Posted on 01/13/2024 12:29:22 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
Shalom from Israel! Another week has gone by under wartime, and, as seems to regularly be the case, there have been some highlights and there have been some sorrows. Through it all, the people of Israel remain as dedicated as ever to defeat the enemies who are surrounding us. Unfortunately, it appears that the resolve of our allies is waning. As you’ll see below, it may not be long until we are on our own while new enemies step up against us. Rather than bombs and bullets, their weapons will be politics and pressure, sanctions and seizures, judgments and isolation. I mentioned last week the case brought by South Africa to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague accusing Israel of genocide. It is such an asinine condemnation, but I would not be surprised to see it affirmed. The ICC is an organ of the United Nations (UN), and there is nothing that the UN enjoys more than a good, old denunciation of Israel.
But Jews are used to going it alone. It is something we have had to do off and on for millennia. The only difference now is that it may be the first time that we will have been isolated as a state. If that is what happens, then so be it. We’ve been at the pointy end of the world’s swords before, yet here we are, united and stronger as a people than we have ever been. The credit for that fact does not have a human source, but One which is divine in nature.
Israel will never be completely alone in this world. God has made a covenant with His chosen people that still stands today. “But, Amir, Israel is a secular nation that still rejects the Messiah.” True. But when God made His covenant with Israel, He did so without caveats. This is a truth that He emphasized through the prophet Jeremiah, where we read:
Jeremiah 33:25-26 KJV – “Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.”
So, actually, I may be wrong. There appears to be a caveat here. When there is no day or night anymore and all the God-ordained natural systems of the universe cease, that is when the covenant will end. The fact that the sun rose this morning, however, is enough to tell you that God’s covenant still stands, and Israel is still His chosen people. That is where my hope and my peace rests. No matter what we are facing as a nation, we will survive it because God is truly on our side.
Gaza
Fighting is still very intense in Khan Yunis. This is the middle region of the five areas that make up Gaza and is where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) believe that the Hamas leaders who are still in-country are located. A huge find was made in the Bureij area of western Gaza near Egypt’s northeastern border. Hidden under civilian and humanitarian centers, the IDF discovered the largest Hamas underground weapons manufacturing and storage site to date. In this location, long-range missiles capable of reaching northern Israel were assembled and held until Hamas was ready to deploy them. Not all news from Gaza was positive, though. On Monday, three separate incidents took the lives of nine Israeli soldiers, six of them in one explosion. Eight more members of the IDF were wounded in the actions. Israel mourns the loss of these brave men who were fighting for the survival of their country.
One more incident from Gaza must be addressed. On Sunday, during an operation targeting drone operators, two journalists with Al Jazeera were killed. Immediately, there was outrage and sorrow throughout the world. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was “heartbroken” at the loss. However, now we have learned that these two “journalists” were part of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and they were operating drones against IDF forces. This is so typical of what Hamas has done. They have destroyed the concept of there being any altruistic professions left in Gaza. Instead, what we find are terrorist doctors, terrorist teachers, and terrorist journalists. Schools, mosques, and hospitals are all used to shelter Hamas and their weapons, along with the shafts to their underground tunnels. Even the ambulances that are supposed to carry the wounded are used to transport weapons and ammunition. They have taken that which is good in most every corner of the world and they have thoroughly corrupted it. It is appalling and it is tragic.
Lebanon
Monday was a bad day for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Wissam al-Tawil, head of the elite Radwan forces and key leader in directing Hezbollah’s actions in the south, was killed when the car he was in was destroyed by an IDF explosive device. The death of al-Tawil marks the highest-level member of the terrorist organization killed to date and is a serious blow to their operations. This targeted killing took place two days after Hezbollah fired 62 rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas bigwig Saleh al-Arouri. Both Israel and Hezbollah are moving soldiers and weapons systems toward the border as everyone expects and prepares for a full war to soon commence. I go into more detail about the al-Tawil killing and state of the war in my short Breaking News update from Monday.
Syria
After the targeted killing last week of Hamas V.I.P. Saleh al-Arouri in Lebanon, as mentioned above, the IDF continued its thinning out of the terrorist group’s leadership on Monday. Hassan Akasha, the man responsible for the launching of rockets from Syria into Israel in recent weeks, was permanently taken out of commission through an undisclosed methodology in the south Syrian town of Beit Jinn. Is it possible that Hamas leadership is finally beginning to understand that not one of them is safe no matter where they are in the world?
West Bank
Daily raids continue by the IDF into the West Bank to track down and arrest Hamas and PIJ terrorists who are hiding throughout the region. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a West Bank visit yesterday to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Apparently taking a two-state solution as a fait accompli, Blinken encouraged the 88-year-old Abbas to reform the PA so that it would be prepared to govern Gaza after the war is concluded.
The United States
Secretary of State Blinken’s visit to the West Bank mentioned in the previous story came a day after he met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Foreign Minister Israel Katz. His agenda? “Come on, guys, can’t you wrap this thing up?” In a press conference after the meeting, Blinken criticized South Africa’s accusations of genocide against Israel, alluded to a future two-state solution, and asserted that Israel’s government has some hard choices ahead regarding the prosecution of the war and how it will allow the Palestinians to operate in a post-war Gaza. The SecState comes representing his boss who is anxious to get the hostilities wrapped up before November’s elections. Polling shows him running behind potential return candidate Donald Trump, and he is desperate to mollify the far left of his party as well as solidify the vote of the Muslims of Dearborn in the battle to take the state of Michigan. According to President Joe Biden’s words in a South Carolina church on Monday, he has “been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza.” Unless he’s referring to members of the opposition government, then I would expect his success in getting Israel to pull out of Gaza is far less than what he is asserting. I must admit that I am very concerned about the global ramifications of having such a weak administration in Washington, D.C. I believe that it is possible that by the time Biden finally leaves office, Iran might have achieved its nuclear ambitions, China might attempt to take Taiwan, and Russia will greatly intensify its war against Ukraine.
The Red Sea
The largest action by the Yemeni Houthis to date occurred on Tuesday causing the U.S. and British warships to shoot down 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile. The Iran-supported proxy terrorist group has been targeting shipping and military vessels since the war in Gaza began. “This is an unsustainable situation,” declared British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps. “This cannot continue and cannot be allowed to continue.” It’s unclear why the Brits and the Americans have allowed this pesky group of terrorists to cause such havoc and cost shipping companies so much money.
Korea
Friday saw North Korean leader Kim Jong-un once again having fun making things go “boom”. Unfortunately, this time he did it with more than 200 artillery rounds fired in a span of two hours into the maritime buffer zone separating the waters of the two Koreas. This obvious provocation spurred South Korea to carry out its own live fire exercise in response. Tensions continue to mount between the two countries, and incidents like this do not help the situation.
Critical that "Christians" understand their obligation in keeping God's law/commandments AFTER grace. We are under an even higher duty to obey, out of love for Christ did for us on the Cross.
Romans 10:4. Christ is the end of the law. In the Greek the word for “end,” telos, is in the position of emphasis. This passage has been variously interpreted to mean that Christ is the termination of the law as such, Christ is the goal, or aim, of the law (cf. Gal. 3:24), Christ is the fulfillment of the law (cf. Matt. 5:17), or Christ is the termination of the law as a means of salvation (cf. Rom. 6:14). The first interpretation is that of the antinomians and is a perversion of Scripture (see on ch. 3:31). The last three interpretations all set forth propositions that are true, but the third of these seems best to fit the context of this verse. Paul is contrasting God’s way of righteousness by faith with man’s attempt at righteousness by law. The message of the gospel is that Christ is the end of law as a way of righteousness to everyone who has faith. It is perhaps significant that the definite article “the” is omitted with “law” (see on ch. 2:12), indicating that Paul is referring to the principle of law in general rather than to any law in particular. Moreover, the drift of the whole argument shows that Paul is speaking of law in a general sense.
This verse does not imply that righteousness actually could be obtained by law in OT times and that with the coming of Christ faith has been substituted for law as the way of righteousness. Since the fall of Adam, God has revealed only one way by which men may be saved—by faith in the coming Messiah (Gen. 3:15; 4:3–5; Heb. 11:4; cf. Rom. 4). Nor may the passage be taken to mean that Christ is the termination of law as such and that hence men are no longer under obligation to obey God’s law. It is law as a method of obtaining righteousness that has been brought to an end by Christ. God’s purpose in proclaiming His laws to Israel was to reveal to them their sinfulness (Rom. 3:20) and their need of a Saviour (Gal. 3:24). But the Jews had perverted God’s purpose and had used the laws, both moral and ceremonial, as the means of establishing their own righteousness by their own attempts at legalistic obedience. Christ came to bring this mistaken abuse of law to an end and to point the way back to faith. Such faith does not abolish law but rather establishes it (see on Rom. 3:31) and makes it possible for men to fulfill its requirements (see on ch. 8:4).
