Executive Director/Producer, André van Heerden, doing some research for the upcoming documentary 12 BIGGEST LIES.

Sir Isaac Newton, said “I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by men who were inspired. I study the Bible daily. Opposition to godliness is atheism in profession and idolatry in practice. Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors.”

What did he mean by the words “Opposition to godliness is atheism in profession and idolatry in practice”? Modern atheism is “a disbelief in any gods.” This is the standard definition for the average committed atheist, and it comes from his image of what God or gods are.

Before we look at the atheist’s idolatry, let’s now look at some famous idolaters of the past and one in the present (but is soon to pass).

Adolf Hitler had his own concept of God. He didn’t like the God of the Bible (he was a fornicator and mass murderer), so he rejected the Old Testament, rewrote the Ten Commandments (as twelve), and created his own image of Jesus. His made-up Jesus wasn’t a Jew. He was an Arian. Adolf Hitler was a idolater, and the terror that resulted because of his idolatry, is history. Hitler violated the First and Second Commandment.

Albert Einstein also had his own concept of God. He created a god in his own image, one with which he felt comfortable. For some reason, he didn’t like the God of the Bible (he committed adultery many times). Einstein was an idolater. He violated the First and Second Commandment.

Mark Twain was also an idolater. For some reason, he didn’t like the God of the Bible (he wrote comprehensively in favor of adultery). Twain also violated the First and Second Commandment.

So was Charles Darwin. He was offended by the God of the Bible, so he made up his own god.

None of these men were foolish enough to be atheists. So they settled for the next best thing. Idolatry.

Which brings us to the genius of Newton, who says that the atheist is in truth, an idolater. The atheist professes to be an atheist, but in practice, he’s guilty of making up his own concept of God. He has an image of God in his mind for which he believes there is no evidence. Richard Dawkins is a typical example. He has an image of God as a “misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

That is his perception of God. That’s the god in which he doesn’t believe. In his mind, there is no evidence for that god. Richard Dawkins is an atheist “in profession” and an idolater “in practice.” So are his contemporary high profile atheists, and so are his many disciples. They are just like him–idolaters. He has brought forth after his own kind. Such has been the case from Adam, to Newton, to today. There has been no gradual changes.

- This blog is re-published with permission by Ray Comfort, of Atheist Central Blog
Ray Comfort is one of the leading minds interviewed in Cloud Ten Pictures‘ upcoming documentary 12 BIGGEST LIES.

André and Alex Jones on the set of Cloud Ten Pictures' upcoming documentary, 12 BIGGEST LIES.

I’m currently burning a lot of midnight oil going through all of the interviews we did for our next documentary THE 12 BIGGEST LIES. My biggest challenge by far is trying to keep it from becoming a 12 hour mini-series! There’s that much good material.

A lot of the great thoughts and themes surround the idea of truth. What is it? Who knows it? etc. One of the interviews we did was with Jack Kinsella. We used to work with him 15 years ago on the “This Week in Bible Prophecy” TV show. He currently writes “The Omega Letter” and a recent one certainly had my head spinning.

His bare-facts assessment of the Shirley Sherrod case reminded me of one of the quotes that our host Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules”, “Andromeda”, SOUL SURFER) says in the documentary: “It takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen.” That was Homer Simpson from “The Simpsons”. More of us need to stop listening to the lies and speak out against them – even if we’re called names.

- Blog by André van Heerden, Executive Producer/Director of Christian movie company Cloud Ten Pictures

Saint Shirley and The Dragon

A white US government employee was giving a speech to a group of other like-minded white people about how he conquered his deep-seated racial prejudices.

He told his all-white audience of a time when he had a chance to help a black farmer, but since he didn’t like black people:

“while he was taking all that time, trying to show me he was superior to me, what I was trying to decide was just how much help I was going to give him.”

I was struggling with the fact that so many white people have lost their farmland and here I was faced with having to help a black person save their land. So I didn’t give him the full force of what I could do. I did enough … [so he would] go back and report that I did try to help him.

“So I took him to a black lawyer that … had attended some of the training that we had provided, ’cause Chapter 12 bankruptcy had just been enacted for the family farmer. So I figured if I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him.”

