We have to be careful when we talk about issues like the one I'm about to bring up because sometimes it can play into the hands of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel forces.

Whenever we talk about how messianic believers in Israel are sometimes targeted for persecution, and sometimes even attacked violently and brutally, the anti-Semites gleefully throw up their hands and say it proves their point. They say it confirms their premise that "the apostate Jews" are an evil and sinister race.

Even when we point out that the violent lunatic fringe of the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox) movement in Israel consists of a very small minority, the anti-Semites don't care. They prefer to paint everyone in Israel with the same, broad brush—even if the result is distorted and misleading.

The truth is that every group of people has its lunatic fringe. We don't like to talk about it, but conservative Christendom has one, too. It's very small and fragmented, thank God, and it goes by many names—like Christian Identity, Aryan Nations, Kingdom Identity, White Aryan Resistance (WAR), various forms of Posse Comitatus, and others too numerous to mention here. Some of these groups maintain camps in the mountains where they train their own paramilitary militias. They have secret compounds where they stockpile guns, ammunition, gas masks, grenades, and other implements of war.

And yes, there are Jewish nut-jobs, too. They're extremists who are mentally imbalanced and have an axe to grind with Arabs, other Gentiles, and of course Jewish people who believe in Yeshua. One of these guys took a machine gun into a mosque in Hebron a few years ago and cut down dozens of Muslim worshippers in cold blood. Many of them died. And to the Haredim, this killer (who took his own life) became a hero and a martyr.

Sometimes the Haredim have been known even to kill fellow Israelis. One such extremist assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. He was upset because Rabin signed the Oslo Accords with Yassir Arafat.

Hey, I didn't like what happened at Oslo, either. But I didn't go out and shoot anybody because of it.

Sometimes these extremists see the messianic movement in Israel as a cancer that needs to be blotted out. And sadly, they occasionally work the venom and hatred out of their system by carrying out acts of violence.

Just this past week, for example, a Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) facility in Jerusalem suffered an arson attack. Miraculously, everyone in the building at the time escaped without injury, despite the thick and blinding smoke that enveloped the first two floors.

Another incident took place several years ago in Ariel, Israel—north of Jerusalem. Leah Ortiz, the pastor's wife from Kehilat Ariel (the congregation there) started sending out periodic updates when the attack first occurred. For Leah's latest report, go to "AMI UPDATE NOVEMBER 2010" Their son, Ami, was critically injured when someone left a holiday gift basket on their front porch. Ami stepped outside, picked it up, and brought it into their apartment. He had no way of knowing that the basket was booby-trapped with a powerful bomb. It exploded and shrapnel and splinters tore through Ami's body, nearly killing him. He survived, thank God; but the numerous surgeries and extensive rehab are still ongoing. The police finally tracked down and arrested the perpetrator of this horrible crime and the case is currently in the court system. The man is a Jewish extremist who is suspected of having actually killed people on other occasions and his legal team is trying to get him off the hook with an insanity defense. You can read more about it on the Ortiz website (link above).

What can we say about these developments? Well, I think they tell us that the battle is heating up in Israel, not only in terms of literal fires and bombings, but also in terms of spiritual warfare. The battle is on for the heart and soul of Israel. The devil wants to keep Israel and her Messiah apart—and he will stop at nothing to accomplish that objective. The evil one also delights in the forces of extremism that reflect badly on Israel before a watching and often less than sympathetic world.

Will the politicians in Israel continue caving in to the forces of Jewish extremism, or will they get serious about having a democracy in which Jewish believers in Yeshua—like everyone else—enjoy equal rights under the law?

Here's a link to the State Department's recently declassified report on Yad L'Achim activities against Jewish believers in Israel. Yad L'Achim, of course, is a rabid "anti-missionary" group in Israel. We've had occasional run-ins with them over the years.

This link will take you to an excellent article from the Israeli media about the persecution of Jewish believers in Israel: "Israel's State-Sanctioned Persecution of Messianic Jews Must End"

Interestingly, in the aftermath of the bombing in Ariel, many people from the local Jewish community came to see the damage and pay their respects to the Ortiz family. These people were not believers in Yeshua, but they were deeply concerned, and some even heartbroken over what had happened to Ami. So again, we need to remember that the violent fanatics represent a very small minority in Israel, just like they do here in North America.

Why not take a moment today and pray for the Body of Messiah in Israel? In this country, we admittedly have our problems and times are tough for many of our families. However, we don't really know what persecution is. Seriously folks, we don't. But many of our brothers and sisters in Israel do. They live with it every day.

So let's remember them in our prayers.

And while you're at it, please pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6).

Thanks and God bless you.