Contrary to what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may say or think [see article below Israel is losing sovereignty over Jerusalem in fierce competition — keep scrolling you’ll get there], Jerusalem is GOD’S City. The City of God. It belongs to no nation outside of Israel.

Israel is the center of the world and Jerusalem is its heart.

No matter what any entity created by man, such as the United Nations, or any world government may say their words matter not. God is Sovereign. God declared Jerusalem His city, for His people, the Jews.

It will become, after the Lord Jesus Christ’s return, the true center of the world, and there is coming a New Jerusalem that will be established. A true, real existing New Jerusalem created by God, by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Spirit. A city that will exist for eternity. A place where there will be no strife, no war, no turmoil, no wresting back and forth as to who’s city it belongs to. It will be the centerpiece of the New Heaven and the New Earth for eternity.

Where no sin nor sinner, no individual that was not born anew to become a living disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ while they lived in the fleeting fleshly world will ever see or know.

The Holy City. The Eternal City. The City of God!

Cut through all the noise, all the dung, all the lies, and know the truth. The focus, the place everyone should be looking is not in a mirror, not towards Washington, D.C., Moscow, or Rome.

But to Israel. To Jerusalem.

The Holy City. The Eternal City. The City of God!

Which no man or entity of man will wrest from the Lord.

No, every man, woman, and child will bow and submit to the true Land Lord, the only Land Lord whose place this place has always been and always will be.

O, Jerusalem!

Ken Pullen

Friday, May 27th, 2022

A CROOKED PATH

Jerusalem – city of God

Reprinted from Let Us Reason Ministries

The Bible has nearly 800 references to Jerusalem- called “the City of our God” (Ps. 48:1,8) Jerusalem is God’s city, the city of Zion, he has invested his name there (Daniel 9:19).

Jerusalem is called the city of the great King (Matt.5:35). Yahweh is called “the God of Israel,” He is NOT called the God of any other nation in this manner, The God of Jerusalem is key to the Jewish people, to Jesus and to the end of the age.

Ps. 87:5, Ps 149:2: (Song 3:11 Isa. 33:14, Isa. 33:20; Jer. 9:19, Jer. 30:17; Zech.9:13; Isa. 59:20, Isa. 60:14 and they shall call you The City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel).

The evidence of the creator uniquely affiliated with Israel is Abraham (who was Chaldean) was brought out of his country (Ur). The covenant God made with Abraham was about the land and the people. Speaking to Abraham Gen. 12:1-3: “Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Notice that is God that will do these things, it is an unconditional covenant, it does not depend on man but God. He will give them the land and make a great nation from Abraham. And indeed all the families of earth have been blessed, as the Messiah- Jesus, came through Abrahams lineage, born in the land God gave to Israel (Gal. 3:14-16).

He gave them the land of Canaan “from the river of Egypt unto…the river Euphrates” (Gen. 15:18) God has declared that the land of Israel was His land never to be sold (Lev. 25:23) and that all nations would be punished for dividing His land (Joel 3:2). The tribulation period is about this punishment for disobeying what God has spoken.

Deut. 32:9-10: “For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; he encircled him, He instructed him, he kept him as the apple of His eye.” You don’t want to poke what God has his eye focused on.

Zion is called the city of God. Isa 60:14: “and they shall call you The City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.” It is where the Lord has and will dwell again. Joel 3:21: “for the LORD dwells in Zion.” When the temple permanently replaced the tabernacle and was built in Jerusalem it became the place of his dwelling, his presence was there, thus name Zion.

Ps. 132:13-14: “For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for His dwelling place: “This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.” Ps. 87:1-3: “His foundation is in the holy mountains. The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God! Selah”

Psalm 147:12: “Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! (2 Kings 19:21,31 1 Chro.11:5; Ps.20:2, Ps. 48:11, Ps.65:1; ps.78:68, Ps.84:7; Ps. 87:5, Ps 146:10; Isa.33:5, Isa.52:7; Jer. 8:19 Jeremiah, Lamentations, Joel, Amos, Obadiah; Micah, Zechariah all speak of this.

Matt 2:1-2: The wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” Why Jerusalem because they knew the king is to eventually rule from that city.

