MOONSHOT
This is the first time I am writing my blog on this new website “Talia’s Joy”. It will still be available on the Google Blog site as before, at least for a while. You are invited to look at the other posts on this website too.
I haven’t written for a while because I have just started a new job and have been rather busy. It seems I failed ‘retirement’ and it is good to back in the working world. I am only working part time and, so far, I am enjoying it a lot.
It is deep winter here in Israel and it has been a cool and wet one so far – the wettest I can remember for quite a while. We haven’t had a lot of rain here in the Jerusalem area, but there have been plentiful rains and snowfall in the north where it is most needed to fill the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and the aquifers. The Kinneret has risen 1.4 m since the start of the winter and is expected to pass the lower red line by the end of the rainy season in about a month (1). When it passes the lower red line pumping from the lake can resume. This is gratifying and a reason for rejoicing, but the lake is still far from ‘full’ and as its level falls on average half to one centimeter a day because of evaporation in summer, we could still use more rain. Please keep praying.
Even though we are still in the coldest and wettest month, there are already signs of spring. The almond trees are gracing the hillsides around Jerusalem with their lovely white and pink blossom. The brilliant red anenomes are in full bloom and the annual “Red South Festival”, celebrating the blooming of the desert land in the Negev is in full swing, with many thousands of Israelis visiting the wildflowers every weekend.
The spring flowers are already turning our landscapes into beautiful gardens.
Anenomes and other wildflowers in meadow at Beit Guvrin, 20 February 2016
Photo: Talia Good
ISRAEL ON THE MOON
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19: 1-4
An artists rendition of Bereshit on the Moon
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5467064,00.html
Early this morning (22/02) Israel’s first moon mission was successfully launched from Florida, USA. If all goes well, this unmanned spacecraft will touch down on the moon on 11 April. This will make Israel the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the moon, an amazing accomplishment for a beleaguered nation of only 8 million people. This tiny craft, weighing only 585 kg and about the size of a dishwasher is named “Bereshit”, Hebrew for the first words of the Bible, “In the Beginning” ( also the Hebrew name for the first book, Genesis). This spacecraft was designed and built by a private nonprofit organization, called SpaceIL, which originally intended to compete in a Google-sponsored competition to put a spacecraft on the moon. The competition was eventually abandoned as none of the participants were able to meet the deadline, but the Israeli team decided to continue. Funded mainly by private donors, the mission will cost about $100 million, a small fraction of the cost of similar landings carried out by the USA in the sixties. It is hoped the spacecraft will land on the Mare Serenitatis (the Sea of Tranquility), a dark, lava-covered area in the northern hemisphere of the Moon. You can see this Mare from Earth – it is the left eye of the ‘man in the moon’. All going well it will send back photos and magnetic data. As it has no cooling system the spacecraft is expected to cease functioning in the intense sunlight on the moon after just 3 days. You can read more about this exciting project on https://nordic.businessinsider.com/spacex-israel-moon-mission-launch-spaceil-lunar-lander-2019-2/ or go to the website of SpaceIL, http://www.spaceil.com/
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6 : 12
It is not surprising that as we draw ever nearer to the times of the end, the intensity of the spiritual warfare being waged against the Kingdom of God is strengthening. In the center of the vortex, here in Israel, we are certainly aware of this and it seems the Enemy is ramping up the opposition. More and more believers here are coming under very serious attacks of the Enemy, mainly in the realm of health and finances.
Good friends of mine recently returned to Israel after a few years in Canada taking care of family matters. Getting settled back into the Land is no easy matter, even without the interference of the Enemy. Less than a month after their return they came home from their congregational meeting last Shabbat to find that their new home had been broken into and all their valuables stolen. Gone are all their computers and camera equipment, which they need to carry out their ministry and earn a living here. The youngest son also lost his computer which he needs for his online home schooling courses. They also lost the money they had raised for their resettlement. It is a dire blow for a family (God knows their name) that is also facing serious health issues and the death of a son just a few months ago. Please lift up this family in prayer, including their wider extended family which is also facing intense attack.
Theft is a serious problem in Israel. I have had my home broken into on three separate occasions and my bicycle stolen. My landlords and friends upstairs have had their car stolen from just outside on the street four times, twice this last year. It’s getting hard for them to get insurance on their vehicles. One of our neighbors also had his house broken into and car stolen recently. It’s hard not to feel anxious about this threat. The first thing I do each morning is to check that my car is still there and my house secure. It’s hard to always find that ‘peace that passes understanding’. Our possessions are not important in the big scheme of things, but we do need them to function in our daily lives, and when they are stolen it is stressful to say the least. Most of us who live in Israel live from day to day financially, and have no reserves to fall back on when disaster strikes. The Enemy knows where we are most vulnerable.
Pray that all the believers here in the land will be careful to put on the armor of God daily, and not give the Enemy the slightest opening for attack. It is hard to be that vigilant and to walk in total sanctification and faith all of the time. Please cover us with your prayers.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints
Ephesians 6: 13-18
ELECTION FEVER
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority exceptfrom God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
Romans 13: 1
Israel is in the grip of election fever. National Elections will be held on the 9thApril. I have never become involved in Israeli politics to any great extent but I do believe that it is important to pray for our leaders, and that includes prayer to determine who those leaders will be.
Israel has a complex, democratic system of government. Israelis vote for party lists for the 120 seat Knesset (Parliament). Since the founding of the State in 1948 no one party has ever had an outright majority, meaning that we have always been ruled by coalition governments. Such a system gives inordinate power to the smaller, extreme right- or left-wing parties. Binyamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party have been in power for the last decade.
Today (22/02) is the last day for parties to submit their lists. A few days ago Netanyahu announced that his Likud Party had formed a coalition together with the extreme far-right religious parties in anticipation of a coalition of left and centrist parties joining forces. This may lose his party votes as he has now joined forces with the extreme right, including the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party, successor to the Kach Party, once led by the late-Rabbi Yehuda Kahane, and which was banned some years ago for its extreme racist stance (3). This morning the two largest centrist parties, Yesh Atid , led by Yair Lapid, and Israel Resilience , led by Benny Gantz, will run together in the elections (4). If successful Gantz and Lapid would rotate for the Prime Minister’s position. The left wing parties are in disarray and can only agree on one thing, that they want to depose Netanyahu. They are unlikely to be a threat to either the Right or the Center in this election. The latest polls are giving a lead to the Centrist Gantz/Lapid coalition, but it will be a close-run election.
In the Israeli political scene there is really only one deciding issue and that is national security. Netanyahu has remained in power because most Israelis have seen him as the best leader in International Affairs and military matters. Netanyahu is now 69 years old and faces corruption charges which may lead to an indictment before the election date. On the other hand, the Centrist coalition leaders, Gantz (59) and Lapid (55), are both former IDF c
Chiefs of Staff, and their coalition lists include other high-ranking military men, including Gabi Ashkenazi, also a former IDF Chief of Staff, and a former Defense Minister, Moshe Ya’alon.
Left to right: Gabi Ashkenazi, Moshe Ya’alon, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz
You might be wondering what the terms ‘right’ and ‘left’ mean in Israeli politics. It is not primarily an economic delineation but rather a religious one. The right is mainly religious, morally conservative and ‘hawkish’ in military position. The left is more secular, morally more liberal and ‘doveish’. This is of course an oversimplification of a very complex picture.
The focus on national security as the overriding concern means that internal issues often get pushed aside. Israel faces many internal challenges such as the inequity of wealth, the rising number of poor, crises in the education and health sectors, just to name a few. I am praying that, whatever government gets into power, at least some of these issues can receive the attention they deserve. It is important of course that we face the external threats to our existence but that is meaningless if we self-destruct from inside.
TENSION IN THE SOUTH
It is almost a year now since the “March of Return” protests began at the Gaza border and in the last week or so there has been an increase in the number and violence of the confrontations. Until recently the main confrontations were on Fridays, after Muslim prayers, but this week there have been violent protests on the border on a daily basis and we have also seen the resurgence of balloon-borne incendiary devices. It is difficult to get much news as the elections are dominating the media and, quite frankly, I think we are all getting a bit bored with it all. It is sad when such things become routine and ‘normal’.
This week top military analysts have warned that we can expect an increase in tension and confrontation as the elections approach and a full-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip is looking more and more inevitable. Today the IDF began a 3-day military-wide exercise simulating an all out war with Gaza. The drill will include the ground forces, armor, artillery and aircraft and will involve the use of live-fire exercises, troop deployments to various areas, aerial maneuvres, and include a test of the emergency call-up procedures. Though the IDF claims that this ‘surprise’ exercise was part of its routine training programme, it comes in wake of an assertion by the former military ombudsman, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Brick, that the army was not prepared for large scale war (5). I suspect is also designed to send a message to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip not to continue pushing the escalation any further. Please pray that they get this message. A full-scale war would result in the great loss of life on both sides, but would be a terrible humanitarian disaster in Gaza, which is already teetering on complete collapse.
JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE MOUNT
In recent weeks there has also been a rise in terrorism in Jerusalem and the West Bank. On Thursday night last week (21/02) 10 Molotov coctails were thrown at a bus carrying Jewish tourists in Siloam (an Arab village in Jerusalem), about 400 m from the Western Wall. The bus was destroyed by fire but miraculously all the passengers escaped (6).
On Friday (22/02) thousands of Muslim worshippers entered the Bab-al-Rahama (the Mercy Gate) compound. This Gate is known to Christians as the Golden Gate through which Yeshua (Jesus) will return. Israel closed this compound in 2003 because excavations were being carried out there which posed a threat to Jewish antiquities on the site. On Friday the Waqf, the Islamic Endowment, which controls activities on the Temple Mount illegally opened the gate and permitted the entry of Muslim worshippers. Today Israel detained the Waqf Council chairman, Sheikh Abd al-Athim Salhab, and the Deputy Director of Awqaf in Jerusalem, Sheikh Najeh Bkerat (7). No doubt this incident will raise the temperature on the Temple Mount and could lead to increased rioting and terror attacks. Please pray for the peace of Jerusalem
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you …”
Psalm 122:6
REFERENCES
