Beyond the Grave

In the past couple of years I did some investigations into near death experiences by reading three books that told near death experience stories.  The books were 1) Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo; 2) Visions of Glory as told by John Pontius; and 3) Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander, M.D.  I would highly recommended all three books to see the common threads of the experiences from that of a little boy who died, to a Mormon, to an agnostic neurosurgeon.  The only real differences in the three stories were the theological perspective of the stories being told.

In Heaven is for Real, the little boy saw heaven as reflected by the theology of his evangelical-pastor father.  In Visions of Glory the stories and visions reflect the Mormon theology.  The story teller sees other righteous people in heaven who had not been Mormon, but assumes that they must have converted to Mormonism at some point in order to be in heaven.  Both the little boy and the Mormon see Jesus in their near death experience.  In Proof of Heaven, the neurosurgeon, Eben Alexander, experiences heaven without memories due to his damaged cerebral cortex.  In contrast to the little boy and the Mormon he does not see Jesus.  He sees only God who is energy emanating pure love from a concentrated source at the center of heaven.  The notion that God is pure love seems universal in all of these near death experiences.

After reading these books, I read a fourth book titled Heaven and Hell by Emanuel Swedenborg.  According to Wikipedia, Emanuel Swedenborg was born on 29 January 1688 and died 29 March 1772.  He was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian, revelator, and mystic who is best known for his book on the afterlife, Heaven and Hell published in 1758.  In this book on the afterlife, Swedenborg saw different religious communities in heaven, but all within the community were good people filled with love.  Even though their theology was incorrect, they were in heaven because love connected them to God and others.  Angels were in the community instructing them in the truth.  There was even a Muslim community of loving people who were told that they had followed a false prophet, but were good people and had God’s love within themselves.

In Swedenborg’s book, God’s light was concentrated in the center of heaven and the further from the source of light the darker it appeared.  There were many people on the outskirts of heaven where it was quite dark.  These souls were self-centered, hateful ones that refused to learn and move towards God’s love, light and truth.  They preferred to bicker and fight with each other.  Interestingly, angels were present in their midst trying to instruct them in the truth, but they seemed blind and deaf to the angels presence because of their self-love.  A soul’s position in heaven seemed to be determined by the level of self-love of the soul with those souls with the most self-love in the furthest, darkest reaches of heaven.  A place that they had put themselves in by their choice to love themselves above God and others.  In essence they had voluntarily separated themselves from God and created their own hell and were surrounded by other souls filled with self-love with which they quarreled, each soul seeking to establish themselves above the others.

Near death experiences of today seem to support Swedenborg’s view of heaven where God is pure love and those filled with love are in communities in heaven that reflect their particular religious views.  We are all on different spiritual paths that reflect our religious beliefs and myths.  We are all on a path of learning and seeking spiritual truth.  The key to staying on the path and progressing is in the amount of God’s love that we channel through us.  For we are all connected to the source of life itself (God) and have free choice to allow his love to flow through us to be a blessing to this world and those around us.  We all comprise the physical body of our Creator, if we choose to be filled with God’s love and implement God’s will.  So, be the best part of God’s physical body that he created you to be!  If you were created to be a teacher, be the best teacher you can be.  If you were created to be a cook, be the best cook you can be.

Humans were created as composite beings, both physical and spiritual.  By choosing selfless love over selfish love, we are choosing to emphasize our spiritual nature and rise above our animal nature.  Choose to be a human and not an animal.  Be the best human you can possibly be and fulfill the tasks that the Creator has designed you for.

The Buffalo Encounter at Yellowstone National Park July 2016

Buffalo at Mammoth Hot Springs YNP

Photo credit L.M. Hoskins

I was traveling on my way to a fish and wildlife meeting in Cody, Wyoming from Ogden Utah.  Since there is no direct driving route to Cody, I decided to take the scenic route through Yellowstone National Park.  As fate would have it, I hit road construction south of Island Park, Idaho on highway 20 on my way to West Yellowstone.  I sat in the sweltering 90 plus degree heat for over an hour before resuming to the west entrance of the park.  It was already late in the afternoon by the time I paid my $ 30 entrance fee to travel through the park to Cody.  Not too many miles into the park I encountered more road construction signs so decided to avoid additional road construction by taking the northern loop to Mammoth Hot Springs and then swinging back to the south to Fishing Bridge to exit out of the east entrance to Cody.

It was near 7 pm when I came to a major tourist traffic jam at Mammoth Hot Springs.  There was a heard of elk milling along the road and I could see a cow and calf just standing right in the middle of the road holding up the traffic flow.  Instead of waiting in another long string of cars, I clicked my blinker on, pulled onto the right should for about a hundred feet and entered the Mammoth Hot Springs parking lot where I parked my Toyota 4Runner.

Instead of waiting in my car, I exited to walk the wooden walkway around the springs to enjoy my time waiting.  I hiked up the winding boardwalk admiring the springs and travertine deposits along the steep path until I began descending down the walk on the south side of a small hill.  A young married couple with two small children hurried up the trail towards me.

“Be careful, there is a buffalo lying next to a juniper tree near the trail just below here.”  The man cautioned me.

“Alright.”  I replied.  “Thanks for the warning!”

I slowed my brisk pace and peered down the wooden walkway as I went.  When I came around the next major curve in the trail, I spotted the buffalo bedded down by the juniper tree.  However, it wasn’t a big buffalo, it was a calf that was just a few months old.  It looked straight at me and tilted its’ head at a slight angle and grunted.  I stared back at it as our eyes made contact.  Suddenly, it was like we were connected in some mystical way.

In my mind I heard the buffalo talk as it rose to stand up.  “Would you scratch behind my ear?”

My jaw dropped down as I continued to stare into the buffalo’s eyes.  “How is it that I can understand you?”  I blurted out.

“You are Cherokee are you not?”  The calf answered.

“Well.”  I stammered.  “I am really an American mutt.  I am mostly Scotch-Irish, but my maternal great-grandmother was part Cherokee I think.  How did you know?”

“I had a dream that told me.”  The calf answered back and then nodded his head in the direction of my shirt.  “In my dream I saw a watcher with a trout on his shirt just like yours.  The Creator told me that he would help me.”

“Did you just call me a watcher?”  I asked.

“Yes, here in this place there are many watchers that do silly things.  Some get too close to the herd and we stomp them and gore them.  But just north of here is an invisible barrier where the silly watchers turn into watchers that kill us and eat us.  Somehow the watchers on the other side of the barrier turn into predators like wolves and bears and don’t do silly things.”  The buffalo explained.

“Well, if you call us watchers, what do you call yourselves?”  I inquired of him.

He tilted his head slightly more.  “We call ourselves something that translates to ‘Beings with the thundering hooves.  The Cherokee called us Yansi.  Years later the horse riders called us buffalo.  Nowadays the watchers call us bison.  I think I like the name of buffalo the best of what we are called by the watchers.”

The buffalo started slowly walking towards me again.  “Would you please scratch behind my ear?  A bug must be in there.”

I held out my hand and started backing away from him.  “Stop!”  I insisted.  “I cannot help you.  My smell will get on you and your herd will kick you out and abandon you!”

The buffalo stopped walking and dropped its’ head.  “It is too late.  I have already been kicked out of the heard and have to fend for myself.”

“How did that happen?”  I probed.

The calf let out a big sigh as he began telling his story.  “Earlier this year when I was born I heard a story of a great wildlife biologist named Yohanan that encountered the herd years ago.  He was traveling through the park and was admiring our herd while talking on his phone.  One of the elder cows overheard him say that he worked for predator control.  So she waited until he was done talking on his phone before slowly approaching him.  As she approached, she did everything she could to mentally connect with him and luckily he was open to her thoughts.  Within a short time they were communicating very well.  In exchange for key inside information on wolves, bears, and sage grouse, Yohanan agreed to control more of the predators attacking the heard.  Yohanan became a hero and legend among the buffalo.  So when he traveled through the park a few days ago, the old cow yelled out, “There he is!  It is Yohanan our hero!”  It was at that point that I made my fatal mistake.  I immediately ran to meet this wonderful wildlife biologist.  I ran right up to him and asked him to scratch me behind my ear as I had a bug in it that day as well.  He reached out and scratched it as I had requested while I stared at him in admiration.  A true living legend he was.”

“That sounds like a good story.”  I answered the buffalo calf.

“No, not for me.  For when I tried to return to my herd they exiled me because I smelled like a watcher.  I pleaded with my mother that it was Yohanan’s smell, but she said it did not matter.  The rule of the herd was supreme.  My path was sealed as an outcast even though it was a foolish mistake out of ignorance.”  The calf painfully explained.

“Well, I cannot help you.  Even though I am a biologist, I am a fish biologist.  And my supervisor gave me clear instructions not to pick up any baby bison when I traveled through the park to the meeting.  So I simply cannot help.”  I said defensively.

“Oh no!”  The calf retorted back.  “I know you cannot take me and help me.  I would not fit into your car and I cannot ride on top.  But you can help me in other ways.  There is a place at the bridge where watchers are not allowed to fish from anymore.  In that place you will find very small likenesses of buffalo.  Get one and take it back to your supervisor so that watcher can display it in their office.  Instruct everyone that works for that person to remember my fate and keep me in their thoughts and prayers.  Perhaps the Creator of all will have mercy on my plight and assist my survival through the coming months and years.  That is all that I am asking of you.”

I pondered his instructions for an instant before responding to his request.  “Yes, yes I can do that.  Should I give your likeness your name?”

“Yes.”  The calf replied.  “That way you and your fellow watchers will have your thoughts focused on me.  My name is Tar Eye Pad Eye La.  I was named after a famous range manager among you watchers.”

I told the buffalo goodbye and started heading on down the hill when he hollered at me.

“Wait!”  The buffalo commanded.  “I have one final request.  Could you scratch my ear?”

I walked back over to the calf and began scratching his ears.  The calf gave a short, low grunt of contentment as I scratched and then spoke again to me.

“You are not as good at scratching as Yohanan, but pretty good you are.  Thank you and thank you for fulfilling my humble request!”

Love versus Hate is the Eternal Battle within each of Us

The differences we see in the world today are the result of polarization between those filled with hate and those filled with love.  You can find both types of people in any religion on the planet.  I have seen both hateful and loving Christians in the same church as well as hateful and loving Jews in the same synagogue.  Some religions contain more haters than others.  So what is it that makes the difference?

The difference is in the individual’s world view.  Those that acknowledge a creator and believe that the purpose in life is to bring the Creator’s love from heaven into the physical realm realize that they are one of many in all of creation.  They seek love and balance in life and strive to treat their fellow man and the rest of creation with respect.  Their driving goal is to do what is right and good for all.  They are humble in spirit and realize that they know very little about the Creator other than experiencing the created physical reality that they exist in.  They desire to live in harmony with all of creation.

The other group of people see the world here to serve all their selfish desires.  Instead of loving others and all of creation, everything around them is valued only as it serves to meet their needs.  They are like narcissistic children who never matured and grew up.  They are filled with arrogance in thinking only their world view is correct and as a result want to silence all others.  They are more attached to the physical world then the spiritual world and often deny the existence of a creator or other dimensions, including the heavenly one.  They are driven to conquer, use, and abuse others as well as any resources they desire.  They take what they want with little regard for anyone else.  Deep down their spirit knows the truth, but their self-love blinds them to it.

So the question arises, how do these two groups co-exist?  The answer can be seen in the traditional family unit.  As a father of six children, I remember when two of my children were arguing about the existence of the tooth fairy.  Within a short time their argument had escalated into hitting each other.  I immediately stepped in and stopped the fight.  As a father I understood that the younger child would eventually grow and mature.  In doing so he would learn, accept the truth, and abandon his belief in the tooth fairy.  So I took the older sibling aside and explained things to him.  I told him that fighting with his younger brother would not change his brother’s opinion on the tooth fairy.  That his brother was too young to understand and desire the truth of the matter.  I told him to ignore his brother and let him remain on his learning path to truth.  If his younger brother tried to fight again, then I would discipline him.  As a parent, I just wanted them to get along and love each other while allowing for individual growth and acceptance of truth.

