THE WALL;
THE ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN
ACCORDS; AND ISRAEL'S
AGREEMENT WITH DEATH & HELL

INTRODUCTION

What strange, enigmatic words these are that God speaks to Gog, Israel's ancient, spectral enemy; strange especially insofar as their references to Israel as "a land of UNWALLED villages," and a people who "dwell WITHOUT WALLS." [Please see Chapter 9 of the Antipas Papers, "The Second Half of the 70th Week - The Seven Trumpets;" specifically, that section of Chapter 9 that deals with "The World Beyond Our World" and the "Fallen Angels;" please also see our article, "The Caucasus Mountains, Gog, Magog, and Chevron Oil."]

Look at these verses again; examine them carefully; they are pregnant with meaning:

"After many days thou (i.e., "Gog") shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

"Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.

"Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:

"And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of UNWALLED villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling WITHOUT walls, and having neither bars nor gates ...

"To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land." (Ezek. 38:8-12)

"Unwalled villages?" People "dwelling without walls?" - it sounds like something out of the Song of Roland or Canterbury Tales. Something medieval and gothic! - especially in this day and age. No one builds defensive walls around towns and cities anymore. That went out with the advent of modern artillery more than five centuries ago - EXCEPT IN ONE PLACE: ISRAEL, WHERE CONSTRUCTION OF A "DEFENSIVE WALL" IS PROCEEDING WITH ALL POSSIBLE DISPATCH! - GIVING THE VERSES IN EZEKIEL 38:8-12 A NEW AND VERY OMINOUS MEANING. SUDDENLY, THE WORDS OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL DON'T SOUND QUITE AS "ANTIQUE" AS THEY HAD SOUNDED PREVIOUSLY.

THE WALL

Yes! There is a WALL in the land of Israel today. A "defensive" WALL. It is made up of concrete slabs up to 30 feet high in some places, razor wire, electrical fencing, ditches, trenches, roads, sensors, and surveillance devices; it is Israel's attempt to create a "defensible border" between itself and the Palestinians; between Israelis and the Intifada.

The WALL creates a frontier between the Jewish nation and the Palestinians that has been "adjusted" to take into account Israel's defense requirements; a WALL that, as Emily Winkelstein, a liberal Jew very much opposed to the WALL, says almost hysterically -

"... RIPS through the West Bank ... annexing all major settlement blocs and confiscating natural resources, such as land and water, while also targeting Palestinian economic focal points in what can only be perceived as an attempt to strangle Palestinian livelihood and force migration through the cutting off of trade, jobs and urban growth potential. The Wall separates Palestinians from their schools, places of worship, health facilities, markets, jobs, water sanitation resources and families.

"The Wall inflicts a dangerous and brutal form of Apartheid on the people of Palestine, imposing oppressive economic, political and racially based separation designed to inhibit development, growth and ultimately Palestinian existence. Clearly a racist devise, it encloses Palestinians into ghettos in which all entrances and exits are controlled by the oppressive occupying force; its path deliberately confiscates resources for exploitation by Israeli settlers and those living west of the Green Line, while planning for expanded settlement colonization.

"The Wall is undoubtedly another attempt to establish irreversible demographic and physical boundaries in Palestine through the annexation of illegal settlements and the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their land. By nature, the Apartheid Wall threatens all viable Palestinian stability, self determination, freedom of movement and the establishment of any Palestinian state as they would choose to define it."

OPPOSITION TO THE WALL

Those who oppose the WALL - dubbed the "Apartheid Wall" by the Palestinians and their allies in Europe and the rest of the world - claim that when it is completed, it will annex more than 50% of West Bank lands and separate 40% of Palestinians from their homes, or cause them to be isolated from the rest of the West Bank; but to most Israelis, withdrawal of their forces back to the so-called "Green Line" (Israel's pre-1967 border) would be nothing short of madness. Besides, Israel claims that in "adjusting" the border, only about 10 to 15 percent of Palestinian land is being expropriated.

Nonetheless, the facts of the matter notwithstanding, opposition to the WALL is by now almost universal. Indeed, in some quarters throughout the world, construction of the WALL is considered tantamount to "ethnic cleansing." Even the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague has weighed in - declaring in an "advisory opinion" on July 9, 2004 that the WALL is "illegal" according to international, humanitarian and human rights laws.

EXCHANGING THE WALL FOR A DEFENSE PACT
WITH THE MOST POWERFUL NATION ON EARTH

The problem, however, for those who oppose the WALL is that it works - at least insofar as Israel is concerned: The very real fact of the matter is, where the WALL has been completed, incursions by Palestinians into Israel proper bent on murder and slaughter have been reduced dramatically. INDEED, IT PROBABLY WOULDN'T BE TOO MUCH TO SAY THAT THE WALL REPRESENTS THE MOST "WORKABLE" AND "PRACTICAL" SOLUTION ISRAEL HAS BEEN ABLE TO CONCOCT TO DATE AGAINST ATTACK BY ITS ARAB AND PALESTINIAN ENEMIES.

In light of this, one would have to ask, Why would Israel give the WALL up? It would be "nuts" for Israel to do so. And yet, very obviously, at the time of Gog's attack on Israel, the WALL is gone. That's what Ezek. 38:11-12 makes clear:

"... I (i.e., Gog) will go up to the land of UNWALLED villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling WITHOUT walls, and having neither bars nor gates ...

