The behind-the-scenes intercession that helped change history.

The year is 1879. A boy is born, the sixth of 11 children, to a mining family in the village of Brynammon in South Wales. This was Rees Howells who, from this humble background, was to become one of those privileged people whom the Lord raised up in a personal way and to whom was given great responsibility.

It is a story that would not have been generally known but for the determination of Norman Grubb, a friend from World Evangelisation Crusade (WEC), to record it in the book Rees Howells Intercessor.

There are risks involved in making a hidden work public. Just as Gideon’s ephod became an object of idolatry in the days of the Judges, after the mighty victory of God over the Midianites, so we must not look too much to the man and not enough to God. Yet, in this year of the celebration of 70 years of Israel being reborn, perhaps the greatest sign of the times, it is good to revisit the testimony of prayer that accompanied the work of God to bring this miracle about.

Learning Humility

Rees Howells was a humble man, broken by the Lord for his own purposes. He faced simple challenges in his early days - challenges as simple as breaking convention and not wearing a cap on an outdoor walk, through to bringing tramps into his home, so that Rees could be a God-pleaser and not a man-pleaser.

Later his experiences on the mission fields and during the time of 1904 Welsh revival showed him the mighty working of God. He learned how to live by faith in all things.

As we celebrate 70 years of Israel re-born, it is good to revisit the testimony of prayer that accompanied the work of God to bring this about.

All this gradually prepared him to establish a small Bible college in Swansea in the days leading up to the Second World War, when the Lord provided all he needed despite the great financial recession of the times. It was a work of God and it would be a close walk with God through the troubled times of the coming war and thereafter.

The Bible College of Wales. See Photo Credits.The College was a training ground for young missionaries and also a base for intercessory prayer, where a small staff held regular meetings as a second war with Germany seemed to be approaching. It is not widely known that Rees Howells made a mistake of judgment at the time. He believed that God would not let the dictators wage war.

God allowed him to believe this and even speak ‘prophetically’ through a book that he published denouncing the dictators and proclaiming what turned out to be a false prophecy. I mention this so we can retain a good balance, seeing what then followed as being more of God than of man. Rees Howells must have gone through those war years even more broken and humbled, after this mistake of judgment.

The War Years

When war did break out, every campaign of the Allies was followed in prayer and victories first proclaimed through prophetic intercessory prayer were then realised in the physical victories. Norman Grubb’s book majors on those war years and the intercessory prayers that arose in a unique way throughout the war. It is worth reading again at this time.

I am glad to have had the privilege of joining the ministry of the Bible College of Wales in its later years, when Rees Howells’ son was the Director. A remnant of the intercessory team of the war years still survived, especially Dr Kingsley Priddy, who had been a right-hand man to Rees Howells and who became a father in prayer to me. I had the privilege of personal discussions to supplement what can be found in Norman Grubbs’ book.

Rees Howells was a humble man, broken by the Lord for his own purposes.

Especial and relevant insights relate to the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. Samuel Howells told me how his father once came out of his prayer room and, ashen faced, announced that God had asked him to take responsibility in prayer for the Jews in the death camps. While the war was raging, and Britain was fighting for its own survival, few people at the time understood that satan through Hitler had a central objective of destroying the Jews.

Rees Howells knew how deep this call to prayer would take him, but he said to his son, in faltering voice, that he had accepted the commission. So began the intercessory ministry that was indeed a major part of the war – the spiritual war also raging at the time.

These are hard things to understand and we know how the Holocaust (HaShoah, as it is known to Jews) has impacted the Jewish world, not just during the war years but right through to our day. This event has challenged both Jewish and Christian theology.

Interceding for Israel

The prayers continued after the Second World War was over, and as the news that the Jews might regain their homeland became known. Kingsley Priddy told me how the college was brought to prayer at the time when the United Nations were voting for the partition of Palestine. They saw, in vision, angels surrounding the UN building and they proclaimed victory in faith even before the vote was taken, which despite Britain’s abstention was passed so that Israel would once more be reborn as a nation in their own land.

It is important to mention the path of prayer to this event, which we now, both Christians and Jews, celebrate 70 years later. God calls us into partnership in prayer, not that we should exalt ourselves but that we might know, prophetically, that this was his work. It is not as a result of a political manoeuvre that Israel is back in the Land: it was an act of God.

God calls us into partnership in prayer, not that we should exalt ourselves but that we might know, prophetically, that this was his work.

For the Jews it was at tremendous cost, and we are still trying to understand this. For those who prayed it was a deeply tiring work. Samuel Howells pointed out to me that his father was a robust man but that he died relatively young - his life being foreshortened through those years of intense intercessory prayer.

Our Calling

The Jewish world should know that it was a task given to Christians to pray for the prophetic fulfilment of their return to the Land, and for Christians to know their ongoing responsibility in prayer. God is still working out his prophetic purposes, which will result finally in the return of our Jewish Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach.

God is preparing the way for the Jews’ return to him - the return to the Land being a significant but not final step in this process. He is calling for a refinement of all his people according to Paul’s metaphor of the One New Man.

The day for intercessory prayer - our prophetic partnership with God - continues today. The call is as deep as it always was and the cost is also to be weighed in obeying the call, but call there is. Let us listen and obey as did those who went before us.

British delegation repents over shameful episode

A dark shadow of imminent war hangs over Israel’s 70^th anniversary celebrations, just as it had done at the nation’s re-birth in 1948.

President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran hastened the prospect of the rogue state taking out its frustration on Israel for striking its military installations in Syria.

In the latest incident (on Tuesday night), at least nine Iranian soldiers are reported to have been killed.¹ And in the early hours of Thursday, the IDF launched an unprecedented massive air strike destroying Iranian and Syrian targets in response to a barrage of rockets fired from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Britain’s Shameful Past

Also coinciding with what should have been a joyful birthday is an event recalling a very sad – indeed shameful – episode in Britain’s history.

At a special ceremony organised by Love Never Fails (an alliance of Christian groups supporting the Jewish state) and held today in Atlit, near the port of Haifa, Israelis spoke of how they suffered at the time and UK representatives responded with expressions of sorrow for our failures both then and now.

Granted a League of Nations mandate to prepare a safe homeland for Jews, we instead severely restricted immigration just when it was needed most during the Nazi genocide.

A dark shadow of imminent war hangs over Israel’s 70^th celebrations, just as it had done at the nation’s re-birth in 1948.

Atlit detention camp, Israel.And in the immediate aftermath of World War II, we shattered the hopes of traumatised survivors by turning their ships away or by herding them into detention camps. Some were even sent back to Germany where millions of their fellow Jews had been slaughtered.

Thousands of Jewish refugees were held in the Atlit Camp, interred behind barbed wire complete with watchtowers – and this in their own land, promised by Britain in 1917.

Declaration of Sorrow

As part of a prepared declaration of sorrow, the UK delegation told their Jewish friends: “We grieve that [Britain’s policies] led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews who could have escaped Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ if the gates to their ancient homeland had been fully open.”

And they added: “We are deeply sorry that our nation caused indescribable distress to untold numbers of your people and their surviving families, and that as a nation we dared to stand against the purpose of Almighty God to restore you to Eretz [the land of] Israel.”

A particularly shocking incident – on 18 July 1947 – involved an attack by British forces on a ship carrying 4,515 Holocaust survivors, spraying fuel and throwing smoke bombs in order to deter the immigrants from landing.

In the aftermath of World War II, Britain shattered the hopes of traumatised survivors by turning their ships away or herding them into detention camps.

I have touched on this and many other aspects of Britain’s role with Israel in my new book, A Nation Reborn (Christian Publications International, 2018).

As Italian author Edda Fogarollo put it: “Quite apart from the suffering experienced by these exiles during the Nazi atrocities, they also had to face the humiliation of having hoped in vain for freedom as their dream turned into a nightmare. After seizing the ship, the British re-routed it back to Europe – to the former concentration camp of Poppendorf, near Hamburg, of all places!”²

Called to Comfort and Bless

One of our great callings as Gentile Christians is to bring comfort to God’s chosen people, who have experienced so much suffering at the hands of those who hate them, just as Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, was despised and rejected of men.

Like him, they were led like lambs to the slaughter during the Holocaust – and we too have blood on our hands, having played our part in causing them to suffer such terrible grief and horror. For that we must repent.

Yet out of the ashes – a valley of dry bones – rose a new nation reflecting something of the resurrection power of Christ. Surviving a series of wars against overwhelming odds to emerge as a world leader in hi-tech innovation and much else besides has been nothing short of miraculous. They are even first on the scene of major disasters to help other nations in distress while their doctors treat the wounded among their enemies.

And they have been so keen to live at peace with their neighbours that they have given up land to which they were legally entitled. But that hasn’t proved enough for Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, who have vowed to wipe Israel off the map.

However, God has not called us to join the UN-sponsored chorus of disapproval, but to “Comfort, comfort my people…” and tell them that “her sin has been paid for…” (Isa 40:1f).

Out of the ashes – a valley of dry bones – rose a new nation reflecting something of the resurrection power of Christ.

Not only must we bless and support them, but we are especially charged to tell them that their sins have been paid for – in other words, that the Lord Jesus, whom we Christians serve, also died for them. We have the awesome privilege of sharing the good news that our beloved Christ is their Messiah, who came to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Furious Battle

But a furious battle for truth rages on as belligerent rioters further inflame tensions on the Gaza border in the mistaken belief that they have been robbed of their land and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is forced to counter Iranian propaganda about their nuclear programme.

Citing intelligence reports, he said Iran had lied about never having pursued nuclear weapons and had continued to preserve and expand its knowledge of the same even after signing the 2015 deal with global powers designed to curb Iranian capabilities.³

The Bible clearly speaks of such deceit, thus: “Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies” (Ps 5:9).

All who desire to follow the truth – specifically manifested in Jesus Christ (John 14:6) – must surely see where the path leads.

References

1 Several Iranian soldiers killed in Israeli strike in Syria. World Israel News, 9 May 2018.

2 Towards the Establishment of the State of Israel, Christians for Israel.

3 JNN, 1 May 2018, quoting Reuters.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Why Still Care About Israel?’ by Sandra Teplinsky (Chosen, 2013).

The Gaza border protests enter their sixth week.

For several weeks now, thousands of Palestinians have lined up along the Gaza border fence in protest. Stones and Molotov cocktails have been flung, burning tyres have been rolled and attempts have been made to breach the barrier. The IDF has responded with crowd dispersals, rubber bullets and occasionally live fire, with 40 deaths so far.

But the promised break-through and subsequent flooding of Israel with millions of Gazans has not yet materialised – and events in Syria and elsewhere have gradually drawn the eye of the media away.

The so-called ‘March of Return’ began in late March, with protests planned to continue up to Israel’s 70^th anniversary in May, when a new ‘intifada’ may be launched. This article puts some facts about the protests into historical context, and then reflects a little on their biblical significance.

Some History

The recent history of the Palestinian war on Israel is composed of sporadic attacks on Israeli citizens (stabbings, kidnappings, suicide bombings), interspersed with escalations of violence known as ‘intifadas’.

Both the First Intifada (1987-1993) and the Second (2000-2005) ended with Israeli agreements to compromise – first with the 1993 Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority (PA) and agreed a phased Israeli withdrawal from the so-called ‘Palestinian territories’, and secondly with Israel’s agreement to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip. The border fence was constructed in 1994 as part of the Oslo negotiations, to provide a security barrier limiting the movement of people and arms. It quickly became a hot spot for clashes.

The promised break-through and subsequent flooding of Israel with millions of Gazans has not yet materialised.

Since the relinquishment of Gaza and its wresting from the PA by terrorist group Hamas in 2007, the Strip has become a base for rocket attacks and tunnel warfare. But successful Israeli combating of these strategies has meant that Hamas is now resorting to higher-profile tactics, namely, people power.

Since 2007, the situation in Gaza under Hamas rule has deteriorated to the point, many say, of imminent infrastructural collapse. Relations between Hamas and the PA in the West Bank are extremely poor, and it is likely that the current protests represent a desperate, last-ditch attempt to draw global support.

Six Weeks of Violence

The ‘March of Return’ was timed to begin on what the Palestinians call ‘Land Day’, the anniversary of Israeli-Arab clashes over land in 1976 (it was also the start of Passover) and run until so-called ‘Nakba Day’ (‘Catastrophe Day’), or Israel’s independence day, with spikes each Friday.

Hamas has spent more than $10 million organising the protests, laying on free transport, meals and tented accommodation to encourage attendance. There are questions over how many of the protestors are peaceful¹ as well as how many have come voluntarily.²

Firebomb kites have been causing extensive fires in Israeli farmland. See Photo Credits.

The IDF has repeatedly warned that those getting close to the fence and trying to break through will be fired upon, seeing this as a major attempt to storm Israel and attack civilians.³ Of the 40 killed so far, at least 32 had known terrorist connections – 80% of the fatalities. All those injured and families of the deceased receive financial rewards from Hamas.

Though many have been quick to label this a massacre of peaceful innocents, photos and videos from the border tell a very different story: Palestinians throwing rocks and fire-bombs, burning tyres, planting explosives, employing automatic fire and using children as human shields.⁴

Hamas promised 100,000 on Land Day, but only about 30,000 came. The four Fridays since have seen a much lower turnout – about 10,000 each time – and reports this Friday suggest even less, around 7,000. The threat is that a million will come for Nakba Day, but this estimate is likely also over-hopeful. But what they’ve lacked in attendance, protestors have made up for in creativity, including dramatic faking of injuries to get media attention,⁵ use of literal ‘smoke and mirrors’⁶ and, latterly, kites manned with pipe bombs and marked with swastikas, reportedly in honour of Hitler’s birthday.

Though many have been quick to label this a massacre of peaceful innocents, photos and videos from the border tell a very different story.

Despite all of this, left-wing media in the West have had a field day at Israel’s expense. To them, the Palestinians can do no wrong – they are the ultimate victim group, driven to violence by the aggression of Israel. This means that Palestinian terror is excused or ignored while Israeli defensive reactions are chastised with claims of brutality.

Why?

Through all the drama, the ‘March of Return’ - by Hamas’s own admission - has several goals. One is to provoke Israel to war. Another is to pressure the Israeli Government to the point of collapse.

In the latter respect Hamas has won some PR points. Painting the protests as peaceful makes any kind of forceful response immediately look disproportionate. Indeed, if the fence were to be breached, as has happened before, it would lead to a diplomatic crisis for Israel, forced to fire on civilians marching ostensibly for freedom. However, an internal Israeli collapse remains highly improbable.

A more realistic goal is to engage the IDF in a war of attrition that will detract resources and attention from its northern border, where the threat of war from an Iran-backed Hezbollah is very real and imminent. In fact, Iran’s relationship with Hamas in Gaza suggests co-operation towards this end.⁷

Hamas’s least realistic goal is to break down the borders and march en masse into Israel, flooding it with millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees. Claiming the Land remains a fundamental part of Palestinian mindsets, which conceive of it as theirs by divine right, which is why Hamas rhetoric over the last few weeks has consistently used the phrase “right to return”.

However, the unrealistic nature of this goal is not the point – it reflects something ideological, and spiritual, which is important to understand.

The Right to Return?

The claim to a ‘right to return’ hinges on the argument that Palestinians, as the indigenous people of the area, were cruelly and unfairly forced to flee their homes in 1948 when Israel was created. Factually, of course, this is hotly disputed.

The refugee crisis in Gaza was indeed created in 1948, at Israel’s birth. However, contrary to popularly accepted propaganda, this was not due to Palestinians being forced off ‘their land’ by ‘settler-colonialist’ Jews. Nor was it due to any kind of ethnic cleansing on behalf of the Israeli authorities.

The claim to a ‘right to return’ reflects something ideological and spiritual which is important to understand.

The very claim that Palestinians were somehow a coherent people in 1948 and represented the indigenous population of Israel is bogus.⁸ But that aside, the majority of Palestinians who fled in 1948, ending up in refugee camps in Arab-controlled territories, did so because they were fleeing the coming war on Israel, which the surrounding Arab countries were sure would be won in a matter of days. Many residents were deliberately evacuated by Arab leaders. Israeli authorities made efforts to persuade people to stay – but with little success.⁹

Even PA leader Mahmoud Abbas admitted that the refugee problem was a crisis of the Arabs’ own making:

The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny, but instead they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and leave their homeland, and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live.¹⁰

Against all odds, Israel won the 1948 war, with Egypt left occupying the Gaza Strip.¹¹ Since, it has become in the strategic interest of Palestinian leaders to keep their people languishing, to garner international support for their cause and to stir up anger and desperation among ordinary Palestinians. This hypocrisy is written from an insider perspective in testimonies such as ‘Son of Hamas’, by Hamas ‘prince’ Mosab Hassan Yousef.

Do the Facts Matter?

Of course, factual arguments aren’t as important as ideology when it comes to the Palestinian cause. Although a large part of their international appeal rests on people thinking otherwise, the ‘right to return’ does not actually refer to a few thousand refugees reclaiming small parcels of land here and there across Israel that they once used to call home.

Neither is Hamas today’s version of the US civil rights movement - those who imply otherwise are imposing Western logic onto an Islamic issue.