The Creator has given us existence to discover His truths revealed in his creation.  Just like I wanted my children to tolerate different views and love each other, the Creator desires us to do the same.  We are all on a path to truth unless we already think we know it all and are filled with pride and arrogance.  And what if we continue to fight others and the fight escalates?  The Creator will reach into our world with discipline.  Discipline that He has built into the world in which we live.  To avoid this discipline, everyone needs to stop hating and start loving those around us!

In the meantime, those that are filled with love and humbleness should love all of creation within established boundaries.  You always love the other person, but you have every right to defend yourself against any hatred and harm that an individual may attempt on you.  I love and respect wildlife, but if a bear tears into my tent, I will do everything I can to defend myself and my family, including harming or even killing the bear.  The consequences to the bear all depend upon the bear’s behavior.

Fergus the Great: King of the Scots

I received my first book review on Goodreads of my new book.  Check out Angie's Review..  She gave me a five star rating!

Synchronicity of Events: There are No Coincidences!

According to Wikipedia  “Synchronicity is the occurrence of two or more events that appear to be meaningfully related but not causally related.  Synchronicity holds that such events are "meaningful coincidences".  The concept of synchronicity was first defined by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, in the 1920's.  Jung  believed  that life was not a series of random events but rather an expression of a deeper order.  This deeper order led to the insights that a person was both embedded in an orderly framework and was the focus of that orderly framework and that the realization of this was more than just an intellectual exercise, but also had elements of a spiritual awakening.  From the religious perspective, synchronicity shares similar characteristics of an "intervention of grace”.   He also believed that in a person's life, synchronicity served a role similar to that of dreams, with the purpose of shifting a person's egocentric conscious thinking to greater wholeness.”

At Tomer Devorah, a Jewish blog that I frequent, I recently read the following:

“I don't know if you are aware, but after the World Trade Center was attacked on 9/11 - much later, in fact - some people began to find allusions to the date in movies, TV shows and music videos from the time period leading up to it. It's a very fascinating study.  (4 minute video hitting the high points) 

Conspiracy theorists believe that the Illuminati has their minions encode the date in the open this way in order to announce their future intentions - "Everything the Illuminati do they first broadcast it via CODES planted in movies, sitcoms, cartoons, commercials. They literally OWN the MEDIA...."  That may be. I really don't know. But, I have an alternative theory.

Creative minds are very open to inspiration. I think that inspiration comes through spiritual perception - that if, say a bat kol makes an announcement, they can subconsciously pick up on it and reveal it through their creative works.

Far from being a pointless exercise, I think this idea bears more research, because a new date has been "announced" so to speak - the 22-23 of September - which this year just happens to be Yom Kippur 5776 or Motzaei Shvi'it!”

Her blog post resonated with me as I came to the same conclusion some time ago because of a personal experience that I had.  I am an author and am currently writing the third book in a series on ancient Ireland.  The books are historical fictional novels set in the time period around 400 CE.  As I finished my second book, “Sons of Niall”, I had the main character touch the Stone of Destiny on the hill of Tara where the high kings ruled.  The Stone reacted with a loud series of thunder claps anointed him high king.  The existing king tried to kill the newly anointed ruler and he fled to Scotland with a piece of the Stone of Destiny that had been fractured during the anointing by lightning.  He set sail on a Viking trading ship that was going to Scotland which is how I ended this second book.

When I began doing research for the third book in the series, I started by research who the king would have been during this time period in Scotland.  To my amazement, a king came to power at this time that was called Fergus the Great.  What was amazing about this king is that he had been exiled as a baby to the Vikings when the Romans attacked Scotland.  He returned to Scotland as a young man from Ireland bringing a piece of the Stone of Destiny with him just like in the ending of my second book.  I had no prior knowledge of this since all my research for the first two books in the series was exclusively on the ancient history of Ireland and not on Scotland.  The only way I could have possible written this into my storyline was through inspiration from spiritual sources.  In other words, I thought it was my own creative idea, but it was not as it actually had happened historically without me knowing it.

