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Jan Willem van der Hoeven
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02 July 2018
The New USA "Peace Plan"
I am quite concerned about the coming so-called "peace plan" which Kushner and Greenblatt (also in cooperation with David Friedman) are about to make public.
I do not like it when David Friedman, or others speaking on behalf of the present US President suggesting that Israelis should show great gratitude, read: willingness, for dangerous compromise with an unrelenting enemy who, as Abu Mazen, has linked himself with the worst present enemies of Israel recently in Istanbul: Iran, Turkey and Hamas. As long as this is Abu Mazen's chosen way and partners, neither Israel nor the Unites States should give them the benefit of the doubt of being believable future peace partners by giving them anything but the "cold shoulder". That's the way President Trump treated the enmity of North Korea at first, slamming sanctions and military encirclement upon the North Koreans.
It was this policy - not the policy of appeasement instituted by previous US administrations - which resulted finally in a change of heart and attitude of Kim, the North Korean leader and may do so if Donald Trump will muster his wisdom and courage to face down the enmity and bellicose attitude towards Israel and the US by the present poisonous palestinian leadership, showing them that no amount of threats or terror will give them anything either from Israel or from the United States.
As a European, I know that Germany, because of her warlike oppression, lost territory which had originally belonged to her. After all the bloody and painful wars which Syria has conducted against Israel, Syria itself is to blame for Israel making sure that the Golan Heights, nor for that matter a future palestinian state, will be used again as a convenient stepping stone for Israel's destruction.
Israel is a strong and sovereign nation. She should not put herself in a position as a kind of beggar for international understanding or support for her crucial national and security based considerations. By doing so, Israel invites the very condemnation and criticism of the nations of the world which she is now faced with. Israel will in any case be condemned and criticized by most of the world for her actions and policies but let Israel at least not weaken herself in regard to her rightful policies by asking the nations for their support and understanding. It will only Boomerang
Britain, under the leadership of the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, did not, as a sovereign nation, ask for the approval of other nations when she chose to militarily invade the Argentinian occupied Falklands, 8000 miles away from the British mainland. She merely went ahead and did it, not waiting for the approval of others. Thus Israel should do, whose historical, legal and spiritual bond with what the biased world calls the West Bank (to her - Judea and Samaria) is much stronger than Britain's historical link to the Falklands.
May Israel thus be strong, I pray!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director: International Christian Zionist Center
The New USA "Peace Plan"
I am quite concerned about the coming so-called "peace plan" which Kushner and Greenblatt (also in cooperation with David Friedman) are about to make public.
I do not like it when David Friedman, or others speaking on behalf of the present US President suggesting that Israelis should show great gratitude, read: willingness, for dangerous compromise with an unrelenting enemy who, as Abu Mazen, has linked himself with the worst present enemies of Israel recently in Istanbul: Iran, Turkey and Hamas. As long as this is Abu Mazen's chosen way and partners, neither Israel nor the Unites States should give them the benefit of the doubt of being believable future peace partners by giving them anything but the "cold shoulder". That's the way President Trump treated the enmity of North Korea at first, slamming sanctions and military encirclement upon the North Koreans.
It was this policy - not the policy of appeasement instituted by previous US administrations - which resulted finally in a change of heart and attitude of Kim, the North Korean leader and may do so if Donald Trump will muster his wisdom and courage to face down the enmity and bellicose attitude towards Israel and the US by the present poisonous palestinian leadership, showing them that no amount of threats or terror will give them anything either from Israel or from the United States.
As a European, I know that Germany, because of her warlike oppression, lost territory which had originally belonged to her. After all the bloody and painful wars which Syria has conducted against Israel, Syria itself is to blame for Israel making sure that the Golan Heights, nor for that matter a future palestinian state, will be used again as a convenient stepping stone for Israel's destruction.
Israel is a strong and sovereign nation. She should not put herself in a position as a kind of beggar for international understanding or support for her crucial national and security based considerations. By doing so, Israel invites the very condemnation and criticism of the nations of the world which she is now faced with. Israel will in any case be condemned and criticized by most of the world for her actions and policies but let Israel at least not weaken herself in regard to her rightful policies by asking the nations for their support and understanding. It will only Boomerang
Britain, under the leadership of the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, did not, as a sovereign nation, ask for the approval of other nations when she chose to militarily invade the Argentinian occupied Falklands, 8000 miles away from the British mainland. She merely went ahead and did it, not waiting for the approval of others. Thus Israel should do, whose historical, legal and spiritual bond with what the biased world calls the West Bank (to her - Judea and Samaria) is much stronger than Britain's historical link to the Falklands.
May Israel thus be strong, I pray!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director: International Christian Zionist Center
26 November 2017
Why the Holocaust?
Again and again, I hear people who are questioned about the holocaust say that there is no explanation for this terrible tragedy, which befell the Jewish people at the end of nearly 2000 years dispersion. How could God have allowed it? What was the reason and how can one still believe in a God Who apparently allowed such a disaster of such magnitude including the massacre of 1 ½ million children to take place in "Christianized Europe."
First of all, let me hereby state that the Holocaust was prophesied about in the scriptures. That a terrible, terrible disaster would happen to the Jewish people just before they would return to their own land.
In Ezekiel we read the following verses:
The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.
Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.
Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!'
Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.
I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it," says the Lord. (37:1,2,11-14)
And in Jeremiah 30:5-7,10,11
For thus says the Lord:
'We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labour with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labour, and all faces turned pale?
Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,' says the Lord, nor be dismayed, 'O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid.
For I am with you,' says the Lord, 'to say you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.'
And in Zechariah 1:14-16
So the angel who spoke with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal.
I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; for I was a little angry, and they helped - but with evil intent."
Therefore, thus says the Lord: "I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it," says the Lord of hosts, "And a surveyor's line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem."'
The very long road of suffering which began with the destruction visited on Jerusalem and Israel by Titus in 70AD, costing at least 600,000 lives, and ending with the slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews by the Nazi's with much suffering, persecution and massacres in between these two horrible and climatic events. This has been the sad history of the Jewish people from the days of their dispersion from their land in 70 AD until their return during this last century.
In the biblical sense for the Jewish people to be outside of their God-given land was already seen as a punishment. The Bible calls it captivity or imprisonment. In God's eyes the worst form of punishment was to bar them from their own land and to have his own holy Temple destroyed by uncircumcised gentiles. It surely was the worst form of punishment, which happened twice to the Jewish people - first during the time of Nebuchadnezzar and then later the second time under Titus.
Both Jeremiah, the warning weeping prophet, and later Jesus, who also wept over Jerusalem, foretold in detail of these terrible occurrences: the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the dispersion of the Jewish people. But sadly, they were not listened to.
God, Himself, had warned His people right at the beginning through His servant Moses when He had held out the terrible, terrible consequences of not observing to all the words of His law when He said in Deuteronomy 28:58-67:
If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD,
Then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues - great and prolonged plagues - and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed.
You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
Then the Lord will scatter you among all people, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have know - wood and stone.
And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul.
Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.
In the morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Oh, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.
Does this all mean that therefore all the anti-Semites and all those who have perpetrated these terrible things against God's people are to be excused? NO! And as God announces through the verses already quoted (Jeremiah 30:10,11 and Zechariah 1:14-16), He is furious with the nations and those who have perpetrated these things against His people and He will surely punish them even as He said, "make a full end of them." As He warns through Isaiah:
For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish and those nations shall be utterly destroyed. (60:12)
Not withstanding the safest place for the Jewish people is Israel. The proof of God's returning favor towards them is He opening the doors of opportunity for them to return home to the land of their fathers.
It is there in a unique sense where God has promised to protect them, not outside this land under the continual threat of the wolves among the Gentiles, as indeed they have experienced throughout their long Diaspora - from the Crusaders to the Spanish inquisition, from the pogroms to the Gates of Auschwitz and Birkenau.
One of the most gratifying compliments I received was from a Jewish agnostic who heard me speaking to a mixed audience of Jews and Christians in Budapest. He said: 'I want you to know that with your one speech you have answered all the questions I had.' That evening I tried to explain, as I have since on other occasions, that it was not God who was to blame during the days of the holocaust but man. Firstly, of course the perpetrators and bystanders who did nothing to help the Jews or prevent the misery laid upon, but secondly the Jews for not responding to the warnings of God through the Zionists who warned the Jews in Europe to flee to safety and end the Diaspora, otherwise as Jabotinsky said, "the Diaspora would one day liquidate them."
Max Nordau said: "One third of you shall perish, one third shall be assimilated and one third shall be saved by returning to Zion." But the majority of European Jewry did not believe all these people and Zionists. Theodore Herzl, himself, writes in his diary, 'I have the right to become the world's greatest anti-Semite!" So did the Jews in Europe fight him and resist him for wanting to help them escape or immigrate to Palestine when it still was possible.
God touched the heart of Arthur Balfour also using his dedicated and believing aunt to open up Palestine for the Jews to return there. But all this was to no avail for the majority of Jews living in Europe at the time. Jabotinsky, after having traveled and preached all over Europe warning the Jews to leave, died as a pauper in New York - unheeded by most of his fellow Jews. Yet the Jewish people often dare to question where was our God when we perished under the Nazi heel in Europe? A God, who like a concerned and caring father, first touched the hearts of the fiery Zionists, Herzl, Jabotinsky, Nordau and others to warn them and added to these men His Christian men and women who helped them in this endeavor. God then touched the hearts and minds of the British leaders to open up the land of Israel for Jewish emigration. He is still questioned when He could have left them without warning, without a way of escape to face the holocaust that He at least saw coming in all its fury. As he speaks through Zechariah 1:15, "I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; for I was a little angry and they helped - but with evil intent." Yes, God was angry with His people and that is why He threw them out of their land. 'Captivity' or 'prison term' is what the Bible calls this punishment. He said they would become a proverb, find no rest for the sole of their feet, languish away, "would heap disasters upon them" (Deuteronomy 32:23) but in the end He would gather them again from all the countries of their dispersion and end their long centuries of captivity and lead them back to their land.
He made full provision in His kindness and mercy to see them return to that land BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST STRUCK. The land of Palestine during those awful years of the Holocaust and World War II was the safest place for them. The Nazi's came as far as the Balkans and Greece and as far as Alamein near Sinai, but God never allowed them to touch or enter into His land. If they had listened to the warnings and asked God to help them when He opened the doors of Palestine to go - they would all have been safe. It was not God that was to blame that six million Jews perished. He did not only not want it - He even provided a way of escape but they did not want to leave the 'fleshpots' of Europe!
It was as Jews have sometimes had the honesty to remark - the Holocaust saved them from completely forgetting that they were not like the others - however much they wanted to assimilate - they were Jews. A Jew once said to me, "The Holocaust made me a Zionist." So God in His wisdom and mercy - however cruel and dreadful this experience was, however much the nations who did it and allowed it to happen to His people will as yet bear the punishment for it - nevertheless used it to get His people home! It was a Jewish friend who, as a French Jew had survived Auschwitz being beaten nearly every day, had completely lost any faith in His God through the many unbearable cruelties he had seen and watched. The day came that he was in a believer's house, alone, and had an amazing vision of an encounter with the Lord. He said first, "I do not want to talk to you. You let six million of my people die - there is nothing to talk about!" He said, though he spoke these such Jewish words, the Lord kept looking at him with such unbelievable love and tenderness that he felt his icy heart, after all the years of closure, melt that he was able to finally ask this questions to the Lord: "Why did you allow it to happen? Why?" The Lord answered him by saying that if it had not been for the holocaust this sick and often anti-Semitic world would never have accepted His plan of the revival and restoration of the Jewish people on their land. I had never heard this answer before. But when I began to think about it I knew it was true. If it had not been for the Holocaust, the United Nations would never have reached a majority to agree with the rebirth of the young State of Israel. It was in view of and under the influence of the dreadful Holocaust that even this evil world, the domain of the Evil One and Prince of this world - even this evil world under the impression of the horrendous Holocaust was willing to give the Jewish people a few hours of mercy before it returned back again to its old and evil anti-Semitic ways.
As I found written on a note left by an Israeli who visited the place where they gassed the Jews in Auschwitz:
It's here in this dark and dreary place, Where the light went out.
I press my ear into the ground, I still can hear them shout.
It's Chayle from Warsaw, Ellie from Berlin,
Arik from Budapest, Where do I begin?
We have come back so we can keep that memory alive.
We are a living monument to how we have survived.
Through we are living with the pain of many millions gone,
We are living, and we shall keep marching on.
For a time, they pitied us. They let us have our land.
But soon their pity turned to hate as we rose up again.
There are those who tried to say the whole thing is just a lie.
But we are here to show the world that we will never die.
There is one important distinction to be made however in relation to the sufferings of the Jewish people. According to the scriptures there is no promised protection for the Jewish people for their time among the Gentiles - the opposite is true. Once they are cast out of their land they would again and again become the objects of disaster and persecution. It is only when they finally are allowed to come back into their land that things will change drastically - as we have seen so far with Israel. They would win every war, whereas during their time in the Diaspora it was pretty easy for the anti-Semitic Gentiles to attack and harass them. Now that they are back they have won every war and will according to the prophets win every future war. (They will win the Gog and Magog war and even the Armageddon war).
As it is clearly prophesied by Jeremiah 30: 10&11:
Therefore, do not fear, O My servant Jacob, says the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid.
For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end o you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.
The following are passages of a letter I once wrote about this subject to Mr. Elie Wiesel, the famous Holocaust Survivor from Auschwitz, who for many became the voice of the Holocaust:
Sometimes I have been asked over the many years that I have lived in Jerusalem, "where was God when the Holocaust occurred?" It is a terrible question and may be as you said, more terrible to try to answer. But then by not answering it, the One who pays the bill is God. The very One I am meant to love with all my heart, is left in the unholy position of being accused of failing to live up to be the One He claimed to be, a merciful Father. So not to answer is making Him pay. He will be doubted. He will be accused. He who suffered more with and for His people during all these years, more than can even be imagined or expressed. Does He need to be punished? You expressed it so beautifully in your speech when you said that in the beginning it was not man questioning God but God putting His question to man, "Where are you?" I loved this point you made, I dislike man's arrogance always giving himself the right to question God, without being willing to be exposed to God questioning Him.
The book of Job is one of the most poignant examples of this. First there are the cheap, religious, neatly-cut answers by his friends, which do not satisfy either Job or God, so that in the end Job has to pray for his religious self-assured friends. Then comes Job's near-rebellious questioning of God right through the book, and finally God answers Job, as you said in your speech, by questioning Job. It is only then that the righteous Job, a tsadik (a righteous one), says, "I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."
It is a pity how we who claim to believe the Book of Books, often conveniently interpret that book to fit our own outlook and philosophy. God saw the monstrous power of prejudice and anti-Semitism coming up like a loud in the hearts and minds of many Europeans in the beginning of this century. And in His love and mercy for His people, began to work for His people in preparing them a way of escape, which was Israel. He touched the heart of Theodore Herzl, who wrote, "We Jews have not yet sufficiently been trampled upon to believe that our only hope is to return to Zion." Jabotinsky said to thousands upon thousand, "liquidate the Diaspora or the Diaspora will liquidate you." However His people, that God through all these men wanted to save, did not want to leave the fleshpots of Europe in accord with God's own promise: "And I will gather you from the nations where you have scattered and bring you back to the land of your fathers." He had even made it politically possible, not only by sending the Zionists but also by putting it in the heart of Balfour to officially open up the land of Palestine for Jewish immigration.
However Jabotinsky died as a pauper in New York, Theodore Herzl felt so rejected that he wrote in his diary, "I have the right to become the world's greatest anti-Semite," and he died an early death.
The people that had laughed about these messengers of God's love, pleading with them to go up to Zion, died in the Holocaust. Your God, who warned your people of the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar through Jeremiah; of the Roman Holocaust by Titus through Jesus; and of the horrible, horrible liquidation by Hitler through the fiery Zionists, and opened the door of escape through Balfour, is nevertheless still questioned!
I remember how Mr. Begin spoke some years ago at the Western Wall, the same evening that you spoke for the 5,000 Holocaust survivors and asked them this question, "My people, where was our God when six million of our people were brutally murdered?" I still remember his answer, he said, "If it had not been for the mercy of the Lord that left us a remnant to see this day of our redemption, we would have all been like Sodom and Gomorrah, and let us not forget that our generation that saw the darkest page in our history also saw the brightest page, the return to Eretz Israel and Jerusalem. It is this generation that saw a returned Jerusalem."
Dear Mr. Wiesel, I am a Gentile who believes with all my heart in what you Jews have taught about our God. I believe it is you and your people that He wants to bring home to Israel, to bring then this world home to Himself, when He will be King over all the world in Jerusalem. I live and pray earnestly for this day. I believe that in the end the quickest way to be involved with the redemption of this world is not by trying to be wiser than God, but by praying for the peace of Jerusalem. It is only from this city that one day all killing and injustice among the nations will stop.
This world is not helped just by fighting for all the rights of men. It will only become a peaceful paradise of justice under the rightful reign of the Lord and that through His people in Jerusalem. After all the suffering you have gone through you still prefer New York to Jerusalem. I wonder why, as a Gentile who lives with burning faith in your city's and people's destiny in Jerusalem.
What will bring the Jews home, to become then channels of blessing to the world? New outbursts of anti-Semitism? If you were in God's place - all loving and caring - wanting to bring the Jews of America and other nations home to heal this sad, torn world, how would you go about it?
You have a golden mouth, the hand of God is upon you. How would you go about convincing you Jewish people to come home? Will you be successful after all the sufferings they experienced in their history, after all the promises of God to bring them back to the land of their fathers, after all the centuries of praying at Seder night, "LaShana haba'a b'Yerushalayim?" With all these biblical incentives in your hand, with your enormous gifts, would you as God's instrument be successful in bringing them to understand that this world will never become again the place it was created to be - without the Jews coming up to Jerusalem to present themselves as a nation to God for Him to heal the world through.
Do we force anti-Semitism, as horrible as it is, upon us as the only way through which God is able to convince us? I hope not.
Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director International Christian Zionist Center
Why the Holocaust?
Again and again, I hear people who are questioned about the holocaust say that there is no explanation for this terrible tragedy, which befell the Jewish people at the end of nearly 2000 years dispersion. How could God have allowed it? What was the reason and how can one still believe in a God Who apparently allowed such a disaster of such magnitude including the massacre of 1 ½ million children to take place in "Christianized Europe."
First of all, let me hereby state that the Holocaust was prophesied about in the scriptures. That a terrible, terrible disaster would happen to the Jewish people just before they would return to their own land.
In Ezekiel we read the following verses:
The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.
Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.
Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!'
Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.
I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it," says the Lord. (37:1,2,11-14)
And in Jeremiah 30:5-7,10,11
For thus says the Lord:
'We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labour with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labour, and all faces turned pale?
Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,' says the Lord, nor be dismayed, 'O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid.
For I am with you,' says the Lord, 'to say you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.'
And in Zechariah 1:14-16
So the angel who spoke with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal.
I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; for I was a little angry, and they helped - but with evil intent."
Therefore, thus says the Lord: "I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it," says the Lord of hosts, "And a surveyor's line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem."'
The very long road of suffering which began with the destruction visited on Jerusalem and Israel by Titus in 70AD, costing at least 600,000 lives, and ending with the slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews by the Nazi's with much suffering, persecution and massacres in between these two horrible and climatic events. This has been the sad history of the Jewish people from the days of their dispersion from their land in 70 AD until their return during this last century.
In the biblical sense for the Jewish people to be outside of their God-given land was already seen as a punishment. The Bible calls it captivity or imprisonment. In God's eyes the worst form of punishment was to bar them from their own land and to have his own holy Temple destroyed by uncircumcised gentiles. It surely was the worst form of punishment, which happened twice to the Jewish people - first during the time of Nebuchadnezzar and then later the second time under Titus.
Both Jeremiah, the warning weeping prophet, and later Jesus, who also wept over Jerusalem, foretold in detail of these terrible occurrences: the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the dispersion of the Jewish people. But sadly, they were not listened to.
God, Himself, had warned His people right at the beginning through His servant Moses when He had held out the terrible, terrible consequences of not observing to all the words of His law when He said in Deuteronomy 28:58-67:
If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD,
Then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues - great and prolonged plagues - and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed.
You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
Then the Lord will scatter you among all people, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have know - wood and stone.
And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul.
Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.
In the morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Oh, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.
Does this all mean that therefore all the anti-Semites and all those who have perpetrated these terrible things against God's people are to be excused? NO! And as God announces through the verses already quoted (Jeremiah 30:10,11 and Zechariah 1:14-16), He is furious with the nations and those who have perpetrated these things against His people and He will surely punish them even as He said, "make a full end of them." As He warns through Isaiah:
For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish and those nations shall be utterly destroyed. (60:12)
Not withstanding the safest place for the Jewish people is Israel. The proof of God's returning favor towards them is He opening the doors of opportunity for them to return home to the land of their fathers.
It is there in a unique sense where God has promised to protect them, not outside this land under the continual threat of the wolves among the Gentiles, as indeed they have experienced throughout their long Diaspora - from the Crusaders to the Spanish inquisition, from the pogroms to the Gates of Auschwitz and Birkenau.
One of the most gratifying compliments I received was from a Jewish agnostic who heard me speaking to a mixed audience of Jews and Christians in Budapest. He said: 'I want you to know that with your one speech you have answered all the questions I had.' That evening I tried to explain, as I have since on other occasions, that it was not God who was to blame during the days of the holocaust but man. Firstly, of course the perpetrators and bystanders who did nothing to help the Jews or prevent the misery laid upon, but secondly the Jews for not responding to the warnings of God through the Zionists who warned the Jews in Europe to flee to safety and end the Diaspora, otherwise as Jabotinsky said, "the Diaspora would one day liquidate them."
Max Nordau said: "One third of you shall perish, one third shall be assimilated and one third shall be saved by returning to Zion." But the majority of European Jewry did not believe all these people and Zionists. Theodore Herzl, himself, writes in his diary, 'I have the right to become the world's greatest anti-Semite!" So did the Jews in Europe fight him and resist him for wanting to help them escape or immigrate to Palestine when it still was possible.
God touched the heart of Arthur Balfour also using his dedicated and believing aunt to open up Palestine for the Jews to return there. But all this was to no avail for the majority of Jews living in Europe at the time. Jabotinsky, after having traveled and preached all over Europe warning the Jews to leave, died as a pauper in New York - unheeded by most of his fellow Jews. Yet the Jewish people often dare to question where was our God when we perished under the Nazi heel in Europe? A God, who like a concerned and caring father, first touched the hearts of the fiery Zionists, Herzl, Jabotinsky, Nordau and others to warn them and added to these men His Christian men and women who helped them in this endeavor. God then touched the hearts and minds of the British leaders to open up the land of Israel for Jewish emigration. He is still questioned when He could have left them without warning, without a way of escape to face the holocaust that He at least saw coming in all its fury. As he speaks through Zechariah 1:15, "I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; for I was a little angry and they helped - but with evil intent." Yes, God was angry with His people and that is why He threw them out of their land. 'Captivity' or 'prison term' is what the Bible calls this punishment. He said they would become a proverb, find no rest for the sole of their feet, languish away, "would heap disasters upon them" (Deuteronomy 32:23) but in the end He would gather them again from all the countries of their dispersion and end their long centuries of captivity and lead them back to their land.
He made full provision in His kindness and mercy to see them return to that land BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST STRUCK. The land of Palestine during those awful years of the Holocaust and World War II was the safest place for them. The Nazi's came as far as the Balkans and Greece and as far as Alamein near Sinai, but God never allowed them to touch or enter into His land. If they had listened to the warnings and asked God to help them when He opened the doors of Palestine to go - they would all have been safe. It was not God that was to blame that six million Jews perished. He did not only not want it - He even provided a way of escape but they did not want to leave the 'fleshpots' of Europe!
It was as Jews have sometimes had the honesty to remark - the Holocaust saved them from completely forgetting that they were not like the others - however much they wanted to assimilate - they were Jews. A Jew once said to me, "The Holocaust made me a Zionist." So God in His wisdom and mercy - however cruel and dreadful this experience was, however much the nations who did it and allowed it to happen to His people will as yet bear the punishment for it - nevertheless used it to get His people home! It was a Jewish friend who, as a French Jew had survived Auschwitz being beaten nearly every day, had completely lost any faith in His God through the many unbearable cruelties he had seen and watched. The day came that he was in a believer's house, alone, and had an amazing vision of an encounter with the Lord. He said first, "I do not want to talk to you. You let six million of my people die - there is nothing to talk about!" He said, though he spoke these such Jewish words, the Lord kept looking at him with such unbelievable love and tenderness that he felt his icy heart, after all the years of closure, melt that he was able to finally ask this questions to the Lord: "Why did you allow it to happen? Why?" The Lord answered him by saying that if it had not been for the holocaust this sick and often anti-Semitic world would never have accepted His plan of the revival and restoration of the Jewish people on their land. I had never heard this answer before. But when I began to think about it I knew it was true. If it had not been for the Holocaust, the United Nations would never have reached a majority to agree with the rebirth of the young State of Israel. It was in view of and under the influence of the dreadful Holocaust that even this evil world, the domain of the Evil One and Prince of this world - even this evil world under the impression of the horrendous Holocaust was willing to give the Jewish people a few hours of mercy before it returned back again to its old and evil anti-Semitic ways.
As I found written on a note left by an Israeli who visited the place where they gassed the Jews in Auschwitz:
It's here in this dark and dreary place, Where the light went out.
I press my ear into the ground, I still can hear them shout.
It's Chayle from Warsaw, Ellie from Berlin,
Arik from Budapest, Where do I begin?
We have come back so we can keep that memory alive.
We are a living monument to how we have survived.
Through we are living with the pain of many millions gone,
We are living, and we shall keep marching on.
For a time, they pitied us. They let us have our land.
But soon their pity turned to hate as we rose up again.
There are those who tried to say the whole thing is just a lie.
But we are here to show the world that we will never die.
There is one important distinction to be made however in relation to the sufferings of the Jewish people. According to the scriptures there is no promised protection for the Jewish people for their time among the Gentiles - the opposite is true. Once they are cast out of their land they would again and again become the objects of disaster and persecution. It is only when they finally are allowed to come back into their land that things will change drastically - as we have seen so far with Israel. They would win every war, whereas during their time in the Diaspora it was pretty easy for the anti-Semitic Gentiles to attack and harass them. Now that they are back they have won every war and will according to the prophets win every future war. (They will win the Gog and Magog war and even the Armageddon war).
As it is clearly prophesied by Jeremiah 30: 10&11:
Therefore, do not fear, O My servant Jacob, says the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid.
For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end o you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.
The following are passages of a letter I once wrote about this subject to Mr. Elie Wiesel, the famous Holocaust Survivor from Auschwitz, who for many became the voice of the Holocaust:
Sometimes I have been asked over the many years that I have lived in Jerusalem, "where was God when the Holocaust occurred?" It is a terrible question and may be as you said, more terrible to try to answer. But then by not answering it, the One who pays the bill is God. The very One I am meant to love with all my heart, is left in the unholy position of being accused of failing to live up to be the One He claimed to be, a merciful Father. So not to answer is making Him pay. He will be doubted. He will be accused. He who suffered more with and for His people during all these years, more than can even be imagined or expressed. Does He need to be punished? You expressed it so beautifully in your speech when you said that in the beginning it was not man questioning God but God putting His question to man, "Where are you?" I loved this point you made, I dislike man's arrogance always giving himself the right to question God, without being willing to be exposed to God questioning Him.
The book of Job is one of the most poignant examples of this. First there are the cheap, religious, neatly-cut answers by his friends, which do not satisfy either Job or God, so that in the end Job has to pray for his religious self-assured friends. Then comes Job's near-rebellious questioning of God right through the book, and finally God answers Job, as you said in your speech, by questioning Job. It is only then that the righteous Job, a tsadik (a righteous one), says, "I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."
It is a pity how we who claim to believe the Book of Books, often conveniently interpret that book to fit our own outlook and philosophy. God saw the monstrous power of prejudice and anti-Semitism coming up like a loud in the hearts and minds of many Europeans in the beginning of this century. And in His love and mercy for His people, began to work for His people in preparing them a way of escape, which was Israel. He touched the heart of Theodore Herzl, who wrote, "We Jews have not yet sufficiently been trampled upon to believe that our only hope is to return to Zion." Jabotinsky said to thousands upon thousand, "liquidate the Diaspora or the Diaspora will liquidate you." However His people, that God through all these men wanted to save, did not want to leave the fleshpots of Europe in accord with God's own promise: "And I will gather you from the nations where you have scattered and bring you back to the land of your fathers." He had even made it politically possible, not only by sending the Zionists but also by putting it in the heart of Balfour to officially open up the land of Palestine for Jewish immigration.
However Jabotinsky died as a pauper in New York, Theodore Herzl felt so rejected that he wrote in his diary, "I have the right to become the world's greatest anti-Semite," and he died an early death.
The people that had laughed about these messengers of God's love, pleading with them to go up to Zion, died in the Holocaust. Your God, who warned your people of the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar through Jeremiah; of the Roman Holocaust by Titus through Jesus; and of the horrible, horrible liquidation by Hitler through the fiery Zionists, and opened the door of escape through Balfour, is nevertheless still questioned!
I remember how Mr. Begin spoke some years ago at the Western Wall, the same evening that you spoke for the 5,000 Holocaust survivors and asked them this question, "My people, where was our God when six million of our people were brutally murdered?" I still remember his answer, he said, "If it had not been for the mercy of the Lord that left us a remnant to see this day of our redemption, we would have all been like Sodom and Gomorrah, and let us not forget that our generation that saw the darkest page in our history also saw the brightest page, the return to Eretz Israel and Jerusalem. It is this generation that saw a returned Jerusalem."
Dear Mr. Wiesel, I am a Gentile who believes with all my heart in what you Jews have taught about our God. I believe it is you and your people that He wants to bring home to Israel, to bring then this world home to Himself, when He will be King over all the world in Jerusalem. I live and pray earnestly for this day. I believe that in the end the quickest way to be involved with the redemption of this world is not by trying to be wiser than God, but by praying for the peace of Jerusalem. It is only from this city that one day all killing and injustice among the nations will stop.
This world is not helped just by fighting for all the rights of men. It will only become a peaceful paradise of justice under the rightful reign of the Lord and that through His people in Jerusalem. After all the suffering you have gone through you still prefer New York to Jerusalem. I wonder why, as a Gentile who lives with burning faith in your city's and people's destiny in Jerusalem.
What will bring the Jews home, to become then channels of blessing to the world? New outbursts of anti-Semitism? If you were in God's place - all loving and caring - wanting to bring the Jews of America and other nations home to heal this sad, torn world, how would you go about it?
You have a golden mouth, the hand of God is upon you. How would you go about convincing you Jewish people to come home? Will you be successful after all the sufferings they experienced in their history, after all the promises of God to bring them back to the land of their fathers, after all the centuries of praying at Seder night, "LaShana haba'a b'Yerushalayim?" With all these biblical incentives in your hand, with your enormous gifts, would you as God's instrument be successful in bringing them to understand that this world will never become again the place it was created to be - without the Jews coming up to Jerusalem to present themselves as a nation to God for Him to heal the world through.
Do we force anti-Semitism, as horrible as it is, upon us as the only way through which God is able to convince us? I hope not.
Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director International Christian Zionist Center
Published on May 18, 2017
URGENT CALL TO PRAYER for ISRAEL! Jan Willen van der Hoeven of the International Christian Zionist Center joins Dr. Anthony Harper of the InterMountain Christian News in Jerusalem to share an urgent call to prayer and repentance leading up to President Trump's visit here in Israel May 22-23, 2017. For more information about the International Christian Zionist Center, visit the web site: http://israelmybeloved.com |
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18 May 2017
Open letter to the President of the United States:
Dear Mr President,
As you may know, millions of those Evangelicals whom you say you love and appreciate have not only voted for you to see you become a channel of blessing to your people and nation, but also to the people and nation supremely loved and supported by them - the nation of Israel.
I as a European evangelical minister and spokesman, though not an American, support these your American Evangelicals with all my heart as do many Europeans like me.
This is to be your first visit to your most loyal ally, not just in the Middle East but in the whole world, an ally in need of a strong and truly courageous friend as Israel finds herself again surrounded by a sea of vicious Muslim enemies seeking to destroy her like Iran, Hizbollah, Hamas and ISIS, by military means or via the diplomatic peace process ending as they fervently hope in the dismantling of a Jewish state in their largely Muslim world. This you - maybe as the only Western leader - can put a definite stop to!!
Of course we all fervently hope and pray that you will not, because of false and worldly-wise advice, be driven away from all your strong words of support stated also by you, Mike Pence, Dr. Ben Carson and that wonderful UN spokeswoman of you, Ambassador Nikki Haley, Dr. Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham, Dr. Jerry Falwell and many, many others.
May this time under your courageous and righteous leadership Israel not again have to pay the price for political correctness, I pray!!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director ICZC
Open letter to the President of the United States:
Dear Mr President,
As you may know, millions of those Evangelicals whom you say you love and appreciate have not only voted for you to see you become a channel of blessing to your people and nation, but also to the people and nation supremely loved and supported by them - the nation of Israel.
I as a European evangelical minister and spokesman, though not an American, support these your American Evangelicals with all my heart as do many Europeans like me.
This is to be your first visit to your most loyal ally, not just in the Middle East but in the whole world, an ally in need of a strong and truly courageous friend as Israel finds herself again surrounded by a sea of vicious Muslim enemies seeking to destroy her like Iran, Hizbollah, Hamas and ISIS, by military means or via the diplomatic peace process ending as they fervently hope in the dismantling of a Jewish state in their largely Muslim world. This you - maybe as the only Western leader - can put a definite stop to!!
Of course we all fervently hope and pray that you will not, because of false and worldly-wise advice, be driven away from all your strong words of support stated also by you, Mike Pence, Dr. Ben Carson and that wonderful UN spokeswoman of you, Ambassador Nikki Haley, Dr. Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham, Dr. Jerry Falwell and many, many others.
