It was great news to hear over the weekend that 4 Americans had been released from Iranian prisons including Pastor Saeed Abedini who has suffered greatly for his testimony of Jesus Christ.
The release comes as the controversial nuclear deal with Iran goes into effect and the United States releases more than a trillion dollars of sanction money and a few billion dollars in interest and oh yeah, 7 Iranian criminals.
While we are happy for the 4 Americans and their families, not to mention the safe return of US navy personnel, the question in my mind is if American diplomacy is so great and wonderful why do I feel like we got such a poor deal?
President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have been looking to make amends with Iran for what Ronald Reagan did and what Jimmy Carter could not, namely secure the release of the Iranian hostages and set the Ayatollah straight.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry are all too eager to negotiate with terrorists and terrorist states like Iran, they have all but surrendered the strength of America to get a few concessions from the world’s largest sponsor of terror.
We have been here before. There was a time when America was young and weaker that we paid the ransom demanded by Muslim countries to not capture Americans or sink our ships.
The time was just after the American Revolution when the United States did not have the military might it needed to hold it’s own on the high seas. It was the age of pirates and most of them were Muslims of the Barbary Seas. Paying the price that these early terrorists demanded was possible at first but did not set well with many Americans including Thomas Jefferson.
It was when the price became too great and hostages were taken all too often that the United States Marines were born. It was not easy to stand up to tyrannical governments operating by a pirate’s code but we soon overcame the scoundrels.
Today is no different, even as Mr. Obama announced the wonderful news of Americans finally being released by our paying the ransom; the president also announced new sanctions on 11 Iranian people and companies who took part in testing long ranged missiles.
Let me point out that nuclear sanctions were lifted this weekend that will allow Iran to further reach their goal of building a nuclear weapon that can be placed on the tip of missiles being developed to reach Israel and maybe even the United States.
In biblical prophecy we see the destructive nature of the nations that surround Israel with certain areas becoming impossible to inhabit. Iran is certainly a part of the coalition of nations that attempt to destroy Israel in the last days.
Iran has done little to deserve the great kindness we are now giving that nation, they certainly have not shown the change of heart that earns them greater access to nuclear technology. In fact, we now see Iran dumping large amounts of oil onto the market causing further destabilization of the world stock market.
These are times to try our faith and draw us toward the Lord as we see the Day approaching.
