Truth or Consequences

Truth or Consequences

by Lonnie Lane

Just as I was finishing this article a precedent took place that will change the history of America. For the first time America voted against Israel in the UN’s condemnation of her with regard to the Flotilla episode. Aside from Israel, America is the only nation in the world established for the purpose of worshipping God, having been dedicated to God from the first God-fearing people who set foot on this land, even before the Pilgrims. For America to turn away from her Judeo-Christian Biblical roots is to put ourselves in harms way. If we don’t turn back to God, we will suffer the consequences along with any other nation that comes against Israel. It’s not that it’s about the Jews, but that it’s about the God of the Jews who put His name and His covenant upon them. To fight with Israel is to fight with God. It’s not that Israel is entirely a godly nation, it’s not. But Israel does go out of the way to be humanitarian and just – its misperceived by the world over and over.

I have recounted previously that I had the privilege of being in the Knesset when Prime Minister Golda Meier was speaking years ago after a rather lethal attack against a kibbutz in which many children were killed. I believe what she said that day still reflects the Israeli attitude toward “hostilities.” She said, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our people, but how do we forgive them for causing us to kill theirs.” The need to retaliate in self-defense is not something the Israelis have ever wanted. Yet it remains their plight in order to maintain self-preservation. How can we help? “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6). That’s clear enough.

You may not have been privy to see the Israeli side of the whole scenario. To do so go to MaozIsrael.org and watch the video entitled “The Story of Hamas and the Flotilla.” The intention of Israel’s enemies is to eliminate her. Hasn’t that been attempted down the corridors of history before? Did it work? No. We’re still here! What is behind all the intentions to destroy Israel is what I’m calling “The Palestinian Issue.” Presently Israel must deal with Hamas, whose leader has declared publicly his full intention to destroy Israel completely, even guessing at how much time he thinks it will take. And that Israel also has to deal with the threat of annihilation from Arab nations all around her is entirely a religious issue, not a political issue. No political attempts to resolve the conflict will work. As you read, you will see why. I’m focusing on the “Palestinian” Issue because it provides a backdrop against which to see the bigger picture.

Before I go any further though, I want to make it clear that this is not an anti-Arab diatribe. In fact, quite the opposite. Being connected with Sid’s shows, I’ve met several people who have actually been to hell and lived to tell about it. It’s so horrible that I don’t want even my worst enemy to be condemned to hell. My concern for what’s taking place in the world today isn’t just about national security or peace now; my concern is also for the eternal destiny of millions of uniformed people who believe that destroying Israel is a way to please their god, or for those people who believe the lies so they think justice would be served if Israel were no more. They obviously can’t have the same God as the God who fights for Israel and has defended her supernaturally against the same Arab nations that are still intent on destroying her.

The tragedy is that innocent people are involved. Needless to say, not all Muslims (followers of Islam) are terrorists. Many are peace loving and genuinely nice people. There are verses in the Qur’an to support their peace loving positions. However, there are enough radical Muslims, who also have verses in the Qur’an to support their position of violence. These radical Islamists have become a world-threatening reality in many areas of the world, city-by-city. Their intent is to turn the world to Islam. That’s the goal. And they too have verses in the Qur’an to prove their position. We must, therefore, be wise to know what is really taking place. So let’s unpack this somewhat though it is impossible to deal with the whole complex issue here.

Would it surprise you to know that my Jewish grandmother’s greatest dream was to see Palestine restored to the people to whom it should have belonged all along, or that she was committed to working toward that end? The reason: Palestine was the Jewish homeland. The name “Palestinian” that we hear so much about today was co-opted from the Jews to introduce the idea of a distinct Arab people who have lost their homeland. But this claim is fictitious. There has never been an Arab land known as Palestine. And the Israelis did not take it away from the Palestinians. The only land in the world God ever put His name upon or said was specifically His is Israel. The conflicts surrounding the land of Israel today reveal the ultimate clash between God and the one who wants to dethrone God, satan. Even though there’s a great war going on in the heavens, presently, on the ground, it looks like it’s all about the supposed “Palestinians” and the Israelis.

