Two-State Solution

Two-State Solution

For many years I have argued against the maximalist idea that Israel should seek to take the whole land and declare it part of Israel, as if this were a biblical promise for now. Indeed, the promised territory stretches into Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, and then through the Sinai down to Egypt. There are some radicals in Israel who actually want to take it all now.

In my view, the biblical promise of the return to the land is for now. Ezekiel 36:24ff. indicates that this return would come before Israel embraces Yeshua. But there is no indication that the Jewish people would take over the whole land and rule it as one state before the return of Yeshua. On this side of the Millennium, I was open to a peace agreement that would lead to a peaceful Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, but the actual land distribution would be negotiated, and Jewish people could live in Judea and Samaria as well.

However, I no longer see this as feasible. The Palestinian Arabs walked away from a very generous offer mediated by President Bill Clinton during the days of Ehud Barak. Clinton concluded that they really don’t want a state but just want to kill Jews. He told Yasser Arafat, “You have made me a failure.” Later, under Abbas, they walked away from an even more generous offer during the presidency of George W. Bush and the Israeli leadership of Ehud Olmert. Prime Minister Sharon released Gaza to independence, but instead of taking the opportunity and building a good society, they made Gaza into one continuous armed fortress to destroy Israel.

Today we see the Palestinian Authority standing with the terrorists, paying the families of terrorists who are in prison or who were killed. This is called “pay for slay.” What President Abbas says to Arabs in Arabic is quite different from what he says in English to the world. His propaganda to the West is for peace, but he only sees a state as a stepping stone to destroy Israel. Radical terrorists are now ubiquitous in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). Abbas and the PA no longer fight this.

So not on a biblical basis, but on a practical basis, I and the majority of Israelis no longer believe in a two-state solution. Twenty-five years ago, most did believe in a two-state solution. So where am I now? I do not see the mindset of the Palestinians as one that makes a two-state solution realistic. Gaza’s future will be connected to Hamas disarmament and what the Board of Peace transition determines. But I now think the only way out of the mess in Judea and Samaria is to annex them. Palestinians can have autonomous towns like Swiss cantons, but no national government in Judea and Samaria. Palestinians can be given residency and citizenship in Jordan or a future Gaza. The textbooks and schools need to be under Israeli control and cleansed of all radicalization.

The ship of the two-state solution has sailed. The world still demands a two-state solution, but this is foolish indeed. They want to demand the impossible and then blame Israel for not doing the impossible. I want to have a chocolate brownie ice cream sundae every day and lose weight. That is impossible, just like the two-state solution.

Our Civilizational Moment II: Who Is on the Right Side

This is my second essay on this theme, but this one comes from a different perspective than the last. Oz Guinness, the famous and brilliant Christian public intellectual and disciple of Francis Schaffer, wrote an amazing book entitled Our Civilizational Moment. Again, I take my title from his book.

Today there are two major worldviews opposing the biblical worldview. The first is what the Muslim-born writer Hamed Adel-Samad called “Islamic Fascism.” His book is brilliant and worth reading. The second is godless leftist humanism. It is different from the more moderate atheistic humanisms of the past. (For example, the late Sidney Hook of New York University was an atheist and a political conservative.) Remarkably, people committed to these two views make common cause. People wonder how this could be, since the contradictions are enormous. The answer is not found in logical analysis but in the princes of darkness behind these movements and their orientations.

Islamic Fascism

Islamic Fascism (Islamism) is an all-encompassing vision that joins religion and politics together. Its goal is to conquer all nations and eliminate all other religions: Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, and Confucianism. It seeks to have all submit to the authoritarian, anti-democratic rule of religious authorities under a supreme leader, a Caliphate. Its methods are infiltration of other societies and war, including terrorism. Its adherents lie and misrepresent, using Western language to blind their hosts.

Secular Leftist Wokeism

The other opposing worldview fosters a secular society, usually envisioned as socialist, that also promotes radical redefinitions of human beings, especially their sexuality. When I speak of socialism, I mean socialism heavily influenced by neo-Marxism. I recognize the 19th-century Christian socialists and the Christian communities in America and Germany. My disagreement with that kind of socialism is empirical and practical: it does not adequately expand wealth to lift people up. Neo-Marxist socialism, however, places everyone in categories of oppressed and oppressor and fosters dangerous divisions in society. Monogamous marriage, the traditional family, and historic moral standards are considered oppressive. All sexual orientations are to be affirmed, and anyone who does not approve is labeled phobic and an oppressor. People have called this outlook “wokeism,” since its adherents called themselves woke. As in the existentialism of the French philosopher John Paul Sartre, humans are seen as radically free to define themselves however they envision. Non-rational proclivities become the basis for the chosen self-definition, whatever the original source of the confusion, including childhood abuse.

