Folks, we may have a new President but once again we are at war in the Middle East. Somehow Mossad manages to push all the right buttons to get us to fight on behalf of Israel. I frankly don’t trust them.
Remember Iraq and weapons of mass destruction? Colin Powell did a wonderful PowerPoint show at the United Nations, but it was a total fraud. G.W. Bush could never explain why we hit Iraq and Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks. Heck nobody can explain why two of the tallest structures on the planet collapsed neatly on top of each other after being struck by commercial airliners.
Truth is compartmentalized in our country and unfortunately, we are often left with only the official narrative as history. Sadly, this side of Covid, the conspiracy theories have a higher accuracy rate than our government.
That being said, if anybody deserved to be bombed into oblivion it is Iran. Jimmy Carter tried a “measured response” and all we got was a crashed helicopter and a bunch of special forces guys killed in the desert. Iran had enough good sense to fear Ronald Reagan and let the hostages go.
Iran has been a destabilizing force in the world for my whole adult life. The fact that Obama gave them billions on pallets and Biden did likewise stupid stuff is criminal, in a sane world anyway.
Power abhors a vacuum. The head of the snake has been cut-off in Iran, so what takes its place?
Are you ready for lots of U.S. troops invading Iran? It’s underway now.
At least with Trump, you are more likely to get an overwhelming show of force instead of lawyers overseeing drone pilots in Las Vegas approving every act of the military, and crippling rules of engagement for guys deployed in the theater of battle. The military’s purpose is to kill people and break things, but what happens next?
Oh, the best thing I saw about the war so far was this, the first week of our military operations in Iran cost less money that the amount of fraud overseen in Minnesota by Governor Tim Walz.
In case you missed it, a horrible, terrible, no-good human being assumed room temperature this past weekend. Iran’s Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. Dead, like a door nail! The strikes were coordinated with Israel in a much broader sense, it’s a full-on war in Iran in my humble opinion.
I’ll touch more on the war below, but I want to put out some very disturbing info I saw in my newsfeed over the weekend.
I saw an article about how the merry band of losers, California Democrats, our so called leaders, were upset with the result. Yeah, I’m serious. They expressed anger with the Ayatollah being killed. Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, and Ami Bera were all upset that the War Powers Act was not used. Again, I’ll touch on that later, but I want to point out, Ayatollah Khamenei is directly and indirectly responsible for thousands of US and Israeli deaths over the years. He literally bank rolled; Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthi’s to name a few terror proxies. The groups are not militaries; they simply fire rockets at other countries and do not care in the slightest about casualties of innocent civilians. Check out the atrocities carried out by Hamas in Israel October 7th. Yes, folks these Democrats are actually sad this guy is dead, more so they are furious Trump did it! Rush Limbaugh was correct back in the day when he stated that Democrats cry whenever an evil dictator dies. The Iranian regime is famous for suppressing free speech, using nasty propaganda, wantonly killing, using hospitals and schools as human shields to protect military installations, and worse yet quite literally saying they want to wipe Israel off the map, and encouraging folks to say, “Death to America.” The Ayatollah started a massive government crackdown about a month ago and authorized the killing of tens of thousands of his own people who were protesting! Again, Democrats are mourning his loss, not celebrating those that want freedom.
While I understand the Democrat position on this (attack without authorization), I need folks to understand this was the only way this was going to go. Iran never negotiated in good faith with the US or the nuclear coalition, and they were never going to. They wanted a bomb, they hate Israel. Donald Trump might be a real good negotiator but eventually anyone gets to a point where dialogue ends and action is needed. It was always going to end this way.
Israel and the US moved in and took out quite a few targets almost instantly. Khamenei met his fate shortly thereafter. Actually, I believe we took out over 100 top Iranian Republic Guards over the first 4 days of this operation. As to be expected, the Iranians were pissed and have essentially lobbed missiles in every direction around them! Very dumb move. Their strikes have hit; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar with rumors that Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have been targeted or hit as well. Way to get all your Muslim brothers ticked at you! At the time of me writing this, it actually sounds like these nations may even join the bombing in Iran.
