The most important thing about Jesus is having Him in your heart; inviting Him in, giving Him full access to every room, talking with Him about everything, sharing all your secrets with Him, asking His advice on everything, and letting Him decorate how He wants to. Then constantly working on your private relationship with Him, figuring out how He speaks to you, so that you fully understand each other. This is going to be different for each person. He is not the author of fear or confusion. He will guide you through love if you let Him. The more you grow, the deeper your relationship with Him gets, the more you can share His love…
“God has planted eternity in the hearts of men.”
Ecclesiastes 3:10, TLB
You will never be completely happy on earth, simply because you were not made for earth. Oh, you will have your moments of joy. You will catch glimpses of light. You will know moments or even days of peace. But they simply do not compare with the happiness that lies ahead.
Max Lucado
“Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness.”
Psalm 138:2, The Message
We give more applause to a brawny ball-carrier than we do to the God who made us. We sing more songs to the moon than to the Christ who saved us . . .
Though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this: We are his. Unalterably. He loves us. Undyingly.
Max Lucado
“If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”
Matthew 21:22
Don’t reduce this grand statement to the category of new cars and paychecks . . .
God wants you to fly. He wants you to fly free of yesterday’s guilt. He wants you to fly free of today’s fears. He wants you to fly free of tomorrow’s grave. Sin, fear, and death. These are the mountains he has moved. These are the prayers he will answer.
Max Lucado
I have posted some excerpts from the book TrueFaced to give you a desire to read the book. It is by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch. I think it will change your life and your relationship to God if you take it to heart and apply it’s wonderful messages.
What if I tell you there are no lists?
What if I tell you I don’t keep a log of past offenses, of how little you pray, how often you have let me down, made promises that you didn’t keep?
What if I tell you – you are righteous with my righteousness, right now?
What if I tell you, I am CRAZY about you!
Live in my grace with your True Face.
Oh, don’t misunderstand. They’ll bring you some of the best days of your life; you will be fulfilled beyond any imaginable expectations. but God’s dreams take form only when they are about others.
There are no other types of God dreams. Nothing less or else will compel, attract, or seem worthy of this God heart within you. Everything else will always, ultimately, taste chalky and dry. God’s destiny for you will never be so trivial as building a kingdom for you to enhance your acclaim. Such is a kingdom of dust and lint.
The dream he has prepared custom for you is explosively beautiful and alive. It’s about his glorious kingdom–a plan involving you from before there was time!
This stunning dream always involves others.
Others being
This unbending intention of God has been at once the source of your best dreaming and your continuous foot shooting.
Think about it–God’s dreams for us reflect His heart. If we are maturing in sync with his heart, how would we distinguish others-centered dreams from self-centered dreams? Many of us remain so wounded and preoccupied with our own stuff that we concoct our own tepid, cheap dreams and call them God’s. After a while we wouldn’t recognize God’s dream for us if it came up and shouted, “Howdy, I’m your dream!:
Note: TrueFaced by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch
God dearly longs for the day when he gets to hand you that ticket, smile, and whisper into your ear, “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hand this to you. Have a blast! I’ve already seen what you get to do. It’s better than you could have dreamed. Now hurry up and get on that train. A whole lot of folk are waiting for you to walk into your destiny and into their lives.”
Note: * TrueFaced by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch
God has a ticket of destiny with your name on it–no matter how old, how broken, how tired, or how frightened you are. *
Note: * TrueFaced by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch
June 14th, 2011 → 2:00 am @ admin
By Jon Walker
I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. John 17:13-14 (NIV)
Have you ever considered that Jesus laughed? Can you imagine him as a joyful man, full of humor? Perhaps his eyes twinkled with grace and acceptance?
Jesus said he wanted to pass the full measure of his joy to those who believed in him (John 17:13 NIV).
If we’re always frowning and glowering, is it any surprise that non-believers have difficulty understanding how Jesus brings us into a joyful, abundant life?
I once interviewed Bruce Marchiano, the actor who played Jesus in The Gospel According to Matthew. He said the greatest surprise he found in playing Jesus was portraying him with joy. Bruce said most portraits of Jesus show him as constantly serious; yet, the Gospels reveal Jesus to be full of joy and compassion.
One scene in The Gospel According to Matthew shows Jesus, portrayed by Bruce, healing a man and they both fall on the ground hugging and laughing. It is a joyous moment for Jesus as he gives the man new health, and it is a joyous moment for the man as he receives this gift from Jesus.
Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ is known for its bloody presentation of Christ’s final hours, but one scene that is often overlooked is Jesus in a playful conversation with his mother, Mary. He smiles, and he laughs.
Back in the 1960s, Playboy magazine printed a drawing of Jesus—laughing. Although the magazine’s philosophy stood counter to God, their point was that Jesus must have been a joyful man because who is attracted to a frowning, judgmental teacher.
Jesus came enjoying life and he wants us to enjoy life too (Matthew 11:19).
Jon Walker is the author of Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ and Growing with Purpose. He has served on staff at Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven Ministries and is currently the managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Devotionals and the Ministry Toolbox. Contact him at questions@gracecreates.com. This article is copyrighted 2011 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.
Posted: 22 Jun 2011 12:00 AM PDT
By Jon Walker
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it . . . . But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:17–18 (NIV)
In his book, Night, Elie Wiesel describes the unholy madness he faced during World War II as a prisoner in the German killing-camp Auschwitz and then as one of the few survivors of a death march to the concentration camp at Buchenwald.
Wiesel, an orthodox Jew, lost his faith in God and in humanity as, day by day, he fought to survive in a catastrophic pit of hell where, as one prisoner told him, “. . . There are no fathers, no brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.”
When he was finally liberated by Allied Forces in 1945, Wiesel was just 16. He’d witnessed the slow death of his father; his mother and sister were presumably dead; and he felt as if everything had come to an end: “. . . Man, history, literature, religion, God. There was nothing left. And yet we begin again with night” (a reference to the Jewish tradition that a new day starts as night falls).
Wiesel records with honesty his anger at God for appearing to ignore those who cried out for the Almighty’s protection. The evil of Auschwitz and Buchenwald is so mind-wrenching there are no adjectives adequate to convey the horror.
And who can judge a crumbling faith under such circumstances, particularly when we know our faith often crumbles for far lesser things?
The stuff of faith is facing the fire, perhaps the most difficult lesson in the school of Christ. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we stand firm before the blazing furnace, confident the God we serve is able to save us, but also confident if we are not rescued, God’s thoughts for us are not evil but to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11, based on NKJV).
We may not be rescued by God, but we will continue to worship him when we allow our heartache and our horrible circumstances to crowd us closer to the One who grieves with us because he loves us more than any other and more than we could ever know.
Posted: 20 Jun 2011 01:00 AM PDT
by Jon Walker
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Corinthians 4:1 (NIV)
My youngest son sometimes gets creative with his use of words. My favorite example is when he said, “Dad, you nervoused me!”—meaning, “You made me nervous!”
I use this illustration to help you remember Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:1, where he says, in effect, “We have been ‘mercied’ by God.”
You have been mercied by God!
The flood of God’s mercy sweeps us toward an intimate relationship with him, the strong current pushing us into oneness with our gracious and merciful Creator.
And so Paul says, because of God’s great mercy, we now have this ministry of reconciliation, a ministry to tell people the good news of God’s grace, news that will lead to God-transformed lives.
It’s a ministry of monumental task—a God-task—but Paul says we need not lose heart, for we are energized by the very Spirit of the Living God.
* This means God works through you. You aren’t called to a God-works-beside-me ministry; the Holy Spirit, the Jesus-deposit, works from within you.
* This means God works for your success. Paul says not to lose heart because, in faith, you can agree you are God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works . . .” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).
Jon Walker is the author of Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ and Growing with Purpose. He has served on staff at Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven Ministries and is currently the managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Devotionals and the Ministry Toolbox. Contact him at questions@gracecreates.com. This article is copyrighted 2011 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.
Posted: 23 Jun 2011 12:00 AM PDT
By Jon Walker
Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Proverbs 30:5 (NIV)
Historian Stephen Ambrose says that during World War II, “The Allied bombers bristled with machine guns, in the nose, under the belly, on top, in the rear.”
He reports the workhorse of the air war was the B-17 bomber, known as the “Flying Fortress” because it carried thirteen .50 caliber machine guns.
Surprisingly, scientific testing suggested the B-17 would be safer without the guns. Without the weight of the guns and the crew members required to shoot them, the planes could fly faster and higher, increasing the chance of survival during daylight missions.
But the pilots said there was no way they were going on a mission without guns mounted on the plane. They wanted to be able to shoot back.
We make the same choice when it comes to our own battles. God tells us we don’t need the guns; we can soar higher and faster with him. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does” (2 Corinthians 10:3 NIV).
God says the weapons he will give us “have divine power to demolish strongholds,” and we no longer need to use the “weapons of the world” (2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV).
But we say, “No thanks. We have to shoot back!” and defend ourselves with an arsenal of angry words, demanding attitudes, manipulative maneuvers, excessive excuses, and bombs of blame.
It takes faith to stop using these weapons of the flesh and instead “take up the shield of faith” and arm ourselves with the weapons of God, starting with the bomb of love (Ephesians 6:16 NIV).
It’s the kind of faith David showed when he approached Goliath, saying, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:45 NIV).
Could God’s spiritual arsenal defend you as well? “He is a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Proverbs 30:5 NIV).
Posted: 23 Jun 2011 01:00 AM PDT
By Jon Walker
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Luke 10:27 (NIV)
God wants your heart to beat in such perfect rhythm with his own that your passions merge with his passions. God wants you to love others as if your heart were one with his heart.
And the way you start loving others with a heart like God’s is to first love God with all your heart. This means you focus your heart on those things that matter most to God and you let go of anything that hinders your ability to align with God’s heart.
Jesus matched his heart with the Father’s heart, obeying everything the Father told him to do. His heart beat so closely with the Father’s that he did nothing without the Father’s direction and blessing. King David was called a man after God’s own heart because he cared about the things that mattered most to God and because he did what God told him to do.
Your heart can beat as one with God’s. That’s his design, and he wouldn’t set you up for failure or ask you to do something he’s unwilling to support. He is working toward bringing your heart into rhythm with his.
Jon Walker is the author of Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ and Growing with Purpose. He has served on staff at Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven Ministries and is currently the managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Devotionals and the Ministry Toolbox. Contact him at questions@gracecreates.com. This article is copyrighted 2011 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.
Posted: 24 Jun 2011 12:00 AM PDT
By Jon Walker
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. Colossians 2:16 (NIV)
During World War II, a common practice among U.S. military guards was to ask questions that, presumably, only someone from the U.S. would know (in the days before the Internet and worldwide television).
They’d ask a question like, “What league do the Chicago Cubs play in?” One legitimate U.S. general was held for several hours by security officers because he put the Cubbies in the American League instead of the National.
Comedian John Belushi, in the early days of Saturday Night Live, spoofed this kind of question in a skit where he was leading an American combat patrol and they came upon a man who was clearly German. Yet, Belushi asked him something like, “Who plays shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers?”
The German couldn’t answer, so Belushi put him at gunpoint. And the skit continued something like this:
One of the soldiers in Belushi’s squad asked, “Hey, Sarge, who does play shortstop for the Dodgers?”
Belushi jumps, saying, “Walters, if you don’t know the answer to that, you must be a German spy, too.” And he orders Walters to stand with the German prisoner.
“Jordan, tell them who plays shortstop for the Dodgers,” Belushi says.
“Gee, Sarge, I don’t know who plays shortstop for the Dodgers.” And so it goes until the only one left on the trigger side of the rifle is Belushi.
Then, one of the soldiers says, “Hey Sarge, at least tell us, who does play shortstop for the Dodgers?” Belushi thinks for a moment and then gets a panicked look on his face.
He says, “Oh man, I don’t know. I must be a German spy, too!” And he joins the others.
The apostle Paul says this is the problem with the law: We keep excluding people based on jot-and-tittle questions, such as what they eat or drink, how they celebrate a holiday, or if they wear a tie on Sunday (Colossians 2:16).
God comes in grace, saying, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6 NIV).
Thursday, June 23, 2011 | Ryan Jones
The organization lamented that the Middle East peace process has reached a point where only Israel is subjected to major demands, and that the failure of the peace process is always blamed on Israel for insisting on reciprocity.
“If it is only one side that gives in, then there will be no solution, ever,” read the statement. “If it is only Israel that is subjected to demands, the peace process will go nowhere.”
The Friends of Israel Initiative insisted that “peace between Israelis and Palestinians is not dependent upon a question of territory: it is a matter of unequivocally accepting the other side’s right to exist.”
The primary demand of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the peace process has been that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas recognize Israel’s right to exist as the Jewish state. Abbas has refused, and has instead maintained the position that the only question is how much land the Palestinians will receive.
The Friends of Israel Initiative believes Abbas is barking up the wrong tree.
“Israel’s experience with the view that peace can only be achieved by making territorial concessions has not been good,” the group pointed out. “Its successive withdrawals from territories that neighbour Israel have only brought about more violence and the need to fight once again to ensure its security.”
The Friends of Israel Initiative is headed by former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and includes many distinguished members like former First Minister of Northern Ireland David Trimble and former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton.
An excerpt from
Stress is a Choice
by David Zerfoss
Several years ago while listening to my pastor give a Sunday sermon, he spoke about how life is made up of a series of choices. It made me realize that my hectic professional and personal life was of my choosing. Therefore, a life of stress had become my choice.
Many of us hurry through life going from one place to the next, focused on conquering the next mountain, making the next deal, running the next errand, and believing we will never have enough time to do all the things we need to get done. Yet, there is all the time in the world if we just realize that we are the creators of this life we choose to live. That’s right. Life is a series of choices and being free from stress is one of those choices.
Whether your business life is overly complicated or your personal life (or both), you have chosen this current system of chaos. The world is a tantalizing swirl of getting the next “fix,” tempting us to fit more and more things, people and processes into our lives, personally and professionally. And because we are so busy being busy, it’s easy to be lured into the fray, with our lengthy to-do lists. Yet, the greatest achievements have often come from the simplest of ideas and in the simplest forms.
To experience a simplified life, we first have to learn to slow down long enough to see through all the clutter. We need to realize that we are powerful magnets that attracted this life to ourselves – no matter what – good or bad.
My wish for you is that you commit to simplify and enroll others for support. Take out a blank sheet of paper and create the life you truly want to live – with less stress and complexity – one that is anchored by a clear sense of your unique and simple purpose.
Shirley & Marcy
A mother was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school.
He didn’t want his mother to walk with him.
She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe.
So she had an idea of how to handle it. She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn’t notice her.
The neighbor said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed. The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor girl he knew. She did this for the whole week.
As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy’s little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week. Finally she said to Timmy, ‘Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?’
Timmy nonchalantly replied, ‘Yeah, I know who she is.’
The little girl said, ‘Well, who is she?’
‘That’s just Shirley Goodnest,’ Timmy replied, ‘and her daughter Marcy.’
‘Shirley Goodnest? Who is she and why is she following us?’
‘Well,’ Timmy explained, ‘every night my Mum makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, ‘cuz she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says, ‘Shirley Goodnest (surely goodness) and Marcy (mercy) shall follow me all the days of my life’, so I guess I’ll just have to get used to it!’
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
May Shirley Goodnest and Marcy be with you today and always.
I know you smiled!
I sure did. Pass this on
and brighten someone’s day!
