TW: Vatican Wants More Involvement in Holy Land

Vatican City (photo by Joyce Thiel)

Today’s TW News & Prophecy from the Living Church of God has the following:

Vatican wants greater involvement in the Holy Land.

Several leading bishops from the Vatican recently visited a “Christian” village in the Gaza Strip. This event was done in coordination with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Also, in December a Vatican center in Jerusalem hosted a conference with Christian and Muslim leaders entitled, “How to live together in a future Palestinian state?” (IsraelNationalNews.com, January 11, 2012).The “high profile” group of bishops visiting the Gaza Strip later described the living conditions of the Gaza Christians as being like in a “prison”–due to the intensified sea and land blockades of Gaza by the Israeli military. However, this one-sided description by Catholic leaders overlooks Israel’s stated objective of defending its cities against rocket attacks launched from Gaza, and the ongoing Muslim persecution of Christians in the Palestinian territories.

The Vatican has long wanted greater involvement in the Holy Land and Jerusalem in particular. This recent visit and further cooperation with the PA against Israel appears to support this long-standing agenda.

Bible prophecies have long stated that just prior to the return of Jesus Christ to this earth, “gentiles” (non-Israelites) will occupy and control Jerusalem for a 3.5 year period (Revelation 11:1-2). The actions of the Vatican in the Holy Land today appear to fit with biblical end-time prophecies.

For more information on this topic, review our booklet The Middle East in Prophecy.

EWTN and other Catholic sources have been emphasizing this region of the world a lot in the past couple of years. The Vatican most definitely wants more influence there.

Earlier this week, the Pope also made another plea for ecumenical unity (Pope: Christian Unity Will Take More Than Kindness, January 18, 2012. http://www.zenit.org/article-34143?l=english). Perhaps he hopes getting involved in the Middle East will also help that goal.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Why Should American Catholics Should Fear Unity with the Orthodox? Are the current ecumenical meetings a good thing or will they result in disaster?
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?
What Do Roman Catholic Scholars Actually Teach About Early Church History? Although most believe that the Roman Catholic Church history teaches an unbroken line of succession of bishops beginning with Peter, with stories about most of them, Roman Catholic scholars know the truth of this matter. This eye-opening article is a must-read for any who really wants to know what Roman Catholic history actually admits about the early church.
Which Is Faithful: The Roman Catholic Church or the Living Church of God? Do you know that both groups shared a lot of the earliest teachings? Do you know which church changed? Do you know which group is most faithful to the teachings of the apostolic church? Which group best represents true Christianity? This documented article answers those questions. Português: Qual é fiel: A igreja católica romana ou a igreja viva do deus? Tambien Español: Cuál es fiel: ¿La iglesia católica romana o La Iglesia del Dios Viviente? Auch: Deutsch: Welches zuverlässig ist: Die Römisch-katholische Kirche oder die lebende Kirche von Gott?