January 12, 2024 | Messianic World Update | Insights on Current Global Events and more

Shalom everyone! I’m Monte Judah with Lion and Lamb Ministries, bringing you another edition of Messianic World Update. Today’s date is Friday, January 12th, of the year 2024.

Yesterday, the U.S. made the decision to strike Houthi rebel bases with Tomahawk cruise missiles and F-18 aircraft from the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier. Interestingly, this operation was not as covert as one might expect. The U.S. and Great Britain struck at the Houthi assets. The world knew about this strike hours before it took place, due to a leak from the British press. This gave the Houthi rebels ample time to relocate their weapons, which has led me to question the effectiveness of this operation.

On top of this, our Secretary of Defense has been hospitalized due to complications from prostate cancer treatment, leaving many to wonder who is running the Department of Defense or the national command structure. In response to the attack on the Houthi rebels, Iran seized a U.S. oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, further escalating tensions in the region.

In Israel, the fight with Hamas continues. Over 100 days into the Gaza War, Hamas is still holding more than 120 hostages, and more than 175 IDF soldiers have died. Despite these losses, Israel is determined to recover the hostages and defeat Hamas.

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken has been visiting the Middle East, including Israel, with a mission to get the IDF out of Gaza. However, Israel is not responding well to this. They see their fight with Hamas as necessary and have intensified their efforts to recover hostages and find and kill Hamas leaders.

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates once said that Joe Biden had been wrong on every foreign policy decision for the last 50 years. Looking at the current situation, it seems Gates might have been right. The peace accord set up by Bill Clinton with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Leader Yasser Arafat in 1993 has failed. Obama’s negotiations with Iran have led to their enriching uranium above the United Nations’ previously allowed levels. And now, under Biden, we see a repeat of these failed strategies, with the addition of the debacle in Afghanistan.

And amidst all of this, there are countries like South Africa that are accusing Israel of genocide at the World Court in The Hague. The world seems to have forgotten the atrocities committed by Hamas against the Jewish people just one hundred days ago. Now, they are blaming Israel for all the world's problems.

My friends, I implore you to pray for Israel. Pray for the return of the hostages, pray for the safety of the IDF soldiers, and pray that the God of Israel will bring some sanity to this world.

Shabbat Shalom to all of you.