CAN YOU DEFEND YOUR FAITH?

The sad truth is most Christians can't even defend their faith because they themselves are ignorant of God's word.

Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. -- Colossians 2:8
"My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge..." Hosea 4:6

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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Middle East Conflict: Written 4,000 Years Ago

    Each time I would discover something relevant and that needed to be share, I  conduct a brainstorming or practice teaching it first with my eleven year old son Elijah or to my wife, I would also let Elyona (5) hear these so she would be ready after her formative years. The other day while watching the News about the crisis going on in Egypt,Libya, Bahrain and the recent earthquake in New Zealand my son ask "Papa, is the rapture going to happen this year?" I smiled but a little scared at the thought of it. I smiled because my son understood the trend of the coming tribulations base on what he heard from my lecture on Biblical prophesy.  Thinking of an answer to his question I have to dig my library; the latest event seems not to fit with what I understood about the order or non-order of future events base on my Bible research. Then, it hit me, the truth is the latest conflict in middle east reaffirms that the end is indeed near. 
   Aside from the earthquake in various places I have blog in Wisdom of A Fool, Strange Silence....this event shows a great deal of what lays ahead...and it is very very soon.
   At the time of my writing of this blog, News headlines keep us abreast with what I call as the stirring of Nations through political or revolutionary uprisings that a few years ago seems unthinkable. We know there is tension in the Middle East with the threat of terrorism by extremist left or right. But an "inward" unrest was far from our ideas seen as a solid political landscape.we outsiders can ever imagine. Most of us theorized a more likely war would spark from anti-Jewish stand. This conflict had been around ever since history was written and is still continuing to this day. The Nation surrounding Israel hated the Jews for their claims of being the rightful owner of the title "People of God" in fact The  Bible had many references predicting a terrible fate to the Jewish state from the hands of her neighbors, to mention one is from the Book of Zechariah "And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who will heave it away will surely be cut into pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against Israel" (12:3). 
   This is no surprise to a Christian But the rising tension in Middle East was a prelude to the coming tribulations according to the word of God. This predictions had long been written by the Prophet Daniel through the inspiration of God more than 4,500 years ago and in great detail. Understanding the History of Israel from Bible passages and from secular sources we will understand why these tension of global scale may spark World War III. 
   David Fromkin described in his best seller A Peace to End All Peace, "a relatively tranquil domain in which history, like everything else, move slowly" (1989,p.25) He is not describing here America or Europe but believe it or not, a century ago the Middle East enjoy that leisurely peace in the languid  empire of the Ottoman Sultan or the Persian Shah.  So what happen to our present day volatile image of Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia we see now? 
A PEACE TO END ALL PEACE
   The answer to this is simple, prior to World War I all this Nations did not exist. For centuries the Ottoman Empire ruled the entire Middle East and North Africa. The Paris Peace Conference 0f 1919-20 created the Middle East we now recognized. Transforming a quiet and relatively tranquil domain into the most dangerous neighborhood in the world
   The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand ignited the greatest conflict mankind had ever known.  The British, French and Russians joined together against the Central European powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary to whom where The Ottoman Empire took sides and suffered their fate. 
   What is remarkable is that the collapse of The Ottoman Empire was predicted accurately more than 24 centuries before it happen. It must happen for specific Bible prophecies to be fulfilled. The Bible indicates that before the second coming of Christ, there will be a revive Jewish nation in the Holy Land again. 
2,000 Years without Jewish Nation
   In sixth century B.C. the Jewish Nation was held captive for 70 years by The Babylonian Empire. The Jewish Prophet Daniel had experience the entire rule of the Babylonians and even survive to see The Persian Empire conquering Babylon in 539 B.C. God revealed many great future events to Daniel and among these are His prophetic plan for Israel as well as to the gentiles (non-Jewish) who would dominate the Middle East. In fact, the Book of Daniel was in part written in Aramaic, the language of the Babylonian for those prophesy concerning the gentiles, and in Hebrew the language of the Jews, concerning prophesy for them.
   The prophesy revealed that after Babylonia would come the Persian, and then to be followed by Greco-Macedonian Empire and which eventually will lead to their captivity under The Roman Empire. The 11th Chapter of Daniel show us the detailed future events after the death of Alexander the Great. How four of his generals divided his vast empire. The Bible then focuses on two of them and their successors. Ptolemy took control of what is now Egypt, while Seleucus took everything North and East of what is today Israel. This two monarch and their descendant was referred to throughout the chapter as "King of the South" and "King of the North" respectively. The book have a clear unfolding of events until verse 32, which was fulfilled in the middle of the 2nd century B.C.  The 2nd part of verse 32 up to 39 contains prophesy about the True Church set against the backdrop of the false church under the Roman Empire.
   Then from here what happen? Why the prophesy stop? We will therefore consult history which tell us from A.D. 135 until 1948 there is No Jewish Nation. Much had happen in that 2000 years gap. The Ptolemaic dynasties died out with the last of the Ptolemy, Cleopatra VII, who was replaced by The Roman rule. About the Seleucid kingdom, they had long been swallowed by Rome much earlier.
The Ancient Conflict
   Now the event we see unfolding are predestined to happen because it is bound to happen for the second coming of Christ. All this are being revealed now as it is written in the last part of the said book... Daniel 12:9-10 (New King James Version)
9 And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. 
   And now is the time of the end...are you one of those wicked people who do not understand? Or are you the wise who shall be made purified. We shall dissect the remaining chapters on my next blog. Maybe you can help me by reading the last chapter of the book. I will also give you an insight on The Apocalypse and where will Armageddon happen? What is Armageddon? Who is the Babylonian whore?




1 comment:

  1. We created a web site about the Middle east conflict and we propose some solutions to the problem. It's written by news agents who are sensitive to the topic and they come from different religions and opinions about the topic. I suggest to check it: www.genesijournal.org of Renato d'Andria

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