James Bond and the Book of Judges

Spy thrillers have never been more popular. From James Bond to Jack Bauer, movies and TV serials about secret agents continue to capture the imagination of people everywhere. Boys have dreams of growing up to be policemen, firemen, race card drivers or spies. The quintessential secret agent with a license to kill was 007, Ian Fleming’s ultimate Brit on Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

All governments operate such agents under the strictest shadows of secrecy. Their operations are never acknowledged, the existence of their agents are state secrets. For example, even the existence of the US Special Forces Operational Detachment (Delta Force is also known as the CAG or Combat Applications Group) is not officially acknowledged by the American government or military. CIA operations such as MK-ULTRA (forcible experimentation on psychiatric patients with LSD) and the Vietnamese Phoenix Program were not acknowledged at the time. British teams possibly affiliated with the SAS and MI6 (like ‘‘the Sixteen” or Group 13) and NSA teams (possibly I-13) seems to operate in similar clandestine waters. Successful spy operations, even those involving “termination with extreme prejudice” (assassination) are never openly reported by the world’s top secret services.

Does the Bible shed any light on such activities? What does God think about countries taking out their avowed enemies? And how does this apply to today’s news?

Wisdom from Wimber

Years ago the renowned church growth specialist and spiritual catalyst of the Vineyard movement John Wimber told a story about a significant interchange he once had at a conference. An agitated listener (who felt that Wimber’s emphasis on the current operation of spiritual gifts was borderline) stood up and asked dramatically, “Just how far, sir, do you intend to go here?” With God’s wisdom, Wimber immediately answered, “Only as far as what this Book says!’, holding up his Bible. “Well, I’m thankful for that”, said the assuaged man as he took his seat.

Wimber continued, “But have you ever read this Book? Voices come out of burning bushes, thousand-foot high angels appear with flaming swords, donkeys prophesy etc John’s point was that the Bible says a lot of things that most of us never really read, understand or internalizes  and many of us do not expect to experience similar events. To be biblical and to do biblical things may be far more bracing, challenging and exciting than many of us have ever considered!

Ehud, the savior raised up by YHVH

In Judges 3:12-28 we meet Ehud, described as a God-given deliverer (Hebrew, moshia, from the same root found in the names Jesus or Yeshua, meaning savior or deliverer).  His rise to the proverbial “fifteen minutes of fame” came about as a result of Israel’s national sin of idolatry against God (3:12, 19). YHVH withdrew His protective hand from the Jewish people, strengthening one of their enemies Eglon King of Moab (modern central Jordan). Eglon invaded Israel and seized the city of Jericho (today under the control of the Palestinian Authority).

Eglon’s harsh occupation caused Israel to cry out to God in repentance and God’s heart was stirred by Jewish repentance (see Judges 10:16, “and they got rid of the foreign gods among them & and He could bear Israel’s misery no longer”). YHVH’s response was to remember the covenant He had made with Abraham, and to send a military leader (a “judge”) to deliver Israel.

Ehud was that man. He was also left-handed, an unusual trait in those days, but a strategic benefit for his upcoming role. He was sent by the leaders of Israel to bring tribute (a repeated forced tax) to the King of Moab – something which would be delivered in a public presentation (3:17-18). But God had spoken to Ehud about another task that He had for him something that required skill, strategy, subterfuge and a special sword.

On a mission from God

Ehud crafted a small sword one cubit in length (0.4572 meters or 18 inches) and sharpened it on both sides in preparation for his coming assignment. He then strapped it securely to his right thigh, a “concealed weapon” in modern law-enforcement terminology. Ehud worked out a strategy whereby he would be able to get close to the king and to operate in strictest secrecy.

After he had visited Moab for the initial visit and had presented his tribute, he returned to Jewish territory. Having touched down at home base, he immediately turned around and came back to the court of the Moabite king. He announced publically that he had a secret message for Eglon, who immediately assumed that this message was an “eyes only” secret communication from Israel’s leaders. In actuality, the message was coming directly from the God of Israel, and its content was “death from above”.

Eglon cut off Ehud in mid-speech, telling him to be silent and not reveal secret matters. He then forced his courtiers to leave the stateroom, and bid Ehud to join him in his upper room in total privacy. Having arranged ideal circumstances, Ehud approached the king and said that his message was coming directly from God Himself. He then quickly drew the assassination weapon out adroitly with his left hand, using the element of surprise and plunged the blade with one blow directly into Eglon’s voluminous belly. The thrust was so deep that the sword buried itself in the king’s gut, and even the handle of the weapon disappeared. The text says that even Eglon’s “refuse” came out of the wound. The hit was accurate, quiet and came totally by surprise.

“Do not disturb”

On his way out, Ehud shut and locked the doors of the king’s suite, giving the impression that he was not to be disturbed, perhaps even using the toilet (3:22-24). The smell of “refuse” probably had given them that impression as well. Ehud had done the equivalent of hanging a “do not disturb” sign on the king’s hotel doorknob. He then fled and was able to make it safely back to Israeli territory, before the Moabites had discovered what had transpired.

When he returned, he immediately blew a war trumpet (see Numbers 10) and yelled out, “Pursue them for YHVH has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands” (3:28). In the ensuing clash 10,000 Moabite commandos were killed (3:29) and Israel had quiet on the military front for eighty years (3:30).

YHVH uses hit teams

The above text reveals that God may be a lot less “politically correct” than some of us. Ehud was YHVH’s divinely raised-up hit team, and the message for Eglon King of Moab came straight from the mouth of the God of Israel. With apologies to James Bond, it is worth recalling the words of Moses at the Red Sea where “Pharaoh’s army got drownded”. To broadly paraphrase Exodus 15:3 where YHVH is described as a warrior, one could nearly say, “The name is YHVH – James YHVH”.

The context in Judges 3 shows that God sees Himself as inextricably involved when it comes to His covenant protection of the Jewish people. Certainly the Book of Esther describes His watch care and preservation of Israel from the destructive plans of Persian rulers (Esther 3:7-15) and from the murderous spirit of the Prince of Persia (Daniel 10:13, 20).

The same God of Israel watches over His Jewish people today to preserve them from the destructive plans of modern Iranian rulers. Pray for His preservation of Israel and His defusing of all weapons formed against the Jewish people (see Isaiah 54:17).

Who’s fighting Hitler?

On January 20 2010 an anonymous hit team “terminated with extreme prejudice” a Hamas terrorist named Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Al-Mabhouh had recently given two interviews for Hamas, in which he claimed personal responsibility for the kidnapping and murder of two Israel soldiers Ilan Sa’adon and Avi Sasportas in the late 1980’s. To get them to enter his vehicle, al-Mabhouh dressed up as an Orthodox Jew. He was one of the founding members of Hamas’ armed terror group Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and was the purchaser of long-range missiles and armaments from China, Iran and possibly Syria. Some of these missiles are already targeted at Tel Aviv from within the Gaza Strip, and will be used against Jewish population centers in the next round of war.

Al-Mabhouh often used Dubai as a stop-over (just across the Persian Gulf from Iran) to meet with arms merchants, and as a transit point to China, Iran, Syria and Sudan to oversee weapons transfers. Al-Mabhouh entered Dubai with a false passport supplied by Syria, while he enjoyed Dubai’s reputation as a Middle Eastern meeting place and watering hole for spies and arms dealers.

The hit tem was highly professional. Like Ehud the Judge, they got their man, left a “do not disturb” sign on the hotel room doorknob, and made their escape safely before the Hamas terrorist’s body was discovered. However, due to extensive CCTV coverage in the Kingdom of Dubai, as well as passport scan at ports of entry, the existence and modus operandi of the team was somewhat exposed. Dubai’s Emirates Police Chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim has held daily press conferences exposing details of Dubai’s investigation of the hit team, but has been totally silent about their awareness of the Hamas terrorist’s activities.

Various governments have expressed some degree of outrage regarding the hit team’s use of forged passports. Each of these governments has in times past issued false passports to their own security services, as well as having used (and still using) hit teams in their own countries’ secret services.

It is interesting to note that some wire services report that the intelligence agency behind the Dubai hit team had given British intelligence a limited heads up prior to the action. A large segment of British public opinion has come out overwhelmingly positive about the hit, and suggesting that British policies should imitate success in defense of British interests in the same Middle Eastern theater.

Though it is most likely that the professional hit in Dubai will never be directly linked to any intelligence agency, all thoughtful people concerned for Israel’s survival should ask themselves, “Who is fighting against Iranian, Syrian, Sudanese terrorism? Who is willing to risk their lives to blunt the jihadi spear and to remove developed weapons systems from jihadi arsenals in Gaza and Lebanon?”

With the resurgence of a Hitler-like spirit in the Islamist world, is God once again raising up new judges, new Ehuds, to protect and deliver His covenant people?

Orwell the prophet

There is a quote popularly attributed to the writer George Orwell (of Animal Farm and 1984 fame), “We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf”. This is a true proverb even if its source is not clear.

There are men and women who are sacrificing their comfort and even their lives, silent and secret warriors in a war against evil and quite real enemies. They work for different countries, but what binds many of them together is a commitment to justice, truth and righteousness and the survival of their own nation, as well as a passion to preserve what remains of Judeo-Christian civilization.

Could we take a moment and pray for these people - for their protection, their success, and the revelation of Yeshua as their savior and deliverer - and the savior and deliverer of the own countries as well!

We appreciate you. Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the enablement of God to us in the work he has called us to do. Thanks again!

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

Connecting The Dots

One of the hallmarks of the very last days is that “many will travel to and fro, and knowledge will increase” (Daniel 12:4). The last 200 years have seen an information explosion unparalleled in human history, and this trend shows no sign of abating. Today it is easy to jump on a plane (apart from security checks!) and travel effortlessly across continents and time zones.

Yet the New Covenant Scriptures tell us that knowledge by itself is not enough. Paul says that knowledge puffs up, while love builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1). Yeshua noted that there is something called “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom” (Matthew 13:11) which God gives to some and withholds from others. Even some experts in the Scriptures were rebuked by the Messiah, when He said, “Woe to you experts in the Torah. For you have taken away the key to knowledge!” (Luke 11:52). Knowledge they had, but a spiritually sensitive heart was lacking.

Even today it seems that it is possible to know a fair amount of information about a biblical subject, but to miss out on God’s heart on the matter. Is it possible that one can have a lot of biblical knowledge about Israel, while at the same time miss out on God’s heart on the matter?

God’s heart for us as believers worldwide is that we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature people, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Messiah (Ephesians 4:13).  An indispensable last days key in this maturation process is surely receiving a revelation of God’s heart for Israel and acting on it.

Facts are stupid things

President Ronald Reagan once proclaimed, “Facts are stupid things” at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Though many pundits thought that Reagan was misquoting John Adams (“Facts are stubborn things”), the President’s quote reminds me of the essay “In the laboratory with Agassiz” (https://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/introbook2.1/x426.html), which was required reading for seminary students in Bible Study Methods classes.

