Israel, can't part 4

What will it mean if this anti-Semitism continues and/or gets worse? To me, it indicates one more time that we are definitely in the last days and moving rapidly toward Christ’s return for His bride!  In my opinion, when Israel became a nation in 1948, the scenario was “kicked off.” Old Testament prophecies began to come alive as Israel bloomed, prospered and began to make her mark in the world. US Presidents,Congressman,Senators and other important persons saw her as a force to be reckoned with and were very supportive of her democratic government, the ONLY nation in the Middle East that was democratic. That attitude continued for decades, President after President, just about all were supportive of this tiny nation thriving in the midst of her Arab neighbors…all were antagonistic and threatening. The world quickly began to forget that the “so-called” Palestinians had refused their own state, were NOT the original occupiers of the area, thousands of years ago both Arabs and Jews shared the land, and the more antagonistic toward God…pagans…were conquered by the Israelites at God’s instruction so as not to pollute the holiness God instilled in them as a pattern for living. Even God’s instruction to the Jews was at times harsh but it was always to keep down sin among His people. You may ask why God desired a group of people He called “His”…what purpose did He have in mind in calling Abraham out from his homeland and people, not even telling him where He was taking them????  Well, He wanted 1) a people, a group of people actually, that would love Him and obey Him, and be His very own people that He would love and care for eternally, 2) a people that would keep account of His instructions and preserve the writings, 3) a line of people that would remain pure that He could use to bring His Son into the world as Savior of all. In return He gave them a land, starting with Abraham, that would always be His/theirs. The key word here is “OBEY…” Of course they did not, He was constantly dealing with them in their sin, the whole of the Old Testament is full of the account, and much of the New. But, the Covenant He made with Abraham was unconditional since He knew they would not keep it, and unconditional is unconditional…then and now! He said “I will bless them that bless you and curse them that curse you,” then and now. He never breaks a promise…

 

If we go back to the book of Daniel, we’ll get a timeline of God’s dealing with Israel. All is accomplished with the exception of seven years. get out your study Bible and check it out, all but seven years. We Christians refer to that time period, as does the Apostle John in Revelation, as the Tribulation. Jesus Himself referred to it in Matthew 24-25, calling it a time when there would be such horrible events He would have to intervene at the end or none would survive, so terrible nothing in past history would compare and as you know, some pretty awful things have happened so it must be going to be too horrible to even contemplate. But it will come because God said so and He never changes His mind or breaks a promise.

Israel, con’t

A PRISONER SET FREE TO SING… A wonderful lady from the past, Madame Guyon, wrote lots of encouraging poems and other pieces of literature from her prison cell where she spent most of her life for her witness. Those were days when prison cells were usually holes in a wall, cold, dark, and yet she had incredible faith in her God to always be there with her…and He was! “ A little bird am I, shut out from the fields of air, And in my cage I sit and sing to Him who placed me there; Well pleased a prisoner to be, because, my God, it pleases Thee. Nought have I else to do; I sing the whole day long; And He whom most I love to please, Doth listen to my song; He caught and bound my wondering wing, But still He bends to hear me sing. My cage confines me round; Abroad I cannot fly; But though my wing is closely bound, my heart’s at liberty. My prison walls cannot control the flight, the freedom of my soul.” The presence of God hallows every place it touches…

ARE YOU PURE IN HEART?????

