Category: Politics

Chanukah or Tisha Bav

Daniel Juster, Ph. D. and Senior Shaliach

 

The War with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israel still fights the long war in Gaza and soon may fight an all-out war in Lebanon against the Iran proxy, Hezbollah.  However, the overall situation in the Middle East is much more dangerous than we may imagine.  Israel’s liturgical narrative history recounts the depths of despair and defeat in the 9th of Av, the destruction of both Temples, the expulsion from Spain, and the Holocaust.  However, Israel’s narrative also celebrates the extraordinary victories of Passover-Exodus, Purim during Persian rule and Queen Esther, and Chanukah in the war against the Syria Hellenist Seleucids.  This Chanukah we again remember the great victories to save Israel under the leadership of the Maccabees, 167-160 B. C.   Will the present wars lead to another tragedy or an amazing victory?

 

What We Are Really Up Against 

In the short term, it does not look like another 9th Av.   Israel will ultimately stay in Gaza even if there is a six-week truce.  This truce is very unlikely since Hezbollah has no motive to give up the hostages without a total end to the war.   Israel cannot do that, so we face a grievous and sad reality.  Also, if Israel fully goes to war against Hezbollah in the north to enforce U. N. resolution 1701, that Hezbollah has to remain behind the Litani River in Lebanon and give up its arms so there is one Lebanese army, it will be a very bad situation.  The number of Hezbollah missiles means that there will be devastation in Israel and many deaths, but Hezbollah will be defeated.  If Iran enters the war, we hope the U. S. defends Israel.  Iran was not ready for war and wanted its nuclear bomb first.  This is what we are up against in the short term. 

 

However, let us note what is not usually described.  Israel is up against many other terrorist entities. 

 

Explicit Enemies of Israel 

  1. First, there are the Houthis in Yemen who rule much of Yemen.  The weak U. S. government has let them shut down the international sea lanes.  Thomas Jefferson went to war for open seas!  The Biden administration seems pathetically weak.  The Houthis would be easy to defeat by air power.  Israel faces the Houthis, who now send some troops to fight Israel. 
  2. Secondly, Syria allows its country to be a base for Hezbollah and the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corp.  
  3. Then there are the Hezbollah-aligned Shiites of Iraq.
  4. Iran seeks to destroy Israel and leaders have professed that they should use the nuclear bomb against Israel.  This is what Donald Trump meant when he said if Harris is elected, Israel will cease to exist.  He defunded Iran but the Biden administration reversed this and provided hundreds of billions of dollars to Iran that financed her terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and more.  The biggest gain for changing the Middle East would be regime change in Iran.  

 

Dangerous Countries at Peace with Israel 

  1. First is Egypt.  It is called a cold peace.  Why?  Egypt’s education system still fosters hatred for Israel.  Egypt’s population is overwhelmingly anti-Israel.  Can the cold peace survive? Egypt allowed the Rapha crossings and border tunnels to be used to arm Hamas to the hilt. 

 

  1. Second is Jordan.  The situation in Jordan is very much like Egypt.  However, the majority of Jordan is Palestinian and Hamas wants to overthrow the monarchy. Can Jordan remain at peace?  Will the monarchy long survive?

 

  1. Third is Qatar, which is supposedly an ally of the United States but fosters Hamas and provides refuge for their billionaire leader Mashal and did for their late leader Ismael Haniyeh.  They also foster the Al Jazeera anti-Israel and pro-Hamas Newspaper. 

 

  1. Fourth is Turkey which now is more and more belligerent against Israel and is pro-Hamas.  Erdogan, Turkey’s leader, says he wants Turkey to lead a world Muslim anti-Israel coalition.  Their Islamist semi-dictator is still allowed to be part of NATO, a travesty.  A regime change in Turkey would be very beneficial to the Middle East and for stemming Islamic fascist terrorism. 

 

  1. Fifth is Pakistan whose secret service and government allows ISIS connections and pro-Taliban policies. 

 

Terrorist Populations 

The West cannot get its arms around the fact that the so-called innocent populations are actually terrorist-supporting populations.  Fighting a war against a terrorist-supporting population is a whole different order and there is no way to fight it without significant civilian deaths, especially when they allow themselves to be human shields.  This was somewhat the situation in Germany in World War II, but it is much worse with Islamic Fascism. 

 

The Feckless West

The feckless West more and more aligns with Israel’s enemies and makes Israel’s defense effort the crime.  The West has imported a fifth column of Islamic Fascists which amazingly ally with the useful idiot leftist.  They take over the streets and campuses and require ending investments in Israel.  Weak college administrators and leftist city councils are likely to give in. 

 

China and Russia as Allies of Iran

For their own purposes for world domination Russia and China now ally with Iran. 

 

Conclusions 

Well, you get the picture.  It is as if the biblical picture of all nations coming against Israel is beginning to happen.  Credible prophecy teachers see the last wars as Islamic-led.  It is foolish for the Prime Minister to profess his faith in the Israel Defense Forces to save us.  We will need the salvation that only comes from Yeshua.  In God we must trust.  

 

The last word is presented in the Bible.  It will be the Feasts of victory and Chanukah that will prevail.  Joel 3, Zechariah 12, and14 Ezekiel 38,39, and many more passages show us the end of the story.  This is a time for much prayer, revival, and a great harvest in Israel. 

