#9-Famous people

So, it has been an interesting week. Sunday, I walked what had to of been like 10 miles. We went all over Jerusalem looking at sites as they relate to the Bible.
Also, God is really working on the hearts and minds of some of the students here....it is very cool to see.

This past Shabbat, I went with some people here at JUC to a Messianic Synagogue in the morning....turned out to be very Rabbinical in basically everything. Had i of not known before that they claimed to be Messianic, I would have never of guessed that they were had it not of been for the fact that they read out of Romans during the readings....least to say, it wasn't cool, considering i had just spent a few hours the night before discussing with someone here on campus the differences between what I believe about Christianity/Judaism/ the traditions of the fathers. So the next morning I say, lets go to a Messianic Synagogue to find out it was Orthodox...I had a lot to explain to him after words...

but then that evening I went to visit my friend Amanda who is living here in Jerusalem. We met some of her friends and went to another Messianic Synagogue that night.....turned out, it was great. We walked in the door as they where playing "Ancient Gates".....I realized right then and there that there is seriously no congregation in the world quite like Sar Shalom. I miss it.

Any who,this was strange. One of the acquaintances of my friend turned out to be Stacie Orrico....the famous Christian singer. Bizarre. I was totally thinking..."I got your autograph when I was like 10 at a concert." I didn't say anything though...cos' how strange is that? What the heck do you even do in a situation like that???


After all of that, we ate dinner with some people from the congregation..I met this Canadian-Jew. She was nice. She was volunteering with the Israeli Army and was actually stationed down in Gaza for awhile. I asked her what she thought of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict....(because I had just posted my last blog)....all she said was "I support Israel 1,000%".


Interesting....I am still torn over all of that whole topic.

Anywho, on my way back to school from all of that,there was a huge concert going on outside of my school.

Get this: When I arrived last week, there were people in the Hinnom valley setting up a stage...all week people had been sound checking during classes and such, making it very hard to hear.

We have all been wondering what the heck was going on and when this concert was going to take place....well, after a week of setting this huge stage up...turned out the concert was Saturday night...
and it turned out is was the final concert for "Israeli Idol" (Technically it is called A Star Is Born Or "Kokhav Nolad" in Hebrew).....the Israeli version of "American Idol".

So I listened to the music...turned out to be very, very good music. I love Israeli/Mediterranean Music....they use scales that people in America don't even know exist..plus the drumming is awesome cos' its got this great Latin/African style to it. However, most of the music in this concert was typical westernized pop/rock music....oh well, was still good.

Here is a video of the announcement of who won...note how freaking catchy the songs are...it's really ridiculous...cos' I have no idea who sings them or how to find them...all I know is that the girl who won is 18 and named Diana Golby:



-Few comments: the concert is taking place right outside of my window at JUC.
-It happened in the bottom of the valley of Hinnom....or Gehenna in Hebrew....

-The valley of Hinnom is where the New Testament gets its english word for "Hell".


Funny: I watched a rock concert take place in hell.






Shalom!

Post Script: I should have another blog up very soon on something that happened tonight...keep your eyes open.

Post Post Script: Few blogs ago I mentioned I was going to start a "song of the day"....scratch that. It is now "song of this particular blog"

Post Post Post Script: Song of this Particular Blog: "Oh Praise Him" by David Crowder. Note: I like the Scripture that whoever made this video added to the song....it is very fitting with the music and overall ideology of Israel. Watch it Here!

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#8-Zionism

OK.
Here we go.

So, the other day I walked into the old city to get some Shwarma (Gyro-Israeli Style.

I could not find any...major bummer.
So I got Pizza instead....was good. I went to a place I had gone to yesterday and wanted an Israeli Coke (It is better here....less sugar, more flavor...kinda like Mexican Coke) but did not have enough money with me...

so I went back the next day, and the Israelite who owns the place was glad to see me...which was good, considering he did not like me last night when i had no money. HA.


Anywho, I ate my Pizza and then and then went to walk down to the Western Wall.

I still have not managed to actually go up to the Wall to pray.
Do not ask me why...I don't know why. for whatever, reason, I get down by the plaza, and I just can't go up to the Wall...not yet. I've been taking pictures and just observing this wonderful group of people.

But, when I got down to the Wall, as i was coming closer...I heard A LOT of noise.

I was like... What?

So I get down by the lookout area...and there are 300+ people down on the plaza. A part of it was fenced off and guarded by the police. Outside of the fenced area where a lot of Israelis of all ages. Inside of the fenced area was a lot of Israeli Soldiers. They all had to of been in their 20's.


Cool.
Everybody was yelling, and cheering, and singing, and dancing, etc.

