The Bible Teaching Ministry of David Hocking
“The Word of our God shall stand forever” Isaiah 40:8

Archive for January, 2007

BETHLEHEM CHRISTIANS SPEAK OUT!

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

“Most Christians are afraid to speak, but I don’t care because we have nothing more to lose,” states Georgette Lama, of Bethlehem.

A number of Christian families have finally decided to break their silence and talk openly about what they describe as Muslim persecution of the Christian minority in this city.

The move comes as a result of increased attacks on Christians by Muslims over the past few months. The families said they wrote letters to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Vatican, Church leaders and European governments complaining about the attacks, but their appeals have fallen on deaf ears.

According to the families, many Christians have long been afraid to complain in public about the campaign of “intimidation” for fear of retaliation by their Muslim neighbors and being branded “collaborators” with Israel. . . .Fuad and Georgette Lama woke up one morning last September to discover that Muslims from a nearby village had fenced off their family’s six-dunam plot in the Karkafa suburb south of Bethlehem. “A lawyer and an official with the Palestinian Authority just came and took our land,” said 69-year-old Georgette Lama.

The couple was later approached by senior PA security officers who offered to help them kick out the intruders from the land. “We paid them $1,000 so they could help us regain our land,” she said, almost in tears. “Instead of giving us back our land, they simply decided to keep it for themselves. They even destroyed all the olive trees and divided the land into small plots, apparently so that they could offer each for sale.” When her 72-year-old husband, Fuad, went to the land to ask the intruders to leave, he was severely beaten and threatened with guns.

“My husband is after heart surgery and they still beat him,” Georgette Lama said. “These people have no heart. We’re afraid to go to our land because they will shoot at us. Ever since the beating, my husband is in a state of trauma and has difficulties talking.”

The media has frequently passed on reporting Muslim persecution of Christians in Bethlehem. Let’s see if media outlets likewise ignore the personal testimonies of abuse and pleas for help from Christians Georgette Lama and fellow Bethlehem Christians Samir Qumsiyeh and Edward Salama.

US PRESIDENT STATES NEW POLICY

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

Bush’s backdoor attack: Iran via Hizbullah
Article by Yitzhak Benhorin – Washington Post

New policy authorizing attacks on Iranian agents in Iraq also allows for covert ops against Iran-backed terror groups all across the Middle East, including Hizbullah.

President Bush has authorized an aggressive program aimed at impeding Iran’s influence all around the Middle East, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

Friday (January 26, 2007), the Washington Post reported Bush’s authorization of a new, more intensive policy that allows for more stringent measures against Iran. This includes, primarily, the authority to capture or kill Iranian agents active in Iraq, a story Bush and other US officials did not deny. However, the new policy extends far beyond Iraq.

The Post reported that the new plan is part of a wider US strategy aimed at destroying Iranian influence from Afghanistan to Lebanon, as well as to hinder Iran’s nuclear program. In this context, the plan addresses known terrorist entities within the sphere of Iran’s influence, such as Hizbullah.

According to the Post, during the Lebanon war, senior US officials concluded on the importance of exposing the connection between Iran’s nuclear plan and its extensive assistance in arming, training and funding terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, Hizbullah and insurgent militias in Iraq.

As part of the new plan, US intelligence has now begun covert operations against Hizbullah. It is also focused on weakening Tehran’s funding chain to Hizbullah and to various Palestinian terror organizations.

The Post also reported that the White House ordered an extension of what is known among the intelligence community as the “Blue Game Matrix”, a list of potential operations to be taken against Hizbullah.

In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday (January 23, 2007), Bush mentioned Hizbullah, referring to it as “second only to al-Qaeda in the amount of American lives it has taken” and condemning its attempts to sow turmoil and undermine the existing Lebanese government.

WHY SUPPORT ISRAEL IN THESE LAST DAYS?

