Post by Hal Lindsey
Last January, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The committee was probing the attack on our diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others from the mission.
In a moment of frustration that has already returned to haunt Mrs. Clinton, the Secretary blurted out: “What difference, at this point in time, does it make?”
She was responding to combative questions about “who” the killers were – terrorists or a runaway mob protesting an obscure movie promo on the internet. Obviously straining hard to avoid truthfully answering the question and thus indicting herself and her boss, Mrs. Clinton almost screamed, “What difference… does it make?”
Two things disturb me about that question. First, if our Secretary of State honestly didn’t realize what difference it makes, then she should not have been Secretary of State (or even a Senator as she was previously), much less President (as she wants to be).
Second, if she did realize the difference it makes, then she was scrambling hard to cover up her and her boss’s culpability (and dishonesty) and she thought she could bully the Senators into submission.
Either conclusion is disturbing.
Fast forward to April 17. Present Secretary of State John Kerry appeared before a House committee hearing. During the questioning, the subject of Benghazi came up. When pressed about what he planned to do about rectifying the situation and finding the culprits responsible for the breakdown of security that caused the death of our Ambassador, Kerry also became a bit annoyed and dismissed the questioning with this statement: “We got a lot more important things to move on to and get done.”
Again, two things disturb me about that response. First, for a Secretary of State, who is personally responsible for the safety of the Ambassadors and personnel under his leadership, what could possibly be more important than discovering what went wrong in Benghazi, who was responsible, where the killers are now, and how we can prevent it from happening again?
Second, doesn’t anyone in the Democrat party remember the motto of one of their most respected past Presidents? Harry Truman famously displayed a slogan on his desk that was unequivocal. It read: “The buck stops here.”
Apparently this Administration thinks that slogan means “the male deer stops by here occasionally to graze the south lawn!” (Speaking of ducking responsibility, I see today that Nancy Pelosi is publicly blaming George W. Bush for the IRS scandal. See what I mean?)
I don’t know how anyone could have watched last week’s House hearings and not been incredulous at the way the Administration handled that crisis. How could you not be outraged that those same officials who stood by as our Ambassador and three others were brutally killed, then chose to cover up their incompetence (or worse, it could be their fear of offending Muslims or their fear of offending the American electorate) by lying to the American people for weeks after the tragedy.
On this week’s program, I’ll give you several reasons why I think Benghazi matters to America.
Wired magazine recently revealed that the new immigration bill currently wending its way through Congress may contain a little surprise. Within the 800-page bipartisan bill “is language mandating the creation of… ‘photo tool’, a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing the names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.”
Requiring employers to search this database before hiring anyone, the idea is to stop employers from hiring illegal aliens. But this measure swats that fly with a sledgehammer!
Even the ACLU is uncomfortable with the idea of the government “keeping a record of all things.”
Hey, I know one guy who will be very appreciative if this system is in place when he finally rises to power. I don’t know his name yet, he’s not been revealed, but I’ll bet he’s watching to see what happens to this legislation.
Syria continues to spiral into chaos. I don’t recall there being a regional or national crisis as geopolitically confusing or sensitive as this one. There really aren’t any “good guys” in this civil war. Of course, Bashar al Assad is a brutal dictator (though not as decisively brutal as his father), but the rebels are led by none other than al Qaeda. And though the West doesn’t want Assad to remain in power, neither do we want the rebels to gain control of his chemical WMD arsenal. And, surprisingly, Israel would prefer to deal with the devil it knows (the self-preserving Assad), than the devil it doesn’t (the terrorist rebels with chemical weapons).
As a result, the New York Times is calling southern Syria “an ungoverned area.” Sounds like the Sinai peninsula, doesn’t it? Israel continues to be surrounded by a ring of enemies that are growing increasingly hostile: Lebanon (Hezbollah), Syria, the “rebels” in lawless southern Syria, Jordan (under increasing threat by the Palestinian majority), the jihadists in the lawless Sinai peninsula, Egypt, and Gaza (Hamas). Of course, beyond them are Iraq, Iran, and the other Arab/Muslim states that despise Israel; and within Israel are the Palestinians.
And the Syrian crisis is making for some strange bedfellows. Turkey’s fear of Syria is encouraging a rapprochement with Israel. Even Russia, which stands to lose its Mediterranean naval base at Tartus, is making unusual and disquieting diplomatic overtures to Israel.
Prophetically, we know that Syria will sooner or later fall into tremendous armed conflict. The prophet Isaiah predicts in the 17th chapter of his book that, overnight, Damascus will be utterly destroyed and rendered forever uninhabitable. We know that prophecy has yet to be fulfilled because Damascus is still standing today and is the world’s oldest inhabited city that has never been destroyed and rebuilt.
If nothing else, that unfulfilled prophecy alone should encourage all of us to be ready for Christ’s imminent return to rapture His Church before the awful events of the Great Tribulation begin.
And speaking of Christ’s church, it grieves me to say that I believe the “church” in America in these last days more closely resembles the church at Laodicea described by the Apostle John in Revelation 3. Jesus said that it was blind to its own failures and shortcomings and mistakenly thought it was successful because it was rich and needed nothing. Instead, Jesus said, it disgusted Him because it was “neither cold nor hot,” but “lukewarm.” And because it was lukewarm, He wanted to “spit you out of My mouth.”
Friends, as we rush headlong into the final days of the Church Age, let’s follow Christ’s own advice in the third chapter of Revelation. Humbly ask Him to make us “gold refined by fire” and provide us “white garments (His righteousness) so that you may clothe yourself” and “eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.” As never before, we believers need to be righteous and pure before God and clear-eyed to see the danger around us in these final days.
Do that today. Ask His forgiveness of your “lukewarmness.” Confess the sins you know about in your life and trust Him to forgive you (1 John 1:9). Then He’ll do more than that, He’ll cleanse you of “all unrighteousness,” which means the sins of which you are unaware, but guilty.
And if you’ve never accepted the free pardon that Jesus Christ purchased with His death on Calvary, you can do that right now, too. In fact, in Revelation 3:20, Jesus says that He stands outside the door of your heart and patiently knocks. He promises, “…if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”
As you read this, many of you “hear” Him knocking at the door of your heart. Don’t leave Him standing there. Open your heart to Jesus and, just as He promises, He will come in and fellowship with you.
Simply invite Him in. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Ask Him to become Lord of your life. Believe that He has done so and accept His free gift of pardon. Just like that, if you are sincere, you have become a part of God’s “forever family.” Now, you need not fear what waits for you after this life, you’ve just changed your destination reservation! You are bound for heaven!
Finally, now that you’ve joined God’s family, ask Him to guide you to a solid, Bible-believing church. As we near the end of this Age, the Apostle Paul warned that these would be “perilous times.” You will need the strength and encouragement that comes from fellowship with other sincere believers. And you need to continue to grow in the Word of God. So find a church or fellowship that believes, preaches, and trusts the whole Word of God, not just the “feel good” variety.
Don’t miss this week’s Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, The Word Network, various local stations, http://www.hallindsey.com or http://www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.
God Bless,
Hal Lindsey
mail: HLMM, P.O. Box 470470, Tulsa, OK 74147
email: comments@hallindsey.com
web: http://www.hallindsey.com
