Operation Pillar of Cloud
Inevitable Escalation to the Psalm 83 Arab-Israeli War
To Confirm the Covenant promising lasting ‘Peace & Security’ to Israel
By Luis B. Vega
vegapost@hotmail.com
Online Chart at: www.sonoma.edu/users/v/vegalu/eschatology_files/Gaza.pdf
By day the LORD went ahead of them (Israelites) in a Pillar of Cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. -Exodus 13:21
The following study will seek to illustrate the current military operations & conflict between the Palestinians in Gaza, in particular & the Israeli response to the barrage of rocket attacks from Hamas over the past decade. The name of the Israeli military operation, ‘Pillar of Cloud’ will be examined due to its Biblical connotation. A description of the various short & now medium range rockets that Hamas is using will be itemized.
The advanced missile defense system called ‘Iron Dome’ or ‘shield’ will be looked at for possible correlations to the Spiritual Warfare the Bible declares, Followers of Christ are involved in presently. A speculative scenario of the geo-political ramifications of this escalating conflict will be highlighted. This escalating conflict could very well lead to a larger regional muslim-Jewish war. Perhaps these escalating exchanges between Gaza & Israel over the past decade will culminate in the prophesied Psalm 83 Arab-Israeli War. It appears that the main players & conditions are now almost in place for such a scenario to occur.
The Pillar of Cloud
Many nations elect to use patriotic and/or religious inferences when it comes to naming certain military operations or campaigns. It is very interesting that Israel chose to call the latest code or name for their military operation against Hamas, ‘Pillar of Cloud’ or Defense. This has a huge Biblical & spiritual significant implication. It is one of the few times, in which the secular Nation of Israel has inferred to a Biblical & spiritual association to a military campaign. Perhaps it is a sign of just where National Israel is with respect to the nation’s reconciliation & redemption with the LORD. This reconciliation & redemption will only come about at the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ, their rejected Messiah. It will be at a time when Christ says in reference to the Jewish nation, ‘They will look on me, the one they have pierced…’ –Zechariah 12:10
The ‘Pillar of Cloud’ is a reference to the LORD’s protective ‘shield’ or dome if you will, while the Israelites were sojourning throughout the Wilderness. In the Wilderness, when Israel was headed toward the Promised Land, the LORD’s presence was manifested in the Pillar of Cloud by day & a Pillar of Fire by night. The Pillar of Cloud was like a ‘dome’ or a shield of protection for the entire nation. It protected the Israelites from the intense desert heat & sun during the day. It also was a shield or ‘dome’ of protection from the severe cold at night & wild animals. Interestingly, the formation of the Tabernacle & the camp was organized & divided in a military fashion; by tribes, elders, leaders, units etc.
Much like in the time of the Wilderness journey for Israel, the ‘Iron Dome’ missile defense system, like the Pillar of Cloud then is protecting Israel now. This ‘shield’ kept the enemies of Israel from infiltrating the camp. Although the Iron Dome is not 100% effective today, it is intercepting & destroying around 90% of the rockets that are being launched from Hamas. Hamas has been lobbing rockets at Israel for the past decade. The difference now is that Israel does seem to have an effective shield or ‘Pillar of Cloud’ against their ancient enemies. Perhaps this is a foreshadowing of the greater protection & ‘shield’ the LORD will be providing the nation of Israel during the inevitable 1) Psalm 83 War, 2) the Ezekiel 38 War, 3) the Tribulation, & 4) Armageddon.
The reason why Hamas in Gaza have been launching rockets at Israel for the past decade & engaged in terrorist activities like suicide bombing, soldier kidnappings etc., it that it refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign nation. Hamas seeks instead to replace Israel with a muslim Arab state. This escalating Arab conflict, in particular, goes back to the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. The argument for the Palestinians is that the ‘Land’ was theirs first’ or that they were there before all the Jews started to make Aliyah after WW2. Yet, most that support the ‘Palestinian’ claim to Israel proper & the entire West Bank -which is Judea & Samaria, has forgotten the history of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
THE ORIGINAL PATRICIAN OF PALESTINE
Originally the Patrician Plan was construed & promised to the Arab & Jews by the WW2 victors. The divine ‘Land Grant’ for both the Palestinians & Jews involved what is now Jordon, on the East bank of the River Jordon. This territory was to be the State for the Palestinians or Palestine. The entire land to the West of the River Jordon was to be the territory for the Jewish State. This original Patrician Plan was altered & has had dire consequences even to this very day because of it.
