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CHAPTER NINE

 

THE SQUALID DEPTHS

AND HAZED HEIGHTS

OF PROMINENT PROPAGANDA

News 447

Sunday Mail (SA) July 02, 2011

Placards

 

 

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Just as the Psalms foretold in detail what God would do,
the only and Almighty God, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ,
in sending the Messiah to be crucified for sin (Psalm 22 as above),
and coming from heaven to do so (Psalm 40),

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and just as Isaiah (2, 7, 9, 11, 22, 32, 35, 40, 49-56,59,66) foretold much of His work and the depths and heights of His salvation,
and how it would be accomplished,

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while Micah 5 forecast His birth-place and Daniel His death date
(cf.
Christ the Citadel ... Ch. 2):

so the checkable history of Christ convinced thousands in Jerusalem.

This, as seen in Acts 2,  occurred in the days following  His resurrection. It was foretold in Psalm 16 and cited from there by Peter when addressing the city at a Feast-time congregation, and challenging them with the fact that this was indeed the Messiah. He had done the good, accomplished the mission, died, murdered by sinners for sin, and was bodily resurrected, thus completing the divine agenda as foretold. Now, he indicated, was the time to act, and to receive as the Saviour who He is.

This thousands did, repenting and receiving Him.

It was, however,  a little late for Jerusalem to take advantage of His just lost presence. He paid a price for peace for any and all, and they having rejected it, as with any and all, would pay a price, being wilfully now exposed to the results of their own sins.

 Chris before His death, knowing what was to be, just as it had been predicted of Him, lamented for the lost opportunity for the city now doomed to a destruction to come, in fact in one generation, and this poignant scene of lamentation is perceived in two ways: one in Matthew 23:37 and one in Luke 19:42ff.; for if what was to come was singular, grief was multiplied.

IF ONLY YOU HAD KNOWN IN THIS YOUR DAY ... BUT NOW IT IS HIDDEN FROM YOUR EYES. What was hidden ? "the things which belong to your peace." Such do we find in Luke 19, just as much the same lament might have been made in the early days of the incoming Hitler, by a German patriot!

This however had certain outstanding differences. Firstly, this was predicted as to result (Zechariah 9-12), including a yet to come time of repentance within the nation for the slaying of this same Messiah, whose death and the manner of it was forecast centuries before it happened, as we have just been seeing.

Secondly, this was more than patriotism. Jerusalem was a city chosen by God for the propagation of the truth concerning His sacrificial love, and its symbolism in the temple sacrifices had been to point to the coming of this same Messiah, to finish once and for all the sacrificial system in its sacrificial centre in Jesus Christ Himself. He,  as God, would be and was adequate to cover all. As man, He would be and was adequate to meet the results of sin in its heinousness, in full confrontation and expiation, where applicable.

And where is it applicable ? It is in the heart of the penitent believers. The loss of this peace, for Jerusalem, was a spiritual tragedy, unnecessary, but following their  rejection of their Peace in Him: for there is no other, and they were in His very own name, as a nation! The result of their continuing rebellion against God, it was to come as foretold altogether in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 32, indeed earlier in 27-28, and there was no escape.

Jerusalem now, of course, would be an index to what Paul is inspired to call the "Jerusalem above," a city that "is free, which is the mother of us all," in Galatians 4:26. It was a symbol, and it became a centre when the Author of life became an agent in its midst, ineffaceable, and so the city became a site of remembrance of, and recognition for His slaying. There was His tomb. Unlike Lenin, it has no body in its cask. He walked off with it and so stole the show, for He could neve be shown, in Jerusalem, until He would come of His own will, when His reign begins (as in Acts 1, Revelation 20).

The new spiritual centre as temple is Christ, the new sacrifice, once and for all, is Christ, the new 'priest' offering it is the same, Christ offering HIMSELF.

The new blood is His own, and the final atonement is from and in Him (Hebrews 7-10). In Him is fulfilled all the paraphernalia of sacrifice and symbol of Old Testament temple worship, that utterly necessary provision of God first to signify, and then in Christ to satisfy the sin situation, through His atonement in the pitiful love of God (cf.  Colossians 1:19ff.).

Here was the way which God, the party offended by sin, elected to cover the case. NO addition to His words was permitted, as given in Moses, nor any subtraction (Deuteronomy 4 and 12). THIS was the covenant, and in the drama of the pronouncements in Deuteronomy 27  and   28 , the unattenuated force of this sublime, divine communication, control and provision was made clear, both for blessing, if kept, and curse if not. Specific mounts were chosen for these opposites to be proclaimed and declaimed:  the blessings on Mt Gerizim and the cursing from Mt Ebal. Nothing could be clearer.

So in John 3:15-18, we see the blessing, even of eternal life, in this ransoming Christ (Matthew 20:28), available simply through faith, and the cursing for those rejecting it likewise is to be found in John 3:36. It is not a curse for mere rebelliousness, important as that aspect is (cf. Ephesians 4:17-19, 2:1-12, Romans 1:17ff.). It is a residual curse for failing to take what is objectively necessary, graciously provided free, without works of any kind (Titus 2-3), in the love, pity and mercy of God, by the utterly sacrificial way He has chosen, and THEREFORE seen in having to pay the cost oneself!

This is no Christ of Islam: nothing could be more contradictory and devastating in confronting it. Islam comes in merely as fulfilment of His always fulfilled words, in terms of a false prophet, with another gospel, if it could be called that, another Christ, made up, not backed by documentation and history, imagined without confirmation or verification, some 600 years later, as if history were a plaything. The slot open for this in terms of Christ is only one: false prophet.

In view of our news item cited today, it is necessary to remind ourselves for a good understanding, of what has been said earlier, in SMR pp. 1080ff.. Take this excerpt:

 

*3

THE WEAVING OF THE WAYS FOR THE ANTICHRIST. See Extension 4, pp. 1072-1074 infra.

What however of Muhammad's early - but continuing - input into this antichrist pattern ? a matter of assertion plus force to overcome ... unbelief in some mock-up, dysfunctional substitute for Christ.

In the Koran, Surah 48:29, we find (it. added):

''Muhammad is God's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers'' -

and how far?

''Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them. Know that God is with the righteous''

(Surah 9:123, cf. 2:191); and indeed, (Surah 9:27-31):

''Fight against such of those to whom the Scriptures were given as believe neither in God nor the Last Day ... until they pay tribute out of the hand and are utterly subdued.''

Yes, he decries (in 8:36-41):

''Tell unbelievers ... [to] reflect upon the fate of their forefathers. Make war on them until idolatry cease ...''

Reflect ? Fate ? ... city assault, tribute money, and then servitude - with the provision for death upon its removal. The 'fate' is the alternative to 'faith' is the alternative to force. (Cf. *17 infra.)

And all this force ? with due provision for occasional defeat, yet it is found written (Surah 8:59):

''Let not the unbelievers think that they will ever get away. They have not the power to do so'' ...

Indeed, the prayer was to be:

''Lord forgive us ... our excesses; make us firm of foot and give us victory over the unbelievers" ...

and the theme,

''If God helps you, none can overcome you''

(Surah 3:148 and 3:160; cf. Surah 48:22 -

"If the unbelievers join battle with you, they shall be put to flight").

In fact, since Moslems almost took Europe, they lost at Tours in 732 A.D.; and again when the sprawling Ottoman Empire fell, with World War I; while in the Middle East from 1917 and from 1948 in particular and repeatedly, Moslem military losses have been sustained, spectacular and even proverbial (*18).

This is despite enormous numerical advantage (the EXACT opposite of Surah 8:65 -

''If there are twenty steadfast men among you, they shall vanquish two hundred'').

 There have not been vicissitudes but repetitive overthrows, dominating almost comically the whole period of the Jew's return (as God predicted, Zechariah 12:6 ff. - cf. pp. 779-822, 851-857 supra.)

The force of evidence overthrows indeed the force of mere utterance. Proclaiming himself ''no more than an apostle'' (Surah 3:140-147), such that ''other apostles have come before me'' (Surah 3:183), Muhammad refers to Abraham and others, to the Jewish Torah (law) - Surah 2:135), and the ''earlier scriptures'' of ''Abraham and Moses'' (Surah 87:179), bowing to history by acknowledging, ''the prophets who surrendered themselves judged the Jews ... according to God's Book which had been committed to their keeping and to which they themselves were witnesses'' (Surah 5:44).

Witness! Dismiss evidence and what does 'history' become but the unholy butt of romance? While Muhammad says his book ''confirms the Scriptures which came before it'' (5:48), in fact the Messiah is as we have shown with dense-packed scriptures (cf. pp. 768-777 et al. supra), the eternal King irreplaceable, unsucceedable, whose word is final and, if rejected, fatal; and one need only cite words such as Isaiah 9:6-7, 42:1-4, 49:6, 53:11-12, 54:5,10, 55:3-11, Deuteronomy 18:15-18, Daniel 7:13-14, Psalm 72. Not merely is there no successor, this is so because the Son (Psalm 2:5-7) is God (Psalm 45, Isaiah 48:16, Micah 5:1-3), as shown earlier in great detail from many scriptures of which only the Jews were in fact - to use Muhammad's term - 'witnesses'. Successors, declares Christ, are false Christs (Matthew 24:24).

To fortify the contradiction: Muhammad wrote material wholly alien to that of the 'apostles' - such on his own admission - who 'went before' him, on the method of salvation, on redemption, on the place of grace and on the work of the Messiah (not really killed, says he - Surah 4:157, despite Daniel 9:25-26, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Leviticus 16). To aggravate the impossible, Muhammad has the prior 'apostles' sent by ONE GOD! (Surah 3:40 and 3:21). Should one God send prophets opposed to the very core of Muhammad's words ? Why He gave His 'servants the prophets' among the Jews, such wholly, consistently and persistently clangorous contradiction of Muhammad, the prophet does not manage to attest!

The whole superabundantly attested, textually ancient, intense, immense, detailed racial systematics and salvation dynamics of the interlocking Old and New Testaments (cf. pp. 735-836 supra) are airily dismissed for the infinitely divergent dogmas (cf. Surahs 4,5,9,24 and 48) of the anti-verified Koran. To thunder the point home, God, having disciplined the Jews as Chapter 9 has shown His word predicted He would do, has given them the power He also predicted, abolishing the pretences of the Koran to its very face (cf. pp. 814, 830-834, 989 supra). Of a certainty, the Jews had less than no reason to add the scriptures on the Messiah, whom they murdered, but rather honestly retained them in fear. (See also *4 infra.)

The Koran is not merely unverified, but anti-verified and this with a divine mirth as God's predictive word ploughs through the field of history with the majestic insouciance of a tank in an agricultural field (cf. Psalm 2:8-12, Jeremiah 23:29; and Psalm 111:7-8, Isaiah 59:21 and p. 564 supra). See also pp. 1176-1186C infra for treatment of Joshua as an instrument of theocratic MORAL judgment, not contrary to the love or liberty God gives. Christ categorically did not subject physically, do violence at all to remedy unbelief. Truly He upbraided morally, cleansed, lamented (Matthew 23:37, Luke 19:42) and was subjected. Faith and force have divorce.

 

Further background to the religious situation is given a little earlier in Ch. 10 of SMR.

Four major international systems promote this. The Arab religion, now paraded so that men might perceive the place of force, is one. The Moslem god is not the Christian God. Do you kill the servants of your God as they did, so systematically, nearly taking over Europe in A.D. 732 at the Battle of Tours. This was a matter of the Moslem march, the holy war, the religious fervour, that launched armies and hurled men to glory for the reward of blood, as Muhammad was quick to declare of war in his field, in his own time, and he did this in no vague or uncertain terms (see e.g. pp. 986-989, 91 supra).

Their god is and always has been one of violence, and one for which the use of force to secure religious conversion is in certain cases, in order (Surah IX. 5, and Schaff, as noted). This god is the one Saddam Hussein says he worships; it is in the name of this god that Americans are called devils, doubtless including George Bush when, during the Gulf War, he was fresh from his prayer service, apparently directed to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now how can the same God have his followers calling Christians devils, as has long appeared the trend ? THEY reject what HE in writing commands! Of course, he is not the same god, but no god at all, except it be as one format for the god of this world, a world which offers its friendship - as James tells us - at the expense of becoming enemies of God, the true God, and not the heretical caricature which the Moslems announce; nor the wafer God of Roman Catholicism, which is no god at all.

The Moslem religion denies that Christ died for the sins of men; the Roman religion denies that eternal salvation is conferred as a gift, entirely through the grace of God, and sets up a schedule of unauthorised priests and actions to intervene between any hope of heaven, and suffering sinners.

The JEWISH religion is separate from the Christian on one basic ground: the nation so acted as to KILL Christ, without accepting Him as the sacrifice for sin for which He came. That is not the ultimate point for this people: it is failure to repent at the national level which still afflicts the nation, in the very midst of divine mercies that are both prodigious and predicted, as we have seen in considerable detail.

The ARAB, the ROMAN and the JEWISH dealings, all international, have Jesus Christ in one way or another changed, rejected, or caricatured. The Russian contribution of a COMMUNISTIC rejection of Christ and most able persecution of His people, makes a fourth - MARXISM. (See p. 862 supra.)

ROME, JERUSALEM, MECCA:
Arab, Jew and Roman all produced an internationalised religion. EACH of these religions is against the Christ of God, declared in the Bible. These religions spread not only where their people were, but through them. Yes, to this add: MOSCOW: Russian, Jewish ... Arab and Roman religious rejections or transformations of Jesus Christ, and this accounts for thousands of millions of the people on this globe! The revolt is systematic; the case is tragic; and so are the results.

But WHY do we need so to cover this case ? It is that men might see verified the word of the ONLY GOD THERE IS, whom reason attests, whom prophecy exhibits, whom history follows, honour His name, accord to Him the honour (Ezekiel 21:26-27, 17:22-24, Revelation 5:9,12-13) which is objectively His due, and come to the only PRINCE OF PEACE that there is; and this, so they might cease their hatred of one another, seemingly an epidemic, and learn to love one another in the God who IS LOVE. Violence in religion is pandemic, but not in religion alone; love for the lost is needed that they might be found... love and not violence. It is neither wise nor Biblical to hate or attack those who are currently misled. It is both Biblical and necessary to show their errors, precisely as does a doctor, though here the physician is Jesus Christ, and the danger is both critical and eternal.

Since ALL have sinned, moreover, there is NO glory for ANY flesh when Christ is received. We must love our enemies and seek that through the Prince of Peace, they may find the reality which, rejected, leads the world swiftly now to its death throes (*19).

The sacrifice of Truth has occurred already (cf. Isaiah 59:14, Luke 23:26, John 8:40,43,46); it is not there that resolution is found. The failure to know or find or use aright the truth, is one of the testimonies to a fallen and systematic Age; for when what IS true is rejected, what is not, will satisfy neither reason nor soul, neither spirit nor nations. Restlessness will assuredly be ruinous, violence pandemic. WITHOUT the Lord, MAN is not an animal but a derelict god; and he acts like it, with a poignancy of pathos allied with a violence or a programmed evil, now callow, now callous, with hints of aborted glory, and vainglorious follies.

Even in dereliction, man is different; and the pangs and spasms of his heart, these are so many display units, dedicated to the description of what he is... but has refused to become, something in the image of God Himself: a creaturely derivative, by grace dowered with longings and hopes, often found intolerable in the abortion.

The events of Iraq in 1991, arousing violence where it has always lain, show anew how vulnerable is the world which rejects or manipulates Jesus Christ. In that He predicted, promised, increasing instability, war, and disquiet with an immoral escalation, leading to events that man could not handle, except He returned: therefore this acrid smoke from the turmoil of conflicting religions, from the false pursuit of misnamed glory of whatever kind, by the searing souls that will not make peace with God, often irreconcilable in a similar way with their fellow men; this Middle East situation in particular, not only in its PLACE, but in its FORCE... all this verifies most aptly what Jesus Christ said, claimed and predicted.

Its PLACE ? Yes, for it is precisely here that enormous turbulence is foretold (Zechariah 12, 14, Rev. 16:16). The place ? Where better than where the Saviour was killed, whose solution is rejected so systematically by the SYSTEMATIC GENERATION, by such thousands of millions of the human race... for the sight where His judgments come, as they have not fully yet come, though the eagle's pinions are now beating more noticeably, as it flies to its divine appointment at Armageddon.

It is here that no peace can be found, in the Middle East, in the environs of JERUSALEM. Like a dizzying crevasse, the ground opens, and irreconcilable conflict continues, where so much symptomatic of false religion in three kinds, meets. It will never be resolved without the acknowledgement of its Prince, killed by the Jews, despised by masses of Gentiles, 'doctored' by Moslems, 'captured' by Rome, trifled with by much of the world, which would see peace, without its price, even though that price has already been paid. They prefer to pay it themselves (*19), and bankruptcy appears. War and rumours of wars ? yes that is the predicted price of failing to accept the price paid.

To come now to the present, and to the coming regimen of Islamic placards, the question arises.

What then of the effort of some forceful ecumenists or devious religionists (as the case may be, the Lord knows), who are making contra-factual statements about Jesus the Christ relative to the Islamic religion ? One might as well, as the above makes so clear, call the Queen of England an Arabian Princess as call Christ a "prophet of Islam." It would have much in common as a hostile act of specious praise, actually  involving vast derogation of her Majesty.

Why ? Firstly, she was not born into it, just as Christ was not born into the Islamic mould or culture, which came some 6 centuries later. It shows flimsy regard to truth, massive invasion of fiction.

Secondly, she is in fact Queen of an entirely different country, run on utterly diverse principles of great antiquity. She is no Princess, having been Queen for a long time. Christ is in fact King for an entirely different land, of an entirely diverse culture, with an utterly remote religion, which is exclusive of addition and subtraction as an integral part of it, just as the Queen of England  is Queen of an utterly diverse land.

Further, Christ is not only King of the Jews, but King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16), thus aggravating the case exponentially, and more even than that, to infinity.

Thirdly, England, however weak in this it may now be, has its own official Church, which is exclusive in its formulation, of having Christ as subject to or under the sway of any, being the Son of God who predicted that many false christs and false prophets would come in the future, giving them an advance status from His own mouth, as frauds. Indeed, He declared clearly that He is the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON of God, such that there is no other, nor any other way to go (John 14:6, 3:15ff.) to God. He came from there so that we, through repentance and faith, might go to there. Indeed, He also declared that to enter HIS kingdom you have to be born again, and achieve THIS citizenship by the work of His Spirit, moving in terms of His word (John 12;48-50), which is commanded from heaven.

There has to be a heavenly transition before there can be a heavenly migration; and further, even that is to be a work of power performed by this same Jesus, when He comes (as in Matthew 24, I Thessalonians 4).

Moreover, the entire cycle and gift is based on love and sacrifice, personally paid and secured in Himself, who alone is the way to God.

Thus the imaginary parallel to calling the Queen, by way of a better understanding indeed! an Arabian Princess is flattery by comparison with what is done to the Lord Jesus Christ by this arrogation of His place, power and word, this setting of the Son of God down under the auspices of what in His own terms is a false prophet.

Why further ? It is because the system of belief for faith is wholly contrary to any such relationship,  in its core and kernel of sacrifice by Christ ALONE to bring by Himself ALONE salvation which is from Him ALONE, as the ransoming member of the Trinity, in concourse with the Father and the Spirit of God who applies it (cf. John 16).

