The God That Answers

A meme making its way around Facebook really sums up much of what my life is about:

“The existence of the modern state of Israel is living proof that Bible prophecy is true.”

We all know our world is broken. It has been since soon after the beginning. But it’s really, really off the rails now! In fact, many are posting 2 Timothy 3, and I agree. Look at the savage, satanic attitudes we see on our nation’s streets today.

It is with that in mind that I am “re-branding” from Prophecy Matters to a new site:

www.thegodthatanswers.com

I will be adding content every week, content that I feel addresses specific (life application) questions. My goal is to look at broad, big picture prophecy, then drop-in specific prophecies. I do not want to plow the same ground of the identity of the antichrist, etc. Others have done that better than I can. My aim is to discuss things the wider culture can digest.

For example, our over-arching theme will be that the existence of Israel easily proves the existence of God, which can lead a person to find peace in his or her life. But I’ll also dig deep into various prophecies that also give a skeptic/critic little ammunition to reject God.

Zechariah 2 is such a prophecy, and I’ll be posting an article about it this week, which originated with my first trip to Israel in 1998.

I am also going to make this a “tent-making” proposition, rather than donation-based. I’ll offer books and other resources, a podcast, and video to help boost your faith, or the faith of your family and friends.

This week, you can help me do this by clicking on the “Our Books” in the menu. There you’ll find something else I’m excited about.

In 2009, Charisma Media published my book, It’s the End of the World (And I Feel Fine). I recently purchased the rights back to the book, along with the remaining inventory (1,000). I’m going to make cosmetic changes—the content itself is evergreen—so the offer is very generous, and is only available for a limited time through the website.

My aim here is to offer a book that is specifically designed for the person that doesn’t know much about prophecy. Ironically (sadly?), this can be either a secular person, or a Christian in the pew.

It’s the End of the World was written in a conversational style, so it isn’t a “Dispensational”-style format. And, if you want the copies you order signed, I’ll be happy to do that. This book in particular is good for study groups, so I’m offering a deep discount on case quantities. Ordering information is on the page.

I do not need this for income, but if you order books and other resources, it helps fund new publishing. Because the Lord has blessed me that I don’t earn a living from this, it frees my mind and heart to do what I need to do.

I remember several years ago walking through Zion Gate in Jerusalem with British scholar Paul Wilkinson. He said something to me that was and is very profound. Paul said, “You know, Jim, prophecy and Israel is very exciting, but if we’re not pointing people to Jesus, what’s it all for?”

He is so right. I love the Jewish people, and Israel has been a passion of mine for decades. But helping individuals find true and lasting peace is my new passion in life, for the duration.

We are running out of time. Exciting for believers, but precarious for unbelievers.

It is my sincere desire that people everywhere, on every continent and every background, find Jesus Christ and believe the Gospel.

That is and will be the purpose of The God That Answers. I hope you will see in time that it is a unique space for people to have their eternal lives changed. I will be talking about a wide variety of things, including Creation vs. Evolution; culture; the relevance of Israel; and the importance of worldview.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for praying that this new venture will please the Lord, and be worthy of your attention on an ongoing basis.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

My new website will be ready next week, promise!)

 1,053

Hard to believe 20 years have passed. The Second Intifada (Arab for “Uprising”) was unleashed on Israel by Yasser Arafat and his bloodthirsty henchmen in September, 2000. The last months of the Clinton administration, a gang that had done much to prop-up the evil troll. We were two months from the contested election of George W. Bush.

And still more than four years(!) from the end of the Intifada. In all, during that time, 1,053 Israelis were murdered. Not a peep from the international community.

What it meant was that Palestinian terrorists were given the greenlight to bomb and murder Jews wherever they could. Restaurants, buses, malls. It was the systematic murder of Jewish civilians, something the international community has counted as sport for many hundreds of years.

It was when the disastrous Ehud Barak tenure as Israeli prime minister was coming to an end that the country woke up to the real game the PLO was playing. Raising its children on a diet of Jew-hatred, the Palestinian “leadership” targeted innocents.

I was there in November, 2000. I will never forget standing at the Western Wall and turning around to see no one in the plaza behind me. If you’ve been there, you know where this is and know that constantly almost, there are hundreds or thousands milling about on their deeper entry into the Old City. Merchants practically grabbed my hands, begging me to buy something. Once again, the PLO had hamstrung its own people and ruined businesses as they were ruining Jewish lives.

One morning, I was finishing breakfast at the American Colony Hotel, talking with a friend. As we got up to leave, we noticed a commotion outside. Word had reached us that a homicide bomber had detonated on a bus in the western part of the city.

I went outside and three Palestinian cab drivers argued over who would take me to the scene. They seemed unconcerned that children had been murdered on that bus.

When we arrived, police were keeping the public away, but the bus was no more than 40 yards away. Unfortunately, we could see everything. Then I had one of the strangest brief conversations I’ve ever had.

It was obvious that mostly young Palestinian men were detonating these bombs; not difficult to profile.

But of course, in societies where liberalism seeps in, people cannot profile. It might be offensive to the alleged killer!

So, I asked an Israeli man standing next to me: “Why don’t you just not allow young Palestinian men on buses?”

His head snapped around and he looked incredulous.

“We can’t do that!”

Even in the midst of 11 dead children, hanging out of blown-out windows, the Israelis could not bring themselves to “discriminate” against their enemies.

It took (thank you, merciful God) Arafat’s death in 2004 to bring the curtain down on this latest reign of terror.

It was also ushered-in the Ariel Sharon era in Jerusalem. His building of the security barrier largely stopped the bombings, and its importance continues to this day.

The whole affair is a stark reminder that the world groans in misery until the Prince of Peace arrives.

May that day be very soon.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com