President Trump ordering the takeout of Iran’s top military strategist rocked the world Thursday January 2, 2020. The target, Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force, the division of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was responsible for militant and terrorist activities outside the country.

Reports say a drone strike obliterated two SUVs as they drove from the Baghdad International Airport. The man considered to be the most powerful and influential regime leader, second only to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a reported seven other ranking officials in Iran’s terrorist organizational structure, were killed.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Fox and Friends Friday morning that Soleimani was Khamenei’s “right fist.” He was all things military and terroristic rolled up into one, Pompeo said. “He was a bad guy.”

US Senator Lindsey Graham said on the same program that Americans should understand that Soleimani wasn’t killed because of past offenses, although many Americans were killed as a result of his terroristic planning over the years. He was taken out because of plans for future acts of murderous terrorism in Iraq and around the world. The intelligence indicated many such terrorist acts were being arranged by the Iranian master planner.  

It is thought by some that Israeli Defense Force (IDF) planners were key in helping Soleimani’s assassination. For this reason, Israel is on high alert for what the Iranians are doubtless preparing in retaliation. Regardless of Israel’s involvement or lack thereof, the Jewish state is being blamed for the matter alongside the United States. Flags of both nations are being burned throughout Iran and other Middle Eastern countries sympathetic to Iranian militancy.

Democrats and mainstream media are faulting President Trump for the action, which they claim is bringing on a devastating war in the region. Fears of what taking out the key Iranian terrorist might cause are summarized in the following excerpt.

Though the U.S. intelligence community has not assessed that Iran has an active nuclear weapons program, there are long-standing reports that it may have stockpiles of chemical weapons, which it could load onto these weapons.…

Non-kinetic alternatives, such as cyber attacks, could be another part of the equation.

If Iran were to pursue any of those options, it would almost certainly beget at least similar responses, though the United States has now shown a willingness to take increasingly disproportionate steps in its ostensible goal of deterring Iran. Major escalatory actions from either side also increasingly run the risk of drawing in other regional or even global actors who have a stake in the situation, such as Russia or China, in some way. There is also the danger that third parties could find themselves caught in the crossfire from future tit-for-tat military or terrorist attacks.

Iran also routinely threatens to blockade the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which it could do using a combination of ballistic and anti-ship cruise missiles, midget submarines, suicide drones, mines, swarming boat attacks, and more. This body of water links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and that serves as a transshipment point for 20 percent of the world’s oil and an equally significant portion of global natural gas. (Joseph Trevithick, “World Holds Its Breath after An American Strike in Iraq Kills Top Iranian Commander,” https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/31702/world-holds-its-breath-after-an-american-)

From the standpoint of prophetic perspective, one has only to know of the Iranian regime’s desire to keep things stirred in the Middle East. The Ayatollah is always focused on hatred for and revenge against Israel. America, as Israel’s close ally and umbrella protector, is considered an even greater enemy because it holds the ultimate power to oppose the destruction the Iranian leadership wants to wreak upon all enemies.

The question to consider involves whether this action–killing the chief terror-master in Iran and perhaps the entire world–will cause Iran to push its vengeance to the brink. The brink in this case is an all-out attack on Israel, or American forces that remain in that theatre of possible war.

Mr. Trump, bold as always with his assessments, said that Iran hasn’t won a war or lost a negotiation. By that, I take it that the president supposes that negotiations at this point are not in view and that they would lose a war should it start.

That is almost surely true. As powerful a force as Iran is in comparison to others of the region, it would be no match for the massive force the United States could bring down upon the regime. And, this is considering only the use of the most basic of modern, military weaponry, excluding that of the nuclear sort.

War with Israel, on the other hand, would be much more horrific if an all-out attack came from Iran. All bets would be off as to whether the ultimate weapons in Israel’s arsenal would be used if pushed to that brink.

The one prospect that probes and pulses at the back of the mind is this: Will Iran’s vengeful actions—which are certainly coming—be the catalyst for destruction of its nuclear laboratories? Is the strike that has so profoundly shaken the world at the very first of this New Year the act that will bring fulfillment of the prophecies of Jeremiah 49:34–39?

In my Nearing Midnight commentary of December 9, 2019, I wrote the following in summation of my article, “Gog’s Persian Prophecy Partner”:

A major part of all this that might be of interest to prophecy watchers, in my thinking, is whether the current and building resistance to the Muslim rulers of Iran will bring stepped up activity in fulfilling their nuclear ambitions… They will almost certainly not step up dismantling that program. Becoming a nuclear power, thus a hegemonic regional force, is, I believe, a supernaturally induced desire, placed there by the Prince of Persia, or that minion’s superior, Lucifer, himself.

If the ayatollahs determine their own positions are threatened, might they go all out to complete getting the ultimate weaponry that they think will assure their continuing rulership?

It has long been my contention that something prevents the Gog-Magog force from storming toward Israel using nuclear weapons. At least, that’s the way I read the Gog-Magog forces in regard to their weaponry.

It seems there are no nukes involved—at least, none used by these evil attackers. The Lord, Himself, seems to use something at least as horrific as nuclear weaponry in dealing with those attackers, but their forces seem to be conventional.

As President Trump often says: “Let’s see what happens.”

There are few other than yours truly who more adamantly support this president and what he has done and attempted to do to change America’s downward spiral. Donald J. Trump has indeed been a force I believe put in place by the God of Heaven to, for the Lord’s own good reasons, turn the nation back from the globalist direction in which the minions in high places were moving America.

