Salting Australia for 2017

February 10, 2016
Pro Israel Rally Brisbane 2014 - Salting Australia

Dear Aussie brothers and sisters in Messiah. Prayerful (gentile) New Year’s greetings from a wintery Land of Israel. 2017 will be on us before we know it, with a remarkable confluence of events set for that year that could powerfully impact Australia’s future before God:

  • the 100th anniversary of the Beersheba battle that freed up Israel’s land for Jewish settlement
  • the 50th anniversary—Golden Jubilee—of the Six Day War that restored the heart of that land to Jewish control
  • an International Sovereignty Congress planned in the Hague in support of Israel’s legitimate claim to all this land as the Israeli sovereignty campaign gathers momentum
  • the intensifying UN push to pull off the Two State Solution, which seeks to rob Israel of this very same heartland – the cradle of Jewish nationhood.

As strongly as I sensed that Australia’s membership on the UN Security Council in 2014 was significant then in regard to the escalating battle over this land, I sense preparations to mark Beersheba in 2017 are also key. It’s a once in a century opportunity to honour that decisive victory with another. And what real value can there be in celebrating the liberation of the land without using the occasion to play a part in the current fight to keep it free? Hope and faith tell me that Australia and New Zealand are positioned potentially to act as a brake on the global hard push for the division of God’s land. Now my spirit has not heard that your nation is predestined— as in 1917—to make another major contribution at this stage in Israel’s restoration. Humanly speaking the odds are against it – multiple forces are pulling Australia towards the vortex of globalisation that Israel, by God’s design, will not enter. But you are nevertheless in place to act and I remain strongly convicted that everything God enables should be done to keep Australia moving away from the goat pen and towards the sheepfold.

So as I prepare to head Down Under to meet with you, I am holding these questions before Him: 

  • were the words spoken by De Queirós concerning the “Great Southland of the Holy Spirit” truly prophetic of God and applicable to Australia?
  • Was Smith Wigglesworth in tune with the Holy Spirit when he foretold for your country “the greatest move of God ever known in mankind’s history?”
  • Was Derek Prince, when he prophesied similarly in 1975?

Is a crown being offered to your nation by God concerning Australia being a blessing in service to Israel? Is there further fruit to come from the painful sacrifices made by so many of your countrymen a century ago? It seems plain that the slaughter at Gallipoli and on the Western Front was as tied to the final victory in Palestine as was the Beersheba charge.

Were the words spoken by De Queirós concerning the  ‘Great Southland of the Holy Spirit’ truly prophetic of God?

On my heart is to encourage Christians to work with urgency and focus to take the lead to ‘salt’ Australia—Church and nation—in the run-up to 2017 setting a global example of a spiritually seasoned nation that is on the right side of the God of Israel, standing with His people Israel, and fully supporting their extension of sovereignty over the land of Israel.

Salting the Church

As a matter of priority, circulate among Christians nationwide a Biblical statement, underwriting Israel’s Divinely-mandated right of ownership and restoration of their homeland. Such a proclamation, widely released, broadcast and published, will see Australian believers declaring together, on behalf of their country, God’s Word concerning His Land.

Salting Australia 

Concurrently submit a statement to the federal parliament, undersigned by like-minded Christians, following up on a petition submitted in 2015, citing international law legitimising Israel’s right to extend sovereignty over its ancestral lands; urging lawmakers to withstand pressure on Australia to unilaterally recognise ‘Palestine’; rejecting any bid to have Australia join the other nations seeking to impose a solution on Israel. Simultaneously help to preserve the ANZAC legacy by educating the public. Specifically, that the ANZAC liberation of the ‘Land of the Bible’ – one of Australia’s and New Zealand’s prime accomplishments in World War 1 – faces being cancelled out by international efforts to hand the Holy Land back to the Islamic world. Additionally, how supporting the creation of another Muslim-majority country (Palestine) in the explosive Middle East will only exacerbate the mounting dangers to world peace presented by radical Islam (to use the PC term).

Encouraging Australia’s shaken but stalwart Jewish community

Recently, I met with a visiting Australian Jewish couple actively involved in organising Jewish community events in Canberra. We talked at length about Christian encouragement and support of Australian Jewry, which – despite its compelling Zionist culture – feels constrained like many in the Diaspora by the lack of outside backing; this lends itself to a compliance towards the Two State solution despite its transparent pointlessness. We agreed Jewish groups Down Under need to be apprised of Christian Zionist support for Israel’s extension of sovereignty, in order to encourage further Australian Jewish solidarity with Israel and with the indigenous sovereignty movement. All of the above can be communicated and carried over to New Zealand.

Buttressing Israel – a flow-on effect

The indigenous Israeli pro-sovereignty movement is gathering momentum and has begun to directly impact the political landscape, even reaching government levels. In classic Zionist tradition it has responded to the “stabbing and ramming intifada” by calling for the construction of more homes for Jews and raising its profile with hundreds of “Sovereignty Now” banners deliberately displayed at security checkpoints erected where attacks have occurred. At this critical juncture, as William Hechler did for Theodore Herzl and Orde Wingate did for his Jewish troops, Christians can visibly encourage and reinforce the Zionist enterprise and – I suggest – even help advance this initiative by presenting to sovereignty movement leaders in Israel (the Israel Land Caucus, Women for Israel’s Tomorrow, Legal Grounds, Regavim, and pro-sovereignty MKs) Biblical and law-based statements endorsed by Christian Zionists in the nations – beginning with yours. Australia – to my way of thinking – remains fresh and fertile ground for growing support for Israel that Christians around the world can be exhorted to emulate. But, carpe diem. For if we do not seize the moment, then in echo of Churchill’s chilling admonition, history may well cast its verdict on Christian Zionist efficacy at this most critical moment in Israel’s destiny as being “too little too late!’’

Here’s why:

If we do not recognise that we have an imperative to physically (and not just spiritually) fight for Israel’s right to claim her land; If, in the context of supporting Israel, we begin to slip back into Church-centrism rather than keeping Israel at the heart of it all (the Bible is overwhelmingly and incontrovertibly Israel-centric; Israel is the apple of God’s eye); If thoughts about Australia stepping into her destiny preoccupy us, and we move into an Australia-revival focus rather than understanding that God has undertaken to first bring national revival to Israel, and that it is out of that revival that revival will come to the Gentiles (as Isaiah 60 among other passages attests), then I don’t know if we truly have what it takes to effectively engage this most important battle of all time. Urging that this be committed to prayer and action, for Zion’s sake Yours, Stan Goodenough, Jerusalem, Israel


 

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Stan Goodenough

Stan Goodenough: is a South African gentile who has lived in Jerusalem for a quarter of a century. A Christian journalist, writer and tour guide, he believes passionately that Australia is being offered a unique opportunity to lead the way in supporting Israel’s God given and legitimate right to extend sovereignty over its restored land.

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