Sound of the Shofar

#90

The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.

Is 42:13

Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up.

Joel 3:9

Iran's Bomb, Israel and the World

Albert Einstein's defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

According to this, we are living in an insane world system. With last week's report (2 years in the making and thus already out of date) of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency confirming that Iran is working on a nuclear bomb, the excuses for continuing to do nothing effective about it should have run its course. However the world continues to evade taking responsibility for this coming disaster and will not even take the minimum steps of stringent sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and Iranian oil exports and imports. There is no hard evidence that even harsh sanctions will work. They haven't worked with North Korea and they never really worked with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. They might be worth a try but the world is not willing to even do this!

U.S. President Obama talks about tough sanctions but he is too concerned that real sanctions will be a hardship on the people of Iran. Of course the people will suffer, how else will the regime feel any pressure to stop making the bomb?

German Chancellor Merkel says the right things but still bows to German Industry in its hell bent rush to sell hi-tech and dual use products to Iran. In reality they are helping Iran make a bomb to be used against Israel (will Jewish blood once again be upon German hands?). While China is Iran's largest trading partner (importing oil), Germany is the biggest source of hi-tech exports to Iran.

For the past three weeks the Israeli press has been full of reports and speculation that Israel is ready to attack the Iranian nuclear sites. This was even before the release of the IAEA report. The world has chimed in with a stern message to Israel not to dare to protect itself with a preemptive attack!

Is there a total disconnect by the world leaders with the actual reality of what an Iranian bomb would mean? Or is it a total lack of concern with the possible death of a million or more Jews from a nuclear attack?

Maybe it is both!

The international arguments against an Israeli attack are basically threefold:

Israel (in their understanding) doesn't have the military ability to do more than set the Iranian nuclear project back more than a couple of years - not worthwhile in their opinion.
The Iranians would respond by targeting Americans worldwide, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, they would attack the US Navy in the Persian Gulf and they would close the Gulf to oil exports (40% of sea delivered oil comes through the Gulf), driving the price of a barrel of crude to $200 - $300, maybe even more. In the very weak economy the world is in this could lead to a much bigger economic crash than we have already experienced.
An attack on Iran would result in all Iranians rallying together to resist an attack on their country.

As for Israel's military ability I have no personal knowledge. However I think back to June 1967 when in six days, Israel defeated Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Nobody - not even the Israelis expected that stupendous victory.

When we get to the second point, we see the inability the world has with discerning reality and especially the Islamic dimension. The Iranians are already targeting and killing Americans in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They have just been caught trying to murder the Saudi Ambassador to the USA in Washington DC, a plan that would have also meant the death of many Americans - and they seem to get away with all their plots against the West.

If the Iranians get the bomb they will be able to control the Persian Gulf and the price of oil at will with only the threat of using the bomb.

An Iranian bomb will mean an accelerated move on the part of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to get their own nuclear arsenals. The Saudis will probably just buy a few nukes from Pakistan!

Shiite Theology's End Time Belief

When we add the Shiite theology to the Iranian nuclear project, it becomes exceedingly grave. According to Shiite scholars quoting from apocalyptic Islamic texts, the Mahdi (the missing 12^th Imam), will not return unless one-third of the world population is killed. The Mahdi's arrival is accompanied or preceded with worldwide chaos and violence. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a member of the Hojatieh society, a group which believes man can actively create the conditions for the Mahdi's arrival in our day and they have publically committed themselves to do whatever they can to hasten that day!

In Ahmadinejad's first speech to the UN in 2005, he ended his remarks with: O mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace. In the same venue in 2006, he began his speech by saying: …hasten the reappearance of the Imam of the times and grant to us victory and prosperity. Include us among his followers and martyrs. The same occurred in 2007 when he said: Oh God, hasten the arrival of Imam Al-Mahdi and grant him good health and victory and make us his followers and those who attest to his rightfulness.

Some years ago I attended a seminar at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The expert on Iran, an academic and a secular person, told me that the Iranians were like New Age Cultists - they followed a dictatorial leader and worshiped hi-tech weapons! When I asked him a direct question, With what you know about the Iranians, could they precipitate a nuclear exchange with Israel to hasten the coming of the Mahdi?, his answer was simply: Yes, it is possible.

The third point also points to a denial of reality. As far as can be determined, with the exception of the Believers in Iran and a few revolutionaries, all Iranians already want the bomb. It was Mullah Rafsanjani - considered a moderate by the West when he was President of Iran and actively perusing the bomb - who said: Israel is a one bomb country, one bomb and they are done. Iran could absorb a number of nuclear bombs and still survive. This attitude is also part of the extensive network of those in Iran who believe in hastening the coming of the Mahdi.

MAD (mutual assured destruction), the grand strategy that kept the USA and the former Soviet Union from using their bombs, worked because the leaders were rational men. Rationality as we understand it does not apply to the leaders of Iran.

A Biblical Perspective

When we come to Ezekiel 38 we are introduced to the great confederacy of nations that will come down on the mountains of Israel. It is important to understand that the Lord is doing this. This is not something that takes Him by surprise - He is doing it.

After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you. Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan: You will say, I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.

Ezek 38:8-11

This is one of the central point's we need to understand. Dwelling safely, a land of unwalled villages, a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.

Some people stumble over "unwalled city" - today this stands for a city/nation that is no longer perpetually on guard. Is this Israel today? Are we dwelling safely or are we still on guard day and night against enemies within and without? We are under the threat of an Iranian nuclear attack, Hezbollah in Lebanon has 50,000 rockets aimed at us. Hamas in Gaza continues to attack southern Israel and the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria are still hostile to us.