Nearly all Jesus had done centers around this city. “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately” (Luke 19:10-11)

The scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus to challenge him, (Mt. 15:1) Jerusalem killed the prophets (Mt.23:37)

Mt. 20:18: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death”

When that day came: Luke 23:28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”

Mt. 21:2-6 Jesus asked his disciples to go into the city and find a donkey and its colt and bring them to Me. Fulfilling what was spoken by the prophet, (Zechariah 9:9) “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

Israel is told Psalm 9:11: “Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the people.” So John records in 12:13-16: they “took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.” His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.”

He rode into His city and was worshipped and celebrated only to be abandoned when he did not establish his kingdom then.

Isa. 28:16: “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.” Peter quotes this passage and applies it to Christ, he goes on to say: “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed” (1 Peter 2:7-8).

Rom. 9:32-33 Speaking of Israel “For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” This stone was Jesus According to Peter and the apostles, and it was laid in Jerusalem.

Jesus instructed them to go to Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit, the place where the presence of God dwelt in the temple would now dwell in man (1 Cor. 3:16 and 2 Cor. 6:19) each individual believer’s body is a temple of God. Luke 24:49: “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Act 1:4-5).

God has called Jerusalem (ZION) his home and those who fight against those who keep it will fight against God on that day. It is Satan who opposes all that God has written. Zech. 8:2-3: “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I am zealous for Zion with great zeal; with great fervor I am zealous for her.’ “Thus says the LORD: ‘I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts, the Holy Mountain.’

God himself returns to fight for his people and land:

Isa 31:4-5: “For thus the LORD has spoken to me: “As a lion roars, and a young lion over his prey (When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him, he will not be afraid of their voice nor be disturbed by their noise), so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight for Mount Zion and for its hill. Like birds flying about, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; passing over, He will preserve it.”

Isa. 62:11: “Indeed the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the world: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.’“

“And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem on the east” (Zechariah 14:4). The prophecies in the Bible say that He comes to rescue Israel not destroy her– Zech 14:1-5: “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with You.” As Enoch prophesied in Jude 1:14: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints’ (also 1 Thess. 4:14).

At Armageddon it is a call to war Joel 3:10-13 “Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’”

In the Millennium:

Later when the Messiah establishes his throne the same phrase is used in reverse

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4; (repeated in Mic.4:3)

The Lord comes back to save his people Israel Joel 2:32: “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 10 and applies it to Jesus.

Ez.47:13 48:29 Israel will receive all the promised land v.13-14 in v. 15-20 we find the actual borders of the land which are all of Lebanon the Mediterranean to Euphrates river going south for a few miles to the Golan heights. The sea of Galilee and the Jordan river. Enlargement of the land is found in Isa.26:15; Obad. 17:21 there will be reconstruction of the land Isa.64:4,5; Amos 9:14 there will be renewed fertility and productivity of the land Isa.35:1-2, Isa.55:13 Ex.36:29-35.

Ps. 48:1-2: “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain.”Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.”

Ps. 76:1-2: I King 11:32: Ps 69:35-36: “For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it. Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it, and those who love His name shall dwell in it.”

Ps 102:15-16: “So the nations shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth Your glory. For the LORD shall build up Zion; he shall appear in His glory.”

Isa. 27:12-13: “And it shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will thresh, from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. So it shall be in that day: the great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” One day all the nations will know that the God of Israel is the true God and will worship and worship him together in his holy city.

After the Millennium

Gal. 4:25-26 “for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children–but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Heb. 12:22-24 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”

Rev 21:2 “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Rev 21:10-14 “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”

The Holy city will still be called Jerusalem and will be connected to Israel with the 12 tribes names and the apostles names. It is this city that will exist throughout eternity.

Israel is losing sovereignty over Jerusalem in fierce competition

Thursday, May 26, 2022

By HERB KEINON

Reprinted from The Jerusalem Post

The most remarkable aspect of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s visit to al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount on Tuesday was that it was so unremarkable.

(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS)TURKISH FOREIGN Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visits the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, Wednesday.

Cavusoglu visited the site without Israeli security guards and was accompanied by Azzam al-Khatib, the director-general of the Jordanian-controlled Wakf Muslim religious trust. He was not met on the compound by throngs waving Turkish flags and did not repeat – whether before he went to the site or when he left it – the need for Muslims to “conquer” al-Aqsa by flooding it with visitors.