Wokeism affirms lifestyles that traditional psychology and psychiatry labeled mental illness. Transgenderism, polyamory, abortion, libertine sexuality, and multiple varieties of gender are all affirmed. Gender confusion is celebrated, which is a celebration of dysfunctional behavior. Capitalism is called oppression. All of this is devastating to human flourishing and fulfillment. Study after study shows that greater flourishing comes from the traditional family. We must not think that everyone who is part of these trends affirms all of them; some affirm one part and not another. But together, these orientations make up the spirit of those opposing the values of Western civilization, and many do affirm them all.

Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism

One amazing aspect of these two orientations is their intense anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Again, this makes no sense in the natural. What is the real connection? The Jewish people are the people of the Book, the book that is the foundation of Western civilization. (See Melanie Phillips, The Builder’s Stone, on this.) What’s more, the powers of darkness under Satan know that the triumph of the biblical worldview is connected to the destiny of the Jewish people. Some Jewish people have gone “woke” and promote it, but they do not escape antisemitism by doing so. They have lost their own meaning as a people. The Bible predicts the Jewish return to the Land, and Zionism is simply the view that the Jewish people need self-determination in their ancient Land. Prophetic Zionism sees the return to the Land as prophetic fulfillment, and also as setting the table for the Jewish people to play their role in the return of Yeshua.

The Western Record of Morality

I affirm the foundation of morals and law in Western civilization. I do grieve over the crimes in Western history. They are mostly a failure of the West to live up to the teaching of the Bible, and especially the teaching of Yeshua.

The Quest for Moral Clarity

I do not affirm the realpolitik that will not face the enemy and name the enemy (or enemies). Our Western governments, including Israel’s, have been unwilling to name the enemy and who is on the enemy’s side. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennet has done the most in this regard.

First, with regard to Islamic Fascism, I ask: which countries and which movements are Islamic Fascist? And second, who supports them? Iran and Afghanistan are Islamic Fascist. Turkey and Qatar are also Islamic Fascist nations but play a double game. Both align with the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot. Israel, the United States, and the West compromise with Turkey and Qatar. Iran leads the Shiite Islamic Fascists. Hamas in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria is Sunni Islamic Fascist. Then there are the Islamic Fascist movements: Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon; Sunni ISIS, Al Quida, and Boko Haram in Africa; the Shiite Houthis who rule part of Yemen; and more.

Who will call a spade a spade instead of thinking that realpolitik can control these nations and movements? They have to be defeated. They must be called out and no longer coddled. Nations like Pakistan play a double game, suppressing religious freedom and allowing Islamist movements to exist within their borders or be supported from there, while publicly distancing themselves. Iraq is partially Islamic Fascist.

Second, there must be clarity and a strong stand against the wokeism that now permeates education. These movements foster moral breakdown and oppose traditional marriage and family. Neo-Marxism is allied with them and labels everyone who opposes their orientations an oppressor. There must be clarity and action. Pulpits in church and synagogue need to become firm bastions of truth and call out this moral rot. Everyone needs to be clear on where they stand.

China and Russia: No Longer Communist

Satanic power also controls the leadership of China and Russia. China is no longer communist; to quote Mao, its leaders have become “capitalist roaders.” They have their own corporations and billionaires, but these are under the control of the state. This is classic fascism. Yet the Chinese leaders will not allow any competing center of power of significance, not even churches or the Falun Gong movement, even when they profess submission to state authority. The goal of these wicked leaders is to exercise all authority and to defeat the West. To that end they support the Islamic Fascists. They also promote wokeism and neo-Marxism in the West through major hidden media efforts. The idea is to weaken the West, especially the United States. Yet if push came to shove, they would obliterate the Islamic Fascists. Look at how the Chinese have oppressed their own Muslims. Still, to weaken the United States, China supports Iran with intelligence and weapons.

Russia is very similar to China. It does partner with a submissive Orthodox Church, but it is the same totalitarianism. Note how Russia crushed its Muslims in Chechnya some years back. Yet to weaken the United States and the West, it supports Iran. It fights a war against Ukraine. Putin wants to take back the countries that were part of the Soviet Union. Demonic power sits at the top of the Russian government.

Telling the Truth and Opposing Evil

The great question of our age is this: can we tell the truth, proclaim the truth, and fight evil? Where are the Churchills of our day? Where is moral clarity? I am not arguing that we should go to kinetic war with these powers, but that we must be clear, do what we can to weaken them, and strengthen those who defend civilization.

The power of prayer to defeat the princes of darkness is essential. Without such prayer, there is no hope that merely human efforts will succeed.

The Great Differences among Israeli Jews

It is difficult for those outside of Israel to begin to grasp the great differences in the groupings within Israel. Here is a list.

1. The secular Israelis are the majority, but they are returning to belief in God and some connection to Jewish traditions, unlike their parents.

2. The moderate modern nationalist Orthodox. These are pro-Israel Jews who fight in the wars, accept dialogue with Christians and would be very similar in heart to the Judaism of Yeshiva University in New York. Some are involved in settling Judea and Samaria. See Rabbi Shlomo Riskin as an example.

3. The radical right-wing nationalist Orthodox are in line with the late Meir Kahane. They want to expel the Palestinians from Judea and Samaria and probably even to expel Israeli Arab citizens. A few rabbis inspire this extremism and violence among young adults who have attacked Palestinian-owned homes, flocks, cars and Palestinians themselves. Itamar Ben-G’vir recently spoke against them but as a follower of Kahane he probably really agrees with them. That he is in the government of Netanyahu is a real problem. They misapply the Torah Moturi and want to take all the land promised and exclude all who are not halakhic Jews from Israel. Due to Bibi accommodating Ben-G’vir, little has been done to bring this submission to the laws of Israel.

4. The moderate Ultra-Orthodox embrace the State of Israel and are willing to serve in the army. They are a small percentage.

5. The large number of the Ultra-Orthodox are very against serving in the army, training for the working world and more. They protest, shut down roads and do all kinds of actions to protest being drafted. They promote a state within the state of those who need welfare and only want to study and argue over Rabbinic literature all day. It is a huge problem of welfare expenditures and lack of contribution to the society.

6. The anti-Israel Ultra-Orthodox. One example is the Neturei Karta and other such groups that are against the state of Israel. They believe that Jewish people should not form a Jewish self-governing state until the Messiah comes. They align with anti-Israel Palestinians.

7. The Messianic Jews. They are pro-Israel, but vary on how much of the Land we should control right now. They are not aligned with one political party.

Well, is it any wonder that politics in Israel is unlike any other place?

What is our response? Our people need Yeshua and we pray for an outpouring of the Spirit to see many more come to faith. We also prayerfully engage with the political process in the Land.

Three Who Fell Under the Power of the Spirit

I had never heard of this phenomenon until 1975. I was now in my first pastorate, Adat Ha Tikvah in Chicago, which had changed its name from the First Hebrew Christian Church. After a bad experience at a charismatic congregation in my last year at Wheaton, I wanted nothing to do with Charismatics or Pentecostals. Though I was still very much a skeptic in my last year at Wheaton, I knew enough to know that the direction of that church was wrong and dangerous. I came back to committed faith in the spring of 1970. By the mid-1970s, I again embraced the reality of immersion in the Spirit, speaking in tongues, and the gifts of the Spirit. How that happened is a longer story. One part of that story is my professor in Philosophy of Religion, Dr. Stuart Hackett. His story is my first account.

Dr. Stuart Hackett

I excelled in Stuart Hackett’s Philosophy of Religion courses in my junior year at Wheaton College. I was thus invited to be his assistant, grading exams and student papers. We became friends in my senior year as a result. I sought to keep in touch and would visit him when in Wheaton to see my future wife, then in her first year of marriage, while she was finishing at Wheaton. Then we moved to Chicago to take the pastorate of the First Hebrew Christian Church. One time Dr. Hackett visited and preached for us. Dr. Hackett was a Christian rationalist — anything real and important could be proven by rational argument and empirical evidence. Then, on one of my visits, he astonished me with the following story.

The first example: I asked him how he was doing with his arthritic elbow. He was now about fifty years old. He used to love doing push-ups but had to give this up. Then he told me the following. I paraphrase, but I believe this account is trustworthy. In answer to my question he said,

“Well, Daniel, you are not going to believe this, but God healed me. I not only had arthritis in the elbow but in my spine. It became terribly painful. A friend wanted me to go to a meeting with a healing evangelist. I did not want to go, but he kept urging. I thought, ‘I guess it wouldn’t hurt to get prayer.’ After his teaching in the church sanctuary, he invited people up for healing prayer. Some of the people were falling on the floor, fainting. It seemed so bizarre. My friend urged me to go up for prayer, but I thought, ‘I don’t want anything to do with this.’ But finally, after his urging, I decided to go up to humor him. I was not going to fall down like these people. The evangelist reached out his hand to pray for me, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor with waves of God’s love flowing over me. When I got up, I was praying in tongues and was totally healed.”

The second example was my brother Richard, who was seven years older than I. Richard was an officer in the Air Force. He was also very rationalistic — my sister called him “the head.” He had straight A’s throughout school, and when he graduated, the local newspaper wrote that he had the highest average in the fifty-year history of the school. He was the last person I expected to tell me this story.

“I attended a meeting of the healing evangelist Gene Lily. I went up for prayer. I did not want to fall down like some people were, but wanted prayer for healing. When he reached out his hand, I hardly remember him touching me — I fell down on the floor. Waves of God’s love came over me. It was the greatest experience of my life.”

Until Richard died in 2002 at the age of 68, from complications of Agent Orange exposure, he said this was the greatest experience of his life. I think it helped sustain him in his last years of physical suffering.

