NO. 547 THE MEMORIAL

       “When He seeth the blood the Lord will pass over the door and not suffer the destroyer to smite you.” (Exodus 12:23)

       The Passover of The First-Born:  A memorial of first rank with the Israelites is the Passover.  It celebrates one of the most momentous chapters in their history.  It stands at the beginning of their ecclesiastical year, as the Day of Atonement stands near the beginning of their civil year.  It is associated with their civil year.  It is associated with their national birth.  The Scriptures declare that God at that particular time had brought to the throne of Egypt a Pharaoh of indomitable will.  The Scriptures declare that whereas other persons might have been in line for the throne, God specially favored this man’s attaining it in order that through his natural stiff-neckedness and obstinacy Divine power might be manifested in one after another of the plagues which his course would make necessary and proper.  We read, “For this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show forth my power in thee.” (Ex. 9:16)  The ten plagues sent upon the Egyptians were manifestations of Divine Justice in opposition to their unjust treatment of God’s Chosen People.  The last of these ten stands related to our subject, The Passover.

       The edict sent forth was that all of the firstborn of the Egyptians should die, and that the firstborn of the Israelites should not die.  And the Chosen People residing in Egypt were directed to take special steps whereby to mark themselves as separate and distinct from the Egyptians.  They were to take for each family a lamb without blemish and bring it into the house on the tenth day the first month.  They were to cherish it and care for it until the fourteenth, and then slay it.  Its blood was to be sprinkled on the outside doorpost and lintels while its flesh was to be roasted in the fire without a bone of it being broken.  It was to be eaten in the night of the fourteenth with bitter herbs and with unleavened bread.  On the morrow, in the strength of the food, they were to march forth out of Egypt to go to the Land of Promise for an inheritance under the Covenant made with Abraham.

       The Destroying Angel Passed Over:  The results were as the Lord by the mouth of Moses had foretold.  The first-born of the Egyptians died in that night, but the firstborn of the Chosen People were passed over or spared.  This notable miracle was memorialized by Divine direction, and every year at the appropriate season a lamb was taken on the tenth day into each of the houses of the Israelites, one for each family or group.  All leaven was put away from their dwellings.  Everything representing corruption was burned, and unleavened bread alone was eaten with the lamb.  The annual celebration of the Passover was for eight days, the first and eight day being high days, or to be especially commemorated.  The Passover is not only the oldest Jewish institution, but also the most joyous festival of the Chosen People.  It celebrates one of the earliest manifestations of Divine favor toward them, and reminds them of the prophecies which declare that at some future time God will manifest Himself in their favor still more markedly; as it is written, “It shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel from the land of the North, and from all the lands whither he had driven them.” (Jer. 16:14,15)  Again, “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my Covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 31:31,32)  The intimation here again is that this deliverance from Egypt at the Passover time, the most notable event in the past history of the Chosen People, will be cast entirely into the shade when the due time shall come for establishing with Israel the New Covenant - old in respect to Law and the Divine requirements, but new in the sense that it will be based upon better sacrifices and have a better Mediator, able to do for Israel exceedingly better things than Moses, the Mediator of the Sinai Covenant  was able to accomplish - noble as he was in his every endeavor to serve the people as their Mediator.  It is of the better Mediator and better Covenant which He would accomplish for them that Moses spoke, saying, “A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me [but greater - antitypical of me]; him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever he shall say unto you.  And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people (Acts 3:22,23; Deut. 18:15).

       The Meaning and Interpretation:  For thirty five centuries God’s Chosen People, obedient to the Divine Direction, have celebrated the memorial “Passover,” seeing merely its outward significance and not for a moment realizing the true significance of the grand fact which they celebrated - that it typified a grand feature of the Divine Program of great value to them and to all mankind.  The lamb they slew typified “the Lamb of God,” Jesus, whose death constitutes the Ransom Price for the sins of the whole world.  His death was necessary before the promise to Abraham and through him to the Chosen People could possibly have fulfillment.  A redemption from sin, to be everlastingly efficacious, must be based upon a better sacrifice than the literal lamb repeated annually.  It was not only necessary that Jesus become a man in order to give His life a sacrifice for mankind (Adam and his race), but it was necessary, additionally, that having finished the sacrificing work He should ascend up on High to Jehovah’s right hand, to be the Spiritual Messiah, who in due time will accomplish for the Chosen People all the gracious promises made to them in the Covenant with Abraham, in which they trust, and in harmony with which they will be used of the Lord in conveying His blessings to all nations, peoples and tongues.  A sin condemnation was on the world - “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23)  Man’s penalty must be met before this condemnation of death could be fully and forever set aside - before man could be entirely and forever lifted out of death conditions back to eternal life and into harmony with his Creator.

       In harmony with Divine arrangement, Jesus first offered himself to Israel as their King.  But Israel saw not how He could be their Messiah, because He had neither wealth nor armies nor influential friends; they disdained Him as a deceiver.  When He declared Himself the Son of God and their Deliverer, they thought Him an impostor and blasphemer, and worthy of death.  After sentencing Him in their own Sanhedrin Court, not having the authority to execute Him themselves, they charged Him with the only crime which the Roman Governor would hear - treason to the Roman Emperor.  By threatening Pilate that they would associate him with Jesus in treason, they finally effected the crucifixion of the antitypical Passover Lamb.  He was stretched upon the cross much after the manner in which they impaled their Passover lamb for its roasting.

       “On The Tenth Day of The First Month”:  Additionally, let us note the fact that just at the appropriate time, namely the tenth day of the first month, when the Chosen People were taking up their lambs for the Passover, Jesus presented Himself as the Lamb of God, and was rejected.  His presentation was on the exact day and in exactly the manner prescribed by the Prophet Zechariah, “Behold thy King cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass…He shall speak peace unto the heathen; and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the earth.” (Zech. 9:9,10)  This was fulfilled to the very letter, as we have already seen.  It was fulfilled as the Prophet foretold, on the very day that Israel’s “double” of experiences began.  The Chosen People were blinded with self-satisfaction and repudiated the lowly King and refused to accept Him as their Lamb and receive Him into their hearts and homes.  Nevertheless, He proceeded to fulfill this wonderful type.  As the antitypical Passover Lamb, He died on the fourteenth day, exactly in accord with the type.

       The Antitypical Passover Lamb:  The Israelites were commanded to celebrate this Passover as the first feature of the Jewish law and as one of their greatest memorials as a nation.  As a matter of fact, we find that in some degree the Passover is celebrated by Jews in all parts of the world - even by those who claim to be agnostics and infidels.  They have a measure of respect for it as an ancient custom.  But is it not strange that, with the bright minds which many of them possess, our Jewish friends have never thought it worthwhile to inquire into the meaning of this celebration?  Why was the lamb slain and eaten?  Why was its blood sprinkled upon the doorposts and lintels?  Because God so commanded, of course, but what reason, motive, object or lesson was there behind the Divine command?  Truly a reasonable God gives reasonable commands, and in due time will be willing that His faithful people should understand the significance of every requirement.  Why are the Hebrews indifferent to this subject?  Why does prejudice hold their minds?

       Although Christianity has the answer to this question we regret that the majority of Christians, because of carelessness, are unable to give a reason and ground for any hope in connection with this matter.  If the Jew can realize that his Sabbath day is a type or foreshadowing of a coming Epoch of rest and blessing and release from toil, sorrow and death, why can he not see that similarly all the features of the Mosaic law institution were designed by the Lord to be foreshadowings of various blessings, to be bestowed in due time?  Why can it not be discerned by all that the Passover lamb typified, represented, the Lamb of God, that its death represented the death of Jesus, the Messiah; and that the sprinkling of its blood symbolizes, represents, the imputation of the merit of the death of Jesus to the entire household of faith, the passed-over class?

       Blessed are those whose eyes of faith see that Jesus was indeed “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) - that the cancellation of the world’s sin is effected by the payment of Adam’s penalty - that as the whole world lost the favor of God and came under the Divine sentence of death, with its concomitants of sorrow and pain, it was necessary before the sentence could be removed that a satisfaction of justice should be made; and that therefore, as the Apostle declares, Christ died for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us back to God.  Thus He opened up “a new and living way” - a way to life everlasting.

       Let us notice also that there were two Passovers.  There was a great one, when the whole nation by Divine Power was miraculously delivered by the Lord and led by a sandbar across the channel of the Red Sea especially prepared for them by the accentuation of winds and tides.  That picture, or type, shows the ultimate deliverance from the power of sin and Satan of every creature who will ultimately come into accord with the Lord and desire to render Him worship - not an Israelite was left behind.

       But that Passover at the Red Sea is not the one we are discussing particularly on this occasion - not the one whose antitype we are about to celebrate.  No; the event which we celebrate is the antitype of passing over, or sparing of the firstborn of Israel.  Only the firstborn were endangered, though the deliverance of all depended upon the salvation of the firstborn.  Applying this in harmony with all the Scriptures, we see that the firstfruits unto God of His creatures, the Church of the firstborn, have been spared during the Gospel Age - being passed over.  We see that the remainder of mankind who may desire to enlist and to follow the great antitypical Moses when He shall ultimately lead the people forth from the bondage of sin and death are not now endangered - merely the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.

       By and by the night will have passed, the glorious morn of deliverance will have come, and The Christ, the antitypical Moses, Head and Body, will lead forth, will deliver all Israel - all the people of God - all who when they shall know will be glad to reverence, honor and obey the will of God.  That day of deliverance will be the entire Millennial Age, at the close of which all evil and evil-doers, symbolized by the hosts of Egypt will be utterly cut off in the Second Death.

       “As Oft As Ye Do This”:  The Apostle clearly and positively identifies the Passover Lamb with our Lord Jesus, saying, “Christ our Passover is slain for us: therefore let us keep the feast.” (1 Cor. 5:7,8)  He informs us that we all need “the blood of sprinkling,” not upon our houses, but upon our hearts. (Heb. 12:24; 1 Peter 1:2)  We are also to eat the unleavened (unfermented, pure) bread of truth, if we would be strong and prepared for the deliverance in the morning of the new dispensation.  We also must eat the Lamb, must appropriate Christ, His merit, the value that was in Him, to ourselves.  Thus we put on Christ not merely by faith, but more and more to the extent of our ability we put on His character, and are transformed day by day into His glorious image in our hearts.

       Our Lord Jesus also fully identified Himself with the Passover Lamb.  On the same night that He was betrayed, and just preceding His crucifixion, He gathered His disciples into the upper room, saying, “With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15)  It was necessary that as Jews that they should celebrate the Passover supper on that night - the saving of the typical firstborn from the typical “prince of this world.”  But as soon as the requirements of the type had been fulfilled, our Lord instituted a new Memorial upon the old foundation, saying, “As often as ye do this [celebrate the Memorial of the Passover season - annually] do it in remembrance of me”! (1 Cor. 11:24,25)  Your Jewish neighbors, whose eyes of understanding have not been opened will not appreciate the matter in its true antitypical sense, but you who recognize Me as the Lamb of God, who in God’s purpose has been slain from the foundation of the world, who recognize that I am about to give my life as the world’s redemption price, will note this Passover season with peculiar and sacred significance that other cannot appreciate.  Henceforth you will not celebrate any longer the type, but memorialize the antitype, for I am about to die as the Lamb of God, and thus to provide the blood of sprinkling for the Church of firstborn, and meat indeed for the entire household of faith.

       “This Is My Body Broken For You”:  That the Lord’s followers should no longer gather as the Jews had done previously to eat the literal Passover supper of lamb, in commemoration of the deliverance in Egypt our Lord shows by choosing new emblems - “unleavened bread” and “the fruit of the vine” - to represent Him as the Lamb.  Thenceforth His followers, in accord with His injunction, celebrated every year His death as their Passover Lamb, until after the Apostles had fallen asleep in death, and a great falling away had confused the faith of nominal Christendom, producing the epoch known as the Dark Ages.  Even during the Dark Ages the teaching that Christ was the antitypical Passover Lamb persisted, though the celebration of His death in the Passover Supper that Jesus instituted fell into disuse.  It was crowded out by that most terrible blasphemy which has deceived and confused so many millions of Christendom, the Mass, introduced by Roman Catholicism.  This in the Scriptures is called “the abomination of desolation,” because of the disastrous influence it has had upon the faith and practice of the Lord’s people.  Although Protestants in general have repudiated the Mass, as being wholly contrary to the teaching of Christ and the Apostles, nevertheless the practice of Protestants are largely influenced yet by the terrible error, from which they have only partially escaped.

       The Mass Is Not The Eucharist:  Many Protestants will innocently ask, Is not the Mass merely the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, under another name?  Oh, no: we answer - its wholly different!  The Lord’s Supper celebrates the death of Christ accomplished at Calvary.  The Mass represents a new sacrifice for sins made every time the Mass is performed.  Our Roman Catholic friends believe that when the priest blesses the wafer it becomes the actual body of Christ in his hands, for the very purpose of sacrificing Him afresh.  High Mass is a particular sacrifice of Christ for a particular sin of a particular individual.  Low Mass is a sacrifice of Christ for the general sins of a congregation.  Roman Catholics claim to believe in the merit of Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary - that it covered the original sin, general sins that are past; but they claim also that daily sins, shortcomings, blemishes of every individual require to be cleansed by fresh sacrifices of Christ from time to time.  Thus, from their standpoint, as represented in the Mass, and as practiced by the Roman and Greek Catholics, and High Church Episcopalians, Christ is being sacrificed afresh all the world over every day.  This in the Scriptures is called an “abomination” in God’s sight, because it disregards, sets at naught, the fact as stated in the Bible that Christ dieth no more, “that by one sacrifice he hath perfected forever all who come unto the Father through him.” (Rom. 6:9; Heb. 10:14)

       It will be readily seen that the repeated sacrifices represented in the Mass would have the effect of nullifying or minimizing the value of the great Sacrifice at Calvary, represented in the Passover and in the Memorial Supper.  How could those who had come to look especially to the Mass for the cancellation of their sins be expected to look with as deep concern and as high an appreciation as otherwise back to the antitypical Passover?  While, therefore, the celebration of Good Friday has continued, the celebration of the Memorial Supper preceding it fell into disuse long ago.

       As for Protestants, repudiating the dogma of the Mass as wholly unscriptural, they have abandoned it and returned to a celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  Meantime, however, accustomed to the frequency of the Mass, they have considered it merely a matter of expedience how often the Lord’s Supper should be celebrated.  Hence we find some celebrating it every four months, some every three months, some every month, and some every Sunday.  This general laxity and failure to reach a common ground of conformity is due to two things: (1) Christian people generally have overlooked the fact that our Lord’s death was the antitypical Passover Lamb, and that its celebration is the antitypical Passover; (2) They have misunderstood our Lord’s words, “as oft as ye do this,” to mean, Do this as often as you please, whereas the words really signify, As often as you, my disciples (all of whom are Jews and accustomed to keeping the Passover), celebrated this occasion, do it in remembrance of Me - not in remembrance of the literal lamb and typical deliverance from typical Egypt and its bondage through the passing over of the typical firstborn.

