Zowee, what a time to be alive. I guess life on Earth has been a tumultuous thing for the entire 6,000 years of it, but I can't recall the chaos being so widespread in my lifetime. Maybe it is more a function of mass media and information availability. The internet has given us the ability to spread and connect and comment in an instant and worldwide manner. Information, true and false, is poured out onto digital screens everywhere 24/7. "And the knowledge of many shall increase" comes to mind. So here's my two cents to add to the pile.
Keeping in mind my Scripture-centric worldview, where world events are centered around the lands and the peoples of the middle east, our current events are not surprising in the least. Alarming perhaps, but not a big surprise. If you want to back up all the way to the beginning for some perspective, we can find the prediction of our past and present woes in chapter 3 of Genesis. This is where Yahweh is dealing with Adam and Eve after catching them in their transgression in the garden.
Up until this point, our human forbearers had lived within the simple boundaries set by our creator. As such, they were privileged to live without pain, guilt, war, hate or taxes. Life was perfect and so were they and their bodies. They had all they could eat fruits, herbs, and veggies and the Earth brought forth its total strength to sustain them. They had perfect relationship with the animals and plants, but most of all with Yahweh who would come down and walk with them every morning in the cool of the day.
Ever the tester of human hearts, for our creator seeks voluntary love and obedience from us, Yahweh made a "more subtle beast" to offer an option to our naked, innocent relatives. Like any snake in the grass, the serpent chose the more gentle of the two to approach with his deception. First, and it is still the same today, he asks a question designed to cause confusion and doubt..."Has Elohim said, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?". This is the deceiver's opening salvo, and it is really his only weapon. To get you to question the creator's words.
The serpent then goes on to tell her that basically, her God is lying and that He is afraid that she will become like Him "knowing good and evil", then he tempts her to eat of the forbidden fruit. She succumbs, as does her husband who was standing right there observing the whole thing and taking the bait when he should have been standing up for Yah's Law and obeying his creator for the sake of love and in the fear of death. But he didn't. And my friends, you would have done the same thing too. I know this because you and I still fall for the same trick today. It's as easy as 1,2,3.
First, someone sows a seed of doubt about the existence or authority of God (extremely pervasive in public education, theoretical science and media). Second, offer up a plausible alternative (say the theory of evolution over unimaginable time periods). And finally, it's "You choose, you are the master of your own universe", in other words, YOU are God. This is the tactic, the serpent has used, thousands of times in thousands of ways, to deceive mankind into creating all kinds of false religions and devising all kinds of evil ways to destroy and control one another.
But getting back to my point about the middle east. In chapter 3 verse 15 of Genesis, we observe Yahweh pronouncing a prophesy about what will ultimately happen in the war between mankind and the serpent. Speaking to the serpent, Yahweh says "and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel."
Adam and Eve are removed from the perfect garden immediately, so that they will not eat from the tree of life and doom the human race to an eternity of the fallen, disobedient state they were in. This is another "state of grace" where Yahweh finds a way to cover and protect his creation so that we can continue on towards the end goal (different subject). Once outside, our predecessors begin to toil in the soil and scratch out a living just like we do today. They also start having children, and this is where the "seed" thing starts as well.
Their first son, Cain, makes the same selfish mistake when he brings an inferior offering to the LORD, rather than humble himself. He ends up getting very angry with his younger brother, Abel, who has brought forth and excellent offering. Rather than learning and repenting from the episode, Cain chooses to kill his brother, inviting the wrath of God on his head. He is exiled and ends up building his own cities and accompanying worship of himself and his own man-made gods.
This pattern is repeated over and over and over again throughout scripture and in our world today. There are those who try to follow Yahweh and His rules for living, sacrificing the life of self-indulgence because they recognize Yahweh's authority and look forward to the ultimate rewards of the future Kingdom, which will be far more fantastic than the original garden perfection. And then there are those who choose to listen to the lies of the deceiver, deny the authority of the creator, and become a god unto themselves. These latter will hate the former, considering them weak and disposable.
And now we are coming to tomorrow's headlines. You see, the Bible is not just a book of fables. It is a true, historical accounting of the entire human and Earthly experiment. The amazing thing is that it is 100% accurate, both in the past AND in the future. There are exhaustive genealogies that trace the bloodlines of both seeds. And there are two "forks in the road" that are of particular interest to truth-seekers today. Why? Because Yahweh has made covenants and promises with those who would accept his authority and keep His covenants. The promises are real and tangible and trace-able all through time. The names are all there. It is living history.
So, we can follow the trail of promise from Adam to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob and beyond. But there are departing paths along the way. Abraham got in a hurry (he was old) and decided to help Yahweh out with His promise to give him a son. Instead of waiting for Elohim (translated God) to bless his wife's womb, Abe went into his wife's handmaiden and begot a son who's name was Ishmael. This breach of trust between Abraham and Elohim went on to be a perpetual thorn in Abraham's foot and has grown into a regional dispute of, literally, biblical proportions. Ishmael and his decendants end up settling in the areas known today as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Iran and beyond.
In Yahweh's perfect timing, He brought forth the child of promise who's name was Isaac. Isaac was a righteous man (keeping the covenant with Yah) and was blessed mightily. However, he also had two sons with divergent ideas. The elder son, Esau was an awesome hunter. ( Some ancient texts depict Esau killing none other than King Nimrod, who had supernatural powers due to his ownership of the skins of sacrifice from the very first dead creatures on the planet, the skins of lambs sacrificed by Yahweh himself to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve after their fall in the garden. The story of Esau states that he was running for his life after killing Nimrod, and this is where we intersect with the biblical history again. )
Esau came in from the field, convinced he was going to perish, and asked his younger brother Jacob for a bowl of his stew. Jacob asked him for his birthright in exchange. Convinced that he was going to die (for some reason) Esau saw no value in his birthright, and gave it away to Jacob. Yahweh saw all of this happening beforehand and told Jacob's mother Rebecca that Jacob would receive the first-born blessing instead of Esau. Well, Esau didn't die. But when it came time for Isaac to die and pass on the powerful blessing (including all of the seed and material promises from the beginning of the history and into the future), Esau intended to take it back.
However, while Esau was out hunting (again), Rebecca and Jacob secured the blessing for Jacob, endowing Jacob (who's name Yah changed to Israel) with massive promises of wealth, health and countless decendants. Esau ended up with a lesser blessing and a deep bitterness and jealosy toward Israel. Esau moved east into the lands of what we call Jordan today, as well as the surrounding nations.
So here we have the foundations of the hatred and turmoil that you see today in the Middle East. Ishmael is the father of the Arab nations, and Esau is another generation of embittered people who have given up their birthright for a bowl of stew, but want it back anyway. This is the "palestinian" of modern times. The "Palestinians" are truly Jordanian thugs, whom the Jordanians didn't want. That's where they came from...their historical land of pagan exile.
You can literally go through the recorded history found in the Bible and find the names and places of Ishmael's and Esau's decendants. You will find the names of their cities in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Israel was and still is surrounded by her treacherous cousins who have fallen victim to the lies of the serpent. Because of their hatred toward all things Israel, they have rejected Yahweh and His covenant, and made a god in their own image, name of Allah. Allah is a false god, a moon god from pagan lore. All of his prophets are false prophets who seek world domination through the bloodshed of ALL who will not bow the knee to Allah. Allah is the god of the sword. And Allah is the god of the Muslim Brotherhood.
So, when you hear the covenant rejecters in the mainstream media lauding the democratic revolution in the middle east, keep in mind that the "democracy" they are fomenting will turn into the will of the majority in those places. What the majority want is to kill all of those who don't submit to Allah and sharia law. Israel first of course. America last, in their insane moment of glory.
I implore you, rational thinkers of the world, to seek the truth. Where the truth is, there is freedom. The poor nations of the middle east are lost to the slavery that comes after centuries of digesting lies. They are lied to by their "holy" men, they are lied to by our politicians. I understand their anger. I understand because I see that the lies that have been siphon fed to my own country for the last 50 years are turning us into another slave nation.
Is it too late for America? I want to say no, but my heart says yes. When our government controlled teachers start to riot when we ask them to pay their own load, when half of the population demands the wealthy give up their wealth, when we sell our soul for more cable channels, when so many people act as if there is no God in ownership....my heart says yes.
But America isn't everything, you know. Not hardly. It is the Truth that sets you free. Americans may give up their freedom for a slice of government pie, but that doesn't mean that you as an individual have to. You can still be free in spirit when you embrace the Truth. And maybe if enough of us embrace the Truth we can begin to turn back the tide of sewage that is eroding the moral foundations of this world. And even if the tide is irreversible, we can look forward in certainty that Yahweh's plan will come to completion one day, and that if we are faithful to keep His covenant and trust in Him and His Son, we will indeed experience the ultimate Truth, and live in a city made without hands. Halleluyah!
