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Israel Present - Setting the stage

Why is there so much tension?

From reading today's headlines, it certainly seems like God has forsaken His promise to His people. While every government has its leaders laboring over what position to take regarding Israel, let's get a biblical news update from the prophet Zechariah:

"Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it" (Zechariah 12:2-3).

What makes this apparently absurd prophecy interesting is that he spoke these words over 2,500 years ago when Israel was a wasteland. Today, the incessant barrage of venom and violence against Israel has never been so specifically focused on Jerusalem, so much so, that the UN Security Council has devoted nearly one-third of its deliberations to Israel.

This is not a battle over real estate.

It's not even a war between Islam and Judaism, but a spiritual battle between the powers of darkness and the powers of light. It's a battle between God and Satan.

The war started when Satan drew first blood, so to speak, and caused Adam and Eve to sin. God returned this blow with a declaration of war and judgment (Genesis 3). This war has in no way subsided.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).

There's no way to stop the tidal wave of Islam.

While the Jew and the Christian enjoy the same God, when it comes to the Islamic faith, we are miles apart. Allah and Jehovah are not the same God. This is something that the media, it seems, is unable to grasp.

Oil revenues have made Islamic countries world players again. Sadly, though, we can't talk about Islam without talking about terrorism. The United States began to understand this on Sept. 11 when we watched in horror while Palestinians jumped for joy as the World Trade Center toppled.

Saddam Hussein, who pays terrorists' families $50,000 to blow up Jewish civilians, said in October 2001, 'If all the Arab nations will finally be as one, we can deal with the Israelite problem within 24 hours.'

Why do Muslims have it out for Jews? Abraham and Sarai grew impatient with God's promise to have a son and took matters into their own hands (Genesis 16). This was sin in God's eyes, as the fruit of this act would forebear:

"Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren" (Genesis 16:11-12). In the Hebrew, the implications of this passage are clear. Ishmael would be a warrior, and his descendents (Arabs/Muslims) would be at war with everyone around them.

The notion of trading land for peace is a myth.

The so-called peace process is built on the false premise that giving away land will somehow appease the Palestinian agenda. Their issue is not Israel's size, but its existence. To this day, no Arab map displays an Israeli state.

For the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the peace process is a means to see what they can get before going to war. This is the same strategy Hitler used to gain Czechoslovakia. Israel is only now waking up to the fact that the one thing peace treaties with the PLO do not produce is peace. The Bible tells us there will be no peace until the Prince of Peace, Jesus, returns:

"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

Anti-Semitism is an uncommon, worldwide hatred.

Islamic-inspired genocide in the Middle East has been the order of the day for centuries (Koran, Sura 5:51; 9:5), but somehow, the Jew is painted as the chief obstacle to world peace.

History is replete with Satanic-inspired men devising plans to annihilate the Jews. Pharaoh, Haman, Herod and Hitler top the list. The church itself is far from exemption as Hitler's European Holocaust was largely due to silent pulpits. God revealed this foreknowledge to Moses a long time ago.

"And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD will drive you" (Deuteronomy 28:37).

God is not through with Israel.

Over 80 percent of the Bible is about Israel as an instrument of God's plan. Jesus, metaphorically speaking, uses a tree to tip us off regarding end time events:

"Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near; at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place" (Matthew 24:32-34).

Once this tree, Israel, began to bloom on May 14, 1948, God's clock began ticking again. The stage is now set for God to deal with Israel and His chosen people, the Jews.

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