Signs of the times – connecting the dots

April 29, 2019

“The Pharisees and Sadducees came up. Testing Yeshua, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, ‘When it is evening, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.” And in the morning, “There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.” Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?’” (Matthew 16:1-3).

Yeshua was doing many Messianic miracles throughout Israel. Thousands were getting supernaturally healed and delivered. Some were even resuscitated from the dead. But most power brokers and media influencers would not embrace either the Messenger or His Message: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19-20).

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

The spiritual dynamics of not ‘getting with the plan’ are as old as the hills. In 1965’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” Dylan lets loose with the famous line, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Yeshua also spoke to the weather channel authorities of his generation, warning them that “something was going on and they didn’t know what it is.”

Today there are certain events going on which seem to pass us by like ships in the night. We do shudder at the explosions of Islamist jihadi terrorism, for sure. But even so, politicians and media bend over backwards to avoid such terms. There’s a lot of mealy-mouthed mumbling going on regarding the Middle East-based ‘emperor and his new clothes.’

But now is the day when we need to wake up and smell the Jägermeister. We are facing sober parallels to the rise of Hitler. Though the Führer had time to instigate and catalyze WWII (involving the bloody ravaging of Europe and North Africa), his compulsion was the mass murder of Jacob’s children. Hitler prioritized sending Jews to gas chambers over sending Wehrmacht troops to the Russian front. Six million dead Jews later, most of the world has not yet come to terms with the satanic roots here – the spiritual sources of Hitler’s hatred of the Hebrew nation (see Genesis 12:3; Ezekiel 35-36).

When anti-Semitism raised its ugly head in Germany of the 1930’s, most nations pooh-poohed the matter. It’s just over-excitable Jews trying to drag us into their paranoid delusions, said many. The Jewish people deserve it, some opined; they are simply too successful in business. Others slyly commented that the Jews are the power behind all thrones, supposedly controlling the banks, the media, the world economy, the arts, etc.

I am a witness that each one of these anti-Semitic poisonous charges from the 1930’s are circulating today in broad daylight. I have heard these words echo in the public square and in religious conferences, at the plenum of the U.N. and from evangelical pulpits. We are living in days which are strikingly similar to those during the rise of Hitler. These are the signs of the times. Who is connecting the dots?

Multiple choice or ‘one size fits all’?

The Jewish community of Germany’s 1930’s Weimar Republic could not allow itself to believe that mass murder of Isaac was coming down the pike. Hitler rose to dictatorial power on a tidal wave of anti-Communist fear. Loyal German Jews would not believe that Germany (Europe’s most technologically advanced and civilized nation) was turning against the Hebrew people. Many German Jews were actually anti-Zionist and anti-religious, hoping that by staying away from strongly Jewish identity they would avoid persecution.

The Jews of France fell into a similar pit during Marshal Pétain’s Régime de Vichy similarly thinking that they would be safe due to their unimpeachable loyalty to the French Revolution. Others (like Theodore Herzl and those who witnessed the Dreyfus Affair riots of 1898) were not so sure. Modern political Zionism was the outstanding response to French anti-Semitic violence:

Today most American Jews prefer to see the murder of Jews as a right-wing and white racist phenomenon. Yet in fact it is international jihadi and Islamist Jew-hatred which is the prime mover in this field. The explosion of European anti-Jewish attacks is largely due to the tidal wave of Muslim immigration, which has brought with it centuries-old anti-Jewish Islamist attitudes and history.

Leftist anti-Semitism is not only widespread in Europe (as the above articles show). It has bounded to its feet with demonized energy in the United States:

Modern anti-Semitism comes in many variegated stripes – Islamist, white power and radical leftist.

These are the present manifestations of Jew-hatred.

All those who love the Jewish people need to be on guard against the cancer of all three signs.

Who said ‘Never again!’?

On the last day of Passover, April 27, 2019, a Chabad synagogue in Poway (San Diego, CA area) was attacked by 19-year old John Earnest. Lori Gilbert-Kaye, a 60-year old Jewish woman was murdered when she jumped in front of her Rabbi Yisrael Goldstein’s son Mendel to protect him. Three other synagogue attenders were wounded including:

34-year-old Israeli Almog Peretz, was shot in the leg as he led his sister’s children to the safety of a playroom. He was visiting the Dahan family in the USA

Noya Dahan, 8, suffered shrapnel wounds. Her parents Israel and Eden had moved the family from Sderot in Israel (an area regularly targeted by Hamas mortars) after the father was injured by rocket fire. They hoped San Diego would be safer. Israel Dahan said that his children now want to leave the U.S., and that after the shooting they asked him, “Why we are staying here?”

