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Diary of a (Maybe) Retired Pastor

Tag: israel

  • A New World Order

    mayberetiredpastor

    A New World Order

    … for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

    Matthew 26:52 New Testament, The Bible

    On the last day of February, President Trump unceremoniously demonstrated the existence of a new world order. The previous rules-based order of international law which he had been progressively undermining was comprehensively shredded by his unannounced war on Iran. The frequently noted vagueness and shifting explanations given by Trump and senior members of his administration give the lie away that  there is any ethical or legal justification for the attacks on Iran. There is none. The only thing that mattered was that he could do it and what others may have thought or what some abstract notion of law might declare were of no consequence. Trump has driven the world into a place where the only thing that matters is, do I have the power to do it? If I do, then why not? The only thing that matters now is might.  

    It is not only in the sphere of international politics that he has radically undermined law and rule, he has demonstrated the same attitude domestically. The operation of ICE and the ethos underpinning it shows the same willingness to ignore the law and tear-up the rule book. Court rulings are treated with disdain and Congress is simply ignored. Lip-service is paid to the carefully constructed checks and balances of the American constitution.

    The rewriting of world order in this way opens up the way for other powerful actors to act as they wish with little or no restraint. The present government of Israel clearly feels it is now free to exercise its own military strength to achieve long held objectives of the Zionist far right. It seems almost certain that Israel will annexe the West Bank, and greatly expand its borders both to the north and to the west. Taiwan must be regarding the new order with nervousness as it wonders if China will similarly decide to “re-unite” China.  We should not be surprised if, in the next few years, we see radically redrawn borders across the world.

    Jesus famously rebuked the disciples when one used his sword to cut-off the High Priest’s servant’s ear during Jesus’ arrest that fateful night before Good Friday. He warned them that to choose to live by the sword is to choose to die by it. The world has been thrust into a new order where the only rule is might. Rather than greater security there will be less. Israel has become adept at assassination with little regard for the cost in innocent human lives. The US has given its imprimatur to Putin’s strong-man world view and nations are racing to arm themselves with independent nuclear weapons. Nation will eye nation with armed suspicion. The poor and weak will suffer and orphans of war will multiply across the nations and the number of displaced persons will continue to escalate.

    Is there any hope for future generations? Holy Week reassures us that this state of affairs will not last forever, that it is temporary, and that God will bring about a new order where might is not right but justice will flow like rolling waters. Every knee will bow before Christ and every tear will be wiped away (1). The times of disorder will not be allowed to continue and rulers will be brought to account. Meanwhile, the ambassadors of Christ must continue to work to protect the weak and the poor.

    1. Philippians 2:10,11, Revelation 21:4, New Testament, The Bible.

  • Is The UK State Biased Against Palestine?

    mayberetiredpastor

    Is The UK State Biased Against Palestine?

    You shall not render an unjust judgement; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbour.

    Leviticus 19:15. Old Testament, The Bible

    The reactions of the Home Secretary (Yvette Cooper), the Prime Minister and the BBC Governors to the Gaza-related protests by Palestine Action and Bob Vylan give cause for concern. Palestine Action made the headlines by successfully breaking into an RAF Airbase and spray-painting  an Hercules aircraft engine. Yvette Cooper’s reaction was to immediately proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation (1). Shortly after, Bob Vylan, during his set at Glastonbury Festival, led the audience in chants denouncing the Israel Defence Force, an act that the Prime Minister then denounced publicly as “appalling hate speech” (2) and which led to furore in the BBC with the result that the video was removed from the BBC iPlayer and a number of senior staff suspended (3).

    As a protest group, Palestine Action appears to have conducted several high profile acts of vandalism against a number of companies and establishments whose activities they feel support the Israeli war in Gaza. Their purpose appears to be to push the UK government into reducing support of Israel’s military. They have apparently cost some companies large amounts of money to repair the damage done.   On this last occasion they have succeeded in seriously embarrassing the government and the RAF. But does this warrant their proscription as a terrorist organisation? Surely the criminal law is sufficient to address serious damage without proscribing it as terrorist activity? It does seem that their activities as a protest group have been just too effective for the government (and perhaps the targets) to stomach and so the Home Secretary has chosen to define them as a terrorist group to silence them.

    As many have pointed out (see e.g. 4), Bob Vylan’s words must be set alongside the actual deeds of the IDF  in Gaza where appalling acts, if not actual war crimes, have clearly been committed and continue to be committed on a daily basis and yet the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary remain questionably muted about the latter while full of righteous indignation concerning the former and Palestine Action. Where is the impartiality and balance?

