Choosing Life or Death in the Conflict in the Middle East (Chester UMC)

Choosing life or death is what we're talking about today.

So I said last week that I was I was feeling led to preach on and

address the the conflict between Israel and Iran and the Middle

East and ask for your prayers about that.

And then I'm going forward with that today.

Will you can let me know at the end of the message whether this

is was was God's plan or or just too much sun yesterday.

This I will tell you upfront, this is a hardest sermon.

I I have never had such difficulty preparing messages

for this one today. And so if I stumble a little

bit, I ask your your understanding and your patience.

I have committed to you and to myself over the years not to get

partisan or political in in certain not to get partisan.

You can't help but be political in the truest sense of the word

and things that that affect the polity, the community, the

country, but not to be partisan. And, and, and I, I am committed

to that this morning, too. I believe what I'm going to be

sharing is not partisan. It might look like it at times.

And I'll tell you up front, Full disclosure, I'm, I'm going to

take a side in this conflict and in this sermon, but not based on

partisanship or politics. I tell you that there are some

things that I believe that that are in line with what the

Republicans do. There's some things that I

believe that are in line with what the Democrat Party does.

There's some things that I believe that neither of them

care about and some things that they care about deeply that I

don't care about at all. I'm, I'm all over the board when

it comes to politics. And, and my goal here, and the

intent here is not to preach a, a, a message that would be

better suited for a news outlet, but to preach the good news of

Jesus Christ as it bears upon this situation.

And, and I this conflict in, in its renewed form has been going

on for well over a year and a half now since October 7th of

2023. And I haven't addressed that

from here. And part of that is because it

felt like in many respects from, from this ministry setting, from

our community setting, it really is a long way away.

It's very important, but it's, it's doesn't seem to directly

bear upon us. We don't have a large Jewish

population in Meggs County. We don't have a large Muslim

population in Meggs County. We don't have military or at

least then we didn't have military actively involved in

the conflict, military from the United States.

So it seemed like this is this is very controversial.

It's very divisive. It doesn't directly bear on the

ministry that we have right here and right now.

And so I'm I'm maybe I was just a chicken, but I just said I'm

not going to I'm not going to talk about it from the pulpit.

Then a couple of things happened more recently.

One is the United States got directly involved and the other

is, is I found myself involved in a very distressing

conversation at a local small retail establishment where I was

waiting to check out and the person in front of me was

speaking to another person that was there and talking about.

And I, I, I walked up, I eavesdrop.

I don't apply. Apologize for it.

You're really interesting things.

And this guy was talking loud so he didn't have to work hard at

it. And, and I was, I, I, I was

heard it midway through the conversation, but he was saying

something that affected not an exact quote because he was

talking fast that that there's this going to be a strike on an

American vessel in the Middle East, a ship.

And, and it's going to be under a false flag.

It's going to look like it's Iran, but it's really Israel

attacking the United States to make sure we get involved in the

war over there. And I being me, said that's

nuts. I just interjected myself into

the conversation and said, that's nuts.

That's not going to happen. Israel's not going to do that.

Israel's one of our strongest allies.

And he immediately went on all, you've got to be crazy.

The Jews do this and the Jews do that, and the Jews do this.

And then the other person that was present interjected and

said, yes, and they are demonstrating for our freedom in

Germany. Now that puzzled me.

So I looked at her and I said, freedom from what?

And she said the Jews, and I thought, this is not far away,

This is right here, this is right here.

And, and, and I need to address it.

There's no room in the Kingdom of God for bigotry of any kind,

whether it's anti-Semitism or Islamophobia or, or, or bigotry

against women, any ethnic class, any group.

There's just no room for it in the Kingdom of God.

And, and that conflict that's happening in a military fashion

on the other side of the world is in reality part of a larger

war that affects all of us, particularly those of us who are

committed to following Jesus Christ.

And, and so as it was at that point that I really began to

think, I need, I need to start addressing this.

And so here we are. And, and this, I got way too

much material and, and, and I, I'm not going to be able to, I'm

going to forget stuff. And, and this is not going to be

a perfect sermon. I apologize for it.

I'm going to be sharing information because there's so

much material. I'm not going to give source

citations if you, I have source citations.

