Good morning on this Saturday, October 22nd. The geopolitical map of the some of the important Biblical nations of prophecy is rapidly changing. With this week's overthrow and death of Libyan dictator, Moammar Qaddafi, the death of Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud in Saudi Arabia, the dismantling of the longstanding Mubarak regime in Egypt, the political agitation in Yemen and Syria, and the foment in numerous other Middle Eastern countries, the landscape and alliances of power in these countries could become vastly different. Add to this mix yesterday's announcement that all U.S. troops will be leaving Iraq at the end of this year, and you have a blanket of uncertainty throughout the region. The key unanswered question is, what will the emerging governments in these countries be like? We know that in each case they will remain dominated by Muslim religion and politics, but we do not know the strictness, tolerance level, alliances, and attitudes of the new leadership in many of these nations. In many cases it is not yet evident who or what that leadership is going to be. But we do know that in Egypt the new regime is allowing increasing persecution of Christians and desecration of their churches. Iraq will likely see increasing hostility between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims with Christians caught in the middle. It appears that Iraq with its majority Shiite population will be much cozier with Iran. If history is any indication, the new regimes may turn out to be worse than the old. They may be more radical, more militant, and more determined to impose their will and religion on others. Our advice is to keep your Bible in one hand and your newspaper in the other; they many be more closely aligned than at any time in recent memory.
Tomorrow's sermon is entitled, My God Is Real, and will feature God's amazing work and faith-filled answers to prayer. If you are not there, I promise you, you will miss a blessing.
Mel Brown