Israel – hope in the midst of threats

The evening of July 27, 2012, was the 9th day of Av (Tish’a B’Av) according to the Jewish calendar. In 586 BC and in 70 AD, on the 9th of Av, both the First and Second Temples were destroyed. Ensconced in tradition, this day is remembered yearly. Jews in Mumbai, Moscow, Munich, Madrid, Mexico City and Miami all recollect and mourn these events which happened up to 2,600 years ago.

For Jewish people who believe in the existence of the God of Israel and who see His hand in history, these ancient events still speak to us in our day. A recent advertisement in the Jerusalem Post (July 27, 2012) made reference to these two days of destruction, and then applied those events to the present political stand-off with Iran.

The Jewish people have a long historical memory. At times even our enemies are aware of this fact. Julius Streicher, publisher of the Nazi Der Stuermer, ascended the gallows on October 16, 1946 with this declaration as his last words, “Purim-Fest 1946!” Streicher was ironically prophesying how the Jewish people would remember his own hanging in their future history books – in the same way as they remembered the divine victory at the Feast of Purim – the hanging of Haman and his ten sons (Esther 7:9-10). Haman had called for and planned the genocide of the Jewish people (Esther 5:13-14) but in the end he was destroyed on the very gallows he intended to use against Mordecai.

For many Jewish people the Bible continues to be not only a description of history past, but also a guide about both the present and the future. Psalm 121 offers a quiet yet stubborn confidence in YHVH’s power and will to preserve the Jewish people: “He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (verses 3-4).

At the same time, the prophetic tradition was aware that false or unreliable prophets often plagued Israel, refusing to raise the alarm when danger was fast approaching: “His watchmen are blind; all of them know nothing. All of them are mute dogs unable to bark, dreamers lying down, who love to slumber” (Isaiah 56:10).

Strategic versus existential dangers

Israel’s newly appointed Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter gave his first public speech on August 19 2012. In it he contrasted two threats to Israel – strategic threats (like Syria, Lebanon and Gazan Hamas-stan) and existential threats (like Iran).  Jewish history is replete with both kinds of threats.  Egypt’s Pharaoh, Persia’s Haman and Nazi Germany’s Hitler were very much existential threats, while (speaking from an international and historical perspective) the Inquisition, the pogroms and Tsar Alexander III’s edicts were more strategic regional threats than existential dangers, even though they were painful and terrible.

What with the scattering of the Jewish people into the Exile, any attempt to destroy the entire people now had to have a powerful prerequisite – the majority of Jews had to live under one empire’s control. Today Jews are scattered across the face of the globe and live under the oversight of many different countries. Nevertheless the Jewish state of Israel has the highest concentration of Jacob’s children in any one geographical location.

Iran’s President Ahmedinejad declared on August 17, 2012 “The very existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to humanity … The new Middle East will have no memory of the presence of the Americans and Zionists.” Iranian General Jalili declared on August 15, 2012 that “there is no other way but to stand firm and resist until Israel is destroyed.” Iranian declarations unequivocally and vociferously call for existential destruction of the Jewish state.

Some Jewish people who live in the Diaspora/ Exile occasionally feel that it might be safer to remain there, that troubles will only or primarily strike the Jewish state.  Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky pointed out on Israel Radio (August 19, 2012) that dozens of potential immigrants to Israel have delayed their arrival over fears of war with Iran, and that they are delaying their aliyah until the threat of war passes.

The prophet responds to this worldview in Amos 9:8-10:

Behold, the eyes of YHVH GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Nevertheless, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob, declares YHVH. For behold, I am commanding, And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, but not a kernel will fall to the ground. All the sinners of My people will die by the sword – those who say, ‘The calamity will not overtake or confront us.’

The Season of Regathering

The consensus among Messianic Jews is that God is regathering His Jewish people to their Promised Land in our day, and that this is an event of world-shaking prophetic significance. Even though the majority of Jews (and Messianic Jews) have not shaken off the desire for the cucumbers and melons, for the leeks and garlic of Egypt (Numbers 11:5) and remain in Exile, YHVH has patiently been regathering His scattered Hebrew people from the four corners of the earth.

As Jewish believers in Yeshua, we seek not only the physical good and restoration of our people (revival of a Hebrew nation in a Hebrew land speaking a Hebrew language and expressing itself through a Hebrew culture) but with even greater priority and passion, we seek the spiritual revival of our nation, that we might turn to Yeshua our Messiah, Redeemer and King. As the prophet would have us remember (Ezekiel 37:9-10), it is the prophesying to the Breath, to the Ruach, to the Spirit of God that transforms a valley of dry Jewish bones into the most amazing army the world has yet to see:

Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says YHVH GOD, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.”

The Return of the Exiles which the God of Israel is accomplishing in our day, is being catalyzed by the same passion and zeal that YHVH has shown throughout history and in the prophetic word – His burning desire for the restoration and the good of His people. This is the time we are living in. This is season we are moving into.

“There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom – to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of YHVH of hosts will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:7; see also Isaiah 37:32; 42:13; 59:17; Joel 2:18).

Jewish spiritual warfare

Many in the body of Messiah are aware of the reality of spiritual warfare. But not everyone has joined the dots and sees that Satan targets the Jewish people par excellence. This is because he knows and believes the prophetic Scriptures more than do some believers. He knows that the revival and restoration of the Jewish people will bring life from the dead to the entire planet (Romans 11:12, 15).

Revelation 12:3-4, 9 reveal that Satan specifically targets the Jewish people who gave birth to the Messiah – even as he once targeted the Davidic King who will rule all nations from Jerusalem with a rod of iron (see Psalm 2). The Archangel Michael, whose portfolio specifically pertains to the Jewish people (Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 1:9; Revelation 12:7) is the warrior who defends the Jewish nation, putting his own archangelic presence into the thick of the battle. The satanic powers behind the superpowers of Greece and Persia in that day (yes, and behind Iran in our day – Daniel 10:20-21) show that we not only war against spiritual wickedness and powers in the heavenlies (Ephesians 6:11-13), the battle rages on earth as well (Matthew 6:10)!

The Mesopotamian sorcerer Balaam found his mouth overtaken by the Spirit of YHVH, and his prophecies over Israel turned from cursing into blessing for the Jewish people. Though Israel was not exactly a shining example of obedience and holiness at that time, God’s express will in those chronicles shows a divine heart full of great good will and prophetic purpose for His Jewish people. Though Jewish history may certainly have had and will have bumps in the road and a measure of trouble – including even the time of Jacob’s trouble – the intentions of YHVH’s heart toward Israel are overwhelming in kindness and good pleasure:

“How shall I curse whom God has not cursed, and how can I denounce whom YHVH has not denounced? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!” (Numbers 23:8, 10)

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; when He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it. He has not observed misfortune in Jacob, nor has He seen trouble in Israel. YHVH his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them” (Number 23:19-21)

Attacks against the Jewish people have been commonplace in Jewish history. The Book of Esther (3:5-15) describes an ancient existential threat against the Jewish people in what is today Iran. We assume that the demonic prince of Persia was involved in instigating this. Yet Mordechai expressed stubborn faith and confidence in the God of Israel as his people’s protector and defender:

“Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-17)

The good grapes

In Isaiah 5 YHVH describes His love for Israel in terms of a vine-dresser who tenderly cares for his own grape vines. God’s desire was to drink the superb and cultivated vine that Israel was to yield – an act that reminds the reader of the romance of the Song of Solomon.

“As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,’ so I will act on behalf of My servants in order not to destroy all of them” (Isaiah 65:8).

“I change not”

The God of Israel anchors His prophetic promises for the Jewish people in His own perfect nature: “For I, YHVH, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). Satan will not succeed in wiping out the Jewish people, whether through Islamist jihad, through Arab weaponry, through terror, boycott, divestment or sanctions, even through the anti-Messiah himself!

YHVH promises to restore the Jewish people to their own homeland and to give them a place of unshakeable protection and honor. “I will establish for them a renowned planting place, and they will not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not endure the insults of the nations anymore” (Ezekiel 34:29).

“It is because of YHVH’s covenant mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22). Herein lies our confidence. On these promises are based the fire of our prayers. Though the seas roar and though the mountains melt into the sea, God of Jacob is our refuge – an ever-present help in times of trouble! The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress (Psalm 46)!

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do!

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

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This article was originally written by Avner Boskey for the German language publication of Stiftung Schleife,  Prophetisches Bulletin, and is published in German on their website www.schleife.ch/de/die-schleife/prophetisches-bulletin.html, 2012/3

“Talkin’ ‘bout My Generation” – The 2012 London Olympics and the heart of God

The world gathered in London this August for the 30th Summer Olympic Games. Athletes from every nation competed for the gold, silver and bronze medals which would crown the planet’s top sportsmen and women. It was the most watched TV event in U.S. history (219.4 million), while the closing ceremony alone had an estimated global audience of 750 million. “One billion watch star-studded finale to greatest Games,” screamed the headlines of the Daily Mirror. Sleepy London Town has planned and hosted a huge world event of global significance.

The Games’ Chairman Lord Sebastian Coe proclaimed at the closing ceremony, “We lit up the flame and we lit up the world … What we have begun will not stop now. The spirit of the Games will inspire a generation.”  Robert Hardman of the Daily Mail declared that the 30th Olympiad “will be one of the defining moments in Britain’s 21st Century history.”

In sunny England, a land given to understatement and fondly self-mocking humor, such superlatives stand out. So what exactly was the significance of the Games – not just for Britain, but for the world – and how will “the spirit of these Games” inspire a new generation?

Running the race

The modern Olympic Games are a relatively new phenomenon (1896) though they draw their inspiration from Greek athletic culture. The famed historic Marathon run of Pheidippides was quite an exploit of physical exertion, but the account was transformed and dramatized somewhat inaccurately through the years (see Robert Browning’s ‘Pheidippides,’ www.online-literature.com/robert-browning/shorter-poems/6/).

The Apostle Paul was not acquainted with the modern form of Olympics (since they only began in 1896 AD), but he did use Greek foot races and wrestling (sports of which all his readers were aware) as illustrations is his teachings:

The commitment, discipline and passion of these sportsmen also speaks of our divine calling to press onward and upward for the prize:

Recalibrating national myths

The 2012 Games were foremost about the athletes themselves – their achievements, efforts and victories. Every move of each contestant was voraciously consumed by media watchers worldwide. Successes and failures were open to the eyes of all. World records were broken. Two individuals in particular drew international amazement – Michael Phelps (the most decorated Olympian ever) and Usain Bolt (considered the best sprinter of all time).

Many commentators believe that these Olympics also had specific significance for England. Phrases were spoken over the past two weeks like “rediscovering a sense of possibility that had been muted,” “a nation relaunched,” “a different Britain,” “a greater sense of inclusion,” and “a recalibration of the national myth.”

Ecclesiastes 7:8 notes that “the end of the matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”  The closing ceremony summed up all the hopes, drama and joys of the Games, and it is worth considering what this final message communicated to the world about Britain as well as about the values and beliefs of the international world community.

Cool Britannia

The creative director and choreographer of the closing ceremony Kim Gavin (producer of 2007’s Concert for Diana) explained that this Olympic finale was “a once in a lifetime opportunity.” “Music has been Britain’s strongest cultural export of the last fifty years and we intend to produce an Olympic closing ceremony what will be a unique promotion of great British popular music” (www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19094398).

Called “A Symphony of British Music,” the closing ceremony involved 4,100 performers (including 3,500 adult volunteers, 380 schoolchildren and 230 professionals). The arena’s stage centerpiece was modeled on the Union Jack, while newspaper clipping became the motifs on the set and on road vehicles – all conveying the theme “A Day in the Life of London”, with apologies to John Lennon. Printed quotes from literary masters from Samuel Butler to William Shakespeare and Rudyard Kipling covered buildings, motorcars and streets across the set. One wag described it as “London landmarks wrapped in newsprint like fish and chips.” But it was the literary heritage that was meant to be the focus here.

Imagining a world without God

Over thirty British pop singers and rock bands led the concert through a medley of hits which Cole Moreton of The Telegraph described as “the Brit-pop equivalent of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”  Over all hovered the memory of John Lennon and the Beatles. From “A Day in The Life” to “Because,” from “Here Comes the Sun” to “I Am the Walrus,” the Fab Four’s verve and word-smithery was saluted.

At one point in the festivities, a face-mask of John Lennon was assembled out of 101 plastic interlocking forms, and then scattered to the stage wings, all done to the music of Lennon’s anthem “Imagine.” The words of that song are deeply significant in themselves, and especially as an anthem of this global community gathering.

“Imagine there’s no heaven – It’s easy if you try.

No hell below us, above us only sky.

Imagine all the people living for today …

Imagine there’s no countries, It isn’t hard to do.

Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too.

Imagine all the people living life in peace.

You, you may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

I hope some day you’ll join us and the world will live as one”

(“Imagine”, words and music John Lennon, © 1971 Lenono Music; administered by EMI Blackwood Music Inc.)

The Daily Mail noted that “there was a definite warm and fuzzy moment when the audience started singing John Lennon’s ‘Imagine.’” “Hearing 80.000 people sing … (is) a globally communal experience” (Robert Hardman, Telegraph) “No amps are needed when you have every voice in the world singing along” (Sarah Robinson, CTV).

In Geoffrey Giuliano’s book Lennon in America (Cooper Square Press, 2000) John Lennon is quoted as stating that the song Imagine was “anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic … but because it’s sugar-coated, it’s accepted.”

Though one commentator described the ceremony as “reverent of the past but hopeful of the future,” we probably need to ask an uncomfortable question here: What does YHVH think about this global experience – a people’s choir of 80,000 voices proclaiming that world peace and unity will be a reality when mankind rejects belief in heaven and hell, in YHVH Himself, and in Yeshua the Messiah of Israel as Savior of the world?

The singing of this world anthem was much more than simply a warm and fuzzy moment.

Defending the Faith?

In the country that birthed Donne, Cranmer, Wycliffe, Tyndale, Fox, Bunyan, Edwards, Wesley, Whitfield, Wilberforce, Shaftesbury, Carey, Booth, Hudson Taylor, Stott and Martin Smith – this “Imagine” choir reveals a different England than the one lauded by Shakespeare in Richard II,

“This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle ... This other Eden, demi-paradise;

This happy breed of men, this little world;

This precious stone set in the silver sea, this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England” (Richard II, Act ii, Scene 1)

The journey from “All Hail the Power” to William Blake’s “Jerusalem” has finally ended up at the crossroads – a mass confession in the heart of London, witnessed by 750 million people, which denies the faith and power of God, the truth of the Holy Scriptures and the foundations of the British Reformation. Jarring as it may be to some, this is where John Bull lives today.

One of the titles and offices of the Queen of England is Fidei Defensor or “Defender of the Faith” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidei_defensor).

(www.princeofwales.gov.uk/faqs/what_religion_do_the_prince_and_the_duchess_practice__1739581824.html).

From Brit-Pop to Gay Rock

Gay and bisexual pop and rock singers took their place center stage in the closing ceremonies.  From George Michael to Jessie J, from Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys to photos and snippets of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust days – one homosexual blogger described the roster as “a virtual gay pride parade.”  “London closes 2012 Summer Olympic games with a celebration of British music talent including top gay and bisexual names” said another.

Even Freddie Mercury of Queen was drafted in hologram fashion, “rousing the crowd virtually with a call-and-response routine” (Jasper Rees, www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19195421).

The acceptance and prominence granted to these artists who champion gay lifestyles and values show how drastically the moral consensus in Britain has changed over the past century.

My Generation

The quintessential British rock band The Who ended the ceremony with a bang. “Of all the voices of the Closing Ceremony, The Who was the one the world heard last” (Sarah Robinson, CTV).  They chose three songs, “Baba O’Riley,” “See Me, Feel Me” (the anthem from the rock opera Tommy), and “My Generation.”

Part of the song “Baba O’Riley” was written by Pete Townsend describing what he witnessed during The Who’s set at Woodstock in 1969. The absolute drug-induced desolation of many teenagers (bad LSD trips and assorted psychotic manifestations) profoundly affected him, and his song ruefully declares, “Teenage wasteland, it’s only teenage wasteland – they’re all wasted!” (Guitar World, Vol. 30, number 9, page 76). The tragedy had turned into a farcical celebration, and the artist was lamenting that fact. In the 2012 Olympics version, singer Roger Daltrey subtly altered the words to “Teenage wasteland – there’s more than teenage wasteland” (www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57491906-10391698/did-roger-daltrey-forget-the-lyrics-to-baba-oriley/).

The next song “See Me, Feel Me” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_(album)) was another rock anthem which had resonated with many youth in the 1960’s and 70’s – young people yearning to have a spiritual touch and a supernatural encounter. The words of the chorus implore “See me, feel me, touch me, heal me!”

The theme of the rock opera Tommy focuses on an abused deaf, dumb and blind boy who becomes the leader of a messianic movement. The spiritual longing of the words comes across openly, “Listening to you, I get the music. Gazing at you, I get the heat. Following you, I climb the mountain. I get excitement at your feet. Right behind you, I see the millions. On you, I see the glory…” In 1998 this song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for “historical, artistic and significant value.”

The Who’s final song, “My Generation” is, to many rockers, the theme song of a generation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Generation). Rolling Stone magazine named it 11th on their list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” while VH1 placed it 13th on their list of the 100 Greatest Songs of Rock and Roll.

The lyrics reflect the alienation and despair of British Mods in the mid-Sixties, who didn’t fit in and did not want to fit in to normal society (“Why don’t you all fade away and don’t try to dig what we all say?”). The fear of what may await this generation (whether through war, or through economic and social collapse) has caused a loss of hope (“Things they do look awful cold, talkin’ ‘bout my generation. Hope I die before I get old”). These messages resonated well then, and they resonate just as well now.

A generation yet to come

The Who’s rock anthems point beyond the psychedelic fantasies of the Woodstock Generation to a hope which is being birthed from the very heart of God. The psalmist knew of this hope, and prophesied about it in his songs, “Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise YHVH” (Psalm 102:18).

That future generation, David son of Jesse believed, would be one who seeks the face of the God of Jacob: “Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, God of Jacob” (Psalm 24:6)

These Davidic words will find their ultimate fulfillment in a Last Days generation, one whom YHVH is not ashamed to call “My Generation!” (see Hebrews 2:11) – “Posterity will serve Him. Future generations will be told about YHVH. They will proclaim His righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn, ‘He has done it!’” (Psalm 22:30-31).

The prophets who penned these words knew that there was a priority reference in them to the sons and daughters of Jacob – to the Jewish people.  Ezekiel was able to put these hopes into words when he prophesied about the incredibly mighty army of Jewish dry bones (Ezekiel 37:9-14) which would do exploits at the End of Days.

God’s heart is not for a generation to run after an abused pinball wizard, or for His children to pursue a spiritually blind and dumb guru addicted to video games. His heart is for the youth of the nations to press in to know Him – to come to know Yeshua the Servant of YHVH, and to speak His burning word to a global community with passion, power and creativity!

Silence of the hams

On the evening of September 5, 1972 at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) terror group sent a Black September squad to torture and murder the Israeli Olympic delegation in its apartments within the Olympic Village (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre). Their operation resulted in the deaths of eleven Israeli Olympic athletes.

The operation was set up and planned by Mohammed Daoud Oudeh or “Abu Daoud,” a personal friend of Yasir Arafat and one of the founders of the al-Fatah group within the PLO (www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/Munich-mastermind-has-no-regrets-1196762.php). It had the personal endorsement of Arafat, who saw the team off on their mission with the words, “May Allah protect you, Abu Daoud!” (Mohammed Oudeh, Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich, 1999).

In an interview with Sports Illustrated Abu Daoud affirmed that funds for the Munich terror attack were provided by Mahmoud Abbas, the present Chairman of the PLO since 11 November 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority since 15 January 2005 (“The Mastermind, Alexander Wolff, August 26, 2002; Sports Illustrated).

Abu Daoud believes that, if the Israeli delegation had known of Abbas’ role in that attack, the 1993 Oslo Accords would not have been achieved.  Today, of course, Abbas is the President of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. German TV interviewed Abu Daoud in 2006, who declared, “I regret nothing. You can only dream that I would apologize.”

Italian author Giulio Meotti recalls,”Given the supposedly apolitical Olympic backdrop, the sight of Jewish sportsmen, blindfolded and manacled, shuffling to their doom in Germany, stirred international revulsion” (Giulio Meotti, A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel’s Victims of Terrorism). The distance between the Munich Olympic Village and the Nazi murder-camp of Dachau is less than ten miles.

On September 5, 1972 the Munich Olympic Games were temporarily suspended. But Avery Brundage, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declared that “the Games must go on.” A short memorial service was held, and the Olympic Flag was flown at half-mast. Ten Arab nations objected to their own flags being lowered to honor the murdered Israeli athletes, and as a result their flags were restored to the tops of their flagpoles almost immediately. Within 24 hours, by September 6, 1972, the Games continued.

Violating the image of God

Sports Illustrated quoted Dutch distance runner Jos Hermens as saying at that time, “You give a party, and someone is killed at the party, you don’t continue the party. I’m going home.” That basic and fundamental human decency was not part of the Olympic Committee’s work ethic.

