The Bible and Bombs

Ron Ross
BFP News
Email: ronrossbfp@hotmail.com

4th August 2006

Beth Shean is quiet, not functioning with its usual vitality. Its history is profound. In bible times, Beth Shean controlled the pass between the Jordan Valley and the valley of Jezreel

We know from Joshua 17: 11 Beth-shan was allotted to the tribe of Manasseh but he was unable to take it.

The Philistines eventually took it and on its walls they hung Saul's body in triumphant display. A sobering reminder, violence is not a modern twist to the history here.

We deliver food to a lady in Beth Shean. Her husband is blind and they live by the love of friends and supporters. God has not left Beth Shean.

Tiberius is a Galilee ghost town. Tourists have cancelled. Resident fled. The streets are empty. The shops are shuttered. It is like a vacant movie lot. Cast and extras have departed. Only memories remain.

No cars honk horns on the streets. A few men wander the pavements as if searching for a place to sit and chat and drink coffee or play cards or something.

Tiberius is a seaside playground. I've enjoyed its hospitality several times and its restaurants and the Galilee. I first explored St Peter's fish here. That was 1996.

Tiberius was founded in 20A.D. by Herod Antipas and named for the emperor of the same name. Boats crossed the lake here even in Jesus' day (John 6.23). Sometimes the Galilee is described as the "Sea of Tiberius" (John 6: 1; 21: 1)

Demons are Active Today as we drive into its eerie vacuum, the heart jumps as the missile warning breaks the silence. It whines through a repetitive alarm.

Men on the street corner wave at us and point to the sky. The Hizbollah Katyushas are coming. They drone overhead and thud into the mountainside. Dust, rocks and dirt form a cloud and rise in protest to such an unexpected intrusion.

Demonic activity has the same motivation as always. It is stimulated by pride, anger, hatred, envy and jealousy. It is everything God is not. It has access to modern tools of murder and destruction today but it still harks back to John 10: 10 "The Devil comes to steal, to kill, to maim and to destroy…"

It is a strange contrast to asses the devastation on the mountain to the peaceful serenity of the Lake.

We acknowledge Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazim as we speed on towards Kiryat Shmona . We are now alert. We're in the region under constant bombardment, on the border with southern Lebanon.

The US newsman Dan Rather this week called it "the border with Iran", suggesting Hizbollah has occupied southern Lebanon to be proxy militia for the Iranian hitman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I think he's right!

We drive furiously on a highway without cars. Military and ambulance vehicles travel with us. Huge transports labor up the mountains lugging massive tanks. We bob and swerve watching to overtake. It's easy today.

In the towns traffic lights simply flash. They have no traffic to order around.

Boom! Boom!

We visit three gas stations in search of fuel. Two are closed. One survived a Katyusha the day before by a whisker.

The unwelcome visitor left a gaping hole in the vacant land next door. No one turned up for work today.

Our host drives us into an army position not far outside Kiryat Shmona. The commander welcomes us. (Our host has clout!)

We are escorted to the firing range. Tanks are positioned in great numbers (not permitted to tell you how many). They're firing into Lebanon.

We see where a Katyusha landed nearby flattening two toilets. Praise God no one was in them at the time.

We marvel at the primitive conditions the soldiers have. We can't get over their youth and their courage.

The weather is very hot. The soldiers repeatedly bring us icy cold water. (Wonderful gesture and greatly appreciated.)

My mind wanders as we past the road-sign indicating Tel Dan, the northernmost city in Israel. Ironically, it was here Abraham attacked the four kings who captured Lot (Genesis 14:14).

Now Israel is unleashing great power against the enemy who captured two of its soldiers. (Do you think God notices the similarity?)

This is one of my favorite spots in Israel. It was Laish but it was taken by Dan and renamed (Joshua 19:47; Judges 18:29).

"From Dan to Beersheba" is how the borders of Israel were described. (Judges 20: 1; 1 Samuel 3:20).

The Dan region is rich in bible history. Picture Moses standing on the top of Mount Pisgah and gazing out over the Dan (Deut 34: 1).

Today with camera in hand we study the Dan and see the telltale scorched evidence of a burning bush Moses could never imagine.

There is fire from heaven falling here, but it has no relationship with the God, who is love.

We have been invited to an army base close to the Syrian border. There is genuine fellowship with the soldiers here and we join them for lunch in their mess. It's a delightful serving of chicken schnitzel, rice, humous and salads with kaleshnikovs standing by.

This is Not a Movie!

Our host at lunch is the commanding officer. He learns that two of his men fighting in Lebanon were killed at noon. It is tragic and hit the company hard.

The reality of war hurts all of us but for the soldiers it digs deep into their innermost being. Again they are so young. I think, they're too young to vote, but old enough to die!!

The world is screaming at them, "Don't defend your land. Stop fighting. Stop killing."

These heroic descendants of David cry out, "Stop killing us. Give back our brothers. Ceasefire. Lay down your arms and we can all go home."

I heard of a major in Lebanon last week who dived on a bomb and died to save the lives of his men.

I thought of Jesus who went to a cross and died so the world could be filled with love and not hate.

I looked at a world who refused His sacrifice and chose to kill each other in the most vicious ways.

I looked at the media and the diplomats of this world who said, "Israel give in to their hatred and murderous intent, and maybe they will just kill the Jews and leave the rest of us alone."

I looked at Jesus who said, 'As you do to any of the least of these my brothers, you have done unto me."

I looked in my heart and I cried, "O God save us from writing our own version of Christianity.

Help us My Lord to follow you and be rid of the virus of hate which is devouring even Your land while we join Pontius Pilate and wash our hands of our responsibility."

"God help us!"