According to some in Israel, Hamas’s October 7 attack amounted to the start of the long-prophesied War of Gog and Magog, which would usher in the arrival of the messiah. With both US Christian evangelicals and Hamas also yearning for a “redemptive” war, the risks of escalation are acute.
TEL AVIV – Throughout recorded history, crises and tragedies have inevitably spurred apocalyptic interpretations that seek to imbue temporal catastrophes with some divine or redemptive meaning. One can see this in the doctrines of the major monotheistic religions, and even in modern totalitarian ideologies, such as communism and Nazism. One way or another, humans appear inclined to believe that, without Satan, there is no redeemer.
TEL AVIV – Throughout recorded history, crises and tragedies have inevitably spurred apocalyptic interpretations that seek to imbue temporal catastrophes with some divine or redemptive meaning. One can see this in the doctrines of the major monotheistic religions, and even in modern totalitarian ideologies, such as communism and Nazism. One way or another, humans appear inclined to believe that, without Satan, there is no redeemer.