The Alex McFarland Show-83-Should Israel Cease Fire?

The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events, analyzed through the lens of scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show.

In the New Testament book of Acts, the Bible says that God sets the boundaries of people and nations determining their appointed times in history. Hi, Alex McFarland here. On this program we're going to talk about Israel and why all of the calls around the world, and specifically at American university campuses, the calls for Israel to cease fire are, I believe, wrong and are actually an outflow of the liberal devaluing of human life. But let me share, as I record this, just 48 hours ago I participated in a stand for Israel in my hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina. There is a pretty major thoroughfare called Friendly Avenue. Friendly Avenue is near a major shopping center, and so about 400 people gathered, and we held up signs of very innocuous Bible verses, like Psalm 122 verse 6 that says, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and He who keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. And I will say that 99% of the cars going by gave us a big thumbs up, and would blow their horns and honk horns and give a thumbs up. One car full of, I guess they were college students, there were four black females, rode by very slowly, making sure to see that we got the middle finger.

And then they cruised back through a couple of times, shouting curse words. And interestingly, two guys came up, two appear to be African American guys, and we were talking, and they were expressing support for Israel and condemnation of Hamas and terrorism, and yet there were Muslims. And that was surprising, refreshing, and I think they were sincere, expressing desire that the fighting would stop. And certainly everyone in the world wishes the fighting would stop and the killing would stop.

I wrote an op-ed about a week and a half ago, and it ran on wire services around the country. God loves Palestinians as much as he loves people of every ethnicity. And basically in this op-ed I lamented the fact that in the 17 years since the current regime in Gaza has existed, and let's remember when this land was, Israeli control was relinquished, and the UN pressures Israel to give up land for peace, which never brings peace, the Palestinians in Gaza had an election, and they elected Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood. And there have been no elections since. And instead of taking 17 years to build a sustainable government and look out for the interest of the people, what has Gaza and the Hamas leaders, what have they done for 17 years?

Fired rockets at Israel. So I wrote this op-ed, though, lamenting the fact that these are the souls of people, you know, and the Muslims that die, the Arab Gentiles that die, the Jewish people that die in an unsaved, lost state without the forgiveness that Yeshua Mashiach, Jesus Messiah, alone can give. It is very tragic that these people are dying, and God does love these people, and God wants these people evangelized. But I got a fair amount of pushback from people who, you know, I was just expressing concern of the souls of the people, while, you know, I stand with Israel unequivocally. I am the most pro-Israel voice you will ever hear in media. And yet there was a lot of pushback on my article expressing sadness over countless numbers of Islamic souls dying, going into eternity unprepared. I don't back down from my grieving of lost people of any strata leaving this world without knowing who Jesus is. That's why we do what we do.

We want people everywhere to be saved. But I do want to, maybe on another, I'm not going to say extreme, but the other end of the conversation, I want to talk about why calls for Israel to cease fire are wrong, and are really tied to the devaluing of human life. Now, growing up, certainly we all heard about the schoolyard bully. Maybe you remember from your, you know, elementary days, the schoolyard bully who pushes people around. I don't know if you remember earlier this year there was a story of a bully in New York City who shoved an old lady to the ground, and she hit her head and died. And how sad that was, because it turns out the elderly lady that was shoved to the ground was a beloved vocal coach who had coached Barbara Streisand and others.

And this young 20-something just basically said a curse word and said, get out of my way, shoved this lady to the ground, and she hit her head and died, even as I record this program. A pro-Palestinian protester here in the USA shoved an elderly Jewish man to the ground, and the elderly Jewish man, minding his own business, not doing anything, but he was injured and died. And so whenever we hear about bullies, and we hear about rioters and looters and thieves and, yes, Islamic terrorists, these are people guilty of crimes against innocent lives. Let me say this, the abortionist who wields forceps, killing a preborn baby, he may do that legally but not in the eyes of God.

The end is still the same. Innocent and alive one moment, dead and discarded the next moment, because someone had the power to do that. Now I'm going to share some things in this article, but let me reiterate what I've said in probably a hundred radio and television interviews since October 7, a month ago today, and I'm going to say it again, that the land belongs to Israel. The boundary lines of Israel set by God, Acts 17, 26-27, says God who made the world and everything in it sets the boundaries of nations. And if you go back to Genesis 15, 18-21, you'll see the wording, quote, the boundaries of the land. God sets the boundaries of the land, the land promised to the descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. And then you can read in Ezekiel chapter 47 about the border from the sea, the border of Damascus northward, the border of Hamath. All of this land has been given by God by divine right and certainly by historical precedent to the people of Israel. And let me remind everyone listening that at the time of the birth of Muhammad in 571 and the start of Islam in 622, you know, Israel had been in the land for 3,000 years. That's why I ask young people, and I'll come back to this after this brief break, don't you support the rights of indigenous peoples?

