Happy New Year. I'm writing a book and thought this excerpt timely and informative on Day 88 of Israel's war with Hamas and as 2024 looms before us. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
Pastor Ed Rice 

What is a Palestinian?

A succinct answer to the question “What is a Palestinian?, and Where did the name come from?” is expressed well in an excerpt from my 2024 book “Journaling a Preacher's 2023 Pilgrimage to Israel” page 155-156 of chapter “Half Shekel Journal #23020 Fri March 24th Valley of Elah, and Aijalon.”

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As our bus began to ramble down the hill into the Valley of Elah (our Israeli guide) picked up the mic and gave this profound insight. I had heard it before but never with the authority and background that he gave it.

Recall that in 70 AD Rome utterly destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and killed every Jew in the city. They were (hell) bent on wiping Israel off the face of the earth. There were then two provinces in this area, one for Philistines and one called Paletina. With Rome's diabolical hatred for the Jews, and their political aspirations to eliminate them from the land, they combined these two province names and called this land Palestine. Arab “sojourners” of the land took to the name Palestinians trying to show themselves the owners of this land. The name Palestine and Palestinian comes from the political ambitions of Rome, and their efforts to wipe out all Jews, consequently Palestinians supposed they were here first. It is a brazen lie from Rome.

Before (our guide) framed this in a paragraph, I had long heard pieces of this truth. A Bible word study of the Hebrew for “Palestine” brings out the direct connection to the “Philistines.” “Strongs Exhaustive Concordance” details that Palestine is derived from <06429> פלשׁת P@lesheth [pel-eh’sheth] AV-Palestina 3, Philistia 3, Philistine 1, Palestine 1; used 8 times in the Holy Bible. Philistia = “land of sojourners”, “the general territory on the west coast of Canaan.” (<06429> Palestina 3x Exod 15:14, Isa. 14:29,31, Philistia 3x Ps. 60:8, 87:4, 108:9, Philistine 1x Ps. 83:7 usually <06430>, Palestine 1x Joel 3:4, in context in Joel 3:4 “Palestine” is used slanderously to label the land when God regathers Israel.)

But (our Israeli guide) succinctly detailed the Palestinian origin in such a way that it locked many things together. It always amazed me that the lie about “Palestine” makes the majority of people think Israel is the occupier of “Palestinian land!” Even some who purport to know a Jew named Jesus, born in Bethlehem, Israel, think Israel didn't get here until 1948! Presbyterians are wholesale sold on this lie, they promoted sanctions against Israel for occupying Palestinian land!¹ Martin Luther wrote a shameful tirade of hate toward the Jews², and of course Rome has always hated Jews, their Church ignorantly teaches they should be hated, “they killed Jesus!” Every bit of it is diabolical, straight from the pits of hell.

The bus rambled across the Valley of Elah and started up through the Judean foothills. …

An excerpt from my 2024 book “Journaling a Preacher's 2023 Pilgrimage to Israel” page 155-156 of chapter “Half Shekel Journal #23020 Fri March 24th Valley of Elah, and Aijalon” available in draft at www.GSBaptistChurch.com/israel23

1“We who have seen things worsen exponentially, are certain that our Lord Jesus Christ will return in our lifetime; we have read the 2009 antisemitic policy and resolution of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (saying in part “Israel's occupation (of Palestine)... has proven to be at the root of evil acts committed against innocent people...” ), and we heard our president, President Barack Hussein Obama II, call Israel “the evil occupiers of Palestinian land” instead of “the blessed occupiers of Jehovah God's promised land.” Jesus said, “Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” Dr. DeHaan saw 1948, and he believed Christ's imminate return. So does this author. … ” An excerpt from this authors “Systematic Theology for the 21^st Century, Volume 11 Eschatology”, pg 350. www.GSBaptistChurch.com/theology

2“In 1543, Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, wrote a 13-part booklet titled “On the Jews and Their Lies”. It spewed such vitriolic hatred of the Jewish people that it influenced the German perception of Jews for centuries to come and helped Adolf Hitler and the Nazis justify their “final solution to the Jewish question,” a euphemism for the annihilation of European Jewry. … ” An excerpt from this author's “Journaling a Preacher's 2022 Pilgrimage to Israel” (that includes Luther's scathing writings), pg 54.

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