Daryl Hedding

I Samuel 11 tells the fascinating story of how Israel came to be united under Saul’s kingship. As with all Old Testament stories, God has given them to us so we can learn from them and apply the principles revealed therein. This story is no different, and even gives us invaluable insight into how the Lord views events happening in our own lifetime. In this chapter, the Ammonites come up against Jabesh. The people of Jabesh seek terms of peace but are presented with a horrible proposition; in return for peace the Ammonites want the right to cut out the right eye of every man and bring a reproach on all Israel. Apart from the stigma and shame attached with having a whole community’s eyesight disabled, it is also evident that the Ammonites sought to ensure that Jabesh remained immobilized, defenceless against future attacks. If the men of Jabesh could not defend themselves well with both eyes, removing the right eye would certainly ensure that even in the future they would not be able to...

For the last 70 years, one thing has stood between tyrants and their ability to have their way in this world; American hegemony. Despised from Europe to the Middle East, it nevertheless managed to rid the world of the Third Reich, the USSR and yes, even Saddam Hussein. So, how is it that the land that afforded the West so much of the freedom it has enjoyed is not much appreciated around the globe? The only way I can explain it is to say that I do not believe the concept of "The West" even exists much in Europe anymore, let alone any other part of the world. I lived in Finland for a few years, and people there hardly knew what I was talking about when I referred to the West. This may be a result of a historical disconnect from the concept, but I think it more attributtable to a conceptual disconnect from history. Wikipedia explains the West to be: Western European or Western European-derived nations which enjoy relatively strong economies and stable governments, allow freedom...

This is a follow up to my previous blog about the mystery that is Jerusalem and the struggle that still rages over its sovereignty . As if to prove the point I made about President Obama laying a foundation upon which Israel's claim to sole sovereignty is denied, his administration has now been found to have asked Israel not to build apartments in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. There are numerous problems with this development. The primary issue goes back to Israel's sovereignty. What's apparent is that Obama, like so many other Presidents before him, lusts after the Holy Grail of world peace; reconciliation between Israel and the Arabs. What's frightening is that he's decided Israel's natural expansion in the land is the greatest impediment to that peace being achieved. On the one hand, it's confirmation of the fact that Israel's contribution to this conflict has little to do with its military endeavors, and a lot more to do with the...

There's something mysterious about Jerusalem. I've lived there, on two separate occasions, for a total of almost seven years and I'm always excited to go back. Yet, when I finally get there, after the long climb up the road from Ben Gurion airport, it's always a little anti-climatic. On paper, Jerusalem is really nothing that special. Sure, it has the history, but there are far more beautiful cities in the world. There are certainly cleaner ones, with better planning and nicer drivers. Yet everyone wants a piece of it. And everyone has a different opinion on who it belongs to and what should be done with it. Even President Obama. In his famous speech from Cairo, Obama opined for "all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer". This story is traditionally understood by Muslims to have occurred on the Temple Mount. Aside from the obvious problems there are with a...

This week, Obama gave another commencement speech, this time at Notre Dame University. Not afraid of a little controversy, he waded into the abortion debate right there in front of a community of Catholics. His "fair-minded" approach was to suggest that since the pro-choice and pro-life views are irreconcilable, we should all focus on reducing unwanted pregnancies and increasing adoption. Sounds good, right? Maybe in a world where we all accept abortion is not murder. However, less and less of us are buying that , despite our pay grade. Almost 90% of abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy . Mid-way, at six weeks, the heart is already beating . You don't need special training to work out whether that little fella is alive yet or not. Even if we assume that only 25% of abortions occur after 6 weeks, that amounts to a quarter of a million lives being aborted annually in the US. None of this resonates with our President, despite his statement that it has "mor...

