Tuesday.....International.....Demonstrations

Two cities had mass demonstrations of hundreds of thousands within the past week. In Tehran, they demonstrated against the presidential election results. In Pittsburgh, it was a demonstration of fan support for their hockey team. One may result in a revolution while the other just provided a lot of overtime for the city municipal services. I participated in two demonstrations in my life. One was the first Steeler Super Bowl victory and the other was a candle light gathering of about 10,000 Christians, silently walking down Forbes Avenue in Oakland, past the Kings Court Theater which was showing The Last Temptation Of Christ. Of the two cities that I mentioned, one is in danger of war and the other is in danger of ignoring even the possibility of war. The situation in Tehran is ominous. If Ahmadinejad retains his position, Israel will most likely wind up attempting to destroy their nuclear capabilities. The difference now is that a large percentage of their population may not be as incensed as they would have been previous to the election. If Mousavi eventually takes over, it will be harder to present him as dangerous as Ahmadinejad with the same nuclear weapon capabilities even though the potential use or sale of them to terrorists would still exist. Scripture states through Daniel's mouth that (God) changes times and seasons, He removes kings and sets up kings, He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. We make plans and we devise strategies to benefit our nation and our people but there is no guarantee that strategies that succeed will benefit or that plans that fail will cause harm. We are headed towards Socialism in the United States and when this becomes clear in its implications, the next demonstration of hundreds of thousands in Pittsburgh may be against our own government. A wiser course than demonstrations, even the one over Martin Scorsese's film, would be introspection. For the individual or the nation, few are blameless. For me personally, I bear responsibility for failures in my life, failures as a citizen contributing to our problems, even failures in my Christian walk in trying to undo the harm already caused. There is nothing to be gained in trying times, whether they be of a personal nature, national, economic or corporate without first seeking God's mercy through repentance and humility.