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007

Subject: “WHY SUPPORT ISRAEL IN
THE LAST DAYS?”
Scripture: Isaiah 41:8-20

1A. BECAUSE ISRAEL IS THE MOST FREQUENTLY-MENTIONED SUBJECT IN
THE BIBLE NEXT TO THE LORD HIMSELF! – 2566 TIMES

2A. BECAUSE GOD HAS CHOSEN HER OUT OF ALL NATIONS – Isaiah 41:8; 43:1; 44:1; 45:4; 48:10 cf. Deut. 7:6-9

3A. BECAUSE GOD HAS IDENTIFIED HIMSELF WITH HER – Isaiah 41:16-17 – “the Holy One of Israel” (31 times in the Bible, of which 25 are in Isaiah) and “the God of Israel” (203 times in Bible). The phrase “Lord God of Israel” is found 108 times.

4A. BECAUSE GOD HAS A SPECIAL LOVE FOR ISRAEL – Isaiah 63:7; Jeremiah 31:1-3 cf. John 3:16; Deuteronomy 7:8 – “because the Lord loved you”

5A. BECAUSE GOD HAS GIVEN HER LAND THAT HE CALLS HIS OWN – Genesis 15:18; 17:7-8; 28:12-15; 35:9-12; 50:24; Leviticus 25:2, 23; Psalm 105:8-11

6A. BECAUSE GOD WILL NEVER FORSAKE HER – Isaiah 41:17; 49:13-16; 54:5-8; 60:15-16; 62:11-12 Psa. 89:30-37; Leviticus 26:44; Jeremiah 31:3-37; Romans 11:1-2

7A. BECAUSE GOD WILL DESTROY ALL WHO COME AGAINST HER – Isa. 41:11-12; 63:1-6; 66:15-16; Zech. 12:9; 14:3; Revelation 19:11-21

8A. BECAUSE GOD WILL RESTORE HER TO HER PROMISED LAND – Deut. 30:3-10; Isaiah 35:10; 43:5-7; 51:11; Jeremiah 30:1-2; Ezekiel 36:24, 28; 37:13-14; Amos 9:13-15

9A. BECAUSE GOD WILL COME AND DWELL IN HER MIDST – Zechariah 2:10-13

10A. BECAUSE GOD WILL BRING SALVATION TO THE WHOLE WORLD THROUGH THE MESSIAH OF ISRAEL – Isaiah 11:1-10; 42:1, 6; 43:11, 25; 44:21-22; 45:17, 22-23; 49:5-16; 52:10; 53:1-6; 59:1-2, 20-60:3; 61:1-3, 10; 62:1, 11; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Romans 11:25-27

WHAT ABOUT THE JEWISH TEMPLE?

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007

It appears from various web site reports that interest in the building of the Jewish Temple has accelerated in recent days – apparently catching many Middle East observers and journalists by surprise!

The question is NOT “Will the Jews build the Temple?” – but rather, “When will the Jews build the Temple?” It is a long-standing desire and hope among Jewish people that one day the promise of Zechariah 6:12-13 will come true, and a Jewish Temple (promised to be built by the Messiah) will become a reality on the Temple Mount. The last nine chapters of Ezekiel describe in detail the building of the Temple and the restoration of Jewish worship and sacrifices.

“THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TEMPLE”
Isaiah 2:1-5

The word “temple” is used 204 times in the Bible – 117 of those times in the NT. The words “temple of the Lord” are found 24 times, once in the NT. The words “temple of God” appear 9 times. The word “tabernacle” is used 328 times, 20 in the NT. The words “holy place” are found 60 times – 5 in the NT. The words “the most holy” appear 24 times and the words “the most holy place” another 10 times. The phrase “the mountain of the Lord” is found 4 times, and the words “the house of the Lord” occur 234 times. Other usages include “the mount of the Lord” and “the holy mount.” The word “sanctuary” appears 137 times of which 21 usages are in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel that describe a future temple of the Messiah Himself. The evidence totals up to over 1000 usages in the Bible. Isaiah 27:13 speaks of a future day when people will come to “worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”

The Hebrew word for “temple” that is used 81 times is the word “hekal” – meaning “big house.” However, in describing the temple, the Bible uses the term “Beit Adonai” meaning “the house of the Lord” of “Beit Elohim” – “the house of God.” Both the tabernacle and the temple are referred to with the Hebrew word “mishkan” meaning “dwelling.” The words “Beit Hamikdash” meaning “the house of holiness” are translated “sanctuary” and today describe the temple.

