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Death of Osama Bin Laden, House of War, Israel

Monday, May 9th, 2011

Osama Bin Laden watching himself on TV in his final hideout in Abbottabad Pakistan

(May 9, 2011) With the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden this past week, there are two Islamic concepts that the non-Muslim world needs to understand. Before discussing those concepts I want to comment on the death of Osama Bin Laden.

The Death of Osama Bin Laden

Late last Sunday night, May 1st, I was on the Internet while watching television when I saw the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. I switched to a news channel to find out what had happened. President Obama was in the middle of telling the nation that the American military had tracked down and killed Bin Laden.

After his announcement, the television showed images of Americans celebrating in Times Square and in front of the White House. As I watched these celebratory gatherings they did not feel right to me. The first thing I thought of were the images of the Arabs around the Middle East celebrating the 9/11 attacks on America. It also struck me that Osama Bin Laden did not make it to the tenth anniversary of those attacks. From a worldly perspective I can understand the celebrations by Americans as all of our lives have been changed since that September day nearly ten years ago. However, I saw the events of last Sunday night from a biblical viewpoint. God makes it clear that governments are to protect their citizens from evil: “1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.” (Romans 13:1-4) Also: “13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.” (1 Peter 2:13-15) The American government and the military fulfilled this mandate by punishing the leader of the Al Qaeda Terror network, Osama Bin Laden. However, Christians are not to rejoice over the death of their enemies: “17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; 18 or the LORD will see it and be displeased, and turn His anger away from him. 19 Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked; 20 For there will be no future for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” (Proverbs 24:17-20) To the contrary, Jesus said that we are to love our enemies: “43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45) Understandably, this a hard concept for many people to accept, especially when the enemy has committed great evil. Yet God states, “9 But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life. 10 Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive?”‘ 11 “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live, Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!” (Ezekiel 33:9-11) One of the most revered men in Christendom is the apostle Paul yet before his conversion he was responsible for the torture and death of many Christians. This is why Jesus said to pray for your enemies that they may turn from their wicked ways and be converted to the righteousness of God. A few weeks ago I wrote an article for this blog titled God’s love for Muslims: A highway of salvation. There I discuss the fact that at Jesus’ second coming both Jews and Muslims will accept Jesus as their Savior and Messiah. In the meantime millions of Muslims are converting to Christianity at the present time. Christians are not to rejoice over deaths of their enemies but to pray for them before they die. And governments are ordained by God to protect their citizens from evildoers.

Islamic Terrorism will continue

Even though Osama Bin Laden is dead terrorism will continue around the world because of Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb. In March of 2009 I wrote an article declaring that there would never be a successful peace process between Israel and the fundamentalist Muslims. In that article I wrote:

“There are two concepts in Islam that will never allow Israel to have peace until the Messiah returns. The first is Dar al-Islam which means House of Islam or House of Submission. Its adherents are made up of Muslim extremists. Dar al-Islam refers to countries where the law of Islam prevails and an Islamic government rules. Non-Muslims may live there under subjugation. Dar al-Harb means House of War and refers to those countries that are not under Islamic rule. It also refers to those lands which were once Islamic but were conquered by non-Muslims. The lands that are not Muslim are not legitimate because they are not under the authority of Allah. In the case of Israel those Muslims who subscribe to Dar al-Harb believe that the Jews are living on land that Allah gave to Islam. Therefore it is a disgrace to Islam and can only be rectified by Israel returning to Islamic rule. The Muslims riot over cartoons depicting their prophet Muhammad because it is a dishonor to him. How much more will they fight to regain Israel since it is a dishonor to Allah. No matter how many moderate Muslims may want peace with Israel the Islamic hardliners can never allow Israel to exist. Under Dar al-Harb treaties and truces may be made but only with the goal of eventually retaking the land that once was under Islamic rule. Since Israeli soldiers swear an oath declaring “Never again” will they be brought under the power of another government, they will never stop fighting to keep Israel.” (Why There will never be peace in Israel until the Messiah returns)

Dar al-Harb (House of War) and Dar al-Islam (House of Islam/Submission), although not well known concepts, caught the attention of the writers for a 2008 Hollywood movie about the CIA’s secret war against Muslim terrorists. In that movie, Body of Lies, the Jihadists interrogate an innocent Jordanian whom the CIA framed as the leader of a terrorist group. The interrogator says to this Jordanian, “Allah praises you for your work. The Sheikh praises you for your work. The House of Islam rejoices at the strike you have made against the House of War.” Since many of the Islamic terrorists subscribe to these two concepts, they will never give up until they have destroyed the nation of Israel. The death of Osama Bin Laden will not end Islamic terrorism. Reportedly, Osama Bin Laden’s final video tape confirms this: “In an audio message addressed to US President Barack Obama, [Osama Bin Laden] said: ‘America will not be able to dream of security until we live in security in Palestine. It is unfair that you live in peace while our brothers in Gaza live in insecurity. Accordingly, and with the will of God, our attacks will continue against you as long as your support for Israel continues,’ he warned.” (Bin Laden vows no US security in final tape: website) As long as the Jews live in the land of Israel peace will not come to the Middle East or the rest of the world until Jesus Christ returns and sets up His earthly kingdom.

Israel: The three most important Biblical Covenants

Of the various covenants or promises that God made to Israel and through them to the world, three have relevance to world events going on today. They are the Abrahamic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant.

The Abrahamic Covenant

In Genesis chapters 12, 13, and 17 God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham. God promised him that He would make a great nation out of Abraham’s descendants, that He would bless those that bless Abraham and curse those that curse him, that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham, and that He would give the land of Israel to the Jews for an everlasting possession. In chapter 17 God confirms that this covenant will be fulfilled through Abraham’s son Isaac. In chapter 25 God further confirms that this covenant will be passed on through Isaac’s son Jacob and his descendants, the Jews. Later on God tells the Jews that if they obey His commandments He will bless them in the land of Israel. Likewise, if they disobey His law then He will remove them from the land which did occur in 586 B.C. but He also promised to bring them back seventy years later. Therefore, the Bible makes it clear that God decides when the Jews live in the land of Israel and when they don’t. However, in the Prophets God declared that one day He would bring them back to the land and they would nevermore be removed from it. This then is the Abrahamic Covenant. (For a fuller discussion of this covenant with the corresponding Scripture references see my article: Christian Zionism: Christians and the Jews)

The Davidic Covenant

King David wanted to build a Temple in Jerusalem for God. However, God only allowed him to purchase the land where the Temple was to be built (where the Temple Mount is today). But He would not allow David to build the Temple but rather ordained his son King Solomon to build it. King David, a man after God’s own heart, wanted to honor God but instead God honored King David with a covenant or promise: “12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish His kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:12-13,16) One of King David’s descendants would rule on the throne of God’s kingdom forever. This will be fulfilled when the Son of David, Jesus Christ, returns and establishes His kingdom on earth. Jesus will reign over the whole world from Jerusalem. Since Jesus has not returned yet the Davidic Covenant will be fulfilled in the future.

The New Covenant

The most important promise God made in the Bible was to send the Messiah to die for the sins of the world and thereby reconcile humanity to Himself. The Old Covenant or Testament gave the Law to the Jews. It was a set of external laws which sinful humankind was unable to keep. Therefore God promised through His prophet Jeremiah: “31 ‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. 33 ‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’” (Jeremiah 31:31-33) Under the New Covenant God was going to change human hearts. He declared through the prophet Isaiah that He was going to send His Servant, the Messiah, to die for our sins so that we would be made righteous with God: “4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed…11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:4-5,11-12) At the final Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus referred to His sacrificial and atoning death: “19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.’” (Luke 22:19-20) All the early Christians were Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah and received His atoning sacrifice for themselves. As a nation though, the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah and rejected the New Covenant promised by God through the prophet Jeremiah. However, the apostle Paul declares that one day all Israel will be saved through Jesus Christ: “25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Romans 11:25-27) When Jesus returns the Jews and the Muslims will turn to Him for their salvation.

Until that time though, evil will continue to cause chaos in the world and the Devil will “prowl around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”.

