Is the Veil and Hardening Over Israel Being Lifted? - GRANT BERRY CHARISMA NEWS

Note: As we quickly approach the last days before Yeshua/Jesus returns, the mystery to awaken and restore Israel into the family in the One New Man, becomes paramount in God's Glory plan to establish His kingdom upon the earth. In this light, the Holy Spirit is shifting His focus onto a very necessary spiritual restoration that must occur between Jew and Gentile members of the family of God, so that His end-time plan can be realized through us. We call this The Reconnection, where both groups are intricately linked and greatly in need of one another, yet presently, the family of God is quite divided and separate.

As a result, I am beginning a new series called, "What is The One New Man?" In these articles we will explore and re-examine the pertinent Scriptures on The One New Man, as well as issues relating to Israel and the Church, and we will interview leaders from both sides of the family to gain a better understanding. However, the main goal is to help bring the body of Messiah/Christ into a greater unity and depth of understanding of this mystery; not through a Gentile or Jewish lens, but rather through our Father's eyes and heart, who longs for His family to be one and to be united into His end-time purposes and plans—in order for us to be mobilized us into the fray (John 17:23). 

If you haven't read part 1 of this article, which lays the foundation for a better understanding of Romans 11, please click here.

Romans 11 Continued

So, what is the first thing that the apostle Paul writes to us in Romans 11 about the people of Israel? He asks us a question. In fact in the first 11 verses he actually asks three questions and all of them refer to the fate, path and outcome of the Jewish people—each with a different consequence. The first relates to the part of Israel who believe in Yeshua, the second to those who do not and the blindness that is upon them, and the third speaks of the balance of Israel that is to be restored towards or near the end, who are still veiled.

Except with his third question and response, he uses the rest of the chapter to explain this complexity to the church (those who rejected and are still blinded), and God's redemptive heart and position toward His first-born children, who will ultimately be restored. Indeed I believe that everything he has written and explained to us thus far in these three vital chapters (9-11) of Romans concerning Israel and the church, is so that we may fully grasp and comprehend this mystery that surrounds Israel's spiritual restoration towards the end, as well as our most significant role to help in this process.

This is highly significant to us during these days that we gain a fresh understanding of these verses. For there are many of us in the church who have over spiritualized these Scriptures now believing that the Israel of God is found solely in the church. Actually downgrading Israel's role to that of any other nation or people, while Paul makes clear to us that they are a covenant people (verse 27), and that their call and gifts are irrevocable (verse 29), which is not only crucial to our understanding, but also to our eschatology.

With all due respect, I believe this theology to be incorrect, because the bride is not complete and ready until physical Israel is properly restored to the family of God, which is very different from what is mostly taught today in the church. For Israel is the missing piece of the puzzle, not only with the re-establishment of the Jewish branches with the current remnant of Jewish believers, but also with Israel's final spiritual awakening, which comes with the final harvest of souls toward the end of the age (Romans 11:25-27).

In fact, I believe that our reconnection to our Jewish roots is the final act of restoration for the church, which not only prepares us for His coming to establish a Messianic kingdom upon the earth, but also to aid in the balance of Israel's salvation. What an honor! For did not Jesus tell us that the first would be last and did He not tell them that you will not see me again until you say, "Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai – Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:39). In other words, it is not until they are spiritually awakened that they will be able to make such a comment.

So, let's take a look at these questions and responses and the three paths of the Jewish people with their ultimate journey to faith.

Path No. 1 and the First Question – the Remnant

"Did God reject His people? By no means!.... So too at this present time there is a remnant chosen by grace." Here, Paul addresses the first issue that relates to the Jewish remnant who believes in Yeshua.  Through Elijah's experience with Israel's apostasy who thought he was the only one left who believed, Paul explains to us from the time of Jesus to this present day there would be a remnant of Jewish people who would believe.

Indeed, Jewish believers founded the church and they took the gospel out to the nations, so the rest of God's family could be grafted into the faith. And over the first century there were a decent number of Jewish people who actually believed. These Scriptures have also applied to a remnant of Jewish believers coming to faith over the centuries up until this modern day and from the time of Yeshua/Jesus to now, there have always been a small remnant of Jewish believers coming to faith.

Path No. 2 and the Second Question – Those Veiled

"What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written: 'God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.'"

Much can be said about this explanation, especially regarding our understanding of the timing of Israel's hardening. Did it come upon them, because they rejected Yeshua, or was it already on them before Messiah/Christ came? In my 2nd book The Ezekiel Generation, I dedicated a whole chapter to this subject, in our understanding of the different veils upon mankind (Chapter 8), and how they actually came about. I would encourage you to read it.

While we can trace the explanation to this hardening of Israel to the Torah (five books of Moses) in the book of Deuteronomy (29:4), we are also aware that all humankind's hearts are veiled to God as a result of sin, which naturally hardens. However, it is not until Israel and Judah totally abandoned God to their idols that the Lord commands Isaiah to proclaim a blindness and deafness upon them, which has remained to this day (Isaiah 6:9,10). And it is to this Scripture that I believe the apostle Paul is referring to here. Regardless, those of Israel whose eyes were not opened remained under this curse, up UNTIL the appointed time when this veil will be removed (verses 25-26).

Path No. 3 and the Third Question – Israel Restored

"Again I ask: Did they stumble beyond recovery? Not at all!"

Again Paul questions us, however this time it relates solely to those Jewish people who have still not believed and remain under the veil. Please note however, that they are still referred to as Israel in this text (verse 11).

Did they stumble beyond recovery? Not at all! And Paul makes clear to us that there is a future redemption for Israel that is still to come. For what else can these Scriptures refer to? And one must ask the question as to why the church fathers did not see this when Scripture is so clear concerning Israel's ultimate restoration. Paul writes ... "How much greater riches will their fullness bring! ... For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ... And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ... After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! ... I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening IN PART UNTIL the full number of Gentiles has come in, and IN THIS WAY all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:11-27).

Unequivocally, the veil and hardening over Israel will be lifted. If we are willing to accept it, it is already begun through the Messianic Movement and the many thousands of Jewish believers who are now coming to faith during these days. Please note here that since Israel took back possession of Jerusalem in 1967, more Jewish souls have come to Messiah than in the last 1900 years put together.

This is the first part of this mystery to be revealed and according to Scripture there will be a mass awakening of Israel of a final remnant—a turning to the Lord with a great repentance (Zechariah 12:10). But will this happen between God and Israel alone, or is His church the catalyst to help bring this about? To be continued ... 

Grant Berry is a Jewish believer in Yeshua/Jesus and author of The New Covenant Prophecy and The Ezekiel Generation. He has founded Reconnecting Ministries with the specific focus to help the church reconnect spiritually to Israel and considers it vital to the kingdom of God in the last days. His website is reconnectingministries.org.

For a limited time, we are extending our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charisma. As a special offer, you can get 40 issues of Charisma magazine for only $40!

NEW from CHARISMA: Do you want to encounter the Holy Spirit and hear God speak to you? Increase your faith, discover freedom, and draw near to God! Click Here

Did you enjoy this blog? Click here to receive it by email.

Obama: Terror Is Our Fault; Perps are ‘victims’! - Ron Cantor

Obama: Terror Is Our Fault; Perps are ‘victims’!             President Obama gave his weekly address on Saturday. Shockingly he presented the perpetrators of the San Bernardino terror attacks as victims and said that we need to do more to prevent others from falling prey. He presents ‘radicalization’ as something that can be caught, like a virus. We address this in our latest video.             We must be in prayer for America and plead for revival in the Middle East!   Thank you Ron Cantor! we appreciate and support your work! Steve & Laurie Martin Love For His People, Inc. Charlotte, NC USA

Messianic Jews Help Christians Understand Shabbat

Friday, June 19, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

RELATED STORIES

• Evangelism in Jesus' Hometown
• Why Palestinian Human Rights Week is an important event
• Former Hizballah leader visits Messianic Jews

Topics:

Messianic Jews

For Christians gaining an awareness of the Hebraic foundations of their faith, there’s a lot of new and exciting elements to incorporate. Sabbath, or Shabbat, is not just another one of those elements. It is, in fact, a core tenet of the biblical religion.

After all, Shabbat was important enough to warrant a place in the 10 Commandments, forgotten though as it often is amongst that august list of moral stipulations.

A new Messianic endeavor based in Jerusalem is looking to help Christians plug in to the beauty and spiritual significance of Shabbat. The Sabbat Experience invites small groups of Christians to partake in a traditional Jewish Sabbath meal from the perspective of local believers in Yeshua (Jesus).

“We strive to bring our guests through a traditional experience that a typical Jewish family would encounter on any given Friday evening,” reads their website. “The Friday evening Sabbath Experience (Erev Shabbat) is so much more than a religious experience. It is more of an event where everyone is involved and participating.”

More information can be found at The Sabbath Experience

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.

LANCE LAMBERT - A GREAT TREE HAS FALLEN IN ISRAEL - David Dolan

LANCE LAMBERT A GREAT TREE HAS FALLEN IN ISRAEL Shalom to all, I wanted to share a personal tribute to my dear friend Lance Lambert Dobski, who as many will already know, was "upgraded" to be with the Lord at Jerusalem's Sha'are Zedek (Gates of Justice) hospital at around 3:15 on Sunday afternoon, May 10.  On the exact same date last year, my sweet mother went to be with the Lord.  This past Sunday afternoon, Mother's Day in America, I placed a basket of flowers on her grave not far from my new northwest home, thinking of her and of Lance as well.  Lance's human remains are being laid to rest today in Jerusalem in a private ceremony, with a public celebration of his life scheduled for May 27 at the Jerusalem Pavilion. I was recently with Lance at his home this past Palm Sunday along with his good friends Helen Reiss and Chuck and Karen Cohen. I could, and maybe will someday, write a book about Lance and the many amazing people I met through him and the many good times we shared.  I once jokingly told him and his family that I would title such a biography "The Secret Life of Lance Lambert," which sparked off laughter from all. The truth is that Lance's fine life was not at all lived out in secret, but was publicly shared for many decades with untold thousands of people around the world who were blessed and enriched by his wisdom, biblical insights, sharp wit and equally sharp mind, eloquence, and many other positive things.  Yes, he had his flaws, and I knew most of them quite well, having been friends with Lance since the early 1980s.  But overall, he was "a great tree that has fallen in Israel" as his doctor and friend (and mine as well) wrote to me soon after his passing. Lance Lambert Dobski was the first Messianic Jewish Israeli speaker that I heard after arriving in the Lord's special Land in late 1980.  He had come to a place called "Baptist Village" (still there today) just outside of Tel Aviv to share with a group of around 100 young Christian believers, including myself, who had traveled from all over the world to live and work together for one year in teams on several kibbutz communities scattered around the small Jewish state.  I would later learn that Lance never deemed any group too small to share with, even if it meant, as in this case, a little travel on his part to get to his venue. I knew moments after the tall, dark haired, lanky Lance first opened his mouth that this was not an ordinary speaker, nor an ordinary man.  It was soon obvious that he was a very gifted and intelligent orator with a lot of information and probably wisdom (later confirmed) to share.  I never dreamed as I closely listened to his salient words, salted by lots of humor, that we would not only become good friends within a few years time, but that he would basically become a mentor to me in both spiritual matters and in everything to do with Israel and its history and contemporary situation.  This was behind the dedication of my first book, Holy War for the Promised Land, to Lance just over ten years later in 1991. Just two years after moving to Jerusalem from the northern Galilee region in early 1984, I became a regular guest at Lance's beautiful home with its fantastic views of the nearby walled Old City and Jaffa Gate.  His place featured an interesting mix of traditional old world English furniture and art work with Oriental items that entered Lance's family via his uncle who worked in Shanghai before the Communists took over China in 1949.  Most Sabbath meals that I would enjoy in Jerusalem after that time would be at his three story home, if he was in the country that is!  International guests often included people from the Far East, an area Lance especially loved after earlier training to be a missionary in China.  Frequently among the guests were government, church, and security leaders from Singapore, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia, and from the rest of the world. Being single all of his 84 years, Lance always lit the Sabbath candles himself and recited the traditional Sabbath blessing in Hebrew over them, with myself, his sister Teresa, her husband Achim, and their daughter Sophia nearly always in attendance along with other invited guests.  The meals were mostly cooked and served by one or two of the young male Christian volunteer workers who lived in Lance's home at any given time, although Lance himself usually presided over the very spicy soups that preceded the main meal.  In order to observe Jewish kosher dietary laws (which Lance kept not out of religious conviction, but so that he could serve any Israeli guest in his home, Orthodox or not), yummy cakes and pies and other goodies with dairy products in them were eaten at least an hour before the main "meat" meal, accompanied by strong British tea.  So dessert came first at Lance's comfortable home!  The occasional child in attendance usually acknowledged that this was a truly brilliant way to serve a meal! The most memorable festive meals were shared on the Jewish feast of Passover, when the full moon was rising over the nearby Old City walls, and on the Feast of Tabernacles when we ate in Lance's upstairs open sky balcony which became his "succa" every year.  Scrumptious foods were also served on Christmas and Hanukkah, when a beautifully decorated Christmas tree glowed near Lance's large silver eight-branched Hanukkiah.  Next to that, a bronze statue of Moses that I gave him reminded us all that both Hanukkah and Christmas have Jewish biblical roots. The most memorable moment was when one of Lance's talking parrots (he had two cockatoos and several parrots) broke into the meeting to basically tell a woman The most memorable regular Sabbath meal occurred during the first days of the Gulf War in 1991.  A phone call from a close friend who worked in army intelligence, and whose Israeli wife was at the meal, revealed that Saddam's first Scuds had just been launched at Israel and would be landing soon.  I and other guests, including two elderly Dutch sisters who had saved Jewish lives during Hitler's war, quickly grabbed his two cockatoo birds and some food and skedaddled downstairs to Lance's basement "sealed room."  Normally just his library and television room, it had earlier been prepared with plastic sheeting over the windows to prevent potential chemical weapons from seeping in. Lance Lambert Dobski was an expert on the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, which was apparent to all who knew him well or read one of his many books or heard him speak on the topic.  He himself stated that this was largely due to the fact that Adolph Hitler and his cronies had stolen Lance's Jewish identity from him, which prodded him in later life to study his Jewish roots in depth. Although this story is worth at least a chapter in a book, the short version is that Lance's father was an Italian Jewish nobleman who met his mother Laura (who I met at his home in Jerusalem before her death in the early 1980s) while he was working as the economic attaché for the Italian embassy in London in the early 1930s.  Having been summoned back to Rome by King Victor Emmanuel just before Mussolini rose to power in Italy, he never made it back to London but ended up some years later at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp where he perished along with over 60 members of Lance's extended Jewish family.  Listening one evening as Lance detailed how he discovered his Jewish roots and biological father's existence—all hidden from him and his sister Teresa by their mother as Hitler's buzz bombs rained down on London during World War II—was one of the most moving moments of my life. Lance Lambert only discovered that his real last name was Dobski after he became an adult.  His widely known surname, Lambert, actually belonged to his stepfather, a close friend of his father.  Soon after Hitler rose to power in Germany in 1933, Lance's dad was summoned back to Rome.  Many years later, his mother shared with her offspring the jarring news about their biological Jewish father and how she learned about his tragic end from the Red Cross after the war.  Stirring Lance very deeply, she added that one of his father's last requests was that if a Jewish state actually arose in the Middle East one day and he was not able to return to his family, she would ask their son and daughter to immigrate to it.  This was fulfilled in the early 1980s as both Lance and Teresa and family settled in Jerusalem. Even before he learned of his natural father's identity, Lance already had a love for the Jewish State and a desire to travel there. He was in Jerusalem when Egyptian and Syrian troops launched their surprise Yom Kippur military attack in October 1973, even as his close friend Derek Prince had been during Israel's 1948 War of Independence. I first met Derek at Lance's home, where I joined him and his wife Ruth and others for a weekly prayer meeting that really took off at times. The most memorable moment was when one of Lance's talking parrots (he had two cockatoos and several parrots) broke into the meeting to basically tell a woman who was standing on her feet and praying fervently and loudly to sit down and shut up!  Along with his well-earned international esteem, Lance was considered a virtual "apostle" by many Messianic leaders in Israel and abroad.  Indeed, I often thought I was listening to Paul or Peter when he spoke about spiritual matters, usually with great clarity and authority. Lance's personality was unique in so many ways.  He was very practical and down to earth, yet he had his "boys" take a full silver tea set to the Tel Aviv beach when they traveled there for occasional ocean outings.  If tea spilled on his fine white linen tablecloths either there or in Jerusalem, he would throw a small fit even if the spillage occurred via his own hands (usually the case).  Yet when one of his longtime faithful workers could not avoid skidding Lance's new BMW into an oil truck that suddenly moved into our lane north of Jerusalem in 1987 (I was riding in the passenger seat and nearly impaled during the accident), he reacted quite calmly to the news that his vehicle was totaled, only asking if we were both OK. I was especially privileged to spend many vacations with Lance and other friends at his wonderful summer place on the Greek island of Naxos.  Every year he would take a different friend or worker or a set of the same to one or another Greek island for a month long visit.  In 1995 I was finally able to arrange enough time off from my radio work with CBS to travel with him.  It was Lance's first visit to Naxos, situated between the more famous Mykonos and Santorini islands.  While there, we checked out a home building project on the side of a hill facing the sea.  Lance immediately fell in love with the spot and later purchased a lot there and had a small house built.  I was blessed to help him establish and care for a large and verdant garden around the white and blue Greek style house, including many fruit and olive trees and colorful bougainvillea plants.  I had learned much about gardening in 1981 while assisting the chief gardener for one year on Kibbutz Hagoshrim near Israel's northern border with Lebanon. There was another link between my late mother and Lance besides their shared date of death….both never saw a shop or store that they did not want to enter!  My family joked that mom was keeping several large department store chains afloat by her frequent purchases from them.  Lance also helped keep world commerce flourishing by his periodic international shopping sprees, being especially fond of Asian jade and anything silver or gold!  The sale of some of his jade collection actually helped fund his medical needs in his final months on earth. A special shout out must be given to Lance's niece, Sophia Rentzing, who sacrificed much of her private time since Lance returned home from Greece in December to care for her frail uncle.  You did a wonderful job Sophia, and the Lord was watching.  Also greatly assisting Lance in recent years was longtime friend Helen Reiss, an Israeli believer from the UK, along with Dr. Kent Bar Shuv and his wife Yael, who helped Lance set up his medical insurance and many other things. Lance Lambert Dobski will be sorely missed by me, by his family, and by his many friends and fans around the world.  I arranged a trip to Israel this past March just a few days before I learned in late September that Lance had fallen seriously ill while visiting Greece.  It turned out to have been the Lord's perfect timing, as I was able to spend many hours with Lance during that month long visit and share a few final meals and tea with him in his special Jerusalem home.  While a Great Tree has indeed fallen in Israel, it has been replanted in full in the Lord's presence in heaven!  May you rest in peace there dear brother!  We look forward to meeting up again with you there, probably over some divine tea! PS:  I was blessed to partake in a short discussion about Lance Lambert and his life with American-Israeli musician and speaker Barry Segal. We recorded it in front of Lance's Jerusalem home at the end of my last day in Israel on March 31.  Barry has informed me that the interview will be broadcast next week (May 17-21) on the Segal's weekly "Roots and Reflections" television program, broadcast on the God Channel on Mondays in America and on the Daystar network each Friday.  Check your local listings to view the program.    David Dolan, 2536 Rimrock Avenue, STE 400-383, Grand Junction, CO 81505, USA

Bible Teacher Lance Lambert Dies in Jerusalem

CBNNews.com

Monday, May 11, 2015

Ad Feedback

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Beloved Bible scholar and teacher Lance Lambert passed away Sunday in Jerusalem at the age of 84.

Born in Richmond, Surry, in 1931, Lambert grew up in England and came to know the Lord as a 12 year old.

Later he prepared to enter the ministry in China, but was denied entry because of the Communist revolution.

Lambert served in the Royal Air Force in Egypt in the early 1950s, where he learned the nuts and bolts of intercessory prayer. From time to time, he would remind his audiences that people who referred to themselves as intercessors often were not.

After embracing his Jewish roots, Lambert received Israeli citizenship in 1980, making Jerusalem his home. His father and many members of his family perished in the Holocaust.

Lambert was a sought-out speaker on intercessory and corporate prayer and God's covenant relationship with Israel and the Jewish people and the author of numerous books.

He hosted a weekly prayer meeting in his home in Jerusalem's Yemin Moshe neighborhood.

[RUDDICK REPORT] GLORY FROM THE EAST MANIFESTING - Morris Ruddick

Morris Ruddick  GLORY FROM THE EAST MANIFESTING In the face of what seems unlikely and impossible, God's ways are always higher. Having spent over 21 months in Vietnam in the last 7 years, we have continually been amazed. God's ways simply defy natural efforts and the best of human capabilities. At the crux has been a remnant committed to prayer. Behind the Scenes We've long been acquainted with how over two decades ago the Vietnamese refugee camps in Hong Kong served as Bible training centers. Huge numbers of Vietnamese were coming to the Lord and then being prepared for what God knew, but those held there hardly expected: being returned to Vietnam when China took over Hong Kong. That difficult event for those in the camps changed the balance of power for the house church movement from one end of the country to the other. More than seventy percent of those interred had come from the North. During that same general time frame, beginning in the early 1990s, many from Vietnam's elite in the North were being sent to Russia for graduate work, business training and assignments, along with positions of influence. In Moscow alone, there was a community of over 100,000 Vietnamese. Most of Moscow's Vietnamese lived in one central high-rise area. THEN, during the time that the Vietnamese refugee camps across Asia started being disbanded, there came a radical spiritual climate change in Moscow. Almost overnight, in the expatriate Vietnamese community, everyone was talking about Jesus and reaching out to know Him. Parenthetically, the late 1980s to mid-90s in Vietnam were the most brutal for the persecuted house church movement. Raids were made, leaders were jailed. So it was that the prayers of the saints steadily and desperately became more intense. Anointed, high-level Western ministry leaders slipped in to pray in agreement with secret gatherings of Vietnamese leaders. Those fervent prayers of the righteous, oppressed and anointed were heard -- and from Hong Kong to Moscow, grand-strategy alignments from on High were set in motion. We tend to describe such big-picture alignments as God doing a new thing. While they are, they entail more. A very key factor involves the amassing of prayers from those most impacted, especially those being crushed for their faith. They entail the anticipatory response of a God whose ways are beyond the realm of our short-term perspectives of things. These highlights from more than the last two decades set the stage for what unfolded in our most recent sojourn in Vietnam as we have been privileged to serve as a part of these NEW dimensions being released in God. Current Parallels Upon arrival almost six weeks ago, we came out of the chute hard and fast. After a number of meetings in the Saigon area, we headed north. Domestic Vietnamese flights were a zoo this time of year, as we were traveling just prior to the Tet (Chinese New Year) holidays on our own, when there is a massive shift of the population returning to hometowns for family holiday visits. It was freezing when we arrived in the capital city. Not literally, but with it sunny and the highs in the Saigon area in the mid 90s, we were facing some days with the highs in the 50s, with it drizzly, overcast and damp. There's no heat in the buildings. The Vietnamese wear winter jackets in this type of weather. Our first workshop had a mix of leaders: business people, fledgling entrepreneurs, pastors, pastor's wives and even a graduate-school professor whose academic expertise (economic forecasting) closely paralleled my own professional experience. There were several minority group, village leader/ pastors who had traveled distances to attend. Forty to fifty were expected -- the number wound up being 75. The man who arranged it was amazed. The professor who came had such a positive response, that he has offered to have my books translated and published in Vietnam. This very significant offer is an important answer to prayer and our future potential in helping these brethren. I already knew core infrastructures were being deeply penetrated by the Lord, but this time in Hanoi demonstrated even more. We had dinner one night with a Vietnamese pastor our age, a former field-grade military type, also retired from a high-level position in a Russian firm, who is a product of the sweep of the Holy Spirit in Moscow during the 1990s. He now leads a fellowship attracting field-grade and above vets from the capital city. ONLY GOD, with the prayers of a remnant, could have done this. Our next workshops included all successful business people -- whose desire is to follow God's ways of business. When I learned of the makeup of those attending, I re-shuffled the presentation and raised the bar. The new format has been well received with invitations for more. Our final group teased us with their desire for "more" by telling us that they would allow us to go ONLY if we agreed to come back in May with additional teaching. We agreed! New Potentials and Challenges We visited two of the orphanages our chief host supports. One has 22 kids who were rescued from human trafficking. We usually come with a small supply of Hershey's chocolates. It brought tears to our eyes to see those kids take their first bite of chocolate and see their eyes get real big at the taste of it. The eagerness we're experiencing among business practitioners dovetails with another dimension of the big-picture alignment that ONLY GOD could be orchestrating. One of our earliest trips to Hanoi (2008) unveiled a move of God among the sons and daughters of high-ranking government officials, young professionals in their late 20s and 30s being completely delivered from hard-drug addictions after government drug-rehab programs had repeatedly failed. NOW! Now there is a shift underway by authorities in the acceptance of the role of local Christians working with addicts. As we've become a part of what is unfolding with business leaders in both Hanoi and Saigon -- it has brought the Joseph-Daniel Calling dimension of my message into sharp focus. So, in addition to our workshops to birth new businesses, we've begun to collaborate on bringing these business leaders together from across the regions to strategize on their joint mobilization. Discussions on plans to establish funds to train the youth entrepreneurially, as well as to help mobilize poor communities economically are in motion -- as Vietnamese leaders embrace the responsibility of helping their own. Advancing opportunity -- with God's proclamation of the Vietnamese brethren being the head and not the tail -- is being facilitated, cooperatively by both the North and the South. As we have witnessed these "beyond expectation" dynamics, I marvel at the rich, personal relationships we've come to enjoy with the brethren in the North. In line with these thoughts were some recent and very key Kingdom connections. One brother in particular is a genuine modern-day Joseph, a business-owner and product of the Vietnamese-Russian revival, who has an amazing story of how God supernaturally birthed his company and how he has intertwined his business with Kingdom purposes. His vision and zeal make him a major force for change in this simultaneously challenging, yet opportunistic spiritual environment. We found our burden to start a business-school of values for the secular marketplace shared by ones who we might collaborate with in the days ahead. Step by step, the Lord is bringing the pieces together. We visited and received feedback from a businessman who six years ago slipped us into a major stronghold of this nation. During that time we helped start businesses that have not only grown, but have built up the local body, as our self-sustaining program has continued to spawn new businesses. The "value-added" to what he shared was in the faith-filled way he now saw these brethren THINKING. Contrary to ones culturally tainted by Western doctrinal precepts and ambitions, these brethren culturally are very biblical in their thinking while retaining a faith that is Vietnamese in its identity. With a culture closer to the Jewish roots to the faith than most other Asian cultures, it explains their ready grasp of deep matters of faith. The Bible is culturally Jewish and from an Eastern mind-set. So it is that these brethren have embraced community-based mind-sets that look to the Lord, that are inclined to reach out and help one another AND to expect miracles. It's one of the reasons revival is taking root so strongly. In the face of adversity, these brethren have not only been prospering, but growing as a community spiritually. In so doing, they have become truly a light on a hill to their neighbors. Yet, alongside these positive developments is a reality and deep concern. It involves leaders whose hearts have strayed from the purity needed in the high stakes of this spiritual environment and have become ambitious. The impact ranges from those who inform on one another (to local authorities) for their own gain, to those whose out-dated and short-sighted grasp of the spiritual big-picture short-circuits the alignments emerging from the long-term amassing of prayer. I'm sharing these matters with the hope that it will engender prayer that supports the move of God underway, rather than the move of man. Overall however, what we've been witnessing is how uniquely and strategically the Spirit of the Lord orchestrates things when people are praying. Alliances are being mobilized and Kingdom strategies planned and set in motion. With such a unique intertwining of fervent prayer and developments over the last two to three decades, there is emerging today, against all odds, something vibrant that taps His glory with results beyond chance expectations. With our next trip in May, as well as our September trip almost filled up -- we are already setting up activities for after the first of the year in 2016. The exposure we've had has tapped not only all the major house-church networks, but most major denominations. God has helped us in discerning the true voices of wisdom in this volatile spiritual environment. I've been systematically tracking and mapping out these historical developments of the revival in Vietnam. Understanding the cultural overtones to the parallels between Vietnamese and biblical, Jewish culture is an important key to what lies ahead. God's ways are always higher. The prayers of a remnant have been triggering His glory. As they have, this fervent, effectual prayer combined with strategy impacts the spiritual atmosphere and brings change. It brings the change that only can be explained by God. Thank you. We deeply appreciate your prayers and support in our efforts to build up these most remarkable brethren.  With every blessing,

Morris Ruddick Global Initiatives Foundation www.strategic-initiatives.org www.strategicintercession.org Global Initiatives Foundation is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts are enabled by the generosity of a remnant of faithful friends and contributors whose vision aligns with God's heart to mobilize the persecuted church to be the head and not the tail. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to PO Box 370291, Denver CO 80237 or by credit card at http://strategicintercession.org/support/

Young Messianics Draw Closer to Jewish Roots

Thursday, December 11, 2014 |  David Lazarus  ISRAEL TODAY

As many young Messianic Jewish believers in Israel draw closer to their Jewish roots, we let one young man share his views openly, views which may challenge traditional Christian notions.

The full article appears in the December 2014 issue of Israel Today Magazine.
Don't miss it! SUBSCRIBE NOW >>

Want more news from Israel?
Click Here to sign up for our FREE daily email updates from ISRAEL TODAY.