Shalom friends,

Over Yom Teruah, the fall feast of the Lord known as Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), large parts of drought-ridden Israel received the blessing of a rainfall that broke seasonal records.

We see this as God's blessing for two reasons. 1) We now have a government much more in line with God's will, and 2) aliyah, Jews immigrating to Israel, increased significantly this past year as planeloads of Jews returned from Western nations, South Africa and even from South America. These encourage us greatly since they are answers to our prayers. As Yeshua taught His disciples men ought always to pray, and not to faint. (Luke 18:1b) Though the rain brought hope, keep praying! The whole region is desperate for water.

False vs. true interpretation

Early in Church history, the "Church Fathers" started to spiritualize and / or allegorize prophecy. They taught that "Israel" in the Old Testament now meant the Church, because they "knew" God had rejected the Jews forever. This is the heresy of replacement theology, taught in many churches but not in Scripture. It contributes to the spread of anti-Semitism and prevents the Church from seeing that the Jewish people and the land of Israel remain a major part of God's plan.

Chuck challenges churches about this issue by asking, When we interpret Tanach prophecy, shouldn't we expect a literal fulfillment of prophecy like Yeshua and the New Testament writers did? If Yeshua expected prophecy to be fulfilled literally, then we as His followers who have the mind of Messiah (1 Cor. 2:16) should use His method of interpretation. This is what the NT writers did.

For example:

All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, … God with us.

Matt. 1:22-23

All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King comes unto you … sitting upon a donkey….

Matt. 21:4-5

Do you think that I cannot pray to My Father, and He shall give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled…?

Matt. 26:53-54a

They said…, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled…: They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture they did cast lots.

John 19:24a

…Yeshua, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst.

John 19:28

For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken. And again another scripture says, They shall look on Him whom they pierced.

John 19:36-37

But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Messiah should suffer, He has fulfilled.

Acts 3:18

Does bloodshed offend us?

Another issue arises today concerning prophecy. An increasingly accepted humanistic concept of God does not support the idea that He would fulfill His Word by real bloodshed, warfare and death. Yet how were we saved? Through the fulfillment of God's prophetic word in the shedding of Yeshua's blood ending in His death, and only after that, through His resurrection.

Why did Noah need to build an ark? Even though God gives adequate prophetic warning, He knew He would destroy wickedness from the earth by killing everyone except Noah and his family. How was Israel set free from Egypt? Through ten plagues, the last being the death of all Egypt's first born. God led Joshua to conquer the Caananites through warfare. How did David confront Goliath? Face to face to the death.

What does God say about the end of this age? Will His kingdom (rulership) come by "peace" or will a false peace be a deception through the anti-Messiah leading to war with God?

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. … And it shall come to pass … that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Zech. 12:3,9

For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you [Israel during her time of restoration] shall perish. Yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

Isa. 60:12

For, behold, in the days…when I shall bring again [return] the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations … into the valley of Jehoshaphat [YHWH is Judge], and will judge them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided My land.

Joel 3:1-2

UN: the World vs. Israel

In September, the UN held its annual General Assembly meeting. During this time, US President Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister [PM] "Bibi" Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority's [PA] President Abbas to pressure them to restart the "peace" process, unsuccessfully thank God.

Many world leaders spoke at the UN, including Obama, Libya's leader Gaddafi, and Iran's President Ahmadinejad. At best, the podium was a vehicle for half-truths and anti-Zionist innuendos, but often vicious lies spewed forth - until Netanyahu spoke.

In the last Watchmen, we compared Obama's Cairo speech with Netanyahu's major policy speech given in Israel. The difference was the same: darkness vs. light, lies and distortions vs. truth. Netanyahu brought a strong word from Zion, but whether world leaders will listen or not, they have been warned.

Although his message was not theological, it was more than political. In some ways it was prophetic. Scripture shows God can speak through non-believers: Balaam (Num. 23-24) and Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-4), and of course, if God can use a donkey to speak, is anything too hard for Him? (Num. 22:28-30; Jer. 32:17, 27)

We are not sure if Bibi Netanyahu believes in the God of Israel, yet since he is part of the answer to our prayers that God would give Israel a government through whom He can glorify Himself, we are not surprised that he was used to declare truth into the demonic atmosphere that surrounds today's UN.

The JP's Herb Keinon said that Bibi took to task the countries of the world that had sat silently and listened the day before to the Holocaust-denier … Ahmadinejad…. To those who boycotted [his] speech, or left in protest, Netanyahu said, I commend you, you stood up for moral clarity. But for those who stayed - I say on behalf of the Jewish people, my people and decent people everywhere - have you no shame? No decency? What a disgrace, what a mockery of the charter of the UN.  Thank God that Bibi is not in bondage to political correctness.

Netanyahu noted that the UN had been founded after the carnage of World War II precisely to prevent a recurrence of such events. Nothing has undermined that mission … more than the systematic assault on the truth. … Yesterday Iran's president stood at this podium spewing his latest anti-Semitic rants. Just a few days earlier, he claimed the Holocaust is a lie.

Netanyahu warned the world, saying, Perhaps some of you think that [Ahmadinejad] and his odious regime threaten only the Jews. … But if you think that, you are wrong, dead wrong.

He said Iran's leadership is energized by a fundamentalism that … has swept across the globe with a murderous violence that … has callously slaughtered Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus and many others. The battle against this fanaticism pits civilization against barbarism, the 21^st century against the 9^th century, those who sanctify life, against those who glorify death.

Netanyahu said that the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fanaticism and weapons of mass destruction. He then questioned whether the world was up to this challenge, asking, Will the international community stand up to the despotism of a government against its own people? - referring to the recent Iranian elections. The jury is still out on the UN. Recent signs are not encouraging.

Keinon continues, The prime minister then went on to slam the recently published Goldstone Report, which accused Israel of war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in January. Not one UN resolution was passed condemning Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. … We heard nothing, absolutely nothing from the UN Human Rights Council.

Netanyahu reminded his audience, Israel unilaterally withdrew from every inch of Gaza, uprooting over 8,000 Israelis from their homes … because many in Israel believed this would get peace. … Instead we got an Iranian-backed terror base 50 miles from Tel-Aviv, and life in Israeli towns and cities near Gaza became nothing less than a nightmare. Hamas attacks increased tenfold after we withdrew, and the UN was silent, absolutely silent.

Then after eight years of unremitting assault, Israel was forced to respond. … Faced with an enemy committing double war crimes - firing at civilians while hiding behind civilians - Israel sought to carry out surgical attacks on terrorists … tried to minimize civilian casualties.

Referring to the Human Rights Council's report that condemned Israel, he again challenged the nations, stating, if the report is not rejected … the world will be sending a message to terrorists that terrorism pays - you will win immunity if you launch your attacks from densely populated areas.

What a travesty! The biased and unjust report provided a clear-cut test to all governments - will you stand with Israel or with the terrorists?

Netanyahu said, all of Israel wants peace … if the Palestinians truly want peace, we will make peace. But we want a defensible, permanent peace. We ask the Palestinians to say yes to a Jewish state, as simple, as clear, as elementary as that. We are not foreign conquerors in the Land of Israel. We are not strangers - this is our homeland, but … we recognize that the Palestinians also live here and want a home. We want to live side by side in peace, prosperity and dignity.

He emphasized that Israel must have security, repeating what he said earlier this year.

A Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarized because we don't want another Gaza, or south Lebanon…. We want peace … but it requires from all of us to roll back the forces of terror backed by Iran that seek to eliminate Israel and overthrow world order.

He ended his speech quoting from the book of Joshua, Let us be strong and of good courage…

("Netanyahu rips UN for Ahmadinejad 'disgrace'," H. Keinon, JP, 24 Sept. 2009)

"Behold, I will make Jerusalem…" (Zech. 12:2-3)

We see end time scriptures about this city coming to pass. The battle over Jerusalem is intensifying, with the US and most of the world on the wrong side - against Israel's God. From July until today, The US State Dept. [has said] … that Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem are settlements, which Pres. Obama has called illegitimate…. Approximately 300,000 Jews live in these neighborhoods. At the UN Obama used that same label about Jerusalem's post-'67 neighborhoods.

Netanyahu responded that Israel has complete sovereignty over all Jerusalem and decides issues such as building permits. Deputy FM Danny Ayalon added, Our right to rule and develop Jerusalem is irrefutable. ("US Policy: Jews in Eastern Jerusalem are Unwanted 'Settlers'," Arutz 7, 22 July 2009)

France and Russia joined in the fray on Obama's side, calling for a complete cessation of what foreign media are increasingly calling settlements in eastern Jerusalem. ("Worldwide Coalition, Media Putting Israel in Corner," Arutz 7, 22 July 2009)

Yet Bibi has not moved, as he told British officials in London, Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is the sovereign capital of the State of Israel…. We have been building in Jerusalem for 3,000 years. ("…Jerusalem is Sovereign Capital of Israel," Arutz 7, 26 Aug. 2009)

Columnist Jeff Jacoby noted that the US has demanded that Israel pull the plug on a planned housing development near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. Yet the project is indisputably legal…. Why, then, does the administration want the development killed? Because Sheikh Jarrah is in a largely Arab section of Jerusalem, and the developers of the planned apartments are Jews. … Six months after Barack Obama became the first black man to move into the previously all-white residential facility at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, he is fighting to prevent integration in Jerusalem.

It is impossible to imagine the opposite scenario: The [US] would never demand that Israel prevent Arabs from moving into a Jewish neighborhood. And the Obama Justice Dept. would unleash seven kinds of hell on anyone who tried to impose racial, ethnic, or religious redlining in an American city. In the 21^st century, segregation is unthinkable - except, it seems, when it comes to housing Jews in Jerusalem…

To their credit, Israeli leaders spoke truth to power, and said no, with Netanyahu saying, Jerusalem residents can purchase apartments anywhere in the city. … There is no ban on Arabs buying apartments in the west of the city; and there is no ban on Jews building or buying in the city's east.

Jacoby brings some historical truth to the issue. In reality, Jews always lived in eastern Jerusalem - it is the location of the Old City and its famous Jewish Quarter, and Hebrew University since its founding in 1918 is there as well. Only from 1948 to 1967 - during the Jordanian occupation - was the eastern part of Israel's capital Arab territory.

The great obstacle to Middle East [ME] peace is not that Jews insist on living among Arabs. It is that Arabs insist that Jews not live among them. If Obama doesn't yet grasp that, he has a lot to learn. ("Black pres. demanding segregation in Jerusalem," J. Jacoby, Jewish World Review,22 July 2009)

The City of David hijacked

In Bethlehem, Abbas' "moderate" Fatah held its first conference in 20 years. Did we say moderate? The very first sentence of the opening speech honored shahids [suicide murderers] who killed themselves [along with] Jews. In the name of the shahids and in the name of Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state, we declare the opening of the 6^th convention of our movement, Fatah.

Not only were there pictures of Fatah terrorists on the walls of the hotel where they met, but Fatah's official symbol includes a map of all of Israel - not just Judea and Samaria - on the backdrop of a rifle and sword, thus making Fatah indistinguishable from Hamas in their ultimate goals to replace all of Israel. ("Fatah Convention Opens With Hamas-Like Platform," Arutz 7, 4 Aug. 2009)

Yuli Edelstein of Netanyahu's Likud party, saw this gathering as a declaration of war, saying, We must emerge from the circle of illusions that these are moderates who want peace.

Edelstein said that Israel must explain the difference between dreams and reality, to the rest of the world. This is Fatah … whom the international community is pushing us to negotiate with. ("…Fatah congress a declaration of war," Ynetnews,4 Aug. 2009)

During the conference, a JP editorial wrote:

Nearly 16 years after the advent of the Oslo process… nothing would gratify us more than unambiguous indications that peaceful reconciliation is indeed possible and that we have true partners with whom to negotiate in good faith.

But thus far … Fatah's make-or-break rivalry with Hamas is underpinning the more radical elements within it rather than inspiring ideals of coexistence. In the competition for hearts and minds of ordinary Palestinians - already indoctrinated by [decades of] hostile, anti-Israeli propaganda in the classrooms, media and mosques - readiness for compromise isn't regarded as an attractive selling point.

Hamas control of Gaza is a problem for Fatah, proving Fatah cannot speak for the entire Palestinian constituency, and is helpless as Hamas moves to gradually alter Gaza's character and mindset via the Islamization of daily life. ("Fatah's goals," JP Editorial, 4 Aug. 2009)

Pinchas Inbar, a senior policy analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, wrote in the JP, There is great international interest in [this] Fatah assembly since so much of the international community perceives the Palestinian problem as the key to the entire spectrum of conflicts in the ME. The crucial question: Is Fatah going to waive the principle of 'armed struggle' and devote itself to peace talks based on compromise?

The two relevant documents to be discussed and approved by the [Fatah] congress are the political program and Fatah's 'internal order.' The political program … falls short of waiving the principle of armed struggle.

The real problem lies in the internal order document … The term armed popular struggle appears at the very beginning. And the internal order goes on to say, Projects, agreements, and resolutions that were issued or will be issued by the UN or group of states or any separate state on the Palestinian problem that waives the rights of the Palestinians on their homeland is null and void.

Article 12 calls for the liberation of Palestine completely and the elimination of the state of the Zionist occupation economically, politically, militarily, and culturally.

Article 17: The armed popular revolution is the only inevitable way to the liberation of Palestine.

Article 19: The struggle will not end until the elimination of the Zionist entity….

Inbar concludes, while Fatah's political program tries to accommodate international expectations… its 'internal order' reminds us that the Fatah ideology of the 1960s and '70s remains deeply ingrained. ("Will Fatah give up the 'armed struggle'?" P. Inbar, JP Analysis, 5 Aug. 2009)

Israel's true declaration that Jerusalem is her eternal capital is counterfeited by Fatah for their own purposes. There will be no peace if Jerusalem is not restored as the eternal capital of the Palestinian state. What state? Such a state or capital never existed!

Fatah further fantacizes that holy Jerusalem [is] the eternal spiritual capital of Palestine, of the Arab homeland, and of the Muslim and Christian world… Obviously with no Jews in the picture. ("Fatah 6^th General Conference Resolutions…" C. Jacob, MEMRI, 16 Aug 2009)

The above excerpts from Fatah's final resolutions show that Palestinians have no leadership willing to compromise one iota for the sake of peace and a nation of their own. In this, God continues to protect Israel from the manipulations of the nations to divide His land (Num. 23:23).

Understanding Israel

In the JP's blog section, David Harris writes, anyone who genuinely seeks peace … should consider four key factors that inform the Israeli worldview.

Geography:

Israel is a small country, about the size of New Jersey or Wales…. To put it into context, Egypt is approximately 50x larger than Israel, Saudi Arabia 100x.

…Until its 1967 war for survival, Israel's borders, which were nothing more than the armistice lines from the 1948 War of Independence, were nine miles at their narrowest point, near the country's mid-section and most populous area…

History:

…the Jewish people have been linked to this region for over 3,000 years…. The Jewish people were born here, their sacred texts emerged here, their temples were built here, and, when forcibly exiled, they never stopped dreaming of their return….

To read the Hebrew Bible, especially the Psalms, is to come across Jerusalem and Zion literally hundreds of times….

Psychology:

Some dismiss Israel's preoccupation with security as obsessive. How can it be … that the country with the strongest armed forces in the region feels … so under the gun? … What is any nation to make of calls for its destruction from another nation that is hell-bent on acquiring the tools to achieve its goal?

So Israel has every right, indeed obligation, to take Iran's nuclear ambitions seriously - just as it has every right, indeed, obligation, to take seriously the 40,000 missiles in Hizbullah's arsenal in Lebanon and the desire of Hamas in Gaza to emulate Hizbullah's example. Are the words of Hamas and Hizbullah, which cry out for Israel's annihilation, simply to be ignored? … Are those who have themselves been targeted for destruction more than once simply to assume it cannot be tried again and instead get a good night's sleep? …

Yearning:

Survivors of the exiles, the pogroms, the inquisitions, the blood libels, the ghettos and death camps don't need lectures about why they should seek 'normality'.

("Understanding Israel," D. Harris, JP Blogs,6 Aug. 2009)

Islamic lies and hatred of the Jew…

are part of Islam's religious worldview. The Koran's central anti-Semitic motif decrees an eternal curse upon the Jews (Koran 2:61 & 3:112) for slaying the prophets and transgressing the will of Allah…

The Koran's discussion of the Jews is marked by a litany of their sins and punishments, as if part of a divine indictment, conviction, and punishment process…they are the devil's minions (4:60) cursed by Allah, their faces will be obliterated (4:47), and if they do not accept the true faith of Islam… (3:113) - they will be made into apes (2:65/7:166), or apes and swine (5:60), and burn in the Hell-fires (4:55, 5:29, 98:6, & 58:14-19)…

The rise of Jewish nationalism - Zionism - posed a predictable, if completely unacceptable challenge to the Islamic order…. As historian Bat Ye'or explained, …because the divine will dooms Jews to wandering and misery [17:4-5/7:168; & 2:61/3:112], the Jewish state appears to Muslims as an unbearable affront and a sin against Allah. Therefore it must be destroyed by Jihad. ("…Islam's Jew-Hating Hadith…," A. G. Bostom, FrontPageMagazine.com, 3 Oct. 2008)

In Gaza, Hamas religious leader, Z. Abu Alhaj, said [Israel] is a cancer that wants to rule the world…. The time will come, by Allah's will, when their property will be destroyed, their children will be exterminated, no Jew or Zionist will be left on the face of this earth. [Hamas (Al-Aqsa) TV, April 3, 2009] (PMW: "…Jews are evil,their children will be exterminated," Marcus & Crook, IMRA, 19 Apr. 2009)

Egyptian cleric M. H. Ya'qoub recently said on TV,

As for you Jews - the curse of Allah upon you…You have sown hatred in our hearts, we have bequeathed it to our children and grandchildren. You will not survive as long as a single one of us remains…

Oh Allah, bring Your wrath, punishment, and torment down upon them. Allah, we pray that you transform them again, and make the Muslims rejoice again in seeing them as apes and pigs.

(MEMRI: "Egyptian Cleric Ya'qoub: Jews are Enemies of Muslims Regardless of the Occupation…", IMRA, 12 Mar. 2009)

Palestinians incite their people against the Jews. In a TV interview with T. Tamimi, the PA's chief religious justice, he characterized the Jews as evil, insisted they had no connection whatsoever to Jerusalem and claimed Jesus was a Palestinian Arab. ("Arab incitement violates Road Map…" Israel Today,8 July 2009)

Possible prophetic scenarios

Jihad of the womb:

A high birth rate among Muslim immigrants …will make [Muslims] a majority of the population in many EU countries in less than 40 years…[The Islamic] baby boom already is changing the face of European society, where Muslims have made inroads to challenge the authority of secular law with Sharia [Isalmic] regulations. Europe's Muslim population has more than doubled since 1980 and will double again in less than six years…

("Baby Boom Intifada: EU Muslim Population…," Arutz 7, 10 Aug. 2009)

Water wars:

A recent analysis by scholars at the Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai warns of tension developing in the near future between Arab countries, Israel and Iran over a scarcity of water in a region hit by the worst drought in modern times…

("ME water crisis…spark war," ICEJ News, 18 Aug. 2009)

A water rights battle over the historic Tigris and Euphrates rivers simmered today, as Iraq and Syria appealed for increased water flows to cope with severe drought but Turkey said it was already too overstretched. The issue threatens to disrupt the newly warm relations between Turkey and its neighbors and complicate wider efforts to bring stability to the region, as the populations of the three countries increase and the demand for water grows.

("Turkey, Iraq and Syria tussle over water rights," AP, IMRA, 3 Sept. 2009)

Iran/Persia: There are possible prophetic implications (see Ezek. 38-39) in the following reports.

Columnist Barry Rubin noted that Iran's real leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, revealed Iran's goal of bringing Iraq and Turkey into an alliance with Iran and Syria. That should send shock waves throughout the West, and cause intelligence analysts to … inform someone who has Obama's ear. Iran and Syria, along with their clients, are at war with America and the US government doesn't even know it… ("Iran & Syria: So happy together," B. Rubin, JP Op-ed,23 Aug. 2009)

In late August, Iranian and Russian representatives called for further expansion of ties including the promotion of bilateral political, economic, trade, and banking cooperation… They also underscored the need for exchange of political and economic delegations between the two states. ("Iran, Russia Ready to Boost Ties," [Iran's] Fars News Agency, 29 Aug. 2009)

Iranian President Ahmadinejad ordered the replacement of the US dollar by the Euro in the country's foreign exchange accounts. Iran had already said the Euro would replace the dollar in the country's oil transactions. Iran has called on other OPEC members to ditch the sinking dollar in favor of the more credible Euro…. Since being introduced by the EU, the Euro has gained popularity internationally. There are now more euros in circulation than dollars. The move will also help decouple Iran from the US banking system. ("Iran Replaces Dollar with Euro in Foreign Exchange," [Iran's] Fars News Agency,20 Sept. 2009)

A JP editorial summed up Ahmadinejad. The autocrat who stole a basically fixed Iranian election in which only vetted candidates could compete, who believes a cabal of Jews controls the world, that the Holocaust never happened and Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth, has now given his word that Iran has no interest in acquiring nuclear weapons: We fundamentally believe nuclear bombs are the wrong thing to have. ("Think Cuban missile crisis," JP Editorial, 28 Sept. 2009) Should we believe him? Why are so many of the world's leaders treating him and his regime as if whatever he says is truth?

Chuck on YouTube

Christian Perspectives Radio posted a seven minute clip on YouTube of Chuck speaking about "What Christians need to know about Israel".

I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war.

Revelation 19:11

Chuck & Karen Cohen