When the concealed is revealed

Many years ago, on Galilean hills, Messiah Yeshua summoned His twelve disciples/apostles (see Matthew 10:1-2) and gave them some detailed instructions for their first solo ministry trip. One of His words of encouragement involved a helpful reminder. Here are two quotes, one from the Good News according to Matthew, and one from the Gospel according to Mark:

“So do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known” (Matthew 10:26)

“For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light” (Mark 4:22)

Early in the mornin’ I’m a givin’ you my warning

Chuck Berry’s 1956 hit ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ has a famous line – “Early in the mornin’ I’m a givin’ you my warning.’ This line has special relevance today in Israel.

At approximately 07:50 am on Monday, September 23, 2024, IDF Spokesman Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari (former Commander of Shayetet 13, Israel’s Navy Seals equivalent) gave an Operational Update on Lebanon to world media. Here are a few selected quotes from that Update:

About an hour ago, following indications that Hezbollah was preparing to fire towards Israeli territory, we began striking terrorist targets throughout Lebanon. The Hezbollah terrorist organization has been continuously launching attacks on Israeli civilians and has no plans to stop this. In southern Lebanon, there are dozens of Lebanese villages situated along approximately 80 kilometers of the border with Israel. For over 20 years, Hezbollah has deployed its arms inside homes and militarized civilian infrastructures. As a result, the Hezbollah terrorist organization has turned southern Lebanon into a battlefield.

This
is a village in southern Lebanon Hezbollah which stores cruise missiles, rockets launchers and UAVs inside civilian homes, hidden behind the Lebanese population living in the village. We are monitoring these activities, locating the weapons and destroying them with precise intelligence-based strikes.

I want to show you an example of a strike carried out a few weeks ago. Here we are exposing Hezbollah’s method of hiding a cruise missile inside a home. The terrorists create a designated opening for the missile launch. Here you can see how we identified the terrorist making an opening in the building that exposed the missile. In a precise strike, the IDF eliminated the terrorist and this missile launching infrastructure shortly before the launch.

Shortly, the IDF will engage in extensive precise strikes against terror targets which have been embedded widely throughout Lebanon. We ask residents of Lebanese villages to pay attention to the message and warning published by the IDF and heed them. This is an advance warning for your own safety and the safety of your family (emphasis)

We advise civilians from Lebanese villages located in and next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purpose such as those used to store weapons – to immediately move out of harm's way for their own safety. I want to repeat move out of harm's way immediately! (emphasis) Hezbollah is endangering you and your families. On October 8^th, the Hezbollah terrorist organization decided to to join Hamas’ war against Israel. Hezbollah’s activities are dragging Lebanon and the entire region into a wider escalation and Hezbollah is responsible for this.

Lebanese residents report receiving text messages on their cell phones this morning: “If you are in a building where there is Hezbollah weaponry, stay away from the village until further notice.”

Due diligence

It is not military wisdom to notify the enemy about one’s own surprise attacks. The reason that the IDF is doing this is in order to show the world that it is doing ‘due diligence.’ Israel is giving advance warning to Lebanese citizens who are collaborating with Hezbollah by allowing the jihadi terror group to position and store cruise missiles and rockets in their garages and living rooms: Immediately flee your homes or be destroyed in the nearly immediate IAF (Israel Air Force) bombing runs about to happen.

There is a parallel here to the angelic warning that Lot was given in Sodom nearly 4,000 years ago:

When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city!” But he hesitated. So the men grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, because the compassion of YHVH was upon him. And they brought him out and put him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the surrounding area. Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” (Genesis 19:15-17)

“Don’t you step on my blue suede shoes!” (Chuck Berry)

It seems that Israel has had enough of Iran-backed Hezbollah attacking Israeli civilians. Over 80,000 Israeli civilians have been refugees in their own country for the past 11 months, as jihadi rockets, drones and anti-tank missiles have rained down on their homes and cars.

Based on the IDF announcement of a few hours ago, it looks like the IAF will shortly engage in a massive bombing of Lebanese sites where Iranian-financed and supplied cruise missiles, GPS-directed rockets, and long-range 200+ kilo rockets are concealed – in garages, basements, living rooms and covered balconies of residential homes across Southern Lebanon. It is highly likely that such a massive precision attack will catalyze a kamikaze response on Hezbollah’s part – firing its 120,000 plus rocket/missile arsenal (or what’s left of it at that point) against Israel’s civilian population, national infrastructure, government and military command centers, etc.

In order to lessen IDF tank and infantry casualties – Hezbollah is well-equipped with KORNET and ALMAS state-of-the-art anti-tank missiles, which could cause significant casualties to the IDF Merkava IV battletanks) – the IAF would have to quickly size up Hezbollah’s rolling response, and take pre-emptive action against Lebanese national infrastructures – water pumping stations, electricity stations, sewage grids, bridges and highways, etc. For a more detailed description of what might then happen, read: https://davidstent.org/open-your-doors-o-lebanon-that-fire-may-destroy-your-cedars-zechariah-111-part-three/ .

Now is a very good time to pray!

How should we then pray?

Pray for the God of Jacob to grant revelatory war strategies to Israel’s leadership, as did Elisha in his day (2 Kings 6:8-13)

Pray for the blocking and frustration of Hezbollah and Iranian jihad plans against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8)

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

For whom the bell tolls

When I was a child, my father used to sing me a Spanish song, ‘Viva La Quince Brigada’ about a war that he had fought in a long time before.’ My father left New York in 1937 and travelled through Mexico to Spain, there to fight against Franco’s fascist armies (allies of Hitler). He joined a division of the Spanish Republican Army called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (known in Spanish as ‘Brigada Abraham Lincoln’), a pro-Soviet mixed brigade of English-speaking volunteers, whose leader was Robert Hale Merriman, a former student at UC Berkeley. Merriman was killed on April 2, 1938, in a clash with fascist forces outside of Gandesa. His personal example and zeal strongly influenced a young Chicago-born journalist reporting on the war. That newspaperman’s name was Ernest Hemingway, and his celebrated novel about that time is ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls,’

Hemingway borrowed his book’s title from a devotional book written in 1624 during England’s Jacobean Era, by poet John Donne. The name of the book is ‘Devotions upon Emergent Occasions’ and is found in Meditation XVII of that work. Simon and Garfunkel turned Donne’s words backward in their classic hit ‘I am a Rock.’

Original words: “No man is an Island, intire of it selfe . . . any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”

Modern words: “No man is an island, entire of itself . . . Each man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls – It tolls for thee.”

For whom the beeper tolls

On Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at 3:30 pm, over 4,000 Motorola beepers (Gold Apollo Rugged Pagers – model AR924) simultaneously exploded across Lebanon in the hands and pant pockets of Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps terrorists. According to a security source in Lebanon, the pagers were carried only by members of Hezbollah. Up to 4,000 Hezbollah operatives were wounded by these explosions, including 18 high-ranking commanders; over 500 were blinded; approximately 400 are in critical condition, and at least 11 terrorists were killed. The explosions were primarily focused around Hezbollah’s center of operations and planning in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh, in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon (a terrorist Mecca), and inside a Hezbollah vehicle in Damascus, on the road between Kafr Sousa and the Mouwasat Tunnel, as well as in the Sayyida Zaynab neighborhood, where there were at least 19 Iranian casualties and over 150 injuries. The Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani, lost one eye and was severely damaged in the other, when his beeper exploded. He was flown back to Tehran for surgery.

Both Motorola and their licensee Gold Apollo (a Taiwanese company) are pointing the finger in the direction of a Hungarian sub-licensee BAC Consulting KFT, as the company which last handled the pagers before they were sent to their Hezbollah clients in Lebanon in April 2024. It seems that very small amounts (approximately 20 grams) of the powerful explosive PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate) were inserted into the pagers’ batteries, for remote detonation via a call or page from afar. Sky News Arabia quoted unnamed Lebanese security sources who said that the Israeli spy agency “Mossad managed to intercept Hezbollah’s communication devices before they were delivered to the [Hezbollah terror] group.” Israel has not taken credit for this operation to date, though of course Israel traditionally does not comment on security operations outside the country. As former CIA analyst Mike Di Mino of the US-based Defense Priorities think tank comments: “Given that this was a clandestine operation, don’t expect to see Israel claim responsibility for this in the press or in any government statements. That’s sort of the whole point . . . This was a classic sabotage operation.” He added that such an operation takes “months if not years” to orchestrate.

The explosions came only a few hours after Israel’s SHABAK (General Security Service) announced it had foiled an attempt by Hezbollah to kill a former senior Israeli security official – former Chief of Staff and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon – using a planted explosive device that could be remotely detonated.

Ducking the inevitable

Hezbollah’s recent move away from trackable cellphones to Motorola beepers was based on a decision to avoid encroaching Israeli intelligence surveillance. AP News says: “The pagers that exploded had been newly acquired by Hezbollah after the group’s leader ordered members to stop using cellphones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the pagers were a new brand the group had not used before.”

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, had declared in February 2024: “Shut it off, bury it, put it in an iron chest and lock it up. The collaborator [with the Israelis] is the cell phone in your hands, and those of your wife and your children. This cell phone is the collaborator and the killer.” Hezbollah moved to a low-tech solution, turning to pagers, according to Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and Middle East analyst: “Hezbollah regressed back to these devices thinking [they] would be safer for its combatants to use instead of phones which could be GPS targeted. These very low-tech devices were used against them and very possibly deepening the stress and embarrassment on its leaders.”

Dubai-based security and military analyst Riad Kahwaji said that Israel had taken advantage of Hezbollah’s move away from smartphones to pagers. Israel intelligence had conducted a “most professional operation,” he said.

I’ve gotta get a message to you

Nations talk to each other not only through diplomats at the United Nations. Right now, Israel has been having a bracing chat with both Lebanese Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards of Iran.

The Jewish state’s message is multi-pronged:

Israel has sowed chaos within Hezbollah, neutralizing thousands of their fighters, creating deep disarray in their communications networks. Each Hezbollah operative can now envision that Israeli intelligence knows his exact whereabouts, and needs to fear a science-fiction-like attack on his own life. This is a classic psyop, weakening confidence in the organization’s leadership and competence

Israel has demonstrated fearsome capabilities, requiring high-quality intelligence, deep penetration, mastery of advanced communications systems (the synchronized and timed detonation of thousands of pagers), the targeting of high-ranking individuals in Hezbollah and Iranian command structures. This was obviously not an operation thrown together at the last moment

The injury of Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon shows deep complicity, for the Ambassador would not have been injured had he not been carrying a Hezbollah pager

Israel is telling its enemies that they can run but they cannot hide. No enemy of Israel is immune here – not even Iran’s equipment and networks: As CNN puts it: “We can reach you anywhere, anytime, at the day and moment of our choosing and we can do it at the press of a button.” As Stephen Stills once remarked, “Paranoia strikes deep – into your heart it will creep!”

The famous Syrian Druze journalist, Fitzal al Kasim (who MC’s a show on al Jazeera), comments on this recent Beirut ‘Beeper Attack”:

“What happened today to Hezbollah can be classified as the biggest pre-emptive strike in modern history. It can be compared to Israel’s pre-emptive strike on the Egyptian Air Force before the Six Day War. Today, Hezbollah has thousands of paraplegics from among the elite and active. If Hezbollah enters the war now, its wounded will not find even one free bed in the hospitals in Lebanon because the hospitals are now bursting with wounded. Even worse – Hezbollah lost the most important security and military means of communication. Checkmate.”

Everybody look what’s going down

This latest ‘Operation Beeper’ is one more straw in an explosive volcano of events transpiring over the past two months. There have been major security blows landing on the heads of both Hezbollah and Hamas.

On July 30, 2024, senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was taken out be an Israeli airstrike, demonstrating that the IAF had precise information about his whereabouts. On July 31, the politburo leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, met his end in a high-security Tehran residence. Israel has not confirmed any involvement there.

This last pager-bombing might signal an opportune time to weaken and expel Hezbollah from its talon-like grip on southern Lebanon.

French defense expert Pierre Servent opines that Israel’s latest action against Hezbollah (though not acknowledged) would restore the flagging reputation of Israel’s intelligence services, which were badly weakened by Hamas’ October 7, 2024: “The series of operations conducted over the past few months marks their big comeback, with a desire for deterrence and a message: ‘We messed up but we’re not dead.'”

How should we then pray?

Pray for the God of Jacob to grant revelatory strategies to Israel’s leadership, as did Elisha in his day (2 Kings 6:8-13)

Pray for the blocking and frustration of Hezbollah and Iranian jihad plans against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8)

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Egypt’s prophetic future

The world has witnessed the signing of various agreements between Israel and her enemies over the past 45 years:

The Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt (September 1978 signed; March 1979 concluded)

The Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO (September 13, 1993)

The Wadi Araba Treaty between Israel and Jordan (October 26, 1994)

The Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates/Bahrain/Sudan/Morocco (September 15, 2020)

None of these treaties has resulted in a ‘warm peace’ within the hearts of Islamic nations toward Israel. Jihadi terrorism continues to rear its ugly head, with regular attacks coming from PLO-affiliated groups in the West Bank, and from jihadi groups crossing into Israel from Egypt and Gaza. Opinion polls from Egypt, Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan show an increase of murderous hatred toward the Jewish people and the Jewish state. These realities may be unappetizing, but they reflect the facts on the ground.

This newsletter focuses on present realities and the prophetic future of Egypt, the largest Arab country in the Middle East and a central player in this part of the world. What is happening in Egypt right now?

The deeply rooted nature of anti-Israel hatred in Egypt

Investigative journalist Ksenia Svetlova commented in October, 2021: “Anti-Israel sentiment remains a powerful force in Egypt, with many among its elites – writers, poets, journalists as well as civil society activists holding pro-Nasserite views and rejecting recognition of Israel and cooperation with it. This also hampers development of civilian ties with that state.”

Two political analysts note: With “the signing of a peace treaty [the Camp David Accords] on March 26, 1979, the hope, particularly in Israel, was that the agreement would lead to warm, neighborly relations between Egyptians and Israelis based on coexistence, an acceptance of the other, and mutual cooperative endeavors. In practice, however, the peace between Egypt and Israel has remained ‘cold,’ providing the two countries with more than the ‘negative peace’ of an armistice but less than a ‘positive peace,’ which in its broad sense includes reconciliation, mutual acceptance, and cooperative endeavors between the states and their peoples . . . The term ‘cold peace’ still characterizes Israeli-Egyptian relations accurately in the current period” (‘Egypt and Israel: Forty Years in the Desert of Cold Peace’; Moomen Sallam and Dr Ofir Winter; October 2017).

Here are some examples of this virulent Egyptian hatred of the Jewish people and their state:

The former President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser who led his armies against Israel in June 1967 was gripped by the latent anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism that was prevalent in the Arab world, expressing these perspectives openly and repeatedly.

Pervasive anti-Israel and anti-Jewish teachings are part of normal curricula in Egyptian public schools.

In the Jerusalem Post, August 5, 1977, p. 5: “Major-General George Keegan, former head of the U.S. Air Force Intelligence, has said that a ‘profound change in Arab strategy is now underway . . . It is not understood in the U.S. I have seen intelligence which very few Americans have access to, that persuades me that the first element of that strategy is that the feudal leadership in the Arab world strikingly remain committed, Messianically, to the extermination of Israel as a nation and as a people. What has changed about that Messianic determination . . . is the apparent Arab realization that after four futile wars, the direct [i.e., military] approach now appears to be one of such high risk that they are beginning to use the strategy of the indirect approach [that is, diplomatic duplicity]”

A May, 2001 article describes Egyptian pop singer Shaaban Abdel Rehim’s hit song, ‘I Hate Israel.’ as a pretty accurate barometer of the public mood. “The song has swept the charts in recent months . . . Critics have decried the song as vulgar and divisive, but it has touched a deep, emotional chord . . . Despite the official peace between the two nations, the Egyptian public has never warmed to Israel, and anti-Israel sentiments are a common staple of movies and populist newspapers. But the current situation has ‘never been worse,’ said Abdel Monem Said, director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.”

A Ynetnews article from January 11, 2006, appraises popular Egyptian sentiment about Israel: “It's been 27 years since the Camp David accords were signed, but the vast majority of Egyptians still see Israel as an enemy state. A poll conducted by an Egyptian state institute determined that Israel and Denmark were not only the least popular foreign countries among the Egyptian public, but that they were also considered enemy nations. The poll, made public on Wednesday, showed that 92 percent of respondents see Israel as an enemy – despite the lasting peace agreement between the two countries. Only two percent believe that Israel is a friend to Egypt.”

An Associated Press article from September 14, 2006, declares: “Egypt's best-known democracy movement has switched causes and is now focused on demanding an end to the country's peace treaty with Israel. ‘One of the costs of pressing for democracy in the Middle East is the fact that most democratically based Arab parties ... will be hostile to Israel,’ said Edward S. Walker, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Israel, now with the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank. The ‘Kifaya’ movement has launched a campaign to collect 1 million signatures on a petition calling for the annulment of Egypt's U.S.-sponsored 1979 peace treaty with Israel. The move is mainly symbolic, but it highlights the extent of resentment felt by Egyptians toward Israel – and by association, the United States, its main backer.”

Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes notes: “The Egyptian government has permitted large quantities of weapons to be smuggled into Gaza to use against Israeli border towns. Yuval Steinitz, an Israeli legislator specializing in Egypt-Israel relations, estimates that fully 90% of PLO and Hamas explosives come from Egypt.”

In 2011, Egyptian mobs attacked and broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. They were prevented from murdering the Ambassador and his staff at the last moment, through Egyptian Special Forces intervention.

Former President Sadat’s perspectives on Israel

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, co-signer of the Camp David Accords with Israel, originally had a rather speckled history regarding his attitudes to the Jewish people and to their state. During WWII, Sadat openly expressed pro-Nazi sympathies and was jailed by the British for operating as a Nazi spy. In 1955, in a speech celebrating the birthday of Mohammed, Sadat declared, with reference to the Jews: “The most splendid thing the Prophet Mohammed did was to drive them out of the whole Arabian peninsula . . . They are a nation of liars and traitors, contrivers of plots, a people born for the deeds of treachery . . . I promise you, we shall send them back to their former status, as the Koran said of them ‘condemned to humiliation and misery’” (edited by D.F. Green, ‘Arab Theologians on Jews and Israel’; Geneva: Academy of Islamic Research, 1976; pp. 90 -91).

In an interview with the Egyptian magazine ‘October’ on January 14, 1978 (quoted in Shmuel Katz, ‘The Hollow Peace,’ Jerusalem: Dvir, 1981, pp. 231-232) Sadat said: “Fear is the second layer of skin of every Israeli or Jew.”

In an interview with President Sadat in the Egyptian newspaper ‘al-Anwar’ on June 22, 1975 (cited in Steve Posner’s book ‘Inside Israel’) Sadat stated his perspectives on peace with Israel. He affirmed that his short-term goal was to get back the Sinai Peninsula for Egypt, as part of an effort to push Israel back to its pre-June 1967 borders. But he ominously added a longer-term perspective: that the Egyptian generation coming after his, would have the responsibility to reconquer the West Bank and East Jerusalem: “The Zionist conquest to which we are being subjected will not be terminated by the return of the occupied territories . . . The effort of our generation is to return to the 1967 borders. Afterward the next generation will carry the responsibility.” For other helpful comments on this subject, see ‘Assessing the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, Thirty Years Later’ by Daniel Pipes, March 26, 2009.

YHVH’s coming judgments of Egypt because of the violence done by her to the sons of Judah

The Hebrew prophets speak specific words over Egypt, regarding the coming judgment of YHVH on that nation because of their heart attitude toward and treatment of Israel:

“Egypt will become a wasteland, and Edom will become a desolate wilderness, because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, in whose land they have shed innocent blood” (Joel 3:19)

“The land of Judah will become a cause of shame to Egypt. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in great fear because of the plan of YHVH of armies which He is making against them. On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to YHVH of armies; one will be called ‘the City of Destruction’” (Isaiah 19:17-18)

“Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty. Therefore, I have called her ‘Rahab who has been exterminated’” (Isaiah 30:7)

“Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, YHVH of armies, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, YHVH of armies, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which YHVH strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths” (Zechariah 14:16-19)

The fragile imbalance in Egypt regarding another Muslim Brotherhood takeover

The country of Egypt has been a significant breeding ground – a hothouse – for the birth of modern jihadi terrorist movements.

The Muslim Brotherhood, or ‘Society of Muslim Brothers’ (Jama’at al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin), was founded in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna, a school teacher. From his perspective, most Arab and Islamic states are evil and need to be overthrown. Only strict Islamist rule and the re-establishment of the Muslim Caliphate or ‘khilafah’ is ultimately acceptable. From that point on in modern Egyptian history, the rulers of Egypt have had to struggle with Muslim Brotherhood attempts to overthrow the regime, and with assassination attempts – some of which were successful.

Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian political theorist and revolutionary, and a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He is considered the ‘father of Salafi jihadism,’ the philosophy that underpins al-Qaeda and ISIS. Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud el-Nokrashy Pasha outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood in November 1948, and then was assassinated by a Brotherhood agent on December 28, 1948. Sayyid Qutb was hanged by Egyptian authorities in response.

Muhammad Faraj was an Egyptian Islamist and jihadi theorist who led the Islamist group al-Jihad (also known as Tanzim al-Jihad). He was executed in 1982 for his role in coordinating the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat .

Ayman al-Zawahiri was an Egyptian Islamist terrorist and surgeon who served as the second general leader (emir) of al-Qaeda from 2011 until 2022. He was one of the main orchestrators of the 9/11 attacks. He was imprisoned from 1981 to 1984 for his role in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. He was wanted by the United States and the United Nations, respectively, for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and in the 2002 Bali bombings. He merged the Egyptian Islamic Jihad with al-Qaeda in 2001, becoming bin Laden's deputy in 2004. On July 31, 2022, al-Zawahiri was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan.

Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, commonly known as ‘The Blind Sheikh,’ was a blind Egyptian Islamist convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1995 in connection with the original 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was the leader of al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya (‘The Islamic Group’), a terrorist group responsible for the November 1997 Luxor Massacre in which 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians were killed.

Mohamed Morsi was an Egyptian Islamist engineer and professor affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood organization, who became the fifth president of Egypt, from 2012 to 2013. Anti-Israel in approach, he was removed from office by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisiin a coup d'état.

Barely twenty years ago, in January-February 2011 the Arab world’s largest country was suddenly transformed from being a pro-Western regional power, turning into a pro-jihadi Muslim Brotherhood stronghold. President Morsi’s Egypt was now identifying with the same group which had assassinated Egypt’s former President Sadat. Egypt had turned from being an opponent of Hamas to becoming its avid sponsor. But within two years, by July 2013, Egypt did an about-face, turning away from Muslim Brotherhood leadership and coming back to its previous pro-American orientation. Today Egypt is considered a strong bulwark against jihadi Islam. But behind the scenes, the truth is that Egypt is tottering on the brink of being once again swallowed up by jihadi forces. Were this to occur, it would be a catastrophic situation for Western geopolitics, as well as a potential disaster for Israel. Prayer here is very much needed.

The significance of the 100+ Hamas smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt

The IDF has uncovered thousands of Hamas terror tunnels throughout Gaza, from which jihadi attacks have been launched and rockets have been fired against Israeli civilians. Israel’s recent conquest of the Rafah sector (bordering Egypt) has also uncovered over one hundred tunnels used for smuggling weapons into Gaza from Egypt. These could also be used for smuggling Israeli hostages out from Hamas captivity and into Egypt, where they could then be transferred to Iran.

Such tunnels could not be operated without Egypt’s awareness. Hamas pays the el-Sisi family hefty kickbacks for Egypt to turn a blind eye here. Hamas’ oxygen life-line flows through these tunnels – weapons, foreign currency, food, etc. – and Egyptian fingerprints are all over them. Egypt is enabling and empowering Hamas in its war against Israel, while pretending to honor its ‘peace treaty’ with Israel.

