Present reality reminds us of the insistent reports of achievement once attendant our present Mideastern endeavor. Memory further brings to mind smug assertions as to the impending defeat of Islamic terrorism immediately following 9/11 - as well as reports of Russia's having sought to warn us regarding the dangers of inadequately grasping the implications of what we were taking on (such being in days of a more cordial political atmosphere and given their own disastrous experience in Afghanistan).
We also recall visiting a Russian hospital in the mid-nineties in which several somewhat younger men, bedfast with serious injuries, missing limbs, etc., were apparently, at least for the time being, resident. Our suspicion was that they represented casualties from Afghanistan. Given the political implications, it was no doubt better that we did not ask.
An article in this past week's U.S. News and World Report (7/24, pg. 28) addressed both the explosive spread of radical Islam among the more simple, unsophisticated populations of Africa and Southeast Asia and its ramifications for an increasingly unsettled world. It is not an encouraging scenario.
Ultimately, of course, the issue resolves around Israel. Given such, we were interested in the recent comments on national television of Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, to the effect that not only is Israel's destruction the focal objective of an "Iran/Syria/Hezbollah and Hamas alliance," but that within such quest the situation has now become "what is really a world war."
As believers we cannot, nor should we, overlook the faith-related significance of it all. God still has a plan for Israel. While, in a sense, temporarily set aside, Israel has not been "cast away" (Rom. 11:1). Indeed, Christ's return is not only within the context of "Lord of the Church" although, most certainly, it is that. First and foremost, however, is his coming as Messiah - the promises and blessings of which, Paul advises the Church, involves our having been incorporated into the "covenants of promise" yet identifiable as belonging to Israel (Eph. 2:11-22; see also Rom. 11:1-16, particularly vss. 17,18.)
Food for thought? Permit us to so suggest.
Burl Ratzsch
