Читать книгу Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf - Abraham A. van Kempen - Страница 3

Preface

Would an extra-terrestrial, an alien from outer space, eyeing from afar, view Evangelicals as more focused on Israel than on Christ, glorifying Judaism as much as Christianity, if not more?

“It is Biblical,” I hear Evangelicals tell me here in Bible Belt USA¹, our winter home in the sun, where I’m piloting impromptu get-togethers to explore and grapple, examine and scrutinize, probe and grasp the question: “Is the Israeli-Palestinian Quest to Co-Exist God’s will, or not?”

As a Jew, born on the outskirts of Israel-Palestine, I feel challenged with what I’m doing and feel blessed being in the land of the blind where the one with one eye is king. And to quote my friends in Ghana, "one with one eye shouldn't play with sand ... " Even one granule of sand could temporarily blind one with one eye.

“Folks,” I’d like to start our talks with: “where and what is the Promised Land”?

“Israel,” everyone says almost unanimously.

“OK, fair enough, that’s what is said in the Old Testament … But how do Jesus and the Apostles define the ‘Promised Land’ … what does Jesus say about the Promised Land?”

Quiet! Everyone is trying to all at once come up with the proverbial answer, realizing it’s got to be one of those obvious pieces to the puzzle … but they’re stuck in their thoughts.

After a few moments, I break through the silence with:

“Dear people, you all know the answer. You’ve learned it since Sunday school. The ‘Promised Land’ depicted in the New Testament, told by Jesus Christ, the Messiah, God in the flesh is, are you ready … the Spiritual Kingdom of God; and, can anyone tell me, where are the borders of this spiritual Promised Land?”

“None,” says the youngest kid in the room.

“The Deed of Trust of your Promised Land, the Spiritual kingdom of God is vested in the New Testament, set in blood on Calvary². You know what I’m getting at, don’t you?”

You almost have got to be a Jew to understand Christianity. Salvation is so much more than a mere ticket to heaven before death. Eternity starts at the moment of your salvation. From that moment on, you’re enveloped in the spiritual kingdom of God with God’s Holy Spirit residing inside your soul, your being, your consciousness, your conscience.

And, how has this come about … God basically decrees, there’s no way that mankind can live up to the Law of Moses. So, God replaces the Law with redemption. In order to do so, God says: “I’ll redeem all their sins on the cross.” Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, God in the flesh, dies on Calvary, sheds His blood for all of mankind, rises up from the dead and returns to heaven. But before he departs, he endows us with a heavenly surprise: His Omnipresence through the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit and His Spiritual Kingdom of the heart. And, just accept and repent.

“So why is Israel your business,” I grill the Evangelicals who come to my talks through word-of-mouth.

“Israel is old-time prophecies coming true … prophecies coming alive in our times.”

“Says who,” I query. “Tell me, cite one reference in the New Testament where Jesus Christ specifically talks about Modern Israel as a precursor to His Second Coming”?

Silence! Not one word! Because there is not a word ever uttered by Jesus, correlating Ancient Israel or Modern Israel to His Second Coming. But Jesus does prophesize the total and complete destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem:

“¹Jesus left and was going away from the Temple when his disciples came to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘you may well look at all these. I tell you this: not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one of them will be thrown down’ (Matthew 24: 1-2 Good News Translation GNT; Mark 13: 1-2; Luke 21: 5-6).”

If God is the same God in 70 CE and if Christianity has any validity, the temple in Jerusalem will NEVER, EVER be rebuilt.

The Good News, sermonized by Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, God in the flesh, is that God will never again reside inside an edifice made of stone. God, in the form of God’s Holy Spirit, dwells inside each and every believer; individual temples of human flesh, created in His own image; His own gems, more precious than stone.

Before Christ, God’s spirit has hovered in and around a select group of people. The Old Testament attests that the Spirit of God calls on priests, kings, prophets, and special people, i.e., Hagar, mother of Ishmael; Maria, mother of Jesus; and a handful of others. Ever since Jesus walked the land, God has chosen Jews and Gentiles³ alike to call on God’s spirit to reside in their hearts, in His omnipresence.

“But, you’ve got to want God to lead you by His spirit.”

