Artillery barrages in the Year of Job

A new Israeli TV series making international media waves is called ‘Valley of Tears’ (in Hebrew, שְׁעַת נְעִילָה‎ / Sha’at Ne'ila – a poetic reference to the final Yom Kippur prayer which traditionally influences one’s physical and spiritual destiny for the coming year). The series focuses on the 1973 Yom Kippur War’s Golan Heights (northern front) battle. The most expensive television series in Israel to date, each episode involved an outlay of over one million dollars.

Called the Ramadan or October War by the Arab world, the Yom Kippur War began with strategic thrusts by the Syrian and Egyptian armies which had been carefully cloaked in deception (see Proverbs 24:6). These sneak attacks were timed to fall on the Jewish people’s holiest day of the year (the Day of Atonement). Hostilities were initiated by a combination of massive artillery barrages and devastating aerial bombing.

Clash of the titans

At the outset of the war, Israel was overwhelmed 10 to 1 on the Golan and 11 to 1 in the Sinai. On the Egyptian front approximately 200,000 Egyptian troops charged against 18,000 Israeli soldiers. Over 2,400 Egyptian tanks hurled themselves at 300 Israeli tanks, while 2,300 Egyptian artillery pieces faced off against 90 Israeli artillery pieces. In the north on the Golan Heights, 45,000 Syrian soldiers confronted 6,000 Israeli forces, approximately 2,000 Syrian tanks faced 188 IDF tanks, and 655 Syrian artillery pieces came against 60 Israeli artillery pieces. 

At exactly 1400 hours on October 6, 1973, 250 Egyptian aircraft overflew the Suez Canal on their way to attack Israeli airbases, command centers, artillery positions, radar installations and anti-aircraft batteries. More than 2,000 Egyptian artillery cannons fired some 10,500 shells and bombs at Israeli targets for 53 long minutes, at the rate of 175 shells per minute (Abouseada, Hamdy Sobhy (1980. The Crossing of the Suez Canal, October 6, 1973 (The Ramadan War) (PDF). USAWC strategy research project. U.S. Army War College. p. 9.).  Similar Syrian moves involved 100 jet fighters striking targets on the Golan, as well as a 50 minute long creeping artillery barrage against Israeli tanks, APCs and bases.

These maneuvers were based on classic Soviet military doctrine – a brief but intense barrage along a broad front by all available artillery, aircraft, mortars and tanks (“Antiarmor Operations on the Golan Heights, October 1973;” Major George E. Knapp;  U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Press  Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 1992).

What’s the goal of an artillery barrage?

A barrage is the aiming of massed, sustained artillery fire at a series of points along a line. It is intended to suppress enemy movement and actions. When an attacking force lays down an earth-shaking blanket of explosion, the defending army cannot see, cannot hear, cannot discern, cannot react. The defenders are blinded, confused and panicked. It is at that point when invading commandos, massed armored forces and regular infantry break through.

These tactics have been used throughout military history. Some trenchant examples would include:

Job and the artillery barrages of Satan

In the Scroll of Job, we are allowed to look into the world of the spirit and observe a discussion between YHVH and Satan:

Job was an unusual man, blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. He would even regularly sacrifice sin offerings for his grown children in case any one of them “had sinned and cursed God in their hearts” (Job 1:5).

Yet Satan (who continually cursed God is his heart) believed that he could get Job to do the same – to curse God or at least to blame Him (see Job 1:22; 2:5, 10). He attempted to do this by bringing stunning tragedy into Job’s life – by destroying his possessions, his privileges and his family. These destructive attacks cascaded down like an artillery barrage, one quickly following the other. Yet still Job did not curse or blame God. Even when the permitted attacks moved to include painful and debilitating disease, Job did not curse God, but he did “curse the day of his birth” (Job 3:1).

The rising toll of ‘mini-catastrophes’ in 2020 has convinced some that this year could be designated “The Year of Job.” Of course, most of us have not experienced the intensities that Job experienced. But the crescendoing litany of social, economic and medical blows (like a massive artillery barrage) has caused many of us to wonder how to respond. Some indeed have cursed God, others have cursed the year 2020 itself, and others still have spoken evil against their own governing leaders.

The goal of an artillery barrage is “to suppress our movement and action.” If this present darkness - this ongoing satanic barrage - is robbing our ability to see, to hear, to discern and to react in godly ways; if this artillery barrage is making us blind, confused and panicked – then it’s a good time to recognize the fact that we are at war. We really are confronting a demonic ‘artillery barrage.’ Those whistling sounds and the crump of ‘shells’ landing close by are not due to an overactive imagination. We’re on the battlefield, and it would be a wise move to stay awake!

The divine comb

Six years ago, during a season of elections in Israel, Rachel was deeply grieved at the nasty polarization that was taking place in Israel, even between followers of Messiah Yeshua. As she was praying about that, she received a vision of a comb and she felt that the Lord saying to her, “I am combing humanity.” The Scriptures talk about God threshing the hearts of individuals and nations (Matthew 3:12; Micah 4:12-13; Isaiah 27:12; 28:27-28, etc.). The City of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount was originally a threshing floor (1 Chronicles 21), and it is in Jerusalem of the End of Days that YHVH will thresh the nations in judgment (Isaiah 41:15; Micah 4:12-13, etc.).

The events of 2020, this rising tally of Job-like blows, are part of God’s divine combing of the hearts of humanity. Will we curse and blame God (the advice of Job’s wife), or will we humble our own hearts and seek His face in these trials? As the world becomes even more polarized, will we be able to hold fast to God, His heart, His perspectives, His character, His ways and His love?

Obsessing in the light

The rapid machine-gun fire of fears and ‘bad news’ oozes out of our iPhones and computer screens on a daily basis. Our hearts are weighed down by the artillery barrage of bad news. Some of us are being driven crazy by gnawing uncertainties. We’re obsessing in the light of our TV’s (see our oh-so-relevant music video ‘All Hands on Deck’). We need to turn to a better light: “YHVH is my light and my salvation! Whom then shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1). Let’s press forward to seek the Lord while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6-13; Hosea 6:3). Let’s continue to seek Yeshua’s face and worship Him. God will restore peace and clarity to our troubled minds. He will grant us new vision and strategies to press forward on the battlefield.

Truth is sweeter than fiction

The Western world was raised on a belief that there are unchanging biblical truths, and that a life worth living must be based on those truths. “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). Messiah Yeshua says that our faithfulness to God’s word (even in times of trial) is what opens our spiritual eyes and ears. As a result, we’ll be able to know what is real and true, and then we’ll be able to walk in God’s freedom: “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

We live in a culture which is rapidly abandoning God and His truth. Most of the information overload coming at us is no longer truth-based but is ‘Op-Ed’ – based on opinions and editorial perspectives. ‘The News’ used to mean real facts; today it describes a cholent, a bouillabaisse of truth mixed with lies. Let’s renew our heart-commitment to clear thinking and truth speaking. But let’s not be surprised at the probable result – we may find ourselves swimming against the stream:

How should we then pray?

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 or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

Ezekiel 37 Institute – second video – teaching on the Minor Prophets – Jonah Part Two

Here is the second video in our new twelve-part video series – teaching on the Minor Prophets –being released on our YouTube channel. Once a week, we are releasing a new episode from this series. Eight of the Twelve Minor Prophets will be presented by Avner Boskey from a Messianic Jewish and Israeli viewpoint. Four of the prophetic books will have two video sessions each, while the other four books will be covered in one video each.

The second video is ‘The Prophet Jonah – Part Two’   https://youtu.be/T1qcwhjinws

We encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel – Signet Ring Media – at the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoX5hxSFWLBUANDaQttw0uQ

If you would like to stay notified of these new releases on the Signet Ring Media channel, after subscribing just click the notification bell 🔔.

For more information regarding the E37 Teaching Institute, visit: https://davidstent.org/e37/

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 or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

Ezekiel 37 Institute – new video series – teaching on the Minor Prophets

We’re delighted to announce that a new twelve-part video series – teaching on the Minor Prophets – is being released on our YouTube channel. Once a week, we will be releasing a new episode from this series. Eight of the Twelve Minor Prophets will be presented by Avner Boskey from a Messianic Jewish and Israeli viewpoint. Four of the prophetic books will have two video sessions each, while the other four books will be covered in one video each.
 
The first video is ‘The Prophet Jonah – Part One’   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-GCylTHgwU

We encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel – Signet Ring Media – at the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoX5hxSFWLBUANDaQttw0uQ
 
If you would like to stay notified of these new releases on the Signet Ring Media channel, after subscribing just click the notification bell 🔔.

For more information regarding the E37 Teaching Institute, visit: https://davidstent.org/e37/
 
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 (PayPal or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

When a home falls apart

Back in the 1980’s Rachel and I had the privilege to meet Steve and Annie Chapman, Nashville recording artists with a wonderful ministry to married couples. One of their great songs touches on blowback from divorce:

All across this nation homes are falling and daily the number increases

And the ones who suffer most aren't the mothers or the fathers – The children are the broken pieces

            The children are the broken pieces when a home falls apart

            The children are the broken pieces – who's going to mend their broken hearts?

And when a nation is fill with broken pieces, it's so hard to build upon the ruins

You mothers and you fathers if you will not stay together, your children pay the price for what you're doing . . .

            (‘Broken Pieces’ © Steve & Annie Chapman, Star Song Records)

Over two thousand years ago the prophet Malachi said much the same:

Denial and the blame game

When a husband declares to his marriage counselor that there really are no problems in his marriage, a red light starts flashing. Or conversely, when the wife states that all the couple’s problems are simply her husband’s fault, something is up. And what is true about individual marriages can also be true about an entire nation.

The recent elections in the U.S.A. reveal sobering dynamics. Approximately 163 million voters (out of  239 million – 66.7%) were listed as having cast a ballot. The initial results showed a comfortable majority for President Trump, but within a few days, amidst much disputation and accusations of electoral fraud, the Democratic candidate had pulled ahead. Today’s estimates are that between 74 and 75 million Americans voted for Trump, while close to 80 million voted for Biden. That’s a lot of voters on both sides of the aisle.

Proverbs 18:18 says that “the cast lot puts an end to quarrels, and decides between the mighty ones,” but the latest U.S. elections points in an opposite direction. Proverbs 18:17 throws light on the present context, “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.” Whereas 77% of all polled Republicans believe that the election was stolen from Trump, only 10% of polled Democrats agree. Over 66% of polled Republicans say that the Presidents lawsuits are helping American democracy, while 84% of canvased Democrats think Trump is harming democracy. Approximately 90% of polled Democrats are relieved with the results of the election, while 67% of canvased Republicans are angry.

Like two spouses on the brink of divorce, acrid disagreement has touched just about every major area of life – the vision for the country; politico-economic direction (free-enterprise versus big government); sexual ethics (biblical morality versus legalized abortion, homosexuality, etc.); freedom of speech/press (public square debate versus big tech/social media censorship); a common historical vision (the Declaration of Independence versus a belief that America’s ‘DNA’ foundations are built on systematic racism).

Mutual accusation, acrimony, sniping and nastiness have exploded on both sides of the body politic, spotlighting long-standing divisions in a country once known as the United States of America. And like children in a divorcing family whose security is shaken to the core, many Americans are in shock. Will daddy and mommy (that is, the United States) separate? Will they actually start hitting each other (will there be civil war)? Will we end up homeless?

Are America’s ‘children’ turning into “the broken pieces as this home falls apart?” Should the motto on the Great Seal of America motto remain ‘e pluribus unum’ (out of many peoples, one nation has arisen), or are things are moving more in the direction of ‘ex uno plures’ (the one united entity breaks down and is transformed into many divided groups)? Is the U.S.A. heading for a ‘no-fault divorce,’ or have the fault lines been visible for some time?

Solomon once said that “a brother who is offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and quarrels are like the bars of a citadel” (Proverbs 18:19). The roots of America’s divisions are spiritual, and her solutions are also ultimately spiritual. Those who advocate a radical and violent departure from America’s original spiritual and ethical foundations are “sowing wind and harvesting a storm” (Hosea 8:7). Ultimately, the “one who troubles his own house will inherit the wind” (Proverbs 11:29).

Progressives versus Primitives

I was raised to be a Communist revolutionary. My parents were disciples of ‘the Gospel according to Karl Marx,’ and as a youth I longed to follow in their footsteps. I was taught to scorn people who were ‘politically incorrect’ – that is to say, right-of-center or even just center. My mother told me that she hoped/prayed that I would never become a capitalist, a fascist or a rabbi. When I studied political science at McGill University in Montreal, my instructors sneered at conservatives, religious people and successful entrepreneurs. I was taught that all revolutionary movements (which they labeled ‘progressive’) were activated and led by elites – intellectuals and left-wingers who had chosen to be on ‘the correct side of history.’ Today these same poisonous perspectives characterize the curricula of most Western universities and the worldview of the mainstream media. Scorn for political and religious conservatives, whether Westerners or Israelis, is considered business-as-usual on the internet, the TV screen and social media.

If Communism is the only politically correct position, then a refusal to bow the knee and worship at a Marxist altar can only be considered as a mental aberration, as a political sickness, as insanity. Indeed, until quite recently those brave Russian souls who publically disagreed with a Marxist view of history (or with Russia’s political activities) were often considered psychiatric cases, and sentenced to brainwashing in psychiatric prisons/institutions known as ‘psikhushka’ (психу́шка - ‘crazy ward’). The forced confinement of dissidents in psychiatric hospitals, where debilitating drugs were administered, was normative KGB practice. The goal was to isolate, discredit and break ‘enemies of the state’ physically and mentally.

Recent trends in America’s mainstream media carry a faint echo of KGB approaches. The suppression, mocking and censorship of eminently newsworthy stories (e.g. legal attempts to investigate potential voter fraud or ‘smoking-gun’ laptops); the categorizing of a sitting President and his party as Russian spies or enemies of democracy; the caricaturing of right-of-center politicians and white Americans as guilty of systematic racism – these (to paraphrase Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’ anthem) feel like they are all part of a slow build-up, like individual “cogs in something turning.” 

The weaponizing of mainstream media and social media (based on philosophy and perspective similar to the KGB’s use of psychiatry) is a developing and worrisome trend leading quite possibly to the rise of a new totalitarianism. Whether led by the Left or by the Right, the toxic results could be the same. And anti-Jewish/anti-Israeli trends are usually not lagging far behind.

Whereas the recent The Plot Against America miniseries aimed it sights at the rise of an anti-Semitic Right, recent developments point soberly to the concurrent rise in America and the West of an anti-Semitic Left (see Abe Greenwald’s article in Commentary, where he describes current events as a revolution “aimed in all directions at once” but it is “most fundamentally a revolution against the United States of America and all it stands for”).

A heart like Pharaoh

In Exodus, YHVH prophesied ten times that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart. The text also tells us ten times that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Whether from YHVH’s perspective or from Pharaoh’s, the hardening of the Egyptian ruler’s heart was a sign and expression of God’s judgment:

When God brings judgment to a nation, it can involve giving its leaders a ‘deluding influence’ – something that will reinforce them in ways not pleasing to YHVH.

A city set on a hill

In the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua challenged His Jewish disciples: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14). He was teaching about righteousness – external and internal, and reminded His followers of their calling to shine in the midst of a dark and evil society (see Philippians 2:12-15).

The Puritan lawyer John Winthrop delivered his sermon, ‘A Model of Christian Charity’ on March 21, 1630 at Holyrood Church in Southampton, England, just before the Massachusetts Bay colonists embarked on the Arbella for Boston. Winthrop warned his fellow Puritans that their new community would be “as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” If the Puritans failed to honor their covenant with God, then their sins and errors would be exposed for all the world to see: “So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.”

America has Winthrop’s challenge as part of her spiritual history. The United States has been the world’s point-man in so many ways. It has been the main super-power, the economic powerhouse of the world, the cutting-edge innovator in military, science, medicine, music, film and theater. Both its triumphs and its sins cannot be hidden.

Every empire has its time in the sun before it fades. The Roman historian Livy (Titus Livius Patavinus) declared that Rome was “a city destined for glory” (Roman History: V.54.4). Edgar Allan Poe spoke of “the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome” (‘To Helen’). The only kingdom which has a guaranteed and prophesied ‘place in the sun’ is a Jewish kingdom – the Davidic Kingdom – when Messiah Yeshua reigns from Jerusalem. Until that day, as Thomas à Kempis noted in his 1418 ‘The Imitation of Christ,’ “O quam cito transit gloria mundi” (“How quickly the glory of the world passes away!”).

How should we then pray?

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 or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

Hanukkah – the fake news, the real news and the kosher message

Many Jewish people have a hard time figuring out what Christmas is about. When I was a young Jewish kid growing up in Catholic-Protestant Quebec, I loved the winking tree lights, the holly and the ivy wreaths, the fact that many people were getting tipsy and acting especially friendly to each other. As a musician, I knew that during the Christmas season there would be paying gigs at parties and dances. But the Christmas message I was hearing focused mostly on Santa, joie de vivre, Nativity scenes, saxophone-soaked Christmas muzak and shopping frenzies. Only after I had a life-changing personal encounter with Yeshua the Messiah of Israel did I begin to discern the real meaning of the Messianic faith, the reason for the season – the prophesied birth of the Jewish Messiah, and His coming to earth in order to give His life as an atonement for all peoples (but with priority to His own Jewish people – Romans 1:16), a Yom Kippur gift to pay for my sins and to wash away my rebellious ways.

Most Christians (and many Jews too!) are similarly confused about the message of Hanukkah. The official line proclaimed by most Jewish religious authorities is that a miracle occurred long ago in the Jerusalem Temple: a one-day supply of kosher candelabrum-oil supernaturally lasted eight days – hence the eight day traditional holiday commemorated by lighting a total of eight little candles.  Problem is, that traditional miracle is nowhere to be found in contemporaneous Jewish historical sources.

Some Jewish traditions are based on ‘fake news’

The ‘fake news’ Hanukkah miracle was added on 400 years after the Maccabean revolt of 168 B.C., a sleight-of-hand tradition ascribed by scholars to a later Pharisaic development. By that time the Maccabees were no longer a revival movement; they had gotten co-opted by the very Greek Hellenistic spiritual forces that they had originally opposed. The Pharisaic rabbis wanted to downplay the Maccabean role in Jewish history (see https://davidstent.org/maccabees-wanna-bes-and-fake-news-the-real-story-of-hanukkah/; https://davidstent.org/when-glory-shatters-the-night/). Their ‘creative’ re-interpretation of Hanukkah thus sidestepped the Maccabean military deliverance, focusing instead on an unconnected ‘miracle’ unknown to Jews of that day.

But Hanukkah is in the Bible and was prophesied by Daniel the seer nearly 400 years before it happened. Read about the heroic Maccabean special forces in Daniel 11:31-32a (also see Hebrews 11:32-28, which quotes from 2 Maccabees 6:21-30; 7:7-36). These flesh and blood Jewish warriors had been raised up by the God of Jacob to wage an all-out guerilla war against the Seleucid (Syrian-Greek) military forces – pagans whose goals included the crushing of Jewish independence, the destruction of the Scriptures and the adulteration of the pure worship of YHVH. Had these Greeks been successful, Messiah might never have been born, nor would the Jewish people have survived as bearers of God’s light to the world.