Mosab Yousef Addresses the EUP

Mosab Yousef, son of Hamas founder Hassan Yousef, recently addressed the European Union Parliament. Mosab is a strong spokesman against Hamas terrorism. 

In his piercing and fiery style, he states that much of what people say about Hamas is detached from reality. From his childhood, Mosab witnessed the atrocities of this terror organization firsthand.  

Here is my summary are some of his salient points:

  • Fundraising – Massive funding from both Arab oil countries and Western liberal nations has gone to the terrorists. This has caused enormous destruction.
  • Narratives – This war is a war of narratives. The truth about the situation has been ignored and twisted because of wrong agendas.
  • No Palestinian Ethnicity – I was told as a child to be Palestinian. But that is not true. We are Arabs. There is no ethnic group called Palestinians. There is no Palestinian language, race, or religion.
  • Colonialism – The Ottomans colonized Palestine. They invaded and ruled from 1517 to 1917. Then the British invaded and ruled from 1917 to 1947. During those two periods, Arabs come to the Land. They were part of the colonial process. Palestine is an invention of the Ottoman and British colonialists. 
  • Jewish Immigration – The Jews who returned to the Land were limited by the two colonial empires. The limitation of Jewish immigration was the real criminal part of the colonial period.
  • No Palestinian Nation – In 1948, the Jews fought to establish their state. There was no Palestinian State between the Ottoman and British empires. There never was a Palestinian State at any time. In the Palestinian colonial entity, there were Arabs, Jews, Christians, Druze, etc. Jews were also “Palestinians.” 
  • Palestinian Ideology – Palestinianism is an ideology. It is a hostile movement to annihilate the Jewish people in the Land. People are in denial of this ideological element of the conflict.
  • Muslim Intimidation – No one is willing to look at the truth because there are more than a billion Muslims who would be angry and violent about any criticism of Islam. 
  • Islamic Belief – The Quran and the Hadith say that the Mahdi (the Muslim end times’ savior) will not come until the Muslims kill all the Jewish people. This is a fundamental belief: Allah chose the Jewish people. They were disobedient. Allah is punishing the Jews. The Muslims are now the sword of Allah to destroy them.  
  • Submission to Islam – This conflict is worldwide, not limited to Palestine. All non-Muslims must submit to Islamic law. All land that belonged to Muslims is forever theirs. For instance, southern Spain was once Muslim, so it still belongs to them. Every mosque in every country is Muslim territory. No Western country can ever close down any mosque lest it bring on a violent international conflict. 
  • Peaceful Religion – Anyone trying to sell the West that Islam is a peaceful religion is lying. It is the very violence of Islam that makes it too controversial even to bring up the topic. However, this ideological dimension is the most important part of the conflict despite everyone’s fear of dealing with it.
  • Yassir Arafat – The person who led the false Palestinian identity and ideology was Yassir Arafat. He was a con artist. He was Egyptian, born in Egypt, with an Egyptian accent, and Egyptian citizenship. Arafat became addicted to money, power, fame, and prestige. 
  • Global Terror – Arafat globalized the idea of terrorism: blew up airplanes, killed Jewish athletes at the Munich Olympics, etc. Political rivals were assassinated. The West cannot understand this terror mentality. They keep giving more finances to assuage it, but that makes it even worse. 
  • Child Manipulation – As a child in the first intifada of 1987, I was told by unknown masked men, hired by Arafat, to leave school and go throw rocks at Israeli tanks at the checkpoints. Palestinian terrorism is anti-children. However, it photographed well to see a child throwing a rock at an Israeli tank. 
  • Free Hostages – On October 7, 2023, Hamas broke through the fence and wiped out 20 peaceful, liberal communities, who believed in coexistence. Hamas murdered and took hostage innocent civilians, mostly farmers. Why is not all the world united around a demand to return the hostages?
  • False Morality – Many are posing as being on higher moral ground, crying “free Palestine,” when they don’t realize they are supporting a false, violent ideology. 
  • Ethnic Cleansing – Genocide is not determined by number of people killed but by the intent. The only people being killed because of their ethnic background in this conflict are the Jews. There have been 1,400 years of Jew hatred in Islam.   Islam is a religious majority that wants to kill a religious minority, the Jews.
  • Civilian Victims – Israel has done everything in its power to reduce civilian casualties. They even alerted civilians two weeks before a military action to allow civilians to evacuate. The civilian victims in Gaza are a result of Hamas hijacking schools, hospitals, aid centers, and mosques. Hamas did not leave any safe zones in Gaza for civilians. They purposely used civilians as human shields, sacrificing them in order to make Israel look bad.
  • Numbers of Casualties – Are there 40,000 casualties in Gaza? No one really knows. There are no official counts, and no death certificates. Humanitarian agencies just accept what Hamas tells them. The numbers may be greatly exaggerated in order to discredit Israel. 
  • Equal Rights – There are no equal rights in Islam. Women are seen as property. Suppression of women leads to other types of oppressive behavior. Muslims want to come to the West to enjoy the freedom there. But you can only have equal rights if you respect the rights of others. 

Whether one agrees with Mosab or not, his perspective must be considered seriously because his life experience is unique and authentic. His testimony is valid because of its authenticity. 

