THOMAS' REMARKS ARE BIBLICALLY SOUND
By Rev. Ted Pike
8 June 10
(Verses Corrected: 9 June 10)
Amid the uproar over White House reporter Helen Thomas' remarks
that the Israelis should "get the hell out of there" and
return to the nations is a much obfuscated fact: In her salty way,
she is only repeating how God feels about Israel's biblically unlawful
return to Palestine over the past 110 years.
The Old Testament emphasizes in dozens of the clearest passages that never will
God allow an unjust rebellious nation of Jews to occupy His Holy Land
[see footnote].
He wouldn't let even the spiritual colossus Moses in because of one
infraction. He wouldn't let the ten doubting spies and an entire generation
of Hebrews in because of unbelief.
Instead, God made it clear that only a believing remnant,
trusting God and exemplifying righteousness, justice, and mercy (including
to the "strangers in the land"), would have sanction to enter
and occupy. This happened only two times in Old Testament history:
under Joshua and, later, Ezra and Nehemiah, bringing back an obedient
remnant from Babylonian captivity.
On the other hand, God repeatedly warns that if the Jews do occupy
Palestine and yet turn from obedience He will scatter them to the nations.
They cannot return until they embody the same righteousness as they
did under Joshua and Ezra.
This is kindergarten Biblical ethics. The Christian and secular media
would discover this very quickly if they would stop throwing dust in
the air over Helen Thomas and actually read God's requirements, listed
in passages at the end of this article.
Scripture is also emphatic that at the second coming of Christ a
beleaguered Jewish remnant, survivors of the collapse of the present
counterfeit, anti-Christ state of Israel, will trust in their
rejected Messiah, Jesus. At that time, and only after such repentance,
will Christ authorize their return to occupy the land under Christ's
benevolent rulership for 1,000 years.
Who then owns the land and has rights of occupation today? Righteous
Jews who honor Israel's true Messiah, Jesus, will always own the land
of Israel and have rights of occupation. But, until national Jewish
obedience occurs again, God made two things very clear after exile
of the Jews to Babylon in the sixth century B.C.
- Jews must dwell among the nations, seeking the peace and prosperity
of their neighbors (Jer. 29:4).
- Surrounding Gentiles would have the right to temporarily dwell
in and cultivate the land. Since they were not recipients of such
transcendent truth and light as Israel, God will not hold them to
the same high moral standard. But, if they became overtly wicked,
He would also expel them.
God says His holy land has always been sanctified for His glory, "vomiting
out" the ancient Canaanites, the Jews, and anyone else who profanes
it (Lev. 18:25). God gave the Samaritans in Jeremiah's time temporary
rights to occupy in lieu of Jewish obedience. That sanction continues
with the Palestinians or any other Gentiles who do not overtly defile
God's law.
But God says emphatically that such endorsement can never be granted
to a nation of Christ-rejecting, Pharisee-venerating, left-wing Jews
such as flooded into Palestine over a century ago.
Why such strife in Palestine since Jewry returned? It's because very
great discord erupts when God's law is flouted. If you touch two battery
cables together, a shower of sparks explodes. The laws of nature are
violated. A proliferation of persistent, unparalleled strife has accompanied
Jewry's lawless return to Palestine. The law of God has been desecrated.
Israel 's defiance of God's law, including violent expulsion of 800,000
Palestinians from their God-endorsed tenancy in the land to languish
in concentration camps in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza, is spiritual
wickedness of the first magnitude. And the evangelical church over
the past century has become a partaker of that iniquity and delusion
by bidding Godspeed to it.
But, you may ask: Wasn't Jewish return necessary in order to provide
safe haven for persecuted world Jewry? Hasn't Israel vindicated itself
by providing such refuge?
Prime Minister Netanyahu answered that recently. He said there is
no place on earth as dangerous for Jews as Israel.
The Bible says the same: "There is no peace for the wicked."
Footnote:
- Scriptures forbidding Jewish occupation of the Holy Land in unbelief
include: Lev. 18:28, 26:27-46;
Num. 14:23; Deut. 4:26-27, 6:18, 7:12, 29:28; 28:21, 25, 37, 41,
56-64, Deut. 30; Ezek. 13:9; Jer. 7:15, 29:13-14
Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative
watchdog organization.
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