Replacement Blowback

Newton's third law of motion states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This principle also manifests itself in politics, in war and in religion.

The intelligence community uses the term ‘blowback’ to describe an analogous dynamic – the unintended consequences, unwanted side-effects or repercussions of a black operation that backfires. Replacement Theology (an anti-Semitic expression of Christian theology that raised its head in the 2^nd Century A.D) is such a black operation, and it has triggered massive, unintended and world-shaking spiritual blowback for the entire planet.

The Samaritan narrative

The foundation stones of Replacement Theology were being laid as the Kingdom of Israel crumbled under Assyrian blows (see 2 Kings 17). The Assyrians transferred a conglomeration of conquered peoples from Iraq into the central mountainous region of Israel (today’s West Bank). They settled in that area and became known as the Samaritans. They synthesized a new form of Judaism which replaced the Jewish people’s central biblical role, instead inserting the Samaritans as the lead actor.

Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land…andcarried Israel away into exile to Assyria…The king of Assyria broughtmenfrom Babylon and from Cuthah…and settledthemin the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel…At the beginning of their living there, theydid not fear YHVH …So one of the priests…came…and taught them how they should fear YHVH. But every nation still made gods of its own and put themin the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made...So while these nations feared YHVH, they also served theiridols – their children likewise and their grandchildren. As their fathers did, so they do to this day (2 Kings 17).

In Yeshua’s day everyone understood that “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” The Samaritans hated Israel and believed that God had replaced the Jewish people. The Samaritan woman at the well said to Yeshua, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship” (John 4:20).

Yeshua answered the Samaritan woman very clearly. He did not say that the land was given as a joint inheritance to Jews and Samaritans alike, or that Jews and Samaritans would one day be restored into a common family co-sharing the Promised Land. “You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:20, 22).

Samaritan Replacement teaching proclaimed that the Samaritans (and not the Jews) were the real sons of Jacob, and that Nablus/Neapolis (and not Jerusalem) was the real city that God had chosen. This contemptuous attitude was a cursing of the Jewish people. It brought a curse onto the Samaritans which continued throughout history (see Genesis 12:3).

Replacing the Jewish olive tree

A hundred years after Yeshua, the spiritual understanding of Samaritan believers in Yeshua was still darkened by the powerful effects of Replacement Theology. Justin Martyr, a Samaritan Father of the Church, was perhaps the first influential Christian theologian to trumpet Replacement Theology’s anti-Jewish teachings. In his “Dialogue With Trypho, A Jew” he spoke down to the Jewish people:

“They are…your Scriptures, or rather not yours, but ours”

“We, who have been quarried out from the bowels of Christ, are the true Israelitic race…The seed of Jacob now referred to is something else and not, as may be supposed, spoken of your people”

“For the circumcision according to the flesh, which is from Abraham, was given for a sign – that you may be separated from other nations, and from us, and that you alone may suffer that which you now justly suffer, and that your land may be desolate, and your cities burned with fire, and that strangers may eat your fruit in your presence”

The Apostle Paul had warned the Gentile believers in Rome one hundred years earlier, “Do not be arrogant toward the (ed. Jewish natural) branches…Do not be conceited, but fear… nor be wise in your own estimation” (Romans 11:18, 20, 25). He also proclaimed: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness … For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:18, 21).

The spiritual concrete was hardening among Gentile Christians. The pattern had been decisively set. Replacement Theology was a marriage between pagan Gentile anti-Semitism and devilish twisting of Scripture. It was not a union made in heaven, and its fruit would eventually reveal its unholy origins.

Replacement Theology in Arabia

Only 300 years after Yeshua was born, anti-Jewish Replacement teaching had won the day. The ‘Good News’ preached by the Church had become very bad news for the Jewish people. This new Gentile gospel was a message of hatred and contempt, and it was directed against the very Jewish people who had first preached the message to the nations.

This toxic teaching seeped across the Middle East into Arabia, where it was thirstily absorbed into the bosom of classical Islamist teachings. But now the jihadi warriors did Christendom one better. They not only taught that Allah had rejected the Jews. They added a further step - Allah had rejected the Christians as well. This massive spiritual blowback validates the truth taught in Genesis 12:3 – that God’s blessing and cursing will rest upon the Gentiles based on how they treat the Jewish people.

Islamic teachings proclaimed their new truth to the Muslim community:

“Truly, you will find the strongest among men in enmity to (ed. Muslim) believers – the Jews and those who are al-Mushrikun (i.e., Christians, pagans, idolaters and polytheists)” (Quran, Surah 5:82).

“So when the (Jews) exceeded the limits of what they were prohibited, we said to them, ‘Be you monkeys, despised and rejected’” (Quran, Surah 7:166).

“Those (Jews) who incurred the curse of Allah and his wrath, and those of whom he transformed into monkeys and swine” (Quran, Surah 5:60).

