Cold Peace, Hot Wars

Donald Trump has done some remarkable things in his short time in office. It seems that his reputation as a dealmaker is well-earned. The Art of the Deal is now gobbling-up peace overtures in the Middle East, between old enemies.

We’ve known for some time that the Middle East is a hotbed of Islamic ideology. As the researcher Raymond Ibrahim (you should check out his work) has pointed out, complete domination of the world has been a core Muslim goal since the 7^th century. It is difficult—very difficult—for western minds to accept this. And so much of our society goes on in a dream-like trance, unable and unwilling to see the obvious existential threat for what it is. I will be honest: I’d be hard-pressed to ever trust national Arab leadership, and that includes what is going on right now in the Middle East.

And yet.

Just when many of us think we have the immediate future somewhat figured out, comes a reality that bends reality.

Recently, it was announced that a peace deal had been brokered between the UAE and Israel. Stunning, really.

Now comes word that Bahrain is prepared to recognize Israel as well, and normalize relations.

Additionally, more and more countries announce that they are opening embassies in Jerusalem. Eastern European countries and those aforementioned Gulf States are forming a remarkable coalition willing at least on paper to make peace with the Jewish state.

In this way, Trump is similar to Benjamin Netanyahu. Both men are resolute in crisis, and resolute in the face of the most sinister media attacks. Both men are hated by media in their respective countries. Netanyahu has dealt with this for 25 years, Trump for four.

And while we may never know what operational masterpieces Netanyahu has taken part in as a commando, and authorized while prime minister, Trump too has ice water in his veins when it comes to ordering strikes that are game-changers.

His early 2020 order to take out the Iranian terror master Soleimani showed that Trump, like Netanyahu, is willing to take bold steps that really alter the way even diplomacy is done going forward. Seth Frantzman, a terrific writer in the Jerusalem Post, talks about the new Bob Woodward book, Rage, in which Trump’s Soleimani hit is examined in a new light.

“The book paints a picture of a calculating Trump who made a decisive decision that went against the fear-mongering of experts, politicians and advisors.

“According to accounts published online, the powerful US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is a key foreign policy player and close to Trump, was concerned about striking Soleimani. He warned that it was ‘over the top’ and a ‘giant step’ and that it would lead to ‘almost total war.’ He suggested striking someone lower level, an attack that Iran could ‘absorb.’”

Do you see? Politicians and advisors like Graham have kept Netanyahu fairly hamstrung for a quarter-century. Dennis Ross, Graham, William Cohen, Madeleine Albright…the list goes painfully on. They forced Israel to go along with Oslo and the result was thousands of dead and maimed Israelis. Now Trump has changed the equation and is allowing by extension Netanyahu to do some real broken-field running, as they say. They make quite a tandem in reshaping the Middle East, while scrapping conventional (dangerous) diplomacy.

So while we who study Bible prophecy wait (im)patiently for that just-right alignment of nations to fulfill the great end-times prophecies, we must in the here-and-now have some appreciation for these pragmatic deals that at least tamp-down hostilities and make way for thawing relations. These cold peace deals are preferable to hot wars where people die.

I’ve read some interesting things this week that propose that Arab nations are not part of the Gog-Magog War. And these geopolitical machinations are complex. Maybe what we should do in this present moment is take the peace we can get now, brace for the potential treacheries that may come, and leave to God the final outcomes.

I will be skeptical of Arab overtures, for Israel’s sake, but hope for the best in the short-term. At the very least, two transformational leaders are taking America and Israel in new directions.

It is a remarkable time to be alive.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

A New Venture

Many of you know I had a gun accident a few years ago. Someday I’ll tell you the whole story, but my survival and recovery were miraculous. I rarely mention my personal life, but this week feels like the right time to do it.

The injuries altered many things for me, including writing and speaking. I continued to do a little bit—continuing this column was, for me, “therapetick,” as Barney Fife would say.

Honestly? I was going to head into early retirement and relax out here at the farm. I was good with it and so as I slid into semi-retirement, I figured my active days with Bible prophecy and Israel advocacy were behind me.

As is often the case, I began to get a hankering to get back in the game. Like most people, I did not anticipate the year we are having. I had a short list of places I wanted to visit and planned to do that in 2020.

 

Then dark forces decided to unleash a “pandemic” on the world, particularly the United States. For whatever reason, it was much easier for me to see things unfold: my kids are grown and doing well, and I rarely have occasion to leave home.

Yet I also obviously saw how evil was impacting people, individuals and families. In particular, I have noticed a spike in fear, even among believers. Now, as I just said, it’s been quite a bit easier for me to “fear not,” since no one depends on me for an income (save Stu, my dog!). It’s a pretty quiet life out here.

But as I sat in front of a fire in the evenings, I decided I might be useful after all.

So it is that I’ve decided to re-enter the Bible prophecy community and do something with the time I have left.

Next week I’ll just mention the launch of my new website (then it’s back to regularly scheduled programming about Israel).

Today though I want to give you the foundation of what I’ll be focusing on.

Think about this: if we believe the Bible, and we believe and love Bible prophecy, we do not fear the future. Granted, the present can be challenging, but even in that, we already know that God always keeps His promises. Every single time. You are aware of His provision for you throughout your life. Combine that with the scriptures that tell us what He will do in the future and you have a recipe for peace and contentment.

When you think about it, Jesus in Matthew 11:28—one of my favorite verses—prophesied in a way that if we call on Him, He will answer us. In my view, that is a fulfilled predictive prophecy because Jesus will not abandon you and He will not leave you in your time of need. He called it, and then followed-through. We all have numerous moments in our lives when we know this is true.

In fact, right now, if you are weary and burdened, call on Jesus and watch Him then give you rest for your soul. More than likely, you have a common problem (“common” doesn’t mean trivial, by the way): financial, health, a relationship problem.

I would genuinely like to hear from you when you have a victory report.

So it is that I have decided to teach Bible prophecy in what I call a positive way. Of course, it’s inherently positive, but sometimes we forget to spread the word that way. If I may…those of us that have studied Bible prophecy for a long time know that too often we tend to focus on the gloomier aspects. Apocalypse. An evil world leader. Forced conformity.

Those things are coming, no doubt. It isn’t up for debate.

However, I think that a literally desperate world could use the message that Someone that loves them is in complete control all the time.

All the time.

With that in mind, my “target audience” will be skeptics and other unbelievers, Millennials, even churchgoers that have heard nothing about Bible prophecy—which I consider to be the real pandemic, the real existential threat.

So, I’ll announce my new website in a blurb at the beginning of “Israel Watch” next week.

A “new” way of teaching Bible prophecy is a wide-open highway through our culture. It is a bullet-proof reality that critics cannot poke real holes through. I’ve seen things in Israel that so completely prove the existence of God that I can’t be silent about it. I can’t retire to my front porch.

It has been said that the regathering of the exiles to Israel is the greatest prophetic happening in many generations. I agree. Israel is a marvelous entry into a person’s heart. A person perhaps privately struggling, looking for authentic faith. Looking for God.

That is the person I will look for on that wide highway.

See you next week.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com