ISRAEL UPDATE

 May 14, 2006 – Fifty years ago today the British Mandate over the nation wrongly called Palestine ceased and Prime Minister David Ben Gurion declared independence for the nation of Israel.

 This declaration was greeted with the combined attack of Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Iraq with the support from many others. 

 Against overwhelming odds an army made up of immigrants, Holocaust survivors, both male and female, as well as a group ranging from eighteen years of age to people in their sixties.  Machine gun ammunition belts had to be reloaded manually, sometimes troops only carried six to ten rounds of ammunition in to battle and the Jewish state had no navy or air force to speak of. 

 Yet, because of G-d’s intervention Israel not only won the war but sustained it’s independence up to the present time and has stood as a beacon of hope to immigrants from all over the world.

 As a developing nation, Israel has provided battlefield expertise, superior intelligence, technology, export, and blossomed into a democratic nation that has assisted many nations throughout the world with disaster relief.

 Isaiah 60:22 states, “A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation, I the L-rd will hasten it in his time.”

Thankfully, G-d keeps His covenant to a thousand generations and this tiny nation proves it.

  

May 14, 2006 – At present six states within the nation of India have passed legislation making it illegal for people to be converted to Christianity.

 I can’t help but think back to the era that I grew up in when the Beatles and a flood of other English rock bands came to America.  The decadence and excess of these musician’s lives glorified drugs, illicit sex and rebellion and a generation embraced these practices that carry on today.

 All that aside, think of the influence of the Beatles’ George Harrison and his propagation of Hinduism.  Today every facet of American culture promotes the practices of Hinduism from cartoon programs, commercials to sitcoms.

 Perhaps the greatest paradox lies in the fact that America has allowed freedom of speech and religion and apparently, India does not.  When Solomon wrote the Proverbs, he put it so well in chapter 29:27, “An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.”

 It is so sad to see Christianity being forced into a corner within our nation’s boundaries while everyone else can say or do what they want without restriction.

 

To be continued…