China should pay an economic price for propping up North Korea’s regime, says a national defense analyst, while a second analyst predicts China will orchestrate regime change in the near future.
North Korea’s provocative launch of an ICBM into Japanese waters – after a flight time of 53 minutes and reaching space before re-entry – has heightened nightmare scenarios of tens of thousands dead or, worse, a nuclear exchange on the Korean peninsula.
“I think, if you trigger a military option, it’s going to escalate unbelievably quickly,” leaving “tens of thousands” dead, warns Kirk Lippold, a retired U.S. Navy officer who commanded the USS Cole when terrorists attacked it in 2000.
( Read the rest of this story. )
According to the Christian Post, a coalition of 17 liberal Christian groups sent a letter to Congress, urging lawmakers to reject a bill that would make it official U.S. policy to oppose boycotts of Israel.
The Israel Anti-Boycott Act would amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 to prohibit support of international state-sponsored boycotts of Israel by U.S. citizens engaged in interstate or international commerce.
Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries, says the BDS movement, active now for several years, is attempting to hurt Israel economically.
“It’s an effort,” she says, “to hurt her image around the world.”
( Read the full story here. )
(The following news report comes from Mission Network News. You can read the the story here. )
( Here is something my friend Denny posted on his Facebook page. I thought it was so good that I copied it.)
An American gentleman of 83 years arrived in Paris by plane and slowly headed through customs. It took him a few minutes to find his passport in his carry-on bag. The customs officer, a bit impatient and haughty, asked him, “You have been to France before, monsieur?” The American nodded and said, “Yes, I have.” The customs clerk then said, “In that case, you should know better and should have had your passport ready to show.” The elderly American courteously replied, “Yes, I suppose. Forgive me. But the last time I came here, I didn’t have to show a passport.” “That’s impossible. You are quite wrong, sir. Americans always have to show their passports upon arrival in France!” The American sighed and then gave the customs clerk a slight smile. “Well, it’s like this, my young friend. When I last came to France it was in 1944. I was dodging bullets and artillery shells when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day to help liberate this country. And wouldn’t you know it, I couldn’t find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.”
Last month the Chinese government announced new crackdowns on religion in order to, so they say, fight extremism and protect national security.
Billydteacher's Blog 
The Iranian Protests and the Church
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The protests currently shaking Iran have enormous implications for U. S. foreign policy—and for the Church.
Iranian citizens are rising up against their oppressive Shiite government. They shout, “Death to the Dictator!” while enduring tear gas, water cannons, arrest—and death.
The demonstrations initially had to do with the sagging economy, high unemployment, and the increased cost of basic foods. As one protester quoted in the Washington Post said, “When we don’t have bread to eat, we are not afraid of anything.”
But these protests may have evolved into “an open rebellion against Iran’s Islamic leadership itself.”
The outcome of these protests of course will have enormous implications for the Middle East and for U. S. foreign policy. The Iranian government is a staunch ally of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, supports Hezbollah, the Shiite terrorist group and arch-enemy of Israel, and is fomenting unrest (and that’s putting it mildly) throughout the Middle East.
And no doubt you’ve heard about the Iranian government’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
But there’s another reason Americans—and especially American Christian—should be following events there: the growth of Christianity in Iran.
In the online journal “The Stream,” my friend Michael Brown writes that Iranian converts, Christian leaders, and missiologists all tell him the same thing: “Iranian Muslims are converting to Christianity at an unprecedented pace.” Indeed, according to the Iranian Christian News Agency, Islamic clerics are alarmed at the growing number of Iranian youth who are abandoning Islam, converting to Christianity, and joining house churches. That despite the enormous risks of conversion in a country that openly suppresses the Christian faith.
The news comes as no surprise to Reza Safa, a Muslim convert to Christianity and the author of “The Coming Fall of Islam in Iran.” Safa, who now lives in the U.S., notes on his website that “Despite severe persecution by the Iranian government against underground churches, God’s Word is spreading like a wildfire all over Iran.”
That’s exciting news. And the protests against the regime raging across Iran may be a sign of hope for Christians, according to Iranian journalist and Christian convert Sohrab Amari. Amari told the Catholic News Agency that “the Iranians who are pouring into the streets have had it with an ideological regime that represses them.” Many are even chanting “nostalgic slogans” about pre-revolutionary Iran—a time when religious minorities like Christians, Jews, and Bahai’s could live well enough alongside their Islamic neighbors.
The outcome of the protests remains to be seen. Will they lead to more freedoms, or to even worse repressions?
And as the number of conversions continues to rise, will the government target churches even more fiercely, or will those who have tasted the freedom to become children of God through Jesus Christ act as leaven in Iranian society, inspiring more people to seek freedom from their authoritarian overlords?
We don’t have to look far back in history to see epoch-shaking movements of God’s people. As Chuck Colson documented masterfully in his book “Being the Body,” the fall of communism in Poland, in Romania, and throughout eastern Europe was fueled by Christian faith—and the human desire for freedom kindled by that faith.
At one time, those of us old enough to remember the Cold War couldn’t have imagined the demise of European communism. But it happened. The fall of an authoritarian Islamist regime should not be beyond our hopes and prayers.
So please, join me in prayer for our brethren in Iran—for safety, for wisdom, and for the conversion of many more to freedom in Jesus Christ.
The Iranian Protests and the Church: Bread, Freedom, and Faith
As events are unfolding in Iran, believers everywhere have the opportunity to intercede for Christians and new converts in that country. Read more about this critical news and its implications by clicking on the links in our Resources section.
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