By Bill Randles
(Pastor of Believers in Grace Fellowship)
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.( 2 Timothy 3:1-5)
There is a Chinese ‘blessing’, the kind you confer upon an adversary, in which you wish him or her ,”May you live in interesting times”. We certainly do, don’t we? Fortunately we don’t have to rely on Chinese proverbs, for we have a guide to our times that is eternal, and gives us a profound template for understanding them.
We know that these are the “Latter days” spoken of by the apostles of Jesus and the Hebrew prophets. All of the themes of the Old and New Testament are being replayed in little and big ways, so that those who have “ears to hear” may be as the Sons of Isaachar, “… which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do…”(I Chronicles 12:32).
The Book of Esther all over again
Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, in meetings with President Obama, affirmed Israel’s right and willingness to use any means to defend itself, against her enemies. Netanyahu is particularly sounding the alarm about the recently nuclear weaponized Persian, (Iran) which has been openly threatening to annihilate Israel.
Obama, had been cautioning Israel against “war talk” and “bluster”in the days leading up to the meeting, but Netanyahu stood firm, resolving that Israel reserves the right to defend herself against all enemies.
The interesting aspect of this is that the meeting took place within days of the Jewish feast of Purim,(March 8-11,2012). Purim commemorates the successful self -defense of the Hebrew people in the land of their captivity, in ancient Persia (Iran). The nation had been threatened by Haman, an ambitious anti-semitic politician who deceived the Gentile King into authorizing an empire wide pogrom.
But the Lord had spared the nation through the intervention of the King’s wife, Esther, a Jewess. Netanyahu presented Obama with a scroll of the book of Esther.
Purim has been prominently confirmed in other events of recent history; for the first persian Gulf war ended on February 28, 1991, the feast of Purim. In the build up to the second Gulf war, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein a two-day ultimatum, on March 17,2003, or else Iraq would face invasion. That year Purim was on March 17-19 ! Click here to continue reading.
