Israel is the key to all end-time prophecy.

Keep your eye on Jerusalem  

Nov 17

From Russia With(out) Love

One of the (many) intriguing aspects of the Gog-Magog scenario in Ezekiel 38-39 is that Gog — whoever he is — does not plan this invasion of Israel for a long time. The Bible tells us that God puts this idea in his mind. That truth would mitigate against some of the theories that Russian/Soviet leaders have long planned to take over Israel, ostensibly to secure a warm-weather seaport in the Mediterranean.

This flitted across my mind the week of the presidential election, as some wise commentators wrote that we should also be watching what Russia is up to. Most were preoccupied with the “messiah” being elected as U.S. president. However, the sinister Vladmir Putin of Russia evidently has designs on retaining absolute power for the rest of his life.

We should be cautious, though, when speculating too much that Putin is Gog. In the last decade, Alexander Lebed seemed to fit the bill, seemingly next-in-line to the alcoholic Boris Yeltsin. And then Lebed was killed in a helicopter crash. This is the great danger of too-much speculation.

Still, it is clear that the Russians are up to mischief. We can wonder why they help the Iranians arm themselves, but the Russian perspective is different. The people who survived the siege of Stalingrad are hard people. They live and die in a brutal environment and have since their ancestors first breathed the north air. Russia, one can presume, feels that if Iran decides one day to attack it, the winner will stagger and slump over the vanquished. They simply look on war and their soldiers who fight them as cannon fodder.

So it is that Putin is making plans for another superpower in Moscow. He obviously doesn’t much care for Western alliances or even Western diplomacy. It is interesting to note that Georgetown University’s Charles King has recently written that China, Venezuela, Iran, and Syria share Moscow’s view of “the global order.” He also notes that others, such as India and Turkey, are sympathetic to it.

This then is at least the broad outlines of a coalition that will invade Israel at some point. America will be unwilling or unable to help.

Soon after the U.S. presidential election, Israel’s Tzipi Livni phoned Vice-President-Elect Joe Biden, and urged him to continue being “tough” on Iran. Hard to believe that a former Mossad agent and hard-boiled Israeli politician would actually believe that Biden is tough on anything, but there it is. Biden and his boss haven’t the courage to be tough on a sewer rat.

As I have said before, because Barack Obama supports even the most extreme views on abortion, he cannot have empathy with anyone. It isn’t there. If he won’t fight for the unborn, for whom will he fight? America? Allies? His family? Biden is cut from the same cloth, and we will see a widening gap in official American support for Israel.

Rahm Emanuel, tapped by Obama to be chief-of-staff, is an old-style political knuckle-breaker from Chicago. Ironically, he volunteered for duty with the Israel Defense Forces at one time, but also helped along the disastrous Oslo Accords. As Jan Markell has pointed out, Emanuel, if he tries at all, will be a lone voice of support for Israel in an Obama Administration. Many of the Israel-haters from the Carter, Bush, and Clinton years are lining up for jobs with the new president.

The Russians correctly see that with the Americans so preoccupied with Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, the Kremlin can do as it likes regionally. Obama’s taste for diplomacy will give Putin and his lackeys even more time to meddle in the Arab-Israeli conflict. For many years, Russia has sought to be included in peace talks and diplomacy where the Arabs and Israelis are concerned.

And the Russian foray into Georgia this past summer has raised another interesting reality: the Russian people themselves seem to like their country’s muscular responses. A poll taken indicates that 80 percent of the Russian people approved of the show of force in Georgia, and King’s essay ends with a chilling warning, concerning this and possibly future engagements: “The deeper worry is that the Kremlin and average Russians can now imagine a world in which they do not have to care.”

This attitude, and forming alliances with regional players, make the Gog-Magog conflict not so far-fetched, even in the minds of secularists.

Today’s geopolitics reflect biblical scenarios, perhaps even more clearly than many of want to accept.

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Nov 10

Run, Forrest, Run!

“Run, Forrest, Run!”

