Thoughts for the New Year

According to the Roman calendar we have just started the year 2011. The Romans counted the years starting from the date of the birth of Jesus. The Jewish calendar starts the year in September. It counts the number of years since creation, calculated by adding up the ages of people in the Bible back to the time of creation, which happened 5771 years ago.

All throughout the Jewish Bible, from Genesis to Malachi, hundreds of specific scriptures declare that G-D gave the ancient land of Canaan to the Jewish people, as their Promised Land to enjoy forever, with Jerusalem as their sacred capital.

The understanding of this covenant to Abraham is vital. The important point to realize is that this covenant is unconditional, that is, G-D never breaks a promise and will therefore not break this promise that He made to Abraham so long ago. - Even though sin and disobedience caused a temporary loss of this covenant blessing (2000 years), the covenant itself never got cancelled.

Prophet Isaiah predicted the rebirth of Israel with these words: “Who ever heard such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Is a country born in one day? Is a nation brought forth all at once? For as soon as Tzyion went into labor, she brought forth her children” - (Isaiah 66:8). Remarkably, when the British mandate over Palestine, authorized by the League of Nations, ended at midnight on May 15, 1948, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, declared publicly that Israel was once again a nation and now took its rightful place on the stage of world history.

Without doubt, the rebirth of the nation of Israel on May 15, 1948, is one of the most extraordinary of all the prophecies in the ancient Scriptures. During the last century, millions of Jews from more than seventy nations, often at great personal cost, have undertaken the arduous journey toward the fulfillment of the age-old Passover dream: “Next year in Jerusalem”.

Some people object; it can’t be the current State of Israel, because it is a secular government. – While the return to the Land today is a physical and political event, the Scripture makes it abundantly clear that the physical re-gathering and restoration of Israel is only a prelude to ultimate spiritual restoration. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

Others say that the Land was stolen from the Palestinians and should be returned to them. - There never was a Palestinian state governed by Arab Palestinians in the history of civilization nor a nation referred to as "Palestine". After the 1967 Six-Day War, when the Jordanians lost the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and Gaza, Jordanian soldiers became “Palestinians” - basically over night. Even the so-called leader of these "Palestinian" people, Yasser Arafat, was an Egyptian! In short, these Arab "Palestinians" are a manufactured people...a people with no history and no authenticity... whose sole purpose for existence is to destroy the Jewish State! The very notion of a "Palestinian Arab nation" having ancient attachments to the Holy Land going back to time immemorial is one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetrated upon the world! – I don’t know if it was Lenin or Hitler who formed the philosophy that if you told a big enough lie and you repeated it often enough, the people would begin to believe it as truth. We're seeing exactly that strategy at work in the world today. In fact, the conflict that most threatens world peace is built on an enormous lie.

So, what will happen next? The Bible says there will be a battle over Jerusalem. There is also a prophecy about Damascus going up in flames. There is the promise of the Messiah and the Temple being re-built.

Don’t wait for your newspaper if you can read tomorrow’s headlines ahead of time. I encourage you to read these Scriptures if you want to understand where we are in God’s prophetic timetable.

Look to the nation of Israel as G-D’s promise for His Land and His people will be fulfilled.

The Choice Is Yours

Last week PA negotiator Saeb Erekat criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for mentioning the Jewish people's historic tie to Jerusalem as described in the Bible. He found Bibi’s biblical reference “distasteful” and accused the prime minister of “using religion” to “incite hatred and fear”.


That is exactly the problem with the whole world today. They find what G-D said in the Bible “distasteful”.


Netanyahu simply said that the Bible refers to Jerusalem and Zion 850 times.


The Almighty chose a country and a people for His own, to set an example for the rest of the world. He also clearly explained His “road-map” for Israel from the start, even in the first book of the Bible. – You see - the course is fixed - is happening and is about to happen. G-D's Prophetic Word is moving upon us and can’t be stopped! Actually, we have been out of time…for a long time, for about the last 2000 years.


Netanyahu - at first - did not say how many times Jerusalem is mentioned in the writings of other faiths, but after he was challenged by an Israeli Arab MK, he said that Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran at all.


G-D’s roadmap for Israel is right on time and its course is fixed - as it was for Israel in the days of the prophets. When something is so clearly and repeatedly declared in the scriptures, we need to wake up and prepare for what is coming.


The greatest miracle anyone has ever witnessed was the re-gathering of Israel after 2000 years amongst the nations of the world. This miracle also set the stage for G-D's end-time prophecies to be fulfilled. – Have you noticed that all prophecies are always related to what happens in Israel?


Sometimes it’s not so easy to read the signs. Perhaps the reading part is not so hard, but accepting a life-altering radical shift -- that is the difficulty. How many Jews in Europe in the 1930’s saw the signs, heard the reports, but didn’t leave because they just could not get their minds around what was taking place?


Today Europe is openly anti-Israel. Seemingly overnight, the American administration has caught up with the spirit over Europe.


It’s that simple. If we are not lining up with God’s heart and mind on this very central and defining issue, we are at odds with Him. We either submit our life to the G-D of Israel, the creator of heaven and earth, or we are on a collision course with him. - How can we know his will? It’s written in the Bible. All we have to do is – read it!


Do you see what is happening around the world? - Islam is running rampant in Europe. The President of the United States has Islamic roots along with a trail of radical leftwing associations and activities going back decades.


If one is not for Israel as G-D is, where does that leave us with God? If we are 95% okay with what G-D says and thinks, where does that leave us with God? Is there any such thing as a partial surrender? Can we accept His Word in part? - There are too many people who think they can simply pick and choose what they like, and forget about the other part. – Yet, all throughout the Bible, G-D always demanded total surrender.

The absence of Israel in the heart of people lies at the root of the presence of Islam in the nations. Islam goes where Israel is rejected. Like it or not, the rejection of Israel is the acceptance of Islam.

The US and the nations of the EU seek to force Israel into an agreement with an entity that does not accept its right to exist and is actively seeking Israel’s destruction. Consequently, the US and the nations in the EU find themselves inhabited and led by the very same spirit they have tried to force upon Israel, - a blinding, and demonic darkness.


While the nations talk of sanctions, Iran continues to declare the destruction of Israel and increase its nuclear program. And while the United States refused to approve any major Israeli weapons requests, it approved more than $10 billion worth of arms sales to Arab League states, including Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. As the White House continues to pressure Israel to give up its traditional lands of Judea and Samaria and to make East Jerusalem the national capital to the Palestinian Authority, Russia and North Korea are arming Iran and its puppet state Syria with weapons of mass destruction. And so, Russia is helping the prophetic warnings of coming destruction along. – Weapons are never sold for a peaceful purpose!


There are many who do not believe the (Zechariah 12:3) prophecy that all who burden themselves with the battle for the control of Jerusalem, will "hurt themselves”. Just look at America--on the brink of financial ruin due to politicians spending money they don't have; Islamic terrorists attacking from within; natural and manmade disasters cost trillions. Yet, America's leadership continues to race headstrong into the prophetic warnings of destruction.


We must simply make a choice. Are we standing with Israel and believing what G-D said, or are we joining the unbelieving world opposing the will of Almighty? – There is no right or left, there is only right or wrong! There is either truth or deception.


“If it seems bad to you to serve Adonai, then choose today whom you are going to serve!....As for me and my household, we will serve Adonai.” (Y’hoshua 24:15)


Shalom – Lilo