IDENTITY Issues | A Spiritual Application Based on Current Events

A Spiritual Application Based on Current Events

IDENTITY ISSUES By Donna Diorio

I am not sure how this applies in the rest of the world, but in the United States we have been rocked lately by what the news media calls “Identity Politics”.  The best definition I’ve found for this is that Identity Politics is “political activity or movements based on or catering to the cultural, ethnic, gender, racial, religious, or social interests that characterize a group identity.”

Apparently Identity Politics also creates wannabe’s – people who reject their authentic identity to become identified as something they are not.  Olympic medalist Bruce Jenner recently traded his male identity in for a female identity – and since the LGBT movement is a cause célèbre for the “enlightened” Jenner’s rejection of the sex God made him is applauded by those outside of Biblical faith. 

We have also witnessed a rise in those who lie about incidents or circumstances in their lives in order to identify themselves, such as campus rape victims who are not even ashamed when the facts emerge that they were not raped.  They are not shamed because the ‘politics’ of their lie was motivated by a desire to give evidence of a non-existent “crisis” of rape on US campus. 

Speaking of US campuses, these are the breeding place of the anti-Jew, anti-Israel movement that is being instigated and propelled forward primarily by Muslim Students associations that are in reality of the American radical Islamist network.  Their appeal on American campuses is great because the cast themselves in a victim role – an essential element of Identity Politics – while casting Israel in an aggressor role.  In Identity Politics, it is necessary for the victim to identify a victimizer, and with complete disregard for the facts to paint their ‘enemy’ as devilish. 

Identity Politics claim the high ground of social justice – it’s just not Biblical social justice, but a God-less version of justice that is not intellectually honest with the facts.

I’m a believer in what we witness happening in our society is a reflection of a spiritual issue within the Body of the Lord.  Now don't go crazy on me here, but considering the major blow up being discussed by the political Left and Right over the white woman, Rachel Dolezal, who as the prominent head of the Spokane NAACP was passing herself off as black, what might that be saying to us is occurring spiritually among the Church?

Maybe nothing, but personally I believe that the IDENTITY issue may be the spiritual issue that God is putting His finger on right now.  For example among those Christians, many Millennials who have aligned themselves with the Identity Politics of radical Islamists claiming to be Davids fight Goliath. 

In the specific case of Rachel Dolezal, a naturally blonde woman of Swedish, German, Czech heritage who has been passing herself as a black woman, how have her lies discredited the claim that black in America is still a horrible racially victimized experience?  Do her lies, and the willingness of those in politics, news media and racial grievance movements to accept even her lying to them, have anything to say to us in the Church spiritually?

Since I have moved primarily in Messianic circles for the past two decades, the Rachel Dolezal incident reminded me of the many Christians that come to stand by the Jews who believe in Jesus and end up becoming so enamored of all things Jewish they being to transform their own identities into a Jewish identity.  Since the most obviously Jewish in appearance are Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox, I have personally seen many Christians go full-tilt frum after joining a Messianic congregation.  If there is a spiritual reflection of the Rachel Dolezal incident, I would have to say it is the Christians who have traded their God-given identity out of a desire to identify as Jewish.  This does not serve God’s purposes.

You know how anti-missionaries use the false accusation against Messianic Jews who believe in Yeshua that they are not really Jews? Well I am just wondering out loud how much of that has credibility with unbelieving Jews because of all the Gentile Christians who are wannbe Jews in the Messianic movement? Those who have taken on Jewish identities, instead of being what God made them to be: Gentile Christians who stand by the Jewish Body of Messiah completely?

Do we not have the same identity issues are Rachel Dolezal? Personally I believe that Christians who trade their identity in to self-identify as Jewish are not advancing the plan of God for the Messianic community in the redemption of "all Israel" and are not only hurting the credibility of Messianic Jews to the Jewish people, but also to the Church that has not yet recognized our place is to stand by the believers of Jesus in EVERY nation, including - and at this hour, especially - ISRAEL.

Now I understand how we started down this road in the Messianic movement, because the fledgling Messianic congregations needed the help and support of Christians within their congregations, yet also wanted it to look authentically Jewish to the Jewish people who came in. Fine.

That day is over. It is time to move on to be authentic in our identities as Jew and Gentile in the Messiah.