There was a double cross to both the Arabs & the Jews by the globalists that sought to further their own interests as new oil resources were discovered in the Middle East. It was a ploy also to keep the religious hatred & ethnic revelry between the Jews & muslims at the forefront of the region. This Arab-Israeli conflict was designed to deflect attention from the siphoning of the oil deposits & the discrepancy of the abject poverty the Arab peoples were being forced to live under. On the whole, the Arab populations were kept down by Western backed military & brutal dictatorships. This was the mode of operation until the game-changer of the Arab Spring. At this time, all the subjected Dictators towing the line to the globalists were now being replaced by extremist islamists bend on the destruction of Israel.
In 1947 the UN partitioned only what remained after the country of Jordon was established by the West as a monarchy. This left only the territory west of the River Jordon to patrician between the Arabs & Jews. With that, the UN partitioned ‘Palestine’ into an Arab & Jewish section from the West Bank lands. The Palestinians rejected the UN Plan because they wanted it all. Instead of a compromise or peace, 7 well equipped Arab armies attacked Israel simultaneously as Israel declared independence. Israel’s independence was recognized by the US and the UN thereafter the war with the Arabs was won by Israel, miraculously. This is when most of the Palestinian that left Israel proper became ‘refugees’ in neighboring Arab countries. The remaining Palestinians that remained in Israel proper were granted Israeli citizenship; something Arab countries that harbor Palestinian camps refuse to do.
THE BIRTH RIGHT
The core strife of the Arab-Israeli conflict goes back farther than the establishment of the modern era Israeli state. It has been an ancient & Biblical struggle for the Promised Land; the Covenant in which the LORD, Creator of Heaven & Earth granted the ‘Title Deed’ to a particular Land to a particular People. Herein lies the strive & interpretation of theology. This ‘Promise’ to the Land was given to a particular person & descendents By GOD; this truth is not disputed. What is disputed is that both the Jews & the Arabs claim this divine right to the Land. The Jews, according to the Bible, where lead by the LORD personally –by the Pillar of Cloud in the times of Moses to possess the Promised Land.
The Bible declares that the Israelite divine right is established through Isaac, the Son of Promise to Abraham. The Bible declares that the Promise to the Land came by Abraham & confirmed through Isaac & Jacob. The issue of the Covenant for the Arab’s is that they claim the divine right is established through Ishmael, the 1st Born to Abraham. But the Palestinians are the descendants of the Philistines, who were Phoenicians, not Arabs that are descendants of Ishmael. It was later on that the conquest of the region by the Arabs mixed the races & dominated them with islamic anti Judeo-Christian religion.
Presently, the escalating volleys of attacks, reprisals, cease-fires, re-arming cycle will inevitably continue until it will ultimately lead to another larger regional Arab war, according to Psalm 83 & Ezekiel 38-39. The current military operation against the descendants of the Philistines & Ishmael in what was known as Philistia aka Gaza, has a direct connotation to the actual & literal Pillar of Cloud that was leading the Israelites out of Egypt through the Wilderness & into the Promised Land that is the State of Israel now. Ultimately, the Land is the LORD’s. Yet it was for the same sins that Israel was also evicted from the Land just like the LORD said would happen if the conditions of their Land Covenant was not adhered to.
the Diaspora
The last time this happened to Israel was in AD 70 during the Roman occupation. In reprisal after subjugating & exiling Israel off the Land, the Romans renamed the Land after Israel’s mortal enemies, the Philistines. What once was Judea & Samaria was written over with ‘Palestine’. Over the centuries, the name Palestine later became a euphemism for the land to include much of the Levant. In fact Palestine was even once considered for the official political name of the State of Israel in 1948. It has been after WWII with the breakup of the old colonial European empires that the same names & peoples resurfaced in these last days.
In no other time since the Jewish Diaspora began in AD 70 has the State of Israel & Philistia (Gaza) existed independently or has had a certain degree of political sovereignty as they do now. It is just another current indication of the profound spiritual implications Israel is to face against its ancient enemies of old. It also indicates just how close the Rapture is & for the AntiChrist to have its treaty for ‘Confirming the Covenant’ in place for the right time & the right place. Many speculate even that the ‘Covenant’ spoken of by the Prophet Daniel is referring to the actual Land Grant of the Promised Land.
Nonetheless, as it was then throughout Israel’s contentious history with Philistia, the issue is the same now. Who does the Promise Land belong to? Who does the ‘Birthright’ belong to? Ishmael or Isaac? The inheritors of the Arabs or the inheritors of the Jews? Until that issue is resolved, in the 21st century, Israel & Gaza finds themselves in the same struggle for possession of the Promised Land. Until that time when the Covenant is Confirmed after the Rapture, Israel is in need of a ‘dome’ of protection from its enemies much like the Pillar of Cloud that led them to the Promise Land.
The Coming Psalm 83 War
According to the Psalm 83 precepts, the current geo-political conditions now exist to have Hamas, aligned with Egypt’s muslim brotherhood, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, & Syria’s al-Qaida forces converge against Israel. Psalm 83 speaks of a coordinated all-out assault on Israel by the Arab confederation of anger, jealousy & rage. Despite Israel’s superior advanced technology displayed in its weapons systems, it will ultimately be the LORD, GOD of Israel that will grant Israel ‘peace & security’, not because Israel is such a higher or better moral agent at this time, as it is in full rejection of the Gospel & Jesus Christ, as a nation. It appears that the LORD is systematically luring Her back as He did in the days in the Wilderness, as Jeremiah states.
What has been the tragedy in the decade & past decades of this Arab-Israeli conflict are the hundreds of innocent by-standers, mostly women & children that have paid the ultimate price of death for the struggle of the Promised Land. What is alarming is that organizations like Hamas & Hezbollah continue to fan the flames of hatred toward Israel to its upcoming generations. In part, one reason the Palestinian refugee camps have been allowed to continue is to serve the purposes of those in leadership willing to sacrifice young Palestinians for the sake of power, money & dominance. The Bible speaks that behind such a hatred is a divine hatred coming from lucifer himself against the LORD’s people & seeks to possess the Land & Temple Mount for his own means. The Arab-Israeli conflict is just one piece of the prophetic puzzle the LORD is allowing to lucifer to use for his ‘End-Game’.
To this end, successive waves of eager volunteering muslim martyrs await death as they have become a steady pipeline of young disillusioned & disenfranchised muslim youth that has been eager to kill themselves & take as many Jews or Christians with them. Their islamic religion promises a place for themselves & family in their islamic ‘paradise’ for doing so. They do this because their book, the koran declares that it is the descendants of Ishmael that Abraham’s Promise of the Land belongs to. Furthermore, the muslims, who are mostly Arab in the Gaza & West Bank, want to dispossess & destroy Israel as a Jewish nation because according to their god ‘allah’, everyone must submit to islam or be beheaded.
The mere notion that the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob is the SAME ‘god’ of the muslims is ludicrous. IF it were the case that the muslim ‘god’ allah needs suicide bombers to murder innocent civilians in tour buses, or stab wives to death in their homes in Jewish settlements, what type of horrific death loving ‘god’ is this? Where is the ‘merciful & peace be upon you ‘god’ allah in all of this? The god ‘allah’ is not the GOD of Heaven, the lover of life & who admonishes humanity not to choose death but ‘LIFE’.
By mere definition, islam is the religion that purposely seeks to replace Christ & the Judeo-Christian Bible as the ultimate authority for mankind & ‘last revelation’. Its theology is anti-Christian & Jew. Thus it is of satan -bent on a blood lust to destroy the Church & Israel. It is not the religion of ‘peace’; 4 major Arab wars have not been fought against Israel over this issue of the Promised Land. There will be 3 major wars that are still to come between the muslims & Jews. They are the Psalm 83 War, The Gog-Magog War of Ezek 38-39 & Armageddon.
