THE EMMAUS WALK PRESENTS:
"WHAT IS PALESTINE?"--
A Commentary on the David Hathaway Article,
by Ronald Ginther
by Ronald Ginther
Ever wonder how the Palestinian Authority (PLO) got going alongside of Israel? Who is the "Palestinian people" anyway? Actually, history tells us, there is no Palestinian people, for they are extinct. The Palestinians were, as the name says, Philistines. That nation disappeared, and the Philistines no longer exist. Who are the modern-day Palestinians then?
Rome, in 70 AD, and later in the Bar Kochbar revolt of the Jews, crushed the Jewish armies and then systematically destroyed the Jewish nation; they either killed or enslaved and deported the survivors. Israel (or Judaea, and various Jewish lands adjacent to it, was eradicated.
Imperial Rome even changed the name, taking "Palestine" from the name Philistia, for the country of the Philistines that formerly centered on the southwest coast bordering on Egypt. This hostile, anti-Jewish, mud-slinging name from the Romans stuck like mud often sticks, even with the Christians, who employed it on maps of the area even to this day. What an insult to the Jews! They lost their homeland through defeat by the pagan Romans 2,000 years ago, and the Christians, from ignorance let us hope, supported and endorsed the Roman name change, which was the final insult to the Jewish people.
Since the name of Philistia was given to the land, and the Philistines ceased to exist, who then are the "Palestinians" who are so much in the news in the recent intifada (uprising--so called--of the last two decades) and its war of terrorism against the Jewish State of Israel? They are described by the world press as the rightful owners of the Jewish-held and founded State of Israel (though there are Arabs included as citizens, those of Arab descent in Israel who peaceably abide there). This is, as we have shown, not the case. It can never be! The "Palestinians" are Arabs, some Christian, mostly Moslem, from Egypt, Lebanon (though Lebanon is a late creation of France), Jordan (though Jordan is a late creation of Britain), and Gaza (which was an Egyptian-ruled area in what had been Judaea).
Arabs have lived in the area for many centuries, before but mostly after the Moslem Arab conquest in the 7th century A.D., but none (not in the sense of any nationality, to be sure!) lived there BEFORE the Jews. Yassir Arafat, late head of the PLO, claimed his roots went back to the heathen, Baal-worshipping Amorites and other "-ites" who preceded the Israelis--but what proof did he have? He was Arab--which means Ishmaelite at best--and it is not true, taking the word of God given to Father Abraham, that Ishmael and his descendants were granted the territory, as was claimed by Mohammed and his followers in the 7th century, long, long, long (at least 1,700 years and probably over 2,000 years) after the territory was given and occupied by Israel and her possession forever. No Arab state ever existed there that was Palestine.
Empires of one kind or another (Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Imperial Byzantine Christian, Egyptian, Crusader, Mameluke, Turkish, British and French) have ruled over the area, when Israel or Judaea was not able to exercise full sovereignty. Now that the Jewish state of Israel was re-created in 1947, thanks to the sovereign act of God through the Balfour Declaration and the recognition by the U.S. and Russia and other countries, the Jews have returned to their original homeland and changed the name back to Israel. "Judaea" was one of the names considered by the founders, including Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel. But "Israel" was chosen. So Israel was not stolen from the Palestinian people, for it cannot have been stolen in the way it is claimed. The Jewish immigrants paid for their lands, back in the days of the British Mandate under the League of Nations prior to the Second World War. They occupied and developed land they had bought. Nobody wanted it, since it was worthless swamp and desert, full of malaria and disease and rocks, but little else. The Arab owners got good money for it and were glad to get rid of it. Then the Jews turned it into the garden spot of the Middle East, a breadbasket, rather, a fruit basket full of citrus, for Western Europe! Only then was it coveted by the Moslem Arab countries, all hostile, surrounding tiny, new-born Israel.
Nobody would want what Israel was, if it had remained unproductive and barren. But now it is wanted by the Palestinian people, who sold it to the Jews to get rid of it to "fools" who would pay for worthless acreage that could not keep a goat alive. Do you understand now? This is a political deception--foisted on the Arab people living in the area of Israel and the West Bank and Gaza--perpetuating a cruel lie, that Israel is Arab land, stolen from them. This lie is used by terror groups, who exploit it for their own ends, which are not at all humanitarian or nationalistic at heart. They have no real love for democracy or the idea of a free, self-governing Palestinian state. We know this by the decision of Yassar Arafat, who represented the PLO at the peace conference with President Clinton. He was offered all he had demanded from Israel, but then turned it down. He preferred the terrorist agenda (with billions of guilt money flowing to him from Western Europe's coffers). He did not want a Palestinian state after all, which was Israel's concession.
He still wanted Israel's complete destruction and wiping off the map of the Middle East. Why? Israel is an effront, by its very existence, to the religion of Islam. How can a Jewish state re-occupy its former homeland, without making the Arab neighboring countries of Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq, and so on, feel it like a thorn in the flesh? To the Moslem mind, there can be no Israel--it is that plain and simple. A Moslem can never give up territory once it has been conquered for Islam, lest he give up his whole religion. To him it is death--and he prefers death to the humiliation of his religion, which would prove it false in his eyes. What a sad, sad mindset, based on deceptions. God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, gave the land in perpetuity to the people of Israel. It cannot ever become Moslem and Arab in his eyes, not legitimately. It is not to say that Arabs and non-Jews cannot share in Israel. They certainly can. In fact, they will be blessed if they join hands with the Israelis in peace. God Himself says He will bless them! What the terrorist organizations such as the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah (an Iranian terrorist group), and others, do not tell the Arabs in the area is that cooperation with Israel will bless them immeasurably.
Israel is the golden key to their prosperity and uplifting. The surrounding Arab countries, all Moslem, has proven they care nothing for the Arabs in the area. Even the PLO shamelessly exploited the people, through Yassar Arafat and his huge private bank accounts in Switzerland. Hundreds of millions of aid money from Europe was put away, never to be used for the poor Arab people in the area. This is a terrible crime, never addressed by the United Nations, which supported Arafat against Israel. The UN itself has proven itself incredibly corrupt through the sex scandals in West Africa and in the Food for Peace scandals in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The Arab people are shamelessly exploited by their own leaders, some of them religious clerics. It is done to keep them in gross, ignorant, obedient subjection and to-the-death supportive of anti-Israel agendas that ruin the Arabs but enrich and empower the terrorist elites governing the organizations. What can be expected from fallen and wicked men who crave power, money, and revenge, even a place in heaven for the exploits of killing innocent Jewish people?
There will always be such wicked men in control of misguided, exploited, deceived people, until the coming of Christ, that is. This account given here, can be found in various Christian sites, but never in the mainstream American media--which supports Europe's hateful, anti-Israel program and the United Nation's anti-Israel stance as well. David Hathaway, British evangelist in Russia, has an article about "Palestine?" you can access at:
Prophetic Vision Magazine
What is even more germaine than the intense, media-exploited political struggle against Israel is the universal and earth-wide spiritual war--it is Satan against the Kingdom of Christ on earth. It is not even a Jewish question at heart, though Jewish sovereignty of the territory of Israel is certainly a moot point. Christ, a Jew and the Only Begotten Son of God, the Messiah of the Jews and the Savior of the World, is the only True Ruler and Sovereign of the Earth, including Israel. Jews today (who are not believers in Yeshua, for the most part) will object to this statement, since the orthodox Jews still look to another messiah to come, but the Bible holds it is true and the only valid viewpoint concerning the Jewish state of Israel. One happy day, perhaps very soon, Israel will be the personal domain of Christ, where He will sit enthroned and rule the whole earth! Maranatha! How do we know? The Word of God, given to St. John the Apostle of Yeshua the Messiah, says so! Read what happens to the territory in his book, Revelation, and there can be no question, for this is the final authority.
As John the Apostle of the Lord states in his three epistles or letter, the spirit of antichrist has gone out into the world to deceive many. There are many antichrists, mortal, wicked men claiming to be Christ. Their spirit is the same--the one granted or derived from Satan, the Devil, the Adversary of the righteous. This anti-christ spirit has energized Hitler in the past and every killer and persecutor of the Jews, God's Chosen People. It is energizing and propelling many Arabs and Shiite Iranians and Russians and other peoples today--as is evident by their behavior and their attacks on the Jews, whether in Israel or elsewhere. This anti-christ spirit is active in other groups too--for it rises up in women activists called feminists, in government leaders espousing humanism and secularism and relativism, and in many governments and organizations and even humanitarian foundations (NGOs) across the globe. This anti-christ spirit was defeated by Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, but it will be crushed and cast into the Pit, and then the earth will be free of this murderous spirit for at least a thousand years of the Millennium, or Reign of Christ on earth. Ultimately, the Devil and all his foul servant spirits will be cast into the Lake of Fire--what a glad day that will be!
One day forgiveness and love will solve the political and spiritual imbroglio that the world is now stumbling over in the Middle East over the "question" of the existence of Israel. It will be forgiveness that brings peace, and also the bowing of the knee of both Israeli and Arab at the foot of Jesus Christ! Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord! The Word of God declares it, and nothing man or devil can do will stop this word from being accomplished and fulfilled. Jesus (Yeshua the Messiah) is the Prince of Peace. He only can and will bring peace to the torn and divided, bleeding world. When all is said and done, Israel itself will seek forgiveness from the Arabs,for it has sinned, in various instances, against Arab people. Then as brothers, and sons of Abraham, they will join hands and hearts in eternal brotherhood, just as the Lord God always intended and willed they would, once they had knelt at the foot of His beloved Son. If only they would do it now, much suffering and death would be spared their respective peoples! We can pray they will--but at the same time we know it will happen sooner or later, as God ordains the times and seasons for everything prophesied in scripture by the prophets (please read Exekiel 47) and by the Lord Himself.
Please note that the Hebraic word for Peace, and the Arabic word for Peace, are virtually the same. Actually, they are the same, with just a little difference in spelling. In Christ too, peace, however you spell it, is the same peace. There only one true Peace, which is Christ, the Prince of Peace! Everyone who comes to Him, and acknowledges and believes in Him as Savior and Messiah, is given His everlasting peace--Ed.
Butterfly Productions Home Page
The Emmaus Walk Home Page
(c) 2006, Butterfly Productions, All Rights Reserved
To email the editor of The Emmaus Walk:
ron@oaringintheriver.com
WWW.OARINGINTHERIVER.COM Master Directory
FINAL WORD TO ALL VISITORS AND STUDENTS: WE LOVE YOU, AND THANK YOU, AND PLEASE RETURN SOON TO THE EMMAUS WALK! YOU ARE PRECIOUS TO US AND TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! THIS IS YOUR WEBSITE, AND WE ALWAYS INTEND IT TO BLESS YOU IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.--Ronald Ginther, Founder, The Emmaus Walk Messianic School of the Bible