The ‘right to return’ is actually a broader reference to the pan-Arabic re-claiming of the whole Land of Israel – by whatever means necessary - until Israel as a state ceases to exist and its Jews (and Christians) have either been eradicated or subjugated to Islam. This has less to do, then, with specific Palestinian lived experience and more to do with general Islamic enmity towards Jews and the religious imperative to ‘liberate’ the Land from Judaism/Christianity and for Islam, “from the river to the sea” as Hamas loves to put it. According to the Palestinians, the Land is ‘waqf land’ – land eternally belonging to Islam and only temporarily ‘occupied’ by Jews.¹²

The ‘right to return’ has less to do with specific Palestinian lived experience and more to do with general Islamic enmity towards Jews and the religious imperative to ‘liberate’ the Land for Islam.

In short, the ‘March of Return’ is about the obliteration of Israel. It’s a literal walking out of anti-Zionism – the belief that the Jewish state has no right to exist and that Jews have no claim to the Land.

Of course such an obliteration is not only based on lies, it is also practically impossible, as the Bible makes clear that Israel has been resettled permanently in the Land – never to be uprooted again (Amos 9:15).

Bible Lens

Whilst of course Israelis don’t get everything right and few yet know their Messiah, it is indisputable that God has set them back in their Land, re-gathering them from around the world in fulfilment of his word, and protecting them miraculously from incessant onslaughts ever since.

It is also indisputable that the Palestinians, dreadfully abused by their own leaders and indoctrinated to hate Jews, are fundamentally setting themselves against God. Though each are loved by the Lord, and he sees the complexities of their individual predicaments, the sum of their activism represents and channels demonic hatred of God’s covenant people and covenant Land. The Bible makes it clear that ultimately this is completely futile (e.g. Ps 2) and worse – brings a curse (Gen 12:3).

Scripture does not clearly predict this current protest (really just the latest manifestation of a very long-running campaign), but it does foresee various attempts to make war on the Jewish state.

As successive storm-clouds gather and burst in the Middle East, it is not difficult to see that the Palestinians are aligning themselves with those Arab nations, such as Iran, that actively plan to wipe Israel off the map. Again, the scriptures make clear the end of those who come against Israel in this way: shame and perishing, becoming like the “whirling dust” (Ps 83:13).

The Bible foretells that the nations of the world will one day gather to make war against Israel (Zech 12). Undoubtedly, the Palestinian ‘cause’, complex though it may be, has done a huge amount to spread anti-Israel hatred around the world, and to deceive many into believing that Israel’s very existence is illegitimate. Thus, however far away we are from the coming global war on the Jewish state, these protests are helping to lay its foundations in people’s hearts, today.

However far away we are from the coming global war on the Jewish state, these protests are helping to lay its foundations in people’s hearts, today.

Watchmen on the Walls

In keeping track of this unfolding drama, it’s important that we do not become passive onlookers, for there is much we can do.

We can use the opportunity to avail ourselves of the facts and disseminate and defend the truth, engaging people in conversation and challenging wrong assumptions and bias.¹³ There are many resources and books available to this end, with more being reviewed on Prophecy Today UK in coming weeks.

We can make sure that we ourselves have built up our own understandings of the conflict from the bedrock of Scripture, more than from media reports. What we see in the flesh is symptomatic of an invisible spiritual battle that the secular media cannot comprehend.

And, not least, we can pray: that Britain will choose her side in this conflict wisely, that God will work to protect his people and Land in ways that bring great glory to his name, and that he will have a huge harvest amidst all the chaos – including from among the Palestinian people.

Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish, that they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth. (Psalm 83:16-18, NKJV, emphasis added)

References

1 Snapshots from Gazan media outlets are illuminating in this respect: see here.

2 E.g. see here.

3 Read this article for a helpful analysis from an Israeli strategic viewpoint.

4 A case is currently before the International Criminal Court to prosecute Hamas in this respect.

5 The unofficial term for this is ‘Pallywood’. E.g. see these rehearsals and this page under ‘Myth: Israel is shooting people in the back or while they are running away.’

6 Mirrors to blind IDF soldiers and huge piles of tyres set ablaze to create a smokescreen covering attempts to storm the fence. The resulting tyre shortage in Gaza was blamed on Israel.

7 See here.

8 Most Arabs living in Palestine before 1948 were immigrants from surrounding countries. Zionist pioneers brought prosperity in the 20^th Century, attracting more in-migration. The uniting of these into a coherent ‘Palestinian’ people group happened in the mid-20^th Century, chiefly out of opposition to the new Jewish state.

9 Those who did stay enjoy full citizenship rights today and a much higher standard of living than in surrounding countries.

10 Falastin a-Thaura, March 1973. Quoted here. There was unavoidable collateral damage during the 1948 war and some inexcusable instances of Jewish aggression. However, Israel denounced these latter events and sought to compensate victims. For more on this issue, we recommend this page as well as Sandra Teplinsky’s book, ‘Why Still Care About Israel?’ (2013, Chosen Books).

11 Read a brief history of the Strip here.

12 See here (Article Eleven) and here.

13 CUFI are currently encouraging people to email the Foreign Secretary, urging him to condemn Hamas’s behaviour.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘The Key to the Middle East’ by Derek Prince (Derek Prince Ministries, 2013).

Anti-Semitism threatens to spoil big birthday party

Just as news was coming through of failed talks between Jewish leaders and Britain’s Labour Party chief Jeremy Corbyn, I was watching a TV presenter telling the harrowing story of anti-Semitic butchery in the land of his great-grandparents.

Following yet another debate on the subject in Parliament, during which Jewish Labour MPs received standing ovations after giving testimony to the flak they have had to endure, Mr Corbyn met with representatives of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council.

But they were not happy with the result. In a joint statement, they said he had refused to agree to any of their demands, which included banning MPs from appearing with members under investigation by the party on the issue.

Empty Words

Members of the Board of Deputies feed back to the press after Corbyn's meeting with Jewish leaders. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/PA ImagesMr Corbyn consistently acts and speaks as though he is the innocent party in all this, committing himself to strong statements of support for the Jewish community without being able to back it up with action.

That is surely because his hard-left agenda has attracted a swathe of followers who are, by definition, natural allies of those who hate Israel which, ironically, also includes far-right extremists and terror groups committed to the Jewish state’s destruction – an unholy alliance, if ever there was one.

Quite a tricky corner from which to extricate himself, really, barring an epiphany of sorts. And we can certainly pray for that.

Television presenter Simon Schama, meanwhile, used some grisly historical facts to illustrate the depravity of anti-Semites who, in the Russian pogrom of 1905, mercilessly decapitated Jewish people and tore their children apart limb from limb.

In the penultimate episode of The Story of the Jews on BBC4, he traced the history of his people in that part of the world; how they were forced to live in rural communities so that they were unable to compete with Gentile city businessmen. But they made the most of life and worked for the benefit of each other while always living in fear of assault – just for being Jewish.

Mr Corbyn consistently acts and speaks as though he is the innocent party, saying he supports the Jewish community but not backing it up with action.

Somewhere…

Fortunately, many were able to escape to America which, with Zion not yet an option, became their New World paradise.

Some 2,500,000 Jews from Eastern Europe sailed to New York from the 1880s to 1920s and, in a substantial way, helped to build modern America – even shaping the emerging film industry in Hollywood and writing ‘the Great American Songbook’. In the latter case, the lyrics often reflected their own longing for peace and safety. In the hit Broadway musical West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein (the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia) and fellow Jew Stephen Sondheim would compose: “There’s a place for us, somewhere a place for us, peace and quiet and open air, wait for us somewhere…”

Over the Rainbow (from The Wizard of Oz) reflected the same sentiment: “Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high; there’s a land that I’ve heard of, once in a lullaby…Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”

Yet just as Yip Harburg collected his Oscar for the song in 1940, the Nazi reign of terror was about to be unleashed in Europe with demonic fury.

Action, Not Appeasement

If we claim to be a civilised society, then words from Mr Corbyn are not enough. Action is required. I’m sure he doesn’t want to find himself backing the wrong side in a Middle East conflict that might erupt at any moment.

For just as Jerusalem reverberates to the sound of singing and dancing in celebration of 70 years as a nation, threats to Israel’s existence are as belligerent as ever. They are surrounded by implacable enemies – specifically Hezbollah to the north and Hamas to the south – with sponsors Iran vowing to wipe the Jewish state off the map.

If we claim to be a civilised society, then words from Mr Corbyn are not enough. Action is required.

More worryingly, the Ayatollahs are infuriated by Israeli attacks on military targets in Syria designed to deter any further incursion of Iranian influence in the region.

Adding to the toxic mix is the involvement of Russia. So it could all blow up in our faces. Therefore, cool heads are called for – but not appeasers backing down at every threat of a dictator. That is why President Trump is such a breath of fresh air, insisting that the nuclear deal agreed by his predecessor must not be extended as it will only further encourage Iran to commit genocide against Israel.

Tearing Up the Rule Book

He has also torn up the ‘rule book’ of Middle East diplomacy by ceasing to refer to Judea and Samaria as ‘occupied’ territories, infuriating the Palestinians in the process. As with the reality of recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the President is simply going a step further by bringing down the curtain on the fantasy world of Palestinian claims to the land.

The mountains of Samaria represent the heart of Israel; here is a view of ancient Shechem (now known as Nablus), home of Jacob's Well and Joseph's Tomb. Picture: Charles GardnerThey flatly refused the offer (of these territories) as part of the UN’s Partition Plan in 1947, Jordan then illegally annexed it during the 1948 War of Independence, and Israel took it back in 1967.

The mountains of Judea and Samaria represent the heart of Israel. Far from inflaming the situation, President Trump’s recognition of this disputed territory as belonging to Israel paves the way for practical thinking in the real world. Here is a President who will not buckle under pressure, but does want to see real peace. No amount of compromise over these past 70 years has ultimately done the trick.

Let’s pray for the peace of Jerusalem – and that Israelis will be able to celebrate their 70^th birthday in the perfect safety and unbridled joy that has so long eluded them.

Paul Luckraft reviews two books on Israel's restoration.

Over the next few weeks we will be reviewing a number of classic books on the subject of Israel and her restoration, ahead of the 70^th anniversary celebrations in May.

This week, Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Does God Play Favourites?’ by Jim Gerrish and ‘Your People Shall Be My People’ by Don Finto. Please see the base of page for ordering information.

Does God Play Favourites? (Gerrish, 353pp, Cornerstone, 2000)

Despite being nearly 20 years old now, this book is a real treasure trove. It has a wide scope and is packed with useful information on every aspect of God’s unique relationship with Israel.

The author contends that the miraculous work of God in restoring the nation of Israel is something that Christians today have to consider if they are to gain any understanding of the purposes of God as outlined in Scripture. He draws on many years of experience and biblical study to present a significant account of why Israel is special. He accepts that spiritually Israel is only partially restored but she has risen from the ashes just as the ancient prophets foretold.

The opening chapters take us through many scriptures to explain how and why this has happened.

Encyclopaedic in Scope and Depth

Later chapters cover the rise of Islam and its impact upon Israel and the Church, the story of how the nation of Israel was reborn, the Jewishness of Jesus and how the Church moved away from its Jewish roots during its early centuries.

The sickness of anti-Semitism is tackled in another chapter, as are the intriguing questions, ‘Is the Messiah restoring Israel?’, ‘Is God a Zionist?’ and ‘Is the Devil angry over Jerusalem?’. The author is clear that “The continual madness and insanity in the Middle East attests to the apparent rage of the devil concerning Israel” (p306). He adds that “No doubt, Satan has found politics a very successful tool in his age-old effort to deprive the children of Israel of their heritage” (p307).

Despite being nearly 20 years old now, this book is a real treasure trove.

The author also considers many of the contemporary aspects which surround Israel in today’s world, namely the refugee problem, the UN and its many resolutions against Israel, and the role of the media.

