Terror Attack Wounds 15 year old son of Messianic believers in Ariel, Israel

At approximately 2:30 pm on Thursday March 20, during the biblical Feast of Purim (see the Book of Esther 9:26-32), 15 year old Ami Ortiz (the youngest of six children) opened what appeared to be a box of holiday chocolates. The box, gaily decorated and with the chocolates visible through the plastic wrapping, had been left in front of the Ortiz family door. At Purim it is a tradition to send packages of baked goods or candies to one’s neighbors; the practice is called “mishlo’ach manot” in Hebrew or “shalach mones” in Yiddish.

The package was seen by the Ortiz’ housekeeper, who brought it into the third flood apartment thinking that some friendly neighbor had left it there for the family. David and Leah Ortiz are Israeli believers in Yeshua who have had an active ministry to Arabs, Jews and Samaritans over the years. They pastor a small congregation of approximately 30 people. They have seen some good fruit in their various outreaches. The Ortiz family has a good relationship with the Mayor of Ariel Ron Nachman, and have helped foster good relations between the town and various Christian business investors.

Over the years anti-Messianic organizations have attempted to make life bitter for the Ortiz family. Demonstrations, threats, flyers and “ “wanted” posters plastered around their town with fear-producing warnings and personal information given, vandalism of cars and property – all of these tactics have been used – to no avail. The Ortiz family has continued from strength to strength.

David’s ministry among Arab believers has lead to death threats from the Hamas organization, as well as similar threats from some Orthodox Jews.

Ami had no idea that these threats were about to suddenly become murderous reality as he tore open the wrapping of the box of candies. The explosion ripped through the apartment, breaking windows in parked cars three floors below. Shrapnel wrecked the kitchen and living room, creating a box-sized hole on the kitchen table. Broken concrete was scattered around the room.

Ami was severely wounded, with shrapnel in his chest and his right eye, ten steel bolts in his lungs (the bomber added bolts and nails to increase the murderous efficiency of the bomb), broken arms, second and third degree burns over his upper body, and heavy bleeding from his neck. His mother was outside at the time of the explosion and rushed upstairs to find him lying on the floor, groaning in pain. She applied pressure to slow the bleeding from the neck, while neighbors called the ambulance service. Ami was rushed to Rabin Medical Center at Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah just north of Tel Aviv.

He has been operated on many times over the past few days, and the doctors tending to him have called his survival and condition ‘a miracle’. He has had a few toes amputated, but right now needs prayer for the full restoration of his internal organs and lungs; the proper functioning of his right eye; the healing of severe wound on his thighs; the healing of severe damage to tendons on his hands.

The police were originally considering this a terror attack from an Islamist group but, as the investigation proceeds, they are focusing on Orthodox anti-Messianic terrorism.

Caleb Meyers, a Messianic lawyer in Israel, says: “There is a campaign of harassment against the Messianic Jewish community by radical religious organizations that are trying to create dehumanization – especially in religious newspapers.”

This is the first time that an attack of this severity against believers has happened in modern Israel. Riots, firebombing of congregational buildings, physical attacks against individuals – all of these have happened in the past, though Israel’s media have often refused to report on these instances, or have downplayed any significance to these events. In Ami’s case, all the major newspapers and TV stations are reporting in greater detail on these events, with a much greater degree of sympathy.

One of our neighbors called us up this morning and expressed her sympathies, her appreciation for Messianic Jews, and her horror at the possibility that Jews could do such things to fellow Jews.

This bombing has resulted in an outpouring of love from Messianic believers from all over the country who have been rallying to stand with the Ortiz family.

In Messiah’s bonds,

Avner Boskey

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES  

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN  37212-1971 USA

 www.davidstent.org

A Master Terrorist meets the Book of Obadiah

The simmering Middle Eastern pot is about to break into a full-fledged boil. Islamist forces of jihad have been beating, beating, beating on Israel until this sleeping Jewish giant fitfully awakes, swats at the buzzing bees (see Psalm 118:9-12), and sinks into a drugged slumber once again. Let's look at some of the recent events, and then at a word given 2,600 years ago by the prophet Obadiah.

“As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head” (Obad. 1:15)

On February 12 at approximately 10:15 pm one of the world's top terrorists, Imad Mughniyeh, was blown up in his Mitsubishi Pajero on gray Damascus streets.  He was getting into his SUV in the fashionable Kafr Soussa neighborhood, not far from an Iranian school, a Syrian police station and an office for Syrian intelligence. An unconfirmed report by Iranian sources said Hajj Hussein Khalil, politburo director and deputy to Hezbollah chief terrorist Hassan Nasrallah, was also killed in the explosion.

Mughniyeh was born in 1962 in the Lebanese village of Teir Dibbah not far from Tyre. He joined Yassir Arafat's Force 17 special forces as a teenager and fought against Lebanese Christian and Druze forces in the 1970's and 80's.  After Israel expelled the PLO from Beirut to Tunisia, Mughniyeh helped found the Islamic Jihad Organization, a Shiite terror arm of Hezbollah (“the Party of Allah”) under the tutelage of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley. He was responsible for the following terror acts:

Throughout his life of terror Mughniyeh had deep connections with Iran and Syria, and his death in Damascus draws attention to this fact – though Syria continues to deny any state connection with terrorism. Ali Hassan Khalil, a Lebanese member of parliament with al-Amal (a Shi'ite group allied with Hezbollah) said, “He played an essential role in all resistance activities, especially the last war. ”

In 1985 French intelligence allowed Mughniyeh to evade arrest in exchange for the release of a French hostage (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021300494_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008021303878). Ten years later, in 1995 the FBI attempted to arrest Mughniyeh in Saudi Arabia on a stop-over between Khartoum and Beirut, but Saudi authorities diverted the plane.

Unlike Osama Bin Laden, Mughniyeh never spoke to the press and was rarely photographed. "He was one of the most dangerous terrorists ever on earth” said Danny Yatom, former head of Israel's Mossad.

“The world is a better place without this man in it. He was a cold-blooded killer, a mass murderer and a terrorist responsible for countless innocent lives lost, ” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "One way or another he was brought to justice."

Terry Anderson, a former AP correspondent and Mughniyeh's hostage for six years, unknowingly reflected the words of the Hebrew prophet Obadiah (1:15) when he said, “I can't say I'm either surprised or sad. To hear that his career has finally ended is a good thing, and it's appropriate that he goes up in a car bomb. ”

“All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and … set a trap for you, but you will not detect it.” (Obadiah 1:7)

In 2005 on the eve of Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, former PM Ariel Sharon promised harsh retaliation if even one Qassam rocket would be fired by Hamas against Israel. He promised that in such a case Israel would immediately invade Gaza and decisively stop the rocket fire.

Since that time over 6,000 Qassam rockets have landed in Israel. Sharon lies in a vegetative state in Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv. Former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon recently stated: “The fact that we did not stick to our promise that if Qassam rockets were fired after the disengagement we would react with all our force, eroded our deterrence, adversely affected our status in the region and also encouraged Iran” (Ha’aretz, Ari Shavit, July 7 2006, interview with COS Ya’alon).

On Thursday February 28, 2008 ten longer range Grad rockets were fired by Hamas and landed within one of Israel’s larger cities, Ashkelon. Within a few days dozens more had struck the same city, causing shock and anger within Israel. Across the board Israelis were coming to the bitter conclusion that PM Sharon’s disengagement had led to missile terror on Israel’s southern border – and not the peace and world acceptance that he (and others, including a few Messianic leaders!) had mistakenly trumpeted at that time.

The retreat from Gaza has brought the enemy to the very gates of Israel’s cities. And still many of Israel’s leaders are pre-occupied, while her friends and allies press for more Israeli withdrawals and less IDF retaliation against terrorists.

On February 28, in response to the Grad attacks, the IDF initiated an inconclusive invasion of the northern Gaza Strip. Terror squads firing Qassams and Grads were targeted, and one truck carrying over 160 rockets was blown up by an IAF helicopter. Over 100 terrorists were killed with minimal civilian casualties. One Messianic Jewish soldier was wounded in skirmishes with terrorists, and two Israeli soldiers were killed in firefights with Hamas jihadis.

The invasion was abruptly called off in response to US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s impending visit, as well as State Department, UN and EU disapproval and pressure. Hamas continues to build up its stockpile of Iranian long range rockets (smuggled in with quiet Egyptian oversight through Egyptian tunnels in Sinai).

“For violence (Hebrew – Hamas) against your brother Jacob…” (Obadiah 1:10)

On a warm Jerusalem evening (Thursday March 7) Alaa Abu Dheim, a Jerusalem Arab from the Jebel Mukaber suburb, entered the Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav (rabbinical seminary) where he worked as a driver. This time he carried a sub-machine gun, a pistol and belts of ammunition. He shot and killed 8 yeshiva students at point-blank range, seven of them teenagers. He was able to wound 9 others before a religious Paratroop Operations Officer nearby burst into the study hall and gunned Abu Dheim down.

This yeshiva was chosen by jihadi forces because of its symbolism – the Rabbi who founded the movement in 1924 was Rabbi Avraham Kook. Kook believed that the people of Israel were being regathered according to Ezekiel’s prophecy of the dry bones (chapter 37). He championed a threefold spiritual cord – the people of Israel returning to their promised land of Israel in faithfulness to the God of Israel. Not a believer in Yeshua as Messiah of Israel, Rabbi Kook was considered a leading light of the modern Orthodox pro-Zionist youth.

Outside the traditional mourning tent in Jebel Mukaber, Abu Dheim’s Jerusalem family hung up the green Islamist flags of Hamas and the yellow flags of Hezbollah.

History lessons from a servant of YHVH

Obadiah’s name means “servant of YAH” in English. He prophesied about the Edomite  invasion of Judah which began in 605 BC. Taking advantage of the Babylonian conquest, the descendants of Esau crossed over from what is today southern Jordan (south of the Dead Sea). They conquered Arad and moved up into the south Hebron Hills, murdering, raping and ransacking the Jewish inhabitants.

Obadiah warns the Edomites that they will be brought to justice by the God of Israel for their heart attitudes toward the Jewish people, for being accessories to a Babylonian crime, and for murderous anti-Israel actions. He points out that even a country which considered itself impregnable, which compared itself to an eagle in its strength and power, could be brought down if it raises its hand against the Jewish people (1:3-4). And to top it all off, in point of fact the Jewish nation was part of Edom's extended family, related to them through Abraham and Isaac (1:10).

Standing aloof while Jewish blood is spilled (1:11a), participating in murder of Israelis (1:11b) and gloating or boasting about these deeds (1:12 – consider the popular victory parades in Gaza when news of the yeshiva attack was broadcast) – the God of Israel says that all of these actions kick-start the promised curse of Genesis 12:3. “The one who curses you (Hebrew meqalelecha, literally ‘makes light of you’, ‘considers you lightweight or insignificant’, ‘mocks you’, ‘ignores you’) him I will curse”.

“For the Day of YHVH upon all the nations in near. As you have done, so it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head!” (1:15). Even today these same biblical principles are active, living and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing the hearts and exposing the motives of men and women as they react and act in regards to Israel. And what is true for individuals, Obadiah teaches us, is also as true for nations.

Modern Geopolitics in the Prism of Prophecy

I am often asked, “Why is it that so much of the modern prophetic movement focuses on personal or church fulfillment and success, but seems to avoid or allegorize the prophecies regarding the Jewish people, their restoration and Satan’s attempts to destroy them?”

My response tends to be that the prophetic movement is still in its infancy, more concerned about personal peace and prosperity than in the apple of God’s eye. In time that maturity will come. In time the scriptures referring to Israel will be dealt with accurately, honestly and humbly. 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.

Obadiah draws some prophetic conclusions which have sharp and pungent relevance for our day:

As we consider these fast-paced events in the Middle East, let us keep praying for the fulfillment of this biblical vision for Israel, for the Arab world, and for all our nations – the vision of Obadiah, YHVH’s faithful and obedient servant.

In Messiah’s bonds,

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

“Stay On Target”: Five Essentials For Israel In These Last Days

 In the first Star Wars movie “Episode IV: A New Hope,” there is a scene where the heroes are engaged in a full-on assault on the Death Star. As the Y-wing starfighter pilots are being picked off one by one by Darth Vader’s forces at the Battle of Yavin, Gold Leader keeps yelling into the radio microphone to the pilot named Gold Five, “Stay on target! Stay on Target!” In the heat of battle, only a single-eyed and determined focusing on the ultimate target will lead to victory.

