“Romans 11, Romans 11, Romans 11” … that is what kept popping into my head as I lay in bed one night.
A few weeks ago I was having a debate regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As an Evangelical Christian I was raised a supporter of Israel. Churches that I went to growing up always prayed for Israel. Pastors that I listened to would preach of Israel and how we must support Israel. So I supported Israel mostly because I was told to.
I’ll admit often times I wondered why Christians were told to do so but I never asked anyone to explain that to me. I just took it on faith that is what Christians do ... kind of like I took it on faith that Jesus came to the world to save me from Hell.
Anyway, as the years passed, I began to understand that Israel reserves a special place with God. I learned that God gave Israel his promise of protection when Abraham found favor with him. I remember reading that in the Bible somewhere. Even with that I’ve never really gotten it … that is, until that thought popped into my head.
You see I haven’t studied the Bible, even though I call myself a Christian. I’ve always considered it the job of preachers and teachers to do that for me. You know, then they could pass along the really important stuff to me. Heck, I’ve never even kept notes. Then again, I’ve always been like that. I almost never took notes when I was going to school … I figured what I needed to know would stick, and that what didn’t, didn’t matter.
So there I am laying in bed when Romans 11 pops into my brain. At first I asked my wife if she knew what was in Romans 11. You see, Lisa was one of those Bible-study- church-on-Sunday-&-Wednesday-night-Christian-singles-club kind of Christians when I met her. So, naturally, I expected that she would know. After all, she was the kind of student that took notes in school and graduated from college with honors. Her answer to me in her “I’m trying to go to sleep” voice was, “I don’t know”.
So the only option left was to read Romans 11. And that is what I did. Not only did I read Romans 11, I read Romans 12 and 13, too. In those three little chapters I found my answer as to why Israel is so important to the world and to Christians in particular. But I also found out why it is important for Jews around the world to support Israel too.
You see, the nation of Israel fulfills Gods promise to reestablish Israel on earth … and God always keeps His word. But because Israel rejected God through Christ, the rest of the world was given access to God through Christ by His grace. So now those of us that truly believe that Jesus is who He says He is, the true living Son of God, we’ve now been given access to God’s promise to Israel. That’s a good thing. But here is the really great thing! We have done nothing to gain access to that promise … Israel did. Now it is our job to pray for and support the nation of Israel so that one day soon Israel will turn to Jesus as its savior. Why do I say this? Because I learned that in Romans 11. I hope and I pray that you’ll learn that too.
I can’t tell you why that thought popped into my head in the natural. I’d never even known that there was a Romans 11 until I read Romans 11. The only answer I have to that is that God placed that thought there for me. He did that so that I would know that yes there really is a profound reason for Christians to pray for and support the nation of Israel. And that reason is this … because He wants Israel to be blessed. He always has and always will. And so long as we agree with Him and obey Him in remembering the special place Israel has in His word we will have access to His blessing through Christ. We are the fortunate ones because all of those blessing have been given to us freely as a result of Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ our Perfect Lord and Savior.
There you have it.
Pass it along if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.
Eddie
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
I’M MAD AT TOM CLANCY
I’m mad at Tom Clancy!....OK, I’m not really mad at Tom Clancy.
Recently I read a book of his that was published in 1996 titled Executive Orders. Up until then I hadn’t read anything he’s written. I’m not saying that I didn’t know who he is or that he is an author, I just hadn’t read anything of his. Sure, I’ve seen movies that have been made from his books (The Hunt For Red October, Clear And Present Danger, and Patriot Games) and found them all to be great action films. I even liked Alec Baldwin’s portrayal of Jack Ryan (the main character) in The Hunt For Red October. But I didn’t miss him when Harrison Ford took over portraying Jack Ryan in the other films.
The reason I’m mad is because in the book Executive Orders Tom Clancy has an airliner crash into the US Capital Building. This is the second time that a writer whose book I’ve read depicts an airliner being used as a missile on a US building. The first writer I read that depicted that was Joel Rosenberg. He wrote the book The Last Jihad.
In The Last Jihad, Rosenberg has an airliner fly into a building by Muslim terrorists. Ironically he was finishing his book on the very morning of September 11, 2001. In fact, The Last Jihad was Joel Rosenberg’s first attempt at writing a novel. I won’t go into detail about the book, but suffice it to say it was considered to be quite prophetic even though it was published after the September 11 attacks. So I guess I’m mad at Joel Rosenberg too … OK I’m not really mad at him either. To view Joel Rosenberg’s web site click here.
In Executive Orders, Tom Clancy illustrates that Iran and Islamic extremism was the biggest threat to the US in the world in the mid 1990’s and beyond. Not only did he understand that, but he understood that Iran was an equal threat to the Middle East and the rest of the world too. That still holds true today. In The Last Jihad, Joel Rosenberg does the same thing. (I’m not sure if there are others that have written books that have resembled actual events as closely as the books of these two men … it just happens to be that I’ve read their books.) That leads me to this question: If writers of current events fiction are able to accurately depict who our enemies are, what their capabilities are, and the what their intentions are (connect the dots), then why is that our government could not connect the dots?
Clancy also incorporates a subplot in Executive Orders that includes a couple of anti-government types that plan on detonating a truck bomb in Washington DC … does that sound familiar? I don’t know if Clancy added that to the book after the OKC bombing or if it was always a part of the story line. Remember, the OKC bombing took place on April 19, 1995, (the 2nd anniversary of the Waco tragedy). I tend to think it is the latter, since books like this usually take a few years to put together.
He also writes about how our freedoms can be used against us in order to commit a clandestine attack on our country. In the book the US is attacked with weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s). Iranian terrorists travel into the US on various airline flights and detonate biological weapons in cities across the United States causing death and panic throughout the country. That reminded me of just how easily the 9-11 terrorists gained access into the US only to later hijack airplanes on that horrible morning.
Executive Orders also has Iran take over Iraq and merge the two nation together. Sounds pretty farfetched doesn’t it? But just within the last few weeks, as talks are taking place for the United States to leave Iraq, diplomatic talks have also been taking place between those two countries. My instinct tells me that is not a good thing … especially when you consider that China and Russia have a vested interest in Iran.
Tom Clancy and Joel Rosenberg both write fictional books based off of real and made up events. They use their knowledge, skill, imagination, research, and experiences to create their works. After reading their books (and others), it is clearer to me that during the 1990’s no one was paying close enough attention to the threat of radical Islam. Here are some actual events took place in that time: the first WTC bombing, the US Embassy bombings, the OKC bombing, and the USS Cole bombing. All of those attacks took place during the Clinton years. Which leads me to wonder, if authors like these two could figure out who our most blood thirsty enemies are why couldn’t Bill Clinton? So who am I really mad at? ... you guessed it.
There you have it.
Pass it along if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.
Eddie
Recently I read a book of his that was published in 1996 titled Executive Orders. Up until then I hadn’t read anything he’s written. I’m not saying that I didn’t know who he is or that he is an author, I just hadn’t read anything of his. Sure, I’ve seen movies that have been made from his books (The Hunt For Red October, Clear And Present Danger, and Patriot Games) and found them all to be great action films. I even liked Alec Baldwin’s portrayal of Jack Ryan (the main character) in The Hunt For Red October. But I didn’t miss him when Harrison Ford took over portraying Jack Ryan in the other films.
The reason I’m mad is because in the book Executive Orders Tom Clancy has an airliner crash into the US Capital Building. This is the second time that a writer whose book I’ve read depicts an airliner being used as a missile on a US building. The first writer I read that depicted that was Joel Rosenberg. He wrote the book The Last Jihad.
In The Last Jihad, Rosenberg has an airliner fly into a building by Muslim terrorists. Ironically he was finishing his book on the very morning of September 11, 2001. In fact, The Last Jihad was Joel Rosenberg’s first attempt at writing a novel. I won’t go into detail about the book, but suffice it to say it was considered to be quite prophetic even though it was published after the September 11 attacks. So I guess I’m mad at Joel Rosenberg too … OK I’m not really mad at him either. To view Joel Rosenberg’s web site click here.
In Executive Orders, Tom Clancy illustrates that Iran and Islamic extremism was the biggest threat to the US in the world in the mid 1990’s and beyond. Not only did he understand that, but he understood that Iran was an equal threat to the Middle East and the rest of the world too. That still holds true today. In The Last Jihad, Joel Rosenberg does the same thing. (I’m not sure if there are others that have written books that have resembled actual events as closely as the books of these two men … it just happens to be that I’ve read their books.) That leads me to this question: If writers of current events fiction are able to accurately depict who our enemies are, what their capabilities are, and the what their intentions are (connect the dots), then why is that our government could not connect the dots?
Clancy also incorporates a subplot in Executive Orders that includes a couple of anti-government types that plan on detonating a truck bomb in Washington DC … does that sound familiar? I don’t know if Clancy added that to the book after the OKC bombing or if it was always a part of the story line. Remember, the OKC bombing took place on April 19, 1995, (the 2nd anniversary of the Waco tragedy). I tend to think it is the latter, since books like this usually take a few years to put together.
He also writes about how our freedoms can be used against us in order to commit a clandestine attack on our country. In the book the US is attacked with weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s). Iranian terrorists travel into the US on various airline flights and detonate biological weapons in cities across the United States causing death and panic throughout the country. That reminded me of just how easily the 9-11 terrorists gained access into the US only to later hijack airplanes on that horrible morning.
Executive Orders also has Iran take over Iraq and merge the two nation together. Sounds pretty farfetched doesn’t it? But just within the last few weeks, as talks are taking place for the United States to leave Iraq, diplomatic talks have also been taking place between those two countries. My instinct tells me that is not a good thing … especially when you consider that China and Russia have a vested interest in Iran.
Tom Clancy and Joel Rosenberg both write fictional books based off of real and made up events. They use their knowledge, skill, imagination, research, and experiences to create their works. After reading their books (and others), it is clearer to me that during the 1990’s no one was paying close enough attention to the threat of radical Islam. Here are some actual events took place in that time: the first WTC bombing, the US Embassy bombings, the OKC bombing, and the USS Cole bombing. All of those attacks took place during the Clinton years. Which leads me to wonder, if authors like these two could figure out who our most blood thirsty enemies are why couldn’t Bill Clinton? So who am I really mad at? ... you guessed it.
There you have it.
Pass it along if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.
Eddie
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