SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW????

   There is a prophet in the scriptures named Habakkuk. He lived around 3625, and prophesied between the fall of Ninevah and the fall of Jerusalem. He lived in a world that was in the midst of war.

 His country had fallen from a period of revival under king Josiah, to a total collapse of righteous values and G-d honoring laws. The threat of invasion loomed from the north, the east and the south. Habakkuk cries out to the G-d of Israel in chapter 3, verse 2 and says:
              Lord, I have heard of your fame
          I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord
                   Renew them in our day
              In our time make them known;
                 In wrath, remember mercy.

   I read this and thought, we need to pray this today! In our time! The situation is almost the same as it was over 2500 years ago for Israel!
                 
So what were the things in Habakkuk’s day that made G-d famous? What deeds was Habakkuk “in awe”of? What were the situations in which mercy triumphed? Well, I immediately thought of a few.
    If we go back 400-500 years before Habakkuk, when judges were the leaders of Israel, we read in the 5th chapter of the book of Judges that things were pretty tough for the Israelites at that time. Highways were deserted, village life had all but stopped. There was war all around, but G-d’s people didn’t even have a shield or a spear among the 40,000 soldiers. They had lived for 20 years under Canaanite oppression, and the situation was one of NO HOPE. It was grim! Of course they did not have worldwide media coverage telling the Canaanites how the Israelites were really oppressing them and unjustly squatting on their property
                                    
but they faced Jabin the King of Canaan who had 900 iron chariots at his disposal. When you have no weapons, that can be a frightening enemy!
                 
    Now there was a place in the land where people got water for their families and livestock, the “watering place”. People started talking about the things G-d had done for them while their animals drank and they themselves gathered water. As they shared, their hearts started to change. The atmosphere started to change. Maybe it was just small things like, “there was no food on the shelves when suddenly we were reminded we had flour hidden under the floor boards”, to bigger things like “their parents being fed with supernatural food for 40 years in the Sinai desert”. They remembered when those walls got swallowed up around Jericho
      
and when Balaam could only bless Israel and not curse them for Balak. So many memories of G-d’s awesome deeds!
    These memories started an “Awakening”. Deborah, the leader, judge, at the time heard from G-d who gave her a supernatural strategy that would bring hope back to the people and peace to the land (ended up bringing peace for 40 years!) G-d renewed his awesome deeds and gave the Israelites a stunning, complete victory over their Canaanite oppressers! An army with no spears, no shields, conquered an army with 900 iron chariots. G-d had mercy on the Israelites!
                
    Then Habakkuk may have remembered when Syria’s King Ben-Hadad gathered his forces against Israel to besiege Samaria. During King Ahab’s time, it was the capital city. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were terrible leaders. When the King of Syria threaten to destroy Israel and boasted that the silver, gold, loveliest women and children belonged to him, Ahab’s response was, “All that I have is yours”. What a wimp! Even Ben-Hadad was shocked so he went a little further and sent a second message saying, “Whatever is pleasing and pleasant to you, Ahab, my army will take it!” King Ahab  responded with weak irritation.
    Then the king of Syria began to boast that his gods were more powerful than the God of Israel. (Does any of this sound familiar?) He boasted that his gods were able to totally destroy Samaria, and he began to plan a brutal attack. Meanwhile (here comes the “remembering G-d stuff) a prophet shows up and approaches Ahab. He is never given a name, but this guy helps save this silly King. He says this:

     Have you seen this massive army of
Ben-Hadad?
  I will deliver it into your hands TODAY!
And you shall know that I am the Lord.
                                          (1 Kings 20:13)

    Ahab is like, “Who’s gonna do that?” and G-d through the prophet gives him an unusual strategy. It works and the Syrians are struck down, but Ben-Hadad flees on his horse. The prophet with no name shows up again and tells king Ahab it’s not over. This guy will attack again be ready!
                
MEANWHILE, the enemy, Ben Hadad and his advisers have concluded that their loss was because Israel’s god is G-d of the hills, but if they fight in the plains, Syria will win. They completely underestimated the G-d of Israel! (sound familiar?) When the next battle came, both sides were encamped across from each other for 7 days, Israel being way outnumbered. However, on the seventh day, they went to battle and 100,000 Syrian foot soldiers fell in battle and the remaining 27,000 had a wall fall on them. It was an amazing victory.
                  
