The Emperor’s New Clothes

Hans Christian Andersen published a children’s fairy tale in 1837 titled ‘The Emperor's New Clothes’ (Danish, Kejserens nye klæder). His story was based on an even older Indian anthology of fables – the Nirvāṇalīlāvatī of Jineśvara – dated to 1052.

In the original Indian fable, a dishonest merchant swindles the king of Śrāvastī (a town located in modern Uttar Pradesh) by offering to weave an expensive supernatural garment which cannot be seen or touched by a person of illegitimate birth. The merchant ‘clothes’ the king in these invisible robes, and presents him before his flattering court. They all pretend to admire the wondrous attire. He is then paraded about his city ‘wearing’ the ‘new royal clothes.’ A brave peasant asks him if he has become a sadhu (holy hermits who sometimes walk around unclothed). The Raj at last realizes that he is the victim of a deceptive scam, but it’s too late! The swindler has already made off with his dishonestly gained loot.

In the political sphere, diplomats and presidents also weave ‘the Emperor’s New Clothes’ – verbal fantasies, schemes and traps –which similarly lack truth and reality. In the Middle East these are sometimes described as ‘peace accords.’ But such Machiavellian schemes are unable to protect Israel’s citizens from real jihadi threats. These superpower intrigues are commonplace, but they will never bring peace. They are invisible pipe-dreams built on sinking sand, and their proffered solutions are as ephemeral as the desert winds.

The current war between Israel and her immediate enemies – the Iranian-supported ‘axis of evil’ (Gaza’s Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Lebanese and Syrian Hezbollah, Iraq’s Kata’eb Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, etc.) – has thrown a spotlight on another ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ dynamic, one to which most news media and op-ed commentators are blind.

Here are the ‘naked’ realities behind these ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ – an uncovering of how these ‘politically correct’ international ‘peace strategies,’ crafted for Middle Eastern consumers, are totally off base. A look at how some Arab countries (who are supposedly peace partners of Israel) have responded to the jihadi atrocities of Hamas on October 7, 2023, reveals the true state-of-affairs between Israel and its Islamic neighbors, as well as the actual dangers confronting the Jewish state.

The battlefield test of reality

A healthy normal reaction to Hamas’ jihadi massacres, rapes and tortures, would be shock, disgust, anger, compassion and a desire to protect Israel and stand with her as a true ally – if these nations truly were peace partners with Israel. But how has it worked out in reality? The answers are depressing but not surprising. The Psalmist saw those same cruel dynamics nearly 3,000 years ago; they have not changed, even in our day:

“Woe to me, for I reside in Meshech! For I have settled among the tents of Kedar [ed., a region in Saudi Arabia]! Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war” (Psalm 120:5-7).

Young David had to deal with similar dynamics. At one point before he became king, David had escaped from Saul’s assassination squads to a region just east of Philistine Gaza. There he found protection under the Philistine chieftain Achish. Eventually the Philistines massed their armies in a major assault against King Saul and all Israel. David found himself in a difficult situation. He would certainly not raise his sword against his own people. But how could he extricate himself from following his Philistine ‘allies’ into this fateful battle against Saul and his armies? The opening skirmishes of the Battle of Gilboa reveal what the Philistines’ real attitude was toward David the Hebrew warrior:

Now the Philistines gathered all their armies to Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring which is in Jezreel.And the military commanders of the Philistines were proceeding on, leading hundreds and thousands, and David and his men were proceeding in the back [of the military procession] with Achish. Then the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found nothing at all suspicious in him since the day he deserted to me to this day?” But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with [Achish], and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Make the man go back, so that he will return to his place where you have assigned him, and do not let him go down to battle with us, or in the battle he may become an adversary to us. For how could this man find favor with his lord [King Saul]? Would it not be with the heads of these [Philistine] men? Is this not David, of whom they sing in the dances, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’” (1 Samuel 29:1-5)

These Philistine generals were gruff military men. They knew that the tenuous ‘peace’ between the Philistine king Achish and David was not ‘a marriage made in heaven,’ It could collapse at any moment – even on the field of battle. They knew in their gut that such ‘peace accords’ were not to be depended upon. In the same way, in our day Egypt and Jordan, Morocco and Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are undependable weak reeds, easily breaking apart in times of crisis. These nations are not dependable ‘peace partners,’ as Isaiah so eloquently stated:

“Behold, you have relied on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him” (Isaiah 36:6).

Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with She’ol we have made a pact. The gushing flood will not reach us when it passes by – because we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.” (Isaiah 28:15)

Egypt – a cold heart, a cold peace

Egypt is one of the original biblical superpowers. Its power and influence were always a threat to the Jewish state:

Therefore this is what YHVH God of armies says: “My people, you who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod, and lifts up his staff against you the way Egypt did” (Isaiah 10:24)

Though Egypt was originally a Hamitic (non-Abrahamic) country (see Psalm 78:51; Psalm 105:23) and remains mostly Hamitic to this day, the Bedouin of Mohammed’s jihadi armies conquered that land, forcing the inhabitants to bow the knee to Islam or face decapitation or slavery, and making Arabic the national language. Modern Egyptians are thus a blend of ancient Hamitic Copts, Hamitic Sudanese, and a sprinkling of Ishmaelite Islamist colonizers.

The loathing of the Jewish people which was injected into Egyptian society owes its origins to classical Islam’s anti-Jewish roots.

Asiem El-Difraoui, a Middle East expert with the Berlin Institute for Media and Communications Policy, explains: “The views of the Egyptian people are extremely anti-Israeli . . . The peace created by the Camp David agreement is, in reality, a very cold peace.”

The former Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, said in an October 19, 2023 address delivered in the Egyptian parliament:

“From this blessed house, I am sending a message to the Israeli government. That Zionist state – or rather, that Zionist entity – seems to have grown old, and the time for its demise has come. It is time for it to be gone”

Egypt – led by a Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas-affiliated President

The former President of Egypt Mohammad Morsi (2012-2013) was an official member of the Muslim Brotherhood – the spawning ground for the PLO, al Qa’eda, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Hamas. In 1995, he became a member of the Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau, the group’s highest decision-making body. Morsi was chosen as a member of the Zionist Resistance Committee, and was a founding member in the Egyptian Committee for Combating the Zionist Project. In 2010 Morsi publicly referred to the “Zionists [as] bloodsuckers and warmongers, and descendants of pigs and apes.” In 2012, the year he became President of Egypt, Morsi declared:

“They (Israelis) have to be driven out of our lands. Therefore, these negotiations must stop once and for all. Everybody must turn to the support of the resistance.” Morsi also rejected the planned two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians in an interview with al-Quds TV, which is close to the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas: “We want a country for the Palestinians on the entire land of Palestine on the basis of Palestinian citizenship. . . All the talk about a two-state solution and about peace is nothing but an illusion, which the Arabs have been chasing for a long time now.”

On June 24, 2012, just prior to becoming President, Morsi stated to an Iranian reporter from the Fars Network: “We will reconsider the Camp David Accord” the US-brokered ‘peace treaty’ between Israel and Egypt. This ‘peace accord’ involved Israel pulling back from Sinai, taken by the Jewish state in the defensive Six Day War in June 1967.

During that same year Morsi visited Iran, the first visit by an Egyptian leader since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. “We must restore normal relations with Iran based on shared interests and expand areas of political coordination and economic cooperation because this will create a balance of pressure in the region,” he stated.

According to Egyptian journalist Adnan Abu Amer, Mohammed Morsi was a true friend to Hamas in Gaza: “Morsi drew Hamas closer . . . He met them frequently in Egypt, often in the closed rooms of the secret services, which was unusual for an Egyptian president”

Egypt – ripping up the ‘peace accords’

Two recent comments from Egyptian Members of Parliament reveal that anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli attitudes are actually mainstream in that country:

On November 21, 2023 Egyptian MP Mustafa Bakri stated to the House:

“The Egyptians are boiling with rage! We are boiling with rage! We cannot tolerate what is happening. We no longer care whether we live or die. We are all prepared to become martyrs for the sake of Palestine and Egypt. But when it comes to crisis management – freeze relations [with Israel]! Recall our ambassador [from Israel] and deport the [Israeli] dog from Egypt! Take practical steps. We are behind you, Mr. Prime Minister! We are behind you. This is the matter of life and death for us. We are all prepared to die for Egypt!”

At that same parliamentary meeting, MP Dia El-Din Dawood tore up a copy of the Camp David Accords at the podium, declaring: “We have a [peace] agreement [with Israel]. I disagree with it. This agreement ties Egypt's hands . . . If this agreement is so meaningless, we should tear it apart, for the sake of Egyptian and Arab national security . . . We should make this Nazi country face facts on the ground. [Israel] is the successor of the colonialism of the past, and the ally of present-day colonialism. It is the ally of all the colonialist regimes, in an attempt to destroy the region, with Egypt being the top prize . . . Many fall into humiliating normalization [with Israel]. We have signed an agreement [with Israel] more than fifty years ago, but here it is, torn up by the Egyptian people who have never cooperated with it.”

Many Egyptian voices (since the signing of the Camp David Accords) have repeatedly harped on their burning desire to suspend the ‘peace treaty’ with Israel and to go to war with the Jewish state. In light of that history, the recent anonymous Egyptian high-level calls for suspending the Camp David accords is nothing new, and it is not primarily a response to Israel’s highly successful military campaign, aimed at destroying Hamas’ military abilities and threats to the Jewish state:

“Biden and Netanyahu spoke after two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat said Egypt threatened to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if troops are sent into Rafah, where Egypt fears fighting could push Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula and force the closure of Gaza’s main aid supply route. The threat [is] to suspend the Camp David Accords, a cornerstone of regional stability for nearly a half-century”

“No more war, no more bloodshed”?

Major-General (retired) Yitzhak Brik has been warning for years about concrete threats from Hamas, Hezbollah and Egypt. For the most part, the IDF’s top brass and military intelligence leaders have ignored his jeremiads, which included a clear warning about the possibility of an ‘October 7’ Hamas attack.

On February 11, 2024 Major-General Brik warned again, this time about the threat from Egypt:

“But today, there is a very big problem with Egypt. They . . . threaten that if we start doing various things that will cause masses to cross into Sinai, then they will stop the peace. Although it's a poor country, [Egypt] is the strongest army in the Middle East today – 4,000 tanks, 2,000 modern ones, hundreds of the most advanced aircraft, and a navy of the best there is. For years, they've been building highways into Sinai. We're the target. They're not building the army for anywhere else. This means [that if they make] one decision to cancel peace, they become an enemy state, and we don't even have a brigade to stand against it.”

The knee-jerk tendency of Egypt to threaten an annulment of the Camp David Accords, shows the tenuous nature both of those accords and of Egypt’s trustworthiness vis-à-vis Israel.

Egypt would happily do harm to Israel

Three power brokers are pushing for a deal between Hamas and Israel – Egypt, Qatar and the USA. All three are on record as pushing for the establishment of a Palestinian state led by terrorists on portions of the Land promised by God to the Jewish people. Egypt’s proposals in late December 2023 contain terms and conditions which would empower both Hamas and the establishment of a jihadi terrorist state in the heartland of Israel:

“The second phase would see an Egypt-sponsored ‘Palestinian national talk’ aimed at ending the division between Palestinian factions – mainly the Fatah party-dominated Palestinian Authority and Hamas – and leading to the formation of a technocratic government in the West Bank and Gaza that would oversee the reconstruction of the Strip and pave the way for Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections.”

The third stage of the Egyptian proposal includes the release of many Palestinian jihadi terrorists who have murdered Israelis, including those who raped, murdered and tortured Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023.

At present Hamas is able to resupply its terror forces with arms, gas, food, medicine and the smuggling in of many goods that Hamas needs to continue its jihad against Israel. These all come from underground tunnels that start in Egypt and end in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Fat bribes grease the operation of these jihadi tunnels, and the Egyptian leaders of both army and intelligence allow the smooth running of this system. Hamas is very much dependent on Egypt’s support, and Egypt is very much responsible for Hamas’ survival and continuing terror activities.

The existence of an official ‘peace accord’ between Egypt and Israel does not mean that true peace exists between these countries. What is going on is even less than ‘a virtual peace.’

Jordan – condoning calls for jihad against Jewish Jerusalem

In the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan’s Parliament (House of Representatives), jihadi declarations calling for Israel’s destruction are commonplace. These are permitted by a country which has a ‘peace agreement’ with Israel.

On Tuesday, July 17, 2018, a Jordanian parliamentarian named Huda Etoom told the gathering of her late mother’s desire to be a suicide bomber and kill ‘Zionist Jews:’

“A single desire was left in her soul: to don an explosives belt and blow herself up among the Zionist Jews. This is an example of our sentiment – the sentiment of all free people . . . We shall continue to feel remiss unless we are martyred on the land of Palestine.” Etoom said the Palestinian cause “is a priority on which we must not compromise,” and called for a free state of Palestine, spanning from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.

Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh said on a November 21, 2023 Saudi Al-Arabiya Network program that peace with Israel is Jordan’s strategic choice. However, he added that if Israel breaches the peace agreement in a material and contractual manner that poses a danger to Jordan’s national security, then “all our options would be on the table.” Like Egypt, Jordan is announcing its attempts to hobble and prevent Israel from removing the threat of Hamas’ jihadi forces to the Jewish state.

Jordan’s encouraging such statements of enmity and threat to Israel in the wake of October 7 show that once again, like Egypt, there is a cold heart toward the Jewish state. Jordan is involved in strategic moves to weaken and ultimately bring down its Hebrew ‘peace partner.’

How should we then pray?

