THE MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS
5th March
Another week has passed here in Israel and what a bizarre week it has been. Three things happened which has made me feel I am living in a sort of post-apocalyptic world where all the rules of law and common decency no longer exist.
First my boss was out one afternoon walking his lovely golden Labrador along the road leading down the hill towards Jaffa Gate outside the Old City. An ultra-orthodox man took exception to his having a dog so close to the Kotel (the Western Wall- which is at least 1 km away as the crow flies!) and yelled at him to take his dog away. When my boss began to remonstrate with him that it was perfectly legal for him to walk his dog there, the man went berserk and attacked him. In the fracas my boss sustained a seriously broken ankle, which required surgery, and another man, who had come to his aid was also injured. The attacker has been arrested and he is known to the police.
A couple of days later two off-duty Israeli soldiers followed their Waze app ( a type of GPS navigation system ) which took them by mistake into the Qalandia refugee camp, on the northern outskirts of Jerusalem. Dozens of enraged Palestinians set upon them with rocks and fire bombs, and set their vehicle on fire, for no other reason than that they were Jews. The two soldiers managed to escape the burning car and fled in opposite directions, one with the gun and the other with the telephone. Security forces managed to locate and rescue the one with the phone within about 20 minutes, but it took them about an hour to locate the second soldier who in the meantime had managed to reach a nearby Jewish settlement. During the rescue gunfire was exchanged and one Palestinian man is reported to have been killed and others injured. Ten Israeli security personnel were also treated for injuries.
Also this week a 68-year-old meter reader working for the Water Company paused from his duties to eat his lunch in his car, in the ultra-orthodox neighborhood of Kiryat Sanz in Netanya. He was dragged out of his car and was set upon by an enraged mob of around 200 haredim (ultra-orthodox) residents who thought he might be a burglar, and he was beaten severely before being rescued by a passerby. This is his account of the incident:
"At midday, I sat in my car to eat a sandwich. As I was eating it, a number of residents arrived and inquired as to what I was doing in the neighborhood. I introduced myself and they asked for my ID. I gave it to them and then dozens - and shortly thereafter hundreds - surrounded me. They said I came to break into their homes. I tried to explain to them that I only read water meters, but they started punching and kicking me. For a half hour, they hit me. I was unable to defend myself and they eventually picked me up and hurled me over a two-meter tall fence. I landed on my back and felt excruciating pain. Then they resumed hitting me." http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4772610,00.html
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| Herzl Rokach recovering from his beatings in hospital http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4772610,00.html |
Has the world gone mad? Has it lost all moral conscience?
Today as I was pondering these things this passage came to mind:
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2: 1-12
We should not then be surprised or dismayed by the collapse of the law or moral systems at this time. This growing tide of religious fundamentalism, whether it is Muslim, Jewish or Christian is all part of the 'strong delusion' that Jesus warned will come upon the world during the times preceding his Second Coming. This delusion will come with all kinds of counterfeit signs and wonders, empowered by Satan himself, and those who are fooled by them will end up worshiping the 'son of perdition', the Anti-Christ. The only thing restraining the Antichrist right now is the presence of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in all those true believers in Yeshua. However the time will come when they will be removed and then the Evil One, the son of perdition, will be revealed with amazing signs and wonders, and many will be deceived and will believe the Lie.
In recent years I have grown increasingly concerned by the lack of knowledge of the Scriptures among believers. When I came to the Lord back in the 1970s, those who were born again were immediately filled with an insatiable thirst for the word of God. We couldn't get enough of it. I don't see that passion any more. We have grown lukewarm and any in-depth study of the Bible is largely left to the pastors and preachers. Even my own congregation does not have any form of Bible study. The only safety from deception is to cling to God's word, study it, know it and live it. We need the discernment of God to know Truth from the Lie. We must 'receive the love of truth' if we are to avoid being caught up in the Lie.
We all need to be watchful that we cling to the Truth and not be led into delusion, which often poses as religious fervor. We also need to keep praying in the Spirit for accurate discernment.
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
2 Corinthians 11: 13-15
It is essential that we can discern the spirits and recognize counterfeit signs when we see them. I often feel that we few believers here in Jerusalem are like little wavering candles in the darkness. Please keep praying for us as we need your support and strength to keep standing, in this place which is in the very eye of the spiritual battle.
One week later, and the madness continues:
This past week has been a difficult one for us here in Israel. So many things have happened it is hard to get them all straight in my head but here goes.
On Tuesday afternoon there were three separate terror attacks within one and a half hours, leaving one dead and 12 wounded. The first took place in Jerusalem where shots were fired at policemen near Herod's Gate at the Old City. Two police were seriously hurt, and one of them is still fighting for his life. The terrorist was killed by police.
A few minutes later in the town of Petach Tikva a terrorist followed an orthodox man into a shop and stabbed him in the neck with a knife. The victim, Yonatan Ezriyahav, 39, a father of 5 from the north, then pulled the knife out of his neck and attacked the terrorist. The shop owner came to help and together they managed to overpower the terrorist before he could do any more harm.
Less than an hour afterwards a terrorist arrived at Jaffa Port and went on a rampage knifing passersby as he ran down the beach promenade towards Tel Aviv attacking everyone he could on the way, leaving one dead and 12 injured, some seriously. He was eventually stopped when a young man, who had been playing his guitar down on the beachfront, hit the terrorist over his head which slowed him down enough for the police to neutralize him. The man who was killed by the terrorist was a 29 year old tourist from the USA, Taylor Force, a veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. His wife was also seriously injured in the attack. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4775753,00.html
Just blocks away, American Vice President, Joe Biden, was meeting with Israel's former President, Shimon Peres, to discuss 'the window of opportunity' for peace. There has been a lot of speculation about whether this spate of attacks was linked to his presence or not. One thing is sure, Biden will go home with a better appreciation of what we are facing, as he admitted to great concern for his wife and daughter who were at a restaurant on the waterfront, close to the attack, at the time. Now he knows first hand what we live with every day here.
This spate of attacks got a lot of press coverage but we have also had a lot of other attacks this week. Earlier on the same day a woman had tried to stab police officers in Jerusalem but was shot before she managed to injure any. Since Tuesday there have been two or three attacks in and around Jerusalem every day. On Wednesday shots were fired at a bus on Golda Meir Boulevard, and one civilian was injured when he was rammed by a car attack near the Jaffa Gate. On Thursday a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a car but there were no injuries, thankfully. On Friday a terrorist attacked and moderately wounded a 29 year old man just inside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, and two Israeli soldiers were lightly injured when fired upon from a passing car near the Beit Horon checkpoint. And on it goes...
Iran Threatens Israel - again
On Wednesday this week Iran launched two long-range Qadr ballistic missiles at targets 1400 km distant. Emblazoned on their sides were the words, in Hebrew and Arabic, "Israel must be wiped out". The Iranian Fars News Agency quoted Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, as saying.
“The 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) range of our missiles is to confront the Zionist regime. Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war. It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles.” http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-fires-2-missiles-marked-with-israel-must-be-wiped-out/. The distance between Teheran and Tel Aviv is 1720 km.
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| http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4776269,00.html |
Again this demonstration of power and intention coincided with Joe Biden's visit to Israel and according to a News Update on Ynet News he said that if Iran breaks the terms of the nuclear deal 'we will act'. But what does that mean? Does the USA, just months before their Presidential election, have the will to do anything in the face of Iran's repeated violations? There is talk but I doubt there will be any action.
On the other hand - some good news from the Iranian front. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the suspension of the shipment of S-300 missiles to Iran after receiving proof from Israeli sources that Iran had transferred advanced Russian-made SA-22 surface-to-air missile system to Hezbollah on more than one occassion http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4774679,00.html.
Hezbollah in the North
We are constantly being bombarded by threats from the Hezbollah terrorist organization, backed by Iran and Syria's Assad. Just last month, the Hezbollah leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah boasted that in any confrontation with Israel he would attack Haifa's industrial zone, targeting the massive ammonia storage tanks, which would release the toxic, corrosive gas that would kill thousands of people. He said that "This would be exactly as a nuclear bomb, and we can say that Lebanon today has a nuclear bomb, seeing as any rocket that might hit these tanks is capable of creating a nuclear bomb effect". http://www.timesofisrael.com/nasrallah-threatens-to-bomb-chemical-plants-kill-thousands-of-israelis/
Haifa Bay's chemical factories with Haifa's residential areas on the hillsides in the background
http://www.timesofisrael.com/nasrallah-threatens-to-bomb-chemical-plants-kill-thousands-of-israelis/
Israel's environmental protection Minister, Avi Gabbi has since ordered that the ammonia storage facility be moved to the Negev Desert, away from large population centers.
Since the 2006 Lebanon War Hezbollah has amassed a vast arsenal of short and medium range missiles, including Scud-D guided missiles with a range of around 700 kmhttps://www.idfblog.com/hezbollah/2013/07/11/7-years-later-hezbollah-has-developed-capabilities-to-strike-anywhere-in-israel/. According to pentagon sources Hezbollah has currently around 50,000 missiles at its disposal http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4615692,00.html. Other sources put the number much higher. In any case, that is an awful lot of missiles to have pointed our way.
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| https://www.idfblog.com/hezbollah/2013/07/11/7-years-later-hezbollah-has-developed-capabilities-to-strike-anywhere-in-israel/ |
Add to the threat from Hezbollah to the north the threat from Hamas in the south and the picture gets worse.
https://www.idfblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Map-Amlach-new1.jpg
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4771607,00.html
Last night the Sabbath peace was shattered by the sounding of a Code Red incoming missile alert in the south communities around the Gaza Strip. At least 4 missiles were fired at Israel from Gaza, and landed in open areas, causing no damage. This morning Israel targeted four militant training camps belonging to Hamas. Two children were accidentally killed by missile fragments. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4777296,00.html
Cyber warfare.
Last night suspected Hamas hackers broke into the popular, prime time reality show "Big Brother" and for a few minutes broadcast a clip showing images of recent terror attacks and warning Israelis to "Stay in your homes...The story is not over...there is more to come." http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Suspected-Palestinian-hackers-interrupt-TV-broadcast-with-ominous-message-447646. This affected only those viewers using private satellite dishes.
Drought
With the advent of spring, the rains are now tapering off, after yet another drier than average winter over most of the country. According to the American Geophysical Union, the drought in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which began in 1998, is the worst drought in around 900 years http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4773597,00.html.
NOW FOR SOMETHING WONDERFULLY INSPIRING....
Middle Eastern shuks (markets), so full of color and life during the day, transform into bleak alleys lined with grimy stone walls and grey metal shutters at night. One Jerusalem artist has changed all that. When the Mahane Yehuda shuk, the heart of Jerusalem, closes at night it transforms into an art gallery full of the richness of all the colors of Israeli life. Take a look at this video clip and be blessed: http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-shuk-gallery/
And to end - here is some more hope for the future - an exclusive article published by Kehila News, a messianic website here in Israel, about the believing soldiers serving in the IDF. Please remember to pray for these wonderful men and women, who not only risk their lives to protect us here, fighting on the front lines of both the physical and spiritual battle, but they are also impacting their comrades with the gospel of Yeshua. Take a few minutes to read this. It will encourage you too.
http://kehilanews.com/2016/03/01/exclusive-survey-of-messianic-idf-soldiers/
We have many enemies, but if God is for us, who can stand against us. Amen
http://www.barenakedislam.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/cartoon-vi.jpg