"To take a spoil, and to take a prey ..." (Ezek. 38:11-12)

So, again, the question that springs to mind is, Why would Israel sacrifice the security that the WALL had given to them? - unless, of course, Israel had received something in EXCHANGE; something it considered more valuable: a DEFENSE PACT, perhaps, with the most powerful nation on earth - the United States!

A "CONDOMINIUM" BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE U.S.

Yes! - that's what has very evidently occurred, and it is EXACTLY this "Defense Pact" that the prophet Isaiah condemns as a "COVENANT WITH DEATH" (Isaiah 28:18) and as an "AGREEMENT WITH HELL" (Isaiah 28:18) - an "agreement" and a "covenant" that the Bible somberly warns Israel against making:

"... your covenant with death [i.e., the U.S.] shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell [again, the U.S.] shall not stand [i.e., you will be wickedly BETRAYED]; when the OVERFLOWING SCOURGE shall pass through, THEN YE SHALL BE TRODDEN DOWN BY IT." (Is. 28:18)

AN OVERFLOWING SCOURGE

An "OVERFLOWING SCOURGE?" Eee gads! - but that's how the prophet Isaiah caustically and very stingingly refers to the nation with which Israel will place its trust; specifically, with Babylon the Great (i.e., the United States). [Please see our article, "In Search of Babylon: What Do The Scriptures Say?"]

And it is exactly here that you would be well advised, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to take careful note of the appalling, frightful description that God uses in describing the United States: an "OVERFLOWING SCOURGE." It gives you some idea of how He views the United States. And what an apropos description it is: just ask the poor and dispossessed of the earth whose nations have been inundated (or "overflowed") by this SCOURGE, and in the process reduced to "client-state" status; for example, the people of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, the Congo - the list is endless.]

SO ISRAEL IS WARNED - AND SO ARE YOU

SO ISRAEL IS WARNED: "You have covenanted with death, and you have made an agreement with hell, and you will be betrayed by those with whom you have covenanted." It is PRECISELY this covenant that signifies the "BEGINNING OF THE END" insofar as this "present dispensation" is concerned (I Cor. 9:17, Eph. 1:10 and 3:2, and Col. 1:25), and it is this particular END (so to speak) that we are very, very close to now! [Please see Chapter 5 of the Antipas Papers, "Understanding the Book of Revelation."]

What this means for YOU, of course, is that you too have pretty much reached the end yourself; specifically, that time when caution - and even what passes in this life for prudence - must be thrown to the wind, and you must step out in faith in answer to the urging of the Scriptures to flee Babylon (Rev. 18:4).

If you wait too long, you could be (indeed, you will be) CRUSHED by the onrushing flow of events. [Please see our article on Rev. 18:4. "The Aliya Foundation."]

And exactly how close we are to the advent of this treaty - i.e., Israel's great apostesia - can be gauged, at least to some extent, by the progress of events in the Middle East insofar as an Israeli/Palestinian peace accord is concerned.

IT IS THIS ACCORD THAT WILL ACT AS THE NECESSARY PRECURSOR TO ISRAEL'S "AGREEMENT WITH HELL" (Is. 28:18) - and don't think - even for a moment - that the events in Iraq will very much hinder progress towards such a compact; if anything, the chaos in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East is acting as a catalyst pushing the world closer to it.

A STRANGE DIVERGENCE

In this respect, it is interesting to note that one of the most fascinating occurrences that has cropped up in the Middle East in recent months is the strange divergence that events have taken (1) insofar as the Israeli/Palestinian question is concerned, and (2) insofar as what's occurring in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East.

ON THE ONE HAND, the death of PLO Chief Yasser Arafat has occasioned a sudden and somewhat unexpected impetus towards peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) - and so much so that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking on Television One in Israel on November 21, 2004, said that "there is a new attitude" among Palestinian leaders "and we must take advantage of this new attitude." Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom echoed Powell; he said that the death of Arafat "represents an opportunity for real and positive change." And it isn't just Powell and Shalom: their Palestinian counterpart, PA foreign minister Nabil Shaath, says that hope is in the air.

Powell went on to say that he was "pleased with the level of coordination and co-operation that exists (now) between the Israeli government and the Palestinian authority." My heavens! - in the light of all that's been happening between the Palestinians and the Israelis over the last few months, these are certainly extraordinary statements - all of them!

The last time there was any kind of optimism like this was in June of 2003, after the Iraq invasion, when U.S. President George Bush visited Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt and Aqaba in Jordan for meetings with Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, who was then the Palestinian prime minister. The goal at that time was to get Abbas to wrest control of Palestinian security forces away from Arafat and rein in Palestinian attacks on Israeli citizens. A few months later, Abbas resigned, charging that he had not gotten Arafat's backing; plainly, Arafat had been blocking Abbas - but now Arafat is gone!

ON THE OTHER HAND, while peace is "in the air" between Israel and the PA, the rest of the Middle East is plunging ever more deeply into chaos and turmoil as a result of the continuing War in Iraq. Quite a divergence!

It is, however, this very divergence between what is happening in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East (Iran, Syria, etc.), and what is happening between Israel and the Palestinians that is leading irresistibly -

1. To a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians.
2. To the tearing down of Israel's defensive WALL (fulfilling the prophecy in Ezek. 38:11-12).
3. To a defense pact between the United States and Israel.
4. To the Gog/Magog War.
5. And ultimately to all the events of the "Tribulation Period" itself.

[Please see Chapter 11 of the Antipas Papers for a discussion of the Tribulation Period.]

THE FORCE OF EVENTS

And make no mistake about it, THE FORCE OF EVENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST THAT ARE PUSHING THE WORLD IN THIS DIRECTION IS BY NOW BECOMING ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO RESIST. This is especially true insofar as the United States is concerned, which over the last few years has been left in almost TOTAL ISOLATION regarding its diplomatic position vis a vis Israel and the larger issues surrounding the so-called "War on Terror."

Breaking that isolation is what makes an Israeli/Palestinian peace settlement so attractive to the United States at this particular time; the fact is, in arranging such a settlement the U.S. could go a long way - as Khalil Shikaki, Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah says - in lending credence (a false credence to be sure) to it's foreign policy. Shikaki says that it would give -

"... the Bush administration ... the opportunity to give concrete expression to its declared commitment to pursuing both Israeli-Palestinian peace and regional democracy."

This is important because the Bush administration has attempted to disguise its WAR OF AGGRESSION in the Middle East (which aims at securing the region's oil wealth for itself) behind the mask of "building democracy" in the region. Of course, the kind of "democracy" the U.S. has in mind for the nations of the Middle East is the same kind of democracy it has built in Central America and other regions around the world; the kind of "puppet-state" democracy now extant in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Philippines, Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan, ad infinitum, ad nauseum where 20 percent of the population benefit as U.S. lackeys serving the interests of America's corporate elites, and the other 80 percent of the population starve to death. THAT'S DEMOCRACY U.S.-STYLE. [Please see our article, "The Third World as a Model for the New World Order;" please also see our article, "Inside the American New World Order System."]

MUSLIMS: LESS THAN HUMAN

The underlying (and very wicked) assumption that allows the Bush administration to pose as a champion of democracy in the Middle East is the belief - largely acquired as a result of its connection with the Religious Right - that Muslims are incapable of building Western-style democracies themselves. The notion here is that the Islamic faith (which is embraced by the overwhelming majority of those in the Middle East) is intrinsically anti-democratic, anti-rational, anti-freedom, and misogynist - as if Christianity as practiced by the Religious Right is not. [Please see our article, "Today's Church: Making Zombies out of Christians - the Apostles and Prophets Movement."]

It is precisely these impulses that supposedly are inherent in Muslim culture that prevent the people of the Middle East from improving themselves - at least according to the twisted, self-indulgent logic of American Christians. In the calculus of Christian dolts like Gary North, R.J. Rushdoony, etc., Christianity equals wealth and political democracy in this world, while Islam equals poverty and authoritarianism - though one would be very hard-pressed to discover the basis for such notions in the New Testament where Jesus told His followers to -

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal ..." (Matt. 6:19-20)

And -

"... If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." (Matt. 19:21)

CHRISTIANITY AND THE WEST

That kind of advice could never lead to the kind of "wealth accumulation" that is necessary for capitalism to thrive, to say nothing about satisfying the "worldly desires" of the Republican elites with whom Christians in the United States have allied themselves. [But, then, what do the Scriptures have to do with the way Christianity (so-called) is practiced in the United States anyway? Please see our articles, "Christianity and Capitalism" and the "Marxist Paradigm."]

Nonetheless, it's precisely this "Christian" calculus (so-called) that gives cover to Bush's wars of conquest against the peoples and nations of the Middle East, and - as a result - it has been adopted wholesale by the "neo-cons" that surround Bush and which have charge of implementing Bush's policy of IMPERIAL CONQUEST (for example, "neo-cons" like Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Abram Skulsky, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Elliot Abrams, et. al.) - and this despite the fact that most of these men are slavish followers and even devotees of the atheist Leo Strauss and his zealous sycophant, Allan Bloom.

SOME CONVENIENT OMISSIONS

Of course, what this kind of "Christian calculus" (i.e., the kind that impugns some kind of "worldly" cultural superiority to Christianity over and against Islamic culture) conveniently omits from its analyses of "Western superiority" contra the Muslim world is (1) the very evident superiority of Muslim Civilization as opposed to Western Civilization during the Medieval era (to say nothing of its "tolerance" for other religions and cultures that was UTTERLY absent in the Western World at that time), and (2) any attribution of guilt insofar as the West's political machinations and economic rape of the Islamic world for the last century and a half which has all but suffocated the peoples of the Middle East politically and economically. [In this regard, it is important to note that the kind of religious intolerance that is practiced today in the Muslim world is a relatively new thing - and is largely the result of American machinations during the Cold War aimed at forging Islam into an instrument that could be arrayed against the oil elite's nemesis in the Middle East at that time - socialism and communism - please see our article, "Radical Islam;" please also see our article, "Israel and the Renewed Struggle for the Holy Land."]

For instance, take what Chris Harmon, in his essay, The Prophet and the Proletariat, says about the economic rape of the Middle East that is occurring today largely at the instigation of the Western elites:

"The oil wealth of the Arabian peninsula is in the hands of Western multinationals, which share some of it with a narrow stratum of local rulers while the mass of the population live in poverty. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank still dictate economic programs to countries such as Egypt and Algeria, much as Lord Cromer did when he ran Egypt for its British and French debtors in the 1880s."

Still, the prevailing notion remains in the United States that what the War in Iraq is really all about is "bringing democracy" to the peoples and nations of the Middle East. WHAT A SHAM! As Junaid S. Ahmad says, what the spokesmen of George Bush's American New World Order System (both Christians and "neo-cons") are doing here is using -

"... anti-Islamic tirades in the unashamed service of imperial violence and domination."

