A Different Kind of Crisis

 

And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
“I see a branch of an almond tree,”[ (shaqed) "the watcher" tree ] I replied. 

“You have observed correctly,” said the LORD, 

“for I am watching (shoqed) over My word to accomplish it.”
Jeremiah 1:11-12

May 18, 2021: There is an explosion of intercessory prayer being made for Israel right now. We are hearing about it from many different corners of Christianity. The rockets and riots from the terrorists in Gaza and those who have been indoctrinated by their hate inside Israel have put a sharp point on the prayers of the saints for Israel. This intersection of prayers and violence is awakening the Church to pray for Israel.

But there is a different kind of crisis going on that a great many of those who know to pray against the physical warfare do not yet understand is the urgent need of the body in Israel for financial relief so its ministries can minister the light of Yeshua to their communities. 

Covid restrictions in Israel have already put many of the congregations and ministries, including the Messianic run humanitarian outreaches into extreme financial stress. With the launch of war falling on the heels of Israel lifting Covid restrictions, there are many who are facing losing their facilities and other ministers are going with any income to support their families. There are things every ministry needs to continue ministering to the people. Israel is a special case and the apostle Paul knew that the body of Messiah would not be able to raise their own full ministry finances without the help of the churches.

That is why Paul wrote to the church in Rome, “Romans 15:26-27 “For it has pleased them of the Macedonia and Achaia churches to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It has pleased them truly; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in material things.”

As the Church is learning to pray for Israel, we must also learn of our duty to come alongside the Messianic Israelis with financial aid. 

One of the most powerful things Paul did, in complete surrender of his life to God's purposes, was his last trip to Jerusalem to carry the financial contributions he had the churches under his oversight collect over at least a 3-year period. As he made the trip, with a representative from each church accompanying him to witness what was done, prophets came out all along the journey to tell Paul he was going to be chained and imprisoned if he continued his mission. He believed them and was emotional about it, but he said he was prepared to take it all the way regardless. Even to this day there are second guessers who believe "he blew it" not heeding the prophetic word, but that is because they don't know that the prophetic words given were not meant by God to stop Paul, they were only meant to make sure Paul understood the full cost to himself to carry his mission to the full. This is the apostle that said,

Romans 9:1-5 I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise!

Paul willingly laid down his life to establish the fund of financial relief from the churches to the use of the Messianic leaders in Israel. He did not carry those funds to the Israeli government, the Sanhedrin, the Temple upkeep. No! Paul established the churches in giving towards the ministry needs of the body of Messiah in Israel. It went on for an unknown number of years but had ceased before 318 AD.

I believe that precedent Paul established is what was so important to God not only for then but for NOW. God did not let Paul make himself accursed from the faith, but He did allow Paul to fully sacrifice freedom and ultimately his life, to model for the Gentile churches what the Israeli Messianic believers needed to flourish under harsh circumstances - in the first century and in THIS season.

We Are in a "Let My people go" moment

by Donna Diorio

 
For the fasting and prayers that have been going on probably worldwide by Christian and Messianic Jewish believers in Yeshua, those who understand God's purposes in restoration of Israel in the end of this season, WE HAVE BEEN SEEKING GOD FOR AN OUTPOURING OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT LIKE WAS GIVEN AT THE TIME OF THE FEAST OF WEEKS IN ACTS 2. As always, there is a demonic manifestation coming at the same time: an outpouring of rockets upon the Israeli people in their towns.

We are praying for an outpouring of power like Yeshua promised in Luke 24:49 that would be poured out on the disciples He sent to Jerusalem to pray in the Upper Room, in order to witness with power about His salvation. "And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

This outpouring is not a one-time thing - not in the personal sense of our lives and not in a historical-prophetic season. We must have fresh anointing in the seasons of our personal lives, and we also need a fresh anointing in prophetic seasons. We are in the midst of a dawning of a new season beginning, and a prophetic outpouring that again will be poured out in Israel first, then flow throughout the nations.

Yeshua's promise to the disciples in Luke about the outpouring that would take place in Acts 2 Jerusalem, was PART of the Isaiah 32:15-17 prophecy. But there is more to the Isaiah prophecy that was not fulfilled at that time of Acts 2 - but I believe refers to the time we are in at this exact moment - the moment of this Shavuot/Pentecost, of the outpouring again on Jerusalem and upon those who are crying out for Israel's salvation today:

Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
And My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

Why would the enemy stir up such warfare against Israel at this time? Isn't it obvious? Because the outpouring of power is coming and the only way the enemy can stop it is to try to steal, kill and destroy those who will come into the Kingdom in Israel after this outpouring from God (which will trigger salvation around the world). And the only way we can stop the enemy's fury is with a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in power to stand. 

We are in a "Let My people go moment." As Pharaoh's false prophets came out to duplicate the miracles God was performing through Moses as he sought the release of the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, so now we are all standing in unity with the believers in Israel seeking the outpouring like Acts 2 for the salvation of ALL Israel. This is such a major move of God coming, not wonder the enemies of God are pouring out rockets and inner city violence all of the Land to break the faith of believers that God's miracle is coming, and to try to kill as many Jews as they can before it comes. Keep up your prayers for we are in a truly holy war that we are going to be ultimately victorious in. 

Israel & the Church Breakthrough! & Acts 2021

To the right of Cody Archer's shoulder is Mt Hermon in the Golan Heights which in recent days has gotten snow, and to the left, with the Jordan River in between, is the upper Galilee. Cody is pointing out the Jordan River is "overflowing it's banks" as it flows down into the Galilee.  We know that familiar phrase from Joshua 3, where like Moses had led Israel out of Egypt by crossing the Red Sea, now Joshua was leading Israel into the Promise Land by crossing the Jordan River. In Joshua 3: 15 we read of the crossing and that "the Jordan overflows its banks all during the harvest." WATCH

Israel & the Church Breakthrough! & Acts 2021

by Donna Diorio

I saw something profound that I must share with you. It came from the Upper Room in Dallas and I'm going to share the link you so can see it for yourself. For me it was like watching what I have longed to see for years beginning to break forth right before my eyes. My friend Liz Rhodes of Echad told me I needed to watch it and I'm so glad I did. Liz told me to advance to a certain time point in the video but the worship was so good, that I lingered there and that is where the first inklings began to hit me that this church understood about Israel. It may not be an in-depth understanding, but clearly God has given them a profound revelation of how the church must cry out for the salvation of Israel!

     After watching I told Liz we were like two Rhoda's - minding the door while fervent prayer was going on inside the house for Peter to be freed from prison - then when Peter was there knocking at the door, Rhoda was so blown away with what she was seeing before her eyes that she didn't even let Peter into the house. She closed the door and ran to tell the others Peter was at the door! We can hardly believe what we see on this video.

      It all began as New Jersey Messianic rabbi, Jason Sobel took the leaders, Michael and Lorisa Miller to Israel over a year ago. God really did something profound with them opening their eyes.  In this meeting which took place Sunday morning 3/21 are Jason Sobel, Lou Engle and his wife and a young woman, Nava Neibor. In the midst of al they are relating about the vision that God has given them to cry out in intercession for the salvation of Israel, Lou Engle says the most profound thing and I have never heard him understand that call in such a profound way. Engle steps up and says that there is breakthrough happening. He says that he just got a life shift! That his thing has always been Revival for America, but it became Salvation for Israel first.

     Engle begins to tell about Nava relating a dream to him about them being in an "upper room" and a wind blowing. He asks, Can you feel the wind? Then he blows me away saying, "This is that!"  (This is meaningful to me because it is what the Spirit spoke to me was how we know with certainity what prophecy is from God's lips, because as it unfolds we know, "this is that" prophecy.)

     Lou Engle said that Nava had a word for him in the dream, it was: You cannot pray for revival in America until you first pray for salvation of the Jews!!!

     Lou says, I feel we are in the Upper Room right now! In the dream, Nava as the Jewish representative could not awaken from her dream until the Church began to pray for the salvation of Israel - to pray for the salvation of the Jews.

     Then he switches gears for a moment. He tells them how Israelis were praying for President Trump in the election because he was a friend to Israel. Because of all the controversies, he adds the disclaimer that he is not making a comment on Trump's character, but Trump was a friend to Israel. Also he brings up the fact that at one point before the election there was a worldwide call of witches to cast curses on Trump. (I remember it, do you?) As Lou Engle says, you have to ask yourself why it was so important to witches worldwide to have an orchestrated cursing of President Trump?  (No Trump wasn't perfect, but neither are any of those who have denigrated him and those of us who support him.)

     It seems to me that as he is speaking Lou Engle gets a new verse springing to his mind, which is Isaiah 6:1, which is a verse I also got in the past couple of weeks so this puts my attention on alert to what he says next. He says when King Uzziah died then Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. When King Uzziah died - "when governmental help disappeared" - then Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up.

     There is no condemnation of the king/president in that statement.  King Uzziah did great things for Israel prevailing against their enemies and establishing a peace and prosperity, as did Trump. But when our good leader is lost - through dying after a 52-year reign, or through a stolen election after a mightily effective 4-year term, and we are grieving and experiencing the loss, then the vision of the LORD arises and His train fills the temple.

     I have always loved Isaiah 6:1, but I was never so curious about the train as I was hearing that in my spirit a couple of weeks ago. I looked it up and saw that it was not like I had always assumed, like the train of bridal dress, but more specifically it was like the flowing robes of the High Priest's robe.  Yeshua is our High Priest and His robe is filling the temple (we are His temple, individually and collectively). Our High Priest's train is filling the temple - the temple that is made up of Jew and Gentile.

     This week I intended to write about our other call as the church toward Israel. I was going to call it Acts 2021. To financially support the Israeli ministries especially during this time of "famine" - the economic shutdown that has come over the whole world.  The apostle Paul wrote about it extensively, all though it is like bread crumbs that we must pick up out of the Acts and his letters.  But when he first got the revelation in Acts 11, he was prompted to carry a donation to the believers in Jerusalem because the prophet Agabus told of a famine coming over the whole earth. It was coming over them all, but Paul recognized that it was hit the believers in Israel especially hard. It is the same for us today - it is tough all over, but it is especially hard on the believers in Israel. They need our help.

     Paul took the offering to Jerusalem but while he was there the whole of Israel was in an uproar. Peter and James had been arrested by King Herod, and James is beheaded. The whole body of believers is praying fervently for Peter, and Peter is miraculously sprung from prison by an angel. He goes to the house where the believers are praying for him, and Rhoda opens the door, hardly able to believe her eyes.  Soon after King Herod dies of suddenly after comparing himself to God.  Paul and Barnabas finish their mission to deliver help to the leaders of the body in Jerusalem, returning to Antioch.

     From that point on, in all the cities that Paul established churches in, he told them to set aside donations that he would carry back to help the believers in Israel. He was not carrying it back for the Jewish Fund, for the Israeli government, to plant trees or build a yeshiva. He set himself to establish a collection that would be brought to the Messianic leaders to distribute to the needs of the believers in Israel and to keep the Gospel message going forward. It was not strictly humanitarian, but it was also humanitarian. It was for the building of the kingdom in Israel, for the salvation of Israel.

