War and Peace in the Middle East

“Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.”

In the history of human brutality, the 10/7 Hamas massacre of Israeli citizens in fall 2023 stands out for its soulless savagery, sexual assault as an act of war, and premeditated terror, evident in the militants filming their atrocities with GoPro cameras.

In the months since, the Holy Land has been on fire, mired now in a humanitarian crisis with a cast of thousands, including children, elderly, infirm, women, and the most vulnerable. Millions have been displaced from their homes.

Meanwhile, Hamas is militarily weakened but far from impotent. Hezbollah, Houthis, and Iran are stepping up rocket incursions, and some Middle Easterners fear the war will only harden hate and extremism, making the future darker than the present. Regional war seems inevitable.

The political and military situation on the ground is exceedingly complex, and while we all likely have opinions, it is difficult to assess based upon often biased or incomplete media coverage.

I

SAT-7 is uniquely positioned to speak into this moment as a broadcaster of mass media throughout the entire 25 country region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The ministry’s audience is Arabs, Persians, and Turks, together with a long list of other subgroups, including people in the Holy Land who speak Arabic, Farsi, or Turkish.

SAT-7’s Christian faith means it cares about all people in the MENA.

This includes not only those who attend church and love the Lord, but also those who know Him not, like most Gazans or Palestinians, and many Arabs and Jews.

This includes Christian believers caught in the crossfire throughout the conflict zone, people once isolated for their faith while living among others following a dominant religion, and now even more isolated, distanced from others as they seek safety.

This includes the many innocent noncombatants who live in all parts of the Holy Land and many more in Lebanon who are now endangered too. This includes SAT-7 Lebanon staff members who live and work in Beirut.

This includes the families of thousands of individuals who have been killed or injured throughout the war zone, the “collateral damage” of war. SAT-7 hears from families who can access social media, grieving their losses, caught in severe humanitarian need, asking for prayer and protection.

II

SAT-7’s caring mission includes those who are loveable, like children, but also those who are by their attitudes and actions decidedly “unlovable,” like radicals, extremists, and terrorists. And certainly, this includes enemies and those who persecute others (Matt. 5:44), like al-Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban, Hamas, Houthi, Hezbollah, and Iran’s Red Guard.

Recently, during their devotional time, several SAT-7 colleagues in Lebanon reflected on the question, “Are we happy when our enemies die?” This is a thought-provoking question and goes to the core of our faith.

“Ezekiel 33:11 records God’s will on the matter: ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.’ God is not happy even when an evil person dies.”

Ultimately, our “enemies” are just people, just wayward individuals trapped in an “ism.” Can we then model the Lord and pray for our enemies, whatever the nature of their evil ideologies?

This does not mean we surrender our responsibility to make judgments about right and wrong, or that we wink at wrong in some warped definition of love. No, we “turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Ps. 34:14). With St. Augustine, we “hate the sin and love the sinner.”

It’s amazing to think: God cares about the “worst kind of sinner.” He can draw people to Himself who are involved in wicked aggression, for even this malevolence is not the unpardonable sin.

III

SAT-7 also has experience watching God work through times of violence. He’s not the source of evil and violence, but He can and does accomplish His purposes in this fallen world.

Not long ago, ISIS was the scourge of the MENA. Ironically and unexpectedly, during the zenith of its power, ISIS proved to be a greater menace to Muslims than any other group. This gave rise to a later reaction, especially among youth, asking, “What is this? Muslim ISIS is killing other Muslims in the name of our God?” This, in turn, caused many Muslims to question their faith. Many in Iraq, some in Saudi Arabia, embraced atheism or agnosticism, hungry for a religion that worked. Not a works-based religion but a religion – actually, a relationship – that is real, authentic, and works, which is what biblical Christianity offers them.

Perhaps this transition to atheism or agnosticism seems perplexing or unattractive to Christian believers? But in the providence of God, it can be a form of spiritual progression. A person who has held to one faith for his or her entire life may find it easier to transition to a kind of half-way point, like agnosticism, before he or she takes the next step in the Holy Spirit’s timing and comes to faith in Jesus Christ.

So, this questioning, this unintended consequence of ISIS barbarity, is something our Sovereign God worked through to draw people to Himself.

There is always hope, even amid hostility and bloodshed – for the enemy, and for the seeker.

IV

SAT-7 also watches and prays for the politics of the region, not in the sense of political or partisan engagement, but in the sense of asking God to intervene.

We know God established government, that kings and princes are in His hand (Prov. 21:1), and that we are to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:2).

While we do not know what God will do, we do know what He can do.

We can ask God to work through this awful time in the MENA to allow for democratic governments to be established in the MENA, ones that protect life and religious liberty.

If God wills, this can happen in the wake of violent conflagration in the MENA.

V

While SAT-7’s ministry focus is the Middle East and North Africa, SAT-7 USA serves here at home. Our prayers go up for our own country too.

We pray for those ensnared by hate, whether anti-Arab sentiment or antisemitism.

We pray for all human beings, because the Lord “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).

We pray for God’s protection “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

We pray “our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9-10).

Dr. Rex Rogers
President, SAT-7 USA