Joel Rosenberg calls the Middle East the "epicenter." One Bible translation calls it the "navel (center) of the earth." While your church pulpit may not focus on it, the world's media does but they don't have their lens properly focused. Because of the silence in the church, most Christians yawn at the topic. I urge you to listen up!

Some news reports say that Iran will have "the bomb" by October 1.  OK, so you have "Iran fatigue." We've heard this news forever and by now it's just crying wolf. Actually, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk called the whole situation "crying wolf." That is a reckless way to blow off a potentially lethal scenario.

Columnist Daniel Greenfield writes that Israel will act, and before the U.S. election November 6. He states, "The liberal West has its illusions about the enemy. Israel has little room for those illusions. It will act because it is alone as few other countries on earth are. It will act because it cannot afford to be Poland, Czechoslovakia or Tibet -- sacrificed in the great game of nations. It will act because it has no real choice but to act. It will act because for it this is not a set of talking points, a diplomatic program, or a regional agenda, it is life or death. It will act, because for all its flaws, its survival is on the line."   

There are many statements that Israel can only rely on herself. In their current state of spiritual blindness, most Israelis are not willing to say that God would never allow a nuclear strike against them. And I believe He would not.

But Israel cannot be called a "cancerous tumor" much longer and be reminded that Tel Aviv will be reduced to ashes any minute without responding.  British officials say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has begun a process of 'sounding out' his voters to gauge support for airstrikes and build a case for military action.

Moving on in the region, the destruction of Syria is now in full swing. What began as a popular uprising 18 months ago is now an all-out civil war fueled by regional and global powers that threaten to engulf the entire Middle East. Reports indicate that the Syrian "rebels" are just plain old al-Qaida terrorists who are doing what they do best: Terrorize. So there isn't even a side for which we can root! It's absolute evil vs. absolute evil. And that means that absolute evil is in charge of a massive number of chemical weapons. And according to Isaiah 17, there could be an Israeli strike on Damascus at any time.

Additionally, last week Iran's ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, held its largest-ever military exercise which can only be seen as preparation for a possible imminent war between Israel and Iran.

Thanks to the White House and the State Department in the U.S., the Muslim Brotherhood is now ensconced in various parts of the Middle East. The current regime in Washington called them a "good-old boys' club" last winter. It was suggested that the Brotherhood somewhat resembled the Lutheran Brotherhood: They focused on good deeds. It was suggested that the Muslim Brotherhood was secular and anything but dangerous. Those benign, secular do-gooders in Egypt have been tormenting political opponents and Christians and crucified at least one innocent kid. The bottom line is that they are anything but a bunch of Boy Scouts.

Islamic critic Pamela Geller writes, "Egypt's President Morsi is instituting a reign of terror to consolidate power, and if Egypt is now descending into darkness, can other Mideast nations be far behind?"  

Egypt is the "King of the South" in Bible prophecy. She plays a prominent role in end-time battles which are forming alliances now.

Someone who tells the inconvenient truth as I often do is Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. She has been raising questions about possible ties between the family of Huma Abedin, a top aide of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the Muslim Brotherhood. She and a handful of others have called for an inquiry into a potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration within the Obama administration.  

One who has tackled this issue is Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor who put the blind sheik behind bars in the first World Trade Center bombing. He is the author of The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America. He believes Bachmann has been proved right in her Muslim Brotherhood inquiries.

McCarthy states, "Congresswoman Bachmann knows Washington well enough not to be holding her breath waiting for an apology. What is really stunning and demoralizing to me, though, is that only 5 members of Congress out of 535 have had the conscientiousness and courage to stand up and be counted on this.

"We have an obvious national security problem, and it goes way beyond Huma Abedin. We have several people with significant Islamist ties being consulted by our government on foreign and domestic policy, including counter-terrorism policy. We are simultaneously seeing American policy shift dramatically in a direction that favors the Muslim Brotherhood, an avowed incorrigible enemy of America and the West."  

McCarthy concludes, "Yet we can't get even one percent of our elected federal representatives to raise an eyebrow? I speak to a lot of people around the country and a lot more than one percent of them are worried about what's happening."

The Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates are being consulted on counter-terrorism policy -- to the point that our federal agencies are purging their training materials of references to Islam.

Another who has been diligently reporting on this is Walid Shoebat. Find out more info about his efforts here.

While I tend to vote for the right side of a political ticket, one can't help but wonder why this is the third Republican convention in a row to be interrupted by a hurricane! It got into gear this year just as they solidified a two-state "solution" as part of their platform last week.

Jewish Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) and AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel Jewish lobby, pushed for a "two-state" position to be included in the Republican platform. It was approved by vote last Tuesday (the day Isaac began) and is now awaiting formal approval at the Republican Convention. A Bachmann representative offered a one-state solution but Rep. Eric Cantor and AIPAC encouraged the two-state solution. The irony of ironies:  The Christians stand for Israel, while the Jewish voices prevailed with Palestinian accommodation!   

Hurricane Isaac falls on the seventh anniversary of Katrina, an event forever seared into our minds and hearts. To keep up on some incredible comparisons, sign up for White House correspondent Bill Koenig's postings and e-alerts. Find that info here. Bill is one of our speakers at "Understanding the Times 2012."  His weekly e-newsletter is essential to understand the times. 

So there you go. The pesky Middle East is just always in the way. It is always a nuisance. It is always whispering the inconvenient truth. And it's descending into darkness. 

Is anybody listening?

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Current radio programming features an interview of Wycliffe Vice President Russ Hersmann. Why is Wycliffe allowing a Muslim-friendly Bible in their translation work? Has postmodernism  now invaded missions as well as churches? Find the radio hour and an online bonus 40 minutes here.