I had to see my MD yesterday afternoon.
(It’s nothing serious but, if you were wondering, thank you.)
“So,” I greeted him with a smile, “we have a new government.”
“Another jerk running the country,” he smiled back.
Our family doctor since before we began keeping the ‘be fruitful and multiply’ commandment (most folk today treat it as a suggestion), I know him as always friendly and helpful, a conservative practitioner who cares about the person behind the patient. As far as I know, he is a God-fearing Jew and a fully committed Zionist in the best sense of the word.
While I understood him to be serious despite the smile – as he took a jab at his newly-inaugurated prime minister – there wasn’t a whiff of rancor in his voice.
Where others may feel bitterness towards Benjamin Netanyahu, I don’t believe he does.
His statement was matter of fact; simply the way he sees it.
Still, the memory of his words woke me in the early hours of this morning. And I found myself responding:
It isn’t really up to Netanyahu, Doc. It’s up to you. It’s up to the Israeli people.
Bibi was literally my next-door neighbor when, in June 1996, he became prime minister for the first time.
I recall the wildly honking unofficial motorcade that swept into Sokolov Street and circled the park where our toddler sons played on that summer’s day. The procession was led by uncontainable young men who chanted joyously to welcome the victorious Likud leader: “Bibi melech yisrael!” (king of Israel) and “hineh, hineh ba, rosh hamemshalah.” (here comes the prime minister).
This man will be good for the Jews, they told us, and themselves.
Politically right-leaning Israelis had gone to bed dispirited the night before, believing Netanyahu to have lost to Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres. And logically the veteran peacenik – who ran for election in the aftermath of the Rabin assassination – should have thrashed the upstart.
The morning news – that Bibi had pipped Peres and become Israel’s youngest-ever prime minister – electrified the nation.
It brought life flooding back into many demoralized lovers of the land – those almost despairing at the previous government’s embrace of a process-that-brought-no-peace.
Bibi brought hope, but he did not deliver. As far as those who put their trust in him were concerned, he betrayed them.
Stunned, they watched him buckle under American pressure, rescind his demand for reciprocity, shake the bloody hand of Yasser Arafat, and surrender the sacred city of Hebron to the PLO.
Despite his successful preventing of nearly all terrorism during his term, many can’t forgive him for these grievous sins.
But, 13 years later, he’s been chosen again. And he has again squeaked past the post. In votes, Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni beat him. Netanyahu is only prime minister because more people voted for the right overall than for the left.
{Some see God’s hand in this, as well as in the fact that State President Peres – the man Netanyahu beat before – was now compelled by his office to assign his nemesis the chair. It’s the way I see it too, if unsure of all it portends.}
2009 is not 1996. In the interim years, rivers of Jewish blood have flowed and the nation has been traumatized in wars and thousands of terror attacks. Other right-wing heroes with heels of clay have also come crashing down.
This time there was no dancing, chanting cavalcade to bear Bibi to power. He is no longer young. His past speaks – loudly and painfully – for itself. Few people will have been harboring those earlier illusions.
“Another jerk to govern us.”
Perhaps. We’ll soon see.
I would not be surprised if those who DO have their hopes pinned on Netanyahu see them dashed again.
It’s a serious mistake to depend on him. If his voters think that, should he again “disappoint,” they can just punish him at the next election, they are doubly wrong.
Democracy doesn’t work this way. Not really. Too many people see voting as the full extent of their civic duty. But the ballot box is the starting, not the finishing, line. And I mean for the electorate – not only for the contender!
A strange thing happened in America last year.
For months, as John McCain and Barack Obama battled it out on the campaign trail, increasingly anxious voices were heard from conservative leaders and rightist media personalities about the danger the Democratic candidate posed to the future of the United States.
Some journalists took hold, terrier-like, of Obama’s associations and friendships with America-hating clergy, terrorist-loving academics, and Israel-hating former presidents. Influential Christian leaders and economic experts sounded the alarm louder and louder until, as November 4 approached, a crescendo of concern was reverberating through the land.
Obama would murder more babies both in the womb and out; Obama would throw in the towel in Iraq, making a mockery of the American lives sacrificed and massive effort spent to plant democracy there; Obama would appease Iran’s Hitler, enabling him to get a nuclear bomb; Obama would turn America into a socialist state; Obama would betray American values, apologize to the world for America’s behavior, and sell America’s birthright to curry favor around the globe.
The night before the election the tumult had become a torrent. And then, on the morning after: silence. Obama had won, and except for a few dogged individuals, the race was quickly on to backtrack from all the horror tales and dire predictions, and swear allegiance to the man who was, after all, to be “our president.”
Nothing had changed, mind you. Obama still threatened to make all those nightmares reality for the US, and in fact is now well on the way to doing so. But the Republicans had fought him, and now they could retire to lick their wounds and regroup in order to fight the next elections when they arrive.
Fools and blind! If it was right to fight the man before he moved into the White House, surely it is even more important to fight him now that he is there. Or are most those, until recently “desperately worried,” Americans resigned now to allowing Obama four years of freedom to ruin their country?
In America, citizens on the right should be fighting the ungodly policies of their president – doing everything in their power to hinder and delay him in his efforts to remake that country in his own image.
Back here in Israel, citizens on the right should be gathering around the prime minister they helped – directly or indirectly – to place in power. By their encouragement and through their activism, they can strengthen him to withstand the ungodly pressures and threats that are already rearing against their land.
In 1997, one of Netanyahu’s senior advisors complained about how the left wing members of that coalition were tying Bibi’s hands – blocking every attempt the prime minister made to slow down the “peace” process; threatening to cause the collapse of his government if he moved ahead.
Instead of empowering him to withstand the increasing American pressure and dislike, those who could have helped pulled back and disowned him – leaving him to stand alone.
He could’nt. He was not strong enough then. He is not strong enough now. No single man could be.
I believe it is less up to Netanyahu. If you are an Israeli, a Zionist, a loyal lover of your land, it’s more up to you.
Now that he is in the Prime Minister’s Office, resist the temptation to sit back and criticize. Rather, come forward and in droves give him the message he can clearly convey to Obama himself, when the president comes calling in May.
“My countrymen – citizens and government – insist that I withstand every effort to surrender more of our historic homeland for empty promises of peace. As the leader of the greatest democracy in he world, you will agree with me, Mr. President, that my first responsibility is to them, and not to America.
If you, reader, are an American Christian or Jew, it is past time to begin your assault on the corridors of power in your land wherein wicked men are plotting the delivery of Israel to the Arabs.
As we all know: All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.
Well said Stan.
I will be moving back to America and I am worried about what Obama is REALLY up to and you are also right on the point when people just wait for the next election just to be bullied by a powerful media machine again.
And who knows who the other guy is going to be.
We of course need to pray and ask for the blessing of the Lord as well as to call the nations to repend and believe in the Son of God.
Keep up the good work and the Lord Jesus be with you all the time and with your family.
God bless.
Stan, I guess we’ll never stop resisting the evil here in America, but as you said, of Isael, the same is true here - most of us see it as the hand of God. I believe without any shadow of doubt that Obama IS God’s judgment on America. We saw it coming, we yelled and screamed and shouted, and spoke and wrote and prayed, yet few listened. The heart of America has turned away from her God and commanded Him to leave. And it appears, he’s left. And when God leaves, what can man do?
As for Bibi, I’m really glad he’s back in the Prime Minister’s seat because this “head and shoulders man” has been looked to as some kind of savior and that image needs to fall. You said there’s no man on earth who could bear up against the pressures he is and will be under. And that’s very true. But also, there’s no man on earth who can do what ONLY the Messiah will do. And the Messiah is not going to share his glory with any man.
I believe that Israel has had to see men of every quarter arise to the Prime Minister’s seat, from the far right to the far left and back again, so that the Jewish people will see from the stark evidence that putting their trust in ANY man will prove disastrous. At some point, Israel will be forced to turn to their God -.after all men, all kinds of men, will have failed.
We celebrated Passover here in my home tonight. We prayed for Israel. We prayed for the Jews both in Israel and worldwide. Of all the things we could have prayed for, we prayed for their redemption. We asked for the veil to be removed. We asked for their eyes to be opened.
That’s the bottom line, isn’t it?
Keep your eyes on Bibi!!!! God is going to use this man!!!!!
We screamed and posted emails back and forth and sent forwards from one end of the country to the other. But what good did it do? Obama has put the hex on the dems and no one could change their minds. He has them brain washed and it will take a catastrophe like a nuclear bomb or something as bad to change their minds and by that time it will be too late. He has brought change alright, but I’m afraid it is change they won’t like. How could anyone that calls themselves Christian vote for a man who voted against a ban on partial birth abortion, that barbaric method of abortion that is out and out murder, as is all abortions. But what can we do now. The dye has been cast.
Another brillant article Stan and all so true. He is but man and we must all put our shoulder and prayers to the tasks at hand. Bless you and yours again.
We all need to be in the word of God because that is our only Hope, and that hope is only In through Jesus ( God’s word made flesh) !.
America is fast falling into complete darkness, there have been 5 states just recently allowing same sex marriages, it is so sad to have to live in a world so bent on breaking Gods heart!
Let us never cease to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. “Osama Obama” does not have her best interests in mind, just his own popularity and, dare I say, with anti-american-jewish sentiment. He probably has his eyes on a much bigger prize down the road: Secretary General of the UN. He can only get that post with the help of those powers seeking the demise of the U.S. and Israel. Plastic smiles and flowery speeches won’t hide the darkness of his true heart. The American media has covered over his faults to the peril of the nation they all claim to serve. My country has truly lost it’s way.
I have signed every viable petition, sent emails to congress persons, newspapers, news media/TV, forwarded emails to family and friends to the point of being dropped from contact lists and I post comments on various sites, etc. I will not give up……..I will stand for Israel as a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob till my dying breath. I shudder to think what lies ahead for the US. Like Paula, I am convinced that Obama was put in place for the sole purpose to be used in bringing judgment upon the United States of America. This is not a soap opera; this is not an HBO series, this is for real! We are a nation under judgement. We’ve kicked God out of our nation and we are left now to our own devices which will prove to be our demise. God told us, HE warned us…..for 1000’s of years He has been warning us. Even to this day, with so much happening all around us……the signs are everywhere…..and SO FEW ARE PAYING ATTENTION!!!!! For those of us WHO SEE WHAT IS COMING……we are being scoffed at like the prophets of old.
I see God rolling up HIS sleeves now. May God have mercy on us and May God protect HIS remnant/people and HIS land. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!!!
As I watched Rick Warren interview the two candidates prior to the presidential election, I could not believe that he let Obama slip by with the comment, “It’s above my pay grade,” when he was asked about the rights of the unborn. Had Warren followed up with something like, “If the President of the United States does not have a high enough pay grade, do you think that the Congress or the Supreme Court do?” Whatever the question, Obama needed to be confronted then and there with his true stance on abortion. Perhaps this would have sounded louder in ears of voters than the jingling of “change” they heard every time Obama made a speech. Now, one cannot even say that the man is boring without being attacked by one of his supporters saying, :Leave him alone. He is doing a good job. You just don’t like him.” No, I don’t like him. His true colors have shown up since he took office, and he exhibits very little red, white and blue.
Now Netanyahu is once again the PM. The first time, it appears that he was greeted as the “Saviour of Israel.” He failed because THAT job really is above his paygrade. I am hoping that he learns from his past mistakes, and realize that the only one that he can rely on is God. The likelyhood that Obama and Clinton are going to let Israel down when it needs our help the most is very great indeed.
After reading the comments I find that most have a defeatist attitude and want to say, “Gods judgement” and let it go at that. What if the belivers during the time of Rome’s demise had said the same? What if the Jews during the Shoah had said the same? Instead, these heros of history set about to change the world by changing the facts on the ground. One turned the Roman Empire into a God fearing entity thereby spreading the Gospel throughout the known world and beyond. The other pioneered a return to their ancient home land and brought a nation into existance for a refuge to all their kin that were and were to be displaced. God operates throug human instumentality. If the righteous wimp out and do nothing then we will have become partners with the unrighteous and there will be nothing to stop the Allmighty in His judgement. I am, Indignant in Jerusalem.
Hi Stan
Wat jy skryf is waar en stem ek 110% saam. Keep it up broer, ons staan saam met jou vir ‘n Bible believing, God fearing Israeli Goverment. Liefde Paulus
Oh Israel, by your side, Your God, who has made you the most powerful, Nation on the earth, and yet, don’t know it. He, God gave you this Land of “Israel”, “Forever”! an never once did He say give it away. Will you depend on “Him” or will you, waste what He gave you.
If my memory serves me correctly, Nineveh was a city under the judgement of God. And God told Jonah to go and warn them about it. But Jonah decided that they deserved the judgement, so he would just find something else to do. After the LORD sent him back to Nineveh courtesy of the big fish, and he gave the warning, he was still resolved that the people must be judged. So he sat around in his little lean-to, waiting for the “inevitable” to happen. And why not? After all, these people had turned away from the true God and lived in sin. This attitude did NOT please God.
And I don’t think an attitude like that today pleases Him either.
Stan is right.
We are co-labourers with God and He expects us to warn, and keep on warning, those who are under judgement. He is not willing that any should perish. But it’s also up to us.
Well said, Stan….and yes, I was at first alarmed for your “condition”…glad to hear all is well, as I pray it is with your precious family.
To Raff… I would gladly trade places with you… you can have America… I long to be in Israel, no matter what the circumstances.
I battle discouragement daily about America’s condition, spiritual and physical… We truly are living in the last days. But though the world around us crumbles, yet have we hope in our God and in Yeshua haMashiach. In Him will I trust and pray for for the rest.
Hag Same’ach
After writing about Nineveh, other examples of good men doing something came flooding into my thoughts. Such as:
Think of the time of slave labour in England and America. If Bible-believing men had not actively challenged the powerful governments of the day, working round the clock for changes in the laws, we’d probably still have slave labour today. Those men didn’t simply sit at home praying. Of course they prayed - for wisdom to know what to do.
Christians likewise challenged the practice of child labour and brought about change.
Biblically, Moses and Aaron had to physically go and bring God’s command to Pharoah face to face. They didn’t sit at home praying for change to Pharoah’s heart and praying they’d somehow be delivered.
The disciples prayed: “LORD, listen to their threats and give us boldness to speak..” Then they went out and did.
Yeshua said: “Go into all the world and make disciples.”
Prayer is vital. But it needs to go hand in hand with do. And that, in the context of corrupt society and unworthy government, means active challenge, persistance, not giving up, even when it seems pointless.
The lie bought by too many Christians today is that the battle is too great. Or we get so hung up on”the battle is the LORD’s” that we forget we are the army of God.
Shalom Stan,
I just read your two commentaries. Toda rabba. Thanks for continuing in journalism and may YHVH bless you in your pursuit of being a travel guide too.
I don’t know if you are aware that over 2 million US citizens have deluged the White House with empty red envelope that read on the outside, “This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.” I don’t believe that it will change anything. I believe Obama has an agenda and will continue to do what that agenda is no matter what, but I am glad to see so many do and act according to what they believe is right. Here is the whole article’s website:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=94142
Lehitraot, chag sameach, v’shalom, shalom, Glenn
Stan, I am always encouraged by your honesty and commitment to truth. I’m so thankful that God is in control of the world situation and that he is using it to fulfill His plan and purpose. Although I am at peace with this knowledge, I am very sad as I watch my country (U.S.) being destroyed by humanism, immorality, socialism, and a Godless worldview. Israel must look to God in these troubling times as His Word says there will be no peace until the Prince of Peace comes to rule and reign on Mount Zion. Difficult times are ahead for both the U.S. and Israel, but we must continue to speak out against the madness of land for peace. Everytime the U.S .puts pressure on Israel, Americans suffer God’s judgment. Everytime Israel gives up land to the Arabs, it receives more violence, not peace. May God grant this new leader wisdom to protect Israel from its enemies and the strength to stand up against the pressures of evil men. Catherine Shelton
“As for God, His way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
Psalm 18:30
So what are you all so frightened about? Don’t you trust that He is in charge, and that His way is perfect? Be at peace, people, He is in control.
We Americans do not know our history and worst yet we as a whole do not know
G_d ways or words. To provide information on this point how many Americans
can tell you which president order
the printing of money which was an act of congress ?
activated the army over thirty days which was an act of congress?
Had the state legislature of Massachusetts arrested and imprisoned ?
closed over three hundred news papers for disagreeing with his views and arrested
the editors and publishers ?
had over twenty eight thousand people put in prison for disagreeing with his views ?
The nest question is when will it happen again ? Of course not in the same manner
but in the same tradition of style that is of power madness . If you do not know who
this was it was Lincoln old abraham .
Oh! The winners of any war always have the right to tell what ever lie they want
as to why the war was fought in the first place .
Are we watching history repeat itself in America ?
Sometimes my thoughts are the we need a Moses , a Joshua an Ester for action
and for knowledge Moses, Solomon and Paul .
No where can we find the mentioning of America in the future state of affairs but
Israel is discussed in grate length . Of course America could be in one of the four
groups kings of east, west,south, or north or totally non existence .
A thief, a blackmailer,a terrorist , a pirate if appeased will be come bolder on each
successful act . The same with power mad politicians .
Our actions should be as ancient times tell the high priest our iniquity and let it
be transferred to the offering and pray to the supreme G_d of the universe for our
deliverance . The our actions can be as in the days of Ester .
Stan, I have such respect for you. You can Always be counted on to tell the truth….
I know what you mean when you say that some Americans are saying Oh well…if Obama screws up, we can vote him out in four years…..Four Years! Will there be an America in four years????? We can’t sit idly by and just take whatever is “dished out!” If we are Ever to STAND….it is now!!!!
I have prayed for Bibi for literally years…….I am Believing that he will not “buckle” under the pressure…..I am Believing he will reflect on past traps and tricks that were placed in his way, and He will fix his face like a flint to defend Israel….no dividing Jerusalem…..no land given away….Gaza taken back…..Hebron taken back……..
AND
The Most High God will supernaturally give Israel “clear passage and clear return” on their upcoming mission. That the world will know:
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! Israel is Victorious!!!
May our prayers to God for both Israel and America forever be on our lips, as both will need them desperately.
I am so thankful to have found your articles, they are true solice in the turbulent times we are finding ourselves. I love the camp of the righteous!!!!!!
I have been watching for the Netanyahu power to emerge ever since I read the book Portrait of a Hero, sometime in the early 1980’s. The book was the writings of Jonathan Netanyahu prior to his murder during the raid which he masterminded which save the lives of the Jews kidnapped thru the airline hijacking. I believe that was the raid on Entebbe. I bought 9 copies of the book and passed them out to those I thought would actually read it . I told everyone I talked to for some time to watch for this family, that something very important was going on with them and I expected to see them do something great. Prime Minister Netanyahu has a similar place in history as Winston Churchill in that he is “here for just such a time as this”. When he was out of office after the first time he was Prime Minister. I told everyone who would listen to me that he would be back, that he wasn’t finished with what he’d been raised up for. YOU GO P.M. NETANYAHU!!!!!!! The excitement that coursed through my being when I heard he was P.M. again is still with me. As bad as obama’s headship over America is now, Netanyahu’s headship over Israel is signaling something supernatural and tremendously momentous in a God-kind of way. I have a sense that the moment we have been waiting for is upon us and being played out in front of us now. In the near future we will look back and know better what we are looking at now. When I heard he was P.M. again, for the first time in my life I wanted to leave my much loved America and move to Israel. I wanted to sell everything I own and throw in what I am and who I am with Israel. In Jeremiah 17:5-6 “Thus say the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart departs from the Lord. He is like a juniper tree in the desert and shall not be aware when good comes;” The deception and inability to discern what is good or conversely what is evil comes upon those who have thrown themselves in with man, departing from God and then not being able to see. This is a favorite scripture of mine in this age of handouts, insurance, entitlements, greed, jealously, pride of life and lust. Those of us who are to remain awake in these most important days must keep their hands free of the taking of bribes, keep our tongues from perverseness,and our sight in the Lord. Then we will know what to do and when to do it. God bless Israel, God bless Jerusalem, God bless Benjamin Netanyahu.
As the Lord is round about Jerusalam so the Lord is round about His People
I am in agreement with Therine Coleman “Those of us who are to remain awake in these most important days must keep their hands free of the taking of bribes, keep our tongues from perverseness,and our sight in the Lord. ( thru His word)Then we will know what to do and when to do it. God bless Israel, God bless Jerusalem, God bless Benjamin Netanyahu. and I am so thankful to have found your articles, they are true solice in the turbulent and (periolous) times we are finding ourselves. I love the camp of the righteous!!!!!! Amen to these heart felt words!!!