In this real story, Professor Louis Agassiz insisted that one of his biology students keep examining the body of a dissected fish. He required the student to come back to him with ever increasing observations about how the fish was fashioned, what were its specific and peculiar characteristics – until the student began to become aware of physical facts that had avoided his initial hurried glance. For the student, this meditation/observation was key to a breakthrough in his personal understanding of scientific research. Only focused and studious observation would lead to deeper understanding and revelation. What was required of the student was a passion for the truth and a heart to gain a more mature perspective.

Professor Agassiz said, “Facts are stupid things – until brought into connection with some general law.” In this newsletter we are looking at facts about Israel, but the general overarching “law” here is the heart of God for His Jewish people.

Deep Blue and the Prophetic

In 1996 IBM presented a supercomputer nicknamed Deep Blue, which simultaneously played six chess games against world champion Garry Kasparov. Though Kasparov did defeat Deep Blue, one year later he lost out to its successor Deeper Blue. Kasparov then called foul, and protested that some humans were secretly reprogramming Deeper Blue during the games, introducing a flesh and blood dynamic in support of the cybernetic side.

Students of the prophetic Scriptures could learn something from this story. Kasparov was stressing that digital discernment is not enough to win. Something human – a heart, a mind – is what separates an unthinking IBM machine from a living, breathing, caring human being.

Similarly, an obsessive compulsion to tag and then catalogue every biblical prophecy in exact chronological order of future fulfillment will not necessarily reveal God’s heart about those events. It is even possible to have amazing eschatological acumen while functioning with a hollow (or shut-down) heart – and totally missing the big picture!

Eschatological facts can become “stupid things” when eviscerated, to paraphrase Agassiz. Let us move beyond a simple knowledge of the existence of biblical prophecies concerning Israel, and on to a greater maturity in grasping God’s heartbeat for that nation – as revealed through the prophetic portions of the Bible.

Shunning Israel

I regret to say that some believers have a detached heart regarding Israel. Their thought (and heart) processes would unfold something like this: they correctly observe that many in Israel turned away from following the Davidic dynasty (1Kings 12:16-19), or turned away from honoring the prophets (Jeremiah 7:25-26), or again turned away from embracing King Messiah Yeshua when He came at His first appearing (Matthew 23:37-39).

As a result, these believers relate to Israel with a sense of offense, turning a cold shoulder and an even colder heart away from the Jewish people. This attitude is often blended with a false sense of spiritual superiority, “We Christians are not like these bad Jews. We follow Christ and we obey the truth. But as for these people, they obviously don’t!”

From this skewed perspective, when tragedies happen to the Jewish people – like the Holocaust, pogroms, or Arab wars of annihilation waged against Israel – these brothers and sisters often respond, saying that we can be assured that such evils were prophesied against Israel in Deuteronomy 28, and that these events demonstrate that Israel is still not redeemed – that we are not yet in the decisive period of God’s favor for the Jewish people.

As well, many would add that God cannot allow Himself to show any real favor to Israel until He has totally “broken the power” of His own set-apart yet stubborn people (Daniel 12:7). Such believers would be hesitant about openly admitting that God is in the process of restoring His Jewish people to Zion. The present State of Israel, for these believers, might or might not have any theological significance or divine value.

For these believers it seems easier to theologically explain attacks against the Jewish people and their state, than to support the Jewish people and their state against such attacks. When anti-Semitic assaults are more easily justified than pro-Jewish restoration efforts, something is definitely wrong with this picture.

Just in judgment, just in restoration

The prophets agreed that one day Israel would be exiled to Assyria and Babylon because of sin and rebellion (Jeremiah 50:17). Even the nations of the world would look at the Exile and draw the same conclusion (Ezekiel 36:19-21). Yet the God who was just in His judgments on Israel is also just in His prophesied restoration of Israel: “Hear the word of YHVH, you nations, and declare in the coastlands afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel shall gather him, and protect him as a shepherd protects his flock’”  (Jeremiah 31:10).

God’s heart is not permanently frozen in anger against Israel, neither are His compassion’s “stuck in a moment”. Though God has had to judge sin among His people with severity, He is also burning with deep love for the Jewish people: “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? … My heart is upside down, and all My compassions are aflame!” (Hosea 11:8).

Restoration is a verb

We are all witnesses. We live in the day when God is restoring Israel to her promised homeland. Isaiah 11:11 promised that God would restore the Jewish people to their land a second time. The first return was in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The second return began in the 1850’s and has increased to a flood in our day. Scriptures such as Jeremiah 16:14-15 indicate that the return of Russian speaking Jews from the land of the North (directly north of Jerusalem – the former USSR) in our day is a prophetic portent of a full return of all the exiled Jewish people to their Promised Land – even if they now live in fairly pleasant circumstances in Western countries.

As we observe with our own eyes this process of return and restoration, we also remember that there will be earth-shattering judgments on all the planet, including on the Jewish people. Nevertheless, we are eyewitness of perhaps the most astounding regathering of any nation to its homeland since time began.

To glide along this river is exciting and also a bit challenging. God is in the middle of a biblical restoration process! And how do we respond to that process? Do we take a passive “couch potato” perspective, issuing theologically bland, monosyllabic, non-committal and politically correct comments? Do some of us even hesitate to affirm what God is doing in this Jewish restoration – by withholding our prayers (Isaiah 62:1, 6-7), our comforting words (Isaiah 40:1-2) and our actions (Isaiah 59:16-21)?

Battle stations!

There is a price to pay for those who stand with this prophetic message. For a war is currently being waged between the forces of jihadi Islam (a battle supported by nearly every Islamic country) on one side, and those supporting the restoration of the Jewish people and their state-in-process on the other.

The prophetic Scriptures let us know that the battle to destroy the Jewish people and their state will intensify, until the whole world gets involved (Zechariah 14:1). Highlights will focus on attempts to invade the borders of Israel (Ezekiel 38:8-18), to divide Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:1-2) and to establish by international diktat new borders for the land of Israel (Joel 3:1-3). There will even be false and brazen attempts to claim that the land of Israel is actually occupied Arab land (Ezekiel 36:2-7; Psalm 83:1-12; etc). At that time, Jeremiah 30:13 says that nearly no one will be found to plead Israel’s case in the courts of world opinion.

In Jeremiah 30:15-17 God prophesies that He will again have mercy on Zion and restore her to her ancient land. But as for those nations who say that God no longer is ardent in His love and care for Israel, or that YHVH is not involved in restoring Israel to her Promised Land, the Lord promises that those nations will be destroyed by their own anti-Semitic plots, and that these peoples will be visited by the very judgments they attempted to bring on the Jewish people.

As we stand on the walls in intercession, prayer and petition, we need to connect the dots and not fail in our courage. We who follow Yeshua the Messiah recognize that God is working on Planet Earth, and that the restoration of the Jewish people to Zion in our day is the most prophetically significant event of the past 100 years. We are not sunshine patriots and summertime soldiers. It is time to stand up and be counted!

We appreciate you. Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the enablement of God to us in the work he has called us to do. Thanks for standing with us!

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

Hanukkah – God, Guts and Glory

Friday December 11th, is the first night of Hanukkah (the Feast of Dedication). Jewish families across the planet will kindle the first of eight candles, sing traditional songs and eat East European latkes (potato pancakes) or Israeli sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts).

As a little Jewish child growing up in Catholic (and often anti-Semitic) Montreal, I remember my mother placing the flickering Hanukkah menorah right in the center of our living room window – so that all passers-by would see that ours was a Jewish home. It was one of the rare times when my family made a public declaration of our connection with the Jewish people. What was it about Hanukkah that caused my mom to “take a stand?” What is the pull of this Jewish holiday?

Keeping up with the Joneses

For many Jews in the Western world, the eight days of Hanukkah have become the Jewish answer to the twelve days of Christmas. “You have gifts? We have gifts! You have Christmas trees with lights? We have neon menorahs!” Or, as Adam Sandler sings, “Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights!”

But the heart of Hanukkah is not a competitive “imitation” of Christmas. Hanukkah is actually a biblical event with deep roots and strong foundations – a commemoration of Jewish faith, blood and guts that more than carries its own weight. Much of the Hanukkah story is found in Daniel 11:28-35, so open up the Bible and follow along!

Live Free or Die

The heroes of Hanukkah were the Maccabees – a fighting family of High Priests whose motto could have been “Live free or die!” In 168 BC they sparked a revolt against the Greek occupation armies, who had conquered the Land promised exclusively by the God of Israel to the Jewish people. A comprehensive history of their military battles is found in First and Second Maccabees, history books written during that epoch.

“It’s all Greek to me!”

Alexander the Great, a world conqueror like Napoleon, Hitler and the anti-Christ, had tried to solidify his empire by binding diverse peoples together into a new world order. His tools of domination were a one-world culture (Hellenistic), one world language (Greek) and one synthesized religion – a jambalaya of Asiatic and Greek demons and idols. In such a Pax Hellenica, there was no room for a spunky Jewish people who believed that YHVH was the only true God; that He had a special holy covenant with Jacob’s children; that YHVH had chosen Israel to be a light to the pagan nations; and that settling the whole Land of Israel was part of the prophesied restoration of Jacob’s children. A royal clash of civilizations was in the offing! (see Daniel 11:28b)

“When in Rome …”

Antiochus IV (nicknamed Epiphanes, or “the manifested one,” Ἀντίοχος Ἐπιφανὴς) was king of the Syrian branch of Alexander’s fading Hellenistic empire. Growing Roman power was fencing him in in Egypt, while zealous Jews were refusing to go along with his vision of Hellenistic world peace.   Antiochus’ need for anger management counseling was getting out of control.

Antiochus’ hatred for the Jewish people’s gifts and calling extended to his hatred for their covenants of promise (Daniel 11:30b). In 167 BC after a few significant personal setbacks, Antiochus desecrated the Temple Mount, pouring swine’s blood on the altar and establishing worship of a Syrian demon, Baal Shamayim (the “abomination that makes desolate” of v.31b), within the courts of Zerubbabel’s Temple (see Zechariah 4:8-14). Some of his collaborators were local Jews who probably saw themselves as an ancient Israeli “NGO with an international perspective” but whom God describes as men who had “forsaken the holy covenant” (v.30).

“Not long after this the king sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of God; also to profane the Temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus … A man could not keep the sabbath or celebrate the traditional feasts, nor even admit that he was a Jew… A decree was issued … obliging Jews to partake of (pagan) sacrifices, and put to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks... Two (Jewish) women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall” (Second Maccabees 6:1-10).

Smooth words and flattery

Antiochus was a smooth talker and a manipulator (like many politicians since then, and like the anti-Christ at the end of days). Daniel (who lived 300 years before Antiochus) prophesied that “by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant” (v.32a).

