Turmoil and Lawlessness

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power."

Egypt

I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; everyone will fight against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst; I will destroy their counsel.for they will cry to YHVH because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them. Then YHVH will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know YHVH in that day." (Isaiah 19: 2-3b, 20b-21a).

Great "leader" nations in the Middle East continue to erupt in volitile tumultuous upheaval, with each day presenting new and often unexpected faces to the situations, faces which may be quite different tomorrow. Last week Egypt's first democratically-elected President Islamist Mohamed Morsi was deposed, after the cries of millions of disgruntled citizens, angry at a collapsing economy, broken promises and what they see as a bullying takeover by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, spurred the military to step in and remove the President after his having served only one year in office. As a safety measure, not only was Morsi placed in confinement, so were the top five leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Counter demonstrations by Brotherhood and other Morsi supporters have kept the streets of Cairo seething and the death toll rising. Although the military has proposed an interim government and new elections in which the Brotherhood may be again represented, at this point they seem in no way inclined to agree to this.

Meanwhile, an Islamist party called Al Nour has risen into a surprisingly influential position with the military leaders. Made up of ultraconservatives known as Salafis, Al Nour's sheik leader was carefully positioned behind the general who announced the military takeover on television, presumably to assure the populace that the action was not an attack on Islam. Since then, Al Nour has already wielded its new enfluence by nixing the military's proposal of liberal Nobel-winning diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei for interim prime minister. That this Islamist party might itself come to replace the more moderate Muslim Brotherhood is worrisome indeed for those who had hoped for more separation between religion and politics. Al Nour and other Salafist groups have already been active in a campaign for constitutional provisions enshrining Islamic Law, and against its containing a new express guarantee of equality for women ("Islamist Party a Surprise Force in a New Egypt": The New York Times, 7 July 2013).

The fall of the Brotherhood in Egypt has had repercussions in Gaza, where the rogue-rulers Hamas are looking with dismay at what this probably means regarding the support they've enjoyed under Morsi's regime. (Hamas itself came into existence as a militant offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.)

  And in Syria, where the Brotherhood forces, although by no means in the majority, have been the most influtential faction and only truly organized group in the Sunni opposition seeking to overthrow Assad, it is feared that the toppling of their "mother branch" in Egypt may so weaken their influence that the more militant factions who have no interest in even a semblance of democratic order may take the ascendancy.

Meanwhile, the international community, within which many have strong economic/military ties with Egypt, is steering clear of labeling the shake-up a "coup." (The military claimed it didn't carry out a coup, but rather merely enforced the will of the people.)

PLEASE PRAY:

* God's mercy over the 84 million souls in Egypt; that His Kingdom Come in that land.
* Against a spirit of lawlessness which is running rampant in Egypt. Besides the battles between warring factions, there have reportedly been hundreds of women assaulted by bands of thugs roaming the squares where the demonstrations are taking place.
* All of Isaiah 19, including the portion quoted at the head of this section.
* For the thousands of believers in Egypt-that they will be led in truth and courage; granted angelic protection, and divine strategy and counsel.
* For a Christian reporter and his cameraman we know who God has led into the midst of Egypt this week; that he will have the protection and guidance and assistance necessary to record and chronicle exactly what God is sending him there to report.
* For leaders in Israel to see and understand and have insight from heaven into what is taking place in her neighbor to the south, and how best and most wisely to respond. That the treaty between Israel and Egypt will be preserved.

portions taken from Israel prayer list