       It would be a great blessing, doubtless, to many Christians if they could see this subject in its true light, could lay more weight upon the value of the death of Christ, and join more heartily in its celebration - on its anniversary, instead of at various other times and seasons, irregularly and without  special significance.  We believe that such a celebration brings special blessings to both heart and head.  The nearer we come to the Divine requirements the greater is the measure of our blessing, the more closely are we drawn to our Master and Head.

       The Cup Of Joy In The Kingdom:  On the occasion of the institution of the Memorial of His death, the Master in His conversation with Apostles, said: “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matt. 26:29)  Our Lord was here contrasting two great days - the day of suffering and the day of glory.  The Gospel Age has been the day of suffering.  The Millennial Age will be the day of glory and is especially spoken of as “the day of Christ.”

       The fruit of the vine, the literal cup represents two thoughts.  The cup of wine is produced at the cost of the life of the grape.  The grape loses its own individuality.  The juice is pressed out, and thus the fruit of the vine is made ready for use.  The cup of wine - the juice of the grape - represents, however, not only the crushing of the grape, but also the exhilaration that comes as the result.  So it is in drinking of this literal cup.  To us it symbolizes our Savior’s sufferings and death.  But wine also represents joy, gladness, and is thus used in the Scriptures.  So in the sense in which the Lord used the words “fruit of the vine” in the text just quoted, it represented the joys of the Kingdom.

       The Father marked out for our Lord Jesus in His earthly experience a certain specific course.  This course constituted His cup of suffering and death.  But the Father promised Him that after He had drunk the cup faithfully, He should be given a different cup, a different experience - glory, honor, and immortality.

       At this Memorial season all of the consecrated should manifest their love, loyalty, obedience, faithfulness, by symbolizing the Redeemer’s death.

       As always, we suggest reading of the chapter on the Passover in Volume Six of the Scripture Studies.  The proper date of the Memorial this year is the 14th day of April after 6 p.m.  We here at 2501 Morningside Drive, Mount Dora, Florida invite all in the vicinity who are of this mind to join us at 7 p.m. on that date.

       “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.” (Heb. 13:20,21)

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       “BISHOP ACCUSED OF VIOLATING CHURCH TEACHING:  CHICAGO - A group of United Methodist clergy and lay people have accused Chicago Bishop Joseph Sprague of violating church teaching on salvation and the virgin birth of Jesus.

       “The complaint, filed January 7 with Bishop Bruce Ough, head of the College of Bishops for the North Central Jurisdiction, starts a complex church discipline process that carries a range of punishments and could force Sprague from ministry. Sprague declined to comment, saying the complaint process is supposed to be confidential.

       “The Rev. Thomas Lambrecht of Greenville, Wis., spokesman for the 28 people who signed the complaint, said Sprague denied the virgin birth of Jesus and rejected church teaching that Christ is the only way to salvation.  The statements allegedly came in a speech last year and in his writings.

       “The group says Sprague’s comments violated the Methodist’s Book of Discipline prohibition against disseminating teaching contrary to church doctrine.”

(The Associated Press, January 18, 2003)

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QUESTION OF GENERAL INTEREST

God’s Supervision of the Nations

       “The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” (Dan. 4:17)

       “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God.  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.” (Rom. 13:1,2)

QUESTION:  Should we understand from the above Scriptures that God guides the affairs of nations, and chooses their rulers?

ANSWER:      These Scriptures are in harmony with other statements of Scripture.  In the case of Nebuchadnezzar, for instance, after he had been seven years insane, lying amongst the beasts of the field, his reason returned to him and he extolled the God of heaven, acknowledging that God setteth up those whom he will and putteth down those whom he will.  We understand that God’s dealing with King Nebuchadnezzar was prophetic.

       In the case of Israel God had very particular oversight of their affairs, and dealt with their rulers.  David was anointed when he was a youth, to be king in due time instead of Saul.  So with several others of their kings the Lord had them anointed in advance.  It might be said of Israel, that whoever sat upon the throne was there as the Lord’s representative.  We remember also that on one occasion the Prophet of God was sent to anoint one of the kings of Syria and to give him a prophecy respecting himself, that he should take the throne.

       Looking back, we see that in the case of Pharaoh, the perverse king of Egypt, God declared, “For this very purpose I raised thee up, that I might show forth my power in thee.”  God did not approve of Pharaoh, but used him to show forth His own glory.  God also used King Cyrus of Persia as a servant to perform His bidding.

God’s Supervision of Current Events

       All of these recorded instances show a vital interest on God’s part as to who shall come forward and who shall be retarded when matters would affect His own plan.  We are not to understand that these different kings [rulers] represented God’s choice as respects their loyalty to Him, but that these were the ones through whom the Divine Plan in operation could be signally manifested and outworked.  And so it is today.  The Lord knew which of the men running for the office of President of the United States would be the most suitable - the one who would most fully cooperate in the carrying out of the very conditions which He is pleased to permit to come to pass.

       The Lord guides in the affairs of nations now, only in so far as such oversight will promote the fulfillment of His own purposes.  When the monarchs of various countries declare themselves “King by the grace of God,” we do not agree to the thought they have in mind in making such claim.  They are expressing the thought which has prevailed throughout Christendom for centuries - that they reign as representatives of the Kingdom of God, and by His special favor.  And like-wise the Catholic church: When the pope claims that he is the head of the church of Christ, claims that he is Christ’s Vicegerent, he thus claims that Christ has set up His Kingdom, and that the pope reigns in His stead.

Overrule To Outworking of God’s Plan

       After the Papal power waned in Europe, and the Protestants came into power, the Protestant rulers claimed the same right that the Catholics had claimed - to rule as the Lord’s special representatives.  And it is from this standpoint that kings [rulers] maintain that they reign “by the grace of God,” that the Kingdom of God is set up, and that they are reigning in God’s kingdoms.  We do not understand this to be the right thought, but that in God’s providence He permits these to occupy the thrones of the world for the time being.  We understand that God does exercise a supervisory oversight in respect to them - not that He has authorized them to represent Him, or that He is responsible for their deeds and acts, but that He is so controlling matters as to cause them to outwork His own arrangements.

       God will not convert a king [ruler] in order to do this; He will not make him a saint.  But He can allow or hinder events without interfering with the free will of any individual, and without becoming responsible for his government.

       We may assume that this supervision of Divine Power is for the ultimate interest of mankind.  We remember that there is a prince of darkness, who is seeking to do violence to humanity.  Our thought is that the Divine Power hinders or restrains, so that the worst things cannot come to pass until His due time, and He overrules to bring those into power who will have the disposition to do what He purposes to permit when His due time has arrived.  However, since the Lord does not explain to us just how He does this, it would be wise for us not to be too emphatic in our statements.

(By Pastor Russell, Reprint 5466,5467, May 15, 1914) 

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LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Emily and All,

       We do want to send our warm greetings to you from Galilee once again.  Hope this finds you feeling better, Emily.  How wonderfully we have been created, and only with problems in our bodies do we realize how much all works together without our thinking about it, commanding it to happen, and even without a computer programming it.  Even the small member of our body the eye has so many facets that just do their task daily for years.  So we do pray that you are doing better in all ways, Emily!

       Since we last wrote our dear Sister Eva Merrill left us all having enriched all the lives she touched.  We know she is missed in Arizona so much, but she was so faithful and loving to us with her letters, prayers and love.  I am sure you also miss her encouragement as well.

       Well we are rejoicing here in Israel with the first rains last week after a long, hot and very dry summer.  Those first rains are always so special as they wash off the dust, and the air has such a wonderful smell!  We hear you also are in need of rains there in Florida, as is so many areas of the U.S.A.  What a strange weather year it has been with droughts in the U.S. as some parts of Europe were drowning in floods.  We do pray for another rainy winter here to again help our water shortage.

       They have said for sometime that the next war in this area will be over water!  So the makings for such are now set-up on the northern border of Israel as the Lebanese (urged on by the Hisbullah) have started pumping water from one of the sources for the water of the Sea of Galilee.  They know Israel has trouble reacting just now as the U.S. does not want a third front to emerge along with the Palestinian problem and the Iraq problem.  Hisbullah is pushing, pushing Israel like a big bully just wanting to pick a fight.  How long can Israel not react to this provocation in the north?  Water is too precious in this area to lose it.

       Then we have the Arafat comedy of trying to look “democratic” with his new council lined with pro-Iraq and other terrorists now “in suits and ties” for the world media to applaud.  If it was not so tragic it would be laughable.  Sadly most of the world, especially Europe, swallow it all and tip their hats to Arafat “pulling another rabbit out of his hat” or Kaffia in his case.

       The bombings are still a daily threat and the last one was on the bus that would take us from Tiberias to TelAviv.  This has been about the sixth bombing on this bus line which also goes through an Arab area (just south of where Emek ha Shalom was).  So we try to avoid this direct bus route, but that means a longer way if we need to go to TelAviv.  It is easier not to travel much these days.      We did make the effort over Succoth to go to Jerusalem for the gathering there by the Christian Embassy of Christians from many different nations to support Israel and bring comfort in these difficult days.  Some 3,000 came, and also participated in the Jerusalem March despite the threat of a terrorist attack.  The security was very tight this year, and thankfully there were no attacks.  So these Christian tourists were about the only ones in the last months (some also came to stay in our Bed/Breakfast rooms as well), and now the hotels stand sadly empty again.

       The economic situation for the average Israeli is getting harder and harder.  If the husband or wife or both are not out of work, the shekels they get each month buy less and less.  You can watch the prices rise almost weekly of food, clothing, etc.  Now there are strikes, but where will the money come from as the government has a heavy load of expenses brought on by this two year intifata that the poor Palestinian people are losing more from than we.  It does mean that people see the “Peace Process,” the “Oslo Accords,” this plan or that one are not the answer.  We pray they cry out to their only source of help - their God!

       Now we have all dusted off our gas masks again awaiting what the next moves of the U.S. and England will be against Iraq.  There is not fear here about it all, but an expectation that Israel will not have a picnic if this all goes forward.  There is no “war front” for Israel these days, as we all feel we are on the frontlines of the madness of terror.

       It seems other parts of the world are getting a taste of that terror spawned by Islam.  Australians see even a vacation in Bali is not safe, and Russians see an evening at the theatre can mean life or death due to terror.  So Israel knows too well and lives with day by day.

       So a time to keep our eyes above to see there is a hope and a plan that transcends all this crazy madness!  How do those without that hope and without God manage to keep going?

       Keep Israel in your prayers as we have new elections.  Please take care and give love to all.

Love, Lev and Hava Bausch           (ISRAEL)    

NO. 546b RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART TWO

JEWS

“SHARON TO CHRISTIANS: THIS LAND WAS PROMISED ONLY TO THE JEWS, POPE TOLD ME:  Cheering wildly, some 2,500 Christians gave ovation after ovation to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Sunday night as he told them that Israel would never compromise on the security of the Jewish people or Israel’s existence.

“‘Sometimes I get letters from some of you, blaming me for being too moderate.  Because we want peace, we are ready to make painful compromises, but we will never make any compromise when it comes to the security of our citizens or the security of the State of Israel,’ Sharon told the participants in the annual Feast of Tabernacles Celebration organized by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.

“Sharon, preceded by figures in tallitot blowing shofarot, dancers waving banners, and an orchestra belting out Israeli songs, was welcomed by excited visitors waving flags of a dozen countries.  As he entered, the Brazilian delegation, several dozen strong, began chanting, ‘Isra, Is-ra-el,’ as at a soccer match.

“With a reception perhaps unprecedented since that accorded by Christian supporters of Israel to the late Menachem Begin, Sharon elicited a pious response when he noted that the names of places in Israel had remained unchanged for 3,000 years.

“‘Jerusalem is Yerushalayim, Bethlehem is Beit Lehem, Hebron is Hevron, Shilo is Shilo,’ he said, as members of the audience murmured ‘Amen’ after every phrase.

“Sharon even received a positive response when he told the largely Evangelical crowd of visiting Pope John Paul II prior to his visit here in 2000.  Sharon said that the pope told him that Jerusalem was holy to Jews, Christians, and Moslems.  Then Sharon related, the pontiff added, ‘But it was promised only to the Jews.’

“The mood was exemplified by Bonnie Dadidakis of Houston, Texas, who said that she had come to the event together with a group organized by Texas Republican Women.

“‘I honor and admire Israel and their contribution to the whole world.  It is in my heart,’ she said.  Most Americans are complacent about Israel, but it is up to her and those like her to show the other Americans what is happening, she said.” (Jerusalem Post, September 22, 2002)                    

“HATE SPATE:  British police are investigating a spate of leaflets calling for an ‘anti-Jewish war’ that were distributed in North London.

“The leaflets were put under doors and on car windshields in the heavily Jewish neighborhoods of Stamford Hill, Tottenham, and Hendon.” (World Jewry, October 2002)

“CANADIAN SHAME:  The Canadian Jewish Congress leadership has written a letter to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, expressing disappointment at the government’s public silence in the face of a pro-Palestinian riot which occurred at Montreal’s Concordia University and prevented former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking.

“The letter blamed the government for the riot, which the country’s Jewish community sees as the inevitable result of the failure to publicly and forcefully denounce anti-Semitism.”

(World Jewry, October 2002)

“CNN FACES BLACKOUT:  The council for Cable and Satellite TV last week discussed a request by the multi-channel broadcasters to remove CNN from their subscriber packages.

“The cable and satellite companies last month said the CNN’s anti-Israel news coverage warranted it being blacked out locally and replaced by the Fox News.

“Eason Jordan, CNN’s chief news executive and news gathering president then visited Israel to try and smooth things out.

“However, the cables have since submitted a formal request to the council to have CNN removed from their line-up.

“The source said the council would begin discussing the issue either today or next week.”

(The Jerusalem Post, August 9, 2002)

“PALESTINIANS MOVE ASSETS TO JORDAN:  AMMAN - Palestinians are quietly moving their financial assets out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to Jordan.  Banking sources in Amman said the trend began in 2001 and accelerated over the past six months and reflects growing concern over their future amid the war with Israel.  The sources said most of the transfers involved the removal of assets from Jordanian banks that operate in the West Bank.  These assets were transferred into Amman branches of the same banks.  Overall, the sources said, Palestinians are believed to have transferred at least U.S. $20 million in funds during the first four months of 2002.  The sources said that much of the funds were deposited into Jordanian dinar rather than U.S. dollar accounts.”  (Middle East News Line, October 2, 2002)

“Students and professors at institutions like the University of California, Harvard, MIT and Princeton are backing the Palestinian cause by campaigning to get U.S. universities out of stocks that do business in Israel.  The petitions on U.S. campuses call for divestment to pressure Israel to withdraw from territory captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war; return to peace talks; stop building settlements; and treat the Palestinians better.”  (Reuters, August 19, 2002)

“THE ORIGINAL 9/11:  Tisha B’Av. it so happens, is the ninth day of the 11th month on the Hebrew calendar, which means it is the original 9/11, the Jewish people’s day of infamy.  On our ‘9/11’ both Temples were burned, 1.1 million Jews were murdered by the Romans, 100,000 sold into slavery or fed to the lions, and the terrible Exile from which we have yet to fully return began.”  (Bridges for Peace, September 2002)

Comment:  What other nation, or people could survive this kind of trouble, except the Jews, whom the Lord has helped?