Five years ago Cavusoglu’s boss, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, did just that. Speaking in 2017 at a conference on Jerusalem held in Istanbul, Erdogan called on Muslims worldwide to visit al-Aqsa often as a way of gaining control, saying that “each day that Jerusalem is under occupation is an insult to us.”

The Turkish president then put his government’s money where his mouth was, and subsidized Turkish visitors wanting to make a pilgrimage to the site. Thousands of Turkish tourists began flowing to Jerusalem’s Old City, and the Turkish flag flew from the Aqsa compound as well as on rooftops and in front of restaurants in the Old City and east Jerusalem.

According to Baruch Yedid, the Arab affairs correspondent for Channel 14 who led a media tour of Jerusalem Sunday sponsored by the Sovereignty Movement, the Turkish government helped refurbish some 70 buildings in the Old City. Some of these refurbished buildings were designed to service the Turkish religious pilgrims, who could enter a coffee shop on one of the alleyways near the Temple Mount, and – while sipping freshly squeezed orange juice – watch Erdogan’s speeches and those of Islamic Movement Northern Branch head Raed Salah on big-screen televisions. Saleh has for years been waging the “al-Aqsa is in danger campaign” against Israel, and in Erdogan found a receptive ear and close ally for years.

Provided by The Jerusalem PostISRAELIS DANCE with flags outside the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City during the Flag March last year. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

At the opening of a parliament session in 2020, with dreams of resurrecting the glory of the Ottoman Empire still in his mind, Erdogan said, “Jerusalem is ours. One of our cities.” His actions to gain inroads in the city – including donating 300 laptops to schools in the Old City so pupils could learn Turkish – showed that he meant it.

“Jerusalem is ours. One of our cities.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Then the coronavirus hit, the flow of tourists stopped, Turkey’s economy and standing in the world continued to dive and Ankara pivoted and began making overtures toward Israel, which culminated this week with Cavusoglu’s visit. During his visit all that neo-Ottoman bluster about Jerusalem being Turkish went by the wayside.

At least for now.

Turkey is in the running

ACCORDING TO Yedid, the Turks are but one piece of a power struggle taking place among Palestinian groups – Hamas and Fatah – and Arab countries, such as Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, for a foothold in Jerusalem.

Each little chunk of the city that another actor tries to grab for itself chips away at Israeli sovereign control – and this competition is fierce.

This competition played out most recently during Ramadan when Israelis woke up to violent clashes on the Temple Mount and were stunned to see a wave of the green flags of Hamas where the Jewish temples once stood.

Samer Sinjilawi, an east Jerusalem Fatah activist and chairman of the Jerusalem Development Fund, said that, contrary to a growing perception among Israelis, Hamas has not taken control of the Aqsa compound or won over the hearts and minds of east Jerusalem Arabs. That, he said, is a figment of the Israeli media’s imagination.

Maybe so, but after what Yedid called a “very green Ramadan” on the Temple Mount, the massive funeral in Jerusalem of CNN correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, killed two weeks ago during a firefight in Jenin, was organized and run by Fatah as a response to Hamas; as a show of force and a way of demonstrating its presence.

Fifty-five years after Israel won Jerusalem during the Six Day War, the battle for control of the city continues to take place at various levels.

Jordan is trying to assert control over the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Compound by demanding to increase the number of Wakf employees and “returning the status quo” at the site. What this means for Jordan is replacing the Israel police who currently stand guard at all the entrances to the compound, including the Mugrabi Gate from which Jews and tourists are allowed access, with Wakf guards. Up until 1996, it was Wakf guards who were positioned at the entryways to the Temple Mount.

Hamas is trying to assert its control as “protector” of the city by threatening to fire rockets, as it did last May, if it is unhappy with the developments in the city. It is threatening to fire rockets if the Jerusalem Day march goes ahead as scheduled on Sunday.

And Fatah is trying to assert control by getting its members placed on the expanded Wakf board, as well as supporting a multitude of organizations throughout the city.

INTERESTINGLY, the easiest way the Arabs could make their presence felt in the city would be through voting in municipal elections – something they are entitled to do as Jerusalem residents.

