In Another League

Historically considered a wise point of etiquette, the admonition to "Never discuss politics or religion in polite company" does not seem to apply to the times we live in. When polite runs head on into the dangers of remaining silent, we had better start talking with others about our religion and our politics, or so it seems to me.

That is why this week I want to put in front of you some of the things that are being said about the upcoming election for Prime Minister in Israel by Messianic Israelis along with some of the directions Israel's Liberal news media are saying.

First, let me say that I do not know who would make the best Prime Minister for Israel in the coming season.  I am confident however that God does know and that He will have the last say in how the vote goes.  There is a scripture verse that says of God, "He removes kings and establishes them." But Daniel 2:21 goes on to say, "He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning." 

 

It seems to me there is an invitation there from God to believers to be with Him in our prayer petitions to Him for the next Prime Minister of Israel. God can do anything He wants, but what He really wants is for us to be on the same page with Him, because when we aren't, He has been known to give us what we wanted that was in opposition to what He wanted for us. King Saul instead of David, for example.

 

If believers in the United States were voting in the Israeli elections, there is little doubt that Benjamin Netanyahu would win this election hands down. The majority of Israel-supporting Christians are conservatives (Republicans) who relate to Netanyahu's strong Israel-national security positions.  To us, Netanyahu is a Trump-like figure, something the Israeli news media really doesn't like and writes to dispel.

For example, today in the Jerusalem Post Did Trump Interfere in Israel's Election by Sharing Netanyahu Instagram Post? the paper took issue with President Trump's re-tweet of the above pictured political billboard bearing the slogan,"Netanyahu: In a different League." 

 

In the U.S. that will be seen as a plus among Christian Israel-supporters but the trouble is, they are not well versed in the religious side of the coin. US Christians don't really know the factors shared in Daniel Juster's recent article about the political alliance Netanyahu is overly dependent on. Because of Bibi's need for the religious parties in his government coalition, it gives power for the religious persecution of the Israeli believing community.  This is something we need a real breakthrough in of understanding among international Christians, so please read Juster's,  The Painful Rule of the Shas Party.

 

There is also misunderstanding even within the Israeli Messianic community about the main source of rising anti-Semitism in the United States. The Israeli news media continually stress that it originates primarily in the conservative Right wing of US politics. Nothing could be farther than the truth.  This misunderstanding is based on liberal Israeli news media flat out misreporting and misrepresenting the facts. 

You can take that from the US liberal left Jews or from the liberal right Jews, but know this: "Republicans now sympathize with Israel (as opposed to the Palestinians) by a whopping 52-point margin over Democrats—79 percent to 27 percent—the greatest spread between the two parties in the last 40 years. Republicans have never been more favorably disposed toward Israel, while for Democrats, the opposite holds true."

Jonathan Tobin of the Jewish News Syndicate writes, No, there’s no Trump-fueled surge in anti-Semitism. Tobin cites false data by the ADL and other the false claims that Trump is responsible for provoking revival of right-wing extremism that targets Jews.  The Christian Family Research Council begins to clear up some of the false narrative in Left-Wing Anti-Semitism: The Greatest Campus Threat Is Ignored by the SPLC.

Benjamin Weingarten notes in Israel as a Partisan issue that "The Democrats have ceded the Jewish State to the GOP for future political gain" and asks, "Could it be that liberal Democrats have grown more Arabist, consistent with the growing anti-Zionist nature of the progressive movement?"

 

Aligning with the Jewish Liberal Left in the USA who are mostly Democrats, Israeli news media have naturally adopted the same narratives.  This leaves two big problems: (1) the real roots of rising anti-Semitism in the US goes unaddressed by Jews. (2) Israeli Messianic Jews may not be as questioning of the narratives they read in their own newspapers regarding politics concerning Jews and the United States.

 

On Twitter I see consistent false narratives from Israeli news sources about Trump, where American anti-semitism is originating from and our politics in general. To be like the men of Issachar in our day, we need to develop a sense of what subjects our news sources are trustworthy in reporting on, and what subjects they simply are not.

On Israel Today I noticed an article by Tsvi Sadan titled, Democracy in Danger: A Call for Revolt where he notes that "Israel's left is becoming increasingly hysteric in its outlook, now openly calling for violent revolt and even civil war." This is what we have been dealing with in the United States throughout the Trump presidency, plus all the accompanying dirty tricks of the so-called "deep state,"  the entrenched powers seeking to halt drag Trump from office by hook or by crook.

 

Anyone who follows Israeli politics is well aware that this is how the political game is played in Israel too, which means we need to be cautious about narratives, which are not the facts, and turn up our God-given discernment to the highest level.  Our nations are so on the line but God wants to give us understanding of our times so we can enter into unreserved agreement with Him as to which way we should go. We can turn our discernment into action in the voting booth - and we should!

