If you are searching around on the internet for free MP3's by Dr John MacArthur, you'll discover what's commonly called "not muzzling the ox while he's treading out the grain", ie. you'll have to purchase most of John MacArthur's sermon (apart from a few on Sermon Audio and about 40 on Sermon Index), which is still absolutely worth doing, and has enabled the CD/Tape/DVD distribution ministry of sermon's by "Grace to You", to continue for nearly 40 years! (As well as books, articles, and other literature).
BUT!!! As of Wednesday the 5th November 2008 "Grace to You" - the ministry of Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California, will be "opening up the vault" to enable FREE access to 3500 sermons (no registration or anything else required). Simply go to http://www.gty.org/ starting this Wednesday!!! Thankyou Grace to You!
It’s not my purpose here, but it would be useful to study several other topics in relation to this one, to further understand today’s situation in the Middle East:
~ The nature of Islam. While all Muslims are not terrorists, and in fact most are peaceful people, Islam according to the Koran and as practiced by Mohummad is a religious ideology that calls for violence—particularly against Jews. Mohummad is quoted in the hadith as saying, The last day will not come until the Muslims confront the Jews and the Muslims destroy them. In that day Allah will give voice to the rocks and the trees and they will cry out, ‘O Muslim, O Abdullah, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him! The Koran also contains many passages inciting Muslims to wage war on Jews who don’t submit to Islam. What also must be understood is that Islam is essentially political in nature, and Islamic countries draw no distinction between “church and state”, as the distinction exists in western nations. These factors must be understood if the agenda of the Arab world against Israel is going to make any sense to us.
~ The Satanic roots of anti-Semitism. (A brilliant book addressing this topic is What On Earth is God Doing? by Renald E. Showers.) The Bible, and the history of the world, can be studied as an ongoing battle between God and Satan. Throughout history, Satan has inspired hatred against the Jews in an attempt to annihilate them—first, so that God could not provide the Messiah through Israel as he promised (examples of this include Cain killing Abel, Pharaoh commanding the murder of every firstborn Israelite son, and Herod commanding the murder of all male children under two years in and around Bethlehem), and second, so that God cannot fulfil the promises he has made about Israel’s restoration in the future (examples of this include the Romans driving Jews from the land, two thousand years of persecution of Jews in the Arabic world, the Nazi Holocaust, and the situation today in Israel).
~ That all Israel will be saved. Since the dawn of Catholicism, and because of the influence of the writings of Oregon, Augustine, and others since then, the majority of the church has for the best part of two centuries allegorised the scriptures in which God promises national restoration and salvation to Israel. It is surprising that this tradition continues today, despite the many prophecies that were fulfilled in Israel’s rebirth last century. The Bible is clear when it says that Israel will first be regathered to the land in unbelief (Ezekiel 20:33-35), that many will fall under God’s judgement and be killed (Ezekiel 22:17-22, Zechariah 13:8-9), and that all those who remain will repent and believe in Jesus as Messiah and be saved (Jeremiah 31:31-37, Romans 11:25-27).
I believe that if we can grasp these three things, today’s situation in the Middle East makes infinitely more sense.
Timothy Fellowship has been in existance for one year now! We hope that so far our meetings have been equipping, exhorting and uplifting for your theological/spiritual growth. You may have already received an invite for the 1st of November (2008) in the post. However, you may prefer to have your invite electronically. So here 'tis:
When: Saturday the 1st November 2008, 5.30pm till 9.30pm Where: Aldgate Baptist Church (South Australia). Teacher: Rev. Andrew Klynsmith (http://www.afes.org.au/ & http://www.newcreation.org.au/) Topic:"On Being A Theologian Of The Cross - Why God Is So Interested That You Still Know You're A Sinner". Cost: $20 (includes 2 course dinner, drinks, supper and free resources)
Any questions? Have you crashed into this web page somehow and would like to know more? Would you like to attend? Please email: timmyfellows@gmail.com
Remeber to visit this website regularly for updates, and to comment on what you read.