THAT was when the white US government employee underwent an epiphany. Suddenly, it came to him that it wasn’t about black and white, ummm, yes it was, but ummm . . . no, it was about income redistribution.

“That’s when it was revealed to me that, y’all, it’s about poor versus those who have, and not so much about white – it IS about white and black, but it’s not – you know, it opened my eyes, ’cause I took him to one of his own …”

Of course, the white employee was immediately fired. But then other white people objecting, saying that, although the white guy was still a dyed-in-the-wool racist, he realized he was a racist and the speech was all about how he wished he really wasn’t a racist.

“Well, working with him made me see that it’s really about those who have versus those who don’t. They could be black. They could be white. They could be Hispanic. And it made me realize then that I needed to work to help poor people … God helped me to see that it’s not just about black people – it’s about poor people.”

Well, if this story were true and it were a white person speaking to an all-white group of sending a black farmer to seek help “from one of his own” would it STILL qualify as an “inspiring story of redemption?”

I like to think so. But somehow, I doubt it.

Obviously, the real story isn’t about a white person’s anecdotal story of how he “conquered” racism by deciding to help a black person he was being paid to help – it is about a black USDA official named Shirley Sherrod who made those statements in a speech before a Georgia chapter of the NAACP.

Andrew Breitbart posted the clip from which the above quotes were taken as a push-back against the NAACP’s condemnation of Tea Party supporters as racists. The NAACP, aware it was the first one to play the race card, reacted immediately by condemning Shirley Sherrod.

The White House also reacted immediately by ordering her fired. But then somebody played the part of the tape where Sherrod says circumstances caused her to morph from a racist to a socialist and ordered Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to rehire her.

Overnight, she was transformed from just another racist with a racist agenda into Saint Shirley of Sherrod. And conservative activist Andrew Breitbart was cast in the role of the Dragon for daring to post her comments.

If one Googles “Shirley Sherrod” today, one is bombarded with stories about Sherrod was ‘vindicated’ or how Andrew Breitbart ‘smeared’ Sherrod unjustly.

I don’t know if Breitbart unjustly smeared Shirley Sherrod – if Sherrod had been a white Republican instead of a black Democrat it would have been an entirely different story.

(When former Dixiecrat-turned Republican Strom Thurmond died, his NYTimes’ obit was headlined, “Former Segregationist Dies at 100” but when former KKK Grand Kleagle-turned-Democrat Robert Byrd died, the Times’ headlined his obit “Robert C. Byrd, Lion of the Senate, Dies at 92.”)

Breitbart made headlines when he offered $100,000.00 to the first person that provided evidence of the alleged racial epithets hurled at several black Congressional representatives that spawned the “Tea Party is Racist” myth.

(Despite the hundreds of cameras and other recording devices present, Breitbart still has his hundred grand.)

Yesterday, I quoted a one-liner from Dick Morris: “A racist is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal.”

But since Breitbart posted the videotape of Shirley Sherrod saying things about whites that no white person could say about blacks, it is Breitbart that is the racist.

Assessment:

I know I am not the first one to notice that since the election of America’s first post-racial president, race is all we seem to be talking about.

The White House has been directly involved in more race-based controversy in the first two years of this administration than any administration since the 1960’s Civil Rights era.

It was one year ago today that Obama announced that, while admitting he didn’t have all the facts, the white Cambridge police officer that arrested African American Studies Professor Henry Gates “acted stupidly” suggesting that the arrest was racially-motivated.

When it turned out that it was Henry Gates that began shouting racial epithets and that the arresting officer was a locally-famous race-relations instructor, Obama called for his infamous ‘beer summit’ to discuss race relations.

We touched on Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s pathological racism yesterday in our discussion of how the media conspired to conceal Obama’s racist background during the election campaign.

Then there is the case of the New Black Panther Party members that were charged with voter intimidation for standing outside a Philadelphia polling station brandishing nightsticks and hurling racial epithets at white voters.

The DoJ inexplicably moved for a dismissal of the charges after the defendants had pleaded guilty! The DoJ prosecutor turned whistle-blower after the dismissal, saying the decision to dismiss came from Attorney General Eric Holder together with a directive that the DoJ doesn’t prosecute blacks for racist crimes against whites.

