Jan 15
Steps Toward the Unthinkable
A week ago, the London Sunday Times ran a story about Israel’s plan to use small atomic bombs against Iran. "Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear 'bunker-busters,' according to several Israeli military sources," said the paper.
The Times quoted another source as saying, "As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished.”
One obviously has to ask why various Israeli military sources would spill the beans on such a sensitive mission. If you're going to launch a surprise attack against your enemy, you normally would want to keep your actions a secret.
The Times reporters who produced the story were also wondering why Israeli officials would leak this type of information. They consulted with military analysts and came up with three possible reasons:
1. The disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment.
2. Israel may have been trying to cajole America into action.
3. They might have wanted to soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli attack.
I would add a fourth reason as possibly being Israel's incapability of carrying out a successful attack. U.S. Army War College has recently concluded that there are too many geopolitical limitations for Israel to carry out a preemptive air strike targeting Iran's nuclear sites.
The report, entitled "Getting Ready for a Nuclear-Ready Iran," said that Israel does not have the military capability to locate and destroy Iranian nuclear facilities, adding that Israel's Air Force cannot operate at such long distances from its bases.
"The Israeli Air Force has formidable capabilities and enjoys unchallenged supremacy vis-à-vis the other Middle East air powers, but Israel has no aircraft carriers and it cannot use airbases in other Middle East states," the report said.
Unlike the now-legendary strike on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor, a bombing run against Iran would be vastly more complex. In the 1981 strike, Iraq only had one facility. The Iranian nuclear project is scattered around anywhere from 200 to 300 sites. While the Osirak reactor was above ground, many of Iran's facilities are in deep underground bunkers.
If Israel is going to take action, nuclear weaponry is the only option that has a chance of working. The one thing preventing the button from being pushed is the perceived notion that the deployment of nuclear weapons is unthinkable. Even though several nations around the world have spent hundreds of billions of dollars devolving nukes, the fear of them triggering a nuclear holocaust has prevented anyone from using them.
Just over a year ago, another news story suggested Israel might use nukes to end Iran’s atomic ambitions. At the time, the story received a sharp negative reaction in Israel. Several leaders said such an idea was crazy, and poured scorn on the paper for printing such a suggestion.
This time around, the reaction was much more muted. The most common reaction was the standard, "Israel is still committed to negotiations with Iran." However, just about every leader in Israel has made some statement that it may be time to consider using force to prevent Iran from becoming a dangerous nuclear power. When considering that conventional weapons have already been ruled out, you can see where Israel’s thinking is headed.
As much as President Bush has been occupied with Iraq, he still realizes the danger Iran poses to Israel. "I want to remind you that the current president of Iran has announced that the destruction of Israel is an important part of their agenda. And that's unacceptable. And the development of a nuclear weapon, it seems like to me, would make them a step closer to achieving that objective," said Bush at a at a joint press conference in Washington, D.C. with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
I don’t see western nations putting enough pressure on Iran to force it to change its nuclear plans. Many of our friends in Europe rely on Iran for a large portion of their oil imports, which makes them reluctant to support any major sanctions.
I expect to wake up some morning to the news that Israel has attacked Iran's nuclear program. It would not surprise me to learn that the U.S.
helped with this effort. After all, Bush is at the point where he has nothing to lose.
I have no idea what would happen next. An attack by Israel against Iran would completely change the dynamics of the Middle East. The world would basically have a cow, and the stage would be set for Russia and the Antichrist to play their end-time roles.
-- Todd
How Vexed Are You?
A friend e-mailed the other day with a statement I found quite interesting. The person, a citizen of Australia, first reported the catastrophic wildfires burning in her country. She informed that many of these are set by arsonists. The few and far between rains have, she wrote, been mostly along the coasts, and when the rain falls further inland, most have missed the catchment areas, the basins for catching and storing rain water. The situation is dire, due to many months of drought-exacerbated fires. Much prayer is needed to bring God’s intervention into the situation.
She then said the following, which particularly got my attention:
“We are not only facing a water and fire crisis and a future food shortage. The increase in violence has been great in the last few years. Regular home invasions, street killings and drive-by shootings were not heard of over 5 years ago here in Sydney. The increase in terrorist threats, racial hatred, etc., all add up to an uncertain and unstable future. Despite all this, people have still been flocking to the New Year's store sales and going on holidays.
(School resumes here at the end of January). There is little fear of God or desire to return to godly morals. It is disturbing to me how blind and rebellious,
are the people of this nation…”
My friend then thanked me for prayers for her country, then said:
“I'm now praying Lord Jesus please come soon. I'm more than ready to leave. I'm spiritually tired and I am constantly upset by the wickedness that surrounds me each day…”
My thoughts turned immediately to one word that is seldom used in modern times to describe total exasperation with life’s circumstances. The word was used in reference to Lot, during his time living in the infamous ancient city of Sodom. My friend’s words: “I'm spiritually tired and I am constantly upset by the wickedness that surrounds me each day,” were substantially the feelings of Abraham’s nephew, Lot, just before the Lord rained wrath upon Sodom.
The Apostle Peter wrote about this, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Pet. 2: 4-9).
Jesus prophesied that it will be just like those days of Lot in Sodom, just before He comes to take His Church to Heaven.
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Lk. 17:28-30).
My friend in Australia is not alone in the frustration she feels. Looking around us today, I certainly do get vexed, don’t you?
Horror stories inundate our hourly news. More and more those reports involve the most heinous type of activity. Pedophiles and other perverts seem to be proliferating within our supposedly "civilized" society. Terrorism is on the rise, while most Americans seem to be happy with their shopping trips and living in their bubbles of relative affluence. Children are murdered in the womb for convenience, then their remains are sought for use to prop up the rest of us lucky enough to have survived the abortionists.
Israel is at the center of world controversy –even hatred—and no one seems to make the correlation between the fact and the lateness of this prophetic hour.
The name of Jesus is becoming hated and mocked, while false teachers and false gods are aggrandized by Satan-controlled news and entertainment media. It’s all, well, vexing. This is a sure sign we must be nearing that moment Christ will call us to be with Him forever. Certainly, while we must be reaching those around us with the message that Jesus Christ is the only salvation for them, it is time that those who belong to Christ look for the Blessed Hope (Titus 2: 13).
--Terry
