Life on the Gaza Border

Dyer is our host. I'm John Gager, and no surprise that Israel has been in the news a lot over the last year. And as we know, the Bible is jam packed with end times prophecies about epic world events, the regathering of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland, and Jesus returned. It is crucial, though, for us as believers to have a proper understanding of Bible prophecy. Why? So our view of the future is shaped by Scripture, not today's headlines. Boy, Charlie, I think that's critical.

into what the scriptures say about these issues. If you're interested in learning more about what God has in store, visit Life in Messiah. Org and click on the Moody Radio button there to find out how you can receive your copy of God, Israel and Bible Prophecy. That's life in messiah.org.

the people. Some threatened violence against him, including one who said, if the hostages aren't brought home, we'll be waiting with a noose. Those are shocking. But the real shock was the response of the head of the opposition, who slammed Netanyahu for allowing the concern to even be raised, calling him a crybaby and a coward. Another member of the opposition predicted that Netanyahu will dissolve the Knesset and call

for elections in November. That individual has also been meeting with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to discuss strategy for replacing Netanyahu. A recent poll suggests a right wing coalition led by Naftali Bennett could possibly unseat Netanyahu. The problem is that each of the parties in such a coalition is led by an individual who also wants to be prime minister. Perhaps more worrisome, though, for the current government,

is the disunity within the coalition itself. After the failure of the so-called rabbis Bill last month, some ultra-Orthodox lawmakers say they can no longer rely on Netanyahu to look out for their interests, and Ben-Gvir and his party have refused to back any bills unless he's given a seat on the now disbanded War Cabinet. The leader of the Shas party called Ben-Gvir an inflated balloon, and he responded by calling the leader of Shas a lap dog of

the left. This kind of animosity within the coalition is paralyzing the legislative process. Whether it's going to be a ceasefire agreement with Hamas or the military draft of the ultra-Orthodox or upcoming budget negotiations, or a number of other contentious issues, something could soon bring about a no confidence vote in the government, and that will then lead to new elections.

the helm. Iran wants to rebuild a Shiite version of the ancient Persian empire extending from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea, while dominating the Persian Gulf region and obliterating the Jewish state. Russia wants to keep the Shiites and Sunnis in equilibrium by extending its influence among the more moderate Islamic states like Syria, Egypt, and the Gulf states. But Russia is also facing a serious internal problem that could upend all of Putin's plans. And Islamic time bomb is ticking within

Russia itself. In 1991, the Soviet Union had 120 mosques. Over the next 20 years, that number exploded to over 8000 and continues increasing in the next 15 years. It's very possible that the majority population in cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg will be Muslim, the imam of the Grand Mosque of Moscow said Muslims have a great demographic mission due to the high birth rate to make Russia a muslim majority country. In 1959, 6% of the Russian's

population was Muslim. By 2020, that had grown to 15%, and the trend is accelerating. Seven of Russia's 22 republics already have an Islamic majority. Putin might indeed have a goal for Russian dominance in the Middle East, but the dramatic population shift within Russia itself could change the face of Russia before Russia is able to change the face of the Middle East.

Cairo and in the Sinai Peninsula. So as much of their army to protect the capital and to guard against Islamic insurgents in Libya and in Sinai. If Egypt's going to mount a credible military threat against the dam, it'll need to reposition some of its forces away from the north toward its southern border. Now, that could impact Israel two ways. First, it could allow ISIS, al Qaeda or other Islamic groups to rebuild on the Sinai Peninsula next

to Israel. And second, it could upend potential plans being discussed for Israel's ceasefire with Hamas because that could involve having Israel cede control of the corridor between Egypt and Gaza to the Egyptian army. Israel is still uncovering all the tunnels Hamas had there to smuggle in weapons and supplies. By taking this border region, Israel choked off that supply of weapons. Egypt was already doing a relatively poor job of stopping weapons entering from its side of the border.

And if they're forced to move troops to the south while also resuming full control of that corridor with Gaza, it could open the way for Hamas to rebuild the tunnels and resupply its forces, depending on Egypt, to choke off Hamas's supply lines into Gaza, in addition to everything else Egypt is facing, could be a recipe for future disaster.

with mechanical properties that are solid like. It forms into glass spontaneously at room temperature, without the need of extreme heat or pressure. So what kind of impact might it have in real life? Rather than polishing and grinding lenses for glasses, they were able to dip the liquid onto a surface and control its curvature simply by adjusting the solution volume, and the glass was as transparent as ordinary

glass would be. Should cracks form in a glass, they can be restored instantly with the touch of water at room temperature. Imagine discovering a recyclable, self-healing, optically transparent glass that can also act as a glue. Beyond the common applications for optics, the scientists believe the new discovery could revolutionize electro optics, satellite communication, remote sensing, and even biomedicine.

Self repairing adhesive glass. It seems hard to imagine. Unless, of course, you're a scientist at Tel Aviv University in amazing Israel, shattering.

there were Israelis living peacefully near the border. What was life like for them back then? You're about to hear a first hand account from someone who lived just two miles north of the Gaza border. Welcome back to the land and the book. I'm John Gager. Let's say hi to today's guest, Deborah Ben Aderet. Good to have you with us.

I'm wondering how they made the trip. You made Aliyah moving to Israel a year later, I guess you met the Israeli man who would become your husband. And so you guys left Tel Aviv. You moved with him to the southern city of Ashkelon. And that is, I think, kind of where today's story begins. We're honored to have you with us today on the land and the book.

teach your kids stay away. Because Hamas started burning acres and acres of our land. And you won't really see that anywhere either. Killing wildlife and killing the crops that we grow to feed them, to truck in to Gaza. You know, so so there was I don't want to call it daily terror, but when they were feeling riled up, we would all suffer from it. It was just sort of how you live on the on the border.

you can send your kids out. You want to play with your friend, and you open the front door and you send your kids out. We have cows. We have a petting zoo, the daycares, you know, picnic every day. It's a wonderful place to go and raise your kids. But you do start to question, wait, why are we staying.

to go into the bomb shelter. It means the rocket hit or it means the Iron Dome intercepted it. But either way, it's a huge explosion, and it's done. And it's too late to go to the safe room. So my husband said, let's go, let's go. And I said, it's too late. And I rolled over to go back to sleep because we're used to this. And then it really started coming like a barrage, like a lot. And

we said, okay, let's go to the safe room. So we spent the first few hours in the safe room, and then we heard doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, machine gun. And then we knew this is not normal. Something else is happening. Soon after that, we got a message from our kibbutz security saying there have been ground infiltrations, not in Zikim, but there have been ground infiltrations. Stay in the safe room. And at this point, we knew something really horrible is happening. And then we lost all

cell reception and phone reception. So we didn't have internet. I didn't get the rocket alert on my phone. I couldn't hear in real time when it was really happening. I didn't know what was happening outside. All we knew was there's rocket barrages, there's gunfire that we don't know what it is, and there's been infiltration. We were told to go around and lock up our house and stay in our safe room. I think we didn't have the infiltration because 50 terrorists tried to come up through our

beach that day. They managed to kill 41 of the 50 terrorists, but nine did infiltrate our beaches and our beaches like half a mile from us, right? Because we're close to the water. Nine of those terrorists came up through the beach, killed everyone they saw, slaughtered everyone they saw, continued on to our army base, had a big fight there, and then continued to try to infiltrate our kibbutz. And at that time, some of the security in the army

base alerted our security guy. We have one. We have one security guy alerted him that terrorists on foot or in a stolen truck are on their way to our kibbutz. That's about a minute drive, maybe 45 second drive. And in that time, our one security guy managed to round up a team of our kibbutz members. These are just regular people who are in the reserves or have a gun from when they were in the reserves. And it is because of this very small staff, 5 or 6

guys that I'm here today. And the doo doo doo doo doo that we heard was our security shooting at Hamas after they had thrown a grenade at our guys trying to kill our guys and blow through our gate. Wow.

it's mobbed because we're with our community. We're with other communities. It's not fun, you know, after two and a half weeks, my husband said, take the girls and just go back to the Chicago suburbs, because this is going to be a while. And we came back to the Chicago area. I put my girls in school. We've been here since then, and my husband and I have decided we're not going to live in this house again. And it breaks my heart because we built it from scratch. I picked out

every door handle. I laid out tiles myself. I mean, we built this house from scratch. We have avocado trees, mango trees, macadamia, I mean gorgeous, gorgeous yard. And when we go back, we're going to move further north. But you need to remember that Israel is the size of Lake Michigan. Nowhere in Israel is totally safe. Iran sent 300 missiles a few months ago, and the only reason Israel is still on the map is the Iron Dome system.

