quote:

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Originally posted by Nigel:
Israel is indeed a wonderful place to be. Thee is so much to see and do. Afterwards the Scriptures take on a new perspective.

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I'll bet!! My heart beats faster just thinking about it!
 

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Posted by TEXASGRANDMA (Member # 847) on :
 
Nigel,

I hope it is not a sin but I envy you being able to walk the paths that Jesus walked when He was on earth.
Yes, we should pray for Isreal!
 

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Posted by Endoxos (Member # 2929) on :
 
If we don't support Israel, who will? After all, it's a stumbling block to the rest of the world, and if they had their way, would be happier without Israel. I mean, we should pray for Israel, and stick up for it too (not that Israel needs it, I personally feel that God yet watches over Israel and protects it). Even though we Christians are a mere drop in the bucket compared to God's might... every little drop counts.

We all should pray for Israel to be blessed and protected.
 

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Posted by Nigel (Member # 3775) on :
 
I too believe that we should pray for and support Israel. There is a lot of 'Israel bashing' in the media and in the UN. Even though

Behold, he who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
Ps. 121:4

God still wants us to pray.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Those who love you will prosper.
Ps. 122:6

Would it be appropriate to include a link to a website that focuses on praying for Israel and the Jewish people?
 

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Posted by Bat Elohim (Member # 3739) on :
 
Nigel,
You can put a link to that website in your signature (set it up in the profile).
Then whenever you post, others will see the links and they can click on them.
At least... that's what I do. I click on everyone's links, because I love to explore and read/see everything. That's how I came across this message board, by exploring links that I came across.
God Bless!
Joanna.
 

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Posted by Ripp (Member # 3832) on :
 
Every Christian should support Israel. Mistreating or defaming Gods children is not wise. There is however a movement away from Israel.

The Presbyterian church of the U.S.A. (I believe this was the church, can't find the article) has since requested the pulling of financial support from Israel due to the Palestine conflict. This is a major problem and one I believe will be followed by other denominations soon. The bible warns us of the persecution of Israel in the end times. However, Christians are also persecuted and feel a kinship to Israel. Any Christian who supports the Palestinians or does not support Israel has been misled and is in eternal danger. God help those in the final days to see the truth.
 

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Posted by Favor Minded (Member # 3636) on :
 
For this is what the Lord Almighty says: "After He has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you - for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye - I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me. Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion...

Everything Christians do should be based upon the Biblical text.

Genesis 12:3 "And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed." Point: God has promised to bless the man or nation that blesses the Chosen People. History has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the nations that have blessed the Jewish people have had the blessing of God; the nations that have cursed the Jewish people have experienced the curse of God.


Paul recorded in Romans 15:27 "For if the Gentiles have shared in their (the Jews) spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things."

It is not possible to say, "I am a Christian" and not love the Jewish people. The Bible teaches that love is not what you say, but what you do. (1 John 3:18) "A bell is not a bell until you ring it, a song is not a song until you sing it, love is not love until you share it."

While some Christians try to deny the connection between Jesus of Nazareth and the Jews of the world, Jesus never denied his Jewishness. He was born Jewish, He was circumcised on the eighth day in keeping with Jewish tradition, He had his Bar Mitzvah on his 13th birthday, He kept the law of Moses, He wore the Prayer Shawl Moses commanded all Jewish men to wear, He died on a cross with an inscription over His head, "King of the Jews!"

Jesus considered the Jewish people His family. Jesus said (Matthew 25:40) "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren (the Jewish people… Gentiles were never called His brethren), ye have done it unto me."


"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love thee." (Psalm 122:6) the scriptural principle of prosperity is tied to blessing Israel and the city of Jerusalem.


Why did Jesus Christ go to the house of Cornelius in Capernaum and heal his servant, which was ready to die? What logic did the Jewish elders use with Jesus to convince Him to come into the house of a Gentile and perform a miracle?

The logic they used is recorded in Luke 7:5; "For He loveth our nation, and He hath built us a synagogue." The message? This Gentile deserves the blessing of God because he loves our nation and has done something practical to bless the Jewish people.


Why did God the Father select the house of Cornelius in Caesarea (Acts Chapter 10) to be the first Gentile house in Israel to receive the Gospel? The answer is given repeatedly in Acts 10.

Acts 10:2 "a devout man, (Cornelius) and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always." Who were the people to whom Cornelius gave these alms? They were the Jews!

Again is Acts 10:4 "… thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God."

