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"Although all Israel was assembled together against [the Benjamites in Judges 20] without any dissension or rebellion as though they were all one man, yet they never obtained the victory against their enemies until they humbled themselves before God by fastings and prayers and asked pardon for their sins and placed their pride and their glory in the dust (Judg. 20:26).
"And then, when they had wholly rejected their own power and might and had placed all their trust in God instead of in their great multitude and in their horses and weapons and gave Him all the glory, they learned by experience that He is not without good reason called the Lord of Hosts. For, though they had a righteous cause, and though God was with them and they had every advantage—even according to worldly standards—yet God desired to humble them. For He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Pet. 5:5; Jas. 4:6).
Now the Israelites were so prideful before they humbled themselves that it seemed to them that they could swallow their enemies whole and do whatever they wanted with them.
Therefore God willed to show them that victory lies neither in force of
arms nor in the multitude of men,
nor even in a righteous cause,
but in Him alone. For we can indeed take a cause which is righteous before God and make it a wicked one by our guilt and sins and by what we add of ourselves."
Pierre Viret (1510 – 1571), Swiss Reformed theologian, evangelist and Protestant reformer
The narrow strait is the most important chokepoint for the world's oil supply. Some 21 million barrels — or $1.2 billion worth of oil — pass through the strait every day.
Will a closed Strait hurt Iran? In terms of international oil sales, yes, but in terms of daily life, no. Iran pumps 3.5 million barrels of crude oil per day. The situation at this hour:
Most people hear “Hormuz” and think gas prices.
That’s part of it. But it’s bigger. It’s a central artery for global trade, and we talked about how disruptions hit second-order systems fast, including inputs tied to food production (field work and fertilizers), trucking, and downstream shocks in everything from shipping insurance to medicine, medical supplies, medical treatments and regional stability.
This is why the “we’re energy independent so it doesn’t matter” line is naive. In a globally priced commodity world, you don’t get to opt out.
Former Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali comes to Christ and discovers the supernatural Christian heritage of West, and how worldly families destroyed it. She is now married and living in the US.
"I like Os Guinness’s analogy of the cut flower civilization. I find it very vivid in regard to non-Christian conservative parents. Conservative non-Christian families are cutting themselves off from our foundational roots.
Let’s think about what happens to a plant when the roots die. What happens when you pick flowers and put them in a vase? Obviously, the flowers wither. And if you cut conservative morals off from Christianity, they fade.
"This decline is exactly what we have seen in the West over the last century and a half. Some people say the decay dates back to the Enlightenment. It’s a gradual fading that goes on and on. My fear is that we have landed in a place of moral wilderness.
"For the West to restore itself, it has to rediscover and revive its biblical roots. I insist that the biblical...
