There's to be an Arab summit in Lebanon soon for consideration of that proposal made by the Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. He, as a very prominent Arab leader, offered Israel a land for peace deal that must be quite tempting for war weary Israelis: go back to the 1967 borders established after that six day war, with Arab nations finally agreeing to Israel's right to exist. I recall when Jerusalem was back under control of the Jewish people after nearly two millennia of being "trampled by the Gentiles." It seemed almost as much a miracle as their survival of the holocaust had been in the forties. So they finally regained their special city in the Six Day War, just as they'd regained a national homeland with a right for Jews all over the world to become citizens after WW II. It seems that sooner or later, they have enemies wherever on earth they live. Even Billy Graham had to make a public apology for anti-Semitic remarks he shared privately with the late Richard Nixon. They had been secretly taped at the White House and were released last week to the public. Finally' for their own protection, Israelis have had to occupy nearly all of what we call the Holy Land: Sinai, Gaza Strip, West Bank and Golan Heights. Then they recently withdrew Israeli forces from one area after another in negotiation to allow the Palestinians self-rule; though settlers claiming a divine right to keep that land have developed numerous communities in the territories regardless of national Israeli policy. Now the Saudi proposal would give full control of that disputed land again to the Palestinians, who once held them before '48, when Israel declared statehood. Such would be a major victory for Yasser Arafat and leave Israelis wondering whether surrounding Arab states would honor the new deal any more than Palestinians have during their interfada. If the meeting in Beirut does produce such an offer, it will have to be enforced by all nations in my opinion, rather than Arab states only. It will suck the global community even more deeply in that quagmire of suicide bombers and lethal military retaliation. According to the book of Revelation, a leader will finally come forth as completely wicked as Christ was righteous. And all earth's people still unredeemed by the blood of the Lamb from worldly sin will be enticed to follow this Antichrist who produces a counterfeit world order. But believers awaiting the Lord's coming will not be deceived; though many may be martyred. So many Jews have outstanding careers in America today, and I see that as a sign that many will turn to Yeshua the Messiah who came first to them, and be as zealous for Him as the Roman Jew, St. Paul, was in that New Testament age. What a time to be alive!

I've watched two TV programs that explained the cause of great disasters that were in the news. First one was Saturday afternoon, "The WTC Collapse," which reported findings of architectural engineers. Plans had begun back in the sixties for building something to exceed the pyramids there in NYC. But 80 stories were the top level because elevator shafts would fill up so much of the lower floors of the building. Then a way was found to start over on another set of elevators and go yet higher; and then another set clear up to 110th floor. So to reach 110 would take three different elevators. Metal beams around the shafts were backbone support of the skyscraper. But there was another kind of "steel tubing" used around the outside of the edifice which was held in place by the floors. Each floor was made of thick concrete poured on top of an array of metal trusses. This was a departure from architectural tradition, which says, "never trust a truss." But the WTC designers couldn't imagine so much heat, which the burning jet fuel created when it gushed down through stairwells, elevator shafts and other openings. It caused all the metal to bend and the floors to pancake, leaving the steel tubing around them unsupported. One engineer said, "When the first floor fell on one beneath, the whole collapse was determined like a domino effect."

The second TV report was telling what caused that Russian submarine Kirsk to sink in the Bering Sea a year or so ago. A British listening post that monitors underwater explosions over the northern hemisphere heard both the blast that destroyed the Kirsk and a preliminary explosion that was far, far smaller. It was found that Russian torpedoes have a feature found in no others. Along with the fuel tank for the engine that propels them, a tank of the chemical HTP is used to create oxygen. The Brits had learned back in '55 how dangerous this chemical could be when one of their own torpedoes using it exploded. Though the Kirsk wreckage hasn't yet proved it, scientists of other nations believe such a torpedo tank leaked enough oxygen to create the first blast, which led two minutes later to all the torpedoes aboard the Kirsk exploding. Russia had at first blamed a U.S. sub for bumping into theirs, but has recently dropped that charge since ours was proven to have been docked for repair. I recalled that the Norwegians got down too late to rescue any of the 23 found dead in a compartment where they had survived the blast but later died of suffocation. They recovered the bodies of 130 or more seamen as I recall. An explanation of the Middle East's coming disaster will be that Christ is not acknowledged as King of Kings. But He will bring the shalom to Jerusalem for which the Bible tells us to keep praying.

3-8-02

General Zenny is going back a third time to meet with Israel and Palestinian delegates. But it's the toughest assignment any diplomat ever had being right in a war zone. My prayers are certainly with him, but my faith is weak I must admit. The supply of suicide bombers that Hamas offers just compounds all efforts. Now even two women have sacrificed themselves along with the long list of young men. We see them as terrorists but the Palestinians martyrs. In our heritage martyrdom was for the sake of the Gospel, not to physically destroy the enemy. In fact "the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church." The very word in Greek used for witness, which was what Jesus told His followers to become, can also be translated "martyr." What a polar opposite from the suicide bombers of today. There were no such things as bombs and explosives at that time. The explosion was of divine love that proved willing to suffer death to spread the Good News of the Kingdom. Modern suicide bombers are a mockery of such martyrdom. They are motivated by promises of blessings in Allah's heaven, including female gratifications. There is no love for lost souls but hatred for the infidels. Surely it is a satanic perversion and imitation of the way Jesus sent out His apostles into a hostile world. We should not be moved to admiration, but the pity for these being so grossly deceived into being used as human bombs. It should be the exposure of Islam's brutality instead of beauty. I'm inclined to believe that Muhammad must have had satanic inclinations to spawn such grizzly results. I do see Samson in the Old Testament as coming to a similar fate. But he's remembered more for great physical strength than for strong character. And it would be hard to call his death suicide, since he was destroying the enemies of Yahweh just as soldiers die in battle taking out the enemy. Even Jesus died to take out satan and his dominion over the souls of others. PREVIOUS COLUMNS