Peace of Jerusalem

by Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review—

Friday night news dump: President Obama has decided to provide $192 million to the Palestinian Authority despite Congress’s freeze on PA funding after its president, Mahmoud Abbas, attempted to declare statehood unilaterally last September, in violation of the PA’s treaty commitments.

Obama’s “waiver” of the restrictions on Congress’s Palestinian Accountability Act was first reported in the foreign press (AFP), which is where Americans generally need to go to get news about what the U.S. administration is up to. A report from the Times of Israel is here. [Hat tip, creeping Sharia]. The New York Times, evidently too busy reporting on how much Israel sucks, did not find this story fit to print.

White House spinmeister Tommy Vietor stated that President Obama made the decision to pour American taxpayer dollars into Palestinian coffers in order to ensure “the continued viability of the moderate PA government.” He added the claim that, as the report puts it, “the PA had fulfilled all its major obligations, such as recognizing Israel’s right to exist, renouncing violence and accepting the Road Map for Peace.” Read on…

The awful historical record shows that Jews have been the targets of fierce discrimination and even persecution in “Christian lands” over the centuries. The Vatican-inspired Crusaders deliberately murdered Jewish people during the Middle Ages. The Roman Catholic Inquisitions were directed against the Jews in Spain and elsewhere, leaving many dead or in prison. The pogroms of Russia and Eastern Europe forced Jews from their homes, and left untold numbers dead.

As evil as these anti-Semitic assaults were, they all pale in comparison to the Holocaust of World War II. Some six million Jews perished in “Christian” Europe, at least one million of them children. They were the victims of a cruel regime that had sprung up in the very land where Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation. A full one-third of the entire Jewish race was wiped off the face of God’s green earth by Hitler’s Nazi forces. The utter horror of the hideous Holocaust as revealed by the testimonies of death-camp survivors cannot be overstressed.

Too late, many Germans recognized the blessings that the Jewish people brought to their society before Hitler’s tragic rise to power. Jewish composers, scientists, doctors, teachers, writers, and others contributed their significant talents and intelligence to the land of Luther, and were repaid with Hitler’s death chambers. American Christians should be the first to welcome the many contributions and blessings brought to this great land by our Jewish citizens.

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The Light is a new inspirational novel from award-winning author, Dr. Mike Evans. It tells the life of how a son, wounded beyond belief, tries to unleash the healing power of love on his entire family. His pain was the key to his power. His journey showed him how great trials prepare great men for great tasks. You’ll love this moving story of grace and forgiveness beyond measure.

In 691 A.D., Islamic adherents of the Umayyad dynasty began a campaign to “exalt and glorify” the city of Jerusalem. Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock over the Foundation Stone, the Holy of Holies. It was thought to have been erected in direct competition with Christianity. The edifice still stands today. Islam later attributed another event to the Foundation Stone: the binding of the son of Abraham the “Hanif,” the first Monotheist. As the Koran does not explicitly mention the name Isaac, commentators on the Koran have identified the son bound by Abraham as Ishmael. Thus Islam teaches that the title deed to Jerusalem and the Temple Site and all of Israel belong to the Arabs—not the Jews.

In fact, Mohammed never set foot in Jerusalem, nor is the city mentioned by name in the Koran. His only connection to Jerusalem is through his dream or vision where he found himself in a “temple that is most remote” (Koran, Sura). It was not until the 7th Century that Muslim adherents identified the “temple most remote” as a mosque in Jerusalem (perhaps for political reasons).

The truth remains that this site on which now stands the Dome of the Rock, and is sacred to Jews as the Temple site, will be the basis for the battle of ages that will be fought.

When you sign your name to a check, it represents that you possess the amount indicated on that check. God wrote His name in Jerusalem, and He has the power to possess what His name represents.

“This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: ‘I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, “The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.” ‘On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place” (Zechariah 12:1-6, NIV).

“In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2-4, NIV).

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As a Christian Zionist, a New York Times best selling author, and an untiring and relentless friend of the nation of Israel, Mike Evans presents The Candidate as one more arrow in the quiver to slay the lies of anti-Semitism and expose the true motivations of her enemies. 

The flesh loses its hold as we live in Christ. This is the difference between religion and life. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16 KJV).

What kills revivals? Religious flesh does: Manipulative, competitive, angry, jealous, covetous, and controlling flesh. Flesh creates as many kingdoms in the church, as outside of church.

When we’re about Christ, religion will never satisfy. We must cry out, “There has to be more!”

As the priests of old, we must ensure that every “scrap” of the flesh, all it’s works, lusts, and ego — is daily burned. Then our personal fire of revival can blaze. We have not put enough flesh on the fire to keep revival fires burning!

Religious flesh stands at the door to the Holies of Holies with folded hands—smugly believing that “we have been with Jesus,” and prayed in the Spirit—but blocking the entrance to the glory of God.

Revivalist Leonard Ravenhill stated, “A man that has been with Jesus will never fear man.” The fact that we are pleasing man testifies against us, but we wonder why demons do not tremble, and our public prayers do not get answered. As long we make people our primary preoccupation, pleasing them, and ourselves, we will be disqualified from going beyond our present state, to the greatest awakening the world will ever see.

The world is waiting to see God’s fingerprint on us like a royal insignia pressed into the wax of a sealed document. Such are those who wrestle with God.

We can’t convince a lost and dying world to embrace the good news, until we deal with the bad news that God’s people have not fulfilled the call to prayer, found in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

 

“If my people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

God is raising-up a people who are determined to be of “no reputation” that Christ might be all in all, Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. God is raising-up a people who are hungry and thirsty to give up the low life, to gain the life of Christ.

Jesus wants us to come through the veil and be with Him, live with Him, and breathe His very Spirit. In Him we live and move and have our being. He wants to order our steps so every fiery dart of the enemy will be deflected. He wants us walking in His blood trail so the demonic hoards of hell cannot sniff us out to destroy us.

It’s time to expose the devil, and allow the person of the Holy Spirit to teach us about the King of our life, His behavior in us, and our behavior in Him. W
hen we go after Jesus, the enemy goes after us, because then we are a threat to his kingdom and his territory will be lost.

It’s time to admit that the Christ life manifested truly in us cannot be realized by mere religious tradition, no matter how sincere, until we acknowledge we are in a state of rebellion against the King, and are headed full speed away from Him. We will see clearly that religion has become integrated into our secular society, and has been digested to the degree that the values the last generation held, are obsolete.

We must confess that our secular society has redefined, retarded and repackaged, our Christian values and filtered it back to the church, watered down, neutered and lifeless—leaving Christians in a state of passivity, void of the desire to sacrifice and suffer for Christ, and void of holiness and passion. Substituting “book of Acts” faith for religious flattery is in God’s eyes, packaged poison. Looks good from the outside, but it will kill you if you swallow it. Without a holy fear of God burning in our bones, we are left with dull senses for the person of Jesus Christ, and tone deafness to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

God is waiting for you to part the veil, and go beyond so the world will truly know you’ve been with Jesus! The Father is listening for the heartbeat of Jesus in you. When He hears Christ’s heartbeat in you, all heaven will be authorized to move on your behalf.

This is no time to be thinking about whether or not we have the person of the Holy Spirit. There is only time left to surrender completely the throne of our lives, so the Holy Spirit has us. A great awakening is coming. For those who are hungry and determined to be with Jesus, God will “kiss” them and move them from the natural. The unsaved will look at them and see the face of an eternal Christ—radiantly glowing. More will be accomplished in one day by these saints fellowshipping with Jesus, than the average Christian will see accomplished in a lifetime. These are “God-wrestlers.”

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Join Dr. Mike and Carolyn Evans for a wonderful time in the Land of Promise in 2012. We are eagerly looking forward to this trip and pray that God will do a great work in the hearts of all of those who are able to go. Join the Jerusalem Prayer Team in standing for Israel today in a special way during this time of great danger and crisis. Click here for details

The crucified man is not a popular theme because it’s the greatest threat to Satan’s kingdom. Satan has tried to blind the eyes of believers from understanding what it means to be crucified with Christ. Crucifying flesh means to acknowledge we cannot please God in our flesh. Why did the Apostle Paul have to die daily to his flesh and we propagate a theology that we do not?

As long as we depend upon our flesh, we’re bankrupt and helpless. When we see flesh through the eyes of eternity, we develop a righteous “Spirit of the Lord” in us. Then the person of the Holy Spirit shows us things to come, the riches of Christ in glory, His keeping power, His light and His wisdom.

“The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:14 KJV). The person of the Holy Spirit delivers to believers all that the Father has given His Son. “All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:15 KJV).

Since the person of the Holy Spirit is dwelling in the believer, there has to be the surrender of our unholy flesh for Christ’s Holy Spirit to blast through us with glory. The Holy Spirit cannot resurrect living flesh.

His power and our inability meet with Spirit-to-spirit contact, and the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead quickens our mortal bodies. “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11 KJV).

Paul became a dead man speaking to dead men and women through the eyes of eternity. The less we die-to-our-flesh, the less we know Christ. Jesus asked His disciples: “Are you able to be baptized with my baptism?” His baptism was a baptism of suffering. Dying to the flesh is suffering.

Our flesh, like water, follows the course of least resistance. Before we came to Christ, our flesh ruled us. But through the fellowship of His suffering, Christ has made a way to exchange our mortality with His immortality, our imperfection with His perfection. We can sit with Christ if we are willing to suffer with Him (Hebrews 2:10).

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At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus will return and set up His kingdom that will last a thousand years. The Millennium  will be a time of peace, justice, and prosperity like the world has never known. The Battle of Gog and Magog will be the tipping point to all  of the events described in the book of Revelation—very likely leading up to the Battle of Armageddon.

