In Defense of Isralestine: The Errors of Dr. Thomas Ice in "Consistent Biblical Futurism (Part 10)"

8 September 2013: I'm taking a very brief time-out from the Global SITREP series in order to properly address what I consider to be an important issue among dispensationalists. Very recently I came across Part 10 of the "Consistent Biblical Futurism" series published by Dr. Thomas Ice of the Pre-Trib Research Center. As postulated in Part I, this multi-part series of articles by Dr. Ice was predicated upon his identifying and discussing the various but significant differences in the literal prophetic interpretation strictly among fellow dispensationalists of the historicist and futurist views, as well as Dr. Ice's personal suggestions on which of these interpretations are correct and why certain individuals within the whole of literalist dispensationalism hold to viewpoints different from his own viewpoint. Dr. Ice also made clear in his introduction that both Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17 would be dealt with relative to their potential fulfillment either prior to or within the final 7 years of the 70th Week.

Consistent with Dr. Ice' request that these issues be subjected to the peer review process of public discussion and based upon what I found within his "Consistent Biblical Futurism (Part 10)" I find it necessary to respond with my own views on what Dr. Ice has written. 

Firstly, whether a particular interpretation can be labeled as "historicist' or "futurist" is very subjective in my view because ALL unfulfilled Bible prophecy is clearly in the future from the here and now, irregardless of that fulfillment is prior to the 70th Week, during it and afterwards during the Millennium of Christ's rule on Earth. 

Secondly, I must point out that Dr. Ice makes it abundantly clear that he regards the views of others as "speculation" instead of their being a specific prophetic interpretation worthy of truly brotherly discussion. It is this apparently ego-driven and unwarranted adoption of an interpretive superiority over the views of his brothers-in-Christ which constitutes an appalling error on the part of Dr. Ice right from the get-go.

To the case-in-point, the essence of Part 10 is the 2008 book Isralestine by author Bill Salus, the crux of which is a study of Psalm 83. I will leave the gross distortions of what Dr. Ice has written concerning the views expressed in Isralestine by Bill Salus for others to address should they so desire. I am going to focus on two items: the manner in which Dr. Ice discusses this issue, and the fact that Dr. Ice has made what I believe is a very significant Scripture-based error in his argument against Isralestine.

The first item is the manner in which Dr. Ice treats Bill Salus' work in Isralestine has the distinct intonation of a direct personal attack upon the author in that he casts serious accusations on the manner in which Bill Salus' mind operates, thereby impugning the mental well-being of Bill Salus. Here are the specifically offensive phraseology used by Dr. Ice: "...this scenario is merely manufactured from the speculative mind of Bill Salus... his thinking on this matter... is merely a speculative belief."  This is not how one brother discusses the work of another brother. It is rude, condescending, arrogant in the extreme and unbecoming of a brother-in-Christ in my opinion.

The Scripture-based error made by Dr. Ice is with respect to his identification of the Philistines per Psalm 83:7. Dr. Ice writes: (emphasis is mine) "The first problem with this view is that "Early Palestine was dominated by white Caucasians from the eastern Mediterranean area."

Dr. Ice continued with: "By the time of the intertestamental period, the Philistines disappear from history. Why is this important? This is important since it is legitimate to trace a modern people group from their ancient ancestors mentioned in the Bible if that people group remains the same over the years. The fact that the Philistines have totally vanished from history, while the Palestinians, who take the name from the ancient Philistines are ethnically unrelated to them. Since there is not ethnic relationship, this disqualifies one from identifying them as the same people group today. Modern Palestinians are generally made up of Arabs from all of the surrounding counties that have immigrated to Israel over the years."

Dr. Ice got his cited "facts" wrong here, and that leads to the greater error of his conclusion of who exactly the Philistines were and are to this day.

In Genesis 10 the Lord instructs us very clearly that the Philistines did not come from the line of Noah through Japheth (the so-called white northern peoples, a/k/a Caucasians).

