March came in like a lamb here in Minnesota, but it soon showed its lion's colors. It has been snowing for nearly 36 hours and the totals keep climbing. The way the meteorologists explained it, two low pressure systems merged and one slowed down the other. But, it is March and we know the snow will not remain long now. Spring will be arriving soon - although those of us who live in Minnesota just never know quite when the arrival will be heralded.
Have you been paying attention to what is happening in Israel these past few days? As I shared with you a week or so ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been having a difficult time putting together a coalition so as to form a majority government. Over the weekend, he petitioned President Shimon Peres, asking for an extension of time and was granted another 15 days. If he is unable to form a government, which many believe simply would not happen, then President Peres could either ask Yair Lapid, whose party was the second highest in the recent elections, to form a government, or he could ask for new elections which would almost mean certain disaster for the Prime Minister's party.
What is making this even more complicated is President Obama's decision to make a state visit to Israel March 20-22. If you remember, I shared that I believed one of the reasons for his visit was to press Israel toward renewed peace negotiations with the Palestinians. According to an article written by Gil Ronen and published Monday, March 4, at IsraelNationalNews.com website. "According to the report (in World Tribune), Obama, who is scheduled to arrive in Israel on March 20, wants Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to present him with a detailed Israeli withdrawal plan during his visit to Israel." The article continues, "Obama has made it clear to Netanyahu that his visit is not about photo-ops, but the business of Iran and a Palestinian state. The implication is that if Israel won't give him something he can work with, then he'll act on his own." President Obama believes that at the moment he is in the position of strength, not the Prime Minister. Those three days could be very interesting.
Also wanted to let you know about the plague of locusts that have invaded Egypt. The article, written by Adam Clark Estes, and titled, "With Passover Approaching, a Plague of Locusts Descends upon Egypt." It was posted at www.theatlanticwire.com. A plague of over 30 million locusts are swarming over Egypt just weeks before the Jewish Passover is to begin. Locusts are known to have a voracious appetite. A one-ton hoard of locusts can eat the same amount of food in one day as 2500 human beings. That's a lot of food! One Egyptian official stated that the crops were safe. Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abdel Moamen said, "The current inspection teams at areas targeted by locusts did not witness swarms damaging a single inch of crop." If you remember your Passover story well, you might recall that one of the ten plagues God sent upon Egypt was that of locusts. We also know that the prophet Joel told of an enormous plague of locusts that God sent upon the people of Israel to try to turn their hearts back to Him. Could this plague be another in the many signs God is sharing with us to get us to wake-up and turn our eyes back to Him?
Today marks the introduction of Joel Rosenberg's newest novel. It is titled, "Damascus Countdown" and follows "The Twelfth Iman" and "The Tehran Initiative." I have not had the opportunity to purchase my copy, but once it is read I will give you a full report. And I would be interested in your opinions as well.
As I close this week I would like to share something from C.S. Lewis's classic, "Mere Christianity." He states, "Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him he will be complaining 'It's not fair' before you can say Jack Robinson. A nation may say treaties don't matter; but then, next minute, they spoil their case by saying that the particular treaty they want to break was an unfair one. But if treaties do not matter, and if there is no such thing as Right and Wrong - in other words, if there is no Law of Nature - what is the difference between a fair treaty and an unfair one? Have they not let the cat out of the bag and shown that, whatever they say, they really know the Law of Nature just like anyone else?" Now here is the paragraph that grabbed my thoughts: "It seems, then, we are forced to believe in a real Right and Wrong. People may be sometimes mistaken about them, just as people sometimes get their sums wrong; but they are not a matter of mere taste and opinion any more than the multiplication table." I love that line. There is a real Right and real Wrong just as there is a real Multiplication Table and it is not a matter of our own choosing. One times one is always one - no matter what language is spoken. And I believe the Ten Commandments are God's tools to help us with what is real Right and real Wrong. It is time we get back into the Word and begin to earnestly believe what God has told us. We will be better off for that...both as individuals and as a nation.
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