Sudden Destruction--George W. Bush

"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety*; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,..." 

1 Thessalonians 5:2-9

George's dad, George HW BUSH, set a precedent.  Every time an American President involved America in attempts to separate the Jewish people from the land of covenant promise, the nation has been hit with incredible and immediate disaster.  All one has to do is search the top ten natural disasters by cost and it can be noted that 9 of 10 are related to treatment of Israel.  Only Hurricane Hugo does not make that list.  As was seen in Sudden Destruction--Really! (1990s) , nearly all of these disasters hit within a 24 hour period after a decision to obstruct God's prophetic unveiling of Jesus and His covenant promises.  All were concurrent with hostile policies towards Israel.  

Also mentioned, many have written on this phenomenon and I strongly encourage you to purchase their books:

John McTernan--As America Has Done to Israel

John Mcternan and William Koenig--Israel: The Blessing or the Curse.

William Koenig--Eye to Eye-- Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel

David Brennan--Israel Omen    and   Israel Omen II

So what happened to America during George W Bush's tenure as President as it related to Israel?  Here are a few items to consider:

• American policies in the latter half of the Clinton years aided in destabilizing the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.  In the chaos, Ehud Barak won an election that Netanyahu was supposed to have won.  This was only Israel's second election ever specifically for the seat of Prime Minister.  At the same time, destabilization ran amok in American politics too.  Does anyone remember the hanging chads?
• Saudi Arabia's Prince Abdullah sends the President a letter of rebuke with threats to break ties over Bush's apparent siding with Isreal through statements and policies he made in public.  Fearing the loss of oil and an Arab ally, Bush has an abrupt change of heart over Israel.  Bush fires back a letter that says he strongly believes, "the Palestinian people have a right to self-determination and to live peacefully and securely* in their own state, in their own homeland..." Bush then intended to announce the shift in American foreign policy during the week of September 10, 2001.  We all know what stopped that announcement.  *Emphasis mine--see the scripture above.  With that, I strongly recommend that you watch these two episodes of Sid Roth who is interviewing Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn: Cahn interview part 1    Cahn interview part 2      
• America now takes an active role in assisting the Quartet who propels their "Road Map" plan for peace and security in the Middle East in April of 2003.  The Quartet members are the US, EU, Russia, and the nations of the UN.  During this time the US is hit by a record 562 tornadoes that do over 5 billion in damages and that earns the moniker--the worst weather in US history.
• As America is being pummeled by tornadoes, Europe is staring at its hottest weather in 500 years.  This heat wave is so powerful that 50,000 deaths are attributable to it.  I guess the EU should have stayed out attempting to stop God's covenant promises.  (There are many other instances of disasters related to Israel outside of the US that I will try to share in a later post.)
• As IDF troops begin evacuating the Gaza as the US originated plans called for, that same day, August 23, 2004, a tropical depression formed  that would eventually become a hurricane named Katrina.  Ironically, Katrina means "cleansing".  As the last Jew left the Gaza Katrina strengthened to a category 5 storm but it would make landfall as a category 3 storm.   While the Gaza was being bulldozed for the Palestinians, Katrina was bulldozing the Gulf Coast.  Jews have not been able to return to this covenant land and neither have many Americans been able to return home.  David Brennan, mentioned above, was a New Orleans resident at the time of the storm.
• Immediately, the Palestinians begin a campaign of terror by launching hundreds of rockets into Israel.  America had destabilized the southwestern border of Israel and brought terror to the people there.  About the same time, America's southwestern border became highly unstable and parts of it seem to have been lost to the drug cartels. 
• As America and the world joined in to remove the children of Israel from the land promised to them, the world economy began to suffer as well.  At the end of 2008, Bush was highly pressuring Israel to vacate more covenant land as was the rest of the world.  A series of economic downturns with various causes sent America and the world to the brink of an economic abyss.  Notice that the dates of each DJIA drop seem to be sending a clear message.  September 29, 08--777 point drop (a biblical number relating to Christ) this was the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.   September 30 to October 8, 2008 the markets post the worst ten days since the great depression and these are the Jewish Days of Awe in preparation for the Day of Atonement.  October 9, 2008 the markets sees a drop of 679 points on Yom Kippur--the Day of Atonement.  The market drops 737 points on October 15, 2008 which is also the Feast of Tabernacles.  Add it up--the markets lost 2193 points on all of the fall biblical Jewish holidays that year.

There are many other "coincidences" such as these during those years but time and space will not permit them here.  As a last note until we look at the hostile policies of the current administration, it is important to note that each President who directly opposed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel has left office in shame.  George HW Bush's slow response to Hurricane Andrew led to a drop in the polls and a loss to Bill Clinton--Andrew was related to anti-Israeli policies.  Clinton left in shame over the Monica Lewinsky scandal being only the second US President to face impeachment.  He should not have humiliated PM Netanyahu.  Finally, George W. Bush left with some of the lowest ratings ever received by a US President. His handling of Katrina forever marred his Presidency.  It is interesting to note that both that he and his dad left office in shame over handling storms.  

