The Anti-Missionary Campaign and the Jerusalem Post

The Anti-Missionary Campaign and the Jerusalem Post

For many years I have observed the anti-missionary groups that attack Messianic Jews and Christians who share their faith with the Jewish people. Years ago, the well-known Messianic Jewish apologist, revivalist, and cultural critic, Dr. Michael L. Brown, debated their leading figure. That anti-missionary was bested so badly that the word went out to not debate Dr. Brown. There are Rabbis and even some Orthodox ones, who have treated Messianic Jews fairly, honestly presenting who they are, what they believe, and why they disagree. We had good relations with conservative Rabbi Matthew Simon in the Washington D. C. area and the head of the Rabbinic Council in Washington, Rabbi Joshua Haberman. Rabbi Haberman even read my book Jewish Roots and asserted that we should be accepted in the Jewish community but that it would take another generation or two. I am used to the anti-missionary diatribe, and it is almost boilerplate, stereo-typing, and misrepresenting. One canard is that Messianic Judaism leads to assimilation and is a danger of destroying Jewish identity. Yet, the foundation of Messianic Judaism, in which I played a somewhat formative role, is a faith commitment that Jews who come to faith in Yeshua are called to identify and live as Jews, as part of their people. Messianic Jews are much more Jewish observant than the majority of Jews.

The article in the last Friday, Dec. 29, edition of the Jerusalem Post Magazine section, entitled, “Uncovering missionary efforts.” was the same boilerplate but more troubling. Why? It was the timing. Messianic Jewish congregation leaders in Israel have listed over 1000 Messianic Jews who are serving in the war, both in Gaza, in the north against Hezbollah, and in the West Bank. I am personal friends with some of these Messianic Jews. Their patriotism is stellar. In the midst of the war, the Jerusalem Post editor approved a boilerplate article full of misrepresentation of Messianic Jews, fostering mistrust and division. Where on earth was the editor’s mind or wisdom? Do they ever seek a Messianic Jewish response? They slandered good people by name!

The writer, Atara Beck, gives some credit to Christian Zionists who are supporting Israel in this dark time, but even then undercuts this credit by discrediting one such ministry that requires all that come to serve with them to sign a statement that they will not seek to share their faith with Jewish people in Israel while working with them. So much for the leading of the Holy Spirit in this ministry. However, even this ministry is slammed because its leader hopes that their acts of unconditional love will eventually lead to the Jewish people softening their hearts and embracing Yeshua. And this is so terrible? This is total hypocrisy from the writer. Why? Because Orthodox Jews, Evangelicals, and Messianic Jews all believe that one day all will embrace the true Messiah and Israel and the nations will be one under the rule of Israel’s true Messiah. Orthodox Jews believe that this is not Yeshua/Jesus but will be a yet-to-be-revealed person, but they believe all will convert to faith in the true Messiah and become Noachides. Messianic Jews and Christians believe that the true Messiah is Yeshua/Jesus. For Evangelicals and Messianic Jews to not believe that someday Israel will confess him would be to deny their own faith. Isn’t this obvious? Not to the anti-missionary who is blind to the contradiction. Even the Catholic Catechism, paragraph 674, puts out the faith statement that one day Israel will confess Him and that this will lead to his return. Yet, the Catholics have rejected an explicit missionary effort to the Jews. This does not mean that Catholics think that Jews coming to faith is wrong. Such Jewish believers are embraced, like the late Jewish Cardinal Lustiger of Paris who called himself a Messianic Jew.

The anti-missionary does not engage with the Messianic Jewish arguments and respond honestly after showing that he or she has understood it. They cannot present it objectively but have to resort to diatribe and propaganda. When they present their apologetic against faith in Yeshua it is a pile of distortions an misrepresentations as fully shown in Mike Brown’s masterpiece six volumes, Answering Jewish Objections.

Messianic Jews and Bible believing Christians have different views on approaching Jewish people, but all agree that Yeshua is the Messiah and by definition this means that Israel will eventually embrace him. However, other than that they have different views on practical engagement with Jewish people.

Most believe in a legitimate witness of sharing faith with Jewish people as led by the Spirit with the hope the Spirit will enlighten and bring a change of heart and faith in Yeshua.
Some believe in overt public witnessing and proclamation in streets and in media and some do not.
A minority believe that only Jews should share their Yeshua faith with Jews since if Gentiles share it could lead to assimilation.
A minority believe that the Jewish people have their own covenant status and acceptance with God if they are committed to God and that sharing faith should be avoided. If Jews come to faith, it should be by a supernatural act without a witness from another follower of Yeshua. This seems to be the case with the leaders of one of the ministry leaders described in the Jerusalem Post article.

