For or Against Israel?

16 Saturday Jul 2016

Tags

God's Wrath, Persecution of the Jews, Support of the Jews

America’s Future and the Fate of All Nations Depends on the Answer

Last week’s post, America the Beautiful is Getting Ugly, might have been one of the most provocative titles in all 156 Eye of Prophecy articles to date. There is probably not much middle ground between reactions to or support of the basic premise. Readers from other countries might be more neutral, but most Americans would be ardently in agreement with or keenly opposed to the notion that America is in a free-fall decline, morally and spiritually. Which has begun to manifest itself in economic deterioration, social disintegration, and political divisions not seen in this country since the American Civil War.

Except now, we do not have the moral resolve or spiritual responsiveness to realize what has caused the United States to become so morally bankrupt. Which is: apathy toward the Judeo-Christian precepts upon which this nation was founded. And rejection of Biblical truths that guided our ancestors through the turmoil of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War fought to defend the principles of liberty for all people and races so powerfully proposed in our Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and Constitutional Amendments. These same values fortified our determination to preserve this freedom through two World Wars.

America is a nation divided. Many of these rifts seem to be irreparable.

Republicans and Democrats are at each other’s throats like never before. No longer is it a matter of or an effort to agree to disagree; to go on with bigger and better things through whatever party and Presidential candidate wins the election. Then start all over again in four years. The checks and balances in our Federal Government is as unchecked and unbalanced as it ever has been, what with the Supreme Court handing down decisions that circumvent laws enacted by the people through their representatives in Congress. And with the Executive branch of our government issuing Executive Orders that many in both houses of Congress consider to be unconstitutional.

Racial tension has reached critical mass, through flash point confrontations between African-Americans and white police officers, as we so sadly experienced the past few days in Minnesota, Louisiana, and Texas. The BDS style attacks against God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, Christians and Jews in this country are relentless.

“And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, ‘Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand’” (Matthew 12:25, NASB).

There is, however, one major division that is necessary: the distinction between truth and lies, good and evil, right and wrong; absolute and relative. Unless people grasp that only God can successfully build and sustain a nation (through those who acknowledge and seek after him), and only His Word (Scripture) can ultimately and decisively determine what is true, good, right and just; then that nation is doomed to be dysfunctional. With discord, demoralization, despair, and eventually demise the inevitable result.

“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchmen keeps awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1, NASB).

On the other hand: “How joyful are those who fear (acknowledge, respect, in awe of) the Lord—all who follow his ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be!” (Psalm 128:1, parenthesis mine).

America Has Lost Its Moral Compass

The United States of America is in big trouble. As is the world at large. The needle of our moral compass is spinning uncontrollably in circles. We refuse to fix it so it will point to God. Our spiritual map is devoid of highways with Biblical markers that can guide us to a destination God has surveyed for us.

Which is: A nation blessed because we have made The Lord our God (Psalm 33:12).

A nation that zealously trusts God when he promises: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me” (Jeremiah 29:11-12).

A nation which defers to and depends on the supreme, universal, divine truths and standards found in Scripture, enabling us to see and do things from God’s perspective. That gives us an absolute reference point to see the light at the end of the dark tunnel of uncertainty and unrest so prevalent in this country and in nations all over the world. To fully appreciate and follow God’s instructions for right thinking and living, both personally and nationally.

Such as: “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

Instead, we are in the same condition that the Jews were in during the time of the judges when, “…all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Quoting again our first United States President George Washington in last week’s article: “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”

Also from last week’s article (reproduced here in italics):

…to deliberately dismiss or distort or defame the immense impact of the Christian faith embraced and espoused by our founding fathers in both their personal and public lives is to create an inaccurate, imbalanced, and unfair perspective of American history and of the Judeo-Christian beliefs that birthed our nation.

Scripture is exceedingly clear on the following: God normally deals with sin on an individual basis for those who have rejected the Lord’s only remedy for sin and its penalty—the once for all redemptive substitutionary sacrifice of God’s Son, Messiah Jesus. But when the leaders of a nation (in today’s society … presidents, prime ministers, legislative officials, celebrities, and especially judges) and most of its people corporately and openly defy and distort God’s truth as found in His Word, then God’s punishment is applied to the entire nation.

It was crystal clear to many of our founding fathers: To marginalize, ignore, or certainly to reject God and the Judaic-Christian heritage that gave birth to One Nation Under God would inevitably erode the individual freedom and rights of the people on the one hand; and on the other hand imperil the nation itself if and when God withdrew his blessings and protection.

Let’s examine another passage that confirms the Biblical premise so aptly summarized in Psalm 33:12.

But first, let’s sing the opening refrain to the famous American patriotic song alluded to in last week’s article. A poem originally written (with a couple of slight revisions thereafter) by a 33-year old English Professor Katherine Lee Bates after a trip to Pikes Peak, near Colorado Springs in 1893. With the music composed later by Samuel A. Ward, a church organist and choir director.

America the Beautiful:

“O beautiful for spacious skies

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties,

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!”

More Biblical Truths Regarding an Entire Nation

While reading the following passage from Scripture—given specifically to Israel but also meant for any people in principle and practice—try and picture everything you can think of applicable to whatever nation you live in. For those in the United States of America, think of things that the Pilgrims and Pioneers experienced in our Promised Land. Such as the Native American Indians Samoset and Squanto showing the Pilgrims how to plant and harvest corn (manna!).

Said Moses to prepare and remind them of God’s instructions, just before the people of Israel entered the Promised Land:

“Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord … Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good” (Deuteronomy 8:1-3, 5).

Continuing in the passage:

“So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

“But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees… Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness… He gave you water from the rock! … He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath” (Verses 6-18).

The passage concludes with:

“But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, worshipping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. Just as the Lord has destroyed other nations in your path, you will also be destroyed if you refuse to obey the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).

Does anyone in America today worship man-made gods and idols? If you’re thinking of carved idols of wood, stone, or metal, the answer is, no. (There are a few who do)

But many revere, to the point of worship, our celebrities—politicians, athletes, actors, musicians, wealthy businessmen, and money itself. Thereby, deliberately or inadvertently, making gods of them.

What’s the name of that TV show? Oh yes, it’s…

Above all in the last two generations, the greater populace of the United States of America has made our Federal Government their god!

They cannot imagine trusting in or depending on anyone or anything except the provisions and promises of the government, both State and Federal. They refuse to grasp the Biblical and historical reality that the well-being of any nation is directly proportional to its government’s and people’s reliance on God himself.

Based on the passage in Deuteronomy we just read, a simple (from time to time), “Thank you, Lord, for who you are and all you have done for us,” would do wonders for a nation teetering on the brink of…. (You fill in the blank)

Others stake their safety and security on the might of our military.

Anything, anyone, but regrettably: Not on the only One who can truly save them from destruction … in this life and/or in the life to come.

Is God’s Judgment on the USA Imminent?

Does that mean that God is ready to judge this nation like never before? According to the Biblical record of the rise and fall of previous nations, the answer is, yes. In turn, does that mean the judgment could begin any day now? The answer is both yes and no: (1) I believe that God began partially to withdraw his protection of the United States of America on September 11^th, 2001. (9/11).

(2) However, not until the Great Tribulation when God pours out his wrath on peoples/nations all over the world, including the USA, will those left behind at the Rapture experience God’s full and final fury against evil. Nonetheless, partial preparatory judgment could be administered at any time; and the extent of that discipline could be agonizingly harsh.

Is it possible, then, that God would lessen or even withhold any pre-Tribulation judgment on the United States?

Yes! If, in fact, his people intercede just like Abraham did for Sodom and Gomorrah. God agreed with Abraham to spare the cities if only ten righteous (those in right standing with God through their trust in Him) could be found. Sadly, there were not even ten.

How many in America? Only God knows. But if we who are called by his name (born again believers, saved by the grace of God) plead with the Lord to spare our nation until the appointed time of judgment, I believe the Lord will listen and withhold apocalyptic things from happening to the United States until the seven-year period of the Great Tribulation.

“…The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops” (James 5:16-18, italics for emphasis).

Who are the righteous?

Answer: “And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God” (Romans 4:22-25).

Let’s look at the verses that follow Psalm 33:12, which began last week’s Eye of Prophecy post, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…”

“The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. From his throne he observes all who live on the earth. He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do. The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—for all its strength, it cannot save you. But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love. He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine. We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone” (Psalm 33:13-22).

To summarize and conclude the first part of today’s article, which was a continuation of last week’s theme, I’d like to quote from an Eye of Prophecy article entitled, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! (posted 7-12-14).

Any nation whose corporate leaders and national laws deny, distort, diminish, or even trivialize God’s spiritual and moral laws will be a nation that God will leave to itself. The worst thing that can happen to any city, state, or nation that deliberately turn their back on God is that the Lord will withdraw his blessings and protection. It is said: Be careful what you wish for! If by our words and actions we respond to God’s Word of truth, life, justice, and peace, with, “No thanks, we’ll do it our way;” then that’s precisely what will happen. He’ll give us our own way. Then look out: We’re on our own!

Of course, that’s perfectly okay, if citizens of a country place their trust and confidence in their political, social, and economic leaders! To the extreme of making all things secular and shaping that secular humanism into a godlike status. What’s to worry? The State or Federal government will take care of us! Our military will save us! Scripture is clear on that, too. Without God’s sovereign guidance and protection, all the military might in the world is futile. God’s own chosen people did that and look what happened: Total destruction of Israel and exiled captivity at the hands of their worst enemies.

Citing another excerpt from that post, which will lead into the title theme of today’s article, For or Against Israel:

In the grand scheme of things, this wonderful Republic is just one of many nations on earth, all of which will be ultimately judged (as a nation) by our treatment of Israel…

But we mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that this country has been and still is beyond God’s discipline and even withdrawal of his protection, especially if we oppose Israel or even ignore her.

For or Against Israel: The Divine Irreversible Principle of Nations Blessing or Cursing Israel

There is a higher standard more serious and more severe than America’s acknowledgment of God in the affairs of the nation that will gauge His blessings or curses on our country.

Even if the greater populace and leaders of a nation turn to the Lord (from individual and national sin) but still refuse to support Israel in general and (especially) specifically seek to harm the Jews, God will NOT bless and protect that nation. A verse quoted often by others and by me in several Eye of Prophecy articles regarding Abraham and his descendants (the Jews) … one that bears repeating:

“I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

Why is Israel God’s special possession? Why are the Jews God’s chosen people?

For one reason: To be a conduit for God’s plan and purpose for humanity … all languages, all races, and all nations. From the Jews would come Messiah—the Mediator of the New Covenant of salvation through grace by faith. Not self-righteousness by keeping the Law of Moses which no one has ever done or ever will do, except Messiah Jesus.

Thus, for people and nations to denigrate, delegitimize, demonize, and attempt to destroy Israel is an affront to and contempt of God himself. It is biting the hand that feeds us.

Quoting from last week’s article: “History is littered with the rise and demise and irreversible ruin of nations whose leaders and people defied the Sovereign God.”

That reality applies even more so to nations who have harmed Israel, including all four of the kingdoms mentioned in Daniel’s prophecy—Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome (and Assyria before them). With the Roman Empire also persecuting Christians who were inseparably linked to their Jewish heritage by our Jewish Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, most of the 1^st century Christian believers were Jews … whom we call today, Messianic Jews.

One (there are others) modern nation also comes to mind. I’m not picking on that country for any other reason than to provide an example of God’s unaltered decree of his blessings to those that support Israel and retribution for those who turn on the Jews. Despite our American ancestors putting them in their proper place (stop oppressing your American colony!), I’m personally very fond of the British. Genealogy on my mother’s side is English. Plus, they’ve given us Downton Abbey! (A little humor, but not meant to in any way detract from the solemn subject of the fate of people and nations that have turned on Israel).

The United Kingdom

For sake of time/space, we can only scratch the surface of the historical details that reveal the rise and decline of England. Though the United Kingdom is still a viable force in today’s world, it is nothing like the British Empire of even one hundred years ago.

Israel and all those who love and support the Jews are indebted to Lord Balfour of England for the Balfour Declaration of 1917. This proclamation set things in motion for a partitioned Palestine (that England had just captured/won with final victory over the Ottoman Empire which previously controlled Palestine) to be jointly “occupied” by both Jews and Arabs. Although Great Britain’s worthy purpose was to restore a homeland for the Jews, she stopped short of declaring Palestine a Jewish State, for fear of antagonizing the Arabs. As it turned out, the Arabs refused to accept the terms of the Declaration as they wanted no part of living side by side with Jews.

Whether very many secular historians recognize the eventual result of England’s capitulation to the Arabs that prevented and precluded a Jewish State at the time, the historical consequences became tragically evident. Because the Jews still had no sovereign state of their own and they had nowhere to go (that wouldn’t come until after World War II), six million Jews were slaughtered by Hitler’s Third Reich.

Certainly, I’m not suggesting that England was responsible for the Holocaust. Still, the historical “what if” fact is that a good number of European Jews might not have perished had they been allowed to emigrate to Palestine or England. In that regard, other nations like the USA were also culpable by their refusal to accept many Jews wanting and needing to flee Europe.

Soon after the Balfour Declaration, England began to turn on the Jews, mostly to placate the Arabs, with whom Great Britain had fought alongside of during World War II, specifically against the Ottoman Turks. Remember Lawrence of Arabia and his Arab coalition that defeated the Turks at Aqaba? This covert animosity and overt hostility toward the Jews continued to manifest itself in several ways, not the least of which was denying weapons to Israelis and supporting the Arabs militarily before the attack of five Arab nations against Israel the day after she declared statehood, May 14, 1948.

England’s gradual rise to power began as far back as the 12^th century, with wax and wane cycles. In the mid-17^th century Britain rose to unprecedented heights throughout the world, thanks largely to her mighty navy and commerce on the seven seas. This prominence increased even more during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. During this time, for the most part, England did not display any antagonism toward the Jews … treating them fairly whether Jews living in England or elsewhere in Europe.

Great Britain’s empire started to diminish soon after World War I. Following World War II, the United Kingdom began what now appears to be an irreversible decline that will only get worse as reflected in the growing Anti-Semitism in England. Today, England is as or more so divided than the United States, as witnessed by the extremely close split of the Brexit vote … 52% to leave the European Union, 48% to remain.

Just three hundred years ago or so, England boasted that she controlled an empire, “on which the sun never set.” Meaning that her colonies and sphere of influence was so vast that the sun always shone somewhere in that massive realm. An empire so great that many historians consider it to have been the largest domain in world history—due to England’s direct or indirect control over one-fifth of the world’s population and one-fourth of the world’s land, including dozens of territorial colonies all over the globe. Today the United Kingdom has varying degrees of jurisdictional sovereignty over just 14 territories.

Although England’s diminished influence in world affairs was noticeable before the 20^th century, the historical parallel of her exponential decline began in the 1920s with her mistreatment and sometimes outright hostility toward the Jews and later the State of Israel. Some strongly believe that the English empire is one on which the sun will never rise again (comparatively equating it to Great Britain’s former glory).

*Note: Some positive news is that the new British Prime Minister Theresa May appears to be pro-Israel. During her first visit to Israel in June, 2014 as British Home Secretary—similar in position to the US Secretary of State—she laid a wreath in the Yad Vashem Memorial in memory of Jews killed during the Holocaust.

Later, she said about the Jews in Great Britain: “Many Jewish people in this country are feeling vulnerable and fearful … I never thought I would see the day when members of the Jewish community in the United Kingdom would say that they were fearful of remaining here in our country … Without its Jews, Britain would not be Britain.”

Good for her and for the United Kingdom!

United States and Israel

It is absolutely no coincidence that America’s ongoing favorable treatment of the Jews and Israel bears a direct correlation with our blessings and prosperity directly from the hand of God. The United States supported Israel’s rebirth as a nation in 1948, and also have backed the Jews since America’s birth as a nation in 1776, the roots of which began in 1620. One reason is that American Jews have made many extraordinary contributions to our nation through the years. An entire book could be written on that subject.

Did you know that President Harry Truman was the first national leader to recognize Israel’s rebirth as a sovereign state in the family of nations, when he called Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to congratulate him and Israel? There are many other instances of prominent American leaders showing respect and favor to the Jews and Israel, as well as a good many of the American people.

That is, until now.

Normally, I prefer to pray for our elected officials, not the least of which is the President of the United States, rather than belittle the person in that position just because they’re not doing a good job running the country. But also realizing that constructive criticism serves a useful purpose.

Unless, that is, our President and his staff and the State Department take on Israel. That gets my dander up, if for no other reason that it also gets God’s complete attention—to the point of divine anger.

It’s no secret that President Obama politically and personally dislikes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. For example, a recent news disclosure confirmed that our Executive Staff funded a political organization to help defeat Netanyahu in the 2015 Israeli elections. Since when has or does the United States of America interfere with proceedings in a totally democratic nation? Autocratic countries ruled by tyrants, yes; but not free countries.

(President Obama & Prime Minister Netanyahu … Their Looks Tell The Story)

And that our Executive Staff and many Congressmen (mostly Democrats) are pushing strongly and relentlessly for a Palestinian State within the borders of Israel. Beginning with Israel relinquishing territory regained (the entire land belongs to Israel) in the Six-Day War of 1967 that would leave the Israelis virtually defenseless on several fronts.

Here are more divine warnings concerning Israel and the nations. First, in one of the spectacular Pre-Incarnate appearances of Messiah Jesus (this time to the prophet Zechariah).

Messiah speaks:

“…Jerusalem will someday be so full of people and livestock that there won’t be enough room for everyone! Many will live outside the city walls. Then I, myself, will be a protective wall of fire around Jerusalem, says the Lord. And I will be the glory inside the city!” (Zechariah 2:4-5).

Then in verse eight, The Lord (God the Father) speaks about Israel: “…Anyone who harms you harms my most special possession.” Or in the New American Standard translation: “…he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.”

Then Messiah speaks again: “I will raise my fist to crush them … Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me” (Verse 9).

From the prophet Joel:

“At the time of those events, says the Lord, when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will judge them for harming my people, my special possession, for scattering my people among the nations, and for dividing up my land” (Joel 3:1-2).

Things to Ponder

This week, I would like to close on a very personal note.

As indicated earlier in today’s article, this is the 156^th consecutive post (every Saturday), the three-year anniversary of Eye of Prophecy web (blog) site.

In addition to the articles on the Home Page, including Archives, you might want to take a look at the About page along with the page, God’s Plan of Salvation.

Quoted from the About page:

“As stated on the home page, the major emphasis of Eye of Prophecy website is to, “give a clear witness for Jesus,” who is the very essence of prophecy. Also, that of, “…defending and confirming the truth of the Good News” (Philippians 1:7)

“The intent, form, and content of Eye of Prophecy is presented through Eschatology

P I C T U R E S

“Prophetic Inspirational Connections Through Understanding Relevant Events (and) Scripture”

And so, a very special heartfelt thanks to the 141 nations (to date) that have logged onto this website. Most visitors/readers are from the United States. In second place is Brazil; third place, United Kingdom; fourth is Canada, fifth is Australia. With two other countries surprisingly in the top ten … India and The Philippines.

Most of all thanks to my Lord and Savior, Messiah Jesus. Ultimately, all the articles are from Him and for Him.

The Lord willing and through his strength and guidance, Eye of Prophecy will continue, “…while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds” (Titus 2:13-14).

America the Beautiful Is Getting Ugly

09 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by garybowers in Current Events

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Tags

Declaration of Independence, First Congressional Congress, Moral delcine

The Beautiful Rise and Ugly Fall of America

Let’s begin with one of my all-time favorite verses of Scripture, one of several that pertain to God’s sovereign interaction with the human race, specifically applied to nations.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12, NASB).

There are also many passages that define and depict God’s relationship with individuals and with remnants of people (mostly the Jews) who seek and follow him despite most of the nation ignoring, disobeying, and even abandoning the true and living God.

When it fit the subject or thought at hand, Psalm 33:12 has been quoted a few times in Eye of Prophecy articles. Yet, I did not begin today’s post by first looking up the verse in the Bible, which would be the normal means of quoting Scripture—that is frequently done in my articles.

Instead, I was stunned to see the verse at the top of the next to last page of the Arizona Republic newspaper’s main section … Section A. Despite being the 15^th of 16 pages in Section A, the page was prominently displayed; when removing the other insert sheets, this page unfolded as part of the front side. And equally amazed to see that the entire spread had been dedicated to the birth and founding of the United States of America, with famous quotes from prestigious American historical figures and sources. Such as our: Founding fathers, United States Presidents, Supreme Court Justices and Supreme Court Rulings, Congress, Universities, and Foreign Opinions.

The realty that the entire page was printed in the July 4^th, 2016 (240^th anniversary of America’s Independence) edition of the Arizona Republic didn’t diminish my surprise. If for no other reason than it is rare now days to find Scripturally-based articles or Christian themes in any public newspapers or on-line news sources, other than those dedicated to a conservative audience.

Without spending an inordinate amount of time checking other major newspapers throughout the United States (or the world), I can only wonder how many news sources consented to printing this page. Would even the ultra-liberal, anti-religious New York Times and Washington Post have dared to include this page in their July 4^th edition this past Monday? Nah! (Well, maybe?). Did you happen to see it in your newspaper? Does anyone even read a newspaper anymore?

My aforementioned astonishment was tempered somewhat when I also observed the word, “advertisement” printed three times at the top of this page … left side, center, and right side. With the solemn realization: It’s unlikely that even the somewhat neutral Arizona Republic (leaning slightly toward the left, but for the most part editorially objective) would have printed this spread, unless someone paid for it. The very fact that a verse from the Bible is quoted, followed by several citations that referred to God, Christianity, and the Bible is rare indeed in today’s humanistic secular political, social, and literary world. Let alone Biblically based quotes from notable historical figures as Chief Justice John Jay, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and excerpts from the Student Guidelines of Harvard and Yale Universities in the early days of their founding, to mention a few.

(First United States Supreme Court Justice, John Jay)

Undoubtedly, you’re wondering; so I won’t leave you in suspense. The Arizona Republic page was sponsored by a successful retail company in this country … one of the most courageous defenders of Biblical and Christian principles in the business sector that we’ve seen in a long time. An organization that has not capitulated to virulent anti-Christian individuals and groups such as the ACLU. (It is right up there with, Chick Fil-A).

I’m referring to Hobby Lobby based out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They are shown at the bottom of the spread, just below this line:

“If you would like to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, visit Need Him Ministry at www.chataboutjesus.com. To download a free Bible for your phone, go to www.mardel.com/bible.”

*Disclaimer: This week’s Eye of Prophecy article is NOT a paid advertisement for Hobby Lobby (or Chick-Fil-A)! It’s not an advertisement at all. Rather, a simple acknowledgement to give credit where credit is due.

You knew that, yet it was still fun to say it!

Now then, let’s get to some things that are not so fun, but must be said. First, the good news: America once was beautiful. Tempered with the bad news: The United States is plunging into an ugliness that was never meant to be.

Removing God and the Bible From American History

A few decades ago, Ads like this would have not been all that unusual. Some news outlets might have published this page without requiring that the originator take out advertising space. But, most likely, the spread would have been relegated to the Religion segment of the newspaper; if, in fact, there was such a section.

For that matter, in the not so distant past, the need to publish such a column in major news sources would not have even been necessary.

Why not?

Because just in the past 50 years or so, secular humanists (mostly liberal politicians, activists, and educators … particularly university professors) have been on a hell-bent rampage to eliminate any and all vestiges of religion, specifically targeting any references to or mention of Jesus Christ (or God) in our governments, universities, secondary and elementary schools, or in any public place.

They have gone to elaborate extremes to achieve their anti-Christian agenda, not the least of which is rewriting our history books to make sure there is no reference to God, Christ, or the Bible’s astounding influence on the birth and growth of this (once) great country.

*Note: Obviously our educational curriculum is not designed to replicate religious catechism or “Sunday-school” material. However, to deliberately dismiss or distort or defame the immense impact of the Christian faith embraced and espoused by our founding fathers in both their personal and public lives is to create an inaccurate, imbalanced, and unfair perspective of American history and of the Judeo-Christian beliefs that birthed our nation.

For example (a very mild one at that): Many Americans have read and/or can quote Patrick Henry’s famous words from an impassioned message (one of many made by the forefathers of our Republic) to inspire, rally, and clarify the only option left to the American colonies … to fight for their freedom from the tyranny of England’s oppressive monarchy.

Remember his words? Of course you do.

“I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Yet, how many history textbooks contain any of the preceding text (context) of Patrick Henry’s powerful plea for a call to arms?

Here is a portion of what headed Patrick Henry’s final words:

“An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left for us! … Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power… Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us… Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Astounding! No less than four times, he dares to declare and defer to God. Way to go Patrick!

Now then, a confession is in order: I can’t recall the last time (perhaps only once) that I either read or heard all of Patrick Henry’s message. However, I have read or heard many sayings and writings, in part or in full, from several of our founding fathers.

Such as the quote from Benjamin Franklin that I posted in the following photo as part of the Eye of Prophecy article, Separation of Church and State … For or Against? Part I (posted 4-2-16). I would encourage you to read that article and the Part II sequel (4-9-16).

Both Patrick Henry’s and Benjamin Franklin’s quotes were part of the Hobby Lobby sponsored page in the Arizona Republic. (However, they and others like them can’t be found in mainstream curriculum of American schools and universities).

As was a quote from George Washington: “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”

From all I’ve seen, heard, and read, George Washington, Patrick Henry, and other prominent men and women who founded and served the United States of America professed a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through believing and receiving him as Lord and Savior. They unashamedly and enthusiastically endorsed the Bible as the God-given source of truth, life, and liberty (beginning with freedom from the penalty of sin), through personal and national redemption.

In the context of today’s article and to understand the growing secularism in America that intends deceitfully to replace and remove God and Biblical truth from our nation’s governments (city, state, and federal), and our increasingly desperate need to return to the Biblical values and precepts upon which this nation was built, here is an excerpt from the Eye of Prophecy article, Separation of Church and State … For or Against Part II. (in italics)

“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land” (II Chronicles 7:14).

Then, the Lord declares to Solomon: “As for you, if you faithfully follow me as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your dynasty. For I made this covenant with your father, David, when I said, ‘One of your descendants will always rule over Israel.’ But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the decrees and commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them…” (Verses 17-20).

Make no mistake … this beautiful land of opportunity that we call the United States of America was, in fact, given to us by the true and living God. The surest way to lose our freedoms, if not the land itself, is to as a nation (all three branches of government) abandon, reject, and mock our Creator and Savior. Ironically, this is being done by many who claim they are protecting those liberties by eliminating all things shown, said, or done that smack of religion, with practically everything they do directed against Christians (true believers). Their real agenda is to eliminate the name of Jesus and take away the rights of those who name the name of Christ, including freedom of worship, speech, press, and assembly, in say a meeting room on a high school or college campus.

