PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM

DAY 26 OPERATION PROTECTIVE SHIELD

 

PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM

This is a new blog intended to inform and encourage all those who take seriously the command of our LORD to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122: 6).

I am a Christian believer who has lived in Israel for over 30 years and in Jerusalem the last 3 years.   Like all Israelis I am constantly distressed by the warped and twisted way that the Western media often presents events concerning Israel. It is difficult to sift truth from fiction. I hope that I can help to bring some clarity into the situation and encourage Christians worldwide to pray with understanding, and in the Spirit, for Jerusalem , for  Israel and the for whole world.

While embroiled in the middle of the current war I was seeking the Lord one day, and asking what He required of me in these times. He brought to mind the following verse:

" For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places"
Ephesians 6:12.

I realized that though I could not take up arms as a soldier in the flesh, I certainly could take up arms as a soldier in the spiritual battle that rages behind the physical war that is taking place.  Although Jerusalem has been somewhat on the sidelines of the current operations against the terror organization (Hamas) in Gaza, it is definitely on the vanguard of the front line of the spiritual warfare, and I, as a resident of Jerusalem, am a front-line soldier.  

This morning I was reading Isaiah 63 and two verses hit me hard:
Verse 3 " I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me", and verse 5
" I looked but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold."  Of course these verses are referring to the end-time , when Jesus returns, but the principal holds even for this time. In the spiritual battle the LORD of Hosts (the spiritual armies) is looking for those who will stand with him, helping and upholding Him. As one of my friends said yesterday, "God is looking for people who will cry with Him". Who else can do this, but those who are called by his Name?

I also realized that when we meet to pray we have tended to concentrate on prayer for protection. I saw us hiding below the Iron Dome antimissile system, with God's protective hand over that as well, something like the shell of a turtle protecting us. That is great and good, and we should keep praying that way, but I believe God requires more of us. He needs us to come out from under the shell (spiritually speaking) and take the offensive. We need to be proactive and to take the initiative in breaking down the spiritual strongholds of the Enemy.  This calls for courage and faith.

Today the words of the song written by Graham Kendrick kept playing in my head:
Lift high the banners of love, Hallelujah,
Sound the trumpets of war,
Christ has gotten us the victory, Hallelujah,
Jericho must fall, Jericho must fall.
http://muzipedia.net/video.php?artist=Hosanna%20Music&song=Lift%20High%20the%20Banners%20of%20Love

We must march under the  banner of love, love for God, love for each other, and love for all the peoples of the world, and especially for our enemies.  Love is our weapon, the only weapon the Enemy cannot counterfeit, and the only weapon that can overcome hatred and violence. We need to sound the trumpets of the spiritual warfare. We can do so with confidence and without fear because Christ has gotten us the victory- victory over sin and death . It is already done in the spiritual realm. Jericho must fall- there is no 'ifs' or 'buts'; it MUST  fall. There is no choice or doubt here. The spiritual strongholds of the Enemy MUST fall, when we shout out in the Spirit just as the Israelites shouted, in unison with the priests and the men of war, and God made the walls of Jericho fall down  (Joshua 6).

More and more I am seeing  the leaders and the people of Israel coming to  an understanding that this is a spiritual war.  This is something new in modern times . Col. Ofer Winter, commander of the Givati Infantry Brigade, recently wrote unprecedented words of encouragement to his soldiers: "History chose us to be the spearhead in the fight against the 'Gazan' terrorist enemy that defies, blasphemes, and curses the God of the armies of Israel. "Winter added a brief prayer: "I lift up my eyes to heaven and call with you, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!'" The letter ended with a wish for the fulfillment of the verse "The Lord, your God, who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies and gives you victory." You can read more about this on http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24809/Default.aspx

In terms of the current war between Hamas and Israel, there seems to be no hope of victory over Hamas in the natural. Hamas  spokesmen have repeatedly said they will never surrender, and  they are not interested in a negotiated peace. Their sole aim is the total annihilation of the State of Israel, first, and then total domination of the whole world. There is thus no military solution and no possibility of a political one.  Hamas is an ideology, a theology, a great Lie that its followers have been brainwashed into believing by Satan.   The only hope lies in the supernatural intervention of the God of Israel. Only He can get into the minds and hearts of the leaders of Hamas. Only he can sow seeds of doubt and confusion in their hearts. Only he can open their eyes to the terrible bloodshed and suffering they are causing not only in Israel, but to an even greater extent to their own people in Gaza .  We can call on our God to have mercy on them. We are exhorted to love and pray for our enemies (Matthew 5: 43-45). We need to pray for their souls, their minds and their hearts, that they can be awakened to Truth and Light and Life. God can do that. Only God can do that.

WHAT IS HAMAS?

Hamas is truly an evil ideology. Please note I said ‘ideology’ and not ‘organization’. It is an ideology, not an organization, which is why it is so hard to destroy it. By the way, the name Hamas is an acronym which in Arabic stands for ‘the Islamic Resistance Movement’. ‘Hamas’ in Arabic means ‘zeal’ but in Hebrew it means ‘violence’.  I do not believe the name is an accident.

King David said this,

 “Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men;
Preserve me from violent men,
² Who plan evil things in their hearts;
They continually gather together for war.
³ They sharpen their tongues like a serpent;
The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah

⁴ Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
Preserve me from violent men,
Who have purposed to make my steps stumble.
⁵ The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords;
They have spread a net by the wayside;
They have set traps for me. Selah

Psalm 140 NKJV

The words here translated as ‘violent men’ is in Hebrew מֵאִ֖ישׁ חֲמָסִ֣ים   which literally means  “the men of Hamas”.

Hamas was founded in 1988 and its Covenant (Manifesto) makes interesting reading. Its primary goal is the destruction of Israel as is clearly stated in the excerpts of the Covenant quoted below:

 

'The Islamic Resistance  Movement  is  a  distinguished  Palestinian

movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and  whose  way  of  life  is

Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.' (Article 6)

 

'Israel will exist and will continue to exist until  Islam  will

obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.' (Preamble)

 

'The  land  of  Palestine  is  an  Islamic  Waqf  [Holy   Possession]

consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. No one

can renounce it or any part, or  abandon  it  or  any  part  of  it.'

 

(Article 11)

 

'Palestine is  an  Islamic  land...  Since  this  is  the  case,  the

Liberation of Palestine  is  an  individual  duty  for  every  Moslem

wherever he may be.' (Article 13)

 

 

'The day the enemies usurp part of Moslem  land,  Jihad  becomes  the

individual duty of every Moslem. In the face of the Jews' usurpation,

it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.' (Article 15)

 

 

'Ranks will  close,  fighters  joining  other  fighters,  and  masses

everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to  the

call of duty, loudly proclaiming: 'Hail to  Jihad!'.  This  cry  will

reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation  is

achieved, the invaders vanquished and Allah's victory  comes  about.'

 

(Article 33)

 

The Covenant reads like Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda, and even refers to the fictitious  ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion”,  which Hitler used to justify his genocide of the Jews.

 

'The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and

kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees,  and  the

rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind

me, come and kill him.' (Article 7)   * (See below)                                       

 

'The enemies have  been  scheming  for  a  long  time  ...  and  have

accumulated huge and influential material wealth. With  their  money,

they took control of the world media... With their money they stirred

revolutions in various parts of the globe... They  stood  behind  the

French  Revolution,  the  Communist  Revolution  and  most   of   the

revolutions we hear about... With  their  money  they  formed  secret

organizations - such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and the Lions  -

which are spreading around the world, in order to  destroy  societies

and carry out Zionist interests... They stood behind World War I  ...

and formed the League of Nations through which they  could  rule  the

world. They were behind World War II, through which  they  made  huge

financial gains... There is no war going  on  anywhere  without  them

having their finger in it.' (Article 22)

 

 

'Zionism scheming has no end, and after Palestine,  they  will  covet

expansion from the Nile  to  the  Euphrates  River.  When  they  have

finished digesting the area on which they have laid their hand,  they

will look forward to more expansion. Their scheme has been  laid  out

in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'.' (Article 32)

 

 

'The HAMAS regards itself the  spearhead  and  the  vanguard  of  the

circle of struggle against World Zionism... Islamic groups  all  over

the Arab world should also do the same, since they are best  equipped

for their future role in the fight against  the  warmongering  Jews.'

 

* The quote in Article 7 above is from the Hadith, which is a canonical commentary on the Koran

Sahih Bukhari Hadith Volume 4, Book 52, Number 176: Narrated by 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:

 Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.'"

Sahih Bukhari Hadith Volume 4, Book 52, Number 177: Narrated by Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."

 

I have quoted at length from the Covenant of Hamas because I think it is important to understand the true nature of the spiritual warfare we face. I say ‘we’ because this is an ideology that does not only threaten Israel and the Jews, but also the whole world. In a very real way Israel is fighting the forces of darkness on behalf of the whole world, both in a physical and spiritual sense.

For a full translation of the entire text of the Hamas Covenant you can go to

http://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/880818.htm

There is much talk of a negotiated settlement  and there have been six attempts at temporary humanitarian ceasefires to date .  In every case Hamas has violated the ceasefire.  It is truly a case of we cease and they fire!  It is should not surprise us  given  what the Hamas Covenant has to say about negotiation:

'[Peace]  initiatives,   and   so-called   peaceful   solutions   and

international conferences are in contradiction to the  principles  of

the Islamic Resistance Movement... Those conferences are no more than

a means to appoint the  infidels  as  arbitrators  in  the  lands  of

Islam... There is no solution for the Palestinian problem  except  by

Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a

waste of time, an exercise in futility.' (Article 13)

 

How can we negotiate with an ideology like that?

 

DISPROPORTIONATE FORCE?

Many reports in the Western media make much of the fact that the casualties in Gaza are much higher than those of Israel, and accuse Israel of using ‘disproportionate force”.  What is ‘disproportionate force? If 10 men broke into your house and started shooting your 5 children.  Would you shoot 5 of the men, and then turn your back on the remaining 5?  That would be proportionate but incredibly foolish. Did Britain and her allies use ‘proportionate force’ to conquer Germany and Japan in World War II? Of course not, they used whatever force was needed to do the job.   It is very easy for those who sit safely at their ease, and whose families are safe, to sit back and judge, but what if France started bombing London or Canada started firing missiles at New York? What then?  We have had over 3000 rockets and missiles fired at our civilian population over the last  4 weeks. If even one of these, especially one of  the larger Grad missiles that have been fired at Tel Aviv, Beersheva, Jerusalem, Ashdod and Asquelon, had hit their target, there would have been many Israeli  women and children killed (only 3 civilians have been killed to date). But why has this not happened?

 There is a story going viral on the internet right now. It tells of a supposed CNN interview of an Hamas operative, who when asked why they aim their rockets so badly when they fire into Israel that they do not hit any targets or cause much damage,  answered, "We aim well, but their God changes their (missiles) path in mid-air!"  There is some doubt about the veracity of this interview, but I am convinced it nevertheless expresses an undeniable truth. The God of Israel is protecting us.  God gave us good brains to develop and use the defensive Iron Dome missile system which has prevented what would otherwise be massive civilian casualties.  But apart from the missiles shot down by the Iron Dome, it is an undeniable fact that the vast majority  of missiles have indeed fallen in ‘open areas’ wide of their targets.

God has promised over and over again to protect Israel against her enemies and in the end to bring them to destruction. 

“ Violence (Hamas) shall no longer be heard in your land,
Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders;
But you shall call your walls Salvation,
And your gates Praise”  Isaiah 60:1.

Some days ago I was blessed by seeing on the news a group of about 50 or so of our soldiers, who had just come out of Gaza for a little rest,  dancing together with such joy and singing praises to the God of Israel.  It was awesome to see that.  When a soldier goes into battle, he prays. It doesn’t matter if he is religious or an atheist, he will pray. It is my fervent prayer that this current conflict will serve to draw the Israeli people to their God, to give Him thanks and glory for his supernatural protection and for his salvation. I also pray for the people of Gaza, that in the midst of this tragedy that their leaders have brought upon them in the name of Islam, they will begin to doubt Islam and its claims. May they also find truth and freedom and salvation in the God of Israel and HIs son Yeshua (Jesus).