     I received this understanding from the scriptures around 1992 or so, and have watched for it to begin to break forth ever since. Little by little I have see the understanding grow, and I believe that what I saw in the Upper Room video is a brand new breakthrough of these things which go hand in hand: crying out in intercession for the salvation of all Israel and the recognition that the believers in Israel are the ones God has sent to proclaim salvation...and they also need our financial help to do it. Paul modeled in Acts 20-21, laying down his freedom to do so, what the church in the last days would rise up to continue. 

BACKTRACKING UPDATE TO ADDRESS 1 THING LOU ENGLE SAID THAT COULD LEAD TO MISINTERPRETATION AMONG THE CHURCH: 

In relating to Isaiah 6:8-9 to hearing Isaiah 6:1 in relation to the call to pray for the salvation of Israel, Lou Engle said: "There’s a sending. Those that didn’t have eyes to see start seeing this year.  There’s a sending of laborers to Israel.”

 The "sending" of laborers into Israel this year that Lou Engle spoke of in this video, is not exactly the right sending interpretation - not for this time. First because there has not been a single tourist allowed into the country for over a year, and the projections of when it might be allowed again has been projected to almost 2024. That may be God's staying hand to hold back this common misinterpretation. Because You don't have to go to Israel to be effective for Israel evangelism! This is very important. If you go without understanding, you can bring GREAT harm to the 15,000+ believers who live in Israel if you go without understanding.

There are already 15,000+ Israeli Messianic Jewish believers in Israel. They have congregations all over the Land. They speak Hebrew, they have more credibility sharing their faith with fellow Israelis than any Christian tourist could.  That is not a saying Christians shouldn't witness to Jews, they should, but it is a recognition that the laborers in the harvest of Israel who are going to be the most effective - and already are being effective - is the Israeli Messianic Jewish believers already there. 

It's their mandate to preach the Gospel in all the land of Israel. The anointing for evangelizing, discipiling, pastoring, and teaching is upon them. They have all the 5 administrative gifts already among them. What they don't have is financial support.

The "sending" Lou Engle referenced is the sending of finances to equip the Israeli citizen ministers who are already there. To send laborers into their Harvest field require finances, so the ministers can feed their families, so they can go and do the work of the ministry. It is not like raising funds for ministry in the USA - it's completely different. We need to send the funds to help them...not send our laborers. We need to fund their laborers & ministries.

Real Unity before the End

 

A HaAretz book review caught my eye, 'We Curse Christianity Three Times a Day' Can Jews and Christians Truly Reconcile? Despite the spiritual darkness of a people who curse Christianity three times a day, the answer to that question is an unequivocal YES. God reveals in His Word that is the Divine plan. If He said it, it is not only possible but God is going to bring it to pass. God promised He would return to Israel in mercy, removing the spiritual blinders, and that "all Israel shall be saved." I don't think that is the outcome most Jews are really looking for, but whether a Jew or a Christian expect it or not, that's where we are headed. God will have His way.

It could come in our lifetime, or perhaps in our children's lifetime, but we are very close to the conditions God's Word describes as existing in the times He will bring fulfillment. Still, God has to whip both sides into shape before we actually live out the unity that is described by Paul in Ephesians 2 where out of two is created one new man in Messiah. We are sure not there yet, even if we are closer. So what are the obstacles in our path to this one new man unity? 

'We Curse Christianity Three Times a Day' covered how historical Jews have responded to Christians extending an olive branch. However, in a related opinion piece Richard Landes' explored another interesting question, What Fuels Evangelical Christians’ Love-hate Relationship With Jews. If you are a Christian who doesn't know the history behind Landes' question, you should educate yourself, because it is not without reason that so many Jews think in those terms. 

Landes recalls the instances where Christians first loved the Jews...until they didn't. He writes, "A cyclical, volatile and dangerous form of apocalyptic Christian belief moves rapidly from philo-Semitism to hating Jews." In just about every case the underlying answer is because the timing of God was "not yet" for the wide removal of spiritual blindness from the Jews regarding the Messiah and the Christians involved didn't even know there was Divine timing in play. Being ignorant of God's timing in returning salvation to the Jews, Christians became frustrated and eventually turned on the Jews for not living up to expectations of acceptance. Martin Luther is a great historical example of that, but it has happened repeatedly and I'm pretty sure it will happen again. It may be rolling out in America right now.

In the closing lines of Richard Landes' commentary, he asks, "...despite the evangelical hopes of two post-1948 generations, there’s still no sign that the Jews 'understand' their critical role in everyone’s salvation. In the past, the slippery slope to violence and human sacrifice has won over and again. Can Christians hold on to the unconditional love they profess, and cling to the ways of peace?"

For quite some time I have expected many Christians would turn on Jews before the end. I expected the reason to be, not so much what Landes sees as the classic reason — of Christians becoming tired of waiting for Jews to come to faith — but other reasons. Because even though it is somewhat still under most Christians' radar, and certainly the world's radar, Jews are already coming to faith in Yeshua in great numbers. It is an ever increasing stream of Jewish salvation that so many Christians are completely unaware of. Often if they are aware of it, they still have no grasp of the significance of it happening now.

In fact, many Christians are still of the mind that if Jews come to faith in Jesus, then that means they have left Jewish identity and have become Christians. They have no grasp of the significance of the commonwealth of Israel, another subject I am writing about currently. We must be preparing Christians through teaching to accept a unity that does not require Jewish abandonment of Jewish identity. Just like a wedding unites two — a husband and wife — into one before God, it does not mean their male and female identity is wiped out by becoming a couple. As I said that is another article in progress.

