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November 20, 2009
Bend But Don't Break
November 16, 2009
40 Years of Sesame Street
November 13, 2009
Peace, Peace—But There Is No Peace
November 11, 2009
World 2.0
November 9, 2009
When Walls Come Down
November 6, 2009
Hope for Fort Hood
November 4, 2009
Afghanistan's Cancelled Elections
November 3, 2009
Healthcare and Horses
 
October 30, 2009
Ho, Ho, Halloween
October 28, 2009
Harmless Halloween?
October 26, 2009
Smart Chickens
October 23, 2009
Why No Nobel Peace Prize for the Greatest Peacemaker?
October 21, 2009
Death of a Computer
October 19, 2009
Not By Might
 
September 25, 2009
A Festival of Peace
September 24, 2009
Nukes in Iran
September 23, 2009
Three-Hearted Nations
September 21, 2009
Dawkins or Design?
September 17, 2009
Watch Your Mouth
September 15, 2009
World War II & the Hitler-Stalin Pact
September 11, 2009
Remembering 9/11
September 11, 2009
Terrorism and the Bible
September 10, 2009
Ted Kennedy and America
September 9, 2009
President Addresses Students
September 3, 2009
Can the War In Afghanistan Be Won?
September 1, 2009
Jaycee Dugard Found After 18 Years
 
 
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GN Commentary: November 13, 2009 - Peace, Peace—But There Is No Peace

Keep your eyes on the Middle East. Bible prophecy indicates it will be the center of strife and troubles, leading up to the coming of the Prince of Peace. Only He will be really successful in bringing true peace.

 

Related Resources

The Middle East in Bible Prophecy
You need to understand what is prophesied to happen in the Middle East. Whether you realize it or not, or understand it or not, events there are destined to affect the lives of every person on earth. In this free booklet, you will learn the story of the past, present and future of this crucial region that was laid out thousands of years ago in the Bible.

When Will the Middle East Find Peace?
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," urged Israel's King David 3,000 years ago (Psalm 122:6). Seeking a peaceful solution to the Mideast problem is the concern, if not the prayer, of many world leaders. But peace in the Holy Land has, over the centuries, been in remarkably short supply.

The Middle East in Conflict: How Will It End?
In the wake of the latest war, Time magazine asked the right questions: "What is it about the Middle East that makes the conflicts so intractable? Why the hate and where's the healing?" (July 24, 2006).

The Middle East in Prophecy
The world stood transfixed in the wake of a carefully planned series of hijackings that destroyed the World Trade Center, crippled the Pentagon and took the lives of more than 5,000 men, women and children. On a sunny September morning, the world dramatically changed. What is the long-term significance?

The Prince of Peace
Islamic fundamentalism became front-page news after Sept. 11. There certainly had been plenty of warning, although nobody could have predicted the precise way in which terrorists would get the West's attention. Few would have listened anyway.

 

 

Video Transcript

Among all the recent news about the world economy and congressional elections in the United States, it's easy to miss one that seems to be a perennial: the search for peace in the Middle East.

Judged by the Obama administration to be the key to peace and democracy for the entire region, negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians commenced shortly after the inauguration of the new president. Mr. Obama named George Mitchell, a veteran diplomat who successfully mediated peace talks in Northern Ireland, as his envoy for the Middle East.

But the Mideast is proving even more challenging than Ireland. Months of shuttle diplomacy have produced little fruit. The Palestinians, led by Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, demanded an immediate and complete halt to Israeli settlement construction, while Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reluctantly agreed to a partial settlement freeze. Mr. Netanyahu's calls for Mr. Abbas to enter into immediate face-to-face negotiations went unheeded, and Mr. Abbas recently announced his intention not run again as Palestinian leader in the elections slated for January.

Both sides are jaded and cynical. Israelis are generally unimpressed by promises of diplomatic relations with the entire Arab world at the cost of relinquishing most or all of the territory gained in the 1967 war. They ask, "If they want peace, why do they continually attack and alienate us?" The Palestinians, meanwhile, are divided between the nationalist Fatah movement which rules the West Bank, and the Iranian-supported Hamas fundamentalists in the Gaza Strip. Many Palestinians ask wearily, "If the Israelis want peace, why won't they return our land?"

In the meantime the prestige of the US, which seemed to be recovering after the president's Cairo speech, suffered a new dip as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to back away from the administration's insistence on a complete settlement freeze as a precondition for talks, infuriating the Palestinians. Mr. Abbas has insisted on an end to settlement building and expansion before he will enter into negotiations.
On the other side, many Israelis regard Mr. Obama with suspicion and distrust for his apparent pro-Arab tilt in US policy. The mix doesn't make for a lot of hope.

'If all this sounds wearily familiar, of course it is. The twentieth century brought multiple attempts to negotiate peace between the Arabs and Israel, most of them failed. And even as far back as the seventh and six centuries BC a prophet of God coined the famous saying "Peace, peace, when there is no peace," prophesying of the same part of the world.  Jeremiah's words apply even today.

Let's keep our eyes on the Middle East. Bible prophecy indicates it will be the center of strife and troubles, leading up to the coming of the Prince of Peace. Only He will be really successful in bringing true peace.

For GN Magazine, I'm Ralph Levy.

 


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