Unlike the implication of the tone of the article, Messianic Jews are not stupid people who just bought into propaganda. That is what you would conclude from the article. On the contrary, many are intelligent and thinking people and a larger and larger number of Messianic Jewish scholars are doing great work. They have Ph. D’s from Duke, Cambridge, Emory, New York University, Tel Aviv, Hebrew University, Bar Ilan and other famous schools. For all, believing in Yeshua is by revelation of the Spirit and sometimes a response to real miracles. For many, they have responded to overwhelming evidence (see my book, The Biblical Worldview, An Apologetic)

We are grateful for those Jewish leaders who though they do not believe in Yeshua, engage with Messianic Jews with honesty and seek an objective engagement. A few have even written books arguing for mutual respect. (See Rabbi Cohn Sherbuck, Messianic Judaism.

Reverence for Law

A coherent and safe society requires just laws and reverence for law. Nowhere in world history does reverence for law attain the height of the revelation of the Law from God at Mt. Sinai. We see that reverence in the movie The Ten Commandments. That movie actually reflected the reverence for law that was so well established in the United States at that time. However, we do note the unjust laws that deserved protest, the Jim Crow discrimination laws, and discrimination policies that targeted Jews and African Americans in many parts of the United States.

The great philosopher at the end of the 18th century, Immanuel Kant, argued that society would fall apart if there was not a general reverence for law. He also argued that belief in God and rewards and punishments after death were necessary to sustain an adequate reverence or fear so that society would be law-abiding.

All societies, however, that attained greatness, whether ancient China, India, Babylon, or Egypt maintained a reverence for law. The problem in many societies was that the ruler was above the law and in some cases was considered divine with the authority to make law. This was not the case in Biblical Law. Indeed, Biblical Law requires the King to submit to the Law and precludes him from making laws contrary to God’s stated Law.

Paul in Romans 13 councils disciples of Yeshua to be submitted to the authorities and law of the land (so far as it does not contradict Biblical Law, as in Acts 5). If there is a contradiction, then for conscience’s sake, we must disobey and suffer for our protest. Paul also argues in Romans 2 that those who were not given the Law of God do rightly perceive much that is just and true though not on the level of Biblical Law.

One of the most painful aspects of our societies in the West and especially in the United States is that political leaders do not fulfill their oaths to uphold the law. The remedy for this disobedience to the law, the double standards in enforcing the law, and even a gross intention and action to ignore and not enforce the law, is impeachment. Officials that violate the law can be removed by legislatures. However, in the United States today political leaders are stymied by disagreement on upholding the law and do not remove officials that violate their oaths to uphold the law. Obedience to the law has been undercut by the claim that the law in general in the West was a manifestation of white supremacy and systemic racism. This leads to disdain for the law. We see the same disregard for immigration law. If the law is not good, legislatures can change it, but it must not be ignored by the political officials who can decide without legislative authority what laws to enforce and what to ignore. Most of the law system in the West has been good and much based on a combination of Biblical law and some very wise Roman laws. British common law was also based on these sources.

However, this lack of reference for law today translates into social anarchy and puts us on a road that is leading to dystopia. At Christmas season many watch the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. One recalls the vision experience of Jimmy Stewart as the lead actor, being shown a world where he never existed. The wicked Mr. Potter gains total control of the town and renames it Pottersville (nothing against the town of the same name on the southern end of Schroon Lake, New York). He does not revere law and exercises despotic power. When reverence for law is lost, those who have despotic power control the society. People obey out of fear for their lives but not out of respect for good law. The result is the dystopia of Pottersville, full of crime, prostitution, homelessness, poverty, grime, and despair. What a great paradigm for what is now happening in the United States. Our cities have become like Pottersville.

Messianic Judaism, like Reformed Christianity, is strong in upholding the Law of God, the Torah. When you read my book Jewish Roots, I hope you enjoy the presentation of the role of the Law of God as a constitution for ancient Israel to produce a just and model society. The Law does not save us but shows the goodness of God in his intention to organize societies in a just, humane and loving way.

The Revelation of God and the Miraculous

The older I get the clearer it becomes that the primary revelation of God is through the miraculous. It is not speculation about the nature of the universe, time and eternity, first causes, or other philosophical approaches. There are some such verses in the Bible. Romans says that the creation reveals God’s power and divine majesty, (Romans 1, Psalm 19). However, the idea may be that the perception of the universe itself and our existence in it is perceived as miraculous.

The Hebrew Bible

In the Bible, God is known for doing great miracles and then by the prophetic word that interprets the miraculous. The flood and the deliverance of God have miraculous features. Its meaning is interpreted by God’s prophetic words to Noah. The call of Abraham and Sarah’s pregnancy is a miracle. God speaks to Abraham and gives him an understanding of this miracle. The plagues and the Exodus from Egypt are miraculous. Moses and Aaron interpret these events. Then there is miraculous provision in the desert. The miracles continue in the phenomena at Sinai. The miracles are the context for giving the Mosaic constitution, Exodus through Deuteronomy. They prepare the way to accept God’s word, a constitution for the nation of Israel. Jericho’s walls fell down, a miracle. Jehoshaphat is sent with worshipers and the invading armies kill one another (II Chron. 20:18-23). Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and God reveals himself in the miracle (I King’s 18). We know who God is and what He is like through His miraculous interventions and the interpretation of these events by the prophets. God is known by the biblical narrative of the people of Israel and the history of their history of miracles and their interpretation.

The Ministry of Yeshua on Earth

With the coming of the New Covenant, the fulfillment of prophecy itself is sometimes miraculous and is interpreted prophetically. The progress of the ministry of Yeshua is through a plethora of miracles. Yeshua is the great prophet who interprets these miracles. He calls people to believe in Him based on his miraculous works (John 10:37, 38). The resurrection was the great miracle that was interpreted by Yeshua and his disciples after his resurrection. The Gospels are the interpretation of meaning from the miracles of compassion and deliverance from Yeshua and his apostles during the day of his life on earth.

Progress through Yeshua’s Apostles, Evangelists, and Prophets

The Gospel progresses in Israel through miraculous events interpreted by his New Covenant Apostles and Prophets. This continues with Paul as he takes the Gospel to the nations. Miracles continue to be part of the cutting edge of extending the Gospel. Those miracles then are interpreted and provide the occasion for proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. The theology of the New Testament, the books themselves, are the teaching of the Spirit through apostolic writers given their foundational credibility by the miraculous as a foundation for belief. Yes, the lofty nature of the teaching does give it credibility as well.

The First Centuries of Progress after the death of John the Apostle

This continues into the next two centuries after the death of John the last of the 12 Apostles. It is the key to the growth of the early Church. It continued into the fourth century. After this, the miraculous was not as frequent but never ceased. Ramsey McMullen, a noted Yale historian of the Roman Empire, wrote an amazing book, Christianizing the Roman Empire, where he argued that Christianity progressed and overcame paganism largely through the plethora of miracles through this period. Its miraculous power was demonstrated as far beyond that of paganism. One can doubt that the miracles really happened, but this is the testimony of the people who provided the records from those days.

The Testimony Today, the Story Continues

The testimony today is that on the cutting edge of the extension of the Gospel of the Kingdom in much of the world, especially Southern Global Christianity, the same pattern of miracles continues. We are seeing a return to the biblical pattern of miracles being a key to the extension of the Kingdom. The writings of Dr. Craig Keener in his Miracles, two volumes of amazing documentation in almost 1000 pages, show that this is key to the progress of the Gospel. Signs and wonders are key to the conversion of the peoples of nations all over the world. God shows himself in the miraculous and his evangelists interpret these miracles. God still heals the sick and casts out demons through his emissaries. He still raises the dead. Miracles today are not the context for a new revelation that is authoritative, but instead, confirm the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom and the authority of the Bible as our foundational book for how we are to believe and how we are to live.

Conclusion

Without the interpretations of miracles, we do not have sufficient revelation of God. We find that God is a God of love, who seeks to give people eternal life. He brings them into a loving community. However, he is a God of declared righteous standards and judgment for those who will not submit to God’s lordship and the Lordship of Yeshua. The God who heals the sick, cleanses the leapers, and raises the dead, also says that we are to live in fidelity in our marriages, raise our children in the faith, care for the poor and widows, and extend the Kingdom in sharing the Gospel. He confirms the universal standards of the Torah for all people (Matthew 5:16-19). The history of God’s miracles in the Bible is our narrative theology, or our theology is narrative. The history after the Bible is the story of the continued advance of the Gospel. This is why a true biblical theology is a charismatic theology. Isn’t it wonderful to live in a day of miracles?!

We foster this kind of Gospel of the Kingdom movement in Israel. Our new Bible College will be a school that teaches and fosters the supernatural miraculous Gospel of the Kingdom movement in Israel.

The Disappointing Elections in the United States on Tuesday: A Israel-American Messianic Jewish Response

Conservatives and Evangelicals hoped to see great gains on election day in the United States, but the results were painfully disappointing. In spite of crime, inflation that has been devastating for middle-class prosperity, and the open borders issue, the Republicans did not make significant gains in the key races. All this despite President Biden’s polling with very poor approval ratings.

The most alarming and disappointing result for me was Ohio approving an abortion change to its state constitution that makes abortion legal through all nine months of pregnancy. National liberal groups poured money into this contest. While national polls previously showed that most would approve of abortion restrictions and preclude it after 15 weeks (closer to the European standard) this radical change to the constitution passed.

The second most disappointing election was in Virginia. The governor, Republican Glenn Youngkin, was elected in 2021, on a platform to support parental rights in education and to see woke and LGBTQ indoctrination removed from schools. He gained control of the Virginia Lower House of Representatives. The hope was that he would hold the House and gain the Senate. He supported an abortion ban after 15 weeks which had not yet passed. He lost both the House and the Senate. The struggles over education continue locally with some materials in children’s libraries being pornographic and the transgender issue boiling where biological boys and teens are permitted to use girl’s bathrooms and locker rooms. Louden County Virginia has become nationally famous for the struggle. Younkin was backing the conservative parents in this battle. This has certainly been a setback.

