Showing posts with label Shira Sorko-Ram. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shira Sorko-Ram. Show all posts

Thursday, July 7, 2016

MESSIANIC JEWS IN THE MARKET PLACE - A MODERN DAY MIRACLE IN ISRAEL

0716 - Samuel and Susan Smadja

 MESSIANIC JEWS IN THE MARKET PLACE

A MODERN DAY MIRACLE IN ISRAEL

Monthly Report: July 2016
Sivan - Tammuz 5776
Open in PDF


By Shira Sorko-Ram

A young Tunisian Jew who lost his father in the Holocaust was given a Bible by a Christian friend and was challenged to search the Scriptures to see if Yeshua was indeed the Messiah promised by the prophets. This young man, Victor Smadja, with the horrors of World War II still fresh, took the challenge very seriously and poured over the Scriptures for two solid years. Finally he knew in his heart that Yeshua, the Son of God, was sent to bring him salvation. As far as is known, he became the only male bornagain Jew in all of Tunisia. In 1956, Victor brought his fiancée Suzy to faith and three days after they were married, they moved to Israel.

Samuel Smadja, the youngest of their four children, was born in Jerusalem when the city was still divided (the Old City was under Jordanian occupation) and when there were only about 2,200,000 Jewish citizens in all of Israel.

Early on, his parents noticed Samuel was having a very difficult time in school because of what today is known as a severe case of dyslexia. He simply couldn’t spell. They enrolled him in a vocational school where he could get extra help. Nevertheless, he wasn’t able to receive a high school diploma even though he attended a full 12 years.

However, in his school, he was captivated by a course in tourism, and immediately knew that some day he wanted to work in the tourism business.
His father, Victor, began the first congregation for Israelis in Jerusalem and is known as one of the early pioneers for what is now the Messianic Jewish movement in Israel. Victor was, of course, very bold about his faith. But Samuel, being the only believer in his school at the time, admits he denied his faith many times.

However, when as a soldier he found himself in the middle of the Lebanese War, he heard a voice ask a question inside, the same question Elijah had challenged Israel with some 3,000 years earlier: “How long will you falter between two opinions?”

Then Samuel, feeling a tremendous peace inside and around him on the battlefield, made his peace with God. He immediately began to work with his father, focusing on teenage camps and services for young adults, which he continued for many years.

After finishing the army, he began searching for work in a tourist company, but no one wanted him because he couldn’t spell. Finally he went to one company and said, “I’ll work for you for free. And then if I bring you business you can pay me a commission.” The owner agreed.

Meanwhile, Samuel’s father told him, “If you want to work in tourism, you need added value to your skills. You need another language.” So Victor sent Samuel to Germany to study German. In six months he returned with an astounding grasp of German - even though he couldn’t spell! But everyone realized God had given him a gift for languages. He now has a professional level of Hebrew, English, French and German.

Samuel, always the visionary, realized there are many Christians in India, and so in 1988 went there to see if he could generate some tourism to Israel. He wasn’t able to develop much business at that time, but did meet a famous Indian pastor and evangelist who began to prophesy over him, telling him God was going to use him mightily in the tourism business in a way that would impact Israel. At that time, there was nothing to confirm such a prophecy, but Samuel returned to Israel greatly encouraged. Soon, with his commission, he was making more money than his boss!
0716 - Buses
In 1993, Samuel felt it was time to open up his own tour company, but he needed $200,000 to get started. He went to his father and asked him to co-sign with him at the bank. Victor, known for his no-nonsense demeanor, replied “Who did you say gave you this vision?” When Samuel answered, “God!” Victor then replied, “Good. So go ask Him!”

Samuel was soon on a plane to Germany to offer 49% of his new company to a Christian investor. Armed with a business plan, he sat with the German man for two hours. The investor never asked to see the business plan, and simply gave Samuel the letter of credit for $200,000 for a small amount of interest - which Samuel paid back in a year and a half.

As he began his new company, Sar-El Tours, many competitors actually tried to get his business blacklisted by all the Jerusalem hotels. The Orthodox published newspaper stories, demanding people boycott his business because of his faith.
But Christian leaders like the late Pastor Chuck Smith began to use Sar-El. The late Dr. Paul Crouch also began using Sar- El Tours for TBN trips to Israel. We at Maoz immediately understood the significance of an Israeli tour company owned and operated by a Messianic Jew, and for several years carried a banner on our website advertising Sar-El Tours. It was clear to us that Christian tourists coming to Israel should use businesses owned by Israel’s Messianic Jews.

But then the Arab Intifadas took place in Israel, with suicide bombers and murderers killing over 1,000 Israelis. Even many Jews stopped touring Israel and tour company after tour company folded. However, Christian volunteers came through Sar-El to assist the nation on ministry trips during this horrific period. And amazingly, Christians continued to come in spite of everything. Sar-El went through difficult times, but survived.

Today, Sar-El Tours & Conferences is one of the largest tour agencies in Israel, serving about 50,000 tourists a year. And the Sar-El Group, consisting of a number of businesses, is now the largest employer of Israeli believers in the country.

As one of many examples of how God is using Samuel, he was invited to a special event of Who’s Who of Israelis with former politicians, military generals, and significant businessmen and women. Samuel used his invitation to share the Gospel with dozens of the most influential people in Israel. David had beaten Goliath. To God be the glory.

When Victor Smadja recently went to his reward, his son, Samuel, with all he has on his plate, decided he would also take up the leadership of the Jerusalem congregation “Messianic Assembly” that his father founded.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

THE NEW TESTAMENT WARNS AGAINST REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY By Shira Sorko-Ram - MAOZ ISRAEL REPORT

0616 - Islamization of Bethlehem
The Islamization of Bethlehem can be seen by one of the many mosques now found in the city.
Muslims feel compelled to build wherever ancient Jewish and Christian sites are found throughout ancient Israel
.

THE NEW TESTAMENT WARNS AGAINST
REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY

By Shira Sorko-Ram  MAOZ ISRAEL REPORT  June 2016



Replacement Theology teaches that God’s covenant with the Jews ended with Christianity. The Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan; the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people, and God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. Instead, the Christian Church is God’s chosen people. And in the New Testament, after Pentecost, the term, "Israel" refers only to the Church.

Covenants given to Israel, and the plans, purposes and promises of God to Israel are now fulfilled exclusively in the Christian Church. It follows that many of the promises that God made to Israel must be spiritualized. When it speaks of Israel being restored to the land, this really means that the Christian Church will be blessed.

The fruits of Replacement Theology (also known as supersessionism - from the word “supersede”) have been the foundation of almost two millennia of Jew-hatred known as anti-Semitism. Its doctrine has enabled fallen man’s evil instincts to enjoy unlimited acts of horror, terror and extreme violence towards the Jewish people.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of episodes rooted in historical Jew-hatred have manifested themselves under the guise of this doctrine - for example, the infamous Spanish inquisition when 200,000 Jews were expelled from Spain by the Catholic Church. Ten’s of thousands were slaughtered, purposely drowned in the sea, or their bodies ripped open after rumors spread that Jews who were fleeing had swallowed their gold and silver items.

Even today, the “blood libel” fiction claims that Jews kill children to drink their blood on Passover. Internet bloggers this Passover accused Jews of killing Palestinian children to mix their blood with their matza.

Replacement Theology played a prominent role in Hitler’s plans to extinguish the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; he comfortably appropriated the Church’s anti-Semitism down through the ages, which rose to new heights through Martin Luther’s demonization of the Jewish people.

IT STARTED 1900 YEARS AGO

The truth is that Replacement Theology was already spreading its tentacles even during the Apostle Paul’s lifetime. Paul strongly refuted this doctrine in Romans chapter 11. Arrogance and false teaching against the Jews was taking root among the new Gentile Christians and Paul warned them against this evil.

Paul made it clear that God has not deserted the Jews, and it was incumbent upon the Gentiles (i.e. the nations) not to boast nor be puffed up against the Jewish people even though most had not accepted Yeshua as their Messiah:

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not… God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. (Romans 11:1-2)
And if some of the [Jewish] branches were broken off, and you [Gentiles], being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. (vs 17-18)

THROUGH ISRAEL’S FAILURE CAME SALVATION

Secondly, Paul explains that through the failure of the Jewish people, the Gentiles have received salvation through the Sacrificial Lamb of God who died at the hands of the Roman government at the demands of the Pharisaical religious leaders.

An amazing parallel in the Old Testament is seen in the life of Joseph. His brothers hated him, thought to kill him, and then gave him to the Gentiles to be rid of him.

Through that terrible offense, Joseph became the second ruler of the Gentiles (Egyptians) and also saved his own family who, when they recognized Joseph, humbly and in sorrow acknowledged their sin.

Furthermore, Paul revealed that the day is coming when the Jewish people will return to their God, and through the revelation of their Messiah, they will continue to bless the world.

I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! … Now if their transgression is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fulfillment will be! For if their rejection is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (vs. 11-12,15)

Paul actually warns that a contemptuous attitude towards the Jewish people risks themselves being cut off.

Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. (vs. 20-21)

A PROMISE ONLY GOD COULD MAKE

Then comes Paul’s reinforcement of the promise in the Old Testament that the Jewish people will one day be redeemed. The promise is found in a Psalm that all Israel sang on their way up to Zion for the annual holy feast days.

O Israel, hope in the Lord:
For with the Lord there is mercy,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities
. (Psalm 130:7-8)

Paul confirmed this promise in Scripture that gives every Messianic Jew in Israel and abroad hope:

And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be uninformed of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

The Deliver [Messiah] will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins. (vs. 23-27)

Paul again recognizes the fact that most of our Jewish people are not yet in a personal relationship with the God of Israel through the Messiah, Yeshua, but insists that God has still elected or chosen the Jewish people because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:

Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (vs. 28-29)

SO THE HISTORICAL CHURCH HAS BEEN SPOTLESS?

In my mind, the most ridiculous aspect of the Replacement dogma is the absolute blindness of any person who thinks he or she is without sin, not to mention the believing corporate Church over the last 1900 years. Has it acted righteously and without sin? There is no more pharisaical attitude than this.

Think about this concept - that the Church has replaced Israel because of Israel’s sin and rejection of God. The history of the Church is so incredibly full of sin, violence, and evil, that a person has to be in deep dark blindness to be unaware of the Church’s own historical wretchedness. Sexual abuse by Catholic Church leaders, perfidy of Protestant wars, hatred, greed, and so much more. How much clearer could the Bible be than to let the world know that all - Jews and Gentiles - have sinned and come short of the glory of God!

Of course, there are godly people in the Church, past and present. But if God has forever forsaken His chosen people because of their sins, how could He not forever forsake the Church for all its sins as well?

God has not forsaken Israel. Some 6,400,000 Jews now live in their ancient homeland. And, among our Jewish people, the number of Messianic Jews is growing exponentially!

In parallel, there are countries like China and in South America where the same phenomenal growth with Christian conversions is taking place. Because of God’s mercy, all of us are looking forward to a last-day world awakening both among Jews and the nations!

For as you [Gentiles] were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their [the Jews] disobedience, even so these [Jews] also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you [Gentiles] they [the Jewish people] also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all [Jews and Gentiles] to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all [Jews and Gentiles]. (vs. 30-32)

The dogma of Replacement Theology has probably brought more sin and evil to the world than any other Christian doctrine.

THE NEWEST BRAND: FULFILLMENT THEOLOGY

And yet, in these last days its heresy has expanded into a newer version of anti- Semitism.
Called Fulfillment Theology, now it’s not the Church that replaces Israel but Yeshua Himself!!! The argument goes like this: Since Yeshua fulfilled in His life all the redemptive work, his promises to the Jews including the Promised Land is null and void.

What a travesty and hodgepodge of God’s word! Yeshua didn’t come to replace Israel. Yeshua came to redeem Israel and all who are grafted into “Israel’s Olive Tree.”

Have all things been fulfilled? Obviously not. Yeshua has not yet returned for His bride as the Bible promises. Peter explained what was yet to happen on earth before the Second Coming of the Messiah when he spoke to the Jewish people who had gathered around him after a lame man was healed by the power of Yeshua’s Name. He told them:

Repent therefore and return that your sins may be wiped away… that He may send Yeshua, the Messiah appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. (Acts 3:19-21)

PALESTINIAN LIBERATION THEOLOGY

Yet, can you believe? Now Palestinians’ Liberation Theology careens even farther from the core truths of the Bible, if that were possible.

This theology denies the words of Yeshua when He said, “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18)

It denies the words of Yeshua who said, “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles [i.e. the nations] until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Luke 24:21

It denies the promise Yeshua made to the unbelieving Jewish leaders when he said,
“For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matthew 23:39)

It denies the greatest promise to Israel: “All Israel shall be saved.” (Romans 11:26)
There isn’t a single mention of Philistines, Palestinians or Palestine in the New Testament. 

But Israel is mentioned 78 times. Judea 46 times. Samaria 12 times. Galilee 64 times. Jews and Jewish 173 times. Yeshua’s Jewish genealogy is listed twice, as a son of AbraAbraham, Isaac and Jacob whose name God changed to Israel.

Palestinian Liberation Theology has been born out of hatred and jealousy of the Jewish people, reinforced and buttressed by Islamic theology.

This Palestinian Christian Theology meshes perfectly with Islamic theology concerning the extinction of the Jewish people and the dispossession of their promised land.

Now a growing list of influential ministers and ministries in America and Europe has embraced the lie - names well known to you if I listed them. And they are pulling many Evangelicals into their theological web. They are doing great harm in their attempt to destroy the State of Israel. But in the end, according to the Scriptures, the damage will be much greater to themselves.

GOD’S ARAB PEOPLE

I must always add that God loves the Arab people. He sent His Son to die for the sins of all the Arab people in the world. Satan has stolen God’s gift of salvation and replaced it with a religion that stands for murder, hatred and forced conversion.

How utterly tragic to be born into this theological prison, with no possibility to have a personal relation with the God of Israel through Yeshua, King of the Jews. Yet we keep hearing of incidents around the world where Yeshua is appearing to Muslim individuals in dreams and visions, resulting in their turning to the One True God. We must earnestly pray for and love Muslims, and do all we can to bring them the truth.

How would you like to be born a Syrian, a Libyan, a woman in Afghanistan, a boy soldier snatched by Boko Haram? How about being one of the millions of sex-slaves under the charge of Mohammed’s followers?

Disaster will certainly happen to the Palestinian Christians if a Palestinian State is created. According to all polls, Hamas will win the elections in the West Bank if elections are allowed. Ask the born-again Christians in Gaza about their freedom to follow their Lord there. They won’t be able to tell you much - for fear of their lives.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

WHERE DID THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE COME FROM? - By Shira Sorko-Ram MAOZ ISRAEL

0316 - Bible Readers Map of Palestine

WHERE DID THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE 

COME FROM?

Monthly Report: March 2016
Adar I - Adar II 5776




By Shira Sorko-Ram

No one argues the fact that the Holy Land - along with the rest of the Middle East - was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire for 400 years until the British captured the ancient land of Israel in 1917.

What most people don’t know is that during the Ottoman period, the concept of a nation-state with fixed borders was foreign to Arabs. It was entirely a European concept. Among Arabs, their strongest identity was religion and language, Islam and Arabic. Today Arabs still see themselves as part of the “Arab nation” which is actually made up of 22 Arab states.

