Category: Culture

Charismatic Ministerial Betrayal

This has been a painful few years for me. The extent of ministerial betrayal among charismatic ministers, especially among those emphasizing supernatural power and accurate prophecy, has been more than disappointing. I do not believe that sin among charismatic ministers is more frequent than among more non-charismatic leaders. We certainly know the painful revelations about Catholic leaders. However, charismatics project supernatural gifting, real or feigned, which attracts multitudes in ways that is not the case with their non-charismatic counterparts. Therefore, their ministerial ethical betrayal produces a much larger public scandal.

Three areas of abuse stand out. One is sexual abuse patterns. The second is feigning and cheating in prophetic charismatic gifts—declaring accurate knowledge of individuals in an audience but actually cheating through the use of social media and other means of gathering information. The third is financial scandal, a gross misuse of funds so that the minister lives a high life of luxury.

My response to this has been to be involved in pursuing one situation of violation to get at the truth, and also to be involved in seeking to bring a revolution of standards and accountability among charismatics and charismatic congregations that are not accountable to denominational judicial structures. More on that at the end of this short essay.

The Lack of Real Accountability and Judgement by Social Media and Restoration

Sadly, because many have not been subject to the right government of a plurality of elders and an appeal eldership when there are serious accusations of abuse, they are being judged by social media exposure. One sad aspect of this is that internet exposure and judgement does not discern degrees of seriousness in sin. There is much inaccuracy. A person who committed a sexual violation many years ago is judged and lumped together with serial abusers. In one case, this is even so when their situation was dealt with in discipline by an eldership years ago and they were removed from ministry.

The pendulum has now swung to the other side so that restoration, when feasible, is not even entertained. Some years ago, Gordon MacDonald, the President of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the very important college ministry, confessed to adultery. He went through a rigorous process of repentance, was out of ministry for two years, and then restored. The Evangelical world applauded the integrity of the process and restoration, as was reported in Christianity Today.

Today, I wonder if his restoration would ever be accepted.

Another minister committed adultery and went through repentance and restoration only to fall again. For me, such a repetition implies that he should never be restored to ministerial leadership. Each case has to be judged individually, and we cannot simply lump them all together.

Fraud in Prophetic Ministry

There are several cases of prophetic abuse and people claiming to be prophets giving amazing words that were actually based on cheating. Where is the fear of God? I ask. Could these charlatans end up in Hell?

One of the really painful aspects of such cheating is that it discredits the reality of authentic supernatural gifts. I was privileged to walk with a senior team member for fifteen years whose prophetic gifting was amazing. I was present when he gave words to a hundred students in our related school in Korea. He did it through a translator, but the effect was amazing—it was awesome. I was part of a repeat of this type of ministry with him in Japan.

My friend walked in integrity and raised children with his wife who all walk with Yeshua. I myself have been called out of audiences and given amazing words by prophets who knew nothing about me. But now this wonderful ministry, so needed in the Church and the Messianic Jewish world, is despised.

See the wonderful effect of this kind of ministry in evangelism in the book Intimacy with God by Randy Clark. Randy is a man of great integrity and is solid theologically (Ph.D. in theology).

The Kingdom Accountability Project and Life Model Works

I am privileged to have worked on a project called the Kingdom Accountability Project. We call for all ministry to be subject to an eldership, and for congregations to be led by a plurality of elders with a lead elder in a mutual accountability relationship. We call for there to be an appeal eldership outside of the local eldership to hear cases and bring discipline when the leader is accused of serious sin.

We also present gradations of sin, the process and time for restoration to leadership, and also when no restoration to leadership is possible—though perhaps restoration to fellowship may be.

I also recommend the Life Model Works movement and their standards for character formation in leaders. The book The Other Half of Church is an excellent work on this, by Jim Wilder and Michel Hendricks.

It is time to join together to call for a revolution in standards and accountability. In doing so we must also reaffirm our faith in genuine supernatural ministry, including the prophetic and other supernatural gifts from God.

https://restorationfromzion.com/

Shlomo Riskin, Judaism: A Love Story

Riskin’s Life

Shlomo Riskin is an impressive rabbi. He is in his mid-80s now and has had a stellar career. He was trained as an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and was, for a season, the rabbi of the flagship and famous Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan. Riskin was the rabbi for the bat mitzvah of Elana Kagan, the Supreme Court Justice. He studied under the famous Orthodox rabbinic scholar Joseph Soloveichik.

