Making Israel Jealous

 

An unbeliever Israeli Tour Guide happens on the scene of the religious mob protesting Christians and Israeli Messianic Jews praying together for Israel on Pentecost 2023, calls the mob scene “scary”

Making Israel Jealous
by Donna Diorio

Many times I have heard Christians in ignorance and arrogance say that if the Israeli body of Messiah were really effective they would have more to show for their efforts than they do. That is the reason for this writing.

     It is different from replacement theology and mostly afflicts Christians who operate in the spiritual gifts. I will say that many are well meaning. At least they recognize that God wants Israel to come to faith in Jesus, but unfortunately they do not understand as much as they think they do or they would not dismiss the Israeli Messianic believers working in the harvest field of Israel.

     Unfortunately to believe they could do better coming into Israel for the purpose of evangelizing Israelis better than those who live there and are engaged in the work is pretty conceited. Paul called it being wise in their own eyes.

     Truth is they do not understand the Israel dynamic at all. Israel does not present the Gospel the same freedom Christians have enjoyed in Western nations. It takes something more. It also judges the entire body of believers in Israel with on an incredibly superficial level. Martin Luther also held the same kind of inflated view of himself not recognizing the timing or the plan of God to reconcile the Jews back to Himself through Israel's Messiah Yeshua. It turned him into an anti-Semite and that’s why it is good to take this kind of thinking on, to shake us loose from it.

     Almost always the Christians who think that it will be the gentile Church who go to Israel performing miracles, healings and salvation is their role in provoking Israel to "jealousy." Many saved Jews also believe this but I believe it is a misreading of what the actual biblical texts are saying about provoking this jealousy. (Deuteronomy 32:21, Romans 10:19, Romans 11:14, Romans 11:11, Acts 5:17, Acts 13:45 and Acts 17:5) In Deuteronomy God said "They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God...their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people."  Continue to read the plan of God given to Moses in song to tell the children of Israel. Pay special attention to verses 36, 39 and 43 because God clearly says when all Israel's strength is done, He "will vindicate His people" and He says the Heavens and the angels will rejoice when He does. He says, "Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children...He will cleanse His land and His people."

     The main point here is about the source of jealousy: it was God who stirred up jealousy in the Jewish people whom He chose to be a people and a unique nation of God’s people. Christians are from all nations, we are a people who are not a people, we are not a nation, only our faith in Yeshua makes us a people of God. We are not a replacement of the nation God singled out for Himself but instead we are destined to be joined together with them, adopted into the family of God.

     Jealous in the New Covenant:  In Acts 5:17 the apostles were arrested when Jews from the cities around Jerusalem began to come to them “bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed. Then the high priest and all his associates, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.” They were made jealous by the Jews who were followers of Yeshua empowered by the Holy Spirit.

     Then in Acts 13:41-45, Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch and preached in the synagogue, when they were scoffed by some, they left but “many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God…. On the following Sabbath, nearly the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying.” Again, the Jews were made jealous by Jewish believers speaking salvation to the Gentiles.

     In Acts 17:1-7 Paul goes to Thessalonica where he went first to the synagogue “as was his custom.” For three Shabbats in a row Paul taught them from the Scriptures “explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Yeshua I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he declared. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women. The (other) Jews, however, became jealous.

     So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people. But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!”

     All of the jealousy portions in Acts should remind you of current events in Israel because this is exactly what has been happening for many years – the years that there has emerged in Israel Jewish believers who are operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit particularly and declaring Yeshua is the Messiah. This was seen on a global scale by the mob that was gathered to show up on Pentecost on the Southern Steps of the Temple to violently protest the prayers going on there for Israel. It was repeated shortly afterwards when the Messianic believers from across the land went to attend a worship concert in Jerusalem. This is what creates jealousy: Jewish believers worshipping the Messiah of Israel.

     Paul also addresses the issue of Jewish jealousy in Romans.

     Romans 11:25 says this is a mystery that Paul did not want Christians to be ignorant of BECAUSE if Christians are ignorant of this mystery, it makes us "wise in your own conceits" = thinking we are so much greater than the Jews, not failing God like Israel did. Paul's points: this is a MYSTERY because "A hardening in part has happened to Israel, until the PLEROMA of the Gentiles may come in."

     What is pleroma?  It is not a predetermined number of Christians to be saved in history, but rather it is the quality of our transformation in the likeness of Jesus! Pleroma means "repletion or completion" - The condition of being fully supplied or completely filled.

     Many in the Church think they are there, but they are not until they grasp God's plan has always involved Yeshua raising up a “living temple” in Israel made of “living stones.” That’s who the believing Jews of Israel are, the Church in the nations, who are also a living temple of the Holy Spirit of Messiah Yeshua are very much need for the Israeli part of the body of the LORD to accomplish everything God has placed in their hearts to reach Israel for salvation in Yeshua. It takes a recognition of God’s plan, purposes and timing for the restoration of Israel through Messiah. It takes humility of the Church to realize that the Holy Spirit has equipped the body of the LORD in Israel to reach their own people – the people who have the same historical obstacles to overcome regarding Jesus and who have the same experience of being an Israeli living in a land where the demonic-empowered rage of Israel’s enemies are focused on annihilating the Jewish people. Few Christians in the nations have the same experience. But as the Gospel has traveled the globe spreading West, it is the nations closest to Israel from the East who come nearest to knowing how those realities impact Israel.

     Christians have NEVER really made Israel jealous of our faith, surely not on a major scale. From the book of Acts to the current day, it is only the believing Remnant of faith in Yeshua that has made Israel SUPER JEALOUS.

     If you want to understand how you make Israel jealous of what you have, then understand they were made jealous May 28th on the Southern Steps of the Temple when worldwide Christians joined in with Messianic Jews to pray for Israel’s. This made unbelieving religious Israeli Jews insanely jealous! It flipped their jealousy on high intensity. From this point on the Messianic body of Israel will be in greater measures of targeting. We as Christians must stand with the believers in Israel in every way. That is our role to play. God wants us to understand this and support Yeshua's BODY in Israel with both prayers and practical support. 

     Or some could continue to think that the Jews are just waiting for anointed Christians to come preach salvation to them. I sincerely hope all who believe this way would be humble enough to partner with the witness Yeshua has raised up in Israel already: the Messianic Jewish ministries need us.  

The Curse Causeless

 

The Curse Causeless
by Donna Diorio

Over the last 24 hours, from two unrelated sources I have read Proverbs 26:2 and it is a proverb I have always be a little troubled by. When I went back to the original language this time I saw and made my own choice of interpreting the Hebrew verb meanings I believe fits:

"As the bird by wavering, as the swallow by fleeing, 

so the curse causeless shall not enter."

     Without those specific interpretation choices the usual interpretation of the proverb has always sounded judgmental to me. It brings to my mind Job's friends pointing out all the ways they thought he must have failed for all the trials that came on him. Awful things you would hope your friends would not think of you, but they were trying to explain it in terms of their understanding of God's Word.

     Yet God also said to Satan, the enemy of our souls in the book of Job: "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

     Jesus was perfect, sinless, yet He was crucified. In the case of Yeshua, He took upon Himself our sins and laid down His own life for the purpose of defeating the enemy who had entrance to our lives through those sins. 

    That's the thing, a curse cannot enter us if all the doors are shut that allow entrance. So in the case of Job, even though he was in God's eyes "blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil" despite all that, there was an entrance left in Job that was open to Satan. Was it the "wavering" of Job expecting bad things to befall his children because they were not as blameless and upright as He was? 

     So I am wondering if all our trials in life are not simply God leading us to close off all the entry-ways of the enemy to come in with curses. Not the big entryways that our friends may judge us to have, but even the little ones like our wavering and fleeing without trusting God in every situation of life. Each of us has things in life that are easier for us to trust God about than other things in our lives - and we are all different on that count!

     Perhaps these trials in life are also somewhat prophetic of the trials of the last days and our battles with the enemy to retain our faith in how our salvation in the LORD covers us to the uttermost, no matter what. 

     Jesus said in John 14 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me." He was talking to the disciples preparing them for His death and the promise of the Holy Spirit that would come to abide in them.

     No matter how we might consider ourselves "blameless and upright" fearing God and shunning evil, I have yet to meet the person who could say honestly like Yeshua that Satan had ZERO entryway into Him.

     There was no legal access for the curse of crucifixion to come upon Jesus. Not until He voluntarily took the cup of the sins of mankind upon Himself so that all the curses that could enter in to people, entered in to Him instead. The price paid entirely, now ours for the receiving - without wavering or fleeing when threatened by curses coming our way. 

     When God's Word says that He is coming back for a Bride without spot or wrinkle, those are the smallest defects not the big flaws of human beings. Like Job's opening that gave Satan legal entry/access to bring curses upon him. These spots and wrinkles are more like the wavering or fleeing instead of trusting that sometimes plagues us all . . . if we are honest about it.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel & Issachar

 

Thank you to Israel Pochtar of Beit Hallel in Ashdod
for this photograph with the Isaiah 40:1

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel 
& Issachar

by Donna Diorio

There are 3 specific verses that are on my heart after my ‘Israel watching’ the past week.

One is the beautiful verse in Israel Pochtar’s picture of the oasis in the desert.  Isaiah 40:1 is a verse that has found a landing spot in Christian hearts toward Israel for many decades now. Many Christians have dedicated themselves to this command of God and have served Israel in the most profoundly practical ways by pouring resources, expertise and support Israel needed at every step of the way toward establishing and securing the State of Israel. They did as God called them to do in His own timing.

But that is not all Isaiah 40 has to say; it advances specifically, like verse 3: “A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God." It speaks to me that comforting the people of Israel is in itself preparing the way for the LORD – but it is only the first part. Verse 6 through 9 begins to tell us to cry out “all people are like grass …the grass withers and flowers fail.”  The Good News of Zion is for Jerusalem and Judah too – not just for the nations to know: “Here is your God!” this Messiah, Yeshua.  “Salvation exists in no one else” Acts 4:12

Many Christians who have responded to the first part about comforting and supporting Israel have not been able to hear or comprehend that Israel is to hear the Gospel, the Good News of Israel’s Messiah. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One God. Jesus said “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)

I think it is probably not the lead role that Christians want to play of making Israel “jealous” of our faith. I also believe that Christians are to play a support role in Israel’s Remnant of faith in Yeshua by supporting the Messianic Jews who are the witness to their own people. We already see how jealous that makes the Orthodox and ultraOrthodox. But Israel is more secular than religious and many more secular Israelis are drawn to the Israeli believers, honestly longing for what they see in the Israeli believers – all of the spiritual love, joy, hope, grace, overcoming power that is only found in the people who fully invested in Yeshua for their fulfillment in life.

The second verse that is on my heart is 1 Chronicles 12:32, "From Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their kinsmen at their command." The men of Issachar were men who not only had practical professional wisdom, but they clearly had prophetic insight. This is the only way to know how a nation should go to be in accord with God’s will in the events of men and nations.

I believe this speaks to spiritual leadership too, not just governmental counselors. After seeing the wonderful response from Christians all over the world to the Isaiah 62 prayer and fasting event for 21 days last month, to me this is an example of spiritual leadership stepping into the modern day mantle of the sons of Issachar. Those who recognized this was something more than we have been seeing and experiencing in pro-Israel Christian circles is clear in the overwhelming response to the call.

Since the May 28^th culmination of the prayer call on the Southern Steps of the Temple in Jerusalem I have kept the IHOP Prayer Room running in the background all day as I work on my computer. I can tell you that prayer for Israel’s salvation has not ceased. It continues on. I do believe May 2023 marks a turning point spiritually. I do believe an Issachar awakening throughout the world has begun and will continue to grow. But there are still many in Christian prophetic circles who have not yet shown any understanding of the times we are in. An example of this is the report this week in the Jerusalem about Pastor Paula White’s visit to Israel:  
   

"Rather than take a traditional Christian tour, however, she opted to travel with Orthodox Rabbi Tuly Weisz of Israel365, an organization that builds bridges between Jews and Christians. She ascended the Temple Mount with former MK Rabbi Yehudah Glick; studied with Religious Zionist Rebbetzin Shani Taragin; walked through the streets of Jewish Hebron with Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum, director of tourism for the Hebron Fund; and visited Arugot Farms in the Judean mountains. She even spent a morning studying Torah at Nishmat – The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women.

     “There is a new movement of Christians and Orthodox Jews coming together,” White told the Post. “We need each other. It is vitally important we continue to build these bridges.”

That is not a prophetic Issachar response to the moment we are in. I have to agree with David Silver of Out of Zion whose comment in Kehila News Israel was, Do They Read Their Bible?

“Last week the Jerusalem Post published an interview with a pastor of a mega-church in the USA. She was here in Israel for her 20th plus visit, but instead of connecting with local Messianic leaders, she is spending her entire time in Israel with an orthodox rabbi who is extremely opposed to Messianic Jews. This is a very dangerous thing for Christians to do as the non Messianic Judaism is strongly influenced by the spirit of Anti-Christ, and there is a growing number of people, both Jewish and Christian, who were once followers of Messiah Yeshua, who have been deceived by the spirit of Anti-Christ to turn their back on Yeshua, and the promise of eternal life in the Kingdom of GOD.
     “As far as I know the pastor I mentioned above has not renounced her faith in Yeshua (yet), but she was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying the Christians must learn from Jews, and that they should stop trying to convert Jewish people, and that Christians should stop encouraging Jews to make Aliyah to hasten the Rapture.” 

