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OUR ISRAEL
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, October 7, 2024 – The current geopolitical state of Israel is a nation that through treaties, landgrabs, strong-arming, bloodshed, collusion, deception, backroom deals, and sheer chutzpah has willed itself into being. I have no problem with this. Most nations on Earth have been established in more or less the same way, though usually over longer periods of time and mainly as spoils of war. Nation-building can be a thoroughly nasty and unequitable business.
What I, as a born-again believer, do have a problem with is the equating of the current geopolitical state of Israel with the Israel prophesied in the Bible, because the two are not the same. Saying that today’s geopolitical state of Israel unquestioningly deserves to exist because God promised a certain people the inalienable right to occupy a certain landmass in perpetuity is a misinterpretation of scripture. Yes, originally the promised land was indeed a specified landmass “flowing with milk and honey” that the children of Israel were to take by force as a spoil of war, with God himself fighting their battles. This occurred just after the exodus from Egypt over 3000 years ago, but a lot has happened since then, the main happening being Jesus.
Once Jesus had conquered death through his resurrection and was crowned King of Israel, a whole new realm emerged – spiritual Zion, otherwise known as the Kingdom of God. This was supernatural nation-building, but without the usual backroom deals and collusions. None were needed, as the prophesied promised land is entirely God-driven, God-sanctioned, and God-protected. It is the Israel foretold in scripture that will have no end and will be inhabited solely by God’s people. It is a spiritual realm, not a geopolitical one, and it exists here and now. I know, because as a born-again believer I live in it. I am a citizen of the prophesied Israel, as are you, if you’re genuinely born-again.
The misinterpretation of scripture by those who use scripture as a reason to justify the establishment of the geopolitical state of Israel is, I believe, unintentional for most people. That is, most people misinterpret scripture out of ignorance, not malice. They don’t purposely conflate spiritual Zion with geopolitical Zion. They simply don’t know the difference and/or don’t make the effort to learn the difference. As such, they become the so-called useful idiots of the bad players.
And there are bad players lurking in the background. Many of them. Multiple entities purposely conflate the two Israels and use emotional manipulation to garner support for the geopolitical one. But why do they do this? What’s in it for them, and what’s their end game?
Jesus told us that the world is under Satan, and we have no reason not to believe Jesus. Worldly powers and authorities (including those in the worldly Christian church) get their marching orders from Satan, to whom they’ve sworn an oath. Satan is their god, and they must do whatever Satan commands them to do. If they don’t, they (and their families) suffer his wrath.
This army of satanically driven powers and authorities, both worldly and supernatural, steers the ignorant masses towards adopting certain beliefs, using earthly and supernatural means. God permits Satan to operate within tightly restricted bounds and only upon his approval (as exemplified in Job), all leading to a certain end. This end, of course, is the unveiling of the false messiah and the establishment of the false messiah’s world-wide kingdom, as prophesied in the book of Daniel and warned by Jesus.
What does the geopolitical state of Israel have to do with the establishment of the false messiah’s kingdom? Basically everything. Scripture tells us that the false messiah will sit on a throne in the temple, having full control of the world and demanding to be worshiped as God, and that the temple is in Jerusalem. The building of the so-called third temple must come first, and this can only happen if the preferred site for the temple (the alleged site of the previous two temples) is entirely under the authority of the geopolitical state of Israel.
As of today, this site is not under Israeli authority. The Jordanian-controlled Al-Aqsa Mosque sits on top it and the Muslims refuse to budge. The only way they and their mosque can be dislodged is through all-out war that gifts the site to the geopolitical state of Israel as a spoil of war. Just before the false messiah is ready to take his seat in the temple, such a war will erupt.
Based on this interpretation of scripture, the resurrection of the geopolitical state of Israel has been done for the sole purpose of paving the way for the coming of the false messiah and his global domination. Ironically (or perhaps not), the biggest supporter and enabler of this paving project is the worldly Christian church, which sees in the revival of Israel not only the fulfilling of (misinterpreted) scripture, but the return of Jesus after the removal of the false messiah. This purposeful manipulation of the worldly church by bad players both within and without the church has been the prime mover not only in establishing “Israel” in 1948, but in financing it, supporting it, arming it, and defending it. Without the ongoing support of the worldly church through political and other machinations, the geopolitical state of Israel would struggle to exist.
I am no fan of the current geopolitical state of Israel. For that matter, I’m no fan of the current geopolitical state of Canada, either (even though I’m a Canadian), any more than I’m a fan of any other geopolitical state on Earth. I think they’re all satanic, every last one, and I support none of them. Still, I have no intention of getting in the way of “Israel”, as what has been decreed by God through his prophets will come to pass. “Israel” will successfully take by force the historical promised land, and the prophesied false messiah will sit on the throne of the third temple. Trying to stop or hinder what has been prophesied is a fool’s errand. Jesus warned us about the false messiah not so that we’d fight against him or his enablers, but so that we’d be aware of them and not fall under their spell.
As born-again believers, we should not join the worldly church in its support of a movement to enthrone the false messiah, regardless of the church’s motivation for doing so. God permits evil to thrive not because he loves evil but because he honors his promise to grant us free will. If we choose evil, God will permit us to have evil. But we shouldn’t choose evil believing it will lead to good (that is, that the fall of the false messiah will usher in the return of Jesus). Evil cannot lead to or beget good. If you choose evil, your reward can only be evil.
As a born-again believer, I encourage other born-again believers to adopt a hands-off approach to the current geopolitical state of Israel. It is not our concern. Our concern, as always, is serving and worshiping God, following Jesus, and helping our fellow believers in the Kingdom. We’re to watch and be aware of what’s going on in the world, but we’re not to get involved in it. Like the geopolitical state of Israel, the world is not our concern. It is under the authority of Satan, and God himself has put it there. To fight against the world is to fight against an authority ordained by God. We must never do that.
In the meantime, though, and for the rest of our time on Earth, we can revel in the knowledge that we live in God’s Kingdom, which is the true prophesied Israel of spiritual Zion, and that we live here thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah and the love and grace of our Father, the Almighty God.
UNHOLY LAND
“And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.”
Isaiah 65:15
CHARLO, New Brunswick, August 13, 2023 – About 600 years before the birth of Jesus the Christ, when Zedekiah was King of Judah, Jerusalem was burned to the ground. God permitted Jerusalem to be rebuilt only after 70 years of exile and only after the returning remnant had sincerely repented. Their repentance was so extreme that they had to divorce their non-Jewish wives and desert their non-Jewish children before the temple elders and prophets considered the re-settlers sufficiently “purified” to enter and rebuild the city. This was some serious repenting going on, not just half-hearted mumbling of a few Hail Mary’s and then sliding back to business as usual.
Fast-forward to 2023. The depravity that characterizes Jerusalem today far outdoes that of Zedekiah’s Jerusalem just before its destruction. The majority of the population has vehemently turned from God and now identifies as “secular” or outright atheist. The city is well known for being the unofficial homosexual capitol of the Middle East. Added to these sins is a recent campaign to forcibly remove Christians from Jerusalem or at the very least to stop them from preaching God’s Word. Christians are now being mocked, spat on, and assaulted in the streets of Jerusalem, much like Jews were in the streets of Nazi Germany or like Jesus was at his crucifixion. None of this bodes well for the former Holy Land. It also doesn’t in any way point to God having a hand in bringing these people back from their nearly 2000-year exile, at least not as a blessing.
Scripture gives abundant examples of God blessing his people when they keep his Commandments and cursing them when they don’t. At no point does God reward the unrepentant with anything but the due reward of unrepentant sin, which is punishment. You cannot in all honesty look at Jerusalem today and say that God’s people have returned as prophesied in scripture. These are not God’s people; they are deeply sinful unrepentant agnostics and atheists who despise the Word of God and have vehemently rejected God’s Messiah and those who follow him. In other words, they’re no different from any other unbelievers anywhere else in the world.
But that doesn’t mean that these unbelievers, like other unbelievers, can’t while there’s still time become God’s people, if they sincerely repent. As things stand now, however, the majority of the population in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel in no way fulfills scripture.
The Kingdom of God on Earth, established by Jesus 2000 years ago, fulfills scripture. The Israel that was to come is a spiritual realm, not a geopolitical one, and only born-again Spirit-filled followers of Jesus live in it. This is the Zion foretold by the Old Testament prophets. This is the one and only; there will be no other.
