Coptic Christians make up 10% of Egypt’s population although they were the major religious group at one time. They can trace their history back 19 centuries. Following the Arab Spring, the Copts have been fleeing to the freedom of America, most being young professionals and businessmen. If they have money, they are leaving Egypt for the Promised Land–America. I know another group that fled Egyptian oppression a few thousand years ago!

Morsi had words of praise for Obama’s strong decisive and quick support for the Arab Spring revolutions, while normal, sane people realized that the Arab Spring (what a misnomer!) would become the Arab Winter. The outraged Muslims protested, rioted, set fires (some to themselves), burned our flag, and killed our ambassador! If that is Spring, what about Winter?

It seemed the Middle East was aflame starting in Tunisia (Dec, 20, 2011), then to Egypt on Jan. 1, followed by riots in Algeria then to Libya. It seemed to be contagious as protests hit Yemen and even friendly Jordan. The fanatics (not freedom-fighters) were on the march and some U.S. politicians praised them as the “good guys.” Some fools even expected democracy! A Muslim democracy is an oxymoron.

All informed observers knew the rebels were fanatics (except for some tagalong idealistic Islamists) and their success would be far worse than the dictators they overthrew. We saw it with ruthless Gaddafi (who had become more toothless than ruthless) in Libya and Mubarak in Egypt. And we are about to see that same thing in Syria. At least those dictators kept the peace, protected (to a measure) religious rights, and showed some sensibilities about U.S. government interests. After all, we sent them boatloads of money, and while those Muslim leaders may have been authoritarians, they weren’t idiots.

Morsi added that he believed that Americans supported “the right of the people of the region to enjoy the same freedoms that Americans have.” He did not promise to guarantee the right of his fellow Egyptians to change religions from Islam to Christianity; however, it is very legal for a Christian to convert to Islam! How do you spell hypocrite in Arabic? He also stood by his previous assertion that neither a woman nor a Christian would be a suitable president. Wonder why the radical U.S. media did not rip into him like a school of hungry piranhas attacking a piece of fresh meat?

Even worse is his support for the jihadists: “The Quran is our constitution. The Prophet Muhammad is our leader. Jihad is our path. And death for the sake of Allah is our most lofty aspiration.” And yes, I know Muslims try to convince us that jihad is “an inner struggle,” but my Koran, published in Saudi Arabia (can’t get more authoritative than that) says in a footnote that jihad is “holy fighting in Allah’s cause.” Morsi is a dedicated, dangerous, and devious fanatic who should not be trusted when quoting the multiplication tables.

He is an arrogant jerk but he does have plenty of chutzpa (Yiddish for audacity–not sure if Arabs have a parallel word) to expect a billion dollars of U.S. aid to keep his government from sinking into the Mediterranean Sea where fanatical Muslims want to put Israel. Not sure about the secret bank accounts.

If Muslims try to enforce Sharia law on the U.S. and limit or remove our First Amendment freedom of speech, no doubt they will be met by many true freedom-fighters who also believe in the Second Amendment and will thusly send the Muslims to meet the fictitious 72 virgins sooner than they expected to fulfill their “most lofty aspiration.”

Copyright, 2013

However, another empire was gathering influence down in the river town of Babylon about 55 miles south of modern Baghdad between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Babylon was ruled by King Nebuchadnezzar II who became a Jewish proselyte after losing his mind for seven years.

Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon from 605 to 562 B.C. and he conquered Jerusalem in 597, taking into captivity the craftsmen, smiths, warriors, and intellectuals. Daniel (a young man of purpose, prayer, and prophecy) and Ezekiel were among the captives. Daniel played a major role in Nebuchadnezzar’s administration and Ezekiel was a prophet who compared his friend to Noah and Job!

In 586, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem again and the captain of his bodyguards ordered that Solomon’s Temple, the royal palace, and all homes in the city of Jerusalem be torched. The surviving inhabitants of the city (a total of about 50,000) were taken captive to Babylon. Jerusalem was totally destroyed! It should be noted that about 100,000 Jews still occupied Judah while Jerusalem’s leaders, intellectuals, and craftsmen were sent into exile for 70 years.

