I only want to clarify my position regarding Israel and the Kingdom of God so that I may not be misunderstood. I also appreciate that we are all entitled to an opinion, and having read that of Pastor Giovanni Leonardi (The Sunday Times, April 21) mine has remained unchanged.
I do not consider myself a theo- logian or an expert on the Middle East but I honestly believe I was prompted to write by the indwelling Holy Spirit who, as Jesus said, will "teach us all things" and "lead us into all truth".
It is the same Holy Spirit who transformed Peter from a cowardly liar to one who would lay down his life for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and I am learning to trust in His still small voice and respond to His prompting.
The fact is, there are millions of Christians who love Israel the way I do and choose to bless them and identify with them. There are even Palestinians who choose to bless Israel, many of whom have been persecuted and even murdered for their stand by their own race. I am not suggesting that we should consider Palestinians as "horrible enemies" and declare war in our hearts, rather to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, which was my whole point.
Jesus died for them too and wants to set them free from the darkness that blinds all those who reject His great gift of salvation. As for my thesis being "tragic", try reading the book of Revelation and see the tragic events that will unfold in the end times, not a pretty picture, yet the final outcome is the glorious New Jerusalem, a place where God shall wipe away every tear and take away all pain from His people.
Some may even consider it tragic for Jesus to say "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6), a statement that clearly rules out any other path to God. So in that sense, yes, I pray for Palestinians to turn to Jesus and abandon the deception that so many now embrace. If I did not, I could not claim to love them.
With regard to Jeremiah 30:3 being irrelevant to the restoration of Israel in 1948, I beg to differ and believe much Bible prophecy has a dual fulfilment. In Ezekiel 36:24 God says "I will take you (Israel) from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land." This clearly does not refer to the return from Babylon.
Anyway, I do not want to argue but to emphasise that theirs is a spiritual battle going on and Christians are called to wear the full armour of God (Ephesians 6) and prayer is the weapon of this warfare so let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem, calling on the Name of the Lord for His intervention and praying for His mercy to those who do not know what they are doing, that they might not spend eternity tormented and separated from Almighty God who has revealed His love to us through His Son Jesus. To neglect so great a salvation is surely the most tragic thing one can do.