One day, my toddler exclaimed, “I love you, Mom!” I was curious about what makes a 3-year-old tick, so I asked him why he loved me. He answered, “Because you play cars with me.” When I asked if there was any other reason, he said, “Nope. That’s it.” My toddler’s response made me smile. But it also made me think about the way I relate to God. Do I love and trust Him just because of what He does for me? What about when the blessings disappear?
Job had to answer these questions when catastrophes claimed his children and demolished his entire estate. His wife advised him: “Curse God and die!” (2:9). Instead, Job asked, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (v.10). Yes, Job struggled after his tragedy—he became angry with his friends and questioned the Almighty. Still, he vowed, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (13:15).
Job’s affection for his heavenly Father didn’t depend on a tidy solution to his problems. Rather, he loved and trusted God because of all that He is. Job said, “God is wise in heart and mighty in strength” (9:4).
Our love for God must not be based solely on His blessings but because of who He is.
Shall we accept the good from God
But fuss when trials are in sight?
Not if our love is focused on
The One who always does what’s right. —Sper
Focusing on the character of God
helps us to take our eyes off our circumstances.
June 24th, 2011 → 2:00 am @ admin // No Comments
By Jon Walker
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27 (NIV)
The Bible teaches that you should take deliberate action toward loving your neighbor—in the same way you want to be loved by your neighbor.
Yet, God knows this is an impossible assignment unless you have his Spirit working within you, guiding and transforming you. It’s hard enough to love yourself, let alone the contrary (my polite Southern way of saying disagreeable) neighbor down the street.
You will be empowered to love your neighbor as you allow God to empower you; as you trust and obey (for there’s no other way) God’s leading in your life; as you purposefully give your whole being—heart, soul, strength, and mind—to God.
This brings you daily to the door of dependence upon God, a threshold you step through acknowledging that you need him to work through you. In doing this, you’re able to draw upon God’s strength and love; he becomes the power, the infinite love, within you to love others as yourself.
They may waste your love; they may discount your love; they may react angrily to your love; they may never understand your love, yet, your other-centered love demonstrates the depth and breadth of God’s love for us: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV)
God’s Word says God is transforming you from self-centered to other-centered, and that frees you to love without expecting anything in return.
Jon Walker is the author of Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ and Growing with Purpose. He has served on staff at Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven Ministries and is currently the managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Devotionals and the Ministry Toolbox. Contact him at questions@gracecreates.com. This article is copyrighted 2011 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PRECIPITOUS MOVE TO CUT U.S. FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN A SERIOUS MISTAKE, WILL EMBOLDEN ENEMIES
Israel launches new drills to prepare for major regional war.
By Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C., June 23, 2011) — President Obama’s plan to precipitously start drawing down U.S. military forces from Afghanistan before the war against Radical Islamic jihadists has truly been won — and doing so against the advice of some of his field commanders — is a serious mistake, misguided and dangerous. The move is a sign of White House fatigue. It will be perceived by our enemies as weakness. It will embolden the enemy and put more Americans, Israelis and other Mideast allies of ours at greater risk. We should be letting Gen. Petraeus and his team finish the job and only then bring the troops home.
Iran’s political and religious leaders are not getting tired of preparing for their genocidal, apocalyptic war against the Judeo-Christian West. They continue talking about the End of Days and the coming of the Twelfth Imam. They are also accelerating the enrichment of uranium and development of ballistic missiles. In this context, increasingly unsure if they can depend on their American allies, Israeli leaders this week “launched a major five-day home front defence exercise intended to prepare its population and emergency services to respond to massive missile attacks,” Agence France Presse reports. “Named ‘Turning Point 5,’ the exercise involves testing nationwide siren systems and the cellular network, distributing emergency kits, improving coordination and practising evacuation and shelter procedures….Among the scenarios being prepared for are sustained rocket attacks on the Tel Aviv region, the electrical grid or a geriatric hospital, local media reported….For the first time, lawmakers will also be called on to participate in response to a simulated attack on the parliament building in Jerusalem.”
Such preparations are critically important. But much more is needed. Israeli leaders are not calling the nation to prayer, fasting and repentance, despite the Biblical admonition to do so. Indeed, few world leaders are calling their nations to their hearts to the Lord, including our own. Yet this is precisely the right moment. In a time when economic, religious and geopolitical threats are rising….a time when so much of the world is turning against God…a time when so many have forgotten God in their daily lives…a time when so many think the Church is irrelevant and/or hypocritical…and a time when many have turned against Israel and God’s Chosen People, what we need are leaders at every level of society who are serious about crying out to the Lord for mercy and redemption. I’m not talking about a bunch of religious hot air — slogans, bumper stickers or platitudes. What we desperately need is a bold and sincere and solid and revolutionary faith that moves us to action, that moves us to know God more deeply and serve Him more faithfully before the Day of the Lord arrives. As we read in the New Testament Book of James, “faith, if it has no works, is dead” and “faith without works is useless” (James 2:17 and 20).
This one of the reasons I love the Old Testament Book of Joel and why I’m grateful we studied it together at the 2011 Epicenter Conference — because it is a powerful call to action. This week, I posted on my blog Part Four of my personal study notes on the Book of Joel, plus links to the latest headlines from the epicenter. I hope you’ll find them helpful as you seek a faith that changes your life and moves you to serve the Lord with more passion and conviction than ever before.
THE FINAL
INSPECTION
The Soldier stood and faced God,
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass..
‘Step forward now, Soldier ,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?’
The soldier squared his shoulders and said,
‘No, Lord, I guess I ain’t.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can’t always be a saint.
I’ve had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I’ve been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny,
That wasn’t mine to keep…
Though I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills got just too steep.
And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear..
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I’ve wept unmanly tears.
I know I don’t deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears
If you’ve a place for me here, Lord,
It needn’t be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don’t, I’ll understand.
There was a silence all around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod.
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
‘Step forward now, you Soldier,
You’ve borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven’s streets,
You’ve done your time in Hell.’
Author Unknown~
It’s the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us the freedom of the press.
It’s the Soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us the freedom of speech.
It’s the Soldier, not the politicians
That ensures our right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness..
It’s the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag.
If you care to offer the smallest token of recognition and appreciation for the Military,
Please pass this on and pray for our men and women
Who have served and are currently serving our country
And pray for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for freedom….
THESE COLORS DON’T RUN
AMEN!
We the people are the rightful masters of both
the Congress and the Courts – not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution.
Abraham Lincoln
WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE, ONLY BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE!
God Bless Our Military
Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth.
Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it falls due.
It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Worry is rust upon the blade.
When Abraham Lincoln was on his way to Washington to be inaugurated, he spent some time in New York with Horace Greeley and told him an anecdote that was meant to be an answer to the question everybody was asking him: Are we really going to have civil war?
In his circuit-riding days, Lincoln and his companions, riding to the next session of court, had crossed many rivers. But the Fox River was still ahead of them; and they said one to another, “If these streams gives us so much trouble, how shall we get over the Fox River?”
When darkness fell, they stopped for the night at a log tavern, where they fell in with the Methodist presiding elder of the district, who rode through the country in all kinds of weather and knew all about the Fox River. They gathered around him and asked him about the present state of the river.
“Oh, yes,” replied the circuit rider, “I know all the Fox River. I have crossed it often and understand it well. But I have one fixed rule with regard to the Fox River — I never cross it till I reach it.”
from 1001 Great Stories and Quotes by R. Kent Hughes (Tyndale) pp 430-31
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House
Confident assurance
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot see. God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith.
Hebrews 11:1-2 NLT
Certain of what I could not see!
I led my husband from one room of the condominium to the next.…”It’s perfect for us. Let’s make an offer.” That evening Charles pored over the numbers, making sure we could afford it. “I think we can swing it,” he said. I tingled at the thought of moving into our very own home. When the owners accepted our offer, I whooped with joy. “Thank you, Lord.”
…”We don’t have the money now,” Charles said soberly. “You’re right,” I said. “We don’t have the money. But God does. I’m going to ask him for it.” The sum of $10,000 came to mind. Each morning I prayed in faith, “Lord, thank you for the $10,000 now hidden, to be revealed according to your will.”
Was I treating God like a vending machine? Pop in a prayer and out slides the answer. I remembered times in my life when I have been more focused on my own agenda that on his will. But somehow this time was different. Our new home had come into our lives in such a miraculous way. With a failed job and a bankruptcy in our past, it seemed we had lost our chance to have a place of our own. I prayed, believing, sure of what I hoped for and certain of what I did not see.
Two weeks before closing, Charles flew to Kentucky to visit his ailing parents. Charles told Robert about the condominium and my strange prayer.
A knowing smile spread across Robert’s face. “I think I know the answer,” he said. “Mom just released $10,000 to each of us from Dad’s estate. I planned to tell you about it today.”
What had been hidden was now revealed — and the timing, God’s timing, was perfect.
Adapted from The Prayer Bible Jean E. Syswerda, general editor, Tyndale House Publishers (2003), p 1369.
Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House
A young lady confidently walked around the room while leading and explaining stress management to an audience; with a raised glass of water, and everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, ‘half empty or half full?’….. she fooled them all… “How heavy is this glass of water?”, she inquired with a smile.
Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.
She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” She continued, “and that’s the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.”
“As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden – holding stress longer and better each time practiced. So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night… pick them up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, let them down for a moment. Relax, pick them up later after you’ve rested. Life is short. Enjoy it and the now ‘supposed’ stress that you’ve conquered!”
1 * Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue!
2 * Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
3 * Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
4 * Drive carefully… It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.
5 * If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague
6 * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
7 * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
8 * Never buy a car you can’t push.
9 * Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.
10 * Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.
11 * Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
12 * The second mouse gets the cheese.
13 * When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
14 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
15 * You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
16 * Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.
17 * We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
18 * A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
19 * Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.
20 * It was I, your friend!21 * Save the earth….. It’s the only planet with chocolate!
1 And God spoke all these words, saying:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “ Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
18 Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. 19 Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
20 And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” 21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.
Whose Land Is It?
There has never been a civilization or a nation referred to as “Palestine” and the very notion of a “Palestinian Arab nation” having ancient attachments to the Holy Land going back to time immemorial is one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetrated upon the world. There is not, nor has there ever been, a distinct “Palestinian” culture or language. Further, there has never been a Palestinian state governed by Arab Palestinians in history, nor was there ever a serious Arab-Palestinian national movement until 1964… three years BEFORE the Arabs of “Palestine” lost the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and Gaza as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War (which the Arabs started). Even the so-called leader of the “Palestinian” people, Yasser Arafat, was EGYPTIAN. In short, the so-called Arab “Palestinians” are a manufactured people…a people with no history and no authenticity… whose sole purpose for existence is to destroy the Jewish State.
Israel first became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam. Seven hundred and twenty-six years later in 586 B.C.E. these first ancient Jews in the Land of Israel [Judea] were overrun and Israel’s First Jewish Temple (on Jerusalem’s Old City Temple Mount) was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of ancient Babylon. Many of the Jews were killed or expelled; however many were allowed to remain. These Jews along with their progeny and other Jews who would resettle over the next 500 years, rebuilt the Nation of Israel and also a Second Temple in Jerusalem upon the Temple Mount. Thus the claim that Jews suddenly appeared fifty years ago right after the Holocaust and drove out the Arabs is preposterous to say the very least.
The Land Belongs to Israel
No nation, other than the ancient nation of Israel and later again in 1948 with the rebirth of the 2nd Nation of Israel, has ever ruled as a sovereign national entity on this land. A mighty Jewish empire extended over this entire area before the Arabs, and their Islam, were even born. The Jewish People have one of the most legitimate birth certificates of any nations in the world. Every time there is an archaeological dig in Israel, it supports the fact that the Jewish People have had a presence there for well over 3,000 years. The coins, the pottery, the cities, the ancient texts… all support this claim. Yes, other peoples have passed through, but there is no mistaking the fact that Jews have always had a continual presence in that land for over 3,000 years. This predates any claims that other peoples in the regions may have. The ancient Philistines are extinct. Many other ancient peoples are extinct. They do not have the unbroken line to this date that the Jews have. And if you want to talk religion, fine. God gave the Land of Israel to the Jewish People. Period.
In 70 C.E. (nearly 2000 years ago), it was the Roman Empire’s turn to march through ancient Israel and destroy the second Jewish Temple, slaughtering or driving out much of its Jewish population. Many Jews left on their own because conditions for life were made unbearable in many respects… yet thousands upon thousands stayed for centuries in order to once again rebuild a Jewish Nation in this Holy Land.
Over 3250 years, various Peoples, Religions and Empires marched through Jerusalem, Israel’s ancient capital. The region was successively ruled by the Hebrews [Jews], Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Maccabeans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Egyptians, the Crusaders, Mamelukes, the Turks (who indifferently governed the backward, neglected territory from the 16th century until the British drove them out during World War I) and then once again by the Jews in 1948. None bothered, nor were they in the least bit inclined, to build a Nation of their own… except the Jews.
It must be noted that in 636 C.E., when the Arabs marauders came to the land and uprooted even more of its Jews, they did not form any Arab nation there… and certainly not a “Palestinian” nation. They were simply “Arabs” who, as did others before them, moved into a geo-political area called “Palestine.” It was not the Jews who “usurped” the land from the Arabs. It was the Arabs in 636 C.E. who overran and stole it from the Jews.
“PALESTINE?”
The term “Palestine” came from the name that the conquering Roman Empire gave the ancient Land of Israel in an attempt to obliterate and de-legitimize the Jewish presence in the Holy Land. The name “Palestine” was invented in the year 135 C.E. Before it was known as Judea, which was the southern kingdom of ancient Israel. The Roman Procurator in charge of the Judean-Israel territories was so angry at the Jews for revolting that he called for his historians and asked them who were the worst enemies of the Jews in their past history. The scribes said, “the Philistines.” Thus, the Procurator declared that Land of Israel would from then forward be called “Philistia” [further changed into “Palaistina”] to dishonor the Jews and obliterate their history. Hence the name “Palestine.”
Very often one hears the revisionists and propagandists finding ancient historical links between the “Philistines” (“Invaders” in Hebrew) and the Arab “Palestinians.” There is no truth to this claim. The Philistines were one of a number of Sea Peoples who reached the eastern Mediterranean region approximately 1250-1100 B.C.E. They were actually an amalgamation of various ethnic groups, primarily of Aegean and south-east European origin [Greece, Crete and Western Turkey] and they died out over 2500 years ago. Those Philistines were not Arab… and neither was Goliath. The Arabs of “Palestine” are just that… Arabs. And these Arabs of “Palestine” have about as much historical roots to the ancient Philistines as Yasser Arafat has to the Eskimos.
The ancient, indigenous inhabitants of Palestine are long perished from the earth. Canaanites, Phoencians, and then Philistines, all were dominated by the Israelites before 1060 B.C.E. Most of these cultural identities dissolved completely by the neo-Babylonian age, or, the 6th century B.C.E. Arabs weren’t even in Palestine until the mid-7th century C.E., over a thousand years later, after Palestine�s 1,300-year Jewish history. Arabs later living in Palestine never developed themselves or the land, but remained nomadic and quasi-primitive
Even the word “Palestine” has no meaning in Arabic – every word in Arabic has some meaning deriving from the Koran, but the word “Palestine” does not. The name “Palestine” was associated with Jews. In the years leading up to the rebirth of Israel in 1948, those who spoke of “Palestinians” were nearly always referring to the region’s Jewish residents. For example, the “Palestine Post” [forerunner of today’s Jerusalem Post] newspaper and the Palestine Symphony Orchestra were all-Jewish. The “Palestine Brigade Regiment” was composed exclusively of Jewish volunteers in the British World War II Army. In fact, Arab leaders rejected the notion of a unique “Palestinian Arab” identity, insisting that Palestine was merely a part of “Greater Syria.”
