Hear No Evil. See No Evil… 2

I won’t delve into the details of the growing scandal at the U. S. Central Command.  Others can do that better than I.  But it suffices to say intelligence analysts were pressured not to be so serious in their assessments of ISIS.

Yes, given the events of recent weeks and months, this is no trivial scandal.

And, of course, the question immediately arises: how responsible is Obama for this?  I consider it doubtful he was directly responsible.  But indirectly responsible?  Oh, yes.

I have already noted last week that Obama is not interested in intelligence on terrorism that does not fit his rosy world view.  (And sometimes my timing on posts is amazing if I say so myself.  And I do.)  It is a well known phenomenon that if an executive treats with disdain unpleasant information and those who provide it to him, then those under him will be all the more reluctant to provide him with unpleasant information, no matter how needful it may be.

Whether by intent or by the withering pressure of group think and of trying to avoid displeasing one’s superiors, Obama’s Hear No Evil, See No Evil attitude has resulted in Speak No Evil beneath him in our military intelligence.

And that, in turn, has helped enable ISIS.

Obama Administration Again Ignores Persecution of Christians

When ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and other Islamonazis massacre Christians because they are Christians, why cannot the Obama Regime bring itself to acknowledge it?

Just as they did when ISIS beheaded 22 Coptic Christians in Libya, Obama and his hacks are ignoring that the Garissa University attack by al-Shabaab systematically targeted Christians.

This repeated and willful omission by Obama and his regime is despicable and un-American to the core.

Also note that the Regime also goes to pains to label the Islamonazis as “violent extremists.”  Considering that Obama and his Brown Shirts oft label his opponents as “extremists” should send a chill down one’s spine.

In Obama’s world, Christians are never victims, and “extremists” are always the bad guys.  Note and prepare.

21 Holy Martyrs of Egypt, Pray for Us!

God’s Holy Army of Martyrs grew by 21 over the weekend at the hands of ISIS Islamonazi murderers in Libya.

Towards the end of my Morning Prayer today, I asked for the prayers of these new martyrs, Egyptian Coptic Christians, several of whom were seen praying at their execution.  And already many are asking for their prayers as well.

Indeed, those who prayed with trembling at their impending unjust execution for bearing the name of Christ now under that Holy Name pray in joy and perfect peace.

Obama-Crusade Linkfest

First, I think I owe my readers an apology.  I’ve studied medieval church history at Oxford no less and should be able to debunk Obama’s statement last week at the National Prayer Breakfast in my sleep.

But sometimes a statement that is off is wrong is so many ways that it takes a lot of time and effort to give it the thorough debunking it deserves.  I just did not feel that in me last week.

So I hoped I would come across one powerhouse article or item that would put Obama in his place and do the hard work for me.  But I just did not find it although this tweet comes very close:

Mr. President, the Medieval Christian threat is under control. Please deal with the radical Islamic threat today. http://t.co/YI7Ck4qW7r
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) February 6, 2015

But I did come across a very good collection of links and excerpts late in the week.  So I commend these to you.

And here is a 2009 book review at First Things that is more relevant than ever.

And I hope I will be better prepared the next time the Crusades are dredged up and twisted to excuse Islamist evil.

ISIS Helpfully Provides a Christian Military Illustration

No, I am not kidding about the headline.  No, I am not off my rocker . . . at least I do not think I am.  But, anyway, I read the following about ISIS, and a light bulb turned on inside my head.

ISIS leaders select foreign jihadists for suicide missions because they usually arrive in Syria with little or no battlefield experience and so have no military value.

According to one ISIS insider who fled the group, special training camps have been set up inside Syria which filter out foreigners with no military experience and prepare them for suicide operations. 

A security source who works with British Muslim communities on combating extremism told MailOnline that he had been made aware of a number of British fighters who had been unprepared for the reality of Syria: 

'The problem is that young British Muslims who go over to Syria thinking they will be treated like equal brothers by IS find out very quickly that they are being told to strap on suicide vets and prepare for Jannah [heaven]....it's hardly surprising that they have cold feet about these missions.'

One can imagine.  And indeed defections among those appointed to die are something of a problem for ISIS.

A source from inside Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State in Syria, told Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently [an anti-ISIS group] that ISIS has set up road blocks and imposed strict security checks to stop suicide bombers abandoning their missions.

