August 18, "When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan." (Pr. 29:2)

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August 18, 2017 NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR PRECEDENT FOR IRAN Pray for righteous leadership to be birthed in both Iran and North Korea. Both countries have citizens that are praying along with you.

1 August 18, 2017 NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR PRECEDENT FOR IRAN Pray for righteous leadership to be birthed in both Iran and North Korea. Both countries have citizens that are praying along with you. "When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan." (Pr. 29:2) Several top Israeli and American experts on nuclear proliferation and Iran say the failure to successfully deal with North Korea sets a precedent for a similar result with the Islamic Republic. The aspect of the North Korean case that needs to be taken into account with regard to Iran is the fact that despite all the differences between the two states, they share a determination to acquire nuclear weapons in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) commitment they took upon themselves to remain non-nuclear, said Emily Landau, director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Program at Tel Aviv University s Institute for National Security Studies. Although North Korea exited the NPT in 2003, the international community did not view that move as giving the rogue state carte blanche to become nuclear, she noted. The international community faces a similar challenge in getting [Iran and North Korea] to back down and return to the fold of the NPT, Landau told JNS.org, and in both cases the strategy chosen for this was negotiations and diplomacy. The North Korean case entails 25 years of failed negotiations. The country has been a nuclear state for at least a decade and now has demonstrated the ability to reach the U.S. with an intercontinental ballistic missile. This raises a question regarding the outcome of negotiations with Iran as well, said Landau. In 1994, there were celebrations of the deal with North Korea that were viewed as ending the nuclear crisis, but it continued to move forward. The Middle East is watching North Korea Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Shay, director of research for the Institute for Policy and Strategy at Israel s IDC Herzliya research college, said Middle Eastern states such as Iran are watching how America deals with the North Korean crisis. North Korea had supported Syria to build the nuclear reactor in Deir ez-zor and Tehran used North Korean knowledge to build its nuclear program, Shay told JNS.org.

2 Shay said failure to thwart North Korea may be a prelude to a more challenging threat from Tehran. The Americans should use a combination of military and political threats while recruiting China and Russia to defuse the tensions and prevent North Korea from going nuclear, he advised. So far, Iran is responding to the U.S. sanctions with further provocations, he said. Iran s parliament voted Sunday to allocate $520 million to develop its missile program to fight Washington s adventurism and sanctions, and to boost the foreign operations of the country s Revolutionary Guard. The campaign against North Korea, said Shay, may define the American position against Iran. (Excerpt from Ariel Ben Solomon s article for JNS.org) PARTY LINES CROSSED Pray for a unified voice in solving our healthcare problems in the U.S. There are many people who need assistance and need to be cared for who are getting lost in the heat of unsettled disputes. "And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." (Gen. 12:3) The Republican Senate s failure to repeal or replace Obamacare is more than simply a stunning condemnation of Republican voters and the administration... Spurred on by the tea party, repeal and replacement of Obamacare has been a staple party promise since It is nevertheless difficult to uncover exactly what the party opposed. If someone had asked Republicans and Republican-leaning voters why Obamacare was so heinous, they likely would have been unable to say more than that it whatever they thought Obamacare was wasn t a proper thing for government to do. This soft libertarianism underlay all of the party s pronouncements for the seven lean years after Obamacare s passage. Once the GOP held both houses of Congress and the White House, the political famine was theoretically over. In practice, the failure to define why Obamacare was bad meant there was no agreement on what, if anything, should take its place. The failure to pass a bill shows starkly that the party is unable to say what it is for. It could not agree, or even come close to agreeing, whose health insurance government should subsidize, or how much those subsidies should be, or what types of insurance policies could receive those subsidies. In the end, the only thing repeal had going for it was a sense of political tribalism, that our voters wanted it regardless of what it actually entailed. But not every senator faces the same mix of voters. The narrow loss of what was called skinny repeal shows this in spades. The three Republican senators who voted no all were not dependent upon conservative voters for their nominations or reelections. Sen. Susan Collins represents Maine, a moderate state that hasn t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Her dependence on non-republicans was well-known, and her No vote was expected.

3 Lisa Murkowski and John McCain, however, represent Republican and conservative states. But each has been the subject of bitter challenges from tea party backed conservatives recently. Murkowski has twice won general election victories 2010 and 2016 over a libertarian-conservative, Joe Miller. McCain was also challenged in 2016 from the right. While he won renomination, he still lost nearly half of the vote to three more-conservative challengers. The Republican Party is now at a crossroads. Being against liberalism and crass political pressure can only take it so far. (By Henry Olsen from World Magazine Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the author of The Working Class Republican) BEING PEOPLE OF TRUTH IN A WORLD OF FAKE NEWS Ask the Lord to help us discern rightly the news that is being brought forth. Pray that truth in news reports will be the norm and not the exception. Use the discernment that comes with the Spirit of Truth given to believers. "... if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth." (1 Tim. 3:15) One of the hottest topics in our culture is fake news. I ve written about it, and others have as well. Obviously, not all news is fake. At the same time, not everything that calls itself news is real news. When one of the leading stories in USA Today is about someone wearing a thong, we are reminded how far the media have fallen. But fake news is not just an industry issue or a cultural issue. It becomes a discipleship issue because we are people of truth in a world that has been dealing with alternative facts since the Garden of Eden. The growing problem of fake news gives pastors and church leaders a great opportunity to teach and challenge Christians to be more discerning about the stories they consume. What we are talking about is helping people think more critically about the world in which we live. Nothing is true simply because it is believable, or because it fits our worldview or preference. Nothing is untrue simply because it is unbelievable, or doesn t fit our worldview or preference. As Christians, we believe some things that would qualify as unlikely, or straight up unbelievable. The gospel has changed us. That gospel is good news. We need to remember that what we call good news (God became flesh, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died, rose from the dead, and is coming back on a white horse to receive His people into eternal life), the world calls fake news. In a rising tide of fake news, what can we do to not become part of the destructive flood that is washing away decency and sensibility in our culture? How can we live out Paul s exhortation in Philippians 4:8? Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise dwell on these things. Here are some things we all can do:

4 Never share what you cannot verify. Make sure what you share would be recognizable by the people you are talking about. Guard your integrity. Apologize if you are part of the problem. How can we avoid getting caught up in fake news? First, start by using the common sense God gave us. Second, take it to another level and use the discernment that comes with the Spirit of Truth given to believers. Finally, ask yourself some accountability questions Does this story make sense? Is the headline so sensational that it deserves to be on a gossip rag at the grocery store, or is it within the realm of possibility? Does this claim seem reasonable, or does it just appeal to the side of me that wants it to be true to validate my position against the person in the story? I tend to get my news from several sources. This doesn t mean they all say the same thing about the stories, or that I believe everything they say. But if a story is true, it will likely show up in several of the mainstream sources I read. Ultimately, remember that we follow a Man who claimed to be the Truth. He told Pilate that He came to testify to the truth. Pilate then asked, What is truth? That is the question of our time. The truth will be clearer if it isn t hidden among the clickbait in our lives. (Excerpts from Ed Stetzer s article for Christianity Today - Ed Stetzer holds the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College, is Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center, and publishes church leadership resources through Mission Group.) NIKKI HALEY A SUPERSTAR Give thanks to the Lord that Nikki Haley was used to offer positive guidance to a situation that could have been devastating to the world at large. "Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory." (Prov. 11:14) Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is swiftly becoming the Cabinet superstar. She took the lead in persuading China and Russia to join the sanctioning of North Korea, all to persuade Kim Jong-un to think again about his boastful threat to ignite World War III. Such a catastrophe might at last be the war to end war, as Woodrow Wilson said of World War I. Mr. Kim s reckless exuberance with his nuclear toys has terrified the world into a new reality, and Nikki Haley used it to win approval of United Nations Resolution 2371, which she calls the single largest economic package ever leveled against the North Korean regime and the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation.

5 If enforced to the limit a big if the effects could reduce Pyongyang s exports by $3 billion, a third of its revenue from exports of coal and minerals, which in turn is key to keeping its nuclear and missile scientists at work. The international community is standing with one voice, Mrs. Haley says. China didn t pull off. Russia didn t pull off. All of the Security Council and the international community said, That s enough. Mr. Kim s provocations have exhausted the patience even of China, his enabler and patron. It s reckless. It s irresponsible, and the international community really laid down the groundwork of saying, We re not going to watch you do this any more.. This is not the kind of talk the rest of the world is accustomed to hearing from the American ambassador to the United Nations. Mrs. Haley reported for duty at a United Nations puzzled and despondent over the defeat of Hillary Clinton, and many regarded her as a patronage payoff by the new president, and would finish her term at the U.N. with just another entry on her resume and leave for the speaking circuit to cash in on political celebrity. No one at the United Nations, said one professor pundit, will think Nikki Haley is someone to talk to who will be either knowledgeable or close to the president. The professor missed by only a mile. Perhaps buoyed on such modest expectations, she has prospered at the U.N., working hard to build close relationships with other delegations, particularly those of America s European allies. Over the first months of her tenure she earned the respect of other delegates that enabled her to rally support for American positions on Syria as well as North Korea. Her frequent and aggressive scolding of Russian support for President Bashar Assad in Syria earned her a reputation for leading, as well as following, American policy. She squelched the long-standing Russian goal of making Russia the moral actor in the Syrian civil war. She still won Russian support for the sanctions vote. Little more than a year ago she seemed unlikely to be a part of a Trump administration. She clashed with Mr. Trump the candidate on the eve of the South Carolina primary, having endorsed Mario Rubio, and said sharp things about Mr. Trump. During anxious times, she said, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation.. Someone asked her the other day whether she had to twist arms to bring Russia and China along on the sanctions vote. She replied with one word: Lots. (Excerpts from Suzanne Fields' article in the Washington Times)

Prashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management from University of Surrey (U.K.).

Prashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management from University of Surrey (U.K.). Above all he is a passionate teacher. Roots of nuclear history in Iran Under