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Dictators, Ma‛tsâr, And P.M. Netanyahu

Dictators, Ma‛tsâr, And P.M. Netanyahu

Last updated on: September 11, 2024 at 12:50 pm by Martin Thomas Johnson

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Dictators, Ma‛tsâr, And P.M. Netanyahu 2024-09-11T12:50:45-04:00 Martin Thomas Johnson

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Over the weekend citizen Trump held a rally in New Jersey where he continued to push his anti-American and unchristian agenda and continued pushing the big lie about the 2020 presidential election. His project 2025 is a radical abuse of power.

Trump Rally

Image by Pixabay

It has become more obvious that Mr. Trump is hell-bent on becoming a dictator. For those who disagree, below are a few characteristics of dictators.

Rule by decree
Oppression of political opponents
The existence of a cult personality
Disobey the rules of the law and order

I am awestruck by how many conservatives who’ve walked away from Christian values to support the anti-Christian and un-American MAGA movement. God’s people are called to obey and worship God alone (Exodus 20:3-4.)

Earthly leaders can be corrupted by their power or doing whatever they must to stay in control. It can cause a man to become delusional.

Control

Control is defined as, “To exercise restraining or directing influence over; regulate.” Control comes in many forms: physical, mental, political, or religious. Whoever is in control can live by their own standards.

It’s obvious why so many people will fight to be in control, they want the power and prestige that come with it. Especially, in a world that is clearly out of control.

After my accident, a childhood pastor came to visit me in the hospital and gave me some advice after I was away from the church for six years, “Being a Christian doesn’t mean being a rug for people to walk all over, and it also doesn’t mean harming or walking on others.”

Self-control

Image by Pixabay

Christianity has a lot to say about control on different levels because ultimately only God is in control of everything (Matthew 4:1-25: John 16:33, James 1:19, 2 Peter 1:5-7.)

The early church leaders understood the world was out of control because the hearts of men were out of control. No one understood this better than The Apostle Paul (Romans 7:19-25.)

He constantly reminded the early church to live by the Spirit and practice self-control (Romans 12:2-19, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Galatians 5:22-23, 2 Timothy 1:7, Titus 2:11-12.) He remembered his Jewish education about control.

Ma‛tsâr

Judaism has a lot to say about control, specifically self-control because we serve a God of law and order. One of the Hebrew words for control in the Old Testament is ma‛tsâr and it can also mean, “Rule or restraint,” depending on its context.

God’s people are commanded by the Torah to be different from the world that is out of control. The ancient world was obsessed with pleasure and power. God told the prophets to remind His people to be different from the world. (Psalm 23:1-6, Proverbs 25:28, Isaiah 45:7.)

God’s law was given to help His people to practice self-control, and not do whatever they wanted (Leviticus 22:32, Exodus 20:1-19, Deuteronomy 6:16.)

Do not profane God’s name.
Don’t worship other gods.
Do not worship idols.
Don’t murder.
Do not steal.
Don’t envy others.
Do not lie.
Don’t work on the Sabbath.
Do not bow down to graven images
Don’t seek revenge.

Torah

Image by Pixabay

Jesus taught His followers that He didn’t come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17.) Jesus understood God’s people need to live by law and order. He encouraged His followers to practice self-control and humility and condemned those who abused their power (Matthew 5:28; 20:25-29; 23:13-37.)

Jesus, Himself laid down his rights as God and didn’t abuse His powers to control others like a ruthless dictator.

Netanyahu

For weeks now world leaders have been cautioning and condemning Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his plans and attempts to bomb and attack the Rafah settlement in Gaza.

The United Nations and various countries are concerned about innocent civilians being killed or hurt and the damage to Gaza’s infrastructure. They are attempting to control the collateral damage to Palestinians.

Still, the Prime Minister is hell-bent on getting revenge for the savage attack against Israel last year. As a political science major from Harvard, Netanyahu should understand the consequences of becoming consumed with control and revenge. It causes God’s people to become more like the world than God (Exodus 23:4-5, Leviticus 19:18.)

Corrupt
Deceptive
Prideful
Vengeful

Adolf Hitler

Image by Wikipedia Commons

This conflict is a humble reminder that none of us are perfect, not even the people of God. We have seen over the centuries God’s people have waged wars and done evil in the name of God.

Even Hitler masked anti-Semitism to purify Germany. Today MAGA will stop at nothing to achieve total power and ma‛tsâr!

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