A Few Words...by David Blaski Words are small things with great power...never underestimate the ones you say...or dont. Sunday, November 17, 2013 Its a Bad, Bad, Bad, Very Bad World... Terrorism is political violence that is targeted at free societies but directed at the political institutions of individual rights, equality under the law, and the freedoms of thought and religion which makes them so. Its goals are not the end result of the violence, but the overreactions of governments to impose tyrannical controls under the pretense of protecting the very people who are victimized. Theirs is not a victory by force but rather a surrender of a nation’s liberty and ideology through fear and political appeasement, rather than moral accountability of their actions. Its violence, supported by media publicity of its proponents, is to close societies under the contradictory shroud of what the prophet Isaiah (5:20) warned, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” On November 8th 2013, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the interim deal with Iran over its nuclear program would be “a bad deal…a very, very bad deal”. This statement made for the reason that in the “deal”, Iran would get everything it wanted, which includes relaxing economic sanctions, while Iran pays nothing in return. Unfortunately, Iran is a terrorism sponsoring state that has made statements over the years that if they had “the bomb” they would use it against Israel. There is also the additional risk that they would share the technology with other terror groups which could threaten the rest of the free world. Unlike the Cold War with the former Soviet Union,the state-sponsored terrorist nations of today are not driven by competing political ideologies but totalitarian cancer-like control over the societies they attack. The only way to deny them their goals is to deny them the verymeans they rely on to get them. In Joshua 9, there is the story of Israel’s “deal” with another threatening group of people, the Gibeonites. After Israel’s victorious entry into the Promised Land with Joshua, they faced a deceitful enemy in the Gibeonites. They were the next in line to be conquered by the Israelites in the land God had given to the Children of Jacob. However, the Gibeonites, as well as the rest of the surrounding peoples of the land, had heard about the Israelites and the God who gave them victory over the enemies starting with Pharaoh in Egypt. Seeing their own days numbered against facing them, the Gibeonites devised a desperate plan of deceit. They sent two “ambassadors” who were disguised to appear as if they had come from some far away land outside the borders of the Promised Land to make a “pact” with Israel. They asked Joshua and the Israelites to spare their people and provide them with amnesty. Unfortunately, Joshua agreed without consulting the Lord and as a result of the deception, Israel had to endure an internal infected thorn in their side for generations, a thorn that would have not existed if Joshua had obeyed the Lord regarding these enemies of God and His people when the right moment came. The Gibeonites are an example of how terrorists will often speak as they are the victims. They will carefully concoct an image and present it publicly that sounds right and deserving ofappeasement but within they are hidden enemies of the soul who lurk behind their deceptions until ready to destroy. Like Iran today, they will put on any show now that will eventually try to ring down the curtain on Israel. The thing to remember about the Gibeonites is that they feared the reputation of the God of the Jewish people who gave them victory. Today, Israel exists again as a nation after enemies displaced the Jewish people in many lands for countless generations and in spite of every naysayer, pundit, analyst, or even terrorist, it will never again be destroyed a nation. But don’t take my word but ratherthe Word of God. Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God,“It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.”(Ezekiel 36:22-23) God Himself, as per His own promised Word, has restored the Jewish people to the land of Israel and has further promised in His Word that they will remain there forever. As He spoke through the prophet Ezekiel, He will not let His Name be profaned any longer amongst the peoples of the earth. The dispersion of the Jewish people and Israel’s original destruction in history caused the nations of the world to stop fearing and revering Him and His Name. But the Lord has not, nor will ever, forget His covenants with the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and neither should we. For if the Lord is concerned for His Namesake in the earth, shouldn’t all those who are “called by His Name” be concerned about “the apple of His eye”, which is Israel? A concern that must include Jew and Gentile, manifested in words and actions, prayers and support, personally as well as politically. One could arguably say we live in a very bad world, but we also serve a very good and powerful God. Regardless of tomorrow, we will now find the future of Israel in the days of Moses, Joshua, David, and Jehoshaphat. Days that will remind Israel and the Jewish people that God is, has, and will always be with them. Days which will also remind them, and the whole earth, that “the battle is not yours but God’s”. As the lines of light and dark continue to separate in the earth, perhaps the real answers can be found in the words of Moses and Joshua; Who is on the Lords side? Let him come to me. and “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 08:21:14 +0000
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