Suicide is a legal or holy act of war in radical Islam and especially in Iran because one becomes a martyr for Allah in the liberation of Palestine he will be rewarded with 70 virgins in Muslim paradise. This would include all ages of the Haram, a flesh pot really. The incentive is already there. They simply lack the means to do so. A preemptive strike such as on the Syrian and Iraqi nuclear facilities prevented their attempts to acquire the atomic bomb. Israel and the United States, even NATO, if they haven’t already done so by the time these words reach you, will very shortly bomb Iranian nuclear facilities to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. A preemptive strike appears inevitable, unless Iran pushes away from building bombs and launching missiles. Inevitability can be deferred indefinitely. They must pursue the path of peace, not brutal submission, but faith and love, by renouncing the use of nuclear weapons, but also the use of nuclear power. They will lead the world morally. Then they will have peace and prosperity and will join the United States and United Nations in recognition of Israel’s right to exist. They will become one with their enemies.

Because the likelihood of that happening is very low bombing Iran, in this light, would square with just war doctrine because the actions will be proportional and discriminative. They will only use conventional weapons to destroy the targets not nuclear weapons which are not necessary, a few B-52 bombers are more than adequate rather than using a full payload of a nuclear submarine or ICBM’s. That would of course be overkill. The targets are discriminated against. They only attack counter-forces and not counter-value; which means population centers are off limits. The targets are strictly limited to military-industrial-complex. Just war destroys the enemy’s ability to wage modern warfare. However, just war also acknowledges the right of dissent. People must not be forced to fight wars they don’t believe in. Civilians maintain non-combatant immunity, along with holy sites, hospitals, schools, orphanages and the like. All the valuable things in society are off the table. We cannot destroy a Mosque unless it is a store house for weapons. Then it makes itself a legal target.

There is just cause and imminent threat because Iran is suicidal, a terrorist state. They have proven this with October 7^th, Hamas and Hezbollah. They believe death is victory, and will inevitably use the bomb in self-defense or offense or at least to control the Strait of Hormuz, which endangers the world’s energy supply. They will be able to dictate terms. They will hold the world hostage. A preemptive strike would appear to make sense. War is only a last resort when all other negotiations have broken down, a preemptive strike will hit them before they light the fuse.

Just authority should come from the NATO alliance and not just the United States and Israel, even the United Nations will be compelled to justify it. The war is winnable. More good will come from ending the threat, than ignoring it. The world is safer with one less nuclear power, which only increases the probability of war exponentially. This is a necessary act of war to protect our freedom and safety and to limit nuclear proliferation. We saw this policy worked twice before in Iraq and Syria, so we have precedent. We are compelled by the survival of humanity to prevent Iran from acquiring the Bomb. Right now wars are fought conventionally with only the threat of nuclear war such as with Putin’s new war doctrine. Iran does not play by the same rules. They will give no warning and ultimately use it on Tel Aviv or Washington DC, New York or Paris; maybe even Jerusalem because the city is too holy and contains many monuments, such as the Dome of the Rock, we can’t let Infidels control it, that of course, would be collective suicide, a sort of self-immolation to prove they are right. The Ayatollah Khomeini said this himself at the end of the Iran-Iraq War,

We have repeatedly shown in our foreign and international policy that we have been and are intent on expanding the influence of Islam in the world and lessening the domination of the world devourers. Now if the servants of the United States cite this policy as being expansionist and motivated to establish a great empire, we will not fear to welcome it.

We are intent on tearing out the roots of corrupting Zionism, Capitalism and Communism in the world. We have decided to rely on God Almighty to destroy the regimes which are based on these three pillars, in order to spread the religion of Islam of the messenger of God.

O Muslims of the world . . . think of attacking the enemies of Islam, because glory in life can be achieved through struggle . . . it is necessary to break the Sovereignty of global infidelity, particularly of the United States.

We must smash the hands and teeth of the superpowers, particularly of the United States. And we must choose one of two alternatives, either martyrdom or victory, which we both regard as victory.

We are not fighting anyone over towns or territory. We are determined to raise the glorious banner of “There is no God but God” on the heights of magnanimity and generosity.[1]

This was also the case with the 911 bombers. A leading spokesman for Al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahri, a medical doctor, ironic enough, was frank about suicide to bring the victory of Islam across the world. They would rather see it all burn than surrender to the infidels; “You American people, and the whole world: Know that we will not tolerate a repetition of the Andaludsia [the end of Moorish rule in Spain] in Palestine. We would rather see the whole [Islamic] nation perish than see Al Aqsa mosque destroyed, Palestine Judaized and its people expelled.”[2]

This is what we are up against. This fight goes back to the Muhammadan invasion of the Middle-East and Western Europe and the Crusader’s retaliation and control over the holy land. There is nothing new really under the sun. This struggle over a territory the size of New Jersey which is home to three major world religions spans thousands of years and will likely continue into the future. We must assess the situation with total realism. Social Critic Lee Harris makes the point; “That is why it is so critical that our decisions be ones that are guided by the tenets of political realism−the insistence on seeing things precisely as they are and refusing to be miss lead by wishful thinking and utopian illusions.”[3] Ayn Rand makes a case for immediate action, “If, in a desperate situation, one side declares that nothing can be done and the other offers the possibility of action−even if it is some suicidal attempt, such as that resolution.”[4] Iran is not afraid to die for what it believes in and like Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and the Ayatollah they are willing to take the world down with them. The Scorched Earth policy is inherent to all absolute religious and political systems. If we cannot win nobody will win. If we cannot have it nobody will, they salt the earth, burn the oil fields and poison the water supply. They will fight Pyrrhic wars, wars in which there will be more loss than gain. They don’t care. We are right and everybody else is wrong. The world be damned! Hitler and Hussein destroyed their own infrastructure as they retreated. Terrorists use human shields such as hospitals, hostages, Mosques, playgrounds, densely populated neighborhoods and graveyards to protect their military assets. What kind of mentality, worldview or faith builds and army base under a hospital? Or turns women and children into shields? This is shameful and tragic and violates international law and basic human dignity. They feel as though they are less vulnerable than out in the open. They do not hesitate to confuse counter-value with counter-forces. The plain fact remains that in just war doctrine, noncombatants lose their immunity once they participate in fighting. The taking of hostages of course requires a more specialized case because of the risk of killing both in the attempt to rescue one. Sometimes a rescue is not possible. Just war doctrine supports a special operation to rescue the hostages at risk to the acting party, at risk to the lives of American soldiers, because it is the right thing to do; hiding behind civilians will not spare them. They appear to be the culprits for perpetrating civilian casualties. If nothing else is done they the culprits and the hostages will die together in murder suicide.

Ishmael (God shall hear), the son of Hagar handmaiden of Sarah, was described as a wild man and his hand shall be against everyone and everyone against his, but he will also be a great nation (Genesis 16:1-16). This seems to become the source of hate and rage (Genesis 17:20-27). They look around as Childern of Abraham and see a forgotten heritage in the wake of secularism, living in grinding poverty when their wealth of oil is exported to the United States. These machine gun armed Mullah’s offer a better way under Sharia Law. So the disaffected follow them. They see holy lands being plundered by infidels in Spain, yes they still claim Spain as Muslim territory, Bosnia and Syria, threatening holy sites, and the oppression of fellow believers and stealing their land and imprisoning then in concentration camps. They believe Israel is an American colony controlled by the Jews, all Jews are in conspiracy, to take over the world. Anti-Semitism is endemic throughout radical Islam; it appears rooted in an inextricable or metaphysical belief that the Jews and the Christians sold out revelation for politics, when they joined with the Romans, which of course they didn’t hesitate to do by joining with the Arabs. The Christians and the Jews are done for. They only served as precursors to the coming of the Prophet. They believe that they have the final revelation and reserve the right to bare-arms in its claims. Radical Islam is at war with everyone. We don’t of course renounce believers which reject the path of war. The radicals divide the world between the house of Islam, house of peace or submission and the house of war. They are literally at war with everyone, including Uyghurs in China, but there they are martyrs, we can even side with them as patriots for freedom for the cause of human dignity against a totalitarian government.

Secularism has ruled Islamic people with an iron fist. Nasser, Assad, Saddam Hussein and the Shan abolished Muslim practices like vial and old ways of Islam, which was thought to be precedent for women’s rights in Iran, expelled the Ayatollah and important clerics, we may consider them the usurps of Islam. Then the faithful are raised up by the Ayatollah who restores the old ways−the true ways by seizing the American Embassy and holding diplomats hostage, another violation of international law. Foreign Embassies are not legal targets according to just war doctrine and international law. They are immune from persecution by joint agreement. Iran completely destroyed their credibility on the world stage. They’ve proven they cannot be trusted. The Iraqis later blew up the United Nations embassy at the beginning of the Iraqi-War. They have no respect for international law or human life. They will remain forever against the non-Muslim worlds and themselves, for example; their sectarian splits will intensify. War is endemic to their belief, as I suppose it is to every religion, one God or many. We can think of the Ayatollah as a wild man against the world. Genesis describes the linage of Ismael in robust terms as violent and given to war (Genesis 16:1-8; 17:20-27). I’m sure I’ll receive death threats for saying that.

Jihadists are not Muslim, but radical Islamists. They believe in the implantation of Sharia Law. All will give good will or free will for Allah. We are all bound to recognize God and they are sure they are his keepers. “Radical Muslim” is better since there is a logical connection between the house of war and peace. They take these things literally. Muslims deny war as a means of spreading their faith. Muslims say Jihad is a spiritual battle, extremists say it is a physical or political power struggle. Radicalism does not separate state from church. So a holy war as we know it today would be inevitable. Muslims need to assert a plural value system. Some may say this is a Jewish or Christian conspiracy to fool the world; but in order to avoid the terrorists and jihadist trap it will be necessary for them to survive. They must be able to recognize the difference between Christ and Caesar or Supreme Leader. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. The secular, modern view asserts a radical separation of power between God and Country. This means physical violence government needs for its own survival is not permissible in a secular world, except by right of law. We cannot kill indiscriminately in the name of Justice, the same way Jihadists kill in the name of Allah. Everyone dies for God. We cannot force faith upon anyone or compel them against their will. This does not mean there is no role for government in God’s plan. Christianity says only properly ordained authority, freely elected by the people, reserves the right to defend itself in a just war, not paramilitary forces on a mission. Just war fights defensive wars. Holy wars are always offence; except a preemptive strike can be justified if the situation is desperate. Just war usually holds preemptive war in contempt, but will agree to it if it is necessary or the only alternative. The necessity of war consumes us. 

This is a war for the basic survival of humanity. The greatest good is human survival. The worst evil would be extinction of homo sapiens and the planet. Earth is the only known life in the universe. War leads to death. War comes from war, peace from peace and life from life. One war only begets another war, until what?

The holy war is fought entirely for the glory of God. Just war fights for civil rights that have a divine imperative and the recognition of individual value. There are no expendable  throwaway people. All War is always more humane when God is left out of it. We do not fight for unlimited goals of total conquest, but fight for temporal but peaceful purposes. Holy war believes in the total liquidation of the enemy. They must convert or die. Holy war justifies genocide. A just war never fights for genocide, but only to maintain human rights and mutual toleration. Just wars fight for legal strategic objectives, not for God’s pleasure. We maintain limits to war legally.

“Pacifism” denies that there is any good in violence, as the word suggests, war is never acceptable and without exception condemns acts of war. The problem here is that pacifism does not recognize the state’s right to exist without some force, violence or adequate means of persuasion. Some war is necessary to keep a just defense. Just like some police work is necessary, within the bounds of law. The powers that be do not bear the sword in vain. Local traffic laws all have the threat of power behind them, all law does. War can only make you submit to humanity’s law not God’s law. God does not force obedience at the end of a bayonet, which Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia is known to do. They force shops to close five times a day for public prayer, think of the lost revenue in that practice and the imposition on the people. Infidels are not allowed to enter Mecca or Medina or to the entire Arabian peninsula, because their unholy presence would despoil it. They keep a strict separation between Muslims and Infidels which includes Jews, Christians and Pagans. Followers of Muhammad must not befriend Infidels for fear of moral and spiritual ruination, until they are converted. This appears to be source of hate and rage. Infidels are polluting the holy land. Kepel continues his history of radical Islam; “Baz’s fatwa pronounced in the 1940’s and included in a collection still on sale in the Kingdom in 2001, interpreted the hadith more literally: ‘It is illicit to employ a non-Muslim servant whether male or female, or non-Muslim driver, or a non-Muslim worker in the Arabian Gulf, for the Prophet−peace and blessing be upon him−commanded that all Jews and Christians be expelled, and that only Muslims remain. He did that at the moment of his death, when he ordered that all polytheists be expelled from the Arabian Gulf, because the presence of infidels, male or female poses a danger to Muslims, their beliefs, their morality and their children’s education. For that reason it must be forbidden.’[5] The Israeli occupation of Palestine and America’s presence in Saudi-Arabia and the Arab world especially since the Gulf-War threatens the Muslim’s faith and appears to be the root of the problem. America brings pornography and alcohol into the holy land. They bring things and do things that are forbidden under Sharia Law.

Holy war, or whatever the cause may be imposes itself on the world. Just war fights to preserve Western Universalism, tolerance, free speech and respect for different religions and women’s rights. We fight for the basic right of Adam’s Race to exist. Jihad fights for the rights of God. This includes human immolation. The Aztecs were given to human sacrifice because it created a more harmonious and just world order. So Jihad believes war will finally bring peace in a Muslim Empire. Just war, just brings more war; will we see the establishment of peace or the victory of war?

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[1] Quoted in Ann Elizabeth Mayer, “War and Peace in the Islamic Tradition and International Law” in Just War and Jihad: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives on War and Peace in Western and Islamic Traditions eds. John Kelsay and James Turner Johnson (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), 201-208.

[2] Quoted in Gilles Kepel, The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West trans., by Pascale Ghazaleh (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004), 77.

[3] Lee Harris, Civilization And Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History (New York: Free Press, 2004), 35.

[4] Ayn Rand, The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (New York: Signet, 1971), 112.

[5] Kepel, The War for Muslim Minds, 165-166.

Many people believe nuclear war to be inevitable, citing 2 Peter 2:10, “The heavens shall pass with a noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” or Zechariah 14:12, “Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their mouth,” as proof texts for this conclusion. They believe nuclear weapons are the divine means by which judgment will be poured out on mankind. They hope to avoid this judgment by rapture.

The danger of this view is that it creates a social apathy among many people commanded to be “light” and “salt” among the nations. This “nuclear dispensationalism” as some have called it revels in a kind of “eschatological glee” at the signs of the approaching doomsday. All talk of arms control, peace accords or limitations on nuclear weapons proliferation is met immediately with scorn. All such human attempts at peace will not save the earth from its foreordained date with destruction. Only the coming of Jesus will save us.

Eschatology has become the rubric through which we view the nuclear problem. All attempts at solving the ethical dilemma of nuclear war are cast aside as irrelevant. The problem may simply be stated, we cannot use nuclear weapons because of their destructive power and we must use nuclear weapons for self-defense. The issue is skirted by references to Armageddon and the imminent return of Christ. There is no need to deal with this problem or maintain controls on the use of nuclear weapons, because they see the bible predicating what eventually will happen.

It is my contention that the responsible people must reject this end times paradigm, through which the issue is currently dealt with. Instead we must deal with the hard questions of nuclear war through the grid of just war tradition grounding our response on the Christian ethic of love.[1] We cannot reject responsibility for peace by claiming war is inevitable. This means nuclear proliferation treaties are grounded on an ethic of the value of human life and basic right to survival. This means we cannot give priority to our eschatological systems. Eschatology must take a back seat to the primal biblical teaching of responsibility. Our eschatological systems must be tempered with a candid admission of indefiniteness. “I don’t know!”[2] the high priest of rock ‘n’ roll Ozzy Osborn sings when asked the question about the end of the world.

The point here is not to argue hermeneutics, whether this or that verse actually teaches that God will judge the world through nuclear war, but to question that tacit assumption of the inevitability of nuclear war in our times or the future based on bible prophecy and to counteract the social apathy such a view creates. Let us keep in mind that eschatology is the study of the Last Things. It is an aspect of systematic theology which focuses on the end time events leading to the Second Advent and has always been tentative in its conclusions. In other words we don’t know exactly when the end will come, so we must stay ever vigilant. Eschatology represents a field a theological speculation. The myriad of explanations and scenarios and possibilities are endless. We may take the perspective that we were wrong and nuclear war is not inevitable.

Let us not allow these conditions and critical interpretations to override the biblical mandate to be overseers in the creation (Genesis 1:26) and the light and salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13, 14) in a way that will negatively impact international negotiations and policy that will lead to a peaceful solutions. Eschatology certainly has its place and its primary tenet of our Lord’s return represents fundamental doctrine; but the contemporary conclusion or recent belief should not be imposed on the more primary scriptural teaching of the Christian ethic of love thy neighbor. The problem we face in this fatalism is a reasoning which interprets all future events according to its own preconceived scenario with no regard with what the rest of scripture may teach.

