CHAPTER XV
THE GOG / MAGOG WAR

THE GOTTERDAMERUNG

At first glance, it would seem that Hitler's Holocaust is a nightmare that could never be repeated. The Gotterdamerung in which Hitler's Valhalla went up in flames in a Wagnerian Twilight of the Gods should have consumed this horrible disease - AND PUT TO AN OPEN SHAME ALL THOSE WHO HATE THE JEWS. But like a nightmare which won't go away, like a cancer which goes into remission - feigning a cure - only to reappear again in some other part of the body and in a more virulent form, anti-Semitism is once more rearing its ugly head - and Jews have very REAL reasons to fear for their lives again.

To a very large extent, today's anti-Semitism revolves around the existence of a new and UNEXPECTED phenomenon: the reappearance in world history of the state of Israel, a phenomenon which the Jews felt they had no other choice but to FORCE on the world in order to forestall their own eventual extermination. The Jews have learned through grievous experience that unless they act to save themselves, unless they hold their own fate in their own hands, they are powerless to fend off the world's hatred against them - and no assurances to the contrary (even when proffered by the liberal democracies of the West) can ever suffice to make the Jews believe otherwise. The Jews have learned how truly WORTHLESS such assurances are.

For example, in May 1938, as Germany's "orgy of hatred" against the Jews was reaching new heights of sadism, the governments of Great Britain, France and the United States protested. While the world might not remember what happened next, the Jews certainly do: although Hitler was annoyed at this protest, he convened the Evian Conference and offered "his Jews" to the "international community," and to Great Britain, France and the United States in particular. He knew the offer would be refused. And that's precisely what happened: the nations of the earth - and in particular the "Western Democracies" - refused to take them.

German opinion smirked at the hypocritical posturing of the "Anglo-Americans." Goebbels laughed! - had he not known all along that no "civilized" nation would ever accept that "accursed" race? A German newspaper of that era commented,

"One likes to pity the Jews as long as one can use this pity for a wicked agitation against Germany, but no state is prepared to accept even a few thousand Jews. The conference (i.e., Evian) serves to justify Germany's policy against Jewry."

FORCING ISRAEL ON THE WORLD

It is precisely the remnants of these people - the people the world turned their back on at Evian and later during the Holocaust - who, as frightened hordes of desperate refugees fleeing from Hitler's death camps, arrived in Israel to build a sanctuary against the unrelenting HATRED of the world. They knew at the time they were dispossessing people who had been there for centuries, BUT THEY HAD NO WHERE ELSE TO GO. No other nation - not even the United States - wanted them. If they were going to live, they would have to force the issue.

They came as the outcasts of Europe; the downtrodden of the shoddy Jewish ghettos of the Near East and North Africa; people with childhood memories of the sound of hammers boarding up doors and windows against the unrelenting pogroms directed against them in Russia, Hungary, Poland, etc.; they came as the remnants of Hitler's death camps and as people fleeing the indifference of the French, the Belgians, the Dutch, the Swedes, and all the other "do-gooder" nations of the earth to their plight - people who had at last been driven to frantic desperation to hold their OWN fate in their OWN hands for a change, which meant having their OWN nation and their OWN army with which to defend themselves - again, even if that meant forcing themselves onto the people of the Middle East and dispossessing Arabs from land they had inhabited for generations.

The Jews were seeking a place of refuge where, when all else fails, Jews could flee to without having to depend on the capricious consent of other nations and peoples who experience had shown were at best indifferent to their fate!

THE NEW ANTI-SEMITISM

A place of refuge; of shelter; of asylum, of sanctuary! - that's what Israel means to the worldwide Jewish community. AND IT'S A PLACE WHOSE IMPORTANCE IS ONLY GROWING IN THE FACE OF A RESURGENT WORLDWIDE ANTI-SEMITISM. Indeed, Donald G. McNeil, Jr. of the New York Times reports that in France there is a rising tide of anti-Semitic incidents. In Marseilles the Orthodox Jewish Or Aviv synagogue was burned to the ground. An additional three other French synagogues were set on fire over the Passover-Easter weekend, and a synagogue in Strasbourg had its doors set ablaze the day after an anti-Israel demonstration there. In addition, in Lyon, 15 masked men crashed two cars through the gates of a synagogue and set them afire. Finally, shots were fired at a kosher butcher shop in Toulouse, and a young Jewish couple were badly beaten in Villeurbanne in the Rhone region.

The Central Jewish Consistory in Paris, in a statement sent to Agence Frence-Presse, called the weekend's attacks "the beginning of a new Kristallnacht, with the government totally passive about what was happening." Kristallnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass," on November 9, 1938, was named for the sweeping attacks that the Nazis incited on Jews and Jewish shops and places of worship.

In the face of all this, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announced that 1,110 additional police officers would be deployed to guard France's synagogues and Jewish schools - and, as a result, police officers, some carrying submachine guns, now are posted outside dozens of synagogues and Jewish schools throughout the country.

THE JEWS ARE FRIGHTENED

This is a shocking development for Jews in France. Until recently, leaders of France's 600,000 Jews have believed that they were living in a country where they were safe from the scourge of anti-Semitism. But with the growing number of anti-Semitic incidents, they no longer believe that's the case - especially in light of the fact that when they have publicly complained about the attacks, there has not been any genuine public outcry to stop them.

They just keep on occurring, ranging from anti-Semitic graffiti that is appearing on walls all over the country, to threatening phone calls received by rabbis, to shootings, to burnings, etc. Similar incidents have occurred in Belgium where five firebombs were thrown at a synagogue last weekend. And it's not just in France and in Belgium that this new anti-Semitism has taken hold. The fact is, it's happening all over Europe: in Germany, in Austria, in Denmark, in Italy - everywhere!

THE REBIRTH OF THE "BLOOD-LIBELS"

In addition to all this, Newsweek Magazine reports that there has been a marked revival of all the old "BLOOD LIBELS" against the Jews - including stories that the pastries used in the Jewish Purim festivities contain human blood; and that at Passover the blood of Christian children under the age of ten is used in the rituals. And while these stories are still confined to the fascist fringe in Europe, they are REGULAR FARE in the Middle East and throughout the Islamic world.

Indeed, devotees of these stories and myths can be found not just among the uneducated there, but among the university-trained elite as well. Take Dr. Umayma Ahmad al-Jalahma of King Faisal University Hospital in Saudi Arabia: Newsweek reports that she believes that at Passover,

"A needle-studded barrel (in which the Christian or Muslim child-victim is locked into) is used (to obtain the blood). The victims suffer dreadful torment - torment that affords the Jewish vampires great delight ..." [We URGE you to read our detailed account of these "blood-libels" in our article, "Pat Robertson, ILLUMINISM, and the New World Order."]

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Finally, as if to add insult to injury, a venomous anti-Jewish press has re-surfaced "big time," and is peppering the world with anti-Semitic CONSPIRACY THEORIES. In Egypt, according to Newsweek, the press regularly features stories denying the Holocaust and accepting as fact the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. [Please see our article, "The Origins of the Illuminist Myth: The Fabrication of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" for a detailed account of the Protocols and the many other conspiracy theories that surround the Jewish people; please also see our article, "The Business Right and The Christian Right An Alliance Made In Hell" for an interesting historical discussion on the intersection of interests in anti-Semitism between the American business community and the Religious Right; finally, please see our short article on "Holocaust deniers" entitled, "The Institute for Historical Review."]

Even the oft repeated story attributed falsely to Benjamin Franklin that the Jews would take over America if allowed to immigrate to the United States - a theory concerning the so-called "squalid" and "immoral" effect of Jewish power that most in the Religious Right in this country already subscribe to (see below) - is standard reading throughout the Middle East. This particular theory is a popular one because it seems to give an answer to many Muslims (and not a few Christians as well) concerning what many perceive to be America's slavish and unreasonable devotion to the Jewish state; a theory predicated upon a belief by many in the existence of a NEW YORK-JERUSALEM AXIS controlled by a mysterious cabal of Satan-worshipping Jewish financiers associated with the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations.