If you remember my recent article The Cave of Adullam & The 3 anointings of David, when David fled from the jealousy of King Saul, he was joined immediately by 400 men from the tribe of Judah. But that wasn't the end of it because 1 Samuel 22 tells us that after that, "Day after day men came to help David, until he had a great army, like the army of God."

Among them where the men of Issachar, who "came to David at Ziklag, while he was still banished from the presence of Saul son of Kish."  As I Chronicles 12:32 says of the men of Issachar, they were men "who understood the times and knew what Israel should do'.

We are like those men who came day after day to help King David (a type of Yeshua) until he had a great army like the army of God. We are also like those men of Issachar who came to David to cooperate with the will of God in setting up David as their king and fighting with him until it was done. The men of Issachar were those who were especially  granted the gifts of God in "wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning" —as are we! 

We need to see ourselves in a new light, not merely being politically opinionated like everyone else in our nations, but being in another league of Spirit-led understanding of the times and what Israel should do, so we may enter into full agreement with whatever God wants to do next. - Donna Diorio

Post Script: After writing this yesterday, President Trump delivered his State of the Union message to the American people in which he could not have made a stronger statement as to his personal commitment to the Jewish people when he concluded the SOTU speech with a strong emphasis on honoring Holocaust survivors, a Pittsburgh Synagogue survivor and strongly opposing anti-Semitism. See a small portion in this video clip (apologies for the advert in the opening)

Caspari Media Review gives a summary on Anti-Semitism articles in the Hebrew press, one of which highlights exactly what I wrote about in my opening commentary, In Another League. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, headed by MK Naftali Bennett got bad (false) statistics from the US for its annual report.

    I don't know about Europe, but as far as the United States, that conclusion is a bold faced lie, likely based on the deceptive reporting habits of long trusted Jewish sources that are no longer credible due to falsification of statistics by the ADL, SPLC and other trackers.

     Israelis need to wake up that this is part of the narrative battle that is being played out in the politics of the US, false narratives which are repeated as factual by the Liberal news media in Israel. This is a battle for the truth and the truth in certainly that the uptick of anti-Semitism in the USA is coming from Left-Wing activist groups, Islamists and their adherents. Right Wing anti-Semitism is factually miniscule in comparison.

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

I found it alarming on October 24th, when I received an email from IMRA, the Independent Media Review, that the, "US Consul General Launches campaign to attract Palestinian students to United States."

Is this really in the realm of good intentions when Palestinians are raised cradle to the grave on hatred of Israelis and Jews, and currently American college campuses are ground zero for the growing American anti-Israel and anti-Jew movements? This is not just my perception but backed up by a ‘Devastating’ survey shows huge loss of Israel support among Jewish college students as  "Brand Israel Group raises the alarm on a widening gap in the US between older supporters and the increasingly pro-Palestinian next generation" - a June 21, 2017 headline from the Times of Israel.

First, off, let's note that US Consul General Donald Blome who launched the campaign in Ramallah to encourage more Palestinian students to study in the United States, is a 2015 Obama-appointment who is known to cater to West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians with consular services and assistance while ignoring Jews who live in the same area.

According to the IMRA report, the #PalStudyUSA2018 campaign "will include social media outreach to identify Palestinian participants for an elite 'boot camp' examining all aspects of study in the U.S., a series of week-long information sessions with Amideast at American Spaces in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Salfeet, Nablus, and Gaza; and a series of television, print, and social media stories by Palestinian journalists on Palestinian students studying in the United States which will air later this year. The sessions, for potential students and their parents, will focus on admissions, testing, and financial aid, highlighting the ongoing educational advising services provided by the Consulate’s partner Amideast."

It should be noted that Amideast is an outgrowth of an anti-Zionist organization called the “American Friends of the Middle East”. It is also the recipient of funding from George Soros (as documented by NGO Monitor).

"Consul General Blome announced a number of new higher education cooperation initiatives at the event, including a $1 million project funded by the Middle East Partnership Initiative to support cooperation between Notre Dame and Palestinian university partners to build a shared research hub; a $400,000 project between Palestine Polytechnic University and University of Michigan to promote critical thinking and entrepreneurship; and a $100,000 Tech Camp with the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs and Partners for Sustainable Development to build teams of university students that will tackle problems provided by Palestinian businesses."

Do we need MORE Palestinians on US college campuses/ We are importing even more anti-Israel voices into the already dire environment? This should be prayed against and challenged, because it will not produce a more stable Palestinian economic situation because it does not address the anti-Israeli/anti-Jew indoctrination that is rampant in Palestinian society.

According to the co-founder of Brand Israel Group Fern Oppenheim, on college campuses, “We are allowing Israel to be defined by its detractors.”  There is no longer nuance in campus conversations about Israel, she said. Instead, the “atmosphere is oppressor versus victim. Israel is just another symbol of this.”

The Brand Israel Group survey discovered that 31% of Jewish students reported experiencing anti-Semitism and 59% of them linked the incidents as being linked to anti-Israel attitudes. The incidents, however, did not sway their general opinions of Israel. In fact, between the 2010 and the 2016 surveys, Jewish college students dropped 27 percentage points on the question of whether they lean towards the Israeli side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This is a real problem in the US, not just among the Jews on college campuses, but in general among the Christians everywhere. Young Christians generally dismiss the support of older Christians toward Israel as unenlightened old think. That is happening on several levels from views of homosexuality, racial issues and the subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Like the lady said, we are allowing those issues to be defined humanistic values rather than Biblical values.

The younger generations are being greatly swayed by social justice issues which lean strongly toward the Palestinian  narrative that Israel is the aggressor in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Not only that, but young Christians are not being taught God's exciting vision of the one new man in Messiah of Ephesian 2:14-17 "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one...so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross.

As long as the Church cannot see the full vision of what God is doing which heavily includes Israel, those who are most influencing the younger generation of Christians will play a part in the deterioration of Israel support in the American public.

We must pray for Christian young people to begin to understand Biblical social justice, and to catch the vision of the one new man with the body of Christ.  Many of the mega churches in America are full of excited young Christians and almost none of them have a vision for the salvation of Israel even on their radar. This must change and we must address it.

Remembering Israel's 1992 Mass Deportation of Sharia Supremacist Terrorists & Inciters

It is rather mind boggling all the things international opinion has forced Israel to put up with from the terrorist threat against them. Public opinion has always pushed them to make concessions to mortal enemies in order to achieve a little peace, but of course, the peace was never really part of the deal their enemies were prepared to give. 

This was underscored yesterday when I got a news email saying that after the terrorist attack that left two Druze Israeli policemen dead on the Temple Mount, that Netanyahu was going to put into effect some long overdue security measures: 1. A metal detector checkpoint for Muslims entering the Temple Mount and 2) security cameras with a view of the outside of the Temple Mount.

I remember in 1992 when Israel rounded up all the terrorist figures they knew of in the country, 400+ of them and deported. This was in the Rabin government and the action was taken because of the murders of six Israeli Security Military Forces. 

The inciters were mostly taken from prisons where they were serving sentences, but some were taken from their residences. They lived in camps outside of the borders and international press teams flocked to them to hear their sob story about mean old Israel. That these Hamas and other terrorist operatives worked continuously to create chaos within the nation of Israel was of no interest to the international press. The nations did not care about that part. They only cared about "the poor Palestinians".

There are so many real events that have taken place when the nations forced Israel not to protect its own best interests - the returning of the Sinai, giving over Gaza to enemy control, leaving Muslims in control on the Temple Mount. It is always concessions, concessions, concessions and always on Israel's part, Palestinians getting a free ride thanks to the nations.

I have said many times that I believed that as the nations have done to Israel, so the nations will be forced to taste their own medicine first hand. You can see this throughout Europe and the UK. You can see the same thing forming up here in the US as the intimidation strength of Sharia Supremacy continues to arise in America. 

Remembering the Israeli deportation of the terrorism activists in 1992, I am certain that before long some of the European nations will screw up enough courage to begin to deport the Muslim Sharia Supremacists within their countries and they are going to taste the full brunt of international outrage by the media and the Leftists. I believe they will be forced to give up their quest of ridding their nations of complete chaos and Islamist takeover.

I don't say that prophetically. I only say that it is the pattern that I have been observing develop before my eyes for several years. I say this as someone who knows the history of Israel through watching current events and news regarding Israel and Islam for several decades now. 

What I have been seeing in recent years is how the nations are reaping what they have sown against Israel concerning Islamist terror warfare. I see no reason why this deportation incident will not be repeated in the nations who are now overrun with Islamic enemies within that they at first welcomed and coddled. As they forced Israel not to deal with Islamic terrorism effectively and decisively, so they will not be able to either.

Nothing should turn back Israel's determination to execute these security measures on the Temple Mount.

Donna Diorio
July 16, 2017

The Spirit Behind Mein Kampf is Stirring

THE SPIRIT BEHIND MEIN KAMPF IS STIRRING | Martin Sarvis in Jerusalem

Many years ago I (Martin) remember coming across a translation of Hitler’s infamous book Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), lying out on a carrel in the University library where I worked. Curious, I spent the next few hours scanning through the book. I found it a poorly-written and tedious jumble of bitter thoughts about his own youth, the problems of societies in general, and an argument for shaping a society based on of his Nazi convictions, especially as regarded race.

Hitler divided up humanity into categories regarding physical appearance, those with “Aryan” (i.e. Germanic) characteristics being at the top and supreme. Racially “inferior” peoples included Slavs (especially Poles, Czechs and Russians) —and Jews. Regarding the Nazi ideology, he wrote, “It by no means believes in an equality of races, but along with their difference it recognizes their higher or lesser value and feels itself obligated to promote the victory of the better and stronger, and demand the subordination of the inferior and weaker in accordance with the eternal will that dominates this universe.” (Cited in Wikipedia; Emphases ours.)

 It is significant that Hitler cited a spiritual “will that dominates” behind the system he was developing. It was not an “eternal” (and certainly not a holy) spirit—but it was powerful enough soon to be released, through the agency of a charismatic personality, into a financially and spiritually depressed society, one whose soul had become weakened by a century of spiritual compromise. Within twelve years this ancient and occult “will” had swallowed up and “dominated” the will of nations.

 For all the pages of material in Mein Kampf I scanned and flipped past that day in the library, I came away with really one terrible and lasting impression—he hated Jews. And he expressed this hatred in rhetoric which gave the impression that he truly believed it to be the most natural and rational viewpoint in the world.

He obviously felt it to be his high mission to enlighten those who hadn’t yet quite put it together, that the Jewish race was a blight on the earth, which, given time and means, should be finally eliminated. Hitler wrote this “autobiography” (actually dictated most of it to his friend Rudolph Hess) in his early 30’s while in prison for taking part in an attempted coup. It was published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926.

Mein Kampf was directed at those sympathetic to its author’s National Socialism ideals, and addresses many aspects of those ideals. Throughout is an over-arching focus on what he referred to as “the Jewish peril.” Hitler chronicles his own journey from considering himself opposed to anti-Semitism, to becoming an adherent of it. He wrote, “the nationalization of our masses will succeed only when, aside from all the positive struggle for the soul of our people, their international poisoners are exterminated.”

And in a passage relating to the 1st World War, “If at the beginning of the war and during the war twelve or fifteen thousand of these Hebrew corrupters of the nation had been subjected to poison gas, such as had to be endured in the field by hundreds of thousands of our very best German workers of all classes and professions, then the sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain.” (Ibid.)

 Hitler refers throughout Mein Kampf to Jews as “parasites, liars, dirty, crafty, sly, wily, clever, without any true culture, a sponger, a middleman, a maggot, eternal blood suckers, repulsive, unscrupulous, monsters, foreign, menace, bloodthirsty, avaricious…” (“The Rise of Adolf Hitler: Hitler’s BOOK “Mein Kampf’”; The History Place, 1996)

The book gained in popularity with the rise of the National Socialist state—by 1939 it is thought to have sold 5.2 million copies in eleven languages. By the end of the war, some 10 million copies had been sold or distributed in Germany, where copies are said to have been given freely to newly-wed couples and to soldiers fighting on the Nazi front (Ibid.). Although generally available in other countries, Mein Kampf has been held under a copyright by the Bavarian state government and not allowed to be published in Germany—until that copyright expired last year, 70 years after the death of its author. Suddenly, a fascination with the book has awakened in Europe and across the world.

On January 1, 2016, the book now having entered the public domain in Germany, Munich’s Institute for Contemporary History decided to republish it in an annotated version. The book reportedly sold out within hours on the German Amazon site.

The fascination was most blatantly manifest when in June the Italian newspaper Il Giornale began distributing free copies of an annotated Mein Kampf for subscribers who purchased a paid supplement in its Saturday edition. The owners of the daily defended their sales pitch, saying that its purpose is to study what is evil to avoid its return.” (“Italian newspaper under fire for giving away copies of Mein Kampf”: The Guardian, 11 June 2016). One wonders, realistically speaking, are the masses frequenting newsstands really intent on “studying what is evil in order to avoid its return?”

In a bazaar twist, which one suspects would have appalled recently deceased survivor Eli Wiesel, the Boston-based publishing company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which has published some version of the book for decades, decided last month to avoid criticism by donating proceeds and royalties from Mein Kampf to Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Boston for “direct support of the health and human services needs of (Holocaust) survivors. (“ ‘Mein Kampf’ proceeds to aid Holocaust survivors”: “jewish world” ynet.news.com, 06/30/16 1417).

We are not mentioning all this because we are afraid that thousands will be captivated by Mein Kampf, or because we think the book should be banned. Rather, we think it is important that intercessors be aware that a book whose chief notoriety is its attempt to render the abhorrence of Jews palatable has achieved an awakened fascination in our day—becoming a best-seller in the place of its birth and being mass-marketed along the Mediterranean where much of its ideology was embraced less than 80 years ago “in accordance with the eternal will that dominates this universe.”

