#Covenant-israel

[illustratus]

Transportation of the Ark of the Covenant Containing the Tablets of the Law (Detail from The Room of the Ark in the Palatine Gallery, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy) by Luigi Ademollo

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Armin Navabi

On the morning of the 7th of October, 2023, the Palestinian militant group Hamas orchestrated a multi-pronged assault against Israel from the Gaza Strip. Their fighters breached the heavily fortified border, committing a mass murder of more than a thousand Israeli civilians, including young children. The political discourse surrounding these brutal events and the war that has come in its wake, especially in the West, has been tinged with a misguided transposition of Western identity politics onto the Middle East that collapses all nuance and reduces a complex situation into a simple binary of “oppressor versus oppressed.” As such, leftists in English-speaking nations tend to see Palestine (including Hamas) as an oppressed, brown victim class whose freedom-fighting “resistance” against their oppressive, white, US-backed colonizers in Israel is a righteous cause with which to stand in solidarity. This simplistic view of the long-standing conflict in the Middle East leads to confused and contradictory thinking, as seen in the slogan (and now meme) “Queers for Palestine” brandished at anti-Israel rallies. It’s worth exploring just how incoherent this concept is.

On the surface, “Queers for Palestine” attempts to meld LGBT advocacy with Palestinian liberation, a juxtaposition that has precipitated a whirlpool of ridicule and criticism due to the fact that LGBT rights scarcely exist within the Muslim world, and the Palestinian territories are no exception. The slogan has been widely satirized with variations like “Chickens for KFC” or “Blacks for the KKK”, which highlight the basic lack of awareness of just how incompatible the values of the Western left are with the Islamic right they so readily champion.

The reality of the situation could not be more stark. Though it has much room to improve, Israel is at the forefront of LGBT rights in the Middle East. In Israel, LGBT people are visible members of society with legal protections, civil rights, and a plurality of public acceptance.

Palestine, by contrast, is quite a different story. The UCLA Williams Institute’s 2021 global report on LGBT acceptance rated Israel 44th out of the 175 countries/territories examined. Palestine came in at 130, behind Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Georgetown University likewise placed Palestine 160th out of 170 countries on their women’s peace and security index, in good company with most of the region. Amnesty International’s 2020 report on human rights highlights the criminalization of male same-sex relationships in Gaza, punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment, with a conspicuous absence of legal protections against anti-LGBT discrimination or harassment. This lack of civil rights has led hundreds of gay and bi Palestinians to flee to Israel to escape persecution. One such refugee, Ahmad Abu Marhia, a 25-year-old gay Palestinian man, was living under asylum in Israel. In 2022, he was kidnapped and beheaded in the West Bank city of Hebron. His murderers uploaded footage of the killing to social media.

However, every time these disparities are mentioned, critics are quick to lob accusations of "pinkwashing" — a concept invented to frame any discussion of Israel’s progressive stance on LGBT issues as a distraction from their mistreatment of Palestinians. The fact remains that these “Queers for Palestine” could march in Pride parades in Israel if they wanted to. In Palestine, they’d better be wearing iron neck guards if they don’t want to lose their heads.

Another disconcerting element of “Queers for Palestine” is that it popped up in prominent left-wing anti-Israel/pro-Palestine rallies in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s terrorist attacks, before Israel had the chance to respond. As such, there is no way to interpret this slogan and the surrounding leftist fervor except as a signal of support not merely for Palestine, but specifically for Hamas, the jihadist movement with the explicit aim of eradicating the state of Israel. It's imperative to understand that Hamas, as detailed in its 1988 Covenant, is propelled by a fundamentalist Islamist ideology with the goal not only of eliminating all Jews but also conquering the world — just like ISIS. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar was recorded saying, “The entire planet will be under our law, there will be no more Jews or Christian traitors.”

[ One of the many memes that the original “Queers for Palestine” image spawned. ]

Western support for Hamas, under the guise of Palestinian liberation, overlooks the deep-seated radical Islamist ethos driving the organization, which, if unbridled, would jeopardize the very freedoms cherished by LGBT people across the developed world. Anyone who doubts this should try being gay, bi, or trans in most of the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) Muslim-majority countries. Virtually all of these nations have laws that criminalize homosexuality and being trans, some of which carry the death penalty. Human Rights Watch’s "Everyone Wants Me Dead" report succinctly encapsulates in its title alone the perilous environment faced by LGBT individuals in these regions.

Many on the Western left, including the LGBT left, have become enamored with Critical Social Justice, which provides a warped lens through which they perceive all of humanity as oppressors versus oppressed classes. Armed with this simplistic, binary worldview, leftists gravitate toward perceived liberation movements for other so-called oppressed groups. This narrow prism, however, obscures the universalist ideology of Islamism espoused by groups like Hamas, which, under a facade of anti-imperialist rhetoric, harbors a brutal dogma that is antithetical to the liberties and rights championed by LGBT activists. No amount of screaming about “pinkwashing” can drown out the irony of folks who believe in LGBT liberation cheerleading ideological movements from which they would flee as refugees.

To be sure, the Palestinian people have suffered more than their fair share, and it’s easy to see how the Palestinian resistance narrative can carry the allure of righteous rebellion, especially for factions of the hard left who have their own aspirations of a large-scale dismantling of our liberal society. The vicarious thrill of romanticized revolution that leads some to go far beyond simply advocating for the Palestinian people and expressing solidarity with Hamas, ignores the jihadist ideologies at the core of such organizations. These ideologies are oppressing LGBT Palestinians at this very moment, and given half a chance, they would oppress the very leftists now voicing support for the Palestinian cause. And, indeed, this has happened before.

The aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran is a harrowing tale of leftists being tortured and executed en masse by the very Islamic regime they supported for the sake of their anti-imperialist goals. Many Iranians who aligned with leftist organizations supported the revolution only to find themselves persecuted by Islamists they helped put in power.

Immediately following the revolution, the new regime led by Ayatollah Khomeini began systematically oppressing LGBT people and publicly executing them by the thousands. These atrocities were justified as a means to "eliminate corruption" and prevent the "contamination" of society. Between 4,000 to 6,000 gay, lesbian, and bi people have been executed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran’s legal system, rooted in Islamic law, criminalizes consensual sexual relations between same-sex individuals, with penalties ranging from lashes to death. Iranian law does not distinguish between consensual and non-consensual same-sex intercourse, allowing authorities to prosecute both perpetrators and victims of sexual assault.

[ Source: The Algemeiner ]

Images of gay and bi men hanged from cranes so that they may slowly suffocate to death serve as grim reminders for anyone interested in human rights: align with Islamic fundamentalists at your peril.

"Queers for Palestine", and the nuanced realities it glosses over, underscores the need for a more informed and discerning discourse — a discourse that transcends catchy slogans and moral binaries and delves into the complex, often discordant ideologies at play in the Israel-Palestine conflict. That way, we can advocate for a better future without bolstering forces antithetical to liberal values, and without betraying LGBT people by undermining their very rights and freedoms. We can’t do that while overwriting the complicated dynamics of a 75-year foreign conflict with our own provincial identity politics.

==

Intersectionality is an institutionally acquired neurological disorder.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

A Prophecy against Israel’s Shepherds

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to the shepherds, Thus saith the Lord God; O shepherds of Israel, do shepherds feed themselves? do not the shepherds feed the sheep? 3 Behold, ye feed on the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool, and slay the fat: but ye feed not my sheep. 4 The weak one ye have not strengthened, and the sick ye have not cherished, and the bruised ye have not bound up, and the stray one ye have not turned back, and the lost ye have not sought; and the strong ye have wearied with labour. 5 And my sheep were scattered, because there were no shepherds: and they became meat to all the wild beasts of the field. 6 And my sheep were scattered on every mountain, and on every high hill: yea, they were scattered on the face of the earth, and there was none to seek them out, nor to bring them back.

7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. 8 As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became meat to all the wild beasts of the field, because there were no shepherds, and the shepherds sought not out my sheep, and the shepherds fed themselves, but fed not my sheep. 9 For this cause, O shepherds, 10 thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hands, and will turn them back that they shall not feed my sheep, and the shepherds shall no longer feed them; and I will deliver my sheep out of their mouth, and they shall no longer be meat for them.

