Friday, December 19, 2014

Evicting the "Holy" from the Holy Land

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While atheists seek to remove Baby Jesus, the shepherds, the wise men and their camels from America's public square, terrorists this week are seeking to remove Israel from their rightful land.

They are trying to evict the "Holy" from the Holy Land.

And many nations in Europe are complicit with the effort.

Associated Press reports that "Israel suffered back to back setbacks in Europe this week, while the Palestinians at the United Nations set a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from parts of their land by 2017."

In Geneva, the international community delivered what the AP calls "a stinging rebuke to Israel's settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, saying 'the practice violates Israel's responsibility as an occupying power'."

"Occupying" power?

The declaration to remove Israel by 2017 was submitted Wednesday evening to the UN Security Council for a possible vote.

This week the EU voted to recognize a Palestinian state "in principle."

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is understandably outraged.

Is the United States government equally outraged?


AP says the Fourth Geneva Convention is also calling for "all serious violations to be investigated and those responsible for breaches to be brought to justice."

Netanyahu says, "It seems that too many in Europe, on whose soil 6 million Jews were slaughtered, have learned nothing." He is assuring the "global community" that Israel will continue to defend itself "against the forces or terror and tyranny and hypocrisy."

Israel's UN Mission blasted the gathering saying, "It confers legitimacy on terrorist organizations and dictatorial regimes wherever they are, while condemning a democratic country fighting terrorism in accordance with international law."

The Christians United for Israel organization quoted Netanyahu as saying, "Today we witnessed staggering examples of European hypocrisy: in Geneva they call for the investigation of Israel for war crimes, while in Luxemburg the European court removed Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations, Hamas that has committed countless war crimes and countless terror acts."

This is yet another step in the incremental attempt to "wipe Israel off the map" no matter how high brow it all sounds.

Traditionally, the United States has stood by Israel in these attempts. So far this week our President has been silent. The hope is that he will continue to support Israel as we as a nation has in the past.

Europe is now demanding that Israel withdraw from strategically vital and historically precious land in exchange for absolutely nothing.

This would be another step toward creating another Hamas---or even an ISIS base overlooking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

This is hardly a step toward "peace."

The so-called religious left are often anti-Israel, a position I find impossible to square with Scripture. However, most evangelicals stand strong and firmly with Israel.

Here is why. The following was prepared by Pastor John Hagee.

Here are seven solid Bible reasons why Christians should support Israel.

Genesis 12:3: "And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed." Point: God has promised to bless the man or nation that blesses the Chosen People. History has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the nations that have blessed the Jewish people have had the blessing of God; the nations that have cursed the Jewish people have experienced the curse of God.

St. Paul recorded in Romans 15:27, "For if the Gentiles have shared in their (the Jews) spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things."

Christians owe a debt of eternal gratitude to the Jewish people for their contributions that gave birth to the Christian faith. Jesus Christ, a prominent Rabbi from Nazareth said, "Salvation is of the Jews!" (St. John 4:22) consider what the Jewish people have given to Christianity:
  • The Sacred Scripture
  • The Prophets
  • The Patriarchs
  • Mary, Joseph, and Jesus Christ of Nazareth
  • The Twelve Disciples
  • The Apostles
It is not possible to say, "I am a Christian" and not love the Jewish people. The Bible teaches that love is not what you say, but what you do. (1 John 3:18) "A bell is not a bell until you ring it, a song is not a song until you sing it, love is not love until you share it."

While some Christians try to deny the connection between Jesus of Nazareth and the Jews of the world, Jesus never denied his Jewishness. He was born Jewish, He was circumcised on the eighth day in keeping with Jewish tradition, He had his Bar Mitzvah on his 13th birthday, He kept the law of Moses, He wore the Prayer Shawl Moses commanded all Jewish men to wear, He died on a cross with an inscription over His head, "King of the Jews!

Jesus considered the Jewish people His family. Jesus said (Matthew 25:40) "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren (the Jewish people… Gentiles were never called His brethren), ye have done it unto me.

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love thee." (Psalm 122:6) the scriptural principle of prosperity is tied to blessing Israel and the city of Jerusalem.
Why did Jesus Christ go to the house of Cornelius in Capernaum and heal his servant, which was ready to die? What logic did the Jewish elders use with Jesus to convince Him to come into the house of a Gentile and perform a miracle?

The logic they used is recorded in Luke 7:5; "For He loveth our nation, and He hath built us a synagogue." The message? This Gentile deserves the blessing of God because he loves our nation and has done something practical to bless the Jewish people.

Why did God the Father select the house of Cornelius in Caesarea (Acts Chapter 10) to be the first Gentile house in Israel to receive the Gospel? The answer is given repeatedly in Acts 10.

Acts 10:2 "a devout man, (Cornelius) and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always." Who were the people to whom Cornelius gave these alms? They were the Jews

Again is Acts 10:4 "… thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God."

Again in Acts 10:31 "… and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God."

The point is made three times in the same chapter. A godly Gentile who expressed his unconditional love for the Jewish people in a practical manner was divinely selected by heaven to be the first Gentile house to receive the Gospel and the first to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

We support Israel because all other nations were created by an act of men, but Israel was created by an act of God! The Royal Land Grant that was given to Abraham and his seed through Isaac and Jacob with an everlasting and unconditional covenant. (Genesis 12:1-3, 13:14-18, 15:1-21, 17:4-8, 22:15-18, 26:1-5 and Psalm 89:28-37

Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Pro-Active. Be Blessed.