Things aren't always as they appear to be!

For many years I have started my morning by drinking a tumblerful of warm water, with some added lemon-juice. This, I have been assured, is very good for the condition of my liver - an important organ in the human body. Yesterday, I followed my usual routine, but decided to put the lemon juice into the water prior to warming it. When I started to drink, I was instantly aware that there was a strange taste. However, I persevered, and drunk the lot - about 250mls!

This was followed by my customary bowl of porridge, with added prunes (!), and a tumblerful of fresh orange juice. Five minutes later, the porridge, prunes, and orange juice were being ejected into the toilet bowl!

It wasn't until our return from the worship service that my wife discovered what had happened. The bottle from which I had taken my tumblerful of water actually contained distilled vinegar!!! All that I can say is that it looked like water! All is not as it appears to be!

Israel has been in the news - again - over the past few days as the Muslim terrorist organisation, Hamas, fired almost 700 explosive rockets from the Gaza Strip, resulting in death, injury, and destruction. Understandably, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) retaliated, carrying out air strikes on arms and ammunition warehouses located in the homes of Hamas terrorists in Rafah and Khan Yunis and a warehouse in Gaza City in the home of a member involved with Hamas’ rocket infrastructure. Yesterday, the IDF said that it was starting to attack arms and ammunition depots deliberately placed by the terrorists in areas populated by civilians, and that it was targeting terrorists themselves.

It was also widely publicised that a woman and child, in Gaza, had been killed in an IDF attack. There was little, or no, mention of the Israeli deaths as a result of the rocket barrage - nor of the later established, and now confirmed by the Islamic Jihad terror group, fact that the woman and child were not the victims of IDF action, but were killed by a misfired Islamic jihad rocket! This, of course, is typical of  the propaganda distributed by these men of violence. All is not as it appears to be! (This paragraph has been updated: May 7th)

Sadly, the same principle applies to the church. My current personal devotions are based on the letters from Peter. He, like other of the New (2nd) Testament writers warns about false teachers who "... will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." (II Peter 2:1). Not only do these false teachers bring destruction upon themselves, but "... many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled." ( II Peter 2:2). Indeed, "... they entice with licentious passions of the flesh men who have barely escaped from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved." (II Peter 2:18-19).

All is not as it appears to be!

How we need the Holy Spirit gifting of spiritual discernment in the church today - especially in what is often referred to as "the West"! Warren Wiersbe, who died on Thursday - just two weeks short of reaching 90 years of age - comments: "The false teachers use our vocabulary, but they do not use our dictionary." In other words, the false teachers use all of the right words - but what they actually mean by some of those words is questionable! All is not as it appears to be!

It was Charles Spurgeon who said that discernment is not knowing the difference between what is right and what is wrong; but knowing the difference between what is right - and what is almost right!

May all of God's people have a measure of spiritual discernment in these last days. Drinking distilled vinegar instead of water may make one physically sick; fake news may confuse; but false teaching in the church can mean, quite literally, the difference between eternal life, and eternity cut off from the Father Who loves us enough to let us do our own thing!

Apartheid Israel!

It was a Facebook post by a friend of one of my former pupils, who had been on my own "Friends" list for a number of years.  It was, basically, a 'tongue-in-cheek' comment on the late Fidel Castro, using a reported quote from this former President of Cuba.

However, some of the following comments that appeared to be praising this "great humanitarian" led me to give some of "the other side" of the story!  This, in turn, led to the former pupil informing me that I am a "pro-Zionist" who supports the bombing of innocent civilians, including children, by apartheid Israel!

That probably wasn't a wise move on his part!  My response was as follows - in case any of my blog readers think as he does!  I typed:

If that is directed at me (I was absolutely certain that it had been - but one must be careful!), you need to do some serious research on the State of Israel - and not be hoodwinked by the pro-'palestinian' propaganda that is spouted by the MSM (main stream media, in case you are unfamiliar with the abbreviation).

Just to get you started - If Palestinians were to lay down their guns tomorrow, there would be no war. If Israel were to lay down its arms, there would be no Israel.  It would be so very helpful if the 'Palestinians' were to stop firing rockets at Israel; stop digging tunnels that are intended to enable their 'soldiers' to infiltrate Israel; and stop teaching their children to "kill the Jews" (that, of course, is not confined to 'Palestinian' authorities).