So much is happening in the world right now. The international economy is experiencing vertigo. Russia is again flexing its muscles. China is pursuing Olympic gold and the economic leadership of the world. Iran is plowing forward in nuclear passion. US Presidential contenders are neck to neck. Turks are debating womens wearing of Islamic headscarves. And the Middle East “peace process” seems to be on hold.

For those who love and pray for Israel, what’s our target? On what strategic spiritual targets should our eyes be focused in the battle, as Yeshua’s kingdom gets re-established on earth as it is in Heaven?

1. Preach the gospel to the Jew first (Romans 1:16)

The gospel of Yeshua is the only hope of salvation for anyone (see Philippians 2:9-11). Yeshua alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jewish people need the gospel. There is no salvation for any Jew apart from through personal belief and commitment to Yeshua as Atonement and Savior (see Acts 3:22-23; 4:12).

Yeshua was born to save His people, and His name means YHVH is salvation (see Matt.1:21). The gospel has a priority emphasis on the Jewish people (see Romans 1:16, where the Greek word proton (πρωτον) means “chiefly”, “especially” or “with priority”).

The evangelistic mandate given to all believers in Yeshua has a special emphasis on priority vis-à-vis the Jewish people. This is not an option, but a commandment given straight form the lips of Israel’s Messiah Yeshua (Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8).

2. Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah

Yeshua is not only the Christ (Greek word for “Anointed One”) of the Gentiles, but especially the Messiah (Hebrew word for “Anointed One”) of the Jews (see John 1:41). He is a descendant of King David who has been anointed as King of the Jews, Son of God, High Priest in the Heavenlies, and Ultimate Prophet.

To deny that Yeshua is the Messiah of the Jewish people is to deny His Davidic authority over His own people.

The gospel focuses on a Jewish Messiah who will re-establish the promises to King David’s dynasty over Israel and the nations. The center of this Kingdom will be the world’s future capital city – Jerusalem. The gospel at its heart is Jewish, and its fulfillment has much to do with the Jewish people.

3.  New Covenant roots

The focus of our faith is on Yeshua, the Mediator of a New Covenant (see Hebrews 12:24) which is also a better covenant than the Mosaic covenant (see Hebrews 8:6). True Jewish identity is rooted in Messiah Yeshua. It is founded on the roots of the Abrahamic covenant promises (see Romans 11:17, 24). It finds its full expression in the New and not the Mosaic covenant (Hebrew 8:6-7).

The purpose of the Mosaic Torah was and is to lead people to Messiah Yeshua (see Galatians 3:24-25). When Jewish people (and Gentiles) partake of the New Covenant, they are no longer under the legal authority of the Mosaic covenant.

Those who teach that believers are under the Mosaic Covenant are teaching falsehood and are deceived on this point.

The rabbinic system is at its heart in rebellion against the Messiahship and Deity of Yeshua. Though it has many areas of wisdom and truth, it misses the heart of God’s revelation and rejects His only way of salvation (see Romans 10:2-3). Believers should not be looking for their identity in rabbinic traditions, nor should they submit themselves in any way to rabbinic authority.

4. Anti-Jew is Anti-Christ

Hatred of God, His ways and His strategies eventually leads to hatred of His chosen people Israel. The German word “Judenfeind” (translated “Jew-hatred”) is the clearest definition of this phenomenon.

Hatred of the Jewish people includes hatred of the Jewish homeland and state, the State of Israel. The desire to destroy or weaken this State is a biblical litmus test before God (see Jeremiah 30:16-17) and will bring divine judgment.  To attempt the destruction of the Messiah’s people is a quick way to enflame the Messiah’s burning wrath.

The strategy of the Islamic world to destroy the Jewish people’s State, and the willing acquiescence of the Great Powers to weaken Israel, to reduce her borders and to hinder her ability to defend herself – these are part of a satanic strategy that believers need to be aware of and oppose – through prayer, through teaching and through action (see Zechariah 2:9; Isaiah 62:1, 6-7).

5. A great army, a great time of trouble, a great future

The promises and prophecies of the future involve both the cross and the resurrection for the nation of Israel.

Israel will become an incredibly powerful army in God’s hands, leading to world revival (see Psalm 105:15; Ezekiel 37:10-11; Isaiah 41:15; Micah 4:13; Romans 11:12, 15). Israel will also go through its strongest crisis as a nation, known as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (see Jeremiah 30:4-9; Ezekiel 20:30-49; Zechariah 12-14). Ultimately the fullness of God’s promises and restoration will be realized for Israel, and all the world shall acknowledge this (see Ezekiel 36:34-39; Amos 9:9-15; Isaiah 65-66).

We need to focus on the fact that Israel is not some prophetic chess piece which is the key to end-time events, but that Israel is close do God’s heart and passions (see Psalm 148:14; Hosea 11:9; 2:14-23; Isaiah 63:9). Though purification and destruction will come, the ultimate fruit is God’s restoration, His plans for good and not for evil, to give Israel a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

In light of the above, we need to stay on target with a special love, focus and commitment to God’s heart, purpose and strategies for the Jewish nation, the Jewish State and the salvation and restoration of the Jewish people. As we think globally, we need to press in – turning our hearts to prayer, our lips to evangelism, and our means to furthering action for God’s prophetic strategies for Israel!

Blessings to you in the name of Yeshua, Israel’s Messiah, Savior and David’s Greater Son,

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

Evangelical Folly: Betraying The Jewish People With The Full Authority Of The Scripture

God has drawn a line of destiny in the sands of time, and significant voices in America’s Evangelical camp have stumbled across it in the spirit. This is God’s plumb line (Amos 7:7-8). He who blunders across it moves out from under God’s protection in some specific area. The specific area in question here is setting one’s hand to divide up the land of Israel – with all the divine judgment that entails (Joel 3:2; Zech.14:1-2).

During the last half of 2007, a group of 34 Evangelical leaders came out with an open letter to President Bush (www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/us/evangelical_letter.html) publicized in the New York Times on July 29 2007.  On November 28 2007 a second and similar letter (www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/novemberweb-only/148-33.0.html) was published on the website of Christianity Today – American Evangelicalism’s flagship magazine (“A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction” reads its web-banner) with 50 added signatures.

CT Editor-in-Chief David Neff threw his reputation into the ring on this one, writing the byline for the press release and being one of the 84 signatories. He would probably stand behind another CT editorial piece from the same season (September 5, 2007) where it states “Beware of giving the nation (ed. of Israel) too much theological meaning” (www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/september/16.24.html).

Evangelical Curveball

These open letters are playing Evangelical hardball with the Jewish people and their sovereign state.  They hint and threaten (“we know that blessing … Jews and the present state of Israel does not mean withholding criticism when it is warranted”). Evidently they feel that Evangelicals and the U.S. President are overdue in needing to criticize Israel. No similar mention is made of the need to criticize Palestinian terror, Islamist warfare against Israel, Arab refusal to accept the existence of a Jewish state, or the Arab threat of an Islamic oil embargo on the West – or even Palestinian/Arab Islamist persecution of local Arab Evangelicals!

These Evangelicals come out in favor of dividing the land of Israel and establishing a Palestinian state – one which would end up becoming (in spite of their best yet hopelessly naïve intentions) another terror base against Israel. This has already happened with Gaza’s Hamas and with Lebanon’s Hezbollah – after Israel withdrew from these areas. Such blind advice and advocacy borders on the criminal.

These open letters falsely declare that Palestinians have lived in the land of Israel for millennia – something that is simply not historically true.  These Evangelicals claim that non-Jews have legitimate claims to parts of the land of Israel – a total violation of the teachings of the Hebrew prophets and of the clear declarations of YHVH Himself. They also state that Israel must give up exclusive claims to the Promised Land, including the vast majority of the West Bank – while piously declaring that ““as Evangelical Christians, we embrace the biblical promise to Abraham: ‘I will bless those who bless you (Genesis 12:3).’”

On one hand they emphasize that they “as evangelical Christians (are) committed to the full authority of the Scriptures”. Yet on the other hand they somehow forget to mention that God promised the land of Israel exclusively to the Jewish people in those same authoritative Scriptures – for example, in Genesis 12:1 (““Go to the land I will show you”) and Gen 13:14-17 (“YHVH said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring for ever … Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you’ “).

It seems that some modern Evangelical leaders are able to declare (on the one hand) that they are committed to the full authority of Scripture, and then immediately ignore what those Scriptures are actually saying in context. What an amazing example of pseudo-Evangelical hutzpah! May the God of Israel preserve His people from such ‘friends’!

The letter addresses President Bush directly, stating that these leaders want “to correct a serious misperception among … U.S. policymakers that all American evangelicals are opposed to a two-state solution and creation of a new Palestinian state that includes the vast majority of the West Bank. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

What is happening here? What has changed in the heart of America’s Evangelical community? How is it that “a new pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, has come to power in Egypt?” (Exod.1:8).

Madness in the streets

In the 400’s B.C. the Greek dramatist Euripides said “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad” (“Όποιον οι Θεοί θα καταστρέψουν, πρώτα τον τρελαίνουν” Hopoion hoi theoi tha katastrepsoun, prota ton trelainoun in the original Greek). Well-known political philosopher Irving Kristol (who once described himself as a “liberal mugged by reality”) subtly altered this quotation and observed, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first tempt to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

The prophet Zechariah said it this way, “This is YHVH’s word concerning Israel. YHVH, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: I am going to make Jerusalem a cup of poison that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling . . . On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves . . . On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem” (Zech 12:1-3, 9).

In March 1991 President George H.W. Bush tried to move this rock, declaring that “the time has come to put an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.”  In December 2005 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced that he had “resolved, as one who had the privilege of participating in all of Israel’s wars, to make an effort - a true effort - to try to lead to security and peace. It is not easy, it is trying, but I have decided to attempt to resolve this problem once and for all, and that is what I intend to do”.

President Bush Senior served only one term in office, during which time Saddam Hussein fired 39 Scud missiles on Israeli cities, and Iraq’s Kurds and Shiites were betrayed by the White House. Bush then stepped down to make way for William Jefferson Clinton.

PM Sharon exiled more than 8,500 Jews from their farms and homes in Gaza, leading Israel closer to the brink of civil war. Today he lies in a vegetative state in an Israeli nursing home, while Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PLO Fatah terror gangs rain down missiles and mortars on Israel from the Gaza Strip. And the Arab-Israeli conflict still churns on.

Who is the next leader who will step up to the plate and be tempted to resolve this conflict? Will he be an Evangelical? And will he have the active support of a graying group of Evangelical theologians as cheerleaders?

Due to irreconcilable differences, the peace process has been cancelled . . .

It was James A. Baker III, former Secretary of State and Chief of Staff, who explained in his B.A. thesis (1952, Princeton) that  ”the mutual hostility of Arabs and Jews ((has always been) of the severest sort. Because most of their disagreements stem from differences in ideology and religion, they have never been able to settle them by peaceful arbitration.”

These differences in ideology and religion are very simply the differences between the Koran and the Bible (see my booklet “A Perspective on Islam” at www.davidstent.org). These differences will never be settled by Israeli compromise or by American appeasement.

Nevertheless, each abovementioned attempt to force through a peace treaty was based on Israel giving up tangible things (ever-increasing portions of its God-given land) in exchange for intangible things – worthless and empty Palestinian paper promises about stopping terrorism or eventually recognizing a shrunken and weakened Jewish state.

Israel has withdrawn – from Lebanon, from Gaza and from communities in the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria – but terrorism continues, wars carry on, kidnappings and mortar and rocket attacks persist. This Evangelical letter is deafeningly silent about these facts and, in the words of John Fogerty, “only asks for more, more, more.”

Actually the Evangelicals who authored this public relations exercise admit that the Israelis and the Arabs have “competing, incompatible claims.” And what is their solution? Both sides must give up some of their claims. The foolishness and blindness of this glib advice show us that these Evangelical leaders seem to have learned precious little from history – neither from 9/11 nor from the failures of the German Evangelical Church vis-à-vis the Jewish people in WWII.

Negotiate with Hitler!

As Hitler threatened Europe with a world war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (a self-declared ‘reverent agnostic’) flew to Munich to negotiate with Hitler. As a prelude to the invasion of Western Europe, Hitler was claiming part of Czechoslovakia’s industrial heartland (the Sudetenland) as occupied German territory. At Munich Chamberlain forced Czechoslovakia to surrender the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany – in the interests of European security. Western Europe sold Czechoslovakia down the river with a false peace plan called the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938. Chamberlain then described this sellout as “peace with honour” and “peace in our time.” The immediate result was the invasion of Poland and the onslaught of the Nazi juggernaut. Would these Evangelicals have suggested to Czechoslovakia in 1938 that “both sides must give up some of their claims?”