ANTI-ISLAMIC TIRADES IN THE
SERVICE OF U.S. IMPERIALISM

Nonetheless, these tirades work insofar as average Americans are concerned, especially "every-day" Christians. Shikaki concludes:

"By supporting [a peace between Israel and a democratic Palestinian state (so-called)] ... and by ... linking peace making to democracy building, the White House can begin to quell the suspicion pervasive among Arabs that its intervention in Middle East politics is motivated solely by expediency and self-interest (i.e., oil), rather than a sincere desire to regionwide reform and good governance."

But - again - all this rhetoric about "democracy building" is nothing more than theatrical farce behind which lies the unabashed GREED of the American elites for the "black gold" (i.e., the oil) of the Middle East. There's NO real concern here for the interests of the Jewish state, and certainly there's NO interest in the plight of the Palestinians. THE ONLY CONCERN HERE IS THROWING THE WORLD OFF THE SCENT OF WHAT THE U.S. IS REALLY DOING, and mollifying America's critics in Europe and the rest of the world by pretending that what America is really interested in is, as Shikaki says, "regionwide reform and good governance."

Of course, this pretense is pretty thin - but it doesn't have to go on forever; all it has to do is gain the U.S. enough time (1) to "retool" and expand its army [it turned out that the Middle East wasn't quite the "cakewalk" that the American elites initially thought it would be], and (2) to clamp down PERMANENTLY on dissent in the United States; then the U.S. will be ready for a permanent state of war against the world - ALL IN THE NAME OF CHRIST.

WHO IS LIKE UNTO THE BEAST

In this regard you need to understand something here: Once the U.S. has adjusted to the new reality (i.e., that there really are those in the larger world who are not prepared to enthusiastically embrace the American new World Order System), it will slice through the Middle East and the rest of the world like a sharp knife through warm butter. It is not without reason that the people of the world stands in awe of the United States, and exclaim,

"Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" (Rev. 13:4) [Please see our article, "The Revolution in Military Affairs, and American World-Hegemony."]

And don't doubt even for a minute that the U.S. isn't perfectly able to cut through the rest of the world like a meat cleaver through a slice of beef. That's the mistake that President Noriega made in Panama, President Milosovich made in Yugoslavia, and Saddam Hussein made in Iraq. All the United States needs to do to the world at large what it did to these three is an expanded army, and a population in the "homeland" willing to sacrifice their sons and daughters in this "cause," though they must never be allowed to see the god to whom they are really sacrificing their children, which is MAMMON and the filthy, squalid greed of America's corporate elites.

PRETENDING THAT GOD IS
MAMMON, AND MAMMON IS GOD

That, of course, is where the leaders of the Christian Right become so necessary to the purposes of the economic elites: it's their job to portray America's war against the world as a "holy crusade" to bring "Christ to the nations," and to enlist their followers as HOLY CRUSADERS in this war - as foot soldiers (really, cannon fodder) abroad, and as spies (WATCHERS) against all those who dissent at home. [Please see our article, "The Watchers are Watching You."]

Twisting the holy Scriptures, making "good" seem "bad," and "black" seem "white;" making Mammon out to be Christ, and substituting the purposes of hell for the purposes of heaven. Well did Jesus say of them:

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! FOR YE SHUT UP THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AGAINST MEN: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! FOR YE DEVOUR WIDOW'S HOUSES, AND FOR A PRETENSE MAKE A LONG PRAYER: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

"Woe unto you, ye blind guides ...

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith ...

"YE BLIND GUIDES, WHICH STRAIN AT A GNAT, AND SWALLOW A CAMEL.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! FOR YE MAKE CLEAN THE OUTSIDE OF THE CUP AND OF THE PLATTER, BUT WITHIN THEY ARE FULL OF EXTORTION AND EXCESS.

"Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! FOR YE ARE LIKE UNTO WHITED SEPULCHRES, WHICH INDEED APPEAR BEAUTIFUL OUTWARD, BUT ARE WITHIN FULL OF DEAD MEN'S BONES, AND OF ALL UNCLEANNESS.

"EVEN SO YE ALSO OUTWARDLY APPEAR RIGHTEOUS UNTO MEN, BUT WITHIN ARE FULL OF HYPOCRISY AND INIQUITY.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

"And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

"Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that YE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THEM THAT KILLED THE PROPHETS.

"Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, HOW CAN YE ESCAPE THE DAMNATION OF HELL?" (Matt. 23:13-16, 23-33)

Yes! - these hypocrites! These servants of hell! - ALL of them: Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy, Charles Stanley, John Hagee, C. Peter Wagner, ad nauseum, ad infinitum. How shall they escape the damnation of hell? It's hell they have served in making its purposes out to be the purposes of God, and it's hell to which they are all destined! Speaking concerning these people, Jesus said,

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt. 7:21-23)

SACRIFICING ISRAEL'S DEFENSE REQUIREMENTS

The U.S. needs time, and that's what the Israeli/Palestinian accords mean for the U.S. - TIME; the U.S. has no real interest in making Israel secure from Palestinian suicide attacks, and no interest whatsoever for the plight of the Palestinians. Their only interest is in TIME, and that's what the U.S. thinks it can buy for itself in arranging an Israeli/Palestinian accord.