    It is difficult to escape the suspicion that our government institutions are infected by an entrenched bias towards Israel and against Gaza and Palestine. One wishes, as many do I’m sure, for a more genuinely even-handed, and courageous government, unafraid of the power of others – whether great or small. The Prime Minister, self-confessedly is not a person of religious faith, but I assure him that he does and will stand before a Judge who will hold great and small to account.    

    1. https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-06-23/debates/25062337000014/PalestineActionProscription   acc. 13.7.25 14:18
    2. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33514nryy1o   acc. 13.7.25 14:35
    3. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czjkmlj1348o   acc. 13.7.25 14:53
    4. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1BA75C8hAu/ 

  • Judgement Comes

    mayberetiredpastor

    Judgement Comes

    13 For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. 14 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace. 15 They acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed, they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord.

    Jeremiah 6:13-15, Old Testament, The Bible

    37 Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

    Matthew 5:37, New Testament, The Bible.

    Apart from a few initial expressions of outrage and astonishment there seems to be little continuing outrage expressed at President Trump’s proposals for Gaza. Although many do object and deride the proposals it is in terms of what is practical and possible. The proposal to remove all the Palestinians from Gaza and turn it into a playground for the rich is being given legitimacy. Gone is the language of “ethnic cleansing”. Yet, this would be the clearest example of ethnic cleansing since World War II and it would be perpetrated by an American President with the agreement and delight of a Jewish Prime Minister and his government.  There seems to be an awful irony here.

    It gives us a clear insight into the moral framework of Trump and his administration: the world is seen entirely through the lens of the real estate developer and a rather shady one at that! Everything is up for grabs to the one who has enough market muscle to make it their own. Hence, Putin will have his way and annexe a huge portion of Eastern Ukraine and Ukraine will have no say in the matter, in fact, Ukraine will have to give up its mineral wealth to the US as well or face obliteration!

    Returning to Gaza, it is noticeable that the proposal for removing the Palestinians does not include an offer by the US to give refuge in the US, rather they are to be taken-in by Egypt and Jordan. Thankfully, Egypt and Jordan have refused to take part in this charade.

    With the ascendancy of Trump we have truly entered into a great moral darkness. It is more important than ever that truth be spoken so that the light can shine in the darkness. The proposal to remove all the Palestinians from Gaza must be named and condemned for what it is – ethnic cleansing – and it must not be sanitised and legitimised by describing it as anything else. There is a judgement that is coming and it will not deal lightly with those who oppress the widow and the orphan or who teach that good is bad and bad is good.

  • Rachel Wept

    mayberetiredpastor

    Rachel Wept

    When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

    18 ‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
        wailing and loud lamentation,
    Rachel weeping for her children;
        she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

    Matthew 2:16-18 New Testament, The Bible.

    Matthew’s Nativity account contains the harrowing account of the massacre of the innocents, the result of the actions of a ruthless political leader. Mary and Joseph had to flee with Jesus to escape Herod’s persecution and, as many a sermon has pointed out, Jesus began life as a refugee.

    Herod the Great, the politician in question, was a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler. The killing of unnumbered young children mattered not the least to him in  the pursuit of his political objectives. That was twenty centuries ago. Today, the land is again ruled by a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler whose actions are orders of magnitude greater in ruthlessness than Herod’s. And once again the words of the prophet Jeremiah can be aptly quoted – Rachel indeed weeps once more for her children as Prime Minister Netanyahu pursues his political objectives with little, if any, regard for the price paid by thousands of innocent families.

    His excuse is that it is a matter of self-defence, and in this he has been supported by many we would have hoped would judge better, arguing that the right to self-defence trumps all other concerns. Others do not see it in the same way and are appalled at the tragedy and loss inflicted on innocent families. Regardless, whatever human courts might say there is one court which no ruler, no government can avoid. Against the rulings of this court there is no appeal.

    The Bible declares that vengeance must be limited to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (Exodus 21:23-25) a limit that has been contemptuously breached by the Netanyahu government. More critically, it is clear that, by making His Son share in the tragedy of the massacre of the innocents, God has declared in favour of the innocent and the persecuted.

    Jeremiah’s prophecy is simultaneously a word of comfort and promise to those who have suffered, and, a divine judgement against those whose deeds have poured out tragedy on the lives of those who weep. While Netanyahu’s government may hold human courts in contempt they will be held accountable to the one court that matters: they will each, individually and corporately, have to give account before God Himself.   

    As for you mothers who weep, your cries have been heard; the Lord God Almighty Himself will hold your persecutors to account.

  • The Statue of Ozymandias

    mayberetiredpastor

    The Statue of Ozymandias

    4 I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God will push them back before you, and drive them out of your sight; and you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God promised you.