What is happening in Iran right now is also to be expected. Folks, Iran does not have advanced military capabilities, but they thought they did. They purchased the same hi-tech weapons from China as Venezuela did to protect their airspace from US and Israeli stealth aircraft. Thus, state-of-the-art Chinese military assets have had their butts kicked twice in about as many months by President Trump. Iran simply cannot go toe-to-toe with the USA or Israel. It’s been proven time and again. We literally went through their air defenses like a hot knife through butter, heck Kuwait shot down 3 of our planes by mistake, Iran has shot down none. The IRG has been decimated, the only thing now is how long will this last?
Regarding the war itself, if you actually want something to be upset about, our intelligence is either way off, or we were lied to. You may recall the bombing operation of their nuclear sites, where Trump claimed they were completely obliterated. Well, now we were being told Iran was a week away from having a nuclear bomb. Which was true? I think the bombing earlier this year didn’t obliterate anything; it was a waste. I do think Iran was close to a bomb, but I’m going to be honest, I’m starting to not trust Israel. I think we just got dragged into another long, drawn-out war. Oh, Israel announced they are going “boots on the ground” in Lebanon.
If you want to be upset about something, be upset about that above. What is the end game? We took out their leader, now what?
As far as the fringe Left and fringe Right complaining about the War Powers Act, when is the last time we actually declared war? It was World War II. Yep, that’s right, almost 100 years ago. There was no declaration of war for Korea, Vietnam, the global war on terror, Granada, Gulf War I or II, the Balkin States, Libya, or anything else our country has done militarily. My point is, by the time the House has a hearing, then the Senate takes the matter up, many weeks will go bye. Rand Paul, Liz Warren, and others can get on a soap box and drag this thing out forever. Had Trump not acted, and without Congress being notified before military action began, then the nuclear sites could have had the materials moved, the Ayatollah could be on the move, and the actionable intelligence would have been worthless. We had the info, we moved in, we crippled the power structure in Iran for the time being.
What is the answer? I am not totally sure. Who rises to power in Iran? I do know one thing, if the Ayatollah remaining in power was the answer, I don’t want to know the question. If you think the Ayatollah should still be alive, or that we acted illegally, you have a big dump in your pants. If you really want to die on this hill, you can argue about the War Powers Act or if we had to take Khamenei out, but it’s over now so it just seems wrong to start playing what if.
The Chief
PS Yes, America will be more dangerous in the near term. Whether you engage in conspiracies or not, it is believed there are Iranian sleeper cells here in the US. Things could get violent soon. Remember we took out Ayatollah; they have been trying for the better part of a year to get Trump.
Donald Trump is taking a victory lap for getting Hamas to release the Israeli hostages after two years of “war.” Can you say, “Pyric victory.”
Sorry, but this is just a pause in hostilities so both sides can regroup.
Hamas has no hostages, so now Israel can blow-up stuff with impunity. Also, thanks to Trump, the United States now has troops in the middle of this mess in Gaza. That can only mean that when some of our guys die, that we will green light even more bombardment of Gaza in the name of vengeance.
Hamas is ok with folks getting killed in Gaza. They are hoping that enough wanton destruction will force their Arab Brothers to retaliate. Dream-on baby. Iran and its proxies may funnel arms into the conflict, but most other nations will sit it out.
What has really happened is that Trump, Israel, and Hamas have just agreed to a genocide program to rid Israel of Palestinian Christians. Nobody speaks for them, and nobody cares.
If you weren’t paying attention, you may have skipped the part about Hamas publicly executing people just hours after the Israeli hostages were released. There are no coincidences. Hamas will not disarm or relinquish power. They have only learned to play in their own backyard.
Peace only comes through victory. This war is not over, just paused. I predict that it will continue, just via more subtle means.
Civilians always suffer, but even more so when combatants don’t wear uniforms.
It is stupid that we are involved in this war.
Other Thoughts
Israel is one of the biggest lobbying organizations in Washington D.C. That coupled with the false theology found in many Christian churches that have swallowed the lies of premillennial dispensationalism have created an environment where the current nation called “Israel” is the same nation as that found in the Bible. This is fantasy.
As a result of this false equivalence, many Evangelicals believe that national Israel can do no wrong, and whatever they do is in accord with God’s will, prophetic or otherwise. Thus, Israel is given a pass on behavior. For them, to question or oppose any actions by the current government based in Jerusalem, is to oppose God Almighty.
