Different Prophecies

Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. (Jeremiah 14:11-13 KJV)

Who would you believe when two persons claimed to speak in the name of God and both accusing each other of being a liar?

Blessing And Curse

Thus says the Lord:
"Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jeremiah 17:5-8 ESV)

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. (Psalm 1:1-6 KJV)

Different King Different Response

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah, asking, "Inquire of the Lord on our behalf, since King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform for us something like all his past wondrous works so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us." (Jeremiah 21:1-2 CSB)

King Zedekiah was hoping that God would perform a miracle and forced Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw, just as He had done in the days of King Hezekiah when God struck the Assyrian king Sennacherib.

King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed about this and cried out to heaven, and the Lord sent an angel who annihilated every valiant warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned in disgrace to his land. He went to the temple of his god, and there some of his own children struck him down with the sword. (2 Chronicles 32:20-21 CSB)

But King Zedekiah got a very different response from God.

Jeremiah answered them: This is what you should tell Zedekiah: The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I'm going to turn your own weapons against you, yes, the weapons you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who have surrounded you! I will round them up in the center of the city. Then I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and strong arm in fierce anger and rage. I will strike down those within this city - both people and animals - and they will die of a terrible plague. Afterward, declares the Lord, I will deliver Judah's King Zedekiah, his servants, and those in this city who have survived plague, war, and famine to Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar and to their enemies who seek to do them harm. He will put them to the sword without pity, mercy, or compassion. (Jeremiah 21:3-7 CEB)

And the people were given a very clear choice.

This is what you should tell this people: The Lord says: I'm setting before you the way of life and the way of death. Whoever stays in the city will die by the sword, famine, and disease. But whoever leaves the city and surrenders to the Babylonians will live; yes, their lives will be spared. (Jeremiah 21:8-9 CEB)

The Sins of Judah

Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. (Jeremiah 2:11 NIV)

"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13 NIV)

"For my people are fools; they do not know me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing what is evil, but they do not know how to do what is good." (Jeremiah 4:22 CSB)

The sin of Judah was so bad that even Moses and Samuel could not intercede for them. Noah, Daniel, and Job could only save themselves and not their families. This is the state of Judah before the first exile.

Then the LORD said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! (Jeremiah 15:1 ESV)

Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, their righteousness would save no one but themselves, says the Sovereign LORD. (Ezekiel 14:14 NLT)

As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they wouldn't be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved by their righteousness. (Ezekiel 14:20 NLT)

Jeremiah Prophesied That God Would Destroy Jerusalem

Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: "This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord's house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. Say to them, 'This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.'" (Jeremiah 26:1-6 NIV)

Jeremiah prophesied that the temple of Solomon and the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. If you were a Jew living in those days, would you believe that God would destroy His own temple and His own city? Did not God promised that the dynasty of David would never end? How can Jeremiah's prophecy be true?

Would you believe that God would do something that seemed to be against His word?

Since you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build him a house, your servant has found courage to pray in your presence. Lord, you indeed are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. So now, you have been pleased to bless your servant's house that it may continue before you forever. For you, Lord, have blessed it, and it is blessed forever. (1 Chronicles 17:25-27 CSB)

Jeremiah and Hananiah

In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon." Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet." (Jeremiah 28:1-9 ESV)

Today, when we look at Jeremiah and Hananiah, it is so easy to identify who is the real prophet and who is the false prophet. However, if you were living in the days when Jeremiah and Hananiah are alive, who would you believe? As a Jew, would you believe in the patriotic prophet Hananiah who prophesied the fall of Babylon, or the traitorous prophet Jeremiah, who asked you to surrender to the enemy? Tell me frankly. Who would you believe?

Swap Israel with your own country and Babylon with your country's enemy. Then a Jeremiah appear and ask you to surrender to the enemy country. Will you listen to him?

And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' (Matthew 23:30 NIV)

But they kept shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" (Luke 23:21 NIV)

Faith Required For Tomorrow's Reality

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality - faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. (Hebrews 11:1 Amplified Bible)

The Bible defines faith as confidence and conviction of things hoped for but not seen.

In today's world, in every good there is evil and in every evil there is good. Men are aware of this fact. Many human religions and philosophies arose to explain this fact. Taoism has this yin (negative) yang (positive) symbol, where in the extreme yin, there is a bit of yang, and in the extreme yang, there is a bit of yin.

But the Bible tell us that in future, good and evil will be separated. Since this is not the reality today, you need to have faith in the Word of God, to see beyond today's reality. God will sort this out at His second coming and good and evil will be separated.

"The farmer's workers went to him and said, 'Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?' "'An enemy has done this!' the farmer exclaimed. "'Should we pull out the weeds?' they asked. "'No,' he replied, 'you'll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.'" (Matthew 13:27-30 NLT)

Fearing God Wrongly

Fear (יִרְאַ֣ת) of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. (Proverbs 9:10 NLT)

The fear (יִרְאַ֣ת) of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10 NIV)

Fear (יִרְאַ֣ת) can be reverential fear (a form of worship) or the terror or frightening feeling that something bad or even death may come.

Many fear God with the fear of a tyrant. They do not understand the action of God, but they dared not question Him. Their excuse is they fear the Lord.

This is wrong. Present your doubts. Question Him. You can ask nicely. Or you can scold Him about your perceived injustice. This one thing I know. My God will tolerate all your insults (He died on the cross) and will answer your questions and doubts if you are truly sincere in wanting to know the answers.

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:6-8 KJV)

Job questioned God. He said he did no wrong and God punished him for nothing. God approved of Job's questions and answered him. But God was angry with Job's friends, who insisted that Job must had sinned because God was punishing him.

After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has. (Job 42:7 BSB)

When you refuse to question God by giving the excuse that you fear Him, essentially you are saying this:

1. I am right.
2. God is wrong.
3. But I have no choice but to accept it because He is the boss.

Of course you will say, "No, I accept His action because He knows best and I fear God." Whatever it is, examine your own heart. Please, do not fear God as you fear a tyrant. You are saying God is an unreasonable tyrant. This is blasphemy.

There are things that are clearly God's secret. And it should be clear that these are God's secret, not an excuse to fear God as a tyrant. But there are those that He reveal to us. We know the glory of God from those He revealed.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29 BSB)

There Was Never A Palestinian State

Saw this tweet:

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#History of the "Palestinian state":
01. Before Israel there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state.
02. Before the British mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a Palestinian state.
03. Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic state of the Mamluks from Egypt, not a Palestinian state.
04. Before the Mamluks of Egypt, there was the Arab-Kurdish Ayyubid Empire, not a Palestinian state.
05. Before the Ayyubid Empire, there was the Frankish and Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, not a Palestinian state.
06. Before the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there was the Umayyad and Fatimid Empire, not a Palestinian state.
07. Before the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, there was the Byzantine Empire, not the Palestinian state.
08. Before the Byzantine Empire, there were the Sasanians, not a Palestinian state. 
09. Before the Sasanian Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire, not the Palestinian state.
10. Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Roman Empire, not the Palestinian state.
11. Before the Roman Empire there was the Hasmonean state, not the Palestinian state. 
12. Before the Hasmonean state was the Seleucid state, not Palestinian.
13. Before the Seleucid Empire, there was the empire of Alexander the Great, not a Palestinian state.
14. Before the empire of Alexander the Great, there was the Persian empire, not the Palestinian one.
15. Before the Persian Empire was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
16. Before the Babylonian Empire, there were the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, not a Palestinian state. 
17. Before the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the kingdom of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
18. Before the Kingdom of Israel, there was the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
19. Before the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, there was an accumulation of independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a Palestinian state.
In fact, this piece of land had everything, except for a Palestinian state, because there is no such nation!
Last edited 20231022 12:21 PM
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History are facts. What can we do about facts? Three things. Accept it, lie about it or misinterpret it.

Last Nation To Be Converted

Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. (Isaiah 66:8 ESV)

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10 ESV)

Jews are unbelievers, just like any other unbelievers in the world. And they have a negative view of Christianity because of their persecution by the Christians. But they are different from other unbelievers in that their conversion is prophesied. They will be the last nation to be converted, at the second coming of Jesus. A nation shall be born in one day.

The gospel starts from Jerusalem and goes west and will come back to Jerusalem from the east. God has not abandoned the Jews, unlike what some Christians think.

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." (Romans 11:25-27 ESV)

Successful Believer Looks Like a Failure in the Eyes of the World

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. (2 Corinthians 11:25 BSB)

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. (Hebrews 11:24-25 ESV)

A successful believer may not look like a successful person in the eyes of the world. Let us look at the examples of Moses and Paul.

If you were an observer during the times of Moses, would you not think that Moses was stupid to reject Egyptian royalty? Paul could have been a famous rabbi, like his teacher Gamaliel.

Follow the Rules

Success and failure are amoral. But to be successful, you must obey truth.

For example, if a thief come with a loudspeaker in broad daylight shouting, "I am a thief. I come to steal!" and went on to steal something, he will definitely be caught. He is not following the rules of theft. A good thief will come in the middle of the night and quietly break the locks to steal the valuables. He will not break the rules of theft.

But someone may say, "I like to break the rules because I think out of the box!"

Thinking out of the box is not breaking the rules. Rather, this person is able to see the rules not obvious to others.

Fact And Fiction

"The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abba Eban 21 December 1973

God Promised There Will Be No Hamas

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence (חָמָס). (Genesis 6:11 NIV)

The word Hamas in Hebrew means 'violence'. Thus, in Genesis 6:11, God saw that the world was full of Hamas and God sent a flood to destroy the world. But God promised in Isaiah 60:18 that there will be no Hamas.

No longer will violence (חָמָס) be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. (Isaiah 60:18 NIV)

Meaning of Hamas in Hebrew

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence (חָמָס). (Genesis 6:11 NIV)

On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, 2023-10-07, Hamas attacked Israel. What is the meaning of Hamas in Hebrew and Arabic? According to this website 'Hebrew Word of the Day - robbery, evil-doing, Hamas - חָמָס', Hamas means 'heroism' in Arabic and 'violence' in Hebrew. Below is the quote from that website:

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First, the transliteration 'cha' is the correct sound for the phonetic expression written in English as 'ha' such as in the name 'hamas'. It should be pronounced: 'chamas'.

It is amazing how one of the most derogatory words in the Hebrew Bible became the name of choice of the radical political religious movement that has ruled Gaza since 2007. It is both the abbreviation of the name Charakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah (Islamic Resistance Movement) and an Arabic word that means 'enthusiasm' and 'heroism'. It's amazing that two languages that belong to the same family produce such conflicting meaning to the same name. The horrible word 'hamas' which appears 66 times in the Old Testament, makes one wonder whether Jews and Muslims really worship the same God? This ruthless organization has been involved in a vicious war against the people of Israel since its establishment in 1987. It hails the value of death over life and educates every infant it reaches to strive to become a suicide bomber. Pathetically, the main reward that is promised to every suicide bomber is purity, but in abundance - 70 virgins in heaven upon arrival as a martyr who kills Jews during a suicide mission!
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No longer will violence (חָמָס) be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. (Isaiah 60:18 NIV)