We Stand with Israel
Life in Messiah International Board Statement on the October 7, 2023 Hamas Massacre in Israel
“I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!” (Psalm 120:7)
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel by land, sea, and air – infiltrating and overtaking towns and villages near the Gaza border and abducting and brutally murdering innocent civilians. More Jewish lives were lost on this day than on any since the Holocaust. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced, “Citizens of Israel, we are at war. Not an operation, not a round [of fighting,] at war!”
As members of the Board of Directors of Life in Messiah International, our hearts break for all who are affected by this violent massacre. The entire nation is devastated by this breach of safety in which even grandmothers and young children have been mercilessly slaughtered, kidnapped, and taken brutally as hostages into Gaza. Israel’s sense of security and shalom has been shattered as when, 50 years and one day previously, the nation’s enemies unleashed a similar surprise attack that launched the Yom Kippur War.
Scripture calls believers at all times to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6). Today we ask all who love the Lord to pray for the nation of Israel. Pray for Israel’s leaders, for wisdom, for the rescue of the captives, and for a just peace to prevail. Pray for those who love peace on all sides of this conflict as Hamas terrorists threaten the lives of both Jewish and Arab peoples regardless of their locations and loyalties. Pray that in this clarifying moment of horrific loss, people of good will might be wise to the evils of antisemitism and stand against it. Pray even for the terrorists that some might see their evil for what it is and turn in repentance to the living God.
At Life in Messiah, we are committed to sharing God’s heart for the Jewish people. In these truly terrifying times that harken back to the horrors of the Holocaust, we see the rise of a new antisemitism that hides its hatred for Jewish people under a false flag of anti-Israel political propaganda. We declare clearly that “We stand with the Jewish people!”
We reject this satanically inspired hatred of the Jewish people in all its forms. We call believers to discernment and to challenge upside-down news coverage that blames Israel as the aggressor – calling into question Israel’s legitimacy and right to exist. Like our founder William E. Blackstone, whose historic “Blackstone Memorial” of 1891 procured hundreds of signatures from some of the most significant public figures and organizations in America as a statement of support and solidarity for the establishment of a Jewish State in its indigenous biblical homeland, “We stand with Israel!”
We also pray for local Arabs in the region and for their safety from the brutality of terrorist organizations like Hamas that would gladly sacrifice noncombatants as martyrs for their hateful cause. Ultimately, we long for the day when those from all the families of the earth will worship at the throne of the Prince of Peace. He is the promised Messiah and the hope of all who put their trust in Him. Please join us in calling out to Him.
– The Life in Messiah Board of Directors