Kameel Majdali's Road Ahead

Walking the Jesus Trail

2011-12-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

Many Christians want to visit the Holy Land. The main motivation is to ‘walk where Jesus walked.’ Pilgrim number are growing: in 2010, Israel had a record number of tourist arrivals: 3.5 million. Two-thirds of these were ‘Christian.’ A minimum of one million tourists came for the express purpose of pilgrimage.

But unlike ancient or pre-modern pilgrimage, most Christian pilgrims don’t walk where Jesus walked ... they take a large tourist bus. While this is understandable and necessary, a new innovation to an ancient practice has emerged ... walking the ‘Jesus Trail.’

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of American David Landis and Israeli Maoz Inon in 2007, a 65 kilometre (40 mile) trail has been launched between Nazareth to Capernaum to retrace the steps of Jesus. Why these two cities? Because Jesus grew up in Nazareth, was rejected by the locals, and then made His headquarters in Capernaum on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim -- Matthew 4:13 (KJV)

Landis spent many hours researching walking trails and maps to see what would be the most likely way of retracing the steps of Jesus. He made his findings available in GPS format so that people could be guided by their device without getting lost. Thanks to a fortuitous amount of media attention, Landis and Inon were able to get the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) to paint symbols on rocks and walls along the trail, similar to the markings for the 900 kilometre (562 mile) ‘Israel Trail,’ thus allowing hikers to walk the without a GPS.

While more and more people have been embarking on the ‘Jesus Trail,’ it appears that this move is more among free-lance trekkers than actual tour or pilgrim groups. Sar-El tours, which has 1500 tours a year, said that it has only had 4 tours offer a Jesus Trail option. The main reason is time, fitness, and a willingness to endure hardship. It take 4 days for the average hiker to make the journey. That is an amount of time few can afford after touring the land for 10-14 days. In addition, it is not just a pathway ... it is an obstacle course, including ascending and descending steep mountains and also crossing creeks.

Nazareth

Nevertheless, Teach All Nations annual ‘Israel/Jordan 2011 Tour’ decided to add an optional four day extension for those interested in walking on the ‘Jesus Trail.’ Twelve pilgrims decided to take the challenge. Of interest, the youngest was 43 and the oldest 82!

Basilica of Annunciation Nazareth

Day One (Nazareth-Sepphoris-Cana): We began the journey by driving from Jerusalem to Nazareth, where we spent the night at the ‘Rosary Sisters.’ Our local travel company, Sar-El, said the nuns were friendly and indeed they were! At 8 AM on Monday 5 December, we left the ‘Rosary Sisters,’ descended into Nazareth and visited the Church of the Annunciation, traditional site of Mary’s visit by the angel and the largest church building in the Middle East:

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, ²⁷To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women -- Luke 1:26-28 (KJV)

From there, we ascended 406 steps in order to leave Nazareth. Though the city is in the hills of Lower Galilee, it is in a deep ‘bowl.’ The ascent was steep but we completed it in 20 minutes. It would be the first of several steep ascents to come.

From Nazareth we walked to Tzipori, known in English as Sepphoris. While not mentioned in the Bible, it was the capital of the Galilee in the Herodian period until the centre of power moved to the newly-built lakeside city of Tiberias. Being a major city and only 1.5 hours away by donkey from Nazareth, it was highly probable the Joseph the carpenter and his teenage son Jesus went to Sepphoris for work. The well-preserved Crusader building attests to this belief.

The country side was mildly hilly and recent rains granted a touch of green. The valleys were long and narrow, going from the Rift Valley in the east to the Mediterranean in the west (also known as transversal valleys).

Marked Rock on Jesus Trail

From Sepphoris we journeyed to Cana of Galilee via the city of Mash’had. It is the former Gathhepher, city of the prophet Jonah

He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher -- II Kings 14:25 (KJV).

A simple mosque marks the dubious burial site of the prophet. Once we entered Cana, we finished the first day of the hike. We were warmly welcomed by Suad and Sami Bellan, Israeli Arab owners of the Cana Guest House, which especially caters to ‘Jesus Trail’ hikers. www.canaguesthouse.com

Horns of Hattin in background

Day Two (Cana to Lavi): We set out from Cana and headed NE towards Capernaum. This would be the ‘easiest’ day. While there were no famous Biblical sites, it clearly was a road Jesus would use, especially testified by the presence of a well-preserved Roman Road. We were told that both Jesus and Paul used this road, the latter when he went to Damascus to arrest believers in Messiah (and experienced repentance).

We passed through the Golani Junction, famous for the Golani Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces. There is a McDonald’s at the junction, where we partook of an Israeli chicken breast salad, made with diced tomatoes and cucumbers with a delightfully seasoned lemon and olive oil vinegarette dressing.

The first two nights we spent in Arab accommodation. Tonight, we stayed at a religious kibbutz called Lavi. Their hotel was very attractive and the food excellent. We needed it after a long day’s walk.

Day Three (Lavi-Horns of Hattin-Arbel): This would be the most rigorous of the entire trip. We left Lavi and headed straight for the Horns of Hattin, a double-peaked tabele-top volcanic mountain that served as a battle field between the Crusader under Frankish King Guy and the Muslims under Saladin of the Ayyubid dynasty. The date was July 1187. Saladin’s winning strategy denied the Crusaders access to water, though they were only 6 kilometers away from the Sea of Galilee. Their defeat led to the fall of Jerusalem later that year and its restoration to Muslim rule until 1917, when the British took the holy city.

KM on Horns of Hattin

The ascent up the Horns of Hattin were steep and rocky. One pilgrim had some breathing trouble and had to return to Kibbutz Lavi. The descent was equally steep and more than one pilgrim was plagued with a ‘fear of heights.’ Nevertheless, we prevailed. From the top of the mountain, we descended into the valley bottom. Specifically, Wadi (riverbed) Arbel. By 3 PM, the shadows were high on the walls of the valley. We had to cross creeks at least 7 times and in one case, we had to find stones to enable the pilgirms to cross without getting their shoes wet (we were only partially successfu).

To end the day’s journey meant making one final steep ascent from Wadi Arbel to Moshav Arbel. Our hosts were Sara and Israel Shavit of Arbel Bed and Breakfast (Israel was born the day before the declaration of the State of Israel, 14 May 1948). The meals were home cooked and there was even a jacuzzi in my bedroom, which I happily used. Sara kindly helped take our ailing pilgrim to Poriyya Hospital (she is already on the mend ... thank God).

Arbel

Day Four (Arbel to Capernaum): This was the final day and only 5 of the 12 original pilgrims would be making the journey, along with our guide. It was the 2nd most rigorous day, not far behind the first; but the challenges were different. We started the steep ascent up Mount Arbel. The view of the Sea of Galilee made it worth it! Positively stunning. But then there was the descent. Our two ladies had a fear of heights and we also had our 82 year old as well! We would descend 400 meters and it took 2 hours Sometimes the descent was 90 degrees. There were metal handholds to help us lower ourselves to the next level. It was the closest thing to ‘rock climbing’ that I have ever done in my life. The handbook said the descent was ‘steep but manageable.’ They weren’t wrong. At one point, a flock of rock hyrexs came out and squealed at us. Colourful wild flowers randomly appeared on certain isolated rocks. The Plain of Genessaret, home of Magdala, and the Sea of Galilee, were always there far below. While I was initially apprehensive, I knew early on that we would all make it easily. The chief worry was rain ... it was forecast and should it come, would have made the descent slippery and even more time consuming. Fortunately, it held off for awhile.

Marked Rock on Jesus Trai

While still on the steep upper part of Arbel, something unexpected happened -- an air raid siren started blaring. It was loud, piercing and ominous. With the ‘Arab Spring’ raging so close by, any kind of scenario was possible. So there we were, scaling down the face of a steep mountain with no easy place to hide, though later we would discover some large caves, as described by the Jewish historian Josephus. Our guide calmly announced, ‘It is only a practice siren.’ Thank God it was.

Arbel Climbers

Once we were at the bottom, we found ourselves in Wadi Hamman (Riverbed of the Dove), a beduoin village. At the petrol station, the attendant found out I was from Australia and asked me to sponsor him for immigration. I told him Australia had a very high cost of living. His response? “What do you mean ... it’s expensive to live here in Israel!’

We walked through the citrus groves in the Plain of Gennesaret, where the great Afro-Eurasian Highway carried trading caravans and conquering armies. Our guide told us we were allowed to pick one piece of fruit off the tree ... we were not to collect or hoard it ... but it was for our benefit, a Biblical law. So we helped ourselves to piece of red grapefruit, which was exceptionally sweet.

Arbel Cliff from Sea of Galilee

While on the Plain of Genessaret, the rain finally began to descend. It was not a little shower, either. We all put on our flourescent coloured ponchos and looked the walking tents! The rain would continue until the rest of the journey. We had to ascend the mountain near the National Water Carrier and the mud became thick. We grew by 5 cm simply because of the mud clinging to the bottom of our shoes. The ponchos guarded our chests and backs but not our arms or legs. But we had travelled so far and we were not about to give up now.

Don 82 Descending Arbel

While still dripping, we entered Tabgha, the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, famous for an ancient 4th Century mosaic of a basket of 5 loaves and 2 fishes alongside the basket. The sign clearly said to do the explanation of the site outside the church; but the sign did not deter a small group of Russian pilgrims who listen to their guide explain away inside the church. I did a Scripture reading Mark 6:31-44 and explained why I believe that the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle mentioned in all four gospels, apart from the resurrection of Jesus.

Arbel descent

Now the very last leg of the journey began; two more kilometers on a very nice stone footpath between Tabgha and Capernaum. The problem was that the rain was pouring! Our guide continued to refuse a poncho or umbrella. He and I walked swiftly but the others could not be rushed. Finally, the end was in site: the entrance to Capernaum. We had done it -- we had walked the entire length of the Jesus Trail. Exhilarated, exhausted and wet, we were driven in a van from Capernaum to the Restal Hotel in Tiberias. Mission accomplished.

Climbers after Descent, Arbel in Background

Capernaum

For those who would like to walk the Jesus Trail, please remember that fitness is helpful and a willingness to deal with some tough inclines and terrain, from time to time. Be prepared to walk around 16 kilometres a day. If you are willing to brave these things, and are well prepared, you are in for a great adventure.

For further information, contact www.jesustrail.com for free planning information, maps, GPS tracks, and FAQ.

Or purchase the book ‘Hiking the Jesus Trail And Other Biblical Walks in the Galilee’ by David Landis and Anna Dintaman (now married to David).

Is There Any Good News Out of Libya?

2011-11-15T22:23:00.000-08:00

At first glance, this would seem to be a preposterous question. Libya overthrew the government of an eccentric, flamboyant, tyrannical and brutal dictator who ruled over them with a rod of iron for 42 years. The ‘Arab Spring’ has toppled another autocratic regime in the 22 nation Arab world. Democracy is on the march on this, the world’s most undemocratic region ... or so we think.

Before we start popping the champagne corks, here are some things we need to consider:

1. Revolution: The ‘Arab Spring’ could very well be a misnomer. The term was created by the western media to describe a series of grassroot, youth-driven, internet-fueled protests throughout the Arab world demanding freedom and democracy. While protests and uprisings are not a new thing in the Arab world, the scale of the current one is unprecedented. The West calls it ‘Spring’ as if to say the long winter slumber of autocracy and police states in the Arab world is over. Yet note: the Arabic language press does not calls these protests ‘The Arab Spring.’ Instead, they call it the ‘Arab Revolution’ and, indeed, that’s what they are. These revolutions could evolve into either a full-blown western-style democracy or swerve to another extreme: radical Islamic dictatorship.

2. Scorecard: So far, the ‘Arab Spring’ has claimed the scalps of Zine el-Abidene Ben Ali of Tunisia; Hosni Mubarak of Egypt; and Mu’ammar Gaddafi in Egypt. All are North African and all were secular autocrats who ruled for decades. Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria have gone or are still undergoing the shakings of protest.

3. Democracy: True democracy is more than merely having a free and fair election. It also includes a free press, universal human rights, an independent judiciary, checks and balances between the executive, judicial, and legislative branches, a military that is under the control of the civil authorities, and ‘separation of church and state’ (or, in the case of the Middle East, ‘separation of mosque and state’). Failure to have these elements in place will result in the erosion or loss of basic freedoms and human rights.

4. Religion & Politics: While the Arab protestors genuinely want democracy, they also see a significant role for political Islam and Sharia (7th century Islamic legal code) in their ‘democracy.’ Such a scenario virtually assures that such ‘democracies’ will barely resemble the western version, nor will they be ‘pro-West.’ Mix religion and the state and the ones who will suffer first are women, non-Muslims (Christians and Jews), and dissident Muslims. Eventually all Muslims will find themselves yet again under the rule of tyranny. Remember, the western world learned the hard way, through repression and war, that church and state don’t mix. The Middle East will be no different.

On 20 October 2011, the world woke up to the news that fugitive dictator Mu’ammar Gaddafi had been discovered and executed. Libya was proclaimed ‘liberated’ and many world leaders expressed the hope that the Libyan people could now live in ‘peace’ and ‘democracy.’

Don’t hold your breath! What has happened to Libya and in Libya, the 6th largest oil producer, is not a cause for comfort. Some dangerous precedents have been set and they don’t augur well for the desert nation or the world. Consider:

1. UNITED NATIONS: The UN authorized a ‘no-fly’ zone over Libya for the purpose of protecting civilians who were the target of Colonel Gaddafi’s forces (of interest is that there has been no UN action regarding Syria and the attacking of civilians there). NATO took up the UN cause and expanded the ‘mandate’ to begin nightly bombing raids on Gaddafi’s compound, while telling us that they were not trying to kill him! For the first time since the birth of the United Nations in 1945, the world body has taken to military action against a sovereign country for events happened exclusively on its own soil. Yes, the UN authorized military action against North Korea (1950) and Iraq (1990) but that was because of their military adventures against South Korea and Kuwait, respectively. Never has the UN taken action against a sovereign country for its own internal unrest. This is a dangerous precedent because once the world interfers with one country, no country is safe. Russia has been highly indignant over the UN action and said NATO has gone far beyond its mandate (I have to agree). Will the UN authorizes military action against Russia for the unrest in Chechnya? Will the UN authorize military action against China because of restiveness in Xinjiang or Tibet? Or, will the UN authorize military action against Israel because of events in the West Bank (see Zechariah 12:2-3)? The Libyan rebels owe their military victory to the intervention of NATO and the UN; should things go awry under their administration, the world community will have to take responsibility for the sorry outcome.

2. LIBYAN REBELS: What is disturbing is that the West has sided with a group of people they know very little about. Gaddafi had been threatened in the past with al-Qaeda aligned rebels who were stationed in the Libyan (Sahara) desert; rumor has it that similar elements have tried to infiltrate the ranks of the rebels or, even worse, have led the pack all along. A radical Islamic takeover will bring instability to all.

3. GADDAFI’S EXECUTION: Few people shed tears at the demise of Colonel Gaddafi. Yet, some found it disturbing how he met his death. He was intercepted from a drain pipe (NATO aerial intervention may have played a role of flushing him out). He was brutalized, tortured, and the executed. Macabre scenes of a bloodied and brutalized Gaddafi, both alive and dead, were beamed around the world. His body was left for display in a cold storage and then finally, after 5 days, he was buried in an unmarked grave in the Libyan desert. This is contrary to Muslim practice that decrees the dead should be buried immediately. Yes, Gaddafi lived by the sword and died by the sword: he used, abused, and tyrannized his people for decades. It could be argued that he ‘reaped what he sowed.’ Yet, this is also a dangerous precedent and spawns the question: are the people whom NATO liberated any better than the one from whom they were liberated? Is the grotesque handling of Gaddafi a portent of even greater evils to come in the ‘New Libya?’ Ironically, Gaddafi at 69 was the same age as Saddam Hussein when he died. The difference was that Saddam had a trial and an orderly execution, though complaints were made about his last two minutes. It would have been to the credit of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) and its leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil to have demanded the humane capture and treatment of Gaddafi so that he, too, could stand trial. After all, if it is democracy they want, this would have been the logical course of action. Instead, the ‘law of the jungle’ was what the world witnessed. Sure, Gaddafi had stripped the country of all organs of decedent government and they have to start from scratch. But it is a most disturbing prelude to a new Libya.