The Consequences
A Greater PlanSpiritually speaking, these conflicts & operations between the Palestinians & Israel are but stepping stones to a much large satanic plan. The Arab Spring has been nothing more than a globalist re-shuffling of the game pieces of the Middle East map in order to surround Israel with extremist islamists. With each successful round of conflicts & cease fires, the Psalm 83 War comes into much sharper focus. Perhaps at that time, the Isaiah 17 destruction of Damascus that will perhaps also ensue will help piece together the make-up of what the ‘Confirming of the Covenant’ with the AntiChrist will look like.
A Regional War
Over the last few generations, the general consensus of the world opinion regarding Israel has turned in favor of the plight of the Palestinians. The growing escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict will come to a head in a full blown regional war that perhaps might involve nuclear weapons. The countries that surround Israel are just about in place for the Psalm 83 show-down. This will help in establishing lucifer’s New World Order with his AntiChrist & False Prophet in toe.
The Palestinian StateThe UN in late November of 2012 will vote on the issue of Palestine. The vote will determine if Palestine will be an Associate & Permanent member-state recognized by the UN. It will basically have a ‘statehood’ granted to it. At some point, if to either support or defend a newly contrived Palestinian State, the surrounding Arab nations will involve themselves, as Psalm 83 stipulates against Israel. Those countries like Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Iraq, & Lebanon that have now anti-Israel governments.
A False Sense of Security
The Israeli missile defense system is so far having a 90% kill rate at intercepting missiles from Gaza. This could cause a false sense of ‘security’ for Israel as it relies on its technology to ‘save’ Israel. Israel could get into a position of false security because of its confidence in high tech weapons systems like ‘Iron Dome’. It would be like when King David numbered the fighting men of his army or when the LORD admonished Israel not to trust in the strength of horses for battle but in the LORD. Despite its cost & expense, many are stating that it has averted an all out ground offensive by the IDF going into Gaza.
A Religious Awakening
Sadly, perhaps after the Psalm 83 war, Israel will have been spent so psychologically that it will trust & rely on the AntiChrist that will come on the scene to guarantee Israel ‘Peace & Security’. It will come to pass in the words of Christ that there would be a time that Israel would accept ‘him who comes in his own name’. It will not be until the Battle of Armageddon when Jesus comes back to physically resolve, not only the Arab-Israeli conflict, but the satanic-angelic conflict as well, that Israel as a Nation will have its awakening to whom they should have relied on. With each successive conflict & decade that is passing, national Israel is closer to when it will have a direct rendezvous with their rejected & returning Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The Northern Front
Syria – Forces of al-Qaida supported by the West have swept into the nation that will eventually oust Assad. They will be in control & possession of all the chemical & biological arsenals. Their declared & stated aim is that ‘Israel will be next’. As of late, Syria has fired from the demilitarized Golan Height into Israel as Syrian tanks have crossed into the area –which is against UN agreements. Possibly, Assad is wanting to deflect attention & energy away from himself & steer his conflict toward a common muslim enemy, Israel.
Lebanon –Militant Hezbollah, supported by Iran, has fired rockets from the north as much as Hamas has in the south. Hezbollah actually had a ‘war’ called the 2nd Lebanon War with Israel in 2006. Hezbollah muslims are Shi’a & aligned with Iran. By making the Arab-Israeli conflict the center piece of strive in the Middle East, Iran is hopefully, also like Syria, to deflect attention away from its completion of its nuclear bomb program. Iran will be part of the ‘Outer Ring’ of nations that will make up the Ezekiel 38 Gog-Magog invasion of Israel.
The South Front
Gaza –Militant Hamas islamists are bent on destroying the State of Israel. The latest generation took control of the Palestinian Authority away from the PLO. Hamas is a Sunni based muslim organization but has collaborated with Hezbollah & accepted smuggled Fajr-5 rockets from Iran. This is a classic case of the Hamas Sunnis & Hezbollah-Iran Shi’a coming together despite differences to unify against a mutual enemy, Israel.
Egypt – The muslim Brotherhood took control government in the last election after the overthrow of Mubarak. Morsi has pledged full support for Hamas as its leadership are members of the muslim Brotherhood. This Arab-Israeli conflict centered around Gaza & Hamas will no doubt put a strain on the Egypt-Israeli Peace Accord. Perhaps it will be such a burden for Egypt to continue the Peace Treaty with Israel, that at some point, Egypt will forfeit the Accord. Already there have been signs of the Treaty cracking as Egyptian tanks have moved into the Sinai which were forbidden by the Treaty. There have also already been some attacks & rockets launched from the border areas into Israel from the Sinai.
The Philistines
The struggle for the Land goes as far back to the Promise given to Abraham by the LORD originally. The struggle continued throughout the times of Exodus, Samson, King David etc., right down to the modern era. The only difference is that today, each other’s ‘arrows’ or missiles carry a far more reaching ability to be precise & to kill. As far as the Palestinians are concerned, they are the descendants of the Philistines that were in ‘Canaan’ that naturally inhabited the Promised Land. The Bible declares that the LORD GOD evicted all the natural inhabitants of the Land due to their immorality & sin. He used the Israelites coming out of Egypt as the ‘Hammer’ to execute direct judgment upon them. Since not all the peoples were conquered at the bequest of the LORD, those that remained became a point of contention for all subsequent generation of GOD’s People.
The Philistines of today are caught in a crosshair of the globalist chest game. They have been used as pones in a deadly game of thwarting the Will of GOD. The Palestinian Authority gets billions in aid from the US, EU, the UN, China, the Arab League Saudi Arabia & Dubai, & UAE. Yet the average Palestinian refugee has been kept in squalor & poverty in UN refugee camps for 4 generations now. No other Arab nation will take them; neither Egypt, Jordon, Arabia, Lebanon or Syria even though many refugee camps are in those very territories.
The Palestinian refugee problem is a ‘cash cow’ for the corrupt leaders of the immediate Arab nations & well as the former PLO & now Hamas. They become wealthy from the misery of an ancient population keep in poverty. Travel is restricted & Palestinians find it hard to immigrate; this is on purpose why the conditions are maintained for ulterior motives. One ulterior motive is to have the Palestinian conditions be blamed & directed toward Israel. In contrast, during the same period of time since 1948, Israel has transformed itself to an exporter of high tech, agriculture & established a solid tourism industry.
If one would have taken all the billions of financial aid given to Gaza/PLO since 1967 alone, each Palestinian family remaining in Gaza, the West Bank & in the Refugee camps in Jordon, Syria & Lebanon would have been able to have been purchased a home, a hectare of land to grow their own food & financial resources to start up businesses. Instead, the corrupt Palestinian leadership has been using the refugee camps & people to milk billions from the pity of the refugee problem. The Palestinians have & are being used as a political & religious leverage against Israel.
The only investment the former PLO & now Hamas have made has been in more hatred, islamic extremism, fanaticism, murder & attacks on both military & civilian populations in Israel. After 1967, in particular the terrorism comprised of Kibbutz raids; in the 1970s it was hijackings & Olympic hostages, in the 1980s, more hijackings & synagogue bombings, in the 1990s, suicide bombers & buses being blown up. In the 2000s, more suicide bombers & rocket warfare.
Rocket Warfare
Nearly all the rockets fired from Gaza have been smuggled from either Egypt or Iran. From 2000-2008, more that 4000 mortar bombs were fired into Israel from Gaza. In March 2012, more than 300 rockets were fired on Israel. Due to the smuggling efforts & aid by Iran, it has given Gaza now the technological ability to launch long range missile into Tel Aviv & Jerusalem. For the first time Tel Aviv has come under attack since the 1991 Gulf War. For the first time since the 1970s, rockets reached the suburbs of Jerusalem as the rockets were aimed towards the Knesset. Maybe some Fajr Iranian made rockets will inadvertently hit & demolish the Dome of the Rock instead.
Although Hamas rockets are not guided missiles, the mere sounds of siren paralyzes the Israeli society & commerce as well as psychologically effects the civilian population already on edge; shell shocked even. Any nation with such a threat to its civilian population cannot stand idle under this sort of condition.
1) 15-60 seconds the time Israelis have to get into bomb shelters.
2) 3.5 million Israelis at the heart of Israel that are threatened.
Isreal appears to be preparing for an all out ground assault into Gaza, if not now, then perhaps in the next ‘go-around’ of missile exchanges. This would not be the first time. Any cease-fire is just a formality needed to buy time to recollect & regroup for the next inevitable round of conflicts. In 2008, Israel went into Gaza with the IDF & Special Forces to incapacitate the launching of rockets. If Israel does so again, the next up-coming time will be different as now Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Lebanon & Syria are in the hands of 1) muslim extremist bent on the unified destruction of Israel. 2) World opinion of Israel is at an all time low. 3) The plight of the Palestinians acknowledged throughout the world is now at the forefront of a moral strife against Israel.
The main types of rockets used by Hamas:
NAME DIAMETER RANGE
1. Heavy Mortars: 2-30mm 10km
2. Qassam: 170mm 12km
3. Katusha: 90mm 20km
4. Grad: 122 mm 20km
5. Upgraded Grad 122mm 45km
6. Fajr: 333m 75km
Timeline: some highlights2005 Israel total withdrawal from Gaza Strip in negotiation for ’Land for Peace’
2006 Jan Hamas defeated PLO Fatah Party2006 2nd Lebanon War (Hezbollah War) about 4000 rockets were fired into Israel
2007 Mar a national unity government, briefly formed
2007 Battle of Gaza, between Hamas & Fatah after which Hamas took control of Gaza
2007 Jun 24 Islamic Jihad launched rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot
2007 Israel and Egypt imposed economic blockade on Gaza
2008 Jun Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, Hamas ceased rocket attacks on Israel
2008 Nov 4 Israeli forces, in an attempt to stop construction of a tunnel, killed six Hamas gunmen inside Gaza
2008 Nov 5 Hamas responded by resuming rocket attacks, a total of 190 rockets
2008 Dec 19 6-month truce expired, Hamas launched 100s of rockets/mortars into Israel2008 Dec 27 Israel implemented Operation Cast Lead against Hamas, IDF enters Gaza Strip
2009 Jan 17 Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on, Hamas responded in kind
2011 May Hamas and Fatah announced a reconciliation agreement joint government"
2011 Mar Israeli missile defense Iron Dome goes into full operation
2012 Mar more than 300 rockets were fired on Israel2012 November Operation Pillar of Cloud in reaction to assassination of Hamas Ahmed Jabari
Israeli Iron Dome Missile Defense
This high tech missile defense system was designed to intercept & destroy short range rockets and/or artillery shells with 70 km. Each battery unit consists of 60 missiles all together. A battery is made up of 3 launchers, 1 radar unit. The primary purpose for its function has been to thwart the barrage of missiles launched from the muslim militants in the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilian populations.
The missile defense went into full operation in late March of 2011. To date, it has successfully intercepted about 90% of rockets launched from Gaza. It was largely possible with the funding of the USA, co-production & technology transfer.
Missile Shield By Rafael
Anti-Rocket system intercepting incoming missiles. The following is the protocol of a launch sequence:
1. Rockets fired at Israel
2. Radar locates rockets in flight
3. Control Unit orders launch
4. Faster Missile fired
5. Incoming Missile intercepts
The Radar Units attempt to identify rocket launches & anticipate trajectories.
The Control Units study the trajectory & estimate impact points
Perhaps the current ever escalating Arab-Israeli conflict will indeed lead to the Psalm 83 War. This Psalm 83 War may very well be a spiritual turning point for National Israel. But it will be an opportunity that will instead set in motion the accepting of the AntiChrist as their long awaited ‘messiah’. Yet the stage for Israel is also set to see & realize their false hope in the False Messiah as Israel begin to see the true miraculous signs & wonders starting as in the Ezek 38-39 Gog-Magog war.
Despite Israel’s superior advanced technology in its weapons systems, it will ultimately be the LORD, GOD of Israel that will grant Her victory, not because Israel is such a higher or better moral agent at this time, as it is in full rejection of the Gospel & Jesus Christ, as a nation, yet the LORD is systematically luring Her back as He did in the days in the Wilderness, as Jeremiah states. The Bible does state that the LORD will show Himself through the miracles against the muslim onslaught as the armies of Israel’s enemies are defeated, even before battles in some cases per Ezekiel 38-39.
Hamas: Islamic Resistance Movement
According the Psalm 83 precepts, the current geo-political conditions now exist to have Hamas, aligned with Egypt’s muslim brotherhood, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, & Syria’s al-Qaida forces converge on a coordinated all out assault on Israel. They will be supported by direct financial support from Arabia & mercenary soldiers from Arabia, Iraq & other islamists strong holds.
Hamas currently controls the Gaza Strip. This is not the case overall for the West Bank territory. It was in 2006 that Hamas took over power from the former PLO backed Fatah party. Hamas like Hezbollah in the North began as a result of the 1st Intifada or Arab uprising against Israel over the Temple Mount. It is alleged though that Mossad had a hand in fomenting a counter-weight to the PLO. Unlike Hezbollah who is supported directly by Iran, Hamas is a direct off-shot of the Egyptian muslim Brotherhood & supported by Egypt. This is why now, Egypt has affiliated & come out publically to the aid & support of Hamas against Israel.
The aim & premier goal of Hamas is not only to ‘liberate’ Palestine or Gaza from Israeli, but to establish an islamic state instead of Israel. Hamas rejects Israel’s right to co-exist, much less exist. This condition makes for an alliance of convenience with Iran. Even though Iran is Shi’a its view of the political map for the future of the Middle East does not include Israel. The only ‘talks’ Hamas has engaged Isreal in have been relegated to cease-fires that have been brokered through Egypt.
THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE
For Christians, the current conflict with Israel & the Arabs is a reminder of the constant Spiritual Warfare the enemy is raging against the Church as well. This warfare is fought on a corporate & individual level. The world is getting spiritually darker the world & the ‘Old Order’ is progressively deteriorating to the point that evil is about to be fully unrestraint -at the point of the Rapture. There is a clear spiritual metaphor that the Bible given Christians to be reminded of how vigilant Overcomers must be as the Last Days. The key is to be ‘anointed’ with ‘power from on high’. In the Book of Ephesians, the LORD declares that He has given His ‘Warrior Bride’, the Church all the equipment needed to overcome this Spiritual Warfare from lucifer.
The Fiery Missiles
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. -Ephesians 6:16
In the ancient time, when armies went out to battle, the most common armory was the spear & the shield. As the enemy would launch flaming arrows or ‘missiles’, the fires would consume the shields -as most were made out of wood. It was not enough just to have a ‘shield’ of protection, but it had to be ‘anointed’. What the soldiers would do to counter-act this is that they would dip or ‘anoint’ their shield in water. They would let the shield soak to the point of full saturation. By this way, any flaming dart or arrow stopped by the ‘shield’ would be extinguished by the soaking.
This is how Christians need to properly operate the divine Shield of Faith that that has been given to combat in the present Spiritual Warfare until the Resurrection/Rapture. This piece of divine armory must not be ‘dry’ or stagnant but active as the Holy Spirit is continually applying the ‘anointing’. This will cause any & all of the fiery dart of satan to be of no effect in a Christian’s lives.In ancient times, as in current times & even in some parts of the Middle East still, shepherds have to be on the lookout for their flock of sheep. The shepherd provides protection from ravaging animals as sheep cannot defend themselves. Beyond the natural predators, sheep are often pestered by flies. They can cause damage, infection & even death if not address, for example if a lamb has an open soar or wound. The flies will lay their eggs & the larva or ‘maggots’ will infect the open soar or wound to the point that it will infect the whole lamb & not be profitable for sale or can even cause death due to the infection. Christians likewise need to be like those lambs that allow for the ‘Great Shepherd of the Sheep’, Jesus Christ to address any open soar, spiritually speaking.
The Anointing
Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; -2nd Corinthians 1:21
As lambs are easy prey without an ‘anointing shield’, the LORD has given His Flock, the Church a spiritual resource to counter-act this prognosis of potential infection. What the shepherd does is that he literally ‘anoints’ or covers the whole lamb with oil; face, legs, neck, etc. If the lambs are fully covered with oil, or ‘anointed’, the flies will not land or touch them. Likewise, Christians need to be so saturated with the Holy Spirit’s ‘anointing’, covered by the power & enabling of the HOLY SPIRIT’s anointing that the Lord of Flies lucifer himself WILL NOT be able to touch & infect Christians with corruption, spiritual infection, i.e. sin.
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Some Sources
IDF.il
GlobalSecurity.org
Getty Images
YNetNews.com
Ronen Zvulun / Reuters