In Conclusion:
There was no “Arab Palestinian” history before the Arabs manufactured one shortly after 1948, and then especially after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War. In an interview with the Dutch newspaper “Trau” (March 31, 1977), PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein said, “The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism. It is also been a “conceptual” war for ownership of the term “Palestinian” which has been transferred over to the Arabs whereas, before 1967, “Palestine” has always been synonymous with Eretz Israel and the Land of Israel.
Archeological sites to this very day continue to yield artifacts with Hebrew writing, not some fictitious “Palestinian” or Arabic text. The so-called “Palestinian” Arabs were simply then, as they are now, Arabs no different culturally, historically or ethnically from other Arabs living in any of the 24 Arab countries from which they emigrated. The suggestion that the “Palestinians” are some sub-group of Arabs with their own unique identity is pure fiction. Great propaganda… but still pure fiction. And had not the Arabs continued to brainwash generation upon generation into believing this historical lie about some ancient “Arab Palestinian” ties to the Holy Land, most could have gotten themselves a real life by now with much less bloodshed and suffering for everyone concerned.
http://www.religionstudy.com/palestinian_refugees/whose_land_is_it.htm
The southern Negev desert to the Galilee lake region in the north. The word itself derives from “Plesheth”, a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into English as “Philistine”. Plesheth, (root palash) was a general term meaning rolling or migratory. This referred to the Philistine’s invasion and conquest of the coast from the sea. The Philistines were not Arabs nor even Semites, they were most closely related to the Greeks originating from Asia Minor and Greek localities. They did not speak Arabic. They had no connection, ethnic, linguistic or historical with Arabia or Arabs.
The Philistines reached the southern coast of Israel in several waves. One group arrived in the pre-patriarchal period and settled south of Beersheba in Gerar where they came into conflict with Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Another group, coming from Crete after being repulsed from an attempted invasion of Egypt by Rameses III in 1194 BCE, seized the southern coastal area, where they founded five settlements (Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gat). In the Persian and Greek periods, foreign settlers – chiefly from the Mediterranean islands – overran the Philistine districts.
From the fifth century BC, following the historian Herodotus, Greeks called the eastern coast of the Mediterranean “the Philistine Syria” using the Greek language form of the name. In AD 135, after putting down the Bar Kochba revolt, the second major Jewish revolt against Rome, the Emperor Hadrian wanted to blot out the name of the Roman “Provincia Judaea” and so renamed it “Provincia Syria Palaestina”, the Latin version of the Greek name and the first use of the name as an administrative unit. The name “Provincia Syria Palaestina” was later shortened to Palaestina, from which the modern, anglicized “Palestine” is derived.
This remained the situation until the end of the fourth century, when in the wake of a general imperial reorganization Palestine became three Palestines: First, Second, and Third. This configuration is believed to have persisted into the seventh century, the time of the Persian and Muslim conquests.
The Christian Crusaders employed the word Palestine to refer to the general region of the “three Palestines.” After the fall of the crusader kingdom, Palestine was no longer an official designation. The name, however, continued to be used informally for the lands on both sides of the Jordan River. The Ottoman Turks, who were non-Arabs but religious Muslims, ruled the area for 400 years (1517-1917). Under Ottoman rule, the Palestine region was attached administratively to the province of Damascus and ruled from Istanbul. The name Palestine was revived after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and applied to the territory in this region that was placed under the British Mandate for Palestine.
The name “Falastin” that Arabs today use for “Palestine” is not an Arabic name. It is the Arab pronunciation of the Roman “Palaestina”. Quoting Golda Meir:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_early_palestine_name_origin.php
Genesis 12 (New King James Version)
1 Now the LORD had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh.[a] And the Canaanites were then in the land.
7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9 So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.[b]
New King James Version (NKJV)
1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
7 Then He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
8 And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel;[a] but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. 22And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Map with land of Israel with borders in red below representing the Royal Land Grant that God gave to Israel through the Abraham Covenant compared to what Israel actually has today in yellow on the map above it.
I wonder what would happen if the Jewish people suddenly woke up and realized they are being cheated out of all the land God has actually given them since the little sliver of land they are now living on is only a fraction of what is promised to them. And even that, the arabs and nations of the world are trying to steal the little fraction shown in yellow on the map, which is now Israel, little by little by waging terror war after war against the Jews and forcing a land for peace deal upon the Jews.
As indicated in an earlier post, this article will address how much land really belongs to the Jewish people; and in the end, a remnant of Jews will have all of what God promised to them in the Abraham Covenant, not just a sliver of land; and the arabs and the nations of the world will be punished severely by God for the way they have treated the Jewish people of Israel and around the world all of these years if they do not repent. So it is declared in the scriptures by God through his prophets,so shall it be.
A land called ‘Palestine’ did not exist when God made a covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants, the Jews, and it does not exist today. The land is called Canaan, now called Israel. Abraham is the first to be called Hebrew, it is noted in Genesis 14:13. There is no such thing as a land of Palestine.
There is much written about Abraham and his descendants, Isaac, Jacob and the Jewish people as it relates to Israel, the land God gave them in Genesis chapter 12, 15,26 and 28 and I suggest you look it up and read about it yourself in the scriptures. For the purpose of this article, I will include the relevant scriptures. Three times God, in the scriptures, made the same covenant to Abraham’s descendants the Jews, so there can be no mistake.
In Genesis 12, it is declared by Moses”NOW the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee”: vs. 1 Abram obeyed the Lord, and went into the land of Canaan. vs. 5
God made the Covenant with Abraham, giving him the land of Canaan. “In the same day the LORD made a covenaant with Abraham, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river.” Genesis 15:18.
The southern border of Canaan is the river of Egypt, with the northern border being the River Euphrates.
The Lord appeared to Isaac, Abraham’s son by Sarah, and who inherited the land promise of God to Abraham, and said: “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father”; Genesis 26:3
After Isaac, Isaac’s son Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel by God: “And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and men, and hast prevailed,” Genesis 32:28, inherited the land covenant with Abraham as declared by God in Genesis Chapter 28: “I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed”.vs. 13
After Moses delivered the Israelites out of Egypt into the promised land of Canaan, God gave specific boundries of Canaan land as declared in Numbers 34:1-2:
AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof: 1-2
The Southern border of Canaan Land or Israel:Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: vs. 3And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon: vs. 4And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea. vs. 5
The Northern border of Canaan Land or Israel:And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor: From mount Hor ye shallm point out your border unto the the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad: And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazarenan: this shall be your north border. Numbers 7-9
The Western border of Canaan Land or Israel:And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border. Numbers 34:6
The Eastern border of Canaan Land or Israel:And ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham: And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinereth eastward. And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this swhall be your land with the coasts thereof round about. Numbers 34:10-12
The Lord further declares in Leviticus 25:23 that “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.”
A land for peace deal, and chopping up the land of Canaan or Israel that the arabs and nations of the world have done and are now trying to force upon the Jewish people again with Judea and Samaria that they have renamed and dubbed the “West Bank” is completely off limits and God will deal severely with all those involved in the cutting up of His land that He promised to the Jews.
As for the war going on today with the Israelis and the terrorists Hamas who have taken over Gaza, Joshua narrows it down and tells us that Gaza also belongs to Israel, specifically the tribe of Judah.
This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families. Joshua 15:20 Ashdod with her towns and her villages, Gaza with her towns and her villages, unto the river of Egypt, and the great sea, and the border thereof: Joshua 15:47.
(Note: I can’t verify the authenticity of this map, but it seems to be reasonably accurate. I will try to get more info and resources later.)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 | Ryan Jones
Air raid sirens sent Israelis across the country scurrying into their bomb shelters Wednesday morning. Even members of Knesset had to seek shelter, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet met in a secret underground bunker.
The siren was part of a nation-wide civil defense exercise dubbed “Turning Point 5.” The week-long exercise, which began on Sunday, simulated critical damage to Israel’s national infrastructure as the result of a ballistic missile attack.
Israel remains concerned that Islamic forces in Lebanon, Syria and Iran could soon use their extensive arsenals to launch a devastating coordinated assault on the Jewish state.
The danger has escalated of late with Syria in the throws of a national uprising that is expected to end with the downfall of dictator Bashar Assad. Many Israelis fear that if Assad sees no way out, he may try to secure a legacy for himself by launching one final attack against Israel.
If Syria’s flailing regime were to attack Israel, it is almost certain that Lebanon’s ruling Hizballah militia would do the same, and that Iran would use Israel’s retaliatory actions to jutsify its own assault.
On top of that, the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip is still believed to be in possession of thousands of short- and medium-ranged missiles.
Israeli military officials estimate that in the next war, the tiny Jewish state will be bombarded by up to 800 missiles every day.
Jerusalem Post
By HERB KEINON
06/21/2011 18:38
Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein sent a letter Tuesday to Apple CEO Steve Jobs requesting that the computer giant remove an application called the “3rd intifada” that gives information about protest activities, some of them violent, planned against Israel.
The same organization, Edelstein wrote, opened a Facebook page three months ago “calling for an uprising against the State of Israel by use of lethal force, while using hateful material based on wild and groundless accusations.”
RELATED:
Facebook removes ‘3rd intifada’ page
Facebook ‘monitoring’ page calling for 3rd intifada
Edelstein said that Facebook removed the page after it became convinced of the page’s “harmful nature” and its potential of leading to the loss of life.
“I believe Apple, as a pioneering and progressive company, places the values of liberty, freedom of expression and creativity as a guiding light,” Edelstein wrote. “Also, as a leader in its area, I am convinced that you are aware of this type of application’s ability to unite many toward an objective that could be disastrous.”
Edelstein called on the company to remove the application and continue in its tradition of applications “dedicated to purely entertainment and informative purposes and not serve as a instrument for incitement to violence.”
I will be adding to this post, so check back occasionally for updates regarding this subject.
(Note: Another article showing a reference point for my opinion.)
Get ready to retire that worn leather wallet. If some of the country’s biggest tech companies have their way, all the plastic cards crammed into your billfold will soon find their way into your phone.
Apple is planning to introduce a service that would let consumers use their iPhones and iPads to purchase products, essentially turning a user’s cell phone into a credit or debit card, according to a Bloomberg report.
Citing Richard Doherty of consulting firm Envisioneering Group, the report said Apple plans to embed NFC (near field communication) chips into its next generation iPhones and iPads that can beam and receive information within a distance of up to 4 inches.
Instead of swiping plastic to pay at the register, a user could just take out a cell phone and wave it near an NFC-enabled reader. The purchase amount would be deducted instantaneously.
When reached by ABCNews.com, Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said the company does not comment on rumor and speculation. But the report has industry watchers buzzing about the potentially game-changing technology that could eventually transform cell phones into so-called digital wallets.
Although Apple hasn’t yet publicly declared its support for NFC technology, other major stakeholders, such as Google, Samsung, Nokia, Research in Motion (RIM) and cell phone carriers AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, have already started lining up behind it.
Google’s latest Nexus S smarphone from Nexus is NFC-enabled, and Nokia and BlackBerry’s RIM have said that they intend to offer more NFC phones in the near future.
Gwenn Bezard, co-founder and research director at technology research firm Aite Group, said that regardless of whether the Apple NFC plans are true, the technology is poised to take the mobile industry by storm.
“It’s not a matter of if Apple is going to come up with something, it’s a matter of when,” he said. “Whether it’s going to be this year or next or the year after, I think there’s a very high chance that Apple and other companies will push NFC payments.“
The pay-by-phone market is expected to make up $22 billion in transactions by 2015, according to Aite Group. That’s “still a drop in the ocean” compared to the total amount consumers spend in the U.S., Bezard said, but considering that the pay-by-phone market is about nil right now, Aite’s research still shows that the market is accelerating.
Bezard said big companies are getting behind the new technology because it significantly boosts the level of interactivity between consumers and merchants by integrating payment, marketing and promotion at the point of purchase.
At a CVS checkout counter, for example, a user wouldn’t need to pull out a credit card, loyalty card and coupon to score a deal on toothpaste. She or he could just use a cell phone payment system that rolls all those streams of information into one.
For consumers, pay-by-phone services mean more convenience and a potentially easier way to manage and save money. For corporations, it increases the potential for targeted mobile advertising and data collection.
Just this month, Starbucks introduced a nationwide mobile payment system that lets users pay for coffee with an application loaded on their smartphones.
More complex versions of the service are still in the early stages, but Bezard said mainstream adoption NFC-supported payment services could be upon us in 10 years.
“Hopefully, everyone gets a better deal out of it,” said Bezard. “Money is already digital in many respects, but it would be great, all the way to the finish line, to have the payment disappear into the device.”
Experts warn that before consumers and corporations jump on board the new technology, security concerns need to be addressed. With credit card account information tied so closely to users’ mobile phone, identity theft could become a rising concern.
“It’s probably a new enough technology that concerns over the security are healthy,” said Jonathan Giffin, a Georgia Tech College of Computing professor who specializes in system and software security. “Until this technology is analyzed in a public way by experts in security and wireless protocols, I think we don’t know how secure this is yet.”
Similar to RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, NFC technology is a kind of radio communication that works only a very short range. But Giffin said security experts have shown that RFID cards are vulnerable to attacks.
“People have demonstrated that you can walk behind someone and scan their RFID card without their knowledge,” he said.
And NFC-enabled cell phones potentially pose an even greater security threat than RFID cards: Not only would these phones store a user’s financial credentials, they would be connected to the Internet, he said.
Attackers could try to access that valuable data across the Web or through nearby NFC readers.
“There’s a whole different class of threats that designers need to be concerned about,” he said.
Still, Francesca Nisco, a spokeswoman for Isis, a mobile payment network backed by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, said that, in trials, consumers say that they’re ready to embrace a digital wallet despite security concerns.
“Many people have had trials for a long time, but I think there’s a recent surge of action in the marketplace because there’s been an increased understanding of how much consumers are excited about this technology,” she said.
The carrier-backed network was officially launched in November and in the next 12 to 18 months will roll out its mobile commerce service nationwide, Nisco said.
Forget carrying credit cards, cash, debit cards, loyalty cards, gas cards, coupons, transit passes and all the other cumbersome contents of your wallet. The new service puts it all in your cell phone.
Nisco said the company is still working out the details of its payment process, but said a hardware-based, passcode-protected and encrypted system will safeguard consumers’ information.
If a user loses an Isis-connected cell phone, he or she can erase all the financial data stored on it with a single phone and then restore the information instantly with another call, if the phone is found..
The initial Isis roll-out will focus on mobile commerce, Nisco said, but mobile phones that store insurance cards, driver’s licenses and other kinds of wallet-worthy information are expected to follow close behind.
“We believe that the mobile wallet is certainly coming,” said Nisco. “It will certainly be some time before it is mainstream, but we certainly believe that there will come a day when everything you carry in your wallet will be on your mobile device.”
Regular smartphone users will need to take security precautions on par with enterprise users
Now that AT&T and Verizon have decided to turn smartphones into credit cards, you may be asking yourself, “Is this really a good idea?”
After all, it’s not hard to imagine some wily thief picking up the BlackBerry you left at a restaurant and going on a major shopping spree. How, exactly, do the carriers and device manufacturers plan to make smartphones safe to be used on a mass-market level for financial transactions?
AT&T, Verizon want to replace your credit card
The answer is that consumers will have to start adopting practices and applications that have traditionally been used by corporate users. While credit card transactions will undoubtedly be encrypted before being sent over networks, that won’t prevent someone from taking your phone and using it as his own credit card, or from hacking into your phone using malicious applications. In other words, the phone itself will have to be just as secure as the software used to complete credit card transactions.
