MIRACLE NATION

 

 

Even if there are moments when we think we've never had it this bad, even if the political situation is a source of doom and gloom for many, we should remind ourselves once a year that the reality we live in far exceeds all our dreams and expectations...

The State of Israel is a miracle.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4649829,00.html

Thus read the headlines in one of Israel's leading papers today, Israel's 67th Independence Day.

 Independence Day celebrations in Tel Aviv (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4649829,00.html

 'Miracle' is a word overused these days but let us pause a moment and remember what 'miracle' really means. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines 'miracle' as an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.

From the very beginning Israel was an extraordinary nation that resulted from the divine intervention of the LORD in human affairs. We sometimes refer to the people of Israel as the 'chosen people' as if God lined up all the nations and chose Israel out of them. But this is not so. God called up one man, a man of faith, Abram (later to be renamed Abraham), and from his seed created the nation for His purposes, in order to bless all the other nations (Genesis 12: 1-3). Not only that, at least three of the four mothers of the nation of Israel, Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel, were all barren, and God supernaturally opened their wombs in order to create the nation (Genesis 11:30;Genesis 25:21 and Genesis 29:31,30:22). Scripture does not record whether Leah was also barren but it does say that God opened her womb ( Genesis 29:31). Whatever the case, the people of God, 'Am Israel, was established, called and formed by the express intervention and initiative of the LORD. A miracle nation indeed!

Through Israel, the LORD brought forth all the prophets, the revelation through history of God's love for humankind, the prophets, the Holy Scriptures, and, greatest gift of all, the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), through whom the world would be redeemed and saved. Should we then be surprised that modern Israel is also a 'miracle nation'?

In the early years of the nineteenth century the entire population of the region now known as Israel and the "Palestinian territories" (the West Bank, or Judah and Samaria), probably had a population of only around half a million including Jews and Arabs (1). European travelers at this time described an almost empty land with a dwindling population of Jews, Arabs and a variety of others, all afflicted by poverty and disease. Mark Twain, in 1867, described it thus

"There is not a solitary village throughout its (the Jezreel Valley) whole extent - not for thirty miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings ... (in reference to the Galilee) these unpeopled deserts, these rusty mounds of barrenness, that never, never, never do shake the glare from their harsh outlines, and fade and faint into vague perspective; that melancholy ruin of Capernaum; this stupid village of Tiberias, slumbering under its six funereal palms... We reached Tabor safely ... We never saw a human being on the whole route. ...Nazareth is forlorn... Jericho the accursed lies in a moldering ruin ... Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and their humiliation.... Bethsaida and Chorzin have vanished from the earth, and the "desert places" around them ... sleep in the hush of a solitude that is inhabited only by birds of prey and skulking foxes" (2)

Jerusalem Early Twentieth Century



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Jerusalem_panorama_early_twentieth_century2.jpg

 



Jerusalem 2011

On the Eve of this year's Independence Day the population of Israel stands at 8,345,000, 75% of which are Jewish, and 21% Arab. In 1948, at the establishment of the state, the population stood at only 806,000. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4649494,00.html  This represents a 1000 fold increase in just 67 years.




Tel Aviv in 1909
http://www.museodiromaintrastevere.it/var/museicivici/storage/images/musei/museo_di_roma_in_trastevere/mostre_ed_eventi/mostre/cento_volte_primavera_fotografie_di_tel_aviv_dal_1909_ad_oggi/288567-13-ita-IT/cento_volte_primavera_fotografie_di_tel_aviv_dal_1909_ad_oggi_large.jpg

Tel Aviv Today

http://israelvalley.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files/000/010/781/original/tel_aviv_3.jpg?1396947420

If you want to see more photos of this modern miracle nation, take a look at this website

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4650018,00.html

By the way, I happened to be standing on Mt Arbel when the photograph of it was taken by the photographer, Israel Bardugo,  in a helicopter. Here he is - in his helicopter:

 

 

Since 1948, in spite of all the odds, Israel has flourished.  Here is a list of just some of the accomplishments of modern Israel as compiled by  Rabbi John Rosove two years ago:

