The Land Issue

A recent article in the Levitt Letter raised the question "Is Land For Peace Biblical?" The issue of who is the rightful owner of the Land of Israel has been the core issue of the Mideast conflict for many decades. As always, in trying to ascertain a solution, we have to measure the opinions of the enemies of Israel and the world media against the Word of Our Lord God!

The Levitt Letter article illustrated to us that the land of Israel is filled with Jewish artifacts going back 3,000 years.  Abraham was buried at Hebron 2,500 years before Mohammed's birth, and King Solomon built the Western Wall of the Temple before anyone on earth ever used the term "Muslim." Additionally, the term "Palestinians" are simply people who moved to Palestine while the Jews were scattered around the world. They formed a terrorist group called the PLO who shot Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich, raided villages, machine-gunned women and children in addition to attacking beachfront hotels with explosives. These are the people the majority of the world and its media support.

The Word of our Lord God is crystal clear concerning to whom He gave His Land. Genesis 15:18 shows our God saying to Abram "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates." Additionally, as the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, our Lord God spoke to Joshua saying, "Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them-the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you." Joshua 1:2-3.

Finally, our Lord God speaking through the Prophet Ezekiel shows us in the book of Ezekiel, chapters 40-48, that the future of the land of Israel includes the rebuilding of the Temple, the exact divisions of the land among the Tribes and most importantly the return of the Glory of The Lord to the Temple.

One last point, United States Secretary of State Kerry has established April 30th as the deadline for the Peace Talks. Let us pray boldly that the land of Israel stays in the hands of its rightful owners!

May The Lord Bless You And Keep You In His Care This Day And Each Day,

Frank 

  

"Four Blood Moons"

John Hagee who is the Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas with 20,000 active members and the founder of Christians United For Israel recently authored a book entitled "Four Blood Moons - Something Is About To Change." Pastor Hagee, at the suggestion of a Pastoral friend, studied in depth Joel 2:30-31 illustrating The Lord saying, "I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of The Lord."

The information in our message for this week is all taken from Pastor Hagee's new book. Three times in history there has occurred "Blood - Red" total lunar eclipses and each time significant events pertaining to Israel have also occurred. The Lunar Eclipses happened on four consecutive Feast Days of the Jewish calendar.

The first of the Four Blood Moon events happened in 1493 and 1494 following a significant event concerning the Jewish people in Spain. The Monarchy in Spain headed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on March 30, 1492 signed a decree ordering the Jews to leave Spain. This was known as the Edict of Expulsion which banished all Jewish people from Spain who refused to convert to Catholicism. This resulted in 200,000 Jews being expelled from Spain with no where to go.

The second appearance of the Four Blood Moon events occurred during the rebirth of the State of Israel, beginning in 1948. The Jewish people of the Diaspora were brought back to Israel as prophesied by Old Testament Prophets. It was in 1948 that Israel was declared a nation.  The land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. The Four Blood Moons occurred on four consecutive Feast Days of 1949-50.

The third occurrence of Four Blood Moons happened in 1967-68. During 1967   the city of Jerusalem was reunited with the Jewish people for the first time in nineteen hundred years. The Arab nations were committed to driving the Jewish people into the sea. On May 15th as Israel celebrated their Independence Day, Arab forces of 465,000 troops, 2,800 tanks and 800 aircraft surrounded Israel. However, the Six - Day War was a war of miracles. There was no military reason for an Israeli victory, it was simply the hand of God! The Blood Moons occurred on four consecutive Feast Days in 1967-68.

The next occurrence of Four Blood Moons will occur on Passover, April 15, 2014: Feast of Tabernacles, October 8, 2014: Passover, April 4, 2015: Feast of Tabernacles, September 28, 2015. Only our Lord God knows what events might occur concerning Israel in relation to these next Four Blood Moon events. Let us be those who pray "Thy Kingdom Come And Thy Will Be Done" in support and protection for the Jewish people worldwide during these next two years.

May The Lord Bless You And Keep You In His Care This Day And Each Day,

Frank

  



Gog And Magog?

Until recently, Israel had no choice but to import all its energy whether oil, gas, or coal. Golda Meir often joked that God led the Jewish people to the only land in the Middle East without oil. To date, little on-shore oil has been found.

However, this picture has changed dramatically. Recently, a Houston company known as Noble Energy along with the Israeli Delek Group has found several gas fields in the Israeli waters under the Mediterranean Sea. Today, Israel's known gas reserves are 30 trillion cubic feet, with twice that amount still to be discovered. This will exceed Israeli's energy needs for the next 30 - 50 years. Praise The Lord!

Obviously, this discovery will greatly strengthen Israel's economy and go a long way to eliminate pressing needs in housing and helping the poor. Another issue or question resulting from the discovery. . . could this set the stage for the Battle of Gog and Magog as illustrated in Ezekiel 38 - 39?

This battle describes a coalition of nations including Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya, Algeria, Sudan and Ethiopia who invade Israel and do battle on the mountains of Israel. The leader of this coalition is described as Gog, Prince of Rosh, which is modern day Russia.

A question in theological circles has always been - what would prompt Russia to invade Israel? Current news reports show that Russia already has  economic and military ties to the nations in the Gog - Magog coalition. Additionally, Israeli's newly found gas deposits threaten Russia's hold over the natural gas supply lines.

The good news is our Lord God wins a mighty victory for the residents of Israel as described in Ezekiel 38:21 "I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all my mountains," says The Lord God.  Let us be those who provide love and support to the residents of Israel by reciting portions of Psalm 23 as a prayer, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."

May The Lord Bless You And Keep You This Day And Each Day,

Frank