Disney World and the Middle East

28 06 2011

My wife and I and Andrea, our youngest daughter, lived in Jerusalem for three months in the mid-nineties. We spent a lot of time in the old city and actually made friends of one of the Arab shop keepers on David Street inside the Jaffa Gate. He dressed in worn and rather dirty robes which helped his pitch to the hapless tourists as he bargained over prices. He genuinely had fun in the process as he explained how needy his family was and could not lower the price anymore (until you walked away). We talked with him on numerous occasions. The last day we stopped to say our goodbyes when he asked where we lived. We explained that we were from Florida, to which he exclaimed: “Ah, yes, Disney World! We are going there next month!” We have enjoyed many good laughs over that story in the years since.

Disney World is a true multi-cultural experience. It is truly another world. In the real world Israelis and Arabs have many layers of historical conflict, but in the Magic Kingdom, it all goes away for a day.

Last week my family was blessed with an extraordinary vacation. The idea began when friends provided seven nights in a beautiful timeshare resort in Orlando. We enjoyed a wonderful suite on the top floor overlooking both the pool and the lake. We were all set for a relaxing week only 10 minutes from Downtown Disney at Lake Buena Vista. We had not budgeted a vacation this summer, so we intended to simply enjoy the free opportunities all around us. Then another friend started the ball rolling for two free Press tickets to Disney World on the basis of my columnist status. Well, in the end we found the favor of the Lord and the favor of Disney’s Public Relations Department, who provided five “park hopper” tickets. We made the most of it last Wednesday with 10 hours at the Magic Kingdom and 6 hours at Epcot in ONE DAY! Thank you for all who helped make it happen, especially for the children, as our 11-year-old grandson declared: “This was truly the best week of my life.” We prayed and gave thanks to God every day as a family last week for His blessings.

The real world did not change while we were in Fantasy Land, but it was a sweet gift from the Lord. I harbor no illusions about the events unfolding between Israel and her neighbors. It is a tough neighborhood. My prayer for Jews and Muslims alike is that they will find peace. Yet, I know the only “real world” peace available, starts with making peace with Yehovah God. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. True peace comes through His Son, the Messiah Yeshua. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

If you are blessed with even a small vacation this summer, I pray that you will be able to “unplug” and really rest. But as you do, remember to pray and give thanks. Disney World is great fun, but just wait until you see what our Father God has prepared for those who love Him. It will make the best humans can build, look like a cheap street carnival, compared to the glory and delight of eternity with the God of Heaven and the New Jerusalem, with those streets of real gold!

The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. Revelation 21:21 NKJV

For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. Isaiah 64:4-5a NLT

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT

Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists     (READ MORE)


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Anthony Weiner’s Wife

21 06 2011

Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them. Ephesians 5:10-13 NLT

I will not comment on the sins of former Congressman Anthony Weiner. The text above is enough said. However, in our sympathy for his new bride expecting their first baby, something has come to light that is not about immorality, but ideology. Walid Shoebat, a Christian ex-Muslim, has just reported that Huma Abedin, the offended wife, is more than simply the loyal “right hand woman of Hillary Clinton”. Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, she was educated in Jedda, Saudi Arabia from age two to eighteen. Her father was an Islamic scholar of Indian descent while her mother is originally from Pakistan.

The plot thickens with the revelation that her mother is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Saudi Arabia, according to Arabic news sources cited by a former Palestinian Liberation Organization operative. Walid Shoebat, an ex-Muslim Brotherhood activist in the Holy Land, translated sources that say Huma Abedin’s mother, Saleha Mahmoud Abedin, a professor of sociology in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, belongs to the Sunni movement’s women’s division known as the Muslim Sisterhood. One of the Sisterhoods aims, reportedly, is “to spread the Brotherhood’s ideology by infiltrating universities, schools and homes.”

Please click on the blue links above, to read the full story. Thank you.

Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists      (READ MORE)


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Why We Need Toucans

17 06 2011

I was reading a really horribly twisted article on the Jerusalem Post this morning which I suggest you read, to understand people who try to solve Israel’s problems without Yehovah God. It includes mockery of Glen Beck and his Jerusalem rally in August. The writer also manages to attack Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Mike Huckabee along with other American and Israeli conservatives. He even manages to skewer several godly pastors both living and dead.

There is a mantra of the godless left that says “right-wing” Christians and Jews hate Muslims. This is a lie. Jesus died for Muslims, and God calls them to repentance as He does for all people. God loves people and desires that they choose life in Him. Therefore, we love Muslim people as God does. However, the ideology and religious doctrine of Islam is paganism. It denies that God is a Father and that Jesus is His Son Who died on the cross to save whosoever will come to Him.

So, why do we need toucans? After reading the article, I stared at my computer background which today is the toucan. I just started worshiping the glorious beauty and diversity of our Creator. Could the world get by without that one specie of tropical bird? Probably yes. Yet, God in His infinite wisdom may have just decided one day: “Wouldn’t it be cool to have at least one of my birds with an enormous yellow and orange beak with stark black and white feathers?” Well, if that is what God was thinking, I agree. Even the flight of the toucan is cool. Because of the disproportionate weight of his prize beak, a toucan has to work hard to gain altitude and then falls as he glides, pumps up to heights again, only to fall again as he glides.

Somehow I think life is a bit like a toucan with our own ups and downs, but God is with us! We have a place in His purpose that is uniquely ours. Don’t ever tire of pumping up your altitude in the Holy Spirit, the glide is worth it.

Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists    (READ MORE)


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Syria Getting Serious

15 06 2011

Israel E-Card Volume 5 Issue 12

Topic #1   US POISED TO STRIKE SYRIA

Monday, June 13, the US deployed the USS Bataan amphibian air carrier strike vessel opposite Syria’s Mediterranean coast with 2,000 marines, 6 war planes, 15 attack helicopters, including new V-22 Ospreys, and 27 choppers for landing forces aboard. (DEBKAfile at Debka.com).

The Syria front is heating up. Assad is killing his own citizens and reports of inhuman beatings and rape are emerging. He may be the next deposed dictator, but likely to be followed by Muslim fundamentalists. Iran has direct involvement and the stakes are high for them to control both Syria and Lebanon as Iran tightens the noose around Israel. In the South, Gaza is ruled by another Iranian proxy, Hamas, while Egypt is breaking toward Iran as well.

Lebanon is now under the complete control of Hezbollah with the appointment of the new cabinet which it dominates. All of this portends a very serious summer perhaps leading to the Psalm 83 War scenario. Be forewarned.

Topic #2  Swords Before Plowshares

Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears (Joel 3:9-10).

We love to quote Joel 2 about the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. That will “preach,” as they say. But not too many people want to go to church and pay their tithes and offerings to hear the hard words of what is really coming. We long for the day when the swords will be beaten into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4). However, Jesus clearly prophesied wars first. We pray for peace but prepare for war.

So we see that the sword comes first, being made from material that has a peaceful purpose. The order is set. Plows melted into swords, followed later by weapons of war melted down for plows. May that day come soon. Pray, pray, pray!

Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O Yehovah. Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow—for their wickedness is great.” Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yehovah is near in the valley of decision (Joel 3:9-14).

Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists      (READ MORE)


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Yes to ’67 Borders

9 06 2011

President Obama’s speech crossed a red line when he endorsed the Palestinian demand last month for negotiations based on the 1967 borders. However, I have decided to agree; with one slight adjustment. Let’s use the June 11, 1967 borders. Those ceasefire lines were the result of Israel winning the war started by the surrounding  Arab  nations. (I am partial to that date because Doreen and I were married on that very day 44 years ago).

Israel is under pressure from the entire world to give up its God-given land. The media ignore the Arabs’ intent to wipe Israel off the map and God’s miraculous victory. The lines of June 5 when the Six Day War started were actually the 1949 Armistice lines. This is where the President (and the Palestinian Authority) demand to start the talks. How ridiculous! It is like children wanting a “do over”. It doesn’t work like that in the real world.

So, I am for starting with the June 11 borders, not the June 5 borders. What a difference in that one mighty week! These adjacent maps make the case much more powerfully than words. You can see why Israel can never return to those pre-war indefensible lines. Still, the nations will rage and imagine vain things, but God’s response is wrath and the call to accept His Son, Jesus.

If a wise man contends with a foolish man, Whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace. Proverbs 29:9

Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? ​​The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yehovah and against His Anointed, saying, ​​“Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.” ​​He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; Yehovah shall hold them in derision. ​​Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: ​​“Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” Psalm 2:1-6

Les Lawrence, Voice of Christina Zionists     (READ MORE)

This map reveals how narrow Israel would be with the “do over”.


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June 7 Protests

1 06 2011

Israel E-Card Volume 5 Issue 11

Topic #1   UN STATEHOOD FOR PA IS LIKE DECLARING THE WORLD IS FLAT

“If the UN in September declares the Palestinian Authority to be a state, it might as well decide the world is flat,” PM Binyamin Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee Monday. He said Israel cannot stop the resolution from going forward and has few friends in the international body, but a veto from any member of the UN Security Council would block the proposal from reaching the General Assembly, whose anti-Israel majority likely would approve it. (INN) 

Naksa Day, planned for June 7, to protest Israel’s Six Day War victory in 1967. Thanks to Obama putting 1967 back on the table, Palestinians now plan to rush the borders in mass numbers again as they did on May 15. With days of rage, and now regular border clashes, you wonder when they ever work. All of this is leading up to the big one in September when PA pushes for a unilateral declaration of statehood. Psalm 83 will burst into reality at some point.

Topic #2  Jerusalem Water Discovery

“Israel’s largest underground water source discovered near Jerusalem convention center. Excavation work by Israel Railways while working on high speed Jerusalem-Tel Aviv train line reveals cave with largest underground water sources ever discovered in Israel. A small canyon at the end of the segment that has so far been checked plunges through cracks down into a series of waterfalls.” (Haaretz)

For years now I have prayed for rain according to Zechariah 10:1, Ask Yehovah for rain In the time of latter rain. Yehovah will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone. We must keep praying that He will do it with rain from above and streams from below. Thank you Jesus!

They rely on empty debates and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. Isaiah 59:4

Ask Yehovah for rain In the time of latter rain. Yehovah will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone. For the idols speak delusion; ​​the diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; ​​they comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; ​​they are in trouble because there is no shepherd. Zechariah 10:1-2

Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists     (READ MORE)

 


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