Friday is the celebration of Passover, a remarkable evening of remembering God's faithfulness in the past as He brought the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt and into the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But, as the question is asked during the Seder meal, what made that night so different from all the others? Let me share with you some principles that I see every time I either read Exodus 12 or celebrate a Seder with friends. First, it was a night in which what had been so long anticipated finally was becoming a reality. The people of Israel had been in slavery in Egypt for four hundred years - that is a lot of nights of agony and heartache. But, with Passover, those agonies would soon be but a memory. Second, it was a night of separation as God Himself walked through the land of Egypt bringing death upon those homes which had not been marked with the blood of a slain lamb. As the Israelites celebrated with joyous anticipation, the homes of the Egyptians were filled with the screams of death. Truly that night God made a distinction between peoples. Finally, it was a night in which the faithfulness of God was powerfully displayed. You see, God had made a promise, first to Abraham, then to both Isaac and Jacob, that He would give the descendants of Abraham a land that would be theirs forever. And that promised land was not in Egypt. It was in Canaan. And now that land was ready to receive the nation of Israel. Oh the journey would be a long and difficult one - but that length and difficulty were the consequences of Israel's rebellion against God's directives. But, after forty long years, they did arrive and soon the land of Canaan became the land of Israel.
So, to my Jewish friends, I want to wish you a most Blessed Passover Season. May the joys you experience as a family as you sit down on Friday evening for the Passover Seder be a reminder of the blessings of God and of His faithfulness. As He was in the past, so He is in the present, and so He will be in the future. And to that promise, I will say a hearty "Amen!"
I will be leaving with another tour group for Israel in a couple of weeks. How I am looking forward to returning to a land that I dearly love. One of the places where we take our tour groups is to Mt. Bental, located on the Golan Heights near the Syrian border. It is a strategic place taken by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War. But I read an article this morning that alarmed me. The article was posted at the United with Israel website: www.unitedwithisrael.org/us-joins-arab-league-and-germany-in-rejecting-israeli-rule-over-strategic-golan-heights. The article begins: "Israel's cabinet held its weekly meeting in the Golan on Sunday to affirm the Jewish state's sovereignty in the area. 'Israel will never come down from the Golan Heights. ... In the 49 years Israel had controlled the Golan, it has been a place of peace and prosperity. Israel today is the solution, not the problem,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. On Monday, Arab League General-Secretary Nabil al-Arabia said Netanyahu's comments marked 'a new escalation that represents a brazen violation of international law.' At the same time, Germany's Foreign Ministry on Monday said that Israel's decision to unilaterally maintain control over the Golan Heights would violate international law. German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said it is 'a basic principle of international law and the U.N. charter that no state can claim the right to annex another state's territory just like that.' The U.S. State Department also said that the American position on the Golan Heights has not changed, and that it does not recognize the territory as part of Israel. Following Netanyahu's comments, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad said his country would 'retake the Golan Heights by any means necessary, including using military force.' According to recent reports, a negotiated deal on the Syrian civil war that is being worked on by world powers would declare the Golan Heights as Syrian territory."
Once you have been to the Golan you understand its strategic importance to the nation of Israel. The integrity and safety of the farmlands of the lower Galilee are dependent upon an Israeli presence on the Golan. There is no fighting today on the Golan. I have traveled through many villages in the Golan, both Jewish and Druse. The fruit trees are abundant. Industry is flourishing. Peace reigns. Why is that? Because Israel is in control. To be perfectly honest, I often wonder at the lack of wisdom on the part of the personnel within our State Department - they don't seem to have a clue as to reality. Just another strong anti-Israel shot across the bow from Washington to Jerusalem. It is little wonder that the people of Israel feel betrayed by their so-called partner from the West.
I also want to share with you an article from the Washington Post and published yesterday. It was written by Moriah Balingit and titled "Federal appeals court sides with transgender teen, says bathroom case can go forward." You can find the article at: www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/federal-appeals-court-sides-with-transgender-teen. The article begins: "A federal appeals court in Richmond has ruled that a transgender high school student who was born as a female can sue his school board on discrimination grounds because it banned him from the boys' bathroom. In backing high school junior Gavin Grimm, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit deferred to the U.S. Education Department's position that transgender students should have access to the bathrooms that match their gender identities rather than being forced to use bathrooms that match their biological sex. The department has said that requiring transgender students to use a bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex amounts to a violation of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at schools that receive federal funding."
This is a lengthy article but one that should be read. The "bathroom fight" is the new battle front in the LBGT war for total acceptance. In recent weeks we have read of decisions in South Dakota, Texas, Mississippi, Virginia, and in North Carolina where this "fight" has been waged. Here, in the state of Minnesota, just yesterday, Target Corporation, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, issued the following policy declaration: "We welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity. Everyone deserves to feel like they belong." (Quote is taken from article posted at: www.money.cnn.com/2016/04/20/news/companies/target-transgender-bathroom-controversy.)
Friends, I thought I would never see anything like this. One wonders if the sins for which God punished Sodom and Gomorrah were this perverse. One can only begin to imagine the wrath of God that will soon be poured out upon a world so steeped in sin as is ours today. I reminded my Ninth Grade Confirmations students last night that Revelation 16 portrays a time that will be unprecedented in the history of the world as God's wrath is poured out upon this world. But there must be a purging of evil before the arrival of the King. Can such a purging be that far away? It would appear that instead of running from it, we are almost running toward it with shouts of defiance before God. I can easily tell you who will win that challenge.
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