TITLE: THE PARADOX OF THE CHURCH & ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH MODERN ISRAEL

Subtitle: Should Evangelicals View Israel In The Context That They Can Do No Wrong?

The short answer to our subtitle is absolutely not! But the paradox is found in the fact that Jews are still God's chosen people and we must pray for them and seek God's blessings upon them. Those who insist upon supporting the nation of  Israel without reservation are just as wrong as those who believe God has forever damned them. The fact of the matter is that, according to the Bible, they will yet be restored to God's favor because of the unconditional promises He made to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. At the present, both Israel and unbelieving Jewry worldwide, are still "on the shelf" temporarily because they rejected their Messiah. We see this principle stated by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 11:

"I ask then, has God totally rejected and disowned His people? Of course not! Why, I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin! [2] No, God has not rejected and disowned His people [whose destiny] He had marked out and appointed and foreknown from the beginning. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? [3] Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have demolished Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. [4] But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal! [5] So too at the present time there is a remnant (a small believing minority), selected (chosen) by grace--by God's unmerited favor and graciousness. [6] But if it is by grace--His unmerited favor and graciousness--it is no longer conditioned on works or anything men have done. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace--it would be meaningless. [7] What then [shall we conclude]? Israel failed to obtain what it sought [God's favor by obedience to law]. Only the elect (those chosen few) obtained it; while the rest of them became callously indifferent--blinded, hardened and made insensible to it. [8] As it is written, God gave them a spirit (an attitude) of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, [that has continued] down to this very day. [9] And David says, Let their table (their feasting, banqueting) become as snare and a trap, a pitfall and a just retribution--rebounding as a boomerang upon them. [10] Let their eyes be darkened (dimmed) so that they cannot see, and make them bend their back [stooping beneath their burden] forever. [11] So I ask, Have they stumbled so as to fall--to their utter spiritual ruin, irretrievably? By no means! But through their false step and transgression salvation [has come] to the Gentiles, so as to arouse Israel [to see and feel what they forfeited] and so to make them jealous. [12] Now if their stumbling--their lapse, their transgression--has so enriched the world [at large], and if [Israel's] failure means such riches for the Gentiles,think what an enrichment and greater advantage will follow their full reinstatement! Romans 11:1-12, (Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible commentary, emphasis mine).

The "dry bones" of Ezekiel 37 are now back in the land of Israel. Miraculously so! Christian brethren who hold the Preterist position have been (and continue to be) mistaken about the future of Israel. And for the life of me I cannot understand how they can still overlook the obvious! As Samuel said to King Saul, "What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in my ears?" (1 Samuel 15:14). In other words, how can the position be maintained in light of undeniable evidence to the contrary? Don't look now, but modern Israel is 55 years old as of May 14, 2003! Millions of Jews now occupy their ancestral homeland, but the vast majority of them are secular--professing no belief in their ancient system of worship. This is the "dry bones" concept prophesied in Ezekiel:

"Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. [5] Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: [6] And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. [7] So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. [8] And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. [9] Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. [10] So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. [11]Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. [12] Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel" Ezekiel 37:4-12 (KJV, emphasis mine).

As these verses clearly portray, someday God is going to bring life to those bones now residing in Israel plus millions more who will come in the future! For the better part of 2000 years, only a handful of Jews could be found in the land, but their numbers are now growing daily. Unfortunately, their leadership is comprised of men who are Illuminists and bent upon pursuing the Zionist goal of "greater Israel"--which is in fact the ultimate quest for world domination under the New Age "christ". So those misguided evangelicals who continue to lobby congress for unlimited aid and assistance to Israel are in fact contributing ultimately to the kingdom of antichrist! God forbid that we do anything to harm them, but we must exercise spiritual discernment and great restraint where they are concerned. We should do everything in our power to aid and comfort Jewish Christians in Israel and around the world, but at the same time keep their present government at arm's length, so to speak. Our own national leadership is working hand in glove with that of Israel to bring about a "New World Order" in which Christians and Moslems will ultimately be persona non grata and exterminated. Does it make any sense to you that Christian leaders--who are supposed to know Bible prophecy--would participate in such treachery? Frankly, I see it as either gross stupidity or outright apostasy--the latter being more probable! Beware of any preacher who turns a blind eye to Israel's present unbelief and acts of aggression in the name of self-protection. I will admit it is hard not to admire that tiny nation for its stand against those who seek to destroy it, but at the same time we must realize their national agenda is not consistent with Christian principles and then take our position accordingly. Make no mistake about it, God is inexorably leading them into the hands of antichrist--who will exalt them initially, but then turn on them and seek their total destruction during the Tribulation Period--the "time of Jacob's trouble." The few--the "remnant" that will survive that ultimate holocaust--will have been through the fires of purification and God's judgment upon them will finally be over. Their forefathers told Pontius Pilate, "His (Jesus Christ's) blood be on us and our children" (Matthew 27:25), but little did they realize how heavy that price would be!

Yet, in spite of all this gloom and doom, Israel has a glorious future ahead of her. The Lord is going to show Himself to them again and this time He will be greeted with tears of joy--because by then they will have learned from hard experience the final lesson of receiving a false messiah. He will dry away their tears and tenderly lead them into His Kingdom as a shepherd leads his sheep. The long-awaited Millennium with all its perfections will be theirs and real peace will be extended to them "like a river" and the glory of the Gentiles "like an overflowing stream" (Isa.66:12). The Gentile nations--who have all mistreated Israel at some point in time--will then honor her because of her King--the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have been born again and received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with Him, you need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will instantly forgive you, and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then, you need to begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study.

If you have never placed your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, but have come to sense His reality and the approaching End of the Age, and want to receive His FREE Gift of Eternal Life, you can do so now, in the privacy of your home. Once you truly believe in Him as Lord and Savior, you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured of Heaven as if you were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the Kingdom of Antichrist will not touch you spiritually. If you would like to become Born Again, turn to our Salvation Page now.

We hope you have been blessed by this ministry, which seeks to educate and warn people, so that they can see the coming New World Order—Kingdom of Antichrist—in their daily news.

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God bless you.