The blowback from Christian rejection of the Jews turned out to be Islamist rejection of both Jews and Christians. This dynamic has been stamped on the Middle East through jihadi colonization and imperialism, and today it shapes modern political attitudes toward the Jewish people and the Jewish state.

Replacing Europe

The blowback from Replacement Theology is virulent today in Europe. Islamist preachers and foot-soldiers brazenly prophesy that the day is soon coming when Shari’a (Islamic jurisprudence) will be the law of the land in Europe and America. They publically proclaim that the world Caliphate will raise its black banners and its green flags over the entire Western world. In this dark vision, Christian Europe will yet bow before a triumphant jihadi army, it is vowed, even as Iraqi, Syrian, Egyptian and Libyan Christian face persecution, rape, beheading and slavery at the hands of Islamist forces and groups.

There is a price to be paid when Christians nurse from a poisonous and anti-Semitic baby bottle – one which rejects the Jewish nature of the spiritual tree into which the body of Messiah has been grafted. The Apostle Paul taught, “(The Jewish people)…are the natural branches (who will) be grafted into their own olive tree” (Romans 11:24). The tree of faith in Messiah Yeshua is a Jewish tree, and all who join themselves to the Son of David are grafted into a mystical connection with the Jewish people – whether they know it or not.

Replacing the State of Israel

The malignant effects of Replacement Theology are shaping current international political discourse. This comes from the merging of two different streams – Christian and Islamist. Christian Replacement Theology does not allow a physical restoration of the Jewish nation to their homeland, while the Islamist view of history says that, since Israel has been conquered by the armies of Muhammad in 638 A.D., the Jewish patrimony now belongs eternally and by divine right to the world of Islam.

This denial of continuing Jewish right to their own homeland has been successfully marketed across the planet by the PLO, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and the Arab League. Their efforts have met with a fair amount of success. The United Nations, the European Union and the Quartet have all swallowed the Replacement agenda hook, line and sinker. Two recent examples of this are UN Resolution 2334 and U.S. Secretary of State Kerry’s televised address. Both dovetail with the Islamist Replacement position and accept its perspectives as indisputable fact. From their vantage point, Palestine is Arab land and belongs exclusively to Arabs.

The Islamist perspective is that the whole land of Israel must be retaken by Islam. So-called ‘moderates’ in the PLO agree but with cosmetic changes. They say that half the land must return to the Palestinian Islamic movement immediately, and that then the other half of Israel will be conquered in stages.

The words of the Hamas Charter (1988) (www.acpr.org.il/resources/hamascharter.html) leave no doubt as to the ultimate Islamist goal:

“The Islamic Resistance Movement (ed., Hamas) draws its guidelines from Islam” (Article #1)

“The Islamic Resistance Movement…strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine…Allah is our goal, the Prophet our model, the Qur’an our Constitution, Jihad our path and death for the cause of Allah our most sublime belief” (Article #3)

“The Platform of The Islamic Resistance Movement: Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates itas it had eliminated its predecessors”

“Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: ‘The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree’ (cited by Bukhari and Muslim)” (Article #7)

“In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad…We must imprint on the minds of generations of Muslims that the Palestinian problem is a religious one, to be dealt with on this premise. ‘I swear by that who holds in His Hands the Soul of Muhammad! I indeed wish to go to war for the sake of Allah! I will assault and kill, assault and kill, assault and kill’ (told by Bukhari and Muslim)” (Article #15)

President Obama’s end-time vision, expressed in an address at the Islamic al-Azhar University in Cairo (the world’s pre-eminent Muslim authority) is that “all of us have a responsibility to work for the day when…the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslim.” The President’s vision is Replacement Theology with a twist, since Islamic scholars and activists would declare any view which champions the sharing of Jerusalem with Jews or Christians to be an apostate position.

The Scriptures actually state that the land of Israel is a gift to the nation of Israel alone (Ezekiel 39:25-29; 48:29), and that unfriendly Gentiles who settled on those territories over the ages will have no inheritance there (Ezek.36:1-15; Neh. 2:20). President Obama’s last days vision may sound nobly inclusive to some, but it actually stands in opposition to God’s word.

Replacing the Replacement Theologians

The Last Days vision of the Hebrew prophets describes God’s focused priority on the Jewish people.

“He has done mighty deeds with His arm. He has scatteredthose who wereproud in thethoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and has sent away the rich empty-handed. He has given help to Israel His servant in remembrance of His covenant faithfulness as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever” (Luke 1:51-55)

“As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, salvationfrom our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; to show mercy toward our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to Abraham our father; to grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear” (Luke 1:70-74)

“As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, I will show you miracles. Nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will put their hand on their Their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like a serpent, like reptiles of the earth. They will come trembling out of their fortresses. To YHVH our God they will come in dread and they will be afraid before You” (Micah 7:15-17)

“Therefore all who devour you will be devoured and all your adversaries, every one of them,will go into captivity. And those who plunder you will be for plunder, and all who prey upon you I will give for prey. For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds, declares YHVH, because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It is Zion; no one cares for her!’” (Jeremiah 30:16-17)

Replacement Theology’s mocking of the Jewish people is a historical injustice. It is destined to inherit the wind. The boasting of theologians and politicians against the Jewish people and their restoration to their own homeland will also wither and be blown away by desert winds. But God’s good word of restoration will be the wonder and the praise of the whole world:

“I will rejoice over them to do them good and willfaithfullyplant them in this land withall My heart and with all My soul. For thus says YHVH, Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going tobring on them all the good that I am promising them” (Jeremiah 32:41-42)

“It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it” (Jeremiah 33:9)

How should we then pray?

Pray for clarity and revelation for spiritual leaders in the body of Messiah – that the poisonous roots of Replacement Theology would be exposed and forsaken

Pray for believers worldwide for clarity and revelation regarding deceptive Islamist Replacement roots regarding the land of Israel

Pray for the protection, strengthening, revelation and salvation of the Jewish people, and that they may lean on Him who can keep them from all evil and all destruction

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical 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

“The kings of the earth are taking their positions”

Psalm 2 describes a dynamic in history that is coming to a high point in our day. The nations are in an uproar over the Jewish people and over their capital city Zion (2:1). They ‘rage against the machine’ – they gnash their teeth at God’s strategy in choosing Jerusalem (synonymous with Zion – Psalm 51:18; 102:21; 128:5; 135:21; 147:12; Isaiah 4:4; 10:12; 24:23; 31:9; 37:32; 40:9; 41:27; 52:1-2; 62:2; 64:10; Jeremiah 26:18).

Their fury moves them to actually hold meetings in council – to take counsel together, to take up positions, make decisions and plan actions – political, economic and military – against the restoration and survival of the Jewish people and their state (2:2): “The earth’s kings are taking positions, leaders taking counsel together against YHVH and His Messiah. They cry, ‘Let’s tear their chains apart! Let’s throw off their binding ropes!’”

The Psalmist reveals that international hatred of the God of Israel manifests itself in hatred against the Jewish people and their land – anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. As one wag said years ago, “Anti-Christ is anti-Jew.”

“O God, do not remain quiet! Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still! For behold, Your enemies make an uproar and those who hate You have exalted themselves. They make shrewd plans against Your people and conspire together against Your treasured ones. They have said, ‘Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation that the name of Israel be remembered no more.’ For they have conspired together with one mind. Against You they make a covenant” (Psalm 83:1-5).

The need of the moment is clarity regarding international strategies against Jerusalem – the machinations which are moving the world into full-blown rebellion against the God of Israel and against His treasured Jewish people.

UN-friendly counsel

On Friday December 23, 2016, just before the onset of the Sabbath and the Feast of Hanukkah, a rushed vote was taken at the United Nations Security Council on Resolution 2334. The U.S. abstained from its habitual pro-Israel veto, allowing for an expedited passage of the motion. It passed 14-0 with the one American abstention.

Israel has been warning about such a political ambush for many months now. Prime Minister Netanyahu cautioned that a lame-duck American President with a chip on his shoulder against Israel might manipulate the passage of an anti-Israel UN Resolution. This would be a scenario similar to how the balrog acted in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Though defeated and pushed into the abyss by Gandalf, at the last second the balrog struck out with his bullwhip and snare Gandalf’s ankle, bringing him down into the same pit.

Could the U.S. President be preparing a vengeful ‘ninth inning’ strike against the Jewish state in a world forum? An ominous silence regarding the Obama Administration’s strategies and plans on this matter hung over the U.S. State Department for the last months.

On the last day that the U.N Security Council could possibly meet in December 2016 (www.un.org/en/sc/inc/pages/pdf/pow/powmonthly.pdf), Egypt had been scheduled to bring an anti-Israel Resolution to the floor.

There was a legal and moral problem with Egypt’s proposal, however. It would run roughshod over another previous UN Resolution – #242.

Counterfeiting UN decisions

Resolution 242 was drawn up in November 1967 after the Six Day War of June. It raised the non-specific possibility of Israel withdrawing from some territories occupied in that defensive war – but that would only be in the context of a total and comprehensive peace involving all confrontation states. Specific borders were not mentioned in Resolution 242 because there actually were none! Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt were in a technical state of war with Israel since May 1948, and the only lines present were ceasefire lines (which later became Armistice lines – e.g., https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/arm03.asp).

Resolution 242 spoke hopefully about a peace process and the possibility of Israeli withdrawals. But in order not to box Israel in or issues diktats to the country that had survived and triumphed in a defensive war, specifics were left for face-to-face negotiations between the governments of the countries concerned. Those governments did not include ‘Palestine’ since there was then no state called ‘Palestine’ and neither is there such a state today.

Peace treaties – two down, three to go

Israel eventually signed peace treaties with Egypt (https://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/israel-egypt%20peace%20treaty.aspx) on March 26, 1979, and with Jordan (https://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/israel-jordan%20peace%20treaty.aspx) on October 26, 1994. Though Lebanon did sign a peace agreement with Israel on May 17, 1983, it was torpedoed by strong Syrian opposition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_17_Agreement).

Today Lebanon and Syria are still in a state of war with Israel.

The Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank had once all been Jordanian citizens, but on July 31, 1988 King Hussein stepped away from that involvement (www.kinghussein.gov.jo/88_july31.html), attributing his decision to PLO and Arab League pressures. But Palestinian Arabs actually are the majority of Jordan’s citizens. They also have much the same tribal origins and affiliations as do many Arabic-speaking citizens of the State of Israel.

Two enemies of Israel (Egypt and Jordan) signed peace treaties with the Jewish state.
Two enemies (Syria and Lebanon) are still at war with Israel.
Popular PC wisdom considers the Palestinians to be victims of Israel and in need of a state

The world is pushing Israel to give up what it calls ‘East Jerusalem’ (the ancient Jewish capital including the Temple Mount, the Western Wall and the City of David) and the Jewish people’s biblical heartland (Judea and Samaria, popularly known as ‘the West Bank’). These areas came under sovereign Israeli control as a result of the Six Day War in June 1967, a war initiated by nations actively calling for a second Jewish Holocaust.

Islamist and terrorist goals

According to Islamic theology, an area once conquered by the armies of Muhammad becomes waqf (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waqf; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Islamic_Waqf). This means that it can never be surrendered to non-Muslims and must remain in Muslim hands for perpetuity. From this perspective, Israel’s recovery of the Temple Mount, of Jerusalem and of Judea and Samaria is ultimately a burp in Islamic history. Jewish control at the present does not and cannot invalidate prior and priority Muslim control.

The Islamist agenda is quite simple. All areas formerly controlled by Muslim rulers must be returned to full Islamic control – even if those areas once belonged to Christians, Yazidis, followers of Baha’i or Jews.

World pressure on Israel is actually pushing for the same goals as is Islamist pressure on Israel. Modern ‘politically correct’ pressure opposing Jewish settlement in the land of Israel is the same as Islamic pressure opposing Jewish settlement in the same territories

Counsel of darkness

Whereas Resolution 242 did not specify borders and regions, Egypt’s December 2016 draft of Resolution 2334 did. This would be a radical and ground-breaking change. The UN would determine by itself the depth of Israel’s withdrawal. Jerusalem pleaded with the Obama Administration to exercise its veto power on this one. When his appeal was greeted with deaf ears, it seems that Israel contacted President-elect Trump’s people. Trump, seeing the danger and the huge lack of wisdom in the State Department’s approach, contacted Egypt who agreed to withdraw the Resolution.

But now a secret contingency plan swung into action. New Zealand (backed up by Senegal, Malaysia and Venezuela) submitted the Resolution within hours of Egypt’s reversal. The Resolution was voted on and ratified within half a day.

The passing of this Resolution fundamentally changes the whole peace process, profoundly altering previously signed agreements achieved through American mediatorship (like the Oslo Accords).

When a legally binding Resolution insists that Israel withdraw from specific territories, then as far as Israel is concerned there is no more point in further negotiations with the Palestinians. This is simply because such a Resolution has predicated that an Israeli withdrawal must happen in any case. This is an illegal fait accompli. It is a political mugging. Israel will now find it difficult if not impossible to trust prior American-brokered agreements. One can forget about the possibility of any meaningful progress toward a peace agreement regarding the Palestinians.

The U.S. State Department has vociferously insisted over the past few days that it had nothing to do with the Resolution. Yet the truth is somewhat different.

Intelligence sources in the Arab world and elsewhere have been following this American administration’s birthing of an unholy child. On Tuesday evening Egyptian newspaper Al Youm al Sabea leaked transcripts of various secret meetings on December 12, 2016 between (on one hand) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and on the other side Saeb Erekat (top Palestinian negotiator) and Majed Faraj (Director of Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Service).

The article quotes Kerry at one of those meetings expressing distrust of Netanyahu, saying that Bibi wanted to destroy the peace process and only preserve the status quo. The American diplomats called Donald Trump ‘dangerous,’ and gave the Palestinians advice on how to deal with the U.S. President-elect. Kerry told them that the U.S. was prepared to cooperate with the Palestinians on the upcoming Security Council measure (www.timesofisrael.com/transcript-claims-to-show-us-worked-with-palestinians-on-un-resolution/).

State Department Spokesman Mark Toner recently made a nuanced denial, saying that the US had not discussed the language of the upcoming resolution with Erekat or in a meeting with officials from New Zealand. But the left-wing Ha’aretz Israeli newspaper released a report on Tuesday December 27, 2016 that confirms that British legal figures and diplomats drew up the text, working directly with the Palestinians on the wording of the resolution even before it was distributed by Egypt. The British then had New Zealand bring the Resolution to the UN Security Council (www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.761706). American involvement occasionally has a measure of deniability to it.

On November 12, 2016 Secretary of State John Kerry met privately with the Prime Minister of New Zealand where he spoke privately to him about these matters. The U.S. State Department briefing even announced the upcoming meeting: “Secretary Kerry will then travel to Wellington, New Zealand, from November 12-13, where he will meet with Prime Minister John Key and Foreign Minister Murray McCully for consultations on a range of bilateral and global issues” (https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2016/11/264108.htm).

In the hours before the resolution went forward, Prime Minister Netanyahu called New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully and warned him that going ahead with the resolution “will be a declaration of war,” according to Ha’aretz.

For those who have an interest in intelligence matters, the interlocking web of cooperation shown in the above activities is part of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes), comprising New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are bound by the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.

The machinations behind Resolution 2334 are indeed shadowy. The Apostle Paul says that “it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret” (Ephesians 5:12). Yeshua added, “Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Luke 12:3). In this case the shadows are cast on the viability of Jewish control over the Jewish homeland.

Fixating on the daughter of Zion

In spite of nearly 500,000 fatalities in Syria, raging war in Iraq and Yemen, violent Islamist terror in Nigeria, Libya, etc., the UN and the State Department seem to be myopically focusing on Israel’s restoration to its national homeland after more than 2,000 years of Exile, and its rebuilding of roads and apartments in times of war and opposition.

But it needs to emphasized: what Ben-Gurion and the original Zionist pioneers did (draining swamps, clearing land, establishing settlements and kibbutzim in the 1900’s) is exactly the same as the modern construction of Jewish houses in today’s Jerusalem, in Judea and in Samaria.

Years ago, Isaiah commented on the rage that superpowers demonstrated toward little Israel. Mighty Assyria “shakes his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem” (Isaiah 10:32). Yet YHVH of Armies responded to Assyria, “Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel... I know your dwelling place, your going out and your coming in and your rage against Me” (Isaiah 37:22-28).

The restless fixation on the part of the nations of the world on the Jewish people’s return to their Promised Land is at its root a spiritual perversion energized by a spiritual enemy.

The Hebrew prophets declare that at the End of Days “it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it” (Zechariah 12:3).

Rose Gardens and Lebanon

On December 17, 1975 then Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger met S’adun Hammadi, Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Iraqi Ambassador’s residence on Rue d’Andigne, Paris. In that meeting Kissinger volunteered, “We can’t negotiate about the existence of Israel but we can reduce its size to historical proportions ... So I think in ten to fifteen years, Israel will be like Lebanon, struggling for existence, with no influence in the Arab world” (https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB107/iraq04.pdf). This State Department realpolitik position still informs the thinking of many American politicians today.

There was a time when a U.S. President decided to abandon traditional American diplomatic positions vis-à-vis Israel due to Saudi Arabian pressure. President George W. Bush drew up a declaration unilaterally pushing for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Bush’s declaration was fine-tuned and completed on September 10, 2001 in consultation with Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan. It was to be announced by Colin Powell at the UN General Assembly on September 19, 2001 (www.israelbehindthenews.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=1293&q=1).

One day later came the 9/11 al Qa’eda attacks. Fifteen of the 19 jihadi terrorists were actually Saudi nationals. Bush’s declaration was understandably postponed (https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1646921.stm). Eventually the President unveiled it himself at a Rose Garden address on June 24, 2002 (https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020624-3.html).

A history of America’s State Department policies and actions toward Israel can be studied at https://davidstent.com/shakings-weighings-and-divisions-syria-annapolis-and-the-return-of-yhvh-part-three-of-three-cutting-israel-down-to-size/. The State Department never wanted to recognize the Jewish state, never recognized Jewish control over even part of Jerusalem, and usually tried to make a moral equivalence between ‘arsonists’ and ‘firefighters’ – between Palestinian terrorists and Israeli security forces thwarting such terror.

“He who touches you, touches the apple of His eye,” says the prophet Zechariah (2:8).

“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” (Joel 3:1-2).

Kerry’s televised address

Just a few minutes ago (December 28, 2016) Secretary of State Kerry spoke for over an hour on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. His main points were that dividing the land of Israel (the ‘two-state solution’) is the only way to go, and that there is no other viable alternative to establishing a Palestinian state. He said that there would never be a peace agreement without Jerusalem becoming an internationally recognized capital for all three monotheistic faiths (or conversely for both Israel and Palestine). He drew a moral equivalence between Jewish victims of terror and collateral damage in Gaza (where Hamas rockets were being fired at Israeli civilians). He insisted that Jews have no right to build in Palestine and that Israel must entirely vacate Judea and Samaria (with cosmetic changes).

There are a few points worth noting here. The lack of trust Kerry referred to in the area is real. This is because the Palestinian Authority (PA) took advantage of the Oslo Accords, arming and training its security forces – and then had them turn their guns on the IDF and Israeli civilians. When Israel withdrew from Gaza, the IDF’s place was taken by the Islamist terror group Hamas which then rained over 14,000 rockets onto Israeli farms, towns and cities.

A non-militarized Palestinian state is an impossibility even now. The only reason Palestinian terror is held in check is because of IDF and Israeli security services activities in ‘mowing the grass.’ Every night Israeli soldiers raid and capture active terrorists throughout Judea and Samaria. This is the real reason that a two-state solution is in jeopardy, and it has nothing to do with Jewish settlements.

The reason Israelis do not trust the Palestinian leadership is because that leadership is verifiably and murderously not worthy of trust. Without a spiritual change of heart on the Palestinian side, there can be no peace, and any two-state solution is a pipe dream.

Regarding the matter of calling for equal rights and civil rights between Palestinians and Israelis as raised by Kerry: the PA is and has always been criminally shot through with corruption and gross travesties of justice. Most West Bank Palestinians consider it a Mafia-like organization, while Hamas has Gaza under an Islamist dictatorship of great cruelty and bloodthirstiness. To talk about “full equal rights” as a real possibility in Palestinian areas blithely ignores the ‘evil empire’ nature of all of the Palestinian governmental options. There is deception at work here, even as Chamberlain once spoke positive words about Mr. Hitler being ‘a man with whom we can do business.’

The only time Kerry made reference to anything spiritual was at the close of his speech when he referred to the fact that local people have prayed for peace for generations. These secularized ‘spiritual words’ totally side-step the Bible’s clear teaching about the irrevocable calling on and gifts to Israel (Romans 11:28-29) – gifts which include the Promised Jewish homeland and the prophetic promises of Isaiah 2:1-4.

How should we then pray?

Pray for repentance and clear revelation for the leaders of all countries who have voted for this Resolution.

Pray for the point man for the Western world, the United States of America, whose leadership refused to veto this Resolution

Pray for the believers around the world, that they might understand what is happening to Israel and what judgment is coming on the nations of the world as a result

Pray for the leadership of Israel to receive divine wisdom and strategies on how to defend the Jewish state and respond pro-actively

Pray for the protection, strengthening, revelation and salvation of the Jewish people, and that they may lean on Him who can keep them from all evil and all destruction

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical 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

Crossing the line

The U.N. Security Council has just voted Resolution 2334 into law, declaring Israel’s restoration to Jerusalem to be illegal by a vote of 14 to zero. The US represented by Samantha Power abstained on this vote. In 2011 the US vetoed a similar resolution.

What does this vote mean politically, spiritually and biblically? Here are three developing ramifications of this Resolution.

From ‘illegitimate’ to ‘illegal’

A U.N. Security Council (SC) resolution can only be overturned when no other SC member vetoes its reversal. Since enough anti-Israel votes exist among the permanent members of the Security Council, this resolution will not easily be overturned, if ever.

UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-unsc-resolution-approved-dec-23-demanding-israel-stop-all-settlement-activity/; https://twitter.com/UN/status/812377925148405764) breaks ground in a few areas.

On November 22, 1967 after the Six Day War the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which called for the “withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.”

The US Ambassador at the time Arthur Goldberg explained about the meaning of the legal language used in the Resolution “The notable omissions - which were not accidental - in regard to withdrawal are the words ‘the’ or ‘all’ and ‘the June 5, 1967 lines.’ … The resolution speaks of withdrawal from occupied territories without defining the extent of withdrawal.” In simpler language, Goldberg stated that the intent of the Resolution was not to define how much territory (or if any) should be considered. The vagueness was deliberate, and today’s Resolution violates the sense and context of Resolution 242.

On October 29, 1969, the British Foreign Secretary Lord Caradon told the British House of Commons that the withdrawal envisaged by the Resolution would not be from “all the territories.” When asked to explain the British position later, he said: “It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of June 4, 1967, because those positions were undesirable and artificial.”

Up to today, the US State Department has used the term “illegitimate” to describe Jews living in parts of Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria. But they have not used the word “illegal.” This new Resolution 2334 declares that any Jewish structures in East Jerusalem or Judea or Samaria have “no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation under international law.”

This legally binding Resolution on the part of the nations of the world crosses a line and throws down a gauntlet.

If the God of Israel is restoring His Jewish people to their Promised Land according to the words of the Hebrew Prophets in the Bible, then (to use the language of the Resolution) the U.N. has placed itself in flagrant violation of God’s word and its rulings here have no divine validity. The Resolution separates the God of Israel from the people of Israel and the Land of Israel. The stage is set for a showdown between the nations and the God of Jacob.

