Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Rabbi Jonathan Bernis Conference - Jewish Voice Ministries
Volunteers - Steve & Laurie Martin, Indira & Edgar Persad
Jewsih Voice Ministries' "A Rabbi Looks at the Last Days"
- Indian Land, SC June 18, 2011
Conference booklet
Israel & Angela Smith - worship leaders
of Jewish Voice Ministries
Jonathan Bernis - President, Jewish Voice Ministries
Jonathan Bernis and Walid Shoebat
Walid Shoebat - author and speaker
Jonathan Bernis and Dr. Larry Bates
Friday, June 17, 2011
Ahava Love Letter - "Wait"
Dear family of friends,
This wasn’t quite what I had imagined. Was this the way it was supposed to turn out? I hadn’t thought so.
Sitting out here, hot, dry and thirsty, watching these creatures wasn’t what I had envisioned the way it would turn out. What about all those words received earlier? Why the sudden change from glory to glum? Whatever happened to the spectacular events that I had determined would be the outcome? After all, wasn’t that the way it was supposed to be?
I sat on the rock. Pondering. Wondering. Asking “what if” over and over again.
Not even a lone bird broke one streak of the summer sun beating down on this forsaken bit of earth. Seemed like this was going to be it. Not at all what I had expected. Or planned for.
As these thoughts rambled over and over again through my head, they also drifted back to what was reality just a few years ago. Second in line to the top man. Ready to use all my training to lead as I knew things should be. Prepared for the hour when everything was right for that stepping out and “do it” moment.
But it didn’t happen that way. My heart saw one thing. My eyes told another. I did what I thought was in my heart to do, and now this.
Sometimes I wonder if this was what Moses thought while sitting there, watching sheep. There isn’t much a shepherd can do out in a desert. Can you imagine, sitting there some 10-12 hours a day, day in and day out, with not much other stimuli going on around you. They must have been long, lonely days. Plenty of time to think such thoughts.
He probably kept beating himself mentally, asking where did he miss it. How did it turn out this way? What was to be seemed that it would not ever become.
What was God saying in all this? What was the purpose now, if not to be the leader of his people, the one to deliver them from their troubles? Why had he blown it, so it appeared?
Desert times are separation times. When there is nothing else that can be done, or ones to turn to for answers, we are meant to wait it out and hope for the best. We are given the opportunity to put our faith and trust into Someone beyond ourselves, our own abilities, our own understanding. We are asked to wait.
Moses didn’t know the end result of his waiting. He couldn’t imagine what the Lord was doing in his heart and spirit during this seemingly wasted time. Forty years of wasted time it looked like. He didn’t see the end result.
But as they say, our time is not His time. I am glad His time is eternity. He knows the end after the beginning.
Ahava to my family of friends,
Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider sending a charitable gift to help us bless Messianic Jews in Israel. Our website http://www.loveforhispeople.com/ lists the opportunities available. You can send checks to the address below. Todah rabah! (Hebrew - Thank you very much.)
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Ahava Love Letter #27 Date: June 21, in the year of our Lord 2011
"Believed (Emunah)" - Dr. Bill Duerfeldt
אמונה Emunah (pronounced: ee-moo-nah’)
One of the most quoted verses about Abraham is Genesis 15:6 – “Then he (Abraham) believed (emunah) the LORD, and it was reckoned unto him as righteousness.” The meaning of this key Scripture – that our salvation rests upon faith, apart from works – is one of the cornerstones of the Judeo-Christian faith. Indeed, Rabbi Sha’ul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul) quoted this Scripture twice (Romans 4:3 and Galatians 3:6), and James, the brother of Yeshua, refers to it in his epistle as well (James 2:23).
It is important to note, however, that the central word in this passage – “believed” – has a slightly different connotation in Hebrew than it does in English. In English [and also in Greek (pistis)] the primary meaning of “believe” is: “to concur with a factual statement, or to agree with the truth of an idea”.
In Hebrew, the word אמונה (emunah) does mean to believe, but it carries with it a much broader implication. Let’s look at two Scriptures in the Tanakh which use the word “emunah”; Scriptures that illustrate the broader Hebrew meaning of this word. In Exodus 17 we read that Moses was required to lift his hands to assure that Israel prevailed in the battle against the Amalekites. The last sentence of verse 12 reads: “Thus his hands were “steady” until the sun set. The word “steady” in this passage of Scripture is the word “enumah”.
Likewise, the word אמונה is also used to describe one of God’s primary characteristics. In Deuteronomy 7:9 it says: “Therefore know that the LORD your God is God. He is the “faithful” God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations…”. Here again, the word translated “faithful” is “emunah”.
In my opinion, one of the greatest aspersions that the “Church” has cast upon the Name and the character of God, is the doctrine of Replacement Theology. This doctrine, so rampant in the “Church” today, claims that since the majority of Jews have rejected Yeshua as the Messiah, therefore God has rejected them. In replacing the Jews, God supposedly has transferred His covenant from Israel to the “Church”. Although this doctrine is accepted and preached by the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the majority of Protestant denominations, it is totally contrary to the Scriptures in both the Tanakh and the Brit Chadeshah.
For example, God speaks of His covenant with Israel three hundred and thirteen times in the Tanakh, and in sixteen of those instances He reminds Israel that His covenant is an “everlasting covenant”! (My dictionary says “everlasting” means “continuing indefinitely; lasting forever”.) Moreover, the Apostle Paul himself asks the rhetorical question, “Has God cast away His people?” and then answers emphatically, “Certainly not!” (Romans 11:1). Second Timothy 2:13 makes the same point – “Even if we are faithless, He is faithful. He cannot deny Himself.”
Finally, consider this -- If Replacement Theology is correct, then what gives the Christian Church the assurance that God will not “change His mind” once again and cast the “Church” aside as He supposedly did to Israel? Indeed, the doctrine of Replacement Theology is such a smear on the integrity of the God of Israel, that in my mind it is tantamount to blasphemy of His Holy Name.
Of all the characteristics of God (mercy, lovingkindness, compassion, and the others) it is God’s “emunah” that, to me, stands out above the rest. “Emunah”, in the Hebraic sense, is much more than agreement to a set of facts or circumstances; more than simply a mental assent to something. It implies “steadfastness” and “faithfulness” toward the object of our belief. This is how God acts toward us, and how He wants us to act toward Him and toward others. As James points out in James 2:19 -- even Satan believes the truth about Yeshua. But mere believing will not save him. Satan believes, but he does not have emunah toward the LORD.
What God saw in Abraham, and what He is seeking in us, is not simple “belief”. What He is seeking is אמונה. He is looking for a steadfast faithfulness in us. It is a faithfulness that is not dependent upon the circumstances that confront us moment to moment, but rather a faithfulness which is grounded and anchored on the Rock of our Salvation – Yeshua HaMashiach – Jesus the Messiah.
May אמונה be found in all of us – and may God “reckon it unto us as righteousness”.
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One of the most quoted verses about Abraham is Genesis 15:6 – “Then he (Abraham) believed (emunah) the LORD, and it was reckoned unto him as righteousness.” The meaning of this key Scripture – that our salvation rests upon faith, apart from works – is one of the cornerstones of the Judeo-Christian faith. Indeed, Rabbi Sha’ul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul) quoted this Scripture twice (Romans 4:3 and Galatians 3:6), and James, the brother of Yeshua, refers to it in his epistle as well (James 2:23).
It is important to note, however, that the central word in this passage – “believed” – has a slightly different connotation in Hebrew than it does in English. In English [and also in Greek (pistis)] the primary meaning of “believe” is: “to concur with a factual statement, or to agree with the truth of an idea”.
In Hebrew, the word אמונה (emunah) does mean to believe, but it carries with it a much broader implication. Let’s look at two Scriptures in the Tanakh which use the word “emunah”; Scriptures that illustrate the broader Hebrew meaning of this word. In Exodus 17 we read that Moses was required to lift his hands to assure that Israel prevailed in the battle against the Amalekites. The last sentence of verse 12 reads: “Thus his hands were “steady” until the sun set. The word “steady” in this passage of Scripture is the word “enumah”.
Likewise, the word אמונה is also used to describe one of God’s primary characteristics. In Deuteronomy 7:9 it says: “Therefore know that the LORD your God is God. He is the “faithful” God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations…”. Here again, the word translated “faithful” is “emunah”.
In my opinion, one of the greatest aspersions that the “Church” has cast upon the Name and the character of God, is the doctrine of Replacement Theology. This doctrine, so rampant in the “Church” today, claims that since the majority of Jews have rejected Yeshua as the Messiah, therefore God has rejected them. In replacing the Jews, God supposedly has transferred His covenant from Israel to the “Church”. Although this doctrine is accepted and preached by the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the majority of Protestant denominations, it is totally contrary to the Scriptures in both the Tanakh and the Brit Chadeshah.
For example, God speaks of His covenant with Israel three hundred and thirteen times in the Tanakh, and in sixteen of those instances He reminds Israel that His covenant is an “everlasting covenant”! (My dictionary says “everlasting” means “continuing indefinitely; lasting forever”.) Moreover, the Apostle Paul himself asks the rhetorical question, “Has God cast away His people?” and then answers emphatically, “Certainly not!” (Romans 11:1). Second Timothy 2:13 makes the same point – “Even if we are faithless, He is faithful. He cannot deny Himself.”
Finally, consider this -- If Replacement Theology is correct, then what gives the Christian Church the assurance that God will not “change His mind” once again and cast the “Church” aside as He supposedly did to Israel? Indeed, the doctrine of Replacement Theology is such a smear on the integrity of the God of Israel, that in my mind it is tantamount to blasphemy of His Holy Name.
Of all the characteristics of God (mercy, lovingkindness, compassion, and the others) it is God’s “emunah” that, to me, stands out above the rest. “Emunah”, in the Hebraic sense, is much more than agreement to a set of facts or circumstances; more than simply a mental assent to something. It implies “steadfastness” and “faithfulness” toward the object of our belief. This is how God acts toward us, and how He wants us to act toward Him and toward others. As James points out in James 2:19 -- even Satan believes the truth about Yeshua. But mere believing will not save him. Satan believes, but he does not have emunah toward the LORD.
What God saw in Abraham, and what He is seeking in us, is not simple “belief”. What He is seeking is אמונה. He is looking for a steadfast faithfulness in us. It is a faithfulness that is not dependent upon the circumstances that confront us moment to moment, but rather a faithfulness which is grounded and anchored on the Rock of our Salvation – Yeshua HaMashiach – Jesus the Messiah.
May אמונה be found in all of us – and may God “reckon it unto us as righteousness”.
Dr. Bill Duerfeldt
Asheville, North Carolina
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Shavu'ot - Dr. Bill Duerfeldt
Shavu’ot
Let’s look at Leviticus 23:1-4.
“And the LORD spoke unto Moses saying, Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are My appointed feasts, the appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy assemblies. These are My feasts…These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies which you are to proclaim at their appointed times.”
Notice the emphasis: These are the Feasts of the Lord. These are not “Jewish Feasts”. God says: ‘These are My Feasts’.
The NAS says “These are the Lord’s appointed Times” which is a very good translation, because the Hebrew word here is “mo’a’dim” which literally means “an appointed meeting” or “an appointment”. I’m a physician. My patients made appointments to see me. When one makes an appointment with one’s doctor there are certain expectations? First, one expects the doctor to be there and secondly, the doctor expects the patient to be there too. Right? Well, these mo’a’dim are like that. Essentially God is saying: “I’m making an appointment with you. At these appointed times of the year I – God – am going to show up and I expect you to be there too.”
I’m dating myself, I know, but I’m reminded of a line in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977). Richard Dreyfus, in the movie, is constantly repeating: “This is important. This means something.” My comment about these scriptures is this: This is important. This means something. We Gentile Christians have been saying: Oh, that’s Old Testament stuff; we don’t need to do that. And that’s true: we don’t “need” to. God doesn’t love us any less. But He has been faithfully showing up for His feasts for over three thousand years and we Gentiles are missing out on all the blessings and all the joy. This is important. This means something. J
Of the Feasts of Lord, three are especially important:
- Pesach (Passover);
- Shavu’ot (Pentecost);
- Succot (Tabernacles).
- These three feasts are also called “Pilgrim Feasts”, because every able-bodied Jewish male was to make a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem
This past April we celebrated Passover and Resurrection Sunday. Now we have entered the season of Shavu’ot or Pentecost.
Shavu’ot comes from the Hebrew word Sheva which means Seven, and so Shavu’ot means weeks. The full name is Hag Shavu’ot (the Festival of Weeks) and is the second great Feast of the Lord on the Jewish calendar.
The LORD said to Moses, “From the day after Shabbat, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Shabbat, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.”
Shavu’ot, therefore, is not tied to a particular calendar date as are Pesach and Sukkot, but rather occurs exactly 50 days after Pesach. In English, we call the festival Pentecost, from the Greek word meaning “fifty days”. One may ask, “Why do we need to count the days from Pesach to Shavu’ot? Why didn’t God just say that the feast was on such and such a date as He did with Pesach, Sukkot, Yom Kippur and the others?” The rabbis have several answers, but one of my favorites is this – God wanted us to always look back at Pesach – to reflect on the fact that He obtained our freedom from Egypt, and, through the Messiah’s death, burial and resurrection, He also redeemed us from the consequences of sin. To fully and correctly celebrate Shavu’ot, therefore, we must always begin with Pesach!
Agriculturally, this holiday commemorates the time when the first fruits are harvested in Israel
The Jewish rabbis and sages tell us that the Torah (the five books of Moses) was given from God to Moses on Mt. Sinai
And, of course, Shavu’ot was when the Ruach HaKodesh was first poured out upon all the early Believers. More on that in a moment.
Other Shavu’ot customs include the idea that Shavu’ot was the marriage between God and the Jewish people. As a bride counts down the days until her wedding, so we (the Bride of Messiah) count down the days between Passover and Pentecost as we are united with God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Also, some Messianic Jewish Believers in Yeshua consider the tongues of fire that covered the heads of the disciples at Pentecost, was like a chuppah or wedding canopy that God Himself placed over the Believers who were first baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Another custom is the reading of the book of Ruth. It was during the Spring harvest that Ruth was gleaning in the field of Boaz and met her “kinsman redeemer”. Also, it was Ruth (a gentile) who identified herself with the Jewish people. She said to her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi -- "Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and I will live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” God honored Ruth’s commitment to the Jews, and she became the grandmother of King David, and through David, an ancestor of our Messiah Yeshua.
Another Jewish tradition on Shavu’ot is to decorate the home and place of worship with greenery, and to eat dairy and sweets, to remind us that Israel is a land flowing with milk and honey. My favorite is a cherry cheesecake!!
Finally, because the Torah was given on Shavu’ot, it is customary for the Jews to stay up all night studying the Torah, and then praying at dawn on the first morning of Shavu’ot. To this very day the Jews continue to gather in the synagogues throughout the world for this ritual.
In Yeshua’s day, if they were in Jerusalem, they gathered in the Temple, which was called “HaBy’eet” – The House, i.e., The House of the Lord. In fact, today, in Israel, the Temple Mount, where the “Dome of the Rock” now sits, is still called in Hebrew -- Har HaBay’eet, “The Mountain of The House.”
You may recall that Yeshua Himself referred to The Temple in this way. At age 12 when Mary and Joseph found Him in the Temple, He asked – “Why did you look for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in HaBy’eet Avi?” -- The House of My Father? (Luke 2:49).
Let’s look at Acts 2:1-4. Dr. Luke writes: “And when the morning of Shavu’ot had fully come they [the disciples] were all together in one place.” (Why were they all together? What were they doing? There is no question in my mind about it. As was the custom then, and continues today, they were praying and they were studying Torah.) “And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting…and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4). How remarkable that both the Torah and the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) were given to men by God on exactly the same day – Shavu’ot!
There is a long standing tradition that this event occurred in the Upper Room, but is that what the Scriptures actually say? Notice the words “the house”, and remember that Luke is writing primarily to Jewish Believers. To the Jewish reader and to Jewish ears, The House (HaBy’eet) is always synonymous with The Temple.
I believe that Luke is telling us that the disciples had been up all night studying Torah in The Temple and then praying at dawn as was – and is – the Jewish custom to this day. It was during these morning Temple Jerusalem
On this Festival of First Fruits – Shavu’ot -- may He who is the giver of every good and perfect gift grant to all of us a life full of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” -- the “Fruits of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23). Hag Semeach! (Happy Holiday!)
Dr. Bill Duerfeldt
Asheville, N.C.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
israel today Magazine
Netanyahu on Jerusalem Day: This city is ours!
Wednesday, June 01, 2011 | Ryan Jones
As Israel marked the 44th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Israel would never allow the city to be again divided. "Forty-four years ago, IDF soldiers realized the prophets' vision and returned Jerusalem to its proper place," Netanyahu said, referring to the liberation of the eastern half of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War.
Speaking at Jerusalem's Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, which has long been at the forefront of religious Zionism, Netanyahu continued: "Jerusalem will never be divided. There's nothing more holy to us than Jerusalem, we'll protect Jerusalem, it's unity, and we'll build and develop it."
US President Barack Obama and other Western leaders have been pushing hard to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks based on Arab demands that Israel return to its pre-1967 borders.
For its part, the Palestinian leadership insists it will never sign a peace deal with Israel that does not include the full surrender of the eastern half of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount. But a Jerusalem Day poll revealed that a strong majority of Israelis remain firmly behind Netanyahu's policies, and do not agree to divide Jerusalem even as part of a comprehensive peace agreement.
Conducted by the Geocartography Knowledge Group on behalf of Israel's Channel One News, the survey showed that 66 percent of Israelis oppose handing over any part of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority. A 23 percent minority said they would be willing to surrender Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, a compromise the Palestinian Authority has already rejected.
An even larger 73 percent majority opposed placing Jerusalem's holy sites under international control, a proposal that first came up during former US President Bill Clinton's oversight of the peace process.
Rather than talk about how to divide Jerusalem, 67 percent of Israelis want to simply get on with building up and developing the city as the capital of Israel.
Speaking at Jerusalem's Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, which has long been at the forefront of religious Zionism, Netanyahu continued: "Jerusalem will never be divided. There's nothing more holy to us than Jerusalem, we'll protect Jerusalem, it's unity, and we'll build and develop it."
US President Barack Obama and other Western leaders have been pushing hard to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks based on Arab demands that Israel return to its pre-1967 borders.
For its part, the Palestinian leadership insists it will never sign a peace deal with Israel that does not include the full surrender of the eastern half of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount. But a Jerusalem Day poll revealed that a strong majority of Israelis remain firmly behind Netanyahu's policies, and do not agree to divide Jerusalem even as part of a comprehensive peace agreement.
Conducted by the Geocartography Knowledge Group on behalf of Israel's Channel One News, the survey showed that 66 percent of Israelis oppose handing over any part of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority. A 23 percent minority said they would be willing to surrender Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, a compromise the Palestinian Authority has already rejected.
An even larger 73 percent majority opposed placing Jerusalem's holy sites under international control, a proposal that first came up during former US President Bill Clinton's oversight of the peace process.
Rather than talk about how to divide Jerusalem, 67 percent of Israelis want to simply get on with building up and developing the city as the capital of Israel.
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