“INN-TOLERABLE DISCRIMINATION:  ‘You people don’t belong here,’ these words were said to a Jewish couple and their 3 children when they were forcibly expelled from the Catskill Days Inn Motel.  They pleaded, explaining it was Shabbos and as observant Jews they could not pack their luggage, drive or transact business.  They were ejected into the heat without food or water under the watchful eye of State Troopers.  The family camped on the lawn of a park for seven hours until the Sabbath ended.

“Another incident, in the same Motel, was an Orthodox mother and her two children being stranded in the Days Inn because of arriving late to Albany, and driving on to her destination, made it only to the Inn before sundown.  This was the first night of Pesach (Passover), and without regard for her safety or her children, the Inn called Troopers who then told the woman with children to trek, in the dead of night, to Friar Tuck Inn.  ‘Where there are lots of Orthodox Jews like you.’

“Days Inn has informed the Motel they are in violation of their franchise.”

(Bridges For Peace, September 2002)

“ARAFAT CARES:  P.A.’s Chairman Arafat deposits over $5 Million from Arab Aid funds into his personal account, according to a report in Kuwaiti Newspaper Al-Watan, which says documents from private sources in Cairo report that this is a theft of Arab Aid funds through an arrangement between Arafat and his Cairo office head, Ramzi Khouri.  The money was used for upkeep of Arafat’s wife Suha and daughter who live in Paris and Switzerland.”

(Bridges For Peace, August 2002)

“ARAFAT SAYS ENTIRE JERUSALEM WILL BE PALESTINIAN CAPITAL:  On October 5 PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed into PA law a resolution proclaiming the entire city of Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state.  PA parliament chief Abu Ala said that the move comes in response to the recent U.S. Congressional resolution calling on the U.S. State Department to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“During Israeli-Arab negotiations over the past several years, Palestinian Authority officials have called for the establishment of a Palestinian state with only ‘East Jerusalem’ as a capital.  It is now felt that Arafat has revealed his true intentions.”  (Bridges For Peace, October 1, 2002)

“ISRAEL:  PAPERS ARE ARAFAT’S ‘SMOKING GUN’:  JERUSALEM - Israel released documents Thursday that it said were seized from Yasser Arafat’s headquarters, showing that he personally authorized payments to gunmen he had promised the United States he would arrest.

“Israeli officials cited a memo and a two-page fax among truckloads of papers taken from Arafat’s besieged headquarters as proof that Arafat supported terrorism by signing off on payments to gunmen responsible for the deaths of Israeli civilians.

“’This is the smoking gun,’ said Col. Miri Eisin, of the army’s intelligence branch.  ‘The people being paid here aren’t Palestinian policeman or employees.  They are highly wanted terrorists.’

“Palestinian officials asserted the documents were fake.  ‘They are obvious forgeries,’ said Saeb Erakat, the Palestinian Authority’s chief peace negotiator.  ‘They are produced to distract from the atrocities that are happening on the ground.’

“Israel said it was willing to turn over the documents to American experts for authentication.”  (Jerusalem Dispatch, April 5, 2002)

“EUROPEAN INQUIRY INTO PALESTINIAN AID:  A group of European lawmakers called for an investigation into how European Union aid to the Palestinian Authority has been spent.  The European Commission allocates 10 million dollars per month to help pay the salaries of PA employees.  Suspicions that aid has been used to fund terrorism have been voiced.  An accusation from Israel that EU donations have been used to fund terror attacks against them has played a part in the demand for inquiry.

“Opposition to the inquiry exists from the executive European Commission.  Chris Patton, EU Commissioner for External Affairs said, ‘An inquiry would make it enormously difficult to continue providing aid.’  Patton’s argument is that it would undermine moderates in the PA and end any hopes for halting the cycle of violence.

“Under the rules of the 626-member assembly, a petition needs 150 signatures to launch a probe into the use of funds.  Charles Tannoch, a British conservative Member of European Parliament said, ‘We are demanding a full parliamentary committee of inquiry that can look into allegations of misuse of funds in great depth.  It is unknown how large the group of MPs is that called for the inquiry, but with only 150 signatures needed, it is likely that the probe will go forward.’”  (Condensed from a Reuters news release Brussels)

“MUSLIM PREACHERS ENCOURAGE HATRED AND VIOLENCE:  YEMEN - The official television station of the Republic of Yemen, Sanaa Republic of Yemen Television in Arabic, carried a 42-minute live sermon from the Grand Mosque in Sanaa on November 15, 2002.  Shaykh Abd-al-Razzaq al-Ruqayhi delivered the sermon which concluded by saying, ‘O Allah, support those supporting Islam, disappoint those disappointing Islam, and guide the steps of Muhammad’s nation.  O Allah, support the mujahidin in Palestine, Chechnya, and elsewhere and help them score the steps of Muhammad’s nation.  O Allah, help them score a clear, quick victory.  O Allah, destroy the aggressive Jews and the unjust Americans.  O Allah, shake the ground under them, instill fear into their hearts and freeze the blood in their veins.’”

(FBIS.US Government service, November 15, 2002)

“15 SUICIDE ATTACKS PREVENTED IN ISRAELI TERRITORY:  The Israeli Defense Minister disclosed that during the past week the security forces prevented 15 attacks that were intended against Israeli citizens and, in addition, arrested over 400 terrorist activists.  ‘The IDF and security forces are making immense efforts to prevent terrorism.  Over the past two weeks we are witnessing increase in terrorists attempts against Israeli citizens.  The assessment is that these increasing waves of terror are aimed at interfering with the democratic process in the State of Israel.  Terrorism will not succeed in any way in defeating the citizens of Israel.  Their strong stand over the past two years against murderous terrorism is witness to national vitality and powerful resistance so that if anybody doubted Israel’s ability to face up to child murderers, that doubt has been removed.’

“Mofaz sent his condolences to the families whose loved ones had been murdered and wished swift recovery to the wounded.  ‘We shall overcome these difficult times and we will prevail.’”

(IDF Spokesperson, November 29, 2002, Reported by Bridges For Peace, December 6, 2002)

“PEACE PLAN FACES DELAY AS MANY PALESTINIANS GROW TIRED OF UPRISING:  JERUSALEM - A U.S.-backed plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict won’t be ready by its December 20 target date and may be delayed until after the Israeli elections a month later, a Palestinian official said Friday.

“Separately, another influential Palestinian joined Friday in criticizing the Palestinian uprising that has left 1,954 Palestinians and 683 Israelis dead in 26 months of fighting.

“The delayed release of the so-called ‘road map’ to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, most likely until after the January 28 elections, would mean a further delay in reaching a truce in the uprising, which has come under increasing criticism by Palestinian officials and citizens.

“The United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations have jointly been trying to finalize a plan for a negotiated settlement.

“The plan, which was to be presented on December 20, calls for a three-phase, three-year program that would result in a Palestinian state living in peace beside Israel.

“But Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath, after a meeting with U.S. officials in Washington, said the Americans told him release of the plan would likely be delayed.

“They prefer to wait until after the Israeli elections, where there will be an Israeli government ready to work with this plan’, Shaath said.

“The delayed release of the plan comes amid signs that many Palestinians are growing increasingly weary of the uprising, or intefadeh.

“‘The intefadeh sent a very important message to all the world that there is occupation on the ground,’ Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia said.  ‘Now we have to evaluate the situation… Why the intefadeh has been transformed into a military act - is it useful or not?’

“He said negotiations were a peaceful way of achieving what Palestinians wanted.  ‘Intefadeh - popular [unarmed] intefadeh - is another way, not military,’ he said.

“A poll published Thursday found that a majority of Palestinians want their security forces to crack down on militants attacking Israel - a shift that indicates Palestinians are souring on the uprising.”  (The Associated Press, November 30, 2002)   

“TERROR + WEAKENING ECONOMY = POVERTY:  The ongoing terror situation has impacted the economy significantly.  The tourism industry is near collapse.  As the number one industry in Israel this collapse has impacted every area of society economically.  E.g. A local butcher goes out of business because there are no tourists eating meat in hotels.  The local population can’t afford to eat meat at home or to eat out in restaurants.  The resulting economic downturn has resulted in high unemployment rates and the situation worsens every month.  Every week brings news of further layoffs at major companies.” (Bridges For Peace, November 2002)

“ISRAEL IS POVERTY STRICKEN:  More than ONE MILLION Israelis live under the poverty line!  That is an astonishing 17.6% of all Israelis.  Yet, a United Nations Report states that POVERTY IN ISRAEL WILL INCREASE.  In the wake of severe cuts to the Israeli budget, the severely weakened economy and growing inflation the average Israeli has less money in his pocket than he had last year.  The experts say it is going to get worse.  Unemployment is up and, at the same time, prices of basic goods are increasing.  This week the cost of flour went up nearly 5% and the cost of tomatoes (a staple of the Israeli diet) increased by 72.3%.  Salaries that used to be barely adequate are stretched to the breaking point as more Israelis find they simply don’t have enough to survive.

“How shocked we were to read that there is a sharp reduction in food purchases.  The population has not decreased!  In fact, there are more people in Israel now than ever before.  The alarming fact is that families simply don’t have the funds to buy the food they need to survive.  Sadly we are hearing of people stealing food to live, or going through dumpsters in an attempt to find something edible.

“The Bridges for Peace staff meets daily with desperate individuals and families seeking their assistance.  We are literally inundated with requests for assistance and in an attempt to meet the many needs, we have added new families, new communities and new organizations to the recipient list.  Last month we distributed forty-five tons of food to nearly 14,000 people, an increase of nearly five tons over three months ago.  But, compared with the million who need assistance, it is but a drop in the bucket.

“Not only are we providing food for the needy, we are giving it with Christian love.  Those we help come to us for the food, but when they leave, they talk about the love.”

(Bridges For Peace, November 2002)

“PRIME MINISTER SHARON NOW CLOSER THAN EVER TO EXPELLING YASSER ARAFAT:  Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz are seriously considering expelling Yasser Arafat if the current wave of Palestinian terror is not checked, The Jerusalem Report has learned.

“Sharon hinted as much when, during a late-November tour of the line between Israel and the West Bank in the Jerusalem area, he declared that ‘no one will be immune’ from Israeli countermeasures against Palestinian terror.  Mofaz, aides say, is convinced that Arafat is behind the current terror wave, and that the Palestinian Authority chairman is using terror in a bid to decide the outcome of the Israeli election - seeking to undermine Sharon by orchestrating devastating attacks inside Israel.  Israel, the aides warn, ‘will not stand idly by.’

“The tougher government stand on expulsion comes after a wave of Palestinian shooting and suicide bombings in which over 30 Israelis were killed within the space of two weeks in November.  Strongly making the case for expelling Arafat is Amos Gilead, the coordinator of government activities in the West Bank and Gaza.  Gilead argues that as long as Arafat is around, the terror won’t stop.  Apparently preparing the ground for deportation, Gilead uncharacteristically made his views public in a late November TV interview.

“What is holding Sharon back, his aides say, is primarily his concern over a possible American backlash.  He does not want to antagonize Washington in the run-up to the anticipated attack on Iraq and as Israel presses a request for $10 billion in U.S. loan guarantees.  But they say, he and Mofaz have agreed to watch closely for an opportunity to act if, in the wake of mounting Palestinian terror, Washington gives a tacit green light.

“In the meantime, Sharon and Mofaz intend to fight Palestinian terror by tightening the IDF’s hold on all West Bank Cities and launching daily, pinpoint counter-terrorist raids to keep the terrorists off balance.  The aides say they do not intend to call up reserves, mount a major operation or reinstitute Israeli civil administration in the newly reoccupied territories.  But they make it clear that Sharon and Mofaz regard the Bethlehem and Hebron agreements with the Palestinians, under which those cities were out of bounds to the army, as null and void, and that the army will be free to operate wherever they deem necessary.”

(By Leslie Susser, The Jerusalem Report, December 18, 2002)

“ELECTION HATE:  There has been a frightening increase in anti-Semitism rhetoric used in election campaigns world-wide, a trend that suggests candidates feel that anti-Semitism is an electoral asset, according to a World Jewish Congress report on global anti-Semitism.

“This is one more example of a growing number of indicators measuring the rise of anti-Semitism.”  (World Jewry, November 20002)

“DÉJÀ VU:  Facing criticism by German Jewish community leaders, police have begun an investigation into anti-Semitic disruptions at a Berlin ceremony to restore a street name referring to Jews that had been erased by Nazi officials in the 1930s.

"Police are accused of standing by while hecklers at the event booed, whistled and shouted anti-Semitic slogans.  The event marked the reestablishment of Juedenstrasse - Jews’ Street - a name dating back to the 16th century.” (World Jewry, November 2002)

 “POTENTIAL:  A team of scientists at Israel’s Technion - Israel Institute of Technology - has been working on producing hydrogen by so-called solar water splitting systems that show potential for powering electric cars with constantly-renewable energy, overcoming problems with recharging, battery weight, pollution and short battery life that plague today’s electric cars.

 “Successful research in Israel into improving the efficiency of solar-hydrogen fuel cells has raised the potential for their use in non-polluting cars of the future, and has attracted the attention of companies such as Royal Dutch/Shell.”  (World Jewry, November 2002)

“CHRISTIANS RALLY FOR ISRAEL:  On September 11, 2002, Washington and environs were gripped by fear of the sniper, and closed in by police blockades of all major arteries.  In spite of these obstacles, compounded by pelting rain and high winds, ten thousand American Christians rallied in support of Israel at the Washington Convention Center.

“The rally was part of the Christian Coalition’s “Road to Victory 2002” weekend convention, attended by prominent ministers, legislators, journalists, and supporters from every corner of the United States.  Ehud Olmert greeted the participants, saying, ‘God is with us in supporting the State of Israel.  You, the great Christians of America, are with us and we will stand firm together against the terrorists.  It is hard for us in Israel to live with the sights of terror, to go to sleep with them, to wake up in the morning, to know what you have seen, but don’t get it wrong.  This is pain, not weakness.’  The crowd waved Israeli flags, chanted Hebrew melodies, blew shofars, and called out ‘We love Israel.’  Singer Ted Pearce sang ‘Zealous for Zion’ and the rally ended with a dance by the ‘This is the Day of Elijah’ troupe.

“Pat Robertson, founder and past president of the Christian Coalition, stated, ‘We should not ask Israel to withdraw from the so-called occupied territories, we should stand with them and fight. Jerusalem is the eternal, indivisible capital of the state of Israel, and it must not be divided.’  Tom DeLay (R-Texas) refuted the charge that Judea, Samaria, and Gaza are ‘occupied territories,’ and Roberta Combes, the Coalition’s current president, declared: ‘We love you.  We love Israel.  We will always be there for you.’  In one voice, waving posters and placards, the participants said ‘No’ to a Palestinian state in Israel’s historic and religious lands.

“Others participating included Senator Sam Brownback, Rep. Lindsay Graham, former ambassador, presidential candidate and talk show host Alan Keyes, and member of the Knesset Benny Elon.

