Demons, Martin Luther King Jr., and Gaza

Dissecting Christian support for total war

Mark Shrime, MD, PhD

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O n October 16, 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted this about his country’s assault on the Palestinian territories they occupied:

This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle. —Benjamin Netanyahu

He deleted the tweet the next day, right after the first of Gaza’s 36 hospitals was bombed—but not before a lot of people, including some of my fellow Christians, adopted his wording:

Source

Which, I’ll admit, surprised me. “Sons of darkness” is pretty evocative language.

And while Evangelicals have always supported the state of Israel, Christian Zionism alone doesn’t go far enough to explain their fervor. [1] (This is a long blog post; yes, there are footnotes).

To do that, we need to talk about demons. And an unfortunate chap named Bobby.

The Christian Stephen King

“Spirit, who are you?” Andy demanded. Bobby remained silent, his entire body strained, his lips tightly together, his eyes bulging out. He was taking frantic, short breaths through his nose. His face was crimson.

“Spirit,” said Andy, “I command you to tell us who…

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Mark Shrime, MD, PhD
Mark Shrime, MD, PhD

Written by Mark Shrime, MD, PhD

Author, SOLVING FOR WHY | Global surgeon | Decision analyst | Climber | 3x American Ninja Warrior Competitor

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