The Broadway musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’s rousing theme-song ‘Tradition!’ spotlights the love and warmth that Jewish people have had for their religion and feasts. Without question Jews and Christians have many sweet customs connected with the December holidays. But let’s make sure that the traditional stew stays biblically kosher. What Messianic and biblical emphases should be remembered and celebrated at Hanukkah?

Remember to fact-check Greek cynicism and its scorn for Biblical truth

The Greek civilization of Alexander the Great saw itself as the zenith of human achievement. Hellenistic society held out the option of many gods to be worshipped, many expressions of sexuality to indulge in, and many philosophical perspectives on truth (see John 18:38). The Jews, however, were seen as barbarians (βάρβαροι / barbaroi), a nation who did not speak Greek or follow Greek customs. Greek philosophers and pundits scoffed at those who believed in YHVH as the only true God, the Bible as the only accurate book of divine revelation, and the Jewish people as God’s chosen nation. For a Jew to hold his own in such an overwhelmingly pagan and cynical climate took guts and courage. Refusing to bow the ideological knee in political correctness required spiritual backbone. The words of Thomas Paine can well be applied here: “These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink” back from the clash of empires and worldviews (see Hebrews 10:38-39: “But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith for the safekeeping of the soul”).

Alexander the Great’s ‘Great Grecian Reset’ is not YHVH’s goal

Alexander of Macedon had a dream. He would establish a ‘one world’ culture, and the glue to unify his world dictatorship would be Greek – Greek language, art, philosophy, education, town planning, local government, religion, etc. Persia (modern Iran) and Galatia (modern Turkey) were the laboratory for his first experiment – a ‘Great Grecian Reset’ for the planet. Alexander planned to homogenize the populations of Asia and Europe into one huge world-encompassing Hellenistic empire.

Later Roman leaders saw Alexander as their role model. Pompey searched conquered lands of the east for Alexander's 260-year-old cloak, which he then wore as a sign of greatness and authority. Julius Caesar had an equestrian bronze statue dedicated, replacing Alexander's head with his own. Only the Jewish people were the stubborn ones who refused to go along with Alexander’s Greek dreams.

Israel refused to bow the knee to Greece because they had already bowed the knee to YHVH and His strategy. For the God of Jacob also had a dream, and His prophetic dream predates and supersedes Alexander’s. He gave gifts and a calling to the Jewish people, and promised that they would bring life from the dead to the entire planet (see Romans 11:28-29). YHVH marked every Jewish male with an indelible marking called circumcision, and vowed to make Jerusalem the capitol of the world. The God of Jacob’s biblical and prophetic description of this future vision could be called His ‘Great Hebrew Reset.’ Most Christians have not yet grasped the Jewish reality of this, preferring to use all Jewish biblical prophecies as de-ethnicized devotional tools to encourage fellow Christians. But YHVH of armies makes an unshakeable promise: “In those days ten people from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’” (Zechariah 8:23).

Jewish Special Operations Forces are heroes in the Bible’s Hall of Fame

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” The Bible does not shrink from revealing that the God of the Hebrews is a God who is prepared to fight His enemies and defend His children:

The Maccabees were descendants of Aaron, called by God to be priests in Israel. Their forefather Phinehas son of Eleazer was also an Aaronic priest who responded to the challenge and established God’s plumbline in Israel at the point of a sword (see Numbers 25). YHVH commended him, declaring “Behold, I am giving him My covenant of peace. And it shall be for him and for his descendants after him, a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel” (Numbers 25:17-18).

Hanukkah is the feast when we say ‘Amen!’ to King David’s bold declaration – that believers can also be stalwart warriors:

The motto of the Monarch of the United Kingdom echoes these biblical sentiments in the words “Dieu et mon droit!” (see Edward Coke [1671], ‘The Fourth part of the Institutes of Laws of England: Concerning the Jurisdiction of Courts’; “The ancient Motto of the King of England is, God and my right hand shall me defend”).

Quoting the Book of Maccabees, the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews says that the Maccabees “quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight” (Hebrews 11:34). “ And all these … gained approval through their faith,” he concludes (Hebrews 11:39). Hanukkah celebrates their deeds and their testimony, and gives thanks to YHVH Lord of the battle who upheld their right hand.

They who are faithful to the covenant

In his scroll, the prophet Daniel describes the Hanukkah scenario, looking down the prophetic corridors of time. Antiochus Epiphanes IV would strengthen the hand of Hellenistic Jewish apostates, those who sided with Alexander’s Greek ‘one-world vision.’ God describes those assimilated and ‘secularized’ Jews as those “who abandon the holy (Mosaic) covenant and act wickedly toward it.” But those who were faithful to YHVH and to His covenant commands were valiant in teaching, as well as courageous on the battlefield.

The writer of Hebrews leaves us with an encouraging exhortation based on the Maccabees:

Kosher feast, kosher calling, kosher light

Isaiah foresees what will happen when the Jewish people embrace Messiah their Light, and then spread that light across the globe in a ‘Great Hebrew Reset:’ “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” (Isaiah 60:1-3). The fulfilment of Hanukkah is on its way!

How should we then pray?

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 or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

The Marx Brothers, the sanity clause and ‘the Jewish problem’

In the Marx Brothers’ 1935 smash hit “A Night at the Opera,” Fiorello (Chico) and Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho) are in the thick of a business transaction regarding an opera singer’s contract. Fiorello points to a line in the contract and asks “Hey, wait, wait! What does this say here, this thing here?” Driftwood answers, “Oh, that? Oh, that’s the usual clause that’s in every contract. That just says, uh, it says, uh, if any of the parties participating in this contract are shown to be not in their right mind, the entire agreement is automatically nullified.” Fiorello balks, “Well, I don’t know . . . ” Driftwood immediately responds: “It’s alright. That’s, that’s in every contract, That’s, that’s what they call a sanity clause.”  Fiorello barks with laughter, “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You can’t fool me. There ain’t no Sanity Clause!”

Chanukah is fast approaching, with Christmas close behind. Many young folks still gaze with wide-eyed wonder on the yuletide tinsel and the white-bearded Santa Claus.  At the same time, political, economic and military events seem to be going topsy-turvy. It’s a good time to take a deeper look at God’s ‘Sanity Clause’ – His Jewish strategic focus – an important divine key to help bring balance, clarity and light to help drive away the surrounding confusion during these days.

At their wit’s end

The Psalmist describes times which try men’s souls: “They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region . . . hungry and thirsty . . .  Their souls felt weak within them” (Psalm 107:4-5). He adds that “their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken person, and were at their wits’ end” (verses 26-27).  “There were those who lived in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains,” he writes.  The Psalmist explains to us some of the reasons for these hard times. Sometimes it was due to issues beyond people’s control (like storms or drought – verses 23-25, 4). At other times it was because people “had rebelled against the words of God and rejected the plan of the Most High . . . They were afflicted because of their rebellious way and because of their guilty deeds” (verses 10-11, 17).

Grading on a curve?

Some high school teachers grade on a curve, and many of us do it ourselves. We measure our own sins against our neighbors who may even be ‘worse offenders.’ Then we conclude that in comparison we are ‘relatively not that bad.’ But the real benchmark is not relative; its measurements have been set by the God of the Hebrews: “For it is not the one who commends himself that is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends” (2 Corinthians 10:18). It is not elections or public opinion polls which determine the ultimate benchmark, but Messiah Yeshua Himself. “Wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts. And then praise will come to each person from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

The benchmark for each and every one of us is found in the words of Yeshua and the words of Moses. As Messiah said, “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:45-47).

When mankind abandons the words of Yeshua and the words of Moses, when nations and governments lead according to what is wise in their own eyes, the courts of Heaven are not panicked, hastily scrambling about to tweak divine law codes. On the contrary! “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and are clever in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:21; see also Judges 17:6; 21;25). Isaiah declares, “Should a people not consult their God? To the Law and to the Testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because they have no dawn!” (Isaiah 8:19-20).