After making aliyah—immigration to Israel—he became the rabbi of the settlement of Efrat, south of Jerusalem. The town grew large. He developed a system of schools for all ages and a yeshiva, the Or Torah Stone Schools.

Riskin has been a very passionate Zionist and is also very connected to Christian Zionist leaders, some of whom are my friends. He has not been open to Messianic Jews.

His Basic Presentation

After I read a review of his book, Judaism: A Love Story, in the Jerusalem Post, I thought it would be good to read the book. I have to say, after reading it—well done! Riskin makes Modern Orthodox Judaism very attractive. The book is a great apologetic for Judaism. He believes the biblical narrative and sees the ancient history of Israel as accurately presented in the biblical accounts.

The book presents wonderful insight into the Jewish pattern of life, especially the Sabbath and the cycle of feasts. He provides material for giving greater depth to their meaning and celebration. He deals with intriguing questions as well. He also does a fine job of interpreting circumcision. The spiritual meaning and discipline of the food laws is also well presented. As a discipline, it shows a giving up of freedom to eat as we please in order to make eating part of a distinction of Jewish life dedicated to God and His commands, even if we do not know the reason for them all. I say amen to this—but not to the rabbinic additions to biblical kosher laws.

The Weaknesses of Riskin and Orthodox Judaism

What are the weaknesses of his book? Being an Orthodox Jew, Riskin has to embrace the oral tradition of Rabbinic Judaism as from God. He does not argue that God gave the oral law in detail to Moses, but rather the principle of rabbinic interpretation and authority. When Moses cuts out the two tablets of stone to replace the originals that were broken in response to the golden calf incident, we are to see human involvement in producing the laws of God, anticipating the rabbinic oral law.

Riskin does not emphasize keeping the details and minutiae of rabbinic law, but Orthodox Jews are committed to it. As part of this, Riskin defends the exegetical rules of Rabbi Ishmael in the second century. Rabbi Lawrence Schiffman at New York University argues, in his From Text to Tradition, that the rabbinic method of exegesis was developed so that the rabbis would have authority greater than the biblical text, since they can make the text say whatever they desire. Profession of authority is given to the meaning of the text in context, but in practice rabbinic exegesis reigns. Riskin defends this flexibility in interpreting the text: a thousand meanings can be derived from a text.

What do I make of rabbinic exegesis? It is often fanciful and based in imagination. When one reads such interpretations, we can appreciate those times when such interpretations—by analogies, etc.—do reflect biblical values and show the hearts of the rabbis doing the interpretation. Many times, such interpretations do not foster teaching and practice contrary to the Bible in context. But at other times they do foster error. In Riskin’s examples, we are dealing with the first category—interpretations that are somewhat endearing. But no doubt he has selected them in a way that is winsome.

The Defense of Zionism

Another feature of Riskin is his passionate defense of Zionism. For Riskin, the fullness of Jewish life cannot be lived in the Diaspora, and the return to the Land enables a much fuller expression of Jewish life. He defends the view that our people needed to fight for the Land and not only receive it as a supernatural, last-days fulfillment.

Judaism’s Universal Meaning

For Riskin, Judaism has universal meaning. He interprets the Bible as teaching God as the God of compassionate justice and moral righteousness. The universal aspects of the Torah present God in this way, especially the God of compassion in the Thirteen Attributes of God in Exodus 34. This is Judaism’s message to the whole world, and truly a civilized world of nations will embrace the God of the Bible and His standard of Torah in their universal aspects. Thus, Riskin presents the Jewish people as having a universal mission to the nations. I say amen to this.

Judaism, Christianity and the Decline of Western Civilization

I recently read a profound book by Melanie Phillips. I am familiar with her mostly from op-eds she has written for the Jerusalem Post. She is a Modern Orthodox Jew and a moderate conservative, a British Israeli. I usually find her writings convincing and insightful. Her thesis in this book is profound, and I agree with about 90 percent of it. It is very much in line with my own views.

Western Civilization Is Based on the Bible

The best of Western Civilization is based on the Bible, especially the Hebrew Bible. The failures of Western Civilization are due to a failure to live up to biblical law and values, while progress comes when people recognize the disparity and seek to more fully implement biblical norms. This was the case in the fight against slavery. I think of William Wilberforce in England, a deeply committed Anglican Evangelical, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin and also composed hymns.

