The ongoing war in the Holy Land was prompted exclusively by Hamas terrorists’ violent invasion and targeting of Jewish civilians on 7 October 2023. The wholly justified counterattack by the Israeli Defense Forces has never been the subject of any valid rational criticism. Throughout the history of humanity, any nation has the unalienable right to self-defense and the security of its people. But in the months following October 2023, the IDF military focus of ridding the Gaza Strip of Hamas terrorists has become progressively ambiguous and has since devolved into a moral catastrophe of historic magnitude for Israel and the world – especially for Christendom.
As a Templar Knight, this ambiguity became the source of ongoing and ever-increasing moral uncertainty that was beginning to significantly vex my individual life. The “he-said-they-said” orchestrated propaganda from both sides began to wear on me because it was quite obvious that they were both strategically lying.
I finally began to understand this as reports from my Christian family began to filter out of Gaza – the eyewitnesses I knew and trusted telling the real story untainted by narrative driven fabrications.
I began to realize that attempting to get a true grip on this most complex series of events through the penumbra of 21st-century international politics is, in fact, truly hopeless. For this is not a story of our time at all – but one that is unfolding exclusively directed by a timeless, sovereignly directed strategy whose spectacular climax lies still in the future. Yet, it can be understood by the committed Chrisitan indwelled by the Mind of Christ – but only with the media, the internet and email turned completely off.
When this level of uncertainty becomes evident in any Christian’s existence, there is only one acceptable resolution: focused prayer and fasting. Discussing the state of affairs in the Holy Land with my wife Claudia over several weeks, she suggested a dedicated day of fasting and prayer – asking God for personal clarity and direction. And we were certainly not disappointed!
By the end of 5 August 2025, our designated day of prayer and fasting, my Creator did exactly what He promised He would do: He totally removed any confusion and lack of peace orchestrated by our spiritual enemy, which led to the ultimate reward of faith. And that reward is a fundamentally clear understanding of what my part as a Christ Follower and a Templar Knight is in this situation, as I now view Israel, Gaza, and the Holy Land through a whole new set of lenses.
My Righteous Father also gave me permission to share this understanding with you:
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:6) And, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
During this day of fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit specifically directed me to pray for “our brothers and our tribe” in Gaza during each of our hourly prayer sessions as we fervently entreated our Lord on behalf of them.
For God revealed that the seemingly irresolvable and inseparable core of the entire matter is that today, “our brothers” and “our tribe” are not necessarily the same, by any means.
As children of the Most High God, we pray for the tiny remnant of Christians in Gaza because they are Christ Followers just like we are, and therefore they are our family – our brothers. Says the Word, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” (Galatians 6:10) And as Templars, we have taken an oath to accept some level of responsibility for them.
We and they are Christians only because we have been “adopted” as sons and daughters into Jesus’ tribe of Judah as a result of the finished work of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary on our behalf: “…just as God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, God predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,” (Ephesians 1:4-5)
“Both the One Who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says, ‘I will declare Your Name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing Your praises.’” (Hebrews 2:11-12)
And, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:14-16)
These passages make it clear that, as Christians, we are chosen and adopted members of God’s family – very specifically, we are identified by Holy Writ as brothers and sisters of Jesus, Who is the royal descendant of King David’s tribe of Judah. Redeemed by Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit, we are now adopted members of Jesus’ family in the tribe of Judah. It is a simple chain of logic that can be understood in no other way.
Remember, Jesus said clearly, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24) Thus, everyone who is redeemed by Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit has been formally adopted into the tribe of Judah, and therefore is a sheep of Israel! No matter what our genetic lineage is, as Christ Followers, by God’s immutable decree, we are now accepted as full members of the tribe of Judah and the house of Israel.
All of this has been summed up in just three words by the supernatural brilliance of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 6:16, where all Christ Followers are declared to be the “Israel of God.”
Therefore, as Claudia and I prayed for our family in Gaza, we were reminded to pray not just for our family in Christ who has been adopted into the tribe of Judah, but for the ongoing spiritual catastrophe of our collective tribe of physical lineage (and all others) as well. We implored God to bring repentance and revival to all the tribes and peoples who have not yet received the gift of grace through Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf. It was an easy prayer, for God has already described in writing all that will soon come to pass as He sets about repairing the Holy land, and in the end, He heals His entire planet and even all of nature itself.
It is frequently, if not constantly, pleaded from nearly every Christian church in the United States, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!” (Psalm 122:6)
Indeed, we must.
But that seemingly impossible prayer can only be answered through a single outstanding blessing that we all eagerly await.
The Peace of Jerusalem will never be conjured up by any human leader, it will not be represented by a treaty, not a coming to our senses and certainly not the result of an overwhelming military action.
The Peace of Jerusalem has a Name – and His Name is Jesus.
Even as we pray for the brotherhood and the tribe, as well as the Peace Who has been promised to Jerusalem, none of us need suffer under the weight of uncertainty, because we know in explicit detail how this is all going to end. There will be great trials and tribulations before the ultimate triumph of all history. And, every day, we are drawing closer to the trial and tribulation part that must come before the brilliant end of the rule of sin over our tired and thoroughly pummeled and nearly ruined planet.
Jesus shall return to rule the nations as the Dread Champion of Israel and the world. The New Jerusalem will descend over the Mount of Olives, casting its colossal shadow, blocking the sunlight over all of Israel, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The brotherhood and the tribe will finally come together to worship the Peace of Jerusalem for eternity. Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that our Brother is King of kings and Lord of lords, and thus it shall always be. War and violence in the land of our Savior will finally be vanquished by His eternal peace.
Until then, let us pray for the brotherhood as we pray for our tribe. And let us pray in perfect peace because we know exactly how all this tangled anguish is to be resolved in the very near future! There is no reason to be vexed, for the uncertainty has already been addressed.
In the quite astonishing end of all that we now know, a very new and exceedingly different eternity will begin just this way:
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” (Revelation 21:3-4)
—- And, oh by the way, beloved members of the Priory of The Temple Church, Claudia and I also pray for all of you with equal fervency, love, and devotion. We all walk together down this rugged pathway to Zion’s magnificent gates that will hover over the Mount of Olives in a splendor and power that no one can even begin to imagine. As Templars, that is our future. Until that day, let us unite together and be about the work of the Great Kingdom! It is our oath before God and man.