WHO WERE THE PHILISTINES AFTER WHOM THE ROMANS NAMED PALESTINE?

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The Philistines are first mentioned in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. They descended from Noah’s son Ham, through his son Mizraim. The Hamitic people spread widely, settling across the Mediterranean region, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), Egypt, Libya, and Sudan. Yet, many of these people groups are enigmatic. For example, these are the people groups (note the plural -im ending in this list of names) who came from Mizraim (translated Egypt in the ESV):

Egypt (Mizraim) fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim. (Genesis 10:13–14)

The next mention of the Philistines is in the time of Abraham. He was living in southern Canaan, in the environs of Beersheba. Water was (and is) scarce in that region, so control over the water sources was important. Unsurprisingly, there were struggles between Abraham’s house (which probably numbered about 1,000 people at the time; and the Philistines who lived to the west: So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. (Genesis 21:32) And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines. (Genesis 21:34)

Abimelech is a name, but it is also a title. The Hebrew word ab (אב) means father and melech (מלך) means ‘king’, so the name Abimelech translates to ‘my father is king’. We are not yet told where this leader of the Philistines lives, but Abraham lived in Beersheba and at least visited a town to the west called Gerar. Abraham’s son Isaac also had dealings with the Philistines. In this case, however, we are given additional geographical details:

“Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.” (Genesis 26:1)

Since the name Abimelech can also be used as a title, this is not necessarily the same person that Abraham knew. But note that Abimelech is living in Gerar. This was a city situated northwest of Beersheba, on a different tributary within the same river system.

This explains much of the struggles the people were having about the control of water and why a treaty was needed. Abraham’s large contingent of people was in direct competition with the Philistines in the neighboring Gerar Valley.

In Genesis 26, we have the famous account of Rebecca being stolen by Abimelech (just like Sarah had been [Genesis 20]), the account of the Philistines stopping up Isaac’s wells due to jealousy of his large household and large flocks, and the account of how Isaac re-dug the wells.

We do not hear of the Philistines again until the Exodus, where the Israelites are told to not take the short route out of Egypt “by way of the Philistines” (Exodus 13:17). Later, the “sea of the Philistines” (i.e., the Mediterranean) was used as a boundary for the Promised Land (Exodus 23:31). Strangely, in Exodus 23, 24, and 33, when listing the nations that are to be displaced, no mention of Philistines is made.

A confusing array of tribes and nations

The term ‘Canaanites’ is used inclusively to describe the many tribes and groups that were living in the land of Canaan. The term ‘Philistines’ also describes a panoply of people groups living in Canaan. It is not always easy to separate the two terms and it is not always clear to which of the main groups one of the subgroups (e.g., the Pelethites discussed below) belong.

First, there were many non-Canaanite nations in the area, many of whom were Semitic:

  • To the northeast lived the Aramaeans, named for Aram, a son of Shem. Their home base was the city of Damascus.
  • When Abraham first moved into Israel, he was accompanied by his nephew, Lot. Lot’s sons were Moab and Ammon. The Moabites and Ammonites lived to the east of the Jordan River.
  • Abraham himself had several sons. His first, Ishmael, gave rise to the Ishmaelites, a collection of 12 main tribes (Genesis 17:20) that also lived on the east side of the Jordan River.
  • Abraham’s second son, Isaac, had two sons of his own, Jacob and Esau. Edom was another name for Esau. Like the others, the Edomites lived east of the Jordan.
  • Abraham had more sons later in life. One of those was Midian. When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, in one verse the Bible says they sold him to both Midianite and Ishmaelite traders (Genesis 37:28). Ishmael was the older brother of Midian. The two were living in the same region and their names were beginning to be comingled even at this early date.
  • There were additional tribes that claimed Ham as their main patriarch (e.g., Sabtah and Sabteca), but these Arabian tribes do not factor into the story much.
  • Next were the many Canaanite nations and tribes. Only two of Canaan’s sons are named (Sidon and Heth). The other tribes are ‘Canaanite’, but we cannot know how they connect.
  • Hamath was a city to the northeast of Israel on the bank of the Euphrates River. The Hamathite territory was included in the ‘land’ promised to Abraham and which was later controlled by the Israelites under David and Solomon.
  • To the northwest were the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. These are not named among the nations that were to be displaced, but Sidon was a son of Canaan.
  • The Hittites were another Canaanite tribe. Their center of operations was in northern Israel. Bathsheba’s husband Uriah was a Hittite. It is unclear if the ancient Hittite empire that was centered in Anatolia was named after these people.
  • The term ‘Amorite’ occurs frequently in ancient histories. They ranged widely. The Bible says they came from Canaan. In Scripture, we see them living on both sides of the Jordan. Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of Heshbon, were Amorite leaders who lived on the east side of the Jordan and were defeated in battle (Numbers 21:21–35). The Amorites also figure heavily in the initial invasion of Canaan because the Israelite route went from Jericho up into the Amorite territory on the west side of the Jordan (e.g., Joshua 10:5).
  • The Jebusites lived in and around the future city of Jerusalem. They are also associated with Amorites.

