"And they Have Divided My Land" Part 2

"I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My People and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; AND THEY HAVE DIVIDED  UP MY LAND"  (Joel3:2).

Hey Gang:  In John 4:35-29 we read these words: "Do you not say, "There are four months, and then comes the harvest"? “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.  Already, he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this case the saying is true.  One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have labored; others have labored and you have entered into the labor."

In Bill Koenig's latest weekly report he did a study of God's judgments and determined that in each instance of judgment God preceded it with a period of grace.  I wonder if we are in a period of grace?  Jesus said, “When all these things (listed in the Olivet Discourse Matthew 24) begin to happen, look up for your redemption draws near".  

  As our redemption draws near, obedience to the great commission becomes ever more crucial.  As I read of the alternatives of not accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, it makes me want to make sure even my worst enemy does not face the frightful words of Jesus, "I know you not" and eternal Hell of fire.

In Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:27 we are given our commission orders, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation".  As you drive to church each Sunday, have you ever prayed for all those folks along the way? Many are hurting but haven't a clue that there is a refuge and people, just down the road, that can put their arms around you and walk with you through the wilderness experiences.  It is truly a time when we need to hone our witness skills, clean up our armor and put it on and obey Jesus’ great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel - even to our family and next door neighbor.

Paul removed any excuse we might have for not doing as Jesus commanded when he wrote, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (II Cor. 3:5).

 In my life time we have become used to the word ‘carrier’, we are carriers of this and that, but we sometimes tend to forget we are also carriers of the Holy Spirit who resides within us.  When sharing what God has laid on my heart, I always begin with the disclaimer that all who believe in Christ have the same Holy Spirit who feeds me is available to them. 

BUT, there is a prerequisite, we must learn to recognize His voice.  Jeremiah 33:3 tells us "Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know".  When God told Abraham,  “Those who bless Israel I will bless, and those who curse Israel I will curse”, it was far more reaching than just for Israel.  

Sooo, my friends, plant a seed and make it a point to "bless" someone today, Our Redeemer  will soon return!

Blessings,

Gramps

"And They Have Divided My Land"

"GOD will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat; Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; AND THEY HAVE DIVIDED  MY LAND".  (Joel 3:2).

Hey Gang:  Is there a correlation between the catastrophic events of the past months and years, and our turning our backs on Israel?  God made it very clear when he said to Abram, "And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed" (Gen. 12:3). 

William Koenig, a White House Correspondent, in his book titled Eye to Eye, researched and listed 57 catastrophic events that occurred between 2007 and 2010 and the correlation of these events with overtures by our government for Israel to give away Covenant Land.    

The news each day is filled with concerns of the nations over the recent advent of the Isis, Hamas, Al Qaeda, Boko Hamas and Hezbollah as they savagely kill everything in their path that does not totally agree with them.  It has been recently reported that more than 83 percent of the people of our land are fearful that something catastrophic will happen in our country in the near future.  

Yes, we should be concerned for our brothers and sisters who are in harm's way, but I suspect we should be equally concerned of the rapid growth of anti-Semitism and distain for God's Chosen Land and People sweeping our country.  The Book of Hebrews reads, "How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot  the  Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the Covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?  For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is mine is Mine, I will repay."  And again, "The Lord will judge His people.  It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (10:29:31).

Have you ever felt that God laid something on your heart? A critical need, but no one seemed to be aware or interesting in it?  In 1967 while working in a detention home in California, God laid on my heart that I should do something to help the children that were coming through our facility, or quit and become a plumber’s helper.  Eagle Village, a Child and Family Treatment, Education and Encouragement Center grew out of that conviction.

One does not have to be a rocket scientist to realize that America is on a rapid decline, not only as a super power but also as a light to the nations in a dark world.  Everything that can be shaken is being shaken. (Heb 12) And, in the midst of this decline, the President has turned his back on Israel.  Again, one does not have to be too smart to figure out that one of these days we are going to pay the Piper for this refusal to honor God's Nation and God’s People.  The Abrahamic Covenant is very clear, Those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. 

Well, my friends, the pages seem to fill rapidly and there are so many things that need to be said, so please bare with me, if I must stop in the middle of a thought and pick it up next time.

