David Jeremiah - When America Would Turn Her Back on Israel
I believe that America's future depends in large part on one simple factor: our relationship to the tiny nation of Israel. And given the political trends in recent years, I believe that America is putting her future at risk. We supported Israel in the mid 20th century when she was reformed politically in her homeland. And if we do not return to our previous supportive policies toward Israel, our future as a nation is in peril. You may be wondering whether my thinking is upside down. I mean, after all, America is the world's greatest superpower, Israel is a sliver of land accommodating only a few million citizens.
One would think that America is the key to Israel's survival, not the other way around. Given our history of vast military and economic aid packages to Israel over the years, it would seem that America could use the threat of withdrawn aid to leverage her influence over Israel and get that tiny nation to do whatever we want. Surely, a larger benefactor nation holds in her hand the survival of a smaller dependent nation? But I am saying the opposite is true, that Israel is the key to America's survival and here's why.
It is clear that America's leaders, at least in recent administrations, have not been looking at Israel with spiritual or biblical eyes. Had they done so, one small verse would have guided all of their policy decisions and that verse is Genesis 12:3 which says, "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed". And God has a perfect track record, men and women, for keeping his promises, a fact that is demonstrated by several thousand years of history. Yet, in spite of God's well-demonstrated trustworthiness, American leaders in recent years have rationalized and justified their way into denying Israel the free expression of her sovereignty as a nation.
America has tolerated and coddled and even financially supported some of Israel's neighbors who have openly declared that their goal is to drive the Jewish people from their homeland and scatter them back into their pre-1948 homes around the world, if not to exterminate them altogether. No nation should take lightly the promise of God in Genesis 12:3, if for no other reason than self-preservation. And that includes America. Even if American leaders don't fully understand or agree with the Judeo-Christian teachings of the Bible, matching up Genesis 12:3 with the thousands of years of history involving Israel should be convincing enough. Bless Israel and you will be blessed. Curse Israel and you will be cursed.
What is so special about Israel? To answer that question, we have to look briefly at the beginning of the nation of Israel. While Israel is often called "God's chosen people," it is more accurate to say that God chose a person by the name of Abraham. Rather than choosing an existing nation, God chose a man and created a nation through him and his wife Sarah. That nation became God's chosen people. Actually, the phrase "chosen people" does not even occur in the Bible in the New King James Version. But there are abundant references in Scripture to the idea. Psalm 33:12 says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people he has chosen as his own inheritance".
The best summary of why God chose Israel to be his own people is found in a passage back in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Listen to what this says, "You are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. Now the Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers," that's why he chose you.
There was nothing in Israel that caused God to embrace her as his people. Moses spoke the words in Deuteronomy to a new generation of Israelites whose parents had been poverty-stricken slaves in Egypt for over 400 years, not exactly the kind of résumé that would make a people appealing to a God who wanted to show off his best work. Israel became the people of God for two reasons. Number one, because of a promise that God made to Abraham centuries before and, number two, because of God's faithful love in keeping his promises. Here is the complete promise that God made to Abraham, as recorded in Genesis 12, "Now the Lord had said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'"
This passage contains the words of warning that we are considering but why such a warning? What is so crucially important about Israel that God protects her by promising to bless her benefactors and curse her enemies? The answer is found in the words that bookend the warning, "and you shall be a blessing," "and all the families of the earth shall be blessed". Through his chosen people, God intended to bless the rest of the human family. He chose a Mesopotamian man named Abram and promised that he and his descendants would be a channel of that blessing. People who recognize God's purposes for Israel and do whatever they can to preserve and protect and defend Israel will likewise be preserved and protected and defended. God will see to it.
And let me ask you, has God blessed us through Israel? He gave us his word through the Israeli people. He gave us our Savior through the people of Israel. He gave us the Code of Law through Moses, which is now the basis of jurisprudence in every free nation in the world. Oh, yes, we have been blessed by the people of Israel, by the Jews. And people who stand in the way of Israel's prosperity will find themselves standing in the direct path of God's purposes for Israel. And history gives us the tragic story of what happens to anyone, individually or nationally, who puts himself in that unenviable position. God's providence in the story of Israel.