It’s not that there was no other identifiable territory in the Middle East. Egypt was Egypt from ancient times. Syria was also a known region. In fact, before the British arrived, Arabs living in and around the Holy Land directed their allegiance to Damascus; they identified themselves as Southern Syrians.

So where did “Palestine” come from? Western maps of Palestine were printed in Bibles, probably from the time there were printing presses. Such maps created in the 19th century are easily found on the Internet. But these maps show primarily the ancient tribes of Israel and their cities and towns, not maps of “Palestine” recording villages and towns existing in the 1800’s.

HADRIAN’S ATTEMPT TO ERADICATE ISRAEL

The name “Palestine” was imposed on the Holy Land by the Roman emperor Hadrian in 135 A.D.

“Almost 2,000 years ago, the Roman Emperor Hadrian cursed the Jewish People and decreed that Judea should henceforth be called “Palestine” after the Philistines, an ancient enemy of Israel that had disappeared from the world’s stage more than 600 years earlier. It was his final twist of the knife and legacy after wars, massacres, persecutions, and exiles that had largely extinguished the Jewish presence from Judea.” (www.think-israel.org)

0316 - Israel Map 1967
As for maps created even in the 1800’s, there was little real-time inhabited areas to record. The fact that God had cursed the actual land of the Israelites because of their sins could be witnessed by anyone who visited there. The land had lain bare and desolate for centuries. (Leviticus 26:32, Jeremiah 18:16 are examples of the curse.)

Travelers like Mark Twain, who visited the area, all testified that few people lived in the Holy Land except for Bedouin crisscrossing the land according to the seasons and small villages scattered here and there.

A travel guide to Palestine and Syria published in 1876 by Karl Baedeker illustrates the fact that even when the Islamic Ottoman Empire ruled the region, the Muslim population in Jerusalem was minimal. But important to history, there were always Jews living in the “Four Holy Cities: Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and Tiberius.

Baedeker estimated the total population of Jerusalem to be 60,000 - 2 MAOZ ISRAEL REPORT MARCH 2016 By Shira Sorko-Ram 7,000 Muslims, 13,000 Christians and 40,000 Jews. (https://archive.org)

THE LAND OF ISRAEL IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

In New Testament times, the authors of the Gospels spoke of the people of Israel living in the land of Israel. Matthew records the angel speaking to Joseph in a dream - who was in Egypt with Mary and Baby Yeshua - to return to the land of Israel.

Yeshua, the apostles and the New Testament continued to speak of the Holy Land as Judea, Samaria and Israel. Never Palestine. Speaking of His return in the Last Days, Yeshua said,

But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say to you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, until the Son of man shall have come. (Matthew 10:23)

THE BRITISH INTRODUCE “PALESTINE” TO ARABS

When the British conquered the Ottoman Empire, they came with their maps and documents designating the land as Palestine. The Arabs were furious. They saw the name coming from the Christian Crusader world and saw it as a victory for the “Zionists.” Not a single prominent Muslim endorsed the renaming of the region as “Palestine” in 1920; all protested it. (www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org)

Indeed, for decades other identities - Syrian, Arab, and Muslim - continued to compete with the Palestinian brand.

The next step of Britain and France was to divide up the whole Middle East into different nation-states. They did so according to their own European interests, not necessarily what was good or even natural to the area. Natural divisions would have been more in line with Arab religious sects - such as Shiite, Sunni, Alawite and Druze, etc. Peoples such as the Kurds, who have a very strong identity as a religion, language and a people, were not given their own nation - a huge problem and injustice, even until today. Artificially created states by Europeans is one of the reasons for the instability of the Middle East.

ARABS MIGRATE TO THE HOLY LAND

But back to the Palestinians - of which in 1920, there were none. However, major demographic transformation was taking place. Waves of new Arabs began to flood into the area to find jobs as Jewish immigrants rebuilt towns and businesses in the Holy Land after 2000 years in the diaspora.

The return of Jewish people was accompanied by economic prosperity for the region and Arabs migrated to enjoy the higher standard of living.

Winston Churchill said in 1939: “So far from being persecuted, the Arabs have crowded into the country and multiplied till their population has increased more than even all world Jewry could lift up the Jewish population.” (www.wnd.com)

NUMBER OF JEWS IMMIGRATING INCREASES

The number of Jews continued to increase in the first decades of the 20th century in spite of the fact that the Turks tried to keep Jews from immigrating or buying property.

When the British mandated the name “Palestine” for the Holy Land, the Jews who arrived called themselves Palestinians. But not the Arabs. In fact, many Jewish institutions in the Biblical land were called Palestinian; “The Jerusalem Post” was called “The Palestine Post” until 1950.

The Arabs, on the other hand, continued to resist the Palestinian name. In 1937, a Palestinian Arab leader named Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi told Britain’s Peel Commission that “there is no such country [as Palestine]! ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria.” (www.camera.org)

The facts are incontrovertible. When the Balfour Declaration was written in 1917, there was nary a mention of a Palestinian people, because they simply didn’t exist. The Balfour document spoke of dividing “Palestine” between Jews and Arabs. Likewise, the United Nations in 1947 declared “Palestine” to be divided between Jews and Arabs. No Palestinians in sight.

