|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seek the Truth of Jesus Christ and His Understanding to Clear Confusion About His WORDReader comment on item: Obama and Netanyahu Meet: What's Next? Submitted by M. Tovey (United States), Jun 25, 2009 at 12:23 In continuing to explore how a relationship with Jesus Christ can be extended to any who seek Him, we must remember that Jesus Christ first sought out mankind after Almighty God was disobeyed in the garden of Eden, and mankind was cursed to eternal darkness without that relationship. Such was the sublime purpose of the Adversary in attempting to destroy the power of Almighty God on earth. Fortunately, this had been anticipated by the LORD as He had planned the reconciliation long before the separation occurred. We know this from the witness of the WORD of the LORD and the salvation message found in the Holy Bible. We also read in the Holy Bible that reconciliation must be according to the same WORD of the LORD, for to try and obtain favor from Almighty God by any other means does not meet with His approval, and falls short of the Holiness required to have a relationship with Him: essentially, His creation, His rules. Witnessing to a person of a relationship with Almighty God is not something that can happen by force, but by a willingness to receive the Truth of His WORD and accepting His presence in one's life. There may be a personal verbal testimony, but the Holy Scripture places a great value on the personal actions of one who represents having a relationship with Almighty God. Such is the more valuable lesson to be learned of Esther. Esther responded to the intervention requested by Mordechai by understanding it was an act of obedience to the working of the LORD Almighty God in the lives of the Persian Jewish population, who were at the threshold of extinction at the ehand of Haman, an arch anti-Semitic enemy of the Jews in the land. We can only presume his was a hatred born of diabolical influences, for only that kind of hatred would be necessary to want the death of so many people, just like Hitler and others seeking the death of the Jewish people. As to that, we come now to the position of who should rule in Jerusalem, and the question of the crusaders comes to the forefront when one wonders how it is that Christians should be caught in a fight over Jerusalem that was not required by the Biblical directive of Jesus Christ. There may be the supposition that the crusaders were people of a decidedly Christian influence, but their faith may not be necessarily categorized as true to the WORD of the LORD. There was, and is, no Biblical mandate for Christianity to take possession of Jerusalem and rule there as if a Kingdom of God were to be permitted under the rule of mankind. The Kingdom of God is quintessentially Jesus Christ's, and His return is necessary (arriving shortly in the future yet to happen) before the Kingdom of God is manifest in this human realm. So to say that the crusaders were men of true faith and should have been able to defeat the Muslim hordes to in order keep Jerusalem Christian does not have Biblical support – quite the opposite. The Holy Bible in fact states that the Holy Site will be under the foot of the Gentiles for the duration known as the 'times of the Gentiles.' What this means is that the Holy site was and is always Jewish by Biblical dictate, and the people of the Quran are as much gentiles as any non-Jewish Christian presence fighting for control in Jerusalem. Saladin was as likely as anyone to depose the false Christian presence of the crusaders as anyone else. The crusaders were anti-Semitic, by the way, holding a misunderstanding and disdain for the Jewish people because of crusaders wrong perception of what they did to their own Messiah. Now, in the not too distant future, we will see that things will change significantly, and that the King of Israel will be none other than Jesus Christ, having taken His throne back by the power of His WORD, and without any crusader help. Thus we can dismiss any conspiracy of the Knights Templar acting on behalf of a modern Christian attempt to take over Jerusalem, for it will be the LORD who executes and performs His Word upon the land of Israel. Let us return to Esther, and whether she had a responsibility to preach to the king of the Persians about a relationship with her Almighty God who was having her intercede for her people. The intercession was laid upon her as the act of obedience necessary to bring salvation to the Jewish population, but nowhere do we read that Mordechai insist she preach to Xerxes about a relationship with the Jewish God. Since we can presume the LORD knows what He is doing, there must then be a reason that such an omission occurs. Evidently it is not the intent of the Book of Esther to tell of the salvation of the Persian king, but of the salvation of the Jewish people in his kingdom. Remember also, the Old Testament did not have specific requirement set for the Jewish people to convert non-Jewish people to Judaism. Non-Jewish people believed, but were not compelled to become Jews. In these times after the appearance of Jesus Christ, there is the call for witnessing by Jesus Christ, especially in Matthew Chapter 28. In that we who have believed tell of our redemption paid for by the blood of His sacrifice on the cross, and of His being raised from the dead for our justification. In this, there is no confusion that believing in Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior is the only way to make any sense of these crazy times we are in, and having an understanding of what is next. Just like in Esther's times, there is a Biblical provision to save the Jewish people from the hatred of the Hamans of the day, like Hamas, Hizbollah and others surrounding them now; and it is possible we shall see that salvation in the lifetime of those living now. It is for that reason there is urgency for the witness to seek salvation in the name of Jesus Christ, or be swept up in the judgment that is promised for those not believing in Him and His return to Jerusalem. I hope and pray this helps. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". Reader comments (69) on this item
![]() |
![]() Latest Articles |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |