War, God, and Hope in Israel :: World's Largest Prayer Board Annointed.net News :: Your Prayer Request will be seen by thousands on this Prayer Board

Posted by: Shawn on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 01:56 PM

Please Click here to join us in posting a prayer for the protection of Israel. Remember PSA 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

JERUSALEM — Israel faces a greater threat from a war in Iraq than any other U.S. ally. At the UN this week, Colin Powell suggested that Baghdad has moved chemical material to western Iraq, in reach of Israeli cities. Israel must be prepared for an attack on many fronts: from Saddam's chemical warheads, Hezbollah rockets, even a dirty bomb smuggled in to West Bank terrorists. In the midst of it all Israelis are preparing as best they can. For a country already fighting suicide bombers and snipers, it is difficult to prepare for something that might be worse. But many Israelis and non-Israelis are doing exactly that. And many Christians here are also realizing, as they make physical preparations, that their ultimate hope is in the mighty power of God.

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As the months go by, Israel's chemical weapons suits are getting more sophisticated, and the drill scenarios more chillingly real.

In and around Tel Aviv, where nearly 40 Scud missiles fell in the last Gulf War, medical teams and fire brigades practice their response to potential chaos from non-conventional weapons.

And in the southern Israeli desert, Americans and Israelis test the anti-missile systems designed to block Saddam's rockets and save lives in the Holy Land.

Of course, Christians in Israel are not exempt from the dangerous days ahead.

For months, staff members at Jerusalem's Anglican International School have been storing supplies and stocking the shelter. The school’s director Phil Billing showed CBN News what his school is doing to get ready.

"Okay, this is another room of the bomb shelter. Not a very pretty sight, but it's functional," he explained. It is a sealed room with plastic that protects against chemical or biological attack. It is equipped with portable toilets, food, water, and of course, candy bars as comfort food in case of emergency.

Billing said, "And we're in the process of introducing the children to that place so it's familiar to them and doesn't feel peculiar. Shortly, we'll be beginning the drills where we will try to get 170 [students] from wherever they are on this campus into the shelter in less than four minutes."

To help prepare the school community, Billing invited an Israeli couple, Kent and Yael Barshov, to address parents and staff. He is a doctor and she is a paramedic. They share their expertise as a community service.

Explaining what he and his wife hope to accomplish, Kent said, "We find that a little education goes a long way in helping calm people, that they could somewhat understand what they're up against."

Haley Armoogan, youth minister at Jerusalem's King of Kings Assembly, is another person who is trying to prepare Israelis for the worst. She goes to homes in the area to help families, and especially children, reduce their fears of an attack. Along with Sturgeon and Murphy, her two stuffed animals, she brings a specially prepared emergency fun pack for kids to use in their shelter.

Armoogan said, "And so the idea is, an emergency fun pack goes beside the child's gas mask and whatever personal effects they have in their sealed room. And when the sirens go, and the family and the children enter the sealed room, there is something of comfort and encouragement already waiting for the child."

But the preparation for war is not just physical and emotional, it is also spiritual. Swedish prayer leader Lars Enarson says it is critical for believers in the Middle East and around the world to be standing in the gap for Israel.

"We're praying very much for protection over this land, because whatever is going to happen with Iraq is going to also affect this very tiny nation in this sea of hostility," Enarson said. "It means the difference between victory and defeat, because if we will humble ourselves before God, and ask for His protection, and ask for His help, He is willing to give it."

Billing says war is not just a time for Christians to hide away along with everyone else, it is a time for Christians to offer to others the hope that sustains them. "As the crisis goes up and down, there are opportunities that occur for people of the Christian faith to share that faith with those around them."

Armoogan agrees. "A gas mask is a physical thing that may protect us or it may not. A sealed room is again a physical thing that is provided for us. But when all is said and done, the Lord our God is far mightier and greater than all these things. And that's where I believe the children should have their hope, and I believe that's where we all should have our hope: in the mighty and conquering God."