BLOG

Religion Fatigue

On June 28, 2006 we held a prayer campaign called "He Cares." It was, in part, to counter the Bohemian Club's "Cremation of Care" ceremony at the Bohemian Grove in the Redwood Forest near Eureka, California.

The world is full of religious and political zealots who do not care about others unless they join their particular brand of religion or political organization. The dualism of the carnal mind divides people into many opposing camps and then sides with one of them and makes war on the other. The more carnal the mind is, the more zealous the war. The level of kindness shown is indirectly proportional to the carnality of the mind. That is, as carnality increases, kindness decreases proportionately.

This is no more apparent than in the current Middle East conflict, where carnally-minded Zionists conquered Palestine by using immigration and terrorist policies, and the Palestinians retaliated in like manner. In both cases the "little guy" is the cannon fodder for their leaders. In neither case do they truly understand the mind of God, and so the solution to the conflict is beyond their reach.

Force meets force, and one act of aggression always deserves a greater response (if possible). Thus, the spiral of violence mounts with each response in order to instill fear in the enemy. Sooner or later, it catches up with everyone, and no one wins.

As I showed in my book, The Struggle for the Birthright, the Zionists are the primary representatives of the lost House of Esau. Their main opposition is the House of Ishmael and their allies. Esau's descendants became known by his nickname, Edom, and later by the Greek form of this word, Idumea. They were conquered and forcibly converted to Judaism in 126 B.C. That is where the House of Esau ceased to exist as a nation separate from Jewry. This is an undisputed historical fact.

Thus, the Israeli state today is fulfilling two sets of prophecies--those of the "bad fig" portion of Judah that rejected Jesus as King, and those of Edom in the last days. Both sets of prophecy portray the Zionists as violent men who love the sight of blood and who are in revolt against God Himself. See Ezekiel 35:6 and Matt. 21:38, 39 for examples.

Likewise, the angel of God told Ishmael's mother, while she was yet pregnant, that her son would be "a wild ass man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him" (Gen. 16:12). This is merely a statement of fact, not a stamp of approval upon such behavior. Those who continue in this religious and political philosophy would do well to turn from their ways and put their faith in God, who alone has the solution to the Middle East conflict. If their knowledge of God is inadequate to the task, I suggest they look into the teachings of Jesus.

The conflict has its roots in the book of Genesis. When Jacob stole the blessing from Esau and lied to his blind father, Isaac foretold of the day when Esau would throw off Jacob's yoke and receive the dominion for himself (Gen. 27:40). This meant that Jacob would have to give the blessing back to Esau, in order to allow Esau time to prove himself unworthy. The law of the hated son protected Esau from being disinherited without lawful cause (Deut. 21:17).

This is why God said in Malachi 1:3 that He "hated" Esau. It was not to be unfair to him, but to protect him and ensure his rights under the law of the hated son. It is under this particular law that God then prophesied of Esau in verse 4 that he would become a Zionist, saying, "We will return and build the desolate places." And God responds with, "They shall build, but I will throw down."

In other words, God would see to it that Jacob returned the birthright and blessing to Esau to allow Esau to return and rebuild the old places that they coveted. Ezekiel concurs with this, putting words in Edom's mouth in Ez. 35:10, "These two nations [Israel and Judah] and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it."

In Ezekiel 36:5 God speaks of "all Idumea, which have appointed My land into their possession." Evangelicals love to claim that the Palestinians are Idumea or Esau, when in fact history is clear that Idumea was forcibly converted to Judaism in 126 B.C. The Palestinians are NOT the Edomites in this conflict.

In order to secure the rights of Esau, God gave them the land in 1948, along with the birthright which Jacob had taken deceitfully from him. Jacob's sin against Esau was "identity theft." He pretended to be Esau in order to obtain the blessing from Isaac. Thus, in 1948 the descendants of Esau returned the favor by pretending to be Jacob and, in effect, stealing his identity.

The ruse was perfect, and it then allowed God to give Esau his rights. But Esau has failed to fulfill the terms of the birthright, which was to be a blessing to all families of the earth. Instead, they have filled the land with violence by oppressing Palestinians and ruling by fear. The Palestinians have had to pay the price for Jacob's lie in Genesis 27. Some day we will have to make it up to them.

Meanwhile, God is working on another front to prepare the way for a great outpouring of the Spirit in the Middle East. All of this violence is making Palestinians and the House of Ishmael itself sick of violence. Even as God has fed Edom with blood, because they were bloodthirsty (Ez. 35:6), so also has He applied the same method with Ishmael and other nations involved in this conflict. More and more of the common people are becoming disillusioned with their political and religious leaders, whose only solution is more and more blood.

There is an emerging spiritual vacuum that is growing to make ready for this move of the Holy Spirit worldwide. This includes the Iranian people, especially the young people who make up 70 percent of the population. They are becoming weary with the Islamic revolution, the rule by fear, the endless do's and don'ts, and the lack of love. It is only a matter of time before the old guard passes on or loses power in a counter-revolution. They are beginning to experience religion fatigue, because fear-based rule cannot endure forever.

The same is true on a milder level here in America. The people have been whipped up by fear in order to demand more security and to repeal or erode traditional civil rights. Our national tolerance level is now seen in the polls, with the President's approval ratings in the pits.

God is even now preparing for the soon-coming day when the earth will be ripe for harvest. This may not come before the dawn of the "big bang," which will shock the world at the destruction of Jerusalem (Jer. 19:10, 11). But it will surely come, for that is one of the primary reasons God is raising up a New Gideon's Army this year. This army is not being raised up to add to the problem, but to be part of the solution.

We are not called to hate or destroy, but to love and to build. We are not called to oppose those whose religion or philosophy is part of the problem; we are called to change the spiritual conditions so that those who oppose us may see Christ, repent, and join with us as part of the solution.

Many Muslims have recently been turning to Jesus Christ after He has appeared to them in dreams and visions. Perhaps He has done so, because Christians have so mistreated them and maligned them that He must take matters into His own hands. Whatever the reason, I thank Him for His intervention and pray that this will continue.

Prayer: "Father, open the eyes of the blind. Continue to reveal Yourself to more and more people, so that they may know You for who You really are, and not as men have portrayed You. Thank-you for doing this, in the name of Jesus."