homeabout uspastor ray bentleyray's articlesreport from israel: 7/19/06



In thinking about how to respond to many of your inquiries about the Mideast, I want to share some of the best insight available right now, from a young woman living in Tel Aviv—one of our own daughters of Maranatha Chapel.  Although right now she wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons, I will say that she left our church and her loving family to answer a call to Israel to work, teach, and be used by the Lord.  She has made Israel her home.  Now she is like our very own “embedded correspondent” sending us reports along with her insights.

I was blessed to read her report and hope you will be too.  Please pray for this remarkable young woman and others like her who are placed where they are for “such a time as this”—our brothers and sisters in Jesus the Messiah, who love the Jewish people and are called to serve them.  My prayer for them is from Acts 4:29.  Peter and John had been arrested and threatened by local authorities in Jerusalem for preaching in the name of Jesus.  Their fellow believers prayed for them, saying, “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word.”

May God grant our brothers and sisters in Israel, Lebanon and throughout the Mideast safety, boldness, and peace of mind.  Please read the report below from our sister in Israel:

Shalom Chaverim (Hello friends),                 

I want to send an email to all of you, because I realized  that as much as the war here in Israel has been a daily and sharp reality to  me, maybe some of you don’t know exactly what is going on, or the depth of what  is happening.

 I’ll start by letting you know that I am fine.  Nothing has happened in my city yet, but I’ve been preparing myself, physically and spiritually.  Physically—packing my “evac pac”  which I’ll grab if I hear the falling and rising siren, signaling that we have one  minute to get to a shelter before a strike.   I’ll be shopping for my gas mask today. It’s my birthday—so I joke about how this is my most expensive present—I’ll try to pick a pretty one ;).   And I went down and checked out the bomb shelter in my building last night—it’ll be cozy…my roommate and I talk about decorating it… maybe Bible  verses on the walls?  :)
          
Spiritually, I sense the Lord with me, and His peace resting  upon me, more than ever before.  Really though, He’s been preparing me for this for a while, in many ways, so that it has not caught me off guard.  I am ready to stand and FIGHT. 
          
I’ve been realizing that while this is a spiritual battle, if you look at prophecy about the last days, the spiritual battle is also a physical one, fought by the nations which are currently coming against each other. 
     
I was just going to explain more of this—but I’m reminded of  an email I wrote months ago, that I never sent out.  I’ll insert it here:
 ____________________
     
5/21/06 
     
With all the talk about Iran and nuclear arms, and as I have  started to really look to the Word concerning the end times, I realize that we  are so much closer to these things than I ever thought I would live to see.
     
I often walk home from school or work and think to myself, “Oh,  how I love this land!”  But this thought is often followed by a mournful sadness, as I wonder how much longer will life here be  “normal”?  How much longer will my apartment building be standing?   How much longer will my favorite bougainvillea trees be blowing in the wind? How much longer, oh Lord?
      
Hal Lindsey recently wrote, “The  Hebrew prophet Ezekiel, writing from his vantage point in history, circa 537  BC, predicted that in the last days there would be a great war involving not  only Islam, but dragging an unwilling Moscow along for the ride, as if God had  put 'hooks in its jaws,' the prophet said.
    
"Leading the Islamic alliance, according to Ezekiel, is Persia, (modern Iran).  Together with the Islamic nations, Ezekiel says they will constitute an invasion force that will move against the nation of Israel.
    
Today, in 2006, Israel exists, as Ezekiel predicted.  Iran is Israel's sworn enemy, as Ezekiel predicted. The Islamic world is poised, waiting for an  excuse to ‘wipe Israel off  the map,’ as Ahmadinejad is promising to do if Iran obtains nuclear weapons.”  
    
 The headline in the front of the Jerusalem Post today read “Iran just months from nuclear weapons know-how.”
         
We have to be blind to not see that these things are being played out right before our eyes today.  Recent headlines scream it.
           
But God is good. 
     
 In Ezekiel 38, God actually talks about how He will tell  these nations to come against Israel, and that through  this, He will be made known to His people.
    
“And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north  parts, thou, and many people with thee…” to “come up against my people of  Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I  will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be  sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.”
    
I believe that we are currently in a season of His grace  towards us, before a soon coming season of hardship.  I have been  especially burdened to pray NOW for the strengthening of myself and the  believers here—that we would be prepared for the times ahead—to stay strong in our own faith during hardship, and to be ready to lead others to the Messiah.
     
I believe that soon, God is going to pour out His  Spirit here like never before.  The body of Yeshua here really senses this  as we have been seeing an increasing openness in people here in just the past  few months. 
      
But I also know that this comes with a price.  For there is a real battle.
     
 God is calling ALL of us believers NOW to ready  ourselves. 
     
_____________________________
          
That was my email as of two months ago, before the current fighting  began, and I see how now, only two months later, these events are coming sooner  than I even expected.
     
I am pleading with you all to not take this lightly.  I  believe that this war is not like any one we have had before.  It involves  all the pieces and players of those prophesied about in the Word (check out  especially the book of Ezekiel). 
     
God said it would happen, but through this HE will be made  KNOWN.
           
He does this out of love—to draw people to Him, wanting that  none would perish—and out of JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS—needing to cleanse the land of the sin  which has gone on for long enough.  
     
I am pleading for all of you to stand and fight, with soberness and strength more than ever before. 
     
A radio show host was remarking yesterday about how annoyed she was that some people here are mourning and playing sad music, when they  should be playing “Eye of the Tiger,” standing and fighting!  It spoke to  me—that we need to do the same. 
     
We must not even LET the enemy get satisfaction out of swaying our emotions toward fear.  We must be strong, take up the sword, and fight for the victory that has already been promised. 
           
It is amazing how in a time like this, the things that mattered before don’t matter anymore. The possibility of leaving all material  things behind—with just my small backpack—is very real to me today. 
     
Yeshua is in my heart.  HE has my soul, and this, this,  is all that matters. 
          
I pray for you—that God uses this time of quiet in the  States, to strengthen you and prepare you for what will come, for it WILL  come.  And to USE you to the full, in whatever means He wants to NOW.
          
Pray for me—and for the believers here  especially—both those in Israel  and in the West Bank and Gaza—for  PROTECTION, strength, unity, and courage. 
     
And for bold and overflowing witness of the true and ONLY  HOPE in Yeshua the Messiah.
     
Oh, how He is our Refuge and  our Hope!!!
     
Together, standing and fighting, STRONG,
     
A sister in Yeshua
     
 
   
Your comments and feedback here:  media@maranathachapel.org