The publishing giant, HarperCollins, has just produced an atlas. It says the atlas was “developed specifically for schools in the Middle East.”¹ Its goals include helping kids understand the “relationship between the social and physical environment, the region’s challenges [and] its socio-economic development.” Those are reasonable goals, but the country of Israel is missing. All the other Middle East countries are there.

HarperCollins “regrets” the omission of the name Israel from their atlas and will not sell any more. It apologized for the offense it caused. It had deleted Israel to satisfy “local preferences.” …No kidding.

This is subtle wickedness. Awareness or not, the omission of Israel is blatantly wicked. Many have tried to destroy Israel and it is primarily inspired by the evil one – Satan. There may not be one person in the HarperCollins organization that is against Israel, but Satan is and he will use “good intentions” of people to diminish, defeat and destroy Israel. Fortunately, God will never let that happen.

Why is this significant? God made a promise to Israel through Abraham. He promised Israel a land, a seed and a blessing,

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. ² I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. ³ 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. 12:1-3 NKJ)

That promise, or covenant, is unconditional and has not been literally fulfilled yet. Therefore, God will keep Jewish people alive until He fulfills that promise to them. The nation of Israel could be destroyed and then “reappear” for the fulfillment sometime in the future, but any movement “against” the nation is an assault against the Lord’s chosen people and hence against God.

Israel should not be allowed to do whatever she wants. However, she has bent over backwards seeking a reasonable peace in the Middle East, in spite of the ill-gotten plans of many surrounding and nearby nations.

A much better approach is what Scripture says, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.” (Ps. 122:6 NKJ) One of the reasons the United States of America has been blessed, besides the founding principles of our nation’s forefathers, is supporting Israel as an ally. May we never change our geo-political stand!

¹http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/02/harpercollins-omits-israel-from-maps-for-mideast-schools-citing-local-preferences/ accessed on January 2, 2015.