Today is the first day of Summer and the longest day[light] of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.  It looks to be a hot summer here in Israel.  But then, that is not so new as to be news.

Reading the newspaper today is not much different from having read it last week.  Oh, there are some different ‘personal interest’ stories which are often quickly  forgotten, but mostly it is a rehash of things which continue, and which have been largely  rumors and speculations of political intrigues at the national and the global geopolitical realms.

There have been more rocket attacks into southern Israel during the last few days, and Israeli retaliation to a degree.  This all began with snipers from Sinai killing an Israeli contractor who was working on building a security fence on the border with ‘Egypt’.  Egypt, of course, is in political and social turmoil as some Egyptians seek real change, and others seek to exploit the power struggle.  None of this bodes well for Israel either, but it does give hope to those who believe in Israel’s God who would have many of these Gentiles saved and make them lovers of Jesus and of His beloved Jewish people.

Jack Teitel — who has confessed to ‘hate crimes’ based on his distorted ideology and perception of reality, including murdering in cold blood two Palestinians just for being Arabs; trying to murder a Messianic Jewish family just for being believers in Yeshua and wanting others to be, too; trying to kill a left-wing professor for not being right-wing — has, despite refusing to accept Israel’s justice system, been allowed a plea bargain whereby  he does not have to say anything himself, but his lawyers will admit that he did these crimes — not out of ‘hate’, but out of temporary insanity each time that he committed these acts of terror.  No evidence will be presented to the public; he will, if the court rules in favor, simply go to a psychiatric hospital for a few years.  For too many, this, too, is not new to make news:  Israel protects its perilous life and identity at the expense of those whom they perceive  threaten it.

In an idolatrous and ‘evolutionary world’, it is survival of the fittest, and might makes right:  the violent and forceful seek to enter, and to hold onto, the kingdom.  In the ways of YHVH, Israel’s God and Savior, the meek shall inherit the Land and the Earth when the Lord returns in great power and glory.

Thank God for Jesus!  The gospel is good news in a bad-news world.