Dear editor,
Shimon Peres has passed away. This prior Israeli prime minister oversaw his own funeral arrangements. He asked only that two American presidents speak at his eulogy in Israel and no other foreign leaders.
Current President Barack Obama and prior President Bill Clinton both did speak at his eulogy. Although the thought crossed my mind as to what Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump might have said at that eulogy, I’ll leave that choice to my vote in this year’s presidential election, as you should also.
So, I only focused on the perception of our two presidents who spoke. They spoke of the ‘unbreakable bond’ that exists between Israel and the United States. They also focused on the ‘uniqueness’ of Israel in the playing out of world history. They emphasized to me the importance of having an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the State of Israel.
The Israeli state, created in 1948, is interpreted by many Christians as a prophetic completion of giving Israel back its God-given land cited in the biblical book of Genesis. To some Christian preachers, this even means that after one generation, the ‘end times’ might occur in 2018 (70 years after Israel’s creation). We’ll soon see how that prediction plays out.
However, there is no biblical doubt that God the Father called Israel his ‘chosen people.” There is doubt to some Jews about whether God the Father actually had a Son, Jesus, who came to Earth to be the once and for all ‘sacrifice’ so that human sins could be forgiven and humans could reach eternal life.
This is a good time in America to put Israel in your thoughts. Interestingly, our president was called to speak in Israel. International relations is a relevant part of where we want our president to be adept and shine as our chosen leader.
You will soon have a role in assuring that that continues.
JIM MOORE
Pace
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Consider Israel’s presence before the presidential election