Does God judge nations by how they treat Israel?
Two Views:

http://www.endtimeinsights.com/IsraelIssues4Blesses.html
by Steve Wohlberg
(republished with permission, 8/28/04)

Across America the line is heard, "He who blesses Israel will be blessed and he who curses Israel will be cursed." This line, supposedly from the Bible, is even quoted as a Divine, behind-the-scenes reason for the present prosperity of the United States. The idea is, America has become the most powerful nation on earth because she supports Israel.

First of all, America was en route to becoming a great nation long before she began to support Israel (the nation was reborn in 1948).

Secondly, the line, "He who blesses Israel will be blessed and he who curses Israel will be cursed" is really not in the Bible at all. That oft-repeated phrase is really a misinterpretation of one verse, Genesis 12:3.

In Genesis 12:3, God said to Abraham, "I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you, and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

Notice, the direct "bless-curse" line concerned Abraham alone, not Israel, and "all the families of the earth" were to be blessed in Abraham, which meant through "his seed," which was Jesus Christ (see Galatians 3:16). In order to receive that very blessing, individuals must be willing to be "turned away" from their sins by God's grace (see Acts 3:25,26).

In Deuteronomy 28, God said if Israel followed Him she would be "blessed," but if she strayed, she would be "cursed." Throughout the Old Testament, God's blessing or curse upon the Israelites was connected to their faith and obedience to His will. In the Bible, there is NO UNCONDITIONAL BLESSING upon any individual or nation that chooses to reject faith and disobey God. Paul said that "glory, honor, and peace" would come upon "the Jew first, and also the Gentile," if they do what is right, whereas "indignation and wrath" would come "upon every soul of man that doeth evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile … for there is no respecter of persons with God" (Romans 2:8-11).

If Jews respond to God's love, repent of their sins, trust in Jesus Christ as their promised Messiah, and do good, they will be blessed. If they don't, they will be cursed. The same is true for every human being inside Jerusalem, America, Russia, Europe, China, or Japan.

There is no UNCONDITIONAL BLESSING in the Bible upon any man or nation, including America or the modern nation of Israel.

[END OF ARTICLE]

OUR PLACE IN THE WORLD: ROADMAP TO DARKNESS

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/148208_ourplace14.html
by Ruslan Tokhchukov (Seattle Post)

I am ashamed to be a Muslim ... again. I am originally from a Muslim minority in Russia and I was never quite as ashamed of the Soviet Union, which I left as an anti-Communist emigrant long ago, as I am of the Muslim world that makes even the USSR look free and civilized.

Total gender apartheid, treating women worse than animals, tyranny, oppression, intolerance of any kind of free expression and on and on. The Muslim world is the world of no good news. And now, there's yet another sickening, albeit not surprising, headline: "Jews rule the world by proxy, says Malay leader" (P-I, Oct. 17).

Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian prime minister, speaking before a gathering of the world's Islamic leaders, invoked the same old, tired explanation of the Muslims' many ills and ailments: the Jewish conspiracy.

Judging by the many historical references he included in his speech, Mohamad read some history but he proved to be absolutely incapable of learning history's lessons. He alluded to Islam's glorious past when the Muslim world thrived economically and culturally and shone in science, medicine and education while the West was backward and savage, wallowing in the misery, famines and plagues of the Dark Ages.

True, but the roles have since reversed. It is the Muslim world in the Dark Ages now, as one can judge by Mohamad's speech and by his audience's reaction to it. The leaders of 57 Muslim countries greeted this hate tirade with a standing ovation and praised it as "a good road map." How pathetic.

A road map where? Deeper into darkness? During the Seven Golden Centuries of Islam, the Muslim world was tolerant of the Jews and provided a haven for hundreds of thousands fleeing the savage persecution in Europe -- a fact Mohamad acknowledged. But now it is just the opposite.

Mohamad noted that the West surged ahead of the Muslims during the Industrial Revolution. But who led this revolution? The English and the Dutch, the only ones in Western Europe who were tolerant to their Jewish communities.

On the other end of the spectrum was the Inquisition nation of Spain, which was totally bypassed by the Industrial Age, just like the Arabs. It was the only country in Europe that had completely "cleansed" itself of Jews. This put the "purified" Spaniards on a 400-year-long downslide into ever-greater corruption, backwardness, poverty and misery. Finally, after a series of shattering military blows from Anglos, both British and American, the Spanish Empire collapsed like a rotten shack.

No, Mohamad, the Jews do not "take over" the most powerful countries in the world. They help those countries that welcome them to become powerful and successful.

One hundred years ago, 1 million Jews fled from Tsarist Russia to the United States after a wave of pogrom atrocities. Russia's loss was the United States' gain. The Russian Empire had violently collapsed in just a decade and the United States, which entered the 20th century as a third-rate power, emerged from it as the world's unchallenged superpower.

Let's ponder the fate of all once-powerful enemies of the Jewish people: the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Inquisitor Spain, the Russian Tsarist Empire, the Nazi Reich. Did any one of them not suffer a brutal end?

In the Christians' Bible, there's a part about God cursing those who curse the Jewish people and the entire world history seems to confirm it. Now, whether you are Christian or not, whether you are religious or not, whether you call it God's law or the law of history, you have to agree that not one nation that persecuted Jews had escaped very bad consequences. I don't think this law has an exception for the Arabs or any other Muslims.

This is what we the Umma (the world Muslim community) should pause to think about. Only then might we be able to find our way out of darkness. Otherwise, I am afraid, the Muslim world will be beyond redemption.

"For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant. "How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel-- the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God." 2 Sam 7:21-24 (NIV)