When I moved to Israel in 1967, after the Six Day War, I had numerous conversations with Arabs living in both Israel proper and the West Bank. I didn’t even hear the term “Palestinian” from any Arabs at that time. There was definitely confusion among Arabs who found themselves suddenly a part of the Israeli nation. 

One Arab born in Israel told me, “I’m not an Arab, I’m a Christian.” Another Muslim acquaintance living on the Mount of Olives told me, “I’m a Jordanian Arab.” That of course was because when the British army withdrew from the Holy Land in 1948, the Jordanian king seized Judea and Samaria and the Old City of Jerusalem. Egypt seized Gaza.

A PALESTINIAN PEOPLE CREATED TO DESTROY ISRAEL

When Israel became a newly-born state in 1948, the Middle East Arabs immediately began to plot the destruction of Israel. This is a hard statement that nations tend to ignore. But it comes from the mouth of the Arab leaders themselves.

Enter Yasser Arafat, a native-born Egyptian with a passion to liberate Palestine from the Jews. After finishing his education in Egypt, he moved to Kuwait and met two official members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. These two men, Abu Iyad and Abu Jihad, later became Arafat’s top aides.

In 1959 when Israel was only 11 years old, Arafat formed an organization called “Fatah,” “dedicated to the liberation of Palestine through armed struggle.”

My own first visit to Israel and Jordan was in 1959. My strongest memory is of the Old City of Jerusalem (then occupied by Jordan) as an absolutely primitive backwater town made up of narrow walking passages and a derelict alley alongside the Western Wall, then called the Wailing Wall. Possibly Arafat was the only human being on earth at that time who might have thought that someday Jerusalem would be an Islamic capital of a Muslim country called Palestine. But this has become the dream and the hope of virtually every Muslim who calls himself a Palestinian in the world today.

PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION IS BORN

When the Middle East Arab countries realized Israel wasn’t going away, in 1964 the Arab League representing all the Arab nations sent representatives to create the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and wrote up its Palestinian National Charter. The Charter defined all of Israel as Palestine, the homeland for the Arabs.

It was this assembly that introduced the “Palestinian people” to the world with its declarations:

  1. All Arab citizens living normally in Palestine up to 1947 are “Palestinians.” (Article 6)

  2. Palestine is an Arab homeland bound to the rest of the Arab countries, which together form the great Arab homeland. (Article 1)

  3. The Balfour Declaration and the UN partitioning of Palestine is null and void. (Article 17-18)

  4. The “Palestinian Arab people” will move forward on the path of al- Jihad until complete and final victory [against the Zionists] has been attained. (Introduction)
As they did when the UN announced the Jewish people would have their own country, now once again, Syria, Jordan and Egypt gathered their armies together to “throw Israel into the sea.” The spring of 1967 found the Israeli people, including their leaders, in great consternation for fear that this time the Arab armed forces might actually destroy Israel.

Instead, in nothing short of one of the most amazing battles in modern history, Israel pushed Jordan out of Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and the Mount of Olives; pushed Syria out of the Golan Heights and pushed Egypt out of Gaza and the Sinai Desert. Israel later returned the Sinai Desert to Egypt in exchange for a peace agreement. In six days! All of these areas “happen” to be land that God solemnly swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (later renamed Israel) and their descendants forever.

By now Yasser Arafat had had enough. Two years later through his Fatah organization, he took control of the PLO and began his life-long mission to destroy Israel and settle Palestine with a new “Palestinian people.”

HIS SOLUTION: TERROR

But how to create a Palestinian people when there still wasn’t such a nation? The answer was terror. And so today, Yasser Arafat has the distinction of being the Father of Modern Terrorism. (Is that why he won a Nobel Prize?) He was the first to hijack airplanes. 

He became famous by introducing the term “Palestinian” into the international media lexicon through a series of high-profile acts of violence targeting Israeli civilians, including bombings, cross-border raids and the 1972 Munich Olympic hostage massacre. (I happened to have been in Munich directing a film about the outreach of Youth with a Mission during the Olympics.)

The world took notice. In 1974, the United Nations recognized the PLO as “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.” (http://america.aljazeera.com)

It was an amazing feat. Through outrageous, savage terrorism, the Palestinian people became a reality in five short years! Check it out for yourself. Once the United Nations recognized the existence of a Palestinian people, Israel was seen as an occupier of an “ancient people” who had lived in Palestine for thousands of years.

But Arafat didn’t stop there. He proclaimed to the whole world that the Jews had never ever lived in Palestine. They were usurpers who only came to settle on the Palestinian people’s land since the late 19th century. He said Jesus was a Palestinian. The Arab world rapidly rewrote their history books.

Arafat learned quickly that every time he initiated a new wave of terror, the world readily gave him more attention, even becoming more sympathetic to Palestinian rights and legitimacy.

Not everything went his way. He was kicked out of Jordan after carving out an independent territory for his fighters. He then moved to Lebanon and started a civil war there, until Israel kicked him out.

But his greatest accomplishment was his ability to create a fictitious narrative that Judea and Samaria, the Old City of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Gaza are an inalienable heritage to the ancient Palestinian people. In fact, the Islamic peoples of the world are convinced all of Israel actually belongs to the Palestinian people who have lived in Palestine for thousands of years.

Palestinian nation. A nation that has proclaimed to all the world that no Jew shall ever live there. Now that’s quite an achievement. No wonder this Father of Modern Terrorism is the Father figure to the Arabs living in Judea and Samaria.



Tuesday, February 9, 2016

BRITAIN’S MUSLIM POPULATION TO BE 26 MILLION BY 2051 - Maoz Israel Report

Maoz Report Logo
February 9, 2016          
MIR-new-0514-grey separator
BRITAIN’S MUSLIM POPULATION
TO BE 26 MILLION BY 2051
 By Shira Sorko-Ram 
0216 Top Britains Muslim Population

























Left: St Mary’s Church on Cable Street in East London.
Right: Friday midday prayers outside a mosque in East London. (Photography: London Media)


       Few themes in the Bible are repeated more than this: When a nation turns their
back on God, that nation begins a downward spiral, heading finally to its destruction.

       It is not a comfortable subject to think about. And yet, the Lord tells us,
“Now when these things begin to happen, look up… because your redemption
draws near.”

       However, to ignore the subject of unrepentant nations falling into chaos is not,
I believe, an accurate read of the way God wants us to respond.

      After all, the entire Bible warns us to alert our wayward nations of coming judgment.
King Solomon understood this fundamental truth before he, too, turned from God,
and his nation suffered the same tragedies.

“When Thy people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against Thee, if they turn to Thee again and confess Thy name and pray…then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel…" I Kings 8:33-34

A void has been created by Britain’s leaders, who themselves have been duped by pop stars, salacious TV series, brutal movies and the wild life of the uber-rich together with patronizing scholars and elites who have nothing but disdain for God. To fill that void, another god - Allah - is moving in. His law is Sharia. His goal is to conquer completely the British Isles.

The problem is not about different ethnic groups arriving to live in Britain. God created each ethnicity with lovingkindness. The problem is simply the West, whether it acknowledges it or not, is in a battle of civilizations. Put another way, Britain, if it continues its current path, will become an Islamic nation.

THE TRUTH IN DEMOGRAPHICS

Demographics may take more than a generation to reveal irreversible changes. But demographics reliably foretell the future if things continue as they are. Look at these figures:

- Today there are 2,900,000 Muslims living in Britain, including Scotland and North Ireland - about 5% of the population. (www.theguardian.com)
- The Muslim population is multiplying 75% every 10 years.
The demographic model widely reported in the mainstream press reveals:
- By 2021, Britain’s Muslim population will reach about 4,900,000.
- By 2031, 8,600,000
- By 2041 15,000,000
- By 2051, nearly 26,000,000 (www.thecommentator.com)

From the British non-Muslim population, its birthrate is 2.1 per female - below the replacement level.Ibid. In other words, the real numbers of non-Muslims will shrink.

It is estimated that in 2051 there will be a total of 77,000,000 British citizens. The respected Commentator newspaper concludes that “if immigration policies continue as they are…then the Muslim population projection of 26 million by the year 2051 can be rationally defended. (Ibid.)

So by the middle of this century, a third of the population will be Muslim. If the majority of non-Muslims are secular, without a personal Jesus-centered life, Britain will be rudderless in a very stormy sea.

SHARIA LAW MEANS PERSECUTION AGAINST CHRISTIANS

There is no denial that Sharia law is already being practiced throughout Great Britain by Muslims; polygamy is common, and the Islamic culture pertaining to women and other religions is replacing British law in communities with a sizable Muslim population. As the Islamic religion increases, British believers will experience severe persecution, especially in freedom of speech and liberty to preach the Gospel.

Just as genuine Christians know that they have been redeemed by the precious Lamb of God, sent by the One True God, Jehovah, so are Muslims absolutely positive that Allah is the only true god, and Jesus is not the Son of God, nor did He die for anyone’s sins.

So here we have two divergent theologies. But the lethal conflict is this: Christians and Messianic Jews believe that our God has commanded us to bring the Good News of Eternal Life to the non-believers through our testimony, our love and our faith that God will prove Himself real to any and all who seek Him with all their hearts.

Muslims believe Allah is the only true god and he has commanded his followers to conquer the world, set up a Caliphate, force Christians and Jews and all “infidels” to convert or ultimately be slaughtered. These are the commandments of Mohammed.

As long as Muslims are a small minority, it is more difficult to perceive their ultimate goals. But today, across the world, those devout Muslims, whose greatest desire is to return to Mohammed’s seventh century original Islam, are experiencing an Islamic revival.

ISLAM EXPANDING IN BIG TOWNS AND SMALL

Today in Britain, the trend is already noticeable. In a blog written by Paul Wilkinson called “The Islamization of England, One Town at a Time,” he describes little towns like Whitley Bay, a resort in the Northeast of 10,000 souls. Despite being only 0.3% Muslim, Wilkinson describes the numerous “Indian” restaurants - a proper word for “Middle Eastern” and another half a dozen Muslim-owned fast food takeaways on the main drag. Passing by another small village, he came upon a large mosque that had just been built.

