This press conference was published by the official Vatican press office and taken up by all the major news networks across the western world. No other religious system has this influential of a voice, no other religious leader is accompanied by a fawning group of journalists, addressing them as “your holiness” and “holy father”. No other religions leader’s words would be immediately taken up by all the major news networks. No other religious system has their own official recognized press. No other religious system is a recognized state, with diplomats, embassies, state visits and so forth. The power and influence of this system in the world today is immense. The moral basis of the war in Israel, is to many set by the words of this man. If this man claims Israel is morally wrong to defend itself in the current war, and justice is not on their side, then in the view of many, including many journalists and world leaders, Israel cannot do right.

Here is the headline from the official Vatican article: "Pope: War in Gaza is too much! No steps taken for peace.” The summary of the press conference, states, "He discussed the dramatic situation in the Holy Land, as the number of victims in Gaza has exceeded 41,000.” The victims in Gaza he mentions, are of course all residents of Gaza, not Israelis, not the hostages; so there is a clear focus on that side of the conflict. In fact, if you read through everything that Francis said, it arguably focuses entirely on the suffering of Gaza. Francis’ words concerning Israel, are in effect saying: “Israel’s war in Gaza is too much! Israel has taken no steps for peace. Israel has killed 41,000.” He is saying, Israel is morally wrong and justice is not on their side.

Contrast this with Pope’s words on the conflict in Ukraine, where speaking about the people of Ukraine, he said last year on Sept. 23, 2023, "even the withholding of weapons now is going to continue their misery. Francis appeared to refer to Poland’s recent announcement that it is no longer sending arms to Ukraine” Further on September 15, 2022 as reported in the New York Times, "Now, Francis has weighed in on a morally thorny issue, saying on Thursday that it is acceptable for countries to provide weapons to Ukraine so that the country can defend itself. Self-defense in the face of aggression is “not only lawful but also an expression of love of country,” Francis said.” (Please visit this Bible in the News for a closer look at the Vatican and the Ukraine conflict: http://www.bibleinthenews.com/Podcasts/847 )

Where does this figure of 41,000 come from? A BBC article inadvertently highlighted the problem with these figures five days ago. The headline read, “Hamas says Israeli strikes kill 40 in Gaza safe zone”. The headline has now been updated by the BBC and says, "Israeli strike in Gaza humanitarian zone kills 19, Hamas-run health ministry says”. Of course Hamas and the Hamas run health ministry” are the same thing. In any case, all these figures, are, “Hamas says”, and I will remind you, Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization on the same level as ISIS. Somehow the media always takes “Hamas says” as the truth. The corruption of the whole system of reporting from the Gaza Strip was brought forcefully to light, by the events of October 7 themselves, when the bloody invasion into Israel by the Hamas terror organization took place. “Reporters” from Gaza were somehow embedded with the terrorists as they breached the fence and took captives. How did these “journalists” know to be there for a top secret surprise terror attack? It has now been proven that many of these “reporters” doubled as Hamas terrorists. As also has been proven with UN UNRWA workers. In a large part it is true that, Hamas is Gaza. The roman pope gets his reports from Hamas.

The Vatican against Israel.

The partition plan for an Arab and Jewish state in 1947, with Jerusalem
internationalized. It was rejected by the Arabs, who instead waged war
against the Jewish state in 1948.

The Vatican has always had a frosty relationship with Zionism and the State of Israel. They were against Zionism from the beginning and against the creation of the State of Israel. They worked hard to get nations to vote against the creation of the state of Israel in 1947. When the state of Israel was created, the official Vatican newspaper stated on May 14, 1948, "Modern Zionism is not the true heir of Biblical Israel, but a secular state ... Therefore the Holy Land and its sacred sites belong to Christianity, the True Israel.” The Vatican did not even recognize the State of Israel until June 1994 — 46 years after the creation of the state! In contrast the Vatican has already recognized the non-existant state of Palestine back in 2013. Throughout the sixties and on, the terrorist Yasser Arafat was in the lead of the PLO or Palestine Liberation Organization. He perpetrated terrorist attacks from Jordan into Israel, after attempting to overthrow the Jordanian government, in a civil war known as Black September, he was expelled and went to Lebanon, where he continued to perpetrate terrorism against Israel, which led to the Lebanon war and Arafat’s expulsion again to exile in Tunisia. It was at this critical point that he was invited to the Vatican. The Vatican could be seen as rehabilitating Arafat’s image and granting him international legitimacy when he needed it most. Arafat visited the Vatican 12 times, probably more than any other world leader. Julian Schvindlerman wrote about this on Times of Israel blog in 2022, in a post entitled "Purple September: When Yasser Arafat first visited the Vatican.” A notable section reads,