Pray for clear revelation to be given to the Jewish people and their leaders about the tenuous and deceptive nature of what is falsely called ‘the peace process’

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 134 Israelis (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Hamas is also holding onto many corpses (35-55) as bargaining chips

Pray for Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza to be decisively shattered and for all chains broken off the Palestinians living there, and for Iran’s role in jihadi deception, dissimulation and anti-Semitism to be exposed and opposed by world leaders

Pray that Israel’s leadership be granted justice, clarity, moral courage, discernment and divine strategies in utterly destroying the jihadi threat in all of its aspects, and for minimal loss of life for Israel’s defense forces and for those Gazans who are truly innocent

Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

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 weaponization of intelligence

In the days of Moses, the twelve Jewish spies – one for each tribe of Israel – spent forty days reconnoitering throughout the Land of Israel, from south of Beersheva to the Golan Heights (Numbers 13:25-33):

When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, they went on and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. And they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. So they reported to him and said, “We came into the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And indeed, we saw the descendants of Anak there! Amalek is living in the land of the Negev, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, because they are too strong for us.” So they brought a bad report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying, “The land through which we have gone to spy out is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are people of great stature. We also saw the Nephilim there (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim). And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

The God of Jacob uses this historical event to warn his people: Be on guard against evil propaganda meant to sow fear or unbelief!

Warfare is not only prosecuted by force of arms; often it is carried out by striking fear into the heart of the enemy. The ancient Chinese general and military strategist Sun Tzu said: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

Moses reminds Israel of their recent history, when the ten spies struck fear into the hearts of their own people by overestimating the power of the enemy to resist YHVH and His Jewish armies:

“Yet you were unwilling to go up. Instead, you rebelled against the command of YHVH your God. And you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because YHVH hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we. The cities are large and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.’’ But I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, nor fear them’’ (Deuteronomy 1:26-29)

Evil reports in our day

Part of the battle going on between Hamas and Israel involves what can be called ‘information wars.’ Hamas and its main bankroller Qatar (a US ally) smother the media airwaves through their jihadi TV/media platform al Jazeera with negative propaganda. It is meant both to weaken Israeli resolve and to crush pro-Israeli support among the nations.

Those Western power brokers who are connected to Qatar and its strategic goals – including the US State Department and most American media outlets – ensure and enforce ‘evil reports’ against the Jewish state through anti-Israel reporting and op-eds.

The work of their hands is crafted to do the same as the evil report of the ten spies in Moses’ day.

Here are some very recent examples, where Israeli mainstream media and American anonymous sources spread unbelief and fear:

“US intelligence officials told members of Congress earlier this week that Israel had damaged Hamas’s combat abilities, but is not close to achieving its war aim of eliminating the terrorist organization militarily, The New York Times reports, citing ‘American officials’”

“Israel cannot beat Hamas. It's time to halt the fighting and think ahead . . . Israel will not win this war. In three critical areas Hamas, followed by Hezbollah, succeeded in setting the rules of the game, and the longer the war continues, the worse their implications will be”

The RAND Corporation: “Dealing with Hamas in Gaza puts Israel in a strategic quandary: It needs to exert enough force to deter Hamas from attacking but not so much that it topples the regime. As one Israeli defense analyst put it, ‘We want to break their bones without putting them in the hospital’”

Wall Street Journal: “Israel’s conflict with Hamas is set to be a long one – with both sides struggling to accomplish their fundamental aims and no clear path to any kind of enduring peace”

Palestinian Authority: “Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh claimed Thursday that Israel’s war goal of eradicating Hamas is impossible to achieve because the terror group exists as an ‘idea’ and many of its top members aren’t even in the Gaza Strip”

Josep Borrell, EU Foreign Policy Chief: “There is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas is first and foremost an idea, and you can’t kill an idea with bombs. The only way to kill a bad idea is to propose a better one, one that gives hope and confidence in a future where peace is possible. This can and must be the implementation of the two-state solution”

Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi said, at a November 8, 2023 conference organized by the Amman municipality, that “Hamas is an idea and ideas do not die”

A word to the wise, direct from YHVH

When the sons and daughters of Jacob allowed the words of an evil report to enter into their hearts and then to be confessed out of their own mouths, the God of Israel responded very soberly:

Then all the congregation raised their voices and cried out, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. And the entire congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or even if we had died in this wilderness! So why is YHVH bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder! Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt!” (Numbers 14:1-4)

There is a spiritual responsibility and an accountability which happens when people buy into an evil report – especially when YHVH has already declared His views and perspectives about that situation.

The children of Israel had expressed what might seem to be a valid concern about the well-being of their wives and children – a fear of what harm the Canaanites and other pagan tribes might do to their families. The God of Jacob revealed that fear and unbelief were lurking behind their supposedly ‘realistic concerns.’ But that desert generation would not enter the Promised Land; their children (for whom they were supposedly afraid), would be the victorious army which would put Canaan’s pagan warriors to flight:

YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron again, saying, “How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel which they are voicing against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares YHVH, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you; your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all your numbered men according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. By no means will you come into the land where I swore to settle you, except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become plunder – I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected” (Numbers 14:26-31).

Instead of rebuke – encouragement

Moses’ understudy, Joshua son of Nun, was given strong words of encouragement from YHVH Himself. The God of Jacob refers Joshua back to how Israel believed an evil report, and reminds him of how YHVH promised that their children (about whom they ‘feared’) would triumph against Israel’s enemies on the battlefield:

“Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall himself enter there; encourage him, for he will give it to Israel as an inheritance. Moreover, your little ones who, you said, would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall take possession of it” (Deuteronomy 1:38-39)

Some of us are physical descendants of these warriors; others walk in their spiritual army boots! All of us can draw great encouragement and strengthening from God’s strategic heart-message to us at this moment in history!

How should we then pray?

Pray for clear revelation to be given to the Jewish people, to all believers and to humanity as a whole about what is true and what is an evil report regarding Israel and Hamas

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 136 Israelis (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Hamas is also holding onto many corpses (35-55) as bargaining chips

Pray for Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza to be decisively shattered and for all chains broken off the Palestinians living there, and for Iran’s role in jihadi deception, dissimulation and anti-Semitism to be exposed and opposed by world leaders

Pray that Israel’s leadership be granted justice, clarity, moral courage, discernment and divine strategies in utterly destroying the jihadi threat in all of its aspects, and for minimal loss of life for Israel’s defense forces and for those Gazans who are truly innocent

Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

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 Groom’s still waiting at the altar

In the Summer of 1980 Bob Dylan wrote one of his greatest songs ever, according to Rolling Stone magazine. ‘The Groom’s still waiting at the altar’ has biblical and apocalyptic language and, like his classic ‘Neighborhood Bully,’ leaves a trail of bread crumbs which leads the listener through the mists to come face-to-face with the Jewish homeland of Israel:

West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain risin’ on a new age
See the groom still waitin’ at the altar (Copyright © 1981 by Special Rider Music)

Israel’s location is certainly west of the Jordan River and east of the Rock of Gibraltar. And the ongoing prophetic return of the Jewish people to their Promised Land is a wake-up call to the world – a turning of the page of history, and a curtain rising on a new age, one where Messiah Yeshua will reign over the entire planet from Jerusalem:

“Behold, a son will be born to you, who shall be a man of rest [Hebrew, shalom]and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. For his name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a House for My name, and he shall be My son and I will be his Father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever” (1 Chronicles 22:9-10)

Then I heard Him speaking to me from the House, while a man was standing beside me. And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever” (Ezekiel 43:6-7a)

“And it shall be in those days when you become numerous and are fruitful in the land, declares YHVH, they will no longer say, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of YHVH’! And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor miss it, nor will it be made again. At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of YHVH,’ and all the nations will assemble at it, at Jerusalem, for the name of YHVH. And they will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the House of Judah will walk with the House of Israel. And they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance” (Jeremiah 3:16-18)

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him ‘Yeshua.’ He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the House of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:31-33)

“And just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:29-30)

Then Peter responded and said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You. What then will there be for us?” And Yeshua said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me – in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne – you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:27-28)

YHVH of armies says this: “It will yet turn out that peoples will come, that is, the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, ‘Let’s go at once to plead for the favor of YHVH, and to seek YHVH of armies; I also will go.’ So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek YHVH of armies in Jerusalem, and to plead for the favor of YHVH.” YHVH of armies says this: “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 8:20-23)

The River Jordan we know, and the Rock of Gibraltar we know. The turning of the page and the coming in of the new Davidic age we also somewhat grasp. But who is the Groom, and why is He still waiting at the altar?

Isaiah’s double entendre

Dylan has always dappled his songwriting with biblical allusions, from the folk-anthem ‘Blowing in the Wind’ to the Grammy-winning ‘Gotta Serve Somebody.’ He is eminently comfortable guiding a biblical phrase or parable onto unexpected and surprising paths.

The Scriptures refer to the ‘groom’ in two interesting ways:

One is described by Yohanan the Immerser (known worldwide as John the Baptist) who declared: “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the Groom. But the friend of the Groom, who stands and listens to Him, rejoices greatly because of the Groom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:28-30). John describes himself as the friend of Yeshua the Messianic Bridegroom. John rejoiced to see Yeshua’s First Coming, knowing all the while that John’s own ministry would diminish and ultimately fade away as Yeshua stepped into His prophesied calling.

The second reference is in Isaiah 62, where the Jewish people are described as the bridegroom who will marry – be re-united to – the Land of Israel in a Last Days prophetic consummation. There they will return to their own Promised Land and, in the words of the Hebrew prophets, will ‘re-marry’ that Land. This biblical passage adds another facet to the prophetic diamond: It describes YHVH the God of Jacob as Israel’s Groom who will remarry the Jewish people – whom He calls His own precious Wife:

It will no longer be said to you, ‘Forsaken,’ [Hebrew, azuva] nor to your land will it any longer be said, ‘Desolate’ [Hebrew, shmama] But you will be called, “My delight is in her” [Hebrew, heftzi va] and your land, “Married” [be’ulah]. For YHVH delights in you, and to Him your land will be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you. And as the groom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you (Isaiah 62:4-5)

The demonic matchmaking of the nations

The holiness of marriage – the exhilarating union of man and woman – reflects the craftsmanship and passion of the Original Matchmaker.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24)

And [Yeshua] answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate” (Matthew 19:4-6)

The wonder of marriage invites us to take a deeper look. It points us to more fully perceive God’s passion to be intimate with His Jewish people. It also applies (in another context) to the relationship between all believers and Yeshua. Let’s look at some conclusions here:

When God joins a man and woman in marriage, let no one attempt to separate husband and wife

When God joins Himself to the Jewish people, let no theologian attempt to separate God from His Jewish people through Replacement Theology

When God joins the Jewish homeland both to Himself and to the Jewish people, let no religion or superpower attempt to separate God from the Land He promised to Jacob, nor attempt to separate the Jewish people from the Land God has promised to them.

All attempts to divide the Jewish people from their Land of inheritance by ‘re-marrying the Land’ to the enemies of the Jewish people – these bring the judgment of God on these evil actors. They might be the PLO/PA, Hamas, Iran, the US State Department, the British Foreign Ministry or the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. They might even be the preachers and teachers of false teachings espoused by Replacement Theology in all of its forms – whether Catholic, Orthodox, Reformed, Evangelical or Charismatic Christianity, or even Islamist triumphalism (the most recent champion of Replacement theology). Whatever the origin and whoever the instigator, it should be remembered: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap (Galatians 6:7).

Let’s sum up some conclusions here:

YHVH the Groom is still waiting at the altar for His Jewish people to turn to Him in a renewal of marital vows (see Hosea 2:14-23)

The Jewish people are waiting for their sleeping soul to be wakened, filled with a love for YHVH and for their Land (see Ezekiel 37:1-13)

God is waiting on the Jewish people – for them to catalyze His Last Days world revival and international redemption, the fruit of their turning in love-filled repentance to Messiah Yeshua, entreating Him to come back to His lost sheep of Israel and to Jerusalem His city (see Romans 11:12-15; Matthew 15:24).

Men who understood the times

The rock group Chicago’s lead singer Robert Lamm once asked: “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?” This question can certainly be posed to all who follow Messiah Yeshua today.

The Jewish tribe of Issachar was given a special gift by the God of Jacob: “The sons of Issachar [were] men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). Issachar was given unusual discernment so that they could guide the Jewish people in the military, governmental and spiritual challenges they faced. What are the challenges facing the Jewish people today, and are Christians and Jews who follow Messiah Yeshua aware of the challenges yet to be faced?

Many dear people are tone-deaf to the fast-paced changes sweeping across Planet Earth. Many are pre-occupied with the pursuit of things that will never satisfy, which will never connect us to eternal realities, as C.S. Lewis once put it:

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek

I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin

I talk of love – a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek –

But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin (from the poem ‘As the Ruin Falls’)

All around us, events are picking up speed. Whereas in times past, earth-shaking events happened once a decade, it seems that they are now happening twice a week. The sound of rushing and roaring surrounds us, as Isaiah prophesied: “Oh, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rumbling of nations who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters!” (Isaiah 17:12).

There is a temptation for some to envision Middle Eastern events concerning Israel as simply being moves on a divine chessboard, and to view the Jewish people as merely an ivory chess piece in God’s strategic gambit. Some are teaching that the horrific Hamas jihadi rapes, murders, tortures and kidnappings of October 7 should primarily be interpreted as a prophetic fulfilment of Last Days prophecies like Psalm 83 – ‘something which needed to be accomplished so that Jesus can return.’