There is NO apartheid in Israel!  Have you ever been there? Have you seen, for yourself, this apartheid to which you refer? Do you know how many Arabs are Members of the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament)? By the way, do you know how many Jews are involved in the political leadership of any Arab state?! (The answer to that question is easy - less than 1!!) Do you know how many Arabs are members of the IDF (the Israeli Defence Force)?  Do you know how many Arabs hold top positions in the Police, the Military, in Institutes of Higher Education (and as teachers in primary and secondary education - teaching Jewish children!), in Medical Institutions and Hospitals?

Do you know how many 'Palestinians' work in Israel - because the wages and conditions are better than anything they can obtain in 'Palestine'?  Do you know how many 'Palestinians' bring their children, and other relatives, to Israeli hospitals for treatment - free of charge? Can you provide a figure for these "innocent men, women, and children being bombed and daily harrasses or being evicted out of their homes"? Do you know how many rockets, bombs, sidearms, etc were found in 'Palestinian' hospitals and other public buildings? Are you aware of the 'Palestinian' strategy of firing their rockets, indiscriminately, at Israel - from areas of civilian population?  Do you really understand the definition of "apartheid"?  Indeed, do you know the meaning of "Zionist"?  You really should go beyond the Daily Record (a Scottish tabloid newspaper that caters for the less educated in Scottish society!) for your information about the world!

I then pointed out that, so far, 37 Arab Muslims (at least some of whom, and probably all of whom, are 'Palestinian' Arabs) have been arrested over the arson attacks that have destroyed hectares of forest in Israel.  I suggested, from another perspective, that he check out the Arab countries that do practice apartheid towards Jews!  For example, Jews are not even allowed to permanently reside in Saudi Arabia, Libya, or Jordan - and I suspect that any Jew would be refused entry to Iran!

If there ever was to be a "State of Palestine" (for the first time in the history of the world!), it has already been made clear that it would be "ethnically cleansed" of any Jews!

Well, I could have gone on - and could go on.  However, I do hope that anyone who has bought into this hype about Israel being a modern South Africa will begin to realise that nothing could be further from the truth.  There are no "Jews only" forms of transport. There are no "Jews only" beaches. There are no "Jews only" cafés or restaurants.  There are no "Jews only" washrooms.  Indeed, according to Kenneth Meshoe, a South African politician, any attempt to compare Palestinians’ experience in Israel with the former racist regime is offensive to individuals who suffered under the system of racial separation.  He said that, on a trip to Israel, "I deliberately looked for anything that looked like apartheid. I took a bus to the center of Jerusalem, but blacks, Jews, Arabs and everybody else all sat together. Swimming at the Dead Sea was mixed. I looked for the ‘black only’ beaches, but there were none. Arab school teachers stood in front of Jewish classes! That would never have happened under apartheid."

Apartheid Israel? - it simply doesn't exist!

So, what would YOU do?

Imagine, if you will, that you are the mother of three pre-/primary school children.   It is a school holiday; your husband is at work; you are caring for the children at home.  Your eldest child is in her bedroom, with her computer; the middle boy is outside, playing in the garden; the baby is in the kitchen in a high-chair, as you prepare a meal.

Suddenly, an alarm sounds - a Red Alert alarm.  You know that you have fifteen seconds to get to a shelter.  You also know that you cannot possibly grab all three of your children in that time.  What do you do?  Who do you take, and who do you leave?  It is a dilemma of major proportion!

Yet such a dilemma regularly faces the inhabitants of many Israeli towns that are within range of Islamic Jihad (now the largest, and most influential, Palestinian militant movement) rockets, fired from the Gaza Strip. [The photographs show part of a consignment of weapons that were recently being smuggled from Iran to Gaza, to be used against Israel.  These were intercepted by the IFD (Israeli Defence Force)].

On Wednesday, Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for more than 100 rockets that were fired toward Israel, a spokesman for Al-Quds (the military wing of Islamic Jihad) told Palestinian news agency Ma'an.  "You haven't yet seen the extent of our capabilities," added the spokesman, who further threatened to fire extended range missiles.  Residents in southern Israel have reported several rocket alerts going off consecutively.

It is worthwhile having such information when so much of the popular media insists on demonising Israel.  Yet it is Israel that is the only true democracy in the Middle East.  Of its population of just over seven-and-a-half million, over one-and-a-half million are Arabs - a substantial minority!  Yet they enjoy equal rights; equal access to education; equal rights in voting and representation - with 10% of the membership of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament); and even equal rights to exhibit, as a table in a Hebrew University clearly demonstrated - it was promoting Hamas (at the time, the leading Palestinian movement!).  Israeli hospitals regularly treat Palestinians who have been wounded in the ongoing conflict, with children being particularly well cared for.

So, next time someone speaks to you about those terrible Israelis, and their despicable treatment of the poor Palestinians, please set them right.  Let them know the truth - not the propaganda put out by the militants, whose only desire is the complete destruction of the modern State of Israel!

Truth v. Propaganda

Death, whatever the circumstances, will always have an element of sadness. The apparently pointless killing of people, cannot be condoned. Both thoughts have been in my mind for the past couple of days.

Earlier in the week, the headlines screamed out, abusively, at the State of Israel as news broke about the 'attack' on 'defenceless' ships that were attempting to break the Israeli blockade, and deliver 'humanitarian' aid to Gaza. Turkey, in particular, was incensed - probably because most of the dead would appear to have been Turkish nationals. Not a lot was mentioned about the reason for the blockade - the mortar, and rocket, attacks on Israel that emanate from Palestinian (Philistine, in Biblical terminology) armed groups within Gaza!

However, knee-jerk reactions were observed from all around the world; the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting; Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel; and Greece, Egypt, Sweden, Spain and Denmark summoned Israel’s ambassadors to explain the incident.

But let's take a look at some of the facts that appear to have been overlooked. First of all there is the difference between bravery and bravado! The protesters were fully aware that they were liable to inspection by Israeli forces. If all that they had on board was the humanitarian aid that has been claimed, I have to ask why they did not allow such an inspection! At least part of the answer may be found in a report in The [Glasgow] Herald newspaper: "In Gaza, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said the flotilla signals the end of the blockade. 'If the ships reach Gaza, it's a victory,' Haniyeh told some 400 supporters at Gaza City's small fishing harbour, where several smaller vessels breaking the blockade have docked in the past. 'If they are intercepted and terrorised by the Zionists, it will be a victory for Gaza, too, and they will move again in new ships to break the seige of gazaa'." (30-05-10)

The same report informs me that, early in their voyage, the ships were held up near Cyprus "... as organisers tried to get nearly two dozen high-profile supporters on board." and that "A showdown with the Israeli navy appeared inevitable."

The question must, surely, be raised - "Was this whole affair a deliberate attempt, by a Turkish organisation that would appear to be sympathetic to the Hamas government - and which, according to Danish research some four years ago, has links with terrorist group al-Qaida - to provoke the State of Israel to 'military action'?

Certainly, Turkey itself is not in a position to take any moral high ground! Over two million Ottoman Armenians were slated for destruction in 1915. The Turkish entry into World War I facilitated this process, as no outside powers could intervene on behalf of the victims. Over 2,000 towns and villages were emptied of their Armenian inhabitants who were subsequently destroyed. First the young men and community leaders, then the women, children, and elderly were murdered. Some were killed at the outset of "deportations"; others were killed from disease and malnutrition in concentration camps in the deserts of Zor in Syria; survivors of these camps were murdered outright at the end of 1916. There were no Armenians left to speak of in what became modern Turkey in 1923.

The Turkish government adopted a much more sustained genocidal program against Kurds, aimed at the assimilation of this community as ethnic Turks. Often the engineers of the destruction of Kurds were the same people who destroyed Armenians a few years earlier. The Turkish genocidal policy may be outlined under the following categories:

(1) forced assimilation program—banning of the Kurdish language in Turkey, denying the existence of Kurdish history, the forced resettlement of Kurds in non-Kurdish areas of Turkey for assimilation, the indoctrination of Kurds through the Turkish education system, radio and television channels;

(2) banning of any legitimate opposition to the Turkish government’s programs—e.g., Kurdish cultural organisations, political parties, media outlets, etc.; and

(3) the violent repression of any Kurdish resistance. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds have been murdered by Turkish state authorities over the past eighty years—the Sheykh Said and the Ararat uprisings in the 1920s, the bloody suppression of the Dersim in the 1930s, as well as the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) campaign in recent years. The Turkish state has imprisoned Kurdish members of the Turkish parliament; various human rights activists; and many academics who have advocated Kurdish rights. The Turkish government also stands accused of having arranged the assassination of scores of journalists and intellectuals over the years.

In the light of all of that, Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza seems almost virtuous!

Propaganda is a powerful weapon - as Naziism's Joseph Goebbels knew so well. However, it does have an unfortunate tendency to get in the way of truth! Let us hope and pray that, in this particular situation, 'truth will out', and that any enquiry will be able to reveal it.