My expectation the many Christians will turn against Jews is because of how unsaved American Jews have played such dynamic roles in supporting the godless agenda of the Democrats. I'm not talking just since Trump. We may never talk about it but that doesn't mean it isn't noticed. I believe we are really playing with fire if we are not actively preparing Christians to see the long range plan of God's intention to save the Jewish people, "all Israel," and bring Christians and Messianic Jews into a unity that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 2. 

As for Christians who do not know what God is doing in bringing over a million Jews to faith since 1948, these are the ones I have believed would become so incensed at the role of unsaved Jews in the de-morals-izing of America that it would have strong potential of becoming anti-semitism. It will have to be so strong that it drives a major Jewish exodus to Israel as we saw in Russia. Many don't think that will happen, but I'm not one of them.

We live in such a divided nation, as many nations are experiencing today. I am among the conservative Christians in the USA who sees it in terms of a battle for the soul of our nation, not just politics but an existential threat and ultimately the battle between good and evil, God and anti-God.

Some of the older generation of American Messianic Jews are still in such rejection of Christians because of the historical persecution, that they align themselves much more with American Jewish political views and causes. It is quite shocking considering the godless agendas that Democrats stand for, but I have personally been rebuked as not having a "healthy" attitude about Democrats. Weird since Democrats have such a godless agenda and are so openly anti-God. Even some Messianic Jewish Millennials who have stepped into leadership ministry roles are just like Christian Millennial peers in embracing secular social justice rather than traditional Messianic embrace of God's biblical justice. From my perspective it is compromised faith; from their perspective they are just keeping 'relevant' to their society. God is able to 'right the ship' but I don't believe we can afford to ignore it any longer as a normal thing happening among us.

But the greatest source of the rising tide of anti-semitism has begun to come into focus despite the failure of Jewish watchdog groups to keep Jews informed. In fact, some of the leading watchdog groups have done everything within their power to obscure the facts about how Leftist intersectionality has created more antisemitism than the over-hyped "far right" extremists. Most secular American Jews are Left-leaning and too many of the American Messianic Jews follow their lead in these matters.

Jonathan S Tobin, a traditional American Jew who happens to be conservative just wrote about the ADL's gross misleading of Jews in an op-ed where he said that in the last five years under, "Jonathan Greenblatt, a veteran of the Clinton and Obama administrations, the ADL has become a reliable auxiliary of the Democratic Party taking sides against Israel’s government and involving the group in partisan squabbles and bashing President Donald Trump." That includes over super exaggerating the "right wing" extremism in the USA and turning a blind eye to Islamists intersecting interests with activist groups like BLM.

In Europe it is much clearer to see how the mass immigration of Islamists into Europe has brought an intense rise in antisemitism throughout Europe. In the US, the Islamists have worked much more strategically and by explicit planning that involved alignment with America's grievance activists - BLM, Feminists, LGBTQ, Antifa, etc. This is the most virulent form of anti-Semitism that has raised its head in American life — initiated on campus, but now blossomed spilling out in governmental power and on the streets as we saw in past months with the attacks on visibly Jewish New Yorkers by blacks.

How did this happen? American Jews are perplexed why suddenly their Leftism doesn't protect them, but it will become even more pronounced if and when the Democrats return to power. The political rise of Leftists in the US government is not going to be good for all the Leftist Jews fighting for that return. They see biblical and Christian values as a threat to establish their own definitions of justice and morality. In their zeal "never again" applies here. From the looks of Israeli newspapers, there isn't a bit of difference in how the American Left perpetuates the myth of where this anti-Semitism has risen from.

With all this in mind, will we Christians, as Richard Landes asked, "hold on to the unconditional love they profess" for the Jewish people? Are we able to look squarely at what Jews are now and what God is calling them to become, and remain in faith for what God is going to do to restore salvation to the Jews? It is always challenging even with our own family members at times, which is why we need to be prepared. We do not want to be taken unaware of Satan's devices because the truth is some of us will and some of us will not "love our enemies" especially if we don't know they are beloved by God as Romans 11 says. 

I have advocated for a while now that we should be teaching on this issue so Israel-supporting Christians and Christians in general could understand what is going on and be prepared to stand when the going gets so tough — disappointing, frustrating and even threatening. This is true especially because we still have some unresolved issues with each other as Jews and Gentiles in the faith of Jesus. Even among those of us who support Israeli believers and the Israeli believers who embrace us, we are still going to be challenged to remain in the unconditional love we profess. God is continually winnowing the chaff from the grain.

* Please watch for my upcoming related article in The Messianic Times Sept-Oct issue titled, They Never Saw It Coming | How Intersectionality is the new foundation for Antisemitism

The Event that Set Paul on the Road to Jerusalem 5 23 2007 Draft

I did tinker with this 2007 draft just a tiny bit - a bit of editing and clarifying - but 95% is just as I wrote it in 2007 when I pulled it from my 2001 writings on the subject. I got this revelation in the early 1990’s and it has been the guiding force behind my labors for the believers in Israel since 2001.

by Donna Diorio

The event that awakened Paul to the need of the Gentile Church to minister to the material needs of the Messianic brethren, started at Antioch. The consecration to God’s purposes took place after Paul and Barnabas’ returned from Jerusalem where they had carried provision for the Israeli brethren for a prophesied famine that was coming on the whole world. Their arrival in Jerusalem had also coincided with great persecution of the believing community and Herod’s execution of the apostle James (brother of John). Herod also arrested Peter.

