Best-selling author visits ETX for talks on Middle East

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - A New York Times best-selling author is visiting Tyler this weekend for Palm Sunday, discussing parallels between biblical and current events.

Congressman Louie Gohmert and Green Acres Pastor David Dykes have invited Joel Rosenberg to discuss the U.S.-Israel relationship with East Texans on Sunday.

Rosenberg's new book "Damascus Count Down" discusses what could happen if Israel successfully launches a first strike on Iran.

"Now, I can't tell you that I thought when I was writing the book that it would release the same month that the President of the United States would make his first state visit to talk about the Iran and Syrian threats. That's where we are right now," Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg is  the former aid to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  He met with Governor Rick Perry to discuss Israel and Iran before heading to East Texas where he will speak to a congregation about the president's recent visit to the Middle East.

"The premise of the book is, what if an American president miscalculates with regards to Iran's nuclear weapons?" Rosenberg said.

Earlier this week, President Obama arrived with fanfare on his presidential visit to Israel, something Rosenberg said he will discuss with East Texans as the guest speaker at Green Acres Baptist Church.

"In the morning ,you know, it's Palm Sunday and we are going to be talking about the focus of Jesus coming into Jerusalem and the huge fanfare there was when the people who thought he was the king was coming into Jerusalem and of course we saw the welcome that President of the United States just got in going to Israel. I'm going to draw some parallels from there," Rosenberg explained.

Also on the front burner of this trip, the growing threat of a nuclear Iran and a civil war in Syria, which has led to almost a half a million refugees flooding into Jordan where President Obama wrapped up his trip.

"The bible talks about Iraq, Iran, Syria and Israel and some very dramatic events that are coming in the future. And we are going to talk about are we going to see some of those things come to pass in our lifetime? When we set up this trip, the president hadn't planned to come to Israel, so the fact that these things are converging is making the weekend all the more interesting," Rosenberg said.

Although nothing concrete came out of the president's four day trip, he did tell reporters he learned a lot and was quote "doing my homework."

Rosenberg will speak at both morning services at 9:45 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. He will also have a lecture at 6 p.m. All of his speaking engagements are free and open to the public.

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