MERIDIAN —    Since the beginning of time God has said to men and women of faith like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the herdsman Amos, you are special to me because of the faith you have in Me as your God.  

    God reminds Israel in Hosea 13:4 that, "I have been the LORD your God ever since I brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no God but me, for there is no other savior.”

    God looked at the children of Israel and stated in Hosea 13:6 that the people were too comfortable. “But when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me.” What is God saying?When you achieved success, when things became easier and when you did not need Me you became too comfortable and forgot Me.

    My people Israel have seen “Egypt … become a wasteland and Edom become a wilderness, because they attacked the people of Judah and killed innocent people in their land.”(Joel 3:1) In other words I will bless those that bless you and curse those who curse you Israel.  

    We in the 21st century are able to see, Egypt, this once great power of the world with enormous riches become a wasteland even though Egypt possesses some of the most wealthy land in the Middle East. Egyptian Muslims are so poor that the U.S. provides $2 billion every year to make their army solvent. Yet, regardless of Egypt, Iran and Gaza, God said, “Jerusalem will endure through all generations.” (Joel 3:20) “I, the LORD, will make my home in Jerusalem with my people."  

    When Israel gave the land of Gaza in exchange for peace with the Arabs and forcibly removed all Jews from Gaza the intent was to be a peaceable neighbor. Gaza was a thriving land mass with farms and businesses. But Hamas seized control of Gaza making Gaza a terrorist state that invaded Israel on a daily basis with rockets and mortars.

    However, God said, in the last days "terrible times will come." (2 Timothy 3:1) The bible says that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13) Today, in the land we love, can you count on a verbal contract in the same way it was 50 years ago? Are you able to say that this person or that person’s word is their bond? No! and so it is with Gaza in these days.

     With the new peace agreement in the Middle East brokered by Egypt, what will be the difference to the people of Gaza and to Israel? First, Gaza is poor, broke and cannot feed itself. Israel on the other hand is a land flowing with milk and honey. Why? Because God said He would provide.

    In the prophecy of Amos 9:13 (NIV) he revealed the conditions of today when he wrote. “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes, him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.”  

    How could this be true in the dry desert of Israel? In the natural, Israel can only expect the former rain and the latter rain. God knew to speak to Amos and that irrigation would be developed by Israeli farmers 2,778 years after the prediction.  The land produces bonus crops in a dry wilderness. Israel owns the Sea of Galilee, selling water to all the Middle East as well as providing irrigation to Israeli farmers.

      God prophesied that the moist warm climate will produce a bumper crop. It does and we see the effect today. In Isaiah 46:9 God says, “I am God and there is none like me, (10) declaring the end and result from the beginning.”  



    N. Brad Carter is a bible class teacher on WMER (1390 AM) Radio. Email him at rbc@wmerworldwide.com