I am heartbroken over the latest stage of “the road map to peace.” This “Odyssey to Holocaust” took its would-be enforcers to Sharm el Sheik, on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula.
I was sickened to watch a well-meaning, Christian American president talk incessantly about his vision for a Palestinian and Jewish state living side by side in peace. He seems to think that if he just says it enough, the Palestinians will repent of their religiously inspired passion to destroy the state of Israel. But the continued actions of the Muslim Palestinians show that there is no hope of that happening. It is simply impossible to undo the influence of a religion that is the extension of Ishmael and Esau’s 4,000-year-old hatred of Isaac and Jacob. They are the forefathers of the Arabs and the Israelis.
The “road map to peace” is already a failure. President Bush’s promise to call a Summit to launch the new quest for a Palestinian state was based on the following requirements:
- Yasser Arafat was to be removed from the leadership of the Palestinian Authority;
- the terrorist infrastructure was to be dismantled;
- a free election of a new PA leader who was untainted by terrorism;
- the PA was to begin steps toward democratization;
- all incitement to violence and terrorism were to cease.
Every one of “these first steps” that were to be taken before the summit have not only been not done, but all blatantly continue as they were.
I believe that President Bush is the victim of terribly wrong advice. From the State Department and his Cabinet advisers he is continually fed the illusion that Islam is basically a religion of peace that is being hijacked by the actions of a few non-representative fanatics.
But George W. Bush’s worst failure in understanding the true nature of the Muslim-Israeli Crisis is the fault of the Christian ministers who have instructed him since his salvation experience. He has apparently not been taught Bible prophecy – especially in its most important central theme, God’s unconditional covenants with Israel.
God predicted through the prophet Ezekiel exactly what would happen in the days just before a final great war that will culminate with the coming of the Messiah.
God gave this forewarning to all the nations that geographically surround the state of Israel in the last days: “Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities, which have become a prey and a derision to the rest of the nations which are round about [i.e., all of the Muslim nations today], therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom [the Arabs], who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey'” (Ezekiel 36:4-5).
Note two things in particular in this prophecy. First, God calls the land His land. Second, this terrible warning of judgment is addressed to the nations that would live around the reborn-state of Israel in the last days that usurp His land.
It is most important to recognize that neither the Muslims, Palestinians nor Israelis own the land – God proclaims that He does. God then declares that He will give His land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, even though they do not deserve it.
Weigh carefully this prophecy, “Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, ‘It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols'” (Ezekiel 36:22-25).
Note well what this amazing prophecy that is over 2,650 years old says. At a time when the land would be reduced to an utter desolation, and the people of Israel would be scattered throughout the world among the nations, God will return them to their own land.
God specifies the precise reasons why the Israelites will not deserve to be restored to the land. Yet, because His great name is at stake, He will return the Israelites from all the nations to which they are scattered and cleanse them. God does this because He keeps His Word, even though He foreknew that Israel would miserably fail and not deserve it.
God has to keep His Word. He unconditionally swore to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that He would give them the land of Israel forever. Here is just one example of God’s oath to them, “Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day, And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: ‘If this fixed order departs From before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘Then the offspring of Israel also shall cease From being a nation before Me forever.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘If the heavens above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:35-37).
In this prophecy, God not only promises that the Israelites would always exist, but that they would always be a nation before Him – in spite of anything they would do.
Ezekiel chapters 36 through 39 gives clear warning to all who would seek to prevent Israel from living in peace in the land God has given them. It predicts that the world will eventually be drawn into a global war because of this issue.
My great fear is that President Bush is ignorantly leading the United States into God’s judgment. For God warns that He will judge all nations that have contributed to keeping Israel from living in the land He sovereignly gave them.
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