Also we may not have many walled cities, but we are walling in the whole nation! We have the Separation Fence in Judea and Samaria and now we are working on an anti-terror fence between the Sinai and the Negev.

I would like to share with you a possible scenario: Geo-Politically you could come to a number of different scenarios about an Israeli attack on Iran but I believe this scenario (while not the only possible one), can bring about the Biblical condition Israel finds itself in Ezekiel 38:8-11.

Israel takes out the Iranian nuclear sites and disables the Iranian rockets; smashes Hezbollah and Hamas, maybe Syria too.

In other words Israel demolishes its main enemies in a lighting blow (remember the 6 Day War)!

This could bring us to the place where for the 1^st time in all our history, our enemies actually sue us for peace. What does this mean, "sue us for peace"? It means they raise their hands, maybe fall upon their faces in the dust and say, "We give up"!

In all our wars till now, we have won on the battlefield but not at the negotiating table. We have defeated our enemies but they are the ones who have placed demands on us for peace or even a truce.

In order to come to the place of dwelling safely, a land of unwalled villages, a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, we will need a different arrangement with the surrounding nations. We will need a different mindset from our enemies.

This will not be a genuine Peace because the heart of Islam will not have changed, as a demonic principality is cannot, but Israel will think it is a real peace and that we can finally dwell safely without bars or gates. I believe there must be a war with a conclusive Israeli victory before the conditions of Ezekiel 38 can be met and the stage set for the war of Ezekiel 38 and perhaps the binding of the Spirit of Islam.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever Heb 13:8

The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. He was a Man of War yesterday and when He returns it will also be as a Man of War.

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Rev 19:11-16

In our nature we recoil from even the mention of war, however war can be an instrument of God's Judgment and He has used it to make His will known upon the earth, to raise up kings and kingdoms and to tear down kings and kingdoms. War is an integral part of the last days, and we should expect more wars in Israel, however much we do not want to think about this.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Matt. 24:6-8

In the unredeemed world in which we live, war is part of reality - God's reality and our reality. For some years now I have been praying about the Iranian nukes this way: Lord, You made the physical nation of Iran to be built upon many major fault lines (earthquake zones). It would take just the tip of Your finger and the earth would open up and swallow all these demonic nuclear sites.

While I will continue to pray this way, I have been getting the impression (I believe it is from the Lord), that He wants man, in particular Israel, to take responsibility. While Obama continues to say that all options including the military option remain on the table concerning Iran, I do not believe that he has either the will or the desire to bomb Iran. Though the USA certainly has the military might (air power) to get the job done.

Some of you will quote: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. (2 Cor.10:4), however the context of that scripture is not of a nation and an unbelieving people facing annihilation.

I am reminded of Reese Howells, a modern day pioneer in geopolitical intercession and spiritual warfare. During the Second World War the Lord spoke to him and his prayer group and told them to pray the German Army into the Soviet Union. Reese Howells was told that the survival of HIS People (the Jewish People) depended on it. Howells knew that his prayers would also mean the death of hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the war, but he was faithful to God and he prayed, and this was the beginning of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

King Hezekiah is a biblical example of a man of God, trusting in the Lord and also physically doing what he had to do to protect his people from a vicious enemy. When we do our small part both in prayer and practically, we are not trusting in the arm of flesh, we are doing our part knowing that the Lord will do the much greater part. HE is in control but HE expects us to do what HE tells us to do.

After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself. And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him. Thus many people gathered together who stopped all the springs and the brook that ran through the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water? And he strengthened himself, built up all the wall that was broken, raised it up to the towers, and built another wall outside; also he repaired the Millo in the City of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance. Then he set military captains over the people, gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate, and gave them encouragement, saying, Be strong and courageous;! do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles. And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

2 Ch 32:1-8

While I am confident that the Lord has brought us home to prepare the way of HIS return and that we are not going into exile again, yet there is no Biblical guarantee that we will not be attacked by an Iranian nuclear weapon if we let them complete their project.

The world will stand by, even wringing their hands, if we are attacked, but that will not do us much good. From the beginning of the modern State of Israel, its leaders have proclaimed that had Israel been a nation in 1939, the Holocaust would not have happened. The government of Israel today has the practical responsibility to see that a second Holocaust does not happen. We have the responsibility in prayer and where we can speak in the council of the nations to do so.

Pray For:

God to move sovereignly to destroy the Iranian nuclear project.
The salvation of multitudes of Iranians.
The P.M., Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to be men of Issachar with the courage to act when needed.

…of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command;
1 Chron. 12:32
Israeli scientists to invent weapons that will neutralize the anti-aircraft weapons of the Iranians and our other enemies.
Israeli scientists to invent weapons that will be able to destroy the Iranian nuclear sites (Israel is just introducing to its Air Force the worlds largest UAV which has the ability to carry a 1 ton payload and fly for 20 hours at 41,000 feet).
For Israel's spies to get accurate information of where the Iranians have hidden their nuclear sites and success in disabling and destroying those sites before a military attack.

As Israel prepares its army for the battles that lie ahead I hope that we will mobilize ourselves as a praying army to prepare the way ahead.

Intercessors for Israel will host its 27^th annual International Prayer Conference in Jerusalem 23-30 January, 2012, with a Prayer Tour following till 4 February. Thet heme of the conference is Now also many nations have gathered against you, Who say, Let her be defiled, And let our eye look upon Zion. But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, Nor do they understand His counsel; For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor. (Micah 4:11-12)

For more information and to sign up for IFI's weekly prayer points please go to www.ifi.org.il

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

Eliyahu Ben-Haim
Jerusalem, 18 November, 2011