The revelation of the mainstream media conspiracy to conceal Obama’s racist past was conveniently buried by the mainstream media’s effort to turn Shirley Sherrod from a racist in her own right into a victim of a racist Tea Party smear by making her seem to be a racist by playing a video of her admission she was a racist.

Two days ago, Shirley Sherrod was a black lady telling a race-based group about how she discriminated against a white guy because she didn’t like whites. \

Today, she is a victim of white racists who tried to ‘smear’ her as a racist because she admitted discriminating against a white guy because she didn’t like whites.

Only one of the accounts I read mentioned that Sherrod had won a $13 million discrimination suit against the USDA only days before being hired to the USDA job last year. It seems somewhat odd for the government to hire a sixty-one year old to a high leadership post — who had just successfully clipped them for thirteen million bucks.

I am not trying to ‘smear’ Shirley Sherrod based on race. I’m not trying to ’smear’ her at all. I didn’t bring up race. The first one to bring it up was Shirley Sherrod. The next one to bring it up was the NAACP. The next one to bring it up was the Obama administration and finally, the Obama media.

I’m simply talking about what they are talking about. Which brings us around to the point, which is that race relations in the United States have been set back decades — in just the past two years.

Reuters published what it called an “analysis” of the situation, saying “race has been an issue his [Obama’s] administration just can’t seem to avoid.” Sort of makes it sound like constant focus on racism has been pushed on Obama, rather than the other way around, doesn’t it?

To the mainstream media, the fact that Obama is black is the cause of all the racial tensions. Not that Obama is the racist – that doesn’t fit the propaganda narrative. All the tension is because he is black and whites resent him for it.

“Experts say that’s inevitable given Obama’s position as the first non-white U.S. president. Obama’s father was Kenyan and his mother a white American.”

To call that assessment an example of ‘willful ignorance’ would be charitable – it is more correctly an example of overt propaganda. The black population accounts for just 13% of the electorate, but Barack Obama beat John McCain by a comparative landslide.

He couldn’t have done that without a majority of white voters. He couldn’t have even gotten the nomination without a majority of white voters.

The only reason that race is an issue in America is because Barack Obama continues to keep the pot boiling. I am not a racist. I am uncomfortable even discussing it because I know that it will earn me the title because of my contention that racism is racism, even when the racists are black.

But the truth is color-blind. When somebody admits that they discriminate according to skin color, that is racism. Shirley Sherrod admitted that she used to discriminate according to skin color, but that her worldview shifted toward favoring discrimination according to economic status.

So she used to be a racist who discriminated based on skin color. Before she became a Marxist who cheerfully discriminates against the ‘haves’ in favor of the ‘have-nots’. (Maybe her new job will be Tom Vilsack’s old job?)

We’re living in strange days.

It is hard to keep up with the truth when it is only one of a wide range of choices available.

Unemployment continues to rise, so the administration brags about creating 125,000 jobs a month — and nobody asks where. The deficit has more than tripled since Obama took office, but the high deficits remain all George Bush’s fault.

The Republicans are responsible for tanking the economy, even though when the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, the economy was humming along nicely.

When a black government official discriminates against a white farmer, it is understandable because it is just payback, but if a white journalist shows her admitting it, then it is a racially-motivated smear.

The revival of racial politics in America is because white America resents a black president, even though the majority of white America voted for him – primarily because he is black.

The administration’s economic policies are working (honest!) and the successful conclusion to the Iraq War was Obama’s greatest achievement.

Conversely, the war in Afghanistan is a failure because George Bush took his eye off the ball to topple Saddam (giving Obama his ‘greatest achievement’).

The oil spill in the Gulf was BP’s fault, the half-hearted effort at cleanup was BP’s fault, but when BP finally capped it, it was because Obama kicked the right a**.

So, who are you going to believe? The Obama administration? Or your lying eyes? The choices are yours, but if you know what is good for you, you’ll keep those lying eyes shut.

Along with your mouth.

- Blog by Jack Kinsella of The Omega Letter

Dorothea Bauer in a scene from Nikki & Babs: Dos & Doubts

When I was little, my dad would always try to teach me important life lessons using analogies and by playing “Devil’s Advocate,” constantly trying to help me to see where my priorities should be and how to think things through. As I grew older, he started to state things more plainly as I had a greater capacity to understand what he was saying.