"During his pontificate, John Paul II met twelve times with the head of the PLO. During an interview with Polish journalist Brygida Grysiak, contained in her book He Liked Tuesdays Best: A Story About Everyday Life of the Blessed John Paul II, the pope´s personal secretary from 1996 until his death in 2005, Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, said that the pope “had a special liking” for Arafat, to whom, he added, granted an audience whenever he requested it, “even if the pontiff was on vacation.” The positive image that the Papacy had of the Palestinian warrior was summed up in an official message issued on the occasion of Arafat´s death in November 2004. Yasser Arafat, the Holy See statement said, was “a leader of great charisma who loved his people and tried to lead them to national independence.” Forty years ago this month, the Papacy did its best to assist the PLO chairman in the effort.”
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/purple-september-when-yasser-arafat-first-visited-the-vatican/

So it is no surprise that today, the Vatican is against Israel. They have been for a hundred years. One may ask, why? Firstly, as the official Vatican newspaper stated above, the Vatican sees the Catholic Church as the true Israel, having replaced the Jewish people. The restored state of Israel, regathering of the Jewish people, speaking the revived Biblical language of Hebrew, is a severe challenge to the Roman Catholic teaching — that the Roman Church is the kingdom of God on earth — the true Israel. Secondly, and related to this, is that the Catholic Church seeks control of the “holy places” and Jerusalem. They sought this, as any of the “partition plans” show, by means of the idea that Jerusalem would be internationalized. They have championed the “Palestinian” cause as a means to an end. That end is the partition of Israel and the internationalization of Jerusalem, resulting in Vatican control of the “holy places”, including Jerusalem. Then it is much easier to claim that the state of Israel is not the true Israel, because it does not have Jerusalem or the “holy places”, but the Roman Church is the true Israel.

The world around us has largely adopted the practice of the Roman Church to Israel, who was happy to work with the terrorist Arafat, as they  put forward his cause as justified. It is no surprise then today, that the Vatican is ready to push Israel to negotiate and work with the Hamas terrorist organization — this is no change in policy for the Roman Church.

The controversy of Zion.

The following statements of faith, will be very familiar to many Bible in the News listeners, and provide a stark contrast to the dogmas of the Roman Church.

"That God will set up a Kingdom in the earth, which will overthrow all others, and change them into "the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ."

"That for this purpose God will send Jesus Christ personally to the earth at the close of the times of the Gentiles."

"That the Kingdom which he will establish will be the Kingdom of Israel restored, in the territory it formerly occupied, namely, the land bequeathed for an everlasting possession to Abraham and his Seed (the Christ) by covenant."

"That this restoration of the Kingdom again to Israel will involve the ingathering of God's chosen but scattered nation, the Jews; their reinstatement in the land of their fathers, when it shall have been reclaimed from "the desolation of many generations"; the building again of Jerusalem to become "the throne of the Lord" and the metropolis of the whole earth.”

Who has rights to Jerusalem and the land of Israel is then the great controversy of the day. It is a controversy into which the Almighty will enter into judgment with the nations over. Joel 3 says:

"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land.”

The spirit of the age, claims the Jews have no right to the land of Israel, that it was not God’s hand that brought them back from the four corners of the earth — and if He did, it was a great injustice! As it is largely believed that the Jewish people do not have a moral cause or historical connection or right to the land and so are occupiers, they cannot do right and so terrorism against them is somewhat justified! There is in fact no people with a greater historical, religious and archeological connection to a land, than the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

An age of deception.

This is an age of deception and the Lord Jesus Christ warned us that it would be so. Revelation 16 says,

"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

In this age of deception, how can we believe any mainstream news network, that trumpets the words of the papacy and quotes the statements of the terror organization Hamas as fact? The BBC was many years ago a trusted source for news, those days are long gone. In fact a thorough report as recently shown on the front page of the UK Sunday Telegraph analyzed the BBC reporting and found that the “BBC ‘has breached rules 1,500 times’ over Gaza war’, ‘Coverage was heavily biased against Israel, report into corporation’s output finds.'

The complete report can be downloaded here: https://campaignformediastandards.org.uk/asserson-report.pdf

Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation is telling us to think critically, do not believe what we hear from the governments, mass media and religious organizations of the world. He is telling us we live in an age of deception that will turn the nations against Israel. An age that would in fact, accuse the Almighty of a great injustice in restoring his people to their land. Do not be deceived.

This has been David Billington with you for this week’s Bible in the News. Come back next week, if the Lord remains away, to www.bibleinthenews.com. Thanks for listening.