FIVE ARAB COUNTRIES JOIN U.S. IN MILITARY CAMPAIGN TO DESTROY ISIS. "60 MINUTES" AIRS MUST-SEE INTERVIEWS WITH JORDAN'S KING & FORMER CIA DIRECTOR PANETTA ON GRAVITY OF ISIS THREAT.
By Joel C. Rosenberg (@joelcrosenberg on Twitter)
(Seoul, South Korea, September 23, 2014) -- The United States and a coalition of five Sunni Arab governments have just launched a coordinated military campaign to degrade and eventually destroy the Islamic State, a.k.a, “ISIS.”
The airstrikes represent a dramatic reversal of President Obama’s policy of refusing to get involved militarily in Iraq or Syria over the past several years despite the clear and growing threat of Islamic jihadists to U.S., Israeli and Arab national security.
Given that I have been researching and writing a new geopolitical thriller -- The Third Target -- about a New York Times reporter tracking the ISIS threat in Syria and Iraq, I am monitoring events in the region very closely. As the military campaign unfolds, I will offer analysis and links to news coverage.
I was also intrigued by an excellent report on “60 Minutes” on Sunday evening about ISIS. The report included must-see interviews with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and former CIA director Leon Panetta. Both said the stakes are very high and that more should have been done earlier to stop ISIS. (See blog.)
At the moment, my 17-year old son, Jacob, and I are in South Korea. We have been here for the last 10 days. Several Bible scholars and I have been teaching in seminaries and churches about God’s plan for Israel and the Jewish people, and the urgency of mobilizing the Korean Church to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all the people of the epicenter. Soon, we will return to Israel and I will post reports on what we did and learned here in Korea.
In the meantime:
• please join us in praying for U.S. and allied forces to have success in crushing ISIS.
• please pray for the Lord to protect U.S. and allied forces as they engage the enemy.
• please pray for Christians in Iraq and Syria who are being persecuted or even slaughtered by ISIS.
• please pray for American and allied leaders to have wisdom to know how best to prosecute this military campaign.
• please pray for The Joshua Fund leadership and staff to know how best to help our Arab and Kurdish brothers and sisters who are facing such grave danger -- we are currently providing assistance to Christians fleeing from ISIS, as well as Arab Christians in Iraq and Lebanon who are caring for these refugees.
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THE THIRD TARGET
I want to let you know that Tyndale House Publishers and I have decided to move up the release of my next novel because it focuses entirely on ISIS and takes you inside Syria, Iraq, Israel and the White House as the jihadist threat unfolds in a terrifying way.
THE THIRD TARGET will be released on January 6, 2015 in hardcover, ebook format, and as an audiobook.
It is available for pre-order right now at your favorite bookstore, and online.
It was originally schedule to be released in mid-March of next year.
Here’s a brief description. I promise to post more details -- including excerpts from the novel -- in the days ahead.
“When New York Times foreign correspondent J. B. Collins hears rumors that an al-Qaeda splinter cell -- ISIS -- has captured a cache of chemical weapons inside Syria, he knows this is a story he must pursue at all costs. Does the commander of the jihadist faction really have the weapons? If so, who is the intended target? The U.S.? Israel? Or someone else? With tensions already high, the impending visit of the American president to the region could prove to be the spark that sets off an explosion of horrendous proportions. Knowing that terrorist forces are already trying to bring down two Arab governments in the region -- Iraq and Syria -- can Collins uncover the truth before it’s too late? Or will the terrorists succeed in setting their sights on the third target and achieving genocide?”
Given the danger and urgency of the moment, I hope you will pre-order the book and let your family and friends know about it. In the meantime, please pray faithfully that the U.S. and our allies will work together to stop ISIS and crush it before it’s too late.
Thanks and God bless you.
novembercommunications@ixs1.net
