I have an idea for a end times thread. I think Israel is obviously a key to knowing what is going on as far as the end times.

With that in mind, if anyone wants to read the Jerusalem post and make postings to this thead here is the newspapers website as it may be a decent source of news as far as what is happening in Israel:

Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/

I am open to other sources of news regarding Israel as well.

Excellent idea!

Jeep

The Roots of Evil in Jerusalem.
Posted: Tuesday, November 09, 2004
- written by jerry golden

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This report will shock and upset some; it is one I have put off for over 4 years. After struggling with it I have decided now is the time to write it. Knowing it could be misunderstood as anti-Semitic. God forbid that I a Jew should ever say or do anything that would be remotely considered as such, but I must admit this report does not come easy for me. The fact still remains that an evil force has been put into place in Jerusalem and has spread throughout Israel, in preparations for the end time and the seat of the anti-Christ. For if we are to believe that the anti-Christ is to have his seat on the Temple Mount, then we must come to grips with some truths not being preached today. One such truth is the foundation for such a move of the Devil must be underway even as we speak if this is to happen. Or we simply are not in the end days. This report will prove that such a move is underway and has been for quiet some time. It will be accepted by some and rejected by others, but that is the way it goes.


In this report I will use many pictures showing the establishment of the Illuminati and establish proof that there has been a diabolical plot by those we refer to as the New World Order. Showing the architectural design of the New Israeli Supreme Court Building designed and paid for by the Rothchilds reflex the presence of Free Masonry and the Illuminati. I took all but one of the pictures you are about to see so I can assure that what you are seeing is real and in place.


The same families who own and control the Federal Reserve and other major financial institutions have their eyes set on the Temple Mount, and the Holy City of Jerusalem. Just as Scriptures say, the man who will be revealed as the anti-Christ will sit in that place, before the appearance of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach, and many will receive him as their messiah. Just actually how that will come about remains to be seen, but one thing I am convinced of is that Holy men of God will not be the ones to rebuild the Temple, it will be the Illuminati. For God would not send men to that place to perform blood sacrifices. His Son's blood was the perfect sacrifice; there is no need to shed the blood of dumb animals any longer. Yeshua did a perfect work, and it was finished. But He will return and take control of the New Temple that I feel will be built soon. But before He will return this world will have to get in such bad shape that the anti-Christ can be accepted by most as the savior who can bring peace and order to the world. But then you know the rest of that story so lets go on.


For those who may think this article is anti-Semitic I ask you to read an article on (Synagogue of Satan) http://www.thegoldenreport.com/asp/jerrysn...iewer.asp?a=329 for there are those who call themselves Jews but who are of the house of Satan. And many have found their way into the Israeli Knesset.


Once again Yeshua will enter into that place, the Holy Mountain of God and cleanse it, but before that happens all hell will break loose in Jerusalem and the world. So with all that said I will now show you some things that have never been published before, for the few who are aware have been afraid to speak of it. So I ask you to pray over this servant of God for protection as we go forth with these truths. These truths must be revealed in order for the Body to know how close we are to the Second Coming of Yeshua HaMasiach (Jesus the Messiah).


As this entire report will be built around the construction of this building order by the Rothchilds I should show you a picture of the building. A friend of mine took this picture as he and his wife flew over the area a couple years ago. The Supreme Court building sits on a plot of land opposite the Knesset and next to the Foreign Ministry and the Central bank of Israel. It is important to keep in mind that it sits in line with the Knesset, for we will be talking about Ley-Lines that cross under this pyramid running to the Knesset, with other ley-lines that cross in perfect order to the center of Jerusalem and on to the Rockefellow Museum. Everything about this building has been thought out to the very finest detail, and it is diabolical. The Devils plan has been put into place before we ever had an idea of his plan. He knows his final battle will be here in Jerusalem.


The Engineers who were chosen for this job by the Rothschild's were the grandson and granddaughter of Ben-Zion Guine from Turkey who worked for Baron Rothschild, Ram Kurmi, born in Jerusalem in 1931, and Ada Karmi-Melanede born in Tel-Aviv in 1936. For those who can make something out of the numbers. It was important to the builder to have everything done according to the correct numbers. There were 1,000 sheets of plans, 1,200 cement posts; they worked on the building for 3 years or 750 days. 20 workers each day, for 200,000 workdays, 250,000 building stones, each hand placed.



The Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem.


The first thing you will notice is the pyramid with the all Seeing Eye just like the one you will see on the American dollar bill, it sits in a circle to the left. We will elaborate on this a little later in this article. The larger circle you see at the bottom of the picture is an inverted-cross designed to walk on. It is the only religious emblem designed to be trampled on under foot. At the top of the picture is a Moslem Gravesite, and just out of view to the right is an Egyptian Obelisk.




To the left just out of sight is a god of the Far East.



And all through the building you will detect Hindu Altars. All of this will make more sense as we go along, keep in mind we are talking about the establishment of a form of Government that will usher in the anti-Christ.


There is little proof on the building itself of the presence of the Rothschild's but on an outside wall we find these two items.


Pointing to the garden that displays the Egyptian obelisk.


Giving recognition to the Rothschilds, you will notice the Rothschilds emblem at the top. It is the symbol for the founder of the Rothschild Dynasty and his five sons, who established central banks throughout Europe. The Rothschilds made several stipulations with the Israeli Government before the building began, among them were. The Rothschilds would pick the plot of land to build the Supreme Court; they would use their own architects, and no one would ever know how much the building cost. It took them four years to build this structure with many secrets built into it.

Go here to finish article:
http://www.thegoldenreport.com/asp/jerrysn...a=817&print=yes

Thanks for the information... all.
God Bless

"O God, the nations have entered into your inheritance, they have defiled the sanctuary of your holiness, they have turned Jerusalem into heaps of rubble...they have shed their blood like water round Jerusalem..." (Psalms 79:1-3);

"...O Jerusalem, the built up Jerusalem is like a city that is united together...Pray for the peace of Jerusalem..." (Psalms 122:2-6);

"Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains as God surrounds his people forever" (Psalms 125:3);

"The builder of Jerusalem is God, the outcast of Israel he will gather in...Praise God O Jerusalem, laud your God O Zion." (Psalms 147:2-12)

The way the Palestinian Authorities see it:


*******************************************************************

Rice on Gaza pullout: Time to work together is running out
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conceded Saturday that time is running out for Israelis and Palestinians to work together to assure a smooth Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

With less than two months to go before Israel plans to start removing 8000 Jewish settlers from Gaza, Rice arrived Saturday to put pressure on both Israel and the Palestinians to resolve a series of issues that could determine whether the withdrawal leads to chaos or the beginnings of a viable Palestinian state.

"Coordination is absolutely critical," Rice said at a press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whom she met here after her arrival Saturday. "There is no more time to simply put problems on the agenda."

Among the issues to be resolved:

• How will Palestinians in Gaza be able reach other Palestinians in the West Bank, also occupied by Israel since a 1967 war?

• How much access will Gazans have to Israel and foreign countries through border crossings and travel by air and sea?

• How much weaponry and other equipment will be provided to reorganized Palestinian security forces to maintain law and order in Gaza, a teaming enclave of 1.3 million people, many of them living in refugee camps?

• What will become of Israeli homes, greenhouses and businesses left behind by settler families?

U.S. Army Gen. William Ward and former World Bank president James Wolfensohn have been meeting with Israelis and Palestinians to try to resolve these matters, but Rice gave no indication that they have made measurable progress.

She meets Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who proposed the Gaza withdrawal nearly two years ago in hopes of decreasing attacks on Israel and of keeping Israel from losing its Jewish majority.

Sharon meant the action to be unilateral. But since the death of last year of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the Bush administration has pressed for the plan to become part of a longer-term effort to create an independent Palestinian state.

Rice underlined Saturday that "this is not Gaza only" and repeated admonitions to Israel to stop building homes in settlements on the West Bank.

She said that all sides should be focused on making Gaza withdrawal work. "If we concentrate on what is in front of us and do it well, we will be in a position to make greater progress," she said.

Many Palestinians fear that Israel will hold onto large portions of the West Bank and prevent them from having a capital in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem. Tall concrete slabs surround much of the city. Israel says the barrier is meant to prevent suicide bombings but it is gradually cutting East Jerusalem off from the West Bank.

"Palestinians feel that Jerusalem is slipping by, and there is no way to make it their capital," said Khalil Shikaki, a prominent Palestinian pollster. Continued Israeli construction and Israel's refusal to discuss what might follow Gaza withdrawal is strengthening the militant Hamas organization, blamed for numerous suicide bombings, Shikaki says.

Hannan Ashrawi, a former Palestinian minister of higher education and peace negotiator, who met with Rice Saturday said Rice listened to Palestinian complaints about constraints on freedom of movement and settlement expansion.

"She mostly listened but she did respond that she understood the need to give people hope," Ashrawi said.

Rice leaves Israel Sunday and travels to Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Belgium and Britain on a trip meant to support Gaza disengagement, the spread of democracy in the Middle East and preparations for a summit next month of industrialized nations

*****************************************************************

I believe the U.S will soon be in a world of trouble now. Thanks to the Bush administration.

Let's pray for Israel and our country, George W. Bush, Condi....the whole family that there will be some sanity left. August will not be pleasant. Israel will tear the buildings down and Palestine will clean up the rubble.

The problem with the structures in Gaza is holding up the pull out process.
I believe the Palestinians will 'renovate and cleanse' rather than demolish like the agreement now states. It's been a back and forth issue and is aggravating a lot of people.

It's too costly to demolish everything but on the other hand both the Israeli and Palestinian's have a problem with leaving things as they are. The solution will be to 'renovate and cleanse'. At least that's what the Lord seems to be showing me. I've followed it for a long time.

If this happens when the Israeli's pull out (which will happen and surprise everybody) then the renovation process will keep the land from being 'officially occupied. Technically they won't be occuping until the renovation process is complete. This will take some time... and... it will buy some time. It will also keep God's word.

