I am pleased to welcome back Bud Hancock, who lives in America, after a well deserved holiday. This is a very topical article from Bud, warning us that God is Sovereign and totally in control. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fatally mistaken, and headed for a catastrophic fall. Pray for your leaders around the world.

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

God Does NOT Make Deals

By Bud Hancock

POTUS Donald Trump has long been known for “The Art of the Deal” and has made a name for himself in the real estate business as the quintessential “dealmaker”. He considers himself the most successful dealmaker ever, and in some cases, especially in the commercial real estate world, he may be right. After all, he has made billions of dollars by consistently getting the upper hand in most of the deals he negotiates.

But, he is no longer in the commercial real estate business, he is the President of the United States and supposedly the leader of the “Free World” and one of the most powerful men in the world. In that position, he is not negotiating deals over skyscrapers, property, building contracts, materials pricing, labor agreements, etc., he is now working on trade deals with the leaders of the world’s other powerful nations. In most cases, he seems to be gaining the upper hand and improving the status of the US financial situation regarding international trade. But, being a “self-made” billionaire, Trump understands much more about money and financial deal-making than he does about the people he negotiates these deals with, as well as the American citizens he purports to represent.

Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East to “make deals” with the Arab/Muslim nations that constantly threaten Israel and the United States, revealed what seems to be more of a “wishful thinking” approach to Israel’s enemies than a strategy based on reality. Trump seems not to realize, or understand, just how deeply runs the hatred of the Arab world for the Jewish people. He sees all the problems of the Middle East as issues to be addressed from a “dollars and cents” standpoint, hoping that promises of financial prosperity for all the Middle Eastern nations will solve those problems, and cause them all to want to play well together in the same sandbox.

In the Arab/Muslim world, prosperity has seldom been determined by how much money a nation has, but rather how much of the land God promised to Israel can be taken from the Jewish people. The hatred for Israel by the Arabs goes back to a point in time before the dollar even existed, when the greatest possession one could have was the blessing from the family patriarch. When Isaac gave that blessing to Jacob instead of Esau, the eternal hatred between the offspring of Esau and Jacob was conceived. For nearly 3800 years, this hatred has been brewing and growing, and occasionally spilling over into violent hostilities, producing much bloodshed between members of the two groups. Even if offered all the money in the world, the Arab nations as a whole would consider it an insult if they were denied their millennia-old dream of wiping Israel off the map in exchange for Trump’s vision of “prosperity for all”. That is one indication of how deeply that eternal hatred runs.

Although many people, mostly unbelievers, in this nation may think that Trump is making all the right moves in his international negotiations, they are missing the forest by gazing at the trees. True Christians, those who read, understand, and believe the words of God recorded in the Bible have a different perspective when viewing the political deal-making machinery at work in the Trump administration. As one of those Christians, I am glad to see some of the trade deal-making Trump has undertaken, most of which is geared toward “Making America Great Again”, or which Trump seems to equate with “Making America Rich Again”. But one thing Trump seems to not understand is that, in nearly every instance that really matters, true greatness cannot be directly equated with monetary riches. Just as most Christians, especially those who cling to the prosperity message touted by so many mega-ministries truly WANT to believe that being prosperous is ALL about the amount of money one possesses, nothing could be further from the truth. The psalmist wrote,

“Blessed [empowered to prosper] is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance” (Psalm 33:12).

Notice there is nothing said in that scripture about being blessed because you have great monetary wealth, but rather being blessed is about having God/Jehovah/Yahweh as the God of the nation.
But, what does it mean for a nation to have God as its Lord? It is far more than just religious words; it is a commitment to following the words of the Lord in every instance. As I have previously written, there are three main people groups mentioned in the Bible: the Jews, the Gentiles and the Church, and God specifically details how the three are to interact and how they are to relate to each other, but especially how the Gentiles and even more especially, the Church, are to relate to the Jews.

The nation that openly confesses its belief in Jesus Christ, essentially calling themselves a “Christian Nation” can, and should, expect to receive the blessing that the Psalmist spoke of in the scripture above. However, that scripture, when followed, making Jesus Christ the Lord over it, does not relieve the followers of Jesus from the responsibility of also following the commands of Genesis 12:1-3. When Gentile nations aligned themselves with Israel and fought Israel’s enemies alongside the Jews, they were blessed because they had “allied” themselves with Israel.

Since the Jewish people began their historic return to their God-given land, they have been helped greatly by certain nations, chief among which is the United States. As a result, Israel has been somewhat dependent on aid from the US for nearly all its modern existence. While this aid has helped her to become what she is today, it may not be God’s perfect plan for Israel any longer. Yahweh always, ALWAYS, told Israel to depend on Him, and Him alone. He does NOT want Israel to assume there is any other God, including the mighty United States, that can save her in times of trouble.
While the aid received from the US may not always have had “strings attached”, such is not now the case and currently, with the United States, any aid for Israel is NOT totally about helping the Jews, it is also about lining the pockets of those who influence political policy in the US administration and the US Congress. It is, and always has been, a “quid pro quo deal”, with the US expecting to profit from all it does for Israel, in some way or another. This is why, in my opinion, all this crap that Trump’s Middle East Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, is doing, with Trump’s full support, is so disturbing because, even though it may appear that the “good ol’ USA” is only being a good ally and friend (the quid) to Israel, lurking in the background is the salivating political parasites waiting for what they wanted from Israel all along (the quo). What that “quo” is remains to be seen, but, trust me, it is there and those parasitic bastards want it and are willing to do anything to get it, even if it means totally forsaking Israel in the end. What really matters is not what will happen to the nation that appears to be a friend of Israel, while in reality being a mercenary enemy, but the fact that, in the end, God WILL be the only person that Israel can rely on.
In the deepest part of his heart, I believe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows this and is prepared to “allow God to be God” to Israel. We can only hope so, and sit watching in awe while God shows Himself strong on their behalf.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU

Meanwhile, even though he did not initially run for POTUS as a politician, Trump certainly has waded deeply into the roiling political waters. He has now made it abundantly clear that he wants to be THE ONE who brings peace to the Middle East, as well as to the conflict between Russia and the Ukraine. While his deal-making efforts, both those that are open and those that are covert, may actually produce some sort of peace in the three year plus war between Russia and the Ukraine, I can almost assure you it will NOT do so in the Middle East.

While Trump is currently negotiating deals with various nations in the Middle East, supposedly aimed at bringing a lasting peace to that region, some of those deals are very troubling.

The war in Gaza which has now lasted more than 19 months has been about two issues that have importance to every Israeli and American. The hostages that were taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023, were a mix of Jews and foreign national who were working or visiting in Israel, including several Americans. The release of all the hostages has been an Israeli demand since the war to defeat Hamas started, shortly after the massacre of more than 1200 people on that fateful day. That demand, critical to both Israel and the United States, led to the continuance of the war that was meant to totally destroy Hamas, not just militarily, but in every way humanly possible.

There has been great outrage by leftists who claim that the war was started, or at least prolonged, by Israel to bring genocide on the poor Gazans. I sincerely believe that is untrue. The Israeli IDF works more diligently than any army in history to prevent civilian casualties. In my humble opinion, that is a mistake on the part of the Israeli military. Please allow me to explain.

I firmly believe that God, in His sovereignty, orchestrates events that are designed to accomplish His will. It seems at times that His “orchestration” works to right a wrong that was created when men failed to follow His commandments and accomplish His will in times past when He demanded they do so.
Case in point: When the Jewish people were released from Egyptian slavery, being led by Moses out of Egypt through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, they were brutally attacked at the rear of the Jewish column, in a very cowardly manner, by the Amalekites who were at that time, native to the area now known as Gaza. Amalek was the grandson of Esau, who having been duped out of what he thought was his birthright by Jacob and his mother; Esau likely passed on to his children and their children, a hatred for Jacob and his descendants. It seems that the hatred was firmly established in Amalek and was carried over to his descendants who had settled in the desert area between Mount Seir and Egypt, south of Canaan, the land which God had promised to the Jews as an eternal inheritance.
As a result of their treachery toward Israel, God commanded the Jews to utterly destroy Amalek, including their children, their infants and all their livestock, leaving no one and nothing alive. Even though King Saul failed to follow the commandment of God to “utterly destroy” Amalek, leaving the Amalekite king, Agag, alive, and keeping the best of the Amalekites animals. God’s will was NOT altered by Saul’s failure. His will was, and still is, to destroy Amalek and totally wipe away any memory of his presence on this earth.

KING AGAG

The Jews were commanded to remember the treachery of Amalek from year to year, to keep alive the memory of the way they treated God’s chosen people. Any effort on the part of any human that would interfere with God’s will to place the Jews firmly in the land promised to them would be met with the wrath of God. To put it bluntly, God will not only NOT make a deal with any person or nation that involves bringing harm to His chosen people, He will severely punish that person or nation that attempts to subvert His will for Israel. And, according to His word, we KNOW that His will was, and still IS, to totally destroy Amalek And all his descendants from the Earth. Just as Saul, who was the leader of Israel, the KING of Israel, lost his kingdom, and eventually his life, when he stubbornly and deliberately refused to follow God’s command and allowed Agag, the evil king of Amalek, to live along with the Amalekites most choice animals, any man today who follows Saul’s example will bring God’s wrath upon him and his nation. Could this become the fate of POTUS Donald Trump as he works his “deals” which are about obtaining some of the riches of the Middle East in order to enrich the United States? Only God knows for sure, but with all the bad weather devastation that has been occurring in the midwestern part of the United States since Trump made his trip to the Middle east, it certainly raises some interesting questions.
Someone needs to get the message to Trump that God does not honor the deals men make regarding Israel, but he does honor His promises to Israel, and any person/leader or any nation that attempts to negotiate a deal that works against Israel is placing himself and his nation in a very bad place.

Maranatha!

BUD HANCOCK

Born and raised in a small textile town in North Carolina, Bud’s family moved to Michigan in the hope of finding better employment with General Motors.  After graduating from high school, Bud began an apprenticeship with General Motors to become a Metal Modelmaker. Retiring after a 30 year career, which included an eight year stint as a Metrologist (Science of high precision measurement), he and his wife moved back to North Carolina to be near his elderly parents.  Shortly thereafter, with both of his parents having passed, he began a new career in the bank security/ATM business, advancing from an entry level technician to one of two North Carolina customer service managers for his employer.  Retiring again after 13 years, he and his wife of 51 years relocated to Tennessee where Bud began writing articles emphasizing Biblical teaching and geopolitical issues.  At age 75, he and his wife relocated to South Carolina with their Miniature Schnauzer, Baxter.  Bud continues to study God’s word and write articles on Christian living and geopolitical issues from the Biblical end times perspective.