Israel, Hamas, and End Times - Part 3 | Gary Hamrick

Blessings to Israel presents, Deserting the Times, a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible.

Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, please join us for today's program. Question number four then, why are so many American youth and young adults supporting the Palestinian cause today? Now, if you haven't already tuned me out, young adults, listen up because you need to learn something.

I'm about to school you. I'm going to encourage you first, and then I'm going to school you second, all right? Here's the encouraging thing. This generation of young adults is very concerned about humanitarian causes. You're concerned about, quote, the underdog or the disadvantaged or people without a voice, and you're to be commended for that. Don't ever stop caring for people who are disadvantaged. You, because of your compassion for people, that's why you are quick to jump on certain causes, and you're passionate about these things. And so, you know, you want to end sex trafficking, and you want to, you know, end world hunger, and you're concerned about the environment, and all these different causes, and all these different issues. And again, I just want to say, because you care about people, especially those who are disadvantaged, don't ever stop caring for people. Your compassion is needed. But now, here's the challenge. Know why you are part of that cause, and get your facts straight, because sometimes you are quick to jump on the bandwagon of the latest cause, the latest issue, the latest group that appears to be disadvantaged, and you don't even know why you're a part of that cause, and you can't even intellectually defend it, and you end up looking silly.

You look silly. Welcome to Discerning the Times. So great to be with you, as always. This week, we're going to wrap up our series on Israel, Hamas, and the end times by listening to the last third of a sermon from Pastor Gary Hamrick, who leads Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. And we've listened the past two weeks to the first portion of his sermon, so we will wrap things up this week. And as I said in the beginning of the series, we are sharing this, because a lot of the world has moved on from the event that we saw take place October 7th of 2023, where over 1,200 Israelis were killed. Even today, more than a hundred remain hostage, and a lot of the world has moved on from it. And as we've said, a lot of churches have not given support, but we want to remember what has taken place and not forget our Jewish brothers and sisters, because there's still a lot of suffering.

There's still war going on in the land of Israel. So today, we're going to listen to the last third of that sermon from Pastor Hamrick. And if you missed the past two weeks, please visit our website, BlessingsToIsrael.com, or go to our YouTube channel and just search for Discerning the Times, and you can see parts one and two of Israel, Hamas, and the end times. So we will get back to Pastor Hamrick shortly, but before we do, I want to remind you that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. If you have never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I urge you to do so today. Otherwise, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire separated from God.

So please accept the gift that Jesus Christ gave us when He shed His blood at Calvary for sins accepted and received eternal life on today. So once again, we're going to look at Israel in the end times, and as it relates to what we saw take place in the attack from Hamas, and I just love the way Pastor Hamrick stated that we need to know what we're supporting and what we're getting involved with, because we see in society today, a lot of people are quick to jump on a cause, especially as he said, the young adult, the young generation, they're very quick to jump on an issue and rush to judgment without knowing the facts. And you often see people making decisions based on emotion rather than facts and truth.

And folks, that is right out of the playbook of Marxism. We've seen in our nation for several years now where the headline reads, White Cop Shoots Unarmed Black Man. And what happens? People get upset. They start rioting, destroying property of people who had nothing to do with the issue only for us to find out later. Well, this black person who the media portrayed as this victim of a cop was actually committing a crime, was actually resisting arrest, not not obeying the orders.

But at that point, the damage is done. And again, that is right out of the playbook of Marxism because they want to stir up civil unrest to overthrow our current system, to bring in something that is not of God. And that is what's behind movements like Marxism is Satan.

He's the father of lies. And we see the same thing happening as it relates to Israel. So Pastor Hamrick is very spot on in stating, know what it is that you're getting involved in. And when it comes to Israel, we just had our primaries in the state of North Carolina last week. And one of the things that I do when I go to the I voter guide and I look at the candidates, there are three things that I'm looking for. Those are what that person's position is concerning abortion, what that person's position is concerning same sex marriage and their position concerning Israel. And if they're not in line with the Bible on any of those issues, they do not get my vote. And I'm very thankful that those who created the I voter guide actually put a question about Israel in there for the candidate to answer so people can know where they stand. And I encourage you out there, please vote in support of Israel, because when you vote for candidates who are in favor of dividing God's land, saying that Israel does not have the right to that full land, you are going against the Bible.

