MY FLIGHT WITH AN ISRAELI JEWISH ATHEIST

MY FLIGHT WITH AN ISRAELI JEWISH ATHEIST

On my recent flight from Israel to the United States, I sat next to an Israeli Jewish atheist who grew up on a kibbutz. As we talked about Israel, the war, and Israeli and American politics, he noted that he was planning to move with his family to the United States. His wife is a U. S. citizen. She is a medical doctor. He is in hi-tech. Why does he want to move? Because life in Israel is too expensive, and too difficult in other ways, and there is too much war and terrorism. As an Israeli, I sought to encourage him and persuade him that Israel needs him. No doubt they are a successful couple that has made it. I got the impression that he does not own his own home and being a Tel Avivian, this is unusual.

It is true that the Israel government and the developers have mismanaged real estate in Israel so there is not an adequate supply. This drives up costs and hurts young families. But education and health care are good and very inexpensive in Israel. But overall, costs are way too high.

However, I sought to share a more divine-purpose perspective. He professed his belief in evolution, and I sought to show that the naturalistic atheist version of evolution was systematically incoherent. He was not convinced but was quite indoctrinated.

A generation ago, the majority of Israelis were atheists who did want to build a model society, especially those from the kibbutz movement. However, I think my new friend proves the point that over the long haul, atheism will not sustain Israel if Israel is not elect of God and has no divine purpose for the sake of humanity, why sacrifice for Israel? Why not assimilate and escape antisemitism? Ethnic pride? When push comes to shove, either due to war or economic pressures, too many of the atheists and agnostics will abandon Israel and the Zionist vision of having our own state. This new acquaintance strongly argued for his atheism, pointing to evil and suffering to disprove the existence of a good God. He does not represent the trend in Israel today. They are discovering belief in God and even see his protection in the present war.

I noted not long ago in a Facebook post that one modern Rabbi argued that faith in God was necessary to sustain Israel. Israel will not be sustained because Israel has a great economy in the world and people can live a nice life, but Israel has a divine purpose in the world. Most Jews who now believe in God in Israel might celebrate the Feasts or have a Passover celebration but do not want to be under the yoke of Rabbinic Judaism and its focus on keeping the miniate of Rabbinic laws. Such Jews in Israel are open to reading the Bible and the promises in the prophets of our return to the Land (Isaiah 43, Jeremiah16, 23, Amos 9, Joel 3, and many more passages)

Though not yet becoming Messianic Jews are Israeli Jews coming to a faith that I have envisioned as a step in the right direction and toward Yeshua. Yes, this is right now a weak faith, and some may also embrace superstition, some aspects of Eastern religion, and some aspects of paganism, but the God that is being embraced is a personal God who effected the exodus. Could we persuade them to be Biblical Jews and be committed to believing the Bible and the Laws of God from the Torah that are applicable today without the heavy yoke of Rabbinic Judaism? Could they also read about God’s grace and forgiveness as taught in the Hebrew Bible? Could they really become Hebrew Bible Jews? Could they be interested in the teaching of Yeshua without yet fully embracing the teaching of the New Covenant Scriptures about him and his deity? Some Christians like Francis Schaeffer used to talk about pre-evangelism. I wonder if belief in God and the Hebrew Bible could be due to a move of God’s Spirit in preparing people for the Good News of Yeshua. I think Messianic Jews can have a very fruitful dialogue with the Jewish people of Israel in returning to faith in God. Sometimes our way into dialogue with secular atheist Jews is to show them the supernatural fulfillments in Israel’s regathering to the Land in our day.

THE RELIGIOUS MOTIVE AND CONFLICT, Daniel Juster

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.

Chanukah or Tisha Bav

Daniel Juster, Ph. D. and Senior Shaliach

The War with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israel still fights the long war in Gaza and soon may fight an all-out war in Lebanon against the Iran proxy, Hezbollah. However, the overall situation in the Middle East is much more dangerous than we may imagine. Israel’s liturgical narrative history recounts the depths of despair and defeat in the 9th of Av, the destruction of both Temples, the expulsion from Spain, and the Holocaust. However, Israel’s narrative also celebrates the extraordinary victories of Passover-Exodus, Purim during Persian rule and Queen Esther, and Chanukah in the war against the Syria Hellenist Seleucids. This Chanukah we again remember the great victories to save Israel under the leadership of the Maccabees, 167-160 B. C. Will the present wars lead to another tragedy or an amazing victory?

What We Are Really Up Against

In the short term, it does not look like another 9th Av. Israel will ultimately stay in Gaza even if there is a six-week truce. This truce is very unlikely since Hezbollah has no motive to give up the hostages without a total end to the war. Israel cannot do that, so we face a grievous and sad reality. Also, if Israel fully goes to war against Hezbollah in the north to enforce U. N. resolution 1701, that Hezbollah has to remain behind the Litani River in Lebanon and give up its arms so there is one Lebanese army, it will be a very bad situation. The number of Hezbollah missiles means that there will be devastation in Israel and many deaths, but Hezbollah will be defeated. If Iran enters the war, we hope the U. S. defends Israel. Iran was not ready for war and wanted its nuclear bomb first. This is what we are up against in the short term.

However, let us note what is not usually described. Israel is up against many other terrorist entities.

Explicit Enemies of Israel

First, there are the Houthis in Yemen who rule much of Yemen. The weak U. S. government has let them shut down the international sea lanes. Thomas Jefferson went to war for open seas! The Biden administration seems pathetically weak. The Houthis would be easy to defeat by air power. Israel faces the Houthis, who now send some troops to fight Israel.
Secondly, Syria allows its country to be a base for Hezbollah and the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corp.
Then there are the Hezbollah-aligned Shiites of Iraq.
Iran seeks to destroy Israel and leaders have professed that they should use the nuclear bomb against Israel. This is what Donald Trump meant when he said if Harris is elected, Israel will cease to exist. He defunded Iran but the Biden administration reversed this and provided hundreds of billions of dollars to Iran that financed her terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and more. The biggest gain for changing the Middle East would be regime change in Iran.

Dangerous Countries at Peace with Israel

First is Egypt. It is called a cold peace. Why? Egypt’s education system still fosters hatred for Israel. Egypt’s population is overwhelmingly anti-Israel. Can the cold peace survive? Egypt allowed the Rapha crossings and border tunnels to be used to arm Hamas to the hilt.

Second is Jordan. The situation in Jordan is very much like Egypt. However, the majority of Jordan is Palestinian and Hamas wants to overthrow the monarchy. Can Jordan remain at peace? Will the monarchy long survive?

Third is Qatar, which is supposedly an ally of the United States but fosters Hamas and provides refuge for their billionaire leader Mashal and did for their late leader Ismael Haniyeh. They also foster the Al Jazeera anti-Israel and pro-Hamas Newspaper.

Fourth is Turkey which now is more and more belligerent against Israel and is pro-Hamas. Erdogan, Turkey’s leader, says he wants Turkey to lead a world Muslim anti-Israel coalition. Their Islamist semi-dictator is still allowed to be part of NATO, a travesty. A regime change in Turkey would be very beneficial to the Middle East and for stemming Islamic fascist terrorism.

Fifth is Pakistan whose secret service and government allows ISIS connections and pro-Taliban policies.

Terrorist Populations

The West cannot get its arms around the fact that the so-called innocent populations are actually terrorist-supporting populations. Fighting a war against a terrorist-supporting population is a whole different order and there is no way to fight it without significant civilian deaths, especially when they allow themselves to be human shields. This was somewhat the situation in Germany in World War II, but it is much worse with Islamic Fascism.

The Feckless West

The feckless West more and more aligns with Israel’s enemies and makes Israel’s defense effort the crime. The West has imported a fifth column of Islamic Fascists which amazingly ally with the useful idiot leftist. They take over the streets and campuses and require ending investments in Israel. Weak college administrators and leftist city councils are likely to give in.

China and Russia as Allies of Iran

For their own purposes for world domination Russia and China now ally with Iran.

Conclusions

Well, you get the picture. It is as if the biblical picture of all nations coming against Israel is beginning to happen. Credible prophecy teachers see the last wars as Islamic-led. It is foolish for the Prime Minister to profess his faith in the Israel Defense Forces to save us. We will need the salvation that only comes from Yeshua. In God we must trust.

The last word is presented in the Bible. It will be the Feasts of victory and Chanukah that will prevail. Joel 3, Zechariah 12, and14 Ezekiel 38,39, and many more passages show us the end of the story. This is a time for much prayer, revival, and a great harvest in Israel.

PROJECT 2025

I am writing this little essay due to the political hot potato Project 2025, a blueprint for government change from a conservative point of view. Democrats vilify it. They claim that Project 2025 is the playbook for a possible next Trump term. The former President claims he has had nothing to do with it, that he has not read it and will not, and that it is not its playbook. The Democrats claim that Project 2025 is an extreme right-wing agenda that will set the country back. Republicans do not defend it but probably wisely say little because Democrats will pick and choose parts out of context and prosecute their case against Republicans on the basis of such misrepresentations. I read some of the names of those who gave leadership to different chapters or sections of the document and knew them to be brilliant, credible, and not extreme. However, were others extreme and suggesting extreme and dangerous policies? I have read many studies from the Heritage Foundation and other think tanks whose leaders were part of this project. Heritage is usually very credible.

So, what is a person like me to do? I am an informed person who seeks to apply biblical worldview thinking to politics. See my book Social Justice. In this book I promote the idea that love and Justice are one and that a truly just social order is one that promotes the lifting up of the greatest number of people. I argue that a free enterprise society with checks and balances on corporate and governmental power is the most successful. Justice is based on God’s law, the universals that can be derived from the Bible, and on empirical evidence of what works. With this understanding, I decided to review the 2025 Project. It is 880 plus pages, large dense pages. It was no easy task, but how can I evaluate the many claims that are being made? I could not find a good and comprehensive defense of the project or a fair and serious critique, so I decided to work my way through it.

Here is a very short summary of my key takeaways. No, it is not a radical crazy radical right-wing agenda but is the product of brilliant and serious thinkers whose articles should be read and weighed. The book is primarily dealing with the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and all its agencies. The administrative state, all its agencies, is so large and vast that it is difficult to get one’s arms around it. So, the 2025 Project gives more information on the vast federal government than anyone could want. It is an education. The Executive Branch of the Government is far larger than the rest of the government put together and very powerful. Here is my review.

