Netanyahu recently assured Christians and believing Jews that the Gospel would not be banned in Israel as it was feared to be by two Knesset members. I think Netanyahu is very wise and also not antagonistic against Christians as some are. Praise God for that. And because of this leniency, Christians ought to be praying for Israel now while the door of the gospel is open. You can read the following article for the updated news.
American conservative and Christian voices had decried proposed bill targeting “missionaries,” but it was largely much ado about nothing.
By Israel Today Staff, Mar 23, 2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday sought to calm Israel’s Christian supporters by reassuring them that neither his government nor any other Israeli government was going to pass a law prohibiting the preaching of the Gospel in the Jewish state.
Some Christian and conservative American media was in an uproar this week after MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) proposed a bill that would expand an existing law that prohibits proselytizing to minors or offering monetary incentive to convert to another religion (the obvious target of the law being Christians and Messianic Jews who regularly share their faith).
Gafni’s proposal would, among other things, ban Hebrew-language online videos that preach about Jesus, since they could be accessed by minors without a parent’s consent. Many local Messianic and Christian ministries have taken to sharing the Gospel online in recent years.
It would also give some teeth to the existing law by mandating jail time for anyone caught proselytizing a minor or offering monetary incentive to become a Christian. Some Christian and Messianic leaders worried that the vague wording of the bill could be used to prohibit preaching about Jesus in general since minors could be present in the church, congregation or gathering place.
Not all Jews are against Christians or the Christian faith. But there are a few liberals who are. Please pray for this situation in Israel that our religious freedom would not be hindered. Israel needs to hear the gospel like all others who are now blinded by the devil. Please read this article by Joel Rosenberg.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – Is it possible that the Israeli government this year could pass legislation making it illegal for people to share the Gospel message in the very land where Jesus was born, raised, preached, died, buried and rose from the dead?
Unfortunately, yes.
As Palm Sunday and Easter approach – the two most sacred days on the calendar for those who follow Jesus as both God and Messiah – two members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) introduced a bill last week that would ban any and all efforts to tell people about Jesus.
This is my third blog on this topic, from Revelation 12:13-17. You can go to my first blog on this topic to get introductory information.
Verses 13-17. And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his…
The nation of Israel and the Israelite people are probably the most important of all in our list of personalities; for the seventh week (the Tribulation) has been decreed for the people of Israel (Dan. 9:24), to prepare them for their Messiah by Tribulation. Here is part 1.
4. Israel flees to the mountains.When the first half of the Tribulation ends, right at the mid-point, the Antichrist will be revealed for who he really is, as his restraints to do evil will be removed. The sign of the beginning of his evil doings is when the Jews see “the abomination of desolation” standing in the Jewish temple. This may be the Antichrist himself displaying himself as being God (2 Thess. 2:4), or it could be his image that the false prophet sets up (Rev. 13:15). Nonetheless, I think they will see this abomination for what it is, and…
There are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost. In this post we will deal with the first purpose.
To prepare Israel for her Messiah
This is probably the most primary purpose—that God would use His wrath to prepare Israel by tribulation, and thus to cause them to repent of their rebellion against Him. And I suppose the most well-known passage that declares by decree how Israel will come to repentance is Daniel 9:24.
According to this six-point decree and prophecy through the angel Gabriel, “Seven weeks [or 490 years] have been decreed for your people and your holy city…” The first two promises by decree are…”to finish the transgression [and]; to make an end of sin…” we will stop there because, out of the six, these two have most to do with how God brings Israel to repentance.
The first decree, “to finish the transgression,” is focused on some specific transgression. What would that be? Down through the years Israel has committed many sins, as we all have; but the transgression inferred here is obviously their sin of the rejection of Christ as their Messiah. All that will come to an end. Miraculously, God will break them during the Tribulation. They all at once will repent and turn to Him.
We don’t know in detail how it will happen, but we do know that two-thirds of the Jews will die during the horrors of the Tribulation (Zech. 13:8-9); and then, when Jesus comes, and they see Him, they will recognize Him as their Messiah and turn to Him (Zech. 12:10).
The second decree, “to make an end of sin,” will be all on God’s part, but it will nonetheless be the result of the bitterness of the Tribulation. Hence, as Ezekiel 36:25-29 describes it, He will cleanse Israel from all their filthiness and their idols; and He will give them a new heart and a new spirit.
In addition to this decree in Daniel, there are several other Old Testament prophecies of how God will prepare Israel for her Messiah. Here are three of the more prominent ones, with a few comments.
Deuteronomy 4:27-31
And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the Lord shall drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
Here we see that Israel’s suffering through trails began quite early (with their dispersion, beginning in 722 B.C.); and so, He was working on them very early, preparing their heart. And then, much later, during the bitter days of the Tribulation, He will cause them to return to the Lord and to listen to Him.
Jeremiah 30:7-11
‘Alas! for that day is great,
There is none like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s distress,
But he will be saved from it.
8 ‘And it shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck, and will tear off their bonds; and strangers shall no longer make them their slaves. 9 ‘But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10 ‘And fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the Lord,
‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel;
For behold, I will save you from afar,
And your offspring from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease,
And no one shall make him afraid.
11 ‘For I am with you,’ declares the Lord,
‘to save you;
For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you,
Only I will not destroy you completely.
But I will chasten you justly,
And will by no means leave you unpunished.’
The day of Tribulation is called the day of Jacob’s distress (or trouble), referring to Israel. In this future time God will bring them through terrible distress in order to discipline them and to save them. In the end they will serve the Lord their God and Jesus Christ their king during His millennial kingdom (the reference of David here is a reference to Christ who is in the line of David).
Zechariah 13:8-9
“And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
During the terrible Tribulation, two-thirds of Israel will die, but one-third will survive. And God will bring them through the fire of the Tribulation in order to make them pure just as gold and silver is refined and purified by fire.
I am writing a book now on THE TRIBULATION. I have written the first chapter entitled Leading Up to the Tribulation, and I presented six points: 1) Dealing With, Or Not Dealing With The Aftershocks Of The Rapture; 2) Setting Up A Global Government; 3) Seeing The Beginnings Of A New Global Religion; 4) The Ezekiel Invasion; 5) The Rise Of The Antichrist; and 6) World Peace, Temple Preparation And The Peace Covenant.
I will be blogging these points as I go. Here is point number two.
SETTING UP A GLOBAL GOVERNMENT
As the world tries to deal with the aftershocks of the Rapture, key leaders of many countries will begin to meet together to find global solutions. And we know, according to Scripture, that the world will come to a unified agreement on the establishment of a new global government—as well as a new global religion. It is likely, however, though many ideas will be discussed and agreed upon, that the new government won’t actually begin until the commencement of the signing of the peace accord with Israel, which will mark the beginning of the Tribulation.
There is no way of knowing the details of what will be discussed when the key leaders come together, but the topic of a new global government will probably be the most immediate. Under this major topic they will likely discuss and seek to make decisions on a global currency, the form of government and controls of the government.
It seems that the world has already made huge strides with currencies, or with many new methods of payment, especially with credit cards and also by bank transfers. I don’t see that there will be any problems with converting to a global currency or maybe with on credit card used by all.
As far as the government itself, most bible scholars agree that the new world government will be a revived Roman Empire. Biblical proof of this is taken from three Daniel passages.
Daniel 2:32-40. This passage gives us the familiar story of king Nebuchadnezzars’ dream and Daniel’s interpretation of it. He saw in his dream a huge statue of a man with a head of gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron and feet of both iron and clay. Along with Daniel’s recognition of the four different world kingdoms, scholars now recognize these kingdoms as such: the head of gold as Babylon, the silver breast and arms as Medo-Persia, the belly and thigh of bronze as Greece, and the iron legs and feet as Rome.
Our focus in these last days are on that forth empire of Rome, and particularly on the feet which, in the dream, were made of a mixture of iron and clay. The strong legs of iron we reason represents the early historic Rome, and the feet represents the revived future Rome. And we must take note that since the feet are of that mixture, that the coming revived Roman empire will be somewhat weaker than the early Rome.
Daniels 2:41-42. From these verses the writer of Daniel does not say that there are ten toes on the feet of the statute, but we can make that assumption. Hence, we may surmise that the ten toes symbolize the same as the ten horns of the fourth beast of Daniel 7:24, which, as we are told, represents ten kings—ten kings that are in our future and which will be a part of the future Roman empire.
Daniel 9:26. In this verse we see a timeline of events from the Messiah’s death to the beginning of the Tribulation. Our focus is now on the phrase “and the people of the prince who is to come.” “The prince” here refers not to Jesus but to the Antichrist, the “he” in verse 27. “The people” of the prince are the Romans, because, according to history, they destroyed “the city and the sanctuary” (Jerusalem and the temple).
So, we see from this passage that the Romans are called “the people of the prince,” which are the people of the Antichrist. Hence, this gives us proof that the Romans will be revived during the days of the Antichrist.
Now besides this evidence of the Revived Roman Empire, there is also evidence that its government headquarters will be located in the European Union. Here are…
Seven Reasons why the European Union will becomeThe Revived Roman Empire
1. The EU has the dimensions of an empire in the same area of the old Roman Empire.The EU presently has 28 countries and it has the goal of enlisting a total of 50 countries, including North Africa, North and South America, and Israel.
2. The EU has a power structure that will work for the Antichrist.They have a federalist ideology that is divided between a strong undemocratic central authority and individual units. Hence, it would be very easy for them to give way to a dictatorship and also to set up ten main divisions of power—which will happen in the Revived Roman Empire under the Antichrist (Dan. 2:41-42; 7:24; Rev. 17:12).
3. The EU is preparing its people for the Antichrist. In the last few years, they have been using devious means to make the nation states less autonomous, less powerful, and more willing to be controlled by a central leader.
4. The EU has a goal to unite the world in peace.This goal fits well with what the Antichrist will accomplish during the first few months of his reign.
5. The EU has peaceful plans for Israel. It is in their plans to offer Israel free trade, protection and peace. This Israeli friendship may be the key element confirming the EU as the Revived Roman Empire.
6. The EU’s conflicts of authority. we are seeing a growing problem in the EU between the central power and the weaker national powers. It seems to me that the conflicts have to do with allowing too many people of different cultures to enter their countries without properly vetting them. In any event, this problem matches well with what we see in Daniel 2:431-43: the problem with the iron and the clay.
7. There are some reports that the EU is moving closer to a ten-nation federation. The ten toes and the ten king’s prophecy are coming into view.
It seems to me that the vaccinations are setting us up—preparing us—to be controlled by a future world dictator. Never before has the world been in a position where we are saying we need to be controlled. And the governments of the world are telling us that it is for our own good. And they are using fear to control us and to convince us to be vaccinated—or die!
The bible tells us that there will come a world leader who will control us by giving us a mark on our right hand or our forehead, and we won’t be able to buy or sell anything without this mark. He is the Antichrist and is controlled by Satan.
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (Rev. 13:16-17).
Yes, I see that what is going on right now is preparing us for the Antichrist and his mark—666.
Here are two articles of interest. The first one I will show you is about some Israeli doctors and nurses that refuse to be vaccinated.
Arutz Sheva has received testimonies from doctors, nurses and medical staff who refuse to be vaccinated for fear that the vaccine has effects that have not yet been tested.
S., (full name kept hidden), a doctor at a hospital in the center of the country for 30 years, said “Not only did I not get vaccinated, some of my fellow doctors did not get vaccinated either. We still do not know what the side effects of the vaccine are. We are keeping instructions stringently but will not get vaccinated for the time being.”