Blessings,

Gramps  

Why Satan Believes He Must Destroy Israel (article by Dr McCall of Zola Levitts Minisry)

The nation of Israel is smaller than New Jersey, which is 8,729 miles; Israel can fit into the state of California 19 times.  So what is the big deal and why is the world centered on this tiny blip of land in the center of the world?   I mean, if there is no God, and Jesus Christ is nothing more than a figment of many folks imagination, why does the world seems more bent each day of ridding the earth of even the tiniest remembrance of God and Jesus Christ? Why is the entire world focused on this tiny piece of terra firma in the Middle East?  In a recent release from the United Nations it was reported that a very large percentage of all business conducted in the U.N. pertains to issues centered on Israel

.

So, I ask you again, what is the big deal?  Simply stated, it is a Satanic deal!  In a recent Zola Levitt Letter, Dr. Tom McCall addressed this very issue in an article he titled, ‘Why Satan believes he must destroy Israel!’  In his studies, Dr. McCall found 31 attempts to eradicate the Jewish people- from the Pharaoh murdering all male infants, to the Holocaust, to the future anti-Christ's seven-year treaty.   (levitt.com/essays if interested in learning more about his findings.)

Dr. McCall, in answer to the question, "Why does Satan believe he must destroy Israel and wipe the nation from the face of the Earth?" wrote,   "For thousands of years Satan has demonstrated an intense and insatiable drive to wipe out the Jewish people; but so far has not been able to fully accomplish his goal.

For 4,000 years the Jewish people have faced relentless persecution, opposition, and attempts to annihilate and destroy them; and, in the future, the struggle against Israel will continue!  If it concerned any other people, this campaign would seem totally irrational and insane.  However, with Israel, a rational, but very Satanic strategy, sustains this animosity.   

Point:  For Satan, the destruction of Israel is a matter of self-preservation.  Ultimately, the survival of Israel results in the eternal perdition of Satan.  How can this be?  Because when Israel repents and nationally invites the Lord Jesus Christ to be its Redeemer/Messiah, that generation of Israel will be saved, and Satan's plan to destroy the Jews will finally be defeated.  Christ will return to the Earth, destroy the satanic anti-Christ and his armies at Armageddon, establish His Kingdom over Israel and the world for 1,000 years, and then cast the still rebellious Satan into the Lake of Fire forever and ever.

The key is that Israel must survive to receive Christ nationally as their own Messiah.  Jesus said, when He lamented over Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives a few days before He died and rose from the dead at His first coming, "For I say unto you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Matthew 23:39).

While a remnant of Israel in every generation would receive Him, all during the long period between His First and Second Comings, the nation Israel will not receive Him until after the Rapture of the Church and the Seven Year Tribulation.  Thus, when Israel receives Christ, all that surviving generation of Israel will be saved, and this transformation will usher in the events that spell the doom of Satan.

From Satan's point of view, he must keep Israel from surviving to that point in time, when they will be ready to receive Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah/Redeemer. 

Thus, Satan has strived mightily to destroy Israel through the centuries, and up until this present time, so that there would be no Israel to invite Jesus to return to the Earth.  Why hasn't Satan been able to accomplish his repeated purpose to kill off this small nation of only a few million people?  It is because God has promised to preserve His Covenant Nation forever.  As Jeremiah so eloquently explains:  "…thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light be day, and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night. Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of Hosts is His name: "If this fixed order departs from before Me,"  declares the Lord, "Then the off spring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever" (Jer. 31:35-36).

Notice, God states in this verse what it would take to destroy Israel.  One would have to first destroy the sun, moon, and stars.  Once that had been accomplished then, and only then, could someone go about destroying Israel.  The last time I looked, the sun, moon, and stars were still functioning, so that must mean that Israel , in spite of the world’s efforts to undo what was done on May 14, 1948, when Israel was once again made a nation, is in no danger of annihilation as decreed by militia chief Mohammad Reza Naqde.

Bottom line:  Satan wants to destroy Israel so that he can keep God from sending him into eternal perdition; but God will not allow Satan to destroy His Chosen Nation.  Israel is the apple of God's eye, so it must survive as a nation before Him for all time.

Blessings,

Gramps

Four Reasons Why the World Hates the Jews Coninuedt #3

"They make shrewd plans against our people, And conspire together against Your treasured ones, They have said, 'Come and let us wipe them out as a nation that the name of Israel be remembered no more" (Psa. 83:3-4).

Hey Gang:   Did you ever ask yourself the question, Why do so many people hate the Jews and the land of Israel?  As growing lad I was blessed to live in what was termed “a community in transition".  Meaning, it had been largely inhabited by Jewish residents, but in recent years the Jews had moved to a more spacious and palatial area of town; we, who moved into their vacated homes, referred to as ‘Knob hill’.  I was blessed in those years to have a Jewish family living on one side and a black family on the other.  Blessed because both had young lads who became closer to me than my own brothers. 

Now, here is an amazing bit of news that shows you the depth of Satan's involvement in this anti-Semitic movement on the college campuses.  In a recent study involving several thousand young people, it was discovered that a very large percentage of the kids questioned had never met a Jew, or at least they did not know if they had.  In the same survey it was learned that a very large percentage of those questioned had no desire to find out if what they believed about Jews was truth.  That reminds me of the modern day press, where reporting is based on poling and not on truth, integrity and facts, as they learned from the story about the Frat House on the campus of the University of Virginia. 

We recently reviewed a DVD by Dr. David R. Reagan, a very well-known teacher and speaker at Prophecy Conferences, titled The Mountains of Jerusalem.  Dr. Reagan takes the viewer on a tour of each mountain in Israel and explains the relevance of the site to the life of Jesus and to end-time Bible prophecy.  In the last section he takes us on a tour of the Holocaust Museum and Israel's national cemetery where its war heroes and political leaders are buried. 

We have been privileged to visit both sites in our trips to Israel.  One of the neat traditions of the Jewish people is to place a stone on grave of a friend or family member when visiting the site.  Some of the war-heroes’ graves were covered with stones.

As he summarized what we had seen and learned in the four mountains of Israel, he then turned his attention to a subject that I have asked so many times "Why do so many people in this world hate the Jews and Jerusalem?”  He began by saying, "It is a hatred that is uncommon to man and must be orchestrated by Satan.   I would like to spend   additional time adding meat to this statement, but will leave that one on the shelf for future review at another time.

He then gave four reasons why people, who have never met a Jew or have no idea if they have ever rubbed elbows with a Jew, hate them with such emotions, in what we might term normal people.  Point One:   They hate them because they are the Chosen People of God and are to be a witness to the world.  Two:   They hate them because they pulled off the impossible by re-forming a nation, after being dormant for about 2000 years.   Third: They are hated because they are going to bring salvation to the world.   Fourth: They are hated because the Jews gave the world a Messiah.

I repeat - the hatred is so intense it has to be super natural in nature.  Next time we will look at an article by Tom McCall, TH. D. titled, "Why Satan Believes He Must Destroy Israel.”

Blessings,

Gramps

Four Reasons Why the World Hates the Jews....continued

Can you find Israel?

"And I will restore the captivity of my people Israel, And they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them; They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, And make gardens and eat their fruit.  I will also plant them on their, And they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them."  Says the Lord your God" (Amos 9:14 - 15).

Hey Gang, before I give Dr. Reagan's opinion of why the world hates the Jews, let me share a synopsis of the paper written earlier in March titled "What is Israel Fighting For?"   There is no way that people in the know would say that Israel is a Christian nation.  One day soon they will be, but not quite yet.  But,  what they are is a nation that turns the other check.

Anytime there is a catastrophe in the world, Israel is the first to send medical teams and support people into the midst of the tragedy.   I do not believe anyone, by any shape of their imagination, would say that Gaza is a friendly neighbor of Israel, but there is a constant flow of people with medical needs that are accepted into the Jewish hospitals from Gaza and cared for at no charge.  

In a recent article it was reported a woman who was unable to be cared for in Gaza was accepted by the hospital in Beersheba.  After several months of care she was restored to health and released to return to her home and family with instructions to return in a month for a follow up check up.  When she arrived at the check point it was discovered that she had a boom belt attached to her.  Her intent was to blow up the very people who had saved her life    

At the time of this incident there were a number of patients from Gaza in the Beersheba Hospital receiving life saving care.  Did it shut the door for future Gaza admissions? No, indeed not.  They turned the other check!  It is always amazing to me that even several religious denominations are advocating that no Israeli produced products should be purchased. 