So now, instead of 5 to 8 seconds to get to a safe room, I think we're going to have a minute. But it's not out of the question. Everyone's surrounding us, wants to kill us all the time.

to share a translation of what they're saying. I want you to listen to this closely with me.

old kids. This is their goal. The textbooks in Gaza do not show that Israel exists. It's Palestine. I mean, this is indoctrinated in them. I'm not saying every single person in Gaza wants to be a terrorist, but this is this is training. This is where it begins, right at home and at school. So this is a huge, huge problem. What are you going to do with a population that for 20 years has been under the control

of terrorists who teach it to their children? It blows my mind why this doesn't get shown in the world. It's child abuse. It's child abuse. It blows my mind and I'm trying so hard to figure out the why. And I'm telling you that the only thing I can think of is it doesn't fit, really, the anti-Semitic anti-Israel narrative. It doesn't fit the narrative.

We're trusting the news. We're trusting the media. If you don't have a connection to Israel, to the Jewish people, to the Christian people, the Muslim people, if you don't have a connection to to the history and to the land and to the the truth, and you just sit down and turn on the news, that's what you're going to see in Israel is not perfect. I'm not saying Israel is perfect. I'm not saying the government is perfect. I'm not saying, you know, the Jews are better than anyone,

but there's facts and there's history. And I really just encourage people to please seek it out. Don't get on to TikTok and get all sucked into, you know social media is good and bad. And in this scenario, the bad is that it feeds you what you want to see. So if you're going to get on that anti-Israel bandwagon, woohoo, Palestine, that's what you're going to keep seeing. I just encourage people to please seek out the truth, seek out, you know, watch the news from Israel. You can go online. You

can watch I24 news. I watch the daily briefings that are coming out of the government office in Israel. On YouTube. You can find the daily briefings. I get a lot of my news that way. So that's what you could do and what you're doing. Just spread the word. Interview people, ask people, you know, in the beginning when I started speaking, I was mostly speaking just to to Jewish communities. And I thought, well, they obviously already support, I have to

get out to other communities. But then I thought, that's not even the right way to think, because everyone knows 100 other people, who know 100 other people who know 100 other people, and somebody in there is going to deny this or going to be on the wrong side or not be educated. So that's my long answer. But there's something I know. It's a helpless feeling, but that's what everybody could be doing.

regathering of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland. And and of course, Jesus soon returned. It is crucial, though, for us as believers to have a proper understanding of Bible prophecy. So our view of the future is shaped by Scripture and not just today's headlines or our own whims. Right, Charlie?

scriptures say about these issues. If you're interested in learning more about what God has in store, visit Life in Messiah. Org and click on the Moody Radio button there to find out how you can receive your copy of God, Israel and Bible Prophecy. That's life in messiah.org.

that they experienced his forgiveness. Now it's more difficult to say with Ishmael, though. I like to believe he was a man of faith, and I base that on some rather vague references. In Genesis 17, for example, Abraham expressed a wish that Ishmael might live under God's blessing, and God told Abraham he had heard him and that he would bless Ishmael. Now, what follows is primarily physical in nature, but I would hope that there was a spiritual component

to that blessing. And I also note, when Abraham died, both Isaac and Ishmael joined together to bury him at the cave of Machpelah. That same chapter then describes the nations that descended from Ishmael. So the Bible presents Ishmael in a positive light, faithful to his father, in good

relationship to his brother, and being blessed by God. And while the blessings again are primarily physical in nature, it's possible they flowed from a heart of faith and were matched by God's spiritual blessing as well.

his brothers of what was coming. Now we know in revelation six, uh, the fifth seal is opened. It says, martyrs in heaven. Ask God when he's going to intervene and judge and avenge their wrongful deaths. But we're not told that they have an opportunity to see what actually happens. So here's the real question. Once we're actually in heaven and we're seeing it's indescribable beauty, and we're in the presence of God and the Lord Jesus, and our eyes are open to see the millions of angels and all

of those wondrous things. Will we even want to look back to see what's happening here on Earth? I tend to think of that old gospel song, and I think it got it right. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

appears in the Garden of Eden, he'd already sinned. So sin actually originated in heaven. And the passage says, God drove him out of the Mount of God, which must refer to that highest part of heaven where God's dwelling place is. But Satan still had access to at least part of heaven. You know, in job chapters one and two, he appeared before God in heaven to accuse job. Uh, in revelation 12 we're told about a future war in heaven when Satan and his angelic followers are finally banished

from all of heaven and cast to earth. So all of that, to answer the question, why a new heaven and new earth? Well, God's indicating that he intended his creation to be perfect, and ultimately he's going to accomplish that in his new heaven and earth. This includes his plan for the created realm, for heaven and earth itself, for the angelic realm, and for humanity. I love the phrases that are in revelation. There'll be no more night. You know, darkness began in Genesis. There'll be no more sea,

and waters covered the earth. In Genesis, he says, there'll be no more sin. There'll be no more death. There'll be no more tears. So everything that, uh, that God intended in the original creation of heaven and earth will be accomplished in that new heaven and new earth. And that's why God says it's coming.