“Americans for a Safe Israel takes special pride in being the first pro-Israel organization to grasp the extended hand of Evangelical Christians: we have featured a leader of the Christian conservatives at every single one of our national conferences.  AFSI rejects those who would try to divide Jews from evangelical Christians supporters with carping about ‘motives’ and domestic issues of less moment.  For all the noise made by liberal groups with ‘Jewish’ in their title, in fact there is no consensus on abortion or school prayer, or even on Israel, among Jews.

“Most on the Christian Right support our religious, historical, strategic, and legal rights to our patrimony.  They reject imposing territorial withdrawal on Israel.  They are categorically opposed to another Arab state between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea.  They uphold an undivided and indivisible Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the focus of the Jewish faith from time immemorial.  They support Israel’s right to defend itself and they support our own nation’s struggle against the evil forces of international terrorism.

“Even in the face of insulting criticism from some quarters in the Jewish establishment with a self-serving definition of ‘defamation,’ the Christian Coalition stands fast, arm in arm with Zionists, against all enemies of Israel and proponents of anti-Semitism.

“We don’t believe there is room for debate.  There are no caveats.  The support of the Christian Coalition is crucial and AFSI offers a simple and heartfelt ‘thank you.’”

(By Herbert Zweibon, Chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel, Outpost, November 2002)

“JUST SAY NO:  Jews tend to be generous in donations to the colleges and universities they attended.  Perhaps it’s time for them to rethink when asked for donations to elite colleges with faculties involved in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic agitation (many of them with disproportionately Jewish student bodies).  That includes Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia.  At least at Harvard, President Larry Sommers protested the anti-Semitism underlying the campaign at Harvard to force colleges to ‘divest’ from companies that do business with Israel.  The presidents of the other schools have not been heard from.  Columbia, home of the notorious Edward Said (and a leading advocate, naturally, for divestment), is actually inviting an anti-Israel clone, Rashid Khalidi - who likens the creation of Israel to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and compares Israel’s treatment of Palestinian Arabs to the Holocaust - to fill an endowed chair named for Said.  As Daniel Pipes has observed: ‘He [Khalidi] is extreme.  He is inaccurate.  He is apologetic to tyranny and radicalism.  That’s what Columbia likes.’” 

(Outpost, November 2002)

Comment:  “Surely, the wrath of man shall praise thee: the reminder of wrath shalt thou restrain.”  Of course God will reward those that praise Him, but does not reward the iniquity or errors.

“‘WE WILL USE JEWISH SKULLS TO BUILD A BRIDGE TO HEAVEN’:  The Hamas website published a banner December 16, 2002, encouraging the murder of Jews as part of Jihad (Holy War).  The banner depicts an eagle pecking at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s severed head with the slogan: ‘We will use the skulls of Zion’s sons (Jews) to build a bridge to Heaven.’

“The banner was signed in the name of Iz A Din Al Kassam Brigades, which is the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization.”

(IDF Spokesperson, December 16, 2002, Bridges For Peace)

“YERUSHALAYIM, (JERUSALEM) THE SPIRIT OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE:  Jerusalem was never central to the Moslem religion.  The Christian world has Rome, as their special city, the Moslems world was Mecca.  Never in all the years of the Ottoman Empire, did Jerusalem have any special significance to Arabs of the Middle East.  But Jerusalem has always been deeply inscribed in the heart of every Jew.  It is the soul of the Jewish people.  Whenever a Jew prays he turns in the direction of Yerushalayim.  The increasing terrorist attacks shows the Moslem world has not changed.  Through the years the United Nations resolutions concerning Israel have been ignored by the Arab world.”  (Bible Light on the News, December 2002)

________________________________________________

DAVID HOROWITZ

1903-2002

With great sadness we announce the death of our good friend David Horowitz in October 2002.  He had a very long and productive life battling to help the Jews and the State of Israel.  He was a correspondent in the United Nations from the time of its inception in 1945, and continued active in that capacity until about a year before his death.  He had columns in several Jewish newspapers and contributed some of those columns to our publications.  His columns always had reference to the Hebrew Scriptures and their prophecies of the Jews to their land and to God’s favor.

He was the author of several books, including one that was titled Pastor Charles Taze Russell An Early American Christian Zionist.  He will be greatly missed in the Jewish community, but also in our Christian Truth community.  So we say, “God Bless his memory.”  

NO. 546a RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART ONE

“Men fainting from fear and apprehension of the things coming on the Habitable; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Luke 21:26, Dia.)

This text certainly describes the condition of things that has existed among the world during the past year.  There is an air of tension and anxiety accompanied by events that warrant such feelings.  With the many bombings around the world and the threat of possible bombings on U.S. land, and worst of all the expectation of war to break out any moment, as well as the money problems, widespread layoffs and strikes, it isn’t any wonder that the people are very uneasy.  There is no outward show of worry, but there is an undercurrent of uneasiness.

“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him.” (Nahum 1:7)  We recognize the trouble as the preparation, according to God’s Plan, for blessing the whole world.

The world does not understand these things, but we, if we are Bible Students, know that it is the working out of God’s Plan.  The increasing trouble will lead to worldwide Revolution, the second phase of the Time of Trouble, War, the first phase having already occurred.  After the Revolution will come Anarchy.  But after that comes the great time of blessing upon the whole earth.  This is what we keep our minds stayed on and that helps us to be at ease during the trouble time.  These three phases of the Trouble are pictured in 1 Kings 19:11,12 as Wind (War), Earthquake (Revolution) and Fire (Anarchy).  But after the Fire “a still small voice,” the voice of God, the Divine Power, which will bring blessings to the world.  This corresponds to Psa. 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”  So we look forward with great anticipation for that time of blessing for all the world.

2002 IN REVIEW:

1. Roman Catholic Church priest scandal.
2. U.S. prepares for war with Iraq.
3. Washington, D.C., snipers.
4. Corporate scandals.
5. Republican electoral wins.
6. North Korea nuclear violations.
7. Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Peace Prize.
8. U.S. economy sputters.
9. Europe splits with America.
10. War on terrorism.

“THE TERROR CONTINUES:  American troops remained in Afghananistan, fighting occasional battles with the remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.  Meanwhile, the vice president of Afghanistan was assassinated by Islamic extremists, and an attempt was made on the life of the president, Hamid Karzai.  The hunt for Osama bin Laden continued, and there were differing opinions about whether the al-Qaeda leader remained alive.  The most–deadly terrorist incident of 2002 took place in Bali, where a nightclub frequented by Western tourists was blown up and almost 200 people were killed.”

“MAN IN THE NEWS:  In many ways, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein replaced Osama bin Laden as the biggest enemy to U.S. interest.  Throughout the year, the U.S. administration alleged that Saddam was creating or harboring weapons of mass destruction.  After a year of back-and-forth rhetoric between Baghdad and Washington, Iraq agreed to welcome U.N. weapons inspections.  (Associated Press, December 29, 2002)        

WORLD IN BRIEF:  “Siege of 2 Hindu temples in Kashmir leaves 12 dead.”

“Rioting in southern Jordan kills 1, injures several others.”

“U.S. warship visits China to rejuvenate strained ties.” 

“Venezuela’s president vows to crush any coup attempts.” 

“French truckers block roads to protest lack of pay deal.” 

“Ivory Coast attacks increase war fears as talks continue.”

“39 Countries Short of Food - 25 of them are in Africa.”

“Russian Soldier Opens Fire, Kills 8 Comrades, Injures 3.”

“37,000 Sleep on Streets of New York.  ‘It’s getting steadily worse out there.  All the shelters are full.  It’s tighter than it’s ever been.’”

(Orlando Sentinel, November 2002)

Comment:  The above headlines show that these events are worldwide and that the Time of Trouble is in progress.

“BROTHER OF JESUS:  Archeologists have authenticated what they say is the first physical evidence that corroborates biblical references to Jesus - an inscription of his name on the ancient bone box of his brother, James.

“The inscription found on the container, known as an ossuary, reads in Aramaic: ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.’  The ossuary has been dated to approximately 63 BCE.

“Paleographer Andre Lemaire of Sorbonne University researched the box, which is owned by an anonymous Israel antiquities collector, while he was a visiting scholar this year at the Hebrew University’s Institute for Advanced Study in Jerusalem.  Lemaire published his results in the November/December edition of the Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR).  The findings were unveiled yesterday at a press conference in Washington hosted by the magazine’s publisher, the Biblical Archaeology Society.

“Hershel Shanks, editor in chief of BAR admits that the finding ‘confirms the Jewishness of both James and Jesus.’

“During the first century BCE, Jews often transferred bones of the deceased from burial caves to ossuaries.  This practice was halted after the destruction of the Second Temple.

“Based on extensive research, Lemaire concluded that approximately 20 Jerusalemites from the period would ‘be called James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.’

“‘It is, however, impossible to estimate how many of these ossuaries would be inscribed,’ he writes in the article.  According to Lemaire inscribing the deceased brother’s name on the ossuary was rare and likely occurred in this case, because Jesus - James’s brother - was a prominent figure.

“Dr. Amnon Rosenfield and Dr. Shimon Ilani of the National Infrastructure Ministry’s Geological Survey verified the authenticity of the ossuary.

“Researchers examined the chalk (lime stone), soil, and patina (the thin covering of the surface caused by age) of the ossuary.  They further concluded that the ossuary was not tampered with.

“The anonymous antiquities dealer purchased the ossuary 15 years ago from an Arab dealer for a few hundred dollars.  The item is believed to be from Silwan, a neighborhood in east Jerusalem.”

(The Jerusalem Post, November 1, 2002)     

“2ND DOOR FOUND IN PYRAMID:  CAIRO, EGYPT - Scientists using a robot have discovered yet another door deep inside the Great Pyramid, Egypt’s head archaeologist said Monday.  The discovery followed the September 17 revelation on live television of a chamber behind a similar stone door in an 8-inch-square shaft in the pyramid Pharaoh Khufu built more than 4,000 years ago.  ‘This find in the northern shaft, coupled with last week’s discovery in the southern shaft, represents the first major new information about the Great Pyramid in more than a century,’ said the director of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.”

(Orlando Sentinel, October 24, 2002)

Comment:  The above article shows that we shouldn’t depend on the pyramid for truth because more discoveries are being made every day.  How will these new findings fit in with what has already been known and accepted?  In fact, the pyramid should not be used to teach a doctrine, but merely to corroborate doctrines that we already have learned from the Bible.  The pyramid has a great many truths revealed in its construction.  It corresponds to the Tabernacle and the Temple.  But the Lord’s people of this age and past ages have had all that the Lord has revealed from His Word, and that is sufficient to maintain faith.

But the world needs more and the pyramid has been an obsession for them for many generations.  The world has to have such things as a stone “witness” (Isa. 19:19,20) to convince them that what is in the Bible is the sure Word of God.  They will be convinced in the Millennium when they realize that their scientific witness shows them what is in the Bible is true.

IN FINANCE

Last year the largest corporation in U.S. history, the Enron Corporation, filed for bankruptcy taking billions of dollars from investors’ funds.  This year two of the largest airlines in the world filed for bankruptcy, United Airlines, U.S. Air, and more could be on their way after taking billions of dollars from guaranteed U.S. government loans.

The year 2002 may well go down in history as the year of the fallen giants.  A weak economy and widespread accounting irregularities fueled what by one measure has been the biggest year ever for corporate bankruptcies, with the value of 2002 filings soaring to a record $368 billion as of December 25.

The number of public companies filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was actually higher in 2001 - 257 versus 186 this year.  But when measured by assets, the 2002 filings - bloated by big names such as WorldCom Inc., Global Crossing Ltd., Conseco Inc., Adelphia Communications Inc. and UAL Corp. - shattered last year’s record by 42 percent.

McDonald’s has been a public company 37 years and is the world’s largest restaurant company.  It anticipates reporting a loss in the fourth quarter - the first quarterly loss ever.

That left economists and business experts nervously discussing the “ripple effect” of such massive failures on the U.S. economy and investor confidence.

Maybe we are not all doomed after all.  After a few weeks of disappointing reports, this week’s data was more upbeat.  Retail sales were positive in November, excluding motor vehicles, climbing a solid 0.7% - the first time unemployment claims had also declined in November.

On December 10, 2002, Reuters Washington News office released “The Elite Panel of Economists that Rules on U.S. Business Cycles” saying it needs more time before ruling that the 2001 recession has ended.  The private National Bureau of Economic Research said, “The U.S. economy continues to evolve as in earlier months.”

Shoppers are spending less and many stores are struggling, but U.S. malls occupancy levels are strong at a 90.6%.  Simon Property Group, Inc., the nation’s largest mall company with 178 malls, saw occupancy rates increase a full percentage point to 92% for the third quarter.  Average sales per square foot also rose.  The gains took place even as consumer spending slowed. And many mall-based retail tenants struggled.

Interest rates are still lower in the short term.  Long-term interest rates are moving up sharply.  The improvement in retail sales and jobless claims along with this past month’s rise in consumer sentiment might be a signal that the recovery is now regaining momentum but yields will still be hemmed in by fears about terrorism and war.  The U.S. economy has been going down since Clinton’s last two years as president.  The unemployment rates and debt have both been going up over the past four years.

President Bush’s economic team will talk big about helping the economy but little can or will be done.  Bush will hold the line on government spending.  The Iraq situation will keep investors and consumers on edge.

In this Time of Trouble we need to watch for the “times and seasons” of the Lord.  “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.” (1Thes. 5:1)

IN RELIGION

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES AND THE LAYMENS HOME MISSIONARY MOVMENT:  Both are continuing on in their errant ways.  Both have invented a new false class that Pastor Russell never taught and which is not Scriptural.  The JWs have long since invented “new doctrines” and have taken themselves out of a designation as a Truth group.  And it seems that the LHMM is fast approaching the same category.  They both have failed to adhere to Jude 3: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”  Both these organizations have muddied the waters of the “common Salvation” with they’re false classes.  More could be said on this and other aberrations, but this should be enough to show their true colors.

“CHURCHES HAVE HECK OF A TIME WITH HELL:  Changing beliefs are forcing preachers to downplay damnation and emphasize life.  Bill Faris believes in hell, that frightful netherworld where the thermostat is always set on high, where sinners toil for eternity in unspeakable torment.

“But you’d never know it listening to him preach at his south Orange County, Calif., evangelical church.  He never mentions the topic; his flock shows little interest in it.

“‘It isn’t sexy enough anymore,’ said Faris, pastor of Crown Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship.

“In churches across America, hell is being frozen out as clergy find themselves increasingly hesitant to sermonize on Christianity’s outpost for lost souls.

“‘There has been a shift in religion from focusing on what happens in the next life to asking, ‘What is the quality of this life we’re leading now?’ said Harvey Cox Jr., and author, religious historian and professor at Harvard Divinity School.

“Hell’s fall from fashion indicates how key portions of Christian theology have been influenced by a secular society that stresses individualism over authority and the human psyche over moral absolutes.

“The tendency to downplay damnation has grown in recent years as nondenominational ministries, with their focus on everyday issues such as childrearing and career success, have proliferated, and loyalty to churches has deteriorated.

“‘It’s just too negative,’ said Bruce Shelley, a senior professor of church history at the Denver Theological Seminary.  ‘Churches are under enormous pressure to be consumer-oriented.  Churches today feel the need to be appealing rather than demanding.’