Indeed, there is a tension between imminence and social concern. However, the solution is not to abandon either but to embrace both and live with the tension. Imminent consequences of destruction should be a great motivating influence on fixing the problem, before it becomes too late. God pours out judgment and grace. Mercy wins over justice; it always has the last word. “For the judgment is merciless to one who has not shown mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13 NABRE). Yes, Christ’s return must be soon. We all embrace the day. Yet our hope of his return should not lead us to forsake the mission for the church today: the Divine Mandate to save the earth from a holocaust, nuclear, environmental or world war, will be to preach the greatest sermon. The end of the world is known only to God. Last Things are his responsibility, his concerns not ours. We cannot forsake the role of the church in modern or technological society because Christ is coming soon. “Why polish the brass on a sinking ship?” D. L. Moody once said. God will pour out judgment in his time, but we must go on with what is our responsibility to maintain. In the parable of the ten coins the people thought the kingdom would immediately brake out, instead Jesus gave us the task “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13 KJV) or as the NABRE says, “engage in trade with these (Gold Coins) until I return.” The nobleman expected a profitable return on the money he invested for the long haul. Jesus praised the sons of this world for being wiser than the sons of light for their shrewdness in the way they conducted business (Luke 16:1-13). This means we are to be busy engaging the world for positive gains, while we wait for the Lord’s Return. We maintain a healthy relationship with the world system without being deceived by it, be like those “that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that used this world as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away (1 Corinthians 7:30, 31 KJV).  We should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16). We are to pray for those in power that we may live in peace (1 Timothy 2:1, 2). Peace is the end goal of civil authority of all civil participation, of all ethical behavior.

Inevitability represents a dangerous doctrine militarily. Those who believe war is inevitable will always fire the first shot. The Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor was motived by the notion that war between the Japanese Empire and the United States was inevitable. The Confederates also believed war between the North and the South was inevitable and took the first shot at Charleston. What should alarm us is that China believes a war over Taiwan to be inevitable.

Armageddon Theology is fatalism in its ugliest form. A destiny not derived in pagan gods that often demanded child sacrifices in order to grant fertility, but the fatalism that arises out of a misunderstanding of the biblical text and the proper application to society. This apathy affects a broad range of topics, not just peace, but starvation and environmental destruction. Why save a planet that is already doomed? We can only hope that people will begin to think in terms the Judeo-Christian framework in regards to the issues of the times and not according to the nebulous interpretations of the doomsayers. 

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[1] See the author’s Master’s Thesis, The Just War Tradition and Nuclear Weapons In The Post Cold War Era (Dallas Theological Seminary, 1994) or a shorten radio version  Just War Tradition and the Present Crisis; https://probe.org/the-just-war-tradition-in-the-present-crisis/

[2] People look to me and say
“Is the end near, when is the final day?”
What’s the future of mankind
How do I know, I got left behind

Everyone goes through changes
Looking to find the truth
Don’t look at me for answers
Don’t ask me, I don’t know

How am I supposed to know
Hidden meanings that will never show?
Fools and prophets from the past
Life’s a stage and we’re all in the cast

You gotta believe in someone
Asking me who is right
Asking me who to follow
Don’t ask me, I don’t know

I don’t know
I don’t know
I don’t know

Nobody ever told me, I found out for myself
You gotta believe in foolish miracles
It’s not how you play the game, it’s if you win or lose
You can choose, don’t confuse
Win or lose, it’s up to you

It’s up to you
It’s up to you
It’s up to you
Go, go, go

People look to me and say
“Is the end near, when is the final day?”
What’s the future of mankind
How do I know, I got left behind, I’m lost

Everyone goes through changes
Looking to find the truth
Don’t look at me for answers
Don’t ask me, I don’t know

Ozzy Osbourne, “I Don’t Know” in Blizzard of Oz (Blizzards Music, Ltd), 1980.

I am a pluralist I like to see both sides of the issue. I watch FOX News, CNN, ABC, TBN, CBN and various other outlets which spin different narratives; they all have different propaganda, another side to the story, some I agree with, others I don’t, but that’s not important. I only want to discuss what I heard on one television program. And let viewers make their own choice. I discovered the Eastern world view. I peered into the vision of the Kings of the Rising Sun (Revelation 16:12) when I watched Al Jazeera news broadcast. This is one of the most popular stations in the Middle-East; they weave a different narrative of the Arab-Israel Conflict, establish in 2006 and located in Qatar. I was shocked as too high striking the tone of the broadcast was to my Western sensibilities; they believe in Anti-Semitism and the war to kill the Jews and the downfall of NATO, and especially the United States and the United Nations, which defines their war against the West. They hate the Jews and by all counts want to annihilate them.

They believe that the Arab and Muslim nations must join forces with China and Russia in some sort of Axis like order that resists the nation of Israel to liquidate them. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. They believe that the Muslims together with Russia, China and North Korea will rise and defeat the hegemony of NATO and Israel. They believe that the Zionists control NATO and the United Nations to do their bidding for them in the destruction and genocide of the Palestinians. They are crusaders against Palestinian genocide, but conversely favor a new holocaust against Jews. All events are viewed in reverse, a sort of Alice in Wonderland experience, through the looking glass. This is a perfect example of irreconcilable opposites; they believe the Arabs are superior to the Jews and will prevail. The land belongs to the Palestinians not the Jews. The Jews are usurpers. They are fanatical haters of Jews and open advocates of genocide. The Jews are vermin and should be eradicated. They are the source of the world’s problems. Where have we heard this before? Is this a sign of things to come? Their hatred includes the Great Satan the United States, recall Israel was Little Satan, because we believed in the right of Israel to exist; for one example they did a segment on America’s war problem which they believe will lead to further decline of the United States through crime, drug abuse, unemployment, poverty, lowering educational and living standards and withdrawing their military support from Israel. All the while Trump will grow more tyrannical. America is faced with a war in the Middle-East, Taiwan and Ukraine which will spread their resources too thin. Because Trump wants to put America first, he will lower spending on military cost and cut taxes. This will cause the United States to recede from war and their patronage of Israel. He’s headed to an isolationist view of political world power. America will soon be opposed by the whole world until their demise and the rise of the Caliphate over the Middle-East and Europe and Chinese and Russian hegemony over the rest of the world.

If I can assert a commentary here; China is not just looking to invade the United States and Taiwan, but want world control and will even allow North Korea to conquer South Korea. They are not fighting for money and land but for power and honor. They want to be number one. This represents the same motives that inspire the Jihadists and Russians. They want to expel all the foreigners, the infidels and reclaim the Century of Shame from 1839-1945 when China was under considerable occupation by Western nations including the United States. We may see a 21^st century Boxer Rebellion to throw the foreigners out and seize control of Taiwan. Japan will be pushed back through ethnic cleansing.

Their hope is that Trump will no longer support NATO and pull out of the alliance leaving NATO vulnerable to Russian attack. He speaks good war rhetoric but is a stooge of Putin’s. He will retreat on all fronts. He will withdraw support for Taiwan and allow China to grow even more influential. Israel will eventually succumb as the United States fades from the fray. That’s what I think they are saying.

President-Elect Trump is faced with World War Three; whether we like him or not we should pray for him before we criticize. This will prevent bitterness and anger when we disagree with the ruling power. The destiny of the world has been put into his hand, everything comes down to how we relate to Israel and love for democracy. How will he react? Will he bring war or peace? Pray for his guidance, his conscience and love for peace. We are told to pray for the king and all those in authority; “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:3 KJV). Trump sees himself as a new Ronald Reagan who used military might and rhetoric to win the Cold War, but also let us remember Reagan argued for peace and the end of the arms race and saw the fall of the Berlin Wall. They even have the same slogan “Make America Great Again.” Things haven’t been this tense since the Cold War. Pray for those in power, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The Jihadist is aggressive and believes history is on their side. They view the West as ultimately in spiritual and moral decline and the rise of the Muslim nations to global superiority. They control the oil so they should dictate the terms especially with Israel. We may well live to see the final showdown between the East verses the West. Both China and Russia may invade the Middle-East to their mutual advantage as well. The point of prophecy is not to predicate the future but to prevent it from happening. I don’t want to see any of this come to pass any more than you do. I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu called the Axis of Resistance the enemies of civilization. Harvard Professor Samuel P. Huntington predicted something to this effect back in the 1990’s in post-Cold War era in his seminal book Clash of Civilizations. The world is more aligned culturally and strategically than ideologically leading to the West verses the Rest scenario. I think isolationist policies are dangerous, given the global climate of hostility, even in America. We know American Isolationism in the 1930’s lead to World War Two. Trump must negotiate with a Dictator, Communists and Jihadists, while concerning himself with domestic issues, with a lack luster NATO Alliance, which he doesn’t even like, and a supportive Republican Congress, making a Deceleration of War more likely. Imagine the Arab Horse Men riding toward you with swords drawn shouting “Allahu AkBar” or posters of Xi Jinping in the White House.