The Good Shepherd

11 For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will seek out my sheep, and will visit them. 12 As the shepherd seeks his flock, in the day when there is darkness and cloud, in the midst of the sheep that are separated: so will I seek out my sheep, and will bring them back from every place where they were scattered in the day of cloud and darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the Gentiles, and will gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land, and will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, and in the valleys, and in every inhabited place of the land. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, on a high mountain of Israel: and their folds shall be there, and they shall lie down, and there shall they rest in perfect prosperity, and they shall feed in a fat pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed my sheep, and I will cause them to rest; and they shall know that I am the Lord: thus saith the Lord God. 16 I will seek that which is lost, and I will recover the stray one, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen the fainting, and will guard the strong, and will feed them with judgment.

17 And as for you, ye sheep, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will distinguish between sheep and sheep, between rams and he-goats. 18 And is it not enough for you that ye fed on the good pasture, that ye trampled with your feet the remnant of your pasture? and that ye drank the standing water, that ye disturbed the residue with your feet? 19 So my sheep fed on that which ye had trampled with your feet; and they drank the water that had been disturbed by your feet.

20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will separate between the strong sheep and the weak sheep. 21 Ye did thrust with your sides and shoulders, and pushed with your horns, and ye cruelly treated all the sick. 22 Therefore I will save my sheep, and they shall not be any more for a prey; and will judge between ram and ram.

23 And I will raise up one shepherd over them, and he shall tend them, even my servant David, and he shall be their shepherd; 24 and I the Lord will be to them a God, and David a prince in the midst of them; I the Lord have spoken it.

The Covenant of Peace

25 And I will make with David a covenant of peace and I will utterly destroy evil beasts from off the land; and they shall dwell in the wilderness, and sleep in the forests. 26 And I will settle them round about my mountain; and I will give you the rain, the rain of blessing. 27 And the trees that are in the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her strength, and they shall dwell in the confidence of peace on their land, and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken their yoke; and I will deliver them out of the hand of those that enslaved them. 28 And they shall no more be a spoil to the nations, and the wild beasts of the land shall no more at all devour them; and they shall dwell safely, and there shall be none to make them afraid. 29 And I will raise up for them a plant of peace, and they shall no more perish with hunger upon the land, and they shall no more bear the reproach off the nations. 30 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and they my people. O house of Israel, saith the Lord God, 31 ye are my sheep, even the sheep of my flock, and I am the Lord your God, saith the Lord God. — Ezekiel 34 | Brenton's Septuagint Translation (BST) The English translation of The Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton (1851). Cross References: Leviticus 26:5; Leviticus 26:13; Numbers 16:9; Deuteronomy 30:3; 1 Samuel 2:29-30; Psalm 23:1-2; Psalm 46:7; Psalm 72:12; Psalm 78:52; Psalm 147:3; Proverbs 25:26; Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 55:3-4; Jeremiah 30:10; Ezekiel 22:25; Ezekiel 33:33; Matthew 9:36; Matthew 25:32; Mark 6:34; Luke 13:14; Luke 19:10; John 10:8-9; John 10:11; John 10:16; Acts 14:7; Acts 20:29; Revelation 7:17

[wiirocku]

1 Kings 8:23 (NLT) - and he prayed,

“O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in all of heaven above or on the earth below. You keep Your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before You in wholehearted devotion.

[byfaithmedia]

Yes!

[theragamuffininitiative]

Tfw you get recommended a particular pastor-teacher by a peer and you have gotten just wise enough at this point to go look the person up before just ingesting their teaching, and the top two things they have recently said are "Christian Nationalism is a good thing and a God-ordained pursuit" and "Israel should by no means pause or cease fire" and you're just like. Aha. Ok then. Glad I checked first. 😅

[kdmiller55]

God’s Throne Room

1 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 2 And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. 3 And he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. 4 And he made poles of acacia wood and…

[coreofthebible]

Atonement, part 1

Lately we have been reviewing some of the bigger key doctrines in the Bible, and today we are beginning a study on the topic of the atonement. This is a very complex and involved concept to present, not because it is so extremely difficult to understand, but because we have had a certain view over the centuries that may not reflect what the Bible actually teaches about this critical aspect of the…

[feedingtheflockministry]

The Sabbath Message in the Synagogue of Antioch, Pisidia

“Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took about four hundred and fifty years.