GENOCIDE

My leftist friends (and I do have a few) accuse Israel of genocide.  This is because of the pictures of civilians, women, and children killed in Gaza.  However, not only is the definition of genocide abused by them, but the figures of civilian deaths are exaggerated.  In an Orwellian reversal, those nations and parties calling for the genocide of the Jews are given a pass, and Israel defending itself against genocide is called the perpetrator of genocide. 

Here is the definition of genocide in the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (No. 9, 1948).  

Genocide is the carrying out of one or more of five specific war crimes with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious groups.”  

It includes killing people simply because they are members of a group.  The second is “causing bodily or mental harm to members of the group.”  Inflicting “conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction,” preventing births, and abducting children.”  

One can readily see how this definition is so connected to the Nazi regime in Germany.  

Let’s then look at Gaza.  South Africa (very anti-Israel due to Israel’s relationship with the apartheid regime in the past) asserts in its war crimes case before the International Criminal Court, that Israel deliberately killed 23,570 innocent Gazans.  Hamas claims the number is 41,000.  But Professor Abraham Wyner, a statistics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, notes that these figures are wrong.  Even the U.N. has not accepted these figures and asserts the lower number. Hamas blames every death in Gaza on the Israel Defense Force and does not distinguish between civilian and military deaths.  Estimates are also that friendly fire deaths from Hamas misfired rockets are many,  plus natural deaths of 2.9 percent average would be 6,200 plus.  We are looking at over 8,000.  The estimate is that 17,000 Hamas soldiers have been killed.  

Adding all this up, the non-combatant deaths in Gaza are close to 1.2% which is far lower to the average of 1.9% in modern urban warfare.  John Spencer, the West Point urban war expert, notes this as the lowest percentage in urban war in history. On the issue of babies, 5,522 babies have been born per month in Gaza according to Save the Children NGO.  The pre-war rate was 4,783.  

These statistics are in spite of the fact of the massive human shield operation by the terrorist Hamas organization.  We see the same strategy with Hezbollah.  Seek genocide against Israel while gaining the worlds sympathy when human shields are killed.  It brings us to Golda Meier’s famous statement that peace will come when the terrorists are more concerned about protecting their children than killing ours. (my slight paraphrase) NO, THERE IS NO GENOCIDE BY ISRAEL, NOT EVEN CLOSE. 

But where is the UN on real genocide against the Kurds, Syria, Darfur from Sudan.  South Africa leader posed with the Sudan general Daglo who murdered 15,000 beloinging to the ethnic minority.  Turkey exacts a terrible toll on innocent Kurds. Where is their self-determination?  The Syria kills over 500,000.  But the world is largely silent but very loud against Israel.

 

I was aided in research by Iam Neubauer.  His article in the Oct. 25 Jerusalem Post gave a good summary. 

Why Israel Does Not now accept a Two-State Solution

Three attempts were made for a two-state solution. First was the attempt during the administrations of Barak and Clinton. Clinton told Arafat that he made him a failure.  Arafat walked away and started an uprising/intifada. Then A. Sharon tried unilateral withdrawal, which would lead to a two-state solution. Gaza was completely freed.  He hoped this would be a first step and then he would do the same with his chosen areas of the West Bank.  He had a stroke and never was able to finish his plan.  Hamas kicked out The Palestinian Authority, killed several of them, and then turned Gaza into a military base to destroy Israel.  Effort #2 failed.  Olmert and Abbas worked on effort #3.  He offered 97% of the West Bank and land swaps for the other 3%.  He offered East Jerusalem as the capital for them. Abbas walked away and made Bush a failure as well.  This led to the death of the left as a serious power in Israel.  Her parties have less than 10% of the vote now.

The reason why the great majority of Israelis reject a two-state solution is that they know for sure that such a state would become a radical Hamas military base like Gaza.   Therefore their solution is autonomy.  Israel keeps overall security, the Palestinians in the West Bank have passports from Jordan or Israel but no citizenship, no army, and no statehood.  It would be like Puerto Rico.  They would choose local governments and the Palestinian government but not have a state.  The West Bank would have Jewish areas and Palestinian autonomous zones.  This is the best we can hope for but it is a long shot for there to be any solution.  Also, Palestinian education would have to be deradicalized.

PROJECT 2025

I am writing this little essay due to the political hot potato Project 2025, a blueprint for government change from a conservative point of view.  Democrats vilify it. They claim that Project 2025 is the playbook for a possible next Trump term. The former President claims he has had nothing to do with it, that he has not read it and will not, and that it is not its playbook.  The Democrats claim that Project 2025 is an extreme right-wing agenda that will set the country back.  Republicans do not defend it but probably wisely say little because Democrats will pick and choose parts out of context and prosecute their case against Republicans on the basis of such misrepresentations.  I read some of the names of those who gave leadership to different chapters or sections of the document and knew them to be brilliant, credible, and not extreme.   However, were others extreme and suggesting extreme and dangerous policies?  I have read many studies from the Heritage Foundation and other think tanks whose leaders were part of this project.  Heritage is usually very credible.   

 

So, what is a person like me to do?  I am an informed person who seeks to apply biblical worldview thinking to politics.  See my book Social Justice. In this book I promote the idea that love and Justice are one and that a truly just social order is one that promotes the lifting up of the greatest number of people.  I argue that a free enterprise society with checks and balances on corporate and governmental power is the most successful.  Justice is based on God’s law, the universals that can be derived from the Bible, and on empirical evidence of what works. With this understanding,  I decided to review the 2025 Project.  It is 880 plus pages, large dense pages.  It was no easy task, but how can I evaluate the many claims that are being made?  I could not find a good and comprehensive defense of the project or a fair and serious critique,  so I decided to work my way through it. 

