THE FATHER OF LIES

 

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44

 

It is Saturday evening and it is with a heavy heart I sit down to write.  I do not know where to start. So much is happening there is no way I can describe it all, and as fast as I write new events unfold.  Here is a run down of  the events of just the last 24 hours:

• On Friday night widespread rioting broke out in Arab towns across Israel, including Rahat, Nazareth, Kfar Kana, Um el Fahm, Sahknin, Taybeh, in solidarity with Palestinians and expressing anger at the shooting Thursday of a female terrorist in Afula. 
• Rockets are fired at Israel from Gaza but fall short in Gazan territory
• Two religious Jews, aged in their sixties, are stabbed and lightly injured by a 16 year old attacker who was shot dead by security police at the Damascus Gate of the Old City, Jerusalem
• Clashes erupt at the scene between Palestinians and security forces
• A few hours later, at the same place, a Palestinian attacked and stabbed police officers moderately wounding two. A  20 year old police officer was also seriously wounded, and is still fighting for his life, as a result of 'friendly fire' when security forces shot at the assailant. 
• Hundreds of Gazan Palestinians riot at the border fence and succeed in breaking through into Israeli territory. Israeli security forces shoot 7 dead and around 60 are injured. The remainder were forced to return into Gazan territory.    
•  This evening at least 10 Gazan Palestinians break through border fence into Israel. (Ongoing incident)
• Around a 1000 Arabs riot at Kfar Qassem (ongoing)
• Hundreds of Jews demonstrate outside the Prime Ministers home in Jerusalem demanding tougher measures against Palestinian terror (ongoing).
• Missiles fired from Gaza towards Ashkelon shot down by Iron Dome south of the city.

This week in Israel
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4709446,00.html

If you wish to know more I can only recommend you follow the news updates on the web.  http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3082,00.html

A Palestinian protester waves a knife and his national flag during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in the West Bank and against Jewish groups visiting the al-Aqsa mosque compunds, in Gaza City on October 10, 2015 (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)
http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-stabs-2-israelis-jerusalem-shot-dead-medics-082719844.html

A masked Palestinian hurls rocks towards Israeli soldiers during clashes following the funeral of Mohammed Fares al-Jaabari on October 10, 2015, in the West Bank town of Hebron (AFP Photo/Hazem Bader)
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=100911646940658232#editor/target=post;postID=4420024328621723047;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=postname

 

The atmosphere in Jerusalem and indeed in all the Land is one of tension and fear. Fear that events are spiraling out of control and we are headed for another Intifada as random knife attacks perpetrated by teenagers become a daily occurrence in our streets, as youths riot and attack security forces and throw rocks and firebombs at passing vehicles, as mobs break through the border fence from Gaza, and rockets are fired into Israel. We are all wondering what will be, as each day it all seems to get worse. 

 

You might be asking what has precipitated this wave of terror? The answer lies with the Father of Lies. Various Muslim clerics and leaders have fabricated and perpetrated the vicious lie that Israel is planning to attack and destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, and are calling for 'good Muslims' to take up arms to protect the Mosque. 

 

The current wave of unrest began when Muslim youths barricaded themselves inside the Mosque and attacked security forces and those coming onto the Temple Mount to pray.  In support of these actions, and the subsequent knifing attacks and riots,  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen),  said on the 16 of September,

“We will not forsake our country and we will keep every inch of our land... Every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem is pure, every shahid [martyr] will reach paradise, and every injured person will be rewarded by God.”The Al-Aqsa Mosque is ours. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is ours as well. They have no right to desecrate the mosque with their dirty feet, we won’t allow them to do that,” http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-blood-of-martyrs-spilled-on-temple-mount-is-pure/

At the same time, Abbas tries to present a moderate face to the outside world, calling for Palestinian youth not to escalate the situation and instructing his security forces to calm the situation. Tonight however his Fatah (PLO) party is distributing official pamphlets, bearing Abbas' photo alongside that of Yasser Arafat. The pamphlet praises the 16 year old, Ishaq Badran, shot this morning after attacking two Jews calling him a ' hero shahid (martyr)' . The bottom of the pamphlet bears the words  “Eternal life and glory for our shahids” and “Our essence is sacrificing ourselves for al-Aqsa”.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4709292,00.html

 

Digital versions of the pamphlet were also posted on the official Fatah twitter account.