Many  may then ask, “Why   fight it? Why   shouldn’t  we welcome God’s   end-time clock  counting  down  to  midnight  so  that  Jesus  can come  again and come  quickly? Isn’t  that the  hope  we  should  all be looking for?”

I find that an  interesting question. In my life I have written many books on Bible prophecy and the political threats that could well be signs of it coming to pass, but I have no desire to see the world destroyed any more than God  does. He,  like a good farmer, is patient for the harvest.  He  wants the maximum  number of people to be saved—He is willing to wait for the  collection of “the precious fruit of the earth” (James 5:7 esv). Though Evangelical Christians have been accused of madly wishing attacks on Israel because they will signal the return of our Messiah, I can tell you that simply isn’t true. We have no design to instigate a nuclear war in the Middle    East in the hope  it will bring  about the  return  of our Messiah. We are not “extremists” hoping for destruction; we instead hope extreme good will happen.

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Visit Jerusalem Prayer Team website to get a copy of The Final Generation by Mike Evans

   

The pathway to revival is clearly marked. It always starts by admitting what we are not. The greatest test of my life was being able to honestly admit what I was not. When I could finally make that admission, I had the glorious joy of leading my father to the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the song, I “could see clearly now” that Christ in me, the hope of glory would remain imprisoned within me as long as it was about me and not about him.

It is one thing to be willing to say a prayer, but another to become a living prayer. It is one thing to make a sacrifice, but another to become a living sacrifice. We believe we can make a “small sacrifice” for Jesus, rather than be a “living sacrifice” by placing control of our lives on the altar of God. John laid it all down, admitting what was not happening in his life and ministry.

Christians today tend to use the phrase, “God is moving.” Yet you won’t find the Apostle Paul telling people the Holy Spirit was moving. Paul just moved in faith. I’m afraid that sometimes when people emphasize the moving of the Holy Spirit, He is moving right out of the place, because the attention is not on the Holy Spirit, but “flesh.” Today, we have so little Holy Spirit power that we spend an enormous amount of time witnessing to each other, rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to bear witness Himself.

The pastor of the largest church in the world, David Yongii Cho, once said to a pastor who has since passed away, “You’re a Holy Ghost atomic bomb.” The pastor became very excited.

“Really?” he said. “Has God showed you anything else about my ministry?”

“Yes,” Dr. Cho said, “He showed me you’re trying to blow up a piggy bank!”

We are the stewards of the greatest power on earth, great enough to create an entire universe from nothing, yet what are we doing with what we’ve been given? Are we trying to blow up a piggy bank? God’s power wasn’t given to us to use when we get to heaven. We’ve been given power to rule and reign with Christ on earth, today! Genesis 32:28 says of Jacob: “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” The Church today acts like paupers, not princes!

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“God does not have problems. Only plans,” proclaimed Corrie ten Boom when a clerical error allowed her to be released from a Nazi concentration camp one week before all women prisoners her age were executed.

Though she was released from the horror of Ravensbruck concentration camp, Corrie continued to live with a remarkable reliance on God, just as her family had as they hid Jews from Nazi terror. Generations of ten Booms held Christian prayer meetings for Israel for 100 years prior to World War II. Click here to begin our inspirational virtual tour of the ten Boom home.

We are staring in the face an eternal countdown that cannot be stopped. Every believer will have to make a choice to either live in God, or die. There will be no middle ground. Not to choose life will result in death by default.

To choose life is to seek after Christ with such zeal that little else matters, inviting the life of Christ to live in and through us, and allowing the power of Christ to fulfill His present-day ministry here on earth through us. We live when we allow the life of Christ to live in and through us to fulfill His present-day ministry.

“Their hearts will fail them for fear” is the warning for these end-times. How could Christians’ hearts fail for fear? Our hearts will if we haven’t died to flesh, been with Christ, and shared His sense of destiny.

The environmentalists have come out of the woodwork. The homosexuals have come out of the closet. The New-Agers, pornographers and occult practitioners have come out of the sewer. Now, it is time for God’s blood-washed, Holy Spirit-filled children to come out of hiding and exalt Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

God is looking to see the life of His Son duplicated in our lives, to bring cataclysmic events into play through Spirit-to-spirit contact that will enable Him to send Jesus back to earth.

The King of Glory is getting ready to shake us with the present-day ministry of Jesus Christ, which will ignite a generation of unborn destinies. This power surge will “short out” all our own ambitious, religious plans.

No longer will the destiny of the King be determined by our futile efforts. We will make no more attempts to protect or promote our own activities, but abdicate to the throne of heaven. The lost will then behold Christ. The Lamb of God will be made manifest in all His glory.

All of heaven will move as the power reserved for the Son of God will shine, blinding the powers of darkness. Armies will be subdued. The enemies of God will flee. The work of God, the final mission of the King of glory, will be seen and felt by all.

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Post a special prayer for Israeli President Shimon Peres