Summary execution awaits those who are caught.

I read this and almost immediately thought – is this not like joining Satan’s brigades?

Satan promises worldly glory.  Indeed, that is exactly what that fraud offered to Jesus as he fasted in the wilderness.  (Matthew 4: 8, 9)  He still offers worldly glamour as ISIS promises the glamour of fighting for a revolutionary cause . . . or is that a devolutionary cause?

And both Satan and ISIS promise rewards after this life as well. Satan fools people into thinking Hell is just a big party with the fun crowd. ISIS fools people into thinking suicide bombing results in 70 virgins.

Speaking of false advertising, both Satan and ISIS fool recruits into thinking they will be treated well, like “brothers.”  But once the recruits are in and enrolled, they are not treated well as all.  Their treatment is instead, well, Hellish.  That is how Evil operates.

And neither Satan nor ISIS like defectors either and will stop them and kill them if they can.

The armies of evil attract the foolish with marked success.  But the end results for the fools are not so attractive.

There is a way that seems right to a man,

                  but its end is the way to death.

                  Proverbs 14:12 ESV

Thanks be to God there is a better army to join.  But that will have to wait for another post.

200

The Massacre of Kobane by ISIS is well underway (And I must warn that the article at the link is difficult reading.), and the Massacre of Baghdad may be coming.

And Obama’s negligence in preventing the ISIS slaughter is close to unforgivable.  First, against sage advice and requests from Iraq, he refused to leave a remnant U. S. force in Iraq.  Then he was slow to respond to ISIS, calling it “Jayvee” even after warnings it was far more dangerous than that.  Then he was very slow, at best, in arming our best allies in the region, the Kurds.

Under Obama, it is far better to be an enemy of the United States than a friend.

Then, when Obama finally, for political reasons, decided to approve air strikes against ISIS, they were underwhelming and ineffective, doing virtually nothing to stop the advance of those butchers.

And now what does Obama do while the Kurdish city of Kobane is paying the price in blood for his negligence?  While the Massacre of Kobane is in progress?

He plays the 200th round of golf of his presidency.

It’s not funny anymore.

The JV President – Reminders Before Tonight’s Speech

An election is near; Democrats are on the ropes; Obama’s numbers are punk and perhaps sinking; bombing ISIS polls well; and did I mention an election is near?  It does not take a political scientist to predict what Obama will do in tonight’s speech.  He will beat the war drums against ISIS.  He knows ISIS is rightly hated, and that Americans tend to rally around their president against a hated enemy.  And Obama and Democrats need all the political help they can get right about now.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think we should bomb ISIS to Hell.  But we should also remember Obama’s past negligence concerning ISIS.  So I present some brief reminders.

Obama was warned a year ago that ISIS was a serious threat.  His response?

…The president chose not to act, the source said. Nor did he request additional information on activities of ISIS including in his daily briefing.

And since then (until recent days), he has done little except deride them as “JayVee”.

Obama will surely try to distract from that.  He has already lied about that.  But he has already failed concerning ISIS.  And we would be foolish to forget that.

The Archbishop of ACNA on ISIS Genocide

Over the weekend, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, Foley Beach, issued an excellent statement about ISIS genocide against Christians.  I will let his statement speak for itself.  But I particularly appreciate his calling out government and media leaders on their looking the other way:

As Christians in the West, it is appalling how most of our government leaders and the secular press have been silent.  It is a genocide and humanitarian crisis of the likes we have not seen since WWII.  We must not be silent!

I am also thankful that we have an Archbishop who is not afraid of straight talk about the predations of Islamonazis.

His statement in full follows.

Greetings in the Name our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  May God grant you the abundance of His Grace as you follow Him day by day!

If you have been paying attention to what is happening in the Middle East in recent months, you will note that those who are Christians are being brutally murdered, women and girls raped and forced into marriage, experiencing all kinds of torture, and hundreds of thousands have been forced out of their homes and countries.  We are seeing communities who date to the 1st Century with their Christian presence being totally annihilated and killed.  Historic churches, holy sites, and tombs are being completely destroyed - all in the name of Allah.