Antiochus was managing to divide the Jewish people against themselves as he whittled away their spiritual and physical inheritance. The pull on the Jewish people to exchange our calling for international favor and flattery is as much a pitfall today as it was 2,000 years ago.

In his rock poem, “Man of Peace,” Bob Dylan holds up an audio snapshot of Satan, “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” (© Special Rider Music 1983).

 “The people who know their God …”

For the first time in history, a persecution was targeted against the Jewish people which focused on destroying both the Scriptures and faithfulness to God’s covenants. But God was already on the move, raising up His select warriors – five brothers from a High Priestly family, led by Mattisyahu (or Mattatthias). These ‘point men’ sparked a revolt against the Greeks. Their Hebrew names were Yohanan, Shimon, Yehudah, Eliezer and Yonatan.

The popular guerilla revolt was ignited over a refusal to sacrifice swine to pagan demons, and it was ultimately successful, as described in the First and Second Books of Maccabees.

Daniel has this to say about the Maccabean warriors in verse 32, “The people who know their God will display strength and take action” or in King James language, “shall be strong and do exploits!” The Bible describes these Jewish warriors as men who knew God, who knew what He wanted them to do, and who knew when He wanted them to do it.

Our Scriptural heritage teaches us that military operations can be, at the right time and led by the right men and women, God-blessed amazing feats of bravery and godly exploits! This would apply in a special way to the believing remnant of Israel defending the land and people of Israel from their mortal enemies.

“Life is a field of battle and not a bed of roses” (R. L. Stevenson)

In the above quotation, Robert Louis Stevenson could easily have been speaking about Hanukkah. The Maccabees, godly men and women who led the revolt against a pagan superpower, discovered that the path to ultimate victory often included painful setbacks and temporary defeats. Three of the five brothers (including Yehuda [or Judah] the Chief of Staff) were killed on the field of battle, and there were times that the whole Maccabean revolution looked like it was collapsing.

Daniel also prophesied about this dynamic, “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days” (Daniel 11:33).

“Give me liberty or give me death” was not only a byword of the American Revolution. It was the ‘Semper Fi’ of the Maccabees as well.

How will God provide until He provides?

In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye the milkman declares, “I know that God will provide. What I need to know is, how will He provide UNTIL He provides?”

This wry humor, rooted in faith but trembling ever so slightly at the circumstances, finds some basis in the dynamic tension of Daniel 11:34, “Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, though many who are not sincere will join them.” Even in the midst of disaster and collapse, God extends an olive sprig in the beak of the Heavenly Dove  – “a little help” will be granted – enough to keep slugging onward through the mud!

This “no nonsense” approach to the brass tacks realities of faith is also reflected in Yeshua’s sober yet humorous declaration: “I tell you the truth, Yeshua replied, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age  –  homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – and with them, persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).

In another place, He stresses the same theme, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John  16:33).

Paul the Apostle adds his own personal “amen” to this. He and his team travelled throughout Asia Minor “confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Even in our temporary defeats, God is still holding up our arms, still granting us a measure of help, sustenance and survival – until the breakthrough comes! 

Persecution can purify a remnant

Battlefield heroes are normal people (or maybe even cowards) who simply managed to stand their ground when all hell is breaking out around them. Daniel prophetically salutes these Maccabean heroes of the faith – men and women who would be born more than 300 years after he would die. Down through the corridors of time, he declares that even their suffering would have a purpose: “Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine them, purge them and make them pure until the time of the end” (verse 35).See also Hebrews 11:34-38, where there is a literary reference to Second Maccabees.

War and persecution are running mates with revival.

Years ago a dear prophetic friend spoke to me about a season coming on believers in Israel. He said that “persecution was coming, in order to purify a remnant.” As Israeli believers have in the past few years experienced physical attacks, one bombing, and continued harassment and attempts to rescind our civil liberties and citizenship (from various anti-missionary groups operating furtively beneath the radar), we can recognize with eyes of faith that God’s hand and His help are very much in this process, and we can remain confident that He is purifying His remnant in Israel – the mighty army of Ezekiel 37:10.  This work of God (the raising up of His last-days mighty Hebrew army) “is still to come, at the appointed time!” (Daniel 11:35).

We appreciate you. Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the enablement of God to us in the work he has called us to do. Thanks, and Happy Hanukkah!

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

Tumbling onto the playing fields of Armageddon

Israel is a country with a small geography but a huge history. That’s what the Bible says.

God chose Sarah’s shriveled and humble womb to give birth to the Chosen People and through them to the Son of David. Planet Earth’s cosmic drama will reach its awesome crescendo in a Jewish Jerusalem. The Jewish people may not be super-sized, but size isn’t everything. From God’s perspective, the Jewish people’s historical significance is second only to that of Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah and Savior of the world.

Woody Allen used to say that life is what happens while you’re waiting for something else. Today Israel is what’s happening – its very existence and behavior is affecting the destiny of the world – while the nations are waiting for something else.

Humanity is desperately seeking for anything that looks like it may bring about a more stable world and a brighter economy. In that arena Israel’s divine destiny is simply not on the international agenda. God’s divine court etiquette vis-à-vis the Jewish people (see Genesis 12:3) is far from the center of world attention. And yet, precisely on these matters will the nations be judged (see Jeremiah 30:16-17).

“The Times They Are A’ Changin’”

Bob Dylan stirred the world with burning words in 1963 in his “The Times They Are A’ Changin.’” His words could easily apply today to the world’s unfriendly heart toward Israel: “Come writers and critics who prophesy with your pen, and keep your eyes open, the chance won’t come again. And don’t speak too soon for the wheel’s still in spin, and there’s no telling who that is namin’. For the loser now will be later to win, for the times they are a’ changin’” (© 1991 Special Rider Music).

One Israeli diplomat recently noted that the recent “tone and the music” coming out of the White House toward Israel has changed. For the first time in recent history an acting Israeli Prime Minister has been treated as an “untouchable,” as an undesirable guest at the White House. PM Netanyahu’s request to meet with the President was left hanging until the last possible minute; the appointment was only confirmed as Netanyahu’s plane landed in the USA. Netanyahu was brought into the White House through a back door and at night. No photos were released and no press conference was allowed. Whatever the official spin on these events may be, times are indeed a’ changing.’

Exodus 1:8 refers to a new king in Egypt, a Pharaoh whose heart was not warmly disposed to Joseph or to his people.  Whether President Obama’s actions are based on a desire to not upset a volatile Islamic world, or based on lack of sympathy for Israel’s plight or calling – the reasons may never be clearly known. But one must begin to connect the dots and draw careful conclusions. In the short term America’s national love affair with Israel is in for some executive buffeting.

Pray that American believers will gird up their loins and press in for impartation from God’s heart regarding prayer strategies for  Israel, in order that we may stand with Him and with His heart for the Jewish people in a wise and courageous way! 

“Do not curse the ruler of your people!” (Exodus 22:28)

As the crack of daylight begins to appear between Biblical teachings and the policies of national leaders, and as biblical stances regarding Israel’s irrevocable gifts and calling become somewhat less than popular in much of the media, the hearts of believers are being tested. It grieves me to see that some followers of Yeshua are beginning to succumb to coldness of heart  and bitterness of tongue regarding their own democratically elected leaders.  Moses taught us, “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people,” while Paul quoted this authoritatively in Acts 23:5, “Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people!”

In apostolic times Paul prayed for Herod Agrippas, for Festus, for Felix and yes, even for the Emperor Nero. Today believers need to be praying for God’s heart, asking Him to pour out compassion, mercy, protection, revelation and divine strategies on their own rulers. 

Intercession and tears are the need of the hour! Pray for your country’s leaders! Pray and do not curse.

“We live in a political world”

Bob Dylan comments “We live in a political world. Love don’t have any place. We’re living in times where men commit crimes, and crime don’t have a face” (“Political World,” © 1989 Special Rider Music).

Recently the UN General Assembly has ratified a propagandistic report accusing Israel of war crimes in Operation Cast Lead against the Hamas terror army (December 2005 and January 2006). That war began after Israel’s civilian population was hit over 8,000 times by Hamas missiles, and countless more times by mortars. Hamas cynically embedded missile launchers among Gaza’s civilian population, beside mosques, hospitals and UN structures, in zoos, schools etc.

Israel’s military exercised incredible restraint as they targeted Hamas terrorists, while manfully trying to minimize civilian casualties. Their battlefield conduct in that war was given high praise by the commander of British forces in Afghanistan in a recent military lecture. Hamas forces were ravaged in their encounter with Israel, and Islamist missile attacks in Israeli civilians did in fact cease.

Yet, having lost that military round against Israel, Hamas devoted its efforts to a different war – the PR (media) war. It caricatured Israel as a bloodthirsty state which targets civilians, even though it was Hamas who deliberately employed its forces and rockets in civilian areas.

The Goldstone Report, authored by a South African Jewish judge not considered warm-hearted toward Israel, was recently accepted by the UN for further discussion and action.  The result? Israel, a plucky and brave nation defending itself against Hamas, is now being accused of “committing the crime” of neutralizing terror forces, while Hamas (listed by the USA as a terror organization) has managed “to hide its own face,” just like Bob Dylan sang.

“As it was in the days of Hitler …”

As the world moves closer to the last days’ judgments of the Book of Revelation, Dylan asks, “Are you ready for the judgment? Are you ready for that terrible swift sword? Are you ready for Armageddon? Are you ready for the Day of the Lord” (“Are You Ready,” © 1980 Special Rider Music).

Though these final judgments are severe, the hallway into these judgments is a graduated one. The path into the thick of these judgments is made up of many small steps and some big ones. One of the most significant steps here involves turning one’s heart away from (and one’s back on) Israel.

Germans in the 1930’s gladly chose Hitler because he rallied the nation and spoke of a bright future. He arose during a time of economic turmoil and international threats. His plans for the Jewish people were not deemed significant or worthy of opposition for the most part. And the wealthy movers and shakers of the Western world’s economies were quite willing to ignore Hitler’s murderous plans for the Jewish people, because (simply put) Hitler was good for the economy.

Today the economic movers and shakers of the world are taking a similar stance vis-à-vis Iran. As detailed in Dore Gold’s recent book “The Rise of Nuclear Iran,” major economic players in France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia and China (as well as US oil companies) are all advocating lessening pressure on Iran, even though that country’s leaders are painfully clear about their goal of annihilating Israel with nuclear weapons. As the world did not stop Hitler, so today the world does not want to stop Iran’s “Drang zum Atom,”  its suicidal march to destroy God’s chosen people with home grown atom bombs. The world did not stop North Korea and Pakistan in their drive to go nuclear, and these last two nations have significantly aided Iran (and Syria!) in their drive toward atomic weapons.

Pray for world economic leaders, that God will give them dreams and wake-up calls (as He did to Pilate’s wife) or even lack of sleep (as He did for Ahasuerus) – and that these will lead to godly choices, individual salvations and preservation for Israel.  

“The iron hand, it ain’t no match for the iron rod”

King David prophesied an “end of the world” scenario in Psalm 2. The nations rage against God, against His Messiah and against His people (see also Psalm 83). This psalm pictures how human history as we know it will end – on the one side of the ring, the raging nations; on the other side of the ring, David’s kingdom and David’s Greater Son.

God’s response to international rebellion is threefold: mocking laughter; divine derision; and the commissioning of His Son, the Messiah, to whom He gives a mandate – Yeshua will rule over all the nations, breaking rebellious countries apart with a rod of iron, or alternately dashing them in pieces like a shattered clay pot.

Bob Dylan alludes to this prophecy when he says, “The iron hand, it ain’t no match for the iron rod. The strongest wall will crumble and fall to a mighty God … Of every earthly plan that is known to man He is unconcerned. He’s got plans of His own to set up His throne when He returns” (“When He Returns,” © 1979 Special Rider Music).

Pray for your leaders, your pastors, your family and yourself – that we would be ready in heart, spirit and body to be used of God as faithful witnesses in the exciting and challenging days ahead!

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

Moses My Servant Is Dead

A few days ago I had a dream.

A well-known Christian leader, now departed, was moving through a room surrounded by two handfuls of disciples. His face was creased, and his followers’ features were similarly lined. A fine layer of dust-like powder covered everyone’s countenance. There were many frozen smiles, but there was no longer any life or joy on their faces. Everyone was convinced that they were disciples of a cutting-edge leader, in a cutting-edge movement, in the spiritual avant-garde.

In my dream this group of people and their leader were part of a previous move of God. Now they were stuck in the past, fixated on what had been. They were not awake or alive to what God was about to do and even now doing. Their pride at being part of the “in crowd” was blinding them, preventing them from entering into the present work of God’s kingdom. They had become a slavish imitation of what they had once been. Time had stopped for them.

Bear with me as I attempt to interpret this dream.

A wake-up call

“After the death of Moses the servant of YHVH, YHVH said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ servant: ‘Moses my servant is dead’“ (Joshua 1:1-2). When God restates the obvious, it is usually because we are having difficulty assimilating reality. Joshua knew that Moses had died, though he had been unable to bury him or even see his dead body (Deut. 34:6). Joshua’s grief at losing his mentor and closest friend was considerable. In later Jewish tradition, a fixed period of mourning occurs after death, and it is quite possible that something similar was happening in this case.

God’s wake-up call compelled Joshua to exercise his will, to force his heart and his thoughts to focus on things to come. The challenge of conquering the Promised Land needed to come front and center for Joshua. Moses – God’s man of the hour in Egypt, at the Red Sea, on Mount Sinai, in battle – had moved on. He had completed his own “exodus (see 2 Peter 1:13-15) and was now with God. Priorities, emphases, strategies – all of them had to shift. No more yesterday’s manna, as Keith Green would say.

“Get ready to cross the Jordan River!” (Joshua 1:1-5)

In 1991 Bob Mumford spoke out a powerful message, one based on his experience in observing and participating in most of the Twentieth century’s moves of the Holy Spirit. He spoke of lessons learned when the wave of the Holy Spirit starts to rise, when the wave crests, and then when the wave subsides. With humor and wisdom he charted these Pentecostal, Charismatic, Third wave (and other) movements. He called upon his listeners to exercise grace, to stay humble, and to focus their eyes on the fact that there would be other future waves before the coming of the final and greatest wave – the events of Revelation 7 and 11.

The ability to honor and appreciate previous moves of God, while hungering humbly for Holy Spirit’s next stirrings (see John 5:3 addendum) – this is the challenge that faced Joshua.

It is the challenge that confronted British Anglicans faced with Methodism, and then Methodists considering the Nazarene Holiness wave. It tested Nazarenes dealing with the Pentecostal revival. It cornered Pentecostals struggling to come to terms with events in North Battleford, Saskatchewan and Van Nuys, California. In their day Charismatics nearly stumbled over John Wimber and the Third Wave, while the Third Wave in turn grappled quite recently with prophetic and intercessory waves of the Holy Spirit. And of course, the whole Church is being confronted by the divine wave of Israel’s restoration-in-process, leading ultimately to Ezekiel 37:9-14 and Romans 11:12, 15.

In each case, in each wave, not everyone moved forward. Not everyone was ready to cross the Jordan. It is rare to meet a Bob Mumford – a man of God who refused to give in to a hardening of the categories, who allowed his spirit to remain tender, pliant and expectant in the hands of God.

Old and New Wine – Old and New Wineskins

In Luke 5:33-39 Yeshua is confronted by an audience who asks Him about two recent moves of God – the Pharisee movement (similar to the modern loving focus on the Scriptures in the Baptist and Bible church movements) and the wave spearheaded by John the Baptist. Yeshua’s movement was not exactly like these other two; His disciples were not blindly accepting these two movements’ values and ways. How would He respond to the audience’s challenge?

Messiah explained that those who are used to the traditions of a revival movement can be like connoisseurs of fine wines. “No one, after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better’“ (Luke 5:39). Yet in time the new wine would be much better. For Yeshua was bringing the Messianic wine of the New Covenant, which included full atonement and the mighty indwelling power of Holy Spirit for all who believe. Yesterday’s gourmet just might miss out on the meal of his life! (see Isaiah 25:6-8; Isaiah 55).

Yeshua’s proverb declared that the followers of John the Baptist (him who pointed to the coming of the Bridegroom) should have been the first to embrace Yeshua (Luke 5:34-35). And surely, some of them did (Luke 3:15-17; John 1:40).

Yeshua is showing concern for the previous moves of God, and the grace deposits that are still to be found, like golden nuggets, beneath the surface of each movement. New wine needs to be preserved in new wineskins, while aged wine is best conserved in older wineskins. (Matthew 9:17). For every move of God there is a season, and a time for every divine purpose under Heaven.

Imitate Moses

Every movement discovers that its disciples imitate their leader. A young Baptist preaches, mopping his brow with a handkerchief , as did his former pastor . John Wimber’s disciples took to wearing loud Hawaiian shirts. In our day one can see disciples still imitating their leaders long after the glory has moved on. Yeshua noted this dynamic: “Every (student) who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40).

The Apostle Paul sheds some light on this dynamic as well, as do other passages in the New Covenant (Hebrew 6:12; 13:17; 3 John 11). In 1 Corinthians 11:1 he says, “Imitate me, even as I imitate the Messiah!”  Herein is a measure of safety, protection and blessing. Ultimately we need to always keep our eyes on the Prize, who is Yeshua Himself. In the end, “each tree will be recognized by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44), and we all bring forth fruit based who is our Father (see Genesis 1:12).

On another note - Ancient Enemies

Joshua waged war against many kings in his day (Joshua 12). Though these specific kings and most of these peoples are all deceased, Israel’s enemies continue to thrive and prosper. Haman is dead, but Ahmedinejad is very much alive. Hitler may be dead, but the current international wave of neo-anti-Semitism is thriving and burgeoning.

Whereas the Western world agrees by and large that Hitler’s Jew-hatred was evil, today many have been caught asleep at the wheel as a new and virulent form of anti-Semitism has swept over the bows of Flagship Europe. The Passover Haggadah declares, ““In every generation they (the anti-Semites) rise up against us (the Jewish people) to annihilate us; but the Holy One, blessed be His name, rescues us from out of their hand”.

Who would have believed it? Yesterday’s anti-Nazis have become today’s Israel haters. Sweden, Holland, France and England – nations which overflowed with a warm heart for the Jewish state in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, today have birthed significant movements and media which are in the vanguard of disseminating poison against the Jewish people.

Preparing for yesterday’s battles is less than efficient. Today is the time to gear up! Now is the time to prepare for the defense of the Jewish people, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:5-13).

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

Last Days Guidelines From The Prophet Micah

The creaking of the floorboards on the Titanic known as Planet Earth is getting louder:

➢      world economic insecurity;

➢      the potential American legalizing of euthanasia (Bill HR 3200, currently under consideration in the US House of Representatives, pp. 425-430; www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14102&AlertID=1015)  a move which has parallels to initial Nazi medical policies (the Aktion T4 program of October 1939);

➢      civil unrest and nuclear ferment in Iran;

➢      the sudden reappearance of a pneumonic plague similar to the bubonic plague once known as the Black Death (that epidemic killed close to 100 million in China and Europe by 1400 AD) in the Northwestern Chinese city of Ziketan, western Qinghai province (www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6736993.ece);

➢      increasing international pressure on Israel to freeze the resettling of the Jewish people in parts of the Promised Land;

➢      the marked rise of anti-Semitism in Europe in general and in Britain and Hungary in particular.

There is much to consider and much to pray about.

Each individual crisis is part of a larger picture, and it is that larger picture that we want to see. Yeshua stressed that it is important to join the dots and discern the times. “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matt. 16:3).

Recently while studying the Book of Micah I was struck by how this prophetic scroll lays out some striking spiritual milestones, traffic warning signs if you will, for the last-days generation. May the beacons of these biblical lighthouses help us all to stay clear of rocky shores in the days ahead.

“Hear O peoples and listen O earth!” (Micah 1:2)

Micah begins his message with a divine warning to the whole earth. He ends it with a prediction of God’s judgment on the nations (7:10, 13, 16-17). In both cases YHVH is calling the nations to focus in on what He is doing with the Jewish people – to bow the knee in humble recognition of their amazing and irrevocable calling, their tragic failures, and their earth-shaking last days restoration.

Today Israel’s desperate need is for a savior, redeemer and defender. Israel is not yet cleansed of sin; she deeply needs the atonement and restoration that only the blood of Messiah Yeshua can provide. Apart from the power and Spirit of the Lord (see Micah 3:8; Zech.4:6), the Jewish people cannot fulfill our calling to bring life from the dead to the world (see Romans 11:12,15).

This is the matrix into which the intercessors of the world need to pray – recognizing Israel’s spiritual need for salvation (which means asking God for mercy and repentance for Israel) on the one hand, while calling out to God for the physical restoration of Israel and the fulfillment of the Jewish people’s first-born status (on the other)! Here is the holy ground on which intercession and evangelism meet.

“Is the Spirit of the Lord angry?” (Micah 2:7)

Nearly all the prophets of Micah’s day were overwhelmingly united; with one voice they declared that a time of peace was soon coming to Israel – if only it played its political cards right. They were upset with Micah’s words that God was about to judge and purify His beloved people through great shakings and times of trouble (see Micah 6:1-3). These false prophets hissed at Micah and commanded him to be silent: “Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us” (Micah 2:6; 3:11).

Today the world’s largest Jewish community outside of Israel supports the official peace process and Middle Eastern policies of a serving American President, while less than 6% of Israeli Jews feel that this President’s policies are good for the Jewish state (see Micah 3:5). Unless Israel’s leaders back down from God’s covenant promises regarding the Land of Israel in Genesis 12 and 15, they will face political pressure, shakings and times of trouble from Western governments.

