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Israel: Another War Inevitable!
What Could Another War Accomplish?
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Wednesday, December 06, 2006
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www.bibleinthenews.com Audio & Print versions
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Welcome once again to another edition of the Bible in the News. This is Paul Billington speaking with you from Ontario in Canada. Things are not looking all that good for Israel these days--or for the Middle East in general for that matter. Many see the approach of another war. It is inevitable they say. Different views are expressed in the media about the prospects for peace--the left wing secularist press seems to think that peace between Israel and the Palestinians is attainable while others think not. As expressed by the Jerusalem Post’s Caroline Glick:
"The world has gone mad. As Lebanon teeters on the brink of Iranian and Syrian instigated collapse, senior American and British political officials urge President George W. Bush to hand Iraq over to Iran and Syria. As the Palestinians push forward with their Iranian-sponsored, Arab supported jihad, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert responds by announcing his intention to release thousands of terrorists from prison and throw thousands of Israelis out of their homes while giving their lands to Hamas.”A Saudi-sponsored peace plan, she says, is a blueprint for Israel’s destruction.
Another news report has the heading: U.S. WEAPONS GIVEN TO MIDEAST TERRORISTS? The report read:
“In her meeting last week with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged the U.S. would provide Abbas' Force 17 security forces with new weapons to bolster the group against Hamas, according to senior Palestinian officials. A senior member of Force 17 told WND (World Net Daily), in an exclusive interview yesterday, any U.S. aid and weapons given to his security organization will be used to attack Jews and "fight Israeli occupation."
Then there is the news that suggests that the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah last Summer, the event which sparked the Lebanon-Israeli war, may not be alive. Israeli Prime Minister Olmert has demanded that Hezbollah provide signs of life before Israel continues negotiations.
A couple of weeks ago while in Israel I discussed the situation with Israel National News (Arutz Sheva) at their station in Beit El. This interview with Yishai Fleisher will be published in the January issue of the Bible Magazine and during it he spoke about the tensions that are building up there today:
INTERVIEW EXTRACT:
Yishai Fleisher: ...It has just been escalating and growing; they have more (chutzpah -- "cheek"), more daring, more confidence, building themselves up. What is going on with the Arabs--nothing but a build up, a build up of armaments, strength and also of spirit, togetherness--anger, anger against the Jewish people--we must get the Jewish people out. We are a very sore point in their cosmology, in their religion and their life. Israel is a chicken bone right in their throat. They have an Islamic Caliphate here; you know--that is by the way--nobody is talking about this, Lebanon was a Christian country. Bethlehem was a Christian town. No longer! The Jihad juggernaut is moving steadily along, and now God has put this new Hitler, Haman-type character, and his name is Ahmedjinabad--and he is now a force here, and the heart-beat of the Middle East is racing, and it is racing towards war.
Paul B Are you convinced of that?
Yishai I don't think there is any other way to see it. I think it is those people who have weakened us and who would like us to believe that there is another way to see it, but there isn't.
Well of course, we do know from Bible prophecy that great turmoil lies ahead for Israel and the Middle East. For one thing we know that the situation cannot remain as it is right now. As we have pointed out before on this programme, at the time of the end the Islamic and Arab world must be divided. There must come into being a clear north-south division of the Middle East. Ezekiel 38 certainly has some Islamic countries on the side of Russia’s northern European confederacy (verse 5), and others with the trading nations in verse 13. Then Daniel chapter 11:40 draws a similar picture. We can perhaps see signs of this division developing in current events, but it may take a major military operation to solidify it.
As far as Israel itself is concerned, the Scripture prophecies tell us that the people gathered out of the nations will continue to dwell upon the mountains of Israel, and in the MIDDLE of the Land, until the confederacy of Gog comes against them--you can see that from Ezekiel 38, verses 8 and 12. This would indicate that those government policies which favour withdrawal from the so-called West Bank (Judea and Samaria) must fail--as indeed they have done up until now. We can only know what the Scriptures reveal, and anything beyond that is pure speculation.
But the fact that Israel is seen "in the midst of the Land" (and certainly in the city of Jerusalem, as both Joel 3:1-2 and Zechariah 14:2-3 show us)--this fact must mean, surely, that Israel will somehow overcome the Palestinian problem. There is no sign in Scripture of an independent Palestinian State in the West Bank. In fact, all the indications are to the contrary.
Now the question is, with the United States, Britain, Europe and the U.N.--and even the Olmert government itself--all clamouring for the creation of such a Palestinian State, what could happen so as to torpedo the idea once and for all? We have wondered whether an internal Palestinian civil war could do it? Or could it be that another major war with the Arabs--such as some news analysts are predicting (including Yishai Fleisher that we heard from earlier)--could it be that another major war could severely alter the situation as it did, say in 1967? Well, we do not know what might put an end to the idea--we can only speculate, and watch the events themselves as they happen. The fact that many news-people do see the approach of another war (inevitable they say) is something we take note of as we watch the Bible in the News.
As events move forward in the political arena, something else is happening in the West Bank settlements which is quite significant. You will not read about this in the media--and, indeed, the world would not even be interested in it, and would not see the significance of it even if informed. I am referring to the development of a Biblical culture there among a rising generation of Jews. A couple of weeks ago we visited a school in Beit-El where we were introduced to school children of 6 and 7 years old. They could recite off by heart the entire book of Leviticus! Moving to a different class of 9 and 10 year olds, we were astounded to learn that these children could recite off by heart the first five books of the Bible--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
This is phenomenal! Had we not seen and heard it for ourselves, we could have scarce believed it. This is preparing for something--there can be no doubt about that. Here is a generation that will grow up to see the Kingdom restored again to Israel--we will talk more about this in a future edition God willing.
Meanwhile keep looking for the Bible in the News.
Printed: Wednesday, December 06, 2006
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