•     Israel is the only country in the Middle East that based its principles of government on both democratic liberal values and on the values of the Biblical prophets.
•     Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth.
•     Israel has the world's second highest per capita rate of published books.
•     Israel is the only nation on earth that resurrected an ancient language, Hebrew, as its national language.
•     Israeli poets and song writers are regarded as heroes.
•     Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees.
•     Israel has more museums per capita than any country.
•     Israel developed the cell phone, Windows NT and XP operating systems, Pentium MMX Chip technology, the Pentium-4 microprocessor, the Centrino Processor, voice mail technology, and AOL Instant Messenger ICQ.
•     Israel has the highest per capita rate of home computers in the world.
•     Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security system.
•     Israel designed and implemented the Iron Dome Defense system.
•     Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees in the world.
•     Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation, and one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
•     Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world.
•     Israel is second in the world in the number of start-up companies behind only the U.S.
•     Israel has the world’s largest per capita number of biotech start-ups.
•     Israel has the third largest number of NASDAQ listed companies, behind the U.S. and Canada, and is ranked second for venture capital funds.
•     Israel has the highest average living standard in the Middle East.
•     24% of Israel’s workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world; 12% hold advanced degrees.
•     Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce.
•     Israel is a world leader in water renewal, recycling, desalination, and solar heating.
•     Israel invented the drip irrigation system used around the world.
•     An Israeli company is developing a toilet that needs no water and generates its own power to turn solid waste into sterile and odorless fertilizer in 30 seconds, thereby affecting 1.1 billion people who do not use a toilet.
•     An Israeli scientist has developed a way to preserve 50% of every grain and pulse harvest lost to pests and mold in the developing world.
•     Israel won international praise for the speed and expertise with which it responded to a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti that killed 300,000 by sending a team of 240  Israeli doctors, nurses, rescue and relief workers to set up an advanced field hospital to work in search-and-rescue missions.
•     An Israeli company developed a water purification system that delivers safe drinking water from contaminated water, seawater and even urine thereby addressing the tragedy of 1.6 million children under the age of five who die annually from untreated drinking water in developing nations.
•     Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
•     Hadassah medical researchers found the gene that causes liver disease, thus paving the way for new treatments for alcoholism.
•     Tel Aviv University Scientists say a nutritional supplement commonly sold in health food stores can delay the advance of degenerative brain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
•     Israel's Given Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill that can view the small intestine from the inside to detect for cancer and digestive disorders.
•     Israeli researchers developed a device that helps the heart pump blood that is synchronized with a camera that helps doctors diagnose the heart’s mechanical operations through a system of sensors.
•     An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/rabbijohnrosovesblog/item/israel_on_her_65th_birthday_taking_pride_in_her_accomplishments

If you are thinking about boycotting Israeli products or academics, think twice!!! You may be shooting yourself in the foot (you would have to throw away your cell phone and computer - just for a start!). Modern Israel is truly fulfilling her God-given calling to bless the world.

(For more go to http://israel21c.org/technology/israels-top-45-greatest-inventions-of-all-time-2/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Israeli_inventions_and_discoveries
http://israel21c.org/social-action-2/the-top-65-ways-israel-is-saving-our-planet/)

 

 Yet, all this is nothing compared with what will be. For as the Apostle Paul said of his brethren, Israel:

I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. ¹² Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!       

Romans 11: 11-12.

 THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4648587,00.html
 (1) Dershowitz, Alan " The Case for Israel"  2003 John Wiley and Sons
 (2) Twain, Mark "The Innocents Abroad" Oxford University Press, NY, 1996 pp. 485,508,520,607-608.

LEST WE FORGET

 

Lord, how they have increased who trouble me!
Many are they who rise up against me.
² Many are they who say of me,
“There is no help for him in God.” Selah

³ But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
⁴ I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah

⁵ I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.
⁶ I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me all around.

⁷ Arise, O Lord;
Save me, O my God!
For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone;
You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
⁸ Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah

Psalm 3  

 

As I sit down to write the air is filled with the wailing of the muezzin calling the Muslim faithful to prayer, a reminder of the fact that the LORD's redemption of this, His Holy City, is not yet complete. Every time I hear the muezzin it prompts me to prayer, that soon they will be silenced, and only the voice of the God of Israel will be heard in this city.

 

YOM HASHOAH

A Holocaust survivor lighting the flame at Yad Vashem
http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/
YomHashoahYadVashem2015.jpg

It has been a solemn week here in Israel as we observed Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Flags fly at half-mast and all places of entertainment are closed. The sirens sounded at 10AM and all cars stop, and people everywhere stand in silence for two minutes as we remember those 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazi Regime during World War II. Every settlement, village and neighborhood has its own memorial ceremonies, and at the official national memorial ceremony, held at Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum), the names of the Jews who perished are read out, lest we forget that those 6 million ‘statistics’ were real, living people, with names and lives and families.  Survivors of the Holocaust, now elderly men and women, give testimony and light torches, lest we forget that in spite of the horrors they experienced, they not only survived but overcame all the odds and lived a full life, marrying and raising children, and grand-children and great grandchildren. This is the proof of victory. Hitler and his henchmen tried to destroy ‘Am Israel’ (the people of Israel) but not only did he fail, the Holocaust provided the motivation for the establishment of the State of Israel, and the survivors came and worked and struggled to make it the amazing, wonderful nation it is today. What a testimony!

MEMORIAL DAY

This coming week we will be commemorating the 23,320 soldiers and victims of terror who have fallen since the arrival of the first Zionists in the 19th Century, including the 116 who have perished in this last year, and the one killed just this week in yet another terror attack in Jerusalem*. It too is a solemn day.  Ceremonies are held at the Mt Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem and in every town, village and neighborhood. Sirens again sound and we all stand in silent contemplation and respect, remembering those who have given their lives in defense of us all. Immediately upon the end of Memorial Day, we switch gears and begin to celebrate Independence Day, our 67th. It is sometimes hard to make that switch but it is fitting, for our Independence has only been won through the shedding of much blood. Always our celebrations are underlain by sadness; that has long been the lot of the Jewish people and so it is still. Only when Messiah comes will he wipe away the tears and our joy be untarnished by grief.

* Before I even got to publish this news is coming in today (Sunday 19th) of yet another victim of a terror attack in the Sharon region, a cyclist run down by a car, bringing the number killed this year to 117

ANZAC DAY

And we are not alone. This week too, New Zealand and Australia commemorate ANZAC Day, which commemorates the landings of the Australian and New Zealand forces on the beaches of Gallipoli in Turkey during the First World War, exactly 100 years ago this year. During those landings, 5709 Australian and 2721 New Zealand soldiers were killed and many more wounded. This was a serious blow for those fledgling nations and awakened strong nationalistic feelings. This tragedy is credited with igniting the beginning of independent national identities in Australia and New Zealand.  This year, the centenary year, large public celebrations will be held in both nations on ANZAC Day which is the 25th April. 

Today news is coming in of a massive police operation in Melbourne, Australia, in which  they captured 5 Muslim young men who had been plotting a terrorist  attack during the ANZAC celebrations in that city. The Australian Federal Police Acting Deputy Commissioner, Neil Gaughan,  said  that they have evidence that has led them to believe it was ISIS inspired. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-18/five-arrested-in-melbourne-after-a-joint-terrorism-operation/6402810. This particular plot has been foiled but it raises fears that there may be other cells or individuals plotting other attacks. This all just underlines the seriousness of the Salafi Muslim threat, not just to the Middle East and Israel, but also to the whole free world.  Many are our enemies that rise up against us!!!

IRAN DEAL

In my last post I wrote of the deal signed between Obama and his allies and Iran regarding Iran's nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions. It now seems we have all been misinformed. It now is becoming apparent that no such deal was signed.

A well-known Israeli commentator, Shoula Romano Horing, an attorney, claims that,

 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was correct when he said on April 9 that the White House was lying about what the Americans call a framework agreement regarding the Iranian nuclear program.
 

Iran Agreement

The soft power of diplomacy actually works / Aviad Kleinberg Op-ed: American sanctions led to the rise of a pragmatic regime in Iran, which isholding talks to freeze its nuclear program and silently cooperating with US efforts to restrain radical Sunni forces. Full op-ed

Obama is untruthful when he repeatedly claims that Iran has agreed to a detailed and comprehensive nuclear framework agreement. Iran has never signed or agreed to the framework agreement. The framework agreement, with its many specific numbers, productions limits and specific deadlines, is an Obama and Kerry wish list of their own best case scenario of a futuristic agreement.

 
Two documents were produced in Switzerland on April 2. The first document is a detailed US fact sheet titled, "Parameters for a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Nuclear Program," which the Americans refer to as "The Framework Agreement," which Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and the media have repeatedly discussed.

The second document is a thin, page and a half statement read jointly by European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, which lacked any of the details, numbers, and deadlines mentioned in the framework agreement. Those two documents contradict each other on many points and reveal Obama and Kerry's dangerous lies. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4647981,00.html

Horing is not alone in her belief. This week Senator McCain also accused Kerry and Obama of fabricating the 'agreement', saying  in a radio interview with radio host, Hugh Hewitt,

"I can't blame the ayatollah, because I don't think they ever agreed to it," McCain said. "And I think John Kerry tried to come back and sell a bill of goods, hoping maybe that the Iranians wouldn't say much about it."

In response to Senator McCain's accusations, Secretary of State, John Kerry responded thus," It's an unusual affirmation of our facts that come from Russia, but Russia has said that what we've set out is reliable and accurate". http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/04/12/john-kerry-so-far-iran-has-lived-up-to-its-end-of-nuclear-deal/ 

What has the USA come to when it has to rely on the witness of Russia to support its acts? Russia is no impartial observer in the situation. It has a strong stake in the lifting of sanctions against Iran, and it has wasted no time in taking advantage of the supposed lifting of sanctions, under the 'deal', to sell an advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Iran. Israel's Intelligence Minister, Yuval Steinitz, responded to this news thus:

 "Instead of demanding Iran put an end to the terrorism its instigates in the Mideast and around the world, it is being allowed to attain advanced arms which will only spur its aggressions...While Iran disregards article after article of the agreement reached last week, the international community is already begun to ease restrictions on it...
 
This is a direct result of the legitimacy that Iran obtained from the emerging nuclear deal...
 
This is proof that Iran will enjoy (an)economic surge in wake of the removal of sanctions which it will use for arming itself and not for the benefit of the Iranian people."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4646752,00.html


Russia is also standing behind Iran in its support of the Houthis insurgency in Yemen, and justifies its sale of the S-300 system in the belief  that "the conflict in Yemen will eventually lead to a direct clash between the Iranians and the Saudis, which will lead to a Saudi attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities".
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4646869,00.html
 
THE LATTER RAINS

This week Israel has been blessed with a drenching of later-than-usual latter rains. In the early hours of Wednesday morning we were all awakened by the crashing of thunder and the clatter of hail on our roofs. Over the several following hours around 40 mm of rain fell on the city, flooding dozens of homes and cars across the city. Several of my friends had their homes flooded. When I set off for work I was surprised to find the ground outside my building white like snow. It was a thick layer of hail.

Hail in Givat Ze'ev (Photo: Tehila Menachem)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4647639,00.html

 

Flooding in Silwan (Photo: Jerusalem field researchers)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4647639,00.html

Though most of the world has been enjoying warmer-than-usual April weather we have been having an extended winter. I cannot remember having such heavy rain in April. Usually by now it is easing off and the most we can expect is a few showers. Traditionally it always seems to rain on Independence Day when we are all outside enjoying our mangals (barbecues), and according to the weather forecasts, this year will be no exception. Nevertheless, whatever the weather, we will be celebrating the goodness of the Lord, in that we have survived one  more year, the 67th of the modern State of Israel. Please pray that we as a people will give the glory to God, who has preserved us and brought us back to the Chosen Land.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah
Psalm 3:8

 

 

A PRECIOUS, GOOD AND SPACIOUS LAND

"We thank You, LORD, our God, for having given as a heritage to our fathers a precious, good and spacious land"

 

 from the Passover Haggadah

 

Wildflowers at Gamla on the Golan Heights

Saturday 4 April

These words from the Passover Haggadah, read at the Seder which we celebrated last evening, resonate with my heart that is still full of the joy of a mini-vacation in the Galilee from which I have just returned. What a precious, good and spacious  land the LORD has indeed given us. The Galilee is so green and lush, and full of wonderfully colorful flowers, after our abundant winter rains this year. Here are some more photos of the Galilee in Spring.

 

Styrax trees in bloom, Agmon HaHula

 For around 3500 years Israelites have been celebrating the Passover, commemorating and thanking the LORD for the time when the people of Israel were set free from slavery to the Egyptian Pharaohs and brought to the Promised Land by the 'outstretched hand' of the LORD. The Passover was instituted by the LORD himself, even before the Passover occurred, when he commanded Moses to prepare for the final plague, the killing of the first-born of Egypt (Exodus 12). The Passover lamb was to be killed, its blood spread on the lintels of the doors of the people of Israel, so that their first-born would be spared.

 

During the long years of the Second Exile from the Land, Jews concluded the Seder with the words " this year here, but next year, Lord willing, we will celebrate it in Jerusalem." What a joy and a privilege it is to now be able to celebrate it in Jerusalem as a free people. The LORD has restored the Land to Israel, Jerusalem is being rebuilt, and the desert has begun to bloom. The Second Coming of the Messiah Yeshua is drawing near and He will establish the New Jerusalem, so we can now conclude our Seder saying, "Next Year in Jerusalem!".




The Mount of Beatitudes from the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)

Wildflowers

 The Passover Seder is rich in prophetic symbolism and meaning for all Jews, but even more so for those who follow the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). If you have not done so, I would recommend reading the Haggadah, which is available online in translation and with explanations.

Two of the symbols that speak most powerfully to me in the Passover Seder are the shankbone of a lamb and the afikoman.


Of course the shankbone symbolizes the Passover Lamb and  the Bible clearly identifies Yeshua with the Passover Lamb (for example: John 1:29,35; Revelation 5:12). 



The meaning of the afikoman is more controversial. Towards the beginning of the seder the afikoman, the middle of three pieces of matza, is broken and hidden away. Later the children search for the hidden piece and when they find it they are given a gift. The meaning of the afikoman and the three pieces of matza are not explained during the seder and the origins of these traditions are lost in the mists of time. Today the three matzot are explained by the Rabbis as symbolizing either the three Fathers of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or  the three categories of Israelites, the Priests (Cohanim), the Levites and the People. Messianic commentators however often link them to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Similarly there is much debate over the meaning of the word afikoman. This Greek word is believed by most Jews today to mean 'dessert' or 'that which comes after' since a small piece is eaten at the end of the seder, replacing the lamb that was eaten before the fall of the Second Temple.  At least one eminent Jewish scholar, David Daube however believed the word means 'he has come', which would thus link it with Yeshua, the Messiah who has come.



Swallowtail butterfly on Splendid Centaury

Sunday 5 April

Today is Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday and the Jewish Festival of the First Fruits, the Sunday after the first Shabbat of the Passover.  Because of the differences in the ways the calendars are calculated this occurs only rarely.

You might be wondering what the Festival of the First Fruits is. God instituted this festival as follows:

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹ He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹² And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. 
Leviticus 23: 9-12

It is significant that Yeshua rose on the Festival of the First Fruits, since he was both the first and only son of the Father, and the first 'fruit' of the Resurrection, and that he was raised up before God, for our acceptance as children of God.
This festival, like the Passover itself, is closely linked to the promised land of Israel. The Festival of the First Fruits was only to be celebrated after the people of Israel entered into the Promised Land, and it began to yield its harvest.

This emphasizes the close connection between the people of Israel and the land of Israel. Even during the long years of Israel's exile these festivals served to maintain those links, and they once more take on new meaning as the people return and settle once more in their promised land.

As I travelled the Galilee last week I fell in love with the Land once again. It was clothed in all its lush Spring glory - a land of plenty, richness and great beauty, indeed. Yet for all that, I could not escape the fact that our hold on this Land is in danger. Distant booms, combat helicopters overhead and tanks gathering in the fields were reminders of the fact that our enemies surround us and grow ever more threatening.  Below is a photo I took that sums it all up for me - a land of milk and honey, and ... tanks.

The tank is facing the border with Syria, where only about 30 km away the Islamic State (ISIS) forces were moving into and occupying the Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp, on the outskirts of Damascus. They now occupy about 90% of that camp.  At the same time  the IDF is warning us that in the next war with Hezbollah in the north, we can expect 1200 missiles to be fired into Israel from Lebanon every day http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4643066,00.html.  Meanwhile in the south, Hamas is busy building tunnels and bunkers, and rearming itself, for the next Gaza war. On a wider circumference the Houthis in Yemen are making inroads in the city of Aden,  ISIS continues to spread its rule and ideological poison, and 148, mainly Christian, students are killed by the salafist Somali terror group, al-Shabab, on the Garissa University campus in Kenya. Obama and his allies have signed a deal with Iran which will lift sanctions and improve the Iranian economy which funds much of the Islamic terrorism world wide. It is ominous that the Iranian representatives went home smiling after signing the deal.

If it wasn't for the LORD's promises in Scripture I would despair. The darkness  all around us seems to be growing deeper and closer by the second. Our own resources are puny in comparison. However I do trust that, although war seems inevitable in the near future, God will continue to protect Israel supernaturally, as he has done for 3500 years, and promises to do until Messiah returns and establishes the New Jerusalem.  That is our hope and our light in this darkness. Please pray with me for the people of Israel, that in these perilous days they will call out to God for salvation, as they did in Egypt so long ago, trust in Him and find the true peace in His Messiah, Yeshua.



 

The Sea of Galilee and Migdal (home of Mary Magdalene) from Mt Arbel