For Phillips, Judaism provided the world with these laws and values, and Christianity was key in mediating them to the Western world. Civil society should acknowledge God and His law as the source of our law and values. This provides the best foundation for rights and responsibilities, separation of powers, the worth of every human being, and much more. I would add the American Declaration of Independence, which affirms that every human being is created equal and that basic rights are endowed by the Creator.

A Wrong Understanding of the Separation of Church and State

For Phillips and for me, the prevailing understanding of the separation of Church and State is a profound mistake. The West should acknowledge and honor the source of its laws and values: fair courts, checks on power, and rulers who are under the law rather than above it. Morality, the family, and biblical sexual ethics are all crucial to a future, prospering society.

She calls for a partnership between conservative Jews and Christianity to restore biblical norms as the foundation of society and for this foundation to be publicly acknowledged. Minorities who do not believe in God or the Bible can still embrace these values, and minority rights must be protected so that religious faith is not forced on anyone.

There are many historians who have acknowledged this positively. One of the more famous is Herbert Butterfield of the University of Cambridge, who recognized this foundation as key to the origin of science and the progress of Western civilization. More recently, atheist British historian Tom Holland has acknowledged that only societies influenced by the Bible practice human rights. Phillips is therefore in good company.

Neo-Marxism Marches Through Western Institutions

What happened? There has been a march through Western institutions of neo-Marxist ideas and grievance culture. This is expressed in “human rights” gone off the rails, such as DEI, which seeks quotas and equal outcomes among races and ethnic groups; the loss of the definition of sexual identity as male and female; sexual fluidity and the trans movement; the breakdown of marriage and family; and anti-white, anti-colonial ideology.

All whites are deemed guilty of the sins of centuries past. This teaches Westerners to despise their heritage. Without courage rooted in the good of that heritage, the West is adrift, with nothing left to preserve. The absurdity of blaming all whites—including those with no ancestors who practiced slavery or came from nations that never engaged in colonialism—is ignorant and foolish, yet the idea prevails.

For neo-Marxism, one is either an oppressor or the oppressed. Women, blacks, other minorities, homosexuals, transsexuals, and even those with bipolar disorder are to be affirmed exactly as they are. They are categorized as the oppressed. Meritocracy is rejected, and this will lead nations into economic and social decline. Preserving national identity is worthless to them. They embrace transnationalism, universalism, and relativism. No culture is better than any other—really? Even head-hunting cannibal cultures? Or cultures that enslave women?

This leads to the open-borders orientation of the West, where massive immigration erodes the culture of the host country. Immigration is no longer governed by the expectation that newcomers integrate and support the culture of the nation, as was the norm in the past. This is especially evident with Muslim immigration. Some of these immigrants seek to destroy the West and replace it with radical Islam and Sharia law. Muslim fascists are not relativists but absolutists. They exploit Western relativism and weakness, using Western elites as useful idiots.

The October 7th Genocide

The response of many in the West to the October 7th genocidal attack against Israel two years ago illustrates the bankruptcy of moral thinking in the West and underscores the urgent need for restoration. Israel, as a nation, is key to that restoration. Phillips’ presentation of Israel’s importance is profound: Israel represents a life-affirming society, not a culture of death.

The Call for Jewish and Christian Cooperation to Save Western Civilization

Phillips therefore calls for a great movement of Jews and Christians to fight back and restore Western Civilization. She calls for Christianity to be pro-Jewish and pro-Judaism and to repudiate its historic anti-Semitism.

Weaknesses in Her Book

So far, so good—amen. But there are weaknesses. Phillips criticizes Christianity for being too heavenly minded, echoing the old phrase about being “so heavenly minded that one is no earthly good.” She defends a more Jewish, this-worldly focus and downplays the importance of eternal life. She has a point with respect to some Christians, but she is partly wrong.

If we lose the hope of eternal life, we will lose the courage needed to affect this age and this world. C. S. Lewis argued that the most effective people have one foot in heaven and one on earth. Phillips even suggests that belief in eternal life is not essential for social transformation and that Judaism functions without this focus. I would argue that Judaism does emphasize one’s state in the Age to Come.

The great philosopher Immanuel Kant saw this more clearly than Phillips. While Kant could not embrace the importance of the sacrificial death of Yeshua, he grasped key truths. In his Critique of Practical Reason, he argued that three beliefs are necessary to sustain a humane and ordered society: God, freedom, and immortality (life after death). In this life, people do not receive just reward for their good or evil deeds—so why be moral? True moral motivation requires belief in life after death, where justice will ultimately be rendered. Second, freedom is necessary for real moral responsibility. Third, belief in God as the moral judge who rewards good and punishes evil is essential. These beliefs are foundational for civilization as opposed to barbarism. I agree with Kant.

Another missing piece in Phillips’ work is revival and evangelism. The only way to turn the tide against the neo-Marxist onslaught is for a sufficiently large portion of the population to push back—and push back hard. Without revival and successful Christian evangelism, this will not happen. This is why preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom with power and genuine outpourings of the Spirit is essential. In American history, such revivals have repeatedly led to profound and positive social change.

The Ten Percent

Very recently, Bill Mahrer and the conservative Orthodox Jewish pundit Ben Shapiro had a dialogue.  Shapiro was arguing for faith in the God of the Bible and the Torah, and Mahrer was arguing for atheism, claiming that much in the Bible was backward and immoral.  Shapiro argued like atheist historian Tom Holland in the U. K. that Mahers basis for judgment was from the Bible itself and the Judeo-Christian influence on the worth of persons and human rights.  Yet, without God, these values would not last but would be a cut flower.

The Small Percent of Troubling Passages

I have noticed that debunking the Bible as if it were inhumane is based on a small percentage of the content of the Bible.  In my view, it is troubling that less than 10% of the Bible. Such passages, such as annihilating the Canaanites, men, women, and children, and sometimes even the animals, seem to be genocide.  Then there are the prayers called imprecatory psalms that call down harsh judgment on enemies.  The psalmist says that the people will be happy who smash the Babylonian babies to death. How about God killing 70,000 Israelites because David numbered the people?   There are some great books that explain such passages, and I won’t go into those explanations here.  Do note one great book on this.  Walter Kaiser, Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce and Manfred T. Brauch, Hard Sayings of the Bible.

The Bible’s 90% Message

However, what of the 90%?  The Bible’s message is very clear.  God is a God of compassionate love and justice.  (Exodus 34). This is the argument of the famous Israeli Rabbi Shlomo Riskin (Judaism, A Love Story). He calls upon all people to repent and pledge their allegiance to Him.  If they do so, He will empower them to obedience.  Those who make that decision are assured fruitfulness and purpose in this life and a good destiny in the Age to Come.  Those who refuse God and his ways will be lost.  Of course, the message of the New Covenant Scriptures is that this decision is made possible by the Holy Spirit and that the power to obey comes through Yeshua.  It is by being filled with the Spirit that we can obey.

In this context, we read all of the amazing texts on God’s call for justice in the courts, honesty in business, and care for the widow, the orphan, and the poor.  The Torah is summarized in the ten commandments, or better named, The Covenant of the Ten Words.  We are to love God with our all and our neighbor as ourselves (Deut. 6:4 and Lev. 19:18).

Yes, we can provide rationales for the 10% but really, the 90% is where we need to stand in our defense of the Bible.

Creation Distinctions and the Worldview Battle

Rarely does a day go by that I do not read of clashes over social issues.  Yesterday, the news carried a comment by the famous English commentator Piers Morgan over an arrest in London.  A comedian was when he landed in London over 4 X (former Twitter) posts that poked fun at biological men in women’s spaces, locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms.  He said it was like North Korea in England.  Today, the famous author J. K. Rowling was in the news questioning a former senior partner in the Harry Potter movie series over his claim that her views were offensive.  She asked him to say just what was offensive and to list these offenses.  She asked if it was offensive for biological women to have their own private spaces or their own sports competitions.  The clashes are intense.  We would never have seen such clashes a few years back.   Why such intense backlash against those who are more traditional?

I believe that we are really seeing a profound worldview clash. Not everyone on the opposite sides of the issues is on the opposing sides in worldviews.  But worldview issues are at the root.  In his profound book, The God of Israel and Christian Theology, R. Kendall Soulen argued that Israel and the nations are a God intended eternal distinction.   He calls it an eternal dyad that exists for mutual blessing.  Blessing means mutual enrichment. This inspired the thought that God’s creation order itself is one where God created distinctions for mutual interdependence and blessing.  I was then inspired to write a book entitled Mutual Blessing. 

You will have to read the book to get the weight of it.  Basically, I note that man and nature are for mutual enrichment and blessing.  Male and female are one of the most profound.  After 54 years of wonderful marriage, I thank God every day for this.  The ways of being are different.  Our sexual being is different and complementary.  Our perceptions and responses are complementary and enable us to see in a more adequate way.  So many distinctions for blessing are noted in the book, employer and employee, governors and the governed, parents and children, and more.