Some Republicans did win governor’s races, but a red state Kentucky (Republican) re-elected their Democratic governor.

Many thought that with election of Youngkin, Virginia was an indicator that the country was changing in a positive way, but now we realize that abortion is deeply ensconced in both blue states and purple states like Virginia that can go either Republican or Democrat.

This leads to comments on the law. Some misunderstand the view of Christians who desire a return to the law that is more in accord with the Jude0-Christian heritage of the United States. We see in this misunderstanding the alarm of some on the left due to the very strong Evangelical faith profession of the new speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. They think Christians want to impose their faith/values on the nation and paint them like fundamentalist Muslims. However, most of these folks want a return to some of the values in the country that prevailed historically. This was not a radical harsh society.

It is well to respond with some reflections. Unless there is a dictatorship or control by an elite that represses the rest of the population (more a potential of the left today than the right), the laws of a society reflect the moral consensus. There can be tolerance for the dissenters but when there is truly a strong democratic aspect to a society, the minority cannot impose but has to win the consensus and become the majority in the society. For example, the consensus 60 years ago was that abortion was terribly evil and should be illegal. That consensus was lost and now it appears that legal abortion is the consensus. The law now reflects that consensus.

There are some important takeaways from this election.

Many are only now realizing how deeply committed the majority are to abortion in many states. It trumps other issues, even the economy, crime, education, open borders, and more. This is the reason many lost at the polls.
That the people are so choosing for abortion is bringing their states and perhaps the country into judgment. This is not something now imposed by the courts, but something chosen in elections, in referendums on abortion. People voted for more pro-abortion politicians. The United States is indeed in great peril of the judgment of God. God does judge nations by his most basic law standards. Abortion is the most painful manifestation of evil in our society.

This all raises a larger question on how to see reform in the United States. Yes, we want to see our laws more in accord with the Bible, but how much can be gained by the political processes if there is not a change in the moral consensus of society first? Yes, we should be involved in civic life and bring better laws where we can, but changing the consensus is the more crucial matter. For me, that means that without a mighty revival and reversal of the decline in the Evangelical Churches of America (by this I include Pentecostals and Charismatics) there is not much hope. These elections convince me more than ever that we will not see much progress before a great national revival in the Church that will affect the consensus of the society.

How did we get here? Israel’s policy mistakes and one American policy mistake

Israel made many bad decisions historically and appeased their enemies. This is one reason for the terrible war now and the dangerous state of affairs. What I write here is not my playing Monday morning quarterback because I was deeply grieved and saw the error at the time of those decisions. We are dealing with two primary entities, the state of Lebanon and Gaza. The Lebanon problem is older so I will deal with that first. Here is my list and explanation. These views of the events were formed at the time of the decisions.

1. The withdrawal after the First Lebanon War, 1982. In June 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon to end the attacks from the Palestinians. The campaign was known as Operation Peace in Galilee. The Christian Maronite militia allied with Israel. The terrorist Palestinian Liberation Organization was expelled. The hope was to see a Christian government under Bashir Gemayel that would make peace with Israel. Many things went wrong. For one thing, this leader of the Lebanon government was assonated. His brother who came to leadership was weak. Secondly, the Maronite army perpetrated a massacre against civilian refuges in two of the camps. Israel lost her heart for the war after this and withdrew. However, she should have continued to see full victory and then to ensure a Christian government in Lebanon. Israel still had the Southern Lebanon Army Christian Zone that was controlled by the SLA with Israel’s support. There was still a buffer.

2. The United States abandoned Lebanon after the bombing of the Marine barracks. The Marines were part of a Multinational Force providing security and peace after the Lebanon civil war. Islamic Jihad, akin to Hezbollah, a Shiite group, sent suicide vans to bomb the Americans and French. The U.S. Embassy had been bombed prior to this. My desire at the time was that President Reagan would go to war against Islamic Jihad, and take out their leaders, and destroy their militia. He did not. He withdrew. This show of American weakness empowered terrorism. Now the Christian leader Gemayel had to deal with this. Islamic forces were growing at the expense of Christians.

3. Israel’s decision to withdraw from South Lebanon and to abandon the South Lebanon Christian Army. In April 2000 Israel began to withdraw from Southern Lebanon. Israel was not the primary fighting force but a support to the South Lebanon Christian Army. Yes, Israel lost a few soldiers from time to time, but the brunt of the responsibility and dealing with the terrorist Palestinians was the South Lebanon Army. Yet for Israel, their losses were too much. Yet this withdrawal would lead to the loss of many more Israelis. When they withdrew the South Lebanon Army was not strong enough to continue without Israel’s support, so many were allowed to move to Northern Israel. My daughter was in Israel with a group known as Souled Out at the time and remembers the pain of the Christian soldiers. They danced and entertained the soldiers from this army. At the time I shouted inside, NO! I knew the vacuum would be filled by Palestinian terrorists. Israel had a great buffer against Hezbollah, a Christian Ally. As I and others predicted, the radical Islamists took over South Lebanon and made it a place of operations against Israel.