Cessation and reversal

UN Security Council Resolution 2334 calls for the immediate “cessation of all Israeli settlement activities” and for “affirmative steps to be taken immediately to reverse the negative trends on the ground.” In other words, the nations have issued a legal demand that Israel pack up its bags and leave the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, French Hill, Ramat Eshkol, Ramot, Gilo and Armon Hanatziv – all which lie in East Jerusalem.

Approximately 80% of Jerusalem is Jewish today, and approximately 80% of the population of East Jerusalem is Jewish as well. This Resolution is calling for the removal of Jews from over half of modern Jerusalem, which it defines as “a negative trend.”

These words have a chilling aspect to them which calls to mind the future prophecies of Zechariah 14:1-2.

This Resolution flies in the face of God’s promise to restore Israel to Jerusalem and to her homeland – in spite of what her enemies proclaim.

“Hear the word of YHVH, O nations, and declare in the coastlands afar off. And say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’ For YHVH has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, and they will be radiant over the bounty of YHVH” (Jeremiah 31:10-12).

Economic sanctions and boycott

Resolution 2334 bares its teeth against the Jewish state, calling “upon all States, bearing in mind paragraph 1 of this resolution, to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

This is a call for the world economy to boycott Israeli good produced in Jerusalem, in Ariel, in the farms and vineyards of the Golan or Judea and Samaria. As the Nazis boycotted Jewish businesses in Germany in the 1930’s, so the U.N. has declared open season on Jewish businesses in Israel which are connected in any way to East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

We are living in days which are sickeningly similar to the rise of Nazism. And the U.N. is officiating at this upcoming attack on the economic survival of the Jewish state.

“The whole head is sick” (Isaiah 1:5)

What the God of Israel once spoke about the spiritual condition of His beloved Jewish people is now a propos about the nations of the world. An international decision to label God’s restoration of the Jewish people as illegal, negative, and to be opposed – this indicates spiritual rebellion against the Most High God.

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For YHVH’s portion is His people. Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness. He encircled him. He cared for him. He guarded him as the pupil of His eye” (Deuteronomy 32:8-10).

The God of Israel says that He sets the boundaries and limitations of the nations based on His heart and strategic priority for the Jewish people. Full rebellion takes this principle and reverses it. That is what the U.N. was busy doing today.

“Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against YHVH and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!’ He who sits in the heavens laughs. YHVH scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, ‘But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain’” (Psalm 2:1-6).

Choosing the Sabbath and Hanukkah as the Day of Reckoning

During the days of the Maccabees the Greeks from Syria attacked the Jewish guerilla forces on the Sabbath, knowing that the religious Jews would not fight back on the commanded day of rest. After several terrible slaughters, the decision was made on the part of the Hasmoneans that one could fight back and defend one’s homeland on Shabbat.

This Resolution was passed on the eve of the Sabbath – a Sabbath which opens up into the Feast of Hanukkah. The timing of Resolution 2334 connects the dots between the Greeks who tried to destroy the fledgling Jewish state 2,165 years ago and the modern nations of the world who (through action or inaction) are raising their hand against the Jewish state and sticking their finger into the apple of God’s eye (see Zechariah 2:8).

This planet has suddenly grown darker. Events are kicking in to a higher gear, regardless of the holiday season.

Times and seasons

2017 is a significant year and it is nearly upon us. This year sees the celebration or remembering of significant historical events regarding the Jewish people and the Jewish state:

2017 is 100 years since October 31, 1917 saw the ANZAC forces capture the Beersheba region, winning a decisive and telling victory which swung WWI toward an Allied victory. This led to the establishment of the Jewish Yishuv under the British Palestine Mandate, and laid the foundations for the modern State of Israel.

2017 is 100 years since November 2 1917 saw the issuing of Britain’s Balfour Declaration, a statement by a Great Power calling for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.

2017 is 70 years since November 29, 1947, the ratification by the United Nations of Resolution 181(II), known as the Partition Plan for Palestine. This was the basis for the legal establishment of the State of Israel.

2017 is 50 years after June 1967’s Six Day War, when Jerusalem was once again re-united under Jewish control and the areas of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) were returned to their rightful owners according to the San Remo Conference of 1920.

The spiritual strategy that the enemy is using (and that lies behind Resolution 2334) is to reverse each one of these ‘points of restoration’ regarding the redemption of the Jewish people.

How should we then pray?

Pray for repentance and clear revelation for the leaders of all countries who have voted for this Resolution.

Pray for the United States of America, whose leadership refused to veto this Resolution

Pray for the believers around the world, that they might understand what is happening to Israel and what judgment is coming on the nations of the world as a result

Pray for the leadership of Israel to receive divine wisdom and strategies on how to defend the Jewish state and respond pro-actively

Pray for the protection, strengthening, revelation and salvation of the Jewish people, and that they may lean on Him who can keep them from all evil and all destruction

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical 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

Light shines in the darkness

God’s first words in the Bible are “Let there be light!” (Genesis 1:3). And there was light, and the light was good.