It’s important to remember that God’s people are those who do the will of God, regardless of their genetics or cultural heritage. The lineage of the children of Israel since Jesus has been solely a spiritual lineage, not a genetic one. Even before Jesus’ resurrection, strangers (i.e., non-Hebrews) who joined themselves to Israel were considered God’s children if they followed the Law given by God through Moses. Again – those who do God’s will are God’s people. Cultural and genetic background has nothing to do with it.
After the razing of Zedekiah’s Jerusalem, those who resettled the city understood that their return hinged on the sincerity of their repentance both as individuals and as a nation. The returnees were hand-picked by elders, priests, and prophets; they couldn’t just decide one day to up and move to Jerusalem. They had to be chosen to go. A list of these hand-picked and chosen returnees is in the Bible. Had they not sincerely repented and turned back to God with all their heart and all their soul and demonstrated it by willingly doing whatever was required of them, they could not return.
Given the rigor of these pre-conditions, the remnant that made the trek back to the ravaged city did not take their return lightly or for granted. They didn’t demand it; they were humbly grateful for it. They understood the gravity of the situation. They understood the precariousness of their situation. They also understood that it would be their last chance to get right with God as a people.
No such pre-conditions of repentance and turning back to God were imposed on those who have resettled Palestine since the late 1940s. The demonically inspired excesses that have become the norm in today’s Jerusalem would have made even Zedekiah blush. The whole city has become one big seething abomination, a playground for legions of demons that have expanded their turf across the entire geopolitical state of Israel. There is nothing holy about that land anymore. God removed his Spirit from it millennia ago, and other than for the odd Witness or two, he won’t be sending it back.
“I will surely consume them, saith the Lord… and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.”
Jeremiah 8:13
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 2 REFLECTION (GENESIS 29-EXODUS 4:31)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 2: JULY 24
GENESIS 29 – EXODUS 4:31
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, July 24, 2021 – The primary themes of moving/leaving to survive, obedience to God, and having a personal relationship with God continue in this reading. Another theme has also blossomed here, which is the God-given right to deceive, if the deception means the godly survival of the one doing the deceiving. We saw this seed planted already in Day 1’s reading with Abraham passing off his wife Sarah as his sister to ensure their survival among the non-Hebrews, but it really takes off in the reading today. Deception abounds, though not all of it is blessed and encouraged by God.
- When learning the 10 Commandments after I was born-again, I was intrigued that God commands us not to bear false witness; he doesn’t command us not to lie, although many people misconstrue the Commandment as being not to lie. So lying, in and of itself, is not a sin if it’s used for godly purposes. God gives his children leeway to lie if lying saves their butt and furthers his plan. We’ll see more of this as the readings proceed.
- I love the story of Joseph! How he had to cheerfully endure injustice after injustice (that is, test after test) in order to end up in a position of authority that would ultimately enable him to save what would later become the 12 tribes of Israel is classic God (as in “the Lord moves in mysterious way, his wonders to perform”). It’s also a good lesson for us on how to deal with adversity (patient endurance), knowing that God is always in control and his plan is on track, even though it may not look that way while you’re in the midst of it.
- Joseph’s love for his brothers brings me to tears every time. I cry when he cries. Joseph weeping over his brothers reminds me of Jesus weeping with Martha and Mary over the death of their brother Lazarus, even though Jesus secretly knows that Lazarus will be brought back to life shortly. The depth of Joseph’s love and compassion for his brothers’ suffering is intensely moving. He knows he has to make them suffer for what they did to him, but it hurts him to do it. He isn’t punishing them out of hatred or revenge; he is just doing what has to be done, all the while loving them.
- As with many of the main Bible figures (our spiritual forefathers), most of the offspring of Jacob (Israel) were problem children. They were not like their father. In fact, in their younger years, some of them were downright nasty. Nonetheless, we can see during their interchanges with Joseph in Egypt that they had become godlier with age. But their father’s final blessing of them before his death reveals their core characters, and not all of them are admirable.
- Note in particular Israel’s blessing of Judah, Jesus’ tribe. This is one of the early messianic prophecies.
- Even so, warts and all, the twelve sons of Jacobs are the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel and remain so to this day.
