Watching over Zion" (The weekly News Report & Prayer Update)
Compiled by David Soakell Tel: 01642 469663
E-mail david@cfi.org.uk Website: www.cfi.org.uk

~ Thursday 12th January 2012 ~

The Word: "But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. "All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you. (Isaiah 41:8-13)

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by. (Psalm 57:1)

• Pointers for prayer: Once again, may we remain strong in our stand with Israel. May all our actions, support & prayer be led by the Holy Spirit.

• We believe God is calling Christians to come alongside Israel and cry out to God on Israel's behalf, to take the deep heart cry of the nation into their own hearts, to intercede against her enemies, and to believe in the promises of God for her. The inarticulate heart cry of the nation of Israel may well be that of David in Psalm 57 and we need to be able to express that cry to God with her. This is the privilege of those who intercede for Israel. As Lance Lambert once wrote, "There rests upon every true child of God a responsibility not only to stand with Israel and the Jewish people but to love them from a pure heart. Love such as this will lead to the kind of prayer that only the Holy Spirit can give, it will lead to importunate and travelling prayer." (Lance Lambert, "Battle for Israel")

• As many are preparing for the end of January Holocaust Memorial Day, let us "look up" and remember not only the struggles, the pain, and the horror, but also the promises of God. Praise God that even in the darkest night, His light can shine. As Corrie Ten Boom once said, "There is no pit, that He is not deeper still". We must never be allowed to forget the evil of the Holocaust. In remembering, there is hope it will not be allowed to happen again. Please pray that all events throughout the country around 27 January will be well supported. Remember too, the thousands of Survivors still alive today. May they, even now, find comfort, strength, and the LORD's blessing on their lives.

Up and running Before I get under way with another Watching over Zion report, I would just like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to all those who have been standing with me in prayer for my health. The virus has now almost gone and I am feeling better albeit the after affects with tiredness are still with me. Having said that, I am now back at work with speaking engagements and at the office. So although I feel like an old car on a cold winter’s day, at least the engine is working and I'm on the road again! I'm just aware that I need to be a bit careful, and not drive on "Brands Hatch" if you see what I mean.

Perceiving warfare part one Regarding illnesses etc; many people have suggested that we could have been ‘under attack’ from ‘the enemy’. Now before I upset anyone, I have to admit that this could well be the case… and when you read the ‘word’ that I believe the Lord laid on my heart shortly, this might convince you that we have indeed been under spiritual attack. However, I have to admit that I am a ‘realist’… and one thing ‘realists’ don’t do is to ‘go looking for demons under the bed’… i.e. we don’t blame the devil for things that actually might have nothing to do with the evil one. Satan’s attacks are a constant topic among many Christian ‘fundamentalists’, with any number of naturally occurring events being perceived as the direct work of the Evil One. Perhaps these claims of spiritual warfare are familiar…

“After living a life where I consumed fatty foods every day and never exercised, Satan has attacked my body and given me high blood pressure and heart disease.” “I haven’t changed my oil or had a tune-up to my car in 10 years. Then today on my drive to work, Satan attacked my car and it broke down on the side of the road. He also had sneakily drained my mobile phone battery so I couldn’t call for help.” The devil is evidently a very clever sort who disguises a lot of work as the natural result of human folly. However, laying my zany humour to one side, I am clearly aware that Satan hates us so much that he wants us to be inactive in our walk with God. Therefore, to be a Believer in God and stand with Israel is potentially a ‘double whammy’ – Satan will want to annihilate us in the same way as he wants Israel wiping off the map. And so, the ‘word’ I felt the Lord lay on my heart was the above Scripture of Isaiah 41:8-13, with the following warning: “We are not perceiving the spiritual warfare”. It’s as if we have read Paul’s warning in Ephesians 6 about walking with the full armour of God, yet we leave the house naked. I have shared this message both with my fellowship and our staff at the UK Head Office. If you feel this is applicable to you, do pray about this, but please make sure you test this out first (1 Thess. 5:21, 1 John 4:1).

