Tag Archives: #Caroline_Glick

Caroline Glick, acclaimed ‘ne plus ultra’ analyst of Middle-Eastern affairs and deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post , served in Israel’s core negotiating team with Palestinians, later asst. foreign policy advisor to PM Netanyahu in his first term.

Fulfilled prophecy #4 cont’d – Paris pays price, but NOT due to…cont’d

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In considering spiritual rather than politico-military reasons for the targeting of France – and now Mali too – I claimed in the previous post that prime verses of scripture as well as contemporaneous prophetical insights reveal the real reason for the massacre of 130 in Paris. The reason is likely to be not the French government’s military responses to ISIL in Syria, but its ongoing hostility towards Israel.

And this is not to forget or belittle the continuing attacks in Israel itself, as well as in Nigeria plus the Beirut bombing and the Russian airliner brought down over the Sinai. According to the List of Terror Attacks kept on Religion of Peace website the total number by Muslims since New York’s day of infamy stands at 27,308: so deaths are very much higher!

Nathan 2That first part of my argument used only one scripture because it was the focal emphasis of words from the Lord brought by Neville Johnson. We also revisited prophetic words Nathan Morris brought for New Year 2012 and noticed their accuracy regarding this year’s atrocities. Before demonstrating other scriptures’ relevance and application to what France has done to Israel, let me reconsider first what Nathan stressed and the relevance to yesterday’s news:

“The Lord told me that in the coming days such will be the unfolding of global events that fear will strike the hearts of men…an ever-increasing unrest and a spirit of confusion shall be released upon the world that the hearts of many shall be gripped with fear; the fear of uncertainty and the sense of hopelessness…” (listen from 2:30:00 of this video).

Consider this with yesterday’s headline ‘Paris attacks made me ‘doubt’ presence of God, admits Archbishop of Canterbury’, as in yesterday’s BBC Songs of Praise. (See also The Independent and Daily Mail.)  Justin Welby candidly admits the massacre caused him to doubt where God is and why it happened and that it made a “chink in his armour”.

BUT the Press fails to quote him in full – what’s new? In telling presenter Aled Jones of his seeking and engaging the Lord over the issue, Justin was asked, “What answers did He give you?” – he replied:

“He said, “In the middle of it”! And also an answer from the Psalms, Psalm 56 – ‘He stores up our tears in a bottle’. None of our sufferings are lost!”

See also Justin Welby’s official site for his Statement on Paris Attacks, as well as a blog published after this one was posted and in which His Grace explains Why Arguing with God is not the same as not believing in him. Interesting to read because it’s easy to infer from the references to two psalms how much the BBC edited out of the interview. What else would we expect in view of its severely jaundiced and inaccurate coverage of Israel, as monitored by BBC Watch?

What Does the Bible Say?

Here’s a selection of well-known scripture pertinent to France’s situation. Bear in mind that all events in Old (and New) Testaments act as examples ‘for our admonition (upon whom the end of ages have come’ – 1 Cor 10:11).:

1a) The Lord’s promise to Abraham and to his descendants of that everlasting promise:

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.

“I will bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you; and in you all families of the earth shall be blessed.”  (Genesis 12:2-3 NKJV)

1b) The Angel of the Lord’s prophecy to Hagar about his son Ishmael:

“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 land of his brethren.” (Genesis 16:12 NKJV)

2) In a vision to prophet Obadiah the Lord makes his first definitive declaration about ‘The Day of the Lord’ on the divisive hatred the sons of Esau have for those of brother Jacob. It thus applies as a major End-time prophecy to all nations’ treatment of the Jewish nation:

“For the day of the LORD upon all nations is near; As you have done (to Israel), it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head.” (Obadiah 1:15 NKJV)

3) The scenario of how this End-time prophecy is being fufilled today:

“And it shall happen in that day that I shall  make Jerusalem a  very heavy stone for all peoples; all who heave it away will surely be cut to pieces though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zecharia 12:3 NKJV)

4) The ‘spiritual law of action and reaction’ is outlined in the earliest Christian letter by the hand of Apostle Paul:

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8 NIV)

[NKJV scripture from New King James Version  copyright 1982 Thomas Nelson Inc used by permission. NIV scripture from New International Version copyright 1984 International Bible Society.]

Hence, France’s fundamental problem is its leaders’ rebellion against the Word of the Lord as presented below.

Paris – The Morning After

As recounted earlier, on Saturday 14th November I read online headlines on the massacre in Paris, one of which I realised connected directly into its true cause.

williamkoenig-web[1]In Koenig’s World Watch Daily I noticed ‘France’s War Against Israel – Caroline Glick’. Editor William Koenig gives this ex-peace negotiator, now Senior Contributing Editor of the Jerusalem Post, the accolade of ‘ne plus ultra’ (none better, perfect example) for her excellence and accuracy of journalism.

Caroline’s article of 20th October (ie. 3 weeks before the attacks) caught my attention and connected right into the weekend’s massacres. She gets right to the core of issues and so I now quote her at length. You may be as appalled by this as I am,  so I’d urge you to read her full article by clicking on this sub-head title.:

France’s War Against Jews

Carolyn GlickCaroline delivers a stinging indictment and condemnation of officially-sanctioned hostility by a leading European nation towards the nation of Israel. She opens as follows, (emphases mine):

‘France’s plan to use its position at the UN Security Council to bring about the deployment of international monitors to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem has been condemned by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his ministers as biased, unhelpful and detached from reality.

‘Certainly it is all those things. But France’s decision to use its diplomatic position to advance a plan which, if implemented, would end Israeli sovereignty over Judaism’s holiest site is first and foremost a French act of aggression against the Jewish state.

‘Contrary to what the French government would have us believe, France’s Temple Mount gambit is not an effort to quell the violence. French protestations of concern over the loss of life in the current tempest of Palestinian terror ring hollow.

‘France doesn’t really oppose Palestinian terrorism. To the contrary, it facilitates it.’

Caroline continues by documenting French bankrolling of and conniving with those whose ultimate goal is the eradication of their neighbour:

‘Every year, the French government pays millions of euros, dollars and shekels to Palestinian NGOs whose stated goal is to destroy Israel. Through its NGO agents, France finances the radicalization of Palestinian society (which) makes Palestinian terror inevitable. Much of the current rhetoric used by the Palestinians to reject Israel’s legitimacy and justify violence against Jews is found in strategic documents that France paid Palestinian NGOs to write…’

Over 2010-2013 a consortium of Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisations called NGO Development Center received $6.5 million from France, which ‘paid for the NDC to put together a strategic plan to advance its members’ goals. That French-initiated and financed document includes a list of activities not aimed at promoting peace, enhancing the daily lives of Palestinians, or expanding economic growth.’

‘Rather, the French financed strategic planning document provides a list of activities that the NGO’s will undertake to delegitimize and criminalize Israel and ensure that Palestinians hate the Jewish state and view it as the cause of all their suffering.’

Caroline ‘s expose of France continues in depth. For the second example she refers to an NDC document of 2008 that, ‘required all member groups to ban all “normalization activities with the occupier, [both] at the political-security [and] the cultural [and] developmental levels.”

‘The document went on to call for Israel to be destroyed. No action on the part of any Palestinian entity can be carried out it said, “if it undermines the inalienable Palestinian rights of establishing statehood and the return of refugees to their original homes,” that, is, the immigration of millions of foreign-born Arabs to the ruins of Israel.’

Thirdly, she covers the immense French funding of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee which ‘uses racist language to demonize Jews and Israel by among other things assaulting the so-called “Judaization of Jerusalem” and attacking Palestinians who work with Israeli companies….In 2011, PARC sabotaged a trade delegation in France comprised of Israeli and Gazan farmers…Rather than welcome Israel’s actions on behalf of Gaza farmers, PARC organized a boycott of the delegation – causing direct harm to Gazan farmers.

‘…By paying these groups to carry out these sorts of activities, the French government has made clear that far from seeking to advance the cause of peace, its actual goal is to block all prospects of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. These sorts of actions are the norm, rather than the exception in France’s treatment of Israel.

‘And France makes no bones about its hostility towards the Jewish State.’

In the next page Caroline examines how the past year’s support of the PA complements France’s own domestic anti-Jewish policy. Then she presents historical details enabling her to castigate president Holland for his outrageous, grossly discourteous and insulting treatment of PM Netanyahu during his visit to honour the victims of the attacks in Paris last January. Caroline finishes this litany as follows:

‘In the evening after the march, Hollande refused to appear with Netanyahu at the memorial ceremony for the victims of the Hyper Cacher massacre. In a tangible snub, Hollande left the synagogue where it was being held before Netanyahu arrived.

‘In the nine months since the attacks, rather than go after the Islamic communities of France that infect their members with Nazi-like Jew hatred marinated in Koranic dispensations for murder, French authorities have forced French Jewry to live under lock and key. Jewish communal institutions are required to shoulder astronomical security costs as their buildings have come to look more like military garrisons than elementary schools and synagogues.

‘As a French professor writing under the pen name Alain El-Mouchain explained this month in Mosaic Magazine, the French government’s “refusal to identify either the culprits [of anti-Semitic violence] or their [Jewish] victims by their proper names…has perversely combined with the swift posting of police and military guards at Jewish institutions to make Jews feel that at best they have become ‘protected citizens’ in their own country, reinforcing the idea that they are no longer at home in France but are rather a new kind of dhimmi [a minority group that lives at the pleasure of the ruling Muslims].“ 

Caroline concludes,

‘Through its actions, France has shown that it isn’t even vaguely interested in promoting freedom and peace. The policy of the French government, revealed yet again by its bid to end Israeli control of the Temple Mount, is to delegitimize Israel and curry the favor of jihadists at the expense of the Jews of Israel and of France alike.’

France is also at the forefront of the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli businesses thereby adversely affecting Palestinian workers.

France continues to pay the price for its leaders’ decisions and actions.

Therefore, it’s no wonder France holds the record for Jews currently emigrating to Israel. Yet this is in accord with the revelatory word Dr Maurice Sklar received, as follows.:

Prophetic Word at Feast of Tabernacles 2015

Note the following points (emphases added) from what the above messianic Jew says the Lord gave at the start of this year’s Feast of Tabernacles, as copied in this re-post:

1. The Times of the Gentiles are coming to an end. The end of Adam’s dominion time-lease upon earth is nearly over. The time of Jacobs’ Trouble: the Tribulation period is about to begin. BUT HE (JACOB) SHALL BE SAVED OUT OF IT. It is in this time that I will sovereignly cause all the Jews to return to their home, Eretz Israel. I will shake them out like a tablecloth that a lady would take outdoors and shake all the crumbs out of it by flapping it into the wind. But not one crumb will perish. All shall be returned…. Many of my people are hidden in the nations that have descended from the 10 lost tribes. They are not “lost” to Me. I KNOW THEM ALL. They shall return, along with all the descendants of Judah and Levi. No man knows who or where they are, but I DO. The time has come when the rest of the family will come home to the land I promised them.

2. Satan knows that his time is short. War is coming to the Middle East. It will bring every nation into it before it is all over. Israel is my mousetrap, and Jerusalem is the cheese. Israel is also my anvil on which I will judge the nations. Prepare your hearts, for peace will be taken from the earth. For 70 years I gave the Western nations peace and prosperity after World War 2. That was because of what the United States did along with the Allied forces by defeating Nazi Germany and rescuing My people Israel from extermination, and then paving the way for Israel to be reborn as a nation in 1948.

In my humble opinion that prophetic word and its associated one on the Day of the Lord are worthy of reflection and, as with the words in this two-part blog, should be weighed with scripture and the Lord.

Conclusion

If you followed up my reference to Francois X’s remarks in the previous post you would have gained a closer view on the situation by a brother in Christ familiar with the Bible as prophecy.

“The situation in France is more dire than people think” and he mentions the 800 no-go areas that are outside the police force’s ability to enforce the law of the land. [See latest in Daniel Pipes’ personal investigations Muslim no-go zones in Europe?]

Even so, the people’s elected representatives have no excuse whatsoever for very biased and bigoted policies against Israel.

As the above few scriptures attest, we are now witnessing France reaping what it has sown. Its support for anti-Israel terrorism and the downfall of that nation and surrender of its holiest site in Jerusalem has resulted in not only no divine protection against the demonic but also a barbaric targeting by the most extreme Muslim movement, one that copies the military adventures of their faith’s founder and subsequent early leaders.

After planning to get United Nations action against Israel in Jerusalem, president Hollande has petitioned for other nations to join the action against ISIS/ISIL.  As Dr John McTernan and others have posited for some years and the wise leader of Jordan now foresees, it looks like we’re now heading into World War Three!

Once again history repeats itself as other peoples decide enough is enough of Muslim-based aggression – as outlined in this post on the myths about the Crusades: An insight into global satanic strategy – part 2.

More > Koenig/Glick – Europe’s pushing Palestinian state & illegal trade war on Israel.

Further Reading:

  1. Caroline Glick: Radical Islam – The Invisible Enemy.
  2. Dr John McTernan Insights: As France Has Done to Israel.
  3. Dr Clifford Hill’s clear exposition on Islam: Shock and Horror.
  4. Dr Clifford’ Hill’s follow-on: The Paris Fallout: Sorting Out the Mess
  5. Jordan’s King Abdullah: “We are Facing a Third World War”.
  6. Daniel Revisited: A Tipping Point for the Second Signpost.
  7. Gospel in the End Times: Paris Is Just The Beginning (incl French contribution).
  8. M-East Forum: What France Can Learn From Israel In Confronting Islamist Terror.
  9. Video: Islam’s Signature of Trampling and Crushing Made Obvious (Re Dan 2:40).
  10. Intl Business Times: ISIL, ISIS, Islamic State, Daesh: what’s the difference? NB. the Arabic insult of the last confirms interpretation of 4th part of idolatrous image in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision AND of 4th beast of Daniel’s famous vision as a future religio-political Islamic empire, NOT a Roman empire revived as European Union! (Daniel 2:40 ‘pulverising/smashing’ and Daniel 7:23 shall ‘devour/thresh’.)

Exactly as prophesied: nations set on collision course with God

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After yesterday’s vote in Parliament recognising Palestine, as in The Independent, it’s time to recall the Lord’s opinion about the heart of that land. Then we’ll consider a news round-up indicative of our whereabouts on His prophetic timetable.

First, here’s what the prophet Zecharia was told about the future ‘Day of the Lord’ – ie. a specific period in which the Lord deals with humanity’s rejection of and rebellion against Him, and its focal locality in and around Jerusalem:

Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:

“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. In that day”, says the LORD, “I  shall strike…

“It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”  (Zecharia 12:1-3, 12, NKJV courtesy Blue Letter Bible)

Let me quote examples of relevant current events so we can check this out.

williamkoenig-web[1]First, the header to Bill Koenig’s World Watch Daily this morning:

The nations of the world are on a collision course with the God of Israel.

Bill’s website provides the following subheads with brief covering comments, followed by some on the conflict with ISIS:

John McTernanKoenig’s fellow watcher and past co-author, John McTernan, reports on these Biblical issues and unequivocally states his opinion in yesterday’s posting. Under the header The Battle for Jerusalem Has Begun, he quotes Zechariah 14:2 “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle…” and comments:

“The world is now gearing up to force a Palestinian state upon Israel with Jerusalem as its capital. November 16, 2016, is the target date set for this.

“Based on this, there is NO doubt, in my mind, that awesome wars are upon us, and God is about to unleash incredible judgments upon the earth. Look how this threat to Israel is taking place at the exact time Ebola is loose amongst the nations! (Emphasis RB)

“The judgments will match the pressure and attack on Israel. This is not off in the future it is here NOW.  The time to judge the nations is about to begin.”

John covers the latest material under As the Nations Have Done to Israel and refers to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call to scrap settlements, plus his claim that the ‘occupation’ of territories led to the recent Gaza war!

He also blogs As the EU Has Done to Israel stating,

“The European Union is aggressive against Israel as Jew hating seems to be in most of the Europeans’ DNA. They are now following the path of the Nazis in the 1930s while this time it is the Hard Left united with the Muslims.

“Europe right now is on the verge of an economic meltdown at the very time the EU is trying to economically destroy Israel.” (Emphasis RB)

To back-up his claims John cites:

Readers keeping abreast of these matters will recall I often quote Elliott Abrams’ take on the Middle-East. He’d supervised US policy there under the Bush administration and served as the president’s deputy advisor on the region.

Elliott’s latest blog, A word from Mr Erekat, ably demonstrates that the top Palestinian negotiator with Israel, Saeb Ereket, cannot get his facts straight – not the first time his integrity has been called into question.

The Independent’s report upon yesterday’s parliamentary vote is well-balanced and covers some important points, but the completely clueless naivety of UK politicians is mind-boggling. It is utter folly!

Sweden

There again, as Michel Gurfinkiel taunts in an article on Sweden’s vote, maybe it’s, “far-fetched to expect most political leaders to be thoroughly knowledgeable of the issues… of international affairs; or to expect them to be particularly rational and ethical”.

Michel is founder and president of a French think-tank, the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute, and his paper came to my attention through the same source as yesterday’s post on Phyllis Chesler’s interview with Ibn Waaraq – Middle-East Forum.

He makes valid points about the nature of this ‘state’ that all parliamentarians should have born in mind (emphases added):

  1. To be recognized, a state needs a clearly defined population, a clearly defined territory, and an effective government that can maintain law and order. None of the above is true of “Palestine,” whatever the current meaning of that word.
  2. The Palestinian Authority (PA) — an autonomous authority established in 1994 according to a Declaration of Principles between the state of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (the Oslo Accords), and the closest thing to a “state of Palestine” – does not effectively rule the West Bank and Gaza, the two distinct territories that pass as “Palestinian territory.” As an effective government, the PA should be able to maintain law and order there. Everybody knows this is not the case in Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas and Islamic Jihad since 2007. Yet this is hardly the case in the West Bank, either.
  3. One must ask how the two-state solution can work if one of the considered states – the Palestinian state-to-be — is openly opposed to it. Hamas and Islamic Jihad clearly say they will never recognize Israel. The nominal PA government and Fatah say they will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state – implying their strategy is to turn Israel into a bi-national state.
  4. Abbas’ PA has never directed education towards a pro-peace attitude. The PA was explicitly requested to do so by the Oslo Accords and the subsequent road map to peace in 2003.

His short paper also looks at the pivotal effects of an increasing Muslim population in Sweden and he concludes,

“Doubtlessly, similar situations will arise in more EU countries, including major countries like France, bringing about further confusion and further political and geopolitical nonsense.”

The United States

Carolyn GlickThe once world-leading nation has sown its own undoing through the anti-Israel stance of its president Barack Obama. With her adroit analysis Caroline Glick surgically dissects Netanyahu’s statements and policies. After extracting and revealing Obama’s game-plan with Iran as inimical to Israel’s best interests, she looks at Secretary-of-State John Kerry’s continuing treachery.

Machiavellian Kerry, as ever dangerously incompetent, ignores and seeks to scuttle the new Middle-Eastern alliance of Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other anti-jihadist Sunni states established to protect themselves. Deaf to what Netanyahu repeatedly stressed at the UN General Assembly (as here), according to ‘ne-plus ultra’ analyst Caroline,

“…by bringing Qatar, Hamas’s principal Sunni state-sponsor, into the mix. Kerry is reportedly trying to organize a regional peace conference that would coerce Israel into accepting the so-called Saudi Peace Initiative from 2002. That initiative would require Israel to surrender to all the PLO’s territorial demands and accept millions of foreign, hostile Arabs into its shrunken, indefensible territory.

“In light of Obama’s absolute commitment to the anti-Israel, PLO-centric policy model for dealing with the Palestinian rejection of Israel, for the next two years there will be no change in US policy on the issue.”

Readers who are particularly interested in the finer nuances of the Israel-Palestinian issues will find her article is well worth reading.

It will be interesting to see how USA’s plans for the ‘peace process’ will unravel – even so far as the US falling away and being excluded as its authority and power vanishes – for I believe the Lord will bless and encourage the new regional alliance as a means not only of protection from ISIS, but also of peacefully resolving the Palestinian situation.

These events get even more interesting in the light of scripture and the urgency of the words given to Neville Johnson about changes for this new Jewish year over 2014 to 2015 (see point 7 here).

Indubitably, we’re living in Biblical days as they accelerate to fulfil holy prophecy.

Passover and blood-red moons

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140413_bloodmoon

Credit Fred Espenak; click image for Mr Eclipse website

Today is Passover 5774, which commenced at sundown yesterday. This is a rare occasion when Hebrew and Gregorian calendars coincide for this feast on 15th day of Nissan and 15th April. Their general lack of synchronisation arises from being based upon lunar and solar cycles respectively, as well as their different ways of accounting for cyclic gaps, or leap years in our solar calendar.

I want to give an overview to this topic in view of many references to the ‘tetrad’ of four consecutive lunar eclipses happening on the major Jewish feast days. I’ll also close with some personal observations. Also, out of respect for this holy week I will abbreviate references to G-d in the Hebrew fashion.

Not unlike the secular world, Jews use two kinds of calendars. The civil New Year is counted from Rosh Hashanah in Sept-Oct. The sacred year, from which festivals are computed, starts this month with the slim sliver of a new moon. Their seasonal festivals were started when the Hebrew slaves were set free to leave Egypt and were celebrated annually according to the Lord’s detailed instructions given to Moses. This is given in part below with emphases added to show these are not to be regarded as being Jewish alone but were ordained because they belong to the Lord Himself.:

“Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts…which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD ; seven days you must eat unleavened bread…” (Leviticus 23:2 & 5,6 NKJV per BibleGateway)

The Hebrew of ‘appointed time’ is mo ‘ed, the root of which ya’ad, means to ‘set’ or ‘fix’. The first occurrence is in Genesis 1:14 where the stars and heavenly bodies are created to serve as ‘seasons’ (mo’adim) and as ‘signs’ – hence the significance to a consideration of Passover and last night’s lunar eclipse, and upcoming ones.

Passover commemorates the freedom gained by the ancient Israelites when they were saved from death by having daubed lamb’s blood upon the door-posts of their homes. As a result of Pharaoh’s steadfast refusal to release them to go with Moses to worship G-d, the ‘angel of death’ visited all Egypt’s first-born of man and beast but ‘passed over’ homes where the blood appeared. It was the culminating plague that befell the major power in the Middle East as a result of a clash between its god, Pharoah, and the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who had revealed Himself to Moses (Exodus 1-11 refers).

The book of Exodus continues with very specific instructions Moses and his brother Aaron were given as to what to do that dreadful night, and that the people were to commemorate it as a feast of observation throughout all generations. Thus, it’s an everlasting occasion instituted and recognised by G-d and is the first of several annual festivals.

The Lord’s Feasts (Leviticus 23)

  1. Feast of Passover
  2. Feast of Unleavened Bread
  3. Feast of First Fruits
  4. Feast of Weeks (Shavu’ot or Pentecost)
  5. Feast of Trumpets (at Rosh Hashanah)
  6. Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
  7. Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

In the 1970s Rev John Kilpatrick, pastor of Church of His Presence, recognised the importance and value of these festivals for Christians. The first three occur over eight consecutive days and, with the fourth, occur in the Spring. Their main focus is upon entering G-d’s rest. The others occur in the Autumn/Fall and focus upon entering G-d’s protection.

The first four feasts were also foundational in establishing the Church, or Ecclesia, the body of believers in Messiah Jesus. The next three will relate to the resurrection of the dead ‘at the last trump’ and return of Christ in person to reign and rule.

Despite the flexibility of the Hebrew calendar in adjusting for ‘leap years’, the period between first and last major annual festivals, Passover and Tabernacles, remains constant.

Jesus and the first and a future Passover

Jesus’ ‘last supper’ was a private celebration with His apostles within hours of Him giving up His own life.  The bread and wine they shared were those of the Passover Seder, or meal, as recorded by that diligent commentator Luke:

“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:15-16 NKJV)

And similarly for an associated cup of wine which, with the bread, Jesus said are to be regarded as His body and blood: thus specifically identifying Him as the Passover Lamb.

Jesus was not only keen to celebrate Passover – He will do so once again! This will presumably be upon His return – or am I misreading that straightforward text?

Luke also recorded that, after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus taught the disciples in depth about the kingdom and promised their baptism in the Holy Spirit. So they logically asked Him how soon it will be before the kingdom is set up and restored to Israel.

However, He told them (not upbraided them, as some think!) it’s not for them to know because that’s all in the Father’s hands but there’s a far more important mission for them – being empowered as witnesses of His Good News in taking it to the ends of the earth. Anyway, Jesus already knew His prophecy about Jerusalem being surrounded, the holy Temple demolished and the city trampled upon by Gentile armies was less than four decades away. Therefore, His Kingdom wouldn’t be based in Jerusalem.

Blood-red lunar eclipses

First, it’s important to note that the fact the first Jewish month of the agricultural and sacred calendar starts at new moon and the Passover follows 14 days later, means a full moon always features at Passover. Yet lunar eclipses are infrequent because the moon’s orbit is slightly tilted to the plane of the earth’s orbit around the sun – the ecliptic.

Only total eclipses are red because the only light has been refracted through the earth’s atmosphere, rather like why sunsets are red. (See images at link 3 below.)

As noted in Why I’m Watching, Jesus instructed all believers to watch for signs that would indicate His return is getting very close. Luke noted Jesus’ words, (shown in part only):

“…For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken…” (Luke 21 NKJV)

This reiterated and thereby endorsed what OT prophet Joel had written 9 centuries earlier about the Day of the Lord. And it was repeated to astonished witnesses of the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the Lord’s following feast of Pentecost, as stated by Apostle Peter,

…The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord… (Joel 2:31)

Therefore, we can understand why many are excited about such signs not only happening on a dedicated Jewish feast day but also when a tetrad of lunar eclipses, together with a solar eclipse, occur in sequence one after the other – it’s astonishing!

FURTHERMORE, somehow the oscillating plane of the moon’s orbit around us just so happens to wobble into the same plane as the earth and the sun (the ecliptic), thereby enabling the moon to enter the earth’s shadow on a few selected and special days. That implies an intelligent designer has synchronised those movements to occur on specific and exceptionally rare days only!

But if the hand of G-d is involved then we do need to take serious note. William Koenig comments and provides a timeline of events:

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about this phenomenon by Pastor Mark Biltz (and others)…The fact that these events have occurred on the first day of Passover and Sukkoth in back-to-back years only seven previous times combined with the challenges the Jewish people were facing during those times is noteworthy and significant.

  • April 15, 2014 – Blood-red moon – First day of Passover (visible: Australia, Pacific, Americas).
  • Sept. 25, 2014 — The sabbatical year in the seven-year cycle (2008 to 2015) begins on Rosh Hashanah, and ends on Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 13-14, 2015 — the day of a partial solar eclipse.
  • Oct. 8, 2014 – Blood-red moon – First day of Sukkot (visible: Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas).
  • April 4, 2015 – Blood-red moon – First day of Passover (visible: Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas)
  • Sept. 13-14, 2015 — A seven-year cycle that began on Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 30, 2008, ends on Rosh Hashanah. The sabbatical year from 2014 ends here, too.
  • Sept. 13, 2015 (Elul 29, 5776) – Rosh Hashanah starts with partial solar eclipse.
  • Sept. 23, 2015 (Tishrei 10, 5777) – Year of Jubilee proclaimed on Yom Kippur.
  • Sept. 28, 2015 – Blood-red moon – First Day of Sukkot (visible: Eastern Pacific, Americas, Europe, Africa, Western Asia). This moon will be a super “blood-red” moon. It will look enormous and will shine over Jerusalem. My wife and I were driving into Jerusalem last June during a similar super-moon. It was enormous, breathtaking and appeared over half of Jerusalem. I can only imagine what an enormous super blood-red moon will look like over the city.

[In that newsletter William also refers to the historically significant ‘days of infamy’ for the USA of 19-20 April, as well as globally. See Further Reading #7 below. Jewish dates updated 6 Aug 2015 per Aish.com]

For a good, concise summary of John Kilpatrick’s and John Hagee’s claims check out Aimee Herd’s summary Watching God’s Heavens – what is He saying through blood moon tetrads and solar eclipses?  As a regular listener to the first, I noted that pastor Kilpatrick doesn’t claim any prophetical mandate for teaching upon this matter but stresses, “I’m just a watcher, which is what Jesus told us to do” – like me!

Objections

One may easily object that only one of these eclipses will be visible from Israel and so the notion of a tetrad of influentially significant ‘blood moons’ is nonsense.

But that fact may mean only the last eclipse is applicable to Israel, and the others may be relevant to whichever countries will see them. Remember, these feasts aren’t just for Israel but for everyone because they are G-d’s own feast days.

As regards the past tetrads, some suppose there’s ‘confirmation bias’ in picking them. Or else, were ‘prophecies after the fact’ and not warnings because of a time lapse between lunar eclipse and supposedly associated calamitous event in Jewish history. Let’s look, for example, at what William Koenig wrote after discussion with his friend Mark Biltz:

‘Three previous back-to-back “blood-red” total lunar eclipses occurred on the first day of Passover and Sukkot right after the 1492 Spanish Inquisition (ie. in 1493-1494), the 1948 War of independence (ie. in 1949-1950), and the 1967 Six-Day War (in 1967-1968). This pattern points to a very challenging time for Israel and possible war.

‘The Jewish Talmud says, “When the moon is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for Israel   … If its face is as red as blood, [it is a sign that] the sword is coming to the world  …”  The sages in the Talmud understood that a red lunar eclipse means that God will be bringing judgment to His people, Israel.’ 

Observations

1. The Spanish Expulsion was the most infamous in Jewish history. Catholic Inquisitor Torquemada’s anti-Semitic project became official policy in July 1492 after the defeat of Muslims at Grenada and thus enabling Spain to return to Catholicism. It would have taken many months to arrest and forcibly convert tens of thousands of Jews. So blood moons of 1493’s first and last feasts were truly ominous in attesting to what was happening and not just retrospective as ‘prophecies after the fact’.

2. It is incorrect to consider the 1949-50 tetrad as applying only to the previous year’s War of Independence. It could indicate decades of strife and wars were to follow. In fact that 15 month War lasted until August 1949 and in my opinion it could be applied specifically to Jerusalem. On 3rd April 1949 the Israel-Jordan Armistice was signed which affected Jews’ access to Jerusalem and their holy places such as the Wailing Wall, which was the only proximity permitted to the Temple Mount.

3. Today’s blood moon on Passover may apply to those Jews who are not in Israel but where it was actually seen – the USA. Let me quote perspicacious Caroline Glick’s analysis of her fellow Jews:

In Israel, where our freedom is physically threatened, most Jews understand and live by the lessons of Passover. But something is happening to the Jews in America. More and more, every day we see American Jews embracing intellectual bondage…

When the leaders of the Jewish American community – like their fellow leftists – side with forces of intolerance and discrimination and against Israel’s stalwart defenders and opponents of the oppression endemic in Islamic societies, it does not bode well for the future.

The red planet

LovellTelescope_640x480

The 76-m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Credit: M. Peel, University of Manchester

Last Tuesday provided a ‘rare cosmic event’ when Mars formed a straight line with earth and the sun (ie. ‘in opposition’). But last night, the same night as the total lunar eclipse, the red planet was at its closest since Jan 2008.

In the UK we couldn’t observe the eclipse but I did notice Mars a few degrees above the bright moon but, as it was so bright, thought it was the brightest star, Sirius. Yet upon checking link 12 below I confirmed it was indeed Mars.

So, in effect we could be having a ‘double-red’ alarm being given from our satellite and nearby planet – exciting times, in a week holy to both Jews and Christians!

Carry on reading in 500th post: blood moons cont’d >>

Further Reading:

  1. Jewish Calendar is very helpful with Current Calendar of comparative dates.
  2. Restoring the Revelation of Passover, video message by Rev John Kilpatrick
  3. Why total lunar eclipses are red, diagrammatic explanation at EarthSky
  4. What is a Blood Moon? by sky watcher Bruce McClure at EarthSky
  5. What is the Ecliptic? by astronomer Christopher Crockett at EarthSky
  6. Koenig’s notes on Mark Biltz’s analysis of 4 Blood-Red Total Lunar Eclipses
  7. America’s ‘Date of Infamy’ repeated – once again! by Richard’s Watch
  8. Blood moons and prophetic confusion by Avner Bosky at David’s Tent
  9. Modern Jewish History: The Spanish Expulsion 1492
  10. Israel War of Independence: Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement 1949
  11. Forgetting Freedom on Passover by Caroline Glick
  12. The Night Sky, Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

If I were an American citizen…

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…deciding how to vote in next week’s presidential election, I’d be extremely concerned over the issue of ‘Benghazi-gate’.

My brief has meant a weather eye has been kept on major international matters not only in the UK but also in the USA.  Most of my opinion comes from a Biblical viewpoint but I’ve had reasons to question Barack Obama’s motives from the outset of his presidency as evidenced, for example, in his infamous Cairo speech (here and here).  Although I’ve revisited and reassessed these during online discussion, subsequent events serve only to confirm my original viewpoint and strong reservations.

I have no political axe to grind. It’s not my place to make personal political opinion. We Brits usually keep religion out of politics and are cynical about politicians. Many of them do serve their communities conscientiously and effectively, yet a percentage of those in government are too easily ‘economical with truth’.

Even so, I was alarmed to note that in the debates Obama declared his ignorance of the circumstances surrounding his ambassador’s murder. Also, Secretary of State Clinton connected it directly to the fallout from that offensive video about Mohammed!  To a non-resident of the States watching from the far side of the ‘pond’, however, they are surely incorrect. How on earth POTUS, and dude VP, could not have been informed of these grave event stretches one’s imagination so far it snaps!  At best, these US ‘leaders’ exhibited gross incompetence or, at worst, are downright disingenuous. (I’ll save you the many references I could quote; am assuming my American friends are familiar with all this.)

Regular readers will recall my posts about the widespread Islamist attacks on 9/11 and that I quoted leading analysts’ immediate conclusions that the Benghazi attack was not a result of the video but of a fully planned military operation (ie. Carolyn Glick, Raymond Ibrahim and London’s Quillam Foundation; see 3rd and 4th paras here).  Just how can the USA’s top leaders feign ignorance??

[Update 5/11: former Muslim Brotherhood member now a peace activist Walid Shoebat is keeping close tabs and publishing a plethora of developments on his website.]

I’ve just finished catching up with the latest news on ‘Benghazi-gate’ and provide some informative links in case you wish to check it out:

Frank Gaffney’s highly critical report, The Real Reason Behind ‘Benghazi-gate.

David Greenfield’s well-balanced in-depth discussion on Benghazi’s Tough Questions.

Clare Lopez’ comprehensive security analysis, Benghazi: The Set-up and the Cover-up.

Her penultimate paragraph caught my attention:

How could he (CIA Diretor Petraeus) or any of those present when this momentous decision was made not have tried to make every effort imaginable to defend American territory and save American lives? House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa believes President Obama had a political motive for rejecting Ambassador Stevens’ security requests because he wanted to show that conditions in Libya were improving, possibly to justify U.S. intervention in the Libyan revolution or even help pave the way for oil company investment. <emphasis mine>

Now the last points take us back to my comments at the start of the Libyan episode, in particular about western interest in oil wells!  (See prayer request based upon a ‘dream revelation’ about Libya and my covering comments here). Maybe in my hazy mention of oil I was unwittingly tapping into a truth?

Am I right to be concerned? What do you think?

Historically significant week for the Middle East

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This brief update is offered in case you may be unaware of developments in the Middle-East. Those who relish detail will enjoy getting their teeth into Bill Koenig’s chronology of events from a perspective of US-Israel relations, Eye-to-Eye: Week of 9-11-12. It has  a brief overview. (Also see recent post about his Alert anticipating trouble according to cyclic theory.)  Here’s my update:

An unprecedented ‘armada’ of American, British and French naval power is focusing once again upon protecting the Strait of Hormuz (see Telegraph) – this separates the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman, as in map below.

Barnabas Fund reports growing concern for Christians in countries rocked by violent protests against an offensive movie trailer on Mohammed. According to a number of experts, however, it’s a pretext for Islamist action on several fronts – eg. Raymond Ibrahim and Caroline Glick, here and here respectively.  [NB: see update below on investigation into possible terrorist involvement in production of this video in order to commit an outrage.]

Solid grounds for this conclusion as regards the attack in Libya are given in a press release by the London counter-extremism think-tank Quillam Foundation. (Quillam’s founder, ex-hardline Islamist Maajid Nawaz, gives a most informative interview in The Counter Islamist. Their website explains how they are working to change attitudes.)

Also, Mudar Zahran, a Palestinian writer and Jordanian academic resident as political refugee in the UK, reports upon the ‘textbook Islamist’ who ignited the rage by running an Egyptian tv show about the movie. (Thank you Tembisa at World Chaos.) Also, The Telegraph reports that this presenter’s,

inflammatory chat show on satellite television has long prided itself on baiting liberals, Christians and Jews, but last week saw Sheikh Khalid Abdullah stage the broadcasting controversy of a lifetime.

In view of all the hysteria, however, there’s been a news blackout in mainstream media about two places – Sinai and Israel.

Debka reported on Friday and Sunday fierce Al-Qaeda led military attacks in Sinai, one of which was against the 1000+ Multinational Force’s camp established to monitor the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty. There, a Colombian battalion protected Americans. Then on Monday I received an email from Mike Evans stating,

“I have received an email from a friend and supporter of the Jerusalem Prayer Team who lives in Jerusalem with an urgent message about massive troop movements underway in Israel. The scale of the mobiliz-ation is like nothing this family has seen in more than twenty years in the Jewish state.”

There have been a number of such reports, which may be disinformation, or as some well-meaning folk think – a hoax!  It may be that Israel was taking precautions against being caught napping during the Rosh-Hashanah holy days. However, news of a ‘snap military exercise’ in the Golan Heights did at last surface yesterday morning in a Debka ‘exclusive’ and later in The Telegraph.

Today, we learn about enemy troops moving into the territory across Israel’s northern border, ie. Iran is pouring troops into Syria to bolster Assad and thereby threaten Israel (as here). Link both ‘blackout’ news items with the supposed ‘hoax’ and we can tell that good intel’ had alerted and activated the Israeli military – there’s no smoke without fire!

Events are proceeding at breakneck speed!

ALSO SEE copy email update about these closing remarks!!

Update 27/9: Former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Walid Shoebat, claims on his blog that the offensive video trailer was, in all likelihood, produced as a terrorist scam. This renowned peace activist arrives at that conclusion after examining contradictions and falsehoods within the media accounts, plus his own previous investigations into the characters and his connections in and direct knowledge of the Middle-East. There are far too many facts that can’t be married up!

Keep looking to the Lord…

Oh, and there’s this, and this…(ie. PS)

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Please may I draw your attention to:

1.  A regular contributor’s comment upon European financial encroachment – I’d hoped someone would ‘twig’!  Click here and scroll to comments below post.

2.  In view of the latest controversy, readers in the States may like to petition president Obama to stand by Israel. Also, in the opinion of Caroline Glick (here), the 9/11 attacks on US embassies in Libya and Egypt weren’t about a film. She claims it was screened on a Salafist tv channel by people pres Morsi released from prison – and Obama will see him rather than the leader of USA’s long-time ally!  An odd choice for friends is it not?  But then he did want the MB present at his speech in Cairo (see here).

3.  Re. 4,500 away, we caught up last night with Nathan’s visit to Louisiana a week after hurricane Isaac. There he warned that a much greater storm’s coming, a spiritual one also because The King Is Coming!  [Click to watch this at 1hr54m30 – see these posts too; Why I’m watching, Get Ready and Watch.]  UPDATE: New Orleans needs to watch out and take this very seriously now the police are suppressing free speech and arresting street preachers, as well as threatening churches – see Christian News (thank you Tembisa at Church on Fire).

Clarification of crucifixion reports

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Crucifixions have been reported in some Islamic nations, all of which requires a  sensitivity in handling source materials, as may be inferred from my early post Not on the 10 o’clock News.  However, lack of such expertise – and of a grasp of spiritual dynamics – generated a great deal of verbiage, misunderstanding and  false conclusions, as outlined below:

A fortnight ago I noted Stuart James’ question on his popular blog-forum eChurch:   “Are Christians being crucified by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt?   Important blog post by my friend Gordon looking at the veracity of the Christian crucifiction(sic) claims in Egypt, that have spread like wildfire online and created widespread anger amongst Christians.”

Gordon Hudson’s blog examines various reports and commentaries of this event in some depth. (It is claimed to have taken place in front of the presidential palace.)  He endorses Canadian editor and columnist Jonathan Kay’s National Post article entitled Egypt’s ‘crucifixion’ hoax becomes an instant Internet myth, wherein he pronounces at the very outset:

It’s a story worth dissecting — not because it’s true (it isn’t), but because it is a textbook example of how the Internet… has been co-opted by culture warriors as a weapon to fire up the naïve masses with lies and urban legends.

In concluding his ‘investigation’ of this particular case, he refers to a dated report (ie. three years old!) that repudiated false reports of crucifixions and thus wrote:

The people reporting this false story were not deliberately lying.  As I noted in my original post, they have simply become so wrapped up in the idea that we are fighting an existential war against militant Islam, that they are willing to believe any nonsense story they come across without checking it. If it sounds like it could be true, then it must be. The first casualty of war, as always, is truth.

Stuart’s friend puts it, “It shows how stories can change as they are spread. Especially where indignation is involved and there is an information vacuum.” Both these writers  dug around a lot and have taken the trouble of posting updates, all of which may be read via the above links. It’s too easy, however, to pontificate from the comfort of one’s cosy corner…

Within hours I received an email update from the original Western reporter.

As far as I can find, critics haven’t refered to the original report, its publication date or the identity of the man who’d broken the story to the West!  The account first appeared in a ‘guest column’ of The Investigative Project on Terrorism on 15th August under the title Muslim Brotherhood ‘Crucifies’ Opponents, Attacks Secular Media, by Raymond Ibrahim.

Unlike his critics, Raymond is not only fluent in Arabic but also a specialist in Islam who explores “the pivotal but ignored point where Islam and Christianity intersect, translating pertinent Arabic news that never reaches the West”.  Born of Egyptian Coptic parents, Raymond discovered, translated and published original Al-Qaeda treatises (earlier post refers: Muslim Persecution of Christians).

In response to the deluge of media speculation Raymond has reconsidered his report and answers Jonathan Kay point by point. He takes up Kay’s above opening shot with,

Alternatively, dissecting Kay’s claims is useful as it is a textbook example of how the Western mindset tries to rationalize away whatever does not fit its intellectual boundaries.

He doesn’t so much dissect as dismembers Kay’s argument. His rebuttal Crucifixion, Not Fictions should be read by all who are concerned about these severe issues. In point of fact he noticed, ahead of Kay, that the original Sky News report he’d seen and written about had been withdrawn!  In reviewing the facts he writes on 4th Sept:

 I did not have to make this point, or mention Sky News at all, since other reports—including El Balad, a much higher trafficked Arabic website which I also quoted—independently mentions the crucifixions in original language and further adds that two people died. And that report, as of now, is still up.

Raymond proceeds to answer Kay’s claims by referring to actual facts of life in Egypt, including the Maspero Massacre, and especially as regards media subjugation under the Muslim Brotherhood’s president Morsi. This had also been reported by renowned Caroline Glick in her long analysis published 17th August, Who lost Egypt?

On Sunday, new President Mohamed Morsy (sic) completed Egypt’s transformation into an Islamist state. In the space of one week, Morsy sacked the commanders of the Egyptian military and replaced them with Muslim Brotherhood loyalists, and fired all the editors of the state-owned media and replaced them with Muslim Brotherhood loyalists.

He also implemented a policy of intimidation, censorship and closure of independently owned media organizations that dare to publish criticism of him. (my emphasis)

Raymond Ibrahim concludes his firm rebuttal as follows:

All this leads to the most important point. Whereas Kay appears intent on proving that the crucifixions never happened, a close read of my article shows that I never said they did happen. As always, I merely reported and translated what was on the Arabic media; noted that Sky News took its story down; and then offered my own interpretation—including the fact that Muslims have been known to crucify their opponents in the modern era, crucifixions are prescribed by the Koran and Sharia, and an Egyptian parliamentarian recently called for crucifixions to be legalized.

In light of all the above, I reiterate my original conclusion: “there is little reason to doubt this crucifixion story.” (my emphasis)

Indeed, soon after this crucifixion story appeared in the Egyptian media, a disturbing video surfaced from Yemen, of a mutilated man, crucified.

How long before the usual naysayers try to portray even this video as a “hoax”?

If you wish to query Raymond’s argument, I’d direct you to this article in response to the decapitation of a Christian in Tunisia, and in which he lists several pertinent facts about the Arabic media and blogo-sphere that Western self-styled pundits miss.

The crucifixion video which he provides a link to is gruesome – it can be viewed only by turning safety button off!  It thrusts a grim reality into one’s face.  AND, amputation as punishment is common, the latest occurrence of which is in Mali (AP report here). I’ll desist from commenting about medieval religious mindsets that attempt to justify and promote outrageous barbarity. It brings a vivid portrayal of what would have happened to Jesus Christ, which Paul Priest portrays in The reality of the Crucifixion, [not for the squeamish].

By the way, there’s also ongoing persecution in Israel of Christians and Messianic Jews from ultra-orthodox Jews, of which the latest vandalism at a monastery is a minor episode (see World News – thanks Stuart).

So is someone, or something, masterminding a ‘crusade’ against Christians? And why?

Answers please on a postcard…

UPDATE: May 2013

For another well-informed and fuller, historical consideration see the Orthodox Christian Robert Sidway’s Crucifixion in Islam: Christians ascend their Golgotha

 

About the status of Jerusalem

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If anyone isn’t sure why potential contender for the Oval Office Mitt Romney caused a stir by his remarks about Jerusalem made during his recent visit there, let’s consider the situation in more detail. Please refer to the brief previous post and watch its very short video-clip from Times of Israel. A short US news transcript on this may be read here.

First, let’s never forget the prophetic Word of God:

“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling…On that day when all nations of the earth are gathered against her. I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to remove it will injure themselves…” (Zecharia 12:2-3, also referred to in earlier post here.)

Jerusalem is renowned for its place in religious history and since Israel liberated it from Jordan in the 1967 war it has changed from semi-dereliction to a thriving city.  Inter-nationally, however, it is regarded as a disputed territory with Israelis and Palestinians vying for eventual oversight through the supposed ‘peace process’.  It’s complicated, so let’s check what others more qualified than me say about Romney’s speech:

Experts’ Commentaries

1. Drew Zahn, a Christian columnist, explains:

The controversy over the nation’s capital exists because many Jews, as well as many of Israel’s supporters around the world, have long understood that Jerusalem is more than just the capital of the country, but the heart and soul of the Jewish people’s understanding of returning to the land of their forefathers.

And even though the presidential residence, government offices, supreme court and Knesset are located in Jerusalem – designated as the capital city by Jewish law – the United Nations doesn’t recognize Jerusalem’s place, and most nations’ embassies, therefore, are located in Israel’s northern city of Tel Aviv. In fact, not a single nation on earth diplomatically recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Even the U.S., long considered one of Israel’s most faithful allies, has fudged its position on the capital controversy as incoherently as Carney answered the press corps. For example, in 1995 Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, a resolution supporting recognition of a united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and declaring “the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999.” But the act has yet to be carried out, as President Clinton’s administration believed the act was an unconstitutional invasion of presidential authority. No president has yet to act on the 1995 resolution.(Read full article Suddenly, All Eyes Are On Jerusalem.)

2. Deputy managing editor of the Jerusalem Post and senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC, Carolyn Glick has served on the Israeli team during peace negotiations and is highly regarded for her incisive analysis. Thus, on this matter she provides the following insight before proceeding to deal with Palestinian complaints:

…The law granted the president a right to postpone the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on national security grounds. But the law’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was unconditional (my emphasis).

In noting Romney’s very mild criticism of Palestinian society, Carolyn refers to their nonsensical attitude on several issues and cites how they bite the hand that feeds them:

The EU is the largest financial backer of the PA. Its policies towards Israel are in complete alignment with what the purportedly moderate Palestinians claim they want in a peace deal with Israel, including the partition of Jerusalem [….]  And yet…for simply upgrading EU trade ties with Israel, Palestinian for Dignity announced its members “will organize to protest the latest manifestation of EU complicity and to challenge its presence and operations in Palestine”.

For how the Republican contender’s policy statements compare with those of Barack Obama’s Administration, especially as applied to the re-election campaign, read her full article Israel – Obama’s ‘Wedge’ Issue.

Carolyn’s opinion on Romney’s speech is ever so brief and may been read here just before the speech’s video on her blog.

3. Founder of The Middle-East Forum who warned of the likelihood of the  911 attack, Daniel Pipes referred to Romney’s rousing political speech as follows:

(He) delivered a ‘stem-winder’ of a speech to the Jerusalem Foundation yesterday, packing emotional support with frank policy statements. The contrast with Obama could hardly be more dramatic. Indeed, one could go through the speech and note the many refutations of Obama….

Also, in contrast to the nonsensical Obama administration stance on Jerusalem being Israel’s capital — sneaking into change captions that mistakenly identified it as that and going through verbal gymnastics to avoid calling it that — Romney came out and plainly called Jerusalem “the capital of Israel”.

For Daniel’s concise summation of the speech see his article in National Review Online, The Corner.

4. Mike Evans, close personal friend of PM Netanyahu for many years, tells about the Israeli’s 35 year-long friendship with the Republican Romney in A Tale of Two Kings.

The two politicians are exceptional among today’s officials. It would be challenging to find two men of such prominence with a similar history. It would also be difficult to envision a world leader who would be more in tune with Israel’s welfare. Romney has already signified that he would be hesitant to make noteworthy determinations about the Jewish state without first conferring with Mr. Netanyahu. This would be an utter about-face from the lackadaisical policies displayed by current US President Barack Obama.

Has your mainstream news fully reported on this? See Not on the 10 o’clock News.

Our forgotten brethren

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COPY of pre-blog email (as in ‘About’).:

Soon after circulating yesterday’s update about Iran & Egypt I received a report from Barnabas Fund What Future For Christians in Egypt?, with details of atrocities.
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Upon reading it, your fellow reader Rosemary remarked, ”How can so many of us be so complacent when these things are happening??”
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Today’s Bible Prophecy Blog features an incisive review upon persecution of Christians by Caroline Glick, deputy managing editor of Jerusalem Post – I agree with Bill K honouring her as ‘ne plus ultra’ (ultimate) analyst and commentator.  (Caroline served as in Israel’s core negotiating team with Palestinians and later as assistant foreign policy advisor to Bibi Netanyahu during his first term as PM.)
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Her article is highly recommended reading. It covers the Christian situation throughout the Middle-East as well as the extremely embarrassing stance of cosy Churches:.
“Aside from Evangelical Protestants, most Western churches are similarly uninterested in defending the rights of their co-religionists in the Islamic world….
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“As for the Vatican, in the five years since Pope Benedict XVI laid down the gauntlet at his speech in Regensburg and challenged the Muslim world to act with reason and tolerance it its dealing with other religions, the Vatican has abandoned this principled stand. A true discourse of equals has been replaced by supplication to Islam in the name of ecumenical understanding…”
(Perhaps explains why Cranmer has yet to receive a reply from the Holy See on Pastor Youcef?)
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In conclusion, Caroline adroitly puts her finger on our leaders, as well as pointing out what informed people know only too well about appeasement:
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“It is unclear what either Western governments or Western churches think they are achieving by turning a blind eye to the persecution and decimation of Christian communities in the Muslim world. As Sunday’s events in Egypt and other daily anti-Christian attacks by Muslims against Christians throughout the region show, their behavior is not appeasing anyone. What is clear enough is that they shall reap what they sow.”  (My emphasis.)
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Heavenly Father please fill all our brothers and sisters with Your Son’s peace and grace in their suffering.
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“This showdown…will mark the final countdown for Israel’s existence..”

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COPY of pre-blog email (as in ‘About’):

A report just in quotes president “A-madman-jihad” as vowing to “teach the Israelis a lesson” by sending Iranian warships and submarines with Turkey’s next attempt to break the Gaza blockade (see details).

I can understand your not having time to visit links in previous messages – but I humbly submit that this one is instructive. How so? Simply because almost all our highly biased media will omit the necessary explanations and jump on ‘bigots’ bandwagon’.

Caroline Glick, ‘ne plus ultra’ of commentators on Israel & Middle-East according to our Christian analyst at The White House (ie. William Koenig), writes:

 “Our times are times of Jew hatred. Our times are times where hatred breeds strategic madness (my emphases). Our times are times when we need to recall basic truths about Israel and the Jewish people.” [see The Plain Truth About Israel]

One of our own lady journalists, Melanie Phillips, is well aware of the censorship imposed by ‘cultural totalitarianism’ – see Middle East Forum article.

Is the Telegraph our only paper that sees sense? Saturday’s editorial and Charles Moore’s op-ed are excellent:

S C R I P T U R A L   A S P E C T

CLEARLY, the time is almost upon us for us to see the Lord once again fight for his Jewish people, now they’re in the land He promised – especially now that the WHOLE WORLD including UK HAS GANGED UP AGAINST THEM – AND Israel’s military seems to have inexplicably become incompetent !

Let’s recall God’s promise:

“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling…On that day when all nations of the earth are gathered against her (as in the UN?) I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to (re)move it will injure themselves…” (Zach 12:2-3)

Perhaps He will do this by fulfilling the prophecy He gave against Gaza (ie Philistia) – Ezek 25:15-17 is well worth a personal perusal !!  Maybe that scripture’s fulfillment will also answer Psalm 83?

v1  O God do not keep silent, be not quiet, O God be not still.
v2  See how your enemies are astir, how your foes rear their heads.
v3  With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish.
v4  “Come” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more”.
v5  With one mind they plot an alliance against you – the tents of Edom (now ‘philistinian’ refugee camps) etc etc
…
v18 Let them know that you alone are the Most High over all the earth. Amen Lord, answer again.

May the Lord fully open our minds to His word

Richard

Middle-East Update – July 2009

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COPY of pre-blog email (as in ‘About’) – to read it better click upon and enlarge image. The main points covered therein are.:

> G8 Summit’s demands upon Israel regarding West Bank settlements

> PM Netanyahu stands against President Obama’s fallacious proposals

> Obama’s standing as professor of law debunked by Caroline Glick’s expose of his administration’s breach of both international and domestic US laws in supporting terrorists!  (See Barack Obama vs. International Law)