God is Speaking . . . Even in the Riot

This video was shot by an Israeli Tour Guide who was drawn to the site by the sound of the shofar being blown on the southern steps of the temple, called the Davidson Center. The captions are narrative comments by Zahi Shaked who said he was asked why he uploaded videos like this to his YouTube channel. He answered that he did because it is also a part of Israel. He also comments that he is not for “missionaries” in Israel but sees what is happening here as “extremist.”  The name he gave this video is:
Extremist Jewish Minority tries to prevent
the Pentecost ceremony of the Evangelicals in Jerusalem.

God Is Speaking . . .Even in the Riot
by Donna Diorio

May 30, 2023: The first time I went to Israel in 2003 I traveled with 2 other women. We were all older ladies but we rented a car and drove all over Israel. We wanted most to visit Israel ministries and sites where terror attacks had recently taken place – like the 2001 Sbarro Pizza attack site. We wanted to demonstrate our solidarity with Israel and that we were not afraid either.

[The day after I wrote this, I read a news report that a mother who has been in a coma 22 years since the Sabarro Pizza bombing has just died of her wounds. She is the 16^th fatality of this terror attack affecting mostly mothers and their children.]

We there in the midst of the 2nd Intifada, yet we traveled high and low across Israel by ourselves. We did avoid some places as we were warned by Israeli friends to avoid. But we felt perfectly safe.

    Then just days before we were to fly home, we were driving down the old Highway 1 between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv when traffic came to a complete stop. People were very agitated. The other side of the highway also had no thru traffic.
We began to see Israeli military trucks and personnel driving in on the shoulder of the road, then after them, we began to see cars backing up as fast as they could on the right shoulder of the highway. It would be a way to back up on because there were no on and off ramps. They had to back up all the way to the highway we left to merge onto the old highway. To the right of the highway was Palestinian area and to the left was Israeli. I remember smugly thinking at how terribly impatient Israelis were to back up all that way.

     After a long time waiting in a line of cars as far as the eye could see, I saw Israelis in their vehicles looking around anxiously checking out the people in the other cars, or so it seemed to me. Eventually the line of cars slowly started going forward. When we finally drove by the chokepoint that was causing the commotion, we say a car that had broken down or run out of gas and abandoned on left center wall. Military vehicles had surrounded the car creating a barrier and a robotic bomb zapper was on the scene. It had apparently been used to probe the vehicle to see if it was rigged with explosives. It wasn't… but only then did it really begin to sink in to me how much danger Israelis live with on a daily basis. Even a seemingly mundane thing like an abandoned car on the highway triggered an all out security situation where bomb squads rushed to assess what could have been a serious threat to many lives.

     I have thought about that incident many times since then. I know God did not want me to leave Israel feeling spiritually smug, and never having a sense of the threat that grips Israelis in their daily lives. He didn't want me to leave without a heart understanding of the fears. I had a head understanding of the threat but I needed my heart touched to really know what Israelis are dealing with just to exist. The threat can break into their lives at any time. It’s a sword dangling overhead.

     I believe that is also what happened on May 28th when the anti-Messiah riots broke out against the prayers when the Isaiah 62 prayer event merged into the Global Watch prayer for Israel. God did not want all of the Christians praying to go back to their lives without grasping the threats of our brothers and sisters in the Israeli body of Messiah. This violent religious opposition is also a threat that pops up against them spontaneously. It is the cost they all know well for doing what they are doing as Yeshua's witnesses in the Land of Israel.

     Christians come and go as tourists to Israel. We see Israel idyllically. But to pray for Israel's salvation we must see what the opposition to those Jewish believers who live in Israel bearing the witness. We need to know in order to pray for them as we ought. They are key to the harvest.