“The integrity of a transaction is only as good as the device itself,” says Dan Hoffman, the CTO of SMobile. “You have to look at mobile devices in the same way you look at PCs.”
For starters, smartphone credit card users are going to have to install some form of remote-wipe application that will let them erase any and all data on their smartphone if they ever lose it. Although remote-wipe capabilities have been staples of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry devices for years, they’ve only recently come to more popular consumer devices such as the Apple iPhone and devices based on Google’s open source Android operating system. In addition to remote wipe, users should subscribe to some sort of mobile backup service so they can retrieve their data to a new device after wiping out data from their old device.
But remote wipe and data backup capabilities are only part of the story. In an era where users can unwittingly download applications riddled with malware and viruses on their smartphones, they will have to be much more active in protecting themselves from malicious apps.
“With the proliferation of applications out there right now it’s difficult to sort out what apps are safe,” says McAfee CTO George Kurtz. “Among other things, we’re concerned about malicious apps that will be downloaded onto smartphone platforms that can sniff out credit card information and use those credentials to commit fraud.”
To prevent this, users need to not only take care in the types of apps they download onto their phones but to also install antivirus, antimalware and firewall programs onto their devices. Khoi Nguyen, the group product manager for the Mobile Security Group at Symantec, says that companies that run and manage application stores might also have to step up their games to ensure they aren’t inadvertently selling applications that will spread malware to their users. So while he says he admires the success of Google’s user-policed Android Market application store, he thinks Google might have to start taking more of a direct role in ensuring that applications on the store are safe, particularly in an era when more people will be using Android-based devices as personal credit cards.
“I think it’s a potential issue for Google going forward since anyone can publish an application on the Google market, and then only after the fact people may discover that it’s a malicious app,” he says. “At the same time, Google is trying to keep everything open and spur innovation so there has to be a balance there.”
Kurtz says that if carriers, device makers and users take all the proper precautions — from remote wipe capabilities to complex password policies to preinstalled firewalls on smartphones — then there’s no reason that using smartphones as credit cards won’t become both popular and safe for users. After all, he reasons, the practice of using smartphones for payments is already common in both Europe and Asia.
“The U.S. is actually pretty late to the game,” he says. “You’re not going to be able to hold back having people use their smartphones for payments.”
Read more about wireless & mobile in Network World’s Wireless & Mobile section.
(Note: The reason I am posting this article is to keep us aware of progressive strides in technology that, at this point, look harmless. It will become more and more logical to have an easier method to buy and sell. In Revelation we are told that the Anti-Christ will require all people to have his mark on their forehead or on their right hand to be able to buy and sell. My opinion is that technology such as credit cards, phone apps, medical information which is now in chips in animals and some alzheimer’s patients, will become not only more widely used, but eventually required. Just keep our eyes open to these possibilities.)
Is Your Phone Your Next Credit Card?
You may soon find yourself reaching for your smartphone instead of your wallet to pay for purchases. Cell phone manufacturers are getting serious about integrating Near Field Communication (NFC) technology into smartphone applications for retail transactions.
How does it work? NFC technology enables smartphones and other devices to communicate when close together. Just wave your smartphone in front of a retailer’s terminal and your purchase will be automatically deducted from your credit card.
The technology isn’t big yet in the United States, but in Tokyo passengers are buying train tickets with their contactless payment systems. And a Swedish company is testing NFC-enabled cell phones as hotel keys. The NFC Forum was formed in 2004 to help advance the technology, and more and more U.S. cell phone manufacturers today are developing phones equipped with NFC.
What else can it do? NFC technology has the potential to be used in thousands of interactive applications. In addition to transmitting information from your smartphone, you can also use your phone to read NFC tags. These tags, placed on posters, books, bus stop signs and other sites, allow the smartphone user to gain information from the tagged source. For example, diners can pass their phone over a menu to gain information about a restaurant’s nightly specials, and doctors and nurses can use an NFC tag to learn information about patients and track their visits.
Is it safe? Because NFC transmissions are extremely short range, the technology is relatively secure, and many cell phone manufacturers are deeming it safer than a plastic credit card. An NFC-enabled device keeps your account information encrypted and password-protected, rather than printed outright on your card. As with most payment devices, NFC technology has some transmission risks, but many of these bugs are being worked out before the retail apps are introduced en masse.
As cool as NFC sounds, it will not eliminate concerns about identity theft.
Israel Today – Sunday, June 19, 2011 | Tsvi Sadan
It is difficult to be certain why Haim Gouri uses New Testament motifs in his latest book of poems, entitled Eyval, named after Mount Ebal (Deut. 11:29).
Gouri is an iconic figure in Israeli culture—the personification of the ideal Israeli. Born in Tel Aviv in 1923, he joined the Palmach militia and was sent to Hungary in 1947 to assist survivors of the Holocaust making their way to Palestine. During the 1948 Israeli War of Independence he served as a deputy company commander in the Palmach’s Negev Brigade.
Although perhaps best known as a poet, Gouri is also a novelist, filmmaker, and journalist.
Eyval is a rebuttal of the prevalent tendency amongst so many Israelis to indulge in condemnation of their mother country. “Since…every leper opens up his mouth to frighten her,” Gouri “writes her glory and splendor, counts like a peddler her glories, [and] grinds Balm of Gilead, healing and remedy for her sorrows and illness” (Poem 59).
And in Poem 86, he quotes Jesus Himself: “Who amongst you has not sinned, let him be the first to throw stones at her.”
In Eyval, Gouri dialogues with the Messiah who endlessly tarries. In Poem 23, he seems to identify the Messiah as Jesus and commands Him as a military commander—much like God commanded Abraham before Him: “Move, move over. Get out by night to your land, to your family, through the stone, through the tiredness, through the silence and the shadow of death. Move, move as in a dream of the night. Remember that you have already been here, with the [crown of] thorns that have already became a familiar literary symbol that never lose their greatness.”
While one can understand this poem in various ways, the reader must face Gouri’s need to command Jesus to return immediately to His land and family.
A great educational tool about Israel.
Jerusalem Post
By YAAKOV KATZ
06/15/2011 01:45
Ilan Grapel might not be the most responsible person by traveling to post-revolution Egypt and raising suspicions with inquisitive questions and visits to various tense locations – but that does not automatically make him a spy for the Mossad.
His Facebook page makes this quite clear.
Besides having writing in Hebrew, it has pictures from his service in the IDF Paratroopers Brigade, including a graphic photo of a hole in his shoulder from the Hezbollah bullet that hit him during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
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The questions are, then: Why would Egypt decide to turn the American-Israeli Emory University law student into a spy? What could the current Egyptian government gain?
The concern in Israel is that Grapel’s arrest is indicative of the negative trend that has taken control of Cairo and has led to a deterioration in ties with Israel, but also a warming in ties between Egypt and Iran, as well as with Hamas – as demonstrated by the recent decision to open the Rafah Crossing and host senior Hamas officials in Cairo.
The understanding in Israel is that the current Egyptian government is trying to blame Israel for the ongoing instability in the country and the violence that left demonstrators dead and injured. The articles that appeared on the front pages of Egypt’s newspapers made this clear.
The government in Egypt is also threatened by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered a strong political opponent in the elections that are scheduled to be held by the end of the year.
By arresting an Israeli “spy,” the government is showing that it, too, is distancing itself from Israel and aligning itself with the more radical Islamic elements.
This is likely the same reason that it has warmed-up its ties with Iran, allowing its warships to cross recently through the Suez Canal for the first time since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
This does not mean Egypt will immediately annul the peace treaty with Israel – which was beneficial for Cairo in establishing ties with the Unites States – but in the long-term, Israel needs to be concerned.
The more immediate problem is how to get Grapel released.
The problem is that Egypt’s security and intelligence agencies have concocted such a story that it will be difficult to justify his sudden release. If he is released quickly, the Egyptian public will legitimately question the arrest altogether, and it will put the intelligence services – already hated due to their history under Hosni Mubarak – under even greater suspicion.
Other cases have included Azzam Azzam and Ouda Tarabin, a Bedouin who has been sitting in an Egyptian jail for over a decade.
The “Israel card” is commonly used throughout the Arab world as a way to shift blame and attention away from domestic troubles.
The instability in Egypt? Not the new government’s fault. It is Israel. The violent and bloody crackdown in Syria? Not the work of the ruthless Bashar Assad. It is all Israel.
Without knowing, Ilan Grapel walked right into the middle of it all.
He is an innocent tourist, but the question of how he will be released is not a simple one. In the meantime, Grapel’s luck is that he entered Egypt using his US passport, and that the State Department, and not the Israeli Foreign Ministry, is leading efforts to secure his release.
By HERB KEINON
06/15/2011 12:54
ASTANA – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched into a brutal attack of the West at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Wednesday, mentioning Zionism as one of history’s worst ills.
He said that 60 plus years of Zionism has brought only humiliation and destruction to the Palestinians and the region.
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But Israel got off easy in Ahmadinejad’s tirade, viciously attacking the US and the West for a long litany that includes slavery, colonializations, the pillaging of Africa, World War I and II and numerous wars since then, dropping a nuclear bomb on defenseless civilians, and creating the atmosphere leading to 9/11 which he said was the pretext for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which he said has cost some one million casualties
The other leaders at the conference, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,Tajikistan, India, Pakistan and Mongolia, sat impassively during his comments.
Each leader at the conference, marking the 10 years since the founding of the regional security organization that presents itself as counterbalance to NATO, spoke briefly and – with Ahmadinejad’s short exception – steered wide of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or the current upheaval in the Middle east. The leaders also made no mention of Iran’s nuclear threat.
China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are full members of the organization, which promotes economic, military and security cooperation. Iran, Pakistan, India, and Mongolia enjoy observer status.
Because of UN sanctions against it, Iran is presently barred from joining as a full member.
By Yossi Verter
President Shimon Peres is concerned that Israel might become a binational state, in which case, he warned, it would cease to exist as a Jewish state.
“I’m concerned about the continued freeze [in the peace talks],” Peres said to people who visited him this week. “I’m concerned that Israel will become a binational state. What is happening now is total foot-dragging. We’re about to crash into the wall. We’re galloping at full speed toward a situation where Israel will cease to exist as a Jewish state.”
 |
President Shimon Peres. “We’re about to crash into the wall,” he warned this week. |
| Photo by: Tomer Appelbaum |
Peres celebrated four years as president this week. He has three years to go until he decides on his next career move. But people who met him this week found the president’s mood far from festive. He prophesied that Israel would be doomed unless negotiations with the Palestinians leading to a peace agreement began in the immediate future.
“Whoever accepts the basic principle of the 1967 lines will receive international support from the world,” Peres said. “Whoever rejects it will lose the world.” He was referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vehement objection to starting peace talks on the basis of the 1967 lines, which he called “indefensible” in both the Knesset and the U.S. Congress.
But Peres continues to reject the advice of friends and various political figures that he come out openly against Netanyahu’s positions. “I’m not the head of the opposition, I’m the state president,” he repeatedly tells them.
Peres also voiced fear that Israel might be subjected to economic boycotts and sanctions. There’s no need for boycotts,” he said. “It would suffice for ports in Europe or Canada to stop unloading Israeli merchandise. It’s already beginning.
“September is only a date,” he added, referring to Palestinian plans to seek UN recognition as a state then. “The question is what will happen before and after.”
by Joel Rosenberg, June 15, 2011
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met Wednesday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Central Asian and Far East Asian leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in the Kazakhstan capital of Astana. The SCO, formed in 2001, is widely seen a rival to NATO. There, Ahmadinejad delivered a blistering speech against the “slavers and colonizers” of the West, called for a new world order, including the building of an anti-Western military and political alliance.
“I believe together we can reform the way the world is managed,” Ahmadinejad declared, according to a report by Agence France Presse. “We can restore the tranquillity of the world.” He reportedly then addressed the leaders of Russia and Asia, asking: ”Have any of us used an atomic bomb against the defenceless citizens of any other country? Have any of our countries played a part in the creation of 9/11 under whose pretext Afghanistan and Iraq were invaded and more than one million people have been killed or wounded?”
An Associated Press report quotes Ahmadinejad as calling on Russia, China and Central Asian countries “to form a united front against the West.” He also asked, “Which one of our countries (has played a role) in the black era of slavery, or in the destruction of hundreds of millions of human beings?”
Ahmadinejad did not attend the SCO’s summit in 2010. But he did attend the 2009 summit in Moscow. As I noted at the time: “Currently, Iran has ‘observer’ status in the SCO, but has requested full member status. The SCO alliance is evocative of the eastern-portion of the biblical alliance foretold in Ezekiel 38-39 that will come against Israel and seek to destroy the Jewish people in what the Bible calls the “last days” of history. When one considers how closely Russia and Iran are currently growing to the western portion of the prophetic alliance — Sudan, Libya and Algeria, for example — it’s not hard to envision these prophecies coming true in our lifetime, or even in the next few years. That said, I believe it is currently too soon to draw any conclusions. There are many intriguing trends and developments, but it remains far from clear that we’re seeing Bible prophecy come to pass. That said, we cannot rule out the possibility. Events in the region are both unprecedented and riveting. All the more reason for followers of Jesus Christ to ‘get ready and be prepared’ for whatever lies ahead.”
Thursday, June 16, 2011 | Aviel Schneider
In the shadow of the conflict over the Promised Land more and more Palestinians are disclosing the truth: Entire families are considering conversion to Judaism. They claim that their ancestors were forced to choose between religion (Judaism) and remaining on the Land, and hence, they were compelled to convert to Islam.
On our forays into the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria we have met many Palestinians who have told us about their Jewish ancestry. For their own protection, we cannot publish everything that we were told.
These Palestinians are part of the seed of Israel and could be called “Palestinian Marranos” – like the “secret Jews” of Spain in the 15th century who were forced to convert to Christianity, but covertly remained observant Jews. By returning to the Jewish religion and nation, they foresee a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
“My great great-grandparents immigrated to Israel from Yemen about 300 years ago,” Mohammed Sir told Israel Today. “My grandfather and my father told me that we are actually Jews. As Jews they would have been forced to pay protection money in order to live here under Islamic rule.”
Caucasus Mountains region map
(Note: important map in relation to “War of Gog and Magog”. See post in the Studying Prophecy category under that name.)
(Note: This map is significant as we study the “War of Gog and Magog”, based on the book of Ezekiel, indicating the countries of present day Russia, Persia (present day Iran), Cush (present day Sudan), Gomer (present day Turkey), Beth Togarmah (present day countries where turkish-speaking people spread out from Turkey and settled in Causasus and the areas of Central Asia, and Put (present day Libya and Algeria –those countries are on a different map in the Maps in Light of Biblical Prophecy category).
By YAAKOV KATZ
06/10/2011 17:43
Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. And as president, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”
President Barack Obama made this statement on March 28 in an address to the National Defense University, during which he explained America’s rationale for approving a military campaign to stop Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s violent crackdown on protesters.
The war in Libya is almost three months old and seems to be continuing, but one question that remains unanswered is why the above policy of not turning a blind eye to atrocities doesn’t apply to other countries in the Middle East – like Syria, for example.
By Thursday, the death toll in Syria was believed to have already reached over 1,500 people, but the international community, led by the US, could not even find itself in agreement over the language of a resolution censuring Syria that some countries in Europe wanted to push through the Security Council.
So why the difference? In a word: Israel.
Israel does not share a border with Libya, but it does share one with Syria, and there are fears in the IDF that in the event of foreign military intervention there, Israel would feel the brunt of Bashar Assad’s retaliation.
While Assad is already believed to be trying to divert attention from his lethal crackdown on protesters by encouraging Palestinians to raid the Israeli border, as occurred this past Sunday, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what Syria can do.
