Inside Israel

Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is —

Greetings, Brothers and sister,

May we bathe in the abundant fullness of life that He has given us in Himself, and bring glory ONLY to His Name.

“Looking unto Him” was my word to keep at the forefront of my life this year. Keeping this exhortation at the forefront of my year has greatly impacted my life and I intend to KEEP it at the forefront.  Indeed, it is the battle call of the day. SURELY this is the message that I need − and maybe you too − in these days ahead of us, just to survive.

I was amazed to hear from many of you that what is happening here in Israel is not generally being reported in the western media at all. So you need to know that our area is exploding.

You need to know so that you can pray and so that you yourself can be prepared for the seriousness of the hour.  May The Lord direct me as I write for His glory.

I have just come back from running errands and also meeting a sister down town. Usually it is bustling on a Sunday morning, but today it is tense and quiet.  In most of the places that I went to do errands, I was the ONLY customer in the shop.  Even in the supermarket there were just a handful of people.  My husband just told me that he has had no customers so far today. None.

Thursday, on the way to work, I watched the familiar “first alert” motorcycle park in front of the synagogue across from the doctor’s office where I work.  I don’t know how many other countries have these, but we have an army of “ambulance-motorcycles” that can scoot through traffic jams right to the emergency scene.  Usually this one is already parked at the synagogue before I arrive just before 7 a.m., but this morning he must have been late. I saw him for the first time ever. He was a young man with a prayer shawl draped over his army uniform, removing his motorcycle helmet with one hand and a prayer book in the other, running into the synagogue to pray. The sight stopped me in my mind and its image imbedded itself in my mind.  What can I say? This is Israel.

The news media just reported that 18 Israeli terror victims still remain in hospital, 3 in critical condition. These are the results of numerous knife and stone throwing attacks that have taken place since this past Wednesday.

This morning an Arab woman detonated a device in her car at a border crossing injuring one border patrolman and badly injuring her.  The police presence is strong everywhere, with sniffer dogs walking up and down main roads.  At the slightest sign of something irregular, citizens run up to one of these guardians and point toward what needs to be checked out.

I think that it was Thursday when the bomb squad was called to an underpass in front of my house. I had to stand clear od the windows while the bomb was detonated.

But it isn’t just in Jerusalem or other big cities.

With the Syrian war raging on our northern border, which includes the presence of Iran, Russia and Hezbollah, areas of the northern Arab towns have started to erupt with demonstrations.  From Gaza, rockets have again begun to fly, and large groups of rioters have succeeded twice in breaking the Gaza border fence and infiltrating into Israel.  It seems that both inside and on all of our borders there is a renewed surge to press us into the sea.

What has caused this latest escalation and what will the outcome be?  Is it spontaneous as they are claiming?

I think NOT!

In my OPINION, there is one BIG factor that I have not seen spoken of anywhere:  the agreement between the west and Iran.  Even before the agreement was ratified by the US, huge European investors were pounding at Iran’s doors to invest and renew trade.  Forget any of their money, which might remain sanctioned, the new money is pouring into Iran.

They immediately became the key to negotiating any middle-east problem and the wise son to be courted.  They increased their production of weapons and were again exporting them.  In my OPINION: THAT was the sign that the Palestinians were waiting for because with Iran out of isolation and having money, Hamas and Hezbollah again have their strongman backer again.

The cry that went out from mosques and Arab leaders proclaimed: “Israel is Judaizing Jerusalem! Defend the Alaksa Mosque!  The Jews are trying to destroy the mosque!  They are changing the status quo!

These statements have been hammered into the heads of Arabs, actually for years, but suddenly the soil was right for the seeds to sprout and ripen.

1) Their meaning of “Judaizing Jerusalem” says that Jews have no history in this region, and certainly not on Temple Mount.  There never was a temple.  Jews are making it up to destroy the great legacy of Islam that has been the owner from the beginning.

2) The Jews are trying to destroy Alaksa Mosque is ridiculous!  Our police and soldiers are the ones who have defended it against a few radicals over the years who decided to blow it up, but these were very isolated. They were swiftly dealt with by Israeli law.  When renovations of the ramp to the temple mount were being carried out, the cry went out that we were trying to destroy the mosque.  The same cry went out when the Hashmonian Tunnel was open.  It is an empty accusation as they all are.

3) The ‘status quo’ − which is just as it says: that what has been will continue. It in fact has NOT changed DESPITE the fact that the news media is screaming “Jews refuse entry to temple mount of Moslem worshippers!”

But yes, this is all PART of the status-quo!  The riots are generally carried out by young men who store up rocks, Molotov cocktails and other weapons in the mosque to throw down on Jewish worshippers at the western wall.  When that happens (NOT infrequently) an age limit is set on Moslem men allowed to enter the compound.  It’s the law and it prevents riots and injuries.  When calm is restored the age limit is lifted.

I know that I don’t have to tell most of you these things. It perplexes most Israelis that the world seems so blind.  How can people not see and not understand?

But HE walked these very streets in this very city and WE did not see and understand.  It’s sadly EASY to be deceived and to believe something that isn’t the truth and then to disbelieve Truth.

And that is precisely why “Looking unto Jesus…” has meant so much to me.  I can’t trust myself to discern the truth. Only HE Who IS Truth can rightly divide it to me.  I mean, how many times did His own followers not even recognize Him in the flesh? What in the world makes me think that my little pea brain can discern TRUTH in this upside down world?  ONLY BY HIS SPIRIT CAN I KNOW TRUTH!  I am convinced of that…and yet I still let that old pea brain carry me away once in awhile.  How PROUD a little pea can be!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SPIRIT LED PRAYERS FOR OUR NATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH GOD’S PLANS AND PURPOSES FOR HIS GLORY.

God bless you.

Lovingly,

your sister J