The third account is of my best friend from our secular high school. Michael D’lasnow was Jewish. His grandparents were Orthodox Jews, but his parents were secular Jews. From my sophomore year through my junior year, we walked to school together every day. Mike was a year older than I, but after he graduated and went as a commuter to a nearby university, we used to study together. He was the best man at our wedding. I shared the Gospel with Mike from the time I was fifteen, and when he was fifty years old, in the spring of 1998, Mike prayed to accept Yeshua. My wife Patty predicted this would happen on that trip when we visited. Life had been hard for Mike. He had a degree in psychology and worked as an intake counselor. He held many different jobs but struggled with smoking and some drug use, though he was not an addict. He was in a common-law marriage and had a son. His wife died not long after of a heart attack, and Mike had to raise his son alone. Mike connected with the Messianic Jewish congregation related to ours in Rockland County, New York. He loved the leader, who was a drama professor. Somehow — I’m not sure how — Michael attended renewal services at the Wyckoff, New Jersey, Assembly of God Church. He went forward for prayer and fell under the power of the Spirit. Waves of God’s love overcame him, again and again. Mike professed that this was the greatest experience of his life. He maintained a friendship with Pastor Don James afterward.

There are other friends who had this experience and were, in my view, unlikely candidates.

My Evaluation

When I was a leader at Beth Messiah Congregation in Maryland, near Washington, one of my elders, Gary Dickenson, said that the Holy Spirit was going to move in our congregation and people would fall under the power of the Spirit. I had never seen this and was not excited about it. However, as we prayed for people, it started to happen. There are amazing stories of transformation. I was never overwhelmed at such a time of prayer myself, but I accepted the testimony of others. I also know that people do “courtesy falls” to make the healing evangelist look good. I would question people who fell and ask what happened to them. I found that some had real and powerful experiences, and some did not.

I did have two experiences when I was prayed for where I felt weak and it was difficult to stand. One was in Singapore in 1989, when I was prayed for by the famous Argentinian evangelist Carlos Annacondia. I felt weakness and slipped to the floor. It was not overwhelming, but for the next few weeks there was a powerful sense of the Spirit’s presence. The second time was at a renewal meeting with a pastor-evangelist in Louisville, Kentucky, in the mid-1990s. Some were having amazing experiences, but others were not. However, after I returned home, I had that same experience of a great Holy Spirit presence.

I believe this is a real experience, and some find it transformative. I recall the words of the famous hymn “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.” Those words almost seem to describe the experience of my professor, my brother, and my old high school friend. I wonder if the writer experienced this too.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free. Flowing like a mighty ocean, in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love, Leading onward, leading homeward, to Thy glorious rest above.

UPDATE: Restoration From Zion, What We Are Doing

I, Dan, maintain a very full-time commitment to key projects. I will describe them briefly here. Ben’s work teaching the churches is supported by Restoration from Zion as well.

Here are just some of the things I do that I think are important. Your support for me is key to enabling our work. I am not supported by any of our organizations in Israel but am able to freely give.

The new Bible School. I am the founder and chairman of the board of Jerusalem Bible Institute. Do look this up on your web browser. We have completed our second year and have now educated 32 students in basic Bible and the work of the Holy Spirit. I am very involved in the core team and also give myself to teaching in the weekend overnight gatherings. I also am working to raise funds for the school.
Toward Jerusalem Council II. Our effort to see the worldwide Church embrace and come into unity with the restored Messianic Jewish community continues. I am in the core team executive and lead the effort to reach denominational leaders. We are making great gains in this and look forward to this council. When the Church is one with its Messianic Jewish contingent, it will bring greater advance and blessing. We have the amazing support of theological leaders as well. This all takes great effort.
I continue to provide a senior eldership presence to our pastoral team at Ahavat Yeshua. Strategizing and governing in this important Jerusalem congregation is a key commitment.
I am working to see those of similar convictions come together in cooperative unity in Israel. We are making progress toward this end.
I give help to strengthen the 30 congregations in the Tikkun America network and give three months a year of attention to this.
I am part of the core leadership of the International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders and give my effort to strengthen this important movement. Our last great project, led by coordinator Mark Pfeiffer, was called the Kingdom Accountability Project. Do look this up. It calls for the Church to have true accountability structures and to handle gross moral failure and abuse in a godly, righteous way.

Your support enables us in these involvements. Please sign up for our newsletter so you might be given monthly updates.

Paradox and Right Theology

Truth Is Paradox

In 1967, my junior year at Wheaton College, I studied under the esteemed philosopher Dr. Arthur Holmes. You can look him up. One day he made a statement I found astonishing: “Truth is paradox.” On the face of it, this seems to assert that two contradictory things can both be true. But I came to realize that’s not the only meaning. Paradox can also describe something that appears contradictory but isn’t. Further reflection shows it’s not a contradiction at all, but a window into deeper truth.

Biblical Paradoxes

Much theological error comes from grabbing one horn of a dilemma and denying the other. Because of the complexity of God, creation, and divine truth, we find important truths through paradox. Here are a few worth noting. The Bible teaches that we are saved by faith, yet says we will be judged, or saved, by our works (Eph. 2:8-9; Matthew 16:27; II Cor. 5:10; James 2:24). The Bible teaches that the Kingdom has come and that the Kingdom is future — already but not yet. Which is it? John and Yeshua said the Kingdom of God is at hand, which many interpreters read as “available to you” (Matt. 3:2, 4:17). The Bible tells us we are free from the Law, but then says we are to keep the Law (Rom. 7:1-6, Romans 8:4, I John 3:4). The Bible indicates that God knows the future and has predestined us to be conformed to Yeshua, yet says that salvation is offered to all (Romans 8:29, II Peter 3:9). Yeshua tells us in Revelation 22:12 that He is coming soon, but Peter tells us that with God a thousand years is as a day (II Peter 3:8). There are other paradoxes we could point to as well.

Embracing the Paradoxes and Going Deeper into Biblical Truth

The key to solid grounding in the truth is embracing the paradoxes and drawing out interpretations that reveal the deeper truth beneath them. There are even times when the Bible itself provides a path of resolution. Let’s look at the ones I’ve listed.

Grace and works, or grace and law. God has not eliminated His standards. He calls us to live according to His standards, as in the Law of Moses and the commandments of the New Covenant Scriptures. The truth in the paradox lies in how we approach the Law. On the basis of our own efforts and self-righteousness, we stand condemned. Yet the grace of God is the empowerment of the Spirit by which we obey. Romans 8:4 notes that the requirements of the Torah are fulfilled by those who walk by the Spirit. There is an entirely new grace, power, and Spirit by which we live. Eph. 2:8-9 tells us we are saved by grace through faith, but then says we are to work out our salvation in an obedient life, for God is at work in us. We are created to walk in the good works God prepared beforehand for us. Judaism knows this paradox too, singing in the High Holiday liturgy that we have no works to commend us but depend on His mercy and grace (Avinu Malkeinu). Fail to handle this rightly, and you fall either into hyper-grace theology, where one can continue in sin and still be saved, or into works righteousness.
The Kingdom has come but not yet. The passages describing the future Kingdom are too numerous to list — that we will rule and reign with Him, that the twelve Apostles will sit on twelve thrones judging the nation of Israel (Matthew 19:28), that Yeshua will attain rule over all the nations after His return (Rev. 21, 22), plus the great statements of the prophets about that future, glorious Kingdom. Yet Yeshua taught that the Kingdom was in our midst (Luke 17:21). It has begun and is growing like yeast in a lump of dough (Matthew 13:33). It is spread by the Word (Matthew 13:1-8), but it also grows alongside weeds (Matt. 13:24-30). With the death, resurrection, ascension, and rule of Yeshua, and the giving of the Spirit, the Kingdom is here now, but only in part. We still look forward to a future Kingdom when all opposing rule is defeated. In this life, as Yeshua said, we will have tribulation (John 16:33). Those who overemphasize the future miss the benefits and power that are theirs now. Those who overemphasize the present — realized eschatology — miss the blessed hope of His return and our ultimate destiny.
Is Yeshua coming soon? Was He really coming soon, as He announced to His disciples and in Rev. 22:12? From our human perspective, it can seem like this statement wasn’t true. II Peter 3:8 tells us the delay is no delay to God, for with God a thousand years is as a day. This gives us the key to living in the tension: He could come soon, but there could also be delay. We plan for both possibilities. The paradox itself is what shows us how to live between His ascension and His coming.
Does God know the future, and are we predestined? The Bible does say we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). Ephesians 1 tells us we were predestined, or chosen, in Him before the foundation of the world. But as noted, Peter in II Peter 3:9 speaks of the delay in His return as rooted in His desire to give more people time to repent. I Tim 2:4 says God desires all people to come to the knowledge of the truth. For some 58 years I have reflected on what time is like to God, and I know I cannot fully work it out. Strict predestinarian Calvinists land on one side of the paradox, saying God simply chooses some to be saved and some to be damned. Radical free-will advocates argue the opposite — that God cannot know the future in detail, since the choices of free beings are undetermined and unknowable. Isn’t it better to embrace the paradox, and say that God holds all things under His ultimate control while human beings remain free to choose, to respond, to be saved or lost?

The Bible presents us with non-contradictory paradoxes that deepen our spirituality. If we reflect on them, we’re left in awe of His majesty and the unmatched depth of the Word of God.

RELATIONAL LEADERSHIP The Professional Model

When I attended the Presbyterian Seminary from 1972–1974, we were taught that we were professionals and should not develop personal friendships with the elders or the people. We were to maintain a professional distance for counseling, preaching, and leading board meetings. Friendships were to be cultivated with other pastors and people outside the congregation. I call this an organizational professional model.

When I was in graduate school from 1969–71, I developed a vision that was the opposite of this. I saw in the model of Yeshua a friendship relationship model. He lived with the disciples for over three years. They developed a deep friendship with Him and with each other. In John 15:15, Yeshua calls His disciples friends and says that as a friend He tells them what He is doing — what He is planning.