 

Here is a very short summary of my key takeaways.  No, it is not a radical crazy radical right-wing agenda but is the product of brilliant and serious thinkers whose articles should be read and weighed.  The book is primarily dealing with the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and all its agencies.  The administrative state, all its agencies, is so large and vast that it is difficult to get one’s arms around it.  So, the 2025 Project gives more information on the vast federal government than anyone could want.  It is an education.  The Executive Branch of the Government is far larger than the rest of the government put together and very powerful.    Here is my review.  

 

The Massive Labyrinth and Its Waste

The project describes every agency and significant sub-agency.  Each one is a vast labyrinth in itself with huge budgets and government administrators and sub administrators galore.  The documented waste, duplication, inertia, civil service employees who resist change, corruption, and cronyism are beyond what we can imagine.  Truly as Lawrence Peter argued, in government agencies inefficiency is ubiquitous since people are often promoted beyond their competence. (The Peter Principle.)  This reminds us of Ronald Reagan and his Grace commission which sought to address this.  But since then, the waste and corruption of government has grown back and is probably worse than ever.  There must be a radical evaluation on the basis of efficiency and the government in size has to be radically reduced.  Can anyone get their hands around these agencies and reform them?  We hope so.  They swallow up much wealth. 

 

Agency Mission Creep, and Corruption 

One aspect of the administrative state and its agencies is mission creep.  Over and over again agencies and their leaders stretch the boundaries of their legal congressional mandates and involve themselves in regulations and initiatives that were not approved by Congress.  This is a way for elites to gain progress in their political and social directions without the necessity of legislation and democratic debate.  The various authors show this in agency after agency.  I will detail some examples.  It is the characteristic of leftist elites to bypass legislative and democratic processes to gain their end in hidden ways through the bureaucracy.  

 

CRT. DEI, Transgenderism, ESG 

A few years ago, we were told that Critical Race Theory was an academic theory and was not being applied in our schools or in government policy.  This was a lie.  The cultural formation left has made CRT ubiquitous in most government agencies.  This began with President Obama, was somewhat halted under President Trump but now has returned with a vengeance.  CRT promotes appointing and promoting people by their particular race and ethnicity above others who may be more qualified.  This racial/ethnic orientation and quota system was not passed by Congress and not approved by the democratic process but is being applied throughout the agencies and in its policies promoted for other nations, in education and so much more. CRT partners with its twin ideas, DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion.  DEI is not interested in diversity of thought or political or religious views.  DEI means that every government agency, every corporation, and every institution is to reflect the proportion of embraced groups that are disadvantaged. Blacks and Hispanics especially are favored, but Asians need not apply!  There is a pecking order. Such racial discrimination was rejected by the Supreme Court, but the agencies of the Federal Government are fully promoting these unconstitutional directions.  This replaces the right orientation for disadvantaged groups, programs, and opportunities for the poor that will qualify many for advancement.  

 

CRT partners with transgenderism and the promotion of the LGBTQ+ agenda.  These alternative lifestyles are endorsed and promoted and makeup one of the groups for special treatment and promotion.  They were disadvantaged and are now to be promoted.  These policies need to be eliminated. 

 

ESG, Environment, Social, and Government is another left orientation that seeks to force corporations and banks to act to only favor those who embrace a more radical environmental agenda that can lead to much poverty, Social brings us back to DEI and go Government to leadership that promotes all of this.  Businesses that run a full ESG and DEI can be refused financing and de-platformed.  This discrimination must be halted. 

 

Restoring and Incentivizing Marriage and Family

Contrary to false claims, Project 2025 does not seek to eliminate welfare but like the Clinton administration, seeks to incentivize work. It also seeks policies that incentivizes marriage and family stability as the building block of success.  While there are successful children from single parent situations, the percentages of success show differentials that are huge and are in favor of an intact family with a mother and father.  This may be one emphasis that is hated by the left that seeks to equalize all types of living arrangements.  Incentivizing family should be expressed in welfare programs, education, and government programs in housing and adoption.  This affects policies on adoption that should favor intact two parent families with a mother and father and should not discriminate against religious families that promote traditional marriage.  

 

Rejecting transgenderism as a policy implies rejecting education that fosters transgender ideas in children in our education system and even promotes transgender transition for children.  This can lead to confusion in children.  It also rejects transgender biological men in women’s locker rooms, shower rooms, and sports.   There is a rejection of Biden’s fiat re-interpretation of Title 9 to apply protections for women in sports to include biological boys and men who identify as girls or women.  This also affects the Department of Health and Human Services in its policies promoting transgenderism.

 

Abortion, National, and International

Though our nation is divided on the issue of abortion the Agencies of Government are all in on promoting it, in Health and Human Services and even in foreign policy from the State Department and through the influence of the largesse of foreign aid.  The 2025 project does not call for a ban on abortion but for regulation and an end to late-term abortion.  Despite all the professions in favor of multiculturalism, contrary to our laws, the Federal Agencies dealing with foreign nations strong-arm these nations to embrace pro-abortion policies and the LGBTQ+ agenda  This is profoundly contrary to the traditional cultures of many nations.  Such policies and arm-twisting are seen as colonialism. And it is!  Conservatives may be pro-life but generally seek to see abortion limited to the first trimester. 

