Israel

The Israelis I Know

Barry Mahler Israel , , , , , , ,

It’s a strange thing to come face-to-face with pure, raw evil.  Even when you’ve long been convinced of evil’s existence, and even when you’ve had glimpses of it from sobering, soul-crushing places like Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the Killing Fields of Cambodia, or had brief dances with it while out on patrol on the streets of California.

Israeli flags flying at the Knesset in Jerusalem.

Well, this week was the week that I came face-to-face with that pure, raw evil.  My wife and I have the privilege of being in Israel to help with a group of pastors and other influencers from the U.S. and Colombia, on what is known as a Pastors’ Familiarization Tour (commonly known as a “Fam Tour”) and which is being hosted by the remarkable Israeli/American non-profit Aliyah Foundation.

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Hitler, Haman and Gun Control

Barry Mahler Gun Control, Social Issues , , , , , , ,

In Swords into Plowsharesthe 1930’s and 40’s there was a governmental plot afoot to exterminate the Jews, and it succeeded in killing nearly six million descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  In the fifth century B.C. there was a governmental plot afoot to exterminate the Jews, but it had a highly different outcome.  Here’s how it’s recorded in Scripture: The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them (Esther 9:5 NIV).  Hitler was successful in his genocidal plot because he had already disarmed his citizens.  Haman was unsuccessful in his genocidal plot because King Xerxes had not disarmed his. Continue reading →

Sea to Shining Sea?

Barry Mahler Borders, Government , , ,

INTERNATIONAL BORDERS: PART FOUR

Few issues raise the ire of more people more quickly than the issue of what nation has the right to call what land their own at any given time, and so any series of discussions regarding international borders would not be complete without treatment of it.  Nations and peoples have long been overrun, enslaved and/or ruled by others, leaving no one’s ancestry unstained by the tint of it, causing national and ethnic rage to burn in many a heart and soul from memory of the issue. Continue reading →

Prison Overcrowding

Barry Mahler Government , , , , , ,

Among the many dark clouds on California’s horizon is the particularly ominous U.S. Supreme Court dictate that the Golden State must soon release 46,000 felons from its prison system into the general populace, citing the condition of healthcare within the prison system as its reason for doing so.  Setting aside for the time being the rather dubious Constitutional concerns driving this decision by the Court, it is imperative that we focus on the detrimental effects of a soft-hearted justice system upon society, for we are experiencing its end-game with frightening ferocity. Continue reading →