Interview with Korean BradTV about Believers in Israel

Last month I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Korean directory, Brad Kim about my Israelprayer ministry, which seeks to make the worldwide Church see the powerful significance of the Israeli believing community.  Watch 30-min interview here.

The existence of the Israeli believers is not a side issue that is trumped by more urgency of 'greater' issues to pray over concerning Israel.  No: the existence of an ever increasing community of followers of Israel's Messiah in Israel is the main issue!

How so?  First of all, this body of believers, which numbered around 100 in 1948, today number in the neighborhood of 18,000. There are an estimated 1 million Jews worldwide who believe in and follow Yeshua as Israel's Messiah, but those who are citizens of Israel are living in ground zero of the Lord's re-grafting the natural branches, as the apostle Paul wrote of in Romans 9-11. 

Also, they are the hidden blessing of Yeshua within the nation of Israel - salt, light and most definitely a preserving agent for the whole nation of Israel.

In Isaiah 65:8 there is a "Thus saith the Lord" that I am always reminded of when thinking about the Living Stones in Israel.  It says,

⁸ Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

⁹ And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

Sometimes I see and hear people stressing that the hatred of Arab neighbors is going to destroy Israel, but I know the principle of God that will not allow it: "Destroy it not for a blessing is in it". 

It is the same principle we saw at work as God determined to destroy Sodom and Abraham interceded bargaining for the preservation if there were just as few as 10 righteous in the city.

The believers of Israel are a hidden blessing of Yeshua in the midst of Israel, not only praying for the Lord's protection against external and internal enemies, but also for the repentance of Israelis for their own sins, and return (tshuvah) to the Father through Yeshua. The Israeli believers are the light of the Lord set on the hill to bring Israelis into right standing again with Abba, to be put in the righteousness which is from Messiah Yeshua. 

Yes, Israel can be hurt by wars, terror attacks and hatred from enemies. Israeli lives can be lost in conflicts, but the preserving agent within Israel is the growing Body of the Lord among Israeli citizens. 

If our focus in the Church is sidelined to strictly political advocacy of Israel, and we are not at all interested in how the Israeli believers are ministering to their countrymen, then we have surely missed the heart of God for the Church in this hour - AND WE ARE NOT MAKING ISRAEL SAFER. 

It is the presence of the Lord within the people that protects, not mere political advocacy!
 
I hope you will watch this interview and perhaps glean some information that will help you to put the priorities on the spiritual welfare of Israel which will impact its physical welfare as well.  I don't consider myself an excellent speaker, in fact, just the opposite, but it does help that I know the subject matter pretty darned well.


The interview begins approximately 2:41 into the video after a promo for another program.

Christian Over-Fascination with the Rabbis

Why are so many Christians fascinated with making connection to Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox rabbis who do not believe in Jesus, and are not equally or surpassingly (not even remotely!) in making connection with the Israeli Messianic Jews who are leading the 15-20,000 strong Body of Messiah in Israel?

Ultra-Orthodox protest outside the private residence of a Messianic Jewish believer in Arad. The woman, a widow, was targeted for many years because she was a foster mom to the children of other believers who had passed away. The ultra-Orthodox did not approve of a follower of Yeshua raising the children.

It just makes me crazy to see Christian leaders and regular Christians flocking to the rabbis who do not believe in Jesus, and acting like the ones who do believe in Yeshua are no big deal. Where does that attitude even come from? Maybe from the grand illusion that your connection with them is going to result in their coming to Jesus.

Let me tell you this: in God's plan, Israel is being 'harvested' by His laborers in that field - like the laborers who brought in the harvest for Boaz in the book of Ruth. And what was the role of the non-Jew Ruth? Well she labored alongside Boaz's laborers.  She did not try to take over the harvest field and bring in the harvest herself. No, she labored in assistance to the main laborers.

When Ruth married Boaz, that did not restore the inheritance to her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi. The only thing that could restore Naomi's inheritance in the people of God was the SON of Ruth and Boaz. See - only as Ruth labors alongside Boaz' harvest-bringer-inners, will the SON be brought forth who will restore the inheritance to those Jews who have no spiritual inheritance in the LORD. Get it?

