[1]. Shameful Godless Demonstrations
This message will be a bit political, but we have to thread through and tread carefully so that we don’t miss the Christian implications of these events. I did post on the Hamas subject earlier, but I need to follow that up with a different post.
Since my last post, there have been demonstrations against Israel and supporting the people in Gaza and Hamas all over the Western world, which have been expressions of sheer hate and satanic motivation. Almost without exception, they have been sponsored by the cause of Palestinians and support of Hamas. Those of us in civilized nations might wonder why these things happen and are even permitted in Western democracies that allegedly support some semblance of decency.
We will try to understand that. My mind goes to this:
Acts 19:24-29: “For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, ‘Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business, and you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship should even be dethroned from her magnificence.’
“WHEN THEY HEARD THIS AND WERE FILLED WITH RAGE, THEY BEGAN CRYING OUT, SAYING, ‘GREAT IS ARTEMIS OF THE EPHESIANS!’ THE CITY WAS FILLED WITH THE CONFUSION, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.”
If we examine the motivation behind that riot and lawless demonstration, we have to conclude all this was of Satan because Satan loves and conquers through division. I do admit some public gatherings and demonstrations might have a legitimate cause, but most of these protests in recent years are anti-decency and anti-God. Jesus said if we are not for Him, we are against Him. There can be no fence-sitting.
We also have this account:
Genesis 19:4-10: “Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter, and they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.’
“But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, ‘Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man. Please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like, only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.’
“But they said, ‘Stand aside.’ Furthermore, they said, ‘This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge. Now we will treat you worse than them.’ SO THEY PRESSED HARD AGAINST LOT AND CAME NEAR TO BREAK THE DOOR. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.”
This shameful demonstration outside the door of Lot’s house is more in line with the arrogance of recent demonstrations in support of Hamas around the world. Of course, it again is of Satan because he is the master of moral depravity. These people who have demonstrated in recent times for the legalization of homosexual “marriage” are the same people as were at Lot’s door. The moral perversion of homosexuality is not whitewashed by any form of legalization.
They are the two demonstration examples from the Bible that come to mind. Another I will not do right now is the incited crowd yelling, “Crucify Him. Crucify Him.”
It is frightening to see what is happening in most nations from the radicalized Islamic people living in those nations. I come back to Australia to the most disgraceful event that some of you know about because some world channels featured it. A large Islamic crowd gathered in front of the Sydney Opera House in full view of the police – WHO DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING – and screamed out in chorus, “GAS THE JEWS. GAS THE JEWS.” The government of New South Wales ignored it until they were shamed into making a statement, but that is all they did!
In Australia, they have this range of charges that can be brought against people the government or police do not like, such as racial hatred and hate speech, incitement and homophobic comments, and so many more, but the police did nothing to address the hate speech against the Jews. The conclusion must be that the Police Commissioner was in tacit agreement with that demonstration. They also screamed out, “Kill all Jews. Kill all Jews.” Was anyone arrested? Yes, one man, and he was walking past with an Israeli flag!
I was really thrilled with this news item that recently came out from the USA from the New York Times:
“The House voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to pass a resolution declaring solidarity with Israel, pledging to give its government whatever security assistance it needs to fight and win its war with Hamas. The vote, 412 to 10, was the first piece of legislation considered under Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana. He was elected to the post on Wednesday after three tumultuous weeks in which G.O.P. members struggled to replace Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, following his ouster. Nine Democrats and one Republican opposed the resolution. Six Democrats voted present, even though five of them had previously co-sponsored the resolution.”
In contrast, my own nation of Australia is run by the Australian Labor Party, which is socialist left to the extent of being Marxist. They oppose Israel strongly, so there was only some mealy-mouthed statement right near the start from the Prime Minister, Albanese. But instantly, when he heard the first mention of Israel bombing a hospital, he leapt to the condemnation of Israel. Incidentally, Israel had nothing to do with the hospital. Instead, Australia has been pouring money into the Palestinians for a year or two because of the hate for Israel. It is said that the Palestinians are themselves suffering under Hamas, and to some extent, this is true, but let us not forget that the majority of them vote for Hamas and support Hamas.
Let me conclude this ugly demonstration matter with one last comment. I come back to this critical verse again, speaking of the last days of the Church age:
2 Timothy 3:1: “Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.” AND 2 Timothy 3:12-13: “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. EVIL MEN AND IMPOSTORS will proceed FROM BAD TO WORSE, DECEIVING and BEING DECEIVED.”
We are in these last days and can expect these things. The word in verse 13 for “men” is the Greek for a human being (anthropos), and that means men and women. There are some really nasty women in politics, vicious and vindictive. “From bad to worse” is alarming, for what is bad now will be worse in a year’s time. And the times are becoming more squashed, for the years are being gathered up. The coming of the Lord in the Rapture has to be very close.