“Hell is far from dead.  A May 2001 Gallup Poll of adults nationwide found that 71 percent believe in hell.

“They just don’t want to hear about it.  Even among some ‘born-again’ churches, hell is a rare topic of conversation.  Born-again Christians believe in hell, but they also believe their decision to embrace Christ has earned them a one-way ticket in the other direction.

“Where once hell was viewed as a literal, geographic location, it is more often seen now as a state of the soul.

“Even the Rev. Billy Graham, who came to prominence in the 1940s as a fire-and-brimstone preacher, reconsidered hell.  ‘I believe that hell is essentially separation from God.  That we are separated from God, so we can have hell in this life and hell in the life to come…’ Graham told an interviewer in 1991.

“‘But to describe hell in vivid terms like I might have done 30 or 40 years ago, I’m  not at liberty to do that because whether there is actually fire in hell or not, I do not know.’

“Hell’s roots are tangled up in the Hades of Greek mythology and the ancient Hebrew concept of Sheol - locales where the dead, both good and bad, resided.

“For churches, the fear of hell became a colorful - and effective - tool to teach the consequences of a sinful life devoid of God.

“In the centuries to come, scientific discoveries and the European Enlightenment would crack hell’s veneer, undercutting all things supernatural and questioning whether a merciful God would be so cruel.

“Amid this rethinking, more palatable theories of hell have developed: Souls not ticketed for heaven simply cease to be.  Hell is a temporary state before heaven.

“As a young preacher, Father Wilfredo Benitez of St. Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Garden Grove, Calif., warned nonbelievers they would burn in Satan’s lair.

“He later dropped the tactic.  ‘Can we accept a gift at gunpoint?  This is total nonsense and madness.’”

(By Mike Anton and William Lobdell, Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2002)

Comment:  The ancient Hebrew word Sheol has no equivalent in the English language resulting in various translations in the Old Testament.  The nearest English word that properly translates it is unconsciousness.  “For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave [sheol], whither thou goest.”  “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing.” (Eccl. 9:10,5)  The Greek word Hades is merely a translation of the Hebrew word Sheol.

“MORE CHRISTIANS TURN TO ADVENT:  ST. LOUIS - Ashley Timm, 15, worries that the joyful Advent season of spiritual preparation gets lost.

“‘Advent is about helping others, because Jesus loved us,’ she said.  ‘I worry that some people think that it’s about getting lots of presents and seeing Santa Claus, instead of understanding the real gift of Christmas - that Jesus came into this world to save us.’

“The Advent season encompasses the four Sundays preceding Christmas and was celebrated by the early church as a period of penance and preparation for the celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ.

“A half-century ago, Advent was observed by Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and less commonly by other Christians.  However, Advent now has wider appeal as many Christians increase their appreciation for the importance of symbols and rites, said the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, a professor of ecumenical studies at Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves, Mo.

“He finds the growing interest in Advent and other liturgical rites especially strong in denominations like his own Christian Church Disciples of Christ and some Baptists.  Both were once adamantly proud of having services and churches that were ‘plain and unadorned,’ he said.”

(Excerpts from Patricia Rice, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 30, 2002) 

“POLL: AIDS Orphans On Own:  Only 3 percent of evangelical Christians say they are willing to help children orphaned by AIDS, a new survey shows.

“Overall, 5 percent of 1,000 adults surveyed by the California-based Barna Research Group said they would help children in such a situation.

“‘Nearly 2,000 years after Jesus gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan, we are still asking the question, ‘Who is my neighbor?’  And we’re still getting the answer wrong,’ said World Vision President Richard E. Stearns.”

(Orlando Sentinel, November 30, 2002)

“ATHEISTS BOOST POLITICAL MUSCLE TO BATTLE RELIGION IN PUBLIC LIFE:  WASHINGTON - Banding together against what they see as the encroachment of religion on American public life, more than 1,000 atheists organized on the National Mall for the first Godless Americans March on Washington.

“At the march last Saturday, they came bearing signs and banners with slogans such as ‘Religion Kills’ and ‘Believers Repent,’ marching past dozens of Christian counter protesters.

“‘We want the same rights of every other group of Americans who have marched down this mall,’ said Ellen Johnson, American Atheists president.  ‘We need to become a well-oiled well-financed political machine.’

“To that end, Johnson announced the creation of the Godless Americans Political Action Committee.  ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I see a sleeping giant that is waking up and ready to assert its political and cultural influence,’ Johnson said.”

(By Adelle M. Banks and Aparna H. Kumar, Religion News Service, November 9, 2002)

“ATHEISTS GIVE ‘GOD SLOT’ ON BBC A NEW PERSPECTIVE:  LONDON - Some of Britain’s most eminent writers and thinkers are demanding equal time for atheism on a daily religious radio spot that is a cherished ritual to many believers of all faiths.

“‘Thought for the Day,’ the British Broadcasting Corp’s venerable ‘God slot,’ responded yesterday by giving listeners a dose of atheism, as the debate continued over religion’s place on the national broadcaster.

“Richard Dawkins, Oxford University’s professor for the public understanding of science, was granted an experimental ‘Thought for the Day’ slot an hour after Anne Atkins, a newspaper columnist and the wife of a Church of England vicar, had presented the daily fixture.

“He summoned the nation to abandon religion - to ‘leave the crybaby phase and finally come of age.’

“The issue has touched a British nerve.  ‘Thought for Today’ may be just two minutes and 45 seconds long, but since 1970 it has been a fixture on one of the nation’s most influential news programs.” (Today on Radio 4, which draws 6.45 million listeners)

“The Atheist ‘Thought’ came a day after more than a hundred prominent atheists - including play wrights Harold Pinter and Arnold Wesker, authors Iain Banks, and John Fowles, and Joseph Rotblat, a Nobel Peace prize winner - published a letter demanding equal treatment.

“‘Thought for the Day’ has regular contributions from Sikhs, Jews and Christians but does not welcome contributors who hold no religious beliefs.

“‘By resolutely retaining the ban, the BBC is discriminating against the non-religious, and thus giving the impression of promoting religion as the one source of ethics’ the letter said.

“The debate over a program that is meant to encourage thoughtful contemplation quickly turned angry.

“‘To ask an atheist to contribute to (‘Thought for Today’) would be like asking an earthworm to comment on quantum physics,’ Gerald Aves commented in his e-mail to the Today program web site.

“Phil Healey responded: ‘this is an absolutely perfect example of the bigotry of those people who believe in fairy tales.’

“Church attendance has declined sharply in Britain, but a BBC poll two years ago found that 62 percent affirmed their belief in God and in Jesus Christ.” 

(Associated Press, August 15, 2002) 

Comment:  Satan is walking about like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8) promoting the thought of Atheism and is having much success.

CATHOLICS:  “BISHOP QUESTIONS EUCHARIST:  Anglican Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries has suggested that the ‘cannibalistic language of the Eucharist’ is part of the reason Christianity is declining in Britain.  Harries outlined his views in his controversial new book God Outside the Box.

“The ‘Prayer of Humble Access’ reads, in part: ‘Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood.’

“In an interview with The Times newspaper in London, Harries said, ‘I do not think that Christians today take seriously enough people’s sense of horror at going to a Eucharist or Mass, if they have never been before, and hearing the imagery of sacrifice and eating God.’”

(Orlando Sentinel, August 24, 2002)

Comment:  At the Last Supper when Jesus initiated the antitypical Passover for His disciples to replace the typical Hebrew Passover that celebrates the Jews deliverance from slavery, He said, “This is my body, this is my blood.”  He was present there in the flesh saying these words, so how can it mean that the bread and the wine were His actual body and blood?  He meant that they represented His sacrifice as the antitypical “Lamb of God.”  Also, in the “Prayer of Humble Access” it says, “thy dear Son Jesus Christ.”  Then at the end of the item it says “eating God.”  Is Jesus the Son of God or God the Father?  How can He be both?

“LAY WORKERS JOIN UNION:  Lay workers at four Roman Catholic parishes in Texas who were worried about pensions and other benefits have joined unions - a rare move for church employees of any denomination, labor groups say.

“The employees have signed contracts with the United Farm Workers of America and AFLCIO.” 

(Orlando Sentinel, August 24, 2002)

“CATHOLIC CAMPUSES HEAD FOR SHOWDOWN:  A deadline looms Saturday that could ignite a smoldering conflict over academic freedom between the Roman Catholic hierarchy and theologians at the nation’s 235 Catholic colleges and universities.

“The winners and losers won’t be immediately clear, but in coming years jobs and the shape of Catholic higher learning may be at stake.

“Acting on instructions from the Vatican, U.S. bishops have ordered Catholics who teach their faith’s doctrine, morality, Scripture, law and history at Catholic schools to obtain a ‘mandatum’ (mandate, in English) from the bishop of the diocese where the college is located.

“The document, which the bishops agreed should be obtained by June 1 - Saturday - attests the theologian teaches only authentic Catholicism.”

(The Dispatch, Lexington, NC, May 22, 2002)

EPISCOPALIAN:  “UNWED UNIONS GAIN SUPPORT:  The Episcopal Church’s Kansas diocese will allow clerical blessings of homosexual couples and unwed heterosexuals for whom marriage is a financial hardship, Bishop William E. Smalley said.

“Smalley said Kansas is the first diocese to bless unmarried heterosexuals.  With homosexual union, ‘others are doing it, but are very quiet about it,’ he said.

“Smalley said he based his decision on a resolution at the 2000 Episcopal convention that ‘acknowledged’ some Episcopalians live in committed relationships outside wedlock.”

(Orlando Sentinel, July 6, 2002)

PRESBYTERIAN:  “PASTORS PROTEST:  Hoping to recapture the reformer’s spirit that led Martin Luther to spark the Protestant Reformation, five pastors gathered recently at the Louisville, Ky., headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA) with a list of grievances, saying the church is ‘irretrievably apostate.’

“About 100 church members also signed the document in support.  It calls on church leaders to discipline congregations and pastors who defy the church constitution, especially those who ordain noncelibate gays and lesbians as pastors.

“Arguing that church leaders ‘will respond to apostasy only when there is a financial crisis,’ the document also called on congregations to withhold their dues from any church agency that ‘tolerates defiance of our constitution.’”

(Orlando Sentinel, November 16, 2002)

“PASTOR QUITS AMID RIFT ABOUT GAYS:  The Rev. Howard Edington resigned from Orlando’s First Presbyterian Church.  The Rev. Howard Edington, who in two decades as pastor more than tripled the downtown congregation of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, announced his retirement Wednesday in the wake of a controversy sparked by his conservative views on the role of gays in the denomination.

“The 60-year-old Edington’s vocal opposition to ordaining gay ministers and blessing same-sex unions - together with a sermon opposing the Orlando City Council’s recently passed ordinance protecting gays from discrimination - had roiled his congregation.

“At least two elders resigned.  At one point, the minister was urged to take a six-month sabbatical, an offer he rejected.

“Edington did not dispute that his involvement in conservative causes, especially those involving sexual orientation, has led some members of the congregation to leave in recent months for other Presbyterian churches.

“He said that ‘our denomination is in trouble’ because of ‘the watering down of the theological standards of the church as a whole.’  The official stance of the 2.6 million-member Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination is that all ordained ministers must be in a heterosexual marriage or celibate, and that the church will not bless homosexual unions.  However, Edington and others have charged that in practice the denomination does not discipline congregations that violate these policies.

“‘It is being defied by some churches, individuals and presbyterys,’ Edington said.  He said he would not accept another pastorate.

“Edington’s success in turning First Presbyterian into a multimillion-dollar complex with about 5,600 members and nearly 200 specialized ministries drew praise from around the country.  Bucking a national trend of churches moving their congregation out of downtowns, Edington decided in the 1980s that his flock would stay put in what he called the ‘Heart of the City.’  Since then, the church has grown into the fourth-largest congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination.  In October, Edington’s was one of five names affixed to a list of theological grievances taped to the front door of the denomination’s Louisville, Ky., headquarters, in imitation of Marin Luther’s action that sparked the Protestant Reformation.”

(Excerpts from Mark I. Pinsky, Orlando Sentinel, December 5, 2002)

Comment:  The above shows what a hodgepodge of confusion there is among the different sects, as well as among some churches of the same sect.  It is reminiscent of the ancient Tower of Babel.  It is a real Babylon of confusion.  It should be noted that their quarrels are about such things as homosexuals, abortion, unions outside wed lock, etc.

They are never about real doctrines of the Bible such as the Ransom, Restitution, Justification, the Kingdom, which we pray always for, and other important doctrines.  Jesus said, “go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:60)  However, it seems that the squabbling over their mundane differences may be one cause that will bring their downfall.    

Correction:  In the November 2002 paper, No. 544, under Doctrine Number One, first paragraph, last line, should read:  reasonable to believe that the previous six days (epochs) were 7,000 years each (6x7=42,000) and the week 49,000 years (7x7=49,000).

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Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for the many beautiful Christmas cards expressing love and prayers.  Be assured that our warm Christian love and prayers are ever with you.  We wish for all our readers that they will grow in Grace and Knowledge of the Lord for a blessed New Year, as “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Prov. 4:18)

ANNOUNCEMENT:  The Memorial for 2003 is on Monday, April 14, after six p.m.

NO. 545 THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM

       “For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ, the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11,12)

WHY WAS THIS BABE EXPECTED?

       “Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given.” (Isa. 9:6)  This is a subject which will never grow old - a subject which, on the contrary shall to all eternity be a theme of angels and of men.  The birth of Jesus, to be rightly understood and esteemed, must be considered from the standpoint of a gift of Love Divine.  Any other view of the matter is merely the casket without the jewel.  The Scriptures give us the key to the thought: “God so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

       The world was under sentence of death; mankind had been dying for more than four thousand years.  God had pitied humanity from the first.  Yes, before sin entered, Divine Wisdom saw the end, and would not have created man, or would not have permitted the condition which led to sin and the sentence of death, had Divine Wisdom not foreseen and arranged in advance for human redemption.

       Why were all men in expectation of Him at the time of His birth?  What was to be peculiar about Him to lead Israel to expect His birth?  The answer to this question is that God had made a certain promise centuries before and the promise had not been fulfilled.  This promise contained the thought that a holy child would be born, and that in some way, not explained in the promise, this child would bring the blessing the world needed.  Therefore every mother amongst the Israelites was very solicitous that she might be the mother of a son rather than a daughter, that perchance she might be the mother of this promised child.  Thus the matter went on for years until, finally, the child was born.

       The promise back of the expectation was that which God made to Abraham, saying, “In thee and in thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”  From that time forward Abraham began to look for the promised Seed - the promised child.  He looked first of all to his own children, and was finally informed that it would not be one of his children direct, but that through their children, at some remote date, this child should be born - the Seed of Abraham.  From that time onward, all the Israelites were waiting for the birth of the child that should bring the blessing.

       But why was a Messiah necessary?  Why wait at all for the birth of the child?  The answer to this question is that sin had come into the world; that God had placed our first parents, who were holy, pure and free from sin, in the glorious conditions of the Garden of Eden with every favorable prospect and everlasting life at their command if they continued in harmony with God.  But by reason of their disobedience they came under Divine displeasure and sentence of death.  This sentence of death has brought in its wake aches, pains, sorrows, tears, sighing, crying and death - all of these experiences as a result of sin.

