Dismantling God's covenant with the children of Israel, one piece at a time
by Michael G. Mickey
(4-20-06)
July 22, 2003: Palestinian police marched into Bethlehem, taking control of the ancient West Bank city after Israel withdrew under a U.S.-backed peace plan. The birthplace of Christ handed over to Israel's enemies!
March 16, 2005: Israel transfers security control of the West Bank city of Jericho to the Palestinian Authority. Jericho handed over to Israel's enemies!
Do we remember how the children of Israel obtained possession of Jericho?
Joshua 5:13-15:
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, [Art] thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy. And Joshua did so.
Joshua 6:16:
And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.
Joshua 6:20:
So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
September 12, 2005: Israel completes its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, another chunk of its covenant lands handed over to its enemies, as a direct result of international pressure.
The latest? The Pope, often referred to as "God’s representative on earth", used his message on Easter Sunday to plead for the establishment of a nation to be called Palestine on Israel's covenant lands, as seen a Jerusalem Newswire commentary.
The Pope said, in part, as seen in a CBS news article, "May the international community, which reaffirms Israel's just right to exist in peace, assist the Palestinian people to overcome the precarious conditions in which they live and to build their future, moving toward the constitution of a state which is truly their own."
How, I am left to wonder, did "God's representative on earth" arrive at the conclusion that the Palestinians can ever have a state "which is truly their own" on land that is truly not theirs, as stated by Almighty God Himself?
Stan Goodenough, the author of the Jerusalem Newswire commentary linked above, one of my favorite writers on this particular topic, put everything nicely in perspective when he wrote:
According to the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel gave the Land of Israel and in particular the mountains of Samaria and Judea, forever and exclusively to the people born into that bloodline.
Nor does the biblical narrative deal sparingly with this issue, but devotes extensive detail in numerous passages to it. The heavenly granting of this land to this specific nation is described as having been done as, among other things, an “everlasting covenant,” an “oath” and a “statute.”
A statute is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “a divine law.”
But to Pope Benedictus XVI – previously known as the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger but now bearing the title “Vicar of Christ” and “God’s representative on earth” – mankind today is no longer bound by this law.
Consider what may take place next, potentially in the not-too-distant future, as revealed by a WorldNetDaily article entitled "Last Passover for world's oldest Jewish city?" dated 4-18-06. The article opens as follows:
Tens of thousands flocked here yesterday to the biblical town of Hebron to celebrate Passover festivities alongside the Tomb of the Patriarchs – the second holiest site to Judaism – amid fears the neighborhood would be soon evacuated as part of Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's planned withdrawal from most of the West Bank.
The significance of what Israel's surrender of the West Bank to the Palestinians could entail is brought to life by the following excerpts from the article:
The book of Genesis relates Abraham purchased the field where the Tomb of the Patriarchs is located as a burial place for his wife, Sarah. It later became a plot for the rest of the family, except for Jacob's wife, Rachel, who died when she gave birth while traveling and was buried on a road in Bethlehem.
"It is so powerful to be able to visit and pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs. You can feel the Bible literally come alive," said Sara Wallenberg, an American visiting Israel for the Passover holiday. "This makes the holiday so much more powerful for me."
If visiting the Tomb of the Patriarchs makes "the Bible literally come alive" to an American, what must visiting it on Passover mean to the Jewish people who are descendants of those buried there? And yet the international community supports this?
When Armageddon finally rolls around, is it any wonder the Scriptures seem to indicate the Lord is going to have had enough of rebellious mankind throwing its weight around concerning Israel's covenant lands, acting as though His Word is of no effect?
Joel 3:2: I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
Keep looking up! The evidence that Christ's return is drawing nearer by the moment is all around us! [
link to www.rapturealert.com]
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