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The
Bible makes Jerusalem the focus of world attention in ‘The Last Days’.
Ironically, the prophet Zechariah penned this portion of scripture at a
time Jerusalem could hardly be considered a city of world interest and
influence. Now, more than 2,500
years later, we see before our very eyes the prelude to the fulfillment of the
Word of God!
“Thus
says the LORD 'Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling 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 burdensome
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'” (Zechariah
12:2,3).
That Jerusalem is precisely as the scripture says 'a
cup of trembling', cannot be denied or explained away.
However,
with the recent events in the Middle East, how can believers far removed from
this swirling vortex of violence and politics
make sense of what is true and what is anti-Israel propaganda?
Below are reports we've received from friends in Israel to help in this
process...
Television screens are once again
convulsed by images of violence and war. Four main points are being consistently
communicated by the world media throughout this
crisis. Let's consider these
claims:
Lie #1. “The
riots are an 'understandable reaction' to a flagrant Israeli provocation, i.e.,
the visit of Ariel Sharon (Israeli Likud party leader) to the Temple Mount On
Thursday September 28. This was a desecration of a Moslem mosque/holy place.”
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The
Facts:
Israeli politicians have visited this area many times, as has Sharon.
These visits happen all the time. MKs (Members of Knesset, Israel's
parliament) have the legal right to go anywhere in Israel at any time with full
legal protection and immunity. As
well, Israeli Jews and non-Moslem tourists from all over the world visit this
site daily in the hundreds of thousands.
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Sharon's visit to Temple
Mount:
'business as usual'. |
Lie #2. “The
riots were spontaneous, and Arafat has no control over these people, but rather
the riots are the result of Israeli violations of Islamic sensibilities.”
The
Facts:
Soon after the visit Arafat's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh stated,
“Sharon's visit was an incitement to terror which can lead to religious
confrontation. The Islamic Action
Front Party in Jordan, stated, “This (Sharon’s visit) is an atrocious act
which requires Moslem and Arab leaders to declare jihad to liberate ... The
shrines in Jerusalem” and called for “shedding the blood of those Jews...”
The fact that Arafat's top official echelons are on record with prophesied
warnings of coming riots and promising that they will not stop them, the
atmosphere created by Islamic declarations of jihad, the cries of “death to
the Jews” that occurred during these riots - all these clearly reveal that
events have not spun out of control. On the contrary, these riots and the
ensuing deaths of Palestinian rioters are a deliberate PA strategy, employed
often in the past, which uses civilian casualties as a bargaining tool.
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Muslim Children are indoctrinated from early
childhood to hate the Jews. Here (left) during anti-Israel protests
a child is held aloft to express anti-American/Israeli sentiment, while
(middle) a little boy sits on his father's shoulders, displaying a copy of
the Koran and a toy machine gun. Children on the West Bank (right)
are taught to honor men like Yassir Arafat as 'national heroes', and are
regularly allowed,
even encouraged to intrude into 'harms way' by parents. |
Lie #3. “Israelis
were the first to shoot, & didn’t use proper anti-riot control but shot to
kill as they perpetrated a massacre of children, ambulance drivers and young
men.”
| The
Facts:
On Friday, Sept 29 just after 1 p.m., as Moslem worshippers
began to exit the mosques on the Temple Mount Mugrabi Gate
on the Temple Mount and began to throw stones over the retaining wall
(approximately 25 feet high) down onto Jewish worshippers 120 feet below at the
Western Wall. With over 22,000 Moslems on the Mount the situation was explosive.
Large numbers of Moslems began to rush the Mugrabi Gate in order to attack
Jewish worshippers below, stoning and wounding Jerusalem police chief
Cmdr. Yair
Yitzhaki in the process. At that
point IDF Border Patrol reinforcements
entered the Mount and began to disperse
the rioters, first using rubber bullets and tear gas. During the riot and also
on Saturday (30th), Moslem religious leaders called
from the loudspeakers of the mosques for a ‘jihad’, a holy war
against Israel. To be frank, the leaders of Islam in Jerusalem regularly
preach publicly about the day prophesied in the Koran by all faithful
Moslems. |
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A
Palestinian man 'shows off' the blood on his hands of one of the
murdered Israeli soldiers at the Police Station in Ramala, while others
cheer. This picture was taken by an Italian journalist. An
official for the Italian news agency later apologized to the Palestinian
Authority for taking the picture. |
This is the worldview that continues
to enflame many Islamic hearts in the Middle East, and the spiritual forces
behind this world view which animate and activate the rioters. The situation which was triggered has nothing to do with non-Moslems or Israelis visiting the site, but everything to do with a strategic decision by the Palestinian Authority (Yassir
Arafat) to use violence to achieve a new status quo in the so-called peace negotiations.
Lie
#4.
“The peace can be restored when the Israelis withdraw from the 'Arab
areas' in question. Anything less
will lead to continued violence.”
The
Facts:
The temple mount plaza is part of the area of Mount Moriah, where the
Bible says (and archeology confirms) that Solomon's and Herod's Temple stood,
where the Jewish Jesus came to teach and pray.
| This area is promised to the
Jewish people as the heart of their biblical inheritance, and will be the focus
of worldwide pilgrimage and devotion at 'the end of days' (see Isa.2:1-3; 4:2-6;
65:18-24; Jer. 3:19; 31:4-14; Psa. 102:21-22; Ezek.43:6-7; Zech. 14:20-21) .
From the perspective of the Scriptures, Islam has long attempted to replace the
Jewish people on what the Bible describes as ‘ground zero’, the very place
where the Messiah of Israel will establish His glorious throne. The situation sounds similar to one
experienced by Israel's greatest King, David, who expressed his own sorrow over
leaders who simply did not want peace. |
(Above) Scale model in Jerusalem of 1st century temple
mount plaza.
At the center is 'Herod's Temple' which was destroyed
by Roman legions in AD 70. It is on this spot that the Moslem 'Dome
of the Rock' (below) was built some 700 years later. Obviously, the
Jewish site was built first
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“Deliver
my soul, O LORD, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue…
My soul has
dwelt too long with one who hates peace.
I am for peace; but when I speak, they
are for war”
(Psalm 120:2,6,7).
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Palestinian
anti-Israel demonstrations in the West Bank.
Note the swastika incorporated
into the Israeli flag. |
Unfortunately,
Israel is not seeking the Lord, but rather man’s solutions for ‘peace’.
Until Israel returns to the Lord, things aren’t likely to get much
better. “Thus saith the Lord,
I will return again to My place till they acknowledge their offense. Then they
will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” (Hosea
5:15) Now more than ever, we need
to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. As
‘watchmen on the walls’ let us pray and be encouraged as we recognize
God’s plan is being fulfilled, and our redemption is drawing near! (Luke
21:28) Shalom. Y
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"I have set watchmen on your walls,
O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make
mention of the LORD, do not keep silent, and give
Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the
earth."
Isaiah 62:6,7
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Letters From Israel
In
the midst of the turmoil in the Middle East, Messiah is bringing peace to Jews
and Arabs as told in this e-mail from Israel:
At our weekly service Saturday one
of our Arab brothers slipped passed the closed border, and showed up. We prayed
for him, his family and their safety. Make no mistake about it: the Muslims hate
the Christians as well as the Jews. The
Christian Arabs in the PLO controlled areas are not safe. Those who can are
leaving the country. Most can't. They need your prayers.”
Another
writes...
“On Friday night one of our
friends told the group that a friend of hers had been killed by an IDF (Israeli
Defense Force) soldier last week, and that she needed prayer to forgive and to
continue to love her 'enemy'. This brought us into a time of prayer for our
country, for our people, and most specifically for believers. I wish that Ehud
Barak, Yassir Arafat, and Madeline Albright could have been in that prayer
meeting: it was one of the most powerful meetings I've been in.
Though the woman's issues were not resolved when she left the weekend,
she did leave with a peace knowing that her brothers and sisters in Jesus loved
her, were praying for her, and supported her. What an awesome testimony to the
healing power of our Lord.”
Another
friend in Israel writes: The
battle is over Jerusalem. Make no doubt about that. I see people dying on both
sides, nearly all of them are lost, in a religious war, on their journey into
hell. Pray that both Arabs and Jews will come to know our Lord
quickly.
Please
pray for the peace of Jerusalem, that eyes, Jewish and Arab, will be opened to
the truth of the Scriptures, and that they may come to know Yeshua, the Prince
of Peace. Shalom. Y
Finding The Truth
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The New York Times ran this picture alleging Israeli
oppression of Palestinians.
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One
glaring example of media misinformation and distorting the facts occurred
in the New York Times' printing of this photo and caption alleging (at
left) the victim was a Palestinian being attacked by an Israeli.
The following is a reprint of a letter from the victim’s uncle:
“In the Saturday's Times on page A6, the picture of the
"wounded Palestinian" is, in fact, my nephew, Tuvia Grossman, an
AMERICAN Jewish student learning in Israel. His only crime was being
Jewish. He was not in “crossfire” but merely the target of
‘Palestinian lambs’ who stoned his cab, dragged him from the vehicle,
smashed his head with stones and stabbed him in the leg. The Israeli
soldier, whom you obviously wished to portray as victimizing the poor,
wounded Palestinian was actually saving my nephew's life...
I
believe that a retraction, in a prominent position in the paper, is
necessary and an apology to the parents,
forthcoming.”
When
the error was discovered, a ‘retraction’ was made stating that Tuvia
Grossman was Jewish rather than Palestinian. Period.
No mention of the attack on Mr. Grossman’s life. Hardly accurate,
credible, or responsible journalism! |
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