Israel has been a people since early Biblical times, since around the 20th generation of mankind following their creation in the Garden of Eden. God promised the ancient land of Canaan to the Jewish patriarch Abraham and what would be his innumerable descendants in a covenant that would be in exchange for their worshiping Him as their God. This covenant anointed them as God's 'chosen people', and He promised them his blessings as long as they would worship Him and obey His commandments. God also promised Abraham that in regards to the nation he would "bless those who bless them, and curse those who curse them." The same covenant was made by God with Abraham's son Isaac, and through to Isaac's son Jacob, who during his life had his named changed to 'Israel'. The sons of Israel eventually prospered in the neighboring land of Egypt before their descendants became so numerous that the Pharaohs feared and enslaved them. After hundreds of years of slavery, the Israelites were freed by God through the leadership of Moses and the imposition of a series of plagues on the Egyptians. Under Moses and with God's help the Israelites returned to the promised land. Beginning just over a thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ, and continuing for almost a thousand years, various Israelite kingdoms and states ruled over the promised land. This beginning is the root of Israel's nationhood, established here on earth by the will of God Himself. Down through the ages at various times the people of Israel drifted away from God's law, and He punished them with eviction from the promised land at the hands of the Romans and with dispersal among the nations of the earth in the time just after the life of Christ. However, he made another covenant with Israel that was conditional on them repenting, and returning to Him and His law. On this repentance they would be returned to the promised land, be restored with God, and be blessed even above their forefathers. In the last century we finally saw that regrouping of the Israeli people, the Jewish nation, in the promised land which culminated in the historic founding of the Nation of Israel. Since it's founding, the United States has been the biggest supporter of Israel, and it is God's promise of blessing on Israel's friends that is the foundation upon which America itself has flourished and become the world leader. But there remain enemies of God's chosen people here on earth who do not share Israel's faith or belief in God. These enemies do not recognize the covenant or even Israel's right to exist as a nation, and who want nothing less than Israel's expulsion from or destruction in the promised land. Recent decades have seen numerous attacks on Israel by these nations, either individually, in unison, or through proxy terrorist organizations. The goal is always the same for these Muslim nations: the destruction of Israel and it's erasure from the Middle East map. In recent years and months, the Islamic nation of Iran has been attempting to develop nuclear weapons as its radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made public statements that Israel is "a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm" and is "a regime based on evil that cannot continue and one day will vanish." On Tuesday, Israel saw Benjamin Netanyahu sworn in as its Prime Minister. The tough and hard-line Netanyahu was elected to the position by an Israeli population that had grown weary of its leaders constantly bargaining away land to the Arabs and receiving no reciprocity other than continued attacks and threats. While campaigning he promised that if he were elected "Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out." Now that he has been sworn in, Netanyahu has put the world, particularly American President Barack Obama, on notice that if nothing is done to dismantle Iran's nuclear program, then Israel will do it themselves, calling Iran "an existential threat to Israel." He is absolutely correct in this assessment. But Obama was elected in America largely as a peacemaker, and you can bet that he will not lead or authorize any attacks on Iran. Instead, he and the European leaders and the liberal media who have coddled radical Islam will continue to press Israel for further concessions, and even go so far as to paint the Israelis as instigators and aggressors. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the American people should not stand for an American administration that will not continue to actively support God's chosen people in the promised land. Turn away from Israel, and America will surely find that God will turn away from her, which would create the greatest existential threat to America in our own history as a nation.
Monday, April 6, 2009
An Existential Threat
Israel has been a people since early Biblical times, since around the 20th generation of mankind following their creation in the Garden of Eden. God promised the ancient land of Canaan to the Jewish patriarch Abraham and what would be his innumerable descendants in a covenant that would be in exchange for their worshiping Him as their God. This covenant anointed them as God's 'chosen people', and He promised them his blessings as long as they would worship Him and obey His commandments. God also promised Abraham that in regards to the nation he would "bless those who bless them, and curse those who curse them." The same covenant was made by God with Abraham's son Isaac, and through to Isaac's son Jacob, who during his life had his named changed to 'Israel'. The sons of Israel eventually prospered in the neighboring land of Egypt before their descendants became so numerous that the Pharaohs feared and enslaved them. After hundreds of years of slavery, the Israelites were freed by God through the leadership of Moses and the imposition of a series of plagues on the Egyptians. Under Moses and with God's help the Israelites returned to the promised land. Beginning just over a thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ, and continuing for almost a thousand years, various Israelite kingdoms and states ruled over the promised land. This beginning is the root of Israel's nationhood, established here on earth by the will of God Himself. Down through the ages at various times the people of Israel drifted away from God's law, and He punished them with eviction from the promised land at the hands of the Romans and with dispersal among the nations of the earth in the time just after the life of Christ. However, he made another covenant with Israel that was conditional on them repenting, and returning to Him and His law. On this repentance they would be returned to the promised land, be restored with God, and be blessed even above their forefathers. In the last century we finally saw that regrouping of the Israeli people, the Jewish nation, in the promised land which culminated in the historic founding of the Nation of Israel. Since it's founding, the United States has been the biggest supporter of Israel, and it is God's promise of blessing on Israel's friends that is the foundation upon which America itself has flourished and become the world leader. But there remain enemies of God's chosen people here on earth who do not share Israel's faith or belief in God. These enemies do not recognize the covenant or even Israel's right to exist as a nation, and who want nothing less than Israel's expulsion from or destruction in the promised land. Recent decades have seen numerous attacks on Israel by these nations, either individually, in unison, or through proxy terrorist organizations. The goal is always the same for these Muslim nations: the destruction of Israel and it's erasure from the Middle East map. In recent years and months, the Islamic nation of Iran has been attempting to develop nuclear weapons as its radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made public statements that Israel is "a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm" and is "a regime based on evil that cannot continue and one day will vanish." On Tuesday, Israel saw Benjamin Netanyahu sworn in as its Prime Minister. The tough and hard-line Netanyahu was elected to the position by an Israeli population that had grown weary of its leaders constantly bargaining away land to the Arabs and receiving no reciprocity other than continued attacks and threats. While campaigning he promised that if he were elected "Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out." Now that he has been sworn in, Netanyahu has put the world, particularly American President Barack Obama, on notice that if nothing is done to dismantle Iran's nuclear program, then Israel will do it themselves, calling Iran "an existential threat to Israel." He is absolutely correct in this assessment. But Obama was elected in America largely as a peacemaker, and you can bet that he will not lead or authorize any attacks on Iran. Instead, he and the European leaders and the liberal media who have coddled radical Islam will continue to press Israel for further concessions, and even go so far as to paint the Israelis as instigators and aggressors. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the American people should not stand for an American administration that will not continue to actively support God's chosen people in the promised land. Turn away from Israel, and America will surely find that God will turn away from her, which would create the greatest existential threat to America in our own history as a nation.