The sun, moon and stars – those heavenly bodies which shine and reflect light – burst forth in praise to their Creator: “Praise Him, sun and moon! Praise Him, all stars of light!” (Psalm 148:3).

Our days, weeks, months and years, our holidays and feasts – our whole lives – are ordered and layered based on the journey of these lights across the heavens. “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years’” (Genesis 1:14).

God is Light, and He shines His light on even the darkest places: “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him” (Daniel 2:22).

Light is the language and the currency of heaven and of His kingdom.

God has no darkness in Him

We can trust in the God of Israel, because He is 100% kosher. There is nothing unkosher about Him. “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

The incredible news that comes at this season, when the Feast of Hanukkah/Lights and the world’s celebration of the birth of the Jewish Messiah fall on the same day, is that God has come to find us and to shine His light upon us. “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). “Then Yeshua again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life’” (John 8:12).

Who knows what darkness lurks in the hearts of men

Many don’t want the light to shine on our innermost thoughts and passions. “Those who rebel against the light, they do not want to know its ways nor abide in its paths…The murderer arises at dawn …and at night he is as a thief. The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’ …In the dark they dig into houses. They shut themselves up by day. They do not know the light” (Job 24:13-16).

The role of the prophet is to shine God’s light into a dark world, to let God’s perspective penetrate the fog and deception that often fills the human heart. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (John 3:19-21).

God’s presence and His wisdom bring light, exposing man’s folly and foolishness. “And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness” (Ecclesiastes 2:13). “But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light” (Ephesians 5:13).

Messengers of light

The God of Jacob has called His Jewish people to be a light to the Gentile world (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; Acts 13:47). He also calls all who follow the Jewish Messiah to shine into the world (Philippians 2:15) as sons of light (1 Thessalonians 5:5).

This message of light is very Jewish and very ancient. Moses and the Hebrew Prophets spoke of it: “I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place – that Messiah was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:23).

When Saul was knocked off his horse on the road to Damascus, the God of Israel declared to him, “I have appointed you …to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18).

The light of His terrible swift sword

When the Lord God of Israel returns to sift the nations, He will come with light and fire to defend the Jewish people and heal their wounds. God’s light will expose the sin and rebellion of the nations as His judgment descends upon them. He did this when He fought against Assyria, and the same principle holds true in days yet future for “YHVH, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 31:9). “Therefore YHVH the God of armies will send a wasting disease among (the enemy’s) stout warriors, and under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame. And the Light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour (the enemy’s) thorns and his briars in a single day” (Isaiah 10:16-17).

“On the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day YHVH binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted” (Isaiah 30:25-26).

This was part and parcel of the Messianic hope that Miriam (Mary) the mother of Yeshua prophesied before His birth: “He has done mighty deeds with His arm. He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty-handed. He has given help to Israel His servant in remembrance of His covenant faithfulness, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever” (Luke 1:51-55).

Gross darkness and burning light

The prophet Isaiah spoke into our day, announcing that heavy spiritual fog would one day spread across the face of the earth, and gross darkness would envelope the nations. Trees that have stood for a thousand years suddenly will fall, as Bob Dylan says. In the midst of that darkness, a miraculous light will shine, shooting down from heavens through the sooty clouds of sin. And that light will pierce through to the face of the Jewish people, setting their countenance and their hearts aflame.

“Arise, shine; for your light has come and the glory of YHVH has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples. But YHVH will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising…No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light. But you will have YHVH for an everlasting light and your God for your glory. Your sun will no longer set nor will your moon wane. For you will have YHVH for an everlasting light and the days of your mourning will be over” (Isaiah 60:1-3, 19-20).

“In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:6). This burning army, also prophesied about by Ezekiel, will shine God’s light on the battlefields of the Middle East, striking terror into the hearts of Israel’s enemies.

As we reflect on God’s amazing light and on His amazing love for mankind, we also remember His covenant faithfulness to His people Israel. To them and through them He has sent Messiah Yeshua – the Light of the world and the Glory of His people Israel (Luke 2:32).

“The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12).

How should we then pray?

Pray for spiritual leaders in your city and your country to receive spiritual revelation and revival about these issues as crisis events raise their heads

Pray for yourself as you sit with God’s word – that He will deepen your understanding and discernment about these issues

Pray for God’s Spirit to fall on Jewish people worldwide, granting revelation about His covenant promises, His marvelous calling on Israel, and His incredible provision of atonement and rescue in Yeshua the Messiah

Pray for the self-declared enemies of the Jewish people – for revelation of these truths, for repentance, for revelation of God’s heart and for works in keeping with repentance on these matters

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical 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