Posted on 02/26/2010 9:24:55 AM PST by pastorbillrandles
February 17, 2010
Psalm 83
Part 1
The Soon Coming Fate of Israel’s Near Neighbors
By: Pastor Bill Randles
Keep not Thou silence O God; hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For lo, thine enemies make a tumult; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones. They have said, Come let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may no more be of remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent; they are confederate against Thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them, they have helped the children of Lot…(Psalm 83:1-8)
It is an irony that when I became a Christian, in the late 1970’s, the evangelical and Pentecostal world into which I was born again was gripped with the eschatological urgency. One of the best sellers was THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH, by Hal Lindsey. There was an evangelistic movie series called A THIEF IN THE NIGHT, about the rapture, and everyone was looking for the signs of the times in current events. And every once in a great while, perhaps every six months or so, an item in the news would send us all to our Bibles for corresponding scriptures.
Here we are thirty years later, and now every single day, eschatological events are lining up for all to see. Geopolitical alignments right out of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation, and yet the discernment of the significance of these events is rarely appreciated by the churches, teachers, leaders and congregations of evangelicalism. It’s as if the fact that it didn’t happen in 1988, 1994, and of course Y2K, left people feeling a little foolish and embarrassed for their late 1970’s maranatha ardor.
I dedicate this series of articles to the rekindling of that beautiful, passionate, holy longing for the return of the Savior, the Parousia* of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
One of the problems people have in recognizing the significance of the prophetic message has been that they don’t often associate Biblical names for cities, peoples and kingdoms with the modern peoples and places. Once this key is given, one marvels at the detailed description given to us of the very times in which we live in, which are leading to a very real climax, the Apocalypse** of our Lord Jesus Christ to this world
*(Parousia - Greek for actual bodily appearing)
** (Apocalypse - Greek for revealing)
A startling example of the current fulfillment of prophetic geopolitical alignment is Psalm 83. It is a desperate prayer to God by a besieged Israel, asking for a response, a declaration of war, for an action by God against an enemy alliance. All of Israel’s ancient enemies have united against them in an unprecedented “evil alliance” which openly threatens to wipe out the name and existence of Israel.
Evidently, unique circumstances have emboldened these enemies. We are told that “They have lifted up the head" in a heady confidence, “They have taken crafty council together against thy people”, - Israel. They really feel their time has come. Historically this particular alliance has never occurred because there were too many competing interests dividing Israel’s neighbors among themselves - but something has united them enough to transcend their petty differences. I believe that that unifying something is Islam.
Who are these confederated enemies making such a tumult? The following is taken from Walid Shoebat’s excellent book, GOD’S WAR ON TERROR - with my comments in italics.
Edom- which extends from Jordan to Saudi Arabia (see Ezekiel 25 Edom is described as extending from Teman to Dedan (Arabia). Edom also refers to Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, the Edomites are brother people to Israel, but they aren’t very brotherly because they have nurtured an “everlasting Hatred” of Israel, as God describes in a personal word to them in Ezekiel 35. The Muslim Arab near neighbors of Israel, are not only physical descendants of Esau, but they have a spiritual affinity with him, hating Jacob for his birthright.
Moab, Ammon, Children of Lot - Jordan. Moab and Ammon the incestuously conceived ‘children of Lot’ are also related to Israel. Lot was Abraham’s nephew. They too have bought into the hatred, resentment and fear of Israel. Their descendants were the settlers of north and central Jordan. The city of Ammon is named for Ammon.
Gebal - According to the Unger’s bible dictionary, this is in Lebanon, 25 miles north of Beirut. Lebanon was at one time considered the only Christian country in the Middle East, until Syrian Baathists and Islamic marauders dismembered it, driving the Christians out and establishing an Islamic majority, in the late 1970’s. Although there was a “Cedar Revolution” backed by the US in which the Syrians were forced to withdraw from Lebanon, this once beautiful Jewel of the Middle East is now becoming an Islamic pesthole.
Tyre - Again in Lebanon, today this is a center for Hezbollah. Southern Lebanon had retained its Christian identity thanks to the Israeli invasion of 1982, but relentless political pressure forced the Jews to withdraw from it, and into the vacuum stepped Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Shiite “a team” of terrorism. Their latest claim to fame is the relentless showering of northern Israel with rockets.
Philistia - Gaza, today the center for Hamas. Gaza, the southwest corner of Israel, and the site of the ancient Philistine stronghold has become, via world political pressure, a stronghold for the vicious terrorist group Hamas, and a seething cauldron of hatred, murder, and bitterness against Israel. It has also become a staging base for terrorist armies, bent on destroying Israel.
Ishmaelites and Hagarites - Arabs in general. Hagar was the Egyptian handmaid to Sarai, Abraham’s wife, and surrogate mother of Abraham’s son Ishmael. The Muslims proclaim Ishmael as the chosen son of Abraham, and every year celebrate EID, in which they erroneously celebrate the so-called sacrifice of Ishmael. It is he, whom God told Abraham, would be a “wild ass of a man, whose hand would be against everyone, and everyone against him, and who would live against his brothers.” A pretty apt description of the spirit of the Islamic Arab. When Sarai kicked Ishmael and Hagar out of the house, they too began to nourish the resilient “everlasting hatred”.
Assyria - These are Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. At its height it included Egypt and Iran as well. Assyria, the great empire, covered the areas now known as Iraq, parts of Syria, and Turkey. It is now united in Spirit by the religion of Islam.
Amalek - Jordan, southwest of the Dead Sea (Gen14; 7). The Amalekites were the ones who waged a cowardly guerilla terror war against Israel in Exodus 17, killing the old, sick, infirm and also children. Amalek was a grandson of Esau, or Edom.
These are the players of the next great war. They feel emboldened and have lofty ambitions. They aspire to annihilate God’s chosen people, to reverse God’s edict that brought Israel back to the land, they seek to take for themselves and in the name of their false god Allah, that which God, in grace has bequeathed to an admittedly undeserving people, Israel. It is a “battle of the gods” and it should get interesting.
Stay tuned for part 2.
Here is part 2 http://www.believersingrace.com/psalm83part1.html
Sure seems that way more and more.
What a goof. Prophecy pundits have been making these sorts of nonsensical claims for decades, even centuries. They appeal to the ignorant masses, deficient in Bible interpretation and history.
Stay tuned for part 2.
Why bother? Same sort of nonsense.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" -- Galatians 3:28
We have a right, responsibility and vested interest in protecting Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. But that is politics, not religion.
What a goof. Prophecy pundits have been making these sorts of nonsensical claims for decades, even centuries. They appeal to the ignorant masses, deficient in Bible interpretation and history.
First I heard the Psalm 83 thing was from an interview with Bill Salus. Israelistine, I think was the book he was pushing.
It's interesting, the short gap between some guy's speculation and received dogma. It reminds me of the dispensational treatment of Isaiah's oracle of Damascus.
THANKS.
Well put, imho.
There is no doubt that we are seeing, almost daily, Bible prophecy being fulfilled.
There is also the distinct possibility that the Isaiah 17 prophecy will be fulfilled shortly as well.
This is the same nonsensical song and dance we been hearing from the prophecy gurus for the last 4+ decades. It's utterly unsupportable and theologically/intellectually dishonest. It makes a mockery of the plain teaching of Christ and His disciples in the NT.
I guess that's why it is so popular among the masses. The blind leading the blind.
Why do you care so much? Why does it bother you what other people believe?
What about Bible prophecy pushes your buttons so much?
If Bible prophecy is not true, then what do you care if people believe it?
What's the problem? You're putting the lie to your "nonsense" claims by howling and moaning on each and every prophecy thread that someone posts.
Are you familiar with the term "thou doest protest too much"? Like I've told you before, there are never any posts from you defending your own beliefs, just slamming others. And, like I've told you before, it's very revealing.
If there's really nothing to this, then you shouldn't care if people believe it. Do you care if people believe in the tooth fairy?
And you can give up trying to convince me that it's "nonsense". That's a losing battle if there every was one.
