From: The Prayer Network Update
Sent: Fri 11/04/2003 11:01
To: john ruffle
Subject: ["The Prayer Network" Update] Living Waters #3
The Prayer Network Update - Powered by InJesus
Living Waters #3
Francis Frangipane
Apr 11, 2003
"The USA has not conquered Israel; we are fighting to keep Israel alive.
Listen to Saddam and bin Laden's repeated rebuke to America:
both say they are warring with the U.S. because we protect 'the Zionist state'"
Author and editor John Ruffle,
writing exclusively for Living Waters Update
on "The Prayer Network" says:
Last week we published Part One of an article by renouned author and minister, Francis Frangipane. This week, in the concluding part, Francis continues exploring the ISRAELI link to the current fighting in IRAQ, and comes out against the popular and tragic Christian heresy, "replacement theology." As Francis' quote above reveals, the current fighting in Iraq has a lot to do with the satanically inspired, irrational HATRED that so many have towards Israel. As I stated last week, we are in a battle against two opposing spirits, that also reflect in the natural as opposing worldviews. Although Francis does not explore this further here, believers who embrace replacement theology - the notion that the spiritual body of Christ has replaced natural Israel as God's chosen people - fall into the twin traps of misinterpreting the nature of God and misreading the clear precepts of Scripture, leading to an anti-semitism as ugly and destructive as anything we've seen previously. Whether willfully or just out of plain ignorance, such Christians are used by the devil to mount a "blue on blue" - friendly fire - attack that is just as lethal as anything the enemy could mount directly.
I may not make any friends for putting this viewpoint so categorically here on the web. But it needs to be said, and I wish to be counted as a supporter of the present day State of Israel. For my Jewish brethren reading this today, know that I love you, and the State of Israel, dearly.
Well - that was by way of introduction. The following article, written in a far more scholarly manner than I am capable of, originally appeared on the "Visionary Advancement Strategies -Seattle-USA" website at http://visionary.injesus.com . This concluding part is uncut, and unedited in substance except for the addition of sub-titles. If you missed the first part of this article, it can be viewed at our website: http://theprayernetwork.injesus.com
USA, ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM (Conclusion)
by Francis Frangipane
Mar 29, 2003
I WILL MAKE ENEMIES BUT...
What I am about to write will challenge some of you. Some will react so emotionally to my next words that they will forget everything I chronicled last week concerning America's support of Israel. A few will demand to be taken off our mailing list. So, let me reassure you once again that I believe God will ultimately restore the Holy Land to its biblical borders, according to His promise, in the fulness of His time and ways. However, when a few suggest God's wrath has repeatedly struck America because our President proposes a Palestinian state (or that 9-11 was God's wrath for just voicing such a suggestion), I must disagree.
The classic text used to support this view is Joel 3:2, which reads, "I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land."
I know people mean well, but accusing the USA of dividing Israel's land does not overlay into this verse. First, it is speaking of the Great Tribulation period, not now. And clearly, this verse is addressed to Israel's enemies, those who plundered and scattered the Jews. The USA has not "scattered [the Jews] among the nations," as this verse warns. Indeed, since 1990 nearly one billion American tax dollars were given as "resettlement" grants for Russian and Ethiopian Jews in Israel! see http://www.us-israel.org
The Lord's wrath concerning the dividing of Israel's land had to do with the armies that conquered Israel, scattered the Jews, then "divided the land" as plunder among themselves. The USA has not conquered Israel; we are fighting to keep Israel alive. Listen to Saddam and bin Laden's repeated rebuke to America: both say they are warring with the U.S. because we protect "the Zionist state" (Israel). In this regard, our enemies can see with better discernment than a lot of us Christians!
Part of ending Israel's conflict is finding a viable, compassionate solution for the Palestinian problem, a solution that guarantees Israel's right to exist, as well as a homeland for the Palestinians. Typically, we Christians have hoped the Palestinians would relocate to another Arab nation. However, with the majority of the Palestinians living on Israel's eastern border, it is possible that their nearness to Israel, and their lack of gas masks, is a primary reason the Jews have not suffered massive chemical or biological attacks.
Yet, I am not saying that the answer for Israel's peace is a Palestinian state (I believe the Lord will bring forth a better solution in time), but we should not be paranoid. America is a gift from the Almighty to Israel. The USA is not participating in doing what the spirit of Joel 3:2 warns against. As for the "links" between Presidential remarks about a Palestinian state and the wrath of God striking American interests, this seems to me a very subjective interpretation of events. Indeed, if one were to chart American headlines during any decade in the past 50 years, there are plenty of storms, accidents, earthquakes, floods, setbacks, stock declines, and other problems and disasters that appear with almost predictable regularity. To link a typical, reoccurring pattern in a very large nation to divine wrath seems hard to swallow.
If the Almighty would appear to a pagan king in a dream and warn him against sleeping with Sarah, Abraham's wife (Gen 20:3), I think He could appear in a Christian President's dream and warn him against dividing the land. The real God is very wise, good and all-powerful. He would not have to strike America with disasters hoping we would connect His so-called flashes of anger with Israel's land.
You may disagree with me, but I am one voice who says that I do not see Joel 3:2-3 as a warning to America. There certainly are many other things wrong with the USA, but scattering Israel's people and occupying her land is not one of them.
"USA" HAS ALWAYS EXISTED
IN THE CENTER OF JER-USA-LEM
Again, please remember I am not espousing replacement theology; I love Israel and Jerusalem, and have faith for God's best, even to extending Israel's borders to biblical boundaries. However, I think we simply need to pray for both Israel and the USA, and trust the Almighty to work all things after the counsel of His will. More than anything, let us not be distracted by such rhetoric. For there is a mystery, a divine and holy mystery, unfolding from God's heart. It concerns the intertwining of Israel and the USA. Before Jesus returns, we will see God's heart manifested in a supernatural grace concerning the union of these two nations. Beloved, as you can see, "usa" has always existed in the center of Jer-usa-lem.
THE END
Francis' article was quoted from the following website:
http://visionary.injesus.com
by ricciardelli@attbi.com
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