With all eyes on the increasingly dangerous corridor between Tel Aviv and Tehran — and speculation mounting of a possible war between Israel and Iran — the 2012 Epicenter Conference will be held September 12-16. Please consider joining us in person, or via the global webcast. For more details, please visit www.epicenterconference.com.

>> Haaretz: Ex-Mossad chief said what should be clear to everyone – Israel has never been so close to attacking Iran

>> What’s the future of America? What will happen next in Israel and the Middle East? What does Bible prophecy say will happen next? Please join me for an evening of Q&A about these issues — August 9th in Denver — register for tickets today.

UPDATED: Twenty-two years ago today, Saddam Hussein stunned the world by invading Kuwait. The war erupted even though President George H.W. Bush’s administration assured Americans that Saddam was just “saber rattling.” Indeed, the American ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, had just left Baghdad to go on summer vacation. Mideast wars have a way of catching Washington by surprise and ruining vacations.

In this context,  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is once again calling for the annhilation of Israel. “Anyone who loves freedom and justice must strive for the  annihilation of the Zionist regime in order to pave the way for world  justice and freedom,” the Iranian leader said in a Ramadan speech. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, is being as forthright as he can be. War may be coming very soon. He told U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta yesterday that time is running out for the international community to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat. Yes, economic sanctions are seriously harming Iran’s economy — driving up prices, creating scarcity of certain products, etc — but Netanyahu is making clear that he doesn’t see the sanctions actually having any effect on changing Tehran’s feverish bid to build nuclear weapons. “However forceful our statements, they have not convinced Iran that we are serious about stopping them,” Netanyahu told reporters. “Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear program.” What’s more, Netanyahu said, sanctions have “yet to move its nuclear program even a millimeter backwards.”

One sobering scenario to consider: Netanyahu may decide to strike Iran in September and/or October, prior to the national elections here in the U.S. Israel is awash with rumors of this possibility. Indeed, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy is telling reporters, “If I were an Iranian, I would be very fearful of the next 12 weeks.”

Why? Here’s the logic of an autumn strike:

• If Mr. Netanyahu believes Israel has to hit Iran before Iran hides their nuclear program in impenetrable underground tunnels (possibly by the end of this year) then he may choose to launch the attack at a time when it’s most politically difficult for President Obama to oppose or undermine Israeli military action.
• Support for Israeli security is becoming a key issue in the 2012 campaign between President Obama and Governor Romney, and Netanyahu may calculate that the President would feel compelled to do everything he could to help Israel this fall in order to win votes for November.
• If Netanyahu does not strike this fall, and Mr. Obama wins re-election, Netanyahu has to consider the possibility that the White House would be even less inclined to support an Israeli strike next year. Indeed, Mr. Obama would not be facing another election and thus could, potentially, really turn the screws on Israel and take actions designed to block preemptive action.
• If Netanyahu concludes that Governor Romney is going to win in November, and if he believes Romney would be more supportive of a preemptive strike, the Israeli PM might choose to delay such a first strike until early next year when the Romney administration could be more robust partners in such an action.

My point here is not to be partisan or to say these assessments or calculations are necessarily right or wise, per se. I’m simply noting some of the thinking I believe is going on in Jerusalem as Mr. Netanyahu and his war cabinet make final decisions. And keep in mind another serious dynamic: What if the Assad regime in Damascus collapses and the rebels — or terrorist groups like Hezbollah or al Qaeda — get their hands of Syria’s chemical weapons? Or what if Assad decides to use chemical weapons against the rebels? Or what if Assad decides to launch a suicidal attack on Israel in a desperate bid to unify his country against the Jews? Mounting instability in Syria is a very serious concern for Israel right now. It is also possible that we could be approaching the destruction of Damascus as foretold by the ancient Hebrew prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.

