Articles

(An Israeli friend sent this to me, and I was so impressed, I’d like to feature it here as a guest column this week. JF)

Israel’s Bravery

18 September 2024

By Allister Heath, The Telegaph

Robbed of its moral bearings, bereft of any sense of right and wrong, incapable of distinguishing heroes from villains, the West can no longer celebrate when good triumphs over evil.

Israel’s brilliantly audacious booby-trapping of thousands of Hezbollah pagers, followed by the blowing up of the terror group’s walkie-talkies, is a stunning fillip for the forces of civilisation worldwide.

A tiny nation of just 9.3 million, of which 7.2 million are Jewish, living in a country the size of Wales, reeling from the worst anti-Semitic pogroms since the Holocaust, Israel is leading the war against barbarism, its young conscripts doing a job that would once have required intervention by a Western coalition acting as global policeman.

The fact that so many in Britain, Europe and America, especially the young, no longer take Israel’s side in this existential combat exemplifies our cultural, intellectual and ethical degeneration.

The Biden administration is obsessed with preventing “escalation”, even though that is what is required if Iran is to be stopped from gaining the means to wage a nuclear World War III. All too predictably, America, seemingly determined to ensure the survival of every regional terror group, appeared upset at the successful attack on Hezbollah. David Lammy, our foreign secretary, is delivering speeches claiming climate change is a worse threat than terrorism; in a rational world, Lammy would be privately congratulating his Israeli counterparts for the most successful surgical operation ever conducted against a terrorist organisation, with few civilian casualties, and pledging Britain’s help.

Instead, Keir Starmer has turned against Israel, banning the sales of some weapons – a policy that Germany appears intent on following – and refusing to oppose lawsuits against the Jewish state, in an unforgivable moral inversion.

Labour has placed Britain on the side of those nihilists masquerading as human rights lawyers who negate the essential distinction between victims and aggressors, between rule-bound, democracies desperate to minimise civilian casualties, and bloodthirsty dictatorships for whom their people are pawns to be sacrificed.

Hezbollah is funded and controlled by the Iranian regime, an obscurantist, fascistic, millenarian tyranny that persecutes minorities, women and dissidents. Violating human rights and plotting war crimes is Hezbollah’s raison d’être: its 150,000 missiles point towards civilian centres and, like Hamas and Iran itself, it seeks Israel’s liquidation, guaranteeing the massacre, expulsion or subjugation of Jews. Hezbollah has forced some 63,473 Israelis to flee their homes since October 7. This is unsustainable and explains why a major Israeli response is looming; obscenely, this will trigger widespread condemnation of the Jewish state.

Western foreign policy is a mishmash of cowardice, delusion and contradictions. Iran is a threat to the world; its alliance with Russia is deepening. Turkey, led by the despot Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has threatened Israel with invasion, yet remains part of Nato. Qatar, which puts up senior Hamas terrorists in luxury hotels, is a major non-Nato ally of the US, home to a crucial Western military base and a major investor in London. Egypt, a recipient of US aid, has tolerated myriad tunnels to southern Gaza, refused to let in any Palestinians and, bizarrely, is not held responsible for supplying Gaza with provisions, that task falling to Israel. None of the three latter regimes face sanctions: global ire is reserved for Israel.

One reason Western elites have become so Israelophobic is that, infected by wokery, they increasingly loathe Europe’s and America’s history and traditions, and view the Jewish state as a standout example of a Western model they reject.

Winston Churchill would be convicted for crimes against humanity today, as would Franklin D Roosevelt and Harry Truman. D-Day would be ruled illegitimate because so many French civilians died during the Battle of Normandy.

Democracies might as well not bother with nuclear weapons, for detonating one, even in retaliation for an unprovoked attack, would be deemed a war crime. I’m in favour of much stricter rules than those governing World War II, of doing everything possible to protect civilians, but this is madness.

The Just War is a foundational principle. States have the right to defend themselves. Every civilian life lost as collateral damage is a tragedy, but pacifism is a deluded utopia that fails to grasp the reality of the human condition. It is madness to criminalise all warfare, and despicable to focus on that conducted by democracies and ignore that advanced by our enemies.

It is equally stupid to entrust so much power to legal activists. Much historic anti-Semitism has been ratified by kangaroo courts, including during the 1930s. The Trial of the Talmud took place in France in 1240, with rabbis forced to defend religious texts against trumped-up accusations of blasphemy and obscenity.