Since 1972 the IOC has refused to officially acknowledge or commemorate the Israeli victims of the Munich massacre, saying that this could alienate other members of the Olympic community (https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3581866.stm).

Current IOC President Jacques Rogge declared just before the London 2012 Games that “the opening ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident” (https://cnsnews.com/news/article/olympics-opening-ceremony-honored-british-terror-victims-not-israelis-killed-munich).

Nevertheless, there was time given at the opening ceremony to remember the jihadi terror attack of 7/7 (July 7, 2005) in London, where 52 civilians were murdered and over 700 were wounded. When NBC dropped their U.S. coverage of that part of the 2012 opening ceremony to broadcast an interview with Michael Phelps, the response was British outrage at many levels (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181011/NBC-coverage-Outrage-claiming-7-7-tribute-Olympic-Opening-Ceremony-wasnt-tailored-U-S-audience.html).

It is unfortunate that British and Olympic outrage was not similarly stirred up regarding Israeli casualties of terror.

“All your allies have forgotten you; they care nothing for you… But all who devour you will be devoured; all your enemies will go into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered; all who make spoil of you I will despoil. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares YHVH, because you are called an outcast, ‘Zion for whom no one cares’” (Jeremiah 30:14, 16-17).

Meotti remarks that “the Israeli athletes were the first Jews killed in Germany for being Jewish since 1945. Since then, their murder vanished from international memory.” Because the IOC has refused the few seconds of silence in their honor, “the 11 Israelis died a second time” and this year’s distribution of medals “will be stained in disgrace and shame,” he said.

U.S.  Representative  Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, “We know why the IOC has refused: Because the murdered Olympians were Israelis, and the IOC does not want to draw the ire of foreign governments who still object to the very existence of a Jewish state in the homeland of the Jewish people. Well, the leadership of the IOC needs to recognize that leadership is about doing the right thing, particularly when it’s not the easy thing. The Olympics are not about taking the path of least resistance,” she said. “The Olympics are about overcoming obstacles and going the extra mile” (https://cnsnews.com/news/article/olympics-opening-ceremony-honored-british-terror-victims-not-israelis-killed-munich).

Crocodile tears versus humble confession

Two interesting responses should be noted regarding these issues.

Jibril Rajoub, Chairman of the Palestinian Olympic Committee and the Palestinian Football Association. sent a letter to IOC President Rogge thanking him for his stance in not permitting a remembrance of the Israeli victims murdered by PLO terror.  “Sport is a bridge for love, unification and for spreading peace among the nations, and it must not be a cause for divisiveness and for the spreading of racism,” he declared (www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=280727). Jibril is a former terrorist, and is well known in the Palestinian community for his cruelty in interrogating fellow Palestinians as Head of Arafat’s Preventative Security Force (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jibril_Rajoub).

On the other hand, Prime Minister David Cameron spoke at a non-IOC event in Guildhall, London organized by the National Olympic Committee of Israel, the Jewish Committee for the London Games and the Embassy of Israel. Here are excerpts of his address:

“This evening we mark the 40th anniversary of one of the darkest days in the history of the Olympic Games. A sickening act of terrorism that betrayed everything the Olympic movement stands for and everything that we in Britain believe in … So as the world comes together in London to celebrate the Games and the values it represents, it is right that we should stop and remember the 11 Israeli athletes who so tragically lost their lives when those values came under attack in Munich 40 years ago. It was a truly shocking act of evil. A crime against the Jewish people. A crime against humanity. A crime the world must never forget. We remember too the six Israeli holiday makers brutally murdered by a suicide bomber in Bulgaria just last month.”

“And let me say that we in Britain will do everything we can in helping to hunt down those responsible for that attack. Britain will always be a staunch friend of Israel. And we will stand with the Jewish people – and with all victims of terror around the world, whoever they are and wherever they are from.”

“The British people know only too well what it is like to suffer at the hands of terrorists. In July 2005 our euphoria at winning the right to host these Olympics was brutally shattered within just 24 hours when terrorists targeted the London transport system and 52 innocent men and women were murdered. But our two countries, Britain and Israel share the same determination to fight terrorism and to ensure that these evil deeds will never win.”

“We remember them today, with you, as fathers, husbands, and athletes. As innocent men. As Olympians. And as members of the People of Israel, murdered doing nothing more and nothing less than representing their country in sport” (www.number10.gov.uk/news/munich-memorial/).

Global celebrations versus Zechariah’s horsemen 

The prophet Zechariah had a night vision which perplexed him. All the world seemed to be at peace and at rest, having a wonderful time. Yet Zechariah’s prophetic spirit was deeply grieved by this false peace and the false sense of celebration.

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shvat, in the second year of Darius, the word of YHVH came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo.

During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses. I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The Angel who was talking with me answered, “I will show you what they are.” Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones YHVH has sent to go throughout the earth.” And they reported to the Angel of YHVH who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.”

Then the Angel of YHVH said, “YHVH Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?” So YHVH spoke kind and comforting words to the Angel who talked with me.

Then the Angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what YHVH Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.’

“Therefore this is what YHVH says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares YHVH Almighty. Proclaim further: This is what YHVH Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and YHVH will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”  (Zechariah 1:7-17)

How can we pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do!