So this week, I received an email from a concerned Messianic ministry family in Israel because they became aware through Christian churches and groups in the U.S. that these Christians were inviting a pair of ultra-Orthodox rabbis to speak in their churches. I have kept the Messianic family anonymous because they have had more than enough backlash and trouble as believers of Yeshua in Israel, but here is the report I provided from them in Israelprayer, including links to YouTube where these rabbis are speaking in US Christian churches.

"We received word in Israel from a reliable ministry source who we are keeping anonymous in order to protect them from any backlash, that there are two ultra-Orthodox Jews who belong to Bayit HaYehudi who are being promoted among gentile Christians in the United States.

In fact, Jeremy Gimpel (Israel Update) and Ari Abramowitz (The Land of Israel) are quickly becoming highly sought after speakers to Christian churches and groups, as they have been instructed how to speak to Christians as if their religious beliefs are exactly the same as Christians.

Our Israeli ministry friends say that they personally know Christian groups that these two men are being promoted among, and are concerned because the aftermath of speakers like them have led many believers to deny the Lord and convert to rabbinic Judaism.

This is a head’s up if you are not aware of these men, so that you may be aware. You can watch them speak on YouTube videos here and here Also this website in connection" http://mizrachi.org/

As Christians, our relationship with Israel is strongest when we link to the Body of Messiah Yeshua in Israel. We need them and they need us - and God made it that way for His purposes to be perfected by our mutual respect, care and alliance.

Christian Support of Rebuilding the Temple

W O R D

Dividing between the joints and the marrow. I know that's what the Holy Spirit does, and in the case of understanding scripture, we need the Holy Spirit to divide between things to get to what God is saying for us right now.

One of the reasons that almost anyone can justify whatever they believe with scripture is that there are many dichotomies in scripture - seemingly contradictory flat statements of Divine truth. The reason for that is that God did not want to just give mankind a rule book that could be consulted as the last word for every circumstance. If you haven't noticed living is much messier than that! What God wanted to give us was a book of instruction on His general standards of righteous living, and then in the detail of exact circumstances the need for us to find the WAY to address the circumstance by the sweet counsel of the Holy Spirit.

This is where many believers who want to please God go wrong. They mistake the general instructions of God with the specific instructions of God in every situation. Ecclesiastes 3 is the best explanation of this: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." 

What may be the right Word to apply in one season, is not the time or purpose of God for every season. We have to be aware of this and sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We have to seek God even though we have His Word book of instruction for walking in life.

I'm thinking about this because this morning I got a really awful email from someone who very likely has mistaken my stance on the rebuilding of the Third Temple. The email was incredibly anti-Semitic - complete with picture of Benjamin Netanyahu with red eye-pupils glaring like a demon with a crowd of angry Jews standing behind him, one gripping the family jewels like a gangsta rapper. I knew from the graphic that the email was going to be bad, and although I didn't bother reading it word for word, I did scan it enough to know that the main thing was a warning against the Jewish desire to build the Third Temple - and how that would inflame the whole Middle Eastern nations' Islamists to insane fury.

I cannot argue with the idea that all the Temple Mount folks who are pressing to kick the Dome of the Rock out and rebuild the Third Temple are playing with dangerous fire. The Israeli government and most of the Israeli public keep a lid on those guys for that very reason. Unfortunately, many Christians support these Temple Mount groups with absolutely no comprehension of the ramifications to Israel.

First off, this obsession with Christians over the preparations of the unsaved religious Jews to rebuild and outfit a Third Temple is a DISTRACTION from what the Holy Spirit through the Body of MESSIAH is doing in this SEASON in Israel. My gosh, if Ecclesiastes 3 ever applied to anything, it applies to the misplaced fascination of Christians for the Third Temple building!

In other words, Yeshua is building an eternal temple made of LIVING STONES in Israel right now, but most of the Christian Israel supporters are not interested in that one iota and instead are hanging on every word of those who threaten Israel by going about seeking to establish their own righteousness with a Third Temple.

This is the season of salvation, not the season of God's Temple in Jerusalem which only Yeshua can sit upon the throne of.