And they'll say, what do you mean? Well, you know, in Canada they don't even hardly celebrate Canada Day anymore, but they celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day. And here in America, endlessly, liberals say, okay, indigenous people, the Native Americans, their rights trump the rights of Americans. Okay, fair enough.

If you're all about indigenous peoples, what about the Jewish people who were in that land 3,000 to 3,500 years before the start of Islam? Well, we've got to take a break. We're going to come back and talk more about why the calls for Israel to cease fire are wrong, unjustified, and frankly the outflow of misguided liberal thought for decades. Stay tuned.

We're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Over the last several decades, it's been my joy to travel the world talking with children, teens, adults, people of all ages about the questions they have related to God, the Bible, Christianity, and how to know Jesus personally.

Hi, Alex McFarland. I want to make you aware of my book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. You know, we interviewed hundreds of children and parents and families to find out the questions that children and people of all ages are longing to find answers for. In the book, we've got practical biblical real life answers that they have about how to be a Christian in this modern world.

My book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, you can find it wherever you buy books or at resources.afa.net. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. Welcome back, Alex McFarland here, and as we resume our talk about why Israel should not be mandated or pressured into ceasing fire and ceasing to exert national defense, self-defense—that's a right that any Christian ethicist say all individuals and nations have the right to self-defense—let me say that I give God the glory for the point that we are at in our ministry. Right now, after more than 20 years of doing conferences all around the country, events, publishing, broadcasting, camps, everything from churches to coliseums to college campuses, God's allowed us over the last 25 years to do apologetics and biblical world view, and it's been our joy to work with speakers like Lee Strobel and Josh McDowell and Chuck Colson and James Dobson and you name it, Ken Ham, Eric Mataxas. To God be the glory. And I really do believe that we are at the greatest point in our ministry. It seems like every radio broadcast, every television show, people are coming to Christ, people are getting saved, and as I record this, we just had a donor call and say that they would do a $50,000 match.

Listen, I praise God. We have an incredible team of people. We have opportunities. So two things I want to say.

Number one is that we have this $50,000 match from now until the end of 2023, and if we can raise $50,000, it will be doubled to be $100,000. So if you could possibly give and support what we're doing to try to save a young generation, we're doing what we're doing for God and country, folks. And yes, we have to evangelize, but we need to help people know how to defend their faith. And so this is about fighting the darkness.

This is about fighting wokeness. This is about promoting evangelism and raising up a generation of young people that know what they believe and why. And so if you would go to my website, which is alexmcfarland.com, you may give securely, donate online, become a monthly partner, please, or you can mail a check. Simply write to TNG, as in Truth for a New Generation, and mail that to P.O.

Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27408. Please pray for us. Please support.

We're not afraid of hard work, but we need help and prayers as we go forth to evangelize the lost and equip the saved. But let me say this. You and I know that for really five decades in the Western world, certainly in America, there's been the cheapening of human life. Roe versus Wade, 72 million abortions from 1973 to 2022. And I know I spoke in the Roe versus Wade courtroom, and it was, as it would turn out, the last pro-life gathering ever in the Roe versus Wade courtroom. Five months later, the Supreme Court, populated largely by Trump-appointed nominees, overturned Roe versus Wade.

But so much damage has been done. I mean, think about this, folks. The abortifacient pill or Gaza missiles aimed at civilian centers are saying that might makes right. And we know that's not true. That's not a godly ethic. Righteousness and truth are what's right. And our nation was built on the, we call it the Judeo-Christian worldview, natural law, that your rights come from God. And these rights, these penumbra of rights is summarized in these three words, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. These three terms, I should say. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.

These three terms. Now, superior force does not necessarily mean that that brute force is, is right or just. In fact, brute actions are not justified by one's desires or one's desired outcome.

There is the assumption that if no one can stop me, it must mean I'm right. And political rhetoric suggests support for the innocent. But these protests, this support for the Palestinian terrorists belies the philosophy that people are caring for the downtrodden.

