Spiritual History of Turkey

This article is about the spiritual history of Turkey. This country, also called Asia Minor, was where Apostle Paul did almost all of his missionary work and where the 7 churches of John's Book of Revelation (given to him by Jesus as Rev. 1:1 says) were located. I hope you find this history to be interesting.

ANATOLIA’S UNDERWORLD: The Spiritual History Behind the New Testament & Modern TurkeyAdventurers in Turkey soon discover it to be a spectacular “open museum.” Past civilizations have left behind a rich treasure of ancient remains: pottery, marble columns, old aqueducts, and countless artifacts. Some of these physical treasures have been collected and stored in museums. Most however, remain buried under the dirt and debris accumulated over the centuries. The remnants on the earth’s surface are only the tip of the iceberg—a mere fraction of what lies beneath the surface. What can be seen with human eyes provides but a small glimpse of the real significance of Anatolia.The average tourist in Turkey subjectively feels the extraordinary convergence of the spiritual realm, but rarely acknowledges or understands it. Indeed, even long-time residents are often unaware of the active spiritual underworld nurtured throughout millennia due to fervent acts of devotion, festivals, and occult rituals. So what is the real meaning beneath the numerous mosques, loud calls to prayer, and the official line that Turkey is an Islamic land? The purpose of this chapter is to scratch beneath the surface in order to discover the deep realities of Anatolia’s spiritual underworld.When the Goddess RuledA revolution in human development emerged in Anatolia during the Neolithic Age (8,000-3,500 B.C.). Thousands of years ago, prehistoric groups wandered throughout the land—hunting, gathering food, and leaving their signature in the form of ritual cave paintings and animal cult figurines. Eventually these wanderers settled in agricultural villages. Some of these villages grew into fortified towns in centralized states and even into extensive empires. It was through this growing settlement process that the land came to possess such an extraordinary concentration of active demonic powers.The world’s most impressive example of prehistoric civilization is found in the ruins of Çatal Hüyük, located approximately thirty miles southeast of the modern city of Konya in central Turkey. Çatal Hüyük was founded in the ninth millennium B.C. and lasted a thousand years or more. Like most of prehistoric Anatolia, Çatal Hüyük’s religion was goddess worship. Their great mother goddess was portrayed through numerous shrines and statuettes. The goddess was often heavyset and usually in the process of giving birth. She represented the primary source of life—fertility, seasonal renewal, and everything having to do with life and death.It is believed that priestesses, rather than male priests, performed the diverse rituals of this prehistoric town of some seven thousand residents. Of the 139 buildings excavated so far, nearly a third seem to have been used for ritual purposes. The goddess figurines were often half-human and half-animal. They were sometimes shown seated between leopards, which served as arm rests while the goddess gave birth to an animal. Throughout the rest of Anatolian history goddess worship continued under various names. But the goddess always symbolized Anatolia’s earliest devotion to the spirits of nature and fertility.A Land of Gods and GoddessesIn the middle of the third millennium B.C., a progressive people group called the Hatti entered Anatolia from the east. They established their capital at Kanesh, which is located between the modern cities of Kayseri and Sivas. Eventually the Hatti culture (2,600-1,900 B.C.) spread so broadly that Anatolia itself became known as the “land of the Hatti.”Through written records left behind by Assyrian merchants living and working in Anatolia, we learn that the land of the Hatti was covered from one end to the other with gods and goddesses. Everything that seemed beyond human control–wild animals, fire, planets, storms, and mountains–was turned into a god or goddess to be worshiped and appeased. Each town and region had its own special deity, religious center, and multiple ritual practices. Anatolia became well populated—indeed, thoroughly polluted—with major and minor gods of every form, shape, and origin, ranging from the mother goddess Hepat to the weather god Teshub.Deity Saturation and AbrahamIn the midst of this deity saturation in Anatolia, Abraham’s family migrated from the city of Ur to Harran. Harran is located in today’s southeastern Turkey and was a center for the worship of the moon-god Sin. From here, God called Abraham to leave Harran and go to the land of Israel. He gave him the redemptive promise that through him “all peoples on earth would be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). God’s promise to Abraham is being fulfilled today as local churches are being planted among every people group of the world.The Great Pantheon of the GodsAs larger towns and cities were being built at the beginning of the second millennium B.C., Anatolia’s spiritual realm became more entrenched and concentrated through the Indo-European Hittites (2,000-1,200 B.C.). The Hittites are mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 15:20. After establishing their initial capital at Kanesh, the Hittites began to expand their influence throughout Anatolia. The Hittite kingdom eventually moved its capital to the elaborate city of Hattusa (modern Boğazkale). It emerged, along with Egypt, as one of the great powers in the Middle East. The Hittites flourished in Anatolia during the period of the Patriarchs, Israel’s exodus from Egypt, and the journey to the Promised Land.The primary reason for the increasing concentration of spiritual powers within Hittite civilization was their practice of absorbing and unifying the numerous Anatolian gods and goddesses rather than destroying them. The Hittite civilization was polytheistic to the core. One unearthed document speaks about the “thousand gods” of the Hittite kingdom. In fact, the Hittites were not satisfied with Anatolian deities only. They also captured the cult images of foreign gods and transferred them to their capital for continued worship.The Hittites allowed local communities to continue to worship their local deities. However, their kings actively grouped these numerous gods and goddesses into a national pantheon located in the capital city of Hattusa in central Anatolia. In so doing, the kings assumed that they could guarantee divine protection and prosperity for their kingdom. The national Hittite pantheon of gods is portrayed in its final form today at the rock-sanctuary of Yazılıkaya, located about two miles from Boğazkale. The mother goddess Hebat leads the procession of deities. The Hittite kings were deified after death and, during their reigns, served as high priests. They were responsible for preserving the religious devotion and fervency of the temples and worship centers throughout the kingdom. The kings were also expected to attend the many religious festivals held in honor of the gods throughout the year.The Hittites had thousands of temples and places of worship. Each temple was often the home to several gods. They were presided over by servant priests whose daily task it was to wash the gods, provide them with food and drink, and entertain them with dancing and music. It was believed that through this daily routine, the gods could be appeased and flattered. If this routine was interrupted, the Hittites feared thewrath of the deities upon their kingdom.The lives of the Hittite people were absorbed in magic. Their documents are devoted to the many methods and rituals used to drive out disease, bring physical healing, dispel evil spirits from houses, overcome failing crops, and curse enemies. An abundance of amulets (objects worn or carried for magical purposes) have also been discovered at Hittite sites. The practice of magic has continued up to the present day in the spiritual practices of many Turkish people.Kingdoms from the RubbleThe Hittite kingdom was invaded and scattered around 1,200 B.C. As a result, the next few centuries in Anatolia were a time of dispersion and reconfiguration. Out of this rubble, several smaller independent kingdoms emerged. They continued the Hittite spiritual culture of various gods and goddesses from 1,200 to 547 B.C. In eastern Anatolia a people from diverse origins established the Urartian kingdom on the shores of Lake Van. In western Anatolia, the Lydian kingdom was founded at the city of Sardis. The Phrygian people ruled Anatolia’s western central plateau. During this historic upheaval, the Phrygian’s worship of the goddess Cybele spread throughout the land. Eventually, Rome championed Cybele as the Great Mother of the gods.The Greek AdaptationIn the sixth century B.C., Cyrus the Great led the Persians (547-334 B.C.) to victory over the Assyrians before sweeping westward and taking control of the land of Anatolia. When Alexander the Great defeated the Persians, the spiritual heritage of Anatolia was absorbed and adapted by Hellenistic culture coming from the west. The Greek gods–including Zeus, Aretemis, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, Athena, Hermes, Ares, Aphrodite, Demeter, Dionysus, Hephaestus, and others—ultimately held full sway throughout the Anatolia. Adapting to Anatolia’s spiritual realm, Greek temples were built atop the many holy sites that covered the land. As the Romans entered Anatolia in the second century B.C., they creatively adopted and perpetuated the spiritual legacy of the Greeks.Ephesians’ Artemis and Magic GaloreOne of the best sources concerning the spiritual realm of Anatolia during the Greco-Roman period is the Bible, particularly the book of Acts and the letter of Ephesians. The Bible makes it clear that the land of Anatolia bubbled with demonic activity during the first century A.D. Demonic principalities and powers introduced at Çatal Hüyük were still spreading their fear and bondage through the worship of the Ephesian goddess Artemis. Believing Artemis had descended from heaven, countless enthusiasts idolized the goddess as Savior, Lord, and Queen of Heaven. The blatant ornamentation of her elaborate design boasted that she alone possessed cosmic ascendancy and power. The signs of the zodiac circling her neck declared her command over man’s astrological fate. Her chest, blanketed with apparent protruding breasts, accentuated her proposed ability to bestow fertility. The columns of animals adorning her skirt announced her dominance over the menacing spirits of nature. Identified closely with the goddess Hecate, Artemis’ designation as a goddess of the underworld also reveals that her worship included overt practices of magic and sorcery. She was recognized as possessing control over the demons of the dead by holding the key of Hades. It was common practice to invoke the name of Artemis during magical rituals to ward off feared demons. As Acts 19 and the letter of Ephesians reveal, nothing short of active spiritual warfare could liberate the masses of people entangled in the spiritual underworld of Anatolia.Turkish Folk IslamThe guidebooks and encyclopedias tell us that Turkey is ninety-nine percent Muslim. This official statistic requires clarification however. Initially the Central Asian Turks were shamanists, i.e., active worshipers of the spirits of nature. Although some Turks became Christians through the missionary activity of the Nestorians, they absorbed Islam into their shamanistic practices when they came into contact with Arab Muslims. The result was a hybrid spiritism, “Turkish Islam.” As the Turks settled in Anatolia, their popular culture was held together by the mystical practices of numerous spiritual brotherhoods and associations, such as the Whirling Dervishes religious order.Today many travelers to Turkey are surprised that a very small percentage of Turks go to the mosques when the high minarets broadcast the call to prayer. The explanation is quite simple. Most of the Turkish people do not practice the traditional religion of Islam. At the practical level of daily living, most practice a Islamic form of spiritism or occultism that includes performing rituals on special mountain tops and at ancient trees and holy graves. Many of these holy sites have been places of worship for thousands of years. Dr. Rick Love, in his well-researched book Muslims, Magic and the Kingdom of God, states that approximately eighty percent of today’s billion or so Muslims practice an animistic form of Islam. Animistic Islam has six primary spiritual power components:Powers: belief in many spirit beings.Power people: practitioners of magic and the occult.Power objects: the wearing of charms, amulets, fetishes or talismans with the belief that they contain supernatural power to protect or bless.Power places: locations or centers of spiritual power, where people can go to seek blessings and powers.Power times: special religious feasts and festivals.Clearly, in today’s Turkey, as in the days of the Apostle Paul, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). LINK

Create your own blog

I wanted to send this article because it shows how to create your own blog, similar to the one I have, and the best news is the blog is FREE! Another advantage that blogs have is that they don't come with a lot of the baggage that "social" sites like Myspace, Facebook, and YouTube have where a lot of the people tend to go on and on about themselves. Of course you can incorporate those into your blog also, if you want. Anyway, I wanted to let you know about this opportunity if you want to take advantage of it!

> > One of the best ways to get your ideas across is to> start a blog or website. If people can come and read what> you have written about this or that, and if you make it> clear why you are saying what you are saying, your readers> may begin to think along the same lines that you do. This> is an advantage. Also, if you have put your ideas in> print, they will be somewhat less likely to be misquoted or> misinterpreted. I say somewhat less likely, because in my> experience, I find that people do misinterpret what I have> written. But I find that not many people quote me> inaccurately.> > I keep coming back to this theme. It is easy and> costs no money to set up a blog on www.blogger.com. It> takes a lot of time, and you do have to climb a learning> curve. But the benefits are very great. You can learn how> the Web works. You can start multiple blogs on different> topics. You can use these blogs to promote your ideas,> your business, and your career. > > I don't see why most people don't have a blog. I> realize I'm a writer, and that most people are writers. > But most people have ideas. Most people feel very> passionately about some of these ideas. So, I don't> understand why most people don't have a blog in order to> get across to other people whatever their ideas are.> > One of the most useful blogs would be a blog that did> a lot of book reviews in a narrow field. People are lazy. > They want to get a quick overview of a particular book. > The will not read 500 pages, but they're willing to read a> four- or five-page review if it's on a topic you're> interested in. So, why not provide these reviews free of> charge? Why not use a book review site to establish a> reputation as an expert in a particular field? The site> will save people time and trouble, and at the same time> you'll get a much greater mastery of whatever books you are> reading. There's nothing like writing a book review to> make certain that you really understand the book. And if> you understand the book, why not share your information> with other people?> > I wrote for my college newspaper every once in a> while. This didn't give me a very broad audience. The> first writing I ever did for money was book reviews in the> local newspaper. This was extremely valuable for me. I> didn't get much money, but I got a free book, and I got to> see myself in print. Writers like to see that. It> increased my confidence in my ability to write. I needed> that. You probably need it to.> > There is a least a possibility that your children will> come to the site to read what you have to say. Maybe they> won't read it every day, but once in awhile they will, and> will see what you have to say. I don't see why most> businessmen don't have a blog site, if only for this> reason. If they don't see their children very often, at> least their children may see their blog sites every once in> awhile. > www.garynorth.com

California & Marriage

I wanted to send this article which describes the recent California Judicial ruling that is scheduled to go into effect this summer. For a previous update on this you can read here http://brianleesblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/california-supreme-court.html and our church's book Marriage and Family is great to know what the bible says here http://www.ucg.org/booklets/FM/.


California and Marriage: Tarnished Days in the Golden State
By Rebecca Hagelin

If you’ve ever wondered why some fight tooth and nail whenever it comes to confirming judges, just look to California.There, in another outrageous example of judicial over-reach and social experimentation, the state Supreme Court ruled on May 15 in favor of homosexual “marriages.” Specifically, it overturned a 2000 referendum on Proposition 22, in which California voters -- i.e., the people --affirmed, nearly 2-to-1, that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.Sorry, voters: You only think you know best. Your judicial overlords know better. Now run along, like good subjects.Whatever happened to government, “for the people, by the people”? Seems the judicial elite reign supreme in California.It’s fairly obvious what is at work here -- a desire on the part of liberals to level the basic building block of society: the family. California already has a domestic-partner law on the books that grants same-sex couples all the benefits and privileges accorded to opposite-sex couples. The real agenda behind the decision to redefine the word “marriage,” as I point out in my book, “Home Invasion,” is to destroy the very institution itself.Sound too strong? Then explain why a domestic-partner law wasn’t enough. No couple was being discriminated against. No one was hiding from the law. Homosexuals could set up house wherever they liked, and the law treated their relationship as if it were normal. But that wasn’t enough. All of us heterosexual yahoos had to go all the way -- and call their unions marriage. That’s what they really wanted. And it signifies nothing less than a societal sea change.In a compelling analysis of the Court’s decision, The Heritage Foundation’s Jennifer Marshall, Daniel Moloney and Matthew Spalding, spell it out:What is happening now is no minor adjustment, nor a slight change in degree that just extends benefits or rights to a larger class, but a substantive change in the essence of the institution. The court's decision does not expand marriage; it alters its core meaning. To redefine marriage so that it is not intrinsically related to the relationship between fathers, mothers, and children formally severs the institution from its nature and purpose, remaking the institution into a mere contract between any two individuals.This helps explain why it’s wrong to assume this ruling centers on discrimination. It doesn’t. We’re doing more here than just renaming an already existing arrangement. What we call -- or don’t call -- marriage actually matters. And there has to be some objective criteria. It can’t be left to each individual to decide what marriage is; the state has a crucial role to play. Otherwise, why can’t a man marry his sister? Or his daughter? Or his dog, for that matter? Why can’t he have multiple wives?The fact is, the California Supreme Court has indulged here in the purest form of judicial activism -- operating not from a desire to interpret the law as written, but to force the result it wanted from the beginning, regardless of whether it was correct (or whether it violated the will of the people).According to the Heritage experts:As with Roe v. Wade, this decision is troubling from three angles: on the process, on the reasoning, and on the substance.* It was an instance of the judiciary usurping the political process. * It was poorly reasoned, abandoning the original meaning of California's constitution in order to invent a right to same-sex “marriage.” * It was wrong on the substance, comparing support for traditional marriage to racism, disregarding the nature and purpose of marriage, and ignoring the reasons for which the state has always set marriage apart from other household forms. There’s a good reason marriage has always been set apart like this. It is, quite simply, the cornerstone of civilization. It is deeply rooted in nearly every society, blessed by all the world’s major religions, and proven over centuries to work best when it’s limited to one man and one woman. Study after study, many of which you can find on familyfacts.org, show marriage’s unique value. Raised in its loving embrace, children thrive.That apparently means nothing to the judges who handed down this decision. But then again, they haven’t even shown respect for their own profession. They’ve abused their authority to do what they want -- never mind what the law actually says.But their tactics may well backfire, says Heritage Senior Legal Fellow Robert Alt. “By removing the issue from the political branches and constitutionalizing the policy question, the court's decision makes compromise less likely and leaves a state constitutional amendment as the only possible response -- one in which same-sex marriage advocates are not likely to prevail,” he writes in a recent commentary.In short, it’s up to the people. Let’s hope they rise to the challenge.

Shi'ite PetroCalypse

I wanted to send this article that talks about some of the events going on in the Middle East and how they could affect Oil Prices over the near term. As it is, Oil prices are rising and that is occuring without any of the major events listed below happening. Anyway, I thought you might find this interesting to read along with our book The Middle East in Bible Prophecy here http://www.ucg.org/booklets/ME/




Now... let me share with you the dire warning we talked about...
A Collaborator Countdown:The 4 Horseman of the Oil Apocalypse
There's a good chance you'd never heard of Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. And least not until very recently, during last year's radical unrest close to the Israeli border. But famous in the U.S. or not, Nasrallah's stock is soaring in the world of Islam.
See, it's Hassan Nasrallah who heads up Hezbollah, the known terrorist organization that dominates the southern half of Lebanon. It was Nasrallah who secretly encouraged his fighters to take on Israel with shoulder rockets. And Nasrallah, too, who more recently tried to overthrow Lebanon's non-Muslim government.