I firmly believe if we and especially our presidents, senators, representatives, governors, mayors, and judges adhered to (the basic) truths and principles found in Scripture, at least acknowledging God’s ultimate authority and thanking him for all of his blessings, there would be no need to debate the issue of Church and State separation. Our leaders would fully comprehend what it means to serve both God and the people. This service would not need to in any way, shape, or form result in a man-made religion or hierarchical religious denomination or institution to impose a distorted view of government ON the people.

One more quote from the Arizona Republic newspaper spread, this one from President John Quincy Adams:

“Is it not that in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?”

Quite likely, John Quincy Adams had the following verses and others like them in mind when he said those words:

Jesus said: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).

“For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12).

Founding Fathers

My reference (and many others who use the same terminology) to the founding fathers of our United States Republic logically and historically identifies those men (and women) who rightfully revolted against the repressive rule of England’s King George III.

In reaction to suppressive English laws imposed on the thirteen colonies, including the Stamp Act and tariffs on tea imported to the colonies, then later the “Intolerable Acts” enacted by King George III—which led to the main complaint of the colonists: Taxation without Representation—the American colonists formed the First Continental Congress. Although the very idea of a self-governing, representative body of constituents from the thirteen colonies was “revolutionary” (meaning the first time that the colonies exercised any degree of independence from their colonial benefactor Great Britain), the intent of this Congress was not armed revolt. Instead, their primary purpose was to consider response options to England’s “Coercive Acts.”

Concerned American colonists convened to discuss such things as: Presentation of rights and grievances with a formal petition to King George for redress of those grievances; also economic boycott of British trade/goods. This first “Congress” agreed to arrange another Continental Congress session if England refused to revoke the Intolerable Acts. Which, of course, King George III refused.

Essentially, the First Continental Congress was a “provisional government.”

The Second Continental Congress convened the following year (May 10, 1775). During this assembly, representatives did call for each colony to organize and train its own militia, in the event that armed resistance was the only alternative.

From there, most Americans know at least some of our history.

The Second Continental Congress led to a Declaration of Independence followed by military victory over England in what we all know as the American Revolutionary War. The Articles of Confederation for the Second Continental Congress became the foundational framework for The United States Constitution, which is arguably the greatest document of democracy and a republic (representative government) ever composed. It was signed on September 17, 1787, then ratified by all thirteen colonies (states) by 1790. It exists to this very day, modified (reinforced) only by the Bill of Rights and subsequent Constitutional Amendments down through the years.

Getting back to founding fathers: Our country has actually had two sets of men and women who established America on the same Biblical principles that would lead to religious and political freedom from dictatorial nations and rulers. The most important of which: Belief in and reliance on the true and living God for individual and national salvation, protection, and pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness afforded by the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Did you know that the Pilgrims and Puritans patterned their aspirations and actual plans and execution of those plans on Israel and the Jews? They saw themselves in the same situation as the Hebrews who were delivered by God through Moses from Egyptian bondage. Some of them equated England’s King Charles I (ruled 1625-1649) to Pharaoh. And before King Charles I came King James I … yes, the king who sponsored publication of the King James Bible. Also the same man who believed in the “divine right of kings.” That English kings were “higher beings,” far superior over the common people. Not at all unlike Pharaoh.

Although not as many colonists who initiated and participated in the events before, during, and after the Revolutionary War had expressed the parallel between America and Israel (as did the first group of founding fathers), the majority of them nonetheless acknowledged that God and Scripture could be and should be the enduring foundation for such an unheard of thing as—what Abraham Lincoln would later so eloquently summarize—a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Such a government and such a nation could not effectively begin nor successfully continue (indefinitely) without recognizing God’s sovereignty and seeking his providential guidance and protection. In that regard, they promoted the absolute truths found in Scripture.

Striking Similarities between the United States and Israel

Let’s examine some of the correlations between Israel’s birth and (what sadly became a stunted) growth to that of the United States of America.

First Comparison:

God’s deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in Pharaoh’s Egypt was a prototype parallel to the exodus of the Pilgrims and Puritans from England and other European Monarchies to America in the 17^th century. They considered America as a counterpart to the “Promised Land” of Israel.

Second Comparison:

Approximately 190 years elapsed (1600 to 1790) from the time our early American settlers formulated plans to begin a new life across the sea to their actual deliverance from English autocracy, culminating in the United States Constitution with the first American President. This was nearly identical in time, form, and substance to the period after the Jews entered the Promised Land until the prophet Samuel anointed Saul as Israel’s first king (1240 B.C. to 1050 B.C.).

In the interim, Israel’s twelve tribes were governed by judges who repeatedly led the people back to God after several episodes of disobedience and rebellion against the Lord. Likewise with the colonies that were not yet states and certainly not the United States; their leaders were governors and judges. Although there was some measure of independence, the colonies were still under the general political and economic jurisdiction of England or France (hence the French/Indian Wars between France and England in the mid-1700s). Same with the Israelites during the time of the judges. During this period they were often oppressed, even subjugated by surrounding peoples that the Jews had failed to conquer—as commanded by God himself.

*Footnote: Although there were thirteen colonies at the time, only twelve sent delegates to the First Continental Congress! And, no, they weren’t trying to match or copy the twelve tribes of Israel (in number); that’s just the way it turned out. Thus, we can/should consider Divine providence at work!

During America’s formative stages (beginning with the Plymouth Bay Colony in 1620), our ancestors also went through tough times when many abandoned the Biblical principles that our first set of founding fathers followed during the early days. Though not as often as the Jews during the times of the Judges (cycle of rebellion and restoration), America experienced a few chapters of Biblical spiritual revival of her own. Not the least of which was the First Great Awakening in the 1730s and 1740s led by several Evangelical Protestant Ministers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. Then a second Great Awakening that began (not coincidentally) in the latter part of the 18^th century—before, during, and after the Revolutionary War.

Third Comparison:

Beginning with King Saul, but not completed until King David successfully defeated several surrounding nations, Israel finally gained their freedom and became a “United Kingdom” with each of the twelve tribes maintaining delegated and functional authority over its God-given portion of the Promised Land. However, all the tribes yielded allegiance and kingdom control of the nation/land to its central government in Jerusalem under King David, then his successor (son) King Solomon. With the Scriptures (Mosaic Law) as their constitution both in principle and practice!

This was almost identical to the American colonies achieving complete independence from their enemies (chiefly England), then establishing a Federal Constitution that governed the entire nation, but also granted a good deal of regulations and rights to individual states.

Additionally, the underlying bedrock of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution is equal and inalienable rights given to every person by our Creator—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob … the only true God. With the government’s elected mandate to protect those rights, not usurp them. It was crystal clear to many of our founding fathers: To marginalize, ignore, or certainly to reject God and the Judaic-Christian heritage that gave birth to One Nation Under God would inevitably erode the individual freedom and rights of the people on the one hand; and on the other hand imperil the nation itself if and when God withdrew his blessings and protection.

With great freedom and blessings come equally great responsibilities and requirements. To whom much is given, much is required.

Fourth Comparison:

Because Israel began to abandon the Lord their God by following after the gods of surrounding pagan countries and by refusing to believe what God had said would happen if they didn’t trust and obey him, the ten northern tribes of Israel broke away from the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin after King Solomon died. The individual and national sins and rebellion of the people finally exhausted God’s patience and he withdrew his protection from the northern tribes. In 722 B.C. Assyria utterly destroyed the Northern Kingdom, and deported the people to surrounding nations. In just a few generations, these Jews were virtually never heard from again.

It was actually during the reign of King Solomon (970 B.C. to 930 B.C.) that the seeds of individual and national disobedience began to sprout; top-dressed by Solomon himself when he allowed many of his wives to set up and worship their pagan gods. Regrettably, Solomon joined in this worship. Though Scripture does not give us the exact date(s) when this began to happen, it’s evident that Solomon and the Jews began their departure from God several years before Solomon’s reign ended.

If we split the difference and use the halfway point of Solomon’s reign, it would be the year 950 B.C. (I believe the evidence suggests that it began earlier than that). Thus, the time that elapsed from the beginning of the king’s and his people’s disobedience to God’s law and commandments (given for the welfare of the people and the nation) to the cessation of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. is 228 years. If we move the date to say 962 B.C. (which very well could be historically accurate), then the intervened time is 240 years.

Where have we seen that number before?

Answer: In this article (and of course before the article through other news sources or just the math itself if you happened to think about our country’s birthday this past Monday). We the people of the United States of America just celebrated our 240^th anniversary as a nation.

Although the Southern Kingdom of Judah continued for another 136 years (due exclusively to God’s mercy and patience), the Lord made it clear through his prophets that it would only be a matter of time before the southern kings and people of Judah would finally be judged. They had staked out an irreversible course, and stubbornly refused to get off that road of rebellion back to the path that God said they should travel.

When we combine the 240 years before the northern tribes met their demise with the subsequent 136 years when Judah fell to the Babylonians, we reach a total of 376 years.

The passage of time from America’s first colony to this very day (2016) is 396 years. That’s twenty more years than allotted to Israel before she ceased as a nation; then was reborn in 1948 in what is one of the greatest miracles of all time.

If our country was no worse off morally and spiritually than even 70 years ago (end of World War II) I wouldn’t be all that concerned. But we are worse off … much worse. So bad, that I’ll repeat what Billy Graham, the greatest Evangelist of our time, said over a decade ago:

“If God doesn’t punish America, then He will need to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!” (Paraphrase).

There is no doubt whatsoever that the Judeo-Christian heritage and values upon which this nation was built has eroded (almost—but that’s giving the benefit of the doubt) to the point of no return. And, for the most part, this has taken place almost exclusively in my generation … I was born in 1946.

Summary

Scripture is exceedingly clear on the following: God normally deals with sin on an individual basis for those who have rejected the Lord’s only remedy for sin and its penalty—the once for all redemptive substitutionary sacrifice of God’s Son, Messiah Jesus. But when the leaders of a nation (in today’s society … presidents, prime ministers, legislative officials, celebrities, and especially judges) and many of its people corporately and blatantly defy and distort God’s truth as found in His Word, then God’s punishment is applied to the entire nation.

It’s one thing for individuals within a society to abort babies; participate in same-sex behavior; individually mock and despise God, Christ, born-again Christians, and Jews; engage in hedonistic lifestyles; and privately wish there were no vestiges of Biblical Christianity (prayer, Ten Commandments, Christian emblems) in our courts, halls of government, centers of education, and any public place whatsoever. That’s between the individual and God.

However, from God’s vantage point, it’s altogether a different matter when governments and nations and organizations openly condone, publicly flaunt, then legislate and fund these practices. Please understand: neither I nor by brothers and sisters in Christ are judging individuals for their sins. Because I/We have all sinned (Romans 3:23). We all need the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ.

Rather we are simply repeating God’s clear warnings found in Scripture. Such as:

“Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they cry, ‘and free ourselves from slavery to God’” (Psalm 2:1-3).

Then the Lord’s response later in Psalm 2: “Now then, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth! Serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling. Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities—for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him!” (Verses 10-12).

As well calling to remembrance God’s bountiful blessings as indicated at the beginning of today’s article.

(George Washington Prayed in Public, Almost Always with One Knee to the Ground)

The reverse of this model of God’s blessings is equally true. The nation who does not at least acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (the God of the Bible) will not be blessed.

Not to be blessed is not a good thing! For all practical purposes, not to be blessed is to be cursed.

History is littered with the rise and demise and irreversible ruin of nations whose leaders and people defied the Sovereign God. Including Israel during her times of disobedience. But in that regard, God promised that he would restore a remnant of Israel in the last days, which we are witnessing before our 20^th & 21^st centuries eyes. That has to do with the eternal covenant God made with Abraham (Promised Land of Israel belongs forever to the Jews) and with King David (Everlasting King who will rule and reign from Jerusalem … Messiah Jesus).

These specific covenants are not available to Gentiles or Gentile nations. However, the derivative benefits of God’s end-times blessings on Israel and the Jews will spill over to all those who have individually and on a national level accepted Messiah Jesus before and during the Millennial reign of Christ.

Yet, the universal conditional principles found in this verse quoted earlier is for Israel and all nations:

Things to Ponder

Though I am, like many Americans, passionately patriotic about my country, the truth must be told.

Some reading this article might question the premise that America the Beautiful (based on the song) is getting uglier by the day. Others could even be offended by the word, ugly as applied to America … especially its people.

First, my reference point and context is the condition in which the United States has fallen. One of many definitions in Webster’s Dictionary for condition is: “State of being.”

Secondly, let’s also defer to Webster’s Dictionary for some of the definitions of ugly: “Morally offensive or objectionable; repulsive … neither pleasing nor beautiful.”

For those things that begin in a perfect or near perfect state, then deteriorate to the point of demise, it is good if we can come full circle. As it was in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, so will it be again when Christ Jesus returns to set up his Kingdom of truth, justice, and peace.

As it was when the United States of America gave birth to freedom of worship and pursuit of life, liberty, and well-being through adherence to the timeless truths of Scripture and reliance on the Triune God of the Bible, we can only hope and pray that we will come (at least close to) full circle before it’s too late.

As we began this article, so shall we end it:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

BREXIT … What’s It All About?

18 Saturday Jun 2016

Posted by garybowers in Current Events

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EU, United Kingdom

Brexit: In the Greater Context of Biblical Prophecy

We love our acronyms, don’t we? We only have so much time in a day to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. In this fast frenzied world of ours, we are too busy to enunciate or write such things as: Very Important Person. When was the last time you saw VIP written in full? Or LOL? Or RAM (in case you forgot, a computer term for random access memory)?

Some acronyms can have dozens or hundreds of meanings; invariably one application rises to the top. For example: LOL can also mean, lots of love or little old lady!

Likewise with our abbreviations, such as CIA; or IEA (International Energy Agency); or IMF (International Monetary Fund); or FBI. Every state in America is abbreviated, as is the District of Columbia … Washington D.C. On the other hand, we’ve all been aggravated to no end when we hear or read an unfamiliar, unexplained abbreviation. There are literally thousands of these, particularly for world organizations and some of them are a bit bizarre. Like WOOMB … World Organization of the Ovulation of Method Billings. What?

Brexit is neither an acronym nor an abbreviation. It is none other than a portmanteau! We all know what a portmanteau is. Right? Well, some of you may know. I certainly didn’t until I looked it up. Portmanteau is: “a word blending the sounds and combining the meaning of two words” (Oxford Dictionaries). The original usage applied to a two-compartment case or carrying bag (suitcase). Now we use the word more often in a literary sense. Actually, we seldom use the term at all. But we like what happens when someone portmanteaues (verb form!) two things into one.

Which is another thing we love to do in our post-modern era: Combine things to lessen the clutter of everyday life or merge words to coin a whole new person, place, or thing. So we join motor with hotel and we get motel. If you miss breakfast and have other plans during lunch, no problem. Just do brunch. Would pomod (post-modern) work as a portmanteau?!

So what is Brexit? I’m guessing most of you have seen or heard this portmanteau by now. I briefly referred to it in a recent Eye of Prophecy article, The Final Treaty of Rome, Part I (posted 5-14-16).

Here is a brief quote from that article (in italics):

Although the initial design of the Common Market was to facilitate agricultural and trade agreements and cooperation between its European partners, the main objective was to ultimately establish a political union … which has been done. Which is, however, the reason that England refused to join the EEC (Common Market) until 1973. With the British objection based primarily on their apprehension that such a Union would force member states to relinquish national sovereignty to a centralized government with European (intra national) control. Which is also the main reason that England is now considering withdrawal from the European Union, a movement known as Brexit (Britain’s exit).

What could be the repercussions of Great Britain’s exit from the European Union should the referendum pass? European heads of state are more than a little concerned with such a departure. But not just EU leaders. United States President Obama made a recent trip to England, and dropped strong hints that the British should stay put in the EU.

Instead of dwelling in depth on the pros and cons of Brexit, in a moment I’ll defer to a brief summary in Wikipedia.

One reason for limiting any detailed discussion or debate about Brexit in this week’s Eye of Prophecy article can be summarized in the following premise: The immediate consequences of England’s referendum results are not nearly as significant as the big picture implications found in the context of Biblical end time’s prophecies.

It’s these Scriptural ramifications that we need to focus on.

Which is why I didn’t wait until after England’s vote next Thursday (June 23^rd) to write this article. In the long run, it’s more than the effect on England or the rest of the world that the outcome of the referendum might have. What is taking place within and between nations of the European Union, which is showing signs of fragmentation, requires a more panoramic perspective. Not the least of which are the fragile, if not crumbling, economies of some European nations … especially Greece. These symptoms, among others, were dramatically declared and cogently condensed in the Bible long ago; unmistakable signs that we are living in the last days.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Brexit (or any European nation’s return to independent national sovereignty)

From Wikipedia, we read:

“Those who favor a British withdrawal from the European Union … argue that being a member undermines national Parliamentary sovereignty, while some in favor of membership argue that in a world with many levels of supranational organizations any theoretical loss of sovereignty is more than compensated by the benefits of membership of the EU. Those who want to leave the EU argue that it would: allow the UK to better control immigration, thus reducing pressure on public services, housing and jobs; save billions in EU membership fees; allow the UK to make its own trade deals; and free the UK from EU regulations and bureaucracy that they see as needless and costly. Those who want to remain argue that leaving the EU would: risk the UK’s prosperity; diminish its influence over world affairs; jeopardize national security by reducing access to common European criminal databases; and result in trade barriers between the UK and the EU. In particular, they argue that leaving the EU would lead to job losses, delays in investment coming to the UK and risks to large and small business.”

(Sample Copy of the Referendum Ballot)

Before we examine what the prophets Daniel and John said about the momentous global developments taking place mostly in the 20^th and 21^st centuries—prophecies that paint a much broader canvas (cooperation of nations that produced the European Union, but alliances that are and will continue to be a weak mixture of “iron and clay”)—let’s look at another less publicized reason for England’s possible withdrawal from the EU.

Through leaks by an EU official, it’s come to light that the European Commission—the powerful administrative arm of the EU—is beginning to implement plans to form a military force, which the European Union has never had before. Even though the Lisbon Treaty of 2009 called for, “permanent structured defense cooperation” (among EU nations), nothing serious has been done to create a standing army. Apparently, officials in Brussels (Headquarters of the EU) were attempting to keep these plans secret until after the June 23^rd British referendum vote.

*Note: Reportedly, the actual aim is to start with border patrols and a navy, then build from there. Two EU nations are allegedly spearheading this military start-up … Germany and the Netherlands.

In reaction, former British Defense Secretary of State Liam Fox, who served under current Prime Minister David Cameron (Cameron obviously supports England’s membership in the EU), said that Britons, “…cannot be conned in this referendum as we were conned in 1975.” (The actual year in which the British voted official approval of EU membership).

One of England’s main concerns was voiced in Brietbart News Network: That a European Union Army would possess, “the ability to take control of national borders without the consent of the government of the nation in question.”

Ostensibly, one of the primary reasons for creating a European military is to better control the massive immigration scenario that is rapidly spinning out-of-control. But the longer-term consequences would be of far greater alarm to many Britons, as recently posted in The New American States: “Under the guise of dealing with the orchestrated ‘refugee crisis,’ the EU is also imposing a transnational armed force with power to intervene in member states, even against their will.”

A Biblical Perspective of Brexit and Alliances

In several Eye of Prophecy articles and with extensive detail in my book, Out of the Abyss … can the number of the beast be solved? 666, I refer to Daniel’s prophecies of the four mighty Gentile kingdoms that would dominate the world in their time. Usually, my focus is on Daniel’s vision of four beasts in Chapter 7 instead of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as interpreted by Daniel in Chapter 2. The central content of Daniel 7 fits more precisely with Daniel 9 and Revelation 13 & 17 … the Antichrist, his murderous movement against Israel and Tribulation saints, and the ten kings who give him their authority—not part of Chapter 2.

(Daniel Chapter 7, Left to Right: Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome)

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as recorded in Daniel 2 fits more snugly with today’s subject, as it contains material not found in Daniel 7 and other prophecies. Specifically a statue depicting the four kingdoms; a statue whose feet and toes represent many nations—not just ten kingdoms as we shall soon see.

Daniel Chapter 7 tracks more closely with John’s images of a beast in Revelation Chapters 13 and 17. With, however, the clear distinction that the four beasts of Daniel 7 are the same four Gentile kingdoms first seen by Nebuchadnezzar of Chapter 2.

Whereas, the composite beast (singular) of Revelation is indisputably a man … Antichrist (Nero). The imagery is the same (beast), but not the meaning, i.e. kingdoms in Daniel, king in Revelation.

One reason that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream doesn’t include the Bible’s initial introduction to the Antichrist as given directly to Daniel in his vision is because the God-given dream to Nebuchadnezzar was intended to reveal the four kingdoms in the context of God’s divine providential sovereignty over the rise and fall of nations. A plan that will ultimately result in the Kingdom of God on earth. Other than the triumphant victory and rule of Messiah in the Kingdom of God over the nations of the earth (contained in Daniel 2, 7, and throughout Revelation) there is minimal emphasis on the Tribulation period in Daniel Chapter 2.

Let’s see how this works, as Daniel explains Nebuchadnezzar’s dramatic dream to him.

*Note: Remember this astounding fact: Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t remember any details of his dream … only that it was disturbing and deeply troubled him (Daniel 2:1-3). Thus, Daniel not only interpreted the king’s dream, he first revealed the dream itself, which is impossible except through God.

Daniel Chapter Two

Daniel speaks to Nebuchadnezzar:

“In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight. The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver; its belly and thighs were bronze. Its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay” (Daniel 2:31-33).

We’ll pause here with a historical refresher: The head of gold was Babylon; the chest and arms, Mede-Persia; the belly and thighs, Greece; the legs of iron, Rome. But the feet (including the toes, which we’ll cover in a moment) were, “a combination of iron and baked clay.” The feet and toes represent nations in existence when the Tribulation begins.

Bible scholars who maintain that the seven heads of the Revelation 13 & 17 beast are seven kingdoms, with the seventh representing a Revived Roman Empire, point to this iron and clay mixture to support that theory. In Out of the Abyss and several Eye of Prophecy articles, much Biblical and historical documentation has been presented to show conclusively that the seven heads are seven kings (Roman Emperors), not kingdoms. That there will be a Revived Roman Emperor during the Great Tribulation, but not a (Revived) Roman Empire.

Granted, there will be a semblance of the Roman Empire. How? Why? To what extent?

Answer: A Roman Caesar’s mystical return from the grave will unite (some of) these nations of clay and iron, but not nearly well enough to duplicate the ancient Roman Empire. For two main reasons: (1) The Antichrist and his ten-nation confederation will last only a few years. (2) It will be rivaled in size and might by the kings of the east.

In fact, three of these ten nations will be forced to follow Nero and will most likely not even be European countries. (See, Eye of Prophecy article, One Ring to Rule Them All… published 11-21-15).

Daniel continues his explanation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s vision:

“As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth” (Daniel 2:34-35).

The main purpose of Scripture depicting the four world kingdoms (now past tense) and other kingdoms in existence during the last days in the form of a statue was to emphasize how God will bring down these man-made kingdoms; then establish the magnificent everlasting Kingdom of Heaven not made “by human hands.” In short, to dramatically denote the rise and fall of Gentile nations right down to the final ungodly nations on earth when Messiah returns to set up his Kingdom of righteousness, justice, and peace. There is no reference to the Antichrist in Daniel 2, nor his exploits against God’s people (Jews and Christians, including, of course, Christian Jews) found in Daniel 7, 9, 11, and Revelation 13 and 17.

(Daniel 2, Statue Seen by Nebuchadnezzar–The Feet and Toes Will Also Include Some Non-European Nations)

Notice that only the legs of the statue were of (pure) iron … the Roman Empire, which would rise and fall completely. The feet (later we read also the toes) are a combination of iron and clay, but this mixture is NOT a separate kingdom; only four kingdoms are identified here, as well as in Daniel Chapter 7. Thus, the blend of iron and clay is an end-times spinoff of the fourth empire—ancient Rome reflected in and through a revived Roman Emperor (Nero) headquartered in Rome along with the Woman on the beast representing the Roman Catholic Church—in the form of other nations that yield their (individually weak authority) combined weight to the Antichrist.

More Confirmation of Only Four Kingdoms

Because there are obviously ten toes (five on each foot, even though the passage doesn’t actually specify ten or twelve nations if you include both feet), the correlation made by many Bible scholars is that they are the same ten nations as portrayed in Daniel Chapter 7 and Revelation 13 & 17. We’re going to discover strong evidence that the toes and feet can and do represent many more nations than just the ten that yield their governments to Antichrist.

The number of toes shouldn’t be equated to the ten horns (kings) of Daniel 7. Instead the feet and toes represent many nations attempting to align themselves together. We’ll get to that in a moment. This same rationale can be applied to the chest and arms of the statue (three body parts but only one nation, Persia; two if you include the Medes, but that’s still only two, not three. Besides, the Persians were dominant). Or to the belly and thigh; two parts, yet one nation … Greece. Same thing with the two legs, but only one empire … Rome.

Not until Chapter 7, do we find more details of these four kingdoms seen as beasts, e.g. the leopard (Greece) with four wings and four heads—division of Alexander the Great’s kingdom into four lesser kingdoms.

Daniel continues:

“That was the dream. Now we will tell the king what it means. …You are the head of gold” (Daniel 2:36, 38).

Note: Daniel uses the plural, we will tell the king. To whom, besides Daniel himself, is he referring? Easy question: None other than the Lord God, the only one who could not only explain the king’s dream, but bring to memory what the king had totally forgotten!

Daniel then discloses the rise and fall of the second and third kingdom (Verse 39).

He continues: “Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth one, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes. The feet and toes you saw were a combination of iron and baked clay, showing that this kingdom will be divided. Like iron mixed with clay, it will have some of the strength if iron. But while parts of it will be as strong as iron, other parts will be as weak as clay. This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage. But they will not hold together, just as iron and clay to not mix” (Daniel 2:40-43).

Here are some key things Daniel is saying and not saying:

But first: Speaking of Greece (Chapter 7), the subsequent “dividing” of the fallen Roman Empire into many nations is no different than Alexander the Great’s Empire being split into four smaller, less significant kingdoms. The fact is: Neither Alexander’s Grecian Empire nor the Roman Empire was ever the same again—nor ever will be.

The fourth kingdom is still the last kingdom. There is no specific reference to or statement of a fifth kingdom. When Daniel says, “…showing that this kingdom will be divided,” this kingdom is directly connected to its antecedent, “that kingdom” which “will smash and crush all previous empires…” The very fact that Daniel says it will be divided, clearly means that he is still referring to the same kingdom … The Roman Empire.

Remember, the fourth kingdom (Roman Empire) is represented by the legs of iron, with the feet and toes as (divided) extensions of the leg, comprised partially of the iron contained in the legs, but also clay mixed in … feet and toes. The feet and toes are NOT a separate kingdom; rather they are a hybrid of many peoples (through intermarriage) from areas once controlled by the Roman Empire forming many nations that now incorporate primarily the European Union, but not just Europe. Also, other countries including a country that you probably wouldn’t guess.