Hitler had no legitimate claims against the Jewish people, and there was nothing that the Jewish people could give up which would have tempered the Führer’s genocidal strategies. Hitler was not a man with whom one could do business (as Neville Chamberlin once thought). Only a fool would have said in 1935 that Hitler and the Jewish people both needed to “give up some of their claims” in order to achieve peace. Such advice only encourages genocide. Negotiations with a cruel dictator bent on world domination are foolish and blind.  Any national leader who follows such advice would be committing national suicide.

What was true of Hitler then is what is true of radical Islam today, and of the demands it makes of the Israeli people through its Palestinian cadres. Sad to say, it seems that Neville Chamberlain’s role has been reserved for some Evangelical leaders who are very out of touch with Middle East realities – just as Chamberlain himself was blind to Hitler’s strategies.

The Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I do not believe Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted.”  He also preached that non-violence and civil disobedience could stop Hitler in his tracks. He was wrong in his day, and those Evangelicals who call for a rapprochement with Palestinian jihadi Islam are guilty of the same fatal misunderstanding.

Toxic Christian Love For Israel

Today some Evangelical leaders believe that forcing Israel into a pre-emptive surrender (Jewish land for imaginary Palestinian peace – otherwise known as the ‘two state solution’) will cause Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood and the world jihadi movement to throw down their weapons in relief and joyfully embrace the Jewish people as their long-lost Abrahamic brothers. We beg to differ.

Though CT believes that these Evangelical signatories are somehow “affirming their love for Israel” by these open letters, most Israelis and Jewish people have no need of this ‘politically correct’ yet cold-hearted ‘Christian love.’ What Israel needs is Evangelicals who possess a clear-eyed realism and a mature awareness of the existential threats facing the Jewish state today.

For the most part the Evangelical church badly failed the Jewish people during the Nazi area. It remains to be seen whether or not this will be true again as we enter more fully into the era of Islamic jihad.

Evangelical hearts fainting from terror

One of the signs of the last days, Messiah Yeshua said, was that men’s hearts would “fail them for fear” or “faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world” (Luke 21:26). A close glance at these letters reveals that some of these significant Evangelical leaders are scared spitless about possible future 9/11’s.

The Evangelical letter states that unless peace can be quickly forced down Israel’s throat, “the consequences will be devastating” – that is, America should expect “radical solutions and terrorism.” If the USA stands firmly with Israel, “the more likely it is that anti-American attitudes policies and terrorist activities will increase dramatically among Muslims worldwide.” The letter presupposes that Israel is at fault for a Palestinian state not having been established, making no mention of the reckless offers by Prime Ministers Barak, Sharon and Olmert to do just that. No mention is made in the Evangelical letter of Palestinian rejection of Israel’s offers, or of ongoing terrorism, or of the democratic Palestinian elections in Gaza which brought jihadi Hamas forces to power – forces opposed to a peace treaty and committed to the total destruction of the State of Israel.

The lack of a Palestinian state means that “the threat to America’s national security is greater.” Any Israeli foot dragging here is seen by these Evangelical leaders authors as an existential threat to U.S. security and survival. This is dangerous anti-Israel propaganda. These scare tactics are a windfall for the Islamist movement and for world anti-Semitism. And it is a tragedy that some Evangelicals who proudly claim to espouse the full authority of Scripture are now lending a hand to the weakening and destruction of the Jewish state.

Cowardice in the Name of Love

Leaders are not supposed to be cowards. Perhaps some of the big names who signed these letters were rushed and did not have the opportunity to fully understand the ramifications of what they were signing.  Whatever the case, cowardice is displayed in these letters – American Evangelical cowardice in the face of jihadi terror threats. Some of these leaders are encouraging President Bush to force Israel into surrendering preemptively to the jihadi movement’s Palestinian spearhead – and all this in order to supposedly insure American security.

It is a pity that these Evangelical leaders seem to have no awareness of Islamist perspectives which regard America as the Great Satan and Israel as the Small Satan. Islamist hatred for America, for Christianity and for Western values, culture and freedoms is quite unyielding and would continue even if the State of Israel is wiped off the map – a hope that is trumpeted and pursued by Iran’s Ahmedinejad, Gaza’s Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Sacrificing Israel in the name of American security will not stop Islamic jihad in its tracks. It will only whet the jihad monster’s appetite for bigger American game. And sacrificing Israel will bring the curse of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen.12:3) on the one who sets his hand to this task – even if he or she is an American Evangelical.

Al Qaeda has stepped through the doorway of Western fear and spinelessness into the ‘inner chambers,’ and it seems that it is now able to shape Evangelical perspectives and strategies vis-à-vis Israel (as Al Qaeda similarly did in decisively turning around the 2004 Spanish elections). Public letters with fancy religious appeals to “justice” and “fair negotiations” cannot cover up a very real Protestant panic – one that fears that the Arab-Israeli conflict will turn into an apocalyptic proportions (but of course within a politically correct and non-Dispensational grid!).

By their fruits you shall know them …

Skim over the list of Evangelical signatories of these letters and one thing stands out: many represent the more left-of-center Christian perspectives, and nearly all are proponents of Replacement Theology. Most of these leaders hold to the position that God’s promises to the Jewish people have been transferred wholesale to Gentile Christians (minus the curses, of course!). After all, as the anti-Semitic Samaritan theologian Justin Martyr declared 1850 years ago, doesn’t the God of Israel prefer Gentiles over Jews, and don’t the promises to Israel have more relevance when they are seen as referring to Gentiles and not to Jews?

Since most of these leaders do not believe that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people by God’s promise, they have no problem encouraging President Bush to divide the Promised Land. Similarly, they simply do not believe the Hebrew prophets who teach that God’s wrath will fall on those who divide the land of Israel. Replacement Theology teaches that these prophecies no longer have any present application – so they feel that they are immune to judgment and under no spiritual danger whatsoever.

It is on this point that we should all tremble at His word (Isa.66:5) and at His presence (Isa.64:2). For if Gentile believers in Yeshua were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated Jewish olive tree, these Gentile believers must not be arrogant towards the Jewish people, to their land and to the Jewish people’s national callings and giftings. Instead, they should have an attitude of holy fear. For if God did not spare some of the natural Jewish branches, He will not spare these modern Gentile branches either, especially if they move in unbelief and conceit vis-à-vis the Jewish people, their God-given land and their first-born status (see Rom.11:18-25) – even if they are Evangelicals.

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We appreciate your standing with us in prayer and in support. Your tangible expressions of Messiah Yeshua’s love keep us going and encourage us to keep pressing on to the higher and upward calling of our Lord Yeshua. We are thankful for those of you who stand with us, and encourage you to keep standing with us in prayer and in support as the year ends and as new challenges appear on the horizon!

In Messiah Yeshua’s love,

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

A Dead Baby Or A Full Gospel?

Solomon son of David was now king over Israel with the kingdom firmly established in his hands (1 Kings 2:46). Three important events now happened in rapid succession which would shape Solomon’s reign. First, Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh Siamun, solidifying political connections with the super-power at his western flank. Then he cried out to God for wisdom – how to lead the Jewish people in the unfriendly neighborhood of the Middle East. YHWH appeared to Solomon at Gibeon (modern al-Jib) and rewarded him with the highest wisdom and with a discerning heart, great riches and a long life.

The third event (according to 1 Kings 3:16-28) was his first public appearance as kingly judge over Israel. At that trial two prostitutes came pleading for the king to grant them “justice against their adversary”. Each accused the other of manslaughter – of having accidental smothered the baby in her sleep. Solomon instantly demonstrated a divine wisdom which revealed the heart of the true mother. He commanded that the living baby be divided in two between the two women.

The real mother was moved with compassion for her live son, and was willing to give up her valid claim in order to preserve the baby’s life. The evil mother could have cared less, because she only wanted revenge. The Bible tell us that “when all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice” (1 Kings 3:28).

“Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

Messiah Yeshua was once confronted by a group of spies who were undercover agents for the Pharisee and Sadducee power brokers. Pretending to be interested in the finer points of theology, they were hoping catch Yeshua in something that He said, so that He could be handed over to Pontius Pilate. They presented Yeshua with a leading question which was two-faced or duplicitous (Luke 20:23): “Rabbi, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

If Yeshua answered with a ‘yes’, they could accuse Him before the common people of being a collaborationist with the Roman occupation. If He answered ‘no,’ they could accuse Him before the Romans of sedition and treason. The text continues, noting that Yeshua was aware of their duplicitous trap (Luke 20:26).

A Messianic Catch-22

A Catch-22 is a term coined by American author Joseph Heller to describe a paradox in which one becomes a victim regardless of the choice one makes. A modern example would be Groucho Marx’s famous question, “Have you stopped beating your wife?” If one says ‘no’, this means that one is still beating her. If one says ‘ yes’, it means that one confesses to having beaten her in the past. This is a no-win situation.

In the same way, the enemy of our souls has been trying to create a false dichotomy – a sordid trap – in order to confuse believers who love Israel. His desire is to lead us all into pointless and unproductive conflict – into a small civil war. This satanic and misleading strategy involves trying to polarize lovers of Israel into two opposing camps – one called “pro-gospel” and the other called “pro-land.”

The “pro-gospel” group asserts that believers must make a choice between ‘something praiseworthy’ and ‘something of absolute importance’. Being concerned and pro-active about dividing up the land is praiseworthy (this stream tends to say) but calling Israel to righteousness and doing evangelism among Jewish people is the priority of the moment. According to the ‘pro-gospel’ perspective, a spiritual line is being drawn in the sand and it concerns the survival of the gospel itself.

The “pro-land” group asserts that the dividing up of the land of Israel is tragedy that will lead to the judgment of the nations, and that intercessors need to be praying about this and warning their nations. Those who do not join the call to the spiritual and physical barricades (this stream tends to say) are turning their backs on Israel in her hour of need.

Is there a solution to this impasse? Is this a no-win situation? Is there really only one choice available, and is it fated that a dead baby is the unavoidable outcome?

The Gospel and The Land

The solution to this conflict involves expanding our hearts. It means listening with an open heart to both ‘sides’ in the divergence, grasping whatever truth there may be on both sides and then holding fast to those truths with both hands. It involves bringing our own positions into balance – which probably will require increased courage and humility. It means asking for and receiving Yeshua’s opinions even if His opinions are in any way at variance with our own.

God has sown aspects of His truth into both movements. And He wants the rest of us to extract those precious oils for the benefit of the whole body of Messiah.

Learning from the “pro-gospel” stream

The Christian Zionist movement often tends to be weak and even fearful or skittish when it comes to evangelism. There are many reasons for this – some are called strategic, others occasionally (though rarely) are based on the false teaching called “two covenant theology” (which says that Jews don’t have to believe the gospel but have another way of salvation). Sometimes Christian Zionists are concerned that open evangelism of Jewish people will close doors to the Jewish non-Messianic community, or that the Israeli Ministry of the Interior may revoke the visas (meaning, the temporary right to live in Israel) for ministries who have bases and workers within Israel.

It is here that the “pro-gospel” stream definitely has something to say. Yeshua gave the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. It was not a “Great Suggestion”. It comes with the full authority and weight of the Risen Messiah who is Son of David. That good news is about the Jewish Messiah and it is earmarked with special priority to the Jewish people (as Paul stresses in Romans 1:16 and 2:6-11). Some Christian Zionists lack gospel courage and gospel backbone, and some of their strategies have the odor both of fear and of the desire to be pleasers of men rather than pleasers of God (see Galatians 1:6-12 and 2 Corinthians 2:14-17).

Another salient point: some Christian Zionists are embarrassed about Messianic Jews. They would rather be photographed while embracing rabbis who persecute Messianic Jews, than take the risk of being photographed while embracing Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters in the faith. The “pro-gospel” stream can rightly asked them, “Are you ashamed of the gospel which is the power of salvation, to the Jew first?”

