Rectify | A Movie About Forgiveness

Generally what I post here is about Israel but this is a review of a TV series I watched last week on Netflix called Rectify. To me, forgiveness is the bottom line of this movie - but it is also the bottom line of all human relationships... including Israel. We cannot get anywhere in spiritual living without recognizing the significance of forgiveness to our well being - body, soul and spirit. Unforgiveness will spare none of those tripartite aspects of our being because forgivness is godliness almost like no other thing in life that we choose. For Israelis as for the rest of us, taking the divine nature that is expressed in forgiveness is crucial to our healing, life and future. Donna Diorio

"Rectify is one of the most emotionally acute shows in TV history"

Rectify is not a movie for everyone. It is slow moving, cerebral almost, but also down home where everybody lives really. It is a story about an 18-year old boy who has been on death row for 19-years after confessing to raping and murdering his 16-year old girlfriend. The story picks up at the point he is being released. The sentence is finally vacated when DNA tests show it was not him who raped the girl.

The family dynamics and the small town Georgia dynamics are what this film is about. Also the long struggle of a man who has spent more half his life in solitary confinement, having been raped multiple times as a boy entering into prison. He has a tough row to hoe to find his way back to any kind of semblance of normal, and even on the outside, not much is going for him.

I found this a profound movie about the kind of things that people can be up against getting over past traumas, things other people cannot even fathom knowing only partially what they have been through. It is not just about the imprisoned man's emotions, it is about all of the characters and believe me when I say, I have never seen a movie that probed the emotions of a network of people caught up in such a life event as this movie.

There is an element of faith in God in the movie but it is not really explored as a serious option. Truly someone as broken, traumatized and done such an injustice in life, is going to need God to heal them and put them back together. Still the movie has given me a lot to think about and if I do find a book available, I will probably read that too. Profound. Something I will watch again at a later date because it is just that good.

"Sundance’s lovely, little seen drama wrapped its four-season run with beauty and forgiveness"

This really is a movie about forgiveness. I woke up thinking about it, how you saw the the emotions and reactions to events by so many people involved in it, then you saw them come around to the point of forgiving each other independently, separately. I remember thinking as I was watching that the different family members were forgiving each other over some really deep seated emotions and reactions and how they must be a pretty emotionally evolved extended family to do that. I realize now that it is just wishful fantasy on the part of the writers - who see correctly that forgiveness is the real thing that heals people and relationships.

But they do not see how intricately God is involved in that level of forgiveness. One or two people may enter into forgiveness without relationship with God but the whole family and the people in the town? Not at all in the realm of possibility.

"To err is human, to forgive is divine." Forgiving comes from the Divine nature. God forgives us, so we can forgive others...otherwise human nature is not to forgive. We know this is so even as we look around in even the body of Christ. So many do not see the correlation that is made in the Matthew 18 parable that Jesus told. And even if we do see see it and know it, the temptations of the flesh - our humanity - is to hold onto forgiveness, not releasing people for the things we hold against them. We hold on to unforgiveness at our own peril.

I did love this movie. Obviously it was written by someone searching for God, but who doesn't want or believe the answer can be God. But they are so close to realizing to source of forgiveness is supernatural. 

Forgiveness, I am beginning to believe, is one of the greatest, single most powerful keys to the Kingdom of God. Much has been written about faith, hope and love, but the choice to walk in forgiveness is the down and dirty part of the lofty spiritual ideals.

Welcome to the City of the Great King

DONNA DIORIO·FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

Let me just say upfront that I have been critical of the American prophetic
stream for many years. My thinking is that for a large part of them, what could they know when they are missing God's heart and plans for Israel, and the significance of the growing body of Messiah in Israel? That has made me doubt them on every level of their prophetic gifting.

Of course the excesses and abuse they put up within their ranks also played into my overall low view of the American prophetic stream. But
the failure to see Israel, that was really the most troubling to me of all.
Over the yeas I have withdrawn further and further from the American
prophets because of their failure to see how God raising a body of
believers up in Israel is CRITICAL to His plans to complete everything
He started in Genesis 1. I have been unable to trust their prophetic
vision even when they were right - like about how good Trump would
turn out to be - because of the blind spot most of them have about

Israel. While that is the main issue that caused my doubts in their prophetic
vision, there were many other issues of excesses and abuse that
reinforced my doubt in them as a whole. There are exceptions to
that blind spot. There are prophets who have long seen the
importance of the body in Israel and Israel’s importance to God
- so by extension to the followers of Jesus internationally.

Mike Bickle is one, Chuck Pierce another, and of course, Rick Ridings
who got himself to Israel long, long ago to establish the 24/7 prayer
and worship in Jerusalem. Ridings went to Israel not establish a name
for himself in Israel, but to impart a gift to the body in Israel of
establishing 24/7 prayer in Israel and the surrounding Arab
nations. That’s how I see it. There are other prophets who have
embraced Israel, but have failed to recognize the importance of the
Israeli body of Messiah. That is a huge mistake.

It is a dangerous pitfall for Christians who discover Israel from God's
eyes, but go forward in that downplaying or completely ignoring the
believers in Israel as if they are too small to be of consequence. It is
a particular ditch that already big names in Christianity fall into. It
would be better not to try to make yourself the big shot in Israel
while completely ignoring what the Holy Spirit is doing among the
body there.

Today I saw a Christian magazine touting a prayer team for Israel
having the largest religious Facebook page in the world with 40 million
fans. "The prayer team has more fans on Facebook than the
next seven Israeli pages combined, one of which belongs to
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."

Since the late 1980's, I have never known that prayer team minister
to engage with or speak about the approximately 30,000 followers of
Yeshua in Israel today. His efforts are strictly geared toward political
support of Israel. That is a problem.

Thank God for his efforts on behalf of Israel, but this is the other side
of the ditch that believers can fall into when it comes to Israel. This the
side of the ditch that a great many evangelical supporters of Israel have
fallen into and their blindness to the body in Israel is hurting God’s plan
that believers in the nations to help Israeli ministries reach Israelis with
the gospel.

To align ourselves with God's purposes for Israel, for the joining of the
Jewish believers and the believers from all nations, into "one new man"
in the Messiah, we have to find the narrow path that keeps us out of
both sides of the ditch. We also need to pray for breakthroughs for those
believers who have fallen into the ditch on the right and the ditch on the
left of God's plans for the body of Messiah in Israel and the salvation of
"all Israel".

It is actually a breakthrough that is happening now, and which some in
Israeli ministries are strongly resisting. The spiritual reality is that God
opening the eyes of prophetic ministries to the body of Messiah in Israel,
and through those Blood-bought connections, to the significance of Israel
in God's master plan for us all.

I had not realized it before, but this morning it has dawned on me that
God's hand is in this. I am excited to see those from the prophetic stream
discovering Israeli Ministries and through them the significance of Israel.

This is the right order of approach to all Christians in the nations to Israel.
This has been a missing piece of the prophetic puzzle for too many in the
prophetic stream for too long. WE NEED THEM to SEE TOO! Good for
the Israeli ministries who are extending a brotherly welcome to them, and
letting them see, Jesus has a witness in Israel that is a complete five-fold
ministry.

Let’s pray that the prophetic stream finally begin to see Israel, and the need

for order in their approach to supporting of Israel through the servants
of God in Israel.

Photo:  Ron Cantor explaining Romans 11 in Jrlsm with Todd White
Cantor is of Messiah’s Mandate ministry & Tiferet Yeshua congregation in
Tel Aviv

More on the Tikkun Attack

Hannah Weiss is formidable in her research skills, but her 5-part series detailing every failure and bad report she can find on the web of the prophetic and apostolic movements in the United States does not mean she is correct in painting Asher Intrater and Dan Juster as just the same as all those. She will get no argument from me that there are plenty of failures and lack of accountability in the prophetic movement in the US. Not from me and certainly not from Asher and Dan either.
The problem I have with this series is she is building up a guilty-by-association case against two specific individuals, Israeli Messianic ministers Asher Intrater, Daniel Juster and by extension all the family of congregations and ministries connected with their Tikkun Ministries International. Her evidence against Asher and Dan is non-existent and only persuading readers on the basis of her pointing out the failures of US ministries and telling us Asher and Dan are just like them. That is ironic because Asher and Dan are also well aware of the failings of the prophetic and apostolic ministries in the U.S. and have been committed for decades to raising the bar on the issues that caused those failings. (As if Daniel Juster could be equated with those that gave Todd Bentley a pass for his immorality! Bentley could have been forgiven if he truly repented, but if he had been affiliated with Tikkun he would not have been restored to ministry.) It seems that for many who want to see this series go out far and wide, that anyone connected with prophetic or apostolic ministry are already heretics on that belief alone. Some in Israeli ministry do not want charismatic ministry gaining any ground in Israel. It is pretty clear that some want to destroy the reputations of Intrater, Juster and many of other ministers who are associated via Tikkun. Why? Probably because they are the most developed interconnection of ministries in Israel. This is called fruitfulness where I come from. But where I come from they also say, They only tackle the guy running the ball. Not only are the number of ministers who are affiliated with each other in Tikkun a sign of fruitfulness, but so is the number of people they are collectively reaching with the Gospel in Israel. There is also the matter of how many Christians in the nation are linking arms with the Tikkun ministries to support the vision for the salvation of Israel - both in the spiritual and political sense of that vision. That apparently scares some of the other ministries who cannot tolerate seeing what good things God is doing among the Tikkun Israel ministries. We all run our own race and will not win by trying to trip up others running in this spiritual race. Here is a thought for you: Tikkun means Restoration. From the beginning of their 40-something years together as Tikkun, the three main leaders, Asher, Dan and Eitan Shishkoff have shared a common vision for Restoration. They call themselves a Restoration ministry. Included in that classic Jewish concept of the restoration of the world, of the three Tikkun Messianic leaders is also their conviction that God is restoring the body of Messiah to the fulness of spiritual gifts and offices. Any believer can read that those things existed in the first century of the faith in the book of Acts, and many of us believe that in these last days God is restoring those again among His "one new man" in Messiah. So here is bottom line: the defaming and slanderous case that is being made against the Israeli Tikkun ministers is about those who consider gifts of the Spirit and offices of the prophets and apostles to be done away with; furthermore that any who believe and operate in there are heretics. Hannah claims she believes the apostolic calling remains relevant, yet she is intent of positioning Asher and Dan specifically in the framework she is presenting as unacceptable due to the failures of American prophets and apostolic networks. Is that it? The fact that there is a network of ministries must mean they are false prophets and apostles demanding all Israeli ministries come under their authority? That is not happening and you know it. Which is why I continue to condemn this series and why I am personally extremely disappointed in Kehila for publishing a series that specifically, personally seeks to destroy fellow Israeli ministers of the Gospel by name. It is incredibly hurtful to the targets and blows past all the accepted boundaries of how we are to handle disagreements in the body. Some that don't like my response to all of this have been deafening in their own silence about this attack series on Asher and Dan. In the greater world of faith in Yeshua there are many differences of conviction and expressions of faith. It doesn't matter what you personally believe, you have no right to judge Asher Intrater and Daniel Juster in this very public disgraceful witch hunt. And let's face it, all the rest of you non-Tikkun affilitated Israeli ministries who operate in the gifts of the Spirit, who believe in the restoration of the office of prophet and/or apostles, if you say nothing now on behalf of Tikkun ministries, take it to the bank you will be targeted eventually too. Anyone remember that famous Martin Niemoller quote from post-war Germany? I personally believe that God is going to rise up and defend Asher and Dan and all of Tikkun from this attack. But I also know that does not relieve me from standing up and opposing the evil that is being perpetrated against them. It is time to speak, not a time to fall silent.

My Statement About the Defamation

Daniel Juster, Asher Intrater & Eitan Shishkoff
founders of Tikkun (Restoration) Ministries

I had no idea that Asher Intrater had been under attack over his teachings by some in the Israeli ministries for nearly 3 years. I didn't become aware of it until there was a witch hunter article written about him late last year. Then around Sept 2017, a couple of Israeli ministries private messaged me about their assumptions of what Asher was doing wrong in their eyes.

