Australian Independent
Baptist Newsletter
MARCH 2003 Issue #3
Dr. David C. Bennett, Editor (DCB)
PO Box 1241 - Dubbo - NSW 2830
Phone/Fax 02-6884-2846
Email: Bennett@BibleForToday.org
Permission is given to forward material contained in the AIB
Newsletter.
Purpose: To inform and warn God's people of religious, social, and
political events in today's world.
Episcopal News Service (ENS Hereafter) 7 March 2003 EPISCOPALIANS JOIN
IN LEGAL CHALLENGE TO TEXAS SODOMY LAW (Edited by DCB) "The Episcopal
Church has joined 20 other religious groups in supporting a challenge to
the constitutionality of the state of Texas's ‘homosexual conduct’ or
‘sodomy’ law, which criminalizes sexual acts between consenting adults of
the same sex. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the case
this spring."
The brief for the case states "The Episcopal Church has long adhered to
its conviction that homosexual persons are entitled to equal protection of
the laws with all other citizens, and has articulated this position in a
series of resolutions adopted by its General Convention."
Editor’s Comment: The Episcopal Church is apostate. Genesis 18:20 "And
the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because
their sin is very grievous."
ENS 7 March 03 CHRISTIAN GROUP GIVES 'SINFUL' ICE-CREAM PRODUCT COLD
SHOULDER (Edited by DCB) "A new range of ice-cream bars named after the
seven deadly sins has drawn the ire of a Christian group in the
Netherlands."
The ice cream bars come in seven flours: "vanity, jealousy, gluttony,
lust, revenge, greed and sloth."
"The protest comes from Christians for Truth, a South African
organization with branches in a number of European countries."
The group is asking consumers to boycott those stores selling the ice
cream. "In Australia, the company's ice-cream sales have risen, with
vanity already sold out and lust well on the way, B&T Marketing and Media
analysts reported. And an Australian advertising campaign to promote the
bars won a major award at the 2002 International Advertising Festival in
Cannes, France."
Editor’s Comment: Is it not a shame when sin is promoted for profit.
1Timothy 6:9 "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition."
Cybercast News Service-CNSNews.com (CNS Hereafter) ARAFAT'S 'PERSONAL'
WEALTH NO SURPRISE TO ISRAELIS, PALESTINIANS
4 March 03 (Edited by DCB)
Jerusalem – "The fact that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat
probably has at least hundreds of millions of dollars tucked away in
private accounts while many of his people are unemployed and starving
comes as no surprise to Israelis and Palestinians alike, representatives
here said on Tuesday."
"Arafat appeared last week on the business magazine Forbes' annual list
of the wealthiest ‘Kings, Queens and Despots.’ With an estimated $300
million in private holdings, Arafat placed sixth on the list."
"Last year, during Operation Defensive Shield, Israeli troops raided
Arafat's Mukata compound in Ramallah.
They carted away truckloads of documents, some of which showed Arafat's
involvement in financial disbursements to Palestinians directly connected
to terrorism."
"According to Forbes, Arafat likely amassed his wealth during the last
several years by skimming off the top of international financial aid for
the Palestinians, tax revenues from Israel and profits from Palestinian
interests."
"As PLO Chairman from 1969, Arafat built his organization into the
wealthiest and largest terrorist group in the world."
Editor’s Comment: Surprised!?
POLICE RECRUIT FIRST TRANSSEXUAL OFFICER 19 February 03 (Edited by DCB)
"Scotland Yard has recruited its first transsexual police officer."
"The recruit was working as a member of the Met's civilian staff when
he applied to join the police training centre in Hendon, north London. A
Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘We welcome this opportunity as this
is an under-represented group in the Met.’ "
"The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, who is trying to overcome
recruitment shortages in the police, has urged forces to make greater
efforts to reflect the communities they serve. Last year, he backed public
funding of the national Lesbian and Gay Police Association."
Editor’s Comment: Romans 1: 28 "And even as they did not like to retain
God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do
those things which are not convenient."
Sydney Morning Herald (SMH hereafter) 11 March 03 OUTRAGE OVER DEAN'S
HOSTILITY TO OTHER FAITHS (Edited by DCB) "The new Anglican Dean of Sydney
has been accused of insensitivity, provocation and offensive intolerance
after his strident defence of evangelical Christianity."
The new Dean of Sydney told the congregation that
"‘some or all’ religions were wrong and if wrong were ‘the monstrous
lies and deceits of Satan devised to destroy the life of the believers’".
Of course this upset many in the religious community including Roman
Catholic "Sister Marianne Dacy, who is the national secretary of the
Australian Council of Christians and Jews." The good Sister said "He is
totally out of tune in today's era of reconciliation between different
religions," and "It is quite upsetting to hear a view like that expressed
by such a prominent churchman."
She believed the dean’s comments "were anathema to interfaith
dialogue."
The Muslim community certainly was upset with the statements made by
the new dean and Senior Sydney rabbi Raymond Apple "described the dean's
comments as singularly unhelpful." He went on to say "The last thing we
need at this stage is someone inflaming passions against any religious
group."
Editor’s Comment: These "conservatives" need to obey the Scriptures and
"come out from among them, and be ye separate."
IF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND HAD BEEN AROUND IN THE DAYS OF JOSHUA WHEN
GOING IN AND POSSESSING THE LAND. (That in quotations below the Scriptures
and highlighted is from an Anglican Communion News Service emailed to the
editor 12 March. The editor, DCB, inserted "the land" in place of Iraq.)
God said in Deuteronomy 11: 31; 20: 16-18 "31 For ye shall pass over
Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you,
and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.16 But of the cities of these
people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou
shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: 17 But thou shalt utterly destroy
them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath
commanded thee: 18 That they teach you not to do after all their
abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin
against the LORD your God."
If the Church of England had been in existence then this is what they
would have said: "In a joint statement the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr
Robin Eames, and the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill, today said,
"While we acknowledge the iniquities of the regime in the land and the
complexities of the current situation, we hold the view that war in the
land will deepen a humanitarian crisis of grave magnitude, with untold
human suffering and loss of life, especially for the children of the land;
it will lead to loss of infrastructure, together with serious damage to
the environment; it will reinforce and polarise division and hatred
between communities resulting in further destabilisation of the region and
of the international community."
Jerusalem Newswire 6 March 03 HAIFA BUS BOMBER SLAUGHTERS 15, MOSTLY
STUDENTS (Edited by DCB) Jerusalem – "A Palestinian genocide bomber killed
15, mostly young, people and wounded another 39 when he blew himself up on
a crowded public bus in the center of the northern Israeli port city of
Haifa Wednesday afternoon."
"The attack occurred near Sderot Moriah, a main thoroughfare that runs
past Haifa University, at an hour when many students from local high
schools were catching the bus home."
"Police said the terrorist used a 50-60 kilogram bomb in the attack."
The killer was identified as Mahmoud Kawasme, a 20-year-old Hamas
member from Hebron. He was said to have been "carrying a letter on his
body praising the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America."
Editor’s Comment: Ps 122:6 "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall
prosper that love thee."
Associated Press 12 March 03 MEL GIBSON AND PARENTS UNDER FIRE FROM
LEADING JEWISH GROUP FOR ANTI-SEMITISM (Edited by DCB) LOS ANGELES — Actor
Mel Gibson and his parents are reported to be anti-Semitic by a leading
Jewish group. These charges stem from Gibson’s new film and the elder
Gibson in speaking to the New York Times rejected Al Qaeda involvement in
the 11 September terrorist attacks. Then Gibson’s father and mother are
reported to have told "The Times that the Holocaust was a fabrication
manufactured to hide an arrangement between Adolf Hitler and ‘financiers’
to move Jews out of Germany to the Middle East to fight Arabs."
These comments came after the junior Gibson a devout Roman Catholic
"built a church in near Malibu that caters to a revisionist version of
Catholicism." According to reports "the church has a congregation of 70."
Editor’s Comment: Bible believing Christians should distance themselves
from viewing and having anything to with Hollywood.
The following two articles below are given to inform as to the history
of Israel and the events in the Middle East from sources other than that
media which is often set against Israel.
THE TERM "PALESTINE" - Sources: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (www.mfa.gov.il);
Myths and Facts by Mitchel Bard; The Jerusalem Post, September 25, 2002
edition
Summary: The international community has for more than 50 years been in
the practice of referring to the Land of Israel by the term "Palestine"
and the Arab inhabitants of that land as "Palestinians." The use of these
terms, however, is the perpetuation of a historical inaccuracy.
Historical usage
1. The term "Palestine" is derived from the ancient Philistines, an
Aegean people who colonized the Mediteranean coast of what is now "Israel
proper" and the Gaza Strip in the 12th century BC.
2. While the ancient Philistines disappeared from history in the second
half of the first millineum BC, the term "Palestine" was kept alive by the
Romans in the second century AD.
3. Following the defeat of the second Jewish revolt under Simon Bar
Kochva in 135 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea as Palaestina,
in referrence to Israel's ancient enemy, as a slap in the face of the
defeated Jews.
4. Prior to Hadrian's act of hatred, the Land of Israel was
consistently referred to as Judea by Roman era writers such as Pliny,
Tacitus, Plutarch, Strabo and Ptolemy.
5. Eusebius (ca. 300 AD) writes of Hadrian's law, which "ensured that
not even from a distance might Jews have a view of their ancestrial
soil..." (Ecclesiastical History, IV:6)
6. The New Testament, written during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD,
never uses the term "Palestine", but rather refers to the region as the
"Land of Israel" or "Judea."
7. The Koran, written in the 7 century AD, never uses the term
"Palestine", but rather refers to the region as the "holy land" and as
being divinely assigned to the Israelites. (Sura 5:12, 20-21)
8. "Palestine" was used off and on during the centuries of Muslim
control, but was always understood to be a part of Syria - this is evident
from the 1946 Arab testimony before the Anglo-American Commission of
Inquiry on Palestine, which referred to "Palestine" as part of "Greater
Syria."
