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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has stated that "Israel is the standard bearer of Satan", and that the regime will soon fall apart. His latest anti-Semitic outburst came during a conference on Islam that the President was attending today. The Iranian President previously called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map", comments which brought about immediate worldwide condemnation. During the war between Israel and Hizbullah, Ahmadinejad stated that the main solution to the conflict was the destruction of the Zionist regime. In November of last year, Iranian newspapers ran articles predicting the outbreak of a great war with the state of Israel, which would "completely wipe out the Zionist regime". The papers urged Muslims from Jordan, Egypt and Syria to rise up against the state of Israel... Quote: ""The Zionist regime is the standard bearer of invasion, occupation and Satan," he said, predicting Israel's eventual demise. "When the philosophy behind the establishment of a regime is in question, it is not unlikely that it will find itself on a course of decline and dissolution." By "the philosophy behind the establishment of a regime", President Ahmadinejad is of course referring to the Holocaust, which helped convince the world of the need to establish a national homeland for the Jewish people. Ahmadinejad denies that the Holocaust ever occurred, or if it did occur, European nations should have given up their land instead of carving up the Middle East. When will the world get it? The conflict isn't over land. Adolph Hitler started his persecution of the Jews in 1933, when there wasn't even a state of Israel in existence. The world's indifference to Hitler's anti-Semitism resulted in the deaths of over 6 million Jews, and cost the lives of millions more who died during the Second World War. Sadly the world is largely ignoring the fanaticism of President Ahmadinejad, and it does so at its peril. Some friends have emailed me to say that they don't believe today's state of Israel is God's doing. I understand why they might think that, for they are looking solely at the physical nation, which is back in the land in unbelief. But we must understand that there is a spiritual dimension to the establishment of the state of Israel and the conflict in the Middle East in general. Over 2500 years ago, God revealed to the prophets exactly how the nation of Israel would be reborn... Ezekiel 37:21-22
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: Isaiah 43:5-6
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; Jeremiah 16:14-15
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Isaiah 66:8
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. Ezekiel 36:7-11
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame. But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Isaiah 41:18-20
I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. Hosea 6:2
After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. The Lord told Ezekiel that He would gather His people from among the heathen. In 1948 there were only a few thousand Jews that lived in the Holy Land, today Israel's population exceeds 7 million. Most of those people were not born in the land, but made Aliyah to Israel as the Lord promised in the Scriptures. The Lord said He would bring His people into "their own land". The land does not belong to the Arabs, the British, the Turks, the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians or the Babylonians. The land was given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - who was later renamed "Israel". Other nations have occupied it at various times throughout history, but it belongs to the Jews. The Lord said that He would bring them back to the "mountains of Israel". Until 1948 there was no such country. The general region was renamed Philistia by the Romans in an effort to erase its Jewish history, following the Jewish revolt in 135 AD. It later became known as Palestine under the British administration. The Jews had debated what to name their new country the British government had promised them. Some of the suggestions were "Zion" and "Judea", but none of these were accepted. The decision was made to call the new state "Israel", just like Ezekiel had predicted. In one day, May 14th 1948, the state of Israel was born. As promised, the Lord made them "one nation" upon the mountains of Israel. Following the fall of the Soviet Empire, the way was opened up for thousands of Russian Jews to make Aliyah to the land of Israel. I am told that where the Scriptures state, "I will say to the north; Give up", in the Hebrew this is a very strong term, indicating that the Jewish emigration from Russia would be particularly problematic. And tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews from the south continue to make Aliyah to Israel. Truly a great miracle occurred when the Lord brought His people out of Egypt, but in our lifetimes we have witnessed an even greater miracle - the return of the Jews to Israel from over 100 different countries of the world. As prophesied in the Scriptures, the Lord has also made the land of Israel to blossom as the rose. Israel only receives around 7 inches of rain per year, and most of the land is arid wilderness, yet Israel is one of the few countries in the world that produces enough fruit to feed its own population. Since May 1948, hundreds of millions of trees have been planted in the wilderness to enrich the soil, fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah 41 and Ezekiel 36. But according to Ezekiel 36, the Jewish people are back in their land in unbelief. There is no Spirit in them. In Hosea 6:2 we read that the nation would be "revived" after 2000 years, before being "raised up" and living in God's sight during the Millennial Reign of Christ. But as surely as the above prophecies have been fulfilled, Israel will one day recognize their Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach - Jesus Christ. God keeps His promises. Have you ever recognized Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour? The Bible tells us that unless we have our sins forgiven, we will never enter heaven (John 3:36). God loves you so much, He sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to bear the punishment for your sins (John 3:16), so that you would never have to. In order to have our sins forgiven, we have to repent of our sins and accept by faith what Christ did for us on the cross (John 6:29). The Lord has promised those that come to Him for salvation, that He will never turn them away (John 6:37). Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved (Acts 16:30-31). Source Jerusalem Post |