    Joshua 23:4-5

    The last year has made it evident that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is driven by the belief that the rightful borders of modern Israel are the borders of ancient Israel (variously defined in the Old Testament). They consider it not merely a matter of historical inheritance but the promise of God Himself. It is theirs by divine right. Consequently, ceasefire negotiations have merely been a smokescreen behind which the Israeli government can complete its effective annexation of Gaza. It is the reason why the return of the hostages has never been a major priority and why Israeli settlers in the West Bank are brazenly encroaching on Palestinian lands. It is the reason why the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has been able to operate a ruthless campaign of mass civilian casualties even while claiming it is minimising civilian casualties (an essentially meaningless claim). The ethical framework of divine right provides the moral justification and moral imperative – what they are doing is not only justifiable, it is holy.

    The UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has urged the UN Security Council this week to insist on a ceasefire by Israel, but western leaders, in particular, have not understood that conventional international responses will be ineffective because the Israeli government is no longer operating within the same political framework. Even if not stated in so many words, Netanyahu and his government are engaged in an holy enterprise.

    Israel is no longer talking the same language as the US or the West.  As a result, Israel is deaf to the blandishments of the West, which leaves only coercive actions – refusing to supply military equipment to Israel, economic sanctions – or hand-wringing. Netanyahu’s government has, probably rightly, judged that the latter is what will happen.

    Those who are religiously inclined in the West (and many western leaders, especially in the US, profess to be so inclined) may well struggle with what appears to be clearly stated in the Christian Bible concerning the borders of Israel. But the Christian Bible is not just the Old Testament, it is also, and primarily, the New Testament, and with the New Testament there came a hermeneutical shift of tectonic proportions initiated by Jesus Himself. Jesus read the Old Testament so differently from His contemporaries that it caused huge tension between Himself and the Jewish authorities. For the New Testament, Israel is so much more than borders on a map. Indeed, political borders are irrelevant. The Israel of the New Testament is a people knowing no borders, it is unbounded, encompassing peoples from every nation and language having no geographical limit. The promise of God in the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament in an astonishing way beyond any mortal anticipation, and just as the Old Testament states, God does it Himself. The borders that Netanyahu and his government are pursuing are a mirage in the sands of history, no more holy than the statue of Ozymandias.  

  • The Glory of God

    mayberetiredpastor

    The Glory of God

    Then he brought me to the gate, the gate facing east. 2 And there, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east; the sound was like the sound of mighty waters; and the earth shone with his glory.

    Ezekiel 43:1-2

    It’s Holy Week. As I was sitting through service on Palm Sunday I was thinking that we don’t seem to give much time in church life to teaching about how Jesus fulfils prophecy, particularly on the occasion of His entry into Jerusalem. This is a great pity because, as recent events demonstrate, properly understanding these matters profoundly affects our view of the Middle East today.

    Many people will know that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey on Palm Sunday was a direct reference and fulfilment of Zechariah 9:9 hailing the new king of peace. This was what prompted the cheers and acclamation of the crowds, but fewer of us, perhaps, appreciate the far greater prophecy that was also being fulfilled by Jesus on that day.

    The gospel writers are united in carefully specifying that Jesus started His procession on that day from Bethany. The first readers would have had the advantage of knowing the layout of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time, so, they would have been aware that, starting from Bethany, Jesus’ route would have led Him to enter through the eastern gate of the city.  This was not accidental. A greater prophecy than Zechariah’s is in play here.

    The prophet Ezekiel documents the fall of the first Temple and in chapters 10 and 11 recounts the departure of the Glory of God from the Temple and the city via the eastern gate. But, in chapters 43 and 44 he prophesies the return of the Glory of God to the new, restored Temple, again through the eastern gate.  This is a prophecy not only of restoration but the inauguration of the greater, perfect Temple and city of God. It is this prophecy that Jesus fulfils with His entrance to Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, through the eastern gate. Not only is He the king who brings peace, His entrance is the very Glory of God returning to His city. This is what the Pharisees and Temple authorities perceived which the ordinary people, and probably many of us today, did not. It is the reason why the Pharisees and Temple authorities determined to execute Him as a blasphemer because He made Himself God.

    Ezekiel’s prophecy of the new Temple continues with careful instructions to purify and cleanse the Temple and the people’s sins. Jesus, after His dramatic entrance into Jerusalem famously cleanses the Temple and then, a few days later, is crucified thus cleansing all the people’s sins.

    Ezekiel could only frame his prophecy in Old Testament terms, the reality of its fulfilment demonstrates the limitations of his conception. Jesus offered no sacrifice in the Temple for the atonement of the people’s sin and the cleansing of the Temple itself was a mere symbol of a much greater cleansing to come. The sacrifice Jesus offered for the people’s sin was His very own life, and the true cleansing of the Temple meant its utter destruction and the razing to the ground of Jerusalem itself decades later, just as Jesus Himself had prophesied during Holy Week.