The Acts 2:42 Model

In Acts 2:42 and following, we read that the new community was continually together, met from house to house, shared meals, and gave themselves to prayer and the apostles’ teaching. In that era, my student friends were reacting against what we called the plastic, the artificial, the inauthentic in relationship. We saw an alienated population driven by economic motives. We wanted to see a lasting biblical community that brought humane living for God’s people. We called this developing a community characterized by covenant love relationships that would last a lifetime. In such a community, love would be tested, people discipled, and lives grown into the likeness of Yeshua. Open, transparent relationship would be the key. New people would be won to Yeshua and added to the community.

This is certainly the model we see with Paul. Note how he expresses his father’s heart to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 4:15). Note also how Paul wept when parting from the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20. This is not a distant professional model.

Implementing the Acts 2:42 Model

My first opportunity to implement this vision came when I was called to the First Hebrew Christian Church in Chicago in 1972. I didn’t yet have a method for raising leaders — I only knew to call those who were willing to live nearby and form a proximity community, within walking distance of one another. Forty-five people heeded that call. I developed discipleship lessons, and from those who were responding to the vision — now a Messianic Jewish vision — elders were nominated from among those who seemed mature enough. Two of the key couples were young and as yet had no children; our first child was born in 1975. But the idea of long-term community and raising our children together inspired us all.

Then, to our surprise, we were called to move from Chicago to lead Beth Messiah Congregation in the Maryland suburbs of D.C. The question now was how to build community and develop elders in this new context. My heart’s prayer was that God would give us a group of elders who would walk together in a covenant love relationship for a lifetime.

A Growing Understanding of Developing Leaders

In the early years at my new congregation, I discovered a network of congregations that emphasized raising leaders. If we are to grow in a community-oriented way, we are limited by the number of elders and home group leaders we can raise. Here is what I learned.

Preach radical commitment and dedication to the Lord, and submission to His will in leading us in service within the congregation.

Find those who are willing to be raised. Look for four characteristics: A. Worshippers of God. B. Teachable. C. Marriage and family in order. D. Intellectual capacity to lead and articulate.

If no one yet fit the criteria, then it was my job to find those closest to qualifying. The key was to spend time with them, invest in them, and build relationship while discipling them toward that mark. This sounds exactly like what Yeshua did — and it worked. Not only did we raise elders and shamashim (deacons), but we built covenant love relationships that have lasted in many cases to this day, forty-five years later. Home groups became the basis for intimacy, love, and transparency among members.

This covenant love connection extended into a network of congregations, the planting of new congregations, and even ministry stretching across the ocean to Israel — where I now serve alongside my right-hand and left-hand leaders from that early season, together with people who were in my congregation then and are now part of our congregations there.

The Mystery of the Lost Tribes

The occasion of this article is a book I read by an Antiochian Orthodox Christian theologian/pastor, Stephen De Young, The Religion of the Apostles: Apostolic Christianity in the First Century. Dr. De Young wrote another book, St. Paul the Pharisee: Jewish Apostle to All Nations. Both books are quite amazing. The latter sees Paul within Judaism and loyal to the Torah and Jewish traditions. It fits what is today being called the “Paul within Judaism” school of interpretation. The former has some significant insights into the plurality of God in the Hebrew Bible and also puts forth a theology of the Council of God.

In dealing with the so-called lost ten tribes of Israel, the author asserts that the fulfillment of the promise of their regathering is in the Church. Since the lost tribes were scattered to the nations, their separate identity was lost, and now their DNA is mixed with the DNA of many nations. Their physical DNA has been greatly diminished and their ethnicity also lost. However, through the spread of the Gospel, the nations are gathered, including those with ancestry from the lost tribes. The author is not asserting the Ephraimite movement error claiming that the Church is literally the lost tribes. Rather, those who become Christians are literally their descendants. De Young does not address the prophecies that the scattered northern tribes are promised a regathering to the Land of Israel. He comes very close to replacement theology, or supersessionism. In my evaluation, the mysterious promise of the Bible to restore the northern tribes of Israel remains unsolved. Judah was preserved and brought back to the Land after the Babylonian captivity at the end of the 6th century B.C., as predicted by Jeremiah.

The Thirteen Tribes

The idea of a division into ten tribes and two tribes is simplistic. The south included 3½ tribes—Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon (whose towns were integrated into Judah)—and half of the tribe of Levi. The northern tribes were actually 9½ tribes, since Joseph was divided into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. The Bible promises a restoration to the Land of all the tribes.

The Promise of the New Covenant to Israel and Judah

Jeremiah 31 promises the New Covenant. It is promised to the house of Israel (the northern tribes) and the house of Judah (the southern tribes). The promise continues in verses 35–36 that “Israel’s offspring will not cease from being a nation . . . Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, will I cast off the offspring of Israel—for all they have done.” This is declared as certain as the fixed order of the sun, moon, and stars (vv. 34–35).

The Prophecy of Ezekiel: The Return of All the Tribes and the Unity of the North and South

Ezekiel 36 promises not only the return of the southern captives from Babylon as prophesied in Jeremiah (the 70 years), but that on the mountains of Israel, God says, “I will settle a large population upon you—the whole house of Israel, all of it.” In Ezekiel 37, the famous dry bones chapter, the bones are the whole house of Israel. God promises in verse 14 to put His Spirit in them, and they will live. The chapter then prophesies the unity of the northern and southern tribes—the two sticks of Joseph representing the North, and Judah the South—and they will become one stick.

Solutions to the Mystery of the Northern Tribes

I do believe that the return of the Jewish people to the Land is a fulfillment of prophecy. But what of the northern tribes? Several solutions have been proposed.

People of the northern tribes came south during the revivals of King Hezekiah and King Josiah and celebrated the Passover. Some stayed and were integrated into the South. Thus, they became one stick. The return to the Land today, then, does include all the tribes of Israel.

There is yet a regathering of the northern tribes to come. We see this also in the return of the B’nei Menashe from India, who have been received in Israel. At the beginning of the Millennial Age, there will be more regatherings. The borders promised for a greater Israel could accommodate large numbers.

The spread of the Gospel does gather those from the northern tribes, and many more from the nations who are not from these tribes. The unity of Christians with Messianic Jews is a beginning fulfillment of the Ezekiel texts, since the Church includes the northern tribes. God will someday distinguish those who are descendants of these tribes and bring them to the Land as their place. This could be a millennial fulfillment. The Church as a whole is grafted into Israel and the Jewish people, as foundational to her identity. A Dutch theologian friend of some note suggested a solution like this. It may be that the DNA is not so diminished as claimed by De Young.

The Mystery Remains

The promises that include the northern tribes still remain a mystery. Perhaps the solution includes all three suggested possibilities. However, my reflection after many years is that I just do not know, and I don’t think we can know. But the promises of God remain true, and He will fulfill them according to their contextual meaning, without spiritualization or replacement theology (supersessionism). I should note that there is also much speculation in Rabbinic Judaism as to how this will be fulfilled—its fulfillment connected to the coming of the Messiah.

The Last Days, Islam and George Otis Jr.

In 1966 I visited Rutgers University and attended an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship meeting at the invitation of a friend from my high school church youth group. I was a freshman in college. The faculty sponsor was Edwin Yamauchi, who went on to become a noted ancient Near East and biblical scholar. Soon after, I read a journal article by him arguing that Ezekiel 38 and 39 — describing last wars against Israel — was not about Russia, but that the names pointed to tribes and areas of what is today’s northern Turkey. His linguistic and geographical arguments were persuasive, though some of these tribes could have migrated into southern Russia.

The Final Battle as an Islamic War

Recently, the idea has been put forth that the final battle leading to the return of Yeshua is an Islamic-led war, with Turkey featuring prominently. This fits Yamauchi’s research. Two authors, Joel Richardson and Walid Shoebat, argue for this and note that the biblical descriptions emphasize the surrounding nations. Richardson wrote The Islamic Antichrist. While neither author is conclusively dogmatic about end times details, these books offer a probable scenario. See our book Israel, the Church and the Last Days.

George Otis Jr. and the Last of the Giants

For the past several months, a book by George Otis Jr. — The Last of the Giants — kept coming to mind. It was written over 35 years ago. I referenced another of his books on spiritual warfare, The Twilight Labyrinth, in my own book Powers of Light and Darkness (subtitle: Angels, Demons and Spiritual Warfare: What the Bible Really Teaches). It had been many years since I’d read Last of the Giants, but my memory was that it dealt primarily with Islam and tracked closely with the thesis of Richardson and Shoebat. With the ongoing war against Iran and its proxies, and living here in Israel, I wanted to revisit it. My question: after 35 years, was it still relevant — or had it joined the long list of books on the last days that missed the mark?

I was quite amazed on several points. Otis wrote before the dissolution of the Soviet Union and predicted that the collapse would give rise to a fascist Russia — something we are watching unfold today. He also predicted that the dissolution would greatly strengthen Islam, particularly because several of the former Soviet republics would be Islamic. So while Communism and fascist dictatorships were giants in their time, the last of the giants is the demonic realm behind radical Islam. Otis points especially to the 10/40 window, stretching from North Africa across the Middle East through Pakistan, India, and Southeast Asia. These are the territories of the great unreached people groups — mostly Islamic nations, with the exceptions of India and parts of Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand).

The Challenge to Reach the People of the Islamic Nations

Otis presents the challenge of reaching these people groups through focused prayer and engagement. He does not call for commanding principalities or princes of darkness — rather, it is about focused intercession and discernment of the power of darkness over territories. He expects a great harvest and calls for supernatural ministry to reach these peoples. He is also clear that these same nations will engage in the last war against Israel.

I was quite pleased that Otis’s book has stood the test of time. Our connected ministries have been sensing that the salvation of Israel will be deeply connected to the witness of former Muslims, and especially Arabs. A few weeks ago, the Jerusalem Post featured an article by a former Muslim who had been part of Iran’s terror network and participated in hangings. His supernatural vision of Yeshua — and the full weight of his testimony — was compelling. May we see many more such testimonies widely reported in the Jewish press.

Maria Woodworth Etter: A Key Figure in Pre-Pentecostal and Early Pentecostal Ministry

For many years I have heard the name Maria Woodworth Etter. I first heard about her at a Kenneth Hagin conference on healing at Rhema Bible School in Oklahoma in 1983. I heard the story about her being in a trance for a long period of time — someone said it was for days. Something pricked my interest in recent months, and I decided to look into this noted evangelist and revivalist. I did not find the report of her being in a Holy Spirit trance for days.

Why Study Maria Woodworth Etter?

It is well to study this amazing woman and her ministry for insight into the great outpouring of the Spirit in Pentecostalism. It was even much greater than I had imagined.

For the last two years I have been studying the miraculous in the advance of the Gospel of the Kingdom — healings, outpourings of the Spirit, supernatural phenomena, revivals and more. Professor Craig Keener, one of the world’s leading New Testament theologians, published a massive two-volume set documenting the most wonderful miracles. His book is entitled The Credibility of New Testament Miracles. One could misunderstand the title. It is not a defense that the miracles recorded in the Bible really happened — there is already a good bit of writing on that. Rather, Keener’s book is about New Testament miracles happening in our day. Keener traveled the world to document and confirm.

Many point to the revival at Azusa Street in Los Angeles as the launch of the Pentecostal movement, where healing miracles and other supernatural events were widely reported. Yet the movement of healing and miracles did not begin with Azusa Street — one can point to the Faith Cure Movement of the 19th century. The Pentecostal movement, however, was so very important. Fr. Peter Hocken, in his book Azusa, Rome and Zion: Pentecostal Faith, Catholic Reform and Jewish Roots, argues that the Pentecostal movement, the charismatic movement, and the Messianic Jewish movement are intersecting with great implications for the return of Yeshua. It is a profound book.

Maria Woodworth Etter — Etter from this point forward — was pre-Pentecostal. She had a dramatic baptism in the Spirit, heard the voice of the Spirit calling her to evangelism, and received revelation that preaching on healing and praying for the sick were to be central to her ministry. I read two biographies and then her own massive account of her ministry. Etter was licensed by the Church of God, Anderson, Indiana, which in those days was more oriented to the supernatural works of the Spirit. The stories are amazing, and Etter sought documentation from doctors and detailed, credible testimonies.

When the Pentecostal movement began, she had questions — were tongues, which she practiced and promoted, really the essential sign of the baptism in the Spirit? Eventually she identified with the Pentecostals, and for the last ten to fifteen years of her ministry until her death, that identification was clear.

The Believable Accounts

The accounts are believable. I think she may have been the most effective healing evangelist in the history of the American Church. Reading through the credible accounts is like drinking from a fire hose. Instant healings of terrible conditions — blindness and deafness from birth, paralysis even from birth, and multiple serious diseases — are documented page after page. In all of her meetings, many fell under the power of the Spirit. She did experience trances, and a few times maintained an impossible posture, standing rigid for hours. Her ministry was a key example and inspiration for Aimee Semple McPherson, who founded the Foursquare Church denomination.

She lost all her children at young ages, save one daughter, yet she carried on — indefatigable. She kept a schedule that was superhuman, traveling from east to west and north to south.

Etter’s Theology

What about her theology? She maintained an orthodox Pentecostal confession. Her sermons, several of which appear in her book, show she was totally immersed in Scripture and could bring text after text from memory spontaneously and at an amazing level — this without a Bible college education. I take little issue with most of her preaching, though her exegetical accuracy is not the highest; more than 85% solid, in my view. One notable point: she proclaimed that Jesus was coming soon. This was the message given in tongues with interpretation, in prophecies, and in multiple visions. It may seem in part unfulfilled, yet the soon return of Yeshua is always the orientation of disciples — indeed, it is the very word of Yeshua himself, spoken 2,000 years ago. Sometimes Etter presents a pre-tribulation view of the rapture of the saints; other texts suggest a post-tribulation view. She did believe in the regathering of Israel and, even at that early stage of the return, pointed to its significance as fulfilled prophecy.

A Window into the Early Pentecostal Movement

Etter is a great window into the early Pentecostal movement. There was more amazing power, more outpourings, and more miraculous workings than I had imagined. Pentecostalism, including the newer charismatic streams, now comprises the majority of the Protestant evangelical world. At the Pentecostal World Fellowship in Finland last May, we heard wonderful stories of the advance of the Gospel with signs and wonders — most coming from the Southern Hemisphere, from Global Christianity.

My Great Desire, Hope and Prayer

So how does this fit my calling and our work in the Land of Israel? It is part of increasing my faith that a great signs-and-wonders movement of the Gospel will return to Israel. I long to see it and to be part of it before I die. As it was in the days of the Apostles — may it be so again, and as amazing and powerful as those old Etter meetings!