Syria – ancient promises, ancient curses

As the Passover season of deliverance approaches, the world focuses on the Middle East. Chemical warfare near Idlib targeted civilians, causing the gruesome death of nearly 100 (including lots of children) and the injury of more than 500. The cruelty and carnage shake the souls of all who see video footage of the casualties. Syrian fighter-bombers involved in that incident (and operating under a protective Russian military umbrella) were destroyed a few days later by an American onslaught of 59 Tomahawk missiles.

The world’s media are hashing and re-hashing the significance of these events. What does this indicate about the new American administration? How will the Russians respond? What conclusions will other Middle Eastern countries (from Saudi Arabia to Iran) draw? How will this affect world economies?

Secular analysts tend to leave God out of the picture. And the world’s political powers are blind to Israel’s prophetic promises, unable to discern her present and ongoing restoration to the ancient homeland. Israel’s creation has earth-shaking significance. Could it be that that God’s covenant promises of protection for the Jews have something to do with fast-spinning events in Syria?

How can we make sense of the news? Is the Bible silent about what is going on, or does it speak about these countries and these nations? How can we pray and act?

Syria/Aram – the birthplace of the Jewish nation

Ancient Aram (modern Syria) was a pre-Abrahamic nation descended from Shem’s fifth son (Genesis 10:22-23). Arameans (or Syrians) were Semites but were not part of Abraham’s family. Abraham’s few close relatives in Aram were cousins but not his descendants.

Eleven of Jacob’s twelve sons (known as the twelve tribes) were born in Syria (Genesis 35:22-26; 48:7). YHVH commands the Jewish people to remember that fact in their yearly Passover season declarations in Jerusalem, “You shall answer and say before YHVH your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt… and became a great, mighty and populous nation” (Deuteronomy 26:5). Syria was an important maternity ward in the birth of the Jewish people (Hosea 12:12).

Biblical Aram – the evil adversary

Shem’s Aramean descendants figure prominently in the Scriptures as a serious enemy of the Jewish people. Major hostilities broke out in King David’s time. The Son of Jesse killed 22,000 Aramean foot soldiers in pitched battle, establishing a military presence in Damascus and throughout Aram/Syria (1 Chronicles 18:5-6). In a subsequent battle, Syria tried to join a Middle eastern confederacy against the Jewish state. King David decisively defeated the Syrians, killing 7,000 charioteers (they were the ancient equivalent of modern tank drivers) and 40,000 infantry as well as Shophach, Aram’s military commander (1 Chronicles 19:16-19).

Syria’s fierce hatred and abhorrence of Israel

In the days of King Solomon an Aramean named Rezon reigned in Damascus. The text says that “he was an adversary (ed., the literal Hebrew says, ‘a satan’ – an accuser) to Israel all the days of Solomon… and he abhorred Israel and reigned over Syria” (1 Kings 11:25).

The prophetic leak of Syria’s military secrets to Israel

In King Ahab’s day two nameless Jewish prophets came to the King of Israel at two separate times to reveal stunning prophetic words – the entire battle order of Ben-Hadad the King of Syria (1 Kings 20:13, 28). God was fighting for Israel and delivering her from the Syrian enemy, resulting in the death of 127,000 Syrian infantry (1 Kings 20:29-30).

Elisha’s chariots of fire confront the Syrian army

The king of Syria realized that YHVH was fighting on Israel’s side against Syria. Elisha the prophet was getting prophetic briefings from the God of Jacob about every Syrian military strategy, and then promptly sharing it with the Defense Forces of Israel (2 Kings 6:8-12). When Syria’s Special Operations Forces surrounded the prophet and his servant at Dothan, Elisha declared to his trembling aide: “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” “And Elisha prayed and said, ‘YHVH I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then YHVH opened the servant’s eyes and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:16-17).

The God of Israel expresses His commitment to cursing and defeating Israel’s enemies

The promise made by YHVH to Abram in Genesis 12:3 still stands. Those who bless Israel will be blessed, but the one who sneers at, derides, scorns or goes to war against Israel will be cursed and destroyed.

God spoke over Amalek and prophesied that, because they initiated war against Israel, YHVH would be at war with them from generation to generation. “Then YHVH said to Moses, ‘Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.’ Moses built an altar and named it ‘YHVH is My Banner.’ And he said, ‘YHVH has sworn; YHVH will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.’” (Exodus 17:14-16).

Elisha prophesies over Syria’s murderously anti-Jewish king

The prophet Elisha was directed by YHVH to go to Damascus and to prophesy to Haza’el (King Ben-Hadad’s top aide) about the assassination of the monarch. Elisha wept as he spoke, “I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel. You will set their fortresses on fire, and you will kill their young men with the sword, and you will dash in pieces their little ones, and you will rip up the stomachs of their pregnant women.” Haza’el’s response? “But what is your servant…that he should do this great thing?” (2 Kings 8:12-13).