We must be aware that this same “will”, which through Hitler came to “dominate” much of the universe then, is today rapidly resurfacing in other forms. “Islam” means “submission”—and at its core (read the Koran) is a despising of the Covenant People. The new “anti-Zionism,” championed by intellectuals in Europe, at its root hates and denigrates those partaking in the “return to Zion” to which the Hebrew race is divinely called.

We see the resurfacing of a fascination with Mein Kampf as only one symptom of a spiritual ground-work presently being laid for making hostility against Jews and Zion “understandable” if not openly embraced in the West. With this is in place, given the right catalyst (such as sharp economic decline), the ancient spectre of “The Jew” as being behind global conspiracies governing the economy, can easily re-awaken as being all too credible, even in supposedly “enlightened” societies. There is indeed a “conspiracy”—it is a spiritual conspiracy, and it is beginning to deceive a sleeping world.

PLEASE PRAY: * That the Body of Messiah around the world will awaken to an awareness that the covenant-hating spirit of anti-Semitism is re-awakening in different arenas of society…but that the LORD is our Banner, who is also at war with this spirit (Ex. 17:14-16).

* That the remnant in the Nations would be granted insight as to how to pray and act in holding back this evil in their lands—that nothing be allowed to manifest outside the timings of the Most High.

* That those in the Body in the Nations whom the Spirit is moving to prepare the way for assisting Jews in their return to Israel (even involving covering and protection under coming persecution), will hear and respond.

 * That Jews will hear the Aliyah-shofar sounding, and turn their sights towards Zion.

 * That Israel will receive divine guidance in preparing for massive Aliyah.

* That laws barring Messianic Jews from returning to Israel will come down. Pray YHVH drive out darkness from the gates, so that all who worship the King of Glory in spirit and in truth may come in!

The Mystery of Romans 11

It doesn't have to be a mystery.

For if you were cut out of the olive tree
which is wild by nature, 
and were grafted contrary to nature 
into a cultivated olive tree,
how much more will these, 
who are natural branches,
be grafted into their own olive tree?

Like all good mysteries of God, the clues revealing the details of the mystery are hidden throughout the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. Such is the mystery of the end times restoration and redemption of Israel, and how there is a direct impact on the international Church, as well as a significant role that God calls the Church to plan in His Divine plan.

The Spirit of God has to give us eyes to see and ears to hear, but that does not absolve us from closing our eyes and ears to what He is saying. I think that is pretty clear from the apostle Paul's warning in to the church in Rome:

"For I do not desire, brethren, that you should not understand this mystery, lest you should be conceited, mindful only of your own interests, that blindness ~in part~ has happened to Israel until the Gentiles have come into their fullness. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written"

Track with me: "And so all Israel will be saved" What does the And so refer to? It refers to the international Church coming into their spiritual fullness.

Some people thing God has set some numbers quota on how many Gentiles will be saved before all Israel is saved, but that is not the point. The point is that for all Israel to be saved, it will necessarily take the international Church, as many that will come to their spiritual fullness and enter into God's plan for -

"For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy."

Did you catch that? through the Church's mercy all Israel will be saved? And why? Because God set them up in His mysterious plan, "For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all."

It is not only in Romans where Paul spelled out the Divine plan to restore Israel through redemption by faith in Yeshua, but also to use the Church to bring it out (which the apostle Paul called our "duty" as the Church).

Back to the fullness of the Gentiles, I have just ordered a book that delves into the area of how the restoration of spiritual fullness of the Church has a deep parallel to the markers of God's restoration of Israel, and that book is based on the author's study of Ezra and Nehemiah. (Example, the holy language of tongues was restored to the Church the same year as the restoration of Hebrew as a modern language, used not just for religious services but as a used language.)

My Israeli friend, Eitan Shishkoff has written the insights about the Christian role in the spiritual re-building of Israel that are contained in the story of how Hiram and Solomon partnered to bulid the temple in his book, What About Us? The book that answers Christian questions about, How do Christians fit into the raising of up of Jewish believers in the faith of Jesus.

Since the early 1990's when God began to show me why He stirred my heart toward Israel, and specifically toward the growing Body of Messiah in Israel, I have had many Christians go automatically defensive as if the very mention of loving Israel meant a rejection of Christianity.

That is not the plan of God and it is not how He has led me. But honestly, it become wearisome to see some Christian ministers sniff at my advocacy of the believers in Israel as somehow excluding my concern for ALL people groups. Come on. The vision for Israel's restoration, as Paul says, means blessing for the whole church, "For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" 

If you only knew the promised release of God's spiritual blessings - restoring those things that the Church has lost from the gifts and power we started out with in the gospels and Acts - then you would be rushing to take your place in the restoration and redemption of Israel.