The exhortation, from the lips of Jenny, Forrest Gump’s best friend and true love, has become part of the American lexicon. Robin Wright Penn and Tom Hanks starred in the 1994 smash hit film, “Forrest Gump” and when Jenny urges Forrest to run away from a group of bullies chasing him down a tree-shaded lane, audiences everywhere identified with him. All the more because Forrest learns through running that by staying true to himself, he can go places he’d never before thought possible. In the end, we find that the “retarded guy” is not so dumb, after all.

Bible believers are like that today, particularly those who believe in predictive prophecy. More specifically, those who see in Israel the capstone of world history are marginalized.

The majority makes fun of us for “checking our brains at the door” and not “thinking carefully” before leaping into believing that the Bible means what it says. But to paraphrase the disciple, “Where else would we go?”

I am astounded by the sheer numbers of people who reject the Bible, when all the evidence is for it. To assuage their own uneasiness over the unknown future, they occupy their time by dissing Bible prophecy students and teachers. Even Christian thinker and scholar Mark Noll, in his scandalous 1994 book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, virtually mocks dispensationalists. He is but one Christian leader today who (at best) downplays the predictive prophecy found in the Bible.

Over a decade ago at the annual Christian Bookseller’s Convention, a man approached me (in my “previous life” as a book editor) and implored me to publish his look at prophecy. It turned out to be my first encounter with a preterist. It took me awhile to wrap my mind around his basic premise: prophecy has already been fulfilled — Matthew 24, the Revelation, all of it. Using twisted logic, he urged me to consider that “liberals” were using our “weak” arguments in favor of prophecy to mislead many. He felt that if only prophecy teachers would abandon their outlandish projections, it would open the door for multitudes to follow the Lord.

Problem was, his rejection of prophecy made him a spiritual kindred spirit with the very liberals he claimed to fret about. Liberal Christians the world over reject Bible prophecy. To them, Christian Zionists and dispensationalists are the Forrest Gumps of the world: simple-minded, incapable of the kind of deep thought that leads to enlightenment.

Yet, in my simple-mindedness, I can hold a Bible open to, say, Isaiah 61 (or dozens and dozens and dozens more such passages) and stand in modern Judea and Samaria and see the direct, dynamic, delicious fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Indeed, the waste places have been rebuilt, and ancient Shiloh sits underneath modern Shiloh, and on and on.

One can drive north from Jerusalem and see the “greening” of Israel: mile after mile, the grasses and trees thicken, and we can see with our own eyes that God has brought back not only the people, but also the land, just as He promised!

One can sit and listen to Arab conversations in Arab hotels in the holy city and realize through snippets and euphemism that the confederation described in Psalm 83 is taking shape, right now. The Arabs do not like the Jews and the Jewish state, and they are intent on wiping them out.

One can drive to the south, to the resorts like Eilat, and see Israeli ingenuity in making the desert an oasis and see with his or her own eyes that the preserved Jew has come back and “resurrected” the land itself, just as prophesied in Scripture.

My friends, American seminaries that were bastions of Bible-believing thought are now teaching Replacement Theology. Thousands of young people being trained for the ministry are sitting under professors who marginalize Israel. They do not want to be labeled “Forrest Gumps.” They want to be thought of as smart, sophisticated academics and pastors.

No doubt teachers like J. Vernon McGhee, David Lewis, and Dave Breese would turn over in their graves, as they say. But they would not be surprised. I had the privilege of walking up and down in the Land with Dr. Lewis and it was a deeply moving experience. For men like this, the Jewish people are precious. The tragedy in our day is that numbers of teachers like them are decreasing, as the numbers of Replacement professors is swelling.

The great Bible teachers of yesteryear knew that apostasy was coming. They taught it but grieved over it. Their chief proof that the Bible is true was of course Israel. Sadly, they have been “replaced” by men who do not believe the Bible. Extraordinary!

All the more remarkable that, as we said, prophecy is so clear. In Hosea 3:4,5, for example, we read:

“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.”

A million days have passed since Hosea’s prophecy. Israel indeed suffered many days without a king, without the Temple. And now they have returned for a final time, in these “latter days.”

Why is this hard for people to grasp? Could it be that the human mind does not want to believe it? I think this is a distinct possibility, for it would logically follow that the God who could predict events far into the future would also have the authority to tell us how to live. And that many of us can’t abide.

