A “man of peace” versus a man of war

To what extent do you have to stretch your imagination to compare a so-called man of peace with a man of war? Prof. Hennie Stander seems to have mastered the art of morphing his imagination from one extreme bit of nonsense to a next extreme bit of nonsense, even to the degree that he’s able to compare the criticism levelled at  the President of America, Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize award, with King Saul’s contempt of David, one of the most brilliant war strategists who ever lived. Hennie seems to have been so keen to tongue lash Obama’s critics that he forgot to recap history before making an attempt to compare a “peace-loving” man with a man of war.

Hennie Stander is surprised and also finds it rather interesting to see who it was who congratulated Obama on his winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Even Fidel Castro was overjoyed by his great achievement. Really! Should we be surprised? I don’t think so, especially when we take into account how easy it is these days to be hailed a peace-maker. It’s as easy as as eating pie — including American Pie. All you need to do is to foster a peace-loving hatred of Israel (who are still God’s chosen people) and do everything in your power to divide God’s land. God’s land? Yes! God’s land. Don’t you ever read your Bible?

Joel 3:2 I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there will I deal with and execute judgment upon them for [their treatment of] My people and of My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and [because] they have divided My land.

Dave Hunt commented on Joel 3:2 as follows in The Berean Call of May 28, 2009.

This is remarkable! Throughout its entire 3,000-plus-year history, the land of Israel had never been divided. It had been conquered by various nations, but even when the Turks held it as part of their Ottoman Empire for 400 years, they did not divide the land. A conqueror keeps the land he has conquered intact for himself. Why divide it?

This division of Israel has occurred only in our day. Britain, which had been placed in charge of “Palestine” by the allied forces who had conquered it in World War I, had been given the mandate by the League of Nations to see that this land should remain as a refuge for the Jews, who had been scattered everywhere.

Instead of fulfilling this mandate, Britain gave about 75 percent of the land to the Arab Muslims in exchange for oil. In 1947, the United Nations, through Resolution 181 and in fulfilment of Joel 3:2, formalized this breach of trust. Israel finally received a mere 13 percent of what they had been promised. This is now history. Britain and the UN infamously fulfilled Joel 3:2 and parted God’s land.

Many have since tried to divide God’s land. Some of the most recent greatly honoured and distinguished men like Carter, Clinton and Bush have endeavoured to bring peace in the Middle East, even if it meant that Israel should pay the costly price of losing her freedom or of being exterminated from the face of the earth. And now Barack Obama is continuing this abominable relay race which is leading him headlong into a battle with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Himself. I’m no prophet but I can tell you with unflinching certainty who is going to win this battle.

By an ingenious stretch of the imagination Hennie then calls upon the prophet Samuel to explain to his readers how he managed to reconcile the criticism of one of our modern-day peace-making heroes with King Saul’s utter contempt of one of the most successful war strategists who ever lived – Obama and David. Hennnie continues to say:

There is a similar typically human narrative in the Bible. It is in 1 Samuel 18:6-9 and goes as follows: When David returned from the slaughter of the Philistines and Saul and his entourage were on their way home, the women of all the cities of Israel met him with tambourines and three-stringed instruments and with jubilation. The women danced and sang “Saul has slain his thousands but David his ten thousands.” Saul was very wroth and displeased and said: “They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?” And Saul distrusted David from that day and forward.

Isn’t that interesting? The women celebrate in song David’s victory but Saul was enraged. This is the sort of thing that happens around us everyday: Someone excels and is venerated and in stead of rejoicing and being thankful with the person a piece of resentment rises up in you.

If you really have the love of the Lord in your heart you will not begrudge others their success. You do not need to pull down achievers to your level. Be glad when things are going well with other people and when they are successful.

Success in the eyes of today’s highly educated academics is to oppose the will of God and then call it “love?” Really? The Bible is fraught with exhortations warning all the would-be peacemakers who are trying to thwart God’s divine plans for Israel. There are many people who claim to be Christians pretending to know the Bible so well while they remain in such complete ignorance of God’s plans for Israel as a people and HIS LAND that they blunderingly fall over their own tongues again and again. Their Christian piety enmeshed in love and even more love is doing more harm to the cause of peace in the world than they can imagine. Thinking they are doing God a favour they are actually going against Him.

Robert Fisk of The Independent wrote in his article “Obama, man of peace? No, just a Nobel prize of a mistake”

Isn’t there anyone in the White House to remind Mr Obama that the Israelis have never obliged a US president who asked for an end to the building of colonies for Jews – and Jews only – on Arab land? Bill Clinton demanded this – it was written into the Oslo accords – and the Israelis ignored him. George W Bush demanded an end to the fighting in Jenin nine years ago. The Israelis ignored him. Mr Obama demands a total end to all settlement construction. “They just don’t get it, do they?” an Israeli minister – apparently Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – was reported to have said when the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, reiterated her president’s words. That’s what Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s crackpot foreign minister – he’s not as much a crackpot as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but he’s getting close – said again on Thursday. “Whoever says it’s possible to reach in the coming years a comprehensive agreement,” he announced before meeting Mr Obama’s benighted and elderly envoy George Mitchell, “… simply doesn’t understand the reality.”

David was a man of war and because of that God forbad him to build the temple in Jerusalem. His son Solomon would be given that awesome job. Nonetheless, David was a man after God’s own heart. I doubt whether Barack Obama is a man after God’s own heart when considering the fact that he, like his predecessors, want to divide God’s land.

I doubt whether King David would have won the Nobel Peace Prize if he’d been alive today. Let’s assume such a possibility: Would Hennie Stander have sung his praises like the women in the book of Samuel? I sincerely doubt it.