JEWS AS THE HIDDEN-HAND
BEHIND THE ATTACK ON THE WTC

And these stories just keep on coming. For instance, the events of September 11th have given rise to the theory that Israel was the "hidden hand" behind the attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon - a theory that was given a certain amount of "legitimacy" in Pakistan a few days after the attacks when General Rashid Qureshi, the public-relations chief for President Pervez Musharraf, told Newsweek that the attacks were carried out by the Israeli Mossad, and that all the Jewish employees of the WTC had mysteriously failed to show up for work on the day of the attack. [In fact, Jews suffered far more deaths from the attack on the WTC than any other group in relation to their percent of the population - editor]

These stories - and many others beside - give evidence to the fact that anti-Semitism is making a big "comeback" not only in the world at large, but in this country as well. The truth is, a great many Americans today would not find it particularly difficult to agree with Daniel Bernard, France's ambassador to Great Britain, when - according to Newsweek - he was overheard to say at a private dinner party in London:

"... that shitty little country (i.e., Israel)! Why should the world be in danger of World War III because of these people (i.e., the Jewish people)?"

BILLY GRAHAM AND THE JEWS

Indeed, one of the great "open secrets" of today's America is that there remains a HUGE reservoir of anti-Jewish hostility in this country, especially in the Religious Right - THE CORE ELEMENT OF GEORGE BUSH'S POLITICAL CONSTITUENCY; and this hostility is clearly reflected in their hate-filled rhetoric against the ACLU. [Please see "The Republican Party And The Jews."] Why? - because, in the artful phraseology which has over the years come to surround anti-Semitism in the United States, THE ACLU HAS BECOME NOTHING MORE THAN A CODEWORD FOR THE JEWS. The truth is, there are a lot of Christians who would have little trouble echoing Billy Graham when he told Richard Nixon that the Jews had established a stranglehold on the country, and that -

"This stranglehold has got to be broken or the country's GOING DOWN THE DRAIN."

Pretty harsh stuff! Going down the drain! - i.e., that the Jews are responsible for ruining the United States! Wow! Nonetheless, if words are to be taken at their face value - that's what Graham was saying here! - i.e., that Jewish influence in the United States was ruining the country. That sounds like something Hitler, or Goering, or Goebbels, or Himmler would have said about Germany sixty years ago. And, indeed, it is! [Please see "The Jews, The Minorities And The Multicultural Imperative."] Graham continues,

"... there is a powerful bloc of Jews in this country that are putting out the pornographic stuff."

Plainly, Graham believes that Jews are responsible for America's lapsed morality. This, of course, is what Hitler et. al. believed too. Graham persists with even more caustic remarks about the Jews,

"A lot of Jews are great friends of mine. They swarm around me and are friendly to me ... THEY DON'T KNOW HOW I REALLY FEEL."

Since these remarks surfaced a few months ago as a result of recently de-classified and released Nixon tape recordings from the National Archives, a great number of "Graham-experts" and apologists have been hauled out to cite Graham's "unstinting support" for Israel over the years and to "write off" Graham's anti-Semitic remarks as something that "should not be taken out of context" - in other words, what people should do is ignore the implications of Graham's "unguarded" White House "table talk."

WE NEED TO BE HONEST ABOUT GRAHAM

But come on now! What is more likely to be representative of the REAL Graham? - his "unguarded" remarks about the Jews to close confidants and friends? Or his carefully contrived public statements? Come on! - be honest here! Alexander Cockburn of Counterpunch Magazine believes that such thinking is very representative of the white, country club kind of Christian that - SADLY - Graham has come to mirror over the years. Cockburn writes knowingly and very sarcastically,

"Don't people know that this sort of stuff is consonant with the standard conversational fare at 75 percent of the country clubs in America, not to mention many a Baptist soiree. Nixon thought American Jews were lefty peaceniks who dominated the Democratic Party and were behind the attacks on him. Graham reckoned it was Hollywood Jews who had sunk the nation in porn."

