Who are the Jews - Japanese
April 3, 2025
今日教会の中でユダヤ人の本当のアイデンティティーについての議論があります。誰がイ スラエルの十二部族の血を引いた子孫なのか、また教会はどこに位置するのか、神は異邦 人教会のためにイスラエルを永遠に諦めたのか、また現代イスラエルの世俗の市民たちは 神の選民なのかなど。これらはクリスチャンの間でイスラエルについて話す時に頻繁に登 場する質問です。
まずはじめに、異邦人の時について語っているふたつの聖書箇所を見ることから始めてみ ましょう。ひとつはローマ 11 章 25 節で、そこでパウロは救いという観点から語っていま
す。「異邦人の完成のなる時」。イエスはルカ 21 章 24 節で異邦人の時を、国家の預言的側 面から語っています。「異邦人の時の終わるまで、エルサレムは異邦人に踏み荒らされま す」
ユダヤ人への神の目的は部分的また一時的に保留されました。しかし個人的にイエスを信 じるユダヤ人はいつの時代でも存在しました。それはただ一日にして終わったのではあり ません。神は「もう終わりだ――私は異邦人に行く」とは言いませんでした。異邦人の時は 使徒 10 章でコルネリオの家で最初に異邦人が信じたときに始まります。その後、使徒 13 章でパウロやバルナバの働きがあります。
異邦人への移行は漸進的な（少しずつ進む）ものでした。一日の間にユダヤ人から異邦人 へ恵みが移ったのではなく、そこには移行期があったのです。そしてそれと同じように異 邦人の時は終わりに至ります。これは神がご自身の恵みを異邦人からユダヤ人に戻される 移行期のことです。
イザヤはメシアが千年王国に到来することを預言しました。初代教会はすべて前千年王国 説を信じていました。そして新約聖書は神が恵みをイスラエルに対して回復される時にキ リストは再臨すると書いています。神がユダヤ人を頑なにしたことは部分的であり、一時 的です。なので神はあたかもこう言っているようです。「私はあなたがたを呼んだが、あ なたがたは私の契約を破った。私はエレミヤを遣わしたがあなたがたは牢獄に入れた。イ ザヤを遣わしたがあなたがたは半分に切り裂いた。私はリバイバルをもたらす義の説教者
たちを遣わした。ヨシヤ王を遣わし、ヒゼキヤ王を遣わした。またエズラやネヘミヤを遣
わしたが、あなたがたはそのようなリバイバルを忘れてしまった。あなたがたは私の契約 を破り、今度は私の息子、メシアを退けた。私は異邦人のほうに行く」
しかしパウロはその状況が入れ替わる時が来ると私たちに語っています。したがってそこ には異邦人とユダヤ人という区別があるのです。それではユダヤ人とは一体誰のことなの でしょう？
創世記 12 章にはアブラハムへの 5 つの約束があります。またパウロはローマ 2 章 29 節で 本当のユダヤ人がどのようなものかを説明しています。パウロはそこで言葉遊びを用いて 書きました。
『かえって人目に隠れたユダヤ人がユダヤ人であり、文字ではなく、御霊による、 心の割礼こそ割礼です。その誉れは、人からではなく、神から来るものです』
誉れという言葉が鍵となる言葉です。“ユダヤ人”という言葉はユダ部族――イェフダから来 ています。その本来の意味は“神の礼拝者（誉れを与える者）”というものです。パウロはこ こで言葉遊びをしています。パウロは誉れが人から来るものではないと言っているのです
。それは“ユダヤ人”の意味――ユダ部族からの神の礼拝者とかけた言葉遊びです。
“ユダヤ人”と再定義される異邦人
私たちが今日“ユダヤ人”と呼ぶものの一般的な定義は主にバビロン捕囚から生じたもので す。本来、彼らはイスラエル人と呼ばれていました。“ユダヤ人”という言葉がユダヤ人自 身からではなく、異邦人によりアブラハム、イサク、ヤコブのすべての子孫へ付けられた ことは興味深いことです。これは福音書でも顕著な事柄です。マルコ 15 章 32 節ではイエ
スはユダヤ人から“イスラエルの王”と呼ばれています。しかし同じ章の 2 節では彼はロー マ人たちから“ユダヤ人の王”と呼ばれています。イエスはユダヤ人にとっては“イスラエル 人”だったのです。“ユダヤ人”という一般的な言葉は主にバビロン捕囚の期間またその後に 主に発達したものです。第二列王記 16 章を見ると、南王国ユダに住んでいた住民の地理的 な位置を知ることができます。当時の“ユダヤ人”はただ、バビロン捕囚から戻ってきたユ ダの住民を指す言葉でした。本来彼らは“イスラエル人”と呼ばれていて、それはへブル人 から来ていました。“イスラエル人”はヤコブ、神と闘う者の子孫であり、それがユダヤ人 の特徴を形作っています。ユダヤ人は神と闘う者です。ヤコブは主の御使いと格闘しまし た。ラビたちはその御使いを“メタトロン”と呼んでいます。私たちはそれがキリストの顕 現――旧約聖書でのキリストの顕れであることを知っています。
ここで思い出してほしいのが、ヤコブは主の御使いと顔が見えるまで夜を通して格闘した
ということです。夜とは大患難に関して最も一般的に用いられる聖書象徴の比喩のひとつ です。「夜回りよ。今は夜の何時か。夜回りよ。今は夜の何時か」彼が戻って来るのは第 二の夜回りか、第三の夜回りか。「夜中の盗人のように来る」「わざを、昼の間に行なわ なければなりません。だれも働くことのできない夜が来ます」ヤコブは夜の終わりまで格 闘しました。未信のイスラエルは大患難全体を経験し、その後、大患難の終わりにイエス を認めます。聖書中でヤコブという言い方がなされているとき、それはユダヤ民族に特化 した表現です。ユダヤ民族は神と格闘しています。一方彼らが国になる前、出エジプトか ら彼らは“ヘブル人”と呼ばれていました。
新約聖書はこれをさらに展開しています。新約聖書ではユダヤ人とは南部イスラエル人の 子孫、つまり、バビロン捕囚から帰還したユダヤの民、またマカベア家の後のハスモン王 朝を通ってきた者たちのことです。ですがヨハネはそれに特別な見解を加えています。彼 は他の福音書と違った独特な意味で“ユダヤ人”という用語を使っています。そのために誤 ってヨハネの福音書がクリスチャンの反ユダヤ主義を伝えているといわれていますが、私 たちは当時の背景を理解する必要があります。ギリシア語の“ユーダイオス（Ioudaios）” の翻訳に問題があるのです。ヨハネは、ヨハネ 4 章を除いて、“ユダヤ人”という単語を、 エルサレム内外に住みサンヘドリンが支配していた宗教組織のメンバーという意味で使っ ていました。したがって「ユダヤ人のために」や「信じたユダヤ人は」という表現を見る 時、彼らはみなユダヤ人であったことは確かなのです。それが意味していることは、その 宗教組織の一員であった者のこと、たいていがパリサイ人、時に他の分派のこともありま した。しかしそのすべての者がサンヘドリンの支配下にあったのです。使徒の働きはより 一般的な用語を使うか、“ユダヤ人”という単語をより一般的な意味で使っています。それ は異邦人ではない者、ガアル（在留異国人）ではないもの、サマリヤ人ではない者という 意味です。
ユダヤ教には主要な三種類があります。モーセ的ユダヤ教、タルムード的ユダヤ教、イス ラエルの法的ユダヤ教です。このうちふたつは有効で、ひとつはそうではありません。最 初のモーセ的ユダヤ教はタナク、旧約聖書の最初の五書、モーセ五書に見られるものです
。このユダヤ教は紀元 70 年から存在しえないユダヤ教です。預言者ダニエルはメシアは大 事神殿が崩壊する前に来て、死ななければならないと言いました。ミシュナのサンヘドリ ン 96b にもそうあります。実際、人々はイザヤ 53 章を禁断の章と呼んでいます。タルムー ドは事実ダニエル 9 章を読む者には呪いが下ると書いています。なぜでしょうか。それは
その箇所にメシアの到来の時期が予告されていたからです。メシアはやって来て、死なな
ければなりませんでした。ユダヤ人の多くは尋ねます。「もしイエスがメシアなら、なぜ 今も戦争があるのか」彼らはきちんと理解していません。ダニエルにはメシアが来て死に
、終わりまで戦いが続いて、荒廃が定められていると書いてあります。メシアはその第二 の到来において世界的な平和をもたらすのです。
ユダヤ教ではふたつのメシア像があります。マシアハ・ベン・ヨセフ、それとマシアハ・ ベン・ダヴィード、つまりヨセフの子とダビデの子です。最初の到来においてイエスはヨ セフの特徴をもってやって来ました。それはユダヤ人兄弟たちに裏切られ、異邦人の手に 引き渡されるという特徴です。彼の兄弟はヨセフを最初の出会いで認識しませんでしたが
、２度目に会った時に彼だと分かりました。そして彼らはヨセフと共に激しく泣き、それ と同じことをヨセフの子にも行うのです。第二の到来においてダビデの子はメシアの王国 を建て上げます。そうです、イエスは平和をもたらします。ですが最初の到来は救いをも たらすために来られました。モーセ的ユダヤ教に関しては、それは紀元 70 年以降は存在し ていません。
誰も自分で聖書を読むだけでは、人々が信じさせようとしているものと同じ結論に至る人 はいません。本当に多くの人がただ新約聖書を読むだけで新生に至っています。誰もただ 新約聖書を読んだだけでエホバの証人になることはありません。誰もただ新約聖書を読ん だだけでモルモン教徒にならないし、（私の母親にこう言ったと言わないでほしいですが
）誰もただ新約聖書を読んだだけでローマ・カトリック教徒にはなりはしません。そして ユダヤ人の誰もトーラーを呼んで、タルムード的ユダヤ教がモーセや預言者のユダヤ教だ と思う人はいないのです。“ラビ”という単語はタナク（旧約聖書）に一度も登場しません。
二つ目のユダヤ教がタルムード的ユダヤ教です。それは紀元 90 年のヤブネの会議にてラビ
・モーシェ・ヨハナン・ベン・ザッカイが創設したものです。彼はガマリエルの学派出身 の聖パウロと同級生でした。彼はラビ・ヒレルの孫ガマリエルの元に、ヒレルのパリサイ 派神学校で他のラビたちと学んでいました。これはふたりのラビの物語です。ふたりの同 級生がいました。タルソのラビ・サウルとラビ・ベン・ザッカイです。紀元 70 年に神殿が 崩壊した時、ラビ・ヨハナン・ベン・ザッカイはエルサレムから箱、棺桶に入れられなん とか脱出しました。そしてヘブライ語の正典――旧約聖書が定められた会議に集ったので す。彼は神殿の代わりにシナゴーグにしようと言いました。大祭司の代わりにラビたちを 置き換えました。そしていけにえの代わりにより多くのミツヴォート――善行を行おうと 決めたのです。
すべてのユダヤ人はこのふたりの同級生どちらかに従います。救いの確信が無かったヨハ
ナン・ベン・ザッカイか、イェシュアを自分のメシアと信じていたために救いの確信があ
ったタルソのラビ・サウロのどちらかです。
タルムード的ユダヤ教はモーセや預言者のユダヤ教ではありません。それは混ざり合った のものです――まさに名ばかりのキリスト教と同じです。タルムード的ユダヤ教にはさま ざまな形があり――ハシド派、正統派、保守派とあります。またリベラルな改革派は基本 的に人間主義者です。その宗教は本当の信仰に関するよりも文化や倫理的なことにかりあ っています。これがタルムード的ユダヤ教です。ですが三種類目のユダヤ教があります。 これは有効なものです。これがパウロや使徒たちが守ったものです。それはイエスがトー ラーを成就したメシアだと信じるユダヤ教、「メシアニック的ユダヤ教」です。しかしな がら今日のメシアニック運動の中にはさまざまなものがあります。
ユダヤ人が何でないかという地位の定義について考えてみましょう。パウロはローマ人へ の手紙 2 章 28 節－29 節でこう書いています。「外見上のユダヤ人がユダヤ人なのではな く、外見上のからだの割礼が割礼なのではありません。かえって人目に隠れたユダヤ人が ユダヤ人であり、文字ではなく、御霊による、心の割礼こそ割礼です。その誉れは、人か らではなく、神から来るものです」文字ではなく霊によります。
さて人目に隠れたユダヤ人についてですが、このふたつの節の誤解によって置換神学の考 えに推進力が与えられています。「我々が人目に隠れたユダヤ人なのだ。私たちの心は割 礼を受けている」というものです。しかしながら、もし誰かが手紙を受け取ったなら、手 紙全体の文脈を無視して、ある部分だけを引用することはできません。ローマ人への手紙 は手紙であり、そのような解釈は手紙のその先に書いてあるものと正反対のものです。11 章全体では、この手紙の著者であるパウロが聖霊（ルアハ・ハ・コデシュ）の導きのもと
、本来のオリーブの枝（ユダヤ人）と接木された枝（異邦人）の区別を付けています。
エレミヤ 31 章 31 節ではこのようにあります。「わたしは、イスラエルの家とユダの家と に、新しい契約を結ぶ。その契約は…（父祖たちと結んだもの）のようではない」神は新 契約を誰と結んだのでしょうか？教会でしょうか？イエスは教会とひとつも契約を結びま せんでした。彼はイスラエルとユダヤ人に結ばれたのです。もし神がユダヤ人との関係を 終わらせたのなら、神は教会とも関係を終わらせたことでしょう。もし神がユダヤ人との 関係を終わらせたのなら、私たちとの関係も終わっていました。幸運なことに、契約の有 効性は人の忠実さによるものではなく、神の忠実さによるものです。神は初めからご自分 の民が不忠実であることを知っておられました。イスラエルの背信に関することでも、そ れと同等またはイスラエル以上の背信が実際に教会の中にあります。
信じた非ユダヤ人、すなわち異邦人が信じないユダヤ人に取って代わったのは事実です。
自分の木から切り折られた不信のユダヤ人が信じた異邦人に取って代えられました。しか しそれは新しい木ではなく、同じ木 なのです。根は見ることができません。しかしもし 根が死んでいたなら、木そのものも死んでいるのです。もし神がイスラエルとの関係を終 わらせているなら、自動的に教会との関係も終わらせていることになります。
北王国の失われた十部族についてはどうでしょうか。聖書は彼らに何が起こったかを記し ています。北王国からの忠実な者たちはアサ王の治世に南に下り、自分たちの部族として のアイデンティティーを守りました。そのためにヤコブの手紙は“十二部族”に向けて書か れているのです。ルカの福音書の誕生物語に登場するアンナは、アシェル部族の出身でし た。ミシュナはずっと 3 世紀、4 世紀までそれぞれの部族の記録をたくさん残しています。 十部族は聖書によれば決して失われていないのです。他の者たちはアッシリア人侵略者た ちと雑婚し、サマリヤ人となりました。そしてその他はアッシリア帝国に散らばり、中央 アジアのユダヤ人共同体を形作ったり、ただ吸収されてしまいました。
ローマ人への手紙 2 章 28 節から 29 節を見てみましょう。「かえって人目に隠れたユダヤ