       Our heavenly Father said to our first parents - and this was the first intimation that he gave them of a deliverance - that “The Seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpent’s head.” (Gen. 3:15)  The Serpent in this expression means Satan - all the powers of evil, everything adverse to humanity, everything adverse to the blessings which God had given them, and which they had lost by disobedience.  But the promise was vague and they understood little about the “Seed of the woman” and “bruising the Serpents head.”  It merely meant in an allegorical way a great victory over Sin and Satan, without explaining how it should come.  The total victory over Satan was to come later.  “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20)

       So humanity continued to die; they continued to have aches and pains and sorrows; they continued going down to the tomb.  They realized that what they needed was some Savior to come and deliver them from the power of sin, to deliver them from the death penalty of sin - a Savior who would be, in other words, a Life-giver.  They were dying and needed new life.  This is the meaning of the word Savior in the language used by our Lord and the Apostles.  They were hoping and expecting that God would send a Life-giver.

       It was on this account that they were so greatly concerned regarding the promise made to Abraham:  “In thee and in thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 28:14) - they shall be granted a release from sin and death.  In no other way could mankind be blessed.  It would be impossible to bless mankind except by releasing them from sin and death.  Hence, the Scriptures tell us of God’s sympathy; that God looked down from His holy habitation, and beheld our sorrow, and heard, figuratively, “the groaning of the prisoners,” humanity - all groaning and travailing under this penalty of death -some with few aches and pains, and some with more aches and pains; some with few sorrows, and some with greater sorrows; but all groaning and travailing in pain.

       But God’s sympathy was manifested.  He looked down and beheld that there was no eye to pity and no arm to save and with His own Arm He brought salvation.  This is what was promised to Abraham - that one should come from his posterity who would be the Savior of the world; and because this promise was made to Abraham and to his Seed, they were marked out as separate from all other nations and peoples.  To the Jewish nation alone belonged this great honor - that through them should come this salvation.  Hence from that time onward the Jews spoke of themselves as God’s people, the people whom God had promised to bless, and through whom he would bring a blessing to all others.  Therefore, all other people were called heathen (or nations, which the word means).  Israel was thus separated because God’s Covenant was with them, and not with the others.  But God’s Covenant with Israel was for the blessing of all the others:  “In thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”  Now we have the “Why” of this wonderful babe’s being born.

HOW WAS THIS BABE PECULIAR - HOLY, HARMLESS, UNDEFILED?

       How could He be a Savior?  In what way could He be different from any other babe?  Why not use some other babe as the one through whom salvation should come?  The answer of the Bible is that salvation could not come to mankind unless there should be satisfaction of Justice on account of Original Sin.  That must be the first consideration.  The penalty, “Dying thou shalt die,” pronounced against the first man, must be met before the world could be blessed.

       Why not let any man die?  Because all were under the sentence of the original condemnation, and none could be a Ransom-price or a substitute.  Hence the necessity for a specially born babe, different from any other babe.  In what way was this One differently born?  The Bible explains to us very distinctly that He was not begotten of an earthly father.  Although Joseph was espoused to Mary, yet this child was not the child of Joseph.  The Bible explains that this child was specially begotten by Divine Power, in the mother, though she was still a “virgin” when she brought forth the child.

A SAVIOR - CHRIST THE LORD

       It was prophetically, of course, that the babe of Bethlehem was called a Savior - He was to be a Savior, The Christ, the Lord.  But as the babe he was none of these.  He became The Christ before becoming the Savior and Lord.  The word Christ signifies anointed.  In the Divine purpose it was arranged that Messiah should be anointed High Priest of Israel on a higher plane than Aaron - after the order of Melchisedec (Psa. 110:4).  And every priest must be anointed to his office before he could fill it.  Similarly, it was prophesied that Christ would be the great King, greater than David and Solomon, who were His types and foreshadows.

       This is the Scriptural proposition; and while it may not seem clear to some, yet the Word of God stands sure.  If the Redeemer was not perfect then he could not be the Savior of the world.  The promised redemption implied that Jesus would be perfect; it implied that He would be as the first man was before he sinned.  “For since by man came death, by man shall come also the resurrection of the dead”; “As all in Adam die, even so shall all in Christ be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:21,22)

       So this one must be, as the Apostles declares, “holy harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners.” (Heb. 7:26)  He must be entirely distinct and separate from humanity so far as sinful features were concerned.  If we had time it would be interesting to go into the scientific features - how a perfect child could be from an imperfect mother.  If we can have a perfect life germ we can have a perfect child from an imperfect mother.  If a breeder of stock wishes to raise the standard of his stock, he selects a fine bull, a male goat, or a male ram, and thus he improves the entire herd.  And so, if we had perfect fathers, we could soon have a perfect race.  But there is no father who can produce a perfect child.  Hence it was necessary in this case (and the Scriptures declare it was accomplished) that God should beget this Son by power from on high.  Therefore, that which was born of the “virgin” was separate and distinct from all humanity.  His life came not from an earthly father, but from His Heavenly Father.

WHO WAS HE THUS BORN?

       It is written that before he became flesh Jesus had an existence; as He declared, “Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)  Again in one of His prayers He said, “Father, glorify thou me with the glory that I had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5)  The Revelator tells us that “He was the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14), and Paul says that “by him all things were made.” (John 1:3)  And so our Lord Jesus was not only the beginning, but also the active agent of the Father in all the creative work in the angelic world and in the creation of humanity, and all things that were created.

       The whole matter is summed up by the Apostle John.  We will give a more literal translation of “In the beginning was the Word.”  [This expression, Word, in the Greek is Logos.  The thought behind the word Logos is that in olden times a king, instead of speaking his commands directly to his people, sat behind a lattice work, and his Logos, or messenger, or word, or representative, stood before the lattice work, and gave the message of the king to the people in a loud tone of voice.  The king himself was not seen by the people - the Logos was the one seen.  So this is the picture the Scriptures give us of how Jesus was the express representative of the Heavenly Father, the One through whom the Heavenly Father made Himself known - the Word, or the Logos.  So we read in the first chapter of John], “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with the God, and the Logos was a god.  The same was in the beginning with the God.  By him were all things made, and without him was not anything made.” (John 1:1, Dia.)

       In other words, Jesus was the direct Creator of all things.  He was the Divine Power, Agent, Word, Messenger, the Logos of Jehovah.  He did all the great work of creation; but He Himself was the first of God’s direct creation, the First-born of all creatures, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence - the first place.

         When the time came that our Heavenly Father made known His great purpose that He would bless the world, He gave opportunity to this First-begotten One - this begotten of the Father - to be the servant in this great work He intended to accomplish for mankind.  Consequently, the Scriptures state that “for the joy set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Heb. 12:2)  And now He has sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.  He has this great reward because of His obedience even unto death, the death of the cross.

       The Apostle speaks of Him as having been rich, but for our sakes becoming poor, that through His poverty we might be made rich.  He tells us how He left the glory which He had with the Father and humbled Himself to the human nature.  Why?  Because, as already stated, it was necessary that some one should become man’s Redeemer; an angel could not redeem man, neither could an animal redeem man.  The Divine law is “an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth; a man’s life for a man’s life.” (Matt. 5:38)  This was to teach us a great lesson; that perfect human life having been condemned to death, that it would require a perfect human life to redeem it.  It was therefore necessary that Jesus should become the “Man Christ Jesus,” in order “that He by the grace of God shall taste death for every man.” (Heb. 2:9)

WHAT RESULTS HAVE FOLLOWED?

       The results that have followed have been that He Himself proved His own faithfulness.  “Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8) - the most ignominious form of death.  It pleased the Father thus to prove Him, not only by death, but by the most ignominious form of death - dying as a culprit, being crucified between two thieves.  What a terrible ignominy to die thus!

       It would be ignominy enough for us in our imperfection, but for Him, perfect, “holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners,” it must have been a cause of deep and poignant sorrow.  Having completed the laying down of His life, at the end of three and half years, He cried, “It is finished!”  What?  Not His work, for much of that lay before Him!  He merely finished this part of the work, finished laying down His life a ransom-price.

       What next?  After His death came His resurrection, and we read that “God raised Him from the dead on the third day.”  According to the Scriptures He was raised up from death a glorious being - “sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, raised in glory, sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spirit body”; “Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, those in heaven, and those on the earth, and those under the earth; that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:10)

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

       All the families of the earth are to be blessed, as originally promised in Eden: “The Seed [The Christ] of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head.”  Also, as St. Paul states in the 16th chapter of Romans, “The very God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”  So, then, the next thing in order in the outworking of God’s Plan will be to bruise Satan and destroy him.

       When and how will this be done?  Just as soon as this Age shall end; because this Age is merely for the development of the Bride class; then will come the promised Free Grace to all the families of the earth.  Messiah’s Kingdom shall come.  He has promised that when He shall reign, all His faithful shall reign with Him: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Rev. 3:21)  All the Church will be associated with Him in His great Messianic Kingdom; and “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth” (Psa. 72:8); and “Unto Him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father” (Rom. 14:11); “The knowledge of the glory of God shall fill the whole earth.” (Hab. 2:14)  The whole earth will become as the Garden of Eden.  Paradise Lost will be Paradise Restored.  The Divine Image lost in Adam will be restored to man.  Human nature will be brought to perfection.  But the glorious reward to the Church will be the Divine nature, to be like her Lord, to sit at His right hand, and to bless the world of mankind.  Man will become not only perfect, having all that Adam had, but will have additional knowledge and character; and there is every evidence that this shall be an eternal blessing.

SHALL NONE BE LOST?

       Yes, the Scriptures tell us that some will be lost, and that the loss they shall sustain will be loss of life.  “They shall be as though they had not been” (Obad. 1:16); “They shall be destroyed from amongst the people.”  St. Peter says, “They shall be destroyed as brute beasts.” (Acts 3:23; 2 Peter 2:12)

       When?  When the eyes of their understanding shall have been opened to see the Lord and to understand His glorious character, and they shall have had opportunity to appreciate and enjoy His blessing.  When such intentionally reject the grace of God, they shall die the Second Death, from which there is no resurrection, no hope of recovery.  But thank God, there shall be no knowledge of suffering for them; they shall be destroyed as brute beasts.

       In proportion as we believe in this Babe of Bethlehem shall we rejoice today.  In proportion as we believe He was manifested on our behalf; in proportion as we believe He died for our sins; in proportion as we recognize Him as the glorified Savior; in proportion as we have surrendered our hearts to Him and seek to do the things well pleasing to Him shall we have the peace of God.

       Our hope on behalf of mankind in general is that in God’s due time His blessing shall reach all - not the same as that for the Church, but as St. Peter tells us in Acts 3:19-21, “Times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must retain until the times of restitution of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets.”

(Based on Reprint 4963, January 15, 1912, by Pastor Charles T. Russell)

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       “ACADEMICS FIRED ‘FOR BEING ISRAELI’:  British Professor Mona Baker, the director of the center for translation and intercultural studies at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), dismissed two Israeli academics from the boards of her two independently-owned journals after signing an academic boycott of Israeli institutions last week.  The two Israelis were highly respected academicians, Gideon Toury from the Tel Aviv University, and Dr. Miriam Shlesinger, a respected American-born lecturer at the Bar-Ilan University.  Prof. Baker, a native of Egypt who has lived in England for 20 years, told the Telegraph (London): ‘I deplore the Israeli state.’  And was quoted by the media as saying: ‘Israel has gone beyond just war crimes.  Many of us would like to talk about it as some kind of holocaust which the world will eventually wake up to, much too late, of course, as they did with the last one.’

       “Prof. Baker is one of the signatories of a British-led petition of more than 700 mainly European academics launched by Prof. Steven Rose of Britain’s Open University.  Signatories include some of the most eminent Oxford professors, including Colin Blakemore and Richard Dawkins.  This organized ‘academic boycott’ is part of a campaign to suspend European Union funding of Israeli universities (though not, of course, the EU’s generous financing of Yasser Arafat).  Ten Israeli academics have also signed the petition.

       Baker’s actions brought an avalanche of international condemnation.  Several British media commentators, including those from newspapers traditionally hostile to Israel, have strongly criticized the sackings of the Israelis.  If you believe that Prof. Baker’s actions against the Israelis was improper, you may write her at:  monabaker@umist.ac.uk”

(By Rebecca Brimmer, July 19, 2002)

       “NOT MADE IN ISRAEL:  British supermarkets have been instructed not to label fruit, vegetables, flowers, wine and fruit as ‘Produce of Israel’ if they were grown and packed in Judea, Samaria, or the Gaza Strip.

       “A government spokesman said the directive had been agreed to by the European Union and applied to all member states.

       “As a result, Israeli produce from across the Green Line will no longer qualify for preferential EU import duties.  The British directive, the first to differentiate between goods produced within and beyond the Green Line, is widely seen as a capitulation by the government to a campaign by pro-Palestinian activists to advance an openly anti-Israel agenda.”

(The Jerusalem Post, July 19, 2002)

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WORDS OF WAR

       President Bush, it turns out, is keeping score.  Inside a drawer of his Oval Office desk sits a neat sheaf of classified documents containing the names and photographs of suspected terrorist thought to be responsible for the horrors of September 11, 2001.  As each man is killed or captured, according to the president’s daily intelligence briefing, Bush hauls out the list and puts a big check mark across the appropriate picture to signify that one more “evildoer” has met his fate.  Aids say the president takes considerable satisfaction in the private ritual.

       Clearly, Bush’s war has gotten personal.  This was illustrated once again by his tearful demeanor and emotional remarks at last week’s commemoration ceremonies marking the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  “For all Americans, it has been a year of adjustment, of coming to terms with the difficult knowledge that our nation has determined enemies and that we are not invulnerable,” the president said in a seven-minute address to the nation from Ellis Island.  “The attack on our nation was also an attack on the ideals that make us a nation.  Our deepest national conviction is that every life is precious, because every life is the gift of a Creator who intended us to live in liberty and equality.”

       Now Bush is applying that same sense of mission and resolve to what increasingly appears to be an inevitable war against Saddam Hussein.  In his much-anticipated address to the United Nations, Bush asked the court of world opinion to rally around him.  “Saddam Hussein’s regime is a grave and gathering danger,” Bush said in arguing that Iraq continues to develop nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, is a threat to peace, and is flouting the U.N.  Allowing the regime to survive, the president argued, would be a “reckless gamble.”

       All this means that Bush will need to add another role to his repertoire of consoler in chief and commander in chief.  Now, he must act as salesman in chief - and it won’t be easy.  As his first order of business, he will seek to impose an ultimatum with a tight deadline on Iraq in the form of a single sweeping U. N. Security Council resolution demanding compliance with stringent weapons inspections.  While Russia or China most likely will balk at an explicit threat of force if Baghdad resists, the Bush administration will work to make the implicit threat as clear as possible.  And it intends to act, with or without U.N. authorization.  “Standing idly by is not acceptable, and it will not be on our conscience,” Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told U.S. News.

