Thursday 29 August 2013

'HOLY LAND' - WHOSE LAND IS THIS?

We’re exploring the miraculous survival of the Jews despite repeated efforts since 1948 to wipe out Israel:

 
So the Arabs have never accepted the UN recognition of a Jewish home state and have waged war on Israel ever since 1948.
Yes and now the United Nations recognizes an Arab state of ‘Palestine’ which has never existed before as a nation, comprising people who are fractured politically and geographically anyway! 
I wonder if anybody has reminded the U.N. of this:

“For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.”                       Joel 3
Plead?...what’s He mean by that?

Shaphat or judge, the United Nations for dividing up this land…and whose land is it anyway?

"The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine..."                Leviticus 25
It’s God’s land, hey?...and what does He think of it?

"A land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it..."                        Deuteronomy 11
Okay, God may have given the land to Abraham but which of his family were to inherit it?

Psalm 105 tells us that Isaac is the only son God recognises, followed by grandson Jacob or Israel. By the way, here is the land description:

"...from the brook of Egypt (Wadi el Arish) to the great river, the River Euphrates..."             Genesis 15 & Numbers 34
Hang on!...that means Israel is entitled to Jordan, Lebanon and Syria too!

There are interesting times ahead for the Middle East…don’t you think?
So British Empire troops liberated Palestine from the Ottoman Empire in 1917 but was God doing anything for the Jews before that?

The London Jews’ Society changed its name to ‘The Church Ministry among Jews’ or CMJ in 1809. Meanwhile Jerusalem was occupied by the Islamic Ottoman Empire where Christians were not permitted to erect a place of worship.   The 7th Earl of Shaftsbury, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, persuaded Lord Palmerston the then British Foreign Minister to establish the first foreign consulate in Jerusalem in 1838: the British Consulate became a haven for persecuted Jews and on 24 January, 1849, an adjoining chapel now known as Christ Church was dedicated.
That’s impressive! God uses His Scriptures to inspire Christians in Europe, especially Britain, to anticipate the return of Jews to Palestine and provide refuge for them in a hostile Muslim community until it’s time for liberation.                      
No wonder the British were given the privilege of liberating Jerusalem!

…and notice that the chapel was dedicated 48 years before the 1st Zionist Conference was held in 1897, and its interior looks more like a synagogue with altar inscriptions in Hebrew, the original language Eliezer ben Yehuda revived among Jews in 1881.
If you ask me it’s all miraculous: the military, political and spiritual forces all coinciding in the preparation for the return of the Jews to God’s Land.  
Let’s see if God has also worked for the Israelis in

Miracles on the battlefield…NEXT: 
Click on:http://hotspuds.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/miracles-on-battlefield.html


Acknowledgements:  
hatikvah.co.uk   
thedestinyofbritain.org.uk   
Photo credits:   
church/allaboutjerusalem.com  
altar/commons.wikimedia.com                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

 

 

Saturday 24 August 2013

THIS MEANS WAR!!

We’re exploring the miraculous survival of the Jews now back home...but for how long?

 
So it’s the 15th of May, 1948 and only yesterday the Jews in Palestine declared the new State of Israel. I suppose the Arabs are not that impressed?

Five Arab nations – Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan – immediately declare war on a virtually defenseless Israel, with not even enough rifles to go around. Saudi Arabia and Yemen supply contingents too.
Well, with hindsight I guess that’s hardly a surprise. So Israel lost some territory?

After ten months West Jerusalem, the Jezreel valley and more southern Palestine had been added to Israel’s territory!
Wow, that’s got to be a miracle! I bet the Arabs didn’t take that lying down.

No, as soon as United Nations peacekeepers were withdrawn from the Sinai Peninsula in May 1967 after the 1956 Suez Crisis, Egypt moved in. Expecting Syria, Iraq and Jordan to join in, Israel launched pre-emptive strikes on the Arab airforces. Then in only six days, using a military force less than half that of their enemies, they won the Sinai Pensinsula, Gaza strip, Golan Heights, and West Bank - including East Jerusalem!

…..and thousands of angry Arab citizens!

You can say that again….about 1 million of them.
It looked good on the map with all that land back in Israel’s control but with hostile neighbours and hostile citizens, things now escalated when Russia armed Egypt who attacked Israel along the Suez Canal, while Syria attacked in the Golan Heights – on Yom Kippur in 1973.
War on two fronts – north and south – on their most sacred day in the year, the Day of Atonement! This is a fine pickle to be in….whoever did they turn to?...God?

Not likely. Prime Minister Golda Meir asked President Richard Nixon of the U.S. for help.

Whoa!...this really is ramping up. The Cold War is getting hot in the worst spot - as Jews turn to Gentiles for help.
So I suppose the Israelis won more territory as usual?                                               
Yes, but eventually they withdrew from Sinai Pensinula after U.S. President Jimmy Carter talked Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat into burying their differences.

Sadat? Wasn’t he the guy who was assassinated soon after, for compromising with the Israelis?
Rabin's fatal handshake with PLO
Yes, and in 1995 the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated after Israel recognised the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and withdrew from the Gaza strip and some of West Bank.

Well I can understand withdrawing from the Sinai Peninsula because that’s not Israel’s territory according to what you tell me the Bible teaches – but Gaza strip?...and West Bank?
Since then there have been ongoing conflicts, and compromises made by prime ministers such as Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon…

…Israeli leaders compromising with the Arabs over the land, hey?
Except for Yitzhak Shamir, and the incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu but it’s too late now – the territory has been surrendered.

Haven’t the United Nations now recognised Palestine as an observer state?
Yes, although Palestine has never existed as a nation before and ‘Palestinian’ occupation is divided between West Bank and the Gaza strip.
In fact, Jerusalem has only ever been a national capital city for Israel.

NEXT: Whose land is this anyway? 

Photo credits: 
aircraft/invisiblecollege.webblog  
Meir-Nixon/hareetz.com     
Rabin,Clinton,Yarafat/onbeing.org                                                                                                                                  




                                           
                                                                                   
 

Tuesday 20 August 2013

WHAT ABOUT THE GENTILES?

We’re exploring the miraculous survival of the Jews…meanwhile, what about the Gentiles?


Before we move on from 14 May 1948…what has happened to those nations who were involved one way or another in the return of Jews to Palestine?

Well, you tell us – starting with Germany who annihilated 6 million of them.

Germany was decimated by world war and split in two. It has since been rebuilt with the help of Turkish migrants and reunified.

Muslim Germans, huh?…interesting!...and the USSR who torpedoed Jewish refugees?

The USSR finally collapsed in 1991.  

Youngsters today wouldn’t even know what USSR stands for - another empire gone.   What about the British who double-crossed the Jews?

The sun has now set forever on their empire too. It’s just a dim memory.  

The Aussies seem to have prospered – except world conflicts have taken an awful toll.  
Now Australia has declined to vote at the United Nations on the recognition of the Palestinians as an observer state, rather than vote no and upset their Muslim minority.

Mmm…I wonder what those brave Anzacs would think of that.                       
We’ve missed a big player….the United States of America has prospered.

Today U.S.A. is home to 40% of the 14 million Jews worldwide and we’re going to find out why military support for Israel began in 1973 with Richard Nixon in the White House. 
Tell me…where did America’s negro population come from?

Africa, of course. In fact, President Barak Obama’s father was a Kenyan from East Africa.

Does their Secretary of State visit Israel today by helicopter from vulnerable U.S. warships stationed in the Mediterranean?  

USS Cole - October 2000
Sure and the suicide attack on USS Cole in Aden in October 2000 proved how vulnerable these ships are, even to small boat attacks.

Okay…check this out:

“Woe to the land shadowing (tselatsal: clattering) with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes (gome: porous) upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled (mowrat: independent or obstinate), to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

Is that from the Bible?  
Let’s see…a land of clattering wings...umm…helicopters, far from Israel and perhaps linked to Africa, sending ambassadors by sea in ‘porous’ ships to a nation scattered, independent, obstinate, feared from the beginning, measured, down-trodden, spoilt…..do you know what? This is probably U.S.A. and Israel!                         

Go on...what else does it say?

“All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.”

Man, that sure sounds like 14 May 1948 to me! The whole world was stunned to hear that Israel is back in business after 1878 years.  And?...

"For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest…”                                                                  

So God is silently watching and waiting, hey?...and who did He say that to?

The Jewish prophet Isaiah, in chapter 18…..about 2,700 years ago.

So why: ‘Woe’?  Shouldn’t America be supporting Israel’s survival?

The support of Israel comes at a terrible cost so this is more a cry of warning …but was America listening by 11th September, 2001? 

Well, I guess not; America as a nation is not so God-fearing anymore.

So what happened to Israel after 14th May 1948?...and what about those Arabs?

NEXT………This means war!
Click on: http://hotspuds.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/this-means-war.html

Photo credits in order:  
newprophecy.net  
frontpagemag.com    
natgeotv.com                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             






                       

Sunday 18 August 2013

HOME AT LAST!

We’re exploring the miraculous survival of the Jews and find Jerusalem has now been liberated from the Turks…

 
So the Great War is over at last…but who gets control over Palestine that both Jews and Arabs are laying claim to?
The British of course. It’s 1920 and they have a mandate over Palestine from the League of Nations, with the aim of preparation for self-government.

Good luck to them! This is going to be interesting...history is littered with empires that have taken control of this land. Did Britain honour their Balfour Declaration?
Huh? What declaration? Britain enjoyed access to Jewish money plus Arab oil and needed to keep control of the Suez Canal, while keeping both Jews and Arabs on its side in World War II – a thankless juggling act. In reality Palestine will prove to be a 28 year headache costing thousands of British, Jewish, Arab, Australian, New Zealander, South African, Indian, German, and Italian lives.                     
Arab residents and refugees far outnumbered the Jews competing for Palestine so the British reneged by inciting or facilitating Arab rioting, and issuing the MacDonald ‘white paper’ in 1939, stating:  it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State”  then limiting Jewish resettlement to 10,000 per year for 5 years.

A whitewash, hey? So I suppose the place erupted and many Jews lost their lives with Britain trying to stop their resettlement.

M.V. Chaim Arlossorof violently intercepted - Feb 1947
Yes and don’t forget that in February 1942, the Russians torpedoed the M.V. Struma helplessly drifting with 768 Jewish refugees.
Those poor people!...refused refuge by everybody, gassed by the Germans, torpedoed by the Russians, blockaded by the British, massacred by the Arabs…is it any wonder they put up a fight for survival?

Would you believe the British sent some back to the German concentration camps!
Out of frustration Britain handed the problem to the United Nations who voted on partitioning Palestine on 29 November, 1947.  A 2/3rds majority of the 56 member states was required for the successful Resolution 181 (11) that resulted from the voting: 33 for, 13 against, 10 abstentions and 1 absence.


Who was first to put their hand up for a Jewish homeland?
Would you believe - Australia!...after refusing refuge to European Jews in 1938. Just by the way, here’s what the Minister for Trade & Customs said then at the Evian Conference in France:                                                          
“It will no doubt be appreciated also that as we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one by encouraging any scheme of large-scale foreign migration…I hope that the conference will find a solution of this tragic world problem." 

Huh!…in other words – “not in my backyard, and so say all of us” - especially in a global depression.                                       
So what territory did the Jews finally win from the partitioning?
The Sharon coast, upper Jordan valley and the Negev Desert.

What!?...no Jerusalem or Bethlehem!?...not even Hebron or Beersheba??...and the south is mostly wilderness anyway! So did the Arabs accept the umpire’s decision?

No way! Finally the British mandate expired so the State of Israel was announced on 14th May, 1948 as British troops sailed home to a ruined empire, expecting the Jews to survive for only three weeks.

Wow!...finally those 1878 long years of exile are over – in one day!  
Just as Isaiah foretold in chapter 66:

“Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”                                         
Do you know…it seems to me that God was intent on seeing Israel back on that land and no Arabs, Brits or Russians were going to stop Him.  No wonder the headlines lit up!


Acknowledgements:   
en.wikipedia.org  
nahart.com   
ivarfield.com 
holocaust.com.au    
ergo.slv.vic.gov.au                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
Photo credit: MV Chaim Arlossorof /cjhsla.org                                                      

 

 

 

Thursday 15 August 2013

LIBERATION!...(sort of)

We’re exploring the miraculous survival of the Jews but it’s 1917 and who has Jerusalem now? 
Johnny Turk                                       

 
Okay, how do you know Ezekiel 36 isn’t about God promising to end the Babylonian Captivity?
By the time Ezekiel was in Babylon the kingdom of Israel hadn’t existed for over 100 years and yet God claims He is going to populate ‘The Land’ again with “all the house of Israel, even all of it”… out of “all countries”.

Well bother me!....so God is behind it all, making it happen - in grandad’s day!
Of course!...but it looks like Man’s efforts so let’s start there:                             
Theodor Herzl was an Austrian journalist who witnessed anti-semitism in the trial of French Army officer Alfred Dreyfus, falsely accused of treason, so he organised the First Zionist Congress in 1897, with the support of Anglican priest William Hechler, chaplain to the British Embassy in Austria.                                              
Chaim Weizmann, who would later become Israel’s first president, was a Russian Jew and as a chemist, helped the British Government manufacture acetone for explosives during the First World War: rewarded with the issue of the Balfour Declaration in 1917: 

“His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
Mmm…it sounds good… satisfy the Jews and keep in with the Arabs.  You could read between the lines: “We must keep control of the Suez Canal and not offend the oil sheiks.”  
Meanwhile, what was happening in Palestine?

In order to liberate Palestine from the Ottoman Empire, the 58,000 desperately thirsty British soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula needed to first of all reach Abraham’s wells of water in Beersheba, so on 31st October, 800 mounted infantry in the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade charged the Turkish machine-guns in the last great cavalry charge in history – on the same day the Balfour Declaration was announced!
Wow!...next stop Jerusalem!                                     

The order from General Murray for the Australian Light Horsemen to retreat from Gaza, so that the British troops would get the credit, cost thousands of lives and General Murray his command.               
Next, British General Edmund H. Allenby was acutely aware of the significance of Jerusalem being sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians...

…and don’t forget it’s at the junction of Africa, Asia and Europe….
…so he firstly cabled Prime Minister Lloyd George for instructions, then King George V, who replied: “Pray about it.”                                           
The residents of Jerusalem were so shocked to see strange flying machines dropping leaflets to encourage surrender, signed by Allenby or as they thought: Alla-nebi or ‘Servant of Allah’, that the mayor of the city walked out to hand over the keys after hardly a shot was fired.

What a military non-event!...no blood and guts or glory!
… that comes straight out of the pages of Scripture:

“…so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will defend it; and passing over He will preserve it. Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted…”             Isaiah 31
Noon, Tuesday 11th December 1917
No wonder you never hear of this! God deserves the glory not Man!....and the rest of the story?...

Unlike all other arrogant conquerors of Jerusalem in the past, General Allenby simply walked into the city on 11th December, 1917.   Meanwhile a Jewish flag that was enraging Muslims after being hoisted by a young Anzac soldier was hastily removed.
On the very same day of liberation? ... feuding between Jews and Muslims over Jerusalem? Unbelievable!!                         


I wonder if Britain kept their promise to ‘use their best endeavours’ for the Jews.                       

NEXT: Home at last!
Click on: http://hotspuds.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/home-at-last.html

Acknowledgements:                                                                                                                                                                                            
Stringer C. ‘800 Horsemen’, Col Stringer Ministries Inc., Robina Q, 1998                                         
World Book 2005
Photo credits:                                                                                                                                           
light horsemen/ian coate.com                                                                                 
surrender/carpatys.com