Babylon defeated, destroyed, and demoralized Jerusalem and surrounding cities; but payday was coming for Babylon in a few years.

It was 539 B.C., that mighty Babylon fell to the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great who diverted the Euphrates River that flowed through the city. Upstream from the city, he channeled the river into a large basin, thereby permitting his army to wade waist deep down the riverbed into the city. The Babylonians could have easily frustrated Cyrus but they were having a drunken party given by King Belshazzar. He and his officers thought that there was no way any army could capture the impregnable city on the Euphrates. That night proved that drinkers are not the best thinkers.

When Cyrus the Persian defeated Babylon, he killed Belshazzar, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Cyrus is perhaps most widely known for allowing the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem to build the Second Temple in 538. Following Babylon’s defeat, Darius the Mede was appointed by Cyrus to rule Babylon as recorded in Daniel 6. The prophet Daniel, past 80-years-old, had his lions’ den experience during the rule of Darius.

When Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem, he even returned the sacred, golden vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken in his conquest of the city and he helped finance the rebuilding of the Temple! It was finished in 515. Zerubbable led 42,360 Jewish exiles back home; very few out of an estimated one million that then lived in the former Babylonian Empire! What a trek south through 500 miles of desert! But they were going home after 70 years.

Darius the Great ruled Persia from 521-486 and his is son, Xerxes I, ruled from 485-465 and was killed by a bodyguard. Xerxes I is the Bible’s King Ahasuerus who ruled Persia and chose Esther as his queen in 473 B.C., after Queen Vashti refused his command to parade her beauty to a large host of drunken men. She knew that drunks are often skunks, however the king was angry and embarrassed at her refusal. After all, he controlled a world empire yet he could not control his own wife! He didn’t like his buddies and underlings snickering at his impotence. So he chose Esther as his queen, but did not know that she was a Jew.

Haman was a Persian official who hated Jews, especially Queen Esther’s uncle who was a minor government official. Haman devised a plan to kill all the Jews in the empire but when Esther discovered the plan, she risked her life by asking the king’s help without his permission. She bravely said, “If I perish, I perish.” Ahasuerus granted her access and discovered Haman was not a worthy official and had him hanged upon the very gallows that he had built for Esther’s uncle who had angered Haman by refusing to bow to him.

The King’s Jew-killing order had already been sent to all the provinces authorizing the Jews to be slaughtered on a specific day and Persian law did not permit any changes in their laws. However, the king permitted another law that gave information to the Jews so they could defend themselves on their day of slaughter.

So the Jewish nation was saved (again) in 473 B.C. because a Jewish queen had courage, character, and convictions. Jews today celebrate this miraculous deliverance at the Feast of Purim.

Artaxerxes, the son of Ahasuerus, ruled from 465 to 424 B.C. Under his rule, Ezra returned to Jerusalem with exiles in 458. Nehemiah led another group in 445 and succeeded in building walls that protected the Second Temple and the returned Jews who were now home. Artaxerxes provided the timber to build the walls!

The Jews were back in their land faithfully serving the one true God, having constructed the Second Temple and rebuilt the city walls. Meanwhile, the Greeks in Athens had built their Parthenon, a pagan temple to Athena.

Jewish History should send a message to even the dullest of tyrants: Don’t mess with Israel, the apple of God’s eye.

At Israel’s beginning, Abraham went to Egypt for food during a famine instead of trusting in Jehovah. His whole family (70 of them) ended up there and within 400 years they became a mighty nation. Then, a new Pharaoh came to the throne that was not favorable to the Hebrews. He made them slaves and sought to kill all newborn males. Moses grew up in his palace as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, after she found him beside the Nile River, and he became the heir-apparent to the throne of Egypt. The very thought of a Jew sitting on the Egyptian throne was breathtaking.

