Dia-Logos: Seeking Christ's Perspective on the News
Aug 27, 2026 · 13 min · 9 segments
In this episode of Dia-Logos, host Brad connects with Jacobus Van Zyl, field reporter and local liaison in Qabb Ilyas (Kab Elias), located in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Living right in the middle of…
Jacobus van Zyl
Brad KirstenHost
Uh, how can we seek Christ's perspective as we consider a-and listen to all the things that you've shared today?
Yeah, when I, when I look at this, [laughs] you know, I am a, quite a positive guy.
But when, when we see all of this, it's like, well, is there, is there hope for Lebanon? It's such a shame that a beautiful country like this is in this horrible situation, uh, economically, um, geopolitically.
So it's really, really sad, and when I, when I speak to my mentors and people that also understand the region, they, they always tell me, "You have to try to, try to look at the situation through God's eyes, through Christ's eyes." And one of my mentors told me recently that if we look at what the war and what the conflict produces, it's hunger and it's, you know, the, the, the lack of dignity or the people who lose their dignity.
Um, and the first thing or one of the biggest things that Jesus always did when he, when he went up to people, he, he stopped at the hungry, and he sat with the, with the poor and the disgraced, and he gave them their dignity back by looking at them, by sitting with them, speaking to them, going into their homes, eating with them.
And I feel like if we, if we understand that, it makes it clear what we as Christians should do in this situation, and it encourages me to know that, you know, the people that are suffering, that are hungry, that are homeless now, if we want to be like Christ, we, we have to give them their dignity back.
People are ... to remind them people love them, people care for them, and despite the difficult circumstances that, you know, they had nothing to do with, with the, with the war, but they are the ones suffering.
I think it's really encouraging to, to look at it this way and to try however we can to give them their dignity back.
Uh, how can we seek Christ's perspective as we consider a-and listen to all the things that you've shared today?
Yeah, when I, when I look at this, [laughs] you know, I am a, quite a positive guy.
But when, when we see all of this, it's like, well, is there, is there hope for Lebanon? It's such a shame that a beautiful country like this is in this horrible situation, uh, economically, um, geopolitically.
So it's really, really sad, and when I, when I speak to my mentors and people that also understand the region, they, they always tell me, "You have to try to, try to look at the situation through God's eyes, through Christ's eyes." And one of my mentors told me recently that if we look at what the war and what the conflict produces, it's hunger and it's, you know, the, the, the lack of dignity or the people who lose their dignity.
Um, and the first thing or one of the biggest things that Jesus always did when he, when he went up to people, he, he stopped at the hungry, and he sat with the, with the poor and the disgraced, and he gave them their dignity back by looking at them, by sitting with them, speaking to them, going into their homes, eating with them.
And I feel like if we, if we understand that, it makes it clear what we as Christians should do in this situation, and it encourages me to know that, you know, the people that are suffering, that are hungry, that are homeless now, if we want to be like Christ, we, we have to give them their dignity back.
People are ... to remind them people love them, people care for them, and despite the difficult circumstances that, you know, they had nothing to do with, with the, with the war, but they are the ones suffering.
I think it's really encouraging to, to look at it this way and to try however we can to give them their dignity back.
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