promises are given specifically to Israel. The land was promised to them, and it contains specific boundaries. Now, even within Israel, certain areas were assigned to certain tribes, so someone from the tribe of Asher couldn't claim the land that was promised to the tribe of Ephraim, for example. Now, however, promises and principles in the Old Testament, though given to Israel, can many times be applied to the church, since they're grounded in the unchanging character of God. Best example I

know First Corinthians chapter ten. Paul describes God's judgment on Israel during the wilderness wanderings, and then he says, these things happen to them as examples. They were written down as warning for us. The root cause for the temptations were similar, since human nature is the same. So Paul can use the lessons from Israel in the wilderness to apply to the largely Gentile church in Corinth. Now, the key in all of this is making sure we make

a distinction between interpretation and application. We can apply principles from much of the Old Testament for today, but we need to guard against assuming that every promise in the Old Testament is a direct promise to us that we can automatically claim for ourselves.

gave a promise and blessing to Ishmael. God told Hagar that he would so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count in Genesis 16. In Genesis 21, he says, God was with the boy Ishmael, and he grew up. Ishmael had 12 sons and dwelled in the area from Havilah to shore, near the border with Egypt, as you go toward Asher. So that's the area of the Arabian Peninsula from Egypt up to northern Iraq. Now,

I think an illustration can help here. Individuals can make a will and they can leave their possessions to whomever they want. And while we might hope they'll share equally with all children, well, it's within their right to divide the inheritance however they want. They can do it because it belongs to them, not to the children. Uh, the bottom line is Ishmael was blessed, but his blessing didn't

include the land God promised to Abraham. God directed that part of Abraham's inheritance to pass to Isaac and his descendants.

slope up in a natural theatre shape. And if Jesus was on one of those, because he was by the Sea of Galilee, well, he spoke near the bottom. Those at the top could hear quite a ways. Uh, the Roman theater, and this is people need to go to Israel to see this. But the Roman theater at Beit She'an has a capacity of 7000. It's the largest in Israel. And somebody standing on the stage, they can be heard by everyone in that theater. And that's not the largest

in Ephesus. There's a theater that holds 25,000. Wow. And it had no amplification. But the human voice is able to project to a large listening audience.

even before his wife could be found and notified. Today, the Jewish custom is to bury an individual as soon as possible, unless it's a Sabbath or Jewish holiday. And that closely matches the examples that we do see in the Bible.

the heat. Good for you. But, Charlie, you say there's one kind of heat that maybe we should avoid.

going to change my reading of the Bible forever. I will read it with a much different perspective, have different images, have a different understanding as to what's being said. So it's been an absolutely enlightening experience.

with sunshine and heat. Lots of heat. Phoenix experiences, on average 111 days per year above 100 degrees, and twice while hiking around the Dead Sea in the early summer, we had to help two of our tour participants who developed heat exhaustion that could easily have progressed to heat stroke had we not poured water on them to help them cool off, while also getting them to drink liquids

to rehydrate them? Intense, prolonged exposure to heat and sun can be dangerous, but the Bible pictures an even more dangerous form of heat that we need to avoid and know. In this instance. I'm not talking about eternal judgment in the lake of fire, though that is certainly the ultimate kind of heat to avoid. I should add here that anyone listening needs to know Jesus is God's Son who came to earth to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins so we can avoid that

eternal judgment in the lake of fire. So if you've not made that decision right now, jot down 1888. Need him and call that number as soon as I'm done. It could be the most important phone call you'll ever make. But now back to our story. Apart from avoiding the heat of eternal judgment, the Bible pictures another kind of heat we should avoid. And to introduce you to this type of heat, I want you to hop on our tour bus. As we head from our hotel to the

top of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. It's a short drive, and I need to prepare you to face the multitude of peddlers who will descend on our group as we pile out of the bus. There can be the occasional pickpocket. So, men, put your wallet in the front pocket of your trousers and ladies, put the strap of your purse over your shoulder and hold on to it tightly. Now, most of these merchants are regulars who are simply trying to make a living and feed their families.