Certainly, Psalm 83 is highly important and highly relevant in our day – though not all the protagonists in that Psalm are yet in place. But disasters befalling the Jewish people are not to be looked at through dispassionate theological spectacles. What is needed is something more human: Unless we are interceding with tears for the Jewish people, unless we understand how precious they are to God, unless we clearly grasp how YHVH will use the Jewish people to judge the nations of the world, and how the God of Jacob will restore Israel to their biblical and priority calling – there is a clear and present danger that we will dehumanize Israel’s divine calling. The result could then be that we will become callous in our own hearts and in the clarity of our perceptions as well.

Years ago I gave a teaching titled ‘The Tears of God and the Womb of the Nations.’ That message delved into the importance of grasping how God feels about His beloved Jewish people, how He weeps over them, and how the intercession of the nations for Israel’s protection, salvation, victory and restoration is an important key to the move of God on this planet.

“But where I live, the game to play is compromise solution”

Mick Jagger’s famous line from the Rolling Stones’ 1968 hit ‘Street Fighting Man’ aptly sums up current superpower politics in the Middle East. Of course, superpowers tend to disregard the word of God regarding His irrevocable gifts and calling on the Jewish people. They try to solve ‘the Middle East problem’ based on compromise solution and realpolitik. The end result of such conniving is bound to lead to no good. As Zechariah the prophet wryly noted, “It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will injure themselves severely. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it” (Zechariah 12:3).

According to Joshua 15:1,47, Gaza is part of the Land that the God of Jacob swore by His own name to give to the sons and daughters of Israel. From YHVH’s perspective, Gaza is as much a part of the Promised Land as is Givatayim in Greater Tel Aviv. Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip is just as much a part of the Promised Land as is Kfar Saba, just north of Tel Aviv. Whether it is due to blindness, to ignorance or even to spiritual hubris, the nations of the world are currently gathering – USA, UK, Germany, France, etc. – to decide how they will divide up the Land of Israel. Current headlines trumpet the flowering of the process.

At a State Department Press Briefing on January 3, 2024. Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller stated:

We have made quite clear publicly that we support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. That has been the policy of the United States for some time. It has been the policy of this administration . . . There are any number of ways that you could go about accomplishing that. There are any number of sequencing of events that you could carry out to accomplish that objective. And we look at a wide range of options, and we discuss those with partners in the region . . . We support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and we do a lot of work inside the government to think about how to bring that about . . . We are actively pursuing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state – with real security guarantees for Israel, because we do believe that is the best way to bring about lasting peace and security for Israel, for Palestinians, and for the region.

A January 28, 2024 report in the Times of Israel reveals that the USA has turned to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey, calling them ‘regional stakeholders’ who will enable the PLO/Palestinian Authority to transition into governing Gaza and the West Bank, thus creating a pathway to a Palestinian state. As mentioned in our previous newsletters, this international scheme empowers and establishes the Palestinian Authority (an organization neck-deep in terror and jihad) to become joint-owners of the Land of Israel.

The US is advancing a ‘contact group’ with Middle East allies aimed at coalescing around a united policy for managing the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war, a Biden administration official and a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought the idea to leaders from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey when he visited the region earlier this month and got approval from each country to move forward with the initiative, the two officials said. The US is asking regional stakeholders to play a role in the reconstruction and management of Gaza after the war, and hopes that the contact group will allow for ideas to be raised and advanced in a single forum, the administration official said . . . Each country has been tasked with picking a representative on the contact group, with Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf being the US delegate, according to the administration official. The forum is expected to begin holding largely virtual working group meetings next month . . . The US has also been pushing for the establishment of a separate contact group with European partners to hold similar discussions regarding the ‘day after’ in Gaza . . . “They’ve discussed the idea of having President Biden come to the region or invite leaders to the White House to make the final sell,” the senior Arab diplomat said, speculating that Netanyahu would have a harder time saying “no” under such conditions . . . In a statement to The Times of Israel, a State Department spokesperson did not deny the existence of the contact group, saying, “We continue to engage with a range of stakeholders on many issues related to the Gaza conflict, including post-conflict issues . . . We have nothing to share regarding private diplomatic discussions,” the spokesperson added . . . Much of the success of the contact groups hinges on a major scale-back – if not a complete end – to the war, as well as cooperation from Israel, two conditions that have not yet been met.

Let’s look at this short list of six Middle Eastern nations:

Qatar and Turkey are the biggest bankrollers of the jihadi terror group Hamas.
Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have strong national Muslim Brotherhood groups (the spiritual ‘father’ of Hamas and al Qa’eda) intent on overthrowing their present ‘pro-Western’ governments.
For decades Egypt has turned a blind eye as Hamas smuggled weapons across the border into Gaza.
Five of these six countries have a hyper-active anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli media.

And these are the ‘regional stakeholders’ that the US administration has chosen to work with in order to establish a Palestinian terror state in Gaza and the West Bank?

These superpower moves are not only aiding and abetting Israel’s enemies in their move toward achieving genocidal goals. They are increasing the likelihood of empowering a repeat of the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror pogroms (which involved mass murder, mass rape, torture and kidnapping of Israeli civilians). The attempt to establish a PLO state (which would quickly be overthrown by Hamas, as happened in Gaza in 2006-2007) reveals that an inherent spiritual schizophrenia has wrapped its demonic roots around US and European policies. If left unchecked, these moves constitute a clear and present danger to Israel’s survival. In the words of Bob Dylan, “Can you imagine the darkness that will fall from on high” when the God of Israel will bring His righteous judgment on those nations who violate His clear commandments concerning these issues?

The world has been slow to learn many lessons of history: not taking Hitler’s Holocaust prophecies seriously; the danger of signing ‘peace deals’ with the perpetrators of the Munich Olympics massacres and the instigators of the First and Second Intifadas; and quite recently, standing with a stopwatch in hand, threatening Israel with a banana-republic putsch to unseat Prime Minister Netanyahu if the IDF continues to pursue its goal of totally removing the jihadi terror group Hamas from Gaza. How can Western superpowers blow the referee’s whistle and call a time-out, before these murderers, rapists, torturers and kidnappers have been eliminated and justice has been done?

Gaza – never to be part of the Promised Land but forever to be part of a Palestinian state

According to the US State Department, Israel must never be allowed to return to Gaza. The leaders of the US, the UK and the EU avow that the Jewish state should not even be considered a stakeholder in determining what happens with Gaza or the West Bank. At the same State Department briefing mentioned above, Matthew Miller declared: “We have raised with [the Israeli Government] the issue of the establishment of a buffer zone [in Gaza, to prevent jihadi terror attacks against Israeli citizens] . . . We are opposed to any reduction in the size of the territory of Gaza. And what [the Israelis] have said to us is that they do not intend to occupy Gaza; they do not intend to leave forces there. And we’re going to continue to engage with them on this question.”

The insistent focus by the US, the UK, Germany and France on what the plan will be for ‘the day after’ is actually an exercise in dissimulation. From a military perspective, the battle against Hamas must first be won before any ‘spoils of war’ can be divided. But how can that happen when the West incessantly hobbles Israel from decisively defeating their mortal enemies? The ‘Western stakeholders’ continue to stress ‘the day after,’ but what this term actually means is that these superpowers want to make sure that a Jewish community will never be resurrected in Gaza, but that only a Palestinian entity (terrorist in its essential nature) will arise to control the heartland of Israel. The inevitable result of this scheme will be more October 7 attacks – but now this time originating from the West Bank as well, easily reaching out to terrorize the core of Israel’s civilian population.

On January 29, 2024, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron unveiled strategic insight on how the US and the UK are squeezing Israel on these matters:

The UK is considering recognizing a Palestinian state as a way to apply pressure on Israel to accept a two-state solution after a ceasefire in Gaza, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said at a Westminster reception Monday. Speaking to the Conservative Middle East Council at the House of Commons, Cameron said such recognition – after Hamas releases all hostages – would represent “irreversible progress to a two-state solution and, crucially, the establishment of a Palestinian state . . . We have a responsibility there because we should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state would look like; what it would comprise; how it would work. As that happens, we, with allies, will look at the issue of recognizing a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations. This could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible.”

Praying for the Groom at the altar, the people and the Land

Isaiah calls us to pray fervently and continually – until the God of Jacob makes good on His prophetic promises to the Jewish people and to the Promised Land of Israel:

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning . . . On your walls, Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who cause YHVH to remember [His promises], take no rest for yourselves, and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem an object of praise on the earth” (Isaiah 62:1-7)

How should we then pray?

Pray for the Jewish people to reach out to the God of Israel and receive the influx of His spirit of repentance, grace and supplications – receiving Messiah Yeshua’s atonement and salvation

Pray for clear revelation and repentance for the leaders of the world’s superpowers regarding God’s heart, strategies and passions for Israel the people and their Land

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 136 Israelis (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Hamas is also holding onto many corpses as bargaining chips

Pray for Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza to be decisively shattered and for all chains broken off the Palestinians living there, and for Iran’s role in jihadi deception, dissimulation and anti-Semitism to be exposed and opposed by world leaders

Pray that Israel’s leadership be granted justice, clarity, moral courage, discernment and divine strategies in utterly destroying the jihadi threat in all of its aspects, and for minimal loss of life for Israel’s defense forces and for those Gazans who are truly innocent

Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

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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