Monday: News And Commentary

Today we move from the Middle East to a couple of fascinating commentaries including one which relates to the shooting that just took place in Colorado - both of which are well worth reading.

How Israel Could Be Dragged Into Syria's Civil War

Syria's civil war is spiralling out of control, and is now threatening to drag Israel into open conflict with its northern neighbor after rebel forces captured a border town just a little too close to Israeli towns and military installations.

Over the weekend, Syrian rebels reportedly took control of the town of Rawyahina, situated just at the edge of the buffer zone the separates Syria from the Israeli Golan Heights.

Pursuing Syrian government forces actually entered the demilitarized buffer zone during the fighting, prompting Israel to file a stern complaint with the UN, which is responsible for maintaining the buffer with a force of 8,000 peacekeepers, who apparently did little to prevent the Syrian incursion.

Visiting the northern Golan Heights over the weekend, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the fighting was taking place within earshot, and that a number of mortar shells had landed just a few hundred yards from an Israeli army base.

The possibility of the conflict spilling over the border is growing by the day, especially as Syrian rebel forces receive increased political and even material support from the international community. That despite the rebels' affiliation with radical Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and their persecution of Syrian Christians and other minorities.

There also remains concern that as Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is pushed out, he may lash out in one final attack against Israel, a move that would solidify his legacy with many Muslims.

In response to the situation, Israel has gone on heightened alert along its northern border.

More Political Turmoil As Israel's Largest Party Set To Split

It has been a summer of unprecedented political surprises and turmoil in Israel, and the situation is only becoming more volatile as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nears his long-time goal of breaking apart the opposition Kadima Party, currently the largest Knesset faction.

Netanyahu is presumably still irked by the creation of Kadima in 2005 by Ariel Sharon, the former leader and one of the founders of Netanyahu's own Likud Party. Kadima is made up of former members of the Likud and the left-wing Labor Party, and has therefore been seen by both sides as disrupting the traditional balance of political power in Israel.

But it appears Netanyahu is just days away from remedying that perceived problem, which reports indicating that at least seven Kadima members of Knesset will defect and return to Likud by this time next week. At least seven Kadima members must agree to leave together. Any fewer would require the MKs to remain with their current party.

If the split goes through, Kadima's size will be reduced by one-third, while Likud will grow by the same percentage, enabling Netanyahu to easily pass the state budget and other legislation.

Mossad Reportedly Fears Iranian Attack On Israeli Athletes At Olympics

Israel reportedly fears Iran or a proxy organization may seek to attack Israelis during the Olympic Games, set to begin later this week, The Sunday Times reported.

Israel had already planned for beefed-up security for its delegation at the Games in London, but now harbors concerns that the terrorists responsible for last week’s bombing of an Israeli tourist bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, will strike again, the British paper reported Sunday.

A Mossad agent in Bulgaria has reportedly been in close contact with Britain’s security service about possible threats. According to the report, special Mossad agents have been dispatched to capitals around Europe where members of Iran’s Quds Force are known to be working out of embassies.

Iran is also thought to have been behind a number of foiled attacks on Israeli targets around the world in the last several months, including a car bomb targeting the wife of Israel’s Defense attaché in India in February.

Officials have said terror groups are now looking to hit “soft” Israeli targets outside of Israel, rather than trying to penetrate security measures inside the country.

No End In Sight To U.S. Drought Woes

The worst drought in 50 years continued to ravage crops in the United States this week, boosting soft commodity prices and perhaps the fortunes of some Canadian farmers.

And while the extremely hot and dry conditions are expected to continue this week and perhaps into the fall, officials are cautious not to compare the present situation to the 1930s dust bowl or even the 2007 global food crisis.

The drought has been devastating to the U.S. corn crop, driving up prices by more than 55% in the fives weeks since it began in the midwest.

Corn is the benchmark grain in the U.S. and has a huge influence on some of Canada’s biggest crops, like wheat, barley and canola. Since most of the Canadian prairies have been largely unaffected by the drought, farmers could expect to cash in on prices that are as much as 50% higher than they were just a month earlier.

“There is no end in sight to the price buoyancy, for the situation in the drought-plagued growing areas in the U.S. Midwest is becoming more and more precarious,” Commerzbank said in a note on Friday.

Below we find two highly germane articles - one of which put the most recent shooting in perspective and the other puts appropriate perspective on our government's mindset. Both articles fall into the category of "must reads".