Simple-minded we might be; I don’t claim to be able to generate the brainpower of a  scholar like Mark Noll. But I am running that race that Paul talked about, and running as hard as I can to the finish. As I race past prophecy after prophecy after prophecy being fulfilled in my lifetime, I see a Jew up ahead at the finish line. And I don’t care if the world thinks I’m stupid.

Run, Forrest, Run!

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Nov 3

The Queen of Israel?

There are 120 seats in Israel’s Knesset, the seat of government. There are 120 because there were 120 elders who governed the people during the Babylonian exile 2,500 years ago. This was in the time after the kings.

Today, it is interesting that when a “right-wing” leader is elected — Benjamin Netanyahu or, for a time, Ariel Sharon — the people chant “Bibi, King of Israel!” or “Arik, King of Israel!” The past is always present among God’s people.

Another similarity is that just as there were mediocre leaders thousands of years ago, nothing really changes with the passage of time. If Kadima leader Tzipi Livni succeeds Ehud Olmert and becomes Israel’s second female prime minister, mediocrity will continue.

And not because Livni is a woman.

Livni is a former Mossad agent; her personal courage shouldn’t be questioned. Her political judgment, however, leaves much to be desired. Just like some other leaders Israel has been saddled with in the past 60 years.

Olmert finally faced the facts and has pledged to step down. It was left to Livni to form a coalition government and assume the prime minister’s office. She couldn’t do it.

Shas, the Orthodox religious party, usually holds Israeli governments hostage with its entitlement demands. If a prime minister won’t play ball and relinquish massive funds to needy Israelis, Shas leaves the government, and that usually means a prime minister doesn’t have the necessary members to form a coalition. That was the situation Livni recently found herself in.

Livni is like any other politician: she wants power. A former member of the rightist Likud party, she broke ranks and joined Sharon’s new party three years ago. Kadima in many respects is no different from the traditional Labor Party, which would roughly be the equivalent of America’s Democrat Party. In fact, it was Labor politicians who took Israel down the dreadful road of Oslo more than a decade ago. Shimon Peres in particular hatched that horrible “peace process” with European and Arab leaders. The result has been death and danger for the Jewish state.

Peres, as president of Israel, has the authority to call early elections, since Livni could not form a governing bloc. That means that in all likelihood, Livni will be pitted against former premier Netanyahu, probably early next year.

As time passes, it matters little who wins Israel’s top job, simply because the forces of appeasement have wedged Israel between a rock and a hard place. It was one thing for Peres and like-minded Israeli politicians to push for “peace” with the Palestinians; it was quite another thing for an old hawk like Sharon to lament Israel’s “occupation” of the Arabs, as he did before being felled by a stroke. Such a statement by Sharon undermined Israel’s legitimacy. In other words, we now have a situation where Israeli politicians on the left and the right are advocating surrender. Olmert himself, known formerly as a strong Zionist, has noted that Israel is now “tired.” He also has opened the door a bit wider on negotiating over Israel’s last red lines, including the sovereignty of Jerusalem.

It is hard to know what was in Sharon’s mind when he made a sharp turn to the left, punctuated by the ghastly pullout from Gaza. More than likely, the old general felt Israel had sufficient military strength to deal with any threat. But the greater problem is the intensifying international squeeze on Israel. No concession is enough. No demand is too much. Once Israel’s own leaders appear tired and weak, it’s a matter of time before her numerous enemies move in for the kill.

One almost feels sorry for Netanyahu. Raised in a strong Zionist family, he endured three of the roughest years any Israeli premier has lived through. In fact, one courageous journalist at the end of 1997 wrote a piece entitled “The Year of Hating Bibi,” which documented the fact that the Leftist media so loathed Netanyahu that they continually portrayed him in the most unflattering ways. He simply didn’t play Leftist ball by caving-in to every Arab demand. Had he not held fast, one wonders if the Jewish state would still be viable.

When Ehud Barak defeated Netanyahu in 1999, Time magazine wrote a “puff piece” on the new prime minister, no doubt giddy over the fact that a Labor leader was now in charge; that surely meant that Yasser Arafat was in reach of his goal of a Palestinian state.