It was an external Law

Tags: Abrahamic Covenant, Dar al-Harb, Dar al-Islam, Davidic Covenant, House of Islam, House of War, Islamic Terrorism, Israel, Jesus Christ, Middle East peace, Muslims, New Covenant, osama bin laden, Romans 13, Second Coming, terrorism
Posted in Archives 2011, Israel and the Middle East | 1 Comment »

God’s love for Muslims: A highway of salvation

Sunday, March 27th, 2011

(March 20, 2011) Jehovah, the God of the people of the Book, declares through His prophet Isaiah: “1 The oracle concerning Egypt: Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. 2 So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom. 3 Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confound their strategy, So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead and to mediums and spiritists. 4 Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master, and a mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord GOD of hosts…18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction. 19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border. 20 It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them. 21 Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. 22 The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them. 23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. 24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:1-4,18-25)

This prophecy is speaking of the End-Times when the Antichrist (“a cruel master, and a mighty king will rule over them”) comes to power and subjugates Egypt under his oppressive reign. However, God will send them a Savior and He will deliver Egypt from the Antichrist. The Book makes it clear that this Savior is Jesus the Messiah who is called Isa in the Qur’an and whom Christian Arabs call Yasu:

“11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.” (Revelation 19:11-21)

When Jesus returns to earth at His second coming, the Egyptians, Syrians, Jews, and the rest of the world will know that He is the Messiah. The Muslim and Arab world along with the Jews will accept Him as the true and only Savior. There will be unity among Jews and Arabs in Jesus the Messiah which God calls a “highway from Egypt to Assyria”. This will indeed be a highway of salvation.

Jesus and the Qur’an

The Qur’an declares, like the Bible, that Jesus’ birth was miraculous and that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Him:

“19. He said: “Nay, I am only a messenger from thy Lord, (to announce) to thee the gift of a holy son.
20. She said: “How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?”
21. He said: “So (it will be): Thy Lord saith, ‘that is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us’:It is a matter (so) decreed.”
22. So she conceived him, and she retired with him to a remote place.” (Maryam sura 019:019-022)

Only Jesus’ birth was without human intervention (apart from Mary giving birth to Him). God miraculously placed Jesus inside of Mary as an unborn baby! Muhammad, Isaiah, Mary and every other human being who has ever lived was conceived with human seed.

The Qur’an also states that Jesus was full of the holy spirit:

“110. Then will Allah say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave. And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee when thou didst show them the clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: ‘This is nothing but evident magic.’” (Al-Ma’idah sura 005:110)

Of course the Qur’anic perspective on the nature of these events is different from the biblical perspective. The biblical accounts are given to prove that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore the only one able to save humankind from its sins. He is more than a prophet: He is the Messiah! It is extremely important that you understand that the biblical accounts of Jesus were written primarily by those who knew Him personally. They wrote them down within a few decades of His ascension to Heaven. This means they were written five hundred years before the birth of Muhammad.

Balance Scales of Judgment: Good deeds vs. Bad deeds

The Qur’an teaches that people will be judged by how many good deeds they have done in their life versus how many bad deeds they have done:

“101. Then when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no more relationships between them that Day, nor will one ask after another!
102. Then those whose balance (of good deeds) is heavy, they will attain salvation:
103. But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls, in Hell will they abide.” (Al-Muminun sura 023:101-103)

Here again the biblical perspective differs on this issue of good deeds and the condition of the human heart:

God states through His prophet Jeremiah:

“9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

History has shown us just how evil and sinful humanity is through wars, hatred, racism, bigotry, adultery, lust, pride and all the other sins we each commit daily in our own lives.

The Book of Romans declares:

“9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin; 10 as it is written,”There is none righteous, not even one; 11 there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God…23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:9-11,23)

Again, the history of the human race has proven this to be true. Islam, like all the other religions of the world, believes that if we do enough good deeds we will earn a place in heaven. However, God disagrees:

“6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags [literally: garments of menstruation]; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

Our good deeds or works are as useless as menstrual rags when done apart from the love of God. Thus, no matter how many good deeds we have done they will not take away our sins nor will they override our sinful nature. Our sins actually keep us separated from God:

“1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)

The Good News

The good news is that we don’t have to be separated from God because:

“16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

God is not some distant deity sitting on His throne detached from His human creations waiting to sit in judgment on them. He loved the world and sent His Son to save it. The word “world” here means that Jesus died for all the sins of everyone who ever lived whether they were Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Christians, atheists, agnostics, or any other religion that has ever existed. Some of His followers saw Him die on the cross. They knew that it was Jesus and no one else who died on that cross. They also knew He was resurrected from the dead. They knew it so well that many of them died horrible deaths because of their belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection!

The Highway of Salvation

As I said at the beginning of this article, when Jesus returns to set up His kingdom on earth, Muslims and Jews will come together in their knowledge that Jesus is their Savior. Many Muslims today are not waiting for that to happen. They are already receiving Jesus as their Savior as the non-Christian Shiekh Ahmad Al-Katani said in an interview on Al-Jazeera television:

Ahmad Al Katani:
The reality is that these words say a lot less than they should. As we said in the beginning, everyone has the right to invite others to his religion; this is what is known as evangelism (or proselytizing). As for Christianization, no one has the right to take Muslims out of their religion, and you asked for references and the references are too numerous.

Islam used to represent, as you previously mentioned, Africa’s main religion and there were 30 African languages that used to be written in Arabic script. The number of Muslims in Africa has diminished to 316 million, half of whom are Arabs in North Africa. So in the section of Africa that we are talking about, the non Arab section, the number of Muslims does not exceed 150 million people. When we realize that the entire population of Africa is one billion people, we see that the number of Muslims has diminished greatly from what it was in the beginning of the last century. On the other hand, the number of Catholics has increased from one million in 1902 to 329 million 882 thousand (329,882,000). Let us round off that number to 330 million in the year 2000.

As to how that happened, well there are now 1.5 million churches whose congregations account for 46 million people. In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Everyday, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Ever year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity. These numbers are very large indeed …

Maher Abdallah (interrupting):
Hold on! Let me clarify. Do we have 6 million converting from Islam to Christianity or converting from Islam and other religions?

Ahmad Al Katani:
Great (question)! The other religions are not placed on the list of Christianization; rather they are placed on the list of evangelization. The other religion in Africa is paganism; so it’s Islam, Christianity or paganism. There isn’t something similar to Asia for example where you have Buddhism or Zoroastrianism. In Africa it is just these three, so if you talk about Christianization then it targets the only other heavenly religion which is Islam. As for paganism, those people worship animals and planets and the like.

Maher Abdallah:
So 6 million Muslims a year convert?

Ahmad Al Katani:
Every year… In the African nations this century a tragedy happened. Take for example what happened in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is an Arab nation and I am not saying a muslim nation. If any student looks up the word Habasha (Ethiopia) in the book Ocean Dictionary written by Al-Fairuz Abady, he will find that the word Habashat means “people of different tribes” and this is what happened. Ethiopia was a place where Arabs from different tribes would go to live for a while. We all know that Islam entered Ethiopia before Islam entered the city of Medina. We all know that AL-Najashy (the ruler of Ethiopia) was a Muslim. It is mentioned by Al-Darkatny in his biography of the prophet “Allah’s prayer and peace be upon him ” that during the month of Rajab in the 9th year of the Hijra (Muslim calendar) that the prophet said to his companions: “Rise up and pray on your brother Al-Najashy.” From that year on the practice of praying on the absent was established. Therefore from the time of the prophet “Allah’s prayer and peace be upon him ” Islam entered Ethiopia. So what has happened to Ethiopia?
__________

God’s righteous judgment is coming upon the whole world in the last days. He is going to allow a “cruel master, and a mighty king” to rise to power who will attempt to rule the world as Adolph Hitler tried to rule Europe. The people of the world look to earthly rulers for their salvation while at the same time rejecting and spurning and mocking Jesus who is their true and only salvation. This leader is going to be exponentially worse than Hitler and he will lead the world to destruction. Jesus and the prophet Daniel said this will be a time unlike any other the earth has experienced or will experience again. Billions will be destroyed because of their wicked ways until Jesus comes again and sets up His earthly kingdom. He said there would be signs when this occurs. Whether it happens in our lifetime or is still yet in the future is unknown. What is known is that each of us will experience our own End-Times sooner or later. Therefore, every person should turn to God and repent of their sinful ways and receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. It is the only hope we have because the world doesn’t care about you or me.

Tags: Allah, Bible, Egypt, God, Isaiah, Islam, Israel, Jesus Christ, Jews, Mary, Muhammad, Muslims, Qur'an, salvation, Syria
Posted in Biblical prophecies, Jesus Second Coming | No Comments »

“It’s as if the Pharaohs have returned”

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

(February 13, 2011) In the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and his Egyptian friend Sallah are discussing the Nazis digging for the Ark of the Covenant at Tanis in Egypt. In a reference to the way the evil Nazis were treating the Egyptians Sallah says, “It’s as if the Pharaohs have returned”. The recent and dramatic mass demonstrations and protests occurring in Egypt indicate that the modern Egyptians felt the same way about their leader, President Hosni Mubarak. The people did not have freedom of assembly (gatherings of more than five people required governmental sanction), freedom of speech, and reportedly nearly half of the population lived on two dollars a day. One 65 year old Egyptian man declared after Mubarak’s resignation, “The nightmare is over!” After thirty years of ruling and after eighteen days of protests President Mubarak resigned on February 11, 2011. The Egyptian army, which is respected by the people, will guide Egypt through this period of transition. In the past Western governments and some Arab governments have looked to dictators to oppressively rule their Arab countries in order to maintain stability and keep Muslim extremists from taking over. When the secular and dictatorial shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979, Muslim fundamentalists took over with the equally and religiously oppressive Ayatollah Khomeini as their new leader. Some are concerned that a similar scenario could occur in Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood attempting to ascend to power. If that situation did arise then Egypt’s 32 year peace treaty with Israel would be in peril. It is unlikely that the Egyptian army, which has no desire to engage Israel in further military conflict, would allow this to occur. However, the resignation of Mubarak follows on the heels of the Tunisian people overthrowing their ruler last December and there may be similar events occurring in the near future in Jordan, Yemen, Algeria and some of the other Arab countries. If these uprisings do take place it could lead to a scenario that former Muslim Walid Shoebat spoke about in his 2008 book God’s War on Terror.

The rise of the Caliphate

Mr. Shoebat wrote three years ago of a revived Caliphate (i.e. an Islamic religious and political entity comprised of Muslim countries worldwide under the authority of a Caliph) ruled by the Antichrist :

“Biblically, the Empire of the Antichrist will not be a new empire; rather it will be the revival of a previously great empire that will have suffered what the Bible calls a ‘fatal head wound’. (Revelation 13:3) But the wound will be healed and the empire will be revived from the dead as it were: ‘And the beast [Antichrist Empire] which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain and his fatal wound healed. And the whole world was amazed and followed after the beast.” (Revelation 13:2-3)

“Today the Caliphate exists only in the desires of hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide who want to revive this beast that was slain March 3, 1924. The last Caliphate–the Ottoman Caliphate–was officially abolished by the first President of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The abolition of the Caliphate is profoundly significant for our study. For it was on this day that the Islamic Empire, led by a sitting Caliph for over fourteen hundred years suffered a fatal head wound. The position of “head of state” of the Islamic Empire was severed.” ["God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible, by Walid Shoebat, p. 81; Top Executive Media, 2008]

Mr. Shoebat believes that the Islamic Empire will rise again and be governed under Shari’a Law in the form of a Caliphate. The ruling sultan and caliph of this revived empire will be the Islamic messianic figure called the Mahdi. It is possible that the current revolutionary movements in Arab countries could lead to such a development.

On p. 451-453 of his book Mr. Shoebat mentions a 2004 report issued by the Nation Intelligence Council (an agency of the United States government) that describes a possible scenario in which a Caliphate is established by 2020. The NIC website states, “Welcome to the website of the National Intelligence Council. The NIC is a center of strategic thinking within the US Government, reporting to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and providing the President and senior policymakers with analyses of foreign policy issues that have been reviewed and coordinated throughout the Intelligence Community. Our work ranges from brief analyses of current issues to “over the horizon” estimates of broader trends at work in the world. Although most of our work is for internal government use, we also produce or commission unclassified reports, many of which you will find on this website.” I found the 2004 report titled “Report of the National Intelligence Council’s 2020 Project” on the NIC site. Below are two screenshots of the NIC website, the first of which shows the table of contents from this report including the chapter title “Fictional Scenario: A New Caliphate”:

NIC 2004 Report Table of Contents

This second screenshot shows a summary of their fictional “Caliphate” scenario:

NIC 2004 Report Fictional Scenario Summary

The text of this summary states:

“Fictional Scenario: A New Caliphate

The fictional scenario portrayed below provides an example of how a global movement fueled by radical religious identity could emerge. Under this scenario, a new Caliphate is proclaimed and manages to advance a powerful counter ideology that has widespread appeal. It is depicted in the form of a hypothetical letter from a fictional grandson of Bin Ladin to a family relative in 2020. He recounts the struggles of the Caliph in trying to wrest control from traditional regimes and the conflict and confusion which ensue both within the Muslim world and outside between Muslims and the United States, Europe, Russia and China. While the Caliph’s success in mobilizing support varies, places far outside the Muslim core in the Middle East in Africa and Asia are convulsed as a result of his appeals. The scenario ends before the Caliph is able to establish both spiritual and temporal authority over a territory which historically has been the case for previous Caliphates. At the end of the scenario, we identify lessons to be drawn.”

The end of this section on the fictional future Caliphate concludes:

“Lessons Learned

A Caliphate would not have to be entirely successful for it to present a serious challenge to the international order. This scenario underlines the saliency of the cross-cultural ideological debate that would intensify with growing religious identities.

* The IT revolution is likely to amplify the clash between Western and Muslim worlds.

* The appeal of a Caliphate among Muslims would vary from region to region, which argues for Western countries adopting a differentiated approach to counter it. Muslims in regions benefiting from globalization, such as parts of Asia and Europe, may be torn between the idea of a spiritual Caliphate and the material advantages of a globalized world.

* The proclamation of a Caliphate would not lessen the likelihood of terrorism and, in fomenting more conflict, could fuel a new generation of terrorists intent on attacking those opposed to the Caliphate, whether inside or outside the Muslim world.”

The idea that the U.S. government believes that an Islamic Caliphate is a possibility and a dangerous one at that seems to give credence to Mr. Shoebat’s belief that the Antichrist’s reign may indeed be over a revived Islamic Empire. Whether or not current events occurring in various Arab and Muslim countries are a precursor to that remains to be seen.

Egypt

Egypt does play a role in End-Times prophecy:

“1 The burden against Egypt. Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, And will come into Egypt; The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst. 2 ‘I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; Everyone will fight against his brother, And everyone against his neighbor, City against city, kingdom against kingdom. 3 The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst; I will destroy their counsel, And they will consult the idols and the charmers, The mediums and the sorcerers. 4 And the Egyptians I will give into the hand of a cruel master, And a fierce king will rule over them,’ Says the Lord, the Lord of hosts. 5 The waters will fail from the sea, And the river will be wasted and dried up. 6 The rivers will turn foul; The brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up; The reeds and rushes will wither. 7 The papyrus reeds by the River, by the mouth of the River, And everything sown by the River, Will wither, be driven away, and be no more. 8 The fishermen also will mourn; All those will lament who cast hooks into the River, And they will languish who spread nets on the waters. 9 Moreover those who work in fine flax And those who weave fine fabric will be ashamed; 10 And its foundations will be broken. All who make wages will be troubled of soul. 11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give foolish counsel. How do you say to Pharaoh, ‘I am the son of the wise, The son of ancient kings?’ 12 Where are they? Where are your wise men? Let them tell you now, And let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan have become fools; The princes of Noph are deceived; They have also deluded Egypt, Those who are the mainstay of its tribes. 14 The Lord has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst; And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit. 15 Neither will there be any work for Egypt, Which the head or tail, Palm branch or bulrush, may do. 16 In that day Egypt will be like women, and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He waves over it. 17 And the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt; everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts which He has determined against it. 18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction. 19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them. 21 Then the Lord will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. 22 And the Lord will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the Lord, and He will be entreated by them and heal them. 23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. 24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria–a blessing in the midst of the land, 25 whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, ‘Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.’” (Isaiah 19:1-25)

This prophecy starts out as a judgment against Egypt. The “fierce king” of verse 4 is probably a reference to the Antichrist although some biblical prophecies have a twofold fulfillment, one in previous history and one in the End-Times. Like one of the ten plagues visited upon Egypt during the time of Moses, the Nile River will become useless as the source of Egyptian life. There will be a civil war between the Egyptian people. Verse 20 declares that as a result of this judgment the people will cry out to God and “He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them.” This is clearly speaking of the second coming of Jesus Christ when He destroys the Antichrist and his armies. Verse 21 states then the Egyptian people will know that Jesus is the Lord as will the Syrians and the Jews and they will all be united (“there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria…In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria”) Islam will cease to exist as the former Muslims become followers of their Savior, Jesus the Messiah.

Israel and the Caliphate

If a Caliphate ever does come into existence it would pose the greatest danger modern Israel ever faced including their War of Independence. I believe it would also be of considerable prophetic significance. However current and future events play out we would do well to follow the LORD God’s lead:

“12 [Israel], a land which the LORD thy God cares for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” (Deuteronomy 11:11-12)

We too should keep our eyes on Israel and any current events that may affect it.

Tags: Caliphate, Egypt, Isaiah 19, Islam, Islamic Empire, Israel, Muslims, Walid Shoebat
Posted in Archives 2011, Israel and the Middle East | No Comments »

The Great Red Dragon, Liberal Christianity, and “Anti-Israelism”

Monday, January 10th, 2011

(January 10, 2011) There are elements of the Christian Church that seem to constantly criticize the nation of Israel while supporting the cause of the Palestinians. For some reason they think they are doing God’s work by condemning Israel for returning to the land which God gave them. They also condemn Christians such as myself who support Israel’s biblical right to the land. I have debated this subject on the liberal Sojourners website as I pointed out in an article I wrote: Does the land of Israel belong to the Jews?. Most of the blog articles on the Sojourners site incline favorably to the Palestinians at the expense of the Israelis. Another article I wrote deals with Knox Theological Seminary’s Open Letter signed by hundreds of Protestant leaders declaring that the Jews have no biblical right to the land of Israel: An Open Response to Knox Theological Seminary, Liberal Theologians, and other parties opposed to the Jews’ Right to the Land of Israel. In that article I illustrate point by point biblically showing that God’s word does indeed grant the land to the Jews. On this blog I responded to an email that Pastor Rich Nathan of Vineyard wrote to his congregation a few years ago where he states that Christians must reject a “false interpretation of the ancient promises made by God to Abraham”: Pastor Rich Nathan of Vineyard vs Christian Zionism. This past fall, a gathering of Catholic bishops in Vatican City laid much of the blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Israel: Catholic Bishops Demand Israel End Occupation Of Palestinian Land. The Presbyterian Church has taken sides against Israel in some of its recent conferences including a 2004 recommendation that the Church remove its investments from Israel: Presbyterian Church Still One-Sided On Israel. Some of these groups use liberal Jews who condemn Israel for their self-preservation efforts to justify their constant opposition to Israel’s policies. These Christian organizations and individuals get defensive about being labeled as anti-Semites because of their opposition to Israel and its policies. I don’t think they are necessarily antisemitic but I do think they are anti-Israel. I get the impression that most of these groups and individuals wish that Israel had never come back into existence and thereby peace would reign in the Mideast. Whether that is true or not there is someone who does indeed which Israel would go away and will do everything in his power to make it happen.

“1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. 13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Revelation 12:1-17)

God was revealing His plans to John in the Book of Revelation. John sees a woman clothed with the sun, the moon and twelve stars. This is almost the exact description of Joseph’s dream when he saw the eleven stars (his own star was excluded) and knew they represented his brothers whose progeny became the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 37-9-10) This is confirmed when John sees the woman or Israel give birth to the son who would rule the earth with a rod of iron which is a reference to Jesus the Messiah. John then sees a spiritual battle take place between the holy angels of God and the demonic forces of the Great Red Dragon: Satan. Satan loses and is cast down to earth and his first act is to try to destroy the Woman: Israel. Of course he has tried to destroy the Jews and Israel in the past and in doing so thwart God’s plans. He inspired Pharaoh to kill the Jewish deliverer Moses, or caused David to order a census which led to severe consequences for the Jewish people, or tried to annihilate the Jews in the Book of Esther, or inspired Herod to try to kill Jesus as a baby, or more recently tried to use Hitler to exterminate the Jews before God could restore the nation of Israel. That Satan would be involved in each of these events is clear by his existence as the opposition and accuser of all things of God (II Thessalonians 2:1-4; Daniel 8:23-25; Matthew 16:21-23).

Currently, it is Islam, or at the very least a radical form of Islam, that would like to see Israel destroyed. Many liberal Christians reject the idea that Israel has a right to the land because they say that the promises God made to Abraham concerning the land are no longer in effect under the New Covenant. There are also Christians who subscribe to the doctrine of Replacement Theology which states that the Christian Church has replaced the nation of Israel. They use these beliefs to support the Palestinians at the expense of the Israelis. They couldn’t be more wrong. The following is from chapter 17 of my book “Even at the Doors: Jesus, Israel, and the End-Times”:

Another tenet of Replacement Theology is that in the age of grace through Jesus Christ, God shows no favor to anyone apart from their acceptance of His Son as the Savior and Messiah. Thus, God will not give the land of Israel to the Jews because to do so would be showing them favor because of their ethnicity. Since the majority of the Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah, supporters of Replacement Theology contend that they are no longer under God’s heavenly blessing, which is true of anyone who rejects Jesus Christ as their Savior. However, Replacement Theologians also say that the Jews are no longer under God’s earthly blessing. Thus, the covenant whereby God promised to give the land of Israel to the Jewish descendants of Abraham is null and void in the age of grace.

This tenet is as false as it is unbiblical. The apostle Paul, in the same letter to the Romans that I mentioned above, states the exact opposite of what the supporters of Replacement Theology say concerning God not showing the Jews any divine favor while they are in unbelief:

“25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Romans 11:25-29)

Paul says that indeed the Jews are spiritually blind when it comes to accepting Jesus as their Messiah. However, he declares that although the Jews are the enemies of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are “beloved” by God because of the fathers or patriarchs of the Jews. Even though they are outside the Christian faith, they still have God’s divine favor of love upon them. Paul further states here that the gifts of God are irrevocable. Therefore, this means His promise to give the land of Israel to the Jews, even while they are in unbelief, is absolutely still in effect.

To drive home this point, Paul declares that another covenant God made with the Jews was to save them from their sins. He says however, the fulfillment of this covenant will not happen until the Gentiles have had enough time to turn to God and then all Israel “shall be saved”. From the time that Paul wrote this unto the present day, this covenant has still not been fulfilled. Yet according to Replacement Theology, this covenant too should be voided since the Jews are currently in unbelief. Thankfully, God will not void it because His gifts and callings are irrevocable. For the same reason, He will not void the covenant that He made with the Jews to give the land of Israel to them.

The term Paul uses here, “Israel”, cannot refer to the Church. First, born-again Christians who make up the Church are already saved. Second, earlier in this chapter in Romans Paul makes a distinction between the Jews and the believing Gentiles:

“1 I say then, Has God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people which He foreknew. know ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. 7 What then? Israel has not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election has obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 (According as it is written, God has given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. 9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. 11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? 16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19 Thou will say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if thou were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Romans 11:1-26)

The apostle states: Yes, spiritual blindness has come upon the Jews when it comes to Jesus being the Messiah. Therefore, God turned to the Gentiles who willingly believed that Jesus is God’s Son and Savior. However, God has plans for the Jews whereby they will accept Jesus as the Messiah and then “all Israel shall be saved!” As I mentioned in Chapter 11 of this book, this salvation of the Jews will take place at Jesus’ second coming when as the prophet Zechariah declared, “[God] will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced.” (Zechariah 12:10)

In Chapter 15, I discussed the covenant that God made with Abraham where He promised to give the land of Israel to Abraham’s Jewish descendants. God confirmed this covenant by causing a deep sleep to fall on Abraham and then He, in the likeness of a flaming torch, moved between the halves of animals that Abraham had sacrificed. God placed absolutely no conditions on Abraham’s part in order for this covenant to be fulfilled. Abraham was asleep and therefore could not agree to any conditions that God might have required. God did not tell Abraham that he or his descendants had to remain faithful to Him in order to receive this land. God, the Creator of Israel, would bestow a gift of the land upon the Jewish people. And as the apostle Paul wrote, “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” [End of my Book quotation]

It is inconceivable to me that Christians cannot see the hand of God in the rebirth of the nation of Israel. In 135 A.D. the Jews were dispersed throughout the world and should have assimilated into every culture they found themselves and diasppeared as a people. Yet they maintained their Jewish identity and survived for 1,800 years without a land. Then in 1948, their land was restored to them. In the Old Testament God declared that He would remove the Jews from the land and that He would decide when they could live in the land. How could a Christian believe that the Jews just accidentally ended up back in Israel without the God of the Bible causing it. They say, “But the Israelis are displacing the indigenous Arabs.” From a non-biblical perspective the Romans displaced the Jews eighteen centuries ago and Islam displaced the native people when they invaded Israel hundreds of years later. From a biblical perspective God ordained the Jews to displace the native people when he told them to conquer the land because He was punishing the pagan inhabitants at the same time He was fulfilling His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The are plenty of Christians and organizations that do support Israel’s right to the land such as Christians United for Israel, Catholics for Israel, former Muslim Walid Shoebat, and many other Evangelical Bible-believing churches and individuals. If you do not support Israel’s right to the land you might want to rethink your position from a biblical point of view. As I stated at the beginning of this article, there is one being in the universe who wants to see Israel destroyed more than anyone else. I will paraphrase Gamaliel in Acts ch.5, “And now I say to you, if the Jews’ return to the land of Israel is a work of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.”

Tags: Anti-Israel, Anti-Israelism, Catholics for Israel, Devil, Great Red Dragon, Israel, liberal Christianity, Replacement Theology, Revelation 12, Sojourners
Posted in Archives 2011, Israel | No Comments »

Israel: A heavy rock and a cup of terror

Friday, June 4th, 2010

(June 3, 2010) Israel is once again in the world’s spotlight. Last week, a flotilla of six ships apparently carrying a cargo of humanitarian aid to the people living in the Gaza Strip expressed their (political) intention to run an Israeli blockade off the coast of Gaza. The following video shows what happened when Israeli commandos boarded one of the ships:

In the immediate aftermath, world condemnation of Israel followed (Gaza flotilla attack: world unites in condemnation of Israel’s actions). The London newspaper The Guardian reports:

“Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity, Israeli ambassadors were summoned in Stockholm, Madrid, and Athens, while Spain, holding the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, called a session of the EU’s political and security committee.

Foreign governments deplored the loss of life and voiced outrage at the Israeli conduct. But amid a propaganda war between the Israeli government press machine and pro-Palestinian lobbies over who started the fight and whether any of the activists on board were armed, they were also wary of going further than verbal condemnation.

The common response in Europe was to condemn what was seen as Israel’s disproportionate use of force. Even Germany, generally reluctant to criticize Israel because of the Holocaust, voiced horror at what Palestinian leaders dubbed a massacre.”

This article also states:

“The United Nations security council was expected to meet last night in New York over the incident. ‘I heard the ships were in international water. That is very bad,’ said Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.”

In response to the criticism that Israel unjustifiably stopped these ships in international waters, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement on their website (The Gaza flotilla and the maritime blockade of Gaza – Legal background):

1. A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza. Such blockade has been imposed, as Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza, which has repeatedly bombed civilian targets in Israel with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza via the sea.

2. Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law that may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea.

3. A blockade may be imposed at sea, including in international waters, so long as it does not bar access to the ports and coasts of neutral states.

After the raid Israel’s President, Shimon Peres, issued an accurate assessment of his country’s place in the world (President salutes soldiers wounded in IDF raid on Gaza flotilla ‘in name of entire State of Israel’):

“‘Israel is going through a difficult time, and to my regret there is a structural majority against Israel in the UN,’ President Shimon Peres said Thursday during a visit to soldiers wounded in the IDF raid on the Gaza flotilla. ‘It doesn’t matter what we do – and of course this is not a majority of justice. There is no way of passing logical and positive resolutions regarding the Middle East with the Arab lobby in the UN,’ he said.”

U.N., Israel, the World, and the NPT

Last week there was another story concerning Israel that also had a disturbing quality to it. On Friday May 28, 189 member states of the United Nations who are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) agreed to work towards a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East (UN talks back conference on nuclear-free Middle East). However, this BBC article highlights the true nature of this agreement:

“The unanimously agreed [upon] document also said that Israel should sign the NPT. US President Barack Obama backed the deal but said he was ‘strongly opposed’ to Israel being singled out…An Israel official later denounced the document as ‘hypocrisy’…’Only Israel is mentioned, while the text is silent about other countries like India, Pakistan and North Korea, which have nuclear arms, or even more seriously, Iran, which is seeking to obtain them,’ a senior government official told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.”

This development has Israel understandably concerned and angry (Israel recoils as US backs nuclear move):

“Washington’s unprecedented backing for a UN resolution for a nuclear-free Middle East that singles out Israel has both angered and deeply worried the Jewish state although officials are cagey about openly criticising their biggest ally. The resolution adopted by the United Nations on Friday calls on Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and urges it to open its facilities to inspection. It also calls for a regional conference in 2012 to advance the goal of a nuclear-free Middle East.”

Like many of the UN resolutions throughout the years this agreement seeks to weaken Israel’s defensive capabilities and deterrents and eventually put them at the mercy of their Arab enemies. The really disturbing part is that, President Obama’s tepid objection notwithstanding, America sided with the rest of the world in a process that seeks to undermine Israel’s security.

Turkey and Israel

There is one other aspect to the Gaza Flotilla story that may have prophetic ramifications. As a result of this incident relations between Israel and Turkey are rapidly deteriorating as this NPR article states (Once Close Allies, Israel, Turkey Clash On Raid):

“Israel’s raid on a pro-Palestinian flotilla of aid ships has drawn criticism from across the globe, but nowhere more severe or damaging than in Turkey, until recently one of its closest allies.

The Turkish-registered ship Marmara was the target of the Israeli commando raid that left nine people dead and dozens more wounded. Eight of those killed were Turkish nationals; a ninth had dual U.S.-Turkish citizenship. Fury over their deaths has led to the biggest crisis in Israeli-Turkey relations in years.”

In his 2008 book God’s War on Terror Walid Shoebat wrote that he believed Turkey plays a central role during the Tribulation Period. He also said that he thinks the Gog of Ezekiel’s prophecy (ch. 38-39) is the Antichrist. I wrote a synopsis of his book in my website article Islam and End-Times prophecy. In the section on Turkey I paraphrased seven reasons Mr. Shoebat thinks that Turkey has a significant role in the End-Times:

1.Ezekiel ch.38 lists eight locations in the Gog prophecy. Five of them (Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Togarmah, Gomer) are located in Turkey.

2.The first Islamic Empire (which culminated with the Turkish Ottoman Empire whose capital was Istanbul, Turkey) is the fatally wounded seventh Biblical Beast Empire of Revelation ch.17.

3.Daniel ch.9 declares the people of the prince will invade Jerusalem. The first part of this prophecy was fulfilled when the Roman army led by the Tenth Legion destroyed the second Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. This legion consisted of primarily Turkish and Syrian soldiers.

4.Daniel ch.11 prophesies of a “king of the north” as a type of the Antichrist. Antiochus Epiphanes IV ruled the Seleucid Empire which encompassed Turkey. He blasphemously sacrificed a pig on the Jewish Temple altar and was a forerunner of the Antichrist.

5.Isaiah and Micah prophesied of The Assyrian who is the Antichrist. Assyria’s domain included a large part of Turkey.

6.Zechariah ch.9 lists Yavan/Ionia (Turkey) as playing a role in the Last Days. They are translated with the word “Greece” in this passage but are actually located on the Western coast of Turkey.

7.Revelation ch.2 mentions that the throne of Satan is located in Pergamum, Turkey. (God’s War on Terror; p.421-425)

Whether or not the current crisis in Israel/Turkey relations leads to the fulfillment of Mr. Shoebat’s End-Times scenario is unknown. Only time will tell.

Zechariah 12

Contrary to those skeptics who have denigrated the Bible throughout the centuries, there are many reasons for believing it is the true word of God. There are the billions of lives that have been changed by the spiritual truths about life and salvation contained in it. Archaeology has proven time and time again that the Bible is historically accurate. I also believe that it is scientifically accurate and don’t believe the supernatural elements of it are inconsistent with an omnipotent God who created the universe and the scientific laws that allow it to exist. Since God is the Creator He is also able to transcend these laws according to His will. One other area of Biblical accuracy is found in its prophetic passages because God states that He is God and that He declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46). He foretold hundreds of prophecies that His Son Jesus the Messiah fulfilled 2000 years ago. Likewise He has given hundreds of prophecies that foretell of what will happen in the End-Times. One of these is found in the Book of the prophet Zechariah:

“1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” (Zechariah 12:1-3)

God says that one day all the world will come against Jerusalem in Israel because He will make it a burdensome stone and a cup of trembling or terror to the world. At no time in earth’s history has the whole world come against Jerusalem. Since the rebirth of Israel in 1948, the world has become globally connected and has become increasingly hostile to the nation of Israel. The signs that Jesus told His followers to watch for could be in their nascent stages. Only the One who declares the end from the beginning knows when it will start but it will happen at some point in the future because God declared it would.

Tags: Gaza flotilla, Israel, Jerusalem, Jews, Palestine, Turkey, United Nations, Zechariah 12
Posted in Archives 2010, Israel | No Comments »

Politics, Israel, and “declaring the end from the beginning”

Monday, May 31st, 2010

(May 31, 2010) I started writing a draft of this post more than a week ago. The subject is the importance (or lack thereof) of contemporary news events in relation to God’s overall prophetic plan for the world. Earlier today a still developing story occurred when Israeli forces boarded a supposed peace activist Gaza aid ship before it reached the shores of the Gaza Strip and injuries and deaths were incurred by the combatants.

Before addressing that issue I want to say that the idea for this post occurred to me after reading a blog article on the liberal Christian website maintained by the Sojourners organization. The majority (if not all) the posts on their God’s Politics blog are sympathetic to the Palestinians’ cause at the expense of the Israelis as the following linked article demonstrates: Christian Zionism: Theology that Legitimates Oppression

God has a global, eternal plan for the world and the universe, “9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:9-10) God is also interested in every individual soul and has a plan for every human being but that too is part of His universal plan as the apoatle Paul wrote, “3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (I Timothy 2:3-6) Contemporary politics of any era have little meaning except as to how they play a role in God’s overall plan. Israel is part of that plan and regardless of one’s worldview Israel was prophesied to become a nation again before the end and then all Israel (i.e. the Jews) will be saved.

Groups like Sojourners don’t seem to grasp that the rebirth of modern Israel could only happen as part of God’s prophetic plan for the world. The Bible makes it clear that the God Himself decides when the Jews live in the land of Israel:

The prophet Daniel declares that it is God who sets up kings and thereby countries for them to rule over: “Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are His: And He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings: He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.” (Daniel 2:20-22) The apostle Paul also spoke of God’s role in setting up governments: “1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.” (Romans 13:1-2) Thus, it was God’s will for the modern state of Israel to be created.

In the Old Testament God declared that it is His decision when the Jews live in the promised land and when they don’t. He tells Moses to warn the Israelites that if they obey Him they will be blessed in the land of Israel. However, if they disobey Him, He will remove them from the land:

“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field…And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.” (Deuteronomy 28:1-3,63-65)

Notice in this passage that it is the LORD who scatters the Jews from the land.

Later in Israel’s history, God removed the Jews from the land for their disobedience. He used the Babylonian Empire to perform His judgment. However, He tells them that He will return them to the land after seventy years:

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon…For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:4,10-11)

Again God states that He is the one who caused the Jews to be carried away to Babylon and He will be the one to cause them to return to Israel. In the book of the prophet Amos God promised to bring the Jews back to the land forever:

“And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.” (Amos 9:14-15)

God declares that He is always watching Israel:

“But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” (Deuteronomy 11:11-12)

God emphasizes throughout His word that He is always interested in what is going on in the land of Israel and that He determines when the Jews live in the land. Thus the Jews couldn’t have returned to the land of Israel unless it was God’s will for them to do so.

The Bible also makes it clear that Israel would play a central role in fulfilling End-Times prophecy. God made a promise concerning the Jews and the nation of Israel:

“33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. 35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: 36 If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.” (Jeremiah 31:33-36)

It should be clear to any Bible-believing Christian that the modern state of Israel exists because of the will of God. News events like the one involving the “peace” activist Gaza aid ship today will continue because the world, including the U.S., is turning against Israel. The world is in the process of condemning Israel for today’s incident. Criticism of Israel, deserved or not, will likely increase the closer we get to the End-Times. Christians should generally be standing up for and with the nation of Israel regardless of contemporary political events because we know that God has created it as part of His overall prophetic plans.

Tags: Amos 9, Israel, Jews, Rebirth of Israel, Sojourners
Posted in Archives 2010, Israel | No Comments »

President Obama, like every other President, is wrong on Israel

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

(April 17, 2010) The New York Times reports that President Obama is initiating a “far-reaching shift in how the United States views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how aggressively it might push for a peace agreement.” (Obama Phrase Highlights Shift on Middle East) The article states, “Mr. Obama said conflicts like the one in the Middle East ended up “costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure” — drawing an explicit link between the Israeli-Palestinian strife and the safety of American soldiers as they battle Islamic extremism and terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.” It also notes that both General Petraeus and Condoleezza Rice shared a similar position on the Middle East conflict with the Obama administration. The article does point out that Israelis themselves question the efficacy of any peace agreement with the Palestinians, “The sense of urgency in Washington comes just as many Israelis have become disillusioned with the whole idea of resolving the conflict. Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government has long been skeptical about the benefits of a peace deal with the Palestinians. But skepticism has taken root in the Israeli public as well, particularly after Israel saw little benefit from its traumatic withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.”

The issue that stands out to me is that every U.S. administration looks for a political solution to solve this dilemma. The problem is that the basis for the Arab-Israeli conflict is not political but religious in nature. What is the truth about the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Religious Jews

The Jews’ sole claim to the land comes from the Bible where God promised them the land of Israel forever. He did help the Jews conquer the land from the Canaanites and they lived there for the next eleven centuries. The United Nations, a political organization, did authorize their return to the land but only because their biblical history claims this as their land. The modern Zionist movement and its founder Theodor Herzl suggested Madagascar, Uganda, Cyprus, or Argentina as possible future homelands for the Jews. Yet they had no significant historical connection to any of these countries. The religious Jews declared that only the biblical land of Canaan/Israel would suffice as a homeland for the Jews. In the eyes of religious Jews the legitimacy of the Jews’ claim to the land of Israel does not come from the United Nations authority but from God’s promises in the Tanakh or Old Testament.

Religious Muslims

The Muslim prophet Muhammad was born in the 6th Century A.D. The Islamic religion began with him and in the following centuries the Muslims conquered many lands including the land of Israel. They continued ruling the land of Israel (with a few exceptions) until 1948 when the modern nation of Israel was created. Since then they have battled the Israelis for control of the land. Just like the religious Jews believe God gave them the land, so too the fundamentalist Muslims believe that Allah gave them the land. There are two religious concepts in Islam that have a tremendous if not the sole impact on the Arab side of this modern conflict. They are Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam. I discussed these two concepts in my article Why There will never be peace in Israel until the Messiah returns:

“There are two concepts in Islam that will never allow Israel to have peace until the Messiah returns. The first is Dar al-Islam which means House of Islam or House of Submission. Its adherents are made up of Muslim extremists. Dar al-Islam refers to countries where the law of Islam prevails and an Islamic government rules. Non-Muslims may live there under subjugation. Dar al-Harb means House of War and refers to those countries that are not under Islamic rule. It also refers to those lands which were once Islamic but were conquered by non-Muslims. The lands that are not Muslim are not legitimate because they are not under the authority of Allah. In the case of Israel those Muslims who subscribe to Dar al-Harb believe that the Jews are living on land that Allah gave to Islam. Therefore it is a disgrace to Islam and can only be rectified by Israel returning to Islamic rule. The Muslims riot over cartoons depicting their prophet Muhammad because it is a dishonor to him. How much more will they fight to regain Israel since it is a dishonor to Allah. No matter how many moderate Muslims may want peace with Israel the Islamic hardliners can never allow Israel to exist. Under Dar al-Harb treaties and truces may be made but only with the goal of eventually retaking the land that once was under Islamic rule. Since Israeli soldiers swear an oath declaring “Never again” will they be brought under the power of another government, they will never stop fighting to keep Israel.”

The Political Solution

There is a belief among a lot of world leaders that if the Israelis give up enough land they can achieve peace with the Palestinians. Some of these leaders think the Israelis should withdraw to the pre-1967 borders that were politically drawn up after the 1949 armistice to end Israel’s War of Independence against the Arab armies. This means that Israel would give up the Golan Heights to Syria, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. The Jews waited more than 1800 years to return to Jerusalem. Every one of those 1800 years they ended the Passover seder with the words “Next year in Jerusalem”. In 1967 they finally realized that dream and to expect them to give it up now is ludicrous.

From the Arab point of view the return of the “occupied” territories would not suffice to meet their religious requirements. They believe Allah gave them the entire land of Israel and therefore will accept nothing less: “As long as Hezbollah exists, it will never recognise Israel.” – leader of Lebanon’s Islamist Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah March 14, 2009.” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7943357.stm) Under Dar al-Harb they have no choice but to acquire all of the land of Israel in order to restore honor to Allah. The history of the Palestinian Authority (PA) will prove this to be the case.

The Palestinian Authority was formed after the Oslo Peace agreement of 1993. Previously it had been known as Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which was created in 1964. Why is this of the utmost significance? Because in 1964 the Arabs occupied the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. They didn’t lose these lands until three years later during the 1967 Six Day War. This then begs the question: “What lands were they trying to liberate in 1964?” The obvious answer is they were eventually hoping to liberate all the land of Israel from the Jews. This of course falls in line with the religious concept of Dar al-Harb.

Political leaders who try to force a peace agreement on Israel with the Palestinians by causing them to give up more land are engaging in a futile endeavor. The Israelis unilaterally withdrew from parts of Gaza in 2005. The terrorist organization Hamas moved in and began firing rockets into Israel. There is no political solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Religious Solution

There is no temporal religious solution because both the Jews and Muslims claim the land of Israel was given to them by Jehovah and Allah respectively. In 1993, on the White House lawn, both Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat proclaimed Jerusalem as the eternal capital of their people. I told my wife that day this meant the Oslo Peace Accord was a sham because the status of Jerusalem would not be solved by this agreement. However, at some point in the future a global leader will arise and seemingly solve the Arab-Israeli conflict in general and the Jerusalem situation in particular. How he accomplishes this feat is not entirely clear. The Bible indicates that this man will be a great orator and have some kind of supernatural powers or at least the appearance of them. He will deceive the world with a false agenda of peace and the world will follow after him. Once he reveals his true nature global chaos will ensue. The chaos will end with the second coming of Jesus and at that time He will solve the Arab-Israeli conflict by setting up His kingdom in Jerusalem and ruling the world from there. Both Arabs and Jews will then know that He is the Messiah and follow Him. Until that time though, American presidents will continue to try and force peace on Israel and they will fail.

Tags: East Jerusalem, Israel, Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, Messiah, Middle East, Palestine, President Obama
Posted in Archives 2010, Israel | No Comments »

America: “Curiouser and curiouser”

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

(April 10, 2010) A friend of mine recently forwarded an email to me titled “Budget in Wonderland” written by Bill Miller who is the Senior Vice President and National Political Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The email stated, “‘Curiouser and curiouser,’ Alice exclaimed after falling into Wonderland and suddenly growing to nine feet tall. Forgive us if we feel the same way about President Obama’s latest budget proposal. Because only in Wonderland would record spending increases equal a smaller deficit. Yet that’s what the White House would have us believe. Back up the rabbit hole we go to find the truth about the budget: tax hikes and deficits as far as the eye can see.”

American Economic Policy

I know of no Federal agency that has ever decreased government spending. I believe the Healthcare legislation will severely hurt the U.S. economy over the next few years. Taxes will have to increase in order to pay for millions of uninsured citizens and non-citizens. The problem is that Healthcare is not the end of President Obama’s political agenda. He wants Congress to pass environmental legislation which will impose new financial burdens on American companies and thereby the American people (Who Pays for Cap and Trade?). He wants to follow that with Immigration reform which will further burden the average American taxpayer. I cannot see a positive economic result from any of these legislative acts. To the contrary I believe that America will dissolve into economic ruin. The Washington Post had an article on its website titled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sounds a warning on growing deficit which said,

“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned Wednesday that Americans may have to accept higher taxes or changes in cherished entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security if the nation is to avoid staggering budget deficits that threaten to choke off economic growth. ‘These choices are difficult, and it always seems easier to put them off — until the day they cannot be put off anymore,’ Bernanke said in a speech. ‘But unless we as a nation demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility, in the longer run we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth.’”

American Defense Policy

President Obama announced a change in America’s nuclear strategic policy and signed a nuclear weapon reduction agreement with Russia. A New York Times article (Obama Limits When U.S. Would Use Nuclear Arms) states, “Discussing his approach to nuclear security the day before formally releasing his new strategy, Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to create incentives for countries to give up any nuclear ambitions. To set an example, the new strategy renounces the development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary. Mr. Obama’s strategy is a sharp shift from those of his predecessors and seeks to revamp the nation’s nuclear posture for a new age in which rogue states and terrorist organizations are greater threats than traditional powers like Russia and China. It eliminates much of the ambiguity that has deliberately existed in American nuclear policy since the opening days of the cold war. For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack.” [Bold type mine]

It would be great if we could live in a world without wars and human tragedy but we don’t. We live in a sinful, fallen world where evil has designs on those who would seek peace. From a biblical point of view governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens from evil, “3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” (Romans 13:3-4) With evil on the rise in the world any reduction in America’s deterrent capabilities may not be the wisest course of action and could invite attacks by rogue nations as the N.Y.Times article points out.

American Foreign Policy Towards Israel

Our relationship with Israel continues in a downward spiral. I noted this fact in a recent article on this blog (The Decline and Fall of America Redux and Ezekiel 38-39):

U.S.-Israeli Ties in ‘Historic’ Crisis – “Top U.S. officials have lined up in recent days to condemn the Israeli plan to build 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, the sector of the holy city that the Palestinians claim for their future capital. The project caused a storm in Washington because it was announced during Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the region last week, badly embarrassing the U.S. and complicating its efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. The Palestinians immediately threatened not to join upcoming U.S.-brokered talks meant to jumpstart negotiations after a 14-month breakdown…”

US envoy cancels Mideast trip, Israel feud deepens – “A U.S. envoy’s postponement of his Mideast trip appeared Tuesday to deepen one of the worst U.S.-Israeli feuds in memory – even as Israel’s foreign minister signaled his government had no intention of curtailing the contentious construction at the heart of the row…”

It appears as though America is in a transitional period in our policy towards Israel and our historical alliance with them. We seem to be turning our backs on our friends in Israel in favor of the Arab world who has tried to do damage to our nation over the last few decades through terrorism and oil manipulation.

Curiouser and curiouser

I cannot see any logic behind America’s current economic policies, defense policies, or foreign policies. It’s as though no matter how obvious the right course of action may be it seems as though America is on an express train to global and national impotence. Liz Cheney echoed my beliefs at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference last Thursday. A CBS News website article reports, “Cheney told the roughly 3,500 conservative activists and donors gathered for the conference that there are three prongs to the president’s foreign policy: ‘apologize for America, abandon our allies and appease our enemies.’ ‘The Obama administration is putting us on the path to decline,’ added Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. She criticized the administration for the “shabby reception” given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited Washington recently, which she deemed “disgraceful.” ‘President Obama is playing a reckless game if he continues down the path of diminishing the United States’ ties to Israel,’ she said, deeming the world safer when there is “no daylight” between the two countries.” (Liz Cheney: Obama Putting America on Path to Decline) [Bold type mine]

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said on his show last Thursday “We have his budgets. We have seen the deficit. We know the underemployment and employment numbers. We know tax increases are coming. It’s clear Obama is not serious about developing domestic energy supplies. We know that the public sector is expanding at the expense of the private sector. We know that our relationships with allies very deteriorated. We know we aren’t safer. We know the country is more divided. We know the State-Controlled Media has no intention of practicing journalism ever again. We have enough hard evidence to make sound judgments about Obama, his czars, and the regime. Either Obama hopes we fail or is unintentionally causing failure. This is not speculation. That’s fact. What isn’t known is the extent of the damage. But I’m going to make some predictions about that which are not pretty coming up soon on this program. We don’t know the exact date of our country’s future bankruptcy, but we just know that it is a certainty under Obama’s direction and the help of Democrats in Congress and the government-run media. America is being administered statist-assisted suicide.” (Obama Performs Statist-Assisted Suicide on the American Economy)

According to a recent Fox News poll the majority of Americans also think the future is bleak for the United States, “A majority of voters think life for the next generation of Americans will be worse than life today…The poll also finds that three-quarters of voters think the United States is weaker today than it was 10 years ago. Moreover, almost all consider the current economic and unemployment conditions a “crisis.” The 74 percent that thinks the country is weaker today includes sizable majorities of Democrats (61 percent), Republicans (87 percent) and independents (78 percent). Overall, far fewer voters — about one in five — believes America is stronger than a decade ago (19 percent). Democrats (31 percent) are three times more likely than Republicans and independents to feel that way.” (Fox News Poll: 57% Think Next Generation Will Be Worse Off)

It makes one wonder “Why is this happening? Curiouser and curiouser.”