Learning from the “pro-land” stream

On the other hand, the “pro-land” stream is ‘hammering out danger’ and ‘ringing out a warning’, applying them equally to the leaders of the nations and the leaders of Israel: God is not pleased with international pressure to divide the land, and He will bring those who lend a hand to that process into severe judgment. Some of the “pro-gospel” stream need to take this message to heart, because sometimes the “pro-gospel” stream seems to want to adapt itself to the prevailing secular peace movements and avoid stressing what God is doing in His “controversy with the nations” (see Isaiah 34, Jeremiah 25 and Jeremiah 30:16-17). It seems that there is a desire to circumvent conflict and controversy, and all this in the day of battle! The prophetess Deborah had some piercing words to level at the tribe of Reuben who tried to avoid their wartime responsibilities to their fellow Israelites (see Judges 5:15-16).

Another salient point – some Messianic Jewish people in the “pro-gospel” stream may have been compromised through co-option. Some Arab believing groups in Israel have a not-so-secret agenda – to sow doubt and uncertainty among Israeli Messianic Jews regarding the righteousness of Israel’s claims to the Holy Land. For years these Arab groups have been asking “Hath God said?” (see Gen.3:1) regarding the Jewish people’s prophetic right to the Promised Land, slowly but surely undermining the faith of some Messianic Jews in Zion. We have watched one or two Messianic Israeli leaders who formerly were defenders of Israel but now have become hesitant and apologetic, and have occasionally turned into purveyors of anti-Israel propaganda. This grieves us deeply.

Let the gospel and the land kiss each other!

The Sons of Korah were relatives of Moses and Aaron (Exodus 6) and they were literally worshipping warriors (2 Chronicles 20:19-22). One of them wrote Psalm 85, and buried in the verses of that psalm lies a key which can help to bring real reconciliation between the ‘land’ stream and the ‘gospel’ stream.

“Show us Your covenant faithfulness, YHVH, and grant us Your salvation. I will listen to what YHVH God will say. He promises shalom to His people, His ‘made righteous’ ones – but let them not return to foolishness! Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land. Covenant faithfulness and truth have met up; righteousness and shalom have kissed. Truth will sprout up from out of the land, and righteousness will look down from Heaven” (Psalm 85:7-11 – my translation from the Hebrew).

God’s faithfulness to His promises regarding the land are not at conflict with His gospel call for Yeshua’s righteousness to be applied to Israel (and to Arabs, to Americans, to the English etc.).  Believers need to be pro-active in prayer and actions about the dividing up of the land and about the need to evangelize the Jewish people. Both of these streams – these ‘donkeys’ – need to be hitched to the same Messianic wagon. And they need to pull together. This is not a case of ‘either or’ but of ‘both and’.

This newsletter is a plea for both sides in this spat to come together and to kiss each other, to meet up and make up, and to pursue in truth the things that make for peace.

By some strange quirk of history and linguistics, today the English language uses the term “the judgment of Solomon” half-correctly. That term describes a decision which destroys the issue over which people are fighting rather than allowing either disputing party to share in it.  Another modern proverb which says much the same is “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.”

Let those lovers of Israel and lovers of the Messianic Jewish believers in Israel commit to honoring both the nose and the face! Let the gospel be preached and let the land be defended. Let prophetic intercessors and prophetic evangelists move as one, “without jostling each other, without breaking ranks, and without swerving from our God-given course” (see Joel 2:7-8).

In Messiah Yeshua’s love,

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

Shakings, Weighings and Divisions: Syria, Annapolis and the Return of YHVH - Part Three of Three – Cutting Israel Down To Size

Part Three of Three – Cutting Israel Down To Size

 In the first part of this three-part newsletter, we looked at the Israeli raid deep into Syria to destroy its nuclear capabilities, at a prophetic word about the destruction of Damascus, and at a lesson drawn from the First Gulf War, wherein coalition forces benefited from Israel’s courage and heroism.

In the second part of this three-part newsletter, we skimmed through some biblical perspectives regarding the biblical borders of Israel (from Abraham to the Second Coming), and what God thinks about moving or adjusting those borders. We looked at God’s response to Arab nations (or any nation) who would try to shrink, claim, weaken, divide or control the land of Israel.

In this third part, we will clarify what the USA and the international community are planning and doing regarding dividing up the land; how the Annapolis conference fits into this flow; and why Israel’s main leader is going along for the ride.

An Undivided Heart

One of the psalmist’s most intense prayers is, “Teach me Your way, YHVH, and I will walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name!” (Psa. 86:11).  A heart ardently turned toward God and desiring to do His will – that is a rare and precious commodity in God’s sight.  King Solomon warns his son, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs (or issues) of life!” (Prov. 4:23).

In Isaiah  40:1-2 God commands the nations to “Comfort, comfort my people …Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” The Hebrew reads “Speak over the heart of Jerusalem.” To get through to the Jewish people, one must speak tenderly, honestly – and straight to their heart.

The God of Israel is also interested in the hearts of the leaders of the earth. “For the eyes of YHVH run to and fro throughout the earth that He may show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are completely His” (2 Chron. 16:9).

A heart which is completely God’s will bloom with God’s heart for Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zech. 2:8).  The Bible says that every healthy saint of God will have a tender heart towards Israel – for her people, her stones, and even for the very dust of that land!  ”You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. For her stones are dear to Your servants; her very dust moves them to pity” (Psa. 102:13-14).

Zion and the Heart of America

Where is America’s heart vis-à-vis Israel? Is it pro or anti-Israel? Are American Christians truly friends of Israel? Are American Jews actively committed to Israel’s survival? Are US liberals and secular people for or against Zion? The following is an attempt at a short answer to a long question.

Many people in the USA are for Israel. Most of them are Evangelical Christians. Many in the Jewish community are also highly supportive, both liberal, Orthodox and in between. A large percentage of Americans have a quiet respect for plucky Israel, her courage and heroism in battle, her tenacity in the face of many deadly challenges and her sufferings in the Holocaust.

But there are also other Americans in that pluralistic country who are opposed to Zion. From secular isolationists to anti-Semitic professors, from self-hating Jews to jihadi Islamists, from oil barons to some State Department honchos and CIA movers and shakers – there are significant and influential layers of American society which are positioned against the land and people of Israel. At the upper echelons of politics, business and intelligence there are powerful people pressuring and persuading in ways which could weaken and destroy the apple of God’s eye.

Taking a line from Shakespeare’s The Tempest (“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows”), it has been said that politics makes for strange bedfellows. Constituencies change, neighborhoods evolve, voters are fickle. And so politicians must do a balancing act – sometimes for, sometimes against. US official positions regarding Israel have occasionally blown in the wind of public opinion, but deep below the surface of the water unfriendly currents have often prevailed. The next few paragraphs deal briefly with some of these deeper currents – events that are not so well known among Evangelicals.

Jerusalem’s Status – A Heavy Stone

In 1948 the US State Department opposed the establishment and recognition of a Jewish state. It had also opposed the rescue and immigration of European Jews from Hitler during WWII.  US Secretaries James Forestall (Navy, Defense), General George Marshall (State, Defense), John Dulles (State) and Allen Dulles (CIA Director), business magnate and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller – they and many more were opposed to recognizing and aiding the fledgling Jewish state. For more information see The Secret War Against The Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed The Jewish People, by John Loftus & Mark Aarons, St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Truman’s de facto recognition of the Jewish state nearly did not happen, and was actually the result of internal wars between himself and his State Department.

From the beginning, America followed the 1947 UN Partition Plan (General Assembly Resolution 181) which actually called for the dividing up of the land of Israel into two states – one Jewish and one Arab. That plan also proposed that Jerusalem and some suburbs not come under Jewish control, but be turned into a corpus separatum – an internationally administered zone under UN control. Because of Jerusalem’s “association with three world religions . . . (it should be) accorded special and separate treatment” said the UN.  Many people do not realize that the UN document which recognized the principle of a future Jewish state, also called for the land of Israel to be divided.

The US State Department has stuck with this policy through the decades. As a result it refuses to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city. Of the 184 nations with which America has diplomatic relations, Israel is the only one whose capital is not recognized by the U.S. government.  The US Embassy has always been situated in Tel Aviv, and this American example has influenced all other nations of the world, who have done likewise.

The US State Department does not like using the term “dividing Jerusalem.” That would sound like America is dictating the borders of Israel. Instead it claims that Jerusalem is too important to Moslems and Christians for the city to be governed by Jews. Since “dividing” is evidently a politically incorrect term, the term of choice is “sharing.”

Richard A. Boucher, Spokesman Department of State, nuanced it this way in Washington on October 3 2000: “The (greatest) challenge for the negotiators … (is that Jerusalem is) a city so sacred and special to Jews, yet holy to Christians and Muslims, too. There is no other solution but to share the Holy City. It is not, and cannot be, the exclusive preserve of one religion … (We) never spoke of ‘dividing’ Jerusalem. That is not United States policy.”

Waiving Goodbye To Jerusalem

America’s popular heart towards Jerusalem was expressed by its elected officials in a 1990 Senate Concurent Resolution, in The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 and in the Foreign Relations Authorization ACT H.R. 1646, Section 214. According to these, Jerusalem is and should remain the undivided, eternal capital of the State of Israel. These Acts require that the U.S. embassy in Israel be established in Jerusalem no later than May 1999.

Nevertheless, a waiver (“Section 7”) was included in one of the bills which allows the President to waive applying the legislation (for repeatable six month periods) if he deems doing so to be in the best interest of the United States. Every President running for office has promised to enact the bill, and every President in office continues to activate his presidential waiver. The State Department stated in 2003 that from their perspective Section 214 (which deliberately left out any waiver clause) will be ignored and will be considered only as ‘advisory.’

On November 19 1863 not far from the still-fresh battlefields of Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln spoke of “the great task remaining before us” with the hope that those who died “shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”  When Acts of Congress and Senate (the expression of the American people’s will) are legalized and then ignored, it seems that President Lincoln’s great democratic task remains to be fulfilled.

American Pressure Points On Israel’s Borders

Sinai Campaign (1956)

By the end of WWII the United States had become the world’s strongest superpower. As a result America began to flex its political muscle in the Middle East more frequently.  The goals of the USA and the UK often clashed, leading to a weakening of British influence and a strengthening of American power.

For years Egypt had sponsored terror attacks into Israel from the Gaza Strip (then under Egyptian control; www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/Fedayeen.html). In1956 Nasser blockaded Israeli shipping in the Straits of Tiran (Red Sea) and nationalized the Suez Canal, both of them international waterways.  Britain, France and Israel jointly invaded the Sinai Peninsula in early November 1956.

On November 5 1956 Soviet Premier Bulganin and President Khrushchev threatened Israel with nuclear attack if it did not withdraw from the Sinai. Not to be outdone, the administration of President Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban that if Israel did not withdraw, all U.S. military and civilian aid to Israel would be cut off, the tax-exempt status of all American organizations that provided aid to Israel would be removed, and that the United States would not oppose the expulsion of Israel from the UN (see inter alia, Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall, 2000, W. W. Norton & Co, p.181).

Israel withdrew from Gaza and Sinai in return for President Eisenhower’s promise to keep the vital Straight of Tiran waterway open to Israeli ships (Aide de Memoire, Freedom of the seas in Aqaba and UN Emergency Force, John Foster Dulles to Abba Eban, February 11, 1957).

When Egypt re-imposed the same blockade ten years later, President Johnson, Secretary of State Rusk and Secretary of Defense McNamara agreed that Egypt’s actions were a casus belli (legal justification for Israel to attack) but they explained that they could not honor the Aide de Memoire (and run the Egyptian blockade) “for constitutional reasons.” This immediately led to the Six Day War (June 1967).

Six Day War (1967)

According to a recent article “U.S. had emergency plan for attacking Israel in 1967” (Amir Oren, Ha’aretz), the Joint Chiefs of Staff had established a battle plan to stop Israel from expanding westward into Sinai or eastward into the West Bank (also not to allow Arab forces to cross the armistice lines of 1948-49). Strike Command (STRICOM – then headed by General Theodore John Conway; the Command was annulled in 1971) was asked in Cable No. 5886 (May 20 1967) by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to refresh emergency plans for US military intervention in an Arab-Israeli war. The Six Day War began and ended so suddenly that U.S. contingency plans could not be carried out.  But it is worth a few moments of quiet reflection to consider how Pentagon plans could have sent American forces into battle against the IDF in 1967.

In a August 2005 Israel TV interview, former Consul General of Israel in New York Alon Pinkas stated that, with the evacuation from Gaza, “the US has seen the victory of its 38 year old policy.” Pinkas, a polished diplomat, was stating that the evacuation of Gaza (and the continuing division of the biblical land of Israel) is an ongoing US strategic goal going back to just after the Six Day War in June 1967.  In that sense the State Department’s response to Israel’s unification of Jerusalem on June 28 1967 says it all:  ”The United States has never recognized such unilateral actions by any of the states in the area as governing the international status of Jerusalem”.