I have always loved acting. It is my passion, something in which I truly find joy. One day when I was talking with my parents about my dreams to be an actor professionally, they told me that I should pray about it and ask God to guide me and ask for His help when I was struggling. From then on I decided to offer my career up to God and let Him show me where he wants me to go in life.

When there came a time I was having trouble with a character, and my dad told me to pray about it and ask the Holy Spirit for inspiration. But I was confused. Why would I pray about acting? I pray about having a career in acting and I pray about what God wants me to do with my life and how to best follow the path He has laid out for me, but why would I pray about something as trivial as acting? God has bigger fish to fry. But my dad insisted, stating simply, “God is a better actor than you will ever be, a better writer and director than I will ever be; He is a better chemist, baseball player, accountant… Whatever you do God will always be better.”

And it is true. God is the Creator of all things. He is of course the master of all of these things, and He wants us to allow Him to be a part of our lives! God has given each of us talents which He wants us to use for Him. So, if God wants me to be an actor, then that is what I’ll do. And if I trust in Him and His plans, He’ll help me get there.

I remember watching an interview with baseball player Mike Sweeney – and on the cover of his Bible is a picture of a tandem bicycle. We sit in the back, it is our job to pedal as hard as we can and trust that the person in front will protect us and lead us down the right path. We just need to allow God to take that first seat.

Now, I pray when I am about to perform on stage or on film, I pray when I need help with a character, and I pray for God to remind me why I am crazy enough to want this in the first place. Acting is a hard gig to get into, but it is what God gave me a passion to do; and I know that He’ll help me out. After all, God is a better actor.

- Blog by Dorothea Bauer, who plays Nikki in Christian movie company Cloud Ten Pictures’ series Nikki & Babs: Dos & Doubts

Julia Roberts in a scene from EAT PRAY LOVE.

I always try to stay aware of what new movies are coming out. It’s a great way to see new trends, new approaches, and shifts within the film business. I’m also a huge fan of movie trailers.

A great trailer site is trailers.apple.com. On it I recently came across one for THE OXFORD MURDERS (Elijah Wood, John Hurt). It begins with a wise old professor asking the big question: “Can we know the truth?” I smiled as our latest documentary (THE 12 BIGGEST LIES) deals with just such a question.

I then watched another trailer. This one for EAT PRAY LOVE, starring Julia Roberts. Now who can’t like Julia Roberts? She’s warm, bubbly, attractive and has starred in such popular films as PRETTY WOMAN, ERIN BROCKOVICH, NOTTING HILL and many others.

This film is about Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) who seems to have everything ? a husband, a house, a successful career ? yet like so many others, she finds herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wants in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self?discovery. She eats well in Italy, she learns to pray in India and then finds true love in Bali. The trailer lays this all out and says things like: “When something is missing in your life. Risk everything… and let yourself go.” And then: “Discover the incredible true story of one woman’s journey to the center of her life.”

And the trailer concludes with declaring: “Your hope. Your faith. Your truth. Your courage.” It’s all set to up-beat, catchy, inspirational music and feels so warm, fuzzy and enlightening. The message couldn’t be anymore blatant: this film has the answers for anyone who isn’t feeling entirely satisfied in life. Julia’s character says: “I wanted to find my balance.” A wise spiritual man says: “if you could clear out all that space in your mind, you know what the universe would do? Rush in.”

Wow… you know how earlier I smiled at the question of “Can we know the truth?” I’m no longer smiling.

The fact is that there IS such a thing as truth and that it’s universal and exclusive and it is NOT affected by anyone’s perceptions, feelings or desires. Julia’s movie may say that you have to find “your truth” and “your faith” but regardless of how someone may “feel” about what they’ve found, if it’s not real and true then all you’re doing is deceiving yourself.

Taking the EAT PRAY LOVE trailer’s advice someone could “risk everything and let themselves go” by drinking lots of alcohol and doing drugs. Many people do this and it makes them feel good. You could even argue that it “opens their mind and lets the universe rush in”. But very few would argue that that’s a good thing to do. Why? Because the truth is that getting drunk and high is destructive and dangerous behavior. In the same way if someone is “risking everything” and basing their life on a faith without foundation (or on fleeting things like eating and love) then they too could be damaging their lives.

