A Moroccan man who followed SAT-7 on Facebook in search of answers to his questions about...
The world recently witnessed shocking violence when Hamas terrorists entered the Holy Land in a surprise attack, wantonly slaughtering everyone in their path.
Man’s inhumanity to man was on full display.
We know sin is dark, destructive, and deadly, but in the act of living, we can forget.
Then, the pernicious, damnable barbarism of nihilistic assassins reminds us again of the depravity of human beings utterly without hope.
Scripture also reminds us: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). This is not just the heart of terrorists but also my heart.
In our human logic, this is a difficult truth to embrace. We think, “That’s not fair. My beloved grandmother never hurt anyone in her long life, and these terrorists are wicked beyond measure.”
Yes, but sin is the transgression of the character and will of God. Sin is sin, and Scripture tells us, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Ps 51:5).
Spiritually, there are two kinds of people in the world: sinners in need of grace and sinners saved by grace. Grandma, terrorists, you and I are all sinners in need of God’s grace.
Praise God. In His love and mercy, He does not leave us there.
In the words of the Apostle Paul, God tells us, “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24).
As sinners saved by grace, we are charged with caring for the world and carrying this message of God’s grace into the world – this is both our commission and our privilege as believers in Christ.
SAT-7 takes this mandate seriously.
SAT-7 is blessed with the capacity to speak to an entire region immediately and simultaneously. Few other Christian ministries have this opportunity and responsibility. Among other advantages, this allows SAT-7 to engage the Body of Christ across countries and cultures. SAT-7 can share love and reinforce unity.
This capacity to communicate God’s sovereignty, love, righteous justice, and, via the Gospel, the redemptive message of hope in Christ, is always needed.
And perhaps people are never more attentive than during times of crisis – particularly war.
In the face of understandable fear and heightened anxiety, SAT-7 is on air and online answering people’s deepest questions. Viewers are encouraged to trust and to pray that God’s purposes will be accomplished and that He will be glorified.
Meanwhile, SAT-7 hears from Isolated Believers in one country who are praying for believers in another country. Iranian and Turkish believers are praying for people in the Holy Land. Historic, ethnic, and national differences are set aside in transformational love in the Body of Christ.
Christians live in every country of the Middle East and North Africa, some under duress, even at times persecution, but they are there day in, day out, and no one knows their culture better than they do.
In Gaza, people are worshipping God and fellowshipping with one another in underground or secret churches. Churches in the Holy Land are providing humanitarian aid and physical domiciles for refugees of war.
One male viewer from the Holy Land wrote SAT-7:
“Hello! You guys might not be with us physically but hearing you in Israel makes us feel like you are right here with us, (Sunday school service, children of the ages of four to five years). Believe me, you are really a blessing. Even though we’re in different countries, the Lord is speaking to us through you wherever we are. Please know that you have a great impact on us! I don’t want to keep you any longer with my message. May God truly bless you, dear ones, and may you keep rising high.”
Another female viewer from the Holy Land said:
“I thank the Lord for your program, which I watched today. God is powerful enough to deliver us from all forms of abuse. He shows us how to forgive, how to believe in Christ, and how to be free of all inferiority and misery. God is our only hope. Please continue to instill hope in the form of the Lord Jesus.”
Christians are “embedded,” so to speak, in their cultures, acting as salt and light, making God’s love visible as ambassadors of reconciliation, which because of our social and physical distance, believers in the West cannot do.
Yes, war is horrible, no matter how it unfolds. Innocent people suffer and die.
But even during these worst of times, God is on his throne.
God did not forget the ancient Israelite people captive in Egypt or hundreds of years later in captivity in Babylon.
God will not forget believers, or any suffering people, in the Holy Land today, whatever their demographic or national heritage in the highly diverse population of the region.
Could it be that God will use the terrible developments in the Holy Land to draw more people, Jews, Palestinians, Arabs, and others to Christ?
Dr. Rex Rogers
President, SAT-7 USA
In 2023, at least 81% of your gift went directly to fund programs building up women, children, and families across the Middle East.