If you need proof of those claims that you can find it in the news reports of the increasing violent protests that targeted the May 28^th prayer gathering in Jerusalem, and then last week another targeting a Jerusalem Messianic Worship event.

I don’t say this for anyone to direct hatred toward these lost souls in Israel, but you do need to recognize they are lost. They have not been saved and are as dangerous as Saul was before Yeshua apprehended him on the road to Damascus. Saul was so hell bent against them he went out of the country to pursue Jewish believers in Jesus who fled Israel because of him and others like him hell-bent to throw them in jail and convict them of heresy. Believe it or not, there are organizations that continue that same strategy today! We are to pray for them to be saved, as God saved Paul with a revelation of whom it really was that he was persecuting. Persecute the believers and you are persecuting Yeshua. We are His body in the earth now. That rule is not suspended because the country is Israel.

Finally, I want to bring up the final verses that are from both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God saying exactly the same thing 4 times – twice in Jeremiah and twice in Ezekiel: "They dress the wound of my people as though it were slight. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace." To comfort God’s people Israel without bringing the restoration to relationship with God through Yeshua’s salvation is crying “Shalom, shalom” to those who do not have the true shalom. Jesus alone is the Prince of Peace.

When Christians go to Israel encouraging Israel that she does not need the Messiah who is Yeshua-Jesus, it also hardens the religious opposition and persecution of Israeli Messianic Jews. To continue to support all the causes of Israel EXCEPT the body of the LORD in Israel is exactly like if we had gone to Israel to encourage Saul to keep pursuing the believers with wrath. It is one thing to comfort God’s people Israel, but it is another to enable their boldness to persecute Yeshua’s brothers in Israel. Those brothers are Israel’s Messianic Jews. It is time we progressed in this moment to recognize that.

 
    *In fuller context, read the 4 Jeremiah (6:13-14 / 8:8-11) and Ezekiel (13:1-12, 16) verses that give the reasons God says is why the prophets and priests would say Peace, peace when there was not peace:  #1 greed for gain; #2 lying about what the law of the Lord actually says because they reject the word of the Lord; #3 practicing deceit; #4 prophesying out of their own imagination not the word of the Lord; #5 false visions and divinations; #6 building flimsy spiritual walls covered in whitewash.

The Unveiling

 

A Bride at the Wall

The Unveiling
by Donna Diorio

June 6, 2023 | I am considering some things I've heard from ministry leaders over the past few weeks that I would like to share with subscribers. God's awakening of such an incredible number of Christians in May to the Church's connection to the awakening of Israel is much more than what some are thinking.

It is more than Christians becoming a lifeguard to throw out a life preserver to the Israeli ministries in their season of greatest opposition since Acts 28. It is also more than a life-preserver for Christians when all the nations propelled by demonic hatred of Israel specifically bear down to destroy Israel completely.

There will be a Remnant of the faithful in all the nations, but there will be no fence sitting. Life altering decisions will be put to every single person at that time. Will they put their life on the line to stand with Israel or will they fall in line with the demonized seeking Israel's annihilation? There will be no sidelines to hide on. It will be like the difference between those who joined the Nazis for personal stability versus those who hid Jews at the risk of their own lives. This time it will be on an international scale, not simply a national scale. 

Those are heavy thoughts but I believe the leader who has spoken to this is on point. It doesn't seem to me to be the most persuasive truth, however, to make Christians want to stand with the Jewish Remnant of the faith for Israel.

Certainly we will be dependent upon each other - Christians and Messianic Jews - in the days of the Antichrist/antiMessiah. That's because, in my view, God's ultimate purpose for our becoming one together is far more motivational. It is His kindness that leads us to repentance, and He is bringing us together out of His kindness: only as we become one in Messiah will the full anointing He has planned for us come to mature expression. The world hasn't seen God's glory like this since Yeshua was walking the land of Israel and Jew and Gentile have to be made into one before His glory will begin to shine out.

It took a humbling of preconceived ideas on the part of the Jews in the opening accounts of the book of the Acts of the Apostles to grasp that Yeshua came not only for the Jews, but also now to the nations - the Gentiles. Today it is going to take a humbling of the preconceived ideas in the Church on the part of leaders and congregants, to grasp all that it means for God to make of "twain one new man" in the faith of His Son. This is beyond just reconciling us with each other, it is the revelation of what God has been producing: mankind in a full, mature measure of the likeness of His Son. He was the Word of God, made flesh, and we are to follow in His footsteps. Not just the Jews and not just the Christians, but the one new man in Messiah.

