From the Desk of Jeff King

Saving Zion

The corrupt Israeli government, backed by the Bush administration, will hold a fire sale at Tuesday's peace summit in Annapolis, Md. It is ready to give away the store – East Jerusalem, Temple Mount, Judea and Samaria – in exchange for pseudo peace with its Arab neighbors. Israel's only hope is a figure it rejects and mocks, Yeshua of Nazareth. When He returns as Davidic King He will smite the nations and rule from Jerusalem with a rod of iron (Rev. 19:15).

Christian zionists like John Hagee go out of their way to befriend and support non-Messianic Jews – which I salute – but keep the Good News veiled. They refuse to share Messiah, something the apostle Paul, an Israelite, exhorted us to do with great urgency. That heart for Jewish evangelism is captured beautifully in the song "Good News" by the Messianic group Lamb, featuring Joel Chernoff and Ted Pearce. I listened to the cut repeatedly on my drive to work yesterday. It's that good (listen to audio clips here and here.) Notice the transition in the lyrics: first the Good News comes out of Zion, as it did in the first century, then returns to her when she is asleep spiritually:

O Zion, who brings good news
Get up into the high mountain(s)
O Jerusalem, who brings good news
Lift up your voice in strength

Lift up your voice, be not afraid
Say to the cities of Judah
Lift up your voice, be not ashamed
Behold your God!

The grass withers, the flowers fade
But the word of our God will stand forever,
The grass withers, the flowers fade
But the word of our God will stand, O Zion

O Yisrael, we've got good news!
Hey Haifa, hallelujah!
O Tel Aviv, we've got good news, yea!
Tiberias, hallelujah!
Jerusalem, we've got good news!
All nations, we've got good news, hallelujah!

That last chorus boomed from my Honda speakers as I drove into the late-afternoon haze of downtown Seattle. My heart was breaking. Israel seemed so far away, yet so near. Hey Haifa, hallelujah!

News item – The road to Annapolis is getting bumpy. Christian journalist and Israeli resident Stan Goodenough was awakened by a minor earthquake in the Hinnom Valley early Saturday, hours before catching a flight to Maryland. He will attend the three-day peace conference at the Naval Academy. It was the third quake in Israel this week as international leaders lobbied for a Palestinian state on Jewish land.

Two days earlier, Goodenough gave America this Thanksgiving Day wake-up call on his Jerusalem Watchman website: "While you are thanking God for your land and His bountiful provision in it, your elected leaders will be brainstorming for the most effective way to take another nation's land away from them. . . . The U.S. will be leading the charge – a charge against the will and purpose of the same God who established your country, and who is working to re-establish His country for His people – Israel. I am praying for you, America. For I fear for you."

News item – California is burning again. Malibu's worst wildfire in 15 years has destroyed 49 homes, scorched 4,700 acres and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. Interesting timing if you follow world events. The blaze began Friday, four days before the Bush administration hosts a peace conference which, if successful, would divide Israel and uproot Jews from their homes. Wildfires last month in Southern California burned 518,066 acres, caused more than $1 billion in property damage and displaced nearly a million people. The fires erupted a day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left Jerusalem, where she had rallied support for the Annapolis summit. Most of the 49 countries invited to the event are hostile to Israel.

News item – Goodenough filed a dispatch Monday from Annapolis, which included this snapshot: "The midshipmen stroll by, and I gaze past them into the academy grounds. There, too, all is peaceful, quiet, almost asleep. Peaceful, peaceful. Peace - that’s why I’m here, right? Hard to believe, then, that a demon-fest is planned for this place; that in just 48 hours, hell itself will be running amok here."

My prayer to the LORD on the eve of Annapolis: In wrath remember mercy (Habakkuk 3:2).

Posted by Jeff King at November 21, 2007 12:23 AM