Moses, at 40, refused the power, prestige, and possessions of Egypt and identified with his people the Jews, and spent his next 40 years in desert training. He led Israel from the land of bondage to the land of blessing when he was 80. When they fled Egypt, each family was commanded to kill a lamb and put the blood over their doors and everyone would be safe when the Angel of Death passed over that last night. The Egyptian homes all experienced the death of their first-born sons while the Hebrews’ sons were unharmed. Christians memorialize that incident when they sing, “When I see the blood, I’ll pass over you” referring to the Death of Christ.

The Jews left Egyptian slavery and returned to the land of promise; and since that time, Jews have celebrated that night of deliverance by observing the Passover. The story of their deliverance has been remembered, rehearsed, and retold as it is memorialized with the statement, “Next year in Jerusalem.” Meaning, wherever they were at the time, maybe next year, they would be back in their homeland. During the observance of the Passover, (either seven or eight days) the celebration begins with the Seder (meaning order) meal, symbolic of their deliverance from Egypt.

“The Festival of the Unleavened Bread” is celebrated with the first two days of delicious meals called Seders when the Egyptian Passover is remembered and memorialized. Six more days of celebration follow the first two. On the eve of the Passover, each home is searched to remove any vestige of leaven. According to Exodus 12:11 the meal was to be eaten “with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s Passover.” They were to be in a hurry to leave bondage! According to Exodus 13:3, they were to “keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.”

The “Festival of the Unleavened Bread” begins with a hard-boiled egg dipped into saltwater. A rabbi was once asked why Jews eat eggs on Passover. “Because eggs symbolize the Jew,” the rabbi answered. “The more an egg is burned or boiled, the harder it gets.” Seems that way.

During the Seder, the family recalls their Egyptian slavery by eating matzo, known as the “poor person’s bread.” Bitter herbs, called “maror,” are eaten which symbolize the bitterness of slavery, and a sweet paste (charoset) representing the mortar which the slaves used to cement bricks. They dip vegetables into saltwater, and it recalls the tears the Jews shed during their servitude. Roast lamb or goat is a main portion of the meal.

An extra cup of wine is at the table for the prophet Elijah. It is almost electric when a child is sent to the door to open for the prophet who will be the messenger of messianic times ahead.

The whole celebration is to remind them of their slavery and the goodness of God in delivering them, not because of their greatness but because of His goodness and grace.
Israel was overshadowed by the greatness of Egypt, the grandeur of Babylon, the growth of Nineveh but they had what no other nation had going for them: They were the “apple of God’s eye.” Judah was caught in the middle of the constant struggles among the three powers, but Jews survived while the others did not. Will Durant wrote, the “Jews who are as old as history, may be as lasting as civilization.” Obviously.

Jehovah was faithful in showing His grace by delivering the Jews from slavery and He will further show his faithfulness with the construction of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount, the most important and contested 35 acres on earth, claimed by Muslims and Jews! Hummm, that will be an interesting development! Muslims have not learned the truth that you can’t mess with Israel but they are destined to learn that truth the hard way as did Egypt.

While the Passover reminds Jews of their release from slavery, it should be remembered that Pharaoh and his army were destroyed as the Jews were delivered.

The message of the Bible and history is: Don’t mess with Israel.

With passing of time, powerful nations demonstrated hatred toward the little embryonic Jewish nation along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Powerful nations such as Egypt, Nineveh, and Syria were followed by a new threat that appeared on the stage of history: Babylon. The Amorite king, Hammurabi (ruled 1792-1750) first created the short-lived Babylonian Empire about 1792 B.C. but it quickly faded after his death. The only thing remembered about the empire is the famous Code of Hammurabi.

Bible critics suggest that the Hebrew prophet Moses got his laws from Hammurabi, and if so, so what. Even a pagan king can have some great ideas; however, Moses had something Hammurabi did not have: information from Jehovah! Of course, the earlier an event in history, the less reliable is the date. Moreover, all experts admit that the Mosaic Law was far more gentle and humane than Hammurabi’s.

Until about 600 B.C., Babylon was ruled by various powers in the region. Then, the empire became almost unstoppable. About this time, Zoroaster was teaching in Persia, Buddha was born in India in 563 (and later abandoned his wife and son) and the Roman Republic was founded in 509 B.C.

The Babylonians conquered and destroyed Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire after it had been weakened repeatedly by civil war. The Jews in Jerusalem were swiftly backsliding into all kinds of wickedness and were finally attacked by Nebuchadnezzar II, the head honcho of the Babylonian Empire. In 586 B.C., he returned to Jerusalem and took the best, the brightest, and the bravest Jews into a 70-year Babylonian Captivity leaving only the poorest of the poor to occupy the defeated, destroyed, desolated, and almost deserted city.

In captivity, 500 miles from Jerusalem, the Jews sat beside the Euphrates River, hung their harps on a willow limb and cried, “We wept, when we remembered Zion.” The recently defeated Jews had been marched from Jerusalem to Babylon and often promised, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither.” However, with time they came to enjoy the “good life” and adjusted to the captivity. In Jeremiah 29:4-9, the prophet had told them to “make the best of it” and accommodate themselves to the conditions of a protracted exile without being assimilated with the pagan Babylonians. Of course, Jeremiah knew what followed the end of their captivity.

Herodotus, a Greek historian born about 450 BC, wrote, “Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world.” He described the city as a huge square 14 miles on all four sides. It had 100 gates of bronze that were still standing when Herodotus was there about 400 B.C. He claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high! Wide enough, he said, to allow two four-horse chariots to pass each other. The city also had inner walls which were “not so thick as the first, but hardly less strong.” The walls went 35 feet underground thereby frustrating any tunneling under them. There was a large water-filled moat just outside the outer wall. It was impossible to conquer Babylon but Cyrus did the impossible.

Babylon fell to the Persian Empire under the rule of Cyrus in 539 B.C. The Persian Empire stretched from Ethiopia to India connected by more than 3,000 miles of well-built roads. The most famous road was the Royal Road built by King Darius that stretched about 1,600 miles from Sardis in Turkey to Susa, capital of Persia. Herodotus wrote of this road, “There are royal stations (every 3.4 miles) and excellent inns, and the whole road is through an inhabited and safe country.” Maybe the first Interstate!

Persia was also famous for its efficient postal system, the world’s first, prototype to our Pony Express. At the royal stations there were fresh horses for relay riders to carry the mail from one end to the other. Common travelers made the 1,600 mile trip in 90 days but the “Persian Express” did it is less than a week! About like U.S. mail from coast to coast–today.

Herodotus described the Persian mail system and it functioned exactly as the Pony Express did in America. The famous historian said of those Persian riders, “These are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.” Evidently, Americans took the Persians’ slogan as well.

Cyrus was very generous with all religions, especially the Jews. He understood that religion is “glue” that holds a state together. Within a year he gave permission for the Jews to return to their homeland and even helped finance the journey and the rebuilding of their city and Temple. Mighty Babylon was on a downhill slide and by the time of Strabo (at the end of the 1st century B.C.), the site was in ruins and by 500 A.D. the whole area was a swamp. In recent years, the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein (who envisioned himself as another Nebuchadnezzar) sought to rebuild Babylon; however, he was hindered because his “friends and associates” hanged him by his neck–until dead. Babylon is in the same condition–dead and buried. Many say it will be rebuilt.

When Captain Titus attacked Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the city fell and the Second Temple was destroyed, beginning the period of the Second Exile. The Jews would be scattered throughout the world. In the land God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the Jews would have little influence for the next 1900 years. However during most of this Second Exile there have always been some Jews living in Jerusalem.

Such has been the Jewish story but they were never destroyed. Some Jews were assimilated but not as a nation. Enough of them stayed true to biblical principles such as worshiping Jehovah, abhorring pagan gods, keeping the Law, observing the Sabbath, circumcision of their sons, etc., to always be a separate nation wherever they were living. They are a strong, separate, and sovereign nation today much to the chagrin of Muslim Jew-haters who want to “drive Israel into the Sea.” Pharaoh tried that and he ended up in the Red Sea.

May all tyrants end that way!

Coptic Christians make up 10% of Egypt’s population although they were the major religious group at one time. They can trace their history back 19 centuries. Following the Arab Spring, the Copts have been fleeing to the freedom of America, most being young professionals and businessmen. If they have money, they are leaving Egypt for the Promised Land–America. I know another group that fled Egyptian oppression a few thousand years ago!    

