Matthew Miller (better known as Chasidic/reggae beatboxer/rapster Matisyahu) released an April 2008 recording called ‘One Day.’ Speaking about this monster hit Matisyahu said that “it is an anthem of hope with a big beat, the kind of song that makes you bob your head and open your heart at the same time.” The song expresses a confidence that God has put us on this earth for a reason and …Read More
Syria – ancient promises, ancient curses
As the Passover season of deliverance approaches, the world focuses on the Middle East. Chemical warfare near Idlib targeted civilians, causing the gruesome death of nearly 100 (including lots of children) and the injury of more than 500. The cruelty and carnage shake the souls of all who see video footage of the casualties. Syrian fighter-bombers involved in that incident (and operating under a protective Russian military umbrella) were destroyed …Read More
Dissecting Israel
High school Biology teachers often guide their students through the dissection of frogs or fish. The stench of formaldehyde wafts around trembling fingers as scalpels slice through rubbery material. Students squint at the internal organs of the amphibian or the vertebrate and then roughly sketch the physical details. There is no time for lasting emotional connection with the dissected creature, whose remains are soon disposed of in the nearest rubbish …Read More
The crumbling of Europa
Is Paris burning? The flames are not visible to the naked eye, but they roar nevertheless in the realm of the spirit. On Sunday January 15, 2017 more than seventy nations and organizations will gather in the ‘City of Lights’ (named because it was one of the first European cities to have gas-burning street lamps). There the nations will bang nails into a coffin that actually contains the disintegrating remains …Read More
Replacement Blowback
Newton’s third law of motion states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This principle also manifests itself in politics, in war and in religion. The intelligence community uses the term ‘blowback’ to describe an analogous dynamic – the unintended consequences, unwanted side-effects or repercussions of a black operation that backfires. Replacement Theology (an anti-Semitic expression of Christian theology that raised its head in the 2nd Century …Read More
Crossing the line
The U.N. Security Council has just voted Resolution 2334 into law, declaring Israel’s restoration to Jerusalem to be illegal by a vote of 14 to zero. The US represented by Samantha Power abstained on this vote. In 2011 the US vetoed a similar resolution. What does this vote mean politically, spiritually and biblically? Here are three developing ramifications of this Resolution. From ‘illegitimate’ to ‘illegal’ A U.N. Security Council (SC) …Read More