In fact, for many, to criticize Israel is to prevent the return of Christ. Yep, oppose Israel, prevent or delay the Second Coming. Of course, these same Evangelicals also believe that the price of Christ returning is that two thirds of all Jews will perish in wanton slaughter which somehow causes the rest to believe in Jesus. Good luck with that.
Thus, folks like Ted Cruz support Zionism so that Jews will die which results in Jesus returning to rule. This makes Jesus the king of a ball of radioactive slag not king of a world that has believed the Gospel and been transformed by it. And we think Liberals are mentally ill. Good grief.
Folks, you all likely remember Colin “Iraq has WMD’s and we have proof” Powell. He made those comments to the United Nations. Then like the chameleon, he is changed his stripes to keep a job with the Obama administration.
This blog is going to point out that the action Israel is taking is no different from what we did following the 9/11 attacks.
Israel, like the USA, believes full well that a known adversary (Iran/Iraq) has enriched enough uranium to make a nuclear weapon. Sure, the narrative is helped that both countries essentially refused the UN/Nuclear commission from doing a full inspection. The problem is…. Colin Powell and our intelligence was wrong. Big time. As a result, it was a mess in Iraq and it remains so. Our standing in the world fell as a result… but you don’t care about that. We let the military industrial complex win. Just like what is happening now in Iran. Yes, I will admit Iranian proxies in Yemen, Gaza, and Lebanon have been pestering Isreal for years. They have had enough. I do not blame them. However, their strikes on Iran, including their nuclear facilities, will end up backfiring. I, for one, do not trust that Iran has enough Uranium to create a nuke. Sorry, I do not buy it. Yes, their behavior toward inspectors is bizarre but Israel and US fully believe that they have nuclear capability so does the inspection even matter at this point?
I guess the point I am trying to convey is W. Bush, John Bolton, Dick Cheney, John McCain, and Lindsay Graham knew the time was nigh to move in on Iraq, so they did. Israel, in my opinion, has a similar group of warmongers who knew their time was coming up, so they decided to make a move as well. What I do not like is the US claimed they were staying out of it; yet there are reports we moved 40K rockets/missiles from Europe down to Israel. Also, it appears we have war ships on the way from other parts of the world to assist with defense. We did help shoot down rockets/drones fired by Iran into Israel. Like it or not we are a party to this conflict.
The other part of the issue in Iran is Israel lacks the weaponry to inflict damage on the actual nuclear sites. One thing highly important that Netanyahu overlooked is he needs bunker busting bombs to hit the enrichment facilities. These are located deep underground and are heavily fortified. Israel, as stated, does not have that bomb, the USA does. The USA also has bombers in the area capable of delivering said weapons, and the bomb is likely not far behind. Again, they need to draw us into the war to get the result they want. But until then I guess Israel just flies sorties over Tehran and other parts of Iran bombing missile and military garrisons. Another, forever war.
There is only 1 real downside to this war. Removing the Ayatollah is a big mistake if we go down that route. Yes, he is a bad man, a butcher, use any term you want to describe him, but in reality, he is a paper tiger. His saber rattling of wiping Israel off the planet was just that. Israel, in about 4 days, has crippled them militarily. Sure, the Ayatollah may be bad, but is removing him the key? Did we learn no lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, or Syria? Who replaces the Ayatollah? Is it a better or worse group? Also, by bombing like we or Israel have done is just setting up future generations to hate the USA and Israel.
However, score one for the warmongers and the military industrial complex. They still have backers here. Hopefully, we are not drawn into this war in any meaningful way, we do not need to lose more young people as a result of a bunch of 70 plus year olds who think war is a great thing for the economy.
Dang. I thought I was done with this war in Israel stuff but this one really blew my socks off. Associated Press and Reuters had people embedded with Hamas BEFORE they attacked Israel on October 7th. Yep, Associated Press and Reuters had advanced notice that this surprise attack was coming. Oh, said people also did work for CNN and the New York Times.
These guys were posting photos of the Jewish folks being kidnapped by Hamas. They also photographed the body of an Israeli soldier who was dead being dragged thru the streets.
Let’s be clear: News agencies may claim that these people were just doing their job. Documenting war crimes, unfortunately, may be part of it. But it’s not that simple.
It is now obvious that Hamas had planned its October 7 attack on Israel for a very long time: its scale, its brutal aims and its massive documentation have been prepared for months, if not years. Everything was taken into account — the deployments, the timing, as well as the use of bodycams and mobile phone videos for sharing the atrocities.
Is it conceivable to assume that “journalists” just happened to appear early in the morning at the border without prior coordination with the terrorists? Or were they part of the plan?
Even if they didn’t know the exact details of what was going to happen, once it unfolded did they not realize they were breaching a border? And if so, did they notify the news agencies? Some sort of communication was undoubtedly necessary — before, after or during the attack — in order to get the photos published.
As if that isn’t bad enough read this from a related article:
Photos posted by the news agencies of the surprise terrorist attack on Israel include ones showing terrorists breaking the gates to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where residents were caught completely off guard and dozens were murdered. Photos also show that photographers were on the scene as terrorists took civilians such as Shani Louk hostage, and attacking Israeli tanks on the other side of the Gaza border.
The photos raise serious questions about whether the news agencies had advance knowledge that the terrorist attacks were taking place. The four individuals credited by the Associated Press for images of the attacks — Hassan Eslaiah, Yousef Masoud, Ali Mahmud, and Hatem Ali — are all photographers based in Gaza, where it was revealed in 2021 that the Associated Press shared office space with the terrorist group.
Did you get that last part? “… Associated Press shared office space with the terrorist group.”
And Liberals wonder why folks like us believe that too many coincidences might mean a conspiracy. Every conspiracy denounced in the last few years has turned out to be true, and I think this one can be added to that list too.
Oh, on X (formerly Twitter) is a photo of photographer Hassan Eslaiah being kissed by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Really, this guy’s name in sin war? Can’t make this stuff up.
Lest you want to research this article, AP and Reuters have scrubbed their websites of much of the embarrassing photo credits, but the photos are likely still there without attribution.
Oh, per the article:
Reuters did not respond to a request for comment. The New York Times and CNN, which both have worked with the photographers in question, also did not respond to inquiries.
“When international news agencies decide to pay for material that has been captured under such problematic circumstances, their standards may be questioned and their audience deserves to know about it,” the watchdog writes. “And if their people on the ground actively or passively collaborated with Hamas to get the shots, they should be called out to redefine the border between journalism and barbarism.”
The article also takes a dig at the Old Gray Lady with the final paragraph of the article:
The New York Times is actively publishing stories from a freelance reporter in Gaza who has proclaimed admiration for Adolf Hitler.
This is a bad look for the mainstream media but wanna bet these photographers get a payoff at some point in the future? Maybe a Pulitzer? Maybe a visit from Massad? Meanwhile, look for photo credits from Gaza to be generic.
What the Hamas terror group did is horrific. I use the present tense because they are still holding/torturing hostages, American citizens included. No matter your political or religious beliefs cutting people’s heads off, killing babies, and torturing people is wrong.
As a sidebar, I do not agree with Israel cutting off the water and power supply to Gaza. As I will explain later, this helps create a narrative that Israel is committing war crimes as well.
The dirty little secret in that part of the world (Middle East), I trust nothing that comes out of there as far as news goes. Pretty much every country over there double deals and values their own interests/religion over anyone else’s. Israel is our only true ally in that space. I say that in a literal sense because Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain typically have been found to be pretty weak allies of ours depending on the enemy. Sure, we have a large air base in Qatar, I’m sure we likely pay a heavy price in dollars to have it there. Yes, Egypt and Jordan seem to come down on our side when it comes to Israel and not letting Gaza refugees cross their borders. Oh, Egypt is allowing us to use the Suez Canal; at least for now, but again at what cost? Don’t believe me? Check out the foreign aid sent to these countries each year!
In addition, many countries in that region are aligned with China, Russia, and North Korea, three countries who either legit hate us (Russia and North Korea) or have no real use for us in this conflict (China). They love nothing more than to see our military spread even further. Think about it, Russia knows we would prefer to supply Israel than Ukraine, so they win on that front. China wants Taiwan, and us moving our carrier strike groups that way lessens our ability to help Taiwan. North Korea? Well, they get to taunt us even more. Add Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, and Afghanistan to that list as well, who are actively supporting the Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi terror groups in that area. Groups who hate Israel. The Mid-east is a web of competing interests that are being united in their opposition to Israel and the United States.
Add a wild card, Turkey. Turkey is the 2nd biggest army in NATO (ally of ours) in the region. They have been very vocal about us sending all those aircraft carriers, destroyers, and cruisers to the area.