The territory in question actually became known as Palestine when the Romans renamed the land of Israel after their destruction of the Hebrew Temple and most of Jerusalem with it in 70 A.D. To further insult the Jews, the Romans renamed the territory after the Philistines, those Goliath-boasting people whom Israel had conquered centuries before. The name for both “Philistines” and “Palestinians” in Hebrew is Plishtim (pronounced pleesteem), hence the land became known (in English) as Palestine. Contrary to the “factoids” we’ve been indoctrinated with in the past decades which has been repeated so often that many of us believe them to be actual facts when they are not (thus the definition of a factoid), Palestine has always been about a Jewish homeland and never an Arab “Palestinian” homeland. That whole conflict in the Middle-East is built upon an intentional lie.

I have a copy of the “Palestinian Post,” the newspaper of the Jewish homeland which recounts stories and news items relating to matters regarding the settlement and re-establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine. The copy I have of the newspaper announces the declaration by the United Nations of the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 – a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. The Palestinian Post was without any doubt a Jewish newspaper. Today that same newspaper is known world-wide as the “Jerusalem Post.” Take this piece of miscellany as but one chunk of evidence that Palestine was always about Jews.

Over the centuries, in the heart of every Jew has been a burning “fire of desire” to return to the land God promised to Jacob (not Esau) whom He renamed Israel: “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:28). This is the land most often identified for 2000 years as Palestine. Evidence of Jewish agriculture communities dwelling in the land has maintained for that long. Then in the 1800’s, Western Jewry began to move constructively toward a Jewish restoration to the land. A fund was established for the “cultivation of the land in Palestine,” a fund to which my grandmother contributed. When I went to visit Israel for the first time I wondered how many of them my own Grandmother had helped pay for.

This same region was ruled at different times by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and then by the British after World War I. Not to belabor the point but this land was never ruled by any distinct “Palestinian” people, nor has a nation of Palestine ever existed as an independent nation. On November 2, 1917, the British agreed to restore at least part of the land to the Jewish people as their ancestral homeland under the Balfour Declaration which states in part: “…His Majesty’s government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people….”

Even when the Jews sought to reclaim the land, they did not do so as an independent nation and when they did become a nation, the name Palestine was immediately dropped in favor of the Biblical name for the Hebrew people: Israel. It becomes evident that there have never been any Palestinian people. There is no Arab “Palestinian” ancestry that can claim rights to the land. There exists no Palestinian history, nor a Palestinian language. Nor are Arabs in need of land, be they “Palestinians” or any other Arabs. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9% of the Middle East lands. Israel represents 1/10 of 1% of the landmass. Arab lands are some 650 times the size of the land mass of Israel. Yet, anther “factoid” exists, that big bully Israel is taking up Arab lands and pushing the poor Arabs out of lands that should be theirs. Take a look at this and see how preposterous that claim is. Israel is the little blue spot.

You can see how absurd it is that Israel should be blamed for robbing any Arabs of land. Such is the lie that the world has been believing. What does looking at this map and the size of Israel in comparison to many of those lands that are hell-bent to destroy her tell you about how far and wide satan has deceived the whole world? You can see why the Bible tells us that, “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one”(1 John 5:19). That’s why a “factoid” and propaganda has had the power to effectively turn the world against Israel. Who do you think is behind that? It is planned deception with the intent to destroy Israel, the place where God’s name dwells, and the place to which Yeshua will return. It is satan’s driving intention to make God look like the liar that he (satan) is. Consider Yeshua’s words to those intending to kill Him: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44) Lies and murder easily go together. Lying and deception are the character and nature of the evil one. Yeshua on the other hand is Truth: He is “the way, the truth, and the life (not murder)” (John 14:6).