In the Sinai peninsula, both Hamas and ISIS have terror armies and weaponry waiting to be smuggled back into Gaza – as soon as the IDF can be forced to retreat from the Philadelphia Corridor (which would then open the gates for a joint Hamas-ISIS operation). US and European pressure to catalyze such an Israeli retreat flies in the face of Western protestations of peace and friendship with the Jewish state. Israel’s arm is being twisted on this matter. Egypt insists that Israel must retreat from the Philadelphia Corridor and must return it to Hamas; this is not how allies treat each other. The Camp David Accords have turned out not only to be toothless as far as Israel’s defense is concerned; these treaties have legally established a belt of enmity on Israel’s southern border.

Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel for years, and on October 7, 2023 it sent up to 7,000 terrorists to rape, murder, torture and kidnap Israeli families, youths and pensioners. These activities have been enabled by Egypt which turns a blind eye to Hamas’ jihadi activities, and winks broadly as cash changes hands. Egypt thus carries a huge responsibility for the pogroms of October 7. And Egypt’s destructive rôle vis-à-vis Israel continues to this very day.

Turkey, Egypt and Hamas – birds of a feather

Egypt and Turkey have just kick-started political and economic connections after a twelve-year hiatus. The huge irony in this ‘quasi-reconciliation’ is that Turkey is actually one of the main supporters of Hamas (along with Qatar). At the same time, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Hamas is still Egypt’s arch-enemy, and was involved in the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubaraq and the crowning of President Morsi in 2011. Yet, in the roomful of mirrors which is the Middle East, backstabbers can turn into temporary allies (‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’). Egypt and pro-Hamas Turkey are willing to stand together against Israel in the Jewish state’s attempts to weaken and crush Hamas’ jihadi dictatorship and savage rule in Gaza. These ‘contradictions in terms’ are part of standard Middle East realpolitik. The meeting of these two Middle Eastern powers Egypt and Turkey points to dark forces at work, and it is a worthy focus for intercession.

Ultimate Abrahamic blessing to Egypt through Israel

Isaiah 19:16-24 describes great blessing coming to Egypt after a very rocky immediate future. Severe military defeat for Egypt at the hands of Israel will be followed by a total heart-change for the people of the Nile – both toward YHVH the God of Jacob, and toward the Jewish people as well. At last there will be a warm peace and a full embracing of Israel, of her destiny and calling, and of her God. The ancient enmity between the Land of Ham (see Psalm 105:23-28) and the Land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will melt away, never to return. From Cairo in Egypt to Irbid in northern Iraq, Israel will be honored and recognized as YHVH’s chosen people. The blessings of Genesis 12:1-3 will freely flow across the entire Middle East.

How to pray for Egypt in light of reality?

Today Egypt is no friend of the Jewish state. The Bible speaks of Last Days dangers yet to arise from that country against Israel. The military context of a future clash between Egypt and Israel (see Isaiah 19:16-18) should cause our radar to kick in: we need to be on guard regarding fast-developing Egyptian threats – in practical ways as well as in intercession.

How should we then pray?

Pray for YHVH’s visitation to come to Egypt’s leaders and populace – to clearly receive revelation of YHVH’s heart for Israel and His strategies regarding the nation of Egypt

Pray for believers worldwide to clearly receive revelation of YHVH’s heart for Israel and specific intercessory strategies regarding the nations of Egypt and Israel

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Egypt – a broken reed in the middle of the highway

In our fast-food generation, it’s commonplace to run into the ‘flavor of the month’ – a new taste, a new style, a new definition of ‘cool.’ Such trends come and go with great regularity. But these ‘with it’ dynamics don’t only apply to food and fashion – they also apply to some folks’ shifting spiritual focuses. One such ephemeral theology momentarily appearing on our screens is a teaching about ‘the Isaiah 19 highway.’ This newsletter will open up Isaiah’s actual message and help to make sense of the shakings now going on in both the Middle East and in Egypt – known in the Hebrew Scriptures as ‘the Land of Ham’ (see Psalm 105:23-28).

Kosher and treif spiritual comfort

Paul encourages us all to “be diligent to present ourselves approved to God as workers who do not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The apostle is showing us that there are two ways of handling the Scriptures – one, with accuracy; and the other, without accuracy. Rightly dividing, properly interpreting, handling the word of truth with precision – all these nuances reflect the Greek word - ὀρθοτομέω (orthotomeó) – cutting it straight. The Scriptures do not mean whatever we want them to mean; they mean what the Author intended them to mean.

In our day, there are those who feel that their exalted spiritual calling and discernment give them the authority to communicate spiritual meanings which simply are not found in the original text. Novel and imbalanced teachings, like trembling mountains, are in such cases suspended by interpretative hairs over chasms of what Zechariah calls ‘deception,’ ‘illusion’ and ‘vain comfort.’ The result is that “the people wander like sheep. They are wretched because there is no shepherd” (Zechariah 10:2).

The existence of the counterfeit however, underscores the fact that the real also exists. Though false teachings and false prophecies abound, we can be greatly encouraged that solid teaching and solid prophetic ministry also exist (see 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22). As Belshazzar’s queen noted regarding the prophet Daniel: “This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of riddles, and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation.” (Daniel 5:12).

Jealousy and the prophetic

Immediately after Joseph’s powerful prophetic dream, the Scriptures tell us that “his brothers were jealous of him” (Genesis 37:11). The Jewish people have gifts and calling which are irrevocable: “But in relation to God’s choice [the Jewish people] are beloved on account of the Patriarchs; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).

Paul writes out of a warm pastoral concern for his Roman brothers and sisters: do they have the adequate resources of spiritual humility to handle the biblical truth concerning Israel’s firstborn calling? Or will the Gentiles of Rome be tempted to reject the Jewish people and their calling, opening themselves up to pride, conceit, and spiritual dullness? “For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery – so that you will not be wise in your own estimation” (Romans 11:25).

Of course, pride and jealousy are sins that are not limited to Gentiles in Rome; they can also color the hearts of Jewish people in Israel – even Yeshua’s own apostles!

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Yeshua with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. And He said to her, “What do you desire?” She said to Him, “Say that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine shall sit, one at Your right, and one at Your left.” But Yeshua replied, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.” He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit at My right and at My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.” And after hearing this, the other ten disciples became indignant with the two brothers (Matthew 20:22-24)

The ten apostles were jealous of the other two. It seems that they were angry that their mothers didn’t get to pop that question first.

I love you just the way you are

In our day, there are some Gentile believers who have not understood how deeply Yeshua has accepted them as Gentiles and how fully He loves them just as they are:

“For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah Yeshua Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:18-22). “The Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Messiah Yeshua through the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6)

Sometimes, Gentiles who do not grasp the amazing grace that they have received, feel the need to grasp for something extra – they want a piece of the firstborn calling which is on the Jewish people. Perhaps that will carve out an identity which will lessen their ‘Gentile-ness’ and make them more Jewish. This phenomenon is occasionally seen in the Messianic movement, where some Gentiles and Jews overcompensate in external ways – by means of rabbinic-style clothing or prayer patterns.

Granting Isaac’s covenant status to Arabs

Some Gentile believers have difficulty knowing how to communicate to Muslims and Arabs the reality of God’s choice of Israel as the firstborn. Aware of such sensitivities, they realize that this point can be a stumbling block for many in the Middle East. One solution, connected with some teachers in the ‘Isaiah 19 Highway’ movement,’ is to declare that Ishmael is actually the firstborn son of Abraham (though this contradicts Genesis 17:18-21, Genesis 18:9-14 and Romans 9:7-14). Not only that – some of these teachers go even further and state that Ishmael is now to be considered the firstborn covenant son of Abraham (which contradicts many other scriptures including Hebrews 11:17-18).

This teaching strays off the straight path and eventually dovetails with classic Islamic teaching – proclaiming that all followers of Islam (and all speakers of Arabic) are now understood to be seen as physical descendants of Abraham, and therefore that all these are sons of the Abrahamic covenant (which point contradicts Ezekiel 35:11-13).

For those who are interested to do more study on this subject, see ‘Jews, Arabs and the Middle East: A Messianic Perspective’, available at https://davidstent.org/product/jews-arabs-the-middle-east/. This book reveals many surprising facts, including that the majority of Muslims and Arabs are descended neither from Abraham nor from Ishmael.

A further off-kilter step down this wrong road often occurs at this point: The activists from this stream declare that ‘a grave injustice’ was done to Hagar and Ishmael – they were banished from their ‘rightful covenant status,’ and this ‘travesty of justice’ was instigated by sinful Sarah and affirmed by spineless Abraham. They label this ‘the wound in Abraham’s family’ and insist that this wound needs to be healed. How will this be done? By seating Hagar and Ishmael at their ‘rightful place’ at the Jewish/Abrahamic covenant table. YHVH always wanted Ishmael to inherit equally with Isaac, they opine. And, at last, justice will be done when Ishmael’s ‘covenant status as firstborn’ will be fully recognized by the body of Christ and by Messianic Jews. This unique and non-biblical take is also given the name ‘The Two Mothers’ movement.

A movement which teaches the above is not rightly dividing, properly interpreting, or handling the word of truth with precision. The Scriptures are twisted by this errant movement to no longer mean what YHVH intended them to mean; they are now crafted to mean whatever this stream wants them to mean. These novel and imbalanced teachings lead to deception, illusion, false comfort and false Last Days teaching. Such teachings confuse believers and fog a clear understanding of the calling and gifts of God to the people of Jacob. And the people influenced by this teaching “wander like sheep; they are wretched because there is no shepherd.”

This is a new form of Arab Replacement Theology. But the full flowering of this false movement goes even further: according to the next step on this errant path, Egypt will become the central key to Israel’s protection and salvation!

So you wanna go back to Egypt!

We’ve seen how a false foundation has been laid in place, declaring that Ishmael and ‘the Arab nation’ are now the firstborn covenant son of Abraham. The next step involves a jump off the biblical cliff and into the Egyptian desert. Isaiah 19 is the chapter used by some as this jumping-off point.

An in-depth unpacking of Isaiah 19 can be found in our May 27, 2016 newsletter ‘The Isaiah 19 highway: prophecies amidst the potholes.’ Only a few points from that discussion will be stressed here.

Isaiah 19:23 spotlights a gripping prophetic vision about a future Middle Eastern highway of blessing: peace, worship and good fellowship will eventually break out along a superhighway linking Egypt, Israel and northern Iraq (Assyria). But in some circles, people are declaring that these Messianic days are at the doorstep, that a ‘prophetically revealed’ network of intercessory prayer rooms (to be established in Egypt) holds the key to Israel’s salvation (based on a gravely mistaken interpretation of Isaiah 19:23-24), and that Egypt and Assyria will share in Israel’s firstborn priority calling at that time.

None of these over-confident assertions are found in Scripture; they are innovative and unsubstantiated conclusions, based on ‘inaccurately handling the word of truth.’

Here is some helpful biblical context:

In Isaiah’s days Assyria (Northern Iraq) and Egypt were not Arab countries.

Egypt was populated by non-Semitic peoples and was called ‘the Land of Ham’ (Psalm 105:23; Psalm 78:51; Genesis 10:6).

Assyria was a Hamitic nation, founded by Ham’s grandson Nimrod (Genesis 10:11-12). The capital city of Assyria did have some connection to Shem, but not through Abraham. It was through Shem’s other son Ashur and not through Abraham’s forefather Arpachshad (1 Chronicles 1:17).

In Isaiah’s days the populations which lived both in Assyria and Egypt had no bloodline connection with Abraham or with Arab nations. When Isaiah penned his prophecy in chapter 19 concerning Assyria and Egypt, he was referring to pagan empires physically not related to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – and spiritually unconnected to the covenants YHVH the God of Israel had made with the Jewish patriarchs (see John 4:22).

In our day, both Assyria (Iraq) and Egypt are overflowing with hatred for the Jewish people and the Jewish homeland. In that sense the spiritual flowering of Isaiah 19 has a long way to go before it comes to pass.

Egypt the broken reed

Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the road to the fuller’s field. Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to him. And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: “What is this confidence that you have? I say, ‘Your plan and strength for the war are only empty words.’ Now on whom have you relied, that you have revolted against me? Behold, you have relied on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him” (Isaiah 36:1-6)

Time and again, the Word of God refers to Egypt as an impure country and as a false hope for Israel. Egypt is described as a threat, not to be trusted. Only after a decisive and destructive series of clashes between Egypt and Israel (see Isaiah 19:16-18) – with Israel coming out overwhelmingly victorious – will there be peace between the two countries. With that in mind, Isaiah 19:16-24 conveys a strong prophetic message about coming events:

The nation of Egypt will tremble in terror because of how God will strategically use the Jewish state to judge the Egyptians (vv. 16-17)

Five Egyptians cities will speak fluent Hebrew, and will unashamedly declare their fealty to the God of the armies of Israel. One city of Egypt will have been totally destroyed in war and then will later be rebuilt (verse 18)

Two outstanding monuments will be dedicated to YHVH, the God of the armies of Israel. One will be in the center of the country, one on the border between Egypt and Israel. These will be signs of Egypt’s respect for and faith in the God of Israel, and of His deliverance and rescue of the Egyptians (verses 19-20)

Though the God of Israel will need to strike Egypt, the purpose behind that bruising is so that Egypt would turn to Him. Upon that turning, YHVH will heal Egypt (verses 21-22)

After Egypt’s repentance and turning to the God of Israel, both Egypt and Assyria (northern Iraq) will worship YHVH the God of Israel. Peace will come to this region after Assyria and Egypt turn to the Lord, accept His sovereign rule and align themselves wholeheartedly with YHVH’s sovereign choice of Israel (verse 23)

Whereas Egypt and Assyria were once mortal enemies – always at each other’s throats – now they will find peace with each other by first finding peace with God. And this highway which will join former superpower enemies to each other will run through the land and the people of Israel. Israel is described here as the blessing in the midst of these two earthly superpowers, the ‘golden clasp’ that brings harmony to the Middle East and to the world (verses 24-25; see also Romans 11:12,15)

Isaiah’s vision is not meant to be used as a destructive bulldozer, leveling the priority calling of the Jewish people. Isaiah 19 properly interpreted will not weaken the gifts and calling given to the Jewish people in Romans 11:28-29. Isaiah 19 sees a prophesied peace in the Middle East coming to pass after the Arab nations turn to God. Isaiah 19 foresees a future where the Arab nations will live peacefully in their own lands – as Abraham had originally wanted (see Genesis 25:5-6) – and not when those nations attempt to establish violent rule over the Land promised to Jacob (see Ezekiel 35:10-15; 36:1-5), as the ‘Palestinian nationalist’ movement is attempting to do. Isaiah 19 also sees the Jewish people living at peace at long last, unassaulted in their own homeland.

God’s prioritizing of the Jewish people in Isaiah 19 and throughout the Scriptures does not mean that Isaac is superior to Ishmael or to any other nation (including Assyria and Egypt). But it does mean that YHVH loves Israel and has ordained that the Jewish people’s gifts and calling continue into the future (see Revelation 21:12, 14; Isaiah 66:22-23). This point is an essential part of God’s planet-wide Last Days strategy.

The Bereans – noble-minded people who examined the Scriptures

Over the years, I have tried to communicate the potential dangers of the false teaching behind this movement. Some listeners have caught on rather quickly, and have embraced the clarity of what Isaiah was prophesying. Others still seem caught in a dream, fogged about the very real threat to God’s biblical message regarding Israel’s unique calling that this false teaching presents. It is our hope that you will dig more deeply and examine the Scriptures to see ‘whether these things are so,’ as did the Bereans in Acts 17:10-12.

How to pray for Egypt in light of reality?

These false teachings regarding Isaiah 19 -have distracted Messianic believers from grasping what is actually happening today in Egypt, and the dangers yet to arise from that country against Israel. The military context of a future clash between Egypt and Israel (see Isaiah 19:16-18) should cause our radar to kick in: we need to be on guard regarding coming Egyptian threats – practically and in intercession – and not cover ourselves in a deceptive fog, thinking that a blessed ‘Summer of Love’ is about to break out between the Land of Ham and the Jewish state.

A more in-depth explanation of these clear and present dangers will be given in our next newsletter, which will look into such subjects as: the deeply rooted nature of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred in Egypt; the fragile imbalance in Egypt regarding another Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas/ISIS takeover; former President Sadat’s warnings about Egypt’s long-term threat to Israel; the significance of the 100+ Hamas smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.

How should we then pray?

Pray for Israel’s leaders and populace to clearly receive YHVH’s strategies and leading on how to combat jihadi dangers and strategies in light of the coming conflict, especially in terms of Egypt and its porous border

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Déjà vu all over again

Occasionally I receive a phone call in Israel from some friend in another country with an urgent question: “Is it safe to come to Israel?” My wry response is usually: “I don’t know. I only live here.”

With the flooded sewage waters of MSM (main stream media) news sloshing over the world’s satellite dishes, it is next to impossible for people to get a clear sense of what is happening in the Land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This newsletter is an attempt to set the record straight, and to help intercessors for Israel and lovers of Zion to get an accurate grasp on fast-moving current events.

Two recent events in Israel are magnetizing world attention:

Six Israeli Jewish hostages were brutally murdered at point-blank range (multiple shots to the head in each case) overnight Thursday (August 29-30) by Hamas jihadi terrorists in a 65-foot (20 meters) deep tunnel. IDF Special Operations Forces were directly above that area, reconnoitering and hoping to break into the rat’s warren of tunnels and rescue the hostages, who had been in cruel captivity for 328 days. IDF sensors buried in the earth above the tunnels picked up the sounds of pistol fire, but the IDF was not able to respond in time. The six bodies were found in the underground tunnel on Saturday afternoon and brought back to Israel for forensic identification and burial. Many in Israel are deeply grieved, for three different reasons: One, the tragedy of the murders; two, the lack of understanding of the inveterate and murderous evil that is Hamas; and third, due to the pervasive influence of the Stockholm Syndrome, some Israelis are looking for someone to blame – other than Hamas.

An Israeli activist anti-government political consortium has been attempting to overthrow Israel’s legally elected government for some years. Cynically making use of Israeli anguish at the murder of these six hostages, they called for massive street demonstrations, blaming the current government and not Hamas for the jihadi murders, calling for ousting the government and a general country-wide strike. This last move was seen by many in the political and business spheres as a leftist electioneering ploy. The strike sputtered out in stages within eight hours. Nevertheless, world media continued to stress the apocalyptic nature of both events.

Israel has seen its share of jihadi terrorist attacks over the years. Three specific historical examples may help add some helpful context in processing these latest events.

One: Terrorists and wheelchairs

On May 20-21, 1985, a ‘hostage exchange’ was made: 3 IDF soldiers who had been taken prisoner in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley at the June 10, 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub, were exchanged for 1,150 convicted Palestinian terrorists (see Boaz Ganor’s article: ‘Israel’s Policy in Extortionist Terror Attack: Abduction and Hostage Barricade Situations’). This trade became known as ‘The Jibril Agreement,’ named after PLO-breakaway terrorist leader Ahmed Jibril and his ‘Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command’ (PFLP-GC), who held the IDF soldiers hostage Jibril’s terrorists had headed up some deadly attacks on Israelis in their time, including the Avivim school bus massacre (1970), the bombing of Swissair Flight 330 (1970), the Kiryat Shmona massacre (1974) and the Night of the Gliders (1987).

In this prisoner exchange, Japanese terrorist Kozo Okamoto, one of the perpetrators of the Lod Airport Massacre in May 1972, was released. Ziyad al-Nakhalah, serving a life sentence, was released and later became the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in September, 2018. On 23 January 2014, Nakhalah was designated a ‘Specially Designated Terrorist’ by the United States. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a wheel-chair bound Islamist sheikh, was also released; he soon became the spiritual leader of Hamas (1987 – 2004), and laid the spiritual foundations for its current Islamist terrorist activities. Many of the Palestinian prisoners released in this agreement later went on to form the backbone of the leadership of the ‘First Intifada,’ which broke out less than three years after the agreement.

Caroline Glick notes that “Sheikh Yassin and the other jihadi terrorists transformed terrorism from a tactical nuisance into a strategic threat to the existence of Israel, leading waves of terror campaigns for the next two decades. The Jibril deal taught Israel’s enemies that Israeli hostages are their ace in the hole.”

Two: A nice Jewish boy whose mother was from Brooklyn

On October 9, 1994, Sergeant Nachshon Wachsman, an IDF solder, was returning home to his parents who lived in Ramot, Jerusalem. from an IDF training course in the north of Israel. He hitched a ride near Ben Gurion airport. The car which pulled over for him was driven by some men wearing Orthodox Jewish kippot (skullcaps). They were playing Hasidic music on the tape deck, and a Hebrew Bible and prayer book (siddur) were lying on the dashboard. Wachsman got in, concluding that this was a safe ride. Within a few seconds these Hamas terrorists (for that is what they were) grabbed and overpowered Nachshon, and then drove him up to the Arab village of Bir Nabala, barely ten minutes away from his parents’ home – a stone’s throw away from Gibeon (where King Solomon had received his prophetic dream; see 1 Kings 3:4-15). There he was held prisoner for six days. Mohammed Deif, recently commander of Hamas’ military wing until taken out by the IAF, was the mastermind of Wachsman’s kidnapping and murder.

Wachsman was a dual Israeli-American citizen. He was the third of Yehuda and Esther’s seven sons. Esther had been born in a German displaced persons’ camp just after WWII, and later immigrated to Israel from Brooklyn.

On Tuesday evening October 11, 1994, a Hamas video was released showing Wachsman, bound hand and foot, sitting in front of a keffiyeh-covered jihadi holding Wachsman’s Israeli ID. The Hamas terrorist read aloud Nachshon’s home address and ID number. Wachsman then spoke the words Hamas forced him to read: “I am Nachshon Wachsman. The group from Hamas kidnapped me. They are demanding the release of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and another 200 from Israeli prison. If their demands are not met, they will execute me on Friday at 8 P.M.” Wheelchair-ridden Yassin was Hamas’ leader, at that time imprisoned by Israel since 1989 for ordering Hamas operatives to kidnap Israeli soldiers inside Israel, to murder them and bury their bodies in a manner that would allow Hamas to negotiate the exchange of bodies for Hamas prisoners, who would then be released from jails in Israel.

Israel’s SHABAK (similar to FBI) soon captured Jihad Yarmur, the driver of the kidnapping vehicle and, during his interrogation, discovered the village and house where Wachsman was being held. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin authorized a rescue attempt, to be led by Sayeret Matkal, Israel’s ‘Delta Force’ Special Operations Unit. Their attempted break-in was fatally delayed due to the explosive charge used, which was unsuitable for what turned out to be a solid steel door. During the agonizing delay, the Hamas terrorists shot Wachsman in the throat and chest at close range, and yelled out to the IDF commandos that they had just killed Wachsman. The also declared that they preferred death to surrender. Three of the five Hamas jihadis were killed in the brief but intense fire-fight, and two terrorists were taken prisoner. The 23-year-old Israeli leader of the Special Operations squad, Captain Nir Poraz, was killed and nine of his team were wounded.

In a news conference a few hours after the failed rescue attempt on October 14, 1994, PM Rabin, who had authorized the operation, took full responsibility for it and sent his condolences to the Wachsman and Poraz families. He stood by the rightness of his decision to attempt a military rescue: “I could not conceive that we would not do what I believe the State of Israel in its war against terror must do . . . Therefore, this is a policy of fighting terror to the bitter end.”

One week later, on Thursday, October 20, 1994, senior Hamas leader Imad Falouji declared that Hamas would continue fighting Israel until she withdraws from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Hamas terrorist who had driven the kidnap-car, Jihad Yarmur, was convicted by an Israeli court of participating in the murder of Nachshon Wachsman. Yarmur was released in October, 2011 by Israel as one of the 1,027 Hamas prisoners exchanged for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit (along with now-infamous Hamas operative Yahya Sinwar). Yarmur continues to be heavily involved in Hamas fundraising and terror planning against Israel, which he conducts from his current home-base in Turkey.

Three: “The greatest significant victory for terrorism”

Early on June 25, 2006, at about 5:30 am, Palestinian terrorists from three jihadi groups – Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Popular Resistance Committees (a PLO Fatah spin-off), and Army of Islam (a Salafi jihadi group) – crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip through a 300 meter-long tunnel near Kerem Shalom and attacked three sites, including a stationary Merkava Mark III IDF tank. Two of the tank crew were killed, a third was badly injured, while the fourth, Gilad Shalit, was wounded and taken from the tank at gunpoint. Two of the attacking Palestinian terrorists were killed. Shalit suffered a broken left hand and a light shoulder wound; the jihadis captured him and took him via a tunnel to an undisclosed location within the Gaza Strip.

Hamas' initial demands, which included the release of all female and underage Palestinians as well as PLO arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, were not met. After more than five years (1,934 days) in captivity, on October 18, 2011, Shalit was released in a negotiated agreement. In exchange for his return to Israel, 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released, many with much blood on their hands. According to Israeli government sources, these released prisoners had been collectively responsible for 569 Israeli deaths.

Opponents of this deal spoke out, warning that the releasing top Palestinian terrorists would result in the future deaths of many Israelis in renewed attacks. It would also increase Palestinian motivation to abduct more IDF soldiers. On January 6, 2010, Israeli analyst Dan Schueftan called the possible swap deal “the greatest significant win, the greatest significant victory for terrorism that Israel has made possible since its establishment.”

On October 17, 2011, Purdue University Professor of International Law Louis Rene Beres stated forcefully in the Jerusalem Post: “No modern government has the legal right to free terrorists in exchange for its own kidnapped citizens, military or civilian. Under long-standing international law, every state has a primary obligation to protect its citizens . . . Any such exchange, however humane to Shalit and his family, would imperil thousands of other Israelis.”

Three Israeli cabinet ministers – Avigdor Lieberman, Moshe Ya’alon, and Uzi Landau opposed the exchange. Landau stated that “this deal is a triumph for terror and it’s detrimental to Israel's security and deterrence.”

Here is a select list of eleven terrorists released in October, 2011 as part of the full package of 1,027:

Yahya Sinwar (4 life sentences) – took part in the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers in 1989 and was sentenced to life in prison. Founder of the Hamas security apparatus in Gaza. His brother organized the abduction of Gilad Shalit in 2006

Walid Abd al-Aziz Abd al-Hadi Anajas (36 life sentences) – took part in the execution of the Café Moment bombing (2002), the Hebrew University bombing (2002) and the Rishon LeZion bombing (2002)

Nasir Sami Abd al-Razzaq Ali al-Nasser Yataima (29 life sentences) – convicted of planning the Passover Park Hotel massacre(2002) in which 30 civilians were killed and 140 were wounded

Ahlam Tamimi (16 life sentences) – Assisted in the execution of the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing (2001)

Abd al-Hadi Rafa Ghanim (16 life sentences) – the surviving perpetrator of the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack in which Ghanim seized the steering wheel of a crowded Egged commuter bus line No. 405 and managed to pull the bus into a ravine in the area of Abu Ghosh. 16 civilians were killed in the attack

Muhammad Waal Muhammad Douglas (15 life sentences) – took part in the execution of the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing in Jerusalem (2001)

Muhammad Taher Mahmud al-Qaram (15 life sentences) – directly involved in the planning and execution of a bus attack in Haifa in which 15 Israelis were killed

Abd-Al-Aziz Muhammad Amar (4 life sentences) – took part in the execution of the Café Hillel bombing (2003)

Mahmud Muhammad Ahmed Atwan (3 life sentences), Musa Daud Muhammad Akari (3 life sentences), and Majid Hassan Rajab Abu Qatish (3 life sentences) – militants that killed the Israeli policeman Nissim Toledano in 1992

Muhammad Yussuf Hassan al-Sharatha (3 life sentences) – head of the militant squad that kidnapped and killed the Israeli soldiers Ilan Saadon and Avi Sasportas during the First Intifada

Abd al-Aziz Yussuf Mustafa Salehi (1 life sentence) – participant in the 2000 Ramallah lynching who was iconically photographed displaying his blood-stained hands to the Palestinian mob after having beaten an Israeli soldier to death

In an October 13, 2011 article titled ‘Reflections: The Wachsman Kidnapping,’ op-ed journalist Gabe Kahn prophetically commented: “With Hamas promising more kidnappings in the wake of the Shalit deal, there is the possibility that more [Yoni] Netanyahus, [Nir] Porazs, and [Nachshon] Wachsmans are on Israel's horizon.” Caroline Glick adds that “October 7 [2023] was born in October 2011 . . . where Yahya Sinwar rightly identified hostages as Israel’s soft underbelly.”

Former Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Justice Emi Palmor was for five years (2006-2011) part of the Israeli team which negotiated with Hamas over the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. She noted that “Shalit was kidnapped by Sinwar’s brother in order to free Sinwar. The Palestinians gave [us] all kinds of lists [of prisoners to be freed], and he was on all of them.”

The release of virulent and murderous Hamas terrorists in each one of these ‘hostage release’ exchanges, actually resulted in thousands of new Israeli deaths. This ‘devil’s bargain’ is being brushed aside and cavalierly dismissed by many who are rabidly opposed to Israel’s current Prime Minister, seeking his political demise far more than caring about the lost sheep of the House of Israel

Pogrom tactics – when Hamas writes the script

Former Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Justice Emi Palmor recently commented about how Hamas arch-terrorist Yahya Sinwar studied Israel’s history and the Hebrew language while spending 23 years in Israeli military prisons. She noted that “there is no doubt that [the Oct. 7] attack was planned to damage Israel’s resilience and the confidence of all Jews in the world, not only Israel. Sinwar knows what the Holocaust is and what is Jewish and Israeli identity. He knows how antisemitism works . . . He knows all of our triggers and references.” Palmor added a comment about the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on Israeli youth, families and captives: “There was something medieval about it, barbaric in a way that is not even from our time – beheading, sexual violence . . . It’s a pogrom. Sinwar wanted to take the Jews back 76 years, to make us weak again . . . All of these things were done to bring us back to the mindset of vulnerable, humiliated Jews, which also increases antisemitism . . . [The body cameras worn by Hamas and used to document the attack and the subsequent posting of the videos on social media was part of their plan] to hurt the resilience of Jewish people and Israelis, terrorizing them through visuals and not just the murder,” Palmor said. “That’s a pogrom. You enter the village, burn it down and rape the women.”

The shock of Hamas’ cruel massacres and its subsequent torture, starvation, rape and murder of the Israeli hostages horrified, mesmerized and traumatized all who saw the jihadi footage. This was deliberate; Hamas wanted to fan the flames of fear, and to direct the narrative, wherein it would be seen as the unstoppable monster who was impossible to resist of destroy. Unfortunately, main stream media around the world (and in Israel too) often served as ‘useful idiots,’ spreading Hamas’ talking points and bolstering their narrative.

Reversing Zionism – when the devil is in the details

Palmor’s analysis of Hamas leader Sinwar’s strategy is chillingly on-track. The trauma and destruction caused by the jihadi attacks generated a gut-level and fear-based response not only among Israeli Jews, but also among Jewish people across the planet:

“This was exactly what the Jewish state was supposed to change. We were supposed to become Jews who can defend themselves . . . have sovereignty and are in a place where your identity is not a source of vulnerability . . . [Many young Israelis] didn’t think about their Judaism or even struggled against it, but now because of the rise of antisemitism, they can’t leave Israel and run away from it. They realize they can’t escape their identity. They’re Jews.”

“It was a shock for an entire generation that thought antisemitism was a problem of the Diaspora and not connected to them. And there’s the shock of a generation convinced that they had the most moral army in the world and the most daring and sophisticated security forces to wake up to a reality in which they can’t run away from their Jewish, Israeli identity and are made to feel like the vulnerable, weak Jew instead of the sabra, and muscular Jewry.”

As the daughter of a diplomat who has lived in different countries in Europe and South America while her father represented Israel, Palmor adds: ”I know what it’s like to be a Diaspora Jew. October 7 is a direct hit to the assumption that if an antisemitic government rises, you can go to Israel.”

Hamas’ desire is not only to destroy the Jewish state and to hold on to the hostages until that goal is achieved. It is to strike terror into the hearts of all Jews, and to extinguish the flame of hope for Jewish restoration to their Promised Land. Hamas’ strategic jihadi plot is running afoul of YHVH’s prophetic plan to restore His Jewish people back to the Land of Israel. The jihadi clash with YHVH the Warrior God is entering a climactic phase:

And do not fear, Jacob My servant, declares YHVH, and do not be dismayed, Israel. For behold, I am going to save you from far away, and your descendants from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return and be at peace, without anxiety, and no one will make him afraid. For I am with you, declares YHVH, to save you! For I will completely destroy all the nations where I have scattered you. Only I will not destroy you completely. But I will discipline you fairly and will by no means leave you unpunished. For this is what YHVH says: . . . Therefore all who devour you will be devoured. And all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity. And those who plunder you will become plunder, and all who plunder you I will turn into plunder. For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds, declares YHVH – because they have called you an outcast, saying: “It is [only] Zion! No one cares for her!” (Jeremiah 30:10-17)

Poisoning the wells of Israel – divide and conquer

“How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob – they dwelling places, O Israel!” Thus prophesied Balaam in Numbers 24:5. Yet the goals of Hamas are to make the relationships between Jewish Israelis a toxic stew of division and hatred.

Hamas’s perspective regarding Israel is clearly spelled out in its covenant, which calls for the total destruction of the Jewish state without compromise; no recognition of Israel; and the eschatological murder of the entire Jewish nation. “The very identity of Hamas is enshrined in opposition and violent hostility to Israel,” says a senior official in the American Foreign Service.

Sheikh Hassan Yousef, co-founder of Hamas (and father of ‘The Green Prince’), was interviewed while in Israeli prisons. He explained to intelligence reporters Avi Issacharoff [of ‘Fauda’ fame] and Amos Harel that one of Hamas’s goals in its pursuit of the Jewish state’s ultimate destruction is to foment and enhance internecine Israeli strife. Yousef told these reporters that Hamas exploits visible Israeli weaknesses:

the calls of the Israeli Left for a complete withdrawal from Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip

the movements encouraging IDF soldiers and reservists to refuse to serve in those territories or to do reserve duty altogether

the well-oiled anti-government protest movement – commandeered by formerly prominent figures – promoting the demonization of the powers-that-be in Jerusalem

Two of Israel’s three main political parties have platforms that mandate retreating from and surrendering our land to our mortal enemies as the best chance for peace.

Hamas and its Iranian patron are paying close attention to what they perceive as Israel’s imminent implosion. Together they are exerting much effort to catalyze deep divisions in the Jewish state. Jerusalem Post writer Ruthie Blum concludes that those who rabidly vilify Prime Minister “Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman [are contributing] to the sense on the part of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic that Israel won’t make it much past its upcoming 75th birthday.”

Matti Steinberg, former adviser to several heads of Shin Bet (Israeli FBI), points out that “someone like [Hamas Gaza Chief Yahya] Sinwar understands the Israelis very well. The leaders of Hamas have basically understood the divisions in the country, and therefore its weaknesses, perfectly well.”

In the months leading up to the Hamas massacres of October 7, the Commander of the Israel Air Force, General Tomer Bar, told his forces in July, 2023 to stay “vigilant and prepared . . . It is possible that at a time like this, [Hamas] will try to test the frontiers, our cohesion and our alertness.”

US State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller said on April 22, 2024, that Hamas only wants a hostage agreement which will involve a total Israeli surrender, leaving Hamas free to rebuild and attack Israel again: “Hamas has signaled that they don’t want an agreement. And the ball is very much in their court, and if they really had the interests of the Palestinian people at heart, as they claim that they do, then they would accept this agreement.”

Sinwar’s strategy mirrors that of the ancient Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu, in his 500’s BC ‘The Art of War’: “Instill fear into the heart of your enemy and they’ll hand victory over to you.”

