Forward planning

There’s nothing like a good 8-inch snowstorm followed by a 40-mph wind storm to get you to appreciate a normal 20-plus degree winter day in Chicago. I had a very nice jog tonight on the lakefront, soaking in the crisp night air as if it was a soothing balm.

Of course, I have the adrenaline running in me now too, knowing I’m just a day away from my recently organized trip to New York to visit friends and catch up with all my old haunts. Got to remember to pack my tract specially written for Manhattanites.

Promise to write some travel notes here during my five-day visit.

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If you like to listen to Alexander Scourby read the Bible, there’s almost nothing better than when he reads passages where God’s laying out His plans for the demise of those who go against Israel. One classic chapter is Zechariah 12, which starts out:

“The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
[2] Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
[3] And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

Jordan says, “Reading those verses quickly you might miss the point here. There are two different groups. There’s one to whom Israel will be a cup of trembling and the other to whom Israel will be a burdensome stone.

“One, there will be ‘all the people round about.’ That’s the countries right around Israel. When they think of Israel, Israel’s going to scare them to death.

“Then there’s verse 3. You see the difference there? One’s talking about everybody and one’s talking about those nations right around them. But notice they’re going to be ‘a cup of trembling.’ Israel’s going to rise to be the premier military power in the area. And when anybody messes with them, they spite them like an adder.

“Notice how there’s going to be a group of people who are going to be gathered together in unison against Israel. Now, historically, that’s interesting because that hasn’t yet ever happened.

"Historically, all the nations around Israel, whether it’s in this century or last century or before when there weren’t very many nations in that area . . . Those nations, you know, they don’t like each other.

“You have the Arab League over there right now gathered together only because of oil. They have OPEC. Inside of OPEC they fight one another. Now they’re going to be gathered together against Israel.

“Never has there been a time when all the little nations gathered around Israel have been united together like they are now. And the thing that unites them is Islam and the Muslim hatred, irrational as it is, of one little nation. And that nation that they hate so much that eventually they will siege and seek to destroy, they’re scared to death of!

“Jerusalem is a scary thing to the people right around them but it’s a burdensome stone to the world. All the nations of the earth look at Israel and what do we talk about? We talk about the Middle East problem. You’re not talking about the Arab states; you’re talking about Israel.

"But you know what, the problem comes as much from the Arab states as it does Israel. In fact, you could say if it weren’t for the Arab states’ hatred of Israel, the problem would go away.

“Any nation that can go into a little piece of barren land like Israel’s done and turn it into an agricultural hub for the region would be a nation I’d think you’d be good to be friends with so you can learn some things about from them. Maybe have a little of their prosperity: ‘Hey dude, come over and live on my farm and teach me how to do . . . ‘

“But they don’t do that. It’s that hatred of Israel that’s born in them through the Islamic traditions. But then there’s this nation that all the other nations of the earth . . . between 1967 and 1989 the United Nations passed 865 resolutions and 526 of them had to do with Israel.

“Now that’s getting a little hyperventilated! You pass 865 resolutions and 526 of them are about one little bitty place! You know what that is? That’s a burdensome stone! It’s a problem.

“At the end of verse 3 it says ‘all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.’ People say, ‘Where’s America in Bible prophecy?’ You just read it!

“You read on down through verses 4-7 about the deliverance He’s going to give to Judah. Verse 9 says, ‘And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.’ Why would God gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle?

“Zephaniah 3:8 says, ‘Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.’

“God Himself is going to unite the nations. He’s going to use that little thorn of a nation to be a burdensome stone and a cup of trembling, and the nations of the earth are going to be in unison crying, ‘We have to eliminate this nation!’

“And just as Christ said about Himself, ‘They’ve hated me without a cause.’ Why? Because He was who He was in God’s plan. He’ll use that little nation to gather all these nations together against Him and you know if you want to destroy somebody, isn’t it easier to get them all together in one place and then do it rather than have to hunt them down all over the creation?

“Zechariah 14 says He gathers all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the cities shall be taken. Verse 3 says, ‘Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.’ Verse 9 says the Lord shall be king over all the earth after all that battle.

“So here’s the context when the kings of this world become the kings of our Lord and His Christ. Here’s the events that lead to that climactic Armageddon moment with the great battle of God Almighty.

“Go back to Psalm 83 and read about all those nations and Palestine and that Middle East area that their determination is to get rid of the nation Israel. The text says there that they hate ‘em: ‘Let’s make them no more a nation in the earth.’ Why? Because they’re God’s nation. It isn’t Israel they hate; it’s God and God’s plan with Israel.

“It’s fascinating the name Israel occurs 2,565 times in the Bible. The ‘God of Israel,’ that phrase, occurs 203 times. You know who the God of the Bible is? He’s the God of Israel.

“Jeremiah 33 says, [25] Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
[26] Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.’

“You know that’s what every major Protestant and Catholic orthodox seminary teaches? They call it Replacement Theology. Covenant theology. That’s what R.C. Sproul teaches and D. James Kennedy. All the great heroes of Christendom.

“God says, ‘You know what they’re going to say: ‘He’s threw with Israel.’ You know where the United States is going to be in those days? That passage in Zechariah, they mean that the official foreign policy of the U.S. of America is going to be: ‘Get rid of them.’

“That’s why in spite of all the rhetoric you hear to the contrary, the record is that our State Department is always been very anti-Israel and that’s going to come to the front. You see what he says in Jeremiah? ‘If I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth then you can get rid of Israel.’

“Go to chapter 32 and He says, ‘You know how you get rid of Israel? You got to get rid of the heaven and the earth. You got to get rid of my purpose and my creation.’ You know how likely it is to do that? Forget it. How likely is it you’re going to get rid of Israel? Forget it.

“People say, ‘Well, Brother Rick, where is America in Bible prophecy?’ You’re reading it. We don’t like that; we think, ‘Pschaw.’ Well go all you want to; see where that gets you.”