Israel is Demoralised, Traumatised.
Ready for Love and Mercy
Ron Ross
BFP News
Email: ronrossbfp@hotmail.com
5 October 2006
The people of Israel are reeling. They have completed the Feasts of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Next is the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). This is the holiest time of the year for them.
Against that activity, a New Year poll has revealed the insecurity and demoralised feelings of Israeli Jews. 56 per cent say they feel less secure living in Israel today than they did 10 years ago.
75 per cent believe Israel is struggling for survival right now. 78 per cent of Israeli Jews feel the Israeli Arabs are not loyal to the state. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has nosedived in public support. 70 per cent oppose his leadership and the disengagement plan which was the platform that brought him and the Kadima Party into office is also unpopular. 55 per cent oppose any further withdrawal from Gaza.
The height of their depression hit home when The Jerusalem Post nominated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as "Man of the Year!" They said he had walked over the world with his plan for nuclear power in Iran and he had boldly announced his policy to `wipe Israel off the map' with no reaction of any significance from anyone. In fact, they said, he was invited to speak at the United Nations General Assembly and therefore given credibility by the very authority that should be bringing him into a right relationship with his neighbours.
So Israeli Jews are depressed, uncertain, insecure and discouraged. Many still speak boldly but much of it is bravado. Rabbi David Friedman told a BFP meeting, 'We are traumatised and you can tell by the way we drive. We drive like traumatised people," he said. That remark raised a chuckle from us for the traffic congestion in Jerusalem is wild. Honking car horns, gesticulating, disgruntled, impatient drivers and buses which demand the whole road create bedlam.
In what amounted to a plea for recovery Jewish author Sarah Shiloh said, "We are suffering from trauma.
The question is whether we are prepared to let go of it." Christians have never had a better time to reach out in love and mercy to Israel.
I have often been inspired by the prophet Isaiah. This verse seems to be written with today in mind. "Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up My hand to the Gentile nations and set up My standard and raise high My signal banner to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in the bosom of their garments, and your daughters will be carried upon their shoulders." (Isaiah 49:22)
This is not likely to be the loving act of churches deceived by replacement theology. Replacement theology taught from so many pulpits in Australia believes God replaced Israel in His covenants and promises with the Church. Those Christians joyfully embrace the blessings of God but just as blindly teach that the curses are retained by the Israel they say no longer matters to God.
That very attitude created the fertile garden for anti-Semitism and it still does today.
But Isaiah writes to a different gentile. These are the followers of the Lord who watch Him for guidance. They see His hand; they observe His standard and His banner and they respond to His call for practical works of love.
Bringing an Israeli son in the bosom of your garment speaks of baby boys, suffering infants. They exist today. Satan hates them for they represent the beloved of God, His chosen people.
The promises of God to Israel are wonderful. Consider these. ???1) He promises to impart to His people a New Heart and a New Spirit. ?"And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 11:19)?He makes this promise more than once.?"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)
Those who teach and preach Replacement Theology should spend some time on these verses.
2) They shall be His People ?"That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 11:20) ?Again God repeats Himself.?"And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God." (Ezekiel 36:28)
He repeats Himself, more than once. ?"Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 37:23)
3) Despite what the Replacement Theologians teach God said He would bring His people home to their land. ?"For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land." (Ezekiel 36:24) This verse is already being fulfilled. They have come from more than 100 nations, a specific indication that the promises of God are dynamically true for Israel and the Jewish people today. And like His other promises, God said it more than once.?"And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land." (Ezekiel 37:21)
Right now Israeli Jews feel insecure and uncertain. They cannot trust the United Nations. The place is stacked against them. They fear Iranian nuclearisation. They fear the threats from their neighbours. They fear the movement of Hisbullah from southern Lebanon to Gaza. They fear the rise of anti-Semitism around the world. They fear the fragility of their government and its leaders. They fear Christians and the Church who introduced themselves to them with pogroms and crusades and now encourage boycotts against them.
Will the real Christians please stand up! "Comfort ye, O comfort My people, declares the Lord."
All this is taking place while the elders argue about the colour of the carpet for the church foyer and its cost. Maybe we've been called to the Kingdom for "such a time as this!"
|
Three years ago he joined Bridges for Peace in Jerusalem to establish international radio news and an audio service webcast at www.bridgesforpeace.com Ron was Sports Editor of WINTV for 20 years before joining the full-time missions. You can contact Ron at : ronrossbfp@hotmail.com |
 |