A., a nurse at a hospital in Jerusalem has been afraid to get vaccinated for 15 years due to fear of harm to pregnancy and fertility. “I have only one child and I am still of childbearing age and want to have another child. My and many nurses’ fear of harm is a real fear and we have still not received a promise that there is no harm or damage to fertility after the vaccine.”
It should be noted that the testimonies of doctors and nurses in the health system that were received by Arutz Sheva also indicate a fear of fertility problems in men. “Serious journals and studies published in recent weeks show that male fertility is indeed impaired. We have to wait a few months before it is possible to understand the effect of the vaccine,” said one of them. Some have indicated that if Edelstein’s law goes into effect they will get vaccinated out of lack of choice.
In recent days, the Minister of Health, MK Yuli Edelstein, has proposed a bill to authorize the government to establish regulations restricting the entry of an employee to the workplace, and obligating an employer to prevent an employee from entering if he has not presented a recovery certificate, vaccinated certificate or negative result. The issue is currently under investigation by the Ministry of Justice.
Shaare Zedek Medical Center told Arutz Sheva, “There is a discrepancy in the data with the Ministry of Health, especially regarding those who have not been vaccinated at the hospital. We are working on improving the data. The vaccination rate is 75-80 percent.”
Ichilov Hospital reported: “90 percent of our medical staff have been vaccinated.”
Hadassah Medical Center responded, “We are pleased to announce that Hadassah’s hospitals have the highest vaccination rate, which stands at 95% for physicians, 92% nursing staff and 90% administrative and maintenance workers. Overall, the vaccination rate among hospital staff is 92.3%. “.
“We will continue the vaccination campaign for the hospital staff until its complete end,” emphasizes Hadassah Director Prof. Zeev Rotstein. “This in parallel to vaccination of yeshiva students from Jerusalem, whom we invited in an organized fashion to receive the vaccination at designated stations under accompaniment of the community leaders, as well as in parallel to the vaccination of those suffering from various allergies who need the vaccine in the framework of a day’s hospitalization in order to vaccinate them safely and under the supervision of allergy specialists.”
Here is a very recent article where it appears that Israeli authorities are trying to force all their people to be vaccinated.
The Knesset gave final approval on Wednesday to controversial legislation allowing the Health Ministry to give local authorities personal details of residents who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The proposal passed into law in its second and third readings, 30-13, after a Knesset panel amended the legislation so that details of those who are fully vaccinated will not be given to the municipalities.
Under the terms of the bill, for a three-month period the Health Ministry will be permitted to provide the local authorities and the Education Ministry with personal and contact details of residents for the purpose of promoting
Information will include data on those who have had the first of the two-shot vaccination but did not turn up for the second dose three weeks later, as well as those who had no injections at all.
In addition to possibly swaying the opinion of those who are against being vaccinated, the program would enable local authorities to locate and provide assistance to those who need help leaving home to get to vaccination centers.
The law stipulates that the information can only be used to encourage vaccination, and any other use is prohibited.
Among the opponents was MK Tamar Zandberg of the left-wing Meretz party, who called on the public to get vaccinated, saying the inoculation campaign is “the most important thing at the moment in the State of Israel.”
“However, the trigger finger is too itchy when it comes to passing laws that violate citizens’ privacy,” Zandberg said. “Handing over such data is a slippery slope,” she added, noting that it could fall into the wrong hands.
Labor head MK Merav Michaeli also voted against the measure, charging that it exemplified Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to deal with the pandemic.
“A huge and terrible number of deaths and patients, students who did not study or meet friends for a year, hundreds of thousands who lost their livelihoods without economic rehabilitation,” Michaeli said, addressing the premier.
“You try to hide everything with public relations and obfuscation. This information belongs to citizens, and today you are taking their right to privacy about their medical information,” Michaeli said.
The head of the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee, Likud MK Haim Katz, responded to the criticism, asking, “Is the value of privacy more important than the value of life?”
