Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 in an evil act. The media is generally reporting the  response by Israel falsely, ignoring the fact that Hamas violated women and mutilated babies and children in their cots, some beheaded in a sheer act of butchery.

The terrorists cheered and celebrated and in many instances, published videos recordings of their atrocities on social media.

The evidence is public, but Israel is expected to grin and bear it and not retaliate.

I ask you men how you would feel and act if your own family was murdered in front of you.

The recent hospital blast killed hundreds of people. The media and the Palestines blame Israel for bombing it, but independent witness and research indicates it was caused by their own hand. It is well known that the terrorists fire rockets from launching bases in close proximity to that hospital. Some reports indicate that rockets are fired from a cemetary near this hospital.
Launching rockets in the past have had failures, sometimes exploding prematurely or landing on their own territory. A rocket attack was launched at the time that the hospital was hit. Misfires have occured in the past. Was that the real cause or not?

Bomb blasts create craters with shrapnel spreading outward. Photograps of the hospital blast show only a small crater without the shrapnel spread. Fire caused real damage. Love video images show a rocket being launched towards Israel and exploding mid-air. Within seconds the blast occurred at the hospital. It is likely to have been caused by exploding rocket fuel, not by Israeli weapons.

Nevertheless, Israel is again being portrayed as the evil perpetrtator. 

We forget that Jesus was a Jew. We forget that the fundamental beliefs of Judaism are much the same as ours. Passover and Calvary are examples.

As it is with “Christianity”, there are different “versions” of Judaism and we all know that, but when we cut beyond the many man-made manners and customs, we are the same, we worship the same God and read the same word of God.

When a Jew discovers that the promised Messiah is Jesus, there seems to be a “depth” to the relationship many Christians do not understand, until the Lord reveals truth as He is doing in amazing ways today.

Therefore, this present conflict in Israel needs to be evaluated biblically and historically. Biblical prophecy may be in the process of being fulfilled in front of us.

To deny Israel is disregarding what God said and did. He told Abram to go to a land that He would eventually reveal to him and cut a covenant, one of several, with him and most of them are still valid today.

God changed his name to Abraham and his descendants went into Egypt for 430 years before the Exodus. Deliverance from Egypt is likened to deliverance from sin and bondage. God never gave the Palestinians any land—His promise was to the Jews.

This brings us to our present dilemma. God’s people were set free, but still had to travel to their Promised Land. We have been set free and are on our own journey to our Promised Land. On the way, they encountered difficulties and opposition, as are we and there are spiritual connotations to all of this. God won the victory, but they had to go in and possess the land. Jesus won the victory, but we have to go in and possess the land and for us as well as Israel, an enemy had to be faced and overcome.

As they traveled through the wilderness following their liberation from Egyptian slavery, the Israelites faced an unexpected attack by the Amalekites near Rephidim. Do not be taken in by the bias towards the Palestinians. God never promised them that land—He gave it to Israel and under international pressure, Israel allowed them to remain in Gaza. Israel has provided everything they need, but they are bound by this “spiritual force”, or a principle that dates back well before they ever lived in this land resulting in violence.

Amalek came and fought with Yisrael at Rephidim. Exodus 17:8

Notice how most of the terrorists remain masked! This is by no means anything new! Watch a very early movie on Youtube that predates Hamas to reveal their intentions. Watch this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4svJYYBpeoc

Israel has been defending itself, but the time comes, when evil must be confronted and dealt with. I had a sore on my right forearm that would not heal. I believe in Divine healing and have seen numerous healing miracles, including the dead raised and prayed for myself; anointed myself; laid hands on myself, made all the faith confessions I knew and my wife prayed for me, but it remained.

I made an appointment with a doctor and as soon as I hung up on the telephone, the Lord said, “I’m glad you did that”.

It was a basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer) that had to be cut out. Not long after that, I had to have a melanoma removed from my cheek. The doctor said that if that was not removed, the roots would go into my bloodstream and kill me!  To cut a long story short, the Lord wanted me to meet that doctor and minister to him, but that was how it had to happen. The lessons learned is that we get “religious” or “hung up” on things, form opinions and miss out on what God really wants.

Sometimes, evil has to be cut out.

Rocket attacks from Gaza have targeted innocent Israeli civilians (and visitors) for years. The latest atrocities have been the last straw and Israel has declared enough is enough. The strategy isn’t just retribution—it’s prevention. Like cutting that cancer out.

The aim is clear: to dismantle the terror infrastructure that has plagued both Israel and the oppressed citizens of Gaza for far too long.

