For Israel's Sake: The USA Elections

On November 6, 2012 Americans will elect the man who will be President of the United States for the next 4 years. A majority of the readers of "Sound of the Shofar" are not American citizens and may believe that this election is irrelevant to them. I would submit to you that this is a greatly mistaken understanding and will try to explain as I go along.

Even if you were right in its irrelevancy to you and your nation, all of you who read this prayer letter have a love for Israel and her people. Because of that I will begin this appeal on the grounds that this election is very relevant to the safety and well-being of Israel. While foundationally our trust for Israel's safety and well-being is in the loving, grace, mercy and power of God, in human terms it is much better to have the USA on Israel's side than opposing and pressuring her to do what is neither in God's will for Israel nor in Israel's best interests practically.

I am appealing to you all to pray fervently for Mitt Romney to be elected the next President of the USA. I believe that on many positions he will be a vastly better President than Barak Obama and certainly in his relationship with Israel and with P.M. Netanyahu personally. I am aware that many American evangelicals have a difficulty with voting for a Mormon and while they will not vote for Obama they may very well not vote for President at all. I believe with all my heart that this would be a grievous mistake and all will suffer, especially Israel.

Is this a choice between voting for a Mormon or a Christian? I don't think so, not on any level. I want to be clear, Mormonism is a cult and a Mormon is not a Christian. The question that only God can answer is, Is Barak Obama a Christian? Obama was raised as a Muslim. His early schooling in Indonesia was in a madras, an Islamic religious school, where he was registered as a Muslim. In a recent book on Obama, the author interviews Jeremiah Wright, the anti-American and anti-Semitic pastor who supposedly led Obama to the Lord. The author asked Wright if he had converted Obama from Islam to Christianity, Wright just shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer. Wright did say that the Obama's did not raise their children in the church.

Only God know what is in Obama's heart but we must judge and discern his actions and words. The foundation of Obama's foreign policy has been reconciliation with the Muslim world. He has visited many major Muslim countries, bowed his head to the King of Saudi Arabia and did all he could to see the Muslim Brotherhood take over Egypt. On one of Prime Minister Netanyahu's visits to the President, he was snuck into the White House through a side door as if he was a criminal. Netanyahu was left to sit alone while Obama ate dinner with his family upstairs and when he finally met with Netanyahu he was rude, arrogant and clearly not a friend but an aggressive adversary. The fact that Obama is trying to play nice, nice now is purely to win over more of the Jewish vote in the US elections.

Contrast this with the warm relationship Mitt Romney displayed on his recent visit to Israel. That seems to be based on a genuine affection for Israel and the Jewish People and a personal friendship with Benjamin Netanyahu that is 30 years old.

Again I want to repeat that Mormon's are not Christians but they have had a positive relationship with Jews and Israel for a long time.

From the website of the LDS (Mormon) Church, an entry from 1991 commemorating the 150th anniversary of Orson Hyde's visit to Jerusalem in 1841:

One hundred fifty years ago, on October 24, a Sunday, Elder Orson Hyde of the Quorum of the Twelve climbed the Mount of Olives. There, with pen and paper, he recorded a prayer of dedication previously given him by revelation. In the prayer, he asked the Lord to inspire kings and the powers of the earth  to help restore the kingdom unto Israel.  He also prayed that the Lord would remember his promises to all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I would appeal to my American brothers and sisters to realize that they are electing the leader of the Republic and not the nation's pastor.

To all of you I would say that another four years of an Obama Presidency will change the world in a major way for the worse. The question is not. Will America and her position in the world decline? the question is, Is this the time? I believe there is still time for God's grace to be poured out on many and that the time of the fullness of His wrath can be held back for a season. Some of you will wonder why I am linking God's grace and His wrath to an American Presidency. It is simply because an America in great decline, which has lost the will and the ability to stand against Islamic ascendency and the violence and chaos of different nations/peoples wrestling for power will allow those powers of darkness a prominent place on the world stage. Many people have been offended at America's role as the world's policeman, but a world without someone keeping order is a world in chaos and growing violence and anarchy.

Israel is at the heart of this power struggle. Right before the recent Egyptian Presidential elections at a rally for (now) Egyptian President Morsi (of the Muslim Brotherhood), the speaker was proclaiming that the Muslim Brotherhood would recreate the Islamic Caliphate and that Its capital will not be in Mecca. Its capital will not be in Cairo. Its capital will be in Jerusalem! He then called for a million martyrs (shahids) to prepare themselves to march on Jerusalem.