Except that the old terrorist never had any intention of engaging in nation-building. Why would he? He was a career murderer, plotting hijackings and bombings for decades. A statesman? What a joke. One can’t make a poodle out of a pig.

That Westerners were hopelessly naïve was not so surprising. Bill Clinton hosted Arafat 13 times at the White House! His secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, once famously chased after Arafat as the wily old killer faked indignation and stormed out of negotiations.

Rather than wise-up to the real problem in the Middle East, the media and the international political community manufactured new charges against Israel. By demonizing and blaming Israel for every diplomatic setback, they have ensured that peace will never come in the way they’ve always thought of it.

Either Livni or Netanyahu will lead Israel beginning in 2009. Sadly, it really doesn’t matter.

Israel will not have peace until her real King emerges. Let us pray that day won’t be too far off.

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Oct 27

Lying about Israel

A theme that returns to my mind again and again as time passes is the criticism of Israel, from within the United States. Specifically, from within the Christian community.

There is a situation unfolding now that I’ll be able to elaborate on at a later time, but it involves the white-washing of information that alerts Bible-believing Christians about unjust criticism of Israel and the Jews.

Suffice to say for now that powerful religious forces are cleverly and consistently tightening the noose on the Jewish state. By doing so, they are unaware that they are fulfilling the Bible prophecy they so despise.

Many of these critics have never visited Israel. They do not know, for example, that the country is tiny and therefore vulnerable to threats from the Arabs. Before elaborating on that, I want to say clearly that I do not believe many of them would care about the truth, about the realities Israel faces every day. The real danger in all this is that the constituencies of these Christian leaders are fed a steady diet of untruth.

As to Israel’s size, not only is it small geographically, but hundreds of Israeli communities are right next to Arab communities. If you live in hilly or mountainous country, imagine driving along a highway and looking over at a hill. On the hill is a town. At the base of the hill is a town. Each is populated by a different ethnic group.

This is Israel today. Jews and Arabs within a stone’s throw, literally, of each other.

Arab terror incubates in such an environment. Yet this truth is never acknowledged by Israel’s Christian critics. In fact, the critics say that Jewish presence fosters Arab frustration, which leads to Arab anger, which leads to Arab “resistance” (terrorism).

All this impacts an area dear to my heart, and which I write about from time to time. In the arena of Christian books, there is a hardening of positions toward Israel. A generation ago (a decade ago!), one would find much friendlier folks, regarding Israel, than one finds today.

Strang Communications publishes pro Israel books, because the publisher, Stephen Strang, is personally supportive of Israel. Many kudos to him and his publishing entities. There one finds ads for Israeli tourism, articles, and facts that help the Jewish state.

Balfour Books also publishes pro Israel material. Harvest House — bless them — still publishes Bible prophecy.

But many other publishers are “going contemplative.” That is to say, they are following new streams of thought in Christendom. Those streams are polluted with much anti-Israel sentiment, and it is going to get worse, my friends.

Another publisher that is worthy of your dollars is Gefen Publishing, based in Jerusalem. There, the Christian Zionist will find perhaps the best list of information-packed books one could hope for. For example, the other day Harry Hurwitz died. His 2004 book, Begin: His Life, Words and Deeds chronicles the life of perhaps Israel’s greatest prime minister. Check out Gefen’s extraordinary list at www.israelbooks.com.

Sadly, many more publishers are turning their backs on Israel, and one day I’ll write an expose of all that.

RaptureReady represents one of the most important facts about Israel today: the justness of her cause. Todd and Terry have developed a web-based outsourcing of material that spreads truth by word-of-mouth (or word-of-electricity!). This is vitally important in an age in which Emergent teachings are rotting the Church from within.

With regard to Israel, it is too bad that more people can’t see the place for themselves and then return home armed with facts that refute the lies and propaganda of the Palestinians and their friends on the Left. I’ll give you a concrete example.

The security fence that runs north and south in Israel has dramatically — dramatically — cut down on the loss of Jewish life. The fence meanders around communities in Judea and Samaria. Yet what one hears from “peace and justice” groups that spring from liberal American churches is that Israel is cutting off the Palestinians from their land and families and livelihood.