We’re living in the New Covenant. All Israelites as well as all Jews and all Gentiles are equally Chosen. God has chosen us before we are born (Jeremiah 1: 5 GNT). And, it is up to us what we do with our ‘chosenness’ (Joshua 24: 15 GNT). That’s ‘free will.’ I want to make this point clear, you’re free to activate God’s spirit in your life. On the other hand, you’ve got no choice, no say in the matter, that you and all mankind are chosen, just like the Israelites in ancient times (Exodus 6: 7; 20: 2-4 GNT). As the Mishnah⁴ puts it: “You were born involuntarily (Talmud M. Avot 4: 22).”

“I don’t get it. Why am I chosen?”

“The word ‘chosen’ comes from the tradition of Ancient-Israel. But now all Jews and Gentiles are chosen. Everyone – all of mankind – is chosen or invited to seek God. It’s really a simple concept. You are a living Temple of God:

“¹⁹ Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God (1 Corinthians 6: 19 GNT).”

All living ‘temples’ are chosen. It’s no longer a matter of ancestry (1 Timothy 1: 4-5). In ancient times, only Israelites are chosen whether they want to or not. They have no say in the matter. But what each person does with his or her chosenness is their business. That’s ‘free will.’

“Israel must drive out the Palestinians … it is written, it is prophesized,” many Evangelical Christians tell me.

“Where,” I challenge them. “Where is it written … has Jesus ever suggested the idea of ethnic cleansing; worse, genocide”?

“Yes, it is written in the Old Testament,” a response from many in the room.

“Does Jesus say anything in the Old Testament … I’m not talking about what is written in the Old Testament … LISTEN … I am asking you a direct question, a very important question, a question of life and death … has Jesus ever talked about driving out the indigenous people, the native-born Palestinians from their homeland?”

“NO”!

Invariably someone would state: "Israel has sinned ... the Ancient Israelites should have slaughtered all Canaanites⁵ but didn't. Now they, the [Modern eds.] Israelis, are paying for it.”

“Besides,” adding ‘insult to injury,’ “if Abraham didn’t sin and just waited until Sarah was ready to give birth to Isaac, there wouldn’t have been an Ishmael … and now the Middle East is swarming with Arabs …”

Honestly, this is what I hear ... once stated by a highly educated young man, a medical doctor, age thirty-something.

The Old Testament explicitly states that Ishmael never leaves Abraham's realm of love and paternity, and he never leaves the sphere of God's blessing. Ishmael, the seed of Abraham, builds a great nation too. And, though, God promises Abraham that he will have many generations through Isaac and Jacob, He promises the same to Hagar, which means Hagar is, in effect, a female patriarch; and, Hagar is the only biblical character – male or female – to call God by His name and to converse directly with God (Genesis 16: 13-15 GNT).

"Israel is for Jews only ... all Arabs should choose to leave, then there will be peace.”

"How? Where to?" I inquire.

"They [the Palestinians] should pick up their belongings, pack up and move into the greater Arabian landscape ... where they're wanted. They're not wanted in God’s Promised Land.”

I force myself and pray for strength and wisdom, to remain cool, calm and corrected “Lord help me … grant me wisdom.”

“Are all Palestinians, Arabs, I ask?”

And so, I talk about Jesus, God in the flesh, who travels via Samaria to minister to the Israelites and Gentiles in Galilee.

“You know the story … in John 4?” Of course, every Evangelical knows that story.

"Before going to Galilee, Jesus first traverses through Samaria and opens His heart to the Samaritans. What's so significant about Jesus touching the Samaritans”?

Jesus dares to defy the prohibited, forbidden, and outlawed taboo. By Order of the Pharisees, a Judean is barred from coming close, let alone touch and talk to any Samaritan. The ‘Chosen’ Pharisees snub Samaritans as theo-geopolitical and social outcasts, untouchables and worthless; not too different how the present-day Pharisees humiliate today’s native-born Palestinians as an ‘urban problem.’

The Pharisees then insist, “Samaritans will never belong to our exclusive club, the Party of the Pharisees;” a stance indistinguishable of present-day ‘Israel for Jews-only.’ Paradoxically, the Pharisees mindset in Modern Israel, demonstrably denounced by Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, is now calling the shots in the Region.

Nonetheless, the Samaritans choose to follow Jesus, slighting the Pharisees. In 70 CE, the Romans expel the Party of the ‘More Chosen,’ who talk the walk of being Holier –Than- Thou,⁶ giving the impression they are even holier than the One God in Heaven. As prophesized by Jesus Himself, there is not a stone left after the complete destruction of their Second Temple.

From Samaria, Jesus continues to minister to the Israelites and Gentiles in Galilee. The Pharisees belittle the Israelites in Galilee as the ‘remnants of Israel,’ Israelites married to 'pagan Gentiles' and degrade the Gentiles in Galilee as impure. The pure-bred pedigreed Judeans scorn and vilify the half-breed Israelites and the Gentiles of Galilee.

I remind my group, “You know the story, right?”

“Yes!” Everyone knows the story. But the rest of the story dumbfounds every single Evangelical in the room.

"Who are these new ‘Christ Followers in Galilee;’ these Gentiles; these half-breed Israelites, but Israelites, nonetheless?

"All of them -- the remnants of Israel, the Gentiles in Galilee, the half-breed Samaritans in Samaria and many, many other ethnic groups in the Region make up the rich and vibrant human tapestry, whom I love and admire as my brothers and sisters, the indigenous people of Palestine … Yes! Today’s Palestinians!”

Many are descendants of people living in the Region for millennia before the biblical Abraham has followed God’s commandment to “leave his father’s house” and enter the Region. Abraham, the Patriarch of the Israelites, Christians and Muslims, who reveres and dignifies the local people, accepts their invitation to settle in the Land.

“So,” I ask, “are the Israelites, biblically speaking, indigenous to the Land?”

“No”!

What makes today’s Palestinian Body of Christ so special? Many of today’s 400,000 Palestinian Christians descend directly from Christian converts – Israelites and Gentiles – in the early Church who have been personally touched by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the oldest and perhaps most important Christian institution in the Holy Land, has existed in unbroken succession since the Roman period.

The Prophet Isaiah prophesizes that God would honor the people of the Israelite tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, who are living together side-by-side in Jesus’ times with Gentiles in the Galilee.

Isaiah: “The ‘Israel of God’ will be enlarged, because the Gentiles will respond in faith to the Son of Man [God in the flesh eds.] and his message of the [Spiritual eds.] Kingdom [of God eds.], adding to the Ancient Israel of God” (Isaiah 9: 1-7; Romans 2:28-29; 9:6-8; Galatians 6:15-16 GNT). Matthew tells us this prophecy is fulfilled (Matthew 4:13-14). Also, he confirms the presence of the mixed crowd, the remnants of Israelites and Gentiles, (Matthew 4:24-25).

Rabbinic circles in Jerusalem hold Galilean Israelites and half-breeds and the area in which they live with contempt. Their religious worship does not conform to the standards of the elitist Pharisees. The Pharisees condemn the Israelites in Galilee for their mixed ‘ancestry.’ They are the descendants of the Northern Ten Lost Tribes of Israel that have defected from Ancient Israel and intermarried with pagan Gentiles. Startlingly, Jesus accepts Israelites and Gentiles. Ancestry is not a pre-condition to God’s salvation.⁷

And now a historic bombshell! These indigenous Palestinians – Israelites and Gentiles, including those who convert to Christianity – have mostly remained in the Land while the Holier- than -thou elitists together with the Pharisees are driven out, expelled by the Romans.

In 1918, two gifted young men, David Green aka David Ben-Gurion and Itzhak Ben-Zvi, the future Prime Minister and the future President of Israel, state in their book, ‘Eretz Israel in the Past and Present’: “To argue that after the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus [70 CE] and the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt [132 CE] Judeans altogether ceased to cultivate the land of Eretz Israel is to demonstrate complete ignorance in the history and the contemporary literature of Israel … The Judean farmer, like any other farmer, was not easily torn from his soil, which had been watered with his sweat and the sweat of his forebears … Despite the repression and suffering, the rural population remained unchanged.”⁸

In 132 CE, the Romans changed the country’s name from Judea back to Palestine. Palestine has always been a magnet that has attracted people coming from all over. Of course, some Palestinians are Arabs as are many Mizrahi⁹ or Oriental Middle Eastern Jews. But most Palestinians, an admixture of Israelites and Gentiles, are an amalgam of humanity from all over.

For millennia, the Region greets and meets East and West, with merchants traveling back and forth between Europe and Asia. Many have settled in the Land. Because of this vibrant genetic blend, Palestinians rank among the highly intelligent, the best looking and the stunningly beautiful, some with blue eyes and bronze skin, others with blond hair yet dark skinned; not to mention, some possible descendants of the Crusaders with red hair.

What most Israelis and Jews still deny, a history not taught in Israeli high schools, is that during the 7^th Century CE many indigenous people of Palestine, Jews and Christians, have converted to Islam to please their new Arab overlords. As converted Muslims they are exempt from paying the exorbitant extra surtaxes required of People of the Book. Consequently, many indigenous people of Palestine are more Israelite than many present-day Jews who have wandered into the region from Central and Eastern Europe.

“The local population in Palestine is racially more closely related to the Jews than to any other people, even among the Semitic ones. It is quite probable that the fellahin¹⁰ [native peasant in Palestine] in Palestine are direct descendants of the Judeans and Canaanite rural population, with a slight admixture of Arab blood …”¹¹

David Green, aka David Ben-Gurion and Itzhak Ben-Zvi continue:

“The fellahin are not descendants of the Arab conquerors, who captured Eretz Israel and Syria in the seventh century CE. The Arab conquerors did not destroy the agricultural population they found in the country. They expelled only the alien Byzantine rulers and did not touch the local population. Nor did the Arabs go in for settlement. Even in their former habitations, the Arabians did not engage in farming … They did not seek new lands on which to settle their peasantry, which hardly existed. Their whole interest in the new countries was political, religious and material to rule, to propagate Islam and to collect taxes.”

According to Tel Aviv University historian, Professor Schlomo Sand: “… the ancient Judean peasants converted to Islam … they had done so for material reasons – chiefly to avoid taxations. Muslims are exempt from having to pay the sur-taxes imposed upon the People of the Book. They were in no way treasonous. Indeed, by clinging to their soil they remained loyal to their homeland … In addition to the Muslim law, there was, for a long time, a code of ‘fellahin laws, or unwritten customary judgments known as Shariat al-Khalil – the laws of the patriarch Abraham.’”

Daily, I thank God, the One God of Many Names, that each day more and more Christians are choosing for Jesus and rejecting the dark side of Judaism, that’s been seeping like sewage into the consciousness – the convictions and values – of Evangelical Christians. Israeli crimes against humanity their incessant atrocities against a defenseless indigenous people is a Christian Concern. Christians must let go and let God deal with Israel in His divine love and compassion for the people of Israel.

Christians everywhere understand what Jesus means by "I am the true vine (John 15:1 GNT)." The 'vine' is in reference to ancient Sacred Texts that "Israel is a vine planted by God (Psalms 80: 9-12, 15; Hosea 11:1, Ezekiel 15; 19:10f; Jeremiah: 2:21 GNT)." In short, Israel is meant and called to become a 'Light among nations.’

The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, among others, focus on Israel's failure 'to bear fruit' as the people of God (Isaiah 5; Ezekiel 15). The Israelites do not fulfil God's purpose for which God has 'planted' the vine/nation ... to be an exemplary people of God, the Light Among Nations.

Jesus does not mince any words. His parable of the vineyard is direct and to the point, focusing on Israel's failure to produce fruit (Luke 20: 9-19; Matthew 20: 1-5; 21:28-41; Mark 12: 1-12 GNT). Modern Israel today is as much of a failed state as Ancient Israel, 2000 years ago. Jesus, their Son of Man, God in the flesh has offered to release the Israelites from bondage of 1) the Law of Moses, 2) ancestry with self-proclaimed pedigree and 3) their claim as the sole Chosen People of God, taking their chosenness for granted, with neither good works nor faith.

God intends Israel be ‘a light among nations, to bring about a ‘heaven on earth’¹². Instead, Israeli ultra-right nationalism, branded as 'Zionism' has become a HELL ON EARTH, especially for the indigenous people of Palestine. Many Jews reject this heathen form of Zionism. Two of my heroes who embrace the holy form of biblical Zionism, Rabbi Joshua Heschel (“Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.”) and Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky (‘Inspiring Reflections on Gratitude and Joy for Every Day Based on Jewish Wisdom’) have, in their writings, often questioned the sanctity of this ultra-nationalist Zionism, which I refer to as Heathen-Zionism.

Toward the end of our talks, I wrap it up with, “what are your comments, your questions? What matters most to you?”

“You seem to deflect from what everyone wants to know about prophecies … I mean it’s prophesized that the Jews will return home.”

“Absolutely, but let’s get on the same page with nomenclature, terminology, definitions, language. First and foremost, prophecies will come true because prophecies are God-given schemes, which will come to fruition. Second, the prophecies foretell a future for all Israelites, not just Judeans. Third, here is the kicker, many present-day Jews are not all descendants of the Israelites, including the Judeans. Most Jews are not genetically connected to the Israelites. Today’s Jews are not yesterday’s Israelites.”

“I’m confused. Explain!”

“Most present-day Jews, like me, are descendants of Gentiles who have been proselyted into Judaism. In fact, the term ‘Jew’ is a recent invention, used for the first time in the 18^th Century.”¹³

“What about 1948?”

My response: “The Israel of my parents’ dreams still does not exist. Modern Israel is not yet the Light Among Nations … but I believe it can and will but not as an exclusive people. Jews will become the Light Among Nations together with Gentiles. That is prophesized. That is what is biblical.”

“I’m really confused.”

“Let me explain it this way,” I respond. “Remember the biblical Jacob, the scoundrel, the rogue, the rascal, the villain, the swindler, the con artist? By entrapping and double-crossing and duping Esau, his older brother and by tricking, deceiving, and deluding Isaac, his father, Jacob underhandedly embezzles the Birth Right of the First Born originally bequeathed to Esau. But the biblical Jacob has a conscience as do most people. And God deals with Jacob. Jacob genuinely atones and reconciles with God. And, God changes Jacob’s name to Israel.

Today’s ‘Israel’ is NOT Israel. It is Jacob.”

Silence. Not a sound!

“But I want to get back to 1948. The presumption is that in 1948 Israel has become a nation. Wrong! Israel is still not a nation. It is a supra-national state for Jews-only. There is no such thing as an Israeli nationality. It still does not exist. Israel is also devoid of a Constitution. To this day, Israel remains a micro-supranational state without defined borders, still in search of itself for all the Jews in the world. And ironically, more Jews live in the diaspora than in the one and only state for Jews-only.

All Jews can become Israeli citizens. And, why are 1.8 million Palestinians Israeli citizens? As a condition to becoming a United Nations member, Israel must declare the Palestinians who remain inside the Green Line, Israeli citizens. They represent 21 percent of the Israeli population and have endured Martial Law for more than 20 years. They still withstand second-class citizenship status, though not the third-class to no-class status of the refugees from Africa, notwithstanding, the indigenous Palestinians imprisoned behind iron walls in Gaza and the West Bank."

“Okay, I got the drift of where you’re going … I’m still stuck with God’s commandment to drive the ancient Palestinians out of the land … if they killed everyone in ancient times, the present Jews wouldn’t have the same problems, right?”

“Aren't the Israelites in ancient times commanded to kill all the inhabitants in the Land?

Deuteronomy¹⁴ 20: 10-14 says: “Make a peace offering first then kill everyone who doesn’t greet you in peace.” First and foremost, God prohibits the ancient Israelites from slaughtering everyone. In fact, only 23 ‘nations’ are completely cleansed out. Why are they executed? Primarily due to sexual promiscuity”! Most are spared and guess what, just about all are proselyted into the religious traditions of Ancient Israel.”¹⁵

“Hasn’t God commanded the present-day Israelis to drive the Palestinians away for the same reasons”?

“Forgive me … permit me to chuckle. If God were to command the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to massacre those engaged in sexual promiscuity, they don’t have to go far. Tel Aviv is not the only Sodom and Gomorrah in all of the Middle East. Many of Israel’s kibbutzim, with all its free sex, built on fertile soils, seized from the dispossessed, displaced and imprisoned Palestinians, fall in the same category. They too will have to be trashed.”

Again, silence.

“Well folks it’s been a bit more than three hours. You must be exhausted. May I impart a few more words. Can we move the conflict to a new paradigm, from an Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, essentially a civil war among brethren, to the Israeli-Palestinian Quest to Co-Exist of brothers and sisters? Some are converted to Judaism, some to Christianity, and some to Islam?”

Christians, if you truly LOVE Israel, pray for their release from bondage.

Christians, if you truly LOVE Jesus, LOVE the people of Palestine.

“Abraham, hold on please. I’ve got a burning question … before we adjourn, do we have time; otherwise, I’ll ask you privately. I had wanted to ask but I thought someone else would have.”

“Let’s see, it’s almost midnight. It’s been a great session. Folks, is it okay if we continue this for a few more minutes?”

Everyone sits on the edge of their seat. No one is chained to their chair. “Okay … Shoot, what’s your question? Can this be the last question tonight”?

“It’s about the Second Coming.”

My pastor says, “The Jews have returned to their land … Israel’s return to its land fulfils all the biblical prophecies … now that Israel is restored to its land, is this the end … I mean, the Second Coming is around the corner, so to speak”?

“Is your question, 'The Israelites or the Jews have returned to their land ...'

Most Jews are not genetically linked to Ancient Israelites. Many indigenous Palestinians are more genetically linked to the Ancient Israelites than most modern-day Jews.

Again, in all due respect, please so not confuse modern Jews and Ancient Israelites as one and the same. They are not. Also, don’t confuse the Palestinians as being purebred Arabs. They are not. Many Palestinians are more Israelites than the Jews who have emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe.

Many of the Israelites who have remained in Palestine are not Jews who have wandered from Eastern and Central Europe. They refer to themselves as 'Israeli.' Most present-day Israelites in Israel are Palestinians, not Israelis.”

So, let me further dissect your question. First, none of the prophets in the Old Testament has ever talked about ‘Jews.’ The term ‘Jew’ is relatively new. Some may have referred to the Judeans, but the Judeans are but one tribe of the twelve tribes of Israel. The prophets talk about the Israelites, not Jews.

As I have stated earlier, most Jews are not genetically linked to the Tribe of Judah or to any other tribe of Ancient Israel.

The Jews have a spiritual link to the land, just like all Christians and all Muslims. Many, if not most indigenous Palestinians have a physical link to the land.

Third, you said: ‘their land’ … inferring that some ethnic tribe owns the land. Wrong! The Old Testament unambiguously and clearly insists the Land does not belong to anyone, not even to Ancient Israel. The Promised Land belongs to God and only God (Leviticus 25: 23) and it is entrusted to ALL of Abraham’s descendants as the Father of a Multitude of Nations, conditioned upon the Covenant, that the Israelites shine as a light among nations (Isaiah 49: 6).

Notice! The Bible stipulates a 'multitude of Nations' not one nation and certainly not one ethnocentric group. Multitude of nations foreshadow multiple ethnic groups. Abraham’s children procreate more of Abraham’s children, producing healthier gene pools that promote a wholesome humanity.

Who are Abraham’s descendants? All Bible believing Jews, Christians and Muslims hold Abraham as their common Patriarch.

Okay ... I want everyone to stand up and stretch. Relax! Go ahead and sit down! Now, try to break out of the box and connect the dots?

Are you ready?

The Promised Land is NOT only for Jews. The Promised Land for Jews-only no longer exists. The Promised Land, since the days of Jesus, is called the 'Spiritual Kingdom of God;' and, it's NOT just for Jews, it is for all of God's children, everyone. Let me be clear. There is no such thing as a Promised Land for Jews-only ... no longer, not anymore. God has fulfilled that promise.

Have I simplified or complicated matters … did I answer your question ... 'The Jews have returned to their land … Israel’s return to its land fulfils all the biblical prophecies … now that Israel is restored to its land, is this the end … I mean, the Second Coming is around the corner, so to speak?'

In short, God hasn't even begun to 'restore Israel to its land' ... so the end, the Second Coming, isn't yet on the radar, despite the hopes of many.

“What about the Second Coming?"

“I honestly don’t want to touch that with a 10-foot pole … but okay, let me make it more complicated. You cannot seriously discuss the Christian Second Coming with the Orthodox or Ultra-orthodox Jews, representing 30 per cent of the Israeli population. They're still waiting on the First Coming. I’ve got to tell you most Jews don’t give a hoot. My Israeli friends, all atheists, just laugh it off. They don’t care whether it’s the Christian version of the Second Coming or Judaism’s multiple versions of the Messiah’s First Coming. And, Islam has its version too.

Can finite mankind fully understand the Infinite God, notwithstanding that ‘people of God’ tend to tell God what to do, how, when, where and why? Jesus has patently, in no uncertain terms, set the fundamental precondition for His return:

^'14And this Good News about the Kingdom will be preached [witnessed eds.] through all the world for a witness to all people; and then the end will come (Matthew 24: 14 GNT).'