I need to make a point here pertaining to the rapid grown of Anti Semitism in our country especially on the college campuses.  A study was done recently trying to learn why people were so prejudiced against the Jews; it was learned that only a very small majority knew if they had ever met and rub elbows with a Jew.  

As I have mentioned in previous Gramps Morning Messages, my bride and I have been privileged to make several trips to Israel as volunteers to work on a kibbutz south of the Dead Sea.  In those times, working side by side with Jews and Arabs, we learned a great deal about both.  But the one thing that stuck out in my mind the most was, if there was hatred in their hearts, one towards the other, we did not hear or see it.  Now, what we did see, when we traveled into the larger population areas where the world press was represented, the prejudices were zeroed in on and expanded far beyond their actual presence.

Once again the space has run out, so I will do my very best to place The Four Reasons the World Hates  The Jews on the top of the list for next time.  I pray that all who read these epistles pertaining the Israel are up to speed on what it truly happening with God's Chosen Land and His Chosen People; Zechariah tells us God has a very special place for the Jewish people in the last days and final days: "In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, "let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." (Zech. 8:23).

Blessings,

Gramps

Four Reasons Why the World Hates the Jews

"O God, do not remain quiet:  Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.  For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, and those who hate You have exalted themselves.  They make shrewd plans against your people" (Ps.83:1-3a).  

Hey Gang, It was my intention to write a short overview of what is happening in Israel today, but there is no way to write a ‘short overview’ pertaining to what is happening in Israel today.  It is truly a time when Zechariah's words in Chapter 12 are alive and zinging!  Verses 2 and 3 are on the news media's centerfold: "Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.  It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the people; all who lift it will be severely injured.  And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it." 

 Have you ever stopped to consider why the world hates Israel and the Jewish people?   Our government and the news would have you believe it is because Israel is occupying Arab land.  Many believe Jewish history began in 1967 when Israel TOOK BACK the city of Jerusalem and expanded their boundaries, but in reality it goes back to an event that occurred under the rule of Joshua when "The Priests, who carried the ark of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan River until ALL Israel crossed on dry ground." (Joshua 3:17).   After forty years of wondering in the wilderness, they entered the Promise Land for the first time- land promised to them through Covenant.  

From the moment the first Jew stepped onto the covenant land, given to them by God in the Abrahamic Covenant, the land has had continuous Jewish occupants.  True, there were times when the number of Jews in the land was sparse, but there has never been a time when they did not have a presence there.  (Take a moment, turn to Genesis 16:18-21 and read the boundaries of the land of milk and honey given to the Jews by God. The drawing above shows the boundaries).

Now it is true, that the only time that the Jews have had nearly full control of the land described here, was during the reigns of Kings David and Solomon. 

On May 15, 1948 a tremendous prophecy was fulfilled: The U.N decree that Israel be given a specially designated piece of land that would be the land of the Jews.   The motivation was the holocaust, although there had been a yearning in the hearts of the Jews for thousands of years to return to the land of their heritage.  Each Passover Dinner concludes with the words, “Next year in Jerusalem”.

 Even before the ink was dried on the UN agreement, the Arab nations surrounded the new Jewish nation and made their first attempt to fulfill Psalm 83:4: "They have said, "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation that the name of Israel will be remembered no more."  If you have doubt that God was in this move, you must read the accounts of the wars that have been fought in an attempt to fulfill this prophecy and failed.  Israel could not even qualify as a rag-tag army, but yet they defeated their enemies in a matter of days.

As you study the history of Israel, it is essential that you keep in mind the above verses from Zechariah.  Israel was never blessed to be the most favored kid on the block, but one has to ask the question, “Why they are so hated by most of the world, and one day will be hated by every nation? I am not referring to the people of the world, for there are many who support and love Israel, including yours truly, but when Zechariah refers to 'all' he is referring to governments.

Well, as I predicted, when one starts on a journey such as tracing what is to come, in the near future pertaining to Israel and world, the dialog will never be completed until Yeshua comes and takes His Bride to the Marriage Feast  of the Lamb and initiates the final chapter of history as we know it.   I promise to answer the question "Why does the world hate Israel" the next time, I think! 

Blessings,

Gramps