Watchmen from Jerusalem

Shalom from Zion

God’s Word is our rock, especially as He seems to be shaking
everything (Isa. 2:19-21; Joel 3:16; Hag. 2:6-7). The reason we
trust in His Word is because it comes from Him. If we receive an
e-mail from someone we know to be truthful, we tend to trust
what is written. If the person has a history of lying, we would
scan the e-mail much more judiciously – and rightly so.
Most English Bibles translate Psalm 138:2b this way: “You
have magnified Your Word above all Your name.” Yet the
Hebrew is better translated, “for You have magnified Your Word
upon all Your name.” His Word is founded on His name, His
identity and character. He is the Truth and so is His Word (John
14:6; 17:17). He is trustworthy, as is His Word (Deut. 7:9; Psa.
119:86, 138; Isa. 25:1). Both He and His Word are light (John
8:12; 9:5; Psa. 119:105; 2 Pet. 1:19) and life (John 14:6; Phil.
2:16) and eternal (Deut. 33:27; Psa. 119:89; 1 John 5:7).
The one sure way to discern what is happening in the world
today will not be by reading the headlines – but by reading and
meditating and praying on His lines found in His Word!

Israel has a new government

In a miraculous and very sudden turn of events, a unity government was formed between Prime Minister [PM] Bibi Netanyahu
and the main leader of Blue & White, Benny Gantz. This led to its
break-up, with the remaining parties now the head of the opposition, and it left Avigdor Liberman’s party out of the government. Please remember that to keep up-to-date on Israel’s current
situation, sign up to receive IFI’s Friday Prayer Alerts, or read
them on line every week. [www.ifi.org.il]

President Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” peace plan

Released in January, this is a good news/bad news situation for
Israel with most of it being good.
Good: The Palestinians are finally being held accountable for
their Jew-hatred and their goal to destroy Israel. What they must
do to have America recognize a “Palestine” is impossible under
their current leaders or the next generation who is brainwashed in
violent Islamic antisemitism. They must affirm Israel as the
Jewish homeland; give up the “right of return” of their so-called
“refugees”; disarm Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza; agree to a
demilitarized state; and accept an enclave on Jerusalem’s outskirts as their capital. They will also need to be satisfied with only
70% of the “West Bank”; rewrite all their textbooks to see Israeli Jews as “peace” partners, instead of as satanic agents who must be
slaughtered; and they must give up all their financial support of
terrorists in Israeli jails.
Bad: Israel must agree to creation of a “Palestine” in advance
and there may be other things not in line with God’s Word. Yet
modern history shows us this is exactly what Israel’s first PM
Ben-Gurion did by agreeing to the 1947 UN Partition Plan, and
look how God used that to stretch out Israel’s tents. Also, if
Trump keeps his word, Israel can annex 30% more of Judea &
Samaria – including the essential-for-security Jordan Valley.
Deuteronomy 7:22 gives us a biblical principle for this. God says

He will not give Israel all the land to possess at once, or else the
beasts will overrun it.

This deal is not all black or white, yet God still reigns, and we
intercede from that basis, asking Him to lead us by His Spirit.
When the plan was revealed, Netanyahu told Trump he was
“the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.” He
listed the above points in the deal’s favor, adding that the “plan
does not uproot anyone from their homes, Israelis and Palestinians alike,” and that Trump’s plan destroyed the “big lie” that
Israel illegally occupies its historic homeland. (“As peace plan rolls
out, Netanyahu says he will annex Jordan Valley, settlements,” TOI, 28 Jan. 2020)

Israel Today said that ever since Oslo in 1993, “the formula
underlying the Middle East [ME] peace process was to accept
Palestinian positions, turn a blind eye to their transgressions”
since they were “oppressed,” and demand “painful concessions of
Israel.” Trump’s plan turns this right side-up. An Israeli media
commentator said, “Israel gains its concessions immediately and
without conditions,” while Palestinians will need “to go through
ten levels of hell” that we listed above to gain theirs. (“Trump deal
flips Peace Process on its head,” Israel Today, 29 Jan. 2019)

Do the Palestinians even deserve a state?

Jason Shvili notes that while all “peoples have the inherent right
to self-determination,” including the Palestinians, yet not all “are
ready” for it, and that includes the Palestinians today.