I believe it was Saddam Hussein who said that the Palestinians were “popcorn” by which of course he meant they were pawns in Iraq’s goal of domination of the Middle East. They were an excuse to attack Israel. The same policy is being carried out by the Iranian regime. The Iranians do not want a peace settlement in Gaza or Lebanon, nor do they want to see the creation of an independent Palestinian state. They want to fan the flame of tension and hate between the Arabs and Israelis to provide an excuse for war, to keep the wounds open indefinitely until they have prevailed in ousting Israel from the holy land. A Palestinian state would of course mean an end to Iran’s moral justification of liberating the Palestinians. Their goal is not freedom for an oppressed people but a worldwide Jihad against Israel that will eradicate them entirely. Palestinian nationhood will never be accomplished so long as Iran remains a major player in the region, even if the Arabs and Israelis reached an agreement the Iranians would still interfere. In a tragic sense both the Israelis and the Palestinians are caught in the crossfire between the Modern Western world and the Ancient Islamic one that goes back to the rise of the Iranian Republic in 1979. They are the true culprits here. Until the radical Jihad ideology is abandoned by Iran and her proxies the war will continue for generations to come and may bring us to the brink of World War Three, perhaps even the use of nuclear weapons. You can’t run a tank over an ideology. The people of the Middle East especially Palestinians must be shown that Jihad or holy war will only create further chaos and that the best path to peace and independence is to purse a policy of reconciliation with their enemies, the Israelis must also be willing to make concession and establish peace. Israel already has made peace with Jordan and Egypt. They can do the same with the Palestinians. Those who convert their enemies into friends make themselves twice as strong while does who kill their enemies make themselves twice as weak. We should show both sides a future where close relatives live in peace and recognize each other’s right to co-exist. “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1).

The Western world is composed of those who derive their roots in Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian or Hellenistic and modern culture, which includes Christianity as the predominant religion, democracy and is technologically advanced. By now almost the whole world is westernized to some degree. The rest of the world accepts Western technological ideology and practice, uses the Gregorian calendar and wears blue jeans, once a symbol of rebellion and banded in the Soviet Union. Y2K panic in the late 1990’s was a good example of how dominate and integrated Western culture is with the rest of the world and how dangerous it could be. Another defining characteristic is that the Western world in many ways hosted and defended the Jews. The Italian word “ghetto” described the Jewish people living in isolated − tolerated by the powers that be − sections of the city apart from the Catholic Italians. However ambiguous the relationship, it was through this arrangement that Jewish culture was preserved for posterity. In return for this tolerant reception Jewish society produced great thinkers, scientists, philosophers and comedians: Spinoza, Marx, Freud, Einstein, Teller, the Marx Brothers and Oppenheimer all came from Jewish backgrounds, albeit, secularized.

Today the Jews still thrive in Gentile cities in education, academics, the arts business, as well as medicine and the legal profession. We can think of the stereotypical Jewish rabbi, lawyer or professor. The Jews are good with money and have lent funds to kings, with interest, to pay for their wars. These are stereotypes, but they are images that have resonance with Gentiles and they are not all negative. The Jews have prospered in Western society. Contemporary historian Niall Ferguson notes the Jewish contribution to American society,

The Jewish role in Western intellectual life in the twentieth century − especially in the United States – was indeed disproportionate, suggesting a genetic as much as a cultural advantage. Accounting for around 0.2 per cent of the world’s population and 2 per cent of the American population, Jews won 22 per cent of all Nobel Prizes, 20 per cent of all Fields Medals for mathematics and 67 per cent of the John Clarke Bates Medals for economists under the age of forty. Jews also won 38 per cent of the Oscars for Best Director, 20 per cent of the Pulitzer Prizes for non-fiction and 13 per cent of Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Jews have in fact outperformed Protestants in the United States over the past century, with significantly higher earnings and rates of self-employment. Of the chief executive officers of Fortune magazine’s 100 largest companies in 2003, at least 10 per cent were Jews as were no fewer than 23 per cent of CEO’s of the Forbes 400. Not only have Jews been disproportionately successful in starting financial firms; they were also founders or co-founders of some of the world’s biggest technology companies, for example Dell, Google, Intel and Oracle.[1]

The Western world was, at least in part, founded upon the idea of tolerance for minorities, namely, the Jews, who we may say represent all minorities. The Romans were by no means hostile to older traditions. The Jews were a protected people under Roman law, because of their predominate place in Roman society and ancient history. They were devout supporters of Rome, albeit, including slavery. They paid for foreign wars and were exempt from hailing Caesar−instead of praying to a false god−they prayed for the well-being of the emperor. This was how they circumvented saying, “Caesar Is Lord!” They affirmed their allegiance to Rome without hailing Caesar, nobody else was able to do that. We can add to this that these ancient people were also the progenitors of the Christian faith and have given us the founding document of our culture: the bible, which stresses the value and responsibility of each individual person.

I am well aware that Western culture has been guilty of empire, genocide and slavery around the world in the past 500 years, religious wars, Anti-Semitism and intolerance of primitive, less advanced, indigenous peoples, and people of color, but such a track record should not detract from the fact that today in most Western cities minorities of all faiths and races live side by side. However, uncomfortable at times this maybe. This would not be the case if the Axis Powers won the Second World War or if the Soviet Union won the Cold War. The West has also given us the novel concept of civil rights, equality, democracy, freedom of religion, free speech, the discovery of the individual and technological progress, ideas latent with the seeds of pluralism. What other civilization has allowed its young people to openly criticize the government, or allowed for free speech, certainly not China, Russia or Islam. We can compare the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989) to the anti-war protest movements in the 1960’s, most of which were peaceful. Kent State was an exception (1970). We should give credit where credit is due and blame to where blame is due. We can think of Iran’s brutal crackdown on student protest movements or the Chinese Communist Party’s repression of civil rights in Hong Kong, which is a Western stronghold in the heart of Asia. China, Russia and Islam are just as guilty of oppression and slavery in their long histories as anyone else. It is estimated that Genghis Kahn murdered up to 30 million people in his conquest across Asia. Today all three Eastern powers remain antagonistic to the West. Islamic countries do not allow freedom of conscience or recognize the equality of women, which is perhaps the linchpin of the entire system and makes it woefully inadequate as a world religion and alternative society. Democracy means majority rule but also minority rights. The triumph of one political faction over the other does not lead to the loser’s eradication; winners share power with losers. Martin Luther King, Jr. appealed to The Declaration of Independence (1776) as a defense for minority rights; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

When we speak of a bi-polar world between East and West, “East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet” as Rudyard Kipling has said we are not simply referring to geography, although it certainly began that way. In the ancient world the West was defined by Alexander the Great bringing Greek culture to the Eastern world namely by defeating Persia and making his way as far East as India. The Romans held back the Parthians who were limited by the Euphrates River, the traditional boundary line between East and West. The bible even mentions the Kings of the Rising Sun or the East pouring across the Euphrates River in great hoards to invade the Roman Empire (Revelation 9:13-19; 16:12). The Romans held a deep dread that the Parthians would attack from the East in the same way today we fear a Russian or Chinese invasion. The enemies of Israel, beyond the Euphrates, such as Assyria and Babylon always threatened to invade the holy land. Today East and West represents something more than geography, race or even religion, but is defined by ideas, namely democracy verses totalitarianism. The famous German philosopher Georg W. F. Hegel (1770-1831) defined Oriental Despotism as the knowledge that only one man is free: the Emperor, Tsar, Sultan, Kahn or Mogul. “Orientals do not yet know Spirit − Man as such − is free. And because they do not know it, they are not free. They only know that one is free; but for this reason, such freedom is mere caprice . . . This one is therefore only a despot [a ruler with absolute power], not a free man.”[2] The notion that the Emperor was divine best exemplified by Japanese Shintoism only entered the West when Alexander conquered the Persians and imitated their style until then the West was little inclined to the idea including the Roman and Greek Republics. Some emperors were embarrassed by it, even down played it, such as Tiberius. The kings of Israel were not considered absolute but limited by the prophets and the Word of God, such as when Samuel confronted King Saul for not annihilating Amalek and keeping the best of his flocks for himself (1 Samuel 15:10-23) and when Nathan rebuked King David for his sin of adultery and murder (2 Samuel 12:1-12). In the days of Samuel the prophet the Israelites rejected the rule of the Judges because it was akin to anarchy, where everyone did what was right in his own eyes and desired a king who would tell them what to do. The desire for an absolute monarch was an affront to God who said to Samuel that the people had rejected him as their king. Samuel warned the people that a king would reduce them to penury, slavery and war (1 Samuel 8:6-22; cf. Judges 17:6; 21:25). Jesus likewise rejected the temptation by Satan to kingship (Matthew 4:8, 9; Luke 4:5-7; John 6:15). The text makes it perfectly clear that the kingdoms of the world are ruled by the god of this age. This leads us to suspicion and mistrust of authority. This position allows us to put limits on the state’s power, such as with a Constitution and Bill of Rights. Jesus introduced the notion of the separation of church and state when he said “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and render to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:15; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26). The government cannot tell us what to believe. This is diametrically opposed to Islam and dictatorship.

