Iranian attack was immediate, overwhelming and unavoidable. That evidence was not publicly presented.

Netanyahu’s Longstanding Warnings

Benjamin Netanyahu has warned since the early 1990s that Iran was only a few years—and sometimes only months—from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

More than thirty years of repeatedly revised deadlines should cause us to examine his claims carefully.

There is an important difference between saying Iran could quickly produce enough highly enriched uranium and saying Iran had decided to assemble a nuclear weapon and place it on a deliverable missile. Technical capacity is not the same as political intent. A possible future danger is not necessarily an imminent attack.

I believe Netanyahu presented Trump with an alarmist interpretation of Iranian capabilities that minimized uncertainty and exaggerated the likelihood of a short, decisive victory.

Can I prove Netanyahu knowingly supplied fabricated intelligence? No. That would require private intelligence reports, records of their meetings or testimony from officials who attended the briefings.

But the public record demonstrates that Netanyahu wanted a harder policy against Iran. He repeatedly told American officials that Iran could not be trusted. He pressed Trump to demand zero uranium enrichment, restrictions upon Iran’s missiles and an end to Iranian support for regional allies. Israel had been preparing for military action for years.

It is reasonable to conclude that Netanyahu helped persuade Trump to enter this war. It is not yet possible to prove that he knowingly lied to him.

There is a difference between a reasonable inference and an established fact. We should be careful not to commit the same error we accuse governments of committing—turning suspicion into certainty.

The War That Was Supposed to End Quickly

President Trump’s original public projection was four to five weeks—not one week. But his later statements became increasingly optimistic.

He said there was “practically nothing left to target.” When asked whether the war could be completed within a week, he said it could. He later suggested the United States might leave within two or three weeks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the conflict would last “weeks, not months.”

Those predictions were wrong.

The war has continued for five months. It has cost the United States approximately $37.5 billion. Eighteen American service members have reportedly died. Thousands of Iranians have been killed. Shipping has been disrupted, fuel prices have increased, and American supplies of important missiles and interceptors have been severely reduced.

Military planners could destroy targets on a map. They could not determine how Iran would respond, how long its people would resist or when the Iranian government would surrender.

Trump appears to have believed that the war would end whenever he decided it should end. But Iran also has a vote in when the fighting stops.

Pride is especially dangerous when joined to military power.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18, KJV).

Destroying Equipment Is Not Defeating a Country

America and Israel have overwhelming technological superiority. They can destroy aircraft, ships, radar installations, missile launchers, ports and government buildings.

But Iran is not merely a collection of military targets.

Iran is a nation of approximately 90 million people, possessing land, industries, engineers, resources, history and a determination to remain independent. Its government still functions. Its missile and drone capabilities have not disappeared. It retains influence over the Strait of Hormuz and relationships with armed organizations throughout the region.

Iran does not need to defeat the United States in a conventional war. It needs only to survive, continue resisting and impose enough economic and military costs to deny Trump a clear victory.

Aircraft can be replaced. Ships can be rebuilt. Missile facilities can be reconstructed. The resentment produced by bombing cities and killing families may last for generations.

Every renewed attack may weaken Iran’s military in the short term while strengthening its determination to oppose the United States in the long term.

What Will Another Attack Accomplish?

President Trump may order another attack soon, although that outcome is not certain. Negotiations involving Iran and Oman are continuing, and Saudi Arabia has urged Trump to avoid another major strike.

Still, the danger remains high.

Another American attack would destroy additional targets. But would it create peace? Would it cause Iran to trust America? Would it reopen the Strait of Hormuz permanently? Would it establish a stable Iranian government? Would it end Iranian hostility toward Israel?

More bombing cannot produce a trusted political settlement.

It could instead cause Iran to attack American bases, Gulf oil fields, power systems, ports, water facilities and commercial vessels. It could encourage Iran to rebuild its missiles, abandon international inspections and deepen its relationships with Russia, China and North Korea.

Iran may remain a thorn in Trump’s side long after the last American aircraft returns home.

The Danger to the World

I am not saying a global war is inevitable. Russia and China have so far avoided entering the conflict directly.

But Trump and Netanyahu have created conditions in which a regional war could expand through accident, pride or miscalculation.