Iran, the Bomb and Israel

Iran's centrifuges continue to spin and their supply of enriched uranium continues to grow. The world continues to talk and Obama's main effort in this matter seems to be to pressure Israel NOT to attack Iran. The other day there was a report that Obama had sent a message to Iran: If Israel attacks you and you do not attack American interests we will not get involved. Romney has accused Obama of throwing Israel under the bus, but if this report is true, Obama is ready to be the bus driver. If this is true Obama is colluding with Israel's sworn enemy.

With all the talk of sanctions working against Iran, Obama has authorized over 10,000 exemptions to the sanctions program and it clearly is not working. Germany continues to sell dual use technology to Iran and Switzerland is the leading country helping Iranian banks get around the sanctions.

Israelis continue to argue pro and con in public about whether or not it is right for Israel to attack the Iranian nuclear sites. Last month there was a distribution of gas masks in Jerusalem and the wait in line ranged from 3 - 8 hours. Certainly all who wanted to get new masks were not able to do so.

It seems to me that Israel is trying to wait until after the American elections to attack Iran - that is if the decision to attack has been made. Israel does not want to force Obama's hand in a way that would bring him an electoral victory. Can Israel wait until after the elections? I don't know. Can Israel wait (if Romney wins) until a new President takes office? I don't know. What I do know is that however bad the response of Iran and its surrogates (Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas) to an attack would be, this cannot be compared to the effects of a nuclear attack on Israel. If Iran gets the bomb the world will not be the same.

Where does the Body in Israel stand?

I cannot presume to speak for the whole Messianic Body in Israel. However IFI (Intercessors for Israel) has just held its third Northern Israel regional prayer meeting this year. We have met in Karmiel in the middle of the Upper Galilee, Haifa on the West coast and in Kiryat  Shmona in the Upper Galilee panhandle. We have had representation of Israelis who speak Hebrew, Russian, Arabic and English. (Yes we have had participation of Israeli Arabs and also former Lebanese Army refugees who escaped to Israel in 2000.) All of these people spent the Second Lebanese War of 2006 under the bombardment of Hezbollah's rockets. (4000 rockets in a month.) Kiryat Shmona which lies right under a ridge that marks the Israel - Lebanon border has suffered from terror attacks from Lebanon for more than 30 years. I can say that at these meetings and the ones IFI leads in Jerusalem, the consensus is that the Iranian nuclear project must be destroyed. It would be wonderful if the Lord would do it sovereignly, but if not, Israel must do it militarily.

It would be great if the USA took on the responsibility. It would be fine if Israel and the USA co-operated together. But I and most Israelis believe that unless the geo-political situation (or American politics) forces American involvement, Israel will have to go it alone. That is the bottom line.

American Presidents promised the world that North Korea would not get the bomb -  they have it. American Presidents promised that Pakistan would not get the bomb -they have it. Obama, in my opinion is much less trustworthy that these other American Presidents and who knows, maybe he wants to see Iran with the bomb.

Israel will not be destroyed. We are not going into exile again. I believe we are living in the immeasurable goodness of God spoken of in Jer. 29:11-14  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

That does not guarantee that Israel would not be attacked by a nuclear device. We will survive - that is guaranteed. However, the world will change in an immeasurable way. We will have entered into the last days of the last days.

Certainly those days will come, But it is not written that it will come by an Iranian/Islamic nuclear bomb and it is not written that the time is now.

Pray for:

• A victory for Mitt Romney in the US elections. That he would be a President who would be a true friend of Israel. Gen. 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

• American Christian Zionists to realize the importance of this election for Israel's safety and come out and vote for Romney.

• The Lord to intervene against the Iranian bomb. Is. 42:13 The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.

• The Israeli Government (especially P.M. Netanyahu, D.M. Barak and the rest of the security cabinet), to be sons of Issachar and to have the COURAGE to do what needs to be done. 1Ch. 12:32 of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command.

• Intercessors for Israel will host its 28^th annual International Prayer Conference in Jerusalem 21-28 January, 2013. The theme of the conference is A World Turned Upside Down. Isaiah 5:20-21 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!

For more information and to sign up for IFI's weekly prayer points please go to www.ifi.org.il

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

Eliyahu Ben-Haim

Jerusalem, 4 September 2012