And God said that in the last days, he is going to bring judgment. He's going to draw the nations into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and he's going to bring judgment and the judgment is going to be because he says they have divided my land. We as believers in Christ do not want to be in support of dividing God's holy land. So we should know what it is that we're supporting, know what we are getting involved in. So on that note, let us return to Pastor Gary Hamrick again speaking in October of 2023 concerning Israel, Hamas and the end times. Most young people, in fact, a lot of adults don't even know the history of the land of Israel I just shared with you. And so young adults are believing this false narrative. The Jews are the occupiers, the Jews are the colonialists. This is our land. You know, look, you can have compassion for the Palestinian people. Fine, you should. But don't forget what happened October the 7th, 2023. And stop trying to accuse the Israelis of being the ones who are the bullies.

There are 22 Arab states, 52 Muslim states, one Jewish state. Who's the bully? You tell me.

Who's the bully? Now look, I'm not defending everything that the Jewish people have done since 1948. Returning to their homeland was messy. It was met with resistance, there was war and whenever there's war it is messy.

And unfortunately the way they went about trying to repossess the land was messy. And there were Palestinian families who were displaced from their homes. And that created animosity even within the current generation of Palestinians against Jews. I've been up on the Temple Mount hearing young Arab children chanting in Arabic, death to Israel. They're teaching their children to hate the Jews. And that will continue to happen until finally someone realizes this is the enemy. This is evil. This is wicked. So I'm not defending Israel on everything they've ever done.

But to say that the land belonged to the Palestinians and that the Jews had never been there until they stormed in in 1948 and took it by force, that is simply intellectually dishonest and it isn't true. And in addition, I'm gonna say this to you young people too. I'm not done.

Listen. What feeds many young people, particularly those who care about humanitarian causes, what feeds a lot of times your desire to jump onto the latest humanitarian cause is because it makes you feel good. It makes you feel good. We all have a guilty conscience. And the only way to really assuage a guilty conscience is to go to God and have forgiveness through Jesus. But what happens is some people in order to assuage a guilty conscience, they take up good causes. And young people are involved in something that is today referred to as moralistic therapeutic deism.

What is that all about? In 2005, a Harvard doctor who now teaches at Notre Dame, Dr. Christian Smith coined that term moralistic therapeutic deism to describe the young adult generation that is making a God out of humanitarian causes. The moralistic part is I wanna do good.

Fine. But then when you do good, you feel good. That's the therapeutic part. And then you make a God out of it. That's the deism part. And it's a dangerous place to be because again, you start to jump on the bandwagon of the latest cause and the latest humanitarian thing and you haven't done your homework and you don't know your facts and you can't intellectually defend it and you end up looking silly. So instead of trying to get your feel good from this sense of humanitarian help, get your feel good from Jesus and get a relationship with God and stick close to Him.

And then you'll know what is good and right and pure. If you are just now joining us, we are listening to a sermon from Gary Hamrick, pastor of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, a sermon that he delivered there in October of 2023. And as I said in the opening, Pastor Hamrick is giving excellent advice concerning what type of movements we should get involved in or should not get involved in and to know the facts and the truth. Because as I said earlier, the media is unfortunately behind a lot of the deception, the propaganda, they are being influenced by Satan.

And there's the example I said before, where we see the race relations that is being stirred up even when there actually no racial issue that is there, but they create one by putting this narrative into people's mind that, well, white police officers are out to get black civilians. And well, again, as we find oftentimes, more times than not, once the facts and the truth comes out, we realize the situation is not as it was originally conveyed. And we find that people again are getting stirred up based on emotions, and they are being duped by the devil.

So that is why it's so important that we have discernment and that we transcend the evil, the tricks, the deception of the wicked one. So we're going to return after a short announcement, but please don't go away. We'll be back with the conclusion of Pastor Hamrick's sermon on Israel, Hamas and the end times again delivered in October of 2023.

Don't go away. You are tuned into Discerning the Times. You are tuned into Discerning the Times. If you believe in what we stand for, would you consider partnering with us? Our partners program is based on Genesis 12 three. I will bless those who bless you for a recurring donation of $12.03 per month. You can help us share the message of Discerning the Time as we await our Lord's return to Israel. For more information please visit our website, BlessingsToIsrael.com or write to us at Blessings to Israel, Keyobox 266, Knightdale, North Carolina 27545. Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's program.

I'll end with question number five. How might any of this fit into Bible prophecy about the end times? Go to Ezekiel chapter 38, Ezekiel chapter 38.

