Dr. John Avant

Those who know me well know that it’s fairly rare when I speak out about politics. I respect those called into that realm, but my primary lane and my singular passion is revival that leads to the fulfillment of the great commission.

However, I believe that some issues rise to an importance where leaders lose much of their credibility if they are not clear where they stand.

And even more important, every follower of Jesus must be ready for a “Bonhoeffer moment,” where we must decide that what is at stake is worth our lives, and that compromise becomes evil. And that we are required, not just to speak, but to act in whatever way we are given to do so.

We may not be far away from that point when it comes to Iran. I fully support the effort to destroy this regime because they have been evil incarnate since I was a teenager.

And it is desperately important that we learn from the past so that we don’t repeat our failures.

During the early days of World War II, almost all of Europe tried to negotiate with Hitler. Isolation and appeasement, along with lots of fruitless talk was the order of the day.

If you have ever read the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, or The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, you should be aware that what you are reading is really the symbolic and allegorical position of these two incredible authors, that some evil cannot be ignored or escaped because it’s far away.

In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo does not want to be involved with battles far away. He doesn’t see why the influence of Sauron, the dark Lord, should be any of his concern. Gandalf says to him, “The wide world is all about you. You can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.”

I was 19 years old when the Ayatollah started this war. Since then, he has led his evil regime to kill Americans on airplanes, in military barracks, on naval ships, and in many other places, and he’s done it by the thousands. He has attempted to kill our president. He threatened our entire nation with destruction and promised to wipe Israel, our ally, off the map. And he pursued the nuclear means to keep his promises.

For me, this is the very definition of the reason for a just war. War is horrible. War brings death, not only to the enemy but also to American warriors.

And perhaps the only thing worse than war is simply deciding to let evil win.

So for me, this is one of those moments that transcends politics and requires a leader to speak clearly.

I believe that the United States of America should lead the way in eliminating the evil regime of Iran and setting its people free. 

May God bless and protect this nation and those who defend it. And may he give all of us the courage once again that defeated the same kind of evil regimes long ago.

Dr. Avant is the founder and President of Passion Promise Ministries.