Choose this day

Ron Ross
Bridges for Peace News
Email: ronrossbfp@hotmail.com

October 2009

The passionate contest between the Palestinian Fatah-Hamas factions moved into a new phase this week when Mahmoud Abbas (Palestinian Authority chairman) announced elections for January 24, 2010.

Hamas and Fatah have failed to achieve any common ground despite the intervention of arbitrators from Egypt. Had they achieved success the election would have been scheduled for next June.

Now Abbas plans to isolate Hamas for elections that will spread throughout Judah and Samaria (the West Bank), east Jerusalem and Gaza.

Hamas ridiculed the chances of a successful election in the Gaza fortress. Abbas intends the election will freeze Hamas out of the process.

As the date draws closer, the friction between the two will be even more intense. The ratings for the two leaders Abbas (Fatah) and Ishmael Haniyeh (Hamas) is level at 16 per cent. Abbas has fallen from double that figure in recent weeks. His numbers fell sharply when he supported a move to delay for six months a UN discussion on the Goldstone Commission report which charged Israel with war crimes.

Some within the Palestinian community even called for his resignation.

These developments reveal the scary instability within the Palestinian hierarchy. Those who trumpet the ideal of a Palestinian State ‘living side by side in peace with Israel’ must embrace reality.

The same scenario has sucked the West into similar circumstances before. America is deeply involved with the corruption of the Afghani situation for instance. In that contest the government the USA and allied forces support is hardly any different from the Taliban.

No Peace Partner!

Soldiers die. Many are wounded seriously. The Obama administration is uncertain how to proceed. One American official even spoke out and said, “We do not seem to have a reliable peace partner, right now!”

Who do they suggest would be the reliable peace partner for Israel? Who would propose either Fatah or Hamas as the ideal next door neighbor+

The ‘experts’ have chosen Mahmoud Abbas as their ‘moderate’. He is trying to hold elections so that his Fatah faction will obtain a type of controlling leadership next January. The stage is set for the powers in Washington, London, Paris, Beijing and Moscow to push for a Palestinian State.

The circumstances line up with so much in bible prophecy. The nations of the world come against Israel with an ambition to prove God ineffective and Allah supreme.

The reality of the Palestinian state is closing in on Israel, the nuclear empowerment of Iran is advancing even while sham negotiations continue.

Choose this day!

These facts are challenging the rest of us too. We are all facing elections right now. In the words of Joshua, “Choose this day!” The church can withdraw and remain disinterested, even ignorant, but that is not what the Lord has in mind for His Bride.

Consider these comments by Pastor Jack Hayford.

‘God has made unique declarations regarding the land of Israel which have never been rescinded: Leviticus 25:23; Deuteronomy 32:43; 2 Chronicles 7:20; Psalm 85: 1-2; Isaiah 8: 8; Jeremiah 2: 7; Ezekiel 38:16; Joel 1: 6; 2:18; 3: 2; Hosea 9: 3; Zechariah 9:16.

“When we talk about Israel, we are dealing with: 1) a piece of property that God has made pronouncements about and 2) God’s people to whom He’s given the land. It is a major issue with the Creator of all things, and it is non-negotiable. Things that God has said, uniquely, about Israel have never been rescinded,” Hayford wrote (Why Stand with Israel, Today?”)

I would add ‘judgement begins in the house of the Lord’ and suggest Christianity is when we worship Yeshua and live with Him as our Lord.