Now perhaps we are prepared to look at the propaganda, contra-factual, wrong apart from any faith at all, as seen by examining the Koran and the Bible (the former a very much later production), as objective testimonials. It is no use being offended by it, this flare against Him; but it is essential to point out that it is misleading, unobjective, unsustainable and violates the whole realm of fact. You can reject Christ if you will, it is perfectly free, and needs no force to overcome, such as Muhammad used in taking Mecca and forcing his religion of visions upon it. You can receive Muhammad if you will (at least in this country) freely. But what you cannot factually do is make Christ a part of the entourage of that later prophet with his utterly diversified basis of religion.

Now let us show what is put in a paper and available on the Web.

 

Christians wage holy war over 'offensive' Muslim signs

My Peace Billboard

Furore: This Mypeace billboard on Victoria Road in Rozelle, Sydney, was vandalised soon after being displayed. Source: Sunday Mail (SA)

CONTROVERSIAL billboards proclaiming Jesus is a prophet of Islam will be rolled out in Adelaide.

The signs are part of a campaign claiming to promote religious tolerance.

The campaign will feature provocative ads saying Jesus a Prophet of Islam and will appear on billboards and public transport buses, Islamic group Mypeace says.

The campaign was launched in Sydney six weeks ago amid much controversy, with two billboards later vandalised and a Christian group countering the public statement with its own billboard campaign at a cost of $25,000.

The Mypeace advertisements - which included a contact number for information about Islam and offers of a free copy of the Koran - were displayed on four billboards and 40 buses and resulted in 65 complaints to the Advertising Standards Bureau.

But following the bureau's dismissal of the complaints last week, Mypeace founder Diaa Mohamed said he would start an advertising campaign in Adelaide "within the next few weeks".

"There will probably be a couple of billboards but we are not sure about how many buses," he said.

"We want to create greater tolerance and understanding of Muslims, it's about building bridges."

The campaign, funded by private donations, has been criticised by Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide Jeffrey Driver as insensitive.

"In the end billboards are a blunt way of getting a message across," he said.

"Perhaps what Australia needs more than billboards is genuine respectful and nuanced dialogue between its major religious traditions."

Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson didn't comment on the campaign, but said if Jesus "is recognised by the people of Islam as a prophet then we are grateful for that".

Among the dozens of complaints to the bureau was one which said the advertisement "attacks all Christian beliefs".

Another said it "gives the wrong message to Christian children" while another wrote: "There is absolutely no chance a `Jesus is the Son of God' billboard would be displayed in Iran."

The bureau ruled the ad "did not discriminate against or vilify any person or section of the community on account of religion".

In view of what has already been said, there is one major point to make.

There is, as far as we are concerned as Bible believers, and under the control of the Lord Jesus Christ, resurrected and Redeemer, no question of making holy war, to use the term in the newspaper report. One can gladly leave to jihadists any thought of making some kind of war that could in any way be related to, or collated with what has become familiar as a frequent Moslem procedure.

One does not need to make war; one just makes the factual points*1.

There is, to be sure, an entirely spiritual type of war which all Christians have to make; but it is one wrought in love, conceived in patience, sustained by divine power, seeking damage to none, nor to their property, force over none, or over their wills, but against ignorance and pettiness and presumption, against take-over bids and efforts to use political, social or other machinery in order to subdue, to gain submission from those rendered vulnerable by force! Biblical Christians have no such option, for it has all been clearly outlawed for them by Christ as in Matthew 26:51ff.,and John 18:36*2.

So far from seeking anything which could be compared with the typical sort of war now so commonly found from many in Islam, now as in the centuries following Muhammad, when his religion almost took over Europe by force, not surprisingly in view of what was said by the prophet, Christians were forbidden even to FIGHT for CHRIST Himself. Not a finger of force was to be laid on the soldiers or servants who came to arrest Him.

HE was one in sacrificial love bringing mercy, and its ways were not the heading of murder and arrest. Though many have used His name to talk of revolution, or clowning, or violent social situations, what HE used His name for is nothing to do with such force. It is a spiritual matter, spiritually discerned, and cutting off heads or hands, or manipulating politicians or facts, has nothing in Him who is the truth.

The war  is on deception, for truth, and it uses spiritual weapons as shown in Ephesians 6, where the word of God is seen metaphorically as a sword, and truth holds the man together, while peace is bound to his very feet, as to intention and message (cf. Isaiah 52-53). There have been those who instituted an Inquisition which slew many - as did Islam and Communism -  for its views (cf. Ancient Words ... Ch. 14). This is not that way. The slaughter, merely epitomised in St Bartholomew's Day in the 16th century, as in Tiananmen Square, by different groups intent on power and ruling this earth, is not from man to man in terms of the Gospel and the testimony of Jesus Christ to man.

HE not only refused to have ANYONE defend Him physically, but did not assail in violent ways the very Jerusalem which for its own blindness, was to be destroyed. He even went so far as both to refuse Peter's use of the sword and to replace in healing dynamic, the ear which Peter with that sword had severed from the head of the servant of the High Priest. He was thoroughly and totally contrary to such domains of force in His mission.

Christ and Islam are further apart than any two points in the entire universe, than West and East, for

bullet their foundations are different,

the one testable in validity and verification

 (cf. SMR,
LIGHT DWELLS WITH THE LORD'S CHRIST,
WHO ANSWERS RIDDLES AND WHERE HE IS, DARKNESS DEPARTS),

 the other promoted by a man's visions;

bullet their message is contrary in form and formulation, motivation and method;
 
bullet their basis is utterly disparate.

Thus, One is claiming under rigorous test,  to be the direct and absolute Lord God, in human form; the other, infinitely lesser in claim, proceeds merely in kind as a prophet, and at that, one involved in salient rejection of Christ's claim to be the truth and the only way to God.

We can love, as we do, and seek for the deliverance of those who promote this contra-factual propaganda; but we could never agree with what is not true. We can, as we do, seek for their enlightenment, but our methods are prayer and truth, with quiet hearts and pitiful concern, which is not afraid to make the truth clear, or the facts visible. Were we to do less, we would be in danger of being 'dumb dogs' of which God does not approve (Isaiah 56:10), and less than loving would we be to those, as in Jerusalem in the day of Christ, who are lulled into peril.

It is in word and life we proceed to have the things of Christ placarded, lest any be fatally swept to their own tragedies, and that many might find the Lord, whom to know is life eternal. With so bountiful a God as is our triune Lord, so accountable a role for us all who know Him to play in His world, and so vast a surmounting of the entire gamut of man's problems and sorrows available through the God of our creation, we glory in His grace and attest His sovereign mercy and undulled love.

 

OTHER FILES ON ISLAM

AND RELATED TOPICS

More Marvels ... Ch.     4, esp.  *4

SMR   pp. 829ff. , 1080

Dancers, Prancers, Lancers and Answers Ch. 3, *1A
 misconceptions about the Cross, variable and mutually conflicting, on the part of the Koran

Lord of Life Ch.  3 (and force), 1081ff. (and faith), Outrageous Outages  ... Ch.   5

His Wounds Opened Eternity Ch.    4    3

Stepping Out for Christ Ch.    9,  


Tender Times for Timely Truth
Ch.    8 (in perspective), see also *1,

See Divine Agenda Chs.    6
with  3 (an overview of religious truancies, including Marx, Darwin and Koran)

and Highway to Hell -
(Koran citations in both, with ideational parallels in perspective,  in the latter two;  and in the former,  futile depravities in endless ideologies such as Sudan has shown so significantly, Islam ablaze without glory),
cf.
Overflight in Christ Ch.
  1 (and the Koran's musings);
 

1493 (esp. Britain and sharia);
News 138Beauty for Ashes Chs.    4,   7

Jesus Christ, Defaced, Unfazed ... Ch.    5,

Acme Alpha and Omega: Jesus Christ  Ch.  9 ,
Great Execrations ...
Ch.    3, 
SMR p.
1O88D - three major religions in some ways in concert, astray.

 

News 138Beauty for Ashes Chs.    4,   7,   SMR pp. 1074ff., esp. 1079, 1081ff.
 

(These latter show this religion, with the other three major conspiracies  towards the ultimate - why conspiracies ? It is because men conspire, or breathe plans together for a control, rule or oversight not ordained by God: these are breaths of man, and the breath that matters is that of God, in and by which all scripture is inspired by Him (II Timothy 3:16, Isaiah 8:20), in the Book of the Lord (Isaiah 34:16), the Bible, and sustained and implemented by Him (Matthew 26:54ff.). Other ideas for rule are always unruly, since they always tend to use power for what neither reason nor truth compels.).

 Possess Your Possessions Vol.  8, app., Vol. 11, Ch.   4,   11,   5
(national character and character of Islam).

See also SMR pp. 822ff., 986ff., 1O88D.

 

 

NOTES

*1

Amongst factual points is one of great objective significance. Indeed, noted Islamic politician Dr Matathir made something of it himself. Why, he appeared to be asking, with so many millions of Moslems world-wide have they made so little impact on Israel in all this time, since its return!

 

*2 One of the fascinating elements in this divine determination to fulfil His word - even to a statedly disobedient people, is this: the Moslem peoples are calling, like the prophets of Baal, on an alien God whom God declares not to be, not to exist, He being the only God there is. They are indeed calling on one who is not the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, in that He stated:

If God were your Father you would love Me, for I proceeded and came forth from Him (John 8:42).

Jesus also said: "If man love Me, he will keep My words" (John 14:23); but His words Moslems do not keep! From that, it follows that the Moslem God is not His; and since He makes it clear there is but one God, the Moslem God does not exist; or, if he does in any way exist, not as God. There are no options in the strict logical necessity with which this follows from the Bible.

The way God considers non-gods who proclaim themselves as such is shown well in the case of Elijah, where the prophet asks such gods to perform, and they cannot. That is one of the contemporary points in the vast amount of prophecy in the Bible. God makes the point that this is to establish His identity and power, so that they might believe. This is what it does. We see this now as they saw it in Elijah's days. The parameters of expression are not the same; the purpose and the result however have not varied. When the predicted contest in the Middle East occurs, the one surpassing in style those so far this century, the pyrotechnic side will again be strong, as we see in Micah 7:15-18, Ezekiel 38-39 and Zechariah 14. Further, preliminary pyrotechnics in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1991 have already shown a mounting intensity! As has been shown, these accord with the prophecies in Zechariah 12 and 14, and hence are relevant in pondering the assessable character of Biblical prophecy, relative to efforts of human religions.

A 'Christ', then, invented by Muhammad is in collision with one designated by the historical record; and the performance of the two is strikingly in contrast. The Biblical one is intimately associated with the Bible, declaring its infallibility, and speaking with declared ultimate authority, that of God, Himself. His words come to pass. Let us examine one of these words.

He said: "The Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance what I have spoken to you" (John 14:26); but the Moslems recast the character of Christ, as well as His words, as if God had forgotten to 'take care of' the record of the sinless Jesus Christ, omitting true records for 600 years. If that is not blasphemy (for those who use the term), what is ? Our point would be however, that it would be irrational to allege that Christ was a genuine commander from God, and yet allow fraudulent misstatements to govern the relationship of the human race to Him. That incidentally is yet another verification, that Christ so promises to bring to their memories what He said, for it is consistent with His crucial position.

The Moslem people with their Koran stand on the premise that they are right about Jesus and the Bible is wrong. They replace Him as a prophet displaced by the more modern Muhammad. The lines are drawn: the God of the Bible versus the god of the Koran. According to the Bible, that god is an imposter, like Baal; that religion is a defiler of truth and a departure following an antichrist. (See also, Mosque in Jerusalem Temple Area - see *4, pp. 833 ff. infra.) Antichrist ? Severely so in this: we find in the January 1992 News Brief of Open Doors With Brother Andrew that:

On the edge of the large Omar mosque in Jerusalem it is written in beautiful Arabic script: "Allah has no son".

In 1 John 5:10, we find: "He who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son." According to the Bible, Allah and/or his maker, is a liar. Again, in 1 John 4:1-3, we find that such deniers of the Son are of the spirit of antichrist.

We examine more of this theme later (pp. 986-1032 infra ff.), and have touched on it before (pp. 50-71ff. supra). The reasons for rejection of such a religion as the Moslem one include the lack of rational grounds for accepting it; the arbitrary derogatory re-cast of Jesus Christ; the irrational reconstruction involved (see Chapter 6 supra) - in the historically distant and evidentially outrageous plastic surgery on Christ and His works, courtesy of Muhammad; the unverified claims of Muhammad; the way the Bible has predicted just such antichrist elements in advance - such things constituting an evidential base; the irrationality of mere brute force for the purpose of religious change (see Chapter 1 supra on this topic); the failure of brute force in matters where the honour of Allah in the Middle East is allegedly involved, whereas he is statedly almighty; the lack of the necessary remedy in the religion, which is a good works balancing proposition, and the positive logical necessity for the Bible as a divine communication (per se, Chapter 1 supra).

For the present, however, our interest is the citing by Arabs of the will of Allah, versus our reading of the Bible about the will of God. What the Bible said, happened. Neither in predictive exploits nor in power displayed by Allah against what are allegedly his opponents, in wars, have we seen anything remotely resembling almightiness. Might does not establish right; but when predictions are in point, power deficiency does indicate error. The point is apologetic here also in a positive manner, since the failure of the Moslem Allah here makes the more conspicuous the power of God, who makes not merely large things, but small ones happen if He states that He will. Even the site of the action, of the test, was predicted, and that emphatically, as is emphasised in this Chapter (cf. Appendix A).

The extraordinary victories of Israel, the amazingly adverse situations from which it has gained victory, the different ways in which this has happened, the power which has been displayed and the power it was predicted there would be displayed: all these things cumulatively show themselves in stark relief when the performance of the Moslem Allah in this respect is considered. For him, there is little to test; and what there is, does not meet performance requirements on the test site with Israel, a nation God has stipulated as a lesson, both in His discipline of it, and in His deliverance of it, both in precise accord with what He said.

It is here to the point to remember what Amos Elon tells us in The Israelis (p. 202).

During the first artillery barrage in I948, Egyptian planes dropped leaflets on Yad Mordechai calling upon the kibbutz to surrender. "In the name of Allah, the Almighty God who always speaks the truth," the Egyptians announced, "it was not our intention to begin a war. It is your resistance which has caused us to attack you..."

What God had predicted came to pass - the returning Jews held firm, repelled attack by vastly more numerous assault nations, though they themselves were not so much as a nation, hours before. That is the way God is pleased to announce His word and keep His honour against any imaginary god, or real force of men. It never fails; and 'never' is excellent verification, in a vast spread of predictions covering thousands of years, as a period following its utterance and coming, to its fulfilment. It is a truly divine spectacle of power, authority and scope. Nor was it merely a question of overwhelming seeming forces against the infant state.

David Ben Gurion in his Recollections (p. 86) tells us of the sudden thrust to end the war at the outset. He refers to the first week of April 1948.

The situation then was grim indeed. The Arabs had cut off the water supply to the modern Western sector of the city where the Jewish population predominated. As the Romans in 70 C.E., they planned to deprive the Jewish inhabitants of all sustenance and so force capitulation to de facto Arab rule... Colonel Lund, a Norwegian representative of the United Nations Mission in Palestine ... said: 'Your situation is worse than that of Norway in 1940.' Encouraging words!

He tells us of slaughter of convoys and the astonishing transformation of apparent immediate defeat of the 'instant nation', turned (as predicted) to triumph!

Again we find this on  violence, in SMR  pp. 829ff..

*18 (Extension cont. - cf. pp. 633-643 supra.)

God does not use violence on the heart of man, to mock the 'image' He made. Yet power He does deploy to make a conformist out of history in this: it MUST obey His word.

Amos Elon in his work, The Israelis (pp. 31-33, 227) notes the implacable hostility to Zionism evinced by Arab nations in negotiations and attitude, repeatedly; indeed to their great cost. Had they accepted the Balfour Declaration offer of a Jewish minority; or the 1946 offer of a maximum of 10,000 Jews from Displaced Persons camps in Europe; or that of 1947 (with all good wishes, from the U.N.) of a highly restrictive partition for minority Jews, ex-Jerusalem as capital: they would have fared far more handsomely against the often despised, often mistreated and greatly oppressed Jews.

Stirred by anti-Zionist fires, contrary to the God of the Bible, against the Jewish heritage given by God - one greatly mishandled, it is true (indeed lost for a season, by greatly underscored divine punishments, prophetically outlined in the Bible, underlined in red . . . in history) - a heritage nevertheless that God inveterately re-apportioned the Jews for the end1 : the Arabs would not relent.

Nor would God relent, who in justice and mercy had composed all things in advance (cf. Isaiah 46:9-10, 43:13). The contest was uneven; for God is sure.

Elon writes: "After the complete rout . . . in 1967, it was thought . . . that tens of thousands of Egyptian soldiers had voted for peace with their feet. But Arab leaders soon announced that another was was 'inevitable'; in the long run they expected to arrive at victory . . ."

Israel in decades of tumultuous Arab and Moslem expression about her and her . . role, has been viewed with a deep, religious abhorrence, as a pest, plague, to be competitively exterminated. There has been an anti-Zionist crusade, a pan-Moslem rejection syndrome (cf. The Teheran Conference noted on pp. 814-815 supra), even reaching this height, that all opposition to Israel should be "islamicized". On p. 226 (op.cit.), Elon notes: "Among intellectuals, the frustrations bred by the apparent irretrievability of Arab glories of the distant past, are compounded by the failure of pan-Arabism, and hurt even more as a result of Israel's . . . consolidation", while "the establishment of Israel in 1948 is commonly referred to by Arabs as a calamity".

The fact is that a perfectly simple, straightforward Biblical program, first of discipline and then of restoration for the Jews, BOTH phases backed by DIVINE power as stated in the Bible, has come to pass in each feature with monumental power, amazing fidelity to detail and extraordinary events. The VERIFICATION OF THE BIBLE, not of any race per se, is what is most notable; and it is absolute against the pretensions of all idols, gods and races (even Jewish 'productions' when they became 'inventive' - Deuteronomy 32:17-43).

Elon's words are in historical parallel here, to these Biblical facts: "Only in 1968 after three lost wars, did the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 begin to look reasonable to the Arabs." Thus despite immense international pressure on the Jews and an exceedingly limiting international plan, they have been established far beyond those puny confines, which would indeed have simply internationalised Jerusalem, though with some possible representation, leaving the Jews historically decapitated. It was not to be.

Jerusalem is scripturally a node of definition in History, to become, once again, Jewish. Neither Arab, nor Moslem, nor glory present or past, nor many nations can work it otherwise. (Cf. Isaiah 43:13.)

God has spoken. History leaps to obey. There is one God. There is one Bible. There is one history. One of the few perfections in history is that match.

It is like a magnificent tartan: the word of God on the flesh of history. It is very becoming, and the result is exceedingly handsome.

 

 

*2

The absolute divide between Christ and Muhammad is shown in one aspect of vital importance in SMR pp. 1088D-E:

 

*2 One of the fascinating elements in this divine determination to fulfil His word - even to a statedly disobedient people, is this: the Moslem peoples are calling, like the prophets of Baal, on an alien God whom God declares not to be, not to exist, He being the only God there is. They are indeed calling on one who is not the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, in that He stated:

If God were your Father you would love Me, for I proceeded and came forth from Him (John 8:42).

Jesus also said: "If man love Me, he will keep My words" (John 14:23); but His words Moslems do not keep! From that, it follows that the Moslem God is not His; and since He makes it clear there is but one God, the Moslem God does not exist; or, if he does in any way exist, not as God. There are no options in the strict logical necessity with which this follows from the Bible.

The way God considers non-gods who proclaim themselves as such is shown well in the case of Elijah, where the prophet asks such gods to perform, and they cannot. That is one of the contemporary points in the vast amount of prophecy in the Bible. God makes the point that this is to establish His identity and power, so that they might believe. This is what it does. We see this now as they saw it in Elijah's days. The parameters of expression are not the same; the purpose and the result however have not varied. When the predicted contest in the Middle East occurs, the one surpassing in style those so far this century, the pyrotechnic side will again be strong, as we see in Micah 7:15-18, Ezekiel 38-39 and Zechariah 14. Further, preliminary pyrotechnics in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1991 have already shown a mounting intensity! As has been shown, these accord with the prophecies in Zechariah 12 and 14, and hence are relevant in pondering the assessable character of Biblical prophecy, relative to efforts of human religions.

A 'Christ', then, invented by Muhammad is in collision with one designated by the historical record; and the performance of the two is strikingly in contrast. The Biblical one is intimately associated with the Bible, declaring its infallibility, and speaking with declared ultimate authority, that of God, Himself. His words come to pass. Let us examine one of these words.

He said: "The Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance what I have spoken to you" (John 14:26); but the Moslems recast the character of Christ, as well as His words, as if God had forgotten to 'take care of' the record of the sinless Jesus Christ, omitting true records for 600 years. If that is not blasphemy (for those who use the term), what is ? Our point would be however, that it would be irrational to allege that Christ was a genuine commander from God, and yet allow fraudulent misstatements to govern the relationship of the human race to Him. That incidentally is yet another verification, that Christ so promises to bring to their memories what He said, for it is consistent with His crucial position.

The Moslem people with their Koran stand on the premise that they are right about Jesus and the Bible is wrong. They replace Him as a prophet displaced by the more modern Muhammad. The lines are drawn: the God of the Bible versus the god of the Koran. According to the Bible, that god is an imposter, like Baal; that religion is a defiler of truth and a departure following an antichrist. (See also, Mosque in Jerusalem Temple Area - see *4, pp. 833 ff. infra.) Antichrist ? Severely so in this: we find in the January 1992 News Brief of Open Doors With Brother Andrew that:

On the edge of the large Omar mosque in Jerusalem it is written in beautiful Arabic script: "Allah has no son".

In 1 John 5:10, we find: "He who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son." According to the Bible, Allah and/or his maker, is a liar. Again, in 1 John 4:1-3, we find that such deniers of the Son are of the spirit of antichrist.

We examine more of this theme later (pp. 986-1032 infra ff.), and have touched on it before (pp. 50-71ff. supra). The reasons for rejection of such a religion as the Moslem one include the lack of rational grounds for accepting it; the arbitrary derogatory re-cast of Jesus Christ; the irrational reconstruction involved (see Chapter 6 supra) - in the historically distant and evidentially outrageous plastic surgery on Christ and His works, courtesy of Muhammad; the unverified claims of Muhammad; the way the Bible has predicted just such antichrist elements in advance - such things constituting an evidential base; the irrationality of mere brute force for the purpose of religious change (see Chapter 1 supra on this topic); the failure of brute force in matters where the honour of Allah in the Middle East is allegedly involved, whereas he is statedly almighty; the lack of the necessary remedy in the religion, which is a good works balancing proposition, and the positive logical necessity for the Bible as a divine communication (per se, Chapter 1 supra).

For the present, however, our interest is the citing by Arabs of the will of Allah, versus our reading of the Bible about the will of God. What the Bible said, happened. Neither in predictive exploits nor in power displayed by Allah against what are allegedly his opponents, in wars, have we seen anything remotely resembling almightiness. Might does not establish right; but when predictions are in point, power deficiency does indicate error. The point is apologetic here also in a positive manner, since the failure of the Moslem Allah here makes the more conspicuous the power of God, who makes not merely large things, but small ones happen if He states that He will. Even the site of the action, of the test, was predicted, and that emphatically, as is emphasised in this Chapter (cf. Appendix A).

The extraordinary victories of Israel, the amazingly adverse situations from which it has gained victory, the different ways in which this has happened, the power which has been displayed and the power it was predicted there would be displayed: all these things cumulatively show themselves in stark relief when the performance of the Moslem Allah in this respect is considered. For him, there is little to test; and what there is, does not meet performance requirements on the test site with Israel, a nation God has stipulated as a lesson, both in His discipline of it, and in His deliverance of it, both in precise accord with what He said.

It is here to the point to remember what Amos Elon tells us in The Israelis (p.202).

During the first artillery barrage in I948, Egyptian planes dropped leaflets on Yad Mordechai calling upon the kibbutz to surrender. "In the name of Allah, the Almighty God who always speaks the truth," the Egyptians announced, "it was not our intention to begin a war. It is your resistance which has caused us to attack you..."

What God had predicted came to pass - the returning Jews held firm, repelled attack by vastly more numerous assault nations, though they themselves were not so much as a nation, hours before. That is the way God is pleased to announce His word and keep His honour against any imaginary god, or real force of men. It never fails; and 'never' is excellent verification, in a vast spread of predictions covering thousands of years, as a period following its utterance and coming, to its fulfilment. It is a truly divine spectacle of power, authority and scope. Nor was it merely a question of overwhelming seeming forces against the infant state.

David Ben Gurion in his Recollections (p. 86) tells us of the sudden thrust to end the war at the outset. He refers to the first week of April 1948.

The situation then was grim indeed. The Arabs had cut off the water supply to the modern Western sector of the city where the Jewish population predominated. As the Romans in 70 C.E., they planned to deprive the Jewish inhabitants of all sustenance and so force capitulation to de facto Arab rule... Colonel Lund, a Norwegian representative of the United Nations Mission in Palestine ... said: 'Your situation is worse than that of Norway in 1940.' Encouraging words!

He tells us of slaughter of convoys and the astonishing transformation of apparent immediate defeat of the 'instant nation', turned (as predicted) to triumph!

And how sudden was this change, a fact on which  God dwelt in His continually verified Book of the Lord, the Bible, in Isaiah 49, which has been dwelling on God's dealings with Israel, centred on the Messiah then to come, now arrived some two millenia ago, at the predicted date (Christ the Citadel   Ch. 2)!

As the NKJV has it: 

"The children which you will have, after you hast lost the other,
shall say again in your ears,
The place
is too narrow for me: give place to me that I may live. 

Then you will say in your heart,

'Who has begotten these for me, seeing I have lost my children,
and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro?
and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone;
these, where had they been?'

Thus says the Lord GOD,

'Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles,
and set up My standard to the people:
and they will bring your sons in
their arms,
and your daughters will be carried upon
their shoulders. 
And kings will be your nursing fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers:
they will bow down to you with
their face toward the earth,
and lick up the dust of your  feet;
and you will know that I
am the LORD:
for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.
 

"Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the lawful
f
captive delivered? But thus says the LORD,

'Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away,
and the prey of the terrible will be delivered:
for I will contend with him that contends with you,
and I will save your children.
And I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh;
and they will be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine:
and all flesh shall know that I the LORD

am
your Saviour and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.' "

 

Much of this has been fulfilled already in the vast reparations paid by Germany, the British Balfour Declaration of 1917, when Britain promised the Palestine later divided, to Israel as a homeland, as did the League of Nations in 1920, so that many came to Israel with British support, and although this died, to a large extent, it was there in its time, as has been that from the USA, as al Qaeda so fiercely denounced, not only in 1956, but in 1973 and that on a vast scale.

Much is paid to Israel and has been yearly for long from the USA. When the millenium comes, more will happen (cf. Micah  4, Isaiah 2). However here the sense of suddenness, of utter amazement, that having lost so many of its people, as in World War II, here they are again ? Where have all these come from! It is the prophetic review of the current  case, following the Messiah and many of His deeds, in prelude to His coming in power as in Isaiah 59:20, and 66. It is all happening.

You see the same sense of astonishment at the SPEED WITH WHICH ISRAEL was established again as a nation in Isaiah 66:8. In this Chapter, in view of the Messiah's once for all sacrifice as in 52-53, no more will God even tolerate animal sacrifice. We move to the time near the end of the Age, then,  following this sacrifice of the Messiah.

"Hear the word of the Lord,
You who tremble at His word:
 
“Your brethren who hated you,
Who cast you out for My name’s sake, said,
 
‘Let the Lord be glorified,
That we may see your joy.’
But they shall be ashamed.”
 
6     The sound of noise from the city!
A voice from the temple!
The voice of the Lord,
Who fully repays His enemies!
 
7     “Before she was in labor, she gave birth;
Before her pain came,
She delivered a male child.
8     Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children.
 
9     Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the Lord.
 
“Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.
 
10     “Rejoice with Jerusalem,
And be glad with her, all you who love her;
Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;
11     That you may feed and be satisfied
With the consolation of her bosom,
That you may drink deeply and be delighted
With the abundance of her glory.”
12For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.
Then you shall feed;
On her sides shall you be carried,
And be dandled on her knees.
13     As one whom his mother comforts,
So I will comfort you;
And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14     When you see this, your heart shall rejoice,
And your bones shall flourish like grass;
The hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants,
And His indignation to His enemies.
15     For behold, the Lord will come with fire
And with His chariots, like a whirlwind,
To render His anger with fury,
And His rebuke with flames of fire.
16     For by fire and by His sword
The Lord will judge all flesh."

The latter part of this prediction, which is cumulative, is drawing very near (cf. Answers to Questions Ch. 5 and SMR Ch. 8). There is multiply attested, this great work of God, so that after allowing His selected nation for the propagation of truth, Israel which so failed with the Messiah, to be the butt for so long, He will restore them first to their land and then in many, to their Lord (cf. SMR Appendix A), and with this comes a power that no man can stall, leading to terminal events for the Age (cf. SMR pp.  502 - 516).

As He states at the threshold of the grand Isaiah 52-53 passage, which brings liberty to many Gentiles as well as Jews, and will be the basis for a restored Israel when the events of Zechariah 12-13 come to ass, a highly significant warning to the persecutors of this tiny nation, who are but the top of a largely submarine ice-berg of oppression from Europe and Russia for centuries, there is to be a change. HE will bring it to pass, as He did the return itself, geographically.

"Thus says your Lord,
The LORD and your God,

Who pleases the cause of His people.

'See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling.
The dregs of the cup of My fury,
You shall non longer drink it.

But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to you,

Lie down, that we may walk over you.

And you have laid your body like the ground
And as the street, for those who walk over.' "
 

Such divine steps to deliver and rebuke Israel's oppressors, are likened to the Lord's  work in the Exodus. This is shown in the categorical account of  Micah 7, and is seen in various stages in Isaiah 66, Deuteronomy 32 and Psalms 2, 110, as well as in Ezekiel 37-39. The nations have had a long time to gluttonise on the tragedies of Israel; and for those who continue this godless and unsavoury provocation, Arab, Russian, Islamic, European, Madrid Quartet, whichever chooses so to proceed yet further, there awaits a sharp rap from the Almighty, who will wrap up the whole affair as in Micah 7:15ff..

For my part, I regret the anti-Semitic follies here entailed, the presumption so pursued and therefore hope for some of the nations yet to awaken. It will bode but ill for them if they insist on proceeding with their sordid strangulation, whether deemed for Israel's good or not, with their works nationally or internationally, diplomatically or militarily to diminish if not in effect, to crush Israel. That, it will not happen (cf. SMR Appendix A, It Bubbles ... Ch. 10), but one fears for some who refuse to relent, for their own safety!

It is not that Israel is mighty, nor even that at this present moment, the nation is reconciled to God, for it is not; but that is as shown, to come. What else is to come is the Lord's total insistence on doing just what He has said (cf. Matthew 5:17-20, Joel 2:11, Isaiah 14:27). This applies equally whether as has long been the case, it is the soon to pass curse on Israel, or on the earth, or the blessing on those who follow and love Him (cf. Matthew 5-7), the gift of eternal life or the award to those who refuse His redemption,  of everlasting destruction. You can play with toys, but the word of the Lord works.

The only written word of Almighty God to mankind, which exposes the only Messiah to mankind, Jesus Christ, He only performing in history, all that was required of Him,  for man's salvation, is sharp (Hebrews 4:4); but it need not be a guillotine to the presumptuous. If you insist on putting your neck on a sharp blade, the effect is similar. Indeed, to come close to God is good, but not as an opponent to His word, or as one who changes it and plays havoc with it, making this one that, or this thing that. What it is, is as defined there; and what will be, will occur as God there says. It always has been so with the Bible, with its Messiah, is so and always will be.

There is nothing else like that.

As he said in Joel:

"The LORD gives voice before His army,

For His camp is very great.

For strong is the One who executes His word.

For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible;

Who can endure it ?
 

It is customary amongst those who reject the Lord, flit through His word, to slit the very paper of His pronouncements, to change them or ignore them, like sadly ending King Jehoiakim, who threw the prophetic word of Jeremiah into the Winter's fire, to mock. However such acts will not change His word or its direction of events, merely adding their own seditious souls to its judgments. Sad ? who is not sad at seeing so much so needlessly slain, whether by rank opportunists, or by unbelieving marauders, captivated but futile  champions: yes one can be sad for them also, even who oppress ... and hence it is but civil to warn, advise, point out the word of the Lord to one, to all.