人がユダヤ人であり、文字ではなく、御霊による、心の割礼こそ割礼です」エレミヤ 9 章 25 節から 26 節は“割礼を受けているが割礼を受けていない者”という言葉を使っています。 そのような者たちに対して「エジプト、ユダ、エドム、アモン人、モアブ、および荒野の 住人でこめかみを刈り上げているすべての者を罰する」と書かれてあります。ユダが異邦 人の国々のただ中に書かれていることに注目してください。これはなぜなのでしょうか。 それは異教徒のようにふるまうなら、ユダヤ人は彼らに勝ったところが無くなるからです
。そのような人はユダヤの遺産を捨て去ってしまっています。自分たちのメシアを退けた ユダヤ人は自分たちのユダヤの遺産を放棄してしまっています。パウロが言うように彼ら はもう一度自分たちの木に戻されることができます。神はユダヤ人をとても簡単に信じさ せることができます。なぜなら神はそれより困難なことをもうすでにされたからです。そ れはエスキモーにユダヤの神を信じさせ、ベネズエラ人にユダヤの神を信じさせ、中国の 民に信じさせ、ヨーロッパ人にユダヤの神を信じさせたからです。イザヤ 11 章 1 節にある
、異邦人がエッサイの根のもとに来るという言葉が諸国の上に成就するなら、また軽蔑さ れたこの小さな国の神を非ユダヤ人に信じさせられるのなら、自分たちのメシアをユダヤ 人に信じさせることはいかに容易なことでしょうか。
割礼は改宗のひとつの象徴です。それでは非ユダヤ人で新生した者はどうなるのでしょう
？私たちはその答えをイザヤ 56 章 3 節とエペソ 2 章 12 節で見ることができます。「主に 連なる外国人は言ってはならない。『主はきっと、私をその民から切り離される』と」（イ ザヤ 56 章 3 節）神はあなたがユダヤ人のメシアに信仰を持つなら、ユダヤ人から切り離し
はしません。アブラハムがすべて信じる者の父と書かれていることを思い出してください
。それはアブラハムが異邦人からユダヤ人へ改宗した者であるからです。アブラハムは民 族的にユダヤ人であり、同時に異邦人でした。このためにアブラハムはすべて信じる者の 父なのです。このためにイエスの系図の中に異邦人が登場します。彼がすべての救い主と なるためです。パウロはエペソ 2 章 12 節においてギリシア語で政治的な市民権に関する言 葉を使っています。
『そのころのあなたがたは、キリストから離れ、イスラエルの国から除外され、約 束の契約については他国人であり、この世にあって望みもなく、神もない人たちで した。しかし、以前は遠く離れていたあなたがたも、今ではキリスト・イエスの中 にあることにより、キリストの血によって近い者とされたのです』（エペソ 2 章 12 節－13 節）
異邦人はイエスへの信仰を通して接ぎ木されました。それは養子にされることと、父祖へ なされた約束のためです。養子をする時、父親は法律的に子どもの父親になります。母親 は法律的に母親となるのです。そしてこれと共に聖書では、父祖の約束にあずかることも 書かれてあります。大半が異邦人で占められていたコリントの教会に対して第一コリント でパウロは「私たちの父祖たちはみな、雲の下におり、みな海を通って行きました」と書 いています。アブラハムの子孫（種）を信じる信仰によって、アブラハムは人種に関わら ずすべて者の父となりました。
第二に、改宗――信仰の転換によってです。改宗（回心）にもふたつ種類があります。仏教 徒が救われるとき、仏教徒であることをやめます。ヒンドゥー教徒が救われれば、ヒンド ゥー教徒であることをやめます。ユダヤ人が救われれば、その改宗には違った言葉――テ シュバー（立ち返ること）が使われます。その人は罪から神に立ち返り、ユダヤ人として のアイデンティティーが完全となるのです。異邦人のみが改宗できます。ユダヤ人は完成 されるのです。ユダヤ人の完成はテシュバーです。これは異教徒の背景を持つ黒人アフリ カ人の子どもがクリスチャンのポーランド人家庭に養子されることで説明できます。その 子は法律的な養子制度によりポーランド人となり、キリスト教に改宗しました。しかしそ の子が今度は大きくなり、ポーランド人の女性と結婚するとします。そうすると彼は結婚 によりポーランド人となり、ポーランド語を話し始めます。したがって彼は文化によりポ ーランド人になったのですが、彼の肌は黒いままです。これが非ユダヤ人がイエスの信者 となる場合に起こることです。父祖の約束を受けることによりユダヤ人ではありませんが 子となります。それは養子――改宗、宗教的な改宗によるものです。または婚姻関係によ り子となります。それはキリストが主に異邦人でなる教会の花婿であるからです。第一コ リント 9 章では、異邦人が主の聖餐にあずかる場合の文化変容について書いてあります。
彼らは本来の相続者とペサハ、過越の祭りの意義を祝います。これが異邦人クリスチャン
の地位です。
貧しさのためにヨーロッパの家族に養子されたこのアフリカ人の子どもを考えてみてくだ さい。いかなる法律的、婚姻的または文化的理由においても彼はポーランド人となりまし た。しかし彼はまだ黒人アフリカ人であるのです。彼はまだ自分のアイデンティティーを 保っています。それでも彼は本当のポーランド人なのです。彼は他のどの子どもとも同じ ように親から愛されています。子どもをひとり生むことと、子どもを養子することは同じ くらいの大きな愛を必要とします。その子どもは同じ法律的権利を持ち、法律的地位を保 っているのです。
次にユダヤ人に関しては法的な立場があります。最初のものはイスラエルの帰還法です。 シオニズム運動の父祖たちはこれを議論しました――数年間ではなく、数十年間にわたっ てです。最終的にベン・グリオンが言いました。「誰がユダヤ人なのか、我々の敵に決め させよう」彼らはその通りにしました。ユダヤ人の祖父をひとりでも持っていれば強制収 容所に行けとナチスが言ったために、イスラエル政府もユダヤ人の祖父がひとりいればア リヤー（帰還）を行い、イスラエルに移住する権利があると定めました。これが本来の帰 還法です。
第二にハラハー的な（ユダヤ法的）法律があります。これはユダヤ人の宗教法で立てられ たものです。ハラハーによるとそれは母系の血筋によるものです。ある人の母親がユダヤ 人で、その人がユダヤ教へのハラハー的な改宗を経ているなら――言い換えるなら割礼で すが――父祖の約束に入ることができるというのです。第三のものは、イスラエルのラビ が定めるユダヤ人の定義で、それは本来ハラハーの定めるものと同じであるべきものです
。ですが現実はイスラエル政権の窮状によって物事は複雑化しています。世界には約 55 の 民主主義の国がありますが、その中で唯一ユダヤ人が宗教の自由を持てない国があります
。それがイスラエルです。これはイスラエルのラビが定めるユダヤ人の地位です。彼らは 数世紀前にラビ・ヨセフ・カロ（Yosef Karo）が定めたミツヴォートの法典『シュルハン
・アルーフ（Shulchan Aruch）』を受け入れなければならないと言います。そしてもし『 シュルハン・アルーフ』を受入れないならば正式にユダヤ人となれないのです。このため にアフリカ系ユダヤ人（ファラシェ）の中で葛藤が起こり、インド系ユダヤ人（ イェフデ ィン ）また正統派でないユダヤ人の間でも葛藤が起こります。反シオニズム主義のラビは 何の問題もなくラビでいられますが、改革派やリベラルのラビたちは資格を持てないので す。私たちはこれまで人々がどのようにユダヤ人の宗教の自由を奪ってきたかを話してき ました。ユダヤ人の歴史的な惨劇や侮辱を私は認めます。しかしイスラエルもユダヤ人の 宗教の自由を否定し、特にメシアニックジューに対して同じことを行っているのです。
これによりイスラエルの法律的立場が考えられます。数年前に彼らは、他の信仰にかつて
改宗したことのある人はユダヤ人ではないと定めました。特にミクベー・ブリット（ mikve-brit）、洗礼を受けた場合です。その当時にあってもそれは政治的圧力の強い決定で した。法律的な立場におけるユダヤ人の定義をこれまで 4 つ見てきましたが、それを見る とそこに共通認識が無いことが分かります。そこには法律的共通認識も、宗教的共通認識 も無いのです。彼らは政治の便宜に合わせてユダヤ人のアイデンティティーの定義を気ま ぐれに定めているのです。
聖書的な分類
聖書はどう語っているでしょうか。旧約聖書、タナクにあるのは主に父方の系図ですが、 歴代誌には母方の系図もあり、ルツ記の記述もあります。これは非常に重要です。正統派 のラビたちは系図に基づいてイエスのメシア性の信用を落とし、新約聖書の正当性を攻撃 します。しかし彼らが言いたがらないことは、ラビ的な文書自体（サンヘドリン 25C）が ルカの系図はマリヤのものだと言っていることです。「いや、ユダヤ人のアイデンティテ ィーは父からでなくてはならないのだ」との反論が返ってくることがありますが、ラビた ち自身がユダヤ人は母方の系図によると言っているではありませんか。ラビたちは自分た ちの中で矛盾を起こしています。一方で、歴代誌とルツ記には母方の系図の前例となるも のがあるのです。
新約聖書はより寛大です。系図は母方であ
Staying The Course Amidst Isolation Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Living in Israel one gets the feeling that the metaphorical walls are closing in. Israel's reputation is being tarnished all over social media and the mainstream media, and this is reflected in massive public disdain towards this country. We are constantly told that there is near consensus amongst academics and commentators that a genocide was committed in Gaza. The very legitimacy of the state is brought into question. The majority of Americans are now hostile towards Israel. There is real fear that the next U.S. administration will turn against Israel. Even if this were to happen passively, by the U.S. refraining from exercising its veto power towards Security Council Resolutions condemning Israeli actions this could be catastrophic. Internally it is a fractured society leaning increasingly right wing which further alienates Israel from world opinion. An example in point is how Ben Gvir mocked the most recent participants of a global aid flotilla to Gaza. Such conduct further agitates outrage at Israel. The left-wing media presents the ruins of Gaza as a mortal wound in Israel's side. When the world observes this level of carnage no degree of public relations can ameliorate the sense of indignation towards Israel. We can liken the situation of Israel to that of a depressed person. All he sees is hopelessness and gloom. But this isn't the first time that the Jewish nation has been faced with such darkness. Things change and we don't know how the geo-political map will reconfigure in the future. We need to ride out this storm and keep going. On a historical note, the situation is reminiscent of what our ancestors faced when we returned from the Babylonian exile to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was faced with constant lies and conspiracies designed to entrap him by hostile actors: Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab. They employed deception, slander and ridicule in order to maintain their political eminence. There was also a certain sense of abandonment amongst the Jews in Israel then as in our own day. We read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah about the anguish of the leadership in Israel concerning the lack of assistance from the Babylonian diaspora towards the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple. Only 20% of the exiles returned to the land. It was largely the poor who