On September 19, 2023.....three years ago....Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations. It was an almost empty hall....just as it was yesterday. His speech was pure optimism....with only a few caveats. He talked about the Abraham Accords....and a new Middle East on the horizon. I posted this at the time....that began with some of the Prime Minister's words....
"Imagine the blessings of finally cracking the genetic code, extending life by decades, and dramatically reducing the ravages of old age...imagine a world with boundless clean energy." John Lennon is not the person that any God-fearing man should be referencing....but that's what he (Netanyahu) did....by name....and it disturbed me a little in how he felt that he needed to remind people of what he personally had accomplished. (Where did he learn that tact?) He did acknowledge towards the end....the dangers in this latest quest for peace in the Middle East....but it was almost as an afterthought. I also found it odd how he emphasized....first the great potential of artificial intelligence...."the most consequential development of our time"....and then immediately after....the great dangers of artificial Intelligence. Actually I found it very disturbing that he would make AI which he said is...."progressing at lightning speed"....such a major part of a major speech."
Yesterday....gone was the optimism.....in Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to the 81st United Nations General Assembly! It was the Benjamin Netanyahu as I remember him....before Trump. It was a very hard-hitting speech....and realistic....optimistic only in the outcome of this war....not in the future.
Did you notice the date....September 19....2023....the day of the first speech....the optimistic speech....that it was only 18 days before that which was...even as Netanyahu pointed out yesterday....the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust! So there was this optimistic speech....September 19 of 2023....which I thought at the time was absurd....and 18 days later there were the Sukkot attacks....and the world changed!
Israel is surrounded by enemies...."seven fronts" is how Netanyahu described it yesterday. Really folks....you can ignore or even ridicule this stuff....denying that the problems today with Israel...and America....are like they never have experienced before....but you will only fool yourself. Every pastor ought to be bringing these things up....the warnings in God's Word....and how they fit us today so perfectly....for that is what shepherds do!!!! I hear this all the time...."Just trust God"....yes Lord....thank you Lord....increase our trust and our faith....but what they miss is that they evidence no trust....no trust....in God's warnings to us from His Word!
Note: "And he (Jesus) said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven'." Luke 10:18 ESV