The Oslo Accords “gave the Palestinians limited autonomy” in
Gaza and parts of Judea and Samaria,” yet they have not shown a
capability to govern it “in an effective and civil manner.” The
Palestinian Authority’s [PA] rule has been an example of “mismanagement, corruption and dictatorship.” Yet this is not the only
reason why they cannot be trusted with a state, because those
characteristics describe not a few governments in the ME.

Two other reasons are: first, “they have not proved they can
exert effective control over their territory,” which is a necessity
“for the international community to recognize any new state.” In
2007, Hamas took over Gaza from the PA by force and still rules
it. So the “internationally recognized, legitimate leadership” of the
Palestinians is not even in control of “territory for which they
have jurisdiction. A functional, independent state” must have only
one government controlling its area; the Palestinians do not.

Second, they are a threat to another nation. Hamas’ leaders
“publicly and repeatedly” state their goal is to destroy Israel, and
the PA incites “violence against Israelis,” while doing nothing to
support the idea of two-states living in peace. Granting them independence would “be like creating another” Iran, endangering
the security of Israel, and all other nations in the area. (“Are the
Palestinians ready for a state?” J. Shvili, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 16 Feb. 2020)

PA President Abbas’ Fatah faction said Trump’s peace plan will
fail. Political cartoons on Facebook and in the PA’s official daily
displayed Fatah’s scorn for the deal, “and its insistence that
Palestine must include” all the territory from the Jordan River to
the Mediterranean Sea [i.e., all of Israel]. One cartoon had the
text: “Down with the deal of the century. Palestine is not a homeland that is sold and purchased, but rather a piece of the Quran

that we will defend with [our] blood and souls.” (“Fatah on Trump’s
peace plan: Palestine must be defended ‘with blood’,” JP, 3 Feb. 2020)
Abbas’ top adviser, Abu Rudeineh, told Israeli journalists that it
was Israel and America’s fault that peace talks are stagnated. “We
have not stopped being committed to peace, but demand it be
done on our own terms.” (“PA committed to peace, but only on our terms,”
Israel Hayom, 17 Feb. 2020) Muslims believe peace will only come
when everyone is converted to Islam.

The Land and God’s Word

Speaking recently in Ma’aleh Adumim, Netanyahu stressed that
“without Judea & Samaria, our existence is in danger.” He called
Israel’s biblical heartland, “our homeland…our identity and our
legacy,” and said that Israel’s “future is here. Therefore, our
enemies are trying to uproot us from the heart of our homeland…

“After the great euphoria of the Six Day War, a dangerous
perspective became entrenched in the Left…Instead of fighting
for Judea & Samaria,” they said that if we just “give these lands to
our enemies, they will do us a favor and make peace with our
existence.” So the the Left said give “land for peace” and when
Israel tried that, it received terror instead.

If the Jews believed this, why should the nations have believed
anything different? So the world pressed Israel to retreat to the
1967 lines. Yet from the late 1980s Bibi stood against this, fighting “against Oslo, the expulsions, and withdrawals.” As the demands grew for Israel to withdraw, he had to resist the last two
US administrations who worked against Israel with the “support
of the left and Israel’s media…”

After former PM Shimon Peres’ funeral, a senior US figure told
Bibi, “If you want such a great funeral…start giving in.”
Netanyahu responded, “I’m not worried about my funeral; I’m
worried about preventing the funeral of my country.”

When Trump, Bibi’s personal friend of many years, became US
President, he took this “opportunity to move from the defensive to
the offensive,” working closely with the new administration. He
influenced Trump to leave the Iran deal, to accept Jerusalem as
Israel’s capital and move the US embassy to it, and to state that
the Golan Heights is sovereign Israeli territory. Backed by prayer,
Bibi had a huge impact on Trump’s subsequent decisions.
(“Netanyahu: ‘I’m worried about preventing Israel’s funeral’,” Arutz 7, 9 Feb. 2020)

Speaking to children at a religious school in the settlement of
Mitzpe Yericho, Bibi said he was determined to “extend Israeli
sovereignty to Judea & Samaria,” as in Trump’s plan, because he,
Netanyahu, “believes in the Bible.” He exhorted the children to
study the Bible and to pray.
Bibi added, “Every Shabbat I read the weekly Torah portion…
with my son, Avner. I don’t just say the words. I live it. I breathe
it! I believe it!” (“Netanyahu: I believe the Bible!,” Israel Today, Feb. 10,
2020)

Israel commits war crimes?

Late in 2019 the International Criminal Court’s [ICC] chief prosecutor, F. Bensouda, endorsed investigating “Israel regarding
alleged war crimes stemming from 2014’s Operation Protective
Edge in Gaza; its settlement activity since then; and the IDF’s
response to weekly riots along the Gaza border fence.” A JP
editorial retorted, “Israel does not commit war crimes.”

While some Israeli soldiers might commit crimes in combat –
as do all nations’ soldiers when fighting deadly enemies, if this
occurs, Israel’s “military and civil courts deal with the cases and
hold those involved responsible.” But to commit war crimes with
intent is never an option for the IDF. ICC’s Bensouda also said
there is a “reasonable basis” that Hamas and other “Palestinian
armed groups” committed war crimes as well.

JPost: “As if there is any doubt that indiscriminate firing of
thousands of rockets” on Israeli civilians, or intentionally setting

thousands of acres of agricultural land and forests on fire “is anything but a war crime.” It was very offensive for Bensouda to
equate Israel and terrorist groups. Unlike terrorists, “Israel does
not intentionally harm civilians in Gaza or anywhere else.”

Furthermore, “Jews living at the site of the biblical Shiloh, or in
the shadow of the Western Wall and Temple Mount, are not
committing war crimes. One can argue the political wisdom of
their living there…but to say that a Jew living in Judea – the
cradle of Jewish civilization – is a war criminal is ridiculous…”
(“War Crimes,” JP Editorial, 22 Dec. 2019)

At a weekly Security Cabinet meeting, Bibi slammed the ICC’s
decision, accusing it of becoming “a weapon in the political war
against the State of Israel.” He called this decision “absurd” as the
ICC was created after WW II to handle “problems that states
would raise regarding war crimes, such as genocide or large-scale
deportations.” The ICC’s purpose was to deal with states lacking
“true judicial systems in law,” systems usually available in the
West.

Yet the ICC has addressed a claim from the PA which does not
represent a real nation, “and accused the only democracy in the
ME, which operates in accordance with the highest legal standards of the western democracies…” Also, Israel is not a signatory
of the ICC, so “the court has no jurisdiction” over it.

This decision also “contradicts historical truth. It opposes the
right of the Jews to settle in the Jews’ homeland. To turn the fact
that Jews are living in their land into a war crime is an absurdity
of unimaginable proportions.”

Finally, it “contradicts contemporary truth…Who are they
accusing? Iran? Turkey? Syria? No – Israel!” What hypocrisy.
(“Hague tribunal being weaponized against Israel.” Arutz 7, 22 Dec. 2019)

Anti-Semitism is evolving

David Weinberg, VP of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy &
Security, wrote that Jews are very aware of the global rise of antiSemitism. Yet this new wave “is particularly alarming because of
a series of disturbing trends…:

As “Jew-hatred” surges in the West, it has not grabbed much
“mainstream media attention nor inspired popular outrage.” Also
“Western thought-leaders” downplay it as an anti-Semitic scholar
noted, “If hatred of Jews can be justified as a misunderstanding or
ignored as a mistake or played down as a slip of the tongue or
waved away as ‘just anti-Zionism’ …it will be.” And if “politicians and intellectuals” do condemn it, they insist on condemning
“Islamophobia” and “all forms of racism” as well. This is a “politically correct refusal to acknowledge the uniqueness of antisemitism,” or its dominance over “all other hatreds…” As British
columnist Melanie Phillips said, “People can’t stand the uniqueness of antisemitism because they can’t stand the uniqueness of
the Jewish people.” This includes “progressive Jews” who equate
“antisemitism with anti-Muslim abuse,” to show “that they aren’t
claiming any special status as victims.”

Weinberg adds that US Congresswoman Tlaib and colleagues
use their position “to bring anti-Semitic policies and rhetoric into
the mainstream,” while the media, “obsessed with the novelty of
their identity” and loving their “progressive” politics, refuse to
confront their Jew-hatred. The national Democratic leadership
refuses to condemn it as well.

There is also opposition to “the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism,” which very
explicitly states that “anti-Zionism – the delegitimization of the
Jewish state” is anti-Semitic, because “Judaism is a creed that…
combines religion, nationhood and a homeland…” Also, antiZionists uses” the same tactics of demonization, discrimination
and double standards against Israel that anti-Semites historically
(and still today) use against Jews;” with the goal “to strip Jews
and or Israel of any rights or power.”

Today’s “need to combat antisemitism” distracts Jewish leaders
and groups from other vital battles: “keeping Jews Jewish and
keeping Israel safe.” Budgets shift “from core Jewish education
and pro-Israel advocacy,” to the “struggle against hate” and the
need to invest in “local security.”

This is a mistake; historically, Jewish activism has never been”
key to fighting antisemitism, as it is “a disease of non-Jews and
can be eliminated only by non-Jews.” And with the “current rates
of assimilation and intermarriage there won’t be many Jews left in
the Diaspora to protect within just a generation or two.”

Weinberg concludes that “defense of the modern State of Israel
is the central historic challenge of the Jewish people for the 21st
century…” (“Distortions in the fight against antisemitism,” D. M. Weinberg, JP
Op-ed, 12 Dec. 2019)

The increase of anti-Semitism today

Jeremiah 16:16 is happening now; the hunters have been sent
forth. “American Jewry is under attack:” anti-Semites assault
Jews with weapons or verbally, in the streets, or synagogues,
and on social media, “simply because they are Jews.”

And this is only the beginning. The story of Jewish life in exile
is clear. “We start at the bottom, reach an apex,” and then sink
“into an abyss of terrifying violence.” This historical pattern was
seen in Egypt, Persia, Spain, Portugal, England, Poland, Russia,
Germany, Iran, Iraq, etc. “After the golden period, comes the
period of hatred.” This is what we see in America today.

US Jews thought “this time would be different,” and followed
in their forefathers’ footsteps, who also said “this time will be
different,” that, with “all we contributed to the host nation, it
won’t reject us.” Then reality hits with “its inevitable, sobering
wake-up call.” Jews are in real danger, and aliyah – the return to
Israel – is their only hope! (“On the precipice of a volcano – history
repeating itself for US Jews,” Ariel Kahana, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 30 Dec. 2019)

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations VP, Hoenlein, and CEO Daroff, interviewed by The
Times of Israel, said, “rising anti-Semitism in the US is sowing
fear among Jewish communities, changing the nature of what it
means to be a Jew in America, and shaping a new discourse on
US Jewish identity.”

FBI statistics reveal that “Jews were again the victims of the
majority of hate crimes based on religion in the US in 2019,” including fatal attacks which continue in 2020. Hoenlein sees the
deadly violence as “the end of the age of innocence for American
Jewry,” and Daroff notes that security is now the central issue for
American Jews.

Are US Jews afraid? Hoenlein: “Yes …there’s a higher level of
fear than I remember from any time.”
Asked about American Jewry’s future, he said, “it will be much
more Orthodox or traditional,” and smaller. Only in Israel is there
“a burgeoning birth rate,” with an average of three to four
children per family, while in the US and Europe families are
shrinking. (“‘People are afraid,’ says Hoenlein, as anti-Semitism changes US
Jewry,” TOI Interview, 10 Feb. 2020)

Islam according to the Koran

Turkish journalist and political analyst Uzay Bulut, wrote that
Turkey’s president Erdogan, head of a NATO nation, “incited
violence against non-Muslims,” telling members of an Istanbul
mosque, “Our God [Allah] commands us to be violent towards the
kafir [infidels/unbelievers] …like in Syria.”

Dr. B. Warner, head of the Center for the Study of Political
Islam adds, “Islam divides the world into Muslims” and kafirs,
and the sacred Islamic texts – the Koran, the Sira (Mohammed’s
biography), the Hadiths (traditions of Mohammed) – demand
religious, political and cultural superiority over kafirs.

The Koran’s definition of kafir is not neutral, describing them
as “evil, disgusting, and the lowest form of life. Kafirs can be
tortured, killed, lied to and cheated.” So to translate kafir by just
an ‘unbeliever’, “does not reflect the political reality of Islam.”

