Wasted on Jesus!

James W. Goll

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Living in the Middle of WWIII
by Avner Boskey
December 9th, 2006

The shopping malls of the West are filled with Christmas cheer and muzak.  The countdown to the night before Christmas has begun.  There are gifts to purchase and wrap, and parties to attend.  Attention spans are ‘seasonally distracted.’  As visions of sugar-plums dance through many heads, who has time to notice that the world is shuddering slowly and moving deeper into the birth canal of World War III?

The sudden summer explosion of war between Hezbollah and Lebanon has faded to a muffled growl of hostilities – yet it is ready to burst into flames at any moment. The doomsday Iranian race to acquire nuclear weapons paralyzes a distracted world caught in the blinding headlights of rising oil prices and jihadi bombers.  The ominous rise of a Near Eastern radical Shi’ite crescent has chilled the spirits of world leaders from Saudi Arabia to both U.S. Houses.  As the famous Messianic Jewish British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once remarked, What we anticipate seldom occurs; but what we least expect generally happens.

About 400 B.C. the dramatist Aristophanes described how chaos in his day was threatening to overtake civilization’s order. Whirl is king, he declared.  Today the whirl of destructive forces – Samuel P. Huntington’s clash of civilizations– pits the Christianized West against rising jihadi Islam.  

This whirl of world events may well create confusion or despair in the hearts of some intercessors, and may attempt to sway believers from staying the course.  The Apostle Paul speaks words of encouragement for us: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes  . . . Stand firm then … (and) with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints (Eph. 6:10-18).

A sure touchstone in times of trouble – something that will help to take the spin out of the whirl– is to consider world events in light of Israel, “the people close to God’s heart” (Ps. 148:14).  A biblical understanding of God’s strategies with the Jewish people is vital if we are to make sense of world events.  Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Teheran, Baghdad, Damascus, Riyadh and Cairo – all of these significant cities and their leaders are being weighed on God’s scales, even as these nations think that they are the ones weighing Israel, its people and its borders on their own ‘scales’ and ‘balance’-sheets (see Dan. 5:27; Deut. 32:8-11; Joel 3:1-2).

Lebanon and Gaza

It has been five months since war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah.  Over 156 Israelis were killed in that period – civilians by Hezbollah katyusha attacks in Northern Israel and soldiers in combat in Southern Lebanon.  Many of you prayed with us throughout the war for the peace of Jerusalem, for the destruction of jihadi terror stratagems and forces, and for the salvation of Israel and Lebanon.

The war ended inconclusively.  In spite of Israel’s significant destruction of long-range Chinese and Iranian missiles during the first three days of the war, the unrelenting barrage of short range katyushas onto civilian centers shocked Israel’s population, though it did not shock IDF tacticians.  

For years army intelligence had been warning about the dangers of allowing Hezbollah (a proxy for Iran) to turn southern Lebanon into a rocket and terror base aimed at northern Israel.  But Israeli politicians interested in a short-lived PR peace brushed intelligence objections under the carpet, and the buildup continued.  The withdrawals from Lebanon and Gaza carried out by PMs Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon (and supported by one or two Messianic leaders in Israel) have led to war on both fronts and the downgrading of regional and individual security for Israel.  We are closer to regional war as a result of these withdrawals, and not closer to peace.

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

The leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashal, announced in Cairo on November 25, 2006 that unless a Palestinian Islamist state is established with in six months, his forces will initiate another Middle East war.  We give the international community six months for real political horizons … If our demands are not met, the Palestinian people will close all political files and launch a third intifada.  The conflict will be open and the victory in this conflict will be ours. (www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=12564)

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

Pray that God will speak to Israel’s leaders about how to prepare for and win this coming war.  Pray that He will reveal Himself to Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, Chief Of Staff Dan Halutz and Minister of Defense Amir Peretz.  Pray for the confounding of the murderous strategies of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.

A window of six months

Six months from now will be June 2007, the 40th anniversary of Israel’s retaking of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.  ‘Forty years’ in the Bible represents a time of humbling and testing, in order to reveal what is inside Israel’s heart: Remember how YHVH your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of YHVH (Deut. 8:2-3; see also Deut. 29:5-6).

These past forty years have been a time of testing for Israel.  God has been looking into the Jewish people’s hearts, looking to see if we hear His voice and discern His hands in our victories and defeats, in His gracious returning of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to Jewish control.  Though some have recognized His hand and heard His voice, the majority of Israel’s leaders have not recognized His ways.

For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.  Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen what I did.  For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.’  So I declared on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest (Ps. 95:7-11).  

The writer of the Book to the Hebrew adds So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief (Heb. 3:19).

Our prophetic brother Bob Jones has recently said that Israel and the body of Messiah have a short time of peace until June 2007.  At that point, he said, the Lord will start making decisions for Israel.

Pray for Israel fervently!  As a nation we are not in the spiritual condition that we can pray for ourselves.  We need you to pray for Israel continually!  Pray that we as a nation will respond to God’s voice and come to know His ways in the immediate future.  Pray that we will decisively defeat our enemies and move closer to ‘entering into His rest’ – knowing Yeshua as Savior, Deliverer and Chief of Staff of the armies of Israel (see Ps. 60; Josh. 5:13-6:2).

We encourage you to pray this passage over Israel: You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. Because he loves Me, says YHVH, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name.  He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation. (Ps. 91:13-16)

Two points holding back judgment

Bob Jones also prophesied that there are two issues that are holding back judgment from falling on America, and that if and when these positions change, judgment will be instant.  The two issues are – standing with Israel, and love for the poor.  We understand that in both cases it is the actions and prayers of believers in Yeshua that are in focus.  

So pray for the United States of America, for her leaders, advisors and her Commander in Chief, that at all costs no decisions will be made to shrink Israel’s borders or step back from standing with Israel against Islamist enemies.  Our prayers may become more urgent when we realize that, if Israel is forced into all-out warfare, the U.S. may also find itself involved in major warfare right away.

The recent Iraq Study Group Report (ISG) headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III recommended to President Bush that the U.S. cajole Syria  and Iran into cooperating with a peaceful American pullout from Iraq – in exchange for certain ‘carrots’ or incentives.  The U.S. incentive to Syria should be pressure on Israel to shrink its borders (see Joel 3:1-2).

ISG Recommendation 16 reads: In exchange for these actions and in the context of a full and secure peace agreement, the Israelis should return the Golan Heights, with a U.S. security guarantee for Israel that could include an international force on the border, including U.S. troops if requested by both parties.

Some U.S. politicians believe that American strategic interests in the Middle East should be advanced at the expense of Israel’s security, or that distancing the U.S. from Israel will prove beneficial to America’s strategic interests in the Middle East. In fact, biblically speaking, the exact opposite is true.

Former C.I.A. Director (DCI) Robert Gates in his recent Senate Confirmation Hearings noted that a direct Iranian nuclear attack against Israel may not be considered by the U.S. as a direct threat against the U.S.  It is sobering to remember that such reasoning has historical precedent.  On September 1 1939 the U.S. did not consider a Nazi attack against Poland and England to be a direct threat against America, and refused to enter the war in aid of England.  Britain fought the Nazis alone, without American help, for more than two years. It was only a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 that forced the U.S. to declare war on Japan and on its Axis partner Nazi Germany.  It is sobering to consider whether or not the U.S. would actually come to Israel’s aid were the Jewish state to be attacked by Iranian nuclear weapons.

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Here are the relevant quotes below.

MR. GATES: Senator Byrd, I think that military action against Iran would be an absolute last resort; that any problems that we have with Iran, our first option should be diplomacy and working with our allies to try and deal with the problems that Iran is posing to us ... And I think that the consequences of a conflict – a military conflict with Iran could be quite dramatic. And therefore, I would counsel against military action, except as a last resort and if we felt that our vital interests were threatened.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Dr. Gates, …do you believe the Iranians are trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability?

