Thursday, March 7, 2024

Donald Trump, allowing himself to be an idol: A rewrite for a new election year

 

I am partly rewriting a posting I wrote before the 2016 presidential election. I was troubled in 2016; now I am simply a Christian who knows only one true leader, actually a King. I am a Democrat who almost always voted Republican because of my concern for the unborn. Now I have no political home. The democrats are mostly anti-life, and Donald Trump is an immoral, bombastic liar who is suggesting to his followers that he provides a kind of redemptive substitution for them. He is leading too many astray.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote and spoke about the authoritarian leader just as Hitler became the “democratically elected chancellor of Germany.” Speaking of a leader reaching beyond the authority of the office, Bonhoeffer stated:

“If he understands his function in any other way than as rooted in fact, if he does not continually tell his followers quite clearly of the limited nature of his task and of their responsibility if he allows himself to surrender to the wishes of his followers, who would always make him their idol—than the image of the Leader will pass over into the image of the mis-leader, and he will be acting in a criminal way not only towards those he leads, but also towards himself.”[1]

It follows, according to Bonhoeffer, that the leader must, “lead his following away from the authority of his person to the recognition of the real authority of orders and offices. … He must radically refuse to become the appeal, the idol, i.e. the ultimate authority of those whom he leads.”

Now it is true that many of those seeking office, both Republican and Democrat, need to be reminded of who they really are, in the presence of God, simply office holders chosen to serve the people. But in Trump, one finds a need to be the ultimate authority mingled with immorality and dishonesty. Those who follow him, follow a lie. And those who desire to follow truth shudder because of those who follow the lie.

 Still, there is a beautiful, biblical picture of a leader who has all authority but who is truly goodness incarnate. The leader is found in Psalm 72. A Psalm that was either written by Solomon or his father David. Scholars are uncertain.[2] It is a king’s prayer to be a righteous yet gracious ruler, something that neither man, although they were great men, were able to accomplish. And in this Psalm one clearly sees the beauty of the ultimate, King, the messiah.

The prayer is that the king will judge his people with righteousness “and the afflicted with justice.” He will save the children and still crush the oppressor. He is like rain is to mown grass and “like showers that water the earth.” Everything flourishes because of his reign. There will be peace and those who are righteous will flourish.  

“His rule is from sea to sea.” It is to the ends of the earth and all kings (and presidents) will in the end bow down to him. His compassion is perfect:

For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also, and him who has no helper. He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the lives of the needy he will save. He will rescue their life from oppression and violence, and their blood will be precious in his sight. ..”

The Psalm goes on to praise God for his wonders and glory.

Many years ago, in a sociology class, the professor asked us to take a quiz to help him with a project he and some other professors were conducting. The quiz consisted of choosing between two different actions we would take, at first a good action or a bad one. But as we went further into the test both actions to choose from became bad. Finally I returned the quiz to the professor, telling him I could not finish because I could not choose either action. This election is the same.

I hope and pray that many of us, who are Christians, if we must, will not vote, but will instead cling to that One who will and does reign in righteousness.

 



[1] This is taken from Eric Metaxas’ book Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson 2010) see chapter 9, “The Führer Principle” However Metaxas is now insisting that those Christians who won’t vote for Trump are sinning. Sounds like he is making Trump an idol to me.

[2] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity 1973)

Friday, March 1, 2024

Eric Metaxas' Letter to the American Church and the Rest of the Story

In October of twenty-two I wrote a book review of Eric Metaxas’ book, Letter to the American Church. I have since wanted to renew the review for several reasons. One reason is it has now been made into a documentary with footage that includes scenes of the horrific times of both Hitler and Stalin meant as a warning to American Christians that they can prevent such awfulness. The Documentary includes thoughts by Charles Kirk of Turning Point USA, an ultra-conservative organization. The documentary has been promoted on Epoch Times TV a branch of the news magazine Epoch Times which is affiliated with the religious group Falun Gong. 

There are two other important reasons. In the review I was attempting to counter Metaxas’ poor understanding of Martin Luther’s view of justification by faith alone. He believes Luther became obsessed with the idea that believers are redeemed by faith alone and that this caused the faithlessness of the German Church in the Nazi years. I have since found wonderful material in the Lutheran Formula of Concord which clearly disproves this. Metaxas does not understand the biblical scope of “by faith alone.” The other reason, I did not know at the time that I wrote the review that Metaxas was aligned with many in the New Apostolic Reformation movement (NAR) and even allowed guests on his show that hold QAnon beliefs.

 Both the book and the documentary have been shown widely among evangelical churches. This includes Calvary Chapels, Baptists, Nazarenes, and Assemblies of God churches. This doesn’t mean that all of those denominations accept what Metaxas has written but some of their churches have. 

 In my earlier review writing about Metaxas’ view of Luther’s biblical understanding of justification by faith alone I quoted Metaxas: 

But in his understandably giddy joy, Luther may sometimes have gone a bit farther than necessary, or at least opened the door for others to do so. For example, when he translated Romans 3:28 from the original New Testament Greek into German, Luther added the single word “alone” to the following sentence: ‘For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the law.’ Luther’s version was, ‘Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith alone without the deeds of the law.’ Luther felt the need to add that word to underscore what for him was essentially the central idea in the universe, and he may be forgiven for this.

 And also: 

 We might say that Luther had in his zeal made an idol of his idea of faith, so that the genuine faith to which God calls us was crowded out.

 Plus: 

The phrase ‘faith alone’ had made the Christian faith so simple—and ultimately so thin and one-dimensional—that over time it was easily and blithely assented to by nearly everyone in the German nation, so that Bonhoeffer wrote about it in the Cost of Discipleship.

 After this last quote I explained that Bonhoeffer, a martyr of the Confessing Church, did not refer to Luther as the cause of the faithlessness of the German Christians in his book The Cost of Discipleship. But as far as the seeming problem of "faith alone” The Formula of Concord (Second Part) quotes from Luther’s preface to Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: 

Faith, however, is a divine work to us that changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[12-13]. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O, it is a living, busy active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.

 Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. This knowledge and confidence of God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all creatures. And this is the work that the Holy Spirit performs in faith Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God, who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. [LW 35:370-71]

Metaxas in his failure to understand the biblical view of faith alone added to the problem in his book, by melding the two sides of the churches during the Nazi years into one body. He didn’t do this in his book on Bonhoeffer but for some reason he did in Letter to the American Church. Perhaps it made it easier to insist that the American Church was not standing against the evils of the culture. But as I pointed out in my first review there existed in Nazi Germany, both the German Christians who aligned with Hitler and the Confessing Church which would only confess Jesus as Lord and did not stand with the German Christians. Bonhoeffer and many others including the first pastor martyred, Paul Schnieder, were a part of the Confessing Church.

The problem with all of this is that everyone who Metaxas aligns with, including Metaxas, insists that if Christians do not stand with Donald Trump, they are part of the church that will fail God, causing a tragedy greater than the Holocaust. This is really what his book is about. It is what Charles Kirk insists on. It is what The Epoch Times and Falun Gong stand for. In fact, the people publishing the Epoch Times do not even believe in Jesus Christ as Lord so they do not understand what it means to confess Him.

For all of their talk about Hitler, fascism, Marx and socialism, all those I have named, Metaxas, Kirk, the Epoch Times, the political members of the New Apostolic Reformation and QAnon, are lifting Trump up as an Idol- they themselves are guilty of conforming to a loyalty that mimics the German Church as they lifted up Hitler. When they call out brothers and sisters in Christ who will not conform to their expectations about Trump and malign them, they are imitating the German Christians. This is not to call Trump or the Maga movement Nazis but their actions concerning those who disagree with them are not much different.

In all of this ideology that lifts up Trump as a savior for America the cross is missing. The followers of Jesus are not called to seek power or position but rather to take up their cross. The promises of Jesus are not rooted in this world or its kingdoms but rather in the Kingdom of Heaven. We have a King who endorses no one but Himself. The innocent, perfect Lamb of God, the eternal Son, begotten of the Father calls us to a hidden place in Him. I have on my bulletin board a program from my church with the words of Jesus, "I have not come to bring peace but a sword." Some might think that is a call for Christians to take up a sword against their enemies, but it isn't. It is a truth that the world will too often take up the sword against the disciples of Jesus. Metaxas and others have it backwards, do not seek power, seek instead faithfulness to Jesus.  