The Lord God of Israel may be restoring Israel to the land He gave to their forefathers (Jer. 16:15). He well may save His people from the countries of the east and the west, and bring them back to live in Jerusalem to be His people (Zech. 8:7-8). But don’t count on the U.S. State Department being pleased about it!

Secret U.S. Policy Regarding Israel’s Borders (1975)

A recently declassified State Department document  quotes from a meeting between Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State) and Sadun Hammadi (Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs) (www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB193/HAK-12-17-75.pdf) which took place in Paris on December 17, 1975. Kissinger communicated a ‘no-nonsense’ US foreign policy regarding Israel in the following selected quotes:

These shocking quotes show where the heart and strategy of the State Department lie.  Israel’s borders must be shrunk in order to weaken its military and political standing in the Middle East. A Palestinian state needs to be established on land which has been pried away from Israeli control. These words can help intercessors to pray for leaders and diplomats in the US and elsewhere, for these talking points are part and parcel of British, European and Russian strategies as well.

The Butcher, the Baker (1989)

Secretary of State James A. Baker 3rd addressed the annual conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on May 22, 1989.  He said, “For Israel, now is the time to lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a greater Israel … Forswear annexation. Stop settlement activity. (“Middle East Straight Talk from the U.S”, Christopher Ogden, TIME, June 5 1989 www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,957877,00.html).  Baker’s vision is the same – make Israel retreat from the mountains of Israel and from the heart of Jerusalem, and force her to surrender these territories to her sworn enemies.

Secretary Baker is also well-known in the Jewish community for three remarks he made about Israel.

These comments reveal not only one man’s rough language and cruel spirit. They also reveal something about the heart of some world leaders towards Israel.

The Piece Process (2005)

Just before (and also during) the traumatic disengagement process of August 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made it crystal clear that Israel’s borders must shrink – beginning with Gaza. The extent of the shriveling up is not clearly stated, but the State Department is looking at most of the West Bank and a significant portion of Jerusalem. Here are three quotes from Rice which reveal this perspective:

The Road To Annapolis (2007)

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of activity concerning a possible peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, a city that since American Colonial days has been known as the “Athens of America”.

Tony Blair recently stepped down from his position as Prime Minister and immediately was appointed Middle East Envoy of the Quartet (US, UK, European Union and Russia) on June 27 2007.  He promptly stated that until Israel surrenders more land, there will be no peace in the Middle East.  ”The absolute priority is to try to give effect to what is now the consensus across the international community - that the only way of bringing stability and peace to the Middle East is a two-state solution” (PM Blair’s final press briefing at Downing Street). According to Blair, it seems, Israel holds the key to Middle East and world peace.

While there is a sense where Blair’s words may be biblically true (Israel does hold the key to life from the dead, according to Romans 11:15), Blair’s statement as it stands is grossly inaccurate, ignoring the bloody ongoing inter-Arab conflicts that churn across the Middle East on a daily basis – conflicts that have nothing to do with Israel in even the remotest way! See Dr. Daniel Pipes’ article “Arab-Israeli Fatalities Rank 49th” at  www.danielpipes.org/article/4990.

The UK and the US seem to have come to a remarkable agreement regarding what to do with Israel. Speaking in Ramallah on October 15 2007 Secretary of State Rice said:

One day before Rice’s statement, on October 14 2007 Israeli Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai had met with the Secretary of State in Jerusalem. He told her that the status of Jerusalem must be taken off the agenda of the Annapolis conference. According to Yishai’s office, Rice responded that “the time has come to deal with issues that we were afraid to touch for many years.” (JP Oct 15 2007 p.9 “As Rice arrives …”).  Pray for America’s and Britain’s leaders as they once again attempt to pick up a heavy Jerusalem stone that cannot be lifted (Zech. 12:1-4).

Why Are Israel’s Leaders Going Along With This?

Many people are asking (and with good reason), “Why is Prime Minister Olmert going along with this process? Why did PM Ariel Sharon do the same before him? What madness has taken hold of Israel’s leaders?”

The answers to these questions are few and simple.  PM Olmert is under three criminal investigations at the moment and also the target of a state commission of inquiry regarding the Second Lebanese War.  PM Sharon (during his term in office) was also under many criminal investigations.  Both PMs realized that the left-leaning media would look more kindly on former rightists who push for compromise with the Palestinians. Two senior Israeli reporters (Raviv Drucker of Israel’s Channel Ten and Ofer Shelach of Yediot Aharonot) investigated what really was behind Sharon’s disengagement plan. Their startling conclusion (after speaking with people on the inside): Sharon was desperately trying to avoid indictment for various illegal transactions.

Channel Two correspondent Amnon Abramovitz then said that PM Sharon enjoyed the protection of those pro-disengagement forces, like an etrog (a fragile citron fruit used in ceremonies during the Feast of Tabernacles).  To speak plainly PM Sharon retreated from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria, and PM Olmert is pushing for similar retreats from the West Bank and Jerusalem – in order to gain a temporary postponement from being hit with criminal charges.

The second reason that Israel’s leaders are giving in has to do with international pressure.  There are tremendous pressures being exerted behind the scenes by foreign governments, from threats to cajoling, from political seduction to financial inducements.  Only someone who has sat behind a Prime Minister’s desk can even begin to understand the weight that is brought to bear here.

A third reason that Israel’s leaders are giving in has to do with spiritual pressure and witchcraft.  The spiritual forces arrayed against Israel which stand behind countries like Iran (the prince of Persia in the Book of Daniel) or major superpowers are constantly battering down Israeli resistance and steadfastness in the spirit. Pray for Israel’s leaders, that they will receive divine comfort, strength, courage and revelation to stand in the face of these awesome pressures. Pray also for the salvation of Israel’s leaders!

Ultimately, from the eternal perspective, Israel will not be saved by leaning on the USA, the UK, the EU, the UN or on all of the Quartet at once! As Isaiah says, ‘In YHVH alone are righteousness and strength. All who have raged against Him will come to Him and be put to shame. But in YHVH all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult!”  (Isa. 45:24-25).

In Messiah Yeshua’s love,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES  

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Shakings, Weighings and Divisions: Syria, Annapolis and the Return of YHVH - Part Two of Three – Dividing Up the Land of Israel: What Does The Bible Say?

Part Two of Three – Dividing Up the Land of Israel: What Does The Bible Say?

Across the globe the spiritual electronic chatter is picking up right now. Subtle changes are taking place in society, in the spirit and in spiritual warfare. World events are unfolding quickly, revealing wicked plans which target the land of Israel and the Jewish people.

Islamist jihadi goals are many, and they include wiping out all opposition to Islam, weakening and destroying the West and Christianity, and annihilating Israel’s land and people. Multinational power players closely tied to oil are interested in consolidating and increasing their hold on the world’s reserves. They are playing poker with world resources. They are playing chess, using world leaders and recalcitrant countries as pawns. Sometimes even the foreign policies and military forces of major powers are being redirected and manipulated for power and profit.

This is part two of our three part October newsletter. In this newsletter we will quickly run through biblical perspectives regarding the biblical borders of Israel (from Abraham to the Second Coming), and what God thinks about moving or adjusting those borders. In our third newsletter we will focus on what the USA and the international community are planning and doing regarding dividing up the land; how the Annapolis conference fits into this flow; and why Israel’s main leader is going along for the ride.

Borders in the Book

The Scriptures teach that all international borders of all countries are overseen and established by God. These in turn are subservient to God’s heart and plan for the Jewish people:

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided all mankind, He set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For YHVH’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance. In a desert land He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye” (Deut. 32:8-10).  It is the nations’ borders that are to be delineated based on the priority of Israel, and not vice versa. From the Bible’s perspective, altering Israel’s borders is an expression of rebellion against the God who established those borders.

YHVH promised a land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – one with specific borders (Gen. 12:1; 13:14-17; 15:7-21; 17:8; 26:4; 35:11-12). At the end of time, God promises the Jewish people that they will return from exile to that very same land and to those very same borders:

“This is what YHVH says: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded, declares YHVH. They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future, declares YHVH. Your children will return to their own borders’” (Jer. 31:16-17; see also Num. 33-35; Josh. 13-21).

God informs Israel that He has established borders for other neighboring nations, and that the Jewish people need to honor these borders (Deut. 2:4-12, 19-23). However other warlike tribes who fought against Israel (and who had no promise from God regarding the lands they had squatted on) were fair game, and their land eventually became part of Israel’s inheritance (Deut. 2:24-37).

At the End of Days YHVH clearly delineates the future borders of Israel while promising to return the Jewish people to their own land (Ezek. 47-48).

Bordering on Disaster

The Scriptures declare that God is in favor of just borders. YHVH does not take matters lightly when a neighbor’s boundaries are ignored, or when bullies steal land from weaker elements of society. “Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers” (Prov. 22:28). “Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; He will take up their case against you” (Prov. 23:10-11).

The Scriptures point out that some nations scorn and reject the right of God to delineate the borders of His land of Israel. These nations claim the land of Israel as their own and, in doing so, end up opposing the God of the Bible.

O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still. See how Your enemies are astir, how Your foes rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against Your people; they plot against those You cherish. “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.” With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against You. . . Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, “Let us take possession of the pasturelands of God.” (Psa. 83:1-5, 11-12).

But all who devour you will be devoured; all your enemies will go into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered; all who make spoil of you I will despoil. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares YHVH, because you are called an outcast, “Zion for whom no-one cares”. This is what YHVH says: I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents and have compassion on his dwellings; the city will be rebuilt on her ruins, and the palace will stand in its proper place. . . Their children will be as in days of old, and their community will be established before Me; I will punish all who oppress them. (Jer. 30:16-20)

Plundering The Land

God gets even more specific and points a finger at the descendants of Esau or Edom (southern Jordan) who invaded Israel in 605 B.C and settled in the Hebron hills south of Jerusalem (part of today’s “West Bank”). Ezekiel says that these Arab attempts to take over the biblical land of Israel create anger and jealousy within the breast of Israel’s God. This prophecy helps us to understand the context of Obadiah 1:9,18 and Malachi 1:2-5.

The word of YHVH came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir; prophesy against it and say: ‘This is what YHVH says: I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out My hand against you and make you a desolate waste. . .Because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity …therefore as surely as I live, declares YHVH, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you . . . Because you have said, “These two nations and countries will be ours and we will take possession of them,” even though I YHVH was there, therefore as surely as I live, declares YHVH, I will treat you in accordance with the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them and I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. Then you will know that I YHVH have heard all the contemptible things you have said against the mountains of Israel. You said, “They have been laid waste and have been given over to us to devour.” You boasted against Me and spoke against Me without restraint, and I heard it. This is what YHVH says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. Because you rejoiced when the inheritance of the house of Israel became desolate, that is how I will treat you. You will be desolate, O Mount Seir, you and all of Edom. Then they will know that I am YHVH.’” (Ezek. 35:1-15)

In Ezekiel 36 God says that many nations (and not only some Arabs) have designs on the land of Israel. But the Lord’s response to those designs will always be burning anger and scorn.

Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of YHVH. This is what YHVH says: The enemy said of you, “Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession.”‘ Therefore prophesy and say, This is what YHVH says: Because they ravaged and hounded you from every side so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people’s malicious talk and slander, therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of YHVH: This is what YHVH says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the deserted towns that have been plundered and ridiculed by the rest of the nations around you – this is what YHVH says: In My burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against Edom, for with glee and with malice in their hearts they made My land their own possession so that they might plunder its pastureland. Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: ‘This is what YHVH says: I speak in My jealous wrath because you have suffered the scorn of the nations. Therefore this is what YHVH says: I swear with uplifted hand that the nations around you will also suffer scorn. But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for My people Israel, for they will soon come home. (Ezek. 36:1-8)

Having a Hernia on the Day of the Lord

The ancient Hebrew prophets describe a future event – an international invasion and conquest of the land of Israel. When the nations of the earth come to divide Israel and Jerusalem, God Himself will cause the Jewish people to become like an immoveable rock. Any nation who tries to move this boundary stone will suffer an instant and painful hernia.

This is the word of YHVH concerning Israel. YHVH, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness, declares YHVH. I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations (Zech. 12:1-4).

When Messiah Yeshua returns, He will judge all nations for the part they will all have had in dividing up the land of Israel. “In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My inheritance, My people Israel, for they scattered My people among the nations and divided up My land” (Joel 3:1-2).

The Scriptures actually teach that when the nations invade the land of Israel and divide up Jerusalem, this will be the main trigger that causes Yeshua to return to earth:

A day of YHVH is coming when …I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then YHVH will go out and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south (Zech. 14:1-4)

Dividing up the land of Israel is serious stuff. It is definitely not a neutral issue from God’s perspective.

We live in amazing, awesome days, when biblical issues are daily transformed into screaming headlines. How we need the fear of the Lord to fall on us all in a new and ardent way, as we see these events unfold.

Pray for the leaders of your nation and for the leaders of Israel who do not yet understand God’s heart and strategies as revealed in these abovementioned Scriptures; that God would grant revelation, repentance and divine counter-strategies which honor Him, His word and His people.

Coming soon – the third newsletter in this series, which will clarify what the USA and the international community are planning and doing regarding dividing up the land; how the Annapolis conference fits into this flow; and why Israel’s main leader is going along for the ride.

In Messiah Yeshua’s love,

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

Shakings, Weighings and Divisions: Syria, Annapolis and the Return of YHVH - Part One - Syria

Part One - Syria

Israel has been in the headlines again – a mysterious Israel Air Force attack delves deep into Syria; an upcoming US-prompted peace conference in Annapolis MD discusses a major dividing up of the land of Israel; a brazen new book accuses the American Jewish community and Israel of acting against the interests of the USA, raising the ante of anti-Semitism in the USA. The sharks smell blood and are circling, while the Jewish David, one arm tied behind his back by world pressure and opinion, finds himself confronting many modern-day Goliaths. We are indeed living in significant days!

Serious stirrings in Syria

Some secret events in Syria have hit the headlines in recent days. Israel’s strict censorship rules on military matters forbid direct reporting of certain military matters, but anonymous leaks to major journalists have somewhat dispersed the mists of war. London’s Sunday Times reported on September 16 2007 that just after midnight on September 6, the 69th Squadron composed of eight Israeli F-15Is, F-16s and a UAV crossed the Mediterranean coastline of Syria and headed to a military target 50 miles from the Iraqi border – Deir ez-Zour. Syrian radar was somehow blocked, and a pre-positioned Israeli special forces Shaldag team (air force commandos) painted the target with laser beams.

The pinpoint accurate bombing destroyed what Israeli intelligence anonymously describe as either nuclear material or a nuclear device from North Korea which could be fitted on North Korean Scud-C missiles (already in Syria’s arsenal). An Israeli source said, “We’ve known for a long time that Syria has deadly chemical warheads on its Scuds, but Israel can’t live with a nuclear warhead.”

Over the years the world’s intelligence community has given us some context for this attack. A CIA report from June 2003 stated, “Broader access to foreign expertise provides (Syria) opportunities to expand its indigenous capabilities and we are looking at Syrian nuclear intentions with growing concern.” (https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/archived-reports-1/jan_jun2003.htm#7).

On November 12 2003 John R. Bolton, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the State Department, spoke at a public gathering in Washington DC (www.state.gov/t/us/rm/26129.htm):

“As I have recently testified to Congress, we are concerned about Syria’s nuclear research and development program and continue to watch for any signs of nuclear weapons activity or foreign assistance that could facilitate a Syrian nuclear weapons capability. We are aware of Syrian efforts to acquire dual-use technologies that could be applied to a nuclear weapons program. . . Broader access to Russian expertise could provide opportunities for Syria to expand its indigenous capabilities, should it decide to pursue nuclear weapons. . . Since the 1970s, Syria has pursued what is now one of the most advanced Arab state chemical weapons capabilities. It has a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin that can be delivered by aircraft or ballistic missiles, and has engaged in the research and development of more toxic and persistent nerve agents such as VX.”

On April 29, 2004 Bolton told the United Nations that the Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan had “several other” customers for his nuclear bomb factories besides Iran, Libya and North Korea. Western diplomats said then that Bolton was clearly referring to Syria (see the Reform Party of Syria’s article www.aina.org/news/20050104115532.htm).

Whoever Digs a Pit May Fall Into It (Eccles. 10:8)

Exactly six weeks before the Israeli bombing raid, a deadly explosion took place at as-Safir, a secret Syrian missile production laboratory in the Muslemiah area north of the city of Aleppo. According to Jane’s Defense Weekly, Syrian weapons experts (under Iranian supervision) were attempting to mount a mustard gas chemical warhead on a North Korean Scud-C (300 mile range). At that moment, rocket fuel caught alight in the lab, and the explosive blast dispersed mustard gas, VX and Sarin nerve gas across the storage facility and to those standing outside. Jane’s states that 15 Syrian officers and dozens of Iranian missile engineers were killed, while fifty others were seriously injured with chemical burns to exposed body parts.

According to Syrian media sources, “There is a heat wave and temperatures reached close to 50 degrees, which caused an ammunition dump to explode.” However, Jane’s reported that the blast took place at around 4:30 am in the cool morning hours, and also that the Syrian government rejected the possibility of sabotage. Of course, in November 2005 Syria and Iran had signed an agreement wherein Iran agreed to supply Syria with weapons, train Syrian operators, and transfer technology for chemical warfare systems for mass destruction.

Syrian soldiers, Iranian missile engineers and North Korean missiles – that combination tends to make Israeli generals nervous.  On August 14, North Korea’s Minister of Foreign Trade, arrived in Syria to sign a protocol on “cooperation in trade and science and technology”. Though no details were released, Israel’s attention was certainly riveted once again. A Middle East expert, who is connected to Israelis involved in the September 6th raid, told the Washington Post that the raid’s timing was linked to the arrival at the Syrian port of Tartus three days earlier of a North Korean ship carrying a cargo that was officially listed as ‘cement’ but was understood to contain nuclear equipment. Perhaps everyone breathed a sigh of relief to know that on September 18 (12 days after the Israeli raid) Syrian Expatriate Affairs Minister Bussaina Shaaban said that the allegations of nuclear cooperation between Syria and North Korea which led to the reported Israeli overflight were ‘an orchestra of lies.’  In an interview with the Iranian Fars news agency, the minister denied reports in Israeli and American media that suggested Pyongyang was helping Damascus build a nuclear installation in the country.

A Death Wind over Damascus

In 1991 I served in the IDF during the First Gulf War.  After the war ended, I traveled to the USA where I met a prophetic man with a world-recognized reputation for accuracy and humility.  He told me a vision the Lord had once given him, a vision which is yet future. This man saw an accident that would take place in a chemical weapons stockpile near Damascus. The resulting explosion would cause a death wind to sweep over Damascus, destroying much of the population. This prophetic man said that the experience was like a fulfillment of Isaiah.17:1-14. As we consider these two recent events in Syria, as well as this prophetic future aspect, let us pray for God to save many people in Syria, and for His grace to be extended to believers in that country. Let us pray for protection over the Jewish people in Israel as dark clouds gather.

An encouraging biblical story in 2 Kings 6 reminds us of God’s age-old perspective regarding the conflict of Israel and Syria, and can guide us in our prayers:

Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”  The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Syrians are going down there.” So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places. This enraged the king of Syria. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?” “None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.” “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so that I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O YHVH, open his eyes so that he may see.” Then YHVH opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha.  (2 Kings 6:8-17).

He who guards Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psa.121:4), and no weapon forged against Israel will prevail (Isa. 54:17). Yet at the same time the Lord Himself bids us pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psa. 122:6). He challenges us to intercede with passion and resolve in the following words: “I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on YHVH, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth (Isa. 62:6-7). With trust and faith in the Guardian of Israel, we press forward in prayer at this strategic and significant time in history.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

The USA is facing deep division among its citizens over whether or not the government and the intelligence community can be trusted regarding the subject of weapons of mass destruction. The unfortunate strategic shading of some intelligence in the pressured atmosphere surrounding 9/11 has tarred all involved in that affair (see The One Percent Doctrine by Ron Suskind, Simon & Schuster, 2007).

But these intelligence sins of omission or commission do not cause the all too real threats of Islamist terrorism to simply fade away. Though these threats may sometimes appear distant from America’s shores, we can take an example from plucky Israel – one country that has been constantly forced to deal with chemical, biological and atomic threats all on its own, in the rather unforgiving neighborhood called the Middle East.

On June 7 1981 the IAF attacked and destroyed Iraq’s atomic bomb plant (Osirak or Tammuz 1) at al-Tuwaitah, 11 miles south-east of Baghdad. Israel had been following the construction of that plant (built with French and Italian help) as well as the chemical warfare installations and bunkers (built with German help) “with growing concern” for many years. The world belittled and dismissed Israel’s concerns until the moment of no return approached, when the reactor was about to go hot. A force of eight Israeli F-16s and six escorting F-15s flew 680 miles across Jordan, Saudi Arabia and into Iraq to bomb the target successfully.

What was the response of the world to this successful attack? For starters, Israel was condemned and censured at the United Nations by the United States, UK, France, etc. On June 19 1981 the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed UN Security Council Resolution 487, which “strongly condemns the military attack by Israel in clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international conduct.” (S/RES/487; https://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/6c57312cc8bd93ca852560df00653995?OpenDocument).

Wisdom is Proved Right By Her Children (Luke 7:35)

But the God of Israel has a wry sense of humor, and He is very patient! Ten years later, in the prelude to the First Gulf War, the Iraqi government tried to recover components from the Osirak site in August 1990 and then accelerated its nuclear program to create a weapon using radioactive fuel. On January 17 1991 coalition forces targeted the site previously bombed by Israel, halting the weapons program. On January 20 56 F-16s attacked the same site and on January 23 a force of F-117s bombed Osirak. Finally 48 F-16s targeted the facility 7 more times for over a month and, a few weeks later, 17 F-111Fs participated in the raids. After 19 days of strikes the US Defense Intelligence Agency declared the site to be “severely degraded”. This time, it seems, coalition forces were not censured at the UN.

In June 1991, then-Defense Secretary Richard Cheney visited Israel and gave a satellite photograph of the destroyed reactor to the commander of the IAF Major General David Ivry. On the photograph, Cheney wrote, ‘For General David Ivri, with thanks and appreciation for the outstanding job he did on the Iraqi Nuclear Program in 1981, which made our job much easier in Desert Storm.’ (this story is found in Maj. Gen. [res.] David Ivry’s ‘The Attack on the Osiraq Nuclear Reactor – Looking Back 21 Years Later,’ Israel’s Strike Against the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor 7 June, 1981, Jerusalem: Menachem Begin Heritage Center: 2003, p. 35).

Professor of International Law at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana) Louis Rene Beres wrote that, “Israel’s citizens, together with Jews and Arabs, American, and other coalition soldiers who fought in the Gulf War may owe their lives to Israel’s courage, skill, and foresight in June 1981. Had it not been for the brilliant raid at Osiraq, Saddam’s forces might have been equipped with atomic warheads in 1991. Ironically, the Saudis, too, are in Jerusalem’s debt. Had it not been for Prime Minister Begin’s resolve to protect the Israeli people in 1981, Iraq’s SCUDs falling on Saudi Arabia might have spawned immense casualties and lethal irradiation.” (Louis Rene Beres and Tsiddon-Chatto, Col. (res.) Yoash, “Reconsidering Israel’s Destruction of Iraq’s Osiraq Nuclear Reactor,” Temple International and Comparitive Law Journal 9 (2), 1995. Reprinted in Israel’s Strike Against the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor 7 June, 1981, Jerusalem: Menachem Begin Heritage Center: 2003, p.60).

What has just occurred in Syria seems to be on the order of the Osirak raid. Powerful events are taking place behind the scenes at this moment – in the natural and in the world of the spirit. Press on in prayer for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven; for Israel and her allies to be preserved and protected; and for the gospel message to spread in power throughout the Middle East, in Syria, in Iraq, in Iran – and especially and with priority to the Jewish people, “to the Jew first”! (Romans 1:16).