I’m referring to the United States of America, which is the earth’s greatest melting pot largely of Europeans. Please, don’t compare or think that the United States is a “reincarnation” of the ancient Roman Empire. It is not. Nor is the European Union. Rather, the United States is the most prominent example and intermarriage result of descendants from peoples and nations controlled or greatly influenced by the ancient Roman Empire long ago.

That doesn’t mean that the Roman Empire will be revived or reborn or reinstated or replicated in today’s world. That is NOT what Daniel Chapter 2 is saying or even implying. Nor is Daniel Chapter 9:26-27 as explained in other Eye of Prophecy articles and, with great detail, in Out of the Abyss.

In fact, as developed in One Ring to Rule Them All…, of the ten nations or confederations that will join Antichrist Nero (three by compulsion), only six will likely be from Europe.

The passage states: “This mixture of iron and clay shows that these kingdoms…”

To what or how many kingdoms is Daniel referring? Is he equating or limiting the kingdoms to only ten (the ones that Antichrist will reign over during the Tribulation)? If so, then there should be twelve kingdoms, as he includes both feet with the ten toes.

The formation of the multifaceted feet and toes of the statue began not long after the Roman Empire collapsed. Slowly but surely, nations developed into what we currently see today. Not the least of which are 28 countries belonging to the European Union. Not ten, or twelve. Plus the most obvious assortment of peoples mostly from Europe that constitute the United States of America.

Daniel goes on:

“During the reign of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue or iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain” (Daniel 2:44-45).

Daniel’s summary explanation encompasses the essence and purpose of this prophecy. To divinely demonstrate God’s ultimate sovereign control over people and nations and fulfillment of his plan for the human race. In that regard, this revelation is different (excepting the four kingdoms being the same four of Daniel 7) in form and substance from Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 & 17; which deal primarily with the Antichrist and his ten-nation confederation that will compete against the kings of the east for world domination, but will not succeed.

Thus, the only world government will be the awesome Kingdom of Heaven on earth, governed by Messiah Jesus as the King of all kings.

(An Accurate Comparison/Correlation Between Nebuchadnezzar’s and Daniel’s Visions)

“Those Kings” and “These Kingdoms” that God Will Crush Into Nothingness

Are they (just) the ten kings or kingdoms that give their allegiance and authority to Antichrist?

No, they are ALL of the peoples and nations that have come into existence through intermarriage, ethnic grouping, political alliances, and merging societies since the fall of the Roman Empire (legs of iron). They are countries that are part of the panoramic providential unfolding of the statue from top (Babylon) to bottom (some present day nations).

Chiefly, they are peoples and nations in Europe, but also northern Africa and the Middle East, some of which were controlled by the Roman Empire. Many of these countries have formed alliances at one time or another, especially in the last two centuries—including the United States of America, Arab nations, and most pertinent to today’s article, twenty-eight nations of Europe.

All totaled, there are at least forty modern-day countries that could be considered “divided” from and since mighty Rome fell. Not just ten or twelve (toes and feet). It will be, however, ten of these countries that will join Nero’s conquest to restore the glory of Rome. He will not succeed; hence, no Revived Roman Empire.

So, why must the ten kingdoms joining Antichrist all be from Europe or part of the European Union? Obvious answer: They don’t and won’t. After the Rapture, however, the ten nations who yield their authority to Nero, will be weakened by economic and political chaos the world over. Before Nero returns and after Christ returns, they will “not hold together, just as iron and clay do not mix.”

That is, with exception of a 3 ½ year period of time (part of the Great Tribulation) when God will temporarily allow a Satan inspired Nero, “…to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months … And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them…” (Revelation 13:5-7)

Whether England leaves the EU or not, many European nations are weak; staggered by poor economies, unable to pay mountains of debt (nations of clay). Along with England, there are a few strong European nations such as Germany and France and to a lesser extent, Italy. They are the nations of “iron.” As is, for now, the United States of America.

“The mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other…” (Daniel 2:43).

Summary

Modern-day international alliances began to take shape when no less than seven different coalitions were formed to counter the threat of Napoleon. At various intervals, these leagues included Britain, Austria, Prussia, Holland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Portugal. But there were also groupings of some nations that supported Bonaparte.

A Serb’s assassination of Austria’s Archduke Francis Ferdinand ignited World War I. Austria retaliated by attacking Serbia in July, 1914. Because of defense pacts previously signed by various nations, war erupted throughout Europe … the First World War. The Allied Powers consisted mainly of England, France, and Russia with the United States joining them in 1917.

Their enemy: the Central Powers—primarily Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). Originally Italy was part of the Central Powers but switched sides and joined the Allied Powers. Russia dropped out of the war early on, with Japan joining the Allies, but with minimal contribution to the war. There were other smaller (clay) nations who fought on one side or the other.

Then came a man who swore to lift his country from the ashes of defeat in World War I. But that was only the beginning. He wanted more. He sought revenge against the nations that (he believed) had humiliated his people. More than that: He was hell-bent to rule all of Europe … indeed, the entire world. Worst of all: He would instigate the Final Solution of the Jews.

Yet, Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich did not adopt nor activate this appalling agenda through alliances. Hitler was convinced that only one man could achieve his ambition of restoring Germany to greatness, of unifying Europe through conquest, of conquering the world.

Who else but he would be that man. Blinded by megalomania, he (vainly) would do what Napoleon failed to do. Though Italy and Japan joined this Axis of Evil, Germany alone launched an invasion of Poland, then France. Germany’s active association with Italy and Japan was, for the most part, after the fact. Had the Allies not prevailed, I’m convinced that Hitler would have eventually turned on Italy and Japan; had they not willingly accepted the Third Reich’s Aryan right to rule the world. He would not have shared his gruesome glory with them.

(One of Many Parade Assemblies of the Third Reich)

Barely twelve years after World War II ended, the Treaty of Rome led to the ten-nation Common Market that developed into what is now the twenty-eight member European Union, of which Germany is one of the stronger affiliates. The objective to facilitate unhindered movement of people, goods, and services between the nations of Europe was only a start-up reason for such a union. The underlying motive was political cooperation and unity to prevent one or more European countries (like Germany) from attempting ever again to dominate Europe.

But as Scripture tells us: “They will not hold together.”

Even if the British vote to remain in the EU, there is growing discontent and alarm among and between the EU nations. Many citizens from several of these countries are becoming wary of the increasing power of the European Commission, the administrative branch of the EU.

There is also talk of the European Commission creating a CIA-like agency.

What’s next? Will the cycle continue? Dictator … Alliances … Dictator … Alliances …

According to Scripture, it will.

Like Hitler, but more suddenly and much more surprisingly, another man will leap onto the stage of world history. He will not need to pursue cooperation from the European Union or any other established coalition to achieve his malevolent warped objectives. People the world over will give him their allegiance for one reason only—his “supernatural” return from the dead (Revelation 13:3-4 & Revelation 17:7-8).

He will orchestrate a (seven-year) treaty; but he won’t need to form an alliance. Ten leaders of ten kingdoms will do that for him, three of them unwillingly at first (Daniel 7:8).

“The ten horns of the beast are ten kings who have not yet risen to power. They will be appointed to their kingdoms for one brief moment to reign with the beast. They will all agree to give him their power and authority. Together they will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord of all lords and King of all kings. And his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with him” (Revelation 17:12-14, italics for emphasis).

The italicized sentence in the above passage clearly tells us that these ten kings/kingdoms will agree (among themselves) to give Antichrist Nero all the power and authority they possess. They will expedite political and military consolidation and expansion of power already afforded to Nero because of his “divine” status as having risen from the grave.

This ten nation confederation will be confronted by the kings of the east (Oriental and other Far East nations). Then they will foolishly combine their forces to take on the King of kings, Messiah Jesus.

“And the demonic spirits gathered all the rulers and their armies to a place with the Hebrew name Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16, italics already in the text).

Things to Ponder

Armageddon will be the beginning of the end of World War III. A war so horrible in addition to the awesome judgments of God, that Jesus himself said, “In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones” (Matthew 24:22).

Who will shorten the Apocalypse of Armageddon? Who will spare mankind from extinction?

“…And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).

“Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshipped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning Sulphur. Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies” (Revelation 19:19-21).

Evil must be and will be dealt with harshly and conclusively.

When that happens, “…God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people … He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:3-5).

An Islamic United Nations?

07 Saturday May 2016

Posted by garybowers in Current Events

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Security Council, Temple Mount, UN, UNESCO

Here We Go Again

In light of yet another anti-Israel resolution by the United Nations, this week’s Eye of Prophecy article could have been entitled, Peace or a Palestinian State … Which Will It Be? Or: More Palestinian Lies. Or: The Legacy of Temple Mount. Or: The Myth of Al-Aqsa Mosque. But it can’t because those are titles of articles already written.

Maybe each Saturday’s article should be posted late in the day instead of first thing in the morning. But that wouldn’t work either. Although Eye of Prophecy articles are published weekly and many of them are in the category of Current Events, they cannot keep up with the almost daily barrage of media reports on the Middle East in general and Israel in particular.

Just hours after I posted The Myth of Al-Aqsa Mosque article on April 16^th, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed a resolution “officially” (for the UN, not for Israel or anyone who knows the true history of Temple Mount) classifying Temple Mount by its Arabic name, Al-Haram Al Sharif; which in English is translated to Noble Sanctuary. But disregard the English translation. Even though English is recognized as the main international language, only the Arabic name is to be used.

Among non-Muslim nations voting in favor of this contemptible resolution, France was the most conspicuous with (dis)honorable recognition for Sweden and Spain.

What will these Western nations will do when Muslims change the identity of revered religious, national, cultural, or political sites in European countries, exclusively to Islamic names, with demands that only the Muslim designations be recognized? And if city or national governments do not comply, then they, too, are guilty of Islamophobia or religious and cultural intolerance or being PI (politically incorrect).

Stop shaking your head! It could come to that, just like Sharia Law could be implemented in some jurisdictions.

I wonder what the Muslim name for the Statue of Liberty will be. Perhaps, Mohammed’s Torch of Freedom?

(Might Muslims Also Claim She Is Holding the Koran?)

Not only Temple Mount, but UNESCO’s rancorous resolution also included several other Jewish sacred sites, declaring them elite Muslim holy places and referring to them only by Muslim labels.

Here are a couple of excerpts (in italics) from Eye of Prophecy article, The Myth of Al Aqsa Mosque:

Thus, it’s imperative that we examine the historical basis for Islamic motives to defend their holy sites. In doing so, we will once again confirm that Muslim attempts to rewrite the history of this ancient conflict have no basis in fact. We will see the rest of the story, the empirical evidence that will undermine Palestinian claims that they alone have rights to Temple Mount. Hopefully, this will help dispel the flawed opinions or imprecise impressions that many in the Western world (as well as Muslims themselves) have concerning Jewish and Islamic heritage of Temple Mount … indeed, of all Jerusalem and Israel.

Then later in the article:

From our examination of the true history of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, we now see more clearly that neither the mosque, nor Dome of the Rock, nor Noble Sanctuary (Temple Mount) have any real historical relevance to or connection with Islam’s purported interest in Jerusalem. Rather, they are merely a convenient excuse for Muslims to continue their concerted effort to expel or even eliminate (if they could) all Jews in Israel. It is not question of even one square foot of land on Temple Mount or anywhere else in Israel. It is a question of whether Palestinian Arabs and Muslim nations will ever recognize the sovereign state of Israel and the right of Jews to live in their ancient land, given to them by God himself. A land they occupied (in the positive connotation of the word) long before the Arabs, hundreds of years before Mohammed started the religion of Islam.

More on UNESCO’s Resolution

This latest resolution to denigrate and discredit Israel by renaming Temple Mount and insisting that all nations use the Arabic term for Temple Mount is yet another pitiful attempt to deny any association whatsoever of the Jewish people to their most holy site in their most holy city of Jerusalem. Furthermore, the resolution was on the very day of Passover, which has been an integral part of the Jewish tradition in Israel for nearly 3,500 years. With Jerusalem and the Temple (Temple Mount) established 3,000 years ago by King David and King Solomon.

Yet UNESCO is doing nothing more than the United Nations, as a whole, has done for nearly 70 years: Castigate Israel fanatically and frequently. Whereas most of the anti-Israel sanctions are initiated by Islamic countries, other nations often vote in favor of these reprehensible resolutions which number far more than those against truly rogue and dangerous nations such as Iran and North Korea.

Will this resolution have any real impact on the world at large? Absolutely it will. The idea is really quite simple: If national leaders and government officials begin to use the label of Al-Haram Al Sharif in reference to Temple Mount, they will soon (if they haven’t already) consider Temple Mount as belonging—historically, religiously, and culturally—to Islam and to Arabs.

Here is another excerpt from The Myth of Al Aqsa Mosque to reinforce the clear historical evidence that the only real interest Mohammed had for Jerusalem was to take it from the Jews.

There’s even more. Jerusalem, itself, is NEVER mentioned in the Koran … not once. Whereas, Jerusalem is referenced 669 times in the Bible and Zion (Jerusalem) 154 times. This is nothing short of an insurmountable obstacle to Muslim statements that not only Temple Mount, but all of Jerusalem belongs to them.

It’s simply inconceivable that the Koran, which was compiled in stages over many years, would not make one reference to Jerusalem, especially after the Arabs conquered Israel’s Holy City in 638 AD. Moreover, the Dome of the Rock was built by the Arabs because it was the site of the destroyed Jewish Temples, having nothing to do with Islam or the tale of Mohammed’s journey to the Holy City. The main purpose for building the Dome of the Rock was to prevent the construction of another Jewish Temple, and to erase the historical authenticity of Jewish rights to Temple Mount.

During and alongside media coverage of UNESCO’s resolution, was the reminder of France’s proposal to convene an international summit for the express purpose of reaching a framework of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. But if neither party could come to terms on yet another Roadmap of Peace, then France would unilaterally declare and recognize a Palestinian State within Israel’s borders.

Here are the first few paragraphs copied from the Eye of Prophecy article, Peace or a Palestinian State … Which Will It Be? Posted 2-27-16.

In one of the most curious proposals for Middle East peace ever made, France recently presented Israel and the Palestinians with an invitation to participate in an international conference in Paris this coming summer. The idea of a peace symposium is not unique and certainly not strange, as many powerful nations including the United States have repeatedly tried to establish an all too elusive reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians, between the Jews and Arabs. The last such attempt, mediated by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, disintegrated in April 2014.

Yet, this one-sided plan from France borders on the bizarre. Some might even consider it preposterously pathetic. I would agree with that assessment, were it not for the potentially ominous consequences of France’s comply-or-else summons. Although the fine print details of the proposal have not yet been publicized, the basic agenda imposed by France has been clearly explained by the French ambassador to Israel. Which is: If Israel refuses to participate in the conference; OR, even if Israel does attend and diplomatic efforts fail to presumably reach some sort of agreement for some kind of peace, then France will by default recognize the existence of a Palestinian State within the borders of Israel.

Strangest of all, the French seem to be saying that it’s either peace in Israel or a Palestinian State … one or the other. The validity of this deduction is underscored by the fact that France knows all too well that Israel would never agree to a Palestinian State under the current pre-negotiated conditions imposed by the Palestinian Authority Fatah in the West Bank and certainly not by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Likewise, the Palestinians have shown absolutely no inclination whatsoever to relax their hard-core demands.

Demands such as: East Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian State, Israel’s return to pre-1967 territorial borders, and full right of return of all post-1948 Arab refugees. But most significant of all: persistent Palestinian refusal to even recognize Israel as a sovereign Jewish State—the only such state in the world and one that is officially recognized by the United Nations collectively and virtually all non-Muslim countries individually.

Furor over the Golan Heights

It’s not just Temple Mount that has captivated media headlines. On April 17^th, the very next day after UNESCO’s shameful resolution, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel’s first-ever cabinet meeting held in the Golan Heights (on April 11^th), with these words:

“I convened this celebratory meeting in the Golan Heights to send a clear message: The Golan Heights will always remain in Israel’s hands. Israel will never withdraw from the Golan Heights. It is time that the international community recognized reality. Whatever happens on the other side of the border, the border itself will not move. Secondly, after 50 years it is time that the international community realized that the Golan will remain under Israeli sovereignty.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized that the Golan Heights was and is, “…an integral part of the Land of Israel in ancient times. This is documented by dozens of ancient synagogues around us. And the Golan is (also) an integral part of the State of Israel in the present time.”

That Golan in the territory of Bashan was part of the Promised Land deeded directly by God to Israel is also documented in Scripture. Beginning when Moses and the Israelites conquered Og, the king of Bashan, who opposed the Jews just a short time before Joshua led them into the Promised Land (see Numbers 21:31-35).

Subsequently, Joshua, according to specific instructions from the Lord, apportioned the Promised Land (all of Israel) to the Jews, with Bashan located in the territory given to half of the tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan River—along with two other tribes, Reuben and Gad, on that side of the Jordan. The other 9 ½ tribes were allotted their portion of the Land west of the Jordan River (see Joshua 13:7-12, but also the rest of Chapter 13 through Chapter 20).

(Map of Biblical Allotment of the Promised Land, Including Bashan … Golan Heights)

The Israeli Cabinet meeting on the Golan Heights and Benjamin’s defense of such a meeting were in direct response to current efforts by world powers (including the United States) to negotiate an agreement to end the war in Syria; one that could potentially return the Golan Heights to Syria. Since then Prime Minister Netanyahu has discussed the matter by phone with US Secretary of State John Kerry, and by meeting personally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

With the gist of those meetings summarized by Benjamin Netanyahu when he said, “…we would not oppose a political resolution in Syria so long as it does not come at our expense. That is to say, at the end of the day Iranian forces, ISIS, and Hezbollah need to be removed from Syrian territory.”

In a short while, we’ll look at some startling responses to Netanyahu’s stirring statement that Israel would never give up the Golan Heights. But first let’s examine the:

Strategic Importance of the Golan Heights

First, a short history, with emphasis on brief … an in-depth history would require far too much time/space for today’s article. So we’ll pick it up following the Israeli-Arab War of 1948-49, which is known by the Jews as their War of Independence.

The Golan Heights is located at the northeast end of Israel, overlooking the Jordan Valley which includes the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River itself. It is an area that is absolutely vital to Israel’s security because it borders Lebanon to the north, Syria to the east, and Jordan to the south.

The Heights part of the Golan Heights is a relatively new designation of this critical portion of land. The former and still sometimes used name is simply Golan. Or Biblically, “Golan in Bashan.” It’s easy to figure out why the suffix, Heights, was added. It relates to the elevation factor … a high plateau with protruding ridges here and there. As you might surmise, altitude is of critical value during war and also during peacetime to maintain a superior advantage should military conflict erupt.

Military strategists emphasize the significance of higher ground. If higher ground is available, then occupy it. If already occupied by the enemy, then take it … depending on the casualty risk and logistical importance of that particular high ground. When it’s taken, defend it at all cost. It’s much easier to sit and shoot down at the enemy than to shoot up at the enemy while climbing, even if you’re in a tank.

Thus, Golan became the Golan Heights. That change in the designation tells it all; Israel’s very survival depends on a military advantage afforded by this strategic high ground in northern Israel. Even with air superiority, Israel knows that armored ground forces are essential in defending Israel. Including, if necessary, to send troops into Syria or Lebanon or even Jordan if Israel is attacked.

After Israel’s victory in their War of Independence, a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was established on the Golan Heights between Syria and Israel’s borders. Think of a DMZ as a “buffer zone.” Immediately there was conflict between Israel and Syria over water and agricultural rights, as well as legal disputes over who should control what part of the area. However, from the very beginning of this “Armistice” Agreement, Syrian troops began to harass Jewish communities along the border mostly by lobbing mortars into the towns. Israelis spent many sleepless nights in bomb shelters. Several Jews were killed and wounded in this shelling.

Prior to the Six-Day War, five nations in the United Nations sponsored a resolution to condemn Syria for these constant unprovoked bombardments of Jewish towns.

Amazing, isn’t it. The United Nations actually drafted a resolution against one of Israel’s adversaries, instead of targeting Israel! Alas, the motion was vetoed by the Soviet Union. Recall: The five permanent nations in the UN Security Council have veto power … the United States, Russia, China, France, and England.

During Israel’s stunning June, 1967 victory over Syria and Egypt in just six days, she captured a majority of Golan Heights. By 1970 there were twelve Jewish settlements on the Golan. Then in the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Israel fought a series of bloody battles to prevent Syria regaining full control of the Golan Heights. Subsequently the United Nations established and monitored a cease-fire line that gave Syria one-third of the area and Israel two-thirds control (in the western part).

Then in 1981, Israel annexed most of the Golan Heights. Although the annexation didn’t change the dynamics of the area all that much, it did legally assure that the area of the Golan designated by Israel belongs to them; if, for no other reason, than victory in war. However, Israel didn’t capture, control, and then annex the Golan Heights in order to aggressively, deliberately, and without provocation wrest land away from Syria. It was the Israelis who were provoked by outright attacks or imminent threat of attack by their enemies, including Syria.

(Modern-day Map of the Golan Heights Region)

The Israelis had no choice. I repeat for emphasis: No choice, whatsoever. Capturing the Golan was a matter of national survival for Israel. Keeping it, is no less a matter of national existence. Without it, a Syrian army (whatever government it might eventually belong to), or Hezbollah, or ISIS, or Al Qaeda, or Jordan, or Russia, or Iran, or whoever can launch deadly attacks against Israel from the Golan Heights.

However, with the primary and ultimate claim to the Golan given to them by God himself. As well as much more of the Promised Land that will one day be added to modern Israel—Jewish land that is currently part of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

Remarkable Reactions by Islamic Countries

On April 26^th just a few days after Benjamin Netanyahu raised the voice of Israel by saying that the, “Golan will remain under Israeli sovereignty,” the Organization of Islamic Cooperation held an “emergency, extraordinary” meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This emergency session was in direct retaliation to Netanyahu’s statements.

The OIC includes war-torn and/or botched Islamic states such as Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Nigeria … also economically and politically dysfunctional countries like Somalia and Bangladesh. Unlike Israel, none of the 57 member nations are democratic in any way, shape, or form. For the most part, people of these countries are far worse off than Palestinians occupying the region of Judea/Samaria (commonly referred to as the West Bank) of Israel. Yes, you read that right. As said in some past Eye of Prophecy articles and as affirmed by political, military, and historical experts who understand the true history of Israel, it is the Palestinians who are the occupiers, not the Israelis—as all of the land legally, historically, and Biblically belongs to Israel.

Among many other things said, the OIC’s final summary, “Condemns strongly Israel, the occupying power, and its macabre acts to change the legal status, demographic composition, and institutional structure of the occupied Syrian Golan … expresses unconditional support for the legitimate right of the Syrian people to restore their full sovereignty on the occupied Syrian Golan.”

Prior to this meeting, the Arab League, many of whose 22 members are also members of the OIC, had called for Israel to be charged and tried criminally for Israel’s conduct. This despite the fact that Israel has successfully controlled the Golan Heights since 1967, preventing more death and destruction by Syrian bombs raining down on innocent Israelis. And by establishing a strong military deterrent for invasion of Israel.

Of course, in today’s Syria, any invasion of Israel is a moot point; what with a bloody civil war that has resulted in the death of over a quarter million people. With displacement of millions more, many of whom are (and many more still waiting for asylum) refugees in Europe, constituting the greatest refugee crisis since World War II.

Exactly who or what will constitute or represent “Syrian Golan,” if the demands of Islamic nations that Israel return all of the Golan to Syria is met? Not to mention that the Golan encompasses less than one percent of Syrian territory. Or that Syria’s loss of a portion of the Golan Heights fifty years ago is anything resembling a huge problem with Syria today … whatever Syria is at this time in history. The Golan is absolutely the least of Syria’s concerns, what with its very survival at stake. For that matter, who in Syria has claim to the Golan? Is it the government of Bashar Assad, supported by Russia and Iran and Hezbollah of Lebanon? Or is it the rebels trying to gain their freedom from the oppressive Syrian regime, with these freedom fighters supported by the United States led coalition? Or might it even be ISIS, whose avowed objective is to set up an Islamic Caliphate in Iraq and Syria? ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

To whom should Israel surrender the Golan? Of course that’s a rhetorical question. But that’s exactly what these Islamic organizations (states) are demanding. Not only that, but many of these nations are (silently) applauding Israel’s firm resolve to thwart any semblance of an attack against Israel (via the Golan Heights) by ISIS or Hezbollah or factions in Syria. Especially those nations next or close to Israel, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the gulf coast states—who could be next on the bucket list of ISIS (or even Russia or Iran).

So which is it? Condemn the Jews and demand that Israel withdraw from the Golan (and Temple Mount while Israel is in the withdrawal mode)? Or, at least pragmatically acknowledge that it is Israel alone who keeps Israel strong and surrounding nations secure from any and all of the warring factions in Syria.

Jordan is probably the best example, as this nation has more to gain by an Israeli controlled Golan than any other nation. The last thing Jordan wants or needs is another entity to occupy the Golan Heights other than Israel. Jordanians know that Israel will keep them safe by Israel’s very presence there, as well as the Jordan Valley, East Jerusalem, etc. Of course, even Jordan does their part for the Arab world and for Islam by periodically condemning Israel for this and that. Lately, because of Temple Mount.

Take Iran for instance … a bitter hater and enemy of Israel. To the extent that numerous times in recent years, even months, this rogue Islamic nation has vowed to “wipe Israel from the face of the earth.” If Iranian forces get a strong foothold in Syria, it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump to the Golan Heights. But Saudi Arabia and Iran are not exactly bosom buddies; in fact, they are diametrically opposed, i.e. Shi’ite (Iran) against Sunni and Wahhabi (Saudi Arabia). Saudi Arabia and Egypt and a few other Islamic nations are (mostly under the table) tempering their animosity toward Israel under the paradigm of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

But then Arab, Islamic, and even non-Muslim anti-Semitism always manages to rear its ugly head. No matter their realization (reality) that a strong and vibrant Israel is one of their best sources of stability and security against what they also consider the forces of evil (ISIS, Iran, Hezbollah, and even Russia), they just can’t control themselves when it comes to an Israeli Prime Minister saying such things as, “Israel will never withdraw from the Golan Heights.”

Them’s fightin words to Muslims! And so they revert back to their irrational hatred of the Jews, by condemning Israel for keeping a tiny sliver of land that Israel was forced to capture because of Arab aggression in three wars against Israel in twenty-five years’ time. Plus, the “peacetime” bombing of Jews in the vicinity of the Golan Heights.

United Nations Security Council Response

Not only UNESCO, but the UN Security Council couldn’t contain themselves … couldn’t miss an opportunity to condemn Israel. Most of the time the UN doesn’t need a reason to sanction Israel. Many of the UN resolutions against Israel are not in response to anything Israel does or says; rather, they are part of an ongoing deliberate plan (plot) to censure Israel just because it exists. As previously indicated, most of the resolutions are instigated by Muslim nations, with non-Muslim countries joining in.

Following UNESCO’s lead, this past Sunday (May 1^st) the UN Security Council unanimously agreed to challenge Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration that the Golan Heights must (for all the reasons already listed) remain under Israel’s sovereign jurisdiction. China’s U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyl, the current president of the 15-member Security Council, issued a statement the following day (May 2^nd) saying, “Council members expressed their deep concern over recent Israeli statements about the Golan, and stressed that the status of the Golan remains unchanged.”

Official Security Council statements are adopted by consensus of all members, which include the United States. Unlike UNESCO, the Security Council did not actually propose and pass a resolution; however, this official public statement following a (closed-door) session serves the same purpose. Actually the Security Council didn’t need to pass a resolution, as they already had one in place.

Council President Liu Jieyl merely cited Resolution 497 passed in 1981 soon after Israel annexed the Golan Heights. He repeated a summary portion of that resolution to the press: Israel’s annexation action in 1981 was, “null and void and without international legal effect.”

Never mind that less than 1% of Syrian territory is involved. Disregard the evidence that Syria used the Golan Heights (their portion of it) to rain down mortars on Israeli civilians for some twenty years. Then used that same high ground to try to defeat Israel in two more wars. Simply ignore the fact that Israel won that territory with the blood of their soldiers and civilians—not offensively or unprovoked, but in national defense and preservation of their very survival.

Moreover, our own Executive Staff (US President) fully endorsed the regurgitation of the 1981 Resolution. That is simply unthinkable, unfathomable, and borders on hypocrisy.

What would the United States do if the United Nations issued a resolution that the Louisiana Purchase from France was not legally binding. Or the purchase of Alaska from Russia was, “null and void.”

Or worse, that we should give Texas back to Mexico because we had no right to fight for the territory of Texas in the first place. We should have let the “Napoleon of the West,” Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna keep right on marching and murdering his way to Washington D.C. I say worse, because we won that land at the expense of American blood, not just dollars.

Remember the Alamo!

Why does the United States along with 27 other countries belong to NATO, and station troops in key areas of Europe? Easy answer: Because Russia can’t be trusted.

Why are there still nearly 30,000 US soldiers in South Korea near the DMZ that separates South Korea from North Korea? Easier answer: Because North Korea is a rogue communist nation that deplores the democracy of its South Korean neighbors and hates the United States even more.

Giving this critically strategic plateau back to the Syrians would be a recipe for disaster. Although there would obviously be Israeli casualties, the biggest disaster would fall on the Syrians, in the event they launched another offensive from the Golan or resumed shelling of nearby Israeli towns.

Any way you slice the politically correct United Nations international pie, Israel seldom gets a piece. And the miniscule piece of a very small pie that Israel won through defensive wars and the blood of her people, must be given back to the enemy. Doesn’t matter whether that enemy can’t even function as a State, an enemy that consists of several enemies … all fighting each other and who all hate Israel. Even when it was a “state,” Syria was controlled by a dictator who wanted nothing more than complete eradication of the Jews from Israel.

As is said, “What’s a person to do?”

That’s Not All

Getting back to France’s call for an international conference to establish peace in the Middle East even if it means a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State that doesn’t exist, the next thing that would take place is a U.N. Resolution declaring a Palestinian State, whether the Israelis or even the Palestinians want such a state. Which, in turn, would demand Israeli withdrawal to “pre-1967 borders” that were nothing more than cease-fire lines to begin with. And also would declare East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, which, in turn, would give the Palestinians complete, unopposed jurisdiction over Temple Mount. Excuse me, I meant to say: Al-Haram Al Sharif!

Recently, there has also been a lot of scuttlebutt going around in the White House that the United States would support such a resolution, which past US Presidents have said would never happen. Members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat, were so concerned President Obama would approve such a resolution, that 388 members of the House (including Nancy Pelosi of all people!) sent him a letter stating that such a Security Council decision would, “dangerously hinder” the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Things to Ponder

Like never before, the eyes of the world are on Israel. It is absolutely amazing that so much attention is directed to this tiny nation. So much so that all of the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates (seems that we are now down to just one candidate for each party) have either been asked or have volunteered their stance on Israel, i.e. if, and to what extent, they support Israel. I have never seen that happen before, not to this degree. And that’s only a drop in a large reservoir of water being poured on Israel … water to satisfy their thirst for peace or water to drown them unmercifully.

Long ago God predicted this would happen. Just as he said that the Jews would return to the land promised to them.

“This message concerning the fate of Israel came from the Lord. ‘This message is from the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves’” (Zechariah 12:1-3, italics for emphasis).

Take heed nations of the earth.

Do not attempt to remove the Jews from the rocks and hills of the Golan Heights. Do not so audaciously usurp authority over the rock called Temple Mount, which does not belong to you … to anyone except God’s chosen people. Do not divide Jerusalem … ever. For to Abraham and his descendants came a solemn promise given by our unchangeable and omnipotent God:

“I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:1-3).

Take heed all who despise Israel for no reason, other than Jews live there. Do not treat the Jews with contempt, for to do so is to raise your fist against the true and living God.

Indeed, the world has been blessed. In many ways, but most importantly through the awesome redemption purchased by such a high price for all who will believe and receive the Son of God, the Jewish Messiah Jesus. (John 3:16)

Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Establish your kingdom of righteousness, justice, and peace throughout the world. We long for your glorious return!

The Myth of Al Aqsa Mosque

16 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by garybowers in Current Events

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Dome of the Rock, Hajj, Kaaba

The Myth of Al Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount

Myth: “a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence. An ill-founded belief held uncritically esp. by an interested group” (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary).

First to clarify: The Al Aqsa Mosque itself is not a myth. It is located in Jerusalem on what the Jews call Temple Mount and what Arabs refer to as the Noble Sanctuary, which also includes the more well-known structure, the Dome of the Rock. Many, including a large number of Muslims themselves, confuse Al Aqsa Mosque with the Dome of the Rock; they are different buildings. I’ve personally walked on Temple Mount, right up to the steps of the Dome of the Rock, but I did not approach the mosque.

The myth is in the historical and contemporary significance this mosque bears regarding Muslim claims to Temple Mount and to Jerusalem … indeed, to all of Israel. Was the legend that the Prophet Mohammed travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem in one night, then ascended to heaven from the Noble Sanctuary, fact or fiction? Whether Mohammed’s mysterious trip can be considered credible depends heavily on identifying Al Aqsa Mosque as the site (mosque) of his supposed visit. Should the Noble Sanctuary be classified a sacred Muslim shrine at all, let alone the third holiest site of Islam?

Distinguishing between fact and fiction is of vital importance because it is Temple Mount in Jerusalem that is the very heart and soul of Israel and the Jewish people. The status of Temple Mount is the core of the current conflict (dispute) between Jew and Arab in Israel; although there are certainly other reasons, not the least of which is the ancient animosity between the two peoples.

Quoting Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu:

“Our generation had a great privilege—we saw the words of the prophet come true. We saw the rise of Zion, the return of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, the ingathering of exiles and our return to Jerusalem. We will make sure Jerusalem’s golden light will shine on our people, and spread the light of Jerusalem to the whole world. We will protect Jerusalem, because Israel without Jerusalem is like a body without a heart … Our heart will never be divided again.”

Benjamin echoed the prophetic promise of God through Isaiah:

“Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance. Look and see, for everyone is coming home! Your sons are coming from distant lands; your little daughters will be carried home” (Isaiah 60:1-4).

So, too, do Palestinian Arabs claim Jerusalem as theirs. In fact, they think all of Israel belongs to them. It is predominately the Al-Aqsa Mosque that rivets Muslim attention, and generates overt Arab hostility against the Jews, such as intifada.

(Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock right center / Al-Aqsa Mosque in left center, directly left of the trees)

Muslim intifada is simply a terroristic uprising, a strategy employed when it became all too evident that Arab nations could not defeat Israel in war. That was proven in the miraculous Israeli victory over Egypt and Syria in the Six-Day War. Then again through Israel’s stunning victory in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Thereafter, terrorist cells such as Hamas and Hezbollah resorted to propaganda, BDS, and missile/mortar launchings into Israel. With the Palestinians staging the first large intifada in 2000, when former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stepped foot on Temple Mount on September 28^th, 2000. It was the “desecration” of the Noble Sanctuary by Ariel Sharon that sparked this five year period of violence—mostly suicide bombings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that killed scores of innocent Israelis—given the name, “Al-Aqsa Intifada.”

Muslims contend that Temple Mount does not belong to the Jews, partially because it is the third holiest location in Islam. Never mind that Temple Mount is the HOLIEST place, the most sacred of all sites to Judaism and the Jews! That’s irrelevant to the Arabs and seemingly to much of the world. As a result of blatant lies from none other than Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who incited his people by falsely accusing the Jews of desecrating or intending to desecrate holy sites in Jerusalem (especially Temple Mount), young Palestinians instigated their “knife intifada” last October. These lone wolf attacks which also included car rammings, Molotov cocktails, and shootings soon became a concerted effort by individual Palestinians to kill as many Jews as possible. Thankfully, the number of attacks have subsided.

Using (the Myth of) Al-Aqsa to Accomplish the Palestinian Agenda

It’s crystal clear that the two intifadas, the BDS movement, the insidious propaganda—that fosters a heart of hatred and a mentality of murder in their children through indoctrination beginning in elementary school—are all part and parcel of Palestinian intent to protect the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque from “the filthy feet of the Jews” (as Abbas stated in an attempt to incite Palestinian uprisings).

Some, and I agree with them, have gone so far as to say that without misguided Palestinian passion for and unwarranted defense of their Temple Mount claims, there would be less violence in Israel. Indeed, there would be minimal cause (excuse) for the Palestinians to launch their intifadas or a basis to justify (rationalize) their actions to the world other than dishonest assertions of Jewish takeover or desecration of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

For example: Just a few weeks ago the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammed Hussein, declared that Muslims should make a pilgrimage to Al Aqsa Mosque to, “defend the mosque from Israel’s attempts to Judaize it.” (Whatever that means?)

Oh, there’s always the allegation of Jewish “settler occupation” of the West Bank, but those inaccurate accusations have been going on for decades. The latest Palestinian choice of confrontation centers on the more ancient and ostensibly more religious rationale that protection of the Noble Sanctuary supposedly supports their agenda to harass, terrorize, and attack the Jews.

Thus, it’s imperative that we examine the historical basis for Islamic motives to defend their holy sites. In doing so, we will once again confirm that Muslim attempts to rewrite the history of this ancient conflict have no basis in fact. We will see the rest of the story, the empirical evidence that will undermine Palestinian claims that they alone have rights to Temple Mount. Hopefully, this will help dispel the flawed opinions or imprecise impressions that many in the Western world (as well as Muslims themselves) have concerning Jewish and Islamic heritage of Temple Mount … indeed, of all Jerusalem and Israel.

First, however, I would like to present some excerpts from one of several Eye of Prophecy articles that touch on the subject of Jewish versus Arab history, regarding Israel.

In italics the following excerpts are from the Eye of Prophecy article, A Palestinian State? (No, Say Many Arabs), published 1-11-14.

Then, in June, 1967 one of the most amazing conflicts in military history began and ended in less than a week! To this day it is still referred to as the Six-Day War, in which Israel soundly defeated a coalition of Arab nations, and once again against staggering odds. Although Israel took the offensive in this war, they had no other choice; it was crystal clear that surrounding Arab nations, particularly Syria and Egypt, planned to attack Israel. In order to assure victory and protection against further invasion, Israel seized the following territories that had previously been under Jordanian, Syrian, or Egyptian control.

Golan Heights: A high mountainous area near Israel’s northern border with Syria … a crucial strategic location to prevent Syrian incursions in and attacks on Israel.

Gaza Strip: A fairly narrow strip of land along the southeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in which Jews lived alongside a majority of Arabs.

West Bank: So-called because of its location along the west bank of the Jordan River, in the east central portion of Israel. Historically and rightfully called Judea and Samaria as regions in Israel’s ancient homeland. Now occupied predominately by Palestinian Arabs.

Sinai Peninsula: The large, mostly desert southern land mass that currently separates Israel from Egypt proper.

East Jerusalem: Technically, a segment of the West Bank; but, nevertheless, still an integral and indispensable part of the entire city of Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, Israel partially bowed to international pressure exerted primarily by the United Nations and, over varying intervals of time, returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, the Gaza Strip to Egypt, and most of the West Bank to Jordan. Egypt and Jordan subsequently allowed the Gaza Strip and West Bank Arabs to govern themselves. The only sector that Israel didn’t relinquish to any degree was the Golan Heights; it was simply too dangerous to return this tactical high ground to the Syrians…

However, the most significant of all was the Israeli decision, soon after the Six-Day War, to return East Jerusalem to Jordanian control, including the Temple Mount itself. This was a colossal concession; in fact, to many Jews then and now, a monumental mistake.

To comprehend just how painful this world-opinion induced surrender (of the Temple Mount) was to the vast majority of Jews, listen to the message delivered by Israeli Chief Army Chaplain Rabbi Shlomo Goren to the IDF paratroopers who liberated all of Jerusalem, including the beloved Western Wall in June, 1967: “Soldiers of Israel, God be with you valiant warriors! I am speaking to you from the Western Wall, remnant of our Holy Temple. The dream of all the generations has been fulfilled before our eyes. The City of God, the Temple site, the Temple Mount, and the Western Wall—symbol of the Jewish people’s messianic redemption—have been delivered this day by you, heroes of the Israel Defense Forces.”

I vividly remember watching on television battle hardened IDF soldiers weeping at the Western Wall, which is also called the Wailing Wall. They shed tears of grief over hundreds of years of oppression and defeat; but mostly tears of joy over the astounding capture of Jerusalem and rightful return of Temple Mount to the Jews. It was, as heralded by Rabbi Goren, truly an event of messianic proportion (a prophetic precursor to the imminent return of Messiah). I shed tears of joy with them at this stunning historical event, only to be filled with sorrow when the Temple Mount was relinquished back to the Arabs…

Concerning today’s Temple Mount, Jews are not allowed to express any gesture of worship or prayer or planned assemblies on the Temple Mount. All such activity must be confined to the Western Wall just below Temple Mount. Can you imagine that? If not, then imagine that you as an American citizen would not be permitted to set foot on the hallowed ground of the Statue of Liberty. It’s pretty much the equivalent of restrictions placed on Jews with regard to the Temple Mount, their most holy place, in the most holy city of Jerusalem, in the holy land itself.

Rest assured: One day God will change all that and return all of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount back to the Jews through their (our) Messiah! Listen to what the Lord says concerning the end times restoration of Israel … which is taking shape in Israel daily, i.e. the massive return of Jews to the reborn sovereign State of Israel.

“And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give them their land and increase their numbers, and I will put my Temple among them forever. I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And when my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I am the Lord, who makes Israel holy” (Ezekiel 37: 26-28). *Note: the word holy means separate, distinct, set aside for a special purpose.

What else does God say about Jerusalem and the Temple Mount? “In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. The Lord will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations far away. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore” (Micah 4: 1-3, italics for emphasis).

The Three Holiest Sites of Islam

Let’s continue today’s article by looking more closely at the history of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the context of two other (holier) places in Islam.

Holiest Place in Islam

Mecca: Site of the Kaaba (including the Black Stone) and the AL Haram Mosque. According to Muslim tradition, Abraham and his son, Ishmael, built the Kaaba as a symbol of the house of God, at which time God (Allah) established the Hajj rituals. Obviously, such an event can be found nowhere in the Bible, which is the case for nearly all Muslim writings or traditions. Whenever Muslims refer to Abraham, he is always (only) the father of Ishmael. Rather, than Isaac, who Scripture unequivocally declares is the Promised Child chosen over Ishmael … the child who would continue the Jewish Race and be the ancestor of the Messiah. Nor is there any evidence of Abraham ever being in Mecca. In short, it is a tradition that is not affirmed by historical records, including any such reference to the Hajj. That came later after Mohammed started the Islamic religion.

(The Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia)

Second Most Holy Place

Medina: Next in line of the most sacred sites is the Masjid Al Nabawi Mosque, built by Mohammed next to the house where he lived, with his tomb located in the mosque. Muslims normally include this mosque in their Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, required of every able-bodied Muslim at least once in their lifetime. According to Mohammed, Allah commanded him to reinstate all of the rituals of Hajj just as (also according to Mohammed) they were established by Allah through Abraham. Again, there is no historical record of such rites until the time of Mohammed. But that is the case with most of Islam, i.e. invention or reinvention of Biblical history to suit this new religion, which (in a Johnny-come-late fashion) surfaced over 2,500 years after God called Abraham to be the father of the Jewish nation and over 1,500 years after King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

Third Holiest Place

Jerusalem: The first two holiest places in Islam are understandable given the history that Mohammed and the Arabs lived in Saudi Arabia, particularly Mecca and Medina. However, Jerusalem as the third holiest Islamic site is utterly baffling (more like implausible), beginning with the Al-Aqsa Mosque itself. In Arabic, Al-Aqsa simply means, “the farthest.” Both the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque were built AFTER Mohammed allegedly had been whisked away from Mecca to Jerusalem in one night’s travel, then ascended to heaven from the Noble Sanctuary.

Despite Muslim attempts to rewrite history by maintaining that neither Solomon’s nor Herod’s Temple ever existed or if they did exist not on Temple Mount, Biblical and secular history overwhelmingly proves otherwise. Let’s look at some dates and sequence of events to see how they match up with the Islamic narrative … whether Mohammed even set foot in Jerusalem, thereby, making it holy only to Muslims for that reason alone.

Mohammed was born in 570 AD and died on June 8, 632. In the year 620, he was said to have travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem on a winged steed, from where (Temple Mount) he visited both heaven and hell. Whereas, there’s no real problem with these dates, there are enormous inaccuracies with the rest of the story.

(Depiction of Mohammed’s Winged Steed)

The dilemma begins with the historical evidence that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built in 696 AD by Khalif Abdul-Malik Ibn Marwar who had earlier built the Dome of the Rock; or in 705 AD by Mohammed’s son, in memory of Mohammed’s magical journey. Whichever date is accurate, neither can accommodate the timeline of Mohammed’s fanciful journey. The reason: the after-the-fact story told by Mohammed’s followers is that the “farthest” mosque was purportedly located in Jerusalem.

Question: How could Mohammed have travelled to a (any) mosque in Jerusalem in 620 AD when, in fact, there wasn’t a single mosque in Jerusalem until the Al-Aqsa was built decades later?!

Here is a quote from the Qur’an: “Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs, surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing.”

Although this Quranic verse mentions a night trip made by Mohammed (servant) from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to “the remote mosque,” it does not actually specify that this farthest mosque was in Jerusalem, or even that Mohammed then ascended to heaven. Moreover, when the Al-Aqsa was built to commemorate this enigmatic expedition (to another far away mosque that didn’t exist in Jerusalem), Muslims eventually designated Al-Aqsa as the actual remote mosque referenced in the Koran! Talk about arguing in a circle (circular reasoning)!

There’s more. Initially Islamic scholars firmly believed that the farthest mosque was a metaphor, signifying some unknown place between heaven and earth, not a specific physical location. In his earliest biography, Muslim historians depict Mohammed’s passage to heaven as a spiritual one only; additionally, this journey (in spirit) was directly from Mecca to heaven, not from Mecca to Jerusalem, then to heaven. Apparently, in the effort to make Mohammed’s mystical travels more plausible, Muslim historians changed the story to that of a physical pilgrimage to the farthest mosque or the “remote mosque” which they later decided should be in Jerusalem, that didn’t have a mosque until some 70-80 years afterward—what is now called the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

(Arabic Map Showing Mosque in Mecca and Temple Mount, Alleged Beginning and Ending of Mohammed’s Travel to Jerusalem)

Even more contradictory is the fact that the Koran refers to Israel as the adna al-ard, translated in English as the “closest land.” If Muslim tradition holds that Mohammed was taken to the farthest mosque (Al-Aqsa) or land (wherever that might have been), then how could that have been Jerusalem (Israel), which they claim is the nearest land?

The historians should have stuck with their initial interpretation, that Mohammed’s imaginative journey was spiritual only. To change it to a physical occurrence is to further reduce it to nothing more than a myth, what with the conflicting timelines and contradictory legend (language) of nearest (Israel) and farthest (mosque in Jerusalem) places where this event supposedly occurred.

A Stunning Statement by an Egyptian Scholar

The following is taken from the April, 2016 edition of the Levitt Letter, an online and printed newsletter published by Zola Levitt Ministries:

“In an interview with Egypt’s CBC TV, Youssef Ziedan, director of the Manuscript Center and Museum at the Library of Alexandria, noted that the Koran never mentions Mohammed ascending to heaven, from Jerusalem or any other location. Citing ancient Islamic scholars, Ziedan continued: ‘The Prophet Mohammed, after being harassed by the Quraysh (tribe in Mecca), went to the city of Ta’if. On the road to Ta’if, there were two mosques: Al-Adna (‘the nearest’) Mosque and Al-Aqsa (‘the farthest’) Mosque.’

“Ziedan explained that the ‘Al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) did not exist back then, and the city was not called Al-Quds. It was called Aelia, and it had no mosques.’ The stunned interviewer wondered if that meant that ‘there is no justification for the war (over Jerusalem), and we should just leave Al-Aqsa, which has nothing to do with us?’ Ziedan maintained, ‘Neither we nor the (Jews) have anything to do with it. That’s what I’m saying. People should think about this.’

‘Where would that lead us?’ asked the host.

Ziedan’s response: ‘To peace.’”

*Note: Only Messiah Jesus, the Prince of Peace, can and will bring lasting peace to Israel and to the world. Nevertheless, Zeidan’s response was on track. At the very least the Palestinians could/should no longer use religious heritage—based on the myth that the Al-Aqsa (or any mosque) had been visited by Mohammed in Jerusalem—to claim superiority over Jewish rights to Temple Mount, with Judaic jurisdiction meticulously documented by both Biblical and secular history and by archeological evidence.

During subsequent control of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, then again by the Arabs (Saladin) then the Ottoman Turks followed by the British in 1917, the Dome of the Rock gradually fell into disrepair. This and other historical evidence (factors) demonstrate that neither Muslim Arabs in surrounding countries nor even Palestinian Arabs in Israel placed much significance at all on their Noble Sanctuary. That is, not until Jews recaptured all of Jerusalem including Temple Mount during Israel’s spectacular Six-Day War victory. That changed everything. Since then, Palestinians have hotly disputed the rights to Temple Mount; including, but not limited to, their non-negotiable contention that Jerusalem (at least East Jerusalem) belongs to them and will be the capital of a Palestinian State.

Likewise, most Israelis contend that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, and must never be divided into two capitals, or divided at all.

To further confirm Arab noticeable lack of pre-1967 interest in Jerusalem or the Muslim structures on Temple Mount, Daniel Pipes, President of the Middle East Forum stated in 2001 that, “the British government recognized the minimal Muslim interest in Jerusalem during World War I.”

The British understood how little significance Arabs placed on Jerusalem when they did not include the city as part of assigned Arab territories preceding the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Whatever (minimal) importance the Arabs placed on Jerusalem didn’t matter, as they turned down the partitions of the Balfour Declaration as well as the portion of Israel allocated to them in the United Nations resolution of 1947. The historical record is unmistakable: It’s not that the Arabs desperately wanted Jerusalem or control of Temple Mount (not until 1967). In fact, they had marginal interest in Jerusalem, and did little to maintain or improve the city’s infrastructure for hundreds of years.

Here is a quote from British negotiator, Henry McMahon, when Great Britain chose not to include Jerusalem as part of Arab controlled regions in the 1917 partition of Israel between Jews and Arabs: “…there was no place … of sufficient importance … further south of Damascus to which the Arabs attached vital importance.”

Another quote taken from Breaking News Israel article posted by contributing writer Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz on 3-16-16, citing Daniel Pipes who said: “A fourteen-century long pattern suggests that so long as Israel controls Jerusalem, Muslims will respond by focusing on the city and wanting to seize it. The knife-intifada is this moment’s tactic toward that end; after it duly fails, one should expect another—and another after that.”

Then Adam Berkowitz quotes Moshe Feiglin, chairman of the Zehut party in Israel and former Deputy Speaker of the Knesset: “This is part of the Islamic culture and their concept of a national entity, which is unlike the Western concept or that of the Jews. The Muslims believe that if they can conquer it (Jerusalem), culturally and then physically, the city belongs to Islam, even if it as no historical or religious connection to Islam.”

From our examination of the true history of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, we now see more clearly that neither the mosque, nor Dome of the Rock, nor Noble Sanctuary (Temple Mount) have any real historical relevance to or connection with Islam’s purported interest in Jerusalem. Rather, they are merely a convenient excuse for Muslims to continue their concerted effort to expel or even eliminate (if they could) all Jews in Israel. It is not question of even one square foot of land on Temple Mount or anywhere else in Israel. It is a question of whether Palestinian Arabs and Muslim nations will ever recognize the sovereign state of Israel and the right of Jews to live in their ancient land, given to them by God himself. A land they occupied (in the positive connotation of the word) long before the Arabs, hundreds of years before Mohammed started the religion of Islam.

Ever so sadly, the conflict continues. Anti-Semitic animosity toward Jews has intensified not only in Muslim nations, especially Iran, but also in Europe and even the United States. Palestinian Arab hostility incessantly manifests itself in deceitful and sometimes absurd ways.

For example: PA Authority President Mahmoud Abbas intends to submit yet another resolution to the United Nations, demanding condemnation of Israel’s actions in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Because there are no such Israeli “actions” to condemn, undoubtedly Abbas will fall back on the “Jewish occupation” of the West Bank including the worn-out lies about the illegal Jewish “settlers.”

Please refer to Eye of Prophecy article entitled Israeli Occupation … Fact or Myth? Posted on 5-16-15. Also, Jerusalem … A Capital without a Country, published 6-13-15.

Cameras on Temple Mount

Recently flyers were posted on Temple Mount encouraging Palestinians to destroy the surveillance cameras that will be installed, via an agreement between Israel and Jordan, which has custodial authority over Temple Mount as given to them by the Israelis. Ironically, the security cameras were originally suggested by Jordan’s King Abdullah II to US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who enthusiastically endorsed the idea. The cameras would show proof positive pictures of exactly who was doing what to whom or to what on Temple Mount. The idea was rejected by the Palestinian Authority with the ridiculous rationalization that the cameras would be used to, “arrest Palestinians under the pretext of incitement.”

What pretext? There is no pretext. The cameras will be monitored by Jordan as guardian over Temple Mount, which directly undermines the PA claim that Temple Mount authority belongs to them by virtue of the Al-Aqsa Mosque being there. Moreover, the surveillance would clearly show that no Israelis are “desecrating” anything on Temple Mount nor is the Al-Aqsa Mosque in any “danger” as preposterously alleged by the PA. Nor is there any “plot” by the Jews to change the “status quo” on Temple Mount. Conversely, the cameras would expose the constant harassment of Jews on Temple Mount by Palestinian rioting, particularly during Jewish holidays.

