U.N. seen by Christian writer as fulfilling End-World prophecy

By Danny Bloom

CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — It’s always interesting to see how other see us.

As you know, I’m not a Bible scholar, far from it, although like most American Jews, I am a bit more familiar with the Old Testament than I am with the New Testament. When I recently heard that a Bibilical scholar named David Reed had just written a book about the future of Israel — and the world! — I decided to contact him by email and ask him a few questions about the new book, which is titled ”United Nations vs Israel — and the End of the World.”

The first thing he told me was that he was not “Dr. Reed” but just “Mr. Reed, and in a good-natured and friendly way he told me that like Mark Zuckerberg, he also had gone to Harvard but that he also had never graduated.

Since the book asserts that U.N. actions are fulfilling Biblical prophecy, I asked Reed if you he could explain this to me in a simple way and especially for Jewish readers of my column as well.

“The Hebrew prophets Joel, Ezekiel and Zechariah and the New Testament writer of Revelation all spoke of a time when the nations of the world would unite against Israel,” he told me. “United Nations resolutions condemning Israel and rejecting Jerusalem as its capital constitute real-life moves in that direction, and my book documents the connection, while also discussing the implications for ordinary people.”

While his book is titled United Nations vs Israel, the subtitle is And the End of the World. I asked Reed if he really means the “end” of the world, literally, or was that subtitled just a wake up call?

“The end of the world as we know it,” Reed replied. “The Bible associates an international move against Israel with a counter-attack by God that will usher in the promised Messianic age of world peace and prosperity.”

Reed writes that we are heading for another Middle East war or something much bigger — like the biblical Apocalypse, so I asked him if he could explain this more for Jewish people like me, who might not be so familiar with New Testament texts.

“Apocalypse is another name for Revelation, the last book in the New Testament, a book that draws on the prophecies of Daniel and that speaks of God sending natural disasters that will make Moses’ plagues on Egypt look like child’s play by comparison,” Reed told me. “The bad guys in the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War were pushed back, but recovered to fight again. After the war of the Apocalypse, they will never again even talk or think of attacking Israel.”

Reed’s book points to what might happen in the future, I asked him to explain more of his ideas to me, and he did, citing a prophecy in the Old Testament book of Zechariah and noting that the focus will shift to Jerusalem: “Jerusalem will be a heavy stone burdening the world…all the nations of the Earth unite in an attempt” to impose their solution.”

According to Zechariah, Reed told me, God says, “I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered against it.” (chapter 12, verse 2, The Jewish Publication Society).”

Reed explained it this way: ”When the United Nations make it their business to tell the Jewish people what they can and cannot do in Jerusalem, and when the nations of the world vote (in General Assembly Resolution 57/111)  by a margin of 154-to-5 to reject Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, we see Zechariah’s words beginning to come true.”

“Few people are aware of it, but the 1947 U.N. Resolution 181 calling for partition of the land left Jerusalem outside the Jewish state and the Arab state, and put the city under direct control of the United Nations.  That is why subsequent U.N. resolutions over the years keep referring back to Resolution 181 as the basis for denying Israeli control over the city,” Reed told me.

Reed asserts in his self-published book that United Nations resolutions on Jerusalem dovetail with ancient prophecies. For example, General Assembly resolution 181, which declares that Jerusalem should be under U.N. control, and another resolution passed last year that rejects Israeli control over the city.

“The resolution last year — November 2011 — that again rejected Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is officially called a “draft resolution on Jerusalem (document A/66/L.19)” and was adopted by a recorded vote of 164 in favor to 7 against, with 5 abstentions,” Reed said.

“When the United Nations enforces these resolutions, that’s the scenario the Bible calls Armageddon,” Reed told me.  “The nations of the world unite against Israel, and then God steps in and destroys the nations.”

“Armageddon is an anglicized name for Har Megiddo — the region around kibbutz Megiddon in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel, Reed added, noting: “The New Testament says the world’s armies will assemble there.  The prophet Joel says the final battle will occur in “the valley of decision,” while Ezekiel and Zechariah place it simply in Israel.  But they all foretell a time when the whole world will fight against Israel, and Israel will win when God joins the battle.”

Reed said that the Bible has a strong track record and it has accurately predicted that ”the pagan idols everyone worshipped long ago would be abandoned and people of all nations would worship Israel’s God.”

When I asked Reed if he believes this really has happened now, he replied: “Thousands of years ago when the Psalmist wrote ‘All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord,’ and Jeremiah wrote that ‘the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the Earth,’ they were having enough trouble trying to get the Jewish people to listen. The rest of the world was busy bowing down to idols of Baal, Dagon, Molech, Zeus, and countless other local gods and goddesses. But today there are more than a billion Gentiles who listen to the reading of Jeremiah and the Psalms in Christian churches. And even Muslims worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  How could Jeremiah and the Psalmist in the Old Testament know that this was going to happen?”

Reed told me that the Bible foretold that the Jews would be uprooted from the Promised Land, scattered throughout the world, and finally restored as a nation — Israel — thousands of years later.

When I asked him that with some 6 million Jews living in North America now, and with many of them content to stay in the U.S. or Canada and live their lives as Jews there and not make aliyah to Israel, he replied: “Yes, of course there are millions of Jews who have not returned to the Promised Land.  But they can still rejoice to see what God has done with Israel, making the desert bloom and restoring a land flowing with milk and honey. The aspiration of a people who wistfully prayed “next year in Jerusalem” for centuries has finally been fulfilled. God kept his word. And that gives all of us reason to trust that he will keep the rest of his promises, as well.”

I asked Reed if he felt that there were any antisemitic elements in the New Testament, as some Jewish scholars have said, and he replied: “No way! How could the New Testament be anti-Semitic when it was written by Jews?  New Testament writer Saul of Tarsus — later called the Apostle Paul — had been a student of Gamaliel, son of Simeon ben Hillel, and Saul/Paul taught his Messianic beliefs in Jewish synagogues until a split occurred and he was forced to move to other venues. Unfortunately, as Jesus himself predicted, there would be more people using his name than actually following his teachings. So-called “Christians” who have misused the New Testament to abuse Jews were misappropriating that name for themselves, just like the false prophets who invoked Israel’s God to have Jeremiah thrown into prison.”

When I asked Reed if he believes in global warming and the threat it perhaps holds for the Earth, he replied: “Yes, I believe in global warming, much as Al Gore has documented. I see the “scorching heat” that the book of Revelation predicted as one of the last plagues God is sending on this world — along with the deforestation and loss of marine life Revelation predicted — just as God sent the ten plagues on Egypt.”

In his book, which was written primarily for a Christian audience, Reed says that “the enemies of God should be afraid of what’s coming, but Christians should be glad because Christ’s kingdom will soon replace corrupt human governments.”

When I asked him if the Jewish people should be afraid or glad of what he says is coming, he replied: “Yes, Jews should also be glad about what is coming. As they see events unfold exactly as the prophets foretold, it is my hope that even secular Jews will open their Scriptures and believe.”

As I said in the first paragraph, above, I’m not a Bible scholar. But always open to new ideas, and always keeping my ears open to other points of view, I found Reed’s ideas fascinating. You?

*
Bloom is Taiwan bureau chief of San Diego Jewish World and an inveterate web surfer.  He may be reached at dan.bloom@sdjewishworld.com