Posted on 10/30/2010 4:03:35 PM PDT by Rashputin
Stunning Michael Geer
The Vatican has called for Israel to end its occupation of "Arab lands," noting that all of what we define currently as Israel is "Arab land."
That the Bible must not be used to justify either their ‘occupation' nor their ‘injustices' against Palestinians.
"The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands," Monsignor Cyril Salim Bustros, Greek Melkite archbishop of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston, Massachusetts, and president of the "Commission for the Message," said at Saturday's Vatican press conference.
"We Christians cannot speak of the ‘promised land' as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people. This promise was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people - all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people."
You've just been witness to a significant event in the End Times unfolding, amigo. The Vatican stating that Israel is "no longer a chosen people".
The Vatican has just nullified the Bible, and elevated Replacement Theology in full public view.
This is .... stunning.
LOL.
If he shows up with a feather boa . . .
God have mercy.
However, there is no doubt at all that the fact that all nations and all people are in the process of turning against Israel is the beginning of the fulfillment of the Zechariah prophecies.
Absolutely.
That’s one reason that astute students of Biblical prophecy have known all along that at some point, even American would turn against Israel.
God is determined to be Israel’s ONLY CHAMPION, PROTECTOR, DEFENSE, PROVIDER . . . just as He was in OT Exodus times.
INDEED:
It is all very interesting and you have posted a lot that tells us we are in the final days and hours.
We also have Ramadan Shallah, the exiled chief of the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza, quoted at a rally Friday, saying, “Israel will not bring peace to the region, it will only bring war and destruction and therefore, the slogan of all should be that Israel must be wiped out of existence,” in partial fulfillment of the Psalm 83 prophecy. And, as we know from that prophecy, the Palestinians will be part of the Arab coalition which will go to war against Israel. So we have that to watch for, by all appearances, soon.
Then, we have this, the beginning of the fulfillment of one part of Matthew 24:7: “ An infectious-disease nightmare is unfolding: A new gene that can turn many types of bacteria into superbugs resistant to nearly all antibiotics has sickened people in three states and is popping up all over the world, health officials reported Monday.”. (New drug-resistant superbugs found in 3 states)
There are no more signs pointing us to the Tribulation which need to be fulfilled. They are all in progress. And since the Rapture comes before the Tribulation, and we see all the signs beginning to happen for the Tribulation, we are not long for this earth. You know the saying, “if we see Christmas decorations out in October, we know Thanksgiving is right around the corner”.
And we also know what Jesus said: “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
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lol you can’t be serious. An Archbishop doesn’t speak for his religion? How do you get to be an Archbishop and not speak for your religion?
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Quix:
.
Uhhhhhhhhhhh
by running around with Prada shoes in your mouth?
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“I read no statement from the Vatican. An Archbishop of the Greek Melkite Church does not speak for the Vatican.”
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lol you can’t be serious. An Archbishop doesn’t speak for his religion? How do you get to be an Archbishop and not speak for your religion?
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Uhhhhhhhhhhh
by running around with Prada shoes in your mouth?
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You completely missed the point ...
The promise was made to Abraham AND his descendents. Allow me to clarify this statement; it means
1. Abraham himself
2. All of Abraham's descendants
Now, most reasonable persons would agree that Abraham was dead long before Joshua ... so #1 above never happened. What are the implifications of this fact? This implies that either God lied to Abraham ... or God told the truth and this fulfillment has just not happened yet.
Since none of us would say God lied to Abraham, the fulfillment of #1 has to be someday in the future. How or when will that happen? It will happen during the millenium. God will raise Abraham and he will finally get to possess this land, along with his descendents. God will also fulfill the Davidic convenant, since now that He has a man who can sit on Davids throne. He will also fulfil the establishment of Daniels "kindgom which will not be destroyed" and which "will rule all other kingdoms." He will also fulfil the "new covenant" of Jeremiah that He made with the nation of Israel.
All of this is pretty straightforward if you read the text. But what irks me even more about your insistance is that you are willing to ignore one of the larger issues of this promise ... that God promised this land to Abraham and his descendants "forever." If that forever fulfillment began during the days of Joshua, Israel would still possess the land. In fact, the nation went into exile for 70 years during the Babylonian captivity. So that history alone says the start of "possess forever" has to happen sometime after that exile; not during the time of Joshua. Further, several other "forever" covenants have not been fulfilled as of yet. The Davidic covenant was also "forever," there is no throne in Jerusalem; the kingdom of Daniel is also "forever" ... there has been no kingdom since the time of the Babylonian exile. Etc. etc. etc.