History will stand with me one day on this: the Jews are the most justice-seeking humans on the face of the earth. They always have been. Even when deep in existential threats, when war is repeatedly forced on it — Israel struggles to keep down civilian casualties. This is a fact. Notice this:

Beginning with the 1982 war in Lebanon, Israel has been charged with murdering civilians (Sabra and Shatilla). In point of fact, they send troops into towns and villages to root-out terrorist killers one-by-one, rather than opting to use the deluxe Israeli air force and flatten said towns and villages.

This is never discussed by the Left. It isn’t discussed by the Left because the Left, including liberal Christianity, is immoral. Lying is simply a means to an end, in this case, the end of Israel.

Here’s a fascinating little fact: in Ariel Sharon’s autobiography, Warrior, he recounts the great pains to which Israel has gone to avoid “taking” Arab land. He mentioned that when he was Israel’s agriculture minister, he sent teams out into the land and took samples from the ground, to determine is animal feces was present, thus indicating Arab livestock grazing in the fields. If present, Israel would not use the land for establishing dwellings.

This is never discussed when the Christian Left parrots PLO propaganda and says Israel has stolen Arab land. This is so because the goal of the Left is to demonize Israel, period.

As a pro Israel Christian, I urge you — again — to support the aforementioned publishers. Read and support such sites as www.camera.org and www.honestreporting.com, along with www.terrorism-info.org.il. All this is vital to Israel’s security.

Remember, you can’t take what someone says at face value, not in today’s culture. Arm yourself with facts about Israel and the Jews, then act accordingly.

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Oct 20

The Palestinians

I had an email chat last week with a Palestinian Christian upset over my statements about the Holy Land belonging to the Jews. I want to present this week a view that hopefully will be seen as balanced.

Having had only Psychology 101 in college, I can only assume that there is a term that describes the demonization of victims. In this context, I am talking about the daily campaign to snuff-out the Jews. This effort, by a coalition of enemies, involves a multi-layered approach: diplomatic, media-driven, terror, religious, and economic. And I am admitting my bias upfront: in my world, Jews have been slaughtered and harassed for 60 years by Arabs who feed on hate. Yet, in our culture today, Israel is blamed. This is surely a psychological disorder.

My chat friend has family in Bethlehem and bemoans the fact that they cannot move freely between that town and Jerusalem, Ramallah, or any other city. We all see things from our own perspectives. For a Palestinian, Israel restricts his or her movements. For an Israeli, those restrictions keep a lid on terror.

A recent poll in Egypt reveals that almost two-thirds view Al Qaida as a legitimate entity. Friends, that is scary in the extreme. As Middle East analyst Barry Rubin has noted, even the effort to bring in Israeli medicine to help a dying boy is not allowed by the Egyptians.

We also know that for decades, tens of thousands of terrorist acts have been perpetrated by Arabs against Jews. Arab armies have invaded Israel three times and terror organizations have initiated hostilities several more times, most recently two years ago in Lebanon.

That is a bare-bones Israeli view.

From the Palestinian view, Israel “stole” land in 1948. Jewish “settlers” took over homes and land and forced Arabs out. Today, the checkpoints and security barrier choke-off Arab movement and result in a devastated Palestinian economy and the uprooting of families. All Israeli leaders are viewed with suspicion. Before he (reluctantly) embraced the Oslo program, Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was known as the “bone-breaker” by Palestinians who decried Israeli efforts to deal with terrorists. No doubt the Israelis have dealt severely with their enemies.

That is a bare-bones Palestinian view.

American Christians who support Israel are often accused of ignoring Palestinian concerns. To be sure, there are stepped-up efforts by left-leaning Christians to disseminate the Palestinian “narrative.” From Brian McLaren and his Emergent friends to Christianity Today magazine to mainline churches, there have been plenty of opportunities for Palestinians to get their message out.

I do take exception to the charge that Christian Zionists ignore (and/or hate) Arabs. My dear friend David Lewis was a zealous defender of Israel. David also pioneered efforts to reach out to Palestinians and the wider Arab nation. I know plenty of other Christians who work to help Arabs. David’s daughter, Rebecca Brimmer, is director of Bridges for Peace, and that organization —  based in Israel — feeds and clothes both Jews and Arabs.

The issue is this: both sides have grievances. The real problem — in my humble view — is that the Arabs have chosen a path of violence: unrelenting, diabolical, and murderous. Anyone who fails to repudiate murder does not have the moral authority to present his or her case.

Years ago I had a long conversation with a Palestinian regarding theological issues. I will not identify him beyond that.

I asked why Palestinians — particularly Palestinian Christians — take a generally dim view of Jews and Israel. I naively suggested that the Bible we all read gives clear evidence that God gave the land in question to the Jews.

He gave a long, detailed reply that I can sum up this way: Palestinians reject those ancient promises because they consider them unfair. There are various interpretations, such as symbolizing OT prophecies, considering them myth, ignoring them outright. But generally, they are rejected.

This is really extraordinary and demands further attention.

In essence, he was admitting a very human reaction: we don’t like something, so we simply reject it. This is the ultimate in subjective reasoning. Please allow me an admittedly weak parallel that I hope at least illustrates some truth.

I am a big fan of University of Oklahoma football. Always have been.

Last weekend, archrival Texas upset OU and spoiled an unbeaten season. The game was hyped, OU fans were pumped-up, and early on, I thought OU would win big. Then mistakes, penalties, turnovers, and injuries sunk us. Yet I have no choice but to admit this:

Texas won. They played a tremendous game, played with passion and purpose, and won fair and square. They were the better team.

I cannot dwell on other factors, much as I would like to do that. I cannot pretend that Texas didn’t win. I cannot reject their victory and claim it is illegitimate.

Palestinians (particularly Christian) cannot simply reject Old Testament prophecies and promises because they consider them unfair or unjust. Besides, the opposite view can be taken: why isn’t it fair for Israel to have a sliver of land, when the pan Arab nation has 22 countries with a combined land-mass that dwarfs the Jewish state.

Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt! Israel turned over administration of land to the Palestinian Authority over a decade ago. As Avi Lipkin has pointed out, Israel has returned over 90 percent of territory won in the Six Day War!

But we never hear this. Like a giant satellite zooming in from space, we don’t see the gigantic Arab population and land-mass compared to Israel. The media, anti-Jewish diplomats, and terror organizations zoom-in and present Israel as a “Goliath” oppressing the tiny Palestinian “David.”

This is absurd and immoral. The ratio of Arab land to Jewish land in the Middle East is roughly 540 to 1!

My eyes were opened when I learned that the Palestinian Christians generally reject Jewish claims to the land, not on theological grounds, but simply by subjective feeling.

And further: I cannot view with equal measure the plight of a Palestinian family that cannot regularly visit family from other villages when weighed against the plight of multitudes of Jewish families who have buried loved ones murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

If we split with Palestinian brethren over this, we split. I cannot and will not allow myself to be duped by clever propaganda. This is a black-and-white issue. Murder is never justified. Rejection of the Bible because one perceives it to be unfair is never justified.

We are moving into difficult times, on myriad levels. It is my contention that support for Israel is diminishing, not growing. Her enemies are aggressive, well-funded, and do not become exhausted. Not one of these traits is shared by Israel’s defenders, generally speaking.

I do sincerely love my Palestinian brethren. But I cannot and will not be silent while Israel is in danger.

Never.

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Oct 13

What Might Have Been Will Be!

Psalm 81 is a tale of postponed love, as it were. God tells Israel that if only she had been like her forefather, Joseph, who called on Him in time of trouble…He would have delivered her from her enemies. Instead, there were those who sought after strange gods. God reminded them that He had brought them out of Egypt. They rebelled, anyway. Thus started Israel’s long slide into persecution.

