Special Series: Part Two: What's so special about the Jews and Israel anyway?

**Nic's note: this is a rather long post b/c there is so much info to cover - I originally thought of chopping it into several posts, but decided against it. You may want to consider doing a cut and paste to a word document so that you can read it on your own time.

So, what is so special about the Jewish people and Israel? Many people out there ask that question. Anti-Semitism is rampant these days, especially in Europe where things are coming together at an unprecedented speed as related in the Bible. In France, Jewish entertainers are booed and heckled with "Get off the stage, you dirty Jew" and anti-semitism s rampant in that country. A blogfriend of mine Jean-Luc Picard told me that a Muslim advisor to Tony Blair is trying to persuade him to abandon Holocaust Day, as it puts the Jews in a superior position. I did a little more digging and found out that this Muslim advisor is actually proposing that Blair ditch Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day because it is regarded as "offensive" to Muslims b/c it and in getting rid of it the advisor wants to replace it with a Genocide Day that would recognize the mass murder of Muslims in Palestine, Chechnya and Bosnia as well as people of other faiths. Thankfully it seems to not be taken seriously. Reports state that as of 9/12/05 the "Home Office has no plans to act on the 'advice'".

Zechariah 12:3 states: "And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces . . ."

It seems like especially lately, there is increased talk about Jerusalem being taken by force by the Palestinians as the capital of Palestine. God will never allow that to happen. He has said so Himself. In fact, any time someone moves to take land from the Jews in Israel, God has dealt with them. Unprecedented, catastrophic events have happened to the US whenever we have announced or made plans to announce handing land in Israel over to the Palestinians.

A book that I have read several times and continues to astound me is Eye to Eye: The Consequences of Dividing Israel by White House correspondent and Christian Bill Koenig. The book was written in 2004 and considering the parallel between the exodus of Jews from Gaza and the exodus of US citizens from New Orleans and other flood/hurricane devastated areas, especially considering that on August 23, the same day the last settlers were evacuated, the government of the Bahamas issued a tropical storm warning for central and northwestern Bahamas. (Putting this storm into perspective, many of the tropical storms and hurricanes begin off the western coast of Africa and typically take ten days to two weeks before affecting the Bahamas, the Caribbean and/or the U.S. coastline. Not Katrina.)

By Wednesday, August 24 at 11 am, the newly formed tropical depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina; and by Thursday, August 25 at 5 pm, Katrina becomes a hurricane. In a period of only 72 hours, tropical depression 12 developed and hit southeast Florida (the only area untouched by the past six hurricanes) as a hurricane.

Hurricane Katrina is now expected to be the costliest weather related disaster in U.S. history. It was devastating in intensity and size. If it hadn’t been for a last minute break in the eye-wall it would have very likely destroyed the city of New Orleans and cost more hundreds of billions of dollars than it already has.

Though that might not necessarily make sense right now, consider the following information from Eye to Eye:

What do these major-record setting events have in common?

• Nine of the ten costliest insurance events in U.S. history
• Six of the seven costliest hurricanes in U.S. history
• Three of the four largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history
• Nine of the top ten natural disasters in U.S. history ranked by FEMA relief costs
• The two largest terrorism events in U.S. history

All of these major catastrophes transpired on the very same day or within 24-48 hours of U.S. presidents Bush, Clinton and Bush applying pressure on Israel to trade her land for promises of “peace and security,” sponsoring major “land for peace” meetings, making major public statements pertaining to Israel’s covenant land and /or calling for a Palestinian state.

Are each one of these major record-setting events just a coincidence or awe-inspiring signs that God is actively involved in the affairs of Israel?

In this book, Bill Koenig provides undeniable facts and conclusive evidence showing that indeed the leaders of the United States and the world are on a collision course with God over Israel’s covenant land.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:9)

As mentioned in the last post, I will be posting articles from Jack Kinsella’s Omega Letter daily briefings. Some of them may be straight from the briefings as is and some may have information from more than two briefings combined since there is so much information to cover.

I will also first be posting on today’s part two of this series information from Hal Lindsey – one of today’s foremost experts and most respected scholars in the world on Bible prophecy (as well as being Jack's best friend and mentor). If you haven’t read any of his Late, Great Planet Earth books – starting with the first one from 1969, you are in for a real eye opening if you do read one. Things that Hal stated would happen in 1969 have, for the most part, come to pass – and he did it by studying Bible prophecy from 2000-2500 years ago. Doesn’t that kind of make you sit up and take a little more notice?

So let’s get started with part two of this series on Bible prophecy and how it related to current events with “What’s so special about the Jews anyway?”

*When Jesus talks about the fig tree, He is talking about Israel
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Israel: The True Wonder of the Ancient World

While grocery shopping the other day, I perused the gamut of the usual ‘gossip magazines’ that clutter the check-out stand. I was amazed to find several of them with cover stories on the “Amazing prophecies of Nostradamus.”

I thought, “How amazing that the world will focus on Nostradamus’ predictions, which at best are so nebulous that they are capable of many interpretations.”

But it did impress me how interested the average person is to discover what is going to happen in the future. The tragedy is that the world ignores Ezekiel’s prophecies that are amazing beyond compare. They pinpoint an exact time, place, and precise historic conditions of a future world catastrophe. Ezekiel names the peoples and nations involved in an intricate convergence of history. And he predicted all these things more than 2600 years ago.

Ezekiel chapters 36 through 39 contain one of the most amazing series of prophecies in the Bible. Certainly it is more amazing than anything the so-called prophets of the world have to offer.

In chapters 36 through 38, Ezekiel foresaw the following events. And remember, this must be seen from Ezekiel’s perspective of 7th Century BC.

(1) The Israelites would be driven from their land for a very long period of time
(2) The Israelites would survive as a distinct people
(3) Their land would be confiscated by the surrounding nations
(4) These nations would be descended from Esau and Ishmael
(5) These peoples would have a perpetual hatred of the Israelites
(6) The land of Israel would become an utter desolation and not respond to the agricultural efforts of the usurpers
(7) Against all odds, the Israelites would return and become a nation
(8) The land would miraculously respond to them and flourish
(9) The Arab nations would conduct an unending war against the Israelites
(10) Israel would survive all assaults and prosper
(11) This will finally provoke a confederation of the Russians and a Persian led Confederacy of all the surrounding Muslim nations to Israel

Most important to this prophesy is WHEN if would take place. Ezekiel carefully pinpoints the time:
“After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them.” (Ezekiel 38:8 NAS)

Note that when Ezekiel made this prediction, Israel had not been scattered throughout all nations. Its land had not been reduced to “a continual waste”.

Its people had not been brought back to the land from a very long worldwide dispersion. It was not “the last days.” And Israel by no means was restored to the land to dwell securely.

Historically, this can only apply to the events that began to take place in the early 20th Century and culminated with the creation of the State of Israel in May 1948.

Moses first predicted that this would happen. He predicted that this would occur in the second destruction of the nation. The first was the Babylonian Holocaust. The Second was the Roman Holocaust of Titus and the Roman Tenth Legion in AD70. Moses predicted both the Babylonian and the Roman dispersion.

About the second destruction, Moses forewarned, “Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, `Would that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, `Would that it were morning!' because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.” (Deuteronomy 28:64-67 NAS)

All of this is assumed by Ezekiel’s prophesies in chapters 36-39.

One of the most amazing wonders concerning the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is that they could remain a distinct people in spite of the centuries of exile and relentless persecution.

Ezekiel clearly predicts that God would scatter them among all nations, “Also I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the lands. According to their ways and their deeds I judged them.” Yet he predicts that in the latter days God would gather them from all nations, “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.” (Ezekiel 36:24 NAS)

Ezekiel forewarns the surrounding nations of the Arab people who confiscated HIS Land;
“Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities which have become a prey and a derision to the rest of the nations which are round about, therefore thus says the Lord God, ’Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all EDOM, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey.” (Ezekiel 36:43-5 NAS)

Ezekiel forewarns the Arab people of the last days who would confiscate Israel’s land;
“Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two lands (Israel and Judah) will be mine, and we will possess them,’ although the Lord was there, ‘therefore as I live,’ declares the Lord God, ‘I will deal with you according to your anger and according to your envy which you showed because of your hatred against them; so I will make Myself known among them when I judge you.’” Ezekiel 35:10-11 NAS)

The whole world has been drawn into this ancient conflict. No one has been able to resolve it because of the supernatural hatred that has been enshrined in the Muslim religion toward Jews.

When Ezekiel made these predictions, Israel was not an utter desolation. But he foresaw the terrible desolation that would come upon the land during the centuries the Israelites would be scattered among the nations.

Ezekiel refers to this desolation when he predicts Israel’s restoration to the land; “After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel WHICH HAD BEEN A CONTINUAL WASTE; but its people were brought out from the nation …” (Ezekiel 38:8)

Samuel Clement, or Mark Twain, said of Israel while touring there in 1867;
“ ... [It is a] desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds—a silent mournful expanse ... A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action ... We never saw a human being on the whole route … There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.” (From his book, Innocents Abroad)

This was the condition of the land until the Jews began to return around the end of the 19th century.

When the British Christians began to argue for what became the ‘Balfour Declaration’, they argued for returning the Jews to Palestine by saying, “A people without a land for a land without a people.” That is how desolate and barren it was.

Ezekiel predicted that the Israelites would miraculously begin to return and become a nation again in the last days. God made it clear that He would do this despite the fact that the Israelites did not deserve it. God said He would do this for His great name’s sake. He swore an oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that He would establish David’s Throne and kingdom on earth. So His Word is at stake.

This is why God said, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, ‘It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:22-28)

Something that is almost as great a miracle as the rebirth of the people scattered throughout the world for 2000 years is the agricultural rebirth of the land. Yet Ezekiel predicted this would happen:
“But you, O mountains of Israel, you will put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown.”

None of the people who occupied the land during Israel’s exile could ever make it productive. But when the Israelites returned, it became a modern agricultural marvel. Fruits and vegetables from Israel supply most of Europe today.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict continues to upset the whole world. The world’s great powers have sought to resolve this conflict without success.

Since the world’s economy depends on a steady flow of oil, and since most of the world’s oil supply is controlled by the Arab/Muslim nations, whatever troubles the Arabs troubles the world. And Israel troubles the Arabs most. And with the Muslims, the real issue is not economically based. It is religiously based.

The Muslim’s third holiest place on earth is Jerusalem with its Temple Mount. Whatever agreements of peace with Israel can only be temporary. Ultimately, Islam will never accept a Jewish State in what they consider their sacred land.

Ezekiel predicts that this will ultimately cause a war that will envelop the whole earth.

Zechariah predicts this also:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:2-3 NKJ)

Jerusalem will become a cup that causes all the surrounding Muslim nations to become intoxicated. That will make them do irrational things. This will cause all the nations of the world to become involved and go to war. Current events certainly are moving that way.

No matter how we seek to resolve this conflict, there is no way to satisfy the religious issues that are at the very heart of both Islam and Judaism over possession of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel predicts that Israel will miraculously survive all attempts to throw her out of the land. Not only this, he predicts that Israel will become very, very rich. According to Ezekiel 38:1-7, this will cause an all out invasion of Israel led by a power from her extreme north. There is only one nation to Israel’s extreme north – Russia. Russia will arm and lead a Muslim confederacy headed by Persia or modern Iran.

Israel has prospered and gathered much wealth, but not of the kind that would provoke this kind of reckless invasion. I believe that Israel will strike oil in a big way.

This will cause Israel to become a world economic center. Ezekiel predicts the rationale for the Russian led invasion;
“and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.” (Ezekiel 38:10-11)

Israel will apparently be living in the false security of the Antichrist’s covenant that Daniel predicted they would sign. This will cause them to tear down the security walls they are now building to protect against Palestinian terrorists.

Everything except this final invasion is already a matter of history. Iran is moving quickly into the leadership role of Islamic Fundamentalists with a full-blown nuclear program. Russia has been arming and siding with the Muslim nations for decades.

So nothing in Ezekiel’s scenario is out of line with what is happening before our eyes. There are only a few details yet to be fulfilled. I believe that Israel must have a vital chip to play in the world arena to survive. And I believe that ‘chip’ is the discovery of a large oil reserve. Watch! I believe that will happen soon.

Folks, we are really at the very threshold of the Lord Jesus’ return. It is all happening so fast. The things I have looked for some 50 years are already here.

All of this proves that we can have total confidence in God’s Word.

Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24 NAS)

Isn’t that wonderful? All who believe in Jesus as his Savior has already passed out of judgment and death into eternal life. And as the days get darker, Christ’s sudden return to snatch us up to meet Him grows nearer.

These are the most exciting days to be alive -- if you are a Christian. If not, they must be terrifying times indeed.
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Now I know what you may be thinking if you don’t believe that Israel is entitled to the land that they have or believe that the Palestinians have a right to that land instead. What about the Palestinians? Though that necessarily isn’t what this post is about, it is necessary to have a good understanding of who they really are before we can go further into why the Jewish people and Israel are so important to Bible prophecy.
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Who are the Palestinians?

One of the most misunderstood issues today is the question of "Who are the Palestinians"? The truth about this matter has been so deliberately obscured that even to raise the question will seem strange to most readers.

In my book, "The Everlasting Hatred, the Roots of Jihad", I trace the history of the people now being called the "Palestinians." The land of Israel became known as Palestine after the Roman destruction of Israel in A.D. 70. It was ruled by many different invaders for the following 19 centuries.

In the 7th century, the Muslims took control of Palestine for the first time. From A.D. 635 until 1917, the Muslims ruled it, with only a few interruptions by the European Crusaders. During that span of time, the land was reduced to total desolation. Many people who traveled the land in the 19th century remarked on the fact that Palestine was as desolate as the moon and very few people lived there.

In 1867, Mark Twain remarked about his visit to the Holy Land in his book, "The Innocents Abroad." He lamented, "Stirring scenes occur in the valley [of Jezreel] no more. There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent – not for 30 miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings."

By all eyewitness accounts of that era, Palestine was a total desolation. There were virtually no trees and no people. Because of lack of trees, the weather changed and it rarely ever rained. The irrigation systems of the once fertile valleys were all destroyed, rendering most areas into malaria-ridden swamps. The terraces of the mountainsides were torn down, causing terrible erosion that left only barren rocks. This was the condition of Palestine by the beginning of the 19th century.

It was at this time that Jews began to flee severe persecutions in Russia and Eastern Europe. In the mid-1800s, some Jews came to Palestine and, with the generous aid of some successful Jews like the Rothschilds, began to buy property from Muslim Ottoman Turks. The Muslims thought the land was worthless anyway, so they sold it to the "dumb Jews" for extremely inflated prices.

To everyone's amazement, the Jews were very successful at reclaiming the land. Many of them died from malaria and the rigorous life the work demanded, but they performed an agricultural miracle that made the land very productive again. As a result of their success, poor migrant workers from the surrounding Muslim countries began to flood in to work for the Jews. The Jews literally became victims of their own success – almost all of the people calling themselves "Palestinians" today are the descendants of those migrant workers.

Much more is said and documented on this subject in my book. But the main point is this: The Muslims have repeatedly shown they understand these things. Since they know that the so-called "Palestinians" are not a homogeneous people, but rather a mixed conglomerate of workers with no cohesive organizational or political skills, they have repeatedly not given them a state.

When the Hashemite Tribe, who were rulers over Mecca and Medina for centuries, were driven out by the Saudis, the British gave them control over the vastly greater numbers of "migrant workers" in Trans Jordan. The British said this would be, in effect, "The State of Palestine." Instead, the Hashemites, who make up only about 20 percent of the population, turned it into their own kingdom and called it the Kingdom of Jordan.

When the Jordanians and Egyptians controlled the so-called West Bank and the Gaza Strip for 19 years (1948 to 1967), there was never a thought of giving the disorganized mass of "migrant workers" a state. Why? Because they knew there was no cohesive, homogeneous people known as "Palestinians."

The current efforts of Jordan and Egypt (and all the rest of the Muslim Middle East nations) to give these same people a state is clearly a ploy to get a foothold inside Israel. It is a strategic accommodation to establish a base from which the final assault against Israel can be made. What they couldn't do militarily is now being facilitated through the United States and the E.U.

Muslims will never accept a permanent presence of infidels in what they claim is sacred Islamic soil. Especially Jewish infidels for which the Koran reserves its most vehement condemnations. In their minds, the Koran and Allah will not let them accept Jews in what they view as their third holiest site.

The United States had better learn these things, or we will find ourselves guilty of facilitating the destruction of God's people, to whom the Word of God says the land belongs forever. God will not let that happen, but He will certainly judge those who have any part in trying to do it.

God warned: "Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom [Arabs], who took MY LAND to themselves as a possession, with whole-hearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country ... But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to MY PEOPLE ISRAEL, for they are about to come.'" (Ezekiel 36: 5, 8 NKJ)
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Hal sure does have a way with words.

The following is taken from several of Jack’s briefings on Israel and why she is so instrumental in Bible prophecy.
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Israel is the linchpin in studying Bible prophecy. Jesus' description of the signs of His Return [Matt 24:3] are given from the perspective of someone standing on the Mount of Olives.

Without Israel, Bible prophecy doesn't make sense.

That is one reason that Christians who believe Israel was replaced by the Church have no use for prophecy. (What is Preterism)

Since Bible prophecy for the last days and through the Tribulation is centered around Israel. Israel serves as a mile marker. The closer it appears to come to extinction, the closer the Return of Christ, Who, according to Scripture, prevents that from happening.

In a very real sense, what we are witnessing is not the actual fulfillment of prophecy for the last days. The next prophetic event to be fulfilled in the Church Age is the Rapture. Then the events of the Tribulation follow. Both remain future -- near future, we would argue.

So instead, we are eyewitnesses to the staging process. The Bible says that there are a number of seemingly unrelated events that take place all in a single generation, somewhere in time.

Bible Prophecy Demands A Jewish State

Bible prophecy makes numerous references to the existence of a Jewish state called Israel in the last days [Ezekiel 37]. It also demands that Israel be in disputed possession of the city of Jerusalem [Zechariah 12].

It demands a conflict between Israel and her neighbors [Daniel 9]. The conflict is so intractable it will require supernatural intervention to resolve it [Dan 9:27 Zech 12:2-3].

Israel's rebirth even took the Jews by surprise. Abba Eban, one of Israel's Founding Fathers, wrote in his book, Personal Witness, that on the day David Ben Gurion composed the telegram asking Harry Truman to recognize the Jewish state, it was still unnamed.

The name 'Israel' wasn't selected until the following day.

"Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." (Isaiah 66:8).

The blessings of the Jewish people

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:3)

There is a legendary story concerning an agitated Frederick the Great, who, in frustration, demanded from his cabinet that somebody provide him with proof of the existence of God. There was a momentary silence, before one of his counselors spoke up; "Have you considered the Jew, your Majesty?', he asked.

The continuing existence of the Jew is proof positive of God's existence, just as the existence of a Jewish State is proof positive that we are living in the last days of human government as foretold by the Bible prophets of antiquity.

There are three distinct statements made within the Divine promise of blessing given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The first is that God will bless those who bless the Jews.

When the United States wrested its seat at the council of nations from England, it became the first nation on earth to grant full citizenship to Jews.

It was the first nation to allow the Jews an unrestricted vote. It was the first nation to recognize the incomparable blessing the Jewish people have been to humanity.

America's second president, John Adams, said of the Jews, "The Jews have done more to civilize men than any other Nation. They are the most glorious Nation that ever inhabited the earth. The Romans and their Empire were but a bauble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of Mankind more, and more happily than any other Nation, ancient or modern."

And no nation on the face of the planet today, or at any time in recorded history, has been more greatly blessed than the United States of America.

The second is that God promised that in the Jews 'shall all families of the earth be blessed'.

Without the Jews, there would be no Bible. Jesus came to earth as a Jew. Without the Jewish Jesus, there would be no Christianity.

Apart from the theoligical argument, a quick look at the last hundred years or so proves the promise isn't confined to religious blessings alone.

From 1901 to 2001, the world's six billion people competed for the scarce 844 Nobel Prizes that have been awarded. Among those six billion people are nearly two billion Muslims -- roughly 20 percent of the global population.

Of those two billion Muslims, 8 have been singled out to receive the Nobel Prize - (seven if you consider that one of them was a politically-motivated award mistakenly given unrepentant terrorist Yasser Arafat)

In any case, Muslims account for less than one percent of the total Nobel Prizes awarded in the last hundred years.

In the middle of the 20th century, the Nazis exterminated some six million Jews, more than half the world's Jewish population. There are today about fourteen million Jews left.

Even with half their number exterminated at the century's midpoint, 159 of the remaining 836 Nobel Prizes were awarded to Jews, or roughly 18.8% of all the Nobel Prizes awarded in Nobel's history.

(If you're keeping track, that is about twenty times as many prizes divided among fourteen million Jews than were shared by the 2 billion Muslims world-wide)

In America, the influence of American Jews is hugely disproportionate to their numbers. Conspiracists point darkly to the 'Jewish influence' in education, banking, law, medicine, government, media and entertainment as evidence of a Jewish conspiracy to control the world.

They accurately point out that American Jewry accounts for less than 2% of America's general population, but then draw their conclusions without the benefit of Scriptural discernment.

The 'Jewish influence' in American life is part of God's blessing on America -- the 'Jewish conspiracy' canard given them in reward is part of God's curse on Israel.

"Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for My Name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. " (2nd Chronicles 7:20)

The curse was partially lifted, beginning in 1948, but will not be entirely lifted until the close of the Tribulation Period.

"And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong." (Zechariah 8:13)

The Jews have returned to the Land, but they remain a 'proverb and a byword among all nations' to this day.

Finally, God promised that He would 'curse them that curse you'. The precision with which God kept this promise is nothing less than astonishing.

During the Crusades from 1095 to 1270, Jews in Southern Europe fled to Spain, England, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe as the result of severe persecution and wholesale massacres of the Jews.

England turned out to be the wrong place to go, because in 1290 King Edward I expelled the Jews. King Charles II did the same thing in 1394 in France by forcing all Jews from France. Interestingly, Spanish Jews found peace and security in Spain and Portugal while those countries were under Muslim rule.

At that point in history, Europe was fractured, ignorant and in constant turmoil, while that same period of time is known to history as the Golden Age of Islam.

The Moors were world-renowned for their knowledge of astronomy, medicine and science and the Islamic world boasted the most extensive libraries that had ever existed to that time.

In the 1400s, the Moors were kicked out of Spain by the Papal forces of Europe. In 1492, on the same day Columbus set sail for the New World, Spain expelled any uncoverted Jews who had survived the Spanish Inquisition. This time they fled back to England where the Protestant reformation now welcomed them.

Spain's global empire lasted less than a century after it expelled its Jews, to be replaced by the Jew-friendly British Empire whose reach extended to every corner of the globe. In 1917, the British captured Palestine from the Muslims. The British Crown offered the Jews a homeland via the Balfour Declaration, and a year later, England won the First World War.

After the war, the British broke most of their promises to the Jews, restricted Jewish immigration to the Holy Land, and in the years since, have increasingly turned their backs on the Jews that brought them such great blessings for more than three hundred years.

The British Empire upon which 'the sun never set' in 1900, had, by 1948, lost its last colony when Burma declared independence, and the British Empire was no more.

In 1933, Germany was among the most cultured and sophisticated nations in Europe. Old Berlin was Europe's Crown Jewel. The Nazis turned on the Jews, together with most of Eastern Europe, and twelve years later, Europe's Crown Jewel was pile of burning rubble.

The Arab world, which had been so blessed during its Golden Age, collapsed into its present state of affairs, with most of it still operating as if electricity had never been harnessed.

The Arab Muslims supported Hitler, opposed Jewish immigration, waged repeated wars against Israel, deny Israel its rightful territory, and now mount a global jihad to finish Hitler’s goal of total extermination. The backward nature of modern Islamic culture and society are the fruits of those efforts.

Historically, wherever the Jews were welcomed, that nation flourished and prospered. Where the Jew was persecuted, those nations floundered.

It is more than just coincidence, it is an identifiable historical pattern that has continued, without deviation, since the days of the Babylonian captivity.

Babylon prospered when its Jews prospered, it fell to Persia when Neboplasser turned against them. Persia prospered until it turned on the Jews, whereupon it fell to Alexander's Greece. And so on, throughout history, up to and including the impending collapse of the rabidly anti-Semitic United Nations.

God's Word is true, and Bible prophecy is always 100% accurate. Jesus said that, before He returned, ALL Bible prophecy would be fulfilled -- to the tiniest 'jot and tittle' -- (the two most insignificant characters in the Hebrew alphabet)

In tracing Israel's history from Babylon to the present, we see the incredible detail with which God keeps His Word. Although America continues to be Israel's principle protector, and continues to enjoy the comcomitant blessings that come with it, America's good fortunes began to wane about the same time the White House forced Israeli into the Oslo Agreement.

The 'land for peace' formula called for Israel to give up some of the land of Promise in exchange for peace. In other words, it was a form of blackmail whose terms were drawn up in Washington and forced upon Israel for the express purpose of undoing what God had already done, including dividing Jerusalem and taking part of it from the Jews.

"And 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." (Zechariah 12:3)

People can certainly deny any Biblical connection but the hard reality marches on with the growing shadow now falling across global society. Now it is America's turn to discover just how serious God was about the whole 'blessing and cursing' thing.

And by the time circumstances force America to recognize the danger it faces, it will be too late to do anything to affect the outcome.

"So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My Mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. " (Isaiah 55:11)

(Nic's note: Only, lately, those of us who do study Bible prophecy can see where God is starting to lift His hand of protection from America as she starts to turn her back on Israel. America’s influence in the world is fading at an alarming and astonishing speed. As America as a nation – not necessarily as a people – start to distance ourselves from Israel and start to kick God out of our every day lives, God starts to distance Himself from America as a nation. We have always enjoyed prosperity and influence as long as we were friends of Israel and acknowledged God as our Creator. As we take God out of the equation we can see what is happening now to us as a Nation.)

Are Today's Jews Really Ancient Israel?

Many times have I heard people say something like—“The Jews today don't have a drop of Abrahamic blood.” Or that, “The Jews have no racial or historical connection to the Bible and Palestine.” Some Christians explain who the Jews are, saying, “The Jews (or Israel) are people who missed (or rejected) the coming of the Messiah and thus were cast aside by God, and so now God deals with the Gentiles.”

Arab historian Jarid al-Kidwa told an Arab TV audience, "all the events surrounding Kings Saul, David and Rehoboam occurred in Yemen, and no Hebrew remnants were found in Israel, for a very simple reason--because they were never here."

Al-Kidwa said: "Most of the Khazars [a Turkish tribe that converted to Judaism in medieval times] are the Ashkenazic Jews who arrived in Palestine. As Allah is my witness, in my blood flows more of the Children of Israel and the ancient Hebrews than in the blood of Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu."

According to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, al- Kidwa also said: "The stories of the Torah and the Bible did not take place in the Land of Israel--they occurred in the Arabian Peninsula, primarily in Yemen. The identity of our father Ibrahim [Abraham] who is mentioned in the Koran is clear. From the Koran's description of him it arises that he lived in the southern Hejaz [Saudi Arabia], near Mecca."

Most of those who oppose Israel, and especially those Christians who think spiritual Israel is really the Church, include these and similar arguments to support their view. If true, it would bolster the Arab claim to all of Israel and renew global opposition to a ‘Jewish’ state under the old “Zionism is racism” argument.

If today’s Jews aren’t descended from Abraham, but are instead a mixed race of people whose only common connection is religion, then they are not a ‘nation’ in any identifiable sense. They are instead religious zealots who usurped a Biblical promise in order to steal land from the Arabs based on a fraudulent claim.

The Bible promised the land to the ‘seed of Abraham’ – the literal seed of Abraham, not the spiritual seed of Abraham. The spiritual seed of Abraham is the Church.

If modern-day Jews are not Abraham’s literal seed, but merely the descendents of Jewish converts and followers of Judaic tradition, then the Israeli claim to the Land of Israel is false.

Abraham’s blessing passed from Isaac to Jacob. “And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.” (Genesis 28:4)

So clearly, if modern Israel isn’t the physical and literal seed of Abraham, then Israel’s claim to the Land of Promise is a fraud.

And our support of Israel on the grounds they are God’s Chosen is built on a lie.

The Bible says that in the last days, the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would return to the ‘mountains of Israel, which have always been waste’ and the nation of Israel would be reborn, ‘in a day’ -- (Isaiah 66:8).

According to Bible prophecy, during the reign of the antichrist, the Temple will be rebuilt and full Temple worship restored. But, in order for Temple worship to resume, Jewish religious law requires it first be ritually cleansed.

The only way that the Temple area can be ritually restored is by the application of the ashes of a red heifer by an undefiled Cohanim priest. A Cohanim must meet strict bloodline requirements, including direct descendancy from Aaron, the brother of Moses.

So we have lots of problems here that must be solved before the Tribulation Period begins.

1. Only ethnic Jews, not merely religious Jews, qualify to inherit the Land of Promise. For this to be the last generation, the Jews of Israel MUST be the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses.
2. To ritually cleanse the Temple, only an ethnic descendant of Aaron, brother of Moses, is qualified to perform the ceremony.
3. The Cohanim must not be ritually defiled himself.
The Bible says that the Jewish priesthood, the Cohanim, began 3000 years ago when God anointed Aaron, brother of Moses, to be Israel’s High Priest.

“And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and his seed after him. . . . .And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office,” Exodus 28:43, 30:30).

The title of cohen is paternally inherited. Most Jewish men surnamed Cohen are also Cohanim, but so are many men with other surnames.

Recently, a genetic study of modern-day Cohanim has provided the first scientific evidence supporting the oral tradition of an ancient priestly lineage.

Karl Skorecki, a physician who studies the genetics of kidney disease at the Technion in Haifa, Israel, and colleagues in London and the United States realized that they could study the lineage of priests by looking at the Y chromosome, which only men carry.

Unlike all other chromosomes in our cells, the Y chromosome, which bears the male sex-determining gene, is passed essentially unchanged from father to son, barring rare mutations.

The researchers extracted DNA from cells scraped from the inner cheeks of 188 unrelated, self-identified Cohanim from Israel, North America, and Britain. They then looked for the presence or absence of a well-studied small stretch of DNA on the Y chromosome called yap, or “Y”.

If this hereditary tradition has been closely followed, the Y-chromosomes of the Cohanim today should bear some resemblance to one another because of their unbroken link back to a common ancestor, Aaron.

Genetic studies among Cohanim from all over the world say about 50 percent of Cohanim have that unusual set of genetic markers on their Y chromosome.

What is equally striking is that this genetic signature of the Cohanim is extremely rare outside of Jewish populations.

The Y chromosome also keeps track of time. Small mutations occur in the DNA being passed on, and these changes build up with each generation. Like the tick of a clock, the number of these mutations is a measure of time passed.

By looking at the differences between Y-chromosomes in the Cohanim, researchers can estimate roughly how many generations ago members of the priesthood had a common ancestor.

Remarkably, the evidence suggests the Cohanim chromosomes coalesce at a date that corresponds with the generation of Aaron.

This proves to a scientific certainty that the Jews of Israel are the physical descendants of the Promise.

And a group of rabbis is quietly seeking families of the Jewish priestly caste (Cohanim) who are willing to hand over their newborn sons for a special mission: to be raised in conditions of isolation and ritual purity in order to deal with the next red heifer, if and when she is found.

According to the organizers, sons of Cohanim raised in purity, under conditions stipulated by halacha, or Jewish law, are essential for the purification of those ritually defiled by the dead. Cohanim who are themselves ritually defiled, as already noted, cannot prepare the red heifer for burning or prepare her ashes for sprinkling on the ritually defiled among the People of Israel.

And the search for a ritually pure red heifer continues. One was believed to have been born in Israel last year, but was subsequently disqualified after it developed a blemish.

The Cohanim Gene proves that the nation ‘born in a day’ on May 14, 1948 is the hereditary nation of Israel whose rebirth Scripture says marks the birth of the generation that will see the return of Christ.

The nearness of the Tribulation is exemplified by the fact that there are qualified Cohanim being raised under ritually pure conditions to prepare them for the ritual cleansing of the Third Temple. There is an ongoing, worldwide search for a qualifying red heifer.

The Jews continue to wage war with the Palestinians over the future possession of the city of Jerusalem and ultimately, possession of the Temple Mount.

God’s Word will not return to Him void. He has spoken it, and it will come to pass.
The modern science of genetics disproves the physical element of the replacement theologian’s arguments, and the clear teaching of Scripture disproves the spiritual elements.

God is clearly not finished with the Jews. He has outlined His future plans for their national redemption in the pages of Scripture. The enemies of Israel are blind to the truth.

And the future is almost now.

And what about Israel?

In 1897, the 1st Zionist Congress petitioned the government of Great Britain for a Jewish state in what is today the African country of Uganda. The British told the Jews to petition the Ottoman Empire, who at that time controlled Palestine.

The Jews would have settled for Uganda as a Jewish homeland, but the prophets said that the Jewish homeland of the last days would be 'on the mountains of Israel'. And that is exactly what happened.

The prophet Daniel, also writing from captivity in Babylon, penned the future history of Israel, [a nation that had not existed for a century] dividing its future into 70 weeks of years. During the 70th and final week, Daniel prophesied the revival of an empire [Rome] that, in Daniel's day, would not see its FIRST incarnation for another 500 years.

Today, the nation of Israel exists, composed of a people 'brought forth from the nations' while, for the first time in 2000 years, a European superstate made up of what had once been the territory of the Roman Empire, seeks involvement in a peace process that Daniel said would be confirmed by a leader of a revived Rome.

"And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all." (Ezekiel 37:21-22)

In his book, ‘Personal Witness' Abba Eban, one of the founders of Israel, noted that when David Ben-Gurion cabled President Truman to ask the United States to recognize the Jewish state, the Jews still hadn't decided what to call it since the Zionist leaders were still, characteristically, arguing over the name.

Eban noted, 'Some wanted to call it Zion, others Judah . . .what about 'Israel'?' The name was chosen only hours before the state came into existence. ("Personal Witness" Abba Eban, p. 144)

Abba Eban was Israel's first representative to the United Nations, even before there was a state of Israel. Prior to declaring statehood, Eban was the Jewish Relief Agency's official representative.

Eban served in the twin capacity of Israeli Ambassador to the UN and Israeli Ambassador to the US, before becoming Israel's foreign minister.

Abba Eban was present for every major event in the life of the modern Jewish State from its inception until he left the Knesset in 1988.

Eban was known for his blunt honesty and no-nonsense attitude, having once told the UN General Assembly; "If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions."

He had a way of putting things into perspective unmatched by his contemporaries. Speaking of the 1967 Six-Days' War, Eban quipped; "I think that this is the first war in history that on the morrow the victors sued for peace and the vanquished called for unconditional surrender."

Eban recounts that the Soviet Union, initially, enthusiastically supported the establishment of a Jewish State, while the United States very nearly withheld recognition, which would have doomed Israel to stillbirth.

President Truman, a crusty mid-Westerner with no particular love for the Jews, fought a pitched battle with Secretary of State George C Marshall, who told Truman in blunt terms;

"They don't deserve a state, they have stolen that country. If you give this recognition, Mr. President, I may not vote for you in the next election."

In the end, Truman decided, against the expressed and united opinion of his cabinet, to send a cable to Tel Aviv, assuring David Ben-Gurion of the US intention to recognize the new Jewish state. On May 14, Joseph Cohn, Chaim Weitzman’s personal secretary, was dispatched to Washington to inform Truman that the name of the state he was about to recognize would be 'Israel'.

As it grew apparent that the new Jewish state was looking westward to America, instead of east toward Moscow for its principle political alliances, the Soviets soured on the new state and turned instead to support Israel's Arab enemies.

Among the punitive policies adopted by the Kremlin was a complete ban on emigration by Soviet-bloc Jews to the Jewish state.

From our perspective on the timeline, the restoration of Israel, and the events leading up to that restoration, are a matter of history.

There is no need to interpret or spiritualize or allegorize the events of Israel's rebirth -- there are plenty of personal witnesses besides Abba Eban's.

Israel very nearly became a Soviet client state because of institutionalized anti-Semitism at the highest levels of the US government that threatened to derail recognition of Israel's existence.

The subsequent friendship that developed between the new Jewish state and the United States resulted in a Soviet moratorium on Jewish emigration that lasted until the late 1980's.

And, until the 11th hour, nobody, including the Jews, even knew what the name of the new Jewish state would be.

There are those who would argue that all Bible prophecy was fulfilled by AD 70 with the destruction of the Jewish Temple and the dispersal of the Jews.

What appears to be the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in this generation, the argument goes, is the consequence of misreading or misinterpreting the Scriptures.

That argument is belied by recent history, and, despite efforts to revise history, there are still too many personal witnesses who were there.

For example, the prophet Ezekiel wrote, sometime around the year 536 BC, that the Jews of the 'latter years' would be restored to their original homeland and would be known as the nation of Israel.

One hundred and sixty-six years before, Sargon II of Assyria besieged and divided Israel and Judea, capturing the Kingdom of Israel. Sargon II followed the practice of removing the nobles from a conquered land and settling them elsewhere. As a consequence, the nation of 'Israel' ceased to exist and its people became known to history as the 'ten lost tribes' of Israel.

When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judea and settled Judean nobility in Babylon during Ezekiel's lifetime, there was no reason to expect the Jews to escape the same fate as their Israelite cousins 166 years earlier.

But Ezekiel, under Divine inspiration, not only predicted the restoration of a Jewish State, he confidently predicted it would bear the name of a nation that had not existed for generations!

Even Israel's Founding Fathers, like David Ben-Gurion and Abba Eban didn't know what the new Jewish state would call itself -- but Ezekiel knew the answer 2,500 years before -- and said so, in writing.

The Soviet moratorium against Jewish emigration to the Holy Land meant that most Jewish émigrés came from the Arab states to the east of Israel and those from the Western alliance countries.

Jews from the north (Moscow is due north of Jerusalem) and the Jews from the South (Africa) languished in their host countries, essentially as political prisoners of the Soviet system.

The prophet Isaiah, who lived at about the time of the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, prophesied:
"Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;" (Isaiah 43:4-5)

As noted, we are looking backward to Israel's restoration as history. The Bible's prophets were looking forward, thousands of years into the future.

Looking back, we can see that Israel's 'seed from the east' began flocking to the Holy Land following the defeat of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1917.

Israel's relationship with the West prompted the mass emigration of Jews from America. The Holocaust spurred a mass emigration of Jews from Western Europe.

It took the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall to make the Soviets to the north 'give up'. Egyptian Jews weren't free to emigrate until after the 1977 Camp David Accords.

And it wasn't until the mid 1990's that places like Ethiopia, and Libya lifted their ban on Jewish emigration. Yemeni Jews were transferred enmasse, some 56,000 of them, during what Israel called "Operation Flying Carpet." ("to the south, keep not back").

In the past decade, members of what were believed to be one of the 'Lost Tribes' -- the tribe of Dan -- have turned up in Ethiopia.

Genetic testing has also determined that the men of the African Lemba tribe, a black, Bantu-speaking people, share the unique "Y" chromosome of the Cohanin, the Jewish priestly class descended from Aaron.

The Pathans of Afghanistan are believed by some to be descended from one of the Lost Tribes.

And the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews, Shlomo Amar recently determined that the Bnei Menashe community in India's north-east is descended from the Lost Tribes and has formally declared them to be Jews. Many have since emigrated to Israel, and about 8,000 more are getting ready to do the same.

"And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be NO MORE TWO NATIONS, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all." (Ezekiel 37:22)

It is no Scriptural sleight-of-hand trick, or a manipulation or misinterpretation of the Bible. The restoration of Israel -- viewed from our vantage point as personal witnesses to recent history -- is an EXACT match to the Bible's description of how, when and where that restoration would take place.

The only difference is that of perspective. To the Bible prophets, it was future, whereas to we who are alive and remain in this generation, it is history past.

"And He spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand."

"Verily I say unto you, This generation SHALL NOT PASS AWAY, till ALL be fulfilled." (Luke 21:29-32)
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Next: Part Three: What's so special about the End Times anyway and what are "these things"?