I think Israel will settle for less in order to keep the peace and to keep the process going. They're tired and worn down. These are things l think God has shown me twice. (Though the second sign is in process it points to a pull out and a renovation.) The steps revealed so far only lead as far as an unoccupied renovation... True the Palestinians will lay claim and be in there doing whatever they need to be doing but it won't be official yet.

We can look at our Bible (the only true road map) and know where the path leads after that.

It's easy to remain detached..... To not remember daily the history of a people and region. It's hard to go to prayer and cry over what's happening.

What can we say concerning this before God? How do we lead our lives? Are we allowing the enemy to take over our personal Gaza Strip? To appease his relentless attacks? Have we tried to handle and comprise these hard areas that have been seemingly impossible to resolve?

I have to confess that there are some things in my life that won't change without the supernatural intervention of God. My methods don't work. I know because l've tried them all. We all have to wait on God and not give up territory to the enemy. Jesus is coming. He's coming. Take heart! Don't give up!

These two sites blew my mind concerning the Zionists (who claim to be Jews)
and the True Jews. The things written there (by some of the orthodox Jewish Rabbi's themselves) are very different from what most of us have come to believe about the Jews and Israel.

Take a minute to read when you can. Most likely, it will blow your mind also and make you think, "What is really going on concerning Israel and the Palestinians?"

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/antisemi...aliebermann.cfm

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/zionism/notjews.cfm


Rom 9:6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they [are] not all Israel, which are of Israel:

Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

God bless our Jewish brothers!

~Ish

Please see the True Torah Jews "Statement of Principles" that was printed in the New York Times - Sept 30, 1982.

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbinic...times093082.cfm

Also see the statement issued by 77 respected Rabbi's of the USA and Canada:
"Call from Central Rabbinical Congress of the United States and Canada"

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbinic...callfromcrc.pdf

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY FOR THE TRUE JEWS!!!
We here in the U.S. have been fed so much propaganda and lies concerning Israel!
I am totally overwhelmed as I see more and more, that not all who say they are Jews are truely Jews. What is going on over there right now is not between the True Jews and the Palestinians. The Palestinians have been used by the Zionists (the fake Jews) as a "smokescreen" for their political elitist agenda. They are going to bring in the AC and the One World Order!!!! Believe it! And PRAY for those there (living amongst the imposters) who are desperately looking for their Messiah - even our Lord JESUS CHRIST!

God Bless them.

~Ish

PS Sister Miki, right now I don't find it hard to go to prayer and cry over what's happening. Especially since I am seeing how I myself have even added to the pain of God's chosen ones. I have believed so much of the propaganda for so long now... God forgive me

Please forgive me for "hogging" this thread, but I am compelled to do so for the benefit of our Jewish brothers and sisters, right now...

THE MILLIONS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED
By I. Domb

Many books have been published, read and forgotten. There is one book, however, which dare not be allowed to share this fate. This is the chronicles of Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl, ztl, of the war years, 1942 to 1945, so aptly named "Min Hametzar" (From the Depths). published in New York in 1961 in Hebrew. Not enough individuals have read this book. The ghastly facts uncovered in it are not sufficiently well known.

Who can imagine the Hitlerite holocaust? Where is the language to describe it? All the known words of human speech have already been used for conventional occurrences; they have acquired everyday meanings and have been fashioned with an inability to describe the horrors of an Auschwitz or a Treblinka. What can be said to make individuals understand the wild cries of the night, when our brothers and sisters were led to the slaughterhouses? And in what way can one convey the conversion of precious Jews to the status of animals preparatory to being slaughtered?

Skyscraping walls prevented their cries being heard, and in that horrible man-made silence, the most valuable portion of the Jewish people was compressed in the confines of the ghettos in hunger and in thirst, in epidemics and in torture, crying bitterly, only to themselves, until the end of their anguish; when they were loaded into the sealed anguish; when they were loaded in the sealed cattle-wagons for the week-long journeys, when their corpses and the still have-living reached the slaughterhouses and gas chambers. Where can existing words be found to fit this story, and who is there to coin new phrases with meaning enough to tell this tale?

Yet all this was done through a directive from an innocent-looking office, where the S.S. murderers, with the methods of modern civilization gave the orders which, by chain reaction, set in motion all the machinery of death and destruction to which a stop could not be envisaged. One stroke of the pen to extinguish a hundred thousand lives. A few words enough for a million. And these few officers set the wheels turning in Auschwitz, in Treblinka; the Einsatzkomandos; the deep pits on the lonely plains of Europe overflowing with human blood. So much power behind it, such a military might enforcing it that only the winning of the World War could interfere with this running horror.

But how astonished was Rabbi Weissmandl to discover that these strokes of the pen could so easily have been erased, that the Jewish tragedy could to a considerable extent, have been alleviated by some simple "old fashioned" methods. How many hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives could have been saved -- perhaps even millions.

Wisliceny was the German henchman for the Jews of Slovakia, Eichmann's representative in that area for establishing the ghettos, destroying their livelihood and finally dispatching to slaughter the hundreds of thousands of Jews in Slovakia and the neighboring countries. He carried out this mission as directed by Eichman and as his own cravings commanded. His was the first country in Europe to be designated for the supply of Jews to the slaughter houses, as it was Slovakia that was first occupied by Hitler--even earlier than Poland. The puppet government of Cardinal Tissu had asked Hitler to "cleanse" its country of Jews. Officially it even paid Germany for transportation, and Wisliceny was the ultimate ruler and organizer. He was nearly always drunk; drunk from spirits and intoxicated with blood -- and seemingly unassailable.

Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl, at the end of 1943, when two thirds of the Jews of Slovakia had already been transported for "work" to that far destination, got to know through a certain Hochberg -- an S.S. intriguer, and second in command to Wisliceny, that his chief was also lustful for money and that already on more than one occasion, money had bought relief for some individuals, postponing their deportation. Overwhelmed with joy at this discovery, he consulted his father-in-law, the great and renowned rabbi of Nitra, ztl, who agreed that if this old-fashioned method was effective, there was no reason why it would not be attempted on behalf of the great masses to be saved.

Rabbi Weissmandl writes of this same Hochberg, "I was first there on Friday in the summer of 1942 -- Tammuz, 5702. I was standing in the corridor near to the office of Hochberg and all of the waiting rooms around were crowded with those who had come to Hochberg to beg a postponement of that ultimate journey for "work in the east," as many still believed. I heard the voice of Hochberg speaking on the phone to his chief, Wisliceny saying, 'Her Hauptstumbandfuehrer, ich melde ghorehsamst, the train has left: Man 727, Women 637, Children 1667: altogether 3,028 Jawohl!' Never will this total leave my memory; 1600 children! No outcry and no tears. No one cares. The whole world is silent. Jawohl, Herr Hauptsturmbanfuehrer.

One of the famous men of Pressberg, Reb Aharon Gruenhut, finally succeeded in gaining confidence by Hochberg in Rabbi Weissmandl, for whom a secret appointment was arranged. On this occasion, the rabbi presented himself as one who had connections with rabbinical circles throughout the world. He showed Hochberg his passport that contained a British visa issued just before the outbreak of war, and told him of his visit to London and of conferences there to impress him with his high standing. He then made it clear that he had come on a secret mission of the highest importance as a representative of Jewry abroad, who had contacted him through the American "Joint" in Switzerland. Their message was that they were prepared to pay in cash for the stopping of all further transports of Jews from Slovakia to the east. The "Joint" was ready to pay the price that his chief, Wisliceny, would name. Rabbi Weissmandl emphasized that neither Hochberg nor Wisliceny should believe that his mission was directed by local Jews.

During this conversation with Hochberg in 1943, when the scales of war were already a little out of balance for Hitler's Germany after the heavy defeats in the east and the support of the allies by American might, Rabbi Weissmandl was able, with American might, Rabbi Weissmandl was able , with careful tact, to introduce doubts into Hochberg's mind about German world conquest, and more specifically about Hochberg's own position after the war. He conveyed to him that it would be very much to his and his chief's advantage to make some provisions for their own safety. In this respect, he was now authorized to offer the promise of World Jewry that if they would stop all further transports, he and Wisliceny would be save.

Hochberg became enraged at such suggestions, but as the conversation progressed, he became much softer and began to listen carefully to what was proposed. He listened and replied, "I must go to see Wisliceny."

He left immediately and Rabbi Weissmandl waited. Every minute seemed like an hour; every hour seemed endless. He sat there exhausted, awaiting the reply fateful for the remaining Jews of Slovakia, with so many hanging in the balance.

He had set there for many hours, when suddenly the door burst open and Hochberg hurried into the room. Speaking rapidly and with great excitement, he said, "the deal is done. My chief asked for $50,000 and no further transports will be sent; but he lays down the following terms: Wisliceny will show his goodwill: three transports -- next Tuesday, next Friday, the following Tuesday -- each of about 3000 souls, will be held up, but on Friday after that, the first Installment of $25,000 must be handed over. After that, there will be no further transports for seven weeks, to enable the second installment of $25,000 to be obtained and paid, after which there will be a final stopping of all transports. There is one further condition. You must be able to show that the money comes from abroad and not from Slovakian Jews themselves."

The latter was an important point to this S.S. henchman, as a guarantee that it was world Jewry who was behind the deal, and who would finally keep its promise for his safety. In any case, Rabbi Weissmandl did not then think that Slovakian Jews could possibly find such a sum, as by that time they had been stripped of all their possessions. On that other hand, he did not imagine for one moment that the wealthy "Joint" would not provide such a relatively small sum to save literally tens of thousands of lives from total annihilation in the German slaughterhouses.

