Joshua 18
9 And the men went and passed through the land, and described
it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to
the host at Shiloh.
10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and
there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according
to their divisions.
11 And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up
according to their families: and the coast of their lot came forth
between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.
Good morning everyone. It is a warm rainy day in Georgia
and I give the Lord praise because I believe he has finally
broken the drought our nation and the Land of Israel has
been suffering through! Today I received my email
update from David Dolan a wonderful Christian author
and an American. David has lived in Israel for many
years and loves the land that God loves. He is a
wonderful source of information with regards to what
is taking place in the Holy Land in light of Bible Prophecy
and has authored a bestselling book, Israel In Crisis.
It is my opinion that this article I am posting today, nails the
truth right on the head. God promised Abraham the Land of
Israel and even a "Biblical survey of the land included can
be found in the scriptures. Gods promised retribution to those
nations that try to divide the Land and history proves this
warning from our Father over and over.
Now, America is facing a dangerous war. America is also working with
"The Quartet" to force Israel to give up covenant land once again.
What does the Bible say about this? Davids article though long,
will show anyone willing to look, the answer.
We must pray for our beloved country. She is in trouble and the
only answer I believe is our Lord. The article posted below will
give the discerning Christian things to pray about. Think About It
and then PRAY!
God Bless
Elaine
Shalom from Jerusalem,
Below is my promised look at ongoing world attempts to establish a
Palestinian state inside the biblical Promised Land in the coming
days. It is a bit long, but I believe the topic is crucial enough to
receive adequate treatment. Please set aside the ten minutes
or so that it will take to carefully read it when you can.
Israelis are less worried for themselves today, and more for US
and British forces, in light of this weekend's news. The good
news is that a "senior security official," probably Defense
Minister Shaul Mofaz, told reporters late Friday that while
war is expected in the region by mid-March, it will not affect
Israel directly. "Israel will not be involved, and will not be at
war," he optimistically stated, while adding that he was
concerned over potential Arab terror attacks upon Jewish
targets around the globe, and over Syria's new Scud D
long-range missile that can strike every part of Israel carrying
non-conventional warheads.
Last night's narrow Turkish parliament rejection of the stationing
of US forces to the north of Iraq is a severe blow to American
war plans, say today's Israeli newspapers. In fact, the Jerusalem
Post headlined the story on its front page, and it also received
prominent coverage in all other Israeli papers. Still, analysts agree
with the government assessment that President Bush will order
his armed forces into action by the middle of the month, even if
the Turkish decision is not reversed. Most say that Iraq's
weekend decision to destroy its short range missiles basically
insures that the US and Britain will lose any UN vote sanctioning
war, probably prompting President Bush and PM Blair to go it
alone during the next two weeks, before the moon becomes
full on March 18.
A few readers objected to my call for special fasting and prayer
for Monday, March 3. It was not based on any one group's similar
call or conditions, which I was not really aware of nor necessarily
endorse. I urged all to pray in a concerted way
(and I knew many already are doing that) due to the fact that a
major Mideast war is apparently looming. It is seemingly not going
to start on the best terms desired by Western military planners due
to the Turkish impasse and the deadlocked UN process. If you
choose to pray every day from now on in a concentrated way, and
to fast as well, all the better! May the Lord bless you abundantly
this new week.
IMMINENT PALESTINIAN STATE:
A RECIPE FOR JUDGMENT?
Anyone speaking of looming divine judgment is bound to meet fierce
resistance, as the ancient Hebrew prophets discovered. That is
actually a very positive thing. Any word of warning that claims to
come from the very Creator of the Universe must be severely tested
before it is even tentatively accepted. The Bible tells us that the
ultimate proof is whether or not the word comes true. False prophets
seemed to outnumber real ones in ancient days, and that is
undoubtedly still the case today. In fact, many Christians
and Jews do not even believe that divine utterances are given to
humanity any longer.
However one views contemporary “prophecy,” those ancient Jewish
seers that were long ago accepted into the biblical canon still speak
to us today. We can fully rely on their authenticity. They clearly spelled
out the general criteria for God’s judgments throughout history, not only
for their own time. Sin, in its various personal and national manifestations,
is what brings on God’s divine retribution.
As recorded throughout the Bible, God’s beloved chosen people, the Jews,
were the main targets of His sovereign judgments. This merely confirms
God’s primary role as Heavenly Father, as well as ultimate Judge and
Guide. The sentences He pronounced through His prophets were
usually not designed to destroy or annihilate, but to bring repentance,
correction and reproof.
WHY NATIONS ARE JUDGED
The Gentile nations—also much beloved by God—were similarly subject
to divine judgment, and will be again in a special way at the end of time.
Among the non-Israeli national sins listed as provoking God’s righteous
rebuke is the forced division of His Promised Land, as recorded in Joel 3:2,
and also in Ezekiel 36 and elsewhere. We are told in Ezekiel and many
other scriptures that the heart of the land is the hilly spine that runs from
Mount Gilboa and Shechem (today’s Nablus) in Samaria, south to Hebron
in Judea. Of course, at the center of that unique piece of real estate—and
indeed of the entire world—is the city of Jerusalem (Ezek. 5:5), from where
I am writing this missive today.
The prophecy delivered by the mouth of Joel is particularly poignant. It clearly
refers to an end-time judgment that falls upon all nations. They are actually
drawn into “the valley of Jehoshaphat” (Hebrew for the “valley of Y-h-w-h judges”)
for this event, scheduled to take place at the final climax of history.
The seer reveals that the nations will be judged for two specific things, both
of them concerning His covenant Jewish people: They have scattered the
rightful residents of the Promised Land among the nations, and they have
divided up His land. The scattering obviously occurred in ancient times,
especially after the Assyrian, Babylonian and Roman conquests of the land.
However, it is not inconceivable that another dispersion still lies ahead
(a partial one is prophesied for Jerusalem in Zechariah 14), although
I believe the scriptures make clear that the restored Jewish people are
basically here to stay.
HAPPENING TODAY
As I detailed in the first chapter of my latest book, Israel in Crisis,
the Lord revealed via His ancient Jewish prophets that He would
regather His primary covenant people in the “last days” from “the
four corners of the earth” (Is. 11:11-12). That is obviously
happening in our time (I do regular immigration reports as
a journalist); with nearly half the Jews on earth now back
home in their Promised Land. Those scholars and teachers
who maintain that the Bible did not foretell the current
ingathering appear increasingly ridiculous as the literal
return from all over the globe continues apace.
The British, who drove the occupying Turks out of the holy land
during World War I, promised the Jewish people a
“national home” within their ancestral borders, including the hilly
regions of Samaria and Judea. That promise was later sanctioned
by the League of Nations. The state was finally created in 1948
after an affirmative vote by the United Nations. However, the UN
also insisted that the land be divided into separate Jewish and Arab
states, with Jerusalem—like a misplaced island—left as a separate
UN-run zone. Israeli leaders reluctantly accepted the proposed
partition since, in the holocaust’s horrendous wake, a small state
was better than no state at all. Driven by Islamic theology, the
Arabs rejected the partition plan and quickly declared a jihad
war to destroy the nascent Jewish state.
The hilly region of Judea and Samaria, and the eastern half of
Jerusalem, was captured and administered by Jordan until the
entire area came under Israeli control during the 1967 Six Day war.
Secular Israeli leaders immediately offered to withdraw from their
ancestral heartland in exchange for a final peace accord. The Arabs
rejected the offer, and went back to war in 1973.
The nations have been working hard to implement the UN partition
plan ever since, and thus to force Israel out of “occupied” Judea,
Samaria and at least part of Jerusalem. The Kremlin tried to
accomplish this by armed might, supporting Egypt and Syria
in the 1973 war. The powerful Soviet Union, created in 1917,
fell to pieces a mere 18 years later—a stark warning, I believe,
to all who touch the apple of God’s eye.
AMERICA ON FIRST
The main country spearheading the expulsion efforts in recent
years, but in a more peaceful way, is the United States of
America, supported by the European Union and post-Soviet
Russia. The efforts went into full gear after the 1991 Gulf War,
when President George Bush prodded a very reluctant Israeli
PM Yitzhak Shamir to attend an international peace conference
in Madrid. It led two years later to the preliminary Oslo peace
accord. As part of the Oslo pact, the PLO agreed to end
its “armed struggle” against Israel in exchange for increasing
chunks of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. The contours
of a Palestinian state, and the status of Jerusalem, was to be
decided in “final status” talks to be completed by 1998, under
US tutelage.
Despite the fact that terror attacks against Israelis actually
increased three-fold as the gradual land handover was taking place,
various Israeli governments kept the Oslo commitment to cede large
portions of Judaism’s heartland to Yasser Arafat. The Oslo-skeptic
Binyamin Netanyahu even withdrew IDF forces from most of Hebron
in early 1997. The main reason the land handovers continued,
although at a slower pace, was because of heavy and consistent
pressure from the Clinton administration. This came despite
intensifying terror attacks, and other Palestinian violations of
the peace accords like regular incitements to violence on PA
television, and occasionally from Arafat himself. The Palestinians
set up most of the infrastructure of their pending state during this
time, establishing a large armed paramilitary “police force,” communication
networks, air and sea ports, etc.
When Oslo’s delayed “final status” talks reached their climax at
Camp David in July 2000, Israeli PM Ehud Barak agreed to the
establishment of an independent Palestinian state on some 95%
of the land captured in 1967, including most of the Old City and
surrounding areas of eastern Jerusalem. Ignoring support from
Bill Clinton, Arafat rejected the offer and reverted to violence.
His deadly “Al Aksa” conflict has claimed over 2,000 Palestinian
lives since late September of that year, a majority of them active
combatants. Meanwhile over 750 Israelis have been slaughtered,
most of them non-combatant civilians, including whole families
wiped out in some of the most atrocious terror attacks in recorded
history.
IMMINENT PALESTINIAN STATE
Punishment for the ongoing terrorist violence is seemingly
going to be the imminent establishment of a Palestinian state!
Over two and a half years into the conflict, the United States
is apparently about to launch a major war in nearby Iraq; one
of the sponsors of Arafat’s uprising. On the eve of battle, the
son of the Madrid peace conference sponsor, George W.
Bush, has vowed once more to establish a Palestinian state
in the Jewish heartland soon after the dust of battle subsides.
In a speech delivered on February 26th, the President restated
longstanding US government policy that Israel must “stop all
settlement building in the occupied territories.” His main ally, the
United Kingdom, agrees with that call, insisting that the
establishment of a Palestinian state will be the top government
priority after Saddam is taken care of. Analysts say both big
powers seem to be attempting to placate riled Muslim world
opinion, which fiercely opposes an attack upon Iraq and
demands that Israel instead be the focus of UN sanctions and
ultimate military action.
To his credit, President Bush also repeated that he will not
insist that Israel accept a potentially dangerous Palestinian
state until Arafat or his successor enact real political and
financial reforms, and end terror attack upon Israeli civilians.
However, the other Quartet partners are far less concerned
about this precondition. This means the US may end up
modifying its view, or at least not really enforcing it, as
has occurred before. In other words, a reluctant Ariel Sharon
may be strong-armed to accept a Palestinian state in the near
future that does not meet all of his strict conditions—which will
threaten his rule and his people’s security.
In light of current world realities, US and UK backing for the
imminent creation of a Palestinian state seems quite logical.
Indeed, even a majority of Israelis, led by Sharon, are not
opposed to such a state, but ONLY if it truly abandons
published Arab goals of destroying the small Jewish state
and ends all terrorism. Knowing many Palestinians myself,
and empathizing with their difficult plight, this is the way I feel
as well. However as of today, there is precious little evidence
that Yasser Arafat, or any other Palestinian leader, is either
willing or able to meet those reasonable conditions.
Under the circumstances, Israeli leaders would be inviting the
Ultimate Suicide Attack upon themselves if they gave in to
intense Western—and especially American—pressure to
allow such a state to arise in the coming months, just a
stones throw from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Yet, George Bush
and Tony Blair—facing worldwide Muslim opposition to their
controversial Iraqi policy—repeatedly insist it will be so. In
doing so, they are inviting at least some degree of divine
retribution, in my considered opinion. Being an American
citizen myself, and quite privileged to be so, I am very sad
that they seemingly intend to win back Islamic support at
the expense of tiny Israel.
MY COUNTRY
I have watched and reported on the Oslo “land for peace” process
very closely since its inception. I was told in the mid-90’s by an
Israeli negotiator that then PM Yitzhak Rabin only agreed to go
along with the risky Oslo process after UN leaders came to him
privately to warn that economic sanctions—supported by the US
and the EU—would be enacted if he did not start withdrawing from
the disputed territories during his term in office. Despite having
little faith in Arafat, Rabin then signed on the dotted line. This
controversial act nearly provoked civil war in his land, and led to
his tragic assassination.
Although many of my fellow Americans don’t seem to realize it,
historical facts show that it is our country that has done the most
to force surrounded Israel out of her ancient and modern heartland.
Now, with another major war pending in the explosive Middle East,
US leaders are again declaring their intention to push most Jewish
“settlers” out of their biblical heartland (and by implication the holiest
part of their capital city).
Put more bluntly, they are planning to
formally re-divide the land.
It is certainly true that the expanding European Union, Russia and others
are also pushing hard for a land division. But no other power even comes
close to the United States in the influence it exerts—for good or ill—over
the miraculously re-born Jewish state of Israel. This is due to many factors,
including the generous financial aid that Washington sends Jerusalem each
year. But that welcome aid comes with substantial strings attached.
If Uncle Sam speaks, Israelis governments must listen. They can,
and often do, ignore the Europeans and Russians, but rarely the
Americans.
INVITING JUDGMENT
To me, taking on the evil Butcher of Baghdad, which will further
antagonize the already seething Muslim world, is extremely
dangerous under these circumstances. Neither America nor
Britain has fought a major war since the deadly Oslo process
was fobbed upon a wary Israel in 1993. I sense in prayer that
the pending conflict in the territory of ancient Babylon might
offer an opportunity for at least some measure of divine retribution
from the One who warned that He would render judgment over
this issue. I sincerely hope I am wrong about that, and do know
that prayer changes things. I am also gladdened that some
prominent Christians, like Gary Bauer, have alerted President
Bush about the dangers inherent in dealing wrongly with the
Lord’s special land.
I realize that it is hard to read these difficult words
(it is not easy to write them), and that some will accuse me of
despising my beloved homeland and its current leaders. The
reality is that I write this now because I love my birth-land
very much (and am rather fond of the UK as well) and care
deeply for its welfare. In light renewed calls from George Bush
and Tony Blair for a Palestinian state to arise soon in Judea
and Samaria, I believe that I would be remiss if I did not point
out the land division warning found in Joel 3 at this crucial
juncture in history.
Of course, Israel herself may also come under some degree
of additional judgment (I see the current violence and economic stagnation
as at least partially that) for having bowed to well meaning, but misguided
international pressure in exchange for temporary financial gain. I think
some degree of judgment could be on the horizon for my beloved adopted
homeland, especially if war breaks out with Syria.
STILL ON STAGE
Despite living in Israel since 1980, and loving life here very much,
I am neither Jewish nor an Israeli citizen. I have been a Gentile
American from birth, and will undoubtedly die that way
(or at least pay US taxes until then!). America is a great and unique
nation that is NOT about to disappear from the map, in my opinion.
I believe that unlike some other countries, any judgment that America
or Britain incur in these last days is primarily designed to be remedial.
God sees the many good things—including support for Israel—that
comes out of these lands, as well as the bad. His judgments are
just and fair.
I suspect that the extremely powerful USA may end up in the coming
months or years like the Soviet Union—falling rapidly from its lofty
superpower status and ending up a shell of its former glory, but still
a significant player (as Russia is) on the world stage. The prophet
Daniel foretold that the center of gravity would be located in the Old
World in the last days, and especially in the area where the ancient
Roman Empire was headquartered. But after a short period of time, it
will shift further east, to Jerusalem. The Lord will ultimately return to
Zion, and rule from the midst of Jerusalem, not Rome or Berlin.
Obviously, the Sovereign Lord may chose NOT to levy any judgment
upon the USA at this time, for the land division or for any other
reason (like its leading role in worldwide pornography distribution
and harrowing abortion totals). However, I strongly suspect that
the September 11 attacks—which God at least allowed to take place,
and to “succeed” beyond Osama Bin Laden’s professed
expectations—was a stark warning of more upheaval ahead,
probably connected to the Middle East.
Having said that, it must be recalled that Israel’s Eternal King takes
into account heartfelt repentance, and delights in answering prayers for mercy.
For their own good, I pray that America’s leaders, and those of Great
Britain and elsewhere, will lay off of struggling Israel at this time, or at
least allow her to fully deal with her demonized enemies before
insisting on the imminent creation of a high risk Palestinian state.
There are some indications that this is exactly what President Bush
has in mind, if not the other Quartet members. But while I pray, I must
also point out that sacred Scripture warns that “dividing up My land” is
one of the main reasons God said (not me) that judgment would come
on the nations at the end of time.
As a Jerusalem-based Christian journalist, I will also never fail to note
that the signs of the times, especially dramatic events here in Israel, are
now shouting to the heavens that the end of this age—and therefore Messiah’s
glorious return—is drawing very near. While preparing my sealed
anti-chemical room like I did in 1991, but this time with an awesome
view of the Mount of Olives out of my front window, I conclude with a loud
AMEN to that!
“Sing for joy and be glad, oh daughter of Zion. For behold, I am coming and I will
dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.” (Zech. 2:10)
DAVID DOLAN
Jerusalem
You can read other news regarding Bible Prophecy At Davids Website:
World Watch Daily
ARE YOU READY FOR THE RAPTURE?
JOHN 3:16