So, in summary, here are the popularly believed stories compared to the historical realities:
The “Palestinian people” had an identity with the land, and this identity goes back thousands of years. ON THE CONTRARY: Apart from famous highlights of conquest, the land remained desolate for much of the period between AD70 and 1917, and had few inhabitants. Jewish populations did however remain in the land continuously throughout the intervening period—so among others, Jews of this time were “Palestinian people” who maintained a continual identity with the land. In 1948, “alien” Jews returned after two thousand years, displacing these “Palestinian Arabs” and forcing them to flee their homeland. ON THE CONTRARY: Jewish claims to Palestine are based on continual Jewish presence in the land from the time of the Diaspora until today. The “Palestinian Arabs” were displaced by the war of 1948, but this was largely the result of Arab world leaders advising them to flee (and despite Jewish pleas for them to remain) so that allied Arab armies could defeat Israel without harming Arab brethren. It is Arab land—the Arabs were there first. ON THE CONTRARY: Jews have maintained a continual presence in the land for thousands of years, since the time of Joshua. The claim that Arabs have maintained a “Palestinian national identity” in the land is false, as admitted by Arab leaders. Peters doesn’t use this argument as she comes from a secular perspective, but the land is God’s land (Leviticus 25:23) which he gave to Israel as an “everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:8), “for all time” (Deuteronomy 4:40)—a covenant that God “remembers [i.e., honours] forever” (Psalm 105:8-10). The modern-day state of Israel comprises the totality of Palestinian land (and there is no other Palestinian land in which the “Palestinian refugees” could resettle). ON THE CONTRARY: 83% of the land set aside for a Jewish national home in the Palestine Mandate was surrendered to appease the Arab world. This land is the Palestinian state known as Jordan, and would have provided (and still does provide) an appropriate location for the “Palestinian refugees” to resettle. The “Palestinians” who today suffer poverty and oppression in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are Arabs, and descendants of Arabs who had lived in the disputed land for thousands of years before Jews displaced them. ON THE CONTRARY: The “Palestinians” that came to be refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were largely illegal immigrants, or descendants of illegal immigrants, who entered Palestine unlawfully from foreign Arab lands during the British mandatory period. Before this time, Palestine was a wasteland, with very few inhabitants. Israel is responsible for the current plight of the “Palestinians refugees”—therefore Israel is principally responsible for the ongoing strife in the Middle East today. ON THE CONTRARY: The “Palestinian refugees” have suffered immensely, and it would be unfair to forget this. However, they have been victims not so much to Israel as to an Arab agenda that has caused them to remain refugees for sixty years instead of being resettled in their original Arab homelands, or in alternative resettlement locations in the Arab world (which would parallel normal resolutions of refugee situations). Arab world leaders call for another “Palestinian state”—and it is with this agenda that the Arab world continues to discriminate against the “Palestinian refugees” by only allowing them this option, and not the option of resettlement elsewhere in the Arab world. To resettle them elsewhere would be to admit defeat to Israel, and acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.
If you live in a cave by yourself, you would firstly not be reading this, and secondly you would not have a noticed a significant increase in adherents to a religion commonly known as "Atheism".
Evangelism has been the main work of Christians through the ages, however, today there are many "Militant" Atheists bent on soul winning for the god of random chance and purpose-less existance. And the only reason they can speak in public so freely in this way, is thanks to an established Christian morality that Atheists are sitting in the "lap" of. While they slap the face of that Christian morality all the day long. Perhaps they should try preaching the same philosophy in Saudi Arabia or in Iran and see what happens then.
Evangelical Brain and Southern Baptist Seminary President, Dr Albert Mohler has recently released another book (in quick succession with about 5 other books) dealing with the "New Atheism" called: (Just over $10 at Koorong or Word in Adelaide, or if your the online shopping type, go here: Atheism Remix)
At first glance a Christian may get a little worried about this Evangelistic Atheism that has had the likes of Richard Dawkins bring his bubonic plague of irrational philosophy to the shores of Australia earlier this year. However, when you actually hear the arguements put forth, there is a sweet calm in the air! In fact Richard Dawkins uses about three "Logical Fallacies" in answering this question:
The sader thing [listening to the clapping] in this clip is that people actually think that was an answer to the young ladies question! It is unbelievable how illogical many minds have become in our society today. Yet these are the sorts of answers and arguements that Atheists use!