If you want source citations later, feel free to reach out to

me and I'll provide those if if you disagree with what I'm

saying today, as again, that no one ever goes to hell for

disagreeing with the pastor, OK, particularly when the pastor is

me. So feel free, feel free to share

that with me. I'm happy to have conversation

about this. It's incredibly difficult

subject. It's incredibly divisive.

And there are there are people all over the spectrum of

positions on this. And, and I am sharing to you

what I believe to be a faithful way to look at this conflict

through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And like I say, I don't want to do this from a partisan

perspective. This isn't about, you know,

political alliances. And it's not about the type of

biblical framework that says, well, the Jews are God's chosen

people and Israel is the homeland of the Jews.

Therefore we have to support Israel whatever they do.

I don't I don't think that's true.

I think the Jewish people are God's chosen people, But being

Jewish doesn't inoculate someone from being a bad actor and to

simply, you know, Christians are part of God's chosen people too

now. And, and Christian people do

awful things sometimes and, and Jewish folks do awful things

sometimes. And I think that kind of

analysis is too simplistic and and lends too easily to simply

offering a blanket endorsement no matter what is done.

But I do believe that the heart of the gospel in the heart of

the Scripture give us a framework that we can use to

look at this and analyze this and other kinds of conflicts to

say where and how can we step in?

Whether it's through political action, whether it's through

military participation, if we want to join the military or

have loved ones that want to do that, or, or whether it's

through how we have conversation with people around us in the

community and on social media about this.

And that framework has to do with the scriptures that we read

already this morning. Question that I like to ask.

I don't always do it because again, I'm me, but is where is

God in any situation that I'm faced with?

Where is God and what is God doing?

And one of the things that we know definitely about God from

the Scripture, it's repeated over and over again in the Old

Testament and in the New Testament, is that God is a

giver of life. God created life and he called

it good. God put Adam and Eve in the

middle of the Garden of Eden, where they had all that they

needed for a wonderful life. And he put a tree in that garden

that was the tree of life. And then he just gave them one

rule. Don't eat.

I don't know. I've been preaching on this.

Why are you saying this again, Blevins?

It's short this time. Don't eat from this.

There's one tree. You don't eat from the tree of

the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat the fruit of that

tree, you will surely die. And they did, and they brought

death into the world. God is a giver of life.

Evil is a bringer of death. And so a question to ask when

we're faced these with these kinds of situations is who or

what is bringing life into the world and who or what is

bringing death into the world. And that can be a clear

indication, or at least a way to gauge an indication of where God

is and what God is doing and how we as God's people can follow

him in that by action and by word.

We Rayan read this from John, Jesus saying quite upfront, I

came that you might have life and have it to the full.

So the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, stealing,

killing, destroying. There's a lot of that going on.

But Jesus said I came that you would have life and that you

would have it fully. And in Deuteronomy we get, we

give it even a starker, clearer statement.

This is this is the children of Israel.

They've they've left slavery in Egypt.

They've journeyed through the promised land.

They're on the verge of entering the after 40 years in the

wilderness, they're on the verge finally of entering the land of

promise that God is giving to them.

And Moses gives this very long speech and he's speaking on

behalf of God and he's saying, I'm offering you life.

I'm giving you this land. It's, it's in, in some respects,

a second Eden. It's not perfect like the Garden

of Eden was, but it's a land flowing with milk and honey.

It's a land of abundance. And if you follow me and live

out my way in this land, you will have life.

And if you don't, you will have death.

And Moses offers this startling question or statement.

I've lain before you. 2 choices, life and death.

Choose life, choose life. And I think that's a framework

that we as God's followers can use.

Now, there's a lot of things about that Deuteronomy story

that we cannot directly apply to us.

God was making a land covenant or had made a land covenant with

his people, the Israelites, to give them real estate.

That land covenant is not part of our covenant that we live

under. We live under the new covenant,

a covenant of forgiveness of sin through the life, death, and

resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so this is not appropriately

used to say we get to go and take whatever land we want in

the name of Jesus and claim God's blessings on that.

That's not what this is about. But what it is about and where

we can find a place to intersect with this story in our thinking

is this business of the choice between what brings life and

what brings death. And God's way brings life and

the way of evil brings death. And when our choices are

bringing death in our own life or into the lives of others, we

need to ask real hard, am I following God?

