WHO'S WHO

THE TERRORISTS.
In 2005, President Bill Clinton designated Hamas to be a terrorist organization.  Born out of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas' stated goal is to have an Islamic state in Palestine...and then the world.

We remember that a global Islamic state is also the goal of ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Al Qaeda.  We also remember that Hamas passed out candy to their children and danced in the streets after 9/11.

THE SUBLIME.
Nancy Pelosi says Hamas is a humanitarian organization...or so she's been told by the Qataris.  LINK

Ms. Pelosi, in your effort to come down in favor of all sides (therefore saying nothing), you might have mentioned that the Qataris are Hamas supporters.  They say they give money "to our Palestinian brothers"...but the concrete for infrastructure is siphoned off to make tunnels.

THE LAND.
Has there ever been a Palestinian state?  No.  There have been Palestinians in the area since ancient times, but there have also been Israelis.  Both the ancient nation of Israel and the modern state of Israel  demonstrate Israel's nation-building ability.

THE AGGRESSOR. 
If your children fight, do you figure out which one to put in the corner by determining the one who started it?

The answer here is Hamas.  And Hamas will not quit fighting.

Twice as many Americans blame Hamas for the violence.  LINK

THE OUTRAGEOUS.
What real man fights from behind women and children?

And what military organization uses children to dig tunnels?  LINK  A reported 160 children have died in that enterprise.


THE PECULIAR.
The United States has given $7 billion to the Palestinians since 2007.  We try to tailor it so it doesn't go to Hamas.  But if all that money got to the people, Gaza would look very different.

Here is a report from July, 2014  about our financial involvement.  LINK

THE PEACE.  
The world longs for peace as the stage is being set for the Prince of Peace.  In the meantime, peacemakers come and go.

There are actually politicians who care more about BEING the one who makes Middle East peace...than about BROKERING a just peace.  That brings us to John Kerry and his phony hot mic.  Although not summoned, he says "we gotta get over there".

KERRY'S DEAL.
What was wrong with his deal?
He tunneled under the allies.

What?  Israel has allies?

THE ALLIES.
Egypt agrees that Israel has a right to defend herself and cooperates with Israel to get rid of tunnels along their common border with Gaza.

Moderate Arabs such as Egypt, the Emirates, the Saudis, etc. see an Islamic state as harmful.  Egypt brokered a peace deal that Hamas blew off, but Kerry's peace deal blew up.

KERRY'S STINKER.
We negotiated against ourselves and our allies.  No small wonder the Knesset voted 19-0 against it.  The proposal came after Kerry met in Paris with two Hamas supporters (Turkey and Qatar) and structured a sweet deal to strengthen Hamas.  And Israel should buy off on such a deal that would let Hamas keep their rockets?  A ceasefire for Hamas is time to reload.

Hamas does not play nicely.  Take her toys (her rockets and tunnels) and hope this woodshed will cause the Palestinian Authority to realize that although they elected Hamas, their interests are not well served by Hamas.

BOTTOM LINE.
In the same year that Hamas was put on the terrorist list (2005), Israel withdrew from Gaza.  You may remember the painful extractions of Jewish settlers by Israel's own army.  Then humanitarian aid poured in from all over the world to help Gaza rebuild and help their people become a state.  Instead, their money has gone for rockets and tunnels.  They want to destroy Israelis more than they want a sovereign state or a good life.

Israel sits precariously on the front line between barbarians and civilization.  The Islamists come today for Israel, but one day it is for the WHOLE WORLD.

We should be all about thanking/praying/supporting/supplying Israel because she helps protect the world from savages.  While Israel calls to ask people to leave the area before they bomb, this picture shows how Hamas' terrorist allies in Syria have just acted.  Apparently killing was not enough for ISIS.  What depth of godlessness and depravity does such a thing?  LINK

BARBARIANS AT THE GATE

In the first half of the 8th century BC, the prophet Jonah crossed the fertile plains of Assyria and arrived at the capital city of Nineveh, which is modern-day Iraq.  He was carrying the gospel to a barbaric people who struck terror into the hearts of neighboring nations.