In Messiah Yeshua’s love,

Avner Boskey

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FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES  

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Eyeless in Gaza: The Muslim Brotherhood New Terror-State Against Israel

This past week has seen the total collapse of Yassir Arafat’s legacy in the Gaza Strip. Black ski-masked Hamas jihad fighters kneecapped their Palestinian Authority (PA) al-Fatah rivals, paraded half-naked PLO fighters through the streets, or executed them Chicago gangland style with a bullet to the head – often in front of wives and children. A Hamas mob lynched Fatah al-Aqsa Brigades commander Samih Madhoun on Thursday June 14 on camera. The offices of Madhoun’s boss Muhammad Dahlan, once head of PA Preventive Security and the Palestinian National Security Council, were looted and machine-gunned, and a spray-painted graffiti warning was left on the walls reading, “This was the house of the murderer Dahlan that was cleansed by the jihad warriors”.  Jihad has come to Gaza, and the Muslim Brotherhood has taken over their very first Arab country (see www.davidstent.org “words” February 2006, “Hurtling Through The Fog of War: A Messianic Perspective On The New Hamastan”).

The collapse of Abu Mazen’s PA (formerly the PLO) in Gaza is portentous. U.S. foreign policy has so far placed its eggs in Abu Mazen’s basket, arming his fighters with M-16’s and sending CIA and U.S. Army advisors to train his forces (many of whom are still actively engaging in terror attacks and Qassam missile launchings against Israel). The collapse of the Gaza Strip means the immediate collapse of another sphere of U.S. influence, with echoes of Teheran 1979 and Saigon 1975.

Gaza abhors a vacuum, and the jihadi wave of Hamas has crashed upon the palm-studded sands of Gaza, filling the Strip and lapping at the security fence bordering Israel and Egypt. For the first time in recent Islamist history, a Muslim Brotherhood organization has set up governmental shop within an Arab/Islamic population center. Hamas is an Arabic acronym for “The Islamic Resistance Movement” and its charter proclaims that it “is one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood … the largest Islamic Movement in the modern era” (Article Two).

The jihadi organizations which planned and carried out 9/11, the bombings of the US embassies in Africa, the subway and train bombings in London, Madrid and Cologne – these are all Muslim Brotherhood related groups (see the abovementioned article). It is their strategy to set up one Islamist jihadi state after another in the Middle East, until enough momentum is created to launch all-out war against the West and its allies. Jihadi forces are greatly encourage by the past week’s events in Gaza. For them it is a dream come true, and it is a step closer to world jihad. This victory will spur Islamist terror groups on to further attacks on Israel and the West with increased fervor.

“The King is dead! Long live the King!”

The remnants of PLO leadership are in disarray. Some fled by sea to Egypt; others were allowed by Israel to escape to Ramallah. Many others have been murdered. The new rulers of Gaza are Hamas. Effectively, there are now two Palestinian states-in-waiting –  Hamastan (in Gaza), a jihadi state ruled by terrorists bent on destroying Israel and Western civilization; and Fatahland (in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria), bent on using terror to set up an “Islamic-lite” state also bent on destroying Israel. The U.S. and the E.U. have hesitated to support a Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority. Now they will probably throw their full weight behind Abu Mazen’s relocated “West Bank PA”.

There are approximately 1.4 million Arabs living in Gaza and 2.5 million Arabs living in Judea and Samaria.  At this point Hamas controls 3/8 of all Arabs who are not Israeli citizens, while Abu Mazen’s re-organized PA rules over 5/8 of these Arabs. Gaza has no more Jewish population, while Judea and Samaria may have 190,000 Jewish residents in Jewish cities, towns and settlements.

Political analysts are not sure that Abu Mazen will be able to hold on to power in the West Bank, and are concerned that a radicalized Palestinian street may lead to an Islamist Hamas-controlled leadership also in that area. As far as the Israeli military is concerned, terror attempts are a daily occurrence from both Hamas-led and Abu Mazen-led forces.

It is helpful to remember what the leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashal, ‘prophesied’ on November 25 2006. He said that unless a Palestinian Islamist state is established with in six months, his forces will initiate another Middle East war.  ”We give the international community six months for real political horizons … If our demands are not met, the Palestinian people will close all political files and launch a third intifada.  The conflict will be open and the victory in this conflict will be ours.”

In a recent Jerusalem Post article, AMAN (Israeli Military Intelligence) assessed that Israel is headed toward at least two major military conflicts in 2007 – one against Hamas in Gaza, and the other against Hezbollah in Lebanon (“Weatherman 2007: strong winds of war,” Yaakov Katz, JP, Friday Dec 8 2006)

Years ago Adolf Hitler explained:  “A clever conqueror, will always … impose his demands on the conquered by installments.  A people that makes a voluntary surrender saps its own character and…you can calculate that none of these oppressions …will supply (the conquered) quite enough reason…to resort once more to arms.”

Last year our prophetic brother Bob Jones said that both Israel and the body of Messiah would have a short time of peace until June 2007. At that point, he said, the Lord will start making decisions for Israel. We have reached that point and history is beginning to speed up once again.

Déjà vu all over again

Israelis feel that history is repeating itself with a vengeance. The main architect of the failed Oslo Accords (1993) was Shimon Peres, who signed that agreement on the White House Lawn with Mahmoud al-Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen). Today Abu Mazen is the leader of the PA and Shimon Peres has just been appointed the 9th President of the State of Israel. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak who oversaw Israel’s sudden retreat from Lebanon (which prepared the way for last summer’s Hezbollah war with Israel) has just been appointed Israeli Minister of Defense. Ariel Sharon, who ordered the retreat and uprooting of all Jews from Gaza, lies comatose in a hospital ward as his enemy Hamas slaughters PLO gunmen and rains Qassam rockets on Israeli farms and cities.

The retreat from Lebanon led to Islamist attacks on the entire north of Israel. The retreat from Gaza has led to a Hamas state on Israel’s borders, as well as rocket attacks on Israel itself. Both of these events occurred during the watch of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. PM Olmert is on his way to Washington this week to discuss with President Bush (among other matters) further withdrawals from Judea and Samaria. The land of Israel is being parceled up in front of our eyes, very similar to the visions of the prophets Zechariah (14:1-2) and Joel (3:1-2) as they described what would happen at the end of days.

Watch your calendar!

I would like to draw your attention to two important dates concerning Israel, the United States and attempts to divide the land of Israel. As documented by William Koenig in his thought-provoking book “Eye To Eye: Facing The Consequences of Dividing Israel” (www.21stcenturypress.com) President George Bush was set to announce a sea-change in U.S. policy on September 24 2001. According to the Washington Post, he had decided to recognize a Palestinian state and push for a partition of the biblical land of Israel, with his top officials completing most of the details to the satisfaction of Saudi Price Bandar bin Sultan on September 10 2001! The terror attack one day later which destroyed the Twin Towers forced a rescheduling of that event, which was postponed until Bush’s Rose Garden speech of June 24 2002 and then further established with the international “Quartet” on April 30 2003 (the “Road Map”).

Five years ago on June 24 2002 President George declared that “the United States of America will support the creation of a Palestinian state whose borders and certain aspects of its sovereignty will be provisional until resolved as part of a final settlement in the Middle East”  (https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020624-3.html). He also said, “I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror.”

As of June 2007 we have reached five full years since that declaration. Hamas, an Islamist jihadi terror group, was elected in a democratic election held in Gaza. Gaza’s Palestinians rejected a corrupt PLO and embraced a jihadi Hamas terror state.  In Caroline Glick’s recent article she notes that President Bush believes that his upcoming meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert will be a good time to give an updated assessment of the situation and to push for a Palestinian state. It seems timely and not coincidental that Hamas has chosen the week preceding this meeting to once again reveal the murderous intentions of the Islamist Palestinian leadership, in accordance with the “prophecy” of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal six months ago.

Indeed we live in days of destiny!

From Samson to Samuel – A Call to a Generation!

A great Christian writer John Milton authored a small work in 1671 called Samson Agonistes (‘Samson in Agony’). He dramatized the biblical account in Judges 16, describing Samson’s agony of being “eyeless in Gaza.” Aldous Huxley borrowed the phrase in 1936, as has a modern Punk Rock band. But the phrase aptly describes some aspects of what Israel is going through in relation to her Islamist enemies in Gaza and the surrounding regions.

Samson suffered blindness as a result of his foolish risk-taking with unfriendly neighbors. He found himself “blind among enemies, O worse than chains.”  He realized that his condition was a direct result of his broken vow to God, as well as his having been betrayed by the person he loved (in this case, Delilah).

In a similar way, successive Israeli governments have taken foolish risks with their country’s security, first in agreeing to a general retreat (Peres and Rabin at Oslo), then in abandoning southern Lebanon to Hezbollah (Barak), and lately in uprooting and disengaging from the Gaza Strip (Sharon and Olmert), abandoning the Strip to Hamas. Our unfriendly neighbors are now causing us great agony of soul and body, and we are confused and uncertain – fogged and blinded as to what we must do.

As a nation we have turned away unthankfully from the gift that the God of Israel handed us 40 years ago in June 1967, when He restored to the Jewish people much of the tribal inheritances of Judah, Ephraim, Manasseh, Gad and Benjamin. We have been all too willing to consider handing these areas over to our sworn enemies, and have even discussed participating in the division of Jerusalem. Our closest allies have nudged and pressured us to stop living and building in these regained lands, and to arm and equip terror forces in the name of a false peace.

Pray with us that Israel (a modern-day Samson) will wake up from his midday stupor and regain his precious eyesight! Pray that the God of Israel will transform His people from Samsons to Samuels, able to speak the word of God prophetically and to move in power in both word and deed (1 Sam. 3:19; 15; Hos.6:5; Ezek.37:9-11).

Pray for President Bush and for Prime Minister Olmert, that God will give them His opinions and heart by revelation, and that He would turn their hearts to do His perfect will (Prov.21:1).

Pray for the Arab believers in Yeshua who live in Gaza – for their safety, provision, courage, discernment and boldness (Eph.6:19-20; Rom.8:35).

In Messiah Yeshua’s love,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES  

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

The “dogs of war” prophetic vision

The gospel is a revolutionary message.  Yeshua the Messiah of Israel was branded seditious by the religious and political authorities of His day (John 12:19; also chapters 18-19). His followers were labeled as notorious international troublemakers and instigators of riots (Acts 17:6; 24:5).  Crucifixion, stoning, torture, imprisonment, beheading – these were the ways that the Messiah and His first followers ended their lives. The yoke-shattering power of signs and wonders came in the context of the power of Yeshua’s cross and in the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings (Phil. 3:10).

Today to a large extent the revolutionary message of the cross has been watered down and sapped of its power.  The gospel is equated with social status, with middle class values, with unquestioning obedience to governments. The world has concluded that many believers and fellowships are boring, irrelevant, and unreal. For them the gospel doesn’t present any real spiritual challenge, offer real passion or pose a revolutionary threat.

Someone once said that God is about to change the understanding and expression of the Messianic faith (he would use the term ‘Christianity’) in the whole earth in one generation. He is speaking of the radical reality and life of the risen King of Israel reverberating in the lives and prayers of His revolutionary followers.  This type of demonstrated faith is evidence that demands a verdict. This is the gospel of passion which the apostles offered to the ancient world. It is the incarnated challenge of Yeshua’s message.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man's enemies will be the members of his own household’” (Matt. 10:34-36 quoting Micah 7:5-6).

As the world nudges ever closer to the return of the Lion of Bethlehem, we know (because the Scriptures tell us) that ‘business as usual’ will become less and less usual.  We know that there will be wars and rumors of war, earthquakes in diverse places, and nations in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea (Luke 21:25). We know that Israel will be gathered back to her own promised land, and that many nations will attempt to shrink her borders and annihilate her (Zech.13:8-14:2; Joel 3:1-2; Ezek. 38:10-12; Psalm 83).  We know that worldwide persecution will break out against the Jewish people (Rev. 12:13; Jer. 16:14-18) and against all who believe in Yeshua (Rev. 6:9-11; 12:17).

Yet some days it seems like such a jump from ‘here’ to ‘there.’  Won’t we be able to read all about these things in the daily papers, or watch Yeshua descend from the skies on CNN or BBC?  Won’t it be like in the movie ‘Megiddo: The Omega Code 2’ where all the world is in the lap of the anti-Messiah except America, Mexico and China?  At what point (to paraphrase Mark Twain) will we frogs come to the conclusion that the pot we are in is actually filled with boiling water? At what point do ‘the last days’ become ‘our present days?’  How should we then live – today, in these last days?