The modern reality - Syria’s non-stop cursing of Israel and war against her

Syria’s hatred of the Jewish people is extensively documented in history. Some recent examples include:

Modern Syria – realpolitik, Russia, Iran and ISIS

In his January 29, 2002 State of the Union address President George W. Bush classified Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an “axis of evil.” In May 2002, US Undersecretary of State John Bolton gave a speech titled “Beyond the Axis of Evil” which added Cuba, Libya and Syria to the list of nations seeking to obtain chemical or biological weapons.

Today Syria sits astride a radioactive Middle Eastern bucking bronco. It has attempted to manufacture nuclear weapons. It channels Iranian missiles and other weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. It has developed warm and intimate relations with Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Yet the country of Syria is in agony and it is not clear if these are birth pangs or death throes. Syria's civil war has claimed 470,000 lives since March 2011, according to the Syrian Centre for Policy Research (February 2017) - an average of 262 deaths per day and 7,860 deaths per month. The estimated death toll today is over 520,000.

Israel is actually quietly aiding wounded Syrian civilians and fighters, supplying clothing, food, medicine and free surgery in Israeli hospitals (www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4946780,00.html).

The gathering of the sharks

Al- Assad’s brutal dictatorship is confronted by over 70 different rebel or terrorist or Islamist Salafi groups (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_armed_groups_in_the_Syrian_Civil_War). Major players like Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and ISIS are all vying for influence, power and control (https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/russia-putin-syria/). Israel is watching carefully from the sidelines.

It seems that good solutions are in short supply for Syria. Over a half a million people have been murdered and the world shows little resolve or desire to halt the bloodshed.

The Jewish people and their ancient biblical promises of restoration continue to be attacked by an amalgam of anti-Jewish, Islamist, secularist and anti-Christian forces. This targeting of the Jewish state has led the God of Israel to paint a target on the aggressor countries. His divine laser-gun is ‘lighting up’ these nations in preparation for the Day of His wrath.

The God of history is not mocked.  He sees into the secret councils of nations and confounds their plans: “Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered. Give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered…Devise a (destructive) plan, but it will be thwarted. State a proposal, but it will not stand, for God is with us (ed. Immanuel)” (Isaiah 8:9-10).

Centuries of violent Syrian hatred toward Israel and aggressive acts of Syrian leadership aimed at Israel’s destruction – none of these matters have slipped past the attention of the God of Jacob. The prophet Isaiah speaks of a future judgment yet to come on Damascus (Isaiah 17).

“O YHVH, God of vengeance”

Do we still believe that the God of Israel is a God of covenant? Do we trust that He will keep His promises and honor the prayers of the remnant of His people?

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) through: www.davidstent.org

Dissecting Israel

High school Biology teachers often guide their students through the dissection of frogs or fish. The stench of formaldehyde wafts around trembling fingers as scalpels slice through rubbery material. Students squint at the internal organs of the amphibian or the vertebrate and then roughly sketch the physical details. There is no time for lasting emotional connection with the dissected creature, whose remains are soon disposed of in the nearest rubbish bin.

This newsletter suggests that there is some spiritual benefit in considering comparisons between the impersonal dissection of frogs and one’s theological approach to the Jewish people.

Impersonal approach to Jews and to their humanity

In the New Covenant scriptures Paul warns Gentile believers in Rome about their heart attitudes toward the Jewish people. Do not be ignorant about Israel’s calling, gifts and destiny. Do not be arrogant toward them. Do not be wise in your own conceitedness, and do not boast against them (Romans 11:25, 20, 18). These prophetic warnings have echoed down the corridors of church history, as apt today in their incisive exhortations as they were in the days of Nero and Constantine.

Having observed Christian theologizing and discussion about the Jewish people for over forty years, I regretfully note that many view the people of Jacob with impersonal hearts and through emotionally detached retinas. The Jews are often seen as a quantity, a thing, an example, a paradigm. Their experiences, sufferings and joys are considered basically irrelevant to the discussion. Their history is described with as much emotional warmth as a high school student would have for a dissected frog.

Typically there is only a slight knowledge of (or even interest in) Jewish sensitivities, Jewish achievements, real Jewish humor – in short, a glaring lack of awareness of Jews as human beings, as real people. There is precious little practical respect for the people whom YHVH describes as His firstborn son. Some are trying to understand the Jewish Scriptures without understanding the Jewish people.

Cold-hearted depersonalizing of the Last Days Jewish connection

One of the occupational hazards of theologians is that minds are often more developed than hearts. It is not unusual for a surfeit of intellect to plaster over a frailty of heart. When such people bring their theological tools and doctrinal scalpels to bear on the Jewish people (“a people close to His heart”, as Psalm 148:14 tells us), the results come out clipped and clinical. Short shrift is usually given to the  romance of the ages between God (who is Israel’s bridegroom) and His beloved Jewish wife (see Ezekiel 16:6-14; Hosea 2:14-23; Isaiah 54:5-8; 61:10-62:5), while focus is placed exclusively on the love affair between Gentile Christians and the God of the nations.

For many theologians the divine romance between the God of the Jews and His Jewish people is quickly morphed into a divine chess game where Jewish pawns bumble around the board and are picked off one by one. God is sometimes pictured here as the master gamer, enjoying a multi-dimensional chess gambit. These perspectives blend the pastoral approach of a drill sergeant, the emotional tenderness of a football coach and the relational sensitivity of a computer geek.