Other bigot-fests masquerading as ordinary trials include the Disputations of Barcelona and Tortosa, the Damascus Affair, the Dreyfus affair that prompted Emile Zola’s seminal J’accuse, and the trial of Mendel Beilis in Ukraine in 1913. It is a well-established model that hasn’t gone out of fashion in far-Left quarters. They no longer explicitly single out religious beliefs or individuals but leverage lawfare to delegitimise what just happens to be the only Jewish state.

The fact that the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice have the trappings of a legitimate legal setting does not mean they necessarily embody justice. The fact that their rulings are deemed legitimate by Left-wing elites doesn’t automatically make them such. The fact that today’s blood libels take on the language of “human rights” doesn’t make them less monstrous. The fact that it is possible for a country as unjustly governed as South Africa to lead a genocide case against Israel proves that the entire system is rotten. The case is backed by Iran, Brazil’s far-Left president, Ireland and Egypt: we must have been transported into an alternative, Kafkaesque universe.

Israel is the supreme embodiment of law-bound national, democratic sovereignty, of peoplehood, of matching a nation to a state, of post-imperialism, of capitalism and technology, and of the continued relevance of the monotheistic religions. If you tear down Israel, you destroy the very ideas that underpin the West, the international order implodes and the autocracies triumph.

The stakes are thus unbelievably high. We must support Israel, and allow it to finish the job of annihilating Hamas and defeating Hezbollah.

On Sept. 9, 2024, one of my favorite Bible prophecy teachers, Hal Lindsey, pointed out that God’s promise to give Abraham and his descendants all the Promised Land (see Ezek. 19:7-8) seemed implausible (unreal, unbelievable, unlikely) for many centuries.

Lindsey said,

With every century that the Jews remained dispersed around the world, the more implausible the promises seemed.
That is, they seemed implausible… until God started to miraculously fulfill those promises (by causing the dispersed Jews to start returning to the land).

Lindsey asked a rhetorical question:

How can today’s Israel be the renewed nation promised in prophecy?

Lindsey pointed out that the Bible answers this question.

>Israel would be brought back together and to the land. Then, at some point after being brought back, they would experience a national repentance.

>God said, “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God” (Lindsey quoted Ezek. 36:24-25, but I have quoted Ezek. 36:24-28).

Lindsey added, “We don’t know the timing, but the order is clear — return, and then be cleansed.”

Lindsey noted that God repeated this sequence in Ezek. 37 (return to the Promised Land from the heathen nations in unbelief first, repent and be saved later – Ezek. 36:24).

>“Prophesy upon these bones (Israel; see verse 11 below), and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

>So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones (Israel) came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

>Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

>So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army (Israel became a great army).

>Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts (verse 11).

>Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD” (Ezek. 37:4-14).

Lindsey pointed out that Israel is back in the Promised Land, that they have not gotten saved (received the breath of life) yet, but it is coming.

The next day (Sept. 10, 2024), another one of my favorite Bible prophecy teachers, Jonathan Brentner, wrote,

If I were to select one word that sums up most people today, it would be “unaware.”
Most believers pursue their aspirations with little or no understanding of the times in which they live.

Brentner turned to the Scriptures and something Jesus said about the signs of His coming (Note: Brentner quoted Matt. 24:37-39, but I have added Matt. 24:32-36).

>“Now learn a parable of the fig tree (Israel; Hos. 9:10); When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matt. 24:32-36).

>“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not (were unaware) until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:37-39).

Brentner said,

Because the people in Noah’s day didn’t believe his warnings about God’s impending judgment, it was as if they didn’t know about it until it started raining.

Brentner’s point is that most Christians are unaware (not paying attention to Bible prophecy and have little or no knowledge) of the significance of what is happening in Israel.

Just as people were oblivious to the coming flood in Noah’s day until it started to rain, many will be oblivious to the coming Tribulation Period in our day until the Rapture happens.

After almost 2,000 years of being off the Promised Land and scattered to other nations, the return of Israel was implausible, and most Christians (including their pastors) are unaware of the significance of Israel’s return.

Here are some articles that seem to indicate that the end of the age is near.

One, concerning the destruction of Damascus, Syria, in one night at the end of the age (Isa. 17): on Sept. 12, 2024, it was reported that elite Israeli forces helicoptered into Syria and attacked an underground, Iranian-backed Hezbollah facility that reportedly produced surface-to-air missiles and chemical weapons (poison gases).