Morsi had words of praise for Obama’s strong decisive and quick support of the Arab Spring revolutions, while normal, sane people realized that the Arab Spring (what a misnomer!) would become the Arab Winter. The outraged Muslims protested, rioted, set fires (some to themselves), burned our flag, and killed our ambassador! If that is Spring, what about Winter? It seemed the Middle East was aflame starting in Tunisia (Dec, 20, 2011), then to Egypt on Jan. 1, followed by riots in Algeria then to Libya. It seemed to be contagious as protests hit Yemen and even friendly Jordan. The fanatics (not freedom-fighters) were on the march and some U.S. politicians praised them as the “good guys.” Some fools even expected democracy! A Muslim democracy is an oxymoron.

All informed observers knew the rebels were fanatics (except for some tagalong idealistic Islamists) and their success would be far worse than the dictators they overthrew. We saw it with ruthless Gaddafi (who had become more toothless than ruthless) in Libya and Mubarak in Egypt. And we are about to see that same thing in Syria. At least those dictators kept the peace, protected (to a measure) religious rights, and showed some sensibilities about U.S. government interests. After all, we sent them boatloads of money, and while those Muslim leaders may have been authoritarians, they weren’t idiots.

Morsi added that he believed that Americans supported “the right of the people of the region to enjoy the same freedoms that Americans have.” He did not promise to guarantee the right of his fellow Egyptians to change religions from Islam to Christianity; however, it is very legal for a Christian to convert to Islam! How do you spell hypocrite in Arabic?

He also stood by his previous assertion that neither a woman nor a Christian would be a suitable president.  Wonder why the radical U.S. media did not rip into him like a school of hungry piranhas attacking a piece of fresh meat?

Even worse is his support for the jihadists: “The Quran is our constitution. The Prophet Muhammad is our leader. Jihad is our path. And death for the sake of Allah is our most lofty aspiration.” And yes, I know Muslims try to convince us that jihad is “an inner struggle,” but my Koran, published in Saudi Arabia (can’t get more authoritative than that) says in a footnote that jihad is “holy fighting in Allah’s cause.” Moris is a dedicated, dangerous, and devious fanatic who should not be trusted when quoting the multiplication tables.

He is an arrogant jerk but he does have plenty of chutzpa (Yiddish for audacity–not sure if Arabs have a parallel word) to expect a billion dollars of U.S. aid to keep his government from sinking into the Mediterranean Sea where fanatical Muslims want to put Israel. Not sure about the secret bank accounts.

If Muslims try to enforce Sharia law on the U.S. and limit or remove our First Amendment freedom of speech, no doubt they will be met by many true freedom-fighters who also believe in the Second Amendment and will thusly send the Muslims to meet the fictitious 72 virgins sooner than they expected to fulfill their “most lofty aspiration.”

I am not defending blasphemy, real or imagined, but everyone has a right to believe what he chooses–in America. However, it is a defense of freedom to say and write what one chooses to say or write except for slander and libel. I honestly will defend a Muslim’s right to blaspheme Christ and the Bible and to worship the pagan moon god Allah if he chooses. In the U.S., Muslims have freedom of religion, something they could not enjoy in Islamic nations which they seem to have forgotten. Short retention span.

Muslims must drag themselves into the 21st century and understand that to be offended is simply a fact of life. I have often been offended by their blasphemy of Christ but I don’t retaliate by flying a plane into a mosque or burning down a public building as a reasonable reaction.

Egypt is a Muslim nation now ruled by an extremist named Mohamed Morsi who was educated in the U.S. but has been in bed with the Muslim Brotherhood for many years. He says he got out of his bed and now only sits at the feet of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is as unstable, unreliable, and undesirable as a basket of rattlesnakes. (However, a rattlesnake warns you before striking.) They have been implicated in riots, arson, and murder of political opponents. Former Egyptian leader, Anwar Sadat, even released some political prisoners and they showed their gratitude by killing him at a public ceremony in 1981!

President Morsi said “the United States needed to fundamentally change its approach to the Arab world, showing greater respect for its values….” No, the Arab world needs to show respect to this nation since we have funded them for 50 years. (Billions of dollars!) Much of that money has gone into secret bank accounts of corrupt leaders. Since Egypt has chosen sides with the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, they should never receive another dollar from us. No ammunition, arms, or any assistance. Not a paper clip. No more money, honey. The international welfare window is closed.

He said the United States must respect the Arab world’s history and culture, even when that conflicts with Western values. But how can any sane, sober, sensible person respect a nation that does not respect its own people? An Egyptian Muslim cannot change to another religion. Baby girls are mutilated by cutting away their clitoris. Young Egyptian girls are forced into marriages with Muslim men–old dudes. I have no respect but plenty of repulsion, revulsion, and repugnance. Alas, I suppose that makes me a hater.

Morsi repeatedly vowed to uphold “equal citizenship rights of all Egyptians, regardless of religion, sex or class.” However, he did not go into specifics such as the right of Coptic Christians to build their own churches. For many years, Copts have had to get a permit to make repairs or add a bathroom to their church buildings! A permit that was almost never granted. Baptists are wasting their time trying to build a church; however, Muslim mosques are not restricted. I know of one Baptist Church in Egypt!

Egypt is the fifth worst country in the world for religious freedom, so I suggest before he lectures the U.S. anymore, Morsi should ring the Liberty Bell for everyone in his nation.

My first reaction (after thinking about how “peaceful” Islam is) was, “Where were the Marine guards? How many fanatics did they kill?” We will not hear about any brave Marine guards killed in the attack or the hundreds of fanatics they sent to Paradise because the Marines were not there. At the same time, White House Senior Advisor and Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett was on vacation at Martha’s Vineyard and had a full Secret Service detail of six agents for 24 hours a day!

Let me see if I understand: an unimportant advisor to Obama (whom no one knows) has full protection but U.S. representatives in a backward nation, known for violence, must depend on Muslim fanatics to protect them! And none dare call it treason, oh well, maybe incompetence. Whatever, heads should roll.

Some officials have blood on their hands. I refer to Obama and Hillary! Hillary should do as past (long past) cabinet members have done when they disgraced America or their administration: they fall on their sword by resigning and getting a job they can handle. I suggest that Hillary go back home and bake cookies and clean the house for Bill’s eventual return. As for Obama, Chicago needs many more community organizers.

It seems the Arab Spring has turned into the Arab Winter with some desperate days ahead for the whole Middle East. Maybe if Obama had not missed so many intelligence briefings (playing golf) he might have pulled our people out of the hot spots before the riots.

Was this because a California Jew made a film telling the truth about Mohammed and Islam; or was it an attack to celebrate the 9/11 anniversary? The Department of Justice is investigating the filmmaker! Yep, the loonies are in control. It seems no one ever asks, “Did he tell the truth about Mohammed and Islam?” And even if he did not, this is still America. Why should we apologize to barbarians because someone made a film, truthful or not? The film maker and his family are now is hiding from Muslim fanatics because Muslim leaders issued a fatwa giving directions and permission for the killing of the director, producer, and all the actors. In America, the land of the free and the home of the brave! Get used to it if shariah law takes hold in the U.S.

If the filmmaker should be investigated about his film work, what about all the distortions, dishonesty, and dissimulations of the main stream media? How about an investigation of them? After all, the Federal Communications Commission is supposed to have oversight and some control over the broadcast media. However, the media run amuck with lies and distortions.

I have been critical of some past “hot dog” responses by our government entities that displayed an excessive macho image; however, I am adamant that when Americans are killed and American property is attacked, the U.S. must respond in a swift, sure, and severe way.

Obama made a lame response, but then, the attackers are his soul brothers. They were doing Allah’s bidding! Obama should get on national television and yell at the Muslim world, “I’m mad as h… and I’m not going to take it anymore.” He would win the hearts of Americans and their votes.

But don’t count on it.

(My FREE eBook, The God Haters to the first 25 readers who comment.)