It came to light that for at least a couple of years Israeli Ministries leaders have been discussing objections to Asher's teaching in semi-annual leaders meetings. Apparently the thing that really ticks them off is thinking that the Tukkun International family of ministries - which is quite extensive and fruitful - considers theirs an apostolic work. Really the hostilities have focused on Asher Intrater and Daniel Juster thinking of themselves as apostolic.

There has been a considerable amount of pouring over the videos and articles and books of these two men to find points to take issue with. And that's exactly the order I believe it is, much like the political machinations we have been witnessing here in the USA: Name the man then the inquisition begins and the AG will find something to charge them with. I have become so sick of what has been going on politically in the false accusations of Trump campaign collusion with Russia... little did I know my friends in Tikkun were going through much the same behind the scenes in Israel.

Back in the summer of 2016, after being moved by hearing several of the messages that Asher Intrater delivered while on his speaking tour in the United States, I began to transcribe those messages unbeknownst to Asher. After I had done a few, I let him know what I was doing. The message was on how we could proactively prepare for what was coming in the end times. Like him, I believe we have the signs for that coming all around us - shouting at us from the headlines, current events and even the state of people all around us.

By the time I quit transcribing those messages I had about 17 messages. Then I took those messages and put them into an order that laid out a stream of thought about a lot of issues surrounding the main point of what we can do be prepared for the days ahead. It was a book — a handbook of the end times in my view. Of course Asher and I have completely different writing styles. He is pithy, I draw things out because I want explanations to be complete. I sent him what I had assembled from his messages and then he went into seclusion for a month and wrote the much shorter, Alignment.

When I first started transcribing the messages and encouraging Asher that he needed to get into writing what I heard him teaching in the US the summer of 2016, he told me, I think you are going to get me in trouble. We laughed about it but it was true, because nothing makes believers come against other believers faster than differences in beliefs about the end times.

Nevertheless, I thought it was important for Asher to speak to the people who share the same convictions that we do: not a pre-Tribulation rapture of the Church leaving the Jewish people to find faith in the midst of the reign of the anti-Christ. No. We believe Israel is being saved right now (Israel representing all Jews). We Christians are not here as potted plants. We are here to be part of the greatest outpouring of salvation that the world has ever seen, including Israel.

I have said all that to say this: I have a pretty good grip on the kind of men that the Tikkun ministries are, especially Asher Intrater, Daniel Juster and Eitan Shishkoff, but also all the young ministers they have poured their lives into mentoring and raising up to take their places as the baton is passed to the new generation of Israeli Messianic ministers. Many of them are already operating in those roles.

So it really irks me to know that the Israeli ministry leaders were not content to continue discussions between themselves in private, but they felt the need to get their speculations and accusations against Asher and Dan out into the greater public domain.

I have read the document that was put out by their leadership group called "To All Interested Parties" and it casts Asher, Dan and the Tikkun Ministries as a whole into "suspicions". If I were Asher Intrater, I would not have signed my name to that document because it puts them under a cloud of suspicion publicly.

Oh, I understand why Asher signed it, and why they have bent over backwards trying to keep the peace with their brothers in the Israeli ministry leadership who took exception to how they were operating their Tikkun Ministries. They have been acting according to the admonition of Romans 12:18: If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

But now this is out in the public domain in a way that I believe is defamation and character assassination of my brothers Asher Intrater and Daniel Juster, I want to go on record to call it what it is: witch hunting, jealousy, non-charismatic vs.charisimatic. It is biting and devouring these brothers and it is bringing shame on the entire body of Messiah in Israel.

LET ME SAY THIS: Everything I am saying here, I am saying from my own heart without any consultation with the Tikkun ministers whatsoever.

I have no intentions of keeping silent as a public push is made to destroy the reputations of these men. It is wrong, against the Word of God and it should come to a full stop now.

Donna Diorio, May 1, 2018