I decided to tune into last night's broadcast of the President's first commencement speech at Arizona State University. Having recently attended my wife's commencement at Vanderbilt University, I was interested to hear what Obama would have to say to graduates entering work life in the current economic climate. First off, there's no doubt that the President can deliver a mean speech. He could easily have the reverse career of Reagan and go into acting after politics. Not likely, but anyway, besides great delivery, there was actually some good content in the speech. I think his main take-home for the graduating class of 2009 can be summed up by the simple phrase, "substance over form". While attacking the culture of greed that has permeated American society, he successfully, I believe, inspired the next generation to take a path more righteous; to forgo the pursuit of wealth and status in favour of a life of meaning and accomplishment. Good stuff. Can't fau...

A friend of mine was very kind to point out, following my blog about Obama bowing to the Saudi King , that it is not uncommon for the President to strike this posture when meeting other heads of state. To prove this, below is a picture of Obama from his recent trip to Mexico where he met the Mexican President and his family. See, he even bows to the family dog! So, what exactly have we proved here? Seems Obama treats the Saudi King just like a dog. And the English Queen? Well, she'll just have to settle for being pawed by Michelle.

Sometimes, actions really do speak louder than words. If Obama's body language during his recent trip to the UK is anything to go by then we should all be very worried as to where his loyalties really lie. Here he is meeting the Christian Queen of England: And here he is meeting the Muslim King of Saudi Arabia: Did you see him bow to the Queen? No. Think about it.

Everyone's outraged by $165 million in bonuses paid out by AIG to its executives after being bailed out by the government to the tune of $180 billion. Congress is moving quickly to slap on a tax to recoup the money. Obama even feigned some anger , telling Geithner to find a way to block the bonuses. Bunch of hypocrites. Just last week, Obama called for the earmark process to be reformed while rushing through a $410 billion spending bill that included $8 billion in earmarks. Apparently, there wasn't time to go line by line through that bill, given the urgency, so the American public just has to suck it up again. Funny how that works, because one might think that had proper thought been given to the AIG bailout, the company may have been forced to first renegotiate its contracts to exclude costly bonuses, before any money would be handed over. Should we really expect irresponsible companies to behave after being rewarded for almost ruining the entire financial system? No, I gue...

Four days ago, Dutch MP Geert Wilders was refused entry to the UK on the grounds that he would threaten public security. He was interviewed by the BBC after being detained immediately upon arrival. It should be noted that Wilders represents the 3rd largest political party in the Netherlands and that he has no criminal convictions against him in the EU. Charges of hate speech have been filed against him in the Netherlands, but he is still innocent until proven guilty. Wilders had actually been in the UK a few weeks before, without inciting any violence, or threatening any public security. The issue here comes down to the fact that he was invited to show his movie Fitna at the House of Lords. Wilders has had numerous death threats made on his life as a result of the critical views of Islam he expresses in the film. As if that is not ironic enough, it would seem that the British government is now willing to muzzle free speech for fear that its Islamic community may live up to the kind of...

It's popular nowadays to bash Bush. Few will rally to his defence. But, today, that didn't stop the President from defending Israel, and laying the blame for the ongoing violence in Gaza squarely at Hamas' door. He said that Israel has the right to defend itself and that a truce must see Hamas unable to launch more rockets into Israel. Bush has set a standard for dealing with the Israel-Palestinian conflict; no moral equivalence. Try to find another world leader who's ready to call it like it is, who's willing to take a side and admit the obvious that Hamas and the Palestinians who voted them into power have brought this trouble upon their own heads. Obama has many challenges before him when he takes office this month. Meeting the Bush standard on this issue will certainly be one of them.

By pure chance, I caught most of Ann Curry's Dateline NBC interview with Rick Warren last night. Warren's choice by Obama to give the invocation at his January inauguration has been met by outrage by the gay community. That's because they were already angry with Warren for supporting "Prop 8". Against this backdrop, Curry clearly decided that the viewer needed her to play some kind of devil's advocate. At one point she actually said this (emphasis added): Your position has raised the specter that you are homophobic. And that is why people are angry. Gay people are angry. And how is it possible for them to be civil when someone-- maybe deny-- you would say, "I don't like what you are." You understand that. To me, it seems a lot like she actually condoned the kind of harrasment that the gay community has launched against the likes of Rick Warren and the Mormon church for their opposition to the redefinition of the term marriage. Warren did a good ...