Dear Friends,
With “Beyond” being the concluding word in the title of this circuitous three-parter, Nuremberg, Cities Church, And Beyond, the word has come to my mind frequently, reminding me of that old fox-trot song from the thirties that my mother used to play on the family spinet, “Beyond The Blue Horizon.” Its simple words express our hopes for a “beautiful day,” where “life has only begun” and perpetual “joy is waiting” for all.
These upbeat words are challenging, now knowing, as we do, that we are at war again in the Middle East. Regardless of political persuasions, which I do my best to avoid on this podcast—often unsuccessfully—we all can pray for a swift resolution to the conflict. But the gravity of the moment takes me down “memory lane” and on a wide detour, so, I pray, you’ll excuse this podcast focusing on the moment more than the beyond discourse I’d anticipated.
Wherever you may be, on the Isle of Man or the Point Loma summit overlooking the Atlantic, I trust you are well, safe, and that it’s a good season for you and those whom you love.
By name, you are in my prayers often. Yours are deeply appreciated.
Pressing On!
D. Paul
The Church’s One Foundation IS Jesus Christ Her Lord!
Nuremberg, Cities Church, And Beyond, Part III
As of this writing, in preparation for the podcast of March 4, it is February 28, 2026. I, along with the rest of the nation, awoke this morning to the news that the United States and the State of Israel launched “Operation Epic Fury” against the Islamic Republic of Iran, with the intention, among others, of taking out its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and toppling the 47-year-old Iranian regime in the process. Nothing less than regime change will suffice and, just a few hours ago, confirmation was made that the 86-year-old Ayatollah has indeed been eliminated. “He that lives by the sword shall die by the sword.” From the streets of LA to London, thousands of the Iranian diaspora are dancing in the streets and will soon be celebrating en masse in Tehran, I suspect, if the Royal Guard is crushed or lays down its guns. Presently, the delusional devotees of the Ayatollah mourn his death in “Revolution Square,” already threatening our abandoned US Embassy under a Swiss protectorate there.
Many “experts” believe this will be a protracted conflict with the inevitability of US and Israeli casualties in the process (the latest count being six fallen heroes). Key to the operation’s success will be the sustained response by the Iranian people, who by the millions have been crying out for regime change over the decades, their recent uprising ending this past January with as many as 30,000 plus reportedly killed in the streets. Regardless of where you stand politically—whether a “hawkish neocon” or a “peace-at-all-cost” practitioner (or somewhere in-between), this “Operation Epic Fury” has further divided an already disjointed nation, with the Dems braying at the trumpeting Republicans for such an “unauthorized” action. Flashing back 47 years ago, I quote that oft-quoted philosopher and Yankee icon, Yogi Berra: “It feels like déjà vu all over again.”
It was the Iranian hostage crisis (November 4, 1979 - January 20, 1981) of 47 years ago that influenced our leaving NYC for LA in April of 1980. A dear friend and mentor, the Rev. Earl Lee, and his wife, Hazel, living in Pasadena, CA, had a son, Gary E. Lee, who was a State Department General Services Officer at the US Embassy in Tehran, and one of the 53 hostages taken captive at the embassy that ill-fated morning of November 4. As the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, and then a year plus, I began to write a script, not of the embassy takeover per se, but of the Lee family, waiting in prayerful anticipation for any substantial news of their son’s captivity. Though Rev. Lee and Hazel were people of profound faith, the strain of “not knowing” whether Gary would come home or not (particularly after an aborted rescue attempt) was evident in their tone and expression. The aphorism is true: “They also serve who only stand and wait,” and that waiting can be anguishing.
Though the captives were called “guests” by their captors, their isolation, physical and psychological torture, all came out after their release. In his first phone call home after being transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany, Gary told his wife, Pat, when asked about the hostages’ treatment, “We’ll talk about it when I get home.” When Pat passed the phone to a reporter from Time magazine, he wasn’t so reticent about the three mock executions he had endured blindfolded: “I bought it. I thought I was a dead man.” In addition to the mock executions and “games” of Russian roulette, Gary was repeatedly beaten, thrown into solitary confinement, and moved from the embassy compound to multiple prisons along with his fellow hostages. Upon his release in January 1981, he hadn’t seen a full day of sunlight since the previous June. Gary E. Lee, prior to his assignment in Iran, had a prestigious career with the State Department in the early 70’s, serving as a key coordinator for Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s “shuttle diplomacy.” According to a trusted, mutual friend of Gary’s and mine, he was never quite the same after the hostage crisis and died from cancer at the age of 67 in 2010. The Washington Post paid Gary E. Lee a tender tribute, which I include here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2010/10/17/career-diplomat-endured-mock-executions-in-79-iran-hostage-crisis/bea43fd2-d97f-11df-8b6d-a98678414541/
In way of an ironic footnote, an older, good friend of mine in NYC, Forrest D. Murden, served as a consultant to the increasingly extravagant and indulgent Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who soon fled the country on the heels of the Islamic revolution. Eventually, the ailing Iranian Shah came to America for medical treatment of his cancer, further inflaming the anti-American fervor on the streets of Tehran, which ultimately led to the storming of the US Embassy.
Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, age 65, is the heir apparent to the now defunct Iranian throne, though his “National Council of Iran” serves as a somewhat titular head to a “government in exile.” While Pahlavi has publicly rejected wanting to restore the monarchy, he is supportive of free elections which would determine creating a new democratic republic or restoring a constitutional monarchy. Either option would be preferable to the medieval, theocratic oppression of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The question remains though: when the curtain goes up on a new Iran, what will Act II look like? In predictably hyperbolic terms, President Trump talks of a “lasting and permanent peace,” but do we naively believe that, like some magic wand scattering fairy dust over Iran, its centuries-old hatred for Israel and its wish to destroy the Great Satan, America, will cease to exist? Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace, as the prophetic word of Jeremiah reminds us. (Jeremiah 6:14 NIV). Perhaps the modest language of “containment” vs. “obliteration” would be more appropriate to the realistic future of Iran.
Despite the noble purposes of the Nuremberg Trials and the aspirational goals of The United Nations, ultimately, they’ve been unable to hold countries accountable for their malevolent actions. Human nature has not changed since the Garden. Depending upon who is judging whom, “international law” is a flawed construct. Recall all the bloodshed since the UN’s charter, which states in its Preamble, “We the People of the United Nations determine[d] to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind….” Since that ambitious Preamble in 1945, we’ve had the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Bosnian War, the Rwandan Civil War (between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Tutsi and Hutu were killed in approximately 100 days), the Afghanistan quagmire, the Iraqi conflagration, and the Russian annexation of Crimea and its current assault on Ukraine, with the leading actors of Korea and China patiently waiting in the wings to enter centerstage. We’re like the old prospector always chasing fool’s gold, never finding the real thing—PEACE—that a groaning world cries out for, only permanently available through the Prince of Peace.
To whom do we go, dear friends, where do we look? To Jesus, my brothers and sisters in Christ. It is always Jesus—For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Cor 3:11 NIV). And so, we PRAY for the underground Church in Iran, who by the thousands are hoping for a quick cessation to this conflict. We PRAY for our young “Youth for Christ” friends in Beirut who are again under bombardment, thanks to the provocation of Iran’s proxy in Lebanon—Hezbollah. PRAY that Christians in the region will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak the truth of the Gospel and that the peace of the Lord will accompany their witness. PRAY for the protection of our US Service Men & Women. PRAY for our FBI agents and others who are protecting the homeland under multiple threats. PRAY for the civilian population of Iran, and pray that they embrace a bold vision of a new era for their illustrious homeland.
Miracles can and do happen in the “fog of war,” even as it did for a young Janine Tartaglia, one of the many reporters assigned to track the Lee family during the Iranian hostage crisis. As Janine followed the good Rev. Earl Lee onto an elevator one day, he broke into song: “Did anybody tell you I love you today? Did anybody tell you I love you today? Put me on your list, let me be the first, I love you today. God loves you, and I love you, and that’s how it should be.” That little gospel tune was instrumental in changing the course of Janine’s life. She left her job as an LA television reporter and was soon studying to become a minister of the Gospel. For a more complete report of her transformation, here is an expanded record of what happened in Janine’s life, who was a joyous blessing to all of us who knew her and whose life has touched thousands with the Good News found in Christ: https://www.cometothefire.org/alethasjournal/2019/7/23/your-egos-the-problem When she was once asked what her “greatest joy” was, Janine responded: “To see lives and relationships transformed by the relentless grace of God!”
Friends, it is now nearly noon on March 4, and my sweet Debby’s birthday is today. Plans are afoot! So I’ll bid you a good day and pray we can talk more in our next podcast about the BEYOND—the eternal not the temporal; the invisible not the visible—that is found only in Jesus Christ our Lord, giving us the hope that he is and that he is to come, and that he is ultimately the One in control!
Amen
Barry Rosen, a press attaché at the US embassy in Tehran, and one of 53 personnel captured on Nov. 4, 1979, during the takeover of the embassy.
Iranian students storming the embassy on Nov. 4.