No. We're watching whether it's BLM, whether it's the terrorism, whether it's Hamas attacking Israel that owns that land. You know, there's this assumption that anything is accepted if it furthers your cause. Now, Israel has the right to defend herself.

And some qualifications are put on this. People seem to say, well, only if no innocent people die. Well, except it's apparently okay for innocent Jewish citizens to die.

But here's the thing. They say Israel has the right to defend herself, but only if it promotes, you know, harboring refugees. But none, N-O-N-E, none of the neighboring Arab states are taking in Gaza Arabic refugees.

Isn't that something? They say Israel has the right to defend herself. But it would be so much easier for everyone if the Jews would just agree to die.

This is irrational. And I'm sure the U.N. would arrange a nice bronze plaque. This land, briefly known as Israel, during its flourishing years, we now officially designate a Palestinian heritage site. Of course, I'm being facetious here, and I don't mean to sound callous, and I'm not.

This is a serious issue with spiritual and moral implications. But this is not a war about land, and really never has been. Israel has given up its land repeatedly. The P.L.O., then the Palestinian Authority, now Hamas, has ignored every opportunity for peace. The Palestinians have never missed an opportunity to fire rockets at Israel, and to talk about driving the Jewish people to the sea. The Islamic warlords and theocrats that want Sharia law, and they claim to represent the Palestinian people, they don't want a two-state solution. They want what Adolf Hitler called the final solution. And there are chants from the river to the sea, Palestine must be free.

But if you've visited that land, as I have, you know what that means. That Israel is bordered by the Jordan River to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and from the river to the sea means, in their mind, exterminate the Jewish people. We Westerners don't realize that, and many Western liberals, they assume that the Islamic terrorists and the mullahs and the Hamas leaders are people of good faith. They're people of Islamic faith, that is not people of good faith. And we're going to come back and we're going to conclude, stay tuned, we're talking about four seconds, why Israel's call to cease fire is tied to the liberal devaluing of human life.

Stay tuned, we're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Christian author and speaker Alex McFarland is an advocate for Christian apologetics, teaching in more than 2200 churches around the world, schools and college campuses. Alex is driven by a desire to help people grow in relationship with God. He arms his audiences with the tools they need to defend their faith, while also empowering the unchurched to find out the truth for themselves. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex is a sound voice who speaks timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. With 18 published books to his name, it's no surprise that CNN, Fox, the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets have described Alex as a religion and culture expert. To learn more about Alex and to book him as a speaker at your next event, visit alexmcfarland.com or you can contact us directly by emailing booking at alexmcfarland.com. He's been called trusted, truthful and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarland show. Welcome back to the program.

Alex McFarland here. Before the break, we were talking about the chant that we're watching video clips around the world and certainly on American liberal university campuses and certainly in American liberal newsrooms. From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free. And there's the Jordan River on the east, the Mediterranean Sea on the west. And the desire, it's not peace, it's not an honest quid pro quo, even though that is the land of Israel. It's the extermination of all the Jews. I was on the Temple Mount.

I've talked about this repeatedly. And a group of Islamic college girls came up to our tour group on the Temple Mount and chanting, Israel must be driven to the bottom of the sea. And the spokesperson for this college group called Jewish people.

It pains me to even repeat this. But as a person who's been there, and I've interviewed hundreds of people, Christians, Muslims, Jews, scholars, you have to understand that resolution to this in the mind of the Muslims in the Middle East is the elimination of the Jewish people. And like I've quoted Mark Twain as saying, the inexplicable hatred of the Jewish people, the anti-Semitism, the animus against the Jewish people, really does seem to have spiritual implications.

Even Mark Twain, not a Christian, recognized that the spiritual dynamics and the animosity against Jewish people for no real reason seems to prove that there are spiritual dynamics here. And when I was on the Temple Mount talking with college girls, and I simply won't repeat it, because it's just immoral, what they were saying about Jewish people. They're in Jerusalem. But the day after the Black Sabbath massacre, Al-Jazeera interviewed a Hamas spokesperson. And the host asked why Hamas attacked, quote, innocent civilians. And the Hamas person being interviewed bristled and said, we never target civilians. Pausing, he said, we attack settlers. Now, to the interviewer's credit, he pressed on, he said, but your rockets target Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Those aren't Gaza settlements. The Hamas person being interviewed on Sunday, October 8th, replied, all Jews are settlers. In other words, all Jews are legitimate targets in their mind. So on November 1st of this year, on a television interview, and it's online, a Hamas spokesperson named Ghazi Hamad said, quote, nobody should blame us for the things we do. On October 7, October 10, and October 1 million, everything we do and will do is justified.

So you've got to understand, he showed his cards. Look, the current borders of Israel, even though the Bible lays out what those borders should be, the current borders of present-day Israel came about in these ways. There was the British mandate on Palestine, and then there was the Israeli War of Independence, 1948. Those were really the first Arab-Israeli wars of the 20th century. And then there were the borders that were the consequence of the Six-Day War in 1967. And then there have been the repeated piecemeal times that Israel has relinquished land for peace.

But you've got to understand, as Ghazi Hamad said on November 1st, look, October 7, and the fighting continues, and he said, quote, October 1 million. This is what they're doing. They're trying to target Jewish settlers.

In other words, there is no solution until Israel is driven from their land. Now, what they've done, let's not forget, they gunned down 200 concert-goers. They've beheaded dozens of people, burned a baby in an oven, and the morgue that recovered the charred body of the little infant, the oven element had melted into the baby's spine.

Can you imagine the horrific pain for a little innocent baby? Shooting, fleeing civilians, raping people, taking 200 hostages, only 20 of those militarily, and by Geneva Convention rules, all of those, desecrating bodies, sexual assault, rape, murdering children, burning homes with people inside, torturing and attacking non-military targets. These are all war crimes, and have all happened on October 7 and since.

Now I'm not taking sides or speculation. International reporters have seen the videos of what Hamas is doing, and these acts, some of these things that I've just described, were live-streamed on the web, and body cams worn by the terrorists, and they celebrated the quote, everything we do is justified philosophy. Now one terrorist filmed himself calling his parents from a dead Jewish woman's phone, and he says, and this is online, I killed 10 Jews, see the blood is still on my hands, end of quote. We're living in times of tragedy and wickedness.

I have no other word but wickedness, equal to anything that history has ever seen. And the war against the Jews is also being waged in media and on college campuses across America. Pro-life battles for the unborn were waged in the same places, and we're talking about real lives at stake. Now peace, human rights, decency are all at risk, and like any other battle over the right to be alive, the fight in Israel, murder on American streets and in clinics around the world is more, really more spiritual than material. Now you can blame it on Satan, or use terrorist acronyms, you know, but evil exists and human life is the target. And I would say this, rockets are going into Israel, and the world is saying, don't defend yourself, cease fire.

Well forceps go into the womb to kill the unborn, and people say no, there is no right to life, it's a woman's right to choose. Now President Biden and maybe, I should say, other war weary, weak world leaders and UN puppets are calling for Israel to enact a humanitarian cease fire, quote unquote. Now this is premature because the murderous Hamas ISIS terrorists have not been destroyed, and it's just so wrong, and many have pointed out, you know, if Hamas would cease fire, the war would be over. If Israel would cease fire, Israel would be over. Now a cease fire by Israel would last exactly four seconds.

Why do I say this? Okay, it takes two seconds in Hebrew to say betel, which is cease, and two seconds to say tazri in Arabic, which means fire. But I'm going to say six seconds if you include the obligatory Allah Akbar. In other words, you know, killing in the name of Allah. I close by saying this, God established the sanctity of human life. God Almighty is pro-life. He created the first life. He affirmed life through Christ when our Lord died on the cross, rose again, gave his life for hours. Jesus demonstrated the immeasurable value of human life and human souls. And if we devalue, desecrate, abbreviate, or preempt human life for unjust reasons, now there's national defense and there's self-defense, but for any other reason, we are participating in the evil of terrorism. If we don't stand for life, and let me say historically, scripturally, spiritually, by any measuring stick, and to use the term that the left likes to use, support for indigenous peoples, well the indigenous people of that land are the Jewish people. Now, natural law, the understanding that some things are universally evil, some things are universally objectively good, and the understanding that evil should be prohibited and obstructed.

The mandates of natural law, the Judeo-Christian world view, they've never been clearer or more necessary. I hope you're standing for truth and righteousness. I hope you're standing for Israel as I am. This is Alex McFarland.

I stand for Israel and I stand for life. Alex McFarland Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at AlexMcFarland.com. You may also reach us at Alex McFarland, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. Or by calling 1-877-Yes-God and the number 1.

That's 1-877-Y-E-S-G-O-D 1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarland Show.

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