While the defense forces are taking decisive action, they remain committed to minimizing harm to non-combatants. The sad reality of Hamas using its own people as human shields only compounds the complexity of military operations. Yet, despite this, Israel persists in its efforts to protect innocent lives on both sides of the border. They have given prior warning to residents in Gaza to evacuate, whereas Hamas does not. I will not comment on the logistics of this, but the public knows of it. I am not casting blame on everyone, but the Gazans know what has been happening. They know those tunnels exist and many of them emerge in public places, perhaps under that hospital.

How does one reach people who hide in those well appointed tunnels? By the way, Israel gave cement and other building materials to Gaza for peaceful use, not to use much of it for evil intent. Do not think that the Palestinians are innocent. They know what is happening.

They are trained from childhood to hate Jews. They want all Jews to be exterminated and Israel obliterated. A quick Internet search can reveal this and regardless of where they live, that hatred exists. Iran makes no secret of that hatred.

The problem is that evil is contagious!

It happened immediately after God’s people starred to murmur, asking for water. God is fully aware of our needs and all we really need to do is ask Him for provision. We may be reaching the time when natural resources are either unavailable or too expensive for many people and this can be either be because of mans intervention or by natural causes.

Whatever the reason, our God is more than able to care for us, so rather than complain, let us see what He can do and thank Him for that. God told Moses to use his rod and strike the rock and when he obeyed THAT instruction, they had their water. I emphasized THAT  because the next time, God told him to SPEAK. We easily fall into the trap of wanting to repeat what God did once before, but He may not be doing again. I keep coming back to this principle. The brass serpent is a great example I often use and I urge you to look at it again in Numbers 21:8 and 2 Kings 18:4. They needed that brass serpent once only, but took it with them and started to worship the thing.

The lesson yet to be learned by many people is that when the cloud moved, they had to move, not camp and most of the church is camping.

The Amalekites immediately attacked and I wonder why. Was Israel weak, due to a temporary lack of provisions, or did they see an element of discord—a lack of harmony and unity amongst the brethren? If we put this into today’s setting, what image does The Church give the world and spiritual beings? The answer is much the same. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1).

Some are cheering us on whilst others look for weaknesses, or chinks in our armour. Paul spoke of this armour in Ephesians 6 (see the page the armour of God) and it is not what many people talk of as if we are being “attacked” and must run for cover.

This armour is all covering and totally complete and is an offensive arsenal, not a defensive cover.

There is no covering for the back that means we do not retreat but advance and is designed so that we never take it or portions of it off.

It is designed to enable us to withstand at all times not against men, but the spiritual forces motivating men. They are very well organized with precise organization and structure and clearly defined leadership positions who all function with the same one objectives—to bring us down. Hamas functions like that. The church that we know does not.

This armour is designed to enable us to stand and stand and stand and keep standing ad-infinitum when the devil schemes, plans and plots, hence Paul’s reference to the wiles of the devil. Those wiles are his modus-operandi. Whatever motivated them, they attacked without warning but perhaps motivated by the devil and his cronies. The implications to us are becoming evident.

God’s people were destined to be a nation of priests and kings. They were to worship God and make sacrifice to God and God alone and the enemy cannot have that. God’s people were to display the might, majesty and power of God, as are we, but the enemy immediately stepped in as an attempt to negate it—and nothing has changed.

From the natural viewpoint, here was a weak and weary people who had to yet learn and experience their true identity and this was an ideal time to try to prevent it—and nothing has changed. The church was born supernaturally and the same things are being tried against us today.

God could not, would not and shall not allow such things to happen. This is what God told Moses:

Adonai said to Moshe, “Write this in a book to be remembered, and tell it to Y’hoshua: I will completely blot out any memory of ‘Amalek from under heaven. Exodus 17:14

God did not want one single Amalekite to remain and all memories of them gone!

While the rest of the world was still in awe and fear of God following the Exodus, Amalek attacked, to ruin the pristine image that everyone had of God at that time. Their brazen attack was not only an attack against the Jewish people, but against God Himself and God holds this against them for eternity.

Furthermore, the way they went about the attack was immoral. The Israelites themselves were tired and weary as seen in Deuteronomy 25:18 and they attacked the old and weak at the back of the camp. Sneak attacks; hiding behind innocent people and making false representations are common ploys used today.

As a result of their actions, God declared that He would have war with Amalek from generation to generation in Exodus 17:16. We also see this seen in many other instances throughout the Bible, as in Deuteronomy 7:1-2, when God commanded the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites. This is not being bloodthirsty, but a way of ensuring evil did not take over, or of cutting out the cancers I spoke of before.

Interestingly, the Amalekites are descendants of Abraham. They came from the grandson of Esau, but Esau was not the promised one.