Rebirth
1. The respected Encyclopedia Italiano (Vol. 26, ca. 1930) tells of
"Palestine" becoming the preferred term for the region in modern times as
part of the revival of Latin as the "scientific" language.
2. Despite the resurgence, the famous eleventh edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica (1911) continued to associate "Palestine" with the
"Hebrews."
3. Until the mid-20th century, "Palestine" remained a Western
geographical term that never defined a nation or a people group.
4. Following the 1967 Six Day War, the Arab world intensified efforts
to transform the geographical term "Palestine" into one denoting an
ancient Arab culture.
Conclusion
Eliyahu Green writes:
"Is 'Palestine' the proper or rightful name of the country? The name of
a country, any country, has to be looked at as a historical object, for if
otherwise, a land might as well be called XYZ or No. 14. A country's name
is associated with events and personalities and sentiments. 'Palestine'
too must be scrutinized in that light.
"The Roman change of name was part of a complex of related oppressive
measures of national despoliation, punishment, and oppression.
"The name 'Palestine' cannot be divested of the negative overtones of
its history, from the circumstances of its Roman official origin. It
cannot be considered a 'neutral, value free,' purely 'scientific' term, as
some would have. Felix Abel, the noted Catholic historian of the country,
frankly states that the name change was 'another indication of the
anti-Jewish orientation of imperial policy.' Should the continued use
today of the name 'Palestine' be seen otherwise?"
THE TERM "ISRAELI OCCUPATION" - Sources: Jewish Virtual Library
(http://www.virtualjewishlibrary.com/)
Summary
The term "Israeli occupation" concerning Judea, Samaria and Gaza has
become so ingrained over recent decades that most Israelis now accept its
present connotations. Historical and legal facts, however, discredit the
claim that Israel occupies territory of a formerly sovereign nation.
History
• Israel became a nation in 1312 BC, two thousand years before the
Islamic Arab occupation of the Middle East.
• Following the Jewish conquest of the land, Jews had dominion over
what is present day Israel, the "disputed" territories and parts of Jordan
for 1,000 years, maintaining a continuous presence in the land for the
past 3,300 years.
• The only period of Arab sovereignty over these lands prior to world
wars one and two lasted no more than 22 years.
• Prior to Israel's rebirth in 1948, there was no Arab Palestinian
nation; Arabs in the area only began referring to themselves as such after
the Israeli victory of 1967. (National identities in the Arab world only
came into existence following the two world wars.)
• The only sovereign entities to have ever existed for any substantial
amount of time as independent and unique nations in the land erroneously
known as "Palestine" are the Jewish people and the Crusader armies.
1948
• In 1948, the United Nations proposed setting up an Arab state
alongside Israel in the western half of British Mandatory Palestine. The
Arabs rejected the proposal noting that "Palestine" in their eyes did not
have a separate identity from Greater Syria.
• Jews who had lived in Judea, Samaria and Gaza for centuries were
ejected from the area during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence.
1967
• In June of 1967, Israel defeated the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian
armies, reclaiming land that had belonged to their forefathers, the return
of which had been promised the Jews in the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and
at the San Remo Conference of 1920. Judea and Samaria were taken from
Jordan, not from a nation known as "Palestine."
Resolution 242
• UN Resolution 242 is often said to call for the "return" of
"Palestine to the Palestinians." In reality, the resolution deals with the
warring nations involved in the '67 war - Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan -
and makes no mention of "Palestine", as such a nation neither existed nor
took part in the fighting.
Geneva
• The Fourth Geneva Convention is not applicable to Judea and Samaria
as it assumes a sovereign power had been ousted, and that the sovereign
had been legitimate.
• The "Palestinians" had never existed as a sovereign entity, and the
Jordanian annexation of the "West Bank" had never been legally recognized
by anyone but Britain and Pakistan.
• Following the Turkish defeat by Britain in World War One, no
sovereign power had legally held sovereign control of Judea and Samaria
until 1967.
San Remo
• The only currently enforceable legal document pertaining to the land
of "Palestine" is the San Remo Conference declaration of 1920, which calls
for "close Jewish settlement" in what is now Israel, Judea, Samaria, Gaza
and even parts of Jordan.
• The current UN resolutions dealing with "Palestine" are
non-enforceable General Assembly documents; only Security Council
resolutions are legally enforceable.
Archeology and culture
• No archeological remains of an Arab Palestinian civilization unique
from the rest of the Arab world have ever been uncovered.
• No traces of an Arab Palestinian culture unique from the rest of the
Arab world exist.
• No Arab Palestinian entity ever held sovereign sway over the land in
question.
• Jewish archeological remains attesting to Jewish presence, culture
and sovereignty in the land in question as far back as 3,500 BC have been
discovered in abundance.
Yours against Apostasy and for Biblical Truth
David C. Bennett