I read a devotional, “This Day With the Master” by Dr Dennis Kinlaw. He is a wonderful, Godly man who most days stirs my heart. Today I read this and his comments on I Thess 5:23-24…”We realize it is one thing to have our sins forgiven, and quite another matter to have our inner heart cleansed.” It has been my experience in 30 years of prison ministry, teaching and counseling inmates and interacting with the staff, that verse is entirely so and completely practical. Most of the time we believers concentrate on getting a person “saved.” Of course that is paramount, but it is also step one. MOST of the men I met in prison that had religious experience in the past, could remember a time when they had an experience with the Lord…but…here they were, addicted, friendless, family gone,no decent future ahead, sitting in prison. A question I get asked many,many times: what happened to me? Valid question. Most of us in the free world could ask the same thing. Years ago my friend and mentor, Chaplain David Wilson had me get acquainted with material by Dr David Seamanns, Healing For Damaged Emotions. He could not have given me a greater gift because I learned the answer to that question. It took much study and prayer. I developed what I call “think time.” I would hit a place in the material that really struck my heart. I needed to spend time meditating, pondering, thinking it through. It is a remarkable work, I once had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Dr Seamanns at his home, shortly before he moved on to Glory. He radiated love. His work radiated that same quality of love, and caring. You can tell he knew experientially what he was writing was true, needed, healing. Personally, I don’t think you can teach it until you have read and applied all that is in that work of love. Heart cleansing is a continuing process…theologically it is called sanctification. Scripture tells us to be ‘renewed in the ttitude of your mind…” and that sums it up. However, it is a life-long process and we individually must make a commitment to do it. Most are not willing to devote the time required, and most are never taught the need to cleanse our minds…our sin-riddled, ugly minds.Some even believe and/or are taught sanctification happens at salvation, we are saved and healed all at the same time. It is as if the Lord was the tooth fairy who tapped us on the head with a magic wand and whalah! Whole…it just doesn’t happen that way. We must read the Word, study it, memorize it, meditate on it and most important of all…apply it! A cleansed mind is not possible apart from applying the truths of God’s Word to our every day lives and all of our interaction with others. It is actually a life-long process. We need good, faithful, godly teachers, we need mentors that will walk along the path with us, We need someone we trust that we can and will be accountable to. When you get to the point where these things are part of your life each and every day…you will grow in grace and find yourself well long the road to a godly life. I wish you well!

Osama bin Laden

Been thinking a lot about what has gone on these last couple of days. I am satisfied that an enemy of our country is gone and out of any position of influence. However, I don’t think we have heard last of the incident, I don’t think the Arabs will leave it alone, and we may have some very ugly days ahead. We’ll see. I re-thought the matter of burying him at sea, probably the best  thing so as not to make it possible for him to be “worshipped.” I do believe he is dead..

I’ve heard the question raised as to whether or not it is proper to “rejoice” especially for Christian people…God loves everybody, they say.  True, that is why He makes the Gospel available to all sinners, either by words or by nature…and Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient for even UBL! I am pretty sure God is grieved when an unredeemed person dies, He knows their end and that it is permanent simple because of Who He is and what it cost Him to redeem. the “choice” is ours. He gave, we must receive.I have not had a sense of “happiness” over this, more like concern…what will this do within the Muslim/Arab community in retaliation, THAT concerns me a lot.

I have read and studied Scripture for almost 40 years, have especially spent time with prophecy and the history of Israel. Even made my own timeline so as to really “get” how things happened to God’s people, and when. We westerners wonder how the Arabs can be so vicious and ruthless…beheadings in brutal, painful ways, torture and so-called honor killings and many other atrocities. How can they do that and how can they treat women the way they do????  Even in Jesus day women were treated badly. He spoke up and to women, included them and raised them to a higher level than they had been allowed. If we go all the way back to Genesis and look at Jacob and Esau...there was great conflict between those brothers, and that conflict continues to this day.There are verses in Genesis that tell us those who eventually formed the Arab nations were “’wild men, “ always at odds with their brethren, brutal. In other words God says it is part of their nature, the majority unregenerate, sinful. That is why the on-going battle with the Jews is as fierce as it is, a family war so to speak. Not to say salvation is not available to them…it is. Each of us can believe and receive God’s gift or not…even Osama bin Laden.