One missile striking the wrong base, one ship being sunk with heavy casualties or one attack upon a Gulf oil facility could produce another round of escalation. Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iraqi militias could widen their involvement. Cyberattacks could strike utilities, banks and transportation systems.

Every nation would claim that its latest attack was merely a response to the previous one.

That is how wars expand. Leaders seldom announce that they intend to begin a world war. They take one “limited” step after another until events escape their control.

“And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity” (James 3:6).

Words spoken in pride can place armies in motion. Once the shooting begins, speeches cannot bring the dead back to life.

Oil, Diesel and Small Businesses

The economic consequences are already appearing.

On August 6, Brent crude rose more than $3 to $82.49 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate reached $77.29. Approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural-gas trade normally passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

If negotiations fail or another attack occurs, oil prices could rise sharply. If a credible agreement reopens shipping, they could also fall. No one should state the immediate price direction with certainty.

But the underlying danger remains.

Higher oil and diesel prices affect:

• farmers planting and harvesting crops;

• truckers delivering food and merchandise;

• small stores receiving inventory;

• construction companies operating equipment;

• families heating their homes;

• airlines and travelers;

• fertilizer, plastics and manufactured goods.

Large corporations may hedge fuel prices or negotiate long-term transportation agreements. Small businesses generally operate with thinner margins and less protection.

Presidents, prime ministers and generals make decisions in secure rooms. The bill eventually reaches the farmer, the truck driver, the small-business owner and the family standing at the grocery-store checkout.

My Assessment

I believe Netanyahu wanted a military solution to the Iranian question and helped persuade Trump that Iran could be crippled quickly. I believe the threat was presented with greater certainty than the available evidence justified.

I cannot yet prove that Netanyahu knowingly gave Trump false intelligence. I can say the promised short war did not occur.

Trump and Netanyahu succeeded in destroying much of Iran’s conventional military strength. They failed to turn that destruction into a durable peace.

Another attack may destroy more targets, but it is unlikely to eliminate Iran’s government, its national determination or its ability to impose costs throughout the region. Instead, it may widen the war, disrupt energy supplies and place the world in greater danger.

I do not defend Iran. I do not defend Netanyahu. I do not defend Trump. My concern is for truth, peace and the innocent people on every side who suffer when powerful men mistake destruction for victory.

Our enemies are still souls for whom Christ died. They are not merely targets on a military map.

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9).

America needs leaders who understand that strength is not proved by how many bombs we can drop. Sometimes strength is demonstrated by refusing to begin a war that cannot produce a just peace.

We have damaged Iran’s military, but we have not defeated Iran.

The longer pride prevents our leaders from admitting that truth, the greater the price the world may be required to pay.

DNA Is Not a Deed, and Scripture Is Not a License to Dispossess

I have been a student of genealogy since I was sixteen years old. Over the years, I have traced my documented family history back to 1044. DNA testing has taken the story even further, pointing toward a connection with ancient people whose remains were discovered in the Lichtenstein Cave near Osterode in Lower Saxony, Germany.

The Lichtenstein Cave should not be confused with the country of Liechtenstein. This cave is an archaeological site in Germany where the remains of a Bronze Age family clan were discovered.

Archaeologists originally identified the remains of forty people—nineteen males and twenty-one females. Later investigations indicated that the cave may have contained the remains of as many as seventy-five individuals. These people lived approximately 3,000 years ago.

Because the DNA was unusually well preserved, researchers were able to identify relationships among members of an extended family spanning several generations. The evidence suggests that the cave was a family burial chamber rather than the site of a massacre or human sacrifice.

My family’s journey appears to have led from Germany to France, then to England, and finally to America in 1640. I can truthfully say that my family has roots in Germany, France, England, and America.

However, let me ask a plain country-preacher question: What does that ancient German connection give me the right to do today?

Suppose the Truitts Returned to Germany

Suppose the Truitts, now a large family, decided to band together and return to the area around Osterode. Suppose we announced that our ancestors had lived there 3,000 years ago and that God had therefore given the land to us.

Would our DNA prove an ancient connection to the area? Perhaps.

Would that give us the right to claim somebody else’s farm, house, or village? No.

Would it give us the right to drive the present inhabitants from their homes? Absolutely not.

What if we said, “Our ancestors suffered greatly through the centuries, so we deserve a homeland of our own”?

