Nearing Midnight: The Ezekiel Wimp Factor – Terry James – http://www.raptureready.com/rap16.html

The Syrian situation continues to be “up in the air,” as the saying goes, as of this writing. While the matter of the chemical weapons of mass destruction–much of which were sent by Saddam Hussein to Syria when it looked like Saddam’s jig was up-is important, and cries out for a response from the civilized peoples of the world, there is, for the purposes of this commentary, another facet of this subject I wish to broach.

This presidential administration is at the center of all kinds of controversial speculation, some coming from within Mr. Obama’s own ranks. Some of his Democrat partisans accuse the president of being just like the Bushes in beating the drums of war. They prefer to avoid all armed conflict. Others accuse him of getting the U.S. aligned with the likes of al Qaida and other terrorist types, giving them weapons that they will one day turn on America, Israel, and Western Europe. The speculation has grown from Obama being considered a bumbling Jimmy Carter look-alike (in Carter’s inept handling of the Iranian revolution) to the current president being so conniving in his desire to win votes for his own power’s sake in the 2014 midterm election that he helped plan the Syrian rebels’ framing of Bashar al-Assad in their use of chemical weapons against their own.

We watched and heard President Obama come out strongly to assist the rebels in every way possible except to put “boots on the ground.” We watched and heard Secretary of State John Kerry give a rousing speech that America was morally obligated to lead the way in taking out al-Assad’s capability to wage chemical war. We watched and heard the mainstream news media remain silent as to the sort of opposition with which they once lambasted George W. Bush for the same kind of preparatory war rhetoric.

The president said flatly that he didn’t need any approval from Congress; he needed no coalition to go in and do what had to be done. He said all of this, having accused George W. of being a “cowboy” for doing the same.

Then the prime minister of Britain consulted Parliament and they said “no” to the UK entering the fray in a military way-that is, joining in the inevitable sending of cruise missiles, etc. France and other “allies” decided they wouldn’t be a part of overt military action, but would back the international community principles in the matters involved.

President Obama then had a forty-minute walk on the White House grounds with one of his closest advisers. When the walk was done, Obama had changed his mind and would now wait until after September 9 when Congress returned to Washington in order to get their vote (although he continues to assert that he has the right as commander in chief to go to war against the al-Assad regime-or at least conduct limited strikes…).

All of this brings us up to date, as of this writing. That’s where the president-where the U.S.-where we the people stand.

Is that what we are doing? Standing?

For what? Against what?

What I’m leading up to in all of this is the thought implicit within the title of this commentary: “The Ezekiel Wimp Factor.”

America’s liberal, woolly-minded detractors within our own nation have long thought of the United States as a bully on the world scene. We wish to always impose our values, our will, upon the weak, helpless of the world. This has been the mantra of the left and their mouthpieces, the mainstream news conglomerate, for many decades. Until, that is, the likes of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, or, especially, Barack Obama control things. When that is the case, a strange silence develops, such as now, while this president is maneuvering to launch a cruise missile or a half dozen into his own version of Clinton’s aspirin factory attack.

Even Obama’s own chairman of the joint chiefs, General Dempsey, has expressed grave concerns about interfering in the civil war going on in Damascus and surrounding area. Many who watch Middle East madness say that numerous incalculable dangers are involved in interjecting U.S. power into such a volatile powder keg as the Middle East presents today. It is especially foolhardy to do so when we can’t even offer absolute proof of who used the chemical weapons. The vacillation shown by the U.S. in this Mideast violence is perhaps the most dangerous aspect of what’s going on.

We who watch Bible prophecy often review Ezekiel the prophet’s foretelling of the Gog-Magog assault against Israel. We wonder just what is meant by the words of Ezekiel 38:13:

Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? To carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

This weak, diplomatic note of protest will be the only apparent response to the assault by Russia, Persia (Iran), and the rest as they rush toward Israel. With the on-again/off-again decision-making of this president, it isn’t hard to understand that the Ezekiel “wimp factor” is alive and well and will likely soon play out in that Middle East conflict that will be far more devastating than even the destruction of Damascus that is prophesied by Ezekiel’s colleague, Isaiah.