At the End of the Day, “Whatever” Rules

Have you ever gone to a meeting of the Toastmasters?

The Toastmasters specialize in providing an opportunity for people to engage in what has been consistently reported to be the most frightening experience known to man -

And no, it’s not hang gliding.

Or taking a dip in a great white shark resistant cage.

Or braving 40 foot breakers while crab fishing in the Bering Sea.

It’s much more intimidating than any of that.

It’s public speaking.

And if the thought of giving a speech sends chills down your spine, imagine this:

At a Toastmasters’ meeting you would not only receive blunt and immediate feedback on your skills as a speaker, but every time you utter an “um” or a “ah” or a “y’know”, a designated member of the group will ring a bell!

Where do I sign up for that shark dive, again?

The point of this practice is easy to spot.

There are few things more annoying than having to listen to a speaker that fills their allotted time with 40% fluff.

And after a few rounds of this form of shock therapy, there is an amazing drop off on filler words and conversation crutches.

I couldn’t help but think of the Toastmasters when I saw the results of a very enlightening survey this week.

“Whatever” Reigns As Most Annoying Phrase

Nearly 50 Percent of Country Say “Whatever” Irks Them; Other

Choices: “You Know” and “It Is What It Is”

If you find yourself irked when someone gives you the “whatever” treatment, you’re not alone.

According to a Marist poll, almost half of Americans – 47 percent – said there’s no phrase more annoying than “whatever.”

Other candidates for most irritating phrases: “you know” netted 25 percent of the vote; “it is what it is” got 11 percent; “anyway” got 7 percent; and “at the end of the day” ended the day with 2 percent.

Some geographic tendencies also emerged. “Whatever,” for example, is more loathed in the Midwest – where it annoys 55 percent of respondents – than it is in the Northeast, where it bothers 35 percent.

It is hardly a news flash that the majority of people don’t enjoy a conversation loaded with meaningless buzz phrases.

But would it surprise you to learn that God feels the same way?

Consider thee following insight Jesus gives us on the subject of prayer:

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:7-8)

“Oh, come on Scott! You don’t mean that God finds the way we talk to Him as annoying as we find the way we talk to each other?”

Yup.

When Jesus speaks of “vain repetitions, He isn’t just warning against speaking words without the slightest consideration of the meaning behind them – although that is a good place to start.

Have you ever sat through a service where it seemed like people were competing to see who could sound most like an auctioneer when reciting the Lord’s Prayer?

Whatever is going on at that moment, it isn’t about communication – it’s more about obligation.

How would you like it if someone felt the best way to build a relationship with you was talking as fast as they could?

But even when we do take the time to slow down and express ourselves to God in a public setting, how quickly our statements get peppered with words that are pretty much an accepted form of Christian cliche?

Try this experiment. The next time you gather with other believers to pray, count the times people use the word “just” in their prayers.

As in, “Lord we just love you. And we are just so thankful that You just hear our prayers and that You just love us so much.”

I have heard the word “just” used so often in public prayer that I am beginning to wonder if most of us would be rendered speechless without it!

Could you imagine if God sent an angel and had him ring a Toastmasters-like bell every time we uttered one of our patented phrases that sound spiritual, but are sadly lacking in meaning?

Now, don’t get me wrong.

God loves it when we pray.

And we don’t have to deliver a flawless oratory to please Him.

As Jesus pointed out, He already knows what we need and like any loving Father He is glad when we pour out our hearts to Him.

But try another experiment.

Next time you are in a place to publically pray – slow it down. God isn’t in a hurry.

Think through what you are about to express, and remember you are talking to the Lord, not delivering a speech before people.

Bathe every word you speak in the knowledge that Jesus died to make this moment of communion with the Father possible.

And at the end of the day, you won’t find yourself with a whatever kind of prayer life.

The Real Peace Prize

This has been one bizarre day in the news.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded and no one is more surprised than the recipient?

When I heard the news in brief, I assumed Barack Obama was given this honor to commemorate his place in history as out first black president.

I was all set to post an article on the biblical underpinnings of the Civil Rights Movement, especially as scriptural principle was presented in Dr. Martin Luther King’s immortal “I Have a Dream” speech.

My point was going to be how far our nation had come in the realm of race relations, and how far even we as Christians still had to go to live out the color blind conclusion of Galatians 3:26-28:

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

But before I hit “publish” I discovered the official stated reason why Barack Obama was selected as this year’s Nobel Laureate for Peace:

Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and a former prime minister of Norway, said the president had already contributed enough to world diplomacy and international understanding to earn the award.

“We are not awarding the prize for what may happen in the future, but for what he has done in the previous year,” Mr. Jagland said. “We would hope this will enhance what he is trying to do.”

So the new standard for a Nobel Peace Prize is not tangible results like negotiating a treaty, or bringing long warring factions to the table, or actually causing the horrors of war to cease – it is good intentions.

Does that mean that every Miss America contestant who hoped her winning the crown would bring world peace is now under consideration for what used to be a significant honor?

But back in the realm of reality, things aren’t looking so rosy.

In response to the word slipping out that the US is fast tracking high tech, high yield bunker busting bombs, Mahmoud and the Mad Mullahs (now wouldn’t that be a name for a rock band?) have issued a predictable soothing response.

‘Iran will blow up the heart of Israel’

Iran will “blow up the heart of Israel” if the United States or the Jewish state attacked it first, a top official with Iran’s most powerful military force, the Revolutionary Guard, warned Friday.

Cleric Mojtaba Zolnour, who is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative in the Guard, said that if a US or Israeli missile lands in Iran, Iranian missiles will hit Israel in retaliation.

“Should a single American or Zionist missile land in our country, before the dust settles, Iranian missiles will blow up the heart of Israel,” Zolnour was quoted as saying by the state IRNA news agency.

In March, Iran’s deputy army chief made similar remarks, warning that his country will eliminate Israel if it attacks the Islamic republic.

“Should Israel take any action against Iran, we will eliminate Israel from the scene of the universe,” Gen. Muhammad Reza Ashtiani said at the time in Teheran.

Ashtiani claimed Israel was “very vulnerable” and dismissed allegations that Iran was worried about Israeli maneuvers.

“Due to its special conditions, Israel is very vulnerable in the region,” he said. “The aggressors will face a crushing response.”

It appears that Iran has been paying close attention to Western media, especially the ABC News report concerning the fast forward request for four state of the art bunker busting bombs.

It is no surprise that Iran would threaten to hit Israel, no matter who initiates the attack on their nuclear development sites.

But has Iran committed an over reach here?

It still seems likely that Israel would defer to a US strike, thereby reducing the risk of a regional war.

The bet seems to be that having Israel fight a proxy war with Hamas and Hezbollah in a two front version of the recent missile attacks  from Lebanon would be the best of a series of increasingly bad situations.

But any scenario would be preferable to the havoc caused when a suicide embracing cult gets not only atomic weapons but also the means to deliver them.

These are days of difficult choices and unforeseen consequences.

No matter what your political persuasion might be, we all need to take seriously this timely instruction:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,  for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (I Timothy 2:1-4)

If you haven’t before, now would be a good time to pray for wisdom for Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu and perhaps even the salvation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah Khameni.

Real peace in this world may depend on it.

Will the US “MOP’ Up Iran?

Will the US “MOP” Up Iran?

ABC News released the following eye brow raising story this morning:

Is the U.S. Preparing to Bomb Iran?

First, some background: Back in October 2007, ABC News reported that the Pentagon had asked Congress for $88 million in the emergency Iraq/Afghanistan war funding request to develop a gargantuan bunker-busting bomb called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). It’s a 30,000-pound bomb designed to hit targets buried 200 feet below ground. Back then, the Pentagon cited an “urgent operational need” for the new weapon.

Now the Pentagon is shifting spending from other programs to fast forward the development and procurement of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

What would account for this kind of bold intervention in this crisis?

Perhaps our administration has simply done the math.

If Israel does the job, a regional war would be likely and $300 per barrel oil would become a bargain.

The US economy, with unemployment nearing 10% and talks of a second stimulus package already in the works, simply could not stand this kind of additional stress.

A full blown global depression would be a distinct possibility.

If the US takes out these facilities, the possibility of sleeper cells in the US responding with terror attacks would be likely, but the economic impact would be far less severe.

Perhaps it has been determined by behind the scenes diplomacy that the world community would much rather see a dust up between the US, Iran and their terrorist proxies than a regional war.

To add to this, the “circle the wagons” effect such a crisis would generate would go along way toward shoring up the continuing sag in confidence in the current administration.

The drum beat that the administration is all talk and no action (even heard on venues normally supportive to President Obama like “Saturday Night Live”) would be silenced, and quickly.

The prophetic angle? It does appear from prophecies like Ezekiel 38:1-6 that Iran (Persia) will be a supportive player in a Last Days invasion of Israel, but not the initiator of such an event.

It is clear that Israel will survive until that time, and actually will be at peace with her defenses down before they are attacked (see Ezekiel 38:11-12).

Take this with a good dose of Acts 17:11 salt, but considering that the radical Shi’ite theology of Ahmadinejad , Kameni and the rest of the ruling mullahs in Iran would lead them to use a nuclear weapon on Israel if they had it, leads me to believe they will be ultimately thwarted in this drive for destructive power.