The Massive Labyrinth and Its Waste

The project describes every agency and significant sub-agency. Each one is a vast labyrinth in itself with huge budgets and government administrators and sub administrators galore. The documented waste, duplication, inertia, civil service employees who resist change, corruption, and cronyism are beyond what we can imagine. Truly as Lawrence Peter argued, in government agencies inefficiency is ubiquitous since people are often promoted beyond their competence. (The Peter Principle.) This reminds us of Ronald Reagan and his Grace commission which sought to address this. But since then, the waste and corruption of government has grown back and is probably worse than ever. There must be a radical evaluation on the basis of efficiency and the government in size has to be radically reduced. Can anyone get their hands around these agencies and reform them? We hope so. They swallow up much wealth.

Agency Mission Creep, and Corruption

One aspect of the administrative state and its agencies is mission creep. Over and over again agencies and their leaders stretch the boundaries of their legal congressional mandates and involve themselves in regulations and initiatives that were not approved by Congress. This is a way for elites to gain progress in their political and social directions without the necessity of legislation and democratic debate. The various authors show this in agency after agency. I will detail some examples. It is the characteristic of leftist elites to bypass legislative and democratic processes to gain their end in hidden ways through the bureaucracy.

CRT. DEI, Transgenderism, ESG

A few years ago, we were told that Critical Race Theory was an academic theory and was not being applied in our schools or in government policy. This was a lie. The cultural formation left has made CRT ubiquitous in most government agencies. This began with President Obama, was somewhat halted under President Trump but now has returned with a vengeance. CRT promotes appointing and promoting people by their particular race and ethnicity above others who may be more qualified. This racial/ethnic orientation and quota system was not passed by Congress and not approved by the democratic process but is being applied throughout the agencies and in its policies promoted for other nations, in education and so much more. CRT partners with its twin ideas, DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI is not interested in diversity of thought or political or religious views. DEI means that every government agency, every corporation, and every institution is to reflect the proportion of embraced groups that are disadvantaged. Blacks and Hispanics especially are favored, but Asians need not apply! There is a pecking order. Such racial discrimination was rejected by the Supreme Court, but the agencies of the Federal Government are fully promoting these unconstitutional directions. This replaces the right orientation for disadvantaged groups, programs, and opportunities for the poor that will qualify many for advancement.

CRT partners with transgenderism and the promotion of the LGBTQ+ agenda. These alternative lifestyles are endorsed and promoted and makeup one of the groups for special treatment and promotion. They were disadvantaged and are now to be promoted. These policies need to be eliminated.

ESG, Environment, Social, and Government is another left orientation that seeks to force corporations and banks to act to only favor those who embrace a more radical environmental agenda that can lead to much poverty, Social brings us back to DEI and go Government to leadership that promotes all of this. Businesses that run a full ESG and DEI can be refused financing and de-platformed. This discrimination must be halted.

Restoring and Incentivizing Marriage and Family

Contrary to false claims, Project 2025 does not seek to eliminate welfare but like the Clinton administration, seeks to incentivize work. It also seeks policies that incentivizes marriage and family stability as the building block of success. While there are successful children from single parent situations, the percentages of success show differentials that are huge and are in favor of an intact family with a mother and father. This may be one emphasis that is hated by the left that seeks to equalize all types of living arrangements. Incentivizing family should be expressed in welfare programs, education, and government programs in housing and adoption. This affects policies on adoption that should favor intact two parent families with a mother and father and should not discriminate against religious families that promote traditional marriage.

Rejecting transgenderism as a policy implies rejecting education that fosters transgender ideas in children in our education system and even promotes transgender transition for children. This can lead to confusion in children. It also rejects transgender biological men in women’s locker rooms, shower rooms, and sports. There is a rejection of Biden’s fiat re-interpretation of Title 9 to apply protections for women in sports to include biological boys and men who identify as girls or women. This also affects the Department of Health and Human Services in its policies promoting transgenderism.

Abortion, National, and International

Though our nation is divided on the issue of abortion the Agencies of Government are all in on promoting it, in Health and Human Services and even in foreign policy from the State Department and through the influence of the largesse of foreign aid. The 2025 project does not call for a ban on abortion but for regulation and an end to late-term abortion. Despite all the professions in favor of multiculturalism, contrary to our laws, the Federal Agencies dealing with foreign nations strong-arm these nations to embrace pro-abortion policies and the LGBTQ+ agenda This is profoundly contrary to the traditional cultures of many nations. Such policies and arm-twisting are seen as colonialism. And it is! Conservatives may be pro-life but generally seek to see abortion limited to the first trimester.

Education

The union monopoly education system in the U. S. is a disaster in many locales. Morals (Immorality) are promoted contrary to family religious beliefs. Think of the defense of the pornographic in the school and those who oppose it are claimed to seek censorship. Often performance in schools is very poor. The solution is that money should follow the parents who can choose their schools. This is the key for many of the poor underclass to escape their poor-performing schools and to escape poverty. This is a key policy that is greatly needed. If money follows the student the parents can choose religious schools, private schools, or public schools. Some think the Education Department should be eliminated. It imposes mandates against the will of many parents. Of course, funds can be given so that the poor can choose a better education, but that does not require a department. Education should be locally controlled. School choice is a key to a better future.

Environmental Ideas

The 2025 Project claims to be pro-environment but not in a radical way where we destroy the fossil fuel industry and do not by world statistics improve the environment but have policies that will lead to poverty. Banks should not be able to refuse business on the basis of this part of the ESG agenda. The Environmental Protection Agency needs to be reined in for it regulates beyond its congressional mandate.