God told Abraham and Sarah that they would have an heir—not Abraham and another woman! God does not recognize marriages and relationships and children He never ordained, but many people meet the wrong people, for the wrong motives, have children and are usually unequally yoked. They may never see and experience God’s best for their lives. I’ve seen this often and the people who have a legitimate call of God on their lives, who refuse to get on side with Him always seem to experience problems. It is as if everything they touch turns to dust.

Amalek was the son of Eliphaz, the son of Esau and Eliphaz’s concubine Timna as seen in Genesis 36:12. Apparently she had been rejected by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, possibly for the reasons I mentioned and she replied that she would rather be a handmaiden to the dregs of this nation than be the mistress of another nation. She was the mother of Amalek who would cause Israel much distress.

The first king, Saul, was commanded by the prophet Samuel to finally wipe out Amalek for good. Saul was victorious against the Amalekites—but spared the choicest of their flocks and the Amalekite king, Agag. His excuse was that he wanted them to sacrifice to God, but obedience is better than sacrifice.

Does Adonai take as much pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying what Adonai says?
Surely obeying is better than sacrifice, and heeding orders than the fat of rams.
“For rebellion is like the sin of sorcery, stubbornness like the crime of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of Adonai, he too has rejected you as king. 1 Samuel 15:22–23

When Samuel found out about Saul’s disobedience, Saul lost his right to kingship. Samuel then killed Agag himself, but before that Agag became the father of a child who would keep Amalek’s lineage alive. One of this child’s descendants was Haman the Agagite who, some 500 years later, sought to wipe out the Jews of the Persian Empire under King Ahasuerus.

It seems that some people believed that the Amalekites were sorcerers who could transform themselves to resemble animals to avoid capture. Perhaps this is why in I Samuel 15:3, it was considered necessary to destroy the livestock in order to destroy Amalek.

Once more, we see how important it is to do precisely what God says. If He tells us not to touch, we do not touch and that should be the end of the story, but many people respond with a single word, “Why?” and not see any harm in it. Conversely, if God tells us to do a certain thing and we refuse, we risk the fallout. It might not seem immediately evident, but the seeds have been planted and we do inevitably reap what we sow!

The Amalekites lived to the south of the Land of Israel, in what is now known as the Negev Desert. In Deuteronomy 25:17–19, the Israelites are specifically commanded to “blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven” once they have taken possession of the promised land, in retribution for “what Amalek did to [them] on the way as [they] were coming out of Egypt.” At the same time, the nation was commanded never to forget the evil deeds that Amalek did. In Judaism, the Amalekites came to represent the archetypal enemy of the Jews and in Jewish folklore, the Amalekites are considered to be the symbol of evil.

Deuteronomy 25:18 states that the Amalekites surprised, or happened upon the Israelites on their way. They took Israel by surprize and on October 7 Hamas took Israel by surprize. The word for happened ( קָרְךָ korcha) also denotes cold (קר kar). This may mean that the Amalekites “cooled you off and made you [appear] tepid, after you were boiling hot, for the nations were afraid to fight with you.”

Compare this with today’s church.

The  Gematria of Amalek (עמלק) is 240 and this has the same as the value of the Hebrew word for doubt (ספק).

Amalek’s chief weapon is to instil doubt and fear among the faithful, so we can see how this, although it seems to be a “Jewish problem” only, has tremendous significance to us today.

It is unlikely that any direct descendants of the ancient Amalekites still exist. The tribe was conquered and absorbed into other cultures over time and there is no evidence of a distinct Amalekite people or language surviving to the present day, but if we consider the spiritual implications, this seems to now make sense. The Amalekites live on in the form of antisemitism by virtue of “the Amalekite spirit”.

The commandment to wipe out the Amalekites is therefore interpreted as a call to combat antisemitism in all its forms.

Jews have faced persecution and discrimination from various groups, often under the banner of religious or political ideologies.

In each case, Jewish leaders have invoked the memory of the Amalekites to encourage their followers to resist and survive.

Our modern-day enemies, such as Hamas, certainly embody the traits attributed to Amalek, such as a lack of godliness, morality, and a propensity for evil.

The story of the Amalekites serves as a powerful reminder of the enduring struggle between good and evil, faith and defiance and the need to confront and overcome those who seek to harm the righteous and undermine the Divine.

The lessons from this ancient conflict continue to resonate in the modern world, highlighting the importance of upholding principles of goodness and defending against the forces that would sow evil and discord.

Perhaps this sheds some light on the conflict that is happening today. It is reaching the entire world and has implications that we cannot ignore. I encourage you to do your own research into such matters.

I want to leave you with a positive word. Jesus asked the disciples a leading and powerful question about their opinion of Him. I ask you the same question. The account reads:

 He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.
“And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.”Matthew 16:15-19