War or Peace:
Should We Have Gone to War?
Jackson Snyder March 13, 2003
Update! April 28, 2005 Could Iran Knock Out US With One Bomb?
2
Kings 18:17-33 (NJB):
17. And the king of Assyria sent the
Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King
Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they
arrived, they 
came and stood by the conduit of the
upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller's Field. 18.
And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the
son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah
the son of Asaph, the recorder. 19. And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to
Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest
this confidence of yours? 20. Do you think that mere words are strategy and
power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? 21.
Behold, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which
will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt
to all who rely on him. 22. But if you say to me, "We rely on the
Lord our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has
removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this
altar in Jerusalem"? 23. Come now, make a wager with my master the
king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your
part to set riders upon them. 24. How then can you repulse a single captain
among the least of my master's servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots
and for horsemen? 25. Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have
come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against
this land, and destroy it.'"
26. Then Eliakim the son of
Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, "Pray, speak to
your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; do not speak to us
in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the
wall." 27. But the Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my
master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the
men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to
drink their own urine?" 28. Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a
loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the word of the great king, the
king of Assyria! 29. Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah
deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. 30. Do
not let Hezekiah make you to rely on the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely
deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of
Assyria.' 31. Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the
king of Assyria: 'Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of
you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one
of you will drink the water of his own cistern;
32. until I come and take you
away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread
and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die.
And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The Lord will
deliver us. 33. Has any of the gods of the nations ever
delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Update April 27, 2005 Prophecy News Watch www.prophecynewswatch.com
Could Iran knock out U.S. with 1 bomb?
Iran is not only covertly
developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically
designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure, effectively
neutralizing the world's lone superpower, say U.S. intelligence sources, top
scientists and western missile industry experts.
The radical Shiite regime has conducted successful tests to determine if its
Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can be
detonated by a remote-control device while still in high-altitude flight.
Scientists, including President Reagan's top science adviser, William R. Graham,
say there is no other explanation for such tests than preparation for the
deployment of electromagnetic pulse weapons – even one of which could knock out
America's critical electrical and technological infrastructure, effectively
sending the continental U.S. back to the 19th century with a recovery time of
months or years.
Iran will have that capability – at least theoretically – as soon as it has one
nuclear bomb ready to arm such a missile. North Korea, a strategic ally of
Iran, already boasts such capability.
Just last month, Congress heard testimony about the use of such weapons and the
threat they pose from rogue regimes.
Iran has surprised intelligence analysts by describing the mid-flight
detonations of missiles fired from ships on the Caspian Sea as
"successful" tests. Even primitive Scud missiles could be used for
this purpose. And top U.S. intelligence officials reminded members of Congress
that there is a glut of these missiles on the world market. They are currently
being bought and sold for about $100,000 apiece.
"A terrorist organization might have trouble putting a nuclear warhead 'on
target' with a Scud, but it would be much easier to simply launch and detonate
in the atmosphere," wrote Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., in the Washington Post a
week ago. "No need for the risk and difficulty of trying to smuggle a
nuclear weapon over the border or hit a particular city. Just launch a cheap
missile from a freighter in international waters – al-Qaida is believed to own
about 80 such vessels – and make sure to get it a few miles in the
air."
The Iranian missile tests were more sophisticated and capable of detonation at
higher elevations – making them more dangerous.
Detonated at a height of 60 to 500 kilometers above the continental U.S., one
nuclear warhead could cripple the country – knocking out electrical power and
circuit boards and rendering the U.S. domestic communications impotent.
While Iran still insists officially in talks currently underway with the
European Union that it is only developing nuclear power for peaceful civilian
purposes, the mid-flight detonation missile tests persuade U.S. military
planners and intelligence agencies that Tehran can only be planning such an
attack, which depends on the availability of at least one nuclear
warhead.
Some analysts believe the stage of Iranian missile developments suggests
Iranian scientists will move toward the production of weapons-grade nuclear
material shortly as soon as its nuclear reactor in Busher is operative.
Jerome Corsi, author of "Atomic Iran," told WorldNetDaily the new
findings about Iran's electromagnetic pulse experiments significantly raise the
stakes of the mullah regime's bid to become a nuclear power.