Or take larger cities like the Bradford area with somewhat more than half a million citizens. Here there are over 100,000 long-time immigrants from Pakistan. In their area the stores appear to be 100% owned by Muslims; children are heading to the numerous local madrassas to learn about strict Islam. The Pakistanis like to import imams from the mother country. You get the picture.

In the January and February 2015 Maoz Israel Report, I wrote a detailed summary of the plans that Islamic fundamentalists have to take over Western democratic countries. That, of course, includes Great Britain. Muslim journalists and media personages, professors, sports icons, literary personalities and artists - all help in increasing Islamic influence in democratic nations. One of their most important goals is to elect Muslim candidates into government.

SHARIA JUDGE PROMOTES POLYGAMY

Last summer, the UK’s first female Sharia judge said that the UK government has no right to prohibit Islamic polygamy.

According to The Times, some 100,000 Muslims in the UK are currently married under Sharia not recognized by UK law. Many of these marriages are polygamous.

Earlier this year a report found that Muslim women across Britain were systematically oppressed, abused and discriminated against by Sharia law courts that treated women as second-class citizens. The 40-page report by Baroness Cox, a leading human rights campaigner, found women were pressured by their communities to use Sharia courts rather than civil courts and were threatened and intimidated if they did not comply.

One woman said, “I feel betrayed by Britain. I came here to get away from this and the situation is worse here than in the country I escaped from.”

DE-CHRISTIANIZE BRITAIN?

Spiritually speaking, humanist and atheistic activists are assisting the spread of Islam. By demanding that schools suspend teaching from a Christian point of view and by removing all Biblical signs and values from the public square, they leave an enormous void which Islam is more than happy to fill.

Baroness Butler-Sloss’s two-year commission involving leading religious leaders from all faiths has concluded that Britain is truly no longer Christian and recommends that public life should be systematically de-Christianized. (www.christiantoday.com)

As the children of Christian parents wander from the faith of their fathers, the younger generation of more secular Muslim parents are becoming much more devout. In short, most children of Christians have left the faith, while the children of Muslims are returning to theirs.

Outside of massive revival of the magnitude of George Whitfield, John Wesley, and others, the British Isles will be unrecognizable by 2051. Revival has swept the British people in the past. It can sweep the land again.



WARNING TO GREAT BRITAIN

0216 - Britain Map

A Prophecy from David Noakes

“Nation of Britain, I have loved you with a love which has not ceased, despite the state of apostasy and degradation into which you have fallen. My anger toward those church leaders who have taught false things in my Name, and encouraged others to believe and act as they do, is intense and my judgment upon them will be severe. Yet I have compassion upon those who have been like sheep without Godly shepherds; and My heart still longs to exercise mercy upon a nation whose forefathers upheld my Name and took my Word to the ends of the earth; a nation whose belief in the truth of my Word framed Godly laws and inspired a culture of uprightness.

“Rather than rely on Me and my faithfulness to you, you chose, for worldly purposes, to join yourself to an institution [i.e. EU] which has denied my Name and refused to acknowledge Me in its councils. My fierce anger is upon that institution on account of its rebellion, its defiant rejection of Me and its hardness of heart towards my ancient people Israel.

“I warn you now that the European institution will not repent, even though I bring disaster and destruction upon it. I urge you, O Britain still beloved by Me for the sake of your Godly forefathers, come out of her, so that you may not be caught up in that same destruction, for I am even now arising in judgment to bring to nothing what she has sought to achieve. If you will separate yourself from her declared rejection of God, I will have mercy upon you and restore my hand of protection; and I will use you once again to bring light to many lost in the darkness which is now steadily increasing.

“Hear Me, O once Godly nation and respond to my call, or you also will come to ruin in that same judgment of destruction. This is not My will for you, but you must choose the course which you will take. I urge you to respond to Me and choose life under My hand of discipline and protection, rather than death in the disaster which is even now coming upon Europe.”

David Noakes ministers through the Issachar Ministries Trust. Given at a Ministry Leaders meeting November 2015. Printed with permission.

According to the Bible, prophecy is to be both desired and judged. (I Corinithians 14:39,29)
~ Editor.


BRITAIN IS NO LONGER
A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY!

0216 - Dwindling Flock
(Photo: LONDON MEDIA) Dwindling Flock: St Mary’s Cable Street in East London was built
to hold 1,000 People. Today, the Congregation numbers around 20.

By Clifford Denton

It’s official! Well, that is, according to the report released by former senior judge, Baroness Butler-Sloss. The thin end of the wedge is getting thicker...

Baroness Butler-Sloss’s two-year commission involving leading religious leaders from all faiths has concluded that Britain is no longer Christian and recommends that public life should be systematically de-Christianized.

Because of the rise of other faiths, including Islam, the report says that a “new settlement” is needed to give a public voice to those of all religious persuasions and none. This would gradually neutralize any Christian influence in our schools, taking overt Christian teaching from public school lessons and assemblies and challenging the existence of faith-based schools.

A case is also built for the reduction of the number of Church of England bishops in the House of Lords giving their places to a wide variety of input from other faiths and denominations.

There is also a recommendation for all national and civic events - including the next coronation - to be designed to reflect “the pluralist character of modern society.”

THE THIN END OF THE WEDGE IS GETTING THICKER

For some time, we at Prophecy Today have realized there is a ‘thin end of the wedge’ regarding subtle attacks on the Christian foundations of our society. All too quickly we are now down to the thicker part of the wedge that is being driven in by humanists and those with multi-faith persuasion.

