The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no lack to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Psalm 34:7-9
In a landscape of so much horrific news and ongoing war, in the middle of our mourning for the lost, we want to share a story of salvation. The names have been changed and faces blurred for security.
Joseph was one of our family’s first friends in Israel. Last January, Joseph told us that God told him to take us out to eat. It was the first time anyone in this country had hosted us. He treated us to foccacia and we listened to him share about how He found out the truth about Yeshua Hamashiach (Jesus the Messiah) from a mutual friend. He was on fire with the Holy Spirit.
On October 7th, Joseph and a friend we’ll call Jacob, heard that a terrorist attack was happening in the Israeli town near Gaza where their families lived. This is the story of how they ran into the town on foot to rescue their families. Below is a word-for-word, first-hand account from his mother, who was trapped in the town as terrorists went door to door.
Surrounded by Terrorists
Gunshots next door!! Machine gunning. This was the second time we’d stood there on our stairs and heard it. For 6 hours we’d been shelled nonstop and in our bomb shelter. There was no alternative left. The only choice to survive was to drive out of town, and now!!!
Our eldest son had fought in the recent Shomer Chomot and served on nearby bases and knew the land like the back of his hand. Since he had stopped serving in the IDF two years ago, he had gotten married and studied business, and knew our town’s real estate and mapping. He discussed with us that the only way out of here alive was to go through the northern neighborhood. A paratrooper, he was an expert navigator and had come down from Jerusalem and told us somberly, “I’m bringing you out.” He had run in on foot fifteen kilometers from north of town with another soldier who was rescuing his family as well.
Joseph and Jacob at the house.
Everyone had been remaining utterly quiet for hours in fear that the terrorists would hear us, and we had turned off the lights in the house and turned off the air conditioner so that there would be no noise from the street and it would appear that no one was home. The only problem all along was that our car was parked in front of the house and it would look like we were home….
As we were in the home, we could clearly hear gunshots and heard terrorists in the home right behind us as well as our son hearing them speak in Arabic.
We had contacted a neighbor who is high up in the army, and agreed we all needed to evacuate immediately!! He is armed and an expert. We wanted to caravan out together. Perhaps the terrorists would think we were terrorists kidnapping someone? Our neighbor heroically wanted to evacuate his family, and we decided on evacuating together in five minutes. They didn’t come out by the time we got in the car and so we sped off! Later on, we heard that they had left a bit after us and safely escaped!
Before our commando trained son had arrived (Joseph), we had discussed whether to all go hide in the attic, but there was danger of it collapsing or making creaking noises. Being up in the attic for several days, weeks, or months would be like Anne Frank’s situation and way too hard on children. We’d be sitting ducks. The terrorists would surely hear us. The front door lock had had a problem since Sukkot, and so we had barricaded the door. The only escape from town was up the path, and then to fit nine people in the seven passenger car super fast.
It was a treacherous path out of our house, as we ducked down and sprinted over the palm tree roots, running single file forward, like soldiers getting into a helicopter. We opened the gate, and all got in the car. Hearts pounding. So far, still alive. Send Your malachim, Elohim!!!! We piled in the car as fast as we could, laying on top of each other and our eldest two sons drove off as we ducked down in the car and covered our children’s heads.
Our two eldest sons risked their lives sitting in the front seat, as we cruised dangerously down the winding neighborhood roads. We drove frighteningly fast out of our neighborhood. We had just heard gunshots in the house next door. The neighborhoods had been overtaken by terrorists going door to door and massacring people, or kidnapping them to a torturous fate. Innocent civilians all killed because they are Jewish.
In the backseat my husband was bent backwards and hurt his back. He has a slipped disk from a prior car accident. My daughter was stuck underneath against the window, banged up each time the car bumped over the long dirt road out of town, a road we didn’t even know existed!! Todah l’El, Thank G-d by a miracle, we all got out alive! We escaped with only back and neck pain for a few of us, and my daughter bruised up her cheekbone and jaw because she kept hitting the window as we flew over bumps in the curvy roads.