Dr. A. Bostom, author of The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy
War & the fate of non-Muslims, said, “Authoritative Koranic
commentaries, classical and modern, as well as canonical hadith,
traditions of Islam’s prophet Muhammad, support Erdogan’s
hateful and predatory views toward non-Muslims.”

Bulut: “The fact that these words were uttered by” the head of
an apparent NATO ally and candidate for EU membership, is a
dire warning to all non-Muslim nations. (“Erdogan: ‘Our God commands us to be violent to the kafirs,” U. Bulut, Arutz 7, 15 Nov. 2019)

Yasmine Mohammed, author of Confessions of an Ex-Muslim,
tries to warn the “naive West” of Islam’s true nature, saying that
most western nations suffer “from a toxic mix of arrogance and
naiveté that makes them… underestimate the power of Islam…”

She said the typical Muslim’s experience of a “pervasive hate
for Jewish people,” is learned at a young age. For Muslims, the
word for Jew is not only “a pejorative, it is used as a curse word.”
This hatred is “a learned behavior…and the hate of Israel is an
extension of that.” (“Ex-Muslim to ‘Post’: Trying to teach ‘naïve West’ about
true nature of Islam,” Hannah Gal, JP Interview, 19 Aug. 2019)

Melanie Phillips says the term “Islamophobic” protects Islam.
“Palestinian misdeeds, including Jew-hatred, can’t be acknowledged. Nor can Jew-hatred coursing through Muslim society in
general…because the Islamic world is given a free pass on the
grounds that it is the historic victim of the west. So any such
criticism is silenced by the claim it is ‘Islamophobic’.”
While genuine anti-Muslim prejudice must be condemned, yet
just a hint of “Islamophobia is used to silence any criticism of the
Islamic world, including Islamic extremism.” (“Don’t fall for bogus
claims of ‘Islamophobia’,” M. Phillips, The Jewish Chronicle, 16 Dec. 2019)

The European war against Israel

Italian journalist Giulio Meotti notes that in Geneva, the UN
Human Rights Council released “a blacklist of more than 100
companies” it accused of “violating Palestinian human rights by
operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.” This
is the first “attempt by the UN to literally boycott and strangle the
economy of a democracy.”

In The Hague, the ICC’s chief prosecutor’s decision to begin
“war-crimes investigation into [Israeli] settlement policies,” is the
first that Court will try “to legally shame and indict Israeli
policies and presence in its Biblical lands…” The International
Court of Justice, also in The Hague had already said that Israel’s
security fence is illegal, although it stopped many “Palestinian
suicide bombers” who wanted to kill thousands of Jews.

Last fall in Brussels, the EU’s Court of Justice “ruled that products made in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria” must
not be labelled “Made in Israel.” Add to that Europe’s media who
refuse to call terrorists, “terrorists,” but instead calls them “militants,” and one sees that Europe is now “the epicenter of a political and legal war against Israel…”

In today’s Europe, what “remains of Jewish community life…
takes place behind bulletproof doors and barbed wire,” and the
end of the existence of Europe’s Jews is discussed calmly and
fatalistically. How is it “that Molotov cocktails can be detonated
against a synagogue in Gothenburg and Europe stays silent?”

Yet European Muslims “are encouraged to manifest their anti Zionism and anti-Semitism, legitimated by Europe’s journalistic
and political speech which always demonizes Israel,” while EU
leaders take every opportunity to publically express their “enmity
towards the State of Israel throughout the international arena.”
After WW II, Europe’s foundations were “placed on three fundamental values of Judeo-Christian culture: democracy, human

rights and the rule of law,” the same values of the State of Israel.

Yet today’s Europe has been re-infested with “its ancient hostility
towards the Jewish people… But this mass anti-Semitic European psychosis has far-reaching symbolic dimensions,” especially
as it rejects its society’s biblical foundations. “It is a Europe submerged by self-hatred. Its days are numbered.” (“… Europe puts Israel
under siege,” G. Meotti, Arutz 7 Op-ed, 14 Feb. 2020)

Pope Francis vs. God

Pope Francis is as far from being a true Christian as any recent
Pope. If what he has planned goes ahead, it might show millions
of Roman Catholics how far that Church has turned from God.
On May 14th, Israeli Independence Day on the Gregorian calendar, Francis will reject God and exalt man!