       With his address, Bush fundamentally shifted the international debate onto more favorable ground by presenting the case as a fundamental test of U.N. credibility.  Yet several key Security Council nations remain wary of the administration’s underlying goal of “regime change” (a phrase the president avoided using in his U.N. address).  They appear to favor the approach used during the 1990s of forcing only weapons inspections, not Hussein’s removal.  Ousting him, these countries argue, would set the ominous precedent of overturning a sovereign government.

       Meanwhile, Bush will ask Congress to approve a war resolution before it adjourns next month.  As with the United Nations, he has a way to go.  “I don’t think that the case for a pre-emptive attack has been made conclusively yet,” says Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat.  Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, argues that Bush has not adequately defined the Iraqi threat.  “I am troubled that the administration has not made the most basic intelligence preparation for the debate on Capitol Hill,” Durbin says.  “Until it’s done, Congress is in no position to vote on going to war.  We should not make a rash or hasty decision.”  All this will require a level of salesmanship from the White House that it has not yet displayed.  In fact, a “white paper” released by the White House detailing Iraq’s history of flouting U.N. resolutions presented no new intelligence about its nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons capabilities.

       War planning.  Nor does the military appear ready to pull the trigger.  The Joint Chiefs of Staff are still hashing out a war plan, although the chiefs did meet on September 10 to narrow down the options drawn up by Central Command, which would run any conflict.

       But Pentagon planners say things might be quite a bit easier than they were in the first Persian Gulf War.  For one thing, the Iraqi military was decimated the first time around, and the subsequent arms embargo made it very difficult for Baghdad to improve its conventional forces.  In addition, any U.S. or allied buildup would not take nearly as long as the months of preparation needed 12 years ago.  The U.S. military presence in the region already is being bolstered by additional deployments of military hardware and some U.S. troops.  Pentagon officials think the military could be ready to strike by the end of November.  Military planners don’t think it will require anything close to the half-million troops sent to the region last time; one estimate is that it would take 150,000 to rout the Iraqis.

       And while worries persist that a desperate Saddam Hussein may use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. forces or Israel, there is growing confidence among at least some of Washington’s cognoscenti that the war would be short and decisive.  Former President Bill Clinton, for example, predicts that Iraq could be defeated in a week.

       At that point, though, things could get murky.  “How do we get out?” asks a senior military official.  “That’s the cause of the most concern.  What is the exit strategy?”  Yet a senior White House official says Bush is not worried about that prospect and would accept a U.S. commitment to occupy and rebuild Iraq for a period of years.  “He believes that scenario is better than leaving Saddam in control,” says the official.

       That is a turnabout for Bush, who argued in the 2000 campaign that America was stretched too thin around the world and should avoid “nation building.”  Likewise, his decision to seek U.N. support represented another shift.  Going it alone was his first instinct, reinforced by his hawkish advisers led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.  But in recent weeks, Bush has been persuaded to take a more multilateral approach, at least temporarily.  One reason: the quiet diplomacy of Secretary of State Colin Powell, a pragmatic coalition builder.

       Also playing a role in the shift were advisers to Bush’s father, including former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger.  Both have publicly advocated the more cautious, multilateral approach.  And many people who know George Herbert Walker Bush have no doubt that he agrees with his former advisers, although he would never say so publicly because it would embarrass his son.  Yet several of the elder Bush’s senior strategists warn that in some ways the current situation is much different, and more difficult, than the one the father faced.  “In ’91, we had a defined threat - Iraq had crossed an international border by invading Kuwait,” says a former aide to the elder Bush.  “This time, the threat is not well defined.”  Further, the administration’s internal divisions have been on full public display, featuring leaks not only of the factions’ differing views but also of various military attack scenarios, apparently in an effort to discredit them.

       Finish the job.  Compounding President Bush’s current problem is that he lacks his father’s personal relationship with other world leaders, deepened by the elder Bush’s experiences as vice president and U.N. ambassador, making it more difficult for the president to rally international backing.  Finally, the Republican Party’s conservative wing feels that the father botched the endgame of the Gulf War by failing to depose Saddam Hussein.  These conservatives, some GOP insiders say, are pushing the son to finish the job.

       To that end, Bush’s bill of particulars against Hussein is lengthy and growing.  The president, like his father, believes Hussein is a barbarian.  This was reinforced by Saudi sources, who told him the Iraqi dictator had sent Arab leaders a video in which he berates a group of political opponents who were brought in to see him - and shoots one in the head as a lesson to his adversaries.

       In addition, Bush has concluded that Hussein is more dangerous to the United States than he was before the Gulf War because more terrorists are now willing to commit suicide.  “This gives him willing mules” to carry out attacks, says a senior White House strategist.  “The president feels that when all the variables are taken together, Saddam Hussein poses a unique threat to the world,” and he must be ousted, observes another top administration official.  “When people say, ‘Why now?’ he says, ‘Why later?’”

       Yet some Democrats find the timing suspect and argue that the administration is stirring up war fever to give Republican candidates an edge in the November midterm elections.  “They’re using a fight they waited to have with Saddam Hussein directly for political advantage,” says Joe Lockhart, a Democratic strategist who was White House press secretary for Clinton.  “They realized the midterms were slipping away on the basis of the economy, and now they’re using foreign policy.  This is uncharted territory… but it’s a highly cynical and dangerous strategy.  They’ve clearly set this thing up so that something dramatic has to happen or the policy will be seen as a failure.”

       On the other side, many Republicans argue that it is the Democrats who are playing politics.  “These guys are making the same mistakes the Republicans made in 1991 - they are too ideological, too political, too extreme,” says GOP pollster Frank Luntz.  “The average American really hates Saddam Hussein,” Luntz adds.  “The average American won’t spit at anything these days, but he will spit at a picture of Saddam Hussein.”  Partly as a result, the public will give the president the benefit of the doubt if and when he uses military force to oust the Iraqi ruler, Luntz argues.

       So far, the growing debate in Washington over Iraq has not yet dominated the political campaigns across the country.  Overall, the midterms appear to turn on a variety of issues, including the economy, education, corporate reform, and many local and regional concerns.  Ratcheting up war talk could yet change all that by sweeping nearly everything else off the radar screen.  And whether by coincidence or calculation, that would be just fine with the political strategists at the White House. 

(By Kenneth T. Walsh, U.S. News & World Report, September 23, 2002)         

NO. 544 THE TEN CARDINAL DOCTRINES OF THE BIBLE

       “All scripture given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. 3:16,17)

       This text is what the Bible says about itself.  It is profitable for four things: (1) Reproof (refutation of error); (2) Correction (instruction in what not to do); (3) Instruction in Righteousness (what we should do); (4) Doctrine (something that is taught).  Doctrine in secular use is a statement of principle, a rule, or a law, as in the Monroe Doctrine.

       In our text doctrine simply means teachings, as the Diaglott gives it:  “All scripture, divinely inspired, is indeed profitable for Teaching.”  Biblical Doctrine then is all of the Bible’s teachings on God’s Plan of Salvation (Eph. 3:11, Dia.) - teachings He set before us and asks us to believe.

       Among the many doctrines of Scripture there are ten primary doctrines, interrelated, so that considered together they embody the entire Plan of Salvation as revealed to us here in the end of the Gospel Age.  These ten, properly understood, are harmonious just as the strings of a harp, properly tuned, produce chords that are harmonious: “Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.” (Psa. 33:2)  “To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.” (Psa. 92:2,3)  In addition we have in Luke 15:8-10 the parable of the woman who had ten pieces of silver.  In Scripture a woman usually types the Church (Little Flock), and silver types Divine truth, which Biblical doctrines are.

DOCTRINE NUMBER ONE

       The Bible begins with a doctrinal statement: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1)  The first of ten cardinal doctrines then is Creation.  Expanding on this the Bible continues in v. 2: “The earth was without form [no order] and void [in an empty or waste condition] and darkness was upon the face of the deep [no light from any heavenly body].”  From this state God began to prepare the earth to support life and began to bring forth life.  But God did this in a succession of six days, or periods, followed by a seventh day, or period, in which He ceased the work of creating plants and animals.  The seventh day, which began with the creation of man, we see to be 7,000 years (according to chronology, genealogy, prophecy) so it is reasonable to believe that the previous six days (epochs) were 7,000 years each (6x7=49,000).

       “Let earth bring forth grass, the herb seed, etc.” and “let the waters bring forth the moving creatures, fowl, etc.”  This is consistent with the findings of evolutionists that life evolved from the sea and the land.  But then there is a different statement: “Let us make man in our image.” (1:26)  God created man and called him “very good” (perfect) and this was not until the seventh day.  Psalms 8:3-6 sums up the creation of man: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?  And the son of man that thou visiteth him?  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.”  Dominion over the animals proves that man was not evolved from animals or part of any evolutionary chain.

DOCTRINE NUMBER TWO

       In the third chapter of Genesis is found a second cardinal doctrine, which is the Fall, often called the doctrine of original sin.  Satan used the serpent, the most subtle or cunning of God’s creatures, to beguile Eve into eating of the forbidden tree.  Adam followed and the blight of sin entered the human race and has been passed down by heredity.  Therefore, we are all death stricken.

       This doctrine is stated in figurative language in Ezek. 18:2:  “What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?”  Romans 5:12 states it in literal language:  “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

DOCTRINE NUMBER THREE

       The third doctrine of Scripture is the Law.  One of God’s purposes for establishing the Law Covenant with Israel was to demonstrate man’s fallen condition.  If Israel could keep the perfect law it would be redeemed from the death sentence: “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them.” (Lev. 18:5)

       The Law served another purpose in that it was a schoolmaster preparing Israel for the coming Messiah:  “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:23,24)

       The Apostle further shows that the entire experience of Israel under the Law provided a set of types foreshadowing the experience of the Church in the Gospel Age:  “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek - tupos, types]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [ages] are come.” (1 Cor. 10:11)  At the First Advent the Apostles lived in the end of the Jewish Age and the beginning of the Gospel Age (two “ends”) whereas now we live in the end of the Gospel Age and the beginning of the Millennial Age (two “ends”).  The types established during the Jewish Age apply to both periods.  God knew that Israel could not redeem itself through the Law so during the Jewish Age He raised up prophets who foretold of the coming Messiah, who would redeem Israel and the world by becoming a corresponding price or Ransom for Adam.

DOCTRINE NUMBER FOUR

       The Ransom then is the fourth doctrine of Scripture.  Since all had fallen short through Adam, no perfect man could be found to be a corresponding price; no angel or spirit being could be a corresponding price since they were on a higher plane than man; no animal could be a corresponding price since on a lower plane; so God’s Son, the Logos, was made flesh (perfect, sinless, separate from the sinful Adamic race).  The prospect of being man’s redeemer was set before Him - if He could successfully carry out a covenant of sacrifice (which He did) and if that sacrifice would be acceptable to God (which it was).  That sacrifice then would release Adam from the death sentence and consequently all from that sentence since death came to all through Adam.  The clearest statement of this doctrine is found in 1 Timothy 2:5,6:  “The man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom [Greek - anti-lutron, corresponding price] for all, to be testified in due time.”  This is the central doctrine of Scripture to which all other doctrines must conform.  This has been testified to the Saint class and all believers throughout the nineteen hundred years of the Gospel Age and will be testified to the world during the Millennial Age:  “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:3,4)

       As the dead world is gradually brought back from the grave during the thousand years of Christ’s Kingdom, they will be brought to a knowledge of the truth respecting God’s Plan of Salvation with the Ransom being at the center of that truth.

       The Ransom is stated another way in 1 Corinthians 15:21:  “For since by man [Adam] came death, by man [Jesus] came also the resurrection of the dead.”  The saints have part in the First Resurrection.  This implies more than one resurrection:  “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil [less good] unto the resurrection of damnation [judgment - from the Greek krisis]. (John 5:28,29)  “And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” (Acts 24:15)  Both passages show two resurrections: the resurrection of life, the just, the first resurrection of the Gospel Age elect, the Saints; and the resurrection of judgment, the unjust, the resurrection of the remainder of the world during the Millennial Age.  Since Christ provided the Ransom, He is “the resurrection and the life.”

DOCTRINE NUMBER FIVE

       Therefore, Resurrection is the fifth doctrine.  In Isaiah’s description of the earthly division of the Millennial Kingdom, he pictures the resurrection of the world by saying:  “The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isa. 35:10)

       The word resurrection is from the Greek anastasis signifying to stand up or rise up again.  It is not merely the raising of a corpse to a standing position, but raising or uplifting of man back to his original condition once represented in Adam.  It is not merely an awakening from death but the process of overcoming the death sentence and all of its effects of disease, etc.  So the world’s resurrection in the fullest sense will take many years, but the work for all who will seek to be restored fully and live eternally will take a thousand years.  Resurrection is a process that is the reversal of the death process.

DOCTRINE NUMBER SIX

       At Christ’s First Advent the call to sacrifice went forth; the Heavenly or High Calling, which is doctrine number six:  “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14; Heb. 3:1)  Those of this calling (the Little Flock) have been carrying out their sacrifice throughout the Gospel Age while being tried and tested and doing a witnessing work to the world and gathering out of the world and the nominal church others to be of this same class.  These will during the Millennial Age constitute, along with their Head, the Royal Priesthood (the Mediator between God and man) judging, blessing, and uplifting the world of mankind during the coming 1,000 years.

       Who are these who will make up this Royal Priesthood?  Some are the Apostles, reformers, martyrs, and others whose names are known in history:  Luther, Wesley, Zwingli, Hubmaier, Servetus, Miller, Russell, etc.  Of the rest we do not know their names but will know them in due time.  “Indeed the earnest expectation of the creation longs for the REVELATION of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:19, Dia.)  We do have a description of them in 1 Cor. 1:26,27:  “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”

       We are giving the Ten Primary Doctrines, but we believe that one of the secondary doctrines needs mentioning.  In Hebrews 11 there is given a long list of those we call Ancient Worthies and it says in verse 39, “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.”  They were faithful but received not the chief promise which is to the Church, but they also died without receiving their earthly reward, which they will receive at the beginning of the Kingdom.  Thus we see that there are other elect classes.

       Joel 2:28 lists four elect classes and says that the spirit will be “poured out” upon the Old Men and the Young Men [the Ancient and Youthful Worthies].  Mentioned above are the Ancient Worthies that came before Jesus’ First Advent, before the time for selection of the Church.  The Youthful Worthies are those who come after the Church is selected up to the Times of Restitution.  The Ancient Worthies understood everything of God’s Plan that was due in their day.  So the Youthful Worthies understand all that is due in their day, which includes all that the Saints understood, except the begettal of the Holy Spirit.  But they have the Holy Spirit in that they have the disposition, mind and influence of God, given through Jesus.  Thus, if faithful, they develop the fruits and graces of the Spirit.  This is attested in Hebrews 12:23, which speaks of the “spirits of just men made perfect.”  The context shows that this is at the beginning of the new dispensation and the Saints will be glorified at that time and will not be “men.”  At that time, the Worthies will have characters that have been tested, tried and found faithful.

       We put this under the Doctrine of the Heavenly Calling because they are an elect class and will ultimately receive a heavenly reward if faithful throughout the Millennial Reign of Christ.   