"Up until now, I believed the nuclear threat to the U.S. from Iran was
limited to the ability of terrorists to penetrate the borders or port security
to deliver a device to a major city," he said. "While that threat
should continue to be a grave concern for every American, these tests by Iran
demonstrate just how dangerous the fanatical mullahs in Tehran are. We are
facing a clever and unscrupulous adversary in Iran that could bring America to
its knees."
Last month, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and
Homeland Security chaired by Kyl, held a hearing on the electromagnetic pulse,
or EMP, threat.
"An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the American homeland, said one
of the distinguished scientists who testified at the hearing, is one of only a
few ways that the United States could be defeated by its enemies – terrorist or
otherwise," wrote Kyl "And it is probably the easiest. A single Scud
missile, carrying a single nuclear weapon, detonated at the appropriate
altitude, would interact with the Earth's atmosphere, producing an
electromagnetic pulse radiating down to the surface at the speed of light.
Depending on the location and size of the blast, the effect would be to knock
out already stressed power grids and other electrical systems across much or
even all of the continental United States, for months if not years."
The purpose of an EMP attack, unlike a nuclear attack on land, is not to kill
people, but "to kill electrons," as Graham explained. He serves as
chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from
Electromagnetic Pulse Attack and was director of the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy and science adviser to the president during the
Reagan administration.
Graham told WorldNetDaily he could think of no other reason for Iran to be
experimenting with mid-air detonation of missiles than for the planning of an
EMP-style attack.
"EMP offers a bigger bang for the buck," he said. He also suggested
such an attack makes a U.S. nuclear response against a suspected enemy less
likely than would the detonation of a nuclear bomb in a major U.S. city.
A 2004 report by the commission found "several potential adversaries have
or can acquire the capability to attack the United States with a high-altitude
nuclear weapons-generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP). A determined adversary
can achieve an EMP attack capability without having a high level of
sophistication."
"EMP is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk
of catastrophic consequences," the report said. "EMP will cover the
wide geographic region within line of sight to the nuclear weapon. It has the
capability to produce significant damage to critical infrastructures and thus
to the very fabric of U.S. society, as well as to the ability of the United
States and Western nations to project influence and military power."
The major impact of EMP weapons is on electronics, "so pervasive in all
aspects of our society and military, coupled through critical
infrastructures," explained the report.
"Their effects on systems and infrastructures dependent on electricity and
electronics could be sufficiently ruinous as to qualify as catastrophic to the
nation," Lowell Wood, acting chairman of the commission, told members of
Congress.
The commission report went so far as to suggest, in its opening sentence, that
an EMP attack "might result in the defeat of our military
forces."
The EMP threat is not a new one considered by U.S. defense planners. The Soviet
Union had experimented with the idea as a kind of super-weapon against the
U.S.
"What is different now is that some potential sources of EMP threats are
difficult to deter – they can be terrorist groups that have no state identity,
have only one or a few weapons and are motivated to attack the U.S. without
regard for their own safety," explains the commission report. "Rogue
states, such as North Korea and Iran, may also be developing the capability to
pose an EMP threat to the United States and may also be unpredictable and difficult
to deter."
Graham describes the potential "cascading effect" of an EMP attack.
If electrical power is knocked out and circuit boards fried, telecommunications
are disrupted, energy deliveries are impeded, the financial system breaks down,
food, water and gasoline become scarce.
As Kyl put it: "Few if any people would die right away. But the loss of
power would have a cascading effect on all aspects of U.S. society.
Communication would be largely impossible. Lack of refrigeration would leave
food rotting in warehouses, exacerbated by a lack of transportation as those
vehicles still working simply ran out of gas (which is pumped with
electricity). The inability to sanitize and distribute water would quickly
threaten public health, not to mention the safety of anyone in the path of the
inevitable fires, which would rage unchecked. And as we have seen in areas of
natural and other disasters, such circumstances often result in a fairly rapid
breakdown of social order."
"American society has grown so dependent on computer and other electrical
systems that we have created our own Achilles' heel of vulnerability,
ironically much greater than those of other, less developed nations," the
senator wrote. "When deprived of power, we are in many ways helpless, as
the New York City blackout made clear. In that case, power was restored quickly
because adjacent areas could provide help. But a large-scale burnout caused by
a broad EMP attack would create a much more difficult situation. Not only would
there be nobody nearby to help, it could take years to replace destroyed
equipment."