When our choices are bringing life for ourselves and those

around us, we need to look around and thank God and thank

God for that. And so that's the framework that

I want us to take into this and the mindset who and what is

bringing life and who and what is bringing death.

Now, that question is complicated in the midst of a

military conflict where both people on both sides are

bringing death. That's how war works.

And, and we, you know, I, I've grown up in a generation far

removed from war long past, You know, I, I was still very young.

Some of you will be jealous of this and think, man, he's just a

kid. Others of you will think, man,

he really is old. But I, I was a little kid when

the, when the Vietnam War ended. I have no living memory of the

Vietnam War. I have no living memory at all

of World War 2. And the other wars we fought

have been real. There's been conflict, there's

been trauma, there's been death. But, but they were far removed

from me. Nothing really ever touched

American shores aside from the occasional acts of terrorism.

But war is hell. I don't know who originally said

that. I can't remember.

I've been told, but it is reality.

There is no war without death. There is no war without killing.

And that includes the killing of military combatants, and it

always includes the killing of civilians.

Always. And so in war it seems like

everybody's bringing death. But unless we are going to

commit to the path of pacifism, total pacifism, and some

Christian groups have decided to do that, our Amish sisters and

brothers committed to pacifism, I think most of those folks

will, maybe not gladly, but will faithfully suffer death

themselves rather than lift up arms and violence against

another Quakers or other Christians in that tradition who

have committed to pacifism. Here's the challenge with

pacifism is that I don't think nations can choose that route in

any meaningful way unless they're so small that no one

really cares to conquer them or they're surrounded by larger

nations that do their fighting for them.

To be a nation in the world where there are bad actors means

sometimes committing to violence.

I think it is worth asking what's the purpose of the

violence? Is the purpose of the violence

ultimately to pave the way for bringing life, or is the purpose

of violence simply death and destruction of the enemy?

And, and again, this is, I wish this, I wish I could lay this

out and say it in a, in sort of a black and white clear cut way,

but but I can't see it that way. So I can't lay it out that way.

If you can see it that way again, come talk to me.

I'd be happy to hear that too. But I think there is, when you

look at history and when you look at culture, that there is a

group in this conflict that is committed to bringing life.

And there's a group in this conflict that is 100% committed

to bringing death. And I just want to take a look

at that. I'm going to start with Israel

and this. And, and I should say this too,

I don't think there is a perfect nation in the history of the

world. Whether it's the nation of

Israel or the United States or any other nation, no nation is

perfect. All make mistakes, all do bad

acts at times, all have done bad acts at times.

There's plenty in the history of the United States of America

which is not praiseworthy or laudable or of God.

But what's the overall impact? What's the overall movement of

the culture and civilization that that nation is moving

forward and out into the world? I can tell you this, that, that

Israel, Israel small, the only Jewish nation in the world, the

only Jewish nation in the world. They have a population of right

around 7 million people. By contrast, there are 56 Muslim

nations in the world with a population of about 2 billion

people. If you do the math, and my

calculator did that relative, that makes the number of Jews in

Israel .35% of the number of Muslims in all the Muslim

countries in the world. And, and in that nation of

Israel, it is the most democratic, most free society

within the Middle East. Now, all of those other nations

are not in the Middle East. There's, there's, and I get, I

don't want to get lost in the weeds, but Israel has a

democracy, a Democratic Republic similar to ours with free

elections and minority representation.

There are Arabs and Muslims in the Hebrew Knesset, which is

their version of Congress. There is a Palestinian on the

Supreme Court and the nation of Israel and, and there are equal

rights, sort of, sort of Jewish folks have advantages in terms

of land ownership. And Palestinians, particularly

in Gaza, in the West Bank, have fewer privileges and fewer

rights and live under a different kind of system than

the Palestinians that are citizens in Israel.

There are many Palestinians that are citizens in Israel, but the

government is inclusive. Citizens, regardless of

ethnicity or religion, can participate in the democratic

process and have representation in their government.

Israel supports and affirms freedom of speech and press and

religion, including the freedom of protest within Israel.

You can say bad things about the government.

You're free to, just like you are in the United States.

Israel guarantees freedom of religion to Jewish, Muslims, and

other religious minorities, including the freedom of worship

and the ability to practice their faith openly.

