“‘An Israeli military strike on Iran may be just weeks or at most a couple of months away,’ a former Israeli intelligence chief said Friday, while stressing that he personally did not think the time was right for an Israeli attack,” reports the Times of Israel. “‘It seems to me,’ said Aharon Zeevi Farkash, former head of Military Intelligence in the IDF, ‘that [an Israeli attack] could come in the near future… that is, weeks or a couple of months.’ Asked whether an Israeli strike would lead to war, he responded: ‘Absolutely.’ Interviewed on Israel’s Channel 2 News, he added, ‘The Iranians have to understand’ that if they don’t halt their nuclear drive, ‘they will ultimately have to absorb a blow to their main military sites, from an international coalition, or from the US, or perhaps from Israel.”

• On Tuesday, “the IDF Chief of the General Staff Benny Gantz said the IDF was ‘prepared, and ready to act’ and that, for the IDF, the oft-repeated statement that ‘all options are on the table’ is ‘not a slogan, it’s a work plan.'”
• Farkash’s assessment that an Israeli-Iranian war is so close came the day after the public comments of former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy. “If I were an Iranian, I would be very fearful of the next 12 weeks,” Halevy told reporters.
• Netanyahu said Friday that he would take responsibility if a war with Iran comes.
• Here’s my analysis of the possibility of an Israeli preemptive strike on Iran in September/October.

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• 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)

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

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday night that he had not yet decided whether to order military intervention to thwart Iran’s nuclear drive,” reports the Times of Israel. “When the time did come to decide, he added, however, objections from military and security chiefs would not prevent him and his government colleagues from ordering a military strike should they deem it necessary. ‘I’ve not made a decision yet,’ he told Channel 2 News. But he then invoked Israel’s 1981 air strike to destroy Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor at Osirak, Iraq. Menachem Begin, the prime minister of the time, made the decision to attack despite the opposition of Israel’s security chiefs, he noted. And it would always be the case, he said, that ‘the political echelon’ would make such decisions. It was the job of ‘the professional echelon’ — the IDF and security services — to carry them out….Netanyahu said he would be only too pleased were the international community to succeed in thwarting Iran’s drive to the bomb via sanctions and non-military methods. But ‘as of this moment,’ he said, while sanctions ‘have hurt the Iranian economy,’ they haven’t pushed back the Iranian drive by ‘so much as a millimeter.'” The article noted that IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz “said Tuesday that the IDF was ‘prepared, and ready to act’ and that, for the IDF, the oft-repeated statement that ‘all options are on the table’ is  ‘not a slogan, it’s a work plan.'”

>> New poll finds 80% of Americans believe Iranian nuclear weapon threats America; two-thirds say sanctions won’t stop Iran from getting the Bomb

>> For a political thriller about an American President pushing Israel not to launch a preemptive strike against Iran, but the Israeli Prime Minister choosing to launch the attack anyway,  read The Tehran Initiative, now out in paperback.

>> Please join the conversation and follow on Twitter @jcrflashtraffic

On Thursday evening, August 9th, I’m honored to be speaking and doing a question & answer session on my new book, Implosion, in the Denver, Colorado area. Given the horrific violence in nearby Aurora recently, and given the enormous national debate over gay marriage vs. traditional marriage, I think this will be a timely discussion. The occassion will be the annual fundraising event for Ministry Architecture, Inc., a ministry my parents (Len and Mary Rosenberg) started 12 years to provide architectural services for evangelical Christian ministries operating in developing countries who need orphanages, training centers, medical missionary hospitals, and other facilities to show the love of Jesus. Before I speak, my folks will share a bit about the exciting work God is doing through this ministry in countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, Zambia, Sudan, Romania, Haiti, Thailand, Turkey, Israel, etc. Then I will discuss the enormous economic and spiritual challenges facing the United States, whether we could face not just a decline but a collapse, and the prospect of a Third Great Awakening. And I’m especially looking forward to your questions as that is my favorite part of the evening. The event will take place at Calvary Chapel South Denver in Littleton, Colorado, from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. Doors will open at 6:30pm. A contribution of $25 per person is requested to help support Ministry Architecture. Contributions are tax deductible. Registration is required, and you can register at www.ministryarchitecture.com. Please join us — I hope to see you there!

Tonight and tomorrow, C-SPAN 2’s “Book TV” will air the talk I gave on Implosion as part of the “Implosion Simucast” event we did in June at Houston’s First Baptist Church. In fact, we’re told C-SPAN 2 will actually air the full three-hour simulcast, including all of the Q&A. Given the recent massacre in Aurora, the roaring controversy over gay marriage versus traditional marriage, and other sobering economic and spiritual events and headlines in recent weeks, I think the subject will be a timely one. I hope you’ll take the time to watch, or set your DVR to record the program and watch it later. Please also let family and friends who might be interested in the subject know when the program will air, and please be sure to post your comments on the book and/or the program on the Epicenter Team Facebook page.

The Implosion Simulcast will actually be broadcast twice on C-SPAN 2:

* Saturday, July 28th at 11pm eastern

* Sunday, July 29th at 9:15am eastern.

For more details from the C-SPAN website, please click here.