Each chapter is well thought through and informative - almost encyclopaedic in scope and depth. Everything you could want to know is covered more than adequately. There are also study questions at the end of every chapter, together with excellent endnotes. The book ends with an extensive historical timeline and a full bibliography.

Highly commended.

Your People Shall Be My People: How Israel, the Jews and the Christian Church Will Come Together in the Last Days (Finto, 204pp, Regal, 2001/2016)

This book, updated an expanded in 2016, remains a useful contribution to the literature on how Israel, the Jews and the Christian Church should co-exist now and how, in the words of the subtitle, they will come together in the last days.

The author admits that what he is writing is not always new but he is hopeful that his perspective will add something to those who are already knowledgeable in this area, as well as provide a fresh revelation to others. To this end he achieves his purpose.

The title is taken from the book of Ruth (1:16). The author contends that the Gentile Church should look to her as a role model in terms of commitment to God’s ancient people and a desire to become part of the ‘one new man’ of which Paul speaks (Eph 2:13).

A Remarkable Generation

Part of the fascination of the book is the way the author shows how God has been at work in the past 70 years since Israel became a nation again. He quotes statistics to show that half of those who have ever come to faith in Christ have done so since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 (p43). 

He also sees 1967 (the year when Jerusalem came under Jewish control again) as “the year that brought a change in the heavenlies” (p139). From this time there began to be a noticeable increase of Jewish believers in Jesus. He claims that “since the first century, there has never been a generation that has seen so many Jewish people in so many parts of the world coming to believe in Jesus” (p127).

But as well as proclaiming this good news, the author also makes us aware that “sometime in the future the whole world will take a stand against Israel” (p173). The spiritual battle will intensify. Taking a stand on their behalf is something we need to be preparing for. Here the example of Ruth comes to the fore again.

The book is an easy read and worth trying to pick up second-hand. The overall approach is positive and encouraging. There are good endnotes to each chapter plus an appendix of recommended further reading.

Please click on the following links to purchase the above books:

Does God Play Favourites? (Amazon, second-hand)

Your People Shall Be My People (Amazon, paperback and Kindle)

After being treated like dogs ourselves, my wife and I can empathise with our West Indian friends

The scandal of bungling Home Office bureaucracy involving Britain’s West Indian community comes just months after my wife and I were subjected to the humiliation of being refused re-entry to the UK because I had no visa in my South African passport.

Our experience clearly mirrors something of what the so-called Windrush generation are suffering, with threats of deportation amid a general immigration crackdown that has apparently misfired and hit many soft targets.

In our case, it meant we could not board our El Al flight to London from Tel Aviv in Israel. It left us in a great dilemma, with possibly nowhere to go (beside expensive hotels).

Vast Labyrinth of Bureaucracy

Apart from three months on a South African newspaper, I have worked my entire career in this country, paying tax all that time and I even now draw a state pension for my troubles. I also own property (fully paid off) and have lived in Britain for 47 years! As an embassy official admitted to me, the Home Office could easily have made a quick check to verify my credentials. But they deliberately chose instead to make life difficult for me.

Fortunately, we trusted the Lord and he enabled us to cope; in fact, in the end we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we basked in his goodness (even on the beach).

My wife and I were subjected to the humiliation of being refused re-entry to the UK. The Home Office could have helped, but deliberately made life difficult.

I realised that it was part of a new clampdown on immigration designed to persuade the general public that they were seriously doing something about it. But as Home Secretary Amber Rudd has been forced to admit, the vast labyrinth of bureaucracy diverts focus from the individual.

Because of our dilemma, we were forced to stay an extra 11 days in Israel until neighbours were able to mail my old cancelled passports (duly stamped with indefinite leave to stay here) to Beit Immanuel, the CMJ (Church’s Ministry among the Jewish people) guesthouse kind enough to take us in.

Working All Things for Good

A view of Tel Aviv from Jaffa (biblical Joppa) where we spent our enforced extra stay in Israel. Photo: Charles Gardner

Yes, the Lord blessed us mightily in the end, but it was a scary experience and it did cross my mind that I might well be deported to South Africa, and thus be separated from my beloved (British) wife and family.

It was only thanks to our MP, Dame Rosie Winterton (Labour, Doncaster Central), that we managed to get back at all without having to go through the laborious process of applying for a visa (in Tel Aviv) which we were told could take up to six weeks.

The British Embassy there were not much help, apart from offering us use of a computer and phone for a few brief hours. A minder initially treated us like dogs as he tried to shoo us away. We made a number of calls to the Home Office, but were passed from pillar to post as we went round in circles.

I do hope our lovely West Indian friends get the justice they deserve in this appalling situation which shows how little we care about people these days; to Government departments, they are just numbers on a computer register.

In fact, I pray they will experience – as we did – the truth of the Bible promise that “all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

The Lord Our Vindicator

During some of our more trying moments as ‘banned’ citizens, I vowed to send the bill for extra expenses incurred to the Home Office, but when I had calmed down and turned my attention back to higher realms, I felt the Lord assuring me that he would both vindicate and compensate us.

When we did finally return home, I discovered that my bank balance was as healthy as it was when we left. God had abundantly provided for us, and met all our needs.

This appalling situation shows how little we care about people these days.

As to vindication, reference the dilemma now faced by the West Indian community. That says it all! Like them, I was a victim of political correctness gone mad.

The case of Sarah O’Connor (Daily Mail, 17 April 2018) is similar in some ways to mine. On recently losing her job, she was denied benefits because she did not have a valid British passport. Like me, she had never got around to applying for one – in her case because she hasn’t left the country in 50-plus years of living here. In my case, I have travelled successfully on a passport issued by my fatherland, of which I am still proud.

As a touching footnote, my half-Jewish grandmother came out to England from Jamaica in 1919; I guess marrying a British officer qualified her for citizenship. So I too have roots in the Caribbean – I used to listen to endless tales of waving palms and beautiful beaches, and of the terrible earthquake my family survived in 1907.

I suppose, compared to that, 11 extra days in sunny Israel was no great hardship!

Peace was promised for pull-out – but it never came!

As thousands of Palestinian rioters take part in demonstrations against Israel on the border with Gaza, media attention is rarely focused on the Jewish victims of violence living nearby.

The so-called March of Return, during which protestors have hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers trying to safeguard their citizens, is about claiming the right of return for refugees (and their descendants) supposedly driven out of Israel at the birth of the modern state 70 years ago.

Quite apart from the fallaciousness of their claim, which I shall explain, the whole scenario of Hamas-led Gaza erupting in turmoil is a terrible betrayal by Arabs and all those who have supported their aspirations.

Land Exchanged for Rocket Fire

The nations who encouraged former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the enclave in 2005 in a “land for peace” exchange have blood on their hands.

For there is no peace for those Jewish residents who live within easy rocket-fire of Gaza, as a North Wales photographic exhibition called The Hope graphically illustrates.¹

Having witnessed mortar and rocket attacks while visiting the area as a child, student photographer Grace Fryer visited the Jewish communities of Sderot and Kfar Aza, located just over a mile from Gaza, to record the suffering of children whose daily lives are shattered by the sound of sirens giving them just seconds to find shelter. A number have been killed while others have been traumatised and unable to live normal lives.

Those who encouraged Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in a “land for peace” exchange have blood on their hands - for Jewish residents within easy rocket-fire of the enclave have no peace.

Grace tells the story of 17-year-old Ella Abukasis, who died while protecting her younger brother from shrapnel, and her exhibition includes photographs from the children’s centre her father Yonatan founded in her memory as well as shrapnel from a Kassam rocket recovered after a similar attack.²

“The Israeli communities around Gaza are not only subject to the constant fear of rocket attacks, but also face the reality that terrorists are tunnelling under their homes with the sole intention of taking hostages and killing civilians,” Grace points out.

Grace Fryer with one of her evocative photographs depicting the suffering of Jewish children in Sderot.“There are also times when the rocket fire becomes so extreme that Israel has to enter Gaza to protect her citizens.”

Just imagine if you were living in Kent and were subject to a never-ending barrage of missiles being launched from across the channel. You would no doubt expect your Government to do something about it. Yet Israel is almost always cast as the aggressor when they strike back at the Hamas terrorists causing all this mayhem.

Daily Stress and Fear

When Israel took back control of Gaza from Egypt in 1967, the communities around Sderot built good relationships with the Arabs in Gaza. Jews would sell their fruit and vegetables on the beaches of Gaza while Arab mechanics would repair Jewish cars.

But Yasser Arafat put an end to that when he initiated an intifada (uprising) in 2000. Under his direction, terrorists began attacking Jewish communities in Gush Katif, in the Gaza strip, which is what ultimately led to Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal five years later. With a population of just 8,000, this community produced over 12% of Israel’s dairy and horticultural products.

“The agreement was that if this community gave all their property and business to the Arabs of Gaza, their leaders would stop the terror attacks on Israeli communities”, Grace explained.

“Many in Gush Katif, who were themselves children of refugees from 1948, were forced to leave their homes to live in temporary accommodation in Israel; and they did so in ‘The Hope’ that there would be peace – but it never came!

“Breaking their promise, Gaza-based Arab terrorists began using the very land which had been left vacant for them to fire rockets and mortars into Sderot and the surrounding areas.”

Israel is almost always cast as the aggressor when they strike back at the Hamas terrorists causing all this mayhem.

It’s a terrible and frightening scenario, as you can well imagine, for children playing in school playgrounds, or visiting outdoor markets, stores and synagogues. Nowhere seemed safe, and pain is etched on the faces of those who have never known peace.

Not surprisingly, living with this constant danger takes a huge toll on these communities, leading to family break-up and illness caused by stress and anxiety. And yet none of these difficulties is recognised by the UN, individual governments or human rights organisations.

Web of Deceit

As for the fallacy of the ‘March of Return’, to which I also referred last week , the refugee situation affecting the Palestinian people is a crisis of their own making. It was self-inflicted.

Some 800,000 of them heeded the warning of the surrounding states bent on Israel’s destruction in 1948 to flee their homes, promising their swift return alongside the victorious Arab armies. Israeli leaders, meanwhile, had tried their best to persuade them to stay, but to no avail – hence creating a totally unnecessary humanitarian crisis conveniently used as an excuse to blame Israel for almost everything wrong with the world.

What’s more, there were at least as many genuine Jewish refugees expelled from Arab countries at the same time. And Israel successfully integrated every one of them. The surrounding states, however, still refuse to take responsibility for the welfare of those they persuaded to leave Israel.

As Walter Scott put it, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!”

Notes

1 The month-long exhibition, opened on 12 April, is being held at the Theatre Clywd Education Gallery, Mold, North Wales.

2 Leaflet promoting The Hope photographic exhibition – see www.fathershouse.wales

There’s a solution to the murder and mayhem on our streets

Plans have been revealed for the launch of a new party to ‘break the mould’ of British politics. But we don’t need a new party. We need a new heart, awakened by the Spirit of God from dreams of a man-made paradise in which we all sing from same the secular ‘hymn sheet’ where nothing is absolutely right or wrong.

This kind of thinking has only ever produced a nightmare scenario of violence, lawlessness and utter selfishness.

Britain has been hit by the terrifying news that the streets of London have now become more dangerous than those of New York. And in the Middle East, the Syrian Government would appear to have unleashed chemical weapons on its own people, killing 200 and wounding 1,000 more – mainly women and children. And Russia responds by calling this a fabrication.

A little further south, on the border of Gaza, rioters provoke the Israeli Defence Force with a so-called ‘March of Return’. Some would have us believe this is a legitimate protest at Israeli brutality and oppression, and for the right of refugees (and their descendants) to return to the Jewish state. But what is the truth?

