Israel's Land For Peace: God's View?

In the summer of 2005 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (with the encouragement of President Bush) agreed to forceably withdraw Israeli citizens from the Gaza strip and turn the area in southwest Israel over to the Palestinian Authority as part of the state of Palestine. This was hailed by many governments as a critical step towards ending the war between Palestinian militants and Israel. "Land for Peace" was the slogan of choice.

Given that Israel was established by God as documented in the Old Testament of the Bible, I wondered what God would think of this arrangement brought about by modern day wisdom. Some history would be useful here: When Joshua (the leader of Israel) was old and well advanced in years, the LORD said to him, "You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over. This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites: from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it counted as Canaanite (the territory of the five Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron--that of the Avvites); (Joshua 13: 1-3 NIV)

The Lord took the land from the Philistines (the ancient Palestinians) and gave Gaza to Israel, and no human being can attempt to change that and expect a peaceful conclusion. Modern day Israeli politicians along with most other world governments are assuming they can diplomatically change what God has decreed. As this headline from Gaza on Christmas Day 2005 suggests, "No God/No Peace":

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the army to enforce a no-go zone for Palestinians in northern Gaza to try to end rocket attacks on Israel. It is part of a series of new measures Israel says it will take to stop Palestinians firing missiles...A Palestinian official rejected the plan outright. - BBC News

America claims to be a Christian nation, and some government officials boldly declare their Christian allegiances. Sometimes I wonder, what Bible are they reading?

Ignore God and Decrease Your Birth Rates

I read a very interesting article yesterday in the New York Times on the topic of the shrinking birth rate in Europe over the past few decades. The article outlines the demographic danger facing Europe with the high likelihood that several countries (Italy, Spain and Germany among others) will see their native populations decrease by up to 40% by 2050. According to the article, the replacement birth rate necessary to maintain an equal population size from generation to generation is 2.1 children born to each woman. In Europe according to the article the rate is well below 2.0, with some countries closer to 1.5 and dropping. It is a lengthy and very interesting read that sheds some light on a phenomenon that in all likelihood will reshape the face of Western Europe within 100 years. The interesting thing about the article is that it was published after extensive research and interviews with many experts and it offers various possible explanations for why this situation has developed....

Funerals for the Unsaved or Unbelievers

I am not a leader of a church, but I oftentimes wonder how does one lead a funeral service for someone who dies without knowing Jesus Christ as Lord ? Admittedly I have not been to many funerals in my lifetime, though they are appearing to come more frequently lately, but the fact is that funerals are held daily throughout the world and as such this is a pertinent question to someone just about every day. I’ve been to the funeral where the person lived a fairly routine life, taking care of their families and other responsibilities as best they could, paying taxes and doing the average things that we as human beings do on a consistent basis. They however had no visible relationship with God through His son Jesus Christ. When this person dies, the surviving family members are oftentimes left scrambling trying to find a person and a place to officiate the funeral services – generally because the deceased did not have a regular church that they attended. Funeral homes sometimes ...

Were they Saved?

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many… (Hebrews 9:27-28 NIV) My wife and I were talking about a celebrity who we learned had died recently. One of my first thoughts (as is customary) was “were they saved”? Did that person accept that Jesus died for their sins so that they could live forever in Heaven? Though neither my wife nor I could know the real answer to that question, if we went by the “evidence” of how that person lived their public life, then it appeared highly unlikely that a salvation conversion would have occurred in their life. If so, then their death was indeed a tragedy. Acceptance of Jesus is indeed the difference between life and death (for eternity). Look at this diagram below (taken from a previous publication by author Bruce Wilkinson). The size of the circle denotes the average life span of our present life on earth. The length of the line denotes the first .000...

Treasure In Clay Jars

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