Be careful, because a house could fall on you, too!

(Disclaimer: The first paragraph is in no way an endorsement or advancement of witchcraft but merely an illustration of the point the writer hopes to make).

In the opening scene of the classic film, “The Wizard of Oz,” following Dorothy’s house being picked up by a twister and landing on the wicked witch of the north, Glinda, the good witch, sternly warns her sister, the wicked witch of the west, that she could come to the same end, with another house falling fall on her.

Which brings us to the sudden death of Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, seemingly coming out of nowhere. Or did it? 

The well-known French magazine Charlie Hebdo, which became renowned several years ago when its premises were attacked after having published what some Muslim extremists believed to be a sacrilegious cartoon, depicting the prophet Mohammed, has, once again, run a controversial comic illustration with a hand, emerging from a heavenly cloud, whose index finger touches the top of a helicopter. The accompanying title is “Dieu Existe,” (God exists).

Sent to me by an Israeli friend, he noted that even the mostly secular France, seems to be acknowledging that there very well could be a connection between Raisi’s death and the fact that he, just weeks ago, came out strongly against Israel, God’s abode, threatening to destroy it.

It is with this backdrop that the ICC (International Criminal Court) should take heed of this unexplainable and bizarre event which, seemingly out of nowhere, took the life of the Iranian president, known as the “Butcher of Tehran.”

Because in their gleeful and hasty attempt to lump murderous terrorists, who committed savage acts on October 7, together with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, all of whom they believe are deserving of condemnation and arrest for war crimes, they have effectively made a mockery of a world court, established for the purpose of rightly determining justice and injustice as it relates to the dealings of countries and their leaders towards individuals and humanity as a whole. 

However, the type of blatant bias and prejudice, against the Jewish state, in its response to a brutal massacre committed on its soil, is so transparently nothing more than a scornful attempt to recreate the image of Israel, portraying it as a racist, genocide-seeking state, which merely took advantage of the events of October 7 to execute its goal of murdering Gazans.

Is it beyond the realm of possibility that another divine intervention might appear out of nowhere, suggesting that there, indeed, is a higher power who takes note of the doling out of injustice and contempt when it comes to His people and His land?

But the Hebdo cartoonist is not alone in wondering if Raisi’s death was a sovereign act of God. Ever since his helicopter crash last Monday evening, the accident has been the cause of much speculation, given the unlikely coincidence which supposedly resulted from bad weather conditions. 

To think otherwise would necessitate taking into account that the God we’ve always told exists, is not just some “spirit in the sky” whose presence we sense on particular religious holidays or other rare occasions when we find ourselves vulnerable or needy.

Such a purposeful removal of someone would indicate that God does intervene in the daily lives of His creation, especially when He is unable to tolerate immense evil and injustice. Perhaps these divine interferences are more infrequent than we would like, but that is consistent with the fact that we were created with free will and the choice to seek out right living, through the written operating manual which we received by way of the scriptures. Conversely, we are also at liberty to reject those instructions and veer off into our own direction and proclivity, far from God’s ways.

Yet, there are those moments when something happens that has no logical or reasonable explanation, defying the natural course of events which were much more likely to occur, and it is at times, such as these, when we have to consider that mankind is not entirely the master of his fate. Raisi’s death falls into that category because of its timing, and unexpected nature. 

Likewise, the ICC may find itself in a similar predicament which will somehow suffer a consequence to being at odds with the divine plans and purposes of a country which God, Himself established after 2,000 years of exile among the nations. Because an entity, which holds itself to be the highest arbiter of meting out justice but is incapable of recognizing the right of self-defense and deterrence of a terrorist government is not worthy to maintain that vital position, since it has been found to be duplicitous in how it determines good from evil.

The treachery exhibited by this governing body and its legal experts, one of whom is Amal Clooney, wife of the actor George Clooney, who “played a key role in the decision on war crimes charges in the Israel-Hamas war” is evidence of great injustice. Although stating that she “believes in the rule of law,” her family Sunni Muslim background cannot be ignored as presenting a serious conflict of interest. 

As a human rights advocate, Clooney would have to know that avenging the deaths of 1200 innocent civilians, whose rights were completely violated, is the proper response which any sovereign country would take against a savage massacre perpetrated upon its citizens by a brutal terror group. So does Clooney believe that their ethnicity disqualified them from deserving the same human rights considerations which she would swear to uphold when it relates to others?

Likewise, Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court might also have recognized, as a Muslim lawyer, specializing in international human rights, that eyebrows would be raised when asserting that the leaders of a sovereign, democratic country, which suffered a horrific deadly attack, were guilty of war crimes to the same extent as those who perpetrated them.

This is a perfect example of the unjust scales and differing weights which are referred to many times throughout the scriptures as a blatant sin and despicable in the eyes of God. (Prov. 11:1, 20:10, 23, Leviticus 19:25, 36)

We are told that God demands we do justice and walk humbly before Him. (Micah 6:8) Of course, this also pertains to the ICC, who may be bringing about their own judgment, the weight of which could feel as if a giant house just landed on them!