4. ISLAMISM/POLITICAL ISLAM: On 24 October 2011, (NTC) National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil declared, in the wake of Gaddafi’s death, that Libya was ‘liberated.’ Though there have been no elections to hear what the Libyan people want, he then announced that ‘Sharia’ would be the basis of Libyan law. So the decision was made for the Libyan people -- without getting their consent. It seems that the suspicion that the ‘rebels’ have been infiltrated or led by Islamists have come to pass. Islamic Banking will be the introduced into the new Libya. The law banning polygamy will be lifted. Any concession towards religious freedom will be cancelled out by the introduction of Sharia, which forbids evangelism, apostasy (leaving Islam), blasphemy (criticizing Islam) or fitna (upsetting the belief of a Muslim). This is what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq and now looks like it is happening in Libya. If any Arab country has a fighting chance to be a proper democracy, it is Tunisia. It has been westernized and secularized for decades. During its recent elections, however, the Islamist Ennahda Party, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, received 40% of the vote. If ‘secular’ Tunisia is leaning towards an Islamist party, what hope does its next door neighbor Libya have? Western experts are predicting a similar result in Egypt, Yemen, Jordan and Syria (if Assad falls).

So has the US, UN, and NATO, intervened in Libya to deliver it from one dictator so as to hand it over to a new entity which will be just as devoid of human rights, freedom, and democracy, as the previous regime? Will we have another Taleban-like regime in Tripoli? What’s more, could the Islamization of Libya, as aided and abetted by the world, be a prelude to a greater conflict to come (see Ezekiel 38:5, where ‘Phut’)?

THE FLYING KANGAROO-THE QANTAS AIRLINE DISPUTE & THE BIGGER PICTURE

2011-11-06T01:41:00.000-07:00

White River, Kruger National Park, Cape Town ... these beautiful places were the location of my recent ministry trip to South Africa. Indeed, you can subdivide Africa into 3 parts:

Part One: North Africa, which is Arab;

Part Two: Sub-Sahara Africa, which is predominantly black; and

Part Three: South Africa, the ‘rainbow nation,’ as Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu called it.

South African Flag

Without question, South Africa is the most prosperous and powerful nation on the continent, well-endowed with a wealth of natural resources (including diamonds and gold), and excellent infrastructure left by the former white minority government. South Africa has another unique distinction: overtly Christian sportsmen, including rugby greats like Pierre Spies and Victor Matfield. Ministry in South Africa is a very rewarding experience as well; the singing alone will make you feel you’re in the ‘heavenly places.’

But there was one hitch to my otherwise flawless trip: to get there, I had to fly from Melbourne to Singapore via Singapore Airlines, and then on to Johannesburg. Total flying time: 17 hours. This is at least 3 hours longer than a direct flight from Australia. So why did I take the longer route? Cost! It simply was hundreds of dollars more for me to fly on my national carrier, Qantas (acronym for ‘Queensland and Northern Territories Aerial Service’). While I would have dearly loved to take the ‘Flying Kangaroo,’ it just did not seem worth the higher price.

I am not alone. Apparently 8 out of 10 Australians fly out of the country using another airline besides Qantas. A decade ago, it was 6 out of 10. Australia, which already has a reputation for being a ‘high cost-of-living country,’ extends this to the national airline.

This is at the heart of what has become a dispute of national importance between Qantas and three unions. Qantas, one of the few profitable airlines in the world, claims it is losing $200 million a year on its international routes. It wants to revamp, outsource, bring down costs, and become competitive. Asia is a key target. The hope is that Qantas can win back Australian customers, as well as attract many overseas ones, too. Without reform, the airline cannot compete in the global market. For example, Emirates Airlines from the United Arab Emirates has 159 planes and fly to 100 cities in 65 countries. Qantas has 156 planes but only flies to 16 cities in 12 countries.

The 3 labour unions are seeking higher wages (2.5 to 3.5%) but the bigger issue is ‘job security.’ Slogans thrown around include ‘keep Qantas pilots flying Qantas planes,’ and ‘don’t send Australian jobs off-shore.’ Union negotiations with Qantas began 12 months ago and there have been over 200 meetings! Unions have been calling for strikes and other industrial action over the last while that has affected 71,000 passengers, cancelled 129 flights, and delayed another 387 flights. Qantas claims it has lost $68 million due to industrial action with another $15 million lost each week. The unions promised to continue this ‘campaign of attrition’ for another 12 months. Add to this scenario the specter of rising fuel costs, failure to pay shareholders a dividend, and who have an intolerable situation for any company.

Allan Joyce

So on Saturday night 29 October 2011, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce took the unprecedented step of grounding all Qantas flights and locking out the employees. Of course, 1000s of passengers were affected both in Australia and overseas. Finally, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who was chairing the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, took action. She referred the matter to ‘Fair Work Australia,’ which declared that all industrial action (strikes) must cease and the lock-down lifted. Qantas and the unions have 21 days to settle the dispute or face arbitration (which could benefit Qantas in the end). By Monday 31 October, Qantas had resumed flights. What had dragged on for over a year was now heading towards a settlement in less than 48 hours. Inconvenienced passengers have been promised full refunds within the next two months.

What does this crisis mean? For one, it is more than just an industrial dispute; it is of national interest. Australia is an island and it is more heavily dependent on air travel than most nations. It is important that it has a viable and competitive national carrier to service our national interests. While I normally favour minimal or non-existent government involvement in general life, this matter is just too important to leave to mere market forces alone.

Julia Gillard

Under the governments of Bob Hawke, Paul Keating (both of the same left-leaning Labor Party as Julia Gillard) and John Howard (Liberal or conservative party), the labor market was de-regulated and union action was minimal. Under the recent Labor governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, labor has been partially re-regulated. On all appearances, since the passage of the Fair Work Act 2009, which Julia Gillard, a former industrial relations lawyer helped author, there has been an increase in union militancy. In the November 3rd edition of The Australian, page 1, it says:

Prominent union leader Tony Sheldon has conceded his union’s bid to force Qantas to submit to contentious job security clauses would not have been possible under the Howard government and was only achievable after Labor changed workplace laws.

Lost days to industrial action have multiplied just in 2011 alone. According to the same article, is says:

Latest ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) figures show industrial disputes rose in June quarter to 66,2000 days lost, up from 19,700 in March. Last financial year 159,800 compared to 126,500 the previous one.

Having a union-friendly Labor Government at a Federal level appears to have contributed to this militancy. Qantas is not the only major business facing the unions, but it is probably has the highest profile. While there is a place for constructive union involvement, they should not be allowed to tell the company how to run its business nor bleed our national carrier to the point of extinction.

A bigger issue looms: it is called ‘globalization.’ This much used, little understood word, means the free movement of goods, services, people, money, and ideas. It is free-market (capitalism) fueled and, like it or not, represents the world order in the early years of the 21st Century. Qantas has to be able to compete with other carriers or eventually diminish or disappear altogether. As unpalatable as it may sound, outsourcing overseas, with lower wages, may be part of the answer. Qantas has 35,000 employees and some well-paid pilots (one figure has pilots earning $540,000 while the prime minister makes $386,000). Pilots should be well-paid -- our lives are in their hands. But competitiveness of the company is the key.

While the unions keep asking for guarantees of ‘job security,’ the truth is that there is no such thing in today’s globalized world. Private sectors cannot guarantee this in a changing market and, yes, even the public (government jobs) sector, with massive and unsustainable deficits, can no longer promise life-long employment. What’s the point of asking the impossible from Qantas, forcing it to keep its prices high, face the prospect of even less Australian customers, and then possibly close down altogether? Is it not better to lose 1,000 jobs to overseas workers, than to lose the jobs of the other 34,000?

For any person of faith reading this blog, remember there is only one means of security -- faith in the living God and obedience to His Word. In our present and coming times of shaking, the only safe place to be is ‘on the rock,’ where neither winds, waves, and floods, can wash us away. The only way to get to ‘the rock’ is to hear and do the words of Jesus (Matthew 7:24-25). If you want security in these insecure times, open your life to the wise counsel of Scripture and the Name of the LORD -- a high tower that keeps all who take refuge in it safe (Proverbs 18:10).

‘The “Arab Spring,” Israel, and the Last Days” Part 03

2011-10-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

NOTE: on 3 October I gave a public lecture on the above topic. Many of my blog readers do not live in Melbourne or Australia so, for their sakes, I am providing a summary of the public lecture in three parts. This is Part 03, the final part.

PALESTINE @ THE UNITED NATIONS

Many are wondering what is going to happen between Israel and Palestine since Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asked for Palestinian statehood recognition from the United Nations, even in the absence of a peace agreement with Israel (which includes, among other things, recognized borders). The short answer: not much.

The international community is mostly in agreement that the way to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict is by a ‘two-state solution.’ Two state means:

1. Israel and Palestine will share the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean; this land measures 420 kilometers north to south and 100 kilometers east to west.

2. The city of Jerusalem must be shared by the two nations as their respective capital cities.

However, when it comes to ‘recognizing Palestine’ by the United Nations at this time, there are four very powerful foes:

ISRAEL: It does not want to be left out of the process and insists that peace negotiations are the only way to go. They want Abbas to recognize Israel as a ‘Jewish state’ and to renounced the 1948 UN Resolution demanding the ‘right of return’ of Palestinian refugees to their original homes in Israel. Until now, Abbas has refused.

UNITED STATES: Though President Obama has gone further than any other American leader in advocating a two-state solution, he has threatened a Security Council veto if this UN recognition goes to the floor. With the 2012 elections only a year away, with a strong pro-Israel stance in the US Congress and among the American population, this is considered a major factor on his decision making.

EGYPT: SCAF is against UN statehood recognition because it would unsettle its already restive population. The Egyptians greatly dislike Israel, attacked the Sinai gas pipeline 5 times in 6 months, and also mobbed the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

HAMAS: Surprisingly, Hamas is opposed to UN state recognition of Palestine. But the reason is simple: they don’t want their rival, Fatah, to get all the glory.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR ISRAEL

Though Israel is not part of the ‘Arab Spring,’ it is greatly influenced by both simply because of its location as the land-bridge between Africa and Eurasia. It literally sits in the centre of the Arab world.

Remember that one year ago, of its four neighbors: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, only the latter had a troubled border with the Jewish state. Now, 3 out of 4 borders are restive (Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria) and even Jordan is not immune, either.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said at the United Nations:

‘...the world around Israel is definitely becoming more dangerous. Militant Islam has already taken over Lebanon and Gaza. It’s determined to tear apart the peace treaties between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Jordan. It’s poisoned many Arab minds agains Jews and Israel, against America and the West. It opposes not the policies of Israel but the existence of Israel.’

Israel is being pressurized to make generous land concessions to the Palestinians for the sake of peace. But as it sees Egypt distancing itself from the 1979 peace treaty and its other neighbors, near and far, in an uproar, it will be less, not more, likely to give land away. Hezbollah, which has 10,000s of missiles, allegedly made this recent threat: ‘If the Israelis come near Tehran, we will destroy Tel Aviv.’ An insecure Israel is an uncompromising Israel.

Then what? Remember that the UN made an unprecedented and dangerous move regarding Libya: it authorised military force against a nation for its internal troubles. Since its birth in 1945, the UN only authorised military action for provocations happening between nations, like North Korea against South Korea in 1950 and Saddam’s Iraq against Kuwait in 1990. The rationale is that if the international community interferes in a sovereign nation’s domestic affairs, then no nation will be safe from outside interference. In addition, such meddling could lead to greater conflict, even a world war. Now that Libya has been attacked by UN-authorised action for its civil war, who will be next? China for Tibet and Xinjiang? Russia for Chechnya? Israel for the West Bank?

Three Prophecies to Watch:

Psalm 83: an invasion of Israel by its near neighbours. It is believed that this psalm has not yet come to pass. The current instability among Israel’s near neighbours makes the fulfillment of this psalm more plausible.

Ezekiel 38-39: This is Gog and Magog, a massive unprovoked invasion of Israel by powers further afield, like Gog in the North, Put in the West, Cush in the South, and Persia in the East. Israel’s near neighbors are not mentioned at all. Could it be that they were knocked out or ‘decommissioned’ during a Psalm 83 invasion?

Ezekiel 12, 14: The prophet speaks of Jerusalem becoming a ‘cup of trembling’ for the ‘people round about’ (Israel’s near neighbors?) and then ‘all the people of the earth be gathered together against it (12:3). When the nations come to battle against Jerusalem, God will come and fight against them and His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. Jerusalem’s status as the number one foreign policy issue makes this prophecy were likely.

As we ponder the ‘Arab Spring’ and the potential prophetic ramifications, Bible believing Christians can take comfort from the following promise of Jesus:

‘And when these things come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh’ Luke 21:28 (KJV)

(The DVD of this 75 minute lecture, which is far more expansive than the blog and includes powerpoint, will be available early in November for $18 [Australia] or $25 [elsewhere]. You can safely order from the Teach All Nations website www.tan.org.au)

‘The “Arab Spring,” Israel, and the Last Days” Part 02

2011-10-13T01:20:00.000-07:00

NOTE: on 3 October I gave a public lecture on the above topic. Many of my blog readers do not live in Melbourne or Australia so, for their sake, I am providing a summary of the public lecture in three parts. This is Part 02.

With the uprising taking up most of 2011, what are some of the preliminary results across the Arab world?

Arab Spring Report Card:

Morocco: After protests, King Muhammad VI announced constitutional reforms which were voter approved in a national referendum. Parliamentary elections are due in November 2011. Pressure may be mounting to convert Morocco to a constitutional monarchy, such as is enjoyed in Europe, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Algeria: Protests were tapered off when the government stabilized food prices and increased wages for state workers. But promised reforms of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s government have not yet occurred.

Tunisia: The interim government which replaced President Zine el Abidine Ben-Ali is holding elections in October 2011 to assemble the members who will rewrite the constitution.

Libya: Libyan rebels, with the help of NATO airpower, took the capital of Tripoli on August 21, 2011. Muammar Gaddafi is still at large in an unknown location.

Egypt: Protests have continued at Tahrir Square even after the forced resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who is on trial. Parliamentary elections will be in November 2011.

Saudi Arabia: King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz el-Saud announced $100 billion of economic and social reforms in an effort to head off protests; Saudi women, long denied the right-to-drive, are taking to the wheel to press for driver’s rights.

Yemen: President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned from medical treatment in Saudi Arabia while recovering from wounds in a June bomb attack. He will organise elections and then probably leave again.

Bahrain: The Sunni (minority) monarchy crushed protests by their mostly Shia subjects with the help of Saudi and UAE troops. Modest reforms were rejected and key protesters are still in custody.

Jordan: After protests, King Abdullah II fired his government and installed his former general to form a new cabinet. In June 2011 the King announced reforms in rural health insurance and money for job creation. Talk of a constitutional monarchy is also in the air.

Syria: Unprecedented nation-wide protests have erupted across Syria, despite the brutal crackdown President Bashar Assad’s security forces. Assad had offered restored citizenship to Syrian Kurds and lifted the nearly half century old emergency laws. Nevertheless, the protests continue, the death toll rises, international condemnation increases, and a few troops have defected to the opposition.

Three Major Countries

Readers should keep their eyes on 3 major countries in the region and how they are responding to the ‘Arab Spring.’ They are Egypt, Turkey, and Iran. All three are born-leaders who have an imperial past. All are militarily strong and want to see their leadership restored again.

EGYPT: The nation is being run by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), military men who were not reformers and were willing to abandon Mubarak. It is suspected that the previous and present government, despite their fierce secularism, had quietly colluded with Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. SCAF rushed through a referendum on constitutional change 5-6 weeks after Mubarak was ousted; the results benefited the Islamists over the democrats. Egypt distanced itself from Israel and the Camp David Accords, brokered a reconciliation with Hamas and Fatah, and started warming up to Iran, who they have severed diplomatic relations for over 30 years. The Egyptian people are unhappy at the slow pace of reform under SCAF and suspect that their revolution was either hijacked or still-born ... hence, the continued protests.

IRAN: This nation has been vying for leadership in the Middle East and Muslim world while quietly assembling a ‘Shia Crescent’ from the Gulf to the Mediterranean. Shia-majority Iraq, Hizbullah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza, are major allies of Iran. Iran, as the leading Shia nation, is both non-Arab and non-Sunni, and its assertive stance is making Sunni Arab countries nervous. Assad’s Syria is a major chain link to Iran’s plans for a ‘Shia Crescent’ and they are doing everything in their power to keep him from falling; otherwise, they will suffer a major setback. However, by championing a regime that is killing its own citizens in peaceful protests is causing them to lose points among the ‘Arab Street.’ In addition, there is international pressure because of its nuclear program, which it continues to develop. The government, highly unpopular with the people, has been rocked with occasional protests. While not stated aloud, there is concern that the ‘Arab Spring’ could spread to Iran.

TURKEY: This is the one country that comes closest to resembling a secular, democratic Muslim-majority regime. Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan, basking in the afterglow of a third election win, has been trying to replace Iran as the hero of the Arab world, with some success. His support for the ‘Arab Spring’ and sharp criticism of former ally Israel goes down well with the ‘Arab Street.’ But is he going to risk a show-down with Israel in the Mediterranean over their oil and gas exploration, or their blockade of Hamas in Gaza? The one bright spot that Turkey is a member of NATO and the military alliance would strongly frown on one of its members attacking a functioning parliamentary democracy.

Next week in Part 03, we will learn about Palestine, Israel, and the prophetic implications.

‘The “Arab Spring,” Israel, and the Last Days” Part 01

2011-10-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

It all began with a simple but tragic event. On 17 December 2010, Muhammad Bouzazizi, 26, a Tunisian street vegetable vendor and sole breadwinner to his widowed mother and 7 siblings, was smacked by a policewoman and his dead father cursed while being told he was illegally selling. He went to the provincial office to complain but they didn’t want to listen. So he returned to the scene, doused himself with petrol, and set himself alight.

Though he didn’t die immediately, Bouazizi’s immolation set in motion a chain of events that led to Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution.’ Within days, long-term president Zine el-Abidene Ben Ali, in power since 1987 was chased out of office and into exile in Saudi Arabia. Within a short time, the rumblings of revolution spread across the Arab world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east. It is grass-roots, youth-driven, and internet-fueled. After decades of repression, they have broken the ‘fear-barrier’ and are pressing forth towards freedom.

The western media calls these spontaneous, region-wide uprisings ‘The Arab Spring.’ Yet the Arabic language press simply calls them ‘revolution.’

During the ‘Arab Spring of 2011,’ other Arab strongman have been shaken and toppled from power. These include:

• Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011;

• Muammar Gaddafi, supreme leader of Libya from 1969-2011

• Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of Yemen since 1978. As of this writing, he returned from convalescing in Saudi Arabia after being wounded in a bomb attack, seeks to bring elections, and plans to leave again.

Why are the Arab people, much suppressed by long-term autocrats and brutal police states, finally throwing off the dictator’s yoke? Several key reasons include unemployment, lack of opportunity, lack of freedom and human rights in an age of democracy. Rising food prices are guaranteed to cause civil unrest. Of the 350 million people in the Arab world, 100 million are between the ages of 15-29. At least of third of these are not working ... or have never worked ... and with all that time on their hands and a good grasp of social media and internet, you have a combustible cocktail for rebellion.

So what do these mostly youthful protestors want? Pretty much what we in the West already enjoy: democracy, justice, accountability, civil liberties, rule of law, and human rights.

Let us remember, however, that democracy is more than holding an election; after all, the Arab world has hosted elections for many years. Often, there is only 1 candidate -- the incumbent -- and to no one’s surprise he receives 99.9% of the vote. Democracy means regularly scheduled ‘fair and free elections,’ a free press, independent judiciary, separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial power, balance of power, and freedoms, including conscience, speech, and religion.

Yet there is a challenge when it comes to the Arab world and democracy. While the masses genuinely want democracy, they also want Islam and Sharia, the 7th century Muslim legal code. One thing the western world learned by hard experience is that ‘church and state’ (or, in the Middle East, ‘mosque and state’) must be separated. Neither is to dominate or control the other. When this separation is in place, then freedoms are guaranteed for all. Only a handful of Muslim-majority countries, like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey, have a separation of ‘mosque and state.’ The Arab world does not appear to be heading in this direction. For this reason, should the new governments put Sharia instead of a secular civil code, then the first to suffer from the inevitable oppression will be women, Christians and other non-Muslims, and dissident Muslims. Again, let me stress that the ‘separation of church and state’ applies to all religions, not just one.

For all their many faults, the ousted autocrats knew how to keep ‘mosque and state’ separate, thus holding political Islam at bay. The western nations, while not approving of their dictatorial ways, did appreciate the stability that Mubarak, Ben Ali, and Saleh provided in this sensitive part of the world.

Now, with the autocrats gone, other forces are being unleashed that could make this a bumpy ride: tribalism, regionalism, and radical Islam. Sectarianism is also a grave threat, pitting Shia Muslim against Sunni Muslim and Muslim against Christian. We all need to remember that there is no guarantee that an emerging ‘Arab democracy’ is going to look like the western-version, or even be pro-west.

Next week, you will get an ‘Arab Spring Report Card.’

Watch Turkey

2011-09-29T19:32:00.001-07:00

It is very common to see frequent headlines about the Middle East. ‘Palestine seeks recognition by the United Nations’ is one of the latest. There are many more, especially in the light of the ‘Arab Spring’ (or, as the Arab media call it, ‘revolution’). But the country that deserves the most attention is one that still eludes the spotlight. That country is Turkey.

Over the years I have constantly spoken about the need to ‘watch Turkey.’ Recent events are vindicating my warning.

Turkey is clearly a key nation of the Middle East, politically, geographically, and militarily. Here’s why.

Turkey the Land:

This nation is located in the Middle East yet serves as a bridge between the Arab world, Central Asia, and the Balkans in SE Europe. It is known as Asia Minor and Anatolia; it was here that the seven churches of Revelation were located (chapters two and three). A natural leader, it has had the Seljuq Empire during the time of the Crusades (1071-1325 AD) and the long-lived Ottoman Empire from (1300-1922).

Turkey the People:

Turks are from Central Asia and migrated to Asia Minor around 1,000 years ago. Many have a mixed Eurasian appearance, in part because the Ottoman Empire was so multi-ethnic. After converting to Islam, the Turks took the leadership of the Muslim world from the Arabs and held on to it for centuries. The Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople (now Istanbul) was also the Caliph of the Muslim world.

The Turks have been known as a war-like people, very much akin to their Central Asian ancestors. During the Ottoman period there was a constant state of war, either acquiring territory or seeking to retain it. The Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453 AD was a major turning point for the following reasons:

1. Byzantine Empire: 1453 spelt the end of the millenia-old Christian Orthodox Byzantine Empire;

2. Empire Expanded: 1453 led to a major expansion of the Ottoman Empire; the empire grew to incorporate most of North Africa, all of the Arab Middle East, Turkey, much of the Black Sea coastline, and even SE Europe. It is because of the Ottomans that certain white Europeans became Muslims, namely the Albanians, Bosnians, and Kosovars.

3. Western Exploration of the New World: After the Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453, they blocked the land route from Europe to India. Thus, 1453 served as the catalyst for western exploration of the New World, including the journeys of Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Vasco da Gama.

The ‘New Turkey:’ 1923

Turkey to a radical direction from its imperial past with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Its favoured son Mustapha Kemal, known as Ataturk (‘Father of the Turks’), was the man who gave Turkey its one and only victory in World War I: the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. When Greece invaded Turkey after the war, Ataturk came to the rescue and pushed back the Greeks. This led to the first major population transfer of the 20th Century: all the Greeks in Turkey had to move to Greece, and all the Turks in Greece were sent to Turkey. It was only then that Turkey became ’99% Muslim.’

Ataturk buried the Ottoman Empire and became the supreme leader of the newly-emerged Turkish republic in 1923. He believed that his nation’s future depended upon becoming western-orientated and secular. So with lightning speed -- and a rod of iron -- he implemented breath-taking reforms, including the abolition of the Muslim caliphate (something al Qaeda and other Islamist militants are aching to restore), the banning of the fez and head scarves, changing the Islamic legal code to the Swiss secular code, changing the day of rest from Friday to Sunday, converting the Turkish alphabet from Arabic script to Roman (the script used in English), granting constitutional freedom of conscience and religion. Yes ... a Muslim could change his religion in Ataturk’s Turkey and a Muslim woman could marry a non-Muslim man ... reforms unthinkable even by liberal Muslim countries today!

Though a military man, Ataturk’s republic no long went on armed adventures like its Ottoman forebears. They opted out of World War II and only fought in the Korean War (1950-1953) because the United Nations told them to.

For almost 90 years, Turkey has continued in its fiercely secular orientation, strongly enforced by the military. Any perceived deviation from the pathway of secularism could lead to a military coup, such as happened in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997, where the generals staged a soft, ‘postmodern coup.’ Turkey joined NATO and until now sought membership in the European Union, but approval of their application has become as elusive as ever, despite Turkey’s many reforms.

In addition, Turkey has had diplomatic relations with Israel and even entered into a military alliance with the Jewish state in 1996. It has been rightly argued that it was the Turkish-Israel alliance, not the ‘peace treaties,’ that has kept the peace in the Middle East. The reason? The war-party in the Middle East will have to think twice before coming against the two most-militarily strong nations of the region. It is called ‘balance of power.’

But of late, the ‘balance of power’ has been tipping ... and in the worst possible direction at the worst possible time.

As readers learned last week, the ‘Arab Spring’ or ‘Revolution’ is a grass-roots movement where the general population, mostly young, has through mass protests broken the ‘fear barrier’ of their repressive long-term autocratic Arab regimes, causing several to collapse and others to be under threat. The protestors are demanding democracy, freedom of conscience, speech, and religion. However, the ‘Arab Spring’ is causing instability around the region and there is no guarantee that the democracy-loving revolution won’t be hijacked by fundamentalist forces that will be even more repressive than the secular dictators. Though Israel itself is relatively stable, it sits right in the middle of all this instability and thus it is less in a mood to make peace concessions. All of this is making the region less stable.The ‘Arab Spring’ has made certain governments more sensitive to Arab public opinion (often called ‘The Arab Street’), which is decidedly anti-Israel.

Watch Turkey

Now add to this mix Turkey. Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan has eagerly sought European Union membership. The EU is greatly ambivalent about Turkish membership and has gone out of its way to ‘lift the bar.’ For years I have been saying that if Europe continues to reject Turkey’s application ... as now seems the case ... Turkey will be tempted to ‘look East,’ cast away its secularism, and reconnect to its religious roots. Should that happen ... the whole region and the world ... will feel the tremors.

Erdogan, fresh from his third election win, has energetically sought to reassert Turkey as a regional leader. Critics see this as a ‘neo-Ottoman revival,’ which implies imperialism and military aggression. Erdogan recently visited some Arab nations in what was dubbed his ‘Arab Spring Tour.’ During this time he has verbally championed the cause of Palestine, though he has been much more quiet about the violent repression of protestors in Syria.

Erdogan has severely criticized Israel for its intercepting of the Mavi Marmara flotilla in May 2010, a putative aid ship seeking to break the blockade of Gaza, resulting in the deaths of 9 Turks. He called it a cause for war -- though Turkey’s greatness demanded restraint. The United Nations commission said that Israel’s force was excessive, but that its blockade of Gaza is legal under international law. Turkey has demanded an apology and compensation for the victims. Israel has said ‘No;’ it would not apologize for defending its people.

So Erdogan downgraded diplomatic relations, expelled the Israeli ambassador, suspended the 1996 military alliance, placed sanctions on Israel, and threatened to send warships to escort a future flotilla. But it does not stop there ... he is also warning Greece and Greek Cyprus, along with Israel, about oil and gas drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, under the pretext of protecting Turkish Cypriot rights. One Turkish newspaper spoke of a new ‘Cold War against Turkey’ by Israel, Greece, Greek Cyprus, France, and Germany. These are very strong words ... will the actions be even stronger?

So here’s the scorecard: the ‘peace-keeping balance of power’ between Israel and Turkey is tipping, Turkey is being more assertive regarding its rights and even hinting at military action in a manner unheard of since Ottoman times. Israel’s erstwhile military ally has become its fiercest critic, while its few embassies in the Arab world are being protested and even attacked. All of this is happening at the very time that the Eastern Mediterranean needs the utmost of calm during the storm of the ‘Arab Spring.’ What is now required is statecraft of the highest order ... and people who will ‘watch and pray.’

‘The Arab Spring’ 2011: We Have Never Seen Anything Like This!

2011-09-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

It started in a most improbable way. A Tunisian vegetable street vendor named Muhammad Bouazizi was confronted by a policewoman on 17 December 2010. Bouazizi, age 26, was the sole bread winner for his widowed mother and seven siblings. He handed the policewoman the normal fine, equivalent to a day’s work. Instead of receiving it, she slapped Bouazizi on the face and cursed his dead father. Understandably incensed by this, Bouazizi went to the provincial office to complain. They were not interested. So within less than a hour, he returned to the place of the incident, poured petrol over his head and set himself alight.

This self-immolation of Muhammad Bouazizi kick started the Tunisian ‘Jasmine Revolution’ which, in a matter of weeks, led to the ousting of long-term President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. He had been at the helm of Tunisia since 1987. Soon the fire spread to neighbouring Egypt, where anger over the 29 year rule of Hosni Mubarak led to protests at Tahrir Square, Cairo. In just 18 days, Mubarak was gone.

From Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, the Arab world has been rocked by spontaneous protests. Muammar Gaddafi in Libya has been deposed after 42 years of rule. Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, in power since 1978, left the country in June after being wounded in an assassination attempt. Protests have occurred in Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Palestine, Morocco. Most surprising is Syria, where the Assad family regime faces continued resistance, despite the twin methods of concessions and coercion.

The western media looks at these Arab uprisings by the euphemistic term, ‘The Arab Spring.’ Part of the reason is the grass-roots spontaneity of these revolts: youth-led and internet-fueled. Their goals are lofty: democracy, freedom, and human rights. But this term ‘Arab Spring’ is not widely used in the Arabic language press. The normal term is ‘revolution.’ And the waves keep rolling on.

What does this all mean?

The ‘Arab Spring’ is nothing short of the making of a new Middle East. To see long-term dictators topple and hear rhetoric of democracy and freedom are exciting for us liberty-loving westerners.

Nevertheless, we need to have a reality check: will the ‘Arab Spring’ be like 1989, when Eastern Europe broke free from communism and the Soviet Union to become democratic, free market states? Or, more ominously, will it be like 1917, where the democratic orientated transitional government that replaced the Tsar in Russia (in February), was overthrown by Lenin and the Bolsheviks (in October), who imposed a totalitarian dictatorship for 74 years.

While it is too early to say which way the Arab states will go ... more democracy ... or a (religiously-motivated) dictatorship with a fresh face ... something needs to be mentioned. The Arab masses who are clamoring for democracy also see a central role for Islam and Sharia law in the body politic. The western world learned the hard way that when you mix ‘church and state,’ freedoms will suffer as a result. It appears the ‘Arab Street’ has not understood this important principle of separation. While the old regimes were autocratic and repressive, they did manage to keep political Islam at bay, thus preserving a semblance of ‘stability.’ If political Islam, like any religion, is mixed with the governmental process ... how will the western freedoms the Arabs sincerely desire come to pass?

Israel on the front lines

Israel, which is a functioning western-style democracy, is finding itself right in the middle of this Arab Spring. The key reason is geography. Israel sits on the land-bridge between Africa and Eurasia. Other factors come into place as well. The Jewish states strategic position has been greatly altered by the Arab Spring.

In 2010, Israel had three stable borders out of four: Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Only Lebanon, with Hizbullah playing a dominant role, was the question mark. Today, Israel may have only 1 stable border: Jordan. And even that is not assured, due to protests in Amman, both for governmental reform and to express their anti-Israel sentiment. Since Mubarak’s fall, the Sinai border between Israel and Egypt has been unstable. In May 2011, protesters tried to storm the border between Israel and Syria at the Golan Height. Lebanon remains Lebanon ... a cause for concern. And then there is Gaza, run by Hamas, where rockets continue rain down from time to time.

Beyond the borders is a worrisome trend with Turkey. Turkey, a long-time military ally, has become an implacable critic of Israel. It recently cancelled the military alliance with the Jewish state, placed sanctions, expelled the Israeli ambassador, downgraded diplomatic relations, and threatened to send warships to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. We haven’t even touched on Iran, its nuclear program, and continued rhetoric about the disappearance of Israel.

What a difference a year makes ... a year of ‘Arab Spring.’

What will Israel Do?

There has been a lot of diplomatic activity ... and pressure ... for Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians, the so-called ‘land for peace’ formula. Yet, with unstable borders and unfriendly former allies, Israel will be less inclined to make concessions. They don’t even know if some of their neighbours will undergo radical regime change.

So with Israel failing to ‘cooperate,’ diplomatic pressure is likely to increase. Could it lead to the fulfillment of Psalm 83 and Zechariah 12? ‘Let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober’--I Thessalonians 5:6.

For those in the Melbourne-area, come hear my most important Free Public Lecture yet. (just as 250 peope did in Perth on 16 September). Details are below:

The Only Solution

2011-09-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

We have just completed a ministry trip that could be entitled: ‘Around the World in 84 Days.’ As always, these excursions are full of adventure: Southeast Asia, Siberian Russia, United Kingdom in full bloom and clear blue skies, New York City in a heat wave, and the American West Coast in summer mode. No ... it was not a holiday. It was real work but also very worthwhile.