 

Education

The union monopoly education system in the U. S. is a disaster in many locales.  Morals (Immorality) are promoted contrary to family religious beliefs. Think of the defense of the pornographic in the school and those who oppose it are claimed to seek censorship. Often performance in schools is very poor.  The solution is that money should follow the parents who can choose their schools.  This is the key for many of the poor underclass to escape their poor-performing schools and to escape poverty. This is a key policy that is greatly needed.  If money follows the student the parents can choose religious schools, private schools, or public schools.  Some think the Education Department should be eliminated.  It imposes mandates against the will of many parents.  Of course, funds can be given so that the poor can choose a better education, but that does not require a department.  Education should be locally controlled.  School choice is a key to a better future. 

 

Environmental Ideas 

The 2025 Project claims to be pro-environment but not in a radical way where we destroy the fossil fuel industry and do not by world statistics improve the environment but have policies that will lead to poverty. Banks should not be able to refuse business on the basis of this part of the ESG agenda.  The Environmental Protection Agency needs to be reined in for it regulates beyond its congressional mandate.

 

Cancel Culture and Big Tech  

It is crucial that cancel culture be opposed and Big Tech needs regulation to not de-platform and demonetize what is contrary to their politically correct ideas.  Only calls for violence, pornography and real hate (not made-up hate such as promoting traditional marriage!) should be censored.  Monopolist issues with Big Tech and the internet need to be addressed.

 

Trade

There is a very good discussion on international trade, tariffs and prosperity with different points of view presented.  The dangers of trade with China and its nefarious behavior are dealt with. 

 

The Department of Justice 

The Department needs to be depoliticized.  It is severe with pro-life demonstrators who slightly cross red lines but have been soft on violent behavior against pro-life centers. Crimes from the left (think of George Floyd, Minneapolis burning, and Seattle).  It puts out warnings on parents at school boards but allows more serious crimes to be unprosecuted.  A return to law-based enforcement is crucial   

 

This is a very small summary.  It is classic conservative not radical.  So why the big reaction?  It is that the authors are credible people whose positions threaten the Democratic elite.  That is about it. 

 

But do note, that though President Trump is not connected to the 3025 project, former members of his administration are.  His own policy paper recently put out tracks with the 2025 project.

The Christian Nationalism Question Again

I have written about this topic before but the controversy again among believers is intensifying.  Often there is a lot of heat and little light because terms are not defined.

Idolatrous Nationalism

Nationalism can be defined in an idolatrous way where our loyalty is to be to our nation, right or wrong. This is then applied in a way to the United States that produces real imbalance. I don’t know any Facebook friends of mine who argue for this.  But I know this is the attitude of some.

Loyalty to a nation-state

Others point to nationalism about the 19th-century organization of former tribes and regions into nation-states and argue that all are called to loyalty to their nation-state, to make their state the best it can be. As long as they recognize that we are called to care about the world and not only our nation, I embrace this idea.  However, America First can be imbalanced if it means America only.  I see an isolationism in some that is troubling.

The United States as a Covenant Nation

When one adds the word Christian to nationalism, there are several meanings. One is that the United States is in a special covenant relationship with God like Israel. They trace this to the Puritans and Pilgrims and even the Mayflower Compact.  But despite these origins and the theistic theology of the Declaration of Independence, which asserts that all men were created equal, there is no explicit profession of being a Christian nation as was the case for example in the United Kingdom or the Hapsburg Empire. This view of a covenant with God and even an election of the United States is argued in the book by Peter Marshall Jr. The Light and the Glory. The son of the famous Senate Chaplain and the famous mother, Catherine Marshall, is persuasive but I still believe it is wrong.

Christian Nationalism as Seeking the Good of the Nation and Biblical Norms in Society

Others use Christian Nationalism to mean that we are to seek the good of our nation and that our nation was dominated by the influence of the Bible on its laws and its cultural norms.  God’s rule of sowing and reaping applies to nations as well as individuals.  This is the clear teaching of the prophets and is made clear in the Psalms which call for all nations to acknowledge God and his basic law.  Our nation is Christian to the extent that our people are Christian and produce a dominant culture of Christian values.  I am very sympathetic to this understanding of Christian Nationalism but still have reservations.  I think this was close to the idea of the founders who taught that the republic depended on the Christian life and piety of its citizens.

A Better Approach,  a Judeo-Christian Nationalism

Our rights and freedoms are rooted in the Bible. No biblical influence, no human rights! Many historians have noted that.  And there is a blessing of God for a nation that acts righteously.  But when we say Christian nation, it tends to exclude those who are not Christians. In the book The Hebrew Republic, by Eric Nelson, the author argues that the Hebrew Bible is the source of Western liberties and advancement in laws and rights.  Christianity adds wonderful standards of love and mercy that are even greater due to the New Testament, but it is the Hebrew Bible that is the primary source of so much.

It would be better to say that our ideal is to return to being a Judeo-Christian republic and that all are welcome who affirm the laws and standards that arise therefrom, to enjoy the rights and liberties.  As such we are a pro-Judeo-Christian religious society.  To say that we believe in a quest for a Judeo-Christian Nationalism would be in order.  But we are not there at this point.  Where things are now, we are drifting away and are not a nation that is truly Judeo-Christian in our values. Many are bible based on their views of law and liberty but many are not. This is why the work of evangelism and revival is the key to restoration.