Behind the great strife today is a clash of worldviews.  The Devil desires to destroy creation distinctions because he is motivated to destroy God’s creation.  As followers of the Bible, we are called to uphold creation distinctions.  This is nowhere more conflicted today than in the area of sexuality and the Yeshua’s restoration of the creation order of one woman and one man for life in sexual fidelity.  The battle is great but behind it is a very destructive philosophy, a radical freedom to choose according to whatever is desired with no norms.  Those who reject historic norms are furious with those that uphold them  A person may feel that he or she is the opposite sex in the wrong body.  They may feel attracted more to the same sex. But if they submit to Yeshua, they will chose to not follow their feelings but show reverence for God’s creation order.  They will seek his transforming power by the Spirit to be able to do this.  In the sacrifice of self-fulfillment great blessing will come.

We can do no other but to uphold the world view of the Bible.  I hope you read my book and are inspired.

Returning to the Places That Shaped Us

Patty and I have had, so far, the most wonderful time in the United States. We returned on El Al Airlines the day before the Iran War broke out. That was amazing! We flew to our son’s house near Jacksonville, Florida. He and his wife, Lorena, have a wonderful guest room and bath for us in their home. It is our base in the United States. We had a wonderful renewal of connection with Ben, Lorena, and their three adult children.
The following week, we traveled and spent 9 days at Turf Valley near Baltimore (Ellicott City) for our Tikkun America Conference. The leadership conference was wonderful, as was the general conference on the weekend. Jonathan Bernis was our special speaker. He stayed for the whole weekend conference. He is a true apostolic leader in the movement, and the fruit of his life is amazing. His messages were wonderful. Ben and I enjoyed presenting together on Shabbat. But Ben’s messages, both for leaders and the general conference, were so well presented. Ben is 50 years old now. It was also wonderful to hear Matt Rudolph.
After the conference, we flew to Syracuse and spent a few days with Patty’s sister and husband Bob near Lake Ontario, Pulaski, New York. I think it was our best time of sharing and enjoying each other. Patty’s sister cooked some of Patty’s mom’s dishes, the pie, the strawberry shortcake, etc.
After this, we drove to Schroon Lake. Word of Life Camps were central to my growing up. At 12 years and 8 months, I dedicated my life to Yeshua at Word of Life Ranch. I kept calling home to get permission to stay another week. Instead of staying two weeks, I stayed four. The following year, I did a week at the Ranch and then 3 weeks at the Island. I was absorbed in the Bible teaching. My mother, in her wisdom, would not say no to my staying longer. Because I lost my Dad before my 9th birthday, she saw that being at camp was helping me to grow into manhood. She was so right. I had male role models in the next years that were crucial. That year, I was part of my first backpacking trip to Pharaoh Lake. This initiated a lifelong love for backpacking and for Pharaoh Lake. I would return there many times over the years. I continued my summers at Word of Life Island. Six weeks in 1962, and six weeks in 1963 when I was a Counselor in Training and then in 64 a Junior Counselor with a cabin of 15 youth, and as a senior counselor in 1965.
The natural beauty of Schroon Lake and the Island seemed especially close to heaven. The sense of intimacy with God was a wonderful thing.
Some years later, I became negative to Word of Life since I rejected the classic Dispensational Theology in which I was discipled. Then, in my 30s, God spoke to me that my attitude was wrong. I had received so much, from my dedication to Yeshua, to male role models for learning to grow up. Then, at 24, I discovered Messianic Judaism. But I owe so much to Word of Life.
In 2022, while on vacation at another resort, Friends Lake, the resort of my childhood with my parents, we drove to see the Adult Christian resort, Word of Life Inn. It had been sold and was no longer feasible for Word of Life. 70 years had come to an end. It is now The Lodge at Schroon Lake. Patty and I decided to take three days to vacation there. It was a wonderful three days. Every morning, we had devotions sitting on Adirondack chairs overlooking the Lake and the Island across the Lake. One day, I took the boat to the Island to just walk around. So much was the same. Some of the cabins were as they were 60 years ago. Yes, there was a new covered basketball court. The common men’s wash-up center was no longer there. I helped build the septic field for it in 1964. My old cabin, Lake View, had a new name and was being rebuilt. What a wonderful time to walk around the Island!
Patty and I took a wonderful drive through the High Peak region, bringing back memories of those camping trips in the High Peak region, truly beautiful and majestic. Friday evening, we had an anniversary dinner at the Lodge while we enjoyed looking at the lake.
Sadly, these days came to an end. Then it was a drive to Kingston to spend a few days with the Kingston Congregation and to have a wonderful visit with Peter and Deborah Lundgen and then with their young emerging leaders.
Then we drove to Bergen County, New Jersey, my home county growing up. We will minister at Beth Am Messiah in Rockland County, just to the north. But before that, we will visit my 87-year-old dear cousin Emily, who still lives in the area and has been a prayer support for me for almost 70 years. She is dear to us and all our children who have visited and stayed with her several times. On Sunday, we will visit my old best friend from my college years.
However, we have our actual 54th anniversary tomorrow, Thursday, and will go out for a special romantic dinner. One of the greatest gifts in our lives is the special, amazing love and harmony we have. How amazingly blessed we are!!

