Shabbat shalom from rainy Galilee,
As I rest at home, recover from whatever I’ve been fighting, and gather strength for a very busy week ahead, I wanted to share some thoughts on recent events in Europe and America.
The West needs to stop confusing material superiority with moral strength.
You can have the strongest economies, the most advanced weapons, and the greatest universities and still become morally bankrupt. Technology cannot replace truth. Wealth cannot replace righteousness. And a Christian past cannot replace faithfulness to God in the present.
Consider what happened in the 7th century. Arab Muslim armies conquered vast territories of the Eastern Roman Empire, including lands where Christianity had been established for centuries.
A Christian writer known as Pseudo-Methodius interpreted those devastating defeats as God’s judgment on Christian unfaithfulness. His interpretation was not Scripture. Yet the warning deserves our attention: outward power can conceal inward decay.
The biblical example goes back much further.
Babylon conquered Judah and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. Was Babylon more righteous than Judah? Absolutely not! Habakkuk wrestled with that very question: How could God use a nation even more wicked to judge His own people?
Yet God did exactly that. And afterward, He judged Babylon too.
Babylon’s victory did not prove its righteousness. Judah’s defeat exposed the emptiness of claiming a godly heritage while living in rebellion against God.
Now look at the West.
Christianity helped shape its understanding of human dignity, personal responsibility, charity, justice, and the accountability of rulers. Western nations never lived up to those standards perfectly. Far from it. But Scripture provided the standard by which their sins could be exposed and confronted.
Today, much of the West despises that biblical foundation while assuming it can keep enjoying its benefits forever.
We reject God’s authority, mock His Word, redefine morality, and then wonder why our societies are losing their direction.
Do we really believe that economic power and military superiority make us immune to the consequences?
The comparison does not mean that today’s West is ancient Judah, or that we can declare every setback a specific act of divine judgment. The warning is that neither a Christian heritage nor material strength gives a society permission to abandon God without consequence.
And where Islamist movements gain power, their success does not prove that their beliefs are true or their cause is righteous. Babylon’s victory did not make Babylon righteous either. Nor should ordinary Muslims be confused with movements seeking to impose their rule.
The 7th-century conquests and the destruction of ancient Judah are different events. But both confront us with a sobering question: What happens when a people trust in their strength and heritage while abandoning their responsibility before God?
The West needs more than stronger borders, better weapons, and different leaders. It needs repentance.
You cannot keep boasting about the fruits of your Christian heritage while tearing out its roots.
Awaiting His Soon Return,
Amir
November 1, 2026 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 How Deep is Your Love by Dr. Mark Hitchcock @markhitchcock
Worship times
8:00 | 9:30 | 11:00am
Mark’s outline
https://t.co/X9aH5LYk42
Projected closing lineup for the Thunder this year:
SGA
Cason Wallace (OUT FOR SEASON)
Caruso (out for TBD)
JDUB (OUT FOR SEASON)
Chet (Out for 2+ months)
What a complete disaster
My statement on the 24 Team College Football Playoff:
The regular season will be fine and there will still be bad playoff games (happened in the 4 team era as well lol) but now we get 2 rounds of on campus games (they should all be on campus until the natty)
People just want to hate because it’s fun to hate on something they think they won’t like
This is the exact same thing people said about the 12 team playoff and the regular season has only gotten BETTER
The regular season isn’t dependent on whether or not a game “matters” it’s dependent on players / coaches / fanbases caring about beating the team that lines up across from them every week and THAT is never going to change and because THAT is never going to change the regular season will still be awesome and now we get more playoff games, more ON CAMPUS games and more potential matchups we would otherwise NOT get (oh the horror of a 24 team playoff)