Whatever is holding you back from considering the things referred to here, it hurts you more than you know.

When my friend Asher Intrater of Revive Israel first immigrated to Israel he was praying at the Wall in Jerusalem one day when God gave him a vision. God told him that the restoration of Israel to her inheritance by faith in Yeshua was too great for all the Messianic Jews in all the world. That they would have to partner with the Church in order to see all Israel saved.

Why is that? Because God has bound us up together so that neither the Church nor the Messianic Jews can come into fullness without coming into partnership and unity together.

Listen to me: we as the Church can enjoy our current level of the restored gifts and power of God, but we are not going to come into the fullness of restored gifts, power and apostolic-prophetic administrations by ignoring our role in the restoration of Israel to faith.

We are going to get to the place that God has destined for Jews and Gentiles in Messiah to come. I intend to be among that number and you should understand that you are making the same choice whether you will stay in your current state of holding the body of Messiah in Israel as not significant to your Christian concerns, or whether you will allow yourself to seriously consider that there is a part of God's mysterious plan that you've been missing. Your choice.

He gives the choice to us, but He is going to take those that are willing to the fullness of His mysterious and wonderful plan.

New Urgency in Message for Right Alignment of the Body

DALLAS:  I was very fortunate to be able to see Asher Intrater of Revive Israel in Jerusalem preach twice this weekend. First on Saturday to a Messianic crowd at Baruch HaShem Messianic Synagogue, then on Sunday to a Christian crowd at Destiny Healing Center.  There were similar core themes touched on in both messages that were uniquely addressed to the two very different congregations of believers.

The messages pertained to the right alignment of the international Church and the Body of Messiah in Israel. If there is one word to describe Asher's message before both groups of believers, it is a tone that I have never sensed from Asher: Urgency.

There was an urgency like I have never heard before from Asher about the necessity for the Christian Church and the believing community in Israel to come into right alignment so the purposes of God can be accomplished.

The Church cannot get to where it is destined until it rightly aligns with the Body in Israel, and the Body of Israel cannot get to where it is destined until it is rightly aligned with the Church. To get there both sides have to humble themselves to each other - but it is our prophetic destiny according to the Word of God, to become one new man in Messiah.  Then as Israel is coming to faith there is a parallel release of Divine power to the international Church see us through the growing deep darkness over the people of the earth.

"We are losing over there." Asher said this several times in the message at Destiny Church, saying, "We can't do this without you." What did Asher mean?

A few weeks ago I wrote that I was stunned when Eitan Shishkoff, a 30-year ministry partner with Asher and perhaps the most upbeat Israeli minister I know of, admitted to the Baruch HaShem congregation audience that at times due to the intensity of the opposition, he has days where he feels he has been hit by truck. 

What these two Israeli ministry leaders and friends said is stunning to me because they are also highly effective in their ministry labors. Good things are happening in their ministries.  So this is news that I want to emphasize with urgency to intercessors for the sake of ALL THE MINISTRIES OF ISRAEL:  THEY NEED US LIKE NEVER BEFORE. 

Asher shared about the array of oppressive forces that are bearing down on Israel, and bearing down on the believing community of faith in Israel: 

When Hitler rose up with a genocidal plan for Jews, that was just the devil infuriated that his time is growing short and the Nazis were used in hopes to cut off God's plan by wiping out the Jews before they can get to the day we are all rushing toward. Asher said (paraphrasing), We know we win in the end, but right this moment we believers in Israel really need the help of the international church.

In this present darkness we are faced with all kinds of forces of darkness including the genocidal Islamic hordes which form an almost complete circle around the nation of Israel. From the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to Gaza Hamas; from Lebanon Hezballah to Syrian AlQaeda; from Iraq Isis to the Iranian Persian dynasty; from Yemen AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to the Libyan Isis, and the Nigerian Boko Haram.

These are armies encircled around Israel and like the Nazis, are a demonic attempt to cut off the Jews before God's purposes can be manifested in them. What are God's purposes? That "all Israel" shall be saved, and the parallel release of Divine power go out into the international Church.  And the nations of the world are not resisting this threat. Even the long time alliance of the USA, Israelis understand is dissolving under current leadership. Israelis are increasingly recognizing that the only international force standing with them are the Israel supporting Christians.  Not even American Jews can be counted on at this point to support Israel in crisis with Islam. 

In Israel - the center of the demonic storm - it is not just Islam but religious persecution against the believers seeking to stop the message of Yeshua going to Israelis; the LGBT community seeking to shut down a Messianic community source of funds; government corruption denying lawful benefits strictly based on issues of faith. All these things are a continual press upon the believers in Israel, and these are why the Body in Israel needs the international church to join them in the battle to fulfill God's vision and plans for Israel. Without the Church, the battle is too pitched.

The Body in Israel needs us in the Church, but we in Church need the Body of Israel:  Asher also touched on the parallels between the restoration of Israel that has seen a parallel release of restoration of the gifts of the Spirit in the Church. He spoke about this at Destiny Church and I will be on the lookout for more on that subject from Asher. In a nutshell, when Hebrew was restored as a language to the Jews in the 1900's, in the church was the restoration of tongues. When Israel became a nation in 1948, there was a restoration of healings in the church; when Jerusalem was restored to Israeli control in 1967...I will search for the message to be exact on. The point is summed up in Romans 11:15: For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

There is no way I can do justice to all the red meat that Asher was pouring out in these two urgent messages to the Messianic and the Gentile Christian churches this weekend. But I can encourage you to listen to the BHS message.

Also, I want tell you that Pastor Jerry Howell at Destiny Christian Center heard from the LORD by the end of the message to enter into right alignment with the Body in Israel and to receive Asher Intrater as an apostle and prophet of Israel that he is. 

In a moving response, the pastor on behalf of his church, moved to come alongside of the believers of Israel as never before. Pastor Howell told Asher that they were not seeking to add to his burden by recognizing him as an apostle to their house, but for the purpose of coming into right alignment so they could do their part to lift up the arms of the believers of Israel.

May the response we witnessed today from this pastor and this church body be multiplied 10,000 times over as the Church contends with Messianic Israel for God's purposes for such a time as this.

One of the fascinating things Asher Intrater spoke about in his Baruch HaShem Messianic Synagogue message relates to the Matthew 24 passage when Yeshua's disciples ask Him what will be the signs of the end times. Verses 23-26 speak of a proliferation of false messiahs and He warns not to follow them.

Now I have heard taught that everything in this Mt 24 passage has already taken place in 70 AD, but I want to tell you that often in scripture a prophecy for the end times also takes place in the immediate times it was spoken as well - so don't let that deter you from understanding Matthew 24 as relevant to 70 AD and to our day too.

In this relation, Asher spoke about the mostly ultra-Orthodox proliferation of false messiahs that are evident in Israel and they are all rabbis. He named off four of them from different ultra-Orthodox sects whose followers believe their rabbi will become the messiah king of Israel. Rabbi Schneerson, Nachman of Breslev, both long dead, and others. There are billboards with their photos proclaiming they are the messiah. People go to their gravesides to receive healing and miracles.

The ultra-Orthodox generally do not believe in the secular state of Israel, but believe Israel is only legitimized as a state when one of their rabbis, or the followers of the rabbi, becomes the Prime Minister (king) of Israel.  That is one reason many among these sects they think they are a law unto themselves - so they can strike with impunity against the believers in Yeshua in Israel, they can attack LGBT's participating in the a Gay pride parade as one did just last week, or also firebomb Palestinians as some also did last week claiming the death of baby. These are fundamentalist terrorists, in the same way that Hamas, or al Qaeda produces religious fundamentalist terrorists, and they are becoming increasingly prone to violent acts.

The threat from these religious zealots is real. When Jack Teitel placed a package bomb at the doorstep of the Ortiz family in Tiberias, nearly murdering their 15-year old son who opened the bomb that detonated in his hands, Teitel was dropped off on the street by religious co-conspirators.

Now, I'm not saying all this NOT to stir hatred toward the religious, but hopefully to snap some attention into Christian consciousness! It seems that Christians get focused on the Jews who are the easiest to identify as Jews, and that would surely be the ultra-Orthodox with the black 18th century garb, tzitzit and payot.

REMEMBER: the apostle Paul clearly said these are enemies of the gospel for you sake. They are STILL enemies of the gospel and they are enemies of the Jewish believers of Yeshua in Israel TODAY.  So who do you think, as a Christian, you ought to be excited about in Israel - the enemies of the gospel or the emissaries of the gospel?

Remember also what Jesus said when questioned by some religious Jews, Yeshua said, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you." This remarkable statement - very prophetic - remains true today.

The Church has been delighted to entertain religious Israeli groups like the Temple Mount Faithful and others on their TV networks, in huge gatherings for Israel-supporting Christians while at the same time giving the cold shoulder to Israeli Jewish believers and ministries in Israel! So hosting and supporting the enemies of the gospel while ignoring the emissaries of the gospel.

How can we justify that? Just quit that - repent of it and get with GOD's plan for the right alignment with the Body of the LORD in Israel. The time is NOW.  The prayer shield for the Body of Messiah in Israel, and especially for the ministry leaders must arise throughout the international Church.  The urgency is for such a time as this.

Listen to Asher's message at BHS

You can also hear more messages by Asher on the website of Revive Israel

A Word on Religious Persecution of Israeli Believers

The recent news reports on the Elav conference touches briefly on the recent rise is "anti-missionary" activism against the believers in Israel.

The rise in persecution has a correlation to the recent Israeli elections where the right-wing religious parties became a critical factor in the coalition that Prime Minister Netanyahu formed.  Whenever an Israeli government coalition becomes dependent on the support of the religious parties for national security purposes, the tradeoff is religious parties are free to exercise their power in religious persecution. It's the dilemma of the faithful Body in Israel who are strongly national security conscious, but also suffer when the religious parties gain political muscle in government positions.

Although the Israeli Body of Messiah is loathe to dwell on the issue of religious persecution, it is important for international intercessors to be aware when the environment of freedom of religious expression in Israel begins to undergo change.  This is such a time and you are intercessors for Israel for such a time as this! 

So, let me brief you on recent incidents of concern that we have seen popping up in the Israeli news media. First it is worth mentioning that the Israeli news media in general has become much more factual when reporting on the Israeli Messianic community in recent years.  This is a good sign that religious persecution of the believers is becoming much less acceptable among the news media as the news media becomes more educated in the facts and exposed to Messianic Jews as good people. This will influence how the regular public views these incidents.

First on the ELAV conference.  There are a couple of news items you can read on this.  The first is an article that was issued a few days before the conference by a news outfit that leans to the religious right in Israel - which means its bias is with the anti-missionary activists, not with the freedom of Messianic Jews to chose Who and how they worship.   The second news report is after an incident during the conference.

Massive Missionary Conference in the Heart of Jerusalem

Anti-assimilation group Lehava calls for public protest Wednesday outside 3-day missionary event in municipally owned compound.

Police arrest two activists from extremist group Lehava for disturbing public order

Next up is a report we saw a couple of days ago.  We called for prayer during the forming of Netanyahu's government that he would not give the power over the Interior  Ministry to the religious parties.  This is because that ministry in the hands of religious parties inflicts much damage against the believers in Israel - those who have already immigrated and those that desire to immigrate. 

The bureaucracy of the Interior Ministry is already heavily entrenched with an anti-Messianic perspective, and there is ongoing, illegal interaction with anti-missionary groups bringing accusations against individual Messianic believers.  When the religious parties are in control of the Interior Ministry the persecution increases. Fortunately, Netanyahu did not place that power of the Interior Ministry in the hands of the religious parties, but did place them in charge of the Finance Ministry, so the religious have another way to strike at Messianic Jews - through their recently expanded non-profit status.

Knesset Cuts Tax Benefits to Messianic Group
Despite Finance Committee chairman's comments, the decision is illegal under Israeli law so the congregation has firm footing to appeal and win a reversal.

* In an update from KehilaNews.com we have learned that the Messianic group denied non-profit status is the Maoz Ministries, which includes the Tiferet Yeshua Congregation in Tel Aviv.  

Last week we also brought attention to the backlash that came after the large Christian Empowered21 met in Jerusalem seeking the outpouring as experienced by the first believers in Acts 2, as prophesied by the prophet Joel.  The un-intended consequence of the charismatic pastors in Jerusalem is that the ultra-Orthodox and anti-missionary activists used the meeting to create an uproar about "evangelistic" meetings and consequently got the Jerusalem municipality to agree to let the rabbis approve or disapprove ALL groups meeting in the new Jerusalem Sports Arena.

Now we see that a clear, strong push among the anti-Messianic opposition in Israel is in progress, so ALL groups who come to Israel for any kind of event need to be cognizant of this fact and do their utmost to avoid increasing the persecution of the local Israeli Body of Messiah.  There is no question that Christian groups have a desire to associate themselves with Israel. Jerusalem is a choice location to hold an event. But it is time for the local community of believers to be factored in. 

At the very least, if we are going to hold meetings in Jerusalem, the local Israeli believing community should not be an after-thought in our meetings.  They should be consulted from the very germination of the event idea - and the Body of Messiah in Israel ought to receive major benefit from every Christian group using Israel as a choice for tours and event locations.  What does that mean?  It means that groups who meet in Israel ought to carve out a portion of the event mission to make awareness of the increasing Body of believers in Israel, the Israeli ministries, as part of their  tour or event vision. 

We should not go into Israel blind to the situation of the community of believers in Israel.  We should first make sure we do them no harm, but also make sure that as we organize an event or tour in Israel, that we consider how we will honor and respect those fellow believers in Jesus who live and minister in Israel. Estimates of how many they number range from 15 to 20,000 Israeli Messianic Jewish believers. Time to factor them in. 

- Donna Diorio