Jewish culture may well guide Western life, such as Moses, Maimonides, Mendelssohn, the bible, the 12 Apostles, Mary and Jesus Christ, were all Jewish. Zionism is therefore central to Western thinking. Ferguson makes an other pertinent comment, “For some reason, beginning in the late fifteenth century, the little states of Western Europe, with their bastardized linguistic borrowing from Latin (and a little Greek), their religion derived from the teaching of a Jew from Nazareth and their intellectual debts to Oriental mathematics, astronomy and technology, produced a civilization capable not only of conquering the great Oriental empires and subjugating Africa, the Americas and Australasia, but also of converting peoples all over the world to the Western way of life – a conversion achieved ultimately more by the word than by the sword.”[3] 

The West either protected the Jews or conversely tried to destroy them, agreed! History is ambiguous, it does not proceed in a straight line and is full of contradictions, we can all admit to that. Hegel called this process “the cunning of reason” where the opposite ends of intentions are established, such as instead of saving democracy by dictatorship it destroys it, the best examples being Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte. The holocaust gives us the State of Israel. Today the West continues its support for the Right of Israel to exist in the Promised Land or at least part of it.

Islam believes in the reverse principle, the total destruction of the Jews; not only dissolving the Israeli State, but the liquidation of all Jews as a race: genocide, even though they too were the forebears of the Islamic faith. Their Anti-Semitism should alarm us because it shows that Islam, at least as it appears today, is Anti-Semitic; this may be far from the Prophet’s original vision, and is only held by a minority, if this is not the case, his followers should prove otherwise. It expresses no neutrality or objectivity in the matter. The Modern Western world is opposed to the Ancient Eastern world. I appeal to Spengler’s ponderous tomes The Decline of West where he someplace says the non-Western countries wish to throw off the yoke of the West, as a prelude to its downfall. We see this dynamic being played out in the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

Technology offers another hallmark of the triumph of the West; technological innovation is Western in nature and will eventually destroy the East by undermining faith in its own values and traditions. The internet and mass media exposes closed societies to Western ideas. The East unlike the West hates the Jews and soon they will have an equal amount of technology and fire power to destroy them. Their worldview is founded on intolerance − the Jews must go − not only all the sons of Jacob occupying the land, but the Jews as a race should be exterminated and the rest of the world converted. The East sees itself as saving the world from Zionism, which wants to show the Jews in power or at least in control of the holy land. Ancient Islamic belief holds that the Jews are not entitled to the land, but Esau is, namely themselves, his descendants. The world spins around an ancient blood feud or vendetta between the sons of Abraham, struggling over a relatively small piece of real estate the size of New Jersey.

By Zionism, I mean the Western, Christian Democracies, Post-Christian is a misnomer, since it argues for the predominate place of Christianity in Western history. We cannot escape our heritage. How else are we to judge ourselves without the value of freedom and reason we learn from the past? The West is guilty of atrocity, all well and good we know this, but we can only recognize that injustice by the same sense of morality we inherited from the West from our upbringing in Judeo-Christian values. Marxism, Feminism and Critical Race Theory are all critical of Western power structures, perhaps as they should be, despite the fact that this outrage comes from a Western value of individual freedom and human dignity. Just as Postmodernism uses critical analysis begun in the modern world to liberate oppressed people – Critical Modernity may be a better epithet for this movement, in the same way secular criticism uses Christian categories of right and wrong to judge traditional religion. They may accuse Christians of hypocrisy that is not living up to its own belief system, but they are not presenting anything fundamentally new. In their judgments they reaffirm those ancient beliefs. Christianity is the conscience of the West providing the tension that moves history forward. French historian Jacques Ellul (1912-1994) gives us a reasonable balance; “the history of the West is not a history of unrelieved criminality, and that what the West has given to the world weighs infinitely more in the scales than what it has done to societies and individuals.”[4] The barbarism of the past has left the modern West with a bad conscience or “white guilt” which if not soon resolved will end in madness then suicide.

The modern world, at least from 1948, has in part protected the Jews from ancient prejudice. Other great powers, such as Cyrus the Great made Judea a protectorate of the Iranian Empire. The same people in modern world want to turn Israel into an ash heap, effectively destroying their own heritage. This is a Cold War principle in effect throughout the non-Western world. Any move against Israel means an attack on the modern Christian world. The secular West is another form of Christianity, albeit disfigured, as I already pointed out; it wants the same goal of Judeo-Christian values without its Jewish metaphysics and mysticism. Secularism represents a society that wants the ethics of religion but not God.

Zionism represents the triumph of the West in modern technological progress and the victory of Christ across the world. Ellul makes an interesting argument that the West was entrusted with the revelation of the gospel and is in danger of losing that privilege from subversive forces, for example those who use free speech to end free speech as we see with aspiring Fascist and Communist movements. By this he means that the Western world in its ancient form believed in Eros or the will to power and domination clearly demonstrated in the Roman Empire, especially with the persecution of Christians. This drive for world domination was countered by the introduction of the Christian gospel or Agape, a contradictory force that moves Western society forward to love and freedom. It is the absence of Agape in our times that leaves the West vulnerable, stranded in a spiritual no man’s land and liable to collapse or to morph into some sort of monolithic world government. The city on the hill will lose its light and this would be disastrous for the rest of the world. “The West represents values for which there is no substitute. The end of the West today would mean the end of any possible civilization.”[5] The greatest need of our times remains repentance, to reintroduce Agape in the contemporary world.

Islam wants to be the Caliphate, just as China wants to be the Hegemon with its control over the oil supply and bourgeoning population. Islam views the West as a form of Jewish oppression. The Jews control the West to do its bidding in the desecration of the holy land, especially, The Dome of the Rock one of Islam’s holiest sites. If the centuries old monument, mosque falls even in an earthquake, or by a stray missile, however ironic, it could mean World War III − despite favoritism shown to Israel − we should let the Arabs retain control of the temple mount where the mosque is located and create a Palestinian State for the sake of peace, which represents another Western value. 

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[1] Niall Ferguson, Civilization: The West and the Rest (New York: Penguin Books, 2011), 235, 262.

[2] Georg W. F. Hegel, Reason in History: A General Introduction to the Philosophy of History, trans., by  Robert S. Hartman (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1953 [1822]), 23.

[3] Ferguson, Civilization: The West and the Rest, 5.

[4] Jacques Ellul, The Betrayal of the West trans., by Matthew J. O’ Connell (New York: The Seabury Press, 1978), 193.

[5] Ibid, vii.

Surveillance technology as we said before threatens human freedom and progress. Everything is watched and monitored. You are under control, “to watch is to control” resulting not in world peace but the Panopticon.  AC/DC sings, “I feel safe in a cage in New York City.” [1] We are all in a global prison system. The Chinese know this position very well. This represents the old paradigm of bad results, despite good intention, issuing from impartial means or assumedly “neutral technology”; instead of a more interconnected society of trust and value, from personal experience, speedy and efficient communications technology has produced an entire population under watch viewed from a central location. It is an anti-social environment. It cuts people off from their connection to their own individuality, each other and prevents bonding. Did we choose this arrangement or was it foisted upon us? More than likely we chose our own imprisonment. Freedom requires responsibility and self-control. This is the divine image. We can individually and collectively break free from our chains if we wanted to simply by hitting the off button. The West gives power and preference to the individual rather than the group. In the East it is the reverse. The dialectical struggle is being played out on the streets of Hong Kong where citizens press for the Sate to recognize civil rights and basic human dignity.

In addition, facial recognition technology wants to be able to predict the criminal archetype from composite photos and images. This technology is being used to predict character, reliability, habits, I.Q. as well as identify terrorists, gays, straights and pedophiles. Technological progress on this front is causing a regression in scientific knowledge. This technology is leading us back to the days of Phrenology, Physiognomy, and Eugenics, pseudosciences which were once used to support Race Theory in the 19^th and first half of the 20th century. The 21^st century appears to be going retro in an attempt to bolster the acceptance of surveillance technology and public safety. This technology cannot exist without support from Junk Science. This represents the idea that we can judge a person’s character, virtue or lack of it on stereotypes and criminal characteristics or facial profile according to anatomical features, such protruding jaw line, big nose, big lips, sloping forehead, color of the skin, size of the cranium and the like. Certainly, technology will attack what it perceives to be negative types with the same vigor that embolden the Nazi’s hatred for the Jews. It puts institutional racism on an empirical or scientific bases, making it legitimate in the popular mind and academic venues. Facial recognition will change the way people apply for jobs, become a church member, or join the college faculty; instead of a personal interview employers will study facial patterns that will judge an applicant’s honesty, thrift, to see if they are a good fit for the job. This should concern us deeply, as we move forward with these new technologies, let’s not resort to the mistakes of the past. How may they compromise civil rights, such as privacy and personal liberties? Everyone will be assigned a mug shot with physical measurements in the background, and of course, a profile this is already the case for those imprisoned. Physiognomy or the art of “face-reading” an occult science really, is making a comeback through facial recognition technology.

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[1] AC/DC “Safe in New York City” in Stiff Upper Lip (Australian Music Corp. Pty, LTD), 2000.

