In this month's news:

Mahmoud Ahmadinehad, President of Iran, addressed the UN Assembly this month beginning, as he did last year, by honouring Allah and calling for the return of the Mahdi.

He also used the opportunity to rail against Israel and made a point of denying the Holocaust which caused delegates from France, Argentina, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand and the United States to walk out.

Ahmadinejad is driven by an ideology that his divine calling is to hasten the coming of the Mahdi (the Shia messiah, the Hidden 12th Imam) and prepare Iran to receive him. The Mahdi will lead the apocalyptic battle between good and evil and establish the global rule of Islam. There are a number of articles within Link-Zone on this topic - see below

The next day, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, held nothing back in his speech to UN delegates:

"... Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries.

But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame?  Have you no decency? 

A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state. What a disgrace!  What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations!  Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews. You're wrong. History has shown us time and again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many others. ..."

After emphasising the danger of fundamentalist regimes having access to nuclear weapons, Netanyahu closed with a clarion call for clarity of thought and for action:

"... Over seventy years ago, Winston Churchill lamented what he called the "confirmed unteachability of mankind," the unfortunate habit of civilized societies to sleep until danger nearly overtakes them. Churchill bemoaned what he called the "want of foresight, the unwillingness to act when action will be simple and effective, the lack of clear thinking, the confusion of counsel until emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong.”

I speak here today in the hope that Churchill's assessment of the "unteachibility of mankind" is for once proven wrong.  I speak here today in the hope that we can learn from history -- that we can prevent danger in time.  

In the spirit of the timeless words spoken to Joshua over 3,000 years ago, let us be strong and of good courage. Let us confront this peril, secure our future and, God willing, forge an enduring peace for generations to come."

Extra Links:

You Tube: Ahmadinejad speech at UN (2009) - 36 mins

Read more about the Mahdi: Elizabeth Kendall ... 2006 ... 2007a...2007b

Benjamin Netanyahu's full UN speech

God has a strategy in His dealing with Israel that we can only skim the surface of in this update. To lay a foundation, however, we highlight His purpose for His covenant people, the truth about their rejection and God's plan for restoration:

They were to be a banner or signpost for the nations

He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:12

Hebrew Roots Teacher, Jesma O'Hara says, "The word banner in this scripture comes from the Hebrew root meaning a beacon gleaming from afar. 4000 years ago the Almighty gave the Jewish people a mandate, through Abraham, to be his banner or signal to the nations. His light gleaming from afar, to remind the nations of His existence and sovereignty over the earth and its peoples (Dt 32:8-9).

He gave them a Mission - to be the channel of redemption through which He would bring about His great plan of redemption for all humanity (Romans 9:4-5)

He gave them a Land - the Land of Israel (Genesis 17:3-8, 17:19, 28:13).

He gave them a City. (Ezekiel 5:5, Psalm 87:1-3)

He gave them His Word to show the world how to live according to the principles of the Kingdom of God. (Dt 4:1-2;5-8)

They were a people from whom Messiah would come (Matthew 1, Luke 1:68-69)

The story of the Jewish people is the story of God's great plan of redemption for all humankind. They have been given a mission to be His Signal ot the Nations, to remind them that He exists, that He is a covenant keeping God, and that He keeps His Word. 1

Israel's Rejection?

The idea that Israel's rejection of Christ has necessitated their replacement by the Church (the "new Israel") is one that has been voiced since the the second century. It is not found in the New Testament but is commonly called Supersessionism or Replacement Theology.

In Romans 9-11 the Apostle Paul goes to great pains to assure the church that God has not rejected Israel and that the covenant He made with them is eternal, irrevocable.

As acclaimed Hebraic Studies teacher, Dwight Pryor, says, "Though they [Israel] may be fickle, God remains faithful to His sovereign election and covenant commitments to the Jewish people as a nation. To assert otherwise is to impugn the integrity and discredit the character of the God of Israel who abounds in hesed (steadfast love and covenant faithfulness)."

"... The Jewish people are important to Christians ... not because of their projected place in some future biblical dispensation, nor as a prophetic timepiece for an end-time apocalypse. The irreducible truth is this: they are important because of their place in the Father’s heart.

What shall we say then? If God be for Israel shall we oppose Him? In view of the Almighty’s great love and unbounded mercies, renewed each morning, surely Christians should at the very least stand with and pray for the Jewish people. This may be an anguished prayer at times, as it was for the Apostle Paul. But our concerns, like his, should spring from an abiding affection and unconditional affirmation of Israel’s irrevocable covenant, involving Scriptures, Land and Peoplehood. This is not to idealize Jews or exempt the modern State of Israel from biblical standards of justice and righteousness ... But it is to remind us as followers of Jesus of Nazareth that we are perpetual debtors to Israel – for our Messiah, our Scriptures, even our God! "

Israel's Redemption

The story of God's great plan of redemption, the greatest story ever yold, concerns God's dream to create a people who would reflect His image and likeness - His character to all creation. The dream was fractured with the advent of sin, as the people created in His image chose to step out from under His lordship and covering and do their own thing.

God then called a people to be the channels of His redemptive purposes and gave them a land and a city which would become, with their inhabitants, tests for the world to see if it would accept His sovereignty. Any gospel that does not give a correct place to the Jewish people, the Land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem, is an incomplete gospel as it ignores these entities so dear to the heart of the Father. If we say we belong to Him, we must love who and what He loves, and the Bible makes it very clear that this people, land and city hold not only a special place in God's heart, but also a special place in His plan of redemption.

This people, land and city birthed the climax of God's plan - Jesus Himself. And they ar taking centre stage once again as all creation prepares itself for His return. The Jewish people are returning from the four corners of the earth to the land of Israel, where God promises to meet with them and reveal Himself to them [Ezekiel 36]. The stage is being set for the last great end time events spoken about by the prophets.

Peter told the crowds that the heavens would retains the Messiah until the fulfilment of all things the prophets spoke about [Acts 3:0]. The primary theme repeated over and over by the prophets was the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and to the Lord.

He has given us the privilege of working with Him to fulfil His dream, conceived before the foundation of the world. And in working with Him, sensing His heart for this people, land and city, to take this message to the world. God's great dream - a people made in his image and likeness. 3

1. O'Hara Jesma, Israel God's Signal to the Nations, International Christiany Embassy Jerusalem.
2. Dwight Pryor, A Sure Foundation, Center for Judaic Christian Studies, Dayton, Ohio, USA
3. O'Hara Jesma, In Our Image: The Story of God's Plan of Redemption, International Christiany Embassy Jerusalem.

The purposes is to raise global awareness and intercession for G-d's purposes in Israel, knowing that this hour in history is critical and our authority in prayer is great.  Though we pray every day for Israel, we seek on this day to unite believers around the world in raising a cry to Heaven on behalf of this troubled, but strategic land and its people.  We believe in G-d's promises for His beloved nation and fervently pray to hasten the day when He brings fulfillment to His word.

Vision

The vision is for sustained, fervent, and informed global intercession for the plans and purposes of G-d for Jerusalem and all her people.  The goal, by G-d's grace, is that by this coming October there will be 175 participating nations and 300 million believers praying for the peace of Jerusalem.