What's behind it all? Nine years ago, Nasrallah's son was killed in a battle with Israelis. He's angry to the core. He's also very powerful.
Here's where it gets complicated.
Lebanon isn't a major oil power. In the late 1960s, it was even known as the "Switzerland of the Middle East." Modern. Moderate. Beirut was a playground for the rich, a beach town dotted with discos and exclusive hotels.
Very different from what you see today.
And a large and very driven group of Muslims want to keep it different. For 16 years, in fact, they fought civil war with Christians and others in their country. It got so rough Syria stepped in to end it.
When Rafik Hariri, a self-made billionaire, became prime minister and tried to rebuild Lebanon into a modern state all over again... this activist group of Muslims did what any voter would do. On Feb. 14, 2005... they blew up his car with 1,000 kg of TNT.
What Does This Matter to the Price of Oil?
Insiders, the CIA and just about everyone else believe that the group behind the murder of the ex-prime minister... and the backers of the Hezbollah terrorist organization... are not Lebanese at all. They're Syrian. And Iranian.
Hariri wanted Lebanon for Lebanon.
Both Iran and Syria want to use Lebanon, and especially Hezbollah, to stir up fights with Israel.
When Israel fights, the Middle East gets hot.
And oil prices go up.
Iran sends over $100 million a year in secret financing to Hezbollah. Along with guns and shoulder rockets and other sophisticated weapons. And most of these get shipped secretly through Syria, one of Iran's few real allies in the Middle East.
The bigger Hezbollah gets, the further Iran's reach across the region.
Tel Aviv wants to send missiles into Tehran? Go ahead. Iran will unleash Hezbollah on northern Israel. Just like it did that summer. And in propaganda terms, it was a huge success.
Hezbollah doubled its victory by handing out bags of money to fellow Muslims whose houses were destroyed by the bombing. Today, that's made Hezbollah even more popular across the Middle East than al-Qaida. Hezbollah's gaining strength. And that's the problem.
Edward Walker is a Middle East expert. He heads up the Middle East Institute and was once ambassador to both Egypt and to Israel. "Hezbollah," he says, "is more popular than sliced bread." All the "wrong guys" are getting a boost from the current situation.
Keep in mind, before Sept. 11, the FBI considered Hezbollah an even bigger terror risk to the U.S. than al-Qaida.
Today, Hezbollah has taken terror mainstream. Imagine al-Qaida, but with seats in Congress. Hezbollah has done almost that. It's recently won seats in Lebanon's parliament... it's now hugely popular with a certain, large group of Lebanese... only the biggest danger about Hezbollah is that it doesn't really work for Lebanon at all.
No, it serves a much bigger, more dangerous master...
The Middleman:Playing a Most Dangerous Game

While almost nobody on the international scene pays attention, Syria -- next to Lebanon --?plays a dangerous game. To understand, you need to know Syria's young president, Bashar al-Assad.
His family has ruled Syria for more than 30 years. They hold "elections." They win with 99.99% of the vote every time.
Bashar was an eye doctor, trained in the U.K. At age 34, his dictator father died. He took over and pretended to be a moderate. But he quickly changed his tune.
Syria also has no real stake in the Middle East.
What it does have, however, is a long-lasting friendship with all the wrong kind of people. In 1985, Syria helped finance the terrorists who hijacked the Achille Lauro cruiseliner.
In 1983, Syria helped pay to bomb a military bunker in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. Marines. Again in 1985, it also funded the hijackers of TWA Flight 847.
Syrian backing is even linked to the Munich Olympic massacre in 1972. And investigators say they can directly link Syria to killing Rafik Hariri in February 2005. Though of course, Syria denies it.
Why?
Syria wants the Golan Heights.
The Golan is a key fresh water source in the parched Middle East. It's also a perfect lookout into Damascus. And Syria doesn't want anybody but itself to own that advantage. But it lost the Golan to Israel in 1967 and 1973. Iran has promised to help Syria get it back, even if that means throwing its military might in a future war with Israel.
In fact, days after Hariri was killed in Lebanon, Iran's foreign minister flew to Damascus and forged a "united front" with Syria, including military support.
What does Iran get in exchange?
Syria lets Iran use Syrian territory as a land bridge over the border into Lebanon... so Iran can keep Hezbollah fully armed. As another part of its role in the new Middle East alliance, Syria also feeds support to new resistance fighters in Iraq...
The Radical:Why We'll Never Gain Access to Iraqi Oil
Democracy rarely happens overnight. The U.S. Civil War came along 85 years after the nation got started.

How's democracy taking hold in Iraq? Not too well. Meet Moztada al-Sadr, son-in-law of a grand ayatollah.
He's young. But he can trace his family lineage directly back to the prophet Muhammad. That gets him a lot of credibility.
al-Sadr heads the Mahdi Army. It's not an official army. It's a band of 10,000 Shiite militiamen, vying for control of Iraq.
His followers battle coalition troops in Baghdad. They've taken control of cities in the south. They run police stations, holy sites and political offices.
His own father, two brothers and father-in-law were all murdered by Hussein's secret police.
In a U.S.-run poll in Iraq, al-Sadr ranked more popular than Iraq's "elected" prime minister.
Then you've got the "Badr Brigade." The Brigade is also Shia. It's the armed wing, in fact, of SCIRI, the party of Shia Muslims who dominate the newly elected Iraqi Parliament.
Shia Muslims - or Shiites - are a sect of Islam. Around the world, there aren't many of them. But in the Middle East, the 140 million Shia Muslims make up more than half the population of the entire region.
The other half is Sunni Muslim. Shiites and Sunnis hate each other. They have been at war in Iraq ever since Saddam fell. They have been at war across the Middle East for the last 1,374 years.
The 40% of people supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon are also Shia. President Assad in Syria is Alawi, which is a Shia subgroup. The new president of Iraq is Shia. In fact, 60% of the Iraqi population is Shia.
Sadr City, Karbala and Najaf, Iraq... they're all jammed with Shia Muslims. The oppressed Shiites partied in the streets when Saddam fell. Today, they terrorize the coalition troops and take potshots at their Sunni neighbors.
They call it the "Balance of Terror" - a cycle of violence and counterviolence between Sunnis and Shias across the region - that's supposed to keep Shia populations from being marginalized ever again.
This virtually guarantees the Iraqi civil war will happen. In fact, even though Washington says we don't have to worry, our own top generals, CIA insiders and Middle East experts all say it's already begun.
Gen. John Abizaid was our top U.S. military commander in the Middle East. Here's what he had to say recently: "I believe that sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have ever seen it."
And William Patey, the U.K. ambassador to Iraq who just retired, says, "The prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy."
Bush and his?advisors have turned a deaf ear. They're in denial.
But that doesn't mean you should ignore the writing on the wall.
Think about it. Shias dominate the new Iraqi government. This is a "New Middle East" all right. Just not the one anyone ever hoped for.
The Iraqi Highway Patrol, run mostly by Shias, doubles as a not-so-secret Sunni Arab death squad. When Sunni's bombed the Shias' Golden Mosque, Shias bombed eight Sunni mosques and killed over 50 Sunni Arabs in retaliation.
Gunmen spraying worshippers with automatic fire during morning prayers... blasts in a crowded marketplace... over 1,000 Shia dead in a stampede, on rumors of a Sunni suicide bomber.
The last time Shia militias threatened to blow up oil fields in southern Iraq, they shut down - cutting off 90% of Baghdad's oil revenue. This is the seat of world oil wealth on edge, worse than at any other time in history!
And behind it all...
The Mastermind: How a Blacksmith's Son Just Engineered the End of Cheap Oil
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the son of a blacksmith.

He's smart. With a PHD in engineering. He's also ruthless.
In the late 1970s, he graduated as one of the top students from Iran's version of MIT. He joined the Revolutionary Guard.
During the Iran-Iraq war, Ahmadinejad trained 12-year-old boys to march into mine fields, sacrificing their own lives, to make way for the Iranian army.
After his election, he said in his speech, "Thanks to the blood of the martyrs, a new Islamic revolution is arisen..." He's doing everything possible to make sure he's right.
Take Iraq.
The Iran-Iraq war was one of the bloodiest battles of the 20th century. Iraq was run by Sunni Muslims then. Now it's run by Shiites. And Iran, also nearly 91% Shiite, is sending electricity to Iraq. It's sending wheat. It's sending $1 billion in foreign aid.
Ahmadinejad knows what he's doing.
Iran just offered to pay for three pipelines running across Shia territory in Iraq. Iran has offered to open its ports, so war-torn Iraq can use them for shipping. And every day, Iraq will ship 150,000 barrels of light crude direct to Iran, for refining. Remember, Iran also funds Hezbollah in Lebanon. And it's busily buying influence in Syria.
Don't look now, but...

Iran Just Pulled the Persian Rug out From Under Our Feet!
You've seen, so far, how much of a chip Iran has on its shoulder. The British sailors... the rebuffed U.N. inspections... the direct verbal challenges to the authority of the West.
What happens once Iran gets the bomb?
Everything changes. Shias unite across the region, behind the new dominant power in Tehran. The Sunni House of Saud... Saudi Arabia's ruling family... collapses. Along with any remaining alliance with the U.S. More radical fundamentalists step in to take charge.
Inside the region, the Sunnis get isolated - away from most of the oil. Now it's the Shiites who get to call the shots. And with the backing of the Iranian oil bourse, they're not afraid to price oil through the ceiling.
Here's what our own government says, through the U.S. Council on Foreign Affairs:
"Tehran sees itself as a regional power and the center of a Persian and Shiite zone of influence stretching from Mesopotamia to Central Asia. Freed from the menace of the Taliban in Afghanistan and of Saddam in Iraq, Iran is riding the crest of the wave of Shiite revival, aggressively pursuing nuclear power and demanding international recognition of its interests."
Oil markets hate uncertainty.

The "Open Oil War" of 2008

Take a look at this map...
What you see is a "Shia tide" or "crescent" cutting a swath across the Middle East.
Iran's Shiites... along with Shiites in Pakistan and Afghanistan... the Shia majority in Iraq... the Shia-friendly government in Syria... and Hezbollah and the large Shia movement in Lebanon... add up to a total 140 million people.
That has Washington worried. It has Saudi Arabia even more worried.
Saudi Arabia is mostly Sunni. In Saudi schools, they teach Sunni kids that Shiites aren't real Muslims. And that it would be better to marry a Christian or a Jew than to marry into the Shia sect.
Here's the thing...
Nearly 20% of Saudi Arabia is also Shia. But the land the Shia occupy happens to include virtually all of Saudi Arabia's biggest and most important oil fields. It's only a matter of time before the Shia movement in the north... reaches the Shia communities across the major Middle Eastern countries to the south.
Already, Saudi Arabia is feeling like a second-class power.
The House of Saud is in trouble. Its stubborn alliance with the U.S. has destroyed local credibility. Many of its 5,000 princes live decadent lives that don't square with Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia's especially strict form of Sunni Islam. And new geological research shows Saudi Arabia's oil fields may be drying up.
Meanwhile, Iran's economy is bigger than Saudi Arabia's. Iran is mineral rich, it's people are highly educated and its army is powerful and well rested. And by forging an alliance with the Shia majority in Iraq, it's now combining two of the largest oil deposits in the world.
For decades, Iran has hung back in the shadows.
With the growing Shia alliance across the Middle East, that's changing radically.
Iran's current super-nationalist, hostile government is like Japan in the 1930s. Not just overconfident, but ready to assert its place in the world. With nuclear weapons. With support of terrorists. With missile threats. And with tentacles of subversive ideological support reaching from Pakistan to Lebanon.
Is it any wonder other energy investors are watching closely?
In a report from Barclays Capital, energy analysts Paul Horsnell and Kevin Norrish wrote, "Iran's external relations remain the key wild card in the oil market."
We agree.
A violent new revolution is headed for the Middle East. An "open war" that spreads across borders. In the crossfire, over 696 BILLION barrels of valuable oil are at risk. At exactly the time when the world can't afford a constricted oil supply.
As this powder keg implodes, the impact will be enormous.
Consider, the world's spare oil capacity is much less than 2 million barrels per day. The loss of Iran's 2.5 million barrels in daily exports ALONE would breach that limit instantly... almost certainly sending the oil price to $100 a barrel overnight... and much higher over the months that follow.
And if Iran shuts down tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, an Iran-controlled waterway through which 80% of Persian Gulf oil passes... prices could rocket quickly past $125 per barrel... even as high as $150 per barrel... propelling the world economy and markets into a nose dive. http://www.isecureonline.com/Reports/OST/EOSTGA28/Default.cfm?o=1491777&u=11032080&l=796709&PAGE=2&PCODE=EOSTGA28&ALIAS=SCOW

Grief Books

I wanted to send you these articles about two books that are out that deal with grief. A person might not need these now, but it is good to be ready if one does either themselves or for someone they know. At the end of the second article is a reference to one of our church booklets which is also very handy to re-read for this purpose.


"Comfort" by Ann HoodPosted by: Hugh Hewitt
Susan Salter Reynolds is the accomplished book critic for the Los Angeles Times, and her review of Ann Hood's Comfort: A Journey Through Grief will show you why.

The Amazon.com page for the book is here.The review and the book that prompted it are certain to tear at your heart, if you have one. As I noted on my show last week, some very close friends of ours lost their son last week, and perhaps because of the grief surrounding them and their family and friends I found this more poignant than the average reader would, but I don't think so.


A Life That Matters
Hi friends,The apostle Paul encourages us to comfort and edify each other (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Clyde and Dee Kilough
A Life That Matters

http://www.amazon.com/Living-Life-Matters-Harold-Kushner/dp/0385720947/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212004948&sr=1-1
Harold Kushner, in his book Living a Life That Matters, tells us that when he spoke to people who were dying, most of them were not afraid of dying, but they were afraid that their lives were not significant. When this occurred, he encouraged the dying person’s family and friends to come in and tell the person he is appreciated and that God loves him (page 146).
The good news is you don’t have to wait until someone is dying to comfort and edify him or her. Let others know how much you love them now. Let them know their lives matter.
Further Reading:What Happens After Death?

Geopolitics of $130 Oil

Since this is a topic that is on everyone's mind, I thought I'd send the article for worldwide analysis and show how it is affecting various countries differently.




The Geopolitics of $130 Oil
May 27, 2008
By George FriedmanOil prices have risen dramatically over the past year. When they passed $100 a barrel, they hit new heights, expressed in dollars adjusted for inflation. As they passed $120 a barrel, they clearly began to have global impact. Recently, we have seen startling rises in the price of food, particularly grains. Apart from higher prices, there have been disruptions in the availability of food as governments limit food exports and as hoarding increases in anticipation of even higher prices.Oil and food differ from other commodities in that they are indispensable for the functioning of society. Food obviously is the more immediately essential. Food shortages can trigger social and political instability with startling swiftness. It does not take long to starve to death. Oil has a less-immediate — but perhaps broader — impact. Everything, including growing and marketing food, depends on energy; and oil is the world’s primary source of energy, particularly in transportation. Oil and grains — where the shortages hit hardest — are not merely strategic commodities. They are geopolitical commodities. All nations require them, and a shift in the price or availability of either triggers shifts in relationships within and among nations. It is not altogether clear to us why oil and grains have behaved as they have. The question for us is what impact this generalized rise in commodity prices — particularly energy and food — will have on the international system. We understand that it is possible that the price of both will plunge. There is certainly a speculative element in both. Nevertheless, based on the realities of supply conditions, we do not expect the price of either to fall to levels that existed in 2003. We will proceed in this analysis on the assumption that these prices will fluctuate, but that they will remain dramatically higher than prices were from the 1980s to the mid-2000s.If that assumption is true and we continue to see elevated commodity prices, perhaps rising substantially higher than they are now, then it seems to us that we have entered a new geopolitical era. Since the end of World War II, we have lived in three geopolitical regimes, broadly understood:
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, in which the focus was on the military balance between those two countries, particularly on the nuclear balance. During this period, all countries, in some way or another, defined their behavior in terms of the U.S.-Soviet competition.
The period from the fall of the Berlin Wall until 9/11, when the primary focus of the world was on economic development. This was the period in which former communist countries redefined themselves, East and Southeast Asian economies surged and collapsed, and China grew dramatically. It was a period in which politico-military power was secondary and economic power primary.
The period from 9/11 until today that has been defined in terms of the increasing complexity of the U.S.-jihadist war — a reality that supplanted the second phase and redefined the international system dramatically.With the U.S.-jihadist war in either a stalemate or a long-term evolution, its impact on the international system is diminishing. First, it has lost its dynamism. The conflict is no longer drawing other countries into it. Second, it is becoming an endemic reality rather than an urgent crisis. The international system has accommodated itself to the conflict, and its claims on that system are lessening. The surge in commodity prices — particularly oil — has superseded the U.S.-jihadist war, much as the war superseded the period in which economic issues dominated the global system. This does not mean that the U.S.-jihadist war will not continue to rage, any more than 9/11 abolished economic issues. Rather, it means that a new dynamic has inserted itself into the international system and is in the process of transforming it. It is a cliche that money and power are linked. It is nevertheless true. Economic power creates political and military power, just as political and military power can create economic power. The rise in the price of oil is triggering shifts in economic power that are in turn creating changes in the international order. This was not apparent until now because of three reasons. First, oil prices had not risen to the level where they had geopolitical impact. The system was ignoring higher prices. Second, they had not been joined in crisis condition by grain prices. Third, the permanence of higher prices had not been clear. When $70-a-barrel oil seemed impermanent, and likely to fall below $50, oil was viewed very differently than it was at $130, where a decline to $100 would be dramatic and a fall to $70 beyond the calculation of most. As oil passed $120 a barrel, the international system, in our view, started to reshape itself in what will be a long-term process.Obviously, the winners in this game are those who export oil, and the losers are those who import it. The victory is not only economic but political as well. The ability to control where exports go and where they don’t go transforms into political power. The ability to export in a seller’s market not only increases wealth but also increases the ability to coerce, if that is desired. The game is somewhat more complex than this. The real winners are countries that can export and generate cash in excess of what they need domestically. So countries such as Venezuela, Indonesia and Nigeria might benefit from higher prices, but they absorb all the wealth that is transferred to them. Countries such as Saudi Arabia do not need to use so much of their wealth for domestic needs. They control huge and increasing pools of cash that they can use for everything from achieving domestic political stability to influencing regional governments and the global economic system. Indeed, the entire Arabian Peninsula is in this position.The big losers are countries that not only have to import oil but also are heavily industrialized relative to their economy. Countries in which service makes up a larger sector than manufacturing obviously use less oil for critical economic functions than do countries that are heavily manufacturing-oriented. Certainly, consumers in countries such as the United States are hurt by rising prices. And these countries’ economies might slow. But higher oil prices simply do not have the same impact that they do on countries that both are primarily manufacturing-oriented and have a consumer base driving cars.East Asia has been most affected by the combination of sustained high oil prices and disruptions in the food supply. Japan, which imports all of its oil and remains heavily industrialized (along with South Korea), is obviously affected. But the most immediately affected is China, where shortages of diesel fuel have been reported. China’s miracle — rapid industrialization — has now met its Achilles’ heel: high energy prices.China is facing higher energy prices at a time when the U.S. economy is weak and the ability to raise prices is limited. As oil prices increase costs, the Chinese continue to export and, with some exceptions, are holding prices. The reason is simple. The Chinese are aware that slowing exports could cause some businesses to fail. That would lead to unemployment, which in turn will lead to instability. The Chinese have their hands full between natural disasters, Tibet, terrorism and the Olympics. They do not need a wave of business failures.Therefore, they are continuing to cap the domestic price of gasoline. This has caused tension between the government and Chinese oil companies, which have refused to distribute at capped prices. Behind this power struggle is this reality: The Chinese government can afford to subsidize oil prices to maintain social stability, but given the need to export, they are effectively squeezing profits out of exports. Between subsidies and no-profit exports, China’s reserves could shrink with remarkable speed, leaving their financial system — already overloaded with nonperforming loans — vulnerable. If they take the cap off, they face potential domestic unrest. The Chinese dilemma is present throughout Asia. But just as Asia is the big loser because of long-term high oil prices coupled with food disruptions, Russia is the big winner. Russia is an exporter of natural gas and oil. It also could be a massive exporter of grains if prices were attractive enough and if it had the infrastructure (crop failures in Russia are a thing of the past). Russia has been very careful, under Vladimir Putin, not to assume that energy prices will remain high and has taken advantage of high prices to accumulate substantial foreign currency reserves. That puts them in a doubly-strong position. Economically, they are becoming major players in global acquisitions. Politically, countries that have become dependent on Russian energy exports — and this includes a good part of Europe — are vulnerable, precisely because the Russians are in a surplus-cash position. They could tweak energy availability, hurting the Europeans badly, if they chose. T hey will not need to. The Europeans, aware of what could happen, will tread lightly in order to ensure that it doesn’t happen.As we have already said, the biggest winners are the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Although somewhat strained, these countries never really suffered during the period of low oil prices. They have now more than rebalanced their financial system and are making the most of it. This is a time when they absolutely do not want anything disrupting the flow of oil from their region. Closing the Strait of Hormuz, for example, would be disastrous to them. We therefore see the Saudis, in particular, taking steps to stabilize the region. This includes supporting Israeli-Syrian peace talks, using influence with Sunnis in Iraq to confront al Qaeda, making certain that Shiites in Saudi Arabia profit from the boom. (Other Gulf countries are doing the same with their Shiites. This is designed to remove one of Iran’s levers in the region: a rising of Shiites in the Arabian Peninsula.) In addition, the Saudis are using their economic power to re-establish the relationship they ha d with the United States before 9/11. With the financial institutions in the United States in disarray, the Arabian Peninsula can be very helpful.China is in an increasingly insular and defensive position. The tension is palpable, particularly in Central Asia, which Russia has traditionally dominated and where China is becoming increasingly active in making energy investments. The Russians are becoming more assertive, using their economic position to improve their geopolitical position in the region. The Saudis are using their money to try to stabilize the region. With oil above $120 a barrel, the last thing they need is a war disrupting their ability to sell. They do not want to see the Iranians mining the Strait of Hormuz or the Americans trying to blockade Iran. The Iranians themselves are facing problems. Despite being the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, Iran also is the world’s second-largest gasoline importer, taking in roughly 40 percent of its annual demand. Because of the type of oil they have, and because they have neglected their oil industry over the last 30 years, their ability to participate in the bonanza is severely limited. It is obvious that there is now internal political tension between the president and the religious leadership over the status of the economy. Put differently, Iranians are asking how they got into this situation.Suddenly, the regional dynamics have changed. The Saudi royal family is secure against any threats. They can buy peace on the Peninsula. The high price of oil makes even Iraqis think that it might be time to pump more oil rather than fight. Certainly the Iranians, Saudis and Kuwaitis are thinking of ways of getting into the action, and all have the means and geography to benefit from an Iraqi oil renaissance. The war in Iraq did not begin over oil — a point we have made many times — but it might well be brought under control because of oil.For the United States, the situation is largely a push. The United States is an oil importer, but its relative vulnerability to high energy prices is nothing like it was in 1973, during the Arab oil embargo. De-industrialization has clearly had its upside. At the same time, the United States is a food exporter, along with Canada, Australia, Argentina and others. Higher grain prices help the United States. The shifts will not change the status of the United States, but they might create a new dynamic in the Gulf region that could change the framework of the Iraqi war.This is far from an exhaustive examination of the global shifts caused by rising oil and grain prices. Our point is this: High oil prices can increase as well as decrease stability. In Iraq — but not in Afghanistan — the war has already been regionally overshadowed by high oil prices. Oil-exporting countries are in a moneymaking mode, and even the Iranians are trying to figure out how to get into the action; it’s hard to see how they can without the participation of the Western oil majors — and this requires burying the hatchet with the United States. Groups such as al Qaeda and Hezbollah are decidedly secondary to these considerations.We are very early in this process, and these are just our opening thoughts. But in our view, a wire has been tripped, and the world is refocusing on high commodity prices. As always in geopolitics, issues from the last generation linger, but they are no longer the focus. Last week there was talk of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) talks between the United States and Russia — a fossil from the Cold War. These things never go away. But history moves on. It seems to us that history is moving.Tell Stratfor What You Think
Please feel free to distribute this Intelligence Report to friends or repost to your Web site linking to http://www.stratfor.com/.

Islam Renouncing Jihad and all other forms of War and Terrorism?

I wanted to send this article about an ongoing debate within Islam itself about the legitimacy and effectiveness of various types of Jihad. I think you'll find this timely and interesting.


Wright on al-Qaeda
Peter Wehner - 05.27.2008 - 12:14 PM
Lawrence Wright, author of the brilliant book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, has written an extremely significant essay in The New Yorker, “The Rebellion Within.”Wright’s article is devoted to an issue that has fascinated me for months now and which I have written on (see here and here): how the tide within the Islamic world is turning against jihadism and more specifically, the significance of Sayyid Imam al-Sharif–who is more widely known by the pseudonym Dr. Fadl–breaking with the extremist and violent ideology he helped develop and popularize. This is one of the most significant and, until now, unreported ideological developments within the Islamic world. (Wright wisely points out that Fadl’s defection is not the only relevant data point; we have seen key Saudi and Palestinian clerics make similar arguments. For example, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Aal al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia, issued a fatwa in October 2007 forbidding Saudi youth from engaging in jihad abroad. And a month earlier, Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, an influential Saudi cleric whom Osama bin Laden once lionized, wrote an “open letter” condemning bin Laden).By way of background: Fadl, an Egyptian, is a living legend within the Islamic world and former mentor to Ayman Zawahiri, the ideological leader of Al Qaeda. In November 2007, the first segment of Fadl’s book appeared in the newspapers Al Masri Al Youm and Al Jarida. Titled “Rationalizing Jihad in Egypt and the World,” it attempted to (in Wright’s words) “reconcile Fadl’s well-known views with his sweeping modifications.” The result is that “Fadl’s arguments undermined the entire intellectual framework of jihadist warfare.” Wright argues that Fadl’s book is “a trenchant attack on the immoral roots of Al Qaeda’s theology:”
The premise that opens “Rationalizing Jihad” is “There is nothing that invokes the anger of God and His wrath like the unwarranted spilling of blood and wrecking of property.” Fadl then establishes a new set of rules for jihad, which essentially define most forms of terrorism as illegal under Islamic law and restrict the possibility of holy war to extremely rare circumstances. His argument may seem arcane, even to most Muslims, but to men who had risked their lives in order to carry out what they saw as the authentic precepts of their religion, every word assaulted their world view and brought into question their own chances for salvation.There is more:
Fadl repeatedly emphasizes that it is forbidden to kill civilians-including Christians and Jews-unless they are actively attacking Muslims. “There is nothing in the Sharia about killing Jews and the Nazarenes, referred to by some as the Crusaders,” Fadl observes. “They are the neighbors of the Muslims . . . and being kind to one’s neighbors is a religious duty.” Indiscriminate bombing-”such as blowing up of hotels, buildings, and public transportation”-is not permitted, because innocents will surely die. . . .Speaking of Iraq, he notes that, without the jihad there, “America would have moved into Syria.” However, it is unrealistic to believe that, “under current circumstances,” such struggles will lead to Islamic states. Iraq is particularly troubling because of the sectarian cleansing that the war has generated. Fadl addresses the bloody division between Sunnis and Shiites at the heart of Islam: “Harming those who are affiliated with Islam but have a different creed is forbidden.” Al Qaeda is an entirely Sunni organization; the Shiites are its declared enemies. Fadl, however, quotes Ibn Taymiyya, one of the revered scholars of early Islam, who is also bin Laden’s favorite authority: “A Muslim’s blood and money are safeguarded even if his creed is different.”Wright’s essay–which includes fascinating details on Fadl’s life, his relationship with Zawahiri, the rift that developed between them, and their recent debate about the nature of meaning of jihad–concludes:
One afternoon in Egypt, I visited Kamal Habib, a key leader of the first generation of Al Jihad, who is now a political scientist and analyst. His writing has gained him an audience of former radicals who, like him, have sought a path back to moderation. We met in the cafeteria of the Journalists’ Syndicate, in downtown Cairo. Habib is an energetic political theorist, unbroken by ten years in prison, despite having been tortured. (His arms are marked with scars from cigarette burns.) “We now have before us two schools of thought,” Habib told me. “The old school, which was expressed by Al Jihad and its spinoff, Al Qaeda, is the one that was led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Sheikh Maqdisi, Zarqawi. The new school, which Dr. Fadl has given expression to, represents a battle of faith. It’s deeper than just ideology.” He went on, “The general mood of Islamist movements in the seventies was intransigence. Now the general mood is toward harmony and coexistence. The distance between the two is a measure of their experience.” Ironically, Dr. Fadl’s thinking gave birth to both schools. “As long as a person lives in a world of jihad, the old vision will control his thinking,” Habib suggested. “When he’s in battle, he doesn’t wonder if he’s wrong or he’s right. When he’s arrested, he has time to wonder.”“Dr. Fadl’s revisions and Zawahiri’s response show that the movement is disintegrating,” Karam Zuhdy, the Islamic Group leader, told me one afternoon, in his modest apartment in Alexandria. He is a striking figure, fifty-six years old, with blond hair and black eyebrows. His daughter, who is four, wrapped herself around his leg as an old black-and-white Egyptian movie played silently on a television. Such movies provide a glimpse of a more tolerant and hopeful time, before Egypt took its dark turn into revolution and Islamist violence. I asked Zuhdy how his country might have been different if he and his colleagues had never chosen the bloody path. “It would have been a lot better now,” he admitted. “Our opting for violence encouraged Al Jihad to emerge.” He even suggested that, had the Islamists not murdered Sadat thirty years ago, there would be peace today between the Palestinians and the Israelis. He quoted the Prophet Muhammad: “Only what benefits people stays on the earth.”
“It’s very easy to start violence,” Zuhdy said. “Peace is much more difficult.”The tectonic plates have been shifting within the Islamic world for many months now. Thanks to Wright’s new essay, many more people in this country will recognize what is unfolding and its ramifications for al Qaeda specifically and jihadism more broadly. And while there is plenty of work that remains to be done and this struggle is far from over, what we have seen are heartening, far-reaching, and perhaps even pivotal developments in the history of jihad.
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Bible Q&A

Some interesting Bible Study Questions and Comments.