Again in Acts 10:31 "… and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God."
The point is made three times in the same chapter. A godly Gentile who expressed his unconditional love for the Jewish people in a practical manner was divinely selected by heaven to be the first Gentile house to receive the Gospel and the first to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

These combined Scriptures verify that PROSPERITY (Genesis 12:3 and Psalm 122:6), HEALING (Luke 7:1-5) and the OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT came first to Gentiles that blessed the Jewish people and the nation of Israel in a practical manner.


We support Israel because all other nations were created by an act of men, but Israel was created by an act of God! The Royal Land Grant that was given to Abraham and his seed through Isaac and Jacob with an everlasting and unconditional covenant. (Genesis 12:1-3, 13:14-18, 15:1-21, 17:4-8, 22:15-18, 26:1-5 and Psalm 89:28-37.)
 

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Posted by Bat Elohim (Member # 3739) on :
 
Ripp,
I also read that news report. I got it from Arutz Sheva News Report. I has a copy of it on my Jewish Roots Message Board, but it has somehow been deleted. I am going to try and find this article again and post it here for everyone to read.
Joanna.
 

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Posted by Bat Elohim (Member # 3739) on :
 
** that was quick!! I remembered that I had also posted on my church's message board!!**


Message: Please pray for our brothers and sisters regarding this issue. We
are one Body and if that part of the Body goes against the Word and Promises
of God then even though we may not agree with what they are doing if we do
not pray then we are silent in our stand. And silence kills. Remember
Aichen and Ai. The people of Israel did not know that he had gone against
the command of God, until God told Joshua that they have taken some of what
was to have been set aside for destruction. Notice that in Joshua 7:1 - it
says the people of Israel misappropriated some of the goods.....Version CJB
One guy did it...but Israel was one. Just like we are one. So, with that in
mind please pray for the Presbyterians heart to change and pray for Israel.
God will bless!!

The Word Says:
Psalms 122:6- Pray for the peace of Jerusalem may those who love you
prosper. May peace be within your ramparts, prosperity in your palaces.
For the sake of my family and friends, I say, "Peace be within you!" For the
sake of the house of Adonai our God, I will seek your well being.
Arutz Sheva News Service
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Subscribe (free): http://subscribe.a7.org/subscribe.asp

DERSHOWITZ ON PRESBYTERIAN ANTI-ISRAEL DECISION
The Presbyterian Church (USA) resolved last month to condemn Israel's
anti-terror partition/wall, to continue to fund the Avodat Yisrael church in
Philadelphia that engages in missionary work towards Jews, and to divest
from companies that do business with Israel. Excerpts from an article in
the Los Angeles Times by Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz in response to the
Presbyterian Church's anti-Israel decisions:

"The Presbyterian Church (USA) has committed a grievous sin. The General
Assembly of that church has voted to divest from only one country in the
world. No, it was not China, which has occupied Tibet for half a century and
continues to deny basic human rights to its own citizens. No, it was not
Iran, which threatens nuclear holocaust, executes dissenters and denies
religious freedom to Christians and Jews. No, it was not North Korea, Libya,
Russia, Sudan, Cuba or Belarus. It was - you guessed it - Israel, the only
democracy in the Middle East and America's most reliable ally in a troubled
part of the world.

"The way it will work is simple: A blacklist will be prepared for the
church's leaders, showing companies that earn more than $1 million annually
from investments in Israel or that invest more than $1 million a year in
Israel. The Presbyterians plan to divest from any company on the list - with
a handful of exemptions for companies that deal in education, social welfare
programs and construction.

"How did the church come to such a ludicrous, wrongheaded position? Just
look at the resolution itself, which bursts with bigotry and ignorance. It
effectively blames the Israelis for Palestinian slaughter of civilians by
asserting that the occupation is the "root" of terrorism. This canard
ignores the reality that the Palestinian leadership opted for murder and
violence as the tactic of choice well before there was any occupation, and
that the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad have vowed to
continue murdering Jews after the occupation ends, as long as the Jewish
state exists.

"The Presbyterian resolution effectively calls for the end of Israel by
insisting on "the right of [Palestinian] refugees to return to their
homeland." This is a well-known euphemism for turning Israel from a Jewish
state into another state with a Palestinian majority. (Jordan is the other.)

"The Presbyterian resolution also condemns Israel's military actions taken
in defense of its civilians. It claims, without an iota of proof and against
all the available evidence, that Israel commits "horrific acts of violence
and deadly attacks on innocent people," when the truth is that Israel, like
the United States, goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid killing innocent
people. It equates Israel's targeting of terrorists with Palestinian
targeting of civilians.

"...Divestment also encourages the continued use of terrorism by Palestinian
leaders, who see that when Israel responds to their terrorism, it causes an
important church to punish Israel. I do not believe that a majority of the
2.5 million Presbyterians in the U.S. want their church used to support
terrorism. But they are now on notice that their church has been hijacked
and its name misused in the service of an immoral tactic.

"...Unless the church rescinds this immoral, sinful and bigoted denigration
of the Jewish state, it will be "participating in" and "contributing to"
anti-Jewish bigotry and the encouragement of terrorism [in the words of a
Presbyterian resolution of 1987]. ...Will grassroots Presbyterians overthrow
and prune the rotten branches to prevent the rotting for the next generation
under their influence, or will they passively allow the desecration of their
faith by leftist radicals?"

In response to much criticism of the decisions, the Church released a
statement of justification. Regarding the criticism of its claim that
occupation is the "root" of terrorism, the Church said only that its
position was not new: "In previous Assemblies, the church has called for an
end to the occupation, as the principal cause of the conflict."
 

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Posted by Ripp (Member # 3832) on :
 
Thanks Bat.
 

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Posted by Israel (Member # 3254) on :
 
I proudly support Israel, not just for praying for her but also by financially supporting her. I proudly fly the Israeli flag out on my flagpole and I also where the Star of David on my jacket, on the back. I'm I marking myself for terrorist, yes I guess I am, but the LORD said that no weapons against me shall prosper, and I will not fear what man can do unto me. My Heavenly Father has put a Love for the Jewish people and Israel into my heart, I sincerely love the Jewish people and Israel, may we always stand beside her and support her no matter what!!!

Israel
 

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Posted by TEXASGRANDMA (Member # 847) on :
 
I was shocked when President Bush said that he supports a Palenstine State. A Palensitine State in Isreal will be a thorn in Isreal's side for the rest of time. It would be like us given one of our state's to North Korea or to the terroists and trying to live side by side with them.
 

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Posted by helpforhomeschoolers (Member # 15) on :
 
Why were you shocked TexasGrandma?

Here is what Israel's Foreign minister said in 2001:

"We do not want to dominate the Palestinians, we want them to breathe freedom, to create a new economy, to maintain their traditions, to enjoy the highest level of education, and provide real security to all parties," Peres said.

In 2002, Bush said he supported a Palestinian stte, but not with Arafat at the helm.

In fact in a meeting between Bush/Sharon and the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, in 2003, Sharon said this:

Ariel Sharon, said: "It is up to the Palestinians to govern themselves in their own state."

Further, if you study the hisotry of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict since Israel became a state in 1948, you will find that Israel has never themselves opposed a Palestinian state.

It has always been the Palestinians that have opposed an Israeli state!

The very day that Israel became a state they were invaded by those who at the time were called Palestinians. (arabs)

The problem in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is and has always been that Palesstine has felt that the is no room in the middle east for the Israelis and not the other way around.

The Palestinian Arabs were encouraged to leave by Jewish Palestine by Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. However, they were not welcomed into these countries and assimilated into society. They were kept in refugee camps under deplorable conditions and told they would return to Palestine when Israel was pushed into the sea.

Israel encouraged the Palestinian Arabs to remain in Israel and offered them full Israeli citizenship.

The peoples that today call themselves Palestinians have been used as pawns and exploited by their Arab brothers in what it today Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

Israel has never desired to lord over the palestinian arabs. It has desired to co-exist in peace with them. But this is not now and has never been acceptable to the Arabs.

The problemis not that Bush or a republican adminstration will suport a Palestinian state. Do you think a democratic leader at the helm will not support a Palestinian state?

The question is not wheter a Palestinian state will be supported, but at what cost to Israel? Under what terms? Will a palestininan state allow for Israel to protect herself from invaders? Will she have access to her only source of water? Will she be free of the kind of war that is a war of attrition waged by terrorist in which no one can win and all sides lose? Will she be allowed access to Pray in Jerusalem?

Israel herself supports a Palestinian state, but not the one like the PLO has proposed in years past and not one with someone like Arafat at the helm and not one that comes at the cost of literally pushing Israel into the sea!
 

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Posted by antitox (Member # 2804) on :
 
I agree that a Palestinian state will only further the PLO cause. If my memory is correct, the PLO charter states that their intent is to drive Israel into the sea. It has been obvious to the world that they want Israel destroyed. Why, because satan wants that land; he despises it as much as God loves it, but he wants to take it for his purposes before the Lord comes back and touches down on the Mount of Olives and takes over. So during the trib, after the temple is built, the Antichrist, possessed by satan, will take his seat in the new temple proclaiming hinmself to be God. In my opinion, the prince of Persia (some believe is Allah) is who is giving Israel such a bad time using the Palestinians. It is amazing, though, how really patient Israel is with these people who have done nothing but attack and kill their people. I've been impressed with their handling of it all and their willingness to hold the line even when the UN and everybody else is against them and making them look like the bad guy.
 

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Posted by URCGSF (Member # 2194) on :
 
Sorry to be a trouble maker i see all this eveidence in teh bible but how can we support a state that terrorises the palesntinian people and commits mass murder often for noe reason? Surely in the bible it also says that killing is wrong? Even if the palestinians have murdered does it not also say something alongs the lines of "if a man kills a murderer he will receive a worse punishment than the murder" in the bible. Furthermore the Israelis have been known to fire on the UN. I'm not sure of my personal position but i would find it hard as a christian to support a state that regularly murders civilians!

Andy

(My post has nothing to do with the organisation whose acronym i use as my user name. In fact i wish to change this in the near future.)
 

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Posted by Caretaker (Member # 36) on :
 
PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Senate Floor Statement by
U.S. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla)
March 4, 2002

I was interested the other day when I heard that the de facto ruler, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah, made a statement which was received by many in this country as if it were a statement of fact, as if it were something new, a concept for peace in the Middle East that no one had ever heard of before. I was kind of shocked that it was so well received by many people who had been down this road before.

I suggest to you that what Crown Prince Abdullah talked about a few days ago was not new at all. He talked about the fact that under the Abdullah plan, Arabs would normalize relations with Israel in exchange for the Jewish state surrendering the territory it received after the 1976 Six-Day War as if that were something new. He went on to talk about other land that had been acquired and had been taken by Israel.

I remember so well on December 4 when we covered all of this and the fact that there isn't anything new about the prospect of giving up land that is rightfully Israel's land in order to have peace.

When it gets right down to it, the land doesn't make that much difference because Yasser Arafat and others don't recognize Israel's right to any of the land. They do not recognize Israel's right to exist.

I will discuss seven reasons, which I mentioned once before, why Israel is entitled to the land they have and that it should not be a part of the peace process.

If this is something that Israel wants to do, it is their business to do it. But anyone who has tried to put the pressure on Israel to do this is wrong.

We are going to be hit by skeptics who are going to say we will be attacked because of our support for Israel, and if we get out of the Middle East--that is us--all the problems will go away. That is just not true. If we withdraw, all of these problems will again come to our door.

I have some observations to make about that. But I would like to reemphasize once again the seven reasons that Israel has the right to their land. The first reason is that Israel has the right to the land because of all of the archeological evidence. That is reason, No. 1. All the archeological evidence supports it.

Every time there is a dig in Israel, it does nothing but support the fact that Israelis have had a presence there for 3,000 years. They have been there for a long time. The coins, the cities, the pottery, the culture--there are other people, groups that are there, but there is no mistaking the fact that Israelis have been present in that land for 3,000 years.

It predates any claims that other peoples in the regions may have. The ancient Philistines are extinct. Many other ancient peoples are extinct. They do not have the unbroken line to this date that the Israelis have.

Even the Egyptians of today are not racial Egyptians of 2,000, 3,000 years ago. They are primarily an Arab people. The land is called Egypt, but they are not the same racial and ethnic stock as the old Egyptians of the ancient world. The first Israelis are in fact descended from the original Israelites. The first proof, then, is the archeology.

The second proof of Israel's right to the land is the historic right. History supports it totally and completely. We know there has been an Israel up until the time of the Roman Empire. The Romans conquered the land. Israel had no homeland, although Jews were allowed to live there. They were driven from the land in two dispersions: One was in 70 A,.D. and the other was in 135 A.D. But there was always a Jewish presence in the land.
The Turks, who took over about 700 years ago and ruled the land up until about World War I, had control. Then the land was conquered by the British. The Turks entered World War I on the side of Germany. The British knew they had to do something to punish Turkey, and also to break up that empire that was going to be a part of the whole effort of Germany in World War I. So the British sent troops against the Turks in the Holy Land.

One of the generals who was leading the British armies was a man named Allenby. Allenby was a Bible-believing Christian. He carried a Bible with him everywhere he went and he knew the significance of Jerusalem.

The night before the attack against Jerusalem to drive out the Turks, Allenby prayed that God would allow him to capture the city without doing damage to the holy places.

That day, Allenby sent World War I biplanes over the city of Jerusalem to do a reconnaissance mission. You have to understand that the Turks had at that time never seen an airplane. So there they were, flying around. They looked in the sky and saw these fascinating inventions and did not know what they were, and they were terrified by them. Then they were told they were going to be opposed by a man named Allenby the next day, which means, in their language, ``man sent from God'' or ``prophet from God.'' They dared not fight against a prophet from God, so the next morning, when Allenby went to take Jerusalem, he went in and captured it without firing a single shot.

The British Government was grateful to Jewish people around the world, particularly to one Jewish chemist who helped them manufacture niter. Niter is an ingredient that was used in nitroglycerin which was sent over from the New World. But they did not have a way of getting it to England. The German U-boats were shooting on the boats, so most of the niter they were trying to import to make nitroglycerin was at the bottom of the ocean. But a man named Weitzman, a Jewish chemist, discovered a way to make it from materials that existed in England. As a result, they were able to continue that supply.
The British at that time said they were going to give the Jewish people a homeland. That is all a part of history. It is all written down in history. They were gratified that the Jewish people, the bankers, came through and helped finance the war.

The homeland that Britain said it would set aside consisted of all of what is now Israel and all of what was then the nation of Jordan--the whole thing. That was what Britain promised to give the Jews in 1917.

In the beginning, there was some Arab support for this action. There was not a huge Arab population in the land at that time, and there is a reason for that. The land was not able to sustain a large population of people. It just did not have the development it needed to handle those people, and the land was not really wanted by anybody. Nobody really wanted this land. It was considered to be worthless land.

I want the Presiding Officer to hear what Mark Twain said. And, of course, you may have read ``Huckleberry Finn'' and ``Tom Sawyer.'' Mark Twain--Samuel Clemens--took a tour of Palestine in 1867. This is how he described that land. We are talking about Israel now. He said:

A desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds. A silent, mournful expanse. We never saw a human being on the whole route. There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.

Where was this great Palestinian nation? It did not exist. It was not there. Palestinians were not there. Palestine was a region named by the Romans, but at that time it was under the control of Turkey, and there was no large mass of people there because the land would not support them.
This is the report that the Palestinian Royal Commission, created by the British, made. It quotes an account of the conditions on the coastal plain along the Mediterranean Sea in 1913. This is the Palestinian Royal Commission. They said:

The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer track, suitable for transport by camels or carts. No orange groves, orchards or vineyards were to be seen until one reached the Yavnev village. Houses were mud. Schools did not exist. The western part toward the sea was almost a desert. The villages in this area were few and thinly populated. Many villages were deserted by their inhabitants.

That was 1913.
The French author Voltaire described Palestine as ``a hopeless, dreary place.''
In short, under the Turks the land suffered from neglect and low population. That is a historic fact. The nation became populated by both Jews and Arabs because the land came to prosper when Jews came back and began to reclaim it.

Historically, they began to reclaim it. If there had never been any archaeological evidence to support the rights of the Israelis to the territory, it is also important to recognize that other nations in the area have no longstanding claim to the country either.

Did you know that Saudi Arabia was not created until 1913, Lebanon until 1920? Iraq did not exist as a nation until 1932, Syria until 1941; the borders of Jordan were established in 1946 and Kuwait in 1961. Any of these nations that would say Israel is only a recent arrival would have to deny their own rights as recent arrivals as well. They did not exist as countries. They were all under the control of the Turks.

Historically, Israel gained its independence in 1948.
The third reason that land belongs to Israel is the practical value of the Israelis being there. Israel today is a modern marvel of agriculture. Israel is able to bring more food out of a desert environment than any other country in the world. The Arab nations ought to make Israel their friend and import technology from Israel that would allow all the Middle East, not just Israel, to become an exporter of food. Israel has unarguable success in its agriculture.

The fourth reason I believe Israel has the right to the land is on the grounds of humanitarian concern. You see, there were 6 million Jews slaughtered in Europe in World War II. The persecution against the Jews had been very strong in Russia since the advent of communism. It was against them even before then under the Czars.
These people have a right to their homeland. If we are not going to allow them a homeland in the Middle East, then where? What other nation on Earth is going to cede territory, is going to give up land?

They are not asking for a great deal. The whole nation of Israel would fit into my home State of Oklahoma seven times. It would fit into the Presiding Officer's State of Georgia seven times. They are not asking for a great deal. The whole nation of Israel is very small. It is a nation that, up until the time that claims started coming in, was not desired by anybody.

The fifth reason Israel ought to have their land is that she is a strategic ally of the United States. Whether we realize it or not, Israel is a detriment, an impediment, to certain groups hostile to democracies and hostile to what we believe in, hostile to that which makes us the greatest nation in the history of the world. They have kept them from taking complete control of the Middle East. If it were not for Israel, they would overrun the region. They are our strategic ally.

It is good to know we have a friend in the Middle East on whom we can count. They vote with us in the United Nations more than England, more than Canada, more than France, more than Germany--more than any other country in the world.

The sixth reason is that Israel is a roadblock to terrorism. The war we are now facing is not against a sovereign nation; it is against a group of terrorists who are very fluid, moving from one country to another. They are almost invisible. That is whom we are fighting against today.
We need every ally we can get. If we do not stop terrorism in the Middle East, it will be on our shores. We have said this again and again and again, and it is true.

One of the reasons I believe the spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States of America is that the policy of our Government has been to ask the Israelis, and demand it with pressure, not to retaliate in a significant way against the terrorist strikes that have been launched against them.

Since its independence in 1948, Israel has fought four wars: The war in 1948 and 1949--that was the war for independence--the war in 1956, the Sinai campaign; the Six-Day War in 1967; and in 1973, the Yom Kippur War, the holiest day of the year, and that was with Egypt and Syria.

You have to understand that in all four cases, Israel was attacked. They were not the aggressor. Some people may argue that this was not true because they went in first in 1956, but they knew at that time that Egypt was building a huge military to become the aggressor. Israel, in fact, was not the aggressor and has not been the aggressor in any of the four wars.

Also, they won all four wars against impossible odds. They are great warriors. They consider a level playing field being outnumbered 2 to 1.
There were 39 Scud missiles that landed on Israeli soil during the gulf war. Our President asked Israel not to respond. In order to have the Arab nations on board, we asked Israel not to participate in the war. They showed tremendous restraint and did not. Now we have asked them to stand back and not do anything over these last several attacks.

We have criticized them. We have criticized them in our media. Local people in television and radio often criticize Israel, not knowing the true facts. We need to be informed.

I was so thrilled when I heard a reporter pose a question to our Secretary of State, Colin Powell. He said:
Mr. Powell, the United States has advocated a policy of restraint in the Middle East. We have discouraged Israel from retaliation again and again and again because we've said it leads to continued escalation--that it escalates the violence. Are we going to follow that preaching ourselves?

Mr. Powell indicated we would strike back. In other words, we can tell Israel not to do it, but when it hits us, we are going to do something.
But all that changed in December when the Israelis went into the Gaza with gunships and into the West Bank with F-16s. With the exception of last May, the Israelis had not used F-16s since the 1967 6-Day War. And I am so proud of them because we have to stop terrorism. It is not going to go away. If Israel were driven into the sea tomorrow, if every Jew in the Middle East were killed, terrorism would not end. You know that in your heart. Terrorism would continue.
It is not just a matter of Israel in the Middle East. It is the heart of the very people who are perpetrating this stuff. Should they be successful in overrunning Israel--which they won't be--but should they be, it would not be enough. They will never be satisfied.

No. 7, I believe very strongly that we ought to support Israel; that it has a right to the land. This is the most important reason: Because God said so. As I said a minute ago, look it up in the book of Genesis. It is right up there on the desk.

In Genesis 13:14-17, the Bible says:
The Lord said to Abram, ``Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are northward, and southward, and eastward and westward: for all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever. ..... Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it to thee.''
That is God talking.

The Bible says that Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar before the Lord. Hebron is in the West Bank. It is at this place where God appeared to Abram and said, ``I am giving you this land,''--the West Bank.
This is not a political battle at all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God is true. The seven reasons, I am convinced, clearly establish that Israel has a right to the land.
Eight years ago on the lawn of the White House, Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. It was a historic occasion. It was a tragic occasion.

At that time, the official policy of the Government of Israel began to be, ``Let us appease the terrorists. Let us begin to trade the land for peace.'' This process continued unabated up until last year. Here in our own Nation, at Camp David, in the summer of 2000, then Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak offered the most generous concessions to Yasser Arafat that had ever been laid on the table.

He offered him more than 90 percent of all the West Bank territory, sovereign control of it. There were some parts he did not want to offer, but in exchange for that he said he would give up land in Israel proper that the PLO had not even asked for.

And he also did the unthinkable. He even spoke of dividing Jerusalem and allowing the Palestinians to have their capital there in the East. Yasser Arafat stormed out of the meeting. Why did he storm out of the meeting? Everything he had said he wanted was offered there. It was put into his hands. Why did he storm out of the meeting?

A couple of months later, there began to be riots, terrorism. The riots began when now Prime Minister Ariel Sharon went to the Temple Mount. And this was used as the thing that lit the fire and that caused the explosion.

Did you know that Sharon did not go unannounced and that he contacted the Islamic authorities before he went and secured their permission and had permission to be there? It was no surprise.
The response was very carefully calculated. They knew the world would not pay attention to the details.

They would portray this in the Arab world as an attack upon the holy mosque. They would portray it as an attack upon that mosque and use it as an excuse to riot. Over the last 8 years, during this time of the peace process, where the Israeli public has pressured its leaders to give up land for peace because they are tired of fighting, there has been increased terror.

In fact, it has been greater in the last 8 years than any other time in Israel's history. Showing restraint and giving in has not produced any kind of peace. It is so much so that today the leftist peace movement in Israel does not exist because the people feel they were deceived.

They did offer a hand of peace, and it was not taken. That is why the politics of Israel have changed drastically over the past 12 months. The Israelis have come to see that, ``No matter what we do, these people do not want to deal with us. ..... They want to destroy us.'' That is why even yet today the stationery of the PLO still has upon it the map of the entire state of Israel, not just the tiny little part they call the West Bank that they want. They want it all.
We have to get out of this mind set that somehow you can buy peace in the Middle East by giving little plots of land. It has not worked before when it has been offered.
These seven reasons show why Israel is entitled to that land.
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Posted by SoftTouch (Member # 2316) on :
 
I'm a Messianic Gentile and I most definitely support Israel. I pray for the Peace (Shalom) of Jerusalem as well as the Salvation of the Lost Sheep of Israel.

With Arafat basically dead, Israel needs our prayers and support even more. God will take care of her, but He tells us we must Pray for her!
 

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Posted by Sojourn (Member # 4046) on :
 
I not only pray for Israel, but for the Palestinians who are having their houses bulldozed by the dozens, where kids throw rocks at tanks in which we helped Israel acquire through financial and military support.......again, you can't put a face on evil. Palestinians are not evil, a select few are. The Muslim world is not evil, though there are some extremist who are. I would say the same for Christians, and you could factor in Catholic Priests into the mix. Can't hate on a whole people because of the actions of a few. Israel is by no means doing Gods full and Just will. They are doing things for profit motive and general dislike.....but not all.


So no finger pointing, cause few people can see these days from everyone getting poked in the eye.
 

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Posted by helpforhomeschoolers (Member # 15) on :
 
Excellent post Drew. Thank you.
 

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Posted by Eduardo Grequi (Member # 3984) on :
 
It is the duty of each believer in the Messiah to look toward Jerusalem and prayer for the peace of Jerusalem. The name of Jerusalem means "City of Peace" Yeshua has declared "O Yerushalom, O Yerushalom- How often do I desire to gather you from the corners of the earth, as hen gathers her chicks". It is by commandment that whosoever blesses Israel will be blessed, and whosoever curses her people, will same be cursed. Israel is the clock, the country we tell time by, spiritually speaking.I am Messiac-Jew. I believe Yeshua or -komo se dit Jesus as my Saviour. My mom is a Ladino-Jew, my dad is Ashkenic-Jew. However over the process of 30 years each one of my family became a beliver in Jesus as their Messiah. I believe there are 5 different denominations but all true konvertos in the "kasa de Grequi" . For there is only one name under heave given amongst men for which salvation comes by and his name is Jesus the Christ . I beg of you to pray for Israel and her relationship to the blessed Messiah. May she bow and declare Jesus as the Messiah.
 

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Posted by LaurieFL (Member # 3794) on :
 
Eduardo, that is such a neat testimony!!! Thank you for sharing it with us.

I have had a lot of things shown to me lately about the plight of many Jewish people in Israel (especially many of the more recent Russian-Jewish immigrants). I had no idea things were so hard there for so many. I will be praying for the people there and also praying that I can somehow be of service to them.
 

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Posted by Bat Elohim (Member # 3739) on :
 
oh halleluYah!!!

that is a wonderful testimony Eduardo!

my heart is trilled that you are here!

Blessings and Shalom!
Joanna.
 

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Posted by Gramajo320 (Member # 3772) on :
 
We most definitely must give Israel all of our support no matter what the cost and we most definitely must pray for Israel at all times!

I would love to have the opportunity to one day visit Israel and do some volunteer work there. I think how wonderful it would be to see Israel in person!

In our family history which I have a copy of I learned we have some jewish roots also.

In Christ's love,
Gramajo320
 

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Posted by Bat Elohim (Member # 3739) on :
 
I would love to go to Israel too... but I'm afraid that once I go, I won't want to come back!