(Why Palestinians Do Not Want Cameras on Temple Mount … They Show Everything)

As said by Dr. Reuven Berko in an article posted by Israel Hayom on April 13^th, 2016:

“The surveillance grid set up in the area is meant to finally point to the real provocateurs who endanger the holy site, but the Palestinian Authority, which is ‘profoundly concerned’ with the integrity of Al-Aqsa mosque, is the one trying to sabotage this project, as it stands to undermine the influence of the site.”

Dr. Berko continues: “The project (camera installations) also undercuts the Palestinian Authority’s absurd attempts to use Al-Aqsa mosque as the anchor to its demand to have east Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state, especially given the fact that all of Islam’s other holy cities—Mecca, Medina, Qom, Karbala, and Najaf—are not capital cities.”

Things to Ponder

Yes, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a myth. Not its current existence; rather the supposed ancient connection of Islam to Jerusalem based on Muhammad’s alleged travel to a “remote” mosque that didn’t exist at the time in Jerusalem. Muslim scholars also said that Israel was the “nearest land” to Mecca. Which is it … nearest or farthest? It can’t be both. Actually it’s neither. And, of all things, why wouldn’t Mohammed, himself, have included this miraculous journey to heaven in the Koran?

A strong clue to the answer: Just like the Koran contains no real miracles or fulfilled prophecies (of which the Bible is replete with both), Mohammed and his followers couldn’t risk the possibility that such a tale contained in the Koran might be disproven in succeeding generations.

Yet, Islam in general and Palestinian Muslim Arabs in particular base their rights to Temple Mount exclusively on this illusion. If their claim is even remotely possible, you would think that their holy book, the Koran, would mention Jerusalem just one time. But it doesn’t, and the reason is obvious: Not until 1967 did Muslims or Arabs give a hoot about Jerusalem, let alone contend that Jerusalem belongs to them and must be the capital of the Palestinian State.

Even Mecca, the most sacred site of Islam, is not the capital of Saudi Arabia! Nor is Medina! Where, then, does Jerusalem really rank in Islam?

(Riyadh, Capital of Saudi Arabia)

But the Bible is not a myth. Hundreds of prophecies concerning Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the return of the Jews to Israel. More remain unfulfilled until the glorious Day of the Lord, which is nearly upon us.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of all who have believed and received his Son, Messiah Jesus … He is the true and living God. He made man (and woman). All other gods are man-made.

His promises are forever true … worthy of our trust! His glory is great … worthy of our praise!

What the Lord says will happen, happens. What he says he will do, he does.

Listen to him:

“The Lord says, ‘Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem, for I am coming to live among you. Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me (Messiah Yeshua) to you. The land of Judah will be the Lord’s special possession in the holy land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem to be his own city. Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling’” (Zechariah 2:10-13).

Separation of Church and State … For or Against? (Part II)

09 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by garybowers in Current Events

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Kingdom of Heaven, Nation of Priests

Separation of Church and State

Last week’s article began by quoting the famous First Amendment of the Bill of Rights:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Since that was such a great introduction, let’s do it again. (The greatness of the introduction is the incomparable First Amendment itself, not me quoting it!)

But this time we’ll fast forward 87 years from the birth of our nation in 1776 to another famous proclamation; the source of which is more easily recognized than whether the freedoms listed above came from the US Constitution or the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights.

What you’re about to read was a remarkable reminder that our nation’s inalienable birthrights and legal birth certificates (documents) would expectantly ensure the existence of the greatest representative democracy on the face of the earth—the Republic of the United States of America. That, even during our country’s greatest crisis, the noble aspirations of our founding fathers would not be forgotten.

It begins with:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Got it yet? No … then the final words will surely turn on the light:

“…that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Of course you knew. President Abraham Lincoln uttered these historical words on November 19, 1863, in what has become known as the Gettysburg Address, delivered a few months after the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War in and near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Concerning, then, our two-part Eye of Prophecy inquiry and investigation: Can the lofty ambitions of a government that guarantees individual freedoms, a government that is of, by, and for the people be better accomplished if Church and State functions are shared or are separated?

Before we look at some Biblical historical precedents, we need to remember that Church, State, and Religion must first be defined, as they were in last week’s Part I article. Thus, if we’re describing religion properly (man-made set of rules, regulations, and rituals) and Church accurately (a hierarchal clergy-run institution or organization claiming supremacy over the laity and over true Christian salvation of individuals based solely on God’s plan and purpose as found in the Bible), we can conceivably get a more balanced perspective on the interaction between God and man, and between peoples … nationally and internationally.

An Intriguing Premise

I’d like to present a premise that might startle those who passionately defend the government envisioned by our forefathers and confirmed convincingly by Abraham Lincoln—a government that I, too, ardently admire and strenuously support. Indeed, it is a constitutional system of checks and balances that is the envy of people the world over. As much as individual pride, power, and pleasure will allow, the United States of America is, in principle and practice, a nation for the people.

“But that’s not all”, you might reply. “It’s also, of and by the people.”

Yes, that is what President Lincoln said. That also is what the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, and Bill of Rights intended, because these freedom documents were both of and by sincere representatives of the people who wanted independence from Church States and State Churches.

Moreover, as alluded to in last week’s article, Scripture is crystal clear that God and Messiah Jesus never meant for individual believers to be part of or subservient to a central, organized ecclesiastical system such as found in Roman Catholicism, or in Mormonism, or in the Church of England or any other systematized “ism.”

In that regard and by that definition, there should be a separation of Church and State, because the Lord never envisioned such a Church in the first place. Which is why God worked in, through and for those who revolted against the oppressive autocracy of the Church States of Europe. Notice, however: Our founding fathers didn’t leave God out of their hopes and plans; because they fully understood that freedom of religion should not be equated with freedom from religion. The majority of them acknowledged God as the ultimate source and sustainer of individual liberties that can better flourish within a republic. That both the people and their elected officials could express their beliefs without the existence of or need for a centralized structured religious system to force those beliefs on anyone, at any time, for any reason.

In today’s world, however, many have misused, abused, and distorted the balance between Church and State for two basic reasons: (1) wrong thinking and defective definition of religion and Church (especially the Christian faith), as detailed in last week’s article.

(2) Because they have dismissed anything to do with God and his plan for the human race, there are those who contend that we must eliminate all vestiges of “religion” in government, which ultimately results in expelling all references to and symbols of God in public places. Under the pretense of maintaining Church separation from State (in which the concept itself is misunderstood and misapplied), they have misled many in this country to unwittingly think and act on the (false) premise that there must be freedom from religion. Which is fundamentally true for both unbelievers and believers alike, if religion and Church are properly defined. But is simply not true if individual Christian rights are denied; thereby, resulting in a classic case of reverse discrimination.

In reality, many leaders and their followers and groups like the ACLU are trying to accomplish their “hidden” agenda so pointedly pronounced by King David (yes, he was a king … we’ll get to that shortly):

“Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. ’Let us break their chains,’ they cry, ‘and free ourselves from slavery to God’” (Psalms 2:1-3).

The Premise: Until Messiah Jesus returns to establish the Kingdom of God, the very best form of government on this earth is one that is for the people, but not exclusively of or by the people!

Stated another way: For government to be supremely successful for the people, it must be of and by God … from and through God. Ultimately, it must also be for God and his Son (for his glory) who, as Scripture says, is the “Beginning and the End.”

The Bible clearly shows us that our Creator is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. He is truth, light, and life. He is perfect in every way. He wants the best for us and he knows what’s best for us; including, but not limited to, the ideal form of leadership and administration of daily life in the human race. Yet, he gives us free will to choose. Who and what we choose can literally be a matter of life and death … individually and nationally.

Said God to the people through Moses: “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).

The Lord never intended for a city, state, or nation to be governed by a “church” because he never meant for there to be a “religion.” God’s original plan was for every man and woman to have a personal relationship and fellowship with him, based on uncompromising love for him, total obedience to him, and unwavering trust in him. If Israel (all peoples) would have listened to the Lord and held tightly to his instructions, they would have been governed by God, himself.

Indeed, that was the plan from the time that God chose Abraham and told him, “…All the families on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

A Kingdom of Priests

Soon after the Lord delivered the Israelites from slavery and shortly before he gave the Ten Commandments to the entire assembly of Israel (Exodus Chapter 20), God told Moses:

“…Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation. This is the message you must give to the people of Israel” (Exodus 19:3-6, italics for emphasis).

The Ten Commandments were the beginning of the source of light and blessing to Israel, but also Gentiles who acknowledged and accepted the existence and authority and goodness of God Almighty. Subsequently, God gave detailed instructions to Moses concerning their personal relationship with God and interpersonal relationships with each other and with the Gentile nations. This included the Levitical Sacrificial System that required individuals to present innocent animals for sacrifice (sin, guilt, peace, praise offerings) and annual observance of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) for the entire nation. Although the High Priest and other priests supervised and regulated the administration of this all-important sacrificial structure (forgiveness of sin and restoration to God), every Israelite was part of (what was for a while and what could have been indefinitely) a holy nation—set apart for a special purpose.

Israel was meant to be a nation of priests, with the optimum form of government—a Theocracy, defined by Webster’s Dictionary as, “having God as the central interest and ultimate concern.”

A government which was of God, by God, and for God. Therefore, for the people because God promised he would bless them if they made him the center of their lives; unlike the Gentile nations that worshipped man-made gods and sacrificed their children to these detestable gods (demons). The Jews were to be an example for and share God’s truth with the Gentiles; unfortunately, they did not do this.

If we as a nation acknowledge God as our Creator, then trust him completely to bless us with needed protection and provisions, there would be no cause or concern for any such thing as separation of Church and State. Because there would be no centralized Church or church system. Rather the Kingdom of Heaven would be (is) in the hearts and minds of individuals who believe and receive Christ Jesus as personal Savior. Both believers and unbelievers can then serve in various levels of government without forcing their beliefs on each other. God alone will determine the success and welfare of a nation, depending on the nature and extent of the people’s recognition of his sovereignty.

Whether this is a Parliamentary or Democratic Representative Republic, an Absolute or Constitutional Monarchy, or any other form of government other than Fascism or Communism, wouldn’t matter as much as we think it does. None of the leaders of those governments need compel any one to believe in God or accept Jesus as Lord and Savior or behave in a certain manner as long as it is legal and peaceable. Conversely, secular unbelievers should not insist (falsely) that the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness is only possible if the State purges itself of anything and everything that is Christian.

In just a generation or two after Joshua led them into the Promised Land and God gave them victory over their enemies, the Israelites began to abandon the Lord in favor of pagan gods and practices. They soon lost sight of the fact that it was faith (trust) in God, himself, to lead, protect, and to forgive them when they sinned. The keeping of the Mosaic Law, including the sacrifices and festivals, became a matter of rote, ritual observance that wasn’t from their heart. Eventually, even the priests and scribes became corrupt.

They failed to make the all-important distinction between a right standing before and relationship with their God through faith alone, contrasted to obedient observance of the ceremonial and civil laws as a condition for remaining in the Promised Land … but not for individual redemption.

Individual disobedience (sin … which all men commit) could be and was pardoned by God through the sacrificial system. But national (the greater majority of the people) rejection of the Lord by deliberately removing him from their daily affairs and replacing the Lord with false man-made gods of fertility (sex), crops (abundance and prosperity), and protection (victory in battle and security), led to discipline—mainly in the form of famines and persecution by their enemies. Inevitably it led to being conquered and exiled to Gentile nations … Assyria and Babylon; then later defeat at the hands of the Romans, with dispersion to the four corners of the earth that would last for nearly 2,000 years.

From a Nation of Priests to a Nation of Kings

After they conquered and inhabited the Promised Land of Israel, the Jews decided they would be much better off with a king to lead and govern them … like that of the Gentile nations. Instead of being an example and model to the Gentiles of what a near-perfect (as much as human error will allow) government could be and actually was for a while, they preferred a king over what was already working well in Israel—priests and judges who administered the ceremonial and civil laws (and justice), respectively. See Deuteronomy 17:1-13, as an example.

In this same chapter (setting), the Lord knew that his people would want a king to rule them, so years in advance he told the people through Moses:

“You are about to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it over and settle there, you may think, ‘We should select a king to rule over us like the other nations around us.’ If this happens, be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses. You must appoint a fellow Israelite; he may not be a foreigner” (Deuteronomy 17:14-15).

(Note: Remind you that a President of the United States must be a natural born citizen)?

The Lord then imposed conditions for the king (chosen by God), such as severing all ties with or influences from their former rulers in Egypt; not taking multiple wives because they would turn the king’s heart away from the Lord; not accumulating a lot of wealth, which can and often does corrupt a leader. Or, if not the wealth itself, then the power that goes with it.

Next came some profound but practical (Church-like and State-like) instructions that the Lord gave to them when (not if … the Lord knew it would happen) Israel switched from the harmonious and successful administrative blend of priests and judges to a nation ruled by a king.

“When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear (respect, hold in awe) the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).

Wow!

Do we see what’s going on here? Do we recognize that the success of a king (Prime Minister, President) and the welfare of his or her kingdom is predicated on these profound precepts given by God to Moses? Indeed, in all of Scripture. Shall we appreciate these principles and see how they could apply to all governmental levels of the Republic of the United States; for that matter, to any government whose leader(s) would at least acknowledge and respect the true and living God? Can we fit them into whatever view we hold on the issue of church and state separation? Better yet, shouldn’t we fit our opinions into God’s Word?

Do we grasp that genuine motivation to read, study, and apply Biblical truths and guidelines will shape the mind and heart of the king (or any leader), so as to humble him. To help him (or her) understand that they are not above the law or superior to their fellow citizens. That regular exposure to Judaic-Christian values as contained in Scripture will enable a government’s successors to continue with recognition of God and service to the people in the way God intended. That leaders will set an example for all the people to do what Scripture declares so that the Lord will direct, protect, and provide for them.

“…O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Fear the Lord if you are wise! (Micah 6:8-9).

Can we also see what is not going on in God’s instructions to Moses for kings (leaders)?

Nowhere is it stated or even implied that the king shall force God’s Word or Ways on his subjects (constituents), either by executive decree or by legislation. For example, a National Day of Prayer is a wonderful idea, one to which a nation would do well to practice. But it’s completely voluntary, subject to each individual’s preference to observe or not to observe.

When God permitted Israel to change from a Kingdom of Priests to a Kingdom of Kings, he also made allowances for the faults, frailties, and failures of the people. Thus, the Lord’s instructions to the king did not, by compulsion, mandate that the people do the same thing. It would be much better for them individually and as a nation if they did seek and acknowledge God in both private affairs and affairs of state; but above all, God still gives the human race free will to choose. No better exemplified than America’s freedom to vote someone into office, but then accept the consequences (good, bad, or indifferent) of that choice.

A Priest or a King, but Not Both

With divine foreknowledge the Lord knew all too well that unrestrained, unconditional power corrupts and that the vast majority of national and international leaders throughout history would be or become malevolent monarchs instead of benevolent, he also told Israel that the same man could not be both king and priest.

In that respect, there was a (balanced) separation of kingly duties and priestly duties. What we would probably identify in today’s society as some semblance of Separation of Church and State.

For one thing, no one person had the time or energy to occupy both offices. Also, if a king was wicked—which the vast majority of Israel’s king were, as were nearly all Gentile kings—the priests and the people that faithfully followed the Lord could still live and prosper in the land because of God’s faithfulness to keep his promises (of blessing).

As the leader(s) of a nation goes, so do its people often go? Right? Of course, right. Unless, that is, the greater populace seeks God’s mercy as so powerfully proclaimed by God to King David’s son, Solomon. In that context, David set the benchmark for a godly king who, despite a couple of grievous wrongs, consistently followed and obeyed the Lord. Something that virtually none of the kings of the ten northern tribes and only 3-4 of the kings from Judah accomplished.

Listen again to the well-known words that vividly explain God’s grace and mercy if people as a nation turn to him:

(Based on the Senate’s Resolution, President Lincoln called for a National Day of Prayer … Optional of course)

So, what about a kingdom of priests for Israel? Did God’s plan fail?

I think not. God always (ultimately) accomplishes his purpose, whether the people fail or not.

And what about the absolute best model for the human race to be governed? Is that an impossible dream? Is it the stuff that myths are made of? Comparatively speaking, the United States would appear to be the most successful governmental enterprise of human history; with emphasis, however, on comparative. Meaning in contrast to dictatorships where separation of Church and State was a foregone conclusion … any State presumption or perception of interference by someone’s “religious” beliefs could mean instant death. Or compared to Islamic countries whose government is of, by, and for only those who are Muslims … the ultimate example of an oppressive State Religion.

Likewise, the misguided, unbiblical, anti-Christ(ian) monarchies of pre-Renaissance Europe that were bedfellows with the Roman Catholic Church or Church of England; or whose kings and queens fought for supremacy against those dubious paragons of religion.

There’s no doubt: The ACLU and other organizations and individuals like them have grossly mislead the American public. When placed in the context of the aforementioned Church-State paradigms, there simply doesn’t exist in this country the slightest form, whatsoever, of anything resembling or threatening to duplicate a State Church. Nor is the cry of “wolf” logical or appropriate in duping us to think there may be the slightest risk of a Church State in this country.

On the contrary, there is an ever-growing secularism and socialism that is trending to the opposite extreme … a godless intolerant government that will eventually yield its authority to one man. An evil ruler whom the Bible calls the man of lawlessness, the beast, and the Antichrist.

There is increasing discrimination and persecution (mostly through legal actions in Western countries, but also terrorism; plus physical persecution in Islamic nations, including murder) of Christians by those who claim tolerance and plurality as the only way to live. Which, translated, means no Christian rights or, worse, no Christians at all; because they believe that Messiah Jesus is the only Way, Truth, and Life. Anti-Christians are motivated by a convoluted logic and twisted mindset that doesn’t concede the obvious: It requires a heavy dose of intolerance to criticize, marginalize, and ostracize those they claim are intolerant!

Essentially and ultimately they are attacking our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For it was he who said that unless a person is born again, he/she cannot enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:3). That he is the only way to God, the Father. That only he can give us eternal life … and so on.

Current Kingdom of Priests

Getting back to our question regarding a nation of priests. The answer is a resounding, yes!

Though the awesome sacrifice of Messiah Jesus, a new race has been born. Both Jew and Gentile who believe and receive Christ as Lord and Savior have become one new person.

“For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us … He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death” (Ephesians 2:14-16).

If we agree with God’s Word that Jew and Gentile and Gentile and Gentile can be one in Christ, no walls of separation would be needed … period. Except one wall: between truth and lies.

Says God through the Jewish Apostle Peter to all believers: “…for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (I Peter 2:9).

But that’s not all. God will complete his marvelous plan to establish the ultimate kingdom with the greatest King of all time to rule and reign. It will be the perfect form of government, a Theocracy of and by God for his glory and for the everlasting Shalom (peace and well-being) of all who choose life in that Kingdom over everything this worn-out, wicked world of ours can offer.

In that regard, permit me to again quote from a previous Eye of Prophecy article, Kingdom of God (published 1-17-15). In italics as follows:

Paul proceeds to tell us more about God’s splendid plan for the human race. In fact he calls it a mystery, because at the time that God gave it to him even the new Christians didn’t completely understand the eternal implications of what Christ would achieve at his first coming and would continue at his second coming. Listen to these extraordinary words:

“God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth” (Ephesians 1:9-10).

That plan is none other than: THE KINGDOM OF GOD (on earth). Revealed by Messiah Jesus himself as recorded in the Gospels; and consolidated into the everlasting tenets of the Christian faith by the authors of the epistles and Revelation.

Jesus spoke often of the Kingdom of God; for example, comparing it to a mustard seed … the smallest of seeds that when planted grows into an enormous tree. Which is exactly what has happened to the body of Christ; an exponential growth down through the ages, to now consist of believers from virtually every nation and language on earth. It is the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts and minds of those who have been redeemed by the shed blood of Christ. Next, will come the final physical Kingdom of God on this earth; at which time all people, all governments, all nations will be brought under the authority of God’s magnificent Son. He will rule the nations with firmness, but fairness.

Isn’t that what most people want? They want: law, order, equality, safety, peace. And they want someone who has the kind of authority to realize those dreams, but also someone who is kind and considerate with that authority. One who truly cares about people and what’s best for them; who can rule and judge with impartiality and kindness. A truly wise and benevolent King whose attributes perfectly reflect who and what he is: Love, Truth, Justice, Mercy.

Kings and queens rise and they fall. Kingdoms come, kingdoms go. Nations wax and wane. Soon, very soon we will witness the rise of a Royal Kingdom and a Righteous King who will rule and reign supreme on the earth: The Kingdom of God.

Things to Ponder

“Fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing security and protection from harm” (Proverbs 19:23).

“When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan” (Proverbs 29:2).

Of Messiah (Jesus), God through his prophet Isaiah promises:

“His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” (Isaiah 9:7).

Yes, Lord … make it happen!

Separation of Church and State … For or Against? (Part I)

02 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by garybowers in Current Events

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First Amendment, Wall of Separation

Separation of Church and State

Such a noble idea and magnificent declaration! One that protects freedom of speech, press, peaceful assembly, petition, and religion in the United States of America.

Most patriotic or even marginally patriotic Americans know where this profound proclamation can be found. Or do we?

Let’s say that you are a guest on the TV game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The next to last question is: American citizens are guaranteed freedom of religion and speech in what famous document?

You stare at the four multiple choice answers on the screen, each one challenging you to choose it… but only one is correct.

You mull them over: It’s in the Declaration of Independence, right? No, it has to be part of the Constitution of the United States. Wait, could it be in Preamble to the Constitution? Of course, it must be the Bill of Rights? These rights and others are in the First Amendment, which is in the Bill of Rights.

Your uncertainty turns to supreme confidence. “Bill of Rights,” you yell. “My final answer.”

“Absolutely right,” exclaims the game show host. The audience is going crazy.

Our founding forefathers didn’t include such liberties in the Constitution itself because they assumed that these rights were innate to a democracy, especially a Republic. They should be a natural extension of “the inalienable rights” of Americans, and shouldn’t need to be listed. Right?

No, wrong, said many of the early Americans even after victory in the Revolutionary War won these rights from the British. The newly crowned “citizens of the United States of America” wanted written guarantees that the United States Government, present and future, would not in any way infringe on the God-given freedoms that make up the very heart and soul of this great country, of man himself. Thus, Amendments were necessary, rather than repealing the Constitution itself.

One more question to go, tied in to the previous question … get it right and you’re an instant millionaire!

The final question: Is the separation of Church and State guaranteed in either the US Constitution or the First Amendment?

For a million dollars, this couldn’t be easier. Only two choices … Yes or No.

No need to guess, because practically everyone knows the answer. It’s in the US Constitution. If not, it’s got to be in the Bill of Rights First Amendment. Either way, you win.

With a growing smile on your face and without needing to exercise your option of calling a friend for their advice, you hold your answer with a dramatic, tension-building pause.

You take a deep breath. After a long suspenseful exhale, you shout:

“Yes! At least one of them guarantees a wall of separation between Church and State.”

The game show host feigns his own anticipation-filled pause to intensify the drama. He smiles and begins to nod, then slowly shakes his head and frowns. You hear the impossible words that crush your dreams of instant wealth.

“No, I’m so sorry,” he groans. “There is no mention of Church and State separation in the US Constitution or the First Amendment.”

Nonsense! It must be a stupid technicality. The game show is fixed. Everyone knows that either the Constitution or First Amendment or both dictate that Church and State must be separated. Dismayed, you head straight for your hotel where you will look up the First Amendment on your iPad.

On your way you call your friend, whom you should have called on the show. She sadly reminds you that the earliest reference to actual separation of church and state comes from a revered, well-known American … Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States at the time. But not from the Constitution or the Bill of Rights or any other subsequent Amendment or from any federal or state law.

Back to Reality

In a moment, we’ll look again at the precise words of the First Amendment; plus some commentary on what I and millions of others believe to be the true and sincere intention of our founding fathers regarding, freedom of religion. With, however, an acknowledgment that many others see this differently. In fact, with the exception of abortion, same-sex marriage, and illegal immigration (and lately, Donald Trump!), there’s hardly another subject that divides American opinion more than the issue of Church and State compatibility.

Neither today’s or next week’s article is meant to debate the issue, including court decisions pertaining to the First Amendment freedom of religion, influenced by Thomas Jefferson’s famous line, “…thus, building a wall of separation between Church and State.” That well-meaning but controversial opinion was penned in a letter … the original source of Church and State separation.

What I will do is to emphasize the indisputable evidence that—even as President and years earlier as primary author of the Declaration of Independence—Jefferson’s “wall of separation” was supposition, not law. That point has been accurately and adequately defended by a number of reliable historians and judicial experts.

Thus, it’s not a question of whether separation of Church and State is the law of the land. It is not. Rather, it’s a question of whether it should be adopted, either by law or in principle. If so, to what extent?

Mostly in next week’s article, we’ll examine what Scripture has to say. All the while remembering that the framers of the United States Constitution were heavily influenced by their reliance on Judeo-Christian principles and precedents given by God through his Word.

I will, as much as possible, refrain from presenting my own opinions (in so many words) as to whether a wall should be erected, or already exists between Church and State. Instead, I prefer to present the Biblical evidence; to perhaps assist in forming your opinion if you have none, reinforce it, or possibly change your views on the subject. Obviously, that’s up to you. Whatever your opinion, I believe what you’ll see in Scripture just might surprise you.

Based on what I see as a firm Biblical premise, I’ll give you a healthy hint: The Lord is for and against separation of Church and State!

“What kind of a deductive cop-out is that,” you ask? Isn’t the Lord either for or against virtually everything? No, there are exceptions. For example: Even though the sinner and the sin of the sinner are practically inseparable (especially the consequences thereof), God loves the sinner but hates the sin.

The answer is both yes and no because the answer is contingent upon two basic conditions: (1) the definition of church and the definition of state; (2) Once the definitions are understood, it also depends on the type of government and the people running the government—their moral fiber, innate integrity, spiritual status, and their degree of acknowledgement, if any, of the Lord

The Actual Words & Clear Intent

Let’s return to the First Amendment.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”

We’ll stop there, for a moment.

The primary purpose of the Pilgrims and Puritans leaving Europe was to gain freedom mainly from the tyranny of the Church of England but also the Roman Catholic Church. These two ecclesiastic institutions had exerted an inordinate amount of influence on the governments of several countries. Much of the time, the King or Queen of a nation vied for sovereignty against Popes or Cardinals; thus, their citizens became pawns in the deadly game of King versus Bishop. Whoever prevailed for however long resulted in either a State Church or a Church State.

HOWEVER, this struggle for supremacy had nothing to do with born-again believers who reported directly and only to God and Jesus Christ. The only involvement of true believers was that of being seriously persecuted by State, Church, or both.

(Please, pause with me for this message: Will the ACLU ever realize that no one is really being persecuted, discriminated, deprived, harmed, injured or otherwise mistreated, except the Christians who the ACLU alleges are guilty of the aforementioned offenses?)!

The First Amendment does not state or even imply that Church and State must be separated as such; certainly not to the degree demanded by many in today’s society, i.e. no Ten Commandments posted in government offices or public places. Or, no “Christian” prayers, objects, or references anywhere except in one’s home or church. Not even mention of Jesus’s name by military chaplains! Yet, Muslim prayers are not only allowed in some schools and public places, they are encouraged by our United States President! That is the height of duplicity, but also a subject for another day.

The First Amendment stipulates that Congress (used generically to include all three branches of our government), shall not make (pass) any law that would directly or even indirectly result in the creation or adoption of a “religion” from or through which the government would govern the people.

Does that mean complete “separation” of church and state? Let’s continue.

Equally clear is that Congress cannot be party to, “…prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Meaning prevention of or interference with individual or group freedom to exercise their beliefs (practice, which includes preaching), as further addressed and amplified through freedom of speech and/or right of peaceful assembly, and right to publish.

Does this additional condition mean that there is Church and there is State; and, like east and west, never the two shall meet? Or is it at face value simply saying what it appears to be saying? If so, then is a pastor of a local church permitted to speak Biblically on the subject of abortion to a high school class whose teacher invited the Pastor? Can a member of Congress, who supports marriage between one man and one woman, announce that belief as an invited speaker for a graduation ceremony of lawyers without someone playing the Church and State card? Can a business who owns their store and property put up a nativity scene?

Why not? Give me one good reason, why not?

Separation of Church and State?

No, I asked for a good reason.

Did I say earlier I would refrain from conveying my opinion? These are not opinions, they are simply observations! Besides, most of the Biblical evidence comes next week.

Thomas Jefferson

There is no language in the Constitution regarding the concept of Church and State separation. Nor does the First Amendment make such a statement. That Amendment doesn’t tell a Church (any religion) what it can or cannot do, or place any restrictions on individuals or groups as long as whatever they do (exercising their rights) is done peaceably.

Instead, the First Amendment places all the responsibility and restrictions on the Government. Specifically, that our Government stay out of the business of establishing its governing body and functions on or through (one or more) religion. To also cease and desist from any interference with individuals or groups practicing their faith.

Yet, the totally secular in our society want nothing more than to eliminate (through the guise of tolerance and political correctness) ALL vestiges of Christianity in ALL government, educational, and public places. If they accomplish that, they’ll head for our homes and churches. They accuse anything or anyone who displays in any manner, whatsoever (including speech), something that smacks of Christianity to be in violation of the law of Church and State separation, which doesn’t exist in the first place.

Those who support their concept or definition of Church and State separation (whether they know their history or not), do so primarily because of the (now famous) letter written by President Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists, a Christian congregation in Connecticut. This small congregation had become extremely concerned that the more populated and dominant Congregationalist Church, whose membership included politicians, could or would exercise (usurp) enough power to become like the Roman Catholic or Anglican Church in Europe. With the unimaginable and unacceptable potential for possible control of the United States Government.

Here is a portion of President Jefferson’s written response to the Baptists:

“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions. I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’, thus building a wall of separation between Church & State” (Italics for emphasis).

(Benjamin Franklin’s Comments)

Jefferson’s opinion formed the basis for the Supreme Court’s declaration in the Reynolds v United States (1878) case that: “it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured. Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere (religious) opinion, but was left free to reach (only those religious) actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order.”

In other words, both Thomas Jefferson and the Supreme Court interpreted the First Amendment wording on religious freedom predominantly, if not exclusively, in favor of the people’s right to believe and practice those beliefs as long as the “exercise thereof” didn’t result in violation of the law or become subversive.

As alluded earlier, the 19^th, 20^th & 21^st century position of those who detest religion of any sort use Jefferson’s “separation” opinion as law and do so virtually in reverse. That is, to remove any verbal or visual references to God, Jesus, or the Christian faith in general. Which makes the contemporary application totally out of balance … one sided. The “separation” pendulum has swung much too far to the left; far enough to deprive individuals of other First Amendment rights pertaining to “religion.”

That is not my opinion; it is a known fact in the United States and other Western nations. Plus, it’s a foregone conclusion in Muslim nations—no tolerance for Christians at all.

Having said that, there is Biblical evidence to support the (balanced) view of some separation between Church functions and government functions within a nation, state, or city.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…” (Psalms 33:12).

Before we examine the Biblical historical evidence, we need to define Church and State. The definition of Religion will be indirectly included. This is necessary to adequately understand and appreciate to what extent, if any, there exists a practical distinction between what Governments should be (and do) and how the “Church” should interact with and respond to the administration of government.

What Would Jesus Do (What Did He Say)

We will, however, begin with one of the most profound statements in all of Scripture, indeed, in the entire history of mankind. A concept presented by none other than Messiah Jesus … actually, just one of many remarkable truths given to us by the Lord.

Here is the setting: “Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested … ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’” (Matthew 22:15-17).

Sometimes Jesus’s response would be patient, even gentle to the religious leaders who wanted to discredit him, then later plotted to kill him.

But sometimes not! This was one of those times.

“But Jesus knew their evil motives. ‘You hypocrites!’ he said. ‘Why are you trying to trap me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.’ When they handed him a Roman coin, he asked, ‘Whose picture and title are stamped on it?’

‘Caesar’s,’ they replied.

‘Well then,’ he said, ‘give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God’” (Verses 18-21).

“His reply amazed them, and they went away” (Verse 22).

You think!

Personally, I run to Jesus, not away from him. Nevertheless, his response amazes me every time I read it. I would never have thought of such a reply. Once again, the religious leaders fell into their own trap.

This astonishing response of Jesus fits perfectly with the concern of “Church and State;” but does so in the context of the Roman Empire led by its dictatorial Caesars (with some authority wielded by the Roman Senate), having conquered many nations including Israel.

Should there be a “wall” between Church and State. If so, how high should it be?

One thing is clear in Jesus’s teaching and throughout Scripture: Anyone who truly believes in God and seeks him, particularly those redeemed by the atoning sacrifice of Messiah’s death on the Cross, must acknowledge the authority of their government—unless that government passes laws or imposes conditions on believers that are in direct conflict with God’s truth.

After all, it is the Lord who sovereignly sets up and brings down rulers and governments.

“It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall” (Psalms 75:7).

Personally, I want my position (view) and practice (conduct) regarding separation of Church and State to be based on God’s view of the subject.

Such as the Holy Spirit inspired words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy: “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior; who wants everyone to be saved and understand the truth. For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:1-5).

Definition of Church

This is the most important thing to grasp of all. I have commented on this subject in a few previous articles, particularly one of the earliest Eye of Prophecy articles, The Woman and the Beast, Part IV (published 11-2-13). Here are some excerpts in italics from that post, which also demonstrates that the Christian faith is not a “religion” as such; rather it is a personal relationship with the Lord based on what God has done for us through his Son (purchased our redemption) that we could not do for ourselves:

Nowhere in the New Testament do we find any evidence whatsoever that Jesus needed a seat of government, or permission from a king, or endorsement by ruling officials or religious leaders to fulfill his mission on earth. In fact just the opposite occurred: He was ultimately rejected first by the religious leaders and then by the greater populace because they assumed that The Messiah would rule and reign from Jerusalem and deliver Israel from Gentile oppression. That will, in fact, happen one day when Christ returns to this earth. But the Old Testament was crystal clear that the Messiah must first suffer and die to liberate mankind from its worst tyranny … enslavement to sin; which is, after all, what produces the unjust and criminal conquest of rulers and nations against each other. Not to mention the devastation of individual lives resulting from greed, envy, lust, pride, theft, jealousy, immorality, sorcery, lying, and murder.

Nor do we find any evidence in Scripture or church history that 1st, or 2nd, or 3rd century believers were commanded to establish a centralized system of church rule that would unite all individual “churches” into an authoritarian hierarchy that would, in turn, govern (through church officials such as priests, bishops, vicars) and rule over individual believers.

The early Christian churches were more often found to be in the homes of believers, and were so identified in Paul’s epistles as (for example), “God’s holy people in the city of Colossae,” or the “church of God which is at Corinth.” But never (for example) to the “church of Rome,” meaning the one and only Church of (belonging to or controlling from) Rome. And when Jesus refers to all seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3, he addresses his comments to (for example) the “church in Sardis.”

This is much more than just semantics … This distinction constitutes the very essence, the very character, the very identity, and definition of the church. It is the living church of God and of Christ, not a structure or system or seat of centralized, ecumenical power that claims ultimate authority over all who belong to that system including ex-communication; and that compels admission to and membership in the “Church” (beginning with baptism, including infants) as a fundamental requirement for salvation and, thus, qualifies its’ members to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Or, at least, places the members in good standing and gives them a head-start toward heaven; as long as they, in some fashion, remain in a “state of grace” though the conditions of this state are quite ambiguous.

The very words of Jesus contradicts and refutes this premise of salvation by admission to, affiliation with, and inclusion in any religious order by declaring, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The man to whom Jesus spoke was, of course, Nicodemus; who was a member of the elite Jewish Sanhedrin, whose every colleague was thought to be securely and eternally connected to God and the Kingdom of God. Instead, Jesus said that a spiritual rebirth—made possible only by personally believing and receiving Christ as God’s Savior to mankind—was the ONLY way anyone would ever see the Kingdom of God.

Although the book of Galatians is written to the “churches of Galatia”, the word “of” is needed because there were several churches (plural) in the region of Galatia. When writing to a particular group of Christians in a specific city, Paul always uses the functional preposition in or at. Thus, the church was so identified by the presence of believers in or at a particular location; not by a structure or centralized organization that exercised a governmental type of regulation over believers or the churches in which they fellowship and served, whether someone’s home or a building to accommodate the growing number of Christians in that city. The highest degree of administration over any individual church should be no more than the church board, normally composed of pastors and elders.

Application to Church and State Separation

It was precisely structured religion in the form of the mighty Anglican and Roman Catholic Church and the intrusion of these institutional “religions” from which born-again believers fled; exposing these Church-State organizations that did not represent true Christianity nor comprise the true Church consisting of individual believers, without need for a hierarchical structure to govern them.

In today’s world this would include any religious entity that seeks to control national or state or city governments, the most obvious of which are Muslim efforts to establish an Islamic Caliphate; but also individual nations whose governments are controlled by one of four Muslim sects—Sunni, Shi’ite, Alawite, or Wahhabi.

As indicated earlier, in colonial times the primary obstacle to and enemy of those who longed for all the freedoms granted by the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was the Church of England and the Church of Rome. Both of these professed to be God’s institutional authority on earth. Both demanded complete loyalty, often times clashing over whose authority was supreme … the King or the Pope (including cardinals, bishops and even priests).

Nothing could be farther from the truth! Excessive authority, yes. From, by, and through God … no.

By Biblical definition and application, this would also include the Mormon Church and organized Protestant denominations, such Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian; if, in fact, their organizational hierarchy claims ultimate authority over Scripture or any born-again believers in their congregations.

The core principle of God’s offer of salvation for the human race through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is individual freedom—to choose or reject that offer. If accepted … total forgiveness of sin and complete pardon from sin’s penalty. If rejected … slavery to sin often resulting in human bondage to tyrannical rulers and governments. Then, eternal separation from God after death.

God’s marvelous truth of salvation is not, repeat NOT, to be forced on any individual or group of people in the same vein as Muslim attempts to convert non-Muslims and even fellow Muslims (from another sect) by forced submission. If the “infidels” do not submit, off with their heads!

What’s worse is that “professed” Christians (in name only) have attempted to coerce “conversion” through the military might of a nation or ecclesiastical intimidation or both. To that end horrific anti-Christian means have been used, such as war, inquisitions and excommunication that their misguided adherents believe is the kiss of (eternal) death.

Little wonder, then, that the First Amendment became the cornerstone and defender of the American dream of freedom to worship, assemble, publish, petition, and protest peaceably. To that end, the First Amendment specifically and exclusively addresses the restrictions placed on the United States Government not to prohibit or otherwise interfere with the beliefs of individuals and the peaceable expression of those beliefs.

Definition of State

Actually, it’s not so much a matter of how State is defined, as it is the type of government in force at any given time. In that regard, what are the different kinds of past, present, or future governments that can, in large part, determine whether a wall of separation between Church and State should exist, and to what extent implemented (enforced), if at all? I think that some excerpts from an Eye of Prophecy article, God Is in Control (2-21-15) sufficiently summarizes national governments down through the ages. As follows, in italics:

From the dawn of human existence virtually every kind of government has been in place at one time or another. A country’s government is often a reflection of its people … their race, beliefs (religious or secular), moral values, ethnic upbringing and tribal territory. But sometimes government can be an ill-conceived and unwanted bureaucracy with leaders vying for power and supremacy. All too often, innocent people are victimized by such power struggles, both citizens of the country and residents of neighboring nations that take exception to such Machiavelli type systems.

The common people, representatives of those people, wealthy entrepreneurs, ambitious leaders (good and bad), or all of the above can determine whether a country will become a parliamentary or a democratic representative republic; an absolute (king/queen) or constitutional monarch; an autocratic ruler or state controlled (communism or fascism) dictatorship; an aristocratic or military oligarchy; a cleric-run theocracy or even a true Theocracy. The idea of a theocentric government is, “having God as the central interest and ultimate concern.” (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary).

Moreover, the destiny of nations (both good and bad) has often been determined by the benevolence or malevolence of rulers … the laws they make and enforce, the decrees they issue, decisions they make, benefits they provide, and goals they aspire to. As the leaders go, so go the people. A ruler with integrity, compassion, and wisdom can be, and often is, a moral compass to the entire nation. Conversely, a selfish, deceitful, evil ruler can bring an entire nation down. Even the United States of America, which many contemplate to be the greatest nation of all time (at least the greatest Republic), relies heavily on its President—considered by some as the most powerful position in the world—to lead … economically, socially, militarily, legally, and morally.

The rise and fall of great leaders, noble and ignoble; of great nations, moral and immoral, is the stuff that legends are made of. And many of these individual and national epitaphs can be found in the Bible as well as secular history. For example, the glorious rise and inglorious fall of Babylon.

Satan’s supreme goal is to create a universal system of belief that will: (1) internally and covertly destabilize and replace the Kingdom of Heaven currently in the hearts of men, woman, and children who have been redeemed by Christ through his great sacrifice for our sins. (2) To establish an international religious and political system that will overtly crush nations whose fundamental existence and intrinsic value is centered on freedom of worship and enterprise … a government of, by, and for the people, such as Israel and the United States.

These two satanic strategies are underway primarily through the cults of Christianity (internal subversion) such as Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, and Jehovah’s Witness; and externally through non-Christian religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Communism, and Fascism … All of these systems are predicated on a works based program of appeasing God to somehow (maybe) merit salvation. Likewise, Fascism and Communism—with the only difference that of the State rewarding meritorious conduct and service with … whatever rewards they deem necessary.

Things to Ponder

Ironically and unfortunately, a prime example of a wall of separation between Church and State is a godless, agnostic government (whether Communist or Fascist such as Stalin’s Russia and Germany’s Third Reich) that brutally suppresses all things Christian (and Jewish).

But no more than a national government headed by a monarchy or oligarchy based on a religion that is equally intolerant to anyone not a part of that religion … like most Islamic nations. Also, like the Church of England in which the King was head over both State and Church. Or like the Roman Catholic Church in which the Pope (for many years) reigned supreme over national heads of state.

Either one of these suppressive forms of Church or Anti-Church governments is exactly what the First Amendment seeks to prevent.

Can Christians contribute to, without control of, government?

Without valuable Christian contributions to (not control of) government, is it then possible for a democracy or a republic to flourish and survive if its citizens carry the idea of Church and State separation to its extreme?

Some tough questions, but there are Biblical principles and precedents.

Next week’s article will explore God’s interaction with people through different administrative (government) systems. To see divine instruction given and precedents set to determine whether there should be, “a wall of separation between Church and State.”

Peace or a Palestinian State … Which Will It Be?

27 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by garybowers in Current Events

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Tags

Hamas, Palestinian Authority, Peace Conference

Peace in Israel or a Palestinian State?

Even the most uniformed on Middle East affairs would probably recognize that this is a unilateral ultimatum that heavily favors the Palestinians and unequally places Israel at a huge disadvantage in the collective eyes of practically every nation on earth. Never mind whether it would be the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank or Hamas of the Gaza Strip who would be the governing authority of this recognized Palestinian State or what the boundaries would be … all particulars could be sorted out later between the two rival Palestinian factions.

But could they be sorted out? Perhaps, but not without guns and knives. As it stands right now, there is no indication at all that either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority is willing to allow the other to be the ruling administration of the current territories occupied by their people, let alone a Palestinian State. However, neither France nor virtually any other nation really cares about the gory details, as long as a Palestinian State is achieved. (The details would be gory, because civil war among Arabs in Israel would be the inevitable result of the formation of a Palestinian State, unless Israel has a say in who will govern the Palestinians. Moreover, it’s crystal clear that Israel would not condone Hamas as this administrative body).

All the Pressure is On Israel

Thus, it would be a win-win for the Palestinians and a lose-lose for the Israelis.

Why? Because any “peace conference agreement” between the Palestinians and Israelis undoubtedly would be heavily slanted toward Palestinian demands, whether a Palestinian State was agreed to or not. The harsh reality of this implausible proposal is that the Palestinians have no incentive whatsoever to reach any peace agreement with Israel. Why would or should they, when France will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian State, “if the peace negotiations fail.” Or, perhaps even if Israel refuses to participate in the first place.

(This is the Palestinian State Desired by Palestinians)

The Palestinian Authority and/or Hamas can impose impossible conditions on Israel for “peace,” as they having nothing to lose by not negotiating in good faith. With everything to gain if no peace accord is reached; because France’s intention is to recognize a Palestinian State absent any agreement and presumably absent any negotiations at all. Doesn’t matter in the eyes of the French (and all nations who now or will later support France’s proposal) whether this potential lack of agreement is Israel’s fault, or the Palestinian’s fault, or both. Yet, given France’s support for the “Palestinian cause” most assuredly it will be Israel’s fault.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu called the French initiative, “mystifying.” That’s the classical understatement. In response to France’s untenable proposal, Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Emmanuel Nahshon affirmed Israel’s continuing support for, “direct negotiations with the Palestinians.” But that Israel is against, “…attempts to predetermine the outcome of negotiations.”

That statement is as diplomatic as a diplomat can get, while still getting the point across that the conditions imposed by France for such a proposal disproportionately favors the Palestinian position, while relegating Israel to the status of culprit should the peace conference fail. And, rest assured, the Palestinians will see to this failure.

Also, Israeli Foreign Minister, Alon Ushpiz met with France’s ambassador to Israel, Patrick Maisonnave; but refused to discuss the details of that meeting, i.e. whether Israel would comply with the French plan and join the Palestinians in such a peace conference.

What makes the French proposition even more ludicrous, if not hypocritical, is that before the peace conference offer was made, France knew what the Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister, Riad Al-Malki had said just the day before while visiting Japan with PA President Mahmoud Abbas: “We will never go back and sit again in a direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.”

To appease France and other nations who have or will undoubtedly support such a convention, and also to consider all options that would unilaterally force Israel into an ostracized corner of world criticism (in keeping with the political strategy of Palestinian propaganda/lies to demonize Israel), Palestinian official, Ahmad Majdalani immediately contradicted Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Al-Malki’s statement of no more negotiations with the Israelis.

According to Majdalani, the Palestinians support the French initiative!

In one day’s time, the Palestinians reversed their position of no more negotiations with Israel for any reason, to a professed willingness to attend this biased (my way or the highway) forum under the pretense that if a powerful nation like France suggests more negotiations, then why not attend? But with the clear implication that the Palestinians need not make any concessions whatsoever during this conference.

Why should they when the United Nations has already granted the Palestinian Authority (and the Palestinians in general) non-member observant status in the UN. Much like other nations were eventually granted full UN membership after beginning with observer status. And, for example, Sweden, accepting in principle a Palestinian State, even though such a state does not exist. And now France adding its proposed recognition of a Palestinian State, with the obvious inference that it will do so if Israel doesn’t cooperate.

(Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu at a News Conference While in Berlin, Shortly After Hearing of France’s Proposed Peace Conference. His Expression Matches His Response that France’s Proposal Was Baffling)

Anti-Semitism is unfortunately alive and doing well all over the world, especially in Europe and most glaringly in France. Although the French government periodically issues purported support for Israel, the large Muslim population in France as well as many of the French, themselves, still harbor a strong and virulent animosity toward the Jews. Enough so that the French are now willing to confront Israel with our way or the highway ultimatum.

*Note: As with any generalization, my observation of France’s hostility toward Jews and Israel certainly doesn’t include all of the French, as there are some who truly support the existence of a Jewish State in general and Jews in particular.

Do the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs Really Want a State of Their Own?

The answer: Yes and No. With the, “yes,” side of the answer only requiring a short and not so sweet explanation: Most Palestinians want a Palestinian State in place of a Jewish State, not alongside Israel.

With the answer of, “no,” involving more elaboration, which will be done in the remainder of today’s article.

The majority of Palestinians do not (at least yet) really want or need a state of their own. Unless as indicated, it could somehow replace the State of Israel. As explained in a few prior Eye of Prophecy articles, especially one devoted to the subject almost exclusively, there are several reasons for Arab reluctance for a state of their own. One reason: They wouldn’t know what to do if they did become a State … seriously. At least not the so-called moderate among them. Conversely, the radical Palestinians, especially those in the Hamas camp, would know exactly what to do: Begin a series of coordinated attacks against Israel, while seemingly protected by statehood status.

What the Palestinians want most of all is simply for the international community to take sides against Israel. This would give more credibility to their underlying objective of a Palestinian State not just within certain borders of Israel, but a state replacing all of Israel. Because to the Arab and most non-Arab Muslims, there is no such thing as Israel. All one needs to do is talk to any Palestinian on the street, or listen to their prolific propaganda, or read their school curriculum, or examine their maps of Palestine. For example, some Palestinian officials have recently demanded that all Jews in Palestine should be required to return to the country from which they immigrated (to Israel).

Practically speaking, however, the Palestinian have no answers to some heavy-duty questions should a Palestinian State be recognized by France (or other nations), potentially followed by a United Nations resolution to declare a state of Palestine within Israel’s borders.

As already alluded, one such question is who would govern such a country. If today, or tomorrow, or the near future, or even years from now, a Palestinian State was actually approved by the UN or even by the P5 + 1 (United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany), there would be an immediate power struggle (civil war) between Hamas of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank.

Another huge hurdle would be the actual territorial boundaries of such a Palestinian State. Which is why Israel must agree to such borders for purpose of their national security and national heritage and identity. That means that Israel would not surrender the Golan Heights, nor ever accept an official partition of West and East Jerusalem. Certainly, not to allow the Palestinian capital to be East Jerusalem, which includes Temple Mount. So, if France recognizes a Palestinian State, will they arbitrarily define these borders? Will they demand that the Jews vacate all settlements within the West Bank, including East Jerusalem? Would they unilaterally declare East Jerusalem as the Palestinian State Capital? Will they insist that Israel return the Golan Heights back to Syria? And, if Israel did, who or what in Syria would control the Golan Heights … given the fighting and anarchy already taking place in that war-torn country.

(Valley Beneath One of the Golan Heights Strategic High Points)

But the biggest obstacle of all: For years and years neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority has agreed to just two basic conditions requested by the Israeli government in order for the Jews to consider approval and acceptance of a Palestinian State: (1) Recognition of Israel itself as a sovereign Jewish State. (2) No Palestinian capital in (East) Jerusalem. It’s that simple. Israel is saying that a Palestinian State is feasible if the Palestinians would merely acknowledge the sovereign State of Israel, and agree to put a Palestinian capital anywhere in such a state except Jerusalem. Without these two concessions, all other negotiable issues are irrelevant.

Because the Palestinians refuse to even contemplate these two conditions but also because they continue to make other impossible demands, such as right of return of all so-called Arab refugees from the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, 1967, and 1973, it’s little wonder that their leaders refuse to, “sit again in direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.” Unless, that is, prominent nations like France agree to recognize a Palestinian State should peace conference negotiations fail. It’s obvious that such a proposal gives the Palestinians a great deal of incentive to see that such negotiations do, in fact, fail.

*Note: This “right of refugee return” would result in millions of Arabs inundating Israel with the understandable result of making it untenable for a Jewish State to exist. The fact of the matter is that many Arabs who left Israel during these wars did so voluntarily. Others left because they were so ordered by their own Arab armies attacking Israel. Because most of them had nowhere to go, they were placed in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon and Syria. They were NOT forced out of Israel by the Jews.

Here are some (italicized) excerpts from the Eye of Prophecy article entitled, A Palestinian State (No, say many Arabs!) that dovetails with today’s article. Posted on 4-11-14.

In today’s world, news flows from the Middle East, especially Israel, like water through a ruptured dam. United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, just returned from his 11th shuttle diplomacy trip to Israel, and plans on returning in the next few days. Although both the Israeli and Palestinian sides are showing signs that Kerry is wearing out his welcome, our administration continues its’ relentless march toward a two-state “peace agreement” solution between Israel and the Palestinians. At the core of such an arrangement is a not so hidden agenda within the framework of the US proposals that would require Israel to return to 1967 borders. To the Israelis this is unthinkable, and irony of all ironies, it is also a serious problem with the majority of the 1.5 million Israeli Arabs living in Israel!

Why would so many Arabs NOT want a Palestinian State? Isn’t that what all Arabs long for in Israel? Isn’t that the reason for past terrorist attacks on Israeli Jews? Or, the incessant demands by the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas and its rival counterpart Hamas in the Gaza Strip for Palestinian rights? Or the greater majority of world opinion to end so-called Israeli settlement occupation of certain territories within Israel? What is so problematic about a Palestinian State that is mapped along what many refer to as pre-1967 borders, that are not really borders at all … in the sense of a border between the US and Mexico, or France and Germany, or even between Israel and Jordan. Rather, these internal borders are more like cease-fire lines.

Who knows exactly what (how many) issues must be resolved before a final roadmap to peace is finished? Who can predict exactly what boundaries will encompass a Palestinian State; if, indeed, that is even possible in the first place? Who could possibly imagine that Israel would divide its capital by granting total sovereignty of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians or seriously jeopardize its security by yielding the Golan Heights to Syria? But there is one thing that Israel seems prepared to do up front, in response to non-stop Palestinian and international demands, including US plans, that Israeli West Bank settlements be evacuated (after the fashion of the Gaza Strip extradition).

From an article in an Israeli daily newspaper, Ma’ariv, we read that Israel has responded to the American proposals, by suggesting that Israeli Arab communities currently within Israel and under Jewish sovereignty be transferred to the Palestinian Authority as part of any future land swap; which, in turn, would return Jewish settlements of the West Bank to total Israeli sovereignty. Actually, this idea is not all that new, but it tends to fit with future boundaries suggested by Secretary John Kerry.

And as Palestinian journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh writes in his article for Gatestone Institute, “It was hard this week to find even one Israeli Arab who publicly supported the proposal.” Khaled goes on to say, “Arab Knesset members … do not want to wake up in the morning and discover that they are citizens of a Palestinian state. It is much easier for them to accuse Israel of racism than to admit that they do not want to be part of a Palestinian state.”

At face value that seems and sounds incredible—that Palestinians wouldn’t want to be governed by their own people. But after further review, it’s all too practical and easy to grasp. Pretty much ever since Israel became a nation, and especially since 1967 when hundreds of thousands more Arabs suddenly became citizens of Israel, those Israeli Arabs have been far better off than their Palestinian brothers living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Although there’s still a lot of hostility emanating from Israeli Arabs toward Israel, they understand that Israeli citizenship affords them much more freedom, democracy, a higher standard of living, movement throughout Israel, more places to shop for and buy the things they want and need; in short, a better way of life. The last thing they want is an abruptly changed life in a Palestinian State, controlled by a Palestinian government that could just as quickly take away many of the privileges they currently enjoy as Israeli citizens.

I have seen first-hand this inexplicable, almost bizarre dichotomy between the real-life benefits experienced by so many Arabs with Israeli citizenship, juxtaposed with their historical (ancient) anger toward Israel that (irrationally and illogically) simultaneously floods their heart and soul.

On the last day or next to last day of a trip to Israel that my sister and I made in March, 2006, we returned from the Western Wall and Temple Mount to our hotel in Jerusalem via a taxi. The taxi was driven by an Israeli Arab who I estimated to be about 63 years of age.

As with many Israeli taxi drivers, he was talkative and asked what brought us to Israel. My response was that I was doing research for a book (what at that time was my first book, a novel, called O Israel, and published in 2007). One thing led to another and I asked him whether he and his people the Arabs were better off under Jordanian rule or Palestinian authority or under Jewish government. I’ll never forget his answer. He replied that things were definitely better living in Israel (as an Israeli citizen) than under the old Jordanian government and (implying) under the PLO in the West Bank. He cited such things as jobs, schools, goods, freedom to move around, and opportunities in general. But then he abruptly halted his modest praise of this freedom in Israel, and said emphatically (a close paraphrase), “The Jews are wrong. This is still our land. They took it from us.”

The fact is that, with the exception of the aforementioned regions captured by Israel in 1967 (most of which were given back to Palestinian functional control), Israel has not taken any land from the Arabs. The Jews purchased nearly all the land where they currently reside, despite the evidence that it was given to them by the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and again by the UN in 1947. For that matter, any land captured in war, even by means of aggressive expansion has historically been conceded to the conqueror. None of Israel’s wars had anything to do with a deliberate attempt to annex more property and/or displace Palestinians. They were all conflicts of self-defense and national survival. Yet, they still returned most of the land gained through the blood of their soldiers and civilians. Think for a moment about our own Revolutionary War against the British. We gave not a single acre back to England; instead we went Westward Ho and accumulated millions of more acres all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Yes, the views expressed by our taxi driver exactly mirror the mindset of the Arabs in Israel, even the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (if they would admit it): We know we’re much better off as citizens of Israel, but they are still our eternal enemy.

Summary

With regard to a Palestinian State, it’s vital that we dispel two myths: (1) The Palestinians want a Palestinian State alongside of Israel. They do not; they want a nation to replace Israel. If they cannot have such a state, then they really don’t want or need sovereignty that would be a constant source of friction, not only with Israel but among their own people vying for supremacy to rule.

(2) That Israel is the main obstacle to a negotiated peace and/or a Palestinian State. Also, not true, although most of the Western world is under that impression … thanks to Palestinian propaganda in particular and Arab hype in general. But also responsible for this falsehood is leaders of prominent nations including, unfortunately, the United States; that is to say the current Presidential staff.

How much influence, then, would France exert and on whom, should the French government unilaterally recognize the two separated territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as an undivided Palestinian State? When, in fact, they are two distinct geographical areas in Israel, separated by a crucial corridor of Israel itself, and headed by two heated rivals … Palestinian Authority Fatah and Hamas.

Concerning Israel, herself, such a declaration or recognition would have little national impact. Meaning that Israel will not and cannot allow any foreign nation or even the United Nations to arbitrarily and capriciously create a Palestinian State unless a firm agreement is reached on the boundaries of that state, the capital of that state, and a few other less significant but nevertheless important conditions that Israel can at least tolerate.

Regarding the Muslim nations of the world and countries who support (in varying degrees) those Islamic nations, such a declaration would have a profound influence. If for no other reason than France is one of the three most powerful nations of Europe. France is also on the Security Council of the United Nations and one of the influential P5 +1 group of nations.

Such recognition by France would probably not generate any international legal backing; nor would an independent (of Israel’s input) acknowledgment of a Palestinian State mean that such a country would actually exist. It would, however, once again put incredible unwarranted global pressure on Israel to support such a recognition or bear the consequences of more intensified, but unjustified criticism and erroneous accusation that Israel is, for example, an apartheid state.

I agree with the clearly accurate analysis written in an article about France’s outlandish proposal, as posted in the online news source, United with Israel (not just because the article tracks with my assessment of what’s really taking place):

“The Palestinians are hoping that Israel encounters heavy international pressure, while they concede nothing in direct negotiations, which they have been systematically avoiding.”

That article concludes with: “France has threatened that if its diplomatic efforts fail, it will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian State. Israel says such a move provides an incentive for the Palestinians to refuse to compromise or negotiate directly. It insists a Palestinian state can only come about through direct negotiations, which the Palestinians consistently refuse to enter.”

Things to Ponder

We all need a solemn reminder what God Almighty has to say about the Promised Land of Israel. Not only will the Lord have the final say, but it goes without saying that peoples and nations would do well to heed his promises and warnings.

Long after God bequeathed the land of Israel to Abraham, then to Isaac, and then to Jacob, he divinely affirmed this everlasting land covenant to Moses and the Hebrews. Read with me the Lord’s declaration to Moses:

“Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your very own possession. I am the Lord!’” (Exodus 6:6-8).

“I am the Lord,” says it all. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the lower court, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of heaven and earth.

Most know the story of what happened after God issued this decree to deliver his people from Egyptian bondage and bring them to the Land promised to their ancestors and to them. Nothing less than some of the greatest miracles ever recorded … the ten plagues of Egypt. Followed by splitting of the Red Sea, manna from heaven for forty years, a river gushing from solid rock, the very presence of God on Mount Sinai and in the Tabernacle Holy of Holies, and the finger of God literally writing the Ten Commandments on solid stone tablets … and more!

May I ask a question? If the only true and living God rescued the Jews from Egyptian oppression and brought them to the Promised Land of Israel through a series of miracles and judgments against those who sought to destroy the Hebrews, why wouldn’t he judge peoples and nations in today’s world who also seek to destroy Jews in Israel and Israel itself? Based on hundreds of prophecies and promises in Scripture, the answer is absolutely obvious. God will defend and protect the Jews now that they are fulfilling the Lord’s magnificent plan to reinstate them to the Promised Land and restore them as his special possession from all nations of the world. Those who seek to destroy or even oppose Israel will answer to God, himself.

The Palestinians, Arab nations, Islamic countries, Europe, the United Nations and, yes even the United States would do well to sit up and take notice that God’s promises to Israel are just as valid today as they were when he brought Pharaoh and Egypt to their knees.

The stunning prophecies of Israel’s physical and spiritual restoration are unfolding before our 20^th and 21^st century eyes. God’s people have returned to the Land of Israel and have made it beautiful and prosperous again. Graciously, they have allowed the Palestinians to occupy (yes, it’s the Palestinians who are the occupiers) territories that are truly a significant part of the Promised Land of Israel … Judea and Samaria (called the West Bank) and the southwest coast, currently called the Gaza Strip.

Moreover, on the authority of Scripture and on peril of God’s wrath, this land must not be divided into two states or divided at all. All of it belongs to Israel, not the least of which is Jerusalem, the city that the Bible says God loves above all cities of the world. In that regard, even the Jews must be cautious about giving away any part of the land (permanently). To do so would be to deny the divine title-deed given to Israel in perpetuity.

Listen to the words of God Almighty to a prophet of Israel:

“The day is near when I, the Lord, will judge all godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads. Just as you swallowed up my people on my holy mountain, so you and the surrounding nations will swallow the punishment I pour out on you. Yes, all you nations will drink and stagger and disappear from history. But Jerusalem will become a refuge for those who escape; it will be a holy place. And the people of Israel will come back to reclaim their inheritance…

“Then my people living in the Negev will occupy the mountains of Edom. Those living in the foothills of Judah will possess the Philistine plains and take over the fields of Ephraim and Samaria. And the people of Benjamin will occupy the land of Gilead. The exiles of Israel will return to their land and occupy the Phoenician coast as far north as Zarephath…” (Obadiah 1:15-20).

(Map of the Promised Land Given by God to the Jews … Includes Portions of Modern Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan)

The places listed in these verses represent and comprise all of modern-day Israel and more … as the original Promised Land was much larger than today’s Israel. And so it will be again.

“…And the Lord himself will be king!” (Verse 21).

More Palestinian Lies

20 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by garybowers in Current Events

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Jihad, Knife intifida

Sadly, The Lies and Murders Continue

“It is a puzzle: are the leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) playing dumb, or do they believe their own ridiculous rhetoric?”

This is a quote from a well-known and respected journalist in the Middle East, Khaled Abu Toameh, in a recent Gatestone Institute article published on February 17^th, 2016 entitled, Palestinian Leaders: Who Are They Fooling?

He goes on to say, “As the current wave of stabbings, car-rammings and shooting attacks, which began in October 2015, continues and even seems to be intensifying, PA President Mahmoud Abbas and top Palestinian officials insist that we are witnessing nothing but a ‘popular peaceful uprising.’”

Permit me to also quote an excerpt from my Eye of Prophecy article, If You Tell a Big Lie Long Enough… (Posted 10-10-15):

Muslims in general, Palestinian Arabs in particular, and entirely too many nations and news sources have become increasingly confident of global impunity to and world-wide acceptance of what they say; to the extent that no matter how big the lie or omission, nations and peoples will now or one day soon believe them.

Moreover, it’s abundantly clear that the growing deadly attacks on Israeli civilians is a result of incitement directly from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas; who is himself becoming progressively and intensely bolder in his proliferation of big lies about Israel and the Jews. As epitomized in his recent speech of September 30^th to the United Nations General Assembly, he is overtly implementing the Muslim strategy of distorting events and facts to the point of literally rewriting history. Middle East history as found in the Palestinian education system and textbooks and journalism and maps is markedly different from the real history of Israel’s existence, especially since 1948.

In that Eye of Prophecy article, I also quote several parts of Abbas’ inflammatory and inaccurate (lies) speech to the United Nations last year.

Just when you think that PA President, Mahmoud Abbas couldn’t possibly tell more and bigger lies, he does just that. It’s one thing for his own people to be deceived by this bombast that is designed to incite them to even more vicious attacks on innocent Israelis; it’s quite another for dignitaries all over the world to turn their collective heads away from what is really happening in Israel and stick those same uninformed heads in Arabic quick sand. Either through ignorance or deliberate distortion of the facts, even our U.S. President doesn’t truly understand the real reasons for Palestinian violence in Israel, or Muslim atrocities in the rest of the world. Mainly because he doesn’t really grasp the significance of Islamic goals of world domination, fostered by uprisings and isolated but incessant attacks on the “infidels.” Summed up in one word: Jihad.

PA President Abbas went on to say that the Palestinians were simply employing, “…all peaceful means” to “resist Israeli occupation.” This noble pursuit of a peaceful strategy to resist an Israeli occupation that doesn’t exist in the first place has resulted in the deaths of 30+ Israeli Jews with dozens more injured; as well as some 170 Palestinians—many of them children—who have launched these “lone-wolf” attacks to carry out the abhorrent self-fulfilling prophecy of the politically corrupt and morally bankrupt Palestinian Authority.

Once again quoting Khalid Abu Toameh: “One can only imagine what the uprising would have looked like had it not been ‘peaceful.’ Abbas seems to consider knives and automatic weapons ‘peaceful’ tools that Palestinians are entitled to use to ‘resist occupation.’”

The Cruel Count Goes On

In a recent February 10^th, 2016 report from Israeli internal security force Shabak (Shin Bet), since this killing rampage began on October 1^st, 2015, there have been 228 terrorist attacks or attempted attacks by Palestinian Arabs. Equally appalling is how many of the assaults have been carried out by Palestinian youth, a few as young as twelve. Only 25 attacks or 11% were committed by those over the age of 30. Here is a breakdown on the ages of the remaining attackers 30 years of age or younger:

Ages 26-30: 17 or 8%.

Ages 21-25: 74 or 34%.

Ages 16-20: 81 or 37%.

Younger than 16: 22 or 10%.

Female attackers including teenagers numbered 24 or 11% of the total. Apparently when it comes to the Islamic supremacy of men over women, this inequality is overlooked; as both men and women, boys and girls have equal opportunity to dispense death to the hated Jew and die a martyrs’ death for their efforts.

To better put these figures into perspective: Proportionally, had these horrendous assaults taken place in the United States based on our population compared to Israel’s Jewish population, there would have been approximately 11,580 such attacks throughout America. Who knows what our State and Federal Governments would do if that took place?

To date not one Palestinian senior official has condemned any of these attacks. Instead, they have eulogized the assailants by posting their pictures in public places and naming streets after them. Moreover, as indicated in some prior Eye of Prophecy articles, the Palestinian Authority actually pays monthly stipends to the families of their so-called “martyrs.” Some of this money comes directly from United States aid to the Palestinians.

But then how could the Palestinian leaders denounce such atrocities? Knowing full well that they, themselves, are directly responsible for the anti-Israeli incitement that has erupted into one wave after another of these brutal bloodbaths.

No longer do the Palestinian leaders even attempt to conceal their true agenda. They have been so emboldened by world-wide sympathy for their “cause” that they can distort the very meaning of words and concepts such as peace, to justify these killings. Meaning that as long as the murderers commit their crimes for the sake of peace, then the actual murders must logically be part of a “peaceful uprising.”

PA President Abbas further inflames the jihadist mentality of the young and impressionable with such words as, “Every drop of blood (meaning, of course, Palestinian blood) that is spilled in Jerusalem is pure blood.” With the obvious but ugly reverse connotation that Jewish blood is anything but pure. After all, that blood flows through the same “filthy feet of the Jews,” which he fraudulently claimed were “defiling Islamic holy places in Israel.”

In this perverted thinking and warped rhetoric, Abbas is encouraging his people to preempt the Jews from this so-called (non-existent) desecration of Muslim holy places. And what better way to stop the Jews than to kill them. Furthermore, Abbas then has the audacity to accuse Israel of “aggression” and “war crimes” for daring to silence these attackers by what are clearly legitimate acts of self-defense. How depraved is that?

It is nothing less than sinister double talk and twisted morality that truly exemplifies what the Bible says will happen in the last days:

“What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter” (Isaiah 5:20).

Deplorable Actions by Israeli Arab Knesset Members

The Israeli Government is considered to be a Parliamentary Democracy, and is one of the most unique governments in the entire world. It consists of 120 Knesset members representing the diversity of Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs (citizens of Israel) and currently consists of twelve separate parties, including the Joint Arab List (Wamab) party. Yes, you read that right. For years, Arab Israelis have served in the Knesset. Presently there are seventeen such delegates who represent the approximately 1.8 million Arabs living in Israel with full citizenship rights.

These inhabitants should be distinguished from the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, who have refused to become citizens of Israel, and who now bear the identity of Palestinians. Most of the lone-wolf attackers have been West Bank Palestinians, but there has also been a handful of Israeli Arab citizens who committed these crimes.

Israeli Arabs have freedom of transportation throughout Israel, freedom of education, freedom of employment, and (as indicated) freedom even to serve in the Israeli government. The Israeli Arab Knesset members are supposed to represent their fellow Arab Israeli citizens; not the Palestinians, who are (supposed to be) represented by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. That is if you consider corruption as a representative form of government.

On February 2, 2016, three of these Knesset members (Hanin Zoabi, Jamal Zahalka, and Basel Ghattas) met with the families of eleven terrorists who were killed during their unprovoked murderous attacks on innocent Jews. Then, the following day the families also met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in his Ramallah office just a few hours after another terror attack killed 19-year-old female Border Patrol Corporal Hadar Cohen, and injured another soldier.

(Photo of Corporal Hadar Cohen)

As representatives of the Balad faction within the Joint Arab List Knesset party, both Hanin Zoabi and Jamal Zahalka are well-known for their anti-Jewish activism, and have a long history of confrontational incidents with other Knesset members in particular and Israelis in general.

Though yet to be convicted, Zoabi, in particular, has been charged with incitement several times in the past including participation in violent Palestinian protests; resulting in several attempts by fellow Knesset members to remove her from the Israeli government.

(Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi participates in protests in Haifa, 7-18-14)

Yet, in the view of many Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, her (and the other two MK’s) appearance with the families of the terrorists crossed a line that shouldn’t be crossed. Ostensibly this meeting was to demand return of the terrorist’s bodies from the Israelis; but anyone who has any clue at all knows the real reason they met with the families. It was a show of tacit solidarity and overt support of the killers and their actions to snuff out the lives of Jews anywhere and everywhere in Israel.

Political protest is one thing … we have an abundance of that in our own republic of the United States of America. But an out-and-out endorsement of murder (no matter the rationale of the murderers) is far beyond what any democratic or representative form of government should condone in their government representatives.

As an example: Can you imagine if a few United States Senators or Congressmen met with the family of the two Islamic terrorists who killed fourteen people in San Bernardino last year? Moreover, that the purpose of such a meeting was to extend both political and personal sympathy to the family for the loss of these two murderers? Of course we can empathize with the sadness of the parents, if they are truly sorry that their children had committed such a horrendous act of evil. But not for the murderers, themselves. Can you imagine what the Senate and House of Representatives ethics committee would do? I can assure you they would call for immediate expulsion of these malevolently misguided members of Congress.

Which is pretty much how Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted when told that these three Knesset members had attended this “pity party” (my description) with the pernicious purpose of glorifying, not denigrating, the young Palestinian murderers by means of scandalous support of their families.

Said Netanyahu: “Members of Knesset who go to comfort the families of terrorists who murdered Israelis do not deserve to be in the Israeli Knesset. I have asked the Speaker of the Knesset to examine what steps can be taken against them.”

Keep in mind that PA President Abbas met with these same families for precisely the same reason that the three Arab MKs attended the prior meeting with them … shocking support and shameful sympathy for the “heroic death” of their children while killing Jews.

Subsequently, the Speaker of the Knesset, Yuli Edelstein filed a complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee with a strong rebuke of the three Arab MKs … that their actions constituted incitement and, “encouragement to murder.”

Speaker Edelstein went on to say: “It is inconceivable that at a time when innocent citizens are being slaughtered on the streets of Israel, these MKs go to console the families of the murderers and with unbelievable insolence dare to bring the families’ demands to the government. I see this as a severe injury to the Israeli legislature and the State of Israel and hope that these actions will finally be noted by the judges of the High Court of Justice the next time they discuss an appeal against disqualifying unworthy candidates from running for office as lawmakers.”

Both Netanyahu and Edelstein are absolutely justified in their recommendations, if for no other reason than the oath that all Knesset Members took when sworn into office: “I pledge to bear allegiance to the State of Israel and faithfully to discharge my mandate in the Knesset.”

Treason, Pure and Simple

Instead, these three misguided MKs have acted against the State of Israel in general and their own Israeli Arab constituents in particular. Worse, they are now purporting to represent the Palestinians who live in the West Bank and who certainly are not part of the Israeli Arab citizenry of Israel proper. They have neither the legal nor the political authority to represent Palestinians of the West Bank or Gaza Strip. For one thing, as indicated, those Arabs are already under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. Nor obviously, did West Bank Palestinians vote for the Arab List Party to which the three MKs belong.

Naturally, in a democratic government such as the Israeli Knesset, MKs can meet with whomever they choose, including Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, or East Jerusalem.

But NOT for the purpose of this meeting … to undermine the security and very lives of Israelis which is tantamount to treason. If one thinks there was any other agenda for this meeting, then why did the meeting begin with a solemn moment of silence for the dead Palestinian murderers?

(The Three Arab MKs Meeting with Families of Palestinian Terrorists)

As stated by Khalid Abu Toameh in another article posted on February 11, 2016: “These parliamentarians ran in elections on the premise of working to improve the living conditions of Israeli Arab voters and achieving full equality in all fields. However, they devote precious time and energy on Palestinians who are not citizens of Israel. Their spare moments are spent vying for the distinction of being the most vitriolic provocateur against their country.

“Instead of acting against the interests of the Palestinians—by pretending they were sitting in a Palestinian parliament and not the Knesset—there are alternative scenarios. These Arab Knesset members could be serving as a bridge between Israel and Palestinians living under the jurisdiction of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

“Such provocations make it more difficult for Arab university graduates to find jobs in both the Israeli private and public sectors. The deeds and rhetoric of these Knesset members have ensured a continuing gap between Arabs and Jews inside Israel. Thanks to some Arab Knesset members, many Jews no longer see a difference between an Arab citizen who is loyal to Israel and a radical Palestinian from the Gaza Strip or West Bank who seeks to destroy Israel.”

The Arab Knesset Members are part of the problem, but certainly not the only problem.

Returning to the rabble-rousing rhetoric of the Palestinian Authority, President Mahmoud Abbas called for international intervention to stop Israeli “aggression” against Palestinians, and Israeli “war crimes” that are, “deliberately targeting Palestinian children.” According to Abbas, only the United Nations can save those children by sending troops to the Palestinian territories.

Yes, you’re right: The children he is referring to are those very “children” who have murdered and wounded Jews for the past several months. Children inflamed by the inexcusable incendiary words of their leaders and supported both silently and overtly by the parents of those children, who glorify the “sweet death” of shahid (martyrs) over life. Those who say what their children did and what they condone is “good.” That these shahids will experience the “light” of paradise. (Read again Isaiah 5:20).

(Palestinian children in training to eventually kill Jews)

This is a twisting of reality and a distortion of God’s eternal truth rarely heard even in today’s ugly, hate-filled world. Not only are the Palestinian children “martyrs,” Mahmoud Abbas fabricated lies that the Jews are deliberately targeting these children in order to eliminate them. No matter that the Palestinian youth are wielding rocks, Molotov cocktails, knives, axes, guns, and cars as weapons. That’s a mere technicality!

With such audacious rhetoric, even if a select few Palestinians did want to voice opposition to their children killing and dying for the Palestinian Authority, they couldn’t. They wouldn’t. Their children have been jaded and poisoned by the incessant oratory of their leaders, by repeated exposure to media cartoons and stories and flash point videos on how to kill Jews. By Muslim imams from countries like Iran. All spurring on the young to pursue their honorable mission in life: Kill a Jew and become a martyr, automatically eligible for Paradise!

Doesn’t matter how young the boys are when they die. They will inherit their seventy virgins! But what about the girls who commit murder. If they are killed in the act, where do they go? What awaits them?

(Newsflash: As this Eye of Prophecy article was in progress, yet another killing took place in Samaria (West Bank), north of Jerusalem. On 2-18-16, a 21-year old off-duty IDF soldier, Staff Sergeant Tuvia Yanai Weissman (married father of a 4-month old baby) was stabbed to death in a supermarket by two 14-year old Palestinian boys. Another Israeli Jew was wounded.)

Sick? Yes, quite sick. Islam is a religion straight from the gates of hell. Directly from Satan, himself, who hates all Jews and Christians; who would seek to pervert the everlasting truth of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; who would seek to destroy the Gospel of God’s Son, Messiah Jesus either by false religions or by killing every Jew and Christian.

It is an ideology of horrific hate, of cruel conquest, of ruthless repression, and of deceitful death. I’m sorry, but the facts are all too evident. The gruesome pictures of death and destruction all over the Middle East, of the Twin Towers, of dozens of other massacres, speak much louder than the deceptively soothing argument that Islam is a religion of peace.

If it were, then the three Arab Knesset members would have pleaded with the Palestinian families and all Palestinians to end the murders. To stop brain washing their children into killing Jews. To allow the MKs, themselves, to indirectly champion the Palestinian cause, while directly performing their sworn duty to represent the Israeli Arab citizens of Israel.

For you see, these Palestinian children are not like the cold-blooded, merciless, evil men and woman who belong to terrorist groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Boko Haram, and others.

Or, are they?

That shouldn’t be, but is a rhetorical question. Because the fact of the matter: By all that Muslims hold dear in their Koran—not the least of which is eventual world domination through, if necessary, Jihad—a fifteen-year old Palestinian girl can and does become just as militant, just as vicious, just as determined to kill Jews wherever she finds them, as the most hardened 30-year old man who beheads Christians and Jews wherever he finds them.

Action against the Arab Knesset Members

Already there is concern by some Israeli officials whether potential dismissal of the three Arab MKs would reflect adversely on the democratic principles of representation of all Israeli citizens, Jewish and Arab alike.

For example, columnist Dr. Gabi Avital wrote in the Israel Hayom online news source, “Internal logic suggests that it would not be appropriate to pass laws that would restrict the behavior of elected officials—certainly not laws that would enforce suspension or permanent expulsion from the Knesset.”

But Dr. Avital also recognized the agonizingly adverse impact on the very fabric of Israel’s democratic society by the actions of the three MKs. He writes: “The large Arab minority is represented by its elected officials, who are supposed to be the community’s mouthpiece on every issue. But the recent deviation of three Arab Knesset members—who visited the families of terrorists who had been killed, took part in a moment of silence in the terrorists’ memory and even displayed a certain admiration, calling them ‘martyrs’—made many people angry, including Meretz MK Ilan Gilon. And from here, the path was forged toward suggesting that the prime minister amend the Basic Laws, allowing the removal of Knesset members from office with a 90-vote majority…”

A 90-member vote is three-fourths of the Knesset membership. Even the U.S. House of Representatives only requires a two-thirds vote to remove a member for whatever civil or criminal offenses have been committed. One example is the expulsion of former representative, James Traficant from office for taking bribes, tax evasion and racketeering, among other things.

By the current Israeli law, MKs are granted lifetime immunity from prosecution for voting, acts committed, or opinions given in the course of duty. They are also not subject to arrest unless caught in the act of a violent crime, disturbance of the peace, or treason.

Many would argue, including me, that the ill-advised meeting between the three Arab MKs and the families of the terrorists is as treasonable as anything could be. At the very minimum, it’s a seditious disturbance of whatever day-to-day peace is possible within Israel.

I, for one, believe it’s time for Israel to proactively toughen its’ intolerance of these lone wolf attacks. In some measure they have already done so, i.e. by increasing checkpoint inspections, by refusing to hire Palestinian workers on job sites in or close to Israeli settlements.