If you recall, one of the most stunning scenes of “Shock and Awe” in the Gulf War was the use of a weapon called a “Daisy Cutter”.

The BLU-82 is so large it has to be dropped from a cargo plane. It explodes three feet of the ground and completely obliterates everything in a 1,000 foot radius.

Eleven Daisy Cutter bombs were dropped during the first Gulf campaign, primarily for psychological effect on the enemy.

By the time of the second Gulf War,  the “Daisy Cutter” was replaced by an upgraded version called the “Massive Ordnace Air Blast” or MOAB Bomb.

The MOAB carries 18,000 pounds of explosives, as opposed to the 12,600 pounds in the the “Daisy Cutter”.

It is also GPS guided and doesn’t need a parachute for delivery like its predecessor.

It also explodes in a nuclear like mushroom cloud for added effect.

Impressive? No doubt.

But consider this.

Reports indicate the MOP is yet a more intimidating weapon than the MOAB.

Imagine the psychological effect such a strike would have not only on Iran’s leadership, but also on the increasingly restive population of the country.

If the people were beginning to doubt the apocalyptic dreams of the mad mullahs, the successful use of the MOP weapon on their nuclear facilities might also become the tipping point for a nation wide revolt.

The Letterman Lesson: “I Got My Work Cut Out For Me”

Unless you live in a cave (and if you do, you undoubtedly don’t have high speed internet so you wouldn’t be reading this anyway, but I digress) you have probably heard more than you care to about the sordid details of the attempted extortion of comedian David Letterman.

Predictably, Letterman is being blasted by his critics.

Their take? The guy who has made a living kicking people while they are down has experienced an almost poetic case of role reversal.

But Letterman is not without his defenders.

Ratings are up, and his on air apology to his wife and staff merited a 35 second standing ovation from the packed house gathered in the Ed Sullivan Theater.

But for me, the most interesting aspect of this media fueled train wreck were the words the comedian used to end his mea culpa.

“Now the other thing is my wife, Regina. She has been horribly hurt by my behavior, and when something happens like that, if you hurt a person and it’s your responsibility, you try to fix it. And at that point, there’s only two things that can happen: Either you’re going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you’re going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed, so let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me.“

Those final eight words “I got my work cut out for me” are probably more profound than David Letterman realizes right now.

You see,  in my line of work I have found myself in the role of a “first responder” to some pretty similar relational five alarm fires.

Perhaps its adultery.

At other times it can be when the cover is blown off of a secret life of addiction.

Sometimes, even an upstanding member of the community gets nailed criminally.

And there is shock.

And a lack of willingness to face reality.

And the especially cutting kind of panic that ensues when the truth sets in that from this time onward, nothing in life will ever be the same.

But when the smoke begins to clear there is a turning point that all involved must face.

It is the moment the one responsible for the blow up makes an apology.

You see, it’s not just the willingness to make an apology that matters.

It is not even the emotional display that accompanies the apology that counts.

Even more critical is the motivation behind it.

Consider how the Bible describes this distinction:

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. (II Corinthians 7:10-11)

You see there is a kind of apology that only serves to dig the hole a little deeper.

This “sorrow of the world” is characterized by a selfish kind of emotional regret.

Oh, the right words and even a few crocodile tears may be on display, but just below the surface the only thing the offender is really sorry for is that they happened to get caught.

And in reality, the thing they are most upset about is that the people they harmed are not inclined to look the other way or sweep the situation under the rug.

The energy behind this kind of sorrow is resentment, and if brought out in the open the only apology the offender is really offering is “I’m sorry you are such a sorehead about all this.”

On the other hand, godly sorrow creates a change of mind, that produces a change of heart, that is observable and verifiable through a changed life.

Real and genuine God given brokenness doesn’t resent those who were hurt for their pain.

It doesn’t rationalize -  “Oh, everybody does this..”

It doesn’t defend – “Oh, if you had been raised in my family you would have done this too.”

It doesn’t deflect – “What about you? You’re no saint either.”

It simply says, “I know I am the problem here. And I am willing to do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, to show you I am worthy of your trust.”

David Letterman hit the nail on the head - “I got my work cut out for me.”

But here is another key to a true healing after a major fall.

If we come to the One we have first offended – God Himself.

And admit our mistakes before Him.

And ask for His power to live a new and different life.

One challenge, one moment at a time.

To put away the rationalizing and the blaming of others for our sin.

To humble ourselves.

He will lift us up.

And heal the holes that caused the breakdown in the first place.

And slowly, yet surely make us the kind of people that can be trusted by others again.

The five alarm fire we have made of our lives can be put out.

Those who have been burned can be healed.

And our lives can become a shining beacon of hope for others, not a destructive fire that brings disaster.

We all fall.

The question is, how will we deal with it?

The Iranian Nuke: Just Add Uranium

Over the weekend we saw an interesting mixture of fact and fantasy regarding the roiling crisis in Iran.

In the fantasy section:

Ahmadinejad has no Jewish roots

Rumours that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s family converted to Islam from Judaism are false. In fact, they are proud Shias.

Whew! Glad we settled that one.

To be honest, as soon as I read that I wondered how that minor fact would have made it past the Mullahs, oh, about the time Mahmoud became president of the most virulently anti-Semitic nation on Earth?

Seriously, the idea that Ahmadinejad is Jewish is as silly as maintaining that Hitler was a Christian.

But there was also another development that we could only wish was an urban legend.

Report Says Iran Has Data to Make a Nuclear Bomb

Senior staff members of the United Nations nuclear agency have concluded in a confidential analysis that Iran has acquired “sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable” atom bomb.

The report by experts in the International Atomic Energy Agency stresses in its introduction that its conclusions are tentative and subject to further confirmation of the evidence, which it says came from intelligence agencies and its own investigations.

But the report’s conclusions, described by senior European officials, go well beyond the public positions taken by several governments, including the United States.

Two years ago, American intelligence agencies published a detailed report concluding that Tehran halted its efforts to design a nuclear weapon in 2003. But in recent months, Britain has joined France, Germany and Israel in disputing that conclusion, saying the work has been resumed.

A senior American official said last week that the United States was now re-evaluating its 2007 conclusions.

It seems to me that the last word anyone would want to hear in regards to the potential of a rogue state

run by suicide bomb loving religious fanatics

who believe they are in communion with a messiah who lives in a well

who will make his appearance at the height of global war -

is “Oops!”

But here we are.

So where do we go from here?

It is becoming more and more clear that the West, including the United States has no ability to bring to bear even the slightest economic or diplomatic pressure on Iran.

Russia and China have clearly taken the role of Iran’s patrons and protectors.

If the world community cannot bring about much more than a sternly worded statement of “disappointment”, or a meaningless concession of an inspection of a nuclear facility with two weeks time to move any incriminating evidence, tougher calls like military intervention are extremely unlikely.

It seems clear that one of two realities will be realized.

Israel will take matters into their own hands and bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities, unleashing a regional war and a stunning blow to the world’s already shaky economy.

Or Iran will be allowed to have their own functional nuclear weapon, probably with the understanding that Russia will ensure they don’t use it – much like China’s relationship with North Korea.

But there is one key difference.

Kim Jong-Il may be a megalomanic who enjoys threatening his neighbors – but he doesn’t want to die before his time.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes that dying in a Jihad, even a nuclear Jihad, is his key to heavenly bliss.

If this regime in Iran gets the bomb, they will use it – probably on Tel Aviv.

So the world has a choice of war – or war.

Israel has a choice of bombing  Iran’s nuclear facilities, prompting a massive conventional response from Hezbollah and Hamas at the least, and an  assault from her Arab neighbors reminiscent of the Yom Kippur War at the most.

Or Israel can wait and see Tel Aviv go up in a mushroom cloud, and then respond in kind.

And then have to fight a regional war.

I wouldn’t count on option number two.

It used to be said that Israel has a “Masada Complex”.

Masada is the mountain fort where the Jews held out against a Roman seige.  Rather than surrender to their foes, the Jewish defenders killed themselves rather than be captured.

For years the general belief was that the Jews would fight to the last man before allowing the Land to fall.

But now it is said the Jews have a “Samson Complex”.

And as Sampson at the cost of his own life brought down the Temple of Dagon on his foes,  so Israel wold be more than willing to use her own nuclear arsenal if defeat was imminent.

The fascinating curve here is the fact that God’s Word predicts that Israel will survive until the Last Days.

Israel also will be delivered from a Russian led coalition by nothing less than God’s own intervention.

“And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that My fury will show in My face. For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’ I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.  And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.”’ (Ezekiel 38:18-23)

Are we on the edge of seeing this prophecy fulfilled?

Stay tuned- and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

“Nice Country, Vlad. Shame If Somethin’ Would happen To It.”

The news out of the Middle East, to put it in Lewis Carrol terms, is getting “curiouser and curiouser”.

The case for serious, united, international action against a country that is making North Korea look like an oasis of reason and restraint is unavoidably clear.

Iran built nuclear site shielded from air attack

TEHRAN, Iran – In an unusually frank disclosure, Iran’s nuclear chief said Tuesday the country’s new uranium enrichment site was built for maximum protection from aerial attack: carved into a mountain and near a military compound of the powerful Revolutionary Guard.

Iran’s revelation that it covertly built a second uranium enrichment plant has raised international concerns that other secret nuclear sites might exist as well.

Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi’s statement came with a hard-line message ahead of crucial talks this week with the U.S. and other world powers — Iran will not give up its ability to produce nuclear fuel.

The details emerging about the secret site near the holy city of Qom have only heightened suspicions Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, despite repeated denials.

If you are keeping score at home, Iran has secretly built a nuclear facility into the side of a mountain, in back of a major military installation that is too small to do anything but enrich uranium for weaponizing purposes.

Suspicious?

As noted 20th Century philosopher Bugs Bunny would put it, “Ehhh. COULD be!”

It gets worse.

Pictures of the day: 28 September 2009

“This site is at the base of a mountain and was selected on purpose in a place that would be protected against aerial attack. That’s why the site was chosen adjacent to a military site,” Salehi said.

“It was intended to safeguard our nuclear facilities and reduce the cost of an active defense system. If we had chosen another site, we would have had to set up another aerial defense system.”

He said Iran is willing to have a general discussion about nuclear technology when it meets Thursday in Geneva with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. But he insisted Iran will not give up its “right” to uranium enrichment, which produces fuel that can be used for both nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.

The nuclear facility, named Meshkat or Lantern, is located next to a military compound of the Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s most powerful military force, equipped with an air defense system, Salehi said.

“This is a contingency plant. It is one of the pre-emptive measures aimed at protecting our nuclear technology and human work force. It is a small version of Natanz,” he said, referring to Iran’s other nuclear facility in central Iran.

“This is to show that the Islamic Republic of Iran won’t allow its nuclear activities to stop under any circumstances even for a moment.”

Pretty brash and bald faced stuff.

So how will the international community respond to this threat?

Israel has portrayed the latest disclosures as proof of its long-held assertion that Iran seeks nuclear weapons and is a strategic threat. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that Israel is keeping all its options open, suggesting a pre-emptive military strike on nuclear facilities is still a possibility.

However, some Israeli analysts believe the disclosure of the new nuclear facility could actually put off an Israeli strike because it increases the chances the international community will impose harsher sanctions.

“If there ever was a thought of going with a military option, it’s been put off,” said Ephraim Kam, the deputy director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute of National Security Studies.

“Iran was caught lying again, it’s clearly moving toward becoming a nuclear power,” he said. “Now the Americans are better able to try to persuade the Europeans, and even the Russians, to go for tougher sanctions.”

“Sanctions! That’s it!

We’ll hit Iran in the pocketbook where it really hurts!”

Two questions.

Would even harsh sanctions deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons?

No.

To pretend that the leadership of Iran cares even the slightest bit for the economic well being of its citizens requires quite a bit of imagination, especially after the brutal repression of the so called “Green Uprising” following the fraudulent re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Grand Ayatollah Khameni and his associates are committed devotees of what has been called a death loving, apocalyptic cult that believes world war is the way to usher in their Muslim messiah.

They believe that all they have to do is hang in long enough to launch their kamakazie-like assault and trust the 12th Imam to take care of the rest.

Sanctions are only effective if a government actually cares about its people and wants to thrive and prosper in a secular sense.

Neither of these impulses fit the picture in Iran

Second question – Will harsh sanctions ever be realized?

No.

For two reasons.

Following each and every outrage perpetrated by the Iranian government a predictable pattern has emerged.

Israel threatens to take action.

The United States tells the Israelis to wait and let diplomacy work.

The UN Security Council takes up the idea of isolating or sanctioning Iran.

Russia and China promptly veto the motion.

Why Do Russia and China defend this rogue nation?

In China’s case – here’s your answer.

Chinese oil demand fueling Iranian defiance

Despite tough talk from Washington, China needs Iran’s oil too much

to support sanctions that might actually bite.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Don’t look for Iran to throw up the white flag anytime soon.

The Obama administration is scrambling to tighten trade sanctions against Iran after the disclosure last week that Tehran was hiding a heavily fortified facility that many believe is designed to make material for nuclear weapons.

But the kind of sanctions that would really hit Iran’s economy – sanctions against its energy industry – are thought to be off the table because China and other nations are too reliant on Iran’s oil.

“They look to Iran as a major source of future oil supplies,” said James Placke, a senior associate at Cambridge Energy Research Associates who specializes in the Middle East. “They’d have to go through a substantial policy reversal, and I’d be surprised if they did that.”

China looks to Iran as a major source of supply for their burgeoning energy needs.

And no doubt, Iran provides the oil at a Premium Customer Discount in return for their help with the UN Security Council.

Russia has more oil than it knows what to do with.

Why then, do they go to bat for the Mullahs?

Because the Mullahs have called off the Islamic terror attacks that were threatening to topple the Putin dominated government.

Less than five years ago, Muslim terrorists from Chechnya took over a school in Beslan in the North Caucasas Region of the Russian Federation.

Over 1,100 hostages were taken, including 777 school children.

334 people were massacred, including 186 students.

This was only one of a regular bombardment of Russia with increasingly bold and effective acts of terror.

From airliners blown up in flight, to massive casualties in apartment explosions in Moscow, the Putin government looked powerless to deal with the threat.

That is, until the Russians turned over a new leaf in diplomatic and military cooperation with – you guessed it – Iran.

It’s amazing how much peace one can buy with, oh, say, a nuclear power plant, or a state of the art air defense system or two.

Not to mention a reliable no vote on the UN Security Council.

In essence, the Russians are victims of the classic “protection racket”.

No doubt in the tradition of Don Corleone, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said,  “Nice country, you’ve got here Vlad. Too bad if somethin’ happened to it.”

Nothing personal. It’s just business.

And so the dithering continues.

Strongly worded statements of shock and dismay.

Offers of “meaningful dialogue”.

Meanwhile, the centrifuges keep churning away at Qom, and who knows where else in Iran.

The fact that immediate actions were not voted on in an emergency session of the Security Council is a pretty good indicator that sanctions will not even be given the chance to work.

The only possible road block between Iran and a nuclear weapon seems to be either Divine intervention, or a full blown assault by Israel.

Maybe it will be both.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.” (Psalm 122:5-7)

Matthew 24 – A Heavenly Heads Up

It has been said that the Bible is more relevant than even tomorrow’s newspaper.

Why?

Because in the Bible we get in touch with a “God’s eye view” of life – the past, the present and yes, the future all portrayed in perfect clarity.

And in some places in the Word, we see all three presented at once.

Consider a passage that while written in the past, tells us quite a bit about what is happening in our present, with a sobering, yet ultimately hopeful view of our future.

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:3-8)

As we have pointed out before in this space, the term sorrows can also be translated as “birth pains”.

Like the pain that increases in both frequency and intensity as the birth of a child approaches, so Jesus taught that there would be painful world wide catastrophes that would follow the same pattern as the time of His return would draw near.

Just for curiosity sake, lets take a look at this heavenly heads up and compare it with events that have taken place since our last Scott’s Blog post of 9/25.

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad peppered his remarks with various references to what he believes will be the Muslim messiah, the Imam Mahdi.

“There will come a time when justice will prevail across the globe and every single human being will enjoy respect and dignity. That will be the time when mankind’s path to moral and spiritual perfection will be opened and his journey to God and the manifestation of God’s Divine Names will come true. Mankind should excel to represent God’s knowledge and wisdom, His compassion and benevolence, His justice and fairness, His power and art, and His kindness and forgiveness. These will all come true under the rule of the Perfect Man, the last Divine source on earth, Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh), an offspring of the Prophet of Islam, who will re-engage, and Jesus Christ (pbuh) and other noble men will accompany him in the accomplishment of this grand universal mission. And this is the belief in Entezar: waiting patiently for the Imam to return, waiting with patience for the rule of goodness and the governance of the best, which is a universal human notion and which is a source of nations’ hope for the betterment of the world.

Faith in a messiah figure so great that Jesus Himself would be merely one of his proteges?

False Christs and false prophets? Check.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

The world being drawn to the brink of war, with each day presenting another prediction of inevitable catastrophe?

Joel Rosenberg provides the following blow by blow description of the rising possibility of nuclear war in the Middle East.

Events are moving so quickly in the epicenter it can be difficult to keep track of, much less understand the big picture. So here it is in a sentence: An apocalpytic storm is forming over the Middle East.

Consider the data points:

1. Iran has just been caught secretly building a 2nd uranium enrichment facilityon a military base in the religious capital of Iran, a city known as Qom;
2. A growing number of Western military analysts say the design of this new facility — and its secrecy, and location — clearly indicates it was being built by Iran for the purpose of creating nuclear weapons;
3. Iran has thus been caught in its third lie since 2002 with regards to building secret nuclear development facilities in Natanz, Arak, and now Qom;
4. Ahmadinejad refused four times during his NBC News interview last week to rule out the building of nuclear weapons;
5. A.Q. Khan — the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons development program – has just admitted selling advanced nuclear weapons blueprints years ago to Iran for millions of dollars;
6. The latest IAEA report indicates Iran has enough low-enriched uranium (LEU) to produce enough high-enriched uranium (HEU) by 2010 to produce two nuclear weapons;
7. Iran has just spent the weekend testing “its most advanced missiles” capable of reaching Israel;

Add to this list another troubling development revealed today:

SAUDIS WILL LET ISRAEL BOMB

IRAN NUCLEAR SITE

Mossad chief Meir Dagan

INTELLIGENCE chief Sir John Scarlett has been told that Saudi Arabia is ready to allow Israel to bomb Iran’s new nuclear site.

The head of MI6 discussed the issue in London with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Saudi officials after British intelligence officers helped to uncover the plant, in the side of a mountain near the ancient city of Qom.

The site is seen as a major threat by Tel Aviv and Riyadh. Details of the talks emerged after John Bolton, America’s former UN ambassador, told a meeting of intelligence analysts that “Riyadh certainly approves” of Israel’s use of Saudi airspace.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband acknowledged that the danger of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East was “particularly potent” and refused to rule out military action altogether but he insisted: “We are 100 per cent focused on a diplomatic solution.”

Wars and rumors of wars? Check.

And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

This just in from the South Pacific:

At least 14 dead as tsunami hits Samoas

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa – Towering tsunami waves spawned by a powerful earthquake swept ashore on two South Pacific island chains early Tuesday, killing at least 14 people and leaving dozens of others missing at devastated National Park Service facilities.

Hampered by power and communications outages, officials struggled to assess the casualties and damage. The quake, with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck around dawn about midway between Samoa and American Samoa.

Increasingly intense natural disasters? Check.

There is a compelling case to be made that we are right in the middle of a biblical birth pain.

So what do we do?

Jesus also covered that base in Matthew 24:

Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:42-44)

Jesus tells us to be ready.

What does that mean?

It doesn’t mean to go the Chicken Little route.

It doesn’t mean to run up your credit cards and hope the Anti-Christ will have to pay them off.

It doesn’t mean to convert all your assets into gold, buy seven years of canned food and hunker down in your basement.

It means to live each day that we’ve been given in a way that honors the love relationship we have been given with God.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14)

The best response to the signs of the times is to anticipate Jesus’ return like well loved children look forward to the sound of the garage door going up when their Daddy comes home at the end of the day.

If we have that kind of hope within us it will motivate us to say no to our destructive and selfish impulses  because we are saying yes to something, some One better.

Have you said yes to a real relationship with Jesus?

Netanyahu’s Question: Asked and Answered

The just completed meeting of the UN General Assembly featured speakers from every corner of the world.

The rhetoric ranged from silly (Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad’s tribute to the Shi’a messiah) to the slumber inducing (Moamar Qaddafi’s 100 plus minute love affair with the sound of his own voice).

But there was one powerful defining moment.

There have been memorable statements that have defined an era of history as it was about to unfold.

Winston Churchill’s rebuke of Neville Chamberlain:

“You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You have chosen dishonor and will have war.”

John F. Kennedy’s line in the sand:

“There are those who say that communism is the wave of the future..Let them come to Berlin.”

As events unfold in the Middle East, Benjamin Netanyahu’s challenge to the world – “Have you no shame?” – may occupy a similar place.

Unfortunately, Netanyahu’s question has already been answered.

Consider this latest episode of children’s “educational” television from the very people Israel is being pressured to make territorial concessions to in exchange for promises of peace.

It would be one thing if the UN was merely oblivious to the danger presented to Israel by such hate filled fanaticism. But it is quite another to see the same murderous rage that fueled the fires of the Holocaust on display, and blame the victim.

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
“Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.” (Psalm 2:1-6)

Check out an excellent analysis of Netanyahu’s speech at Joel Rosenberg’s Flashtraffic Blog.

Mahmoud’s No Good, Very Bad, Terrible, Rotten Day

In the SRL Files under Mahmoud’s No Good Very Bad Day:

It’s hard to find humor in the simmering show down between Israel and Iran these days.

But if the following event isn’t actually funny, it is at the very least ironic.

And maybe a sign of things to come.

The DEBKAfile web site reports the following eyebrow raising incident today:

Iran loses its only AWACS as Ahmadinejad threatens the world

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

September 23, 2009, 12:20 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iran’s AWACS destroyed in parade collision

Up above a big military parade in Tehran on Tuesday, Sept. 22, as Iranian president declared Iran’s armed forces would “chop off the hands” of any power daring to attack his country, two air force jets collided in mid-air. One was Iran’s only airborne warning and control system (AWACS) for coordinating long-distance aerial operations, DEBKAfile’s military and Iranian sources disclose.

The disaster was a serious blow for Iran, leaving its air force and air and missile defenses without “electronic eyes” for surveillance of the skies around its borders.

As if the timing of this “accident” wasn’t interesting enough, consider the final resting place of the wreckage.

Dubbed “Simorgh” (a flying creature of Iranian fable which performs wonders in mid-flight), the AWACS’ appearance, escorted by fighter jets, was to have been the climax for the Iranian Air force’s fly-past over the parade. Instead, it collided with one of escorting planes, a US-made F-5E, and both crashed to the ground in flames. All seven crewmen were killed.