Kyl concluded in his report: "The Sept. 11 commission report stated that
our biggest failure was one of 'imagination.' No one imagined that terrorists
would do what they did on Sept. 11. Today few Americans can conceive of the
possibility that terrorists could bring our society to its knees by destroying
everything we rely on that runs on electricity. But this time we've been
warned, and we'd better be prepared to respond."
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My Statement Regarding the Polygamy in B'nai Yahshua Synagogues
Worldwide: Are these Rabbis just dirty old men? |
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Spiritual Gifts Revelation 1: |
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Fight
child poverty now with BUNCHIES, for It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to dogs! |
Conversation at the Jerusalem Wall
I chose our text today (2 Kings 18:17ff) because it portrays a
negotiation of war very similar to what we are hearing about right now. The King of Judah at Jerusalem is Hezekiah,
one of the greatest and best kings.
Hezekiah had reestablished true worship in Judah, destroying the pagan
temples and worship shrines of his predecessors. Judah is now being invaded by the most powerful
nation in the world – the Assyrian empire – ruled by the fierce tiger king Sennacherib. The Assyrians had already conquered Israel
and Samaria, taken away all the riches of these lands, and now they’re about to
take Jerusalem, at the very gates. In fact,
the Rabshakeh declares that Yahweh had sent Assyria over to destroy Jerusalem;
so what could they do about it? Then the
Rabshakeh started insulting the troops and pointing out their lack of
equipment. Then he blasphemed Yahweh.
But this menacing Rabshakeh (or cupbearer-in-chief,
NJB) does something very clever. He
doesn’t threaten in his own language, but in the language of Judah, and
he cries out very loudly. Everybody
hears him and understands what he’s saying.
He was really getting through to those on the inside of the wall
– the news spreads like wildfire. The
emissaries of King Hezekiah, Eliakim, Shebnah and Joah, plead with the
Assyrian, “Don’t negotiate in our language so all these people can
understand. Speak in your own
language.” But the Rabshakeh didn’t
relent.
He cried, “Do you think I’m here just to
speak with you or your king? No, I ‘m
here to tell everyone, because, after all, won’t it be the common folk
that’ll end up suffering when we strike?
Shouldn’t they know that, before it’s all over, they’ll be eating dung
and drinking urine? Shouldn’t they be
told?” Now the Rabshakeh addresses the
people of Jerusalem directly: “Don’t let Hezekiah fool you by saying that G-d
will save you in the end. He’s powerless to save you from my clutches. Surrender now and we’ll give everyone some
property and freedom.”
That’s a good strategy, especially since the
whole might of the Assyrian Empire is paraded around the walls of
Jerusalem. Everyone could behold
the troop divisions, great cavalries and war machines as far as the
horizon. Everyone could hear the
threats and promises of this great enemy paraded before them. Some Judeans thought the Assyrians might turn
out to be their liberators after all.
The promise of land, freedom and the ceasing of hostilities were surely
strong motivators. Some clamored for
peace at any price. Yet others, perhaps
the majority, were ready, able and willing to fight to the death for their
country and religion, even street-to-street, house-to-house, hand-to-hand.
Now -- does the strategy of the Rabshakeh
and scenario of the Jerusalem wall sound familiar? It certainly should.
MOAB
The U.S. Air Force tested what it calls “the
mother of all bombs” on Tuesday, March 11 (2003), just down the road from here
at Eglin Air Force Base. They call it
the MOAB, short for “Massive
Ordnance Air Burst.” This MOAB was 30
feet long and weighed 21,000 pounds.
Other MOABs weigh 30,000 pounds, making them the largest non-nuclear
bomb in the world. The bomb is so big
it’s to be dropped from a cargo plane.
When it detonates over an area, it spreads a mist of flammable,
explosive gas or liquid then sets it on fire.
It’s similar to the terrifying Daisy Cutter bombs used in Vietnam and
Afghanistan, but it destroys a much wider target range. The MOAB is a weapon of mass destruction.
MOAB is also a Bible name prominent in
prophecy (Isaiah 15, for instance).
Moab means, “from the father,” referring to an offspring of incest
(Genesis 19:37). Moab also refers to the
territory of the modern Kingdom of Jordan, on Israel’s border. Israel pushed Jordan (or Moab) out of
Jerusalem in the war of 1967 to fulfill a prophecy of Jesus (Luke
21:24). (By the way, there is also a
resort town in Utah called Moab that is officially protesting the use of the
name of the town for the biggest bomb in the world.)
EMP
Another bomb that came out of the closet
last week was the EMP
bomb; EMP stands for Electro-Magnetic Pulse.
The bomb, when exploded in an area, creates an electronic field that
burns out all electronic circuits within the target radius. This bomb has been in the arsenal for years
but required a nuclear blast to set it off.
Now the U.S. has the technology to explode it without the nukes. An EMP blast over a large city like Baghdad
would permanently disable all electronic equipment by burning out all
circuits. Anything that runs on
electricity would be neutralized, power plants to cars to cell phones to
radios, permanently. However, the EMP
without the nuke doesn’t kill anybody directly (unless that anybody has a pacemaker).
A
Smoking Hole in the Ground
The news media has also released the
possibility that when the U.S. invades Iraq, it will be a blitz,
targeting 3,000
bombs, weapons of mass destruction, at Iraq during the first two days of
hostilities. This is being called “the
large bang,” constituting more firepower than was used in the entire Gulf War
of 1990-91. It has also been made it
public that if Iraq bombs Israel causing mass casualties, Israel
will nuke Baghdad, leaving a “smoking hole” in the ground.
Israel has nearly five hundred atomic bombs
in their arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. NATO official Anthony Cordesman writes that
if Israel is struck by weapons of mass destruction from Iraq,
“Israel
would probably massively retaliate with nuclear ground bursts against every
Iraqi city not already occupied by U.S.-led coalition forces. Israel would also probably then posture
itself for hair-trigger massive retaliation against any Syrian or Palestinian
effort to exploit the Iraqi attacks.”
One thing is for
sure – Israel will not sit back this time and be bombed. It will retaliate bigtime.
Propaganda
War
The U.S. and its allies are already fighting
a propaganda war, dropping printed leaflets over major cities in Iraq. Last week, one newsman asked a government
official, “Why is the United States so forthcoming in letting the ‘enemy’ know
its war strategy? Is this information
being leaked or is this all intentional?
Won’t this help the enemy to be ready?”
The government official just laughed.
His reply was something like, “The U.S. and its allies are being very up
front about strategy because they want the Iraqis and anyone else to know just
what kind of overwhelming power they are up against.” Of course, the President publicly called for
Saddam Hussein and his lieutenants to just step down and leave, allowing
the Allies in to disarm Iraq. The U.S.
government is using scare tactics to hopefully avoid an invasion, just as the
Rabshakeh of Syria had.
There was indication that this propaganda
was working last week when paratroopers from the British 16th Air
Assault Brigade were on maneuvers in Kuwait near the Iraqi border. The Brits were discharging mortars when a
band of Iraqi soldiers, who had somehow crossed an incredibly fortified border,
tried to surrender. The Brits had to
tell the Iraqis that the war hadn’t started yet, and they sent
them back across the border, back to Iraq.
Isn’t this propaganda war similar to the
conversation on the wall between the Rabshakeh of Sennacherib and the
emissaries of King Hezekiah? It’s just
the same; everything’s in the open.
The U.S. and allies, like Sennacherib, are making it public knowledge
exactly what kind of heck they’ll bring if there isn’t an immediate acquiescence
to the demands of U. N. Article 1441.
Allah’s
Will
King Hezekiah knew that Jerusalem, a tiny,
weak enclave, didn’t have a chance against Sennacherib. 2 Kings 19 tells us that when Hezekiah heard
the threats of Sennacherib’s Rabshakeh, he tore off his clothes, wrapped
himself in hemp, and entered the house of Yahweh, commanding his advisors to do
likewise. Then Hezekiah prayed until
he got an answer from Yahweh about the fate of the nation (2 Kings
19). He was willing to surrender if that
was G-d’s will. The point is that he
sought out what the Almighty wanted of him.
On February 26th, Saddam Hussein
was interviewed
by CBS News anchorman, Dan Rather.
The three-hour, prime time program was and still is very
controversial. I thought it was a
masterpiece of propaganda. Saddam
did a tremendous job of bolstering his image.
As I watched and listened, I thought, “Could this man (Saddam) who here
seems so logical, kindly and religious, really be the slaughterer of millions?”