All of these things will come together during the millenium ... of which even you (no matter how much you will despise it) will be a part.
Careful. Scripture teaches that repentance is a condition of return. Have the citizens of Israel, by and large, repented and turned to the Lord? (a condition set forth in Deuteronomy 30:1-5).
Do provide Scriptural evidence of any return to the land of Israel that occurred when the exiles had not repented.
God may have allowed the return in 1948, but it doesn’t follow that it is *the* return, due to the lack of repentance and turning to Him.
That is why one judges fulfillment, biblically speaking, not just on snippets of verses, but on verses as a whole, verses in their larger context, and verses in light of what the Scriptures teach elsewhere.
Hey Beerboozer, you do realize the Archbishop in the article is not a Roman Catholic don't you?
He is from the Melkite Greek Catholic Church that was Greek Orthodox until two-hundred years ago when it split away and realigned with the Roman Catholics.
Also, like most other Heads-of-State the Pope has a Press Office.
No I simply corrected you because you attributed that quote to Pope Benedict, and he did not say it. Continuing to say otherwise is bearing false witness against him.
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lol you can’t be serious. An Archbishop doesn’t speak for his religion? How do you get to be an Archbishop and not speak for your religion?
By speaking for a different religion. The Archbishop in the article is not Roman Catholic.
A meeting of Catholic bishops from the Middle East has just ended in Rome. For two weeks, some 180 patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops and bishops of six different churches – Chaldean, Coptic, Syrian, Greek-Melkite, Maronite and Armenian – discussed the challenges facing Christianity with their Latin-rite brothers, with Pope Benedict listening in.from my link above at post 153
IIRC,
An RC upthread noted that the Archbishop was a Bishop of the RCC in a diocese called Greek Melkite something or other.
I’m not an expert on any of it. Sounded plausible to me. I didn’t verify the assertion.
**lol you can’t be serious. An Archbishop doesn’t speak for his religion? How do you get to be an Archbishop and not speak for your religion?**
If a Bapstist minister tells a doctrinal error, does he speak for every single Baptist minister and every single Baptist member, in the entire world!?!
**that there has always been only one plan of salvation and one people of God — all believing Jews and Gentiles now united in Christ.**
So simply stated and yet so profound and wonderous! I do not understand why it is so hard for people to understand this. Its quite wonderful to realize that God had a plan for ALL mankind! And how is this misconstrued as somehow being anti-semetic? Or against God’s will? I think not witnessing to the Jewish people the love and truth of Jesus is the ultimate mistreatment of them!
Just FYI
This synod was arranged by the Pope and opened and closed with a Papal speech.
Thanks.
Of course . . . that was before the Pope disarranged it . . . before he arranged it . . . which was before he disarranged it . . . etc. etc. etc.
Nothing seems stable, truly attributable to anyone but . . . Mary . . . and she only replies with train loads of white hankys.
The Melkites, or Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Middle Eastern and Greek origin, are the descendants of the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of the 1st century A.D. Christianity was established in this area of the Middle East by St. Peter before he traveled on to the imperial city of Rome. Scholars attribute the actual writing of the gospels in Koine Greek to the Hellenized Christian population of Antioch, with authors such as St. Luke and others.
Although the church's origins lie in the Near East, however, today, Melkite Greek Catholics are spread throughout the world mainly due to immigration. At present there is a worldwide membership of approximately 1.3 million. The Melkite Church has a high degree of ethnic homogeneity but its patriarch, its episcopate, its clergy and many of its faithful are speakers of such languages as Arabic, Greek, French, English, Portuguese, and Spanish.[5] The Melkite Catholic Church retains its Byzantine roots and liturgical practices similar to those of the Eastern Orthodoxy while maintaining communion with the Catholic Church in Rome since 1729. Its languages are Arabic and Greek.
I copped this from Wikipedia
Gregory III, Patriarch of the Church of Antioch, is the spiritual leader of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He was elected patriarch on November 29, 2000, succeeding Maximos V Hakim, who resigned at age 92 due to failing health, dying seven months later. He took the name Gregory after Patriarch Gregory II Youssef, the last member of his order to be elected patriarch. Patriarch Gregory, who studied in Europe and is multilingual, is author of several books on eastern theology and spirituality.
Interesting.
Thx.
wc
Another East Coast liberal?
NOBODY expects the comfy chair!
Cheers!
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