returned. Most of the affluent, established Jews remained in Exile. This is a continuing theme in Jewish history. It is also important to observe that from its very beginnings there were bible believing Christians who spearheaded the return of the Jews to their land. The idea of organizing a return of the Jews to Israel began as a Protestant Restorationist objective that can be traced to 17th century Puritan England. The protagonists of the Cromwellian Republic viewed themselves as the new Israel fighting the Papist forces of Satan. Alongside this, interest grew in the notion that biblical prophecies pertaining to the return of the Jews to Israel were a necessary precursor for the return of Christ. The growth of the British Empire in the 19th century lent political clout to Christian Restorationism with specific missions to the Jews established. Although there had been a longing to return to Israel as written in the thrice daily Amidah prayer, Jewish Zionism arose in the midst of mid nineteenth century nationalism and was further fermented by European antisemitism. It was an altogether secular enterprise. Although Israel's situation appears rather stark, we can draw strength from the Providence afforded to our ancestors in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when they too were faced with defamation. This is also an opportunity to grow closer to our natural allies in the evangelical world who from the beginning of Zionism were steadfast supporters of the project to establish a Jewish homeland in Israel. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
Signs of the Times Tony Pearce Left, right or center – is our democracy in danger “Things fall apart, the center does not hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” W.B Yeats ‘The Second Coming. ’ Labour’s losses in the council elections and the battle for succession to their unpopular leader Kier Starmer have raised the possibility that we may soon have our seventh Prime Minister in ten years. Local elections saw Reform and the Greens make sweeping gains, leading Green Party leader, Zack Polanski to say that we are seeing ‘the end of the old two party system’. Maybe we are. In which case what comes next? Will we head to the far left, the far right or will the center hold on to power? Or will it end with ungovernable chaos as unqualified people take control of local and national government? Behind all this there are fundamental questions, ‘What is government for? Who does it represent and where is it going?’ According to the Bible (Romans 13) the purpose of government is to promote good and restrain evil. The government has the right to raise taxes for the common good of society and people should pay them. In 1 Timothy 2 Paul encourages us to pray for the government that ‘we may live a godly and peaceable life’. In other words, pray that the government will create an orderly and peaceful society and not interfere with our right to set up communities that teach and preach the Word of God. The situation becomes more difficult when we see government promoting things which are harmful and restraining things which are good and clamping down on freedom of speech with a threat to our ability to live a ‘godly and peaceable life’ Since becoming a Christian in my early twenties, I have wrestled with the question of how our faith applies to contemporary political issues. I started this quest on the left politically after leaving university and working as an English teacher with sympathies for Marxism. I then became a born again Christian in 1970, and joined my late wife Nikki in evangelizing the radical left, by handing out leaflets at their marches and demonstrations in London and attending their meetings to discuss matters of faith and politics with them. We had some good discussions with people and hope we made some consider the Christian alternative. However as we looked at Marxism from a Christian point of view and its practice in Communist countries, we understood that behind this ideology there is a strong anti-christian spirit. It denies the existence of God and promotes the idea of human perfectibility by our own effort. This is exemplified in the words of the Internationale, the socialist battle hymn, ‘No saviour from on high delivers, no faith have we in prince or peer, our own right hand the chains will shiver, chains of hatred, greed and fear.’ This Antichrist spirit led to the persecution of Christians in the Communist countries of eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and China. Far from creating the socialist paradise on earth that Lenin wrote about in ‘Socialism and Religion’, it created a society ruled by hatred, greed and fear, controlled by secret police, prison camps and responsible for the death of millions. In western society we have witnessed the growth of ‘cultural Marxism’ a movement aimed at infiltrating and changing society from within, rather than fomenting the workers’ revolution. Labour’s Fabian Society, with its (now discarded) logo of the wolf in sheep’s clothing, has been engaged in this process since the beginning of the 20th century. Social change really took off with the permissive society in the 1960s, which succeeded in changing traditional values, especially in the area of sex and the family. It replaced biblical values with a new ‘morality’ that is fundamentally anti Christian. These ideas have permeated large swathes of our society including the education system, the judiciary, the Civil Service, much of the media, mainstream political parties (including even the Conservative ‘wets’ and parts of the established church). Melanie Phillips describes the results of this in her book, ‘The Builder’s Stone.’ ‘Having decided that the West was rotten to the core, western elites set out to create a new culture that would usher in the brotherhood of man and eradicate hatred, prejudice, and war. Their Brave New World junked biblical religion with all its constraints on behaviour and revolved instead around self gratification. Everybody had the right to live as they wanted; nobody could say that their way of life was better or worse than anyone else’s; no one had the right to say that their culture was better than any other culture. That was ‘racism.’ At the heart of all this was the doctrine that there was no such thing as objective truth. Everything was relative; everything was a matter of opinion. Because there was no truth feelings became more important than facts. So the West abandoned the codes of morality, conscience, truth and lies, personal responsibility, and duty to others in favour of a culture of the self. In the process it junked its inherited traditions and biblical codes on which western culture was based.’ Britain changed from being a society that respected values based on the 10 Commandments and the teaching of Jesus Christ to one that discarded them for relative values. Ideas of ‘diversity, inclusion and equity’ became the norm, together with and a form of ‘tolerance’, that is really very intolerant if you oppose it. This ‘tolerance’ means accepting the virtues of multiculturalism and humanism and believing that all gods are equally valid or true (or none are). We must also accept that all lifestyles and family arrangements including homosexual and transsexual ones are just as valid as traditional two parent heterosexual families, with a father and mother committed to each other in lifelong matrimony looking after their own children. As society accepts this radical change in how we view culture, morality and religion, we are told not to criticize other cultures and world views or imply that they are anything less than equal to the culture, morality and faith derived from the Bible. All this has not improved society. Instead we have a collapse of values with no central idea to hold it together, just a group of competing ‘communities’ which are often only united in opposition to the traditional values and culture of Great Britain. A good example of this is the ‘red – green alliance’ of radical leftists and Islamists who come together to denounce Israel and campaign to ‘globalise the Intifada’. In practice this means a world wide war against Israel and Judaeo-Christian society and a desire to replace it with their version of either Islamism or Communism. However if one of them were to come to power, you can be sure that the Islamist’s would get rid of the leftists or vice versa. In fact that happened in Iran’s 1979 revolution, when Islamist supporters of Khomeini and Communists came together to get rid of the Shah. Then the Islamists seized power, turned on the Communists and wiped them out. Alisteir Heath wrote in the Daily Telegraph: ‘Ruined by decades of political vandalism, the Britain we knew and loved, a land of stability, pragmatism, and ancient freedoms, is no more. Today’s UK is uglier, impoverished, volatile and disorderly. We’ve lost our level-headedness. Anger and frustration have become our defining emotions. Our institutions have wasted away, and we have been taught to despise our history. The decline of family, community and faith have led to alienation, dependence on welfare and the rise of novel ideologies, mostly secular but also sectarian, turbocharged by social media. While the state becomes unnervingly authoritarian, the air reeks of insurrection and every variety of extremism. The British public’s sense of betrayal is as well-founded as it is dangerous. The machinery of state is incompetent and self-serving, a vehicle for social engineering in the global interest.’ Criticism of this process now risks being classed as ‘hate crime’ with a growing authoritarian society monitoring social media posts and public teaching of alternative ideas in ways which risk shutting down free speech in our society. A Christian teacher Enoch Burke is currently in prison in Dublin after he was suspended from his job and jailed after refusing to accept and teach transgenderism in the school. Nick Timothy, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, got into trouble when he questioned mass Muslim prayer in Trafalgar Square. He wrote: ‘Mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination. The adhan – which declares there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger – is, when called in a public place, a declaration of domination. The domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook.” He is right in this. Allah hu Akhbar actually means Allah is greater, greater than your God, Muhammad is greater than Jesus and the Koran is greater than the Bible. Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern for our Nation wrote: “The fact that we have mass Islamic prayer in Trafalgar Square at all is indicative of the massive culture change that we have seen in the last few decades. A culture change that was not voted for or ever agreed to by the British people. And, a culture change that can hardly be described as having been entirely beneficial to our culture as a whole. I only need to mention grooming gangs involving mostly Pakistani Muslim men , sharia courts, honour crimes, terror attacks, the assassination of an MP, an attempt to blockade Parliament, mass antisemitic marches through London, a convicted terrorist standing for local elections, sectarianism, and many other examples to make the point. Earlier this month, the Government gave Muslims special protection with the adoption of an official definition of anti-Muslim hostility .” You are not really supposed to question this in public life today. A message circulating on social media is an apt commentary on all this. ‘First they overlook evil, then they permit evil, then they legalise evil, then they promote evil, then celebrate evil, then persecute those who call it evil.’ Soviet dissident Solzhenitsyn wrote: ‘A Communist system can be recognised by how it spares criminals and criminalises its opponents.’ The root cause of all this is the rejection of God and biblical values. The 18th-century French philosopher Joseph de Maistre coined the phrase "people get the government they deserve." David Pawson followed up on this idea, arguing that in democratic societies like ours, the moral and spiritual condition of a nation's citizens is directly reflected in the leaders they elect. If the general public abandons moral truths, they will inevitably vote for governments that reflect those same compromises. David Pawson taught that God may use governmental leadership to judge or bless a nation, depending on the people's obedience. He noted that Hebrew prophets saw wicked rulers as a form of divine judgement on a society that has strayed from God's laws. Therefore a nation's ultimate hope rests on repentance rather than just political change. His conclusion is that Christians should actively stand for moral truth in society. He believed that the church is meant to influence culture upward, and that a decline in national morality inevitably leads to deteriorating governance. Sadly much of the church today has become the ‘salt that has lost its savour’ through compromise with antichristian forces in society and government. It may be too late to save our country and western democracy as social and economic pressures create a collapse of democracy and push us either towards anarchy or dictatorship. Yeats’ poem quoted at the beginning of this article ends with the enigmatic line ‘Some rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.’ Most likely he is referring to the coming anti-Messiah who is labelled the Beast in the book of Revelation. Many believe his is now waiting in the wings to replace the true Messiah (born in Bethlehem) and bring in the dictatorship prophesied in Revelation 13. The Bible indicates that the Beast or Antichrist will have power for a moment, but it will be short lived and doomed to destruction at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. Then the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and of His Messiah and He shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11.15) and the ‘government shall be on His shoulder’ (Isaiah 9.6). Maranatha come Lord Jesus. Water, water nowhere and not a drop to drink. (Apologies to the Ancient Mariner) While nations worry about supply of oil and gas as a result of the war in the Gulf and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a much more vital commodity for human survival is water. And it is in short supply in a growing number of nations. As of 2026, over 25 countries face extremely high water stress, with the most severe crises located in the Middle East and North Africa. This region is home to the world's most water-stressed nations, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Libya. India and Pakistan face critical water scarcity due to overexploitation of aquifers and population density. Much of Africa , Somalia and Ethiopia in particular are facing severe shortages due to drought and climate change. Mexico and parts of the United States (particularly Texas and the west coast) are experiencing significant water shortages and declining groundwater levels. Iran is facing a severe, multi-year water crisis as of May 2026, with major cities like Tehran, Mashhad, and Karaj approaching the point where taps could run dry due to depleted reservoirs. Groundwater is depleted across most of the country, and nineteen provinces are experiencing severe drought. The crisis is driven by a combination of climate change and decades of poor water management, including excessive dam construction and inefficient, water-intensive agriculture. China is facing a severe, multi-faceted water crisis defined by extreme scarcity in the north, widespread pollution, and mismanagement, threatening its food supply and economic growth. Several countries are significantly affected by upstream dam construction that reduces downstream water flow, causing, environmental, and diplomatic crises. These countries include Iraq, heavily impacted by dams built on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers by Turkey and Iran, leading to reduced water for agriculture, destruction of forests, and increased sandstorms. Egypt and Sudanface significant water security risks due to the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laosare affected of dams built by China on the upper Mekong River One country which bucks this trend is Israel. Israel manages its water resources by transforming a chronic shortage into a surplus through large-scale desalination, extensive wastewater recycling, and a centralised national water carrier system. The agriculture sector has shifted away from freshwater, using treated effluent instead. Advanced drip irrigation technologies are widely used to minimise waste. Israel has exported its water technologies to countries around the world, particularly Africa where it has given advice on how to use limited water resources to great effect. Without water no society on earth can survive. Bible prophecies indicate that water shortage and pollution will be a global problem in the last days. Most obviously no water equals no food, so famine is an inevitable result of water shortages. Jesus warned of this as a sign of the last days in Matthew 24.7. Revelation 8.10-11 speaks of something called ‘Wormwood’ falling on rivers and springs of water causing it to become bitter and many to die from drinking it. Prophecy speaks of the two great rivers of the ancient world, the Nile and the Euphrates, being affected by a crisis causing the Euphrates to dry up (Revelation 16.12) and the Nile to become contaminated and its waters turn foul (Isaiah 19.5-11). Isaiah 24 speaks of a curse devouring the earth in the last days causing the earth to be ‘defiled (or polluted) under its inhabitants.’ According to the New Scientist, there are massive amounts of water hidden deep beneath the Earth's surface. Scientists have found evidence of a reservoir of water three times the volume of all surface oceans combined, located roughly 250–400 miles underground within the mantle. It may be that the Lord will release this water to replenish and clean up the earth in the Millennial kingdom when ‘waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.’ Isaiah 35. Zechariah 14.8-9 says, ‘In that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.’ Zechariah 14.8-9. See also Ezekiel 47. Rethinking Russia Things are not going well for Vladimir Putin in his ‘special military operation’. Four years after invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia is not making advances and actually losing ground. Russia is losing as many as 25,000- 35,000 casualties a month and over 1.2 million have been killed and wounded since the war began. Ukrainian skills in drone warfare have destroyed large quantities of Russian equipment, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery and rocket systems, helicopters, and naval vessels. Russia is spending an estimated 40% of the entire federal budget on the war effort. As a result of this and western sanctions, Russia is increasingly unable to fix chronic infrastructure problems at home. During the bitter Russian winter thousands of people were left without heat, light, or even water. All forms of transport, trains, trucks and planes, are facing logistical problems, making it difficult to transport goods and people across the vast Russian regions. Russia is on the way to an infrastructure collapse that will likely take decades to recover. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov warned the State Duma that Russia's faltering economy risks stoking a 1917-style revolution. He demanded urgent financial and economic measures by autumn to avert a potential economic collapse. This raises the danger of the Russian Federation fracturing. The Caucuses are restive, the far east is looking to China and Siberia is facing an acute problem as a result of melting permafrost, causing buildings, bridges and pipelines to collapse. In the present circumstances it is hard to see how Russia could lead the Gog and Magog invasion of Israel (Ezekiel 38-39). Some have said that it is more likely that Turkey is the lead power in the War of Gog and Magog. They say that Meshech and Tubal are not Moscow and Tobolsk, but regions of modern Turkey. Erdogan’s Turkey is backed by an Islamist world view hostile to Israel, seeking the recovery of its Ottoman Empire. He has his eyes on taking control of Jerusalem. Turkey is possession of a large land army already stationed in the region, some of it occupying part of Syria. The alternative is that the War of Gog and Magog is some way off, possibly part of Armageddon, giving time for Russia to recover from its present distress. We wait and see, but meanwhile spare a thought and a prayer for the people of Ukraine and Russia, suffering as a result of Putin’s futile war, oppressed by his corrupt dictatorship and facing an economic and social collapse caused by his failed policies.
Trump's Visit with Xi Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM The tempest path of Sino-U.S. tensions came to a head during Trump's first term in office with the outbreak of Covid. Many commentators believed that the deterioration in relations was in terminal decline and that a major confrontation in the straits of Taiwan was fast looming. Trump held China responsible for the spread of Covid, insisting that he would pursue reparations. The election of Biden halted this commitment. Biden sought a non-confrontational policy towards Beijing. In the aftermath of the disastrous premature withdrawal from Afghanistan handing that country over to the Taliban and the Russian invasion of Ukraine under his watch, Biden became too preoccupied to assertively engage with China. Chinese State media portrayed Trump's visit as being rather unremarkable in the context of other foreign dignitaries lining up to meet Xi, pointing out that just a week later Putin would arrive in Beijing. China manifests that it is winning the trade war that Trump began in 2018, beating America at its own game of capitalism. They frame the U.S. as being in a position of weakness because China is able to source whatever products they buy from the U.S. elsewhere like oil from Canada, and soybeans from Brazil. The oil, soybeans and 200 Boeing's Xi agreed to purchase from Trump were presented as a mere gesture to placate Trump as China has already bought 350 Air Buses in the last year. China would have the world believe that it is only semi-conductors where America has the edge. Here China hints that it is not likely to buy H200 Invidia Chips because it would mean that China will always lag behind the U.S. in building their AI tech. China's major contention and concern is that the U.S. may impose export controls to contain China. China's strategy instead is to invest massively on indigenous innovation. China wants to become an innovation powerhouse that will export its own Chips to the Global South. China is fast catching up with America's lead in AI with the launch of Deep Seek and they claim similar progress with Chip making. China is now ostensibly only eight months behind the U.S. on Large Language Models. Running contrary to this narrative Trump insists that China is desperate to trade with America. China's economy has now peaked. Emblematic of this stagnating growth is rising youth unemployment. China is no longer America's biggest trading partner. Trump has shifted manufacturing back to the U.S. and Trump believes that China can't revive its economy without America. Lined up to meet Xi with Trump were the heads of some of America's biggest Tech Corporations. Corporations like nvidia seek a relaxing of export controls for Chips as they want short term profits, ignoring the risk that China will reverse engineer this technology. More broadly, China and the U.S. are playing a geopolitical chess game spanning the globe. Trump outmaneuvered China in Latin America with the removal of Maduro from power in Venezuela. China is exploiting its influence on Iran in order to get Trump to refrain from taking more active steps towards the defense of Taiwan. Indeed, Trump didn't say anything about Taiwan during his visit. Trump's instincts are of a transactional approach towards alliances, where he is only willing to underwrite defense assistance if allies pay up as an insurer would. It is also important to note that saber rattling the Taiwan card also serves the CCP agenda to distract internal dissent concerning the state of the Chinese economy. Most imminently Trump needs China to pressure Iran to open the Straits of Hormuz and get oil prices down before the midterm elections. China has largely insulated itself from the Gulf energy impact due to stockpiles. Trump would also like China to stop providing Iran with GPS for its missiles. Other Chinese weapons systems and technology sold to Iran have failed to perform well against U.S. and Israeli military hardware. Matters boil down to a leverage between whatever Trump can do on Taiwan, China can do on the strait of Hormouz with Iran. Human Rights concerns, espionage and the alarming rate of Chinese acquisition of U.S. land have been placed on the back burner for the time being. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
Moriel & Jacob Prasch request prayer for Phil Malone and family “Please keep me and my family in prayer. My mum passed away on 13th May at the age of 93. It's a time of mourning, but may it be a time for the Gospel of Christ to be preached to my unbelieving family, especially my brother.”
Moriel & Jacob Prasch request prayer for Sister Joanne Rizzetto, wife of Pastor Dave Rizzetto of Church of The Open Door in New York City. Joanne has developed painful complications and adverse side effects from medications following knee surgery. May The Lord intervene for healing and give guidance to her physicians. Lord, we humbly ask you to intervene in the life of our dear sister. We know you can do all things and that you hear our prayers and consider your servants. Please put a stop to the adverse reaction. Restrain and reverse its effects and restore our sister so that she can continue to serve you in the ministry that you have called them to. We do glorify Your Name. We don't ask as those who treat you as our debtor, but as those who have tasted your goodness and found such mercy and compassion at your feet. Grace and peace and mercy be with Joanne and Pastor Dave.
Will Lebanon miss its golden opportunity? Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Converging new facts on the ground have transformed the political landscape in Lebanon. With Assad removed from power in Syria, a vital lifeline of arms supplies for Hezbollah originating in Iran has diminished. Hezbollah suffered considerable losses in its last round of fighting with Israel. The decapitation of its leadership with the targeted pager attack inflicted a severe blow. Hezbollah's new leader Naim Qassem is a weak substitute for the charismatic Nasrallah who was assassinated by Israel in 2024. Hezbollah in its frail state foolishly fell into line with Iran's instruction to join the fighting against Israel following the recent American-Israeli war with Iran. This was contrary to the wishes of the Lebanese government which was fearful of the inevitable destruction that would be wreaked by the Israeli response. The differing attitudes to Israel amongst Lebanon's population is reflective of its ethnic composition. The predominant groups in order of plurality are Christians, Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims with a smaller minority of Druze. The major concern of most Christians in Lebanon is the dire state of their economy. They have no appetite to further their plight by invoking Israel's rage. During the colonial inter war period the French envisaged the demarcation between Lebanon and Syria as carving out enclaves for Christian and Druze control. Within Lebanon there would be a shared government that by convention would have the Executive power split between a Christian President, a Sunni Prime Minister and Shia Speaker of Parliament. The Christians in southern Lebanon (particularly Maronite Catholics) saw themselves as being anthropologically descendants of ancient Phoenicians as opposed to an Arab identity where the Arab Christians were largely Eastern Orthodox. The schism between the Maronites and the Arab Eastern Orthodox dates back to the time of the Crusades. The Maronites were culturally French, speaking French as their main language and held precedence in much of the Lebanese economy. The first threat to Lebanese stability and cohesion was settled by the U.S. Eisenhower administration in 1958 which landed Marines in an amphibious operation. A repeated attempt at this by the Reagan administration in 1983 ended in a military disaster for the U.S. due to suicide bombings by Iranian controlled terrorists. Israeli efforts to bring in stability during the Lebanese Civil War in conjunction with its Lebanese Christian allies led by Major Saad Haddad likewise came to calamity when the Sabra and Shatila revenge attacks took place following the assassination of Lebanese leader Bashir Gemayel. The ''Good Fence'' policy of an Israeli friendly free Lebanon zone in Southern Lebanon eventually ended badly following Menachem Begin's second incursion into Lebanon called ''Shalom HaGalil'' aimed at stopping the PLO rocket attacks on Israeli border communities like Metulla, Kiryat Shmona, Naharya, Rosh Hanikra, Tzfat and Carmiel. The proxy Israeli occupation from the Israeli border to the Litani river became an imbroglio that many in Israel viewed as Israel's Vietnam with widespread domestic protest and a collapse of morale within the IDF. Eventually Israel absorbed Christian war refugees from Lebanon, while the Vatican and most of the Christian world turned their backs on the Lebanese Christians. Lebanon was then saddled with two states within a state. The first was in the aftermath of Black September in 1970 when King Hussein of Jordan defended his Hashemite throne and government from Yasser Arafat's attempt to take over Jordan due to Jordan having a 70% Palestinian Arab demographic majority. The Jordanian legion drove tens of thousands of its pro Arafat Jordanian citizens into Lebanon, creating a population base for the first state within a state under Arafat. However the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and other factions had their niche interests. Courtesy of the Israeli Air Force Arafat relocated what he saw as his government in exile to Tunisia. This was a missed opportunity by the Lebanese government to assert its autonomy and full territorial control by making a Camp David type peace with Israel inclusive of economic and mutual security provisions. Instead an Iranian backed Syrian intervention replaced Arafat's state within a state with a new one that morphed into Hezbollah. The fall of the Assad regime and the Israeli counter-offensive against Hezbollah re-presents Lebanon with the opportunity that it once lost. The predominantly Christian controlled Lebanese military could and should operationally coordinate with the IDF, to obliterate and remove Hezbollah as the Israelis relieved Lebanon of Arafat's state within a state. Such a rapprochement would likely have strong American and possibly French and British support, allowing Lebanon to be at a non-combative peace with Israel along the lines of Egypt and Jordan, and now some of the Emirates. The natural comradery of the Lebanese Druze community with the Israeli Druze and the pro-Israeli Druze of Syria would additionally re-enforce a regional harmony, as would the Maronite Christian community in Israel with their co-coreligionists in Lebanon. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
PASTOR JOHN ANGLISS It is with profound sadness that we learned of the temporary separation from our friend and brother Pastor John Angliss. We look forward to being reunited with John in the millennial reign of Christ and indeed in God's Eternal Kingdom. Jacob Prasch visited John a few weeks ago in the UK while John was in hospice care having been diagnosed preterminal in his illness. While medically correct, it was of course a misdiagnosis. John is now cancer free and is alive and well in the presence of Jesus awaiting us in glory while his mortal body is being renewed for resurrection and immortality. In the meanwhile, during this temporary season of bereavement we do request prayer for his beloved wife Mary and for his congregation, The Ark Fellowship in England near Reading, England. Because he has recently arrived in the USA and is scheduled to address the Moriel Canada branch conference in Winnipeg, Jacob Prasch will regrettably not be able to attend the memorial service in Britain. Our condolences however are very much with Mary and our brethren in the UK who like us knew and loved Pastor Angliss. John was one of a minority of faithful voices who upheld a traditional biblically based Pentecostalism in the era of counterfeit revivals and apostasy that overtook most of British Pentecostalism. John was a faithful friend of Israel & The Jews standing on the prophetic purposes of God for Israel and the salvation of the Jews. John was a loyal friend to Moriel and Jacob Prasch and a colleague of David Pawson and Derek Prince, both of whom likewise stood by God's promises to Israel. John was also a founding leader of CMFI - the Christian Ministerial Fellowship International, former pastor of Three Mile Cross fellowship , and former board member of Focus On Israel (a Pentecostal Ministry to the Jews). While this separation is temporary, John's eternal gain will be our temporary loss. O GRAVE - WHERE IS THEY VICTORY, O DEATH WHERE IS THY STING ? Hosea 13:14 / 1 Corinthians 15: 55-57
We made it this far: Israel at 78 Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Since the last anniversary milestone of Israel at 75, we have been embroiled in relentless wars. Citizens had little respite to enjoy this year's festivities, coming on the heels of a lull in fighting on the Iranian and Lebanese fronts. We are constantly waiting for a breakthrough on the horizon that will normalize our relations with our neighbors and secure our position on the world stage. It is acutely exhausting to be the focus of the world's attention. But also there is a sense of inevitability accompanying the Zionist project. Specifically that Israel is destined to be central in the wider region and global affairs. Why is this? Is it due to it being a western transplant? Being geographically positioned on the crossroads of three continents? Religious believers would point to prophetic fulfillment. It is short sighted to only look at how our problems are rooted in today’s' reality. Greater forces are at work that will dictate the direction that Israel is heading. The Jewish diaspora will likely find itself in a growing precarious position that will lead to increasing Aliyah (immigration to Israel) and will perhaps ferment the emergence of a second Jewish commonwealth that will not need to heed international pressure in the same way that todays' polity finds itself doing. In this light it is interesting to ponder how our posterity would view our predicament and gains. And I frame matters in these terms with intentionality. We are enmeshed in a seemingly intractable conflict with the Palestinians, and yet Israel has made great gains particularly in the technological fields. There is a current of thinking that perceives Israel's way out of its quagmire is by making itself indispensable to technological advancements. We don't know how tomorrows' world will be shaped by the rapidly advancing AI revolution but so far Israel has proven to be uniquely adaptable and innovative to technological change. This has proved to be a boon to Israel's economy, as have offshore natural gas discoveries being developed in concert with Greece, Greek Cypriot and American energy interests that are geographically and strategically removed from any Straits of Hormuz shipping impediments that strangle the Persian Gulf deposits shared by Qatar and Iran. On another note we should contextualize the situation. How different are Israel's challenges from other nations? Is Israel any less stable than other countries (particularly in the region)? Israel doesn't find itself uniquely challenged to define its identity (most European countries do also, particularly in light of immigration). Nor does the government experience any more volatility than other comparable democracies. Israel's real problems lay in the nature of how its Jewish citizens desire to govern themselves. It is arguable whether the judicial reform protests that occupied public discourse in pre-October 7th Israel would have led to serious civil strife. But it is without doubt that this impasse was allayed by the external attack. The underlying tensions remain unresolved and there are many ways that they could play out. It has been framed as a battle for Israel's soul. Israel's enemies predict that Zionism is imploding and that the State won't survive another 5-10 years. Supporting this claim, they point to Israel's increasing alienation and growing pariah status on the international stage. Our Prime Minister has been indicted for war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Even public opinion in our staunchest ally the U.S. has turned sharply against Israel. With 80% of the Democratic Party being anti-Israel in a growing climate of anti-semitism we have even witnessed the shift of Alan Dershowitz to the Republican Party which must be seen as emblematic of a trend. There is apprehension in Israel of a post-Trump America dominated by the Democrats. However, these seeming incontrovertible facts may be offset by other measures of fortitude. This may be partially countered by the high investment by Silicon Valley in the Israeli Hi-tech sector, making Israel an asset for purposes of Research and Development in America's AI race against China. New opportunities for economic relations have also been opened with Arab nations through the Abraham Accords and with the powerhouse India. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine a world in which Israel's technological prowess will not carry the sway of western decision makers in the long run. Israel's 78th anniversary is a moment to take pause and not catastrophize what the future may behold. The entire world is currently in a state of transformation and Israel is not an outlier in this context. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
Please click this link:https://mailchi.mp/christianconcern.com/action-alert-street-preaching-22-04-26?e=f1df30be3f
A critical juncture in NATO'S future Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM NATO was originally established in 1949 to keep the Russian hordes at bay from toppling those European countries not forked over to the Soviet sphere of influence at the Potsdam conference. Europe lay in ruins. Britain had passed on the torch of global hegemony to the U.S. by tacitly acquiescing to the decolonization of its Empire when Churchill and Roosevelt agreed terms of the Atlantic Charter for the post-war new world order in 1941. So from its start NATO was very much an American driven endeavor. American money with the Marshall plan was propping up western European economies and its military might was forming the bulk of their defensive capabilities. The lopsided nature of this dynamic has informed how tensions have persisted and recently erupted in the Alliance. During the Cold War the U.S. felt obligated to shoulder the costs of underwriting Europe's security in light of the broader interests to keep the Soviet's in check. Following the fall of the Iron Curtain European complacency became a sticking point with the 'peace dividend' further exploiting American largesse. European NATO allies spent ever smaller percentages of their GDP on defense expenditure at U.S. expense. Now in a multi-polar world U.S. and European perceived threats are less aligned. This was first tested in the aftermath of September 11th when for the first time NATO elected to trigger its article 5 collective defense protocol. And since then the U.S. has sought to continue to expand the traditional theatre of operations beyond Europe's borders. No longer is Russia perceived by America as being a proximate existential threat to its interests, but rather containing Chinese expansion in the Pacific arena. Parallel to NATO a discrete 'five eyes' intelligence sharing alliance comprising the Anglo-sphere (the U.S., U.K., Canada and New Zealand) emerged. This stands at the center of the U.S. – U.K. 'special relationship'. A relevant question would be can this signals intelligence (NSA-GCHQ) partnership persist should the U.S. withdraw from NATO? Conventional thinking would have led one to believe that with Brexit the U.K. would naturally pivot towards closer U.S. relations but under Starmer the U.K. is distancing itself. European powers misrepresent the present conflict as an aggressive, rather than defensive U.S. adventure while they themselves are more likely to be at risk. In this the Starmer government resembles the Labor party led committee for nuclear disarmament in the 1980's. It opposed the Thatcher supported deployment of U.S. cruise missiles in response to the Soviet SS20's pointed at Britain's cities. The British left branded their response to Soviet strategic escalation to U.S. aggression. This time however there is for the moment no Thatcher to bring common sense into an equation dominated by emotionally driven ideologies in the face of an aggressor with definite aims. In terms of the Russian-Ukraine conflict we are reverting to the old question dating back to the Napoleonic war era: to what extent is London happy with the European nations fighting it out alone for dominance of the continent. Britain was never willing to accept a single power in control. Many variables will dictate what kind of world emerges from the current conflicts in Ukraine and Iran. How will power be extracted from potential gains? What will be the strategic impact of this? What is sure, in the age of Trump this pattern of reliance on U.S. muscle is becoming quickly exhausted. Dating back to the Roman Empire, a factor in the decline of major powers has always been astronomical military spending, a budgetary demand that the U.S. under Trump is no longer willing to shoulder alone. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).