The cruel Assyrians were famous for skinning their enemies and stretching the skin on conquered city walls, as well as impaling heads on stakes by the city gates.  It's no small wonder Jonah needed coaxing to be obedient to God's task.

The prophet straightened his back and went into Nineveh to proclaim God's generous offer of peace with Him.  It is said that the kindness of God leads to repentance...and it was true in Nineveh as all the people (from the king on down) put on sackcloth and ashes to show they were sorry for their sin.

In those days Nineveh was a sprawling capital on the eastern bank of the Tigris River.  The city was powerful and rich and 60 miles in circumference, but she also was full of idol worship.  Her founder was Nimrod, the builder of the Tower of Babel which represented rebellion against God.  The Ever-Gracious Lord was giving them another chance.

Less than 150 years later, Ninevites were back to their old ways.  Their self-confidence precluded the need for God.  And they NEVER thought their powerhouse city could ever be headed for destruction.  But in 612BC, this Bible prophecy of Nineveh's destruction was fulfilled.

The people went across the river and built another city, Mosul, which has since had a Christian presence for 2,000 years.

Until now.

Now "modern" barbarians have come into Mosul and have blown up  Jonah's tomb. LINK  

And while Jonah's message offered a way to peace with God, the ISIS loudspeakers broadcast a hateful message throughout Mosul.  
Their ultimatum called Christians to choose: either they could convert to Islam, pay an impossible tax in gold, leave, or die.  

ISIS took the cross down from cathedrals and from the Syriac Orthodox archdiocese, and replaced the cross with their black flag.  

The ISIS darkness that has enveloped Iraq has smothered freedom and ushered in punishing oppression.    

The beheadings and crucifixions reveal a complete lack of respect for life.  There is no mercy or justice in summary executions or the chopping off of a hand. They wage a REAL war on women as they subjugate through beatings, genital mutilations, and rapes...and a real war on homosexuals by hanging them from a crane in the public square.

Civilization strains under ISIS as they bring terror just as their fathers did so long ago.

Have you heard the expression "First they come for the Saturday people, then for the Sunday people"?  

The Saturday people (the Jews) are now in a fight for their lives in Gaza as anti-Semitism also rises in Europe.  At the same time, there is a growing exodus of the Sunday people (the Christians) from the Middle East.  

The world watched as the Syrian Christians fled the mountains around Damascus for their lives. That people-group had spoken Aramaic since Jesus' day.

The Copts in Egypt (who could trace their lineage back to the apostle Mark) have suffered church bombings and killings.  

Now we see 10,000 Iraqi Christians come flooding out of their country, only to be stopped at roadblocks and robbed of all they have.

It is heartbreaking to watch this "religious cleansing" as the Arab Spring empties the cradle of Christendom.  Who will speak for these persecuted Christians in the Middle East?  

Is there ANYONE in authority to speak up for them and declare the moral high ground?

America was at one time that voice for right.  But on page 261 of his book, THE AUDACITY OF HOPE, President Obama writes "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."  The winds are shifting, all right.  While his office has offered much in the defense of Muslims...the crickets are chirping where the defense of Christians is concerned.

What does this conflict teach us?

*GOD IS MERCIFUL.  Before Christ, I used to think of all the reasons God should be enamored with me.  That was pretty bodacious, but God's truth says "none are righteous".  There was nothing good in me that drew Him to me, but only His sovereign choice.  And just as He kindly gave the barbarian Ninevites a chance...in the same way He also gave this poor sinner a chance.    

*OLD BARBARIANS, NEW BARBARIANS.  There's nothing new under the sun.  Men without God rail for control over their own lives and the power to rule over others.  That usurps God's place and will not end well (see Nineveh).  

*GOD'S OFFER HAS A SHELF LIFE.  It's not that God has limited mercy...or His patience runs thin.  He IS mercy.  He IS long-suffering.  But He's also omniscient, reading hearts and knowing that if He waited into eternity, the person would not turn to Him.  Moses wrote down what God said in Deuteronomy 30:19:  "Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you.  Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!"

*MEN CHANGE, BUT GOD DOESN'T.  Last week we've seen demonstrations in the streets of London and Paris against the Jews; perhaps Europe's population of Muslims can account for that.  But SHOCKINGLY there were 10,000 in the streets of Chicago and thousands more on NYC streets protesting against Israel.  What happened to America's whole heart for Israel?  Men can turn on a dime, but God remains steadfast and true to His promises.

*GOD PROMISES HIS KINGDOM TO THE ONES PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  If all else is stripped away (as it has been for the Christians of the Middle East), what will you have?  The Christians from the Middle East have assurance and comfort from God's Word.... "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."  

George Orwell said "The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it."  The barbarians may be at the gates of civilization, but we remember Nineveh.  It is the Sovereign God who will accomplish every word He has spoken; it is He who stands at the end of time.




"Lord, it hurts us to see the Holy Land turned into killing fields, yet that must be part of what Jesus saw as He looked down at Jerusalem and wept.  We remember what You have said the end will be like when it comes. We thank You that You are a sanctuary for Your people and You will take us home.  We pray for the peace of Jerusalem because You've asked us to do that.  We ask that you would raise up a voice of influence to speak for Christians in trouble.  Help us to focus in prayer for our brothers and sisters in need and reach into our pockets for them.  We lean back on You in confidence that Your power will ultimately bring You glory both in Jerusalem and around the world.  Maranatha!"  

BORDER PATHOS

Americans are concerned about our southern border because we understand the border makes our country vulnerable.  But it's also complicated.

Ever heard of "the vine that ate the South"?  That vine is kudzu.  This border issue also has far-reaching tentacles like kudzu that threaten to gobble up our country.

The border is a sieve for Salvadorian MS-13 gangbangers, terrorists who could pack dirty bombs, unhealthy folks who aren't properly medically screened, and the threat of a welfare system meltdown which will explode our schools and hospitals.  Shall we allow compassion to trump national security and invite an even larger tsunami of people?

Here are some points on which most might agree:

1.  SOVEREIGNTY.  We are a sovereign nation with the right to protect our borders.  Here's a LINK to other nations who deport or imprison people who cross their borders.

Without borders we are just a land mass with no identity or sovereignty or purpose.  Nancy Pelosi may be enamored with open borders because she said "Whether you're from North America or South America, we are all Americans".   To that we say "No, Ma'am!"  Clearly America is different because people risk their lives to come here.  How ironic that the "blame America" people miss that.

2.  REASONABLE PLAN.  We have been overrun by contrived chaos.  The remedy?  A tardy plan offered funds for transportation to distribute folks all around the country, build processing centers on the border, and hire lawyers for immigration hearings (which according to ICE stats have a more than 80% no-show rate).

SURELY there is a better plan than that!

Hire lawyers and build buildings?  Is there no plan to stem the tide?  Shall we continue to be overrun?  Our president ran on the promise to fix the border.

We do realize that we cannot support everyone who wants to come here, RIGHT?  Our southern neighbors are not the only ones who want to come.  The world is FULL of places without order and safety.  Shall we try to put the world inside our borders...and in the process destroy our country?

3.  CITIZEN PROTECTION.  We are blessed to live in an orderly society made safe by laws, including immigration laws.  Our southern neighbors who are overrun with gang violence YEARN for the stability we enjoy from our laws, including immigration laws.  This president (and any president) is tasked to protect Americans and execute the laws.

Yet federal agents have been ordered NOT to keep the law (but to catch and release illegals), deportations have been severely reduced since 2008 (although the White House massages those stats), convicted illegal felons were incomprehensibly released into the population, and the presidential pen has written a  troublesome memo known as DACA.

4.  IMMIGRATION MOTIVATION.  Initially the administration said illegals were coming because of violence in their home country.  That's a piece of truth, but not the whole truth.  Later they had to admit that rumors of amnesty drove hope, and DACA is a piece of that rumor.

The "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" was written by the presidential pen in June of 2012, cutting illegal children slack by temporarily pledging not to deport them.  It made people think if children could get here, they would not be sent back.