Just a review of the topics we covered in our bible study
1. What is the difference between John the Baptist's baptism and Jesus'? and the follow up between the baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit
2. Explain John 6:65? Do we go through the Father to Jesus or through Jesus to the Father? 3. Is Judas Iscariot going to be in the Second or Third Resurrection? Is he condemned, or did he play a predetermined role that somebody had to fulfil and he was the unfortunate victim? and
4. (This one was brought up, but not discussed) Does Matthew 26:17 mean that we are to celebrate Passover on the First Day of Unleavened Bread?
A key point that we brought up was that when answering the questions and making comments, it is better to bring up a Bible section to justify one's answer rather than use only reasoning and logic.
Next time, we'll try and work on Number 4 above and if anybody wants to revisit 1-3, we can do that also, and we will also discuss any new questions that anyone brings up, so everyone, think of answers to Number 4 and think of questions! Also, if you have one, bring a concordance as well as a bible, it will help with finding the verses you know, but don't know where they are!

Lebanon War

I wanted to give an update on the Battle of Beirut that Hezbollah seems to have won this week. A previous article about this is here http://brianleesblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/israel-palestine-lebanon-syria-hopes.html which talked about possible truces between various parties. Anyway, the article with links is below and I hope you find it interesting.

Hezbollah solidifies power in Lebanon
Peace deal accedes to militants' demands
By Liz Sly Tribune correspondent
10:54 PM CDT, May 21, 2008

BEIRUT — The Iran-backed Hezbollah movement secured all its key demands in a major political deal announced Wednesday by Lebanon's feuding factions, heralding an end to the long political crisis that had pushed Lebanon dangerously close to civil war.Lebanese awoke to the startling news that their squabbling leaders had finally agreed on a formula under which a new president would be elected, a new government formed, and the destabilizing 18-month-old occupation of downtown Beirut by Hezbollah protesters would be ended.The lengthy confrontation more broadly mirrored the struggle for power under way in the Middle East between the United States, which brands Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and Iran, which provides Hezbollah weapons and funding. The outcome reflected Iran's rising influence in the region since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 brought to power a Shiite government there, extending Iran's reach into the Arab world.The deal came only after the Shiite movement Hezbollah had escalated its pressure on the U.S.-backed Lebanese government by staging a military takeover of mostly Sunni West Beirut, defeating pro-government militia forces in a single night of fierce battles.

By turning its guns on fellow Lebanese, Hezbollah had pushed the issue of its weapons to the fore, and government supporters had been insisting that Hezbollah's private arsenal be part of any deal.Instead, Hezbollah won its chief demand, for veto rights in the new government, without making any concessions on its weapons, affirming Hezbollah's stature as "the preponderant military actor and the super-political power in Lebanon," according to political scientist Hilal Khashan of the American University of Beirut.
'Major defeat'
"It was an excellent deal for the Hezbollah-led opposition and a major defeat for the U.S.-backed government," he said.President George W. Bush has repeatedly urged the Lebanese government to stand firm against Hezbollah's demands, and the deal giving Hezbollah a prominent role in the new government drew a lukewarm reception from Washington.In a statement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the agreement "a positive step toward resolving the current crisis.""We call upon all Lebanese leaders to implement this agreement in its entirety," she said.The accord was brokered by a key U.S. Arab ally, Qatar, which was host to the heads of 17 Lebanese factions at crisis talks in the Qatari capital, Doha. The Arab League, composed mostly of U.S. allies, played a major part in securing the deal, and U.S. foes Syria and Iran both declared their support for it.Under the new arrangement, parliament will elect as president the current head of the Lebanese Army, Gen. Michel Suleiman, probably Sunday, ending a six-month vacancy in the presidency. Then, a new government will be appointed in which Hezbollah has enough seats to veto key decisions.The veto rights ensure that the new government won't be able to challenge Hezbollah's growing arsenal of weapons, as it appeared to do on May 6 when it ordered an investigation into Hezbollah's telecommunications system. Hezbollah interpreted the decision as an attack on its weapons, which it is allowed to keep to defend the country against Israel, and retaliated by ordering the attack on Beirut.But this was a deal nonetheless, and on a day when two other key players in the region, Israel and Syria, also announced that they were negotiating via Turkish intermediaries, hopes soared that peace, not war, would prevail.Almost immediately, Hezbollah supporters and city workers began dismantling the tented city that has paralyzed commercial and social life in downtown Beirut for the past 18 months.Just as quickly, merchants and cafe owners began resurrecting their shuttered businesses, full of hope that tourists would soon be flooding back to Lebanon."I cried with joy," said restaurant manager Mustafa Mattar, 32, speaking of the moment when his boss told him there was a deal and that he could go back to work after 18 months of idleness. "My boss cried too," he said as he pulled tables out of storage at the shuttered Siesta In cafe in preparation for what he hopes will be a prosperous summer.
But will deal last?
How long the deal will last is in question. In many ways, the arrangement offers only a reprieve until next spring, when fresh elections for a new government are due.The deal includes a reform of Lebanon's electoral law that will give Shiites fairer representation in Beirut to reflect their expanded numbers in a city traditionally dominated by Sunnis and Christians, increasing the likelihood that Hezbollah and its allies will win in the next elections.The recent fighting also exacerbated Sunni-Shiite tensions, opening new sectarian wounds that will not easily be healed by a backroom deal reached by the country's chieftains in a distant Arab capital."What about the people who were killed?" asked nightclub owner Haitham Fawaz, 32, a Sunni who lost two friends in the recent fighting. "I don't believe in Lebanon anymore, and the moment I can leave the country I will."The pain felt by many Sunnis was acknowledged by Sunni leader Saad Hariri, whose Future Movement fighters were routed in the recent fighting with Hezbollah."I know the wounds are deep. My wounds are especially deep," he told reporters in Doha after the deal. "But in this country we have no choice but to live together."And many Lebanese say that is all they want."I've never seen so many smiles on people's faces," said Mohammed Ali, 34, who works for the company charged with cleaning up the downtown area. "In Lebanon you can never get a good deal. You just get a deal, and if the politicians are talking instead of fighting, it's enough to make the people happy."


More Links here

HT: Powerline
A few days ago Michael Totten wrote about the failure of Hezbollah to push the Druze back during the recent fighting, and sounded almost optimistic about the country. Look for a Totten update soon, and for Claudia Rosett to weigh in as well.
One Lebanese columnist, Elias Khoury, branded the deal "a long truce."
Wizbang's Jay Tea blasts the State Department's absurd reaction to the deal.
The New York Times adds reactions here.

Coming Soon!

In our neighboring state of New Mexico, where English and Spanish are both the state's official languages (!), the public schools alternate in giving the "Pledge of Allegience" in English on one day and Spanish, the next. The defense is they are still pledging to the U.S. flag. If you have been following the U.S. Senate debate on the Iraq War funding bill, you can see that an Amnesty proposal was added on to it, but the citizens called and got them to remove it, until the next time they try at least.

Senate Leadership Removes Mikulski H-2B Amendment!American People Still Have a Voice on Capitol Hill! To receive more information from FAIR, click here.

Also, there are a very large amount of books on this topic, three that I recommend arehttp://www.amazon.com/Who-Are-We-Challenges-Americas/dp/B0013L2EM2/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211575099&sr=1-1 ,
http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Nation-Americas-Immigration-Disaster/dp/0060976918/ref=pd_bbs_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211575149&sr=8-6and
http://www.amazon.com/State-Emergency-Invasion-Conquest-America/dp/B0012F48DC/ref=pd_sim_b_title_1
Of course, there are a lot of other great books at your library here http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30437454&tab=holdings?loc=85726 .

Interestingly, on every poll the majority of people want immigration laws enforced and an interesting article about that is here http://www.rightwingnews.com/category.php?ent=5455.
Who knows if the illegal immigration trend will ever be reversed or if the point of no return has already been passed.


No apology for sending this ! ! ! After hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Spanish - enough is enough. Nowhere did they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German or any other language because of immigration. It was written by Francis Scott Key and should be sung word for word the way it was written. The news broadcasts even gave the translation -- not even close. NOT sorry if this offends anyone because this is MY COUNTRY - IF IT IS YOUR COUNTRY SPEAK UP -- please pass this along. I am not against immigration -- just come through like everyone else. Get a sponsor; have a place to lay your head; have a job; pay your taxes, live by the rules . . . . . . . AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE (as I did!) and - as all other immigrants have in the past -- and GOD BLESS AMERICA!

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Difference between Christianity and Judaism

I wanted to send this article, written from a Jewish point of view, that explains two big differences between us and Judaism. The first difference is that this event, in 135 AD, shows that Judaism proclaimed a different Messiah besides Jesus, and that was Bar Kochba, by his one time spiritual mentor, Akiva. The next is that Judaism has a lot of Mysticism in it including what is called the Zohar, which talks about hidden meanings and other secrets that only the initiated can know apart from the Bible which was revealed by God to the public. I hope you do find this to be interesting.

The Mystery of Lag B'Omer
By Rabbi Pinchas Stolper


JewishWorldReview.com Thirty-three days following the first day of Passover, Jews celebrate a "minor" holiday called Lag B'Omer, the thirty-third day of the Omer. It is an oasis of joy in the midst of the sad Sefirah period that passes almost unnoticed by most contemporary Jews. Yet it contains historic lessons of such gravity that our generation must attempt to unravel its mystery. We may well discover that our own fate is wrapped in the crevices of its secrets.
The seven weeks between Passover and Shavuos are the days of the "Counting of the Omer," the harvest festivities which were observed in the Land of Israel when the Temple stood on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. This fifty-day period should have been a time of joyful anticipation. After experiencing the Exodus from Egypt on Pesach, Jews literally "counts the days" until they can relive Mattan Torah — the Revelation of Torah at Mount Sinai which took place on Shavuos, exactly fifty days after the Exodus.
While the Exodus marks the physical birth of the Jewish Nation, the Giving of Torah completes the process through the spiritual birth of the Jewish Nation.
Each year, as we celebrate the Seder on Passover, we are commanded to see ourselves "as though each of us actually experienced the Exodus." It therefore follows that we should prepare ourselves during the Sefirah period (counting of the Omer) to once again accept the Torah on Shavuos - to make our freedom spiritually complete.
Clearly then, the Sefirah days should be days of joy, but instead, they are observed as a period of semi-mourning. Weddings, music and haircuts are not permitted; some men do not shave during this entire period. Yet on the thirty-third day of semi-mourning the holiday of Lag B'Omer occurs, the one day when our mourning is halted, when sadness is forbidden.
What is the reason for sadness during what should have been a period of joyful anticipation? The reason, the Babylonian Talmud tells us, is that during this period, Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 students, who lived 1,850 years ago in the Roman dominated Land of Israel, died from a mysterious G-d-sent plague.
Rabbi Akiva was the most revered Tanna of his day, whose insights and brilliant decisions fill the Mishnah and Gemara. Why did his students die? Because, the Talmud teaches, "they did not show proper respect to one another." However, Lag B'Omer (literally meaning the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer) is a day of celebration because on that day Rabbi Akiva's students ceased to die.
A SERIES OF UNANSWERED QUESTIONS This explanation leaves us with numerous unanswered questions. Why does this event, the death of Rabbi Akiva's students, tragic as it was, merit thirty-two days of mourning, when greater tragedies in Jewish history — such as the destruction of both Temples — are marked by a single day of mourning? In terms of numbers, the massacres of the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Chmelnitski pogroms and the Holocaust far overshadow the deaths of Rabbi Akiva's students. Why are the students given so much more weight?
Another question that arises stems from the fact that every event in the Jewish calendar was placed there by the Divine Hand because it conforms to a preset definition of the significance of the seasons and of history. Nature and history correspond and intermesh; certain days and periods are most suited to joy or to sadness. Why does the Sefirah mourning coincide with the joyous holidays of Passover and Shavuos, which in turn coincide with a time of harvest festivities? Even more importantly, how does the Sefirah mourning period, and its association with Rabbi Akiva, relate to the Giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai on Shavuos?
There also appear to be inconsistencies in the story itself. If Rabbi Akiva's students perished as a punishment for their sins, why should we mourn them? Didn't they deserve their punishment? In fact, why is Lag B'Omer a day of celebration? If what happened on Lag B'Omer was a cessation of the plague, wouldn't it be more fitting to set it aside as a single memorial day for the thousands of scholars who died, especially in view of the Talmudic statement that as a result of their deaths "the world became spiritually desolate"?
We must also consider the connection between Lag B'Omer and the revolt against the Romans. Let us remember that the Temple was destroyed by the Romans during the Great Revolt in the year 70 of the Common Era. At that time, numerous factions fought each other bitterly, each vying for the loyalty of the Jewish People. Sixty-five years later, nearly all of the Jewish population was united behind the authority of the Tana'im, the great rabbi-teachers of the post-Temple era, of whom Rabbi Akiva was the most revered. One of Rabbi Akiva's most notable students was Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who later authored the Zohar, containing the Torah's mystical teachings. What connection is there between Lag B'Omer and the revolt? And why do we sing of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on this day?
And finally, why are all these questions not discussed openly in the Talmud or in the writings of our Sages?
The answers to these questions lie shrouded in the history of a turbulent age and in the mysteries of the Messianic era. First, we must understand that much of the material in the Talmud that deals with political matters was written with a keen sensitivity to the Roman censors. The Talmud could not speak openly concerning the political ramifications of certain events. In order to obtain a true picture of what happened, we must piece together the story from various historical sources and from Talmudic hints.
Using this method, we can infer this scenario:
After the Second Temple was destroyed, Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside lay in ruins from border to border. Scores of thousands of Jews died in the fierce fighting and subsequently from persecution and starvation; thousands more were sold as slaves and forced into exile. Victorious General Titus erected a grand monument in Rome, the famous Arch of Titus, which stands to this day. Coins were minted bearing the inscription Judea Capta — "Judea is fallen." The Romans considered the Jewish Nation defeated and obliterated.
But even in defeat the spiritual leaders of the Jewish People struggled to rebuild Jewish life and recreate Jewish institutions. At this point, the Romans renewed their oppression of the Jews. In 135 CE, no longer able to tolerate Roman brutality, the Jews felt that the opportunity to restore their independence and rebuild the Temple was at hand.
A Jewish military leader named Bar Kosiba succeeded in organizing a fighting force to rid the Land of Israel of the hated Romans. Thousands rallied to his cause, including Rabbi Akiva. Some of Rabbi Akiva's contemporaries felt that a new revolt against the Romans was doomed to failure and urged the avoidance of bloodshed. But Bar Kosiba persisted and succeeded in organizing and training a superb military force of 400,000 men.
The Talmud relates that Bar Kosiba demanded that each recruit demonstrate his bravery by cutting off a finger. When the rabbis protested the self-mutilation, Bar Kosiba substituted a new test: Each recruit was required to uproot a young tree while riding a horse. Such was the level of their bravery and strength.
Many historians believe that the prospects for toppling Rome were very real. Various sources estimate that 10%-20% of the population of the Roman Empire at that time was Jewish. The pagan foundations of Rome were crumbling. Many Romans were in search of a religious alternative — which many of them subsequently found in Christianity in the following two centuries. Significant numbers converted to Judaism.
If the large numbers of Jews who lived throughout the Roman Empire could have been inspired and convinced to participate in anti-Roman revolts, and if they would have had the support of tens of thousands of sympathizers, there would have been a true possibility of success.
If the revolts succeeded and Jews from all over the world would unite to return to their homeland, Rabbi Akiva believed that the Messianic era — the great era of spirituality and universal peace foretold by Israel's Prophets — could begin. All Jews would return to the Land of Israel, the Jerusalem Temple would be rebuilt and Israel would lead the world into an era of justice, spiritual revival and fulfillment. Rabbi Akiva won over a majority of his rabbinic colleagues to his point of view.
Rabbi Akiva gave Bar Kosiba a new name: "Bar Kochba"— Son of the Star — in fulfillment of the prophecy, "A star will go forth from Jacob."(Numbers 24:7)
To Bar Kochba and his officers, all seemed to be in readiness. Rome was rotten and corrupt. Numerous captive nations strained at the yoke; rebellion was in the air. Bar Kochba trained an army capable of igniting the powder keg of rebellion and Rabbi Akiva lit it with one of the most dramatic proclamations in Jewish history — that Bar Kochba was the long awaited Messiah.
Discussing the Messianic era in his Laws of Kings (Chapter 11:3), Maimonides (known also as Rambam) says, "Do not think that the King Messiah must work miracles and signs, create new natural phenomena, restore the dead to life or perform similar miracles. This is not so. For Rabbi Akiva was the wisest of the scholars of the Mishnah and was the armor bearer of Bar Kosiba … . He said concerning Ben Kosiba that he is the King Messiah. Both he and the sages of his generation believed that Bar Kosiba was the King Messiah, until [Bar Kosiba] was killed because of his sins. Once he was killed, it became evident to them that he was not the Messiah."
One of the greatest Torah teachers and leaders of all time, Rabbi Akiva could not have made this crucial and radical declaration, proclaiming a man to be the Messiah, unless he was certain. Rabbi Akiva added a new, spiritual dimension to the war of liberation. He attempted to merge the soldiers of the sword with his soldiers of the Book — his 24,000 students — each a great Torah scholar and leader.
These outstanding scholars would become the real "army" of the Jewish People, a spiritual and moral force that would bring Torah to the entire world, overcoming anguish, suffering and the cruel boot of the corrupt Roman Empire. They would soon inaugurate a new era of peace, righteousness and justice, an era in which "the Knowledge of G-d would cover the earth as water covers the seas." The fact that the Jews were able to unite around a single leader separates this event from the great revolt of the previous century, when bitterly divided factions warred with each other inside the walls of Jerusalem even as the Roman army stormed the gates.
Bar Kochba's army achieved many initial victories and the rebellion raged for six years. Many non-Jews joined Bar Kochba's army as well. It is reported that it grew to 400,000 men - larger than the Roman Army. Bar Kochba was so successful that Hadrian called in all of his best troops from England and Gaul. Rome felt threatened as never before. On Lag B'Omer, it is believed by some, Bar Kochba's army reconquered Jerusalem, and we celebrate that great event today. Jewish independence was restored for four years. Many believe that Bar Kochba actually began to rebuild the Beis Hamikdash, the Holy Temple.
One writer — Rabbi Leibel Resnick in "The Mystery of Bar Kokhba" (Jason Aaronson, 1996) believes that he completed the building of the Third Temple.
There were two Roman legions in the country when the uprising began, one in Jerusalem and one near Megiddo. Both were decimated by Bar Kochba's men. Reinforcements were dispatched from what are today Jordan, Syria and Egypt but these, too, were mauled. Legion 22, sent from Egypt, disappeared from the listings of military units published in Rome. Scholars speculate that it was so badly beaten (most likely in the area of Lachish) that it ceased to exist as an organized force. The Jews apparently employed guerilla tactics, utilizing underground lairs, ambushing convoys and striking at night.
In desperation, Hadrian sent for his best commander, Julius Severus, who was then engaged in battle in far off Wales. Severus imported legions from Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria. The Romans were hurt so badly in the bruising campaign against the Jews, that upon returning to report to the Senate in Rome, Severus omitted the customary formula, "I and my army are well."
This was total war. In the middle of the effort to rebuild the Beis Hamikdash, the tide turned and Bar Kochba lost the support of Rabbi Akiva and the Sages who backed him. What had happened? Bar Kochba had accused his cousin, the distinguished Tanna Rabbi Elazar, of revealing the secret entrances of the fortress-city of Betar to the Romans and murdered him. Rabbi Akiva then realized that Bar Kochba no longer possessed the qualities that initially led him to believe that he was the Messiah.
THE TRAGEDY OF RABBI AKIVA'S DISCIPLES There was an additional spiritual dimension to the failure of Bar Kochba as well.
Whether the spiritual failure of Rabbi Akiva's students was the only cause, or whether it was also the failure of Bar Kochba to rise to the spiritual heights expected of the Messiah is beyond our knowledge. For then — out of the blue — the horrendous plague Askera descended and struck Rabbi Akiva's students. The dream collapsed. For reasons that will probably forever remain obscure, the students of Rabbi Akiva were not considered by Heaven to have reached the supreme spiritual heights necessary to bring about the Messianic age.
Apparently, as great as they were, an important factor was missing. The Talmud tells us that, "Rabbi Akiva's students didn't show proper respect one for the other." Precisely what this phrase refers to we do not know. With greatness comes heightened responsibility, and with greatness comes a magnification of reward and punishment.
Because of their failures and deficiencies - which would certainly be counted as minor in a generation such as ours, but which were crucial for great men on their high spiritual level — their mission, to bring the Messianic age and to fill the world with the teachings of Torah, was cancelled and they died a mysterious death.
With them died the Messianic hope of that era and for thousands of years to come. In the terrible war that followed, Bar Kochba and his army were destroyed in the great battles defending the fortress city of Betar. The war had been a catastrophe. Dio Cassius reports the deaths of 580,000 Jews by Roman swords, in addition to those who died of hunger and disease. Some scholars think that the bulk of the Jewish population of Judea was destroyed in battle and in subsequent massacres. One historian believes that the Jews lost a third of their number in the war, perhaps more fatalities than in the Great Revolt of the year 70.
For the survivors, the failure of the Bar Kochba uprising marked the great divide between the hope for national independence and dispersal in the Diaspora. The trauma of the fall of Betar coming after the fall of Jerusalem effected deep changes in the Jewish people. The stiff-necked, stubborn, fanatically independent People that did not hesitate to make repeated suicidal lunges at the mightiest superpower of antiquity lost its warlike ambitions. The hope of the Jew for Redemption was to be delayed for at least 2,000 years.
It would be 2,000 years before there would be a Jewish fighting force. In the great and tragic defeat, not only were between 250,000-600,000 Jews killed, but the Romans were encouraged, once and for all, to uproot the Jewish religion and the Jewish People, to bring an end to their revolutionary hopes and their redemptive dreams.
It is for this reason that we mourn today. The mourning of Sefirah is not for the students alone, but for the failure of the Jewish People to be worthy of the Messianic age, for the fall of the curtain on Jewish independence, Jewish hopes and Jewish Messianic ambitions.
Every anti-Semitic outbreak that Jews suffered since that day, every pogrom, massacre and banishment that took the toll of so many millions during the 2,000-year bitter night of exile, must be traced directly to the failure of Bar Kochba — but ultimately, to the failure of the students of Rabbi Akiva. This was a tragedy of inestimable proportions to a war-ravaged world suffering under the bitter yoke of Rome as well as to the Jewish People. Rome did not fall at that time, but its fury led to the exile and dismemberment of the Jewish People.
Yet, on that very Lag B'Omer day 2,000 years ago, a new hidden light of hope emerged. In the midst of defeat, the Tanna Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai emerged from his hiding place in a cave and revealed to a small number of students the secrets of the mystical Zohar.
In the formulas, disciplines and spirituality of the Zohar lay the secrets that could bring about the coming of the Messiah. The Zohar's living tradition has kept that hope alive down to this very day. On Lag B'Omer the plague stopped, indicating that the Messianic dream was delayed, but it was not destroyed. It was to be nurtured throughout the generations and the stirrings of its realization enliven us today.
Because Lag B'Omer deals with the secrets of the future Messianic age, it is not discussed openly or understood as clearly as the Exodus or other events of the past. Whenever we stand between Passover and Shavuos — between our physical liberation from Egypt and our spiritual elevation at Sinai — we recall those chilling events of the Jewish rebellion against Rome.
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED Today we rejoice over the return of our people to Eretz Yisrael, the Holy Land, and to Jerusalem, the site of our destroyed Temple. History is bringing together so many crucial events: The history of our ancient past is once again coming alive in the land of our fathers. Clearly the days between Passover and Shavuos are filled with the potential and challenge of great spiritual growth. At the same time, these can also be days of spiritual failure, as the sin of the Golden Calf and the failure of Bar Kochba indicate.
There are significant parallels between our own age and that of Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kochba. Following a frightful Holocaust, which many believed would spell the end of the Jewish People, we experienced a restoration of Jewish independence - once more did a Jewish army score miraculous victories against overwhelming odds. Following the destruction of the great European centers of Torah scholarship, we witnessed the rebuilding of yeshivos (Judaic academies) in America and in Israel. We are experiencing an impressive revival of Torah study. The teshuvah (return to observance) movement has brought about a re-embracing of aTorah lifestyle for so many who had been alienated. Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are in our hands.
All around us, the world is in turmoil as violence, despair and corruption rage. Once again, the Jewish People have been entrusted with a great and frightful opportunity. Once again we have been given the potential to recreate a Jewish civilization of Torah greatness in our own land. Will we succeed or will our efforts be aborted because of our own failures, our own inability to respect the differences within the Torah community and unite the entire Jewish People to our cause?
The personality of Rabbi Akiva itself offers important lessons and opportunities. It was Rabbi Akiva who understood that "love your fellow as you love yourself" is the overriding principle which must be internalized by all Jews if our nation is to achieve its goals. Rabbi Akiva, too, is the quintessential ba'al teshuvah: At 40 years of age he was unable to distinguish between an aleph letter and a beis, yet he later rose to be Jewry's greatest Torah scholar.
Hundreds of thousands of Jews — Americans, Israelis and Russians — are today's potential Rabbi Akivas. The fate of Jewry and the achievement of Heaven's greatest goals are in the hands of this generation. Will we attempt to achieve them or will we withdraw into our own selfish cocoons by refusing to shoulder the historic responsibilities God has set before us?
It is not enough to wait for the Messiah's coming; we must toil to perfect our Torah lives and reach out to Jews everywhere, if we are to bring about his speedy arrival. Only if we learn from the lesson of Rabbi Akiva's students will we understand how very much the coming of the Messiah depends on us.
FINAL THOUGHTS We can now understand why it was Rabbi Akiva, of all the great rabbis and teachers, who said, "To love your fellow as you love yourself is a major principle in the Torah." The meaning of this Talmudic "innovation" and "insight" is puzzling. It is common knowledge that this statement is to be found in the Torah, in Leviticus 19:18, and that it is a major principle in defining the relationship that must prevail between one Jew and another. What is the new insight that Rabbi Akiva proposed in his statement?
The key to this problem is suggested by the great pre-modern sage, the Chasam Sofer (Pituchei Chosam), who proposes the following brilliant insight regarding the tragedy that befell Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples: He says that there is a deeper meaning to Rabbi Akiva's phrase "klal gadol ba'Torah — a major principle in the Torah." A more profound interpretation is that this teaching is a major principle "concerning Torah" or "concerning the transmission of Torah."
"Love your neighbor as yourself" not only describes the ideal in human relationships. It must also govern an area where individual accomplishment often reigns supreme - in the intellectual area of the teaching, transmission and study of Torah.
The Torah was given at Sinai at a moment when there was total Jewish unity. The Torah states, "va'yichan Yisrael neged hahar," the Israelites encamped opposite Mount Sinai. Va'yichan is stated in the singular, which the foremost commentator, Rashi, defines as meaning that Israel encamped opposite the mountain "as one man with one heart," i.e. in a state of total and perfect unity.
From this, we derive the lesson that Torah can only prosper and accomplish its goals when the Jewish people are united. As this relates to Torah study, unity implies circumstances where individual intellectual creativity functions in an environment where love and caring override differences of analysis or opinion. This demands that in the community of scholars, there must exist a high regard for the views of fellow scholars.
Each scholar is expected to promote his own scholarship while at the same time advancing and respecting the scholarship of others. Each scholar must make an effort to bring out the best in his colleagues, not to denigrate or downplay them.
The highest form of love of fellow must therefore be found among those who are engaged in the study and transmission of Torah. We are therefore obligated to love our fellow as ourselves in the process of transmitting, teaching and sharing our Torah with others. Who appreciated this insight more than Rabbi Akiva himself, whose 24,000 students died from the strange sickness which the Talmud calls Askara, because they "were not sufficiently respectful" of one another?
Let us remember that Rabbi Akiva had declared Bar Kochba the potential Messiah of Israel, that the world was a powder keg, that anti-Roman revolts were sprouting all over the Roman Empire, that the Jews believed that they had, with G-d on their side, the capacity to bring Rome down and create a world of justice, peace and respect for all human beings. They believed that these circumstances taken together would initiate the Messianic era.
We don't know the precise role played by Rabbi Akiva's students in the revolt against Rome. Were they scholars or scholar soldiers? Nor do we have proof that Rabbi Akiva taught this doctrine in the wake of the demise of the 24,000 students, but it appears to be obvious that this is the case.
The fact remains that when the Sages recorded the ultimate reason for the failure of the great revolt, they did not point to the failings of Bar Kochba, his generals or his troops. They looked inward and realized that the failure was one of the spirit and of those who personified the spiritual life. The unity needed for victory was lacking.
Perhaps the honor and respect Rabbi Akiva's students gave one another fell short of what Heaven expected of them.
Why is this Lag B'Omer legacy so important? The Jewish Nation is focused on history for one reason - to learn its lessons and act on them.
Note: Medrash Koheles Rabbah 11:10 confirms the above analysis, quoting the words of Rabbi Akiva who said, "'I had 12,000 disciples from Geves to Antiperes, all of whom died during my lifetime [between Pesach and Shavuos]. In the end, I had seven disciples, Rabbi Yehuda Bar Ilai, Rabbi Nechemiah, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yosi Ben Chalafta, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosi HaGalili and Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar. The earlier [disciples] died because they envied the Torah accomplishments of their colleagues. You [the later disciples] must not repeat their error.' Immediately, they succeeded in filling all of Eretz Yisrael with Torah."