Naturally enough, in order to affect an Israeli/Palestinian peace accord (and, ipso facto, buy for itself the time it needs to "retool" its army and crush dissent in the U.S.), the United States will have to have something to trade in order to persuade the Palestinians to enter into serious negotiations with them, and what they have to trade are Israel's defense requirements - which makes perfect sense to the American elites. After all, it's not U.S. security that's at stake here, but merely Israel's. And while sacrificing "land for peace" (specifically, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza strip) may be ANATHEMA to the Christian Right in the United States as well as "hard-liners" in Israel and "settlers" in the "occupied territories," it seems like a "good deal" to the Republican elites and the CEOs of Bechtel, Haliburton, Exxon-Mobile, Chevron Oil, Philips Petroleum, etc. [Please see Julia Duin, "Zionist Meeting Brands 'Road Map' as Heresy," Washington Times, May 19, 2003.]

In the final analysis, Bush and his allies in the oil industry don't really "give a damn" about what the Christian Right or the "settlers" on the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza think. What do they care about the "Promised Land?" What they're motivated by is money, which means - at least in this particular instance - keeping the world at bay while they get ready for a wider, much more brutal phase in their ongoing war of plunder and pillage against the world at large.

At any rate, the Republican elites are pretty sure that - in the end - they can talk people like Pat Robertson, John Hagee, Jerry Falwell, et. al. into just about anything. All of these hypocrites long ago sold themselves out for "filthy lucre" (I Peter 5:2) - i.e., their "green lawns," their million dollar mansions, their three thousand dollar suits, etc. - making a mockery of Christ who said of Himself,

"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." (Luke 9:58)

A LITTLE MONEY HERE, A LITTLE MONEY THERE

A little money here, a little money there; a promise here, a promise there, and last of all, as the piece de resistance to pacify and placate their Religious Right supporters (who have their own private agenda insofar as Israel is concerned) - A WRITTEN COMMITMENT (A FORMAL OBLIGATION) BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT GUARANTEEING ISRAEL'S SECURITY. [Please see our article, "The Superman Theology of the International Christian Embassy's Feast of Tabernacles."]

What about that? - a guarantee from the most powerful nation on earth! - and, after all, Israeli withdrawal from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza strip doesn't have to be forever. In the business world (at least the business world that the U.S. elites occupy), agreements are nothing more than pieces of paper that one strives to "get around."

In the long run, agreements like these aren't meant to be kept! Honesty has nothing to do with anything insofar as the American business elites are concerned. All that matters is making money: That's the measure of success, not whether one "played by the rules" or not. The rule is, there are no rules! The people with whom the Church and Israel have partnered are the kind of people about whom the late Professor C. Wright Mills of Columbia University writes,

"The pursuit of the moneyed-life is ... their commanding value, in relation to which the influence of other values (for example, keeping one's word) has declined, so ... (that they have) easily become MORALLY RUTHLESS ...

"(They have) narrowed the meaning of 'success' to big money and in these terms condemn (financial) failure as the chief vice, raising money to the plane of absolute value."

Mills continues,

"Whenever the standards of the moneyed life prevail, the man with money, no matter how he got it, will eventually be respected. (In America), it is not only that men want money; it is that their very standards are pecuniary. In a society (i.e., the American society) in which the money-maker has ... no serious rival for repute and honor, the word 'practical' comes to mean 'useful for private gain' and 'common sense', 'the sense to get ahead financially'." [Please see our article, "The Elite, Money and the End of Days."]

THE AMORALITY OF THE MONEYED ELITE

Greed renders those who have been captured by it into empty shells who no longer possess substance or meaning to their lives. While it’s true that many of those people who have been captured by it continue to preserve a certain front of "purpose" and "idealism" in their lives, there is nothing behind that "front" except a vacuum - a hollowness that resembles the emptiness of a body without a soul. They have been emptied of all their humanity and concern for anything beyond themselves - though they all too often possess an uncanny and extraordinary way of hiding this fact behind a pretense of flattery and charm. Indeed, Peter warned,

"For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure (people) ... through much wantonness ..." (2 Pet. 2:18)

But their idealism (so-called) is nothing more than a subterfuge, a contrivance, a masquerade - an excuse for what really drives them, which is the actual process of wealth accumulation. It's not that they are immoral (that would imply that they possess a conscience), but that they are amoral - that they don’t even possess a sense of "right" or "wrong" anymore. "Right" is, again, simply that which advances their own selfish ends; "wrong" is that which hinders them; these words possess no other meaning beyond that.

It’s this utter abandonment of all private convictions - of any concept of what’s "right" or "wrong" - which leads to one of their most abhorrent and disgusting traits: specifically, their heartless and cruel way of discarding those "allies" and "hangers-on" who no longer possess the ability to advance their interests or careers - AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE AMERICAN ELITES WILL DO TO ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH ONCE THEY ARE THROUGH USING THEM.

LYING TO THE PALESTINIANS

Very obviously, then, lying to the Palestinians about the PERMANENCE of the agreement they have made with the Israelis - and getting BOTH the Church and Israel to go along with this subterfuge - is not a big thing for the elites. It's called REALPOLITIK. Besides, it's being done IN THE SERVICE OF GOD, and doesn't that make it all right. All the U.S. is asking from both the Church and Israel is enough time to get itself ready to "finish off" the world - which the Christian Right calls, "Spreading the Gospel of Christ" - even if at the point of a gun! That's okay with Christians today; that's what the late R.J. Rushdoony thought; he wrote,

"In winning a nation to the gospel, the sword as well as the pen must be used."

