LOST JEWS COMING HOME TO ISRAEL

It was reported this week that a large group from one of the "lost tribes" of Israel will soon be allowed to emigrate to Israel. There are more than 7,200 remaining members of the Bnei Menashe community. Their name means "children of Menasseh." They live in two of India's northeast states. The Jerusalem Post wrote this week that the Ministerial Committee on Immigration and Absorption has approved the bringing to Israel these remaining members.

The Bnei Menashe community claims that they are the descendents from the tribe of Menasseh, one of the ten tribes of Israel, often called the lost tribes, who were exiled the the Assyrians invaded Israel's northern kingdom in the 8th Century B.C. The tribe probably traveled through Persia, Tibet and China before arriving in India where they have existed relatively unknown until recently.

Why am I reporting this? As I have been writing my study on the prophet Zechariah for my new book, The God Who Remembers, I have found a key teaching there that is directly connected with this story. That is, God says very clearly that in the end time He will bring back His people from the far reaches of the earth to dwell in Israel. "I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before. Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will return" (Zechariah 10: 8f).

It can't be much clearer than that. These supposedly lost tribes have not been lost to God. He has known where every one of them has been through all these nearly 3,000 years. Now, He is sending out the signal to come back to the land of Israel. Surely, He is about to do something very significant in the near future. It is amazing and encouraging to our faith to see these evidences of prophecy come to fulfillment in our days.

SHOWDOWN AT THE U.N.

Heads up, everybody! A big showdown at on the agenda for the U.N. this week. The Palestinians will be coming before the Security Council and asking to be recognized as a legitimate nation. Isn't this a rather ludicrous situation? For over sixty years the Palestinians have denied that Israel, the land on whose land they reside, has the right to be a nation. Yet, they want to be recognized. What is it they want recognized? It it their government in which no one knows who is in charge. Abbas has the title of Prime Minister, but Hamas doesn't recognize him. They take over and do their own thing. The people of Palestine have no government that really cares about them. They have no land of their own. They have no history; there has never been a nation called Palestine. Only the land is known by that name which is really a corruption of the name Philistine.

Prime Minister Netanyahu plans to speak to the Security Council prior to their vote, once again presenting Israel's right to the land and call for direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Pres. Obama has promised to veto the measure if it should pass the Security Council. Then the Palestinians will ask the entire General Assembly for recognition.

There is a wide range of opinion on this issue. I have a hunch that the largest group of people are those who simply say they just don't understand it. Many are trying to arrive at a solution using what they think is common sense. But this is not just an isssue betgween two feuding neighbors. This is a spiritual issue that goes all the way back to the book of Genesis in the Bible. This entire and complex problem began when Abraham decided not to do things God's way. So the enmity between his two sons was born. The conflict is between the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Isaac.

Like it or not, God has already cast His vote in this issue. He has called the people of Israel to come back to the land and establish themselves and that He would make a nation of them in the land that He promised to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) forever. I am presently writing a book on the message of Zechariah. There I find these words:

"I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God." and "But I will defend my house [Jerusalem] against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch" (Zechariah 8:8, 9:8).

It doesn't take a degree in international politics to understand that the Palestinian organization has as its primary goal to overrun Israel, to destroy them so that their name is no more remembered on the earth. The showdown at the U.N. is only the tip of the iceberg between these two groups which presently occupy the same piece of land. These are exciting days to watch how Bible prophecy is coming to pass right before our eyes.