After the stoning of Stephen, many of the disciples fled from Jerusalem to surrounding countries, where they continued to preach the gospel to Jews only. However, some of them who went to Antioch also preached to Gentiles and “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.”

News of their effective ministry came back to the believers in Jerusalem, so Barnabas was sent to Antioch. When he saw the grace of God, he “encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul.”

Saul had been in Arabia and also at Damascus for about thirteen years when Barnabas sought him out for the ministry work at Antioch. When Barnabas found him, they returned to minister to the Gentiles for one year. Then events began to unfold that would send Saul, now known as Paul, back to Jerusalem for the second time since his conversion on the road to Damascus.

What happened there could only be the leading of God to bring Paul into recognition of the mission He was preparing the apostle to carry out.

After Barnabas and Paul had returned together to minister in Antioch: After one year, a prophet from Jerusalem, Agabus, “stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout the world.”

I want to draw special attention to the fact that the prophesied famine was not only to affect Israel, but would be throughout the known world. Scripture notes that the famine did indeed occur according to the prophetic utterance during the days of Claudius Caesar.

In response to Agabus’ prophecy, we are told, “Then the disciples, each according to his own ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they did by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.”

Even though the famine would affect the whole known world, the prophetic utterance stirred Gentile believers at Antioch to be especially concerned for the welfare of Jewish believers in Israel.

Why? Not because the Jewish brethren were considered “special” in themselves, but because there was recognition that they lived and ministered in a more gospel-hostile environment than most Gentile believers did. I have come to learn that the ability of the body in Israel to thrive through the help of the believers in the nations is just as - maybe even more important and significant in our day than - in the early days of the faith.

From that day to our day, the situation for Messianic Jews in Israel has been much the same - except for this important difference. There is still religious persecution of the faith, but NOW is the time that the veil is being removed from the eyes and hearts of Jews so they can received the Messiah Yeshua.

Now the believers at Antioch had understood that even though a famine would have impact throughout the world—including where they were—that there was a special need to send relief to the brethren living in Judea. There was a special need to supply relief for those believing Jews living among unbelieving Jews. It was true in those days and remains true to this day.

Special care from the Gentile churches is required to keep the Jewish brethren from suffering excessively for the sake of the gospel and for them to be able to minister effectively to all Israel.

There are many believers worldwide who suffer the effects of persecution, and we do not discourage any assistance directed toward any of them. However, we must point out that there is greater significance to the Antioch believers’ recognition of the special circumstance that Israeli believers labor under. That significance, “To the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles,” is a principle that must be applied in our ministry support and missions giving.

As Paul told the church at Corinth in direct reference to their collection of funds earmarked for the Jewish brethren, “And in this I give my advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there may also be a completion out of what you have.” 2 Cor. 8:10-11

It is to OUR advantage in this day also! "For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" Romans 11:15

There is also significance in the timing of Paul and Barnabas’ arrival in Jerusalem to deliver famine-provision for the Jewish believers. The timing is significant in two ways: First, it was during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is observed immediately after Passover and also within days of the observance of Shavuot.

And secondly because, “about that time Herod stretched out his hand to harass some” of the Messianic Jewish body. Then he killed the apostle James, brother of the apostle John, with the sword and “because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also.” Acts 11:26-12:3

We must believe in Divine timing when we see it! Here Paul looked plainly into the eye of both the spiritual indebtedness of the Gentile believers to the Jewish believers (Romans 15:27) and also to the persecution of believing Jews by unbelieving Jews: “Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.” Romans 11:28

How could Paul escape what God was speaking to him in the timing of these events?

Surely as these events unfolded before his eyes, Paul recognized the clear call and leading of God in his ministry! Could it be that as these events played out during the Days of Unleavened Bread (when Jesus became the sheaf offering of the first ripe grain), that God began to reveal to Paul what the meaning was of the Shavuot offering?

Paul was experiencing first hand how the Jewish brethren in Israel were suffering without any assistance from believers outside of their borders. He had come to deliver the first Holy-Spirit inspired contribution from the Antioch Christians, and he witnessed how great the persecution was!

He had been a persecutor of Jewish believers, and now he is witness to how the zeal he had carried in his own bosom against Yeshua’s faithful, had multiplied and jeopardized the top leadership among the apostles of the Lord! One apostle had already been killed and another thrown in prison.

The believers in Jerusalem were terrified of what would happen to Peter, and surely also of what it would mean to all believers in Israel. There was intercessory prayer going on day and night on Peter’s behalf by all the believers in Jerusalem! This is the scenario that Paul and Barnabas walked into upon arrival in Jerusalem. How it must have impacted them!

What unfolded before Paul’s eyes was in the perfect timing of God. For we know how by His Word and through the events of our lives, God directs our paths. He set Paul on a specific path in the same way by these very events that were unfolding.

After Peter’s Divine release from prison, Acts tells us that Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch and only then were the two men set apart by God to their callings. Having “fulfilled their ministry” to Jerusalem, and in a season of fasting and prayer with prophets and teachers in Antioch, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate (consecrate) Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:13

In the past we have understood these passages to be only the singling out of Paul and Barnabas to be sent out as missionaries. We must reconsider the consecration as an even fuller calling on Paul to prophetically model the support of the church to the body in Israel to insure those ministers who are living in this very day would be able to minister to the Israeli people the Good News of the Messiah Yeshua.

