CHARLES, on Mar 18 1998 you wrote,

Jake, regarding Iran, I have a pet theory. I have suspected for years that the "Little Horn" of Daniel chapter 8, was/is the Ayatollah Khomeini, i.e., he is the king of "fierce countenance" (literally strong of face in the Hebrew, I believe).

Truly 'strong of face' in Hebrew.

His significance lies not so much in what he did personally during his lifetime, but in what he set in motion as far as fundamentalist Islam is concerned, which is the implacable enemy of Israel and the Jewish people! As I've said before, I don't believe that it was any accident of history that when Israel was re-born (exactly as prophesied), Eretz Yisrael was surrounded by nations who would seek the ultimate destruction of God's Chosen People, and permanent ownership of the Land under the hegemony of Islam! It seems to me that the primary strategy of Ha-Satan is to try and thwart the plan of God as it's revealed in the Tanach (and of course for me, the Christian New Testament) and one of his most vicious schemes to accomplish this strategy is to deceive men into trying to destroy the Jewish people, who figure so prominently in the ultimate redemption of the world. And he's used Christianity to try and achieve this goal, I must sadly admit. I'm sorry that I've run on and on in this vein, because you probably find it akin of to a fairy tale. It's just that for me, there is such a spiritual dimension to anti-Semitism, apart from which it simply cannot be rationally explained. The Jewish people have contributed so much to the world, humanly speaking, so why have they been so hated through the centuries, unless there's a malevolent force operating behind the scenes, so to speak, orchestrating the repeated attempts to destroy them. And I believe that militant, fundamentalist Islam, upon which Iran has such a profound influence, is being marshaled by Ha-Satan for the final battle, in which the Lord "will roar forth from Zion" to destroy the enemies of Israel, and save her from final destruction!

Have a good look at the self-deceit: You are talking as if you were in a big and safe boat looking at a small and weak one, feeling compassion and wishing to help. You do not realize that your boat is on the same sea, and that the storm will rage to the point that no boat will be safe. The Kuran states that Jews AND Christians are the People of the Book, who should be considered as SOMEWHAT above the other INFIDELS. If you wish, I'll send you Khomeini's written intentions regarding ALL enemies of Islam. Charles, the Christian world is deceiving itself. Remember how initially it thought, "Well, Islamic Arab terrorists are angry at the Jews, for obvious reasons; they have nothing against us, ergo, we are safe from those terrorists." Charles, 'final destruction' is not a privilege set apart for the Jews! The peril embodied in the religion-driven interpretation of the Bible is a wrong vision of the future. Daniel's future passed away long ago. We ought to look now at the present future, not at the past future. The Tanach contains self-fulfilling prophesies.

Shalom, my friend. May Hashem shed his mercy and wisdom on us both!

Truly AMEN!