 

Saturday, February 10, 2024

My Mail and a Candidate for Assembly in California

 

I just picked up my mail today; the only bit was a flyer with the front sporting a pair of pink boxing gloves with the words:


What does her role as Planned Parenthood of California’s chief lawyer tell you about how Maggy Krell will represent us?

Well, I don’t need to read the rest. She is interested in preserving the right to kill little boys and girls who are not yet born. The boxing gloves may be pink but they are not girlish, womanish, or sweet and nice. They should be blood red.

Inside it mentions that Krell is fighting for rights including the rights of children—but both scientifically and biblically unborn babies are children, little human beings who deserve the right to live.

Jesus took the little children to himself and blessed them. Life is the beautiful gift that God gives to everyone—to take it from the innocent is a horrific act.

While Detrich Bonhoeffer, one of the Confessing Martyrs during the Nazi time in Germany, in his book Ethics wrote that although at times it my be the community that bears the blame for abortion, when a mother is in great need, it is still murder. He wrote:

Marriage involves acknowledgement of the right of life that is to come into being, a right which is not subject to the disposal of the married couple. Unless this right is acknowledged as a matter of principle, marriage ceases to be marriage and becomes a mere liaison. Acknowledgement of this right means making way for the free creative power of God which can cause new life to proceed from this marriage according to his will.

And of course, this also applies to those who bring about life outside of marriage. The child is still God’s creation. We should pray that neither our nor other’s hearts be hardened by the murder of children. We should pray for but not vote for Maggy Krell.

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Julie Green, Eric Metaxas, ‘Still’ it is said, ‘still, shall the City of God abide, lusty beside her tiny stream’

 


There is a beautiful peace that belongs to the children of God, those who belong to Jesus, who are held within His redemptive kingdom, who wear the blood washed garments of grace. They are yoked to Jesus’ easy yoke even in the midst of suffering. But there are those meddling with evil, pushing, or believing lies, who end up substituting idols for Jesus. And sometimes those who meddle in heresy reach demonic depths.

The leaders of the MAGA movement, (Trump’s movement), and leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation movement are growing in their vengefulness’ and verbal abuse. I have been listening to various videos, one of Eric Metaxas on Steve Bannon’s War Room, “Eric Metaxas on Loving Your Country Too Much,” a putdown of Tim Alberta’s book, The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, and his many interviews. And many of Julie Green’s videos. She is considered a prophet within the NAR movement. Green gives supposed prophecies almost every day. The prophecies are offered as though Jesus is speaking directly through her as though she is a medium.

Bannon and Metaxas refer to Alberta as a Marxist, globalist, and his book as coming from the “pit of hell” insisting that it is meant to silence the Church. But, instead Alberta’s book is a warning and a gift to the Church calling us back to faithfulness, not to the kingdoms of this world, but to the Kingdom of God and to the King, Jesus.

Green’s prophecies have mostly, seemingly, been calls to stand up for God; but one does not listen long before hearing political messages. Trump is referred to as God’s David and the people of God are interchanged with God’s United States. God will punish His enemies referring to their actions as infiltrating all American institutions and stealing elections. Green mentions what some of these two movements are calling the Haman effect, which refers to the biblical Haman who planned to have Mordecai, Queen Esther’s uncle, hanged but was himself hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The belief is that many of the enemies of the two movements will be hanged or imprisoned.

Probably the worst of the prophecies Green has released was, at my writing, less then a day ago. The video is entitled Judgement is Here and Judgement is Clear. I am focusing on this video because it has a demonic quality to it. As Green supposedly begins to allow Jesus to speak through her, her voice becomes harsh and loud and her face begins to be contorted. It is frightening, not because I am frightened by God’s judgment—after all, I belong to Him; but I feel deeply sorry for Green who has allowed herself to be pulled into a very dark world for the sake of a very bad man. And she and others, Metaxas for one, are pulling many lost sheep into this dark world.

The messages coming out of these videos and also the conferences are about enemies, who want to destroy America and Christianity. But the words one hears are about judgements on those Christians who don’t agree with either the MAGA leaders or the NAR leaders. And there is nothing about loving enemies. When writing a review of Metaxas book, Letter to the American Church,  I quoted Barth which I often do—it speaks so well to the real need and purposes of the Church in the middle of trying times:

Of course something has to be done; very much so; but most decidedly nothing other than this, viz. that the Church congregations be gathered together again, but aright and anew in fear and great joy, to the Word by means of the Word. All the crying over the Church will not deliver the Church. Where the Church is the Church she is already delivered. Let persecution be never so severe, it will not affect her! ‘Still’ it is said, ‘still, shall the City of God abide, lusty beside her tiny stream’ (Psalm xlvi. 5; Luther’s translation).[1]



[1] Karl Barth, Theological Existence To-Day: A plea for theological freedom, ( Hodder and Stoughton: London 1933) 77,78.

Friday, January 5, 2024

A Book Review: Tim Alberta's warning and gift to the Church.

 

A book review by Viola Larson

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

Author: Tim Alberta

Harper Collins: 2023

Writing in 2024 I intend, to focus on Jesus as Lord and the good news of redemption. Still, I see painful times ahead and believe there is a warning that needs to be given to Christians. It is about idolatry. Tim Alberta’s new book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory is to the Church a gift, a warning and a carrier of hope.

Alberta who is a political columnist for Atlantic, as well as a Christian, began his journey of writing his book after experiencing harassment at his father’s funeral. (His father had been an evangelical pastor.) After Alberta’s book American Carnage was published many of his fellow church members were unhappy with his views of Trump. He was given an insulting letter by a church elder. Alberta writes:

“I was part of an evil plot, the man wrote, to undermine God’s ordained leader of the United States. My criticisms of President Trump were tantamount to treason—against both God and country—and I should be ashamed of myself.

However, he assured me, there was hope. Jesus forgives and so does he. If I could use my journalism skills to investigate the “deep state” he wrote, uncovering the shadowy cabal that was sabotaging Trump’s presidency then I would be restored. He said he was praying for me.” [1]

This and other harassments sent Alberta on a journey, exploring the causes of such idolatry in the Church.

Some chapters in his book explore the roots as well as the present ideology of believers caught up in extreme loyalty to Trump. Those explorations cover a past that was itself a move away from the words and work of Jesus, including the formation of Liberty University. And a present which includes mega churches who with ultra-patriotic sermons and flag waving captured the loyalty of members of other churches that were attempting to protect their members from COVID by staying closed during the worst of the pandemic.

It should be pointed out that Alberta believes that those evangelicals who are a part of Maga not only idolize Trump, they, going beyond normal patriotism, idolize America—see America as a covenant nation meant, like Old Testament Israel, to obey scriptural laws. They do not see America as a pluralistic democracy and they tend to confuse that with their real biblical position as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Alberta has one chapter on Clay C lark and Michael Flynn’s Reawaken America Tour, a movement I sometimes follow and write about. His description of his experience in one meeting in Branson Missouri covers the nightmare well:

“Sitting in the second-floor gallery of the Mansion Theatre looking out across a standing-room—only crowd of people clad in garish cross necklaces and Qanon sweatshirts and red Maga hats, I could practically hear the voice of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, who declared sometime around 600 BC that the people of Israel possessed ‘no shame at all. ‘They had, Jeremiah said in one translation, ‘forgotten how to blush.’ In fifteen years of political journalism, I had witnessed political chicanery and skullduggery of every sort. Nothing could surprise me anymore; I was immune to outrage, bereft of the ability to recoil from iniquity. And then I discovered the Reawaken America Tour. [2]

Positioned here and there within various chapters are Christians who represent hope. One person is the pastor following Alberta’s father. Timid at first, fearful of those in his church who constantly pushed far right political issues including conspiracy theories, losing members during the COVID pandemic, Cris Winans grew mature, brave, and wiser. Alberta writes of how Winans begin to deal with the members of his church:

“Winans wanted to bring his congregation along to compel them to second-guess their extrabiblical desires. But make them think it was their own conviction. He would preach on godly character then play dumb when someone approached him afterward to admit they were rethinking their allegiance to certain politicians or pop-culture personalities; he would preach on the spiritual principle of discernment then offer a bemused shrug when someone confessed to him that they were beginning to doubt conspiracy theories or question information they’d been imbibing on social media.”[3]

A couple of the pages of hope are contained in one chapter with so much hope it is impossible to cover all in a short review. A conference at Wheaton College. Several outstanding speakers return the audience to the need for Christians to return to love and compassion for those outside the church. And there is a reminder that, yes the church was once persecuted greatly and in other parts of the world still is, but here in the West, in America, contrary to many evangelicals’ views. there is not that kind of persecution.

And additionally, there can be great ministry because of push back to the gospel. As one speaker, Laurel Bunker, reminds the audience of the world’s real need:

“The Black kids of the city of Chicago; the gay kids who struggle with suicidal ideation; the single mothers’ the prostitutes; the broken of society. The only way they will know is if we go.” … “they are not going to come to us. They don’t care about our steeples. They want to know, is my life redeemable? Does my life have purpose?”[4]

And then there is the chapter that covers an event in France where an Orthodox Ukrainian monk, Hovorun and Miroslav Volf, a well known theologian and poet, from what was once Yugoslavia, now at Yale, spoke covering the political religion that Vladimir Putin embraces as an excuse to keep power and enlarge it. While there is so much information in this chapter that is so thoughtful and helpful the discussion on civil religion versus political religion is particularly enlightening in regards to Trump, Maga and evangelicals who are pushing toward nationalism.

Alberta states that Hovorun notes that political religion is enforced by the state and gives examples of “Hitlerism, Nazism, and Communism.”[5] According to Alberta, Hovorum also stated, “In Trumpism, we are still dealing with civil religion—a form of civil religion. Its not yet political religion.” (Italics Alberta’s)

To take this further Hovorun points to what he believes is hopeful, political evangelicalism is “Christ-centric.” But Volf disagrees, his words “I’ve come to believe … that the Christ of the gospel is a moral stranger to us.”[6] 

There is more,, The book is full—as I said at first it is a warning and gift to the Church.

 

 



[1] Alberta, The Kingdom, 9

[2] Ibid. 263.

[3] Ibid. 430.

[4] Ibid. 143.

[5] Ibid. 241.

[6] Ibid. 242.

Thursday, November 9, 2023

Kristallnacht & Christabel- The wickedness of hatred

Today is the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht [the Night of the Broken Glass] the horrible night in Nazi German when Nazis destroyed Jewish businesses, synagogues, and beat up and killed many Jewish people. There is a movie, Christabel, that I always think of when I hear a reference to Kristallnacht &, The movie is based on the true story of Christabel Bielenberg, and taken from her memoir, “The Past is Myself: Looking Back on the Years 1932-45.”

Christabel, although British married a German lawyer and they lived in Germany during the Nazi years. Her husband was part of the underground that attempted to kill Hitler and was imprisoned in Ravensbrūck. Many of their friends were hanged for their righteous attempt. In the movie I first saw on PBS, although not in the one I own there is a poignant scene where Christabel is in a church on Christmas Eve, they are singing Silent Night, at the same time the viewer is seeing one of the friends being hanged. But this is not why the reference to Kirstallnacht always reminds me of the movie.

There is a scene where Christabel and her husband are returning home from a concert and they come upon a street filled with violence—windows of shops broken, Jewish people being harassed and beaten, buildings on fire. They then know that it is time to act—they must be against the Nazis. They must, although underground, plot to end the horror happening in Germany. Violence in this case is a signal that complacency must end.

As I listen to the various videos of protests against Israel and the Jewish people, and watch the videos of protesters tearing down pictures of those who have been kidnapped by Hamas, I am aware that there is a great deal of ignorance about Israel and the history of the Jews and the Holocaust. One young person being questioned suggests that if the Jewish state is annihilated the Jews just go back to whatever country they came from undoubtedly not realizing that the Jews were chased out of those countries.

