Israel's End-Times Gamble

World Net Daily ^ | Sept. 14, 2002 | Gary DeMar

[Seti 1]

"If you're gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right. You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away and know when to run."

Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" has sold millions of copies since its 1978 release and spawned five made-for-TV movies. But the song's appeal is in its no-nonsense philosophy. When there is no way to win, it's time to walk away from the game.

The game is over for Israel. Let me explain.

In Tim LaHaye's pretribulational rapture novel, "The Remnant," the Jews are in for a hellacious future. Two-thirds of the Jews living in Israel will be slaughtered. LaHaye is not alone in holding this noxious position. John Hagee, a popular prophecy writer, states in a recent WorldNetDaily column:

Jerusalem today is a detonating device with no fail-safe system. It's a loaded pistol at an international poker dispute with all players demanding control. It's a driverless coach careening toward a blind curve – the collision of which will birth World War III. You see, there's nothing anyone can do about WWIII. According to Hagee, it's a prophetic inevitability. It's this fatalistic futuristic perspective that has kept the heads of Jews on the chopping block for 2,000 years since there's still one more holocaust that Jews will have to go through.

Even so, evangelicals are spending millions of dollars to help Jews return to Israel. In so doing, says the Rev. James M. Hutchens, president of Israel/USA, "we believe we are fulfilling a divine calling ... to assist the Jewish people in their physical return and restoration of the land of Israel." Like Hagee and LaHaye, Hutchens maintains that "There will be no peace until the Messiah comes."

The views of these men are alarming to some Jewish leaders, as they should be. Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, asks, "To what extent will a theological view that calls for Armageddon in the Middle East lead [evangelicals] to support policies that may move in that direction, rather than toward stability and peaceful coexistence?"

The most probable scenario is that prophetic futurists will sit back and do nothing as they see Israel go up in smoke. What can they do? The Bible predicts it. "There will be no peace until the Messiah comes."

Given this inevitable scenario, what should Jews do? Leave Israel. Under the New Covenant, your land is meaningless. It has no more theological importance than Rhode Island. Under LaHaye, Hagee, and Hutchen's prophetic model, odds are you'll be dead if you stay. If not you, then certainly someone in your family will die. But if you leave, the Muslims won't have a common enemy to unify them. Let them destroy one another. Remember, Iran's war with Iraq and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait? There is no unity among these Muslim nations with Israel gone.

Then what? Come to America! Maybe we can convince Congress and the President to carve out a parcel of land in one of our National Monuments for you to settle. America is the safest place on earth for you. Once the Muslims kill themselves off, if you still think your barren strip of land is important, then you can go back.

Take a lesson from Kenny. If you're gonna play the game, ya gotta learn to play it right. You got to know when to hold on to the land and when to run. It's time to run.

[razorbak]

The prophet Zechariah didn't think that Israel would be abandoned for the slaughter:

Zech.12:1 The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: 2 "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 "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. 4 "In that day," says the Lord, "I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 "And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, `The inhabitants of Jerusalem [are] my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.' 6 "In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place--Jerusalem. 7 " The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. 8 "In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David [shall] [be] like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. 9 "It shall be in that day [that] I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

There will be many casualties in any war. But Israel's survival is guaranteed by God. I believe I can see his protective hand over their nation ever since 1948. In fact the regathering of a people scattered from the homeland for 2000 years, and the resurrection of their dead language, and this all taking place out of the ashes of the Holocaust, is a miracle of the highest order.

[2sheep]

Thanks. I didn't realize one already existed. How convenient. The snake in the background likes to stay hidden but is less so every day. Here's the common corporate logo from the dark side -- It isn't just Intel Inside:

 
  

SERPENT OR SNAKE: Most earth-centered or pagan cultures worshipped the serpent. It represents rebirth (because of its molting), protection against evil, either male of female sexuality, rain and fertility, a mediator between the physical and spiritual world.... The list is endless, but in the Bible it usually represents sin, temptation, destruction, and Satan. (See dragon).  The circular image of the serpent biting its tail links the mythical significance of the serpent to that of the sacred  circle.   A more streamlined version was pictured on all the official literature at the 1996 United Nations Conference on Human Settlements ( Habitat II ).   Source

[Alouette]

Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Why am I not surprised that these sorry defeatists are the first to jump ship?

The article is beyond silly. Religious Jews are not governed by Christian eschatology. Reform "Judaism" way back in the 1840's disavowed the physical Messiah and proclaimed Berlin as the "New Jerusalem." Now it's Los Angeles, since the Berlin thing didn't exactly work out.

Who pays attention to these losers?

[Aric2000]

This guy has his tinfoil beannie on WAY too tight, the oxygen depravation is gonna give him all kinds of crazy visions. This of course is one of them.

Israel will be attacked, but Israel is gonna kick some ass in the process and become a lot bigger in landmass.

THese poor delusional types that actually believe this crap just amaze me. It's prophecy, the end time is near. The end time has been near for the last 2000 years, somebody get a fricking clue here.

[MSCASEY]

Amen! When Jesus came the first time many did not reconize it. They had a much diffrent perception of His first coming. And so I believe it will be true with the rapture and the second coming.
MCD

Who do you think is the most powerful richest nation in the world?

[MSCASEY]

Funny thing that in the end times many will lose their heads for not taking the mark. Seems to me as though that is the preferred method of execution in Islam.
MCD

[2sheep]

>Who do you think is the most powerful richest nation in the world?

If you follow the economy links and some of the excellent work done by Uncle Bill and others, you will see that America as a nation is bankrupt.  As an individual, the Queen of England may be one of the richest people on earth.  As a church, undoubtedly the Catholic is the richest.  What counts with the Lord though is obedience and holiness, not the wealth of this world.

