Pray for effective evangelism in the Middle East—for people to come to know Christ in countries like Qatar, to fear the one true God, and to become true children of Abraham.

Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (Ex. 3:6)

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In the aftermath of the terrorist atrocities of Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush drew a line in the sand. “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make,” he announced. “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” …

Is that because they sympathize with the goals of the terrorists or because they’re afraid of the terrorists, or is there some other explanation? It’s not clear. What is: No nation has hedged its bets more egregiously than Qatar.

Occupying a peninsula smaller than Connecticut jutting from eastern Arabia, Qatar’s 313,000 citizens are the wealthiest people in the world thanks to abundant natural gas reserves….

What makes Qatar America’s leading “frenemy”? On the one hand, the ruling Al Thani family hosts the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East….

Recently, Qatar has doubled down on this double dealing. In April, according to sources cited by the Financial Times, Qatar paid as much as $1 billion to Iran and al Qaeda, ostensibly to secure the release of members of the royal family and their companions who were kidnapped while hunting in Iraq. In May, the Saudi press reported that Qatar’s foreign minister met with Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top terrorist master….

Keynote speaker Robert Gates, who served under eight U.S. presidents, notably as secretary of Defense and director of Central Intelligence, candidly discussed the regime’s support for nefarious actors and pointedly noted that the military base in Qatar is not “irreplaceable.” …

FDD Senior Fellow David Weinberg, who has long studied illicit finance involving Qatar and other Gulf countries, noted that lack of transparency has made it impossible to verify claims by Qatari officials that they have undertaken meaningful reforms….

Hours after the conference, events took a strange course: A report carried by the official Qatari news agency quoted the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, criticizing President Trump, counseling friendship with Iran, praising Hamas and noting “good” relations with Israel….

Abruptly, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic relations, travel and trade with Qatar and issued an ultimatum to the emir: Prove you’re with us, not against us.

Since then, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has attempted to calm Gulf waters. Mr. Trump has been less diplomatic, emphatically agreeing with the Saudis that Qatar must stop funding terrorism….

Qatar has now reached a fork in the road. The emir can support the Arab/Sunni bloc committed to fighting terrorism — Sunni and Shia alike — announced during Mr. Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia. Or he can throw in with Iran and Russia, once-great empires with neo-imperialist ambitions…. (Excerpts from Clifford D. May’s article in the Washinton Times, The Qatar ultimatum.)