The Centrality of Jerusalem

When Eddie & Jackie Santoro of Ahavat Yeshua congregation in Jerusalem were here in the Dallas area a few weeks ago, we were talking after the service about the centrality of Israel in the plan of God - especially here as His plan is culminating. There may be an earthly argument over who possesses the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock stands, but in Heaven the issue of ownership has long been settled, Mount Zion belongs to God.

God put His name on that mountain, and it is that mountain where His Son's Throne will be set up to rule the kingdoms of the earth in the Millennium. Why do you think it is inscribed on the Dome of the Rock, "There is no god but Allah" and "he has not begotten a son".

Islam lays claim to that mountain as a direct challenge to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and also to Israel's Messiah Yeshua. This is the real reason for the rage of Islam against the existence of the nation state of Israel - their existence is proof that Allah and the demonized prophet Mohammad are usurpers, laying false claim to the Throne of Righteousness which is destined by God to be situated in a precise geographical location - Mount Zion.

I'm taking the long way there, but Jackie and Eddie remembered during our conversation a picture they were given many years ago by a pastor in a European country. This picture above is that. It shows all of the continents of the world contained within a globe-like circle and here is the kicker: there was only one way that all the land masses would fit inside the circle at once and that was only if Jerusalem was placed dead center in the circle. If Jerusalem was not situated in the exact center of the circle, not all of the nations could be fully contained and visible in the circle.  Pretty amazing, no?

Tell me Jerusalem is not central to God's plan. I'm just going to shake my head and pray that God shows you what He is up to soon.

Whose voice is it? God, the enemy or yourself?

Someone was talking about separating the voices that speak to us - the voice of the enemy, of our own mind and that which God is speaking to us. Here is my take:

Knowing God as He really is, I think is the part that often makes it difficult to separate His voice in our head from our own. The same way that we know the voice that isn't God, but the enemy, because we know the Word of God well enough to recognize this is not something God would say, that is the part that gets fuzzy when it comes to differentiating between our thoughts and God's thoughts. 

We can be seriously tight with God, but still have certain blind spots about who God really is. I think that a perfect example is in the arena of Israel, where saints of God who are walking in healing and miracles still have a Grand Canyon chasm when it comes to getting who the real God is in relation to the redemption of Israel. Also comprehending the way He has told us He is going to carry that off which is the same way it all started. Consult the book of Acts where the Remnant of Jewish BELIEVERS in Israel - not the Christians coming in to the unsaved Jews - but the saved Jews providing the witness in their own nation. 

It's all there in the Bible, yet most of the prophetic circles of Christianity refuse to see it, and certainly so do most of the pro-Zionist Christians - YET is is exactly what is said in the Scriptures. 

SO MY POINT is that in every point that we have not recognized the REAL God, that is a point that we cannot properly discern between God's voice in our head and our own voice telling us what we believe is the real God. Only submitting to who God really is in each point can give us prophetic clarity on that issue.

Submitting to who God really is on this issue deserves a few more lines of explanation, because the prophetic-cutting edge of Christianity cannot be bothered with thoughts that Israel has a continuing significance to God yet the REAL God testifies repeatedly in scripture that He will NOT forget Israel. And the apostle Paul expounded pretty clearly how salvation would return to Israel. 

Also pro-Zionist Christians - many of the leading - cannot be bothered with the reality of one million saved Jews in the world today, who especially (specifically) in Israel, are the agent of salvation to their countrymen. 

Why can they not submit to how God has revealed He is going to save all Israel? There are several reasons. 

One is that they flatter themselves in thinking their good deeds toward Israel is going to bring Israel to recognize the Messiah. They are operating under a misinterpretation of gentile Christians making Israel jealous. I'm not sure how it makes a Jew jealous to see how shabbily these Christian Zionists treat Messianic Jews in Israel and elsewhere.

Two is that it is easy to make a name for yourself by being a pro-Zionist Christian. Those in the Christian world with a heart toward Israel have a God-given stirring toward Israel, but they do not know what purpose it is for. That is why it is easy to pervert the stirring of Christians toward Israel down rabbit trails. 

Even some in Messianic Jewish circles had diverted this heart stirring among Christians toward a fascination for Jewish culture instead of toward God's redemptive plan for all Israel. Because as Israelis come to faith in the Messiah of Israel, Yeshua, through those Jewish Israelis who are laboring in the Lord's harvest in Israel, this begins to impact worldwide revival.

I don't know how many times in my life I have heard someone tell me adamantly that the Jews are never going to come to faith. Even many pro-Zionist Christians believe they will only come to faith after the Church has been raptured out of this world (this is supposedly when the Jews will remember all those good deeds Christians did for Israel). 

People think it is impossible that Jews will come to faith yet from Matthew through the book of Acts it was practically nothing by thousands and thousands of Jews who believed on Yeshua. We are already witnessing God's plan of salvation come full circle back to the place where it all began - in Israel, with Jews coming to the knowledge of the Son of God.

When we cannot submit to that truth that is written in the Word, then our hearing from God is going to be mightily hampered. Selah.

The Key to Hearing God's Direction

The Key to Hearing God's Direction
By Arni Klein
Emmaus Way

The Burden of the Lord  As we were getting ready to immigrate to Israel, our beloved former pastor David Wilkerson shared a most precious truth.  He said that at the foundation of any God-inspired work or ministry is the burden of the Lord.  It is the source of our motivation, strength and direction. 

There have been a few times when Father let me experience His heart.  The first was in relation to a struggle with one of our teenage children.  I felt like I was being torn apart.  My emotions were like a roller coaster out of control.  I cried out to God, “What are you doing to me?”  He answered, “Read Hosea.”  He later added,  “You asked to know My heart for Israel.  You couldn’t get it from My just telling you.  You needed to go through this experience to understand.”

The next time was just before taking our pilot trip to Israel in 1989.  Wanting to know Him more deeply, I asked Father to show me what grieved His heart.  On the night we returned home I got my answer.  He said, ”When my children fight.”  At the time, I didn’t realize the deep effect this had on me.

The next encounter was in the following year.  After having been told by the Lord the year before that we were to immigrate to Israel within three years, Pastor Dave suggested that I spend a month by myself in Israel waiting on the Lord without plan or agenda to get a word on where we should go and what we should do.

I was led to start my trip in the Tiberias area (very near where we now live).  On the very first morning of these days that were set aside to get direction, I received my answer.  The part of the story that amazes me is not that it came so quickly, but that it took some seven years for me to recognize that what I heard within hours of arriving was in fact my answer.

Part of the reason I didn’t get it is that He didn’t specifically say the word was for me -- unlike the year before when He said, “Here is the answer to your question.”  This time He just revealed His heart -- that the Land would be filled with people praising Him when returns.

He also showed me that it could not be accomplished without the participation of the Body in the nations.  The result has been that we have spent the better part of the last twenty years endeavoring to bring Father’s heart for Israel to our brethren in the nations.

If we are knit with Father’s heart, we will of necessity share His grief, which in turn fuels our passion.  To know Him in this way is to know our calling and election.  It releases a river of never-ending faith and strength.

 The life of Arni and Yonit Klein has been marked by radical shifts and quantum leaps. They met in 1969 in Manhattan and married two months later.  As yet without the knowledge of Yeshua but bonded as seekers, within four years they were separated on the verge of divorce.  In the spring of 1973, they separately came to faith and were reunited.  For 19 years they served in various capacities in New York City until they immigrated  to Israel in 1992.
     For various seasons between 1992 and 2000, they served as congregational elders, directed a congregational  music ministry, and produced a music and drama street outreach.  Arni has recorded an album of original Hebrew songs for seekers (“One Way Ticket”), and their journey to faith “Nothing to Lose” is published in Hebrew and German and can be found on this website in English.  From 1999 to 2012 they stewarded centers in Tel Aviv and the Judean Hills to provide a place for brethren from Israel and the nations  to pray and minister to the Lord.  From 1998 to 2003 they worked with First Nations peoples from various countries to help them understand their calling and unique role in God’s plans for Israel.  Since 2003 they have worked extensively in Germany with a focus on building a bridge between the youth in both nations. They have been part of the community of believers in the Tel Aviv area for 13 years and  Jerusalem for 8 years. 
     They currently reside in a village near Tiberias, and are part of the Morningstar Congregation.  As individuals and as a ministry, they desire to partner with other brethren whenever possible and are committed to walking in transparency and accountability.  For more information you can go to “The History of Emmaus Way.”