Turkey is correct about wondering aloud why we are sending all those ships. It does from afar look like a provocation. While I do not agree with Turkey’s president about us/Israel committing genocide, and completely disagree with him saying Hamas is a liberation group, I do think he misspoke. One thing about Turkey they have the ears/eyes of both sides all over this region. They have open dialogues with Russia, while supplying Ukraine with drones. They are also in talks with Israel, while being able to speak to Hamas. I know he cancelled his trip to Israel this week, but he wants to negotiate a peace deal. I believe him.
Back to the war.
Israel needed to strike back at Hamas, they always do. Most of the time they strike back 3-4x harder. However, this time it’s different. The killing of innocent people at a concert, beheading babies, old people, taking hostages, torture is a horse of a different color. Israel is going to militarily attack the Gaza strip. They want to wipe Hamas off the globe. They have had enough.
What is happening now is the cause of dividing the world in that region. Jordan and Egypt say no refugees are welcome from Gaza. This is because they don’t want the terrorists firing from their countries because this pisses off the USA and next thing you know Israel is lobbing rockets into their countries. Turkey is warning us to back off the ships we sent into that area. Iran backed terror groups are firing missiles/drones at our bases in Syria and Iraq, so far, we know 21 military folks have been injured. Iran, Yemen, and North Korea are going to supply Israel’s adversaries with all they need for this war.
The heart of the problem here is that Israel has no allies in the area. Egypt and Jordan merely tolerate them. All the Muslim countries basically hate them, they are in affect isolated.
Enter Lindsey Graham, Joe Biden, and the globalists.
So, we started sending our military might to this area. The ships are already there. Our bases in Syria (I do not understand this at all) and Iraq are getting more troops. We supposedly activated 2,000 troops; I believe this is closer to 20,000, but I digress. Our meager involvement thus far has evoked a response of laughter from the world. Israel basically told us F-off. Iran, North Korea, and Russia are daring us to do something stupid. The terror groups love this. Turkey is now likely questioning its role in NATO and all for what? No one respects us anymore because we are not a superpower. Our military cares more about pronouns and vaccines than training. It’s sad.
My solution?
Hard to say. Israel seems hell bent on going in with tanks and troops and “cleansing Hamas off the earth.” If they want to do it, I say go for it, but with caution. There is a reason I think Turkey has ratcheted up the rhetoric. The area is unstable and is likely going to turn into a powder keg if the tanks move into the Gaza strip. Put simply, if Israel moves in, I think Iran and their terror friends turn Israel into a microwave. It will get really ugly, really quick. Knowing the USA, we will somehow get ourselves right in the middle and WW3 will break out. We will find out who our friends are, and I think more people dislike Israel than like us.
Simply put, we shouldn’t be operating in that region. Haven’t we lost enough young people already? Also, at what stage do we have to worry about our own stockpiles? We have given a ton to Ukraine and Israel. Let Turkey decide on a solution in that area. They do not want missiles flying over their country. Dirty little secret is the other oil producing states don’t want that either.
One axiom of American Politics is that when both parties agree on something; the rest of us should be very nervous. Such is the case now concerning the Mid-East war. Both parties—or at least majorities of each—desperately want us involved in this war. It has been reported that American soldiers are already on the ground in the Gaza area. From the sounds of things, we are going to support Israel in a prolonged urban warfare situation. The danger is that this may very well be genocide disguised as urban warfare; it’s not like Hamas combatants will be wearing uniforms and abiding by the Geneva Conventions of Warfare.
Folks in some parts of the Internet have been saying that the war in Ukraine was the beginning of World War III. We have forces in Ukraine helping as military advisors just like the early days of Vietnam. If we continue down the path that we are pursuing, it may be that we end up fighting wars on three or four fronts simultaneously. The war in the Mid-East is very close to becoming a regional war that has the potential to escalate to the point that it may involve deployment of nuclear weapons.
At the very least, because of this war, Europe will be experiencing severe energy shortages as much of their oil and natural gas supplies will quit flowing. It will be a cold and miserable winter for them. At most, Europe may find that being a member state in NATO means getting involved. Will we and our allies end-up fighting Russia, Iran, and Turkey (also a NATO member) as well?
Once we commit to fighting there, look for China to take Taiwan by force. Oh, we will not help Taiwan. Look for us not to commit any serious resources to their defense. This may embolden China to try taking further territory in the East.
This scenario is frightening but possible. Sadly, what the Swamp wants, it often gets, usually to our detriment.
Yep, I hereby dissent. We should stay out of the war in the Middle East. (In general, we should stay out of anybody else’s wars including Ukraine. In fairness, I am trying to be consistent.)
For the purposes of this blog post, my complaint is not so much against Israel or its government but against fellow Christians here in the United States. The country calling itself Israel is not the Israel of either the Old or New Testament. In fact, the current nation of Israel is largely irrelevant to biblical prophecy.
Any claim that the current nation of Israel has anything to do with the return of Christ is just nonsense. The only possible claim to prophecy is a passage in Romans 11 that some day most of Israel will believe in Jesus as Lord. This does not require that a geographical place called Israel exist, only that Jews at some point in the future will finally believe. Meanwhile, us Gentiles are being grafted to the true vine—Christ Jesus.
Thanks to some very strange interpretations of passages taken out of context or otherwise twisted, many Christians believe that the existence of Israel is required for the fulfillment of much of the Revelation of Saint John and passages such as Matthew chapter 24. Sorry gang but you missed the Day of the Lord by the better part of 2,000 years. The Day of the Lord is not the same as the return of Christ at the end of the age. The Day of the Lord was His coming in judgement of the generation that put him to death.
“Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened,” Matt 24:34
“His blood is on us and on our children,” Matt 27:25.
This was fulfilled in 70 A.D.
God often comes to earth in judgement and there are many days of the Lord mentioned in the Bible, not just one.
Furthermore, the promises that God made to Israel in the Old Testament have been transferred to the Church.
Americans frequently support Israel because they think they are supporting a nation established by God in ancient times. Thanks to the Scofield Reference Bible and its twin pillars of Dispensational theology and Premillennial eschatology and how it has been implemented by many religious groups, folks think that to be opposed to modern Israel is to oppose God and His plans and conversely to support modern Israel is to be on God’s side. Sorry, but this is an example of really bad biblical interpretation.
Furthermore, modern Israel’s laws and government don’t follow the Law as given to Moses. Nope, they might rip-off the Talmud or some other traditions of men in some places, but they are just another nation that is—at least in part—the offspring of British Colonialism. They are a secular/humanistic country just like so many others.
Folks God divorced Israel long ago because of her adultery and took on a new bride, the Christian Church. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was the end of the Old Covenant—forevermore.
Many Christians have taken the saying, “My country right or wrong” and placed Israel in the same bucket. This again is nonsense and bad theology.
The whole point of the Ascension of Jesus is that he is now at the right hand of God and now ruling the nations. Scripture says he will rule until all his enemies are under his footstool. Psalm 110:1.
Usually, the first thing people do when they see a war in Israel is start talking of Armageddon and the Antichrist and the secret rapture.
First there is technically no geographical place called Armageddon (look up David Chilton on this point. Hint: it’s an audio tape). Second, the Bible knows of no person called Antichrist that is coming at the end of time. The term is found in the letters of Saint John but not his Revelation. John calls anyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ a liar and an antichrist.
I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
I John 2:21 – 23
At the very least, these verses seem an apt description of Jewish theology both now and then.
Also, in order for Jews to be saved they must have faith in Jesus in the same way as Gentiles. Sorry but Hal Lindsey and others that teach that Jews have a different path to God now or in the future are heretics on that point. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
Supporting modern Israel because they “live in The Land” is unbiblical.
Supporting modern Israel because they are God’s people is unbiblical.
Supporting modern Israel because they will be instrumental in the Battle of Armageddon or trigger the Return of Christ is unbiblical.
I’m not saying that there is no scenario in which you can support Israel, but it can’t be on the basis of romantic fantasies of books like “The Late, Great Planet Earth” or “Left Behind” or some other fictional work.
Jewish folks get to come to God just like the rest of us, through faith in Christ.
Their nation, just like ours will be judged for how well or poorly we obey God’s Law.
We should keep our tax dollars and military out of this conflict and many others.
Editor’s Note:it is my fault this post was delayed, the Chief did his part.
Today, 3/20/2023 is a day of reflection, as it marks the 20-year anniversary of the US invading Iraq. When looking back, I was a high school sophomore at the time. Our nation had gotten attacked on 9/11, our mission was to find those in charge, and eliminate them from earth. In hindsight, what happened on this date set the US back as a world superpower.
US Bases in Iraq following invasion
I was all for the invasion, you do not dare invade the US and live to tell the tale. We as a people, myself included, were gassed up by George W Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld saying we had intelligence on who did this. First it was radical Muslims, then jihadists, etc. John Bolton was another one of the cheerleaders for invading Iraq. But the worst was Colin Powell, yep, the “decorated” general who aspired to be President. He went in front of United Nations and gave a speech citing an intelligence document that Iraq had nuclear weapons and was hiding them. We had to move now.
Move we did. Even though Britain and Germany questioned the validity of this document, it didn’t matter. We invoked the article of NATO and had the backing of the largest alliance with us. We invaded Iraq. I was fully in support, at least for a while.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell delivers his address to the UN Security Council February 5, 2003 in New York City.
Then it turned out there were no weapons. None. Powell lied. Even though we rolled through Iraq and killed Saddam Hussein the worst was yet to come. Bush termed out of office and new President Barack Obama was sworn in, Colin Powell ditched the GOP for the Dems and basically kept the same job in the White House. Some liars get promoted or ignored, I still remember the democrats saying Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld were war criminals, somehow Powell escaped that title. Just keep in mind the vote to go to war was 268-161 or something like that. Those in favor included John Kerry, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton mind you.
Iraq quickly became a quagmire, who would have thought right? We lost over 5,000 servicemen, and likely thousands of civilian contractors. Untold are the stories of our young people who came back stateside scarred for life from what they saw. Terrorists and those with nothing to lose do not fight fair. Roadside bombs, IED’s, and knife attacks leave a lasting horror story.
We did not free the Iraqi people, we just put different groups in charge of different zones. In essence it is a lawless nation now. Any mission we claim to have won, was pointless. Sure, we rid the world of a horrible man (that we kept in power for many years before turning on him), but is the situation any better? Bottom line is many in Iraq hate the US and all it stands for. We showed our collective rear end to the world. We feel we can just bomb any nation and rebuild it to look like ours. It will never work in this part of the globe. How many lives need to be lost and dollars squandered just to win a pyrrhic victory?
This reminds me so much of the situation of Russia invading Ukraine, even if Russia ultimately succeeds, Ukraine does not want to be occupied by Russia so violence and fighting will always be a thing. Never underestimate a country’s people who do not want to be under another country’s rule. It is for that reason I oppose our “helping” of Ukraine.
No Really. It just wasn’t covered by the big city media because it happened in the “fly-over” part of California. At least three California government facilities received multiple letters postmarked from a country in the former Soviet Union containing white powder. At least one tested positive for Ricin.
I did an Internet search and found little on the attack. Just a few scattered echoes of the same press release reproduced in news outlets on both sides of the Oregon/California border. This is a typical report.
On July 23rd envelopes arrived at Pelican Bay State Prison that, after a screening process, were found to contain a suspicious substance. The area where the envelopes were opened was quarantined and “a coordinated investigation with local, state and federal law enforcement as well as public health officials was initiated.”
The substance was sent to a lab and was determined to be ricin.
Three people who came into contact with the envelopes were taken to the hospital for medical evaluation and then later released.
Oh, Pelican Bay State Prison in on the north coast of California off highway 101 near Crescent City. Centinela State Prison is just north of the Mexican border in the very southern part of California. I saw no media reports from any southern California media outlets on this incident.
However, the incident did make it into the Wikipedia article on Ricin which can be found here.
Concerning Ricin
Ricinus communis, is a highly potent toxin. A dose of purified ricin powder the size of a few grains of table salt can kill an adult human. The median lethal dose (LD50) of ricin is around 22 micrograms per kilogram of body weight if the exposure is from injection or inhalation (2 milligrams for an average adult).
However, there is more.
In addition to previously published reports, at least one other facility near Ione, California (50 miles from Sacramento) also received suspicious letters with white powder. The letters have been addressed to both prison staff and particular inmates at the prisons. The Department of Corrections has implemented statewide training and special precautions to people interacting with the mail.
Terror attacks in rural places don’t matter. Because this happened in “flyover country” you never heard about it until now.