• Please keep praying for the Lord’s will to be done throughout the epicenter.
• Please pray for Israel’s leaders to have great wisdom and discernment.
• Please pray that the Lord brings down the regime in Tehran and replaces it with a moderate, rational, peaceful government.
• Please pray for the Lord to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and prevents Syria’s chemical weapons from being used at all.
• Please pray for all the followers of Jesus Christ in the region who facing great danger and persecution in the Islamic countries.
• Please keep praying for the peace of Jerusalem and the region, while also preparing for the very real possibility that the Lord could allow a major new war in the Middle East, and soon.
• Please also pray for a spirit of repentance to fall upon the people of Israel and for all Israelis to turn back to the Lord and read/obey the Bible. Amidst all the threats to Israel today, there is a gay pride parade underway in Jerusalem today. Oh, how I love Israel but it grieves me how far they are from the Lord who loves them so much. “Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.” (Isaiah 3:8-9) Please pray the Lord shows the people of Israel great mercy at this critical time. May Israelis seek a spiritual awakening for themselves by following 2 Chronicles 7:14 and the Book of Joel and, of course, the teachings of Yeshua.

>> Consider helping The Joshua Fund care for the poor and needy in Israel now, and stockpile supplies for a coming war

>> Read my latest novel — The Tehran Initiative — that imagines an Israeli first strike against Iran against U.S. wishes (now out in paperback)

Does anyone in Washington have the spine to turn this ship of state around before we hit the debt icebergs straight ahead of us? Read this story. This is one of the major reasons the American economy is dangerously heading for implosion. Everyone knows we’re on an unsustainable fiscal trajectory. Earth to Washington: Stop the over-spending before you kill us. “The federal deficit is higher than it has been since the 1940s, in the years immediately after World War II,” reports US News & World Report. “A new visual from the Face the Facts USA,  a non-partisan election project from George Washington University, shows the federal deficit has risen significantly under President Barack  Obama, and that the government is increasingly spending money it doesn’t have. In every second of 2011, for example, the  government spent $114,253—even though it was only taking in $73,043 in  revenue. According to Face the Facts, that means the federal government spent $41,210 every second that it didn’t actually have…..”

>> Read the book: Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time?

>> Ask the author: Register for the Implosion event and Q&A evening in Denver on August 9th

I’ve gotten a lot of blowback on my recent column regarding the firestorm over Chik-Fil-A’s leaders defending traditional marriage. It’s been intense, especially on Twitter. The hatred and obscenities people are Tweeting back to me is so sad to see. Lots of pushback. Lots of anger. Lots of questions. But Jesus commands us to love our neighbors and our enemies, right? We’re commanded to pray for those who hate us and oppose us, asking the Father to have mercy on them and open their eyes and help them understand the truth of the Scriptures. So let’s do that. Let’s show love and kindness to those who are angry by the debate generated over marriage and morality in our culture today. 

In that spirit, let me respond to two of the most heated comments and questions I’ve received over the past week:

>> One reader named Eva is furious with me for defending “traditional” marriage and “Biblical” marriage because she writes: “If we are talking biblical marriage, then I’d have to marry any man who raped me.” She asks: “Where does the NT say that gay marriage is strictly forbidden. Chapter and verse, pls.” 

Through a long series of Tweets, I responded: “Eva, when I speak of Biblical marriage, I’m referring to the NT (New Testament) teachings.”

The New Testament teachings regarding God’s opposition to homosexuality include Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and 1 Timothy 1:8-11. I also noted to Eva that the New Testament picture of marriage can be found in Ephesians 5:22-33 (which commands a man to love his wife) and Titus 1:6 (which tells us that a godly man is the husband of just one wife).

Eva then wrote back: “Ah yes, women-submit-to-your-husbands-marriage. A wonderful way of life for so many women.” Then she wrote: “So you don’t subscribe to the OT (Old Testament)? Where do you disagree with it…in its description of marriage?”

I explained to Eva that the Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah 31:31 promised that God would give us a “new covenant” one day, and that’s exactly what Jesus Christ inaugurated with His death and resurrection. Now, we’re under the new covenant, not the Law of the Moses (Mosaic covenant).

Eva wrote: “So good, then Leviticus no longer applies.”

I responded that the only parts of the Old Testament that apply to us today are those parts that are repeated in the New Testament.

Eva asked: “So repeated by Jesus, right? Not followers up to 100 years later.”

But I clarified that “everything in the New Testament — the Gospels, Acts, epistles, & Revelation — all applies.”

This is a critical point that even many Christians don’t understand.

• The New Testament is crystal clear that we no longer live under the Law of Moses. See Romans 10:4, I Corinthians 9:20, and Hebrews chapters 7 through 9.
• All Old Testament Scripture was inspired by God and is useful for “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work,” as the Apostle Paul writes so clearly in 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
• Indeed, Christ Himself affirmed the Old Testament law as the eternal standard of God’s righteousness. See Matthew 5:17-20.
• But while God wants us to learn from the principles of the Old Testament, He does not command us to obey the laws that He gave to the ancient Israelites.
• “[T]he Law has become our tutor to leaed us to Christ, so that we can be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” if in fact you have received Christ into your heart by faith as Savior and Lord of your life. (Galatians 3:24-26)
• Today, the Lord God commands us to follow what the Apostle Paul refers to as the “Law of Christ.”
• Carefully read through 1 Corinthians chapter 9, for example. Notice that he writes in verses 19 through 21: “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.
• Consider, too, Galatians 6:1-2. The Apostle Paul writes: “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are  spiritual,  restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”
• Consider, too, Romans chapter 8. The Apostle Paul writes that the Spirit of Christ redeems us, forgives us, and gives us life and peace that Moses couldn’t. In verses 1 and 2, for example, he writes, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
• Consider, too, Hebrews chapter 8. Here, the writer notes in verses 6 and 7 that Christ is the mediator of a “better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises” and that “if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.” In verse 13, we also read that Jesus Christ “has made the first [covenant; the Mosaic covenant] obsolete” and it has been replaced by “a new covenant.”
• The Law of Christ is the teachings of the New Testament. Whatever we are commanded to believe or do in the New Testament, from Matthew through Revelation, is what God expects of us. Every Old Testament command that is repeated in the New Testament, therefore, is part of the Law of Christ. But if an Old Testament command has not been repeated or restated or quoted in the New Testament then it is not binding on us today. We are free from the heavy chains and burdens of the Mosaic Law that God imposed on the Israelites. Once we receive Christ into our heart by faith, all of our sins against God’s Law have been forgiven and now we operate under the kindness and mercy and grace of the new covenant found in the New Testament. It is very good news, and that’s what it’s called “the gospel of Jesus Christ”!

All this to say: According to the Bible, marriage is an institution that God Himself created to be holy and beautiful. In the book of Genesis, we learn that God created Eve to love and support and bless Adam so they could be together as one in marriage. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:24-25) Yes, sin has polluted the world. Yes, sin has wreaked havoc on God’s plan and purpose for marriage. But the New Testament reaffirms that God holds marriage between one man and one woman beautiful and sacred, even in this fallen world. Indeed, Jesus performed His first public miracle at the wedding in Cana. As a person reads through the New Testament, he or she will find example after example of God commanding a husband to love and honor and cherish and protect his wife, to treat her gently and kindly and with deep respect. A man is not allowed to abuse or mistreat his wife. Marriage must not be a prison or a place of suffering and sadness and neglect and unkindness. To the contrary, in the New Testament, marriage is a picture of Christ’s love for the Church. Jesus loves the Church, however imperfect the people of the Church are. He sacrificed for the Church. He teaches and encourages and leads the Church, protects and defends and blesses the Church. And that’s how a husband is to treat his wife. Anything less we will have to answer for before the Lord Himself one day.

>> Another reader is furious with me because he believes I’m singling out gay marriage as a problem and that I’m ignorning the problem of heterosexual sin in our society.

That is simply not accurate, As I write about clearly in Implosion, it’s not just the pandemic of homosexuality that is bringing America to the brink of collapse and judgment by God. We also face pandemics of adultery. Pre-marital sex. Fornication. All forms of sexual immorality. Pornography and lust. Rape. Sexual abuse. Physical abuse. Emotional abuse. Marital affairs. Divorce. Abortion. And it’s not just in the culture at large. These sins are rampant in the church, too. This is why we desperately need revival. This is why we need a Third Great Awakening. Because these are the sins that the Bible warns leads to God’s judgment against nations. More than ever, we need to pray, fast and repent in accordance with 2 Chronicles 7:14 — “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Last point for now: I’m grateful to Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Rick Santorum, the Reverend Billy Graham and others who are standing for Biblical (NT) marriage in this controversy. I’m surprised by how many Christian leaders are staying quiet, but I hope that they too take a strong, loving, compassionate and courageous stand for the Bible, for traditional marriage, and for the right of Chick-Fil-A leaders and others to have their beliefs and proclaim them and follow them. If we lose that, America is lost indeed.

>> Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time?

>> The Joshua Fund