Notice secondly, God's promise of a land for Israel. Part of God's promise to Abraham was a land in which he and his descendants would dwell. That land was known as Canaan when Abraham first arrived there and it became known as the Promised Land when Israel moved in following the Exodus from Egypt. Not only did God promise to Abraham the land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates, he also promised to Abraham's son, Isaac, and he promised it to Isaac's son, Jacob, and he promised it to Jacob's 12 sons and to all of their descendants. And I have all the Scriptures marked down in my notes.
Israel moved into this land and prospered exceedingly. She became rich and powerful, to be reckoned with under the successive reigns of her great kings, David and Solomon. But then the nation fell away. It fell away from godly principles to the point that God stepped in and allowed the Jewish people to be conquered and dispersed throughout all the nations of the world. Israel began moving back to her land following World War I, under the British Mandate of Palestine. And then in earnest following World War II. Tension developed between the returning Jews and the Arabs who were then living in the land who did not then and have not since taken kindly to Israel coming home.
This tension came to a head when Israel State was announced in 1948. It's easy to slip into a kind of sympathetic mode toward these occupying Arabs, but the bottom line is simply this. This land belongs to God first and God gave it to his people as an inheritance forever. That's what the Scripture says. To get a proper perspective on this, let me give you a little illustration. You are sitting in your reserved seat at a theater production. Just before the curtain rises, you get an important call on your cell phone so you leave your coat on your seat and go to the lobby to return the call in private. You return to discover a stranger is sitting on your coat in your seat.
The squatter refuses to leave and he only does so after an embarrassing scene in which the ushers force him to abandon a seat for which he cannot prove ownership. You, however, have your reserved seat ticket stub so access to the seat is given back to you. In that illustration, the theatergoer is Israel. The seat is Israel's homeland. The ticket is the Bible where legal assignment to the land is recorded. The temporary vacancy of the seat represents Israel's temporary absence from the land from AD 70 to 1948. The squatter represents various groups who avail themselves of the opportunity to take the land in Israel's absence. The coat represents the historical artifacts throughout the land that show that Israel's previous habitation really happened.
And the usher, at least in 1948, was the League of Nations followed by its successor, the United Nations, who said, "This is Israel's seat". Israel is not taking land that she does not deserve. She is just occupying the land that was given to her by God. She is not doing something that she should not do, for which she should apologize or stand in defense. She is simply doing what God allowed her to do by his promise to her in the Scripture. The Jews were not restored to their homeland because they earned the right or turned back to God.
In fact, if you know what's going on in Israel today, you know it's primarily a Zionist movement. It's not such a spiritual movement. So far, they have failed as a people to embrace Jesus as the Messiah, though the Bible tells us one day they will. But Israel remains to this day, the apple of God's eye and woe to any nation including the United States that tries to deny that fact for the sake of politics, preference, or popularity.
Thomas Newton was the Bishop of Bristol, England, from 1761 to 1782, and he was an expert in biblical prophecy. He summarizes well the warning that accompanies Israel's uniqueness. He wrote and I quote, "The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most signal and illustrious acts of divine Providence. And what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth has ever been preserved. Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their preservation. We see that the great empires, which in their turn subdued and oppressed the people of God, are all come to ruin. And if such has been the fatal end of the enemies and oppressors of the Jews, let it serve as a warning to all of us, who at any time or upon any occasion are for raising a clamor and persecution against the Jews".
For America today, the question is will we support Israel and continue to aid her in fulfilling God's purpose? There was a time when America answered "Yes" to that question. And I believe America's blessing and greatness are due in part to that answer. The first book that I ever wrote, back in 1975, was a book called, "Before It's Too Late". It was the Conservative Book of the Year. It was introduced and endorsed by Tim LaHaye. That was before I came here. And one of the chapters in the book had to do with why God has blessed America and there's a whole section in that book, written in 1975, that talks about the reason God has blessed America is because she has been a homeland for the Jewish people.