Israeli troops entered the facility, captured 2 to 4 Iranians who were taken back to Israel for questioning, captured critical equipment and documents, planted explosives, blew up the building, and safely returned to Israel.

(More: On Sept. 15, 2024, it was reported that the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen are deploying forces to Syria in preparation for an attack on Israel.)

(More: According to a U.S. State Dept. Report on Sept. 16, 2024, the Biden administration sidestepped sanctions on Iran in 2023 and increased trade with Iran by 43%. Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons that will be a threat to many nations and is funding several dangerous terrorist groups that are trying to destroy Israel; refers to the U.S. as the Great Satan; and the Biden-Harris State Dept. has increased their income.)

Two, concerning all nations turning against Israel and the decline of America at the end of the age: on Sept. 13, 2024, legendary U.S. lawyer, Harvard Law professor, and author Alan Dershowitz said Kamala Harris won the presidential debate with former Pres. Trump and that Israel should prepare for the possibility of a Harris presidency.

Dershowitz added that Israel may receive less support from the U.S. than it has in the past, and Israel may have to become more self-reliant.

(My opinion: Israel must become more Jehovah-reliant.)

(More: On Sept. 12, 2024, it was reported that Canada is blocking $60 million of arms sales to Israel.)

Three, concerning Jerusalem being a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone for the world at the end of the age: on Sept. 13, 2024, it was reported that Yahya Sinwar said,

Hamas will stand firm against Israel and remain loyal to the blood of the martyrs.
Hamas will continue its resistance until the expulsion of the occupation (Israel) from our land and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Four, concerning an increase in wars and rumors of wars at the end of the age: on Sept. 12, 2024, Russia’s Pres. Vladimir Putin warned the West and NATO that they will be in a war with Russia if they provide Ukraine with missiles that are used against targets inside Russia.

(More: On Sept. 13, 2024, Russia’s ambassador to the U.N. formally notified the U.N. Security Council that if the US/UK Approved Western Weapons Strikes Deep into Russia – a “State of War” would exist. Ten minutes later, China’s Defense Minister announced that “China will militarily support Russia if NATO attacks Russia.”)

(More: On Sept. 16, 2024, Russia’s Pres. Putin issued a decree to increase the Russian military staffing level to a total of 2,389,130 personnel, including 1,500,000 military personnel. This is an increase of about 180,000 people and the third increase since Russia’s war with Ukraine started.)

(More: On Sept. 17, 2024, it was reported that the death toll in the 2 ½ year Russia-Ukraine war has now reached about one million people.)

Five, concerning wars and rumors of wars and the destruction of Lebanon at the end of the age: following Hezbollah’s barrage of about 40 rockets from Lebanon into Israel on Sept. 15, 2024, it was reported that Israel dropped leaflets on southern Lebanon that said:

Hezbollah is firing from your area; you must leave your homes immediately, move north of the town of Al-Khiam by 4:00 P.M., and do not return until the end of the war. Anyone found in this area after this hour will be considered a terrorist element.

Six, concerning a departure from the faith and a one-world religion at the end of the age: on Sept. 13, 2024, Pope Francis said every religion is a way to God.

The Bible says there is only one way (accepting Jesus as one’s Lord and Saviour.).

In 2019, Roman Catholic Bishop Athanasius Schneider accused the Vatican of betraying Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of mankind.

It appears to me that he is right.

Seven, concerning an increase in pestilence and deceit at the end of the age: on Sept. 13, 2024, it was reported that Florida’s Surgeon General advised those 65 and older with underlying health conditions to avoid taking mRNA vaccines because there is a lack of clinical trial data and the fact that the federal government is not requiring producers to demonstrate that the vaccines are effective.

Eight, concerning a worthless peace treaty in the Middle East and the division of Israel: on Sept. 13, 2024, Spain hosted a meeting with E.U. and Muslim nations on ways to implement the two-state solution in the Middle East.

Israel was not invited.

Nine, concerning Jerusalem being a cup of Trembling and a burdensome stone for the entire world at the end of the age: on Sept. 27, 2024, Israeli Prime Min. Netanyahu will address the U.N. General Assembly to try to stave off a vote to adopt several proposed anti-Israel resolutions.

