Pope Benedict’s recent visit to Israel has made a lot of people there really, really angry. Why? Because he walked into a Palestinian refugee camp and openly called for a Palestinian state.
During his visit to the Palestinian refugee camp, Pope Benedict stated, “It is understandable that Palestinians feel frustrated,” and that “their legitimate aspirations for permanent homes, for an independent Palestinian state, remain unfilled.”
Wow.
I guess there is no guessing where Pope Benedict stands on this issue.
During a speech in “Manger Square” in Bethlehem, right in front of “the Church of the Nativity”, Pope Benedict encouraged the Palestinians to keep the “flame of hope” alive for a “sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbors, within internationally recognized borders.”
Does anyone still not understand why many Jews are furious?
Of course the Pope is not nearly the only major political leader who is pushing for a Palestinian state.
U.S. President Barack Obama has also been very open regarding his goal to see an independent Palestinian state created.
In fact, there were reports that Barack Obama held a secret meeting with Palestinian leadership last summer even before he became president during which he expressed his desire to divide up the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.
According to WorldNetDaily, Barack Obama told the Palestinian leadership during a trip to that region in July that he supports a Palestinian state and a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem, but he asked them to keep his remarks secret, according to a Lebanese newspaper.
So Barack Obama wants to divide up the land of Israel and give the Palestinians a capital in east Jerusalem?
As if the U.S. didn’t have enough problems…..
Don’t all of these politicians realize what they are doing?
God does not bless those who try to divide the land of Israel.
In fact, world leaders continue to operate under the delusion that they can find a solution to all of this conflict by dividing up the land of Israel.
In Genesis 12:3, God warns that those who curse Israel will be cursed when he promised this to Abraham:
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
In the book of Joel, God warns specifically against dividing the land of Israel.
Joel 3:1-2 states, “…I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of my people and my inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up my land.”
Bill Koenig, the author of “Israel: The Blessing or the Curse”, has said this:
“We know for a fact that God gave this land, through the Abrahamic covenant, He gave the land of Israel to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants, and this land is God’s land.”
In the Scriptures, we are warned that the city of Jerusalem would one day become a huge stumbling stone for the nations in Zechariah 12:3…..
“On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.”
Is that not what has happened?
The truth is that God gave that land to Israel long ago, and now that He has started to bring His people back to the land, anyone who tries to give it away is going to be under a curse.
So is there any evidence of a curse on those who try to divide the land of Israel today?
Yes.
Consider these examples…..
#1) On April 30, 2003, America was positioned to be the catalyst for the so-called “solution” to the Middle East crisis. As Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in, the “Road Map” peace plan was set in motion.
The very next day began the worst month of tornadoes in United States history – more than 500 in a single month. Under normal conditions, 1,000 tornadoes hit the United States each year, but in just eight days that May, 375 twisters ripped across the heartland of America.
#2) May 9, 2003, President Bush addressed students at the University of South Carolina. Bush called on the Palestinians to embrace the roadmap to peace, and Bush expressed his desire to see the flag of Palestine raised over a free nation.
Hours later, tornadoes returned and Oklahoma City again became the target for deadly twisters, reducing many businesses and homes to splinters and bricks. The tornadoesof May devastated the Midwest with the third worst property damage in American history.
#3) On October 30, 1991, in a meeting scheduled by George H.W. Bush, Israelis and Palestinians discussed ways to achieve peace in the Middle East. Opening talks focused on trading parts of Israel for a peace agreement.
That same day, thousands of miles away, a powerful storm was brewing off of the coast of Nova Scotia. On October 31st, what would be known as “The Perfect Storm” smashed into New England, pummeling the President’s Kennebunkport, Maine home with waves 30 feet high. It was a storm so rare that the weather patterns required to create it only happen about once every 100 years.
#4) On August 23rd, 1992, Middle East peace talks resumed in Washington, D.C. with hope that there would be a great breakthrough. These talks focused on surrendering the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria in exchange for peace. Hundreds of miles south of there at the same time, Florida was the target for one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. Hurricane Andrew ripped through the state with an eye more than 30 miles wide and winds up to 178 miles per hour leaving behind a 32 billion dollar disaster.
#5) Between August 16th and 30th, 2005, Ariel Sharon expelled 9,480 Jewish settlers from 21 settlements in Gaza and four settlements in the northern West Bank.
On January 4th, 2006, Sharon had a stroke, and he fell into a coma and is now in a persistent vegetative state.
#6) The U.S. had strongly pressured Sharon to evacuate those settlers from Gaza.
On August 29th, 2005 the storm that would become Hurricane Katrina formed, and it devastated New Orleans and the surrounding areas to such an extent that they still have not recovered. That devastating storm caused at least 200 billion dollars in damage.
#7) In June of 2001, George W. Bush sent CIA director George Tenet to Israel in an attempt to implement the Mitchell Plan. The Mitchell plan called for, among other things, the cessation of new building in the Jewish settlements.
On the same day that Tenet met with Israeli and Palestinian officials, tropical storm Allison formed in the Gulf of Mexico and moved over Texas, the President’s home state, and dropped over 28 inches of rain over the Houston area alone, causing over $4 billion dollars in damage. The storm then moved to Florida and up the east coast causing damage as far as Pennsylvania. The meteorologists called Allison the “worst tropical storm in history”.
There are many more examples of this phenomenon here:
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1055/1055_01.asp?wpc=1055_01.asp&wpp=b
So are you convinced yet?
Do you still think that all of these things are just coincidences?
The truth is that you DO NOT mess with the land of Israel.
God has really big plans for that land in these last days.
Popes and politicians will continue to do their best to divide the land and negotiate it away, but God’s purposes will ultimately be fulfilled.
There will be ups and downs, wars and conflicts, treaties and agreements, but no matter what happens, we know that there is no stopping the Word of God.
God’s purposes for Israel will stand.