Cancel Culture and Big Tech

It is crucial that cancel culture be opposed and Big Tech needs regulation to not de-platform and demonetize what is contrary to their politically correct ideas. Only calls for violence, pornography and real hate (not made-up hate such as promoting traditional marriage!) should be censored. Monopolist issues with Big Tech and the internet need to be addressed.

Trade

There is a very good discussion on international trade, tariffs and prosperity with different points of view presented. The dangers of trade with China and its nefarious behavior are dealt with.

The Department of Justice

The Department needs to be depoliticized. It is severe with pro-life demonstrators who slightly cross red lines but have been soft on violent behavior against pro-life centers. Crimes from the left (think of George Floyd, Minneapolis burning, and Seattle). It puts out warnings on parents at school boards but allows more serious crimes to be unprosecuted. A return to law-based enforcement is crucial

This is a very small summary. It is classic conservative not radical. So why the big reaction? It is that the authors are credible people whose positions threaten the Democratic elite. That is about it.

But do note, that though President Trump is not connected to the 3025 project, former members of his administration are. His own policy paper recently put out tracks with the 2025 project.

Book Review: Rick Renner’s Apostles and Prophets

I just finished reading Rick Renner’s Apostles and Prophets. It was recommended on a Facebook page by an apostolic leader whom I love and trust, and with whom I have related for over 30 years. Rich Renner has had astonishing success in the Russian-speaking world, beginning with Moscow.

A Defense of Five Fold Ministry

The book was very long and difficult for me to finish. It was 734 plages. The greatest aspect of the book was his great defense of five-fold ministry and the continued role of apostles and prophets today.

Rick Renner and the use of Greek Language for Interpretation

One feature of the book was an overwhelming emphasis on the Greek language. I was drowning in Greek! Sometimes this produced very good insights. Sometimes it needed correction. There were two corrections I would make. James Barr’s Semantics of Biblical Language is one of the classics in biblical hermeneutics, or text interpretation. In it, Barr criticizes an error of some who seek to use Greek in their exegesis. Words have a range of possible meanings. The translator knows that word range and seeks the best word in the translation as the center of what the original writer intended. Yes, there is somewhat of a word range that can be helpful, but we must not overdo it. The writer of the biblical text is not implying that the whole word range is to be read into the meaning of the text. In the same way, when we read an English paragraph, we do not assume the intended meaning of the word range of the English word which a comprehensive dictionary like the Oxford English Dictionary can give us. Sometimes Dr. Renner slips into this error and overwhelms us by reading too large a word range into the meaning. One other point that should be noted. The Greek of the New Testament has a Hebrew language context. Some have called this Judeo-Greek. So we could use less reference to Greek writers and more to biblical Hebraic backgrounds for understanding.

Paul as the Model for what An Apostle Is

If the book was titled Paul and His Apostolic Ministry, I would not take issue with the content. This is the greatest presentation of the apostolic ministry of Paul I have ever read. The depth of Paul’s sacrifice, his empowerment, and his apostolic suffering are presented with great power. However, Renner then assumes that the meaning of being apostolic is having a ministry like Paul. It is to be pioneering in new fields like Paul, suffering, and manifesting signs and wonders in confirmation like Paul. He does credit Paul’s oversight role in his congregations but does not credit the level of difficulty that oversight over such vast distances with limited transportation presents. Yes, Paul has other team members that make reports.

The primary weakness is not recognizing that Paul speaks of the signs that confirmed his apostleship, but is not saying that all recognized must have the same level of signs. And the signs include the success of his fruit. Indeed Mark says that miracle signs will follow all believers and Renner notes such signs with prophets and evangelists. In my view, of course, there should be a supernatural confirmation of some kind for an apostolic call. And some like Augustine of Canterbury and St. Patrick had ministries that looked very much like Paul’s. One also sees this in the ministry of H.A. Baker, the grandfather-in-law of Heidi Baker among the Tibetans and the Ka Do tribes in Southwest China.

Apostolic Ministry and the Early Church

However, we do need to expand the idea of who is an apostle by referencing the early church. By the end of the New Testament period, apostolic functions of oversight and expansion practically had to be given to regional apostles who were called bishops. One sees this with the messengers of Rev. 2 and 3, the leaders of regional churches or city-wide congregations with multiple meeting places. They lead the presbyteries of the cities. Yes, their leadership produced continued expansion. This was very early and was seen as apostolic ministry. Think of Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Papias, and Ignatius. Some of these knew John. When I look at Church history was Luther apostolic, or Wesley or Zinzendorf? In my view, of course, they were. Renner’s view of who is an apostle is to me for narrow.

Effective Trans-local Leadership

The center for me is trans-local leadership that produces kingdom expansion and with a presbytery gives oversight. It can be regional with an apostolic central church with an apostolic pastor. The idea of Kingdom expansion is really crucial, or the association becomes led by managers. There is an anointing to raise leaders and expand. One can move to be the on-sight pioneer but also be apostolic by training and sending others. Prophetic confirmation of an apostolic call is important to me. Let us not forget that Paul pointed to the people as proof of his apostolic ministry.

The Christian Nationalism Question Again

I have written about this topic before but the controversy again among believers is intensifying. Often there is a lot of heat and little light because terms are not defined.

