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CHAPTER 2

TRENDS, TRUTH AND BEING IN THE SOUP

News 307

The Advertiser, April 16, 2004

DRAWING MAPS AND WITHDRAWING PEOPLE

Of large and delectable interest is the news that President Bush is agreeing with Sharon on his courageously plentiful tripping to the USA, for one of his  years, on this occasion at least, that there are some changes needed to the Road Map. Thus it is not reasonable to suppose that ALL the Israeli acquisitions should be handed back to someone else. In line with such an attitude, what would one find ? It is as if New Mexico should revert to Spain (from which it was taken in the war starting in 1846, amnesty and citizenship being granted to those who accepted US loyalty as a requirement, when New Mexico became a State in 1850); or,  one might add, maybe California!

Yet though in the ways of man there are vagaries, not so readily annulled and re-invented, so that such actions appear rather unlikely, there is nothing such in the ways of God. When He assigned the land to Israel, together with the prosperities and severities, including exile if sin became rampant and progressive for sufficiently long a time, and assigned a return, He did not consider those who did NOT create the earth, to have a prior agreement with themselves to the contrary. For that you would have to oust God, who in His own form, holding your breath in life, is not at all in your power so to treat (It Bubbles ... Ch. 10, Acme, Alpha and Omega: Jesus Christ Ch. 8).

As to the Lord, He has meticulously done ALL that He said concerning Israel, to the very last steps of the last Act (cf. SMR Ch. 9), and He said that He would do so, with all His word's declarations, and alerted people to WATCH HIM in all the fulfilments of His word, and not to dream Him away, in some fit of determinate unreason! (cf. Isaiah 41,44-45,58; Leviticus 26).

With this double barrier, then, and the third one of equity, in that the land was ceded in whole, all of Palestine by international agreement long ago, in the 1920s, following the gift in 1917 by Britain, and grounds for its removal do not appear obvious in Belsen or Auschwitz or any other European wonders, it is not apparent that removal of more of this land from the Jews, even more yet,  is the path of either wisdom or peace. The irrelevancies of the later ramblings of the UN, in this matter, constitute little more than mere rapacity in a group, grabbing on behalf of recipients whose multi-national surrounds abound in both wealth and territory; and its decision in 1947 to internationalise Jerusalem, is rather like doing the same to New York, instead of, or in addition to, the Twin Tower assault which some of Islam also contrived. You can TRY all these things; but they appear to lack not a little in understanding, equity and vision.

Hence it is rather good to see Bush with some measure of acquiescence to Sharon's suggestion of ceding MORE land, yes even more, this time Gaza for a territory amongst others, to those many who are seeking to exterminate Israelis. It would be in return for Israel's retention of only some of the West Bank, which many would like to grab from Israel, in its entirety,  as well. This much has some wisdom, even if it remains a ludicrous distortion that Israel should be in this position at all.

The anti-semitic press, and propaganda, slipping along on oil, if nothing else that is apparent, reminds one of the early days of Hitler. If it is ISRAEL (read 'the Jew' for Hitler's day), it is WRONG. If it is in Israel, for Israel, it is an affront. If Israelis are murdered, This is the norm, from the Inquisition and the pogroms. What is new ? So the contemporary world seems to be beginning again, wearily to ask! So does the poison continue; but God does not approve such vicious victimisation and deliberate isolation, and this continual dynamic and thrust moving in but one direction, that of the indefensibility of Israel, cut up, apportioned and made 'criminal' for defending its children, its wives and its people, from multiply minded assassins. (Cf. Isaiah 51:22-23, Jeremiah 51:44-49, Deuteronomy 32:37-43.)

If the Lord disciplines, it is not an authority for wily guile to grab, and lustful hands to make murder a way of life, even the dagger of death. There is divine iron for such irony (32:40-43):

Meanwhile, indeed, in the interim to these grand remaining features of the divine design of deliverance, if, after all, Sharon, the reasoning seems to go, is to make such an outstanding contribution to peace as to WITHDRAW from most of Gaza, a colossal action in view of Israel's tiny 'permitted' holding, then major population enterprises in its acquisition (restoration) in the West Bank part of its heartland can be permitted to STAY PUT in Israel. Yes, keep some of the West Bank centres, O Israel if you give up Gaza. This seems to be the agreement in view with President Bush at the present time..