Rabbi Weissmandl left Hochberg's office with hope and joy. He hurried home to Nitra to inform his father-in-law and to set about getting the deal consummated. The Rabbi of Nitra, in spite of his happiness at the possibility of saving so many lives, expressed some reservation. He felt that from a distance the "Joint" would not see their tragedy, and that the Zionist leaders working together with the "Joint" had a different calculation. But he suggested, representatives from beyond the "Kanzelel" -- the Council of Orthodox Jewish Communities -- should be drawn into this, and even the Zionists and non-Orthodox groups taken into partnership.

The name of Mrs. Gisi Fleischman came to the forefront, as she was of Zionist circles and also the pre-war representative of the "Joint" in Slovakia. Besides her prominence, she was a good-hearted and courageous women and her word would carry weight with the "Joint". It was also decidedly to call on Mr. Fuerst -- known for both his integrity and financial ability.

Among the weapons with which the Zionists have equipped themselves to pierce the walls of resistance to their influence, there is one most predominant. This is "ahavas Yisroel" -- love of the fellow Jew. This slogan and catch-phrase carries extra weight with the religious Jew to whom this concept has a special attraction. The Zionists have explained that their aim is achieving statehood is to provide a refuge and shelter for much tormented Jewry.

The long, bloody paths of our, till now, 2000 year long exile, with its inquisitions, persecutions, pogroms, slaughter and torture, has always been at the front of every Jews mind. Seldom was there a place on this earth inhabited by Jews, or a stretch of time, without blood and tears at the hands of our many persecutors of all nations. It was these pogroms that provided, for the short-sighted, the initial conditioning to seek a solution in the outward idea of Zionist achievements.

Possibly the Zionists, themselves, at the first steps of inception, were honestly taken by the idea of that solution; and it was this kernel of compassion that gave to them the power to influence others with this superficial consideration. Zionism has built on the basis that the solution of nationhood applicable to any other nation is in the same way also applicable to Jewry, as they could see no difference between the nations of the world and the Jewish people. As they see it, Jews regulate their fate by the same ways and means as all other peoples. The belief in exile by Heavenly Decree as a punishment for our sins, and the belief in Heavenly Redemption by the Will of the Creator was, to Zionism, non-existent. People's thoughts were not directed to the fundamental, all-embracing heresy upon which Zionism was established, but grasped only the attractive promises that were offered because unfortunately, Zionism arrived in the most feeble and small of all generation, coupled with distressing happenings, which contributed to the closing of people's minds to the truth and to their being led astray by the Zionist Idea.

How much were Rabbi Weissmandl and his colleagues overcome with joy when they succeeded in getting the right people together! How great was their hope! But how much were they overwhelmed by sorrow when they tried to get things in motion, and how great was their frustration when they learned that the Zionists, together with the "Joint", stopped every outside help from reaching them. This was not only when it was a question of saving the remnants of the Jews of Slovakia -- about 40,000 souls -- but also when the possibility of saving what was still left of the Jews of Poland and Hungary was in question; a matter then of millions of souls. Then, too, the Zionists deliberately prevented any help from being extended under various excuses that even a child could see through. This was their policy -- stupid and merciless -- but they perused it relentlessly. In the end, they admitted openly that their policy was not to help fellow Jews, but to let them perish in the tens of thousands and in their millions.

This is forever unforgettable and unforgivable. Zionist "ahavas Yisroel" must be displayed conspicuously and beyond any doubt.

The Friday when the first installment of $25,000 had to be paid was fast approaching and there was not yet a way how this money could be found for Wisliceny. Mrs. Flesichman was also the representative of the World Jewish Congress and well known to the Jewish Agency. She was, therefore, considered to be the most suitable person to make contact with these organizations. Her words would be listed to....

The pressure became even greater when it was seen the S.S. oligarchy was in earnest. The first transport has been stopped. But how can contact be made with Zurich, with New York and with Jerusalem, the seat of the Jewish Agency, which influenced and coordinated the work of these other two bodies? Slovakia was then a small country sealed off by the German occupation of the surrounding territory. There was no common border with any free country, so how could any message be conveyed to the outside world?

Shloime Stern was instrumental in finding a temporary solution. He obtained a diplomatic courier, who was prepared to take all the important messages to the "Joint" in Zurich. He was also able to borrow money, temporarily, from various sources in Slovakia, putting together the equivalent of the enormous sounding sum of $25,000. The money obtained was changed on the back market for dollars and handed over to Hochberg for Wisliceny. Hochberg accepted it and came back with the message that there would be no further transports for seven weeks, which time was set for the completion of the deal.

They were all convinced that once the diplomatic courier would get their message to the "Joint" and the Jewish Agency, not $50,000 but ten times $50,000 would at once be put at their disposal for this and similar "deals." Surely Jews the world over would dance for joy upon hearing that at last the door was open in the inner circles of the S.S. and a way found to rescue their fellow Jews.

Mrs. Fleischman sat down to write the memorandum to Salli Mayer, the "Joint" representative in Switzerland. She was careful in her every word, explaining the situation of hope that had been ignited. The "Joint" should hasten its help at this last moment and miss the life-saving opportunity that had been so dramatically forced. The memorandum was sent to the "Joint", to the Jewish Agency and to a personal friend of hers, Mr. N. Schwalbe in Zurich. And then they sat down to wait.

Days went by, swallowed by weeks, and of the seven not many were left. The time for the final settlement was fast approaching and a great sum of money was needed. Many people had managed to escape from the hell of Poland to Slovakia on their way to Hungary and Romania, which were not yet being so intensely processed by the Hitler hordes. They were not a thousandth of a percent of those who were so brutally done to death, but still a number to be supported and a problem of Slovakian Jewry. Money was needed to bribe the Slovakian genarmerie and police to stop their pressure for the deportations to continue. Money was needed for the labor camps in Sered, Novaki and Wiener in Slovakia.

The Slovakian anti-Semitic government had built these camps for a slave labor before deportation began, and it was put to those Jews still left there that if they, themselves, would build up and increase the capacity of those labor camps, they would absorb more and so relieve the pressure for "deportations." and above all, the money was needed to refund the temporary loans from so many sources that had gone towards the first payment to Wisliceny and to provide the second $25,000 that would finally seal this blood transaction.

All this money was a matter of life or death for the tens of thousands of Jews in Slovakia and, in the end, for millions still alive throughout Europe. Who could provide and who should provide, if not the "Joint" and the Jewish Agency, who held possession of the vast sums of money given by Jews the world over for the help of their brethren in need? Was there anywhere at all any need that was greater?

The diplomatic courier left for Zurich, holding in his hands the lamentations of the strangling remnants of Jewry; in his hands, their appeal from death.

This courier had to spend some days in Zurich before his return. He was awaited with mounting anxiety, for with his advent were tied up all the hopes of the masses under sentence.

And he returned. But not even a letter was sent with him by those "help organizations" only a verbal message that they had no time to write, and of help there was no mention at all.

Rabbi Weissmandl writes that on hearing this message, they 'felt as though the house had collapsed on them'. It was only Mrs. Fleischman who started to explain matters after this great shock. She said that "uncle" Salli Mayer was a very cautious man and it was necessary to write again. It was also necessary to write to Mr. Silbersten, the Jewish Congress representative. "And who knows, maybe they are doing something great," she added. Maybe for such a big undertaking they had to refer to New York and Jerusalem -- who knows?

Rabbi Weissmandl, himself, followed up with letters to the Agency and the "Joint" in the name of the Rabbis left in Slovakia -- letters of tears and of pleading -- but still there was no reply. Meanwhile, the seven weeks had passed and they had to send to Hochberg, asking him to explain to Wisliceny that the messenger that was to bring the money from Switzerland had met with an accident and was delayed in a hospital there. He would be bringing the money in three or four weeks time. Wisliceny agreed to wait.

In the end, a letter did come from the "Joint"; a letter written by Salli Mayer, which said that $50,000 was a lot of money for such a small country, and that in the previous year's budget of the "joint", only a few thousand dollars had been allocated for them. The "Joint" had to be run according to their system. The explanation given in the memorandum why they now need all this money and the documentary evidence as to what was happening in Poland, to which country the "deportations" took place, were exaggerated stories. This was the way of Eastern European Jewry, who were always asking for money. In general, he added, it was impossible to send anything at all just then, as the money was coming from America, which had prohibited the sending of funds to enemy countries. What was possible to do was to render some small help, monthly, if the "Joint" in Hungary would agree to do this out of the blocked account that been held since the outbreak of the war.

Rabbi Weissmandl and his colleagues read the letter, but they could not believe it had been written by fellow Jews. Their hearts stopped beating when its contents became clear to them. But this was not the end. There was a further letter. It fully explained the first. But it was more deadly and more devastating. It disclosed the bottomless abyss to which born- Jews can sink -- the responsibility of Zionism.

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Go here to view video clip from the documentary, "Among Blind Fools," on Rabbi Weissmandl and his efforts to save thousands of Jews from the holocaust.

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/mediacli...smandlvideo.cfm

WORDS OF THE RABBIS
Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandl ZT"L Dean of Nitra Yeshiva

TEN QUESTIONS TO THE ZIONISTS

1. IS IT TRUE that in 1941 and again in 1942, the German Gestapo offered all European Jews transit to Spain, if they would relinquish all their property in Germany and Occupied France; on condition that:


a ) none of the deportees travel from Spain to Palestine; and

b ) all the deportees be transported from Spain to the USA or British colonies, and there to remain; with entry visas to be arranged by the Jews living there; and

c ) $1000.00 ransom for each family to be furnished by the Agency, payable upon the arrival of the family at the Spanish border at the rate of 1000 families daily.

2. IS IT TRUE that the Zionist leaders in Switzerland and Turkey received this offer with the clear understanding that the exclusion of Palestine as a destination for the deportees was based on an agreement between the Gestapo and the Mufti.

3. IS IT TRUE that the answer of the Zionist leaders was negative, with the following comments:


a ) ONLY Palestine would be considered as a destination for the deportees.

b ) The European Jews must accede to suffering and death greater in measure than the other nations, in order that the victorious allies agree to a "Jewish State" at the end of the war.

c ) No ransom will be paid

4. IS IT TRUE that this response to the Gestapo's offer was made with the full knowledge that the alternative to this offer was the gas chamber.

5. IS IT TRUE that in 1944, at the time of the Hungarian deportations, a similar offer was made, whereby all Hungarian Jewry could be saved.

6. IS IT TRUE that the same Zionist hierarchy again refused this offer (after the gas chambers had already taken a toll of millions).

7. IS IT TRUE that during the height of the killings in the war, 270 Members of the British Parliament proposed to evacuate 500,000 Jews from Europe, and resettle them in British colonies, as a part of diplomatic negotiations with Germany.

8. IS IT TRUE that this offer was rejected by the Zionist leaders with the observation "Only to Palestine!"

9. IS IT TRUE that the British government granted visas to 300 rabbis and their families to the Colony of Mauritius, with passage for the evacuees through Turkey. The "Jewish Agency" leaders sabotaged this plan with the observation that the plan was disloyal to Palestine, and the 300 rabbis and their families should be gassed.

10. IS IT TRUE that during the course of the negotiations mentioned above, Chaim Weitzman, the first "Jewish statesman" stated: "The most valuable part of the Jewish nation is already in Palestine, and those Jews living outside Palestine are not too important". Weitzman's cohort, Greenbaum, amplified this statement with the observation "One cow in Palestine is worth more than all the Jews in Europe".

There are additional similar questions to be asked of these atheist degenerates known as "Jewish statesmen", but for the time being let them respond to the ten questions.

These Zionist "statesmen" with their great foresight, sought to bring an end two two-thousand years of Divinely ordained Jewish subservience and political tractability. With their offensive militancy, they fanned the fires of anti-Semitism in Europe, and succeeded in forging a bond of Jew-hatred between Nazi-Germany and the surrounding countries.

These are the "statesmen" who organized the irresponsible boycott against Germany in 1933. This boycott hurt Germany like a fly attacking an elephant - but it brought calamity upon the Jews of Europe. At a time when America and England were at peace with the mad-dog Hitler, the Zionist "statesmen" forsook the only plausible method of political amenability; and with their boycott incensed the leader of Germany to a frenzy. And then, after the bitterest episode in Jewish history, these Zionist "statesmen" lured the broken refugees in the DP camps to remain in hunger and deprivation, and to refuse relocation to any place but Palestine; only for the purpose of building their State.

The Zionist "statesmen" have incited and continue to incite an embittered Jewish youth to futile wars against world powers like England, and against masses of hundreds of millions of Arabs.

AND THESE SAME ZIONIST "STATESMEN" HEEDLESSLY PUSH THE WORLD TO THE BRINK OF ANOTHER TOTAL WAR - REVOLVING ENTIRELY AROUND THE HOLY LAND.

What may befall the Jewish inhabitants of Palestine, of the Arab crescent, Europe, or the USA; is of no concern to these Zionist leaders. The rising anti-Semitism in the Western World is the product of their "statesmanship".

Under the guise of "love of Israel", the Zionist "statesmen" seduced many Jews to replace devotion to the Torah and its Sages with devotion to the scoundrel who founded Zionism. It is of no little significance that Herzl originally sought conversion of the Jews as a solution to the problems of the Diaspora. When he realized that this was not acceptable to the Jewish masses, he contrived Zionism as a satisfactory alternative!

A look into history reveals that this very same type of "statesmen" opposed the call of Jeremiah the prophet to yield to the minions of Nebuchadnezzar at the destruction of the first Temple. Five centuries later, Rabbi Yochonon Ben Zakai appealed to the people to surrender to Titus the Roman to avoid bloodshed. The "statesmen" rejected this appeal, and the second Temple was destroyed by the Romans. --- And now for the past fifty years, the Zionist "statesmen" rebuff the leadership of our Sages; and continue in their policy of fomenting anti-Semitism. When will they stop?? Must every Jew in America also suffer?? - Even the Nazi monsters had more sense, and gave up their war before all Germany was destroyed. The Zionist "statesmen" ridicule the sacred oath which the Creator placed upon the Jews in the Diaspora. Our Torah, in Tractate Ksubos, folio 111, specifies that the Creator, blessed be He, swore the Jews not to occupy the Holy Land by force, even if it appears that they have the force to do so; and not rebel against the Nations. And the Creator warned that if His oath be desecrated, Jewish flesh would be "open property", like the animals in the forest!! These are words of our Torah; and these concepts have been cited in Maimonides' "Igeres Teimon", "Be'er HaGola", "Ahavas Yehonosson", and in "Toras Moshe" of the Chasam Sofer.

IT IS COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT ALL THE SAGES AND SAINTS IN EUROPE AT THE TIME OF HITLER'S RISE DECLARED THAT HE WAS A MESSENGER OF DIVINE WRATH, SENT TO CHASTEN THE JEWS BECAUSE OF THE BITTER APOSTASY OF ZIONISM AGAINST THE BELIEF IN THE EVENTUAL MESSIANIC REDEMPTION.

Yidden - merciful sons of merciful fathers - how much longer must holy Jewish blood continue to be shed??

The only solution is:

The Jewish people must reject, outright, a "Jewish State".

The Jewish people should accept the US compromise.

We must depose the atheist-Zionist "statesmen" from their role as Jewish leaders, and return to the faithful leadership of our sages.

We beseech the Nations to open all doors to immigration - not only the doors of Palestine.

Peaceful, non-Zionist religious personalities in Palestine, (particularly from the native population) and their counterparts in the Diaspora, should engage in responsible, face-to face negotiations on behalf of the Jewish people, with the British and the Arabs; with an aim of amicable settlement of the Palestine issue.

Every Jew is obliged to pray to the Blessed creator, for in Him lies all our strength. Let us bear in mind that our prayers be forthright. One should not entreat the Creator to provide a banquet on Yom Kippur, and one can not perform a ritual ablution with a dead bug in his hand. Similarly, we should avoid the untenable position of the robber who prays for Divine help in carrying out his crime. We should pray that Zionism and its fruits vanish from the Earth, and that we be redeemed by the Messiah with dispatch.

A prisoner is released only when he has served his time, or if he is pardoned by the President for good behavior. If he attempts escape and is apprehended, his term is lengthened, besides the beating he receives when he is caught.

Faithful Jews- for over three and one-half thousand years, in all parts of the world, through all trials, our grandfathers and grandmothers marched through seas of blood and tears in order to keep the Faith of the Torah unswervingly. If we have compassion for ourselves, for our women and children, and for the Jewish people, we will maintain our golden legacy today. We have been sentenced to exile by the King of Kings because of our sins. The eternal blessed be He, has decreed that we accept the exile with humble gratitude until the time comes, or until we merit His pardon through repentance. If we seek to end the exile with force, G-d will catch us, as our sages have forewarned, and our sentence becomes longer and more difficult.

Many times in the past have segments of our people been defrauded by false messiahs - but none of the false messiahs has been as fallacious and delusory as the lie of Zionism. With our historical experience as our guide, no retribution has been or will be greater than the retribution for giving credence to Zionism. If we wish our exile-sentence commuted, we must appeal through repentance; and through total physical and spiritual observance of the Sabbath, laws of family purity, and study of Torah.

Let it be clearly understood that never in Jewish history (even in the time of Jeroboam or Achav) have such hostile atheists stood at the helm of the Jewish people as today.

How can we plead to the Almighty for mercy while we tolerate these vile, "wicked" leaders as spokesmen! Beloved brothers - let us cleanse our ranks and cleanse our midst; let us entreat the Almighty through prayer, repentance, and fulfillment of mitzvos that He alone redeem us, immediately.

from http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbi_qu.../weissmandl.cfm
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Now have we, here in America, been captivated by Zionist propaganda or not???? WHAT IN THE WORLD IS REALLY GOING ON???

~Ish

The last major Old Testament prophet to speak for God to the southern kingdom of Judah was Jeremiah. During the last forty years of the existence of that nation, he faithfully represented the living God to its people.

Chapter 7 of Jeremiah is the first formal sermon that he delivered in the gate of the temple in Jerusalem.

To capture the emotional impact of the event, imagine being at a meeting somewhere -- a class, a church service, a business meeting -- where an uninvited stranger arrives and interrupts the proceedings. Imagine him with a bullhorn as he begins to preach at everyone, and how uncomfortable it would make everyone feel.

This is what happens when Jeremiah arrives and begins to preach in the gate of the temple.

Now read Eugene Peterson's commentary on this section of Jeremiah:
(from his book, Run With the Horses, (Intervarsity Press, 1983, pp57-69).

We need to go back about fifty years to the reign of King Manasseh in Judah to understand some of the miraculous history that leads up to the preaching of this sermon. Manasseh was the worst king the nation ever had. He was a thoroughly evil man who presided over a totally corrupt government, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 55 years. That's a half-century of spiritual and moral darkness in the nation of Judah. Manasseh encouraged pagan worship. Entire communities in the country were involved in sexual orgies. There was cult prostitution at shrines erected to Baal and Asherah throughout the whole country. He imported wizards and sorcerers from the Far East. The people became enslaved to magic, to superstition, and to fear.

In 2 Kings 21 we're told that Manasseh even took his own infant son and placed him on an altar to the god Molech. In a terrible ritual, he burned him as an offering. The temple, built by King Solomon, was totally desecrated by Manasseh. That temple had been built to be empty of all forms of gods, so that the one true and invisible God could be worshipped in simplicity. Manasseh took the temple and filled it with idols, shapes of beasts, and monsters. Magicians and prostitutes, both male and female, were all over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. What he had done was to deify lust and greed. Second Kings 21:9 tells us in summary: "Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel." Of all the pagan nations, his sin was greater.