Palestinianism: An Ideology of Erasure 

I was very impressed by an article on Einat Wilf by Herb Kenon, the frequent columnist in the Jerusalem Post.  Wilf had been a higher up in the government of Ehud Barak when he sought to bring about a two-state solution with Yasir Arafat with Bill Clinton mediating. Clinton famously said to Arafat that he made him a failure.  After this, Arafat called for violent terrorism against Israel in an intifada.  Then there was the offer of Olmert,  such a generous offer that many were both upset and amazed.  Yet Mahmud Abbas refused it.  Wilf was on the inside of negotiations on the Barak team and followed closely with the Olmert offer. She also was a keen observer of the results of the withdrawal from Gaza and rather than choose freedom, Gaza was turned into an armed fortress involving almost the whole of the civilian population areas.   This was before the Olmert offer. Sharon, the Prime Minister who withdrew from Gaza had died.  Now Olmert the withdrawal would motivate Abbas for a peace agreement. He walked away. 

Though it was hard for her, she came to the conclusion that the Palestinians do not want a state under any two-state formula but that this is only put forward as propaganda for the world. What they want is one thing, the elimination of Israel.  As part of this, she chides both Bibi Netanyahu and Joe Biden for saying that their war was not against the Palestinians but against Hamas.  She believes that this is delusional because the Gazans and most of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) choose Hamas and are also dedicated to the elimination of Israel.  She calls this Palestinianism an ideology of the necessity of the erasure of Israel.  Israel must not be allowed to exist as a nation-state on any part of the Land.  (“From the River to the Sea” as the chant goes.”)  Only by facing that we are at war with the Palestinians who support Hamas can we begin to face that only overcoming this ideology will bring victory, and fighting the war does mean a more realistic view of the task. I think that it requires an occupation and reeducation, if not by Israel then by other nations together who would be committed to re-education.  David Biven, the Foreign Secretary at the end of the British mandate described the problem, 

“His Majesty’s Government have thus been faced with an irreconcilable conflict of principles.  For the Jews, the essential point of principle is the creation of a sovereign Jewish state.  For the Arabs, the essential point of principle is to resist to the last the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in any part of Palestine.”   

It was and so it continues.  She even speaks of dialogue with moderate Palestinians who deny that Israel is a people but claim it is a religion and has no right to a state.  Of course, Israel is a people with even a very strong genetic unity.    

Wilf also presents other very important insights.  She describes the antisemitism behind the anti-Israel orientation of the nations.  Whatever the problem the world faces, somehow the Jews plug into the equation as foundational to the problem.  She notes the words as placards, colonialism, racism, apartheid, imperialism or white supremacy.  I add communism (Marx was a Jew). Somehow the Jews are responsible in every case.  This is astonishing but is historically true.  Whatever the evil is in the discourse of the time the world would be better off without the collective Jew.  This is astonishing.  Nothing has to be based on real truth or analysis but the propaganda of media reigns.  Constant repetition of the lies establish the lies in the mindset of a population.  It will require a massive effort to counter this. 

For Wilf this is just the way history has developed.  However, for those who believe the Bible, this no accident of history.  Rather it is a manifestation of dark demonic evil and the opposition to Jewish destiny.  That destiny is to be an instrument of the redemption of the World and the return of Yeshua.  The Jewish people/Israel are a great proof of the truth of the Bible and all the powers of evil have to oppose the Jewish people, God’s living apologetic for the truth. 

 

Near Death Experiences or Death and Resurrection Experiences 

I was taking the plane back from London after a week in Wales to teach at the Bible College of Wales.  I decided to take a break from work, in this case, writing my memoirs during the flight.  A 2010 movie entitled Hereafter pricked my interest.  It was about a woman who had a near-death experience during the tsunami in Thailand.  It was also about the paranormal ability of the character played by Matt Damon, who was able to provide amazing information similar to what charismatics would call a “word of knowledge” prophecy.  However, he was also a channel for those who died whose loved ones sought contact. 

The film was a Clint Eastwood film with the screenplay by Peter Morgan and the executive producer Steven Spielberg.  That is quite a team. 

One scene was very impacting when the survivor of the tsunami speaks to a scientist who assures her that the evidence from near-death experiences is conclusive and proves that the soul survives the body.   I agree with that statement.  Materialists/Physicalists are not able to explain the experiences that are so similar where the person leaves the body and accurately describes everything that happens to them in the emergency room, in the operating room, the sequence of interventions, and then leaving the hospital often for a visit to the beyond, whether literally or in part in God-given visions.  When a person has been completely out in heart and brain death for a significant period, I call the awakening a death and resurrection experience.  

The great book on this that I have reviewed before is by John Burke, Imagine Heaven.  He presents the evidence but with a solid biblical and theological framework.  The problem with this film is that the theology is not good.  It combines paranormal occult ability as showing the same evidence, that there is an afterlife.  It does show that there are shysters.  One reading from a medium is totally off.   But the Matt Damon character is presented as being very accurate.  Demon hates having the gift and sees it more as a curse than a blessing and draws too many people to him. It is a responsibility he does not want. 

The interesting thing is not that the movie presents accurate theology.  Rather it shows that the materialist/physicalist approach to reality is breaking down and people are realizing that there is more.  The boyfriend of the tsunami survivor asserts that when you are dead, the lights go out and there is nothing.  She does not agree and her own NDE was too compelling for her to accept his atheism.  So, while we may take issue with the embrace of both NDEs and the occult, we can see an opening to share the Gospel. This can be a real bridge to present the truth as in the John Burke book. 

  

Culture Formation and Social Media

As we come into the New Year, may we see a great cultural shift.

We have seen in the last years that when cultural influences and the culture formation elite use the levers of social media they can radically change the morals and change the direction of the culture. From abortion to critical race theology, to transgenderism, the LGBTQ agenda, to rejecting lifelong marriage is a key to society, the society changed in ways that could not have been anticipated 50 years ago. But it was rapid. A rock song in the early 60s “Band of Gold” sang of lifelong love and fidelity. Some years later the Rolling Stones sang, “Let’s spend the night together.” The people did not come against this change and condemn it. (Yes, of course, some preachers did but they were not forming the culture)

Israel, as well, has been subject to a terrible onslaught of lies in social media and fuels anti-Semitism. Lies about the war in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran have been ubiquitous.

The recent election gives hope that some of those empowering these trends have lost power, whatever people may or may not think of Donald Trump. What is needed is an army of social media influencers for conservative social values. Social media creates massive change quickly whereas flyers, tracts. and print media of yesteryear took lots of time to build support and influence. Let’s hope for an army of social media culture formation people.

And may we learn to present the Gospel in social media. Let’s promote the wonderful miracle stories of transformed lives, miracles, physical healing and so much more.

The Religious Motive and Conflict

Many secular Westerners have great difficulty in dealing with world conflicts because they ignore the religious foundations or motives for such conflicts.   Yes, there are also ethnic motives, and they may overlap with religious motives, but I want to write on the religious motives.  The famous liberal Christian thinker Paul Tillich defined faith as “Ultimate Concern,” the foundational motive that drives us.  People are inherently religious. This includes humanistic people.  Yes, we can note people whose god is “self” and whose drive is for their own ease and pleasure.  But many people have to live for something more. maybe some false idea of seeking justice which they define as equality.  In this regard, the United States Supreme Court defied “Secular Humanism” as a religion.  (Torcaso v Watkins (1961).  Of course, there are different secular humanisms from classical Marxism to the Objectivism of Ayn Rand.  Marx presented a prophetic vision and an eschatology that led to a glorious age of peace, accord, and prosperity.   It is very religious and the commitments to it were at a religious commitment level.  When it failed a famous book, “When Prophecy Fails.” was applied to Marxism.  