James Patrick Holding from Tektonics, has compiled a HUGE list of arguements that Atheists use, including many that are just for fun, but also many that are actually used by Atheists and Agnostics too.
Here is a sample (for the full list of 300 arguements click HERE [some are very funny]):
ARGUMENT FROM NUMBERS 1. Millions and millions of people don’t believe in God. 2. They can't all be wrong, can they? 3. Therefore, God doesn’t exist.
ARGUMENT FROM AMERICAN EVANGELISM 1. Telling people that God exists makes some televangelists filthy rich. 2. Therefore, God doesn’t exist.
ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT (I) 1. I define God to be X. 2. Since I cannot conceive of X, X must not exist. 3. Therefore, God doesn’t exist.
It is interesting how there really isn't a grain of logic used in many of these arguements. And I personally think it is okay to use a bit of satire to refute the clear and abvious sillyness of the Atheist Philosophy. Maybe you have some good apologetics you might like to add in the comments below.
There are several other factors that are important to understand when looking at the origin of the Arab-Jewish conflict.
First, that although the Jewish Diaspora of AD70-135 was comprehensive, it was not total. Peters’ research uncovered that “the Jewish presence in ‘the Holy Land’—at times tenuous—persisted throughout its bloody history. In fact, the Jewish claim—whether Arab-born or European-born Jew—to the land now called Palestine does not depend on a two-thousand-year-old promise. Buried beneath the propaganda—which has it that Jews ‘returned’ to the Holy Land after two thousand years of separation, where they found crowds of ‘indigenous Palestinian Arabs’—is the bald fact that Jews are indigenous people on the land who never left” (p. 81-82).
Later, during the seventh-century advent of Islam in Arabia, Jews there began to suffer enormous persecution and many were driven out or forced to flee. This resulted in many of them returning to the land of Palestine where they joined Jewish populations that had never left. Peters also cites records from the fifteenth century onwards that demonstrate continual Jewish presence on the land. Depending on the harshness of the current political power in the land, Jews would suffer varying degrees of persecution, but one thing is clear: that Jews, in one condition or another, lived in Palestine continually from the time of the Diaspora until the twentieth century.
This challenges the popularly-held view that the only basis for the Jews’ claim to the land of Palestine are the biblical promises, and an ancient history of presence there that is separated from the current day by two-thousand years of absence. (By the way, I believe that God’s promises to them also give them legitimate rights to land, as these promises were unconditional—see Genesis 17:8, Deuteronomy 4:40, Psalm 105:8-11, etc.). The international community may scoff at the Jews’ claim to the land because of their “religious” convictions based on biblical promises, but they should recognise Israel’s claim for political reasons—because Jews have maintained a continual presence in Palestine from the time of Joshua until today.
Secondly, before the return of many of the world’s Jews to the land in the twentieth century, Palestine was not a land inhabited by “throngs of Palestinian Arabs” who were indigenous to the land “from time immemorial” and who were later driven out by the Jews. For much of this time the land was in fact a wasteland with very few inhabitants. Peters quotes many descriptions given by various visitors to the land from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth century (pp. 158-161): - “Nothing there to be scene but a little of the old walls, which is yet Remayning and all the rest is grasse, mosse and Weedes much like to a piece of Rank or moist Grounde”—an English visitor, of Jerusalem in 1590 - “A house of robbers, murderers, the inhabitants are Saracens… It is a lamentable thing to see thus such a town. We saw nothing more stony, full of thorns and desert”—a Franciscan pilgrim, of Nazareth in the fifteenth century - “An inconsiderable village… Acre [the name of a town] a few poor cottages… nothing here but a vast and spacious ruin”—Nazareth in 1697 - “Desolate and roamed through by Arab bands of robbers”—German encyclopaedia, of Palestine in 1827 - “The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is that of a body of population”—The British Consul, of Palestine in 1857 - “The north and south [of the Sharon plain] land is going out of cultivation and whole villages are rapidly disappearing from the face of the earth. Since the year 1838, no less than 20 villages there have been thus erased from the map [by the Bedouin] and the stationary population extirpated.”—of Palestine in the 1860s - “Stirring scenes… occur in the valley [Jezreel] no more. There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent—not for thirty miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings.”—Mark Twain, of Palestine in 1867 - “I travelled through sad Galilee in the spring, and I found it silent, and, [In the vicinity of the Biblical Mount Gilboa], As elsewhere, as everywhere in Palestine, city and palaces have returned to the dust… This melancholy of abandonment… weighs on all the Holy Land”—Pierre Loti, French writer, of Palestine in 1895 - “As a result of centuries of Turkish neglect and misrule, following on the earlier ravages of successive conquerors, the land has been given over to sand, marsh, the anopheles mosquito, clan feuds, and Bedouin marauders. A population of several millions had shrunk to less than one tenth that number—perhaps a quarter of a million around 1800, and 300,000 at mid-century”—David Landes in “Palestine before the Zionists”
Thirdly—and this is related to the second point—the idea “that Arab-Muslim ‘Palestinians’ were ‘emotionally tied’ to ‘their own plot of land in Palestine’—based upon a ‘consistent presence’ on ‘Arab’ land for ‘thousands of years’” (p. 137)—is a recent contrivance of Arabs as “an appeal to the emotions that would ‘counter Zionism’” (p. 138). In fact, Peters quotes Zuheir Mushin, the then Military Department head of the PLO (an organisation established to mobilise the “Palestinian people” to recover their usurped homes), who in 1977 said: “Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel.” (p. 137).
Until recently, Peters writes, “the Arabic-speaking peoples in Palestine were not motivated towards Palestinian nationalism, and that it was long after, not before, the Jews settled their new farms that the first claims of ‘Palestinian Arab’ identity and an ‘age-old’ tie to the land would be invented” (p. 170). Peters explains this fabrication as an attempt by the Arab world “to match the Jewish history by inventing an ‘identity’ for the ‘Palestinian Arabs’ that would, they reason, ‘counter Zionism’” (p. 171). She quotes an observer, Folke Bernadotte, who in 1950 said, “The Palestinian Arabs have at present no will of their own. Neither have they ever developed any specific Palestinian nationalism… it would seem as though in existing circumstances most of the Palestinian Arabs would be quite content to be incorporated into Trans-jordan” (p. 234).
The final point is one that has already been highlighted, but as I mentioned earlier, it is foundational to properly understanding the origins of this conflict. During the British mandatory period of 1917-1948, when the British facilitated the entrance of Jews to the land, there was also a massive illegal immigration of foreign Arabs that was not officially recorded, and which continued largely unhindered by the British. Peters spends five chapters documenting these figures, concluding that hundreds of thousands of Arabs illegally entered Jewish land during this time.
This illegal immigration is not the issue in itself. The issue is that these populations of Arabs later came to be called “Palestinian”—they were those who were warned by invading Arab armies to flee their homes so that they wouldn’t be harmed as the Arab world pounced to annihilate Israel, and then ended up as “Palestinian refugees” in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, when in reality they never were Palestinian. Since that time, a false thousands-of-years history of attachment to the land, and a “Palestinian national identity” has been fabricated for them by the Arab world to evoke international compassion—and international condemnation of Israel. This has been largely successful. And, as we have seen, the Arab countries from which these refugees originally came have denied them re-entrance for resettlement, in order to perpetuate the myth.
In her concluding chapter, Peters passionately writes: “What must not continue, what cannot be allowed to continue, is the cynical scapegoating of the Jewish state and the Jewish refugees therein, or the sacrifice of the Arab refugees who are, in the name of ‘humanitarianism,’ being employed inhumanely as a war weapon against Israel by the Arab world. In the face of these major problems, too many politicians and persons of influence choose to shut their eyes to the facts. Too many refrain from critical analysis of propaganda in order to preserve their illusions about the price of oil. And far too many, the overwhelming bulk of us, had never been furnished with enough data to understand what the problem really was.” (p. 409-410).
Of her work, Peters says that “in the human sense, it is about the onrushing of peoples—about flight from conquest, from persecution, from corruption, from habit, and from poverty. But in essence, it is about the flight from fact.” (p. 10).
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