Tag: Jerusalem

Reflecting Further

For me, the line in the sand of the Arabian deserts is drawn with two sticks. One stick is the expansion… of Iran’s nuclear capability…The second stick is… in the hands of a young American soldier in the desert with a wife and child back home in the States.

Recently I posted a blog about a Bully… In it I wrote:

 If there are any U.S. veterans or current military personnel out there not completely livid with the actions of this Congress to limit our military’s right to defend itself and our Commander in Chief’s right to exercise that military to protect others and America’s interests,  I have got to hear from you… I look across the Middle East and I have to ask myself, who has allowed this 3rd world upstart of a country to gain such bully status? Although it is the second largest country in the Middle East, it is barely larger in square miles than our single state of Alaska!…

Iran has permitted the likes of the Taliban, ISIS, and al Qaeda while building a nuclear capability allied with North Korea, Russia and China.  

Here is where we find ourselves on 10 January 2020… Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that ballistic missile attacks targeting U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq Wednesday morning were “a slap in the face” to the United States.

IRAN – the BULLY in the neighborhood… Why? Because we are allowing it. The ruling Ayatollah and those loyal to him are killing their own people, jailing those who object and it is morally wrong for those in Congress to hamper the legitimate efforts of our military and its Commander in Chief to do everything it can to protect the lives of American soldiers who are in harm’s way, American citizens and private individuals in Iraq and those in Iran who choose to stand against the ruling regime. The Ayatollah has vowed to pursue nuclear weapons with the only goal of striking against America and Israel. At what point will our Congress wake up rather than be ‘woke’?

And I put in this plea:  Remember the name of each and every Representative and Senator who has voted to keep our military from being able to defend themselves when you go next to the ballot box.

I’ve been giving a great bit of thought to things even as the circus of impeachment continues and members of Congress are so far out of touch with America and its people, it is scary. There is another side of the Iran issue I think needs to be considered. Here are my ruminations on that subject.

So far I have considered the American side of the coin. We, (the royal we including most Western nations), own a good piece of the blame for allowing Iran to be the bully, to have the military, to threaten with nuclear weaponry… Certainly, other western countries can point their finger at America and say it is our fault, and they are partially correct. We have had the most capability to put a stop to it during past administrations and we haven’t. Still, there is enough blame to go around.

HOWEVER, a very large part of the blame (for lack of a better term) lies with the Iranian people. How long are they going to put up with these bullies in black robes? There is a point that lies vaguely out in the cosmos somewhere. It is the place where people either fix what is wrong or they refuse to right the wrongs of the government over them choosing to ignore the abuses of that government. Their non-action, or ineffective action, becomes collusion. No longer can they maintain innocent bystander status, if there even is such a thing in today’s world.

The Christian who is also a patriot to his country walks a fine line. His first allegiance is to Christ, everything else is second. Some Christians take the words of Jesus, “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s” to mark the dichotomy between the two and it is an appropriate line. Others turn to Paul’s remarks in Romans, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same…” They then declare that any action taken against even an evil or oppressive government is wrong and we are to bide our time and let God deal with it.

How do we follow that thinking when faced with demonic rulers such as Adolph Hitler and the bullies we see currently in Iran? To be very open, I don’t know. Remember, when Paul wrote, Romans were killing Christians for sport. The Roman lions were the unbeatable opponent. Allow me to take a line from the United States’ Declaration of Independence.

“…all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.”

The point is made here that people are more likely to continue to permit suffering rather than get rid of the familiar as long as the suffering is tolerable, (more likely that it is on someone else’s front porch and not my own). How much stronger is the desire to not go against the authorities when the authorities claim divine position and to go against them is to assure oneself of hell? This is particularly true when the religion being so used has been inculcated into their very DNA since they were born.

I must choose how to correctly interpret what Paul’s words meant to the people of his day and how that applies to people today. After much soul-searching and prayerful consideration, I determined that if I must err, if it is an error, I choose to stand on the side of protecting those who are unable to protect themselves. When any person, organization, political body, government or military does evil against any person, particularly those most vulnerable, the weak, infirm, the widows and orphans, the children, then I must stand between them and that evil. I believe the weight of the biblical evidence supports such action. I pray and thank God that He continues to have mercy upon me when such decisions must be rendered. I encourage anyone who might read this to determine for yourself where you stand. There will be no time to contemplate it when the time comes. The following poem by Martin Niemoller says it best. It’s titled, First They Came for the Jews.