Perceiving warfare part two The second area of warfare could also be seen as ‘spiritual warfare’ however this could well be fought out with real ‘flesh and blood’. If reports are correct, and I have no reason to doubt them, the US military are preparing a massive military campaign against Iran, sending thousands of American troops, warships and weaponry to Israel. Sources said the military deployment of US anti-missile ships and accompanying support personnel will occur in January and later this spring. Commander of the US Third Air Force based in Germany Lt.-Gen Frank Gorenc said it is not just an "exercise," but a "deployment." The Jerusalem Post also confirmed that Washington and Tel Aviv have planned to hold what they call the largest-ever joint military exercise this spring.

Having reported this from ‘un-named sources’ both on my Twitter page and on Facebook last week, I really wanted more confirmation before stating anything in these reports. This week, our CFI Jerusalem office also sent out a report stating, “In the last few days literally thousands of U.S. troops have been descending on Israel. This is not just a report obtained from a sensational news source. It has been corroborated by news media including the Washington Post, on January 5 as well as friends in Israel, and in fact it appears that some 9,000 U.S. troops are either now in Israel or on their way. Senior US military sources have confirmed that this deployment is part of the US-IDF preparation for a possible military engagement with Iran and its likely escalation into a regional conflict. As of this writing, they will soon be joined by a US aircraft carrier. The warplanes on its decks will fly missions with Israeli Air Force jets, either in training or in a real attack [Debkafile, January 6].”

On top of this, Britain is also warning Iran it may resort to military action if Tehran attempts to close the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping lane for much of the world's oil supplies. Most major national news stations in the UK reported this towards the end of last week. During December 2011 Iran said it was holding a military drill that would include exercise on how to close the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which some 40 percent of the world's oil is shipped to markets in the West. The Islamic Republic followed the threat with another earlier last week by Iranian army chief Ayatollah Salehi, warning USS carrier John C Stennis not to return to the Persian Gulf after having left the area through the Straits of Hormuz in a "pre-planned, routine operation."

The U.S. responded to the Iranian threat with a calm statement read by Pentagon spokesman George Little warning Iran, "The deployment of US military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades." Likewise, a U.S. Navy spokesman told reporters last week, "The United States is committed to ensuring the safe flow of maritime traffic in waterways critical to global commerce."

This week during his South American tour, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez joked about having "a big atomic bomb" and mocked US disapproval during a meeting between the two allies in Caracas. The US stated on Wednesday (Jan.11) that Iran's enrichment of uranium at an underground site is "a further escalation" of its violation of UN resolutions. The UN's nuclear watchdog confirmed that Tehran had begun enriching uranium up to 20% at its northern Fordo plant. Analysts say 20% enrichment is an important step towards making uranium weapons-grade, but Tehran says it is for purely peaceful purposes. The UK and France - and later Russia - also condemned the move. The question of course is what to do about the Iranian threat. Without doubt it would be nice to think that talks could dissuade Tehran from moving ahead, and, yes, the door should always be ajar, but, frankly, a serious deal is hardly in the offing. Why? Well for one thing, negotiations have been tried before by the major countries, to no avail, while Iran has bought precious time for its nuclear program.

On top of this, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might be seen as a ruthless dictator, however he is very clever (as was Hitler!) and Iran has doubtless learned something very recently from two countries in particular - North Korea and Libya! North Korea has a nuclear bomb and keeping everyone guessing about what it’s capable of doing which has gained negotiating room. Despite criticism from the West, the fact is that everyone is tiptoeing around walking on ‘egg shells’ for fear that the North Koreans might actually unleash havoc. So the lesson for Tehran might be, ‘having the bomb’ offers leverage and power. The second lesson Iran may have learned is from Libya.

If Gaddafi had not yielded to the Bush administration in 2003 and abandoned its nuclear program, Gaddafi might have still been alive and in control today. Would NATO forces really have attacked Libya in 2011 if Gaddafi had had possession of a fearsome nuclear bomb? I doubt it. And so, Ahmadinejad might be thinking, “If I give up the nuclear program I may end up like Gaddafi”. And so, here we have a huge problem of what the West will do.

I personally believe the West needs to keep all options on the table. This US-IDF preparation for a possible military engagement with Iran is likely to cause a dangerous escalation of trouble in an already fragile Middle East. Yes, Iran must be convinced that when the U.S. and others say it, they’re not bluffing. Indeed, it’s the very possibility of conflict that may be the most effective recipe for avoiding it. However, pressure must still be applied through sanctions against Iran, especially where it hurts most, which is in banking and energy. This of course could cause problems in the West with even higher fuel bills, however if the West is not prepared to pay the price for stopping the Iranian bomb, how serious are we? Finally, if the Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz is not a wake-up call to all in the West to get really serious about our own energy security, along with our literal safety - what is?