It is biblically true that God has used worldwide anti-Semitism and the hatred of the nations to purify and restore Israel (as He did with Assyria in Isaiah 10:5-19; see also Micah 2:3). Yet the same Bible warns us that God judges those nations severely and by no means leave them unpunished in the process (see Amos 9:8).

Pray for the leaders of your nation and for the leaders of Israel – that they all will make wise choices which will be biblically sound and which will bring blessing on both Israel and on your own nation.

“I will surely gather … together the remnant of Israel …like a flock in its pasture” (Micah 2:12)

One of God’s last-days strategies is the regathering of the Jewish people to their own Promised Land. Though this restoration of the Jewish people to the land of Israel will incur the hatred of the nations in general and the military onslaught on the part of the Arab nations in particular (see Ezekiel 36:2-7; Psalm 83:2-12; Psalm 2), God will apportion His blessing or cursing to each one of these nations based on  those countries’ response to Zion – His royal standard and plumbline (see Genesis 12:3; Matt. 25:40; Joel 3:1-2; Micah 4:11-13).

As anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism undergo a wildcat demonic mitosis, expanding and multiplying with hellish anointing, determine in your own heart that you will not desert the banner of the King of the Jews, nor turn your back on His people Israel.

Pray that you, your friends, your congregation, your denomination, your city and your country will become and remain steadfast friends and allies of God’s purposes on Planet Earth vis-à-vis His chosen people.

“Kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem” (Micah 4:8)

Micah saw in a vision that at the end of days Israel will become the center of the world – spiritually and governmentally. Zion will become the world’s capital city. Messiah Yeshua will reign from a united Jerusalem as the ultimate Davidic King, and all nations will recognize these facts, coming in worship and blessing to the Mountain of YHVH. Divine patience counsels us that true peace will not be a Middle Eastern reality until that day. In the meantime, we should remember that all Gentile peace plans, treaties and strategies (be they ever so well intentioned) will fall by the political roadside on the way up to Jerusalem.

Pray for the spiritual and physical welfare, well-being and salvation of the Jewish nation, and give yourself no peace until Israel enters into the fullness of that calling (see Isaiah 62:1, 6-8).

“The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations … like a young lion among flocks of sheep “ (Micah 5:8-9)

The prophet says that, at the end of days, military victory will be granted to Israel. She will be the unchallenged international superpower in the Middle East. At what exact point-in-time this will happen may not be crystal clear in Scripture (see Zech. 13:8-14:2 etc), but this future reality is the prophetic word of the Lord. Israel as God’s victorious army is a mighty theme in the Bible, and it is the pinnacle of Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones (Ezek. 37:9-11; Psalm 110:3; Micah 4:11-13).

Pray for spiritual life and revelation to be given to the leaders of Israel’s armed forces, intelligence agencies and strategists. Pray that they will speedily come to know Yeshua and heed His voice in all matters!

“What does YHVH require of you?” (Micah 6:8)

God is still searching the hearts of the whole world, and especially the hearts of Israel, to find men and women who desire justice, who love mercy, and who yearn to walk humbly with their God. Though bribery, corruption and dishonest dealings may characterize some in Israel (see Micah 7:1-6), the prophet encourages us all to hold on to God’s amazing promises of salvation and restoration for the Jewish people: “But as for me, I will wait for YHVH expectantly. I will trust in the God of my salvation, and my God will answer me” (Micah 7:7).

The spiritual overhaul that Israel desperately needs will require more than plastic surgery. But rest assured – the final results (after the Divine Surgeon lays down His tools) will be absolutely breathtaking (see Zech.8:23)!

Whenever you hear disheartening news concerning Israelis or the Jewish people still scattered in exile across the face of Planet Earth, pray with passion that God’s holy heart will be birthed in the hearts of His beloved Jewish people, through repentance and faith in Messiah Yeshua.

“Do not gloat over me, my enemy!” (Micah 7:8)

Micah warns those who believe that God has abandoned His Jewish people – or even those who do not believe that the God of Israel exists – that Israel’s present problems will not last forever. God will soon rescue His people from the anger and hatred of the nations. At that point there will be a major reversal of historical roles – Israel’s enemies will experience the fate they had tried to inflict on the people of Jacob, while the Jewish people will finally see their enemies defeated forever.

“The day for … extending your boundaries will come” (Micah 7:11)

Within a short time we will witness the re-establishment of the full borders of the Promised Land as covenanted to Abraham, to David and to Solomon. This will include areas such as the Golan, the West Bank, southern Syria and southern Lebanon. This prophetic transfer of territory will reach its zenith after the return of Messiah Yeshua. In that day the United Nations will no longer have any mandate to focus on how to shrink Israel out of existence, and world leaders will come crawling in repentance over their evil divisive strategies on this matter (Micah 7:16-17).

“As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them My wonders” (Micah 7:15)

God promises that, in the day when He brings back Israel to their Promised Land and stretches forth His mighty arm to defeat all anti-Semitic and anti-Messiah nations, He will again demonstrate signs and wonders on the level of what He did in the Book of Exodus, in the days of Moses and Pharaoh.

The final redemption of Israel will be more dramatic and awe-inspiring than even Cecil B. DeMille’s famous movie “The Ten Commandments”. Paraphrasing John 14:12, we who live to see this day will see miracles greater than those that Moses saw, even as the two witnesses of Revelation 11:6 will do greater miracles than Moses and Elijah combined.

These prophecies from Micah are burning torches in the hands of the Holy Spirit. May they illumine our prayers and inspire us to call upon God for even greater things!

“This is what YHVH says, He who made the earth, YHVH who formed it and established it – YHVH is His name. Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).

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

Truth or Consequences at al-Azhar

President Obama is winding up his whirlwind tour of Islamic dictatorships. He has received golden gifts and has given, in exchange, golden complements, saying of Saudi King Abdullah, “I’ve been struck by his wisdom and graciousness” as well as “his generosity.” The President spoke with reporters before touching down in Saudi Arabia, declaring that he “thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek His Majesty’s counsel.”

At their meeting, King Abdullah referred to “the historic and strategic ties between our two countries, I believe that go back to the time of the meeting between the late [President] Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the late [Saudi] King Abdul-Aziz.”

During that memorable and historic meeting which occurred on the USS Quincy on Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake on February 14 1945 (the closing days of WWII), the Saudi King asked and received a promise from Roosevelt that the USA would “do nothing to assist the Jews against the Arabs and would make no move hostile to the Arab people.” These assurances were confirmed in a letter dated April 5 1945 and signed by Roosevelt, acting in his capacity as the Chief of the Executive Branch of the US government (www.mideastweb.org/roosevelt.htm).

It is to be hoped that President Obama was not seeking King Abdullah’s counsel, wisdom and graciousness regarding American policies toward the Jewish state.

These recent events find their proper context in the rueful reflections of former CIA case officer Robert Baer. In an article titled “The Fall Of The House Of Saud” (May 2003, The Atlantic, www.theatlantic.com/doc/200305/baer), Baer explains:

“Not all the wishing in the world will change the basic reality of the situation.

“What is truth?” (Pontius Pilate, John 18:38)

In a strategic “off the cuff” interview with the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman just prior to his Arabian tour, President Obama gave some insight into his own pragmatic values vis-à-vis God’s restoration of the Jewish people to the Promised Land. “We have a joke around the White House,” the President said. “We’re just going to keep on telling the truth until it stops working – and nowhere is truth-telling more important than the Middle East.”

One of the wonderful flowerings of the image of God in man is to know the truth, to speak the truth and to do the truth. The God of the Bible says that YHVH is the only true God (Deut.6:4; Mark 12:29); that any god with a name other than YHVH is a demon (Exod.3:15; Psalm 96:5; Deut.6:3); and that in Yeshua only is the Truth, the Way and the Life (John 14:6 - see my booklet “A Perspective On Islam”, at https://davidstent.com/words/).

Koranic Islam flatly denies these teachings, and therefore it presents a challenge to every Bible believer – is the Koran truthful when it denies the incarnation of Yeshua, the deity of the Son, the reality of the crucifixion, the irrevocable gifts and calling of Israel, etc? And are believers in Yeshua required to have the backbone to tell the truth according to the Holy Scriptures about these matters, or is truth relative and unimportant?

Though Obama states in Cairo that “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance,” the Koran and Islamic religious texts deny this. When the President stands in the shadows of Cairo’s Al Azhar University (Islam’s oldest theological seminary) and hints that “among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one’s own faith by the rejection of another’s” – he is trivializing the unpleasant truth that Al Azhar and the Koran clearly reject Christianity and Judaism as viable faith alternatives, and that they call for the denigration, enslavement or destruction of these religions’ followers.

President Obama’s end-time vision 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 Muslims”. Yet 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 settle there over the ages will not have any guaranteed inheritance (Ezek.36:1-15; Neh. 2:20). President Obama’s last days vision may sound nobly inclusive, but it is not God’s truth.

Truth or Consequences

Though some believers believe that God has only concealed and private perspectives about the kingdoms of this earth, or that He has no real opinions about how the nations are attempting to divide the land of Israel, the Scriptures do present a radically different truth. The prophets of Israel declare that the return of Yeshua will happen when the nations divide the city of Jerusalem and exile Jewish people from half of the city (Zech.14:1-3). The judgment of all nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat will be based on the nations dividing up the land of Israel and exiling Jewish people from parts of it (Joel 3:1-3). The borders of the land of Israel are God’s idea (Deut. 32:9-11) and the rebellion of the nations against this point will not cause Him to change His view of the truth (Psalm 2). The judgments of God await any and all comers who defy the truth of God’s word.

President Obama stated to Thomas Friedman that Israel’s desire to hold onto its God-given land “is unsustainable” and that “they need to make some tough choices on settlements.” He stated that his solution for the conflict between Islam and the Jews is “a two-state solution” and that this division of the land of Israel is in the Jewish people’s “long-term interest.”

On May 27 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the White House, “With respect to settlements, the President was very clear when Prime Minister Netanyahu was here. He wants to see a stop to settlements – not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions. We think it is in the best interests of the effort that we are engaged in that settlement expansion cease. That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly, not only to the Israelis but to the Palestinians and others. And we intend to press that point” (www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/05/124009.htm).

Biblical truths taught in Baptist and Methodist Sunday School are often abandoned by upwardly mobile politicians as they scramble up the governmental ladder. But even after one gets to the very top, in the final analysis we will all be weighed and sifted based on whether or not we “trust and obey” the truth of God’s Word. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Messiah, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor.5:10).

Prayer arrows

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

Wake Up And Smell The Swastika

Planet Earth is picking up speed – if not in rate of rotation, then certainly in spiritual polarization. Good and bad, light and darkness, God and Satan – each one is coming more sharply into focus. And once again, the crucible of this process revolves around God’s penultimate end-time strategy – the Jewish people, their biblical calling and their ancient land.

