Judge Not?

April 2, 2025

Scripture: James 4

From the pen of the same apostle, in the distance of a few paragraphs, in almost the same breath that he is saying "do not judge," James calls worldly churches "adulteresses."

Ne parlez pas l’un contre l’autre. Ne parlez pas contre votre frère. Ne jugez pas votre frère. Est?ce bien ce qui est écrit? Regardez le verset 4 du même chapître.

Jacques 4 :4 « 4 Adultères que vous êtes! ne savez?vous pas que l'amour du monde est inimitié contre Dieu? Celui donc qui veut être ami du monde se rend ennemi de Dieu. »

Adultères que vous êtes! Ne jugez pas votre frère!

En peu d’espace, de la plume du même apôtre et presque d’un même souffle, ce même apôtre dit de ne pas juger et appelle les églises mondaines « adultères ».

L’adultère spirituel

Jacques est probablement le livre le plus ancien du Nouveau Testament. Nous savons, de par son arrière?plan hébraïque qu’il était écrit aux Chrétiens Juifs.

Jacques emploie le concept Hébreu de la prostitution. Lorsque Israël était idolâtre, Dieu appelait cela être adultère. L’idolâtrie est l’adultère spirituel.

Israël devait être la femme de Dieu, de la même manière que l’Église est l’Épouse de Christ. L’Église infidèle est comme l’Israël infidèle. Cette idolâtrie est appelée « adultère ». C’est un concept très marqué dans la pensée Juive.

Par leurs fruits

Matthieu 7 :17?20 « 17 Tout bon arbre porte de bons fruits, mais le mauvais arbre porte de mauvais fruits. 18 Un bon arbre ne peut porter de mauvais fruits, ni un mauvais arbre porter de bons fruits. 19 Tout arbre qui ne porte pas de bons fruits est coupé et jeté au feu. 20 C'est donc à leurs fruits que vous les reconnaîtrez. »

Matthieu 7 :1 « 1 Ne jugez point, afin que vous ne soyez point jugés. »

Premièrement, nous lisons « Ne jugez pas, afin que vous ne soyez pas jugés ». Toutefois il est aussi écrit

« Vous les reconnaîtrez à leurs fruits ». Les gens impliqués avec Toronto et Pensacola disent : « Vous connaissez TorontoƒPensacola par son fruit et il y a du bon fruit qui en découle. »

Jésus n’a jamais dit que nous connaîtrions un phénomène par son fruit; Il a dit que nous connaîtrions une personne par son fruit.

De plus, même en jugeant d’un phénomène par son fruit, nous voyons qu’il ne s’agit pas du fruit de l’Esprit. Ce dernier est la maîtrise de soi et non l’ivresse et la folie.

Contradictions?

Jean 7 :24 « 24 Ne jugez pas selon l'apparence, mais jugez selon la justice. »

Dans un premier temps, Jésus dit « Ne jugez pas afin que vous ne soyez pas jugés » mais ensuite Il dit « Jugez selon la justice. »

Il semblerait que Jacques se contredit. Maintenant, c’est Jésus qui semble Se contredire. Jésus a dit « Ne le faites pas » et dit ensuite comment le faire. Jacques a dit « ne le faites pas » tout de suite après l’avoir fait.

Romains 2 :1 1 O homme, qui que tu sois, toi qui juges, tu es donc inexcusable; car, en jugeant les autres, tu te condamnes toi?même, puisque toi qui juges, tu fais les mêmes choses. »

1 Corinthiens 4 :5 « 5 C'est pourquoi ne jugez de rien avant le temps, jusqu'à ce que vienne le Seigneur, qui mettra en lumière ce qui est caché dans les ténèbres, et qui manifestera les desseins des coeurs.

Alors chacun recevra de Dieu la louange qui lui sera due. »

Romains 14 :10 « 10 Mais toi, pourquoi juges?tu ton frère? ou toi, pourquoi méprises?tu ton frère? puisque nous comparaîtrons tous devant le tribunal de Dieu. »

1 Corinthiens 5 :3 « 3 Pour moi, absent de corps, mais présent d'esprit, j'ai déjà jugé, comme si j'étais présent, celui qui a commis un tel acte. »

Encore et encore, Paul dit « Ne jugez pas. » Mais ensuite, il passe un jugement. Jésus dit « Ne jugez pas » mais ensuite, Il dit de le faire et explique comment. Jacques dit « Ne jugez pas » pour ensuite le faire.

Pourquoi ces contradictions?

Dieu est le Juge

Si Dieu dit dans Sa Parole que quelque chose est mal et que nous voyons quelqu’un ou une assemblée faire cette même chose, alors nous ne les jugeons pas, c’est la Parole de Dieu qui juge. Le nom Hébreu Josaphat signifie Jéhovah a jugé. Donc, nous ne faisons qu’admettre : « Voici ce que Dieu dit. »

Jacques n’appelait pas les églises « adultères »; la Parole de Dieu est celle qui déclarait que si nous sommes attachés à ce monde, nous sommes adultères.

Paul ne disait pas que l’homme impliqué dans une relation avec sa belle?mère était immoral. Paul disait que la Parole de Dieu déclarait cet individu immoral.

Si Dieu déclare clairement un acte « mal », alors ce n’est pas nous qui jugeons, mais Dieu.

C’est ce que veut dire « Jugez avec justice. » Juger avec justice signifie de le faire avec le jugement de Dieu et non le nôtre.

Il y a ici un problème ? il y a des choses que je ne ferais pas mais qui ne sont pas nécessairement mauvaises pour un autre individu.

Les opinions des gens

Je connais un cas où certains croyants, après leur mariage, sont allés à une discothèque. (Je n’irais pas personnellement à moins que ce soit pour donner des pamphlets.) Je n’avais pas la paix pour y aller mais je ne fais pas un drame avec ce point, qu’importe ce que je ressens.

Je connais une autre situation où, à un mariage Chrétien, les gens ont dansé. Certains en ont été indignés et se sont écriés : « vous êtes des rétrogrades! », et ont quitté les lieux en faisant toute une scène. Cela a même divisé cette assemblée. Ceci est un cas type de gens qui jugent.

Le terme « Laodicée » en Grec, est en lien avec « les opinions, les jugements des gens. » Nous n’avons aucun droit de passer un jugement sur une autre personne, mais une fois que Dieu dit que quelque chose est bien ou mal, alors ce n’est plus nous qui jugeons.

Anakrino - Discerner

En grec, « juger » est krino. Si vous y ajoutez le préfixe « ana », vous obtenez une variation de l’idée écrite dans 1 Corinthiens 2 :15 « 15 L'homme spirituel, au contraire, juge de tout, et il n'est lui?même jugé (anakrino) par personne. »

Dieu, dans Sa Parole, nous commande de « anakrino ». Ce n’est pas un droit, ni un privilège; nous sommes commandés de le faire. Et si vous ne discernez pas, vous manquez de sagesse.

Il y a une raison pour laquelle les faux enseignants ne se tiennent pas publiquement debout pour débattre avec quelqu’un tel que Dave Hunt. Les gens qui prennent position et qui déclarent « ceci n’est pas scripturaire, ceci n’est pas droit; je discerne que cela n’est pas de Dieu » pratiquent la sagesse.

La raison pour laquelle Michael Brown n’a pas voulu se débattre avec moi concernant le phénomène de Pensacola et celle pourquoi Jim McConnell a eu la même réaction au sujet de l’Israélisme britannique est qu’ils manquent de sagesse.