Katz said that the committee had removed clauses allowing the transfer of data about children or those who have received both doses of the vaccine.
“It will only deal with people who are allowed to get vaccinated and have not done so… Two months after the transfer of the data [to local authorities] it will be destroyed,” Katz said. “The sanctity of life is above all.”
According to Health Ministry data released on Wednesday, 4,537,244 people in Israel, or some 50% of the country’s total population, have now received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Additionally, 3,146,509 people have received both doses of the two-shot Pfizer-BioNTech inoculation Israel is almost exclusively using.
Younger people have shown more reluctance to get the vaccination and the Health Ministry hopes the legislation will enable local authorities to advocate immunization among residents who don’t want the shots.
However, the country’s public health union issued a warning on Tuesday against the bill over privacy concerns, and a top democracy expert said the information could be used to target those easily persuaded by conspiracy theories to sway their votes in the coming March elections.
The Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians published a letter cautioning that the “legislation will cause short-term and long-term damage to the local authority itself, undermining trust when the benefit is limited and questionable,” Channel 12 reported.
“Hasty legislation that may infringe on the rights of the individual will not significantly contribute to the aim, and could even harm it,” the IAPHP warned.
The letter was sent to Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, coronavirus czar Nachman Ash, and other senior Health Ministry officials. A copy was also given to Katz by representatives of the Israeli Medical Association, the country’s largest doctors union.
“The medical information centralized by the HMOs is an important resource for promoting the vaccination campaign, in part because it is a tool used by the HMOs to prioritize vaccines according to age and background diseases. However, the information in the possession of the HMOs is information that has been determined to be kept confidential,” the letter stressed.
Chair of the public health union Prof. Nadav Davidovitch told Channel 12 that the union fully supports the immunization program, “but we distinguish between actions to encourage immunization and violation of individual rights.”
“This change in legislation is a slippery slope that can undermine public trust and lead to disproportionate enforcement actions,” Davidovitch warned. “Local authorities should not be exposed to confidential medical information.”
Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, raised concerns that information on the lists given to local authorities could also be used for political gain ahead of the March 23 elections.
“The list of people we have not vaccinated is valuable to those who want to know who among us is susceptible to conspiracy theories, so it is valuable to those who want to win the election,” she told Army Radio on Monday. “I am very worried about it making the rounds.”
I think that the more people that are convinced to be vaccinated, and therefore controlled, the better prepared, or the more willing the world will be to face the future—the Antichrist.
Yes, these nations–Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq–will one day live in peace and worship together in peace—in the new millennial kingdom.
Isaiah 19:23-25
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.
The highway referred to here could be a literal road connecting Egypt to Assyria (now Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran); and it would go through Israel. This is a highway of peace, which Israel will build between warring nations.
Israel and the church must remain distinct groups. But there are many today that are trying to merge these two groups. They are saying that Israel is no longer a people of God, or that they have the promises of God. They are even saying that they no longer have the right (the authority from God) to exist as a nation and as a people. They are saying that God has rejected them as His people and has replaced them with the church.
Well, this is just wrong. Israel and the church must remain distinct groups. From eternity past God has had the people of Israel and the church in His mind, and He has made plans for them. He has given them each a purpose and promises.
God has given Israel promises that are yet to be fulfilled. And He also has plans for the church. Who are we…
We have been showing the distinctiveness of each group—Israel and the church, and why they cannot be merged. In my last post we viewed the distinctive of Israel: Jewish people who are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now we will look at the distinctive of the church.
The first thing I will point out regarding the church is that it has a distinct time period—from Pentecost to the rapture. Only God knows the length of this period, but it will be the exact time needed to prepare us, His bride, for our union with Him.
Secondly, unlike Israel, the church has a mysterious character. Whereas Israel was always well known throughout the Old Testament, the church sort of popped out of nowhere. That is, it was unheard of in the Old Testament, and wasn’t really revealed until Christ came. But even then, the concept of the church was…
Stephen Nielsen 