There's a lot of discussion right now about, you know, is this the end of the world and how does this all fit in and what does this mean? Anytime you see activity in Israel, especially when there's war, you should wake up, you should take notice and you should look at your Bibles to try to understand what is going on. And in Ezekiel chapter 38, I'll read the first six verses and then I'll share my thoughts on how this does or does not relate to current events. Ezekiel 38 one to six. Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, set your face against Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal and prophesy against him. You see circling your Bibles Gog, Gog is a title, it means prince or Lord, small L or Tsar. And he's the prince of Magog over certain cities, Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal. And God says to Ezekiel, prophesy against that guy. Verse three and say, thus says the Lord God, behold I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them. All of them with shield and helmet, Gomer and all its troops, the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops, many people are with you. The prophet Ezekiel goes on to say that these nations form a confederation and they advance from the north down to Israel and they attack Israel. The question is are we seeing what is happening today a fulfillment of Ezekiel 38?

I would say yes and no. Here's what I mean. First of all it speaks here about Gog who's the prince of this region, Magog. The ancient historians Tacitus, Pliny, Josephus, they all said about Magog it was the land of the ancient Scythians. When you look at a map the land of the ancient Scythians was just north of the Caspian and Black Seas. We are talking Russia.

This is a prophecy about Russia. And then there are five nations that join with Russia in this confederation against Israel. First on the list, verse 5 is Persia. Iran was called Persia until 1935. Iran's always been referred to as Persia historically until 1935. Iran was also an ally of the United States and Israel until the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. The Shah of Iran was selling oil to Israel. But all that changed in 1979 when Shia Muslims began to influence the whole country and thus influence and inspire Hamas and Hezbollah. Okay listen, Hamas is fully funded, aided and assisted by Iran.

There's no question about it. In fact Hamas has said that October 7th was directed by Iran. Hezbollah has said the same thing. Iran itself has said the same thing. They are behind October the 7th. Why it is that our own federal government cannot say that Iran is behind October the 7th when they believe the Russian collusion stuff without even any evidence, but they can't believe this is a mind boggling mystery to me.

It's mind boggling. I will hasten to say however as I said Wednesday night, give honor where honor is due. President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have made very strong statements in defense of Israel and I'm very thankful for that.

Very thankful for that. You know the Secretary of State is Jewish so it helps to be Jewish and care about the Jewish people. They've made strong statements. But you see a Russian-Iranian confederation coming together right now like never before and Ezekiel prophesied it thousands of years ago. Could this be what we're seeing?

Here's why I say yes and no. This battle is in the south. It's coming from the south.

It's not coming from the north. That's what Ezekiel says. Ezekiel also says that no one comes to Israel's defense. Well we've come to Israel's defense. Other countries have come to Israel's defense. We've got the USS Gerald Ford in the eastern Mediterranean ready to help in whatever way is needed. We've already released munition we had on site in Israel, the United States had. We've released these missiles as part of the Israeli defense system, the Iron Dome, so that they have missiles that can target the rockets that are coming over from Gaza, more than 6,000 now.

So we are involved. Ezekiel 38 says no one comes to Israel's aid and the forces come from the north. But here's how this could possibly be what we're about to see unfolding of Ezekiel 38. If you start to see Iran getting involved and telling Hezbollah from the north to start to fight as they fired a few rockets just to kind of show Israel they're there. If they start to engage, if Russia starts to send troops, okay, then it could be Ezekiel 38. But wait a minute we're still helping. No one comes to Israel's aid.

Here's the scenario under which I think the United States could pull out. Right now again we've made strong statements in defense of Israel. However, notice the language very carefully right now you're starting to hear. The United Nations refuses to acknowledge Hamas as a terrorist organization.

The UN has already been pushing back on Israel as other nations have. Be careful now. Don't go in there too harsh. Watch what you're doing. Be nice.

Be nice. That's what we're starting to say. Even some among our government officials are starting to code word those kind of things. Like be careful Israel. Like watch out.

Don't be too harsh. If other nations including our own begins to think that Israel is going in too harshly they might pull out. We might decide we're not going to support Israel anymore.

And here's other more frightening scenarios. Because of our ongoing efforts in supplies to Ukraine and perhaps needing to get involved in China's potential assault against Taiwan and here's even what is more of a potential. We have terrorists coming over our southern border in the United States. And on our own soil there are these cells that we might end up having to fight. And if we have to end up engaging our own military here and there and everywhere. I'm not making a statement whether all that is right or wrong. I'm just saying if we get stretched too thinly the United States might very well wave at Israel and say we've got our own battles to fight.

Sorry we're not going to help you anymore. If you see those kind of things aligning this could be Ezekiel 38. And let me tell you what happens between Ezekiel 38 and 39 the rapture of the church. The rapture of the church. So all that to say, all that to say be ready.

Always be ready. Jesus said lift up your heads and look up your redemption draws near. Jesus is coming again. So get right with God.

Get your hearts right with Him and in the meantime pray. Pray for Israel. Pray for the Palestinian civilians caught in the cross hairs. Pray ultimately for the Prince of Peace to come and rule and reign Himself Jesus our Messiah.

Amen. In the 24th chapter of the book of Matthew it gives an account of when the disciples came to Jesus and they asked Him what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the age. And Jesus proceeded to give a list of things to look for that would be indicators of the end of the age. And one of the things that Jesus stated is that that would be nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom. The word for nation in the Greek is ethnos and that is the root word for where we get our word ethnicity. So when Jesus said in the last days it would be nation against nation it's the same as saying it would be ethnic group against ethnic group. And as I've said earlier just here in our United States of America we've seen this narrative which is a false narrative given by the media of the police force which is predominantly white is out to kill hunting down blacks. And again it's a false narrative but it's creating racial tensions between the different ethnic groups. We see it in other parts of the world as well but where we see it the most is in the land of Israel because we see the Arab nations the Arab ethnic group in battle with the Jewish ethnic group. And Jesus said that would be one of the indicators of the last days. And folks we are there and the one that is behind it all there is one individual that is behind this whole ethnicity against ethnicity and that is Satan.

He is the father of lies the deceiver and he is trying to bring chaos into the world. But if you do not have a biblical world view you won't recognize it and you will be easily deceived by the media of propaganda into believing that Israel is the evil occupier into believing that white cops are out to get blacks in our nation. It's all propaganda folks but you need a biblical world view to understand what is taking place. And the sad thing as I've said before and I know you probably say I sound like a broken record but there are many churches who have given no support to the nation of Israel.

And it troubles me because for one supporting Israel is biblical. But even if you want to put the biblical aspect of it aside I say to myself we all saw the accounts of how barbaric the acts were committed against Israel in October. The raping of the women. The killing of women and children. Just all kinds of atrocities.

Just too bad to even mention. And even if you again put aside the biblical aspect of this what about just having sympathy for humanity. For your fellow man to show love and compassion for anyone in the world that was attacked in this kind of way. And I see churches that said nothing and it grieves my heart. It is the spirit of antichrist that is behind this because antichrist Satan which is the one who possesses antichrist that spirit is already in the world. He is trying to prevent Jesus from coming back to the earth.

We've seen this chant we've heard the chant over the past several months. This battle cry to annihilate Israel from the river to the sea. Palestine will be free.

And again folks it's propaganda. It's the spirit of antichrist that's driving this. They want to annihilate the nation of Israel. They don't want them to exist and it's because Satan does not want Christ to come back to rule and reign the earth. But as I said in the beginning of this series God said he will bless those that bless Israel and curse those that curse Israel.

The land is God's and he gave it to Israel. So don't be on the wrong side of God. You must view this through the lens of the Bible. And the world is shaking right now. A lot of people saying it just feels like something is about to happen that's major. Even non-believers in Christ are saying it and that is because folks we are nearing the return of Jesus Christ. The Bible said there would be birth pains as we approach the coming of our Messiah and we see it happening. There are dark spirits that are stirring more and more as a result of the fact that we are getting nearer to the return of our great Lord.

And Israel is the prophetic time clock that points to our great Lord and King. And so as Pastor Hamrick said in the closing there, if these things are pointing to the second coming of Christ then the rapture of the church is that much nearer because we are taken out of here before the seven year tribulation even begins. So as he said in the word when you see these things begin to happen know that your redemption draws near. And I want to encourage everyone out there to know Jesus Christ is coming again. Are you ready to see and meet our Lord? And again as we look at the events around the world remember our Jewish brothers and sisters.

So we are out of time. That is going to do it for this week but please come back and join us next time as we continue to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the Times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. Discerning the Times is presented by Blessings to Israel.