4. Israel allowed Hezbollah to regroup and be rearmed after the 2006 Lebanon War. After Israel went to war in Lebanon against Hezbollah she made a tactical mistake. The head of the military was an air force man who pummeled the infrastructure of Lebanon including Beirut. This turned many who were not anti-Israel against Israel. Israel waited too long to send ground troops. I remember watching the news with my brother in Georgia. He had been an Air Force major and was quite dumbfounded that they were depending on air power for so long and delayed the invasion. Finally, when Israel invaded, world pressure sought a withdrawal before Israel could decimate Hezbollah. The U.N. then agreed to send peacekeepers. The agreement with Lebanon and the U.N. was that Hezbollah would not be allowed to re-arm. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called this a robust Chapter Seven U. N. agreement. I knew at the time that the U.N. would not enforce this agreement. Soon Hezbollah was rearming and not only that but importing missiles. Today there are from 150 to 200,000 missiles, some of them precision ones that are geared to destroy Tel Aviv. When it became clear that the U.N. would not enforce the agreement. Israel should have gone to war and then said to the U.N., “Until you enforce this agreement we will return again and again and will enforce this agreement. Alas, Israel allowed this to happen under successive governments, but primarily under P. M. Netanyahu.

5. When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, they turned over the government to the Palestinian Society. They were released to be a free territory with open borders to Egypt and the sea. Hamas rebelled and overthrew the Palestinian authority. Some of its leaders were killed. Since Hamas is a terrorist organization, whose charter is to destroy not only Israel but world Jewry, Israel should have invaded Gaza. Hamas was still weak. They should have said, that Israel would not allow terrorist government on its borders. They then could have reinstalled the Palestinian Authority. However, Prime Minister Netanyahu had the idea that as long as the Judea and Samaria Palestinian areas are ruled by the P.A. and Gaza by Hamas, there could be no two-state solution. Of course, Hamas could declare Gaza a state but will not do so since they want their state and rule to first include Judea and Samaria and then all of Israel. Israel then set a blockade to prevent Hamas from receiving offensive arms. This policy has failed. The naval and border blockades did not prevent a terrible level of arms and missiles from being stockpiled in Gaza. Israel should as a policy both for Gaza and the Palestinian areas of Judea and Samaria say that no government will be allowed that is terrorist. Elections must exclude individuals and parties that are terrorists. Netanyahu thought he could contain Hamas. He was wrong. In 2006 when Hamas came to power, I saw the handwriting on the wall.

These mistaken policies have brought us to this sad situation, but the good thing is I hope that Israel will not allow Hamas to rule on territory on its borders.

War and Moral Relativism

As Israel prosecutes the war in Gaza, we reflect on the terrible hatred and atrocity of Hamas. When Israel left Gaza (Sept. 12, 2005), they offered Gaza freedom and development if only they would live in peace with Israel. Instead, Hamas came to power and murdered the leaders of the Palestinian Authority. They turned from the offer of liberty and self-determination to create a terrorist state that would be armed to destroy Israel. Israel had no choice but to blockade Gaza to prevent offensive weapons import. That blockade now shows itself to have been ineffective. Patrolling the sea and the borders did not prevent the importation of missiles and the manufacture of missiles. How amazing that the leftists and apologists for Hamas describe the problem as Israel’s occupation and ignore what happened when Hamas came to power! There would be no blockade in a peaceful Gaza.

The recent attack of Hamas shows us people under an ideology of hatred that pursues atrocities. Despite this, on American University campuses there are demonstrations supporting Hamas and blaming Israel for the occupation and the blockade. Such moral blindness shocks the hearts of those who have a moral sense. These folks talk about Palestinian children who died in past Israel wars against Hamas. They cannot distinguish between an Israel that seeks to not kill civilians but has no choice when Hamas uses them as human shields. Hamas is responsible for killing their own women and children and then using it for propaganda. There are videos where they even admit this strategy. The moral issue of intentionality is ignored. So how did we get to this place of moral blindness?

The U. S. has Palestinians living in the country who demonstrate for Hamas. The most glaring example of the moral obtuseness of some of these is Rashida Tlaib, a congresswoman from Dearborn. In this case, the moral obtuseness is due to ethnic prejudice and hatred that knows no boundaries. This leads to gross moral blindness.

However, what of the leftist university students and leftists on the streets of our cities? The issue is moral relativism. Since moral relativism now dominates the university faculties, moral bankruptcy is the result. I remember studying Nietzsche in College. I was 19 and had lost my faith. Meaningless hit me hard. I cried as I read. My quest for the next three years was to overcome both historical relativism and moral relativism and to find a place to stand. I found it again in the Spring of 1970. In knowledge relativism, there is no true historical knowledge. There are only warring narratives and power assertions. What really happened in Gaza in 2005 does not matter. There is no facticity. The left has chosen to designate Israel as a colonial state that oppresses the indigenous Palestinian people. Therefore they assert that the atrocities are understandable.

Wow! I was amazed that President Biden showed moral clarity in this fight. He gave a great speech supporting Israel. But I am grieved that the universities have removed moral and historical knowledge and now affirm a bankrupt morality based on power. I will be writing more on this in the future But I would like every person defending leftist anti-Semitism and anti-Israel, antisemitic and antibiblical, and anti-American views to answer two questions. Do they believe that there is a historical reality and that we can approach knowing the truth of what really happened in history? Is there true historical knowledge? The second question is whether or not there are objective moral norms. If they do not believe in historical knowledge or objective moral norms, we should shame them and not listen to them at all. They have undercut the ground for moral behavior.

Sukkot or Tabernacles

We are in the middle of Sukkot or Tabernacles when our people were to dwell in tents, the meaning of the plural word Sukkot. It was to remind them of the 40 years in the wilderness; a time when God provided supernaturally. It was also a time of discipline for their failure to act in faith and enter the promised land. Many other meanings are given to Sukkot. From Numbers, we read of the 70 bulls sacrificed during the 7 days of Sukkot, which in Jewish traditional interpretation is the symbolic number of the nations. Israel, having had its own sins forgiven at Yom Kippur, five days later, begins sacrifices for the sake of the nations. She is a priestly nation interceding for the nations. This coheres with Zechariah 14 where after the terrible battle for Jerusalem and the defeat of the international coalition against Israel, all nations celebrate the Feast of Sukkot year by year. So, for us, it is the celebration of the coming Kingdom of God.

Fr. Dr. Raymond Brown, in his truly great two-volume commentary on the Gospel of John argues that John 5-9 as a section should be titled, “Jesus and the Principle Feasts of the Jews.” Chapters 7-9 are full of Sukkot themes indicating that Yeshua fulfills or brings to fullness the principle feasts of the Jews. Two ceremonies are especially important in the context. One is Yeshua’s proclamation that if anyone thirsts he should come to Him and drink and then. “Out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living waters. (John 7:37, 38) This was in the context of the very important Hoshana Rabba (7^th day, the great day of the Feast) when water was drawn from the Pool of Siloam and poured out at the altar. Then in chapter 8 Yeshua proclaims that he is “the light of the world.) John 8:12. Brown gives reference to the lighting of the special Temple lamps that gave a marvelous light to Jerusalem. Again, this is indicating that Yeshua makes full the symbols of the Feast.

One of our leaders pointed out some 35 years ago that John 1 says that Yeshua tabernacled among us. In taking on a temporary mortal body, was Yeshua also fulfilling Sukkot, and was John giving a reference to it? I am not sure, but it is possible.

One thing however about Sukkot and all the pilgrim Feasts (Passover, Pentecost/Shavuot, and Pentecost/Sukkot, is that they are times of rejoicing, family, and the instruction of children. This year our families, the Moores, the Hollands and Ben and Lorena and their son Andrew, all gathered to celebrate. Here are some pictures of the Sukkah and a few of the family in a great time together.

WAR IN ISRAEL!

We in Israel are now at war. We will be fighting the biggest war since Yom Kippur 1973. I wrote an article on Sukkah, Tabernacles, for our official Facebook Page, Justers, Restoration from Zion. I was looking forward to the 8th-day celebration, Shemini Atzeret, which in Israel is also the day of Rejoicing in the Torah, Simchat Torah. We were planning a great celebration in our congregation and a fellowship dinner afterward. Then the sirens sounded in our town, just West of Jerusalem. The service had to be canceled.

Our bomb room is very small. I don’t know how the inspectors approved a bomb shelter like this for a larger house that we share with my daughter’s family. There are 6 Moores, Patty and I, and my son Ben and his wife Lorena and youngest son Andrew (16) who are visiting. So we had 11 for our little bomb shelter. Some of us decided that the stairway area on the bottom floor is also good. So we eventually spread out and used both areas. One missile struck just up the block from our house and made a great hole in the street and damaged several cars with shrapnel.

I have a very different view than many friends about the wars since 1973. I think Israel’s leaders have been reckless or not acting with courage to really deal with the problem. I think Prime Minister Netanyahu has done many things well. He led us to a growing economy two decades ago. He has been a master diplomat. But his policy on the terrorist organizations that control Gaza and Lebanon has been to temporarily weaken and contain them but not to eliminate them. We call this giving them a periodic haircut but letting their rule continue. We do not want to rule the Palestinian areas but want them to have autonomy and self-rule. However, this often is a policy of appeasement, providing their funds, and allowing billions to be transferred to them for social services and aid. I call this the opposite of Theodore Roosevelt, we speak loudly but carry a little stick. It looks like we are allowing Iran to get the bomb though we speak loudly and say we won’t.