While there are many positive things to report, the area of great concern is the obvious economic decline in the western world, particularly the United States. This giant of a country, with once unmatched economic, military, and moral power, is clearly struggling on several fronts. The most obvious is in the economy: unemployment is near 10%, home prices have tumbled, the annual budget deficit is $1.6 trillion, and overall debt hovers at $14 trillion. We personally with people who have either lost their livelihood or their homes. Once thriving shopping malls look like ghost towns. Jobs are difficult to find. A series of national disasters in 2011, including snow storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes, have tallied up a bill of $35 billion, an unwelcome extra expense in every way.

The end, unfortunately, is not in sight. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) could very well outstrip the Great Depression of the 1930s as the worst of economic downturns.

Though many sincere and intelligent people are working on the problem, it appears to be too complex and deep to offer easy solutions. It seems that one approach to the debt problem ... is more debt: borrow more, hope the economy picks up, then repay the debt. While sustainable debt on an appreciable asset might be in order, throwing money that does not exist at a mountain of debt is simply not a wise solution. If it doesn’t work for individuals ... and it doesn’t ... then it doesn’t work for nations, either.

America is also choking on issues of political correctness, gay marriage, immigration, misguided policies vis a vis the Middle East, and more. What is the solution? Certainly, from an economic point-of-view, conventional wisdom is increase income and reduce debt. But there is something more than mere belt-tightening, and this solution also remedies the other challenges.

Three extremely important concepts come to mind:

1. Courage: to solve these problems, there has to be a healthy dose of realism, coupled by a huge dollop of courage. Unfortunately, realism and courage have been scarce until now. Sound leadership will need to face the people ... be honest about the source of the problem ... take responsibility ... and then outline a needful and achievable course of action. In a world of hype, spin, and half-truths, this will not be easy; but ultimately, there is no other way. You cannot solve a problem until you can admit that it exists and why it exists

2. Maturity: along with a lack of realistic courage has been the conspicuous absence of maturity. This is a very needful thing. Maturity is what makes the fruit ripe and sweet; takes responsibility for actions (of ones own and of the subordinates), amasses and values experience, and has the sufficient patience to see things through. Without maturity, we will be playing a continual guessing game of where to go next.

3. Revival: if there is any one thing that is most needed, it is this. In his best selling book, Sloughing Towards Gomorrah, Robert Bork gives four options for moral and spiritual renewal of the western world: deep depression, a cataclysmic war, public discourse on morality, or a religious revival (page 336). He quickly disavows the first two options and, by implication, endorses the last one ... religious revival. For ultimately, the economic, social, and political problems we face in the western world can be solved by one single thing: a revival. This means that the Church, who has experienced new life in Christ, ‘comes alive again’ (hence the word, re-vival or life again). Before revival, the people of God are awake to the world and asleep to God. Revival reverses the order.

Waking up to the problem within our own hearts, repenting of it, and allowing God to bring healing and restoration to the land. The call to revival and the practical steps in reaching it are wonderfully summarized by a well-known passage of Scripture, namely II Chronicles 7:14 (KJV), which says If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Without revival, we have no solution; without repentance, we have no revival; without prayer, we have no repentance. For all those who have a genuine concern about the way the western world is going, or are fearful that soon the US economy is going to crash against the wall ... and pull down much of the global economy with it ... the solution is within your reach.

Prayer ... repent ... persist ... and God will truly do His part. It is not too late but the clock is ticking. Let’s take hold of the best solution around.

Arnie, Maria & the Maid: Lessons from the Sex Scandal of the Year

2011-06-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

It is a story that has kept the tabloids churning and tongues wagging. Former California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger 63 and his wife Maria Shriver 55 have separated ‘amicably and with prayer’ after 25 years of marriage. The reason for the split is because Schwarzenegger fathered a child, now 13 years old, from their long-time maid Mildred Patricia Baena, 50. Apparently, Baena gave birth to Schwarzenegger’s son five days after Shriver gave birth to Arnie’s other son, Christopher. Imagine becoming father to two biological sons in one week! According to the story in the Singapore Straits Sunday TImes June 5, 2011, it was the maid who was the aggressor, slipping into Schwarzenegger’s bed while Maria was away.

Despite the entertainment factor, this story is an immense tragedy: for Schwarzenegger, Shriver, their children, the young son of Schwarzenegger, and the cause of marriage and family in general. It is a cause for reflection, prayer, and more.

What are some of the lesson we can learn from this sorry state of affairs?

First of all, the role of discipline. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a textbook case of a man who became, from a worldly point-of-view, a stunning success. Everything he set his hand to turned to gold.

There is a reason: Schwarzenegger knew how to set goals, plan out a reasonable timetable for their fulfillment, and never took his eyes off the prize. His impressive checklist included:

Immigrate to the United States from Graz, Austria: Done;
Become a first-class body-builder as Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia: Done;
Make a mark in real estate and business: Done;
Marry into a prominent family (Maria Shriver is the niece of US President John F. Kennedy, considered a top political American dynasty): Done;
Become a movie actor: Done;
Become a leading actor-turned-politician, like Ronald Reagan: Done.

California is America’s largest state and one of the top ten economies in the world. When Arnie became governor in 2003, it was as if the sky was the limit. If he is a role model on the virtues of goal-setting and discipline in one’s professional life, then his personal fall is a warning that that discipline must extend into one’s personal life too. Complaints surfaced of Arnie’s inappropriate contact with women, including groping. Though he weathered the storms enough to get elected and re-elected as California’s governor, the undisciplined (and immoral) side eventually came to haunt him.

For too long, we have been fed the lie that one’s personal life and activities should have no bearing on one’s public personna. Not so! Instead of living double lives, we need to practice the same rigorous fruit-bearing discipline in private as we do in public. As one person put it, ‘The measure of your integrity is what you are in the dark.’

The centrality of marriage and family (for the many who have both) must be maintained at all costs. No doubt, a major part of Arnie’s political elevation had to do with the dedicated support of his wife, Maria Shriver. No doubt, she understood politics and was 200% behind him, even defending him when women complained about his behaviour. The love and support of one’s family can make all the difference between success and failure. We must esteem our families above everything else in life, apart from our relationship with Almighty God Himself. To parody the words of Jesus, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his family (and soul)?

A third consideration has to do with personal responsibility. This author has long argued that society today is cursed with a collective sense of immaturity. People are promoted into the celebrity limelight before they have the maturity and character to sustain the scrutiny. Others go through the motions but never manage to bear fruit. Then there are those who claim to be leaders but do not know how to delegate and empower; or, when things go wrong, they fail to take responsibility and blame everyone else for the problem. Leaders can take a cue from US President Barack Obama, who said after the botched Christmas Day 2009 terrorist attempt that nearly brought down a Detroit-bound jet:, said ‘The buck stops with me.’

In the case of Schwarzenegger, to put the blame on the maid on the affair as if he was merely minding his own business, is disingenous and equally irresponsible. As the man, he has the power and that power includes saying ‘no.’ Instead of being like Joseph, who fled from the presence of Potiphars’ amorous wife (quote Genesis 39); he was more like Samson with Delilah: name the time and place.

If failure comes, it is best to deal with it at the time with repentance and restitution, rather than do what many do and ‘sweep it under the carpet.’ After a while, the bulge under the carpet will cause someone to stumble, as in this case. Failure to come clean or deal with scandals in a Biblically-appropriate manner virtually assures that more scandal are to come. Cover-ups simply breed more scandals. At the time of the affair with Baena in 1997, Schwarzenegger was not in politics and there was obvious concern that if he fessed up early, it could ruin his political chances. Perhaps, although sex scandals did not ruin the election and re-election of the occupant in the White House at that time. But at least he would have had a fighting chance to preserve his marriage ... and then go on to bigger and better things.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh [them] shall have mercy. Proverbs 28:13

The breakdown of a marriage -- any marriage, whether famous or obscure -- is hurtful for the family and also society. Imagine the four Schwarzenegger children, who have lived in a transparent fish bowl all their lives, now having to endure the shame that their successful father now carries and well as the dissolution of their parents’ marriage. Even living in opulent luxury is not compensation for home and hearth. What about his son Joseph, whom he had by Baena, and with whom he had many dealings, only finding out at the age of 13 that Arnie was his father when the press told him so. Then there is Baena’s husband, whose name was put on Joseph’s birth certificate instead of Schwarzenegger -- it would be a shock enough to knock one off their feet. The emotional and spiritual complications for all these innocent people can be enormous. Spare a prayer for this family and also for all families: that those who are whole may remain so and those who are in trouble may be delivered.

Nothing can secure our future more than this.

400 Years Young: A Tribute to the King James Bible

2011-06-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

It inspired the writings of Jefferson and the speeches of Lincoln. The voice of the great narrator Alexander Scourby became synonymous with it. Without this single document, there would have been no Handel’s Messiah, Paradise Lost, or Gettysburg Address. The literary foundation of the English language is based on it, even more than Shakespeare or the Oxford English Dictionary. As the British Empire expanded and, by extension, the English language, it also laid the foundation for great missionary outreach and the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

The ‘it’ referred to above is nothing less than the Authorized King James Version of the Bible, otherwise known as KJV. This amazing Bible, ‘authorized’ to be read in churches, had its 400th anniversary in May 2011. The King James Bible Trust, with Prince Charles as the patron, spearheaded the celebrations. The Queen also has been involved in the commemoration and it was the first thing she mentioned in her Christmas Speech of 2010.

By all accounts, the KJV continues to be a best seller, despite the proliferation of many other English language Bible versions. Over a billion copies have been printed and it outpaces and outlasts many newer English translations of the Bible.

The amazingly beautiful, accurate and resilient KJV began in a conference at Hampton Court Palace in 1604. James VI of Scotland (1566-1625), son of the ill-fated Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, and himself a Protestant, had been crowned King of England in the place of Elizabeth I just the year before. The Church of England, of which he was now the head, was having troubles with a restive group of Christians called Puritans. How could he bring peace and stability to the realm? The answer came one of the aggrieved Puritan leader’s, John Rainolds, said these words:

‘May Your Majesty be pleased to direct the Bible be now translated, (since) such versions as are extant (are) not answering to the original’

James I loved the idea and ‘authorized’ that the new translation be made. Little did he realize ever that it would become one of the greatest, if not the greatest, published works in history.

Translating the Bible into English was once a dangerous prospect. Englishman William Tyndale was burned at the stake in 1536 for doing precisely that. It was deemed irreverent and wrong to translate the holy scriptures into English, which was considered a crude language. French and Latin were preferable. Indeed, Desiderius Erasmus, compiler of the Textus Receptus from which the King James Bible was translated, did not speak a word of English, yet he could freely converse with scholars at Oxford because they all spoke Latin. Yet Tyndale’s enormous sacrifice -- he never married and was never buried -- and his courageous efforts to make the Bible available in English would unleash a force that could not be stopped.

John Wyclif had the first English translation of the Bible in 1382. Tyndale’s was in 1528. King Henry VIII of England broke from Rome and had the Church of England placed under the English crown. He authorized the translation of the ‘Great Bible.’ In 1583, during the reign of Elizabeth I, the ‘Bishop’s Bible’ came on the scene.

Before that, when Elizabeth’s half-sister, Mary Tudor (a Catholic), tried to turn back the English reformation and make England submit to the Vatican, English Protestant emigres produced the ‘Geneva Bible.’ This was a honoured translation -- one that the Puritans took with them to the New World -- but its column notes were intensely disliked by James I. He believed in the ‘divine right of kings’ and the Geneva Bible’s notes came across as ‘anti-monarchy’ and even ‘seditious.’ The new monarch, a scholar of Greek and Hebrew, was more than happy to see a new English translation of the Bible come to the scene and to put out of business the Geneva Bible. This is a major part of the reason he so enthusiastically embraced Rainold’s recommendation.

In 1611 the KJV came at the right time; it was still the Renaissance with the blossoming of learning and culture. The Reformation was here to stay. The printing press made the Bible available to more and more people. Like our time, people in the 17th Century believed in technology, but in addition they were also steeped in the Greco-Roman classics. Some of the KJV translators knew Greek and Hebrew like their first language. All these factors, plus the hand of God, coalesced to give the world a version of the Scriptures that is unsurpassed in all important areas.

A group of 54 of the best scholars were assembled for the task. While James I was keen for the project to proceed, he would not be contributing to its research or production -- royal funds were apparently scarce in those days. The project would have to fund itself. In addition, the translators were unpaid volunteers. They translated out of the original languages, using the textus receptus (apparently, so did Martin Luther in his German translation of the Bible) while also comparing the earlier translations, of which Tyndale’s would play a major role. According to David Daniels, ‘In all, every single verse of the Bible was carefully examined and decided upon a total of fourteen times, by as many as 50 or more people! This made it impossible for any one translator to impose his personal viewpoint on the passage.’^{^[1]}

Rolling off the presses of Robert Barker in May 1611, the King James Bible in time became the single translation of the English-speaking people. It’s preeminence, while challenged by the flood of modern translations, still shines brightly. Amazingly, more modern translations come on the scene, take the spotlight momentarily, and then recede into the background. Even the ‘best-selling’ modern versions go through added revisions and incarnations ... while the King James continues to sell as is.

BF Westcott in 1868 said ‘From the middle of the seventeenth century, the King’s Bible has been the acknowledge Bible of the English-speaking nations throughout the world simply because it is the best. A revision which embodied the ripe fruits of nearly a century of labour, and appealed to the religious instinct of a great Christian people, gained by its own internal character a vital authority which could never have been secured by an edict of sovereign rulers.’^{^[2]} Wherever the British Empire spread, the KJV was never far away. It was especially in the American colonies and then the United States where the King James Bible had as honoured, if not even more honoured, place that it did in England itself. Even until today, it is in the United States where the printing of the KJV is more than anywhere else (even Oxford Press prints their KJV’s in America -- where the demand is).

Like the Homer to the Greeks, the Septuagint to the ancient church, KJV became a cornerstone of the English language and one of the greatest literary pieces in history. One scholar said that God used four languages to present and preserve His Word: Hebrew, Greek, Old Latin, and English. And when we think of ‘English Bible,’ the one that has had the overwhelming influence over our knowledge of the words and works of God is the KJV. Far from being an antiquated, anachronistic relic of our quaint past, the KJV has lasted the distance in a way that has stunned even its most ardent supporters. It has a longevity and vitality that still continues to bring blessing to all those who read from it.

What is the appeal of the KJV? Here are a few points to ponder:

Accuracy: the translators were men of impeccable scholastic ability and unquestioned Christian commitment. Some of them were reading Greek and Hebrew at the age of 5. Instead of translating ‘phrase to phrase,’ they translated ‘word for word.’ This is in accord with Jesus’ own testimony: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:4). Jesus’ view of the inspiration of Scripture was so high that he believed that every word, every letter, even ever dot and stroke, was inspired (Matthew 5:18). You will not find any missing words, letters, phrases or even whole verses in the KJV. It’s accuracy means that it is also complete and trustworthy. Alexander Geddes, a Catholic scholar, said in 1786 ‘If accuracy and strictest attention to the letter of the text be supposed to constitute an excellent version, this is of all versions the most excellent.’

Authority: The ‘word for word’ translation by a highly qualified team of pious scholars -- who had no commercial interest in the translation but only the glory of God in mind -- rendered an unmistakable authority upon the text. Some critics say that the Hebrew/Greek manuscripts used for the translation of the KJV dated only to 900 AD, whereas the manuscripts of the modern translations are much earlier. This is correct ... however, the KJV manuscripts are copies of those manuscripts that agree with 5,000 earlier manuscripts, some as old as the older ones used in modern translations and probably more reliable. The fact that this translation has held such a supreme position for four centuries also attests to its undisputed authority. When read aloud, with conviction and anointing, it sounds like God Himself speaking. Phyllis Tickle of Publisher Weekly said, ‘The sheer poetry of the King James Version, not to mention its almost half-millennium of absolute authority, militates against its slipping into obscurity any time soon.’

Beauty: The eloquence and literary beauty of this masterpiece is beyond dispute. Who can replace the wonderful KJV renderings of such beloved passages as the Twenty-Third Psalm, the Lord’s Prayer, or the Beatitudes? Alister McGrath, author of an excellent history of the KJV called In the Beginning, said ‘The glory of the King James Bible was that the English language was raised to new heights by being put to the service of this supreme goal--the rendering in English of the words and deeds of God.’^{^[3]}

This author at the age of 15 started with a KJV Gideon’s Bible that was sitting on the family bookshelf. At the age of 21, he obtained a Thompson Chain KJV Study Bible; this is the Bible he began to teach and preach from. Eventually, he obtained the ‘Rolls Royce’ -- a leather bound Cambridge KJV Bible. All these Bibles he still has to this day. Though possessing a succession of modern translations, over the last years as a full-time Bible teacher and preacher, he has returned to KJV. Why? For the reasons above: accuracy, authority, and beauty.