Technology creates more physical need, and government obstruction to prevent disaster; now we must come up with the money to pay for innovation that requires regulation and taxation for public safety. Before their invention there was no need for electricity, automobiles, smart-phones, fossil-fuel and computers. People have no need for technology that does not yet exist. The desire for it must be invented and money generated to satisfy it and social regulation to control it. Wants turn into need. The cotton-gin increased the demand for slaves because now there is more cotton to harvest. Technology propels us to higher standards of living raising the poverty level and demand for unnecessary things, for more widgets and gadgets that occupy our time and pocket-books. The faster we move the faster we want to go. In the car you can never go fast enough. We commonly call this “road-rage” heaven help us if someone gets in our way. There was never any need to join the car with the computer thereby increasing the cost of an automobile. Technology increases the need for police interference in our lives. Because we can travel twice as fast we need twice the protection. World government will be introduced to control nuclear-power, genetic-engineering and cloning. We already see this with international regulatory agencies. The automobile brought us the highway-patrol and speeding- tickets. Everyday commercials convince us to buy things we never wanted until we see them. Sight incites desire. We are always stretching to increase our social-status, to get the next thing and trying to catch up to ourselves. We satisfy yesterday’s need only to create more need in the present and the future like the greyhound chasing the rabbit. The computer increases our work-load, because we can go twice as fast, now we can work twice as much. What happened to the four-hour workday promised by the introduction of the computer?

All Anti-Semitism is Anti-Christian, yes Anti-Christ – to hate the Jews is to hate the perfect Jew, Jesus Christ, to hate the apostles, the Mother of Jesus and finally the church. The decline of Roman Catholicism in France and Italy means the rise of Anti-Semitism. The Aryan Reich was one of the most anti-Christian nations in history. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) says in Moses and Monotheism that the attack against Jews is also an attack against Christians; “The hatred for Judaism is at bottom a hatred for Christianity and it is not surprising that in the German National Socialist revolution this close connection of two monotheistic religions finds such clear expression in the hostile treatment of both.”[1] In the United States the stature of the Jews increase according to their power and acceptance of their service; they are professionals in everything they do; although there still remains a strong undercurrent of Anti-Semitism in America, people who believe Jesus was the only good Jew, the only good Jew is a dead Jew, Anti-Semitism despises Jesus Christ, only Christian Zionism and the Federal Government really protects Israel, without their influence, the whole world would turn against the Jews. Zionism believes the Jews have a divine right to the Land that Christians and Muslims must honor. No less formidable figure than Nicholas Berdyaev (1874-1948), a believer in the “Russian Idea” that Russia on the basis of its Eastern heritage will bring the world to Jesus, to the Russian Millennium or World Communism, says this very thing; “There can be no doubt that Christians are a heavy burden of sin in regard to the people of Israel, and it is upon Christians that the duty of protecting them now rests.”[2] Pope Francis was once asked a question of what he thought of the Jews to which he replied, “How can the branches comment on the trunk?” Semitism Berdyaev says, “has been grafted on to the Christian spirit and is indispensable to its destiny.”[3] All Christians and Muslims for that matter stem from Semitism. It is difficult to think of Islam without its Jewish origins. The family resemblance is uncanny; similar languages, radical monotheism, dietary laws, scholasticism and mysticism. We should recognize at this point that it took the Jews centuries to abolish idolatry. Muhammad did it in only one generation that is in the course of his lifetime; although the Jews rejected Jesus they were also the first to follow him. Saul’s fanatical Judaism was legendary (Philippians 3:4-6); “in keeping the law blameless.” He executed or imprisoned Christians on the spot and mercilessly persecuted his own people if they professed Jesus Christ (Acts 8:1-3). People including the Jews everywhere feared him that is how he was able to enter the synagogues first, his reputation preceded him, he was the high henchman, the Heinrich Himmler of the Sanhedrin, Jewish Highest Court. Judaism was developed in captivity in Tel Aviv on the banks of the Euphrates in Babylonian exile. It is a stranger in an alien world longing for home, just as the Christians found themselves on a pilgrimage alienated from the Synagogue and despised by the Romans.

Judaism is the seed of which the Church is planted and Western Civilization, the right to exist along with different traditions, for enemies to live peacefully with each other, to share power, a democracy, given their perpetual majority or minority struggle. Jesus gives us human dignity, the ideal of freedom, the value of every single person, regardless of race, language, nationality, class and position in society, even someone as high as a Roman Emperor, such as, Constantine the Great, or lowly as a slave, such as Onesimus who was “more than a slave, but a brother” (Philemon: 16 NABRE) can be saved. Christians were much more generous in granting salvation than the Gnostics and Mystery Cults of the time who only catered to initiates. “It is the Man, the human ideal, freedom of Spirit that the world is attacking from every side.”[4] The ancient root of Christian democracy draws from the religious tolerance of the Edict of Milano AD 312 and the legalization of Christianity or what Tertullian called “religious freedom.” Church Historian Elaine Pagels says, early Christianity was born of human rights,

Tertullian demands from Roman magistrates something unprecedented−something for which he might have been the first to conceive the idea that American revolutionaries, more than fifteen centuries later, would incorporate into their new social and political system: freedom of religion, which Tertullian, writing in Latin, calls liberate religionis. Those of us who usually think of human rights and natural rights as concepts born of the Enlightenment, wrung from the violence of the French and American revolutions, might be surprised to see this African Christian standing up to defy Scapula, the Roman magistrate in Africa, circa 205 c. e., with these words: “It is a fundamental human right, a power bestowed by nature, that each person should worship according to his own convictions, free from compulsions.” [5]

Anti-Semitism hates the line of Jacob and loves the line of Esau. Rebekah was told that two warring sons struggled within her; “And the LORD said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger’” (Genesis 25:23 NRSV). The East is definitely founded on Anti-Semitism, the West shows tolerance for the Jews, at least, this is the current arrangement. To hate the Jews is to hate Jesus Christ. This is because he is from the line of Israel, the Son of David, they even have written over the mosque “cursed is anyone who says, ‘Jesus is the Son of God.’” Muhammad was from the line of Ishmael who became one of the Arabian sons of Abraham, a very proud race indeed, making them cousins and historical enemies with the Jews. They have no tolerance for the Jews. Pro-Israel is a defining characteristic of Modern Western Society. The Federal Republic of Germany is now a Western province or power in its new found support for the Jews even paying reparations. The United Nations created the modern Israeli State, shouldn’t that count for something? The Jewish and Western Democracies must work together if either one of them wishes to survive the coming onslaught of Sharia Law, Russian Messiahship already being demonstrated in Ukraine and Chinese expansionism including the annexation of Taiwan. NATO may well recruit a Japanese and South Korean Army for a proper defense. There has been talk of rearming the Japanese and Germans, even with nuclear weapons in order to defend themselves without foreign aid. The West is way out numbered by the East only nuclear weapons keep the hordes of the East from taking Rome. As I said elsewhere abolishment of the atom bomb will lead to World War Three and a conventional Eastern victory. Possession of the bomb will lead inevitably to its use and its users own annihilation, on both, sides. Everyone who possesses nuclear weapons have ICBM’s pointed at them. War will be the world’s self-immolation, apocalyptic in nature, and it may very well be humanity’s own fault not God’s, self-inflected guilt. We bring into existence or at least create the conditions for the end of the world. It is only by divine providence we have so far survived and it is that providence that will bring us to ever lasting peace or nirvana, even the unthinkable. This is why we say “Godspeed” to those who are departing, “May they have a safe journey.”

To protect the Jews was the special province of Cyrus the Great – who felt himself called to restore the Jews and rebuild the temple. The Persian or in modern terms, Iranian Empire, flourished in its embrace of different traditions. Cyrus is remembered as one of the most benevolent emperors of ancient times. This makes Cyrus an archetype of a Western Emperor. Perhaps modern day descendants of Esau, Ishmael and Cyrus should follow their forbearers example and make overtures of peace with their brother Jacob. After all The Koran does call the Jews “the people of the book.” This would be the salvation of the world, Islam would become a truly leading world religion because everyone will see their kindness and generosity; Islam has everything to gain from forgiving the Jews for their treachery, of cheating Esau out of the birthright, which entitled them to the Land, just as Esau forgave Jacob (Genesis 27, 33); perhaps Israel should pay reparations or grant statehood to Palestine, for what they have created in Gaza, and be held accountable for its action and find a just solution, one that doesn’t include genocide; it is only Jesus who could bring them together. President Jimmy Carter was a Born Again Christian and found a way to, however, in part, through the Camp David Accords (1978) convert the two alienated brothers through Jesus Christ.