I have one big example. When Hezbollah and Israel fought the war some years ago, a U.N. Chapter 7 resolution for the cease-fire declared that Hezbollah would not be able to re-arm The U.N. was to enforce this resolution. Prime Minister Olmert signed it. But after Netanyahu came to power, Hezbollah took complete control not only of Southern Lebanon but control over the Lebanon government. The U.N. would not enforce its own resolution, a “robust resolution” in the word of Secretary of State Rice. At that point, there was a choice. I believe we should have said, “If the U.N. will not enforce its own resolution, we, Israel will enforce it.” Instead, we let them have 150K to 200K missiles now aimed at Israel. It is a feckless spirit that for the sake of peace now and avoiding casualties in the immediate, we prepare the way for a devastating war.

The situation in GAZA is similar. When P. M. Sharon withdrew from Gaza, at great cost to Israel, he gave their government to the Palestinian Authority who said they would live in peace with Israel. They were thrown out by a Hamas coup and many of the P. A. leaders were murdered. Hatred for Israel is so great that the P.A. leaders and Hamas cooperate against Israel anyway. However, at that time, P. M. Abbas would have been glad for Israel to take Hamas out. Some thought Israel would. Israel did not. So Hamas has been a terrible problem that we seek to contain and not remove. Again, in my view, this is a big mistake, and now the removal will be at a much higher cost.

Israel could have had a policy that Gaza and the West Bank could elect their own leaders but no parties or individuals that support terrorism against Israel would be allowed to run or come to power. This would have been enforced by military power. No Islamic Jihad, no Hamas and no Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They are all terrorist parties. But again, we allowed them to govern Gaza and to be a political party in the West Bank. So for short-term avoidance of conflict and casualties and temporary times of peace, we prepare the way for what is much worse with much greater overall loss of life.

We are now in a big war, not as big as 1973 but the biggest in 50 years.

Another question is how this could start as it did. Why was the border so porous that dozens could invade and kill over 300 Israelis most civilians, including women and children? Why this big failure? Much will come out of this. There will be investigations after the war.

Also, we should understand that Hamas is Islamo Facist. They do not believe Jewish life is of worth since Jews are in the way of the future glorious Islamic world government. Therefore Jews are not worthy of life, and torturing and murdering is justified under this ideology. They see this as restoring the honor of Islam but they discredit Islam, making the face of Islam to be horrible and Hitler/Nazi-like.

Now we pray, God help Israel in spite of all our errors.

The Shepherding Movement

Some fifty years ago the Shepherding Movement was started as a network of congregations. It was led by five very significant leaders in the charismatic movement. Charles Simpson, Bob Mumford, Ern Baxter, Don Basham, and Derek Prince. These five were very mature and experienced leaders. Derek Prince was the first to leave this movement. I was able to be with him when he was still a part of it (1981) and after he left (1982). When I came to our congregation in the Washington, D.C. area I hosted a discussion time in my basement recreation room (February 1978). I shared my goal to strengthen the shepherding of the flock. One woman cried out, “You mean we are becoming part of the shepherding movement?” With total innocence, I then said I wanted to foster discipleship. I did not know that this would have the same reference for this woman and that the Shepherding Movement was also known as the Discipleship Movement. I said that I was a Presbyterian (I still was in the denomination) and a Messianic Jew, and I had no idea of this movement and what she was talking about.

Later, I looked into the movement and found some good things. However, there were also very disturbing things. Leaders usurped the leading of the Holy Spirit and required that all submit their personal decisions to leaders for acceptance or veto. All but one of the top five, known as the Ft. Lauderdale Five, repented. The one who did not repent professed that he never taught this error.

However, the Shepherding Movement was addressing a real problem. They just went overboard in the way they addressed it. They were reacting to anarchy and damage in the charismatic moment of the 60s and 70s. Prophecy given to people on who to marry and terribly bad decisions ruining lives with the claim that the “Spirit told me” were frequent. There is mature and immature hearing the Spirit. The congregation Patty, my future wife, and I attended in our Wheaton College Days went into heresy and Gnosticism. We left in May 1969 never to return. This congregation was not accountable beyond itself for an appeal with regard to moral and doctrinal error. It is interesting that Derek Prince and Ern Baxter spoke in this congregation before it went off. I also know that Ern Baxter was appealed to when he was ministering in a Chicago pastorate about the issues but had no power to do anything about it. I often wonder if the Shepherding leaders had this church in mind when they formed their association.

The question that arose was how to bring order and balance to the chaos and lack of accountability in the charismatic movement outside the denominations. My reaction to the error and chaos was to become a rationalist and to reject the charismatic gifts, prophecy, and the supernatural. Then when I returned to embrace the Spirit in a charismatic way, I began to work out my views on these issues more explicitly. They were largely solidified when I wrote my discipleship doctrine guide, Growing to Maturity. This was developed more in my book Relational Leadership and in the book Dynamics of Spiritual Deception. Here are the principles that have guided me for the last 41 years.

1. Congregations are in better order when they are linked in associations, denominations, and apostolic streams. Those congregations and leaders in these associations pledge to accountability on basic doctrinal and moral foundations. The overseeing board or team of such associations is a court of appeal for error and such leaders can also investigate reports of abuse, sin and error.

2. It is important to put guard rails on the prophetic. Mature leaders confirm congregational prophecy. Also, they assure that prophecy is always in accord with the Word of God.

3. Individuals and families are indeed free to follow the leading of the Spirit for their life’s directions. They are ultimately accountable to God for such decisions. Every private in God’s army has access to the top general, Yeshua.

4. However, in addition to #3 above, it is important to teach people to seek confirmation from friends and wise leaders before making life directional decisions. Going through this process of seeking confirmation and agreement can prevent rash decisions and directions that do not end well. When there is confirmation there is the strength and power of faith agreement. “Plans fail for lack of council but with many advisors they succeed.” (Prov. 15:22) We have seen that this mitigates against bad decisions.

5. In addition to #4, when there is not confirmation, there should be seeking the Lord and praying again. If the person cannot shake the conviction of God’s leading them in the non- confirmed direction, it is very important that friends and leaders give affirmation and support for the person to follow their conscience. In a family it is ideal that the husband and wife agree, if at all possible. This is also a check.

IF the leaders of the Shepherding Movement had been balanced in their principles, then it would have been great gain for all. The Shepherding Movement’s demise set the Body back and anarchy ensued again. However, we see more and more getting this right.

Rosh Hoshana

Sometimes I assume that my Official Page followers already have a grasp of the Holiday and their meaning in Yeshua. The Fall Feasts include Rosh Hoshana, then ten days later, Yom Kippur-the Day of Atonement, and five days after this, the seven days of Sukkot or Tabernacles. After the seven days, there is an eighth day assembly, a day of no work, Shimini Atzeret.

Rosh Hoshana translates literally as the head of the year or the new year. It is mentioned in the post exilic prophets but is not emphasized as the head of the year in the Torah. Rather it is called Yom HaTeruah, The Feast of the Blowing (of the shofar-the horn of the ram). It is a day of rest with no work. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the calendar and recounts the atonement ceremonies in the Temple while including many prayers of the confession of sin that connect us to forgiveness. Sukkot recalls the days in the desert when we lived in tents in the desert for 40 years, and ate supernatural food and drink. Our clothes did not wear out.

However, today’s article is on Rosh Hoshana. There is very little about the meaning of the Feast in the Torah. The instruction is that everyone needs to hear the sound of the shofar and then take the day as a day of rest unto the Lord. Jewish tradition fills in the vacuum. The prayers for the day emphasize the Kingship rule of God and God’s judgment. It is as if Yom Kippur meanings blend into the meaning of Rosh Hoshana. There is a festive meal on the evening when the Feast begins and plenty of food the following day. However, the prayers are solemn. Maimonides, the famous rabbi of rabbis of the middle ages, said that the shorfar was an awaking call, to wake up from sleep and deal with the issues of God, sin, judgement and eternal life.

For me, as a Messianic Jew, the most noteworthy tradition of the day is the reading from Genesis 22 on the sacrifice of Isaac. We recall in in Genesis 22 that God gave the strangest command, that Abraham was to sacrifice his only son of Sarah on the altar. In the history of Christian interpretation this text is seen as prophecy of the sacrifice of Yeshua, the only Son of his Father in heaven, who sacrifices him on the altar for our sin. Some Christians have also argued the act of sacrifice was an intercessory act of Abraham giving his all, his most important relationship, to God at such a level that it called forth from God to give his all, the most important gift of his Son as our sacrifice. In this interpretation, both were necessary and are tied together. Of course, the Father’s will was to give his Son as a sacrifice, but could He find someone that would give his son in a like way to call forth His great gift?

Judaism finds amazing and helpful meaning in the sacrifice of Isaac. The sacrifice of Isaac (vicariously though not in actuality) was an act of such merit that it is the foundation for all the sacrifices in the Tabernacle and Temple. The location of the sacrifice was on Mt. Moriah where the Temple would be built. Was it actually where the Most Holy Place would be? This leads to the rabbinic teaching that the sacrifices of the Tabernacle and Temple were only efficacious became they participated in the meaning of the sacrifice of Isaac. Of course, we would say they are efficacious because they participated in the in the sacrifice of Yeshua. There is a question as to whether or not the sacrifices were efficacious at all on the basis of Hebrews 7 which says that the blood of bulls and goats and not really take away sin. My view is that since Messiah is the Lamb slain form the foundations of the world, these sacrifices did provide forgiveness on the basis of Yeshua’s shed blood. I understand that the argument in Hebrews to say that the blood of bulls and goats in themselves cannot take aways sin, but point to and participate in the blood of Yeshua. Only due to Yeshua’s blood do we have atonement.

Jewish tradition does provide meanings that are helpful in enriching our celebration of this day. Of course, Gentiles are not responsible to keep these sabbath days. But if they are in Messianic Jewish congregations we join together in common life. Those in the church world do well to at least teach on the meanings made full in Yeshua.