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

Donations can also be made on-line (by PayPal) through: www.davidstent.org

Shattering the gates of Damascus (Amos 1:5)

Damascus is the crown jewel of the Arab world, culturally and historically. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities and capitals on the planet (Ezekiel 27:16), a star member of the United Nations’ World Heritage Sites. Yet at this very moment Damascus is engulfed in the throes of riot, butchery and civil war. The aftershocks of this battle are rippling from Morocco to Medina, and from Jerusalem to the Kremlin and to Langley.

Before and after Abraham

The country known today as Syria has an older Biblical name – Aram. Five regions of this area included Aram Naharayim (“Aram between the Two Rivers,” Hebrew of Genesis 24:10; often translated as Mesopotamia in Greek), Aram Zobah, Aram Maacah (Psalm 60:1; 1 Chronicles 19:6), Aram Rehov and Aram Tov (2 Samuel 10:8).

The Semitic word Aram may be connected to the same root as the second syllable in the word Abram – ram or lifted up (see Isaiah 6:1) – that is, a mountainous range. The sorcerer Balaam declared that he came “from Aram … from the mountains of the East” (Numbers 23:7).

Another name for part of this region was Paddan Aram (the plain of field of Aram, Genesis 25:10).  Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel lived in that fertile valley, as did her brother Laban (Genesis 25:20).

Though many modern translations call Laban a Syrian, the Hebrew text describes him as an Aramean.  Abraham’s father Terah was not from Aram but from Ur (Genesis 11:28-32), but Terah settled in the region of Aram and became a “landed immigrant” in an Aramean town named Haran. Abraham handed down that memory of his own sojourn in Aram to both Isaac and Jacob, and Jacob described his grandfather to Pharaoh as “a wandering Aramean” (see Deuteronomy 26:5).

The personal name Aram goes back to Noah’s son Shem, who gave birth to five sons – Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram (Genesis 10:22). This Aram was the forefather of the Arameans, while Abraham was descended from a different dynasty, the line of Arpachshad (Genesis 11:11-26).

Abraham’s brother Nahor did not move with Abraham to Beer Sheva in the land of Canaan, but sat tight in Paddan Aram. He fathered eight sons, one of whom was named Haran (like the city they lived in) and one was named Aram (in honor of the country where they had become residents – Genesis 22:19-23).

The Bible teaches that the original Arameans (or Syrians, to use the modern term) are not physical sons of Abraham. They are Semites – they are descendants of Shem – but they are only distantly related to Abraham (eight generations back) and therefore are not an Abrahamic people in origin.

The origin of the term Syria most probably goes back to how an ancient Anatolian people  – the Luwians (www.aina.org/articles/ttaasa.pdf ) who came from the Hittite Cilician region (Adana in modern Turkey) – described the Assyrians and their conquests of Aram in the west using similar sounding words (su+ra/i). The term “Syrian” was later used in Assyrian and Greek days to describe what the Bible calls "the Arameans of Damascus” (2 Samuel 8:5; Amos 9:7; 2 Samuel 10:8,16; 2 Chronicles 28:5).

Warfare, prophets and minefields

The twelve tribes of Israel fought against the Arameans in nearly every generation. The Hebrew Scriptures describe King David’s battles against the Arameans, and his stunning victories over them: “Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, and brought tribute. And YHVH gave victory to David wherever he went” (2 Samuel 8:6).

The prophetic ministry knows no national bounds. In I Kings 19:15, YHVH commissioned the Jewish prophet Elijah to anoint the Gentile Hazael to be king over Aram, though in the end it was actually Elijah’s disciple Elisha who anointed Hazael for that task (2 Kings 8:7-15). The God of Israel gave Elisha prophetic vision to see that Hazael would assassinate Ben Hadad the king of Aram and usurp his throne, eventually bringing savage destruction upon the Jewish people.  Elisha’s anointing of Hazael was accompanied by his own bitter tears.

The armies of Aram were cruel to the Jewish people in war, forcing Jewish prisoners of war in Gilead to lie down on the ground and have threshing sledges of iron dragged over their bodies until they were massacred (Amos 1:3). God’s punishment of the Arameans for their cursing of Israel would include them being temporarily exiled to Kir (Amos 1:5), their original homeland before they had migrated to Aram (Amos 9:7).

One of Aram’s top generals was a valiant warrior of exceptional bravery named Na’aman (2 Kings 5:1, 13). YHVH had granted him a measure of victory even over His own people Israel (2 Kings 5:1-2).  Na’aman’s Aramean armies would often make commando raids on Israelite army positions (see 2 Kings 6:8-17).

The idol worship of the Arameans eventually influenced and brought judgment on Judah through the unfaithful heart of Ahaz. He had his architects make a sketch of the Arameans’ Damascus altar, and his stoneworkers built a virtual copy of that altar in the courts of Solomon’s Temple:

“Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. He finished it before King Ahaz returned. When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it... (But) the bronze altar that stood before YHVH, he … put on the north side of the new altar. King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: ‘On the large new altar, offer the … offering(s) … Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.” So Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered’ ” (2 Kings 16:10-16).

“In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to YHVH. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, ‘Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.’ But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel” (2 Chronicles 28:23-25).

“Therefore YHVH his God delivered Ahaz into the hands of the King of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought them to Damascus” (2 Chronicles 28:5).

The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

Throughout its long history the Arab world has been ruled by dictatorships. Sasha Baron Cohen’s risqué comedy “The Dictator” shines the spotlight on this fact. In the modern period two main examples of Arab dictatorships basically come to mind – either military despots or Islamist tyrants.  Though it is true that a few kings and princes still tenuously hold on to power in their last bastions of  Morocco, Jordan and the Gulf States, these rulers are deeply apprehensive about the rise of Islamist revolution, known elsewhere as “the Arab Spring.”

Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen have all seen secular street riots morph into Islamist takeovers. Secular military dictators have first been assassinated (Libya’s Gaddafi) or imprisoned (Egypt’s Mubarak). Into the chaos steps the jihadi Muslim Brotherhood (MB), taking the reins of power with a seemingly self-effacing shrug of the shoulders.

The MB is committed to Islamist dictatorship through the forced application of shari’a or classical Islamic law, through the re-establishment of a world-wide Islamist Caliphate dictatorship, and through jihad or Islamist terror war as its main goal (see www.davidstent.org; “words’ February 2006).  Its slogan is simple and direct: “Allah is our goal, the Prophet our model, the Qur'an our Constitution, Jihad our path and death for the case of Allah our most sublime belief” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood).; www.fas.org/irp/world/para/mb.htm).

Syria’s connection to the MB goes back to the period between 1930 and 1945, when the MB party was established in that country. In 1961 it won 5.8% of the house seats in parliamentary elections, but after the pan-Arabist and secular Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party’s putsch in 1963, the MB was banned in 1964. MB-instigated strikes and demonstrations in 1964-65 were crushed by the army and police, and MB assassinations of prominent Syrian politicians and Alawite leaders occurred regularly between 1976 and 1979.

On June 16, 1979 the MB attacked and killed 83 cadets at the Aleppo Artillery School, and terror attacks became commonplace in Aleppo and northern Syrian cities. On March 8, 1980 most Syrian cities were paralyzed by strikes, street demonstrations and battles with security forces. The MB was one of the major leaders of these riots.

Former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad sent tens of thousands of troops, along with tanks and helicopters against the demonstrators, killing hundreds and arresting 8,000. Within a month the revolt had been crushed. At that time the President’s brother Rifa’at al-Assad declared that the Syrian government was prepared to “sacrifice a million martyrs” (over a tenth of Syria's population at that time) in order to stamp out “the nation's enemies.” In April 1980 the Syrian army executed 400 male inhabitants of the city of Hama over the age of 14 as a reprisal for MB activities.

A failed assassination attempt against President al-Assad on June 26, 1980 resulted in him immediately ordering the execution of 1,200 MB members in their cells in Tadmor Prison, near ancient Palmyra.

On July 7 1980 under Emergency Law 49, membership in Syria’s MB became a capital offence.

Hama rules

In August, September and November 1981 the MB carried out three massive car bombings in Damascus, killing hundreds.  On February 2, 1982 a Syrian army night patrol stumbled upon the Hama hideout of the MB’s main guerilla commander. The patrol was annihilated in the ensuing firefight. This led the MB to call for jihad against the secular Syrian regime. By morning over 70 major Ba’ath (Syrian government) leaders had been killed, and MB declared to the 250,000 people in Hama that it was now a liberated city. The MB urged the population to rise up “against the infidel.”

During the first four days of fighting, the Syrian Air Force conducted aerial bombings of the Old City, after which tanks broke into those areas. Reports were received that hydrogen cyanide gas was used by the army. Fierce resistance halted the army’s incursions, and so for the next three weeks the city was first encircled, and then shelled continuously. After the artillery barrages ceased, Syrian military and secret service personnel went house to house through the ruins, arresting, torturing and conducting mass executions.

Rifa’at al-Assad  (who was in charge of this operation) believed that MB fighters were hiding in a honeycombed network of tunnels. As a result, following strategies used by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto, he had diesel fuel pumped into the tunnels and then set them ablaze. He had already pre-positioned Russian T-72 tanks at the tunnel exits, whose mission was to shell escaping MB fighters.

Journalist Robert Fisk, who was in Hama shortly after the massacre, originally estimated fatalities at 10,000, but has since doubled the estimate to 20,000. The President’s brother Rifa’at al-Assad reportedly boasted of killing 38,000 people. Amnesty International estimated the death toll was between 10,000 and 25,000, the vast majority civilians. The Syrian Human Rights Committee estimated that between 30,000 to 40,000 people were killed. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood suggests a figure of approximately 40,000 victims.

In 2002 Syrian journalist Subhi Hadidi, wrote that select Syrian army units “under the command of General 'Ali Haydar, besieged the city for 27 days, bombarding it with heavy artillery and tank, before invading it and killing 30,000 or 40,000 of the city's citizens – in addition to the 15,000 missing who have not been found to this day, and the 100,000 expelled” (www.memri.org/report/en/print590.htm).

As a result of the Hama massacre, the Muslim Brotherhood had been broken as a force in Syrian politics. It chose to go underground and bide its time – waiting for the day when its star would again rise over the Land of the Arameans. That time arrived in February 2011, when street demonstrations began to spread throughout Syria (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2011%E2%80%932012_Syrian_uprising_(January%E2%80%93April_2011); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2011%E2%80%932012_Syrian_uprising_(May%E2%80%93August_2011); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2011%E2%80%932012_Syrian_uprising_(from_January_2012).

Waiting in the wings

The world’s media is attempting to understand present political developments in Syria without having the ability to discern the spiritual forces and influences involved in the mix. Since the Western world has by and large rejected the determinative role of the Bible or spiritual matters in foreign policy, newspapermen and women find it hard to believe that jihadi groups’ stated goals are actual and real.

