More on the Bog Find in Ireland

The Irish Times: A find of "staggering importance."

Full article here.

Astonishing Archeological Find--A Message from God?

Okay, this made the hair on my arms stand on end and cued the Twilight Zone theme music in my head.

I saw a link on Drudge to a news report about an ancient book of Psalms being discovered last week in a bog in Ireland. This 20 page book is from 1000 to 1200 years old.

The archeologist quoted in the article described its preservation and discovery as "a miracle."

Here's the really interesting part. . .

When the book was discovered (the same week that open war broke out in Israel), it was open to a page containing commentary on the 83rd Psalm. "What is the subject matter of Psalm 83?," you may be wondering.

It describes a conspiricy of Middle Eastern nations to wipe out the name of Israel.

It says, in part:
O God, do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still. For, behold, Thine enemies make an uproar; And those who hate Thee have exalted themselves.

They have become a help to the children of Lot. Selah.

This Psalm becomes even more mind-blowingly relevant to the current conflict when you translate that list of ancient nations to modern-day geography. . .

The Tents of Edom— The Edomite kingdom sat on Israel's southern border, in modern-day Jordan and far-Northwestern Saudi Arabia.

Ishmaelites—Various Arab tribes.

Moab—Southern Jordan.

Hagrites—Arabian tribe.

Gebal—Modern-day Jbeil, a Phoenician city 20 miles north of Beirut, Lebanon.

Ammon—Jordan (Jordan, to its credit, is currently on the sidelines in the current conflict but there are elements of the Jordanian population whe are very much connected to Hezbollah.)

Amalek—A tribe in the area of modern-day Jordan.

Philistia--The Gaza Strip (terrorist militants in the Gaza strip got this whole thing started with the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.)

The Inhabitants of Tyre—Modern-day "Sur" a major Hezbollah stronghold which has come under intense Israeli attack.

"Assyria also has joined them..."—A kingdom that included modern-day Syria and Iraq.

I have not been able to determine the precise date the Psalm book was discovered, but it was very close to, if not on, the day hostilities began. How very interesting.

Profound Insight (as usual) From Mark Steyn

Here....

Excerpt:
"In one of the most admirably straightforward of Islamist declarations, Hussein Massawi, the Hezbollah leader behind the slaughter of U.S. and French forces 20 years ago, put it this way:

'We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you.'

Swell. But, suppose he got his way, what then? Suppose every last Jew in Israel were dead or fled, what would rise in place of the Zionist Entity? It would be something like the Hamas-Hezbollah terror squats in Gaza and Lebanon writ large. Hamas won a landslide in the Palestinian elections, and Hezbollah similarly won formal control of key Lebanese Cabinet ministries. But they're not Mussolini: They have no interest in making the trains run on time. And to be honest, who can blame them? If you're a big-time terrorist mastermind, it's frankly a bit of a bore to find yourself Deputy Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Pensions, particularly when you're no good at it and no matter how lavishly the European Union throws money at you there never seems to be any in the kitty when it comes to making payroll. So, like a business that's over-diversified, both Hamas and Hezbollah retreated to their core activity: Jew-killing."

More on the Plight of Lebanese Christians...

...here.

Excerpt:
"During the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990, devout Christian residents in Zahle successfully repelled Syrians who sought to occupy the town. At the time, the Israelis were major supporters of the Christians.

Unlike Hezbollah, there is no Christian militia that can take on the Shiite terrorist organization. "They watch TV, too," one Christian Lebanese man living in the United States said, referring to Hezbollah. "If they see you criticizing them, they will kill you."

Christian Lebanese sources for this story asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution against family members who remain in Lebanon. One source said remarks by Cardinal Sfeir, who is visiting the U.S, may have prompted Hezbollah to retaliate by setting up Christians as a target of Israeli bombing."

Me: It's an immensely complicated situation, obviously. As my Christian friend in Lebanon indicated in an email, Hezbollah famiiles are now taking refuge in Christian areas. And the article above indicates that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists may actually be routing supplies through Christian neighborhoods.

This puts the Israelis into an agonizingly difficult position.

Caught in the Crossfire

Amidst all the coverage of the war between Israel and Hezbollah it is easy to forget about an important and precious group of people--the Christians of Lebanon.

I just received an email from my friend, George El Khoury, a wonderful man of God who left the banking industry in Europe to return to his native Lebanon and launch an Arabic language Christian television network--Spirit TV.

Things are very tough for Lebanon's evangelical believers right now. George writes:

"Despite the increasing challenges, at a time when we are under staffed, under pressure, electricity and telephones partially working, fuel diminishing, prices increasing, economy collapsing, bombs, fires…refugees flooding…

We are determined more than ever to remain a voice shouting in the Middle-East proclaiming the Salvation that comes through Jesus Christ the only Lord and Savior."

In fact, George, his family, staff and fellow believers are endeavoring to minister to the flood of mostly Shiite refugees that are flooding into the Christian areas of Lebanon. They are offering both humanitarian aid as well as the love and grace of the Jesus that lives within them.

They are reputable and Spirit-led. And they are accepting donations here. (I gave and it felt good to actually do something Kingdom-oriented instead of staring helplessly at the news reports.)

World War IV?

It's getting a little wild out there. Obviously. On Meet the Press this morning, Newt Gingrich declared that World War III is underway. Others argue, persuasively I think, that it is actually World War IV that began with the 9/11 attacks.

Norman Podhoretz made that case powerfully in an article two whole years ago. It's worth reading. Have a look.

"...of making many books there is no end..." Ecc. 12:12

I come to you live from what is still widely known as the Christian Booksellers Association Convention in Denver, though it is now officially named "The International Christian Retail Show," and I, for verbal economy's sake, simply call "The Spectacle."

As in previous years, I am stupified by the sheer numbers of Christian publishers producing thousands of new titles--all chasing a finite and shrinking pool of readers.

Three years ago, everyone was hoping to produce the next Prayer of Jabez. Two years ago every publisher prayed to have the next Purpose Driven Life. This year, there seem to be a lot of imitators of The Power of a Praying Wife.

The brutal fact is, publishers have no way of knowing what author/book/topic combination is going to be the one to catch fire and become a runaway bestseller in the coming year. This vexes them sorely.

More reports to come.

Our Enlightened Masters—The Press

A great column from NRO's Jonah Goldberg on NYT/LAT intellgence leaks.

A tidbit:

"According to America’s leading journalists, the United States government cannot run clandestine operations. Indeed, it cannot keep secrets or do anything in secret — if the press thinks “the people” should know about it. I put “the people” in quotation marks because for the press, it seems, “the people” are an abstraction. It needn’t matter that the public understands some things should be kept secret; the press will tell them for their own good. And if the people complain, well, that means they’re a bunch of yahoos and yokels who don’t understand what a free press is for. Or, if the people are angry, it’s solely because cynical conservative partisans in Washington are pulling their strings in a ploy to change the subject from their own failures."

If Today's Journalists Lived Back Then...

(Courtesy of Les Baitzer via PowerLineBlog)