Something's disturbingly different in Bethlehem this Christmas Eve,...

Pastor Phillips Brooks is most famous for writing the words of the hymn "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in 1838. He said he was inspired by an evening he spent as a pilgrim to the Holy Land, when he silently looked down upon the lights of Bethlehem from the hills surrrounding it.

On Christmas Eve 2005, Bethlehem lies still for another reason. For the first time, a 25 foot tall security wall divides the city, holding back  the unfettered travel of Palestinians into the area of the Church of The Nativity. For the first time since, perhaps, Mary and Joseph walked there, you cannot walk the traditional path the young couple followed to the nondescript cave where Christ was born. You can't walk the route because the  security wall cuts right across it.(Associated Press Dec. 24, 2005).

Two things struck me about all this tonight. One is that the ageless hatred for the Jews just keeps intensifying. Even with the land concessions in 2005, Palestinian violence and hate abide, and a security wall keeps Bethlehem still but acts at the same time as a noose around Israel's neck. Mahmoud Abbas gave a Christmas speech tonite in which he accused Israel of making Bethlehem feel like "a little jail". Iran's new president calls for Israel to be wiped off the face of the earth, and Kofi Annan sits in conference meetings beside a map of the Middle East that actually shows Israel missing, with a Nation of Palestine in its place, and says nothing about it to his terrorist hosts.

The other thought is that this surging hatred of the nation of Israel is thoroughly in line with Biblical prophecy. Things simply must happen this way. And one day, Jesus will return to supernaturally intervene in a final battle of the nations against little Israel, and many Israelites will embrace Him as their Messiah.

There is a Politician's Roadmap to Peace. And there is a Saviour's Roadmap to Peace.

One day, O little town of Bethlehem, how still we'll see thee lie. This time for a thousand years, and then forever.

Joe Pursch is heard nightly on AM 710 KFIA from 5-7PM PST, streamed live on the Internet at www.kfia.com. 

You can contact him at realtalk@kfia.com.