- I like that scripture shows the warts and weaknesses as well as the strengths. It humanizes the people being portrayed. It gives them an immediacy that overcomes the thousands of years and different cultures that separate us. These people are our spiritual kinfolk. They served the same God we now serve. They spoke with the same God we now speak with. And they love the same God we love. This makes them our spiritual brethren, and it’s good that we get to know them through scripture. If and when we make it to Heaven, we’ll get to know them in person.
- Really looking forward to getting deeper into the Exodus in tomorrow’s reading! Love the “rod of God” that became symbolic of Moses and is still used out of context today for other far less godly purposes.
- Never a dull moment in the Bible!
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By the way, you’re welcome to post your own reflections of the day’s reading in the comment section. If you’ve posted it elsewhere, just copy and paste it here. One of the glories of God’s Word is that we all see different things in it at different times, depending on what’s going in our own lives and what we need to learn.
What jumped out at you in this reading? What did you see this time that you hadn’t noticed before?
Feel free to let us know! Share it with us below.
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BIBLE READ-THROUGH SCHEDULE ON PDF:
WE ARE ISRAEL
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 15, 2015 – The geopolitical state of Israel is not the Holy Land.
I’ll repeat that loud and bold in case some of you missed it: THE GEOPOLITICAL STATE OF ISRAEL IS NOT THE HOLY LAND.
I mention this because, again and again, I see Christian groups pledging their support for Israel and for Jewish causes, and all I can think is: Oy vey!
Mind you, I have nothing against the state of Israel. I might even visit it some day. How, when, and with whom it chooses to wage war it its business. I buy cookies that are made in Israel and eat clementines that are grown there. I have no problems doing business with the geopolitical state of Israel.
But still, you cannot convince me that that place is the Holy Land. The “former Holy Land”, certainly, but the Holy Spirit has since left the building.
Jesus told us that his Kingdom is not of this world. If his Kingdom is not of this world, then the geopolitical state of Israel cannot be the Holy Land. No place on Earth can be the Holy Land.
Jesus also tells us that only God is good and that only God is holy, so where God’s spirit is – THAT is holy ground.
The night before he was crucified, Jesus told his disciples that he and God would come to live with them. This is the very definition of being born-again and being a follower of Jesus. You are not born-again or a follower of Jesus unless Jesus and God are living with you, through the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.
People who are not born-again do not have God’s Spirit with them. Countries, of course, cannot be born-again.
I am born-again, which means that God and Jesus are constantly with me, so where I am is holy ground. I am not holy; only God is holy, but his presence in me and all around me makes me holy ground.
All born-agains are holy ground.
In contrast, the geopolitical state of Israel is the last thing from holy ground. Just because Jesus walked there when he was in human form doesn’t make it holy. Just because God chose to reveal himself to the Jews in Old Testament times doesn’t make it holy, either.
We need to discredit the claim that a geopolitical state or a people are “holy” or somehow favored by God. No people and no country are favored by God, not even born-agains. Since the dawn of New Testament times, God has revealed himself equally to all people by writing his laws on their hearts, not on stone tablets hidden away in an ark. We are all equally able to access God’s truth if we choose to.
The Israel that was prophesied in the Old Testament is Jesus’ Kingdom that was established since Jesus walked the earth. It’s a spiritual state, not a geopolitical one. We are citizens of the spiritual state of Israel, if we’re born-again followers of Jesus. We are the true Jews, not the fake ones of the synagogue of Satan that Jesus warned us about.
We are Israel.
So if you want to pledge your support for Israel and the Jewish cause, pray for yourself and your fellow born-agains. If you want to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, walk over to a mirror and wave to yourself. Maybe even take a foot selfie. If you’re born again, where you are is holy ground.
The geopolitical state of Israel is just another war-mongering country steeped in blood and motivated by revenge, and there ain’t nothin’ holy about that.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain [Samaria], nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John 4:21-24
Father’s spirit is the wall of fire around
Father’s spirit is the glory that’s inside me
So where I stand is holy ground
Where I sit, holy ground
Where I lie at night, holy ground
And I claim it in the name of Jesus!
It doesn’t matter where I go
God is always with me, so
where I am now is holy ground.
Be not afraid, for I am with you.
Be not afraid, for I am with you.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 