Israel

Abraham was a faithful man of God. He is known as the father of faith by Christians. How he was considered the father of faith, you can read in the Old Testament that he was an idol worshiper and when God called him, he left everything and followed God. Then God started giving him promises and commandments which he believed by faith and saw it fulfilled. First, when God blessed him, he will have descendants that will be like stars in heaven and Abraham accepted it, even though he was old and was not even having a single child. Even though he and his wife Sarah was not having the child baring capability since they were too old, he believed in God and as a result got a son Isaac through his wife Sarah. “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore” – Hebrews 11: 11, 12.

 

Once he got a child, God called him and told to sacrifice his child, which he was prepared to do. He had faith in God that God will be the ultimate voice in the times of trouble and emptiness. He knew God can do anything, even raise his child from death after the sacrifice. God liked his faith. “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death” – Hebrews 11: 17-19

Isaac had two sons and the youngest of the twin, Jacob got the blessings from his father and had a run from his brother. He then encountered with God and God changed his name to Israel and through him the blessings which were told to his grandfather Abraham flowed to his children and the generations. The Israel is thus the descendants of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. All the blessings which they have are being inherited by their great grandfather Abraham, because God was pleased with Abraham’s faith.

“And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” – Genesis 12:2,3.

God’s powerful words from this blessing are seen now almost 4000 years from the time of the blessing. If you take any invention which helped the world to achieve something, it came from a Jew, descendant of Abraham. Even though God withdrew his blessings from Israel and gave it to the all over the people who believe in Christ, the powerful word of God is still working. Those who are against Israel are cursed now also, and those who are with Israel are been blessed.

All these blessings came because of one man’s faith in God. Now it’s the time for renewing our faith in God and be like Abraham. Christ told, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you” – Luke 17:6

“Faith is assurance that the things promised in the future are true and that unseen things are real” – Hebrews 11:1

The Promise Kept

In the Holy Bible you can see the Almighty God blessing Abraham. “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him” – Genesis 18: 18. Usually when a priest comes for praying, he uses to include this verse in prayer for us. But the blessings from the mighty God remains perfect and no one can overcome it. Now after almost 3000 years after the blessings, you can see how the world is blessed through the descendants of Abraham.

 

Was Abraham an Israelite? This question is simply an idiotic question. Abraham was not an Israelite. Israelites were the real descendants of Abraham. Abraham’s grandson is called Israel. Abraham’s son inherited the true blessing from him and he gave the same blessing to Jacob, which Jacob got it through wrong way. But blessing will not be erased by God, and so his blessings got inherited to his children, the Israelites, since God changed his name Israel. “God said to him, your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel. So he names him Israel” – Genesis 35: 10.

The inventions that changed the modern world are from Jews. The laser beam which works in DVD or for treatments was invented by a Jew. The life saver for heart patients, the pacemaker was developed by a Jew. The stainless steel vessels we use in kitchen, we should give thanks for a Jew who invented stainless steel. Albert Einstein, the man who made the formula Mass-Energy equivalence is also a Jew. The vaccines for Cholera, Polio and other plagues are being developed by Jews. The father of Atomic Bomb, Nuclear invention is a Jewish American. You can search in the google site for the list of inventions Jewish people have done, which through the world is blessed.

What more to say. Each and every one who use internet knows to search anything through Google. This same google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while the pair was attending Stanford University. Both these people, the founders are Jewish.

Still the person who does not considers the valid document from God, the Bible, is an idiot who is being trapped by the devil. All blessings and promises God have given to Israel is fulfilled and the world is witnessing it.

Same as stated in the Bible, the book of Isaiah and Jeramiah, Israel was torn by their enemies 2000 years ago. But the same God promised that he will set up Israel before his second coming. “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people” – Daniel 2: 44. For the last 68 years, the Arab countries which are around Israel tried to destroy them. But the creator of Heaven and Earth, as he promised gathered back the Jews and is protecting them from these nations which are against them. When war happens between Israel and other Arab nations, miracles happens as God miraculously protects his chosen children. Whenever a war happened, the causality from the side of Israel will be much less than from the other side, and more than that, this small state of Israel would have conquered the enemy territories most areas also.

“And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” – Genesis 12: 2-3.

Prophet Isaiah who prophesised about Jerusalem’s fall also told that when God gathers Israel back, God himself will reign on Jerusalem with great glory. You can see how he is protecting Israel from the terrorist’s nearby them. For the last 8 years Hamas, the terriost organization are firing rockets on Jewish soil, but God is protecting them by providing wisdom to counter attack it. Even sometimes he is changing the direction of the rocket to the sea – testimony by the Hamas itself.

Oh I get excited when I read about what is happening in Israel and how God is ruling them. Even though they don’t accept Christ as their saviour, God is favouring them since he promised it. The God who created the heaven and Earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who says he is who he is, is real and one day I have to face him for sure. It is a matter of decision if I need to be with him, or go away from him. If I want to be with him, simply accept Christ as my saviour and confess my sins and live holy. Other case is simply for my own destruction.

The choice is for you to take.

The Chosen is the Problem

There is a war happening in the Arab region, between Israel and the Palestine (Hamas). Every day we see reports and photos of injured people from Palestine. So I searched to find out how and why this is happening. It gave me new ideas and it strengthened my faith in God.

Since I have studied the martial art called Kalaripayattu, which is a defensive art of fighting, not like Khunfu or Karate which deals with attack, I can explain the problem. If 6 or 7 people surround me to attack and kill me, I will try to plead not to kill me and ask for peace. But if they believe the peace will come only after they see my blood, obviously the third step in defence will be to attack for survival.

When I saw the footages and gathered the historical facts, this is the same which is happening in the Middle East. Israel wants to live in peace and they don’t have any problem for a Palestine’s state and have Palestinians also live in peace. But surrounded by the Islamic group, certain group which does not want Israel to exist, Israel’s only option to survive is to fight for it. When certain group declares they want to finish off Israel, they want to see blood; the only way for Israelites is to fight for their survival. Same is the case of the borders of India and Pakistan. Some groups of Pakistan want to see some parts of India under their territory, and to save this India should always fight for it.

It all started in 1917 itself when the Britishers and world powers planned to regroup the Israelites and give them a state to live. Most of the Arab nation’s representatives warned them if that happens, blood will flow through Israel. It started with the “Nabi Musa” riot by the Arab in 1920, which their slogan was they want to drink the blood of Jews. When the Britishers gave a plan to divide the state to 20% for Jews and 80% to Palestine’s, Arabs rejected it in 1937. Unfortunately after UN was formed they gave a plan to divide it into half-half portion to Jews and Palestinians, which was also rejected by Arabs. This led to the Arab nations (Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon etc.) invading Israel on 1948. But ultimate result was for the Jewish state which won over all these countries miraculsely. After that war Jewish itself expanded and the losers, the Palestinians. The principle is simple – Third step of defence is attack and conquer. Arab countries occupied Gaza and Jordan where Palestinians were refugees, which they could have given to them for a state, but the Palestinians became losers, without questioning the Arab countries, but blindly questioned the Jews that they took the Palestine state. Whenever an Israeli prime minister calls for peace and provision of a Palestine state, Egypt and Jordan, rejected it. In 2008 which was the last time they met for a peace treaty, Israel and other nations offered a state for Palestine near the Gaza and around it, which once again they rejected and continued strike with suicide bombers and other means, which still is going on.

Now the fighting between Hamas and Israel had taken lives of hundreds of Palestinians. The motto of Hamas is “We Love Death As Much As the Jews Love Life”. So in simple terms if tomorrow Israel tells – We will fight no more, then, there will be an immediate destruction of the state Israel and mass murder of Jews, where as if the Arab nations tells, they will fight no more – then peace will exists. It is one side wants the other dead. Arabs wants Jews dead.

Pressure

Pressure, the meaning says it all. Oppression, stress, constraining or compelling force or influence. This term comes when you are working in a private firm and you have to work against the time. When a dead line is given to complete your work, pressure will start to form. Some scrum because of this pressure, while others keep their cool and do it. I have seen managers and leads getting so pressurized that they have end up losing their position. While some have kept the cool and made their subordinates feel that cool and give certain small deadlines and completes the work.

Same thing happens in all sorts of life. It happens more in the field of sports. When you are playing for your country, it comes to you in your daily life. Sachin Tendulkar carried this throughout his cricketing career, but he overcame it and became the legend. Same is the case of all the legends you have seen. But when age shoots up, obviously you will feel it more. Tennis legend, Roger Federer, in the past years have come to the finals and semis of grand slams, but could not make it with the cup, simply because of the pressure.

We saw it happen in the World Cup football in Brazil, the semi-finals. When Brazil faced the Germans, pressure was on Brazil as they were the host nation and couple of their players were not playing. They scrum to it as soon as the play started. When I was watching, I felt in my school days, my school house team used to play far better than how the host team played. So the result, in 30 minutes, 5 goals, and in the end it was 7 to 1. Usually I have seen, if a foul happens the opposition teams will give hands and then take the foul kick. But this changed for Brazilian players because of pressure and the number of goals they conceded; they started arguing with the opposition players and referee. But on the other end, the Germans were cooler from the beginning and they played in an organized way, so wonderful to see how they passed and attacked, and demolished the opposition.

I am not a regular viewer of football, but I like to watch the South American teams play. The first time I saw a final was in 1990 when Argentina met West Germany. The pressure was on Maradona’s team as they were the champions, and finally, same way West Germany took the cup through a penalty kick. Same happened in the next World cup also as Brazil took on Italy in the finals. There were big names in the teams – Romario, Bebeto, Baggio etc. When no result came after the extra time and when the penalty shoot out started, the Italians scrum to pressure and the big name Roberto Baggio himself kicked the ball long over the post, giving Brazil the win.

In the Bible we see how Moses was scrum to pressure and got the punishment from God. When the Israelites reached the Desert of Zin, they did not have water to drink and they came against Moses. He prayed to God and God told him to speak to the rock, whereas Moses, under pressure from the people hit the rock two times with his staff which God was not pleased and punished Moses by not giving him the chance to enter into the Promised Land. (Number 20: 8-11).

Every one scrum to pressure, but the ones who keep their cool and concentration have overcome it. Have a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. I urge and pray we should keep the cool and vision in front of us and overcome it, by prayer and an organized life style.