It might be helpful to stop and ask a simple question: What would flesh-and-blood Jewish people feel and what would they think if they listened carefully to much Christian pulpit teaching about the Jews and their destiny? Would they conclude “What a friend we have in Jesus!” based on what they hear from His followers?

Undoubtedly there are many dear followers of Messiah Yeshua who tenderly and sacrificially love the Jewish people, who intercede for Jacob with passion and tears. We are deeply thankful for them. They are our ardent friends, advocates and protectors. Their glowing faith is truly a divine download from the Most High, bolstered by the word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Yet most Christian teaching and preaching (even among those who focus on Israel’s future) is still highly influenced by Replacement theology. It relates to the Jewish people and their current restoration process in a clinical and detached way. 

Cherry picking prophecies about the Jewish people

A balanced perspective on Biblical eschatology (Last Days teaching) is developed in the same way as solid systematic theology is fashioned. All the biblical texts which touch on that subject need to be gathered together and understood in context. Conclusions are then systematized, blended and balanced.

Since the Scriptures are written 95% by Jews and over 90% about the Jews, there is a lot of material with which to work. A balanced teaching on Israel is a safeguard against going off on theological jags or on personal pet emphases. Last Days teachings on Israel need to be handled with care and prayer.

Two recent examples which need theological balance: One, a rabbinically influenced teaching is circulating in some Messianic spheres that the New Covenant is merely a renewed Mosaic covenant (and that, according to this view, future days will see a God-approved Jewish turning to the Mosaic covenant). Another teaching (not in the Messianic Jewish movement) teaches that God will destroy the modern state of Israel and that therefore there is no theological significance in the present regathering – except for judgment.

Obsessive-compulsive focus on words of judgment about the Jewish people

Professional chefs sometimes have a weight problem. As they work, they sample what they prepare, often forgetting how much they have been eating. In a similar fashion, those who like to nosh at eschatological teaching sometimes overeat at the groaning tables of the Last Days Smörgåsbord.

There is a perverse tendency among some theologians to focus only on hard and traumatic future trials which will occur to the Jewish people. Certainly, the Scriptures have ample indications of such eschatological events. Yet there are also amazingly positive descriptions of wonderfully majestic events near at hand concerning the Jewish people – from their ongoing regathering and restoration to the raising up of Ezekiel’s mighty and triumphant army.

What would cause someone to focus exclusively on upcoming harrowing events? Could it be a protective watchman’s love for Israel? In that case one would expect that such a presentation would rend listeners’ hearts and be accompanied by spontaneous tears. When such teachings are communicated clinically and with a distanced heart, it is probably a telling indication that a lack of balance is involved.

How can we balance our own hearts and minds? How should we then pray?

The first step here would be to present our hearts to the Lord God of Israel and ask for a spiritual ‘anti-virus system scan.’ As King David prayed, “Search me on God and know my heart. Test me and know my innermost ways. And see if there is any wicked way within me, and lead me in the path of eternity!” (Psalm 139:23-24). God might want to reveal areas that His light has not yet shone upon within us regarding the Jewish people.

A further step could involve a two-fold prayer of dedication:

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

Cold love and shaking kingdoms

Senator and historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus (54-117 AD) once commented on political transitions in the Roman Empire: “Dumhactotiusorbismutationefortunaimperiitransit” (“With worldwide convulsion the Imperial power was changing hands”). The recent changeover of political power in the USA might not be global in scope, but the world’s scoop-hungry media has whipped up this national news into tsunami-like dimensions.

Bitter acrimony has infected American social media more quickly than the Stuxnet virus. Public debate is now characterized by rancor and downright nastiness. Disagreements over human sexuality, political affiliation or religious perspectives quickly degenerate into crude language, harsh attacks and coarse behavior. And this conduct has become normalized in all the polarized communities concerned, including among those who confess Yeshua as Messiah.

The Bible certainly speaks clearly to the above-noted religious, political and social issues. But this e-letter approaches the matter from a different angle.

Cold and wicked wind

Messiah Yeshua was sitting on top of the Mount of Olives one day, when His disciples asked Him to explain what signs would characterize the End of the Age (Matthew 24:3). Yeshua’s words were uttered in Hebrew and directed to Jews who believed in Him. He was speaking into the heart of His beloved Jewish nation (Matthew 23:37). He described events which would happen to the Jewish people in their own land of Israel. Some things would take place across the valley on the Temple Mount. Other sons and daughters of Jacob would flee to the hills of Judah or into the Judean desert.

One of the characteristics of the End of the Age, Yeshua prophesied, would involve international hatred of believers in general and of Jewish believers in particular (verse 9). Because of Last Days increasing persecution and violent attacks against followers of Yeshua, “many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other” (verse 10). Messiah sadly comment that “because of the increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:11).

Believers in the First Century AD were acquainted with a similar dynamic. Yeshua warned the believers in Sardis, “Wake up and strengthen the things that remain” (Revelation 3:3).