Idolatrous Nationalism

Nationalism can be defined in an idolatrous way where our loyalty is to be to our nation, right or wrong. This is then applied in a way to the United States that produces real imbalance. I don’t know any Facebook friends of mine who argue for this. But I know this is the attitude of some.

Loyalty to a nation-state

Others point to nationalism about the 19th-century organization of former tribes and regions into nation-states and argue that all are called to loyalty to their nation-state, to make their state the best it can be. As long as they recognize that we are called to care about the world and not only our nation, I embrace this idea. However, America First can be imbalanced if it means America only. I see an isolationism in some that is troubling.

The United States as a Covenant Nation

When one adds the word Christian to nationalism, there are several meanings. One is that the United States is in a special covenant relationship with God like Israel. They trace this to the Puritans and Pilgrims and even the Mayflower Compact. But despite these origins and the theistic theology of the Declaration of Independence, which asserts that all men were created equal, there is no explicit profession of being a Christian nation as was the case for example in the United Kingdom or the Hapsburg Empire. This view of a covenant with God and even an election of the United States is argued in the book by Peter Marshall Jr. The Light and the Glory. The son of the famous Senate Chaplain and the famous mother, Catherine Marshall, is persuasive but I still believe it is wrong.

Christian Nationalism as Seeking the Good of the Nation and Biblical Norms in Society

Others use Christian Nationalism to mean that we are to seek the good of our nation and that our nation was dominated by the influence of the Bible on its laws and its cultural norms. God’s rule of sowing and reaping applies to nations as well as individuals. This is the clear teaching of the prophets and is made clear in the Psalms which call for all nations to acknowledge God and his basic law. Our nation is Christian to the extent that our people are Christian and produce a dominant culture of Christian values. I am very sympathetic to this understanding of Christian Nationalism but still have reservations. I think this was close to the idea of the founders who taught that the republic depended on the Christian life and piety of its citizens.

A Better Approach, a Judeo-Christian Nationalism

Our rights and freedoms are rooted in the Bible. No biblical influence, no human rights! Many historians have noted that. And there is a blessing of God for a nation that acts righteously. But when we say Christian nation, it tends to exclude those who are not Christians. In the book The Hebrew Republic, by Eric Nelson, the author argues that the Hebrew Bible is the source of Western liberties and advancement in laws and rights. Christianity adds wonderful standards of love and mercy that are even greater due to the New Testament, but it is the Hebrew Bible that is the primary source of so much.

It would be better to say that our ideal is to return to being a Judeo-Christian republic and that all are welcome who affirm the laws and standards that arise therefrom, to enjoy the rights and liberties. As such we are a pro-Judeo-Christian religious society. To say that we believe in a quest for a Judeo-Christian Nationalism would be in order. But we are not there at this point. Where things are now, we are drifting away and are not a nation that is truly Judeo-Christian in our values. Many are bible based on their views of law and liberty but many are not. This is why the work of evangelism and revival is the key to restoration.

ISLAM AND THE LAST OF THE LAST DAYS (ESCHATOLOGY)

Three books which I mentioned in a past article argue that Islam will be the final Antichrist movement and the opponents of God’s people in the final battle in the Last Days. George Otis Jr. argued this in the Last of the Giants and looked at the powers of darkness behind Islam as the last and greatest powers in opposition to Yeshua and his Kingdom. Otis majored in spiritual warfare in this book. Dr. Brad Long of Presbyterian Renewal Ministries takes a similar spiritual warfare direction in his writings. Then in more recent years, Walid Shoebat in God’s War on Terror and in several other books presents this case, that Islam will be the last Antichrist power before the return of Yeshua. Joel Richardson makes a similar case in his The Islamic Antichrist.

The Case for Islamic Fascism being the Last Day Power under the Antichrist

Generally, the argument is put forth that Islam presents a false Messiah that supersedes Yeshua. It denies that Yeshua came in the flesh which is the Antichrist spirit according to John in I John 4:3 and has become the primary persecutor of Christians around the world. Islam is the great cult that broke from Christianity. In addition, Richardson and Shoebat argue that the lineup of the nations against Israel in the Last Days Wars is Islamic. Both argue that we have to look out from Israel as the center and not the United States or Europe. Then the lineup of nations is clear. They argue as historian Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, formerly of Rutgers and then Miami University in Ohio, that the northern power fits Turkey more than Russia and these ancient tribes of Ezekiel 38, 39 were in Turkey. Some of those who hold to the traditional view that Russia is in view in these chapters believe that these tribes moved north to Russia. Yet the case of Shoebat and Richardson does have to be weighed and is a serious proposal. However, I am not in this article centering on the exegesis of the Biblical texts but want the center to emphasize Islam and especially the more radical Islamic Fascism. I did review a book on this platform by that name by a former Islamic fascist, Hamed Abdel-Samad. Shoebat also was a former radical Muslim.

Defining Islamic Fascism

What do I mean by Islamic Fascism? Like Nazi Fascism, it is a worldview with a foundational doctrine of seeking to take over the world by any means that will work. This includes immigration, war, manipulation, and more. All strategies and actions that advance Islamic rule are legitimate. Islamic Fascism does seek to be rational concerning what strategy is best at the time and does not want to engage in war pre-maturely which would lead to defeat. However, power assertion and violence are foundational and legitimate as means of extending their fascist rule.

In addition, Islamic Fascism produces governments that are ruled by authoritarian or dictatorial regimes. Islamic Fascism has embraced the most extreme traditions of the suppression of women, unlike more moderate countries like Indonesia. However, Islamic Fascism seeks to supplant the moderate Muslim governments. It is well to note what happens to women after the fascists take over. They are at least head covered and, in some cases, covered to the point that only eye slits are allowed. They live in movable tents. In Afghanistan, they have brought women into bondage and ended education for them. The United States leaders will someday have to account for their cruel abandonment. Western feminists hardly voice any concern about the greatest oppression of women on the planted today.

The Simple Theology and Eschatology

Islamic Fascism has a simple theology. They proclaim that there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.” Mohammed is the number one leading prophet in all of history in this view. The way to the best world is to force all infidels to become Muslim or die or if there is some mercy to submit to servitude and live as second class. It at best then produces a true apartheid system for non-believers and women.

Islam has its one eschatology and vision of the Last Days wars when Islam will triumph over all. In addition, the Shiites, or 12th’ers believe in the return of the 12 leaders of Shiite Islam during a cataclysmic war to bring Islam to victory. Some believe that Iran would start such a war in the hope of deliverance. Iran is the primary force for the Shiite version of Islamic Fascism. They partner with Sunni Fascists, but this is pragmatic. Ultimately, they would have to fight it out in the future and historically were very at odds.

Anti-Israel, Jewish, and Anti-Christian

Islamic Fascists are virulently against Israel and the Jewish people. They also are vehemently against Christians and have slaughtered them in Nigeria, Kenya, and multiple other nations. Even in Mozambique, the Bakers in Iris Ministries have lost leaders to Islamic barbarism. One leading pastor was beheaded.

Israel right now is fighting a war against Islamic Fascism. This is a better term than terrorism since terror is a strategy, not the foundational worldview. Iran, the Houthis, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Shiite Fascists of Iraq and Syria, and more surround Israel. They are all Islamic Fascists.

The Weakness of the West

The West is weak and in danger of defeat when they will not face the ideology of the enemy or even name it rightly. In addition, they do not recognize in the present war, that any agreement is temporary until the Islamic Fascists attain sufficient power to attack again. The issue with the Gaza war is not only their military but that the population is brainwashed by the Fascists and mostly embrace the worldview.

Their Simple and Powerful Theology

Their theology is simpler and easier to understand theology than Naziism. It is more dangerous as it motivates its people with the promise of eternal rewards. It is growing and more and more are being radicalized. One submits to God and Islamic law for eternal rewards.

Russia and China in Alliance

Russia and China allied themselves with the Fascists to weaken the West, but their turn will come someday. It is an alliance of convenience. Amazing how the Islamic Fascists give China a pass on the destruction of their Muslim minority, but it is all part of the pragmatism!

Should the West go to War

Should the West go to war to defeat Islamic Fascist nations? Yes, and the longer the West waits the worse it will be. Even now these fascists are a fifth column in many Western nations. But ultimately this war has to be won by prayer and by supernatural miracles in the preaching of the Gospel. What level of power will be poured out on God’s people to resist this? Much more than we now see. If the Book of Revelation is rightly interpreted, it points to revival and a great harvest as well as martyrdom. But we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony and love not our lives even to death. (Rev. 12:11)

Yes, Islamic Fascism may be the Last Days’ power of evil to oppose Yeshua and his people, His Kingdom.

Vice Presidential Candidate J. D. Vance

I wanted to understand the candidate J. D. Vance. Who is he? What makes him tick? Then I found out that there was a memoir of his life. It covers his childhood to his early 30s and the post-Yale Law School period very briefly. It is call the Hillbilly Elegy. I am trying to discern what God is saying. I am also trying to be discerning of all the prophetic voices, and some not too trustworthy. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the media prophets would be accountable to a real eldership and would post where their accountability is? I am trying to discern. With the positives and negatives of Donald Trump, if God really desires him to be President, he will win. Surely this would fit the classic old hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way His Wonders to Perform.” My interest is seeking the sense of God’s working in all of this to hope that it could be part of an outpouring of revival in America. This is the most important thing.

But now back to Vance. The Hillbilly Elegy is one of the most amazing books I have ever read. Vance grew up in the Hillbilly area of Kentucky. He grew up poor. The book is raw in honesty and sometimes coarse in language. He pulls no punches in describing his family members and their terrible dysfunctions. The drug addiction of his mother, the many men in her life, and the instability. He lived in so many places. His grandparents were separated though they lived near each other. They provided stability for his life between and in the midst of the upheavals. His older sister came out well and an aunt and uncle. He himself lived out several dysfunctions, rage, anger, and reactions, doing poorly in school for a season. In later high school, things began to turn around. He spent some time with his biological father who became a Fundamentalist Pentecostal. For a season he went to church with him and read the Bible from time to time. Finally, he joined the Marines seeking a a step forward. He served in Iraq. Interestingly, he describes the white underclass of the Hillbilly community as very similar to the Black underclass. Despite the claim that he is a white supremacist, it is clear that he empathizes with the black underclass. After the Marines, he did Ohio State’s 4-year program in two years and then went to Yale Law School. This had never happened to any in his community. Then he married an Indian classmate after graduation. He credits much of his growth and maturing in the years at Yale and after to her. He therefore is in an interracial marriage with interracial children.