There were other people in the area for whom we have little information. Some were of great stature, specifically the Rephaim (Deuteronomy 3:11) and the Anakim. The Rephaim were driven out of the area on the east side of the Jordan by the Ammonites before the Israelites entered Canaan (Deuteronomy 2:20–21). The Valley of Rephaim that led down from Jerusalem to the coastal plain (Joshua 18:16) may have been named for them. The Avvim and the Geshurites were additional enigmatic tribes, but they lived between Mt Hermon and the Sea of Galilee. The mother of two of David’s children (Absalom and Tamar) was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur. (2 Samuel 3:3, 13:1)

Finally, we have the Philistines. In the book of Joshua, we learn that the Israelites were unable to conquer Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, the five-city “pentapolis” of the Philistines (Joshua 13:2–3). That region was controlled by the Philistines throughout the time of the Judges (e.g., the first period of Israelite rule after the Exodus; see Judges 3:3). For example, Shamgar famously killed 300 Philistines with an ox goad (Judges 3:31), and Samson had many dealings with them (Judges 14–16). There are many mentions of them throughout the books of 1 and 2 Samuel (e.g., Goliath was called a Gittite, that is, he was a Philistine from the city of Gath). They are also mentioned frequently in the prophets (e.g., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Obadiah, and Zephaniah). For example:

“Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?”. Amos 9:7

Note here that Amos, who lived in the 8th century BC says the Philistines came from Capthor (Crete). Jeremiah, who was writing about 100 years after Amos, confirms where they came from:

“… because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains. For the Lord is destroying the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.”. Jeremiah 47:4

Answering the riddle of the Philistines

The solution to these many puzzles is that there seems to be two different people groups called ‘Philistines’ in the Bible. The latter Philistines were indeed from Crete, but these may not have been the same Philistines that Abraham knew. In fact, the Bible records a population displacement in this very area:

As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place. (Deuteronomy 2:23)

The book of Deuteronomy was written right before the Israelites invaded Canaan (~1406 BC). Thus, these new people (1) came to the area from Crete sometime between the time of Isaac and the time of Moses, a span of about 300 years. But the Bible refers to a group called the Avvim who lived in the area where the Philistines are also said to have lived.

Yet, the earlier record from Genesis does not claim they were from Capthor (although their relatives, the Capthorim, were). About 1,500 years later, the Bible claims they were. Thus, we have some confusion as to who these earlier Philistines were. If they came from Capthor, when? And, if they had come prior to the time of Abraham, why would that still be important more than a millennium and a half later?

It is strange that the Philistines are not mentioned in the ‘land’ promised to Abraham. Neither are they mentioned by the spies who searched out the land 40 years prior to the invasion of Canaan: But who were these later Philistines of David’s time? In the historical record, the enigmatic Sea Peoples attempted to invade Egypt during the reign of Ramses 111 ( 19th Dynasty, approximately 1186-1155 BC). This would have been during the period of the Judges, almost 300 years after the Exodus, and Israel had long been established as a nation. Their failed invasion was famously depicted on the walls of Ramses 111’s mortuary temple (Medinet Habu), but the diagram includes animals and women in the scene. Thus, the Sea People were not attacking; they were migrating. About the same time, we witness the end of the HIttite, Mycenaean, and Mitanni empires in the Mediterranean region. The reasons for all the upheaval are unknown, and we cannot seperate cause and effect (e.g., were the Sea People marauders, or were they seeking to escape some other group of attackers?). The Egyptian records claim that Rameses forcibly settled the survivors in southwest Cannaan, right where the ‘Philistine‘ cities were in Abraham’s day.

After Canaan had been successfully invaded by the Israelites, the Bible describes many of the people who had yet to be conquered. These include Philistines, Geshurites, the Avvim, and others:

“Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess. This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim, in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath, all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel.” (Joshua 13:1–6)

By the time of David, there were multiple foreign people groups in the land, and it is a bit confusing who was there first and who may have come later. Some of these groups are closely associated with the Philistines, e.g., the Geshurites:

This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites. (Joshua 13:3)

The Bible claims the Philistines were in Canaan from the time of Abraham to the time of the final Old Testament prophets. This places them in the land before the significant influx of pottery and DNA that is associated with the island of Crete. This does not mean the Bible is wrong about the early Philistines, however. There are several possible solutions, each of which is faithful to biblical history:

  • The earlier people were called Philistines by their contemporaries; the later people could have been given that name because they lived in Philistine territory.
  • The earlier people could have been given the name ‘Philistines’ retroactively because they lived in the area later dominated by the real Philistines.
  • The earlier and later Philistines were cousins or otherwise related by language or blood, so the new arrivals simply moved into a similar culture. In other words, they were both original ‘Philistines’, but can be distinguished by episodes of migration.

VIOLENCE AND WAR IS IN THE DNA OF HUMAN BEINGS

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Violence and war seem to be in the DNA of human beings as far back as Cain and Abel. Practically from the beginning, the soil of Earth is tainted with the blood of both guilt and innocence.

Just 1600-plus years after Creation the violence on Earth grew so bad that God poured out His wrath upon the Earth with the global flood of Noah’s day. Billions of dead things buried all over the world (picture – fossil graveyard), including fossil fuels formed from dead vegetation are testimony enough of God’s judgement. Slow gradual change over billions of years did not produce fossils and fossil fuels.

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them.” Genesis 6:11-13

After the flood, it did not take long before God created the nations by confusing languages and ultimately, there was a people who made lawlessness and violence a sport: The Philistines. The most famous Philistine, of course, was Goliath the giant, who foolishly confronted the shepherd of Israel, David. When Rome desecrated and decimated Jerusalem 1,900 years ago, its final insult against Israel was to impose the name of Palestina, recalling Israel’s arch-enemy, the Philistines.

The commonly held view is that Hadrian officially renamed Judea Syria Palaestina after his Roman armies suppressed the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (the Second Jewish Revolt) in 135 C.E.; it was viewed as a move intended to sever the connection of the Jews to their historical homeland. However, Jewish writers such as Philo, in particular, and Josephus, who flourished while Judea was still formally in existence, used the name Palestine for the Land of Israel in their Greek works. The name Palestine, surprisingly, may have originated as a Greek pun on the translations of “Israel” and the “Land of the Philistines.” Regardless, Hadrian made it worse when he renamed Jerusalem—the already 1,000-year-old Jewish capital—Aelia Capitolina and turned it into a pagan city. Also, it must be remembered there were no Arabs in the land.

On October 7, the spirit of the Philistines rose through the Iranian proxy of Hamas, which means “violence” in the Hebrew Scriptures. No one can deny the massacre of October 7, especially since the murderers themselves recorded the atrocities. Yes, Hamas is so committed to its barbarism that its members took video of their invasion of a sovereign territory. They filmed its rage, which they took out on not only against the military, but innocent civilians. They bludgeoned, burned, beheaded babies. They raped women before murdering them.

God’s Word, the Bible reveals that we are fast approaching the time when God will pour out His wrath again upon an unrepentant world with the Trumpet (Revelation 8) and Bowl (Revelation 16) judgements.

“Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea,… Revelation 8:6-8

“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image... Revelation 16:1-2

What will people do when God pours out His wrath upon the Earth? At the final Bowl judgement (Seveth) they cursed God because the plague was so severe.

“And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail because the plague was so severe.” Revelation 16:21

HAMAS’S INVASION OF ISRAEL IS AN IMPORTANT END TIMES EVENT

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Since October 7, the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas has steadily caused ruin and demise — even beyond the Middle East.

The trauma Hamas inflicted upon the Israeli people during the initial attack including the “massacred” neighborhoods, the burning of houses and people, and loved ones ripped away by “a murderous regime.” means Israel has no option but to proceed with the war until Hamas is eliminated no matter how long it takes and the cost, economic and political. Sadly, we are already seeing any goodwill Israel had in the International Community being eroded. It is hard to comprehend the size of marches for the Palestinians and the vehement antisemitism being expressed in most Western Countries. It is not only Muslims marching but many young Westerners.

What about the media? In Australia, journalists signed a group letter in 2021 demanding that journalists be allowed to be activists for Palestinians against their Israeli oppressors – and it has flowered since the October 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists.

Despite what horror Hamas inflicted on women and children, within days, even hours, there were petitions circulating and group letters, signed by journalists, that branded Israel a colonialist apartheid state and excused the October 7 horrors by providing “context” or simply ignoring them. All subsequent petitions, group letters, and statements from every conceivable and inconceivable group, such as Queers for Palestine, have followed the formula of these initial letters and petitions.

The latest one, signed by 300 journalists and approved by the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, the journalists union, is in many ways just a rehash of all the letters and petitions that preceded it. It is confirmation of the fact the contagion is real: a significant number of journalists see themselves as warriors for a cause, the cause of the oppressed Palestinian people, occupied for 75 years by a racist white supremacist state that is perpetrating genocide in Gaza. What this means, in effect, is a call for reporting that is not open and fact-based at all but based on the simplistic and distorted view of Israelis and their Jewish fellow travellers as ruthless and heartless oppressors of the powerless and victimised Palestinian people.

When you consider the amount of land Israel occupies compared to the Muslim countries that surround it you realize that what the Bible tells us, that it is not about the land, it is a spiritual war that is raging, and as prophesied, the only way it will end is when Jesus returns to defeat all the nations against Israel at the battle of Armageddon.

“Behold, a day is coming for the Lord… I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle… Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one-half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.” Zechariah 14:1-4

“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, he judges and makes war… And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” Revelation 19:11,14-16

“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.” Revelation 19:18-21

TRUTH ABOUT ISRAEL AND RECENT EVENTS

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CONTENT OF VIDEO – Vlad Savchuk interviews Joel Richardson on recent events: Hamas invading Israel and how this fits with end times prophecies – Antichrist & Israel War.

1. Intro 1:04 – Why do Christians stand in opposition to supporting Israel?

2, 5:35 – It is never justifiable to inflict genocide

3. 16:22 – Jewish identity is not just all about the bloodline

4. 21:00 – What is the synagogue of satan?

5. 27:09 – What would you say to people who claim all of Jesus’ prophecies have already come to pass?

6. 37:12 – Has the futurist end-time view been embraced by the early church fathers?

7. 39:46 – Different views between preterists and futurists

8. 46:44 – Could you give examples of how some prophecies have matched history

9. 51:38 – Does the temple have to be built in order for Christ to come?

10. 59:10 – Biblical understanding and Jewish text concerning the battle that will bring the day of the Lord

11. 1:05:14 – Why is the antichrist most likely not a European leader?

Many great questions. You will need to watch the video to get the answers.

THE TRUTH ABOUT PALESTINE

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The young Australian actor Nathaniel Buzolic is an exceptional example of someone who did his homework before making a decision and telling the world about it. In an interview that took place today on Israel’s Channel 13, Nathaniel mentioned that when he was growing up, he was familiar with the Israel-Palestinian narrative as it was told to him by Palestinians. But Nate was eager to learn the facts, asked the right questions, and even traveled to Israel to witness events with his own eyes. So the next time you see celebrities and influencers taking sides in any conflict, regardless of nation, religion, culture, or whatever, ask yourself if these people made even a fraction of the effort that Nathaniel Buzolic made. You know what? Ask yourself if any of the people you encounter on social media and in real life put in such efforts to understand why Nathaniel Buzolic eventually decided to bravely stand with Israel.

God has raised up Nathaniel for such a time as this. It is obvious that Nathaniel knows God and is doing what He requires of him by walking away from all of the worldly success he could have achieved as an actor.

Australian Actor Nathaniel Buzolic Interview in Israel’s Channel 13

Let’s remind ourselves just what happened three weeks ago. Two Gaza-based terrorist groups inspired by Islamist ideology, committed to the destruction of the state of Israel and backed by at least one government, staged an attack whose sadism and savagery exceeded even the horrors perpetrated by the Russian butchers of Bucha in Ukraine. The video evidence of their crimes, much of it recorded by the perpetrators, is horrifying. More than 1400 Israelis were killed, including children and even babies. More than 200 were kidnapped and are being held hostage. The idea that Israel should do nothing in response to this outrage – other than increase the flow of aid into Gaza – defies both human emotion and strategic sense. Only those wearing ideological blindfolds cannot see that.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR PLANET EARTH ON GOD’S AGENDA?

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We already know how the next few years will play out. Why? Because the Bible, God’s Word is largely a book of prophecy. There are more than 1,000 Bible prophecies about Jesus’ second coming to Earth so I am sure God wants to prepare us for this event. Sadly, the religious leaders of the time of Jesus first coming to Earth misread it totally, not because of what the Scriptures said but because they wanted a Saviour from their Roman oppressors. They did not want the suffering servant depicted in Isaiah 53. What about the religious leaders of our day? Well, the Bible tells us that there will be a great falling away from true faith in the last days (apostasy) before Jesus returns. We see that already happening as many of the denominational/institutional churches have accepted gay marriage, and homosexual pastors/leaders. Look what Jesus told us would happen in the end times:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12

Are you taking these words of Jesus seriously? You should, because the re-establishment of the nation of Israel 75 years ago was the first major end-times prophecy fulfilled. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus’ second coming to Earth is to rescue the nation of Israel at the battle of Armageddon when all the armies of many nations come against Israel. Israel did not exist as a nation prior to 1948 so all the end times prophecies which are Israel and Middle East-centered made no earthly sense. Its rebirth was miraculous and God has sustained it miraculously ever since despite Satan’s desperate efforts to destroy it.

The good news is that what’s next for this planet is Jesus’ Millennial reign on this earth for one thousand years, The earth will then have had six thousand years of man’s rule under Satan’s dominion. It is still to have 1,000 years with Jesus ruling the nations with the glorified Saints so that the covenants God made with Abraham, David, and the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) can be fulfilled. Israel will finally be the leading nation in the world with its Messiah ruling from a magnificent new Jerusalem.

During Jesus’ Millennial reign, Satan is bound in the Abyss but God allows him to come out at the end of the thousand years and he is still able to gather an army whose number is like the sand of the sea. I often wondered why during Jesus’ Millennial reign, He and the Saints have to rule the nations with a “rod of iron” until I read the following Scripture.

“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10

END TIMES PROPHESIED WARS & RUMOURS OF WARS

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World on alert as call for vengeance ignites fear of Armageddon

This headline appeared in THE AUSTRALIAN (newspaper) on Friday, October 20th, 2023.

How the tables of world opinion can turn. It has taken an enormity of an appalling nature in Gaza – the bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. Hamas claims Israel is responsible for the bombing. Israel and US President Joe Biden claim it was a misfired rocket from Gaza Strip’s Islamic Jihad. The Israeli Defence Forces has produced footage it claims dispels a “global media campaign” from Hamas terrorists to inflame the ­region over the hospital tragedy. Muslims can lie to infidels. it is in the Koran so I know who I believe. Hamas is using its incompetence (a misfired rocket) to fuel rage among supporters of Palestine.

Quran 3:54, og Quran 8:30; “Allah is the most accomplished liar and deceiver.”

The hospital carnage and suffering have resulted in a tinder box of horror and rage, particularly in Muslim nations and among supporters of Palestinians. There are calls for a worldwide uprising, for vengeance, for retribution. Who could possibly benefit from letting loose a bloody and global maelstrom of death and destruction? One abhorrent truth is that there are those who do see it as in their interests to fan and release such an Armageddon.

HAMAS ATTACK ON ISRAEL

They weren’t hunting for Israelis, much less for soldiers; they were hunting for Jews. Their instructions were simple: kill as many as you can. Nor were the civilian casualties collateral damage: they were the objective. And maiming babies, butchering children, raping women, and defiling corpses wasn’t the work of a handful of sadists; they were a pervasive feature of the operation.

At least the Einsatzgruppen – the Nazi brigades who murdered nearly half a million Jews in a matter of months, forcing their victims to stand naked at the edge of mass graves before shooting them through the head – tried to hide their crimes, showing they had some inkling of breaching morality’s fundamental principles. Hamas’s killers did the opposite: they videoed their atrocities and posted them – to howls of joy that echoed from Gaza to Lakemba – on the internet.

Only one word can describe these people: evil. To use the term may seem as anachronistic as speaking of abomination, uncleanness or iniquity. Even the Oxford English Dictionary tells us “evil” has been “commonly superseded, in familiar speech, by “bad”. But exactly as we know good from bad, so we can differentiate evil from ordinary wickedness – and this was it.

“Radical evil”, thought Immanuel Kant, is ultimately incomprehensible: to explain human action, he argued, is to appeal to good reasons; and there can never be good reasons for murdering babies, mutilating toddlers, and disfiguring the dead. However, even if we can’t make that evil intelligible, we can capture its essence: the denial of the victim’s humanity.

Thus, just as the Nazis believed Jews were less than human, so the Islamists, gripped in their death cult, refuse to acknowledge that Jews have the moral standing that would protect them from humiliation, degradation, or extermination. And just as it was absolutely impossible for the Allies to make peace with Hitler, so it is absolutely impossible to make peace with Hamas.

Hamas knew that Israel, as it grieved its dead, would be faced with a choiceless choice. And Hamas also knew it could maximize the scale of the tragedy by placing rocket launchers in schools, hiding its command centres in hospitals, and preventing Palestinians from fleeing to safety. Its goal, since it was founded in 1987, has never been to protect civilians; it has always used them as shields, compounding its crimes against humanity. Now, as Gaza yet again groans in seas of blood, the Palestinians losing their lives are Hamas’s victims every bit as surely as their Israeli counterparts.

Much of the Bible (God’s Word) is prophecy. It even reveals how God will end His story of His Cosmos. The principal battle that has been raging from the beginning is a spiritual battle and it is centered around the nation that God established for His purposes, ISRAEL. The most significant end-times prophecy was the re-establishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 and since that time Satan has been doing his utmost to destroy it. We are fast approaching the prophesied last seven years prior to Jesus’ return to rescue His nation at the battle of Armageddon.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

“For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty… And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” Revelation 16:14,16

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HAMAS INVASION

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This invasion of Israel was not a protest march that got out of hand. It was not a complaint about living conditions. It was the latest war launched by Palestinians to demonstrate their unwillingness to share the land. And it cannot win. If the world wants peace in the Middle East, it must ensure that what Hamas has done is not rewarded in any way. Only once the failure of such violence is obvious to them and to the Palestinian people will it ever stop.

The murderous rampage of Hamas, the killing, the raping, the kidnapping, is so shocking, so sickening it seems almost frivolous to say that it was also ironic. The apologists for this action suggest that Israel’s security measures – its fence, its border posts, its searches – are so oppressive that they are part of what is to blame for what has happened. Yet these terrible acts show that the security measures were necessary. In fact, they were inadequate to prevent this slaughter.

WHERE SHOULD THE JEWS GO?

Thomas Keneally tells this story in his book Schindler’s Ark, a volume that recounts one of the Holocaust’s most extraordinary stories. But sadly there was nothing exceptional about this exchange. At the end of the war, of those Jews who survived, very few could ever go home. Certainly nobody in my family did. And it was that – the many hundreds of thousands of displaced Jews with nowhere to go – that played a big role in changing my grandfather’s mind about Zionism. That, and the reflection that the experience of Jews over the previous decade had vindicated much of the Zionist argument.

The death and displacement of millions, including so many who were close to him, made him a pragmatic supporter of a state of Israel. It seemed to him obvious that there had to be an answer to the question asked by the Brinnlitz prisoners. Where do we go now? My paternal grandfather, also not a Zionist before the war, felt the same.

So we became a Zionist family, having never been one. We did not move to Israel because (unlike many others) we had alternatives. But we supported its creation, regarding it as an obvious necessity. A century of slaughter and oppression of Jews, culminating in the Holocaust, had made the case for a safe space for Jews unanswerable. And the repeated failings of other states to open themselves to Jews, even when they knew of mass murder, meant that this safe space would have to be a Jewish state.

And the United Nations reached the same conclusion. In 1947, having toured Palestine and visited Jewish refugee camps in Europe, it proposed to divide the land between Jews and Palestinian Arabs with a state for each. The Jews accepted, the Arab states launched a war. And the Palestinians are still fighting this partition plan.

Like my grandfather in 1927, I understand why the Palestinians did not want to share the land. But like my grandfather in 1947, I cannot see any choice but sharing. And while sharing is rejected by the Palestinians I cannot see any choice but to resist – stubbornly and absolutely and, when necessary, with force, even great force. For Israel must be defended. The question of Brinnlitz remains – where else are we to go?

This then is the question to put to anyone who says they are “pro Palestine” or wish a “Free Palestine” or waves the Palestinian flag. Do you mean in a state alongside Israel, within safe borders? In which case, yes, there is much to talk about. Even though it’s difficult and both sides have debating points that are hard to get past, yes, let’s talk. Or do you mean a state instead of Israel? In which case, no, definitely and firmly not.

Forty five per cent of the world’s Jews now live in Israel. Where else are they to go?

Keneally’s argument does not address the real story of who owns the land. God owns the land and He gave it to Israel. Also, God has told us how the story ends: Jesus will rule all the nations of the Earth from Jerusalem. Israel will be the ruling nation on Earth for 1000 years (Jesus Millennial Kingdom).

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 2

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To gain additional insight into the economic upheaval AI might cause, I sought the guidance of AI itself.

Introducing ChatGPT Plus

We’re launching a pilot subscription plan for ChatGPT, a conversational AI that can chat with you, answer follow-up questions, and challenge incorrect assumptions.

Specifically, I asked ChatGPT, “Which industries are suffering because of AI?”

The brainy bot replied…

AI and other advanced technologies are disrupting and transforming various industries, causing some companies to face challenges in adapting to these changes.

For example, the retail industry is being disrupted by the rise of e-commerce platforms that leverage AI-powered recommendation engines and personalized marketing strategies to offer consumers a more convenient and personalized shopping experience. Similarly, the transportation industry is facing potential disruption as autonomous vehicles become more prevalent, which could impact companies that rely on human drivers.

