American Middle East Epiphany

There is a lot going on the world right now.  Much of the focus in the news today has been centered upon the events in Libya, and rightfully so.  With the EU (European Union) setting embargoes upon the Libyan government the mass media has its hand full.  Personally, I believe that the deposing of Momar Qaddafi is long overdue (which is easy to say as an American).  Yet, there is still unrest throughout the Middle East; in Bahrain, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.  And as I sit at my laptop writing today's ministry blog, watching FOX news I could not help but to stop and pray as a true epiphany came over me.  You see as an American I often write about these issues in the Middle East.  Sometimes, more and more as of late, I will speak as to how these events may relate to the coming Last Days.  As the president of The Road to God Ministry and as the web blogger I am blessed to be speaking to people across the world everyday and on every continent (except Antarctica of course, penguins don't have much to say, except "fish").  It is due to my global interpersonal communications that I feel that I possess a stronger sense of empathy for what may be occurring in other parts of the world. 


But not for what's occurring in the Middle East.


I have to say with complete honesty that I have never been hunted down by my own government.  I have never been told I cannot practice my faith (though I have felt some religious persecution being a Jewish Christian).  I have never gone through anything on the scale of what is happening in the Middle East; regardless my being a Christian, Jew, Muslim or just an atheist at large.


Thus I came to realize that for many Americans; we see what is happening in the Middle East as only one of two things:  violence and oil prices.  In other words, what is the violence going to mean for the US military and how is the events being played out with human lives going to effect our prices at the gas pump.


I , my friends, was ashamed at the core at this realization.  When Messiah Yeshua restates the Shema (Duet 6:4-5) in three Gospels as the First Commandment He added, "...to love thy neighbor as thy selves."  We are supposed to look to everybody as our neighbors, the world as our neighbors.  It is so easy to become desensitized, to become part of the world of the flesh.

Precious Lord, I thank you for the opportunity you have given me in serving You.  I pray that I may continue to do so in a fashion that is pleasing to Your will.  Eternal Father, I am ashamed that I have walked away from the path of loving all of my neighbors as myself and I pray that a compassionate heart may return unto me.  Adonai,  as the Lord of Lords I pray that Your will may be done in Middle East and that those who remain Lost may find their way to the Gospel of Yeshua haMashiach.  I pray this in the name of Your blessed son Yeshua. Amayn.