June 19, 2018 -- I see a fire in the Middle East; hope and pray that we may live peaceful, prayerful, and godly lives.

On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was founded.  Thirty years later the Islamic Revolution was taking place in Iran that ended in the overthrowing of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979 under the Ayatollah Khomeini.  I have memories of events surrounding the revolution from TV news stations and news papers such as the Iran hostage crisis when 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days, the 1979 energy crisis, and moving images of the burning of the American flag in the streets of Tehran outside the US Embassy. 

Iranian students climb over the wall of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution, 4th November 1979. The students went on to seize the embassy staff, and hold 52 of them as hostages for 444 days. (Photo by AFP/Getty Images)

AP Photo, Nov. 9, 1979

Protest against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel in Tehran, 11 December 2017; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Demonstrations_and_protests_against_United_States....

Even as recent as May 2018, you find a video of Iranian lawmakers burning the US flag and shouting “death to America,” following US President Trump’s announcement that the US would pull out of the 2015 Iran Deal.  Back in December 2017, Iranian protestors burned both the US and Israeli flags following President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  Also in response to US President Trump’s acknowledgement of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Iranian assembly  passed a bill recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.  Later in February 2018, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran Abbas Araqchi said, "Jerusalem is the unchangeable capital of the Muslim world and of Palestine," and that Iran will, "confront any attempt to change this reality."  On June 10, 2018, the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said that the fate of Palestine must be determined by the Palestinian people, including Muslims, Jews, and Christians through a democratic process.  Unfortunately, he went on to accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, “that oppressor [and] wicked … child killer goes [to other countries and] plays the victim that Iran wants to do away with several millions of our population.”
 

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei addresses a meeting with a group of university professors and academics in Tehran on June 10, 2018. (Photo by leader.ir)