On Sunday morning of this week Iran launched more than 300 rockets and drones to destroy Israel. But Israeli forces intercepted 99% of the weapons—and an ominous silence fell on the region as Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu weighed his options about when and how to retaliate.
In times past, the United States would have offered unanimous support to the Jewish state, which was brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists from their base in Gaza on Oct. 7 of last year. That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,160 Israelis.
But Americans don’t stand in unified support for Israel today. There are actually people living in the United States, including members of the U.S. Congress, who want to see Israel wiped off the map.
On April 5 of this year, a group called Al-Quds Committee Detroit held an anti-Israel protest in Dearborn, Michigan. Protesters shouted “Death to Israel” as well as “Death to America”—and a leader of the rally, activist Tarek Bazzi, asked the crowd to pray for “the victory of the resistance.” He also called Israel a “godless, satanic cancer.”
In the America I grew up in, inflammatory rhetoric like that would have been shut down. Threats of violence aren’t protected speech. But Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, took more than a week to condemn the statements, and no arrests were made.
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Then, on Monday of this week, pro-Hamas protesters in San Francisco shut down Highway 101 on the Golden Gate Bridge for several hours. Again, there was no strong condemnation from local leaders. Police urged drivers to take alternative routes while the small band of protesters shut down the city for five hours.
It happened on the same day in Chicago, when anti-Israel activists blocked the entrance to the city’s O’Hare Airport, forcing travelers to miss flights. And another group of protesters blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. They unfurled a banner that said: “Stop the world for Gaza.”
With no condemnation for these protests from our leaders, they are silently agreeing with the violence.
What’s happening in our country? Welcome to America in 2024. We live in an upside-down world. Hamas terrorists who decapitate babies and rape and butcher women are viewed as the good guys. Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, is viewed as an enemy to freedom.
Good has become evil, evil has become good, and politicians don’t have the moral fiber to stand for what’s right. This reminds me of Isaiah 5:20 (NASB), which says: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
As I pray for my troubled nation, I find a lot of comfort when I pray according Matthew 6:13. Jesus told us we should pray: “Father … deliver us from evil.” Jesus recognized that there is evil in the world—and nobody can twist the definition of evil and make it good. I’ve been asking that Jesus will deliver us from evil in several areas:
— Deliver us from lawlessness and violence. In some American cities today, murder rates are skyrocketing, and stores are closing because of rampant theft. Some companies are pulling out of the cities altogether because local authorities won’t prosecute thieves. Shoplifters have become victims, while store owners are the oppressors.
— Deliver us from media deception. The media—which is supposed to broadcast the truth and expose evil—is actually in bed with the evildoers. Pray that we will not be misled or manipulated by lies and cover-ups.
— Deliver us from perversion. Today, some doctors are making their fortunes by performing sex-change operations on minors who are confused about their gender. And pharmaceutical companies are allowed to sell harmful drugs to minors to help them “transition” their sex or to “block” puberty. And those of us who speak out against this madness are viewed as “hateful.”
Pray that America will be delivered from all this evil. Only a spiritual revival can reverse this insanity. And as our politicians cave to political correctness and refuse to condemn terrorism, let’s pray for the protection of Israel. We can claim the promise of Psalm 121:4, which says: “Behold, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”{eoa}
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J. Lee Grady is an author, award-winning journalist and ordained minister. He served as a news writer and magazine editor for many years before launching into full-time ministry.
Lee is the author of six books, including 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, 10 Lies Men Believe and Fearless Daughters of the Bible. His years at Charisma magazine also gave him a unique perspective of the Spirit-filled church and led him to write The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale and Set My Heart on Fire, which is a Bible study on the work of the Holy Spirit.
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