Jerusalem: A Cup of Trembling

Jerusalem:
A Cup Of
Trembling
Behold, I will make Jerusalem
A cup of trembling unto all the people
Round about ... In that day will I make
Jerusalem a burdensome stone
For all people...
Zech 12:2-3

All eyes are once again focused on Jerusalem and the tiny nation of Israel. In recent weeks a number of terrorist activities, along with a visit to the area by Madeleine Albright., 195 Secretary of State, has brought the troubles of this region into the forefront of the news. Following are excerpts from various publications concerning these, and other, important happenings in the Middle East region.

    Editor’s note: In 1994, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson died in his New York home. His followers (ultraorthodox Jews known as Lubavitchers or the Habad movement) believed that Schneerson was the Messiah despite the fact that he was born in Europe and never once in his life visited Israel. Many of his followers actually believed that he would be resurrected three days after his death and it is rumored that holes were drilled in the top of his coffin so that he could breathe.
    The following is excerpted from the Moaz newsletter, a publication put out by a Messianic (Jewish Believers in Yeshua) group headquartered in Israel. Their US address is Box 763100, Dallas, TX 75376-3100.
    "... many, if not most of the Habad activists, today publicly proclaim that Rabbi Schneerson will be resurrected as the Messiah. ...
    "Rabbi Bezalel Kupchick, spokesman for the Messiah Headquarters near Tel Aviv, not only believes that he is alive, but that he will soon be revealed as the Messiah. Although Rabbi Schneerson never unequivocally and publicly proclaimed himself as Messiah, neither did he deny it, even though the myth grew to be a central feature of the Habad movement.
    "... inside the Habad movement, there are signs of severe disillusionment within the movement, from the rank and file to the upper echelons. ... There is an increasing number of Habad members who are questioning whether the rebbe really is the Messiah. They are unwilling to express their doubts publicly however....
    "However, lately we again have begun to hear rumors that a quickly growing number of Orthodox leaders are becoming secret believers in Yeshua, both within Habad and in other Orthodox branches. This last week we had a visit from one such person. This Hassidic Jew clearly stated that he has come to believe that Yeshua is the true Messiah, and he said there are hundreds of others that he knows about who believe as he does....
    "We asked him what was happening within the movement. He told us that the reality is, most of his acquaintances know that Schneerson is not the Messiah. Each one is saying it in a different way, but they are all saying it, he said. He also insisted, ‘There is not much separation between the Habad movement and the Messianic Jewish movement. They are very close.’ Both desire a close relationship with God, and both wait for redemption through the Messiah, he said. He didn’t know what would bring them over the line, but he feels sure they are very close...
    "From his perspective, he feels that the Habad movement is far less legalistic than other Orthodox branches. According to him, Habad followers are much more interested in a relationship with God than they are in legalism. ... They are looking for answers."
    (From Moaz newsletter, September, 1997).

    Editor’s note: The Jerusalem Shopping Mall is the largest in the Middle East. Customers come from many different countries, as well as Israel, to shop there.
    "The General Security Service has arrested six armed members of a Hamas cell accused of planning an attack on the Jerusalem Shopping Mall, and of plotting to kidnap Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and another unnamed public figure, Channel 1 reported last Thursday night.
    "Two suspects are from Jerusalem and four are from the West Bank. They were reportedly arrested a day before they planned to carry out the attack. The army said they were arrested on August 19.
    "Some cell members were caught after checking out the mall while carrying bags with nails to test security there. They led the GSS to other gang members, reports said."
    (From The Jerusalem Post International Edition, September 27, 1997, page 1.)

    "If an American president declared a war on drugs and then publicly kissed the two leading drug lords of Mexico, how seriously would we take his efforts? So what kind of fools does Yasser Arafat take us for when we see him embracing and kissing the leaders of the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in pictures splashed across the pages of American newspapers? His words, echoing earlier speeches, made it all to clear that what we saw was an unofficial terrorist making common cause with the official ones.
    "Arafat’s response to the terrorist bombing in Jerusalem on July 30 has been as disturbing as the killings themselves. He does not arrest those he knows are part of the terrorist wings of Hamas and of Islamic Jihad. He blames everything on the current Israeli government....
    "Arafat’s kiss is more than just a kiss It dramatizes once again that he has never abandoned the bomb, the rock, and the molotov cocktail, despite agreeing in the 1993 Oslo peace accords that ‘the Palestinian police will act systematically against all expressions of violence and terror’ and arrest and prosecute individuals who are suspected of perpetrating acts of violence and terror.
    "It has to be conceded that the terrorists enjoy the support of the Palestinian people. How could they not when the younger Palestinians who have come of age since the 1993 accords have been fed by the media, the schools, and their political and religious leadership with an unending diet of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic poison?"
    (from an Editorial in U.S. News & World Report, September 15, 1997, by Mortimer B. Zuckerman / Editor-in-Chief.)

    "‘The citizens of Israel will not be guinea pigs to test Yasser Arafat’s goodwill or credibility. I am not prepared to continue this way... We will fundamentally reassess the entire process.’ Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said last Thursday, after visiting wounded victims of the Ben-Yehuda Street bombing at Shaare Zedek Hospital.
    "At a special session of the security cabinet the next day, it was decided that no more territory would be handed over to the Palestinian Authority if it did not eradicate the terror infrastructure in the areas under its control....
    "Security officials described the attack as the most ambitious in years. three suspected Islamic terrorists, standing on both sides of Jerusalem’s Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall, blew themselves up last Thursday afternoon, killing four people and wounding 192."
    (From the Jerusalem Post International Edition, September 13, 1997, page 1.)

    "The army is bracing for possible skirmishes with Palestinian Authority fighters if there is further deterioration in the political situation. Operational plans are being readied, as is special training for regular and reserve units, including the Border Police, military sources said last week.
    "The sources warned of an outbre4 of guerrilla warfare and an escalation in the use of weapons in the territories if the current stalemate in the peace process continues and mistrust between Israelis and Palestinians increases.
    "The present situation has led the PA to legitimize terrorist activities, the sources said, a fact which officials say must lead to violent confrontations between the two sides. ...
    "In recent public statements, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat has warned his people of a ‘prolonged struggle’ against Israel."
(From The Jerusalem Post International Edition, September 27, 1997, page 1.)

"The Palestinian Authority has declared a ‘limited war’ against the Israeli authorities in Jerusalem, stepping up illegal construction, the purchasing of property, and the establishment of alternative educational, legal, and police services for Arabs, a report by one of Israel’s security services says."
(From The Jerusalem Post International Edition, September 27, 1997, page 3.)

    "The next war doesn’t have a name yet but if it comes it will be nasty, close to home, pointless and probably soon.
    "This is the feeling among several Israeli military experts interviewed last week after the startling news conference called by a senior Israeli officer to announce that the army is making preparations to meet guerrilla warfare in the territories."
    (From The Jerusalem Post International Edition, September 27, 1997, page 8.)

Editor’s note: What will be the catalyst that will bring the Orthodox Jewish community into a realization that Yeshua is really their Messiah, the one for whom they have been looking for thousands of years? Unfortunately, it will probably be war and tribulation. Just as nationhood for Israel received a big boost as a result of world opinion backlash to the Holocaust, so it may well be that another war in the Middle East may push many observant Jews into a personal relationship with their God, leading them to the sacrifice of their Passover Lamb, Yeshua.

    As you can see from the above quotes, Israel is facing its worst crisis since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
    Recent rumors have indicated that the Israeli Defense Force is expecting war to break out as early as January, 1998.
    What does all of this mean for Believers? We can only wait and see. If Israel wins big time they may well take back control of the Temple Mount, paving the way to rebuilding the Temple. The Israelis gained control of the mount in the 1967 war, but Moshe Dyan gave it back to the Arabs as a peace gesture. One thing is apparent, peace gestures are about as useful with the Palestinians as they were with Hitler. They want it all, not just a nation of their own which lies within the current boundaries of Israel. If the Arabs get it all, there will be no Jews left in the land that God gave to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.