Iran's new facility began in secret. The Islamic state may have preferred to keep it that way; however in September 2009 the US, France and the UK publicly revealed its existence - a fact that was subsequently confirmed by Iran. Since then, the new plants have attracted plenty of attention and suspicion. These nuclear plants have been built underground and are heavily fortified. In particular, Iran appears to want to guard these against potential air strikes. Military experts suggest that the plant facilities may be able to survive attack from all but the most powerful bombs. Iran’s Ahmadinejad is not playing games… and this surely is a cause for serious intercession from those of us who stand on the walls of Jerusalem.

The passion of the arts – Lessons from the past for the future The pages could have easily been lost amid the genocide of the Nazi Holocaust. Lyrics of hope and peace - music written by a victim of the Holocaust, Samuel Blasz, has lived on. The reason was down to Blasz's daughter, Eva Blasz Egri, a Holocaust survivor herself, who held the original music sacred and secret for seventy years after she was liberated.

Recently however, the music came alive as Eva Blasz Egri listened to it alongside her family for the first time since her childhood. "This is a family treasure that my mother has carried for years, we've never heard it and she hasn't heard it since before the war," said Julia Goldner, Egri's daughter. The 90-year-old survivor doesn't like to speak of the horrors she endured at Auschwitz, yet a tattoo bearing her identification number on her arm is a constant reminder. However, the music, her father's creation, takes her back to a time before the horror of the Shoah, to a time when her family was together in Hungary.

"I had a beautiful childhood, I learned many things from my parents, my father," said Egri. Her parents died in the gas chambers, along with three of her siblings. After listening to the music of her father, Eva Egri stated that she was "Very proud, happy, and unbelievable”. “I think this will be a rare experience to bring to life a family member who is long gone through his music," said Heather Coltman, the pianist for the concert, and FAU (Florida Atlantic University) music professor. Read more on this story Here

Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January) of course is only weeks away, and once again this provides an opportunity for everyone to learn lessons from the Holocaust. To help with this, my new booklet, “Crimes Against Humanity” is due out very soon. The booklet costs £3.50p and will be available through CFI UK. This booklet is a compilation of songs and poems originally written to coincide with the “Anne Frank In The World Exhibition”. It is a gathering of written works originally set to music, which try to reflect something of the horror of the Holocaust and beyond.

I have tried to probe the minds of victims who experienced this, and to look through their eyes at a time of history which should never be forgotten – yet which continues even today. My heart's desire is that, from any aspect of this work, even one person's conscience might be awakened to the horrors that continue to face mankind today, and that that reality would show itself in a more compassionate and tolerant society, bringing peace and God's love into our world of much need. If you would like to order copies, please contact our UK Head Office on 01323 410810 or email them at: info@cfi.org.uk with your details.

Finally… what happened to the PA State? If you were wondering what had happened to the talk of establishing a Palestinian State in the heartland of Israel, sadly it still remains however it does appear to have been placed on the ‘back boiler’. PLO Executive Committee member and Palestinian lawmaker, Hanan Ashrawi stressed on Tuesday this week to Quartet representative, Tony Blair, that unless Israel refrains from all “illegal settlement” activities and commits to 1967 borders, the Palestinian people
will not return to negotiations.

During Ashrawi's meeting with Blair, she emphasised that the failure to hold Israel accountable is thwarting the possibility of any future Palestinian state. I’ll refrain from comments but suffice to say, Hamas went on record again on Sunday to state, "We promise you that we will not cede a single part of Palestine, we will not cede Jerusalem, we will continue to fight and we will not lay down our arms… We will never give up our arms". Do keep praying.

David Soakell
(CFI Church Liaison Officer (UK) & Writer & Producer of the CFI News Report & Prayer Update)
Tweet me @David_at_CFI

Sources: Unless otherwise stated: Personal sources throughout Israel along with The Jerusalem Post,
BBC News, CFI Jerusalem, Arutz-7 News, Israeli Embassy London & Israel National Radio