So if you're not interested in what they're selling, just say no. But do so kindly. They'll understand. Well, at least most of them will. But there was a peddler up here who definitely took offence at everyone who refused to buy from him. He made the most obnoxious person you know seem quiet and polite. I don't know his

Arabic name, but everyone called him Mike. He would stand just outside the bus, pushing his wares into the faces of the tourists as they stepped out, and once the first person said in a very kind manner, by the way, no thank you. Mike would launch into a profanity filled tirade against everyone on the bus. Mike knew every American expletive and as they say, could curse like a sailor. Angry, rude, offensive,

almost threatening. Mike was like an unexploded landmine, just waiting for someone to step on the firing mechanism to set him off. One time as our bus pulled up and I saw Mike, I decided to do something different. I jumped off the bus before anyone else bounded up to him, addressed him by name, and asked him how he was doing. My display of kindness threw him for a loop, but before he could respond, I took him aside and said, Mike, I got to tell you, your anger and swearing don't

help you make any sales. Not everyone's going to buy from you. But if you remain calm and kind, some will. Please don't shout and swear at our people. And after that, Mike did clean up his act, at least as far as our bus was concerned. But it was a very limited victory. A year or so later, on our way up to the Mount of Olives, my regular driver turned to me and said, you remember Mike up here on the Mount of Olives? Yeah, I do. Why? He was killed.

He got angry and threatened to Palestinian who had a knife and stabbed him. Mike could never get his overheated temper under control and it cost him his life. Now, why go into that long story about Mike and the danger of anger and an overheated temper? It's because Solomon described anger as the kind of heat we need to avoid all the time, in both summer and winter. Let me share two sets of proverbs that focus on this one crucial truth. The first is Proverbs 1919. A hot

tempered man must pay the penalty. If you rescue him, you'll have to do it again. Sadly, Mike was a good illustration of this. I tried to rescue him to help him gain sales by reminding him not to be so angry to the point of rudeness, and it worked for our groups, though I had to remind him each time. But as soon as our bus left and another arrived, Mike went back to his hot tempered nature until he spouted off to the wrong person. The second proverb is

found in Proverbs 22. Verses 24 and 25. Do not make friends with a hot tempered man. Do not associate with one easily angered or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared. I was deliberately friendly toward Mike, but Mike was not a friend. He tolerated me because I helped him gain a few sales from those on our bus, and I treated him in a friendly way. For his sake and for the sake of our tourists.

I chose not to learn Mike's ways, though I kept hoping he would begin to see and understand how a little kindness could go a long way toward helping increasing his sales. I do pity anyone who might have looked up to Mike to the point of trying to be like him. Thankfully, I never encountered anyone else on the Mount of Olives who seemed to follow in his path. If the heat of anger is something we want to avoid, what can we do to help make that a reality

in our lives? And thankfully, Solomon once again has the answer, this time in Proverbs 15 verse one, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The antidote to anger is gentleness, especially in the way we respond to someone in a stressful situation. And this brings to mind another situation with another vendor in Jerusalem,

this time one from the Old City. I was leading a group of students who had gone shopping and managed to offend a shopkeeper by reaching an agreement on a price, only to leave his shop and go to another to buy the same item. The shopkeeper came to the school where we were staying to let us all know he wasn't happy. His reputation was called into question. He lost a sale and he was deeply offended by this perceived slight. As I met with the shopkeeper in the garden, the

students were watching out the dining hall window. They heard the shopkeeper shout, I'm so angry I could kill them. What they did wasn't right. They stole the food right out of the mouths of my children. Remembering Proverbs 15 one, I said to him, you're right. That wasn't a nice thing to do. I'm sorry our students offended you and I apologize for their actions. The shopkeeper calmed down and we parted and remained good friends until the day he

died of natural causes. In my office I still have an olive wood statue he later gave me as a token of friendship. So what lessons can we take away from these three sets of related proverbs? I think the key lesson is to work hard to control our emotions and our tongue. It's so easy to become angry when we feel as if we've been wronged or disrespected or cheated or offended in a myriad of ways, and in the heat of anger, the tongue is often the weapon of choice to lash back at those who've hurt us.

Allowing emotions to run unchecked is a recipe for disaster. Avoid those who are prone to such outbursts of anger, and work to control how you respond. When you feel wronged or offended, remember, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. It's no accident

that Solomon's wise words are repeated throughout the Bible. Among the acts of the sinful nature in Galatians 519 to 20 are hatred, discord, and fits of rage, and among the fruit of the spirit in verses 22 to 23 are love, joy, peace, and patience, along with kindness, gentleness, and self-control. Remember the best way to respond wisely is to respond through the fruit of the spirit as we allow God to produce them in our lives.

book org, that's the land and the book org. And with that, we're going to say thank you for listening to us today. I'm John Gager for our host Charlie Dyer and producer Dan Anderson. The land and the book is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.