IS ISRAEL IMPROVING?
By Rev. Ted Pike
11 Mar 08
For the past century, most evangelical Christians and religious
Jews have agreed that national return of Jews to Palestine is the
will of God. They believed it fulfills abundant Old Testament prophecies. But
what does the Old Testament really say? Many passages flatly state
that Israel can’t inhabit the land except in obedience to God.
1 For Jews to dwell in His holy land, God expects them to practice
righteousness and mercy, even to Palestinians.
Israel has ruthlessly mistreated the Palestinians, both Muslim
and Christian, expelling 800,000 of them in 1948 through terror.
Original Zionist terrorism is the predominant cause of international
Arab terrorism. This record strongly argues that Israel has
still not met God's moral requirements. 2 Such requirements were satisfied by holy men of God whom God permitted to enter Canaan–Hebrew
saints like Caleb, Joshua, Ezra, and Nehemiah. God told Abraham He
would deliver the covenant blessings He promised (including rights
to occupy the land) only if Abraham's descendants performed these
same righteous works. (Gen. 18:19)
How can God approve of Israel 's return when she does the opposite
of righteous Abraham?
Overturning God's Law
Most evangelical authorities teach that God indeed wants Jews to
become holy, eventually. But they say He must first take the Jewish
people as they are–in rejection of Christ. Once they are reestablished
in Palestine , He will "sprinkle" them with grace. The
proof text for such gradual conversion is Ezekiel 36:25: “For
I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands,
and bring you into your own land, then I will sprinkle clean water
on you, and you will be clean.” Evangelicals believe God no
longer insists on obedience from Israel . Today He settles for gradual
conversion after entry into Palestine . Prophecy teachers
describe Israelis as becoming more and more enlightened and peace-loving
as they witness God's continuing miracles of deliverance and he "sprinkles" them
with His grace. They say He blesses this Christ-rejecting nation
with spiritual light, prosperity and military victories even though
Jesus said he was leaving their house desolate and they would
never see Him again until they say, "Blessed is He that cometh
in the name of the Lord." (Matt. 23:39)
Here is the prevailing evangelical storyline of present and future
events for Israel:
1. Scattered Jews return to the Promised Land with God’s
blessing. In Israel , they are sprinkled with His divine grace and
grow gradually more enlightened and righteous.
2. At Christ’s "first" second coming, the "rapture," all
who believe in Christ (Jew and Gentile, living and dead) ascend to
meet Christ in the sky. This is the first of basically two returns.
3. Immediately following, a one-world ruler, Antichrist,
rises to power, making a covenant with the nation of Israel . Jews
of the remnant who are predestined to be saved but were not converted
in time for the rapture remain on earth. But after witnessing the
rapture, the remnant trust Christ. After three and a half years,
Antichrist breaks his covenant and terribly persecutes the Jewish
people, killing two thirds of them. During this "great tribulation," a
time of worldwide spiritual darkness, the surviving remnant are powerful
evangelists and lights for Christ. (The Antichrist does not exile
the Jews from Palestine .)
The remnant, according to the prevalent evangelical view, constitute
the symbolic woman of Rev. 12. This mystical woman wears 12 stars
in her crown (12 tribes of Israel ) and stands on the moon, clothed
with the sun. Revelation says she yearns to bring forth faith in
Jesus Christ among the nations. God protects her from the homicidal
forces of Antichrist attempting to kill every Jew on planet earth.
It is very important to evangelicals that this mystical woman be
the remnant. Why? Because it reveals that remnant Jews are
not confused and rebellious during the tribulation. They are victorious
Christians! They found truth because Zionism returned them to their
birth land where they were collectively sprinkled by divine grace.
This confirms to evangelicals that Zionism is good and mightily used
by God. Creation of the Jewish state—not Christ's final
return—thus plays a pivotal role in Jews’ conversion.
In fact, the second coming plays no role in salvation of the remnant.
4. Near the end of the tribulation, Christ appears in heaven in
His "final" second coming. He destroys Israel 's enemies
in the battle of Armageddon and gathers the beleaguered Jews to Jerusalem
from whence He rules the nations for 1000 years.
The Bible’s True Timeline
The evangelicals have got it wrong. Here's the actual Biblical sequence of coming events. This is the chronology of a just God whose
ethics don’t change. 3
1. Scripture vividly prophesies that the Jews do return
to Israel . We have experienced this over the last century. Ezekiel
38 and 39 say that Israel in the last days will indeed return and
dominate the Mideast … and
the world! Ultimately, no one can resist or make war with her. Yet,
she is so wicked and spiritually unclean that she pollutes the land.
God is described as hiding His face from her! 4
Such global power corresponds ominously with political, military,
financial, and media control which activist Jews already wield. Jewish
activism spawned communism, which has already slaughtered millions
of Christians. 5 Such Jews dominate western media, corrupting Christian
morals. 6 They predominate in the pornography industry. 7 They spearhead
homosexual activism, leading Jewish "civil liberties" organizations
which vilify Christians as "homophobic." 8 Jews influence
American and world economies through their private banking monopoly,
the Federal Reserve. 9 The Biblical scenario is also confirmed by "tiny" Israel
's spectacular rise to become the world's fourth greatest military
superpower.
2. The Bible predicts Israel will rebuild her temple and make a
covenant with the coming one-world ruler, Antichrist, her spiritual
husband and false messiah. 10 Together, Israel and Antichrist
rule the nations. Drenched with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,
they will virtually exterminate Christians. This persecution is already
begun through Jewish-created “anti-hate” laws worldwide.
11
Yet Antichrist will betray Israel . His confederate nations will
invade and plunder her, slaughtering two thirds of Jews. He will
desecrate the Jewish temple and all things Jewish. Remaining Jews
will be exiled again to the nations. God's "wrath upon this
people" (the Jews) will overtake them. 12 This will fulfill
God's timeless law that without obedience they cannot occupy His
holy land. For nearly three and a half years the remnant will
experience the greatest suffering of any nation at any time. Yet
they will be unable to find their way out of spiritual darkness.
This darkness is the result of more than two millennia of Talmudic
indoctrination to hate Jesus. 13
3. Finally, just before the whole race is destroyed, Christ returns
in glory. He rains plagues and vials of wrath on the Jews’ persecutors
worldwide. In the battle of Armageddon, Christ defeats the armies
of the earth who oppose Him. At the moment of Christ's one and only
return, all believers, dead and living, are caught up to meet Him
in the skies. 14 The remnant Jews look upon Him whom their ancestors
pierced. Seeing at last His deliverances, they realize the magnitude
of their error. 15 In bitter mourning and repentance, they turn to
Christ. (This national repentance is assisted by confinement of Satan
in the bottomless pit.) 16
4. Christ leads these believing Jews back to Israel where He "sprinkles" them
with His Holy Spirit, putting a heart of flesh in them, where now
resides a heart of stone. He rules them and the entire world in 1000
years of peace.
Who is the Starry Woman?
The mystical woman of Rev. 12 does not symbolize the confused,
unrepentant Jews during the tribulation. She cannot be Israel because
Revelation says she stands on the moon and is clothed with the sun.
Prophetic imagery always confines Israel , anti-Christ and the false
prophet, etc., to the earth. The Jewish remnant is no different.
It cannot dwell simultaneously on earth and in heaven.
Scripture suggests this woman is the timeless "Daughter of Zion." She
represents the divine spirit of intercession in every age of Jewish history.
This spirit caused Israel 's great saints to yearn for the "consolation
of Israel "–the appearance of that manchild of faith, Jesus Christ.
Countless Jewish intercessors (Abraham, Hannah, David, Zacharias and Anna,
etc.) yearned for Israel ’s Messiah and His worldwide kingdom of peace
and righteousness. Their intercession millennia ago helped bring forth a Savior
who will "rule the nations with a rod of iron"–Jesus Christ.
Revelation 12:5 tells us He was born 2000 years ago. The same Satanic antichrist
forces of today and tomorrow did their best to destroy Him, even as an infant.
Yet He was triumphant. Today He sits at God's right hand.
During the tribulation, the heavenly Daughter of Zion expresses
the predestining power of the Holy Spirit. She intercedes to preserve
and ultimately to enlighten and convert the remnant. God preserves
these Jews, providing "a little sanctuary" from the floods
of pursuers. (Ezek. 11:16)
Why is it necessary that the Jews be converted as a nation only at the single second coming of Christ and not earlier? The Old Testament
law says the Jews are an especially stiff-necked people, prone to
believe that their inherent goodness can bring them to truth without
God. 17 If the remnant is indeed in the process of being
converted right now, with their "sprinkling" completed
before Christ comes, then who gets a huge chunk of the credit? The "holy
congregation" of Israel! Scripture is emphatic that only through
Christ's initiative and the exhaustion of every other resource can
they be saved, lest any Jew should boast.
Conclusion
Clearly, there is no Biblical basis for the belief that a large
Jewish remnant will convert before Christ's return or that Israel
can lawfully occupy God's holy land in unbelief. Every error of prevailing
evangelical prophetic theory springs from these false premises.
Can you think of a more Luciferian assertion than that obedience
to our Creator no longer matters? Yet that is exactly what evangelicals
contend concerning Israel 's right to occupy the land. They
and Satan actually speak the same bold lie!
Today the Zionist experiment in Palestine does not glorify Christ
or hasten His appearance. Israel was conceived by Christ-hating Zionists.
It provides foundation for His arch opponent, Antichrist. On the
back of the beast will ride the great harlot Israel , even now corrupting
the world through staggering media, financial, and political control.
How can the Jews, the tiniest fraction of the world's inhabitants,
rise to such ascendancy? It is made possible by at least 40 million
evangelicals who never criticize the "synagogue of Satan." To
their everlasting shame, they bless and assist it in every possible
way.
Endnotes:
1. These passages include Lev. 18:28, 26:27-34, Deut. 1:7,
1:37, 4:26, 6:18, 7:12, 28:58-64, Ezek. 13:9, Jer. 29:13.
2. The mass exodus of Arabs in 1948 was precipitated by slaughter
of about 250 innocent Arab men, women, and children at Deir Yassin
by later prime minister Menachim Begin's Urgun terrorists. For
full details, go to The
Simple Explanation for Mid-East Strife.
3. For a more extensive overview of these prophetic events, Bible
Prophecy Made Simple. The second half of my book Israel
: Our Duty, Our Dilemma deals extensively with Bible prophecy and the
Jews. This 345-page book is available online at www.truthtellers.org for
$24.90 postpaid or at National Prayer Network, P.O. Box 828 , Clackamas
, OR 97015 or by calling 503-853-3688.
4. Ezek. 39:22-29.
5. Jewish
Activists Created Communism
6. Jews
Confirm Big Media Is Jewish
7. Talmud:
Wellspring of Jewish Pornography Industry
8. Judaism
and Homosexuality: A Marriage Made in Hell
9. Christian
America: Lost in the Wilderness
10. Christ predicted Herod's temple would be destroyed (70
A.D.) and a new temple built someday, to be desolated by Antichrist.
(Matt. 24:15) Daniel prophesied a Jewish-Antichrist covenant
(Dan. 9:27 ).
11. Watch Rev. Ted Pike's Hate
Laws: Making Criminals of Christians at video.google.com.
12. Luke 21:23
13. The entire book of Lamentations describes the hopeless
plight of the remnant.
14. I Thess. 4:16,17
15. Zech. 12:10
16. Rev. 20:3
17. Exodus 32:9, Deut. 9:6, 2 Chron. 38, Acts 7:5
Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative
watchdog organization.
Let the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith teach you how they
have saddled 45 states with hate laws capable of persecuting Christians: http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp.
Learn how ADL took away free speech in Canada and wants to steal
it now in the U.S. Congress. Watch Rev. Ted Pike's Hate
Laws: Making Criminals of Christians at video.google.com. Purchase
this gripping documentary to show at church. Order online at www.truthtellers.org for
$24.90, DVD or VHS, by calling 503-853-3688, or at the address below.
TALK SHOW HOSTS: Interview Rev. Ted Pike on this
topic. Call (503) 631-3808.
National Prayer Network, P.O. Box 828, Clackamas,
OR 97015