(A victim of one of many “lone wolf” attacks in Israel)

Here are some excerpts (in italics) from a recent Eye of Prophecy article, Can A Murderer Be A Martyr? (Published 1-30-16). With one observation that these attacks should no longer be considered lone-wolf assaults.

Despite Mahmoud Abbas’ denial, his speech to the United Nations last fall and subsequent rhetoric to his people has directly inflamed mostly teenage Palestinians to commit murder. With nearly all of the parents of these children not only excusing the actions of their offspring, but praising them for it. Not only the parents, but the Palestinian leaders have glorified the “heroic” actions of their child martyrs.

Here is what the father of 16-year old Morad Adais, who killed Dafna Meir, said: “I am proud of my son.”

That says it all. All fathers are or should be proud of their sons, right? Even when they commit murder, right? Of course not. It’s as wickedly wrong as anything can be.

Although these murderous Palestinian assaults on Israelis are perpetrated by individuals (as opposed to known terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas), in my opinion they can no longer be classified as “lone-wolf” attacks. If for no other reason than there have been nearly 300 such incidents just in the past four months or so, resulting in the death of 30 Jews and wounding of dozens more. In other words, the sheer number of the attackers can now be classified as a concerted group of individuals in a cruel combined effort to instill terror among Jewish communities, no different than a terrorist group or grouping of terrorists with a collaborative mindset and a callous communal cause of killing Jews.

As such, this makes them vastly different from the “ordinary” murderer in the United States or anywhere in the world who kills someone for any number of different reasons, but certainly not just because their victims are Jews (or Christians). Surely the parents, families, national leaders, and fellow citizens don’t glorify the murderer in these kind of killings. Conversely, they are appalled.

Not so with the Palestinians. If they, in turn, are killed in the commission of their hideous crimes, their own people (including parents and leaders) and religion can call them martyrs to their heart’s content. But by all the universal laws of morality, of right and wrong, of good and evil, there’s no way that a murderer or would-be murderer (in case they don’t succeed) can be considered a martyr for a cause that is anything but righteous or a religion that is anything but peaceful.

Which is another compelling argument that there must be (and is) a universal standard of law and truth that can objectively define right and wrong. Moreover, these universal truths have, in fact, been given to us by the true and living God through the Bible.

Otherwise, we are left with the moral and spiritual dilemma that a murderer is actually someone’s martyr. That a terrorist is another one’s activist. If that were true then all Nazis (participating in Jewish genocide) who were killed during the Second World War or who were tried and executed for war crimes after the war could be designated as martyrs “for their cause.”

There Is Hope

What is it that produces such hatred and violence not just with hardened terrorists, but with the very young among the Palestinians? The answer is found in Scripture: “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Unless the human heart is changed from within, there is no hope, certainly not for peace between Jew and Arab. As long as men, woman, and children follow a false god and a false religion, they will continue to follow the pious and political leaders of that religious ideology.

Ultimately, the true answer lies in the truth. God’s truth: That only Messiah Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6) can really make a difference. This same Jesus is also called the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). He alone can change the human heart. He alone can right all wrongs. He alone can end the hatred that fills the minds and hearts of so many, and the bloodshed that stains the streets of Israel, and the fields of the earth.

One day soon, very soon, he will return in power and great glory. And when he does:

Things to Ponder

May we Americans never forget who it was that attacked us on 9/11 and why. Nor will the French soon forget their 9/11 which took place just this past November 13, 2015 in Paris, the deadliest attack in France since World War II. Through a series of coordinated attacks, Muslims (apparently through ISIS) killed 130 people and wounded another 368. Eighty-nine of the fatalities occurred in the Bataclan theatre, while a concert by the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was taking place.

One of the songs played that fateful night by this rock group was called, Kiss the Devil. With some of the lyrics, “Who’ll love the devil? Who’ll sing his song?” The song ends with, “I will love the devil and sing his song!”

Quite likely, most of the crowd who lifted their hands and swayed to the music didn’t give much thought to the lyrics of this song, but I’m equally certain some did … perhaps Satan worshippers. We’ll never know for sure. But the very fact that these kind of songs are composed and sung before thousands gives us an idea of what we’re up against in this wicked world. Satan not only was being glorified by the musicians and the audience, he was behind the murderous rampage of the Islamic terrorists who carried out his bidding.

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

And what is the response of those who have been redeemed by the awesome sacrifice of Messiah Jesus. We are to:

“Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17).

And don’t forget to:

Sha’alu Shalom Yerushalayim. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalms 122:6).

Can A Murderer Be A Martyr?

30 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by garybowers in Current Events

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Tags

Knife intifada, lone-wolf attacks, Palestinian Authority

(How) Can a Murderer Be A Martyr?

Sometimes an Eye of Prophecy article will begin with a quote; or a question or the title itself (like this article) will be a question leading into the main theme of the post. Most of the time the question will be answered gradually, postponed in full detail until later in the article with anticipation to hopefully build interest.

Occasionally the query will be rhetorical. In which case the question will be answered almost immediately, mostly because the subject matter is somber or controversial enough to be explained and expanded on forthwith.

So, let’s get right to it: Can a Murderer Be a Martyr? Obviously, it’s as much of a rhetorical question as can be. The answer is as obvious as it should be.

Answer: No.

Emphatic Expanded Answer: No Way.

No more than a martyr can be a (past) murderer, unless that person has expressed deep remorse for his actions and changed directions in her life.

Let’s begin by defining the terms from Webster’s Dictionary.

Murder (murderer): “To kill (a human being) unlawfully and with premeditated malice.”

“Thou shall not kill,” is probably the most well-known of the Ten Commandments. In the clear context of this command in God’s Word and society’s understanding of it, the precise concept is that of murder, not killing in general. In fact, the New Living Translation of the Bible, that I use most often, accurately translates the Hebrew word and meaning: “You must not murder” (Exodus 20:13, italics for emphasis).

Nearly all laws of every land fully recognize the right of self-defense or “justifiable homicide.” As well as the lesser offense of manslaughter, which is not deemed to be malicious and premeditated; nevertheless, an offense that should not have occurred in the first place. Likewise, most people readily distinguish between cold-blooded murder and the need to take human life during wartime, especially if the conflict is waged as a “just war.” Moreover, preemptive (justified) strikes that invariably involve necessary killing can be initiated by a nation; such as the campaigns God ordered the Israelites to wage against Canaanite nations who were completely corrupt, irreversibly immoral, and unashamedly ungodly in their conduct … including killing of their own children through human sacrifice.

Which, as we will see shortly, is tragically what the Palestinians are doing with their children. Frankly, it’s even worse: these children are first murdering Israelis. This diabolically distorted and demented diatribe currently known as the “knife intifada” (although the attacks are also made with guns, cars, and rocks) inevitably results in the Palestinian Authority pathetically classifying the murderers as martyrs, which is another way Islam glorifies death.

Martyr: (Noun) “One who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce his religion. One who sacrifices his life or something of great value for the sake of principle.” Then Martyr as a Verb: “To put to death for adhering to a belief, faith, or profession. To inflict agonizing pain on.”

Immediately we see the (obvious) paradox: The person who is a true martyr (noun form) cannot also be one who martyrs (action verb form) someone else.

One who unlawfully and immorally takes the life of someone else (especially for the race or religion of the victim) cannot be called a martyr, when they, in turn, are killed for their crime(s). This would also apply to intent … whether the killer succeeds or not.

Thus, it is incomprehensible that an unrepentant murderer could ever be a martyr for any cause whatsoever … because the concept of martyrdom cannot exist in a vacuum. Meaning that in order for one to be a martyr or be martyred, there must first exist a condition that is inherent in the concept and understood within any rationale, reasonable, logical, and most of all moral framework. Which is that the person killed for their belief must first be innocent of murder, not only by actual commission of the crime, but also by intent. By simple definition and common sense morality, a martyr must be innocent of shedding human blood of otherwise innocent victims.

Unless, that is, you are a Palestinian. Or, in the broader scope of this wicked world in which we live, you are a militant Muslim who indiscriminately murders innocent people (mostly Jews and Christians). This includes less aggressive adherents to Islam, who nevertheless condone and even celebrate the death of innocent Jews and Christians and sometimes other Muslims.

The Horrendous Murders Continue in Israel

The death count is now thirty Israelis, most of whom were stabbed by Palestinian children, some as young as twelve or thirteen, both boys and girls. Moreover, these atrocious attacks are now taking place in what normally are considered society’s sanctuaries, i.e. neighborhood grocery stores, in their cars, in synagogues, at community bus stops, at the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem, and even in their homes. No place is safe anymore.

The last three attacks have been against Jewish women, one of whom was pregnant (fortunately, she survived). One of the victims was Dafna Meir, biological mother of four children and foster-mother of two more children. In an Israel Hayom news article, journalist Annika Hernroth-Rothstein writes:

“Dafna Meir was murdered by a terrorist in front of her children on Sunday (January 17^th, 2016). As she went about her everyday chores in her modest Otniel house, a terrorist came to her door and stabbed her repeatedly. Meir fought him until her dying breath, preventing the terrorist from attacking any of her six children before he fled, leaving her to die in a pool of her own blood.”

In the on-line news source, Aish.com. Article, Adina Hershberg wrote: “An investigation revealed that Dafna had opened her front door to the terrorist (who was working at a nearby construction site) while three of her six children were home with her. The terrorist stabbed Dafna and a struggle ensued in which Dafna attempted to close the door. Renana, Dafna’s 17-year old daughter described the horrifying event, ‘I saw the terrorist stab my mother and she struggled with all her might so he would not come into the house and hurt us. At one point the knife got stuck and the terrorist could not get it out. Our eyes met. He looked at me and I looked at him. He kept trying to pull out the knife and it was clear to me he wanted to come and hurt me too.’

“Renana was screaming at the terrorist, and when he failed to retrieve his bloody knife, he ran away. After a two-day manhunt, police arrested a 16-year old Morad Bader Abdullah Adais.”

(Dafna Meir, with her husband, Natan)

Shortly after the brutal murder of Dafna Meir, another Israeli woman was murdered in her community. In a January 26^th article in Israel Hayom, author Emily Amrousi writes:

“Meanwhile, Beit Horon, the community where a young woman was killed in a terror attack Monday, is well fortified with a physical fence. But the terrorists came up from the wadi, climbed over the fence, and within minutes were right there next to the shopping carts inside the neighborhood grocery store.”

Previously in the article, Ms. Amrousi wrote: “But now, as we recently witnessed, a vow to avoid leaving the settlement is not enough anymore. Islamist terrorists armed with Nazi ideology have been invading our homes, backyards and even the local grocery store—they are right at our doorstep.

“In a small community, people go to their neighborhood grocery store in their slippers and pajamas. It is a place where they can catch up on what their neighbors have been up to between the milk cartons and the ketchup bottle…. On Monday afternoon, that safe, inviting place turned into a bloodbath. Just like the home of Dafna Meir who was murdered in her home in Othniel last week, or the clothing store where Michal (woman) was stabbed in Tekoa, and countless other examples of terrorists trying to infiltrate Jewish communities in recent weeks. Everywhere you look, boundaries are being breached.

‘Stay inside the safety of your own home and don’t go anywhere,’ they told us during the Second Intifada when buses were exploding day in and day out. Today, even staying at home is frightening.”

Yes, what is happening to Jewish men, woman, and children in Israel is, indeed, frightening.

Author and columnist, Ruthie Blum, in her article published in Israel Hayom on January 19, 2016 wrote about these attacks, but in the context of U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro’s speech in Tel Aviv. Referencing the murder of Dafna Meir and the serious wounding of Michal Froman, Ms. Blum states:

“These two attacks were by no means the only attacks against Israelis, even in the 24-hour period during which Shapiro made his speech, they were just the most blatant and bloody ones. But they were par for the course in the current Palestinian “lone-wolf” uprising, which has come to be called the ‘knife intifada.’

“This is a misnomer, of course, because the surge in Palestinian violence that began in September has been characterized by many other forms of aggression against innocent Jews. Car rammings … rock throwing and Molotov cocktail hurling, too, are popular methods of attack. And let’s not forget the shootings. Whether committed by drivers, snipers or point-blank gunslingers, these acts of terrorism are also part and parcel of the war against Israel being waged by young Arabs living under Palestinian Authority rule, some of whom are even Israeli citizens.

“Like the other speakers at the conference, Shapiro (whose boss is Secretary of State, John Kerry) condemned the above. Briefly, that is, until getting to the real purpose of his talk: to chastise Israel. Naturally, he did this in perfect Obama pitch, professing his country’s great friendship and alliance with Israel, while calling on the Jewish state to stop causing all the trouble.”

Here, let me quote and comment on part of Dan Shapiro’s speech in which he brashly criticizes Israel for a so-called double standard by falsely exaggerating that there are, “…Too many attacks on Palestinians (that) lack a vigorous investigation or response by Israeli authorities; too much vigilantism goes unchecked; and at times there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law; one for Israelis and another for Palestinians…”

Murderers Hailed as Martyrs

I’m going to get even blunter that Ruthie Blum by saying that Dan Shapiro as a representative of our executive staff is deliberately ignoring and blatantly falsifying the real reasons for these attacks, which has nearly nothing to do with alleged Israeli settlements or (false) reported desecration of Temple Mount by Israelis. Rather, it has everything to do with the hate instilled by parents into their children for Jews, and the need to eliminate all Jews from Israel by killing as many as possible so the rest will leave out of fear. It has everything to do with the daily denigration of Jews on Palestinian television, in their school curriculum, and through incessant public incitement by Palestinian religious and political leaders to (as an example) keep the Jews “filthy feet” from walking on holy sites in Israel. This quote to incite especially Jewish children was from none other than Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas.

Here is what the father of 16-year old Morad Adais, who killed Dafna Meir, said: “I am proud of my son.”

That says it all. All fathers are or should be proud of their sons, right? Even when they commit murder, right? Of course not. It’s as wickedly wrong as anything can be.

Earlier this month, the Facebook site of the Fatah organization (the military wing of the Palestinian Authority) published a photograph of another proud Palestinian parent who was flashing the victory sign (“V”) with her right hand. The subtitle of the photo read: ‘How great you are, O mother of the Martyr.”

Her 22-year old son, Muhammad Shamasneh was shot and killed by Israeli police shortly after he stabbed three Jews near a Jerusalem bus station on October 12, 2015. His was one of the first of what has become hundreds of unprovoked and deadly attacks against innocent Israelis.

Additionally, the website of Palestinian Media Watch is replete with testimonials of parents whose terrorist’s sons and daughters have killed Jews. Nearly all of these assassins are under the age of thirty, and many of them are 18 years of age or younger.

It’s common knowledge, with no denial from PA President Abbas, that the Palestinian Authority makes monthly compensation to Palestinian families whose child was “martyred” after killing Israelis. Also, stipends to parents or spouses whose family member was not killed, but apprehended, tried, convicted, and put into prison.

Frequently, photos of Palestinian terrorists who were killed during or shortly after (resisting arrest) their murderous rampage are posted on billboards throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Even streets are named after them.

(Murderer or Martyr?)

Although the vast majority of Muslim parents support and praise their children for their “heroism,” and glorify their ugly acts of murder, not all parents do. But that can be dangerous for the parent. For example, a few weeks ago the Muslim mother of a young ISIS recruit pleaded with her son not to stay with ISIS. For this love and concern for her son, she was killed. And, yes, it was her son who killed her … on the orders of an officer; but reportedly the son was honored to have killed his mother who had apparently betrayed Islam.

What about the average Palestinian mother? Well let’s read what the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Women’s Affairs, Haifa Al-Agha boasted about the distinctiveness of Palestinian women, posted in the Palestinian “moderate” newspaper, Al-Hayay Al-Jadida in November, 2015: “The Palestinian women’s uniqueness differentiates her from the women of the world, as only she receives the news of her son’s Martyrdom with cries of joy.”

Thanks to the true and living God, that all mothers are not so unique! Seriously.

It never ceases to amaze me that our US President and his staff refuse to see through the ultimate agenda of the Palestinian Authority in particular and the majority of Palestinians in general. But they don’t. Because of today’s politically correct misspeak, they can’t. Consequently, the US continues to send hundreds of millions of dollars to the corrupt Palestinian Authority.

Did you know that The Palestinian Health Ministry actually keeps a register of “martyrs” who kill Jews? That’s right, the Health Ministry! The names of these martyrs are kept alongside of the recording of patients, diseases, injured or wounded during clashes with Israelis, but only for murders of Jews or events occurring within the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In a recent dispute over whether or not to include an Israeli Arab, Nashat Milhem (who was killed after murdering Jews in Tel Aviv on January 1, 2016) in their register, because the attack occurred outside of the West Bank, a spokesman for the Health Ministry nevertheless said:

“We are proud of our Palestinian people in the 48 territories, and are proud of their sacrifices that have gone down in history … Their profound affiliation with their motherland, Palestine, cannot be denied under any circumstances.”

The praise of those who murder Jews, those who then become “martyrs” is repulsively rampant. It is much too flagrant for the United States Executive Staff to overlook it as though it doesn’t matter, and certainly not to deny it, after the fashion of an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. But, for all practical purposes, they do. Instead, our government constantly berates Israel for their alleged settlements and for not doing more to reach an agreement for a Palestinian State alongside Israel. When it’s actually a Palestinian State instead of the State of Israel that Arab Muslims want.

As Judith Bergman writing for Israel Hayom stated in an article posted on January 19^th: “Anyone left with any illusions of the official intentions of the PA … is truly delusional. Not only are the murders of Jews praised—in accordance with the intense incitement against Jews and the State of Israel for decades on PA TV, in schools and kindergartens, mosques and on the streets—but it is evident beyond any doubt that the PA considers all of Israel ‘Palestine.’”

(A Palestinian Map of Israel … Shows very few Jewish cities)

Although they may not realize it or even care about the repercussions, our government’s current disposition and attitude toward Israel is beginning to shape up as one of, if not the most, devastating mistakes this country has ever made or will make. I say this, exclusively on the authority of Scripture, i.e. the blessings and curses for nations that bless or curse Israel, respectively (Genesis 12:3 & other passages).

Immoral (Amoral) Equivalency?

Although these murderous Palestinian assaults on Israelis are perpetrated by individuals (as opposed to known terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas), in my opinion they can no longer be classified as “lone-wolf” attacks. If for no other reason than there have been over 300 such incidents just in the past four months or so, resulting in the death of 30 Jews and wounding of dozens more. In other words, the sheer number of the attackers can now be classified as a concerted group of individuals in a cruel combined effort to instill terror among Jewish communities, no different than a terrorist group or grouping of terrorists with a collaborative mindset and a callous communal cause of killing Jews.

(Terrorists or merely Activists?)

Thus, when our own President and most of his staff ignore the true history of Israel, and the acrimonious (no longer hidden) agenda of the Arab Muslims living in Israel, they also apathetically disregard the insidious (but no longer subtle) and all too real objective of Arab Palestinians and Muslims the world over: To eliminate Israel as a State and the Jews as a race. All the while, taking out as many Christians as they can.

When I refer to global (blind and irrational) animosity toward the Jews, I mean just that; as exhibited by the repeated United Nations sanctions against Israel—vastly outnumbering the sanctions against such rogue nations as Iran, North Korea, and many other countries that oppress their people, not the least of which is Syria.

For example, on January 26^th, one day after 23-year old Shlomit Krigman was murdered by a Palestinian teenager in Beit Horon (I alluded to this earlier in today’s article), United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon made this unconscionable statement: “Palestinian frustration is growing under the weight of a half century of occupation and the paralysis of the peace process. As oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism.”

Is it human nature, meaning the typical or average response, to react to occupation by killing innocent people whether or not they are truly occupying (the Jews are not the occupiers as I’ve written about in prior Eye of Prophecy articles)? That rhetorical question plus at least two more things are terribly wrong with the Secretary General’s thinking and statement.

First, this part of his speech to the UN Security Council directly referenced the recent killings (murders) of Jews in Israel. Which demonstrates beyond any doubt that Ban Ki-moon believes that even murder can be understood, rationalized, and possibly accepted if the murderer is doing so in reaction to “occupation.” It is a transparent insinuation that Palestinian murder of Jews in Israel is justifiable homicide.

Second, it’s unmistakable that the majority of the terrorists’ murderers couldn’t care less about so-called Israeli occupation. What is clear from interviewing those who were captured and by monitoring the daily Palestinian media is that these children (and young adults) are motivated by the incitement spread through media propaganda and by constant rhetoric from their leaders that elimination of Jews is the only solution. Not two states, that the Palestinians have rejected repeatedly, i.e. the terms of. Or a solution to the so-called occupation of the West Bank, in which the Palestinian Authority has turned down two incredible offers from prior Israeli Prime Ministers, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert to retain only about 5% of the so-called West Bank for existing and future Jewish settlements.

Not as a legal requirement, but as an accommodation to the Palestinian Authority following the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel withdrew from most Arab cities in the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria (now called the West Bank). And, of course, the glaring fact that Israel removed all of its citizens from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Yes, if the Secretary General bothered in the least to learn about real facts of Israel’s history since 1948, especially since 1967, he would not (or perhaps he would if he is being dishonest and/or patently biased against Israel, i.e. anti-Semitic) have also said in his speech: “Continued settlement activities are an affront to the Palestinian people and to the international community. They rightly raise fundamental questions about Israel’s commitment to a two-state solution.”

(Ban Ki-moon)

Said Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu in response to the UN Secretary General’s incredibly inaccurate and inflammatory comments: “The remarks by the secretary-general encourage terrorism. The UN has long lost it neutrality and moral power, and the secretary-general’s statements do not improve the situation.”

A Comparative Perspective on What’s Happening in Israel

Despite the massive attacks against Israel by Arab armies in 1948, 1967, and 1973; suicide bombers during the Second Intifada that began in 2000; 21^st century missiles and mortars raining down on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip; and military battles with Hezbollah and Hamas; it is painfully evident that Israel has never faced a “knife intifada” in their national history.

Americans are appalled and distressed by the occasional mass murders that take place in our schools and other public places, and rightfully so. But for the most part we process these hideous homicides in the context of the vast size and large population of our country. We emotionally and mentally and morally empathize with the victims and their families. But unless we live in or close to the vicinity of these brutal crimes, we generally think in terms of being safe just because of the distance, for example, between living in Arizona or New Jersey.

Not so in Israel. Using both New Jersey and Arizona (my home state) as an example, let’s digest the following statistics to see just how terrifyingly up close and perilously personal these attacks are in Israel.

Israel’s land mass is 8,630 square miles. That is very close to the size of New Jersey, at 8,729 square miles. However, the state of Arizona, alone, is 113,998 square miles. Which means you could fit thirteen states the size of Israel in Arizona, with 1,700 acres to spare! Even if the equivalent number of attacks and murders committed in Israel were confined to a certain geographical section of Arizona (say 1 county), 93% of the State’s area/population would still feel/be safe. And that’s just one state in our country a long way from New Jersey.

If, however, the residents of New Jersey were experiencing what Israel is going through, then we (they) would have a totally different perspective on the problem. But even a comparison to New Jersey doesn’t fully represent or depict what the Jews are experiencing in their own nation.

Why?

Israel’s minuscule land mass shrinks even more when you eliminate the areas where Jews are not permitted to or (even if permitted) choose not to live. Combined, these two areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip comprise approximately 25% of land within Israel’s borders.

The Jewish population of Israel is about 6.3 million people. The Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (non-Israeli citizens) is roughly 3.5 million, of which 1.7 live in the West Bank. Plus there are another 1.8 million Arabs who are citizens of Israel. Technically, they are called Israeli-Arabs, not Palestinians. However, both tragically and disgustingly, many of these “lone-wolf” murderers are Israeli Arab citizens. They can travel throughout Israel virtually unimpeded. Accordingly, these Palestinian attackers often gain easy access to Jewish communities in or near the West Bank, including East Jerusalem … but even West Jerusalem and all of Israel.

(True Map of Israel)

Thus, the saying, “there’s no place like home,” has become fatefully irrelevant and immaterial to both the murderer and the murdered. Nowhere in Israel is a Jew safe from these ghastly attacks; not in their stores or synagogues, not even in their own homes.

You can rest assured that the Israeli government, the Shin Bet, and the IDF are deeply troubled about this new form of (mass) homicide against their people. You can also rest assured that they have already responded and will continue to carefully weigh all options to deal with the problem.

Furthermore, many Palestinians are fully aware of the consequences of their actions. For example, one response was that of Israeli businesses dismissing (whether temporary or permanent … remains to be seen) some 27,000 Palestinian laborers in and around the West Bank area of Hebron where Dafna Meir was murdered by the 16-year old Palestinian construction worker. In addition, Israel has established more checkpoints, closed some roads, and deployed additional troops to thwart these attacks. With the ripple effect of disrupting Palestinian businesses and access of Palestinians who have permits to work at Israeli companies.

Sadly, however, the Palestinians will continue to honor and glorify the absolutely needless death of their sons and daughters. They will continue to hate the Jews more than they love their own children. They will continue to celebrate the deaths of Jews at the hands of their heroic young martyrs, who are doing nothing more than what their parents and leaders train, prepare, incite, and even expect them to do … kill Jews. All Jews, no matter who they are or where they live. The softer the target and more defenseless the victim, the better.

Things to Ponder

Several Eye of Prophecy articles have identified clear signs that we are in the last days leading up to the apocalyptic Day of the Lord. Twelve of those milepost indicators have been listed in the articles, Look Up, Redemption is Near, Part I & II (posted 7-11 & 7-18-15). Such as: The rebirth of Israel as a sovereign nation; the increasing strife and controversy over Temple Mount and a rebuilt Jewish Temple; alignment of the Gog/Magog nations that will attack Israel, amazing increase in natural disasters, and others.

One of those signs that we don’t often think about or correlate to the last days—but one that also fits within the last generational time-frame specified by Jesus—is the moral and spiritual decline of the final generation, especially the young. We are experiencing an exponential increase in brutal crimes in this 21^st century and last part of the 20^th century being committed by children, some as young as eight. Of children killing other children and even their parents. Of, as we’ve seen in Israel, teenagers randomly stabbing and shooting women and children.

Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul describing these days, which are already upon us:

“You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God” (II Timothy 3:1-4).

Little wonder when so many (parents) of this generation twist and pervert the very truth and meaning of words and actions. When they scorn the sanctity of life and the value of every human being. When they blindly follow a religion that pursues hatred and death of those who cherish peace and life. When they despise the kind of things that are produced in the lives of those who have been wonderfully redeemed and reborn by the all-sufficient Grace of God through the atoning sacrifice of his awesome Son, Messiah Jesus.

Things that are produced by the Holy Spirit such as: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22)

God’s Justice will prevail, as will his Love: “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever” (Isaiah 5:20-21).

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone (even terrorist murderers) who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life … There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil” (John 3:16, 18-19).

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eyeofprophecy … watch and wait

~ "For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus" (Rev.19:10)

Category Archives: Current Events

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