One intelligence assessment speaks of the possibility that, under extreme pressure – caused politically or militarily – Assad might decide to attack Israel with more than just angry Palestinians from the Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus.
Instead, he would have available the thousands of ballistic missiles Syria has manufactured over the years, as well as an extensive chemical arsenal, bolstered as a replacement for the nuclear reactor Israel destroyed in 2007.
For this reason, Jerusalem is quietly warning about the potential consequences of Western military action aimed at toppling Assad. This does not mean, of course, that Israel wants Assad to remain in power; in reality, the opposite is true. But the concern cannot be ignored; what will happen the day after Assad falls, and into whose hands will the ballistic missiles and chemical weapons fall?
At the same time, senior IDF officers believe that there is no turning back for Assad and that after killing some 1,500 of his own people, he will not be able to rule again as he once did. What this means practically is still unclear, but the hope is that it will ultimately lead to a larger break in the Iranian axis that connects Tehran, Damascus and Beirut, and will further isolate Iran and cut off supplies to Hezbollah.
Syria’s close allies – Hezbollah and Iran – are also extremely concerned with the ongoing demonstrations in Syria and the potential impact on them.
Western intelligence agencies have raised the possibility that Hezbollah is trying to transfer advanced weaponry it reportedly maintains on Syrian soil to Lebanon due to the ongoing turmoil in the country.
The group is believed to have stored advanced arms in Syria – including longrange Scud missiles- as part of its logistical deployment along Israel’s northern border.
Iran is also not waiting for Assad, and just this week – in the midst of the ongoing upheaval in the Middle East – announced that it was implementing plans to triple its production of uranium. It also said that the secret nuclear facility it was caught covertly building near the city of Qom in 2009 would no longer remain empty and would be equipped with advanced centrifuges for the enrichment of higher-grade uranium.
The Iranian announcement came just two days after International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano said the nuclear watchdog had obtained information that “seems to point to the existence” of possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.
Amano’s announcement came just a few weeks after the IAEA released its latest report on Iran’s nuclear program, pointing to a significant increase in the enrichment of uranium – up from 133 kilograms per month to 156 kg. – with a total of just over 4 tons of low-enriched uranium (LEU), enough for at least two nuclear weapons if enriched again to higher military-grade levels.
While Iran is still encountering some technological difficulties, overall it seems to have overcome the setback caused last year by Stuxnet, the virus that attacked its uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and is believed to have destroyed over 1,000 centrifuges.
In simpler terms, Iran is taking advantage of the current shift in the world’s focus from its illicit nuclear activities to the ongoing upheaval in the Middle East, and is moving forward with enriching uranium. The decision on Tuesday to send submarines to the Red Sea is another indication of Iran’s growing confidence and its belief that it will not pay a price for any of these provocations.
There are a number of reasons for the confidence. While the current sanctions in place against Iran have had some effect, they are overshadowed and undermined by the increase in the price of oil. In addition, while other tyrants in the Middle East are battling for survival, in Iran the protests have waned and almost disappeared.
According to Israeli intelligence assessments, Iran wants to wait until it has enough fissionable material to produce an arsenal of nuclear weapons, which means it will need several more tons of low-enriched uranium. From the stage when it decides to break out and begin enriching uranium at military levels, until the point that it has a testable nuclear device, it will likely be a year.
Iran’s confidence also appears to have received a boost from the recent media mayhem in Israel over former Mossad chief Meir Dagan’s comments about Jerusalem’s military option vis-à-vis the Iranian nuclear issue. Dagan said it was a “stupid idea” to attack Iran, and pointed out the “impossible” regional challenge Israel would face following such an attack.
For Tehran, these comments fell on welcoming ears. For years, the Iranians have questioned Israel’s military capabilities. Now here comes Dagan – their archnemesis – and gives them a reason to. Dagan’s justification for doing this – his concern with Israel’s current political leadership – might be genuine, even though it was done with the awareness that it would eat away at the deterrence Jerusalem has tried for years to create in the face of the Iranian threat.
Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon has long spoken about the importance of creating a “credible military option” for Iran’s nuclear program. According to Ya’alon, it is not enough to speak about the option; it is also necessary to show the Iranians that it is real, viable and effective.
“They need to fear that the military option is real and can be used,” Ya’alon has said in the past.
To back up this argument, Ya’alon has referred to Tehran’s 2003 decision to suspend its enrichment of uranium and weapons program. That move was based on fear that after the US invasion of Iraq, it was next in line. President George W. Bush had already listed Iran has part of the “Axis of Evil” mentioned in his 2002 State of the Union address.
Judging by its recent decisions, Iran no longer feels threatened. As it continues to provoke the world without paying a price, there is unfortunately no reason it should.
Israel Today
Sunday, June 12, 2011 | Ryan Jones
Israeli security forces stormed Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Friday after Muslims there began hurling stones at Jews praying at the Western Wall below.
Non-lethal crowd control methods were used to disperse the dozens of Muslim rioters, and three young Arabs were arrested for taking a leading role in the violence.
No Jews were injured by the dozens of stones that were thrown down from the top of the Temple Mount.
Most weeks, Israel restricts access to Friday prayers atop the Temple Mount to Muslims over the age of 50 in order to avoid precisely this kind of violence. But, because the site had been quiet for many weeks, the police decided to lift the restriction last week. They likely won’t make that mistake again any time soon.
In related news, a Muslim mob raided and razed a small Jewish community in the Jordan Valley following Friday prayers at a local mosque.
Apparently whipped into a frenzy by an anti-Jewish sermon (which are all too common in Palestinian mosques), an estimated 200 Palestinian Arabs arrived at the Gaon Hayarden outpost armed with clubs and metal chains.
The few Jewish youth who were at the outpost (one of many set up without government approval and in defiance of international pressure) resisted briefly before escaping with their lives.
The Muslim mob burned several tents and small structures, including one used for prayer and containing numerous Jewish holy books.
One of the Muslim leaders told Israel’s Ynet news portal that the Jews of Judea and Samaria could expect more such raids in the future.
Israel Today
Sunday, June 12, 2011 | Ryan Jones
Syrian forces brutally attacked a town in the north of the country on Sunday, accusing local residents of being “rebels” after they joined nationwide demonstrations demanding democratic freedoms.
Tens of thousands of residents of Jisr al-Shughour fled into neighboring Turkey after an estimated 150 tanks and several helicopter gunships invaded the town and began firing indiscriminately.
It is believed that at least 30 civilians have been killed in the fighting. The refugees in Turkey also described being beaten and raped at the hands of the government soldiers.
The fighting in Jisr al-Shaghour is only the latest in a string of atrocities that have marked the Syrian movement for open democracy, which was sparked by Egypt’s own democratic revolution earlier this year.
While Western governments have expressed muted condemnation, many Israelis are left wondering why the international community is not reacting more strongly. After all, when Israel responds to Palestinian terror in a far more restrained manner, it is a matter for UN Security Council resolutions and widespread criticism.
The response to the Syrian massacres has paled in comparison to the responses to Israel’s 2006 war in Lebanon, the 2009 incursion into Gaza and the 2010 interception of a flotilla trying to break the Gaza maritime blockade.
Meanwhile, there is growing concern in Israel that as the situation in Syria intensifies, and international pressure slowly ramps up on Damascus, the ruling regime of dictator Bashar Assad could lash out at Israel as a last resort.
If Assad feels he is going down and has nothing left to lose, he may want to secure a legacy for himself by launching one final massive attack on Israel, according to some intelligence assessments.
Syria has an arsenal of tens of thousands of ballistic missiles that can reach every corner of Israel. It also has an extensive supply of chemical warheads to fit on those missiles.
Mietek Pemper, the man responsible for typing Oskar Schindler’s famous list that saved more than 1,000 Jews during the Holocaust, died Tuesday in Augsburg, Germany, at age 91.
Pemper is to be buried in the city’s Jewish cemetery, and local officials plan to order flags to be lowered to halfmast, the Agence France-Presse reported.
RELATED:
‘NY judge allows Schindler’s original list to be sold’
The fight for Schindler’s list
During his imprisonment in the Plaszow concentration camp, Pemper served as the personal typist of Nazi commandant Amon Goeth, from 1943 to 1944.
At one point, he secretly read a letter sent to Goeth from Berlin announcing that all factories not producing goods for the Nazi-war effort would be closed down. Pemper was subsequently able to convince Schindler, a Nazi-party member – who initially hoped to profit from the Germany’s invasion of Poland – to switch his plant’s focus from enamel production to anti-tank grenade rifles.
Pemper then, at great personal risk, gave Schindler a typed list of more than 1,000 fellow prisoners who could work in the plant.
Schindler famously saved more than 1,200 lives through a mixture of work opportunities and bribes to Nazi officers.
Though he died in anonymity in 1974, Schindler’s story was famously adapted by director Steven Spielberg in the 1993 film Schindler’s List, which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Pemper served as a consultant on the film, and in 2005 published his memoir, The Road to Rescue: The Untold Story of Schindler’s List.
In the book, Pemper pondered what the world would have been like if there had been no war, or Nazi extermination effort.
“Goeth would probably not have been a mass murderer, nor Schindler a saver of lives. It was only the extraordinary circumstances of war and the immense power granted to individual men that revealed the nature of these men to such an impressive and terrifying degree,” he wrote. “Fate had placed me between the two of them, and it was like having an angel on one side and a demon on the other.”
How to receive Christ as your Savior and Lord.
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association – How to Know Jesus as Your Savior
Either of the above links will lead you through the steps.
Yea to those who are willing to make a stand. It will be interesting to watch this story and see how many other congressmen and women are willing to continue to befriend Israel and work for their good.
Israel Today
Friday, June 10, 2011 | Ryan Jones
Prominent US Senators on Thursday threw another wrench in the Middle East peace plans of President Barack Obama when they proposed a new resolution opposing an Israeli withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders.
The draft resolution presented by senators Orrin Hatch and Joe Lieberman states that “it is contrary to United States policy and national security to have the borders of Israel return to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 1967.”
Echoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the senators insisted that the 1967 borders were indefensible, and invited Arab attacks on the narrow Jewish state.
The resolution is supported by at least 30 other senators, and possibly many more.
The resolution comes just weeks after a joint session of Congress made the extraordinary move of providing a foreign leader – Netanyahu – with a platform to oppose the policies of the US president. Congress was unhappy that just days prior to Netanyahu’s address Obama had publically called for Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders for the sake of peace.
Analysts noted that Obama’s statements had for the first time turned Arab demands that peace be based on a full and complete Israeli withdrawal the official policy of the White House.
JERUSALEM — Exploratory drilling off Israel’s northern coast this week has confirmed the existence of a major natural gas field — one of the world’s largest offshore gas finds of the past decade — leading the country’s infrastructure minister to call it “the most important energy news since the founding of the state.”
Houston-based Noble Energy, which is working with several Israeli partner companies, said that the field, named Leviathan, whose existence was suspected months ago, has at least 16 trillion cubic feet of gas at a likely market value of tens of billions of dollars and should turn Israel into an energy exporter.
“If it acts correctly, levelheadedly and responsibly, Israel can enjoy not only the benefit of using the gas, but it can also turn into a gas supplier in the Mediterranean region,” the infrastructure minister, Uzi Landau, said in a statement. “The large reserves of natural gas will enable Israel’s citizens to enjoy the benefit of clean and inexpensive electricity, as well as the expected profits for the state.”
The find means that Israel, with a long history of dependence on foreign energy, and hostility and boycotts from many of the biggest energy powers, could find itself in a much more advantageous position in the coming decade.
But the find has been accompanied by a heated debate over how much in taxes and royalties Israel will charge. A state-appointed committee headed by an economist at Hebrew University, Eytan Sheshinski, is planning to recommend substantially increased profit taxes, opposed by the companies and some on the political right.
Gideon Tadmor, the chief executive of Delek Energy and Avner Oil Exploration, partners in this venture with Noble, said the taxes could make the project prohibitively expensive. “The gas may stay in the ground because we will not succeed in obtaining from banks around the world the tens of billions of shekels for developing the reservoir,” he said in an interview.
He said that this new find could impel neighboring countries, including Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria, to explore and possibly develop their potential gas fields, and warned that Israel needed to move quickly to be the first to export its gas. Delek estimates that if it moves aggressively, it could begin producing gas from Leviathan in five to six years.
This year, the United States Geological Survey estimated that more than 120 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas reserves, equivalent to 20 billion barrels of oil, lay beneath the waters of the Eastern Mediterranean. That would put it in the same league as the Alaskan North Slope (about 22 billion barrels) but far short of Saudi Arabia, which has proven reserves of 262 billion barrels.
In reaction to the Israeli announcement, Lebanese politicians said they would move more quickly in exploring their country’s gas potential.
Professor Sheshinski said that Israel had among the very lowest energy tax rates anywhere and that it was time to update that.
“We have proposed a profit tax to be imposed after the firms earn an adequate return on their investment,” Professor Sheshinski said in an interview. “We have checked with the banks and we will be well within world averages. Anyone who knows the numbers can be assured of a proper return.”
Professor Sheshinski said that his report, due out on Monday, had already been endorsed by the governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer; the International Monetary Fund; and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which Israel recently joined. He said that the profit tax rate recommended by his committee would be 55 to 60 percent and that the O.E.C.D. average was 62 percent.
The committee’s recommendations require government and parliamentary approval.
Sever Plocker, an economic columnist for the newspaper Yediot Aharonot, said in a commentary on Thursday that it was far from clear that the new discovery could be developed profitably. Gas prices could fall, the techniques needed to extract the gas were likely to be complicated and expensive to develop, and exporting natural gas required enormous investment for pipelines or the means of transforming the gas into liquid to be moved on tankers, he said.
“Creative thinking is our great natural resource, not gas,” he wrote. “It is our obligation to guard it with utmost care.”
When his armor bearer refused to kill him, he took his own life.
The apostles knew their priorities.
While we should try and keep peace with everyone, conflict with the world and its authorities is sometimes inevitable for a Christian. There will be situations where you cannot obey both God and man.
Then you must obey God and trust his Word.
Let Jesus’ words encourage you: “What happiness it is when others hate you and exclude you and insult you and smear your name because you are mine. When that happens, rejoice! Yes, leap for joy! For you will have a great reward awaiting you in heaven.” (Luke 6:22-23)
“Being religious” is not enough if we do not act out of devotion and obedience to God.
Some people glibly recite God’s laws, but are filled with deceit and evil.
They claim his promises, refuse to obey his laws.
This is sin, and God will judge people for it.
We too are hypocrites when we do not live what we believe. To let this inconsistency remain, shows we are not true followers of God.
When sacrificing an animal according to God’s law, a priest killed the animal, cut it in pieces, and placed it on the altar.
Sacrifice was important, but even the Old Testament God made it clear that obedience from the heart was much more important.
God wants us to offer ourselves, not animals as living sacrifices – daily laying aside our own desires to follow him.
We do this out of gratitude that our sins have been forgiven.
When you know what God wants, don’t go against that plan regardless of the circumstances.
God often uses delays to test our obedience and patience.
We must not let daily service crowd spiritual growth out of our lives.
A new person starting a new job usually usually brings a new style and personality to that job. But, the church or any other organazation cannot work effectively if every change of personnel means starting from scratch. True servants will step in and continue or complete good work that others have started.
Joshua carefully obeyed all the instructions given by God. This theme of obedience is repeated frequently in the book of Joshua, partly becuase obedience is one aspect of life the individual beleiver can control.
We can’t always control understanding because we may not have all the facts. We can’t always control what other paople do or how thay treat us. However, we can control our response to life’s situations when we choose to obey God.