If you don't believe in those parts of Scripture which are prophetic,
This has been gone over before. Not believing the dispensational take on prophecy is not "not believing Bible prophecy".
Are you familiar with the term "thou doest protest too much"?
Yup. That's the phrase that comes to my mind when dispensationalists trot out the lame old "amil is antisemitic" canard.
What's the problem?
Dispensationalism, taken consistently, does damage to the gospel. That's the problem.
If there's really nothing to this, then you shouldn't care if people believe it.
I don't care if you-all amuse yourselves with strange and novel theories. Knock yourselves out. "Mostly harmless", as long as nobody starts date suggesting.
I care when I hear people make the gospel into something different depending on who you are, and when you are. I care if I hear people want to put the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, torn down by Christ, right back up again. I care if someone says (as I have seen) that the age of the gospel will end, and an age of salvation by works take its place. Back to the Law, "O frabjous day!"
Should I not care?
I don't expect that this will be understood.
Yes, it certainly has been "gone over". The fact that you can never, ever produce Scripture to back up your assertions that the way dispensationalists apply the end-time Scriptures to what is happening in our world is wrong has been "gone over" a million times.
And, yet again, we see another prophecy thread where the same two people surface to attempt a hijacking with no defense of their own beliefs, just an arrogant slamming of others. It happens over, and over, and over.
If it wasn't so pathetic, it would be comical. You've never once convinced anybody that your claims that dispensationalists are wrong because you can't provide the Scripture to make your case. And Scripture is the only acceptable currency with dispensationalists when discussing Scriptural subjects. Not your opinion.
Yup. That's the phrase that comes to my mind when dispensationalists trot out the lame old "amil is antisemitic" canard.
And it comes to my mind when the same two people appear on every single prophecy thread to make the same tired, unsubstantiated claims that the Scripture that God wrote to warn us about events surrounding His return is false. You make the accusation that our "interpretation" is wrong, but you never produce any Scripture to back up your accusation.
You never produce it because you can't. That Scripture doesn't exist.
Dispensationalism, taken consistently, does damage to the gospel. That's the problem.
The chain remains unbroken. Another accusation with no Scripture to back it up. I understand that "religious" beliefs, such as amillenialism, which are not Scriptural, and which does not come from God but is purely a creation of man, cannot be defended with Scripture and so it's basically impossible to credibly prove what you believe, but you should try to drag up some Scripture from somewhere to back up what you believe just to avoid looking like an obsessive kook.
I don't care if you-all amuse yourselves with strange and novel theories. Knock yourselves out. "Mostly harmless", as long as nobody starts date suggesting.
I care when I hear people make the gospel into something different depending on who you are, and when you are. I care if I hear people want to put the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, torn down by Christ, right back up again. I care if someone says (as I have seen) that the age of the gospel will end, and an age of salvation by works take its place. Back to the Law, "O frabjous day!"
You see what I mean? To you this makes perfect sense, but to those of us who base our beliefs on the God-breathed Bible, this is nothing more than weird, cultish, nonsensical gibberish that somebody heard from some self-anointed guru.
You have not provided one iota of Scripture to back up your claims that dispensationalists are wrong or that you are right. And until you can do that, you will have absolutely no credibility whatsoever, and you will continue to make yourself look like someone who feels threatened by what is posted by others which proves that we are living in the last hours before Christ's return and the events going on in our world are literal fulfillments of Bible prophecy.
I don't expect anything to change. You never have been able to Scripturally demonstrate that any of our "interpretation" of Bible prophecy is wrong and you never will be able to demonstrate that we're wrong because the Scripture to back you up does not exist.
It's that simple.
is nothing more than weird, cultish, nonsensical gibberish that somebody heard from some self-anointed guru.
I'll take the likes of B. B. Warfield over any of the pop dispensational pundits, any day of the week. Or Drs. Sproul, Beale, or Vos.
You have not provided one iota of Scripture to back up your claims that dispensationalists are wrong or that you are right.
Over the years, we've given mountains of scripture to support our position. For our troubles we tend to get shouted at, in .