The prophet Jeremiah was born in the last decade of Manasseh's rule. Jeremiah learned how to walk and talk and play as a little boy in this evil environment. It really was a slum society. After 55 years of misrule, true faith had come close to oblivion in the land of Judah. There were some godly families, including the family that Jeremiah was born into, a priestly one. Some of those families remembered the messages from prophets of God. They remembered what it was like to worship God wholeheartedly in the temple in true worship. They were like hidden pockets of refugees, faithful people who were almost exiles in their own nation. Manasseh died and his son Amon succeeded him, but things didn't change. The evil continued, however, the people finally couldn't take it anymore, and Amon was murdered. His eight-year-old son Josiah was placed on the throne in Jerusalem, and a miraculous spiritual turnaround began in this nation of Judah. Second Kings 22, verse 2, says of King Josiah, "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord." From the very beginning as an eight-year-old boy, he had a deep, intuitive longing for God. His corrupt parents couldn't squash it out of him, nor could the evil environment that he was growing up in. God used the spiritual sensitivity of Josiah to bring new life to the nation.

When Josiah was 21 years old, in his thirteenth year of ruling, he began a campaign to root out all the pagan worship in Judah, and he personally traveled up and down the length of the country tearing down the Canaanite high places to Baal and Asherah. He destroyed the places of sacrifice to Molech. At the same time that Josiah began his reform in the land, Jeremiah, as a young man perhaps in his late teens or early twenties, began a nationwide prophetic ministry of teaching. Jeremiah preached up and down the land in the streets calling the people to repentance. His early preaching, in the first six chapters of Jeremiah, drew heavily on the writing and preaching of Isaiah, the prophet to the northern kingdom who had ministered some 150 years before. Just as Isaiah warned the people of the north that God's judgment was coming--exile was coming if they did not turn and surrender to the Lord--Jeremiah preached for five years in the streets at the same time that Josiah's reform was going on. Historians tell us that in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, five years later, he began to renovate and repair the temple itself in Jerusalem.

One of the first discoveries made by the high priest under Josiah, a godly man named Hilkiah, who may have very well been Jeremiah's father (we don't know that for sure), was the long-lost Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. Not one single copy of them had existed for 250 years in the land of Judah. Josiah immediately had the entire Law read to him as the king. He responded immediately to it in obedience. He destroyed all the remnants of false worship in and around the temple. He sent priests up and down the land of Judah to publicly read aloud the Bible to the citizenry. He reestablished biblical worship in the temple. The Scriptures were read as part of the worship; sacrifices were reinstituted; Passover was reenacted. Jeremiah had a ringside seat for this whole reformation. People began streaming back to the temple, giving flourished, and the temple was remodeled. Reform was accomplished in the nation. Everything a king's commands could do was done. Conspicuous crime, superstitious religion, and immoral worship were arrested.

Jeremiah was struck by something as he watched all of this unfold. He knew that just getting rid of evil did not make people good. He saw that the reformation was really only skin deep. It seemed that everything had changed, but nothing really had. Outward changes were enormous; the inward changes were impossible to see. At this point in his life, God calls him from a ministry of informal street preaching to preach in the temple gate itself as the worshipers are thronging to the temple. Look at the first two verses of chapter 7, which are an introduction to his message: his call to preach and his invitation to listen. Verses 1-2:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord.'"

This is an important introduction because Jeremiah is an uninvited preacher, a stranger probably to some or most of the worshipers. The priests that were there probably knew who he was because he had grown up in a priestly family and his reputation was growing throughout the country. But he's facing, as he stands there that morning, a revival atmosphere of joy and celebration and enthusiasm--high emotion and excitement. These people can hardly wait to get to the temple. And then they're stopped by this unscheduled interruption.

Verse 2 says that there are three things that absolutely belong to God.

First of all the temple itself is God's house, the place designated for the pure worship of Yahweh. The people had renovated it and had provided their resources to clean it up and remodel it, but it was a holy place. Throughout this sermon, Jeremiah reminds the people repeatedly that they're in a place named for Yahweh, and HIS name determines HIS ownership of the place and everything that goes on inside of it.

The second thing that belongs to God is each word of the message. The sermon that's going to be preached is not just Jeremiah's opinions on worship and lifestyle. It's a direct word from God through Jeremiah to all the people of Judah who are entering the temple.

The third thing that Yahweh owns absolutely is every individual who is going inside that temple to worship. This is seen in the phrase at the end of verse 2, "all you who enter to worship the Lord."

The Hebrew word for "worship" is a powerful one. It describes the physical act of actually prostrating yourself on the floor before a sovereign, someone who has complete control over you. He's saying, "As you enter this place you are acknowledging God's complete and absolute sovereignty over every area of your life, and as far as you know, there are no areas of rebellion in your heart or of disobedience in your life." Verse 6 of Deuteronomy chapter 7 says: "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth." They were God's people. He owned them and was sovereign over them, and the requirements of his covenant love were in effect even as they entered his presence to worship.

As we come to the body of the sermon, we might expect some note of congratulations and some rejoicing in the impressive temple reform. You would think that Jeremiah would praise the people for cleaning up the place, getting rid of prostitutes and wizards, and making it safe to walk the streets without getting mugged or murdered. We don't hear anything like that. The message of the sermon is one of danger and warning. He even goes so far as to say that you worshipers are in danger of your very lives.

The first danger that he spells out is found in verses 3-11. It's the danger of a religious image without content, of style without any spiritual substance. Verses 3-11:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.' For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'--only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, says the Lord.

The problem here has to do with how the people perceive themselves versus how they really are. He says that their self-perception is based on "deceptive words." That phrase is there twice, in verse 4 and then again in verse 8. Literally, they are being deceived by "words of the lie." What was the lie they were believing? In verse 4, apparently it was the refrain of a current praise and worship song. The prophet says: "Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.'" I don't know what Jewish music sounded like in 700 B.C., but we can imagine these words to the tune of a praise song of today. They loved to sing it. It was beautiful and melodic.The lie had to do with their being in the right place at the right time but misunderstanding God's desire for them.

In verse 8, again he says, "You trust in deceptive words to no avail." The specific thing that they were affirming is in the middle of verse 10: "We are delivered." This was the content of the current temple theology that was being taught regularly by the priests to the people. The deception was the belief that this worship experience and place would provide safety, deliverance, and protection from God's judgment on individual sin and national sin. They believed that if they would just show up in the right place and go through the right motions, then they would be safe and protected. Jeremiah is irate. The people are in the right place. They are following the biblical patterns of worship, but they themselves are not right with God. He defines very specifically and piercingly the seriousness of their spiritual condition and he calls the people to account for their hypocrisy.

There are two distinct lists in this opening paragraph of the indictments against these people. In verses 5 and 6, he first raises some concerns about justice in their society. These people are either oblivious to these injustices, or they are actively participating in them. These are legal, relational, economical, and even racial injustices. He talks about the oppression of aliens, those in society of less legal advantage than those who have full citizenship. He speaks of the oppression of orphans and widows. In both of these conditions, they are people who are innocent victims, through no fault of their own, of the premature death of a father or a husband who would be a protector and a provider. These people are not to be exploited because of their disadvantage. He says that they are allowing the shedding of innocent blood in this place. That's speaking of the legal system--judicial murders being carried out against innocent people who don't have the resources to defend themselves. The judicial system was corrupt.

Jeremiah summarizes this whole list of attitudes and behavior at the end of verse 10. He calls them abominable. That had to be jarring to those people listening. Abominations! They had gotten comfortable with their sins. They'd rationalized their sins, but God, through Jeremiah, called them exactly what they were--abominable. They were gross and ugly and hideous. In Deuteronomy 7:10 Moses even said that this lifestyle is literally hatred towards God. The root cause of all this behavior is mentioned in two places. At the end of verse 6, it says, "If you do not go after other gods to your own hurt." Verse 9 continues, "You...burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known." The problem was that the people had gotten Baal and Asherah out of the temple but not out of their hearts. They had rejected God's authority over their lives and obedience to his word. Again, the language of Deuteronomy 7:16 is striking: "Neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you." He says that they are a community of people who are trapped in sins that they are not even aware of.


Jeremiah's accusation in verse 11:

"Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it," says the Lord.

There's a second warning given in the sermon. Verses 12-15 of chapter 7:

Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

Jeremiah continues to shock, confront, and provoke. He wants them to recognize this obvious but avoided truth, and he sends them on a field trip up to Shiloh. Shiloh is one of the most famous holy places in Hebrew history. It was only eighteen miles north of Jerusalem. It was the earliest focus of worship and tribal meeting in Israel. When Joshua brought the people into the land after their deliverance from Egypt, after forty years of wandering in the wilderness, Shiloh was where they first assembled to set up the tabernacle and to divide the land among the twelve tribes. The ark of the covenant was kept in Shiloh. The prophet Samuel, the first prophetic voice in the history of the nation, preached and counseled there. Shiloh was a magnificent place. It had a great beginning and a wonderful image. But if you read 1 Samuel 4-6, it tells the story of the fall of Shiloh. The people had begun to look on the ark as a protective charm. They forgot what it meant in terms of God's presence and power and requirements on their lives. They took it into battle against the Philistines. The ark was captured, and the army was totally wiped out. The Philistines came to Shiloh and destroyed the tabernacle. Then they razed the city to the ground making it a pile of rubble. As Jeremiah is preaching this sermon, Shiloh is just a few piles of rocks in a field of weeds. Every traveler in that land who went up and down the main road to Jerusalem to the Galilee in the north could see it as a reminder.

Shiloh had been the right place. The right words had been spoken there, but when the right experience no longer launched a consistent walk of loving obedience to God, it ended up promoting a lifestyle of "wickedness," as the text describes in verse 12. The message was that if it happened to Shiloh, then it can happen to Jerusalem.

The first ray of light that you can see is in verse 13. God says that when he spoke to them persistently, they didn't listen. That speaks of God's character. God never stopped "calling," telling Judah how he loved her, and for forty years, Jeremiah kept calling the nation back to a God of love who had entered into a covenant marriage with them. It says that God was persistent. That word is used eleven times in the book of Jeremiah to describe the faithfulness of God.

The second image of hope is in verse 3: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will let you dwell in this place." And again we see it in verses 5-7: "For if you truly amend your ways and your doings... then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever."

This is an interesting string. I know you're anxious ish. I don't have time to read it all but will eventually.

I'm hoping we all understand there are two kinds of Jews. Two kinds of Christians and one kind of Gentile...

And as far as 'hard to go to prayer and cry' over this issue....There are only tears. What else can be said. I told the Lord l'm tired of crying but the Lord said "Miki l can't harden your heart."

Don't you get tired?

I wonder about those for post rapture.... Then l get hit with running with horses...

Some people round the world feel like they are already in the tribulation...
Then you want to tell them something even worse is coming. No wonder they tune out!

And the Jew...What do they feel. Are they tuned out? I believe many ordinary Jewish people are. They feel hopelessly punished and rejected by the world and God. That's the emotional angle. It motivates people more then history and theology. They run from facing God because they don't know what else to say.

I can't wait for Jesus to rescue and the Lord to reveal himself to them. To stand up for them and renew their hope.

I don't want to look at the evil manipulitive power brokers because l can't do anything about them.

I just want to see hope restored.

It's like a deep wound and a mystery. l'm tired of crying. It isn't just the Jew either...It's lots of things. No---I don't want post trib.

Right after l posted l saw this...Maybe it's a word for me?


PRISCILLA VAN SUTPHIN
Upstream Ministries
California
http://www.upstreamca.org
tearsofthefather@comcast.net



Troubling Times
June 19th, 2005

Nah 1:7 NKJV The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble;
And He knows those who trust in Him.

Hab 3:16 NKJV When I heard, my body trembled; My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entered my bones; And I trembled in myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops.

2 Tim 2:8-10 NKJV Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

“ Times ahead will be troubled, but I have not left you helpless. I WILL enable you to bear through all you need to if you will lean on Your Beloved and lean on My understanding and wisdom and knowledge for all you need.
Lay your head on my shoulder ! Listen for the sound of the still small voice !
I am not in the fire, in the earthquake or in the wind. I am found in the QUIET place. I AM KINDNESS. I AM LOVE. I AM PEACE. I AM GRACE.
I AM TRUTH. Whatever you need can be found in INTIMACY with Me.

[ I thought to a conversation with a young woman tonight of how when we are intimate with our husbands in communication, I was telling her, then the sexual intimacy { the UNION } is also good. But if we neglect each other, then things go awry and it just doesn’t work in a marriage to neglect the personal need met in communication then expect the other person to be intimate in the most intimate way if we don’t respect and honor one another.
If we can’t relate to one another honestly, then how can we be ONE ?
That same principle holds true with our heavenly father. I was a nurse for years so I know that in counseling couples about sex, that communication is the number one problem they found. So it is not surprising the parallel in the Spirit realm is it ? ] Then the Lord continued….

I love spending time with you. I don’t ignore any plea coming from the mouth of My Beloveds. Sometimes I am bound by things going on that you have not been obedient in, but I am not harsh or ever ignoring you ! I am always listening to you ! I really am a great listener. I even listen to your heart and mind, and all the things unexpressed, I KNOW ! So I’m much better than any earthly counselor, for I know you inside and out ! Trust that nothing you do surprises Me ! Nothing the world does surprises ME ! I wrote the Book, so I know how it ends. I know all that is coming against you, and I have made MY OWN PLANS for My beloveds !

I have a few surprises of My own for the enemy ! I have kept a few secrets to only be revealed in this time ! I have kept some things secret to keep him off guard. So come to me and I will tell you great and awesome things of which you do not know ! I am the REVEALER of SECRETS ! I am the I AM !
I know how to help you and there is nothing I won’t do for an extravagant LOVER. Pour out your heart in openness and honesty and EXPECT Me to ACT! Many of you cry out, but not many EXPECT ME to do something. People have grown tired and weary ! Those of you who KNOW ME, SPEAK OUT, and do not hold back. Don’t hide your light under a basket ! BE BOLD ! BE STRONG, FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU !

HOLD ON TO ME FOR THE RIDE WILL GET BUMPIER, BUT THE CLOSENESS OF ME TO YOU WILL BE AWESOME ! LIFE IS HONORED AMONG MY OWN. But life is NOT honored in society overall. It has become cheap and even valueless by many. If you don’t believe you will have to suffer for your sins, or if you believe you can try again in another life, then why would you have any impetus to change ? Many are so deluded by false religions and false ideologies that mock the TRUTH ! But I will give you KEYS and I will give you the wisdom and power to astound them – IF you will trust and depend on ME !

Remember the power of My LOVE ! Love is the greatest. My compassion will birth miracles and signs and wonders ! Come and lay at My feet, and learn of ME. Let Me share My wisdom , My knowledge, My understanding. Will you wait on ME ? Will you come and wait, and not grow impatient, but just wait in My presence and trust ME for all you need to know ? Earthly wisdom has no value for the times to come ! Only MY WISDOM will see you through. MY LOVE will empower you soon as never before. And many DOORS will swing open wide for those who have been willing to bear the reproach ! I love you My beloveds, and nothing will keep that love from you ! PEACE, PEACE, PEACE will flow to you like a river if you will just come and worship in My presence !”

Zeph 1:15-18 NKJV That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of trumpet and alarm Against the fortified cities And against the high towers.
17 "I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse." 18 Neither their silver nor their gold Shall be able to deliver them In the day of the LORD's wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance Of all those who dwell in the land.

Zech 10:2-8 NKJV For the idols speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.
3 "My anger is kindled against the shepherds, And I will punish the goatherds. For the LORD of hosts will visit His flock, The house of Judah, And will make them as His royal horse in the battle. 4 From him comes the cornerstone, From him the tent peg, From him the battle bow, From him every ruler together. 5 They shall be like mighty men, Who tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle. They shall fight because the LORD is with them, And the riders on horses shall be put to shame.

"I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back, Because I have mercy on them. They shall be as though I had not cast them aside; For I am the LORD their God, And I will hear them. 7 Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, And their heart shall rejoice as if with wine. Yes, their children shall see it and be glad; Their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. 8 I will whistle for them and gather them, For I will redeem them; And they shall increase as they once increased.

Matt 6:34 NKJV Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Acts 7:11 NKJV Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance.

2 Cor 1:3-4 NKJV Comfort in Suffering
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Thess 1:6-10 NKJV since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

James 1:27 AMP External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.


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PICTURES OF GOD'S DISAPPOINTMENT

Hosea: Unbroken Love From A Broken Heart

by Doug Goins
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"A picture is worth a thousand words," the maxim says. And the best writers, teachers, and other communicators know how to paint word-pictures that capture our imagination and help us visualize conceptual truth. PBC's pastor Ron Ritchie has an incredible ability to act out truth, and he runs all over the stage as he teaches. It makes an impact, and you don't forget the points he makes. Pastor Steve Zeisler has a wonderful gift of using his family and community and friends to illustrate the practical application of truth. Steve also has an uncanny ability to illustrate any and every spiritual principle from football!

The Old Testament prophet Hosea also has a wonderful ability with words. In epigrams he paints word-pictures about Israel's spiritual and moral condition. In our earlier studies in Hosea we saw two: He told Israel that they were like a stubborn heifer-a rebellious calf that wouldn't stay under God's authority. And he told them that their love for the Lord was like a mist or an early morning fog that evaporated as soon as the sun came up, and God couldn't count on it to be sustained.

In chapter 7 Hosea paints four more pictures that describe the nation's spiritual struggles. In verse 4 he says that the nation is like an over-heated oven. In verse 8 he says Ephraim is like "a cake not turned"; a half-baked pita bread. In verse 11 he says Ephraim is like "a dove, silly and without sense"-bird-brained. Finally in verse 16 he says they are like "a treacherous bow," defective and unreliable. All four of these pictures describe Israel's essential spiritual problem of refusing to turn to Yahweh in repentance of sin, refusing to come to know him in deeper intimacy, and resisting cooperation with him in a lifestyle of more consistent obedience and greater integrity. As the first six chapters of Hosea have shown us, it really is our spiritual problem today as well. In these chapters the life of the nation Israel is a mirror in which we see our own lives reflected.

The prophet Hosea began preaching and writing in the northern kingdom of Israel about eighty years after the prophet Elisha ministered there (Ron Ritchie has just finished a series on the life of Elisha from 2 Kings; see Discovery Papers 4373-4378). Hosea's ministry spanned the last fifty years in the life of the kingdom. The history of that time is summarized in 2 Kings 14-19, which describes a nation that was spiraling downward into political anarchy and economic confusion. The sin of idolatry persisted in the worship of Baal. Everywhere Hosea looked, there was increasing oppression among the people, injustice, and moral and spiritual decline. And yet as we have been discovering from the prophecies of Hosea, the amazing thing is that God never gave up on his people. Hosea's favorite word to describe God's commitment to them was hesed-loyal love; covenant love; or unconditional, stubborn love. He loved them with compassion, but part of that love was also confrontational judgment.

God's commitment to sin-sick Israel

The opening three verses of Hosea 7 are an introduction to and summary of the rest of the chapter. We are immediately greeted by the contrast between a God of restoration who is committed to Israel's best and a people of corruption, decay, and decline. (Our passage really begins with the last phrase of chapter 6 verse 11.) God says:

When I would restore the fortunes of my people,
when I would heal Israel,
the corruption of Ephraim is revealed,
and the wicked deeds of Samaria;
for they deal falsely,
the thief breaks in,
and the bandits raid without.
But they do not consider
that I remember all their evil works.
Now their deeds encompass them,
they are before my face.
By their wickedness they make the king glad,
and the princes by their treachery.

In the opening lines God addresses the nation using four different names. The first thing he calls them is "my people." It speaks of his loving possession of them. He miraculously rescued them from Egypt, and now they belong to him. It is a covenant name; he is totally committed to them. It speaks of security and safety.

The second name God gives them is Israel, their national name. It is the name he gave to Jacob, "The Usurper" or "The Manipulator." After Jacob wrestled with God all night at the brook Jabbok and asked God to bless him, God gave him the new name Israel, which means "The Exalted One with God" or "The Prince of God." It reminds the nation of their identity, of their worth and value, and of the fact that God created them to reign with him in dignity.

The third name is Ephraim. Ephraim was one of the half-tribes in the north (Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph's sons). Ephraim means double fruitfulness, double effectiveness, or richness. This name became God's nickname for the nation, just as parents often give their children a special, loving nickname.

The final address is to Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom. Hosea talks about the wickedness there. It was the place where Elisha had focused most of his ministry eighty years earlier, and it is where Hosea did most of his preaching. It was the place of the king and the court; the center of all spiritual, economic, political, military, and moral leadership.

Another thing that comes out of these first three verses is God's wonderful heart of commitment to do four positive things for his people. The first is restoration: "...I would restore the fortunes of my people...." That is a beautiful Hebrew idiom descriptive of being freed of any kind of circumstantial degradation or destruction. The nation was like a priceless antique that had lost touch with its own worth and beauty and had fallen into disrepair for any number of reasons-neglect, abuse, or misuse. But God was committed like a skilled furniture restorer, a craftsman with a delicate touch, to restoring them to the original beauty and glory for which they had been created.

Secondly, God is committed to healing: "...I would heal Israel...." What a gracious intent. God's longing is to show mercy to his self-destructive, sin-sick people. As the history unfolds, we will see that they are a nation that is terminally ill, and yet God wants to be like a physician who heals their wounded body. Heal is one of Hosea's favorite terms for the reversal of Israel's immorality, and also for the reversal of the consequences that come with it. God wants to heal not only the sin but also the mess that comes with sin in life.

The third thing to which God is committed is exposing or revealing sin: "...the corruption of Ephraim is revealed, and the wicked deeds of Samaria...." On the face of it, it sounds like bad news; no one likes to be exposed. And yet that is the only way real healing can begin. We can't get well until somebody tells us not just that we're sick, but how sick we really are. We can't be restored as a priceless antique until somebody tells us, "You don't belong in the basement covered with dust and ignored. You belong in a place of honor in the front hallway." God has to tell us how bad things are before change can begin, so this ministry of revealing is very important.

And finally, God is committed to paying close, personal, specific, attention to the nation: "...I remember all their evil works...they are before my face." God isn't keeping a safe, objective distance from the ugly rebellion of sin. I learned in counseling classes in seminary about therapeutic distance or the necessity of boundaries. We may need that, but God doesn't. He is passionately willing to enter into our self-inflicted suffering as a result of sin. God has no need for self-protection. He sees sin for what it is, calls it what it is, and still wants to get involved.

This gracious intent of the Lord's collides with the reality of Ephraim's rebellious, sinful attitudes and actions. The general wickedness that is being expressed in the people's lives is summarized in five different Hebrew words in these first three verses. God doesn't want us to miss the point. The first word, which we already mentioned, is corruption. It means gradual deterioration, or the long-term process of destruction from sin. The Hebrew word wickedness is used three different times, once in each verse. Wickedness literally means compulsive sins, those we can't seem to resist. Deceit is used twice; it means dishonesty toward ourselves, God, and other people. Then he mentions two specific criminal activities that seem to typify the culture of that time. One is breaking and entering. The thief breaks in and violates the sanctity of the home. The other is banditry that breaks out, and like gang warfare, becomes more and more the norm in the society. We have encountered all five of these words earlier in this book. Hosea is just continuing to discuss what he already wants the nation to understand.

The people are defrauding one another; ignoring God; and even believing that God doesn't remember or notice, that somehow they can get away with the lifestyle they have chosen. But God says, "I know exactly what's going on!" He says in verse 2 that it has gotten so bad that their deeds are now holding them under siege. They are in bondage to their own sinful choices. They can't break out. There is even the implication that they don't care very much anymore about their sinful lifestyle or try to seek freedom. They refuse to repent and renounce their past sin that led to this captivity. And God's heart is broken as he views them.

That leads us now to the four pictures I mentioned at the beginning of God's deep, painful disappointment with his people whom he loves wholeheartedly. It reminds me of the anguished cry of God in Hosea 6:4: "What shall I do with you, O Ephraim-what more can I do?"

Over-heated in human relationships

The first picture in verses 4-7 says that Ephraim is like an over-heated oven:

They are all adulterers;
they are like a heated oven,
whose baker ceases to stir the fire,
from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
On the day of our king the princes
became sick with the heat of wine;
he stretched out his hand with mockers.
For like an oven their hearts burn with intrigue;
all night their anger smolders;
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are hot as an oven,
and they devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen;
and none of them calls upon me.

In Hosea's day, an oven for baking was about three feet long. It was cylindrical, and across the top was an aperture for the smoke, flames, and heat to escape. The fire would be built very early in the morning. When it was first built it would roar out of control with flames and smoke shooting up. Then as the coals died down and there was an even heat on the bottom of the oven, the baker would take kneaded cakes of dough and slap them on the inside of the oven walls to be baked.

Yahweh says that his people are like that red-hot oven early in the morning. It can't bake anything yet because the flames are too high; the fire is at the height of its intensity. There is a startling picture in verse 6 of the flames and smoke pouring out of the top. The comparison here is to Israel's sexual passions, which he calls adultery. This speaks of three things: First, sexual immorality is increasing in the life of the nation. Second, it speaks of their adulterous involvement in the worship of the Baals, their unfaithfulness in their relationship to God. And third, it speaks of the inflamed political scene of Hosea's day after the death of King Jeroboam II. The baker's oven pictures the passions of kings, court officials, and influential nobility who are all driven by the heat of treachery, manipulating the royal court and the king to get things the way they want them. And they are ignoring God in all of these maneuverings.

The first twenty years or so of Hosea's ministry were under Jeroboam II. It was the golden age of the nation, with political stability and economic blessing. But for the next thirty years after Jeroboam died, there was political chaos. There were six kings in these thirty years, four of whom died by assassination. Verses 5 and 6 probably record one such assassination. The conspirators are getting the king drunk, perhaps tricking him into toasting Baal or some other pagan god, making fun of Yahweh God. Then they lie in wait all night so they can murder him and his royal court. This whole paragraph is a picture of the kings, the leaders, and everyone in the nation all turning from God, all driven by personal passion. The whole situation finally culminated in the Assyrian invasion, the fall of Samaria, and the deportation of the people to Assyria.

In Galatians 5:16,19-21, the apostle Paul makes it clear that even as Christians filled with the Holy Spirit, we can choose to live with our passions burning like flaming, over-heated ovens. Paul calls this the deeds of the flesh: "But I say, walk, by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh...Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these...." Then Paul goes on to say that people who persist in that lifestyle will never inherit the kingdom of God.

Those kinds of deeds and the circumstances that Hosea is summarizing in verses 4-7 are like an uncontrolled fire such as the destructive wildfires that are raging all around the northwest. This passage vividly depicts passions or emotions that are out of control: anger; competitiveness; and lust for power, position, or prestige. It describes a success orientation that is very much self-defined and self-driven. The deeds of the flesh deal death in relationships all around us. We can be like human flame-throwers when the flesh rears its ugly head.

I was at a dinner earlier this week with several close friends whom I've known in ministry for many years, folks who have walked with the Lord for a long time. We were talking about the process of sanctification in our lives, of the Spirit's conforming us to Jesus more and more. The conversation turned to a time of confession and of embarrassment at how carnal we still are. I made note of the fact that in that circle of Christian leaders, most of whom you would know, we admitted that we still explode with anger. We still struggle with lust. We hide from people we want nothing to do with. We allow people to trigger the emotions of frustration and resentment in us. We are still embarrassingly insecure and self-absorbed. Every time any of that expresses itself, violence is done to a relationship that God calls us to offer life to. And death results. We need to look carefully at this paragraph: Are we adulterers? Are we like an oven that burns with intrigue in our hearts? Do we devour people like a fire out of control?

Half-baked toward God

The next picture is in verses 8-10. Hosea says that Ephraim is like a half-baked pita bread:

Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake not turned.
Aliens devour his strength,
and he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
and he knows it not.
The pride of Israel witnesses against him;
yet they do not return to the LORD their God,
nor seek him, for all this.

In the historical context, this picture of their being like a half-baked cake suggests several things. First, it speaks of Ephraim's intermarriage with Gentile peoples in direct disobedience to God's command to maintain the purity of who they were physically, relationally, and spiritually. It also refers to the half-breed children born from the Canaanite fertility orgies in which the Jewish men indulged. And finally, it refers to the mixture in the life of the nation coming from their growing economic dependence on other nations instead of trusting in God to meet their needs.

The cake's problem starts with flour that is not mixed right. The word mix here is a liturgical word that comes out of the exodus. There was a meal offering to God in which pure flour was to be mixed well with oil so that every particle of flour was coated with oil. Remember, oil always represented the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The problem with the nation is that the flour of their lives is being mingled not with the oil of the Spirit of God, but with idolatrous dependence on human strength from other nations, or with dependence on the Canaanite fertility god Baal. So the dough of the cake is polluted. God can't accept it.

Another problem that is mentioned in the last line of verse 8 is that the dough is baked only on one side; the baker never gets around to turning it over. So one side is burnt to a crisp and the other side is raw-gooey, sticky, and unappetizing.

I was telling my family about this picture at dinner one night last week, and they remembered a family camping trip of ours when they took all the left-over pancake batter and filled up the skillet with it. Then they made it more interesting by putting in a live beetle, twigs, and pine needles; and then they cooked it on one side. It was awful, nauseating. The Lord is saying to this nation, "Your dough is putrefied, sickening, and half-baked; and it really does nauseate me."

On my first trip to Israel with the PBC pastors ten years ago, we were staying on the Mount of Olives, and I walked down below the old city wall. In a poor Palestinian neighborhood there was a woman out in front of her house, and in the middle of four or five big rocks that were flat on top she had a fire going. It heated the rocks all the way through. She had little cakes or bread that she patted out, and then she poured oil on the flat surface of the rocks, put the cakes on them, and was letting them cook there. But she got distracted talking to her children who were bickering, and the cakes ended up burned on one side. I remember how she spat out her disgust-I couldn't understand her language, but she wasn't pleased! She took the cakes and threw them into the fire because they were inedible. The point is that the bread has to be turned or it is useless. The nation Israel was charred on the side of their false hope toward other nations, but they were soggy toward Yahweh. They paid more attention to the Baals than to him.

We can't evade the impact of this picture for us this morning. The reality is that we can be half-baked Christians with a soggy side. We have to admit that we are over-cooked on the side of depending on human resources, but often soggy on the side of trusting God. Our soggy side exposes our anxieties, fears, and worries. In times of pressures, stress, or perhaps difficult decision-making, we singe black on the side of consulting people, but we remain uncooked on the side of depending on the Lord to renew our strength. We'd much rather race around gathering human opinions than learning how to quietly wait and pray like Jesus did.

I was personally convicted of that this week. Candy and I had gotten a small inheritance awhile ago, and I realized that I was spending an inordinate amount of time (relative to the size of the inheritance; it's not that big a deal) talking to investment counselors and accountants. But Candy and I hadn't prayed once about what to do with it. I didn't bring God into the process. In verse 10 Hosea calls that sort of attitude pride: "The pride of Israel witnesses against him...." It is self-reliant, prideful activity that replaces returning to the Lord and asking him what he wants me to do. I sometimes do that instead of deepening my relationship with him. Again, we need to look into this picture and see how we are mirrored here. Are we half-baked in areas of our life in relating to the Lord?

Bird-brained about how to live

In the next picture in verses 11-13, Hosea says that Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove or pigeon:

Ephraim is like a dove,
silly and without sense,
calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.
As they go, I will spread over them my net;
I will bring them down like birds of the air;
I will chastise them for their wicked deeds.
Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
I would redeem them,
but they speak lies against me.

Ephraim is portrayed as a silly, fluttering, simple-minded bird; inconsistent in its ways, flitting from place to place-bird-brained. Verse 11 says they are without sense, or having what one commentator called "the culpable ignorance of people who have abandoned covenant knowledge and thereby perverted their knowledge of all other reality." What is lacking in the life of these people isn't intelligence, nor even common sense. It is spiritual discernment; the ability to make spiritual judgments about how to live life, or to make decisions.

Verse 13 says they have strayed away from the Lord. I thought about nine exotic birds and parrots that flew away from the Great America amusement park. They left the trainer not understanding that they couldn't make it on their own because they weren't designed to live in the city. Only the trainer could care for them and provide for them.

Israel places false hope in the great international powers between whom they lie, Egypt and Assyria. They fly back and forth between them erratically and thoughtlessly. That is what happened in the series of assassinations and new monarchies that came to the throne: Each one of them made up a new foreign policy about where they were going to go for military support and economic aid. To the rest of the nations Israel looked downright goofy-they didn't know what they were doing; they were just flying all over the place. Hosea says they are driven by fear and gullibility. They are calling out for help in all the wrong places for the necessities of life.

But in the middle of that naiveté, gullibility, and rebellion, there are two more wonderful things that God is committed to doing. In verse 12 he says, "I will spread over them my net-I will draw them to myself, and then I will chastise them." We saw in one of our earlier studies (chapter 5) that chastisement really means instruction. When the word is used in the Old Testament it always refers to the instruction given by the father of a family to his children. So it is instruction coming from someone with responsibility to care, guide, protect, and guard. God's chastisement is remedial. His chastisement is to discipline Israel for a new obedience, and God makes the same commitment to us. In spite of our naiveté, stupidity, ambivalence toward him, and pigeon-headedness; when he judges us, captures us, and brings us up short, it is to restore us to a life of healthy submission to his will.

Verse 13 says God is committed to redemption as well: "I would redeem them...." As Hosea under God's direction had redeemed his wife Gomer-he had purchased her freedom from the slave market and welcomed her back into a restored love relationship as his wife-so God is committed to redeeming Israel. But she has to quit lying, Hosea says: "...They speak lies against me." Israel has to start telling the truth about God's character and his saving activity. She has to confess her proneness to wander from God, her smoldering anger. She has to quit lying about the sin in her life in her relationships to other people around her. She has to quit lying about her unwillingness to ultimately trust God for her identity and worth.

We heard a powerfully honest confession of the kind of life described here in verses 11-13 a few weeks ago when one of our brothers shared his testimony with us (see Discovery Paper 4377). It was a life of ambivalence toward God, himself, and his family and friends. He told us about his unwillingness to trust God to completely restore, heal, and redeem him from the gender confusion that came from the horrible devastation of childhood abuse. He pursued security in alcohol and cocaine and finally in a sex-change operation. But he said that didn't end his confusion. The great word of confession we heard from him was that, unlike the nation Israel as it is profiled here, he had stopped lying. He had accepted the truth about himself and had begun to fully trust the God of restoration and healing and redemption. So let's look once again at this picture and see how we're mirrored here. Are we behaving like silly, senseless doves in some area of our lives?

Ineffective in serving God

In the final picture in verses 14-16, God says Ephraim is like a defective bow:

They do not cry to me from the heart,
but they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves,
they rebel against me.
Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
yet they devise evil against me.
They turn to Baal;
they are like a treacherous bow,
their princes shall fall by the sword
because of the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

God is the archer, and the nation is a bow that God designed to shoot straight and true in warfare. But the bow has gotten warped and it doesn't shoot straight anymore; it is totally untrustworthy. You don't know where the arrow is going to go when you shoot it. God can't trust or use his people anymore. The reason, Hosea says, is that they have turned away from God and turned to the Baals. "The insolence of their tongues" implies that the nation is voicing distrust in God's ability to meet their needs. But the result is that they have become an object of ridicule in the nations around them. They have lost their strength and courage. It has been eroded through the years because they have abandoned God, the source of supernatural power available to them. In the days of conquest under Joshua they were famous throughout the ancient Middle East. Everyone was amazed at what God did through this little country. They were fearless in warfare because they fought battles God's way. But now people make fun of them-they are ridiculous, cowardly, and impotent. And we have to ask ourselves the question: Are we, too, ineffective in serving the Lord? Is God having trouble trusting us and using us?

This section also talks about the process of defection from God. The opening lines of verse 14 tell us that not even in their confusion and anguish-by the end of the thirty-year period the super-powers are closing in and invasion is imminent-do they call out to God. It says they wail on their beds, moaning and groaning about the situation. But they won't call out to the Lord and return to him in repentance.

This chapter that we've surveyed in Hosea stands in stark contrast to the attitude of King David in Psalm 4. He wrote this psalm out of a time of great personal crisis in his own life, when the nation was under incredible strain. But in contrast to the nation as it is pictured here, David calls out to the Lord in trust and confidence, claiming his identity before the Lord. Even though the psalm is an admonition to the people Israel, I was struck by verses 4-5 at the heart of it, where David is addressing himself as well. He says:

"Tremble, and do not sin;
Meditate in your heart on your bed, and be still. [Selah.]
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And trust in the LORD."

David is saying to himself and to us this morning, "Let's be honest about our spiritual condition, be willing to look at ourselves, examine our hearts with God, and offer him the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart. Most of all, let's put our complete trust in the Lord and only in him."

Long before the inner crisis of separation from God and the outward threat of Assyrian invasion, Israel had little by little closed their heart to the overtures of Yahweh's love and correction, until they got to the point that they didn't even know how to call out to God anymore. They didn't know how to express their need to him; they just wailed on their beds. There is a character in John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men who is accurate in saying this: "Men don't get knocked out, for I mean they can fight back against big things. What kills men is erosion. They get nudged into failure." Sometimes such nudging over the years renders us incapable of handling the big things when they come. In the crisis, we are so unacquainted with God that we wail on our beds rather than pray. That is when we flame like over-heated ovens and flit about like silly doves going from place to place, person to person, and group to group looking for remedy and relief. The middle of a crisis is not a good time to get ready for a crisis! God speaks beautifully and tenderly to us in Psalm 4: "Quit racing around looking in every other place. Come home to me." Focus on that relationship. He is the one who will restore joy to our hearts, who will guide our meditation.

Let's renew that kind of intimacy and relationship with the Lord. Let's "offer the sacrifices of righteousness" and put our trust in him. Let's confess where we have drifted and once again receive God's grace. Contrition can replace contrariness, arrogant self-determination, mixed motives, distorted relationships, and grandiose plans and purposes. All these things can be melted and tempered and recast by God's loving hands. We can be molded into his heart's desire. And all he wants from us is the sacrifice of our hearts and inner person joyfully under his control, and our outer person willing to live a life of open integrity before him and obedience to him. It is not too much for him to ask of us, especially since he is the only one who knows what is best for us.





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Catalog No. 4397
Hosea 6:11b-7:16
Ninth Message
Doug Goins
September 4, 1994
Updated October 21, 2000


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Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews Protest Outside Israeli Consulate, April 28, 2005

In response to the brutality and violence which occurred during a protest near the Kibbutz Regavim near Haifa, 10,000 Torah-True Jews gathered outside the "Israeli" Consulate in New York City to demonstrate.

PRAY FOR THE TORAH TRUE JEWS

YOUNG TORAH TRUE JEWS

Joel 3:16 NKJV The LORD also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.