Religious freedom for Christian worship, including in Israel,

freedom for limited proselytization to go out and

seek converts to Christianity. You can do that in Israel.

They have restrictions. You can't proselytize.

You can't evangelize children without the permission of the

parents, and you can't offer incentives for conversion.

Hey, convert and you get a timeshare.

Nothing like that. But you can't proselytize in

Israel. Christians can.

And there's tension in Israel between the secular and the

religious, just like there's tension in the United States

between the secular and the religious.

The role of women in Israel. Women and women's rights are

strongly protected in the nation of Israel.

Israel guarantees equal opportunities.

Women can work in all sectors, including high political

positions. There was gold in my ear, one of

the his first female, the first woman Prime Minister of the

nation of Israel, one of the greatest leaders in history.

According to some, not everyone agrees with that.

There are no clothing restrictions on women in Israel.

They can wear what they choose, whether it's modest or western

style. Ultra Orthodox Jewish women have

cultural pressure to dress in a certain way, but that's not.

Legal pressure and they're free to address our And when there's

marriage equality, women have the right to choose their

spouses, their work and leave marriages.

The law supports women in family court and protects their rights

in divorce and custody cases. There's freedom of expression

and arts, music and media in Israel.

Just a small look at it. And again, it's not to say

Israel's perfect, but these are political realities in Israel.

I want to compare that with Iran under the current regime, the

Islamic Republic of Iran, which is very, very different than the

government that existed in Iran before the Islamic Republic,

which was established in 1979. In Iran, freedom of speech is

restricted and it's heavily controlled, and criticism of the

government and religious leadership is punishable,

sometimes by imprisonment, sometimes by violence.

The media is subject to censorship.

The government controls media outlets.

Journalists who challenge the regime face harassment,

imprisonment and execution. There are people in jail in Iran

now because they've criticized the government.

Media state controlled, with most outlets promoting

government approved narratives. Independent journalism has

stifled. Websites including social media

like Facebook are censored or banned.

Widespread Internet censorship. Online dissent is monitored by

the government, and political protests and dissent are

prohibited in a harshly repressed civil rights are

limited. The regime operates under

Islamic law, Sharia law. Religious minorities have

limited rights. Now, interestingly, the largest

Jewish community in the Middle East outside of Israel is in

Iran. It's in Iran.

They are very, very limited. They're not allowed to

participate in government, don't know if they can participate in

elections or not. Government limits personal

freedom of political opposition. Only those loyal to the

government are allowed to hold high office.

The Supreme Leader and religious figures hold ultimate power and

opposition parties are banned or repressed.

Religious minorities face persecution, including Muslim

minorities, and have limited rights and subject to

discrimination. Government crackdowns.

Women's legal rights are very limited in Iran.

They're restricted under Islamic law imposed by the regime, and

while they can vote, work and attend university, they're

subject to strict rules concerning dress, behavior and

movement. Women face gender segregation in

many areas of their life. Their rights are often curtailed

by male guardianship. They face significant

discrimination at work. Equal pay laws are weak.

They're underrepresented in high political positions and

professional positions. Their ability to travel and

pursue certain professions is controlled by the state of their

dress codes. Women are required by law to

wear the hijab, and that's any woman, not just Muslim women.

Any woman, visitors or citizens are required to wear the hijab.

Women who fail to comply face punishments including fines,

imprisonment, and harassment by the morality police, including

violent physical harassment. Marriage and family rights are

limited. Women's rights within marriage

are controlled by Islamic law. They must obtain permission from

their husbands for certain things, including traveling.

Women's testimony in court is considered to be half as

valuable as a man's, and polygamy is allowed for men

under certain situations. Hamas, which is the governing

body, The political military governing body in Gaza right

now, or was, is even more restrictive.

Iran's attitudes toward Israel have been clearly stated.

The Ayatollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic,

says Israel must be wiped off. Well, he said he's dead now,

said Israel must be wiped off the map.

He made that in a speech in 1980.

They're different. They're very my phone.

I apologize for doing so much reading today, but I could not

hold all of this information in my head.

The Ayatollah Khomeini, who is the current Supreme Leader,

published a nine point plan for eliminating Israel back in 2014,

where he refers to armed resistance until Israel is

destroyed. He did clarify that he doesn't

support genocide of Jews, but rather the elimination of the

Zionist regime. The Constitution of the Islamic

Republic of Iran explicitly states that the oppressed well

promote Islamic unity and defend the rights of the oppressed.