Winning arguments and losing the war

When people’s hearts get hardened their speech gets coarse. A famous Rabbi (Judah HaNasi) once said that, in the time just before the coming of Messiah, “the face of that generation would be like the face of a dog.” Another agreed and added: “In the generation when the Son of David comes, the young will insult their elders” (both in TB Sanhedrin 97a).

The spiritual enemy of our souls is interested in turning “five members in one household” against each other (Luke 12:49-53; Matthew 10:21-22) as Micah’s prophecy forewarned (Micah 7:5-6). Let’s remember that arrogance and argumentativeness are not tools of the kingdom.

The enemy’s strategy involves releasing enmity and striving among all men and women. His goal is to divide and conquer. At this point hatred and rebellion are spreading like wildfire. Angry marchers are giving birth in the spirit to riots and disturbance.

Keeping perspective during tornado season

Isaiah was commissioned to bring a prophetic message to his Jewish people, though he was warned that his ministry would have nearly zero impact in short-term results (Isaiah 6:9-13). It is difficult to stand one’s ground when the kings of this world (or a majority of their followers) bluster and blow with all their might (like the Big Bad Wolf in the children’s story The Three Little Pigs). The prophet warns us that we need to get serious about our spiritual training and endurance if we are to represent God’s perspective to a rebellious world (Jeremiah 12:5).

The famous ‘Flying Scotsman’ Eric Liddell was a British Olympian and evangelist made famous by the movie Chariots of Fire. One powerful scene is Liddell’s sermon on Isaiah 40, where he declares God’s sovereignty over the fading glory of the nations.

In the Middle East no merchant in the outdoor market pays attention to the weight of a drop of water on the side of his wooden bucket. Neither will he be concerned about how much a speck of dust weighs on his scales. It’s totally insignificant. In the same way the Lord God of Israel declares that superpower machinations are insignificant to Him. He is in no way frightened or stampeded by opposition to His plans.

He is the only great God. And He commands His followers to take no rest and to give Him no rest until He makes Israel great again.

Kingdoms rise, kingdoms fall

Amos clues us in on a divine strategy. God will judge and even bring down powerful nations but He will never do that to the Jewish people: “Behold, the eyes of YHVH God are on the sinful kingdom and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Nevertheless, I will not totally destroy the House of Jacob” (Amos 9:8).

Jeremiah adds an important coda: “O Jacob My servant do not fear, declares YHVH, for I am with you. For I shall make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, yet I shall not make a full end of you” (Jeremiah 46:28).

The Mighty One of Israel “has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their throne, and has exalted those who were humble . . . He has given help to Israel His servant in remembrance of His covenant faithfulness, as He spoke to our Fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever” (Luke 1:49-55).

Shaking the shakeable

In Haggai 2:6 the prophet speaks of a day when the God of Jacob will shake all foundations on earth and in the heavens – spiritual, political and social. Hebrew 12:25-28 tells us that He is doing this in order that only the unshakeable things may remain.

As the Western world is shaken, who is on the Lord’s side (Exodus 32:26)? God is shaking the whole world and He is shaking Israel (Amos 9:9). He is shaking Israel in order to bring her into the fullness of her calling. And He is shaking the nations in order that they would cry out to the God of Israel in repentance and ask God to make the Jewish people ‘a torch that is burning’ (Isaiah 62:7).

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) through: www.davidstent.org

Sweeping away the refuge of lies (Isaiah 28:16-17)

Yesterday (Sunday January 15, 2017) in the early evening a rooster crowed in Paris. A small droplet of victory fell from Heaven. The “Conférence pour la Paix au Proche-Orient” (Conference for Peace in the Near East) decided not to approve its original detailed pre-conference communiqué which would have been an evil decree ratcheting up ‘lawfare’ against the Jewish state.

Over the past week believers worldwide have called out to Jacob’s God, interceding for their own nations and for the nation of Israel. A commentator for the Israeli Haaretz paper described the final private diplomatic discussions, “There’s complete chaos over the phrasing of the statement. Some of the participants want more details on several points, while others want to set up a monitoring mechanism for after the conference.”

Whereas the delegates to that conference  were gathered to “speak lies … and conceive mischief” (Isaiah 59:4), God allowed a temporary confusion of their communications (Genesis 11:17). YHVH granted a temporary reprieve for His people.

In the end the conference adopted a blander declaration, though one which still is not a friendly one for Israelis (www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/full-text-of-middle-east-peace-conference-joint-declaration/).  The declaration chose to highlight recent UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (which affirms that Jewish settlements are illegal, and that East Jerusalem, the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and the Temple Mount are Arab sites which belong to the Islamic/Arab world).

Last night’s declaration falls in lockstep with long-term PLO strategic goals at the UN, as well as those of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_of_Islamic_Cooperation). These include:

So was the downgraded French declaration a win or a loss? Is Israel home free? How are we to understand what just happened? And how can believers continue to intercede in a pro-active way?

Wearing down the saints (Daniel 7:25)

The prophet Daniel tells us that at the End of Days there will be an evil king (popularly called the anti-Christ) who will wear down the saints of God. The enemy uses this same strategy against us in our day as well – causing hopelessness and weariness among believers who stand firm in God’s truth. As in the epic battles that characterize Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, we face simultaneous clashes on multiple fronts.

The Book of Judges describes repeated historical cycles of forty years. Israel’s enemies kept rising up to wipe us out and needed to be defeated “in every generation.” The same is true here. The attempts of the PLO, Hamas, the Islamist world and the secular nations to strike the sword out of Jewish hands and to throw our people into gladiatorial arenas in front of cheering crowds – this is where we Jews often find ourselves. This scenario certainly is the cherished dream of our enemies.

“But the people who know their God will display strength and take action” (Daniel 11:32).

Let us drill deep into the riches of His revelation: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15).

Let’s commit to walking in balance so that we can help bring balance to others: “From childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Messiah Yeshua. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:15-17).

Let’s consider three factors that will help us to understand the context of what just went down in Paris:

The shadow of Trump

The entire Paris conference kept glancing furtively over its shoulder at ‘the elephant in the room’ – that unmentionable ‘Trump factor’ that has everyone concerned. The freshly minted ‘Twelve French Ambassadors’ letter’ (see https://davidstent.com/the-crumbling-of-europa/) makes repeated references to the US President-elect as a negative force whose influence must quickly be thwarted. Repeated spoken hints and sly comments by the media on France 24, Al Jazeera, Skye News and CNN bolster the fact that this conference was an attempt to block the incoming US government’s freedom to manoeuver – to tie Trump’s hands regarding Israel, Jerusalem, the UN and the Arab inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza.

Only the United Kingdom snubbed the conference (albeit in understated diplomatic fashion), sending junior diplomats and then refusing to sign the final declaration. Whitehall understood that the timing of this conference was chosen by France in collusion with the outgoing Obama Administration in an attempt to give a double black eye – one to the Trump administration and the other to Israel.

In the twilight of the Obama years, the outgoing US administration is acting in an undignified manner.  One such example is the passage of recent UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (rushed through at the last minute before the onset of two Jewish holidays as well as Christmas Eve – what Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish would call a ‘Hail Mary pass’). It is of the same cloth as the time-honored black arts of diplomats. Both its timing and its ‘State Department deniability’ (exposed as lies by British, Egyptian and Israeli intelligence) show a vindictiveness toward the Jewish state that Israelis have understood and internalized (as recent Israeli opinion polls reflect).

An outgoing US President is not supposed to be involved in political shenanigans. After his party’s candidate loses an election, the sitting POTUS usually sets down both his pen and his phone, taking a low-key and conciliatory stance in political matters. He does not shove through maverick policies harmful to US allies in defiance of the incoming President’s stated goals.

The PLO strategy – hijacking the West

The UN, the EU, the Quartet, the G20, the OIC, the Arab League and the US – all of these nations and organizations have drunk the poison Kool-Aid freely dispensed at the PLO lemonade stand. Few of these nations understand how deeply they have been systematically lied to and deceived regarding Israel and the Palestinians. This section takes a brief look at that brainwashing process.

Back in 1960 the Soviet Union was able to pass a UN Resolution which supported anti-Western guerilla warfare and terrorism  (www.un.org/en/decolonization/declaration.shtml). Within a few years the word ‘terrorism’ was redefined. Now Israeli self-defense and counterterrorism operations were considered terrorism, while PLO violence against Jewish civilians was defined as a national liberation movement combatting colonialism.

Since the combined military forces of the Arab world were not able to crush Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, a strategic decision was taken to move the struggle to the UN. It has been said that diplomacy is war by other means, so perhaps Israel could be defeated at the UN through ‘collective delegitimization’ and lawfare. First the Arab refugees would be labeled an indigenous native people who were victims of colonialism – ‘the Palestinian people’ – while Israel was transformed into a ‘colonialist, imperialist and racist state which occupies another people’s land.’

The PLO’s Palestinian National Covenant (1964, amended 1968) was gradually incorporated into various UN General Assembly resolutions. This Covenant is still legal and very much in force (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp; https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/288BEE5ACF03674985256F55006DD36B). Here are some of its highlights:

It is chilling to see how the Paris declaration of this past Sunday restates many of these PLO points:

Dining with Hitler – Palestinian Replacement Theology

The UN often refers to the ‘inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.” Yet that concept is a rather new one for the UN.  Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967 makes no reference to Palestinians, only to ‘the refugee problem’  (https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/7D35E1F729DF491C85256EE700686136). Between 1948 and 1967 neither Jordan, Egypt nor Syria ever recognized a Palestinian state or a Palestinian people – neither did any other Arab or Islamic state.

It was only in December 1969 (five years after the PLO was founded) that the UN first spoke of the “problem of the Palestine Arab refugees” and the “inalienable rights of the people of Palestine” (https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/41F2C6DCE4DAA765852560DF004E0AC8).