May this time under your courageous and righteous leadership Israel not again have to pay the price for political correctness, I pray!!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director ICZC
"THE WEALTH OF THE NATIONS SHALL COME TO YOU"
Isaiah 60:5b
There was a time that Jesus, when He was on earth, referred to, that the kingdom and dispensation, meant originally for His people Israel, would be taken from them and given to 'another nation', meaning the Gentiles. Jesus said this as recorded by Matthew 21:43
"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it."
And then again He foretells a time of desolation coming to the house of Israel:
"See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' " (Luke 13:35)
This all has truly happened within the very generation that saw Jesus! That generation also experienced the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army under Titus - the last remaining of Jews preferring to commit suicide 3 years later on the hill of Masada than to fall alive into the hands of the Romans.
The rest of the Jewish population were scattered all over the world and their land lay literally waste and desolate for many centuries.
But, and the Scriptures are full of these promises, God would reverse this time of dispersion of His people and desolation of their land as He promised many times over.
It was a born again Methodist pastor, a friend of mine, who received these amazing prophetic words from the Lord:
"I am leaving the nations. For almost 2000 years I have been calling a remnant out of each nation. Now I am returning to Jerusalem. I am building up Zion, for there I will be glorified."
As I already noted, the Scriptures are full of verses bespeaking this same turn of events for God's beloved people. Here are some of them:
'Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,' says the Lord, 'nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you,' says the Lord, 'to save you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.' (Jeremiah 30:10-11)
'Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey. For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,' says the Lord, 'because they called you an outcast saying: "This is Zion; no one seeks her." ' (Jeremiah 30:16-17)
Thus says the Lord: "Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the Lord, that your children shall come back to their own border. (Jeremiah 31:16-17)
Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. "Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory. "Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts? Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you. "The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I have had mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession. For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.
"Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, So that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations. You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, and milk the breast of kings; you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron I will bring silver, instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, and your magistrates righteousness. Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. (Isaiah 60:1-12, 15-18)
And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be named the priests of the Lord, they shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs. (Isaiah 61:4-7)
May we therefore all become channels of this divinely promised blessing to His people as the Apostle Paul instructs us as Gentile believers in his epistle to the Romans:
For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, THEIR DUTY is also to minister to them in material things. (Romans 15:27)
May it be so as we bring our inventions, wealth and investment into Israel before the night comes when it won't be possible anymore!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director ICZC
19 June 2016
IS ISLAM REALLY A PEACEFUL RELIGION?
Just because somebody believes in his religion or philosophic outlook does not - I repeat - does not oblige the rest of mankind to tolerate or accept it as something that needs to be defended at all cost.
The Nazis - at least many of them - held to their abhorrent hate filled ideology, also based on the philosophies of the Thule Society, in a near passionate religious fervor. This did not make the Western allies to shy away to condemn it ferociously and to fight it to the end.
There are today many strange cults which subscribe not only to very unacceptable inhuman philosophies but, because of by their accepted violence, form a real danger to normal society. None of these dangerous cults should be rewarded by acceptance or tolerance.
There is these days however much often politically correct sounding discussion about ISLAM and radical ISLAM as so to speak an aberration of true ISLAM.
I believe this is often thus conveniently explained by commentators more out of fear to upset the sensitivity of Muslims generally than because it is factually true.
Anyway in regard to previous dangerous religions or philosophies there usually was not such a restraint to be politically correct. We just knew the Nazi philosophy as such was evil - so the philosophy of other violence preaching groups like Ku Klux Klan etc. So why this double standard in relation to the violent nature easily proved or documented in regard to the origins of ISLAM?
Now for the record: The Lord Jesus never initiated or fought a war for the cause of His Father - He even refused the ardent defense of Him the night He was betrayed - by Simon Peter who after he cut off the ear of Malchus was told to put his sword away. Jesus fought no war and therefore was shown to be the Prince of Peace. Mohammed on the other hand not only fought numerous wars in the name of Allah (more than fifty!!) but defended himself with the utmost violence just as many of his followers do today with the slightest disrespect to their fanatically held beliefs - violence seems nearly always to be their answer and reaction and jihad and holy war was from the very beginning by Allah accepted means to subjugate people to the teachings of ISLAM. As the key ISLAMIC Professor Moshe Sharon brilliantly remarked: "Islam had the sword before it had the Quran."
The Quran is full of quotes telling true Muslims to kill and maim "the infidels" as for instance we can read in Surat al-Ma'idah 5:33:
The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom.
Thus a good Muslim is a person who is supposed to kill and massacre in the name of their god: Allah.
That's why it is so difficult for a real Muslim who reads these Quranic verses and sees the violence with which Mohammed spread his religion to criticize similar actions of murder and massacre today. For this was the way ISLAM became a world religion and this is the way in which thousands of adherents to ISLAM today believe that it is Allah's will to subjugate by stealth or jihad the whole world to come under the teachings of ISLAM.
Thus ISLAM is not a peaceful religion and never was and if some of the good Muslims say it is - they have a lot of work to do to truly make it a peaceful religion.
Jan Willem van der Hoeven
Director ICZC
18 February 2016
DO WE REALLY HEAR FROM GOD?
Is it not amazing that the Lord Jesus who said that "He was (and is!) the way, the truth and the life" (see John 14:6) also said that although He was the embodiment of truth Himself, He nevertheless submitted Himself in everything He said in full dependence upon His Father as He said:
For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. (John 12:49)
This is to be true of us followers of the Lord also in this present age that we dare not say our own words or opinions before we have truly heard from the Lord Himself and He has confirmed to us by His Word and by His Spirit what is His Word and opinion on any given matter. This will make for a much more humble and less judgmental attitude in us and make us again and again aware as we submit to Him in all things that truly His ways and thoughts about things are truly higher and often different than ours.
As Isaiah 55:8 describes:
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.
Therefore it behooves us all to become zeros in the hand of the Lord. He alone is our Wisdom and Shepherd, without Him as He Himself said: 'We can do nothing' and I would add we cannot say anything either! That's why Peter in His Epistle dares to write: "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God." (1 Peter 4:11a)
Paul even writes in his epistle to the Romans that even in relation to prayer there is need for this utter dependency on the Lord and His Holy Spirit when he writes:
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)
Now this underlines to us all the absolute need not to say, do or pray anything before we have in utter dependence upon the Lord, allowed Him whose opinion, thoughts and ways are definitely higher than our opinions and perception, to inspire and lead us in everything.
What the Lord will be willing to show us if we really humbly seek Him for His word and opinion will not be in contradiction to His written word but rather in confirmation of it as Paul in Ephesians so wonderfully emphasized, 'that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit.'
" the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Ephesians 6:17)
It was the opinionatedness of the Scribes and Pharisees based on their understanding of the Tanach that led them so often to be closed to the words and person of our Lord as He Himself upbraided them for when He spoke these words:
"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you--Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (John 5:39-47)
The Scriptures are clear that it is God's prerogative to put down or appoint those who are to be in authority:
For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another. (Psalm 75:6-7)
This truth is also found in the book of Daniel:
'This decision is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men.' (Daniel 4:17)
Even this was true of Pontius Pilate as Jesus said when He stood before him:
"You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." (John 19:11)
So it is so clear from these scriptures that in the final analysis God is in control as to who is "to rule in the kingdom of man" and as we have seen with Jehu whom the Lord appointed and anointed to be king over Israel also to do away with the terribly corrupt reign of Jezebel and Ahab - these chosen men were sometimes fierce and not always very nice.
So we may not try to be wiser than the Lord whose ways indeed are often higher than our ways!
May the Lord thus make us careful and humble enough to really hear from Him and so to pray according to His Will and Purpose! For we live in a time of many voices and opinions and only His is important!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
DO WE REALLY HEAR FROM GOD?
Is it not amazing that the Lord Jesus who said that "He was (and is!) the way, the truth and the life" (see John 14:6) also said that although He was the embodiment of truth Himself, He nevertheless submitted Himself in everything He said in full dependence upon His Father as He said:
For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. (John 12:49)
This is to be true of us followers of the Lord also in this present age that we dare not say our own words or opinions before we have truly heard from the Lord Himself and He has confirmed to us by His Word and by His Spirit what is His Word and opinion on any given matter. This will make for a much more humble and less judgmental attitude in us and make us again and again aware as we submit to Him in all things that truly His ways and thoughts about things are truly higher and often different than ours.
As Isaiah 55:8 describes:
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.
Therefore it behooves us all to become zeros in the hand of the Lord. He alone is our Wisdom and Shepherd, without Him as He Himself said: 'We can do nothing' and I would add we cannot say anything either! That's why Peter in His Epistle dares to write: "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God." (1 Peter 4:11a)
Paul even writes in his epistle to the Romans that even in relation to prayer there is need for this utter dependency on the Lord and His Holy Spirit when he writes:
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)
Now this underlines to us all the absolute need not to say, do or pray anything before we have in utter dependence upon the Lord, allowed Him whose opinion, thoughts and ways are definitely higher than our opinions and perception, to inspire and lead us in everything.
What the Lord will be willing to show us if we really humbly seek Him for His word and opinion will not be in contradiction to His written word but rather in confirmation of it as Paul in Ephesians so wonderfully emphasized, 'that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit.'
" the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Ephesians 6:17)
It was the opinionatedness of the Scribes and Pharisees based on their understanding of the Tanach that led them so often to be closed to the words and person of our Lord as He Himself upbraided them for when He spoke these words:
"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you--Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (John 5:39-47)
The Scriptures are clear that it is God's prerogative to put down or appoint those who are to be in authority:
For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another. (Psalm 75:6-7)
This truth is also found in the book of Daniel:
'This decision is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men.' (Daniel 4:17)
Even this was true of Pontius Pilate as Jesus said when He stood before him:
"You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." (John 19:11)
So it is so clear from these scriptures that in the final analysis God is in control as to who is "to rule in the kingdom of man" and as we have seen with Jehu whom the Lord appointed and anointed to be king over Israel also to do away with the terribly corrupt reign of Jezebel and Ahab - these chosen men were sometimes fierce and not always very nice.
So we may not try to be wiser than the Lord whose ways indeed are often higher than our ways!
May the Lord thus make us careful and humble enough to really hear from Him and so to pray according to His Will and Purpose! For we live in a time of many voices and opinions and only His is important!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
THE HEART CRY OF AN ISRAELI GIRL I got this sent to us by a friend, Jerry Golden, and agree with him that the way this young Israeli girl found the words to explain what is happening today to many, many Israelis and Israeli families is deeply moving and so needed to understand what is truly taking place in and around Israel today.
Here is the link for the video
To win the war with Japan, the U.S. military bombed 2 cities, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, flat, killing far more civilians than Israel would dream to kill to finish her wars. To overcome the threat of Nazism, including their indiscriminate bombing of London and many other cities in Britain and in Europe, the Allied forces bombed whole cities flat in Germany, including their civilian populations, without even warning them to flee their homes as Israel did in Gaza. Should Israel, who has fought her wars as no other nation, trying at all costs to prevent civilian casualties, now stoop to the same level as the U.S. or Allied forces did to win her war against their cruel and implacable enemies?
May the words of this young girl open our eyes and our hearts for what is really taking place and cause us to pray for Israel, God's people, and this whole region!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
PS Amazing and courageous are the words of Dr. Tawfik Hamid, a former member of a terrorist organization, in defense of Israel. Look at this short film by clicking here.
23 June 2014
THE CURSE OF THE TRADITIONS OF MEN
He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"-- then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' " (Matthew 15:3-9)
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations-- "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using--according to the commandments and doctrines of men? (Colossians 2:16-22)
Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it. (Deuteronomy 12:32)
For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19, last chapter of the Bible)
It now the time, I believe - with so much manifestation of the traditions of men, and a great deal of deception running wild - to establish whether as Believers we wish to belong to a church that is destined to become the spotless bride of the Lord, or whether instead we are willing to become part and parcel of the world church that is being built on a syncretism of God's holy word mixed with the traditions and teachings of men!
The verses quoted at the beginning warn sufficiently against building our faith and walk with the Lord on such traditions and teachings - even those put forward by devoted religious men and women - especially when these are found to nullify or contradict the teachings of the Word of God.
For those who would choose to go back in the practice of their faith to a Scriptural foundation, the following are the five essentials that formed the basis of the early apostolic church in Jerusalem.
ONE
There was definitely only ONE WAY to enter into God's Kingdom and Salvation, and that was through Christ Jesus the Lord. He was, and He is, the only Cornerstone of the building called His Church.
These are His words:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." (John 10:7-10, 27-30)
And:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
To underscore it all:
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.(Acts 4:12)
TWO
The first step, which every person individually must take in to ensure his/her entrance enter into His Kingdom and Salvation is Repentance from sins.
Hear how John the Baptist proclaimed this in preparation for the coming of the Lord:
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 3:2)
These were Peter's words on the day of Pentecost, in answer to those who asked what they needed to do in order to be saved:
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39)
THREE
In order to be saved, every individual has to be baptized, as also Peter admonished on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:38 above), and as the Apostles taught and practiced, as recorded throughout the book of Acts:
And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. (Acts 9:17-18)
And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. (Acts 16:30-33)
FOUR
The new converts needed to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so that they could be led by Him, just as after His baptism by John, the Lord Jesus could be led by the Holy Spirit:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness. (Matthew 4:1)
And as it says in Romans 8:1-14:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8:1-14)
FIVE
Concerning those who had repented, and had been baptized, and so received the Holy Spirit in order that they could be led by Him in their daily lives, the following description of how they lived these lives should be an example to all true Believers:
And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:40-47)
Thus four things stand out in this passage concerning the daily practice of the believers during the days of the Apostles:
It does not take much research to show how many of today's accepted church traditions found their way into the system of church doctrine and practice much later, added as they were to the Apostolic teaching and practice of the early church.
The following is a list of traditions that found their way into what had begun as the pure and simple sharing of meals in Believers own homes, their fellowshipping and praying and praising God together would morph into the church that now claims to be the true representative of Peter and the early disciples.
Although many of these beliefs were practiced earlier than the dates given, they did not become binding on all Catholics until they were officially adopted by church councils and proclaimed by popes to be dogmas of the faith. (Some dates are approximate.)
1. Presbyter (or elders) were first called priests by Lucian...2nd century.
2. The veneration of angels and dead saints and the use of images...375 CE.
3. The Mass as a daily celebration was adopted...394 CE.
4. The beginning of the exaltation of Mary, and the first use of the term "Mother of God" by the Council of Ephesus...431 CE.
5. Priests began to dress different from the laity and to wear special clothes...500 CE.
6. The doctrine of purgatory was first established by Gregory the Great...593 CE.
7. Prayers began to be offered to Mary, dead saints, and angels...600 CE.
8. The first man was proclaimed "Pope" (Boniface III)...610 CE.
9. Veneration of the cross, images, and relics authorized...788 CE.
10. Holy water, mixed with a pinch of salt and blessed by a priest was authorized in...850 CE.
11. College of cardinals begun...927 CE.
12. Canonization of dead saints, first by Pope John XV...995 CE.
13. The Mass developed gradually as a sacrifice, attendance was made obligatory only in...11th century!
14. The celibacy of the priesthood was decreed by Pope Hildebrand, Boniface VII...1079 CE.
15. The rosary, or prayer beads copied from Hindus and Mohammedans) was introduced by Peter the Hermit...1090 CE.
16. The Inquisition of "Heretics" was instituted by the Council of Verona...1184 CE, and was legalized and promoted by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 CE.
17. The sale of Indulgences...1190 CE.
18. The seven sacraments defined by Peter Lombard...12th century.
19. The dogma of transubstantiation was decreed by Pope Innocent III ...in 1215 CE!
20. Confession of sins to the priest at least once a year was instituted by Pope Innocent III in the Lateran Council...1215 CE.
21. The adoration of the wafer (host) decreed by Pope Honorius III ...1220 CE.
22. The doctrine of purgatory proclaimed a dogma by the Council of Florence...1439 CE.
23. Tradition is declared of equal authority with the Bible by the Council of Trent...1545 CE!!!
24. The Apocryphal Books were added to the Bible by the Council of Trent...1546 CE.
25. The Immaculate Conception of Mary was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854 CE.
26. Pope Pius IX condemned all scientific discoveries not approved by the Roman Church...1864 CE.
27. Infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals proclaimed by the First Vatican Council...1870 CE.
28. Pius XI reaffirmed the doctrine that Mary is "The Mother of God" ...1931 CE.
29. The dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII...1950 CE.
30. Mary proclaimed the Mother of the Church by Pope Paul VI...1965 CE.
(From "What did Vatican II really change?" Edited and compiled by Keith Green)
Reading the Gospels, we recognize that it was these fanatically held to traditions and teachings of the then Jewish scribes and sages that kept them from receiving the Lord and His Word:
Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"-- then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' " (Matthew 15:1-9)
The further away believers, or the church, moved from this daily practice of their faith around a real meal, often inside their own homes for fellowship and prayer, the more the church became, through the additions of teachings and traditions, a building and an institution - the the place outside the home and daily lives where Christians went to find their spiritual sustenance. Even the Lord's Supper, which was meant to be a real meal sanctified for the purpose of remembering the Lord's death, became a religious observance inside a church building with only one piece of bread or wafer to assist us in remembering His last supper!
It is surely not without significance, therefore, the risen Lord's last recorded message to His church which seems to have made it and become rich and all sufficient. It is to this church, that is neither hot nor cold but lukewarm, that Jesus uses His stern words of warning, calling them to repent. And He tells them that He, Himself, is standingoutside the door and knocking to come in, that He might sup with them to restore the love fellowship on which the true apostolic church was always based, as Paul expresses:
...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. (Philippians 3:10)
And as John writes:
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:18-23)
Dear friends, is it because we have somehow lost the intimacy with Jesus, our Lord, in our personal lives that we have strayed away in what, in the end, will see Him left outside the doors of our churches and homes, knocking in order to come in and sup with us?
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
22 June 2014
All Inclusive Babylonian Unity!
He is the perfect matchmaker, Pope Francis, to see Christians from East and West unite - possibly even with true Allah-fearing Muslims joining in - but certainly the majority of Christians from nearly all existing denominations. This is to say, Christians from the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, but eventually also those from the mainline Protestant denominations - even Charismatics - joining the ranks of this newly to-be-formed worldwide Catholic Church.
As one Charismatic Christian leader recently remarked after visiting this pope in Rome, "He is so kind and inclusive." Who can be against such a display of humility, and the caring willingness to unite Christians after so many centuries of divisions, hatred and enmity? This is why, with the personality he has, Francis seems to be the man to bring about this unity. And we can be sure that many will see this in the most positive way, quoting our Lord's own expressed desire and prayer for the unity of all believers, as recorded in John 17.
Without true repentance from sin, however, this is a unity that will lead to Babylon, where the worldly Harlot Church will ride the Beast: A woman, clad in scarlet, overflowing with uncleanness and unwashed, the opposite of the true church or bride of the Lord as seen by John on Patmos, "having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Revelation 7:14)
And for those who indeed want to call Peter the first ordained pope of the Church, they should note how, just after being anointed with power by the Holy Spirit, used these words to proclaim the only way for one to belong to the Church of his risen Master:
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. (Acts 2:38-43)
Therefore, no matter how all-inclusive this present pope or other church dignitaries may desire and proclaim the church to be, welcoming all sorts into membership of the global mother church, there is no way other than through true repentance from sin, followed by baptism, in order to even able to become part of the cleansed bride of Christ. And this was the clear message of the Apostle Peter on which 'rock' the Catholic Church is supposed to be based!
Why this pope's 'all-inclusiveness' (and indeed the lax position held by many in different denominations today) poses such a danger, is because it is a spirit that will increasingly lead to a condoning of sin within the Church instead of deliverance from sin by true repentance and faith in the all-sufficiency of the blood of Christ.
The rewriting of God's laws, in deference to what is increasingly accepted by many as the new norm and political correctness we need to accept, has led to the acceptance and condoning of sins the Bible describes as abominations even in the midst of the Church and by Christian ministries. This is in total contradiction to what the Lord clearly says in His Word: that to belong to Him and His Kingdom we have to repent and part from such sinful practices.
This is all very, very serious, for it will determine issues of life and death and, above all, our eternal life. This is how Jesus answered His disciples when they asked Him if many would be saved in the end.
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:4-14)
While the general trend in most Christian circles today is to be kind and as inclusive as possible, Jesus holds out before us a difficult and narrow road, a road which will cost us everything, certainly all of our sinful practices; even our own lives. "These are those who follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes" as indeed the disciples did when they heard His 'Follow Me' and left everything. That is and was the true basis of the Bridal Church.
If we are scrupulously truthful, then we know why the all-inclusive Babylonian world church is so much more appealing to many believers; it is less harsh on sin and on the need for true repentance. That part in us that has not totally surrendered itself to the Lord and to His indwelling Holy Spirit will in the end lead us into the all-inclusive world church and away from belonging to Christ as His holy, sanctified Bride. It is for us to choose who we really want to belong to in the end.
If Jesus is still allowed to be the Lord of His Church, then truly His words seem to be in stark contrast with many of His so called followers.
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
Here is the link for the video
To win the war with Japan, the U.S. military bombed 2 cities, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, flat, killing far more civilians than Israel would dream to kill to finish her wars. To overcome the threat of Nazism, including their indiscriminate bombing of London and many other cities in Britain and in Europe, the Allied forces bombed whole cities flat in Germany, including their civilian populations, without even warning them to flee their homes as Israel did in Gaza. Should Israel, who has fought her wars as no other nation, trying at all costs to prevent civilian casualties, now stoop to the same level as the U.S. or Allied forces did to win her war against their cruel and implacable enemies?
May the words of this young girl open our eyes and our hearts for what is really taking place and cause us to pray for Israel, God's people, and this whole region!
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
PS Amazing and courageous are the words of Dr. Tawfik Hamid, a former member of a terrorist organization, in defense of Israel. Look at this short film by clicking here.
23 June 2014
THE CURSE OF THE TRADITIONS OF MEN
He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"-- then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' " (Matthew 15:3-9)
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations-- "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using--according to the commandments and doctrines of men? (Colossians 2:16-22)
Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it. (Deuteronomy 12:32)
For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19, last chapter of the Bible)
It now the time, I believe - with so much manifestation of the traditions of men, and a great deal of deception running wild - to establish whether as Believers we wish to belong to a church that is destined to become the spotless bride of the Lord, or whether instead we are willing to become part and parcel of the world church that is being built on a syncretism of God's holy word mixed with the traditions and teachings of men!
The verses quoted at the beginning warn sufficiently against building our faith and walk with the Lord on such traditions and teachings - even those put forward by devoted religious men and women - especially when these are found to nullify or contradict the teachings of the Word of God.
For those who would choose to go back in the practice of their faith to a Scriptural foundation, the following are the five essentials that formed the basis of the early apostolic church in Jerusalem.
ONE
There was definitely only ONE WAY to enter into God's Kingdom and Salvation, and that was through Christ Jesus the Lord. He was, and He is, the only Cornerstone of the building called His Church.
These are His words:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." (John 10:7-10, 27-30)
And:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
To underscore it all:
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.(Acts 4:12)
TWO
The first step, which every person individually must take in to ensure his/her entrance enter into His Kingdom and Salvation is Repentance from sins.
Hear how John the Baptist proclaimed this in preparation for the coming of the Lord:
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 3:2)
These were Peter's words on the day of Pentecost, in answer to those who asked what they needed to do in order to be saved:
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39)
THREE
In order to be saved, every individual has to be baptized, as also Peter admonished on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:38 above), and as the Apostles taught and practiced, as recorded throughout the book of Acts:
And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. (Acts 9:17-18)
And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. (Acts 16:30-33)
FOUR
The new converts needed to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so that they could be led by Him, just as after His baptism by John, the Lord Jesus could be led by the Holy Spirit:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness. (Matthew 4:1)
And as it says in Romans 8:1-14:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8:1-14)
FIVE
Concerning those who had repented, and had been baptized, and so received the Holy Spirit in order that they could be led by Him in their daily lives, the following description of how they lived these lives should be an example to all true Believers:
And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:40-47)
Thus four things stand out in this passage concerning the daily practice of the believers during the days of the Apostles:
- They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine - and later read the teachings canonized in the New Testament.
- They came together for spiritual fellowship often around a meal.
- They broke bread in a Believer's home where they ate their food (not just a piece of bread or wafer) with gladness.
- They practiced corporate prayer as part of their coming together.
It does not take much research to show how many of today's accepted church traditions found their way into the system of church doctrine and practice much later, added as they were to the Apostolic teaching and practice of the early church.
The following is a list of traditions that found their way into what had begun as the pure and simple sharing of meals in Believers own homes, their fellowshipping and praying and praising God together would morph into the church that now claims to be the true representative of Peter and the early disciples.
Although many of these beliefs were practiced earlier than the dates given, they did not become binding on all Catholics until they were officially adopted by church councils and proclaimed by popes to be dogmas of the faith. (Some dates are approximate.)
1. Presbyter (or elders) were first called priests by Lucian...2nd century.
2. The veneration of angels and dead saints and the use of images...375 CE.
3. The Mass as a daily celebration was adopted...394 CE.
4. The beginning of the exaltation of Mary, and the first use of the term "Mother of God" by the Council of Ephesus...431 CE.
5. Priests began to dress different from the laity and to wear special clothes...500 CE.
6. The doctrine of purgatory was first established by Gregory the Great...593 CE.
7. Prayers began to be offered to Mary, dead saints, and angels...600 CE.
8. The first man was proclaimed "Pope" (Boniface III)...610 CE.
9. Veneration of the cross, images, and relics authorized...788 CE.
10. Holy water, mixed with a pinch of salt and blessed by a priest was authorized in...850 CE.
11. College of cardinals begun...927 CE.
12. Canonization of dead saints, first by Pope John XV...995 CE.
13. The Mass developed gradually as a sacrifice, attendance was made obligatory only in...11th century!
14. The celibacy of the priesthood was decreed by Pope Hildebrand, Boniface VII...1079 CE.
15. The rosary, or prayer beads copied from Hindus and Mohammedans) was introduced by Peter the Hermit...1090 CE.
16. The Inquisition of "Heretics" was instituted by the Council of Verona...1184 CE, and was legalized and promoted by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 CE.
17. The sale of Indulgences...1190 CE.
18. The seven sacraments defined by Peter Lombard...12th century.
19. The dogma of transubstantiation was decreed by Pope Innocent III ...in 1215 CE!
20. Confession of sins to the priest at least once a year was instituted by Pope Innocent III in the Lateran Council...1215 CE.
21. The adoration of the wafer (host) decreed by Pope Honorius III ...1220 CE.
22. The doctrine of purgatory proclaimed a dogma by the Council of Florence...1439 CE.
23. Tradition is declared of equal authority with the Bible by the Council of Trent...1545 CE!!!
24. The Apocryphal Books were added to the Bible by the Council of Trent...1546 CE.
25. The Immaculate Conception of Mary was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854 CE.
26. Pope Pius IX condemned all scientific discoveries not approved by the Roman Church...1864 CE.
27. Infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals proclaimed by the First Vatican Council...1870 CE.
28. Pius XI reaffirmed the doctrine that Mary is "The Mother of God" ...1931 CE.
29. The dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII...1950 CE.
30. Mary proclaimed the Mother of the Church by Pope Paul VI...1965 CE.
(From "What did Vatican II really change?" Edited and compiled by Keith Green)
Reading the Gospels, we recognize that it was these fanatically held to traditions and teachings of the then Jewish scribes and sages that kept them from receiving the Lord and His Word:
Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"-- then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' " (Matthew 15:1-9)
The further away believers, or the church, moved from this daily practice of their faith around a real meal, often inside their own homes for fellowship and prayer, the more the church became, through the additions of teachings and traditions, a building and an institution - the the place outside the home and daily lives where Christians went to find their spiritual sustenance. Even the Lord's Supper, which was meant to be a real meal sanctified for the purpose of remembering the Lord's death, became a religious observance inside a church building with only one piece of bread or wafer to assist us in remembering His last supper!
It is surely not without significance, therefore, the risen Lord's last recorded message to His church which seems to have made it and become rich and all sufficient. It is to this church, that is neither hot nor cold but lukewarm, that Jesus uses His stern words of warning, calling them to repent. And He tells them that He, Himself, is standingoutside the door and knocking to come in, that He might sup with them to restore the love fellowship on which the true apostolic church was always based, as Paul expresses:
...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. (Philippians 3:10)
And as John writes:
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:18-23)
Dear friends, is it because we have somehow lost the intimacy with Jesus, our Lord, in our personal lives that we have strayed away in what, in the end, will see Him left outside the doors of our churches and homes, knocking in order to come in and sup with us?
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
22 June 2014
All Inclusive Babylonian Unity!
He is the perfect matchmaker, Pope Francis, to see Christians from East and West unite - possibly even with true Allah-fearing Muslims joining in - but certainly the majority of Christians from nearly all existing denominations. This is to say, Christians from the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, but eventually also those from the mainline Protestant denominations - even Charismatics - joining the ranks of this newly to-be-formed worldwide Catholic Church.
As one Charismatic Christian leader recently remarked after visiting this pope in Rome, "He is so kind and inclusive." Who can be against such a display of humility, and the caring willingness to unite Christians after so many centuries of divisions, hatred and enmity? This is why, with the personality he has, Francis seems to be the man to bring about this unity. And we can be sure that many will see this in the most positive way, quoting our Lord's own expressed desire and prayer for the unity of all believers, as recorded in John 17.
Without true repentance from sin, however, this is a unity that will lead to Babylon, where the worldly Harlot Church will ride the Beast: A woman, clad in scarlet, overflowing with uncleanness and unwashed, the opposite of the true church or bride of the Lord as seen by John on Patmos, "having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Revelation 7:14)
And for those who indeed want to call Peter the first ordained pope of the Church, they should note how, just after being anointed with power by the Holy Spirit, used these words to proclaim the only way for one to belong to the Church of his risen Master:
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. (Acts 2:38-43)
Therefore, no matter how all-inclusive this present pope or other church dignitaries may desire and proclaim the church to be, welcoming all sorts into membership of the global mother church, there is no way other than through true repentance from sin, followed by baptism, in order to even able to become part of the cleansed bride of Christ. And this was the clear message of the Apostle Peter on which 'rock' the Catholic Church is supposed to be based!
Why this pope's 'all-inclusiveness' (and indeed the lax position held by many in different denominations today) poses such a danger, is because it is a spirit that will increasingly lead to a condoning of sin within the Church instead of deliverance from sin by true repentance and faith in the all-sufficiency of the blood of Christ.
The rewriting of God's laws, in deference to what is increasingly accepted by many as the new norm and political correctness we need to accept, has led to the acceptance and condoning of sins the Bible describes as abominations even in the midst of the Church and by Christian ministries. This is in total contradiction to what the Lord clearly says in His Word: that to belong to Him and His Kingdom we have to repent and part from such sinful practices.
This is all very, very serious, for it will determine issues of life and death and, above all, our eternal life. This is how Jesus answered His disciples when they asked Him if many would be saved in the end.
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:4-14)
While the general trend in most Christian circles today is to be kind and as inclusive as possible, Jesus holds out before us a difficult and narrow road, a road which will cost us everything, certainly all of our sinful practices; even our own lives. "These are those who follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes" as indeed the disciples did when they heard His 'Follow Me' and left everything. That is and was the true basis of the Bridal Church.
If we are scrupulously truthful, then we know why the all-inclusive Babylonian world church is so much more appealing to many believers; it is less harsh on sin and on the need for true repentance. That part in us that has not totally surrendered itself to the Lord and to His indwelling Holy Spirit will in the end lead us into the all-inclusive world church and away from belonging to Christ as His holy, sanctified Bride. It is for us to choose who we really want to belong to in the end.
If Jesus is still allowed to be the Lord of His Church, then truly His words seem to be in stark contrast with many of His so called followers.
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
18 February 2014
THE OLD AND THE NEW COVENANT
Many believers in and outside Israel also as result of their love for the Jewish people and Israel, are in a quandary as to how much of the law they should keep. There is in some circles a great and constant harping on the need to go back to "our Jewish roots" without sometimes the clear defining of what is meant by that. Do we go back to keep all the Mosaic laws of the Old Covenant, or as some uphold and teach do we also have to take the teachings and tradition seriously which later developed in Judaism and were laid down in the Talmud and Mishna? Which Jewish roots are being meant? - just the Old Covenant biblical roots or the later developed added rules and traditions?Is there a difference in relation to this question between Jewish and Gentile believers or does the New Testament teach one law for all (believers)?
These are some of the questions we desperately need answers for - answers, which will be accurate and true to the clear teaching of the word of God and His Holy Spirit.
First of all, especially in the writings of the Acts of the Apostles, there seems to be a difference between what was expected in regard to the lifestyle of the Gentile believers as to the lifestyle the Jewish believers themselves believed to be committed to.
We find this in different passages, it is especially clear in the Acts where the apostles and elders are reported to have had a special meeting about this issue whether the Gentiles (not only Jewish believers!) were also required to keep the whole law of Moses. Their verdict after hours of intense discussion is written for every one to read:
The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls saying, "You must be circumcised and keep the law" - to whom we gave no such commandment - it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. (Acts 15:23-26,28,29)
At the time that the Jewish elders and apostles sent this Holy Spirit inspired letter to the Gentile churches and believers it should be noted that they themselves still kept the Mosaic law as we can read in the same book of Acts at the episode of Paul's visit to Jerusalem described in Acts 21:17-25:
And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; "but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. "What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. "Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow." Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. "But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.
Thus the early Jewish believers in their lifestyle were faithful, even zealous for the Law of Moses although they allowed the Gentiles a freedom from its restrictions. Paul reiterates this dual early apostolic approach in his letter to the Corinthians.
But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches. Was anyone called while circumcised. Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. LET EACH ONE REMAIN IN THE SAME CALLING IN WHICH HE WAS CALLED. (1 Corinthians 7:17-20)
In Matthew 5:17 -20, is believed to have be written especially with the Hebrew people in mind, Jesus Himself reiterates this faithfulness to the laws of Moses when during His sermon on the Mount He says:
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Yet there are also other passages written down from his lips, as for instance the words of Mark:
Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear and to his disciples: Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods? And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man" (Mark 7:14,15, 18-23)
It is in this same passage that Jesus makes a clear distinction between the commandment of God, His Father and the tradition of men. See Mark 11:6-13. In this passage the Lord says:
This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. (Mark 7:6,7,8,9)
So already in New Testament days there was a dangerous trend among some of the religious teachers, or Pharisees of that time, to overemphasize the importance of traditions of different sages or men over the clear teachings and commandments of God written down in the Tenach. This is an important point because today Orthodox Judaism is not only based on the written law of God but equally also on the oral law of God. This teaching has of course opened up a whole gamut of interpretations; traditions and teaching that have later been added and thus found their way in the "Sulchan Aruch," the embodiment of what today is expected from a Jew who wants to adhere to an orthodox lifestyle.
Some believers today use the words of Jesus in Matthew 23as a proof that believers, especially in the land, are required by these words also to keep the oral law and thus the teachings and traditions of men gradually crept in. Messianic synagogues are split over this issue, some feel they need to be faithful as much as possible to the clear teachings of the Tenach, others feel this faithfulness to the later developed oral traditions, using the words of Jesus for this point of view:
The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, (in Moses' seat) that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. (Matt 23:2,3)
Because of Jesus emphasis on the words in Moses' seat, one would say that together with Jesus own stern words about the later crept in traditions, which He called "teachings of men" in contrast with the words of Moses, which He called the Word of God, it can be safely argued that these words about observing and doing what the Pharisees taught only referred to the law of Moses. So it would certainly be a weak basis for deducing from this verse more than that.
Thus we have seen in the New Testament period there seemed to have been a dualism regarding the keeping of the law in relation to Jewish believers and Gentile believers. The teachings of Paul, sometimes used by some Hebrew believers as indicative that they also do not need to keep the whole Mosaic law any more, were mainly or exclusively letters written - as he was an apostle to the Gentiles - to Gentile audiences, in Rome, in Corinth, in Philippi, etc.
So one could argue that the aforementioned especially in the light of the recorded practice of the early Jewish believers in Acts, can not be used to prove that Messianic Jews can too easily take these words of Paul, written mainly to Gentile believers as proof that they can now also live outside the precincts of the Law, unless we can prove through a wider use of scripture and argument that there nevertheless is scriptural evidence to the contrary, which would in certain cases give even Jewish believers this freedom so extolled by Paul in his epistles.
Besides Jesus words about unclean foods which He stated are not able to defile a man from within, thus already belittling in a way the famous kosher laws that today take such an important place in Judaism, there are other words in scripture that need to be addressed and looked at.
Thus far we have been speaking about the practices of the early Jewish believers as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, which have all taken place before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Titus in 70AD. This is a very important point because it was only after the destruction of the Jewish Temple that Judaism had to be redefined by the religious leaders of that day (which was done in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud) because some of the requirements of the law of Moses, without a Temple, High Priest and the sacrifices, became impossible to fulfill. That was not yet the case in the New Testament period.
Without the Temple and its sacrifices even for instance Yom Kippur would not be kept any more in the way that God had originally described it through Moses. Thus the last truly orthodox Jewish lifestyle according to the laws of Moses became extinct after 70 AD, leaving no one after that who truly kept the whole law, as it was not possible without a Temple, High priest and sacrifice!
So if the Jewish religious leaders of that day after the destruction of the Temple in AD70, felt the need and necessity to redefine Judaism, could it be that Jewish believers in the light of these developments also perceived a need to redefine what God expected from them? And is there in the Scriptures already a basis laid for such re-assessment for Jewish believers after 70AD?
Already the Apostle Paul seems to reflect a certain ambiguity in relation to keeping the law when he writes:
For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; TO THOSE WHO ARE WITHOUT LAW, AS WITHOUT LAW (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law ..... I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some... (1 Corinthians 9:19-22)
In all respect: Jesus' own words sometimes seem to reveal the same kind of ambiguity. The words about unclean foods already quoted from the Gospels of Mark are only one point in case. But there are other words such as His teaching on the Sabbath.
Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: "how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him? And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:23-28)
Already in His sermon on the Mount He makes two points about the Law that: "he did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill" Matt 5:17 - and that if the righteousness of those who claim to follow Him would not exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, they would by no means enter the kingdom of heaven - see Matthew 5:20.
To further explain His point He went into detail how each of the laws of Moses - "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery," etc. were to be taken in a much deeper way where it would touch the heart of each believer. But the greatest emphasis is relating to the Law regarding love - love towards God and love towards one's neighbor. That to Him was the essence and fulfillment of the Law. Everything was to be subjected to that, whether Sabbath laws or other regulations. As he said especially as related by John:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another"- (John 13:34,35), see also John 15:12-14
In Mark 12:28-34 Jesus said:
Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all? Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 'And you shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all you soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. "And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these. So the scribe said to Him:"Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. "And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." So when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared question Him.
All these passages are reiterated by Paul the Apostle in his writings, always stressing in many ways - as the Lord taught - that love is the fulfilment of the law for those who want to walk in the Spirit as disciples of the New Covenant!
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery,"You shall not murder" You shall not steal" You shall not covet", and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely,"You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the Law. (Romans 13:8-10)
In his first epistle to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul writes his new famous words on the importance of love, charity. He introduces these words with:
And yet I show you a more excellent way ... Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13)
As he repeats to the Galatians:
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" ... The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:13,22,23)
Thus the most important law of the New Covenant as expressed by Jesus Himself and His apostles is love. It is the one commandment that sums up them all. Any detraction from this by overemphasizing other - though important laws and regulations - will be endangering the very centrality of this overall important law: "thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself" and of course first and foremost: "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart"
After the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple and the dispersion of most of the Jews out from their God given land - the need was felt by the religious leaders of their day for a redefinition of Judaism. Without a Temple, without the sacrifices, without the High Priest, the three times a year "going up" to celebrate the three major biblical Feasts of the Lord, the need was felt for a codification of what was expected from a Jew in regard to the Torah at least those parts which could still be kept.
This codification took years to accomplish. First the Mishna, then the Gemerra were finally brought together in the Talmud - the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. Out of the Talmud later the "Sulchan Aruch" was formed, a handbook that teaches every observant Jew what day by day is expected from him to be a faithful religious Jew. But it is a redefinition of Judaism with a lot of additions and regulations, which are not found in the original writings of the Tenach.
Therefore there should biblically and theologically speaking not be too much tumult when Paul and others in the New Testament, especially after 70AD are willing to stress or lay a foundation for a redefinition of their own, especially as this new covenant is already prophesied by Jeremiah in the Tenach when he says:
"Behold, the days are coming" says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them" says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying "know the Lord" for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them" says the Lord. "For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
This indeed is a remarkable passage for it tells of a time that God will make a new covenant with His people - not according to the covenant He made with their fathers in Sinai - but a new covenant where He would write His law in their minds and on their hearts. In other words certainly a redefinition of the old covenant as announced by God Himself!
So the question arises what is this new covenant - redefined. The Talmud which basically adds laws and regulations puts a fence around the Torah - or is it the New Covenant law emphasized and practiced by Jesus and the Apostles - the law that God is willing by His Spirit to write upon the hearts of those who through repentance, faith and baptism are willing to be circumcised in their hearts?
This is a very, very important question - certainly in the light of this wonderful announcement of the new covenant by God through the prophet Jeremiah. Is the Talmud the new promised basis for the right relationship with God after 70AD, or is the New Testament the basis for this new right relationship with God? Looking to the description of the character of this New Covenant, Jeremiah prophesied that no more shall every man teach his neighbor or his brother - one does not think that the way of the Talmud or "halacha" fits this description with its strong emphasis on the opposite. According to Jeremiah every man will know from his own heart and walk with the Lord in a way that is pleasing to the Lord but the opposite has to be taught by others, by the rabbis and the sages. He cannot and may not come to the judgement himself as to how to live to please God. The New Testament however describes this personal responsibility and reality in the same way as Jeremiah describes it in this passage when the Apostle John, himself a Jew, describing this New Covenant relationship with God says:
Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, (again this emphasizes love!) is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. (1 John 2:8-10)
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things ... the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you need not that anyone teach you (see Jeremiah 31); but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. (1 John 2:20,27)
This is the same idea that Paul brings forth in his writings that this new law - the one inspired by the Spirit of God upon our minds and within our hearts supersedes the old law of Sinai (Moses)
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit ... that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit .... For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if you by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. (Romans 8:1,4)
And in Galatians Paul writes
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who become circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love ... if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. (Galatians 5:1-3, 5, 6,18)
This then is to be the new covenant law and way - very consistently taught in the New Testament by the Jewish Apostles and already prophesied by Jeremiah hundreds of years before the appearance of Jesus, the Messiah of Israel. For as Moses in the name of God initiated the Old Covenant of Sinai, Jesus, initiated the New Covenant of Moriah or Zion - the covenant where God would not so much on tables of stone but on the hearts of individual men and women by inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit write His law. It is a time also prophesied by Joel that God would pour out His Spirit upon every one, upon all flesh.
And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions; And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28,29)In Conclusion:
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. FOR ALL THE LAW IS FULFILLED IN ONE WORD, even in this: "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOUSELF." (Galatians 5:13, 14)
And Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34,35)
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another...My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment(1 John 3: 11,18, 23)
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God: and EVERYONE WHO LOVES is born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him (1 John 4:16)
If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God us love his brother also.(1 John 4:20, 21)
Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all you soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)
And Paul writes: '...I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law..." (1 Corinthians 9:19-21)
And yet I show you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 12:31 - 1 Cor. 13:1-13)
Owe now one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that is was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder,' and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:17-24)
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heave; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center
*****************************************
Malcolm Hedding
Malcolm Hedding is an Ordained Assemblies of God minister and church planter, starting many churches throughout South Africa from 1975 - 2000. Malcolm is a tried and proven leader of local congregations, bringing to his ministry a unique understanding of local church life.
Currently Malcolm serves as one of the Associate Ministers of World Outreach Church. He is considered a leading theologian in the Christian Zionist world today. His long years of involvement in this sphere, beginning in 1976, have earned him much respect and the esteem of his peers within the Jewish and Christian world.
He is an acclaimed International speaker on Israel and the Church in these crucial and challenging times. Malcolm travels extensively, revitalizing the Church in terms of their role in these days. Given his unique and vast speaking forums around the globe, Malcolm has a view and understanding of the Body of Christ that few get or have. He has published several books on Prayer, the Book of Revelation, Understanding Israel and a foundational series on Biblical Christian Zionism that has been translated into German, Finnish, Nepalese and Mandarin. He is a prolific writer and regularly contributes to magazines and papers of various types including the Jerusalem Post, the Christian Edition. Malcolm is also asked to speak regularly on radio shows and Christian broadcasting Networks.
Malcolm holds a Bachelor in Theology degree and two Diplomas in Theology. He is married to his high school sweetheart Cheryl. They have three children all of which are serving the Lord and involved in Christian ministry. He has been given many awards over the years for his service and ministry to the Lord and has even been crowned an African King!
Malcolm Hedding is a dedicated servant of Christ and seeks to glorify Him in all that he does.
Currently Malcolm serves as one of the Associate Ministers of World Outreach Church. He is considered a leading theologian in the Christian Zionist world today. His long years of involvement in this sphere, beginning in 1976, have earned him much respect and the esteem of his peers within the Jewish and Christian world.
He is an acclaimed International speaker on Israel and the Church in these crucial and challenging times. Malcolm travels extensively, revitalizing the Church in terms of their role in these days. Given his unique and vast speaking forums around the globe, Malcolm has a view and understanding of the Body of Christ that few get or have. He has published several books on Prayer, the Book of Revelation, Understanding Israel and a foundational series on Biblical Christian Zionism that has been translated into German, Finnish, Nepalese and Mandarin. He is a prolific writer and regularly contributes to magazines and papers of various types including the Jerusalem Post, the Christian Edition. Malcolm is also asked to speak regularly on radio shows and Christian broadcasting Networks.
Malcolm holds a Bachelor in Theology degree and two Diplomas in Theology. He is married to his high school sweetheart Cheryl. They have three children all of which are serving the Lord and involved in Christian ministry. He has been given many awards over the years for his service and ministry to the Lord and has even been crowned an African King!
Malcolm Hedding is a dedicated servant of Christ and seeks to glorify Him in all that he does.
Malcolm Hedding - Signs in the Sky 15 April 2013
Signs in the sky, blood and fire on earth, columns of smoke and salvation
“I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the
earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The
sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into
blood before the coming of the great and awesome day
of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Acts 2:19-21
Something strange is happening on planet earth in that unusual events and phenomenon are taking place all over the world and in the heavens. Are these natural events or is the One True God sending us a message of warning? The God we serve is a God of love who seeks to reach His world with the message of the cross of Jesus. He will stop at nothing to do this and therefore has promised to send us harbingers of judgment to come. Repentance is His goal but global rebellion and wickedness in contradiction of His revealed word and character must be judged. He therefore has promised to show us signs of warning before it is too late. These signs are now with us! Consider the following:
Signs in the heavens
Just in the last month an asteroid careered across our skies and struck an unknown little town in Russia. The spectacle was impressive to say the least and just a few days later “showering meteorites” crossed our heavens leaving a trail of light like sparkling water. Then another asteroid almost side-swiped our planet as it just missed us and sped on into the darkness of outer space. Now astronomers are telling us that in 2014/5 the phenomenon known as a Tetrad will occur over Israel. This means that four blood red moons will appear at Passover and Tabernacles over the next two years. This is not a usual occurrence and has only happened a few times over the centuries and always when some great, tragic or special event is about to take place in Jerusalem or in the history of the Jewish people. David Dolan, a middle east commentator and journalist of repute, writes, “If we closely examine the last three Tetrads that began on the full moon of Passover and ended a year later on the first night of the annual Feast of Tabernacles, we can clearly see that they have three things in common and all involved the shedding of Jewish blood…” This is sobering indeed and should cause us to seek God more earnestly about what the meaning of all this could be. At the very least He is warning us of things to come. The question is; “Are we listening?’
Signs in the sky
Just a year and a half ago a volcano in Iceland erupted spewing out vast columns of smoke into the sky. At first it was generally ignored until in gained strength and put out such a huge volume of smoke that air travel throughout all of Europe was brought to a halt. We all watched with amazement as this column of smoke rose to the sky and thereby disrupted travel schedules all over the world. At the same time vast quantities of birds began to fall from the skies all over the earth with no apparent reason for doing so. Scientists are completely baffled by this phenomenon and even lately it has continued unabated. Moreover, who can forget the images of the Nuclear Facility meltdown in Japan? A massive tsunami, triggered by an earthquake of vast proportions, sent huge amounts of water into the facility and crippled it. The scenes were astonishing as we saw vapor of smoke rising into the clouds and destruction everywhere. The question again is; “Are we listening?”
Signs in the earth beneath
On the earth we have disrupted weather patterns that are producing winter in summer and summer in autumn and who knows what else. Storms and hurricanes, like never before, are battering our shore lines and even those who subscribe to global warming are baffled because it too often appears as if we are suffering from global cooling. The truth is; all of this has very little to do with global warming but a lot to do with global warning! We attribute all of this to natural phenomena when indeed it has to do with supernatural phenomena. It will increase as humankind continues to ignore God and happily travel down its chosen road of perversion.
Then there are the Tornados that are ripping whole communities apart in the USA chiefly and of course elsewhere. I could go on and on but the point is made. God is doing exactly what He said He would! He is giving signs on the earth beneath. Does anyone get it?
Blood and fire
Conflicts are raging all over the world and millions of people have died in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. Christians are now the most persecuted group on the earth and the blood of Christian Martyrs is running on many continents. Chiefly this killing of Christians is being done by Muslims and in particular the Muslim Brotherhood who now controls Egypt and is seizing control of much of the Middle East. In Sudan the Muslim North murdered two million Christians from the South while the world did very little to stop it. The blood of 100,000 people now runs in Syria and fire rages everywhere as the scourge of war ravages city after city. The conflict is spilling over into Lebanon, Turkey and may even embroil Israel.
Who can forget the awful images of 9/11 when the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York exploded in fire and caused the blood of many to run in the streets! These are terrifying things and I have a sense that there is more to follow if we do not repent, seek God and rectify our ways.
All of the above most certainly appears to fulfill Joel’s prophetic oracle. Who can deny it? Nevertheless, though the picture is bleak and foreboding it is in fact one of the patience and love of God since He is trying to get His world’s attention. The death of Jesus, that splits human history down the middle, is the only hope for all of humankind and therefore these signs from the God of heaven are designed to make us call out to Him in repentance.(2Peter 3:9;Revelation 16:11) Those who do will be saved! What a wonderful promise and what a glorious deliverance the world can have from a lost eternity. Peter also assured his listeners that, in a day of considerable upheaval and danger, God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh and thereby empower His Church to do exploits for Him. This is our day to rise and shine for soon our redemption will draw nigh.
Malcolm Hedding.
ICEJ
Address:
International Christian Zionist Center
P.O. Box 49063
91490 Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Telephone: +972 (0)2 997 8808
Fax: +972 (0)2 997 1659
Email Address: [email protected]
Web-site: www.israelmybeloved.com
Israel Bank:
The First International Bank of Israel, Ltd.
Main Branch, Jerusalem 012
10 Hillel Street
94581 JERUSALEM
ISRAEL
Account #: 31-012-409 086193
ICZC-USA
Swift code: FIRBILIT XXXIBAN #: IL71 0310 1200 0000 0086 193
United States address:
ICZC-USA
PO Box 680787
Franklin, TN 37068
USA
I thank everyone of you who by his prayers and support is helping us to continue to be a voice for lonely Israel.
“I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the
earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The
sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into
blood before the coming of the great and awesome day
of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Acts 2:19-21
Something strange is happening on planet earth in that unusual events and phenomenon are taking place all over the world and in the heavens. Are these natural events or is the One True God sending us a message of warning? The God we serve is a God of love who seeks to reach His world with the message of the cross of Jesus. He will stop at nothing to do this and therefore has promised to send us harbingers of judgment to come. Repentance is His goal but global rebellion and wickedness in contradiction of His revealed word and character must be judged. He therefore has promised to show us signs of warning before it is too late. These signs are now with us! Consider the following:
Signs in the heavens
Just in the last month an asteroid careered across our skies and struck an unknown little town in Russia. The spectacle was impressive to say the least and just a few days later “showering meteorites” crossed our heavens leaving a trail of light like sparkling water. Then another asteroid almost side-swiped our planet as it just missed us and sped on into the darkness of outer space. Now astronomers are telling us that in 2014/5 the phenomenon known as a Tetrad will occur over Israel. This means that four blood red moons will appear at Passover and Tabernacles over the next two years. This is not a usual occurrence and has only happened a few times over the centuries and always when some great, tragic or special event is about to take place in Jerusalem or in the history of the Jewish people. David Dolan, a middle east commentator and journalist of repute, writes, “If we closely examine the last three Tetrads that began on the full moon of Passover and ended a year later on the first night of the annual Feast of Tabernacles, we can clearly see that they have three things in common and all involved the shedding of Jewish blood…” This is sobering indeed and should cause us to seek God more earnestly about what the meaning of all this could be. At the very least He is warning us of things to come. The question is; “Are we listening?’
Signs in the sky
Just a year and a half ago a volcano in Iceland erupted spewing out vast columns of smoke into the sky. At first it was generally ignored until in gained strength and put out such a huge volume of smoke that air travel throughout all of Europe was brought to a halt. We all watched with amazement as this column of smoke rose to the sky and thereby disrupted travel schedules all over the world. At the same time vast quantities of birds began to fall from the skies all over the earth with no apparent reason for doing so. Scientists are completely baffled by this phenomenon and even lately it has continued unabated. Moreover, who can forget the images of the Nuclear Facility meltdown in Japan? A massive tsunami, triggered by an earthquake of vast proportions, sent huge amounts of water into the facility and crippled it. The scenes were astonishing as we saw vapor of smoke rising into the clouds and destruction everywhere. The question again is; “Are we listening?”
Signs in the earth beneath
On the earth we have disrupted weather patterns that are producing winter in summer and summer in autumn and who knows what else. Storms and hurricanes, like never before, are battering our shore lines and even those who subscribe to global warming are baffled because it too often appears as if we are suffering from global cooling. The truth is; all of this has very little to do with global warming but a lot to do with global warning! We attribute all of this to natural phenomena when indeed it has to do with supernatural phenomena. It will increase as humankind continues to ignore God and happily travel down its chosen road of perversion.
Then there are the Tornados that are ripping whole communities apart in the USA chiefly and of course elsewhere. I could go on and on but the point is made. God is doing exactly what He said He would! He is giving signs on the earth beneath. Does anyone get it?
Blood and fire
Conflicts are raging all over the world and millions of people have died in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. Christians are now the most persecuted group on the earth and the blood of Christian Martyrs is running on many continents. Chiefly this killing of Christians is being done by Muslims and in particular the Muslim Brotherhood who now controls Egypt and is seizing control of much of the Middle East. In Sudan the Muslim North murdered two million Christians from the South while the world did very little to stop it. The blood of 100,000 people now runs in Syria and fire rages everywhere as the scourge of war ravages city after city. The conflict is spilling over into Lebanon, Turkey and may even embroil Israel.
Who can forget the awful images of 9/11 when the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York exploded in fire and caused the blood of many to run in the streets! These are terrifying things and I have a sense that there is more to follow if we do not repent, seek God and rectify our ways.
All of the above most certainly appears to fulfill Joel’s prophetic oracle. Who can deny it? Nevertheless, though the picture is bleak and foreboding it is in fact one of the patience and love of God since He is trying to get His world’s attention. The death of Jesus, that splits human history down the middle, is the only hope for all of humankind and therefore these signs from the God of heaven are designed to make us call out to Him in repentance.(2Peter 3:9;Revelation 16:11) Those who do will be saved! What a wonderful promise and what a glorious deliverance the world can have from a lost eternity. Peter also assured his listeners that, in a day of considerable upheaval and danger, God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh and thereby empower His Church to do exploits for Him. This is our day to rise and shine for soon our redemption will draw nigh.
Malcolm Hedding.
ICEJ
Address:
International Christian Zionist Center
P.O. Box 49063
91490 Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Telephone: +972 (0)2 997 8808
Fax: +972 (0)2 997 1659
Email Address: [email protected]
Web-site: www.israelmybeloved.com
Israel Bank:
The First International Bank of Israel, Ltd.
Main Branch, Jerusalem 012
10 Hillel Street
94581 JERUSALEM
ISRAEL
Account #: 31-012-409 086193
ICZC-USA
Swift code: FIRBILIT XXXIBAN #: IL71 0310 1200 0000 0086 193
United States address:
ICZC-USA
PO Box 680787
Franklin, TN 37068
USA
I thank everyone of you who by his prayers and support is helping us to continue to be a voice for lonely Israel.