Jesus MUST be coming back soon because - can you believe it - Mike and I AGREE ON SOMETHING! Wow...huh?
My comment is currently in "moderation mode." Oh wait, just went back there and it has been released. Nonetheless, this is what I wrote in response:
Mike,
You will never believe it. I agree with your first comment here. However, you must realize that people on the “other side” never will.
Israel has shown great restraint in its handling of the Palestinian aggression. Sending rockets into Israel sporadically over the past (how many years now??) has been met with sporadic response. The barrage of missiles recently sent by Hamas terrorists ‘broke the camel’s back’ so to speak and Israel now realizes that giving them land, providing jobs through border crossings, giving them supplies to live on won’t appease their hatred and intent to destroy Israel as a state. Hamas is being supplied with weapons by Iran. Do you have any doubt that once Iran gets nukes they won’t use them? Who will Iran attack first? Most likely, Israel.
Many Christians believe that this conflict (Arab vs. Israel) will never cease until Jesus returns. This is well known through prophecy in the Bible. It is a spiritual battle as well as a physical battle, Mike. Please try and remember that. It may help you in your correspondence with the Pro-Hamas/Palestinian people you have written to (or, may meet with even more ridicule - which may be likely).
There is much more that I could write about this, but I won’t bore you with it all. One thing to remember is that the tiny state of Israel is surrounded by huge Arab countries. They have PLENTY of land where they COULD re-settle the Palestinians. Jordan is a good example. Have you ever asked yourself WHY these Arab nations won’t give the Palestinians any of their land and want them to continue their battles and hatred against Israel?
Answer: Because despite all of the spin of the Media of Mass Deception (and the Arabs/Palestinian LEADERS/Hamas), the ultimate goal is the destruction and obliteration of Israel. Recall Ahmadinijad’s call to “wipe Israel off the face of the earth?” Do you think he was making a joke? Of course not.
Thus, these people would rather DIE than leave Israel alone and live in peace side by side with Her. Their Hamas leaders would rather hide among the civilians KNOWING THAT the rightful retaliation of Israel will cause collateral damage and kill THEIR OWN WOMEN AND CHILDREN! Who is REALLY at fault for that? I think you know the true answer.
I am very glad to see you stand up for the sake of Israel, Mike. Even when the naysayers reply to you - thinking that they are more “educated” about the region and thus “smarter” than you on this matter. Guess what. They are NOT! They have just fallen into the typical, propaganda scheme that has been emanating from the Middle East for decades upon decades. Propaganda can be strong when you have the liberal media around the world spewing their anti-Israel rhetoric. What’s more, these demonstrators in the U.S. ARE IGNORANT about the WHYS and goals of groups like Hamas. I don’t like to hear about civilians being killed any more than anyone else. But when it comes to the survival of Israel - this war is necessary. It is necessary for them to respond harshly. Suicide/homicide bombers don’t care about their own deaths. But they pretend to care about their women and children being killed? Does that make sense? They could have stopped the rocket attacks which would have led to a cease fire of all hostilities. THEY WON’T DO IT! Why? Because of all the reasons I have already shared in this post.
Christinewjc said this on January 3, 2009 at 11:34 am
As many readers here already know, I have been reading Dr. David Jeremiah's latest book called "What in the World Is Going On? 10 Prophetic Clues You Cannot Afford to Ignore." I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK! What's more, you can now get the book just by donating to Jeremiah's ministry!
In chapter 8 entitled "The New Axis of Evil" Dr. Jeremiah does a brilliant job of showing how ancient prophecy (in the book of Ezekiel) is being played out and revealed on the national stage here in 2008 and 2009. I would love to type the entire chapter out for everyone to read! It is that good! Perhaps I can do a series of posts because it is quite long and detailed.
If you can't wait for the posts, you can get a summary of what the chapter is about by viewing one of Dr. Jeremiah's past sermons online. [Note: You can get the video to full screen mode by clicking on the "square" icon at the bottom right of the page - next to the running time indicator. Also, if you are pressed for time you can fast forward to the sermon portion which starts at @ 16:00 into the video.] When I finish typing this, I am going to watch the broadcast again!
One piece of additional information that I should have shared in my comment on Mike's blog is the fact that Ahmadinejad is only a figurehead under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many people already know this. We also know that Iran has been identified as a state sponsor of terrorism.
This portion of chapter 8 in Dr. Jeremiah's book is especially chilling:
The Iranian regime is well known for its hatred of Israel and its desire to eliminate her. In October 2005, the newly elected president Ahmadinejad declared to the World Without Zionism audience, "As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map...Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury." He went on to say that any Islamic leader "who recognized the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world."20Endnotes:
Iran's militant influence extends beyond her own borders. In March 2008, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah railed, "The presence of Israel is but temporary and cannot go on in the region. We will see you killed in the fields, we will kill you in the cities, we will fight you like you have never seen before." 21 Hezbollah leaders do not have the authority to make such threats on their own. Hezbollah is an Islamic fundamentalist group, and though its base of operations is Lebanon, its authority comes from a source higher in the Islamic hierarchy. As Hezbollah's deputy chief, Sheikh Naim Qassem has said, "Even when it comes to firing rockets on Israeli civilians, that decision requires an in-principle permission from [the ruling jurisprudent]," 22 In this case the ruling jurisprudent would be the supreme leader of Iran - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "We ask, receive answers, and then apply. This is even true for acts of suicide for the sake of Allah - no one may kill himself without a jurisprudence permission [from Khamenei]."23 Thus we can see that the aggressive and threatening influence of Iran infects and controls other Islamic terrorist organizations.
20 Nazila Fathi, "Iran's President Says 'Israel Must Be Wiped Off the Map,'" The New York Times, 26 October 2007, NY Times.com 2005 (accessed 18 April 2008)
21 "UN boss alarmed by Hezbollah's threat against Israel," Agence France-Presse, 3 March 2008, Agence France-Presse (accessed 3 March 2008).
22 Aaron Klein, "Hezbollah: Rockets fired into Israel directed by Iran, "WorldNetDaily, 7 May 2007, WorldNetDaily (accessed 5 September 2007).
23 Ibid.
Another great post to read is over at The NEIN blog - U.S. Intelligence official "breaks silence" on Israel situation"
Joel Rosenberg's blog is an excellent resource for keeping up to date on what is happening in Israel. His latest post is called COULD HAMAS ROCKETS HIT ISRAEL’S NUCLEAR PLANT? New poll finds Israelis moving toward Likud.
As I had previously suggested in my former post (link above) - it now appears that many Israelis are moving toward voting Likud - which means in favor of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Excerpt:
Meanwhile, Israel’s Operation Cast Lead is having a curious political effect in Israel. The Kadima party — run by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who are overseeing the war — is losing support among voters, while the opposition Likud Party (run by Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu) has pulled ahead significantly in recent days. A new Jerusalem Post poll found that “the Likud had risen from 27 seats to 29, Labor had gone up from 14 to 15, and Kadima had fallen from 27 to 23 since the previous Post poll was published on October 31. Likud and Kadima, which were tied then, are now six seats apart, and the Right bloc’s advantage over the Left remains a hefty eight mandates, 64 to 56.”
Of course, as always - Israel needs our FERVENT PRAYERS during this time of crisis! Pray for protection of Israel and her people! Pray for protection of innocent Palestinian civilians - despite the fact that the Hamas terrorists will use any such deaths (precisely because they cowardly hide among women and children) as propaganda to get other nations on the "hate Israel" bandwagon.
Israel - STAY STRONG! Most Americans and our prayers are WITH YOU!
*******
Update @ 12:06 p.m. PT -
Another good blog post over at Israpundit about the Gaza Operation.
Excerpt:
A second J Street statement was worse by far. It could find no moral difference between the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian militants, who have launched more than 5,000 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli civilians in the past three years, and the long-delayed response of Israel, which finally lost patience and responded to the pleas of its battered citizens in the south. “Neither Israelis nor Palestinians have a monopoly on right or wrong,” it said, and it suggested that there was no reason and no way to judge between them: “While there is nothing ‘right’ in raining rockets on Israeli families or dispatching suicide bombers, there is nothing ‘right’ in punishing a million and a half already-suffering Gazans for the actions of the extremists among them.”
These words are deeply distressing because they are morally deficient, profoundly out of touch with Jewish sentiment and also appallingly naïve. A cease-fire instituted by Hamas would be welcome, and Israel would be quick to respond. A cease-fire imposed on Israel would allow Hamas to escape the consequences of its actions yet again and would lead in short order to the renewal of its campaign of terror. Hamas, it should be noted, is not a government; it is a terrorist gang. And as long as the thugs of Hamas can act with impunity, no Israeli government of the right or the left will agree to a two-state solution or any other kind of peace. Doves take note: To be a dove of influence, you must be a realist, firm in your principles but shorn of all illusions.
I zeroed in on that part of the post precisely because I had recently read the following in David Kupelian's "The Marketing of Evil." In chapter 8 entitled, "The Media Matrix: How the Press Creates a World of Illusion We Think Is Real," Kupelian writes about the "extreme matrix programming going on in some parts of the Islamic world where they teach children that their "highest calling" in life is to be a suicide/homicide bomber so that they kill as many innocent people as possible. They are taught that such an insane belief will help them "earn their way into heaven" with all of the fraudulent promises of "rewards" that the Islamofascists preach.
Kupelian writes:
The thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of such youngsters are not their own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Rather, they have been cruelly injected into them, by means of the same sorts of brainwashing techniques that have been used by cult leaders like Charles Manson and Jim Jones. Powerful emotions of hatred, false love, pride and envy, lying philosophies about who God is and how to please Him, all tend to appeal to the victim's lower nature - the brainwasher's best ally in this conversion process. Indeed, what Christianity calls "pride" and psychology calls "ego" is full of weaknesses that can be exploited.
The jihadist child's desire for glory and his mortal fear of shaming his family - remember, the sick subculture he lives in literally revolves around honor and shame, not right and wrong - can be played like a musical instrument by a skillful manipulator desiring to implant hatred and call it forth to action. Whether you call it conditioning, programming, or mind control, you must admit that, whatever it is, it must be very strong to induce young people to overcome their own natural desire to live, to have a family, to be happy.
Kupelian NAILS IT! Especially with this portion:
"The jihadist child's desire for glory and his mortal fear of shaming his family - remember, the sick subculture he lives in literally revolves around honor and shame, not right and wrong - can be played like a musical instrument by a skillful manipulator desiring to implant hatred and call it forth to action."
I don't need to tell you that the past generation of "jihadist children" are now all grown up and running terrorist organizations like Hamas!!
HT's:
Mike Rucker's blog
Dr. David Jeremiah.com
Sean Osborne's The NEIN blog
Joel Rosenberg's blog