Favor of Zion

Peace, peace...

The announcement this past Friday of President Obama winning this year's Nobel peace prize is just another example of the feverish pitch to which the world's cries for "peace, peace" have reached in recent years.  With all due respect to the President, the prize comes to him, not for actually accomplishing anything to bring about lasting peace in the world, but rather for enunciating a "vision of a world free from nuclear arms" and for preferring "dialogue and negotiations...as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts."  (Click here to read the actual press release.

What's so special about Israel (part 3):

"Theirs is the divine glory" (Romans 9:4)

This morning, a friend of mine confided in me that she used to be a "glory chaser."  I knew what she meant--going from conference to conference and movement to movement "chasing the glory"--chasing the signs, the wonders, the healings, and other manifestations of God's power and splendor.  I could relate; there was a time when I went from meeting to meeting "seeking the glory" myself. 

So what does it mean to really "have the glory?"  And what does it have to do with Israel?

What's so special about Israel?

What's so special about Israel?  Why do the nations all want "a piece of the action" in determining her fate?

Politically, there may be many answers to this.  Spiritually, there's only one answer--jealousy.

Jealousy is what inspired Haman the Agagite to plan what would have been the first Jewish holocaust some 2400 years ago.  Listen to his justification to the King for the planned mass murder:
"There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them" (Esther 3:8). 

Compare this with the words of the most famous anti-Semite of our day: 
"...there lives amongst us a non-German, alien race which neither wishes nor is able to sacrifice its racial character or to deny its feeling, thinking, and striving....Through thousands of years of the closest kind of inbreeding, Jews in general have maintained their race and their peculiarities far more distinctly than many of the peoples among whom they have lived" (Adolph Hitler--September 1919).

Fast-forward to today.  The Jews now have a homeland.  How do the anti-Semites react?  By claiming the land doesn't belong to the Jews!  Consider these words from Israel's "neighbors" as recorded on Palestinian TV:
"The Islamic Land of Palestine is one and cannot be divided. There is no difference between Haifa and Nablus, Lod and Ramallah, Jerusalem and Nazareth or Gaza and Ashkelon. Palestine is Wakf land that belongs to Moslems throughout the world...Palestine from the sea to the river is Islamic...The Jews gathered from all ends of the earth in our beloved Palestine."

The Definition of Insanity--Israeli style

Being an American, it is easy for me to focus only on the pitfalls of American culture and politics.  But when it comes to the definition of insanity, America doesn't by any means corner the market.  Israel is vying for a "slice of the action" herself.  In fact, just last night I found an article on the conservative blog redstate.com that touched on this very subject.  It seems that Israel is also a bit on the insane side when it comes to dealing with her not-too-friendly neighbors.

The title of the article?  You guessed it--The Definition of Insanity.  Israeli-style.  I encourage you to check it out by clicking on the link.

The Definition of Insanity

A headline in today's Jerusalem Post caught my attention: Clinton Expresses Determination to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The first sentence is even more telling:

Recalling the many failed attempts--including her husband's--to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton declared during her confirmation hearings Tuesday that "we cannot give up on peace."

Israel's God--and yours

Do you ever feel small, weak, and with little or no influence?  If you do, let me encourage you to consider Israel.

Israel is one of the tiniest countries on the face of the earth (click here for details).  Well, despite the fact that it is smaller than 99 other nations, it: produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation in the world; has the 2nd-largest number of startup companies in the world (bested only by the U.S.--a nation 768 times larger than her); is a world leader in technologica and scientific advances to fight water shortage, viruses, smallpox, high blood pressure, paralysis.  And this is just a tiny sampling of all the incredible contributions of this tiny nation.

The Jewish people are one of the tiniest clans on the face of the earth, numbering roughly .2% (that's 2/10 of 1%) of the entire earth's population.  Yet from her ranks have come 23% of Nobel Prize winners since 1901.  Roughly 20% of all Ivy League students are Jewish.  8% of the current U.S. Congress is comprised of Jewish representatives and senators. 

And you think YOU'RE small and insignificant?

Listen to these words:  "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.  The LORD your God chose you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession.  The LORD did not set His affection on you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.  But it was because the LORD loved you, and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers."   (Deuteronomy 7:6-8--emphases mine).

These words capture why it is that Israel and the Jewish people wield such disproportianate influence in our world.  They also capture why it is that Israel and the Jewish people capture such a disproportionate amount of hatred in the world as well.

If you are a follower of Israel's God, you are NOT small and insignificant.  You wield influence--and capture hatred--disproportionate to your numbers. 

Why YOU should care about Mumbai

I must confess that  I paid little attention to the breaking news story about the Mumbai terror attacks when I first heard it.  Many of you, if you're honest, will admit to the same.  But we do so at our own peril.  The rest of the story bears that out.

When I first heard the news, I was concerned.  I heard that "Americans and Westerners" were targeted.  It smelled of conspiracy.  But I shrugged it off, thinking it was probably an isolated terror attack.  "Not to worry," I thought.  I reasoned that since it didn't occur on American or Israel soil, it was probably an isolated terror attack.