2009 has seen the budding of a new and virulent virus totally unrelated to swine flu. The plague of anti-Semitism is spreading rapidly across the globe, and this contagion has found new worlds to conquer. It  is safe to assume that the UN will never classify this spiritual disease as a Level 6 pandemic.

The American newspaperwoman Ann Landers popularized the proverb “Wake up and smell the coffee!” meaning “take a good hard look at the facts.” Here’s the wake-up call – we have stepped through the doorway of time and have come face to face with a resurrected swastika.

Hitler Redux

John Updike coined the term “Rabbit Redux,” from the ancient Latin verb reducere, meaning “reborn” or “restored.” What is happening right now is “Hitler Redux” in two parts –

Attacks in the media

Anti-Semitic forces have been gradually increasing their bandwidth over the past few years. Anti-Jewish/Israeli cartoons in Middle Eastern newspapers (and even in the US – www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=6&x_article=760) are once again using techniques honed by Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels (www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/sturmer.htm) to turn the hearts of many peoples toward hatred of God’s chosen people.

Over the past few years, books and articles suggesting that Jews are controlling Western governments policies regarding Israel have surfaced and generated a marked increase in the anti-Semitic nature of the debate concerning the Jewish state (see especially www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=8&x_nameinnews=189&x_article=1105;

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/04/AR2006040401282.html).

During the Nazi period, Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels made extensive use of media attacks on the Jewish people in his national radio addresses (www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb1.htm). His goal was to change public opinion and prepare the masses for harsher techniques soon to come.

Physical attacks on the street

Physical attacks against Jews in general and Israelis in particular have recently become commonplace again throughout Europe, and are growing in North America. One outstanding example concerns the kidnapping, torture and murder of French Jewish 23-year-old Ilan Halimi in 2006, just now coming to trial in France (www.nysun.com/foreign/tale-of-torture-and-murder-horrifies-the-whole/27948/ ; www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=5309).

A huge jump in anti-Jewish/Israeli attacks was noted during the recent Israeli counter-terrorism Operation Cast Lead against Hamas rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip (January 2009). Violent anti-Israel and anti-Semitic demonstrations of thousands coupled with murderous attacks against Jewish people and Israeli embassies throughout Europe, Britain and Asia have racked up world anti-Semitism to unprecedented levels.

One of the marks of the rise of Nazism in Germany was patrols of SA (Sturmabteilung) Brownshirts who would often beat up Jewish pedestrians and vandalize businesses. These “random” acts prepared the social climate for acceptance of more drastic measures.

Attacks in international forums

In our day the anti-Semitic stewpot has been hotly peppered in an outstanding way by Iran. President Khatami has described Israel as “a plague” and “the greatest enemy of Islam and humanity” (August 9 1998).

Here are some recent quotes from Iranian President Ahmedinejad:

The use of public attacks on the Jewish people in international forums was a trademark of the Nazi regime, as described in Jeffrey Herf’s “The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust.”

Calls for boycotts against Jews

Attempted boycotts against Israel have become daily news. Whether it be Scottish or South African trade unions (www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/865408.html), British Muslims, academics or liberal churchmen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_and_political_boycotts_of_Israel), the use of boycotts to isolate and do damage to the Jewish state is alive and well on Planet Earth.

Once again, note the eerie parallels to early Nazi boycotts of Jewish stores and businesses (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_boycott_of_Jewish_businesses;www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/angrif10.htm). Hitlerian tactics have risen from the ash heap of history.

Calls for genocide against Jews

Addressing the opening of the “Support for the Palestinian Intifada” conference in Teheran on April 14, 2006 President Ahmedinejad declared, “The Zionist regime is an injustice and by its very nature a permanent threat. Whether you like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation. The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.”

On a recent Middle Eastern television program, the Iranian announcer said, “Nothing can prevent Iranian missiles from targeting the heart of Israel, if Iran is subjected to a military strike by Israel.” General Ataollah Salehi, General Commander of the Iranian army then stated, “The truth is that Israel does not have the courage to attack us. If we are subjected to any attack by Israel, I do not think we will need more than 11 days to wipe Israel out of existence.” (LBC TV, May 3 2009; www.memritv.org/clip/en/2099.htm).

A stark parallel to Nazi thought and expression can be drawn. On January 30 1939 Hitler addressed the German Reichstag (Parliament) and declared, “I want once again to be a prophet. If the international Finance-Jewry inside and outside of Europe should succeed in plunging the peoples of the earth once again into a world war, the result will be not the Bolshevization of earth, and thus a Jewish victory, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe” (www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_fi.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005175&MediaId=3108).

When economic fears and uncertainties attempt to find refuge in creating and destroying a Jewish scapegoat, it can be stated with certainty that the spirit of the swastika is once again at work.

“When You Gonna Wake Up?”

Back in 1979, Bob Dylan was singing passionately about his newfound Messiah. He gave the world rock poems like “When You Gonna Wake Up?”  Quoting from God’s prophetic exhortation in the Book of Revelation to Turkish believers in Sardis, Dylan sang, “When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?”

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you” (Revelation 3:1-3).

Ever the Poet, YHVH describes many of the believers in Sardis as “dead or mostly dead” (to paraphrase Billy Crystal’s Miracle Max in Princess Bride). Though some in Asia Minor thought of this group of early Christians as being cutting-edge, Yeshua describes them as asleep at the wheel, about to die, lacking significant pieces of the puzzle, and in need of radical repentance. And He enscripturated this rebuke for all believers of all ages to chew on.

Snoring in the spirit, blissfully unaware that the Lord is about to move – these characteristics could also apply to many in our day.

Even as we speak, menacing and malignant decisions are being taken by world leaders a la Psalm 2 and Psalm 83 – judgments about the Jewish people and their state, which will incur earth-shaking judgment from on high.

The horror and terror of anti-Semitism has once again popped its leering, many-headed countenance out of the Middle-eastern genie bottle and is rapidly wrapping its wraithlike arms around East and West alike.

“The Lord whom we seek” is about to come suddenly, as a thief in the night. 

“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with Him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed” (Rev.16:15).

Prayer arrows

The grooming of world anti-Semitism is a well-aged Satanic strategy. Here are a few prayer guidelines:

  1. intercession for Israel’s preservation and salvation;
  2. freedom and anointing for the communication of the good news of Yeshua to His own Jewish people;
  3. preparations for a worldwide underground railroad a la Harriet Tubman, to hide and move persecuted Jewish people back to their homeland (see Isaiah 27:12-13).

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

“YHVH is a warrior; YHVH is His name”

The world is stumbling. The ground is trembling. Everyone is feeling a little weak in the knees.

Newspapers and television remind us of these matters every day. The world’s economy is wobbling. An imperialistic Russia is again flexing its muscles. The specter of rising nuclear instability rises like a mushroom cloud in the Middle East, along with a resurgent jihadi Islam. Untested leaders are trying out unprecedented solutions to cope with unparalleled challenges. All the while a flushed and demonized anti-Semitism has broken out of its cage with a roar, like some rabid tiger running amuck in a public zoo. Though unprepared for combat, we all find ourselves tumbling onto the battlefield of a world in turmoil.

As the world lurches deeper into World War III (see https://davidstent.com/words/ , Dec 9 2006), God wants to make us surefooted, like the hoofs of mountain goats. And He wants to train our hands for battle: “He makes my feet like hind’s feet and sets me on my high places; He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bronze bow” (2 Samuel 22:34-35). But first we need to come to terms with the fact that we are at war, and that God is also at war.

Olive branches amid the bullets

Russian sabers are rattling beside the Black Sea. Jihad warriors are ambushing coalition troops in the Hindu Kush mountains. But in the West it’s all the rage to talk about a deep-seated official repugnance for war, and to express a dripping cynicism about the just use of arms. Many Westerners consider themselves post-Christian, and they are unable to fathom that much of the rest of the world still has zealous anti-democratic convictions.

In the East, Russia dreams of restoring its vast Empire. In the Middle East and Asia, Islamists strive on the path of Allah to help speed the victory of a worldwide Islamic Caliphate. These visions motivate and activate Easterners, but Westerners glaze over in disinterest and disbelief, or due to a short attention span. The West is standing down, but the East is standing up.

President Obama recently extended an olive branch to the Islamic Republic of Iran – one of the world’s two top sponsors of terrorism. While such an offer does afford excellent media coverage, one should remember that olives made their first historical appearance in a Middle Eastern environment. Iran’s leaders may wax eloquent about a new momentum for peace, but the Psalmist reminds us that a man’s speech can be smoother than butter, while his heart can still be turned to war; his words can be softer than oil, yet those words can still be like drawn swords (Psalm 55:21).

Jeremiah tried to warn the leaders of his day about God’s view of ungodly alliances, but to his horror he found that their ears were closed and they would not listen. The reason? The words of YHVH were an embarrassment to them in ancient Middle Eastern political circles. YHVH’s ways created social awkwardness and brought political reproach on Israel. Though Israel’s ancient leaders saw themselves as practitioners of Realpolitik, God Himself lamented that these leaders “have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, ‘Shalom, shalom,’ But there is no shalom” (Jeremiah 6:10-14).

“Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee”

The God of the Bible is not only the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). He also describes Himself as a warrior in Exodus 15:3, “YHVH is a warrior; YHVH is His name”.

In the Torah God reminds Israel about this facet of His personality, “What other God has tried to go and take for Himself a nation enslaved by another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, as YHVH your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?” (Deut.4:34).

The God of Israel commands His people to enter battle as fierce warriors. He Himself gives them military intelligence and unbeatable strategies, and He promises them overwhelming victories on the battlefield (Numbers 31:3-7; Joshua 6:2-3; 8:1; Judges 20:18). One whole chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy is dedicated to explaining how to fight wars YHVH’s way (Deut. 20).

Abraham’s God declares that He is (and will ever be) at war with anti-Semitic forces (Exodus 17:16) and that throughout history He will continue to use Israel’s military might to achieve this goal (Zechariah 9:13; 14:12). The God of the Bible says to the Jewish people, “YHVH your God is in your midst, a victorious Warrior!” (Zephaniah 3:17).

The Bible describes young David son of Jesse, a man after God’s own heart, as “a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man; and YHVH is with him” (1 Samuel 16:18). In the New Covenant we are told that the Hebrew heroes of faith conquered kingdoms, became mighty in war and put foreign armies to flight (Hebrews 11:33-34).

Simply put, God is still a warrior. He is not only the Lord of the Dance; He is the Lord of the Battle (1 Samuel 17:47; Psalm 24:8; Zechariah 14:3).