Though politicians may focus on the contrast between direct negotiations (Israel and West Banks/Gazans) and international conferences (foreign supervision), some simple and foundational facts are usually overlooked:

The Arab leadership of the West Bank and Gaza is divided between jihadi Hamas in Gaza (whose covenant calls for Israel’s total destruction) and the Islamic PLO in Judea and Samaria (whose covenant calls for Israel’s total destruction).

PLO President Abbas finished his 4 year term 8 years ago and still continues as President. Hamas kneecapped and tortured PLO agents as soon as it won democratic elections in Gaza. Neither Hamas nor the PLO are democratic institutions. Gaza is under Shari’a Islamic dictatorship, while 81% of all West Bankers see the PLO leadership as being irrevocably corrupt (Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey poll, June 21, 2016 - www.pcpsr.org/en/node/658).

The methods of the Nazis (boycotting of Jewish businesses, Brown shirt terror attacks on Jewish civilians, blitzkrieg military attacks on Jewish towns) are being actively imitated by PLO and Hamas today. Rocket attacks on Israeli towns, cities and farms; individual terror attacks with trucks, knives, pistols, rifles and bombs; Arab and Leftist calls for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) – as it was in the days of Adolf, so the same onslaught is happening in our day.

Many years ago the God of Israel asked a telling question: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil” (Jeremiah 13:23). Today this question needs to be directed at the Arab leadership of the West Bank and Gaza.

Man of Peace

One of the goals of the Paris Conference was to create momentum, to start a ‘Palestinian State' snowball rolling which would not be easily stopped. The original communiqué of that Conference, the subsequent letter of the Twelve French Ambassadors, UN Security Council Resolution 2334,  the Palestinian National Covenant, the Hamas Covenant (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp) – all these are  milestones and weathervanes. They portend international precedents and political directions which are shifting the world agenda solidly against the Jewish people and the Jewish state.

Bob Dylan says it well: “He got a sweet gift of gab, he got a harmonious tongue. He knows every song of love that ever has been sung. Good intentions can be evil. Both hands can be full of grease. You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace” (“Man of Peace”, words and music Bob Dylan © 1983 by Special Rider Music).

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) through: www.davidstent.org

The crumbling of Europa

Is Paris burning? The flames are not visible to the naked eye, but they roar nevertheless in the realm of the spirit.

On Sunday January 15, 2017 more than seventy nations and organizations will gather in the ‘City of Lights’ (named because it was one of the first European cities to have gas-burning street lamps). There the nations will bang nails into a coffin that actually contains the disintegrating remains of what was once Christian Europe. The “Conférence pour la Paix au Proche-Orient” (Conference for Peace in the Near East) will bring together the Quartet (UN, USA, EU and Russia), the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council (USA, Russia, UK, France and China), the G20, the rest of the European Union, Arab partners and assorted well-wishers.

Their goal (speaking from a biblical viewpoint) is to divide the Land of Israel. They phrase it differently – “to facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state” smack dab in the middle of the Land promised by God to Jacob and his children.

The Conference is offering a carrot to the Palestinians (concrete economic measures and political support). A recalcitrant Jewish state will be threatened with a big stick (warlike measures which include international boycotts, sanctions and treatment as a pariah state).

“Let me make you an offer you can’t refuse!”

Like Mafia dons, Pierre Vimont (French Foreign Minister) and Jean-Marc Ayrault (Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development) called together a meeting of international senior diplomats in Paris on January 6, 2017.  The first draft of the conference’s summary communiqué was presented for feedback and tweaking before its world release on January 15 (www.infoequitable.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Document-Quai-dOrsay.pdf; www.dreuz.info/2017/01/11/dreuz-sest-procure-le-texte-deja-redige-des-conclusions-de-la-conference-pour-la-paix-de-paris-du-15-janvier-2017/).

The document outlines and declares the goals and strategies of the Conference:

If Israel agrees to these points, they could also possibly expect “the potential for security, stability and prosperity…in the areas of economic incentives.”

The rest of the news

On Monday January 9, 2017 (three days after the release of the draft communiqué) the ‘rest of the news’ came out. Twelve French Ambassadors issued a public letter (similar to another letter they issued on March 2, 2016) – a Cosa Nostra-type threat spelling out the legal warfare (‘lawfare’) which will be directed against Israel if it refuses to sign on the dotted line (only in French - www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2016/02/03/paris-et-bruxelles-doivent-agir-pour-sauver-l-etat-palestinien_4858462_3232.html; www.france-palestine.org/La-France-doit-reconnaitre-l-Etat-palestinien-avant-qu-il-ne-soit-trop-tard).

Here are Israel’s faults, according to the letter:

Here are the ambassadors’ reasons to apply immediate pressure on Israel:

Here are the benefits for France and Europe:

Here are the necessary steps against Israel which (the ambassadors advocate) should be taken:

The twelve French ambassadors who signed this public letter have floated a trial balloon, letting those who are listening understand where things are headed as of January 15, 2017. They warn Israel at the conclusion of the letter that the Jewish state is in a perilous and vulnerable situation if it does not cave in to these pressures immediately. Their language puts the lie to the Conference’s bland declaration that the nature of its communiqué “is not intended to impose terms” on Israel.

The PLO/PA Ambassador to France Salman al-Harfi stated that this “initiative will move forward regardless of Jerusalem’s opposition.” Hamas and Islamic Jihad (who control the Gaza Strip and threaten the PLO’s control of the West Bank in many areas) totally reject the Conference’s position of even talking with Israel and of offering it anything at all.

Getting into the express line

Whereas French cuisine is known for its high quality and unrushed service, this conference definitely looks much more like an American fast-food hamburger joint. If France can get this declaration approved by the EU and the Quartet (before Trump takes office on January 20), then it can be brought to a UN Security Council debate on the Israel-Palestine issue scheduled for January 17, 2017. If the US abstains once again, this would hopefully (for France and its partners) create a snowball effect leading toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.

One of the goals here is to create international political momentum which would block any new American initiatives or re-evaluations regarding the Middle East and Israel.

Crocodile tears and kisses

The communiqué declares that all 70 countries or organizations are warmly supportive of Israel’s destiny, that Israel will be the primary beneficiary of having a Palestinian state as its neighbor, and that France is Israel’s friend. Such ‘loving declarations’ have been made in times past to other Middle Eastern nations (like the Free Syrian Army, Mubarak’s Egypt, Lebanon’s Christians, Iran’s and Turkey’s democratic forces). There truly is a credibility gap here between European avowals of love and the harsh reality of Islamist terror.

The ambassadorial letter weeps that Israel must be saved from itself, since its ‘apartheid’ policies will cause the Jewish state to lose its soul.  Just a few lines before that the twelve diplomats challenge Europe, saying that if the EU can unite to oppose Islamic State, they can certainly band together to foil the Jewish state.

The fire of God’s jealousy

As God is watching over His chosen people and bringing them home to their Promised Land, seventy nations are about to go on record as opposing the restoration of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and to the city of Jerusalem. These machinations arouse the burning zeal  of the God of Jacob, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem (Isaiah 31:9).

“Therefore thus says YHVH God, ‘Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with scorn of soul’” (Ezekiel 36:5).

“For behold, in those days and at that time when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance Israel whom they have scattered among the nations and they have divided up My land” (Joel 3:1-2).

Step-by-step Islamist agenda

Bat Ye’or (a pseudonym) is a world-renowned French scholar of Islamic history and its relationship with Jews and Christians. Her book “Eurabia: the Euro-Arab axis” charts how Islamic strategies have focused for decades on turning Europe into a Shari’a-friendly puppet which will push for Islamist policies against the Jewish state. Her recent article (www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9725/security-council-resolution-israel) may help the reader to grasp other aspects currently transpiring here.

As well, world-class scholar on Islam and the Middle East Dr. Daniel Pipes offers helpful suggestions in his recent article “The Way to Peace: Israeli Victory, Palestinian Defeat” (www.danielpipes.org/17110/the-way-to-peace-israeli-victory-palestinian).

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) through: www.davidstent.org

Replacement Blowback

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

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

The Samaritan narrative

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

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

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

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

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

Replacing the Jewish olive tree

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

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

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

Replacement Theology in Arabia

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

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

Islamic teachings proclaimed their new truth to the Muslim community:

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

Replacing Europe

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

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

Replacing the State of Israel

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

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

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

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

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

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

Replacing the Replacement Theologians

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

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

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) through: www.davidstent.org

“The kings of the earth are taking their positions”

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

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

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

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

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

UN-friendly counsel

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

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

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

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

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

Counterfeiting UN decisions

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

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

Peace treaties – two down, three to go

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

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

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

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

Islamist and terrorist goals

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

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

Counsel of darkness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fixating on the daughter of Zion

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

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

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

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

Rose Gardens and Lebanon

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

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

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

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

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

“For behold, in those days and at that time when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and they have divided up My land” (Joel 3:1-2).

Kerry’s televised address

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

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

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

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

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

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

How should we then pray?

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Crossing the line

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

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

From ‘illegitimate’ to ‘illegal’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cessation and reversal

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

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

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

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

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

Economic sanctions and boycott

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

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

“The whole head is sick” (Isaiah 1:5)

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

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

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

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

Choosing the Sabbath and Hanukkah as the Day of Reckoning

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

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

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

Times and seasons

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

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

How should we then pray?

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Light shines in the darkness

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

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

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

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

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

God has no darkness in Him

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

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

Who knows what darkness lurks in the hearts of men

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

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

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

Messengers of light

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

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

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

The light of His terrible swift sword

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

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

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

Gross darkness and burning light

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

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

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

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

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

How should we then pray?

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 writing's on the wall

The kingdom of Babylon had seen better days. Up to quite recently it had been feared and respected by all the nations of the world.

Isaiah the son of Amoz declared, “Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride” (Isaiah 13:1, 19).

Jeremiah the prophet waxed eloquent, “Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of YHVH, intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine” (Jeremiah 51:7).

Even the prophetic seer Daniel spoke boldly to Nebuchadnezzar, “You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory.  And wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all” (Daniel 2:37-38).