Hamas’ smoking gun

PM Netanyahu addressed the nation of Israel on Monday, September 2, 2024 in a 53-minute press conference. He presented an Arabic handwritten document found in a Hamas tunnel where Yahya Sinwar had recently been located. The document ticks off Hamas senior leaders’ talking points to terrorists further down the jihadi food chain. These points are Hamas’ strategy aimed at Israel’s population, news media and political echelons:

Increase the production of photos and video clips showing the hostages in order to create psychological pressure [on Israel]

Do everything to increase the psychological pressure on [Israeli Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant

Push the line of thinking that Netanyahu is responsible for everything that happens

Damage the Israeli narrative that the military ground operation aids the return of the hostages

The success of Sinwar and Hamas in these areas is pointed out by Caroline Glick:

“Rather than respond to the heartbreaking news with condemnations of Hamas and demands that Israel fight to victory, . . . Israel’s opposition leaders in the Knesset have joined the anarchist groups in blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Hamas’s murder of the six [Israeli hostages]. As one, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, Yair Golan and their underlings have joined the leftist groups that have been using mass riots, political violence and general mayhem since 2019 in an effort to oust Netanyahu from power, and have called on Israelis to take to the streets in response to the executions and bring down the government through violence.”

And it is Hamas’ propaganda, dear friends, that is leading the world’s media in presenting a jihadi-positive perspective on current struggles in Gaza.

When the Ten Spies take over the newsroom

One of the indicators that the rapid crumbling of the Western world is how its media organs have become mouthpieces for hopelessness and helplessness in terms of how to defeat evil leaders and evil forces. We live in the days when the Twelve Spies and their evil report (see Numbers 13-14) are winning the day.

The spies came back with glowing reports about the fruitfulness of the land (‘an exceedingly good land’), as well as accurate information on the enemies’ military installations and infantry which the armies of YHVH (see 1 Samuel 17:26) would soon confront. This first part of their report was helpful and based on good intelligence; it was not ‘fake news.’ But ten of the twelve spies added another perspective – their own personal opinion that the God of Israel lacked wisdom and military sense in sending the Jewish people in to conquer and possess the Promised Land.

Caleb and Joshua (the two good spies) declared that God’s calling and assignment was realistically attainable – that the ten Canaanite tribes (see Genesis 15:19-20) were bereft of YHVH’s protection, and that, instead, YHVH was with the people of Israel, and that the God of Jacob would bring His promises to pass regarding the Jewish homeland. But the other ten spies reported ‘the news’ differently: the Canaanite tribes were too strong – the Israelites would never be able to defeat them – indeed, the Canaanites “are a people of great stature.” The ten spies’ bad report declared that the Jewish people “are like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we are in the [Canaanite’s] sight.” The Ten added that the Land of Canaan would only bring a curse on the Israelites: “This is a land that devours its inhabitants!”

What was the effect of this bad report on the Jewish people? The entire nation cried out and wept. Then they grumbled against their leaders Moses and Aaron. They declared that it would have been better for all Israel to have remained slaves in Egypt or even to die in the desert rather than to follow Moses and Aaron. They ‘prophesied’ that the Canaanites would murder them all and kidnap their wives and children, if they foolishly held onto YHVH’s promise of trying to claim and hold onto the Promised Land. They then held a public rally and proclaimed that Israel needed to choose a new leader – in modern terminology, they called for new elections.

The Mad Hatter’s Tea party, hosted by Ahithophel and Korah

It is said that when there are two Jews, there are three opinions. This maxim is refreshingly true among the sons and daughters of Jacob, both in the Homeland and in the Exile. Yet, the political Machiavellis and Svengalis in Israel who are attempting to overthrow Israel’s democratically elected government (with help from various Presidents, Prime Ministers and State Department officials) are exerting strenuous efforts to stir up demonstrations, strikes and violent crowds in their pursuit of these non-kosher goals – making sure that three Jews basically follow one ‘politically correct’ opinion, that of the American and Israeli Left.

Here are four recent newsletters which dig into more detail regarding the dynamics and political personalities involved:

https://davidstent.org/elishas-arrows-saurons-eye-and-ahithophels-counsel/ (June 5, 2021)

https://davidstent.org/the-wisdom-of-ahithophel/ (July 4, 2023)

https://davidstent.org/when-skies-are-red/ (July 19, 2023)

https://davidstent.org/following-after-the-crowd/ (July 26, 2023)

How should we then pray?

Pray for divine revelation, discernment and courage to be given to world leaders, to media people, to spiritual leaders and to followers of Messiah Yeshua – that they receive clear understanding of how Hamas and the jihadi movements are spinning the news and turning the world against Israel and the Jewish state.

Pray for a spirit of repentance to come upon all of these people, so that the curse of Genesis 12:3 will not fall upon their nations and families

Pray for Israel’s leaders to clearly receive YHVH’s strategies and leading on how to combat Hamas strategies and how to wage the coming conflict

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Seducing the dragon

On his award-winning album ‘Slow Train Coming,’ Bob Dylan makes an oblique reference to “fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan.” Dylan describes these people as “big-time negotiators, false healers, . . . masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition.” These terms accurately describe the current political stew of Presidents, Prime Ministers, Supreme Leaders and Secretaries of State who are determined to resolve the unsolvable conflict in the Middle East. As Yeshua said, albeit in a different context: “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24).

Everlasting hatred

One of the main road-bumps on the highway to ‘Mid-East peace’ is a spiritual factor – the stronghold of demonized hatred which the Scriptures describe as coloring the heart of Esau/Edom:

So Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob” (Genesis 27:41)

“See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that there be no sexually immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal” (Hebrews 12:15-16)

The spiritual principle involved here is explained by Paul in Ephesians 4, with reference to giving Satan an open door to influence our hearts and lives and to advance his kingdom: “In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Greek – τόπος; a topos; a military base of operations/an opportunity; Ephesians 4:26-27). The deep-seated hatred in Edom’s heart toward his brother Jacob is a major theme of Last Days prophecy:

“ADONAI YHVH says this: Because Edom has acted against the House of Judah by taking vengeance, and has incurred great guilt, and avenged themselves upon them, therefore . . . I will also reach out with My hand against Edom and eliminate human and animal life from it. And I will turn it into ruins; from Teman even to Dedan they will fall by the sword. And I will inflict My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore, they will act in Edom in accordance with My anger and My wrath; so they will know My vengeance, declares ADONAI YHVH” (Ezekiel 25:12-14)

“Since you have had everlasting hostility and have turned over the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of the punishment of the end, therefore as I live, declares ADONAI YHVH, I will certainly doom you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you” (Ezekiel 35:5-6)

“Since you have said, ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them,’ although YHVH was there, therefore as I live, declares YHVH ADONAI, I will deal with you according to your anger and according to your envy which you displayed because of your hatred for them. So I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. Then you will know that I, YHVH, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are desolate; they have been given to us as food.’ And you have spoken arrogantly against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; I Myself have heard it.” (Ezekiel 35:10-13)

Everlasting hatred and the hernia stone

Jerusalem’s centrality at the End of Days before Messiah’s return reveals that all the nations are infected with an unusual obsession – a spiritual pandemic. This is the world-wide spread of demonized ‘Edomite hatred’ against the Jewish people:

“For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle” (Zechariah 14:2)

“Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering to all the peoples around. And when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will injure themselves severely [in modern terms, get a hernia]. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it” (Zechariah 12:2-3)

Today’s superpowers and mighty nations do not understand either the Scriptures or the power of God. They are blindly stumbling into a trap set for them by YHVH the Warrior (see Exodus 15:3). The God of Jacob is using His divine hooks – the land of Israel and the Jewish people – to ensnare the nations and bring judgment down upon them (see Ezekiel 38:4-5; Ecclesiastes 9:12-13).

Today the armies of jihad are pursuing a straight-on strategy (let’s call it an ‘Edomite strategy’) of destroying the Jewish people and their state. At the same time, the mighty nations of the world are acting like basketball players, setting up a ‘game-point’ shot against Israel:

by supporting Israel’s jihadi enemies in the Middle East

by shrinking Israel’s divinely established borders

by preventing the Jewish people from returning to the entirety of their divinely Promised Land

by fanning the flames of international Judenhass (Jew-hatred)

Fake news and false peace

While the harsh reality is that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Lebanese Hezbollah, Yemini Houthis, Iraqi Kata’eb Hezbollah and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are virulently committed (on intensely Islamist principles) to not signing any peace agreement with Israel but waging jihad against it until it is completely destroyed, Western powers are publicly declaring that they are near to closing a deal between the murderous jihadi groups Hamas and Hezbollah (on the one hand) and the Jewish state (on the other).

Such deceptions on the part of Israel’s enemies and even on the part of these enemies’ allies are not new. The Scriptures shine a spotlight on this ancient subterfuge, and give YHVH’s perspective on such machinations:

“Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings. There was not a city which made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon; they took them all in battle. For it was of YHVH to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as YHVH had commanded Moses” (Joshua 11:18-20)

“Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me, nor let those who hate me for no reason wink maliciously. For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land” (Psalm 35:19-21)

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

“We waited for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror!” (Jeremiah 8:15)

In the days of Jeremiah the prophet, there were some Jewish leaders who were preaching a non-kosher ersatz mixture of Biblical teaching and pagan worship. These false shepherds opposed the message of the true Hebrew prophets. Instead, they falsely prophesied that Israel would face no purifying judgments or exile. Their counterfeit messages declared that an era of ‘justice’ and ‘peace now’ was about to visit the Jewish people. But their false prophecies did not line up with YHVH’s standards or oracles. In our day there are those in Israel who also ‘aspire to the throne’ and espouse similar non-kosher messages:

“For from the least of them to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain. And from the prophet to the priest everyone deals falsely. They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace. Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They were not ashamed at all, nor did they know even how to be ashamed. Therefore they will fall among those who fall, at the time that I punish them. They will collapse, says YHVH” (Jeremiah 6:13-15; see also Jeremiah 8:10-12)

The dragon cannot be seduced

Those modern superpowers who are taking the lead in getting Israel to commit geo-political suicide, are trying to depict jihadi armies as soldiers of peace and justice. These Western diplomats are trying to force the land and people of Israel into false peace agreements, into ceasefires which violate the words of the prophets and their promises of full Jewish restoration. They will not ultimately succeed in their seductions.

And the dragon who is attempting to seduce all the current actors on this playing field – the jihadi forces, the mighty nations, even the counterfeit peace movements in Israel – he will not succeed in his nefarious schemes either.

The dragon who deceives the world cannot be seduced. But he can be defeated:

“And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Revelation 12:7-9)

The one who deceives the nations about Messiah, His message and His people – that dragon will be thrown into the abyss, shut up and sealed there for a thousand years:

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he took hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time” (Revelation 20:1-3)

After this Millennial Jerusalem reign of Messiah Yeshua, the dragon who deceives the nations will be briefly released, but then will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, to be tormented day and night forever and ever:

“When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:7-10)

Breaking the deception and establishing the True Kingdom

As we watch demonic deception and satanic anti-Semitism increase and spread like wildfire across the face of the globe, we draw strength, knowing with full certainty that the deceiver and all the mighty nations which follow him will be crushed, but that Messiah Yeshua will reign over the entire planet from Jerusalem, the Jewish capital, and all nations will embrace the fullness of His reign:

“But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.” I will announce the decree of YHVH: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have caused You to be born. Ask it of Me, and I will certainly give the nations as Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron! You shall shatter them like earthenware!’” Now then, you kings, use insight! Let yourselves be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve YHVH with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, that He not be angry and you perish on the way, for His wrath may be kindled quickly. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Psalm 2:6-12)

How should we then pray?

Pray for divine revelation, discernment and courage to be given to world leaders – that they would recognize how our enemy the dragon is seducing world powers and jihadi forces in his ancient and subtle struggle against Israel and the Messianic message of the gospel

Pray for Israel’s leaders to clearly receive YHVH’s strategies and leading for the coming conflict

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 33-70 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Pulling the strings in the Middle East

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was a Russian mystic and a so-called ‘faith-healer’ during the period of Tsarist Russia’s disintegration. Today, the name ‘Rasputin’ is synonymous with someone who exerts great and insidious influence as a ‘power behind the throne.’ People think of a Rasputin as a Machiavellian manipulator or a puppet master – one who controls governments, bending their political decisions to his own malevolent will.

In the roomful of mirrors known as the Middle East, there are many countries led by aspiring Rasputins, each one seeking to hornswoggle and hoodwink his neighbors. Most of today’s players are attempting to pull the strings on each other, all the while not realizing that they are being exploited and possibly out-maneuvered by the very parties they themselves are trying to unscrupulously manipulate. Here are two out of many recent examples which touch on modern Middle Eastern dynamics:

In its heyday, Britain made promises to both the House of ibn-Saud and to the Hashemite dynasty, promising each hegemony over the Islamic jewel of Mecca. In the end, the jihadi warriors of ibn Saud defeated the Bedouin armies of the Hashemites, and Arabia found itself with a new name - Saudi Arabia. Britain had pulled the strings across the entire Middle East, and ended up controlling puppet regimes in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, etc. But within thirty years, these acquisitions of the Crown were mostly swept away, replaced by the ‘friendly’ bear-hug of Uncle Sam.

The United States, through its intelligence contacts with Harry St. John Philby, (British spy and father of the infamous double-agent Kim Philby) also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah, was able to pull the strings regarding British colonial schemes. The US nudged Saudi Arabia out of the orb of British influence, bringing that country solidly into the ‘Standard Oil’ American arena. American influence has been predominant in the Middle East to this day

A deeper analysis of these activities is found in ‘The Secret War against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People’ (John Loftus and Mark Aarons, St. Mark’s Griffin, 1997).

Who is pulling whose strings today?

The answer to this question is multi-faceted, and involves many countries:

Saudi Arabia – The Saudi rulers (mostly secular and profligate in lifestyle) need to walk carefully, trying not to offend their religious scholars, the ulema. Saudi leaders pull the strings, encouraging the ulema to spread jihad in Afghanistan, in Central Asia, in the West, etc. – just not in Saudi Arabia. Were jihadis allowed free rein in Mecca and Medina, mujahidin zealots would have long ago chopped off the heads of most of Saudi Arabia’s leaders. This explains why 15 of the nineteen 9/11 jihadis were Saudi citizens, and why much of the funding and organization for them came from royal Saudi sources. At the same time, the Saudis pull America’s strings, pressuring it to force Israel to withdraw from Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem (including the Temple Mount).

Qatar – This Islamist state has stepped up to the plate, funding jihadi Muslim Brotherhood groups like Hamas (as does Saudi Arabia), while trying to overthrow the Saudi state and Egypt. Qatar insists on pulling US strings, declaring itself to be an honest mediator between Hamas and Israel, while hosting Hamas’ main theological leaders and terrorists. Qatar hosts America’s biggest US Air Force base al-Udeid in Doha, while simultaneously hosting al-Jazeera TV, the most virulent anti-American and anti-Israeli media source reaching the Western world. A lot of strings are being pulled here at the same time!

Iran – The US supports Iran in many ways, allowing many billions to flow into her coffers – money which is immediately fungible for terrorist support and nuclear weapons development. Iran is the world’s premier funder and protector of jihadi terror. The US pulls strings by supporting Iran, in order to strike fear into the heart of Iran’s arch-enemy Saudi Arabia. America is using Iran to act as a counter-balance against Saudi Arabia. US-Iran connections threaten Saudi security and potentially weaken its confidence. America hopes that this will make the Saudis more amenable to follow American goals in the Arabian Gulf.

But then Saudi Arabia turns around and pulls US strings, warming up to China (America’s mortal enemy), and threatening to step out from under the US protective umbrella. In the same way, Israel is threatened by America’s support for Iran and Saudi Arabia. Those moves pull Israel’s strings in an attempt to to ‘keep the Jewish state in line’ as it deals with daily threats to its existence in the Middle East.

There are many more such interactions, but our newsletters are too small a medium to adequately explore the entire subject here.

Serpentine craftiness in the Middle East

“And the serpent was more crafty/cunning/subtle (Hebrew: עָר֔וּם ] than any animal of the field which YHVH God had made” (Genesis 3:1)

“Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns . . . And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him . . . And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child” (Revelation 12)

The ‘accuser of the brethren’ is often known by his Hebrew name ‘Satan’ (literally, ‘the one who accuses’). The craftiness of the enemy, his cunning and subtlety – these are accurately reflected in jihadi terror tactics. The Jewish people have had over 100 years of dealing with such attacks, from the massacres of 1834 and 1929 in Hebron, Safed and Jerusalem, to the massacres of Jews surrounding the time of the birth of the State of Israel. Modern incarnations of this evil include the PLO’s bloody murders of Jewish civilians, athletes and tourists; Hamas’ kidnapping, rape and murder of Israeli farmers, students and rock-concert goers; Hezbollah and Iranian missile and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians; etc.

The jihadi terrorists who initiate these atrocities are also pulling strings – American, Israeli and UN strings. Jihadi threats to bring murderous Islamist attacks against Western Europe, Russia, North and South America – these threats pull Western strings. Western diplomats are led down a path of deception, believing that such attacks will stop if Israel can be pressured to collapse and surrender significant portions of its Promised Land to jihadi demands. Unfortunately, time and time again jihadi attacks have led Westerners to surrender to Islamist diktats. Throw in the threat of an Arab oil embargo (think 1973-74), and it has proved rather easy to manipulate the West. Hamas and their fellow travelers are old hands at this, smoothly adept at insidiously shaping Western hearts, Western anti-Israel resolutions, anti-Israel embargo pressures and anti-Israel student riots.

One outstanding example of this was seen in a recent media headline, stating that the US is “trying to remove obstacles to a hostage deal” (between Israel and Hamas). This misleading headline should actually read “The West is trying to crush Israeli objections to Western pressure, as the West tries to force Israel to cave into jihadi terror tactics.” This bending of reality is quite common – actually, most of the news coming out of the Middle East fits in exactly to this type of pro-jihadi propaganda.

Jihad is not a low-grade fever which can be blithely ignored by paying a hefty ransom to its perpetrators. To resist jihad does not mean that that the planet must immediately enter into World War III. But, unfortunately, most Western media only presents the ‘Hamas-Mafia option’ (to paraphrase U2’s Bono): “Just give us what we want, and no one gets hurt!” The jihadi world is pulling the strings, manipulating Western (and even some Israeli) fears, trying to force all resistance to jihad to come to a shuddering halt.

Will Israel be allowed by its American ‘big brother’ to decisively defeat the armies of jihad? Or will the Jewish state continually face the wagging finger of rebuke, and be told: “Take the win! Thus far and no further!”

100 IAF fighter jets have not decisively removed the jihadi threat

On Sunday morning August 25, 2024, ten minutes before Hezbollah was about to unleash a massive 6,000+ rocket attack on northern and central Israel, an Israel Air Force (IAF) mailed fist of over 100 fighter jets and bombers carried out a preemptive strike against 270 targets in Lebanon – thousands of Hezbollah rockets and launchers – with barely ten minutes to spare. This was an amazing military, intelligence and technological feat, and it will go down as a military operation to be studied and imitated in days to come.

Yet the threat from Hezbollah is not over by a long shot. Their forces possess upwards of 140,000 rockets and missiles, many with GPS guidance. They have an unknown number of Iranian-manufactured drones. Were they to fire these weapons at Israel, there would undoubtedly be painful Israeli civilian casualties, significant infrastructure damage – and, immediately after that, apocalyptic damage to Beirut’s international airport, Lebanon’s national water-pumping system, electrical power and internet grids.

The potential for decisive and needful measures to remove the bin-Laden-like jihadi threat coming from Hezbollah is very real. Your prayers for minimal loss of life, and for Israel’s leaders to clearly receive God’s strategies and leading are vitally important at this time.

How should we then pray?

Pray for divine revelation and courage to be given to world leaders to discern how jihadi forces are cowing and intimidating Israeli and world efforts to oppose and crush them

Pray for Israel’s leaders to clearly receive YHVH’s strategies and leading for the coming conflict

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 33-70 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

“You will devise an evil plan against the land of unwalled villages” (Ezekiel 37:10-11)

I was awakened early this morning, at 0400. I came downstairs to sit in my armchair and to think about the day ahead. At 04:40 am I began to hear the skies above me being torn by many Israel Air Force (IAF) fighter jets and bombers. Something was up. I opened my cell phone to wait and see what would pop up on the news.

Within 20 minutes information began to leak out: Hezbollah had planned a surprise attack on Israel (using 6,000 of its 150,000 available missiles and rockets) which was to be triggered at 05:00 hours – at 5:00 am Israeli time. The targets of these jihadi weapons (according to the New York Times) included the HQ of Signals Intelligence Unit 8200 (equivalent to the NSA); the HQ of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad (equivalent to the CIA); Ben-Gurion Airport (equivalent to JFK in New York), and other strategic sites.

But at this critical moment, Israeli Military Intelligence was properly working. One hundred IAF jets rose up and, in an intensely coordinated preemptive bombing attack between 04:50 am and 05:00 am, destroyed approximately 6,000 Hezbollah long-range precision rockets and missiles as well as their launchers. This preemptive attack was fully coordinated with the US Department of Defense.

Had Hezbollah’s surprise attack succeeded, a full-blown war would be in full throttle. Beirut’s airport, water-pumping system, electrical power and internet grids would probably be lying in smoking ruins on the Lebanese coast.

Hezbollah fired over 320 rockets and drones at civilian areas in Israel, in response to the IAF’s preemptive strike.

But this round of hostilities is not the end of the process here. It is merely the opening shot of a cunningly crafted Iranian gambit in the Lebanese theater.

Will Hezbollah step back from the brink? Will Israel move to decisively throttle her military enemies who have been trying to put a chokehold on the Jewish state since 1982? Will the 40,000 or so American troops positioned on destroyers, frigates and aircraft carriers from Mediterranean waters to the Persian Gulf be either an effective deterrent or attack force, restraining Iran’s jihadi terror tentacles from wreaking damage on the Jewish state? This ‘state-in-the-process-of-restoration’ is what Ezekiel’s Last Days vision described in chapters 38 and 39 – the lead-in to the War of Gog and Magog.

“After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual place of ruins; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them” (Ezekiel 38:8)

How should we then pray?

Pray for divine strategies and courage to be given to Israel’s leaders in the military, intelligence and political spheres, as Elisha the prophet did in 2 Kings 6:8-23

Pray for the physical rescue of the perhaps 33-70 still-living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold-storage bargaining chips

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

When God parachuted Abraham into the Promised Land

In the very first chapters of the Bible, YHVH the God of Israel plucks Abraham out his father’s community and ‘parachuted’ him into the Promised Land. When he arrived in that land, he found various peoples living there:

Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. And YHVH appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to YHVH who had appeared to him (Genesis 12:6-7)

Taking a Gallup Poll from Canaanites and Philistines

If modern mainstream media had been around in the days of Abraham, reporters might well have gone out to take a survey as to how the Canaanites or Philistines felt about Abraham’s arrival. But to the Canaanites, Abraham’s ‘stealth’ appearance in that land would have felt like an insignificant event. Nevertheless, history was being decisively changed with each and every step that Abraham’s sandaled feet took, according to the declaration of YHVH: “Arise, walk about in the land through its length and width – for I will give it to you” (Genesis 13:17).

Four hundred years later, Israel invaded and conquered the Promised Land, obeying the express command of YHVH (see Deuteronomy 6:10-14). It can be safely assumed that Goliath’s people would not have supported Israel’s entrance into the territories promised to them in the Abrahamic Covenant (see Genesis 15:17-19).

The Great People-Mover

The Hebrew prophet speaks the very thoughts of YHVH in Amos 9:7-8 when he describes the God of Jacob as the ‘Great People-Mover’:

“Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, you sons of Israel? declares YHVH. Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir? Behold, the eyes of ADONAI YHVH are on the sinful kingdom, and I will eliminate it from the face of the earth. Nevertheless, I will not totally eliminate the House of Jacob, declares YHVH.”

Although the Jewish people may sometimes feel that they are currently stuck in the Exile somewhere – whether Egypt, Babylon, Europe or America – the God of Jacob reminds us that He is the One who rescued Israel from Egypt in the days of Moses. And He moved us in the days of Joshua back into the Land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

YHVH has moved other peoples around the Middle East as well. The Arameans of Damascus had been moved by YHVH from Kir (located somewhere between Armenia, Iraq and Iran), while the Greek-speaking Philistines had been moved by the God of Jacob from Caphtor (possibly Crete or Cyprus) towards Gaza, where they conquered the Avim (a people living in Gaza prior to the Philistine conquest) and established a five-city confederacy or pentapolis (Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron).