Benignly called the “Global Education Pact,” this decree aims
to welcome in a “new humanism,” as David Martin in a Canada
Free Press column on Feb. 29th, explained. Archbishop Zani, the
Congregation for Catholic Education’s secretary, said the theology behind this event is that, “God ‘withdraws’ in order that man
might be free.” He adds that the lesson of Creation, “puts the
focus on man …God creates but then withdraws. He leaves man,
saying, ‘Go!”‘ So the Pope’s New Humanism “advocates ‘Freedom’ from God.” (“Pope Francis to infect the Christian World with a sickness
of the soul,” Judi McLeod, Canada Free Press, 29 Feb. 2020)

Today, if you hear His voice – return to Zion

Psalm 147:2 says that God will gather Israel’s outcasts. Recent
Jewish Agency statistics back that up as “over a quarter of a million immigrants arrived in Israel between 2010 and the end of
2019…from 155 different countries.” (“Quarter of a million immigrants
in a single decade,” Arutz 7, 22 Dec. 2019) Hallelujah!

Jews in exile today, like the Jews who were in Babylon, want to
help heal the gentile nation they are in, but they cannot suc-ceed
and worse, they are not where God wants them (Jer. 51:9-10).
Tzvi Fishman coined a term for this condition – “diaspora-virus”!
Just as we “sympathize with, and pray for the speedy re-covery,”
of Coronavirus victims, “we must empathize with, and pray for
the speedy recovery of our brothers and sisters suffering from the
devastating plague of Diasporavirus [DV]…

“While Coronavirus is accompanied by fever, making an early
diagnosis possible, DV is far more difficult to detect.” Most Jews
infected don’t realize how sick they are, “because the virus has
damaged their sensory system, adversely affecting their mental
capacities and numbing their spiritual being.” They no longer feel
their “Jewish soul’s anguish” of being a captive in a foreign land.
Nor do they even see it as “exile” or “captivity.”

“Because of the mental disorder caused by the DV epidemic,”
they end up believing that they’re already living in the Promised
Land. “In severe cases, they forget Jerusalem entirely,” or see
Israel as a nice place to visit, “but not as a life goal, and all of the
national facets of Torah” as well as “the vision of all the Prophets
of Israel” to dwell in the Land become external, “something for
the Israelis,” but not for them. The cure is simply to return home.
(“The Disaporavirus,” T. Fishman, Arutz 7 Op-ed, 18 Feb. 2020)

Thoughts on Coronavirus

The global panic seems media driven, being always in the headlines. Often its dangers are reported without any comparison or
percentages of age groups or physical conditions of those most at
risk, or who have died. Could this be part of what was spoken by
Yeshua in Luke 21:25-26a? “There shall be signs” in the heavens
“and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity… Men’s
hearts failing them for fear and for looking at those things which
are coming on the earth…” With access to the internet, most
people have a front row seat to watch in real time all “those
things” that hit our world.

Coronavirus has also negatively impacted the global economy.
Since the Anti-Christ will be allowed to use the economy to
control people and nations (Rev. 13:17), is this the time for his
entrance? If not, we now see how sudden his rise could be.

Israel is blessed to have Netanyahu who immediately took this
threat seriously and declared war on it. Many nations then followed his lead. Necessarily, the topic of health and security vs.
personal liberty has come to the fore. For people living in a nation
that exalts personal liberty – it will be harder for their leaders to
make hard decisions and take timely actions. Israelis have been
through so many national crises – like Saddam’s scuds or suicide
bombings – that most of us understand if our personal liberty
must take second place to the survival of our nation.

For believers to make personal liberty their top priority is a
misunderstanding of our position in God’s kingdom. Though we
are redeemed, set free from slavery to sin, it is so that we can be
bond-slaves for Messiah. To see personal freedom as our ultimate
goal prevents us from serving God with all of our heart, soul,
mind and strength (Mark 12:30).

Recall that ‘believers’ who said to Yeshua that they had done
this and that in His name, heard Him reply, “Depart from Me you
workers of lawlessness. I never knew you!” (Matt. 7:22-23).
They were doing only their own thing and not serving the King.
The day of salvation is our “Dependence Day.” Set free from
the power of sin, we now depend on and try to obey our Master
always. We are part of a spiritual Kingdom – not a democracy –
and one does not vote for their king; one only serves Him or not.
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psa. 46:10a)