Bridge of Grace

Some of the modern Bible critics claim that the Old Testament of the Bible endorsed the practice of slavery, a practice that is considered a great evil in our world.  However, I found this to be a bit problematic.  Why would the Old Testament Book of Exodus's central theme was about God delivering the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt then turn around and endorse slavery?  In order to understand this you have to examine both the Old Testament the the world around us.   In his book Race and Culture,  African-American Scholar Thomas Sowell correctly points out that every major world culture until the modern period had slavery, no exception.  At times slavery was tied to military conquest.  Ancient Rome for example, enslaved untold thousands from lands that they conquered, and those enslaved were of various cultures and backgrounds.  Slavery also served as an economic function.  In ancient times, there was no such thing as "Bankruptcy Laws."  As a result, people who

Under the Iranian regime, nobody is safe from persecution.  Between 1980-1988 at least 20,000-30,000 people have been murdered by the regime.  Religious minorities throughout the region have the boot of the regime on their necks.  Nobody is safe, whether they're Baha'i, Sunni Islam, Christian, Sufi Islam, Atheist, or Shiite dissidents.  People of all walks of life, whether there were of a minority faith, journalists, bloggers, teachers, human rihts activists, environmentalists, even Nobel Prize Winners have faced loss of jobs, denied admission to universities, unjust imprisonment, torture, and death at the hands of the Iranian regime.     There are many stories of persecution in Iran that have been told, but many others have not.  Here, I will tell some of what's been going on, much of which has been ignored by both the International Community and Mainstream Media.   Christians: Christianity is heavily persecuted in Iran.  While it is estimated that there are between

Dr. Hormoz Shariat Six years ago I had the privilege to meet Dr. Hormoz Shariat, the founder of "Iran Alive Ministries."  Dr. Shariat fled from Iran to escape the 1979 Revolution, settling in America.  The radicals who seized the nation soon began to teach their people that the United States was the "Great Satan."  They have indoctrinated their people into believing this every since.  In 1980, Dr, Shariat converted to Christianity and his ministry through church planting and satellite broadcasts, believing that the best way to fight the regime was with the love of God.   Over the years his ministry has reached millions of people all over the world, earning him the title of "The Billy Graham of Iran."  Dr. Shariat's work has cost him dearly.  His younger brother, who was unable to escape Iran, was arrested at the age of 16 on minor political charges.  Two years later, he was executed by firing squad, and their mother was forced to pay the cost for

Many are familiar with the terrorist attack on Benghazi which killed the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stephens, but many are not as familiar with what the Obama Administration was doing before this attack.  Prior to this terrorist attack, the Obama Administration had secretly been sending arms to Libya for the primary purpose that the weapons would be used by Syrian rebels against Assad and aid rebels against Gaddafi as well.  However, the  Libyan rebels we supported against Gaddafi in Libya were linked to al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.  This destabilized the whole region, devastated the economy, and allowed the empowering of terrorists in the region.  Various news sources such as the New York Times revealed that many weapons sent over fell into the hands of Jihadists in the region.   The policy in Libya proved to be a disaster, and Obama's policy in Syria proved to be equally self-defeating.  The arms sent from the U.S., to Benghazi, to Syria, were given to

Philip Haney was a Founding Member of Department of Homeland Security (DHS), joining the organization in 2003.  For six years he tracked suspected Jihadist supporters in our nation, people with known ties to terrorist organizations abroad.  Mr. Haney tried to live by the motto:  "See Something, Say Something.”  However, by the year 2009, he was ordered by the DHS Office to purge the records of all Muslims with ties to terrorism.  This reflected Obama's drastic change to the "War on Terror."  Within months of taking office, Obama ordered that the words "Muslim," "Islam," and "Jihad" be removed from all counter-terrorism manuals.  It was demanded that Al-Qaeda now be referred to as an "illegitimate political organization" and over 800 records were purged.  Astonishingly, this order came a little one year after the Holy Land Foundation Trial, the largest terror trial in U.S. history.   Philip Haney learned, along with others

When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, there are many who follow a policy of what is called "selective outrage."  Opponents of Israel often express outrage when Israel kills Palestinians Arabs in an effort to protect their nation from terrorism.  The Gaza border incident in the summer of 2018 is one such example.  Many vilified Israel for killing 62 Gazans, but they neglected to note that this was not Israeli soldiers firing on peaceful protesters.  These were thousands of people armed with guns, knives, and Molotov cocktails who attacked the Israeli border with full intention of killing people.  Nobody would call that a "peaceful protest" and any other nation in the world would have responded accordingly.  The opponents of Israel also ignored the fact that the terrorist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad confessed that of the 62 killed, 53 were fighters for their terrorist groups.   These same people not only ignore the constant terrori

On May 17, 2019, 18-year-old Umme Samina was murdered by her father for refusing to faster during Ramadan.  Police reports reveal that Umme Samina refused to do so for health reasons, that she was ill and the fast was taking a toll on her physically.  Her father, Gulzar Ahmed became enraged that his daughter had not waken him up for the Sehri (the morning meal before the fast, which begins at sunrise) and grabbed a pistol, shooting her dead.  Gulzar Ahmed was a repeated felon who had served two years in prison and also had a severe alcohol addiction.   Though the Ramadan fast is a pillar of the Islamic faith, people are exempt from it if they're elderly, sick, traveling, pregnant, under the age of puberty, or suffer psychological trauma.  These factors did not enter the thoughts of this obviously disturbed man who murdered his daughter in cold blood.   Sources "Punjab, Father Shoots Daughter who Refused to Fast for Ramadan."  AsiaNews.  May 17, 2019.  Accessed fr

Mena Mangal, an Afghani journalist, former TV presenter, adviser, and human rights activist was gunned down in broad daylight in the Afghanistan capital city of Kabul as she was on her way to work.  Her life had been repeatedly threatened, but the Afghani authorities did not increase security despite her sharing the threats she was receiving on social media.  Though the rights of women have increased ever since the Taliban was driven from power by U.S. led Coalition Forces, women are still repressed and the lives of women's rights activists are still in grave danger.   Women who are campaigning for more rights or are simply trying to live a life beyond that status quo set by the Taliban have been frequently targeted for attack and murder.  Unfortunately, Afghanistan is not the only place in the world where women face death for fighting for their rights.  In Iran, many women's rights activists and protesters have been rounded up by authorities and killed.  In nations like Yeme

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib came under fire recently when she made the statement that the "Palestinians created a haven for Jews after the Holocaust."  Many analysts and politicians are criticizing Tlaib's "Revisionist History."  Polish Holocaust Survivor Alter Wiener testified in his memoir From a Name to a Number that after the Second World War ended, the Jewish communities of the region were constantly being attacked by armed bands of Arabs.  When Israel officially declared their independence in 1948, all-out war erupted.  The Arabs rejected the UN Partition Plan and ordered an all out attack on the Jewish State.   Azzam Pasha, the Secretary of the Arab League declared, "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades."   It was cruel that the Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust were told by Polish mobs to "Go to Palestine" only to be met by armed Ara

The Holy Month of Ramadan began on Sunday, May 5th.  It has already been stained with the blood of the innocent.  On  May 8th a Jihadist bomber attacked the Data Darbar Mosque in Lahore.  The Mosque is a sacred site for the followers of the Sufi Sect of Islam.   The bomb detonated at 8:44am.  So far at least 9 people are confirmed dead, with 20 more injured.  Among the dead are five Pakistani Police Officers.  Sadly, this is not the first time that Jihadists have attacked this site.  On July 1st 2010, two suicide bombers attacked the Data Darbar, killing 50 people and injuring hundreds more.  This attack came a mere two months after two Ahmadi Mosques in Lahore, killing nearly 90 Ahmadi Muslims.   Pakistan is home to over 200 million people.  Of the population, 77% are adherents of Sunni Islam and15-20% follow Shia Islam.  The remaining population is a mixture of Hindu, Ahmadi Muslim, & Christian, which combined accounts for 4-6%.  Sufis, Sikhs, and Buddhists make up a small