On October 7, 2023, Israel was savagely attacked by Hamas from Gaza, and many suspect that the ensuing war will be long and arduous.

The atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on Israeli citizens are truly beyond words to try and communicate. We will not be going into the specifics of the brutality except to say that kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of innocent civilians was on a scale most would not have ever believed.

Men, women, children, and the elderly were abused, tortured, and slaughtered as if they were animals; yet, if animals had been treated as the Israeli people were, there would no doubt have been a collective worldwide cry for justice and retribution. The “religion of peace” – the Islamic world – and even many socialist leftists, on the other hand, celebrated. Evil knows no bounds.

I wanted to take a moment and offer my thoughts on what we have witnessed, briefly consider any prophetic implications, and offer a prayer for Israel, her people, and the body of Christ.

Iran

Iran, it has been reported, actually planned these horrid events with Hamas — a surprise to virtually no one who pays attention to the number one state sponsor of terror. Iran is dedicated to the eradication of the Israeli people and has vowed to destroy God’s people.

Iran better be prepared because Israel, once they have completed operations in Gaza, has every right to hit the Iranian regime hard. As Bible prophecy students, we know this response will undoubtedly have prophetic implications.

Hezbollah in Lebanon

As Hamas is a vassal of Iran, so, too, is Hezbollah in Lebanon, and she is armed to the teeth. And just as Iran gave Hamas the orders to carry out the attack, I suspect Hezbollah is waiting for their orders to attack as well. Reports have shown that Hezbollah has already fired rockets into Israel’s north.

It should not surprise anyone that, as Israel is attempting to retaliate against the barbarians and trying to rescue their people from Gaza, Iran may give the orders for Hezbollah to pull the trigger with an all-out assault in Israel’s north in an effort to confuse, confound, terrorize, and overwhelm the Jewish nation.

Psalm 83?

If Psalm 83 is a prophecy, and if Psalm 83 was not fulfilled in Israel’s early wars of 1948, 1967, and 1973, then we could be looking at the initial stage of this multi-pronged war. Israel, though, will have the upper hand and will ultimately prevail.

Nations that appear to be needed to participate in this war would include Egypt, Syria, and possibly Iraq and Saudi Arabia. But the nation of vital interest to me, and that I am personally keeping an eye on, is Jordan. The nation of Jordan houses the territory of ancient Edom, Moab, and Ammon. This nation is essential to any possible Psalm 83 prophetic coalition.

The Body of Christ

My main concern for the body of Christ in this and other like situations is that we do not allow our flesh and emotions to get the best of us as we see the images and hear the stories coming out of our beloved Israel and our empathizing, undying love for God’s chosen people.

We must allow God’s Holy Spirit to override any feelings we may have of desiring revenge, retribution, or vengeance on Israel’s enemies. This is ultimately a spiritual battle, and we must allow God’s Spirit to lead and guide our hearts, minds, and emotions.

Prayer

Let us offer a collective prayer to our heavenly Father regarding His beloved people, Israel, her land, and God’s holy city of Jerusalem.

Father God, Adonai Avinu, we thank You, Father, from the bottom of our hearts for all You have done for us – saving us by Your precious Son, Messiah Yeshua, Jesus Christ, and His loving sacrifice on the cross for our sins and redemption back to You. We praise, honor, and love You dearly for all You have done, all You are doing, and all You will do.

Father, we lift up Your chosen people, Israel, in their time of need. Truthfully, we should always pray for Your people, Israel, and the holy city of Jerusalem, but today, Lord, Your people are desperately hurting and in need of Your love, compassion, and shalom. We pray for those who have been kidnapped and are in the possession of evil men who would do them harm, and we ask that You protect them and bring them back home.

Father God, we pray for the children who have witnessed unspeakable evil, lost parents and siblings, grandparents, and other family members — that You be with them as their only true Consoler and Counselor. We also pray for the many other people who have lost family members and dear friends to these atrocities. Only You, Father, can give them hope and settle their hearts in their time of need, trial, and tribulation.

And Father, we would be remiss in our prayer to You if we did not mention that we pray earnestly for every Israeli’s salvation. We understand that many will not come to Your Son until the end of the Tribulation, but we also know that many Israelis do come to faith in Your Son, so we ask that You send Your Holy Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh, to convict them all of their desperate need for salvation through their once rejected Messiah. Messiah Yeshua is the only way to You and life everlasting.

Lord God, we also pray for ourselves that we do not get distracted by our fleshly emotions, that we give our entire being to Your Spirit, dear Father, and that You remind us that vengeance is Yours, You will repay. Our privileged job is to be Your hands and feet and to do Your perfect will, loving and serving You and loving and serving others.

Your will truly be done, holy Father. Again, we pray for Israel, Your people, and the peace of Your holy city, Jerusalem.

Father God, thank You for hearing our prayer and all the prayers Your servants will pray in their lifetimes. You are a gracious God, desiring to hear from Your people, and we yearn to be those people who fill You with joy at our sincerity to always commune with You in and through everything.

Thank You, Father God, for hearing our Prayer. In Messiah Yeshua’s holy Name we pray. Amen.

Saint, please keep Israel and her people in your prayers and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. She needs God, she needs her Messiah, and she needs our prayers.

May we all keep Answering the Call of The Great Commission, and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”

Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!

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My last post on RR was about the MAGA electioneering to make America great again, and in the post, I mentioned the great decline of the Western world. One part of that decline is the attitude of nations toward Israel, and in our world, this is very poor. As a rule of thumb, the Western nations do not support Israel, but they do not come out to say that bluntly.