Sinjilawi, a staunch opponent of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said that the older guard of Fatah is opposed to Arab participation in municipal elections because it could be interpreted as recognizing Israeli control. He said many in the younger guard, however, believe this is an option that should be considered.

According to Yedid, the decision by Ra’am Party head Mansour Abbas to join the government coalition has led to a rethinking of the wisdom of boycotting the Israeli political process.

Chaim Silberstein, the head of an NGO called Keep Jerusalem, said that if current demographic trends in the city continue, then if east Jerusalem Arabs decide to vote, within 15 years they could elect an Arab mayor of the capital.

Before the Six Day War, Arabs made up only 1% of the part of divided Jerusalem under Israeli control. When Israel took control of the entire city in 1967 and expanded the municipal borders to include several Arab villages, the Arab population rose to 70,000, constituting some 26% of the united city’s entire population.

By 1990 the Jewish-Arab breakdown was 72% to 26% favoring the Jews, falling to 68%-32% in 2010, and now standing at about 60%-40%. Jerusalem’s current population stands at 958,000, of which 581,000 (354,000 Arabs and 227,000 Jews) live in areas that Israel gained control of in 1967.

The dramatic change in the capital’s demography is not the result of a high Arab and low Jewish birth rate among Jerusalem residents, but because of Jewish flight from the city over the past quarter-century because of a lack of employment opportunities and affordable housing.

“Each year between 7,000 to 10,0000 Jews leave the city,” Silberstein said, adding said that in the last 25 years some 450,0000 Jews have left Jerusalem, and only 260,000 have moved in, translating into a net loss to the city of some 190,000 Jews.

The demographic problem has been compounded by runaway illegal building in the Arab sector, which Silberstein asserted was being guided by the Palestinian Authority.

No one has accurate figures on the extent of the illegal building, but Yedid said that according to UN numbers between 28% and 46% of east Jerusalem Arabs live in illegal structures. He said estimates are that some 125,000 Arabs out of the 354,000 Arab residents of the city live in structures built without the necessary permits.

According to Silberstein, the demographic problem can be solved in one of three ways. The first is by massive building – he said that his organization presented a plan to the Housing Ministry showing where 110,000 units could be built within existing municipal borders.

The second way would be through creating a Greater Jerusalem that would include in its borders Ma’aleh Adumim to the north and Gush Etzion to the south, as well as Mevaseret Zion and Givat Ze’ev. The newly reconfigured city would be organized into a system resembling the boroughs that make up New York City. This would add tens of thousands of more Jews to the city, and free up hundreds of dunams of land for construction and industry.

The other option to change the demographic dynamics is to simply draw out of Jerusalem’s boundaries the Arab neighborhoods of Kafr Akab and the Shuafat refugee camp, which are beyond the security barrier but still inside Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries. Each of these neighborhoods, he said, numbers some 70,000 residents, so drawing them outside of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries – and creating new Israeli municipal authorities for them – would immediately redress the demographic problem in the city.

The primary reason this solution is opposed on the Right is concern that lopping off Arab neighborhoods would set a precedent for dividing Jerusalem, even though both these areas are beyond the security barrier and areas where the municipality has not exerted control. Another objection to such a move is the argument that relinquishing Jerusalem’s control over these neighborhoods would create considerable security challenges.

AS ISRAEL celebrates Jerusalem Day on Sunday, long-term trends playing themselves out on the ground will determine the future of the city more than political declarations.

Sitting in the house that Ariel Sharon bought in the Muslim Quarter in 1987, Silberstein told a tale of how he met Sharon in 2003, a couple of years after Sharon became prime minister. Sharon told Silberstein how, before the Six Day War, he took one of his sons to a hill overlooking the Old City, which was then under Jordanian control.

“That is ours, but it is not in our hands,” Silberstein quoted Sharon as telling his son. “Now, Sharon told Silberstein, encouraging the acquisition of Jewish property throughout the city and the assertion of Israeli control, “it is in our hands, but not ours.”

The sentiment reflected in those comments – that Israel’s sovereignty is being undermined by various actors, and exists throughout the city in name only – is even more pronounced today than it was when Sharon made that comment 19 years ago.