Denying Thanksgiving

Paul explains that the large majority of mankind “did not honor God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22). It looks like humanity is blindly marching closer to the edge of the cliff and the abyss. So it should not surprise us to behold multitudes (and their leaders) who “do not see fit to acknowledge God” (Romans 1:28) and His ways. Scripture sadly declares that the justice of God gives these men and women up “to a depraved mind” (1:28).

Side-stepping the apostolic warning

Paul cautions the Gentile believers in Rome who live at the very heart of the empire. He extends to them a key which will guide them through all the tumultuous events about to crash down on the Jewish nation and on the Roman Republic. The key to biblical sanity in days of trial is keep our eyes on the prize, to stay on target, to remember that YHVH is adamantly determined to restore the Jewish people and to use them to bring light to the nations: “Do not be arrogant toward the (ed. natural Jewish) branches. But if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in’ . . . Do not be conceited but fear!” (Romans 11:18-20).

The apostolic warning was prophetic. Within 200 years theological arrogance toward the Jewish people received patristic imprimatur. Replacement Theology hijacked the entire Bible, stealing all the prophecies about the Jewish people. Instead of clearly trumpeting God’s love and heart for Israel and preaching His plan to bring restoration and salvation to Jacob’s children, the theologians of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant streams for the most part twisted the clear words of Scripture, turning the Bible and its prophecies exclusively into devotional applications focused on Gentile Christians alone.

This theological theft has brought the curse of Genesis 12:3 down on many in the Body of Christ. YHVH promised Abraham that “the one who despises/sneers at/ condemns/treats with contempt/dishonors” the Jewish people will himself be cursed. Two different Hebrew verbs are used in this phrase. The first verb (meqalelecha) has all the shades of meaning explained above, while the second verb (a’or) clearly refers to negative spiritual cursing.  When Christian theologians overwhelmingly embraced that spiritual theft known as Replacement Theology, they activated the cursing principles in God’s covenant with Abraham. Wearing a cross around one’s neck will not protect one from this Abrahamic curse. Rather, true and biblically-based obedience to Yeshua in these matters is seen when Gentile Christians and theologians bless, honor and protect the Jewish people, their land and their destiny.

The sanity clause and the Jewish problem

The majority of Christians in the world are still walking in ancient yet toxic spiritual footsteps as they continue their wholesale embrace of Replacement Theology. The door to spiritual malaise has been left ajar, and a mutant form of spiritual insanity (denying God’s word and His heart concerning Israel) has seized a foothold.

Here’s a helpful mini-test, a spiritual ‘COVID-19 nose swab’ to help diagnose this virus. When you listen to teaching, preaching and worship, and when you hear scriptures being taught which talk about the Jewish people, their history, their future, their spiritual destiny – are they being used to refer instead to the Church? Are God’s enscripturated promises to the sons and daughters of Jacob being twisted to the point of leaving the Jewish people in the dust while applying those verses to Gentile Christians instead? The vast majority of Christian preachers in nearly every denomination, stream and movement have side-stepped Paul’s warning. The result is that their spiritual understanding of God’s word has been darkened. It is difficult for them to understand what the Scriptures teach concerning God’s heart for the Jewish people and the priority nature of His promises to Israel. This is a form of spiritual insanity which has laid hold of many in the Body of Messiah. What began as a clear violation of apostolic teaching has become the ‘new normal.’

My goal here is not to point out case-by-case infractions –  neither to ‘name names’ nor hand out ‘spiritual reckless driving tickets.’ But this is nevertheless a warning – an apostolic warning based on the apostolic words of Paul: such theological misuse and spiritual theft must stop. The Judge is at the door. “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. For now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:11-12).

"But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will … pay attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons . . . In pointing out these things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Messiah Yeshua, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the good doctrine which you have been following" (1 Timothy 4:1-6).

How should we then pray?

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

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FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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