You never have been able to Scripturally demonstrate that any of our "interpretation" of Bible prophecy is wrong and you never will be able to demonstrate that we're wrong because the Scripture to back you up does not exist.
The scripture quote I have in my tagline right now (and the letter it's excerpted from) is a wooden stake through the heart of dispenstionalism's root axiom.
I don't expect you to see this.
So you provide a link to a previous post you made to which I responded with the Scripture proving that the contents of the article you posted demonstrates fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Thank you for that.
Amillenianalism, which is something dreamed up by men and is contradictory to God's word, is ignored and left alone because it is one of Satan's deceptions and men who don't know Christ as Savior are not threatened by it. Amillenianalism, a "theology" of man and not God, leads people to reject God and His word and therefore serves Satan's purposes and therefore will be free of attacks and attempts to discredit it and shut it down.
Dispensationalism, on the other hand, takes God at His word and takes His word literally since there is nothing in His word anywhere that gives even the slightest hint that man is to take it upon himself to allegorize or spiritualize Scripture. Dispensationalism recognizes the literal fulfillment of literal Bible prophecy, brings to the attention of people what is going on and what God has told us about His return, the events in the world which would occur before His return, and the option God gives people to escape His judgment.
Dispensationalism is a threat to Satan and to men who have rejected the gift of salvation that Christ died for. Dispensational teaching will continue to be rejected more and more thus fulfilling the prophecies of 1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 4:2-4, and 2 Timothy 3:13.
Thank you for reiterating my point and again showing that dispensationalism is one of those sound doctrines that will be rejected for "doctrine of demons" in the end times.
I'll take the likes of B. B. Warfield over any of the pop dispensational pundits, any day of the week. Or Drs. Sproul, Beale, or Vos.
A collection of preterists, Scripture-deniers and Scripture -twisters? You'll take that? Knock yourself out. I'm going to stick with the men who have remained faithful to the Bible as God wrote it and who haven't stupidly attempted to redefine Scripture more to their liking and according to their human "wisdom" but have told people what God said was going to occur right before His literal return.
Especially now that what God told us would happen is actually happening, I'll stick with those who turned out to be right.
Over the years, we've given mountains of scripture to support our position. For our troubles we tend to get shouted at, in TECHNICOLOR!.
Dispensationalists teach that God wrote the Bible to be taken literally and every word is literally inerrant, factual and truthful. Since it is impossible for Scripture to contradict itself, and since God wrote the Scripture that is prophetic, and since those end-time prophecies are happening in our time and on a daily basis, you have not produced any Scripture that repudiates dispensational teaching. Not one verse.
The scripture quote I have in my tagline right now (and the letter it's excerpted from) is a wooden stake through the heart of dispenstionalism's root axiom.
Your tagline is nothing more than garden-variety replacement theology which is more Satanic deception, is another one of your beliefs which not only cannot be justified in Scripture but directly contradicts Scripture, and which is the basis for a lot of full-blown hatred of God's people, the Jews.
Jew-hating replacement theology isn't something I would brag about and post next to my name and parade around like some grand achievement.
But like said before- knock yourself out.
Your tagline is nothing more than garden-variety replacement theology which is more Satanic deception,
My tagline is a quote from Paul's epistle to the Galatians. Which is to say, from scripture.
It is those who are of faith who are children of Abraham.
Everyone who knows Christ as Savior are now heirs of Abraham, along with believing Jews.
As Paul revealed in his Epistles, the distinction between Jew and Gentile in the churches only was removed. Jews who accept Christ as Savior are now a part of the Church, will be raptured along with the rest of those who know Christ as Savior, and will not be on earth for the Tribulation, otherwise known as "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7).
And while the covenants God made with Abraham are for the Jewish people only, Christians have been "adopted", so to speak, into being heirs of Abraham along with Jews who have accepted Christ as Savior.
Here are some verses we must also take literally:
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." (Colossians 3:12-14)
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:43-45)
* I would assume Islamic terrorist would fall under the category of "enemy."
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. (Galatians 3: 15-16)
Beloe are two of the many other passages clarifying this subject:
Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. (Romans 9:6-8)
A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God. (Galatians 3:15-16)
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.