Vance came to see that no amount of welfare can make up for a stable family and that this is the key to the way out of poverty. Many have argued this though today’s crucial race theory denies this. He therefore became a conservative. His identity is the working class and his heart is with the working class. He sees how the policies of the government have destroyed the economy of these poor areas, and they are economically hollowed out. In the afterward, he attributes his success to those who imparted to him. His gratitude to them is amazing. His forgiveness for his most dysfunctional family members is noteworthy. I teared up reading this.

Finally, after wrestling with Christianity and the many denominations, after writing this book he became a Catholic.

The Democrats now paint him as anti-woman due to an unfortunate statement about some of the single miserable women in the elite as cat ladies (women who cannot find acceptance in marriage and family and thus adopt cats. Amazing. We used this term when I was a kid. I wonder if this is a term in the Hillbilly community. But he is not anti-single women and attributes so much of his success to his grandmother.

The book is so honest, raw, and coarse. Ron Howard made it into a Netflix movie. So, Donald Trump picks a Hillbilly who graduated from Yale as his V. P. He is today a man interested in Christianity in a serious way. His heart is with the underclass.

I see the story as an amazing testimony to the grace of God. Can we look at such an unusual story of overcoming without seeing the hand of God in his life? J. D. Vance is unlike any politician in history, an overcomer from the greatest dysfunctionality who admits his ongoing battles with some of his inherited demons. I am convinced that God has his hand on him but cannot say what this will lead to. But I am convinced by his book that he is no racist, no white supremacist, and loves the underclass, black and white, and the working class. He desires policies that really help. He does see that some government help is beneficial but some programs are destructive. His identification with the underclass poor and the working class could be a revolution for the Republican Party, a significant re-alignment.

At any rate, I was moved by this book. May he find God’s power at new levels and may he come into such a place with his beautiful Indian wife that they could contribute to a revival in America. That is my prayer. I also note that he is pro-Israel. I heartily recommend reading the book.

Forgiveness, Confusion, and Healing

The literature on physical healing through prayer and inner healing (also called spiritual healing) emphasizes that unforgiveness is a hindrance in both types of healing. Book after book presents a prayer for the one receiving ministry to forgive those who have wronged them, to release them, and to release their own emotions to God. However, the theology of this forgiveness is shallow, and I believe, hinders what is desired, namely releasing the person from the bondage of emotions of hate, revenge, and bitterness. This hindrance is especially the case if it is thought that the person who has done the evil act is let off the hook and is no longer to face justice. For example, when a person owes money, the one who forgives the debt absorbs the loss and releases the person from obligation. The forgiveness of Yeshua through His sacrifice releases us from the obligation to pay the price for our sins. He paid the price. Is this what we mean by forgiveness in healing contexts, that the person who did wrong is relieved from the obligation and no longer has to fulfill the claims of justice? It is a profoundly important thing in our Biblical theology that we get the relationships right in being true to the Bible’s teaching on love, justice, and forgiveness.

To clarify the problem, let us give an example. Suppose your child was snatched off the street by a pervert who then violated your child. You and your child would experience deep trauma. The pervert somehow escapes and is not located for arrest though the police try hard. Some years later, you find yourself with a terrible back ailment. During this time, the police find the perpetrator. Some ten years have passed but there is no statute of limitations for this crime. When you go for prayer at a healing prayer service in your congregation, the visiting ministry team leader asks if there is any bitterness or unforgiveness in your heart that could hinder the healing. You think of this pervert and your desire that he be brought to justice. There is still anger, bitterness, and revenge in your heart. Imagine what you have been through trying to bring restoration to your child, now a mid-teen. What does forgiveness mean? That you do not testify and seek to put the pervert in jail? That you have forgiven means that he is released from having to pay the price that justice requires. Where is justice in this definition of forgiveness? Does forgiveness mean that we do not pursue justice? What of the many verses in the Bible that command us to pursue justice? If forgiveness means that the criminal is released from your pursuit of justice, then we have a great contradiction in Biblical teaching. In addition, if we do not pursue justice, the pervert can endanger other children. Yes, I can release a monetary debt, but can I responsibly release an evil person from a just sentence?

This is why in my book Due Process, I distinguish between transactional forgiveness and non-transactional forgiveness. In transactional forgiveness, the person interacts with you and asks for your forgiveness. He or she repents of the wrong and offers to give restitution. The thief restores what was stolen! Yeshua speaks of transactional forgiveness when He says that we are to forgive the brother who seeks our forgiveness 70 X 7 (Matt. 18;22). The person can release the other from debt in some situations, for example, a financial debt. It is their choice. Also, they can forgive the bad act but as in the Torah can still require restitution for the good of the person as well. What was stolen is restored and then some. This is all part of transactional forgiveness. We can release from debt for ourselves personally, but not for others and society might still require a penalty for stealing.

When Yeshua interceded on the cross and said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” (Luke 23:34) He was voicing forgiveness without a transaction of repentance from those who crucified him. This certainly extends to the soldiers who carried out the crucifixion. Was Yeshua speaking also of the religious leaders who sought his death or to the Roman official Pilot who pronounced his judgment? On the other hand, Yeshua did not voice forgiveness for Jerusalem though He desired to see them blessed. He pronounces judgment because they did not recognize the time of their visitation and should have (Luke 19:44). Yeshua in his ministry does not only voice love and forgiveness but also very strong words of condemnation.