SDA Bible commentary
No idea why you wrote all of that?
We were talking about God’s people not being only Israelites.
The law as I pointed out WAS given to the Israelites only to act as a mirror to their sinful ways.
(and in many ways,for their safety.)
Christ lifted the burdens of those laws from the Israelites and the Gentiles by his sacrifice because as Paul said, “There is no longer a distinction between Jew and Gentile.
——>No idea why you wrote all of that?
Because you mentioned it. You also wrote:
“The Law was not given to all humankind”
“God gave his laws to this nation only. The Bible makes this clear at Psalm 147:19, 20.”
“It was removed”
Laws given to Israel were Civil, Ceremonial, and Moral. None of what you wrote in your post applies to God’s Moral law, which will continue to be in effect until Christ’s second coming (till heaven earth pass...Matthew 5:17-19). As Christians, we are under an even high duty to keep them (goes far beyond just keeping the letter of the law...example would be just lusting after a woman = adultery, angry with your brother, without a cause = killing), as it will be the basis of our judgment. In fact, the NEW COVENANT is based on God’s law:
Hebrews 10:16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them...
Matthew 5:17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
It will be commandment-keeping believers in Christ (saints) that will be in heaven. That is made absolutely clear here:
Revelation 14:12Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
It is a fact that Christians today believe that they have no obligation in keeping God’s law.
Before faith came, we were held in custody under law, confined for the faith that was to be revealed. Consequently, the law was our disciplinarian for Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a disciplinarian. For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendant, heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:21-29)And again:
Circumcision means nothing, and uncircumcision means nothing; what matters is keeping God’s commandments. (1 Corinthians 7:19)At present there is only one covenant in Jesus Christ for both Jews and non-Jews. The value of the former covenants, which is great, is in directing all to the New Covenant, both Jew and non-Jew.
In verse 4, Paul was speaking about these covenants: We are now under the New Covenant. Special favor as God’s chosen people, AS A NATION, is over. They failed. Their kingdom was taken from them. It is now the Jewish PEOPLE who may be grafted back in, if they accept Christ.
Covenants. These are “the covenants of promise” to which the Gentiles were “strangers” (Eph. 2:12, 13; see also Gen. 17:2, 7, 9; Ex. 2:24). The Jews seemed to regard these covenants as placing God under obligation to favor them with divine protection and blessing. At the same time they ignored their own obligations and failed to fulfill the conditions upon which the covenants were based. (SDA Bible Commentary)
Your own excerpt is saying that Jewish ethnicity doesn't count. It's the people who have faith -- in Christ -- who inherit the promise given to Abraham's seed.
Well, you seem to make a distinction between seed and seeds. I guess I wasn’t understanding the “seeds” part.
Daniel 9:24-27 Last chance for the nation of Israel. God gave them EXACTLY 490 years. The stoning of Stephen was it for them. (why do you keep dodging this topic?) The Jews refuse to discuss it too, probably because it EXACTLY predicts when Christ would die/resurrect (among other things). Seems to me that there’s a Jewish curse out there for any Jew that even mentions it.
——>Stephen was martyred in Acts chapter 7.
Yes he was, in the 490th year of Daniel’s prophecy. Do you understand what that means?
Their kingdom was taken from them.
What kingdom?
This Kingdom...
Mark 1:14Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
——>The Seventh Day Adventists set lots of dates for the Second Advent that did not happen.
Actually that was William Miller. There was no SDA church at that time.
——>Later they took to themselves a woman (Gentile) called Ellen as a prophetess.
Also incorrect. EGW was a founding member of the SDA church. “They” didn’t take to themselves anyone LOL!
——>They took on themselves the dietary laws given to Israel, but oddly enough not circumcision.
I keep the dietary laws because God commands it for his people to be holy, AS HE IS HOLY. Our bodies are temples and we are commanded to treat them as such (includes abstaining from fornication, etc...)
Circumcision?
1 Cor 7:19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.
——>but the Seventh Day Adventists have no valid prophet or prophetess.
We shall soon see. I would also say to be on the lookout for the Mark of the Beast Sabbath/Sunday issue, as the SDA church is the ONLY church preaching this message. If you are alive when it happens you will know for sure that you have been snookered by Satan (and of course everything I’ve been saying for years is true).
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