The most dangerous part of a movie like this (and no, I haven’t seen it but the trailer and description are pretty clear on its message) is that it all looks and feels so wonderful. But just because Julia Roberts is warm, vivacious and attractive doesn’t make the theme of the film any more true or any less dangerous for those who buy into it.

- Blog by André van Heerden, Christian movie company Cloud Ten Pictures‘ Executive Producer/Director

I vividly remember an event at a local Silvercity Movie theater that surprised and disheartened me. I had gone to see the big, explosive THE INCREDIBLE HULK (Ed Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt, Tim Roth) and was particularly interested in it as much of it had been shot in Hamilton and Toronto Ontario. The theater was pretty full and the movie certainly delivered on decibels, special effects and things being smashed, destroyed and squashed.

What I wasn’t expecting was a continuous glow from cell phones and blackberries and iPhones in the row down from me. A group of about 6 teenagers were texting throughout the film. Three immediate thoughts struck me: 1) What could be so important that they had to be texting during the film? 2) Why would they pay $12 to see a movie and then not watch it? 3) If this big Hollywood blockbuster with non-stop action and big budget effects couldn’t keep the interest of these kids… what chance did I stand with our films?

It was this 3rd thought that disturbed me the most. And it comes back to a central common question that exists for both those looking to share the Gospel as well as entertainers: “How do you reach people who are not interested in what you have to say?”

This very question came up on my latest cross-country trip while doing more interviews for THE 12 BIGGEST LIES (our next documentary). I was delayed in the Dallas Fort Worth Airport because of Hurricane Alex and was trying to connect to the internet but didn’t have an ethernet cable. Surprisingly the fellow sitting next to me (a senior systems analyst named Wayne Thompson) had an extra one and gladly shared it with me. (The name stuck with me as we have a Wayne Thompson who works for us.) I asked why he’d have an extra one and he said that his wife would say the same thing and that he always over-packed. I jokingly said that in this case I think he “packed just the right amount!” Wayne even said that I could keep it as he was about to rush to his flight.

Before he rushed off though we introduced ourselves and discovered that we were both in types of ministry work. Quickly we began discussing the very question I raised earlier: how to reach those outside church, outside ministries, those who have no interest in anything to do with faith or religion or a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

After he left I was struck by what a nice guy he was and was thankful for his generosity of the cable as I could get some work done. And then another thought struck me: you could try to reach people with high energy thoughts and debates (like Alex Jones – who we interviewed); or with deep touching personal testimonies (like Angelina Steenstra from “Silent No More”); or with a remarkably wide body of knowledge (like Kerby Anderson – Point of View, Probe Ministries) or a number of other different ways (as we’re attempting with our documentaries like DRAGONS OR DINOSAURS?) or you could be a very nice person who doesn’t hesitate to share an ethernet cable with a complete stranger in an airport and show by example how Christ has impacted your life. I know that approach worked for me! Thanks Wayne.

- Blog by André van Heerden, Executive Producer/Director at Cloud Ten Pictures

When my nephew Jared was young, we went shopping with our family. He and I wandered through the toy section looking at all the great stuff. One moment we were comparing action figures and the next he was gone.

I searched all around but didn’t find him. Then I had to find my sister and tell her I lost her son. Not one of my better moments. I was on the verge of panic but my sister remained calm, sure he was close by. After an intense search, we found him. I looked for Jared as desperately as I’ve looked for anything. I knew if I didn’t find him, life would never be the same.

I remembered that episode the other day when reading Jeremiah 29. Many people quote 29:11 as their favorite verse, but I find the following verses even more promising. We’re told if we call upon God and pray to Him, if we seek Him with all our hearts, He will be found by us.

God wants us to pursue Him and not give up. I pray to God, but do I chase after Him? Am I wholehearted about it, or just killing time before I start my day? He’s stirring my heart to chase Him, and I know He’s waiting for me. Not hiding, just waiting.

From the screening room,

Angela Walker
ChristianMovieNews.com

Cloud Ten Pictures' André van Heerden with Kevin Sorbo, Host of the upcoming documentary 12 BIGGEST LIES

It’s one of the all-time great movie lines. Tom Cruise’s prim and naive character Lt. Kaffee is demanding answers from Jack Nicholson’s Col. Jessep. Kaffee yells: “I want the truth!” Jessep growls back: “You can’t handle the truth!”