A year later (June, 2013) the Congress voted to defund DACA.  Is that because Republicans are obstructionists?  Here was the reasoned objection:  Congress said Americans were not in favor of amnesty, we didn't need a flood of unskilled workers with our current joblessness problem, and we can't even print enough money to keep ourselves afloat just now.  Three Democrats joined the Republicans in that vote.

This LINK goes to a long list of non-enforcement immigration instances by the Obama administration.  They are doing a Saul Alinsky end-run to force their plan...by flooding the border and overwhelming the system.  This "emergency" has been several years in the making.

5.  TRUTH IN ADVERTISING.  
The administration lost veracity when they claimed surprise at this influx, but a Homeland Security bid (LINK) surfaced from last January.  It was a vendor contract asking for escorts for 65,000 minors.

Americans have been told over and over by the President and his people that the border was secure.  Only YESTERDAY Harry Reid repeated the claim (LINK), which led Charles Krauthammer to muse "When you get Harry Reid saying the border is secure, you've got to wonder whether he's really on his medication or not."

If we don't know who's coming through the border, it's not secure.  If the Border Patrol is busy changing diapers, they're not on the border.  Oh, we should have listened to the southern border governors; all along they pleaded the border was NOT secure.

You might be saying "Yes, but these are CHILDREN fleeing danger!"  That's true and that's what makes this complicated issue so hard to address.  Not everyone agrees on what to do next:

1.  CARROT REMOVAL.  Take away the freebies.  Cancel the birthright citizenship/anchor babies.  Enforce penalty for companies who hire illegals.

If you've ever ridden with someone who alternately stomps the gas and brake, you know it makes for an unsteady ride.  The freebies have urged folks on and now the president hits the brakes.  It's a little late to say "don't come".

It would be a terrifying thing to stand in judgment for having given faux hope out like popsicles and put children in harm's way.

2.  BUILD THE FENCE.   It works for Israel.  Even if we have to run it down the middle of the Rio Grande River, we have to have a fence.  Let some smart entrepreneur figure out how.

And the Guard has to be there with the authority to detain and repatriate.  Their job is to come to the state's aid and the states need them to do that.  Illegals deserve compassion treatment, but they must be sent home.

3.  WWJD?  Didn't Jesus have a lot to say about His heart for the poor, the helpless, and the children?   YES! And He is grieved about all of the corruption on this planet, including the mistreatment of these Central American children.  Some of them clung to the "Death Train" and received brutal treatment by the bottom-feeding coyotes, human- traffickers, drug cartels, and gangsters along the way.

This week a heartbreaking picture (above) of Palestinian boys in Gaza showed dread on their faces about what might fall out of the sky.  It reminds us that the world is FULL of children who are in a HARD place by no fault of their own.  Our hearts ache for the hundreds of girls kidnapped by Boco Haram and the children everywhere who suffer at the hands of adults.  We can help some, but some things are larger than our ability to solve.  So we pray and ask God to show us ways to help where we can.

Americans have always proven compassionate, and one way the nation shows her compassion is in writing the immigration laws that admit people to our country.  Further, we make exceptions for refugees.  But there is no way to assimilate the wave that will come if we do not repatriate.

Jesus teaches us to show compassion one-on-one.  Ms. Pelosi said she wished she could take home all the children she saw.  Just help one, Ms. Pelosi.

4.  WHY WOO?  Only the man in charge knows why he wrote DACA and enacted policies that sent the wrong impression.  Those policies may appear compassionate on the surface, but they are impossible to accomodate without "taking our country down a notch".

Meanwhile, citizens are replaced in the labor force with folks less-skilled, less-educated, and hampered with a language barrier who can be better "managed".

5.  SURPRISE!   When those sleek, new buses with blackened windows in Murietta, CA were met by angry people, the media was all over it.

Similar responses happened this week when Maryland, Nebraska, California, Iowa, Arizona and Michigan said "Don't send illegals to our state!"  Chicago blacks are furious that their president is sending billions to illegals and not helping the gang violence in their inner city.

The media didn't make as much over those stories.  Perhaps the media is surprised that Americans are rising up rather than go on a guilt trip.

I don't think those people of Murietta were mad at the immigrants.  Probably if you asked each protestor (except the deranged guy who spit in someone's face)...they are mad at the government for the surprise illegal-dumping on them.

