Israel could be ready to give up land

A report from ynetnews.com states a Palestinian source has told them that the American peace envoy to the Mid-east has received word from Israel that they are willing to turn control of more areas in the West Bank over to Palestinian control in order to restart peace talks.

I wonder why Israel is now willing to do this. This is land promised to them by God, and if they are freely willing of their own accord to trade it in the hope of achieving peace, then that is their decision to make. (It's important to note here that this transfer of land would only restart peace talks. It does not guarantee a peace agreement. If the talks do not produce peace, they would have given up land for nothing.) Personally, I think taking this action would be a mistake, but as I said it is their land and their decision.

My great concern is if they are doing this freely, or if this move is the result of external pressure. I hope and pray that if this article is true, and this decision has been made that it was not made due to pressure from our government on the Israeli government. Pressuring Israel into surrendering their God-given land would be a very dangerous move for our nation. Genesis 12:3 records that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel. Let's pray that our nation through its foreign policy does not place itself in the position of those who curse Israel.

Here is the article from ynetnews.com:

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3841945,00.html

How hard and who?

The following article from Yahoo! news states our country's intention to push "hard" for Mid-east peace talks in 2010. The question I have after reading the article is, who are we going to push hard? Will both sides be pushed, or is this code for pushing Israel to make concessions on land and settlements?

I have said it before, and I will say it again; we as a nation must not put ourselves in a position of pressuring Israel to give up land promised to them by God. History has shown that things do not go well for those nations who oppress Israel or God's chosen people. We should all pray for our leaders to see the need to support Israel.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100129/pl_afp/usmideastirandiplomacy

Links of interest

Here are links to a couple of articles of interest, a brief comment on each from me.

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/ss_israel0049_01_25.asp

As I have stated before, we need to pray for the leaders of our country to correctly handle our foreign policy with Israel. Let me be clear, by correctly I mean stand beside Israel, and part of standing beside them is not getting in their way in defending themselves.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135663

This is another interesting situation to keep an eye on. Any potential conflict involving Syria (where Damascus is located) is worth tracking for those interested in prophecy. See the blog from earlier in the week regarding the prophecy regarding Damascus for further detail as to why.

Alliances continue to form for fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 & 39

According to Ezekiel 38 and 39 one of the nations that will join Russia in her attack on Israel is Libya. As we keep an eye on current events, we can see the alliances prophesied by Ezekiel in the Old Testament taking shape before us today.

While the relationship between Russian and Libya dates to the days of the Cold War, the following article demonstrates that the Libya-Russian alliance is gaining strength This is just one more example of the pieces beginning to be put in place for the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=6&id=19651

In a related story the plane described in the following article makes a surprise attack much easier for the Russians.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60Q4TN20100127?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Possible peace deal in two years

According to the following article from WND, http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=121977, our president hopes to have an agreement that would give significant amounts of Israeli land to Palestine within two years; included in this would be parts of Jerusalem.

The very fact this is being proposed will, I'm sure, cause many to make claims that our president is the Antichrist. Just because he is talking about peace with Israel does not mean that he is. Many U.S. presidents have pushed for peace, including the most recent former president. Christians should not jump to conclusions based just on this.

However, it is an interesting story to track. According to Ezekiel 38:8,11, & 14 Israel will be dwelling in safety when the coalition led by Russia detailed in Ezekiel 38 attacks in what is commonly referred to as the war of Gog and Magog.

Could this agreement our president is pushing for be the peace referred to in Ezekiel 38? Prophecy scholars have varying opinions on when the war of Gog and Magog will occur, and I have not found any position that I feel so strong about to declare as my own. Some believe that it will occur prior to the rapture, and with that theory in mind, I want to revisit the potential agreement.

If the war of Gog and Magog occurs before the rapture, there will have to be a peace agreement prior to the one the Antichrist makes with Israel. This is to fulfill the prophecies of peace for Israel in Ezekiel 38. Could this agreement be the one that will bring peace to Israel to further set the stage for the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 and 39? Only time will tell, but it will be interesting to watch.

Isaiah 17:1 to be fulfilled soon?

According to this article found on prophecynewswatch.com, http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2010/January20/2022.html, a scenario exists where we could soon see Israel launch a military strike against Damascus.

This is interesting in light of a prophecy concerning the city of Damascus in Isaiah 17:1. It reads like this: The burden (prophecy) against Damascus: Behold Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap. NKJV

Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. It has never been destroyed, so obviously this prophecy could not have already been fulfilled. However, we could be nearing the day when we will see it fulfilled in our lifetime.

US negotiating for Palestine?

According to an article from Haaretz which I found via prophecynewswatch.com, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has made a proposal to the United States government that they negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians in Mideast peace talks.

Whether or not our government would do this, I don't know. However, if this happened this would put our government in the position of pressing Israel to make concessions of land given to them by God. In my opinion this would be a disastrous position for our government to take.

This land was promised to Abraham and his descendants forever (Genesis 13:15) and we would be risking the disfavor of God to press Israel to make any such concessions. We as Christians must pray first for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), and second that God will move upon the hearts of our leaders to stand beside Israel.

Follow this link to the article:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1143951.html