Last week addressed the recent UN resolution condemning Israel which the United States under President Barack Obama skillfully engineered through the Security Council. It was not hard work, however. After all the entire world is against Israel. In the process we introduced the principle of consequences. God told Abraham: “I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you.” (Genesis 12:3) And it all had to do with the Land. God has promised it to Abraham’s seed for a thousand generations. The Security Council action was essentially a slap at both Israel and God’s promise. So we began to unpack the very real consequences that followed the actions of US presidents that tried to force Israel to give away what God had given them. In the process we detailed 17 separate incidences when natural and / or financial disasters followed directly on the heels of such actions. Well always willing to beat a dead horse here are a few more – followed by a bit of an analysis on what it all might mean.
PART II: THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNFAITHFULNESS
Last time out our list of curious ‘coincidences’ wound up with Hurricane Katrina which struck New Orleans at the time that the Israeli settlers were being forcibly removed from Gaza – and then we jumped to the 2011 demand by President Obama that Israel return to the pre-67 borders. That ended up with a half-mile wide multiple-vortex tornado rampaging through Missouri. As we go back to fill in some more of the details we will rely on Bill Koenig to detail the major FEMA disasters that struck the US in 2007, – at or around the same time that either Secretary of State Rice was visiting Jerusalem to pressure Israel in the peace process, or when President Bush was conducting Quartet meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert. Here’s just a sample of some of these events.
- January 13-19 2007: – Rice visits Israeli, several Arab countries Germany & Britain. There are FEMA level winter storms in Missouri, Oklahoma Texas. California orange crop is ruined. Record hurricanes nearly shut down Britain & Germany while the Secretary of State was there on the ground..
- The Quartet meets on February 2nd – A series of Tornadoes devastate Florida.
- March 25-27, – Secretary Rice is back in Israel. Tornadoes rip through New Mexico.
- President Bush authorizes $59 million for Abbas’ Fatah party. Under US pressure Olmert & Abbas begin regular meetings on April 15th. Storms and flooding on April 15-16 lead to FEMA declarations in 8 states.
- June 17-19 – Olmert is in Washington meeting with President Bush. Talks aimed at strengthening Abbas. Storms and flooding hit New York and Texas during the meetings.
- August 7-8 – Under pressure from Washington, Jewish settlers are forced out of Hebron. Storms, tornadoes and flooding spell another FEMA disaster for New York.
We need not belabor the details. Still there seems a direct correlation between US actions that would compromise God’s Word and direct and timely punishments. Mr Koenig discovered “nine major FEMA disasters and… two other major crisis” that coincided with American involvement in the peace process.[i]
Jump to 2008 and we pick up the account given by John McTernan in his book: As America Has Done To Israel.
- January 2008, – Pressure on Israel applied during President Bush’s trip to the Middle East is punctuated by an outbreak of tornadoes and storms throughout the month and a large drop in the stock market.
- March 15, 2008: Secretary Rice chides Israel for dragging it’s feet on the peace plan and in John McTernan’s words: “During this time, ferocious tornado storms were devastating the South and mid-West. On March 15, a severe storm hit Georgia and a tornado actually went through the heart of Atlanta !”
- First week of June, 2008: More pressure by Rice on Israel. Stock market plunges 400 points, dollar falls to record lows, oil goes to record highs.
- Then there are the events of September / October 2008 described last week. Summary: The US and Olmert agree to divide Jerusalem. Economic disaster hits, – all on the Jewish High Holy Days. Here are the results. Rosh Hashanah: Market drops 777 points // Yom Kippur: Market drops 679 points //Tabernacles: Market drops 733 points.[ii]
So we see the devastation that follows on the heels of America’s choice to repeatedly go against God’s plan. Is that really God’s character, to judge our nation for its sins, or were these curiously timed events mere acts of nature? Take Hurricane Katrina for instance. Some in the religious community have stated that the hurricane, along with the tsunami that killed upwards of a quarter million, are truly acts of the judgment of God. One Rabbi tells us that there is a direct connection between Katrina and the removal of the Jews from Gush Katif. Rabbi Garlitzky of Chabad Lubavitch announced that, “No one has permission to take away one inch of the land of Israel”. Many see strange similarities between the destruction of Katrina and that wrought by forced evacuation of the Settlements.[1] Even the Hebrew words have a numerical equivalent. Katrina’s is 374. Two separate Torah passages have that same numerical equivalent: Genesis 50:17, which reads “They have done you evil”, and Exodus 14:15, which says, “The sea upon the land”. And so it is argued. They are making an obvious connection with the promise God gave Israel in Genesis 12:3 regarding blessings and curses based upon on Israel was treated.
Wait! There’s More
Starting to get the picture? Well that’s not all. In addition, John McTernan sees a pattern between major seismic events and what he refers to as “national sinful event(s)”. He identifies 3 major earthquakes that occurred “directly on the day of a national sinful event”, and one that followed such an event by a few days. What’s more, the early earthquakes each led to the next one in the chain. The Joshua Tree quake took place on April 23, 1992, – the same day the Supreme Court was hearing Planned Parenthood v Casey with the possibility of overturning Roe v Wade. June 29th of the same year was Gay Pride Day – and the day that issued the ruling in the Planned Parenthood case, – upholding abortion. That was the same day that the Landers and Big Bear quakes struck putting a 53 mile long gash in the earth and affecting most of the Western US.
Seven years passed. Then on October 14, 1999, California’s governor signed pro-homosexual legislation as he promised to make the state a model for gay rights. Three days later, a 7.1 strong quake hit at Hector Mine. It was felt from Los Angeles to Phoenix, – and according to seismologist Dr Andrew Freed, it was related to all the previous quakes. They were all part of an “earthquake sequence” that began with Joshua Tree back in 1992. McTernan believes there is even more to it. “It seems the physical and spiritual realms are running on parallel tracks…The breaking of God’s moral laws is clearly affecting the physical laws…It is no coincidence these powerful earthquakes are falling directly on days of national sin”. To confirm the point, jump to June of 2008. The Californian Supreme Court rules in favor of Gay Marriage. The same day, Governor Schwarzenegger declares a drought emergency for the entire state. June 17th is the day that homosexual marriage actually goes into effect. Here’s how McTernan reports what happened next. “During this week a blistering heat wave struck the state. On June 20, a massive storm hit Northern California with a huge number of lightening strikes that started over a thousand of fires. The fires burnt for months and eventually destroyed 1,300 square miles. These fires were called the ‘largest single fire event in the history of California’ by the Governors’ Office.” Despite the massive number of concurrent events: Is this position reasonable in a modern world? Belief in God’s Holy Word maintains that there is.
The Reasonableness of Judgment
You see, God’s character is reflected in both His love and holiness, – mercy and judgment. Students of the Bible know that God is unchangeable, His Word immutable. We know too that the Father exists in perfect holiness. When Isaiah had a vision of the Lord he became violently humbled and full of fear. He cried out, “ Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.” Isaiah saw his sin, and could only cry out for mercy. Perhaps he saw in that moment what the writer revealed in Hebrews 12:14, that we must live in pursuit of holiness, “…without which no one will see the Lord”. Jesus gave the standard in the Sermon on the Mount. “Therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) In Ephesians 5:1 Paul spells out what we must do. “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.” He gets more specific just a few verses later. Ephesians 5:5 tells us, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God”. And then in verse 6, he follows with a most solemn warning. “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
Does God judge nations and people? We know from His word that He does. He judged the Northern and Southern Kingdom’s of Israel when they fell into sin, turning them over to be conquered by their neighbors and then allowing those nations to be punished themselves for the mistreatment of His people. The prophets warned that judgment was coming, and surely it came. God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when they persisted in their wickedness. Recently archaeologists have found their remains, burned from above it seems, just as the Bible has said. Their sin was the rampant perversion and homosexuality described in the Genesis account. They were consumed with their lusts, and so God consumed them. God judged and punished the whole world for sinfulness, saving only Noah from the destroying flood. Yes God is a God of mercy; – but He is a God of Holiness too. God cannot stand to look at sin. And so He is a God of judgment, of all that is unclean, of all that persist in rebellion against Him and His Word.
There is God’s promise of judgment and punishment. And here we are a nation flaunting the standards established in His Word. We have kicked God out of school, yet seek His protection. We have allowed the murder of 40 million with the legalization of abortion. We have sentenced millions of children to a life of poverty, and drug use, and delinquency and failure, by encouraging a culture where father’s need no longer take responsibility for their children. We have celebrated sin with gay festivals and porn festivals, and internet pornography, and public drunkenness and rampant drug use, – and in the case of Katrina, – in New Orleans itself. And yes, we know that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:22-23) But now we’re messing with something very dear to God’s heart; – His land!
So God promises to curse and bless according to the way that we treat His people, the Jews. Joel 3:1-2, only confirms that earlier promise. “…I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of my people and my inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up my land.” There it is; – judgment for dividing God’s Land. Some scoff. Yet it was not strange in this nations early history for men to see natural disasters and wars as the judgment of God. No less respected a man than President Lincoln saw the hand of God in the great suffering that afflicted this nation by the Civil War. In his second inaugural address, Lincoln recognized slavery as a great sin for which “…the providence of God” gave “to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came”. Should we be so incredulous to believe that God should so honor His Word once again?
David Herzog reminds us that Britain lost its empire when it “agreed to divide” Palestine between Jews and Arabs. Here is God’s promise revealed in Psalm 105:8-11: “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance”. Canaan, (Palestine), is God’s to give. He gave it to the Jews.
In the end, we are subject to His law and His will not our own. We cannot continue to act against the dictates of God. In the future there is coming a time when all the world will turn against Jerusalem to enforce man’s collective will on that Holy City. It will be to no avail. Zechariah 12:2 tells us that it will become a “cup of trembling unto all the peoples round about”. The next verse goes on: “And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered against it.” (KJV) IT IS TIME FOR THE US TO GET OUT OF THE PEACE MAKING BUSINESS – AND GET BACK TO THE BUSINESS OF OBEYING GOD!!! AND IT’S TIME TO START MAKING PEACE WITH THE PRINCE OF PEACE!!
BETRAYAL UPDATE
Well we can’t leave this subject without talking about what might be happening in the very near future – as in before President Obama leaves office. There is considerable speculation out there that a foreign ministers meeting to be held in Paris on January 15th may be very significant indeed. Seventy nations will be attending that gathering all focused on Middle East peace. The question everyone seems to be asking is whether Mr Obama will use this platform to force a declaration of a Palestinian state. The Huffington Post put it thusly. “Anxiety continues to roil through the pro-Israel world over a possible last-minute political move by the Obama administration that could permanently alter the Israeli-Palestinian geo-political landscape. Everywhere, audiences were on the edge of their seats asking whether President Obama would take extraordinary passive or active steps in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to recognize a Palestinian state or impose a peace settlement, including a territorial mandate following the lines of the 1948 truce.”[iii]
But of course no declaration by President or the assembled foreign ministers or the United Nations will or can have any real effect on what God has declared in His word. Besides the guarantees we’ve already reviewed there is another that is very specific to this unfolding situation. It is found in Isaiah 34. That passage is talking about the time of end and God’s judgement on all nations. It begins like this. “Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things that come forth from it. For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies.” (Isaiah 34:1-2) By verse 5 the focus had narrowed down to one nation, that nation being Edom. “For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, And on the people of My curse, for judgment.”
But just who are the Edomites? Their genesis goes back to Esau who despised his birthright and sold it to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Later resenting the bargain he made, Esau spitefully married into the Ishmaelite clan. From that came what has become to be known as “the Everlasting Hatred.” That “Everlasting Hatred” has become embodied in Islam. There is a supernaturally generated loathing for Israel and the Jews.[iv] But the Edomite has an even more specific appellation. Genesis 36:12 gives us “the history of the descendants of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.” Cutting Edge Ministries cites several sources that identify modern day Palestinians as descended from Amalek the grandson of Esau. This is a few confirmed by senior rabbis and many Bible scholars.[v]
All of this brings us to the key scripture. It is found in Isaiah 34:12, again referring to Edom, the House of Esau, the modern day Palestinians. “They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.” Yes, there will come a day when a Palestinian State will be ‘declared’ but it will amount to nothing. It will be an empty gesture devoid of real force. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has declared otherwise. And as for the Palestinians, things will not end well for them. Besides Isaiah 34, their fate is declared in the short book of Obadiah. God declares their complete destruction for “violence against your brother Jacob.” (Obadiah 10) According to Obadiah this will come at the time that all nations are judged. As for Israel, “on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, And there shall be holiness; The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” The stage is quickly being set for the End of the Age.
[i] Bill Koenig, 2007: Nine Major FEMA Disasters…, World Watch Daily, November 2007
[ii] John McTernan, Update For: As America Has Done To Israel,(2007), – 2009
[iii] Will Obama Recognize A Palestinian State Before January 20?, Huffington Post, December 7, 2016
[iv] Chuck Missler, Who Are the Edomites?, Personal Update News Journal, Konia House, May 2010
[v] David Bay, LEADING ORTHODOX JEWISH SCHOLARS CONFIRM CUTTING EDGE TEACHING THAT TODAY’S PALESTINIANS ARE THE “HOUSE OF ESAU” (Obadiah 15-18), Cutting Edge Ministries 2095, 2005
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