They also are not in favor of spending money on illegals when the military goes lacking...the schools are straining...the jobs are scarce...the healthcare system is about to burst wide open when Obamacare's employer mandate kicks in (January 1, 2015)...and the welfare system is already swollen with new disability beneficiaries and food stamp/unemployment recipients.

Those protestors are not haters, nor are most Americans.  It was just the straw that broke the camel's back.  They have been lied to and manipulated in sneaky ways by their government and they've had enough.

@DAYS END.
Did you know that if you take two African countries out of the top ten countries with the highest murder rates...it will leave eight South/Central American countries?  Honduras is number one.  This breakup of civilization is due to drug cartels and gangs.

If the Cruse kids were in danger in the southern hemisphere, I'd be first to chance a ride on the Death Train to America.  And I'd be challenging others with Jesus' words to welcome the alien and stranger.

On the other hand, the Bible calls us to be subject to governing authorities.  Our authority in this country are her laws which have protected us and kept us these 238 years.  God says He is a God of order and things should be done decently and in order.

The border crisis is a conundrum, but we do know that when our structure and order unravels, we will come apart at the seams just like the five countries with the highest murder rate (Honduras, Venezuela, Belize, El Salvador,  and Guatemala).

Just like everything in life, it's all a balance.  We need help from above to find balance.

Lord, we confess that this situation baffles us.  But we also confess that we know it is not beyond your arc of justice and mercy and understanding.  We believe you gave us this country to be a beacon to help others and now it is America who needs help.  Would You give each of us a small way to help?  And would you kindly give SOMEONE a brilliant compromise that reflects Your justice?  We thank you, Father, that You are more than able.

RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES

This is not a used car parking lot, but the road out of Mosul, Iraq.  People are running for their lives as the UN says 500,000 have fled the fighting there.  Many left with only the clothes on their backs and need food and water and medical care.

Although the President has said alQaeda was "on the run", a terrorist branch of alQaeda called ISIS (Islamic State in Syria and Iraq) is running the fight and beheading its way to Baghdad.

According to the Washington Post, ISIS is gobbling up the resistance, and they just became richer than a small country.  How?  As 1,300 ISIS forces took Mosul, they helped themselves to $425 million from the central bank of Mosul (500 billion Iraqi dinars).  Then they also scraped together a large quantity of gold bullion and dollars from other banks.

Know what else was in Mosul?  Out at the airport, ISIS helped themselves to a fleet of Blackhawk helicopters that we gave to the Iraqis.  And Humvees.  All are part of the $15 billion we've spent on training, weapons, and equipment for the Iraqis...which now will prove helpful to the terrorists.

Now we hear that Iranian forces are coming in to throw in with Iraqi forces against ISIS.  THERE'S a boiling caldron.  Iran's President Rouhani called the ISIS fighters "barbaric".  Is that the "pot" and the "kettle"?

Don't forget to factor in the autonomous Kurdish government (from the north of Iraq) who are trying to figure out how they can survive these bullies.  The Kurdish "Peshmerga" troops have a more valiant battle record than do the Iraqi forces, who tend to retreat.

No one wants American boots, but a few drone strikes could make a HUGE difference to the poor beleaguered Iraqi army.  And what is our President doing/saying?  Not one to act definitively, he says he is "not ruling anything out".

But here is ISIS acting definitively.  Whatever this poor man did, it displeased their worldview.

We can pray for all the refugees, including our Christian brothers and sisters who are fleeing.  As a dentist trying to get his family out of Mosul said:  "We are just waiting to die."

And the worse part?  This nightmare in Iraq can repeat in Afghanistan soon.

VOICE OF PEACE: CANON ANDREW WHITE

Does your pastor travel with thirty-five armed guards and wear body armor?  In one year, has your church ever had over a thousand souls killed?  Has your church staff ever been killed or kidnapped?

This is life for God's servant priest, the Vicar of Baghdad.  Canon Andrew White's life work is to sit down with the Muslim, Jew, and Christian with a view toward reconciliation.

Chuck Colson's group awarded Canon White with this year's William Wilberforce award as someone who is a witness of Christ in society.