We were terrified that the car would overturn from going at such high speeds. At that time, our two sons were hearing gunshots along the neighborhood roads as we drove past. The window was partially rolled down so they could estimate how far away the shots were…
Terrorists shooting our Israeli neighbors right behind our children’s high school!!! Holocaust in our Land. We drove on to a wide road in a new neighborhood of town. With great relief, up ahead we saw that our first Israeli soldiers were calmly standing there in the road, and also lying down on the street corners aiming towards town; young heroes prepared for severely bloody urban warfare, to penetrate our town and take the city back. They were the first soldiers that we’d seen. Our eldest son drove slowly forward, with flashers on and they let us pass. We sped off and turned right. We drove onto on a narrow dirt path in the middle of an open field, in a huge dust cloud behind us . We drove onto the final road and then went frantically down a series of dirt roads that were filled with deep holes. Our eldest son who was driving, rescuing us, warned us in the field where could be terrorists and everyone calmly needed to look right and left for terrorists. Our second eldest son sitting in the front, surveyed right and left. Todah l’El, Thank G-d by a miracle, we all got out alive! When we reached the next village, we saw many commandos, news reporters and ambulances lined up ready to go in and administer first aid to victims. We escaped with only minor injuries. As a family, we had neck pain for a few of us, and my daughter bruised up her cheekbone and jaw because she kept hitting the window as we flew over bumps in the curvy roads and our children were getting banged around. But we covered them and kept them safe until we got out of town. We immediately saw the IDF soldiers the commandos and fifteen ambulances and news people waiting there on the freeway into town, and we felt safe that we made it out!
If we had tried to leave even a bit earlier, we could have been slaughtered as the terrorists were going house to house on the road adjacent to ours. Now we were fugitives on the road filled with road blocks, Israeli police and soldiers in every location. We felt so safe, and so happy to be alive! We survived! We are exhausted and traumatized.
Surrounded by Adonai and the Host of Heaven
This is only one story of rescue. We know that when our enemies surround, there is another army that is greater. Our prayers call them into action. Our prayers break strongholds and scatter the enemy. We will not stop interceding for the people of Israel, especially the believers here. God is a rescuer. He is a Savior. He is a commander of angelic armies. We are under His command together with a Heavenly guard, in cooperation with Him, with His purposes and plans for this nation and all the nations. That’s why we have to repent, learn to hear Yeshua’s voice through spending time with Him in the Bible, and run to His presence to be filled and re-filled by His Spirit. This is how we buy the oil. We know that God is raising up a Kingdom of Priests and Prophets here in the days leading up to Messiah’s Return.
Joseph shared with us today:
Jacob (the other young man in the picture) has also been called up, saved his grandparents in a firefight and is now up in the north with me…Think about it: in one morning our world flipped over. His grandparents wouldn’t answer the phone. They wouldn’t let us drive in. So we had to enter from the fields…. When its family, you do all you can. We prayed in Yeshua’s name with him as we approached the town… almost got in one firefight. Terrorist eyed us down from his lookout 100 yards out. Held his posture and just looked at us. We chose to evade, climb through a school and get to my parents home. Pointless to get in a firefight at 100 yards when you have only a pistol…
Much glory to God. Our family was saved. We are alive.
Please pray for Joseph and other believers in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). We can attest to their boldness and courage.
Father, surround your people with your warrior angels. You are holy and mighty. You are high and lifted up. You are merciful and kind to your people. We ask specifically for the protection of the IDF soldiers. We ask for their support to come from you. We ask for a revelation of Yeshua’s love and sacrifice for the atonement of their sins. We ask for boldness to fill the hearts and Yeshua’s name to be in their mouths. Holy Spirit tell them when and what to speak and when to be quiet, when to run and when to wait, when to move and when to stay still, when to take territory and when to retreat. May we hear of many miraculous salvations in the days to come. We ask for many to hear of your salvation in Israel, Yeshua, because of your mercy on these families. Thank you for preventing more loss of life. Thank you for blinding the eyes of the enemy. Thank you for preparing these men and women for such a time as this. Let your word go forth, Lion and Lamb of Judah. Bring a swift end to this war according to your times and your will. Bring Israel’s fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters home safely and may they proclaim your faithfulness Yeshua! Be their portion that they may lack no good thing. Satisfy them with your unfailing love. In the authority of Yeshua we ask and believe you have heard our cry to you Lord. Thank you Adonai! Your hand is mighty to save.
