Posted on 09/14/2002 4:13:03 AM PDT by 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.
It's not a country, it's a "city". The "city's" name is Mystery Babylon. Mystery Babylon has been around since Adam's time. It's not America if that's what you're getting at, America didn't kill the prophets. Look a little further down in Revelation and you'll see it's not America:
Rev 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
Who killed the prophets? The scribes and Pharisees did. The scribes and Pharisee have the same MO now as they've had since Adam's time. They latch on to where the power and money are. Mystery Babylon isn't a geographical location, it's a class of schemers that always work themselves into sweet situations and basically rip off the rest of the population. Jesus only got violent one time (as far as we know) when he walked in the flesh, and that was when He beat the money changers that were basically thieving in the Temple. There's your Mystery Babylon, a part of it. Here's another clue:
Gen 4:17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
They are always out there pretending to be something they're not.
The woman drunken with the blood of the saints. Did America kill those saints? And with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Did America kill them? NO! Who did? People would surely wonder why their names were not written in the book of life, if they followed as they were told by the church. Is the vatican a nation? It's a separate entity from Italy, yet located in Italy. The pope is its 'leader' so to speak. But, it really isn't a nation, even though it has negotiated treaties. Is, but isn't, yet is? Ever hear of the seven hills of Rome?
Revelation 2:6
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
Revelation 2:15
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
What is a Nicolaitanes?'
The Greek word "nicao" means "to conquer".... to dominate/intimidate/manipulate. It means undue control. The word "laos" means "the people", the laity. In other words, there were to be no intimidating, controlling, power-hungry chiefs in the church Body playing overlord, "baal", to the layman.
The Ephesian Church was commended for opposing the Nicolaitanes, then by the time the Pergammon Church came along, the Lord went from commending the body for separating from the Nicolaitanes to condemning the Body for their appeasement. The latter membership wasn't fully convinced of the poisonous problem within. It became a behemoth with time.
Revelation 18
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Great point. I would imagine any novelist especially those that write fiction based on many historical events, someone who has to create many believeable characters in a believeable plot, would have to do a bit more research than an actor who simply has to portray one character in a story.
Which misapplication are you speaking about?
Who mentioned divination?
In the year 70.A.D., it was Rome.
His entire prophetic views.
There's been quite a bit of that going on. It comes down to, "Jews, don't trust Christians, even though they support Israel very strongly. They just want to get you killed to fulfill some prophesies of theirs."
Utter nonsense.
Past tense. Word picture of the four GENTILE empires that were the engines of history leading up to the time of Christ.
Should I instead say fortune-telling? Tea-leaf reading? Auguries, using God's holy word, instead of steaming entrails? Attempts to use the Bible for predictive purposes. And every time someone does it, he discovers (SURPRISE!) that his own age is the key generation!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.