Wilberforce fought to end slavery in the UK, but he also had his finger in many other of society's injustice pies.  That is just like the Vicar's life.  This LINK is to an interview with Canon White to give you a flavor of his very unusual story.

BEGINNINGS
This reconciler was born and raised in England by an Indian father (Baptist) and a British mother (Pentecostal).  His skin color makes him look somewhat Middle-Eastern.  He carries a Bible that once belong to Smith Wigglesworth; it was given to him by his grandfather who was Wigglesworth's assistant.

ASPIRATIONS
When Andrew was a boy, he would walk past William Wilberforce's home in Clapper and ask the Lord to let him serve with just some of the fervor that Wilberforce had.  Considering his service in Baghdad, that prayer has been answered.

PEDIGREE
The Vicar graduated from Cambridge and went on to become an anesthesiologist.  He served his church in London as well as "in hospital" (as the Brits say) before later becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury's Envoy to the Middle East.

He is fluent in several languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and English...and is a Hebrew scholar who spent years in Jerusalem.  His great love for people allows him to move in and out of different cultures.

SERVICE
The Vicar reopened St. George's church in Baghdad in 1998.  Originally built in 1864, most of St. George's present structure was built in 1936 as a memorial to the British soldiers who died in Mesopotamia in WW1.  The church closed after the Gulf War, but at its reopening, it is the only Anglican church in Iraq.

The church first served diplomats/military who lived inside the Green Zone, but St. George's is outside that area and after the insurgency, travel became too dangerous.  Now the congregation is all Iraqi and the services are in Aramaic.  There are about 500 Muslims who attend services.

The other five days a week, St. George's is bustling.  They have a free clinic which has radiology, hematology, surgery, dental, etc. to serve around 150 Iraqi patients daily.  There is a program to feed the hungry and a school...all within the walls of the church.  And Canon White also writes books.

PHYSICAL
The Vicar is 6'3", a big man full of big love and a big sense of humor.  He speaks with difficulty due to a fight with Multiple Sclerosis which has been going on for seventeen years.  The hematologist in their clinic at St. George's has given him experimental treatment which is against the law in America or Great Britain.  These injections (of his own stem cells) have been given for five years and they've made a big difference in his ability to walk and speak.  Isn't it curious that if anyone wanted to try this course of treatment, they couldn't get it legally ANYWHERE in the world but Baghdad?  Canon White says that what God calls us to do, He equips us to do.

FAMILY
The White family includes a wife and two boys who live in England after life in Baghdad became impossibly dangerous.  The Vicar goes home about every six weeks.  There are many orphans in Iraq and Canon White has also adopted four Iraqi children.

THE FUTURE
Andrew White says that while he does not want to be blown up, he knows that as long as God's purpose for him remains, he will remain alive to do it.

Christians in Iraq are considered the oldest surviving continuous Christian communities in the world, dating to the first century.  Yet daily they are specifically targeted for bombs, kidnapping, torture and rape.  Many leave Iraq because of this daily martyrdom, but the remaining brothers and sisters in Christ have a strong advocate in the Vicar of Baghdad.  They call him "Aboona" (Arabic for "Father").

If you would like to know more about how you might pray for Canon Andrew White...or give to his ministry, this LINK is to his organization, The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East.

God, thank you for your promise to bless the peacemakers.

TANGLED

Our government has been caught in lie after lie.

We do NOT get to keep our docs or our insurance plans or save $2,500.  It was NOT a rogue IRS agent in Cincinnati.  We do NOT have the most transparent administration ever. They will NOT "get to the bottom of what happened in Benghazi and bring the perpetrator to justice".

In fact, the only thing said that this administration told us we COULD believe...was that our nation would be changed.

An email was released this week.

It's the one the White House must have missed when they stonewalled for 20 months, then declared they had given us all they had, then finally released a redacted (beyond legibility) copy, and then finally, after Judicial Watch sued, VOILA!  An email has surfaced to begin to show the truth.

There are more emails to come, but here's what this email tells us:

#1.  THE TALKING POINTS WERE REDONE, TOSSING THE CONSENSUS OF INTELLIGENCE OPINION (from military both on the ground and watching a live feed in Germany, the CIA, and the Sec'y of State's bureau chief in Benghazi) TO WASHINGTON'S DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENTS.  

Now the word "attack" was changed to "demonstration"...caused by a spontaneous video.  In fact, at 10:07 that night, Sec'y Clinton sent out a public statement saying the problem was "inflammatory material posted on the internet".  The battle would continue for over an hour after her statement.

The author of the new email was Ben Rhodes, the White House Deputy National Security Adviser.  He wrote to prep Susan Rice (and others) and to frame the issue "so it wouldn't be viewed as a broader failure of their policies...to reinforce the President and Administration's STRENGTH and STEADINESS in dealing with difficult challenges".

A week before, the President stood before the Democratic convention and said AlQaeda was on the run.  He was weeks away from his reelection.  Is that why they changed the intelligence and blamed a video?  So he could appear steady and strong?

Enter a man named Tommy Vietor.  This 32-year-old began his work for then Senator Obama as his VAN DRIVER, working his way up to be the National Security Council spokesman in the White House.

VIETOR (in an interview with Brett Baier on whether he had changed the word "attack" to "demonstration"):  "Maybe.  I don't really remember."

BAIER:  "You don't remember?"

VIETOR:  "Dude, this was like two years ago.  We're still talking about the most mundane process."

This LINK to the Tommy Vietor interview reveals a snarky and immature man working at the highest level in national security.  However, he did tell us the second thing about Benghazi:

#2.  PRESIDENT OBAMA WAS NOT IN THE SITUATION ROOM.    No one has ever seemed to know anything about where the President was.  They are quick to say that he can be in touch wherever he is...but if my country is under attack, I would love to think someone besides Tommy Vietor was in the Situation Room.

I would also love to think the off-grid President had touched base with the Defense Sec'y...but Panetta testified he didn't talk again with the President after their 5:00 meeting when the President was told of the attack.  Panetta also testified he never talked again to Sec'y Clinton, yet the whereabouts of her Ambassador was unknown for much of that time.

How could the country be under attack and no one was minding the store?  We know the military must have been chomping at the bit.  The head of the Afri-Com theatre, General Carter Ham, "retired" after the attack.  This week a retired Air Force Brig. General Lovell, Deputy Intelligence Director for Afri-Com (who was watching a live feed in Germany), tersely testified "We knew quite early on that this was no demonstration gone terribly awry".  Gen. Lovell was also asked if they told him to go save the people in Benghazi.  "Not to my knowledge, sir."  The night of Gen. Lovell's testimony, NBC/CBS did not report on it; ABC gave it 45 seconds.

Here is what JAY CARNEY, White House spokesperson, had to say today when asked about the email:  "The email is not about Benghazi."

I've heard of nerves like a burglar in daylight.  You take the cake, Jay.

This from GEORGE WILL:  "The most riveting thing I've seen is in Catherine Herridge's report saying that even before the attack was over Mrs. Clinton has sent out that press release about the video.  That could have been considered reasonable (given there was a battle, then a pause, then more battle).  But then three days later when the bodies came home, why did Mrs. Clinto speak to the families and double down on the video, saying 'We will arrest and prosecute the perpetrator of the video"?

In the first three days, all knew the terrorist attack had nothing to do with a video.  And the President STILL went on Letterman and The View and even went to the United Nations...WEEKS later blaming the video.  Why?

Those are legitimate questions.  They are not extremist, right-wing questions that "only Fox" asks...but things that Americans have a right to know.

Our ambassador died a torturous death in those hours he was missing.  The special forces soldiers fought long and hard with no backup.  You tell me...what Commander-in-Chief does not talk to the military during an attack?  Who does not authorize a rescue?  Who prioritizes a cheesy Vegas fund-raiser the morning after the country has just been attacked?  Who says they will "get to the bottom of it" and then doesn't?

Here's what we know for a FACT.  The world saw that it is possible to poke America in the eye and get away with it.  And the men who serve in our military saw their own get left behind.  What does that do for morale?