LAND FOR PEACE

But if the elites would do this to the Palestinians, what makes Israel think that they won't do it eventually to them? The Blindness of the Israelis here! The UTTER blindness! - the inability to see reality for what it really is, a feebleness of mind that has resulted from the corruption that has accrued to Israel over the years because of their contemptible, toady-like relationship with the U.S. How else can one explain the stupidity of Israeli leaders in trading away Israel's security (i.e., giving up land and the WALL) for a worthless scrap of paper from the likes of those we have just described? Stupid, stupid people, these Israelis!

ISRAEL: GOING DOWN TO THE CHAMBERS OF DEATH

Simple, dim-witted NAIFS - these foolish, asinine Israelis:

"... at the window of my house I looked through my casement, And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, Passing through the street ... and he went ... to (a certain) house, In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtle of heart. So she caught him, and kissed him ... and said unto him ... I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with love.

"With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.

"He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, AND KNOWETH NOT THAT IT IS FOR HIS LIFE.

"She hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. HER HOUSE IS THE WAY TO HELL, GOING DOWN TO THE CHAMBERS OF DEATH." (Proverbs 7:4-27)

YOU WILL BE BETRAYED

Believe me, all you who dwell in Israel (and I know that there are many there who read this website - believers and unbelievers alike - I tell you the truth: to follow America means "going down to the chambers of death." You MUST speak out to your fellow citizens; you MUST warn them: It's not without reason that Isaiah warns Israel -

"... your covenant with death (i.e., the U.S.) shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell (again, the U.S.) shall not stand [i.e., you will be wickedly BETRAYED]; when the OVERFLOWING SCOURGE shall pass through, THEN YE SHALL BE TRODDEN DOWN BY IT." (Is. 28:18)

There's only one other entity in all the earth quite as BLIND and as STUPID as Israel today, and that's the church. In a very real sense, BOTH entities have "covenanted with death," and have "made an agreement with hell," and BOTH will be trampled under foot by the U.S.

Again, the whole thing is almost beyond belief. Why is it that BOTH Israel and the church think they can bargain successfully with the very same entity that has ground the other peoples and nations of the earth into the dirt? Do they think that they are immune from American greed? Do they think that suddenly the American elites have genuinely "found religion," and become "Lovers of Zion?" Do they think that former Secretary of State James Baker didn't really mean it when he said, "FU-K THE JEWS"? Is that what they think? Are Christians and Jews really that stupid? - apparently so! [Please see our article, "The Religious Right and Israel; A Relationship that Cannot Hold."]

THE ROADMAP TO HELL

President Bush says he has a "vision" for a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians. Bush first proposed his "vision" for an Israeli-Palestinian peace [which, again, means trading away most (if not all) of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and - sooner or later - East Jerusalem (in addition to tearing down the WALL)] in a speech on June 24, 2002. The speech's official title reveals the direction that the Bush administration wants to take in settling the conflict: "A Performance-based Road Map to a Permanent TWO-STATE SOLUTION to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." Nabeel Abraham writes:

"Two goals make an appearance for the first time in the U.S.-authored peace plan: 1) A termination of 'the occupation that began in 1967' and 2) A timetable for the 'emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state'."

This speech later became the basis for what's now known as the "ROAD MAP TO PEACE." Naturally enough, abandonment of East Jerusalem, the almost total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank and the destruction of the WALL are not specifically mentioned in this or subsequent speeches. The problem here, however, is that NOTHING short of a total withdrawal to the "Green Line" will satisfy the Palestinians and their supporters in the rest of the world - WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO THE PURPOSE OF THE UNITED STATES, WHICH IS, AS WE HAVE ALREADY INDICATED, TO GAIN FOR ITSELF SOME BREATHING SPACE.

PUSHING ISRAEL TO THE LIMIT

The fact that the United States intends to push Israel to the limit in acquiescing to the demands of the Palestinians is made evident by the statement that among the goals of the peace plan is termination of "THE OCCUPATION THAT BEGAN IN 1967." That can only mean that the U.S. contemplates Israeli withdrawal to the "green line," and - ipso facto - the destruction of the WALL - WHICH WILL FORCE ISRAEL TO RELY TOTALLY ON THE U.S. FOR ITS PROTECTION (AND EVEN ITS SURVIVAL).

THE U.S. WILL HAVE TO WORK FAST

But the U.S. president will have to work fast because the death of Arafat presents the Palestinian Authority (PA) with its most serious internal challenge since it was established in 1994. Shikaki reports that a violent showdown in the Gaza Strip between competing nationalist factions - an "old guard" (e.g., Abu Mazan, Ahmed Querei, et. al.) and a "young guard" (Mohammad Dahlan, Marwan Barghouti, et. al.) - is in the works that threatens to destroy the PA and, with it, what little remains of domestic security and order after four years of uprising against Israel.

And it's not just internal friction within that threatens the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority, but radical groups outside of the PA that are pressing in upon it, for example, Hamas. Indeed, according to Shikaki, public support for Hamas has already shot up from 17 percent in mid-2000 to 35 percent in mid-2004. During the same period, support for the PA (specifically, the Fatah Party) has dropped from 37 percent to 28 percent, and if the U.S. allows Israel to withdraw unilaterally, the PA will be that much more discredited in the eyes of the Palestinian people; credit for the Israeli withdrawal will go instead to Hamas and the other radical, fundamentalist Islamic groups.

The U.S. simply cannot let that happen. What that means is that the U.S. has essentially set for itself a deadline of less than a year to arrange an Israeli/Palestinian accord - and that's precisely why the U.S. is pushing so hard for Palestinian elections in January of next year (2005); it needs a "legitimate" government with which to negotiate. Think about that: LESS THAN A YEAR for an Israeli/Palestinian accord! That should mean something to you, dear Christian; that is, providing you still have "eyes to see and ears to hear." (Matt. 13:15)

Once negotiations begin, we can expect the following events to take place very, very quickly:

1. A peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians.
2. The tearing down of Israel's defensive WALL.
3. The creation of a defense pact between the United States and Israel. [And one should bear in mind that it is THIS event that will initiate the "Tribulation Period" - please see our article, "Understanding the Book of Revelation."]

What all this is designed to do is give the United States some "breathing space" to -

1. Re-constitute and greatly expand its army by re-establishing the draft (which, most likely will be occasioned by another "manufactured" 9/11 event). [Please see our article, "Closing the Trap: the Draft."]
2. Militarize the population and prepare it for war.
3. End internal dissent in the American homeland by the creation of a true National Security State.

Shortly thereafter,

4. The Gog/Magog War will be fought and "won."
5. And the events of the "Tribulation Period" itself will commence.

THE NUMBING ROUTINE OF LIFE

Brothers and sisters, there is not much time left. I know that it's very difficult to believe that it's possible for history to catch up with us like this. Such things are something one reads about in books, not something one actually goes through: a hurricane, a war, an earthquake, etc. - that's what happens to other people, not to us.

We think of ourselves as creatures of the ordinary. Normal, every day routines govern our lives: get up in the morning, kiss the children and wife good-bye, and off to work. Come home in the evening, greet the kids and wife, have supper, watch a little television, go to bed. Not particularly exciting, but - on the other hand - comforting and SOLID in its regularity, and we imagine that the very solidity of these routines somehow or other keeps the tumult that engulfs other people in other places in other times at arms length.

Then something seemingly unexpected happens; it strikes with the terrible, hideous force of a hurricane - churning, twisting, and smoldering as it comes. It overwhelms the psyche and stuns and shocks the senses. The old routines of life are swept away. Social institutions which seemed durable and steady disappear, family relationships dissolve - in an instant, all is gone.

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The people who survive such events will insist that what happened to them occurred without warning. But when you catch them alone, and there is no crowd for them to pander to, many of them will admit that there had been signs of what was to come - signs that they had ignored and brushed aside.

So also with us! - the Bible warns us:

"... When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" (Matt. 16:2-3)

More than thirty years ago, I wrote the following words in the ANTIPAS PAPERS, and when I did so, I had absolutely no idea how prophetic they would become - especially insofar as many of my erstwhile colleagues are concerned (many of whom were with me at the time, but who now VEHEMENTLY oppose me and label me a "Jim Jones" for telling people to get out of the United States; I reiterate these words now to you, just as I did so long ago to them. And as I warned them thirty years ago, so I now warn YOU (only this time, we don't have thirty years):

"The ANTIPAS PAPERS was not written merely as another book or treatise on the 'end of days', or as a book which has set out to discuss the finer issues of eschatology and who's right or wrong on this or that eschatological point - there are already far too many such books! This is not to say, of course, that some points of eschatology are not so important that they should not be surrendered for any reason - but with regard to the rest, arguing over those things (when we might agree on most of the rest) is akin to two soldiers arguing over whether or not the tank that is rumbling down the road straight at them is a M-60 or an Abrams Main Battle Tank. What does it matter? - it's enough that both soldiers agree that a tank is heading towards them and that it's firing as it comes! - all the rest doesn't matter!

"Today, Christians are facing a time of crisis, one which all evangelicals - if they really are evangelicals - have long expected, and one which shouldn't come as a surprise - CHURCH APOSTASY: the refusal of the church to see itself any longer as a 'citizen' of a heavenly kingdom having nothing to do with this world ['My kingdom is not of this world ... my kingdom ... (comes) not from hence'. (John 18:36)] to seeing itself, rather, as a 'citizen' or 'friend' of this present evil world and all that such a thing portends - from the church's involvement in the world's political affairs ... to its involvement in death squad activity in the name of God in South and Central America ['...Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God' ( James 4:4)]. But, again, why should we as evangelicals be surprised by all this? - isn't this what the Bible said would happen? - 'Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (i.e., the day of the rapture and the resurrection) shall not come, except there come a falling away (i.e., apostasy) first ...' (2 Thess. 2:3)

"What then should we do with regard to this crisis? Menachem Begin, the former Prime Minister of Israel, faced a similar crisis in his life and in the life of the Jewish People in the early 1940s. The crisis he faced had to do with whether or not he should wait for the end of World War II and the plodding negotiations of Jewish 'mainline moderates' like Dr. Chaim Weizmann and the World Zionist Organization to press the British Mandate Authority to facilitate Jewish immigration to Palestine (all this in addition to having to rely on the maddening timidity of the mainline Jewish defense organization - the Haganah - to secure their safety in Palestine), or whether he should join up with the radicals, Vladimir Jabotinsky, and the Irgun Zvai Leumi - and hang the 'niceties of diplomacy'. He finally chose Jabotinsky and the Irgun! - and he never looked back. Years later, in remarking on the single-mindedness of the organization he finally joined - i.e., the Irgun - he said: 'In times like those, there is no greater force than people who (1) have the ability to see beyond the concerns of daily life, despite the sometimes very pressing nature of those concerns, (2) who possess the capacity for self-sacrifice, and (3) who are willing to get involved!' Begin believed that the rest didn't matter! And so it is with us today, the rest doesn't matter! - one's natural talent, one's standing within the church, one's ability to speak, one's wealth, one's education, one's personality, the number of mistakes one has made in his or her life, one's age, one's sex, etc. - all of that is inconsequential in comparison.

"The ANTIPAS PAPERS is first and foremost a call to action to this kind of people; a call to the kind of people who joined themselves to Vladimir Jabotinsky and the Irgun; to the kind of people who possess vision and the capacity for self-sacrifice. It's a call for them to get involved! And to do it NOW! - before it's too late. To wait is to make prophecy of no effect - after all, prophecy is meaningless to those who refuse to do anything about it. Prophecy is nothing more than a roadsign telling us of the danger that's ahead and warning us to take corrective action BEFORE we get to the danger. If we do nothing until we finally get there, it will be too late. Thus, if the only reaction the ANTIPAS PAPERS can elicit from someone who has read the book is 'Wow! - what a wonderful book' - then we have utterly failed in what we set out to do, and that person has missed the point of the book altogether. Knowledge which does not produce action is worthless! It is to those persons who possess the willingness to get involved that we now turn and to whom we now direct the following remarks: FIRST, THERE ARE MANY THINGS WHICH WILL HINDER YOU FROM GETTING INVOLVED - AND, SADLY, YOUR GREATEST HINDRANCE WILL PROBABLY BE THOSE DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO CLAIM TO SEE WHAT YOU SEE, BUT WHO CAUTION 'MODERATION' [which is exactly what has happened to us at Antipas]. Those who do, however, are usually people who have a stake in the status quo - in other words, there's a reason behind their so-called 'moderation' - they probably have a lot more to lose than you do. The fact of the matter is, not many rich, not many successful, not many 'high church officials' will abandon 'moderation' - they have too much to lose. This is why Jesus said, '... It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God' (Matt. 19:24) and why Paul said, 'For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called ...' (1 Cor. 1:26).

"Mostly, those who caution 'moderation' are people who - while they might see objectively what you're talking about and who might even find it stimulating to sit in the safety of their living rooms for hours on end discussing this or that 'end-times scenario' - will go ballistic if you actually suggest doing something about it. That's when the 'moderates' panic! THAT'S WHEN PEOPLE GET LABELED A 'JIM JONES', A 'BRANCH DAVIDIAN', A RECKLESS AND IRRESPONSIBLE RADICAL, AN 'UNLOVING PERSON'. [Which is exactly what many of my erstwhile colleagues no label me.] But look beyond the labels and you might see something else at work here! - a selfish effort by the 'moderates' to shame you into silence and inaction. Why? - because if such thinking were to really catch on, they will be shown to be what they really are - SPIRITUAL COWARDS who have too much at stake in this world and in the status quo of today's church to get involved - whether it be pastors who have their reputation and pay checks to guard, ministry leaders who depend on 'compromised' sources of income, wives who have their 'nests' to protect from the 'irresponsibility' of a husband who has hit the 'nut circuit', Christian business people and professionals who have their 'social standing' to protect, etc. - and in order to hide that fact, they are willing to stop at nothing to put the 'radicals' to an open shame.

"'Moderates' are the people who are given to writing time-consuming memoranda, holding 'bigwig' conferences, 'reasoning' with the opposition, discussing things endlessly - and not for the purpose of finding out the truth, but of 'buying time' and 'confusing the issue' - 'Did so and so really say such and such? - I don't care whether a thousand witnesses heard him - let's find out what really happened'. The object here, of course, is not to get to the bottom of what happened - after all, if a thousand witnesses won't suffice, nothing will - the real object is to get everything so tied up in red tape that by the time it's 'sorted out', the main issues have been forgotten about and the whole thing has blown over.

"To the 'moderates,' we would simply say this, What does one do with people who purposefully are leading the church into apostasy? - reason with them? What's there to reason about? These people know what they're doing! - and you are not the first to question them on these matters. They've heard all the arguments before. What value is there in meeting with such people? What does one say to a Paul Crouch, for example, when he says that those who are standing against the direction the church has taken today should be shot? Discuss with him the kind of gun that is best for such a purpose? Negotiate with him over the ammunition that should be used? What utter nonsense!' - after all, what's at stake here is the church's soul! There is nothing to negotiate about! And if those you love in the church refuse to go along, and you think to stay for their sake, be assured, you'll accomplish nothing - you're 'going' will accomplish more than your 'staying' ever could by showing them by deeds rather than words how serious matters really are - Remember, what's at stake here is eternity! - YOUR eternity'!"

TIME HAS RUN OUT ON ALL OF US

Brothers and sisters, the end really is upon us. It's time for us all to begin taking the Prophetic Scriptures very, very seriously! The Scriptures warn us that we should not bury our heads in the sand and think that everything will be okay. The Bible says that you should not allow such things to -

"... overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." (I Thess. 5:4-6)

Jesus said,

"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." (Matt. 7:24-27)

More next time!

Until then, God bless you,

S.R. Shearer,
Antipas Ministries

We urge you all to read or re-read our article, "A Plan of Action for Antipas Ministries."

We URGE you also to acquaint (or re-acquaint) yourselves with what's coming soon in the Middle East (specifically, The Gog / Magog War) by reading (or re-reading) our article, "Sowing the Seeds of the Gog / Magog War." This article was written last April when the marines first stormed into the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Please also URGE you to read our article on the PROFANE relationship between today's church and Israel.