    Understanding how Jesus fulfils Ezekiel’s prophecy gives a very different perspective to our attitudes and judgments concerning the Middle East today. The perfect new Temple and Jerusalem of Ezekiel’s prophecy is not to be found in bricks and mortar this side of the new creation. It comes only with the full return of the Glory of God in Jesus Christ.

  • Who Are The People of God

    mayberetiredpastor

    Who Are The People Of God?

    But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

    1 Peter 2:9-10 ( the New Testament)

    How do Christians (actual believers, that is, rather than those who are Christian by heritage) talk about what Israel is doing in Gaza? “With great difficulty” is the answer. To those who are not Christians this, unsurprisingly perhaps, raises cynical eyebrows. The quandary is this: quite apart from the hesitation arising from fear of being accused of antisemitism, criticising Israel seems to go against biblical promise and covenant – Israel, after all, are the chosen people of God to whom the contested lands of  the Middle East have been gifted for eternity (which, of course, will raise hackles in other quarters!). But, on the other hand, how can the current actions of Israel be hailed as good? The result is that Christian comment is reduced to the pious prayer that peace for all can ensue quickly. Laudable as this is, it fails to hold anyone to account, the prophetic voice is self-silenced.

    This hesitation is the result of confusing a label with the substance. A jar may be labelled “tea” but if the contents are actually coffee granules you will not get a cup of tea if you make a drink from it! The modern state of Israel is not biblical Israel. The New Testament makes abundantly clear, time after time, that the true people of God are those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. All the titles of biblical Israel are applied directly to the followers of Jesus. But this does not mean that the Jewish people have been rejected by God and that He has reneged or revoked His promises. Far from it, as the Apostle Paul argues at length in his letter to the Romans, Jesus is the fulfilment of all those promises and every Jewish person is included in them together with every other human being who chooses to follow Jesus. But that choice is an individual choice.  It cannot be made for you by someone else, neither can it be inherited as a matter of birth, nor can it be assumed by a nation or state or any other form of polity. It is the gift of God which you receive or refuse on your own responsibility. The modern state of Israel is not biblical Israel.

    Hence, the actions of the state of Israel, the actions of its government, are to be evaluated in exactly the same way as any other nation state in the world, and for its present actions in Gaza the Israeli government should be condemned and held accountable. And if it is asked why are the perpetrators of the Hamas atrocity not to be similarly condemned, the answer is that the Israeli government only has itself to blame for committing a tragedy of so much greater proportion that all the attention and effort of the world is directed to trying to mitigate and bring to an end their actions in Gaza. If this were not the case then the world would be able to focus on how to bring to justice those responsible for the Hamas atrocity and on how to secure the release of all the hostages.

  • I believe the IDF

    mayberetiredpastor

    I believe the IDF

    I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but when the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) needs to put up a spokesman to respond to the latest criticisms of its actions they put up a senior officer (I think he’s a colonel, but I may be wrong) who is very suave, urbane, and, well, elegant!  His voice is cultured, steady and measured. He is persuasive. And when he says that any particular action has been very carefully considered and meticulously planned to minimise civilian losses, I believe him!

    I am quite sure that the IDF really does plan carefully and meticulously, especially with regard to minimising civilian casualties. But, of course, that is essentially meaningless! How many is “minimal”? It could be any number you want, it just depends on what you find acceptable.  So, an IDF planning session, having received intelligence that there is an Hamas militant living in an apartment on the 6th floor  of a 12 story apartment block, will, presumably, be asking how can that operative be eliminated and at what cost? Primary concern after elimination of target is minimising IDF losses – simple, drop a bomb. What about civilian casualties? Well, to ensure 100% elimination we need to destroy the whole block resulting in 100% civilian casualties, but we can ensure 90% success of elimination and cut civilian casualties to 60%, that’s a 40% reduction in civilian casualties!

    That’s all made-up , of course, but I’m quite sure that the IDF carefully plans and estimates success and casualties in this kind of way so that the very impressive IDF spokesperson can speak with, for him, a clear conscience. But we can measure what the IDF means by minimising civilian casualties and other collateral damage by simply looking at the overall numbers. Since the IDF offensive began, around 30,000 civilians have been killed, 80% (1.7 million) of the population has been displaced, and half of all buildings in Gaza’s cities have been reduced to rubble1 . To the IDF, this represents minimal civilian casualties and collateral damage! To many of the rest of us, it is a massacre. Full marks to David Cameron for being one of the few senior Western leaders to condemn it explicitly as “too many”2 .

    1 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68006607 acc. 26/2/24

    2 https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/78/foreign-affairs-committee/news/199981/foreign-secretary-writes-to-fac-on-the-planned-israeli-offensive-in-rafah-and-uk-arms-exports-to-israel/ acc. 26/2/24