Ten, concerning the possible corruption of the FBI and CIA, world government, and the effort to prevent the re-election of Trump at any cost: on Sept. 15, 2024, a long-time Democrat doner and known Trump hater who had a Biden-Harris sticker on his pick-up truck in Hawaii (Ryan Wesley Routh) is under investigation for possibly attempting to assassinate Trump in Florida.

How can Routh, who has been living in Hawaii with a girlfriend for several years, vote Democrat in N. Carolina if the elections are honest?
How can Routh, who doesn’t have a job, afford to travel to Ukraine, N. Carolina, Florida, etc.?
How can Routh legally buy a gun when court records show more than 100 criminal accounts have been filed against Routh in N. Carolina?
Why was Routh running around freely in the U.S. when he was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction in 2002?

On Sept. 16, 2024, Florida Gov. DeSantis announced that he will not rely on the U.S. government to investigate this incident.

DeSantis posted this on X: Florida will take charge of looking into the matter, stating that the American people deserve the truth.

(FYI: Some people are concerned that this may not be the last attempt on Trump’s life.)

On Sept. 16, 2024, Trump said, “I will never surrender.”

Here is my daily update on the Israel-Hamas war.

Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024 (Day 341) The two-hundred eighty-sixth day of the resumed war. Day 128 of the attack on Rafah.

Israel released a document found on Sinwar’s computer showing that one of his now-deceased commanders reported a heavy loss of troops and weapons.
About 100 rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon in one hour, and a little later, about 40 more were fired at Israel from Lebanon.
A retiring Israeli commander said defeating Hamas could take another year.

Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024 (Day 342) The two-hundred eighty-seventh day of the resumed war. Day 129 of the attack on Rafah.

Israel declared that it has defeated the Hamas military brigade in Rafah.

Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 (Day 343) The two-hundred eighty-eighth day of the resumed war. Day 130 of the attack on Rafah.

Netanyahu asked his cabinet to make returning the residents of northern Israel to their homes a goal of the war. He believes it will be a long and costly war.
A senior advisor to Pres. Biden will visit Israel on Monday to try to de-escalate the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hamas has stolen so much of the humanitarian aid that has been sent to Gaza that it is struggling to find warehouse space to store it.

Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 (Day 344) The two-hundred eighty-ninth day of the resumed war. Day 131 of the attack on Rafah.

This morning, Hezbollah fired 55 rockets, missiles, and drones at Israel from Israel.
If Israel gets in an all-out war with Hezbollah, Israel may ultimately have to try to wipe out Hezbollah in Lebanon as it has done to Hamas in Gaza.

Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024 (Day 345) The two-hundred ninetieth day of the resumed war. Day 132 of the attack on Rafah.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for launching a hypersonic missile at Tel Aviv (more than 1,200 miles away). The missile landed in an open area, but Israel said it will extract a heavy price for the attack.

Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (Day 346) The two-hundred ninety-first day of the resumed war. Day 133 of the attack on Rafah.

The number of U.S. officials who believe Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon will have to spread before there is a ceasefire is increasing.
Saudi Arabia said the Biden administration is not doing enough to halt the Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 (Day 347) The two-hundred ninety-second day of the resumed war. Day 134 of the attack on Rafah.

Hezbollah terrorists carry pagers that have lithium batteries that can smoke, melt, and catch fire if overheated. Today, 11 people were killed, and about 2,750 were injured (400 in critical condition; about 500 lost their eyesight) when pagers all over Lebanon suddenly exploded. Hezbollah blamed Israel and said they will retaliate. In Syria, 19 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp members were killed, and about 150 were injured. Russia and Jordan condemned the attack.
S. Sec. of State Blinken is back in Egypt to try to draft another ceasefire proposal and get all the hostages released.

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024 (Day 348) The two-hundred ninety-third day of the resumed war. Day 135 of the attack on Rafah.

There was a second wave of wireless communication devices (radios, walkie-talkies, cell phones, fingerprint devices, devices powered by solar energy and others) blowing up across Lebanon and especially in Beirut. At least 3 people were killed, and hundreds were injured.

FYI: God does not send anyone to Hell (all of us are born with a sin nature and destined to go to Hell because we sin), but God has provided a way (Jesus) for everyone to go to Heaven (and He is the only way to get there; John 14:6).

Finally, are you Rapture Ready?

If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

duck_daymond@yahoo.com

23 Sep 2024

Implausible and Unaware :: By Daymond Duck