WHAT’S BEHIND THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT PART 2 Understanding that this is an issue of Biblical and Apocalyptical proportions, we as Christians must be careful not to be swayed by the strong currents of the media. Please understand that the media does not “own” the truth and much less do they have a Biblical world view on this issue. It takes but 5 minutes to watch any mainstream news network for us to know that there are strong bents in everything they “report”. The vast majority of the media is anti-Israel in this current crisis and every other incident related to the Jewish state. Also, please understand that by saying this I am not stating that Israel is right about everything they do. DO NOT FORGET, Israel today is far from their God, they worship idols and do not seek the God of the Bible I their hearts. They rejected their Messiah when He came to them, thus, they act in sin ignoring the half of the counsel of God and disobeying the other half. Nevertheless, THEY ARE THE CHOSEN PEOPLE, God has remained faithful to them in the midst of their unfaithfulness to Him, isn’t that like The God of The Bible! Oh! Where would we be if He did not keep His promises?? He is so full of grace.. So God will keep His word and will continue to watch after Israel, even though the most horrible time in their history is still to come, God will still keep His appeal to their hearts, yes, in the midst of their hardness, God will continue His appeal of love to them as He does with every single person in this world. Be very careful and be distrusting of the media, we can only trust what God has already said in The Bible with regards to how to view this conflict. If we want to know how we should think about Israel, the Palestinians, Islam, wars, Rome, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Europe, America, Salvation, Life, etc… we go to the Bible simply because God’s authoritative decrees about all of the above are there. We have the one and only revelation of these events and must take it at face value, believe it, live it, and give our lives for it if necessary. I will answer some concerns and questions I was asked yesterday after my first post on this topic. - What side should we take? This is not about who is right and who is wrong. Both parties have done right and wrong. So, once again to my point, what does the Bible say? ABOUT ISRAEL – Genesis 12:3 “ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This is stunningly clear, if you call yourself a Bible believing Christian and a follower of Jesus, you know very well that there is a promise from GOD HIMSELF, He will bless those who bless Israel and will curse those who dishonor Israel. How clear can that be? This does NOT mean that we as Christians must approve everything Israel does, it simply means that in our hearts we recognize the eternal decrees from our Lord and we honor His decrees by praying for God to bless His chosen people. It also means that no curse (corrupt/dishonoring) words come out of our mouths about Israel. It means we pray constantly for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122) and we mean it. ABOUT PALESTINIANS - Genesis 17:18-20 “ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. The Palestinians are direct descendants of Ishmael, we are talking about ALL ARABS in this context. How clear can God speak? HE HAS BLESSED ALL ARABS ACCORDING TO HIS SOVEREIGN DECREE. There is no hidden interpretation here, there is no wrong translation. Yes! our Lord, the same Lord who chose to create Israel and to give them a land, that same God has also decreed that He would bless the Arab peoples. How? - make him fruitful and multiply him greatly, - He shall father twelve princes, - and I will make him into a great nation. So when you think about the current Middle East conflict, make sure you are clear in your mind that the fact that the descendants of Ishmael (Arab peoples) embraced a false god later on and followed a false prophet does not eliminate the blessing promised by our Lord. Once again, our Lord is faithful until the end! Who is like our God? Who keeps His promises even if the recipients of His promises become not only unfaithful but even turn against Him and persecute His chosen (Israel) and also persecute and kill His chosen people in this age (the church). So stop and think about your attitude toward Arab people because our Lord blessed them as well. I agree they do not have the roll of Israel in history, agree that they left The Lord and have turned to be one of the most awful religions anti true God, but don’t forget that God loved Ishmael, blessed him, and continues to bless the Arab peoples in the manner in which He chose. I believe this point needs to be understood in a balanced way and most of all, WE MUST LET THE WORD OF GOD SPEAK. - What should we do with Israelis and Arabs/Muslims? We are obedient to our Lord and he scriptures and do what He commands. We love them, we serve them, we pray for them, we boldly share the gospel of grace, we follow up on the gospel, we do not let up, we do not negotiate truth with any of them. Most likely they will reject the truth, but we are to obey scriptures and speak truth in love to all peoples I will stop here for today as I believe that we must digest the points above. Please take the time to evaluate these questions in your heart, I believe they matter to God: - How much have you been influenced by the media? - Have you already develop passions or favoritism due to media input? - Do you evaluate the conflict based on your ethnic origin (Israeli/Arab) - Do you really believe what the Bible says about the conflict? - If your heart is sick with bitterness, are you willing to repent by embracing what the Bible says about the conflict? - Are you willing and ready to speak the truth of God’s word no matter what it may be and even if it goes against your current feelings? Due to the amount of concerns and ramifications of the topic, I will continue with part 3 tomorrow. Also, Spanish version to follow shortly
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 19:10:40 +0000
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