Ceux qui pratiquent la sagesse ne peuvent eux?mêmes être jugés par personne. Parce qu’ils anakrino, ils ne peuvent être anakrino. C’est pourquoi ils sont craints par d’autres.

Diakrino - Décider

1 Corinthiens 6 :5 « 5 Je le dis à votre honte. Ainsi il n'y a parmi vous pas un seul homme sage qui puisse prononcer entre ses frères. »

Un autre préfixe qui change la signification de krino est « dia ». Diakrino veut dire « prendre une décision ».

Est?ce que quelque chose est bien ou mal? Un tel comportement est?il moralement bon ou mauvais? Est?ce scripturaire ou non? Est?ce de Dieu, de la chair ou du diable?

L’Esprit de Dieu, par Paul, nous commande de diakrino.

Il ne nous est pas permis de diakrino. Il ne nous est pas suggéré de diakrino. Il ne s’agit pas d’un privilège. Nous sommes ordonnés de diakrino. Ne pas le faire est inacceptable.

Ne pas aller devant les autorités séculières

Voilà deux mois, une femme et son époux dans la détresse ont communiqué avec nous. Ils avaient une petite fille de quatre ans qui était victime d’une semi?pénétration sexuelle dans une église. Elle avait été molestée par un jeune homme de quatorze ans, qui fréquentait apparemment cette même église depuis des années.

Cette petite fille était dévastée. Elle m’a fait un dessin et j’ai compris ce dont il s’agissait aussitôt que je l’ai vu.

Je n’ai pas beaucoup de temps pour la psychologie séculière. Je crois dans la psychologie biblique et oui je crois dans la psychologie. La psychologie biblique se retrouve beaucoup dans le livre des Proverbes.

Si vous désirez savoir pourquoi les êtres humains se comportent et agissent comme ils le font, et pensent comme ils le font, lisez les Proverbes. Il est le meilleur livre de sociologie et de psychologie qui puisse exister.

Je peux être en accord avec la psychologie humaine dans la mesure qu’elle est basée sur la psychologie biblique. La psychologie séculière est sans Dieu et voit l’homme comme étant un être bi?dimensionnel. Cela me trouble de voir autant d’évangéliques se mêler à la psychologie séculière et populaire.

La petite fille a dessiné une maison. À l’intérieur, il y avait quatre fenêtres et une porte. Chaque visage dans la maison était féminin, il n’y avait pas de visages masculins.

Elle a également fait un dessin d’elle?même, en dehors. Il n’y avait pas de pelvis. Il n’y avait pas d’endroit public.

Selon les psychiâtres pédiatriques, c’est une caractéristique fréquente des dessins faits par les enfants ayant subi de l’abus sexuel.

Les enfants de cet âge disent au moyen de dessins ce qu’ils ne sont pas capables d’exprimer verbalement. Aucun homme. Quand à elle?même, elle n’avait pas de section au niveau du bassin.

Ses parents m’ont dit : « Nous ne savons pas quoi faire. Nous allons à une assemblée Baptiste et le pasteur ne peut pas nous conseiller parce que ce jeune homme de quatorze ans est un Chrétien et que, selon 1 Corinthiens, il ne nous est pas permis de nous tourner vers les autorités séculières lorsqu’un autre Chrétien est en jeu.

Alors, selon ses parents, nous ne pouvons pas en parler à la police ou à la cour. Nous sommes à bout et ne savons que faire. Notre fille est traumatisée. »

Loi civile / Loi criminelle

1 Corinthiens 6 réfère à la loi Romaine. (Les systèmes de jurisprudence en Grande?Bretagne, en Australie et en Amérique sont basés sur le modèle original de Rome). 1 Corinthiens 6 parle de la loi civile et non criminelle; elle parle de faire des poursuites sous la loi civile, elle parle au sujet des litiges et non de la loi criminelle.

C’est 1 Corinthiens 5 qui nous parle d’une personne immorale.

1 Corinthiens 5 :11?12 « 11 Maintenant, ce que je vous ai écrit, c'est de ne pas avoir des relations avec quelqu'un qui, se nommant frère, est impudique, ou cupide, ou idolâtre, ou outrageux, ou ivrogne, ou ravisseur, de ne pas même manger avec un tel homme. 12 Qu'ai?je, en effet, à juger (krino) ceux du dehors? N'est?ce pas ceux du dedans que vous avez à juger? (krino) »

Nous jugeons ceux au sein de l’Église qui sont coupables d’immoralité. Ne vous associez pas avec une telle personne.

Ce jeune homme de quatorze ans aurait dû être confronté sous la loi criminelle. Son identité aurait été protégée par la cour à cause de son âge.

Si rien n’était fait pour ce jeune à l’âge de quatorze ans, sa vie serait détruite avant dix?huit ans. Il irait dans une institution pour pédophiles.

Mais il avait une chance. Il aurait dû être amené devant les autorités pour son propre bien?être et aussi afin que la petite fille puisse voir que justice se faisait.

Si ce genre de situation n’est pas confronté immédiatement par l’Église, qu’arrivera?t?il lorsque ces gens seront plus vieux?

Les victimes sont traumatisées pour la vie. Cela affecte leur sexualité. Et cette église ne pouvait même pas donner une réponse biblique!

Toutefois, c’était probablement une bonne chose qu’il s’agisse d’un ministre Baptiste. Il ne pouvait pas donner une réponse biblique mais un ministre Pentecôtiste aurait probablement essayé de chasser des démons hors de la petite fille!

J’ai parlé à l’amie de mon épouse, qui est une psychiâtre pédiatrique Chrétienne, et j’ai montré les dessins à un psychologue pédiatrique Chrétien. Ils ont tous deux acquiescé au conseil que j’ai donné aux parents. Et les parents ont reféré la situation aux autorités criminelles.

Mais que disaient ces gens? « Ne jugez pas ». « Vous ne pouvez pas aller vers les autorités si cela concerne un autre Chrétien et vous ne pouvez pas juger un autre Chrétien. »

Que faisaient?ils? Ils donnaient, par le fait même, une licence pour l’abus sexuel des enfants. C’est ce qui se passe lorsque l’Église s’éloigne de la Parole de Dieu.

Il ne nous est pas « permis » de diakrino; nous sommes commandés de diakrino. Et cela ne s’applique pas seulement aux personnes.

Juger la prophétie

1 Corinthiens 14 :29 « 29 Pour ce qui est des prophètes, que deux ou trois parlent, et que les autres jugent; »

Deutéronome 18 :20?22 « 20 Mais le prophète qui aura l'audace de dire en mon nom une parole que je ne lui aurai point commandé de dire, ou qui parlera au nom d'autres dieux, ce prophète?là sera puni de mort. 21 Peut?être diras?tu dans ton coeur: Comment connaîtrons?nous la parole que l'Éternel n'aura point dite? 22 Quand ce que dira le prophète n'aura pas lieu et n'arrivera pas, ce sera une parole que l'Éternel n'aura point dite. C'est par audace que le prophète l'aura dite: n'aie pas peur de lui. »

Jérémie 14 et Jérémie 28 disent la même chose. Jésus a averti qu’il y aurait plusieurs faux prophètes dans les derniers jours.

Nous ne les lapidons plus à la mort mais le péché est tout aussi sérieux qu’il l’était. Ils mourront s’ils ne se repentent pas.

Nous ne sommes plus sous la loi mais sous la grâce; mais leur « ministère » devrait être lapidé. 1 Corinthiens 14 :29 ne dit pas que nous pouvons diakrino les prophètes et les prophéties mais plutôt que nous devons juger les prophètes et les prophéties.

Je peux donc dire que Rodney Howard Browne est un faux prophète; ainsi que John Wimber, Rick Joyner et Paul Cain.

Il ne s’agit pas de mon jugement. Je ne peux pas krino quiconque. Ce que Dieu a déclaré est ce qui krino. Moi, je dois anakrino; je dois discerner. Est?ce que ceci est de Dieu ou de l’homme?

Non, ce n’est pas à moi de juger. Je dois diakrino, prendre une décision concernant ce qui est moralement bien ou mal, par les standards bibliques.

Les fondateurs de la secte des Mormons et de celle des Témoins de Jéhovah étaient des faux prophètes; ils prédisaient des choses qui ne se sont pas accomplies. Lucie, la religieuse Catholique romaine de Fatima au Portugal, est un faux prophète; elle a prédit des choses qui ne se sont pas accomplies. John

Wimber, Paul Cain et Ricker Joyner (tout comme John Kilpatrick, Michael Brown et Gerald Coates) sont des faux prophètes; ils prédisent des choses qui ne s’accomplissent pas.

Ai?je le droit de dire cela? Non, pas le droit, mais la responsabilité de le dire, parce que Dieu me commande de le faire. Ce n’est pas mon jugement; c’est ce que Dieu dit au sujet de ces gens.

Jésus a dit : « Si vous M’aimez, gardez Mes commandements. » Si vous manquez à diakrino, vous manquez à garder Ses commandements. Si vous manquez à diakrino, vous permettez à ces mêmes personnes de continuer à donner des « paroles » selon leur chair ou venant de Satan. Ces gens doivent être responsabilisés.

Juger selon la justice

Deutéronome 1 :16 « 16 Je donnai, dans le même temps, cet ordre à vos juges: Écoutez vos frères, et jugez selon la justice les différends de chacun avec son frère ou avec l'étranger. »

Ceci n’était pas un conseil; c’était un commandement.

Regardez simplement ce qui est arrivé à notre société séculière. Chaque personne est une « victime ».

Qu’importe si l’individu s’est saoulé et qu’il conduisait à 90 milles à l’heure au travers d’un village et qu’il a tué un jeune enfant à bicyclette ! Ce conducteur venait d’un foyer brisé : il est une « victime ». Ce n’est plus important.

J’ai essayé de parler un jour avec une prostituée. Elle avait cet argument : « Je fais ceci parce que mon père s’est pendu. » Je lui ai répondu : « Tu viens tout juste de me dire que ta sœur va à l’université et qu’elle a vécu la même situation que toi et qu’elle croit que ce que tu fais est terrible. N’est?elle pas aussi une victime? » Personne n’est plus responsable de ses propres actions dans la société. Mais comment pouvons?nous nous attendre à ce que la société vive selon les standards de Dieu alors que l’Église ne le fait pas?

Je viens également d’une situation difficile. Mon père buvait. J’étais déjà un drogué à l’âge de 16 ans et je ne doute aucunement que si Jésus n’était pas intervenu dans ma vie, je serais déjà mort ou très détruit.

C’est seulement grâce à Lui que je suis allé à l’université, que je me suis marié et que j’ai fait les choses dont j’ai été privilégié de faire.

Laissé seul à moi?même, je n’aurais rien fait de bien. Toutefois, je suis responsable de ma propre vie et de mes propres choix.

Le sel et la lumière

Si l’Église n’élève pas la responsabilité des standards de Dieu, comment pouvons?nous nous attendre à ce que la société soit différente?

Comment pouvons?nous être le sel et la lumière dans une société qui a tourné le dos à Dieu?

7

www.Moriel.org

Pas surprenant qu’il y ait un taux de criminalité si élevé! La raison principale du déclin moral et social de notre société n’est pas à cause des non?sauvés; c’est à cause de la tiédeur de l’Église.

Krisis - Ciel ou Enfer

Il existe un genre de jugement que nous ne sommes pas appelés à faire. Le terme Grec est krisis. Jean 5 :22 « 22 Le Père ne juge personne, mais il a remis tout jugement au Fils, »

La décision finale du ciel et de l’enfer revient au Seigneur seul. Nous ne devons jamais krisis. Il nous est défendu de krisis.

Krites - Le Juge de Tous

Hébreux 12 :23 « 23 de l'assemblé des premiers?nés inscrits dans les cieux, du juge qui est le Dieu de tous, des esprits des justes parvenus à la perfection, »

Dieu est le Juge de tous. Oui, il y a des gens qui sont appelés à juger mais Dieu est le Juge ultime de chacun.

Hupo-Krites - Les Pharisiens

Si nous devons nous tenir debout et confronter d’autres personnes dans l’Église au sujet de quelque chose qui est mal, nous devons nous assurer que nous ne sommes pas coupables de la même chose car cela est un autre genre de jugement qu’il nous est défendu de faire.

Ici, le préfixe hupo est ajouté à krites, ce qui nous donne le terme anglais « hypocrites ». C’est ce que Jésus voulait dire lorsqu’Il a déclaré dans Matthieu 7 :1?5 « 1 Ne jugez point, afin que vous ne soyez point jugés. 2 Car on vous jugera du jugement dont vous jugez, et l'on vous mesurera avec la mesure dont vous mesurez. 3 Pourquoi vois?tu la paille qui est dans l'oeil de ton frère, et n'aperçois?tu pas la poutre qui est dans ton oeil? 4 Ou comment peux?tu dire à ton frère: Laisse?moi ôter une paille de ton oeil, toi qui as une poutre dans le tien? 5 Hypocrite, ôte premièrement la poutre de ton oeil, et alors tu verras comment ôter la paille de l'oeil de ton frère. »

Nous ne faisons pas krites et spécialement pas hupokrites.

Kritikos - Discerner

Hébreux 4 :12 « 12 Car la parole de Dieu est vivante et efficace, plus tranchante qu'une épée quelconque à deux tranchants, pénétrante jusqu'à partager âme et esprit, jointures et moelles; elle juge (kritikos) les sentiments et les pensées du coeur. »

Un certain type de cellules se trouve dans la moelle de gros os tels que le fémur et le tibia. À l’extérieur se trouve l’os et à l’intérieur la moelle. Mais il est très difficile de dire où finit l’os et où commence la moelle.

La Bible dit que la relation entre l’âme et l’esprit est ainsi faite. Regardez une prophétie : vient?elle de l’imagination de l’homme ou de l’Esprit de Dieu passant par l’esprit de l’homme? Il est très difficile de faire la différence.

L’homme est un être tridimensionnel. Vous pouvez séparer le corps de l’âme mais vous ne pouvez pas aussi facilement dire où l’âme finit et où commence l’esprit.

Lorsque les gens disent « Le Seigneur m’a montré ceci » et « Dieu m’a dit cela », il est difficle de savoir s’il s’agit de l’imagination de l’individu ou de l’Esprit de Dieu qui parle à leur esprit. La pensée est un bon serviteur mais un maître dangeureux. Plusieurs prophétisent à partir de la futilité de leur propre pensée alors que d’autres sont démoniaques.

