This is very good - please pray through it.   It comes from The Elijah Prayer Army  epa@thewatchman.org

Blessings,

Martha

Watchman Network

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ISRAEL'S WORST CRISIS IS STILL AHEAD!

Israel has so far been spared any attack during the present US led war against Iraq.  In prayer we felt that the start of the war would not pose any major danger to Israel.  The Arab world is waiting for the furor and anger over the war with Iraq to build in the Arab community and around the world before they will attack Israel.  But sooner or later Israel will be involved in this conflict, so we must continue to stay vigilant in prayer.

So far Arab pressure has caused especially Tony Blair and the British Government to insist on an immediate implementation of the "Road Map" that will grant the so-called Palestinians a sovereign state by 2005.  Blair insists that Israel should be forced to accept the Quartet's Road Map as is without any changes.  Israel is supposed to pay for Arab anger over the British and US war against Iraq, by accepting a decision made over their heads to reward the people who have launched deadly terrorism against them on a daily basis for two and a half years with a sovereign state on the land God has given to Israel as an eternal inheritance.

British politicians are now trying to portray this as a generous offer to Israel, since they say many Arabs are advocating a "one state solution" – a polite expression referring to the eradication of the state of Israel from the face of the earth. Denmark's FM says that if Israel does not accept the Road Map now without changes, they will face a Palestinian majority within their borders in 20 years.

"The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 'I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.' "  (Ps 2:4-6)

God has a very different plan than the "Road Map" for this area and He will not be mocked.

" 'this is what the Sovereign LORD says: In my burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, for with glee and with malice in their hearts they made my land their own possession so that they might plunder its pastureland.'

'But you, O mountains of Israel [the so called West Bank], will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home.' " (Ez 36:5,8)

Syria is now talking openly about going to war.  President Assad stated this week that Syria will be next in line to be targeted by the US after Iraq, and Syria will not sit down and wait for that to happen.  As usual Israel was presented as the source of the problem.

The war against Iraq is not going at all as well as most predicted beforehand. Groups of terrorists from the Muslim world are now pouring into Iraq to help the guerilla warfare against the US led forces.  The purpose is to turn the war against Iraq into another Vietnam War, supported by peace rallies around the world.

The war against Iraq involves a spiritual battle with the ancient principality of Babylon.  The name Babylon means confusion or division.   It is amazing how this war has caused confusion and division everywhere. UN, EU and NATO have divided over this issue.  Even the leaders in Iran are divided.  Some say that there will be an easy American victory, and that it is in Iran's best interest to show support for the US.  Other leaders in Iran say that the war is the beginning of the end of America, so Iran should support Iraq.

Christian leaders are divided over this war as well.  Some leaders say that the war is from God.  Other say just as strongly that it is wrong. The most tragic trend in prophetic circles today is to say that both are right.  That is not prophetic.  It is anything but prophetic, it is pathetic!  A spirit of confusion has entered the Charismatic prophetic camp.  God never says both yes and no, 2 Co 1:17-18! Paul explains that this is the way of the flesh and the world – the spirit of Babylon.

There is a quite difficult situation for many intercessors to reconcile right now.  On the one hand US and Britain are fighting Iraq, a cruel archenemy of Israel.  On the other hand they are pushing for the Road Map to grant the so-called Palestinians an independent state on their God given homeland.

There was actually a very similar situation during W.W.II.  "Friendly" Britain who had promised to grant the Jewish people a homeland through the Balfour Declaration, had just issued the "White Paper" before the war started, restricting and eventually forbidding all Jewish immigration to Palestine.  It is estimated that this cost the lives of at least two million Jews in the Holocaust.

The White Paper laid much of the foundation to the problems of today in the Middle East, since Britain never restricted Arab immigration. Imagine what the Middle East would look like today if two million Jews had been spared the Holocaust and allowed to pour into Palestine before W.W. II, plus if the Arab immigration had been stopped. Then there might not have been any Palestinian problem to solve today.

But during this time Britain was also fighting Hitler, the worst enemy of the Jewish people in world history. This caused David Ben Gurion to make the famous statement, "We shall fight with the British against Hitler as if the White Paper never existed, and we shall fight against the White Paper as if Hitler never existed."

We must do the same thing today in our intercession for Israel.  We must pray earnestly and wholeheartedly for victory in the US led war against Iraq as if the Road Map never existed.  At the same time we must fight in prayer against the Road Map as if the war against Iraq never existed! We need to be strong and full of faith and courage.  God is on our side! "The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." (Ps 33:11)

The comparison between Britain before and after W.W.II and the US today is alarming.  Britain won W.W. II, but because of their opposition to God's plan for Israel they still lost their Empire and world standing as a superpower within a decade.  Instead the US came to the side of Israel to help them and rose to become the number one world power.

We need to remember that the British Empire around W.W. II was the greatest empire in world history, built on the spiritual foundation of men of God like Charles Wesley, William Booth, Hudson Taylor and many others.  England was the center of the gospel, the hub of missionary activity in the world.

It was because of the strong influence from Bible believing Christians in England, who loved the Jewish people and believed in the restoration of Israel that the Balfour Declaration was signed in 1917, granting the Jewish people a homeland for the first time in 2000 years.  But England went back on their promise and eventually began to frustrate God's plans for Israel.  Even though they won the war, Britain came totally impoverished out of W.W. II and lost their preeminence in the world both nationally and spiritually.

The word for America today, like we have said so many times before, is Esth 4:14, "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" "For the nation or kingdom that will not serve [Israel] will perish; it will be utterly ruined." (Isa 60:12) There are too many examples in world history to show this. The US is no exception. We must pray!

** PRAY FOR THE ALLIED VICTORY OVER IRAQ! Stand in the gap and ask for God's mercy and grace on the allied forces as well as the protection of innocent civilians! It is a spiritual battle against a world ruler in the heavenly realms.

** PRAY THAT THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ WILL CAUSE A THIRST FOR FREEDOM IN THE ARAB WORLD RATHER THAN A LUST FOR BLOODSHED!

** PRAY THAT MUSLIM TERRORISTS AROUND THE WORLD WILL BE HINDERED TO GET INTO IRAQ TO JOIN THE BATTLE! Pray that they will not be able to turn the battle into another Vietnam War!

** PRAY THAT THE PEACE MOVEMENT AROUND THE WORLD WILL LOOSE ITS INFLUENCE ON THE WAR! With their seemingly noble demands for peace, they lend powerful support to one of the worst tyrants alive today, which prolongs the war and causes unnecessary bloodshed. The peace movement in the 60's basically stopped a US victory in Vietnam.

The Lord has given us Isa 27:1 to pray against the peace demonstrations. "In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea." The peace movement is like a coiling, twisting serpent, a demonic monster in the sea of humanity. Pray that God will punish it with His powerful sword – the word of truth!

** PRAY THAT GOD WILL STOP THE ROAD MAP!  Right now it seems like the publication of the Road Map is delayed only because the new incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen wants it to be presented after the Iraqi war.  It might be that God will once again harden the hearts of the enemies of Israel, and Syria will instead go to war against Israel preventing the implementation of the Road Map.

** PRAY THAT ANY ATTACK ON ISRAEL FROM SYRIA AND HEZB'ALLAH WILL FAIL AND BRING ABOUT GOD'S PURPOSES! Pray that Israel will be prepared and ready.

In 2000 the Lord gave us Zec 12:6 for the present conflict, "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place." The Lord spoke to us that this decade would be a decade of FIRE, with war in the natural as well as in the spirit, leading to the explosive fire of God falling also in the church to take the gospel into the harvest fields.