Though this report does not have a direct impact on the laws of the UK, it clearly demonstrates how far we have gone during just one generation. There will be many who have no concern for our nation’s history and heritage who will draw strength from this report and the battle lines are being drawn for the defense of the Faith in our nation.

Of course, we ourselves have monitored with concern the declining numbers attending church and have noted the numbers of those of other religious persuasions increasing across the nation, but our use of the data must be quite different from that of Baroness Butler-Sloss’s committee.

In reality, Britain is not - and never was - a ‘Christian country’ in an absolute sense. The country has never been entirely full of born-again believers. Yet, when the leadership of the nation has upheld biblical truth and when our laws have been molded to conform to biblical precepts, Almighty God has protected and prospered us so that the world around has recognized us as, at heart, a Christian country.

The basis of our constitutional position, is the central tenet of the 1953 Coronation Oath: the Queen’s promise to “maintain the laws of God and true profession of the Gospel.” Thank God this promise and foundation stone remains in place during our Queen’s reign. Not only is this Her Majesty’s commitment, it is also the commitment of every member of the House of Commons and House of Lords, made through their own oath or affirmation entering office.

Though a baroness can lead a committee to seek to erode this away, it is in accordance with our constitutional principles and laws that they themselves - including the baroness - have made this commitment. That far we are a Christian country - a backsliding Christian country perhaps, but nevertheless committed to the God of the Bible by strong personal oaths.

WHO IS DEFENDING THE FAITH?

It is often said that the UK has an unwritten constitution, which gives the impression that our position is vague and therefore, to some degree, subject to matters of opinion. This is not true when studied from the viewpoint of the Coronation Oath and the many centuries of development of laws and customs that brought us to today. Yet it can be treated as vague if one has a mind to do so and if the nation is led by those who choose to ignore the central principles that were passed on.

Concerned by this, a few years ago I set about writing around to see if I could pin down who is responsible for the checks and balances of maintaining our constitutional position. Starting with the Palace, I tried to ascertain how the Queen viewed her Oath and how she would seek to fulfil her vows especially when a new law came up that was against biblical principles. Many of her subjects have also urged her to lead the nation in prayer as did her father in the Second World War.

‘THERE IS NO MECHANISM...’

The answers I have received constantly refer questions back to the Government - most often to the Home Office. The Queen certainly takes her Oath seriously at a personal level but has assumed the role of a ‘Constitutional Monarch’ who defers to her ministers and signs without question whatever is passed into law through Parliament. Finding the Home Office non-committal, the next point of inquiry was to try to find the governmental office responsible for constitutional issues, with the question as to whether there is any department in the government that specifically tests government decisions for their conformity to the Coronation Oath. This is the reply I received in full:

Dear Dr. Denton,

Thank you for your letter of 17th
January 2010. We are the team responsible for Constitutional Policy and the relationship between Church and State, and have been asked to respond to your letter.

“The Government does not accept that The Queen has signed any Acts of Parliament which contradict the Coronation Oath. The Coronation Oath is a personal Oath, sworn by the Monarch during the Coronation, when she was asked ‘Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel?’

There is no mechanism or particular office in place to assist Her Majesty in upholding her Coronation Oath, nor would it be appropriate for such a mechanism or office to exist. (my emphasis)

The conclusion is that responsibility for maintaining the Oath and defending the Faith has fallen into an imprecise place between Monarch and Government and, despite the Oaths and Affirmations made on entering governmental office, no-one is designated to protect our sworn status before God that Britain will seek to be a Christian country.

WHAT TO DO?

In reality, the only people who will be concerned for our Christian heritage are Christians. Baroness Butler-Sloss’s committee has opened an issue that will deepen even further in the coming days, raising many questions for Christians about faith in the public life of the nation. Should Christians still be defending the heritage that is being systematically attacked and dismantled, encouraging our national leaders to fulfill the solemn promise to God that was made on 2 June 1953? Or should we accept that the days of ‘Christian Britain’ are long over - and move on?

Should the Church fight for a voice and an influence in the public realm, or should we live quietly and seek to witness where we are placed? Should we defend the use of biblical laws and principles in civic life as what’s best for the wellbeing of the nation, when the nation has forsaken God himself?

In my view, answers to these questions depend on whether they are tackled during or after the reign of Queen Elizabeth. A call to repentance across the entire nation has clear context whilst the present Coronation Oath is in force. Now is the time for the rallying cry to sound out to return to our national commitment to the God of the Bible. It may be different when this reign ends. Nevertheless, whether before or after, it remains the responsibility of Christians to seek God for what he is doing and what, by implication, we should be doing. At all times this is the bottom line.

CRITICAL YEARS AHEAD

This issue will not go away. I would suggest that the Lord God himself will not let it be ignored. If the day comes when the foolish recommendations of Baroness Butler-Sloss’s Committee are adopted, then our decline as a nation will be under the Hand of God as much as our reaping the consequences of our foolishness. This is how critical the next few years will be at an escalating pace.

Permission kindly granted by the Rev. Dr. Clifford Hill, Editor in Chief of Prophecy 


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