Mr. Trump, I’ve often expressed before, is not a godly man, meaning he doesn’t display the characteristics of a person who is “born again” from above (John 3:3). He is, as many Christian supporters describe, “rough around the edges.” That is considered an understatement by some. This president can be positively philistine in his rhetoric on occasion–like, for example, in the remark he recently made about a now-deceased political adversary as burning in Hell.

His counter-punching power, as he is accredited with having as no other president in history, lands devastatingly sometimes with, apparently, little regard for whom it’s thrown against. At the same time, President Trump often shows compassion and genuine humility in dealing with people on a personal level. This warm, caring part of his demeanor is never reported or shown by his detractors, which include the most powerful propaganda machine on the planet–the combined American news and entertainment industries.

They strive not daily, but minute by minute, to display him at his most bombastic, arrogant worst, as they want us to perceive him. The polemics of national and international politics provide these hate-filled false news purveyors (as Trump has branded them) perfect atmospherics for trying to destroy him.

So it is that background for this God-placed, yet flawed man from which I present what I believe is a dangerous disconnect he needs to correct. My hope is that some of his advisers and friends who are well-seasoned Christians in the study and knowledge of God’s Word will offer corrective counsel to the president.

An article a friend emailed me sparked the writing of this commentary. Its content disturbed him, as it disturbs me. The piece explains that the president of Zambia, a nation where they say everyone is a billionaire, has dismissed a US ambassador because of a profound disagreement.

First, by way of explanation: Zambians are joked about as all being billionaires because their currency is so degraded due to hyperinflation. It takes literally billions of their dollars to live through a twenty-four-hour period. As I take it from talking with those who know economics much better than I, Zambia’s currency situation makes the pre-Hitler days in Germany and that nation’s hyper-inflation look fiscally sound by comparison.

Despite their terrible economic distress, the nation is apparently steeped in the Christian ethic. The nation’s president is said to be a Christian who adheres strictly to their constitution. That document holds forth that homosexuality and all attendants to it is anti-biblical, thus subject to criminal prosecution.

LUSAKA — The president of Zambia is continuing to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to decriminalize homosexual sex acts worldwide, as U.S. Ambassador Daniel Foote threatened to pull aid to the African nation after two men received lengthy prison terms. President Edgar Lungu defended the sentence by declaring that homosexuality is “unbiblical and unChristian,” and “we don’t want it.” Foote has now reportedly been recalled from the country as Lungu refuses to work with him, and a replacement is not expected anytime soon.

“We have complained officially to the American government, and we are waiting for their response because we don’t want such people in our midst,” Lungu advised on ZNBC-TV on Dec. 15. “We want him gone.” (Heather Clark, “‘It’s Unbiblical and UnChristian’: Zambian President Resists Trump Admin’s Push to Legalize Sodomy Under Threat of Losing Aid,” Christian News Network, 12/26/29, Rapture Ready News, 12/27/19.)

American Ambassador Foote was appointed in 2017 by the Trump administration. He criticized and threatened with possible economic sanction the Zambian government for sentencing to prison two men who were caught in the act of having sexual relations. The court found the act was “against the order of nature.” The men were sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

Section 155 of the penal code in Zambia states that “any person who…has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or…permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years” to life in prison.

The Trump Administration recently launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality. Early in 2019, in a move the administration made that gave support to Pride Month. Trump himself confirmed his nod of approval on social media, writing: “As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.”

In September, at the UN General Assembly, President Trump stated: “As we defend American values, we affirm the right of all people to live in dignity. For this reason, my administration is working with other nations to stop criminalizing of homosexuality, and we stand in solidarity with LGBTQ people who live in countries that punish, jail, or execute individuals based upon sexual orientation.”

The Zambian president stated: “We know that there could be people who are homosexual in Zambia. But we don’t want to promote it, because we frown upon it—the practice. Most of us say it’s wrong. It’s unbiblical, un-Christian and we don’t want it,” Lungu told Sky News on December 2, adding that he felt the two men sentenced are “sick” and need help.

“Why should we be forced to do it?… We want to be seen to be smart, to be seen [as] civilized and advanced and so on,” he continued. “If there are such countries which will allow bestiality, let them do it. But not here.”

Ambassador Foote, who said he was “horrified” at the severity of the sentence and at the use of the term “bestiality” in reference to the homosexual act, stated, “Discriminatory and homophobic laws, under the false flags of Christianity and culture, continue to kill innocent Zambians, many of whom were born with the [AIDS] virus. Your citizens are terrified of being ousted as HIV-positive, because of the inaccurate and archaic associations between HIV and homosexuality.”

Foote stated further, “My job as U.S. ambassador is to promote the interests, values, and ideals of the United States… Zambia is one of the largest per-capita recipients of U.S. assistance in the world, at $500 million each year. In these countries where we contribute resources, this includes partnering in areas of mutual interest, and holding the recipient government accountable for its responsibilities under this partnership.”

The Zambian administration asked that the American ambassador be removed for his condemnation of their biblically based constitutional prerogatives. The State Department complied. The US is considering a replacement in that ambassadorship, as I understand it.

So, we see the extreme difficulty in ferreting out what is right, wrong, unfair, and whatsoever in terms of international diplomacy.

The disconnect between America’s return to a moral posture and existential diplomatic exigencies is stark indeed. It is a dangerous disconnect for humankind, to be sure. The Zambian leader and his constitution about morality are correct. But they are biblically correct, not correct in human, diplomatic terms.

This is why, sadly, Donald Trump–nor anyone else–can never make America great, as God views greatness. It is why there will never, this side of the millennial reign, be the kind of peace God meant for this world.

It will take the return of Jesus Christ to make that kind of greatness and that kind of peace a reality. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!