Do you remember the last time I spoke about there being no lasting peace in Israel even though Israel conquers Hamas? After the Rapture, this world ruler, the evil Antichrist, brokers a deal (treaty, agreement) with Israel for 7 years of peace because the uncertain, troubling times persist. We are at the stage of the world looking for a peacemaker (he will be the one coming on the white horse of Revelation 6), so all that must be close. The Rapture must be close.
[2]. WHO IS HAMAS?
I was most intrigued to listen to a Christian Rabbi who carefully explained what Palestine is/was. He is Jonathon Cahn, and his is a site well worth subscribing to. He clarified that when the Romans defeated the Jews in AD 70 and later in an uprising in AD 135, they wanted to obliterate the name Judah (Israel), so they called the area “Syria Palaestina” in AD 135. And the reason is that it was equated with Philistia (the land of the Philistines). The gods of the Philistines and the hatred of many of those people have continued into the present. It is like the modern Palestinians (Gaza Strip more so,) are the old Philistines, and they live in exactly the same territory. Hamas is the fighting terrorist arm of Islam for Palestine.
I will reproduce something here that is everywhere on the Internet in well-documented sites if you want to search it out. One really clear explanation of this comes from “The Hope of Israel” site quoting Sam Shamoun, who begins with this:
ALLAH IS NONE OTHER THAN BAAL OF THE OLD TESTAMENT! The Old Testament explicitly denies the Muslim assertion that the pre-Islamic Ishmaelites knew and worshiped the true God and that their only problem was that they associated other gods with him. The data conclusively shows that as the centuries unfolded, the Ishmaelites forsook the God of their ancestors Abraham and Jacob, YEHOVAH Elohim, for the worship of some false god. The false god whom they worshiped as the true god was none other than Baal.
There is so much material proving that Allah is the name derived from a Baal god, and the Baals were worshipped by the Philistines.
Hamas is the militant arm of the Palestinians, as is Hezbollah, and when all this is drawn together, it is no surprise to see what is happening. The site, by the way, with very careful explanation, is https://www.hope-of-israel.org/baaloftheOT.html
Satan can only take advantage of any situation when he shrouds it with ignorance. In Australia, there is a political party called “Greens.” They are out-and-out communists, and they have a very hateful agenda for Christians and Jews. That is no surprise, for Marx, Engels, and Stalin, in all their documentation, expressed their aversion for religion, “the opiate of the people,” and it has always been the communist aim to exterminate religion. Sadly, the Greens have up to 20% support in some regions these days.
[3]. HOW DID WE GET TO THIS?
Well might we ask with concern – “How did we get to this?” The answer is clear to see in hindsight. In the 1970s in Australia, there was an Immigration Minister called Al Grasby (Labor Party) who constantly pushed his Multicultural program. It was to provide a whole lot of services in foreign languages and specific cultures, making enclaves in Australian society and destroying the standard culture of the nation. Many migrants were brought to Australia but not from Britain; the Labor Party hates Britain because Labor had its roots in Irish radicalism, protest unionism, and the anti-British movement. At the time, I called it this: “Multiculturalism is a diseased policy of fragmentation.”
They began to bring Muslims into the nation, and some radicals came in with a great rush of boat people. These radicals run Islamic schools, and what do we have? The great anti-Semitic demonstrations. The USA has been similar, and now you have the criminals flooding in because Biden took the border away. Europe has the same problem because millions flooded in from Islamic Africa and the Middle East.
[4]. WHERE IS ALL THIS GOING?
Where is all this going? That is not a hard question. One thing people must understand about Islam is that it is not a peaceful religion. I have been abused and rejected over that comment in the past, for people don’t open their eyes wide enough. In Western nations, Muslims are relatively docile UNTIL they get the majority, and then they impose Islamic law with its ruthlessness and violence.
Name one nation in the world with a majority Islamic government where there is freedom of speech and religion and harmony, and democracy? There is none. (Possibly, the UAE is inclined that way.)
There is one other thing to realize about Islam. It is extremely loyal, even fanatical, but to what? When it is a choice between supporting the nation where Muslims live and Islam, they will always choose Islam. Hypothetical here, if an Islamic country declared war on the USA or Britain or France, so many Muslims would support their religion over politics and side with the invader. It is not often I commend the French, but they outlawed these Islamic protests, and I congratulate them for that.
[5]. WHY IS SOCIALISM OVERTAKING US?
Why is socialism overtaking us? That is not hard to answer either. I was alive in the Cold War days of the early 1950s onwards. We all knew about the danger of socialism/communism, and our governments were vigilant about us knowing the facts. In schools, we were taught loyalty to our nation, and in the 1950s, if anyone dared to burn our nation’s flag in the street and decry the very nation where they live, it would have been deemed an act of treason. But today, it is commonplace, at least in Australia. Children in schools now are taught to hate their country and despise their beginnings in settlement.
That is the same reason now why those under the age of 30 are racing to embrace socialism with all its anti-Christian and anti-Semitic sentiment. They are taught that the tenets of socialism are good, and nothing is ever mentioned about the horrors of communism. That is why socialism is overtaking us.
Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who CALL EVIL GOOD, and GOOD EVIL, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Satan keeps the people in ignorance. He owns the education system. Evil men and women are progressing from bad to worse. The nations are being dumbed down and chained in ignorance.
[6]. WHERE IS ALL THIS GOING TO END?
Where is this current strife and fighting and hate going to end? It will all end with the Tribulation after the Rapture of the Church. Here is the information:
Revelation 6:3-4: “When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come,’ and another, A RED HORSE, went out, and to him who sat on it, IT WAS GRANTED TO TAKE PEACE FROM THE EARTH, and that men should slay one another, and a great sword was given to him.”
THIS IS THE ANTICHRIST, THE WHITE HORSE à Matthew 24:5: “for many will come in My name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”
THIS IS THE RED HORSE – WARS ALL OVER THE EARTH à Matthew 24:6: “You will be hearing of WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS. See that you are not frightened for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.”
THESE ARE THE BLACK AND PALE HORSES à Matthew 24:7 “…and in various places there will be FAMINES AND EARTHQUAKES.”
Now, summarizing those passages just quoted: The Rapture is imminent, and straight after that come the four horsemen of Revelation 6. The first is the white horse, which is the revelation of this satanically evil man, the man of sin, the Antichrist. Right after that comes the red horse when peace is taken from the earth, and there will be wars everywhere, including civil wars. The world is primed for that right now. Can you imagine civil wars in the nations of the earth because of religious and racial problems? We have these problems today, and when the Holy Spirit is removed and peace is removed, it will be anarchy. The black horse is death through starvation and war, and the pale horse is pestilences and diseases and such awful things worse than Covid.
[7]. WHY IS ISLAM NOT A PEACEFUL RELIGION?
For the answer to this, we have to go back to Islam’s origins, when it was first formed (and there is a lot of doubt about dates and personages here, even if Mohammed existed or even started the movement). However, in the early stages of the movement in Mecca, the finances were gained by raiding harmless caravan traders and stealing their goods. These finances were used to fund the war campaigns.
Right from the start, Islam was warlike.
Go to the beginning of anything to see the characteristics of the movement. The following quote (and there are many) is from QUORA:
IN MECCA
The Meccans had to flee to Medina due to the behavior of the Muslims. Their properties had been seized, and life, as they knew it, ceased to exist. They were barred from prayer; they were persecuted. However, the Muslims could not have retaliated in Mecca, but from Medina, they could. The Meccans wanted their homes, their city, their sacred place, their livelihoods, from which they had been forced to leave. Muslims had also been killed in Mecca, and even the Prophet had to flee once, for it was clear that he was to be assassinated. Essentially, Muslims were now at war with the non-Muslim Meccans.
IN MEDINA
The Prophet and his companions started a raiding campaign against the Meccans. This was a common tactic among adversary tribes in Arabia at the time, and this was no different. Now stronger, the Muslims could finally be at par with the Meccans by raiding them.
The campaigns went on with little success. The Meccans were obviously far stronger. Later on, this culminated in the Battle of Badr. Booty and slaves were all a part of that battle and subsequent ones. Booty was essentially for the many soldiers during the time to be paid off, and remember, during the time, every Muslim was an eligible soldier.
BATTLES AND VICTORY
After the battle of Badr, the Muslims, the Meccans, and their allies fought several battles. Eventually, the Muslim rank grew strong enough for them to capture Mecca itself.
Islam is not a pacifist ideology. It is not a New Age spiritual pseudo-religion that preaches peace and tranquillity.
[8]. NOW TO FINISH ALL THESE POINTS
I am going to finish briefly with a number of points.
[1]. There are Christians among the Palestinians. Jesus died for the Palestinians. From “The Jewish Virtual Library:
“The Christian community in the areas administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA) is a small but symbolically important one. According to a 2017 PA survey, 46,850 Christians live in the disputed territories, about 1,300 in Gaza and the rest in the West Bank. In addition, 12,900 Christians reside in Jerusalem. Christians as a share of the population have dwindled from nearly 10% in 1922 to 6% in 1967, to just 1% of the population today, 2017.”
[2]. I am surprised that quite a big number in India are not supportive of Israel (from many Internet reports).
[3]. The nations are going to become more intolerant of Israel and more anti-Semitic. They are bad enough today!
[4]. The United Nations organization is an enemy of Israel, with the Secretary-General, António Guterres, very much opposed to Israel, even hates Israel and supports their enemies.
[5]. The Western nations are reaping what they have sown.
[6]. In preparation for the Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation, Jesus said in Matthew 24:32-34: “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. Even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize THAT HE IS NEAR, RIGHT AT THE DOOR. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
That passage is not for Christians but for the Jewish believers waiting in the Tribulation for Messiah’s coming, but there is an application that can apply to us.
When we see things fall into place, behold, the Rapture is near! They are truly falling into place!