>> To purchase a copy of Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time in hardcover, ebook, or audio book, please click here

“White House spokesman Jay Carney refused to state the U.S. position on the location of Israel’s capital during a press briefing, Thursday, despite several requests for clarification from a pair of reporters,” reported the Times of Israel. “The exchange, caught on video and uploaded to YouTube, quickly made the cyberspace rounds as the latest example of world bodies’ refusal to name Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.” Click here to see the video. Just to be clear, Jerusalem — not Tel Aviv or any other city — is the eternal capital of Israel and the Jewish people. “I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel,” declares the Lord God Almighty (2 Chronicles 6:6). “He has founded his city on the holy mountain. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.” (Psalm 87:1-2) “Jerusalem, the city which the Lord has chosen from all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there.” (2 Chronicles 12:13) “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.” (Psalm 122:6)

>> C-SPAN “Book TV” to air “Implosion Simulcast” this weekend — click here for details

It’s been stunning to see the Left’s long knives come out for the leaders of the Chick-Fil-A corporation.  Why? Because the company’s president Dan Cathy, a devout born again follower of Jesus Christ, has said that while he and his company respect and honor people of all races, creeds, religions and sexual orientations, he strongly believes in traditional marriage between one man and one woman and is “guilty as charged” when it comes to defending a Biblical approach to family. Cathy also warned that America could trigger the judgment of God against us if we choose to continue defying the Bible’s teachings on marriage. “I think we’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, ‘We know better than You what constitutes a marriage,” Cathy said in remarks reported by ABC News.

I completely agree. As I wrote about in Implosion, America is flirting with disaster if we continue to ignore the Bible and turn our backs on the teachings of the Lord God Almighty.

But Cathy’s strong stance on behalf of a Biblical approach to marriage is being taken by the Left as “anti-gay” and it has sparked a firestorm from coast to coast.

• Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel denounced Cathy’s pro-traditional marriage stance and said, “Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago values. They’re not respectful of our residents, our neighbors and our family members. And if you’re gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values.”
• Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno announced he is working to block the fast food company from opening a new store in his ward because of Cathy’s stance.
• Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino told Chick-Fil-A they were not welcome to do business in Boston.
• The Jim Henson Company — inventors of the Muppets — chose to take the side of gay marriage and announced it was ending a planned promotional campaign with the fast food company.
• Actress Roseanne Barr sent out this Tweet, “anyone who eats S%#@ Fil-A deserves to get the cancer that is sure to come from eating antibiotic filled tortured chickens 4Christ.”
• Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is calling for a boycott of Chick-Fil-A.

Others, however, are strongly defending Chick-Fil-A and are grateful for Cathy’s defense of the Biblical standard for marriage. Among them:

• Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee started a Facebook page calling for a “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” on August 1st. “I have been incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick Fil-A company because the CEO, Dan Cathy, made comments recently in which he affirmed his view that the Biblical view of marriage should be upheld. The Cathy family, led by Chick Fil-A founder Truett Cathy, are a wonderful Christian family who are committed to operating the company with Biblical principles and whose story is the true American success story.  Starting at age 46 Truett Cathy built Chick Fil-A into a $4 billion a year enterprise with over 1600 stores. At 91, he is still active in the company, but his son Dan runs it day to day as CEO.It’s a great American story that is being smeared by vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry from the left.”
• Rick Santorum quickly joined Huckabee in defense of traditional marriage and Chick-Fil-A.
• Billy Graham has issued a statement defending traditional marriage and Chick-Fil-A. “I want to express my support for my good friends Truett Cathy and his son Dan Cathy, and for their strong stand for the Christian faith,” Graham said. “I’ve known their family for many years and have watched them grow Chick-fil-A into one of the best businesses in America while never compromising their values. Chick-fil-A serves each of its customers with excellence, and treats everyone like a neighbor. It’s easy to see why Chick-fil-A has become so popular across America. Each generation faces different issues and challenges, but our standard must always be measured by God’s word. I appreciate the Cathy family’s public support for God’s definition of marriage.”
• Franklin Graham also issued a statement defending traditional marriage and Chick-Fil-A.
• Jim Daly of Focus on the Family wrote an op-ed defending traditional marriage and Chick-Fil-A, as well.

The first thing I did when I heard of this controversy was ask my wife to pick up some Chick-Fil-A for dinner for our family. I look forward to dining there again on August 1st. One of our friends wrote, “Did you ever think a chicken sandwich could divide a nation?” Clever, but of course there is a much bigger issue here than one company or the views of one executive. The American Left has declared war against the traditional family, against the Bible, and against all who dare say that they follow Biblical principles. Maybe this controversy will wake up the sleeping Church in America and call millions believers to stand up for the truth. Maybe this firestorm will inspire millions of Christians to truly preach the Gospel, teach the Word of God, and do so with love, compassion, courage and without shame. Maybe seeing the vitriol of the Left will cause millions of Christians to begin praying and fasting for a Third Great Awakening for this beloved country of ours. I sure hope so, because without such a sweeping spiritual revival I believe this country is going to implode. And time is running short.

One other important note. My brother-in-law wrote this on his Facebook page as a result of this controversy, and I thought he put it very well: “Of all the groups in the world who are “hated”, I often feel that none are hated more than Christians who are loyal to Jesus Christ and His teaching, who–despite popular belief–was not about hate, but love for and salvation of ANYONE who would ACCEPT Him as their savior. Bums me out how often His true purpose and message are completely overlooked or simply ignored. I love my Lord with all my he…art and as a true follower of Christ I’m called to love ALL people as well… and I do: gay, straight, black, white, old, young, sick, healthy, mentally or physically challenged or not, liberal, conservative, Redskins fans, Cowboy fans, country or rock fans… and yes, that means you too. If you translate God’s teaching to intolerance/hate (despite Him commanding us to love EVERYONE) than I don’t know what to say… but I do know what to DO because my purpose never changes. So like it or not… I love YOU despite our differences, allegiances, choices or values. Matthew 22:36-40 — “‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

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

>> Consider helping The Joshua Fund bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus