Showing posts with label Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Show all posts

Friday, March 8, 2019

Dutch Sheets: "Find Your Voice and Make a Stand!" - The Elijah List

Dutch Sheets: "Find Your Voice and Make a Stand!"


The Elijah List  Mar 8, 2019
Steve ShultzFrom the desk of Steve Shultz:
I highly respect the voice and ministry of apostle and prophet, Dutch Sheets. He is one who leads the Body of Christ to fervent, intercessory prayer...especially over this nation.
There is no other time like the present to let our voices be heard AND make a stand.
This message from Dutch is on the sobering side, but is very necessary to equip us right here, right now...today!
Please read this word and forward on to everyone you know. I believe Dutch's message to the Church is of the uttermost importance! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
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HR


"To Ignore Evil is to Become an Accomplice to It"
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor, anti-Nazi dissident (he died in a German concentration camp) and author of The Cost of Discipleship, poignantly stated, "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak, is to speak. Not to act, is to act." The great reformer and civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., said, "To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it." 
Sadly, these warnings are as appropriate and applicable to the Church of America today as at any time in history, for an evil beyond the scale of the holocaust is underway. We have now moved from killing babies, dismembering them and selling their body parts, to murdering struggling infants that have survived the brutality of abortion. America has lost its soul.
For various reasons, most spiritual leaders in America have chosen not to speak out on abortion, elections, and many other important moral issues of our day. These reasons include:
• a belief that spiritual leaders should remain separate from the political realm because it is "evil" and "divisive."
• a belief that spiritual influence in peoples' lives does not give them a right to speak into their followers' social, moral, or political views.
• a theological belief that this is not their responsibility.
• a fear of losing congregants.
• a fear of losing financial support.
• a fear of the IRS.
I'm sure there are other reasons which could be listed. However, regardless of the reasons, no honest person can refute the fact that most leaders in the Church have disengaged from public involvement in politics and national moral issues. While I respect my peers in the Body of Christ and understand the challenges facing them in today's polarized and volatile culture, I fear that our choice of silence on many issues has come at a devastating cost. 
Inevitably, this absolution has also filtered into the pew. Few Christians are willing to make a stand on social issues, preferring to remain aloof and silent. Only about half of Americans who claim to be evangelical Christians are even registered to vote, and many who are registered don't bother to do so. 
Most statistics make it clear that evangelicals could turn any national election in America if we all voted, and did so based on Biblical values, not party lines. Yet most spiritual leaders fail to confront this. (Photo via Pexels)
A Disengaged Church
Not only does the disengaged Church fail to vote or actively involve itself in social issues, most do not even pray regarding the challenges we face in America. A recent experience of mine in the Sunday service of a prominent mega-church exemplifies this fact. It occurred on the weekend during which President Trump would be making his decision regarding retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's replacement. This decision had the potential of shifting the balance of power on the Supreme Court to a conservative, pro-constitutionalist, pro-life majority, something America has desperately needed since the 1960s.

The decision was so monumental that it would doubtlessly affect the lives of the children, and even the grandchildren of those present that day. Indeed, President Trump's appointments to the court will undoubtedly be two or three of the most significant decisions of our lifetime.
Can't You Talk Louder, God?
In light of this decision's magnitude, and since the pastor himself referred to his church that day as "a praying church," I kept waiting for someone to lead in a prayer for wisdom and guidance from Holy Spirit to POTUS Trump, enabling him to make the right decision. If not a 15-30 minute time of corporate prayer (perhaps this imminent decision was more important than the sermon that day!) then at least 5 or 10 minutes of prayer. No? Then how about a one or two sentence prayer while praying over the offering or sermon.

When no prayer was offered, I held out hope that at the close of the service they would at least encourage people to pray about this decision on their own. As you have probably guessed by now, it was never mentioned. I was stunned, grieved and angered. Tragically, this is the norm, not the exception. 

The Church in America today may be the most culturally disengaged Church in our nation's history.
Based on the facts, any honest deduction must conclude that the American Church's silence and withdrawal from the public square has allowed those who do not espouse Biblical values nor honor our Christian heritage to take over much of America's leadership. Obviously, the opposite could have occurred: had the Body of Christ been engaged we could have prevented abortion, infanticide, the rejecting of America's Christian roots, the taking over of our education system by humanists and secularists, God's expulsion from the public square and more. By default, we helped create that which we loathe.
Can the Fruit the Church's Silence Be Reversed?
Can the fruit of America's sin and the Church's silence be reversed? Yes and no. Just as those who were killed by the Nazis could obviously not be brought back, we obviously can do nothing to undo the deaths of 60 million aborted babies. But we, like the allied forces of WWII, can stop the senseless killing and heal the land (2 Chronicles 7:14). This pro-death scourge on our nation's history need not continue.

I believe God is offering the American Church – and consequently our nation – an opportunity for a historical course correction. For this to occur, however, a fundamental change must occur in the minds of Believers: we must choose to re-engage and become the salt and light Christ intends us to be. We must cease being conformists and reclaim our voice.

Our times have dictated that there is no longer a middle ground. We are even now being weighed in the balances – and our decision will tip the scales – toward either continued apathy and irrelevance or the healing and discipling of a nation. (Photo via Pixabay)
We MUST make our choice, and we must do so NOW.
Find Your Voice and Make a Stand
If ending the lives of surviving, struggling babies on bloody abortion tables is not enough to motivate the Church of America and its leaders to regain their voices, I'm not sure what can. If literal infanticide, celebrated by governors and legislatures around this nation with cheering and lit-up buildings, is not enough to awaken the conscience of the American Church, then I fear it is too late.
Leaders, please do not try and circumvent this decision by pinning America's future on "the sovereignty of God."

God's sovereignty does not negate our choices nor absolve us of the consequences.

The prophet Ezekiel was told, "When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand" (Ezekiel 33:8 NASB). We, the Church, are God's voice in the earth and we must speak.
Church of America, I plead with you: find your voice and make a stand. 
Dutch Sheets
Dutch Sheets Ministries

Email: click here
Website: www.dutchsheets.org
Dutch Sheets is an internationally recognized author, gifted teacher and conference speaker. He travels extensively, challenging Believers for passionate prayer and societal reformation. Seeing America experience a sweeping revival and return to its Godly heritage is Dutch's greatest passion. He is a messenger of hope for America, encouraging Believers to contend for awakening. Dutch has written over 23 books, many of which have been translated into over 30 languages. His international bestseller, Intercessory Prayer, has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Dutch has pastored, taught in several colleges and seminaries, and served on the board of directors of numerous organizations. He is fondly known to many as Papa Dutch. Treasuring time spent with their family and grandchildren. Dutch and Ceci, his wife of over 39 years, enjoy quiet walks in the woods, reading, and playing a little golf. They reside at the base of the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
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Can't You Talk Louder, God?

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Church Is Facing a Dietrich Bonhoeffer Moment - Larry Tomczak

Church Is Facing a Dietrich Bonhoeffer Moment



Dietrich Bonhoeffer believed he must stand up to evil in whatever ways necessary.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer believed he must stand up to evil in whatever ways necessary. (YouTube)
To those trying to convince us that these are America's greatest days and revival is breaking out, I humbly challenge this perspective. Granted, there are "pockets" of some encouraging spiritual activity, but by and large the church is successful numerically but unsuccessful influentially.
How we need to take seriously the 2 Chronicles 7:14 promise:
            "(If) My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from heir wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
In the meantime, opposition to Christianity is becoming more aggressive and hostile. Nowhere is this more evident than in the areas of natural marriage and sexual purity.
Who could have fathomed just a decade ago the ABC family network would feature a primetime show, "The Fosters," with two lesbian "parents," a transgender teen and two 13-year-old boys kissing?
How about rampant perversion and pornography a "click" away on kids' and youths' smartphones?  Should it surprise me when our state newspaper, The Tennessean, features a front-page article that our college rape reports are up 77 percent?
How about laws being passed allowing men to share public restrooms and showers with our 10-year-old daughters because they identify themselves as a "transgender"?
One more ...
After 5,000 years of Western civilization defining marriage as the union of a man and woman, we are on the precipice (barring miraculous intervention) of the Supreme Court imposing homosexual "marriage" on all 50 states. Marriage referendums passed by the overwhelming majority of citizens in state after state are probably going to be obliterated in this watershed moment and the floodgates opened for homosexual "marriage," polygamy, polyamory and whatever.
Recently the largest Protestant denomination, the Presbyterian Church USA, changed the wording of its constitution to fully embrace sodomy-based "marriage." Influential and heretical author Rob Bell stated on Oprah Winfrey's TV program that the Christian church in America is "moments away from embracing gay marriage."
I'm praying and fasting this not becomes reality but I'm also aware of how far the nation and church have fallen away from God. Judgment comes in diverse ways.
All of this means we must be prepared for greater risk-taking and courageous action in these "perilous" times foretold in 2 Timothy 3:1-9. Are you ready?
 Taking Risks—A New Non-Negotiable
Ron Wayne was one of Apple's three co-founders. He was present at the birth of Apple along with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. He designed the company's original logo, wrote the manual for the Apple One computer and put together the new partnership agreement that gave him a 10 percent stake in Apple.
In his autobiography "iWOZ," Wozniak recalls meeting Wayne and thinking, wow this guy is amazing, he seems to know all the things we did not. He played a major role in those days. However Wayne was risk averse due to a business failure five years earlier. Twelve days after he signed the agreement for 10 percent of Apple stock, he decided that the wild spending of young Steve Jobs wasn't worth the risk. He sold his shares back to Apple for $800. Today those shares would be worth $22 billion dollars!
To be successful we must be risk-takers. And with what's happening in America, we must get ready to take risks in standing for truth, especially as it relates to marriage.
 We are facing a "Dietrich Bonhoeffer Moment." You recall that he chose civil disobedience and disobeyed Nazi law that stated that protecting Jewish people was against the law. He was hung for his stand. He also said prior to his death, "Silence in the face of evil is evil itself. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."
Biblical Christianity shows us times when man-made laws contrary to divine laws are disobeyed. Moses was hidden for three months; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn't bow to the idol; Daniel continued praying when it was illegal; Esther was willing to risk her life to approach the king; Peter and John would not refrain from preaching the gospel.
The Bible tells us, "The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber" (Rom. 13:11). A jolt in the night is right around the corner! Brace yourself and prepare to face new challenges requiring risk-taking as the new normal in an increasingly secular society.
Larry Tomczak is a best-selling author and cultural commentator with more than 41 years of trusted ministry experience. His passion is to bring perspective, analysis and insight from a biblical worldview (see "Is Gay OK? 10 Things Everyone Needs to Know" now on YouTube). He loves awakening people to today's cultural realities and responses needed for a restored, influential church. Please visit larrytomczak.com.
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Thursday, October 16, 2014

ISIS is slaughtering Arab Christians - churches in the West so quiet. Joel Rosenberg

ISIS is slaughtering Arab Christians. Why are churches in the West so quiet? Here’s one way you can help.

by joelcrosenberg
Are you praying for the persecuted Christians in the Mideast? Is there more you can do?
Are you praying for the persecuted Christians in the Mideast? Is there more you can do?
(Central Israel) -- When my family and I moved to Israel in mid-August, we did so amidst a jihadist onslaught against the Jewish State. The third Gaza war was underway. Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza were firing more than 4,000 rockets, missiles and mortars at Israeli civilians, including Jews, Muslims and Christians.
That said, Israel was (and remains) one of the safest places to be in the Middle East this year, and not just for Jews but for Christians, as well.
Christians are being persecuted and even slaughtered throughout the epicenter. Israel and Jordan are safe havens. But from Syria to Iraq to Iran and beyond, the Radical Islamic jihadist offensive against followers of Jesus Christ is fierce and unrelenting. Indeed, as I've written about in recent months, we are seeing genocidal conditions emerging in this region against the Christians.
Why then are so few pastors and Christians leaders in the West coming to the defense of our brothers and sisters in this region who are in such grave danger? Why aren't pastors rallying their congregations to pray for the persecuted Church in the Mideast? Why are so few Christian lay people giving financially to ministries that are making a difference in the region in the name of Christ in the midst of the chaos and carnage?
The epicenter is on fire. Yet I'm stunned by how few Christians are paying attention, or trying to help. Some are, and may God deeply bless this wonderful, heroic remnant. But so much of the Church is asleep.
How about you? Are you moved by the suffering of our brethren? Are you and your congregation looking for a way to help in a practical way?
The Joshua Fund team is working hard to provide prayer, encouragement, funds, and other resources to Arab Christians fleeing from the ISIS rampage. We are doing this even as we continue to provide humanitarian relief and other help in Israel. The Bible certainly commands believers to love and bless Israel and the Jewish people, and this is more important than ever. But the Scriptures also command us to love and bless Israel's neighbors, and even her enemies. Is it easy? No. Is it safe? Not always. But the Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to love everyone in this region and He set the example for us.
Would you like to join us? We need your prayers. We also need your financial support, especially at this time. You can learn more about what The Joshua Fund is doing by clicking here.
You can also learn more about what is happening to the Christians in the epicenter by listening to this podcast -- "I have just interviewed an Iraqi pastor on the terrible persecution Christians in Iraq are facing. Please listen & share with others" --  and by reading this excellent article by columnist Kirsten Powers. I cite it here in full.
By Kirsten Powers, The Daily Beast, September 27, 2014
Christians in the Middle East and Africa are being slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, beheaded, and forced to flee the birthplace of Christianity. One would think this horror might be consuming the pulpits and pews of American churches. Not so. The silence has been nearly deafening.
As Egypt’s Copts have battled the worst attacks on the Christian minority since the 14th century, the bad news for Christians in the region keeps coming. On SundayTaliban suicide bombers killed at least 85 worshippers at All Saints’ church, which has stood since 1883 in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. Christians were also the target of Islamic fanatics in the attack on a shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya, this week that killed more than 70 people. The Associated Press reported that the Somali Islamic militant group al-Shabab “confirmed witness accounts that gunmen separated Muslims from other people and let the Muslims go free.” The captives were asked questions about Islam. If they couldn’t answer, they were shot.
In Syria, Christians are under attack by Islamist rebels and fear extinction if Bashar al-Assad falls. This month, rebels overran the historic Christian town of Maalula, where many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The AFP reported that aresident of Maalula called her fiancé’s cell and was told by member of the Free Syrian Army that they gave him a chance to convert to Islam and he refused. So they slit his throat.
Nina Shea, an international human-rights lawyer and expert on religious persecution,testified in 2011 before Congress regarding the fate of Iraqi Christians, two-thirds of whom have vanished from the country. They have either been murdered or fled in fear for their lives. Said Shea: “[I]n August 2004 … five churches were bombed in Baghdad and Mosul. On a single day in July 2009, seven churches were bombed in Baghdad … The archbishop of Mosul, was kidnapped and killed in early 2008. A bus convoy of Christian students were violently assaulted. Christians … have been raped, tortured, kidnapped, beheaded, and evicted from their homes …”
Lela Gilbert is the author of Saturday People, Sunday People, which details the expulsion of 850,000 Jews who fled or were forced to leave Muslim countries in the mid-20th century. The title of her book comes from an Islamist slogan, “First the SaturdayPeople, then the Sunday People,” which means “first we kill the Jews, then we kill the Christians.” Gilbert wrote recently that her Jewish friends and neighbors in Israel “are shocked but not entirely surprised” by the attacks on Christians in the Middle East. “They are rather puzzled, however, by what appears to be a lack of anxiety, action, or advocacy on the part of Western Christians.”
As they should be. It is inexplicable. American Christians are quite able to organize around issues that concern them. Yet religious persecution appears not to have grabbed their attention, despite worldwide media coverage of the atrocities against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.
It’s no surprise that Jews seem to understand the gravity of the situation the best. In December 2011, Britain’s chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, addressed Parliament saying, “I have followed the fate of Christians in the Middle East for years, appalled at what is happening, surprised and distressed … that it is not more widely known.”
“It was Martin Luther King who said, ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.’ That is why I felt I could not be silent today.”
Yet so many Western Christians are silent.
In January, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) penned a letter to 300 Catholic and Protestant leaders complaining about their lack of engagement. “Can you, as a leader in the church, help?” he wrote. “Are you pained by these accounts of persecution? Will you use your sphere of influence to raise the profile of this issue—be it through a sermon, writing or media interview?”
There have been far too few takers.
Wolf and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) sponsored legislation last year to create a special envoy at the State Department to advocate for religious minorities in the Middle East and South-Central Asia. It passed in the House overwhelmingly, but died in the Senate. Imagine the difference an outcry from constituents might have made. The legislation was reintroduced in January and again passed the House easily. It now sits in the Senate. According to the office of Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the sponsor of the bill there, there is no date set for it to be taken up.
Wolf has complained loudly of the State Department’s lack of attention to religious persecution, but is anybody listening? When American leaders meet with the Saudi government, where is the public outcry demanding they confront the Saudis for fomenting hatred of Christians, Jews, and even Muslim minorities through their propagandistic tracts and textbooks? In the debate on Syria, why has the fate of Christians and other religious minorities been almost completely ignored?
In his letter challenging U.S. religious leaders, Wolf quoted Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed for his efforts in the Nazi resistance:  “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
That pretty well sums it up.
joelcrosenberg | October 16, 2014 at 3:17 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-38W

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

FINAL FRONTIER (Avner Boskey) - "Exposing Hearts, Creating Divisions"

Avner & Rachel Boskey

"What will the Jewish people's acceptance of Yeshua result in but life from the dead?"
 (Romans 11:15)
                                                                                       cid:image001.gif@01CE49BF.D53D5230


Exposing hearts, creating divisions

Taking a biblical stand for the Jewish people sometimes results in strife and division. Does that mean that there is something wrong with our zeal?  Why do blowback, opposition or negative feedback sometimes accompany our preaching of God’s heart for Israel? What is the cost of standing with the Jewish people and how can we count it accurately?

Land o’ Goshen!

At the dawn of Jewish history, in the land of Egypt, YHVH spoke to Pharaoh through Moses, regarding one of the Ten Plagues, “But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, in order that you may know that I, YHVH, am in the midst of the land. I will put a division between My people and your people” (Exodus 8:22-23).

The purpose of division was to throw the spotlight on the people whom YHVH had chosen, to show which nation had God’s approval and which nation was standing against the purposes of God.

The Apostle Paul says something quite similar when discussing divisions in the Messianic congregation of Corinth: “For, in the first place, when you gather together, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you” (1 Corinthians 11:18-19). Paul is referring to the age-old dynamic of ‘truth or consequences.’

Messianic division

Messiah Yeshua clearly proclaimed that one of the purposes of His ministry among the sons and daughters of Adam is to bring division: “Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division;for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53). The preaching of the truth often has consequences: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and man loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

Years ago I had the privilege to study under a rabbi of Montreal’s Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, who taught a class for Concordia University called “The historical encounter between Judaism and Christianity.” This rabbi quoted Luke 12 and then waxed eloquent about how Yeshua’s words seemed to violate the spirit of Judaism as the rabbi understood it.

“Excuse me, Rabbi,” I asked, “Isn’t Jesus quoting here from the prophet Micah 7:5-6, where the prophet grieves over the spiritual state of some Jewish people?” A quiet rustling of pages among all present commenced, after which the rabbi, not quite sure how to respond, quickly changed the topic of conversation. It did not fit the rabbi’s worldview, it seemed, for Yeshua to be seen as a kosher champion of the prophetic tradition.

Ø  Obedience to the prophetic tradition and to Messiah the greatest prophet who ever lived, will usually bring with it blowback, opposition or negative feedback, divisions and strife. We have it on the Highest Authority!

Yeshua King of Israel – a sign to be opposed

A prophetic word spoken over Joseph, Miriam and Yeshua by Shim’on (Simeon) in the Temple precincts adds depth to this subject: “And Shim’on blessed them and said to Miriam His mother, ‘Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed – and a sword will pierce even your own soul – to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed’” (Luke 2:34-35).

The New Covenant reveals that the coming of the Jewish Messiah to the people of Israel would bring division. It was YHVH Himself who purposed this division – “to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Ø  If the first coming of Messiah brought division to even the Jewish people (and salvation  let’s not forget that as well!), will not His second coming and the events surrounding that also test the thoughts of many hearts, both Jewish and Gentile?

Israel – standing up to be counted

Years ago I listened in to a conversation of some zealous seminary students discussing Romans 13:1-7. One of them declared that if he had been a believer concealing Jews in his home in Nazi-occupied Holland, he would have surrendered them to the tender mercies of the Gestapo. God would have honored his decision not to disobey the powers that be, he opined. My response was to the point, “This Jew will never take refuge in your home!”

Certainly Corrie ten Boom’s Hiding Place (www.corrietenboom.com) would have been seen by the Nazis as treasonous, for at that time saving Jewish lives was considered ‘politically incorrect.’ Her father died in a Nazi prison, while she and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbuck concentration camp, where Betsie died of typhus.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/bonhoeffer/?content=1) was a Lutheran theologian who had to walk a fine line in Nazi Germany. He saw that believers were being called not only to clarify their own attitudes toward Judaism and the Jewish people, but even more to properly discern and respond actively against the Nazi state’s actions against the people of Israel. His actions (which included smuggling Jews out of Germany, and involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler) led to his imprisonment and eventually his execution by the SS on the gallows at Flossenbürg concentration camp.

In the 1930’s a believing Officer (later Major-General) in the British Army, Orde Wingate (www.ordewingate.net) helped to train the fledging Jewish special operations forces during the time of the British Mandate. He rallied his Jewish troops (the future leaders of the Haganah), regaling them with biblical strategies of Joshua and Caleb, Gideon and the Maccabees. His strengthening of the Jewish people’s restoration in their hour of need was considered politically incorrect by the British High Command. He was later transferred to Ethiopia and then to India/Burma to train the chindits against Imperial Japanese forces, where he was killed in a military plane crash.

Ø  Ten Boom, Bonhoeffer and Wingate were believers in Yeshua who defended the Jewish people, each in their own way. The fact that most of these Jews were not believers in Yeshua in no way hindered the believers’ activism.

Ø  These true heroes of the faith did not stand on the sidelines doing nothing. Neither did they simply declare that anti-Semitic attacks were understandable because “the Jewish people were under divine discipline.” On the contrary, these men and women threw themselves into the battle, and were mightily used of God to help restore the Jewish people to their Promised Land.

When Messiah Yeshua returns, He will judge the nations based on how they treat the Jewish people (Matthew 25:45; Hebrews 2:11-16) and how the nations divide up the land of Israel (Joel 3:1-2; Zechariah 14:1-4). At that point in time, it will be too late for believers to decide that the “prophetically correct” time has come to be more activist in furthering the restoration of the Jewish people. Now is the time.

Ø  Standing with Israel certainly involves praying the prayer of faith today about Israel’s destinytomorrow.  But let us not be deceived – it also involves the necessity of works today on behalf of the Jewish people’s protection and salvation (see James 2:14-17). “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and sound judgment” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Israel – not standing up to be counted

I have noticed that some believing leaders exhibit a measure of fear when discussing Israel. They are afraid of being typecast by other believers as having gone overboard in their love for Israel, as not being balanced, as ‘going beyond the Bible’ in their expression of biblical convictions about Israel.

It is certainly true that even good causes can have some advocates who are out of balance. Yet these false fears must be confronted head-on.

For someone to have God’s heart for Israel:

ü  It means that one accepts Israel’s priority (Deut. 21:15-17; Exodus 4:22-23; Romans 1:16; 2:5-11; 9:1-5; 11:28-29) in intercession, in evangelism, in international affairs and in rescuing Jewish lives.

ü  It means that one feels the same pains and joys about Israel that YHVH feels (Isaiah 63:9; Hosea 11:1-4,8-9).

ü  It entails night and day passionate intercession for Israel and God’s purposes to be birthed through her (Isaiah 62:1-9).

Ø  People who do these things will face a measure of opposition, of blowback, of negative feedback, of divisions and of strife.  

When you are willing not only to embrace God’s heart for the Jewish people, but also to share the same fate as the Jewish people, even in the present –

ü  People may accuse you of having a primary loyalty to Israel and not to Yeshua. This is due to the fact that they do not understand or embrace the high priority that God places on the Jewish people.

ü  People may accuse you of ‘being for Israel in a way that God is not for Israel.’ This is because they do not understand how deeply God’s heart is for Israel.

ü  People may accuse you of ‘getting lost in Israel.’ This false charge is based on a profound misunderstanding of God’s prophetic heart and ways. A helpful corrective is found in something Mike Bickle told me years ago – that that one day the body of Messiah will begin to get so much revelation about God’s heart for Israel that it will fill their field of vision – it will seem as if they can see nearly nothing else.

Sentiment versus conviction

Some people are afraid that if they stand firmly with God’s heart and purposes for Israel,  they will be accused of being motivated by sentiment and not by Scripture. This fear is usually expressed by male theologians, and is often based on a misunderstanding of the divine origins of emotions.

Human emotions are part of the package called “being created in the image of God.” This means that YHVH has divine emotions, and not only divine intellect. The God of the Bible is not an unflappable and distant Greek deity. He expresses deep emotions for Israel. He longs for Israel, as expressed in passionate avowals like “How can I abandon you, Ephraim? How can I give you up, Israel?” or “In all Israel’s afflictions He was afflicted” etc.

Ø  Let’s not be embarrassed by God’s emotions. God’s sentiments toward Israel are enscripturated, and the result is divine convictions which are both solidly biblical and deeply emotional.

Standing for Israel’s king and for the King of Israel’s people

Rees Howells (free download at www.inspirationalchristians.org/biography/rees-howells), a warrior among intercessors, saw intercession for the restoration, protection and salvation of Israel as an essential calling for all believers. His school prayed for the defeat of Nazi Germany, the protection and victory of Allied forces, and the protection of Israel. Howells was not afraid of being seen as ‘political.’ He was more concerned about being faithful to the heart of the Lord and to the fulfillment of His word regarding the Jewish people.

Ø  Israel’s King cares about His people Israel. When you care about Israel’s King, you also care about the King’s Jewish people. When you stand for Israel’s King, you will find yourself standing for His people as well.

The mystery of Israel (Romans 1:25; Ephesians 3:3-6) truly is about Israel. It is about the God of Israel, the people of Israel, and how YHVH adds multitudes from among the nations to share in what He calls “the commonwealth of Israel” (Ephesians 2:12-13).

Do not be afraid to take your stand in these matters, both in the spirit and on earth. Pray, reach out and extend your hand of rescue to the seed of Jacob. You have it on the Highest  Authority!

Ø  Pray for yourself, your friends, and your congregational leaders – that the God of Israel will grant greater revelation of His heart and greater courage to stand for and with the Jewish people.

Ø  Pray for this revelation to spread throughout the body of Messiah as we prepare for the coming days.

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do!

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES
BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

Donations can also be made on-line (by PayPal) through: www.davidstent.org



Avner and Rachel Boskey of Final Frontier Ministries

Avner and Rachel Boskey live in the Beersheva area of Israel with their four sons. They oversee Final Frontier Ministries, a ministry with offices in Nashville TN dedicated to stirring up the creative arts, worship, intercession, evangelism and the prophetic – within a Jewish and Israeli matrix.

Avner was born and raised in Montreal Canada. He studied at Hebrew University, Jerusalem and McGill University, Montreal (B.A. in Jewish Studies) and at Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M.). In the 1970's he was part of the Messianic Jewish band the Liberated Wailing Wall.

Rachel was born in Minneapolis MN. She founded the Star of David Singers, a Messianic music group and ministered with them in the Americas and Europe. Rachel's heart has been to foster intercession among believers for Israel's salvation and restoration.

Avner and Rachel have been involved for many years in evangelism, congregation planting, Bible teaching, worship and pastoral counseling. Avner has served on the Theological Commission of the United Christian Council in Israel, on the National Evangelism Committee in Israel, and from 1986-93 as associate editor of MISHKAN: a theological journal on Jewish evangelism published in Jerusalem.From 1995-96 they pastored the Messianic Center, a Messianic Jewish congregation in Saint Petersburg Russia.

Avner is the author of the book ‘Israel the Key to World Revival’ and ‘A Perspective on Islam’. Avner and Rachel have released three CDs – ‘Old & New’ (1993), ‘Ancient Gates’ and ‘LaKatzir’ (Hebrew for ‘For the Harvest’), both in 2001 through David’s Tent Music.

You can contact us by mail at the following address.

Support can be sent by mail to the following address, with checks payable to Final Frontier Ministries:Final Frontier Ministries
Box 121971
Nashville TN 37212-1971 USA
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