From his 18th century vantage point, the bishop that I mentioned earlier could survey the debris that remained of nations who dared to raise a hand against Israel. And from our vantage point in history, we have even more evidence than the bishop had. How much stronger would his warning be today had he lived to see the bombed-out ruins of Germany after that nation eliminated one-third of the world's Jewish population? Yet, in spite of America's access to such overwhelming evidence, we are failing to learn from history. God's providence in the story of Israel and his promise of a land for Israel.
Let's talk for a few moments about God's punishment of the enemies of Israel. "I will bless those who bless thee, and curse those who curse thee". Zechariah 2:8 says, "For thus says the Lord of hosts, 'He sent me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you,'" Israel, "'touches the apple of his eye.'" Later in the ninth chapter of his prophecy, Zechariah mentions by name some of the nations that would fall under God's judgment because of their attitude toward Israel. These are old nations, some of which we may not know about but the nation of Hadrach and Damascus and Hamath and Tyre and Sidon and Ashkelon and Gaza and Ekron and Ashdon, a roll call, literally, a roll call of the people that lifted their hands against God's chosen people and they were all decimated in history.
And then Zechariah says at the end of the ninth chapter, speaking here for God and I'm reading it from The Message, "I will set up camp in my home country and defend it against the invaders. Nobody is going to hurt my people ever again. I'm keeping my eye on them". God's statement concerning the people of Israel. Just as Zechariah called the roll call of ancient local nations that cursed Israel and were, in turn, cursed by God, we can see from our perspective and add even more ancient and modern names to the list: Egypt, all of the "ite" nations surrounding the Promised Land, the Amorites, the Kenizzites, the Girgashites, somebody said the termites. Later nations included Assyria and Babylon and Greece under Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, Spain following the Spanish Inquisition, many modern Arab nations, the post-Holocaust Germany.
Not all of these nations were totally destroyed but all of them suffered various degrees of judgment and I believe it was because of their ill-treatment of God's people. Great Britain is a course of study all its own. It was the last great world empire leading into the 20th century. At its height, Great Britain controlled more land and more people around the globe than any other nation in history. The British Balfour Declaration, approved in 1917, favored the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and pledged Britain's efforts to that end. Following World War I, the League of Nations gave Great Britain administrative oversight of much of the Middle East, including Palestine, in what was called the British Mandate of Palestine.
Britain's' rule lasted until 1948 when the British Mandate of Palestine ended and the United Nations partitioned Palestine into two states, Jewish and Arab, and the Jews accepted the UN partition plan but the Arabs did not. The UN declared Israel a state on May 14, 1948, one day before the British Mandate ended. And civil war erupted between the Jews and the Arabs over land and rights, followed by major wars in 1967 and 1973. In these wars, Israel gained control over even more land, further deepening Arab resentment. Between the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1948 ending of the British Mandate, Great Britain slowly but steadily withdrew her support for the regathering of the nation of Israel.
Now, watch what happened. At times, she supported Israel while simultaneously supplying arms and support to the Arabs. Through their role as administrator of Palestine, they stopped Jewish immigration that could have saved millions of lives. America's President Roosevelt expressed to Secretary of State Cordell Hull his consternation of Britain's backing away from the Balfour Declaration, saying, "I was at Versailles and I know that the British made no secret of the fact they promised Palestine to the Jews. Why are they reneging on their promise"? To gain Arab support, Great Britain made promises covering most of the Arab Middle East. Great Britain's actions, in spite of what they had promised in 1917, severely limited Israel's ability to establish a homeland. Almost exactly parallel to her walking away from her promises to Israel, Great Britain has descended down a long slope of insignificance and no longer is even considered among the major world powers of the world.
We come now to God's preservation of America because of Israel. From America's founding, the Jews have been a welcome part of this nation. Ever since the first 23 Jewish immigrants landed in New Amsterdam, which was later New York City, in 1654, America has, for the most part, been a place of safety and prosperity for the Jewish people.
It is estimated that 250 Jews were living in the American colonies in the early 1700s. It's a little-known fact that a Jewish businessman played a significant role in keeping alive General George Washington's struggling revolutionary army. Haym Salomon, what a great Jewish name. Haym Salomon was a Polish Jew who immigrated to America in 1775 and became financially successful as a broker of overseas trade deals. The British arrested him more than once because of his American sympathies but he continued to use his financial skills to raise money for the revolution.
On one occasion, Washington needed to march his army to engage the British in what proved to be the final and decisive battle of the revolutionary war at Yorktown. But neither Washington nor the Colonial Government had any money to finance the campaign. Washington sent for Haym Salomon who raised the money and enabled the campaign that ended the revolutionary war. Salomon lent the colonies today's equivalent of $1 billion, a large part of which was supposedly never repaid. An interesting but unverifiable legend concerns Washington's gratitude for Salomon's critical support to the colonies. If you look at the Great Seal on the back of a $1 bill, above the eagle's head you will see the 13 stars representing the 13 colonies, arranged in such a way that by connecting the peripheral straight lines, a 6-pointed star of David is created.
Washington supposedly had this done out of gratitude to his Jewish friend, Haym Salomon. Whether or not the Great Seal legend is true, the facts are that the Jews were welcome in America from the beginning and always played a role in America's prosperity, greatly disproportionate to their numbers. America's official posture toward Jews on American soil has always been positive. And the same can be said of America's initial posture toward the newly reformed nation of Israel in her homeland in 1948 and the decades immediately following. I am very proud that America was the first nation to recognize Israel in her statehood. Providence ordained that the occupant of the Oval Office at the moment of Israel's political rebirth on May 14, 1948, would be Harry S. Truman.
In my 2008 book, "What in the World is Going On," I tell the gripping story of the opposition President Truman faced from his top advisors over whether or not to recognize and affirm Israel's statehood. It was a watershed moment for US-Israel relations. His decision would not only set the tone for the rest of his two terms, it would also set in motion a policy that would greatly influence his successors in the Oval Office. Truman stood fast against his advisors and issued a press release stating, "The United States recognizes the provisional government as de facto authority of the new state of Israel," end of quote. Israel's chief rabbi later told Truman, quote, "God put you in your mother's womb so that you would be the instrument to bring about the rebirth of Israel after 2000 years".
And I read the story in Truman's biography how he was brought up by his parents, reading the Bible, and he knew enough about the Bible to know that God had a plan for the people of Israel. And so when the time came and he was pressed to make a decision, he looked at the decision, at least partially, through the Bible's eyes and through his mother's eyes, and God put him there at the right time so that Israel would be recognized by America. And Truman's not the only president to have made strong public statements backing Israel. I've read statements by many American presidents supporting the idea of Israel's right to someday be united in their ancient homeland.
Go back through history and you will find that John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, just to name a few, more recent presidents, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan, are also on record as supporters of the nation of Israel. America, ladies and gentlemen, has been Israel's best friend in the world, and I maintain that America has been blessed because of how we have blessed Israel. But something has changed. And I find it more than coincidental that America's prosperity and posture and place in the world have begun to decline at the same time that our commitment to Israel has weakened. I fear that what happened to Great Britain over decades may be now beginning to happen to America.
A 2010 survey showed that 52% of Americans believe that our president is less friendly to Israel than any former administration. But our pulling away from Israel didn't begin with him. George H.W. Bush initiated the process which has come to be known as Land for Peace, pressuring Israel to give up more and more of her land to secure a promise of peace from her Arab neighbors. Beginning with the efforts of President Jimmy Carter, it seems every president has wanted his legacy to include solving the Middle East problem. Each has been willing to chip away at Israel's sovereignty to satisfy the demands of the Arab nations. To further complicate our relationship with Israel, a new variable has provided more incentive for the United States to befriend the Arab states at her expense. Oil is that thing.
Now the Arabs have oil, Israel doesn't have any. You remember Golda Meir's statement that she couldn't believe what God did to the Jews, he made 'em wander around the wilderness for 40 years and set 'em down in the one place in the Middle East that had no oil. The desertion of Israel by the United States was once deemed unthinkable. But no longer. Interestingly, our nation is catering to the oil-producing nations whose product gives them an inordinate hold over our contemporary lifestyle.
On June 4, 2009, after being in office only 6 months, President Obama provided further evidence of our cooling relationship with Israel. On his first major international trip, he spoke these words to a predominantly Arab Muslim audience in Cairo, "America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied. On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people, Muslims and Christians, have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years, they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations, large and small, that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt. The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn her backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own".
Now, that might not have caught your attention if you just listened to it on the surface, but the "more than 60 years" the president referred to is the exact time from Israel's founding in 1948 until the day of his speech. He was obviously saying that the Palestinians' dislocation for 60-plus years is due to the establishment of Israel as a nation. Also note his claim that the Palestinians' daily humiliations are a result of the Jews occupying the Palestinians' land. Who's occupying whose land? God gave that land and a lot more to Israel as a permanent possession thousands of years ago. If there's anyone occupying somebody else's land, it's the opposite of what the president expressed.
The Palestinians have, for centuries, been occupying the homeland of the Jewish people. That is not to say that there cannot be some measure of compromise between the two peoples. But in recent years, America's presidents have expected Israel, not the Arabs, to make all the concessions. Why? Because the Arabs have simply stated that they want their land back and they have proven they will do anything and commit any acts in order to get what they want. For example, President Bill Clinton initiated the signing of the Oslo Peace Accord on September 13, 1993, which was supposed to set forth a framework of peace between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. But since the signing of the Accord, Palestinian terrorist organizations have killed more than 1600 Israelis and injured more than 11,000 in attacks.
If America's leaders continue down a path of not blessing Israel, we should not expect God's blessing in return. That's exactly what Genesis 12:3 says and I'm just bold enough to believe it. If Great Britain is any example, then one must ask, "Can America's current troubles have anything to do with our lack of blessing toward Israel"? My unsolicited advice to our leaders is this. Do not think the promises of God can be compromised or renegotiated at the bargaining table. God has spoken about Israel and his words never fail to accomplish the purpose for which they were sent. God's preservation of America because of Israel.
Number five. We've talked about God's providence in the story of Israel, God's promise of a land for Israel, God's punishment of the enemies of Israel, and God's preservation of America because of Israel. Now, let me talk about God's program for the church and Israel. Integrity demands that I address a point that I fear may be unknown to many Christians. Many church leaders, pastors, professors, Bible teachers, and others, are contributing to America's lack of faithfulness to Israel. They are preaching and teaching what is called replacement theology. This view holds that the modern state of Israel has no modern relevance, that Israel of the Old Testament has been replaced by the church of the New Testament, that any unfulfilled Old Testament prophecies pertaining to the nation of Israel have found spiritual fulfillment in the blessings of the church through Jesus Christ.
Generally speaking, replacement theology denies a present and future role for Israel and the land promised to her and totally denies anything relevant about the millennium. Well, if they don't believe it's true now, I'm gonna tell you, it's coming. Listen to me. Romans 11 says, "And all Israel will be saved, as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.'" God has been at work for thousands of years in Israel and we need to step back from the trees and look at the forest. What has happened in Israel since 1948 is nothing short of miraculous when viewed from the perspective of AD 70 when the Jews were last in Jerusalem. God told Israel through the prophet Jeremiah that there is only one condition under which Israel would ever cease to be a nation before him. Do you know what the condition was? Let me read you the Scripture.
This is what the Bible says has got to happen before Israel ceases to be a nation. "Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is his name), 'If those ordinances depart from before me,' says the Lord, 'then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation from before me forever.' Thus says the Lord, 'If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off the seed of Israel and all those that they have done,' says the Lord".
The next time you walk out into the night, look up at the sky and remember that God said before Israel ceases to be a nation, the sky and all of the planets in the sky and all of the earth and all the ordinances that hold them together, all of those will have to cease before God ceases to acknowledge Israel as a nation. That's just the truth. And finally, I wanna talk for you in just a moment about God's plan for the peace of Israel. Scripture makes it clear that, to the degree America stands with God's chosen people, to that degree, America will enjoy the favor of God. This I know, Genesis 12:3 promises that God blesses those who bless Abraham, Jewish descendants, and as a citizen of America, I want to enjoy the favor of God upon my nation.