History – the narrative of God at war

From the dawn of time, God has declared that human history is enmeshed in war. YHVH’s prophecy to the serpent was “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15). This Messianic prophecy sees history as a constant warfare between Satan and mankind. The wrestling between the dragon and the sons of Adam finds its highest fulfillment in Yeshua’s triumph over Satan – through the cross and the resurrection.

God’s choosing of Israel resulted in Satan targeting Israel for mass destruction. The history of Israel (biblical history) details Satan’s repeated attempts to wipe the seed of Abraham and Jacob off the face of the earth. From Pharaoh to Babylon, from Haman to Hadrian, from Hitler and Stalin to Ahmedinejad – God’s Jewish flock has always been fending off the baying wolves of Satan’s hordes (Ezek.34:5-6).

In the Book of Daniel the forces of ungodliness wage war throughout history against the Jewish people, against the saints, and against the Messiah Himself (Daniel 7:21; 9:26; 11:30-35). The clearest description of this battle (with specific prophetic emphasis on the Jewish aspect) is found in Revelation 12.

During the coming days of tribulation, the highest complement given to the beast is, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” (Revelation 13:4, 7).

At the Second Coming of Messiah, Yeshua will wage war against the kings of the whole world and against their armies (Rev.17:14; 19:11, 19). That battle will be known as “the War of the Great Day of God the Almighty” (Rev. 16:14).

War is part and parcel of human history, and part of biblical history. From the Garden of Eden through to the Return of King Messiah, God’s followers are also God’s warriors, seeking to be about their Father’s business.

Prepare for war

Yeshua described the days immediately prior to His return as days of great military conflict. He warns us, “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for these things must take place, but the end does not follow immediately” (Matt.24:6; Luke 21:9). The Scriptures even describe specific last days military battles revolving around the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem (Zech.12-14; Joel 3; Ezekiel 37-39 etc).

All these passages help prepare us, help get us in the frame of mind and understanding – to be ready for a season of war and not to be stumbled by it. If we insist that peace is “just around the corner” as the waves of war engulf us, we will not only be severely out of touch with reality – we will also be misled in our strategic understandings, behavior and reactions.

Immediately prior to WWII Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain mistakenly viewed Hitler as a reasonable man with whom one could do business. Chamberlain proclaimed “peace in our day” only days before his country tumbled onto the battlefields of a World War. In retrospect Chamberlain was guilty of what is known as appeasement. Prime Minister Winston Churchill (who later became PM), described an appeaser this way in a radio broadcast on January 20 1940, “If he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last”. Chamberlain had fed the Czechs to Hitler hoping to spare England. V-2 rockets on London and heavy bombers over Coventry revealed the criminal foolishness of Chamberlain’s approach.

On October 5 2001 Israeli PM Ariel Sharon addressed some public comments to the American administration, responding to US pressure on Israel both to withdraw from its biblical heartland and to stop encouraging Jews to live in those areas. Sharon drew a pointed parallel to Chamberlain’s 1938 appeasement of Hitler in Munich, where the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia was surrendered to Nazi control in a futile attempt to stave off WWII.

Sharon declared, “Do not repeat the dreadful mistake of 1938, when the enlightened democracies of Europe decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for the sake of a temporary, convenient solution. Don’t try to appease the Arabs at our expense. We will not accept this. Israel will not be Czechoslovakia. Israel will fight terror.” The political firestorm generated was so intense, that Sharon was forced to gulp twice and mumble a diplomatic apology.

As US and EU pressures increase once again on Israel, Paul Volcker (President Obama’s economic recovery advisor), Brent Scowcroft (possibly the new chairman of the National Intelligence Council), Zbigniew Brzezinski (former National Security Advisor), Lee Hamilton (former Chairman, Select Committee on Intelligence), Thomas Pickering (former Ambassador to Israel and Jordan) and others called upon the President to recognize and begin negotiations with Hamas, a jihadi Islamist group which calls for the destruction of Israel as one of its main pillars (see www.davidstent.org, “words” Feb. 2006),. Scowcroft said very clearly, “The main gist is that you need to push hard on the Palestinian peace process. Don’t move it to the end of your agenda and say you have too much to do”.

For a mainstream US bipartisan group to pressure the President to allow an al Qa’eda-like group to join negotiations on Israel’s borders, security and existence simply staggers the imagination. It would be like Russia insisting that Osama Bin Laden be allowed to participate in setting American security guidelines.

This clearly expressed determination to pressure Israel into dividing up more of its land (a big Biblical “no-no” – see Zech. 14:1-3 and Joel 3:1-3) will bring divine disfavor upon America, unless these pressures are somehow checked through prayer.

Pray with passion

Yeshua told us that these abovementioned events and trends would characterize the last days. At the same time, He told us that, when we see these things coming to pass, we should lift up our heads and rejoice (Luke 25:28). In a relatively short while the joy, power and salvation to be visited upon Israel (and through them to the whole world) will far outweigh the coming birth pangs and the woes.

In the meantime Paul encourages us to seize any and all opportunities, and to make the most of the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). Yeshua adds that those opportunities are not far away – they are actually right in front of our eyes: “Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest?’ Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest” (John 4:35).

From a God’s-eye perspective and strategy, He is the Great Light about to shine on a world wrapped in darkness (Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:16). From God’s perspective, even Satan’s deepest darkness is unable to hide anything from YHVH’s gaze. His own presence will light up the night like the noon-day sun (Psalm 139:12).

Peter adds, “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).

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

War With Hamas – History Repeating Itself

George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (The Life of Reason, vol. one, 1905).  Hegel added, “What experience and history teach is this – that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it” (Georg Wilhelm Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History, 1832).

The Apostle Paul brings a more hopeful historical perspective when he comments, “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did ... These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Cor.10:6, 11). As history speeds up before our very eyes, we want to heed the warnings God is sending us, and apply the wisdom that can be gleaned from history for the situation at hand. Specifically we need to ask God what we can learn from all the happenings surrounding the recent war in Gaza.

The Ebenezer Principle

Eli was priest of YHVH at Shiloh. His two sons Phineas and Hophni oversaw and administered the sacrifices at the Tent of Meeting. The Scriptures say that Eli’s sons were wicked men, that they had no regard for YHVH, and that they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt. They violated the letter and spirit of the Mosaic Covenant and set themselves up as a higher authority. Their father Eli rebuked them saying, “‘If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against YHVH, who will intercede for him?’ His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was YHVH’s will to put them to death” (1 Samuel 2:25).

Eli’s desire to honor his sons more than fearing the Lord led to the collapse of his own priestly dynasty, the destruction of Shiloh as a spiritual center, the death of his two sons in battle and the “Ichabod” capture of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines. The boy prophet Samuel gave his first prophetic word to Eli in fear and trembling, speaking in the name of YHVH: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family – from beginning to end.  For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible and he failed to restrain them. Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering’ “ (1 Samuel 3:11-14).

Eli’s lack of due diligence in disciplining his sons caused another terrible tragedy – 30,000 brave Jewish soldiers were slaughtered at the Battle of Ebenezer (1 Samuel 4:1-10), barely one kilometer away from today’s Baptist Village and Tel Aphek. According to writer of 1 Samuel, a leader’s sin in Israel can have disastrous and heartbreaking consequences – not only for himself, but also for his people.

Bulldozing The Bulldozer

General Ariel Sharon (known in Israel as “the bulldozer”) was an Israeli war hero whose fierce and bold brand of warfare brought Israel back from the brink of defeat in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He established Unit 101, the basis for what later became Sayeret Matkal (Israel’s Delta Force). He later served as Defense Minister and Prime Minister.

When Sharon became PM on January 28 2003, he was known for his Joab-like ferocity in defending the people and land of Israel. His life’s work was based on the same principles as his campaign promises –  no withdrawal from Gaza, the West Bank or any part of Jerusalem; no negotiations with the Palestinians as long as terror continued; and a strong counter-terrorist military and intelligence response to Islamic jihad operations against Israelis.

Nearly one year later Sharon did a complete turn around. At the Herzliya Conference on December 18 2003 Sharon announced his intention to unilaterally withdraw Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip; to evacuate all Israeli settlements from Gaza and also four other small settlements from a diminutive section of the northern West Bank. Since Sharon had been elected on a platform diametrically opposed to these moves, his own Likud party insisted that his radical new plans be brought to a party vote. Eventually three separate votes were taken, and each time Sharon’s will was blocked by the will of his party’s majority. Sharon then created a new breakaway party called Kadima, while holding onto the reins of power. He pushed through a retreat from the Gaza Strip, using the IDF to accomplish this. This was especially painful for many, since the Israeli army’s mandate is to protect and defend citizens of Israel, not to evacuate them by force from their homes.

What caused Sharon to execute such a drastic turn-around, one that flew in the face of his entire military and political career? According to two senior Israeli reporters (Raviv Drucker of Israel’s Channel Ten and Ofer Shelach of Yediot Aharonot), PM Sharon (who at the time was under many criminal investigations) was well aware that the left-leaning media would look more kindly on former rightists if they pushed for compromise with the Palestinians. Sharon’s push for disengagement was a desperate attempt to get the press on his side and so avoid getting indicted for various illegal transactions. Channel Two correspondent Amnon Abramovitz then said that PM Sharon should enjoy the protection of pro-disengagement forces, and should be treated like an etrog (a fragile citron fruit used in ceremonies during the Feast of Tabernacles).  To sum up, according to left-leaning Israeli political commentators PM Sharon retreated from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria in order to gain a temporary postponement from being hit with criminal charges.

Sharon’s attempt to cover his own sins led to two tragedies for the Jewish people – Israel exiting Gaza, and the jihadi Hamas terror organization taking over Gaza. One can say that the recent war (Operation Cast Lead) finds some of its spiritual roots in PM Sharon’s reckless and misguided misdeeds. Even as the sins of Eli led to defeat at the Battle of Ebenezer, so did the sins of Sharon lead to the rise of Hamastan and the necessity for Operation Cast Lead.

On Thursday Israeli newspapers revealed that Prime Minister Olmert told Senator George Mitchell (Obama’s special envoy to the Middle East) that he had offered a secret peace deal to the Palestinian Authority which would involve the forcible evacuation of 60,000 residents of Judea and Samaria; a nearly full retreat to the 1967 borders; and an internationalization of Holy Places in Jerusalem. In a scenario that looks like history repeating itself, PM Olmert has also been under more than a handful of criminal investigations over the past 3 years.

➢      Pray that the God of Israel would limit the damage done by Prime Minister Olmert through the harmful negotiations described above.

➢      Pray for the incoming Prime Minister of Israel who will be elected on February 10 – that he would be instructed and guided by God on these issues.

9/11 and the Saudi connection

History repeats itself in another area – Saudi Arabian threats against the USA in order to turn American policy against Israel.

The first of these two events transpired between May and July 2001, when Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Aziz (now King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia) instructed his Ambassador Prince Bandar Sultan to communicate his grave displeasure with America’s support of Israel. In particular Abdullah was infuriated by Israel’s counter-terrorism efforts against Islamic jihadi terror groups, and by American refusal to condemn Israel’s anti-terrorism policies.