Self-Inflicted Crisis

Well, the protestors deliberately chose the Jewish feast of Passover to mount their frustration, no doubt particularly mindful of the imminent 70-year celebration of Israel’s re-birth as a nation.

Actually, the refugee situation affecting the Palestinian people is a crisis of their own making, resulting from fierce opposition to the creation of modern Israel by her surrounding Arab states who immediately set upon the newly-born nation with the full force of their armies (like the dragon depicted in Revelation 12), warning Arabs living there to flee the country so they wouldn’t get caught up in the impending invasion.

The refugee situation affecting the Palestinian people is a crisis of their own making.

Israeli leaders, however, tried to persuade their Arab residents to stay, but to no avail – hence creating a totally unnecessary humanitarian crisis. And those who promised their swift return in the wake of Arab victory refuse to take any responsibility for their welfare. They are simply used as political pawns enabling anti-Semites to point the finger of blame at Israel for almost everything wrong with the world.

Palestinian protesters at the Gaza border. Stringer/Xinhua News Agency/PA ImagesMalcolm Powell, who was 12 at the time of Israel’s re-birth (in 1948), recalls reading and hearing at the time “that the Israelis were touring the Arab Muslim villages with loudspeakers urging them to remain, and to ignore orders to flee from the Muslim countries about to attack the new state.”

And while these self-inflicted refugees are estimated to have numbered some 800,000,¹ little is discussed in media circles about the 846,000 Jewish refugees forced out of Arab countries at the same time, who lost land and property equivalent to four times the size of Israel² - not to mention the many Holocaust survivors from Europe who had lost everything.

Land for Peace?

Quite apart from the refugee issue, Gaza was very much part of Israel until the world’s politicians managed to persuade former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to pull out of the enclave in a ‘land for peace’ exchange.

But ever since the 2005 withdrawal, terror group Hamas has used Gaza to launch a constant volley of rockets into Israeli territory, where frightened residents have hardly had a moment’s peace in more than a dozen years. They have also been subject to the constant fear of terrorists tunnelling under their homes with the intention of taking hostages and killing civilians.

Little is discussed in the media about the 846,000 Jewish refugees forced out of Arab countries in 1948.

Welsh photographer Grace Fryer has just opened a month-long exhibition depicting the suffering of children in Israeli communities close to the Gaza border.³ Some of those pictured are totally traumatised and unable to live normal lives. Grace witnessed mortar and rocket attacks herself when visiting the area as a child and returned as a student photographer in May 2016 to help others understand what these people are suffering. What sort of peace is this?

Truth Turned Upside-Down

Wherever you look in world politics, truth is being turned on its head. In my country South Africa, for example, Palestinians are being depicted as “the crucified, hanging body of Jesus today”.⁴ This was part of a ‘Good Friday statement’ by the Economic Freedom Fighters political party which ACDP (African Christian Democratic Party) leader Rev Kenneth Meshoe has described as “insidious, inflammatory, highly offensive and blasphemous”, adding:

Jesus was a Jew. Jerusalem has belonged to the Jews for over 3,000 years, from the time King David first established it as a city of Israel…I encourage persons not wanting to be deceived to research the truth for themselves and, if given the opportunity to travel to Israel to see the vibrant democracy that she is, to do so!

He further rounded on the “hypocrisy” of Palestinian leaders “who would rather spend the billions of dollars they receive from the international community to fund a mission to destroy Israel instead of investing in the health, education and economic development of their own people.”

What is the Problem?

We could all do with following the wisdom of legendary author GK Chesterton who, in response to a question from a major newspaper – “What is the problem with the world?” – is reputed to have submitted a brief handwritten note to the editor, saying: “I am. Sincerely yours, Chesterton.”⁵

We are the problem! We are all sinners, but there is a remedy for our sin, and his name is Jesus, who died on a cruel cross to take the punishment we deserved. Trusting in his death brings us life, health and peace – and, yes, it is also a recipe for changing a world gone wrong.

As Rev Meshoe put it, “Jesus’ death on the cross was an expression of the highest form of love; he gave his life for the salvation of all mankind. Palestinians are not being crucified.”

The answer to the problem of “I am” is the great “I AM” – the name God applied to himself and which Jesus also owned, as suggested by his many divine claims, such as: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

The answer to the problem of “I am” is the great “I AM”.

The Ultimate Answer

As for the streets of London, where more than 50 people have been murdered in the first three months of this year, the ultimate answer to the problem is just the same as outlined above. And for a helpful illustration, reference what has been happening in recent weeks just down the road from where Rev Meshoe has been speaking so courageously in the South African Parliament.

A huge prayer rally called It’s Time drew up to 150,000 people to Cape Town. It was the biggest recorded event in the city’s history, but when the organiser assured police there would be no incidents, the police chief laughed at him, explaining that 10,000 had attended the Mitchells Plain venue only a fortnight earlier and there had been 48 stabbings and over 100 robberies.

What’s more, he added, those attending the prayer event would have to park up to 4km away and walk through some of the district’s most dangerous areas.

But at the de-briefing following the rally, held to confess the country’s sins, the same police chief reported, with tears in his eyes, that not one single incident – no assaults, no robberies, nothing – had been recorded!⁶

Stop blaming everyone else for all the problems around you, and start to build a new world by dealing with your own sin. Jesus said something similar, telling his listeners to take the plank out of their own eye so they could see clearly to take the speck out of someone else’s eye (Matt 7:3-5). But don’t try doing it by yourself; only Jesus can help you!

Notes

1 Hancock-Watts, C. Understanding Gaza. ASSIST News Service, 11 April 2018.

2 Leaflet promoting The Hope photographic exhibition – see www.fathershouse.wales

3 The exhibition, opened on 12 April, is being held at the Theatre Clywd Education Gallery, Mold, North Wales.

4 Gateway News (South Africa), 3 April 2018.

5 Mohler, RA, 2018. The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down. Nelson Books.

6 Joy Digital, 9 April 2018.