 

Ayn Rand looked for a utopia from free enterprise and one ethical norm, “Do no harm.”   The god of Ayn Rand is the entrepreneur who creates wealth for all as part of a democratic free society.  (See Atlas Shurgged.)  Today we see that commitment to abortion rights, the LGBTQ agenda, and transsexualism are all based on religious views and levels of commitment.  The passions of these movements show religious commitment.  The great philosopher Herman Dooyweeerd showed such religious motives as being ubiquitous.  We see religious motives in the persecution of Christians by Hindus in India, though Hindus do not seek to conquer the world. 

 

However, this essay is not mostly about the issue of world views and religious motives in general. It is rather that our Western leadership, when not committed to Biblical faith fails again and again to credit and understand the religious motives of world conflicts and why such religious motives, when sick and evil, need to be confronted head-on.  Western diplomats wrongly think that if they go beneath the surface one will find Western values, in the Arab, the Chinese Communist, or the Iranian jihadist. They think they can get a hold of that and find peace, but often the ideologies are only defeated in a great defeat in war or by religious conversion.  The Chinese Communists suppress free speech and Christianity because they want no competition to their religious idealogy.  It parallels the Catholics who used violence to shut down Protestant orientations in the old religious wars.  

 

I want this essay to emphasize the Middle East and Islam.  We will never grasp what we face unless we absorb the hard truth that for Islamic fascists or jihadists, there is a religious motive to destroy Israel and to take Jerusalem. Nothing else will do and the honor of Mohammed and the god of Islam requires war and strategy to accomplish this whether it takes a year or a hundred years.  All that was in the ruling territory of Islam (Dar Al Islam) has to be recovered.  This means recovering Spain for Islam and parts of Southern and South East Europe.  From there, Islam must go forward to conquer the world.  We see such motives now in the immigrant Muslim populations of Western Europe. Yes, there are reformed Muslims who do not share this worldview. They build their Islam on the more peaceful passages of the Koran. They exist. But the conquering and violent passages are ubiquitous and when movements arise to return Isralm to faithfulness to its origins some will return to violent jihad.  Unless we understand that Israel is up against religious warriors, we will not face what is necessary to fight and overcome this evil religion.  It will take true propaganda and military might.  Those arrayed against Israel, Iran, its proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, and West Bank radicals. The Houthis, Iraqi jihadists, and jihadists in Syria, all share this foundational religious motive.  It explains why Gazan mothers are happy for their children to be trained to be martyrs.  Because the Devil is behind this ideology, prayer must be a central part of the strategy for Christians. 

 

It is my conviction that only Biblical faith provides the orientation and strength to defeat the evil worldviews that are opposed to us.  The teaching of Yeshua does not order us to conquer the world by the sword but by the very powerful signs and wonders Gospel of the Kingdom.  Only the Gospel can defeat the ideologies of evil.  When we speak of the Gospel, however, we are speaking of more than just the offer of personal salvation through receiving Yeshua as personal savior.  The Gospel of the Kingdom is more robust and declares Yeshua as Lord over all spheres of society.  This understanding of the Gospel was foundational to the Evangelical Harvard, Wheaton College.  Its founder, Jonathan Blanchard, wrote the Wheaton motto, “For Christ and His Kingdom,’’ that Wheaton would raise up leaders for every sphere of life, to influence all spheres to embrace biblical norms.  It was what compelled Blanchard and Wheaton to join the anti-slavery fight and to be part of the underground railroad for escaped slaves.  It also compelled Charles Finney.  Decades later when Abraham Kuyper became Prime Minister of Holland, he echoed Blanchard and declared that it was his vision that the Law of God would become the Law of the Land.  Kuyper’s embrace of the Gospel of the Kingdom did not reject religious freedom and held a sacred place for the conscience of the individual. 

 

Today we see a return to Blanchard’s and Kuyper’s views from those who argue that the Gospel of the Kingdom must seek to influence the seven mountains of culture leadership and formation.  As Kuper said, Yeshua claims every square inch of human civilization and there is not one square inch that He does not claim as Lord. This should not be understood as conquering the world before or without the return of Yeshua, which Kuyper did not believe nor did Campus Crusade’s Bill Bright who embraced the Seven Mountains vision. 

 

When we deal with the Middle East we are dealing with international law and relationships. 

 

In my view, only the right Biblical faith, understanding the Gospel of the Kingdom, is best and clear enough to overcome the evil religious motivations of Islamic Fascism, Communism, the religion of LGBTQ ism, transgenderism, abortion and child sacrifice, and more. All of these orientations are foundationally religious.  Hence the energy behind them. Only Biblical faith is adequate to defeat them, signs and wonders Gospel of the Kingdom.