Certainly, as the years of evangelization among the Gentiles, Paul increasingly acts on his calling to establish giving in the churches toward the material needs of the Jewish brethren. By the latter part of Paul’s second missionary trip, he has made this a priority focus in his in-person ministry and also by letters to the churches.

Near the end of his second missionary journey at Cenchrea, the eastern port of Corinth, Paul consecrated himself under a Nazarite vow for God’s favor. The passage does not tell us why but it is only in Acts 21:23-24 in Jerusalem that he ends the vow because his mission is accomplished. That Nazarite vow was fulfilled in his last trip to Jerusalem When he was delivering the donations from all the Christian churches he had oversight of.

From the time he took his vow until he embarked on his last trip to Jerusalem, his letters urged the churches to take up a collection for the “saints,” the “poor in Judea” (2 Cor 8, Ro 15:26-27, 2 Cor 9:12-13, Gal 2:9-10, 1 Cor 16:1) . Not just poor in general, but the poor in specific - the believers in Israel.

I believe that Paul understood his calling to do this was not just for the Jewish believers in the time he was living, but it was for the time such as this. He fulfilled his prophetic modeling to the church bringing their donations to the body in Israel. He knew his freedom was at stake and there were prophecies all along his journey to Jerusalem that it would end with him in chains. His closest friends and followers cried, not wanting him to personally escort the donations to Jerusalem, but Paul had already decided to fulfill God’s calling on his life to set the standard of giving to the ministers in Israel so they could fulfill their calling.

He was arrested in Jerusalem, imprisoned and eventually died in Rome. He is no doubt in Heaven now rooting for the understanding of what he prophetically modeled for our sakes in such a time as this, to begin to break loose throughout the whole Christian world. It is a revelation of God’s purposes in such a time as this.

Vision for Peace | Arrows from Zion

President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu Meeting at the White House Jan 28, 2020

I'm going to break from the naysayers decrying this Trump initiated "Vision for Peace" deal by highlighting some of the more positive views that are being expressed by Jewish commentators — both Messianic and traditional conservative Jews. My starting point is that we know there is no true peace for Israel until Yeshua returns, but that does not mean that Israel should not take advantage of how this deal moves the ball forward on Israel's behalf. 

One idea I reject outright is that this is an "Antichrist" peace deal. 

(Published first as the cover story 1/29/20 in Arrows from Zion)

Vision for Peace

A roundup of assessments 1/29/20 by Donna Diorio

The "Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People" is 181 pages long, but you can read it for yourself. It is posted on the White House website and is downloadable in pdf format.

As soon as the plan was shared yesterday, the first opinion I saw was from one whose views I often find compatible with my own, from traditional Jewish, but the American Conservative editor of JNS.org, Jonathan S. Tobin. Haaretz ran Tobin's take in Trump's peace plan means settlements are permanent. Democrats, get used to it.

Tobin wrote, "Any assumption that Trump's plan has no long-term significance is almost certainly wrong." 

"Even when Democrats hold the White House again, they won't be able to reverse the core terms of Trump's Middle East peace plan, and U.S. leverage over Israel will have diminished."

“There is no going back to a diplomatic universe in which there's an assumption that Israel will bow to US demands for territorial withdrawals—involving the mass eviction of settlers—once framed as a necessary basis for peace.” Tobin wrote.

From the statement by Jared Kushner, that is very much the point. He ought to know because Kushner is the president's Jewish son-in-law and was one of those involved in crafting the plan. 

Kushner has said, "I'm not  looking at the world as it existed in 1967. I'm looking at the world as it exists in 2020."

That simply means this plan takes off the table any fantasy negotiation that envisions Israel returning to 1967 border lines. It is a point that is always pressed that has now been permanently taken off the table. That is reason enough for the favorable reception the plan apparently received from both Netanyahu and his political rival Benny Gantz.

The headline at Israeli Messianic Israel Today magazine read, Trump Deal Flips Peace Process on Its Head. "After more than 20 years of failure despite intensive diplomatic efforts," they write, "US President Donald Trump’s 'Deal of the Century' finally proposes a different approach." 

"For the past two decades," Israel Today notes, "the formula underlying the Middle East peace process was to accept the Palestinian positions, turn a blind eye to their transgressions (because they were the “oppressed”), and require painful concessions of Israel."

Arsen Ostrovsky, an international human rights attorney and journalist called Trump's Vision for Peace plan "the most pro-peace, pro-Israel proposal to date!"

Ostrovsky also tweeted, "That the #Palestinians were going to reject the #DealOfTheCentury was a given. Most interesting for me, is seeing the reactions coming from the Arab / Gulf world. This is BIG. Palestinians increasingly on their own."

He cites the Jerusalem Post report that "Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE on Tuesday issued statements welcoming the Trump administration's peace plan, and called on both sides to begin negotiations."

Jonathan Schanzer, a counterterrorism expert and a VP at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says that the Trump plan changes the dynamic that past administrations were locked into by recognizing both sides as equals. This produced Palestinian recalcitrance leading to deadlock in peace talks for decades.

“The Palestinians are often granted more power than they actually have; the Israelis are asked to relinquish power and it’s ended in disaster,” Schanzer says. “This is an attempt to shift the dynamic to give the Israelis more power and the Palestinians less in a way that affects the actual dynamic.”

Ron Cantor of Messiah's Mandate notes, "Understand, I am not 100% opposed to a Palestinian state. I recognize that there are 3,000,000 Arabs within Israel in the disputed territories—people who deserve more. But until they change their leadership, there will be no peace and no state. The PLO was born in the blood of terror—not war. They are the fathers of martyrs and suicide bombers. ...[To this day] The PLO pays out some $360 million a year to the families of suicide bombers and martyrs."

American Messianic Jew Dr Michael L. Brown makes a difference between many of the Palestinian people and their terrorist leaders, "if the Palestinian populace as a whole could see a way forward to peace and prosperity, wouldn’t they want to achieve it? And what if the surrounding Muslim nations said, 'Yes, do this and we will help you prosper as well!' What then?....Frankly, without massive pressure from the populace as a whole, joined by other Muslim nations, I do not see this happening. And that is the crux of the problem."

Most of the Jews making comment recognize that there is no way the Palestinians will live up to their side of the deal to bring it to pass. In essence the US plan insists that for the Palestinians to reap the benefits of the plan they have to first accept the plan, then the Palestinian Authority must stop paying terrorists and inciting terrorism. Hamas and Islamic Jihad must put down their weapons. Both the PA and Hamas governed territories must give up corruption, respect human rights, freedom of religion and a free press. This is according to the Jerusalem Post summary of conditions. Few see that happening.

Which may be why US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman urged Israelis to "apply Israeli law to the settlements and to the territory" in an "on-the-record press call on the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Ambassador Friedman said, "Israel does not have to wait — does not have to wait at all. The waiting period would be the time it takes for them to obtain internal approvals and to obviously create the documentation, the calibration, the mapping that would enable us to evaluate and make sure it’s consistent with conceptual map."

The Ambassador says that the plan provides "certain benefits to Israel up front in exchange for Israel keeping the option open to the Palestinians for a very lengthy period of time.”

Today it was reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu will ask the cabinet in its next meeting to vote on applying Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.

In news breaking in the past hour (at this writing 1/29), Blue and White Leader Benny Gantz has announced that he will bring the US peace plan to the Knesset for an up or down vote next week. "This is a historic opportunity to draw Israel's future borders," Gantz told participants today at a national security conference.

As PA President Abbas appears to threaten Netanyahu with breaking Oslo agreements related to security coordination, Israel news is also reporting that the IDF is bolstering its West Bank troops as Palestinians riot and is conducting ongoing assessments of the situation.

Jared Kushner said the plan is "rooted in the principle that a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians must be based on an agreement that satisfies the basic aspirations of the two peoples – in a manner that guarantees security, dignity and opportunity for all."

"The question comes down to, what will the Palestinian leadership do?" Kushner asked.

He told Al-Arabia, "wholehearted rejections will show the world that they are not interested in peace, they have never been interested in peace. And, quite frankly, in the Palestinian areas, you have a lot of people that are very vested in the status quo."

If nothing is done with the deal on the Palestinian side, the situation, Kusher says, will only get worse for Palestinians who are living in great poverty as it stands not. There is a $50 billion economic plan and refugee compensation fund that will help with the Palestinians reabsorbing Palestinian refugees.  

Kushner does not see potential for a better deal if Palestinians let this opportunity die.

"This is a great deal for them, he says. "If they come to the table and negotiate, I think they can get something excellent."

"It’s difficult to come up with a construct where you have a continuous Palestinian state, where you can drive from one end to the bottom through bridges, tunnels, roads, Kushner continued. "We figured it out, it was not easy. And then we were able to sit with Israel and get them to agree to freeze settlement for four years. That has never been done before. And get them to agree to a Palestinian state, and get them to agree to a map."

Many will try to dismiss President Trump's plan as merely an ego-driven deal. That would be a great disservice to the heart that has been put into this plan to benefit both sides, but at last from a position that places Israel's needs in proper priority. 

Yet again, President Trump has shown himself to be the hands down best friend in an American president that Israel has ever had.

Las Vegas Messianic Congregation Targeted, Terrorist Arrest Made

Above is a screen save of my article in the latest issue of the Messianic Times.
This is not that article, but here I'm giving further thoughts
on the issues that came out of researching the facts of the case.

My 2¢

Las Vegas Messianic Congregation Targeted,  Terrorist Arrest Made

Did you know that this summer, one month after the El Paso Mall shooting and the Dayton, Ohio Antifa shooter, there were 50 preemptive terror arrests made? Now even more so. Were these real threats of terrorism or politically-driven "security theater" events? We have to ask these questions. We should distrust how hate speech online may easily be getting exploited for political purposes.

There was another arrest November 1 in Pueblo, Colorado of the state's second-oldest synagogue. This too  bears striking resemblance  the Messianic Times story I just did, Terror Target: Las Vegas Messianic Synagogue.

My deepest concern is what is happening between the people spewing hate speech on the web and the FBI OCE's (Online Covert Employees). No one seems to be asking for any accountability at that level.

Pamela Geller also expressed concerns in the facts that emerged after the Garland terror attempt at her "Draw Muhammad" event. Geller wondered if the OCE egged on the terrorists to commit an attack against her specifically. The OCE who had been encouraging the terrorists online was actually present watching the attack scene in Garland, but no FBI agents were sent to thwart the attack and only three hours notice of the attack was given to the Garland, Texas police. Why?

I have real concerns about that same types of issues in the Las Vegas arrest. I wonder when and how the 24-year old arrested in that case transitioned from ranting about illegal immigrants and LGBT to also hating Jews. In 2016 there were no mentions of Jews so how did focus develop? How Conor Climo get focused in his many terroristic fantasy-plans on the only Messianic congregation in Nevada? Quite honestly, I wonder if the ADL's Center on Extremism online trackers, or COE's, had anything to do with that.

I wonder the same with the latest arrest on November 1 in Colorado, because again the hate speech morphed into operational after 2 OCE's who had been communicating with the 27-year old online met him in person. They brought him explosives and then he was busted. What did the online conversations consist of that led to that critical moment?

As Pamela Geller said, "While I do believe that undercover FBI agents have to play along with the jihadis they’re dealing with, because in order to be in an informant you have to have credibility, it’s a whole other thing if you’re encouraging and cheering on the proposed murder of Americans who are standing in defense of the freedom of speech, and then not doing anything about it."

Would either of these two men have taken it to the execution level without the moral and practical support of the FBI OCE's? Would Pamela Geller's terror attackers focused on her and attempted to attack if it had not been for their online contact? In the case of Geller, her attempted jihad massacres were plotting an attack at the Super Bowl and planned to travel to Syria to join ISIS. How did they get focused on killing all they could at Pamela Geller's Dallas event instead? Was it redirection of the online covert FBI employee? And if it was, why didn't the FBI send agents to thwart the attack?

I have the same kind of questions in the 2009 Dallas arrest of a 19-year old man from Jordan. Would he have advanced to operational if he had not been having encouragement online and eventually received what he thought was explosives for a car bomb from FBI OCE's? We really don't know the answer to that because we don't see what the online communications read like.

To be completely honest with you, I do not trust the ADL Center on Extremism online trackers who were involved in the take down of the Las Vegas attacker. That's because I know that the ADL despises Messianic Jews.

I am from Dallas. In 1997 a local racist, anti-Semite came to the Baruch Hashem Messianic congregation opening fire with many shots into the doors of the packed house for Shabbat service. In response the ADL did nothing but run around to all the news people in Dallas saying, "They aren't really Jews!" So what? Does that mean the terroristic attack did not count somehow? The ADL just didn't want it counted by the news and public as being an anti-Semitic hate crime? Tell that to the perpetrator who went to prison for it.

That incident made me deeply suspicious of how the Messianic target was handled in the Las Vegas arrest.

First off because the FBI did not tell the news media which synagogue in Las Vegas the young man had been arrested for specifically targeting. It took a clever young crime reporter to connected the dots. Three days after Conor Climo's arrest, she approached the Lev Hashem Messianic congregation to confirm they had been the target. The rabbi told she was the only person in the community to contact them outside of the FBI.

Out of all the many fantasized, but developed plans that the Las Vegas man had committed to paper for attacks, like a McDonald's, an LGBTQ bar, police leadership etc., it was only the Messianic synagogue that the FBI Supervisory Agent went to notify as Climo's specific target. The agent told rabbi Hundley that he wanted to make sure he heard it from the FBI and not the media, but the FBI did not tell the media the specific synagogue targeted. It was also not named specifically of all the Las Vegas synagogues in court documents. Why?

Immediately after the arrest a Nevada ADL statement prepared with the Nevada Jewish Federation reads, "ADL requested additional police patrols and a heightened alert status around all shabbat services. This was immediately approved by local police.”

No police patrols were dispatched, however, to the actual specific synagogue that was the terror target.

As soon as the Las Vegas Review Journal published the story naming the Messianic congregation in Las Vegas as the target, the local ADL put out a statement, “...no one in the Jewish community was threatened by the suspect in question."

Of course, now that it has not been picked up widely outside of Las Vegas that the target was the Messianic congregation, the ADL is out using it as an example of anti-Semitic violence perpetrated by White Supremacists in the Israeli newspapers (Violent white supremacy is on the rise – how do we stop it?). The ADL is so politically left, how can they not be suspect in the "security theater" that is going on in FBI and Homeland Security? They continually push the narrative that it is "White Supremacists" who account for the American anti-Semitic attacks when the factual statistics do not support that. In reality, the ADL, like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is politically driven which is undeserving of their past reputations.

The same political forces appear to be the power struggle we see inside our agencies tasked with national security issues. What I found in my research was that the Department of Homeland Security was fit to be tied because of Trump re-directing their domestic terrorism resources to the southern border and illegal immigrants. Many of them were livid and wanted to pursue resources instead on white supremacists. With all the faking of terrorism statistics that Patrick Poole has documented from the Obama era, how can we dismiss the current explosion of preemptive arrests after El Paso as completely above board? I know I don't.

It would not surprise me in the least if the online terrorist trackers who were conversing with Conor Climo on the internet were somehow responsible for the target he focused on. 

The ADL stated it was their Center of Extremism internet team who informed the FBI about Climo in June 2019. They also stated they had been tracking Climo online since 2016. The week following the El Paso/Dayton attacks, on August 8th, the FBI searched Climo's house and arrested him.

I cannot say positively that the ADL's COE focused Climo on the Messianic synagogue, but I would sure like to see the communications that went on between them to see the positively did not.

When the online contact meets with the person posting hate speech on Facebook and presents them with explosives, it really makes me wonder if the rants and fantasized plans would have ever gone operational without the encouragement they received from those posing as like-minded individuals instead of informants that they are.

I am all for online tracking of the bad guys, but I am not happy with not knowing if we are being treated to manipulated results. I am not thrilled with either the right or the left doing this.

On the other hand, I'm not thrilled with how they a blind eye was turned to all the tells Nidal Hasan was giving before he attacked Ft Hood either. I'm also not thrilled with the suppressed Islamic terror statistics by labeling that terror attack "workplace violence" in the Fort Hood case and others, or the inflated statistics of White Supremacists either.

On terrorism I think we are caught between the political right and the political left instead of our security agencies just doing their job straight up, honestly no manipulations. That is the only way Americans can be assured national security is make the #1 priority to protect American citizens. It isn't too much to ask.

That's my 2¢ —Donna Diorio