Nous sommes appelés à kritikos ? à discerner entre ce qui vient de l’âme et ce qui est spirituel. La Parole de Dieu nous rend capable de séparer l’os de la moelle, le spirituel de l’humain.

Résumé

Ne jugez pas? Que dit la Bible?

  • Nous ne jugeons pas selon nos opinions.
  • Nous sommes commandés de anakrino ? nous devons toujours chercher à discerner si quelque chose est de Dieu, de la chair ou de l’ennemi.
  • Nous sommes commandés de diakrino ? de prendre une décision concernant ce qui est moralement bien ou mal.
  • Nous ne faisons pas krisis ? seul le Seigneur décide qui va au ciel et qui va en enfer.
  • Nous sommes parfois appointés à krites ? mais nous devons nous rappeler que le Seigneur est le Juge de tous et que nous devons juger selon la justice.
  • Nous ne faisons jamais, jamais hupo?krites ? avant de retirer la paille de l’œil de notre frère, nous devons nous assurer que nous n’avons pas la même chose dans notre œil.
  • Nous devons toujours kritikos ? nous puisons de la Parole de Dieu pour discerner entre les choses de l’âme et celles de l’esprit. †††


By David Passmore May 30, 2026
Staying The Course Amidst Isolation Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Living in Israel one gets the feeling that the metaphorical walls are closing in. Israel's reputation is being tarnished all over social media and the mainstream media, and this is reflected in massive public disdain towards this country. We are constantly told that there is near consensus amongst academics and commentators that a genocide was committed in Gaza. The very legitimacy of the state is brought into question. The majority of Americans are now hostile towards Israel. There is real fear that the next U.S. administration will turn against Israel. Even if this were to happen passively, by the U.S. refraining from exercising its veto power towards Security Council Resolutions condemning Israeli actions this could be catastrophic. Internally it is a fractured society leaning increasingly right wing which further alienates Israel from world opinion. An example in point is how Ben Gvir mocked the most recent participants of a global aid flotilla to Gaza. Such conduct further agitates outrage at Israel. The left-wing media presents the ruins of Gaza as a mortal wound in Israel's side. When the world observes this level of carnage no degree of public relations can ameliorate the sense of indignation towards Israel. We can liken the situation of Israel to that of a depressed person. All he sees is hopelessness and gloom. But this isn't the first time that the Jewish nation has been faced with such darkness. Things change and we don't know how the geo-political map will reconfigure in the future. We need to ride out this storm and keep going. On a historical note, the situation is reminiscent of what our ancestors faced when we returned from the Babylonian exile to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was faced with constant lies and conspiracies designed to entrap him by hostile actors: Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab. They employed deception, slander and ridicule in order to maintain their political eminence. There was also a certain sense of abandonment amongst the Jews in Israel then as in our own day. We read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah about the anguish of the leadership in Israel concerning the lack of assistance from the Babylonian diaspora towards the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple. Only 20% of the exiles returned to the land. It was largely the poor who returned. Most of the affluent, established Jews remained in Exile. This is a continuing theme in Jewish history. It is also important to observe that from its very beginnings there were bible believing Christians who spearheaded the return of the Jews to their land. The idea of organizing a return of the Jews to Israel began as a Protestant Restorationist objective that can be traced to 17th century Puritan England. The protagonists of the Cromwellian Republic viewed themselves as the new Israel fighting the Papist forces of Satan. Alongside this, interest grew in the notion that biblical prophecies pertaining to the return of the Jews to Israel were a necessary precursor for the return of Christ. The growth of the British Empire in the 19th century lent political clout to Christian Restorationism with specific missions to the Jews established. Although there had been a longing to return to Israel as written in the thrice daily Amidah prayer, Jewish Zionism arose in the midst of mid nineteenth century nationalism and was further fermented by European antisemitism. It was an altogether secular enterprise. Although Israel's situation appears rather stark, we can draw strength from the Providence afforded to our ancestors in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when they too were faced with defamation. This is also an opportunity to grow closer to our natural allies in the evangelical world who from the beginning of Zionism were steadfast supporters of the project to establish a Jewish homeland in Israel.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
By David Passmore May 25, 2026
Signs of the Times Tony Pearce ‍ ‍ Left, right or center – is our democracy in danger “Things fall apart, the center does not hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” W.B Yeats ‘The Second Coming. ’ ‍ ‍ Labour’s losses in the council elections and the battle for succession to their unpopular leader Kier Starmer have raised the possibility that we may soon have our seventh Prime Minister in ten years. Local elections saw Reform and the Greens make sweeping gains, leading Green Party leader, Zack Polanski to say that we are seeing ‘the end of the old two party system’. Maybe we are. In which case what comes next? Will we head to the far left, the far right or will the center hold on to power? Or will it end with ungovernable chaos as unqualified people take control of local and national government? Behind all this there are fundamental questions, ‘What is government for? Who does it represent and where is it going?’ ‍ ‍‍ ‍ According to the Bible (Romans 13) the purpose of government is to promote good and restrain evil. The government has the right to raise taxes for the common good of society and people should pay them. In 1 Timothy 2 Paul encourages us to pray for the government that ‘we may live a godly and peaceable life’. In other words, pray that the government will create an orderly and peaceful society and not interfere with our right to set up communities that teach and preach the Word of God. The situation becomes more difficult when we see government promoting things which are harmful and restraining things which are good and clamping down on freedom of speech with a threat to our ability to live a ‘godly and peaceable life’ ‍ Since becoming a Christian in my early twenties, I have wrestled with the question of how our faith applies to contemporary political issues. I started this quest on the left politically after leaving university and working as an English teacher with sympathies for Marxism. I then became a born again Christian in 1970, and joined my late wife Nikki in evangelizing the radical left, by handing out leaflets at their marches and demonstrations in London and attending their meetings to discuss matters of faith and politics with them. ‍ ‍‍ ‍ We had some good discussions with people and hope we made some consider the Christian alternative. However as we looked at Marxism from a Christian point of view and its practice in Communist countries, we understood that behind this ideology there is a strong anti-christian spirit. It denies the existence of God and promotes the idea of human perfectibility by our own effort. This is exemplified in the words of the Internationale, the socialist battle hymn, ‘No saviour from on high delivers, no faith have we in prince or peer, our own right hand the chains will shiver, chains of hatred, greed and fear.’ This Antichrist spirit led to the persecution of Christians in the Communist countries of eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and China. Far from creating the socialist paradise on earth that Lenin wrote about in ‘Socialism and Religion’, it created a society ruled by hatred, greed and fear, controlled by secret police, prison camps and responsible for the death of millions. ‍ ‍ In western society we have witnessed the growth of ‘cultural Marxism’ a movement aimed at infiltrating and changing society from within, rather than fomenting the workers’ revolution. Labour’s Fabian Society, with its (now discarded) logo of the wolf in sheep’s clothing, has been engaged in this process since the beginning of the 20th century. Social change really took off with the permissive society in the 1960s, which succeeded in changing traditional values, especially in the area of sex and the family. It replaced biblical values with a new ‘morality’ that is fundamentally anti Christian. These ideas have permeated large swathes of our society including the education system, the judiciary, the Civil Service, much of the media, mainstream political parties (including even the Conservative ‘wets’ and parts of the established church). ‍ ‍ Melanie Phillips describes the results of this in her book, ‘The Builder’s Stone.’ ‘Having decided that the West was rotten to the core, western elites set out to create a new culture that would usher in the brotherhood of man and eradicate hatred, prejudice, and war. Their Brave New World junked biblical religion with all its constraints on behaviour and revolved instead around self gratification. Everybody had the right to live as they wanted; nobody could say that their way of life was better or worse than anyone else’s; no one had the right to say that their culture was better than any other culture. That was ‘racism.’ At the heart of all this was the doctrine that there was no such thing as objective truth. Everything was relative; everything was a matter of opinion. Because there was no truth feelings became more important than facts. So the West abandoned the codes of morality, conscience, truth and lies, personal responsibility, and duty to others in favour of a culture of the self. In the process it junked its inherited traditions and biblical codes on which western culture was based.’ ‍ Britain changed from being a society that respected values based on the 10 Commandments and the teaching of Jesus Christ to one that discarded them for relative values. Ideas of ‘diversity, inclusion and equity’ became the norm, together with and a form of ‘tolerance’, that is really very intolerant if you oppose it. This ‘tolerance’ means accepting the virtues of multiculturalism and humanism and believing that all gods are equally valid or true (or none are). We must also accept that all lifestyles and family arrangements including homosexual and transsexual ones are just as valid as traditional two parent heterosexual families, with a father and mother committed to each other in lifelong matrimony looking after their own children. ‍ As society accepts this radical change in how we view culture, morality and religion, we are told not to criticize other cultures and world views or imply that they are anything less than equal to the culture, morality and faith derived from the Bible. ‍ All this has not improved society. Instead we have a collapse of values with no central idea to hold it together, just a group of competing ‘communities’ which are often only united in opposition to the traditional values and culture of Great Britain. A good example of this is the ‘red – green alliance’ of radical leftists and Islamists who come together to denounce Israel and campaign to ‘globalise the Intifada’. In practice this means a world wide war against Israel and Judaeo-Christian society and a desire to replace it with their version of either Islamism or Communism. However if one of them were to come to power, you can be sure that the Islamist’s would get rid of the leftists or vice versa. In fact that happened in Iran’s 1979 revolution, when Islamist supporters of Khomeini and Communists came together to get rid of the Shah. Then the Islamists seized power, turned on the Communists and wiped them out. ‍ Alisteir Heath wrote in the Daily Telegraph: ‘Ruined by decades of political vandalism, the Britain we knew and loved, a land of stability, pragmatism, and ancient freedoms, is no more. Today’s UK is uglier, impoverished, volatile and disorderly. We’ve lost our level-headedness. Anger and frustration have become our defining emotions. Our institutions have wasted away, and we have been taught to despise our history. The decline of family, community and faith have led to alienation, dependence on welfare and the rise of novel ideologies, mostly secular but also sectarian, turbocharged by social media. While the state becomes unnervingly authoritarian, the air reeks of insurrection and every variety of extremism. The British public’s sense of betrayal is as well-founded as it is dangerous. The machinery of state is incompetent and self-serving, a vehicle for social engineering in the global interest.’ ‍ ‍ ‍ Criticism of this process now risks being classed as ‘hate crime’ with a growing authoritarian society monitoring social media posts and public teaching of alternative ideas in ways which risk shutting down free speech in our society. A Christian teacher Enoch Burke is currently in prison in Dublin after he was suspended from his job and jailed after refusing to accept and teach transgenderism in the school. ‍ ‍ ‍ Nick Timothy, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, got into trouble when he questioned mass Muslim prayer in Trafalgar Square. He wrote: ‘Mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination. The adhan – which declares there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger – is, when called in a public place, a declaration of domination. The domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook.” He is right in this. Allah hu Akhbar actually means Allah is greater, greater than your God, Muhammad is greater than Jesus and the Koran is greater than the Bible. ‍ ‍ ‍ Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern for our Nation wrote: “The fact that we have mass Islamic prayer in Trafalgar Square at all is indicative of the massive culture change that we have seen in the last few decades. A culture change that was not voted for or ever agreed to by the British people. And, a culture change that can hardly be described as having been entirely beneficial to our culture as a whole. I only need to mention grooming gangs involving mostly Pakistani Muslim men , sharia courts, honour crimes, terror attacks, the assassination of an MP, an attempt to blockade Parliament, mass antisemitic marches through London, a convicted terrorist standing for local elections, sectarianism, and many other examples to make the point. Earlier this month, the Government gave Muslims special protection with the adoption of an official definition of anti-Muslim hostility .” ‍ ‍ ‍ You are not really supposed to question this in public life today. A message circulating on social media is an apt commentary on all this. ‘First they overlook evil, then they permit evil, then they legalise evil, then they promote evil, then celebrate evil, then persecute those who call it evil.’ Soviet dissident Solzhenitsyn wrote: ‘A Communist system can be recognised by how it spares criminals and criminalises its opponents.’ ‍ ‍ ‍ The root cause of all this is the rejection of God and biblical values. The 18th-century French philosopher Joseph de Maistre coined the phrase "people get the government they deserve." David Pawson followed up on this idea, arguing that in democratic societies like ours, the moral and spiritual condition of a nation's citizens is directly reflected in the leaders they elect. If the general public abandons moral truths, they will inevitably vote for governments that reflect those same compromises. David Pawson taught that God may use governmental leadership to judge or bless a nation, depending on the people's obedience. He noted that Hebrew prophets saw wicked rulers as a form of divine judgement on a society that has strayed from God's laws. Therefore a nation's ultimate hope rests on repentance rather than just political change. His conclusion is that Christians should actively stand for moral truth in society. He believed that the church is meant to influence culture upward, and that a decline in national morality inevitably leads to deteriorating governance. ‍ ‍ ‍ Sadly much of the church today has become the ‘salt that has lost its savour’ through compromise with antichristian forces in society and government. It may be too late to save our country and western democracy as social and economic pressures create a collapse of democracy and push us either towards anarchy or dictatorship. ‍ ‍ ‍ Yeats’ poem quoted at the beginning of this article ends with the enigmatic line ‘Some rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.’ Most likely he is referring to the coming anti-Messiah who is labelled the Beast in the book of Revelation. Many believe his is now waiting in the wings to replace the true Messiah (born in Bethlehem) and bring in the dictatorship prophesied in Revelation 13. The Bible indicates that the Beast or Antichrist will have power for a moment, but it will be short lived and doomed to destruction at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. Then the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and of His Messiah and He shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11.15) and the ‘government shall be on His shoulder’ (Isaiah 9.6). ‍ ‍ ‍ Maranatha come Lord Jesus. ‍ ‍ ‍ Water, water nowhere and not a drop to drink. (Apologies to the Ancient Mariner) ‍ ‍‍ ‍ While nations worry about supply of oil and gas as a result of the war in the Gulf and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a much more vital commodity for human survival is water. And it is in short supply in a growing number of nations. ‍ ‍ As of 2026, over 25 countries face extremely high water stress, with the most severe crises located in the Middle East and North Africa. This region is home to the world's most water-stressed nations, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Libya. India and Pakistan face critical water scarcity due to overexploitation of aquifers and population density. Much of Africa , Somalia and Ethiopia in particular