ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
When disaster strikes it can be difficult to see the truth of these words. What can be good when families lose everything they have in a fire or an earthquake? Why does God allow these disasters? Why do people have to suffer? These are hard questions and I don't have a total answer. But I am reminded of the Bible passage which says,
For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts
Isaiah 55: 8-9
In my last update I told you about the terrible fires that struck Israel in the week between the 21 -28th of November. On the following Friday (2/12) a rain system arrived and most of the country received some good, soaking rain, which has cut the fire risk dramatically. Thank you all for your prayers.
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| Fire in Haifa https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoHMmuI1CTU/hqdefault.jpg |
Now the task of rebuilding begins. In Haifa alone some 527 apartments and 80 buildings were totally destroyed and 1600 people were left homeless. The cost of rebuilding is estimated to be around 5 billion shekels. In the town of Zichron Yaacov some 10 homes were completely destroyed and around 30 damaged. In the settlement of Halamish, near Jerusalem, 45 homes were damaged of which 18 were completely destroyed.http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4886966,00.html. Other towns and settlements also suffered losses. Some 20,000 dunams ( around 5000 acres) of forest land was also destroyed. Perhaps you can put a figure on the material damage but the emotional trauma and loss to the people involved cannot be calculated.
Take a look at this video of the aftermath of the fires in Haifa
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| A woman returns to her home http://i2.cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/161123071548-04-israel-fires-1123-super-169.jpg |
The pine and cedar forests of Israel are naturally a fire-climax ecosystem. That is to say periodic fires are a natural part of their life-cycle and are necessary to maintain a healthy forest. The heat of the fires cause the seeds in the cones to be released and as soon as the rain comes, the seeds begin the process of regeneration. It will take at least 30 years however before the forest regenerates to maturity.
Young cedars regenerating after a fire.
Young cedars. Photo: KKL-JNF Photo Archive
Likewise natural disasters can also bring new life out of the ashes. I do not wish to trivialize the suffering or the trauma that people have experienced, but at the same time many seeds have been sown during this time. Stories are coming in of many instances where the hand of God has been evident in all of this.
One of my friends, lets call her E, took in a friend who had been evacuated from Haifa. A few days later E phoned and told me that her friend's apartment had been the only one in the whole street that had not been destroyed, and not only that, her friend's daughter's apartment, in another part of Haifa, had also been the only one in her street not damaged. My friend, an adamant atheist, was blown away by this and commented, ' God must be real after all'. Please pray for E as her heart has been opened of late and this was yet another demonstration to her that God is real and active, and answers prayers.
When the religious settlement of Nataf had to be evacuated the first time their rabbis warned them not to take refuge in the adjacent Messianic moshav, Yad Hashmona. Some days later the settlement of Nataf had to be evacuated yet again and this time some of the people did go to Yad Hashmona where they were warmly welcomed, given lodging in the hotel there and food in the restaurant.
Many Messianic congregations and aid organisations have swung into action to help the various communities affected. You can read more about this by going to this link:
https://kehilanews.com/2016/12/08/local-messianic-believers-in-israel-assist-fire-victims-around-the-nation/ One of the most touching stories in the report is quoted below:“In one case we [the Bible Society] gave some financial help and an Old Testament. The home owner who knows that we are Messianic Jews asked if this Bible contains both Old and New Testaments,” Kalisher said. “I told her that we brought a Bible with an Old Testament only since we did not want them to think that we use this opportunity for anything other than just showing our love and care for them. She then answered, ‘I want a bible with a New Testament, It is time that I will read it.’”
If you wish to donate to the restoration work you can find links to do so on the kehila news link above.
Please pray for rain in Israel as since that Friday we have had no further rain and we need much more. The Land is desperately thirsty. The Land is also spiritually thirsty so please also pray for the spiritual rain that will water the many seeds that have been sown in lives during this ordeal. Pray that God will water and nurture these ones and bring them to saving faith in due course.
There have been many other heart-warming stories that have come out of this disaster. For example, some Israeli-Arab businessmen was asked to give an estimate for the repair of a synagogue damaged in the Haifa fires. They refused to take accept any payment and are carrying out the repairs pro-bono. "I decided to help and not receive any payment," said Walid abu-Ahmed, a wood panel supplier based in Haifa, "Jews and Arabs live together in Haifa, and there is no discrimination. We must continue with this co-existence and promote peace." http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4886966,00.html
The ongoing regional drought, the Israeli love of the trees which fill our cities and surround our settlements, and the growing threat of opportunistic arson for 'nationalistic' motivation' (PC speak for Palestinian terrorism), combine to create an ongoing and serious threat of the same sort of fires, on even perhaps a larger scale, in the coming years. Please pray that our fire services, civil defense and community leaders will take this threat seriously and made preparations accordingly. After the huge fire in 2010 on the Carmel, Israel has purchased a 'squadron' of small fire fighting planes of the sort that can drop water or fire-retardant on wildfires. However these proved insufficient in the sort of conditions we experienced in November. It wasn't until we received help from the USA and Russia in the form of the big supertankers which can scoop up huge amounts of water from the sea, without having to land, that we began to get the fires under control. It took several days for these to arrive. We need some of these supertankers here in Israel.
Apart from the threat of fires, the ongoing drought, perhaps the worst in the last 100 years, is also cause for concern. The rivers and lakes are drying out. The underground aquifers seriously depleted and many are becoming infiltrated by salt water as fresh water levels drop. Thousands of sinkholes are threatening the shores, the road and the tourist centers around the Dead Sea as ground water levels shrink and salt deposits are eroded by fresh water drainage.
Israel leads the world in water management and has exported her knowhow and technologies to many other nations around the world. Thanks to the reverse-osmosis desalination plants we can now provide enough drinking water for the whole country without using rain water. Tight water restrictions and incentives to save water, coupled with a high public awareness of the need to conserve water. also helps. In addition Israel now recycles 80% of its waste water for use in agriculture. This is far and away higher than for any other country. The next best country is Spain which recycles 17%. The USA recycles only 5%.
https://www.entitymag.com/art-water-conservation-israel/.
The recycling reservoirs also serve as wildlife refuges. Pictured below are some of thousands of pelicans that stop off in their spring and autumn migrations to 'refuel' at a wastewater recycling reservoir in Emek Hefer (near Netanya).
The recycling reservoirs also serve as wildlife refuges. Pictured below are some of thousands of pelicans that stop off in their spring and autumn migrations to 'refuel' at a wastewater recycling reservoir in Emek Hefer (near Netanya).
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| Pelicans and Cormorants in a waste-water recycling reservoir in Emek Hefer (near Netanya, Israel) Photo: Talia Good |
Those who advocate economic sanctions and boycotts against Israel (the BDS movement) need to think carefully about the consequences of their actions. Israel contributes a great deal to world welfare and economy. Apart from the fact that the representatives from many arid or drought-stressed countries have visited Israel to learn from our experts, and many of our experts have gone to those countries to help, Israel leads the world in many other ways too. For example, Israeli scientists have identified a protein that can actually destroy the HIV virus that causes AIDS, and it can reduce the virus in infected patients by 95% in less than a week. The drug is currently undergoing stringent testing but we could be just weeks or months away from announcing to the world a cure for AIDS! As the Times of Israel asks, "Will those in need of the medication snub the Israeli discovery to make their point against Israel (as unjustified as it has been?) or will they look the other way and adopt the new miracle cure?" http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/will-bds-activists-reject-the-new-israeli-cure-for-the-aidshiv-virus/
Meanwhile large sectors of the world continue to vilify Israel. On Wednesday the 30th of November the United Nations passed six resolutions against Israel, one of which stated
that "any actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever, and calls upon Israel to immediately cease all such illegal and unilateral measures." On that day 147 nations, including all the European nations, the UK, France, Russia, Germany and Italy voted in favor of this resolution. Only 6 voted against, the USA, Canada and 4 tiny Pacific Island nations (God richly bless them!), the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau, voted against. Australia, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Vanuatu abstained. Another of the six resolutions, passed by 103 votes for to 56 against and 6 abstentions demanded that that Israel withdraw from all of the Golan Heights up to the line of June 1967 and hand it over to Syria. http://www.zimbabwestar.com/index.php/sid/249818177
The modern Muslim narrative that is gaining worldwide support denies the right of Jews to the Temple Mount, claiming that it is a Muslim holy site and not a Jewish one. This flies totally in the face of historic fact and even Islamic history. Muslim claims to the Temple Mount are based on the belief that Mohammad ascended to heaven from it in his night journey as recorded in the Quran passage "Night Journey". Mohammed never actually visited Jerusalem and the Night Journey claims to record a dream or vision Mohammed had in which he ascended to heaven from the al-Aqsa mosque. The al -Aqsa mosque translates to the farthest (or most distant) mosque (from Mecca) which at the time was near Jir'rana in the Arabian Peninsula. At the time of Mohammed there were NO mosques in Jerusalem. The first mosque on the site of the current al-Aqsa mosque which stands at the southern end of the Temple Mount (not to be confused with the Dome of the Rock) was built by Umar during the Rushidun caliphate that was established after Mohammed's death.
The denial of Jewish history on the Temple Mount is a very recent one even amongst Muslims. Right up until the 20th century Muslim scholars and leaders had no problem identifying the Temple Mount as the site of the Jewish temples. Even the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, friend of Hitler and bitter enemy of the Jews,
"allowed his Supreme Muslim Council to issue a visitor’s guide to the Temple Mount, which asserted that “its identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond all doubt. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which ‘David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.’” (“A Brief Guide to Al Haram Al Sharif“, 1925, p.4) ". Even more recently in 1961 the mayor of East Jerusalem, then under Jordanian rule, stated in his book "A Detailed History of Jerusalem" that the remains of the Jewish Temple were beneath the al-Aqsa Mosque. https://kehilanews.com/2016/11/11/temple-mount-showdown-will-islamic-narrative-destroy-islamic-history/.
Jewish claims to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem clearly predate those of the Islamic world, as the Bible repeatedly and emphatically testifies. Those countries which stand against Israel in this risk falling under the curse of Genesis 12:3. If you live in one of those nations pray fervently for a change of heart.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you...
And I will curse him who curses you...
Genesis 12:3
