Page 144 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

provider, protector, or counselor are usurping the position of Yahweh, for Israel alone among the
nations are Yahweh’s chosen people. It is no small thing for a man or a nation to seek to usurp the
position of God. The prophet Zechariah recorded the following words of the Creator.

Zechariah 12:3
“And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all
who lift it will be severely injured.”

A person can lift a stone either for good or for evil. It is not for the nations to try to lift Israel. Yahweh
st
sent a profound sign in regard to this in the year 2003. On January 31 , 2003, a Friday, the United
States attempted to “lift” Israel politically. On this date the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell,
spoke before a group of Americans interested in U.S. foreign policy. The following AP article
provides the details.

Powell: Bush to be more involved in Israeli-Palestinian conflict
By The Associated Press 2/1/03

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday that President George Bush will
become more deeply involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than he was in his first two years in
the White House.

Powell said that the conflict was the most pressing problem in the Middle East.

Powell also told the Palestinians that "they cannot get a state by using violence" and warned that
they must install a new leadership.

Appearing before a national conference of Americans interested in U.S. foreign policy, Powell said
the administration would resume its pursuit of a settlement now that Israel had concluded its
elections.

He said he had talked by telephone to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who won a new term this week,
and that the Bush administration would use the roadmap devised in partnership with the European
Union, Russia and the United Nations.

It aims to create a Palestinian state by the year 2005 carved out of land that Israel has held for more
than 35 years...
[end excerpt]

The very day this article appeared, which was the day after Colin Powell’s declaration that America’s
leaders would take up the issue of Israel’s peace and a Palestinian state, the space shuttle Columbia
disaster occurred. What many American Christians are unaware of is that on that space shuttle
mission was the first Israeli astronaut to fly on an American shuttle mission. In a literal fulfillment
of Zechariah’s prophecy, America attempted to “lift” up Israel and she received a severe injury.