I suggest to you that this is also a picture of the degree to which satan has been able to establish a false reality which the world has embraced. We don’t really even know today whose telling us the truth. We’re so subject to pervasive advertising that has permeated (and controlled) our value systems, by make-believe entertainment making our expectations glamorized and unrealistic, we are inundated with pictures of violence and “News” of sin, sin, sin so that we are desensitized to it and to violence; and we are surfeited with opinions spoken as truth by talk shows and news commentators whose comments and agendas mess with our emotions and perceived concepts of reality. With Pilate we can ask, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Even a good portion of the church is confused about what truth is, or we wouldn’t be so compromised and the world wouldn’t be so influential in our thinking, our eating, our marriages – and divorces, our values…our truths and how we teach our kids to be sensitive to and love being in God’s will. Could this map possibly represent a picture of the truth in comparison to the deceptions of the world and how small the remnant is of those who are truly uncompromisingly entirely surrendered to the Lord, who are willing to take out a martyrs license if need be to follow Yeshua compared to the rest of the population? What do you think?

It is critical, therefore, to be aware of an Islamic doctrine called Taqiyya which allows for lying so long as it advances the cause of Islam or in reference to “lies against Allah” which referred initially to dealing with the Jews and Christians who rejected Muhammad’s claim to being a prophet. However, it still holds. This extends to that which would allow for lying in order to convert or destroy the Jewish and Christian nations. This is of concern. I want to stress here that most Muslims consider their religion to be one of honor and truthfulness, because in the beginning of his “ministry” Mohammad was attempting to establish a moral monotheism that can be found in the Qur’an, and to combat the idolatry that was rampant at the time. However, when the Christians and the Jews refused to acknowledge him as God’s final prophet he turned against them. That too can be found in the Qur’an.

The word Taqiyya literally means “concealing, precaution, guarding.” It is the doctrine found in the Qur’an that allows for disguising one’s beliefs and intentions which could include lying or deceiving with the intention of deflecting attention away from what would reveal Islam or Mohammed, or a Muslim in a bad light. It is currently used against any criticism of Islam or Muslims. Lying and cheating in the Arab world is not really a moral matter but a method of safeguarding honor and status, and avoiding shame. Often those criteria are extremely subjective and without justice, such as in honor killings, which could include burying people alive, even one’s own family members, if any shame has come upon the family, such as the shame of having a family member accept Yeshua. That is cause for an honor killing because Allah and his prophet have been rejected.

So falsehoods to prevent the denigration of Islam, to protect oneself, or to promote the cause of Islam are sanctioned in the Qur’an, including lying under oath in testimony before a court or taking an oath, deceiving by making distorted statements such as to the media making the claim that Islam is a “religion of peace” when in fact it condones killing infidels. A Muslim is even permitted to deny or denounce his faith if, in so doing, he protects or furthers the interests of Islam, so long as he remains faithful to Islam in his heart. In other words, he can misrepresent himself as not being a Muslim though he may be one in his heart of hearts. He could even imply he is a Christian if it will position him to accomplish his purpose of spreading Islam, if he continued to be a Muslim in his heart. This would apply to anyone from President to peasant, from king to subject. The doctrine of Taqiyya is the same; lying is permissible to promote or defend Allah and Islam.

Strangely, the Qur’an actually validates the return of the Jews to the land after years of exile, where it says, “And we (meaning Allah’s imperial “we”) said to the Children of Israel afterwards, ‘Go live into this land. When the final prophecy comes to pass, we will summon you all in one group’” (Sura 17:104 – Note: Sura means chapter) The Qur’an further states, “We settled the Children of Israel in a beautiful dwelling-place….If thou wert in doubt as to what We have revealed unto thee, then ask those who have been reading the Book from before thee” (Sura 10:93-94). In other words, the Qur’an talks about the Jews’ right to live in the land of Israel. Additionally, the Qur’an quotes Moses as telling the Jews to “enter into the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you” (Sura 5:21). Still, Mohammad later speaks against the Jews and condemns them for their sins when they refuse to accept his message.

A bit of history may be helpful in putting it all in perspective. Mohammad told his followers what the supposed angel Gabriel was telling him Allah was saying. If it were the true angel Gabriel he would never have contradicted the word of God as recorded in the Bible. What then was this “angel?” Even Mohammed feared it was a demon speaking to him, but wife #1 convinced him that indeed it had to have been God and that he made Mohammad his prophet. At the onset of the two decades of messages he received from this Gabriel, the messages were rather peaceful and moral. But when the Jews didn’t accept Mohammad as a prophet of God (for one thing, he wasn’t Jewish; God only spoke through Jewish prophets), nor did the Christians for the same reason, so Allah gave orders to employ force, in other words, murder all who would not submit to Allah and his “final prophet” Mohammad. Mohammed moved from Mecca to Medina and decided to go to war to advance the cause of Allah. He became a Jihadi – a holy warrior for Allah. He formed an army and proceeded to kill those who did not yield to Islam. If you recall, his tactics were successful because the holy wars resulted in the birth of the Islamic empire that ruled a good part of the world for several hundred years. Such was the result when Mohammad changed his message from one of peace to war. Holy war (Jihad) is still a major tenet in Islam in the Medina writings. Muslims often quote the Mecca writings because they are far more peaceable. So when you hear that Islam is a peaceful religion, that is only half the story. The rest is far from peaceable.

This change of attitude is justified in the Qur’an because Allah is said to have given Mohammad permission to override what Allah told him previously. In other words, Allah can change his mind. Contrast this with, I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). In this case, Allah gives permission – even an order – to kill whoever refuses to become a Muslim. The Qur’an states, “Then when the Sacred Months have passed, kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. But if they repent and observe the Islamic lifestyle, then leave their way free. Verily, Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful” (Sura 9:5). How forgiving and merciful a God does that sound like to you?

Anyone who doesn’t believe in Islam or subscribe to the teachings of Mohammad (who is responsible for the teachings of the Qur’an) must be ambushed and die. A Muslim must confess five times a day “Allah is great and Mohammad is his prophet,” implying Mohammad must be obeyed. So one cannot leave out Mohammad or they are no longer a Muslim. I tried to remember any place in the Bible where a prophet told the people they had to obey him – can’t think of one. A true prophet of God always adjures the people to obey God, not him. A true prophet of God would have sufficient fear of the holiness of God to never even think of commanding obedience to himself.

When the United Nations declared Israel a State in 1948, with the partition of the land which would have put Israel and Arab lands side-by-side, five Arab nations rejected the plan and Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria attacked the state of Israel. The Qur’an further says, “Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities” (Sura 2:190). The Six Day War took place in June 1967. Leading up to the war, Israel suffered numerous “hostilities” against them. In 1965, 35 terrorist raids were conducted against Israel. In 1966, the number increased to 41. In just the first four months of 1967, 37 attacks were launched.

During the Six-Day War Egypt, Jordan, and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. That in itself seems cowardly to me. These three countries weren’t in it alone. The Arab states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria also contributed troops and arms. It would seem that the odds would be stacked against Israel. However, with God’s help, Israel captured Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem and for the first time since 70 A.D. the Temple Mount was in Jewish hands. But they didn’t capture these territories from Yasser Arafat, nor did they capture any “Palestinian” land. They captured them from the Jordanians and King Hussein.

Arafat had been involved in hostile actions against Israel for years. Now when he becomes Chairman of the “Palestinian” Liberation Organization, he begins the claim that the world now believes, that the land of Palestine is illegally under Israeli jurisdiction, and with his propaganda, we now call land which Israel legitimately won, “occupied land” as if they have no real claim to it but are occupying land not belonging to them. Is America occupying land that once belonged to Mexico or Spain? Absurd. In 1971 the PLO was expelled from Jordan where it had been located – even Jordan didn’t want them. They moved to Lebanon – not exactly peaceful citizens once there either.

In October 2002, a move was made by the United States to require that the UN recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In response, “Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat signed a law (days later) formally declaring Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent Palestinian state.” (Quoted from U.N.Wire-United Nations Foundation, October 7, 2002). Arafat’s goal: Jerusalem. Quoting further, consider this from a WorldNetDaily.com article: On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here’s what he said: “The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.” This is a classic example of Taqiyya for political and tactical reasons. This is why any move toward peace has met with a dead-end situation.

This principle of Taqiyya goes back further with regard to the PLO’s attempts to have Israel be theirs. On the same day Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn in 1993, while the Western world saw this as a move toward peace in the Middle East, he explained his actions on Jordanian TV. Here’s what he said: “Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel.” We see this taking place today as the Arab nations line up against Israel, with other increasingly Muslim-influenced nations joining them.

This, my friends, briefly stated, is the ideology of those who wish to destroy Israel because they know Israel will never become a Muslim country. The Muslim intention is to restore the Islamic empire throughout the entire world. Muslims consider that where they have built a mosque, that city is as good as theirs. The approval of the building of a Muslim “community center” on the site of Ground Zero in New York City astounds me. A former terrorist who is now a born again believer in Jesus, went to the meeting and tried to inform those who had to approve the plan what that would mean, but nevertheless they voted 29-1 for the building of what will undoubtedly serve the same purpose as a mosque – in NYC, on the site where the WORLD Trade Center was bombed by radical Islamists. Makes me wonder if there wasn’t some long range plan to actually take down the WORLD Trade Center and then build the mosque to tell the WORLD who they are.  An Olympic size mosque which will seat 40,000 is scheduled to be built in London for the 2012 Olympics, and the one now in the Vatican is bigger than St. Peter’s Basilica. Do you have a mosque in your city?

Having said all above, there is a far greater power than Islam could ever boast of. The truth is that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The war is the battle satan is waging to try and win the place of God away from the Almighty. God has placed His name on the land of Israel and on Jerusalem in particular for that is the location to which Yeshua will return to claim not just Jerusalem, not just the land of Israel, but the entire world as His own as only God can do. “In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south” (Zechariah 14:4).

This battle may be fought with bombs and guns and even lies today but ultimately, in reality, it’s a spiritual war. And we know the outcome: “In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them. And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zech. 12:8,9)

Please pray for the salvation of the Jewish people in Israel and the world over, for what happens to Israel will affect the Jews elsewhere in the world. And since the war is against those who serve Yeshua as well, it will affect the Christians in time. It’s been said, The best defense is a good offence. Our offence is in the Spirit realm. Yeshua exhorted His followers to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…, do good to those who hate you” (Matthew 5:44: Luke 6:27) That’s a far cry from what the Qur’an has to say about how to treat those in opposition to you or your beliefs. Please pray for Abraham’s other sons, the Arabs to come to Him, that the Father would draw them, and they would respond and walk in love and holiness with the King. Amen.

As a final word, one God cannot be for Israel and against her at the same time. God cannot be tolerant and loving toward unbelievers and want to destroy them at the same time. Allah who sanctions lying and murder as a way to heaven, including self-murder which the Jihadis call martyrdom, cannot be the same God who says regarding those who are excluded from heaven, “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying” (Revelation 22:15).

For this reason, some of the most lost people in the world are those who need our prayers the most, those who believe a grave error which will have eternal consequences. “God demonstrated His love for us…when we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8). Muslims work so hard to please Allah but can never have an assurance from heaven, or even the presence of Allah with them. Of course not, there’s no one really there. God has been showing mercy to many Muslims these days and has granted visions and dreams of Yeshua, and many have given their lives to Him at great cost. There is an expectation that Muslims who have come to the Lord are those whom God will use extensively to win Israel to Himself. That would be the ultimate “one new man” accomplishment of The Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Reconciliation. May it be soon, in Yeshua’s name.  Amen.

Reprint of this article is permitted as long as you use the following; Use by permission by Messianic Vision, www.sidroth.org, 2010.

Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.  All rights reserved. Used by permission.