THE COMING OF THE MAHDI

 



Have you ever looked down the barrel of a cocked gun ? It is not a good feeling. We here in Israel are currently looking down  the 'barrels' of some 23,000 missile launchers, according to IDF sources.  This is not a comfortable feeling. This coming week the IDF and the Home Front Command will be carrying out a massive, nation-wide exercise designed to prepare the nation for an anticipated simultaneous attack by Hezbollah, from Lebanon and Syria, by Iran, and by Hamas in Gaza. Sirens will sound twice during the day, once during working hours and once in the evening, so that citizens can identify safe places, both at work and at home, to take cover in the event of a missile attack. The Home Front Command will practice dealing with an anticipated 300-400 casualties in the first attack, and the IDF combat units will prepare for an expected attempt by Hezbollah to infiltrate and capture an Israeli town or kibbutz near the northern border.. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4855393,00.html

The Home Front Command is telling us to prepare for war, but the question arises, "How?" Yes, we can stockpile food and water, clear out our safe rooms (if we have one) but is that going to be enough? Practicalities apart, how does one prepare oneself emotionally for all-out war? I have been through around 5 wars since I moved to Israel but all indications are that the next war is expected to be far worse, especially on the home front, than any we have experienced so far.

In my experience, people seem to fall into two categories. One group takes the threat seriously and makes preparation, but a subgroup fo these  become crippled by fear. The other group ignores the threat, makes no preparations, and lives in denial. I can remember the day before the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991. I was working at a major hospital in the Galilee and was totally shocked that it appeared no preparations had been made to protect the hospital. At the last minute people were sent out to frantically scout the towns around to buy masking tape and plastic for sealing up the rooms from possible gas attack. With the whole country racing about trying to buy plastic sheeting and tape it was almost impossible to find any, and prices had skyrocketed too. And all this was in spite of the fact that we had had around 3 months to prepare. There were many people who didn't believe the war would happen until the missiles actually began to hit the ground. 

The question then, how best should one prepare for war. Of course we should stockpile food, water and medicines if we can, but much more importantly it is a time for drawing close to God. That is the best preparation I know. It calls for a calm mind, faith and trust that our Shepherd is still watching his flock and will once again protect us.

From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalm 121: 1-4

Though we may suffer great losses in the next war,  I have total faith that God will not allow Israel to be destroyed, even though that is the goal of our many enemies. How many times lately have we heard the call of the Ayatollah in Iran and the 'Caliph' of the Islamic State not to mention others, boldly calling for the total destruction of first the little Satan (Israel) and then the big Satan (the USA)?  We have heard it so many times that we are in danger of falling prey to the 'boy who cried wolf' syndrome. However because it hasn't happened yet, it doesn't mean it will not happen. We, both here in Israel and the whole world, need to take these threats seriously. They are not just empty rhetoric.

While many Christians are busy interpreting the multitude of wars, earthquakes, famines, societal breakdown, and widespread violence  as the prophesied events leading up to the return of our Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), it might come as a surprise to many to know that many Muslims are interpreting these same events as the precursor to the coming of their 'Messiah', the Mahdi.

Who is the Mahdi?

Mahdi is a title not a personal name, and it is an Arabic word meaning 'the Guided'. It is rendered Mehdi in Farsi (Persian), Turkish and Urdu.  Both Sunni and Shia Muslims expect the coming of the Mahdi. They agree that the Mahdi will be a descendant of Mohammed, but  they do not agree on his identity and role.  In Sunni Islam the Mahdi is a normal person, who will be born in Medina,  and he will act as a messenger or forerunner of Allah.  In Shia Islam the Mahdi is the supernatural reappearance of the 12th Imam who was born in 869AD, became an Imam at the age of 5, and then mysteriously disappeared at the age of 73. He is believed to be currently in 'occultation' (hidden)  awaiting his return at the end of the age. This is a central tenant of Shia faith and indeed their whole faith system is based on it. They believe that at the end of the age, the Mahdi will return accompanied by Isa (Jesus) to conquer the world and cleanse it of all non-Muslims.

The distribution of Sunni and Shia Muslims in the Middle East and Northern Africa
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/red-lines-and-deadlines/map-sunni-and-shia-the-worlds-of-islam/?p=2539

Although Iran is predominantly Shia and ISIS is Sunni, they have this in common, that they both believe the end times for the non-Muslims are imminent, and they have a calling from Allah to prepare the ground for the coming of the Mahdi, and the final conquest of the non-Muslim world. They will both do whatever it takes to achieve that.
 
They also believe there are three important signs that the coming of the Mahdi is imminent:

1. Civil war in the lands of Sham (Syria)
2. Iraq will be engulfed in domestic militia wars
3. The non-Muslim world will become vulnerable to Muslims and Islamic rulers.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261559/end-world-muhammad-mahdi-coming-dr-majid-rafizadeh
 
The first two have clearly been fulfilled and the Muslim world as a whole believes the third is well on its way to fulfillment. Muslims see the Western world as weak and  floundering in moral and social decay. Our desire to talk, make peace and sign treaties is interpreted as a sign of weakness and vulnerability.

The Western nations believe that all conflict can be resolved by talks and treaties, but this presumes there is an overriding desire for peace. This is simply not so in the Muslim world. There can be no negotiating with the false god of Allah. He is hell-bent on world conquest and has no interest in peace. For Christian or Messianic believers there can be no sitting on the fence in these days. Many misguided Christians confuse Jesus' unconditional love of the individual with a tolerance of their various faiths. It cannot be. Jesus hated these lies and the bondage they bring to individuals. He was not afraid to speak out against false religious systems. It is therefore disturbing that between the 4-11 of September a temporary house of prayer for all believers, Jewish, Muslim and Christian, was opened here in Jerusalem. This prayer center is called "Amen - A House of Prayer for All Believers" and is part of the  Mekudeshet Festival of the month-long Season of Culture in Jerusalem. There can however be no fellowship between lies and Truth, between darkness and Light.

 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?  And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?  And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

2 Corinthians 6:14-16.

 



Jews, Arabs and Christians pray together in the Amen - A House of Prayer for All Believers
http://www.tabletmag.com/wp-content/files_mf/amencur.png



Perhaps it is significant that this interfaith prayer gathering took place in the Hinnom Valley. This valley which is a deep ravine on the southern side of the ancient city of Jerusalem, is called Gai Hinnom in Hebrew and it is from this that we get our English word Gehenom, which  is synonymous with Hell. This valley is where  terrible pagan gods were worshipped during Israel's rebellion against God. Here stood the statute of the bull god, Moloch, and the Israelites burned their infants alive in the arms of this horrible god. This place is also known as Tophet, which comes from the Hebrew word for drums. It is said that the Israelites sounded drums to drown out the cries of the children being cooked alive on the idol.

And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
Jeremiah 7:31

http://nationalvanguard.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Moloch-and-His-Minions.jpg

The Valley of Hinnom is a terrible place but even that will  be made holy again to the Lord, and there are even those who today pray for its restoration to holiness according to the prophecy of Jeremiah.

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.   The surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath.   And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.”
Jeremiah 31: 38-41

 It is no wonder that the Enemy is trying to maintain his hold on this ancient Satanic stronghold.

The timing of this interfaith prayer initiative is also significant as it took place at the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul,  an important time for Jews of repentance and introspection leading up to the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShana), the Days of Awe, Yom Kippur and the Feast of Tabernacles.  This is a holy time when God is calling his people to return to Him and repent. The Enemy fights against this in any way he can. Deception is one of his most successful weapons.

In contrast to this interfaith event, the Messianic Body here in Israel will be holding its own prayer meeting with the goal of reconciliation between Arab and Jew on the first of October here in Jerusalem. Although this is not the first joint Arab and Jewish prayer meeting, it is the first  which is being jointly organized by  all the leaders of both the Jewish and Arab evangelical congregations in the land. We see this as a very significant event spiritually, so please join us in prayer for its success.

With the approach of the High Holy Days it is no mere coincidence  that over the last few days we have seen an upsurge in terror in and around the city once more, after several weeks of relative calm. In the last 48 hours there have been 6 terror attacks resulting in the wounding of two soldiers and three Israeli civilians.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4855901,00.html Security measures are being augmented in the city and surrounding areas.

In the last two weeks ten missiles have also been fired into northern Israel apparently as 'spillover' from the fighting in Syria. Yesterday two were shot down by the Iron Dome antimissile batteries and no damage was done.

An Iron Dome battery (Photo AP)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4855806,00.html
 

Please pray for Israel in the coming days. We face serious threats both spiritually and in the natural. However we have no need to fear. God is greater than all the armies of man, and spiritual beings behind them. He will be victorious. Let us not be easily shaken.


We have to wake up to that reality. We are in the throes of an intense spiritual war between the true God and his Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). and the false messiahs of the false god, Allah.  The Western world insists in believing that the Muslim world wants peace (just as much as we do) and is open to negotiation.  While this may be true of many Muslims as individuals it is not true of their religious leaders, and since Islam is a religion of submission to authority, that is what matters. If their leaders call them to war, good Muslims will go, and will fight to the death for Jihad, world domination.







http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261559/end-world-muhammad-mahdi-coming-dr-majid-rafizadeh

 

BE STILL ...

Be still, and know that I am God...

Psalm 46: 10

 

הַרְפּ֣וּ וּ֭דְעוּ כִּי־אָנֹכִ֣י אֱלֹהִ֑ים

http://www.jpost.com/HttpHandlers/ShowImage.ashx?ID=252434

This week the summer vacation ended for Israel's schoolchildren and their teachers, and schools opened their doors for the 2015-16 school year. Our school began earlier, and I returned to work a month ago. Already I feel exhausted. Each day, six days a week, I hit the ground running at 5:30 in the morning, and I don't stop until I collapse in a heap at the end of the day.  It is madness, this ceaseless round of frantic activity and stress. There is no time for rest, relaxation, fun or friends.  For the last two weeks I have been sick  and I cannot even stop long enough to let my body heal. Yet I, like most people in Israel, feel trapped in this madness. A friend this week likened it to a hamster in his wheel, running, running, running, and getting absolutely nowhere.

One of the characteristics of Israeli life is this frantic busyness, which at least in part is driven by the determination to live every minute of life to the full. It may be a reaction to the Holocaust and the centuries of persecution, destruction and death, and a sense that we who have survived must live for all those who perished. Or then again, it might just be a bad case of 21st Century-itis.  Whatever the cause, the pace of life here in Israel is insane. I believe that one of the reasons that Israelis are so impatient and irritable is due to a chronic lack of sleep. I once sat with a group of neighbors who, over coffee, were trying to outcompete each other boasting of how little sleep they could live on. They saw sleep as a waste of time. On another occasion I surveyed the high school students in my school and found that, during the week, the average number of hours they slept per night was 4!!! . Tel Aviv proudly advertises itself as the 'City that Never Sleeps'.

I feel like that hamster running in its wheel, and I long to get off, but how? The bills keep coming in and I must work to pay them.  Yet, I keep thinking, that God does not want us to live like this. Did he not promise a Sabbath rest to all those who are born again in Yeshua? Did he not warn us to beware of failing to enter into that rest?

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 

Hebrews 4:1  

 

Of course the rest spoken of here is a spiritual rest, the rest from trying to save ourselves by our works. But should that not also result in a physical rest? God's Sabbath, the weekly day of rest  commanded by the LORD, is after all physical, and not just a spiritual metaphor. Must we inevitably be caught up in the whirlpool of the world? It seems that this is all a clever ploy of the Enemy, Satan. If he can keep mankind so frantically busy and constantly exhausted, then we cannot not stop, be still and know God.

 

One of my favorite Bible verses is the one quoted above: Be still and know that I am God.... This verse loses something in its translation into English. The Hebrew  word for 'Be still' is 'harpu' הַרְפּ֣וּ which is an active form implying an action, not a passive lack of action. It would perhaps be better translated as 'still yourself' or 'make yourself still'.  In addition the word for 'know' here is d'u      דְעוּ

This is not the word usually used for knowing a person, but rather the word used in the Bible to denote sexual intercourse, as in Abraham knew Sarah.  This degree of intimacy and knowing is not possible without spending time and investing in a deep relationship. How can we know God like that if we do not stop rushing about?

 

This ceaseless activity combined with all the other stressors of life in Israel (economic problems, the constant terrorism, the threat of war just to name a few) has a very negative effect on the life of all believers in the Land. Not only are many of us exhausted, sick and 'burned out', but it makes meeting together for encouragement and support almost impossible. It is hard to find the time to build friendships, to sit and talk, to pray together, to lend a hand or comfort someone in need. Consequently many feel isolated and very few feel they have the strength to reach out and minister to others. It is difficult to maintain any semblance of congregational life. It leads to a weakened Body and undermines our witness to the unbelieving. 


What to do? How can we get off the wheel?  Are we in disobedience when we allow ourselves to get caught up in the world's busyness? Does it come from lack of faith?

And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? ¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. 

Hebrews 3:18

 

Can I not trust God to provide for all my needs without having to work myself to exhaustion? Perhaps we just need to pause, reconsider how we live, learn to live according to the LORD's economic system and not the world's? I am not sure how we can do that but my sense is that somehow we have to find the way or the Enemy will suck us dry. Perhaps this is why the end times church is described in the Book of Revelation as being 'lukewarm';

 

 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷ Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. ¹⁹ As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

Revelation 3:16-19

 

Next week the High Holy Days of the Hebrew calendar begin, a period including Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and the Feast of Tabernacles. This is a time set aside for reflection, repentance and atonement. Sadly, far too often, the preparations for these holy days just add to the busyness, as we shop, cook, clean and entertain family and friends till we drop. I pray that this year will be different. Please pray with me that we all will stop, spend time in quiet reflection, repent of our busyness, and find time to find God and His rest. Perhaps he will show us all a better way. 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11: 28-30 

The Blood Moon controversy.

This brings me to the current controversy in the Body, and also amongst some Jewish scholars, regarding the significance of the sequence of four lunar eclipses (blood moons) and a solar eclipse and their coincidence with the Jewish festival cycle this year. As some are predicting a significant event for Israel occurring on the 28th of this month, a number of people have asked me my opinion. I therefore feel constrained to comment.

Let us not be easily swayed, 'tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine' (Ephesians 4:14) but rooted on solid rock. Scripture is indeed the word of God, and I believe that every word is significant, however our interpretation of that Word is easily flawed. One can read into Scripture just about anything you want. In my now nearly 47 years as a believer there have been many interpretations of end time prophecies that have failed to come to pass. Remember the Y2K fiasco?  It makes one rather cynical when yet another arises. What is more, when these things fail to come to pass, it makes us all look rather silly and undermines the power of our witness.  I prefer to take a 'wait and see' attitude. I believe the end time prophecies will be clear to all at the time the events actually take place,  and they are given to us to comfort us and give us hope.  

Someone once taught me that if someone is putting a time on the day of the second coming of the Lord then you can be sure He will not come on that day, because it is written that He will come suddenly like a thief in the night, when we are least expecting it.

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.

I Thessalonians 5:2

True, Paul then goes on to say, "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵ You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.... (v. 4),  but he does not say that we will therefore know the times and the seasons, but rather that we should be always be ready -  "be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and a helmet the hope of salvation" (v. 8)

Although no one, as far as I know, is saying that the Lord will return on the 28th of September, the principle remains. It is my belief we should all be sober and not easily swayed by each and every interpretation we hear. We need to be solidly founded on the Word of God and prayerful that he will lead us by His Spirit to interpret it correctly.  As for something significant happening on the 28th? It could well be so, since scarcely a day passes that something significant for Israel does not occur!

For a more thorough examination of this matter I would recommend the excellent article written by Mike Moore on

http://fromthetopcom.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/blood-moon-rising_20.html

I want to wish you all a Shana Tova u'Metucha (a Sweet and Good New Year) and may we all find rest in Yeshua from all our busyness.

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
  He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul.

Psalm 23: 1-3

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