The kind of forgiveness required for healing is not to let the criminal off the hook. One may choose to forgive a financial crime but for the good of the thief may exact the penalty. If one forgives the sexual pervert and lets him off the hook one may be guilty of a civil crime! Rather before God one is replacing a desire for vengeance and a heart of bitterness with the desire for good for the criminal. One replaces hatred with love. This releases the person from the bondage of damaging emotions, another effect of the crime from which the person needs to be delivered. The pervert, one will find, often experienced abuse as a child. There is a case for love. However, love in this case, for the criminal, and for the other potential victims, seeks justice. It seeks to see the criminal put in jail, so others are not abused. The just thing is the most loving thing. However, with this type of forgiveness one pursues justice for all who are involved, both the criminal and the victims. It increases the chance for the criminal to be reformed. However, the transaction where bitterness and the desire for revenge are replaced by love and seeking the good of the other is a supernatural change of heart through the Spirit. It releases the person who was wronged from the continued suffering from anger and vengeance which holds the victim in bondage. When people receiving healing ministry voice forgiveness for the offender, I believe this is what is happening in the Spirit even if the theology is not right. Many teach we are to pray blessing upon the perpetrator of the evil for Yeshua taught us to bless our enemies. Yet, what is the blessing? Surely, we are not to pray that an evil person be prosperous and blessed in doing evil, thus reinforcing their evil behavior. The greatest blessing for such a person would be to find, from the Holy Spirit, a spirit of repentance, to turn from their wicked ways and find God. Unlike Jonah, we want to see repentance and blessing, but in the right way, a way that is just. Jonah with a vengeful heart did not want Nineveh to repent and enter into the blessing that would follow repentance.

Our pursuit of healing ministry will be greatly aided if we can explain to the person seeking help that we do not mean the kind of forgiveness that necessarily lets the violator off the hook. Rather we seek a supernatural transaction in God by voicing forgiveness that pursues justice with love for all the parties involved in the difficult situation. I find it strange is so little understood and is almost never taught.

Religious Freedom and Woke Tyranny

When the founders of the United States declared freedom of religion in the United States they set a direction that broke from more than 1400 years of the Western tradition, which first only allowed one legal religion supported by the government, Catholic in the West, Orthodox in many nations east of Western Europe, and then Lutheran in Germany and Scandinavia, and Reformed in Holland and various cantons in Switzerland. It was difficult for people of those times to believe in an ordered society without a state-enforced religion. Then toleration was embraced in the nations of Europe. The United Kingdom embraced their Anglican state church but promoted toleration. State churches were favored with tax support but the non-state churches, sometimes called free churches, also flourished. Roger Williams in Rhode Island Colony founded the first true religious freedom state.

The United States Constitution promoted profound freedom with no favored national religion. There was a profound understanding of the importance of individual conscience. At the time of the founding, there was not much thought of other religions outside of varieties of Christianity and Judaism. There was general support for the Christian consensus for almost 200 years. Religious freedom implied including non-Christian religions and no religion at all. Abraham Kuyper, a Reformed theologian and politician, and the Prime Minister of Holland at the beginning of the 20th century expanded the ideas of religious freedom by thinking in terms of worldview and justice. For Kuyper, religious worldview freedom was very tied to education and being able to raise children in the context of one’s worldview, but of course, in support of the democratic values of Holland. This means equal support for public education through different schools reflecting different world views but required to teach the basics that all need to understand. These profound ideas influenced Northern European nations and still have an effect to this day.

However, the new woke movements of LGBTQ+, transgenderism, and critical race theory transgress religious freedom in ways that are historically unprecedented. Ideas of civil rights naturally expanded to include alternative lifestyles once the Western nations accepted alternative lifestyles as legal and the psychological and psychiatric medical associations removed these lifestyles from their categorization as mental diseases. None of this implies a necessary conflict with religious freedom as long as religious people can still minister and teach their standards and the power of God and spiritual counseling to enable people to conform to biblical norms. However, this freedom is being challenged.

Promoters of the new woke movements are not content with civil rights but are fostering a new faith confession, a religious level of affirmation that now violates the conscience of many who embrace traditional faith confession. This profoundly contradicts freedom of religion. When traditional faith people are required to work with a flag celebrating alternative lifestyles, then there is a violation of conscience. There is a requirement now that all must confess these alternative lifestyles as right and good. This violates, especially, biblical teaching. We now have lawsuits where artists are being pressured and even prosecuted for not creating art that celebrates alternative lifestyles. Workers are being pressured to work under a pride flag, including some who work in government agencies, work as firemen, and in police precincts. Plus, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, DEI, training pressures employees to embrace alternative lifestyles as good. These directions are profound contradictions to religious freedom and promote a new type of religious tyranny. There is a gray area when traditional faith people run businesses that are public accommodations and general services. They might think that their providing is promoting the sin of the customer. While some libertarians have defended those who do not want to provide such services, arguing that others are willing to provide them, this argument will not be upheld in today’s courts. However, cases have been won even in the Supreme Court, to free people from that which endorses and celebrates or requires using one’s creative art to represent or support alternative lifestyles.

However, we should be aware that today’s alternative lifestyle movements do not just seek civil rights and a live-and-let-live society. It is the commitment of many to marginalize and see the rejection of those who do not celebrate and embrace alternative lifestyles. This is one of the great civil rights battles of our time, the full civil rights of the people of traditional Christian and Jewish faiths, and perhaps the Muslim faith as well.