A perpetual fire in the Holy Land.

On the eve of peace talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders and President Obama, Hamas gunned down two men and two women (one pregnant) in a vehicle in the Gaza Strip. Three thousand people subsequently turned out to celebrate this tragedy as a “heroic operation.”

For decades, U.S. presidents have tried to broker peace between Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land, only to find that peace fractured quickly afterwards. Hamas likely initiated this massacre in order to halt the peace talks in Washington, because they oppose the current Palestinian leader, Mr. Abbas.

God warned that, in the last days, leaders would speak of “peace, peace,” but there would be no true peace (Jeremiah 8:11). The U.S. will boldly try for peace again, but the outcome will be the same. In addition, conflict between ethnic groups (or political factions) is prophesied to increase before the return of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:7). Finally, Jerusalem is predicted to be a “cup of trembling” to many (Zechariah 12:2, KJV).

We need to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6), a time when the flames of war will finally be extinguished when Jesus brings true and lasting peace to the Holy Land! Only then will peace truly come to Jerusalem and to the earth.