The nature of this argument from A FEW GOOD MEN is even more relevant today.

Truth has a way of dividing people. Truth has a way of upsetting people. Truth has a way of condemning people and truth has consequences.

I was recently doing a radio interview for our latest documentary release DRAGONS OR DINOSAURS? During the hour-long interview some people called in to ask some questions or make some comments. Most were cordial yet still questioning what I was saying. Then one caller came on and declared that everything I was saying was wrong because “evolution was a fact,” and that “everyone knew it was a fact.”

I pointed out that evolution is a theory because no one was there at the beginning of time, no one has ever seen evolution, and that the evidence for evolution is sketchy at best. She said that I’d probably say that gravity and germs were theories too. I said “No” and pointed out that it’s called the “law of gravity” and germs are just called germs. We went on to debate a bit about evolution and creation where her “facts” were based on “everyone knowing it” and “lots of evidence”. Yet when I said that lots of people saying something doesn’t make it true and asked for the actual evidence… she didn’t have any.

The sad truth is that we’re all guilty of believing what we’re told and unfortunately a great deal of what we’re told isn’t true.

Truth is exclusive and truth stands alone.

Which is one of the reasons that we’re so excited about our next documentary called THE 12 BIGGEST LIES. It tackles many of today’s assumed truths and pits logic, evidence and common sense against them. It’s also being hosted by popular actor Kevin Sorbo (Hercules, Andromeda, SOUL SURFER).

Here’s a true statement: this documentary will be controversial!

- Blog by André van Heerden, Executive Producer/Director at Cloud Ten Pictures

I’m currently working on our latest documentary: 12 BIGGEST LIES. It tackles just about every hot-button topic out there and challenges many preconceived truths with logic and common sense. We’ve already conducted some remarkable interviews with people like international speaker and author Ravi Zacharias and social commentator Michael Coren. As well as Nonie Darwish, Dr. Craig Hazen, Calvin Smith, Living Waters speakers Ray Comfort and Mark Spence and Dr. Stanley Monteith. More exciting interviews are coming including Jack Kinsella who writes the Omega Letter. In reading one of his latest letters I can’t wait to get him on camera. I had the pleasure of doing so for SHADOW GOVERNMENT and his dry sense of humor always helps drive some points home.

- Intro by André van Heerden, Executive Producer/Director of Cloud Ten Pictures

Only days after hailing the latest round of international sanctions against Iran, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates brought up the prospect of an Israeli attack on Iran.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that Iran, under a new set of United Nations sanctions, would become increasingly vulnerable to such a strike unless it halts uranium enrichment.

“Clearly, the purpose of which has come the sanctions and of the UN resolution is, combined with diplomatic efforts, to try and persuade the Iranian government that their security will actually be worse if they proceed with a nuclear weapons program than if they do not, because of proliferation in the region and the potential for military action, whether it’s from Israel or someplace else,” Gates said.

After a few harrowing weeks, some observers believe Iran has emerged from the latest Security Council sanctions stronger than ever. The sanctions don’t stop Iran from importing Russia’s S-300 air defense systems, gasoline or dual-use components. They don’t stop Iran’s state-owned shippers from operating abroad.

In a briefing on June 11 at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Gates said Israel and the United States were engaged in consultations regarding the Iranian nuclear threat. He said the U.S. intelligence community has assessed that Iran could be as little as one year away from nuclear weapons capability.

“We are in very close touch with the Israelis on developments in Iran,” Gates said. “I think everybody agrees we have some more time, including the Israelis. And we will just continue to work it as hard as we can.”

Unlike other administration officials, Gates did not urge Israel to refrain from attacking Iran. In April, Vice President Joseph Biden warned Israel against any such military operation.

Gates’s remarks came after a Security Council vote to impose sanctions on Iran. The administration has already acknowledged that the sanctions do not block Russia from selling the S-300 air defense and other systems to Teheran.

But the defense secretary, who in January warned the White House of Iran’s nuclear program, did not echo the confidence in the sanctions regime expressed by the rest of the administration.

“Most people think that the Iranians could not really have a nuclear weapon for at least another year or two,” Gates said. “I would say the intelligence estimates range from one to three years or so.

“But that’s different than weaponization or a delivery system or anything like that. But clearly, them getting to the threshold of having a weapon is what concerns everybody, not the other things.”

At the same time, the Center for Naval Analysis says the Navy has been ordered to reduce major operations in the Gulf by 2012. The Center for Naval Analysis report said Washington plans to get out of the Gulf as soon as it completes its withdrawal from Iraq.

The report, commissioned for the U.S. Navy, said the reduced presence in the Gulf was based on the expectation that Washington would reconcile with Iran.

“This reduced demand is predicated on the assessment that there would be a lower threat from Iran, or a similar rogue nation, and Islamic terrorist activity,” CNA said in a report dated March 2010. “Maritime security operations — e.g., piracy — would continue to be handled by coalition actions involving a modest level of U.S. forces.”

Great. But what if Iran doesn’t want to reconcile with us?

Assessment:

It seems clear that Iran has decided to push the envelope, not just with the US, but with Israel. Iran says it will dispatch a ship called “The Children of Gaza” on Sunday.

The privately owned ship, which will arrive in waters off the Gaza Strip in about two weeks, will be carrying about 1,000 tons of medicine and food aid, as well as clothing and toys donated by Iranian citizens. It will also be carrying five Red Crescent volunteers and five reporters.

The ship will sail through the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea and enter the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, according to reports.

Israel’s alleged peace partner, Egypt, has reportedly refused to close the canal to the blockade runners. (Egypt is also maintaining a blockade of Gaza.)

For its part, the White House believes that it can strike a ‘grand bargain’ with Iran if it downplays its relationship with Israel — ignoring the fact that Iran considers Israel “the little Satan” and reserves the epithet “the Great Satan” for the United States.

One of the main pillars of Iran’s revolution is embodied in its foreign policy slogan, “neither East nor West.” But that is evidently meaningless as far as the White House is concerned.

The Islamic regimes surrounding Israel have rightly concluded that the president will not lift a finger to help Israel — partly out of weakness and partly out of conviction. The Gaza blockade exists not to starve the Gazans, but to prevent Hamas from importing weapons it can use against Israeli civilians

That isn’t political rhetoric — it is political reality. While it is fashionable and even politically correct to hate Israel by pretending to be an anti-Zionist instead of an anti-Semite, it is illegal in many places and unwise in all cases to say anything negative about Islam.

But it isn’t Israel that is a threat to world peace. It has been said that if the Islamists laid down their arms, there would be no more war. If Israel were to lay down her arms, there would be no more Israel. History proves that indisputably true.

Still the world sides against Israel, preferring to believe what it wants to believe — because it doesn’t like the alternative explanation. The world would much prefer to believe that tiny Israel is the real threat, because otherwise the real threat is from the Islamic side.

Nobody wants to believe that. There are more than 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide. If only ten percent of them are fundamentalist Islamists, that is potentially 120 million jihadists.

It is preferable to see Israel as the real threat. It is delusional, but preferable. In our politically correct world, the truth is not what is true, but what people prefer to believe is true.

People prefer to believe that Israel is the aggressor because that scenario gives people hope for peace. After all, Israel wants peace, whereas Hamas exists only for the purpose of annihilating the Jewish state.

It doesn’t make any sense when one sits down and thinks about it but for those who form their opinions based on 30 second news soundbytes, thinking it through is just too scary.

The media continues to highlight the worst that they can find about America and Israel while ignoring Islamic excesses because they know they have nothing to fear from America or Israel and that the public doesn’t want to know about the dangers posed by Islam.

In the 1920’s Adolf Hitler coined the phrase “The Big Lie” to describe how to manipulate public thinking. He said that the public is far more willing to accept a big lie than a small one.

According to Hitler, the public will swallow a big lie on the premise that nobody would tell a lie that big if it weren’t true. Soon people begin to repeat the lie. And eventually, they start to defend it.

They will even defend it after they find out it is a lie rather than admit that they were fooled. Eventually, the lie becomes the truth and the actual truth becomes irrelevant.