Deciding that America did not “get the hint”, on August 25 Prince Bandar told the Saudi Chief of Staff General Bin Muhayya to cancel Saudi Arabia’s high-level strategic military review with America’s top brass.

Then, on August 27 (www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/02/10/saudi-leaders-anger-revealed-shaky-ties/a570bab2-c7c4-4111-b9bc-c03a3cab5ce2/) Prince Bandar delivered a message to President Bush from Crown Prince Abdullah which said, “A time comes when peoples and nations part. We are at a crossroads. It is time for the United States and Saudi Arabia to look to their separate interests”. The message continued, “Therefore the Crown Prince will not communicate in any form, type or shape with you, and Saudi Arabia will take all its political, economic and security decisions based on how it sees its own interest in the region, without taking into account American interests anymore because it is obvious that the United States has taken a strategic decision adopting (Israel’s) policy”. Unspoken (though anonymously leaked at the same time) were threats of drastic cuts in oil supply to America or even an oil embargo; turning to other countries for weaponry; and no intelligence cooperation regarding jihadi terror groups and plans.

Less than two days later, a two-page Presidential letter was winging its way back to Riyadh, held tightly in Prince Bandar’s hands. President George W. Bush had for the first time ever officially committed the United States to establish a Palestinian state – to divide the land of Israel – and was planning to announce this sea-change in US policy on September 24, 2001.  The weekend of September 8, 2001 saw Saudi and U.S. officials discuss how the revolutionary announcement would be publicized – would Colin Powell publicize it first, or would President Bush, or perhaps both? Final decisions were put off to the next week.

Prince Bandar recollected that “the happiest man in the world that night, on Monday night, was Bandar bin Sultan. I was in the [indoor] swimming pool [of my McLean residence], smoking a cigar. I gave myself a day off because I worked the whole weekend. I had been to Saudi Arabia . . . out with the [Bush] response, back with our response. I worked on the weekend up to 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock in the morning. . . . I worked all Monday. And I said to my office, Tuesday I’m taking the day off.”  But Tuesday was 9/11.

The terror attack on September 11 2001 which destroyed the Twin Towers was carried out by 19 Saudi citizens. The resulting confusion and American crisis forced a rescheduling of President Bush’s Palestine policy change. The announcement was postponed until Bush’s Rose Garden speech of June 24 2002. The principles were then further established by the international “Quartet” on April 30 2003 in what is now known as the “Road Map”.

The connection between America’s official decision to divide the land of Israel and the most serious terror attack on U.S. soil is sobering.

➢      Though there are many other factors which also influenced the tragedy of 9/11, God’s warnings about cursing Israel and dividing His land in Genesis 12:3, Joel 3:1-3 and Zechariah 14:1-3 call us to serious prayer for the leaders of our nations.

The Turki Trot

In a historical repeat of Abdullah’s 2001 threats to the USA, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal published an op-ed in London’s Financial Times on January 22, 2009 entitled “Saudi patience is running out”. Al-Faisal was Director General of the Kingdom’s Intelligence Service for 24 years, and has served as Saudi Ambassador to London and Washington.

Here are some quotes from this article.

➢      “Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk.”

➢      “If the US wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle East and keep its strategic alliances intact – especially its ‘special relationship’ with Saudi Arabia – it will have to drastically revise its policies vis-à-vis Israel and Palestine”.

Prince Turki lists what is required: a complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank; the recognition of an independent state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capitol; a return of all Palestinian refugees to Israel (basically, an event which would lead quickly to the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state).

Prince Turki concludes, “So far, the Kingdom has resisted these calls (for jihad against Israel), but every day this restraint becomes more difficult to maintain … Eventually, the Kingdom will not be able to prevent its citizens from joining the worldwide revolt against Israel.” He then prays that President Obama will have the resolve “to rein in the murderous Israeli regime”.

The parallels between Prince Turki’s threats in 2009 and King Abdullah’s threats in 2001 are striking. There is no question that Saudi Arabia is applying pressure, trying to manipulate America into cursing Israel big time.

➢      Pray for President Obama and his advisors – that God will give them a different spirit, and guide them safely through these Saudi minefields into being a blessing to and for Israel according to Genesis 12:3.

Perverting the Holocaust

Seventy years ago Adolf Hitler began his genocidal attack on the Jewish people. From ghettos to killing pits, from gas chambers to crematoria, Nazi Germany focused with a religious zeal on incinerating the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8). For the most part the nations of the world showed either indifference or cold-heartedness to the Final Solution. Only after the war did some measure of shame push the nations into voting for the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel.

Thirty years passed, and slowly the theme of the Holocaust began to surface in films, plays and literature. Children were taught ethical lessons based on the Holocaust, and Holocaust Remembrance Days became part of most Western European official calendars. Nevertheless, the rise of neo-Nazi and skinhead movements in Germany and throughout Europe continued to grow apace. Anti-Jewish attacks became commonplace in France and the former Soviet Union, with Muslims being the religious grouping most likely to engage in these attacks. The cooperation of European Islamist and radical leftist movements in spearheading anti-Israel demonstrations gradually became part of the political scenery.

Operation Cast Lead was greeted by this coalition with huge and often violent anti-Israel demonstrations, which were directed against Jews as well as Israelis, and which took perverse delight in using Nazi terminology to describe Jews and the Jewish state. For the first time since WWII violent European street demonstrations called for the destruction of Jews and the Jewish state, accusing Israel of carrying out a Holocaust on Gazan Arabs.  Verbal attacks on the Jews have included threats to gas Jews, taunts calling the Jewish people Nazis, descriptions of Israel as a Nazi state, and equating the Star of David with a swastika.

The Swedish city of Lulea’s municipal board and local church cancelled a planned Holocaust Memorial Day because of anger toward Israel over the Gaza war. In Barcelona the Cataluña government canceled a public commemorative service remembering the Holocaust. A city official stated that “marking the Jewish Holocaust while a Palestinian holocaust is taking place is not right”.  Instead, the city council decided to have a week of solidarity with the Palestinian people, inviting Leila Khaled, a PFLP terrorist (according to European Union definition). The Socialist mayor of Campozuelos, also in Spain, canceled Holocaust Day and replaced it with Palestinian Naqba Day, mourning the establishment of the state of Israel.

It is astounding to see how those who condemn Nazi attacks on the Jewish people so quickly end up repeating Nazi sins by targeting the Jewish state and the Jewish people for vilification, attack and destruction. Though calling themselves anti-Nazis, those who engage in such attacks against the Jewish people and their state are blindly repeating Nazi sins, bringing judgment on their cities and nations according to Genesis 12:3 and Zechariah 2:8. The irony of Nazi-like groups attacking Jews and calling them Nazis is LSD-like in nature; it strongly pushes the boundaries of commonly understood reality further into worlds unknown.

The Fellowship of Firemen and Arsonists

During WWII many Western statesmen and politicians who were anti-Semitic suggested that their Jewish populations were making too big a thing about Hitler’s persecution of the Jews. They also accused their Jewish constituents of panicking and blubbering, while simultaneously suggesting that the Jewish people “had it coming” and were to blame for any attacks that the wider Gentile populace might bring upon them. These leaders tried to establish a “moral equivalence” between the Jewish victims and their anti-Semitic attackers.

It has become commonplace for the UN and world media to fall into this same historical black hole, creating a false moral equivalence between Islamist terror and Israeli counter-terror police operations. The oft repeated term is “cycle of violence”, and the feeling communicated is “Here they go again, blaming each other and killing each other. A plague on both their houses, but a special plague on the Jewish part!”

There is a world of difference between the terrorist who wants to destroy all unbelievers in general and Jewish people in particular, and the soldier who is willing to sacrifice his own life to prevent the terrorist from killing innocent civilians. To place them on the same moral playing field is as intellectually honest as stating that firefighters and arsonists are basically the same, since they both deal with fire!

A recent example of such moral equivalence is found in Senator George Mitchell’s 2001 Report on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which main conclusions were recently repeated in his December comments in Tel Aviv. In both cases he said that Israel and the Palestinians were both guilty: Mitchell called upon Palestinians to make efforts to prevent terrorism, while calling upon Israel to no longer live in the West Bank.

In truth, what is actually required is that Palestinians both stop all terror and also recognize that Jews have a right to live anywhere in their own land.  If terror has been chosen as a Palestinian strategy to get Jewish people to move out of parts of the biblical land of Israel, then Mitchell’s policy of moral equivalence, of forcing Jews to move out of parts of their biblical land is actually aiding and abetting the Palestinian terror strategy. No good or blessing can come to America through such a strategy, from a God’s eye perspective.

Prophets Asleep At The Wheel

Zechariah 1:7-17 describes the vision of the myrtle trees – a fat and prosperous world that couldn’t care less about the spiritual and physical state of the Jewish people. “All’s well, and all’s peaceful,” is what all the nations say, turning a cold shoulder and an even colder heart to the Jewish people in their time of need (see also Jeremiah 25:31; 30:17). In verse 15 YHVH states that He is very angry with the nations that feel secure, because through their indifference and cold-heartedness they have only added to Israel’s calamitous situation.

In the Western world, certain streams of the prophetic movement may have something in common with Zechariah’s vision of the nations among the myrtle trees. When daily prophecies abound which focus on personal fulfillment and financial success, while the Scriptures that prophesy revival, restoration and blessing for Israel are allegorized and applied prophetically only to the Church, a corrective is needed. And over the past weeks when Israel’s life has been threatened by war, what is needed is not a steady stream of “feel-good” prophecies. Serious calls for intercession or divine protection need to go out.

We praise the Lord for such groups like Jobst Bittner’s TOS (www.tos.info), Don Finto’s Caleb Company (www.calebcompany.com), James Goll’s Encounters Network (www.encountersnetwork.com), Jane Hansen’s Aglow (www.aglow.org),  and others – this is only  partial list - who have taken a courageous stand in intercession, prayer and more – for Israel and for Messianic Jews. But the need is very great; the laborers are few; and many are otherwise preoccupied..

The prophetic movement is still in its infancy, and too often it is more concerned about personal peace and prosperity than in Israel, the biblical apple of God’s eye. In time and as the result of intercessory groanings, that maturity will come. In time the prophets of the nations will receive a deeper revelation about God’s passion for Israel and about the urgency of the hour. In time the prophetic movement will grapple with the scriptures referring to Israel and will accept what they teach. In time the prophetic movement will communicate God’s heart and strategies for Israel and the nations with greater accuracy, honesty and humility.

➢      Pray for more leaders of international prophetic streams to receive clearer Bible-based revelation about God’s heart and strategies for His people Israel.

➢      Pray that these leaders would become bold and courageous in their preaching and teaching about the need for the body of Messiah to bless, pray for, stand with and evangelize the Jewish people and their state.

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

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close