COMMENTARY: Should the Church Be Called “Spiritual Israel”? - Brian Hennessy ISRAEL TODAY

COMMENTARY: Should the Church Be Called “Spiritual Israel”?

Tuesday, April 18, 2017 |  Brian Hennessy  ISRAEL TODAY

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Christians

I’d wager the overwhelming response to that question by Christians who love and support the State of Israel would be, “yes!” And if pressed to differentiate between a “spiritual Israel” and a “physical Israel,” I feel certain most would say the physical one is Jewish and the other is not. 

Such is the state of confusion that abounds in the body of Messiah today regarding this important issue. Because if that popular understanding is true then it robs the Jewish people of ever becoming spiritual Israel, the Messianic community of God. And it robs non-Jewish Christians, aka the “church,” of ever being revealed as the “wild olive branches” grafted into that very same Messianic community. Are not non-Jewish believers also physical beings promised an equal share in Israel’s inheritance through faith in Messiah? “For if you belong to Messiah, you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).

So let’s take a look at this spiritual/physical thing that I believe has been the root cause of so much confusion over the centuries. The Biblical passage that addresses the issue most directly is found in First Corinthians. It reads: “The spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven... And just as we have borne the image of the earthy (man), we will also bear the image of the heavenly (man) (1 Cor. 15:46-48).

What these verses teach is that the physical man and the spiritual man, like love and marriage, go together as a horse and carriage. From God’s point of view, we need both if we want to be part of the Israel of God. By necessity, the physical must come first. We must first be born of physical seed into this world. But then we must also be birthed again by a spiritual seed – i.e. God’s Spirit – to be counted among His chosen people. That can only happen when God through His mercy removes our sinful heart of flesh through faith in Yeshua and we receive “a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezek. 36:26). 

However, the church has traditionally separated God’s spiritually regenerated people – the “Christians” – from those deemed to be his physical people, the Jews. This is due to the influence of Greek philosophy on early Christian thought.  To the Greeks, physical earthly matter was evil, something to escape by severe bodily discipline or death. While the spiritual was the ideal state that we all hoped to attain in the afterlife. 

But the truth is the spiritual and the physical should be viewed simply as two progressive stages of human life on earth that is now possible, thanks to Yeshua’s sacrificial death. Before Messiah came we were all just carnal beings void of spiritual life due to Adam’s sin. But now that “earthy man,” whether born Jewish or German, has the potential of growing into the fullness of the “heavenly man,” who is Messiah. 

However, because we’ve been taught for so long that the physical and the spiritual are  incompatible realities, it is now distorting how Christians view our relationship to the Jewish State of Israel today.  

This teaching, which inspired Replacement Theology, erred when it pushed the legitimate fulfillment of Old Testament types and shadows in Messiah too far (a favorite tactic of the Enemy). It over-spiritualized the New Covenant. It taught that the Jews also were a type and shadow that had been replaced by Christians as God’s new chosen people.  And that the land promised to Abraham’s seed was just a metaphor for life in heaven – now identified as the Kingdom Of God. 

As more and more Christians have awakened to see God never rejected the Jewish people, nor abandoned His land promise, a great skepticism has arisen about all things said to have been fulfilled in Messiah. So that even those things that were truly fulfilled in Yeshua are being abandoned. And there is a rush to embrace many of the commandments of the Old Covenant as a way to retrieve the Hebraic roots of our faith. 

The Lord’s Supper, the New Covenant fulfillment of the Passover memorial, is being ignored in favor of the Jewish Seder meal. Our total spiritual rest in Yeshua has given way to resting again from manual labor on the Saturday Sabbath. And the understanding that the body of Messiah is now God’s new temple on earth is being replaced by a longing to see a third Jewish temple arise with animal sacrifice and a reinstitution of the Levitical priesthood. 

We need to clean out that corruptive piece of Greek leaven from our understanding and see the spiritual and physical are not mutually exclusive. But that both are required by God as He brings forth a new holy race on this earth, a new Adam. A place where our holy God can literally dwell in our midst by His Spirit through Messiah.

It’s true that right now only those in Messiah are experiencing this new abiding spiritual relationship with God. But unbelieving Judah’s time to receive her spiritual inheritance is rapidly approaching. When that happens there will be a corporate unveiling of “the one new man” (Eph. 2:15).  Both the physical Jew and physical non-Jew will graduate to become one people in the glorified body of Messiah. No longer to be thought of as two different kinds of Israels with different inheritances. But one Israel of God.

And then “all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26) – both physically and spiritually.

Brian Hennessy is the author of Valley of the Steeples

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If you thought Jewish “settlements” were an obstacle to peace, you’re about to be proven wrong - Israel Video Network

Jewish “settlements” aren't an obstacle to peace, they preserve it... Though there are many who would shout in defiance at such a statement, there is really no such thing as a “Palestinian” people. In fact, the term is a relatively new invention – intended as a tool to advance the destruction of Israel. Think I’m making this up? The so-called “Palestinians” were referred to as simply “Arabs” until 1967. The name was created by Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat under the guidance of Russian propagandists in the KGB. This means the very “reason” so much of the world hates Israel is based on a lie.

BIN EXCLUSIVE: Meet Mike Pence’s Orthodox, Jewish, Israeli Cousins - Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

Mike Pence. (Gino Santa Maria / Shutterstock.com)

BIN EXCLUSIVE: Meet Mike Pence’s Orthodox, Jewish, Israeli Cousins

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz November 14, 2016  BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Yehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there for My people and for My heritage Yisrael whom they have scattered among the nations and divided My land.” Joel 4:2 (The Israel Bible™)

Michael Pence, the Vice President-elect, is a long-time ardent supporter of Israel, but it turns out that his connection to the Holy Land goes deeper than even he knows: the Evangelical Christian from Indiana has Orthodox Jewish relatives, one of whom lives in the Golan Heights and is eager to meet his cousin.

The genealogical connection centers around Tamsen (Tammy) Socher, a Jewish grandmother living in West Los Angeles. She spent most of her life in the San Fernando Valley, but when she moved to Ohio, eight years ago, she felt a need to maintain a connection to her family and became interested in genealogy. Her search quickly led her to a relative, Richard Pence, an amateur genealogist. She was impressed by his work.

Mike Pence and Merrill Socher-Axelrod (Courtesy Merrill Socher-Axelrod)

“Some people just want to fill in the blanks, but Richard really worked hard at getting it right,” Tammy said in an interview with Breaking Israel News. Tammy realized that Pence was not a common name. “It doesn’t really come from England. It was one of those made-up Ellis Island names, so we are all connected. I haven’t met a ‘Pence’ yet who wasn’t a relative.”

Most of her family was from Indiana, so Tammy asked Richard if Michael Pence, then an Indiana congressman, was a relative. Richard, who is now deceased, answered that the Michael Pence was indeed her fourth cousin on her father’s side. Tammy tried to contact Pence at the time but was unsuccessful.

The Vice president-elect is aware of this family connection. When he was on the campaign trail, Tammy’s cousin Merrill Socher-Axelrod, an Israeli citizen living in Michigan, went to a campaign event. Michael Pence showed up late but Merrill hurried to be photographed with her famous relative. When she stood next to him, she told him quickly, “You have Orthodox Jewish cousins in Israel. Here is some family lineage. Your cousins are my cousins.”

She handed him a letter from Tammy describing the family connection. It noted that several of his relatives are religious Jews, and at least one lives in Israel. Included in the information was a personal invitation from Tammy’s son, Jesse, inviting his vice-presidential cousin to come visit him in his Golan home the next time Pence is in Israel.

Jesse Socher told Breaking Israel News that his invitation was sincere.

Jesse Socher and his son, in an IDF uniform. (Courtesy Jesse Socher)

“I know he probably won’t take me up on it, but I support him and he seems like a nice guy,” Socher said. “If he comes to Israel, I would love to get together.”

Jesse is realistic about the significance of this family connection. “When it comes to making political decisions, I doubt that it makes a difference to him that he has family in the Golan. But it does say a lot about how interconnected Israel and America are.”

Pence has visited Israel several times and has referred to Israel as “America’s most cherished ally.” In 2014, he headed a high-level business delegation from his state on a visit to Israel sponsored by Christians United for Israel.

In 2016, he signed into law a bill which would ban Indiana from having any commercial dealings with companies that boycotts Israel. Pence has also said that he opposes a Palestinian state. Quoted as saying he was “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order,” his support for Israel is more based on ideology than politics.

In an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 2009, Pence assured the audience, “Let me say emphatically, like the overwhelming majority of my constituents, my Christian faith compels me to cherish the State of Israel.”

Surprising to Many, This Music Icon, Bob Dylan, Practices Messianic Judaism - TOBY JANICKI CHARISMA NEWS

Bob Dylan's conversion to Messianic Judaism years ago met with cultural resistance. (Flickr )

Surprising to Many, This Music Icon, Bob Dylan, Practices Messianic Judaism

10/24/2016 TOBY JANICKI  CHARISMA NEWS

Recently it was announced that Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. In light of this, I thought I would share about the connection between Bob Dylan and Messianic Judaism.

For many years the background (or "wallpaper") on my computer's desktop screen was a blurry picture of a man in desperate need of a haircut, wearing tefillin [worn by Jewish men during daily prayers]. People often say, "Cool picture, but who is that?" When I tell that it's Bob Dylan at the Western Wall attending his son's bar mitzvah, I get a mixture of reactions that range from "I didn't know he was Jewish" to "Who's Bob Dylan?"

I was first introduced to Bob Dylan at, of all places, a Christian summer camp. Although I was too young to realize the impact Dylan had had on the culture and politics of the 1960s, I thoroughly enjoyed his anthemic songs such as "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "Blowing in the Wind." 

When I got home from camp. I was pleased to find a few of Bob Dylan's records among my father's record collection, but what surprised me the most was the gospel album entitled "Slow Train Coming." Unbeknownst to me, Dylan had produced three gospel albums from 1979 to 1981 after a born-again experience through which he said Jesus came and visited him personally. I immediately wondered whether he was still a believer.

Along the way I found the book Restless Pilgrim: The Spiritual Journey of Bob Dylan, coincidentally at my father's house. In it, the author describes a man who has often been misunderstood on his biblical faith journey. The entertainment business would not accept the fact that their cultural icon had become a believer in Messiah Jesus.

While Dylan preached to his crowds in 1979 about the need to repent and turn to the Lord, it was him that fans and critics viewed as Judas. It is not surprising that after only three gospel albums, which included three years of relentless persecution from the media, Bob Dylan hid his face from the public eye. Author Scott Marshall writes in his book of these years:

Perhaps the second verse of Dylan's 1962 song, "Mixed-Up Confusion," best summarizes the situation: "Well, there's too many people/And they're all too hard to please."

Yet besides the newspaper critics and the fans, probably the biggest obstacle that Bob Dylan faced was trying to be a believer in Jesus and still actively practice his Jewish roots. As difficult as this is for Jewish people today, it was even harder in the early 1980s. To most people it was either belief in Jesus or Judaism:

Seemingly, every foray into the Jewish arena is interpreted as flat-out return to Judaism, a renunciation of the truth of Jesus Christ that he confessed more than two decades ago.

Here's a great example of this apparent dichotomy. In the fall of 2001, Dylan spent the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, at an Orthodox synagogue in Encino, California. Then he began his tour in early 2002 with the overt gospel tune "Hallelujah, I'm Ready to Go," a song that speaks of a "wonderful Savior to know." The next night he opened with the song "I Am the Man, Thomas." This song covers the story where the Jesus reveals Himself to a doubting Thomas and declares:

"Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have yet believed" (John 20:29)

For Dylan, it was not an either/or scenario between Judaism and Christianity. He was comfortable with a world that drew from both. 

As I read the story of Dylan's spiritual life, I began to appreciate him more and more. I saw a man who struggled with his identity much as we do today—stuck in between Christianity and Judaism. As with Dylan, many misinterpret the actions of those in Messianic Judaism as either too Jewish or too Christian.

For me, in Dylan's words I often find the heartbeat of a man who at times seems to know the Master better than I do:

"Even so, as far ahead of the pack as Dylan traveled, there's something almost first-century about him. It's not hard to imagine Bob Dylan sitting under the teaching of the Master on a Palestine hillside, listening attentively, questioning respectfully, analyzing thoughtfully. Could it be that this is where Dylan has been getting his insights all along?"

