Israel 2010

Jim

March 17, 2010

Israel. What about it?

How does this small nation (called a state) cause such a stir in world politics? It is slightly smaller than New Jersey with 20,770 sq km or 8,019 sq miles; containing 7,026,000 million people.

What on Earth could cause such a stir over this piece of turf? I know. Hopefully I can relay that to you in a meaningful manner; having just been there and experienced it in its grand blessed glory.

Amnon, our tour guide, revealed a lot about the tension the residents of Israel live with on a daily basis. At times he became almost angered about what is happening. At one point he said that he wished that the Palestinians were not allowed to live there at all.

Amnon stated that they live with fear constantly. When he goes to work he is never sure if he will see his kids once he returns home. They may be hit by a suicide bomber or other terrorist activity. The children in schools are trained to find cover within the 15 second warning received for an incoming rocket.

Israel accepts freedom of religious as part of its core beliefs. They allow any person of any religion to worship, live, and prosper in their country; much as we do in America.

Yet some of those religions have relatives, just over the borders of Israel, who wish to do terminal harm to the Jews living there.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, has vowed on many occasions to wipe Israel from the map of the Middle East. He calls anyone, not a Muslim, an Infidel worthy of a quick and decisive execution. His country is in active pursuit of nuclear capabilities and will soon have a bomb to use just for that purpose.

As we toured across the beautiful land we constantly were aware of the smallness of the state and the closeness of their enemy. We would cross over into Syria, then Jordan, then the West Bank and back; all in just a few hours of touring.

Several times we were told of a place where there was a wall which has been torn down as the borders constantly change. Amnon was quick to point out the ever present bullet holes in the sides of Limestone buildings.

As we drove through the country side and within the cities we could see Jewish Synagogues on one side of the bus and Muslim Mosques on the other side, their towering minarets standing tall against the sky line. Some times they would be in close proximity.

As we walked along the Via Delorosa the street was jammed with Palestinian shops and Palestinian people all wearing their shemagh headdresses and burka dresses; living in a seemingly peaceful existence with the Orthodox Jews.

Yet we could sense the tension between them. We were given many evil eyes as we passed by. Amnon shied away from these shops and only took us to ones run by his fellow Jewish friends.

Throughout Israeli history nations have been warring against the Jews, In several instances the Bible tells us of periods of time where the people have been taken into captivity and subsequently restored to their land.

When Moses led the people back to the Promised Land it was after a 400 year exile. Some other exiles were shorter in time. The in 70 AD the Romans sacked Jerusalem and the Jews were scattered in the Diaspora.

This destruction of Jerusalem pushed Jews all over the world and led to populations in German, Russia and Poland. These were the victims of the Holocaust of WWII. Those who survived started immigrating back to their home land after Israel was once again opened up to the Jews in 1948.

Many times since then there have been skirmishes and wars that pushed and pulled at the borders of Israel. But in all of this the Jewish people never lusted after the lands of other nations. They just wanted to regain their on land promised to Abraham and his seed thousands of years ago.

All of the other surrounding nations want to annihilate, destroy, enslave, or destroy all of Israel and the Jewish people. The Jews only want to retain what is theirs from the beginning of time.

A quick search on my computer Bible reveals that Israel is mentioned 2,319 times. A lot of those are for the patriarch Israel, but not all. Some of these references are for the nation of Israel. I get 767 hits for the word Jerusalem, all of which are for the city of God that we visited.

The Quran does not mention either Israel or Jerusalem. So it is funny how the Muslims want to claim it as theirs when it has been so well documented in the Bible as being the home of the Jewish people. Jerusalem has always been the undivided capitol of the nation of Israel, since time immortal.

I told you earlier that I knew why this little piece of land was causing such a stir in the world we know today. Part of it is because of Abraham; but not all. The real reason goes way back in time. I will tell you about that later on.

Abraham is a key person in the state of the Middle East of today. God had promised that he would make a mighty nation out of Abraham’s seed; too numerous to count, like the sand of the sea and the stars of the nighttime sky.

But good old Abraham could not wait for God to accomplish this. Being of many years he and Sarah took it upon their selves to give God a helping hand. Go lay with my handmaid Hagar and we will then have the offspring God promised to you.

Well this little ploy worked, but it was not in Gods will for them. God intended for Abraham and Sarah to produce the offspring of promise. This began the clash of nations that we are now living in today. The entire Muslim nations stem from Ishmael born of Hagar; whereby the Jewish nations all stem from, the true born offspring of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac.

God blessed both sons of Abraham and would make them both mighty nations. Ishmael’s was to be a warring nation always at odds with his neighbors. Isaac was to be the one who would produce the Salvation of the World, Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that Abraham went to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his only begotten son Isaac. The Quran says that it was Ishmael. So both nations claim the same father in Abraham, as well as much of the history that follows. They both claim Israel and Jerusalem as their own place of worship.

Satan has a way of taking the blessing of God and making a carbon copy imitation of it to lead many lost souls astray. Out of Ishmael came Allah and his prophet Mohammed. Hence the war began. Good against evil.

