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Anti-Semitism

Purim 2018

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“Don’t think that you (Esther) alone will be saved out of all the Jews just because you are in the king’s palace. If you keep silent at this time…relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another source… ‘Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.’”
The very famous verse from the book of Esther is a call also for us today. Are we going to be silent or rise up to the occasion to be used by God as an instrument for the salvation of Israel, both physically and spiritually, in prayer and supplication with faith and confidence in the God of Israel – who is Israel’s protector.

The beautiful Jewish virgin Hadassah, known by her Persian name Esther, was chosen by King Ahasuerus, out of all the beautiful virgins in the Persian Empire to be his queen. She obeyed her uncle Mordechai’s instruction not to reveal her Jewish heritage.

The king raised Haman the Agagite (descendant of Amalek) to a powerful position above all the other princes and ordered all who were at the king’s court to bow down to him. Mordecai the Jew, who sat at the king’s gate was the only one who refused to bow down to Haman and aroused his anger. When Haman learned that Mordecai was Jewish, he manipulated King Ahasuerus into ordering the genocide of the all the Jewish people throughout the empire.
Haman said to King Ahasuerus: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom, their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not worthy it for the king to let them remain…let a decree be written that they be destroyed…“(Esther 3:8-9)

The Pur (lot) was cast and fell on the thirteen of the month of Adar. In one day all the Jews were to be, according to the words of Haman’s decree, “killed, destroyed, and annihilated.” (Esther 3:13) It was done, a decree that could not be changed because “in the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring.” (Esther 3:12c)

When Esther heard the terrible news of the decree to annihilate all the Jews in one day, Mordecai gave her two options; to remain silent and perish with the rest of the Jews, or to risk her life by going before the king, uninvited, to plead for her people’s deliverance.

Esther realized that the purpose she was chosen to be queen of Persia was for such a time as this, to be used by God for the salvation of His people. She decided to take a bold step of faith and go to the Higher Authority in prayer and fasting. She called for the entire Jewish community in the capital city of Shushan to stand with her in prayer and fasting for three days as she risked her life for the chance of saving her people. She was going to go unlawfully before the king, uninvited, and “if I perish, I perish.”

God always does what he said in His word He will do. Hundreds of years before the story of Esther, the Lord told Moses: “I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” (Exodus 17:14.) King Saul disobeyed God and didn’t kill all the Amalekites, but spared the life of King Agag. Even though the prophet Samuel did kill him, apparently some of his family lived on. Haman was a descendant of Agag the Amalekite.

In a turn of events, the gallows Haman built in order to hang Mordecai was used to hang Haman after the king heard that he was the wicked one who ordered the killing of his beloved queen’s people. He promoted Mordecai to a high position and gave him the king’s signet ring to reverse the decree and save the lives of the Jews. God had turned the mourning of His people to ecstatic joy. Purim “should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.” (Esther 9:28)

At present, Israel is facing another Haman also from Persia, which is modern-day Iran. The Iranian regime has announced time and again that Israel will be wiped off the map of the Middle East. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has warned continually against the existential threat to Israel, posed by the possibility of a nuclear Iran.

The question today is the same one that Mordecai asked Esther. Will the believers choose to be silent while Israel is in danger? Or will they take a step of faith to come before the God of Israel in prayer and fasting for the salvation of Israel?

We know from the word of God that salvation will come to Israel. The question is what role will the body of Christ play? We ask you to stand with us in prayer and supplication, in the face of the evil and wickedness of Israel’s enemies once again. And “who knows whether you have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?”

For a more complete story, go to: http://yeshuatami.com/the-story-of-purim/

The battle against anti-Semitism is fierce, the enemy is relentless, but victory belongs to the Lord. Please stand with us at this time of spiritual warfare as Israel is facing Iranian aggression. Pray for our leadership to have Godly wisdom and strength in facing of these attacks. Please stand with us in faith on the promises and word of God.

Names (Part 2): God Changes Names – Man Changes Names

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PART TWO

Where does the name Palestine come from?

All of the various Western names such as Palestine, Palestina, and Philistia, come from the original Hebrew word Peleshet, from the root Palash, which is a verb meaning to roll in the dust of the earth and to invade. The Egyptians identified the Pelishtim as “Sea Peoples.” The Pelishtim were not native Canaanites, but invaders from Phoenicia. Pottery found from the cities of Ekron and Ashdod in Philistia are similar in style to pottery found in the Aegean Sea area and on Cyprus. Their main god was Dagon. (Judg. 16:23; 1 Sam. 5:1-7)

The first clear use of the term Palestine that refers to the area between Phoenicia and Egypt occurred in 5th century BCE ancient Greece when Herodotus described a “district of Syria, along the Mediterranean coast called “Palaistine“, which included the Judean Mountains and the Jordan Rift Valley. Other writers referred to the region as Coele-Syria (“all Syria”) around 10-20 CE.

The Jewish historian Josephus (37-100 AD) quotes Herodotus in referring to “Syria of Palaistine” and “the Syrians that are in Palaistine“, inhabitants of Palaistine who are circumcised are Jews.” This confirms that Jews lived in Palaistine at that time.

In the Bible, the names “Palestia” or “Philistia” occur fewer than ten times in the Old Testament. For example: “What have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coasts of Palestia?” (Joel 3:4- 4:4; Exod. 15:14; Isa. 14:29, 31; Ps. 60:8; 83:7; 87:4; 108:9). The term is never used to refer to the whole land of Israel, but to the southwestern coastal area. The rest of the land was called Canaan.

The inhabitants of Peleshet were called the Pelishtim, Philistines in English. This word occurs 287 times in the Hebrew Bible (Some examples: Gen. 10:14; 26:1; Exod. 13:17, etc., many in Judg., 1 & 2 Sam., and 1 Chron., Jer. 6:26; Ezek. 27:30; Mic. 1:10).

The Pelishtim

From the time the Israelites first entered Canaan, under Joshua’s leadership, the “Philistines” were and remained the enemies of Israel. Their centers of power were the five cities/states along the coast of southern Canaan: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. However, their battlegrounds of fighting Israel spread to other parts of the country, the most famous one, David against the giant Philistine Goliath (from the city of Gath). Those cities were promised by God to the tribe of Judah in Joshua 15:1, 46, 47: “This then was the lot of the tribe of Judah…from Ekron to the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their Villages; Ashdod with its towns and villages, Gaza with its towns and villages-as far as the Brook of Egypt and the Great Sea (Mediterranean) with its coastline.”

The ancient Philistines are long gone and there are no descendants. God said in His word that He would destroy the Philistines in several prophecies including: “Thus said Lord YHVH: I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines and cut off the Cherethites and wipe out the last survivors of the seacoast” (Ezek 25:15-16).

Jeremiah forewarns that “the day is coming” when “YHVH will ravage the Pelishtim, the remnant from the island of Caphtor” (Jer 47:4). Archeologists believe Caphtor is likely the island of Crete.

Neither “Palestina” or “Philistia” occur in the Greek New Testament. When Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Roman government issued a coin with the phrase “Judea Capta,” meaning Judea has been captured. The term Palestine was never used in the early Roman days.

It was not until the Romans crushed the second Jewish revolt against Rome in 135 CE under the leadership of Bar Kochba that Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the Land of Israel to Palestine.  He replaced the Jewish shrines in Jerusalem with temples to pagan deities and changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitalina. Hadrian’s choice of the name Palestine was not accidental. He used the name of the ancient enemies of Israel, the Philistines and gave it a western name to replace the name Land of Israel. His purpose was to erase the name Israel from all memory and erase the Jewish connection to the land.

Following the Muslim conquest in the 7th century, names of places that were in use by the Byzantine administration generally continued to be used in Arabic, including the use of the name “Palestine.” The land was still Palestine when it became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the years 1517-1917.