Yet the rumbling foreshocks of a huge earthquake were now rippling through the palace of King Belshazzar. Every citizen of that great city knew that at that very moment a vast and vengeful army of Persians and Medians was gathered outside the mighty and seemingly impenetrable walls of the world’s strongest capital – Babylon, the City of the Lions.

Golden vessels filled with pagan wine

Babylon’s king believed that his country was protected. More than that – he knew that the city’s defenses and destiny were impregnable. Even with the Persian enemy at the gates, there would be no breaching of the walls and no military conquest. Babylon the Mighty’s future was assured.

Belshazzar now called for a feast of wine. He commanded that the sacred vessels of YHVH’s Temple in Jerusalem – booty seized by his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar – be brought out, and that royal libations be poured into Hebrew goblets of gold. The king’s wives and concubines would drink a toast to the Great Babylon, while skilled Middle Eastern musicians would serenade the banqueters. In the king’s mind, Bel and Nebo (Isaiah 46:1; Jeremiah 50:2; 51:44) had once vanquished YHVH the God of the Hebrews. Now Babylon’s gods would soon make short shrift of these upstart Persians.

All of a sudden, in the middle of the royal festivities, “the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing” (Daniel 5:5). One could have cut the silence with a knife. Belshazzar began to tremble, and his knees uncontrollably knocked together. He shouted out for the royal astrologers and horoscope casters to come and explain the writings, for to him they appeared like gibberish. “Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription” (Daniel 5:8).

The destiny of Babylon was hanging in the balance, but her wisest men could not decipher the threat – because the threat was written in Hebrew and these wise men could not read Hebrew.

What do the Jews have to do with it?

The fate of the Babylonian empire hinged on understanding a message from the God of the Jews, given through a Jewish prophet in a Semitic language.

It was not only a language question with Babylon. It was the ability to see events as God sees them. This means looking at world events from the perspective of how it affects the Jewish people, who are described in Zechariah 2:8 as the apple or pupil of God’s eye.

This scenario was set up for Babylon by the God of Jacob, who “has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and … has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27).

God’s choosing of Israel as His first-born nation is often a stumbling block to the nations of the world, and to Middle Eastern nations in particular.

Keeping a biblical focus on Israel could have saved the King of Babylon much grief and loss. Even in tumultuous time – then and now – there is the need to remember and be guided by YHVH’s priority dealings with the Jewish people.

Shakings in today’s world

The present swirl of traumatic world events is pronounced. Present crisis situations like the four major wars (Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya) raging in the Middle East, the rise of Russia and Iran as serious world players, cyberwarfare attacks, the weakening of the USA, and the upcoming American elections – all of these have the potential to exclusively monopolize our attention. A concomitant danger here is that any one of these events may pull us into tunnel vision and eclipse a biblical focus on God’s priority people Israel.

The quicksand of world events could easily distract us from standing firm with God’s heart and strategy for Zion:

Earthquakes and tsunamis

The writer of Psalm 46 reminds us that earth-shaking events are fearful things: “We will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

Along with natural cataclysmic disasters, war and anarchy may raise their ugly heads:  “Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall … wars, bow, spear … shield” all rise up across the planet. The biblical antidote is not a consortium of ‘peace-enforcing’ nations like the United Nations, UNESCO, the EU, the Quartet or even the USA.

It is the covenant presence of the God of the Jewish people which is our deliverance and protection. “YHVH of armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.”  This God of Israel tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.”

God’s protection of His people comes about through His judgments, His military defeat of Israel’s enemies, and His forcible disarmament of the nations:  “He lifts his voice, the earth melts. Come and see what YHVH has done, the desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire.”

The defeat of Israel’s enemies will occur on two levels. God Himself will go forth to fight against His enemies as they despoil Jerusalem: “Then YHVH will go out and fight against those nations, as He fights on a day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem…” (Zechariah 14:3).

But the prophetic scriptures also let us in on a secret – that the God of Jacob will also make use of His Ezekiel 37 Dry Bones Army in this campaign: “You (ed. Jacob) are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you (ed. Zion) I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms” (Jeremiah 51:20).

Only when these enemies have been defeated on the battlefield, will the peace promised by the Hebrew prophets flower and fill the earth. In that day Jerusalem will be the center of this blessed reality: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble….There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the Holy Place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall. God will help her at break of day” (see Psalm 102:22).

Stay on target

Present worries and fears have the ability to choke out spiritual fruit and fill our hearts with fear (see Matthew 13:21-22). One of the first casualties in such a scenario is God’s heart, perspectives and strategies regarding Jacob’s children. The Lord of Heaven has enscripturated most of the Bible with detailed teaching and prophecy about these coming events. Let’s stay on target in our prayers as these days speed up and as these events approach.

Peace is not about to break out in the Middle East. From Egypt to Assyria and from Morocco to Malaysia, the heart attitude among Islamic and Arab states toward the Jewish people and their state will not be easily resolved apart from decisive events (including revival and military defeats).

Yeshua warned us, “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming …‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them” (Luke 21:8). There will be significant hostilities and open war on the highway of the Middle East before there will be a highway of peace, salvation and worship.

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) through: www.davidstent.org

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