After the Holocaust/Shoah, a watchword was created in the Jewish community, “Never again!” The origin of the term might have come from Ukrainian-born Hebrew poet Yitzḥak Lamdan who published a poem in 1926 called “Masada” where he declared, “In the dance’s circling chain, never shall Masada fall again!”

Later on the term was used to proclaim that the Jewish people would never allow a Second Holocaust to occur. The 1961 documentary Mein Kampf, directed by the Swedish-Jewish filmmaker Erwin Leiser, concluded with an overhead panning shot of Auschwitz and the words “It must never happen again – never again.” In 1972 Meir Kahane of the Jewish Defense League authored a book outlining his vision of Jewish history titled Never Again! A Program for Survival. And finally in 2000 the British-Jewish historian Martin Gilbert authored Never Again: A History of the Holocaust.

When people are forced to confront the murderous evil of anti-Jewish hatred, it is natural and healthy for them to fight back. However, without a biblical perspective about the spiritual roots of Islamist source documents, it is also easy to assume that all terror movements are equal, and that they all can be eradicated by concentrated social action. But we have the wry privilege of living at a critical juncture in history – where there is coming a dénouement of evil. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a dénouement refers to the final part of a play, film, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.

The present fast-developing explosion of multifaceted religious and political anti-Semitism indicates that history has moved up a notch to a new level – one which will morph into the most virulent of all expressions of Jew-hatred

Counting the cost

The eruption of Jew-hatred is a touchstone of Messiah’s soon arrival. Revelation 12 depicts a Last Days desperate satanic attempt to annihilate Jacob’s children. As we head toward such sober challenges, we need to be ready; we need to count the cost (see Luke 14:25-33).

Israel may have its troubles and enemies, but no other homeland will offer the Jewish people anything more than fleeting safety.

The rise of unbridled anti-Jewish evil will not be easily stuffed back into the genie’s bottle. These are challenging days.

As Gandalf once said, “Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.” “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. And already, Frodo, our time is beginning to look black. The Enemy is fast becoming very strong. His plans are far from ripe, I think, but they are ripening. We shall be hard put to it” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, page 19).

Stay on target

There is no panic in Heaven, Corrie ten Boom would say. God has no problems, only plans. Corrie witnessed great anti-Jewish evil and suffered much for standing with the Jewish people during Nazi days. Her words can be of great encouragement to us.

God is raising up an army to counter this foul wave of anti-Semitism. In Ezekiel 37 YHVH describes His purpose in restoring the Jewish people (still without the fullness of the Holy Spirit) to their Promised Land of Israel.

The Return to Zion is His doing: “Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says YHVH God, Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:12).
His purpose in restoring us to the Land of Israel involves fashioning us into a great and mighty army: “So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:10).

This is what is coming down the pike. Are you ready? Would you like to partner with us in practical ways to make this prophetic vision a reality?

Equipping the army

The prophetic calling that the God of Jacob has given us involves catalyzing this vision, seeding it across the face of the planet, and equipping the remnant of Israel to grow into its destiny as the army of Ezekiel 37.

As we do this, as we spread our wings through media outreach (face-to-face equipping, on-line teaching, music video outreach, etc.) we surely are in need of significant increase in financial support and prayer undergirding from all who believe in this message. Your ongoing contribution to this ministry will literally allow us to go forward and expand our outreach. When you stand with us, you actually become a co-laborer in what we are accomplishing, and you share in the rewards.

Would you consider standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us in this new and next level of challenge? We appreciate it as your brother and sister in Messiah Yeshua.

How should we then pray?

Pray for physical protection and spiritual infusion for all the scattered children of Jacob
Pray for revelation for the Jewish communities worldwide regarding the physical and spiritual threats we are facing
Pray for revelation for the wider Body of Messiah about the exploding threat of anti-Semitism and how to respond pro-actively
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

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Signs of the times – connecting the dots

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