“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I
come to you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel
whom you have defied.”(1 Samuel 17:45) These are the famous words uttered by
David as he raced to battle the giant Goliath. With a stone and a sling, and
the “LORD of Host’s”, David brought down the mighty Philistine hero. As David
forewarned the Philistine warrior, “the LORD” delivered Goliath into the hands
of David that day!
The Bible is filled with the history of battles won by the God of Israel on behalf of His chosen people. The conquest of the Promised Land and defense of the Kingdom of Israel were accomplished only by the supernatural power of God.
Today, Operation Protective Edge is a reminder of the days when Israel fought battles under the protective wings of the God of Israel.
In Biblical style prose, Col. Ofer Winter, commander of the Givati Infantry Brigade, recently encouraged his soldiers with these words, "History chose us to be the spearhead in the fight against the 'Gazan' terrorist enemy that defies, blasphemes, and curses the God of the armies of Israel."
Winter added a brief prayer: "I lift up my eyes to heaven and call with you, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!'" The letter ended with a plea for the fulfillment of the verse "The Lord, your God, who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies and gives you victory."
It is possible to imagine David motivating his armies with a similar message!
Confirming his faith in the God of Israel’s ability to give the victory to His people, Col. Winter witnessed what he called a miracle.
When a predawn raid was delayed, the darkness used to conceal the soldiers was interrupted by approaching sunrise. With the imminent risk of exposure, heavy fog descended and shrouded the fighters, allowing them to complete the mission! The fog lifted when the soldiers were secured!
In spite of such reports, many secular Israeli’s continue to believe that Zionism is enough to motivate young soldiers to risk life and limb for national security. These secularists are outraged by references, like Winters, to the involvement of God in the current Arab-Israeli conflict.
Since the Jews had been expunged out of Palestine for nearly 2000 years, the question can be asked: Was secularism enough to lead the Zionist movement to seek to reestablish a Jewish Homeland? Or was it the promise made by God to Abraham that his offspring, through his son Isaac, would possess the land of Israel forever? (2 Chronicles 20:7)
However, Israelis have been taught that the Israeli-Arab conflict is just a national struggle over territory and that it is best for all involved if God remains out of the picture. They argue that Israel's existence is justified on the basis of distant history and modern values.
But according to a recent article in Israel Today, ”over the past 10 years, a growing number of Israelis have come to the conclusion that Israel and God are in fact inseparable, and that the existence of the former depends upon that of the latter.”
Events like the following demonstrate how the “LORD of Hosts” defends His name and secures the existence of His people.
When an Iron Dome battery failed three times to intercept an enemy rocket headed for Tel Aviv, “the hand of God” diverted the rocket, according to an operator in the battery.
The commander reported that three interceptors failed to hit their target, an extremely rare event. With only four seconds remaining before the rocket would hit, emergency services were notified of the target location and that mass casualties would occur. The missile would hit a strategically important location in Tel Aviv; hundreds of lives were at stake!
“Suddenly, Iron Dome (which calculates wind speeds, among other things) shows a major wind coming from the east, a strong wind that … sends the missile into the sea. We were all stunned. I stood up and shouted, ‘There is a God!’
Even the enemy is witnessing miracles! Last month a terrorist from Gaza reportedly stated, when asked why they couldn’t aim their rockets more effectively: “We do aim them, but their God changes their path in mid-air.”
As in times past, God will intercede to fulfill His purpose and protect his people!
Just as in David’s day, wars between the native people of the land and the armies of Israel are not about Israel's right to exist as a Jewish democracy, but rather the Divine mandate of the “LORD of Hosts”, that the Jews will reside in the Promised Land forever and that He will be their Banner!
The Bible is filled with the history of battles won by the God of Israel on behalf of His chosen people. The conquest of the Promised Land and defense of the Kingdom of Israel were accomplished only by the supernatural power of God.
Today, Operation Protective Edge is a reminder of the days when Israel fought battles under the protective wings of the God of Israel.
In Biblical style prose, Col. Ofer Winter, commander of the Givati Infantry Brigade, recently encouraged his soldiers with these words, "History chose us to be the spearhead in the fight against the 'Gazan' terrorist enemy that defies, blasphemes, and curses the God of the armies of Israel."
Winter added a brief prayer: "I lift up my eyes to heaven and call with you, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!'" The letter ended with a plea for the fulfillment of the verse "The Lord, your God, who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies and gives you victory."
It is possible to imagine David motivating his armies with a similar message!
Confirming his faith in the God of Israel’s ability to give the victory to His people, Col. Winter witnessed what he called a miracle.
When a predawn raid was delayed, the darkness used to conceal the soldiers was interrupted by approaching sunrise. With the imminent risk of exposure, heavy fog descended and shrouded the fighters, allowing them to complete the mission! The fog lifted when the soldiers were secured!
In spite of such reports, many secular Israeli’s continue to believe that Zionism is enough to motivate young soldiers to risk life and limb for national security. These secularists are outraged by references, like Winters, to the involvement of God in the current Arab-Israeli conflict.
Since the Jews had been expunged out of Palestine for nearly 2000 years, the question can be asked: Was secularism enough to lead the Zionist movement to seek to reestablish a Jewish Homeland? Or was it the promise made by God to Abraham that his offspring, through his son Isaac, would possess the land of Israel forever? (2 Chronicles 20:7)
However, Israelis have been taught that the Israeli-Arab conflict is just a national struggle over territory and that it is best for all involved if God remains out of the picture. They argue that Israel's existence is justified on the basis of distant history and modern values.
But according to a recent article in Israel Today, ”over the past 10 years, a growing number of Israelis have come to the conclusion that Israel and God are in fact inseparable, and that the existence of the former depends upon that of the latter.”
Events like the following demonstrate how the “LORD of Hosts” defends His name and secures the existence of His people.
When an Iron Dome battery failed three times to intercept an enemy rocket headed for Tel Aviv, “the hand of God” diverted the rocket, according to an operator in the battery.
The commander reported that three interceptors failed to hit their target, an extremely rare event. With only four seconds remaining before the rocket would hit, emergency services were notified of the target location and that mass casualties would occur. The missile would hit a strategically important location in Tel Aviv; hundreds of lives were at stake!
“Suddenly, Iron Dome (which calculates wind speeds, among other things) shows a major wind coming from the east, a strong wind that … sends the missile into the sea. We were all stunned. I stood up and shouted, ‘There is a God!’
Even the enemy is witnessing miracles! Last month a terrorist from Gaza reportedly stated, when asked why they couldn’t aim their rockets more effectively: “We do aim them, but their God changes their path in mid-air.”
As in times past, God will intercede to fulfill His purpose and protect his people!
Just as in David’s day, wars between the native people of the land and the armies of Israel are not about Israel's right to exist as a Jewish democracy, but rather the Divine mandate of the “LORD of Hosts”, that the Jews will reside in the Promised Land forever and that He will be their Banner!
 |
| Uthman |
Muhammad could not read or write so his followers
recorded the suras after his death. Muhammad is described as unlettered in the
Koran.
I quote the Koran: “Our signs believe; to those who
shall follow the Apostle — the Unlettered Prophet — whom they shall find
described to them in the Torah and the Gospel.”Sura 7:157
I quote the Koran: “Therefore have faith in God and
His apostle, the Unlettered Prophet, who believes in God and His commandments.” Sura 7:158
By 652, 20 years after Muhammad’s death, the Koran was codified. Under Muhammad’s third successor, Uthman, all the variant readings of
the Koran were burned. Because of this, even some within Islam claim the text
was tampered with. Much of the suras had been written on palm leaves, bones,
leather, boards, tree bark, stones, etc. Some of these were broken or even
eaten by animals. Some of the Koran was recorded only on the memories of Muhammad’s followers. Some of these men, who were the only
ones that remembered certain suras, died in battle before these got written
down. There was much confusion as the memories of different men
disagreed as to what Muhammad had said.
An award-winning worship leader continues to generate controversy after revealing that he no longer accepts the Genesis account of creation as being literal.
Michael Gungor and his wife Lisa, who in 2006 formed a congregation called “Bloom” in Denver, are known for their the Dove Award-winning and Grammy nominated worship music, such as Beautiful Things, Say So and Dry Bones. In 2013, they won an award from the Independent Music Awards for their live performance album A Creation Liturgy.
But in 2012, Michael Gungor, the son of pastor and author Ed Gungor, revealed in a blog post entitled A Worshiping Evolutionist? that he had concluded that the Genesis account is only figurative.
“I guess I’ll have to come out of the closet and admit…no, sorry kid, I don’t believe in a literal six-day creation,” he wrote.
“In my Christian school growing up, we’d all snort and chuckle when a scientist in a documentary would mention evolution or talk about how this sort of animal existed millions of years ago,” Gungor said. “But now that I am a songwriter, I see this whole thing as absolutely absurd. Genesis is a poem if I’ve ever seen one.”
Upon posting the blog link to Facebook, fans were divided, with some expressing support and others feeling deep disappointment.
“Beautiful,” one follower named Alex wrote. “I think it is imperative that we remember that the Bible was inspired by God, yet written by human hands, trying to understand life just as we are today.”
“Creation matters for one reason alone: If there were no First Adam, how could there be a Second One?” added another named Jon.
“The fall of man and Christ’s death/resurrection have everything to do with each other,” chimed in Ben, who likewise disagreed with Gungor. “If Genesis is a poem (not literal) then the gospel might as well be, too.”
But earlier this year, Gungor revealed his thoughts even further, explaining in a blog post entitled What Do We Believe? that he “has no more ability to believe” in Genesis as being literal.
“I have no more ability to believe, for example, that the first people on earth were a couple named Adam and Eve that lived 6,000 years ago,” he wrote. “I have no ability to believe that there was a flood that covered all the highest mountains of the world only 4,000 years ago and that all of the animal species that exist today are here because they were carried on an ark and then somehow walked or flew all around the world from a mountain in the middle east after the water dried up.”
“I have no more ability to believe these things than I do to believe in Santa Claus or to not believe in gravity,” he continued. “But I have a choice on what to do with these unbeliefs. I could either throw out those stories as lies, or I could try to find some value in them as stories.”
Now, Gungor is involved with a collaborative project called The Liturgists, which features controversial author and speaker Rob Bell, singer Nichole Nordeman, writer Rachel Held Evans and others, who characterize themselves as being “decidedly Christian in practice.” One of the EP’s, entitled God Our Mother, explores moving past seeing God in the masculine, but also as a motherly, comforting figure.
“God our Mother/Leading us into peace/Drawing and comforting all those in need,” the song rings out.
Also included is an apophatic meditation that asks listeners to contemplate “who is God?”
“This meditation will consist of a series of phrases. The first will be a positive statement. Something like ‘God is our Father.’ … The second phrase will be a negation of the first: God is not our Father. The word father applies to a human male who either raises a child, contributes sperm for conception, or both. This is not the case with God,” it outlines.
“The third phrase will then negate the negation: ‘God is not not our Father,’” the meditative piece continues. “To the mystics, we perhaps are now present with God. Here in the lack of any understanding. Here in the murkiness of mystery, when we have stopped making an idol of God with our concepts and language… we are finally just present with the great ‘I will be who I will be.’”
Word of Gungor’s direction continues to sadden some Christians.
“He seems confused about what the word of God is and what he believes,” wrote one commenter. “It is impossible to believe only ‘part’ of the Bible. You either believe it all as truth and God’s word or none of it.”
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