Blessings Await Christians Who Bless the Jews

Blessings Await Christians Who Bless the Jews
Part 4 of a 4 Part Series

Jim Croft

Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the     families of the earth shall be blessed."

Almighty God closely monitors the attitudes and actions of individual and nations toward his Chosen people, the Jews.  Individuals and nations that bless Israel and the Jewish people can anticipate temporal and eternal blessing for kindness demonstrated toward the Jews.  There are spiritual and tangible material blessings connected to cultivating an attitude of respect toward Israel and for exercising compassion toward Jews in adverse situations.

Identifying the Lord’s Brothers

When Christians read Jesus’ words in Matt 25:31-46, most don’t consider the full implications of what he said.  Throughout the centuries believers have read the Lord’s statements and have been inspired to launch ministries to prison inmates; the impoverished and to those struck by national disasters.  That is well and good.  However, more often than not those ministries only target people who qualify as the Lord’s kinsmen in the sense that God created them and cares for them. 

The Lord has another group of people who are his ethnic kinsmen in the natural.  It is the Jews.  Normally speaking, the Jews scattered throughout the earth are left out of the mercy ministry equation and so is the nation of Israel.  Few Christian outreaches specifically target Jews imprisoned in ghettos and those reduced to poverty by the many nations that have anti-Semitic political policies.   How many nations are first responders to aid Israeli’s whose limbs and homes are blasted to smithereens by the rockets and homicide bombs of Islamic terrorist groups?   I don’t know of any.
 
The Lord warned of judgment against the churches of the Book of Revelations that were only partially obedient to his commands.  Nations that neglect the plight of the Jews will not have placement in the Millennial Kingdom.  Those that bless Israel and the Jews can expect the manifold blessings of life in the Kingdom.

Prophet’s Reward

Jesus was a Jewish prophet.  Many Christians envision their ministries as an aspect of the prophesied restoration of the ministry of the Jewish prophet, Elijah.  Jesus proclaimed that anyone who gives so much as a sip of water in the name of a prophet would receive a prophet’s reward. 

What is a prophet’s reward?  It is extraordinary supernatural help in times of trouble.  The widow of Zarephath shared her last bits of food with Elijah.  For the duration of the famine, her flour bin was supernaturally replenished and her oil jar never lacked sufficient supply.  Her son died of a sudden illness and Elijah raised him from the dead. (1 Kg 17:9-23)

Material $ Spiritual Blessings

Psa 122:6-9 dictates that all believers who love Jerusalem and pray for her will be rewarded with prosperity. 

When the Jewish elders of Jesus' day wanted him to come and heal a Gentile centurion's servant they knew that they would have to give him a good reason.  When Jesus heard that the man loved the Jewish people and had built them a synagogue, he sent a deposit of healing power to the man's home and the servant was healed. (Luke 7:2-10)

The first incident of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Gentiles for salvation and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit was prompted by the righteous acts of one Gentile Centurion toward the Jewish people.  The angel of the Lord told Cornelius that his habit of giving alms to Jews had been noticed in heaven.  God labeled the Gentile’s acts of kindness as a memorial that qualified him for divine favor.  As a result, the Spirit graced all of the Centurion’s friends and relatives with the gift of eternal life.  (Act 10:1-5, 24, 34-48)

Christians who honor the Jewish people can anticipate that relatives and friends whom they want to see saved and immersed in the Spirit to have supernatural encounters with God.

United In Christ

We must come to understand that the Lord never intended that there be ongoing animosity between Christians and Jews.  One of the primary reasons for Jesus' death on the cross was to break down the wall of enmity between Gentile believers and Jews.  We are to be reconciled to create one new man from the two.  As we allow the Lord to cleanse the anti-Semitism from our hearts, we qualify to become the completed habitation of God in the Spirit.  This is the clear teaching of the following passage from the book of Ephesians.

Ephes.2:11-22:   Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands--  [12] that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope  and without God in the world.  [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  [14] For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,  [15] having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,  [16] and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.  [17] And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.  [18] For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.  [19] Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  [20] having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone,  [21] in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  [22] in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Please note the words two, both and together.  They refer to Gentiles who were afar off from God’s covenant with the Israel prior to salvation and the words also refer to born-again Jews.  Through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus, both groups have access through the Holy Spirit into the fullness of the Father's blessings.  We are to recognize that we are joined as one as the unified dwelling place of the Godhead.

If we repent of our ignorant neglect of this vital truth the Scriptures give ample precedent that the Father's blessings of everything from household salvation to financial prosperity will surely follow.  Gentiles Christians need those attestations if they are to fulfill their Godly mission to the Jews.
 Part of our commission as the people of God is to provoke the Jews, to jealousy.  (Romans 10:19, 11:11)  The provocation is activated as Jews see the covenant blessings that belong to them coming upon Gentile Christians.  It must be stated that Jews seldom have reason to be envious of Christians.  On the whole, Jews are creative, industrious people who are well known for their achievements in every area of life beneficial to mankind.

Unfortunately, it is not commonplace for Christians of fervent testimony to have the same measure of distinction.   Though many Gentile believers speak of the abundant life that Jesus promised, there are not significant numbers demonstrating it in a manner impressive to Jews.

Christians often boast, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philip.  4:13)  A pragmatic Jews response might be: “Just what have you done through Christ that is more notable than what we have accomplished without Christ”?

The Church that helps pave the way for the end-time harvest of the Jews will need to cultivate apprehending faith that bears evidence that God’s blessings reside on its Gentile membership.  Miraculous signs, wonders and marketplace achievements must become commonplace among us. 
The Jewish disciples who attracted 3,000 to the Lord on the Day of Pentecost were prophesying about the glorious works that God would do among his people in the end-times.  Clever sermons will not convince the Jewish people of the Lordship of Christ.  They will not be moved to investigate Christ’s authenticity as their Messiah unless they see objective proof that he is alive and is performing miraculous healings and improving the lives of Gentiles whom they have historically shunned.  The visible evidence of the Holy Spirit’s anointing on our lives will prepare them to accept their coming revelation that Jesus is indeed Jewish and their King.

Faith’s Response

Father, I ask forgiveness for any degree of prejudice and anti-Semitism that I have held in my heart.  Lord, I thank you for all the blessings that you have afforded me through the many contributions which your chosen people have made to enhance my life.  Lord Jesus, the Jews are your kinsmen in the flesh and I embrace them as my brothers in the Spirit.  I praise you for allowing me to see the full restoration of Israel in my lifetime.  Lord, I ask you to begin your move on Jewish hearts.  Send your Holy Spirit to visit them with revelations of their Messiah.

Christians who want to bless Jewish immigrants to Israel can do so through the ministry of Joseph’s Storehouse/Vision for Israel.  I have known the founders for decades.  They are among my most reliable friends.

 http://www.visionforisrael.com/

Sources

The historical data contained in this book was derived from research of the following:
The Long Way Home, 1997 HBO documentary.
The Last Word On The Middle East, Derek Prince, Chosen Books Pub.
The Anguish Of The Jews, Edward H. Flannery, Macmillan Pub.
The Jewish Connection, M. Hirsh Goldberg, Bantam Books Pub.
Israel America’s Key To Survival, Mike Evans, Logos International Pub.
The Christian History Institute’s website http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/

All Scripture references are quoted from the New King James Version.

Be blessed and be a blessing,

Jim Croft

jcm888@comcast.net

Poll Shows Americans Like Netanyahu

Poll Shows Americans Like Netanyahu

Prime Minister Netanyahu, whose rating in Israel has slipped slightly, enjoys a favorable image in a recent poll in the United States.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

First Publish: 7/31/2012

Netanyahu addressing Congress

Israel news photo: GPO

 

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whose rating in Israel has slipped to some extent, enjoys a favorable image in a recent Gallup poll in the United States.

Of the 60 percent of the respondents who said they were familiar enough with him to give a rating, 35 percent had a positive view of him compared with only 23 percent having a negative view. The results were astonishingly similar to a poll carried out in 1999 when Netanyahu was serving his first term as Prime Minister.

Gallup’s survey was carried out two weeks ago in advance of presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel and meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier this week. Gallup did not detail why respondents have a good image of Netanyahu, but the positive results indicate that the poor relations between him and President Barack Obama in the first half of the president’s term of office did not damage the Prime Minister’s image.

Given opposition of Republicans to Obama’s foreign policy, particularly towards Israel, the undiplomatic receptions Obama previously gave the Prime Minister may even have been to Netanyahu’s advantage, especially since they were widely publicized.

“Americans have a more positive than negative view of Netanyahu, perhaps due to their favorable attitudes toward Israel more generally,” Gallup noted. “Netanyahu's ratings in the U.S. are aided in large part by Republicans' positive opinions of him. Democrats tend to view him more negatively than positively, perhaps due to his ideological leanings but also his recent disagreements with President Obama.”

Regardless of Netanyahu’s favorable image, it will have a limited spillover effect for Romney because Israel is a back-burner issue for most Americans, including Jews.

A poll in a New York district where 31 percent of the voters are Jewish, showed that only six percent of the voters thought Israel was the most important election issue.

“Israel has not been at the top of the Jewish agenda for years. In the last presidential election it ranked eighth out of 15 issues, behind healthcare, gasoline prices, energy, taxes and education, according to former American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbyist Doug Bloomfield, quoted by Gestetner Updates.

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6139670746694843000#editor/target=post;postID=9064156817725161659

Remains of Jews Massacred on Temple Mount Found?

Remains of Jews Massacred on Temple Mount Found?

Journalist shows video of mass grave just outside eastern wall of Temple Mount.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 7/30/2012

Temple Mount, Old City

 

The remains of thousands of Jews massacred by the Romans on the Temple Mount during the destruction of the Second Temple may have been uncovered, according to veteran archaeological journalist Benny Liss.

According to daily newspaper Israel HaYom, Liss screened a video clearly showing thousands of human skeletons in what appears to be a mass grave.

Liss "told the amazed audience that the film had been shot in a spacious, underground cavern in the area of the Mercy Gate [Sha'ar Harachamim in Hebrew, a sealed gate in the wall of the Old City, opposite the Mount of Olives, ed.], near the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, but just outside it," the newspaper reported. Liss raised the possibility that the skeletons were the remains of 6,000 Jews, mostly women and children, killed on the Temple Mount when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple.

The massacre is described in the writings of Josephus Flavius, who defected from the Jewish to the Roman side and witnessed the destruction.

The movie shows Liss entering the cave, followed by a lighting technician and cameraman. The three first pass through a narrow passage and then enter the cave with the skeletal remains. As soon as Liss left the cave, Antiquities Authority (IAA) staff resealed the entrance to it, he said.

"The Romans stayed on the Temple Mount for a month after the destruction of the Temple until going on to conquer the upper city [today's Jewish Quarter],” says Liss. “They had to get rid of the thousands of decomposing bodies and the most obvious place to do this would have been the natural caves on the upper slope of the mount, around Mercy Gate."

Asked why he waited until now to release his findings, Liss said that he was worried that they would "ignite the situation" between Jews and Arabs and wanted to wait for a better time.

Senior archaeologists approached by Israel HaYom with photographs of the skeletons said that they were not enough to determine the history of the cave. Samples need to be taken from the site and dated, they said, before deciding that the mass grave holds Jews and not Muslims.

The IAA itself said that it was not familiar with the findings.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/158417

Romney: Deeply moving to be in Jerusalem, Israel's capital

Romney: Deeply moving to be in Jerusalem, Israel's capital

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, HERB KEINON , JPOST STAFF

07/29/2012

US Republican presidential candidate stresses shared values between US, Israel in J'lem foreign policy speech; says diplomatic distance between Israel and US emboldens the Jewish state's adversaries.

Photo: Screenshot

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivered a foreign policy speech in Jerusalem on Sunday, saying it was a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, "the capital of Israel."

Romney stated that not only did Israel and the US hold shared interests, the two countries hold "shared values," despite the 5000 miles between them.



Addressing Iran, Romney said that the US has a "solemn duty" not to let Iran's leaders act on their malevolent intentions toward Israel. He stated that history teaches that when despotic regimes secure weapons, peace gives way to violence.

Romney added that while he hopes diplomatic measures and economic sanctions will stop Iran's nuclear drive, no option should be excluded to stop a nuclear Iran.

Romney called Israel's security a "vital national interest" of the US. "Israel must defend itself and it is right for us to stand with you," said Romney.

In what appeared to be veiled criticism of US President Barack Obama, Romney said that standing by Israel meant more than just providing military aid. He said that the diplomatic distance between the US and Israel serves to embolden Israel's enemies.



Following the Olympic Committee's decision not to hold a minute of silence to remember the 11 Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack, Romney made a point to honor the victims in his speech, which was met by applause from the audience.

The Republican candidate praised Israel, the "start-up nation," for its "cutting-edge technology," thriving economy, democratic values and freedom of press.

"I love this country, I love America, I love the friendship we have," Romney stated as he concluded his speech.

Romney was in Israel for a two-day diplomatic visit during which he met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, opposition leader Shaul Mofaz, President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Following his speech, Netanyahu thanked Romney for his warm words. On his part, Romney wrote the prime minister a letter thanking him for his warm hospitality and lasting friendship. "Your service for peace is an inspiration," he wrote.

Before taking off, he is scheduled to host a fund-raiser at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on Monday morning.

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=279326

Muslims, Christians clash over Garden Tomb

Muslims, Christians clash over Garden Tomb

Friday, July 27, 2012 | Shlomo Mordechai

A dispute over a holy place in Jerusalem is threatening the delicate status quo between Christians and Muslims in the Holy City, with Israel caught in the middle. The Garden Tomb outside the Old City walls, with an ancient tomb carved into a rock, resembles the place where Jesus was buried according to biblical accounts.

Some Protestants believe it is the very place of Jesus’ resurrection, though most archaeologists place the actual site at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City.

The serenity of the site has been disturbed by the expansion of a Muslim cemetery adjacent to the Garden Tomb. Though the construction was approved by the Jerusalem Municipality, it is threatening the physical integrity of the Christian holy place, according to an investigative report by the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23317/language/en-US/Default.aspx

The Jews' Wailing Place -- Photographed 150 Years Ago

The Jews' Wailing Place -- Photographed 150 Years Ago

"The Jews' Wailing Place" (circa 1860)

A version of this article appears in the Jerusalem Post Magazine, July 27, 2012
This high-resolution photo of the Kotel was taken by Peter Bergheim (1813-1875), one of the first resident photographers in the Holy Land. He set up a photography studio in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem; his family owned a bank inside the Jaffa Gate.

A converted Jew, Bergheim was well aware of the holy sites of Jerusalem. Three of his pictures were reproduced by the British Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Charles Wilson, who, in 1864, was one of the first surveyors of Jerusalem -- above and below the surface of the ground.

To put the photograph in chronological perspective, the picture was taken when Abraham Lincoln was president of the United States, Queen Victoria was in the middle of her reign, and disciples of the Gaon of Vilna had finished building the "Hurva" synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City.

Besides the massive American Colony Photographers’ collection of more than 20,000 photos (taken between 1898 and 1946), the Library of Congress archives also contain ancient photos by 19^th century photographers Bonfils, Bergheim, Frith, and Good.

A similar perspective of the Kotel taken by the
American Colony photographers 80 years later
(circa 1940)

Until now, the Library has not opened these photos to online viewers, citing copyright restrictions. At the request of this writer, the Library has assured that within days several of these historic photos will go online with no restrictions and with truly unusual resolution. They will, of course, also appear on these pages.

Photograph (1869) by French photographer Félix
Bonfils (1831-1885) who opened a studio in
Beirut in 1867. Might this be a self-portrait?
(Ken and Jenny Jacobson Oriental Collection,
Library, Getty Research Institute)



http://www.israeldailypicture.com/2012/07/the-jews-wailing-place-photographed-150.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IsraelsHistory-APictureADaybeta+%28Israel%27s+History+-+a+Picture+a+Day+%28Beta%29%29

Romney overseas tour a chance to showcase Netanyahu friendship

By Joseph Weber

Published July 25, 2012

FoxNews.com

• Shown here are Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. (AP)

Mitt Romney set out Wednesday on an international journey that will allow the business-minded candidate to burnish his foreign policy creds and showcase something he has that President Obama doesn't -- a longstanding personal relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While an incumbent president almost always has the advantage when it comes to foreign policy, the Republican challenger could use his six-day tour to highlight Obama's alleged trust deficit with Israel. And what better way for Romney to do that than by spending quality time with his former colleague, who also happens to lead Israel?

The connection between Romney and Netanyahu goes back decades. It started in the mid-1970s when they were corporate consultants at the Boston Consulting Group and has lasted nearly 40 years -- with Netanyahu, the world-wise politician, occasionally offering advice to Romney, the successful financier turned politician.

Yet the friendship until recently had gone largely unnoticed, or at least until Romney emerged as the likely 2012 GOP presidential nominee and during a primary debate brought attention to it.

Responding to a controversial statement Newt Gingrich had made about Palestinians, Romney said: "Before I made a statement of that nature, I'd get on the phone to my friend Bibi Netanyahu" and ask for his advice.

Though Republican and Democratic strategists differ over what impact Romney's trip will have on the November election, both sides agree Israel is an essential U.S. ally in the unstable Middle East and that Romney will surely make the most of his relationship with Netanyahu.

"Israel is paramount to peace in the Middle East, more so than places like France, Great Britain and China," said Tyler Harber, a Republican strategist and partner in the Washington-area firm Harcom Strategies. He said Romney aides realize the strategic importance of the Israel stop -- between scheduled visits to England and Poland -- because they know American voters pay close attention to Israel and forging strong ties in that country could help Romney improve his stature among Jewish voters back home who typically vote Democrat.

"They understand what's important is this environment," Harber said. "And the visuals of going to Israel are good."

Romney's visit also highlights the trouble the Obama administration has had with Israel, and the fact that the president hasn't visited Israel since taking office -- though he did visit during the 2008 campaign.

U.S. relations with Israel have always been complicated, but political analysts say Obama made the situation more difficult by attempting -- at least initially -- to build bridges with such bitter Israeli enemies as Iran.

As recently as Tuesday, Romney seized on that point during a speech at the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, describing the U.S. attitude toward Israel as "shabby treatment."

"President Obama is fond of lecturing Israel's leaders," Romney said. "The people of Israel deserve better than what they have received from the leader of the free world. And the chorus of accusations, threats and insults at the United Nations should never again include the voice of the president of the United States."

Obama addressed the same convention a day earlier, though, and shared at least one common theme with Romney. They both said the 21st Century must be an "American Century." Still, Netanyahu remains publicly neutral in the 2012 race, knowing, as Harber points out, that "backing the wrong horse would hurt his position."

Netanyahu, when asked earlier this week on "Fox News Sunday" about the race, said: "You're not going to pull me into your politics."

Though Democrats and Republicans agree, even for different reasons, that Romney must make such a trip to prove his foreign diplomacy skills, they also concede it has become almost a right-of-passage for a presidential candidate considering the big trip Obama made during his 2008 campaign and others.

"These trips are pro forma," said Ben Tulchin, Democratic strategist and president of San Francisco-based Tulchin Research. "The candidates want to create a picture of them going as commander in chief."

Tulchin thinks the trip will at least help Romney change the narrative about his career at Bain Capital and whether the private equity firm outsourced U.S. jobs under his leadership.

He also thinks Romney is taking a risk by "playing on the opponent's turf," considering Obama's foreign policy record and how difficult it could be for Romney to use a successful trip to help win Jewish votes.

"The Obama campaign would love the debate to be about foreign policy," Tulchin said.

Tyler Griffin, a Republican strategist and partner in Washington-based Hamilton Place Strategies, points out that Obama's perceived concessions to countries hostile to the U.S. and Israel essentially occurred early in his administration but that Romney still must travel to Israel to "make his case for being president."

He also said that in such a close race, with Florida perhaps being the pivotal state, winning over even a small percentage of Jewish voters might be critical.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/25/romney-overseas-tour-chance-to-showcase-netanyahu-friendship/


 

Archeology again appears to back up biblical account

Archeology again appears to back up biblical account

Thursday, July 26, 2012 | Ryan Jones

Israeli archeologists digging at the site of an ancient Canaanite capital in the Galilee region believe they have found further evidence that the biblical account of Israel's presence in the land is accurate.
Tel Hazor is one of the most prominent archeological sites in the country today, and with good reason. The ancient city of Hazor was for nearly one thousand years the largest fortified city in Canaan prior to the arrival of the Children of Israel in roughly 1300 BC.

Israeli researchers have managed to uncover a great deal of ancient Hazor, and in recent years unearthed what they believe to be the royal palace from the time of the Israelite conquest. More recently, archeologists discovered a room in that palace that contained 14 clay jugs filled with burnt wheat.

Dating on the jugs put the time of their destruction right around 1300 BC, and the fact that the wheat was burned lines up perfectly with the biblical account of Joshua's conquest of Hazor, the only Canaanite city that the Israelites destroyed by fire.

Not all archeologists agree with this assessment, and some continue to insist that Hazor was destroyed by the Egyptians or various sea-faring tribes like the Philistines. However, the Egyptians kept detailed records of the cities they conquered, and Hazor does not appear on any of their lists. Nor did the Philistines and other "Sea Peoples" typically venture too far inland, and Hazor is situated in mountainous terrain a long distance from the coast.

As such, most archeologists have come to accept that Hazor was destroyed by the Israelites, lending a great deal of legitimacy to the biblical record. And new discoveries only seem to be further bolstering that position.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23315/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Israel Defends Report Legitimizing Jewish Communities

CBN News report

JERUSALEM, Israel -- The U.S. State Department condemned new findings by an official Israeli committee, which determined that establishing Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria is legal under international law.

The Levy Commission, appointed Jan. 4, released its 89-page report on Monday.

"We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity and we oppose any effort to legalize outposts," Patrick Ventrell, a State Department spokesmen, said at a press conference in Washington.

The Palestinian Authority joined a chorus of rejections by left-wing groups and politicians, including Israeli attorney Talia Sasson, who produced a report in 2005 for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In her report, Sasson claimed that 105 Jewish communities built between 1991 and 2005 were illegal and should be dismantled. The Levy report, chaired by retired Supreme Court Judge Edmond Levy, is the first to be issued since then.

Several Israeli papers commented on the Levy Committee's recommendations.

"Whoever told Talia Sasson, a former Meretz Knesset candidate, to write a report on outposts in Judea and Samaria invited in advance a recommendation to wipe them off the face of the earth; and whoever later told a committee headed by Edmund Levy to summarize the settlements issue, invited in advance a recommendation to wipe the Sasson Report off the face of the earth," Yisrael Hayom reported.

"If Israel was to stop defining itself as bound by various international treaties and the rule of law, global pressure on it would increase to unprecedented dimensions. The Right wouldn't care. The Left yearns for outside pressure," the report stated.

Former Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni said diplomacy is more critical than legality in determining a future peace deal with the Palestinian Authority, "considering the current reality."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who established the Levy Commission, called the report "important because it deals with the legalization and the legitimization of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria on the basis of facts and arguments that should be seriously considered."

Netanyahu presented the panel's findings to the Ministerial Committee on Settlements, which is authorized to implement the report.

Meanwhile, Undersecretary of State William Burns is slated to visit Israel this week, followed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton next week.

Both are expected to try again to restart direct talks between the P.A. and Israel.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/July/US-Slams-Report-Legitimizing-Jewish-Communities/

Highway To Zion Assembly - Aug. 10

Cathy Hargett - Founder/Director

Shalom, Shalom, Friends!!

We have another exciting Assembly coming up on Friday, August 10th!  Please mark your calendars and save the date! 

We will hear from Carolyn and Richard Hyde of Heart of God Ministries in Tiberias.  Carolyn is an anointed Messianic song-writer, singer, and musician and is renowned in the Land and around the world.  And their ministry, Heart of God, has a very unique role in teaching on and assisting others to make aliyah and to embrace the Lord's heart for Israel and the Jewish people in these last days.  Please visit their website to learn more about them -  www.heartofg-d.org. 

Another awesome part of their website is the link to Scriptures about these last days - when you get to their site, click on that link that reads:  "See key Scriptures on G-d's heart for Israel here", and you will be blessed with wonderful Scriptural background.  It's one of the best and most concise compilations of Scriptures on this subject I've seen.

Last year our Highway to Zion tour group visited the Hydes in their home where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and ate on the rooftop of their home where we overlooked the Sea of Galilee.  We danced in the street and worshiped together in their living room!  These are precious friends and cherished sons and daughters of Israel!

This year has been such a great blessing at our Assemblies, as the Lord has totally blessed us with friends from the Land coming here to speak and share with us! 

I do believe that this is part of One New Man rising!  Sharing and growing relationally with our friends in Israel - getting to know each other and supporting each other is such a very great blessing.

So, mark your calendars, and plan on attending the August 10th Assembly!

Assembly Details:
Highway to Zion Assembly
Date:  August 10, 2012
Time:  7:00 - 9:30 pm
Where:  Raintree Country Club, 8600 Raintree Lane, Charlotte, NC
Speakers:  Carolyn and Richard Hyde of Heart of God Ministry
rsvp:  highwaytozion@aol.com

Bless you in Messiah Yeshua!
Cathy

Cathy Hargett
Highway to Zion Ministries, Inc.
704 365 2728

Israel: Whose Land is It? - Jim Croft

Israel: Whose Land is It?
Part 3 of a 4 Part Series

Jim Croft
 
The earth is the Lord’s.  The geographical location and boundaries of nations is not a matter of human political decision. (Ps 24:1)  The placement and perimeters of nations is a right that God has reserved for himself. (Acts 17:26)  Man might make decisions, but all the while God’s discreet influence is inevitably guiding the process.

There is a nation that God defines as particularly his own and he has delegated its ownership to one people group.  The land is Israel and the Lord has given it to the Jewish people as an everlasting possession.

All Christians know and intermittently recite the Lord’s Prayer.  Few are aware that the, your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth portion has implications about the restoration of the entire land allotted to the Jews as their homeland.  During the 40 days prior to Jesus’ heavenly ascent, the Lord spoke to the 120 about the Kingdom of God. 

His disciples made inquiries about the timing of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.  His answer clearly defines that it will happen: “The Father sets those dates and they are not for you to know.” (Act1:3, 6-7 NLT)  This article is intended to establish that the Promised Land belongs to the Jews and that Jerusalem is its eternal Capitol.

Prophesied Restoration

 A primary theme of the Old Testament’s promises and prophecies is the restoration of the Promised Land as the Jew’s perpetual possession.   There are prophecies that declare there will be a time when the Jews will peacefully and without fear of enemies inhabit the entirety of the land given to them by God. (Isa 11:11, Ezek. 39:25-29)  That has yet to happen.  Post Solomon’s reign, Israel has never known peace and has always been occupied by hostile foreign forces.
 
If God does not keep his many promises to return the Jews to their own land, there is no reason to believe he is going to return to take believers to heaven.  One would be hard-pressed to find more biblical references about Christians inheriting heaven than it does about the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob inheriting Israel.  The Lord considers the Jewish people and their homeland treasures that he holds dear. (Deut 7:1-8)

Promised Land & Jerusalem

The Jews have a three-fold right to their land; God gave it to them.  In the 20th Century, they purchased it from the Arab Sheiks.  And, Jews have paid for their homeland with their blood since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. 

Contemporary Christians must not be confused by present-day West and East Bank issues and arguments about how to divide the land to accommodate the Palestinians.  The UN’s compromise to appease Islamic nations and terrorist organizations of the likes of Hezbollah and Hamas is something that enrages God.  It’s trifling with the borders that God established for the land He calls His own, Israel. (Joel 3:2) 

The full territory promised to the Jews stretches eastward from the Mediterranean Sea a little north of Lebanon to the Euphrates River bordering Iraq.  From there, it extends southward to the river of Egypt (Gen. 15:8).  God’s original allotment for the Twelve Tribes takes in all of the Sinai, Judea, Samaria, and significant sections of present-day Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.

Biblically, Jerusalem has always been recognized as the capital city of the nation.  The fact that Jerusalem is the former site of Israel’s National Temple and the residence of Jewish kings that ruled over the combined northern and southern provinces of ancient Israel identify Jerusalem as the nation’s capitol.  During the worldwide Millennial Reign of Jesus, the inhabitants of Gentile nations will bring their offerings/taxes to the Kingdom’s Capitol, Jerusalem. (Rev 21:23-25)  The insolence of those insisting Israel’s Capitol is Tel Aviv is one and the same as resisting the Almighty.

Palestinian Question

In the 2nd Century there was a Jewish nationalist activist named Bar Kokohba.  He led a revolt against Rome and was defeated in 135 AD.  The Emperor Hadrian vindictively decided to wipe out the name and memory of Israel.  Therefore, he renamed Israel after its age-old enemies the Philistines.  He called the area Syria et Philistia.  Up until that time it had always been known as Israel or Judea, the home of the Jews.

The word Palestine is a corruption of the word Philistine.  Avid Bible readers know that God ordered the Jews to dispossess the Philistines of Canaan’s Land that it might become the homeland of the Jewish descendants of Isaac and Jacob.  During the years in which the world maps of Christian nations labeled Israel as Palestine it was a subtle insult to the Jewish people. 

On January 3, 1919, Emir Feisal of Syria signed an agreement with the Jews and multiple
governments renouncing all claims to the area known as Palestine.  He said that it should be the territory of the Jews. 

The agreement was made even more secure by 164,000 European Jewish Zionist between 1933 and 1935.  They paid absentee Arab landowners $20 million for the rocky, sandy and swampy area that is today called Israel.

With God inspired skill, the Jews transformed it into a green, productive land for the first time in hundreds of years.  In 1937, it was the intent of the Arabs to secure a big Arab State outside of Judea, leaving little Israel for the Jews.  Their slogan then was “Arabia for the Arabs and Judea for the Jews”.  The Christian community worldwide should insist that they remember and abide by that slogan. 

Strictly speaking, calling the region Palestine is unjustified because historically there is no such thing as Palestine or a Palestinian people group.  In 1946 the famous Arab historian, Professor Hitti testified that there is absolutely no mention of a Palestine anywhere in Arab history. 

In 1977 the PLO leader Zuhair Mohsen stated that the Palestinian people did not exist and that they all belonged to the Arab people.  He further stated that the establishment of a Palestinian State was just a name to continue their struggle against Israel in the cause of Arab unity. 

Watchmen Seek Jerusalem’s Peace & Prosperity

The prophet Isaiah spoke of watchmen intercessors that would continually remind God of His promises to Jerusalem.  The Hebrew word for remind is the same as the modern word for a secretary.  A good secretary will constantly remind an executive of upcoming crucial appointments.  In like manner, Christian intercessors are to remind God day and night not to rest until Jerusalem is known as a praiseworthy city by the earth’s inhabitants. (Isa 62:6-7) 

The Word of God clearly states that Gentiles who have become Christians are united as one with the Jews and Israel.  That status makes Gentile believers members of the Commonwealth of Israel. (Eph 2:12-19)   In the realm of the Spirit and through salvation, Christians are fellow citizens of Israel with the Jews.  Citizenship carries responsibility.

We are to comfort Jerusalem and the Jewish people by speaking tender prophetic declarations.  “Your sins have been pardoned by the atoning sacrifice of the Messiah; the time of your punishment has ended.   No longer will Hamas, Hezbollah, Egypt, Iran and Syria be able to threaten your security.  The Lord, the Captain of the Heavenly Hosts is coming to your rescue. (Isa 42:1-2) You no longer stand alone.  You have hundreds of thousands of near kinsmen, Christian Gentiles that consider your destiny of utmost importance because it’s entwined with their own destiny. We are praying that all of your enemies experience shameful defeat. (Psa 129:5)  With the eye of faith, we envision peace within your walls and abundant prosperity breaking forth for the residents of Jerusalem.” (Psa 122:6-9)

Educated Self-Interests

There are many benefits for loving and seeking good for the Jews, Israel and Jerusalem.  Believing prayer warriors can trust God to do as he has promised in Psa 122:6-9.  Those who sow loving prayers of peace and prosperity into Jerusalem can anticipate reaping prosperity for themselves, their relatives, and friends; and for the entire Household of God. 

The word for prosperity also implies safety from that which is harmful.  That can include safety from illnesses.  The first title by which the Lord identified Himself after the Jews were rescued from Egypt was as the Lord their healer, their doctor.  His names depicting his functions and character do not change.  All who fulfill the mandates to intercede for Israel can expect the Lord to prosper their families with the blessings of prosperity and good health.

In this regard Jesus is our pattern.  The Jews of antiquity did not seek social interaction with Gentiles.  When the Jewish elders of Jesus' day wanted him to come and heal a Gentile centurion's servant they knew that they would have to give him a good reason.  When Jesus heard that the man loved the Jewish people and had built them a synagogue, he sent the Spirit of Faith for healing to the man's home and healed the servant (Luke 7:2-10).

No More Fence-Sitting

God promised Abraham that all who blessed his descendants would be blessed and those who cursed them would be cursed. (Gen 12:2-3)  Christian nations are at a crucial juncture in their respective economic histories.  A key to help pull them from disaster is to align with Israel as loyal friends.  Any Christian who has held insolent, uncharitable views about Israel and Jews in general needs to repent.  Divine favor towards your nation can be invoked by urging your politicians to enact policies that support Israel as the Jew’s homeland and Jerusalem as its Capitol.

Next week: The blessings that await those who bless the Jews.

Be blessed and be a blessing,

Jim Croft

jcm888@comcast.net

BBC lists Israel's capital as J'lem after complaint

BBC lists Israel's capital as J'lem after complaint

By JPOST.COM STAFF

07/19/2012

No capital had been listed on BBC's Israel Olympic country profile; East Jerusalem listed as "intended" seat for Palestine.

Photo: Reuters

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev sent a letter to the Director of the BBC's Bureau in Israel, Paul Danahar on Thursday after the BBC Sport page failed to identify Israel's capital city as Jerusalem.

Until Wednesday afternoon, the page offering information about the Palestinian Olympic team referred to its capital as 'East Jerusalem', but the equivalent page for Israel made no mention of a capital city at all.

In the letter, Regev commented that he is "dismayed by the BBC's decision to discriminate against Israel".

 

The letter has been shared on Facebook over 400 times.

One member commented: "I am shocked, shocked that the UK does not treat Israel as a sovereign nation".

As a result of the controversy, the BBC added Jerusalem to Israel's country profile on Thursday afternoon, informing browsers that the "seat of government is Jerusalem" adding a disclaimer that "most foreign embassies reside in Tel Aviv."

Likewise, the Palestinian page stated that its “intended seat of government is East Jerusalem. Ramallah serves as [the] administrative capital.”



http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=278181

Bulgaria victim had just learned she was pregnant

Bulgaria victim had just learned she was pregnant

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

07/20/2012

Shriki and her husband Yitzhak of Rishon Lezion were among 154 Israelis who had flown to Bulgaria on vacation.

Photo: Stoyan Nenov/ Reuters

Before boarding a flight to Bulgaria on Wednesday, Kochava Shriki, 42, got a call from her doctor with the good news that after many unsuccessful attempts, she was finally pregnant.

As she stood in Ben-Gurion Airport, she called her sister, Yael Morad, to tell her how happy she was. She ended the conversation by stating, “I’m getting on the plane in five minutes.”

 

“Take care of yourself,” Morad responded.

 

Just one day later, Morad stood in the parking lot outside of Ben-Gurion’s Terminal 1, fairly certain that her sister was among the five Israelis killed when a suicide bomber boarded her bus outside the airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, on Wednesday afternoon.

Shriki and her husband Yitzhak of Rishon Lezion were among 154 Israelis who had flown there on vacation with the help of Israeli tourism company Kavei Hofsha (Vacation Lines), which also provided buses to transport them to their hotel.

On Thursday, Yitzhak flew back to Israel without his wife.

He was among the 33 wounded from the blast who landed around 2 p.m. on an IDF plane.

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=278234

Welcome to the “Zionist Games” 2012

Welcome to the “Zionist Games” 2012

Friday, July 20, 2012 | Ryan Jones

Israeli athletes should feel right at home at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, if Iranian officials are to be believed that the event is one big Zionist plot. The Jews must be the most industrious people in history, considering how many conspiracies in which they have been implicated of late.

London 2012 clearly demonstrates Zionist control of the Olympic Games, says the Iranian regime, since the numbers in the much-maligned logo design—a jagged and misshapen representation of the year 2012—can be rearranged to kind of resemble the spelling of “ZION.”

“As Internet documents have proved, using the word Zion in the logo of the 2012 Olympic Games is a disgracing action and against the Olympics’ valuable mottos,” read a letter from Iran’s Olympic Committee to the head of the International Olympic Committee. “There is no doubt that negligence of the issue from your side may affect the presence of some countries in the Games, especially Iran which abides by commitment to the values and principles.”

Conspiracy theorists and other anti-Semitic antagonists were inspired by this Iranian “revelation,” and YouTube was inundated with animations and videos claiming that a Zionist-controlled New World Order was using the London games as another step in its plan for world domination. They failed to explain how such crafty Zionists could be so foolish as to tip their hand by identifying themselves in so public a manner.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23306/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Netanyahu Thanks Christians at CUFI Summit

Netanyahu Thanks Christians at CUFI Summit

CBN News

 

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JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked thousands of Christians meeting in Washington, D.C., for supporting Israel.

Netanyahu addressed the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) conference by satellite from Jerusalem.

"The bad news is that numbers count and we are a small people," Netanyahu told the crowd. "The good news is that Israel is not alone -- it has your support," he said.

The group held its seventh annual summit at the Washington Convention Center.

CUFI is the largest pro-Israel organization in America, with more than 1 million members.

The event attracted pro-Israel lawmakers, like Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn, who had harsh words for the Obama administration.

"Without being partisan, this is the first administration where our commitment to Israel has ever even been questioned. That cannot stand because Americans stand by Israel," she said.

Cornerstone Church founding Pastor John Hagee, who established CUFI in 2006 and serves as its national chairman, told participants, "Those of you in this audience who stand in solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people, give a rousing shout of support that can be heard in Jerusalem, in Iran, and all the way to the White House."

CBN News terrorism analyst Erick Stakelbeck was one of the featured speakers at the CUFI conference. And CBN President Michael Little emceed Tuesday's dinner celebration

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/July/Netanyahu-Thanks-Christians-at-CUFI-Summit/

The Shofar



The Shofar, brought to you by Crossover Project.

Video: http://www.thecrossoverproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=39

Knesset Members Upset over Bible Gift

By Tzippe Barrow

CBN News Internet Producer - Jerusalem

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

 

 

  

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli Knesset members were shocked when they opened up a package in their mailboxes Monday morning. Inside the envelope, select Knesset members found the annotated Hebrew Bible -- including the New Testament -- mailed as a gift from the Bible Society of Israel, with a cover letter from Executive Secretary Victor Kalisher.

The Bible was published recently. It's the first time ever the complete Bible, with the New Testament, has included cross references and study helps in the language of the prophets -- Hebrew.

Kalisher, a second generation Messianic Jewish believer born and raised in Israel, told CBN News the Bible was given as a "tool" to help Israeli leaders interact with other world leaders and not as a "missionary act."

"This [annotated, cross-reference] Bible is the fruit of many years of hard work," he said. Responding to the gift "with prejudice doesn't show respect to people who appreciate the Book." "The people in the Knesset have a lot of contact with the Christian world, which is based on the Bible," he continued, "so reading it will increase their understanding of the people with whom they're interacting."

But media coverage here in Israel was less than positive.

The Jerusalem Post quoted MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) saying, "it cannot be that missionary materials can be distributed in the Knesset."

"Texts that were used to persecute and harass [Jews] cannot be distributed through the front door of the State of Israel," Hotovely reportedly said, reflecting the perspective of many who point to centuries of pogroms and persecution of the Jewish people.

The Post went on to quote a couple of other Knesset members as well as Israeli law against "granting material benefits as an inducement to conversion" and the prohibition against converting "anyone under 18 unless one parent is a member of that religion."

Israel National News wrote that MKs were "furious after finding…what many called missionary propaganda promoting the New Testament."

"Members of all parties in the Knesset were shocked to see a Christian book that tries to link the Christian New Testament with the Jewish Bible," it reported on its website.

Upon hearing that MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) "tore up a copy of the New Testament and posed for photographs with the destroyed Bible," the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called on him to apologize publicly. "As Jews, we expect others to treat our holy books with respect and understanding," wrote ADL National Director Abraham Foxman. "We should likewise show respect for the holy books of other faiths."

"A member of parliament and a representative of the State of Israel should know better than to show such profound disrespect for another faith. His actions run counter to Jewish values and the standards of Israel's democratic society," Foxman continued.

"In statements to the media, the publisher has asserted that the intention was not to proselytize, but rather to inform MKs of the wealth of religious texts produced in Israel," Foxman said.

'A Jewish Book'

But Kalisher takes a different tact. He believes Israel's leaders, "of all people," should read the Bible and rejects accusations that distributing the Hebrew study Bible was an act of provocation. "It was done in an act of respect, caring and love," he said.  "The New Testament is a Jewish book, written by Jewish authors. It was given to the leaders of Israel who of all people should read this book," he said, cautioning against focusing on the negative response of a couple of ministers that doesn't necessarily reflect everyone's reaction.

On its website, the Bible Society in Israel describes itself as a "publisher and distributor of the Word of God."

It goes on to say, "Our heart's desire is to bring God's life-changing Word to the People of Israel that they may know the Messiah of Israel." And therein lies the rub. To many Israelis, that aim translates as an intent to convert Jews to Christian beliefs because Judaism teaches the Jewish Messiah is yet to come.

But that doesn't deter Kalisher, who says his intention is to "open up the Word of God to the people of Israel -- to the people of the Book. "I want people to consider the true Jewish Scriptures."

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2012/July/Knesset-Members-Upset-Over-Bible-Gift/

Scott Volk - Describes his "Damascas Road" experience

The Plight of the Jews - Jim Croft

The Plight of the Jews

Part 2 of a 4 Part Series

Jim Croft

I apologize that this piece is lengthy. The length is necessary to give Gentile Christians an elementary understanding of the plight of the Jews throughout the past 2,000 years. It is important for every believer to know the extent to which ignorance caused our spiritual ancestors to persecute the Lord's ethnic kinsmen, the Jews. The article's introduction is in the body of this email. The rest is the MS Word rtf attachment. Hopefully you will read the download.

I will begin with a capsulated version of the testimony of a dynamic minister friend of mine. His name is Cesar Leyva Nieto and he pastors the Church on the Rock of Harrisonville, MO. He introduced himself as a Mexican until about a year ago. It was then that he discovered that he is actually 100% Jewish. His story confirms much of what is stated in this article. That is especially so of how his family immigrated to the sector of Mexico that is now called Texas; and how he came to the revelation of Christ while alone in style of the Apostle Paul.

A Jewish historical society was doing a series of articles on successful Hispanics who have Sephardic Jewish roots. When they contacted Cesar, he vehemently and truthfully denied any knowledge of Jewish lineage. He explained that he was a 6' 5'' Mexican preacher who prophesied and spoke in tongues. The interviewer disclosed the history of both of his parent's family names assuring him that he was a Jew. In disbelief he told his mother about the call and she spilled the refried beans.

She explained that his paternal and maternal ancestors had fled Spain on the heels of another phase of the Spanish Inquisition that began in 1492. As usual, the Catholic Church played a heavy hand in authorizing clergymen to assist and accompany arresting officers. Cesar's forefathers had been tormented and tortured and their properties confiscated. They barely escaped to the New World with little more than their lives.

The same Church was there to meet them in Mexico/Texas with all of its prejudice and cruelty. One of his maternal grandmothers was publically beaten by Americans because she had born a brood of despised Jews to contaminate the culture. He had a grandfather who met discrimination and racial slurs as a Military Policeman in the US Army. Therefore, the family decided to hide their ethnic identity. The only remnant holdover was a curious lighting of candles on Friday nights. Throughout his childhood, Cesar never had a clue about the candles' announcement of Sabbath Eve.

It was customary for Sephardic Jews that immigrated to Mexico to attempt to keep low vocational profile. However, blessed cream has a way of rising to the top. In spite of their efforts, many became wealthy. A few chose organized crime. Cesar Nieto's father, Abel was one who did so and became one of the region's most powerful drug lords.

Cesar had a keen academic mind, but carried tough guy ways prior the first stages of his salvation process. His first encounter was through an angelic visitation. The angel walked into his room when Cesar was 17 years old. The visitor told him that he needed to “obey.” He did so and was converted. Later on he was translated into heaven and found himself plastered in a prostrate position between two sets of feet. The set on his right glistened with a gloriously white light. The set on his left were human feet. An angel picked Cesar up and placed him immediately in front of the human feet. The revelation of what was happening permeated his entire being: He had no right to approach the Father's feet without the necessity of obedience at Jesus' feet.

I am so glad that Cesar Leyva Nieto has been faithful to the implication of that divine encounter. After his Jewish discovery, he adopted the middle name of Leyva in respect for his mother's Levitical family heritage. Incidentally, Cesar married a Jewess and his married siblings all married Jews. God has a way of guiding His chosen in every path of life.

History

Abraham's grandson, Jacob complained of ill treatment by his uncle Laban in Genesis 31:36, 38-42. His complaint was that Laban had changed the terms multiple times over a twenty year period for the exchange of Jacob's labors for the right to wed Rachel and to earn a livelihood. Jacob rebuked Laban by telling him that had it not been for God's intervention that Laban would have sent him back to Israel empty-handed.

Throughout the past 3,500 years of Jewish history, the treatment of Jacob's descendants in countless Gentile nations has been far harsher than what Jacob experienced. Jews have experienced incidents of divine interventions, but they have been far and few between after the birth of the Church. Though they have been instrumental in blessing Christianized employers and societies, the terms for them to be accepted have never been firmly established. Without question, the Jews have been persecuted more extensively and for a longer duration than any other single ethnic group.

The Old Testament testifies that the Egyptians enslaved the Jews for 430 years. The Babylonians did so for 70 years and the Persians for 84 years. That totals 584 years. That is considerably longer than the indignities suffered by Africans who were sold by fellow Africans into the hands of European slave traders for export to the Americas.

In addition, the Jews have undergone excessive persecution, prejudice and job discrimination in every nation they have inhabited since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Their properties and fortunes have been confiscated. Their homes and synagogues have been torched and their families brutalized, raped and slaughtered. In the majority of cases these political/religious motivated injustices culminated with Jewish expulsion from those nations. Time after time, Jews were forced to wander as refugees into other nations only to undergo a similar plight.

Persecuted Assets

Yet, in every nation and culture the Jews have consistently been a blessing. The God of Abraham has always faithfully empowered them to be creative and innovative in the midst of adverse circumstances. Brilliant Jews have never failed to enrich their persecutors through their God given abilities in the sciences, medicine, the arts, and business. A candid examination would reveal that wherever there have been advances in any society graced with a Jewish presence, the key figures responsible have been Jewish more often than not.

The Nobel Prize has been awarded to at least 139 Jews. It is likely that the number of Jewish recipients exceeds that of any other single religious group. They certainly leave Muslims sitting in the dust. Muslims represent 20% of the global population and Jews represent 0.2%. Muslim recipients of the Nobel Prize number under a dozen and most of them were educated in the universities of Christian nations.

It is often said that the most important commodity that one can possess is his health. We have the Jews to thank for many of the advances that have been made in the field of health. On a per capita basis, their lead in medical innovations is disproportionate to those of any other ethnicity.

Here are just a few of their accomplishments: Vitamins; the concept of a balanced diet for health; the Schick test for diphtheria; scratch test for allergies; the first doctor of pediatrics; the Salk polio vaccine; the March of Dimes; the antibiotic streptomycin; the drug Salvarsan to cure syphilis; appendicitis surgery and pioneering the study of human psychology. In addition, America's system of public school nursing, city playgrounds and public bath facilities to promote health were launched by the efforts of Jewish citizens. Surely we can make it through life without Jewish help, but not in health!

In the area of religion they gave us: The Scriptures; the concept of a Loving Heavenly Father; the covenant promises of the blessings of prosperity, healing and harmonious marital relationships; our prophets and apostles; and most of all, our Eternal Savior. We owe the Jewish people a tremendous debt of love and respect for all the contributions that they have made to our spiritual, financial, and physical well-being.

Spiritual DNA Hinders Christian Conversion

God has two covenant people, the Church, and the Jews. The Christian Church is presently incomplete in fulfilling its description as the true Zion or Israel of God. Jesus, when speaking to the Jews, said that He had sheep that were not of their fold. _{(John 10:16)} The implications are that Jesus has one flock, but two folds. The two folds are the Jewish fold and the Gentile fold. He will ultimately draw them together into one flock for His glory. Individuals who are permitted to come into His flock must come to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, The Father's timing and manner of wooing people to the Cross is different for those of the two respective folds.

Historically, God blesses the Gentiles through the Jews. They gave us our Savior and the revelation of His Lordship through the preaching of Jewish apostles and prophets. These men penned the Bible that directs us to the path of repentance, faith, and salvation. Non-Jewish converts often testify as to how they met the Lord through the witness of the Christian Bible, evangelistic preaching, or another believer's testimony. This is rarely the case with Jews.

Most Jews will not read the New Testament and are seldom impressed by a Gentile's testimony of salvation. The thought of exposure to Christian evangelistic preaching is shunned. In the isolated instances where Jewish hearts are opened by the Holy Spirit to receive the testimony of others, it is most often that of a Messianic Jew. For most of them, only the testimony of a fellow Jew would have the remote potential to be deemed as credible. Normally when a Jew finds Christ it is commonly reported that he has experienced a direct, personal, spiritual encounter with Jesus while alone.

Why?

Why is it that Jews reject the evangelistic efforts of Gentiles that use the truths of salvation based upon the Scriptures written by Jews? They find it difficult to comprehend the messages as credible because the Lord has often historically used the Gentiles as instruments to judge them for their disobedience. In biblical times they were judged at the hand of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Romans. During more recent history it has been Czarist Russians; Nazi Germans; and Muslim and Communist regimes.

It is interesting to note that the truth of Jesus' warning that we are justified or condemned by our words is born-out by the persecutions of the Jews at the hands of the Romans, Russians and Germans. They chose Barabbas to be released and opted that their own Messiah would be crucified in his place. In addition they said, “His blood be on us and on our children” and “We have no king but Caesar” _{(Matt. 27:15-26, Mk. 15:6-15, Lk. 23:1-25, Jn. 19:15)} This was a self-inflicted curse.

Barabbas was a murderer and political agitator. In 70AD the Romans destroyed Herod's Temple and lined the streets of Jerusalem with crucified Jews. The Russian word Czar is derived from the word Caesar. The Czars instigated the Pogroms that mercilessly wiped out thousands of the Jewish inhabitants of Russia. Adolph Hitler based Mien Kampf on a book titled, The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler. One of its themes was that the world needs another Caesar. Hitler comprised his elite SS henchmen from the murderers and political activists that he freed from German prisons.

It should also be noted that what goes around comes around. The Bible says that whoever curses the Jews will be cursed in return. _{(Gen 12:3)} The Roman Empire collapsed. The Czarist rule of Russia was ruthlessly ended by Bolshevik Communists who had been inspired by the writings of Marx and Engels who were both Jewish. The Communist leader Stalin butchered millions of Russians. The two World Wars coupled with pro-abortion policies have put the German nationality in danger of extinction. In a sense, they are threatened with the eradication that they intended for the Jews. In an attempt to counteract this, the German government pays those who have children “kinder-gilt”. It is a benefit awarded only to German citizens who have children.

Many contemporary evangelicals find it difficult to understand the Jew's aversion to the Christian faith and the Name of Jesus. They are often mystified as to why their syrupy expressions of Jesus' love are met with a cold shoulder and in some instances mocking hostility.

I believe that there are two reasons for this. One is the brutal inhumanity that those who call themselves Christians have demonstrated against the Jews for the past 2,000 years. The other is the timing of God's plan for a mass in gathering of the Jewish people prior to the Second Advent of the Lord.

Most Gentile Christians are oblivious to the negative imprint that the Church has made in the name of Christ on the collective Jewish psyche over the past two millennia. Historically, Christians have demonstrated anything but the love of God to the Jews. Under the banner of the Church and our love for Jesus we have either actively participated in or ignorantly allowed the persecution of the Jews in nearly every nation that calls itself Christian. Our unscriptural, anti-Semitic theology has paved the way for habitual expressions of animosity, social degradation, and forced baptisms. The histories of Christian nations reflect the shameful practice of awarding custodial rights of Jewish children to Gentiles; and the unjust persecutions, torture and exiles of Jewish citizens. For centuries misguided Gentile Christians chose the Holidays of Christmas and Easter as occasions to perpetrate barbarous crimes against the Jews who lived among them. Because of this, one could say, that it is as though there is something in most every Jew's historical and spiritual DNA structure that interprets the Cross as a symbol of disaster.

When they are confronted with the Gospel, especially through a Gentile, there is often something that is alerted within them which says; “Danger, danger, fight or flee”. This phenomenon could be compared to the ability of various species within creation to adapt to their environments. If there is a poisonous plant indigenous to an area, the wildlife adapts and over time learns to avoid it. Once the adaptation is secure, an alarm imprint within animal DNA causes all future generations to have an aversion to that which their ancestors found toxic.

The following is a brief overview of what has caused the negative imprint in the Jewish mind that hinders them from embracing Christianity. This overview features some overlaps where persecutions by Christian, Communist and Islamic regimes occurred simultaneously.

The First Century - There was a war between the Jews and Rome. At that time there were well over 50,000 Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. When the Romans assaulted the Holy City, the Christians interpreted it as the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy of Matthew 24:15-17. As a result Messianic Jewish Christians refused to defend their homeland and fled to the city of Pella that is in modern day Jordan. Israel's fighting forces were diminished by the exodus of Messianic believers. Jerusalem was captured, 600,000 Jews were butchered; 115,000 were exported as slaves and their national temple was burnt to the ground. This particular Roman siege took more lives than all the bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Tokyo combined.

The Second Century - A Jewish nationalist named Bar Kokohba led a revolt against Rome. He was defeated in 135 AD and the emperor Hadrian vindictively decided to wipe out the name and memory of Israel. Therefore he renamed Israel after their age-old enemies the Philistines. He called the area Syria et Philistia. Up until that time, it had always been known as Israel or Judea, the home of the Jews.

The word Palestine is a corruption of the word Philistine. Every believer with Bible knowledge understands that God delivered the land of Israel from the Philistines and gave it to the Jewish descendants of Isaac. During the years in which the world maps of Christian nations labeled Israel as Palestine it was a subtle insult to the Jewish people.

The Fourth through the Sixth Century - St. John Chrysotom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, Hilary of Poiters, and many other noted church leaders preached that synagogues were the caverns of brigands and the dens of wild beasts. Jews were denounced in hundreds of sermons as greedy, lustful, inveterate murderers who were possessed by the devil. Jews were forbidden to serve in any public office and marriage to a Jew was considered a filthy union punishable by death.

Islam from the Seventh Century onward - The Arab, Mohammed instituted the political religious system of Islam in 610AD. He envisioned that Christians and Jews would adopt his faith. He was enraged when they resisted. Since that time, Islam has waged discrimination, war and genocide against Jews and Christians in every nation where Islam has dominance. The subjugation and eradication of Christianity and Jews is Islamic policy. Modern leaders of Islamic stronghold nations such as Iran and Egypt are calling for wiping Israel and the Jews from existence. As recently as the summer of 2012 the Muslims of 14 nations burned down churches and synagogues and thousands of Christians and Jews were forced to flee their homelands.

The Twelfth and Thirteenth Century - In England all Jews and their properties were considered the property of the king. A wealthy Jew of Bristol refused to pay exorbitant taxes. His punishment was to have a tooth extracted for each day that he withheld payment. Between 1262 and 1279AD there were 1,780 Jews executed in London alone. King Edward I ordered every living Jew to leave his realm by All Saints Day of 1290.

The Catholic Church incited thousands of its members to make Crusades to the Holy Land to liberate it from the hands of Islamic and Jewish infidels. In England, France and Germany civilians demonstrated their support for the troops by rioting against the Jews at home. They torched homes and synagogues and thousands were killed.

For instance, when Richard the Lion-Hearted left England it is estimated that Londoners slaughtered 1,500 English Jews. On their way to Jerusalem the Crusaders raped and pillaged their way through the Jewish communities of the Mediterranean and Middle East. Their justification for killing thousands and impaling infants on their lances was that they were of the hateful race that had killed Jesus.

In reality the Jews were not solely responsible for the death of Christ. It was actually the Romans who crucified Him due to pressure from the religious sect of the Pharisees. They, in turn were being motivated by satanic influences that were permitted to fulfill the pre-determined plan of God.

The Fourteenth Century - The Black Death plague hit Europe and the Jews were blamed. In Spain, Jews were coerced through torture to confess to poisoning wells with a concoction made of lizards, frogs, spiders, human hearts, and the sacred hosts. The story spread like wildfire throughout Christendom. In Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Poland and Austria the pattern for sending thousands of Jews to be burned at the stake were similar. False accusations were followed by trials, torture, forced confessions, and then the flames. The “Christians” of Europe were so blinded by hundreds of years of anti-Semitic propaganda that they were unable to recognize that Jews were dying from the Black Death alongside Christians. The Church was too ignorant to perceive that it would have been suicidal for the Jews to poison the wells from which they too drew water.

The Fifteenth - Seventeenth Century - The Catholic Church in Spain and Portugal had vicious Inquisitions. Jews and Marranos (Jews who had converted to Christianity, but were suspect of secretly practicing Judaism) were tortured and killed by the thousands. Those who refused baptism died, their properties were confiscated and their kidnapped children were raised as Christians in homes throughout Europe. Under the leadership of Martin Luther came the reformation and the Protestant Church. Luther began his ministry with high hopes that the Jews would join his new denomination. When they did not, he became enraged and began to preach and publish scurrilous sermons accusing them of being doomed to hell as anti-Christ devils who were guilty of ritualistic murders. In his last sermon before his death he called for all Jews to be expulsed from Germanic provinces.

1648-58 AD - This decade was perhaps the bloodiest in Jewish history until the Holocaust. Czarist Cossacks incited by the Eastern Orthodox Church blitzed through 700 Jewish communities of the Ukraine and Poland. It is estimated that at least 500,000 Jews died. Historians report that victims were skinned alive and left to the agony of a lingering death. Infants were slit like fish before their mother's eyes. Pregnant women were ripped open and then sown back again with live cats thrust into their wombs.

The Nineteenth and Twentieth Century - Czarist pogroms or purging of Jews from Russian cities caused thousands to flee to other nations as synagogues and homes were plundered and burned.

1939-45 AD - 6 million European Jews perished in the Holocaust. When Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, he appealed to German Christians whose minds had already been polluted by hundreds of years of anti-Semitic Lutheran and Catholic theology. He wrote: “I believe that I am today acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jews I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”

After the war it was inconvenient for the European nations to have Jews wandering about as displaced persons. Therefore, the Allied Forces returned scores of thousands to the very camps from which they had been liberated. In reality, the only things that had changed were the nationality their captors and the amount of food supply. The Nazis had killed them. The United Nations would not allow them to live as free human beings. Tragically, the Jews were not actually completely liberated from the concentration camps of Europe and Cyprus until 1947.

The victorious Allied Forces discovered the Nazi's cache of gold bullion. Much of it had been cast from the fortunes and dental work of Jews who had perished in the work camps. Conscience would dictate that these resources rightfully belonged to the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. It could have been a tremendous asset to help resettle European Jews in new homes and vocations. It would have gone a long way in helping establish the State of Israel as a homeland for Jewish people. However, the Allied Forces shamefully opted to give $44 million of Jewish fortunes to the Gentile industrialists of the nations that had sided with Germany during the war in order to help them rebuild their economies.

1960-Present Day - The sentiments of Europeans and their governments remain anti-Jew and anti-Israel. To their own hurt, they reject the Jews and welcome Muslims. They have most definitely chosen the wrong group of the sons of Abraham. Immigrate Muslims have been draining the socialistic welfare systems of European nations dry for the past 50+ years. Muslim birth rates outpace that of Europeans and they are now empowered to take Europe over politically. It is estimated that the entirety of Europe will be under Shariah Law by 2050. That will intensify everything related to anti-Semitism.

An Important Question

Is there any hint in the Scriptures that there was a potential for something like the Holocaust to happen? I think so. Jeremiah 16:15-18 it says that fishermen and hunters would pursue the Jewish people to get them back to their own land. The fishermen could be the Zionist beginning with Theodore Herzl who entreated the Jews of Europe to return to Israel. The hunters could be the Nazis who relentlessly hunted them down. Without question, had it not been for the population growth within Israel spawned by those two movements, Israel would not have the strength to thwart the intents of Islamists today (Rom. 8:28).

The Twenty-first Century - In America and Europe anti-Semitism flourishes through the efforts of the Klue Klux Klan, neo-Nazi, and Aryan purist groups. They label Jews as Christ-killers who manipulate the world's economy for their greed. More often than not they use the Gospel of John and other New Testament passages as their proof texts. Using isolated texts like John 9:22, 19:38 they punctuate that the true Christians were apprehensive of reprisals from “the Jews.” They fail to discern that the authors of the texts were themselves Jews who were referring solely to the Jewish clergy and political leaders who had rejected Christ.

Contemporary anti-Semitic groups also erroneously assert that the Jews, the Hebrews, and the Israelites are separate, distinctive people groups. They try to persuade their adherents that Christians are the true Hebrews. They assert that the Church, independent of a future massive ingathering of Jews, is the sole true Israel of God and that Jews are despicable enemies of God.

The Apostle Paul certainly had an excellent understanding of the terms Jews, Israelites, and Hebrews. He claimed to be all three. Though he was born of the tribe of Benjamin he proclaimed that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, an Israelite and a Jew. _{(Rom. 11:1, Philip. 3:5, Acts 21:39)} In reality, the words Jew and Jewish refer to religion and culture. Hebrew and Hebrews refer to a language and a genealogy which can be traced back to Abraham and Isaac. And, Israelites are those born to citizens of Israel or within Israel's borders.

With this horrendous history how can we Gentiles expect to win Jews for Christ? The truth is that it is unlikely that most Gentile believers will be primary participants in the process through any means beyond intercession and the support of Messianic Jewish ministries that are effective in reaching their kinsmen. In most circumstances, Jewish evangelism is a privilege that the Lord has reserved for Himself. He will bring the Jews into His flock, in His own time through a global sovereign move of the Holy Spirit on Jewish hearts.

When this happens it is unlikely that it will be Gentile missionaries who can claim the credit. We can pray for that day and soften Jewish hearts through acts of gratitude and kindness. However, it is doubtful that our preaching will be a common factor in the conversion of the majority of Jews. The Lord will meet them in divine visitations as He did Jacob and the Apostle Paul. He will begin to take them aside individually to reveal Himself to them as their Messiah.

These private encounters will be much like that of Joseph when he made his identity known to his brothers in Egypt. As the Messiah's identity is made known to their spirits they will look on Him whom they pierced and mourn. Jesus will comfort them by telling them that even though they ignorantly meant it for evil, that God meant it for good. In a relatively short time millions of Jews will pass under the rod and into the bond of the New Covenant.

Ezekiel 20:33-37 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. [34] I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. [35]And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. [36] Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you," says the Lord GOD. [37] "I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

The Jews, as the natural branches of the olive tree will be grafted in among Gentiles who are the wild olive branches. Their initial rejection of the Gospel brought us salvation. Their acceptance will usher in life from the dead or the resurrection of all deceased believers from their graves and the Second Coming of the Lord to planet earth. _{(Rom 11:11-12, 15, 23-29)} 

 

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