PRAYING WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY…

I GUESS WE HAVE ALL BEEN TO THAT PLACE MANY, MANY TIMES. You have  situation you don’t have a clue as to how to help, solve or even talk to God about it. I can’t say I have any definitive answers, even enough of an answer to satisfy myself. I do know this…the solution lies with us, not HIM. For instance, there is a situation in our family, (bet you have at least one too,lol) that there appears to be no answer to, on a human level. To just blithely say, “oh, just give it to God” is silly, our minds won’t let us. One morning as I was praying for my family with my Bible open on my lap, I saw this verse, “Reflect on what I am saying, for I the Lord will give you insight into all these things.” 2 Timothy 2:7. God can’t lie…that is a statement with no conditions except to reflect…think…meditate…consider…ponder. And, then there is the BIG part, WAIT. God will bring to your mind the insight you need. In my experience, that could be an hour, day, month, or years, since He isn’t only working on you and your view of the problem but you don’t know how many other people are involved in some way,that He is dealing with. We don’t think of that. And, of course that’s why God is so interested in our learning to fully trust him! I found years ago that the Lord taught me many basic character qualities as He walked me through lessons that could only be learned in times of stress and difficulty. It sounds trite but patience learned (or learning) leads endurance and longsuffering. Worry was a big flaw in my character. Learning to trust when I was so prone to worry and fretting  was a big issue that took Him years to break me of, but He did, I’ve become convinced most professing believers do not allow the Spirit of God to make the changes in us that are imperative if we are to show a fallen world Christ. And that is a great pity!

Another aspect of what I call the “how to pray syndrome.” The Scripture tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Here we are in the last days, Israel stands almost completely alone, America is about to turn it’s back on her, the Arabs/Palestinians/Muslims refuse to view history as it is recorded in truth but have their own version which is almost entirely erroneous. And of course no one wants to believe the Biblical version except a remnant of us…Israel and the Israeli’s are His! And…He goes into great detail about what He will do to those who come against His people as almost all are doing now. I know enough about prophecy to look at our world and its leadership and put it together…and it ain’t good! Back to praying for Jerusalem, how do I/we pray for this situation when we know the horrors that are about to befall the world, and especially Israel and the Middle East? The only solution I have come up with is to pray back to God a part of the prayer the Lord taught His disciples…”Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

I’m sure you have situations in your life and family that you wonder how to pray. I think the best “rule of thumb” is a word from the verse in Psalms I quoted above…reflect…God speaks to us in a small voice, usually but not always from His Word and gently will lead us where to go or what to do. Wait…Trust..and pray.

THINKING, LOVING AND CARING ABOUT ISRAEL

I am a Bible believing Christian, every jot and tittle, I follow and read about prophecy, I also follow and read about current events. I’ve been a Christian, a very committed one, for 37 years, got right with the Lord through reading Hal Lindsey’s Late, Great, Plant Earth in 1974. I had been properly instructed in the Scripture as a child so I knew what he was talking about was true, and probably coming about soon. I remember either watching or hearing the UN voting on Israel’s partition. I remember Abba Eben  speaking before the UN as they debated what to do. At the time, I didn’t know what was going on but for some reason, I had a sense of “history.” I remember President Harry Truman making a speech stating our nation’s recognition of Israel as a nation. I wasn’t very old so I don’t remember too many details but after my experience with the Lord in ‘74, I remembered, and gave it a great deal of thought. I’ve been “thinking out loud” about Israel and her place in God’s world and ours. I consider it a great privilege to be alive now, in this time period, when I believe God’s final dealing with Israel as well as His wrath with mankind will be happening. There is a saying, “I’m not expecting the undertaker, I’m expecting the uppertaker!”

These last couple of years have been incredible in light of Bible prophecy. People say they can’t understand Revelation or Daniel or any other of the Prophets…hogwash…they don’t want to. The speed with swift…the Bible uses the term, “suddenly.” Who, 40 years ago would have thought the Arabs/Muslims would be taking over as they have these last years. Who would have thought the nations would be aligned as they are, with everything moving in the direction of one, great big world, governed by a few liberal radicals or that Christianity a we have known it would be almost totally wiped out! It is happening so fast it almost takes your breath away. Jesus told us, warned us, begged us, and still we don’t listen…then or now. The show is about over and we are soon to see the finale.

If President Obama turns us away from supporting Israel and being her greatest ally…it’s all over. There are more verses of Scripture that speak to the issue of “those who love Israel/those who hate Israel” than I can record on this blog but take my word for it, these are A LOT! God loves Israel and her people with an undying, unconditional, unexplainable love. And we as a nation had better think about that. But I doubt the powers that be will give it any thought and eventually we, Israel’s last important friend, will turn on her and she will be all alone. The big BUT here is this: they are never alone, Israel’s God will never leave her or forsake her, no matter how stiff-necked she is. Watch!!! We are about to see the greatest event in human history, the curtain falling on the drama of God and His creation of and love for humanity.