are facing severe shortages due to drought and climate change. Mexico and parts of the United States (particularly Texas and the west coast) are experiencing significant water shortages and declining groundwater levels. ‍ ‍ ‍ Iran is facing a severe, multi-year water crisis as of May 2026, with major cities like Tehran, Mashhad, and Karaj approaching the point where taps could run dry due to depleted reservoirs. Groundwater is depleted across most of the country, and nineteen provinces are experiencing severe drought. The crisis is driven by a combination of climate change and decades of poor water management, including excessive dam construction and inefficient, water-intensive agriculture. China is facing a severe, multi-faceted water crisis defined by extreme scarcity in the north, widespread pollution, and mismanagement, threatening its food supply and economic growth. ‍ ‍ ‍ Several countries are significantly affected by upstream dam construction that reduces downstream water flow, causing, environmental, and diplomatic crises. These countries include Iraq, heavily impacted by dams built on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers by Turkey and Iran, leading to reduced water for agriculture, destruction of forests, and increased sandstorms. Egypt and Sudanface significant water security risks due to the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laosare affected of dams built by China on the upper Mekong River ‍ ‍ One country which bucks this trend is Israel. Israel manages its water resources by transforming a chronic shortage into a surplus through large-scale desalination, extensive wastewater recycling, and a centralised national water carrier system. The agriculture sector has shifted away from freshwater, using treated effluent instead. Advanced drip irrigation technologies are widely used to minimise waste. Israel has exported its water technologies to countries around the world, particularly Africa where it has given advice on how to use limited water resources to great effect. ‍ ‍ ‍ Without water no society on earth can survive. Bible prophecies indicate that water shortage and pollution will be a global problem in the last days. Most obviously no water equals no food, so famine is an inevitable result of water shortages. Jesus warned of this as a sign of the last days in Matthew 24.7. Revelation 8.10-11 speaks of something called ‘Wormwood’ falling on rivers and springs of water causing it to become bitter and many to die from drinking it. ‍ ‍ Prophecy speaks of the two great rivers of the ancient world, the Nile and the Euphrates, being affected by a crisis causing the Euphrates to dry up (Revelation 16.12) and the Nile to become contaminated and its waters turn foul (Isaiah 19.5-11). Isaiah 24 speaks of a curse devouring the earth in the last days causing the earth to be ‘defiled (or polluted) under its inhabitants.’ ‍ ‍ ‍ According to the New Scientist, there are massive amounts of water hidden deep beneath the Earth's surface. Scientists have found evidence of a reservoir of water three times the volume of all surface oceans combined, located roughly 250–400 miles underground within the mantle. ‍ ‍ ‍ It may be that the Lord will release this water to replenish and clean up the earth in the Millennial kingdom when ‘waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.’ Isaiah 35. Zechariah 14.8-9 says, ‘In that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.’ Zechariah 14.8-9. See also Ezekiel 47. ‍ Rethinking Russia ‍ Things are not going well for Vladimir Putin in his ‘special military operation’. Four years after invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia is not making advances and actually losing ground. Russia is losing as many as 25,000- 35,000 casualties a month and over 1.2 million have been killed and wounded since the war began. Ukrainian skills in drone warfare have destroyed large quantities of Russian equipment, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery and rocket systems, helicopters, and naval vessels. ‍ ‍ Russia is spending an estimated 40% of the entire federal budget on the war effort. As a result of this and western sanctions, Russia is increasingly unable to fix chronic infrastructure problems at home. During the bitter Russian winter thousands of people were left without heat, light, or even water. All forms of transport, trains, trucks and planes, are facing logistical problems, making it difficult to transport goods and people across the vast Russian regions. Russia is on the way to an infrastructure collapse that will likely take decades to recover. ‍ ‍ Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov warned the State Duma that Russia's faltering economy risks stoking a 1917-style revolution. He demanded urgent financial and economic measures by autumn to avert a potential economic collapse. This raises the danger of the Russian Federation fracturing. The Caucuses are restive, the far east is looking to China and Siberia is facing an acute problem as a result of melting permafrost, causing buildings, bridges and pipelines to collapse. ‍ ‍ In the present circumstances it is hard to see how Russia could lead the Gog and Magog invasion of Israel (Ezekiel 38-39). Some have said that it is more likely that Turkey is the lead power in the War of Gog and Magog. They say that Meshech and Tubal are not Moscow and Tobolsk, but regions of modern Turkey. Erdogan’s Turkey is backed by an Islamist world view hostile to Israel, seeking the recovery of its Ottoman Empire. He has his eyes on taking control of Jerusalem. Turkey is possession of a large land army already stationed in the region, some of it occupying part of Syria. ‍ ‍ The alternative is that the War of Gog and Magog is some way off, possibly part of Armageddon, giving time for Russia to recover from its present distress. We wait and see, but meanwhile spare a thought and a prayer for the people of Ukraine and Russia, suffering as a result of Putin’s futile war, oppressed by his corrupt dictatorship and facing an economic and social collapse caused by his failed policies. ‍ ‍
By David Passmore May 25, 2026
Trump's Visit with Xi Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM The tempest path of Sino-U.S. tensions came to a head during Trump's first term in office with the outbreak of Covid. Many commentators believed that the deterioration in relations was in terminal decline and that a major confrontation in the straits of Taiwan was fast looming. Trump held China responsible for the spread of Covid, insisting that he would pursue reparations. The election of Biden halted this commitment. Biden sought a non-confrontational policy towards Beijing. In the aftermath of the disastrous premature withdrawal from Afghanistan handing that country over to the Taliban and the Russian invasion of Ukraine under his watch, Biden became too preoccupied to assertively engage with China. Chinese State media portrayed Trump's visit as being rather unremarkable in the context of other foreign dignitaries lining up to meet Xi, pointing out that just a week later Putin would arrive in Beijing. China manifests that it is winning the trade war that Trump began in 2018, beating America at its own game of capitalism. They frame the U.S. as being in a position of weakness because China is able to source whatever products they buy from the U.S. elsewhere like oil from Canada, and soybeans from Brazil. The oil, soybeans and 200 Boeing's Xi agreed to purchase from Trump were presented as a mere gesture to placate Trump as China has already bought 350 Air Buses in the last year. China would have the world believe that it is only semi-conductors where America has the edge. Here China hints that it is not likely to buy H200 Invidia Chips because it would mean that China will always lag behind the U.S. in building their AI tech. China's major contention and concern is that the U.S. may impose export controls to contain China. China's strategy instead is to invest massively on indigenous innovation. China wants to become an innovation powerhouse that will export its own Chips to the Global South. China is fast catching up with America's lead in AI with the launch of Deep Seek and they claim similar progress with Chip making. China is now ostensibly only eight months behind the U.S. on Large Language Models. Running contrary to this narrative Trump insists that China is desperate to trade with America. China's economy has now peaked. Emblematic of this stagnating growth is rising youth unemployment. China is no longer America's biggest trading partner. Trump has shifted manufacturing back to the U.S. and Trump believes that China can't revive its economy without America. Lined up to meet Xi with Trump were the heads of some of America's biggest Tech Corporations. Corporations like nvidia seek a relaxing of export controls for Chips as they want short term profits, ignoring the risk that China will reverse engineer this technology. More broadly, China and the U.S. are playing a geopolitical chess game spanning the globe. Trump outmaneuvered China in Latin America with the removal of Maduro from power in Venezuela. China is exploiting its influence on Iran in order to get Trump to refrain from taking more active steps towards the defense of Taiwan. Indeed, Trump didn't say anything about Taiwan during his visit. Trump's instincts are of a transactional approach towards alliances, where he is only willing to underwrite defense assistance if allies pay up as an insurer would. It is also important to note that saber rattling the Taiwan card also serves the CCP agenda to distract internal dissent concerning the state of the Chinese economy. Most imminently Trump needs China to pressure Iran to open the Straits of Hormuz and get oil prices down before the midterm elections. China has largely insulated itself from the Gulf energy impact due to stockpiles. Trump would also like China to stop providing Iran with GPS for its missiles. Other Chinese weapons systems and technology sold to Iran have failed to perform well against U.S. and Israeli military hardware. Matters boil down to a leverage between whatever Trump can do on Taiwan, China can do on the strait of Hormouz with Iran. Human Rights concerns, espionage and the alarming rate of Chinese acquisition of U.S. land have been placed on the back burner for the time being.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