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Martin Niemöller

The Nazis imposed identification of the Jews

Will there be a time when the people of Iran have heard enough lies and seen enough abuse, felt the crush of unbridled power to that undefinable point and take a stand to demand there be revolution? In a bold move recently, rather than face a possible showdown with the IRGC, (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), Ayatollah Khamenei played a slick card trick. He has moved to declare those who were killed by Iranian forces in the street riots over the past few weeks as martyrs. What does that mean? It means the families of those killed are set financially for life. They have an honored status now in Iran. What better way to quell a rebellion than buying off those responsible for it.

Israel apparently has decided to allow the U.S. to take the lead in actions against Iran. Strategists suggest that as long as the U.S. is pushing back against Iran, Israel will be able to allow the U.S. to take the lead and perhaps ease the threat against itself for a short time. Still others believe it is only a matter of time until Tehran acts against Israel again.

Courtesy STRATFOR

SUMMARY

“So, now what?” In the movie, Big Jake, (you knew it was coming, right?), John Wayne is an absentee father now reconnected with two of his sons to retrieve a kidnapped grandson. Events make the sons believe their father stole the $1M meant as ransom and when they challenge him, he towers over them, hands on his hips and defiantly says, “So, now what?” The sons had a choice to make. Do they challenge or cower?

Does the United States wait for Israel to act? Do we wait and encourage the Iranian people to act? To think that U.S. resources are not currently in place creating incentives for insurrection is to be going about with one’s head in the sand. Will government changes at the top in Moscow make a difference?

Iran has threatened just this week that if the Western countries open the Iranian nuclear file before the U.N. Security Council, they will leave the non-proliferation agreement… Whoopi! As if anyone believed they were following it anyway!

For me, the line in the sand of the Arabian deserts is drawn with two sticks. One stick is the expansion and development of Iran’s nuclear capability. If they approach weaponization, all deals are off and the Iranian people need to know they are in a time crunch for acting in their own best interests. When that line is crossed, there is no doubt there will be collateral damage. Notice, I did not say of innocent bystanders because, at some point, inaction becomes collusion. If nothing else, they should remove themselves from harm’s way for their children’s sake if not their own. The children, sadly, will be at risk because of their parents’ choices.

The second stick is best visualized in the hands of a young American soldier in the desert with a wife and child back home in the States. When he and his brothers are fired upon, the green flag is down, the gate is up and America responds for as many furlongs as it takes.

In every smallest detail, we pray. We pray for peace in the region. We pray for the safety of our troops. We pray for the salvation of every individual in Iran and beyond and we pray for divine guidance for our leaders, particularly for wisdom for our Commander in Chief.

I thank God that He has allowed me to be a citizen of this great nation which I have sworn to defend. I thank Him all the more that He sought me out to be a citizen of His heavenly kingdom and may I never do, say or write anything to tarnish His Name.

“I solemnly swear… I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States… against all enemies foreign and domestic…that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…so help me God.“

FULFILLING PROPHECY

Refugees are pouring into the surrounding countries as fast as time and space will allow.

“As regional and global powers search for a solution to the Syrian civil war, fighting on the ground appears to be on the verge of worsening. Both loyalist and rebel forces are preparing for two new offensives within the coming months that will greatly influence the trajectory of the conflict ahead.” (STRATFOR)

syria-russia-us-airstrikes_0

(Stratfor.com)

The fighting rages on with ISIS in the Middle East.

Vladimir Putin has placed his military in the region, a move seen as an overt attempt to make Russia the premier ally.

The U.S. continues some ham-handed airstrikes and half-hearted strategies. (It is not, I assure you that our military personnel there are half-hearted or incompetent but rather they are hobbled by a non-involvement type of involvement that only Washington could produce.)

Throughout Syria persons of nearly every faith are losing either their lives or their homes. Refugees are pouring into the surrounding countries as fast as time and space will allow. ISIS has made it clear that they intend to take over the entire region and only Sharia Law will be permitted. Those of Christian faith will have two choices, capitulate or die. Russia, that great ‘bear from the north’ is becoming the premier presence in the region, as if setting the stage for some future conflict.

Listen as your mind reads the next few lines, written by the Prophet Isaiah over 700 years before Christ was born. At the time he wrote, the nation of Israel had been divided into two nations; Israel (North) and Judah (South). The Northern Kingdoms had been taken captive by the Assyrians and it had, for all intents, ceased to exist. Isaiah speaks of a future time when peace would reign on the earth but before that would come. He wrote that there would be only one place left for those who worship the One True God to do so. Right now, in the Middle East, the only relatively SAFE place for Christians, Jews and even Muslims to worship freely is – believe it or not – Jerusalem.

So it shall be in that day:
The great trumpet will be blown;
They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria,
And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt,
And shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. (Isaiah 27:13 NKJV)

Perhaps it is time that our world leaders should take a page out of President Obama’s book. Better still, they should take all of the pages out of President Obama’s book and start focusing on what is real and true instead of socialist, atheistic, amoral doctrine repackaged and inspired from somewhere other than heaven.

Author’s note: It is understood that not every piece of socialist doctrine is necessarily atheistic or amoral. This is a description of the three characteristics of Obama’s new foundation for America. They are sometimes intertwined and, at other times, mutually exclusive.

East Jerusalem Attacks Intensifies Shadow Wars Within the Country

East Jerusalem Attacks Intensifies Shadow Wars Within the Country.

Night of the Murdered Poets

But this Resurrection Morning, April 20, 2014 I write with a very heavy heart because you see, another type of discovery was made this time just outside of Jewish synagogues in the Crimea.

Image       

Soviet Anti-Semites Deny Jewish
Heroism in War time circa 1946

                                             

         Image

“In January 1948 Solomon Mikhoels, a popular actor-director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater and the chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, was killed in a staged car accident. Mass arrests of prominent Jewish intellectuals and suppression of Jewish culture followed under the banners of campaign against “rootless cosmopolitans” and anti-Zionism. On 12 August 1952, in the event known as the Night of the Murdered Poets, thirteen most prominent Yiddish writers, poets, actors and other intellectuals were executed on the orders of Joseph Stalin, among them Peretz Markish, Leib Kvitko, David Hofstein, Itzik Feffer and David Bergelson. In the 1955 UN Assembly‘s session a high Soviet official still denied the “rumors” about their disappearance.

In 2012, Yad Vashem began releasing more than a million new testimonial pages about Jews in the Soviet Union that are expected to help researchers measure the scope of persecution and extermination of Jews in the former Soviet Union.“(1)

Right now, as I write these words, there are Christians at the Garden Tomb just outside of Jerusalem celebrating the most magnificent act of love and grace the world will ever know – it is Resurrection Morning in Jerusalem! Praise Be to God! But this Resurrection Morning, April 20, 2014 I write with a very heavy heart because you see, another type of discovery was made this time just outside of Jewish synagogues in the Crimea. According to a USA Today report, as Jewish worshippers left the synagogue they were met by people handing out flyers to each of them. They were being ordered to report to the Russian authorities and register their families, the addresses, a list of all of their property and proof of citizenship. They were warned that if they failed to do so they would have their passports and citizenship revoked and their property confiscated. The only thing missing was the time of their curfew and their being ordered to wear a ‘Jude’ star identifying them as Jewish. Where is the worldwide outcry? According to the media U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made known his displeasure at the announcement. Heaven forbid that the U.S. Secretary of State boil over and call the anti-Semite acts the horrific crimes against humanity that they are! Whether they are carried out by Putin himself or some radicalized group of Russian citizens of Crimea acting on Putins orders, it might even warrant hearing some measured disdain from President Obama himself. The Nation of Israel did step up, as they always do, and rightfully declared the horrid nature of this crime, but the world seems to turn a deaf ear (See: Chamberlain – comma, Berlin – comma, Hitler – comma, 1938 – comma, Peace in Our Time – comma…)

I do not write this to rain on anyone’s Easter Parade. Today, in the Christian world is a time of celebration of our Savior, but it is also a day to remember that our Savior, the Son of God determined to come to earth as a Jewish carpenter. Maybe, as we celebrate here in the United States this Resurrection Morning in just a few hours, just maybe, this should be a picture in our minds..

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                        with the declaration… “NEVER AGAIN”

 

 

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust_in_Russia

Cyber Attack Brings Issue Into Focus

When it is within one’s power to re-consider the situation in which he or she may find themselves, maybe it is possible to re-focus their outlook on whatever life has thrown at them. Recently, while in the Middle East and the Mediterranean part of this world a seemingly innocuous even provided the opportunity to take such a moment and re-focus. The eastern religions might say that it is karma, good or bad, that has come back around to the individual. There was a cyber-attack on the area where I spent some of my time while there and without thinking much about its impact, most went on about their day unaffected. When that attack or some related event took out sensitive material that was important to me, then the event took on a new meaning. Before it was just an event within the world sphere; it did not effect me, so I had little reason to notice it. That is the way it is for most folks, I assume. when an event does not directly impact us, we travel on, oblivious, often, to the plight of others. It is true if we took on every world problem, there would be no time left for life but just as God allows us to recognize certain things of beauty in this world; He also draws our attention to those concerns that He desires us to have a part in its solution. That does not equal, however, that if we have had our head buried in the sand and therefore took notice of anything, then that God has excused us from the duty we have to Him to impact His issues as He directs us.

Jerusalem blooming
Desert Blooming

 

Notice that I did not use the words fix, solve, or correct. That is not our task. When God assigns us a task to complete, most of the time it is for us to impact the issue, direct it to solution, drive it to completion or send it toward destruction. The final disposition is for God alone to decide. So, as we have the opportunity to see the desert flowers that somehow find their way into our consciousness; allow it to re-awaken in you a focus on what God has given for you to do.

What’s Mayan is Yours…

ruins-from-chichen-itza
Observatory for viewing stars

chichen-itza-3
Sink-hole that was the site of virgin sacrifices

Mexico - Chitzen Itza
Goal!

Here we are… just a few days from what the Mayan calendar claims will be the end of the world.  Around 1,000 BC a tribal group began to form in the Yucatan Peninsula of what is now Mexico. They created a calendar that set the age of the earth from beginning to end at five thousand one-hundred and twenty-five years. This sophisticated calendar has been interpreted to say that the world will end December 21st. Yes, they did have a unique methodology for viewing the skies. In their syncretic religion that meshed Catholicism and their tribal religions, they had 13 different heavens and 9 different underworlds and they would load a virgin down with heavy gold and throw her into a bottomless spring to give the offering to the gods. If they were satisfied, she would return. For some reason, the gods were never satisfied. They also played a game of soccer that could go on for days until one goal was scored with the ball going through a rock hoop mounted at a ninety degree angle from the high side wall. The captain of the winning team had the honor of being sacrificed to the gods. (No wonder it took days for a team to win!)

Today there are several hundred thousand that speak a version of the Mayan language throughout the region. The culture itself, however, has not been nearly as strong and prolific as it had been between 300 and 900 A.D. If you are one of the many who are absolutely horrified at the possibility that these ancient Mexican natives were correct, take heart, a much older, much more reliable source defies even a remote possibility that this is the end.

First, the Bible tells us that “no man knows the hour or the day” of Christ’s return. The Rapture of the church by Christ could happen before I finish typing this sentence. We know from the biblical text, following a Dispensational Pre-tribulation hermeneutic to which I subscribe, that once Christ has raptured the church, there will be a seven year Tribulation where God will bring Israel back to Himself and there will be major catastrophes worldwide to which you do NOT want to be a first-hand witness. Even once that is completed and Satan is bound, there will be another 1,000 years of Christ reigning from Jerusalem on this earth. At the end of the Millennial Reign of Christ, Satan will be loosed for the final Battle of Armageddon. When Satan is then defeated and thrown into the Lake of Fire and the final judgments of the non-believers are finished; God will destroy this earth with fire and create a new one, perfect, sinless and for us, who are Christ followers, to enjoy for all of eternity. If you don’t believe me, ask me about it on December 22nd. I’ll be glad to explain it all to you.

When Numbers Count

 

Dr. Ross L. Riggs                    www.docriggs.com

The Police Blotter   www.homelandsecuritynet.com

Numbers are a part of daily life. From the time you awake in the morning with the time, temperature, DOW and NASAQ, numbers are assailing your mind. It is easy to turn them off. Yesterday was Memorial Day for the Nation of Israel, mourning their war dead. The number that was reported was of soldiers killed in action, just soldiers, not civilians. A common misperception of a country’s number of fallen heroes is directly impacted when the war is taking place on your home soil.

There was the number. It was easy to read right past it, kindly note it, allow the thought of it to pause a moment and then continue reading. This time, something caused me to stop on that number and try to put it in perspective. I first thought about it being a counting of just soldiers and how many more there would be listed if it included civilians slain for the cause of a Jewish homeland. That helped, but only for a moment, as well. Then I thought about all of the families and friends whose lives are forever changed by such a loss. That was cause for reflection, but still it was not hitting for me in the heart like I expected. It was still just a number.

Then, it came to me. Until something is personal, particularly a number or statistic, it is just that, a number. So I made it personal. I grew up in Wayne County, Ohio. Wayne County is probably typical of every small mid-western county in the U.S. Lots of farm families, some factory workers and an overwhelming importance on fall high school football! Town hall meetings were as a much a part of the life as Sunday church with afternoon’s at Grandma’s for Sunday dinner. At that is when it came to me, the numbers connection. A fairly representative analogy for the number of soldiers killing fighting for the freedom of Israel would be about equal to the concept of every man and woman, father, mother, every adult between the ages of 18 and 65 in Wayne County Ohio stepping up to die for the cause of keeping Ohio free. Now I can see it. Now I can feel it. The empty streets. The empty homes. The lost children and the panicked elderly. Gone, all of them sacrificing their lives to be sure and certain that Ohio remains, as the logo says, The Heart of It All. The rest continue on, owing a huge debt of gratitude to those who gave it all and respect and honor must go to the survivors whose lives are forever changed by their absences.

Shalom

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