MR. GATES: Yes, sir, I do…

SEN. GRAHAM: Do you believe the Iranians would consider using that nuclear weapons capability against the nation of Israel?

MR. GATES: I don’t know that they would do that, Senator. I think that the risks for them obviously are enormously high…

SEN. GRAHAM: The president of Iran has publicly disavowed the existence of the Holocaust, he has publicly stated that he would like to wipe Israel off the map. Do you think he’s kidding?

MR. GATES: No, I don’t think he’s kidding. And – but I think that there are, in fact, higher powers in Iran than he, than the president. And I think that while they are certainly pressing, in my opinion, for a nuclear capability, I think that they would see it in the first instance as a deterrent …

SEN. GRAHAM: Can you assure the Israelis that they will not attack Israel with a nuclear weapon, if they acquire one?

MR. GATES: No, sir, I don’t think that anybody can provide that assurance …

SEN. GRAHAM: Do you believe the terrorists – al Qaeda’s goal and other terrorist organizations, … includes not only driving us  out of Iraq but the region?

MR. GATES: Yes, sir.

SEN. GRAHAM: Do you believe it includes toppling of all moderate regimes in the region?

MR. GATES: Yes, sir.

SEN. GRAHAM: All regimes that are unfaithful to their view of religion?

MR. GATES: Yes, sir.

SEN. GRAHAM: Do you believe it is the ultimate destruction of the state of Israel?

MR. GATES: Yes, sir.

Words of wisdom from the past

Many in America are frustrated and angry at constant fatalities in the Iraq war, and see no end in sight.  The political echelons are attempting to come up with real solutions and seek wisdom for handling an intractable situation. It is important to remember that the Iraqi theater of operations is one aspect of an extended war between the West and jihadi Islam – a war that America finds itself leading, willingly or not.  In this context it is worth remembering the words of Sir Winston Churchill as he carried the flag in an extended war against fascism.  In his day, long before WWII broke out, he was a lone voice warning the world about the Nazi menace.

Our enemies are powerful.  They consider they will have the strength to wear us out even if they cannot beat us down.  Their hope is now to prolong the struggle so that perhaps differences will arise between friends and allies, so that perhaps the democracies they despise and whom they underrate will weary of the war (Bradford Town Hall, England, December 6, 1942).

I know of nothing that has happened yet which justifies the hope that the war will not be long or that bitter and bloody years do not lie ahead.  Certainly, the most painful experiences would lie before us if we allowed ourselves to relax our exertions, to weaken the disciplined unity and order of our array, if we fell to quarreling about what we should do with our victory before that victory had been won.  We must not build on hopes or fears, but only on the continued faithful discharge of our duty wherein alone will be found safety and peace of mind. (BBC Radio broadcast, November 29, 1942).

As World War III continues, the war between jihadi Islam and the West, we also remember British writer George Orwell (who also penned Animal Farm) who said, The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory (May 1946, “Second Thoughts on James Burnham”).  He also noted quietly that we sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.

Ask for the grace to live an alert life in a season of war

Yeshua prophesied that the last days generation would live in a world at war.  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come (Matt. 24:6).  It is important that believers in Yeshua should start getting used to the thought of living in and ministering to a world at war.  Danger clarifies the thoughts and can purify the heart.  It moves us to choose what really matters, to spend our lives and energies on eternal values and efforts.

Be on guard!  Be alert!  Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the Owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.  If He comes suddenly, do not let Him find you sleeping.  What I say to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!’” (Mark 13:33-37)

So then, let us  not be like others, who are asleep, but let us  be alert …” (1Thess. 5:6)

Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings (1 Pet. 5:8-9)

We bless you for standing with us this year, for your prayers and your support.  Your concrete friendship encourages us to go on and equips us in moving forward.

Thank you in the name of Messiah Yeshua, the Light of the World and the Glory of His people Israel!

In Messiah Yeshua's love, 
Avner Boskey (for Rachel, Daniel, David, Asaph and Elisha)

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