Sadly the King messed up later, but I think Habakkuk knew if G-d could do such an awesome victory through a King like Ahab, he could do it again for the glory of His name.
    Of course there are so many other remarkable exploits orchestrated by the G-d of Israel, but just by meditating on these two, a passion wells up in our hearts like Habakkuk, Oh Lord, DO IT AGAIN! DO IT IN OUR DAY! IN YOUR WRATH, REMEMBER MERCY! When evil leaders rise up and boast about their gods, when they threaten Israel and taunt Israel with their boasts, then pray like Habakkuk. Remember the mighty works of    G-d. He has not changed!
                         (Malachi chapter 3, verse 6)

WHAT ABOUT THE WORD "EVERLASTING" (OLAM) DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?

The word “everlasting” (olam in Hebrew) appears 117 times in Jewish scriptures. These are scriptures recognized by both Jews and Christians. According to the Collins dictionary, “everlasting” means LASTING FOREVER, UNCEASING, NEVER COMING TO AN END! The word first appears in Genesis 9, verse 16. The rainbow is an everlasting sign of the covenant between G-d and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. Rainbows still show up in the sky all over the earth. They haven’t ceased. So we can assume G-d meant what he said.  Fifteen times the word  "everlasting" is used in relation to covenant, G-d’s promise and oath.  In addition to “covenant” we find, Everlasting hills, Everlasting arms, Everlasting righteousness, G-d’s everlasting kingdom, His everlasting foundation, the everlasting rock, everlasting salvation, everlasting sign, everlasting light, everlasting name, everlasting king, everlasting heights, everlasting dominion and G-d’s everlasting love. Pslam 117, verse 2 says, For great is G-d’s love towards us, His truth is everlasting! 

So what is it about this word that those who believe these scriptures DO NOT UNDERSTAND? (I am not addressing those who choose to not believe these words, but to those who find their hope and identity through G-d’s Word) The second appearance of the word “everlasting” is Genesis 17, verse 7. G-d establishes a covenant with Abram. It is an “everlasting covenant” which includes (verse 8) giving the land of Canaan as an “everlasting possession”.  As mentioned earlier, this means NO END, UNCEASING. In verse 19 of Genesis 17, G-d tells Sarah, “I will establish My covenant with Isaac for an everlasting covenant and with his decendants after him.” Towards the end of Genesis in chapter 48, verse  4, Jacob blesses Joseph and reminds him that G-d told him, “I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you”.  In David’s Psalm of Thanks, (1 Chronicles 16, verses 17-18), David remembers that G-d made a covenant with Abraham, an oath He swore to Isaac, confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: TO YOU I WILL GIVE THE LAND OF CANAAN AS THE PORTION YOU WILL INHERIT.

So why is it that Jews and Christians have both questioned G-d’s choice of words? If “everlasting” means never stops, than what is the question about the Jews, the decendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob owning a tiny strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea? Doesn’t G-d say it is theirs?

FOREVER? Some may say, “Yes, but the Jewish people turned their backs on G-d and he dispersed them away from the land.” Well, G-d’s loving kindness is also everlasting, and in Jeremiah chapter 3o, verse 3 it says: The days are coming, declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess’.  And that is exactly what the everlasting G-d did more than 2500 years after Jeremiah said it! Isn’t the word “everlasting” amazing?

 This has to cause Jews and Christians alike – who believe the Word      of  G-d – to ask themselves, “Why do they call Judea and Samaria ‘Occupied Territory’?” “Why are Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jericho not part of Israel as a nation?” “Why is there any question about Jerusalem’s ownership?”
Some say, “yes, but there is a problem with a huge population of Arab-Egyptian ‘Palestinians’. What happens to them?” Yes, this is a problem and one that should be a concern to the Arab nations and Egypt. Why don’t they want to help incorporate them into their land? Where was the concern for Jewish refugees in 1948 when they were forcefully kicked out of lands they had lived in for centuries? Well over 800,000 Jews fled from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon taking nothing with them but what they could carry. No compensation was given to them for land, businesses or homes they left behind. Yes, it is difficult to determine how and where the “Arab-Egyptian Palestinians should live, but there is really no question according to G-d’s word who the land belongs to.

Last week a panel within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) passed a resolution on calling for a vote on divestment in multi-national companies in “Israel-Palestine” that profit from “non-peaceful” activities. They say that because these companies allow their services in “Occupied Territory” for the Israelis, and that they are acting illegally under international law. They, as followers of the Bible, should be glad these companies helped build security walls to protect innocent people from being randomly blown up in buses and pizza parlors, but instead, they have taken a stand with the world and placed their allegiance against G-d. What is it about “EVERLASTING” they do not understand?

