An Overview of Recent Events in the Ukraine - Michael Zinn

Michael Zinn - Chosen People in Kiev, Ukraine

Chosen People Ministries	1:47 AM (5 hours ago)

Shalom dear friend in the Messiah,

I recently returned from a trip to Kiev, where I participated in the European section meeting of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism. This group has existed for thirty years, and was initiated by Jewish mission leaders involved with the Lausanne Consultation on World Evangelism. The meetings for the European group were held in Kiev April, 28 - May 2, 2014.

There were many reasons for the event to be held in Kiev, not the least of which is because there has been a growing, authentic and indigenous Messianic Jewish movement in Ukraine - centered in Kiev - which began in 1989 at the beginning of Perestroika. The conference statement is well worth reading, and reflects the sentiments of the attendees.

The history of the Jewish people of Ukraine is significant. Ukraine was part of the Pale of Settlement, where Jews were allowed to live, and included land that is now part of Russia, Poland, Romania, Belarus as well as today's Ukraine. The borders were quite fluid for many years, and so many Jewish people's "country of origin" frequently changed. However, the borders stabilized after 1945 and the formation of the Soviet Union. The area has always been important to Jewish evangelism, as more than ten million Jewish people lived in the region before World War II.

Fifty-plus years later, the Soviet Union would become the Former Soviet Union and countries that were once part of it would again assert their independence and individuality. This is most assuredly what is taking place now as the Ukrainians, especially in the Western and more European part of Ukraine, seek continued independence from Russia. The conflict between various parts of Ukraine and Russia is at the heart of current conflict. Although the conflict appears to be purely political and nationalistic, there is a spiritual aspect to the situation as well.

The Ukrainian Christians - Baptists, Pentecostals and those who identify with the mainline churches - have been deeply involved in the political struggle, hoping as well that an independent Ukraine would be best for the spiritual atmosphere of the country's people. This is understandable, as the Russian Orthodox Church has been a very controlling presence in Russia and throughout the Former Soviet Union for many years.

Ukrainian Christian with Michael Zinn of Chosen People Ministries

The Christians in the Ukraine believe they now have greater freedoms than others in the Former Soviet Union, and part of their political struggle stems from a desire to maintain this freedom of religion. The fierce and early fighting took place in what is known as Madan Square, the very heart both symbolically and physically of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Many born-again believers have found extraordinary opportunities to minister in the midst of the conflict, and as a result of the fighting many Ukranians have come to the Lord.

Many Jewish people believe that Ukraine is an anti-Semitic country. Certainly this is true historically; however, after meeting some of the believers in Kiev, I can honestly say that these believers have renounced this history of anti-Semitism and assured me that they love the Jewish people, affirm the state of Israel and work hard to make the Gospel known among their Jewish friends and loved ones. 

This was deeply encouraging to me.

Our Israel Director, Michael Zinn, who grew up in the Western Ukrainian city of Lvov gives us an overview of the events and interviews Yuri, one of the key leaders of the prayer tent movement in Madan:

Michael Zinn: An Overview of Recent Events in the Ukraine

Michael and Yuri: God's Work Through the Prayer Tent Ministries

It was eye-opening to visit Madan Square last week and see for myself some of what transpired. I know a picture is worth at least a thousand words and so you can see for yourself the pictures of the barricades, tents, tires, para-military groups, nationalist allies and more!

My hope is that you will pray for Ukraine and especially for our brothers and sisters who have been so involved in helping, praying, serving food and leading many to Jesus in the midst of the conflict. Messianic Jews from Ukraine were in the trenches as well, sharing the love of Jesus with their fellow Ukrainian citizens.

Chosen People Ministries has had a ministry in the Ukraine for many years. It started in the midst of what I call the "Russian Jewish Jesus Movement," which I date from the fall of the Soviet Union until today. Tens of thousands of Russian, Ukrainians and other Jews living in the Former Soviet Union have come to faith in the Messiah Jesus. In fact, at our LCJE European gathering, about a third of the participants or more spoke Russian or Ukrainian as their first languages. This is miraculous when you consider that the citizens of the Former Soviet Union were once forced to renounce all religious faith, and Jews especially were not allowed to worship in communities.

It is incredible to see what God has done. In fact, twenty-five years ago, Chosen People Ministries may have had a missionary or two that spoke Russian... but today we have 25-30 Russian speakers on our staff, serving around the globe from Russia and Ukraine to Israel, Australia, the United States and Germany!

Vladimir Pikman, who became a believer through our early ministries among the Jewish people in Kiev, tells the story of the founding of our work in front of the building in Madan where our ministries began (now damaged by fire):

Vladimir Pikman: My Testimony and the Birth of Chosen People Ministries in Kiev

I was also able to speak briefly about the work of those dedicated disciples who are the fruit of God's work through Chosen People Ministries in Kiev. There are a number of fine Messianic Jewish congregations in Kiev and Ukraine and quite a few mission agencies that are laboring in various cities throughout Ukraine, bringing the Good News of Messiah Jesus to Jewish Ukrainians and to Gentiles as well.

Mitch Glaser: Appeal for Prayer for Ukrainian Jewish Evangelism

Remember to pray for Ukraine, as we all have many brothers and sisters there who are enduring hardship and trying to bring the Gospel to their people in trying times. There are still hundreds of thousands of Jewish people in Ukraine, and we are asking God to help us increase our ministry to win our kinsmen to the Savior.

We do have one Messianic congregation in Harkov, led by Sasha Sareda, a Ukrainian Baptist pastor called to serve among the Jewish people. We support Sasha and would appreciate your prayers.

As time goes by it becomes clearer and clearer that we will need to expand our work in Kiev. If you have interest in working in Ukraine with Chosen People Ministries, please take a moment to reply to this e-mail so that we can talk about your involvement personally.

I hope you will enjoy the videos - and please pray about supporting our efforts among Russian-speaking Jewish people today!

Please type Ministry to Russian and Ukrainian Jews in the Special Designation box

Your brother in the Messiah,

Mitch

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Remnant and Renewal: The New Russian Messianic Movement

Who are the Jewish people of the former Soviet Union and what is their relationship to the Gospel?

Remnant and Renewal: The New Russian Messianic Movement tells the story of the Russian-speaking Jewish people, and the sometimes heartbreaking, often heroic tales of those who have sought to bring the Gospel to them throughout their troubled history.

Remnant and Renewal: $13.95

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Joel Rosenberg - God's Love & Protection for the Jewish People

Joel Rosenberg

March 13, 2014

From ancient Persia to Hitler’s Germany to modern Iran, Purim reminds us of God’s love for & protection of the Jewish people from those who seek to “annihilate” them.

Israel and the Jewish people face many threats these days — from a nuclear Iran, from terrorist rocket fire out of Gaza, from Syrian chemical weapons, and from rising anti-Semitism and a global movement to isolate and delegitimize Israel, especially pernicious in Europe, to name just a few. 

Sometimes Jews wonder, “Why are we the Chosen People? How has that worked out well for us? The Pharoah chose us. Hitler chose us. Stalin chose us. The ayatollahs chose us. Choose someone else, Lord, please!” It’s a sad but understandable sentiment.

As we see current threats — and as we remember the horrors of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime’s determination to annihilate all the Jews of Europe — we need to remember that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has never forgotten or forsaken the people He sovereignly chosen. We have, all too often, forgotten Him. But He has never forgotten us.

Indeed, that is why His Word commanded us to celebrate Purim, which takes place this weekend.

Purim is the Jewish holiday that celebrates the remarkable story of how the God of Israel used two faithful believers — Esther and Mordechai — and a movement of prayer and fasting to rescue the Jewish people from an evil Persian regime determine to annihilate them.

Remember: the evil Persian leader Haman literally used the language of annihilation all those years ago. As we read in Esther 3:13, “Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day….”

The Bible tells believers throughout the ages to celebrate this important holiday. This weekend, I will be teaching at a Baptist church in Tampa about the Jewish holiday of Purim, and why it is so important, and how from ancient Persia to Hitler’s Germany to modern Iran, Purim reminds us of God’s faithful love for and sovereign protection of the Jewish people from those who seek to destroy them.

Here are four ways you and your family can celebrate this year:

Learn – Jewish families around the world read the Book of Esther as a family to remember all the details of this amazing story, and Christians should, too. Study the story in its own historic context, to understand what was really happening, and the enormous faith and courage it took for Mordechai and Esther to do what they did. Then consider how the lessons in the historical account apply to Israel’s challenges today’s, and your own. 

To read the Book of Esther on-line, please click here.

Pray– We are to praise the God of Israel that He is the Redeemer of the Jewish people, and of all people. We should thank Him that He also saved so many Persian people who turned to the Living God at the end of the story (many people miss this part). And especially in these times, we should follow Mordechai and Esther’s example by praying and fasting for the redemption of the Jewish people amidst this current showdown with an evil Persian regime that wants to annihilate them, and praying for the Persian people to be saved as well. Who knows if God has chosen us for a time such as this?

Give — In the Biblical account, the Lord encourages us to give food and other gifts to the poor. We read in Esther 9:20-22, “Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.” Consider how you can give to the Jewish people today and be a blessing to Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus.

Go — If you’d like to invest to a ministry that is providing food and other gifts to the poor and needy in the Land of Israel, please go to The Joshua Fund’s website at www.joshuafund.net.

May the Lord bless you, and all of Israel, and all of the Persian people this Purim season.

PERMALINK

British PM Cameron announces upcoming trip to Auschwitz. “I want every child in Britain to learn about the Holocaust.”In Uncategorized on March 13, 2014 at 9:23 am


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and his British counterpart David Cameron attend a joint press conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday, March 12, 2014, following their meeting. (photo credit: AP)

British Prime Minister David Cameron, on his first state visit to Israel, spoke about his Jewish relatives and about how seriously he takes the history of the Holocaust.

He visited Yad Vashem on Wednesday, the Israeli Holocaust museum and research center.

During his address to the Knesset,Cameron also announced that he will be visiting the Auschwitz death camp in southern Poland later this year, and said, “I want every child in Britain to learn about the Holocaust and to understand just how vital it is to fight discrimination and prejudice in our world.”

Excerpts from an interesting address:

One of the most moving experiences I have had as Prime Minister came in January this year, when I held a reception in Downing Street for 50 Survivors of the Sho’ah. ‪I met some of the most inspiring people and heard some of the most incredible stories.‬‬

‪People like Harry Spiro who couldn’t understand why his mother pushed him out of her house and off to the factory, when she was actually saving his life.‬

‪Gena Turgel, who witnessed her brother being shot by the Nazis and lost another brother and two sisters before she was eventually liberated from Bergen-Belsen and went on to marry the British soldier who freed her.‬

‪And Ben Helfgott who endured 3 years in a ghetto, 2 labour camps and 3 concentration camps to make it to England where he was reunited with one of his sisters, the only other member of his family to survive. Ben went on to represent Britain as a weightlifter in 2 Olympics set up a society for Holocaust survivors and was honoured in Poland for his reconciliation work between Poles and Jews. And I am delighted that Ben has come with me here today.‬

‪All of the survivors have made such an incredible contribution to Britain.‬

‪And one of the things so many of them have done – and which never ceases to amaze me – is to go into our schools and share their testimony first hand.‬

‪It is hard to imagine the sheer strength of humanity it must take to do that.‬

‪‪And I am determined that long after they are gone and long after we are all gone their memory will be as strong and vibrant as it is today.‬‬

‪As a father, I will never forget last year visiting the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin with my young children and for the first time trying to explain to them quite what had happened.‬

‪I want every child in Britain to learn about the Holocaust and to understand just how vital it is to fight discrimination and prejudice in our world.‬

‪It is vital that we do all we can with our international partners to preserve the site at Auschwitz, which I will be visiting later this year.‬

‪But we need to do more.‬

‪That is why I have set up the Holocaust Commission in Britain. A number of the Commissioners are here with Ben and me today and as we visit Yad Vashem together later today, our pledge to Ben will be that Britain will never forget what he and his fellow survivors have taught us.‬

‪We will preserve the memory of that generation for every generation to come.‬

‪But remembering the past goes far beyond that horrific suffering of a generation.‬

‪It is about remembering the long and rightful search of a people for a nation. ‪And the right for the Jewish people to live a peaceful and prosperous life in Israel.

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>> Pre-order The Auschwitz Escape — releasing on March 18th — retailers providing steep discounts for pre-orders of hardcover, e-book and audio formats

About Joel

Joel C. Rosenberg (www.joelrosenberg.com) is the author of numerous New York Times best-selling novels and non-fiction books, with nearly 3 million copies sold. He is also the founder of The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.com).

His books include:

• The Last Jihad (2002)
• The Last Days (2003)
• The Ezekiel Option (2005)
• The Copper Scroll (2006)
• Epicenter: Why The Current Rumblings In The Middle East Will Change Your Future (2006, non-fiction)
• Dead Heat (2008)
• Inside The Revolution: How the Followers of Jihad, Jefferson & Jesus are Battling To Dominate the Middle East and Transform the World (2009, non-fiction)
• The Twelfth Imam (2010)
• The Tehran Initiative (2011)
• Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges In Time? (2012)
• Israel At War: Inside The Nuclear Showdown With Iran (2012, non-fiction e-book)
• Damascus Countdown (2013)
• The Auschwitz Escape (March 18, 2014 — forthcoming)

He is also the co-author with Dr. T.E. Koshy of The Invested Life: Making Disciples of All Nations One Person At A Time (2012).

He has also produced two documentary films, based on his two non-fiction books (Epicenter and Inside The Revolution).

The Ezekiel Option was named by the ECPA as the Gold Medallion winner of the “Best Novel of 2006.” Dead Heat reached #4 on the New York Times hardcover best-seller list.

Joel — whose mother is Gentile and whose father is from a Jewish background — previously worked as an aide to several U.S. and Israeli leaders, including Steve Forbes, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky, and then-former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also worked for The Heritage Foundation, Empower America, and Americans For Hope, Growth & Opportunity.

He has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and TV shows, including ABC’s “Nightline,” CNN, CNN Headline News, C-SPAN, Fox News, MSNBC, The History Channel, the Rush Limbaugh Show, the Sean Hannity Show and the Glenn Beck Show. He has spoken to audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada and all over the world, including Israel, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Russia, Germany, France, Brussels, Italy, and the Philippines. He has addressed audiences at the White House, Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.

For more information about the conferences he organizes, please visitwww.epicenterconference.com. You can find his weblog athttp://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/. You can sign up for his “Flash Traffic” email updates at http://www.joelrosenberg.com/flashtraffic_form.asp. You can follow him on Twitter @joelcrosenberg.

Source: Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog