The Turmoil In The Middle East

[John81]

The Turmoil In The Middle East
Posted on Friday, January 28, 2011 at 09:15PM

Westerners are looking at what is happening on the Egyptian streets and wondering if it is good for an oppressed people to protest against a semi-dictatorial regime. Most of these young protesters cannot find jobs, and inflation has ravaged the middle class, to say nothing of the gulf between the very rich and the very poor.

On the surface, this is an understandable situation. But before you judge the motives of the protestors, you must know who is really behind those young people on the streets. The Muslim Brotherhood has been thirsting for power in Egypt for many, many years. Founded back in the 1920s, the aim of the Muslim Brotherhood was to topple the British rule and its puppet Egyptian government. Their goal then was to draw Egypt back into their militant-Islam, Sharia-following, anti-western, anti-Christian fold.

In the early 50 s, the Brotherhood cooperated with Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser and his Free Officers revolution, thinking that they could use him to fulfill their ambitions. But Nasser outwitted them and instead used them to fulfill his personal ambitions. Once he came into power, he threw them into prison. And in prison they stayed until 1971 when Nasser died and his successor Anwar Al Sadat, who was more sympathetic with their Islamic thinking than Nasser was, released them.

The irony is that, in 1981 the same Islamic militants to whom Sadat gave freedom were the very people who riddled his body with bullets on that fateful day of October 6th. His deputy Hosni Mubarak immediately took the reins and, for the past 30 years, he has tried to learn from the mistakes of both of his predecessors, Nasser and Sadat. One had imprisoned the Islamic militants, and the other had set them free. Mubarak faulted between doing one or the other, and walking that tightrope bought him time (30 years). But, as someone once said, When you stand in the middle of the road, you can be hit from either side.

Islam and Democracy

In America today, those on the left and some on the right who have very little knowledge or understanding of the ethos of Islam and why democracy and Islam could never coexist, are making very naive and silly statements. While we in the West believe that we the people empower government to act on our behalf, Islam believes that the power comes from Allah directly to his prophet and the successors to his prophet the Caliphs who then reinforce Allah s Sharia (law). Talking about democracy and elections to Islamists would be less effective than whistling Dixie.

However, clever Islamists use these words like democracy and election as means to topple secular regimes. And once they take over the reins of power, democracy takes on another meaning, namely killing your opponents. You don t believe me?

In 1979 in Iran, when the demonstrators (many of whom were not Islamists) toppled the government and the Shah left the country, Khomeini used secular minded Muslim Iranians such as Abulhassan Bani Sader and others to his benefit. But once he got established, he killed every one of those freedom-loving, democracy-seeking secular Iranian intelligentsia, thus tightening the Islamic noose around Iran, which is still there today.

In the middle of the 2000s, President George W. Bush pressured the Palestinians to have free and fair elections. It happened. Hamas won the election and took power. And the moment they came to power, they began to kill their opponents so that another election would not take place until they were finally pushed out of the West Bank into the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Look at what is happening in Gaza today and you will have a very good idea of what could happen in Egypt if Hamas s friends and allies, the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt come to power. It will not only spell disaster to the west and to Israel, but also to the Christians and the secular-minded Muslims. Sadly, the naivet of the Obama administration may help bring about this disaster sooner than anyone could have imagined.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/

[Guest]

I'm not going to worry about this.

Daniel 2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

[John81]

No doubt, God is in control. It's just good to see things for how they are rather than how the lying media portrays things or how our leaders may want us to view them.

[John81]

As massive protests in Egypt enter their sixth day, we are growing increasingly concerned.

We fear that we may have seen this movie before. When similar protests erupted in Iran in 1979, they were likewise led by middle class merchants and professionals. Yet radical Islamists led by the Ayatollah Khomeini were the ones who ultimately seized control. Iran changed from a strong ally of the United States and Israel to a violent enemy of both. The people of Iran have been subjected to a tyranny too absolute and violent to overthrow.

The same tragedy could unfold in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood – the radical organization which gave birth to both Al Qaeda and Hamas -- is among the largest opposition forces in Egypt. If radical Islamists seize control of Egypt, America would lose an ally, and Israel would see its peaceful border with Egypt turned into yet another front of war and conflict. The Egyptian people would be saddled with a tyranny that could make the present regime seem benign by comparison.

We therefore ask today for your urgent prayers. We ask that you pray for the people of Egypt, that they will remain safe during this turbulent time and emerge with greater freedoms than ever before. And we ask that you pray for Israel. Let us seek God’s intervention to ensure that whoever wins this power struggle in Egypt will honor the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, not rip it up and open a new front of war. Let us pray that somehow this unrest will multiply peace and not unleash greater violence.

But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice:
let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them:
let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. Psalm 5:11



5And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion,
and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day,and the shining of a flaming fire by night:
for upon all the glory shall be a defense. Isaiah 4:5

Christians United for Israel

[Covenanter]

Egypt, Tunisia and the Youth Revolt in the Middle East

Davos, Switzerland -- Young people are upending the Middle East. They have both the numbers (approximately two-thirds of the Middle East is under 30) and the facility with the tools of 21st Century revolution (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) to do so.

It was young people shouting "death to the dictator" from rooftops in Iran in 2009. It was young people who chased Ben Ami out of Tunisia. It is young people who are braving tear gas and rubber bullets in Egypt. The threats keep coming, but they keep going -- and the whole thing is just getting bigger and spreading wider.
.............
What we are seeing now in the Middle East is a generation of young people who learned how to love themselves, believe in themselves, change themselves.

And now they are changing the world.

This piece was originally published on the Washington Post "Faith Divide."

The young have too often been treated as 'cannon fodder' by a nation's governments, by clerics & by insurgents. Let us pray that the reasoning expressed in this article will triumph. People should be allowed to get on with life - living, working, raising a family, without being oppressed by other people's agendas & power complexes.

And, of course, allowed to believe & change their belief, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

[John81]

Egypt, Tunisia and the Youth Revolt in the Middle East



The Muslim Brotherhood and others are attempting to use these for their own purposes. Only time will tell if they succeed but one thing is certain; if Egypt were to become "too open" in the view of many Muslims, there would be great effort put forth against Egypt until they become more radical.

In the end, only the transforming power of Christ can bring about true, positive change.
The young have too often been treated as 'cannon fodder' by a nation's governments, by clerics & by insurgents. Let us pray that the reasoning expressed in this article will triumph. People should be allowed to get on with life - living, working, raising a family, without being oppressed by other people's agendas & power complexes.

And, of course, allowed to believe & change their belief, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

[Wilchbla]

Those people need to be oppressed. The best thing is for a dictator to rule them with an iron fist. Why? Because what the "people" want in Egypt is another radical Islamic theocracy. Even Israel is concerned that Mubarak will be toppled because he is their only friend in theregion. Americans need to quit this thinking that these people over there want a democratic government that resembles ours. They don't. Watch Iran annex a willing Iraq as soon as we pull out.

[Wilchbla]

Egypt, Tunisia and the Youth Revolt in the Middle East


The young have too often been treated as 'cannon fodder' by a nation's governments, by clerics & by insurgents. Let us pray that the reasoning expressed in this article will triumph. People should be allowed to get on with life - living, working, raising a family, without being oppressed by other people's agendas & power complexes.

And, of course, allowed to believe & change their belief, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The "young people" supposedly wanted democracy in Iraq also. This was the bull fed to Bush and he swallowed it. The future will tell that all we have done in the Middle East is help establish radical Islamic theocracies.

[JerryNumbers]

The "young people" supposedly wanted democracy in Iraq also. This was the bull fed to Bush and he swallowed it. The future will tell that all we have done in the Middle East is help establish radical Islamic theocracies.

It seems in the end the governments we, United States, meddles with come out worse in the end.

[John81]

It seems in the end the governments we, United States, meddles with come out worse in the end.

America supported the unpopular dictatorial Shah of Iran which eventually led to an Islamic revolution and Iran becoming very anti-American and anti-Israel.

America supported Saddam Hussein when they thought it served their needs and then just as quickly turned on him after giving him the green light to invade Kuwait.

America supported Ben Ladden and other radical Muslims in Afghanistan when they were fighting the Russians only to see many of the weapons they supplied them come to be used against American troops later.

America has supported Mubarak in Egypt until now when protests become large and now wants to tell him he has to step down and do what the people says.

America supports the royalty in Saudi Arabia though they are not very popular with much of the population and they send tens of millions of dollars worth of actual money and materials to radical Muslims in America and elsewhere.

We could go on and on with this around the world and cover decade after decade.

Is it any wonder around the world people think America, and Americans, are prideful, busy bodies and untrusthworthy?

American foreign policy is based upon no sure foundation and is therefore fickle and unstable.

The world views America as a hypocritical nation as they tell other nations they must heed the whims of the people in the streets yet the American government downplays and ignores things like all the Tea Party gatherings and huge Pro-Life marches. The American government demands all others stay out of internal affairs yet the same American government tries to tell other nations what to do in their internal affairs.

Scripture tells us the nations are wicked, led by the prince of the power of the air, and will one day face judgement. Even so, for some reason, there are may professing Christians who seem to think the American government is somehow above other governments though they are all so much alike.

[JerryNumbers]

America supported the unpopular dictatorial Shah of Iran which eventually led to an Islamic revolution and Iran becoming very anti-American and anti-Israel.

America supported Saddam Hussein when they thought it served their needs and then just as quickly turned on him after giving him the green light to invade Kuwait.

America supported Ben Ladden and other radical Muslims in Afghanistan when they were fighting the Russians only to see many of the weapons they supplied them come to be used against American troops later.

America has supported Mubarak in Egypt until now when protests become large and now wants to tell him he has to step down and do what the people says.

America supports the royalty in Saudi Arabia though they are not very popular with much of the population and they send tens of millions of dollars worth of actual money and materials to radical Muslims in America and elsewhere.

We could go on and on with this around the world and cover decade after decade.

Is it any wonder around the world people think America, and Americans, are prideful, busy bodies and untrusthworthy?

American foreign policy is based upon no sure foundation and is therefore fickle and unstable.

The world views America as a hypocritical nation as they tell other nations they must heed the whims of the people in the streets yet the American government downplays and ignores things like all the Tea Party gatherings and huge Pro-Life marches. The American government demands all others stay out of internal affairs yet the same American government tries to tell other nations what to do in their internal affairs.

Scripture tells us the nations are wicked, led by the prince of the power of the air, and will one day face judgement. Even so, for some reason, there are may professing Christians who seem to think the American government is somehow above other governments though they are all so much alike.

So true, yet like you say, many there be that act as if this United States is not included.

If, & its seems it likely will, Egypt falls, it will be very bad days ahead for Israel.

[Invicta]

Although there were many religious muslims praying in the square on Tuesday, there were many maor non religious standing around at the rear and Coptic Christians were also taking part. There was a piture of a Copt and a Muslim hugging each other. The reporter wondered if they would still be friends if Mubarrak went.

[John81]

Although there were many religious muslims praying in the square on Tuesday, there were many maor non religious standing around at the rear and Coptic Christians were also taking part. There was a piture of a Copt and a Muslim hugging each other. The reporter wondered if they would still be friends if Mubarrak went.

Remember the Arab proverb stating that an enemy of my enemy is my friend. They do hold to this.

What is less talked about is that when they no longer share a common enemy they typically go right back to being enemies of one another again.

[Pastor Matt]

I'm pretty sure it is Bush's fault.

[John81]

I'm pretty sure it is Bush's fault.

Give 'em time, they'll try to pull that rabbit back out of their hat!

Were this happening a year ago they likely would have already made such a claim!