MANSFIELD, Ohio – The sudden snowstorm that hit the Midwest on Friday evening caused a number of travel inconveniences, but Eeki Elner saw the storm as something much more significant.
“The evil is [at] work,” he said to the Sar Shalom Messianic Congregation on Saturday morning. “Because something wants to stop me being here talking to you, something wants to stop me from helping Israel. And when I have the sense of things like this, it means we are going in the right direction. If evil is here, we’re doing something good. Evil wants to fight our God, but our God is stronger.”
Despite the inclement weather, Elner was able to travel safely from his home in Sderot, Israel to Mansfield hoping to create a new coalition of church leaders in support of the Jewish State. The Sar Shalom Messianic Congregation was one of a handful of congregations hosting Elner during his stay in Ohio for a “Bless Israel Event,” open to local guests to learn about the current situation in the Middle East and express support in Israel.
“I don’t mean to go into politics, but it is amazing that in the last few years the main target of the American government, in a bad manner, is believers and Israel,” said Elner to begin his lecture. “Another thing I learned from the pastor of a church in Bucyrus – he told me about his political struggle in Ohio against abortion. If you determine the end of physical life by the last heartbeat, then you determine the beginning of life by the heartbeat.”
Borrowing from this idea, Elner went on to say that those who believe the “end times” are here – of which more than half the congregation appeared to be in agreement – would understand that just as Israel was there in the beginning, similar to a heartbeat, then Israel would be there in the end, too.
“This is why believers and nonbelievers are waiting for the Messiah to come there, because the war will take place and the Messiah will come and say the people of Israel are fighting there,” said Elner. “I think even people who have some weakness in their belief debate cannot ignore the signs. The signs are there; you may interpret them in a scientific way but you cannot anymore say this is simply a coincidence.”
Elner discussed not only the ideas of spirituality but also the political landscape of Israel. Elner is the founder of the Israel Leadership Institute (ILI), whose mission is to identify, recruit, train, mentor and nurture the future generation of Israeli leaders. The ILI is based in Elner’s home of Sderot, located on the Gaza-Israel border.
Because of his close proximity to the border, Elner has seen firsthand the tensions between Gaza and Israel: More than 13,000 rockets and missiles have attacked Sderot since 2001. It has been the main target of terrorist organizations from Gaza and has endured numerous attacks, making the town one of the most dangerous places to live in Israel. Elner’s home itself was hit directly by a missile on May 16, 2007.
“It ain’t easy down there,” he joked with the congregation. “I wake up every day and I feel there is something Biblical in my being there, not just a regular human being who wakes up and goes to work, goes shopping, eats some food and goes to sleep. There’s something Biblical. You wake up in the morning and step out your door and ask yourself, there is something in the Bible around here that happened and I am the living continuation of it.”
Trust and the lack of it was a common theme among Elner’s stories. He spoke of the existing tensions in Gaza as the country gears up for another round of war.
“Someone at the White House must have been sniffing something to think that was a good idea to invest in Gaza,” he said. “How many times can we be fooled? In Gaza many of them are innocent, they’re still living in tents. But those closer to the Gaza leadership are preparing for the next round of war.”
He also shared with the congregation his experience with the terrorist group ISIS moving closer and closer to Israel, particularly through Lebanon.
“The military of Lebanon is worth nothing because they can’t even protect their own country, because the Syrian civil war is going into Lebanon slowly,” said Elner. “The forces trying to get into Israel, the Iranians the Syrian rebels and ISIS – they don’t take prisoners, they just behead. All the routes today are open to the north of Israel.”
Two months ago, Elner said, Israel denied killing an Iranian general walking along its northern border in Lebanon.
“For us to have Iranians physically walking along our borders, that was too much,” he said. “The reason he was taken down was because he was working with a top leader from Lebanon on building a force that will take over that region of our border with Syria.
“Arabs are the enemies of God,” he said. “They keep saying Israel does not belong where it is today, they say it is their land. They will never accept us, and if they don’t accept us they are the enemies of God because God has led us here.”
Elner also took the United Nations to task, claiming they offer no support to Israel in defending itself from outside forces.
“Whenever it comes to the United Nations they’re very stingy about Israel, but they’re very generous in condemning Israel by the way,” said Elner. “And you know what, their ancient God will be on them for doing this. If something drives me nuts it’s your money that goes to the United Nations to fund anti-Semites…I’ve never seen something so foolish.”
Still, despite the unrest in the world and especially in Israel, Elner repeatedly emphasized that people must put their trust in God: trust the Lord, trust the Bible, and trust the times.
“All along the Bible, Israel was attacked. When have the nations ever loved Israel? We are stuck like a fishbone, and no Heimlich will help this,” said Elner. “And we’re stuck because there is something in our presence that is annoying – it is the relationship we have with God.
“You are not here to lose your faith at any point in time,” he said. “The harder the times, the deeper the faith; the greater the challenges, the greater is the need to stand and believe God will protect you.”
Note: Because of Elner’s status as an “international man under scrutiny,” no photos of him were allowed at Saturday’s event.
“You wake up in the morning and step out your door and ask yourself, there is something in the Bible around here that happened and I am the living continuation of it,” said Eeki Elner.
“In Gaza many of them are innocent, they’re still living in tents. But those closer to the Gaza leadership are preparing for the next round of war,” said Eeki Elner.
A biography of Eeki Elner, founder of the Israeli Leadership Institute.
More information about the Israeli Leadership Institute.