By David Passmore May 17, 2026
Moriel & Jacob Prasch request prayer for Phil Malone and family “Please keep me and my family in prayer. My mum passed away on 13th May at the age of 93. It's a time of mourning, but may it be a time for the Gospel of Christ to be preached to my unbelieving family, especially my brother.”
By Mea Fredrickson May 13, 2026
Moriel & Jacob Prasch request prayer for Sister Joanne Rizzetto, wife of Pastor Dave Rizzetto of Church of The Open Door in New York City. Joanne has developed painful complications and adverse side effects from medications following knee surgery. May The Lord intervene for healing and give guidance to her physicians. Lord, we humbly ask you to intervene in the life of our dear sister. We know you can do all things and that you hear our prayers and consider your servants. Please put a stop to the adverse reaction. Restrain and reverse its effects and restore our sister so that she can continue to serve you in the ministry that you have called them to. We do glorify Your Name. We don't ask as those who treat you as our debtor, but as those who have tasted your goodness and found such mercy and compassion at your feet. Grace and peace and mercy be with Joanne and Pastor Dave.
By David Passmore May 5, 2026
Will Lebanon miss its golden opportunity? Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Converging new facts on the ground have transformed the political landscape in Lebanon. With Assad removed from power in Syria, a vital lifeline of arms supplies for Hezbollah originating in Iran has diminished. Hezbollah suffered considerable losses in its last round of fighting with Israel. The decapitation of its leadership with the targeted pager attack inflicted a severe blow. Hezbollah's new leader Naim Qassem is a weak substitute for the charismatic Nasrallah who was assassinated by Israel in 2024. Hezbollah in its frail state foolishly fell into line with Iran's instruction to join the fighting against Israel following the recent American-Israeli war with Iran. This was contrary to the wishes of the Lebanese government which was fearful of the inevitable destruction that would be wreaked by the Israeli response. The differing attitudes to Israel amongst Lebanon's population is reflective of its ethnic composition. The predominant groups in order of plurality are Christians, Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims with a smaller minority of Druze. The major concern of most Christians in Lebanon is the dire state of their economy. They have no appetite to further their plight by invoking Israel's rage. During the colonial inter war period the French envisaged the demarcation between Lebanon and Syria as carving out enclaves for Christian and Druze control. Within Lebanon there would be a shared government that by convention would have the Executive power split between a Christian President, a Sunni Prime Minister and Shia Speaker of Parliament. The Christians in southern Lebanon (particularly Maronite Catholics) saw themselves as being anthropologically descendants of ancient Phoenicians as opposed to an Arab identity where the Arab Christians were largely Eastern Orthodox. The schism between the Maronites and the Arab Eastern Orthodox dates back to the time of the Crusades. The Maronites were culturally French, speaking French as their main language and held precedence in much of the Lebanese economy. The first threat to Lebanese stability and cohesion was settled by the U.S. Eisenhower administration in 1958 which landed Marines in an amphibious operation. A repeated attempt at this by the Reagan administration in 1983 ended in a military disaster for the U.S. due to suicide bombings by Iranian controlled terrorists. Israeli efforts to bring in stability during the Lebanese Civil War in conjunction with its Lebanese Christian allies led by Major Saad Haddad likewise came to calamity when the Sabra and Shatila revenge attacks took place following the assassination of Lebanese leader Bashir Gemayel. The ''Good Fence'' policy of an Israeli friendly free Lebanon zone in Southern Lebanon eventually ended badly following Menachem Begin's second incursion into Lebanon called ''Shalom HaGalil'' aimed at stopping the PLO rocket attacks on Israeli border communities like Metulla, Kiryat Shmona, Naharya, Rosh Hanikra, Tzfat and Carmiel. The proxy Israeli occupation from the Israeli border to the Litani river became an imbroglio that many in Israel viewed as Israel's Vietnam with widespread domestic protest and a collapse of morale within the IDF. Eventually Israel absorbed Christian war refugees from Lebanon, while the Vatican and most of the Christian world turned their backs on the Lebanese Christians. Lebanon was then saddled with two states within a state. The first was in the aftermath of Black September in 1970 when King Hussein of Jordan defended his Hashemite throne and government from Yasser Arafat's attempt to take over Jordan due to Jordan having a 70% Palestinian Arab demographic majority. The Jordanian legion drove tens of thousands of its pro Arafat Jordanian citizens into Lebanon, creating a population base for the first state within a state under Arafat. However the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and other factions had their niche interests. Courtesy of the Israeli Air Force Arafat relocated what he saw as his government in exile to Tunisia. This was a missed opportunity by the Lebanese government to assert its autonomy and full territorial control by making a Camp David type peace with Israel inclusive of economic and mutual security provisions. Instead an Iranian backed Syrian intervention replaced Arafat's state within a state with a new one that morphed into Hezbollah. The fall of the Assad regime and the Israeli counter-offensive against Hezbollah re-presents Lebanon with the opportunity that it once lost. The predominantly Christian controlled Lebanese military could and should operationally coordinate with the IDF, to obliterate and remove Hezbollah as the Israelis relieved Lebanon of Arafat's state within a state. Such a rapprochement would likely have strong American and possibly French and British support, allowing Lebanon to be at a non-combative peace with Israel along the lines of Egypt and Jordan, and now some of the Emirates. The natural comradery of the Lebanese Druze community with the Israeli Druze and the pro-Israeli Druze of Syria would additionally re-enforce a regional harmony, as would the Maronite Christian community in Israel with their co-coreligionists in Lebanon.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
By David Passmore May 5, 2026
PASTOR JOHN ANGLISS It is with profound sadness that we learned of the temporary separation from our friend and brother Pastor John Angliss. We look forward to being reunited with John in the millennial reign of Christ and indeed in God's Eternal Kingdom. Jacob Prasch visited John a few weeks ago in the UK while John was in hospice care having been diagnosed preterminal in his illness. While medically correct, it was of course a misdiagnosis. John is now cancer free and is alive and well in the presence of Jesus awaiting us in glory while his mortal body is being renewed for resurrection and immortality. In the meanwhile, during this temporary season of bereavement we do request prayer for his beloved wife Mary and for his congregation, The Ark Fellowship in England near Reading, England. Because he has recently arrived in the USA and is scheduled to address the Moriel Canada branch conference in Winnipeg, Jacob Prasch will regrettably not be able to attend the memorial service in Britain. Our condolences however are very much with Mary and our brethren in the UK who like us knew and loved Pastor Angliss. John was one of a minority of faithful voices who upheld a traditional biblically based Pentecostalism in the era of counterfeit revivals and apostasy that overtook most of British Pentecostalism. John was a faithful friend of Israel & The Jews standing on the prophetic purposes of God for Israel and the salvation of the Jews. John was a loyal friend to Moriel and Jacob Prasch and a colleague of David Pawson and Derek Prince, both of whom likewise stood by God's promises to Israel. John was also a founding leader of CMFI - the Christian Ministerial Fellowship International, former pastor of Three Mile Cross fellowship , and former board member of Focus On Israel (a Pentecostal Ministry to the Jews). While this separation is temporary, John's eternal gain will be our temporary loss. O GRAVE - WHERE IS THEY VICTORY, O DEATH WHERE IS THY STING ? Hosea 13:14 / 1 Corinthians 15: 55-57