I believe the answer lies in End-Times prophecy. As I stated above, Romans ch. 13 declares that God ordains governments to exist. It may be His will that America declines in order to fulfill the prophetic invasion of Israel declared by the prophet Ezekiel. Although it seems national and world events sometimes randomly spiral out of control this may not be the case with what is happening in America under the present Administration.

No matter how illogical and “curious” the decisions which America is making at this time I believe it is very possible that God’s unseen hand is ordering current events. His unseen hand caused the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar to decree a census in order to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. The world one day will be in a position to fulfill all of God’s End-Times prophecies. How soon that occurs is also in God’s hands. As I’ve told my wife many times, “I would rather be in God’s hands than anywhere else in the universe.”

Tags: decline of America, Ezekiel 38, Israel, Liz Cheney, President Obama, Rush Limbaugh
Posted in America, Archives 2010, Economic watch, Israel and Ezekiel | 1 Comment »

CNBC article agrees that America will decline

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

(March 25, 2010) Yesterday the CNBC website ran a news story titled Health Care Law Signals US Empire Decline? The opening paragraph of this article states, “The passage of the health care law shows that the US empire is declining because it illustrates the fact that people expect the state to take care of them, David Murrin, the co-founder of Emergent Asset Management hedge fund manager, told CNBC.” The article goes on to say, “In their expansionary phase, empires force people to go out, seek risks and fend for themselves, Murrin said, reminding of the dismantling of the British empire after the war, when the National Health Service, which ensures universal health coverage in Britain, was created. This (empire decline) is actually a dead-set course that societies get into and it will happen very quickly I’m afraid, he told ‘Squawk Box Europe.’ ‘As you start to build a system it becomes cohesive because of its success… the fractures in the American system I think are more apparent than ever,’ Murrin added.” The article points out that while America is declining China will be ascending in global influence.

At the same time as the headline above was appearing on the Drudge Report he linked to another story which I consider to have a related import in regards to End-Times prophecy: Israel-US relations hit historic low amid White House blackout … This article reports, “Two separate meetings between President Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, failed to produce so much as an official photograph as a chill settled over US-Israeli relations and secrecy shrouded any efforts to repair them. The Israeli Prime Minister was due to fly home from Washington after three days marked by Israeli defiance on the issue of settlements and an extraordinary silence maintained by both sides after his three-and-a-half-hour visit to the White House. The meeting was overshadowed by Israeli approval for 20 homes built for Jews in Arab east Jerusalem — a move denounced by one senior US official as ‘exactly what we expect Prime Minister Netanyahu to get control of’. White House staff denied Mr Netanyahu the usual photo opportunities afforded to a visiting leader, issued only the vaguest summary of their talks — let alone a joint statement — and reversed a decision to release an official photo of their meetings.”

These two news stories, one about the decline of America and the other about the deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Israel, appeared on the Drudge Report six days after I wrote the post immediately below this one. (The Decline and Fall of America Redux and Ezekiel 38-39) In that post I pointed out how for years I have believed that something has to happen to disrupt the relationship between Israel and America in order for Ezekiel’s War of Gog and Magog prophecy to come to pass. I believe that America will abandon Israel for either political or economical reasons. With Israel no longer under U.S. military protection the alliance of nations mentioned in Ezekiel would feel unrestrained in attacking Israel. Recent secular news stories seem to indicate that America is headed in that direction.

Tags: decline of America, healthcare, Invasion of Israel, Israel, President Obama
Posted in America, Archives 2010, Biblical prophecies, Israel and Ezekiel | 2 Comments »

Does the land of Israel belong to the “Israel of God” (the Christian Church)?

Monday, March 8th, 2010

(March 10, 2010) There are Christians who believe that the Christian Church has replaced the Jewish nation of Israel which God created in the Old Testament. They quote the apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he called Christians the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16) and Abraham’s seed “28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28-29) They believe that since the Jews as a nation rejected Jesus as their Messiah the covenants God made with them in the Old Testament are no longer in effect. Therefore, the Jews of today have no God-given right to the land of Israel.

I had a debate on the liberal Sojourners website over who owns the land of Israel in God’s eyes. Two different posters invoked Galatians to suggest that the Christian Church has replaced the Jewish people/nation:

[poster #1]: “ Remember Galatians 3:28, which specifically mandated equality and made us *all* part of Abraham’s seed.”

[poster #2]: “Does God say in His Word that the land of Israel belongs to the descendants of Abraham? Isn’t it possible, in view of Galatians, that the land actually belongs to faithful Christians, Jews and Muslims who desire to please Him by faith.”

I came across a poster on another blog who subscribes to Replacement Theology and who wrote, “There will be no third temple, since God destroyed it forever to be replaced by the True High Priest entering Heaven to offer His shed blood. As for ‘replacement theology’, Jesus said the vineyard would be taken from the Jews and given to another nation bearing its fruits. Matt. 21:43 Sounds like replacement to me.”

The parables Jesus spoke in ch. 21 of Matthew have nothing whatsoever to do with the land of Israel. Jesus is clearly speaking of the Jewish religious leaders who rejected God’s plan of salvation which comes through His Son, Jesus the Messiah:

“28 But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. 29 He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. 30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. 31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him. 33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: 34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. 35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. 39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” (Matthew 21:28-43)

In light of these Replacement Theological positions how would they interpret the following scripture passage. In Genesis God made this promise to Abraham:

“14 And Jehovah said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward: 15 for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” (Genesis 13:14-15)

God promised the land to Abraham’s seed or offspring forever.

The following question illustrates the fallacy of the Replacement Theology position:

If the the land of Israel belongs to Abraham’s seed and if the Christian Church (the Israel of God) has replaced the Jewish nation of Israel then doesn’t this mean that the land of Israel belongs neither to the Jews or the Arabs but to the Christian Church?

You would be hard-pressed to find any adherent to Replacement Theology answer Yes to that question. As a matter of fact Knox Theological Seminary in 2002 issued an Open Letter stating that Christians, who constitute the “true Israel”, are not entitled to the land of Israel (nor is any other group according to this letter – sec. VI). Yet God’s promise in Genesis is clear: “the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” Who then is the seed/offspring that God promised this land to forever? It has to be either the Jews or the Christians. The Arabs are not covered in this covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Genesis ch. 15, ch. 17, ch. 28) The argument that says the covenant is no longer valid for the Jews since they rejected Jesus Christ cannot be applied to Abraham’s Christian seed. We accepted Jesus as the Messiah so therefore the covenant is still in effect for Abraham’s offspring and thus according to Replacement Theology the land belongs to the Church. This illustrates both the scriptural and logical absurdity of Replacement Theology.

The Church is the Spiritual Israel while the Jews in the land of Israel constitute the Temporal Israel. The land of Israel was promised to the physical offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Jews. And as God’s word says, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” and therefore the land of Israel belongs to the Jews. (Romans ch.11)

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To see my response to Knox Theological Seminary’s Open Letter go here: Open Response

To read the Scriptural basis for the Jews’ right to the land see my article Christian Zionism: Christians and the Jews

To read a debate between myself and a Replacement Theology adherent see Does the Land of Israel belong to the Jews?

Tags: Israel, Israel of God, Replacement Theology
Posted in Archives 2010, Biblical prophecies, Israel | 3 Comments »

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