BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS September 14th, 2020
By Joel Rosenberg
This week, Evangelicals around the world are seeing God's answer to decades of patient, faithful prayers for the peace of Jerusalem.
For decades, millions of Evangelical Christians around the world have been faithfully obeying King David’s command in Psalm 122:6 to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” The Bible further commands Christians to “seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14) “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)
And, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9)
It hasn’t been easy to stay the course.
After the miraculous Egypt-Israel peace treaty in 1979, and then the Jordan-Israel treaty in 1994, much time passed without seeing an answer to these prayers.
But now — in this crazy, deadly and depressing year of 2020, of all times — two Arab nations have stepped forward in just the last 30 days to announce that they are ready to make peace with the Jewish state.
On Aug. 13, the United Arab Emirates made its dramatic announcement. Then, on Friday, Bahrain stunned the world by making its announcement as well.
What’s more, there is much speculation that other Arab nations may soon join what Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is calling “the circle of peace.” Who will be next? Oman? Sudan? Morocco? Mauritania? Saudi Arabia? Others?
Time will tell. Right now, all eyes are riveted on the White House. Here’s the latest:
At noon on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump will host the most important Middle East peace ceremony in a quarter of a century.
I am humbled and honored to have been invited to witness and report on the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and the UAE. Please stay tuned to ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS for all the historic events, and the insider details. My team and I look forward to helping you feel like you are on the South Lawn of the White House, and to tell you what the rest of the media won’t. We’ll bring you “pre-game” coverage on both of our websites and social media, coverage of the event itself, and then reactions from those attending the ceremony and from leaders around the world.
Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Monday. He and his team are staying at the Blair House, across the street from the White House. He will sign for Israel. “I hold in my hand the historic draft peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and the historic declaration of peace between Israel and Bahrain,” the prime minister posted on Twitter with a photo of himself holding the document. “We have worked on this for very many years. That moment arrives tomorrow.”
It’s a huge accomplishment for Netanyahu, but marred somewhat by the fact that COVID is spinning dangerously out of control, and Israel becomes the first Western nation to go back into national lockdown, beginning Friday.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, the UAE’s foreign minister, arrived in Washington in Sunday. He will sign for the UAE.
Also participating in the ceremony will be Abdullatif Al Zayani, Bahrain’s foreign minister. He and his delegation arrived in Washington on Monday.
Please don’t stop praying for peace, for the safety of all the leaders and nations involved, and for me and my team. The enemies of peace are many, and they are not going to take all this sitting down. We need to be prepared for — and pray against — a potentially violent backlash.
Remember:
after Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979, radical Muslim Brotherhood terrorists assassinated Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat;
after Israel made peace with Jordan in 1994 and signed the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, a radical Jewish terrorist assassinated Israeli Prime Yitzhak Rabin.
May God protect these brave leaders who are making peace this week.
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