There Is Hope...But it is SLIM

America is balanced on the edge of a knife. On one side is continued blessing. On the other is a fatal curse. Our President is walking along that edge and is dangerously close to taking our nation toward the wrong legacy. He is in Israel this very moment, pushing the noble idea of peace in the region.

Peace in the Middle-East is a good thing to shoot for. But I believe he is going about it in the wrong way. Listen closely, the struggle being waged over Jerusalem is not political--it is prophetic! It is the ages--long battle between estranged brothers and Jerusalem will soon be the absolute arena for the fight. Zechariah 12:3 says; "On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves....." Whoa....

Why is it so important that we fall on the side of Jerusalem (Israel)? Zechariah 2:8 tells us that his capitol city is "the apple of his eye." The age old promise to Abraham still applies....God will bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who curse Israel. (Genesis 12:3) It is a serious thing to play with the fate of a God-covenanted people. The challenge before us is to search the ancient Scriptures and understand that God is serious about what he has established. The covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was an eternal covenant. Land is a huge portion of God's promise and we seem to be pushing for the covenant land to be re-divided. Joel chapter three indicates that the trigger that fires the end-time events is pulled "because they divided my land."

Last week, Ehud Omert, the weak and liberal Prime Minister of Israel said, "The division of Jerusalem is inevitible." President Bush is pushing Israel toward dividing the city so that some sort of lasting peace can be established between Jews and Palestinians, but in so doing, he is inviting the final curse upon his own nation. Many believe that the USA has been historically blessed because of its support of the Jews. However, history tells us otherwise. It was our own nation that closed the door to the Jews before WWII when migration to the free west was the only hope for millions. It was America and the Allies that turned a deaf ear to the serious rantings of Hitler and his published 'final solution' for the Jews. Even when the State of Israel declared itself on May 14th 1948, after the remnant of Jews had returned to British controlled Palestine, Harry Truman had to go against populace sentiment as well as his own State Department in order to recognized Israel's right to exist within the United Nations. However, when the fight for Israel's survival started the next day (May 15, 1948) no nation, ours included, came to aid the Israeli people. But....God did.

Yes, Israel took on Democratic priniciples and America needed an ally in that volatile region, but we have done nothing but walk the fence between Isaac (Israel) and Ishmael (Arabs). It has all been for our own interests, oil and wealth, not the interest of blessing God's covenant. Now, don't get me wrong, I believe President Bush has fulfilled the role that America needed. I believe Iraq (Babylon) needed to be subdued according to prophecy. (It is not listed among the nations in the soon coming battle of Ezekiel 38 & 39.) But he is obviously getting the wrong advise from someone and that means we need to pray and pray hard that the final mistake is not made during his final year in the White House. Our hope as a nation depends on two things. One: the Church must get on her knees and seek hard after God. Two: our nation must stop its two-faced, fence-walking, greed-based actions, and be a genuine blessing to Israel.

Remember to look up. You have to be nearly blind not to see that our redemption is getting really close. TTFN Pastor Jim