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
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