Eye witnesses reported that the flaming planes landed on the mausoleum burial site of the Islamic revolution’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini, a national shrine. According to Western observers, no distress signals came from either cockpit indicating that the collision and explosions were sudden and fast.

An accident?

An amazing piece of espionage by the Mossad?

A direct intervention from the God of Abrham, Isaac and Jacob?

We report, you decide.

Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call upon God?
There they are in great fear
Where no fear was,
For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;
You have put them to shame,
Because God has despised them. (Psalm 53:4-5)

Pride and Prejudice: The Tehran Edition

The UN General Assembly is meeting this week in Turtle Bay, New York.

This means that our tax dollars will be wisely invested in providing security for a motley crew of the world’s leading tyrants and human rights abusers.

One of the more luminous personalities that has combined those tow traits into an art form is Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad.

As a warm up for his appearance at the UN this week, Mahmoud wowed crowds in Tehran with what can only be called his own version of “Pride and Prejudice”.

Iran’s Ahmadinejad proud of Holocaust denial

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s president said Monday he is proud to stoke international outrage with his latest remarks denying the Holocaust as he heads for the United Nations this week — showing he is as defiant as ever while his country comes under greater pressure to curtail its nuclear program.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes the world stage with a speech Wednesday to the U.N. General Assembly. He appears intent on showing he has not been weakened by three months of turmoil at home, where the pro-reform opposition has staged dramatic protests claiming Ahmadinejad’s victory in June presidential elections was fraudulent.

He stoked the fires ahead of the visit with new comments casting doubt on the Holocaust. Asked about widespread condemnation of such remarks, Ahmadinejad said Monday: “The anger of the world’s professional killers is (a source of) pride for us,” according to state news agency IRNA.

During a speech Friday, he questioned whether the Holocaust was “a real event” and called it a pretext used by Jews to trick the West into backing the creation of Israel. He said the Jewish state was created out of “a lie and a mythical claim.”

The United States branded the speech “hateful.” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Monday that Ahmadinejad “yet again shames the great tradition of the noble Iranian people” and has chosen “the violent repression of Iranians over a policy of friendship and cooperation that would have promoted their welfare and their honor.”

Although Mahmoud will get the chance to rub shoulders with equally heavy handed despots like the ruling junta from Myanmar and Moammar Qadaffi, the thing that makes him special is his unique ability to act upon his twisted vision of reality with potentially world shattering results.

To whit:

Iran may have enough enriched uranium to build a

bomb, US warns

The US warned yesterday that Iran might already have enough enriched uranium to build a bomb as Tehran defied sanctions threats and stuck to its nuclear programme.

The country has dominated a week-long meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under way in Vienna as the deadline for President Obama’s offer of talks draws near. According to the latest American assessment, outlined by Glyn Davies, the American Ambassador to the IAEA, the Iranian nuclear enrichment programme is bringing it closer to a “dangerous and destabilising possible breakout capacity”. “Iran is now either very near, or in possession already, of sufficient low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon, if the decision were made to further enrich it to weapons-grade,” Mr Davies told governors of the IAEA.

To put this in terms straight from the television cop shows, Iran’s mullocracy now has both the motive and the means to carry out its genocidal threats against Israel.

All it lacks now is opportunity.

There is no doubt that Ahmadinejhad’s rhetoric is frightening.

But he doesn’t have the market cornered on declarations direct from the lunatic fringe.

There is no doubt that Israel will not sit patiently by while the weapons of their mass destruction are completed in Tehran.

Plans have been designed and even war games to practice these plans have already been conducted by the IDF.

Which prompted former Carter administration National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brezinski to add these helpful remarks:

Brezinski Calls for Obama to Shoot Down Israeli Jets; “A Liberty in Reverse”

In a little noticed interview with the Daily Beast (presumably little noticed because serious people don’t read the Daily Beast), Zbigniew Brzezinski suggests that Barack Obama do more than just refuse to support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites — the American president must give the order to shoot down Israeli aircraft as they cross Iraqi airspace:

DB: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest?

Brzezinski: We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?

DB: What if they fly over anyway?

Brzezinski: Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse.

Now there’s a mind blowing turn of events.

A former National Security Adviser who was part of our current administration’s transition team envisions us confronting Israeli jets for the high crime of attempting to deal a major set back to a maniacal regime’s WMD dreams?

Say it ain’t so, Zbigniew!

This week’s proceedings at the UN merit our close attention.

Will it be an opportunity to galvanize the support of the Security Council for meaningful sanctions against Iran?

Or will it be another opportunity to blame Israel for the fanatical ambitions of tyrants ad dictators in the region?

Pray for the former.

But don’t be surprised at the latter.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.” (Psalm 122:6-7)