Remarkably, well-known British atheists who are virulently anti-theist, sing some of the highest praises to the KJV. Niall Ferguson, a distinguished historian, speaks of the supremacy of the KJV in terms of its central place in the English language. Christopher Hitchens, who wrote the book God is Not Great, said, ‘You are not educated if you don’t know the Bible. You can’t read Shakespeare or Milton without it … And with the schools now, they don’t even teach it as a document … So kids can’t quote the King James Bible. That’s terrible.’

Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, had this to say about the KJV: ‘You can't appreciate English literature unless you are to some extent steeped in the King James Bible. There are phrases that come from it — people don't realize they come from it — proverbial phrases, phrases that make echoes in people's minds ... Not to know the King James Bible is to be, in some small way, barbarian.’

For believers, reading the King James Bible gives a double portion: we are enjoying the fruit of our rich heritage in the English language and culture while, more importantly, imbibing the life-giving, anointed Word of the Lord that is a ‘lamp to our feet, a light to our path, sincere milk, and strong meat.’

People may not realize it but many well-known English idioms come straight out of the KJV. You can turn to just about any page and find phrases that have become part of our common speech. Here are some examples:

• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush;

• A drop in the bucket;

• A fly in the ointment

• A house divided against itself cannot stand

• A leopard cannot change its spots

• A man after his own heart;

• A multitude of sins;

• A sign of the times

• A two-edged sword;

• A voice crying in the wilderness;

• A wolf in sheep’s clothing;

• All things must pass;

• All things to all men

• Am I my brother’s keeper?

• An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth;

• As old as Methuselah;

• As old as the hills;

• As white as snow;

• As you sow so shall you reap;

• Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

• At his wits end;

• Baptism of fire;

• Beat swords into ploughshares;

• Bite the dust;

• Blessed are the peacemakers;

• Born again;

• Breath of Life;

• By the skin of your teeth;

• Can a leopard change his spots;

• Cast the first stone;

• Coat of many colours;

• Don’t cast your pearls before swine;

• Dust to dust;

• Faith will move mountains;

• Fall from grace;

• Fat of the land;

• Fight the good fight;

• Fire and brimstone;

• Flesh and blood;

• For everything there is a season;

• Forbidden fruit;

• Forgive them for they know not what they do;

• From strength to strength;

• Get thee behind me Satan;

• Gird your loins;

• Give up the ghost;

• Go the extra mile;

• Good Samaritan;

• Harden your heart

• He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword;

• Heart’s desire;

• How are the mighty fallen;

• In the beginning was the word;

• In the twinkling of an eye;

• It’s better to give than to receive;

• Labour of love;

• Lamb to the slaughter;

• Land of Nod,

• Law unto themselves;

• Let he who is without sin cast the first stone;

• Let not the sun go down on your wrath;

• Let there be light;

• Letter of the law;

• Living off the fat of the land;

• Love of money is the root of all evil;

• Love thy neighbour as thyself;

• Man does not live by bread alone;

• Many are called but few are chosen;

• My cup runneth over;

• My heart’s desire;

• No rest for the wicked;

• Nothing new under the sun;

• O ye, of little faith;

• Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings;

• Patience of Job;

• Pearls before swine;

• Physician heal thyself;

• Pride goes before a fall;

• Put your house in order;

• Reap the whirlwind;

• Skin of your teeth;

• A soft answer turns away wrath;

• Spare the rod and spoil the child;

• Strait and narrow;

• Sufficient unto the day;

• The apple of his eye;

• The blind leading the blind;

• The bread of life;

• The breath of life;

• The fat of the land;

• The fruits of your loins;

• The powers that be;

• The root of the matter;

• The salt of the earth;

• The wages of sin is death;

• The way of all flesh;

• The writing is on the wall;

• Thorn in the flesh;

• Thou shalt not kill;

• Three score and ten;

• To everything there is a season;

• What God has joined together let no man put asunder;

• Weighed in the balance;

• White as snow;

• Wheels within wheels;

• Wisdom of Solomon;

• Woe is me;

• Wolf in sheep’s clothing;

• Reap what you sow.

Being so central to English speech, we are immeasurably enriched by the KJV and, in contrast, undeniably impoverished by neglecting so great a treasure. As the Bible of our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, wonderful theological and literary values have been passed on to us. We need to be faithful stewards of the immeasurable treasure. And the resonance and literary power of the KJV makes it the ideal translation from which to memorize Scripture.

Think about it: which would you rather memorize?

Matthew 6:11 (KJV): ‘Give us this day our daily bread’

Matthew 6:11 (The Message): ‘Keep us alive with three square meals’

With so much change and challenge in our world today, the exhortation to ‘prove all things, hold fast to what is good’ (I Thessalonians 5:21) rings as true today as ever.

The KJV has stood the test of time: it’s accuracy, authority, and beauty -- indeed, the anointing upon it -- means that even in the twenty-first century, you can’t go wrong reading and studying from it.

Please Note: We are going on a 12 week round-the-world trip. While I will write blogs, I may not be able to notify you directly by email of their posting. Please check our site every fortnight to see what’s new: majdali.blogspot.com. Your prayers for journey mercies and outstanding ministry are most appreciated.

Twitter: KameelMajdali

Teach All Nations: tan.org.au

^{^[1]} David Daniels, Answers to Your Bible Version Questions, Ontario CA: Chick Publications, 2003, 29.

^{^[2]} Alister McGrath, In the Beginning, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2001, 207.

^{^[3]} Alister McGrath, In the Beginning, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2001, 305.

Is the World Ending Today? Or Soon?

2011-05-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

Here we go again! Another prediction about the end of the world. Coming from the United States, it has been predicted for May 21, 2011, American time. We would not have noticed this except that the media picked up on it. According to Bill Muehlenberg, both Christians and amiable atheists are offering a ‘pet-sitting’ service for raptured Christians who leave their pets behind:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/05/19/end-times-moonbattery/

As you wake up on May 22nd, with the world still intact, what are you to make of all this. Is the world coming to an end? Is this end coming soon? Of all the questions we could ask in life, these two have to be high up the list.

Here are some points to consider:

Date-Setters: While they cause alarm and upset -- not to mention exercising a practice not endorsed in Scripture (Matthew 24:36), the date-setters do have one point: prophetic signs are coming to pass right under our noses. As prophetic signs increase, so does date-setting.

This is in marked contrast to what is happening among general society and even parts of the church: sleeping! I Thessalonians 5:1-9 is important in this regard. It speaks of the end of the world and divides humanity into two:

1. Those who are ‘sleeping’ and ‘drunken’ and thus miss the early warning signals;

1. Those who are of the ‘light and day’ and know perfectly about the day of the Lord.

Date-setters are stuck between the two: they are catching the prophetic signals, hence, they are not sleeping. However, they don’t ‘understand perfectly’ that the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. If they did, they would not set dates.

End of the World: This phrase comes from Matthew 24:3 (KJV). What does it really mean? Is planet earth coming to an end? Not to my understanding; the earth abides forever. But the ‘world system’ with human government and all the limitations and corruption that comes with it will cease to exist. This is because our fallen world is reaching its ‘used by date.’ God has prepared something better for all of us: an everlasting kingdom where righteousness finds it true home. In this kingdom, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes: there will be no more sorrow, sighing, death, pain, immorality, cowardice, unbelieving ... for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4).

So the phrase ‘the end of the world’ is associated with this present, history-long ‘(old/new) world order,’ not the planet earth. Earth and heaven will be renovated by fire (II Peter 3:10), purging them of all the rebellion and sin that has gone before, so that holiness and righteousness takes it place. Replacing the old heaven and earth are a ‘new heaven and earth’ (verse 13).

Coming of Jesus Christ: This is the most important event on the Christian calendar and, for that matter, the world’s. For the church, Christ’s coming is the ‘blessed hope’ (Titus 2:13). For the (old and new) world order, it means ‘time’s up! You’re out of business.’ That is why there is no much resistance to Biblical Christian things these days, because the principalities and powers know their time is short (Revelation 12:12).

For our purposes, the most immediate thing to note that ‘the end of the world’ is linked with the second coming of Jesus Christ. Let’s look at the question in Matthew 24:3 (KJV): And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (emphasis mine). So for believers, it is important to see that the ‘end of the world’ is no end at all ... it is the beginning of a new world and a new kingdom. The King is coming.

Time perspective: Let us never forget that God does not live in a ‘time-zone.’ He is beyond space and time. A day to Him is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day (II Peter 3:8). While God has done an amazing job of relating to our perspective ... He especially did this through His Son Jesus Christ ... we need to remember His perspective. The end of all things is at hand (I Peter 4:7). The time is at hand (Revelation 1:3). Surely I come quickly (Revelation 22:20). As God sees it, eternity is not just at the door ... it is now. And that’s how those who are ‘born of the Spirit’ should see it as well!

Signs: As mentioned earlier, date-setters do have one thing right: the prophetic signs are coming to pass. We are in a time of great shaking (Haggai 2:6; Hebrews 12:25-29). In 2011, more shaking was packed into the first three months than any other time in living memory. Floods devastated drought-stricken Queensland and Australia, apprently larger than German and France combined. Could these be the largest floods in modern history? Is it any wonder that the BBC and other media outlets called the Australian floods ‘of Biblical proportions.’

In the first week of February 2011, Cyclone Yasi devastated Queensland, a heat wave hit New South Wales, floods came to Victoria and South Australia, and bush fires ravished Western Australia. All this in one week.

The natural disasters were not only in Australia. Floods also hit Sri Lanka, Philippines, and Myanmar. The floods in Brazil turned into mudslides that killed hundreds of people. Earthquakes hit Indonesia and New Zealand, damaging a third of the city of Christchurch. Even the UK had minor earthquakes; a nation that is not prone to having them at all.

Japan had a quadruple shock: first was the earthquake, followed by the tsunami, which led to the crippling of the Fukushima nuclear plant. All this was followed by nuclear fires. Part of the damaged area is a ‘no man’s zone’ where neither human nor animal carcases cannot be retrieved or dealt with until the all clear is sounded. Parts of Japanese territory will be uninhabitable for generations.

Then another strange phenomena has happend: a plague of dead animals. Birds are dropping out of the sky in various places. Fish are dying en masse in different oceans, including 100 tons in Brazil. It is not clear what this all means, but it is eerily reminiscent of the 2nd trumpet of Revelation 8:9 (KJV), which says: ‘And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died....’ This author is not saying we are now in the ‘2nd Trumpet,’ but this bizarre occurence is part of the shaking.

Is anyone paying attention? The shaking is not what I would call the full judgement of God -- if it was, God would be unrighteously harming the righteous. The parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30) makes it clear that this is something He wants to avoid (verse 29). It has two purposes that I can identify: it wakes up the sleepers (I Thessalonians 5:7). Second, removes the kingdoms of this world to make room for the kingdom that will never end (Hebrews 12:27-28; Revelation 11:15).

So while we cannot know the ‘day and hour’ of the coming of Christ and the ‘end of the world,’ we can know the ‘times and seasons’ (I Thess 5:1). There is no better way to end this blog than by quoting Ephesians 5:14 (KJV): Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Blog: majdali.blogspot.com

Twitter: KameelMajdali

Osama, WIlliam & Wilkerson: 3 Very Different Celebrations

2011-05-04T00:20:00.000-07:00

Crowds begin to gather in front of key American landmarks: the White House and Ground Zero in New York City. The air is jubilant, almost like a party atmosphere, especially in the United States. Congratulatory message and tweets began whirling around cyberspace. Sober yet triumphant statements are issued by US President Barack Obama. Other leaders of the western world follow suit, including former US Presidents Bush and Clinton.

What was the cause for all this excitement?

Osama bin Laden is dead.

Why all this rejoicing at the death of a seemingly lone figure who had not been seen in public for years? The simple reason is that bin Laden was the founder of al Qaeda, the global merchant bank of jihadist terrorism. More specifically, Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of the September 11th attacks nearly 10 years.

Al Qaeda has a simple goal: to rid the Muslim world of US and western influence, reestablish a global Islamic caliphate (a political-religious empire run inhabited and run by Muslims), destroy Israel, and the eventual triumph of Islam over the world. Al Qaeda developed a seven point program to restore the caliphate, including attacking America, drawing it into a war in the Middle East, seeing its demise, along with Israel’s, in the war that would follow, and once the ‘great satan’ and the ‘little satan’ had been destroyed, then the caliphate would return around 2015 or 2020.

Their method of implement is jihadist terrorism: training camps teeming with eager volunteers are raising up a generation of would-be terrorists that would bring the world into submission to their brand of Islam. What has been the score card:

1993: first bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City, 6 killed;
1998: US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed, 224 death;
2000: USS Cole in Aden Harbour, Yemen, 17 sailors killed;
2004: Madrid bombing just before the Spanish elections, 191 killed.

But all these tragedies are overshadowed by the greatest terrorist attack in US history, simply called ‘9-11.’ On that cloudless September day in 2001, four airplanes were hijacked. One hit the Pentagon; the second (United Flight 93) crash landed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania (immortalized by Todd Beamer, a Christian believer who planned with other passengers to tackle the hijackers before they could hit their target. After reciting the Lord’s Prayer on his cell phone, he was last heard saying to his fellow passengers: ‘Are you guys ready? Let’s roll’).

The third and fourth planes crashed into each one of the twin tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Who can forget those images of the smoldering of the North Tower when, 15 minutes later, the South Tower was struck -- with television audiences watching from around the world! The North Tower, which was hit at 8:46 a.m., collapsed at 10:29. The South Tower, hit at 9:01, fell at 9:59. Fires continued at the site of what would become ‘Ground Zero’ for another 3 months.

America changed forever after 9-11. And no wonder: unlike Pearl Harbour’s bombing of 7 December 1941, which happened in the far away Hawaiian territories and spawned America’s entrance into the Second World War, 9-11 was on front and centre stage. America’s major cities and symbols were attacked:

The Twin Towers in New York, symbol of America’s economic might;
The Pentagon, symbol of America’s military might;
The possible attack on the US Capitol Building or White House, symbol of America’s political might, which was thwarted by Todd Beamer and his fellow passengers.

The frightful death toll:

Twin Towers, New York: 2,750
The Pentagon: 184
United Flight 93: 40
Hijackers: all 19

A whole new vocabulary came into being: al Qaeda, Jihad, 9-11, global terror, Ground Zero etc. became household words.

From this audacious form of religious mass murder came the ‘war on terror,’ America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a whole new prism of viewing Islam and the world. Then President George W. Bush made it his goal to find Bin Laden ‘dead or alive.’ That hunt for the al Qaeda leader would take nearly 10 years. Osama survived the mass bombing of the Tora Bora Mountains of Afghanistan at the end of 2001 and slipped into Pakistan.

Periodically, bin Laden would make pronouncements taunting the United States and encouraging the continuance of jihad. America, having thrown its military might in the asymmetrical pursuit of defeating Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, were mocked because they could not find him. Al Qaeda, Iran, and other enemies were jubilantly predicting that America, now enmeshed in Afghanistan, would soon disappear just like the Soviet Union which had also been embroiled in the feisty mountain nation. They saw the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) as further proof that America was close to being ‘finished.’

Then on 1 May, President Obama made the stunning announcement: Osama bin Laden, the world’s most-wanted man for 10 years with a 25 million dollar bounty on his head, was dead -- killed by US Navy Seal forces in Pakistan.

Of course, the War on Terror continues. Operational forces of al Qaeda have moved out of Afghanistan to places like Yemen and Somalia. But the symbolism of Bin Laden’s death is a powerful boon to the West’s war efforts; it also provides the relatives and friends of 9-11 victims some sense that ‘justice’ has been served. It demonstrated America’s strength and resoluteness: they said they would hit bin Laden and Al Qaeda and indeed, they did.

This was celebration one.

Celebration Two: On 29th April, approximately two billion people watched a traditional marriage service at London’s magnificent Westminster Abbey as Prince William and Kate Middleton said their vows. It brought back memories of a very similar and exciting wedding day nearly 30 years go when Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, William’s parents, said their vows at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The then Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking of that wedding, said ‘This is the stuff of which fairy tales are made.’

Royal wedding happen from time to time. Why did this one receive such extraordinary attention? Why does the British monarchy receive the most attention of all the crowned heads of Europe? One can only speculate: memories of the late Princess Diana, undisputedly the most-photographed woman in the world, were clearly on people’s minds. Diana, who died tragically in a car accident in a Paris tunnel, would no doubt had been beaming at the sight of her first born son and 2nd in line to the throne, standing every bit a prince on his wedding day.

The phenomena of ‘Angloglobalisation,’ a term coined by Historian Niall Ferguson, speaks of how at least a quarter of the world was ‘Anglicized’ through the British Empire. Our Westminster system of government, culture, labour markets, language, and even sport, has linked much of the world to British things. The fact that one-third of the world speaks the English language is proof enough. Therefore, a grand British ceremony resonates with so much of the world’s population, regardless of their ethnic background.

A couple of points to remember: weddings and marriage are normally an occasion of great rejoicing. Hebrews 13:4 says ‘marriage is honorable to all.’ Notice that people are genuinely happy when someone marries, particularly for the first time. When you consider the pageantry of a British royal wedding, and combine it with a Prince like William who courageously and stoically endured the death of his much loved mother and has demonstrated the same charisma that she had, no wonder people who almost fourteen years ago were driven to hysteria by Diana’s death could turn around and rejoice greatly at her son’s wedding.

Weddings and marriage also represent hope and a future. In a year that has had more than its fair share of upheavals, uncertainty, and natural disasters, the wedding a William and Kate represent not only a welcome celebration but also a note of hope for the future. Below is the prayer that the royal couple wrote for their wedding:

God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage.

In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.

Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Celebration Three: David Wilkerson (May 19, 1931 to April 27, 2011)

At first glance, this hardly sounds like a cause for celebration. US Evangelist David Wilkerson was killed in a car in East Texas on April 27th. His wife, Gwen, was injured. The world has lost an outstanding man of God and relentless prophetic voice for the cause of righteousness.

Nevertheless, it is right and proper to celebrate the life of this amazingly humble man, whose influence was incalculable. In addition, it would be easy to overlook his passing considering the previous two major events; so this tribute is in order.

In 1958 Wilkerson, as a young pastor from Pennsylvania, felt moved of the Holy Spirit to go minister to the drug addicts and street kids in New York City. He founded Teen Challenge, a successful church-based drug rehabilitation program with an 80% success rate; today there are 1,200 Teen Challenge Centres worldwide.

Wilkerson’s ministry in New York City continued into the 1960s. His book called The Cross and the Switchblade, co-authored by John and Elizabeth Sherrill, tells the story of the conversion of Puerto Rican Evangelist Nicky Cruz. The book became a stunning bestseller: 50 million copies in 30 languages. It became the subject of a movie by the same name, starring Pat Boone.

After founding World Challenge in 1971 in Lindale, Texas, Wilkerson returned to New York City and founded the Times Square Church, a mega church in the heart of ‘The Big Apple.’

Wilkerson was a tireless servant of God for the cause of godliness. Deploring the increasing worldliness and carnality in western Christendom, he spoke of return to simple but fundamental Biblical values. He did so with courage and compassion.

This author remembered writing to WIlkerson 35 years ago (January 1976). Concerned about his pronouncements of judgment on the Arab nations for their opposition to Israel, he received a reply literally one week later. Wilkerson proclaimed his love for the Arab people and said that 10,000 copies of The Cross and the Switchblade were being translated into Arabic.

More recently, David WIlkerson made his one and only visit to Australia in 2005. He came for the most magnanimous purpose: to help bless and revive Australian ministers. The conference was called ‘Renewing Your Passion for Christ.’ This author had the privilege of serving as Chairman for the Melbourne conference. Wilkerson came at his own expense, wanted no love offering, and vowed to cover any shortfall in conference costs (thankfully, the conference paid for itself). Not only did he and his son Gary minister wonderfully to the Aussies, but he convened an impromptu youth rally. Many youth eagerly responded to the message from ‘Grandpa.’ At the time -- at the age of 74 -- it was obvious that David Wilkerson still had the gift of connecting with youth, just as he did in the streets of New York almost fifty years before.

At this time of mourning -- Matthew 5:4 is a real comfort at this time -- Teach All Nations offers condolences to Pastor Wilkerson’s wife Gwen, son Gary, family, friends, and congregation at Times Square Church. Without question, the first words Wilkerson would have heard from our Lord upon meeting Him was: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ As celebration of a great life, may we seek God’s Kingdom and righteousness as diligently as David WIlkerson.

Follow me on Twitter: KameelMajdali

Israel & the Middle East: The Tipping Scales

2011-04-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

When it comes to Israel and the Middle East, there is never a dull moment. This once backward and sleepy part of the world has now come to centre stage in the greatest geopolitical drama of all. The Arab Revolution/Awakening of 2011 has caused us to take a fresh appraisal of what the future holds for the Middle East and the world.

Humanely speaking, when you cannot solve a problem, like Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem, then the next best thing you can do is to ‘manage it.’ One of the key management methods is called ‘balance of power.’ It is this principle that kept the Cold War (1945-1989) from going ‘hot’ between the US, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies. Yes, there were many proxy wars like Vietnam and Afghanistan, but it never heated up enough to cause these two titanic nations to face each other on the battle field.

In like manner, ‘balance of power’ has helped keep relative peace in the Middle East. Even though the shadow of war has never gone away since 1948, the last 30 years have been relatively calm (except for the two Lebanon wars and two intifadas). What has not happened were wars between Israel and any of its powerful neighbours, especially Egypt, with which it signed a peace treaty in March 1979. As long as the balance of power stays intact, this will keep the peace more than a pile of papers which say ‘peace treaty.’ If balance of power means stability, then upsetting it creates the potential for increased unrest. That’s why diplomats try to avoid ‘tipping the scales.’

Until recently, the peace-keeping ‘balance of power’ in the Middle East went like this:

BLOC A BLOC B

Israel Iran

Egypt: 1979 peace treaty Syria: ally since 1980

Jordan: 1994 peace treaty Hizbullah: patron since 1982

Turkey: diplomatic relations & military alliance Hamas

United States: superpower patron Superpower patron: none

With this line-up of nations, it would be inconceivable for an Arab-Iranian war party (Bloc B) to launch a war against the Israel and the much stronger Bloc A. The response would be deadly.

But times are changing. Here are some things to watch:

Egypt: Egypt and Iran severed diplomatic relations in 1980 and the former’s relationship with the United States, including hefty military aid, kept things that way. Since the February 2011 Revolution, the military government in Egypt has become friendly with Iran, speaking openly of restoring diplomatic relations and even allowing Iranian shipping to go through the Suez Canal. In addition, Egypt is becoming friendlier with Hamas in Gaza. The Islamist-orientated Muslim Brotherhood is making all the right noises regarding pluralism and democracy, but their actions need to be watched as they compete for upcoming parliamentary elections.

Turkey: secular, western-leaning Turkey has waited for years to join the European Union and since 1996 had a military alliance with Israel. This relationship has continued even with the ascendancy of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) of current Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan. But as Turkish hopes of joining the EU fade, relations with Israel have deteriorated sharply over the last few years. Turkey reacted furiously over Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza in December 2008. It also snubbed Israel during a scheduled military exercise and decided to conduct it with its erstwhile enemy Syria instead. Then came the Gaza Flotilla with the Mavi Marmara in May 2010, where Israeli forces clashed with the flotilla, resulting in the death of nine Turks. This incident inflamed passions all the more though it did not, at this point, rupture diplomatic relations. Now Turkey is launching a spy satellite into space that will invade Israeli space -- protests from Netanyahu not withstanding.

According to reliable sources, Turkey even signed a secret agreement with Iran recently where Turkey recognized Iran’s leadership of all Shia Muslims in the Middle East while Iran recognized Turkey’s leadership over all Sunni in the Middle East.

This would not be the first time Turkey had an acknowledged role over all Sunni Muslims in the Middle East: the 600 years old Ottoman Turkish Empire, which only collapsed after World War I, hosted the Muslim caliphate, making it head of the Muslim world. In addition, the Ottoman sultan was the caliph. Having held religious leadership in the imperial past, it is not inconceivable that Turkey nurses future ambitions as secularism fades.

Iran: it has made good progress in constructing a ‘Shia crescent’ across the Middle East -- from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean -- including Shia-dominated Iraq, Alawite-dominated Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza. Most non-Muslims may not realize that the animosity between Sunni and Shia is as hateful as any intra-religious rivalry.

Iran is still pushing ahead with its nuclear program, which, it continues to claim, is only for peaceful purposes. The recent Stuxnet virus attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities only affected 10% of its reactors and now has been remedied. Iran had protests in 2009 and 2011. The possibility of the current regime being run out of office does exist, despite brutal crackdowns.

Are both Iran and Turkey, which had major empires in the past, trying to regain some imperial glory in the future? Watch this page.

Russia: this nation does not share the antagonism with Israel as the old Soviet Union, and there are diplomatic relations between the two nations. Nevertheless, Russia continues to assist Iran with its nuclear program and is supportive of Syria.

United States: since the Six Day War of 1967, the US has been Israel’s great benefactor and number one supporter. Yet even here there have been changes. The American Muslim population is growing and so is its political clout. Classical Evangelicalism, which was once strongly-Biblical and solidly pro-Israel, is giving way to a more Neo-Evangelical, postmodern, social justice-friendly version. As this new-fangled evangelicalism, which is less Scripture-based than the classic version, looks at the Middle East situation, they seek to be more ‘evenhanded’ and ‘balanced’ but are increasingly becoming sympathetic to the Palestinians at Israel’s expense. It is almost as if to say: we gave Israel uncritical support for many years; now, we need to redress this in favour of the Palestinians.

On top of it all is the election of Barack Obama. Candidate Obama and now President Obama have consistently reiterated US support for Israel, which he calls ‘a friend.’ He has even said that Israel’s security is ‘sacrosanct.’ Nevertheless, when it comes to supporting Israel, Mr. Obama comes 12th out of 12 US presidents who have dealt with Israel since 1948, based on speeches, actions, and other objective documentation.

Non-State Entities: Hizbullah has successfully maneuvered its candidate to be Prime Minister in Lebanon. Hamas continues to enjoy support from Iran and now warming relations with Egypt. Both parties have missiles that can easily reach major areas in Israel.

Israel: Whenever problems arise anywhere in the Middle East, renewed pressure is put on Israel to desist from building settlements and to make peace with the Palestinians. The idea is that:

a) The source of all Middle East conflicts stems from the Israel/Palestine conflict and/or;

b) Solving of the Israel-Palestine conflict will remove a powerful irritant towards wider conflict in the Arab Muslim world.

Chances are that Israel will become less, not more, accommodating considering the Arab revolution and changing balance of power. Sources tell us that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak favour an early strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, though there are powerful arguments against such a move. Netanyahu is concerned that he may not get reelected in the 2013 election and his potential rival Tzipi Livni may be unable or unwilling to attack Iran.

Yes, the balance of power is changing in the Middle East and with this is an increased possibility of future instability and even war. What can we do? We can pray. Here’s what:

1. Pray for the peace and protection of all the peoples in the region.

2. Second, we can pray for statecraft of the highest order to help bring the region from the brink.

3. Third, prayer that the Arab revolution can truly, if not miraculously, lead to the democracy that the youthful protestors consistently affirm is their goal.

For those in the Melbourne area, why not learn more at the upcoming Free Public Lecture on Monday 16 May.

Masculine or Macho: Will the Real Men Stand Up!

2011-04-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

To be male is by chance of biology;

To be a man is by decision

It is a common refrain for any boy growing up: ‘Be a man!’ From those who fish and hunt, to those who study and write ... it is an exhortation that can inspire or intimidate. It can also be confusing. What does it really mean to ‘be a man?’ Since there is an obvious crisis in manhood today, not to mention a ‘gender gap’ in churches, it is high time that we visit this foundational issue.

One of the salient features of the postmodern era is called ‘the age of redefinition.’ No longer can we assume that old models still inspire nor can we be sure that people know what we are talking about. In anything and in every way, especially in a issue as vital as this one, we need to define our key terms: what does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be masculine? What does it mean to be macho?

Before defining manhood, the other two terms must considered:

Masculine: male, having qualities related to a ‘man,’ in appearance and character, often in the outward areas like voice, stature, and size. But a mature assessment puts the accent mark on the inward qualities of character.

Macho: aggressively proud of one’s masculinity. The term comes from Portuguese or (Mexican) Spanish, implying ‘vigorous masculinity.

Hollywood in days gone by portrayed manhood in very strong terms. Actors like John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Charlton Heston, portrayed macho-style characters. Even the ‘Marlborough Man’ has sent a message: do you want to be seen ‘as a man,’ then light-up! In an image-driven world, the 90 pound weakling is ‘transformed’ into instant manhood simply by smoking a Marlborough (what, then, does that say of women who light up?). But like so much of society, including the church, there has been a ‘feminisation’ process in Hollywood and men can come across as, to put it kindly, ‘domesticated.’ Furthermore, there is a lot of cultural baggage associated with machismo that leads to anything but true manhood.

We would do well to compare Macho verses Masculine:

Macho	Masculine
Aggressive (for wrong things)	Assertive (for right things)
Domineering	Strong
Abusive	Temperate
Callous	Compassionate
Reckless	Responsible
Weakness masquerading as Strength	Strength under control
Fierce	Firm
Worldly	Wise
Bravado	Truly courageous
Bigoted or chauvinistic	Fair
Narcissist (vain, conceited, egotistical, selfish)	Realist
Grossly immoral	Truly Righteous
Selfish	Unselfish
Conceited	Unconceited
Egotistical	Unegotiscal
Barbarian: brutish, uncultured, violent	Gentleman: courteous, chivalrous, honourable

It should be obvious that our goal must not be machismo. While it might sell some movie tickets, machismo is really a distortion, even corruption, of what true manhood should be. Nothing positive can come out of this depraved mindset: at a minimum, it messages an embattled ego; at the maximum, it can be destructive, devilish, and hell-bound.

Masculinity, while vunerable to hijacking, does represent a more reasonable and desirable goal. Indeed, it is Biblical principle. The best way to describe ‘true masculinity’ and ‘true manhood,’ is to listen to the One who created men in the first place. Let’s hear from the Bible, God’s Holy Word.

"Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!" -- I Samuel 4:9 (NKJV)

‘Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.’ -- I Corinthians 16:13 (KJV)

In these two simple verses there is a wealth on insight of about ‘conducting yourselves like men.’ Look at the list:

1. Be strong: strength means physical, but it is more than that. Physical strength is relative and varies, especially as men grow older. Physical strength can be cultivated, and is desirable, but it is not the most important type of strength. ‘Bodily exercise profits a little ...’ we are told in I Timothy 4:8. The greater strength is called ‘godliness,’ which means strength of heart and soul. When the man’s heart is strong ... he is strong, even if he is not at optimal physical strength.

2. Free: men are called not to be in bondage. While slavery is no longer an issue in the western world (sadly, the developing world enslaves women and children and vulnerable men), many men are in bondage to sin and lust. Pornography is not, as some would proport, something that happens because ‘men will be men.’ Real men are called to be free and pornography is bondage.

3. Behaviour: in order to be ‘masculine’ and ‘a man,’ one’s behaviour must conform to the accepted pattern, Biblical, that is. Look at some other aspects of ‘behaviour’ in addition to strong and free.

4. Watchful: real men are awake alert to all major aspects of life, including danger. They are not sleeping on their watch. And aspect of protectiveness is at work here, watching out for loved ones and people under their charge.

5. Stand fast in the faith: Extremely important. A real man comes to faith, grows in the faith, and sticks with the faith ... no matter what. In this vital area of spiritual life, they are not limp like a damp lettuce leaf, wavering like a shaken reed, or spineless like a jelly fish. True manhood enters into the life of faith and stays there, no matter what.

6. Courageous: Everyone can agree on this point--true masculinity is courageous. It is one of the top characteristics of a true leader, yet so little emphasized today, and even less exhibited. Courage means ability to face challenges or danger with strength and calm. As one wise person put it, ‘courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it.’ Yes, courageous people can become afraid, just like the cowards. But they don’t stay that way -- they exercise true strength and enter into the vaunted role of ‘overcomer,’ a character quality highly commended by Jesus Christ Himself (Rev. 3:21).

Repeatedly, the Scripture commands men of God to be strong and of a ‘good courage’ (Numbers 13:20; Deuteronomy 31:6, 7, 23, Joshua 1:6,9,18; 10:25; II Samuel 10:12; 1 Chronciles 19:13; 22:13; 28:20; Ezra 10:4; Psalm 27:14; 31:24; Isaiah 41:6; Acts 28:15). Courage is not a matter of macho bravado; it is a decision in the face of challenge or loss. The good news is that God strengthens the heart of those men who choose courage.

Other aspects of true masculinity include finding a good wife, having children, and raising them (either natural or spiritual children, or both). To be a responsible and fulfilled husband and father does wonders for your masculinity!

It is without question that true masculinity is Biblical manhood while machismo is a worldly man, doing his ‘last tango in Paris’ on his way down. As a clarion call for all men, young and old: you have a choice. You can be a wimp or macho, yet it will all lead to the same place. Or you can choose to be a man of God and find your true manhood with divideneds.

I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. -- I John 2:14 (KJV)

Libya and Gadaffi: Losing His Grip?

2011-02-24T00:49:00.000-08:00

It is almost like watching a game of dominoes. One after another, various Arab nations are going through national upheaval. It all started with the self-immolation of an aggrieved man in Tunisia, who had been gratuitously slapped by a policewoman. His tragic death kick-started the ‘Jasmine Revolution,’ resulting in the deposing of their long-time leader President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain, and Jordan began to experience civil unrest. Then 18 days of protest in Egypt succeeded in dislodging one of the Middle East’s longest serving heads of state, President Hosni Mubarak. He had been at the helm for nearly 30 years but after 18 days he was gone. King Abdullah II of Jordan has sacked his prime minister and replaced him. Now Libya is going through the greatest upheaval of all ... and the most savage reprisal.

Libya has become synonymous with its mercurial leader, Mu’ammar Gadaffi (his name has various English transliterations, eg. Qaddafi). After he seized power in a coup on 1 September 1969, it is as if Libya had no earlier history. But it does. In the New Testament, the man named Simon who helped carry Christ’s cross came from the city of Cyrene. In the Book of Acts 2:10, it speaks of Jews coming from ‘...the parts of Libya about Cyrene...’ In more modern history, the Ottoman Empire extended its influence to Libya and remained there until 1911. In that year, Italy, longing to have an African foothold, replaced Ottoman rule and remained there until 1943. Independence was granted in 1951 but King Idris was deposed by Gadaffi in the above-mentioned 1969 coup.

Gadaffi wanted to be like Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro: a socialist revolutionary, albeit an Arab and Muslim one. As Mao had a ‘little red book,’ Gadaffi has a ‘little green book.’ As Moscow has a ‘red square,’ Tripoli has a ‘green square.’ Even the Libyan flag is one solid green rectangle. Green, of course, is the colour of Islam

He espoused the ‘Third Universal Theory,’ which combines Islam with socialism. Accommodating Libya’s tribal background, Libyan Muslim socialism practices a form of ‘direct democracy.’ Yet Gadaffi, who holds no no official title, has the de facto Chief of State for 41 years and, like his role models Mao and Castro, rules with a rod of iron. Repression, disappearances, and summary executions were part of his method of operation.

With large oil revenue and small population, Gadaffi has plenty of money to splash around on his agenda. He liked to interfer in the affairs of other African nations, most notably Chad, where he involved himself from 1973-1987. He was a great supporter of terrorism, like the Black September movement who were responsible for the massacre of Israel’s Olympic athletes at Munich in 1972. In 1986, he bombed a disco named La Belle in Berlin, frequented by American soldiers. President Ronald Reagan responded by bombing Gadaffi’s personal compound, resulting in the death of his 15 month old daughter. Not to be outdone, Gadaffi masterminded the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, resulting in the death of 259 people in the air and 11 on the ground.

Eventually, Gadaffi changed his ways. He condemned Osama bin Laden and his September 11th attacks. He renounced terrorism and weapons of mass destruction in 2003. He took responsibility for the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster and agreed to pay compensation for the Lockerbie, La Belle disco, and UTA 772 bombing, something to the tune of $2.7 billion. America agreed to remove the designation, ‘State-sponsor of Terrorism’ from Libya in 2006, and exchanged ambassadors with Gadaffi in January 2009, for the first time since 1973.

Yet despite Gadaffi’s makeover and reconciliation with the United States and the West, all has not been quiet on the home front. Protests and riots have broken out nationwide. Some cities in the east, including Benghazi, have fallen into the hands of pro-democracy protestors. There have been high-profile defections by governmental, diplomatic, and military personnel. In the capital of Tripoli and elsewhere, Gadaffi has been using foreign mercenaries, death squads, planes, to stop and even gun down the protestors, including mourners at the funeral. These act are receiving universal world condemnation; even the United Nations will meet regarding Gaddafi’s excessive crack down. Despite his brutal approach, chaos is reigning in the capital. He has even talked about become a ‘martyr.’

Of all the shaken governments of the Arab world, no one has been more ruthless than Gadaffi. His people, smelling the air of ‘change’ and ‘freedom,’ are seizing the moment. While at the time of this writing, the outcome is not yet clear, it appears that the Colonel’s 41 year old grip on his country is loosening beyond his control ...

Will the protestors prevail ... or will they be bombed into submission?

If a new Libyan government arises, will it go democratic or tyrannical?

Will a victory for the pro-democracy Libyans create more momentum for change in the Middle East? Short answer: yes.

What affect will the current revolt have on oil prices and regional stability? They are already at a 2.5 year high ... will they go higher.

What stance will Barack Obama and the United States take?

No matter what the outcome, Libya, like the rest of the Arab world is going through a political earthquake which will mean that life is never the same again. While we in the west (and westernized) world can be deeply grateful for our democratic freedoms and national stability, let us who are praying people spare a thought -- and a prayer -- for the people of Libya ... and the citizens of the Arab world. Amen!

Egypt After Mubarak: What Next?

2011-02-17T22:24:00.000-08:00

Cairo, February 11, 2011: A day that neither Egypt nor the world would ever forget. Recently appointed Egyptian Vice-President Omar Suleiman made the breath-taking announcement the entire nation had been waiting to hear. President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, the man who had ruled Egypt for nearly thirty years, was stepping down from power. This man with the iron grip, who seemed as immovable as the ancient Sphinx itself, was toppled from power after only 18 days of protest. The scenes of jubilation are reminiscent of the heady days 25 years ago when ‘Filipino People Power’ led to the overthrow of President Ferdinand Marcos and the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall which lead to the liberation of Eastern Europe.

Upon hearing the news, the nation erupted in a delirious display of joy. From Alexandria to Cairo to Suez, the move was triumphant, exhilarating, and ecstatic, with soldiers and civilians standing hand-in-hand while fireworks lighted the sky. There were many refrains like (some of them ‘tweets’):

• I’m free, I’m free

• Democracy is so sweet

• For the first time in my life, I am proud to be an Egyptian

• I have never lived a better moment in my life

• Freedom!!!!!

• Now I will vote for the first time in my life

• From now on, we will make our own future.

• It is a great day for Egypt.

• Amazing ... absolutely amazing ... in just 18 days ... and he’s gone.

Despite the understandable apprehension of the outside world -- after all, Egypt, a major nation whose destiny affects the region and the world, has embarked on an unknown path -- it was hard not to rejoice with the Egyptians who were tasting what many westerners have taken for granted: people power and freedom. The scenes coming from Cairo were deeply moving. After 5,000 years of pharaonic and pharaonic-like leadership, for the first time ever, the people of Egypt had their say on who should not be in-charge.

What sparked the protests? For years, Egyptians have lived under ‘Emergency Laws,’ which granted the police broad powers, suspended constitutional rights, and gave authorities a blank cheque to act with impunity. This had been a major grievance. Mubarak argued that these laws were necessary for combating terrorism and, indeed, Egypt did have an Islamist insurgency around 1992 not unlike that happening in Algeria at the same time. But these laws were a source of deep dissatisfaction and also spawned much police brutality. Other issues were rampant corruption, the lack of free, fair elections and freedom of speech. Economic inequities also came into the fore, with high food prices, low wages, massive unemployment. After watching the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ in nearby Tunisia, and facilitated by mobile phones, internet, Facebook and Twitter, Egyptians seized the moment.

Now that the President is gone, what will happen next? With the Arab world’s most populous country (80 million strong) in the throes of change, will it affect petrol prices and our overall security from terrorism? Will it mean war or peace?

Remember, Egypt is no ordinary nation. It is a born leader with an extraordinary history and heritage. Egypt affects the entire Muslim world, Arab world, and African continent. So the situation deserves much watching. It appears that Egyptians in recent years have been pro-Islamist, anti-western, and anti-Israel. Indeed, one of their most popular songs is Ana bukrah Israel (I Hate Israel). This is not the kind of good foundation necessary for pluralism, peace, and democracy.

There are three possible scenarios:

1. The replacement of a military-backed regime of Mubarak with a military regime, OR;

2. An Islamist government takes power, extinquishes all forms of democracy, represses human rights, and sets up a theocratic dictatorship OR;

3. A pluralistic, multi-party, parliamentary democracy is established with genuine elections, freedom of speech and worship.

At the moment, everyone is saying the right thing. The military has dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution, and said they would be in power for only a matter of months until free elections could be held. They have promised genuine reform and a swift transfer to civilian government. The Muslim Brotherhood, whom many westerners fear could take over Egypt and install an Islamist dictatorship, has said they would not field a candidate for President and are committed to a multi-party state. The the average person in Tahrir (Liberation) Square has said repeatedly that they want freedom for all.

One gauge of genuine change would be if the military lifts the Emergency Laws. If so, then their commitment to change would be affirmed. Another sign involves the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition group. Is it truly committed to non-violence and multi-party democracy and pluralism, or are their recent soothing statements just tactical? Time will tell.

What’s likely to happen to Egypt in the future. The 1979 peace treaty with Israel is one key area. Though it has been an unfriendly and even cold peace, the treaty has held. The Israeli embassy is still open in Cairo. Will a change of government, especially an Islamist-dominated one, tear up the peace treaty?

Not necessarily. As much as Egypt may be wary of Israel, it neither has the money nor the will to fight another war, anytime soon. War-weariness was one of the key reasons that former Egyptian President Anwar al Sadat (1970-1981) signed the peace treaty in the first place. As always in the Middle East, relationships, like the history, can be deep and complicated. So, for the moment, the treaty is safe.

Is Egypt part of end-time prophecy? Yes, but not in the manner one would expect for such a major power. Consider two important Bible prophecies. One is Psalm 83, which speaks of a coalition of neighboring nations conspiring to destroy Israel. ‘They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance’ (Psalm 83:4 KJV). There is a list of conspirators, including Israel’s near neighbours of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, though they are not labelled as such. Yet Egypt receives no explicit mention whatsoever. Israel apparently survives the fray. To our knowledge, Psalm 83 is yet-to-be fulfilled and could be the next item on the prophetic agenda. With unrest in Algeria, Yemen, Jordan, Iran, Bahrain, and even Libya, a coalescing of ‘raging nations’ (Psalm 2:1), Psalm 83 could be nearer than we think.

Then there is the monumental prophecy called Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38-39.In it a great power from the north (traditionally identified as Russia) leads of a coalition of nations to destroy regathered Israel. These nations include Persia (Iran), Phut (Libya), and Cush (Ethiopia or Sudan). Note that Egypt is not mentioned and neither are Israel’s near neighbours. Were they neutralized after the Psalm 83 war? We need to watch and be sober (I Thessalonians 5:6).

After these horrible wars, comes a long-lasting future event. The superhighway from Egypt to Iraq via Israel, mentioned in Isaiah 19:23-25, is open for good. No longer adversaries, no longer in a state of war, no longer beset by corruption and tyranny, these nations make a glorious chain link of peace for the whole world to enjoy.

What’s next for Egypt? Ultimately, it is all good, all glory, and all God. May the LORD hasten His word to perform it!

Ronald Reagan @ 100 Tribute

2011-02-14T00:36:00.000-08:00

By now you have probably noticed that America celebrated the 100th birthday the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). The date was February 6, 2011. While it is good to honour a leader, Reagan was more than your average leader. He will be rated up there with Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.

What made Reagan a great leader?

When Ronald Reagan entered the White House on 20 January 1981, America was in a big national slump. The economy was troubled, the nation had been humiliated by an Iran hostage crisis that lasted 444 days, and morale was low in the wake of the Vietnam debacle. Reagan came on the scene and, like Nehemiah of old, lifted the nation’s spirit to a new and higher level. This was due in no small part to his reputation as ‘The Great Communicator.’ America’s ‘Communicator-in-Chief’ had an amazing ability to connect with Americans of all ages, despite being nearly 70 years old at the time of his inauguraiton.

Focusing on the US economy, he unleased it to a point of unparalleled prosperity. Regarding the government, Reagan was a tireless proponent of ‘the smaller, the better.’ He believed large government stifled the economy and personal freedom. As the ‘Great Communicator,’ he sold his case convincingly.

One of Reagan’s greatest qualities -- something that is missing with so many leaders today -- is courage, conviction, and consistency. During his younger days, he was a Roosevelt Democrat who voted for FDR all four times. Then in 1964, he did an about-face. He realized that (enlarged) government was not the solution for all human ills ... indeed, it was part of the problem. So Reagan made a right-hand turn at the very time that America was turning hard left. Lyndon Johnson’s ‘Great Society,’ the advent of the sexual revolution and the hippie movement and general baby-boomer rebellion, where symptomatic of this leftist orientation. Being on the political right was not a way to enhance one’s career in Hollywood or in politics. Yet Reagan did it because he believed it was the ‘right way’ to go. Faithfully and courageously he clung to that conviction and eschewed expediency, whether it was fashionable or not. Reagan was consistent.

Reagan gave a speech at the 1964 Republican National Convention called ‘A Time for Choosing.’ This was Reagan’s debut as a limited-government conservative. Though the presidential candidate at that time, Barry Goldwater, lost the election to Lyndon B. Johnson by a landslide, Reagan speech gave him the platform to go on to be elected governor of California (1967-1974) and President in the United States in (1981-1989).

Reagan’s courage/conviction/consistency became evident during his battle with abortion. Reagan was unabashedly ‘pro-life’ and even wrote a book about it called Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation. His pro-life convictions were not universally shared, even by his cabinet or family. But he stuck to them because he believed they were right. A story is told how the budget a major sector of the US government was up for congressional approval and eventual Presidential signature. It is the 3rd largest budget in the world. Reagan announced that he would not sign it unless the ‘Hyde Amendment’ was attached. This amendment stipulated that taxpayer money could not be used to fund abortions unless the life of the mother was threatened. The Democrats were incensed; even a few Republicans were bemused. Reagan had no political capital to gain from his position. But it didn’t matter. He believed that the American people should not be forced to pay for something that is a controversial as abortion. Despite furious opposition publicly and private, Reagan stood steadfast. Congress stared at Reagan, Reagan stared back at Congress ... and Congress ‘blinked.’ The Hyde Amendment was attached. Reagan and the pro-life camp won the day.

Probably the area where Reagan showed the most consistency, conviction, and courage, had to do with the battle against communism. Reagan’s anti-communist stance dates all the way back to his Hollywood days as President of the Screen Actor’s Guild. At that time, it looked like the communists were ready to conquer Hollywood (could Tinsel Town’s perceived leftist inclination be traced back to those days?). So even back in the 1940s Reagan had his own personal ‘Cold War’ against the communist threat. He resolved to defeat this ideology in any way he could, not realising forty years later he would do so from the great vantage point of the White House itself. As President, he did not mince words, calling the Soviet Union ‘the evil empire.’ He worked overtime to undermine the Soviet Union at every turn, especially in the arms race, ‘star wars’ missile defense system, and working with leaders like British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. At the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in 1987, Reagan famously declared ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’ Unlike his precedessors, who advocated detente (Reagan saw it as appeasement), he believed the only way forward was not co-existence but victory. ‘Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose,’ Reagan declared. And it worked! Months after he left office, the Berlin Wall was breeched and like a row of dominoes communism collapsed across Eastern Europe. The Cold War had been won without firing a shot.

While some Americans refuse to give Reagan credit for peacefully winning the Cold War, explain why people came from thousands of miles away from across Eastern Europe to Washington DC to pay respects to Reagan at the time of his funeral. ‘We want to honour the man who set our country free’ was their constant refrain. So even the citizens of the Eastern bloc won the Cold War ... and won their freedom as well.

Even on a personal level, Reagan displayed remarkable courage. Two months after he entered office, he was shot by John Hinkley. When his distraught wife, First Lady Nancy Reagan, entered his hospital room, he announced, ‘Honey, I forgot to duck.’ When the surgeon was about to operate, Reagan asked, ‘Doctor, I sure hope you are a Republican.’ The doctor ‘Mr. President, today ... we are all Republicans.’ The spirit of Reagan’s courage was contagious.

The ‘Reagan Revolution’ continued on long after he left office. In addition to the fall of communism in Europe, an earthquake occurred in the US mid-term elections of 1994, where the Democratic Party of President Bill Clinton lost the House of Representatives and Senate. The Republican freshman congressmen were Reagan’s ideological children and wanted to carry on his agenda. Until now, conservative politicians are claiming to carry Reagan’s mantle.

Sure, the Reagan era was no Millennium: there were record budget deficits and the Iran-Contra Scandal. But in a world that worships success, there is no question that Ronald Reagan succeeded in achieving his goals of economic and political freedom, both home and abroad. He did so in a manner that inspired Americans of all ages to believe in their nation and the future. In a day when we are desperate for leadership of conviction, courage, and consistency, this anniversary is an appropriate time to salute the memory of Ronald Reagan.

