Being a political blog (amongst other things), the core “family” here are used to talking about difficult topics. Part of the tension in our age of high-volume media coverage comes from the task of sorting idle rhetoric (e.g. “sabre rattling”) from material that is very important. Despite the cycles and patterns of history, we continue to be surprised by current events. The story of the boy who cried wolf seems to explain this in part. Sometimes our surprise comes from ignorance: there is information guarded by the intelligence community that is not available to the general public. In all of this, there is our faith: in a world that feels at times like it is falling apart, we hold on to the promise of the resurrection and the new heavens and new earth.

We are seeing a great polarising effect in the West, which, at least to some extent, we as Christians are contributing to. I do not mean this as an accusation, but as an observation. We remain a people apart. Our loyalty is to Yahweh, and loyalty to Him is not a default position. Christianity is an “opt in” faith, not an “opt out” one. Baptism of infants is a vicarious activity: it is a pledge by the parents to raise their child in the Christian faith. It is for the child to affirm this faith for himself (or refuse it if he so chooses) at the time of confirmation or, allowing for denominational differences, another appropriate juncture in his spiritual life.

Our faith is by its nature incapable of pleasing parties outside it because their loyalty is not subjected to God. Christian conscience is founded on a recognition of true goodness and on the principle that we should subject our will to God’s because He knows best and He is Lord, the author of life. We reject the Alt-Left’s opposition to Truth, because it is opposition to God, who is the Truth. We must also reject the far right: their inclemency is not compatible with the principle of charity, and, as John the Beloved tells us, God is love.

We must remember our ultimate loyalty because there will be times when we will be tempted to compromise. I was intrigued when I saw an interview on the Rubin Report, a programme I watch from time to time, in which Dave Rubin asked his guests, Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson, about the distinction between Christianity and Judaism. Their answers seemed to track on political theology, and this makes sense given the general context and content of the interview. As a Zionist, I would be keen to emphasize the place of Israel in the salvation plan of God, Yahweh’s portion among the nations (see Deuteronomy 32). Nevertheless, I would want to affirm what remains the defining point of Christianity: Jesus is the Messiah, promised by God through the Prophets, and He is Yahweh, who walked among His people Israel.

The central truths of Christianity have been challenged since the coming of Jesus the Messiah. They will continue to be challenged in these difficult times. We must remind those outside of these truths, of what their positions actually entail in respect of their stance towards Jesus, who is Yahweh. Only those loyal to Yahweh will be saved. He who rejects Jesus rejects Yahweh, or as John the Beloved put it: “No-one who denies the Son has the Father” (1 Jn 2:23).