Weekly Update: Fulfillment of prophecy before our very eyes
This week the Jewish people celebrated “Yom HaAliyah” – national Aliyah day. On this day, the entry of the Jewish people to the land under Joshua is remembered, as well as the return of the Jewish people in modern times, and the continuing contribution of olim (new immigrants) to the State of Israel.
This comes at a time of the ongoing political crisis in Israel, and increasing tensions in the Middle East. Iran is increasing its nuclear capabilities, the US is pulling out of the Middle East, Turkey has gone ahead to destroy Kurdish communities in Syria, and Russia has succeeded in gaining supremacy on Israel’s doorstep.
Who can doubt we are living in a time that the prophecies of the Old Testament are being fulfilled before our very eyes?
US accuses Iran of ‘nuclear extortion’ as Tehran expands enrichment at key plant
Times of Israel reports on the growing tensions between Iran and the West. “Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that Iran would resume enrichment at the plant near the Shiite holy city of Qom that was suspended under a 2015 nuclear accord with the United States and five other powers. It was the latest action by Iran to seek tangible benefits from the deal, from which the United States withdrew as President Donald Trump imposed sweeping sanctions aimed at reducing Tehran’s regional role.
The United States accused Iran on Tuesday of “nuclear extortion” and vowed no let-up in pressure after the clerical regime said it would resume uranium enrichment at the key Fordo plant. “Iran has no credible reason to expand its uranium enrichment program, at the Fordo facility or elsewhere, other than a clear attempt at nuclear extortion that will only deepen its political and economic isolation,” a State Department spokesperson said.”
Read more..
Ex-envoy to US Michael Oren warns of impending Israel-Iran ‘conflagration’
The situation with Iran is so serious that “a minor miscalculation by Jerusalem could lead to devastating war, with rockets raining down on Jewish state and overwhelming its defenses”, according to historian and former Israeli ambassador to the US.
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“Revival of the dead” – the return of the Jewish people to the land
Naom Dvir reports at IsraelHayom that the numbers of Jews making Aliyah (ie. returning to the land of Israel) seems to be on the increase. “According to official statistics, 28,629 olim [Jewish immigrants – ed.] arrived in Israel between January and October 2019. Only a decade ago, the number of olim for roughly the same period stood at 17,179.”
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Yael Shahar made Aliyah to Israel as a 19 year-old from Texas. “The impetus for the move had not exactly been rational. I felt that the inner voice that had been part of my dialogue with God all my life had suddenly told me, Come to Israel.”
Read more..
European MP: Europe shouldn’t force its views on Jerusalem
Member of the European Parliament Karoline Edtstadler, a former deputy Interior Minister in Austria, who chairs EU parliament’s working group on anti-Semitism, says Europe needs to do much more to protect its Jewish community, including stationing police outside every Jewish institution.
She also says Brussels should not tell Israelis how to solve their conflict with the Palestinians. “I don’t live here [ie. in Israel – ed.], it’s not for me to judge what’s best for the people here,” Edtstadler said. “The Israelis and the Palestinians know best what’s right for them; better than we could ever know it. When you don’t live here you can’t fully comprehend what the conflict is like, and then you cannot get up and present the ultimate solution.”
Edtstadler is concerned about the rise in anti-Semitism in Europe. “There are three kinds of anti-Semitism: the old-fashioned kind, a new imported one, and anti-Zionism. It took a long time before people dared speaking about the imported anti-Semitism, but it’s a fact,” Edtstadler said, alluding to Jew-hatred among immigrant communities. “Anti-Zionism, which targets Israel, is the most difficult one, because you have to be well-educated to find out about it. We can never stop fighting anti-Semitism. It will exist forever,” she added. Read more..
The story of “Gog and Magog” continues
Malcom Lowe writes at Gatestone Institute that Russian President Putin has outsmarted all other leaders, in order to achieve Russian supremacy in Syria. In the process, President Trump has abandoned and continued to belittle the Syrian Kurds.
“On October 22, Erdogan went to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin. This time, Erdogan feigned full satisfaction with a joint memorandum that limited his ethnic cleansing to an Arab-majority stretch of Syrian territory adjacent to the Turkish border, where few Kurds live anyway, while conceding the protection of all other Syrian Kurds to Putin. Trump claimed the entire credit for this outcome. But in reality it was the culmination of a scheme that Putin had been planning since at least January 2019, when he promoted a meeting between representatives of the Syrian Kurds and of the Assad regime. In short, the two meetings ended with the US administration claiming its strategic wisdom precisely as it surrendered its former substantial influence in Syria and established Russian supremacy in Syria.”
Read more..
“Focus on the future” – Video teachings by Rev. Willem J.J. Glashouwer
Volume 2 episode 2: “The Bible clearly teaches us that we are in the end times. The things that are happening in the world around us that you daily see on the news have to do with the end times. The signs of the times are coming more and more visible. One of the signs of the times that the Bible speaks about is the coming of the antichrist. What is holding back the full revelation of this beast, this antichrist? How can we be safe, even in the last days?”
“In the footsteps of Abraham” – Video teachings by Johannes Gerloff
Watch this series of teachings by Israeli-based Bible teacher and journalist Johannes Gerloff:
In Episode 2, Johannes studies Genesis 11: “We love our nations. We defend our national interests, our cultures, our languages and ethnic identities. How does God view this? How does the Creator see ethnic diversity and migration that so often results from it?”
Shabbat shalom,
Andrew Tucker
Editor-in-Chief – Israel & Christians Today
Scripture for the week: Ezekiel 39
“Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. 2 I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. 4 On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. 5 You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. 6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the Lord.
7 “‘I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the Lord am the Holy One in Israel. 8 It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord. This is the day I have spoken of.
9 “‘Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. 10 They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign Lord.11 “‘On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east of the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.12 “‘For seven months the Israelites will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I display my glory will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign Lord. 14 People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. They will spread out across the land and, along with others, they will bury any bodies that are lying on the ground.“‘After the seven months they will carry out a more detailed search. 15 As they go through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will leave a marker beside it until the gravediggers bury it in the Valley of Hamon Gog, 16 near a town called Hamonah. And so they will cleanse the land.’17 “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. 19 At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. 20 At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,’ declares the Sovereign Lord.21 “I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay on them. 22 From that day forward the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. 23 And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them.25 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. 26 They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of many nations. 28 Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. 29 I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
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