However, every great drama has an ending. Israel’s “end” is still future, but we are seeing the outlines coming sharply into focus. Ironic that the outlines are still blurred for Christians who denounce Bible prophecy.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the critics of the Bible, including several Christians, mock folks like Hal Lindsey. They say that he made specific assertions 35 years ago with The Late, Great Planet Earth, and some didn’t come true. Well, anyone who sees Israel as central to world history must be doing something right, and Lindsey saw correctly on a number of things. Psalm 81 is one of those scenarios in which Israel’s history is so clearly revealed — if one reads history — that one wonders how the critics can see themselves without shame.

What I mean is this: Psalm 81 reads like the first half of a great love story; God passionate for His people, but they rejecting Him. However, as one progresses through the sweet musings of David, one can see that God intends to rescue them, and rescue them forever.

In their gross stupidity, Israel’s enemies — may I say this boldly: Islamists and Jew-hating Christians — see the Jews in the past-tense. For them, the story stops at the end of Psalm 81.

Christian critics of Israel (guys like Tony Campolo, United Methodist bishops, and “thoughtful, careful” thinkers such as Brian McLaren) seem to enjoy thinking of Israel in the past. For them, there is no link between modern Jews in the Jewish state and the figures from the Bible. And notice this: the critics talk long and loud about the OT admonitions that the Jews will live in peace in their land so long as they practice justice and mercy. In other words, if Israel today will show “justice” and give the Palestinians a state, God will be happy with them.

This is a real recipe for disaster. As Israel’s current, outgoing prime minister surrenders and says Israel must return to the 1949 UN armistice lines (nine miles wide at its narrowest point), the Arabs grow more aggressive, arrogant, and demanding.

As the Jerusalem Post’s astute Caroline Glick notes, these things are now accepted by Israeli leaders simply because. There is no rationale given, only the shrill assertion that it must be done now.

So Israel is being squeezed diplomatically, militarily, religiously, philosophically. As we’ve said before — but it bears repeating again and again only because it is so delicious — all this merely proves that God’s promises to the Jews are still in force. The critics, the opponents of Israel, by their mere presence and mendacity, are themselves part of prophecy.

And they don’t get it.

When an agency head with the United Methodist Church chirps that Israel is “occupying” the Palestinians and is therefore not practicing justice and mercy, I laugh and recall my friend who says, of a proposed pull-out from the West Bank: “Leave Judea and Samaria? They could move 8,000 from Gaza, but there are a quarter-million of us in the heartland.”

Which of course sets up a showdown, an ultimate High Noon. God has said that because He wants to, He will set up Israel again, forever. The critics claim Israel will disappear.

Someone must be wrong!

The psychopaths who run Iran are so sure they have the final solution to the Jews, they can’t discern that history itself is dead-set against them. They should remember their ancestors, the Persians, who failed miserably in their own extermination plans.

With every Israeli concession, her enemies stupidly lick their chops and anticipate victory. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, visiting Moscow this week to ask the Kremlin to please help with Iran (think JFK asking Russia pretty please to remove the missiles from Cuba), pledged to turn over a patch of ground — a Russian compound — in Jerusalem, to Moscow.

It is symbolic, of course, because Russia has no military presence there. Yet the power of symbol pushes Israel further down the path of seeming vulnerability. I say “seeming” because it is much like a lion lying down and feigning injury while a bunny rabbit plays all around him.

The Bible tells us that as Israel becomes more vulnerable in the last days, that is precisely the moment that God rises up to defend her. The ultimate fighting lion will arise and destroy His enemies.

We are upset that Olmert is weak. We are upset that Iran is saber-rattling. We are upset that the international community desires to carve-up Israel.

But it has to be this way! Three thousand years ago, David recorded God’s judgment on the people of Israel.

Now we have a situation in which Israel is becoming more vulnerable, though in her own sovereign land.

This week, Michael Freund wrote in the Jerusalem Post:

“[Shimon] Peres and those who backed the Oslo Accords owe all Israelis a belated apology. On September 13, 1993, when Rabin shook hands with Arafat after signing the accord, I along with many other television viewers felt a sense of gloom. Not because we were we were any smarter or wiser, but simply because we knew, deep down, that you cannot compromise with evil, however easy and tempting it might appear to be.”

Now it is time for the second half of the story. The half that ends with Israel’s permanent survival.

Her enemies don’t see it coming.

 

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