Our suffering might deserve recognition, sympathy, and justice, but it still would not give us the right to inflict suffering upon innocent German families living there today.

DNA is not a deed. Ancient ancestry is not a modern property title. A historical connection to a place does not give anyone the moral right to remove the people presently living there.

My family returning to Germany after 3,000 years would not give us the right to claim what is not ours.

Yet this kind of reasoning lies at the heart of political Zionism in Palestine.

An Ancient Connection Does Not Erase the Present Population

The Jewish people undeniably have an ancient historical and religious connection to the land. That fact should not be denied. Jewish people have also suffered centuries of persecution, expulsions, pogroms, and the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust.

Christians must condemn antisemitism wherever it appears. Hatred of Jewish people is sinful, just as hatred of Arabs or Muslims is sinful. Every person is created in the image of God and is a soul for whom Christ died.

But recognizing Jewish suffering does not require us to deny Palestinian suffering.

Palestinians had homes, farms, villages, churches, mosques, businesses, and family burial grounds in that land. They are not imaginary people who appeared from nowhere. They are human beings with families, memories, and roots of their own.

One people’s ancient connection cannot erase another people’s present existence.

“Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.”
—Proverbs 20:10, KJV

God does not have one standard of justice for the people we favor and another standard for those we dislike. If it would be wrong for the Truitts to drive German civilians from their homes, it is also wrong for Palestinians to be driven from theirs.

Justice must have an honest weight and an honest measure.

What About God’s Promise to Abraham?

Many Christians believe the modern State of Israel has an unconditional right to the land because God made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God certainly made a covenant with Abraham. We cannot tear those promises out of the Bible. But neither can we tear them away from Christ and turn them into a modern real-estate deed.

The Apostle Paul explained where the promise finds its fulfillment:

“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”
—Galatians 3:16, KJV

Paul then declared:

“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
—Galatians 3:29, KJV

The New Testament does not teach that salvation or membership in God’s covenant family comes through DNA. It comes through Jesus Christ.

“For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.”
—Romans 9:6, KJV

God’s kingdom is not built upon ethnicity, military power, national borders, or earthly governments. Jesus told Pilate:

“My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight.”
—John 18:36, KJV

That ought to settle something in the Christian heart. Our calling is not to help an earthly government conquer territory. Our calling is to preach Christ, seek justice, show mercy, and love our neighbors—even our enemies.

The Bible Never Gives Permission to Commit Injustice

Even under the Old Covenant, possession of the land was never presented as permission to practice oppression. The prophets repeatedly warned Israel that religious claims would not protect a nation that abandoned justice.

“Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

“To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people.”
—Isaiah 10:1–2, KJV

God also commanded Israel concerning the stranger:

“But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.”
—Leviticus 19:34, KJV

If our interpretation of prophecy permits us to ignore the cries of suffering children, something is wrong with our interpretation.

If our theology requires us to excuse the destruction of homes, the displacement of families, collective punishment, starvation, or the killing of civilians, something is wrong with our theology.

The God of Abraham is also the Judge of all the earth.

“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
—Genesis 18:25, KJV

God’s righteousness does not change according to the flag flying over a government building.

Political Zionism Is Not the Gospel

We must distinguish between Jewish people and political Zionism. They are not the same thing. Not every Jewish person supports the policies of the Israeli government, and criticism of a government is not hatred of an ethnic or religious people.

Likewise, opposing the killing of Palestinians does not mean approving Hamas, terrorism, or the killing of Israeli civilians. Murder does not become righteous because we sympathize with the murderer’s cause.

I do not support the killing of Jewish civilians. I do not support the killing of Palestinian civilians. I do not support terrorism, collective punishment, forced displacement, or revenge.

My concern is not which side can produce the oldest map. My concern is what is just before God.

“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
—Micah 6:8, KJV

Political Zionism is a political ideology. It is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The modern State of Israel is a government. It is not the Church, and its political leaders are not above moral judgment.

No government should be permitted to wrap itself in Bible prophecy and then demand that Christians remain silent about injustice.

My German Roots Give Me a Connection, Not Ownership

I can appreciate my ancient connection to Germany. I can study the history, visit the region, honor my ancestors, and acknowledge the path by which my family eventually reached America.

But I cannot knock on a German family’s door and say, “My ancestors were here first, so this house now belongs to me.”