In spite of many attempts by the Islamic world to deny the presence of a Jewish temple on the holy mount in Jerusalem, the evidence speaks powerfully that they are wrong. A recent discovery from the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found has produced nine rare silver coins that date back to the Jewish revolt in the 2nd century AD. The largest Jewish coin ever issued, a half-ounce silver coin called the “Petra Drachma” has been found. One side of the coin shows Jerusalem’s Second Temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The other side of the coin shows the image of the four plants known as the four species used during ceremonies of the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles.

While most Biblical scholars refer to three temples (Solomon, Herod, and Messiah) the words describing the temple are used in the Bible in the following ways:

1. The TABERNACLE OF MOSES (First Temple) – Exodus 15:17-18 – in the Song of Moses.
The instructions for its construction are found in
Exodus 25-40 – 25:8 – “and let them make Me a
Sanctuary that I may dwell among them.”

2. The TEMPLE OF SOLOMON (Second Temple) II Chronicles 3:1 – This temple was destroyed in 586 BC by Babylon – II Chronicles 36:18-19 – “and they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.”

3. The RESTORED TEMPLE (Third Temple) was built under the protection of Persia and the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah and the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua – Ezra 5:1-2

4. HEROD’S TEMPLE (Fourth Temple) – project of King Herod – usually referred to as the Second Temple – destroyed as Yeshua predicted in 70 AD – Matthew 24:1-2; Luke 21:20-24

5. The TRIBULATION TEMPLE (Fifth Temple) will exist during the coming Tribulation – Revelation 11:1-2 – the Bible seems to teach the following about this temple:

(1) A political AGREEMENT will allow a place for Jewish worship on the Temple Mount, but its location will be shared – Daniel 9:27; Rev. 11:2 – “But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is
given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.”

(2) A personal ARROGANCE of a coming world leader will cause him to enter the temple and demand that he be worshipped – Daniel 11:36-37, 45; Matthew 24:15; II Thessalonians 2:4 – “so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

6. The MESSIANIC TEMPLE (The Third Temple) is the one which Ezekiel saw in his vision recorded in chapters 40-48 – Ezekiel 41:1 begins: “Afterward he brought me to the temple…” Ezekiel 43:4 – “And the glory of the LORD came into the house…” It is the same house to which Isaiah referred in Isaiah 2:3: “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob…” Micah 4:2 predicts: “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow into it.” It is called “The Temple of the Messiah” for Zechariah 6:12-13 prophesies “Behold, the Man whose name is The Branch and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the LORD; Even He shall build the temple of the LORD; and He shall bear the glory; and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne…”

7. The CHURCH AS A TEMPLE – The New Testament also refers to the physical body of the Messiah as being the temple – John 2:19-21. In I Corinthians 6:19-20 the physical bodies of believers are called the “temple of the Holy Spirit.” The church is described in Ephesians 2:19-22 as an “holy temple in the Lord.” An interesting fact about the heavenly city called “the new Jerusalem” is what Revelation 21:3 says: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them…” But, in verse 22 we read: “And I saw no temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”

There are numerous Bible teachers and scholars who do not believe that a literal Third Temple is going to be built by the Messiah. They believe that the Church is that temple. The preparations and plans of the nation of Israel to build the temple are considered by certain scholars as insignificant and unrelated to the issue. The desires of the Jewish people around the world mean nothing to them for in their view the Church has replaced Israel as the people of God and as the true temple of God.

The Jerusalem Talmud (Yoma 1:1) says: “Each generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt is considered as if they destroyed the Temple.”

Elwood McQuaid said in an article in the magazine Israel My Glory: “I believe that the preparations for the rebuilding of the Temple today are extremely significant….I think we’re seeing a time when in the hearts of people they’re saying the time has come.”

When Israel captured the Temple Mount in June of 1967, Defense Forces Chief Rabbi General Shlomo Goren said on that day: “We have taken the city of God; we are entering the Messianic era for the Jewish people. We took an oath today, while capturing the city –on our blood we took an oath that we will never give it up – we will never leave this place. The Wailing Wall belongs to us. The holy place (Temple Mount) was our place first, and our God’s place. From here we do not move – Never – NEVER!”

Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Mount Faithful has said: “The Holy Temple was not just some magnificent building or synagogue rooted in Jerusalem’s ancient Biblical past; it was an arena of cosmic themes, a place where man could meet with his Creator; it is the reality of the living memory of that relationship as it once was, and the dream of its renewal, as promised by God Himself, that keeps the first of the Temple altar burning within the collective heart of the nation of Israel, and the hearts of all those who cherish Israel’s God and His message for humanity.”

MAY THE GOD OF ISRAEL BRING THE FULFILLMENT OF HIS PROPHECIES TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT – AND SOON!

ROCKETS IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA?

Tuesday, January 9th, 2007

What happens when terrorism comes to a small town? This article helps us to understand what is going on in the Land of Israel.

SELMA, CA — For the eleventh consecutive day, residents of rural Selma, California have sustained vicious and unprovoked rocket attacks.

Selma’s working-class population of 22,800 includes a large number of immigrants. The small, friendly town’s economy in central California’s San Joaquin Valley is based on agriculture and built on generations of farming families. Despite the financial hardships, they stay to cultivate and harvest fields of grapes that earn Selma the title, “Raisin Capital of the World.” Eleven schools and 35 churches support both the young and elderly residents of the town, as do the local hospital and rural health clinics.

It is hard to imagine, but this little town has been the target of over 1,200 Qassam rockets since August 2005. In the past month alone, nearly 300 rockets assaulted the rural community, each one accompanied by the “Red Dawn” air raid warning system Selma initiated in 2001 when the first rockets hit. The “Red Dawn” announcement blares out of an elaborate intercom system installed in nearly every building and throughout residential neighborhoods. The warning allows residents between 15 and 60 seconds to find shelter before an incoming rocket blast. Every home, commercial building and school in Selma is built with a “safe room” or bomb shelter. In a town with 50 percent of its population over age 65 — and 3,000 children — less than 60 seconds is not always enough time to hide.

A Qassam (kah-SAHM) is a crude but lethal weapon designed to inflict maximum civilian casualties. Too crude to be aimed with any sort of precision, it has absolutely no military applications. It is useful only to murder civilians and terrorize survivors.

The Qassam’s power lies in the explosive payload stuffed in the rocket’s metal shell, which is then packed with more than 7,000 metal ball bearings. Each ball bearing, less than ¼ inch in diameter, has a blast force capable of tearing through human flesh with deadly effect. One ball bearing, in other words, can create a hole in the human liver sufficient to guarantee that the victim will bleed to death before reaching Selma Community Hospital just a mile away. A single ball bearing that penetrates the human skull might leave a devastating neurological injury…provided the victim survives long enough to demonstrate the damage.

Who would fire such a horrifying weapon — indeed, over three thousand since 2001 — at the peaceful residents of this central California town? Look no further than the terrorists elected to govern the citizens of nearby Fowler just four miles north of Selma on Highway 99.

Today is Jake Jacoby’s funeral. The entire city of Selma mourns the loss of the 43-year-old father of four whose life was taken earlier this week when Selma’s Blocklite manufacturing plant (where he worked as a concrete mason) sustained a direct Qassam hit. Blocklite built the concrete reinforcements that protect Selma’s kindergartens from incoming Qassams.

Jake’s co-workers survived to witness the destruction of the rocket’s impact. Immediately after the blast, despite their own injuries, they attempted to slow the bleeding from Jake’s head and torso. Doctors at the nearest trauma center (20 miles away in Fresno) also tried to save his life, but the ball bearings had done too much damage. He died within hours.

Jake’s 12-year-old son, Brandon, speaks to a reporter after his father’s memorial service, explaining why his family has chosen to remain in Selma despite the constant barrage of rockets:

“I love Selma very much, and I won’t leave it because I love California. If I leave Selma, if all of Selma were evacuated, then the state would fall apart. The [terrorists in Fowler] will see that they are succeeding in Selma, and then they’ll shoot Qassams at San Francisco and Los Angeles too, and do the same in the whole state until nothing is left.”

The horrifying event described above actually happened. But it didn’t happen in Selma, California.

Change the names, travel 8,000 miles east, and visit the working-class town of Sderot, Israel. But be prepared to heed the Shahar Adom (“Red Dawn”) Qassam rocket warning system activated before every one of more than 1,200 attacks the community of 23,000 residents has endured since August 2005. Since 2001, the total number of rocket attacks sustained by Sderot is 3,000.

