THE REWRITING OF MODERN ZIONIST HISTORY

THE REWRITING OF MODERN ZIONIST HISTORY (Arutz Sheva News) . Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Culture and Creativity. Before making Aliyah to Israel in 1984, he was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook.  His other books include: “The Kuzari For Young Readers” and “Tuvia in the Promised Land”.  His books are available on Amazon.  Recently, he directed the movie, “Stories of Rebbe Nachman.” . Shimon Peres indeed contributed many things to the rebuilding of the Jewish People in the Land of Israel.  This essay is not about him. It is about the way the well-oiled, leftist media machinery in Israel, and the anti-Israel mega-media around the world, are turning Shimon Peres into a modern day saint in order to advance their agenda of Palestinian Arab sovereignty in the Land of the Jews. . With the power of modern technological wizardry, the backing of billions of dollars, a tsunami of double talk, misrepresentations, and flagrant omissions, along with the sheepish consent of the frightened leadership in Israel, and the good manners of devout Jews who know the truth, but who will keep silent in respect for a fellow Jew facing His Maker, the world will be duped into believing that Shimon Peres was the Jewish Mahatma Gandhi, and that the Oslo Agreement was the best thing that hit the globe since apple pie. . Don’t let the media hoopla fool you into believing that the disaster of Oslo, and the creation of Hamastan within the borders of the Land of Israel, was a blessing for mankind. . The media extravaganza is on center stage in Israel Get ready for a giant fabrication of modern Zionist history. Prepare yourselves for the carefully-crafted digital whitewash.  Beware, because you are about to be inundated with a media binge of sugar-coated, selective journalism until you believe it too. . Be warned.  The people who disagreed with Shimon Peres, his political opponents, journalists on the right, the Israeli majority that raised their voices in protests which were ignored and crushed, idealistic settlers of the Biblical heartland of Israel, all of these people will be labeled fanatics, extremists, radicals, crazies, and enemies of peace. . In the end, the architect of Oslo will be glorified, the recipient of the Nobel Prize for peace with Yasser Arafat will be knighted and transformed into an icon of peace, and the myriads of terror victims, the victims of Oslo, the murdered and the maimed, the murdered “Korbanot Hashalom” (peace offerings) will be forgotten in the around-the-clock bombardment of praise that is already being disseminated for worldwide publication.  Countless victims of reckless and egotistical pipedreams will be forgotten and discarded from the annals of Jewish history, like pages ripped from a book. . A massive onslaught of media manipulation is on to weaken the righteous cause of Israel which declares that the Land of Israel is the Homeland of the Jewish People alone.  So beware! . NETANYAHU STOPPED PERES FROM FORMING A PALESTINIAN STATE! By Gary Willig (Arutz Sheva News) . Shimon Peres and Abbas reportedly set up program to allow Jews to remain in Palestine, only to have Netanyahu pull the plug. . Channel 2 Diplomatic Correspondent, Udi Segal, reported in his weekly column in the Maariv newspaper that former President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas engaged in negotiations to come up with a plan that would be accepted by Netanyahu and the Israeli political right. . Segal said that Peres received permission from Netanyahu to search for a way through the diplomatic standstill “possibly because he wanted to use Peres to legitimize the peace talks and help maintain good foreign relations. But Peres was not going to be used as a mere fig leaf and creatively moved beyond the limits he had been given.”  This is similar to what happened in the Oslo negotiations. . According to Segal, Peres and Abbas reached an agreement in principle in which the IDF would have units stationed to protect Israeli citizens within a Palestinian State. . “The details were not finalized, but the idea was moving forward until Netanyahu blocked it at the last minute while Peres was on a visit to Jordan.” as revealed by reporter Ben Caspit, known for his intense dislike of Netanyahu. The shelved plan later received a modicum of approval when Netanyahu hinted in an interview with Channel 2 in 2013 that many settlements might remain in a Palestinian state.” wrote Segal. . “If this opportunity really existed, then it was lost. Peres stayed home.  Abbas felt betrayed and walked away from the idea.  And Netanyahu worked on the plans of Tony Blair, which ended up being a dead end.  Peres tried until the last minute.  He never stopped dreaming.  He knew from experience that the State of Israel was born from a dream, a vision.  From the dream of Herzl.” Segal added. . Peres’ earlier dream of peace after the Oslo Accords went up in terror attacks that caused the deaths of close to 2000 Israelis. Peres’ idea of having the IDF protect Israelis travelling on the roads of Judea and Samaria while living under a Palestinian Arab regime is seen by most Israelis as an experiment with human lives and has been rejected by the right. . A GOLDEN YEAR AHEAD! By Charles Gardner (Arutz Sheva News) . As Israel mourns the passing of Shimon Peres, the last of their founding fathers, I pray for the dawning of an even brighter era that will bring light to their path and sweetness to their souls. . And as Jews everywhere rejoice in their New Year festival of Rosh Hashanah, I feel there is something of an apocalyptic, end-time significance about this particular anniversary. . It ushers in the year 5777, which has a resonance of its own with three sevens – the latter being the ‘perfect’ number in biblical terms.  And in the Gregorian calendar which most of us follow, we will soon be welcoming 2017, a date of huge relevance to Israel on three counts. . First, it will mark the jubilee, or golden anniversary (50 years), since the Six-Day War of 1967 when the Old City of Jerusalem – the holiest property in all Judaism – was restored to Jewish hands for the first time in more than 2,000 years. Some scholars have suggested that this awesome event represented the fulfilment of “the times of the Gentiles” referred to by Yeshua when he said: “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21.24) . The new year will also mark 70 years since the historic United Nations vote to recognize Israel when, although Arab states opposed the resolution, the required two-thirds majority was achieved which set the scene for the re-birth of Israel the following year. . Remember what Yeshua said about the lesson learned from the fig tree, which is symbolic of Israel. He said that when it buds and blossoms at a time when the world is in great upheaval with wars, famines and earthquakes, we would know that his coming is near. Then he said: “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” (Matthew 24.34) . In other words, the generation (possibly lasting 70 years, man’s allotted lifespan according to Psalm 90.10) witnessing these extraordinary events would live to see “all these things” happening.  Could that include his actual return? We cannot be certain, but it’s a distinct possibility. And as one born the year after the state of . Israel, I find that both hugely exciting as well as rather scary. . But neither of these hugely historic anniversaries would have been possible without Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917, which effectively cleared the path for Israel’s restoration. The centenary of this crucial milestone in the Jews’ long journey home is in danger of being lost in the mists of political correctness, but it needs to be celebrated with gusto.  It may not be as topical as our current Brexit endeavors, but it is also something for which Britain can be justly proud. . It amounted to a British government promise, from Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour, to do all in its power to facilitate the creation of a homeland in Palestine (as the region was then known) for the Jewish people. And it came about largely through the efforts of 19th century evangelical Christians.  . allied to the rise of Zionism under Theodor Herzl. When all is said and done, it was the preachers and politicians who knew their Bible – and the God of the Bible – who undoubtedly most influenced the government of the day. They clearly saw that it was our duty as a Christian nation to love and support the Jews, and to facilitate their return to their ancient homeland. . They also knew – and this was crucial to their support – that it wasn’t just about land, but about the Lord; that though the Bible clearly speaks of a restoration of Israel from every corner of the globe, such restoration would precede their national return to the God of Israel, the Father of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach, which would in turn usher in our Lord’s Second Coming.  Ezekiel prophesied: “I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land…And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36.24-27) . It was this truth, above all, that drove our British forefathers to pray, proclaim and work towards fulfilment of the Zionist dream. . God is seeking a bride with whom he wishes to rendezvous back in their ancient land where he first ‘courted’ her as they learnt to walk in his ways and when the prophets tried, often in vain, to encourage faithfulness to the one true God. . When the Balfour promise was made back in November 1917, the Holy Land still belonged to the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which had ruled the region for 400 years, but within weeks it was in British hands, which handed on a plate the opportunity for us to make good our pledge. . But because we reneged on many of our promises and dealt treacherously with the Jews as we made repeated concessions in a bid to appease Arab demands, it took another three decades – and the death of millions at the hands of the Nazis – before the founding fathers were finally in a position to re-create the state of Israel.  . Please forgive us, and meantime rejoice that even without our help in more recent times – though certainly with God’s help – you have come this far. . May God’s love surround you at this special time and cause you to know the fear of the Lord and his decrees, which are “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 19.10). . In this beautiful psalm of King David, we see how much he loves the law, the statutes, the precepts and the commands of the Lord. “They are more precious than gold…and sweeter than honey.” And all of this is perfectly fulfilled in Yeshua, who told the crowds on the Mount of Beatitudes at Capernaum: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5.17)

Israel At 68: A Record To Be Proud Of

BY DAVID HARRIS/ALGEMEINER.COM

 

Israel celebrates its 68th Day of Independence this week. Let me put my cards on the table. I’m not dispassionate when it comes to Israel. Quite the contrary.
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The establishment of the state in 1948; the fulfillment of its envisioned role as home and haven for Jews from around the world; its wholehearted embrace of democracy and the rule of law; and its impressive scientific, cultural and economic achievements are accomplishments beyond my wildest imagination.

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For centuries, Jews around the world prayed for a return to Zion. We are the lucky ones who have seen those prayers answered. I am grateful to witness this most extraordinary period in Jewish history and Jewish sovereignty — in the words of Israel’s national anthem, “to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.”

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And when one adds the key element, namely, that all this took place not in the Middle West but in the Middle East, where Israel’s neighbors determined from day one to destroy it through any means available to them — from full-scale wars to wars of attrition; from diplomatic isolation to international delegitimation; from primary to secondary to even tertiary economic boycotts; from terrorism to the spread of antisemitism, often thinly veiled as anti-Zionism — the story of Israel’s first 68 years becomes all the more remarkable.

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No other country has faced such a constant challenge to its very right to exist, even though the age-old biblical, spiritual, and physical connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel is unique in the annals of history.

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Indeed, that connection is of a totally different character from the basis on which, say, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the bulk of Latin American countries were established, that is, by Europeans with no legitimate claim to those lands who decimated indigenous populations and proclaimed their own authority. Or, for that matter, North African countries that were conquered and occupied by Arab-Islamic invaders who totally redefined their national character.

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No other country has faced such overwhelming odds against its very survival, or experienced the same degree of never-ending international demonization by too many nations ready to throw integrity and morality to the wind, and slavishly follow the will of the energy-rich and more numerous Arab states.

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Yet Israelis have never succumbed to a fortress mentality, never abandoned their deep yearning for peace with their neighbors or willingness to take unprecedented risks to achieve that peace (as was the case with Egypt and Jordan, for example, and in the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza), never lost their zest for life, and never flinched from their determination to build a vibrant, democratic state.

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This story of nation-building is entirely without precedent.

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Here was a people brought to the brink of utter destruction by the genocidal policies of Nazi Germany and its allies. Here was a people shown to be utterly powerless to influence a largely indifferent world to stop, or even slow down, the Final Solution. And here was a people, numbering barely 600,000, living cheek-by-jowl with often hostile Arab neighbors, under unsympathetic British occupation, on a harsh soil with no significant natural resources other than human capital in what was then Mandatory Palestine.

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That the blue-and-white flag of an independent Israel could be planted on this land, to which the Jewish people had been intimately linked since the time of Abraham, just three years after the end of the Holocaust — and with the support of a decisive majority of UN members at the time — truly boggles the mind.

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And what’s more, that this tiny community of Jews, including survivors of the Holocaust who had somehow made their way to Mandatory Palestine despite the British blockade and British detention camps in Cyprus, could successfully defend themselves against the onslaught of five Arab standing armies, is almost beyond imagination.

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To understand the essence of Israel’s meaning, it is enough to ask how the history of the Jewish people might have been different had there been a Jewish state in 1933, in 1938, or even in 1941. If Israel had controlled its borders and the right of entry instead of Britain, if Israel had had embassies and consulates throughout Europe, how many more Jews might have escaped and found sanctuary?

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Instead, Jews had to rely on the goodwill of embassies and consulates of other countries and, with woefully few exceptions, they found there neither the “good” nor the “will” to assist.

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I witnessed firsthand what Israeli embassies and consulates meant to Jews drawn by the pull of Zion or the push of hatred. I stood in the courtyard of the Israeli embassy in Moscow and saw thousands of Jews seeking a quick exit from a Soviet Union in the throes of cataclysmic change, fearful that the change might be in the direction of renewed chauvinism and antisemitism.

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Awestruck, I watched up-close as Israel never faltered, not even for a moment, in transporting Soviet Jews to the Jewish homeland, even as Scud missiles launched from Iraq traumatized the nation in 1991. It says a lot about the conditions they were leaving behind that these Jews continued to board planes for Tel Aviv while missiles were exploding in Israeli population centers. In fact, on two occasions I sat in sealed rooms with Soviet Jewish families who had just arrived in Israel during these missile attacks. Not once did any of them question their decision to establish new lives in the Jewish state. And equally, it says a lot about Israel that, amid all the pressing security concerns, it managed to continue to welcome these new immigrants without missing a beat.

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And how can I ever forget the surge of pride — Jewish pride — that completely enveloped me 40 years ago, in July 1976, on hearing the astonishing news of Israel’s daring rescue of the 106 Jewish hostages held by Arab and German terrorists in Entebbe, Uganda, over 2,000 miles from Israel’s borders? The unmistakable message: Jews in danger will never again be alone, without hope, and totally dependent on others for their safety.

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Not least, I can still remember, as if it were yesterday, my very first visit to Israel. It was in 1970, and I was not quite 21 years old.

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I didn’t know what to expect, but I recall being quite emotional from the moment I boarded the El Al plane to the very first glimpse of the Israeli coastline from the plane’s window. As I disembarked, I surprised myself by wanting to kiss the ground. In the ensuing weeks, I marveled at everything I saw. To me, it was as if every apartment building, factory, school, orange grove, and Egged bus was nothing less than a miracle. A state, a Jewish state, was unfolding before my very eyes.

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After centuries of persecutions, pogroms, exiles, ghettos, pales of settlement, inquisitions, blood libels, forced conversions, discriminatory legislation, and immigration restrictions — and, no less, after centuries of prayers, dreams and yearning — the Jews had come back home and were the masters of their own fate.

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I was overwhelmed by the mix of people, backgrounds, languages and lifestyles, and by the intensity of life itself. Everyone, it seemed, had a compelling story to tell. There were Holocaust survivors with harrowing tales of their years in the camps. There were Jews from Arab countries, whose stories of persecution in such countries as Iraq, Libya and Syria were little known at the time. There were the first Jews arriving from the USSR seeking repatriation in the Jewish homeland. There were the sabras — native-born Israelis — many of whose families had lived in Palestine for generations. There were local Arabs, both Christian and Muslim. There were Druze, whose religious practices are kept secret from the outside world. The list goes on and on.

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I was moved beyond words by the sight of Jerusalem and the fervor with which Jews of all backgrounds prayed at the Western Wall. Coming from a nation that was at the time deeply divided and demoralized, I found my Israeli peers to be unabashedly proud of their country, eager to serve in the military, and, in many cases, determined to volunteer for the most elite combat units. They felt personally involved in the enterprise of building a Jewish state, more than 1,800 years after the Romans defeated the Bar Kochba revolt, the last Jewish attempt at sovereignty on this very land.

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To be sure, nation-building is an infinitely complex process. In Israel’s case, it began against a backdrop of tensions with a local Arab population that laid claim to the very same land, and tragically refused a UN proposal to divide the land into Arab and Jewish states; as the Arab world sought to isolate, demoralize, and ultimately destroy the state; as Israel’s population doubled in the first three years of the country’s existence, putting an unimaginable strain on severely limited resources; as the nation was forced to devote a vast portion of its limited national budget to defense expenditures; and as the country coped with forging a national identity and social consensus among a population that could not have been more geographically, linguistically, socially, and culturally heterogeneous.

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Moreover, there is the tricky and underappreciated issue of the potential clash between the messy realities of statehood and, in this case, the ideals and faith of a people. It is one thing for a people to live their religion as a minority; it is quite another to exercise sovereignty as the majority population while remaining true to one’s ethical standards. Inevitably, tension will arise between a people’s spiritual or moral self-definition and the exigencies of statecraft, between the highest concepts of human nature and the daily realities of individuals in decision-making positions wielding power and balancing a variety of competing interests.

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Even so, shall we raise the bar so high as to ensure that Israel — forced to function in the often gritty, morally ambiguous world of international relations and politics, especially as a small, still endangered state — will always fall short?

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Yet, the notion that Israel would ever become ethically indistinguishable from any other country, reflexively seeking cover behind the convenient justification of realpolitik to explain its behaviour, is equally unacceptable.

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Israelis, with only 68 years of statehood under their belts, are among the newer practitioners of statecraft. With all its remarkable success, consider the daunting political, social, and economic challenges in the United States 68 or even 168 years after independence, or, for that matter, the challenges it faces today, including stubborn social inequalities. And let’s not forget that the United States, unlike Israel, is a vast country blessed with abundant natural resources, oceans on two-and-a half sides, a gentle neighbor to the north, and a weaker neighbour to the south.

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Like any vibrant democracy, America is a permanent work in progress. The same holds true for Israel. Loving Israel as I do, though, doesn’t mean overlooking its shortcomings, including the excessive and unholy intrusion of religion into politics, the inexcusable marginalization of non-Orthodox Jewish religious streams, the dangers posed by political and religious zealots, and the unfinished, if undeniably complex, task of integrating Israeli Arabs into the mainstream.

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But it also doesn’t mean allowing such issues to overshadow Israel’s remarkable achievements, accomplished, as I’ve said, under the most difficult of circumstances.

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In just 68 years, Israel has built a thriving democracy, unique in the region, including a Supreme Court prepared, when it deems appropriate, to overrule the prime minister or the military establishment, a feisty parliament that includes every imaginable viewpoint along the political spectrum, a robust civil society, and a vigorous press.

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It has built an economy increasingly based on innovation and cutting-edge technology, whose per capita GNP exceeds the combined total of its four contiguous sovereign neighbors — Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

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It has built universities and research centers that have contributed to advancing the world’s frontiers of knowledge in countless ways, and won a slew of Nobel Prizes in the process.

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It has built one of the world’s most powerful militaries — always under civilian control, I might add — to ensure its survival in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood. It has shown the world how a tiny nation, no larger than New Jersey or Wales, can, by sheer ingenuity, will, courage, and commitment, defend itself against those who would destroy it through conventional armies or armies of suicide bombers. And it has done all this while striving to adhere to a strict code of military conduct that has few rivals in the democratic world, much less elsewhere — and in the face of an enemy prepared to send children to the front lines and seek cover in mosques, schools, and hospitals.

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It has built a quality of life that ranks it among the world’s healthiest nations and with a particularly high life expectancy, indeed higher than that of the US.

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It has built a thriving culture, whose musicians, writers and artists are admired far beyond Israel’s borders. In doing so, it has lovingly taken an ancient language, Hebrew, the language of the prophets, and rendered it modern to accommodate the vocabulary of the contemporary world.

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Notwithstanding a few extremist voices of intolerance, it has built a climate of respect for other faith groups, including Baha’i, Christianity and Islam, and their places of worship. Can any other nation in the area make the same claim?

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It has built an agricultural sector that has had much to teach developing nations about turning an arid soil into fields of fruits, vegetables, cotton, and flowers.

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Step back from the twists and turns of the daily information overload coming from the Middle East and consider the sweep of the last 68 years. Look at the light-years traveled since the darkness of the Holocaust, and marvel at the miracle of a decimated people returning to a tiny sliver of land — the land of our ancestors, the land of Zion and Jerusalem — and successfully building a modern, vibrant state against all the odds, on that ancient foundation.

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In the final analysis, then, the story of Israel is the wondrous realization of a 3,500-year link among a land, a faith, a language, a people, and a vision. It is an unparalleled story of tenacity and determination, of courage and renewal. And it is ultimately a metaphor for the triumph of enduring hope over the temptation of despair.

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Happy birthday Israel.

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

And may your eyes be opened to your Messiah: Jesus Christ.

 

Are We Living In The Last Days?

 

by Michael Snyder

Could it be possible that we are living in the period of time that the Bible refers to as “the last days”? And if so, what does that mean for our future? As we approach the final months of 2015, it seems like more people are talking about apocalyptic scenarios than ever before. The mainstream media is doing articles on “end of the world fears“, and it is being reported that 41 percent of all Americans believe that “we are living in what the Bible calls the last days.”

For those that believe, the signs are everywhere – geopolitical instability, moral decay, steadily increasing numbers of natural disasters and a global financial system that could fall apart at any moment. Others mock the idea that we could be living in “the last days”, and many of them point to the amazing technological progress that humanity is making and the unprecedented prosperity that we have been enjoying in recent times.

If things are actually “getting better”, they argue, then how could we possibly be living in the end times described in the Bible? And of course atheists are convinced that God doesn’t exist at all, and that all of this apocalyptic talk is just a bunch of religious nonsense. So what is the truth?
This is a very controversial area of discussion, and I certainly recognize that there are a wide variety of opinions on this. I am going to share with you what I think, and you can take it for what you think that it is worth. Personally, I always like to start with certain preconditions that had to have been met before the last days as described in the Bible could begin.
In particular, the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 was an extremely significant event. The events described in the book of Revelation and elsewhere in the Bible regarding the last days assume that the nation of Israel exists and that it controls the city of Jerusalem. Well, when the book of Revelation was written the nation of Israel had already ceased to exist.
In 70 AD, the Romans absolutely flattened the city of Jerusalem and dispersed the Jewish people. For almost two thousand years, the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem were controlled by foreign powers. But then that all changed in 1948.
Never before in human history had a nation that had been wiped off the face of the map for nearly two thousand years come back into existence. But in 1948 it happened just like the Bible said that it would. And then in 1967 the Jewish people recaptured the city of Jerusalem just like the Bible said that they would.
But that does not necessarily mean that we are in “the last days”. Even though certain preconditions have been met, the return of Jesus Christ could still potentially be a way off.
In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus describes some other things that we should look for just prior to His return…
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Certainly so much of that is now coming to pass, and on my website I regularly write about the increase in natural disasters that we have already seen in recent years and about the great natural disasters that are coming.
But in this article I want to focus on the phrase “iniquity shall abound”.
For decades, the United States and much of the rest of the world has been in moral decline. For this country in particular, I would refer you to an article that I did entitled “100 Facts About The Moral Collapse Of America That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe“. Our nation has become a cesspool of wickedness, filth and corruption, and it is getting worse with each passing day.
It has been said that if God does not judge the United States that He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Prominent Christian ministers all over America believe that we stand right at the precipice of major judgment, and this includes Billy Graham’s own son…
Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, says the “defining moment” for America and humanity has arrived.
“As a nation we have arrogantly turned our back on God, and I believe God’s judgment will come against our country,” Graham says.
I agree with Franklin Graham.
In fact, I believe that America is being shown exactly why judgment is coming.
For example, I believe that all of these undercover Planned Parenthood videos have come out at this specific time so that the entire nation can be confronted with our nightmarish crimes against humanity.
Virtually everyone in America now knows that Planned Parenthood viciously murders babies, harvests their body parts, and sells them off to the highest bidder.
And the U.S. government is funding this.
So where is the outcry?
Where is the national repentance?
There should be Nuremburg-style trials for what is going on, and yet the silence is deafening!
The sad truth is that we can’t even get Planned Parenthood defunded, and some of our politicians actually intend to go after the organization that made the undercover videos exposing these practices.
Today, most churches and most Christians don’t even want to utter the word “abortion” because it might “offend” someone. Plus, many Christians are so busy ripping each other to pieces that they don’t even have time to address the things that really matter.
For decades, God has been pleading with America to repent, but there has been no repentance.
So now God is going to have to use judgment to try to wake us up. And we should be very thankful for this, because I believe that without the shaking that is coming there would be no repentance at all.
God could have set a day for the return of His Son that had no warnings whatsoever. But because shaking after shaking is coming, there will be opportunity after opportunity for all of us to turn back to God, and that is what He ultimately wants.
The God of the Bible has laid out His plan in advance, and it is there for everyone to see. One scholar has discovered that there are at least 1,800 references to the return of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures…
In The End, Bible prophecy scholar Dr. Mark Hitchcock wrote there are more than 1,800 references to the Second Coming in the Bible and for every prophecy about Christ’s first coming there are eight regarding His Second Coming. People are exhorted more than 50 times to be ready for Christ’s return. In light of present world conditions, we need to not only prepare for Jesus’ return, but to tell others about it too. Their eternal destinies are at stake.
Ultimately, all of us get to choose what we will believe, and most people end up believing exactly what they want to believe.
But for those that are truly seeking, the truth is not hard to find.
Yes, I believe that we are living in the last days just before the return of Jesus Christ as described in the Bible.

I agree.

THE JEWISH NATION IS GROWING!

 

by Aviel Schneider (Israel Today News)

 

Ahead of Israel’s 67th Independence Day, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced that the country’s population now stands at 8.3 million, including 6.3 Jews. Despite all the threats, the Jews have returned to their biblical homeland; and the populace has kept growing since the First Aliyah (wave of immigration to the Land of Israel) began 133 years ago in 1882.

 

Then in 1948 the State of Israel was established, 1878 years after the destruction of the Second Temple. Year after year, the Jews in the Diaspora made this proclamation on Passover: L’Shana Haba’a b’Yerushalayim! (Next year in Jerusalem!) God heard this prayer innumerable times until it finally came to fruition according to the words of the prophets.

 

Defying the odds and predictions of doom, Israel has survived all the wars and dangers. But it must remain on the alert because it has many enemies who seek to destroy it. That is why the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is resisting the perilous nuclear deal between the world powers and Iran. If Iran acquires the atom bomb, it could threaten the very existence of the State of Israel.

 

Throughout history, many nations have sought to annihilate the Jewish people, both in the homeland and in the Diaspora. Pharaoh wanted to destroy the Jews, as did the Amalekites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Romans and Nazis.

 

The Bible talks about such hatred for the Jews (Esther 3:8) – There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people, and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.” And the Passover Haggadah says “in every generation they (our enemies) rise up against us to destroy us, but the Holy One (blessed is He) saves us from their hands.”

The threat remains to this day. A report by the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel found that nearly half of Israelis (46%) believe that a second Holocaust can happen, five per cent higher than last year. Anti-Semitism is surging, but this is lost on the West which pushes Israel for dangerous concessions to Iran and the Palestinians.

 

There is a saying in Israel: We have survived Pharaoh and Hitler and we will survive this too.” And yet, the majority (57%) of world Jewry still lives abroad, not here in the biblical Land of Israel. But there is a silver lining to the growing anti-Semitism: That is what pushes Jews to return home, even in comfortable places like Europe!

THE FACTS ABOUT PALESTINE

by Howard Green

Who is the rightful owner of the most contested piece of real estate in the world? Everyone seems to have an answer to this question that has captured the world’s attention. The Bible prophesies a time when the nation of Israel and Jerusalem in particular, will be a burdensome stone to the nations of the earth. In light of recent political events, I believe we are seeing the beginnings of what Zechariah wrote about almost 2,600 years ago. The media, politicians, and pop culture have made the Jews out to be the ‘problem’……again. This is because many choose to believe a popular lie and ignore the facts about Palestine.

Zechariah 12:3   And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

When you reduce the Israeli-Palestinian issue down to the ridiculous, you will find it’s root cause. The cause is the lie about ownership and what I will call “the Palestinian lie” in particular.

The premise of the Palestinian lie is quite simple: Tell a lie often enough and people will believe it. That strategy has worked……and worked so well that it is hard to find a person who will ask three fundamental questions:

Who are the Palestinian people, where did they originate from, and do they have a legitimate claim to the holy land?

Before we dive deeper into this article I want to make an important point. This article is not meant to vilify the so called Palestinian people. The point of this article is to focus on the lie that has made the situation in the Middle East go from bad to worse and how it will ultimately be used as fuel to turn the all nations against Israel. As you read on please understand this: God sent His Son to die for the sins of all people, Jew and gentile alike. God loves the Arab people at the center of this land dispute as well.

It is the prayer and hope of this ministry that many Arab people will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus and to that end, we provide evangelistic resources in many languages including Arabic.

The Palestinian lie is quite simple: Society is continually repeating the lie that there is in fact…a Palestinian people. How do you refute a lie? You confront it with truth. Not just one individual’s version of the truth, but truth rooted in historical, documented, and verifiable facts. In consideration of our reader’s time, my intent isn’t to write a doctoral dissertation about who the holy land belongs to, because that subject could fill volumes. I encourage you to do some self study and examine the facts for yourself and come to a logical conclusion. I do want to briefly mention a few historical and biblical facts that will answer the three fundamental questions.

Who are the “Palestinian” people?

The terms Palestine and Palestinian have origins dating back to the second century AD. It is a well documented historical record and matter of fact that the Roman Empire and it’s ruler Hadrian wanted to get rid of all Jewish identity in the region. He used the name of Israel’s ancient foes…the Philistines and renamed the land Palaestina. The Philistines were located to the north of Israel in modern coastal Lebanon and parts of Syria. The term Palestine was rarely used until Israel declared her Independence in 1948. The term “Palestinian” wasn’t widely used until the 1960s and 1970s. Yasser Arafat, a well known terrorist….was the chairman of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and his goal was to legitimize a people and cause that have no historic precedent. The PLO seeks to liberate “Palestine” through armed struggle. Since 1994, the PA (Palestinian Authority) has been the governing body of the so called “Palestinian” people.

Where did the “Palestinians” originate from?

Throughout history, there has never been a “Palestinian” people as a distinct group. This is a fabrication of terms used by Arabs to identify the people who occupy the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and other parts of Israel. These people are Arabs from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and surrounding countries. The Arabs in the disputed areas can trace their recent history to Israel’s neighboring countries. While it’s true that Arab children are born in these disputed territories, they are Arabs who live in Israel, not “Palestinians” who live in occupied territory.

Do the so called “Palestinian” people have a legitimate claim to the holy land?

The short answer is no. To have a legitimate claim you must have historical precedent and there was never a Palestinian people in the land of Israel. Here is the problem: Let’s go back to our original point about legitimacy……if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it.

People and organizations such as the late Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, Tony Blair, the European Union, and the UN are promoting a distorted view of history and holding negotiations based on a false supposition that Arabs (with no historical claim) ,deserve land that rightly belongs to the Jews. To make matters worse, people such as Rick Warren, Gary Burge of Wheaton College, and Lynne Hybels of Willow Creek church are seeking to legitimize the “Palestinian” cause under the banner of evangelical Christianity.

Just this week, Pope Francis made a very unfortunate move by officially signing a treaty recognizing Palestinian statehood that should be approved by the Vatican in short order. There are also reports that the Pope referred to Mahmoud Abbas as an “Angel of peace.” The statement is still being questioned and verified by media outlets, so we will not offer commentary based on that. The fact is, when the Pope, who is a global figure makes a treaty with an illegitimate group like the so called “Palestinians”, they gain instant credibility in millions of minds….regardless of the facts. Add to this the social media frenzy and down right antisemitic actions of many on America’s university campuses…..you have a cause based on nothing but lies. Click here to see just one of many reports about Pope Francis and his recognition of a Palestinian state.

The Arabs in Israel are treated fairly and Arab laborers flock to work in Israeli factories instead of those in the West Bank where wages are sometimes double that of Arab employers. Arab citizens in Israel enjoy modern amenities and a stable government. Compare that with the poor living conditions in Baghdad, Damascus, or Cairo and there is simply no comparison.

The governing bodies of Hamas and the PLA take western aid money meant to help improve the lives of the so called “Palestinian” people. Much of the money ends up lining the pockets of the governing officials and used to procure weapons that are used to wage jihad on the citizens and population centers of Israel. The Hamas thugs routinely place their weapons of war near playgrounds, mosques, and homes of civilians. These actions are indicative of the mindset of the entities Israel is forced to go to the bargaining table with…..groups calling for the destruction of Israel.

Regarding a two state solution: Israel has put numerous offers on the table and they have been soundly rejected by the PLA. Land for peace simply will not work because ultimately Abbas and Hamas don’t want a two state solution. Their goal is complete control and domination with Jerusalem as their capital.

What about Jewish history in the land?

Again, I could write literal volumes on the distinctly Jewish history of the land and the fact that even before the time of Moses…….God made a promise to Abraham. For our purposes….we will summarize:

God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants.

Genesis 15:18   On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Exodus 6:7    I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.”

2 Samuel 7:10    And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly…

There has been a continuous Jewish presence in the holy land for over 3,500 years……that predates Islam by 2,000 years. Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible at least 806 times. The Koran mentions the word Jerusalem O times. For Jerusalem to be called the third holiest city in Islam is simply a modern fabrication to attempt to legitimize a claim with no historical evidence to back it up. During the Ottoman rule in the area…..Jerusalem was in a state of decay. It is true…..after the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132 AD., there was a minimal Jewish presence in the land, but a small number of Jews managed to stay in Israel. Small Jewish communities existed in Ein Gedi and the Golan area through the middle ages.

The political powers of today seem bent on dividing up God’s covenant land. The Bible has repeated warnings about the days ahead when nations attempt to undo what God has done.

Joel 3:1  “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

Genesis 12:1   Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Unlike political agreements and the promises of man…….God’s word is always true and his covenants are as sure as His holy name. It has become clear that the European Union, UN, and unfortunately the US are exerting tremendous pressure on the Israeli’s to give up their land. Combine the hostile political climate, the Pope’s stand for “Palestine”, the calls for Israel’s destruction, the antisemitism on college campuses, and the brainwashing of biblically ignorant evangelicals by many social gospel leaders and you have the perfect storm. It’s not hard to see in the not too distant future that:  “all nations will gather against Israel.”

The modern rebirth of Israel in 1948 is nothing short of miraculous and it is a clear indicator the we are very near to the Lord’s return. I would advise anyone reading this article to be a berean…… do your own research and see if these things are so. I firmly believe when you view the biblical evidence, no one could ever doubt that God has plans for Israel. Events in the world are pointing to an ultimate showdown in the Middle East and as we read our Bibles, newspapers, and view the nightly news….we know God’s plans will be fulfilled to the letter.

Friends, when you see the hate filled, ignorant, lopsided, anti Israel  anti Jewish propaganda……understand where it originates from. Satan hates Israel, it’s people, and it’s God. The prophets, the Bible, the apostles, and the early church all started right there. The gospel has gone out from there. It started with the great commission at the Mt. of Olives and will crescendo right up to 144,000 Jewish evangelists proclaiming salvation through Jesus during Daniel’s 70th week. Men including  Pharoah, Haman, Hitler, and the coming antichrist have attempted or will attempt to put an end to God’s promises. The Bible tells us who will have the ultimate victory….the Lord of course.

So what do Christians do now?

Understand that the political turmoil in the Middle East is simply an indicator of the nearness of the Lord’s return. We should see the Israeli-Palestinian issue for what it is: An attempt to undermine what God has done. We can choose not to remain silent despite the onslaught of anti-Jewish rhetoric from the divestment and social gospel crowd.

We should reach out in love to Arab people and be a bold witness for the gospel of Christ. I believe Christians should stand with Israel and we can do that while we show compassion and love to both Jews and Arabs. It may not be politically correct to stand in solidarity with Israel, but history will prove it’s the right thing to do.

When we examine the evidence and look at the facts about Palestine, we must come to the conclusion that there is and was never a Palestine or a Palestinian people.

The bottom line is this: This lie about a Palestinian people seems to be one issues that galvanize world opinion and will ultimately make Jerusalem and burdensome stone and a cup of trembling. The whole world seems to be calling for the diminishing of Jews from the promised land and promoting of the Arabs as the rightful owners. We are seeing the beginnings of the end times. No one knows the day or hour of the Lord’s return, but we seem to be closer than ever.

All for Him,

Howard

Palestinian Parliament: Jews Have No Right to Even “One Inch” of Israel

The Palestinian parliament is continuing to reject any Jewish right to the “land of Palestine”, meaning the entire land of Israel, including the sovereign territory of the State of Israel.

At a special meeting in Gaza on Thursday held on the occasion of Nakba Day, the Palestinian parliament stated that the entire “land of Palestine” is an Islamic endowment, and the Jews have no right to even a single inch of it.

Nakba Day is the day on which Arabs mourn what they view as the “disaster” of the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. It is marked on May 14, the day in 1948 on which Israel became a state.

The parliament also stressed that the “right of return” is a sacred collective and private right and cannot be given up, and added that the Palestinians will never agree to the settlement of the so-called “Palestinian refugees” outside the territory of “Palestine” nor will they ever agree to recognize Israel.

Ahmed Bahar, deputy speaker of the parliament, said in his speech that “the occupation state of Israel was established on the body parts and skulls of children, women and elderly Palestinians who were killed in massacres during which many Palestinians were expelled from their land.”

He then blamed Britain, which ruled the area before the establishment of the State of Israel, for the historical responsibility of the “Nakba” of the Palestinians, and called on it to submit an apology to the Palestinian people for the “injustice” that was done to them.

Bahar further said that any Palestinian who gives up on “the right of return” should be treated as though he had committed treason, in accordance with Palestinian law dealing with the right of return.

 

I am British, and my message to these Fakestinians is. You are Arabs. There never was a race, nation, or state called Palestinian or Palestine. There isn’t even a phonetic ‘P’ in your Arabic language, so you never named yourself Palestinian. The name ‘Palestine’ was given to the land of the Jews by the Roman Emperor – Hadrian in AD 135 after he ransacked the land, and sold most of it’s Jewish inhabitants on the slave markets. That’s how so many became spread across Europe, Asia and Africa.

But God has, and is bringing his people back. And be warned! Those who stand in His way will fall.

THE GOD OF ISRAEL IS THE ONLY TRUE GOD   

Israel Celebrates 67 Years After Its Dramatic, Prophetic Rebirth

 

by Joel C. Rosenberg

Today, Israelis are celebrating our Independence Day. On the Western calendar, we remember May 14th, 1948. But on the Jewish calendar, today marks 67 years since the dramatic, prophetic rebirth of the Jewish State.
A few thoughts to mark the occasion:
Like many of you, we know Israel is a work in progress. This modern country isn’t one that openly and passionately embraces the God of Israel and His Messiah….yet. This isn’t a country where everyone loves God’s Word and reads it, studies it, and seeks to obey it….yet. This isn’t a country where everyone loves each other, and loves our neighbors, and loves our enemies the way the Lord taught us and modeled for us….yet.
But like many of you, we are so grateful that the God of Israel is a God who keeps His promises and is bringing the ancient prophecies to pass. He’s bringing the Jewish people back to this ancient Biblical homeland. He’s rebuilding the ancient ruins. He’s making the deserts bloom. And best of all He is breathing life — spiritual, eternal life — into people throughout this land and region. The Lord has an overwhelming love and amazing grace for all who live here, Jews and Arabs and others alike. And there is a growing remnant of Jewish and Arab followers of Yeshua (Jesus) who love Him are truly seeking to be a blessing to all the people in the epicenter.
Now, for those of you who are interested, some interesting history from 67 years ago this week…..
Today, many take the existence of the modern nation of Israel for granted. But it is actually a stunning miracle and the fulfillment of ancient Bible prophecies. Indeed, few Americans know how close the U.S. government came to refusing to support the establishment of the State of Israel in May of 1948.

Few realize that most of President Truman’s advisors were dead set against the Jewish state, despite the horrors of the Holocaust, and that even many American Jews didn’t support the re-creation of Israel. But God had His purposes. He had His plan. And He made sure His plan came to pass, and remarkably, the U.S. played an interesting role in those prophetic developments. It is a fascinating story, and one I shared in some detail in my non-fiction book in 2012, Implosion. Here are some excerpts you might find interesting on this Israeli Independence Day:
“The Significance of the Rebirth of Israel”
Over the past six decades, the United States has been Israel’s best friend and chief ally. That warm and strategic relationship began with President Harry Truman’s official and highly public decision to be the first world leader to recognize and support the newly declared State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Yet few Americans realize the tectonic struggle that took place at the highest levels of the U.S. government and almost prevented Truman from making or implementing that decision.
Until recently, despite decades of studying Jewish history, traveling to Israel, and working with various Israeli leaders, I had no idea just how close the Jewish state came to being denied early and critical recognition by the American government. Not long ago, however, an Israeli friend recommended that I read Counsel to the President, a book that takes readers inside the Oval Office and describes the political infighting against Israel in vivid detail. What I found absolutely fascinated me.
The book is the memoir of Clark Clifford, a highly respected Democrat who served as senior advisor for and special counsel to President Truman. Later, Clifford served as chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board for President John F. Kennedy, as secretary of defense under President Lyndon Johnson, and as an informal but highly trusted advisor to President Jimmy Carter before retiring from government and later passing away in 1998 at the age of 91.

Clifford’s memoir explains his up-close-and-personal role in some of the most dramatic moments of American history in the post–World War II years, from advising Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, to helping Johnson seek an exit strategy from the Vietnam War, to counseling Carter during the darkest days of his presidency, to playing poker with Winston Churchill on a train bound for Fulton, Missouri, where Churchill was set to deliver his “Iron Curtain” speech.
Yet Clifford didn’t begin his 709-page tome with a description of any of these events. His first chapter, titled “Showdown in the Oval Office,” begins like this:
May 12, 1948—Of all the meetings I ever had with presidents, this one remains the most vivid. Not only did it pit me against a legendary war hero whom President Truman revered, but it did so over an issue of fundamental and enduring national security importance—Israel and the Mideast.
Clifford noted that Truman regarded then–secretary of state (and decorated Army general) George C. Marshall as “the greatest living American,” yet Truman and Marshall were on “a collision course” over Israel that “threatened to split and wreck the administration.” Simply put, “Marshall firmly opposed American recognition of the new Jewish state,” opposition that was “shared by almost every member of the brilliant and now-legendary group of men, later referred to as ‘the Wise Men,’ who were then in the process of creating a postwar foreign policy that would endure for more than forty years.” President Truman, in contrast, was a strong supporter of Israel, in large part because of his belief in the Bible….
Interestingly, Clifford noted that Ben-Gurion and his advisors had not yet decided on a name for the Jewish state. “The name ‘Israel’ was as yet unknown,” Clifford wrote, “and most of us assumed the new nation would be called ‘Judaea.’”…..
Also interesting is the fact that Truman’s support of the creation of the Jewish state was opposed by many American Jews, a fact unknown or forgotten by many friends of Israel.
“A significant number of Jewish Americans opposed Zionism,” Clifford wrote in his memoir. “Some feared that the effort to create a Jewish state was so controversial that the plan would fail. In 1942 a number of prominent Reform rabbis had founded the American Council for Judaism to oppose the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. It grew into an organization of over fourteen thousand members, which collaborated closely with State Department officials.” Clifford also noted that Arthur H. Sulzberger, the Jewish publisher of the New York Times, and Eugene Meyer, the Jewish publisher of the Washington Post, “opposed Zionism” as well.
Nevertheless, Truman had spoken favorably of the creation of a Jewish national homeland since not. long after taking office. In 1947, for example, Truman had publicly made it the policy of the United States government to back passage of the United Nations Partition Plan, creating the legal framework for the rebirth of the State of Israel as well as an adjoining state for the Palestinian Arabs.

To succeed, the Partition Plan needed a two-thirds majority vote of the U.N. General Assembly. With just days to go before that historic vote on November 29, 1947, however, supporters of the plan were still three votes short. Some have suggested that President Truman personally called leaders of other nations to encourage them to support the American position. Others say he didn’t but that staff in his administration did; the record is not clear. Either way, most historians—including David McCullough, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his extraordinary biography Truman—acknowledge that Truman wanted the plan to pass and played a role behind the scenes.
In the end, Truman got his way. The Partition Plan dramatically passed at the last moment, thirty-three to thirteen, with ten abstentions….
Given Truman’s backing of the Partition Plan, it would seem in retrospect that his decision to formally support the new state of Israel was a fait accompli. But the political crisis inside the White House and State Department was real and festering for the next two days. Tensions mounted, and time was running out. Reporters were asking what the president would do on the issue, and the advisors closest to the president had no clue. President Truman kept his cards close to his vest. Clifford later wrote that he thought “the chances for salvaging the situation were very small—but not quite zero.”
By May 14, neither the secretary of state nor the secretary of defense nor any of the Cabinet or senior advisors knew which side the president would come down on. Then, a few hours before Ben-Gurion’s scheduled announcement, an aide to Secretary of State George Marshall called Clifford at the White House to say that Marshall still did not support the creation of Israel but would not oppose the president publicly if he declared in favor. This was a significant breakthrough. With less than an hour to go, the State Department aide called back to suggest again that Secretary Marshall hoped the president would delay making any decision for more internal discussions, presumably over the next few days.
“Only thirty minutes . . . before the announcement would be made in Tel Aviv,” Clifford recalled, “the American segment of the drama was now coming to a climax.” Clifford told the aide he would check with President Truman and get back to the secretary. He waited three minutes, then called the aide back, saying delay was out of the question. Finally, at six o’clock, the president formally announced his final decision to Clifford. The United States would recognize and support the State of Israel. Truman handed his statement to Clifford, who immediately took it to the president’s press secretary, Charlie Ross. At 6:11 p.m., Ross read the statement to the press, and thus to the world:
Statement by the president. This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine. . . . The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.
History had been made. Bible prophecy had just been fulfilled. After a long and painful labor, the State of Israel had miraculously been born in a day. “Who has heard such a thing?” the prophet Isaiah wrote more than seven hundred years before Jesus’ birth. “Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children” (Isaiah 66:8, NIV).
What’s more, the first world leader officially to recognize Israel’s legitimacy was a Christian who had been raised reading the Bible and believed it was true. Most of his senior advisors had vehemently opposed the creation of Israel. Much of the American Jewish community opposed it too. The Arab world would soon turn against the United States and move increasingly into the orbit of the Soviet Union. Yet Truman backed Israel anyway because he believed it was the right thing to do, the biblical thing to do.
“The fundamental basis of this nation’s ideals was given to Moses on Mount Sinai,” Truman once told an audience. “The fundamental basis of the Bill of Rights of our Constitution comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus, St. Matthew, Isaiah, and St. Paul. The Sermon on the Mount gives us a way of life, and maybe someday men will understand it as the real way of life. The basis of all great moral codes is ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.’ Treat others as you would like to be treated.”
That is not to say that Truman made all his decisions based on Scripture. Truman was an intensely private man when it came to spiritual and religious matters, and he did not often discuss what he believed about the Bible and how he connected those beliefs to public policy. The 1940s were a different age. Presidents rarely discussed such matters with the public. Truman even felt reticent about discussing his beliefs with Billy Graham, as Graham described in his autobiography. However, it is not conjecture to say that Bible prophecy was a critical element in Truman’s decision-making process.
Clifford confirmed it in his memoir. “[Truman] was a student and believer in the Bible since his youth. From his reading of the Old Testament he felt the Jews derived a legitimate historical right to Palestine, and he sometimes cited such biblical lines as Deuteronomy 1:8, ‘Behold, I have given up the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord hath sworn unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’”

Happy birthday Israel!