'How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God's people to live together in harmony! (Psalm 133: 1 GNT)!'"

"Question! My pastor tells me that we're already in a time and place where all people on earth have heard the gospel ... through the Internet, like with smart phones, social media ..."

"Good point. Thank you! Are Evangelicals, true witnesses for Christ? Jews and Muslims don’t think so.

Let’s look at Matthew 24: 14 again! It’s God talking. How will the gospel be ‘preached?’ As a ‘witness’! In other words, not the talk but the walk. Evangelicals must focus on becoming witnesses for Christ. Action speaks louder than words.

So, it better be good, honest and thorough witnessing ‘to all the nations’ … no more superficial fear mongering: ‘You better get saved now for you may die tonight.’ God is thorough with ‘everlasting love’ (Jeremiah 31: 3) and ‘mercy that endures forever (Hebrews 12: 6, 7 GNT).’ ‘For God so loved the world … “(John 3: 16 GNT)’ must become a reality to be known and understood by all mankind as the precondition before Christ returns.

And, despite all our assumptions, ranging from the sublime to the profane, none knows the ‘day and hour:’ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only (Matthew 24: 36; Mark 13:32-37; Luke 17: 26, 27, 34, 35; 21: 34-36 GNT).”

"I have been told of apocalyptic end times scenarios. Many people ask, 'if there is a God in heaven, why wouldn’t God think of a better way to save mankind?'”

My response: “Yes, it seems to me that God doesn’t need to go through all those hoops considering that when God create the heavens and the earth he merely: “… speaks, and it comes to be; he commands, and it stands firm’ (Psalm 33: 9 GNT).”

“⁸ “My thoughts,” says the Lord, “are not like yours, and my ways are different from yours. ⁹ As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways and thoughts above yours (Isaiah 55: 8-9 GNT).”

“It’s past beyond midnight. Wouldn’t you rather go home? Permit me to impart these words … I promise, it’ll be quick, no more than 30 seconds:

Descartes, the ancient philosopher says: ‘I think therefore I am,’ the corollary of which is: ‘I think not, therefore I am what?'

People, the author of Proverbs says the same. We must critically think, question, scrutinize, review and evaluate our thoughts and verify them empirically with others; and, discern with God’s spirit.

Do you seek the voice or truth of God?

When you read scripture and the sacred texts reinforce your prejudices, making you more mindless, is that the Voice of God?

When you study the Sacred Texts and each word pierces through into your conscience, your soul; changing you for the better from within, giving you that feeling of becoming more mindful, is that the Voice of God?

By the way, I’ve just written a short book on the subject. It’s a fast read with universal appeal. Everyone wants to know more about what’s happening in Israel - Palestine but with all the conflicting propaganda, where do you start? So, I’ve distilled some of the pure gems, the nuggets condensed from more than 6,000 pages of research with lots of personal anecdotes into this short but potent manuscript, with lots of references and footnotes. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Truth seldom is sweet; it is almost invariably bitter. A measure of bitter truth is included in our talk today. I offer it as your brother.

Many Evangelicals and Jews are pursuing a mirage in the dessert with an obsession to repossess a Promised Land that God has already signed, sealed, and delivered; in short, fulfilled. God is offering a New Promised Land, a ‘New’ Covenant for everyone, God’s spiritual Kingdom of the Heart?

What’s the Covenant?"

Someone says: “Are we grateful? I don’t think this ‘gift’ has sunk in. I never thought about salvation the way you're teaching it today. I thought salvation is to be saved to go to heaven when I die ... shouldn't we be instruments of His Blessings?”

“Well said,” I respond. “What else? … Why are we here?”

“We should become like Christ … It’s about winning souls”.

“We’re getting there … but whose soul should you win first?”

Again silence!

Finally, a pastor says: “Witness first to yourself. Focus on your own ‘Jerusalem.’ Become a better and brighter Christian!”

“Wow! Indeed, thank you for saying that. That’s our Covenant.

Jews and Gentiles, become the light among nations! We’ve got to work at it. Let’s shine the God within us to the world all around us; but, not too intensely. Too much light, blinds; too much salt, stings.

By the way, you’re going to like the last chapter of my book: ‘Abraham … A Life Without Borders.’"