God speaks to us through an interface with the spiritual realm, either through creative thinking or in dreams.  These messages and information can come to anyone, not just God’s people.  An example in the Bible is King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  Even though he was not initially a believer in the God of Israel, he had dreams that came from God.  These dreams when interpreted by Daniel, revealed future world empires and future events.  I believe much of the predictive information that occurs beforehand in movies, TV shows, and music videos, are messages from God and not the Illuminati announcing future intentions.  There is no way the Illuminati can predict natural disasters like what happened in Japan with the earthquake damage to their nuclear reactor at Fukushima.  God is one and speaks to all mankind.  In Joel  Chapter 2 verses 28-29 which relate to the End of Days it states:  “It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.  (NASB) 

God is speaking to all of us.  He is speaking in his written word.   He is also speaking to us through everything in our lives, including movies, TV shows, and music.  He speaks to us through the people we meet and through the circumstances we encounter in life.  There are no coincidences in this world.  The key questions to ask yourself is “Are you paying attention and are you listening?”  God often speaks in a small, still voice.  You have to pay attention to hear Him speaking to you.

A Reminder from God of our American Pharaoh

On Saturday, May 2, 2015, American Pharaoh won the 141st Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky.  There are no coincidences in this world.  I believe that God orchestrated the winner of this race to remind His people of a pattern that seems to be playing out in our country today.  I came upon this pattern in 2009.  I have a friend that lives in the West Bank of Israel that I visited them.  He pointed out numerous times how the weekly Torah reading (Parshah) that Jews read and study often parallel world events.  The Jews have been following a set reading schedule that starts at Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) each year with the very first portion in Genesis.  This schedule is designed so that the entire Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) can be read each year.

About that same time, I heard of one striking example of how the Torah reading paralleled world events from Bill Cloud, a Hebraic Restoration teacher.  He noted that the Torah reading for the week of the Presidential Inauguration for President-elect Obama was Exodus 1:1 – 6:2.  There is an excellent commentary by Rabbi Ariel on this Torah portion at his website koshertorah.  

As a short summary, this portion of scripture focuses on the arrival of a new Pharaoh over ancient Egypt who knew not Joseph.  This new Pharaoh either didn't understand Joseph’s role in Egypt’s history or he did respect Joseph’s historical contribution to Egypt.  Pharaoh was concerned about God’s people, the Hebrews, being too powerful in Egypt and taking over ruler ship.  The first thing Pharaoh did was set up task masters to make things harder for them by taxing them.  Eventually he enslaved the Hebrews (which would likely have meant disarming them).  Next he tried to increase their mortality rate by killing babies born to the Hebrew women.

Those with eyes to see will notice that the parallels are striking to what we are seeing happening in our country. We have a new Pharaoh that knows not Joseph.  He ignores the founding fathers and what the Judeo-Christian heritage did in contributing to our country.  His goal is to enslave God’s people.  Taxes are increasing.  We are surrendering our freedoms willingly for the sake of peace and security.  We serve our government task masters by paying more taxes to the ever expanding federal government.  Gun control is being aggressively pushed to disarm us since our rulers fear us Bible believing, gun toting folks.  And we are transitioning into Obamacare which will work to increase death rates with death panels and government funded abortions.  Just as King Solomon observed thousands of years ago, there is nothing new under the sun.  When evil grows it uses different personages but with the same old techniques and approaches.

So what lies ahead for us?  If we continue to follow the Biblical narrative we can see where we as a country are headed.  Our country will be experience plagues (judgments) sent by God.  Our freedoms will continue to erode the more government takes over and we will become more enslaved.  Our country will transition into a place that doesn’t even resemble the place we grew up in.  I already hear my friends and neighbors expressing fear for what is happening and wondering where they can go to maintain their freedoms as the choice is very limited. 

As I stated in my very first blog, we don’t need a George Washington to fix our country.  We need a Moses to lead us out as we follow God in the Second Exodus of His people back to Greater Israel.  I believe that is where this is all headed.  That is the reason that I started this blog.  Everyone seems to be asleep as to what is going on.  The Sleeper must awaken!  I pray that the words of this blog will stir the slumber and help folks see with the eyes and hear with their ears what God is doing.

The prophets of old were clear in the scriptures.  God will establish His people in His land for His Glory!  Are you among God’s people?  Jewish teaching is that only about 20 % of the Hebrews left ancient Egypt with Moses.  The other 80 % chose to stay where they were accustomed to living even under what became harsh circumstances.  The choice is coming soon and the decision is yours.  Choose wisely!  God is watching and waiting for signs that we are awake!

Soon a redeemer will come to lead us out of modern Egypt to the Promised Land and the second exodus will occur as foretold by the prophets of old.  It will occur when the Messiah Son of David comes to establish God’s Kingdom as foretold by the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 11:10-16 - Then in that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious.  Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people, who will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.  And He will lift up a standard for the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.  Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, and those who harass Judah will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim.  They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east; they will possess Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.  And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; and He will wave His hand over the river with His scorching wind; and He will strike it into seven streams and make men walk over dry-shod.  And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people who will be left, just as there was for Israel in the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt. (NASB)

Greater Israel: God’s One State Solution for Peace

Whose land is it?  The whole world belongs to the One that created it.  God, as the creator and owner of the title, can give His land to anyone He wants to.  Specifically, the land in question is called the “Promised Land” as it was promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

In the end of days God’s plan as prophesied in the bible is to establish all the tribes of Israel back into the land that He promised Abraham (See Jeremiah Chapter 31).  The original promise to Abraham was for land that went from the Nile in Egypt all the way to the Euphrates River in modern day Iraq. It is what I would call God’s “One State Solution” in contrast to the world’s desire for a “Two State Solution”.  God brought the tribe of Judah (the Jews) back into the land to prepare the way for the returning exiles (the lost 10 tribes along with the rest of Judah).  According to scripture, the messiah’s role is to gather the lost 10 tribes and bring them back to the land promised to Abraham. The end result will be the Restored and United Kingdom of God that includes all the tribes of Israel (See Ezekiel Chapter 37). This is taught in both Judaism and Christianity.

In looking at the big picture, Christians and Jews only differ on who the Messiah is.  Christians believe the Messiah to be Yashua who is today called Jesus.  Most Jews reject that view.  However, Jews do teach of two messiahs.  The Messiah son of Joseph starts the kingdom restoration work and then dies for his people while the Messiah son of David brings the lost 10 tribes back to the Promised Land to complete the restoration of the kingdom.

A look at historical events in conjunction with the modern day phenomenon of Hebraic restoration seems to indicate that Jesus (Yashua) was the Messiah son of Joseph that God used to reach out to the lost tribes and bring them back to Himself and His Torah.  A segment of Christians have been awakened to a love for Torah and the Jewish people.  Many even have an intense desire to return to Israel and be accepted by Judah.  However, they are many obstacles in the way of God’s two great houses (Israel and Judah) reconciling.  Returning members of the lost 10 tribes (House of Israel) are lame to walking the path of Torah while the House of Judah (i.e. the Jews) is blinded to the role of the Christian messiah in bringing the lost sheep of Israel back to God and His Torah.  The only thing that will bridge these differences is the love of God and the love of brothers one for another.  All the brothers need to love God and love one another enough to put their theological differences aside.  Love is the key that will establish Greater Israel (God’s Kingdom) and implement the final solution for peace!  If God’s people don’t make progress towards reconciliation, then the evil in the world will continue to grow and eventually force His people to come together for survival.

The evil forces in the world inherently know God’s plan for Israel and are feverishly striving to thwart it.  That is why the world’s plan for peace in the Middle-east is to divide the land a piece at a time in a futile attempt to prevent God’s plan for restoring the physical kingdom of Isreal.  The world’s plan is based upon hatred and separation with Israel’s enemies vowing to destroy the Jewish state.  Two peoples cannot coexist when there is hate.  Only love for your fellow man allows peace and harmony to exist with each group respecting the other. 

However, God’s plan is based upon love.  Those in the Middle East willing to love their Jewish neighbors regardless of religious differences will remain.  Those that hate their Jewish neighbors will have to leave or have their hearts changed from hate to love for them to stay.  If they continue to hate, they will have to either leave of their own accord or their hatred will result in their own self-destruction as is going on in Syria and Iraq today.  In the end the entire Promised Land will only be filled with those that love God and love His people, the Jews.  True children of God are identified by His love, not by hatred of any one group or person.

As for the rest of the world that is filled with hate for the Jews, they would be wise to listen to God’s words by the biblical prophet Joel in Joel Chapter 3:1-2:

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.  Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.”  (NASB)