Whatever new challenges we may face, the Bible contains relevent instructions which we can choose to follow.
They all replied, “Yes, go right ahead! God will give the king victory.”
6 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not also a prophet of the Lord here? We should ask him the same question.”
7 The king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, “There is one more man who could consult the Lord for us, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything but trouble for me! His name is Micaiah son of Imlah.”
Jehoshaphat replied, “That’s not the way a king should talk! Let’s hear what he has to say.”
8 So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Quick! Bring Micaiah son of Imlah.”
Micaiah Prophesies against Ahab
9 King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah, dressed in their royal robes, were sitting on thrones at the threshing floor near the gate of Samaria. All of Ahab’s prophets were prophesying there in front of them. 10 One of them, Zedekiah son of Kenaanah, made some iron horns and proclaimed, “This is what the Lord says: With these horns you will gore the Arameans to death!”
11 All the other prophets agreed. “Yes,” they said, “go up to Ramoth-gilead and be victorious, for the Lord will give the king victory!”
12 Meanwhile, the messenger who went to get Micaiah said to him, “Look, all the prophets are promising victory for the king. Be sure that you agree with them and promise success.”
13 But Micaiah replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what my God says.”
14 When Micaiah arrived before the king, Ahab asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I hold back?”
Micaiah replied sarcastically, “Yes, go up and be victorious, for you will have victory over them!”
15 But the king replied sharply, “How many times must I demand that you speak only the truth to me when you speak for the Lord?” (New Living Translation)
When you want to please or impress someone, it is tempeing to lie to make yourself look good.Ahab’s 400 prophets did just that, telling Ahab only what he wanted to hear.
They were then rewarded for making Ahab happy.
Micaiah, however, told the truth and got arrested.
Obeying God doesn’t always protect us from evil consequences. Obedience may, in fact, provoke them. But it is better to suffer from man’s displeasure than from God’s wrath.
If you are ridiculed for being honest, remember that this can be a sign that you are indeed doing what is right in God’s eyes.
18 “Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. 19 Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.”
20 When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it. (New Living Translation)
It must have seemed strange to the Israelites that, instead of going to battle, they were going to march around the city for a week. But this was God’s plan, and the Israelites had a guaranteed victory if they would follow it. As strange as the plan sounded, it worked.
God’s instructions may require you to do things that don’t make sense at first. Even as you follow him, you may wander how things could possibly work out.
Like the Israelites, take one day at a time and follow step by step. You may not see the logic of God’s plan until after you obeyed.
”Current Events In Light of Bible Prophecy”
WHAT IS THE “WAR OF GOG AND MAGOG”?
Part One
May 9, 2011
by Joel C. Rosenberg
[Tuesday, May 10 update: Today Israel celebrates her 63rd Independence Day. May the Lord bless and protect all Israelis and draw them close to His heart. May the Lord also bless and protect the Palestinian people and give His mercy and grace to both sides of this painful conflict. Jesus said, “Love your neighbor” and “Love your enemy.” Not easy, but the only way forward.]
Let’s start by defining
The Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel lived in Babylon (Iraq) more than 2,500 years ago and the Lord gave him a vision of events that would take place in the future.
Ezekiel 38:16 specifically tells us these events will take place in the “last days” — that is in the End Times before the Messiah comes to set up His kingdom on earth.
Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37 set the stage for the “War of Gog and Magog” by describing that:
These things have all happened, and this suggests we are getting closer to the fulfillment of the next set of prophecies.
Ezekiel 38:2 tells us that the war will be led be someone known as “Gog.” This is not a personal name. We’re not looking for someone named David Gog. Or Ahmed Gog. Or Dmitri Gog. Rather, “Gog” is a title, like a “Pharoah” or a “Czar.” Through the prophecy, this Gog is described as a military leader, a political leader, and a coalition builder. In Ezekiel 38:10 he is described as developing an “evil plan,” we know this is an evil man, a tyrant.
The Hebrew prophet gives us more clues. This “Gog” is going to be from the “land of Magog.” One has to do some historical detective work to determine what Magog is, but it is possible. Flavius Josephus, the first century Roman historian, wrote in his famous book, The Antiquities of the Jews, that the people of Magog are the people whom the Greeks called “Scythians.” This is a critical clue because we know from history that the Scythians were a people group that migrated from the Middle East northward and settled north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the region we know today as Russia and the former Soviet Republics.
There are other interesting clues, as well. Ezekiel 38:15 says that Gog “will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north.” Ezekiel 39:2 says Gog will come “from the remotest parts of the north” and come “against the mountains of Israel.” The country that is farthest to the north in relation to Israel is Russia.
Thus, we can determine that a Russian dictator will build a diplomatic and military coalition to surround and attack the State of Israel in the End Times.
The question then is what other countries will be part of the coalition?
In Ezekiel 38:5, we learn that the first ally Russia will have is “Persia.” Until 1935, of course, Persia was the legal name of the country we know today as Iran. So we know that Russia and Iran will build an alliance in the last days to attack Israel.
Ezekiel tells us that another country in the alliance will be what many English Bibles translate as “Ethiopia.” The Hebrew word, however, is “Cush” and Cush is the upper Nile region that we now know as Sudan. While the current state of Ethiopia may also be involved in the war, the focus is really Sudan, which today, of course, is a radical Islamic Sunni state closely allied with Iran and Russia and deeply anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.
Next, Ezekiel says a nation called “Put” will be part of the alliance. Josephus identifies “Put” as “ancient Lybios” — the territory that today we call Libya and Algeria. Interestingly, both countries today are deeply hostile to Israel and closely allied with Russia.
The next country mentioned is “Gomer.” When one does the historical detective work, one learns that Gomer is what we now call Turkey. For much of the past 80 years, it didn’t make sense that Turkey would turn against Israel. Why? Because Turkey was a NATO ally, and a friend of Israel, the U.S. and the European Union. But in the last few years, the Turkish government has swung dramatically away from the West, towards Russia and Iran, and become deeply hostile towards the State of Israel.
The next country Ezekiel mentions is “Beth Togarmah.” This is the Turkish-speaking peoples that spread out from Turkey across the Caucasus, and across Central Asia. We can’t be certain precisely which modern nation states from this area will join the anti-Israel alliance, because these are almost all Muslim countries with close links to Russia and Iran.
Interestingly, Egypt is not mentioned by Ezekiel as part of the Russian-Iranian alliance against Israel. This is interesting because Egypt has been such an historic enemy of Israel and the Jewish people. That said, perhaps Egypt’s non-involvement in the War of Gog and Magog could be explained by the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979. This treaty is now in danger of unraveling, but at least for the near term Egypt is still unlikely to be in a position to strategically threaten Israel.
Iraq — whether under its biblical names of Babel, Babylon, Babylonia, Shinar, or Mesopotamia — isn’t mentioned in the prophecy either, yet it, too, is an historic enemy of Israel. Still, given the liberation of Iraq in 2003, the subsequent violence, and the rebuilding now going on, Iraq is not likely to be a threat to Israel in the near term.
Syria and Lebanon are not mentioned by name in the prophecy either. However, Ezekiel tells us repeatedly that the main military force that will be coming against Israel will be coming from the north, which means they will be coming through Lebanon and Syria.
WHAT IS THE WAR OF GOG AND MAGOG?
Part Two
May 11, 2011
(NOTE: As we honor Israel’s 63rd modern Day of Independence, are there signs this prophetic war is close at hand?
The subject is timely. As nearly eight million Israelis are celebrating this week the 63rd birthday of the modern State of Israel, there are real questions in the region about how much longer the Jewish State can and will survive. A growing number of Radical Islamic leaders are declaring that Israel will soon be “wiped off the map,” and are vowing to assist in that effort. Iran is feverishly trying to build nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles to deliver them. Hezbollah in Lebanon has built up a force of more than 40,000 rockets aimed at Israel. The bloodthirsty regime in Syria is slaughtering opponents of the regime while buying weapons systems aimed at Israel. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is rapidly rising in power and the current presidential candidate front-runners in Egypt are speaking with growing hostility towards the Jewish State. Fatah has chosen to make peace with the Hamas terrorist organization rather than with Israel. Meanwhile, a growing number of Orthodox rabbis in Israel believe recent events are indicators that the “War of Gog and Magog” is coming soon. A growing number of Christians around the world think the “War of Gog and Magog” is coming soon, as well. Are they right?)
Let’s look at what the Bible teaches.
The Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel describes a Russian dictator (Gog) who will form a military coalition with Iran, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, Turkey and a group of other North African, Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries in “the last days” (Ezekiel 38:16). In the days of Ezekiel, of course, there was no Islam. Today we know that most of the nations Ezekiel mentions are majority Muslim countries, and Russia is about 20% Muslim and increasingly allied with Radicalized Islamic countries.
The Bible explains very clearly that the target of this military coalition in the End Times will be Israel.
Ezekiel 38:8 says “in the latter years, you [Gog and his coalition] will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations and they are living securely, all of them.”
Ezekiel 38:16 says that the coalition “will come up against My people Israel” and that “it shall come about in the last days that I will bring you [Gog] against My land.”
Ezekiel 39:2 says that Gog will come “from the remotest parts of the north…against the mountains of Israel.”
Clearly, then, the main pre-requisite for this prophecy regarding the “War of Gog and Magog” to come true is that the State of Israel has to be prophetically reborn in the last days. Indeed, this is what the prophecies of Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37 describe in detail.
The Lord showed Ezekiel that Jews would be living in exile, scattered throughout the world because of sin and disobedience to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ezekiel 36:16-21).
But solely because of His grace and mercy, the Lord promised to re-gather the Jewish people to the land of Israel.
The Lord promised that “I will cause men — My people Israel — to walk on you and possess you” (Ezekiel 36:12).
The Lord said that the Jewish people would rebuild the ancient ruins and the ”waste places” (Ezekiel 36:10).
The Lord said that the land and “mountains of Israel” at that time would “put forth [their] branches” and bear fruit for “My people Israel.” (Ezekiel 36:8)
The Lord said that first the physical restoration of Israel and the Jewish return to the Land would be set into motion (Ezekiel 37:4-8)
After the physical restoration of the State of Israel began, then the spiritual restoration of the Jewish people would be set into motion (Ezekiel 37:9-14).
Then, once Israel was reestablished as a State, and the Jewish people were being re-gathered to the Land, and the Lord was drawing the Jewish people back into a relationship with Him, and Israel was living securely in the Land (Ezekiel 38:8) with a degree of prosperity even (Ezekiel 38:12), then — and only then — would the Russian-Iranian coalition be set into motion to rob, kill and destroy Israel and the Jewish people.
It should be noted that Ezekiel does not describe Israel having “peace.” Rather, twice Israel is described as “living securely” (Ezekiel 38:8 and 38:11).
I recognize that these verses can be difficult for some Palestinian Arabs and some Israeli Arabs to read, whether they are born again Christians or nominal Christians (raised in churches but without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ), and especially if they are Muslims. The Bible indicates that Jews will be a sinful people when they are brought back into the Land. Only after they return, the Bible teaches, will the Holy Spirit be poured out upon the Jewish people in an increasingly significant way (Ezekiel 39:29 and Joel 2:28-32 — or Joel chapter 3 in Hebrew Bibles). Then, a growing number of Jewish people will repent and return to a personal relationship with the Lord. Meanwhile, Jesus said in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 that there would be “wars and rumors of wars” and “revolutions” and “lawlessness” in the last days. Certainly, the rebirth of Israel — while prophetic and God-ordained — has come with wars, rumors of war, revolutions, sins, and even crimes committed by some Arabs as well as some Jews. The Bible doesn’t teach this period of the last days will be easy, and the Bible is right.
That said, we would not be honest to the Word of God if we were to ignore, deny or try to explain away the plain meaning of these verses. The Bible told us well in advance that Israel would be reborn and the Jews would come back to the Land, and this has come to pass. Genesis 12:1-3 tells us that the Lord will bless those who bless the children of Abraham, and He will curse those who curse the children of Abraham. Those who have cursed Israel have, sadly, found themselves facing great pain and suffering. Sometimes Bible truths are difficult to accept, but they are true nonetheless and we must accept them by faith.
But while the Bible clearly explains that the Lord will bring the Jewish people back to the Land of Israel and allow them to reclaim their God-given ownership of the Land, nowhere in the Bible are Jews (or any group of people) given a license to commit injustice. To the contrary, the Bible teaches Israel to love her neighbors (Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 19:19). The Bible also teaches Israel to love her neighbors and pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44). The Jews do have rights to the ownership of the Land, but they also have responsibilities to govern justly and compassionately, in accordance with the Scriptures. In Leviticus 19:33-34, for example, the Lord says: “When a stranger [non-Jew] resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”
Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ need to teach sound Bible doctrine regarding Israel and the Palestinians. We need to love both, bless both, pray for both. Moreover, we need to stand with and encourage our brothers and sisters in the Messiah whether they are Jewish or Arab. The Bible gives us no freedom to ignore, deny, or oppose our brothers and sisters on either side. Rather, Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). We need to be pro-actively building relationships with Israelis and Palestinians and being ambassadors of Christ and agents of reconciliation whenever and wherever possible.
We do not have to agree with everything that our brothers and sisters believe — especially if those beliefs are unscriptural — but we are commanded to love them unconditionally and sacrificially. After all, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Now, back to the prophecy and its analysis:
It could be reasonably argued that Israel is living more securely today than at any other time in its 63 years. The Israeli Defense Forces are widely considered the strongest and most effective ground fighting force in the Middle East. The Israeli Air Force is widely considered dominant in the skies. Israel has peace treaties with two major neighbors, Egypt and Jordan (though the future of the treaty with Egypt is increasingly in question). Yasser Arafat is gone. Saddam Hussein is gone. Osama bin Laden is gone. Palestinian suicide bombings are not a daily part of Israeli life since 2004. Rockets are occasionally fired from Gaza at Israeli civilians living in the south, but this is not nearly as bad as it was prior to Operation Cast Lead in January 2009. Moreover, Israel has just deployed a short-range rocket defense system called “Iron Dome” that is very effective. Meanwhile, Israel has submarines, ballistic missiles, and first rate intelligence services in her defense. Israel has also enjoyed decades of a close strategic partnership with the United States, has a strong and vibrant economy, and is widely believed to have defensive nuclear weapons, though the government maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on the subject, neither confirming nor denying the existence of those weapons.
Could Israel currently be secure enough to fulfill this prophetic prerequisite? Honestly, I am not sure. Perhaps events soon will lead Israelis to being and feeling even more secure. But there is no question that even with emerging new threats on the horizon, Israelis feel more secure today than ever before its modern State’s existence.
Given the fact that the major End Times prophecies of Ezekiel 36 and 37 have essentially come true in our lifetime, does this mean that we will see Ezekiel 38 and 39 come true in our lifetime as well? To me, it is too soon to say so definitively. Certainly we are seeing geopolitical events unfold in recent decades and in recent years that are strikingly consistent with what the Bible describes as preparations essential for the “War of Gog and Magog.” So we should be ready. We should be prepared — not caught off guard — if events accelerate in the near future. But we must also remember that the Lord in His sovereignty could also decide to delay events for quite some time for His own purposes.
That said, it should be noted that when the Russian dictator finishes building his military coalition in Israel and begins to move his forces to surround Israel in the “last days,” Ezekiel gives us no indication that any country will come to Israel’s defense. There are not indications that the United Nations, or the European Union, or NATO will defend Israel. Nor is there any indication that the United States will defend Israel. Rather, Israel will be — and will feel — all alone in the world.
WHAT IS THE WAR OF GOG AND MAGOG?
Part Three
The Good News
May 12, 2011
As the forces of the Russian dictator (Gog) and his military coalition — including Iran, Libya, Algeria, Sudan, Turkey and other key Islamic nations — converges against the State of Israel in the last days, the Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel tells us that at the last moment, when there seems to be no hope for Israeli Jews, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is going to supernaturally intervene.
Ezekiel 38:18-19 — “‘It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares the Lord God, ‘that My fury will mount up in My anger. In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.”
Ezekiel tells us that this earthquake will shake the entire globe and “all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence” (38:20).
The enemy forces will become so frightened and disoriented that they will turn and start fighting each other (38:21).
Terrible diseases (pestilence) will start to spread through the enemy forces (38:21).
As God judges these enemies of Israel, the text says He “will rain on him [Gog] and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire, and brimstone.” (38:22)
The Lord also says “I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coast lands in safety.” (39:6) In other words, parts of Russia and other enemy countries will be devastated by fire from heaven.
The Bible does not tell us exactly how this will happen, but it clearly describes a supernatural judgment. This is not a war started by the Israeli Defense Forces. These are not missiles from the Israeli Air Force. There is no evidence in the text of Israelis defending themselves. Perhaps they are engaging in diplomacy. Perhaps they are hoping for the U.S. or the U.N. or other nations to intervene. Whatever the case, the God of Israel steps in and defends Israel Himself, raining fire and brimstone down on the enemy forces and utterly destroying them.
Why does the Lord act? The Lord tells us directly in 38:23, “I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.” The nations have forgotten that God does love the Jewish people. He does love the nation of Israel. They are not perfect, but He loves them and has made promises to them, and He intends to keep those promises. And He wants the rest of the world to know there is a God in Israel.
The devastation is so horrific that chapter 39 tells us it takes the Israelis seven months to bury all the bodies of the enemy forces (39:12-16).
Ezekiel tells us it would probably take longer than seven months but the birds of the air and the beasts of the field eat many of the bodies (39:17-20)
Sin has consequences. God said in Genesis 12:1-3 that those who bless the children of Abraham will be blessed, but those who curse them will be cursed. God is patient. He is slow to anger. But when pushed too far, He will act against those who hate the Jewish people and seek to rob, kill and destroy them. Let the nations be warned.
There is more to the story, however. Not only will the “War of Gog and Magog” be a day of great judgment; it will also be a day of great mercy. The Bible says that the militaries of these enemies will be destroyed. There are hints here and in other texts (Jeremiah 49, for example) that the governments of these countries will be judged, as well. But God is not going to wipe out all the people of these enemy countries. To the contrary, He wants them to see His glory and His mercy.
Ezekiel 39:21 — “I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them.”
Did you catch that? “All” the nations will “see” God’s glory and judgment. Today, we are living in the first generation in human history where because of the miracle of global satellite television technology people in every country on the planet will be able to watch the prophecies of the Bible come true before their very eyes.
As a result, I believe Ezekiel 38-39 describes the end of Radical Islam — and effectively the end of all of Islam — as we have known it. When the God of Israel destroys the forces of Radical Islam supernaturally while Muslims watch on Al Jazeera, how will they wake up the day after and believe that the Quran is true and that Muhammad is a true prophet? The vast majority of Muslims will abandon Islam. Many will turn to faith in Jesus Christ. Not all, of course, but many will because they will have seen the Word of God come true right in front of them. And the Word was God and the Word is God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and His name is Jesus the Messiah. (John chapter 1)
Israelis will feel very afraid and very much alone right up until the Lord shows His mighty hand. But then even those who are secular will know there is a God in heaven.
Ezekiel 39:22 — “And the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day onward.”
Ezekiel 39:25-26,28 — “Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. They will forget their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid….Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land and I will leave none of them there any longer.’”
On top of all this, the Lord says He will no longer hide His face from the Jewish people and, in fact, will pour out His Holy Spirit upon them. “I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord.” (39:29)
As a result, many Jews will come to faith in Jesus as Messiah, for that is the role of the Holy Spirit–to reveal the true identity of Jesus to people. Jesus said in John 14:26, ”The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” Not all Jews will come to faith in Jesus at that time, but many will because the Father will pour out His Holy Spirit on the house of Israel.
While we know these events will all happen in the “last days” (38:16), we cannot determine whether the “War of Gog and Magog” will happen before the Rapture (when the Lord suddenly snatches born again believers in Jesus off of the earth, prior to the Tribulation) or not, because the text does not tell us one way or the other.
That said, I believe it is very possible — not certain, but very possible – that these events will unfold within this generation, and possibly quite soon. We are certainly seeing geopolitical events unfolding in a way consistent with Ezekiel 38-39.
Therefore, the most important question we must ask is this: Since the Lord in Ezekiel 38:7 told Gog, the enemy of Israel, to “get ready, be prepared,” then what should Israelis themselves and friends of Israel be doing?
Shouldn’t we, too, get ready and be prepared — spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially, and in every other possible way?
These prophecies are some of the most interesting and important descriptions of End Times events in all of the Bible. Unfortunately, too few people in the world are aware of them, or have read them, much less studied them carefully.
May the Lord bless you and reveal Himself and His heart to you as you get yourself ready for the prophecies coming.
Posted: May 15, 2011 by joelcrosenberg in Uncategorized
(Jerusalem, Israel) — As The Joshua Fund held the first of two days of our 2011 Epicenter Conference teaching through the Book of Joel and how to live in light of the fact that “the Day of the Lord is coming,” violence erupted in and around Israel. The reason: Radical Arabs were marking “Al-Nakba” day, or “the catastrophe”, as they see it, of Israel’s prophetic rebirth in May 1948. Just before lunch time I got a report that an Arab Israeli had just driven a truck into a crowd of Jewish Israelis in Tel Aviv, killing one man and wounding 17 others. My colleagues and I immediately prayed for God’s mercy on all those involved and for healing for the injured and for the Israeli security forces to be able to effectively defend the country’s borders and streets. As the day progressed, we learned from a Reuters reports that “violence erupted on Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday, leaving at least eight dead and dozens wounded.” Thousands of Radical Muslims tried to penetrate Israel’s borders, but eventually were repulsed by IDF forces. Please keep praying for peace, and for the Lord’s grace and favor on the conference as we try to put current events in the context of the Bible.
Posted: May 16, 2011 by joelcrosenberg in Uncategorized
(Jerusalem, Israel) — “Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh spoke to Muslim worshipers on Sunday morning, telling them to pray for an end to Israel,” reports the Jerusalem Post. “‘Palestinians mark the Nakba with great hope of bringing to an end the Zionist project in Palestine,’ Haniyeh told 10,000 people at Gaza City’s al-Omari mosque, AP reported. ‘To achieve our goals in the liberation of our occupied land, we should have one leadership,’ he reportedly said, praising the recent unity accord between Hamas and Fatah. Haniyeh added that Hamas would not recognize Israel.”
In that context, the Day 2 of the 2011 Epicenter Conference has just begun with the blowing of the shofar and Jewish and Arab believers leading the conference participants in worship to our Lord Jesus. In a moment, I will lead the conference in prayer for the Lord to protect Israel and bring great blessings to the people of this precious Land. Then we’ll begin a discussion on “Assessing the Threat of Radical Islam in the Epicenter.”
Please watch the messages at www.epicenterconference.com.
Posted: May 19, 2011 by joelcrosenberg in Uncategorized
UPDATE: The President made an enormous mistake this week in calling for the Land of Israel to be divided and Jerusalem to be divided along pre-1967 borders. This is in direct defiance of the Bible. It won’t work, and it will bring judgment to the U.S., according to Joel chapter 3. Please pray that the President changes his heart and changes course very soon.
Posted: May 25, 2011 by joelcrosenberg in Uncategorized
(Jerusalem, Israel) — Will it work?
That’s the key question as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu finishes his high-profile trip to Washington, meeting with President Obama, addressing 10,000-plus pro-Israel activists at the AIPAC Policy Conference, addressing a Joint Session of Congress, and doing a flurry of major media interviews. Will his passionate case that Israel is America’s best friend, the only solid and secure democracy in the Middle East, endangered by Iranian nukes, and in need of unwavering American friendship and support in tumultuous times fully convince the President, the Congress and the American people to stand with Israel through the darkest of times that are steadily approaching?
I would like to believe this will be the case, but Bible prophecy says otherwise.
The Hebrew Prophets such as Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Joel tell us again and again that Israel will be all alone in the last days of history. All the nations will eventually turn against her. All the nations will work to divide the Land of Israel. Jerusalem, too, will be divided. The New Testament reconfirms this. Indeed, the Scriptures indicate that the only hope for Israel is for her to turn fully and completely to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As the “time of Jacob’s troubles” approaches — as the Day of the Lord approaches — the Bible tells us that the nations will betray the Jewish people. Only the Lord will be faithful. The question is, when the dark times come will Israelis turn their hearts to the Lord?
The Hebrew Prophet Joel warned us that the Lord is going to judge “all the nations” because “they have divided up My Land.” (Joel 3:2) Yet Joel doesn’t call Israel to political activism, to international diplomacy, to military adventurism, or any other human endeavor. The Lord says through the Prophet Joel, “‘Yet even now, return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments’…Now, return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.” (Joel 2:12-13) And if Israel does this, Joel tells us: “Then the Lord will be zealous for His land and will have pity on His people.” (Joel 2:18, 27)
The Prime Minister’s speech to Congress was excellent in many ways. He rightly described the “epic battle” underway in the epicenter. He described a great shaking going on in the Middle East. He rightly warned that Iran and her nuclear program is the greatest threat, that Hamas is the new al Qaeda, and that in all of the Arab world, only Israeli Arabs have true safety, security, and fully protected human and civil rights. I’ve included some important excerpts from the speech below. However, it should be noted that Netanyahu never cited the Bible, never called on the name of the Lord, and never called the Jewish people to trust fully and completely in the God of Israel, but rather promised to divide the land of Israel as a concession to the Palestinians, even while promising never to divide Jerusalem. These were mistakes. He wasn’t the first Israeli Prime Minister to make them. But he is making them nonetheless. He was right to thank the U.S. for all our help and support of Israel over the years, and he was right to seek continued help and support from the American people and government. But neither he nor Israel should become dependent upon American help because the Bible tells us it won’t be there for long.
The Bible is clear: only the Lord will save Israel. It is time for Israelis to consider this very carefully. For time is short. “The Day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near.” (Joel 2:1)
Excerpts of PM’s speech to Congress:
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
The Land Laid Waste
2 Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
Has anything like this happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.
4 What the chewing locust[a] left, the swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
For it has been cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
7 He has laid waste My vine,
And ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For the husband of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the LORD;
The priests mourn, who minister to the LORD.
10 The field is wasted,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.
11 Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree—
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.
Mourning for the Land
Joel 2
The Day of the LORD
Joel 3
God Judges the Nations
This week marks the 44th anniversary of the Six Day War, the historic reunification of Jerusalem under Jewish control, and the dramatic retaking of the Biblical heartland known as Judea and Samaria by the prophetically reborn Jewish State. It is a week of celebration for Israeli Jews, but a week of mourning and violent protests for Israel’s Arab neighbors. As I write this, Iranian leaders says the End of Days has come and the Twelfth Imam will emerge from occultation very soon. They are calling for the annihilation of Israel, sending an Iranian submarine to the Red Sea, and a new report says Iran could build nuclear weapons in just two months. Meanwhile, violence is spiking on the Syrian-Israeli border and the Egyptians have just legalized the Muslim Brotherhood as a political party.
A growing number of Muslims, Jews and Christians believe we are living in the last days of human history as we have known it. Are they right? Are the tumultuous events and trends underway in the Middle East and around the world signs that the Messiah is coming to Earth soon to judge and to rule and reign from Jerusalem? What is the “Day of the Lord”? What are the “last days”? What does Bible prophecy teach about such things? And how should we live in light of such prophecies?
Answering these questions was the focus of the 2011 Epicenter Conference, which took place in Jerusalem on May 15-16. One Day One, a group of internationally renowned Bible teachers and I taught through the Old Testament “Book of Joel” verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We then had a panel discussion on lessons for Israel and the Church drawn from the Book of Joel. One Day Two, we had a series of panels where highly-regarded Israeli, Palestinian, American, Iranian and Indian pastors and Bible teachers explored the implications of these Bible prophecies for Israel and the Church in more depth in light of current events.
I believe God wants all of Israel and all of the Church to turn our attention to the Book of Joel in the weeks and months ahead. There is a critically important message there that is on the Lord’s heart and it is deeply relevant for our time. Over the next few days, I’m going to share with you my own personal study and message notes from the Book of Joel. I hope you will find them helpful as you study the writings of this important minor prophet and teach them to others.
Let’s begin today with an overview. What follows are the notes I used to deliver the first message of the 2011 Epicenter Conference.
THE DAY OF THE LORD IS COMING: An overview of the Book of Joel
Basic Background
On this last point, we had a special guest on Day 2 of the Epicenter Conference. I interviewed Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and we discussed the Iran threat, the latest violence in the region by Palestinian Arabs, and the future of the peace process. During our conversation, I drew his attention to these Scriptures and urged him not to divide the Land, and to share these verses with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
Posted: June 10, 2011 by joelcrosenberg in Uncategorized
>> Anti-Israel leader and his party win elections in Turkey
Record breaking natural disasters keep happening around the world. The global economy remains in serious trouble. Millions are sinking into poverty. Islam is spreading around the world. Rumors of new wars in the Middle East are mounting. New threats to Israel are metastasizing. Yet as the world is being shaken and serious new threats and challenges are rising, so much of the world seems to be asleep. Alarm bells are going off, yet so much of the Church seems to be asleep as well, intoxicated by the pleasures of the world and unable or unwilling to respond to the call of God to pray, fast, and repent despite the fact that, as the Hebrew Prophet Joel wrote in the Bible, ”the day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near.”
“It is time to wake up.”
As we read in Joel 1:14-15,“Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near.”
I hope you will find these notes helpful as you study the writings of this important minor prophet and teach them to others.
Joel Chapter One: “A Wake Up Call”
Posted: June 13, 2011 by joelcrosenberg in Uncategorized
Both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament teach that in the “last days,” severe military threats will mount against the State of Israel, yet the Jewish state will become more and more isolated internationally. Ultimately, the Bible indicates that no country will come to the defense of the Jewish people when the major prophetic battles unfold and Israel’s enemies attack. Rather, Israel will find herself all alone in the world. This makes recent headlines all the more troubling, for international pressure against — and isolation of — the modern State of Israel seems to be intensifying this year. Consider the latest key stories from the epicenter from just the past few days and weeks:
In light of such disturbing trends, I am posting some of my notes covering chapter two of the “Book of Joel.” In his second chapter, the Hebrew prophet gives us so much vital information about the future of Israel and how to live in the last days that I won’t be able to cover it all in one posting. But I hope you will find these notes helpful as you study the writings of this important minor prophet and teach them to others. I would also encourage you to watch the message delivered at The Joshua Fund’s 2011 Epicenter Conference by Pastor Ray Bentley, who taught on Joel 2:1-17. In a few days, Lord willing, I will post my notes covering the rest of chapter two.
Chapter Two: “A Trumpet Call for Israel and the Church”
(Note: What is Edom’s name today?
The country of Edom was founded by Jacob’s brother Esau. He picked up the nickname “Edom” or “Red” when he sold half of his massive inheritance for a simple bowl of red bean stew.
Edom was located in the region to the southeast of Israel. Mount Seir was a notable landmark in this region.
Edom and Israel, the people who descended from Jacob, never got along with each other. Skirmishes between the people happened often. Edom never got over its hatred of Israel. “Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, “Raze it, raze it, to its very foundation!”” (Psalm 137:7). In other words, Edom was cheering the Babylonians on. When Israel fell because of their sins, Edom rejoiced at its fall and took the opportunity to raid the country. They even helped the Babylonians collect the stragglers left from the war (Obadiah 10-15).
God made several prophecies against Edom (Isaiah 35; 63:1-6; Jeremiah 49:7-22; Amos 1:11; Obadiah; Ezekiel 25:12-14; 35). However, the one that tells us what happened to Edom is found in Ezekiel 35.
In delivering punishments to various nations, we learn that God often turns the sin against the sinner. Edom rejoiced at the emptying of Israel and five years later, Nebuchadnezzar swept through again, destroying several nations and emptying their lands — including Edom. Here is what God promised Edom:
“Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you; I will stretch out My hand against you, And make you most desolate; I shall lay your cities waste, And you shall be desolate. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end, therefore, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you. Thus I will make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it the one who leaves and the one who returns. And I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those who are slain by the sword shall fall. I will make you perpetually desolate, and your cities shall be uninhabited; then you shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 35:3-9).
God promised that travelers would no longer pass that way; the country would be so litter with slain that people would avoid the stench. But most importantly, God states that the country would never be rebuilt. Just as Edom had perpetual hatred for Israel, their country would remain perpetually empty.
That has remained basically true. Various countries have controlled the territory that was once Edom, but Edom as a nation disappeared. When the edict was made allowing people to return to the homelands, Israel and many other countries rebuilt, but Edom never did. During the time of the Greeks and Romans, the region was known as Idumea, which is the Greek transliteration of Edom. The territory is currently controlled by Jordan.”He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 17:5). See: http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVanswers/2005/09-24.htm)
Posted: June 21, 2011 by joelcrosenberg in Uncategorized
Talk is cheap. In a time when economic, religious and geopolitical threats are rising….a time when so much of the world is turning against God…a time when so many have forgotten God in their daily lives….a time when so many think the Church is irrelevant and/or hypocritical….and a time when many have turned against Israel and God’s Chosen People, what we need are leaders at every level of society who are serious about crying out to the Lord for mercy and redemption. I’m not talking about a bunch of religious hot air — slogans, bumper stickers or platitudes. What we desperately need is a bold and sincere and solid and revolutionary faith that moves us to action, that moves us to know God more deeply and serve Him more faithfully before the Day of the Lord arrives.
As we read in the New Testament Book of James, “faith, if it has no works, is dead” and “faith without works is useless” (James 2:17 and 20).
This is one of the reasons I love the Old Testament Book of Joel and why I’m grateful we studied it together at the 2011 Epicenter Conference — because it is a powerful call to action. Skip Heitzig, a dear friend and senior pastor of a wonderful Bible-teaching congregation of some 14,000 people in New Mexico, taught at the conference on Joel 2:18-32 (Joel 2:28-32 in English is actually divided as Joel chapter 3 in the Hebrew Bible) and did a powerful job. I would encourage you watching his message — and the other messages — for free on-line. Today, I’m posting Part Four of my personal study notes on the Book of Joel. I hope you’ll find them helpful as you seek a faith that changes your life and moves you to serve the Lord with more passion and conviction than ever before.
PART FOUR:
The Hebrew Prophet Joel indicates a day of severe and unprecendented judgment is coming upon the world. The question is: How should mankind in general – and the people of Israel in particular – prepare for such judgments before they come? Beginning in Joel 2:12, the Lord is very clear and specific. His people are to:
Two observations:
Clearly, chapter two of the Book of Joel is a trumpet call — a call to action
The bad news: the Scriptures are clear that a terrible time of judgment and devastation is coming, worse than at any other time in human history.
The good news: The Scriptures are also clear that when individuals repent and return to the Lord – and by God’s grace when the nation of Israel repents and turns back to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – then…..
That said, the Lord will use these terrible judgments to shake people all over the world – and particularly in Israel – and cause Jews and Gentiles to deeply reconsider what they believe and what they are following.
This is how God works at key moments in history – He literally and figuratively shakes the world
Posted: June 24, 2011 by joelcrosenberg
The Bible is crystal clear: the Lord Almighty will judge all nations who divide the Land of Israel.
In Joel 3:2, the Lord says: “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.” (3:2)
A MESSAGE OF WARNING TO THE NATIONS: Book of Joel, Chapter Three
The Book of Joel is a wake up call and a trumpet call to Israel and the Church. It is also a message of warning to the nations – and a very sobering message at that.
Joel 3:1 – “in those days and at that time” – what time?
Joel 3:2 – the Lord is going to gather all the nations – not some of the nations….not a few of the nations….the text says “all” of the nations….true, the Lord singles out a few specific nations with whom He is angry…..among them:
But let there be no doubt – He is going to judge “all” the nations…He will gather them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat….the valley of judgment…what we know today as the Kidron Valley right here in Jerusalem….“Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance Israel whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.” (3:2)
The Lord is going to judge the nations for at least six reasons:
Some of these are atrocities that various nations and empires have committed against Israel and the Jewish people over the centuries. Yet some of these are atrocities that will be committed against Israel and the Jewish people during the “time of Jacob’s troubles” (30:7), also known as the Tribulation.
The good news is that Joel tells us a day of reckoning is coming….the Day of the Lord is coming….surely it is near.
Amen.
And then comes more good news – the Millennial Kingdom….during this time:
The Hebrew Prophet Joel gives us a great hope…that God is sovereign and He will reign from this city and make all things new and beautiful by His grace and power.
There is so much richness to each and every verse of chapter three. I’ve taken most of the last year to study it and I’m still finding treasures I didn’t see before. But given the moment that we are in I want to focus on verse two.
“I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.” (3:2)
Consider these words carefully and completely….and let the United Nations be warned….let the United States be warned….let the European Union be warned….let the Arab League be warned….let the Palestinian Authority be warned….let Hamas be warned….let the Government of Israel, too, be warned.
It may look like a brilliant idea to divide the City of Jerusalem….to divide Judea and Samaria – a.k.a., the West Bank – away from the State of Israel….to give away the Golan Heights….as it seemed brilliant to some to give away the Gaza Strip in 2005….but let there be no mistake: the Word of God warns us in no uncertain terms that judgment is coming for all who divide Israel….and divide Jerusalem….and scatter, oppress and mistreat the Jewish people.
As I say this, the United Nations is preparing to hold a vote in the next few months to divide Jerusalem and the rest of Jerusalem and unilaterally declare a sovereign Palestinian state. For many, this seems wise and fair and just…..but willfully disobeying the Word of God is never wise….never fair….never just….and it comes with consequences.
I recognize that these Scriptures can be difficult for many Palestinian Arabs and many Israeli Arabs to read and accept, especially if they are Muslims and nominal Christians without a personal relationship with Christ….but even if they are born again brothers and sisters in the Lord. Most Palestinians long for a sovereign state of their own…many have been deeply hurt during the rebirth of the State of Israel and throughout the past 63 years….I am sympathetic with this pain and this longing.
The Bible indicates that Jews would be a sinful people when they return to the Land in the last days. Only after they return, the Bible teaches, will the Holy Spirit be poured out upon the Jewish people in an increasingly significant way (Ezekiel 39:29 and Joel 2:28-32 — or Joel chapter 3 in Hebrew Bibles). Only then will a growing number of Jewish people will repent and return to a personal relationship with the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 that there would be “wars and rumors of wars” and “revolutions” and “lawlessness” in the last days. Certainly, the rebirth of Israel — while prophetic and God-ordained — has come with wars, rumors of war, revolutions, sins, and even crimes committed by some Arabs as well as some Jews.
The Bible doesn’t teach this period of the last days will be easy, and the Bible is right…..that said, while these are painful facts, they are facts nonetheless…..and each one of us must be true to the revealed Word of God….we do not please the Lord — or do our Arab brothers any favors, or do the nations any favors — if we ignore, deny or try to explain away the plain meaning of these verses, that Israel would be prophetically reborn and the Jews would come back to the Land that the Lord promised Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendents.
Genesis 12:1-3 tells us that the Lord will bless those who bless the children of Abraham, and He will curse those who curse the children of Abraham. Those who have cursed Israel have, sadly, found themselves facing great pain and suffering. Those who have tried to divide the Land again and again have found themselves both causing but also experiencing great pain and suffering.
For many, these are not easy truths to hear or to hold…..but God in His love and fairness puts us on notice that there are consequences to rejecting these truths.
At the same time, we who accept by faith what the Bible teaches about God’s divine love, plan, purpose and Land for Israel and the Jewish people must remind ourselves and each other of two other truths:
What do I mean? Allow me to explain.
First, our communication – consider John 12:49 (NIV), where Jesus said, “the Father commands Me what to say and how to say it.” What we say matters to God….but so does how we say it. It’s not enough just to communicate what is Biblically true….we must also examine how we communicate it….are we speaking the truth in love?….are we being gentle?….are we being humble?
Yes, the Day of the Lord is coming….Yes, God is going to bless and save the nation of Israel….Yes, the nations are going to be judged for dividing the Land and shedding Jewish blood and for committing atrocities against the Jewish people….These are truths….they are from the Lord….they are just and true….But we must be careful in how we communicate these truths because they are so difficult for so many to hear…..especially our Arab brothers and sisters….Let us be wise and humble and respectful in how we teach what we teach lest we inadvertently sin with our callousness or insensitivity….lest we cause additional pain or even create a new stumbling block to our listeners being able to hear and truly receive the truth.
Second, our actions — Are we living out the fullness of the implications of Biblical truth, especially when it comes to the Book of Joel? Today, those of us who believe in the Abrahamic Covenant that God gave the Land of Israel to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants as an “everlasting possession” and who agree with the Apostle Paul that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29) are at risk.
At risk of what?
At risk of being outflanked on the justice issue….at risk of being – and/or being perceived around the world as being – insensitive to the charges that we are blind to or callous towards injustice suffered by the Palestinian people….“Justice” can be a politically loaded word…..and it can be wielded for unscriptural ends. But it is a Biblical word….it is an important word….and we must embrace it and passionately pursue its true Biblical meaning.
As the Hebrew Prophet Micah taught us, “He has told you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)
You and I are passionate advocates of justice for Israel because of what the Bible teaches. We must also be passionate advocates of justice from Israel because of what the Bible teaches. This does not mean Israel should divide the Land. This does not mean Israel should ignore her real and serious security needs. But too often, Christians who love Israel are not aware of — or sufficiently concerned about and responsive to — the plight of the Palestinian people, and particularly the struggles of the Palestinian believers.
Again, this does not mean the Land should be divided…That does not mean a sovereign Palestinian state should be created….It does mean that followers of Jesus Christ should care about justice and mercy – for the Jews and for the Palestinians, and for all of Israel’s neighbors who are suffering in this fallen world….After all, while the Bible clearly explains that the Lord will bring the Jewish people back to the Land of Israel and allow them to reclaim their God-given ownership of the Land, nowhere in the Bible are Jews (or any group of people) given a license to commit injustice.
The Jewish people do have rights to the ownership of the Land, but they also have responsibilities to govern justly and compassionately, in accordance with the Scriptures.
Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ need to not just preach but also to practice sound Bible doctrine regarding Israel and the Palestinians….We need to love both….bless both….pray for both….We need to stand with and encourage our brothers and sisters in the Messiah whether they are Jewish or Arab….The Bible gives us no freedom to ignore, deny, or oppose our brothers and sisters on either side….Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).
We need to be pro-actively building relationships with Israelis and Palestinians….we need to be faithful ambassadors of Christ….we need to be true agents of reconciliation whenever and wherever possible….We do not have to agree with everything that our brothers and sisters believe — especially if those beliefs are unscriptural — but we are commanded to love them unconditionally and sacrificially….We are commanded to see struggle and suffering and respond in love and compassion, whether it’s a Jewish person in pain or an Arab.
Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Jesus loves the Jews….Jesus loves the Arabs….Jesus loves the Iranians….Jesus loves the Druze, the Bedouins, and all who live in the epicenter….Jesus died for all….Jesus rose again for all….Jesus is coming back again to this city for all…The Day of the Lord is coming….surely it is near….Joel teaches us that the Day of the Lord is a day of great sadness and judgment for those who reject the Lord and disobey His Word….But Joel also teaches us that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”
Which leads me to my final point.
In addition to praying for Jews and for the Palestinians….
In addition to seeking real and practical ways to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus….
In addition to providing food, clothing, medical supplies and other humanitarian relief to the poor and needy on both sides of the security fence….of caring for widows and orphans….of caring for Holocaust Survivors and victims of war and terrorism….We need to make sure everyone from Tel Aviv to Tehran hears the good news of God’s amazing love and grace as revealed through Jesus Christ.
Let those of us who love Israel also love Israel’s neighbors and enemies enough to make sure they hear the gospel….to strengthen the Church in the Arab and Iranian world….to help them train pastors and plant churches and fulfill the Great Commission.
Precisely because the Day of the Lord is coming….surely it is near.
As the Apostle Peter taught us, “the Day of the Lord will come like a thief” and “the Lord is not slow about keeping His promise , as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:10,9)
Have you ever said you would obey God if you knew what He wanted? Have you ever complained that obedience is too difficult for a mere human?
These are unacceptable excuses.
God’s laws are written in the Bible and are clearly evident in the world around us. Obeying them is reasonable, sensible, and beneficial. The most difficult part of obeying God’s laws is simply deciding to do so.
Thirty-nine years earlier (after spending a a year at Mount Sinai receiving God’s law), the Israelites had an opportunity to enter the Promised Land, but they failed to trust God. As a result, God did not allow them to enter the land, but made them wander in the wilderness until the disobedient generation had all died.
During their wilderness wanderings, the Israelites obeyed God’s laws. They also taught the new generation to obey God’s laws so that they might enter the Promised Land. As the children grew, they were often reminded that faith and obedience to God brought victory, while unbelief and disobedience brought tragedy. When the last of the older generation had died and the new generation had become adults, the Israelites prepared to cross the river and claim the long-awaited Promised Land.
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Feb 9, ’08 1:45 AM by erick101403 for everyone |
The Israelites were eager to enter the Promised Land, conquer nations, and live peacefully. But first they had to cross the flood-level waters of the Jordan River. God gave them specific instructions: in order to cross, they had to step in the water.
What if they had been afraid to take the first step?
Often God provides no solution to our problems until we trust him and move ahead with what we know we should do. What are the rivers, or obstacles, in your life?
In obedience to God, take that first step in the water.
Moses must have had a difficult time managing such a group.
In the early stages of the journey and at Mount Sinai, the people were both obedient to God and Moses. Everything went smoothly. But when the people left Mount Sinai, they suddenly began to complain, grumble, and disobey.
Soon problems erupted, and Moses could no longer effectively manage the Isaraelites.
The books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers present a striking contrast between how much we can accomplish when we obey God and how little we can accomplish when we don’t.
Christians have also entered into a covenant with God (through Jesus Christ) and should be sensitive to what God expects. Moses’ threefold command to the Israelites is excellent advice for all God’s followers.
1. Listening is absorbing and accepting the information we read and hear about God.2. Learning is understanding its meaning and implications.
3. Obeying is putting into action all we have learned and understood.
All three parts are essential to a growing relationship with God.
This may not be the easiest or most glamourous way to earn a reputation, but it is the most authentic.
Do you fall into the trap of trying to makes others think you are intelligent because of what you know or pretend you know? Obeying God’s Word will give a far greater reputation, because it’s not just what you know, but what you do that counts.
sharin' His love & Prophecy Unfolding 