FROM MIDDLE EARTH TO THE MIDDLE OF THE EARTH

O Lord, how great are Your works!
Your thoughts are very deep.
A senseless man does not know,
Nor does a fool understand this.
 When the wicked spring up like grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,
It is that they may be destroyed forever.

 But You, Lord, are on high forevermore.
 For behold, Your enemies, O Lord,
For behold, Your enemies shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

 

Psalm 92:6-9

 

Wellington Airport



This week I made a four day journey from "Middle Earth" (New Zealand) to the Middle of the Earth (Israel), as I returned home from saying a final goodbye to my mother who passed away on Boxing Day. 

In New Zealand Middle Earth mania is rampant as tourists flock to the country to see the stunning sets and landscapes used to film the Lord of the Rings trilogy and, more recently, the two Hobbit movies. Needless to say, the tourist industry and the country as a whole is playing up the association of New Zealand with Middle Earth, and especially "The Shire".  For example, air passengers arriving in the capital, Wellington, are greeted by a sign on the terminal building welcoming them to "The Middle of Middle Earth" (see above).   Inside the terminal they will find huge sculptures of Gandalf and the Giant Eagles suspended from the ceiling, and of Gollum and other characters from the films scattered here and there around the concourse.
 

Air New Zealand?  in Wellington Airport

As strange as it may seem, I couldn't help but think the parallel between New Zealand and the Shire, the home of the Hobbits, peculiarly appropriate. New Zealand, far from the center of things on our planet, actually about as far as you can get, is still an island of peace and tranquility, where people live a simple yet abundant life valuing the good things of domesticity and stability. There is an appealing innocence about it which is so like that of  home of the Hobbits in the Shire.

However as I set forth on the first leg of my journey, a flight from Dunedin to Auckland, I was astounded by the almost total lack of airport security. I just walked into the terminal and onto the plane. No searches, questions or even x-ray machines. I could have been carrying a Kalashnikov under my coat, and no one would have noticed. Delayed for six hours in the Auckland airport I was further shocked  by the repeated announcements asking the owners of various unattended suitcases and parcels to come and claim them. New Zealanders just do not seem to understand the threats involved in international travel in these days. When I commented on this to a fellow traveler, he just said, "Well we don't need all that security here". No? I hoped he was right, but I feared that one day that particular bubble may burst.

 

Surely even in New Zealand people read the papers and see the news? There are many worrying signs of encroaching darkness and evil, but what will it take to make this nation wake up to the threat to its treasured way of life? Less than two weeks earlier Australia was experiencing its first jihadi-related terrorist attack in which two hostages were killed. As I arrived back in Israel, France was under a series of attacks in which 17 people were killed by jihadi terrorists (see more on this below). Nowhere is safe anymore. The darkness is spreading and is even at the very borders of the 'Shire'.

 

That said I must say I enjoyed my brief stay in 'Middle Earth' in spite of the sadness and grief of my mother's passing.  New Zealand is a beautiful country with stunning landscapes, friendly, peace-loving people,  and a prosperous way of life. How lovely it was to be able to walk alone around my brother's little town late into the long summer twilight and feel totally safe! It made me long for the day when the Messiah, Yeshua, will return to destroy the rule of evil and establish peace on Earth.

 

Here are some more views of 'Middle Earth':

 

Lupins in the Hollyford Valley



Mitre Peak, Milford Sound



Mirror Lakes

  Too soon, it was time to return to a more familiar reality,  the stresses of daily life in the Middle of the Earth, Israel. I arrived in the middle of a winter storm which brought high winds, flooding and snow to the whole region. Though the snowfall in Jerusalem wasn't as severe as last year's record breaking storm, it was enough to close the schools and bring the city to a standstill for three days.

Children play in the snow in Jerusalem (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4613109,00.html



Sport in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4613109,00.html

Flooding in Kiryat Yam 
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4613109,00.html



It was a bit of a shock for me coming from pleasant summer temperatures in the high 20s Celsius in New Zealand to a maximum daytime temperature of only 1degree, snow and frosts during the night here in Jerusalem. I haven't felt warm since my return, but I am grateful to have a warm, dry house, electricity and everything else I needed to weather the storm. So many people in our region are trying to cope with it in tents and makeshift shelters. My heart goes out to them.



 A Syrian refugee hangs her laundry outside a tent at a refugee camp in Zahleh town, Bekaa valley, east Lebanon. http://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.2059291.1420740822!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_620_330/image.jpg

 

TERROR IN PARIS

 

Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’  but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

 “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

 

Jeremiah 16:14-16

 

This past week the people of France and indeed of the whole world have been horrified by the vicious attacks, first on the Charlie Hebdo offices and then on the kosher supermarket in Paris which left 17 innocent people dead. We were horrified yes, but not surprised - the writing has been on the wall for a long time. French Jews,  the largest Jewish population in Europe, have been facing an increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric and actual attacks on their persons and properties both from the neo-Nazi right and from the increasingly radicalized jihadi - Islamic fringe.

 

Once numbering around half a million in number the Jewish population in France has decreased considerably in recent years as many have left the country to move to the UK, North America and to Israel.

 

Ynetnews reports that figures from the Immigrant Absorption Ministry corroborate claims that Jews are fleeing France. In 2014 a record number of 6,600  French Jews moved to Israel, a 32% increase over the previous year. French Jews are now the largest group of immigrants coming to Israel. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4613620,00.html

 

Israeli absorption services are now busy gearing up to receive a new influx of French immigrants following the Paris attacks. Many French Jews are expressing the perception that a line has been crossed and their future in France is now untenable in the face of the growing, and increasingly violent, anti-Semitism there.

 

I believe that in the coming years more and more of the Jews of Europe will flee. Europe has an enormous and powerful Muslim population, which is becoming increasingly radicalized, and the liberal, democratic governments are powerless to effectively fight the threat of terror. Other threats too are arising, such as the recent Russian invasion of the Ukraine which also sent many Jews fleeing.

 

We should not be surprised. As the prophecy in Jeremiah clearly says, God will bring back the children of Israel from all the lands to which they had been driven. First he would send out the 'fishermen', who would seek to convince them to come back to Israel.  For many years now those fishermen have been faithfully going out into the nations of Europe with their message, but there has been little response, especially from the more prosperous, western nations. Now however it appears the time of the hunters has come. I believe the Jews of Europe will soon be forced to flee for their lives.  Many may initially flee to other countries, such as the USA, Canada or Australia, but there too the hunters are gaining strength, and ultimately the only place they will find a welcome is here in Israel.

 

In those days Israel will come to know their God once again. Israel, already rebirthed physically, will eventually also be rebirthed spiritually and know their Messiah and the hand of God. The prophecy of Jeremiah 16 concludes with these words:

 

“Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
And they shall know that My name is the Lord."

 

Jeremiah 16: 21

 

hallelujah and amen!