DOCTRINE NUMBER SEVEN

       How are these acceptable to God seeing that through Adam “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”? (Rom. 3:23)  They are justified (reckoned perfect) by faith in the merit or virtue of their Redeemer’s sacrificial life and death.  Therefore, Justification is the seventh doctrine.  By faith they are covered by the robe of Christ’s righteousness giving them a standing before God.  “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 5:1)

       The Ancient and Youthful Worthies could also be included in this category, because they are Justified by faith.

DOCTRINE NUMBER EIGHT

       Once justified, these are then called to consecrate, to offer their justified humanity as a sacrifice:  “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Rom. 12:1)  These make a “covenant with me by sacrifice.” (Psa. 50:5)  If accepted by God then they are sanctified, set apart for God’s service.  Thus Sanctification is the eighth doctrine.  These sanctified are begotten of the spirit - begotten to a new nature - the spiritual nature, and if faithful unto death will receive that new nature fully by being born again, or resurrected as spirit beings in the First Resurrection.  “Blessed and holy are they that hath part in the first resurrection.” (Rev. 20:6)  Their reward will be the highest of all spiritual natures, the Divine nature:  “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4)

DOCTRINE NUMBER NINE

       This Christ class has been awakened and glorified now at the Second Advent and the Kingdom is coming to power bringing about the Times of Restitution or restoration in the earthly realm of the Kingdom.  This is doctrine number nine.  There are two parts of the Kingdom, an earthly and a heavenly, as the Lord’s Prayer indicates:  “Thy kingdom come in earth even as it is in heaven.”

       In prophecy the Mount of Olives symbolizes God’s Kingdom as the olive (whose oil was a source of light in ancient times) represents light or peace, and a mountain symbolizes a kingdom or government.  The Mount of Olives pictures the Kingdom of Peace, under the reign of the Prince of Peace.  “The meek shall inherit the earth and delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” (Psa. 37:11)  “His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives.” (Zech. 14:4)  He will establish His reign or dominion and the Mountain will be divided in two parts, figuratively, representing the two divisions of the Kingdom - new heavens and new earth (2 Peter 3:13).

       The division forms a great symbolic valley between, a “Valley of Blessing,” replacing the valley we are now in “the valley of the shadow of death.” (Psa. 23:4)

       Restitution is stated in Acts 3:19-21:  “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive [retain] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

DOCTRINE NIMBER TEN

       Acts 3:22,23 then continues:  “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.”  Here then is the tenth doctrine of the Bible, the Second Death.  All who willfully refuse the offer of restitution and life after being brought to a knowledge of the truth in the coming Age will die the Second Death, eternal death, as symbolized by the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8).

       These ten doctrines considered together reveal the mind of God and His Plan of Salvation for the world and will ultimately glorify Him in all His attributes of Wisdom, Justice, Power, and Love.

       “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Rom. 11:33)

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       “NIGHTMARE IN SAN FRANCISCO:  after being surrounded by a mob of students shouting ‘Hitler didn’t finish the job’, and ‘Get out or we’ll kill you,’ pro-Israel students at San Francisco State University are finally finding an ally against hate.  The university president is so fed up with the hate-filled atmosphere on the Bay Area campus that he has asked the local district attorney’s office to help bring pro-Palestinian hate mongers to justice.

       “The May 7 incident received widespread press attention after an e-mail was circulated by Prof. Laurie Zoloth, director of the Jewish studies program at SFSU, describing the virulence of anti-Semitic rhetoric and the campus’s seeming inability to halt such occurrence.

       “More than 100 anti-Semitic incidents including graffiti, vandalism, hate speech and violence have occurred on US campuses since January, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

       “Zoloth, who attended the campus Hillel’s Peace in the Middle East Rally along with several hundred students, faculty, and members of the community, describe how Palestinian supporters descended on a group of 50 students who stayed behind to clean up and conduct a prayer service, after singing Hebrew songs and hearing speeches in support of Israel.

       “‘They screamed at us to ‘go back to Russia’ and they screamed that they would kill us all, and other terrible things,’ she wrote in the May e-mail.

       “As the counter-demonstrators poured into the plaza, screaming at the Jews to ‘Get out or we’ll kill you’ and ‘Hilter didn’t finish the job,’ I turned to the police and to every administrator I could find and asked them to remove the counter-demonstrators from the plaza, to maintain the separation of 100 feet that we had been promised.  The police told me that they had been told not to arrest anyone, and that if they did, ‘it would start a riot.’  I told them that it already was a riot.

       “After approaching Dean of Students, Penny Stafford, who called the San Francisco police, pro-Israel demonstrators were marched to campus Hillel House under police protection and a guard was posted at the door.

       “Zoloth also described what life is like for Jewish students and faculty at SFSU, noting her despair at the emergence of posters around campus equating Zionism with racism and Jews with Nazis, and pictures of cans of soup labeled ‘Canned Palestinian Children Meat, slaughtered according to Jewish rites under American license. This is not civic discourse, this is not free speech, and this is the Weimar Republic with brown shirts it cannot control,’ she wrote.

       “After staying silent for nearly a week, university president Robert Corrigan posted a statement condemning the incident on SFSU’s Web site on Monday.  But in a move that Jeffrey Ross, ADL director of campus/higher education affairs, praised as a positive departure from many campuses’ public silence on anti-Semitic incidents, Corrigan noted a request to the office of District Attorney Terence Hallinan to assign a member of its hate-crimes unit to work with SFSU and consider bringing legal action against certain students.

       “Still, it remains unclear whether those who have been terrorized will be placated by Corrigan’s vow to crack down on anti-Semitic demonstrators after nearly two years of virulent anti-Israel demonstrations.  As Zoloth noted in her e-mail, the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American atmosphere that has pervaded campus extends far beyond the scope of one protest that spun out of control.

       “‘After nearly seven years as director of Jewish studies, and after nearly two decades of life here as a student, faculty member, and wife of the Hillel rabbi, after years of patient work and difficult civic discourse, I am saddened to see SFSU return to its notoriety as a place that teaches anti-Semitism, hatred for America, and hatred above all else, for the Jewish State of Israel, a state that I cherish,’ she wrote.”  (The Jerusalem Post, May 24, 2002)

       “PREPARING TREES FOR PLANTING AT JNF FORESTS.  Israel is the only land in the world which has today more trees than it had a century ago.”  (The Jerusalem Post, May 24, 2002)

       “TERROR SPURS EXODUS OF AMERICAN JEWS TO ISRAEL:  American Jews are emigrating to Israel in large numbers for the first time in decades, spurred by a growth in anti-Semitism and a belief that they might as well face terrorism in their ancestral homeland as in the United States.

       “More than 400 Jews from America and Canada arrived in Israel last week on board a chartered El Al jet to an emotional welcome from Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Israeli Prime Minister, and several members of the Israeli parliament.

       “Hundreds of thousands of Jews from the former Soviet Union have poured into Israel in recent years compared with only a trickle from North America.  Last year 1,378 American Jews immigrated to Israel, while already this year, almost 1,800 have arrived.  The new arrivals are mostly young professionals - their average age 35 - and while most acknowledge their strong religious or secular Zionist identity as motivation factors for moving to Israel, many said that the events surrounding September 11 were the trigger… 

       “September 11 was a turning point for Noa Hirsch, 22, a law student, who arrived in Israel last week.  She intends to live in Jerusalem, where she will study Hebrew for five months before continuing with her law studies,  ‘On September 11, everything changed,’ she said.  ‘I was going to a non-Jewish university, and I would get comments every day like:  ‘You Jews brought September 11 on us.’  Never before had I felt singled out as a Jew, and I had never felt so alone.  So I thought to myself, where is the one place where I would feel welcome as a Jew?  The answer:  Israel.  My family and friends are happy for me, even if they are worried.’

       “Ms. Hirsch admitted, however, that she would not have been able to make the move without the support of Nefesh b’ Nefesh, a group founded by a Florida businessman, which receives funds from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.  The fellowship, with which Donald Rumsfield, the US defense secretary, and other leading American figures are associated, has donated more than $2 million (1.3 million pounds) to provide loans of between $5,000 and $35,000 (3,200-22,500 pounds) to help individuals and families with the cost of emigrating to Israel.”  (By Inigo Gilmore, The Sunday Telegraph, July 14, 2002)

       “‘AMERICA AT ITS BEST’:  All those who disagree with American support of Israel - the Arab world and its supporters in America such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the left and the State department (privately, if not publicly) explain American support of Israel by attributing it to the ‘pro-Israel lobby’ and its alleged power over Congress… it is very important to clarity why the charge is untrue.

       “The first reason is that it ignores Christians, specifically evangelical Christians.  These Americans have supplanted Jewish Americans as the most powerful support group for Israel.  They believe the Bible when it says, in Genesis, that the Creator will bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who curse the Jews.  They are, incidentally, quite right: America and the Arab world today are examples of that biblical promise.  They also believe that the return of the Jews to Israel was prophesied thousands of years ago in the Bible.  This, more than any other single factor, explains the powerful support given to Israel by President George W. Bush.  The president is a Bible-believing Christian (and therefore considerably more supportive of Israel than his father, whose Christianity was more ‘mainstream Protestant’)

       “If the ‘pro-Israel lobby’ were the reason for American support of Israel, and if it were synonymous with Jews, President Bush would hardly be susceptible to its influence.  President Bush received few Jews’ votes and few Jews’ money.

       “The second error is to suppose that pro-Israel support is a function of politics and money.  Opponents of Israel and the Jews do not want to acknowledge that most congressmen support Israel because their values impel them to do so.  Most Americans have a strong preference for free societies over tyrannies and understand that the real underdog in the Middle East is the tiny state of Israel struggling to survive in a sea of medieval hate.  American support for Israel emanates from the deepest of America’s core values - support for societies that reflect American values and opposition to those that threaten such societies.

       “In the final analysis, it is a libel of America, its president and its Congress to assert that they have all sold their souls for a pot of gold, when in fact their pro-Israel policies and votes reflect America at its best.”  (By Dennis Prager, Jewish World Review, July 3, 2002)

       “‘THE CORNELIUS CUP’:  The 14th of May is a special day in Israel’s history - it’s her birthday.  Israel was declared a state on May 14, 1948.  Only minutes after that declaration in Jerusalem, and at the direction of President Harry Truman, the United States was the first country to officially recognize Israel as a sovereign nation.  Thus the prophet’s word became a reality.

       “‘Who has ever heard of such a thing?  Who has ever seen such things?  Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?’ (Isaiah 66:8)  Of course the answer is obviously ‘yes’!

       “May 14, 2002 was also a special day for Christians for Israel (USA).  A birth took place for us as well.  It was the birth of what we want to see as an Annual event - the presentation of ‘The Cornelius Cup.’  The idea for ‘The Cornelius Cup’ is based on the Acts 10 account of the Roman centurion, Cornelius.  You will recall, Cornelius was a gentile who, with his family, ‘were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.’  He was ‘a righteous and God-fearing man, who was respected by all the Jewish people.’ (10:2,22)  It is in this tradition that we made the first annual presentation of ‘The Cornelius Cup.’  The actual cup is an inscribed Jewish Kiddush cup, symbolic of the joy that begins the Sabbath and speaks of the fellowship and acceptance that Cornelius experienced by Peter and the Jews.

       “The purpose then, of the presentation of ‘The Cornelius Cup,’ is to recognize a distinguished gentile Christian who has a record of care and concern for Israel and the Jewish people.  After much thought and prayer for a worthy recipient of the first annual ‘Cornelius Cup,’ we settled on one that we thought perfectly filled the bill - Fred Barnes.  Mr. Barnes is the Executive Editor of The Weekly Standard, the new national conservative magazine on politics and public policy.  Mr. Barnes founded The Standard, along with William Kristol and John Podhoretz, after ten years as Senior Editor and White House Correspondent for The New Republic.  He is host, along with Mort Kondracke, or The Beltway Boys on the Fox news channel.  Also on Fox news, he is a regular panelist on the nightly ‘Special Report with Brit Hume.’

       “Mr. Barnes is an outspoken Christian and supporter of Israel.  As a matter of fact, he confided, ‘I was a supporter of Israel before I became a Christian.’  That support has been demonstrated over the years in his writings and speeches as well as his television commentaries.  As a matter of fact, The Weekly Standard is probably the most consistently pro-Israel opinion magazine in print.  Indeed, we were honored to have Mr. Fred Barnes agree to be the recipient of our first ‘The Cornelius Cup.’

       “We were doubly honored to have the presentation event of the ‘Cornelius Cup’ hosted by the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.  And to be able to make this presentation on May 14, 2002, the 54th birthday of the state of Israel was indeed icing on a very special cake.”

(The Jerusalem Connection, Summer 2002)

       “PEACE IN OUR TIME?  I have been reading and re-reading the text of President Bush’s Middle East speech delivered earlier this week from the Rose Garden.  It is an intriguing, ambiguous document…

         This speech puzzles me.  If it is meant as a practical series of steps to peace and the long-hoped-for Palestinian state, it is unlikely to be useful, because although it sounds reasonable, its details are unrealistic.  In his opening paragraph, the president states that ‘the hatred of a few holds the hopes of many hostage.’

       “But both polling and on-the-ground assessments suggest that it is not a few.  Between 40 percent and 60 percent of Palestinians support the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.  Yasser Arafat, also a world-class hater, likewise has the support of about half the Palestinians.  A clear majority of Palestinians are in a fighting mood.  Terrorism is no longer a splinter activity; it is mainstream policy of the Palestinian people…

       “In the third paragraph of his speech the president makes explicit what the precondition for success probably will require: ‘If all parties will break with the past and set out on a new path, we can overcome the darkness with the light of hope.’

       “But that has been exactly the problem for the past 80 years (2,000 years?).  The Arabs and the Jews do little more than remember the past and stubbornly, murderously attempt to re-create their version of ancient history in the disputed present.  If the president’s plan relies on ‘all parties’ forswearing the past, it is doomed from the start…

       “But buried in this speech is a vital declarative sentence: ‘And the United States will not support the establishment of a Palestinian state until its leaders engage in a sustained fight against the terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure.’  There is the ice-cold reality at the center of this confectionary speech.  As there is no Palestinian will to end terrorism, there is to be no peace in our time.”  (By Tony Blankley, The Jerusalem Connection, Summer 2002))

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AN INTERESTING QUESTION

QUESTION - “Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” (Isa. 24:6) Who are these few men?  And how were the others burned?

ANSWER   - In the great burning day the “heavens” will be on fire, and “the earth and the works therein shall be burned up.” (2 Peter 3:10)  This Time of Trouble will involve the whole world, practically everybody.  The Lord speaks of some who will be preserved in the midst of this trouble.  Just as the three Hebrews were preserved in the fiery furnace, so we expect that some will be spared in the Time of Trouble.

       “Seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3)  This invitation seems to be to others than the spirit-begotten.  It would not apply to the Church, for her deliverance will be over before the culmination of the trouble.  It would not apply to the “great company” class, for it is incidental to their deliverance that they shall suffer in this time of Trouble the destruction of the flesh, and come up to honor out of “great tribulation.”  This, therefore, would seem to apply to a class of the world who are not spirit-begotten.  (Reprint 5041, col. 2, June 1, 1912)