Former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson, you were right.  Catherine Herridge and James Rosen and Brett Baier, you were right.  Thank you for pursuing the TRUTH about the change we got in 2008.

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Last week we were in Little Rock and got to take a grandgirl to her soccer game.  When we arrived on the hill, the area was working alive with kids running in every direction on a myriad of fields.

Caroline's parents had given us a piece of essential information:  FIELD #3.

In life, it's also important to know which field we play on.  Lately the news is chocked full of hateful racism.  That demeaning meanness makes everyone WEARY.  It is bone-tiring to hear, especially when we thought it had been dealt with in the last election.  Progress, smogress.

As a reaction, Facebook posts are popping up of sweet babies captioned with statements that say children have to be taught to hate.  Is that what God says?

Perhaps it is helpful to begin by remembering our playing field.  We all (every living, breathing soul on Planet Earth) is on a level field called SIN.

It might be unpopular to say, but if a baby was not taught to hate, the baby would still exalt himself over others.

People (and babies) may not be a "Sterling" example, but when we prefer ourselves over others, we are showing one of the faces belonging to pride.  Pride exalts and racism is just an exaggerated category of pride.

Babies don't have to be taught to assert their will or prefer themselves.  That comes naturally.  Ever see a baby take a toy?  Want it...take it...MINE!  Babies are precious and cuddly, but they do remind us of our fallen condition that prefers self.

The antitoxin for that is Jesus.  He neutralizes my need to make more of myself, and gives me the "energy to AND want to" to make more of Him and less of me.  He gives me a regard for others simply because they are made in His image.  Some days that works better than others...not because He is lacking, but because my cooperation is sketchy.

So when the Clippers owner degrades others, which law could we write to keep him from doing that?  We have punitive laws that dissuade, but there is no law which overrides human will.  Now you're talking about God's business.  He's the only One who is able to change Donald Sterling's heart.  Or mine.

But have you noticed how the world jumps in?  Everyone loves to point and cluck about how awful the other guy is.  He's such a racist!  Yes.  But so am I.

Do I think of myself as better than others?  I have preferred myself before and I will in the future...no matter how repugnant it looks to me in my rational moment.  Preferring self just keeps popping up.  Undealt with, it grows.  Dealing with my selfishness means remembering that Christ died for the one who cuts me off in traffic, the person whose needs sap your patience, the one with body odor you must sit next to @the Revenue office, and the person under-educated but over-opinionated.  Sometimes they are one at a time and sometimes they are clumped together in a group, but when I regard myself as better or cleaner or more empathetic or smarter...that is self-exaltation which pushes another down.  God abhors pride by the teaspoon or by the boatload.

So would all the NBA players who bravely now complain about their owner, please tell me...is this the first inkling you had of Sterling's belief system?  Did you trust him after the 2009 NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award?  (The NAACP quickly cancelled the same award they were about to give him for 2014.)  Surely you knew of his court conviction as a slum lord, so did you play for a racist knowingly?  Then you prove money talks and your standards are lacking.  If you were truly interested in cleaning up the NBA, there are plenty of lifestyle issues that also cry for attention in your own backyard.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was wise when he helped us aspire to the day when all men would be judged by the content of their character.  Those heavenly words lift our heads to a better place now, but ultimately to a future day.  

In THAT DAY, pride will no longer have sway over anyone.  And in the meantime, He gives us our time on Earth so the sanctified can "work" at hearing the soft voice of the Spirit wooing them back into fellowship.  That way, there won't be as much changing for the Lord to do in us when we see Him.

The administration of that "program" isn't sourced out of Washington.

Remember the Bible story about the woman caught in adultery who was about to be stoned?  Whatever Jesus said to her accusers, one at a time they dropped their stones and meekly walked away.  Before you pick up a stone for Donald Sterling, examine your heart carefully for pride.  You might just squash the notion that only others are self-exalters.

We cannot legislate racism away...or just "wait for the old guys to die".  Pride will always be on Earth as part of the curse.  We deal with it through the antidote for pride, the Heart Changer who offers a future and a hope, one heart at a time.  Thank you, Lord, that Jesus saves us from ourselves.