ISLAM AND THE LAST OF THE LAST DAYS (ESCHATOLOGY)

Three books which I mentioned in a past article argue that Islam will be the final Antichrist movement and the opponents of God’s people in the final battle in the Last Days.  George Otis Jr. argued this in the Last of the Giants and looked at the powers of darkness behind Islam as the last and greatest powers in opposition to Yeshua and his Kingdom.  Otis majored in spiritual warfare in this book.  Dr. Brad Long of Presbyterian Renewal Ministries takes a similar spiritual warfare direction in his writings. Then in more recent years, Walid Shoebat in God’s War on Terror and in several other books presents this case, that Islam will be the last Antichrist power before the return of Yeshua. Joel Richardson makes a similar case in his The Islamic Antichrist. 

 

The Case for Islamic Fascism being the Last Day Power under the Antichrist

Generally, the argument is put forth that Islam presents a false Messiah that supersedes Yeshua.  It denies that Yeshua came in the flesh which is the Antichrist spirit according to John in I John 4:3 and has become the primary persecutor of Christians around the world. Islam is the great cult that broke from Christianity. In addition, Richardson and Shoebat argue that the lineup of the nations against Israel in the Last Days Wars is Islamic.  Both argue that we have to look out from Israel as the center and not the United States or Europe.  Then the lineup of nations is clear.  They argue as historian Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, formerly of Rutgers and then Miami University in Ohio, that the northern power fits Turkey more than Russia and these ancient tribes of Ezekiel 38, 39 were in Turkey.  Some of those who hold to the traditional view that Russia is in view in these chapters believe that these tribes moved north to Russia.  Yet the case of Shoebat and Richardson does have to be weighed and is a serious proposal.  However, I am not in this article centering on the exegesis of the Biblical texts but want the center to emphasize Islam and especially the more radical Islamic Fascism.  I did review a book on this platform by that name by a former Islamic fascist, Hamed Abdel-Samad.  Shoebat also was a former radical Muslim. 

 

Defining Islamic Fascism 

What do I mean by Islamic Fascism?  Like Nazi Fascism, it is a worldview with a foundational doctrine of seeking to take over the world by any means that will work.  This includes immigration, war, manipulation, and more.  All strategies and actions that advance Islamic rule are legitimate.  Islamic Fascism does seek to be rational concerning what strategy is best at the time and does not want to engage in war pre-maturely which would lead to defeat.  However, power assertion and violence are foundational and legitimate as means of extending their fascist rule. 

 

In addition, Islamic Fascism produces governments that are ruled by authoritarian or dictatorial regimes. Islamic Fascism has embraced the most extreme traditions of the suppression of women, unlike more moderate countries like Indonesia. However, Islamic Fascism seeks to supplant the moderate Muslim governments.  It is well to note what happens to women after the fascists take over.  They are at least head covered and, in some cases, covered to the point that only eye slits are allowed.  They live in movable tents. In Afghanistan, they have brought women into bondage and ended education for them.  The United States leaders will someday have to account for their cruel abandonment. Western feminists hardly voice any concern about the greatest oppression of women on the planted today. 

 

The Simple Theology and Eschatology

Islamic Fascism has a simple theology.  They proclaim that there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.”  Mohammed is the number one leading prophet in all of history in this view. The way to the best world is to force all infidels to become Muslim or die or if there is some mercy to submit to servitude and live as second class.  It at best then produces a true apartheid system for non-believers and women. 

 

Islam has its one eschatology and vision of the Last Days wars when Islam will triumph over all. In addition, the Shiites, or 12th’ers believe in the return of the 12 leaders of Shiite Islam during a cataclysmic war to bring Islam to victory.  Some believe that Iran would start such a war in the hope of deliverance. Iran is the primary force for the Shiite version of Islamic Fascism. They partner with Sunni Fascists, but this is pragmatic.  Ultimately, they would have to fight it out in the future and historically were very at odds.

 

Anti-Israel, Jewish, and Anti-Christian

Islamic Fascists are virulently against Israel and the Jewish people.  They also are vehemently against Christians and have slaughtered them in Nigeria, Kenya, and multiple other nations.  Even in Mozambique, the Bakers in Iris Ministries have lost leaders to Islamic barbarism. One leading pastor was beheaded. 

 

Israel right now is fighting a war against Islamic Fascism. This is a better term than terrorism since terror is a strategy, not the foundational worldview.  Iran, the Houthis, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Shiite Fascists of Iraq and Syria, and more surround Israel. They are all Islamic Fascists.

 

The Weakness of the West

The West is weak and in danger of defeat when they will not face the ideology of the enemy or even name it rightly.  In addition, they do not recognize in the present war, that any agreement is temporary until the Islamic Fascists attain sufficient power to attack again.  The issue with the Gaza war is not only their military but that the population is brainwashed by the Fascists and mostly embrace the worldview. 

 

Their Simple and Powerful Theology

Their theology is simpler and easier to understand theology than Naziism.  It is more dangerous as it motivates its people with the promise of eternal rewards.  It is growing and more and more are being radicalized. One submits to God and Islamic law for eternal rewards.

 

Russia and China in Alliance

Russia and China allied themselves with the Fascists to weaken the West, but their turn will come someday.  It is an alliance of convenience.  Amazing how the Islamic Fascists give China a pass on the destruction of their Muslim minority, but it is all part of the pragmatism!

 

Should the West go to War

Should the West go to war to defeat Islamic Fascist nations?  Yes, and the longer the West waits the worse it will be. Even now these fascists are a fifth column in many Western nations. But ultimately this war has to be won by prayer and by supernatural miracles in the preaching of the Gospel.  What level of power will be poured out on God’s people to resist this?  Much more than we now see. If the Book of Revelation is rightly interpreted, it points to revival and a great harvest as well as martyrdom.  But we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony and love not our lives even to death.  (Rev. 12:11) 

 

Yes, Islamic Fascism may be the Last Days’ power of evil to oppose Yeshua and his people, His Kingdom. 

The West Shows Lack of Moral Courage in the Face of Ideologies of Terrorism 

We see this in the response to the killing of Ismail Haniyeh and the idea that he was negotiating for hostages and should not have been killed.  But he was responsible for hundreds of deaths and then the 1200 killed on October 7.  I would love to see a doctrine in the West and Israel that terrorist leaders forfeit their right to live and are legitimate targets.  That would include Iranian leaders. 

 

Two articles in the Jerusalem Post Weekend edition noted the lack of moral courage in the West.  The Biden administration allows Iran to be supplied with tens of billions of dollars even now through evading oil sanctions and this finances their proxies and terrorism.  The idea of living with terrorist nations and having accommodations is foolish and temporary and will lead to much greater loss.  They are pledged to destroy the United States and the West. Believe them!  The lesson of appeasement with Hitler has not been learned. One article by strategic think tank thinker David Weinberg was especially powerful.  I read him every week. It was entitled “Getting strategically “unstuck.”  The West accommodates Iran.   Israel sought to accommodate Hamas and Hezbollah and find ways to just live with them.  Iran should never have been permitted to move toward an atomic bomb and regime change should have been policy.  Israel’s policy should be that no terror regime will be allowed to rule in a nation on the border of Israel.  Also, any nation threatening Israel’s existence is a legitimate military target.  Weinberg hopes that the killing of Haniyeh will now open the way to get unstuck since Iran’s response and Israel’s response to that get us unstuck.  Even a pre-emptive strike before that response comes to full fruition gets Israel unstuck as painful as that will be.  Finally, Israel seems delivered from its delusion of living with Hamas Hezbollah on its border.  

 

A second amazing article was by Marziyeh Amirzadeh, an Iranian now in the United States.  She was arrested and sentenced to death for converting to Christianity.  The article did not say how she escaped after 9 months in prison, but her husband and best friend were tortured and lost their lives. Here she rightly rails against a Jewish Israeli historian, Alon Ben Meir.  He writes about the opportunity to get along with a more moderate Iran now that a more moderate President has been elected, President Pezeshkian.  What a delusion!  But this is window dressing for the West.  She is stunned that Israel allowed Hamas to be funded and armed and now the West falls for such a foolish response to Iran.  Iran is totally under the Ayatollah and no other official will make a difference. When they tell you what they want to do believe them and fight them before they have great power.  But as Weinberg says, the West has lost its moral courage.  Is it possible that this loss is rooted in postmodern leftism that cannot grasp a battle of good against evil?  Morals have fallen to a terrible degree.    

 

One other article also showed the moral bankruptcy of the West.  Gil Hoffman reports on news coverage of the terror missile bombing on the Druze Village of Majdal Shams in the Golan.  In several major papers, what happened just was not represented.  It was emphasized that this was occupied territory.  It is not.  Tell the Druze who live there and are pro-Israel.  The articles did not clearly note the Hezbollah attack and wrote as if Israel was somehow responsible and that this was a response to Israel’s attack on Hamas and Haniyeh.  One writer noted that when Netanyahu visited after the attack he was shouted at (as if they were anti-Israel) but their shouts were demanding that he take revenge for them. (This total misreporting was from Sky News in Britain).  U. S. papers in the legacy press simply are so anti-Israel that they could not report it right. 

 

These are very dark days, and we need so much prayer support in Israel as we prepare for an attack from Iran.  Some of the weapons that were delayed from the United States are dearly needed now.  Why? Again, the lack of courage and fear of escalation.  God help us, really.  May our Christian supporters have a clear moral vision and make a difference. 

Vice Presidential Candidate J. D. Vance

I wanted to understand the candidate J. D. Vance.  Who is he?  What makes him tick?  Then I found out that there was a memoir of his life.  It covers his childhood to his early 30s and the post-Yale Law School period very briefly. It is call the Hillbilly Elegy.  I am trying to discern what God is saying.  I am also trying to be discerning of all the prophetic voices, and some not too trustworthy.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the media prophets would be accountable to a real eldership and would post where their accountability is? I am trying to discern. With the positives and negatives of Donald Trump, if God really desires him to be President, he will win. Surely this would fit the classic old hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way His Wonders to Perform.”  My interest is seeking the sense of God’s working in all of this to hope that it could be part of an outpouring of revival in America.  This is the most important thing.

But now back to Vance. The Hillbilly Elegy is one of the most amazing books I have ever read.  Vance grew up in the Hillbilly area of Kentucky.  He grew up poor.  The book is raw in honesty and sometimes coarse in language.  He pulls no punches in describing his family members and their terrible dysfunctions.  The drug addiction of his mother, the many men in her life, and the instability.  He lived in so many places.   His grandparents were separated though they lived near each other.  They provided stability for his life between and in the midst of the upheavals.  His older sister came out well and an aunt and uncle.  He himself lived out several dysfunctions, rage, anger, and reactions, doing poorly in school for a season.  In later high school, things began to turn around.  He spent some time with his biological father who became a Fundamentalist Pentecostal.  For a season he went to church with him and read the Bible from time to time. Finally, he joined the Marines seeking a a step forward.  He served in Iraq.   Interestingly, he describes the white underclass of the Hillbilly community as very similar to the Black underclass.  Despite the claim that he is a white supremacist, it is clear that he empathizes with the black underclass.  After the Marines, he did Ohio State’s 4-year program in two years and then went to Yale Law School. This had never happened to any in his community.  Then he married an Indian classmate after graduation.  He credits much of his growth and maturing in the years at Yale and after to her.   He therefore is in an interracial marriage with interracial children.

Vance came to see that no amount of welfare can make up for a stable family and that this is the key to the way out of poverty. Many have argued this though today’s crucial race theory denies this. He therefore became a conservative.  His identity is the working class and his heart is with the working class.   He sees how the policies of the government have destroyed the economy of these poor areas, and they are economically hollowed out.  In the afterward, he attributes his success to those who imparted to him.   His gratitude to them is amazing.  His forgiveness for his most dysfunctional family members is noteworthy.  I teared up reading this.

Finally, after wrestling with Christianity and the many denominations, after writing this book he became a Catholic.

The Democrats now paint him as anti-woman due to an unfortunate statement about some of the single miserable women in the elite as cat ladies (women who cannot find acceptance in marriage and family and thus adopt cats. Amazing.  We used this term when I was a kid.  I wonder if this is a term in the Hillbilly community.  But he is not anti-single women and attributes so much of his success to his grandmother.

The book is so honest, raw, and coarse.  Ron Howard made it into a Netflix movie. So, Donald Trump picks a Hillbilly who graduated from Yale as his V. P.  He is today a man interested in Christianity in a serious way.  His heart is with the underclass.

I see the story as an amazing testimony to the grace of God. Can we look at such an unusual story of overcoming without seeing the hand of God in his life? J. D. Vance is unlike any politician in history, an overcomer from the greatest dysfunctionality who admits his ongoing battles with some of his inherited demons.  I am convinced that God has his hand on him but cannot say what this will lead to.  But I am convinced by his book that he is no racist, no white supremacist, and loves the underclass, black and white, and the working class.  He desires policies that really help. He does see that some government help is beneficial but some programs are destructive.  His identification with the underclass poor and the working class could be a revolution for the Republican Party, a significant re-alignment.

At any rate, I was moved by this book.  May he find God’s power at new levels and may he come into such a place with his beautiful Indian wife that they could contribute to a revival in America.  That is my prayer.  I also note that he is pro-Israel. I heartily recommend reading the book.

The Amazing Demonic Intelligence of Hamas Leader Sinwar

The Hamas plan in the war against Israel has been amazingly intelligent, brilliant, evil
and demonic at the highest level. Let’s review.

1. First, Hamas created a military fortress of weapons and tunnels the lengths of
the New York subway system, under civilian areas with the means to come
above ground to fire rockets and other ordinance at Israel. The tunnel shafts are
in civilian homes, schools and hospitals.
There has never in history been such concentration of military weapons so
concentrated in civilian areas. It is human shield strategy on steroids. Hamas
knows that it can use the death of civilians in propaganda to turn the world
against Israel. This was all brilliantly pre-planned. It is the strategy of Hamas to
get a significant number of civilians killed. Hamas lies about statistics, and about
attacks that did not happen (remember the hospital in the early days?) Its lies
are reported by a corrupt western media as truth.

2. The Hamas invasion and slaughter of October 7 th was an act of evil horror. But it
did not end there. Rather, Hamas took hostages. Sinwar rightly understood that
the hostage issue could eventually be used to undermine the willingness of
Israelis to fight the war against them. While in the early months the Israeli public
by a clear majority supported prosecuting the war over getting the hostages out,
though this was really important too for all Israelis. The pain of the hostages
would wear down the will to fight. Sinwar knows the Israeli mentality well enough
to have anticipated this in his strategy. In addition, the hostage strategy would
divide Israel between the prosecute the war faction and the get the hostages out
at all costs faction even if it means Hamas remains in power. Sinwar anticipated
this and he plays Israel like a master.

3. Hamas depends on media to distort the reality of fighting an urban war. Civilians
will always die in such a war and according to the expert from West Point,
Jonathan Spencer, Israel’s casualty rate is the best in history on protecting
civilians in urban war. Hamas depends on the fact that Israel can be accused of
genocide apart from its legal definition. The genocide and war crimes are on the
side of Hamas. But people do not carefully read the conventions that were
approved that define war crimes, and who bears the responsibility for civilian
deaths. Hamas is responsible for almost all such deaths. They kill their own
people over food distribution, over criticism of Hamas and more. They depend
on the ignorance of people to make claims not based in law. The actual law is
too nuanced and requires real thought. Those accusing Israel are radically
misinterpreting the law. But Sinwar and Hamas knows that people will by the
definitions of propaganda and not respond according to the actual law.

This level of intelligence shows a brilliant demonic inspiration. It has to be defeated by
much prayer as well as by military might.