We found the Jewish people to be very peaceful and loving. Have you ever seen a picture of a radical Muslim who did not have his face covered, or waving his fist in anger at the camera, or holding a grenade launcher, or an automatic rifle shouting hatred and kill, kill, kill at the press?

The Bible teaches peace, tolerance, love, compassion, hope, forgiveness and conversion. The Quran teaches death to all who do not believe. Which way seems to be from God? Would a benevolent God want his people to love each other as He loves them? Or would he want his followers to be murderers and terrorists?

So this little story is getting back to the real problem; the original problem that goes way back into time.

In the beginning God created….

Lucifer was cast out of Heaven…

That is it. That is the beginning of the trouble we are experiencing on Planet earth in 2010. It is the age old battle of Good vs. evil, God vs. Satan.

Since the fall of Lucifer from Heaven Satan has been at work trying to stop or delay his eventual casting into the lake of fire.

He tempted Eve causing the fall of man. He brought about Ishmael to be in control of the lineage of Abraham. He tried to kill Moses, stop the flight to Israel, kill David, mess up the lineage with Beersheba, stop Joseph from marrying Mary, kill Jesus on the cross, destroy Israel and the Holy city of Jerusalem (so there would be no new Tabernacle to worship at), and on and on.

He has tried to stop you from accomplishing the calling God has placed on your life. He has tried to stop me. I spent over 40 years wandering in the desert of confusion and apostasy.

He tried to stop us from going to Israel or returning. Each day is a battle to keep our eyes on God and not the evil working on Earth.

BUT! God is in control. His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. The end times will happen as God has laid them out and the prophets have predicted. The city of Jerusalem will once again house the Holy Temple of God sitting on the Rock where the Dome now sits. This must be accomplished so that the Antichrist may desolate the Holy Place and usher in the last 3 ½ years of Earths history.

We toured Megiddo where the last and final battle of Earth will be wages. It is called Armageddon. What a blessing it was to stand on this mountain where the end of all evil will happen. I have been to places where there had been wars waged but never to a place where a war was to be waged in the future.

Israel has a glorious future. It will not be blown from the face of the map of the Middle East until the completion of Gods time for it.

So what about all of the unrest in the Middle East right now? It is quite a mess isn’t it?

Not to worry! Our beloved president wants us to just sit down, have a beer, and shake hands. That will settle it all. Right?

At least get them to stop building new houses. That is sure a sore spot in the realm of things. If they would just stop building new homes for their children and new refugees returning to their ancient home land things would be all better. Right?

Never mind that just a few hundred miles away there is a nut case making ready for nuclear war. Nuclear war is nothing in comparison to building houses on your own property. Is it not?

Let’s get a signature on a piece of paper and we will settle this ancient battle over good and evil once and for all. Never mind that the Palestinians have repeatedly turned down offers of land of their own.

Or that when Israel gave up the Gaza Strip that it was used as a launch pad for over 7,000 rockets aimed at the Jewish people. Surely that was just a small irritant to the nation of Israel. Not quite an act of aggression or war. Right?

I am sure that if Canada threw a few thousand rockets at Detroit or Buffalo no one would mind; Silly people. Let’s just get them to sign a piece of paper and put this all behind us. Right?

After being bombarded with thousands of missiles the rash Jewish people finally struck out in an obvious violation of the UN peace treaties. Never mind that they dropped thousands of leaflets stating that they were going to attack the rock launch sites, or that they made thousands of phone calls to pre-warn the people of the coming attack. They are obviously warmongers and should be condemned for their acts of war. Right?

Now there is a pending doom so terrible that it is hard to imagine. Iran wants to send nuclear bombs against this small peaceful nation. The US is not responding, well maybe with some sanctions to impose restrictions of oil importing and exporting. These papers will surely stop this madman from carrying out what he views as a holy, god sanctioned act. Jihad. Right?

What happened if Israel strikes first? Will they be praised for their actions in stopping this holocaust from happening? I think not. I believe that the world, the US included, will shake their self righteous fingers at them and call them war criminals.

All that Obama and Clinton can do is have meetings talking about getting the Israelites to stop building those confounded houses. So what if Iran starts a full scaled nuclear war. Not our problem. Right?

The Bible tells us that if we stand with Israel that God will bless us, If not He will curse us. I believe that the government of the United States of America is about to turn its back on Israel. God help us all.

There is a remnant of believers, scattered across this great nation, who are making a stand for Israel. Most of us belong to CUFI (Christians United for Israel) founded by Pastor John Hagee. We firmly believe that God will honor our commitment and not let the nation of America fall. Our government may come to an end but we the people will survive.

At a Promise Keepers rally we chanted “Never Again” “Never Again” “Never Again”. On top of Masada we chanted “Masada will never fall again”

My wife and I stand for Israel and will hold to the bitter end for our brothers. For we are adopted Jews and under the Abrahamic covenant which God honors for all times. We have put on a yellow star and stand arm in arm with the Jewish nation.

We are in the battle of our lives; a battle whose lines were drawn at the dawn of Creation and will carry to the end of times on Earth into the eve of Eternity.