Over the years, Dylan has continued to infuse the biblical text into his songs. It is estimated that between 1979 and 1990, 67 out of the 80 songs he wrote contained allusions to the Bible. As a person, Jesus Himself was not known to answer questions in a straightforward manner.

So too, with Dylan, who dodges them left and right. He has developed it into such an art that any imitation of this style is often labeled "dylanesque." It seems the only way to find out what's in his head is to listen to his music:

If it's really all right there in the music, then Bob Dylan is without a doubt a man who continues to express faith in Jesus while holding on to his Jewish heritage. 

Toby Janicki is a teacher, writer and project manager for First Fruits of Zion (ffoz.org). He contributes regularly to Messiah Journal and has written several books including God Fearers: Gentiles and the God of Israel. You can reach Toby atoutreach@ffoz.org.

3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!

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Jewish and Arab Millennials: Holy Spirit Builds Bridges of Peace - RICK RIDINGS CHARISMA NEWS

The ELAV Conference in August in Jerusalem brought Arabs and Jews together to passionately worship God. (Maoz Israel )

Jewish and Arab Millennials: Holy Spirit Builds Bridges of Peace

 10/14/2016 RICK RIDINGS  CHARISMA NEWS

Several hundred Messianic Jewish youth together with believing Arab and Palestinian young people gathered for "ELAV 2016" in Jerusalem in August with the focus of "Building An Altar" to the Lord in worship, prayer and encountering the Lord.

A New Wave of 'On-Fire' Teenagers

One very obvious and encouraging sign this year was the higher percentage of teenagers present. For the past few years, the "core" of ELAV had been a group of high schoolers who had now matured into young adults. It was great to see them welcoming and ministering to a "new wave" of teenagers this year who are hungry for God.

The Lord led us to organize a four-day Worship Training Camp for youth last June, at the beginning of the summer.

Over 80 Jewish, Arab and Palestinian teenagers attended this camp, sponsored by our friends at Maoz Israel.

The name of the camp was "Dor Haba," which is Hebrew for "Next Generation." The teens were taught to lead worship by Israeli musicians and worship leaders, and these teenagers themselves led some very anointed times of worship. The Holy Spirit came in some amazing ways, especially when the young adult staff prayed over the teens to write new worship songs in Hebrew and Arabic.

We then designed the ELAV conference, at the end of the summer, to be a two-day, intensive teen and young adult conference. It was incredibly moving to see so many of the teenagers who had been touched earlier in the summer worshipping with great abandonment in ELAV.

Some of the older teenagers even led a very anointed worship time in the ELAV conference. There was a strong sense among the leaders that we are witnessing the beginning of a new strong work of the Holy Spirit among the youth in the Land.

A Commitment to Building Altars of Worship

The speakers this year were: Pastor Avi Mizrachi of Tel Aviv; Rania Sayegh of Nazareth; and Rick Ridings of Jerusalem. All three represent houses of prayer in their cities and challenged the young people to build personal places of daily worship and prayer.

But they were also challenged to be part of a weekly coming together with other teenagers even in places without a house of prayer, to find a few friends that would meet weekly to seek the Lord together.

There was a strong response to this call. I was very blessed by a young Arab believer who said to me: "When you said to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show us who to build an altar with, I heard a specific name, and then I felt like the Lord wanted us to do it outside on our rooftop!"

This definitely shows a new boldness and freedom from fear to be willing to worship the Lord where the neighbors can hear.

Deeper Unity Overcoming Ethnic and National Barriers

As this was our 10th National Youth Conference, we saw the gracious fruit of the years of forgiveness and reconciliation between these 800 Jewish, Arab and Palestinian believers in attendance.

It is encouraging to see that many have moved past moments of reconciliation into true friendships, and that they were so glad to be able to be together again in ELAV. There were wonderful scenes of youth from these conflicted backgrounds praying for each other as true friends.

We even had the visit of a Central American man who is an Ambassador to France and to UNESCO. He said ELAV was the first encouraging news he had heard from the Middle East, and he wanted to come and see with his own eyes if it was true!

He left very touched by the love he saw between the Jewish, Arab, and Palestinian youth. I explained to him that it was not something we were somehow able to produce, but rather the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit during times of worship when the Lord Himself challenged youth to forgiveness and changed their hearts.

We were also very blessed to have believers representing houses of prayer in Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. We had some precious times of fellowship with them. 

Rick and Patti Ridings, founders of Succat Hallel (24/7 worship and prayer overlooking the Temple Mount in Jerusalem). Find them online at succathallel.com.

To see videos of the speaking and worship sessions, go to youtube.com/user/elavmedia.

For the original article, visit maozisrael.org.

3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!

Has God called you to be a leader? Ministry Today magazine is the source that Christian leaders who want to serve with passion and purpose turn to. Subscribe now and receive a free leadership book.

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Anti-Semitism in the Media - Israel Today

Anti-Semitism in the Media

Wednesday, August 24, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff

Most mainstream media are markedly anti-Israel. Their oft repeated excuse, "being anti-Israel is not the same as being anti-Semitic", is a transparent politically correct attempt to cover up their anti-Semitism and hatred of the existence of the Jewish people.

We repeatedly come across, and hear of, anti-Semitic articles, television programs or talkshow participants that regularly exhibit this phenomenon.

Recently a TV documentary aired concerning the bloody West Jerusalem Har Nof synagogue terrorist attack in which praying Jews were mercilessly murdered with knives, axes and a pistol. Five lost their lives in this attack including 3 rabbis and a policeman. The documentary described the deceased as radical, racist settlers in an attempt to shift the blame of the incident attempting to whitewash the guilt of the hateful murderers.

In another documentary aired on a German TV channel, Arab children were shown undergoing military style training with the purpose of being trained to kill Israelis. The presenter immediately claimed that, "both Israeli and Arab children are 'trained to hate' and are taught to mutually despise one another!" Again this was an attempt to place the blame for the hate of Jews equally on both Arabs AND Jews!

Therefore WE NEED YOU!

Israel Today, in collaboration with you, will compile and publish a media blacklist of entities that indulge in overt anti-Semitism. If you observe and witness these activities, we invite you to send us a report of specific incidents (no more than 300 words) to info@israeltoday.co.il, and we will publish selected reports to our site.

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13 False Statements About Israel You Hear Constantly - THE ALGEMEINER STAFF CHARISMA NEWS

View of the Har Homa, an Israeli settlement in Jerusalem (Wikimedia Commons )

13 False Statements About Israel You Hear Constantly

 8/11/2016 THE ALGEMEINER STAFF  CHARISMA NEWS

Mainstream Western media coverage of Israel is laced with expressions intentionally crafted to delegitimize the Jewish State. The good news, is that these terms weren't written in stone 3,300 years ago, but they are post-Israel independence creations.

By using this language, Israel's history is forfeited. Here are 13 phrases people must stop repeating:

1. "West Bank": Claims that "Judea and Samaria" are simply the "biblical name for the West Bank" stands history on its head. The Hebrew-origin terms "Judea" and "Samaria" were used through 1950, when invading [Trans]Jordan renamed them the "West Bank" in order to disassociate these areas of the Jewish homeland from Jews. The U.N.'s own 1947 partition resolution referred not to "West Bank," but to "the hill country of Samaria and Judea." This term is not shorthand for "Judea and Samaria." Under this formulation, Jordan is the "East Bank" of the original Palestine Mandate, which was designated as the homeland for the Jewish People.

2. "East" Jerusalem or "traditionally Arab East" Jerusalem: From the city's second millennium BCE origins until 1947 CE, there was no such place as "East" Jerusalem. The 19 years between when invading Jordan captured part of the city in 1948 and was ousted by Israel in 1967 was the only time in history, except between 638 and 1099, when Arabs ruled any part of Jerusalem. Palestinian Arabs have not ruled an inch of it for one day in history. In the past three millennia, Jerusalem has been the capital of three native states—Judah, Judaea and modern Israel—and has had a renewed Jewish majority since 19th-century Turkish rule. Eastern Jerusalem is a neighborhood of the city that Israel reunified in 1967.

3. "The U.N. sought to create Jewish and Palestinian States": It did not. Partitioning Palestine between "Palestinians" and Jews is like partitioning Pennsylvania between Pennsylvanians and Jews. Over and over in its 1947 partition resolution, the U.N. referenced "the Jewish State" and "the Arab" [not "Palestinian"] State.

4. 1948 was the "creation" and "founding" of  Israel: Israel wasn't "created" and "founded" in 1948 artificially and out-of-the-blue. Israel attained independence that year as the natural fruition into renewed statehood of a people who had twice before been independent in that land, and after centuries of hard work to re-establish a Jewish State in this historic homeland.

5. "The War that Followed Israel's Creation": Israel did not choose this war; it was forced on Israel by almost every Arab state, which rejected the U.N. partition and tried to push the Jews of Israel into the sea. And it was a homeland Jewish army, the Haganah, which became the IDF, that threw back that multination foreign invasion.

6. "Palestinian refugees of the war that followed Israel's creation," or the "Palestinian refugee issue": It was the invading Arab nations bent on Israel's destruction that both encouraged and caused the bulk of the Arabs to flee Israel. And a greater number of media constantly ignore the indigenous Middle Eastern Jews who were expelled from vast Arab and other Muslim lands in the wake of the Arab-Israeli War. Their number is greater than the amount of Arabs that fled tiny Israel. That Israel absorbed the bulk of these Jews, while Arab "hosts," including in Palestine itself, isolate the Arab refugees' descendants in Western-supported "refugee camps" does not convert the Arab-Israeli conflict's two-sided refugee issue into a "Palestinian" refugee issue. Had the Palestinian Arabs accepted the U.N. partition plan, they would also have been celebrating their 66th anniversary.

7.  Israel "Seized" Arab Lands in 1967:  It did not. The 1967 war, like its predecessors, was a defensive war forced upon Israel. Israel's neighbors did not want to compromise; they simply wanted to destroy the Jewish State. The new Israeli territory was meant to provide a security barrier and ensure this could never happen. Moreover, these were not "Arab Lands."

8. Israel's "1967 Borders": The 1949 Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement expressly declared the "green line" it drew between the two sides' ceasefire positions as a military ceasefire line only, without prejudice to either side's political border claims. The post-'67 war U.N. resolution 242 pointedly did not demand Israel retreat from these lines.

9. "Israeli-Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem": That the media insistently calls Israeli presence in the heart of Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria "Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories" does not make it so. "Occupation" is an international law term referencing foreign presence in the sovereign territory of another state. The land of Israel's last sovereign native state before modern Israel was Jewish Judaea. The land ratio of Arab lands to Israel is 625-1, 23 states to one.

10. "Jewish settlers and settlements" vs. "Palestinian residents of neighborhoods and villages": A favorite media news article contrast is referencing in the same sentence "Jewish settlers" in "settlements" and "Palestinian residents" of nearby "neighborhoods" and "villages." Jews are not alien "settlers" in a Jerusalem that's had a Jewish majority since 19th-century times or in the Judea-Samaria Jewish historical heartland.

11. Israel's "Jewish State" recognition is "a new stumbling block": New since Moses' time. The Jewish homeland of Israel, including continuous homeland-claiming Jewish presence, has always been central to Jewish peoplehood. In 1947, British Foreign Secretary Bevin told Parliament that the Jews' "essential point of principle" was Jewish Palestine sovereignty.

12. "Palestinians accept, and Israel rejects, a Two-State Solution": Wrong on both counts. Both the U.S. and Israel define 'Two States' as two states for two peoples—Jews and Arabs. Many on the Arab side reject two states for two peoples. Many Israelis, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, support that plan—conditioned on an end to Palestinian terror. The Arabs continuously and consistently deny Israel's right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish People, no matter where its borders are drawn.

13. "THE Palestinians": The United Nations' 1947 partition resolution called Palestine's Arabs and Jews "the two Palestinian peoples." Nothing is more self-delegitimizing and counter-productive to achieving peace based on Arab recognition of Jews' right to be there, than that people should go around calling Palestinian Arabs "The Palestinians." They have no distinguishing language, religion or culture from neighboring Arabs and have never been sovereign in Palestine, whereas the Jews, with a presence stretching back three millennia, have had three states there, all Jerusalem-based. Most Palestinian Arabs cannot trace their own lineage to the land back more than four generations. 

For the original article, visit algemeiner.com.

3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God's presence 3) Hear God's voice clearly! Go deeper!

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Are 'Gentile Believers' Still Gentiles? Monday, August 08, 2016 | Brian Hennessy ISRAEL TODAY

Are 'Gentile Believers' Still Gentiles?

Monday, August 08, 2016 |  Brian Hennessy  ISRAEL TODAY

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Topics:

Christians

It was Yeshua’s greatest desire that all his followers, from both Jews and Gentiles, become one people. His impassioned plea to the Father before going to the cross was “that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know You sent me, and loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:23).

Well, it’s no surprise that the world still remains unconvinced of his Messiahship.  How could it be otherwise when his followers have separated into over 40,000 denominations and other unaffiliated groups.

 But even before our divisions metastasized there existed an issue of unity between the Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Yeshua.  It began on the day the Lord told Peter to witness to the family of Cornelius. Before then the Jewish nation was under the impression this salvation belonged exclusively to them. Now, suddenly, it was being offered to others.  Worse, these “others” were the former bane of their existence – the Gentiles. The very ones they’d been shunning for the past 1400 years, according to Moses' instructions.

But hadn’t Yeshua prepared his Jewish followers for this when he was with them in the flesh? Hadn’t he told them, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16)? Nevertheless, it was still a tough pill for Jewish Israel to swallow. And it was made harder, because along with this influx of unsavory outsiders, Israel was being asked to transition from their God-given covenant of Law to a new covenant of grace.  

The transition was so formidable, that to make it happen, God had to raise up a uniquely qualified man –Saul (later Paul) of Tarsus. To this former Pharisee was given the anointing to bring us all together under “the law of liberty” (James 1:25).  And even though the Roman Empire cut short his work, along with Jewish life in Jerusalem, God made sure Paul’s teachings were preserved as Scripture in the New Testament.  

Now for 2000 years, unity of Jewish and “Gentile” believers in Messiah has not been an issue. Mainly because after the first century there were almost no Jewish believers! And the non-Jewish believers had taken on another identity, calling themselves “Christians.” But after the physical rebirth of Israel, many Jews began experiencing a spiritual rebirth. And all of sudden the term “Gentile believer” was back. Along with the issue of us all becoming one again.

As I see it, the term “Gentile believer” is inherently discriminatory and creates an unhealthy division in the body of Messiah. If one is a “Gentile” it implies you are an unbeliever, outside the camp of God’s people. Although the word translated as “Gentile” just means “nations” in both the Hebrew (goyim) and Greek(ethnos), it carries centuries of baggage. Over half its usages in the Old Testament are negative. And so is a quarter of its usage in the New Testament, where it is occasionally translated as “heathen” or “pagan.”  It may not equate non-Jewish believers with being “uncircumcised Philistines,” but it doesn’t define them as “Snow White,” either.

But weren’t we all made “white as snow” in Yeshua? Weren’t we all circumcised with the circumcision made without hands?  Why then should we who are not Jewish be saddled with terminology that immediately creates a division in the body of Messiah? From God’s perspective we are no longer goyim. We are no longer Gentiles. We have come out of the nations and are now included with God’s people. We have been counted as part of the nation of Israel, co-inheritors with all Jewish believers in the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “For if you belong to Messiah, you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29). 

Paul had explained, just prior to that verse, that now “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua” (Gal.3:28). Did he mean Jews are no longer Jews, Greeks no longer Greeks, females no longer females? Of course not! Until the Lord returns and we are transfigured into our new bodies we remain who we are in this world. But_ in Messiah_, all racial, national, economic, gender – and other fleshly differences – disappear. In him we become one people!

It was Peter, the first Jew to witness to non-Jews, who later said to the entire body of Messiah, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession” ( 1 Pet. 2:9). He had taken the very words Moses had spoken to all Israel and applied them to the New Covenant ecclesia _without distinction. _He was not saying the “church”had replaced the physical descendants of Abraham as God’s people, but that all who are in Messiah, both Jew and non-Jew, are the chosen remnant of Israel.

As God is restoring the nation to the land today, I believe it’s also time to strive for greater unity among Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Yeshua. So that, as he prayed to the Father, “the world may know You sent me.” 

A good place to begin is by retiring the unbiblical term “Gentile believer” once and for all.

Brian Hennessy is author of Valley of the Steeples

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