Here are examples of news commentators trying to make sense out of Syria’s  boiling cauldron:

www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/06/us-syria-brotherhood-idUSBRE84504R20120506; https://carnegie-mec.org/publications/?fa=48370; www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/17924; www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16131323,00.html.

Hafez al-Assad’s son Bashar is now Syria’s President and leader of Syria’s Alawites. The Alawites are an offshoot from Islam, considered heretical by both Sunnis and Shi’ites. (www.danielpipes.org/191/the-alawi-capture-of-power-in-syria). The Alawite community managed to take the reins of a military coup in Syria between February 1966 and November 1970, establishing themselves as military dictators in a land known for its many despots (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heads_of_state_of_Syria).

The approximate religious population in Syria today is: Sunni (74%, which includes MB), Alawite (10%), Christian (10%, including Syrian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant), and Druze (3%) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Syria).  However, among all these groups the Muslim Brotherhood is the most organized and closest to attaining control over the political chaos which has engulfed Syria.

Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qa’eda

The origins of al Qaeda are found within the historical development of the Muslim Brotherhood. Osama bin Laden (https://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1205/05/cp.01.html), Ayman al-Zawahiri (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayman_al-Zawahiri), Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (www.investigativeproject.org/2552/american-policy-toward-the-muslims-brotherhood) – all were involved in or influenced by major teachers and ideologues of the MB.

Whereas the MB at present attempts to arrive at its stated goals (imposition of shari’a law, restoration of the Islamist Caliphate, and jihad) through gradual co-option of the democratic process when possible, al Qaeda has seen military combat and violent acts of terror as the preferred strategies for the same three goals. Similar strategic disagreements occurred in the late 1920’s between Communist Trotskyites and Stalinists, or in the 1950’s between Russian and Chinese Communists.

Islamic news media as well as Western reporters have noticed a rise in al Qaeda-connected military forces infiltrating and influencing facts on the Syrian battlefield: (www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/07/201273081149683986.html; https://m.aljazeera.com/SE/201273081149683986; https://english.al-akhbar.com/node/10062; https://english.al-akhbar.com/content/al-qaeda-syria-new-leader-helm; https://english.al-akhbar.com/content/bilad-al-sham-jihads-newest-hot-spot; www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/05/egypts-muslim-brotherhood-sticks-with-bin-laden/238218/).

The future of Syria may well depend on the outcome of the wrestling match between MB and al Qaeda for control of this now-radicalized Sunni country. Similar struggles are occurring at this very moment with much the same dynamic in Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Iraq.

In any event, whether the Muslim Brotherhood, al Qaeda or an Alawite military dictatorship wrests decisive control of Syria, the threat to neighboring nations (especially to Israel, Jordan and Lebanon) remains strong and grows stronger with each passing day.

Syrian weapons of mass destruction

Western intelligence agencies (and especially Israel) have been following Syria’s development of nuclear weapons and nerve gas armaments with deep interest and baited breath: (www.ft.com/cms/s/0/83da4c76-d4c2-11e1-bb88-00144feabdc0.html#axzz22oRGU7Wv; www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/13108/sec_id/13108; www.stratfor.com/weekly/specter-syrian-chemical-weapons).

Chemical (CW) and biological (BW) weapons are sometimes described as “the poor man’s atom bomb.” Since Syria’s nuclear weapons program was suddenly halted by an unforeseen Israeli bombing raid (www.davidstent.org/dthtm/words.htm# ; “words” October 13, 2007), President al-Assad has focused his efforts on honing and refining his CW and BW stores, as well as on his North Korean, Chinese and Iranian missile arsenals.

Ø  Remembering Rifa’at al-Assad’s infamous declaration that the regime would be willing to murder a million Syrians to preserve its hegemony, and considering the long-standing hatred that the Arameans of Damascus have had for the people of Israel, we strongly encourage you to make these issues a matter of prayer.

Ruins on the Highway of Peace

The prophet Isaiah leaves us with two brief snapshots of future events in the region of Aram Naharayim.

The first is in Isaiah 17, where two declarations stand out: “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap” (verse 1); “At eventide, behold, terror; and before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that despoil us, and the lot of them that rob us” (verse 14).

These scriptures indicate that unspecified yet traumatic disasters will overtake the capital city of Aram, and that these disasters are judgments on the Syrian people because of their cursing the Jewish people, who are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 12:3).

The second passage is in Isaiah 19:23-25, which actually does not mention Aram, but does mention Ashur or Assyria: “In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth. For YHVH of armies has blessed them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.’ ”

This divine word prophesies that a highway of peace will cut across the Middle East in the Days of Messiah, joining the peoples and countries of Egypt, Israel and northern Iraq (today’s Kurdish region near Mosul and Kirkuk) in blessing, worship and the favor of YHVH.

Two points worth mentioning: such a road will need to pass through Aram (Syria) on its way to Assyria (northern Iraq). Is it too much to hope that YHVH’s blessing will also touch those Arameans who live along this divine future superhighway?

And a last thought: while Egypt and Assyria will enter into a wonderful and blessed intimacy with the God of Israel, YHVH still reserves a special term for His own Jewish people – “Israel My inheritance.”   “And He has lifted up the horn of His people, who are the praise of all His saints – the children of Israel, a people who is near to Him. So praise YHVH!” (Psalm 148:14).

How can we pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do!

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

Donations can also be made on-line (by PayPal) through: www.davidstent.org

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