The finance industry is also undergoing a transformation as AI is being used to analyze vast amounts of data and improve decision-making in areas such as risk assessment, fraud detection, and customer service. However, this has also led to concerns about job displacement and the potential for AI to reinforce bias and discrimination.

But this broad answer did not provide any particularly insightful details, like the detail that AI is already imperiling the jobs of fortune-cookie writers and warehouse workers.

It’s true; as the New York Times reports…

The fortune-writing industrial complex… is on the brink of a major upheaval. Or, as a cookie might put it: Beware—the machines are coming for your job.

OpenFortune Inc., a New York-based company that supplies printed messages to well over a dozen fortune-cookie factories around the world, says it has started using ChatGPT technology to potentially generate a near-limitless inventory of new messages…

By some estimates, three billion fortune cookies are made by factories around the world every year. Nearly all are written by a handful of fortune-cookie factory owners, their families or small teams of copywriters.

Or at least the messages were written by a small team of copywriters. AI is starting to push some of these copywriters out of the cookie factory and into the soup kitchen.

AI is also impacting the logistics industry. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), for example, is actively developing AI-enabled robotics in its warehouses to perform tasks that humans currently do.

And while Amazon asserts that its AI-powered endeavors will create over “700 new categories of jobs,” the giant logistics firm recently announced 27,000 job layoffs.

Connect those dots however you like.

Even more ominously, AI is not only threatening our jobs, but it is also threatening our humanity. That’s because AI can produce work that seems “manmade” but isn’t. It can produce everything from love letters to original paintings to rap music, including songs that “borrow” the voices of deceased rappers.

But no matter how creative AI technologies like ChatGPT may be, they never become human. They are intrinsically soulless. They provide artistry without art; knowledge without wisdom; logic without reason; and ethics without morality.

As such, they could become a toxin in the watershed of accumulated human knowledge and experience.

Over time, AI might produce such unfathomable volumes of “synthetic” art, literature, and media that it corrupts the essence of what we know as humanity. As a result, AI’s excesses will almost certainly cultivate a cultural longing for non-AI products and experiences.

That backlash is underway already. Technology in general has sparked a longing for the “human element” in various products and experiences – a desire for a deeper connection with the world and a sense of nostalgia for simpler times.

The country singer, Miranda Lambert’s song “Automatic” touches on this theme by lamenting the rise of technologies that have eliminated the tactile experiences and personal connections that enrich our humanity.

In the hands of Godless leaders, AI will further bring chaos and lawlessness to humanity. For Christians standing upon the Word of God Jesus tells us what to expect from a world that has rejected God and His commandments.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13

In fact, before Jesus second coming, Paul tells us that a man of lawlessness (Antichrist) will appear. Knowing his time is short Satan takes control of this individual and declares himself to be God.

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4

We are approaching the prophesied “end times”. Many of the prophecies are being fulfilled in our time. The major “end times”prophecy was fulfilled over 70 years ago now: the miraculous rebirth of the nation of Israel. It is the centre of all the other “end times” prophecies so watch Israel and the surrounding nations. If you have not seen it take a look at my recent post Turkey – the origin of the Antichrist.

DOES GOD LOVE YOU?

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I decided to do this post after reading this quote from Mike Bickle:

“We will never have more affection or passion for God than we understand He has for us. We will never be more committed to God that our understanding of His commitment to us.“

Let me start with what Jesus told us about our Heavenly Fathers’ love for us.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” John 15:9

“I (Jesus) in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:23

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him and He in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:15-16

“We love Him because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

“Now hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Romans 5:8-9

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” Romans 8:35

I could add more but surely, what you have read should convince you that God loves us, those He created in His image to be in fellowship with Him.

What about God’s love for His nation Israel? During Jesus coming Millennial reign, He will transform their hearts and minds.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel!” Jeremiah: 31:3

“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” Deuteronomy 30:6

“I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33

“And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.“ Hosea 2:18-20