I mentioned in that last post the money that the Australian Prime Minister has given the Palestinian organization, our tax money. He has given upwards of about 80 million, I think, on two or three occasions. This is Australian money given to support terrorism because the Palestinians support Hamas, their terrorist attack group.

I don’t need to spell out to you the horrors of the rocket attacks on Israel by this cowardly terrorist group. It is interesting that the New York Times called them “Islamic militants.” It refused to call them terrorists, but what else can you expect from a hellish newspaper?

I am incensed that my tax money is spent to buy Iranian rockets to attack Israel because the Australian Prime Minister hates Israel. This is a serious problem the world faces because no left-wing organization will support Israel, for the very nature of the left wing is the adoption of the philosophy of Marx and Engels, and that is hostile to all religious thought.

I cannot believe that the Australian PM came out and spoke his displeasure against the Israeli attack, but how hypocritical is all that? He helped support it in theory.

Where this will all go, we do not know, but the tinderbox is close to exploding. Israel needs wisdom and support, but don’t expect much support from the nations of the world apart from pleasant-sounding words.

HOW IS THIS ASSESSED?

How are we to understand this? Sadly, I think there are those who will come out again speaking about the Gog/Magog war, but they are wrong. That war just cannot happen before the Rapture and not even in the Tribulation. It can only happen at the second coming because, if you read Ezekiel 39 correctly, you see STRAIGHT AFTER that battle that Israel is restored without sin. It is so clear. That war cannot happen before the time of the end when troops are gathering for Armageddon.

Iran supplied rockets for Hamas, and they have armed Hezbollah. Sadly, I think Australian money has helped that cause. I am sure of it. The current ALP Australian government hates Israel. I think it was Terry James who said there are 250,000 rockets possessed by the Palestinians.

Ironically, one of the greatest stories from the theatre of war involved Australia in 1918 when the Australian Light Horse, brilliant riders and about 1,000 of them, raced towards the Turkish Ottoman defenses and crushed them at the Battle of Beersheba. (The Charge of the Light Horse Brigade). They made a film about that. That won Palestine back from the Turks, who ruthlessly had it for over 600 years. Australia was responsible for the liberation of Palestine, which led to the Jewish State later being formed. Now, 100 years on, Australia is helping to wipe Israel out, though not offensively but tacitly.

Israel will take measures against Gaza, and by the time this features on RR, we will know a lot more. In 2003 or something, they gave the Gaza Strip back to the Palestinians, a move that should never have happened. Israel should take it back again. The Philistines who once lived there in the time of David were awful, wicked people, no different from many who live there today. Whatever the pros or cons about that, when Israel realizes the full land that was promised to it over 3,500 years ago – and that will be in the Millennium – then all that will belong to Israel, as will the West Bank.

Again, I ask, what do we make of all this? Now I give my take on it. Firstly, I think it is revealing that we must be very, very close to the end of the Church age, and the Rapture must be so very close.

Secondly, we will see the leaders of the free world give lip service to the horror that happened in Israel, but they will continue to vote against Israel on any vote taken that concerns Israel at the United Nations. They are hypocrites, but what it shows is that the nations of the world are against Israel. Is that a surprise? No, they are against Christians also, which means they are against all the purposes of God.

Thirdly, I am not sure if this problem in Israel will go away. In fact, when the Rapture happens and just after that, conflict involving Israel will be evident, so much so that the world leader who is coming (Antichrist) will draw up a treaty with Israel for 7 years so that there will be peace. We know that it is broken exactly halfway through. Those 7 years correspond with the Tribulation.

I am uncertain when these 7 years start. I get concerned with a growing number of writers and “think of themselves” prophets who are saying we are in the Tribulation. This just shows again the failure of the churches regarding 25% of the Bible that is prophecy. They are becoming reprobate.

I see two possibilities for the start of the 7 years. The first is that it begins with the declaration of the world ruler to the world. I used to believe that when the white horse came, it happened. The second possibility is that the commencement is when the 7-year treaty is signed with Israel. It really won’t concern us because we won’t be here. However, the way the Middle East is, we must be very close to that happening.

Iran and Russia and China and the Rocket Man, and all other demonic people can do what they like because the President of the USA is a cretin, and the power is wielded by Obama (who hates Israel) and Clinton (who hates Israel). When you have no leadership, the rats come out of their hiding places.

I hope Christians will consider the current events moderately and not start making wild speculations.

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THE MARK OF THE BEAST

There is one other thing I found very interesting on a different subject. A couple of days ago, I bought something for my birds, and it had a bar code on it. I examined that bar code, and as you know, codes have narrow and thicker bars on them. Well, this one has 6 bars, then a break, 6 bars, then a break, etc. The mark of the beast is not 6-6-6 but six hundred and sixty-six. Nevertheless, I thought how simple it would be to have that “whatever is six hundred and sixty-six” on a stamp and the forehead and wrist be stamped with a bar code adding to 666. Those who start touting chips inserted under the skin are way off the mark.

Whatever the mark is, it will be simple to implement, not some complicated procedure to try to install when all the judgments of God are falling.

ONE MORE THING

A couple of days ago, thousands of Christians marched through the streets of Jerusalem to show their support for Israel, and in the main were very well received. I found this very interesting, not only for the event but to see Jerusalem. If you have time, check it out – it shows a lot of the Christians. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmv3GHtUSD8

Many of these Christians would still be in Israel.

God bless everyone.

Ron

ronaldf@aapt.net.au