Hi Friend,

Does God forget His promises?  The safe bet is “No.”  And in the serious moments of reflection as a man contemplates the wonders of creation, he recognizes the certainty of God’s word. Yet politics can make strange bedfellows, so it’s curious how many people can support a man who either does not believe in the God of the Bible or doesn’t believe God remembers the promises He made.

For example, early on in man’s history God took one man, Abram, and made a solemn promise to him and his descendents.  God promised Abram “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 12:2-3)

Now that last part, that all families of the earth will be blessed by the descendents of Abram, is a fascinating statement.  In other words, the nation that would come from Abram would be a blessing to the rest of the world.

The book “The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life” by Charles Murray is an examination of IQ levels of various ethnic groups. The facts he discovered are astounding. For example, “the proportion of Jews with IQs of 140 or higher is somewhere around six times the proportion of everyone else….”  This proportion rises at still higher IQs.  Murray reports a study taken in 1954 of IQs in the New York public school system that showed Jews with some 85 percent of IQs over 170 (twenty-four out of twenty-eight).

These findings are supported in the real world.  Since the 1880s nearly half of all the world chess champions have been of Jewish heritage.  Murray reports that Jews have only three-tenths of 1 percent of the world’s population, yet have contributed some 25 percent of recent notable intellectual accomplishment. They have won over 30 percent of Nobel prizes in literature, chemistry, physics and medicine.  They have won 51 percent of the Wolf Foundation prizes in Physics. In math, physics, quantum physics, nuclear science and computer technology, no other ethnic group equals their contributions.

To any thinking person the promises made to Abram are real. Now, here’s the irony.  The Jews are the most persecuted people the world has ever known.  They have made these incredible contributions in spite of legal restrictions, persecution and a holocaust.

From the time that Egypt’s Pharaoh decreed that all of the male children of Israel be killed and through Hitler’s attempt to commit total genocide, the Jews have suffered persecution.  No one knows how many children died at the hands of Pharaoh, but it was 80 years after the decree that Moses led them across the Red Sea.

How many Jews died before Queen Esther was able to save the rest from evil Haman? How many of Rachel’s children died when Herod decreed that all Jewish children under the age of two should be killed in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus?

It should come as no surprise then that the return of Jesus Christ will be preceded by another attempt to exterminate the Jews. Nor should it be surprising that such an attempt will lead to catastrophic problems for the entire world.

In his book, “The Israel Test,” author George Gilder makes a compelling argument that the existence of the civilized world depends on the continued contributions made by the descendents of Abraham.  Destroy the Jews and the world itself faces destruction.  Bless the Jews and the world will be blessed.  Or have I just repeated the promise God made to Abram?

It is more than a matter of passing interest that the current President of the United States has shown stronger support for Israel than any former President.  May God bless America.

Until next time,

Jim O’Brien