SCHIZOPHRENIA, THE JEWS,
AND THE EVANGELICALS

Moreover, one should not be thrown off track with regard to Graham and the many others like him in the evangelical Christian community because of their "unstinting support" for the state of Israel.

While it's true that there is a lot of support from evangelicals like Graham, Robertson, Falwell, etc. for Israel, that does not seem to detract a great many of them from their disgust of the Jewish people in general. Evangelicals are SCHIZOPHRENIC on this point - and that SCHIZOPHRENIA has a lot to do with their view of the Jewish people as "Supermen" or Obermenschen (or sometimes as Untermenschen) [Please see "Pat Robertson, Illuminism, And The New World Order."].

Like the nursery rhyme about the "little girl with the cute little curl in her forehead," evangelicals somehow or other believe that when the Jews are "... good, they are very, very good, but when they're bad, they're horrid" - i.e., that when Jews accept Christ, they become almost superhuman in their Christianity, but when they reject Him, they become anti-Christs in their hatred of God. But the Bible doesn't admit to this kind of distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles; on the contrary, the Bible says:

"For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ..." (Rom. 3:23)

And it goes on to say:

"... there is NO difference between the Jew and the Greek (i.e., the gentiles) ..." (Rom. 10:12)

A PERPETUAL HATRED

All this to say nothing about the very obvious PERPETUAL hatred that the Islamic world has for Israel - a hatred that is poised to finish what Hitler tried to do: Drive the Jews of Israel into the ocean and TOTALLY annihilate them.

There is no bridging this hatred; no way to resolve it. There is no longer any room for common ground between the Islamic world and the Jews.

Even if Israel were to withdraw to its so-called 1967 borders, give up its defensive positions along the Jordan River, withdraw from all its settlements on the West Bank and Gaza, that would probably still not be the end of it. This is what Hussein Ibish and Ali Abunimah, both Palestinians, believe. They write:

"... the occupation is only one of two major issues standing in the way of an end to the century-old conflict. The denial of the right of millions of Palestinian refugees, those displaced in the 1948 and 1967 wars and their descendants, to return to their homes and land is also a fundamental obstacle. Unlike the occupation, it is an issue which has never been seriously addressed or properly understood in the U.S. All recent American and Israeli proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace have been predicated on an unworkable and disastrous concept: that the world's largest group of refugees would renounce or be denied this basic human right."

But if the Israelis grant the Palestinians the "Right of Return," it will mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Contrawise, if the Jews refuse to grant the Palestinians this concession, the suicide bombings will no doubt continue endlessly into the future. As Newsweek suggested last week,

"Israelis know - as should the rest of the world - that the real division among Palestinians is not between those who want peace in the Western sense - i.e., as a point after which the world lives free of tensions with a consciousness of reconciliation. In reality, the number of Palestinian leaders holding this view is minuscule. THE FUNDAMENTAL SCHISM IS BETWEEN THOSE WHO WANT TO BRING ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL BY CONTINUING THE PRESENT STRUGGLE, AND THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT AN AGREEMENT NOW WOULD BE A BETTER STRATEGY TO RALLY FORCES FOR THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN LATER ON."

Either way, Israel will eventually have to go if the Islamic world is to be satisfied!

I WILL SAVE THEE

All these things - the anti-Semitism, the anti-Zionism, the irreconcilable differences between the Muslims and the Israelis over Israel's presence in the Holy Land - have conspired together to produce a feeling of dreadful PARANOIA in the Jews regarding how the rest of the world feels about them, and a parallel sense THAT WAR WITH THE PALESTINIANS (AND INDEED THE ENTIRE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY) IS INEVITABLE. The very real fact of the matter is, Israel's back is up against the wall, and so much so that Jewish historian Amos Elon writes:

"I'M IN SUCH DESPAIR BECAUSE I FEAR IT IS TOO LATE. AND I HAVE ONLY TOLD YOU HALF OF WHAT I FEAR."

But the Bible says:

"And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; SO WILL I SAVE YOU, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.

"For thus saith the LORD of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not:

"So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: FEAR YE NOT." (Zech. 8:13-15)

SET THY FACE AGAINST MOUNT SEIR

And so God warns Israel's enemies, and most especially those Muslim nations in the Middle East who have arrayed themselves against Israel's presence in the Holy Land:

"Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir (i.e., those nations that immediately surround Israel), and prophesy against it,

"And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I AM AGAINST THEE, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.

"I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD." (Ezek. 35:1-4)

Listen brothers and sisters: it is a fearful thing for someone to hear those words from God, "I AM AGAINST THEE." There can be no more frightening thing in all the world, because we are dealing with God here. The Bible says:

"... fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him (i.e., God) which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28)

And why is it EXACTLY that God is against Mt. Seir? The Lord explains:

"BECAUSE THOU HAS HAD A PERPETUAL HATRED (against Israel), and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword ..." (Ezek. 35:5)

Now I ask you, Who is it today that has A PERPETUAL HATRED against Israel? Is it not CLEARLY those who are carrying out the suicide bombings in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, in Natanya, etc? SUICIDE BOMBING! - now that's hatred!

The Bible says that God is AGAINST THEM (i.e., all those who hate Israel in this way) and He will PURSUE THEM UNTO BLOOD!

Specifically, the Bible says:

"Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith (since) thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

"Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.

"And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword.

"I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD." (Ezek. 35:6-9)

SOMETHING DREADFUL IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN

Listen to me: you do not want to be found on the "RECEIVING" end of these verses for any reason! God is warning you! Get away, and get away fast! He is warning all those that are "round about" Israel - all those who will hear Him out on this matter - get away as quickly as possible. SOMETHING DREADFUL IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN, and you do not want to be around when it occurs.

All you believing Arabs who dwell in the vicinity of Mt. Seir, all you who believe and are "called according to His purpose," get away - and get your friends and families away too. A great calamity is coming. Something horrible is about to happen: all those who today say that Israel has no right to be where she is; all those who think that the Jewish people are trespassing on Palestinian land, you SHALL BE DESTROYED:

"I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee." (Ezek. 35:6)

What's that say, then, about those who believe that Israel has no right to the so-called "West Bank?" Who say that they are going to drive Israel into the sea? Who say that Israel should negotiate with the Palestinians? Who say that Israel should give up East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount? Who hate Israel with a PERPETUAL HATRED? - it says that God -

"... will even do according to thine anger (i.e., HATRED), and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy HATRED against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee." (Ezek. 35:11)

In other words, what the Bible is saying here is that God will hate these people to the degree that they have hated the Jewish people and the state of Israel.

WHO ARE YOU TO SAY TO GOD WHAT'S FAIR?

God is going to HATE them to the degree that they hated Israel? Wow! - you say that that's not fair? - well, I tell you something, WHO ARE YOU TO SAY TO GOD WHAT'S NOT FAIR? The Bible says:

"Nay but, O man, WHO ART THOU THAT REPLIEST AGAINST GOD? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

"Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" (Rom. 9:20-21)

We must understand something here! HE IS THE POTTER AND WE ARE THE CLAY. There is nothing more to be said - and God help those who would dare to say otherwise and challenge God's UTTER and TOTAL supremacy and sovereignty in this matter! The Bible says:

"Who is this (i.e., man) that darkeneth counsel by words WITHOUT knowledge?

"Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me (if you can).

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

"Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

"Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

"When the morning stars sang together ...?

"Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

"When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

"And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,

"And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

"Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;

"That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

"It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.

"And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.

"Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

"Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

"Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.

"Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,

"That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?

"Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,

"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

"Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

"Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

"Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

"Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

"Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

"Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

"Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty (if you can)." (Job 38-22, 31-33, 40:2, 6-9)

"DECK THYSELF NOW WITH MAJESTY AND EXCELLENCY; AND ARRAY THYSELF WITH GLORY AND BEAUTY ..." if you can?

Of course we can't!

GOD CHOSE ISRAEL ON THE BASIS OF GRACE

Again, I say: He is the Potter, and we are the clay. But one should be perfectly clear here, God certainly did not choose the Jews because they were somehow or other congenitally better than any other people on earth; or because they were a people morally superior to the people who surround them; or that they possess some kind of innate spiritual DNA that predisposes them toward God.

He chose them in order to make an open show of His MERCY - i.e., that His dealings with man are based on UNMERITED FAVOR (i.e., GRACE) and nothing else. That's what the Bible says:

"He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

"For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

"For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." (Ps. 103:10-14)

GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS

And His mercy toward Israel is an OPEN and PUBLIC demonstration to that effect - a historical display of His KINDNESS and COMPASSION for ALL to see who seek after God - for the Bible says that with regard to this matter (i.e., His mercy), He is - as Peter says:

"... NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS:

"But in EVERY nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." (Acts 10:34-35)

And the Bible goes on to explain what it means here by the word "work:"

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6:29).

What's that mean? - it means that our relationship with God - whoever we are - is based on His mercy toward us and not on any innate righteousness on our part; that if we try to approach God on the basis of anything we can do, we will surely fail. The Bible says:

"... we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Is. 64:6)

And again, the Bible says:

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

"They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Rom. 3:10, 12)

WHOSOEVER WILL

And so it is that we must trust in God's mercy to clothe us with His righteousness. But what assurance do we have that He will do so? For those of us who believe, we have, of course, the assurance of the Written Word:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER (that surely includes everyone, no matter who they are or what they've done) believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

And the Bible goes on to say:

"For by GRACE (i.e., unmerited favor) ARE YE SAVED through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

"NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9)

And Israel is God's OPEN and very PUBLIC demonstration in the HISTORICAL RECORD and IN THE EVENTS OF TODAY, that God saves man on the basis of His mercy alone, and not on the basis of any righteousness we think we possess. After all, if God can remain faithful to Israel despite all that Israel has done, and all that she has failed to do, He can remain faithful to ALL those who call upon His name - and that He will fulfill ALL the promises He has made to us and bring us safely through to the end.

GOD'S MERCY TO ISRAEL AND
THE JEWISH PEOPLE WILL NOT FAIL

Contrawise, if God's promises to Israel fail on the basis of Israel's unfaithfulness, than we also stand in jeopardy of our future - for surely the church has been as unfaithful to God as Israel has been - OR HAVE YOU BEEN READING OUR MATERIAL FOR NAUGHT? The very real truth of the matter is, the church's historical record is every bit as tawdry and cheap as is Israel's, and to think otherwise is to reveal yourself as an IDIOT.

It's for this reason that those who condemn Israel because she supposedly is no different from any other nation are so wrong. While THEY ARE RIGHT that she possesses no higher innate morality than do the Palestinians, no greater virtue, no higher sense of decency and purity, they are still very wrong because THAT'S NOT THE POINT!

The point is UNMERITED FAVOR - i.e., GRACE. That's the point - and that if God can save Israel on that basis, He can also save you on that basis as well - whether you are Jew or Arab, Iranian or Turk, Russian or Chinese (China, of course, is today the home of more REAL Christians than anywhere else on earth, despite the fact of their unrelenting persecution by the Chinese government) - whoever you are! All this to say that God will surely save NATIONAL Israel, for the Scriptures say that on THAT day,

"... THEY (i.e., Israel) SHALL LOOK UPON ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED (very obviously the Lord), and they shall mourn for him (i.e., Jesus), as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness (i.e., great sorrow) for him (i.e., Christ, whom they rejected), as one that is in bitterness (i.e., great sorrow) for his firstborn." (Zech. 12:8)