By David Passmore April 28, 2026
We made it this far: Israel at 78 Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Since the last anniversary milestone of Israel at 75, we have been embroiled in relentless wars. Citizens had little respite to enjoy this year's festivities, coming on the heels of a lull in fighting on the Iranian and Lebanese fronts. We are constantly waiting for a breakthrough on the horizon that will normalize our relations with our neighbors and secure our position on the world stage. It is acutely exhausting to be the focus of the world's attention. But also there is a sense of inevitability accompanying the Zionist project. Specifically that Israel is destined to be central in the wider region and global affairs. Why is this? Is it due to it being a western transplant? Being geographically positioned on the crossroads of three continents? Religious believers would point to prophetic fulfillment. It is short sighted to only look at how our problems are rooted in today’s' reality. Greater forces are at work that will dictate the direction that Israel is heading. The Jewish diaspora will likely find itself in a growing precarious position that will lead to increasing Aliyah (immigration to Israel) and will perhaps ferment the emergence of a second Jewish commonwealth that will not need to heed international pressure in the same way that todays' polity finds itself doing. In this light it is interesting to ponder how our posterity would view our predicament and gains. And I frame matters in these terms with intentionality. We are enmeshed in a seemingly intractable conflict with the Palestinians, and yet Israel has made great gains particularly in the technological fields. There is a current of thinking that perceives Israel's way out of its quagmire is by making itself indispensable to technological advancements. We don't know how tomorrows' world will be shaped by the rapidly advancing AI revolution but so far Israel has proven to be uniquely adaptable and innovative to technological change. This has proved to be a boon to Israel's economy, as have offshore natural gas discoveries being developed in concert with Greece, Greek Cypriot and American energy interests that are geographically and strategically removed from any Straits of Hormuz shipping impediments that strangle the Persian Gulf deposits shared by Qatar and Iran. On another note we should contextualize the situation. How different are Israel's challenges from other nations? Is Israel any less stable than other countries (particularly in the region)? Israel doesn't find itself uniquely challenged to define its identity (most European countries do also, particularly in light of immigration). Nor does the government experience any more volatility than other comparable democracies. Israel's real problems lay in the nature of how its Jewish citizens desire to govern themselves. It is arguable whether the judicial reform protests that occupied public discourse in pre-October 7th Israel would have led to serious civil strife. But it is without doubt that this impasse was allayed by the external attack. The underlying tensions remain unresolved and there are many ways that they could play out. It has been framed as a battle for Israel's soul. Israel's enemies predict that Zionism is imploding and that the State won't survive another 5-10 years. Supporting this claim, they point to Israel's increasing alienation and growing pariah status on the international stage. Our Prime Minister has been indicted for war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Even public opinion in our staunchest ally the U.S. has turned sharply against Israel. With 80% of the Democratic Party being anti-Israel in a growing climate of anti-semitism we have even witnessed the shift of Alan Dershowitz to the Republican Party which must be seen as emblematic of a trend. There is apprehension in Israel of a post-Trump America dominated by the Democrats. However, these seeming incontrovertible facts may be offset by other measures of fortitude. This may be partially countered by the high investment by Silicon Valley in the Israeli Hi-tech sector, making Israel an asset for purposes of Research and Development in America's AI race against China. New opportunities for economic relations have also been opened with Arab nations through the Abraham Accords and with the powerhouse India. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine a world in which Israel's technological prowess will not carry the sway of western decision makers in the long run. Israel's 78th anniversary is a moment to take pause and not catastrophize what the future may behold. The entire world is currently in a state of transformation and Israel is not an outlier in this context.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
By David Passmore April 23, 2026
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By David Passmore April 14, 2026
A critical juncture in NATO'S future Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM NATO was originally established in 1949 to keep the Russian hordes at bay from toppling those European countries not forked over to the Soviet sphere of influence at the Potsdam conference. Europe lay in ruins. Britain had passed on the torch of global hegemony to the U.S. by tacitly acquiescing to the decolonization of its Empire when Churchill and Roosevelt agreed terms of the Atlantic Charter for the post-war new world order in 1941. So from its start NATO was very much an American driven endeavor. American money with the Marshall plan was propping up western European economies and its military might was forming the bulk of their defensive capabilities. The lopsided nature of this dynamic has informed how tensions have persisted and recently erupted in the Alliance. During the Cold War the U.S. felt obligated to shoulder the costs of underwriting Europe's security in light of the broader interests to keep the Soviet's in check. Following the fall of the Iron Curtain European complacency became a sticking point with the 'peace dividend' further exploiting American largesse. European NATO allies spent ever smaller percentages of their GDP on defense expenditure at U.S. expense. Now in a multi-polar world U.S. and European perceived threats are less aligned. This was first tested in the aftermath of September 11th when for the first time NATO elected to trigger its article 5 collective defense protocol. And since then the U.S. has sought to continue to expand the traditional theatre of operations beyond Europe's borders. No longer is Russia perceived by America as being a proximate existential threat to its interests, but rather containing Chinese expansion in the Pacific arena. Parallel to NATO a discrete 'five eyes' intelligence sharing alliance comprising the Anglo-sphere (the U.S., U.K., Canada and New Zealand) emerged. This stands at the center of the U.S. – U.K. 'special relationship'. A relevant question would be can this signals intelligence (NSA-GCHQ) partnership persist should the U.S. withdraw from NATO? Conventional thinking would have led one to believe that with Brexit the U.K. would naturally pivot towards closer U.S. relations but under Starmer the U.K. is distancing itself. European powers misrepresent the present conflict as an aggressive, rather than defensive U.S. adventure while they themselves are more likely to be at risk. In this the Starmer government resembles the Labor party led committee for nuclear disarmament in the 1980's. It opposed the Thatcher supported deployment of U.S. cruise missiles in response to the Soviet SS20's pointed at Britain's cities. The British left branded their response to Soviet strategic escalation to U.S. aggression. This time however there is for the moment no Thatcher to bring common sense into an equation dominated by emotionally driven ideologies in the face of an aggressor with definite aims. In terms of the Russian-Ukraine conflict we are reverting to the old question dating back to the Napoleonic war era: to what extent is London happy with the European nations fighting it out alone for dominance of the continent. Britain was never willing to accept a single power in control. Many variables will dictate what kind of world emerges from the current conflicts in Ukraine and Iran. How will power be extracted from potential gains? What will be the strategic impact of this? What is sure, in the age of Trump this pattern of reliance on U.S. muscle is becoming quickly exhausted. Dating back to the Roman Empire, a factor in the decline of major powers has always been astronomical military spending, a budgetary demand that the U.S. under Trump is no longer willing to shoulder alone. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).