While this is a laughable minimisation of the reality of the disproportion and unfaithfulness of the international findings^*1, it is a serious improvement on what went before in the Road Map. The West Bank being ceded was after all gained in resisting aggression against its internationally conferred land, not to say - but yes, indeed to say divinely assigned quarters^*2. The nursery rhyme asks one if one has ever seen such a thing in one's life as three blind mice. The current internationalaise, the song of violence against the 'enemy', against Israel, if the common song may be called such, is one that penalises the Jew for its existence in its duly appointed land, and currently seems set as if on ceaseless recording,  to expropriate more and more.

What then is to be found here ? Inversion is inveterately and repeatedly  inverted, but nothing fails to stand upon its head. Whoever saw such a thing in his life as three blinded but commended assassin units,  in the PLO, the Jihad mentality, to murder,  and the UN grab ideology, to cleave the land into more and more bits, less and less of it left after hatcheting, for Israel! Whatever the aims, the results have not a little in common! Alas, it is becoming more and more common, however, this age-long crusade against the Jew, against Israel, muted, commuted, then restored, like someone on a diet course, regaining the large buttress of flesh about the middle.  In Hitler's day, the stomach of gobbling was in need of a cart in front, to carry its weight, but even now there is evidence that any good physician would be troubled by the excess of burden on the body international.

Further, and now coming even to the normal levels of common sense, which

with so much power and riches in view, tends to be distorted
in the international scene in this area, and

with so much religious bluster and bravado,
the opposite of meek and the very criterion of arrogance,
appears a rarity in this field:

 there is another agreement.

It is that the return of those who left Israel when it was in peril for its life, in 1948 may indeed be acceptable, but IN THE NEW PALESTINIAN ENTITY, of Gaza and whatever 'co.' is to be added. You cannot have it three ways (both ways is already apparent). If you want a State within the minuscule tininess of Israel, then you had better use that for your (invasive and often destructive) purposes. Enough - indeed nearly all -  is enough!

This too is an improvement, never forgetting the 77% or so of Palestine eventually given away from Israel, when Jordan was made recipient, so tilting the Islamic holdings even further and ludicrously by this strangely conferred and executed grab. Ben Gurion as we have noted in his "Israel" made no small mention of this disastrous double dealing.

Thus the demographic reality that there need to be enough Jews in Israel to enable them to have some promised land at all (promised by God and by the League of Nations, in that order chronologically), is apparently recognised. A minority population of Jewish people in Israel might find it difficult to have laws passed with any Jewish character at all. That would be not a homeland but a hinterland.

Israel has of course been acutely aware of it, as of many other things as it has been divested, assaulted

verbally (as in the infamous 'Zionism is racism' UN move which led to a walk-out of some nations before it was over  cf. Of the Earth, Earthy ... Ch. 13),

territorially, in international piracies on the high seas of treason, and

reputation-wise as if it were an jack-booted aggressor,
 

as it has been stripped, murderously assailed, grossly misrepresented and invidiously caricatured, yes and when in trouble, left for ruin,  as when the nations sat back, in 1948, to WATCH its devastation.

It did not happen. The chronologically prior act of God^*3 in

	1) assigning the land to all generations from Abraham when the people were led there as in Genesis 17,
	2) assigning it to others during Jewish exile, predicted as made eminently clear from Leviticus and Deuteronomy 32 on, was to be followed by His
	3) restoring it to Israel as to the site of its original gift, from which predicted divine discipline ONLY had separated it, and doing so when the time at last would come, as in 1948, observably it did; and then
	4) giving Israel mighty victories in many wars (SMR Ch. 9), until
	5) acting so that a large movement in Israel would be awakened to their own Christ, comprising those who repented of their national piercing of Him, as Zechariah 12:10 predicted amidst the military victories to be won, and assaults to be suffered, on their return from the predicted exile.

It is not possible for man to thwart God, though many having misunderstood Calvary, imagine that the death of Christ is a weakness and a chink in the divine armour. As Peter pointed out, however, at Pentecost, this was a predetermined and predestined action,: it was indeed foretold, fulfilled as a plan, for atonement as Isaiah 50-56 had for centuries shown before it happened.

Paul declares in I Corinthians 1 the ostensible paradox, but actual irony,  that GOD seemed weak in providing a death, but was stronger than the foolishness of man in so doing. His action allowed sin its course on Himself in human form (II Cor. 5:19ff., Philippians 2), so that in love He might deliver those who received Him so! (Romans 5:1-11). It was carried out in strength, fulfilled in resurrection (as foretold^*4 in Psalm 16 and implied in Psalm 2, and applied in Isaiah 26:19), resolved in the Gospel, applied in salvation and consummated in charity.

It is a tree, declared Paul, inspired by God (I Cor.  14:378, 2:9-13, SMR Appendix D, I Peter 1:10ff., II Peter 1:19ff.), like an olive (Romans 11). Israel was removed as if a branch for unbelief, and many Gentile believers would come in as a grafted-in branch into the divinely governed tree of life. Such a grafting in of course, was to the actual tree, not another, and so was on the original basis of God's own revelation. That ? it is the word of God who does not change (Malachi 3:6, Psalm102, Hebrews 1, James 1) and whose word stands without fail to the uttermost point of its determinations (Matthew 5:17-20). The tree remained, a branch went, a branch came. God's government proceeded.

Yet, Paul continued, Israel would be GRAFTED BACK IN to its own tree, and how readily, since it is a graft back to the original tree, where it had originally grown! How great the rejoicing at that! the apostle excclaimed, citing from Isaiah 59:20, where the Lord's personal return to Jerusalem is the culmination (as also seen in some detail, in Zechariah 14:5 cf. I Thessalonians 3:13). It is to the Zion which had been the scene of unspeakable follies and sin, as cited in the lugubrious commencement exercises of this Isaianic chapter 59, that the Lord is cited to return. It is drawing near now (Answers to Questions Ch. 5, SMR Ch. 8), this culmination, and to Christians therefore at such a time, it is written this exhortation:  "LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS" (Luke 21:28). The long life of charity in the midst of infamy is not forever, but is a testimony to truth, till the Gospel has adequately covered the earth, like a torrential rain.

It is not a little exercise. The whole heavens and earth are the site (Isaiah 51:6, Matthew 24:35). Moreover, this is not an exercise in poetry, but in spirit! and it is a work in terms of the word of God, the Creator, to man the desecrator, of himself and of his world, of history and of divine holiness. The end of the Age is advancing like a blitzkrieg, but more generously in its offerings. Not less so, however, are its perils for the unrepentant.

It is all going

	according to the vast, divine plan
	so often articulated and most solemnly affirmed in Ezekiel 36ff. (SMR Appendix A, His Time is Near Ch. 4, It Bubbles ... Ch.  10, incl. *1A):
	just as man, too typically, in his culture is trying to thwart and abort it, not always but sometimes, with this very objective! (cf. Of the Earth, Earthy ... Ch. 13, It Bubbles ... Ch. 11).

TWIGS FROM THE EARTH, TO THE ARK OF ENTERPRISE,
ARE COMING WITH THE DOVE

Meanwhile, we read in the newspaper noted at the heading of this chapter, in the same issue and page, that PM Blair is concerned that the US ensure the UN has more involvement in Iraq, and the US for its part is concerned that the UK could have done more in the intelligence sharing area, to help the US avoid September 11! What does this double prong mean, this dual diplomatic development ?

On the one side and on the other, it means that there is a push for internationalisation, both of intelligence sharing, and hence solidarity among many nations, and in joint operations as in Iraq, politically. These are merely two straws in the wind, which of course are much bent since it is a strong wind that blows in this direction, as Of the Earth ... Ch. 13, noted above, and  News  152, with many other such expositions, attest.

It relates not only to the intelligence, the political, but also to the fiscal and the religious. It is pursued with passion, with skill sometimes obdurately saturnine, sometimes simply satanic, and with various solidarities as in the Bilderberg group, Council for Foreign Relations and the like, to which are added religious unity proponents, some shrinking into security ideologists.

These two movements between the USA and the UK are typical of the trend. We need more SHARING for more security, and more UN for more acceptability, just as the panting passions of many religionists are saying much the same - we need more religion for the taming of the shrewish, or brewish if you will, bucolities^*5 of misled man.

There are various recipes for this ... Take some Islam, mix well, stir in some Judaism, add a little (just a touch) of Christianity, some Hindu, and then a measured teaspoon of Buddhism (not the militant sort), bring gently to the boil, and leave to simmer. This roughly appears to be the sort of culinary sequence.

Then it goes on. Allow time for settling, then put in a New Age oven, and top with the cream of humanism, for appetite placing on top some glacé cherries of choice mysticism. Take with the wine of the occult, and serve with Leadership Soup.

It is not noted however that in the last episode of this feasting, the representatives so far from having the soup in their gorged middles, will be in it, like fallen flies. The leader is so important as USSR knew with Stalin. The role of soup changes!

Thus fear negatively and passion positively hasten the grand alliance which will in the humanist cum mysticism muddle,  make of the laden world a thing of the past. Alas as in one point, it will do just this. Burden will become burial! in the end. What is sought, in the way of avoidance and fear, is often what is gained, because of it! Its burdens of the present  will be replaced by its self-sentencing to political solidarity in inanity, and religious collectivism, in urbanity, so that the role of the Man of Sin (II Thessalonians 2) may be adequately portrayed. Time is moving. Terrorism is a catalyst, for a time, until the new-speak dis-truth^*6 asserts its fearful countenance, as it has in measure so often in the past.

This time, however,  for a smiling international 'community', their unity a myth, their religion no less, their future assured there comes the cold and chilling wind of reality, following by the searing exposé of judgment.

That assurance, therefore,  is somewhat different however from the Christian's assurance: theirs is of eternity with the Lord of creation and the God of redemption; for this however duly comes in its perfidy, only collision with Christ, ruin and judgment.

Each to his own.

NOTES

*1  

See Beauty for Ashes Ch. 1, Regal Rays of Revelation Ch. 1, for example.

*2

SMR Appendix A, His Time is Near Ch. 4, It Bubbles ... Ch.  10, Of the Earth, Earthy ... Ch. 10.

*3 See *1 above, and Galloping Events Ch. 4.

*4 See Joyful Jottings 22-25.

*5  Some people, as James Herriot the veterinary writer asserts of himself, are not keen on change. It depends of course on what sort of change. Adding automatic gearing to cars was nice, in that it made it simpler and accidents less likely through a multiplicity of tasks, in a crisis. It was however a change. Other changes, such as to the ultimate in simplicity in some buildings, can be less attractive, compared with the more architecturally aesthetic.

In the case in hand, bucolic and bucolically are known to Webster's, but bucolism as in alcohol, alcoholism, as in despotic with despotism, or bucolity, as in acerbic with acerbity, it does not note. This seemed too sad a possibility to discard, so that one found bucolity more attractive than bucolism, which savours too much of the thematic or the ordered. The 'ity' sounds just nicely rural in the quaint sense, which is here in view. If English imports, why should it not also be home-grown! Now bucolity is not in itself too attractive, but in the plural it has an air of just that attractive individualism in a larger setting which seems apt: bucolities.

This is not merely a note on an oddment, but one of encouragement for more invention in the English language. Why should it grow so much by imports, as if the beauty of its verbal proliferation were to become stunted, as if again, it were ... unthinkable horror, actually growing old. Life lives, though its foundations are  not yet grown senescent. Far less does its Founder age, He the origin of all originality, and so original in making ... the entire universe. That is why what is in it can be so lively, when the original theme is the actual one!

*6

Dis-truth, or distruth becomes a companion for dis-faith or disfaith. For the latter, see SMR pp.

172, 774, 999-1002C .

Distruth may be defined as that total commitment against the truth which inures the mentality to truth, not by reason, not by evidence and certainly not by the work of God, but in a contrariety which becomes endemic, an intolerance which becomes regnant, leading to a blindness which is even able to be allied temporarily with a measure of complacency and self-contradiction, in which reason itself may be found trifling.