And they oppose all forms of domination, especially by the

world of arrogance, which is a phrase that they use to refer to

the United States and Israel, IRGC Commander Hossein Salami in

2019 said the Senate, Speaking of Israel, the Senator Stur

regime must be wiped off the map.

And there is no longer, this is no longer a dream, it is an

achievable goal, Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

said. Israel must be wiped off the

map. Hamas's attitude, Iran, and it

has to be acknowledged, explicitly denies genocide and

explicitly and all their official publications call only

for the destruction of the nation of Israel, only for the

destruction of the nation of Israel, but explicitly do not

call for genocide of Jews everywhere.

However, Iran is the sponsor, trainer, equiper and supporter

of Hamas and Hezbollah, and they are not nearly so discerning.

Hamas's founding charter in 1988 said this Israel will exist, and

will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it just as

it obliterated others before it, and that Hamas strives to raise

the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.

And that the day of the enemies, the day the enemies usurp part

of Muslim land. Jihad becomes the duty of

individual, every individual Muslim.

Their 2017 revision endorses complete liberation of Palestine

from the river to the sea, which can only happen if the nation of

Israel is destroyed. It does not recognize the

legitimacy of Israel. Some key leaders in Hamas have

said things like this. Deputy Speaker Ahmad Bar in 2012

said called to eliminate for the eliminating the Jews and says O

Allah destroy the Jews and their supporter And Imam Yusuf Al

Zahar in 2008 said it more clear, said this Jews are people

who cannot be trusted. Fadi Hamad, former Gaza Interior

minister, said, all of you, 7 million Palestinians abroad, you

have Jews everywhere and we must attack every Jew on the globe by

way of slaughter and killing with Allah's help.

Ghazi Haman, Hamas's political Bureau, said Israel is a country

that has no place on our land. We must remove the country.

We must teach Israel a lesson and we will do this again and

again. This was, he said this, by the

way, in 2024. So the AL Aqsa flood, which was

the name that Hamas gave to their attack on Israel in 2023,

the AL Aqsa flood is just the first time.

And Hamas affiliated TV says our doctrine and fighting you, the

Jews, is that we will totally exterminate you.

We will not leave a single one of you alive.

I see, and I'm going to say that this is, I see a world of

difference between those two cultures and those two regimes.

I see one of them as life bringing, not perfect but life

bringing and the others as committed to death, destruction,

stealing, killing and destroying.

Part of that has been the rising tide of anti-Semitism around the

world. Literally riots.

Hundreds of thousands of people rioting in the United States,

Canada, Europe, Australia calling for global Intifada.

Globalize The Intifada, which is a call for global violence

against Jews. The nation of Israel has been

accused of genocide or attempted genocide against the Palestinian

population. Interestingly, in 1948, when the

modern nation of Israel was established, there were 156,000

Palestinian citizens in Israel. In 2024, there were two million

Palestinian citizens in Israel. Palestinians in Gaza, in the

West Bank when they came under Israeli control and directorship

in 1967. There were 1.4 million

Palestinians in Gaza. In the West Bank in 2024, there

were five and a half million. If Israel's attempting genocide,

they're doing a terrible job. The calls and claims that Israel

is an apartheid state like South America, South Africa are at the

very best, misleading. The rights that Palestinians,

even those in Gaza and the West Bank, have are far greater than

the rights that blacks ever had. Under the apartheid regime of

South Africa, Blacks couldn't vote.

Blacks couldn't participate in the legal system, not as judges

at the higher levels. And all of those are allowed for

Palestinian citizens of Israel. Now.

Israel withdrew from palace, from Gaza in the West Bank in

2005. Hamas took over in Gaza in 2007.

I believe there is war going on in Gaza that has been horribly

destructive. I might get this number wrong.

I heard it said. I believe I'm getting it right,

but if you want to challenge me on it again, challenge me on

anything, we'll look it up together.

If I'm wrong, I'll own it. The international standard for

legitimate urban warfare. The the standard to which all

nations participating in international law or to strive

in urban warfare, you will be horrified to know is that for

everyone Military death. It has allowed three civilian

deaths and urban urban warfare is awful.

It's a warfare itself. Urban warfare is the worst.

But the international standard is if you go, if you have more

than three civilian deaths for everyone military death, that's

bad. That's a violation of

international law. That's war crime area.

In its war in Gaza since 2023, the ratio has been 1:00 to 1:00.

It's the most precise urban warfare in history.

And lots of civilians are dying, but not because Israel has been.

Israel drops Flyers and sends out messages to alert civilians

when there's going to be a military strike so they can get

out. Hamas hides their military

behind civilians to say if you want to kill us, you have to

kill them too. As IDF forces have gone through

Gaza inspecting homes, looking for entrances to tunnels and

hidden armaments and music munitions, they consistently

find the entrances to the tunnels and the weapons and

explosives in the nurseries of the Palestinians.

They hide the weapons in the tunnels in their children's

bedrooms. To me, there's no It's hard.

I find it hard to support war of any kind.

I do. I can't say that I'm a pacifist.

I'm not. But every time someone is killed

in a war, someone that Jesus died for has been killed and

placed beyond the possibility of repentance and redemption if

they were not already a Christian.

And yet, if you have an enemy that is explicitly stated and

and graphically and violently acted upon their intention to

destroy your country and to kill every single one of your Jewish

citizens, both in that country and if possible around the

world, and to defend yourself, you have to attack the enemy and

the enemy's hiding behind civilians.

Here's the thing. I can sit back and armchair

quarterback those decisions all day long because I have 0

responsibility politically, legally, officially, for

protecting Israeli citizens. The government of Israel has a

responsibility to protect Israeli citizens.

And if they are not to be destroyed, I don't know how they

do it without violence. And when the people firing the

guns and the Rockets are hiding behind children in places of

worship and hospitals, I don't know how they do it without

awful civilian casualties. And I don't say that to excuse

those things. I say that to say as as we're

talking about these things, our perspective is different because

we're not the ones responsible. Benjamin Netanyahu is not

perfect, but if I were Prime Minister of Israel, I don't know

what I would do if I had a response.

And I it's my job to protect. It's my job to protect.

I think God, I don't have to make those decisions, but we as

followers of Jesus Christ, we do have a responsibility to seek

out and look for where is the life, what culture, what

civilization, what regime seems to be more like it's promoting

life and which one seems to be more like it's promoting death.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have a responsibility to stand

against bigotry, whether it's Islamophobia or homophobia or,

or, or anti-Semitism or sexism or racism or any of these other

things. We have a responsibility to

stand against that. And, and when we look through

history and see that for at least the last 2000 years in

Christian civilizations and Pagan civilizations and

atheistic civilizations, the number one scapegoat always

seems to be the Jews. When you look as far apart as

the Nazis were and the Soviet Communists were ideological

opposites in every way, nearly every way, the one thing the

Nazis and the Communist Soviets agreed on was scapegoating and

killing Jews. The Nazis murdered 6,000,000.

The estimates are that the Soviet empire murdered 7 million

or more Jews. Why is it always the Jews that

get made the scapegoats? I heard one person say recently

when before the creation of the nation of Israel, one of the

reasons used to justify suspicion of Jews is they're

just a Vagabond mongrel race with no nation of their own.

That's why we hate them. After the nation of Israel is

created there, they have this nation, and that's why we hate

them. They don't have a right to have

their own nation. We as Christians have a

responsibility to stand against scapegoats, whoever they are.

And lots of different groups are scapegoats.

There are lots of different groups that have been scapegoats

in the history of the United States, including Jews, and we

have a responsibility to stand against that.

As followers of Jesus, our responsibility is to take

responsibility for the problems in our cultures, in our

communities, and work as hard as we can in the name of Jesus to

make our communities better and more life giving, not to

scapegoat and blame people for problems.

That Jesus has sent us to be part of the solution.

And so all I ask for us as we look at this situation is to ask

where's the life and where's the death?

And that we would faithfully choose life.

Lord gone for times when we have chosen death rather than life.

Have mercy on us, Lord, for times when we choose life over

death. Give us strength and grace and

mercy even when opposition rises.

We pray your grace and your wisdom and your mercy on us, on

this community, on in this world, in Jesus name, Amen.

Amen.