Genesis 10:6 and 13-14 instructs us that the Philistines came from the line of Noah through his son Ham who begat Mizaim who begat Casluhim -- whence went forth the Philistines.

The Philistines are the same stock, the same ethnic peoples, the same relative family of people as are the rest of the Hamites, such as Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan!  White Caucasians? Absolutely not!

6 And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan.
13 And Mizraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
14 and Pathrusim, and Casluhim--whence went forth the Philistines--and Caphtorim.

Then turn to Exodus 13, verses 17-18 where God instructs:

"Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea."

The Philistines lived in that coastal strip of eastern Mediterranean land through the time of when Israel was being ruled by her Judges (the Book of Judges) and by her Kings (the Books of Kings) and they continued to live here until the Assyrian conquest. Then the Philistines gradually intermingled back into the same genetic stock of the Hamite-Mizraimite family of this same region from which they originated.

The Philistines haven't gone anywhere, they have not disappeared from history, they still live in the same place where their ancestors lived, and have intermingled even further since the Islamic conquest of the region in the 7th century AD. There are even greater details that I could cite  from the text of Moses in Genesis and of Asaph in Psalm 83, but this should serve to make the point I have made sufficiently.

Now, to be clear, I have assumed Dr. Thomas Ice actually wrote and is therefore responsible for the whole of "Consistent Biblical Futurism (Part 10)" and the errors I have cited here; that Part 10 wasn't just some cut and pasted work done by an intern within his ministry. Nevertheless, the error is a significant one in my opinion, and should preclude Dr, Ice's from publishing and widely distributing a personal attack and Scripturally-incorrect article like his "Consistent Biblical Futurism (Part 10)" has turned out to be. This is something I ordinarily would never have expected to see published on the Pre-Trib Research Center's website, and that is truly just a crying shame.

Psalm Buried in Bog Soil Predicts Promised Land Warzone!

14 May 2010: What is Bible prophecy and what does it predict next? Bill Salus warns an ancient Psalm buried for centuries under Irish bog soil predicts the Promised Land will soon turn into a HOLY WARZONE!

Bill is interviewed on Southern California’s largest Christian radio station, KBRT 740 AM, about the importance of Bible Prophecy in these last days. In part one Bill discusses the potential prophetic relevance of the mysterious discovery of Psalm 83 buried in Ireland. The Psalm predicts the coming of a holy war between the Arabs and the Jews. Additionally, Bill locates terrorism and the Israeli Defense Forces in Bible prophecy.

Click HERE to go to Bill's ProphecyDepot.com website for Parts I & II of this series and much more, or click HERE for the MP3 of Part I and HERE for Part II.

Are Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 Imminent?

27 December 2009: Readers should be aware of Eschatology Today's four-part series entitled "The Prophetic Road to Revelation (hereafter TPRR for short)." I have added a new direct-link feature in the upper right-hand column to make access to the 5-part series that much easier.

In preparation of going forward into the year 2010 AD it became very apparent that while I've referenced the prophecy of Isaiah 17 on many items and comments within this blog, the overall significance of the prophecy has not been given the full exegesis in the TPRR series that it should have been given. In fact, I barely mentioned Isaiah 17 in TPRR Part III, but merely posted a link to the online BibleGateway.com NIV translation. I am now going to rectify that oversight.

The Hal Lindsey "War Imminent" video from May 2009 embedded above provides very a similar if not the same context as the TPRR series provides, yet Hal makes mention of a specific item that has become the focus of my own recent research into Isaiah 17. Hal speaks to the numbers of casualties in both Israel and Syria in the event of an all-out WMD war between them. I believe this is precisely one of the key prophetic insights of Isaiah 17.

First, elemental to the necessary rectification, I believe Isaiah 17 should be consided as an integral part of the Psalm 83 prophecy, if not the lead element in the cause, conduct and course of the warfare described by the prophet Asaph in the Psalm. The first three verses give us this overarching context and link three key combatant nations of Syria, Jordan and Israel into this prophetic event.

The burden against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be for flocks which lie down, and no one will make them afraid. The fortress also will cease from Ephraim, the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria (Aram); they will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” says the LORD of hosts.

Everyone is aware of the primary destruction of the city of Damascus which has been the traditional focus of this prophecy. However, it is clearly seen that the cities of Aroer are directly involved in the warfare; they are abandoned by their populations, forsaken, and in which animals exist alone without human care. The (map link) "cities of Aroer" named here by Isaiah are specifically identified in Joshua 13:24-28. This is the part of Israel which has been given to the tribe of Gad. This land lies in what is today northwestern Jordan

"Moses also had given an inheritance to the tribe of Gad, to the children of Gad according to their families. Their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, which is before Rabbah, and from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Debir, and in the valley Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, with the Jordan as its border, as far as the edge of the Sea of Chinnereth, on the other side of the Jordan eastward. This is the inheritance of the children of Gad according to their families, the cities and their villages."

Keep Joshua 13 handy as it reflects very nicely the full territorial extent of the land which will become Israel proper once Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 have been completely fulfilled in the near-term future. Pay close attention to verses 1 through 7, and notice all of Lebanon is included in the full scope of the land Israel will possess.

The next sentence we read in Isaiah 17 begins with the statement "The fortress also will cease from Ephraim." Locate Ephraim on this map. Save this map as a .jpg image to your hard drive and compare it with this map and this map. The first thing that one should notice is that Ephraim comprises the heart of the territories of the West Bank, now under the control of the terrorist Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority, and is desired to be controlled by his rivals in HAMAS, with Israeli outposts and settlements existing throughout the territory. Seeing these maps should bring a keen new insight as to the specific meaning regarding the "fortress ceasing from Ephraim." This land is destined by God-given ordinance to belong only to Israel, and should there be, as is the current agenda of the West at this point, the establishment of a Palestinian state on this land, it will be a very short-lived state at that.

The next three verses of Isaiah 17 (4 through 6) reveal the initial damage done to Israel as this war commences:

In that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob (Israel) will wane, and the fatness of his flesh grow lean. It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, and reaps the heads with his arm; it shall be as he who gathers heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it, Like the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough, Four or five in its most fruitful branches,” says the LORD God of Israel.

Although Israel will be overwhelmingly victorious in this war, she will suffer significant casualties. The Valley of Raphaim is specifically mentioned. This is a valley which lies west of Jerusalem, in the hills of Judea and progressing southwestward toward the coastal plain adjacent to the Valley of Elah, the site of the Israelite encampment when David slew Goliath. This region is the primary approach for Israel into the city of Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and Ashdod to the west.

These wartime events will bring about a common theme found in much of the Bible’s “end of the age” prophecies. The common theme, beginning in verses 7 and 8, is that through these events Israel, which is represented by the gleaning grapes and olives of the uppermost bough and outmost fruitful branches, will at that time again look upon the "Qadowsh Yisra’el," the Holy One of Israel. This the same theme as found in the “end of the age” message from Paul in Romans 11; these are at a minimum some of the men of Israel who will become the 144,000 global evangelists of Daniel’s 70th Week. They will have absolutely no regard for and completely forsake all the things of this world and will then clearly see the Deliverer of Zion and serve God only. Israel will have its blindness removed and the root which supports all of us as the grafted in branch are themselves grafted back in to the olive tree.

At verse 9 through 11 we once again see the overwhelming demise of Israel’s enemies, consistent with the theme of Psalm 83, these enemies have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide; their “strong cities” shall offer no refuge and there will be widespread waste and desolation. Such is the fate of the descendants of Ishmael who turned their back on the true God who is the only source of salvation and embraced Islam and its false god instead. The harvest they shall reap from this devotion to a false religion and a false god will yield them nothing but a heap of grief and incurable sorrows.

Finally, the prophecy of Isaiah 17 culminates with verses 12 through 14 which clearly illustrate the global nature of this war and its effects on many nations, meaning the whole world. Again, the parallel to the warfare and results of Psalm 83 are unmistakable. These prophecies are a God-breathed foretelling of the same event. The cry of “Woe!” leaps out from the opening of verse 12 and goes out to the nations of the world who make a tumult like the rushing of flood waters as they rush in against Israel only to be rebuked by God which is expressed in language very similar to that given by Asaph in Psalm 83. They are driven back like chaff before a Divine wind which is likened to irresistible force of an off-the-scale tornado.

It is at this point I would direct the reader to the prophecy of Zechariah 9, verses 1-8, which paints a prophetic picture of how these coming events will unfold and the scope of the Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 war; how it involves the rest of Syria, north to Hamath, all of Lebanon, and the terrorist stronghold of Gaza. This series of prophetic verses begin as does Isaiah 17 with a burden against Damascus and the land of Hadrach. The mention of Hadrach, the Hebrew Chadrak, meaning Lebanon, occurs only once in the Bible, right here in Zechariah 9:1. Again, the reference above to Judges 13 should be considered as intimate reference material to these coming conquests of Israel’s enemies.

So, what we see here in Zechariah 9 is that the burden (oracle) against Damascus is directly linked to a burden (oracle) against, all of Lebanon. Lebanon, as we all know, is the domain of the terrorist group Hezbollah, and a client state of both Syria and Iran. These verses also single out Tyre and Sidon, making the direct connection to Lebanon a cinch. Lebanon’s fate is spelled out in verse 4 as her sovereignty is lost, her commerce via sea power is destroyed and the land consumed by fire. In verse 5 the prophecy moves south to Gaza, the stronghold of the terrorist HAMAS, which are a virtual duplicate of Hezbollah, or as some hold the view that Gaza is “Hezbollah South.” Both Hezbollah and HAMAS are proxies of Iran and Syria.

Also, please note that HAMAS is not only in Gaza, but has the distinction of being the armed wing of the Islamic terrorist group known as the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimuun) or MB. The MB are present here in the United States under the disguise of front organizations such as CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations), ISNA (Islamic Society of North America, and the now defunct HLF (Holy Land Foundation), among other closely related Islamic organizations.

In Zechariah 9:7 we see the Palestinians of Gaza, referred to as living in Ekron (southern Judah) and along the coast (Gaza), and their being “torn up by the roots” from these lands. The survivors of the onslaught will worship the God of Israel. This is consistent with the concluding verses found in Psalm 83:16-18:

“Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish, That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth. “

The final result is seen in Zechariah 8:9 where all of these lands, from Lebanon through to Gaza in the south, become the sovereign territory of Israel, never again to be the home of an oppressor of Israel. Additionally, there is no mistake in realizing that Israel will recognize these verses as a call to recognize Jesus the Messiah as we see in Zechariah 9:9. The overwhelming victories given to Israel, and harken back to what we saw above in Isaiah 17:7-8. This and the verses which follow speak to a conquering Messiah in the region and to the ends of the whole earth. This is a clear prophetic picture that we see in all “end times” prophecy – the coming Millennial Kingdom of Christ.

And, without going into much detail because it has been covered so well by other expositors, parallels of these same prophetic images are seen in Jeremiah 49.

As an end note to this article, I would remind the reader that while this war against the “inner ring" Arab Muslim states appears to be imminent, and I truly believe all of these prophecies are pointing to the same unprecedented scale of warfare in the Middle East, we are to be ever mindful of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ regarding wars and rumors of wars, that they must take place. And when they do they will come like a flood, meaning they will occur in a very rapid and powerful sequence of geo-political paradigm shifts which are brought about primarily through warfare, for it is warfare which is the central theme of all things connected to “end times” prophecy.

Maranatha, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus!