http://www.garstang.us/images/illustrations/SecondTemple.jpg

Jerusalem:

The City of the Lord God

The Capital of Israel

 

Jerusalem is built

As a city that is compact together,

Where the tribes go up,

The tribes of the Lord,

To the Testimony of Israel,

To give thanks to the name of the Lord.

For thrones are set there for judgment,

The thrones of the house of David.

 

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

"May they prosper who love you.

Peace be within your walls…"

"Peace be within you."

Because of the house of the Lord our God

I will seek your good.

(Psalm 122: 3-7, 9)

Prophecy Study Bible. John C. Hagee, General Editor,

New King James Version, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers)

Cherub A. Nicholls

 

 

The Legitimacy of the Holy Bible as a Legal Instrument. Is International Law Greater than the Word of God?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Ligitamacy+of+teh+Holy+Bible

 

 

Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, might and strength

& love your neighbour as yourself.

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Statehood First, Peace Never
By Sarah N. Stern

I am constantly amazed at the profound state of collective amnesia that the international community has regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The opportunities for the Palestinians to achieve statehood trace back to 1922 when Transjordan was supposed to have been the solution for the resident Arab population in pre-Israel Palestine.  The Peel Commission (1937), the Partition Plan (1948), the Rogers Plan (1969), Oslo Accords (1993) the Hebron Agreement (1997), the Wye River Accords (1998), and the Road Map (2002) all were plans to divide the land and live side by side in peace and democracy that have either been rejected out of hand by the Arab league or by the Palestinian themselves.

As long-time Middle East analyst and veteran Capitol Hill watcher Morrie Amitay once remarked to me, "They keep selling the same promises as though it were an Arab rug in the souk (market) time and time again."

What the Israelis have to offer is real, tangible currency -- vitally-important land that offers their tiny country some strategic depth -- while all that the Palestinians have to offer are revocable promises of recognition and an end to conflict.

The interesting twist in the Oslo Accords and all subsequent agreements was the element of reversibility that had been built into them. Before Oslo was sold to a skeptical American-Jewish and Israeli public who had thought of Yassir Arafat as persona non grata, there had been an element of reversibility built into the agreement. "It is only Gaza and Jericho first", went the old maxim. "If it doesn't work you can always go in and retrieve it."

The Oslo Accords, the Road Map and all interim agreements also had a series of conditions integral to the process of resolving the conflict. The money that that the U.S. Government had been giving to the Palestinians in the heady days directly after Oslo had been preconditioned on the Palestinians living up to these conditions. In the dawning Oslo days was legislation entitled MEPFA, "Middle East Peace Facilitation Act," that required the State Department to certify that the Palestinians were living up to MEPFA stipulations before any U.S. taxpayer dollars flowed to them. The conditions included things such as, 1) a total end to incitement, 2) arresting known terrorists, and 3) confiscating and licensing weapons.  Most notably, the agreement called for all further disputes to be resolved through negotiations and not through the use of force or incitement to violence.

After a while it became a futile and "onerous" task for the State Department to certify to Congress that the PA was meeting these conditions, and PA apologists eventually succeeded in getting MEPFA set aside. Instead, money flowed into PA coffers without preconditions.

In a similar vein, President Bush's "Road Map" to Middle East peace, conveyed in a ground-breaking speech on June 24, 2002, offered a vision of two states living side-by-side in peace and democracy.  Phase One of the Roadmap required the Palestinians to refrain from the use of violence or incitement at any time.

However, the Palestinians never once demonstrated a serious attempt to live up to their Phase One obligations, let alone subsequent conditions for instituting democratic reforms (which does not just mean free and independent elections but also creating the institutions of a democracy so that Palestinians might feel free to go out in the public square to criticize the PA without fear of retribution).

These requirements, after having been ignored for over 16 years by subsequent governments, international agencies and monitors, are becoming progressively lower.  Now that it seems that the very minimal threshold will never be met by the Palestinians, the new buzzword within the Washington policy-making community, eager to see the peace process conclude, is "statehood first," or granting the Palestinians their state now presuming peace will follow.

Israeli journalists Ehud Ya'ari recently argued at a policy forum in Washington in favor of "statehood first," saying that the Palestinian state would be within the pre-1967 boundaries, which Ambassador Abba Ebban once referred to as "the Auschwitz lines" because they are indefensible. Such a state also would presumably be "de-militarized."

But how long would de-militarization actually last? Recall that the Palestinian commitment in Oslo I to collect and license all weapons was entirely ignored.  Instead, Palestinians could be expected to plead to the United Nations of being "humiliated" by be deprived of a normal, standing army. It ought to be remembered that during the "second intifada," the guns of the PA police force were used against Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Now, Prime Minister Salam Fayad has announced, in August 2009, a plan to unilaterally declare statehood within the West Bank and East Jerusalem within two years.

Fayyad's plan has caught traction.  According to PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, PA President Mahmoud Abbas is lobbying the international community to recognize a Palestinian statehood declaration at the UN in the near future.

Now, within the Beltway, because of their love affair with Salam Fayyad and their eagerness to attend the next signing ceremony on the White House lawn where they will be able to witness "peace within our time," people are beginning to buy into the unilateral statehood idea.

Remember: "It's only Gaza Jericho first. If it doesn't work out, we can always retrieve it." Remember also the arguments for a unilateral Gaza withdrawal, in the absence of a negotiating partner, as a way of jump-starting the peace process.

It is hard to believe this was a very popular refrain just four short years ago, before 10,000 Kassam rockets were fired at Southern Israel and before Operation Cast Lead and the Goldstone report.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

 

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 www.humanrights.cn/en/UNHRC/W0200706304458645...
 
 

Who is demonizing who?

 By Ben-Dror Yemini

 The New Israel Fund is angry. It thinks it is okay to cooperate with the
 Goldstone commission, even though the commission was formed by an automatic
 majority of the benighted countries that control the UN Human Rights
 Council. It thinks it is ok to disseminate the resultant unsubstantial and
 unsubstantiated accusations against Israel. It thinks it is okay to take
 part in the demonization campaign being staged by certain of its NGOs. And
 it is absolutely legitimate, in a democratic country, to do all these
 things.
 But there is something else that is also legitimate: To reveal the truth
 about the fund and the groups that falsely claim to be human rights
 organizations. If some of the political organizations supported by the fund
 do not recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic
 state, don't cry human rights.
 Tell the truth: the denial of rights is to Jews only. The Palestinians have
 a right to a state of their own, as do the Croats, the Hungarians, the
 Czechs, the Slovaks and other nations - but not the Jews.
 The New Israel Fund supports, for example, the Zochrot organization. This is
 a nonprofit organization that openly strives to destroy Israel by means of
 the 3right of return.2 Not that there is any such right, and not that there
 ever was a precedent for a mass 3return2 after a population swap in the wake
of war - but this does not bother the New Israel Fund. It will always jump
 in under the slogan of human rights.
 This doesn't mean Israel is exempt from criticism. After all, out of the
 hundreds of allegations, there are a few of substance. But if many sane
people are coming to loathe the human rights organizations, it's not because
 they loathe human rights. Just the opposite! It's because the sane majority
 is fed up with 'human rights' becoming the weapon of benighted forces.
There are a million and one offenses to human lives and human rights in the
 world. Israel, as a state in conflict, offends less than all others. This is
 backed up by numbers. Yet Israel is the one taking the brunt of the
 criticism. This is called demonization, delegitimisation and obsession. So
 the attacks on Israel are not in defense of human rights, but rather an
 orchestrated campaign in the service of Iran and Hamas.
 
 HOW IS it that many, mainly Jews, support the New Israel Fund? How is it
 that they enable this systematic campaign that pretends to be humane? They
 are not anti-Semites. They are people with good intentions. After all, the
 rhetoric is about human rights and minorities. Jews are sensitive to that.
 And it's good that they are. Most of them simply don't know. Most of them
 sincerely and truly want for Israel to be more enlightened and advanced,
 while being stricter about human lives and human rights.
 But they do not know that some of the money goes to other goals.
 Prof. Naomi Chazan, who heads the NIF, is not a hater of Israel. But what
 happened to the fund is exactly what has happened to innumerable
 organizations that deal with the discourse of rights.
 Human rights organizations can earn back our trust. They must genuinely
 support human rights, not organizations that work to deny Israel's right to
 exist.
 
 The writer is an Israeli journalist and a regular columnist at Maariv, where
 an earlier version of this article originally appeared.

 

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http://www.nilacharal.com/news/specials/images/terrorist_183.jpg

 

A Perspective on the Question:

What is the Middle East Conflict about?

 

The conflict is spiritual. It is played out by actors who represent two different worlds or spiritual kingdoms. One group of actors believe the word of God as He has spoken; the other group, pays allegiance to another god... whom they believe cannot speak, move and interact with humans... therefore this group of people cannot accept the arguments of the former group that God gave them the land.

Genesis 12 (Amplified Bible)

 ¹NOW [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you.^(A)

    ²And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].

    ³And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and ^[a]curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].^(B)

    ⁴So Abram departed, as the Lord had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

    ⁵Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the persons [servants] that they had acquired in Haran, and they went forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

    ⁶Abram passed through the land to the locality of Shechem, to the oak or terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

    ⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, I will give this land to your posterity. So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, Who had appeared to him.

    ⁸From there he pulled up [his tent pegs] and departed to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

    ⁹Abram journeyed on, still going toward the South (the Negeb).

(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2012&version=AMP)

The portion of Scripture above shows that God did not only speak but He makes a choice... He chooses Abraham and He gives him the land of Canaan, known today as the State of Israel to Abraham and his descendants, specifically the Jewish people.

The other group, the Arabs also claim to be descendants of Abraham... I guess some of the tribes are... but we must not forget that even in Abraham's time there were people existing in this part of the world... consequently, not all peoples in the Middle East are truly born of Abraham. Moreover, the inheritance was solely Isaac's.

 ⁵And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.

    ⁶But to the sons of his concubines [Hagar and Keturah] Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them to the east country, away from Isaac his son [of promise].

    ⁷The days of Abraham's life were 175 years.

Genesis 25 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2025&version=AMP)

The Arabs have used wars and negotiations to make gains on the Israelis. They rely on the arguments: such as Arabism- the region is Arabic in nature. They also appeal to modern history, international law, utilise revenues gained from oil sales to gain international influence- leverage, they label Zionism- racism and publicly make declarations of their goal to destroy the people of Israel thus ridding the world of Jews.

The goal of the Arab actor is to bide for time so that they came gain advantage over Israel, inter alia, military, international support, etc. When they do strike Israel, they hope to weaken this "Western entity", so that they will go to the negotiation table, if they decide to do so, as a power, not a weak partner. Hence, the ongoing military strikes by Iranian proxies namely Hamas and Hezbollah. This is to imitate the Egyptians who continue to claim victory over Israel following the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The Egyptians, today say that having won that war it enabled them to go the negotiations with the Israelis as a strong partner and thus it was their strength that enabled them to secure the Sinai. Today, the Egyptians speak of this event with incredible pride. It therefore, must be in the minds of their other Arab brothers… that Israel can be defeated. Thus, this perception provides the motivation in helping them to work tenaciously to bring down the State of Israel.

Have no doubt this is the heart of the Arab-Israel conflict. This region is destined to remain in a state of war until the unfolding of the ultimate conflict which is still to come; the invasion of massive armies which include the Russians, the Chinese and their allies. Their goal is the same: to ultimately destroy the People of the Book, God's Chosen, the Children of Israel, the State of Israel.

In times of war in this part of the world, there will be signs and wonders manifested by the influence of demonic powers. There will also be the glorious salvation of the Jews by the Lord Jesus, Himself.

Revelation 20

 ¹And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. ²He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. ³He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2020&version=NIV)

Furthermore, John tells us of a great event he sees, one that is to come: ¹¹I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. ¹²His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter."^[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
       KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

 ¹⁷And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, ¹⁸so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great."

 ¹⁹Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. ²⁰But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Revelation 19: 11-21 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2019&version=NIV)

Finally, the portion above speaks of the "mother of all battles" in the Middle East. The ongoing conflict is spiritual. The end of the conflict will be dealt with spiritually. There is already news on the upcoming battle, (see above) and the story ends with the Lord of lords coming in person to fight for the cause of His people, Israel.

Cherub Angela Nicholls

 

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To recognise the Faithfulness of God, watch His Relationship with Israel

Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

(Joshua 21:45, New International Version,http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=joshua%2021:%2045&version=NIV)

a) God's Promise kept... The Jews are back to stay.

 

Jerusalem

http://www.jerusalemshots.com/b/uploaded4/0813040322_1.jpg

So the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there.
(Joshua 21:43, New International Version, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=joshua%2021:43&version=NIV)

b) Jerusalem, all of Jerusalem is God's...
¹² The LORD will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.
¹³ Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling. (Zechariah 2: 12-13 (New International Version - UK,
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=zechariah%202:12-13&version=NIVUK)
 

 
Mount Zion, Jerusalem
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/52/148490628_68c93a8dc4.jpg)

c) God Loves His people, Israel
He has helped His servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
(Luke 1:54, New International Version,http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%201:54&version=NIV)


Jewish men pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem
(http://mecadserv1.technion.ac.il/public_html/ESDA08/images/
Men_praying_at_Western_Wall_tb_n010200.jpg)

Finally, Joel declares that the Lord will be jealous for His land and take pity on His people (2:18). God will never forsake Israel. Just keep watching Him work on their behalf. Put your trust in this God, the God who is above all gods. He will help you, too.
Cherub A. Nicholls

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The Words of the God of Israel:
The Sovereign God to the Nations
 
Isaiah 45
 ¹⁸For thus says the LORD, who ^(AY)created the heavens (He is the God who ^(AZ)formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a ^(BA)waste place, but formed it to be ^(BB)inhabited),
         "I am the LORD, and ^(BC)there is none else. 
    
(Jerusalem, http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/imagedb/187216537.jpg)
¹⁹"^(BD)I have not spoken in secret,
         In some dark land;
         I did not say to the ^(BE)offspring of Jacob,
         '^(BF)Seek Me in a waste place';
         I, the LORD, ^(BG)speak righteousness,
         ^(BH)Declaring things that are upright.
    ²⁰"^(BI)Gather yourselves and come;
         Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations;
         ^(BJ)They have no knowledge,
         Who ^(BK)carry about their wooden idol
         And ^(BL)pray to a god who cannot save.
    ²¹"^(BM)Declare and set forth your case;
         Indeed, let them consult together
         ^(BN)Who has announced this from of old?
         Who has long since declared it?
         Is it not I, the LORD?
         And there is ^(BO)no other God besides Me,
         A righteous God and a ^(BP)Savior;
         There is none except Me.
    ²²"^(BQ)Turn to Me and ^(BR)be saved, all the ends of the earth;
         For I am God, and there is no other.
    ²³"^(BS)I have sworn by Myself,
         The ^(BT)word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness
         And will not turn back,
         That to Me ^(BU)every knee will bow, every tongue will ^(BV)swear allegiance.
    ²⁴"They will say of Me, 'Only ^(BW)in the LORD are righteousness and strength '
         Men will come to Him,
         And ^(BX)all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
    ²⁵"In the LORD all the offspring of Israel
         Will be ^(BY)justified and will ^(BZ)glory."
 
Isaiah 45 (New American Standard Bible)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%2045&version=NASB

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The Prophet Zechariah Foretold the Return of Jews to the Holy Land:
It is as he said...
 

Zechariah 8:1-23 (Amplified Bible)

Zechariah 8

 ¹AND THE word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,

    ²Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath [against her enemies].

    ³Thus says the Lord: I shall return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the [faithful] City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy Mountain.

    ⁴Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again dwell in Jerusalem and sit out in the streets, every man with his staff in his hand for very [advanced] age.

    ⁵And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.

    ⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: Because it will be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days [in which it comes to pass], should it also be marvelous in My eyes? says the Lord of hosts.^(A)

    ⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save My people from the east country and from the west [the country of the going down of the sun].^(B)

    ⁸And I will bring them [home] and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and faithfulness and in righteousness.

    ⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strong and hardened, you who in these days hear these words from the mouths of the prophets who on the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid foretold that the temple should be rebuilt.

    ¹⁰For before those days there was no hire for man nor any hire for beast, neither was there any peace or success to him who went out or came in because of the adversary and oppressor, for I set (let loose) all men, every one against his neighbor.

    ¹¹But now [in this period since you began to build] I am not to the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the Lord of hosts.

    ¹²For there shall the seed produce peace and prosperity; the vine shall yield her fruit and the ground shall give its increase and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit and possess all these things.

    ¹³And as you have been a curse and a byword among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong and hardened.^(C)

    ¹⁴For thus says the Lord of hosts: As I thought to bring calamity upon you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath, says the Lord of hosts, and I did not relent or revoke your sentence,

    ¹⁵So again have I purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear not!

    ¹⁶These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor; render the truth and pronounce the judgment or verdict that makes for peace in [the courts at] your gates.^(D)

    ¹⁷And let none of you think or imagine or devise evil or injury in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, says the Lord.

    ¹⁸And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me [Zechariah], saying,

    ¹⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah times of joy and gladness and cheerful, appointed seasons; therefore [in order that this may happen to you, as the condition of fulfilling the promise] love truth and peace.

    ²⁰Thus says the Lord of hosts: It shall yet come to pass that there shall come [to Jerusalem] peoples and the inhabitants of many and great cities,

    ²¹And the inhabitants of one city shall go to them of another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray and entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek, inquire of, and require [to meet our own most essential need] the Lord of hosts. I will go also.

    ²²Yes, many people and strong nations shall come to Jerusalem to seek, inquire of, and require [to fill their own urgent need] the Lord of hosts and to pray to the Lord for His favor.

    ²³Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men out of all languages of the nations shall take hold of the robe of him who is a Jew, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

 

Amplified Bible (AMP)

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zechariah%208:1-23&version=AMP

   

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