Hugh Fitzgerald at Jihad Watch is posting reports that cracks are developing in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. These reports, which quote Omid Habibinia of The Media Line, say that even members of the force charged with suppressing Iranians are straining under what they’ve unleashed: an apparently once-in-a-century massacre of Iranians protesting the regime, in which as many as 40,000 may have been killed and 300,000 injured.
We hear reports of one IRGC officer refusing to return to active duty after confronting brutality. He talked of depression, hospitalization and family among the wounded and missing. Orders have gone out that anyone refusing a “shoot-to-kill” order will be arrested and put before a military tribunal. Public statements announce punishment for “insubordination” and “desertion.” Those threats reveal what their bullets are attempting to suppress: that the foundations are beginning to quake.
Back to Jerusalem has long believed that the answer to violent ideology is not more violence — it’s the Gospel. Bombs may blast leadership, but Bibles build lives. Military strikes may level a country, but only the Gospel can rebuild it in Jesus’ Name.
This is why, while many will try to tell you that the situation in Iran can only be remedied from the outside by military force, we have to be intentional about where we place our hope. The bombs they’re calling for may level buildings, but they won’t rebuild broken lives. Only God can do that. For “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness” (Ephesians 6:12). The Father is working mightily behind the scenes.
And that’s why our response is different. Back to Jerusalem has long held to the conviction that violence begets violence. The solution to violent ideology is not more killing — it’s the Gospel.