Aurora: A Fractured Society - Fractured By Sin

Then along comes one former Baptist minister, turned Governor, turned TV talk show host with a summary that hits the nail on the head. Although he was saddled with the daunting task of hitting the nail on a board that someone keeps moving; he took aim and brought the hammer down with a single blow that drove it in up to the hilt.

Mike Huckabee commented that after all is said and done it can be seen that it is not education, politics, society or a plethora of other things that is wrong with our nation, “ it is sin,” Huckabee said, even as a muffled amen rose up from his audience. Don’t run - take the earpiece out of your ear, put down the iPad, tear your sweaty hand from the game stick or shut off the TV for a five full minutes to ponder the Governor’s conclusion. Atheist, agnostic or true believer, you will have to admit that it is the most reasonable conclusion anyone has offered yet.

The gospel is being preached, but who is listening?

They sit like mindless sheep in the classrooms where instructors tell them they are primitive minded Neanderthals for ascribing to any religious view that holds man accountable to the Creator God. They have the latest tunes, news, weather and sports pumped into the space between their ears on countless new electronic gadgets that don’t pause even while they send photos, texts and messages to friends. For leisure they take up one of Hollywood’s latest offerings of altered reality from a video disc or as it were on July 20, 2012, in a local movie theater.

Now we have come full circle to where this subject began. Sadly it was in this setting where the world’s worst reality crashed in, uninvited, unexpected and completely unwanted as an intrusion to Hollywood’s magic, mayhem and nonsense.

With forensic psychologists, legal experts and social scientists offering thousands of possible explanations who wants to go all the way back to the antiquated, over-used and largely discarded message of the gospel? Modernity’s answer is understood, but it is not necessarily the correct answer. In crisis, calamity and tragedy the best answer has been and still continues to be found in an old adage not heard as much anymore.“Wise men still seek Him.”

What is almost impossible to find is someone that admits that we are sinners and that sin is our greatest problem. Echoes of John’s epistle fly from the past to the ailing conscience of modern man, not to condemn, but to re-direct and hopefully stop the loss of one single man or an entire nation. To wit:

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1: 7-9)

Thousands of years before John offered his inspired word about man’s denial of sin and its remedy, the writer of the book of Deuteronomy warned that when mankind refused to deal with sin and obey God’s commandments that lots of troubles would ensue. While we engage dozens of government agencies to avert acts of terrorism from without, Deuteronomy warned of the terror within, but withholds nothing about the source and cause of that terror. Yes – it is sin, just as Governor Huckabee has concluded.

Blatant Idolatry

As a pathological narcissist, most of Obama’s public remarks must be understood as self-referential. When he said, “We are no longer a Christian nation,” he was not referring to the overwhelming number of God-fearing Americans whose faith and morality he is incapable of grasping. What Obama meant was: “The anti-Christian, anti-God Democratic Party led by me now rules America.”

The democratic leadership has become a conglomeration of Marxists, materialists, atheists, egotists, abortionists, evolutionists, unashamed Sodomites, apostate religionists, elitists, calumniators, usurpers, vain praters, liars and totalitarians. The idea of a Christian Democrat has become as oxymoronic as the terms Christian Marxist and Marxist Christian.

The Greek temple background, or backdrop, of Obama’s Democratic Convention acceptance speech broadcast this truth with great clarity. What do Greek temples signify? In a word: idolatry. Inside the Parthenon in Athens, the Greeks exalted a 40-foot-tall gold and ivory image of a woman they called Athena. At Olympia, they exalted an enormous enthroned gold and ivory image of a man they called Zeus.

After a lengthy review of the various Greek gods and their role during the first Roman Empire, we come to the conclusions:

How does all this affect us most seriously? Greek temple worship demanded sacrifice: the slaughter and consumption of domestic animals for a god. We are the “domestic animals” the Democrats intend to sacrifice and devour at Obama’s altar. We are supposed to dutifully submit, just as the ancient animals, most often sheep, were presumed by onlookers to consent to the sacrifice. The presiding priests knew, however, that the animal’s consent was a farce, and so they sprinkled the victim’s head with water, causing it to nod in supposed agreement with its demise.

The Democrats presume we assent to our role as sacrificial sheep. They see us as nodding in agreement, or at least as dumb creatures who must be made to submit in our own best interest. What they have forgotten is that, in relation to idolatrous temple sacrifice, reluctant victims were considered a very bad omen for the elitist priests. We are far more than reluctant: We refuse to be sacrificed on Obama’s altar. This is a God-fearing nation, and the ruling idolators have revealed themselves to be the enemies of our Creator, and enemies of our natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that derive solely from Him.