Looking back and looking ahead
I returned from my deployment in August of 2010. Things haven't gone as I expected since I got home. I have faced many unexpected set backs and unfortunate turn of events, which included the unexpected and untimely death of a close friend. However, some positive developments have also taken place. I won the BAR scholarship and participated in an archeological excavation in Galilee. I also got to visit the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha. Since I have come home I have written fifteen books. These being:
The Language of Jesus: Introducing Aramaic
Christ's Language: Spiritual Insights from Aramaic
The Lord's Prayer in the Original Aramaic
Jesus the Poet: Christ's Word's as Hebrew Poetry
The Second Adam and the Restoration of All Things
The Ascents of James
Saint Thaddeus and the King of the Assyrians
The Assyrians the Oldest Christian People
Judas Maccabeus: The Hammer of God
Charles Martel: The Hammer of God
Maccabee: The Story of Hanukkah
A Soldier in Iraq
The Secret of Jabez
The Ennead: The Story of Osiris, Isis and Horus
The Art of the Ennead
(This means that I have written 21 books in total. I had four books written before my deployment and I wrote two books during the deployment.)
I also decided to make some of my books available in the Kindle and Nook formats. My "Bestseller" seems to be "The Language of Jesus: Introducing Aramaic." This book was meant to be for promotional purposes. I decided to make it available in kindle and after I did that I decided to put it in print form as well. Both formats are selling well-but I am not making much money off of it. This is partly because I set the sale price low-because it was meant to be a promotion. I haven't written any books to make money-but rather to advance knowledge. Perhaps I can increase awareness of Aramaic as the language of Jesus and also of the Assyrians and their disparate plight.
YouTube now allows me to put videos up that are longer than 10 minutes. I am not sure how long my programs can be now-but at least an hour and a half. This actually opens up to be more possibilities. Now, I have been availing myself of this new opportunity. I have almost two hundred videos up and have had over 300,000 views of my YouTube channel so far. I have decided that my YouTube channel is important. As I have stated I have put up teachings onto YouTube. The drawback is that being on YouTube exposes you to cyber-bullying and "dislikes." Oh well. It should be remembered that Jesus Christ experienced opposition-that was so serious that it culminated in the loss of his life-and promised his followers that they too would encounter opposition. My YouTube is www.youtube.com/aramaic12.
I also have my blog. I never took it seriously, but it has also received tens of thousands of hits as well. The blog is www.aramaicherald.blogspot.com.
I am still in the National Guard. Now that Obama is cutting back the military it means a lack of funds for the military. I was looking forward to another deployment. I think the real world is going to intrude soon and we will have rotations of deployments again. Right now, it looks like rotations of deployments for reservists are a thing of the past. Since 9-11, it has been a deployments every three years for reservists. I am concerned about policy changes being made in the military. I don't know how much longer I will serve.
I was hoping to get a job teaching at a Christian college when I got back. That hasn't worked out yet. So, as we head into 2012 I and the nation-heads into uncertain times.
Several books have been written arguing that we are going to see the demise of America very soon ("After America" by Mark Steyn, "Suicide of a Super-power" by Patrick Buchanan, and "I never thought I'd see the day…" by David Jeremiah.) I think these Jeremiads are correct. The United States has become polarized. Just look at the past three elections-it was pretty much 50/50. There doesn't seem to really be a lot that unites "Americans"- whatever that means or is-anymore. I believe that if the Left wins the 2012 election it will be the end of America. Elections won't matter after that. They don't really anymore now. The Left wants a totalitarian police state and if they win this election, they will get it, and there won't be any going back. The "American" experiment with "democracy" will be over. I really wish I could leave this country. I don't want to have anything to do with the Democrat's police state and America as they are re-making it. At the end of 2012, if the Left wins, America will no longer be a free country. I am seriously considering how I can escape the coming tyranny. If freedom loving Americans unite to resist tyranny, I would be willing to participate in the struggle for freedom. But hopefully, peace and justice will prevail. But the debt and entitlement spending is unsustainable and will bring about hard times. Most likely, Obama is going to be voted out of office. The only way he could be re-elected is through voter fraud and/or re-creating the mass hysteria that got him elected in the first place. (That mass hysteria and "cult of personality" over Obama was very frightening to me. I thought America was immune to such demagoguery as was/is seen in Mussolini's Italy, Castro's Cuba and Chavez's Venezuela. But I was wrong. Democracy is very fragile.) We live in uncertain times and 2012 is going to be a very decisive year. If my fears are unfounded-they serve as an example of the polarization we now have. The Democrat Party needs to moderate.
In January 2012, I will be going to Uganda. Please pray for me. I will preach a series of messages there. Phillip Jenkins wrote a book a few years ago entitled "The Next Christendom" in which he argued that South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia represent the future of Christianity. While I disagree with a lot of what Mr. Jenkins says-this is most likely true. Perhaps, Uganda and other such Christian nations will become the new bastion of freedom after America declines. If America falls, I hope people realize that the radical left, judicial activism and academia killed the country. OUR HOPE IS IN JESUS CHRIST (Yeshua the Messiah)-not in America or any politician or human being. America was once a great country and I love what it used to be and it breaks my heart to see America being destroyed by radical "Democrats."
Aramaic Voice of Jesus/Assyrian News
In response to the renewed violence against Assyrian Christians in Iraq, I have decided to do a weekly "podcast" on my "you tube" channel and I have also decided to start uploading videos onto God Tube. The new program will be entitled "Aramaic Voice of Jesus/Assyrian News." Please check it out at www.youtube.com/aramaic12 and www.godtube.com/aramaic7.
The Complete Works of Stephen Andrew Missick
The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic: Discovering the Semitic Roots of Christianity (Xulon Press, 2006)
Mary of Magdala: Magdalene, the Forgotten Aramaic Prophetess of Christianity (Xlibris, 2006)
Treasures of the Language of Jesus: The Aramaic Source of Christ's Teaching (Xlibris, 2006)
Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth (Xlibris, 2008)
Christ the Man (Xulon Press)
The Hammer of God: The Stories of Judah Maccabee and Charles Martel (Xulon Press, 2010) ( Charles Martel: The Hammer of God and Judas Maccabeus: The Hammer of God (Createspace 2011) are also available.
The Ascents of James: A Lost Acts of the Apostles (Create Space 2010)
The Second Adam and the Restoration of All Things (Create Space 2010)
Saint Thaddeus and the King of Assyria: The Aramaic Origins of Christianity (Create Space 2010)
A Soldier in Iraq (Createspace 2011)
The Lord's Prayer in the Original Aramaic (Createspace 2011)
Jesus the Poet (Createspace 2011)
The Ennead and The Art of the Ennead (Createspace 2011)
The Secret of Jabez (2011)
KINDLE BOOKS
(These books are also available in hard copies.)
The Language of Jesus: Introducing Aramaic (2010)
Judas Maccabeus: The Hammer of God (2010)
NOOK BOOKS
Christ's Language: Spiritual Insight from Aramaic (2011)
ARTICLES
(Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies www.jaas.org)
The Assyrian Church in the Mongol Empire, Mar Thoma: The Apostolic Foundation of the Assyrian Church in India, and Socotra: The Mysterious Island of the Church of the East which were published in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies (Volume XIII, No. 2, 1999, Volume XIV, No. 2, 2000 and Volume XVI No. 1, 2002).
VIDEOS
(Crossover Videos: www.thecrossoverproject.org)
Iraq's Christians in Crisis
The Armenian Genocide
COMIC BOOKS
The Assyrians: The Oldest Christian People
Chronicles: Facts from the Bible
The Hammer of God: Character and Historical Reference
The Hammer of God Coloring Book
The Hammer of God Mini-Comic
The Hammer of God: The Battle for Religious Freedom
The Year Ahead
I believe it is good to have a vision for the future. So what our my goals/objectives/ "resolutions" for the coming year? Upcoming Projects:
Current Projects I am working on
- The Hammer of God: The Battle for Religious Freedom (Comic Book)
- Restoration of the Lost Ark of the Covenant
- The Epic of Baal
- The Exodus Narrative
- The King of Israel: Exploring Messianic Dynamics
- A Chaplain in Iraq
- The Four Principles of Moderate Islam
- What Every Christian Needs to Know About Islam
- What the Koran Says About it
- The Kenites: The Tribe of Yahweh
- The Clan
- The Mighty Crusaders (Comic Book)
- The Day of Rage (Comic Book)
- Hammer of God Activity Book (Comic Book)
- The Seven Signs
- Is the Cross a Pagan Symbol?
- The Jewish Roots of the Early Church Fathers
- Babylon Mystery Religion
- Surviving Vestiges of Assyrian Christianity's Cultural Influence Upon Modern Mongolian Culture (JAAS article)
- The Mandaeans (JAAS article)
- The Shepherd King
- Amduat
- Akhenaten
- The Aramaic New Testament
- The 613 Commandments
- Saint Thomas in India
- The Assyrian Christian Heritage (Comic Book)
I have a lot of other ideas as well-but these are the concepts/projects that I want to focus on first. I am applying for a doctoral program. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will be accepted into one. In the mean time, I am going to get my teachers certification. I will probably end up teaching High School. I got to do something for money. I would like to go and visit Egypt again and go on an expedition to explore Christianity on the Silk Road but we will see about that due to financial constraints. While I feel pessimistic about America's future, I feel optimistic about my own.