 

This outbreak of violence is not at all unexpected as an increasingly disaffected generation of Palestinians loses hope of a better future for their people. The Peace Process has stalled (who can talk peace with Abbas?) and the Palestinian youth has been poisoned from the cradle with hatred, rage and lies about the Jews. Add in the libel about the Al Aqsa mosque, rabid incitement by religious and political leaders, and violence is inevitable. It doesn't help that the world's press is quick to report the Palestinian version of events, and reports incidents in a very biased way, thus feeding a growing anti-Israel sentiment worldwide.

 

 An example of the kind of anti-Israel bias in reporting was exposed earlier this month when the BBC ran this headline: "Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two". Although factually correct, on the surface, notice how the wording emphasizes the shooting dead of a Palestinian rather than the fact that the Palestinian in question had just killed two innocent Jews. The headline thus effectively turned the terrorist into the victim, whilst sanitizing the killing of the Jews by depersonalizing the attack with the words "Jerusalem attack". Jerusalem did not attack the victims, the Palestinian terrorist attacked them!

 

Here are another couple of examples from the digital version of The Guardian newspaper, " In another attack, 19-year-old Palestinian Muhammad Saed Ali, from Shuafat refugee camp, in east Jerusalem , was shot dead after Israeli police alleged that he stabbed two police officers",  and "Earlier on Saturday, two Israeli men in their sixties were wounded when Israeli police said they were stabbed by Ishaq Badran, a 16-year-old Palestinian" . http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/10/israel-protests-three-palestinians-killed-five-wounded-violence-escalates. Again these reports appear accurate but notice the words "alleged"  and "Israeli police said they were stabbed...". Such phrasing casts doubt on the veracity of the statements, thus undermining the legitimacy of the shooting of these terrorists by Israeli police.

 

 

It is difficult for people outside of Israel to weed out the truth from all the lies in the media. However it is important to read the newspapers and reports online with a discerning mind, and a Bible in one's hand. The Bible provides an anchor for truth, an absolute and infallible 'take' on events. True it is sometimes difficult to discern right from wrong, especially in the current conflicts which arise from extremely complex historical, political and religious perspectives, but nevertheless the Lord's perspective is clear and obvious to all who wish to know. Israel is a sinful nation, a stiff-necked people, who have rejected God's beloved son and Messiah, but nevertheless they are His Chosen people and the 'apple of His eye' (Zechariah 2:8). God again and again promises to protect Israel and destroy all those who rise up against her. He has never revoked those promises and he will honor them in the end. We cannot know what the immediate future might hold for Israel, but we do know her end. God will fight on her side and all her enemies will be destroyed.  The prophet Ezekiel spoke of the judgment that would come upon the descendants of Edom (Esau) for shedding the blood of the children of Jacob (Israel)

Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir; prophesy against it ³ and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolate waste. ⁴ I will turn your towns into ruins and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
⁵ “‘Because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity, the time their punishment reached its climax, ⁶ therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. ⁷ I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and cut off from it all who come and go. ⁸ I will fill your mountains with the slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines. ⁹ I will make you desolate forever; your towns will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 35 : 1-9  

 

And again the prophet Obadiah says these words against Edom,

“The day of the Lord is near
    for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
    your deeds will return upon your own head.¹⁶ Just as you drank on my holy hill,
    so all the nations will drink continually;
they will drink and drink
    and be as if they had never been.
¹⁷ But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;
    it will be holy,
    and Jacob will possess his inheritance.
¹⁸ Jacob will be a fire
    and Joseph a flame;
Esau will be stubble,
    and they will set him on fire and destroy him.
There will be no survivors
    from Esau.”
The Lord has spoken

Obadiah 15-18

 

 

 

Do not fret because of evildoers,
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb...

 

For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the Lord,
They shall inherit the earth.¹⁰ For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;
Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,
But it shall be no more.
¹¹ But the meek shall inherit the earth,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

¹² The wicked plots against the just,
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
¹³ The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees that his day is coming.

Psalm 37

Please remember us all here in your prayers. Prayer is effective and is greater than the sword (or a Kalashnikov). Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and the safety of all her inhabitants, Jew, Arab and Gentile alike. Pray especially for the Palestinian youth who are being led as lambs to the slaughter by their leaders, who are inciting them to greater and greater violence, which can only bring calamity upon the Palestinian people. These 'great' leaders sit safely in their homes and send children to fight soldiers and cut down innocent old men, women and children. Then they call them 'brave martyrs' and 'heroes'. Above all pray for the salvation of many, Jew and Arab, that they might find the true peace of Yeshua, the only solution to the conflict. May the Lies of the Enemy be exposed and many turn to the way of Truth.

May Yeshua come soon!

 

  

 

 

 

 

SPEAK COMFORT TO MY PEOPLE

 

"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
 “Speak comfort to Jerusalem,

and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.

Isaiah 40 : 1-2

 

Last Saturday night  Jews all over the world observed the solemn fast day of Tisha B'Av (the Ninth of Av), considered the saddest day of the Jewish year. Tisha B'Av  is a day of solemn mourning because according to Rabbinic tradition it was on this day of the year that both the First and the Second Temples were destroyed, 656 years apart. In addition to these two major events, a number of other tragedies have also occurred on this day:

• According to Rabbinic tradition it was on Tisha B'Av that God rendered his judgment against the People of Israel that, except for Calev and Joshua, the entire generation living at that time would not enter the Promised Land but wander 40 years in the searing desert.

 

• The Romans crushed Bar Kokhba's revolt and destroyed the city of Betar, killing over 100,000 Jews, on Tisha B'Av in 132 AD

 

• Following the siege of Jerusalem, the Romans soldiers plowed the site of the Temple and the surrounding area, on Tisha B'Av in 133 AD 

 

• The First Crusade was declared by Pope Urban II on Tisha B'Av in 1095, killing 10,000 Jews in its first month and destroying Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland 

• The edict was given to expel the Jews from England in 1290 on Tisha B'Av.

• The Jews were expelled from France on  Tisha B'Av 1306

• The edict was given to expel the Jews from Spain in 1492 on Tisha B'Av

• World War I broke out on Tisha B'Av 1914

 

• On August 2, 1941, Tisha B'Av,  SS commander  Heinrich Himmler formally received approval from the Nazi Party for "The Final Solution". As a result, the  Holocaust began during which almost one third of the world's Jewish population perished.

 

• The mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to the death camp of Treblinka began on the eve of Tisha B'Av 1942.

 

• The Jewish community center in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 86 and wounding 300 others, on Tisha B'Av 1994

 

• On Tisha B'Av in 2005 Israel began the evacuation of all Jews from the settlements in the Gaza Strip

 Surely, the People of Israel has received double for all her sins. However that is not the end of the story, for the very next verses in Isaiah 40 go like this:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
⁵ The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Isaiah 40 : 3-5 

 



  God has punished Israel, double for all her sins,  but he will in the last days, bind her up, speak words of comfort to her and bring her into the Promised Land victorious. And all flesh will see it together. So now, through the Prophet Isaiah, he exhorts us all , who bear the good tidings of Zion, to speak comfort to his People. And how can we bring comfort? The Psalm goes on to say (verse 9),

O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

In Hebrew these verses are:

 עַ֣ל הַר־גָּבֹ֤הַ עֲלִי־לָךְ֙ מְבַשֶּׂ֣רֶת צִיּ֔וֹן הָרִ֤ימִי בַכֹּ֙חַ֙ קוֹלֵ֔ךְ מְבַשֶּׂ֖רֶת יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם הָרִ֙ימִי֙ אַל־תִּירָ֔אִי אִמְרִי֙ לְעָרֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֔ה הִנֵּ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃

 

Translated literally, it says "Go up onto a high mountain, preacher of good news of Zion, lift up with strength your voice, preacher of good news of Jerusalem, lift it up, do not be afraid, say to the cities of Judah "Here is your God".

The People of Israel today need to hear words of comfort today more than ever. Many have fallen into despair. They have given up on the Messiah as he seems to tarry. They feel that God has forgotten Israel.  This is driving some, more unstable personalities, to take judgment into their own hands. 

 

 We are all reeling from two events that took place this week .

 

On Thursday a Haredi (ultra-orthodox) Jewish man, Yishai Shlissel,  stabbed 6 people during a Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem. One of them, a 16 year old girl, remains in a life-threatening condition, two others were seriously injured and the rest lightly. This man had just been released from prison, ironically 'for good behavior', three weeks earlier having served only 10 years of a 12 year sentence for doing exactly the same thing in 2005, on that occasion stabbing 3 people during the Gay Pride Parade.  This time he had told people what he had planned to do, and the security forces had been informed, which raises the question  - why did they not watch  him more closely and so prevent this attack?

 

Yishai Shlissel moments before the stabbing attack. (Photo: AP)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4685917,00.html

 



On the same day, Jewish extremists, firebombed an Arab home in Duma, near Nablus, killing an 18 month old baby, and seriously injuring his parents and his 4 year old brother. His mother has suffered third degree burns on 90% of her body and her life still hangs in the balance. The others suffered burns over more than 70% of their bodies. Written in Hebrew on the walls of their house were the words: "Long Live the Messiah the King" and "Revenge".

 



Ali Dawabsheh, the baby killed in the fire, and the damaged home
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4686046,00.html

How it must grieve our Messiah King and the LORD God that such terrible things are being done in His name. Whatever we might think about the Gay Rights Parade in the Holy City (of all places), or the Palestinian occupation of the Holy Land, violence and the killing of the innocent violates God's Law, "Thou shalt not murder". There is no justification for such acts.

In the wake of the killing of this innocent baby we can expect now a wave of unrest. Hamas immediately called for demonstrations. Yesterday there were confrontations between Palestinian rioters and police in several places in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Two Jewish men were shot at as they travelled through the West Bank on the Jordan Valley Road towards Jerusalem. They were uninjured but their car was damaged. Arsonists set a fire near the settlement of Yitzar but fire crews quickly managed to bring it under control. These attacks may just be the beginning of a new wave of trouble.

No wonder some fall into despair, when God seems to tarry and we feel trapped in this ever-cycling spiral of violence. Yet we, who know the LORD, know that He will come at the right time, and that time may well be very soon, and He will judge all those who do evil.. He will bring justice and will establish peace on Earth in the end. This is our good news of hope to this generation.

Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
¹¹ He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young....

All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless....

He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless....

Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
²⁸ Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
³¹ But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

 

Isaiah 40 : 10-11,17, 23, 27 -31

 

 

http://allpicts.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/free-animal-pictures-to-download-with-flying-eagle-at-sky-500x333.jpg



 

 

So let us not grow weary in the preaching of the good news and in our prayers. I want to finish by sharing an example of the effectiveness of prayer. In my last blog I wrote of a forest fire that raged and threatened several towns near Beit Shemesh. What I didn't know then was that the warehouse of the Joseph Project, a Messianic charity ministry, lay in its path. The fire was halted just one mile short of the warehouse. Also in the path of the fire lay the settlement of Mesilat Zion, where the pastor of one of the local Messianic congregations lives, with his family. The residents were told that they needed to prepare for evacuation and the pastor immediately sent out an urgent prayer request to his prayer supporters. At least one hundred of those rose up in prayer and before long the residents of the settlement were told that the fire was no longer threatening the settlement and they did not need to evacuate.  Hallelujah!

 

Our prayers matter. Every one of them, so please do not grow weary. Please pray for the comfort of Zion, and the comforting of Jerusalem and all Israel, and that soon every eye will see our Savior coming in power bringing justice and peace to the whole world.

 

Amen.

 

(Many thanks to my friend Hannah Nesher who inspired this blog with her weekly email letter on the Parashat Hashavua.)