In the 20th century, after the British won the 1st World War and conquered the land from the Turks, the name was used by the British to refer to “Mandatory Palestine”, though they called the land on both sides of the Jordan River, Palestine. This became the accepted geo-political term for several decades, and those who lived in the land were called Palestinians, whether they were Jews, Arabs or Europeans.
Today’s Palestinians
After Israel became a nation in 1948, the name of the land was changed back to Israel and the Jews were called Israelis. Only in 1968, The Palestinian National Charter, as amended by the PLO’s Palestinian National Council  defined “Palestinians” as “those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father—whether in Palestine or outside it—is also a Palestinian.”

Unfortunately, today even many Christians continue to refer to the Land of Israel as Palestine. by this, they join the world, pagans, and haters of Israel in calling Israel by the anti-Israel term of Palestine.

The enemy of God hates the reality of the restoration of Israel as the nation that will ultimately receive Jesus as the Messiah at His return and be saved. God chose Israel as His people and Jerusalem as His dwelling place. There is no mention in His word of Palestine or Palestinian people occupying the land. He gave the people of Israel the Land for an everlasting possession. The only term we, as believers in Yeshua, should use for the Land of Israel is Israel, and the so-called occupied territories Judea and Samaria.

So Where does the name Palestine come from? As opposed to the name Israel, which God chose, Palestine is a name that men chose to usurp God’s authority and purpose for His Promised Land and People.

Please pray for God’s truth to prevail in the Land of Israel and the world.
[Read more about the history of Israel in our Blog: History from the Ottoman Empire to the Establishment of the State of Israel and The Land of Israel Was Legally Purchased]

UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

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UNESCO is promoting, among other things; regional and cultural history project, the promotion of cultural diversity, translation of world literature, international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage. UNESCO is supposed to do all those things and more but is showing complete ignorance when it comes to Jerusalem.

Last week, on Israel’s Independence Day, the organization has chosen to come up with the resolution on “Occupied Palestine” referred to Israel as the “occupying power” in its capital, indicating that it has no legal or historical ties to any part of the city. The text, approved at UNESCO headquarters, denounced “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem.”

The resolution was submitted to UNESCO’s Executive Board by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan. Israel’s PM Netanyahu called the text “absurd”, and other Israeli politicians also condemned the UNESCO resolution, while the Palestinians commended it. The good news in Israel is that “the number of countries supporting this absurd vote in UNESCO is getting smaller. A year ago, 32 [countries supporting similar votes], half a year ago it went down to 26, and now it has gone down to 22.”

The UN is called in Israel UM (Umot Meuhadot – oom.) David Ben Gurion said once, when the UN tried to impose its will on his decisions, “oom shmoom.” With or without UNESCO, Jerusalem will not give up ownership on all parts of the city and fight any attempt to cast doubt in the mind of the world.

Israel has, and will always consider Jerusalem as the eternal undivided capital of the Jewish nation. We have returned to our old holy city and no one, person or organization can stop us from rebuilding our rightful home.

Israel’s PM, Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and other bodies are investing considerably in the campaign to show the truth to the world. However, there is still a great need for Israel to improve its efforts of educating the international community on the truth and facts about the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. Hopefully more will join the countries who voted against the resolution: the U.K., Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Greece, Germany, The U.S., Paraguay, Ukraine and Togo. Some Italians who were interviewed, said in amazement: “How can you vote against the truth?”

The Word of God is clear about the truth. He is the owner of Jerusalem and can give her to whomever He chooses. He gave the Land of Canaan (now Israel) to Abraham, who was the first Hebrew, as an everlasting possession. Later confirming this inheritance to Abraham’s son Isaac, and to his son Jacob (changing his name to Israel.) The twelve children of Jacob are called the Children of Israel. Moses led the Children of Israel from captivity in Egypt to the Land of Israel, called the Land of Promise, because God has promised it to Israel.

Read more about the History of Jerusalem Part 1 and Part 2 and connection with Israel, in light of the Bible and history.
Please pray for Israel and the Israeli government, for wisdom and guidance on the subject of Jerusalem. And pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Please pray for the nations to understand the connection of Jerusalem to the Jewish people, according to God’s will and purpose.