We all know that there is a struggle between the State of Israel and Hamas, a militant group that ‘was’ in control of the Palestinian territory of Gaza. ‘Was’ in control, because after a Hamas raid on Israel, the Israeli army attacked Hamas in Gaza.

I’m sure we all know something about this armed conflict, and I don’t need to add to the information in the news. Hopefully, this tragic war can come to a conclusion, and people in the region can return to their peacetime lives.

You probably also know about the protests on college and university campuses, against the State of Israel. Some statements, made by some protesters, are scary and abusive. The police are involved, and they have arrested hundreds.

One of the strangest claims about the recent protests is that some of the anti-Israel sponsors are Jewish. So apparently, wealthy Jewish people are supporting protesters who call for the end of the Jewish nation. This has been reported by journalists in many parts of the world. This link is from India:

• READ: Jewish billionaire George Soros linked to pro-Palestine protests in US: Report

We are living in history, and it is getting weird.

• Cynical journalists seem to think that the “truth” is bought and paid for. The modern protest movement seems to be organized and financed, with similar methods and messages at many sites. I remember the protesters in my generation.
  
  In my high school, we had a group of protesters who focused only and always on the Vietnam War. We knew them by their army surplus jackets, and their carefully scripted speeches.
  
  My school was very far from Vietnam. They protested things we only knew from the news. We knew someone sponsored and informed them. Now we see a new war to protest, but the same scripted actions.
  
• We don’t know the reasons for a corporate protesting effort. Someone wants a specific outcome, but we are not told the details; only surface issues are shouted at us. Sponsorship and scripted organization tell us that something deeper and bigger is happening.
  
  The root that feeds protest movements is almost like a religious conviction. We are being preached at and converted. With the Vietnam War protests, many years ago, we saw that clearly. I am still nervous if people talk about that old war. I don’t want to offend and start an argument.
  
• There is some deeper truth below the surface, that we should learn. My source for understanding the truth behind the shouting is the Bible. We learn there, about forces that seek to control the human race, in the whole Earth.
  
  I don’t know all the roots of the Vietnam War protests, but atheistic Communists were struggling for world domination, and that war was their front line at the time. In Israel and Gaza, there is an unfortunate war, that seems to have no end. There seem to be huge forces behind the fighting and the protests. This is not an argument in a coffee shop, between friends.

I think it is good for us to remember that this world has angry forces, and news events give a small window into the huge struggles that we are in.

We were told:

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” (Romans 8: 19 to 22)

“The whole creation has been groaning,” tells us about something much larger than a story in the news. All life “the whole creation” is bigger than anything we can know, and it is all in the struggle.

Even an atheist can admit, that religion generally tries to fix the worst and biggest problems in the universe. The Bible is completely focused on that high-altitude vision. If we don’t understand that ancient book, it may be that we are spiritually short-sighted and not looking very far.

There is something bigger than personal satisfaction in the few years that we each have. There are events in history that show us a much larger struggle, if we want to see.

We could all use some correction of our vision, and that would give a new vision of the old words, and of the stories in the news:

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must happen very soon. He made it clear by sending his angel to his servant John, who then testified to everything that he saw concerning the word of God and the testimony about Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it, because the time is near! (Revelation 1: 1 to 3)