Sunday, December 2, 2012

Jerusalem: The Epicenter Of The World



We looked yesterday (Zechariah 12 In View) at the role Jerusalem plays in end-times prophecy and today we continue to see evidence that, indeed, Jerusalem remains the ultimate focus of almost all tensions in the Middle East. Jerusalem is the grand prize that lurks just beneath the surface of the various 'negotiations', the violence, the continual calls to destroy the nation of Israel -  and we know from prophecy that the antichrist will ultimately come to Jerusalem and declare himself as god from the Temple Mount (the epicenter within the epicenter). 

The current fulfillment of prophecies that were written approximately 2,500 years ago by God's designated prophets is absolutely breathtaking. I can think of no better proof of God's existence and His written word than the prophetic fulfillments that we see in the world, on a daily basis. 

Imagine predicting what small city in the world be the focus of the world's attention 2,500 years from now. Of course, we could apply that same logic to the other ongoing prophetic developments (the rise of the EU, the movements towards world government/world economic system, Israel 'regathered' as a nation, the wars of the 20th century, Israel surrounded by her enemies, the Russia-Iran-Turkey alliance, Syria's chemical weapons, the "arab spring" and its subsequent role, persecution, anti-semitism,  and on and on that list goes). 

But to pick a tiny, seemingly insignificant city as being the focus of the entire world would have seemed a long shot 2,500 years ago - and keep in mind, when these prophecies were written, Jerusalem really didn't even exist as a city. 

With that backdrop - we move on to today's news - note the bolded parts below (note how often Jerusalem comes into play):






PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Sunday promised someday the PA flag would fly over “Jerusalem, eternal capital of the state of Palestine.”


Thousands of people greeted Abbas rapturously upon his return from the United Nations, where the GeneralAssembly granted the PLO, representing the PA, upgraded status as a nonmember observer state.
"Raise your heads high, because you are Palestinians!” Abbas told the joyous crowd, waving PA flags in the PA capital of Ramallah, located in Samaria.

"One day, a young Palestinian will raise the Palestinian flag over Jerusalem,” he vowed, “the eternal capital of the state of Palestine!”








Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday defended his government’s plans to approve thousands of new housing units in the West Bank by saying he was taking a page out of the playbook of the country’s most revered dovish leader.

Netanyahu told his cabinet that by approving 3,000 new homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israel was following in the footsteps of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who in 1975 approved construction in response to a UN conference equating Zionism with racism.

Today we are building and we will continue to build in Jerusalem and in all areas that are on the map of the strategic interests of the State of Israel.”

Netanyahu’s statement seemed to confirm suspicions that the move was a punitive measure following the Palestinian Authority’s receipt of an upgrade for “Palestine” to nonmember observer state at the United Nations on Thursday.
Israel came under intense international criticism after plans were announced Friday to build the 3,000 new housing units.
European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton said Sunday that she was “extremely concerned… The European Union has repeatedly stated that all settlement construction is illegal under international law and constitutes an obstacle to peace.” She called on Israel not to go through with the planned construction.

Steinitz added it was time to “connect Ma’aleh Adumim to Jerusalem,” referring to the E1 area where some of the construction is slated to take place. “It should have happened long ago.”




The United States was reportedly surprised by Israel’s approval of construction of 3,000 new housing units in Jerusalem and the West Bank on the heels of last week’s UN General Assembly vote.

The decision, roundly condemned by the Obama administration and by capitals around the world, was seen as a punitive measure for the successful Palestinian upgrade to nonmember observer state status at the UN.
According to The New York Times, senior US officials were particularly frustrated because Jerusalem informed Washington of the decision just hours before the announcement was made public.

On Friday, just one day after the resolution to upgrade the Palestinian status passed the UN General Assembly by an overwhelming majority, Israel said it would approve construction of housing units in the controversial strip of land known as E1. The construction would effectively connect Jerusalem to the nearby settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim, the third-largest settlement in the West Bank.






In his opening remarks at the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said bluntly, “Israel will not allow Judea and Samaria to become a terror base from which rockets will be launched into Israeli towns. There will be no Palestinian State until Israel is recognized as a Jewish State, alongside a resolution to end the conflict.”


The resolution passed by the Cabinet reads in part: "The Jewish People have a natural, historical and legal right to its homeland with its eternal capital Jerusalem. 

The State of Israel as the state of the Jewish People has rights and claims to areas that are under dispute in the Land of Israel.”





Also see:





Western intelligence officials have noticed new worrying signs of activity at chemical weapons sites in Syria, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

The Syrian regime is "doing some things that suggest they intend to use the weapons," one American intelligence official told the Times, adding, "It's not just moving stuff around. These are different kind of activities."
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel would weigh military action if it suspects Syria's chemical weapons could fall into the hands of a terrorist organization.

“We will do everything that is needed” to ensure Syria’s WMD stockpiles are not transferred, Netanyahu said at a meeting with EU ambassadors stationed in Israel in October.







Western intelligence officers were seeing new signs of activity at Syrian chemical weapons sites, they told the New York Times Sunday, Dec. 2. “It’s in some ways similar to what they’ve done before,” a senior U.S. intelligence official said. “But they’re doing some things that suggest they intend to use the weapons. It’s not just moving stuff around. These are different kind of activities.”
DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources add rumors were flying around the region Saturday night and Sunday morning that President Bashar Assad had been killed or fled Syria. Neither is confirmed. However, the rebels have in recent days made major strategic gains and begun to turn the tide of war against's Assad forces.
The new rumors tie in with the suggestive movements of chemical weapons detected by Western intelligence without any indication of their likely target.
Since the Syrian uprising erupted against his regime last year, Assad has often declared he would fight his enemies to the end and threatened that if his back was against the wall and life and regime were in jeopardy, he would rather set the entire Middle East on fire than surrender.










5 comments:

Jec said...

I thought it kinda funny that just hours after the unilateral upgrade through the UN's vote on the status of the state of Palestinian, that Benjamin Netanyahu slaps Abbas in the face with his announcement to build, build, build! The icing on the cake is how Israel is withholding the tax revenue it collects on behalf of the PA. Some of this money is going to be used to pay off some old debt, but the rest should be announced that Israel will use the remainder of it and each months there after to build the Eastern part of Jeruselm.

Caver said...

Jec, we're on the same page. News flash out of Jerusalem...they are approving another Jewish neighborhood of 4000 units on the "OTHER" side of the greenline.

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=294331

OK, last week they lit the fuze. Today they're throwing a few more kegs of black powder on the hissing string.

Jec said...

This truly will cause much havoc, and I don't want any harm to come to the citizens of this so called state of Palestine where ever they are ie Gaza and West Bank. If PA makes East Jeruselm the capital there of, then they will have to go in and recapture it. It's pretty understandable, from those here on this site, that the days ahead are full of turmoil for the Middle East. Meanwhile, i recently sat down with a sister in Christ, and mentioned that war broke out with Israel and Gaza, and she just mentioned she had no idea.

Caver said...

Ya know, one final thought....all this going on and thinking about what a 50 KT nuke would do to Israel. Then thinking about Egypt trying so hard to jump into the picture...

It might be good for Egypt's leaders to remember....If Israel is a one Nuke country, Egypt is a one conventional bomb country itself. One concrete piercing bomb in their giant dam would take them down all by itself. That's why Israel got its peace treaty with Egypt to begin with.

Mrs. Iowa said...

I'm no nuclear physicist, but wouldn't a 50 KT bomb make Israel uninhabitable for some time? Any chance Iran might have it in mind for someone else? e.g. Hal Lindsay's EMP theory for the U.S. With the U.S. out of its way, they really wouldn't fear any repurcussions from the U.S. (not that they do now.)

Also, why is it against international law for Israel to settle its own land that it has had since 1967? Is that part of some treaty I don't know about?