Vintage

     The year was 1979.  The United Nations, with the help of the Bee Gees, Rod Stewart, Abba, and Donna Summers introduced the UNICEF Year of the Child.  They donated the proceeds from the Soundtrack, (a first we are the world project), to the welfare of children.  The United States, the major world power, established full diplomatic relations with the backward country or China, now they practically own us!  A French tanker, Betelguese, (Beetlejuice), crashed at the Gulf Oil Port in Ireland, killing 50, (some things never change!). Patty Hearst, after being "brainwashed?", and convicted as a bank robber, was released from prison, having her sentence commuted by President Jimmy Carter.  The Sahara Desert had snow for 30 minutes.  Anwar Sadat and Menachan Begin came to the White Houses, and with President Carter, signed the historical Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel.  We experienced the nuclear "close-call" of Three Mile Island.  Magaret Thatcher was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Great Britain, (An English Golda Meir). The President of Iraq resigned, and was replaced by a little unknown vice president, Saddam Hussein!  The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, beginning an impossible war to win, (we should have learned that lesson from them!). Intox I , an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, explodes spilling over 428 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, (the largest spill ever at the time, but not as large as the latest.  We should have learned something from them!).  Rock was in rare form, 11 fans were trampled to death at a Who concert, at Riverfront Stadium, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Pink Floyd released the album, Another Brick in the Wall, while the Village People battled the Young Men's Christian Association in court, for their song, YMCA. Some new phenomenon was being introduced-Bunging jumping off train tressles in England, and Sony introduced the new Walkman, a portable Cassette Player, with ear phones, for the insignificant cost of $200.00! 

     The average cost of a new home was $58, 000.  The average income was $17,000. The average monthly rent was $200.00. A gallon of gas had reached a record level of 86 cents/gallon.  Oil hit a record high of $24/barrel.  The most significant event of that year was the fall of the Shah of Iran.  He fled to Egypt for asylum.  The Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran, and leadership after 14 years!  The students of Iran joined him in the revolution, (some have identified one of those students as Amendinajad!). This radical movement quickly stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 American hostages.  Though 13 of them were released early, the rest remained to be mistreated, threatened, and tortured for 444 days.  The world protested in anger!  The Carter Administration tried every diplomatic "trick in the book" to no success.  Americans turned to their "real hero", Clint Eastwood, and posters appeared in businesses everywhere, of Clint Eastwood, (Harry Callahan, aka. Dirty Harry), pointing the "largest handgun in the world, capable of blowing a man's head clean off!" at the Ayatollah, saying, "say your prayers Khomeini". (By the way, a poster that has virtually disappeared from existence today, even on the internet, due to the fear of repercussion from the Muslim world, who jailed many recent Iranian students for even defacing posters of the late Ayatollah). 53 Americans, Prisoners of War, remained in captivity as the Western world watched in total frustration. 

     President Carter finally acted.  April 24, 1980, after months of covert planning, Operation Eagle Claw was attempted.  It doesn't take alot of imagination to see the "image" projected by the name of the mission.  The goal: "swoop into the location where the POW's are captive, and like an eagle snatching a fish from the water, deliver them in one successful attempt".  Due to misunderstanding of Iranian weather, the great distance involved in the rescue, some equipment malfunction, the rescue attempt was aborted!  Eight American heroes lost their lives in the mission. Today's bulletin displays the Operation Eagle Memorial, with the names of the heroes who died trying to rescue the hostages, POWs in Iran.  Even though the mission failed, the Commander-in-Chief was carrying out a principle held dear to the heart of all Americans.  This principle was delineated in an article written in U.S. News and World Report, July 29, 1991 with these words, "It is an unwritten, unspoken, unbreakable vow of the battlefield, that we leave no one dead or alive in the hands of the enemy".  No matter what the cost, somehow, someway, we must rescue them, or die trying. 

     Today's message is about such a rescue.  David, exiled because of King Saul, living in enemy territory, retuned home, with his men, after battle, on to find that the Amalakites, the enemy of God's people, had burned Ziklag, taken all the wives and children captive as hostages.  David sought the Lord for direction.  God gave him specific instruction.  His complete obedience to the Word of God made this Operation Eagle Claw rescue end with an entirely different ending than the one in 1979.  This story is an exhortation to us today.  Many believers have been taken captive by the enemy of God.  We must NOT leave them to such an end.  Today's message os a "call to arms" and a "call to action".