I had a dream about a ministry that I would love to do over there. I hope one day Yahweh Elohim will allow me the opportunity to see that dream come true.
 

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Posted by danny458 (Member # 4378) on :
 

quote:

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We most definitely must give Israel all of our support no matter

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Originally posted by tenboom155:
Bat Elohim, Where is the link to that Jewish Roots Bible Study? Im interested.

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Originally posted by TEXASGRANDMA:
You are so right! The palastenian people want one thing that is the extention of the Jews. If they were to do that (God will not allow it) they would not stop until the whole world is Muslem. Look at conflict all over the world today and in almost every country there is Arabs there fighting.
betty

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Originally posted by yahsway:
So Danny, what is it about you that they mistook you for a Jew? You said as an American? There are plenty of American Jews, African Jews, Italian Jews, Arab Jews, Chinese Jews. So, I am curious, as of what made them mistake you for being Jewish if I may ask? Thanks.

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In Israel in particular, I felt like most people that fit my "profile" (white, mid 20s, American, independent traveling as opposed to package tourist) were Jewish. From what I heard from American Jews there, their is a program that allows young American Jews to travel to Israel for free. (some charity with the goal of teaching young Jewish people about their "spiritual homeland") When in Jordan and Egypt, when chatting with people, they would often ask about my itinerary. When I told them Israel, some would say, "oh, are you Jewish?" My skin is white, but tan, and I have dark hair so there's nothing obvious that would say Im NOT a Jewish.

My point is though, is if ALL muslims wanted to destroy all Jews, I would've never made it out of there alive. As an aside, I did receive more hospitality in the Arab areas of the middle east, than I did is the Jewish areas of Israel.
 

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Posted by yahsway (Member # 3738) on :
 
Thanks for the reply Danny. I just wanted to know what made you stand out as possibly being Jewish as there are many different colored skin people who are Jewish.

As far as "All Muslims" wanting to kill "all Jews", i cannot speak from whats in their hearts. But I can speak from whats in their Quran, and it definately says to kill all the infedels, Christians and Jews alike.

Arab people are very hospitable, as my husband and I both can attest to as my husband is a Jewish believer with roots in Damascus, Syria.

Im glad you were recieved well, unlike Laura Bush who was not by either the Jews or the muslims. Shalom
 

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Posted by MySavingGrace (Member # 4697) on :
 
I don't wanna sound dumb but, as far as actual countries actually on the map, Isreal is the only country? There is no Palestine coutnry and no Isreal country, Just Isreal right?


also, was it Paelstine then became Isreal, or was it Palestine and Isreal then it merged? Was it called Isreal before being called Palestine and now it is Isreal again?


Did you guys here about the latest violence at a temple in Jeruselam yesterday? There was horrible violence towards the Isrealis
 

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Posted by yahsway (Member # 3738) on :
 
God promised Abraham and his decendans what we know today as modern Israel. Actually, they do not yet have all the land promised them according to the scriptures.

After Moses died and Joshua was head of Israel, and after 40 years of wandering in the desert, God told them to take the land which at that time was called Cannin because the Cannanites lived there and they were pagans. So Joshua and the Children of Israel obeyed.

Ths is just a brief description of the history of Israel but I am sure you could find out more about the land and all its people on the net somewhere. Shalom

After many Years the land became known as Judea.
Then after many more years the land was called Palestine I believe by some British man who named it.

The turks owned the land at one time, the British, I think Napolean tried to take at one time,

But the people living there now known as Palestinains are really the same peoples that live in Jorden. Yasser Arafat was known as a Palestenian even though he was not born in Israel/Palestine, he was born in Egypt which by all accounts would make him an Egyptian.

There is much history with the land of Israel. Everyone under the sun has wanted to claim it for themselves but by God given right it belongs to the Jewish people.

In 1948, Right before Israel once again became a state after 2000 years of exile, the Prime Minister named the land Israel. He almost named it Judea but from what I understand changed his mind and named the land Israel.
 

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Posted by MySavingGrace (Member # 4697) on :
 
I'd love to be able to go to Isreal, particularly Jeruselam and that area. And, I know I"m to fear no evil but I'd still fear going there. To see mankind in that much pain and with that much anger. The fact that recently Isrealis went to pray at a temple and were stoned and beaten. I've heard the two have different "Sabbath days" but still, a place of worship is a plcae of worship. To not be safe in a place of worship, particularly one where Jesus was at is very sad. It seems through time the Jewish have always faced persectution and hatered and all that.
 

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