Then Dan Rather confronted Saddam with the
prospect of the tremendous military might of the Allies and asked a question
something like, “How can you think you’ll come away from such a powerful enemy alive?” Saddam was very cool and hopeful when he
replied, “This matter is entirely in the hands of Allah; may his will be
done.”
This might have been something King
Hezekiah would have said to King Sennacherib if he had had the opportunity; but
a confrontation didn’t materialize.
After Hezekiah received his answer from Yahweh, an angel was sent into
the Assyrian camp that night. The angel
killed one hundred eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers in their sleep. When the rest awakened, there was such awe
and confusion that the Assyrians remaining just went home. The war became a matter for G-d alone. I believe this Bible story is true. I also believe Yahweh has the ability stop
any war, if only, like Hezekiah, his people will pray (2 Chronicles
7:14).
Peace
and Safety
There is opposition to war all around the
world. We can discount ‘official
opposition’ like that from the French or Russian governments (purely
greed-oriented), and discount many politicians (who care only about
re-electing), and discount peace-talk from most movie stars and celebrities
(advocating peace for publicity’s sake).
However, there are literally millions in this world who are against
going to war for very personal, religious and legitimate reasons. No matter what we think, we dare not discount
the opinions of informed others. The
elders of this community should know that war is hell and it’s usually
wrong. War will mean thousands of
casualties and untold suffering. And any
war in a world like ours could lead to world war and global devastation
from weapons of mass destruction.
We see our old cold war enemies posturing
again. Russia and China have thousands
of nukes and missiles. Iran and North
Korea, the other members of the “Axis of Evil,” are found to be much farther
along in their quest for nuclear weapons than was once thought, with Russia
supplying Iran with plutonium and North Korea testing delivery missiles. Many hostile countries and perhaps terrorist
groups already have the nuclear weapon known as “the dirty bomb,” in which
nuclear waste material is let loose upon a peaceful population. Yes, any war could lead to a world
war, a world war far more devastating than the last world war. There are very legitimate reasons for
seeking and promoting peace.
Peace
Demonstrators
Some were willing to go to Iraq and become
“human shields” to act out their beliefs.
These anti-war demonstrators were housed and fed by the Iraqi
government. They wanted to be
posted near libraries, schools and hospitals.
But when Saddam sent them to shield power plants and weapons factories,
their courage failed and some went on home.
But nobody should imagine that people who are willing to die for
their beliefs aren’t necessarily unpatriotic. And one can hardly call people who
demonstrate against war as unpatriotic.
It’s not easy to stand up for an unpopular belief. Jesus and his disciple all died doing
that.
On a recent radio show, there was a lot of name-calling
and fun-making of the peace demonstrators in our country. One caller made the statement that anybody
who was for peace was a traitor and ought to move to Arabia. That opinion isn’t uncommon; but let me say,
popular or not, it’s just plain wrong.
Even the President, the chief instigator of invasion, confirmed the
rights of a difference of opinion in a democratic society. With no multiple viewpoints, our country
would like Iraq or Saudi Arabia, where dissent isn’t tolerated. What is truly patriotic is to think
about what you believe, be sure in your mind, speak your piece then respect
the opinions of others.
Love
the Enemy
This brings us to the end of our time today
and to a vital, essential question.
If there is to be a war, if we are to be the aggressors or enforcers,
however we see our personal role in it, we must ask ourselves – are we on
the side of G-d? Yahweh defeated
the massive firepower of the forces of Assyria by using not a MOAB
bomb, but one lone angel.
That’s all it took for him to stop a war. My friends: think and pray. Yahweh is always for peace, no matter what
it takes for that peace to come: for
Isaiah
2:4,5. He shall judge between the
nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
These words were given to King Hezekiah’s
prophet, Isaiah, who went on to admonish:
O
house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of Yahweh.
I think the time has come when all who love
the L-rd need to tear their clothes, put on sackcloth and go to the house of
Yahweh to seek his will. This is not the
time for a rubber stamp decision, not the time to just go with the
flow. The whole world and the peace and
security of this nation may be in the balance.
Great civil unrest, maybe even terrorist acts, may follow an invasion. It’s time to make the will of Yahweh sure
in our own hearts. It’s time to be
convinced of what is good and what is evil by the holy Spirit. It’s time to pray for guidance; pray for
authorities; cast out demons; love your enemies and walk in the light.