In Syria many of our brothers and sisters are engulfed by an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Areas of Aleppo that are home to around 400,000 Christians have been besieged and surrounded by the rebels for months. Many Christians have become malnourished owing to shortages and skyrocketing prices of food and other essentials. Access to water, electricity and communications is very limited.  Hundreds of thousands of other Syrians have fled to Jordan where they are living in poverty and confined in tent cities and cardboard homes.

In Iraq hundreds of thousands of believers have fled their homes, reducing the Christian population to a quarter of the size it was in 1990. Many took refuge in Syria or Lebanon, while others are internally displaced in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, which once provided relative peace and stability. But Iraqi Christian refugees are no longer safe in Syria, as anti-Christian violence threatens all Christians in the country, while Iraqi Kurdistan is now also seeing escalating tensions; Christians also struggle to find work to support themselves there.  Recent events in Mosul have seen the city's Christian population totally exterminated by murder or the evacuation of Christians.  Pictures of heads of Christians hanging from telephone wires, crucifixions, and other acts of brutality are heart-wrenching.

This brutality is being led by a group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).  Their goal is to reinstate the Islamic caliphate and rule the whole of the Middle East and eventually the world by Sharia Law. Their tactics are pure evil, and they will stop at nothing to accomplish their purposes.

I am writing asking you to do several things.  As Christians in the West, it is appalling how most of our government leaders and the secular press have been silent.  It is a genocide and humanitarian crisis of the likes we have not seen since WWII.  We must not be silent!

1) Would you join me in prayer for our sisters and brothers?  Would you in your personal prayers and in the Prayers of the People pray for those being persecuted, those doing the persecuting, and for a solution?  Would you pour out your heart in prayer and fasting before God on their behalf? See attached prayers.

2) Would you call or write your government representatives and ask them to do something to help the situation?  They will not attempt to help if they don't think you care.  Right now, they don't think you care.

3) The following ministries are engaged in helping refugees. Please offer them your prayers and support.

•             Barnabas Fund -- "The mission of the Barnabas Fund is to support Christians where they are in a minority and suffer discrimination, oppression and persecution as a consequence of their faith."

•             Voice of Ishmael (via Commission to Every Nation) -- Bringing hope that changes communities in the Middle East and North Africa.

•             Christ Church Jerusalem - Ministering to Refuges of the Crisis. Please write "Iraqi refugees" in the memo line.

Please join me in interceding on behalf of our Christian sisters and brothers.

Your brother at the Foot of the Cross,

The Most Rev. Foley Beach

Archbishop and Primate

Anglican Church in North America

Sample Prayers

Heavenly Father, we bring before you today the people of Syria and Iraq, asking you to be their defender and help in their time of need. Walk with them in their suffering and loss, and give them strength to face the days ahead.  We pray for release of the captives and freedom for those held hostage.  We pray for your intervention against the violence and evil against your people. We pray for your provision for the hungry, the homeless, and the bereaved. We pray for you to help your people who are called by your Name, Jesus' Name, and it is in His Name we ask these things.  Amen.

From the Book of Common Prayer:

O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth: deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Edited from the Book of Common Prayer:

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you, especially in Syria and Iraq; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Letter of ISIS Genocide

Along with many others, I have changed my twitter account icon to this symbol, the Arabic letter nun.  I’ll let Rorate Caeli (who may have begun this suddenly viral practice) explain its significance:

Nun, the 14th letter of the Arabic alphabet (the equivalent of letter N in our Roman alphabet), is the first letter of the word Nasara (Nazarenes), the way Muslims have called Christians since the beginning of their invasion of the Christian world in the 7th century -- Christians under Muslim rule never called themselves thus, since the intent of Muslims was to portray Christians as a contemptible and disobedient sect.

In their genocidal physical elimination of Christians from the Mesopotamian city of Mosul, Muslim terrorists marked each Christian-owned institution and building with this letter, for the extermination of holdouts and expropriation of their belongings.

And Rorate Caeli’s post contains photographs of said markings.

My thoughts and prayers have particularly been with Christians driven from their homes by ISIS Islamonazis.  And as St. Paul wrote, if one of us suffers, we all suffer.  Hence my modest decision to join those taking upon ourselves that letter of anti-Christian genocide.

The collect for this week, of the Fifth Sunday after Trinity, has struck me as particularly timely during this awful period of anti-Christian persecution in the Middle East.

GRANT, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.