[MSCASEY]

Yes, but we are the nation that buys from all the others. It is our nation that props up the economy of so many others. We are the nation that the merchants would cry about if we fell. I don't see the merchants crying about the Catholic Church falling nor the queen. And in many ways we are also spiritually bankrupt also.
MCD

[MarMema]

And last night we were at the local fair with our kids. We left the livestock barn to happen upon a booth run by the Islamic Information Center of Seattle. So we took the opportunity to ask some serious questions of these local "Americans", living right in our midst.

Among other things they told me that muslims had nothing to do with the demise of the WTC. It was the jews who did it. They really believe this stuff I think. The indoctrination factor has to be very high. My husband, otoh, thinks they were lying and knew better.

I countered with the fact that a flight attendant had called in the seat numbers of the hijackers on one plane and they said they didn't believe what was said on tv. There is nothing you can say to these people to make them see or admit the truth. All they know is to repeat to you that "Islam is truth", everything else is not worth considering or thinking about. There are no critical thinking skills available or, as my husband believes, they simply are out to kill us all and lie all the way across the board.

Just to help people who live here in the Pacific Northwest understand, the fifth column is here.
Because what they also told us was that loyalty to fellow muslims comes above all.

And you can call it my imagination but I swear to you I left that booth feeling a genuine evil was there. I have never said this in the past, but they need to go, now. It is a cult above all, a very strong one. I truly believe they are under the influence of the evil one. I will never again be able to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[MarMema]

HERE is the only link you missed that I had posted the other day.

This story was a real eye-opener for me when I came across it, though, and many freepers might find it interesting to read. It is about some other tactics the muslims are using in our country to expand.

[TomSmedley]

Worth repeating!

Junk theology for a biblically illiterate populace [and I mean in the churches, not just in the world].

[ARA]

So... He has a devilish smile and has made milllions of dollars from all of the evangelicals with his books... He's a joke...and so are his books...... sorry that's the way I see it....

Best...

ARA

[American in Israel]

The kingdom has come, the King has not. The rule and reign in Revelations 20:4-6 is with both for 1000 years. It is this kingdom with a king that is soon and is being discussed. You have missed the point, but come to the right conclusion in a lot of ways.

This is another missed point:

-Jesus stated plainly that he would not have an earthly kingdom.

John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

The key word you passed over is the word NOW. ...but now my kingdom is not here. He did not say my kingdom is not here, but now my kingdom is not here. If He had said my kingdom is not here, He would have contradicted Rev 20. Soon His kingdom will be from hence.

And...

-When Jesus comes back the kingdom will not be established, but rather it will be the end of everything.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

You are mistaking the "day of the Lord" with his returning. The "Day of the Lord" is used elsewhere in the Bible as the Day of Gods wrath. His day of return is described as Him setting foot on the mount of olives and slaying those who surround Jerusalem. If the Day of the Lord and the day of the Lords return was the same thing, what would be the point? And why would the bible describe the mount of olives splitting in two and the people fleeing through the rift? Why flee, you are but ashes anyway...



Now on to comment on the article;

I suspect evangelicals will do as they have been doing, they will assist Israel in any way they can. It is the world that is sitting back and watching Israel suffer under terrorism and doing nothing, not the Christians. Yes the prophecies in the Tanach do say that the Goyim will help the Jews return to the land. But it is only the Christians who are doing so. The Christians are the righteous gentiles and are proving it by their actions, not words. DESPITE the oppression of the hyper left nutcase segment of Judaism.

It is the Christians that are feeding the poor, operating freedom ships, running the largest social service networks inside Israel, not the rabid leftist-rabbinical segment. Lucky for the Jews that like US, their leftist segment is tiny as it is vocal. If it was up to the leftists in Judaism, all Jews would abandon Israel in direct opposition to what the Tanach says, all in the name of God of course.

They are but poodles piddling on everyone’s tree. Always with an opinion, always the wrong one, and always doing their best to bring the government down while claiming the right to not serve in the military. In Israel the hippies do not wear flowers in their hair, they wear black yamakuas. But they whine, complain and cajole just the same, while they work as a worm in an apple to destroy the society from within. It is not the religion that is the problem, it is their use of it to gain their leftist political goals. While they do not serve, they claim to study the Tanach all day. They can quote adnaseum from the writings of the Rabbi’s but few know much at all from the books of the prophets themselves. Perhaps they should study the Tanach as much as the commentarys?

I always hate it when people sign Gods name to their favorite political goal, be it a Christian or a Jew or a Moslem. If the goal is not righteous in itself, then signing Gods name on the check will not make it so, it will just make you out to be a liar.

[TomSmedley]

Funny thing that in the end times many will lose their heads for not taking the mark. Seems to me as though that is the preferred method of execution in Islam.

Before 1988, you pitiful "losers for Jesus" pinned your hopes on the worldwide triumph of communism. It must have been a real kick in the head when God disappointed you by bringing down the Berlin Wall, and the credibility of communism in the soviet sphere.

Instead of rejoicing in the ongoing victory of the King over His biggest, baddest, and most public foes, you losers immediately started looking for another implacable enemy to cower before.

My God sent me to Ukraine in 1992 to piss on the grave of communism. I am praying He'll let me do the like in post-islam central asia. And I'm praying my home-schooled kids will rejoice over the global humiliation of secular humanism.

[ARA]

Boo!

[2sheep]

I agree with you that America the Babylon is falling and is Mystery Babylon of Rev 17-18 and Jer 50 and 51.

[ARA]

Please... What are you reading.... Are you reading or listening to the folks on TBN...

[2sheep]

We don't have a TV, don't watch TBN and wouldn't watch it if we had one. Are you new to FreeRepublic?