It worked for the Nazis. It works for the White House. And it works for Islam

Remember the scene in the movie, A Few Good Men where Tom Cruise demands “the truth” from Jack Nicholson? The Nicholson character shot back, “You can’t handle the truth!”

When it was first spoken, that was just a great movie line. Today, it is the foundation upon which America conducts foreign policy.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2nd Timothy 4:3-4)

That time is now.

- Blog by Jack Kinsella of The Omega Letter

A screen capture from Sonlight Pictures' TV series, Nikki & Babs: Dos and Doubts, released this month to DVD from Cloud Ten Pictures.

William Shakespeare knew his audience very well. His genius was that he was able to craft wonderful stories that reached each level of the audience.

In the Globe Theater in London, the uneducated and poor masses would huddle around the stage on the flat floor. The educated and wealthy nobility and, at times, the royal family, would view the performances in the upper seats.

Shakespeare knew that his patrons who fund the theater were in the upper class, so he geared most of the story toward them, weaving intricate tales of deception, misunderstanding, disguise and intrigue.

For the rowdy lower class he also fashioned low brow characters who partook of too much drink, who spoke of inappropriate and exaggerated jaunts of debauchery and who always enjoyed a good story about bodily functions.

Both audiences were entertained and both left the theater satisfied.

Unfortunately for Christians today, it seems that almost all of the entertainment available, especially for our youth, is geared toward the low brow crowd.

It takes no special talent to tell crude jokes or stories laced with sexual innuendo. It’s not clever. It’s not original. It’s not interesting. Beyond that, it’s entirely forgettable.

It’s lazy storytelling.

Creating something fun and pure, that relies on actual wit and inventive, yet appropriate situations, is far more difficult.

Pop in the DVD for It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and you will see a clever and hysterically funny film performed by some of the greatest comedians in film and television history.

With our humble little show called Nikki & Babs, we tried to create a show that illuminates the morally uplifting ideas while extolling how our Christian beliefs are intertwined in our daily lives. Sure, it is but a small drop in the massive crevasse left by Hollywood, but we feel Jesus has called us to tell quality, entertaining stories that Christians can enjoy.

Hollywood used to create pure and wholesome entertainment like Little House on the Prairie, The Andy Griffith Show and Leave it to Beaver. After the cultural revolution of the 1960s they appear to have left those types of stories behind.

Jesus calls us to be holy and to achieve greatness in the sight of God. Hollywood is now in direct opposition to that end.

Christian filmmakers need to answer that call and create entertainment that inspire, that tell stories of moral victories, of overcoming challenges by living our faith and stories about relying on Jesus to guide our paths.

We, at Sonlight Pictures, try to do that.

We’re no Shakespeare, but we’re doing our best.

- Blog by Pete Bauer, Owner of Sonlight Pictures

The World Cup is underway!

Since I’m working today, that means that I have no idea how the US v. Slovenia match ended up. As soon as I clock out today I’ll be sitting down to retroactively cheer on the Stars and Stripes to victory (hopefully)!

For most of the US, the World Cup is just another blip on the sports radar. But to the rest of the world it’s the culmination of years of waiting. Billions of people will watch, analyze and enjoy the World Cup.

A few ministries view the World Cup as a prime opportunity for evangelism and outreach. Mission Network News reports on the efforts of HCJB to reach out to the youth of South Africa:

Not far from the excitement at Cape Town Stadium in Fish Hoek Valley, four churches will be using sports and the heightened interest in soccer to convey the message of Christ.

In a press release from HCJB Global, pastor of King of Kings Baptist Church in Fish Hoek, John Thomas, said, “Since the World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world, it follows logically that it has to be the biggest event to reach people for Christ.”

For the next four weeks, up to 1500 youth from age 4 to 17 will have the chance to improve their soccer skills, while they also improve their life skills such as teamwork, self-discipline, good sportsmanship, and making the best of everyday according to God’s Word.

After activities conclude daily at 4 p.m., that day’s World Cup games will be shown on a large screen while the children enjoy refreshments.

Pray for the kids HCJB and their partners will be impacting through this ministry. Pray also for God to be the ultimate victor throughout all of South Africa.

Do you think sporting events are a good way to reach out to people? Who are you cheering for this World Cup?

- Originally published at Gospel.com. Reprinted with permission.