Are you preparing for the coming of Messiah Yeshua?  You can't stop him and standing in His way will only get you steamrolled.  It is better to make your peace treaty now with the soon coming King.  Jesus Christ is Soon2Come!

Today's News

The Isaiah 9:10 prophecy: Is U.S. under God's judgment?  An article on Jonathan Cahn mentioned above.

Quartet again calls for resumptio... JPost - Diplomacy & Politics

Iceland recognizes state of Palestine - Israel News, Ynetnews  And with such a big volcano there too!

European members of Security Council condemn Israeli settlements, settler violence - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Israel attacks European criticism of West Bank settlement activity - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News  And with Europe's economy once again teetering on the brink of an economic abyss again too!

U.S. to leave Iraqi airspace clear for strategic Israeli route to Iran - Washington Times  ***

US warns Syria's Assad to stop killing - JPost - Middle East

Whatsoever HE Says...

His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

John 2:5

You can tell a lot about a person when you really hear what they say.  It is the same with Mary, and Christmas time is a great time to listen to her.  There is no doubt that she stands apart from every other woman who has ever lived.  Yet, by her own confession, Jesus is truly the star of the Bethlehem manger scene and rightly so!

Notice these words of Mary in Luke 1:47, "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."   Mary made a very important statement.  She needed a savior.  Every man woman and child who has ever lived needs salvation.  Not even the greatest saints of the Bible were exempt from this need.  It was their acknowledgement of this need that made them great and not just their deeds.  Even Mary understands that she is need of salvation.  Since she is about to deliver the Redeemer, she needs His redemption.  What humility!  It is even possible that the phrase "God my savior" (Theos mou soter in Greek) is an admission of needing Jesus.  Jesus' Hebrew name is Yehowshua (often shortened to Yeshua) and it literally means YHWH is Savior.  Jesus, therefore, is "God my Savior".  As the words of a song I heard yesterday said, "Mary knew when she delivered she would be delivered."

The great saints of the Bible also believed first and then acted on their faith.  They did not do good works to convince God that they were good--that is being your own savior.  Working to appease God will only lead you away from God as it robs Him of the glory of being your savior.  The Bible saints trusted the grace of God and then they acted on His word.  Mary, also, is no exception.  When Gabriel delivers God's message Mary's first words were, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man (Luke 1:34)?" She is not in doubt, but she is simply trying to understand a concept that is beyond her grasp.  It is her next words recorded in Luke 1:38 that reveal her reaction to the grace presented to her, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."  What a thought provoking response!  She heard God's word and then responded by faith once she had simple understanding.  Do you need salvation as Mary did or have some other need you need met?  Hear God's word for you, understand it, and believe!

All great saints keep their focus on God and not self.  That is why Mary also always seemed to shift the focus to Jesus.  It is interesting to note her words in John 2:5 (above).  These are her last known recorded words in scripture and they occur before Jesus begins His public ministry.  They direct us back to Jesus.  Not only is she focusing us on Jesus, so is the author, John.  How?  John is by what he does not record Mary saying.  No other person spent as much time with Mary after the resurrection of Christ as did John.  Jesus' last words to them both as recorded in john 19:26-27 were, "Woman, behold thy son! (John), Behold thy mother!  John further records, "And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."  History informs us that Mary was near John for the rest of her life.  Now, why did John not include more of her words?  Like Mary, John also knew that the true Star of Bethlehem was Jesus.  Mary and John both wanted all readers to focus on the only one who brings salvation--Jesus.

Not only are great saints focused on God, they also are obedient to what He asks of them.  Mary, again, is no exception.  Two of Jesus' brothers are also Bible authors.  James (a bad transliteration of Jacob) and Jude (Judah) also were sons of Mary.  As recorded above, Jesus told Mary to stay with John for reasons we can only guess at.  James was an outstanding pastor and early church leader, so it is possible that Jesus' command was associated with that fact.  What is interesting is that Mary left biological children to stay with an apostle of her Son as He wished.  She listened to her own advice and calls to us to do the same.  "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."  

During this Christmas season, are you willing to be like Mary and all of the great saints of the Bible?  Simply follow the example left us by Mary.  See your need for salvation that is only found in Jesus.  Act out that simple belief by asking Him to cleanse you of sin and come into your life.  As an act of love and devotion, let Jesus become the focus of all of your life.  Also as an act of love and devotion, follow Him obediently always!  There is not a greater time to accept this great gift God wrapped in swaddling clothes than now!