So I took pictures and some video.....

Here is basically what I saw:



Initially I thought something was going down based off of what went on in Hebron a few days ago...

However,
I am pretty sure that what was going on was a group of soldiers being honorably discharges from the military.

In Israel, if you are male or female, when you hit a certain age, you have to serve in the military for like a minimum of two years. Once you serve your time, you have served your time.

Everyone in this country knows how to fight and kick butt at it....
I think this is a great idea for a country to do when you have 5 or 6 countries that surround you who openly say they want to blow you up...

Makes sense.


However, this leads me to my main topic here:

Zionism.

I am going to keep this short.

I support Israel in the political sense.
I support what they did and how they dealt with ships going into Gaza...(we did the same thing in the Cuban Missle crisis...)

i support the fact that they have the best air-force in the world.

I am down.

I am not ok with the West-Bank wall and the settlements.

Not ok with it...but I understand.

And here is the facts. This is what I have observed and this is how I look at it.

The problem of the Middle East and Israel are not just political, but also (and mostly) religious. Oh, before I continue...I look at all of this from a complete Biblical perspective (aka...it is the Jews land because of the Torah...so there is my bias.)

Now, a lot of people out there think I am narrow minded for such a statement...but truly use logic to think about this:

Here is the set up:

>Israel
>West Bank

Israel> Population: 7,000,000 > 90% secular > 7% religious > 3% Orthodox > 3% of that 3% ultra orthodox... (I am estimating here....)

West Bank > Population: 3,000,000 > 75% religious Muslims.



So what?

Think about this:

I would say based off of Arabians I have talked to while here and people i have talked to at my school and such...the number one problem with the Israeli/West bank conflict is the Wall and the Jewish Settlements.

Israel built the wall to keep terrorist out....they however, are a very small minority of the 3,000,000 people in the west bank.

Consequently, it has kept innocent people trapped behind a wall. (It is seriously the Berlin wall all over again...)

A lot of the terrorist attacks against Israel are related to the issue of the Wall and the Settlements (the settlement are areas where Israelis basically take a part of the wall down, push it farther into the west bank, and take land from the Muslims.)

So the issue is this wall: because people feel trapped in the West bank,
and Israel is scared of terrorists.

Now, I said that a lot of the terrorist attacks have to do with the wall....so if Israel got rid of it, wouldn't they stop?

NO. Why? because this issue is more than just a political boundary....it is a religious war about two groups of people fighting over the land.

Secular-Israel has said they are ok with a two state solution.
The USA wants a two-state solution (generally).
You would think so do the Arabs....but they don't. Why? Because IF there was a two state solution, what would be the boarder??? Thats right, the Wall...and if they are not ok with a wall separating Israel and the West Bank right now, why does anyone think they will be ok with it after an official peace treaty was signed and made the West Bank an official country like Israel is right now?

BS.


Therefor, considering that the Arabs are mostly religious, and considering that their logic makes no sense in the regard I just mentioned...what is the motive behind all this really in their minds?

Religion.
The Arabs want the Jews gone. End of story.....(read the Bible, read the Koran.)

See, here in Jerusalem, it all really goes back to the temple mount. I have had two Jewish professors say that in the past two days.

But the problem is, Secular-Israel and the USA are looking at this from political aspects, because they are both secular governments. But the West Bank is not.

Why don't we ask an Orthodox Jew what they think? You know what there answer is?

get rid of the Arabs and build the Temple. It is the same yet opposite conclusion of the Arabs!

That being established, I do not blame the Arabs for the problems of the Wall.
I do not blame the Jews who mourn at the Western Wall.


My biggest problome with all of this? (besides the terrorist attacks...)


Zionism.
The Israeli Government is being run by people who do not believe in Adonai. Who keep Sabbath because their mothers did. Who think the "Kingdom of David" is a metaphor for "the state of Israel". And this is their motivation for wanting to establish the Jewish state....
You have a Government trying to basically re-establish the Kingdom of David, but without God.

The Israeli government wants the "kingdom of David" without the "God of David".

There is a non-religious state trying to deal with an extremely religious group of people...

How can the secular Jews of Israel say this is their land when they don't even believe the Scriptures that say it is their land to be true?

They can't...and they know it. So they go to the two-state solution....but that is not OK with the Arabs and groups like Hamas whose motivation is for mostly religious purposes...

It should be the other way around.

It is a very complicated subject, and I know I don't know everything about it....but I wanted to say something....because I hear people back at home saying "pray for the peace of Israel" and then the next sentence its "I support Israel"....and their first sentence does not line up with the second...because the peace of Israel will only come by the hand of God, and the state of Israel is trying to deliver peace without God.






















Shalom!

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