Sderot is a blue-collar town consisting largely of immigrants who escaped persecution in the former Soviet Union or starvation and sectarian violence in Ethiopia. The economy is based on agriculture — no easy feat in the arid soil and scorching climate of western Israel’s Negev desert. But neighbors help neighbors, and there is a strong sense of community often found among those who choose the small town life. There are eleven elementary schools, but playgrounds have remained empty since a Qassam took the life of 4-year-old Afik Zehavi as he played.

The need for Trauma Services, including counseling and support groups, overwhelms social workers in Sderot. Fifty percent of the town’s children under age five show signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Who would fire such a horrifying weapon — indeed, more than three thousand times — at the peaceful residents of this southern Israeli town? Look no further than the Hamas terrorists elected to govern the citizens of the Gaza Strip, just one kilometer west as the crow (or Qassam) flies.

On November 21, 2006, the chicken processing plant where 43-year-old Yaakov Yaakobov worked as a forklift operator was struck by a Qassam rocket launched by Hamas terrorists from a residential neighborhood in the Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun, six kilometers from Sderot. Yaakov suffered massive head trauma when shrapnel and ball bearings tore through his body. Hemorrhaging and unconscious, he was rushed to the nearest hospital (20 miles away in Beersheba), where he died within hours from the blast injury to his skull.

Yaakov’s son, Hanan, answered the question of a reporter after his father’s memorial service. Asked why his family had already decided to remain in Sderot despite the constant barrage of rockets under which they live, the 12-year-old boy whose father was just murdered by terrorists responded simply:

“I love Sderot very much, and I won’t leave it because I love the State of Israel. If I leave Sderot, if all of Sderot were evacuated, then the country would fall apart. The Palestinians will see that they are succeeding in Sderot, and then they’ll shoot Kassams at Ashkelon and Ashdod too, and do the same in the whole country until nothing is left.”

Central California’s rural, friendly town of Selma is a special place. I am grateful to be a member of this small but close community. I am grateful that our neighbor to the north, Fowler, is a good one.

I am also grateful that not once since 2001 has a siren blaring “Red Dawn” disturbed Selma’s peaceful residents. Not a single Qassam rocket has destroyed a Selma building or torn through the body of any of the 23,000 residents calling the town home. Our homes and businesses do not have to furnish loudspeakers and bomb shelters for terrified citizens to cower in as our city is assaulted. We have not had to watch helplessly as our vineyards and fruit trees burn after the explosion of a Qassam’s payload. We have held no funerals for victims of terrorist attacks at Blocklite or Garfield Elementary School, and our Social Services deal with problems very different from that of four-year-olds whose entire lives have been punctuated by rocket blasts.

It is easy to digest news reports of terrorism victimizing faceless strangers in remote places. It is far more difficult to recognize that what distinguishes us from those who suffer is something as random as geography.

(Editor’s NOTE: This article was the work of Dr. Linda Halderman and is worthy of our prayerful consideration and concern!)

DAYS OF NOAH

Tuesday, January 9th, 2007

Subject: “THE DAYS OF NOAH”
Scripture: Genesis 6:1-17; Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:37 – “but as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”

WHAT MAKES THE DAYS OF NOAH LIKE THE DAYS WHEN THE MESSIAH WILL RETURN?

1A. POPULATION EXPLOSION – Genesis 6:1 – “when men began to multiply on the face of the earth”

NOTE: Average age of those listed in the first genealogy of Genesis 5 is 857 years (if you exclude Enoch, the number is over 900 years!). It says of them “begat sons and daughters” – at least four children. The total amount of years from Adam to Noah and the flood is 1656 years. If you take the year they began to have children and give at least four children to every person, in 15 generations we have over one billion people on the planet!

