Middle East Peace

"Is it possible?" I hear you cry.

Very few really know, but the significant point is that the
day of the 13^th has been prominent throughout all of the
negotiations. Number 13, as is well known in Southeast Asia is the witchcraft
number, and therefore is not popularly used in hotels. Those who travel in that
particular area will know that if you travel in a lift you go from floor 12 to
floor 14, which is understandable when one understands the Asian culture.

During our Middle East trips we sometimes find it difficult
to tell the difference between a Jew and an Arab as in many cases there are
facial similarities and also to the untrained ear similarities in language as
well.

An interesting article taken from the New Zealand Herald, May
10 2000 Big test for brotherly love. "They may be enemies but Jews and
Arabs really are brothers, a newly published genetic analysis shows.

The comparison of groups of Semites also shows that Jews have
resisted dilution of their gene pool despite having lived among non-Jews for
thousands of years in what is commonly known as the Diaspora -– the time since
556 BC when Jews migrated out of Palestine...

The researchers compared their genes to samples from Arabs
such as Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Israeli Druze and Saudies, and then
compared the Semitic group to groups such as Russians, Germans, British,
Austrians, Egyptians, Gambians, Ethiopians, Turks and others.

The researchers looked at the Y chromosome, which only males
have and which is passed with little change from father to son. The small
changes can be tracked, and provide a molecular map to the genetic past.

They found that Jews and Arabs -– both are Semites -– are
linked genetically as well as by history and language.

"Jews and Arabs are all children of Abraham," said Dr
Harry Ostrer, human genetics programme director at New York University School of
Medicine, who worked on the study.

"And all have preserved their Middle Eastern genetic roots
over 4000 years."

The researchers also found that genetically, Jews have
remained remarkably similar over thousands of years.

"Despite their long-term residence in different countries
and their isolation from one another, most Jewish populations were not
significantly different from one another at the genetic level," Hammer's
group wrote in their report...

"...The paternal gene pools of Jewish communities from
Europe, North Africa and the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern
ancestral population." End Quote

Those of us who read the authoritative Word Of God can
understand this very clearly as the common ancestor is named Abraham.

Prophetically speaking when the Son of God returns in glory
as Yeshua ben David (Jesus the son of David) He will then become Lord not only
of the Middle Eastern area, but of the whole world.

We read also that the Middle Eastern problem will be settled
in that day and in the book of Isaiah 19:23-25 we read a fascinating picture of
the days to come.

"In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to
Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptians shall serve
with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with
Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land. Whom the Lord of hosts shall
bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and
Israel mine inheritance."

We have no doubt whatsoever that Abraham was the father of
the Jews and the Arabs. We read what God said to Moses while he was on top of Mt
Sinai in Exodus 3:6, "Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he
was afraid to look upon God."

However, the prophet Daniel chapter 9, through the
inspiration of the Spirit of God tells us that in the latter days there will be
a seven year peace treaty which will be confirmed by a man called Antichrist and
then broken after three and a half years. Daniel 9:27, "And he shall confirm
the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause
the sacrifice and the oblation to cease..."

This is not the peace treaty we are looking for as the true
peace will only come in the Middle East when Jesus the Prince of Peace returns
and settles the problem once and for all.

Students of prophecy will therefore be watching eagerly with
us at this office as events unfold day by day in that particular area of the
world.

The key to all this is the statement, Jesus is coming... "Wherefore
comfort one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:18