New Resource: I recommend William J. Federer's "What Every American Needs to Know about the Qur'an: A History of Islam and the United States." He also gave an excellent interview on "Living with Joy with Phil Waldrep" (www.livingwithjoyradio.com).
The Threat of War with Iran CAIRO (AP, Dec 29, 2011) — With missile batteries, fleets of attack boats and stocks of naval mines, Iran can disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz but probably cannot completely shut down the world's most important oil route, military analysts say. The question for Iran's leadership is whether it is worth the heavy price. Trying to close the strait would bring down a powerful military response on Iran's head from U.S. forces in the Gulf and turn Tehran's few remaining international allies against it.That Iran is making such dire threats at all illustrates its alarm over new sanctions planned by the U.S. that will target oil exports — the most vital source of revenue for its economy. Iran's leaders shrugged off years of past sanctions by the U.S. and United Nations, mocking them as ineffective. But if it cannot sell its oil, its already-suffering economy will be sent into a tailspin."It would be very, very difficult for Iran even to impede traffic for a significant period of time," said Jonathan Rue, a senior research analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. "They don't have the ability to effectively block the strait."What the Iranians can do, Rue and other analysts say, is harass traffic through the Gulf — anything from stopping tankers to outright attacks. The goal would be to panic markets, drive up shipping insurance rates and spark a rise in world oil prices enough to pressure the United States to back down on sanctions. The strait would seem to be an easy target, a bottleneck only about 30 miles (50 kilometers) across at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman.Tankers carrying one-sixth of the world's oil supply pass through it, from the fields of petrogiants Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbors, exiting the Persian Gulf into the Arabian Sea and on to market. They move through two two-mile-wide shipping lanes, one entering the Gulf, one exiting.
I think that it is very likely that Iran will attempt to close the Straits of Hormuz. And, our anti-war president will bring us to war in Iran (as he did in Libya). When gas prices go up to $5 a gallon, all those Democrats who chanted "No blood for oil" will demand that we go to war for oil. I can see it happening and I think it is very ironic-and it will show that Liberal's hypocrisy knows no bounds. (This is illustrated by their defending Clinton during all his sexual wrongdoings-and then using tame accusations when compared with those made against Clinton to force Herman Cain out of the presidential race.) Our current administration has been projecting weakness abroad. As a consequence, the enemies of the United States are emboldened. The weakness will bring about conflict that could have been avoided if we didn't have weak, inept and inexperienced leadership. Unless we confront the problem with radical Islam-a global war between the Islamic world and the non-Islamic world is inevitable. People need to get out of denial.
IN THE COMING YEAR: I appeal to you to please be aware of the persecution of Assyrian and Coptic Christians. On "Facebook" there is "Save Assyrians" and they seem to be dong a good job of getting information out. Please pray for Middle Eastern Christians.
Premature Departure by Danielle Pletka from USA Today, Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Barack Obama recently suggested that "history will judge the original decision to go into Iraq," a graceful retreat from his original pronouncement that the war was "dumb." But adherents to the "dumb" school remain legion on the far left and right, trapped in post-traumatic Bush hysteria and doctrinaire anti-war catechism. Mindful, however, that even the most ardent of anti-war activists have tired of re-litigating the original cause for the invasion, "dumb" schoolers have redirected their venom toward the Iraqi people themselves. But this new concept — that beneficiaries of American liberation must "earn" that right — puts the war's opponents in an awkward position. They are reduced to hoping for failure on the ground, gleefully trumpeting each misstep as further proof of the dumbness of the war. Lucky for them, then, that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki used the occasion of the departure of American troops to execute a slow-motion sectarian coup. Within days of Obama's triumphal declaration of departure, al-Maliki issued an arrest warrant for his Sunni vice president and paraded an array of Sunni prisoners on Iraqi state television to buttress his case. Clearly the man did not earn our generous liberation! The reality of the problem is not that al-Maliki is a creep. He is indeed. Nor is it that the Iraqi people "deserve" to live under dictators of one or the other sectarian stripe. Rather it is that the future of Iraq, which seemed clear after our post-surge military victory, was again rendered uncertain by the premature departure of American forces. Institutions like the military were not fully formed, territorial disputes were not resolved, and key questions relating to oil were up in the air. In such circumstances, opposing groups move to maximize their own power for the inevitable struggle.Did this mean that U.S. forces should have stayed forever? No. A transition to a strategic partnership as in postwar Germany, Korea or Japan would have been ideal for U.S. interests in the region. But it did mean we should have stayed longer, as commanders recommended. Do the Iraqis "deserve" our support? Who cares. The question is what will serve American interests? And it appears that our interests were ill-served by the abandonment of Iraq by Barack Obama. (Danielle Pletka is vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.)
I believe that the total withdrawal from Iraq is folly and America will probably pay a terrible price for it. I think this article by Danielle Pletka is right on.
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