We are back from Israel! Thank you to all who prayed for this trip. It was a great success! Why? Because when we asked the group what was it about the trip that really changed their hearts, they said it was the Word of God, taught and reinforced at so many of the sites we visited. That confirms a great success!
We had 12 full days in the Holy Land, and it is always a great experience to walk where the prophets, the disciples and especially Yeshua walked and taught. It also proved to be quite a sporting event; we walked some 80 Kms or 50 miles in 11 days yet no one complained.
And it was hot. When visiting an ancient archaeological site in Capernaum (an ancient synagogue), I was teaching until my iPad overheated and shut down. It was 37 degrees C. From that point, I had to teach from memory.
On my return from Israel, I feel a sadness in my heart. While Israel is a great country, a powerful one, economically and militarily, there is, even within the country, great palpable opposition. As you travel the land, there are these marked divisions between Jews and Moslems which are these days, even more visible along the roadsides. There are walls of separation and iron fences which one encounters even right on the outskirts of Jerusalem and along the roads. These are becoming more noticeable as Israelis are building more settlements. And there are regular attacks going on as well, like car rammings and the shooting of Israelis.
And we can feel that deep disagreement and dislike.
The West Bank is divided into 3 distinct areas: A, B and C. Area A is exclusively administered by the Palestinian Authorities and no Israelis are allowed in. We encountered a sign just in front of one of these A areas; this is what it says: Entrance for Israeli Citizens is Forbidden; Dangerous to your lives. Imagine! That is surely not the Israel that the Lord has promised the Jewish people; here you truly feel the need for the Messiah and you can feel His soon Coming.
So while this is the friction taking place amongst Israelis within the Land , we can’t lose sight of all the enemies surrounding this country with rockets also being launched against them. For that reason and for more than a week now, Israel has been training for a multi-front war. It does this in case all its enemies attack at the same time, something that is possible, and we know will eventually happen according to end time prophecies.
The news reports tell us that Israel has practiced possible scenarios where enemy missiles would kill hundreds of Israelis and injure thousands. At the same time, they are also preparing for violent unrest breaking out among the Arab population in the country. These are all possibilities that are today becoming more real and more likely.
Who are these enemies? In the north there is Hezbollah. In the south there is Hamas. In the northeast we have Syria and Iran who are present there with many soldiers. In the east we have the West Bank. And in the south, though Israel has a peace treaty with Egypt and Jordan, there is still so much hatred stemming from these areas against the Jewish people. Israel is literally surrounded by enemies and the country is peppered by people whose hatred toward the Jews is difficult to comprehend. Clearly, we are coming toward the end times and the soon return of the Messiah Yeshua.