Clash of the Titans

Ever since the rebellion of Satan (Isa. 14:12 ff; Ezek. 28:12ff) spiritual warfare has been a reality in heaven and on earth. The sometimes open, sometimes hidden warfare between YHVH and Heylel Ben-Shachar (Satan’s original name in Hebrew) can be charted from the dawn of history, when the world’s first communities were built.  Satan strategically influenced the lives (and thus the spiritual underpinnings) of the engineers of the original great urban centers.  The foundations of the first city in the Bible were laid by Cain the murderer (Gen. 4:17), while the founder of Babylon, Nineveh, Akkad and Assyria was Nimrod (Gen. 10:8-12) whose Hebrew named means “we will rebel.”

The world’s first civilization grew mighty, but it did not find favor in YHVH’s eyes.  In fact, in the entire world God could only find one man and his family who were pleasing to Him!  God’s report card gave failing grades to the world system, the world leaders and the world structures.  They were full of violence and evil (Gen. 6:5-13).  Satan had thoroughly infected and infested the peoples of the world and their governments.  When YHVH judged the situation to be totally unredeemable, He brought “floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens … and everything on earth perish[ed]” (Gen. 6:17).

Yeshua encourages us to draw parallels between Noah’s day and our day.  He even prophesies that in the last days people will be unprepared and in spiritual blindness – just as in Noah’s day.  “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.  That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:37-39).

United we fall

The planet received a second chance, a brand new start, under Noah.  But what sprouted up was again evil, the Tower of Babel.  This international government-sponsored building project was an organized manifestation of sinful pride, ungodly unity and rebellion.  God’s response was to shatter Man’s unity in a thousand different nations and languages.  Unity (apart from God and in rebellion against Him) led straight to division (God’s hand of judgment).  There was grace in this scattering, as mutual suspicion and international hostilities would make it much harder for men to band together in full rebellion against their Maker.

In every age Satan has attempted to regather men into a rebel unity.  He has expended great effort trying to harness men’s hearts into false worship, sinful pride and evil machinations.  In every age the Holy Spirit continues to block and thwart these demonic preparations with plans of His own.

“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).  “If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? …  But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Luke 11:18, 20).

Spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies

The prophets who wrote the Scriptures occasionally allow us to peer into Heaven’s perspective.  They describe “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” –

spiritual powers (whether angelic or demonic, the passage does not specify) that exercise spiritual authority in heavenly realms.  These spiritual powers gain understanding as they meditate upon what God is doing through the gospel (Eph. 3:11).

We are told that there are spiritual thrones, powers, rulers and authorities which are invisible – invisible, that is, to the naked eye. These spiritual beings were all created by Yeshua who Himself is God (Col. 1:15-17).

Paul adds that all believers are engaged in spiritual warfare, in struggle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:11-12). His words hearken back to the Book of Daniel, where the prophet is told by an powerful angel about evil demonic princes who influence and have spiritual authority over world empires, whether ancient or modern (including Persia and Greece – Dan. 10:13, 20).

One specific demonic spirit, Satan, is called “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Eph. 2:1-2).  His tactics include stirring up rebellion to and hatred of God’s ways, His people and His body.  Paul adds that demons and spiritual powers want to separate believers from the love of God that is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord (Rom. 8:38-39). The good news of the gospel is that these demonic powers can never separate us from God’s love!  Paul adds that Yeshua through His atoning death disarmed powers and authorities, making a public spectacle of them and triumphing over them by the cross (Col. 2:13-15).

So the Bible teaches that there are godly angelic authorities, and there are also ungodly demonic authorities.  The clash between these forces (over the hearts and lives of men and women) is part of the secret war which takes place ‘behind the scenes’ in our lives!  This war also takes place behind the scenes in our governments, in international relations and among world power brokers.

Hostile Takeovers

Godly kings bring stability, security and righteousness to a nation (Prov. 14:34; 25:5; 29:4, 14), for when authority and purity are matched, the result is blessed government.  Yet waiting in the wings the enemy is crouching, desiring to have mastery over the next king’s heart (à la Gen. 4:7) – and so expand the kingdom of darkness.  The history of mankind can be seen as the struggle between righteous government and hostile satanic takeovers.

Believers are called to submit to authority, since God has established governing authorities (Rom. 13:1-5) to oversee our lives, to reward and punish us, and even to collect taxes!  We need to pray for and bless our leaders and authorities (1 Tim. 2:1-4), in order that both we and the gospel might prosper.

When a satanic takeover occurs in a government, believers are still called to respect authority (Exod. 22:28; Acts 23:1-7).  However, when obedience to the state requires disobedience to God, we are to follow Yeshua’s example and render unto Caesar accordingly (Matt. 22:21; Acts 4:19-21).

The Scriptures tell us that God will sometimes raise up evil empires to judge His own people (see Haggai 1).  YHVH has used cruel conquerors to bring Israel back to Himself in repentance.  Yet often these empires go beyond their divine mandate, and give themselves over to be used as satanic instruments.  In due time these world powers are utterly destroyed (Isa. 10:5-20).

Evil human government is eventually brought to an end by God. His word is the last word.  In the Book of Judges YHVH raised up military generals called judges.  Their calling was to destroy Israel’s enemies on the battlefield (Judges 3 etc).  The Feast of Hanukkah commemorates God’s battle-hammer Judah the Maccabee, “who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” (Heb. 11:34).  There is a time for being conquered, and there is a time for victory in battle.  All this comes from YHVH, the God of Israel and the Commander of Israel’s armies (1 Sam. 17:45; Josh. 5:14-6:2).

Toward the end of the age, it is prophesied that an international conspiracy of Gentile nations will come against Israel in a last ditch attempt to divide the land and to destroy the Jewish people.  That rebel confederation will be destroyed by YHVH Himself, when He descends from heaven to destroy these forces and to save His people (see Joel 3:1-2; Zech. 13:8-14:2).

Kosher prophets vs. non-kosher kings

The Hebrew prophets were no strangers to clashing kingdoms.  They took their lives in their hands (1 Kings 20:35-36) when they approached kings and rulers.  Micaiah the prophet publicly called on witnesses and bystanders at court (as he was dragged off to prison) to free him from his chains if his prophecy came to pass (2 Chron. 18:27).  The nameless Judean prophet (1 Kings 13:4) found himself seconds away from death at the hands of the king’s bodyguards – until God stretched forth His hand to do signs and wonders.  Queen Jezebel had hundreds of the prophets put to death because they were challenging Israel to remain faithful to YHVH’s words (1 Kings 18:13; 19:10).

Jewish prophets often challenged governments and kings, and often paid the price for speaking the truth:

“YHVH, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through His messengers again and again, because He had pity on His people and on His dwelling place.  But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of YHVH was aroused against His people and there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:15-16).

“But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they put Your teaching behind their backs.  They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them in order to turn them back to You . . . Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen.  For many years You were patient with them.  By Your Spirit You admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they paid no attention…” (Neh. 9:26, 29, 30).

What was it like to bring a word of rebuke to the king of Israel in that day – to stand in the palace of Samaria or Jerusalem and deliver a message from God’s heart?  How did it feel to challenge the High Priest on his own turf, in the Temple itself?  What must it have been like to bring a word to king and priest gathered at the false altars of Bethel?  The prophetic ministry also involves speaking God’s heart into the lives and hearts of world leaders – with boldness, humility and courage – regardless of the consequences.

Confronting the princes of this world

A prophet delights when his words result in building or planting (Jer. 1:10a; 31:26), in encouragement and edification (Eph. 4:12-16).  But at least as often, due to the sinfulness and hardheartedness of man, the prophetic message involves uprooting, tearing down, destroying and overthrowing (Jer. 1:10b; Hos. 6:5).

The Hebrew prophets and the Jewish apostles all had to confront maverick authorities in their day who had placed themselves in opposition to God’s ways and character (Isa. 1:20; Ezek. 2:8; Zech. 7:12; Acts 3:13-18; 4:8-20).  The bold preaching of God’s heart would lead many prophets to their death.  Their spilled blood would serve as further testimony of their divine message (2 Kings 9:7; Matt. 23:30, 34-37; Rev. 18:20-24).

David, one of the greatest kings who ever lived, paints a last days picture of a rebel confederacy, a counterfeit international “Great Powers” conspiracy opposed to God and to His Son.  In Psalm 2 he describes these leaders as kings, rulers and judges (melachim, roznim and shoftim – vv. 2, 10).  Esteemed world leaders, lawmakers and presidents lead the charge in rebelling against God (v. 2).  They see God’s ways and His word as prison chains and fetters, to be broken off in revolt.  They gather their armies together in military formation (yityatzvu, v.2) and take counsel/strategize (nosdu yachad, v. 2) against YHVH Himself and against His Messiah.

It is important to emphasize that these world leaders leading their revolt against God and His Messiah, are under the influence and control of “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). Their attack against Israel is an attack against the God of Israel (compare Psa. 83:2,3,5 where this parallel is repeatedly stressed).  Truly “anti-Jew is anti-Christ,” and David does not mince words as he places the vast majority of the last days world leaders in the same unsavory basket.

The tale of the dog

Jill Austin (a friend with an accurate prophetic gifting) recently told us about an open vision she had this past summer.  Part of it involved a casino room where world rulers and global players sat around a conference table smoking expensive cigars, drunk on whiskey.  These men’s heads were actually dog’s heads. They wore thick dog collars with heavy spikes and in their hands were puppet strings which went out to the ends of the earth – controlling governments, presidents, world economies etc.  The evil was tremendous, and they were gambling between themselves over the world’s resources.

We believers need to discern the times in which we live (Matt. 16:2-3).  Many world dignitaries seem to be honorable men who care only for the good of the globe.  But some of these men and women are conspiring to establish an ungodly ‘new world order’ akin to rebuilding the Tower of Babel.  They are also attempting to "reduce [Israel’s] size to historical proportions" as Henry Kissinger once promised to Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on December 17 1975 (www.meforum.org/article/1032).

The united efforts of ambitious politicians, pragmatic intelligence directors and greedy oil multinationals are leading the Western world down the path to weaken and ultimately to abandon Israel.  As we pray for these world power brokers, let us ask God to grant them divine revelation about God’s perspectives, and deep repentance.  The stability, security and survival of our countries depend on it.

God’s Secret Weapon – Israel

It looks like this ‘international Gentile conspiracy’ is outgunning and outflanking both Israel and committed believers on every side.  Yet God still has a trick or two up His sleeve.  As the nations gather to sap Israel of her vision, her land and her very existence, the prophetic word reveals that YHVH will suddenly turn the tables, declaring that Israel is the one who will weaken, shatter and subdue the nations at the time of his choosing:

“He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, including the tribe of His inheritance – YHVH Almighty is His name. You are My war club, My weapon for battle – with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms . . . with you I shatter governors and officials.  Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion, declares YHVH”

(Jer. 51:19-24).

The dogs of war

In the Bible dogs are considered unclean, unholy and violent.  They are also symbolic of spiritual uncleanness, theological evil and destructiveness.

“You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs” (Exod. 22:31).

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.  If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces” (Matt. 7:6).

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.  Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.  Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22:13-15).

“Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh” (Phil. 3:2).

“I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares YHVH, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy” (Jer. 15:3).

Dogs are also symbolic of evil and bloodthirsty leaders of nations – fierce enemies of the Jewish people, who conspire against them, snarling and prowling

“Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet . . . Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs” (Ps. 22:16, 20).

“Deliver me from my enemies, O God; protect me from those who rise up against me.  Deliver me from evildoers and save me from bloodthirsty men.  See how they lie in wait for me!  Fierce men conspire against me . . . they are ready to attack me.  Arise to help me; look on my plight!  YHVH God Almighty, the God of Israel, rouse Yourself to punish all the nations; show no mercy to wicked traitors. Selah.  They return at evening, snarling like dogs, and prowl about the city” (Ps. 59:1-6).

The destruction of the dogs of war

YHVH promises to destroy the dog-like world leaders who would create a false Babel-like unity, who would crush Israel and obliterate the prophetic, who would destroy the body of believers and hand over the keys of earth to the anti-Messiah himself.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign for ever and ever.”  And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.  The nations were angry; and Your wrath has come.  The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding Your servants the prophets and Your saints and those who reverence Your name, both small and great – and for destroying those who destroy the earth” (Rev. 11:15-18).

At this season, let us pray for God’s light to come especially to Israel’s rulers and to world leaders; for His prophetic word to break and shatter hard and proud hearts; for His angels to block and thwart the strategies of the evil one; and for a deep revelation of Yeshua to come with priority to Israel, and also to all the nations of the earth.

Blessings to you in Yeshua, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of God’s people Israel (Luke 2:32)!

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES  

BOX 121971  NASHVILLE TN  37212-1971 USA

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

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