2A. MORAL CORRUPTION – Genesis 6:5, 11a, 12 cf. Matthew 24:12 – “iniquity (lawlessness) will abound” – cf. II Timothy 3:1-5 – “perilous times”

3A. TERRIBLE VIOLENCE – Genesis 6:11b, 13 cf. II Timothy 3:3 – “fierce” (brutal)

4A. DEMONIC INFILTRATION – Genesis 6:2, 4 cf. I Timothy 4:1 – “seducing spirits and doctrines of demons” – cf. Jude 6-7 and Revelation 9:20-21

NOTE: The term “sons of God” is used for angels in Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:4-7; Psalm 34:7; Daniel 3:24-25; but, in the NT it is used of believers – John 1:12; I John 3:10

5A. LIMITED OPPORTUNITIES – Genesis 6:3 cf. Matthew 24:42, 44; 25:13; I Peter 3:20; II Peter 3:8-9

6A. GLOBAL DISASTER – Genesis 6:13, 17 cf. II Peter 3:10-12

7A. PERSONAL SALVATION – Genesis 6:8-10 cf. I Peter 3:20; II Peter 2:9; 3:9
cf. Matthew 24:40-41

(Editor’s NOTE: We may not see it as God sees it (of course!), but the similarities are striking. Our Lord Yeshua obviously makes the connection for us – may God give us all wisdom as we approach the unfolding of predicted end-time events.)

TEDDY KOLLEK DIES!

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007

Teddy Kollek, Legendary Jerusalem Mayor, Passes Away
15:42 Jan 02, ’07 / 12 Tevet 5767
by Hillel Fendel
(reported by Arutz Sheva National News)

Teddy Kollek, the long-time mayor of Jerusalem before, during and after the unification of Jerusalem, passed away in a Jerusalem home this morning at the age of 95.

Praise for his tremendous contribution to the building of modern Jerusalem was lavished from all quarters. “Never since Herod has there been someone who brought about such building and thriving as him,” said former Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin about Kollek.

Born near Budapest in 1911, he immigrated with his family to Palestine – the Holy Land – in 1934. Shortly afterwards, he helped found Kibbutz Ein Gev on the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee, with his young wife Tamar. The couple had two children, Amos (later a film director and writer) and Osnat.

Kollek worked for a decade in and out of the Holy Land to help the growing Jewish community there develop into a state.

In l939, he was able to persuade Adolf Eichmann in Vienna to release 3,000 Jewish youths from concentration camps in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, and allow them to leave for England. Details of this chapter are sketchy.

The Encyclopedia of Zionism and Israel states, “In the late 1930s he carried out rescue missions in Austria and Germany and was engaged in Zionist political work in England. In 1942 he joined the Political Department of the Jewish Agency and served as liaison officer with the British military intelligence and with Jewish underground groups in Europe, operating out of Jerusalem, Cairo, and Istanbul. In 1947-48 he directed the illegal arms puchasing operations for the Hagana in the United States.”

By his own admission, according to Nicholas Bethell’s The Palestine Triangle, Haganah member Kollek worked “sporadically” with the British and against the Irgun and Lechi, saying, ‘We detained Jewish dissidents, interrogated them, then either released them or handed them over to the CID [British Intelligence].'” Irgun and Lechi members caught by the British were often deported, sometimes tortured, and occasionally killed.

The Haganah is the forerunner of today’s Labor Party, believing in cooperation with the British and restraint against Arab attacks, while the Irgun and Lechi were more right-wing and pro-active in their attempts to oust the British from Palestine and thus hasten the birth of the independent Jewish State. Former Haganah members headed the state until 1977, when Menachem Begin, who had headed the Irgun, was elected Prime Minister.

After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Kollek remained in Washington as Israel’s ambassador, returning to Israel in 1952 to head Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s office – a post he held until 1964. The next year, Kollek was elected mayor of Jerusalem, serving in that office for the next 28 years until he was unseated by Ehud Olmert.

Presiding over the unification of the city from 1967 and onwards, Kollek made overtures towards the city’s various minorities. He oversaw the great expansion of Jerusalem, including new neighborhoods, parks, community centers, and cultural and religious centers such as the Israel Museum, the Jerusalem Theater, the rebuilding of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, the Teddy Stadium, the Cinematek, Safra Square where the municipal officers are located, and more. He specialized in raising funds for Jerusalem, even after he left office, and established the Jerusalem Foundation in 1991 for this purpose. In 1988, Kollek was awarded the Israel Prize for his special contribution to the country.

