With the battles that have been raging in the Middle East, warfare and combat are on all our minds. Earlier this month, we commemorated the anniversary of the Normandy Landing — D-Day. The first unconfirmed reports of the Allied landing hit US radio stations a little after midnight Eastern War Time on June 6, 1944. Official confirmation came at 3:32 am. Most Americans woke up to the news. People poured into the streets. Many stores, restaurants, and other businesses closed for the day. Church bells tolled, and factory whistles blew.
Some people stepped outside and shouted with excitement, as though the battle had already been won. But most Americans were more measured in their response. D-Day historian Stephen Ambrose wrote, “The impulse to pray was overwhelming.” People filled churches across the land. Rarely has the importance of a moment been so clearly delineated. The New York Times editorialized, “We have come to the hour for which we were born.”
And now, at our moment in history, that’s how it is again. We, too, have come to the hour for which we were born. Will we stand on God’s Word, or conform to this world? God Himself has chosen to teach us. Isaiah 30:21 (NKJV) says, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’” In His loving grace, He has spoken His Word. He has given us the choice to obey or hesitate; to march forward in His strength or shrink back in fear. This could apply to a million different things, but I’m thinking now about support for Israel.
Once upon a time in the United States, political liberals and conservatives stood together on Israel’s behalf. It took no courage to stand with Israel because, starting with President Harry Truman, a Democrat, almost everyone did.
In the last few decades, some liberals faltered. It became politically expedient for many on that side (though far from all) to call Israel an “apartheid state,” or even equate them to the Nazis who once murdered more than a third of all Jews worldwide. Then, in just the last few months, a large group of conservatives have joined the most extreme liberals regarding Israel. Conservative voices you perhaps once thought you could trust are today saying things like, “Drop Israel.”
Regarding Iran, President Trump has shown that peace means stopping the Iranian regime’s most dangerous gambit, not for a few months, but for years. But many don’t understand. Today, when President Trump goes on social media to back Israel, many of his own voters swarm out of the woodwork with vile statements of pure anti-Jewish, antisemitic, anti-Zionist hatred.
In this crucial hour, regarding Israel and every other thing in life, we must examine the ground upon which we stand. In Matthew 12:30, Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”
According to the US Department of Defense, D-Day means, “The unnamed day on which a particular operation commences.” A great spiritual war rages, and D-Day is here. Where do you stand?