The text says God loves Jacob and hates Esau (Malachi 1:3; Romans 9:13), this was only an illustration of God’s sovereignty in providing salvation by grace. They should bless God that they were worthy to be part of this analogy. The godly are recognized according to all social lines in Jacob and Esau. God does not despise Esau, nor does he play favorite’s with any other nation. This represents the explicit teaching of the New Testament. Israel was only a vehicle used by God to bring all people to himself in Jesus Christ, but they are not cast off because they rejected their Messiah. God still has plans for them, as he does for every nation. Prosperity for Israel will mean a Cornucopia for the rest of the world. The Jews were told to pray for the peace of Babylon; for in their success they will find success (Jeremiah 29:7). The prophet Isaiah declared, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands and Israel my heritage” (Isaiah 19:25) God will make Jacob and Esau one in Jesus Christ; if this proves true, Christianity will regain its spiritual hold over world affairs as a moral majority or moral authority. We can think of the enormity of the impact if both the Jews and the Arabs converted to Christianity, to Christ himself not a creed, in order to resolve their differences?

Léon Bloy (1846-1917) a nineteenth century French Roman Catholic Apologist once wrote concerning the Jews,

Suppose that there were people round you continually speaking of your father and mother with utmost contempt, who had nothing to offer them but insults and offensive sarcasms, how would you feel? Well this is just what happens to our Lord Jesus Christ. We forget, or rather we do not wish to know, that our God man is a Jew, nature’s most perfect Jew, the lion of Judah, that his mother was a Jewess, the flour of the Jewish race; that the Apostles were Jews, as well as all the prophets, and finally that our whole sacred Liturgy is drawn from Jewish books. In consequence, how may one express the enormity of the outrage and blasphemy of vilifying the Jewish race?[6]

The salvation of the Jews and the Restoration to the Promised Land will be fulfilled in the Millennium. This will give historical precedent to the return of Christ. These two events will happen simultaneously. The Jews will believe and God will send his Messiah to rescue them. The world waits for the Jews to convert before coming to an end, but the Jews wait for the world to convert first. They will believe when the full number of the Gentiles is saved. The Great Commission must be fulfilled and the Jews brought to faith before Christ returns. Just as the native branches were broken off and the wild grafted back in, so the restoration of the native to its proper place will lead to abundant life; “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead” (Romans 11:15 NRSV). Princeton theologian Charles Hodge lists “the conversion of the Jews” as the second condition for the return of Christ, preceded by universal evangelism following the rise of Antichrist.[7]

We believe in the restoration of the Jews to Zion and her witness to the nations. Zechariah predicts national conversion; “And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weeps bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn” (12:10 NRSV). Paul promises “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26 KJV). This speaks to the conversion and restoration of the Jews. Just as their falling away meant salvation for the Gentiles, so the Fullness of the Gentiles will precede the conversion of the Jews. Hodge puts it this way, “The rejection of the Jews was the occasion of the conversion of the Gentiles; and the conversion of the Gentiles is to be the occasion of the restoration of the Jews.”[8] Salvation comes first to the Jews then the Gentiles; Jesus himself said, “for salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22 NRSV). This sets the entire precedent of the New Testament as Jewish literature of the first century. Paul always spoke to the Jews first in the Synagogue before going to the Areopagus. At the Jewish rejection of the Messiah this fortune has been reversed. Now salvation comes first to the Gentiles and then to the Jews. Jesus told the Philadelphians that he will make the Jews come and worship before the feet of the Christians so that they will know that he loves them (Revelation 3:9). The Jews of the Book of Revelation are described as Satanic because of their opposition to Christians. Paul says they are enemies of the gospel, but blessed for the sake of the Patriarchs (Romans 11:28, 29). They are still sons of Abraham, however in disbelief. This was a common condition of the ancient Israelites who were always tempted by idolatry, no sooner did Moses ascend the Mount to receive the Ten Commandments than Aaron formed a golden calf and the people broke out into sexual orgies. The Kings of Israel and Judea constantly struggled with marrying foreign wives to form political alliances, Solomon had six hundred wives. The Israelites practiced Baal worship; ate pork, Ahab and Jezebel being the prime example. They even offered child sacrifices to Moloch a pagan deity that required the life of the first born. This would have wiped out the house of Judah, no more kings will be born from it, the first born always will be sacrificed. The Messiah could never be born; since he will be the first born. To save the world from this condition that is genocide or christocide, God exiled the remnant to Babylonia. The Babylonian Exile or sometimes called Captivity purges the Jews from eating pork and practicing idolatry and miscegenation. In Babylon they became once again the chosen people. Who were called out by God to be a witness. In the Book of Hosea the Jews were cast off because of their idolatry, but once again resorted to God after a period of trial; “the LORD loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods” (3:1 NRSV).

The Millennium will fulfill Israel’s destiny as a nation to testify to God’s love as well as his holiness. Simeon predicted that the baby Jesus will become, “A light to the Gentiles, and the glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:32 NRSV). The Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants will both reach their greatest heights when the Messiah rules from Jerusalem. In the Millennium God will honor his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and give their descendant’s title to the Land from the Nile to the Euphrates, perhaps this shows a future geography of the Zion World Capital. This gives it real historical certainty. What was promised in time will be answered in time, not eternity; this is not a simple allegory. The entire Old Testament logic leads to a kingdom of God on earth. This makes a literal Millennium and a saved Israel a metaphysical necessity in the plan of God. Christ will then offer a redeemed planet to God as a holy sacrifice, so that God may be all in all.

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[1] Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism (UK: The Hogarth Press, 1939), 145.

[2] Nicolas Berdyaev, Christianity and Anti-Semitism, trans., by A. Spears and Victor B. Kanter (New York: Philosophical Library, 1954), 4.

[3]  Ibid., 48, 49.                                                                                          

[4] Ibid., 28.

[5] Elaine Pagels, Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, & Politics in the Book of Revelation (New York: Viking, 2012), 131. Tertullian To Scapula, 2: Tamen humani iuris et naturalis potestatis est unicuique quod putaverit, colere nec alii obest aut prodest alterius religio.

[6] Léon Bloy quoted in Berdyaev, Christianity And Anti-Semitism, 1.

[7] Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986 [1873]), 792.

[8] Ibid., 807.

In an odd job here or there a young girl once asked me “What was the Cold-War?” I was astonished that here was this fine young savage who knew nothing of the 2Oth Century and hence must remain ignorant of contemporary times. The era I grew up in largely from the 1960’s-1990’s was largely forgotten, by the next generations of Millennials and Generation Z. They could not understand its impact on their world. We could take this dialectical principal all the why back to the Fall of Rome but that would be beyond the scope of this blog. Let’s just look at our times, the previous century and possibly the future because they are immediately relevant. Young people cannot recall the horrors of the Nuclear Arms Race or the joy of seeing the fall of the Berlin Wall or the Soviet Union. The presence of President Ronald Reagan showed strength to the Russians in rebuilding the armed forces, especially the introduction of the MX missile. A weapon that was capable of carrying up to 12 warheads, the explosive device inside a hydrogen bomb. 50 were deployed in roving bands around the countryside. They made a total of six hundred bombs in addition to the thousands of other nuclear devices in the army and the navy including nuclear submarines capable of destroying the world. We can combine this paranoia with the possibility of introducing the neutron bomb, but was never deployed. A weapon targeting infantry and tanks, but could just as easily be used against cities by destroying all the people but leaving the infrastructure intact. It was dubbed by the Communists or the Soviets as a “dirty bomb” because it would kill all the people but leave the real estate. This they thought reflected Capitalism’s or Imperialism’s ethic of survival of the fittest, kill or be killed. The fact is if the West created a neutron bomb so would the East. People today can make small neutron bombs that explode in a densely populated areas causing catastrophic damage. They can turn a nuclear power plant into a neutron bomb, even by accident they blew themselves up at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. This is a legacy of the Cold-War, nuclear power and the threat of international terrorism. Terrorists existed in the 20th Century, from Ireland to Islamabad including state sponsored terrorism as in the Republic of Iran, or Libya, but it was the big boys who held their figure on the button we worried about the most. Nuclear war was a constant threat since 1945 and reached its height under Reagon after that of course United States became the world’s Super-Power.

The Cold-War returns between lesser powers such as Pakistan and India, also a democracy verses an Islamic State, or Israel and Iran. Everyone armed with nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s) in an International Mexican Standoff. A proxy war with Russia has already begun in the Ukraine.[1] And will start with China when they capture Taiwan. We see a classic East verses West match off. NATO verses China and Russia, the odds are in favor of the East because they have equal the fire power and eight times the population. They have the human resources to win the next war. This would still entail mass genocide; even if they had half the population they have today they would still outnumber us two to one. Now it’s something like eight to one ratio. The numbers add up to a conventional victory over nuclear weapons. The West will simply lose its fighting capacities and capitulate.

We had a double hatred for the Russians and the Iranians, Marxists or Muslims something that persists to this day. The Iranian Hostage Crisis represents the perfect example of another legacy from the 20th Century, the ever widening of the gulf between East and West, especially with the current World War with Islam.

I believe there have been six great global conflagrations in modern times between East and West not including Greece verses Persia or Rome verses Parthia. We are only talking about contemporary times. The Napoleonic war was the first world war of Western aggression. This expresses the West’s ambitions to rule the world in the person of the French-Emperor who was exporting democracy to the less enlightened world, very much like Alexander brought Greek culture to the East. The so called “First World War” or the Great War became the second global conflagration. The East responded in kind to the French in the Franco-Prussian War and decades later in World War One. This was followed by World War Two, which in my opinion was actually World War Three. The Reich represented the East in Western clothing; one of Mussolini’s daughter’s once called Hitler “Attila the Hun in a raincoat.” The Axis-Powers were definitely Eastern in orientation, with their lean to absolute control verses democracy. There are still Westerners stranded in Hong Kong, an essentially Western City State under Chinese occupation, which began in 1997, just like they occupy Tibet. Hitler was equal to the Emperor of Japan the land of the Rising-Sun, the Kings of the East, both of whom who fought offensives wars and had aspirations to global domination.

Then the Communists came. A fourth world war between East and West erupted. This was the era of proxy wars in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan. This was war between China, the Soviet-Union and the United-States and their allies also called the Cold-War where East and West throw libelous speech and epitaphs at each other; Nikta Khruschev slammed his shoe on the podium at the United-Nations, vowing “we will bury you!” The East called them names like “Capitalist Pigs” or the West called Communists “Reds.” The fifth war is currently being fought between Christian and Secular-Society and Islam or even Islam verses the modern world. It is difficult to tell who’s winning. Look at Afghanistan and the success of the Taliban or the advances of China who have expressly declared that they want to be the Hegemon; or a Super-Power that will replace the United-States on the world scene. The sixth war will be against China and possibly a Chinese-Russian-Iranian Axis, another Axis of Evil. Already there is a new Cold-War between the East and the West, the stakes are Ukraine, Taiwan and Jerusalem. Napoleon was the last offensive world war the West has undertaken. Colonialism which propelled the West to world dominance preceded this. War’s two through six were all lead by Eastern aggression. The West has been on the defense ever since. Three times within a century the Germans invaded France. The West has so far barely won its defensive wars against the onslaught of the Kaiser, Genghis Khan, the Ottomans and the Arab-Caliphate, I know I’m deviating from the present moment but they are a great examples of East verses West match off, but at great loss to population and land. The entire Middle-East and North-Africa and Asia-Minor were once Christian and were wiped out by Muslim Arabs and the Turks. The next Great-War can only result in disaster for both sides. It is difficult to tell who will win given the East’s overwhelming population and the West’s formidable defense. President Richard Nixon thought the East will win the showdown given the superiority of their population. They can afford massive casualties and still recover their population. Mao called the Atom-Bomb a “Paper Tiger.”

The Soviets had an equal amount of warheads but the Russians kept upping the ante, by building more and more. The world was afraid of Reagan. Here is the most powerful man in the world arming for disaster. Did he really believe a war between East and West was inevitable? This is the atmosphere Generation X grew up in including Heavy Metal music as a form of protest against the indecency of it all. Ozzy sings his most popular tune Crazy Train, “Heirs of a Cold War, that’s what we’ve become/Inheriting troubles, I’m mentally numb/Crazy, I just cannot bear/I’m living with something that just isn’t fair.”[2]

People felt secure knowing that Reagan was in office, one young man once remarked, “I sleep peacefully knowing that Reagan is President.” Reagan ruled the 1980’s, another said he had been given the “mantle of leadership” after bombing Libya and killing Gaddafi’s daughter. The West takes no prisoners. Many experts attribute his aggression for why we won the Cold-War. He was also inspiring, a Great Communicator, I remember him saying, “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!” People also hated Reagan mostly those on the Left and called him a war monger. I had one Marxist professor, who ironically enough taught American Government, say he wished him dead, of course he was shot but not killed. The Pope was shot by a Muslim and survived, John Lennon was shot and killed along with Anwar Sadat, JFK, RFK and MLK. The 20th Century was a time of assassination of progressive leaders. Muslims still hate the Jews, any alliance with them was considered an offense to Allah.

The 20th Century brought Rock ‘N’ Roll, Hip-Hope, Rap music, Counter-Culture and Popular-Culture, such as Beat Nicks, the Beatles, Hippies, Woodstock, Punk Rock and Elvis Presley; it gave us the first Space-Race which covered for the Arms-Race something that now continues between the Americans, Russians and Chinese. Instead of Mars it was the Moon we aimed for.

Madonna was the essence of divine female sexuality. The prototype to today’s many Divas. She believed herself a master of sex or gender, a Matriarchy of Amazons above men. She believed in the Kabbalah because it expresses the divine feminine, a female avatar. And she lived the part, she was often depicted as a Catholic-School girl and acted like the Holy Mother giving birth miraculously without the intervention of sex. She had a daughter of course by means of artificial insemination. Madonna was also beyond sexual intercourse. She was the Holy-Mother during the Cold-War. In fact she replaced The Assumption of Mary (1950) and Marilyn Monroe in the last quarter of the twentieth century.

The war between Israel and Islam also had its origins in the 20th Century, such as the birth of the Israeli-State (1948). The 20th Century also brought with it computers, cell phones, the automobile and most of the world we know today, an energy crisis, cocaine addiction, Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” only underscored the problem, the destruction of the rain forest, war between East and West. The long-standing war in Iraq and the Middle-East happened right after the fall of the Soviet-Union in the 1990’s and persists to this day. President George Bush Senior said that by winning the Gulf-War America had kicked the Vietnam-Syndrome, fear of sending troops to fight in international conflicts. The shooting war between Islam and West may even go beyond that back to Lebanon and its war between Christians and Muslims and the death of hundreds of marines. Sexually transmitted disease, such as AIDs and Chlamydia followed the Sexual-Revolution and the Birth-Control Pill. The Spanish-Flu like the Covid plagues killed millions of people, “open the window and in flew Enza,” was a children’s song. This was the original worldwide pandemic, something we are causally aware of in the 21^st century. We can mention more things like Vatican II, a reassertion of Western values for the 20^th and 21^st centuries, peace movements like Anti-Vietnam protests or “No-Nukes” two world wars. The 21^st century will continue the war between East and West completing what was begun in the 20^th century, with Eastern offensive wars against Western defense. We can only speculate what this will mean for the 22^nd century, either war and revolution or a peaceful assent into technological bliss; maybe both at the same time. What happens to the world once the dialectic between East and West comes to an end? This will mean nirvana on Earth, a return to atoms.

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[1] Lawrence J. Terlizzese, War in Ukraine (2022); https://dr.terlizzese.com/?s=Ukrain

[2] Ozzy Osborn “Crazy Train” in Blizzard of Oz (JET 1980).

The 2024 presidential debate depicted the strong man verses the intelligent woman. The spilt in thinking is about leadership. Family life, education, and politics traditionally follow a masculine tendency. Most great figures of history were males with exceptions, such as Agrippina, Cleopatra, Saint Joan of Arch, Susan B. Anthony, Sacagawea or Golda Meir. Women offer an alternative to the status quo that is the accomplishment of Feminism or the appeal to the Son (the power source) via the Mother. Troubled people usually look to the father figure for guidance, but will turn to the Mother if left unanswered. This need not be a bad thing. Where the Father closes a door the Mother opens a window. The Father has the ability to resolve differences and assert authority and wield power, to get the job done and not simply to think or talk about it and pray, these of course are excellent values. Not to move in haste but to reflect has great advantages. This is the essence of wisdom. The goddess of wisdom is a female. Athena was the god of wisdom, war and technology. She sprung straight from Zeus’s head suggesting her divine power. The male female dichotomy will determine the election results. Do we want an Alpha Male or a Colorful Princess to rule over us? Do we want someone who acts immediately or someone who acts deliberately? Do people identify more with female or male characteristics? Is this still the Age of Pisces or do we look for the dawning of the Age of Aquarius where women are predominant? The vote is a vote of no-confidence in traditional society or a vote for the progressive side represented by Mother Earth or the Holy Mother, the Goddess figure, even the Cyborg? This shows a controversy between power struggles that go back between Zeus and Hera. I think Donald trump will win, granting there is no such thing as fraudulent returns. We are not ready yet for the new age or space age family. The vote is a referendum on the Holy Father figure or the father’s role or the Fatherhood of God. This does not mean something negative. There are plenty of good fathers out there to turn the tide. But we shall see. Paternity is under attack like never before. Nothing is really certain in an age where a woman will control the hydrogen bomb. This has never happened before. Will she lead us to peace and victory or to self-destruction? There are plenty of examples of successful women leaderships: Judith, Esther, the Holy Mother herself the Queen of Heaven, the White or Virgin Queen, Queen Victoria or Mother Teresa and Kamala Harris or Hillary Clinton. The queen is actually the strongest piece on the chessboard who protects the king and leads offensive wars; so female leadership can be effective, even welcomed. Trump wants to save America and Harris wants to change it.