You don’t have to worry about civil war in Iraq.  No wars are civil. India was partitioned in 1947, Cyprus in 1974.  Abraham had to separate from Lot in 1,800 BC.  Expecting the Shites and Sunnis of Iraq to play nice is insane.  As a matter of fact, only another “Saddam Insane” could pull off such a thing.  Our political efforts will prove as futile in Iraq as an alchemist in the Middle Ages trying to turn lead into gold.

 When the bell sounds the fighters usually go to their corners.  The problem in the Middle East is that they even fight over the corners.  The Kurds want the Oil-rich north, and the Turks want the Oil-rich Kurds. The Afghan War Lords want to grow poppies and smoke water pipes. The Hebrews and the Palestinians both want Jerusalem.  How two objects can occupy the same place at the same time is the puzzle. Here is the Gordian knot

 The world is partitioning politically, economically and religiously right before our eyes.  At the source of much of the global trouble is a religious quarrel and quandary.  Who speaks for God?  The Mormons say Joseph Smith does.  The Muslims insist it’s “Mohammad.”  The Jews follow Moses, and the Christians….well, that remains to be seen.  When the deacon board down at the Baptist Church decides they speak for God and the preacher does not, things can get down right ugly. 

  Darwin said it’s about the “survival of the fittest”, Dylan said, “the Answer is blowin’ in the wind.”  Madonna who is planning to be crucified at her next concert in Rome on a mirrored cross says that Kabbala is the answer.  Tom Cruise claims Scientology will bring peace, and Mel Gibson, besides blaming the Jews for all the wars, has a Passion for Tequila. 

 Protestantism is as fractured as a many-paned stained glass window and America is made up of Red States and Blue States.  What makes us think we can export solutions around the world with ideas as empty as an American cargo container?  We can’t. 

  The Bible says that wars start in the heart.  There is something wrong with our hearts.  In this world Cain killed Abel.  Would things have been any better if Able had “taken-out” Cain first?  I don’t think so.  No. Man’s heart would still be rotten to the core.  Born- Again is better than Bombed-Again.

 Who speaks for God? That’s simple.  Jesus does.  “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.”  That settles it for me.  The Catholic Church does not speak for God.  America does not speak for God. Rush Limbaugh doesn’t, and  I don’t speak for God.  Jesus does.  Jesus said, “love your enemies.”  “Love your enemies?”  Imagine if people did.  If people decided that only Jesus spoke for God, there would be fewer wars and fewer churches in the Yellow Pages. Not only does that sound crazy, but in a world that has already gone insane, and where everyone has strong religious opinions, those are “fighting words.”  

                                                                                                                      -id