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BELIEVERS IN GRACE MINISTRIES
Pastor Matthew Fanning

September 24, 2009

Why the Heathen Rage
Part 2


By:  Pastor Bill Randles


The nations may well be in a roiling turmoil of competing interests, but there is one thing they are increasingly finding themselves in agreement on, and that is that Israel is a problem that needs to be solved. Because of their desperate need for oil, there is much international deference to Arabs. It is constantly insisted by the so-called “Quartet” (the UN, EU, USA and Russia) that Israel must go back to the pre 1967 borders.  Israel must quit humiliating Palestinians and Israel must grant right of return to full citizenship to Palestinian refugees, etc. Little or no concessions are demanded of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. The pressure by the international community to appease the Arabs at the expense of Israel is a constant burden.

This is perhaps the ultimate "vain imagination" that the nations indulge. That if some world body or world leader would just roll up their sleeves and diplomatically remove the roadblock to peace (Israel) then the global vision of a New (godless) Society would finally be realized. It is as though Israel were a stumbling block impeding the progress of the brave new world, waiting to be picked up and put to the side. Then the Arabs would be happy, the oil would flow and the international golden age could commence.

This is exactly what Zechariah the prophet predicted would happen in the last days,

"Behold, I make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in siege both against Judah and Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people, all that burden themselves with it shall be cut into pieces, though all people of the earth be gathered together against it."(Zechariah 12:2-3)

As the prophecy goes, it is Jerusalem and Judah in particular that become the points of contention for the "people of the earth gathered". In fact this prophecy, uttered in 530 BC could only truly be fulfilled in our day because it is only since 1948 that "all the people of the earth" have had a forum, a deliberative body making resolutions for or against Israel, the UN. It is the UN that has hundreds of times denounced Israel for her defensive wars and pressured her to cede land to her enemies.

Jerusalem, the only city on earth that the God of the Bible says He would "put His name there", is adamantly decreed by the UN to be either a “divided city” or to be an international city. Though Jerusalem is considered by Israel to be its capitol city almost no other nation, including the USA, would put its embassy there in craven deference to the Arabs.

Judea, the very heart of Biblical Israel, isn't even called by the nations of the world by it’s proper name, rather it is either called "the West Bank" or "the occupied Palestinian territories". As Zechariah predicted, it is virtually in a state of siege. Jewish returnee settlers have to live in virtual fortresses and carry guns at all times. They are the object of numerous UN denunciations and are hated almost universally, even by Jewish politicians who would love nothing more than to appease the Arabs for “peace”.

The Hebrew prophet Joel also predicted these times and startlingly predicted the very issues the UN calls for, the dividing of the land of Israel.

"For behold in those days and at that time when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat (God shall judge), and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and PARTED MY LAND..." (Joel 3:1-2)

Obama himself joined the UN in their condemnation of Israel for daring to build housing in East Jerusalem. The current US administration is also adamant about what they call a "no natural growth" policy for Judea. The UN and Obama have determined a number of how many Jews can live in Judea (which they consider to be the new Palestinian state) and seek a policy of "no natural growth", meaning that if one Jewish baby is born, another Jewish settler has to leave, thus choking out Jewish settlement in Judea.

This doesn't end well folks, He that sits in the heavens will indeed laugh at them, but then "He will speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure". Judgment is coming to the earth, therefore it would be wise to take to heart the solemn command God gives in view of these things, at the end of Psalm 2:

"Be wise now therefore O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth, Serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they who put their trust in Him."

Worship, fear and rejoice in the God who is King of the universe, and come to Him, worshipping the Son - Jesus - who died for your sins.