Israel is facing threats from all around. One has to ask, is it Israel? Or is it the G-d who called them by name, set them apart and gave them the land?
Are the nations really raging against G-d,  Yaweh, as it says in Psalm 2? As people who believe G-d’s word we must know in our hearts that we stand in agreement with G-d. If you are reading this and you do not even believe the Bible or you have never read it, if you call yourself a "Jew" or a "Christian", but do not believe G-d's Word is true and it is for today, than maybe just say a prayer and ask G-d if His word is true to show you. He will do it. His love for you is from everlasting to everlasting!

VALENTINE and PALESTINE

Valentine’s day is celebrated in many parts of the world today.

Where did this celebration come from?

Where did it begin?

Valentine was a priest in Rome under Emperor Claudius II.
He lived around 270 AD.

Claudius II refused to allow young men to marry, believing that they would make better soldiers if they were not concerned for their families.
He also wanted loyalty to his authority and was threatened by those who followed the G-d of the scriptures.

Valentine was a believer in G-d’s word and secretly performed marriages for the young soldiers before they left for war.

He also prayed for the sick and diseased and witnessed many miraculous healings.

As word got out, The Emperor had Valentine arrested and put in prison.

He was asked to renounce his faith and when he refused, he was beheaded on February 14^th.
Before he was matryed, he wrote a note to the believers whom he loved and signed it “Love, Your Valentine”.

This history is significant, because it demonstrates how distorted truth can become as it is molded to a culture and to man’s purposes.

The truth about Valentine is that one man first loved G-d, then loved the people around him enough to sacrifice his own life at the hands of
            corrupt leaders.

However today, if “Valentine” is mentioned, most of us think, chocolate, flowers, and romance even though the man demonstrated the highest
            example of what “love” is.

In fact, the celebration in most countries of the world has no resemblance to the original truth.

It has taken almost 2000 years for Valentine’s Day to become a major consumer day. People buy gifts for their pets, and “significant others”.

Elementary schools are buzzing with cards and candy.

But, the truth and meaning of Valentine’s life is not even known by most.

THIS HAPPENS TO MANY THINGS IN HISTORY
For example, only 35 years ago, Zahir Muhsein (a PLO Exec. Committee Member) told the world that “The “Palestinian People” do not exist. “The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today, there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians  and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people.” (March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw)
In only 35 years, the Palestinian people have developed a history, culture and land that has absolutlely no resemblance to fact or history!

Only 65 years ago there were Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Arabs living in an area under British mandate.

The Palestine Post became the Jerusalem Post.

The Anglo-Palestine Bank became Bank Leumi L’Israel.

In 1936 the Palestine Symphony orchestra was composed of 70 Palestinian Jews!

TODAY, however  governments all over the world stand with the “Palestinian people” as though they are a displaced Arab nation.

Historical truth shows that “Palestine” was never an Arab nation. It was never even a nation!

For several hundred years leading up to World War I, all of Israel, the Kingdom of Jordan and Palestine were merely provinces of the Ottoman

    Empire.

After British-led Allied troops routed the Turks from the country in 1917-18, the League of Nations recognized Britain’s occupation with a
    document that gave the British conditional control granted under a mandate.

It empowered Britain to facilitate the creation of a “Jewish National Home” while respecting the rights of the native Arab population.

British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill later partitioned the mandate in 1922 and gave the East Bank of the Jordan to the Hashemites many of
    whom were Arabs living in Palestine..

Following World War II, the League of Nations’ successor, the United Nations, voted in November 1947 to partition the remaining portion of the land into Arab and Jewish states.

While the Jews accepted partition, the Arabs did not.

So, much like the history of Valentine is the fabricated history of Palestine.

Sadly, if one takes the time to truly search out the truth, they can find it.
And the truth about both these issues is G-d honoring!

WANT TO BE BLESSED?

G-d says to Jacob:
“The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.      Genesis chapter 35, verse 11

 Around 2000 years before Mohammed was around, there was a promise to a man named Moses. 

G-d spoke very awesome words to Moses:

"I am the Lord.  I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob

as El Shaddai but by my name, Yahweh, I was not known. 
I have established my covenant with them, to give them the
land of Canaan……”      Exodus chapter 6, verses 2-4

Moses was then commissioned by Yahweh to  lead the Israelites into the land He promised them. Yahweh was with Moses releasing many demonstrations of His  supernatural power and might. There were plagues that challenged the false gods of Egypt, ending with the supernatural protection of lamb’s blood over every Israelite’s doorway. Then there was the parting of the Red Sea, and the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. As the people were preparing to enter the land promised to them by G-d, they defeated Sihon,  the King of the Amorites and took possession of his land (Num. chapter 21, verse 24).  They defeated Og, King of Bashan and took possession of his land. The surrounding people knew the Israelites were favored by their G-d. As they approached their promised land, other Kings took notice. One in particular was Balak, the King of Moab. Balak saw what  was going on and thought it would be a great idea to pay to have G-d curse the Israelites. So he hires a guy named Balaam. Although Balaam was not an Israelite, it was thought he had contact with Yahweh, the G-d of Israel. In Numbers chapter 22, verse 12, Balaam hears Yahweh say, “you shall not curse the people for they are blessed.” Balak offers Balaam more money and more honor, but Balaam is eventually opposed by the Angel of the Lord! His poor donkey protects him and gets beaten so badly that G-d opens her mouth in defense of her life. Balaam goes to where Balak wants him to pronounce curses over the Israelites but all that comes out is blessing! Then he says to Balak:

G-d is not a man that He should lie
Nor a son of man, that He should repent

Has he said, and will he not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Behold, I have received a command to bless;
He has blessed and I cannot reverse it.       Numbers 23:19,20

 In other words, “what G-d says, goes! He is in charge!”

 So…..is it possible that the G-d of the universe chose a group of people to show His power and love to, not to exclude everyone else, but to show them that he is the one and only G-d. That what he says, he will do. That he is mighty and able. There are many in the scriptures who believed this. There was Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, a priest of Midian. There was Rahab who was spared death in Jericho and Ruth a Moabite woman who chose the G-d of Israel to be her G-d.

Today, there are still those in nations all over the earth who read the scriptures and believe in the G-d of Israel. Sadly there are those also who rage against Him. Is it possible that the “defensive wars” of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 were won not by Israel’s might and expertise but by a word spoken by G-d thousands of years ago?

Is it possible that the reason Jerusalem has never been the capital of any other nation besides Israel is because the G-d of Israel said He put His name there and the city is His?

 Is it possible that Arabs lead 22 other nations equaling 640 times the size of Israel, with 60 times her population, with huge quantities of oil, because the G-d of Israel promised to bless the sons of Ishmael as well?

 How did a group of people who have been the target of genocide since the days of Pharaoh (Moses was supposed to be killed but had a bold radical mom who believed the G-d of Israel would keep him safe down the river), then the days of Haman, the days of Stalin, Hitler and today Ahmadinejad, survive to become a thriving nation only 2 ½ times the size of Rhode Island?  

 Is it possible that the G-d of Israel is real?  Is  He trying to show His faithfulness and His integrity to a lost world by keeping His promises?

 I believe this is important for citizens of Israel to consider, Jewish and Christian people to consider and people of the world who are not familiar with this G-d. If he is real, and you cannot curse what he blesses, then maybe you want to make sure you are living on the side of His blessing!

A FACEBOOK PHOTO WORTH 1,000 LIES

By Israel Hayom 

Snapshot of a soldier aiming a gun at an Arab girl appears on Facebook with a caption saying the soldier is Israeli and the girl is Palestinian • Israeli Internet users quick to point out several discrepancies • Photograph is revealed to be from Bahrain street theater in protest of IDF.

The weapon being thrust into the girl’s face is an AK-47, and IDF soldiers carry M-16s.

A photo circulating on Facebook this week of an alleged Israel Defense Forces soldier pointing a weapon at a young girl has been taken down after the Israeli online community banded together and proved the image was falsely captioned, and in fact was taken in Bahrain during a theatrical protest of the IDF.

The photograph, which was uploaded by a Facebook user under the name Wesley Muhammad, showed a girl, probably age 6 or 7, lying helpless on the ground while a soldier pressed his boot into her stomach and pointed a weapon at her face. The caption said the soldier was Israeli and the little girl was Palestinian. The image is cut off at the soldier’s waist, so the top half of his body and his face cannot be seen.

The full image, later circulated online, revealed the picture to be a snapshot taken in Bahrain, during a 2009 anti-IDF demonstration. The entire incident was staged, and a larger photo, also circulated online following the Facebook outcry, shows that both the girl and man were acting a part, with the man in the soldier's uniform sporting a makeshirt Israeli flag pinned to his jacket while he "acted" the part of an Israeli soldier .

The cut-off, falsely-captioned photo immediately began being circulated among Facebook users’ pages, with dozens of users commenting on the horror and atrocity of the picture and issuing blistering condemnations of the IDF and the alleged Israeli soldier in the picture.

Israelis, however, were quick to point out several issues with the photo. Details of his uniform, like the fact his jacket does not have a complete zipper, were not in line with IDF regulations. Crucially, however, the weapon being thrust into the girl’s face is an AK-47, and IDF soldiers carry M-16s. The caption, the Israelis proved, lied, and showed once again that, especially on the Internet, looks can be deceiving.