But the God of Jacob emphasizes a huge distinction here: Israel’s destiny will not be the same as that of the other peoples He moves around. YHVH declares that He will eventually judge every nation and eliminate every sinful kingdom, but that He will never eliminate the Jewish people even if their hearts temporarily turn away from Him. God will judge Israel; He will even exile Israel; but He will never remove Israel from being His beloved and chosen priority nation. As Hosea 11:7-10 declares:

“So My people are determined to turn from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, none at all exalts Him. How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboi’im? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled. I will not carry out My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, And I will not come in wrath. They will walk after YHVH! He will roar like a lion; Indeed He will roar, and His sons will come trembling from the west.”

People-moving can be an unpopular move

In our day, the world opposes the return of the Jewish people to their Promised Land – just as Canaanites or Philistines back in the day opposed the return of Jacob’s people to the Promised Land. At that time Israel was led by the sword of Moses, Joshua and Samuel, or by the strength of Samson:

“For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. And he will begin to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5)

Then Samson called to YHVH and said, “ADONAI YHVH, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Then Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, “Let my soul die with the Philistines!” And he pushed outwards powerfully, so that the house fell on the governors and all the people who were in it. And the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his lifetime (Judges 16:28-30)

Opposing the Return to Zion

The original Zionists had dreams and visions of a Jewish return to Zion – to the plains of Sharon, to the Valley of Jezreel, to the hills of Galilee and Samaria, and to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The empires which occupied God’s land –

First, the Ottoman Empire Turkey in the 19^th century and then the Britain Empire in the early 20^th century – opposed full Jewish return. In the second half of the 20^th century, America, the European Union and the Arab League opposed the Jewish people’s full return to the Promised Land.

Today many nations forbid the Jewish people from settling in Gaza, East Jerusalem, or the Jewish heartland in Judea and Samaria. But they stress how generous they are in allowing Jewish people to settle in Tel Aviv or West Jerusalem. In doing so, they ignore and violate God’s prophetic promises that He will return His people to the entire Land of Israel. And today’s world empires are trying to whittle away major territories of the Promised Land, endeavoring to establish Judenrein enclaves where jihadi terrorists plot Israel’s destruction.

Today’s international consortium, adamantly opposed to Jewish return to their own Promised Land, is spiritually joined at the hip to the Canaanites and Philistines of olden days. Who will save Israel from the hand of these modern-day Philistines?

Jeremiah’s consolation

The prophet Jeremiah in his chapter 31 waxes rhapsodic over Israel’s full return to the Promised Land. The sword of the enemy in the land of the enemy will not block YHVH’s great restoration of the Jewish people to the fullness of their homeland:

At that time, declares YHVH, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people. This is what YHVH says: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness – Israel, when it went to find its rest . . . YHVH appeared to him long ago, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have drawn you out with kindness. I will build you again and you will be rebuilt, Virgin of Israel! You will take up your tambourines again, and go out to the dances of the revelers. You will plant vineyards again on the hills of Samaria. The planters will plant and will enjoy the fruit . . . For this is what YHVH says: “Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, and I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth . . . They will return here as a great assembly” . . . Hear the word of YHVH, you nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away, and say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him, and He will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.” For YHVH has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, and they will be radiant over the bounty of YHVH” . . . This is what YHVH says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears . . . And they will return from the land of the enemy . . . and your children will return to their own territory . . . This is what YHVH of armies, the God of Israel says: “Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I restore their fortunes.”

“But YHVH hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen (Exodus 9:12)”

YHVH hardened Pharaoh’s heart in the days of Moses. The greatest empire in the world watched as its firstborn sons’ bodies corroded in the harsh Egyptian sun, and as the corpses of its top military charioteers were washed up onto the shoreline of the Red Sea. In our day, the superpowers and the jihadi terrorists of the world are arrogantly violating God’s divine principles regarding the inviolability of the Promised Land or the divine protection overshadowing the Jewish people. These solemn truths are scorned and belittled by the nations, who are about to receive the crushing hand of YHVH’s judgment. The global plans of the nations and their anti-Israel strategies will soon receive their divine come-uppance.

As the nations oppose the Return of Israel to their land, they are also opposing YHVH, the God of Israel who is actively bringing His people back home again (see Ezekiel 37:9-14). Those who militarily oppose the returning Jewish people will be militarily opposed by the God of Israel at His return.

How should we then pray?

Pray for divine revelation and courage to be given to pastors, teachers and world leaders to discern God’s hand in the Return of Israel to their Promised Land

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 33 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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

Peace, insanity and the same results

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The brilliant physicist Albert Einstein is credited with speaking these words, but the proverb was actually penned by civil rights campaigner Rita Mae Brown in 1983.

This maxim applies to the nations of the world, as they attempt to establish a quicksilver pseudo-peace in the Middle East. It also applies to strong political forces in Israel’s opposition who are attempting to re-establish a terror-controlled Gaza, ruled by a jihadi bouillabaisse comprised of both Hamas and the PLO. The metallic chaff of mainstream media news serves as a cheerleader for this march of death, jamming clear thinking on this development for most people. These broadcasters valiantly press on, presenting their end-game scenarios which include:

the retreat of the IDF from Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem

the quashing of Jewish return to and settlement in portions of the Promised Land promised by YHVH to the sons and daughters of Jacob

the ensconcing of a jihadi-run Palestinian terror-state in all three areas

International news headlines hammer home these points day and night. Incessant reportage homes in with laser-like intensity on the politically correct narrative: presenting Hamas as pursuers of peace who truly desire ceasefire and return of the Israeli hostages (those 35 or so who are still alive, or the 100 or so Israeli corpses in Hamas tunnels and caves). TV and news outlets consistently portray Israel as an evil and stubborn people led by wicked and deceptive rulers, who are perversely holding out for unrealistic and counter-productive demands.

The openly declared jihadi strategies of Hamas and the PLO – that they will never recognize the Jewish state or allow it to survive – are uncomfortable deal-breakers, revealing the total bankruptcy of Western political ‘peace plans.’ But these deadly declarations of the terror masters are deftly swept under the carpet, blithely dismissed by diplomats like Vedant Patel, the US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesman, who stated on August 13, 2024:

“We think this is a vital time as we are working to get this ceasefire deal across the finish line . . . [O]ur stated goal is for the region, which is a two-state solution, a Palestinian state and an Israeli state that’s side-by-side, living in . . . dignity and harmony . . . Over the course of this whole process, over the course of this whole conflict, it has been clear to everyone that [Hamas arch-terrorist leader] Mr. Sinwar continues to be the decision maker. And when it comes to the future of the Palestinian people, when it comes to the ability to alleviate some of the suffering and to alleviate some of the dire situations that we’re seeing in the Gaza Strip, ultimately that is also up to Mr. Sinwar.”

The enemy of my enemy is also my enemy

An oft-quoted proverb ascribed to Middle Eastern origins states that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This saying is also known in Latin as “Amicus meus, inimicus inimici mei” (‘my friend – the enemy of my enemy’). The closest Arabic equivalent is found in Nahj al-balāgha (‘the path of eloquence’), an eleventh-century collection of more than two-hundred sermons, nearly eighty letters, and almost five-hundred sayings attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661 AD). Ali was the fourth Rashidun caliph (who ruled between 656 and 661 AD). He was also the first Shia imam, and the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. His collection has served as an ideological basis for Islamic governance, especially for Shi’ite Muslims. Here is the pertinent quote from that book:

“Imam Ali ʿalayhi s-salām (peace be upon him) said: ‘Your friends are of three types and your enemies are also of three types. Friends are: your friend; your friend’s friend; the enemy of your enemy. And your enemies are: your enemy; your friend’s enemy; a friend of your enemy’” (Nahj al-balāgha, Hikmat 295)

This proverb helps us to understand what is going on in the purported ‘peace discussions’ in Doha, Qatar. The three catalyzers of this ‘Doha Summit’ are POTUS Biden, the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Qatar is Egypt’s mortal enemy, supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. The Muslim Brotherhood (Jamāʿat al-Ikhwān al-Muslimīn) carried out the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar es-Sadat on October 6, 1981. They forced the resignation of Sadat’s successor Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011, replacing him with Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi.

Morsi (the Muslim Brotherhood President) received strong support from Qatar, a long-time financier of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar declared that it would provide Egypt with US$2 billion, while private Qatari investors from Qatar pledged US$10 billion to strengthen Egyptian infrastructure. The Brotherhood uses the Arabic honorific ‘sheikh’ to refer to Osama bin Laden, and has never condemned the 9/11 jihadi terror attacks. But they have condemned the killing of Bin Laden, stating: “The whole world, and especially the Muslims, have lived with a fierce media campaign to brand Islam as terrorism and describe the Muslims as violent by blaming the September 11th incident on al-Qaeda.”

Can Qatar (the main financier of Hamas) be considered an honest broker for peace at the Doha Summit?

Can Egypt honestly cooperate with Qatar while acting as an honest mediator for Hamas? The IDF announced yesterday that 50 Hamas terror tunnels which were used to smuggle weapons into Gaza from Egypt along the Philadelphia Route, have been discovered and destroyed over the past week. Egypt is aware of these tunnels and has allowed them to operate, though it hypocritically denies any such knowledge. In either case, Egypt is not acting as a country bound by a peace treaty with Israel; it is aiding and abetting our mortal enemies.

Can the US be considered an honest broker when its Middle East strategy sees Qatar as a linchpin, and US CENTCOM’s main al-Udeid airbase is smack-dab in the middle of Qatar?

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stated in the past few days that “Qatar and Egypt are, in turn, mediating with Hamas.” The Hamas terror group has refused to formally attend the summit, but says it will be negotiating through Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Deep-rooted duplicity and hypocrisy are reflected by Egypt, Qatar and the USA here, as they push Israel to step away from crushing jihadi terrorist Hamas and move toward dividing the Land of Israel:

U.S. National Security Spokesperson John Kirby said: “This is vital work. Remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we must bring this process to a close. We need to see the hostages released, relief for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, security for Israel and lower tensions in the region, and we need to see those things as soon as possible.”

Kirby stated that CIA director Bill Burns and White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk are currently meeting with representatives from Israel, Qatar and Egypt. In a joint statement from the triumvirate of POTUS Biden, Qatari Emir al-Thani and Egyptian President al-Sisi, it was stated: “It is time, immediately, to put an end to the long-standing suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip . . . It is time to finalize a ceasefire agreement.”

The persistent and unchanging long-term goals of all three countries include the shrinking of the borders of the state of Israel; the withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem; the establishment of a jihadi terror state overseen by a combined Hamas-PLO-Palestinian Authority junta.

The Israeli delegation

Israel has given in to American pressure, sending a delegation comprising Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet (Israeli FBI) head Ronen Bar. Accompanying them are IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon and senior Netanyahu adviser Ophir Falk. Iran and Hamas are manipulating the entire process: Iran hints that it may delay its seven-pronged attack on Israel for a few days if a ‘Doha deal’ can be achieved. The US State Department indicates that such a deal can be obtained if Israel pulls out of Gaza and allows Palestinian terror groups to take over. Hamas refuses to officially attend the Doha Summit, acting as ‘the strong horse’ in this Middle Eastern race, and using its recalcitrance as a bargaining chip.

Hamas’s clearly stated short-term conditions and long-term goals include: the total destruction of the state of Israel and the annihilation of the Jewish people (as per its 1987-88 Charter); the full withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza and a complete and unconditional Israeli ceasefire; the total release of all Hamas terrorists jailed by Israel; the total and unfettered return of Hamas to all areas in Gaza now held by the IDF; free passage for weapons into Gaza from Egypt and from the Mediterranean Sea; the return of only 33 of all the Israeli hostages (Hamas prefers to return mostly corpses, but perhaps some living hostages as well).

How should we then pray?

Pray for divine revelation and strategies to be given to Israel’s leadership and to their delegation to discern and frustrate the strategies of the enemy

Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 33 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips

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

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

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

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

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