Kollek will be brought to rest on Thursday in the Greats of the Nation area of the Mt. Herzl Cemetery. His coffin will lie in Safra Square from Thursday morning until 11AM, and flags there have already been lowered to half-mast.

Reactions to Kollek’s passing:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who defeated Kollek in 1993 to become mayor of Jerusalem: “When he was first elected mayor, Jerusalem was a divided city that was not accorded the status it deserved. When he left office in 1993, Jerusalem was a large, modern, united and populous city. He made Jerusalem’s glory known throughout the world. He had a decisive influence on the city’s way of life, and its culture, its social fabric; he designed its horizons and built its institutions.”

MK Collete Avital (Labor): “A giant has left us, the last of a great generation. He was a man who gave his all, with no restraints of time, circumstances, or other, to the city he loved more than anything else in the world – Jerusalem.”

MK Gideon Saar (Likud): “Teddy Kollek will be remembered in history as the great modern builder of Jerusalem, and as the architect of its unification. He was one of the giants of the execution of the revival of Israel.”

TRUTH ABOUT THE LAW

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007

We receive many questions about the identity and characteristics of what we call the “LAW” and whether or not it applies to believers today. The word “law” appears 523 times in the Bible of which 223 usages are in the New Testament. The Hebrew word “TORAH” appears 219 times in the Jewish Bible and primarily refers to “teaching.” To Jewish people, the “law” refers to both “oral” and “written” law. There are several synonymous terms that include the following:
“commandments” – Hebrew word “mitzvah” – used 181 times
“testimonies” – Hebrew word “yedah” – used 25 times
“precepts” – Hebrew word “piqquwd” – used 24 times
“statutes” – Hebrew word “choq” – used 126 times
“judgments” – Hebrew word “mishpat” – used 417 times
“word” – Hebrew word “dabar” – used 1447 times

The “law” refers to 613 commandments, the ten commandments, the first five books of the Bible, and to the entire Old Testament (Jewish Bible – TANAKH). The “law” is forever settled in the heavens (Psalm 119:89) and is “perfect, right, pure, clean, true, righteous, holy, good, just” and “endures forever” (Psalm 19:7-9; Romans 7:12). The “law” cleanses, revives, warns, gives direction and understanding (Psalm 119). It does not refer to “tradition” – be sure to read Matthew 15:6-9. The “law” is more desirable than gold – Psalm 19:10.

THE PROBLEM WITH THE LAW

1. It cannot give spiritual life – II Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 3:21

2. It cannot make us righteous before God – Romans 3:20, 28; Galatians 2:16;
James 2:10

3. It cannot take away our sin – Hebrews 10:1-4

4. It cannot cancel the promise of God to Abraham – Galatians 3:16-17

THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW

1. It relates primarily to Israel – Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 8, 44-45; 5:1-3; 6:1-3; Romans 9:4

2. It removes our ignorance of sin – Romans 3:20; 7:7; Galatians 3:19; I John 3:4

3. It reflects the character of God Himself – Romans 7:12, 22, 25; 8:7

4. It regulates society – made for the non-believer – I Timothy 1:9-10

5. It reveals our carnality – Romans 7:14

6. It reenforces our need of a Savior and that justification is by faith alone – Matthew 5:17-18; Galatians 2:19-21; 3:19-25

TWO GREAT DANGERS

It is difficult to be “balanced” in our understanding, interpretation, and application of the “law.” A person can wind up falling into one of two great dangers in relationship to the “law.”

1. LEGALISM – This is the belief that keeping the law and its requirements is essential for salvation and/or Christian life and growth.

Galatians 3:1-3 speaks of this danger and warns the believers about it.

2. LIBERTARIANISM – This is the belief (sometimes called “antinomianism”) that our freedom in the Messiah allows us to sin without facing any consequences.

Believers are not free to sin or to disobey God. We don’t make up the rules – God does! But, we also need to understand that our forgiveness comes through the death and resurrection of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, not through our works or performance. We cannot earn or deserve the grace of God, and we cannot be righteous by what we do or do not do – That comes solely through the work of our Lord Who “declares” us righteous on the basis of our faith in the finished work of our Lord Yeshua Who died for ALL of our sins, and rose again for our justification.

MAY GOD GIVE US ALL WISDOM FROM HIS WORD ALONE!


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