Why Egypt Matters?

2011-02-01T01:51:00.000-08:00

It has dominated the headlines for days.

‘Egypt Protests’

‘Violent Protests Escalate Outside Egypt’s Capital’

‘Egypt on the Edge as Demonstrations Turn Violent’

‘Egypt Protest: Social Networking Sites blocked, Journalists Beaten

‘More than 100 killed in Egypt Protests’

‘Israel Shows Its Anxiety At Protests in Egypt’

Egypt is in a political upheaval not seen since the ‘Bread Riots’ of 1977. Following after the ‘jasmine revolution’ in Tunisia, Egyptians are taking to the streets en masse to demand the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled this nation for nearly 30 years.

Mubarak was propelled into the Egyptian presidency after the assassination of President Anwar al Sadat. Sadat was best remembered for two suprise moves regarding Israel:

1. Surprise One -- War: Sadat launched a surprise attack against Israel in Sinai on 6 October (Yom Kippur) 1973, while Syria simultaneously attacked Israel in Golan. The war lasted 3 weeks. While making initial military gains in Sinai, thanks to a US supply airlift, the Israelis beat Egyptian forces back across the Suez Canal. Nevertheless, the 6th of October was considered a great victory and celebrated as an annual event.

2. Surprise Two -- Peace: Sadat surprised the world again in November 1977, when he decided to launch a ‘peace offensive’ by going directly to the Israelis in Jerusalem and speaking at the Knesset. His historic visit led to the Camp David Accords of 1978, mediated with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and US President Jimmy Carter. On 26 March 1979, Israel and Egypt signed their historic peace treaty, which is still in force until now.

Sadat was gunned down in a spectator’s stand at the October 6th Victory Parade in 1981; Mubarak was by his side at the time of the assassination. He immediately assumed power and has been in-charge ever since.

As street protests continue, it is fit to ask: Why does Egypt matter? What is the meaning of these protests? And, most importantly, what does the future hold?

EGYPT MATTERS

Without question, Egypt is one of the unique countries of the world. It was seat of an ancient empire 4,500 years ago. It still holds sway today.

The Egyptian empire was highly advanced by any standard and the lasting souvenir of this are the pyramids of Giza. In addition are their amazing embalming methods, thus giving the world ‘the mummies.’ The pyramids, especially the Great Pyramid of Cheops, which contained over a million stones quarried and hauled on the Nile River from 100s of kilometers away in Upper Egypt, with 100,000 slaves labouring for 20 years, have to be one of the most sought after tourist sites in the world. One person quipped: ‘Man fears time ... and time fears the pyramids’

The Bible speaks about the Egyptian empire, mostly in passing. It was the stage of great oppression of the children of Israel in the days of Pharaoh which led to the exodus from Egypt (Book of Exodus). Periodic encounters with Egypt continued to occur from then on. From a New Testament perspective, Egypt became a place of refuge when the Christ child was taken there to hide from the wrath of King Herod the Great (Matthew 2:12-21). Once Herod was dead, the Holy Family returned to Nazareth, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Hosea 11:1 ‘Out of Egypt have I called my son’ (as found in Matthew 2:15 KJV).

During early church history, Egypt was host to many monasteries and holy men. When Muslim armies swept through North Africa in the 7th Century AD, unlike its neighbours, Egypt retained its strong Christian population. One scholar has commented that Egypt only had a Muslim majority population in the 18th Century. Today, the Egyptian Christian community (mostly Coptic, but other denominations are present) continues, despite increasingly persecution.

Egypt is clearly one of the most important countries in the world. Here’s why:

1. Egypt is a leading country of Africa: Egypt plays a leading role in Africa, as a hub, an entry port, and a strategic player. This includes its membership in the Africa Union.

2. Egypt is a leading Middle East country: Though clearly on African soil, Egypt plays a leading role in the Middle East politics. Its geographic position, large population (80 million), and historic leadership role means that it holds sway -- even a veto -- in Middle East affairs.

3. Egypt is a leading Muslim country: Egypt is important to the Muslim world, not the least of which is hosting the famous al Azhar (Islamic) University.

What is the meaning of these protests? Localised riots happen from time-to-time in Egypt, but these current riots are unprecedented in scope and ferocity ... as well as defiance of the government. The Egyptian people have many complaints: the lack of free, fair elections, high food prices and unemployment, the State of Emergency laws which have been around for most of Mubarak’s 30 year administration, and alleged police brutality that accompany it. These emergency laws bring in censorship, the suspension of constitutional rights, and arrest and indefinite imprisonment without due process. The parliamentary elections of December 2010, where Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party received an almost unanimous majority, may have been the last straw. Emboldened by the success of Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution,’ Egyptians in protest hit the streets in Cairo, Suez, Alexandria, and Beni Suef. Over 100 deaths have been recorded thus far.

While the protestors are united in their demand that Mubarak step down (one quipped: ‘Mubarak, your plane is ready.’), it is not clear who or what they want to put in his place. Many are calling for democracy. Nobel Laureate Muhammad el Baradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is viewed as a possible interim replacement. But the fear in the West, particularly the United States and Israel, is that the Muslim Brotherhood or some other Islamist front might try to install an anti-democratic, anti-western regime in Cairo.

What does the future hold? A democratic, prosperous Egypt is in everyone’s interest, locally and abroad. The welfare of Egypt will inevitably affect Africa, the Arab and Islamic world, and, of course, western interests. Murbarak’s Egypt has been a pillar in the ‘War Against Terror’ and it hoped that the new Egypt will be the same.

Israel has particular reason to be anxious. Egypt was once Israel’s most formidable enemy and an indispensable member of any Arab miltary front. With the 1979 peace treaty, Egypt’s removable from the war party had effectively suspended any serious Arab attempt to invade the Jewish state. Should religious or anti-western, anti-Israel elements take over in Cairo and tear up the peace treaty, Israel could face its greatest geo-political challenge in decades. Couple this with the long Egyptian-Israeli border, continuous people smuggling including Sudanese refugees, as well as smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip, and Israel would face a dire challenge.

Regime change in Egypt seems inevitable. Once a ruling elite loses the support of key players, like the police and military, then their days are numbered. Egypt is a vibrant and complex nation, with several source of power. It is still conceivable that secular and/or moderate forces could win the day. It clearly is a matter of prayer for the people of faith.

But never forget there is a remarkable prophecy -- yet to be fulfilled -- found in Isaiah Chapter 19:23-25. The great ancient Afro-Eurasian highway, which went from Egypt, through Israel, into Mesopotamia, has been closed since Israel’s birth in 1948. According to this prophecy, it will reopen again ... and will be used than ever. In it, God calls ‘Egypt my people.’ May His word come speedily in our day.

Egypt’s best days are yet ahead.

Blame, Shame, to Acclaim: A Plea for Personal Responsibility

2010-03-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

It is every mother’s worse nightmare.

A knock on the door late at night. The police are at standing on the outside. Their purpose is to inform the resident that their loved one was involved in a fatal crash. Such an accident happened in the late hours of Saturday night, 20 March 2010, on the normally sleepy streets of Canberra, Australia’s capital. But unlike the many accidents that happen across this nation each year, this particular one gained national prominence.

Why?

A stolen Mazda 626, travelling at high speed to flee from the police, ran through a red light and sliced through another Mazda. Within moments an entire family of father, mother, and infant child were killed instantly. The other driver died soon thereafter and his girlfriend lay clinging to life in the hospital. Even more tragic was that the deceased family was only 200 metres from their final destination, the home of their father. In an even more bazaar twist, the occupants of both cars knew each other.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione called it ‘a tragedy almost beyond description.’

Yet this story--horrendous as it is--is made even worse by the fact that the news media have been interviewing the grieving families. Their verdict: the responsibility for this tragic accident lay ‘totally’ with the police. Two constables, around age 30 and with an average of 3 years experience each, were doing a routine check of cars around 10:15 that night. While they were pulling over cars, the Mazda 626 sped past them without stopping. And for good reason ... his Mazda was a stolen car and the driver unlicensed. To stop would have meant arrest and more.

Responding as they normally would, a chase ensued. Little did they know that the driver, Justin Charles Williams, 23, was experienced in police chases. One chase he had last year left him in a coma for 3 weeks. In a matter of minutes, the police called off the chase because it was too dangerous.

Yet 1-2 minutes later, they now had a different matter to attend to. It was the scene of the horror crash, where the other Mazda was plowed into the other. Killed instantly were Scott Oppelaar 33, his de facto girlfriend Samantha Ford 29, and their 3 month old infant son Brody. Williams died shortly thereafter. His 18 year old girlfriend Skye Webbe remained in critical condition in hospital.

The scene of the crash was beyond belief. Photos of Mr. Oppelaar’s children from another relationship, standing at the scene and mourning, were enough to break the hardest of hearts. In their grief, both families are laying blame on the police, who were only doing their jobs.

NSW Assistant Commissioner John Hartley, spoke about the condition of the two constables:

‘Quite simply, it was a no-win situation for police. These two men have gone to work to protect the community and they have ended up in a very, very bad situation,’ he said

It is understandable that when a senseless tragedy occurs, that bereaved people look for someone to hold responsible. Years ago a Tasmanian woman went on the mission field and was killed in an uprising. Her unchurched, grief-stricken parents searched for someone to blame and then pointed their finger at their daughter’s home church. Their daughter’s death, they declared, was completely the fault of the church ... and not the rebels who caused the uprising! Or when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in November, 1995, by a Jewish extremist, some of his close circle chose to blame the then Opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu for the murder because his style of politics ‘created the culture’ that led to the murder.

Frankly, with the erasure of standards and a growing de facto culture which craves privileges and pleasures without the corresponding commitment and responsibility, it is becoming more and more common to lay blame for tragedies on a variety of sources. In the case of Justin Charles Williams, we could blame the police for chasing him, the school system for not training him right, the courts for not being tough enough or too tough, and even the churches for not doing their part, etc.

Finger-pointing, blame-shifting, and self-deflecting is not some new postmodern innovation. It is as old as the Garden of Eden. When Adam was caught ‘red-handed’ eating the forbidden fruit, he did not accept responsibility for his actions. Here was his response to God: ^‘And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat’--Genesis 3:12 KJV. Notice that Adam shifts the blame from himself to Eve and to God! When Eve was questioned, her response was simple: ‘The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat’ (verse 13). In this case, Eve was more honest but ultimately it was the serpent’s fault.

Here is my suggestion: the person responsible for the horror crash in Canberra is ... Justin Charles Williams. For starters, he was 23 years old which means he is a legal adult age. Adulthood means responsibility for one’s actions. He was the father of 3 children from his previous relationship, a car thief and experienced in running from the police, with multiple convictions. He refusal to stop when the police asked him to and his subsequent actions ... and his actions alone ... led to the horror crash that wiped out an entire family and himself within minutes.

Secondarily, parents need to take responsibility too. Williams was the fourth of ten children and his father took off when he was just 4. Furthermore, he may have been abused when he was young and expelled from school for misbehaviour, but again ... until he is of age, it is the parents who must answer for these things.

Until we break free from our ‘no fault’ mentality and start owning up for our actions and those under our care, we will continue to grow in collective immaturity as we slowly slide into more chaos. Many so-called leaders today are refusing to be held accountable when things go awry under their watch. They love the title but they don’t like the task. Leadership means ‘holding the can.’ How refreshing to hear the usually rhetorically-gifted US President Barack Obama, in response to the near bombing of a US jet from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, borrow a tried and true axiom. He declared ‘The buck stops with me!’ Such words have not been uttered since US President Harry S Truman made them sixty years earlier. It’s about time!

After all, when we stand before God, as Romans 14:12 says we surely will, we will not be able to turn around and blame anyone else for our actions. It just won’t wash.

Let us pray for the bereaved families and the two young constables. If we can learn this simple lesson: to reject the ‘blame game’ of those who are doing their job ... by those who aren’t ... then something redemptive will have come out of this sorry story.

Is the GFC Over?

2010-03-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

Do you want the good news first or the bad news?

If you live in Australia, the ‘good news’ is that we have ‘beaten’ the GFC (global financial crisis, which began 2007/2008). This is according to our Reserve Bank Governor, Glenn Stevens.

Now, the bad news. Stevens is raising our interest rates!

During the GFC, Australia apparently received ‘tropical rain’ while America and elsewhere experienced cyclones. With Australia looking good and China, our good customer, rising higher and higher in the global economy, perhaps we can take a breather. Loosen our belts alittle and enjoy life.

Not so fast... Before people ‘pop the champagne cork’ there are a few things to bear in mind:

In Australia, the economy has held up reasonably well, especially in the area of unemployment (5.3% in February 2010). The Reserve Bank raised interest rates a quarter of a percent to 4%. The 10 year average on a basic variable rate was 6.6%, so things are still under control. But it is not cause for celebration.

Home affordability, which was a campaign promise of the current Rudd Government, is becoming less, not more. This puts enormous strains on families, meaning that a minimum of 2 (above average) incomes are required just to service a mortgage of between $250,000 to $500,000. Housing prices remain stubbornly high and are even increasing. So are rental properties.

In the March 8th (Melbourne) Herald Sun, in an article entitled ‘2010: Bricks and Torture’ by Lisa Mayoh, it now takes the average family three times as long to repay a mortgage than it did in 1960. Back then, with a wage of $1.08 an hour, it took 25 hours to earn the $25 a month repayment for a mortgage of $4,620 at 5%. Today, at $30 an hour, it takes 70 hours or nearly two weeks to make the monthly repayment of $2,124 to pay a mortgage of $283,000 at 6.64%.

In summary, a 1960 house took 7,500 hours of work to pay off.

In 2010, it now takes 19,374 hours to pay off the house.

The Rudd Government recently loosened Australia’s normally strict home ownership rules. Now certain overseas people, looking for an investment in safe and stable Australia, are able to buy homes here. In some cases, they are paying even double the amount of what is being asked. This makes home affordability even more elusive.

But there is more. We are all part of a global economy (it is like saying we are all connected to the same oceans, even if they have different names). While it is possible to have ‘ports’ and ‘shelters’ along the coast, ultimately what happens in one major economy affects the other. And some parts of the global economy are not doing very well.

For example, within the European Union, there is the serious situation with five member states known by the acronym PIIGS. This stands for Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain, who are all in economic trouble. In Greece’s case, they have a bloated bureaucracy and a high rate of tax evasion. How the EU handles this crisis remains to be seen, but what happens to one (or, in this case, five) members affects the entire Union.

Then there is the United States. ‘Experts’ are saying that the Obama Administrations ‘bailouts,’ ‘stimulus package,’ and general intervention, have prevented another Great Depression. We hope and pray this is the case. But remember that America’s is just under 10 percent unemployment, the housing market is flat, and a staggering $1.6 trillion dollar budget deficit for the fiscal year is forecast (remember the time of $300-400 million budget deficits? Seemed then like the ‘good ole days’). In addition, a couple of the big American banks are still in trouble, even with government bailouts. The notion of ‘too big to fail’ may not apply this time around. If the world’s sole military and economic superpower falters, there is no way the rest of the world will not feel the affects.

So will we be having GFC Mark II? We might. What can we do?

Practical Advice for Our Global Friends

First, I would caution anyone to be careful about getting into debt. It should be comfortably ‘serviceable debt’ for something that is sure to increase in value in the long term. Don’t look for a fast fix or a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. Look long term! If you cannot comfortably service the debt, or if you are in danger of ‘losing sleep’ over it, then don’t do it! Try to finance on one income rather than two ... because if the 2nd income ceases, the strain on your finances could be unbearable.

Second, do everything in your power to retire debt. Debt reduction, not debt expansion, should be a top priority.

Third, do what Joseph did in the Book of Genesis. If you are experiencing ‘good times,’ then store away for the ‘lean years.’ Live within or below your means. Spend less, earn more.

Fourth, make a budget and live by it. Put a section in for unforeseeable circumstances, which can happen to anyone. So no matter what happens, you can breathe easier.

Fifth, remember there are two economies: the global economy and God’s economy. Everyone is affected by the first, but only the people of faith enjoy the second. The good news is that God’s economy is stronger, more resilient, and able to overcome and override the global economy.

The example of Isaac in Genesis 26 is revealing. Wherever he placed his spade, a well of springing water flow. When he sowed in the land, he reaped 100-fold. Remember the ‘land’ was the parched Negev wilderness, with an annual rainfall of 5 cm. Remarkably, Isaac prospered during a time of drought and famine. It was because he lived on God’s economy, not man’s. Habakkuk discovered the same thing in Chapter 3:17-19.

Whatever you do, start living by God’s economy, which includes faith, discipline, obedience, giving (sowing) and reaping. You cannot go wrong and will never look back.