Weekly Roundup for December 10, 2021
This is a roundup of news stories and conversations I found interesting this week. I provide some brief commentary to help view current events from a biblical worldview perspective.
Weakness Leads to War: The U.S. Military in Peace Time. On Tuesday of this week, we remembered the 80th anniversary of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. This prompted some thoughts about the combat soldiers in times of peace. We are watching in amazement as the U.S. Military focuses on woke politics more than combat preparedness. The author G. Michael Hopf famously wrote, "Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times." We are in a time of military weakness right now that, if history rhymes, will lead us into hard times. The military is made for combat, and when we are in times of peace, there is a sifting of the ranks. Warriors are replaced by politicians. We saw this in the early stages following the United States' entry into World War II. The first year of the war, 1942, was a time of sifting as soft, weak officers who thrived in peacetime politics were replaced by warriors. Men like Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and Gen. Walter Short, who were in charge of U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, were relieved of their command and replaced by more capable warrior leaders like Chester Nimitz and William "Bull" Halsey. The reality is, stone-cold warriors do not thrive in a peace time military. The challenge for the United States is to survive a first strike from a determined enemy long enough for the warriors to get into positions where they can fight the battle.
In a Post-truth World, Two Realities Exist. We see evidence all around us that the political divisions in America see two different realities. This is the result of the death of truth and the fact that it is permissible, even encouraged, for everyone to do what is right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25). Another current example is posted by The Los Angeles Times following the guilty verdict for actor Jussie Smollett. The Times notes that the organization Black Lives Matter stated, "In our commitment to abolition, we can never believe police, especially the Chicago Police Department (CPD) over Jussie Smollett, a Black man who has been courageously present, visible, and vocal in the struggle for Black freedom. Black Lives Matter will continue to work towards the abolition of police and every unjust system. We will continue to love and protect one another, and wrap our arms around those who do the work to usher in Black freedom and, by extension, freedom for everyone else.” So, if I am interpreting this correctly, BLM is saying, "justice is what we say justice is." Put another way, reality is what we believe to be true.
Life in America before and after the Trump “Peace to Prosperity” plan was delivered on January 28, 2020. Few would argue that 2020 and 2021 have been two of the most tumultuous years in this generation. Bill Koenig, a White House correspondent for more than 25 years and publisher of the weekly newsletter, Koenig's Eye View, published an extensive look at what he believes was the pivot point for America and the global community--January 28, 2020. This article, published in April 2020, looks at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the weeks following January 28. Why is January 28 the date to focus on? It was on this day that President Trump introduced his "Peace to Prosperity" plan for Israel and Palestine that included a map of a divided Israel. Bill Koenig recorded an interview on Dec. 8, 2021, talking about the importance of January 28, 2020, and providing some updated context. The interview is approximately 20 minutes long and worth the listen.
And Then the End Will Come: An Interview with Douglas Cobb. A new book published in April 2021, And Then the End Will Come: The Completion of the Great Commission and Nine other Clues That Jesus is Coming Soon, by Douglas Cobb takes a fresh look a the end-times prophetic timeline from a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial perspective. Cobb went on The Steve Deace Show for an extended conversation about the times and the season in which we live and how he believes what we are seeing in the world today fits within biblical prophecy. Both the book and the interview are recommended.
The FBI and Illegal Surveillance of Americans. I am currently reading Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires by Selwyn Raab. It never ceases to amaze me how history rhymes. Describing the history of the American Mafia, Raab focuses for a chapter on the FBI's illegal surveillance of Mafia members at all levels during the 1960s. What amazes me is we are often surprised to hear the government is listening in on our conversations when their illegal wiretaps are a part of documented history. The FBI couldn't do anything legally with the information they gathered via illegal wiretaps because it was inadmissible in court, but they did find ways of using the information. For example, the government would arrest a low-level member of a Mafia family and threaten him with extensive prison time if he didn't cooperate. Once the suspect agreed to cooperate, the FBI would feed the witness information received from its illegal wiretaps so it could be entered into court against a higher up in the family. No one in the legal system seemed to question how such an unimportant, low-level soldier in a crime family would be privy to such high-level information. Still, it was entered as evidence in court. An important side-note: it was not until Robert F. Kennedy became Attorney General in 1961 that the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover even acknowledged the existence of organized crime in America. Hoover the concept of a "Mafia" was a myth or conspiracy theory.
