What I remember most about the first days of the COVID crisis was the sense that I had no idea whom to believe. I was skeptical of claims made the government because, well, they were claims made by the government. But the science end of things was, and is, well beyond my ken.
I feel much the same way, for many of the same reasons, about the war in Iran. For the last ten years or so my consumption of news has been mostly confined to scrolling through Twitter. If something caught my eye I’d head down the rabbit trail. If not, I kept scrolling. Over the course of this past decade, however, we not only have increasingly mysterious algorithms feeding our feeds, but increasingly advanced AI providing the images as well as the copy of our “news.”
Of course war’s fog existed long before the computer chip. There’s even historical dispute about the first to utter this hard truth, “In war, truth is the first casualty.” Some say the Greek writer Aeschylus, some say Senator Hiram Johnson, back in 1918. The good news is that who said it doesn’t much matter- it’s true. People who are willing to shoot at other people are likely to be comfortable not telling the truth about what’s happened.
Which is why I don’t think many of us have much understanding of what’s actually going on over there. The sunshine being spread by either side is suspect. And by either side, I mean all three sides. That is, Iran’s press releases shouldn’t be trusted. Secretary of War Hegseth’s press releases shouldn’t be trusted. And whatever the mainstream media tells us shouldn’t be trusted. It is difficult to not know. So difficult in fact that we are too quick to think we do know.
A month from now we know may more. The Strait of Hormuz may be closed, or it may be open. China may join the fray, or it may not. We may pry Iran’s cold, dead fingers off its nuclear program, or we may not. We may be beating our swords into plowshares, or we may not.
Which is why it is always so important for us to rest in what we know, to remember what we’ve been promised, to recognize who the real enemies are. We are in a perpetual state of war, and have been from the beginning. We have enemies within our own camp. Many of our enemies today will be our allies tomorrow. What is absolutely certain is that our Captain will win. In truth, He already has (John 16:33). What we’re engaged in is what the military calls a “mop-up operation.”
As believers, whether American, Iranian or Israeli, we do not put our trust in princes or horses, presidents or stealth fighters. Rather we trust the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the almighty, the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ. Truth may be the first casualty of war. The One who is the Truth, however, is the full and final victor.
Exactly. Couldn’t have said it better myself…. I guess that’s why I read what you have to say, because you almost always say it better than me.