After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’

From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

“Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.

When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead; and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.

And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’ As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’ Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’ For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.

Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: ‘BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.’”

[liberty1776]

Satan's Attack Against These New Covenant Prophecy Messages - 4/2/23 By ...

Revelation is actually about why Israel needed to be distroyed. The Great Harlot and Babalon are Jerusalem not Rome. What you are willing to pay to defend truth shows how you value it. 

[thinkingonscripture]

What Must I Believe to Be Saved?

The Terms of Salvation God requires that certain information be believed before He saves someone. This means saving faith requires content. Though faith alone is the only requirement by God, the content of faith has changed throughout the ages, depending on what God revealed at a particular time. What God revealed to Adam and Eve was different than what He revealed to Abraham, and what He…

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Another Promise of Restoration

1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,

2 Thus says the LORD the maker of the earth, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;

3 Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not.

4 For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the siege mounds, and by the sword;

5 They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my anger and in my fury, all for whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.

6 Behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will heal them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.

7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.

8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned, and by which they have transgressed against me.

9 And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I provide for it.

10 Thus says the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,

11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endures forever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captives of the land, as at the first, says the LORD.

12 Thus says the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all its cities, shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that counts them, says the LORD.

14 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name by which it shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.

17 For thus says the LORD; David shall never lack a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;

18 Neither shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.

19 And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,

20 Thus says the LORD; if you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;

21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.

22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the descendants of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.

23 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

24 Consider you not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD has chosen, he has even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, as if they should be no more a nation before them.

25 Thus says the LORD; If my covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;

26 Then will I cast away the descendants of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them. — Jeremiah 33 | King James 2000 Bible (KJB2K) The King James 2000 Bible, copyright © Doctor of Theology Robert A. Couric 2000, 2003. All rights reserved. Cross References: Genesis 1:17; Genesis 8:22; Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17; Genesis 49:10; Exodus 3:15; Leviticus 16:30; Leviticus 26:32; Numbers 3:5; Deuteronomy 18:1; 2 Samuel 7:16; 2 Samuel 23:5; Nehemiah 6:16; Psalm 50:15; Psalm 72:1; Psalm 74:16-17; Psalm 85:1; Song of Solomon 1:7; Isaiah 8:17; Isaiah 32:1-2; Isaiah 32:13; Jeremiah 32:2; Luke 15:4; Romans 11:1; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Galatians 5:22-23; Hebrews 9:11; Hebrews 13:15

[afaithfulsower]

God's Chosen People Israel

Is the rise of anti-semitism in the United States and other parts of the world a sign that the end of the age is drawing near? Click/Tap the link to read more.

“For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”~ (Isaiah 41:13)Last October, the world witnessed a horrific attack on the Israeli people by the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas. Reports state the attack killed more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationalists and seized more than 253 hostages. In response, Israel, and rightfully…

[brucedinsman]

Music Mix: He is Risen - Covenant Church

#GIVETHANKS #Outreach: That the world may know #Prayer Focus: Pray for Our Prodigals #Praise the Lord Please follow my blogs  Guam Christian Blog Guam views Blog Bruce’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bruce.dinsman Featured book: https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Service-4-Bruce-Dinsman-ebook/dp/B07W64BCD1 Twitter: @bad671 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dinsmanbruce/ Younow:…

[heartofashepherd]

Troubles and Trials Reveal the Character of a People and Nation (Jeremia...

[the-big-picture-bible-blog]

Where did Peter and the 11 preach that circumcision was necessary for salvation?

In one of my posts I mentioned the following, Peter and the 11 preached that physical circumcision was necessary for salvation —God clearly stated that He wanted nothing to do with a physically-uncircumcised Jew in Israel’s program, for physical circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, Gen 17:7-14. The following question/statement came in as comment on the post, Where did Peter and…