If I were a political leader in America, it would be incumbent upon me to lead this nation in such a way as to invite his favor. So why would I knowingly diminish America's support for the one nation to which God ties his promise of blessing or cursing? The history of nations that have abused the Jewish people provides more than enough examples of the inevitable doom they bring down upon their own heads. You and I can do two things to influence America's support of Israel. First, we can use whatever means are available to influence those who establish national policies in Washington. We can vote, we can write letters, we can call our senators, our representatives. In short, we can fulfill the dream of the founders who wanted our nation to be governed by the consent of those who were governed. We are the governed who need to make our voices heard saying, "The United States simply needs to recognize that Israeli lands belong to the Jewish people and that Jerusalem is, indeed, the capital of Israel and has been ever since God declared it to be so".
And last but not least, we can pray for Israel. We can pray for our leaders and we can pray for the peace of Israel. As the spiritual children of Abraham, which we are, we can enter into the spirit of Psalm 122, which David wrote to express his heart for the city upon which God has chosen to place his name. Listen to these words from that great psalm, "When they said, 'Let us go to the house of God,' my heart leaped for joy. And now we're here, O Jerusalem, inside Jerusalem's walls! Jerusalem, well-built city, built as a place for worship! The city to which the tribes ascend, all God's tribes go up to worship, to give thanks to the name of God, this is what it means to be Israel. Thrones for righteous judgment are set there, famous David-thrones. Pray for Jerusalem's peace! Prosperity to all you Jerusalem-lovers! Friendly insiders, get along! Hostile outsiders, keep your distance! For the sake of my family and friends, I say it again: live in peace! For the sake of the house of our God, I'll do my very best for you".
God has called us to be friends to the people of Israel. Another church like ours, pastored by a man that some of you know about, John Hagee, had a special day for Israel which they do pretty much every year. He's a great champion for the people of Israel. This year, for the very first time, that service was interrupted by Palestinians who wanted to make their point. In fact, what I learned is that one of them was in the balcony. When Hagee started to preach on the importance of Israel they started throwing pro-Palestinian leaflets over the balcony and they floated down into the auditorium. They finally got that person and removed him. There were 10 protestors located throughout the church and, every 5 minutes, another one would get up and start to scream Palestinian things to interrupt the service.
Finally, John Hagee said, "You can do whatever you want to, I'm gonna finish this sermon if it takes 'til 6 o'clock tonight". And so he preached away and, little by little, they got them out. It used to be in this nation that could never happen. In a church, especially. But the lines are being drawn today as never before, my friends. I've been asked all through the years why America's not mentioned in biblical prophecy. And I've always had some interesting answers, like, maybe we're not in biblical prophecy because by the time biblical prophecy happens we've fallen on our own moral sword and self-destructed. We seem to be pretty much on the way to do that. I've also said that maybe we are locked in with the European coalition and so when the Bible was written, since we've come from Europe, they've included us in the European coalition. I really don't believe that's the reason.
When I was preaching on the "Economic Armageddon," I said: Maybe we aren't included because by the time the prophecy things happen in the New Testament, we've gone bankrupt and we're out of business. We're certainly on our way to that too. Another reason that I've often offered is we are no longer a power in the future because all these events that happen in the future take place after the Rapture and some estimates are that a huge portion of America will be gone and many of the leaders will be gone. I think probably those statistics are somewhat exaggerated. May not be as many people gone as you think. But what if this nation is not in the prophetic future because we have forgotten Israel in our national policy?
What if we have turned our back on the nation that God promised us would bless us if we blessed them? And by the time these events happen, we've gone so far down the road of passivity and neutrality toward Israel that God has removed his hand of blessing totally from this nation? It's something to think about. Israel today, right now, this very day, is in the most serious situation she has been in since the nation was born in 1948. So let's pray that God will help us to be faithful to our calling and to win people of Israel to Christ. You know, many Jewish people are coming to the Lord. So let's pray for Israel.