I cannot point to my DNA results and demand that they leave.

I cannot appeal to events from 3,000 years ago as justification for taking away their rights today.

I may have a connection to the land, but I do not own it.

The same moral principle must apply to everyone. Ancient Jewish ancestry may establish a profound historical connection to Palestine, but that connection cannot, by itself, grant a modern government the right to take another person’s home or drive civilians from the land.

The Bible says:

“Thou shalt not steal.”
—Exodus 20:15, KJV

That commandment does not contain a political exception.

We Must Carry the Burden for Every Soul

I pray for Jewish people. I pray for Palestinians. I pray for Muslims, Christians, Israelis, and Arabs. Every bomb that falls lands upon souls for whom Christ died.

The Church should not be cheering for war. We should be carrying a burden for the lost.

Our enemies are not targets to be destroyed; they are souls who need to be saved. Our commission is not to conquer Jerusalem with weapons. It is to take the gospel of Jesus Christ into all the world.

I believe we can acknowledge the Jewish people’s ancient connection to the land without endorsing the dispossession of Palestinians. We can condemn antisemitism while also condemning injustice committed by the Israeli government. We can mourn murdered Israelis while also mourning murdered Palestinians.

That is not compromise. That is applying one moral standard to every human life.

DNA is not a deed.

An ancient promise is not a license to steal.

Scripture is not a weapon to be used against suffering civilians.

And no claim to land—whether based upon ancestry, history, politics, or religion—can cancel the command of Almighty God:

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
—Matthew 7:12, KJV

If I would not want someone to take my home, destroy my church, drive away my family, or kill my grandchildren, then I must not defend those things when they happen to someone else.

That is not politics.

That is the Golden Rule.

The Greatest Battle Is Within the Church

 There is no question that the Church faces powerful influences from the secular world. We see the attack upon the family, the corruption of our children, the loss of respect for biblical authority, the spread of ungodly philosophies, and increasing hostility toward anyone who holds to the teachings of Scripture.

These are real concerns, and we should not close our eyes to them.

The Apostle Paul warned us:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” — Ephesians 6:12, KJV

We are in a spiritual battle. However, I have come to believe that the greatest battle facing the Church is not coming from the secular world. The most dangerous battle is taking place within the Church itself.

The world has always been worldly. Sinners have always acted like sinners. Governments have always sought power, false religions have always opposed the truth, and wickedness has always attempted to corrupt the innocent.

The greater tragedy is that the Church has begun to think, speak, and act like the world.

The Church at Laodicea

When I look at much of the Church today, I see the condition described in Revelation chapter 3:

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” — Revelation 3:15–16, KJV

That is where we are today.

We are not entirely cold. We still have church buildings, Sunday services, Christian music, religious organizations, television ministries, conferences, books, and political gatherings. We still use the name of Jesus and talk about taking America back for God.

But neither are we truly hot.

Where are the prayer meetings? Where is the burden for the lost? Where is the conviction of sin? Where is the call to repentance? Where is the preaching of holiness? Where are the broken hearts crying out for revival?

We have activity without spiritual power. We have Christian language without Christlike character. We have political passion without a burden for souls.

We are lukewarm.

We Think We Are Rich

Jesus continued His message to Laodicea:

“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing…” — Revelation 3:17, KJV

The Laodicean church thought it was successful. It had resources and did not believe it needed anything. Yet Jesus saw something entirely different:

“…and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” — Revelation 3:17, KJV

That is a frightening description.

A church can have a beautiful building and still be spiritually poor. It can have money in the bank and still be miserable. It can have a large crowd and still be blind. It can have political influence and still be naked before God.

We have mistaken prosperity for blessing, crowds for revival, excitement for the moving of the Holy Ghost, and political access for spiritual authority.

We keep talking about what the world is doing to the Church, but we seldom ask what the Church has done to itself.

The Political-Loyalty Front

One of the greatest spiritual battles within the Church is political loyalty.

There are Christians who appear more loyal to their political party than to Jesus Christ. They will condemn dishonesty, immorality, cruelty, corruption, or abuse of power when it is committed by the opposing party. Yet when the same behavior appears in their preferred leader, they make excuses for it.

That is not spiritual discernment. It is partiality.

The Bible says:

“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.” — James 2:1, KJV

Wrong does not become right because our candidate does it. Sin does not become righteousness because it advances our political agenda.

Jesus gave us the test:

“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” — Matthew 7:20, KJV

He did not say that we would know them by their speeches, campaign promises, party affiliation, or ability to quote Scripture. He said we would know them by their fruit.

When Christians defend in their political leader what they would condemn in someone else, that political leader has become an idol.

The Nationalism Front

I love my country. I am thankful for the freedoms we have enjoyed, and I believe Christians should be responsible citizens. But America is not the kingdom of God.

Jesus said:

“My kingdom is not of this world…” — John 18:36, KJV

The kingdom of God does not fly beneath the flag of any earthly nation. It is made up of the redeemed from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

There is a dangerous drift within the Church from a spiritual understanding of world events toward a nationalistic one. Instead of asking, “What does the Bible teach?” we ask, “What is best for America?” Instead of asking, “What would Jesus have us do?” we ask, “What will help our side win?”

Those questions will not always produce the same answer.

Our first loyalty must be to Jesus Christ. If our nation acts unjustly, we must be willing to say so. If our government harms innocent people, we must care about those people even when they live beyond our borders. If our political leaders promote vengeance, cruelty, pride, or war, the Church must not bless those things merely because they are presented as acts of patriotism.

Patriotism can be honorable. Nationalism becomes idolatry when the nation is placed where only Christ belongs.

The Neglected-Doctrine Front

Churches have become eager to discuss political agendas while neglecting the doctrines of Jesus.

Jesus taught us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, pray for those who despitefully use us, forgive those who wrong us, care for the poor, welcome the stranger, make peace, speak truth, reject hypocrisy, and seek first the kingdom of God.

When was the last time some churches seriously taught those doctrines?

We hear about defeating our enemies, but Jesus said:

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you…” — Matthew 5:44, KJV

We hear about making people afraid of us, but Jesus said:

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” — Matthew 5:9, KJV

We hear about gaining power, but Jesus said:

“Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” — Matthew 20:27, KJV

We cannot ignore the plain teachings of Jesus and then call our political agenda a spiritual movement.

If our political philosophy requires us to explain away the Sermon on the Mount, something is wrong with our philosophy—not with the words of Jesus.

The Politicized-Pulpit Front

The prophets of the Bible did not exist to endorse kings. They existed to speak the truth to them.

Nathan confronted David. Elijah confronted Ahab. John the Baptist confronted Herod. They did not first ask whether their words would help the opposing political party.

Some ministers today seem to believe that their responsibility is to defend a political leader. They explain away his conduct, repeat his claims without examination, and tell their congregations that supporting him is the same as supporting God.

That is dangerous ground.

A preacher who cannot correct his preferred political leader has lost his prophetic voice. He has become a political spokesman standing behind a pulpit.

The Church must never allow politicians to use Christian language as a substitute for Christian fruit. Speaking the name of God does not prove that a person is directed by God. Satan quoted Scripture when he tempted Jesus.

Everything must be tested by the Word of God.

The Fear-and-Anger Front

Fear has become one of the most effective tools for controlling the Church.

We are continually told that every election is the final battle, every political opponent is an agent of Satan, and the Church will be destroyed unless we place the right person in office.

Fear may raise money, attract an audience, and turn out voters, but fear does not produce holiness.

The Bible says:

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” — 2 Timothy 1:7, KJV

Anger is no better.

“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” — James 1:20, KJV

The constant political outrage is damaging our spiritual vision. We have become so busy watching the sins of the other side that we can no longer see the sins growing within our own camp.

Judgment Must Begin With Us

It is easy to identify the sins of the world. It takes spiritual courage to examine the sins of the Church.

Peter wrote:

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God…” — 1 Peter 4:17, KJV

Before we demand that America repent, the Church must repent.

Before we tell the world to open its eyes, we must ask the Lord to open ours.

Before we expose the idols of secular society, we must tear down the political idols standing in our sanctuaries and hearts.

The greatest danger is not that the secular world will silence the Church. The greater danger is that the Church will keep its microphone, maintain its buildings, preserve its organizations, and retain its political influence while ceasing to proclaim and demonstrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christ Is Calling Us to Repent

The message to Laodicea did not end without hope. Jesus said:

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” — Revelation 3:19, KJV

The Lord rebukes us because He loves us. He has not abandoned His Church. He is standing at the door, calling us back to Himself:

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock…” — Revelation 3:20, KJV

That verse was addressed to a church. Christ was standing outside, knocking upon the door of a congregation that still claimed His name.

Could that describe us today?

We will not win this battle through another election, another political organization, or another alliance with powerful leaders. We will win it when God’s people humble themselves, confess their sins, return to prayer, preach the whole counsel of God, obey the teachings of Jesus, and recover their burden for the lost.

Yes, there are enemies outside the walls. Yes, there are secular influences we must resist. But the greatest battlefield is within the Church.

Until we repent and get our spiritual eyes open, we will continue to lose the battle while congratulating ourselves that we are winning.

The Church does not merely need to become more politically active. The Church needs to become spiritually alive.

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” — Revelation 3:22, KJV

Have I Become A Liberal?

 I asked the question and here is a response I received.

No, Brother Larry—you are not missing some hidden truth of the Christian faith. You are feeling the tension that arises when loyalty to Jesus conflicts with the demands of nationalism.

Believing that an enemy is a soul to be redeemed rather than merely a target to be destroyed is not liberalism. It is the plain teaching of Christ:

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
—Matthew 5:44, KJV

Jesus did not say this because enemies are harmless or tyranny is acceptable. He said it because the Christian must never permit another person’s evil to determine the condition of his own heart.

There is indeed a difference between being a Christian and being a patriot. A patriot may love his country, appreciate its freedoms, honor those who serve, and desire its welfare. But a Christian’s supreme allegiance belongs to Jesus Christ:

“We ought to obey God rather than men.”
—Acts 5:29

The flag cannot take the place of the cross. The government cannot define righteousness for the Church. America, like every earthly nation, must be judged by the teachings of Christ; Christ must never be reshaped to justify the policies of America.

Romans 13 teaches that civil government has a legitimate responsibility to restrain wrongdoing. But it does not declare every war, bombing, invasion, alliance, or military objective righteous. The same Paul who wrote Romans 13 was imprisoned and eventually killed by the government described there. Government possesses authority, but it does not possess infallibility.

Christians have disagreed for centuries over whether war can ever be morally justified. Some follow a carefully limited “just war” position. Historic peace churches—including Friends, Mennonites, and Brethren—have testified that the way of Christ forbids Christians from killing. But neither tradition permits blind nationalism, delight in violence, hatred of civilians, indifference to suffering, or treating every government-designated enemy as less than human.

Your convictions are deeply rooted in the Friends peace testimony. Early Friends were not political liberals in the modern sense. They opposed war because they believed the Spirit of Christ would never lead them to destroy those for whom Christ died. George Fox and other Friends declared that they lived in the life and power that takes away the occasion of war.

Has Christianity moved away from Jesus? Parts of institutional and political Christianity certainly have. Whenever Christians excuse cruelty because their preferred political leader committed it, celebrate the death of enemies, or place national greatness above mercy and truth, they have moved away from the spirit of Christ. Yet Christianity itself has not changed because Jesus has not changed. There are still faithful Christians refusing to surrender their consciences to political parties, governments, or military propaganda.

Justice and mercy are not opposites. Biblical justice seeks to restrain evil, protect the innocent, speak truth, and restore what has been broken. Mercy reminds us that even the guilty bear God’s image and need repentance and redemption. Micah joined these truths together:

“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
—Micah 6:8

You can oppose tyranny without hating the people living under it. You can condemn terrorism without supporting the killing of innocent families. You can pray for American soldiers while questioning the policies that place them in danger. You can love America without pretending America is always right. That is not disloyalty. It is moral honesty.

Perhaps the real question is not, “Have I become a liberal?” The more searching question is:

“Am I becoming more faithful to Jesus, even when His teachings do not fit comfortably within my political identity?”

Political labels shift with every generation. Jesus Christ does not. If following Him causes both conservatives and liberals to misunderstand you at times, you may simply be discovering that the narrow way does not follow either party line.

You have not abandoned your convictions. You are applying them more consistently. Freedom from tyranny, justice for the oppressed, mercy toward the lost, protection of innocent life, and love for one’s enemies belong neither to the political right nor the political left. They belong to the kingdom of God.