 And many of the protestors sound as though they have never heard of the Holocaust or perhaps don’t understand how it was that 6 million Jews were murdered because of the lies told about them.  But at the same time there is a strong whiff of ugliness, wickedness to be exact, in their comments.  Idealism (the attempt to be altruistic or always choose the good), too often turns to wickedness when it is centered in secular paganism; that is a kind of religious bent that is centered in natural super naturalism, a materialism that leaves out the image of God in humanity. So one makes their own decision about right and wrong, emotion is the main authority. What is called good may in reality be evil. Such as celebrating the killing of children and babies, the mutilation and burning of families in the name of helping Palestinians. Right and wrong, good and evil have been turned upside down.

The people I wrote about above, the Bielenbergs and their friends, saw evil and knew evil when they saw it. At first they didn’t realize the enormity of the crimes committed against Jews and others, but their knowledge grew and their courage. After the war they moved to Ireland and the lawyer became a farmer. But this is the scary part: too many today see the evil and think it is good. May there be mercy from a gracious God to fall on us in torrents.


Tuesday, November 7, 2023

The Traumatizing Stories that Break the Heart

                                                                                         

They say it helps to write, but this is hard, hard to write. Because I often write about anti-Semitism, I have read many of the posts on what happened on October 7th in Israel. I’ve watched many of the videos. I am traumatized. How does anyone deal with the nightmare image of a family where the father has his eye gorged out, the mother has a breast cut off, the small boy has his fingers cut off and the young daughter has her foot cut off and then they are burned alive.

I read the story of the family of three, a mother and father and their 16-year-old son. The father and mother laid on their son to protect him. He lived. The last thing he remembers from his parents is his father saying, “my arm is gone.” And his mother dying. This struck me very hard because two summers ago I broke my arm at the point where it fits into the shoulder blade, and when I got up from my fall I could see my arm sticking out from my body but could not feel it or control it. I had to take my left hand and reach out to my right arm and move it next to me. I was terrified and how awful one must feel as they are dying to have lost the arm that was probably trying to protect a son.

And the mother who was dying; I watched my husband die with Alzheimer’s. I read all the signs to look for—the breathing is one. As he died he began to breathe with short puffy breaths that one could hear.  And those would probably have been the last sounds of a mother given to her son. My anger and sorrow have not ended; probably will not end until eternity.  

Kevin D Williamson of The Dispatch wrote of how Israeli warriors were not meant to be models of goodness for journalist but were rather supposed to be protecting their people. That a nation’s job was to protect its people.

As a Christian my first duty is “to love my God with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my mind,” and my neighbor as myself—but a nation is called to protect its people before it protects any other. Carefully with concern but still protect its people. It seems too many with a misplaced understanding of history and yes with Jew hatred, with a warped understanding of their own prejudices and biases, believe that Israel is the only nation that should not protect its people.

The darkness that is falling over this world has always been here, it is the reptile hiding in the bushes, twining about the tree, calling out lies to many who allow their hearts to be bittered by anti-Semitism. Even when they smile one sees the hate and bitterness in the face of those who are tearing down the posters of the kidnapped Israelis. Their idealism has turned into a farce. Their activism has turned evil....

G.K. Chesterton in his book The Everlasting Man, with thankfulness that Rome had overcome Carthage, since it was a battle between Rome’s household gods and Carthage’s demons, is not aware when writing of the coming darkness of Nazi Germany. Chesterton explains the relationship of Carthage to Tyre and Sidon, and their god Moloch who could also be called Baal. He explains their method of worship was to throw babies into the great fire of Moloch. The Romans, Chesterton explains, would not understand nor would Chesterton’s contemporaries. He writes:

We can only realize the combination by imagining a number of Manchester merchants with chimney-top hats and mutton chop whiskers, going to church every Sunday at eleven o’clock to see a baby roasted alive.

Such evil returned with the Nazis and now with the Hamas warriors who also roasted a baby alive. There are surely those who are simply concerned about the welfare of Palestinian citizens but far too many are sinking into dark paganism, worshiping the god of anti-Semitism. When protesters won’t cry out against the butchery of Hamas, they stand not with Palestinians but with Hamas, with terrorist, with ancient evil.