Ephesians 2:15 is the explanation of God's plan that Jew and Gentile believers are destined in Messiah to become one. Really it is about our marriage together. Becoming a survival team is one aspect of our unification, but it is about much more.

Jonathan Cahn's daily word email on June 2nd, "The Apocalyptic Bride" caused sudden bursts of new understanding me. It is more than I can fully take in since I have been looking at it, but we are living in such an incredible time of accelerated revelation.

We Christians and Messianic Jews are being called together because God is going to do an even more astounding work in us than we have seen so far and it will only come about as we come together, like in a marriage. We will help each other survive as Christians and Jewish believers, but that is not the primary benefit of any marriage. Instead it is the coming together to a love in truth with respect and devotion. 

Just like a godly marriage, we are to pour out to each other what our distinct differences contribute to the beauty of the relationship.  In our oneness yet distinctive differences, like a husband and wife, Messianic Jews and Christians both bring an equal measure of blessing to each other. One is not more gifted than the other. Messianic Jews bring the understanding of the Hebrew foundations that God laid in Israel that will enhance the Church with beauty and fulness that has yet to appreciated and enjoyed except by a few in the Church. No: the Church does not have to understand every last jot and tittle of Judaism, but God did lay the foundations of the faith in the Jewish people. That is not an insignificant fact. 

In Revelation 3 Jesus criticized the Laodicean church for saying, 'I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.' He went on to tell them, "But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked."

To some degree that sounds to me like the part of Christianity that not only sees Israel as insignificant to the faith, but also who do not value what Christians can learn from the Messianic Jewish part of the body of Christ. It is true that there are a lot of 'rabbi trails' that are not spiritually beneficial to Christians and lead them into pitfalls, but that is not what will be exchanged as Christians and Messianic Jews enter into this marriage made in Heaven for the end of the age.

In Ephesians 5:32 the apostle Paul says, "This is a megas/profound mystery: but I speak concerning Christ/Anointed/the Messiah, the Son of God and the ekkl'sia - the whole body of called out ones both Christian and Jew. 

There has been a long understanding that the Bride of Christ is "the Church."  I believe I have seen something profoundly deeper in this mystery of the Bride. It is due to Jonathan Cahn explaining the Greek word for "apocalyptic." 

Most of us think of "apocalyptic" as meaning the calamity and doom at the end of the world. Cahn writes there is some truth to that, but the Greek definition of apokalupsis means: an unveiling, uncovering, revealing or revelation. In fact, the word "apokalupsis" is translated as "revelation" 10 times in the KJV and 18 times in the NKJV. The mysteries of God are apokalupsis - a revelation, like the unveiling of a bride.

Cahn explained that in the Hebrew marriage "during the [marriage] supper, the bride and groom would slip away to the marriage chamber where the bride would "unveil" herself to the groom. The word of unveil is the word apokalupsis. What if this slipping away to the marriage chamber is not speaking of the Rapture, but rather when the ekklesia (Messianic Jews & Christians in an unprecedented unity) are unveiled to Israel? 

As we come into our oneness with the Messianic Jews, our marriage made in Heaven, we are going to be increasing unveiled to Israel because our oneness with the Messianic Jews is not just to "hasten the return of the LORD" to rapture the church. Instead it is to reveal a marriage made in Heaven by Divine design. We will be fulfilling our purpose at last to make the Jews jealous because we are no longer treating the Messianic Jews as an insignificant blip on Christian history, but our 'love interest' that Yeshua has ignited in our hearts. 

We have been praying "for the veil to be removed" from the eyes of Israel - all Jews worldwide. Paul speaks of the veil over the eyes of the children of Israel dating back to the time of Moses (2 Cor 3:13-18):

"We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were blinded (to grow hard, callous, become dull, lose the power of understanding). For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Messiah can it be removed. And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

For those who have long been involved in Israel intercession, we have realized that the Church has been in great need of God removing the veil from Christian eyes too! That's because Christianity has been blinded from seeing God's long and persistent profession of love for Israel. It is plainly expressed throughout the Scriptures. So we have therefore also been blind to His plan to make Jews and Gentiles one new man in Messiah, just as Ephesians 2:15 says, "for to make in Himself of twain one new man" or out of two He is making one unprecedented "humanity" (anthropos). A people so transformed into the likeness of Jesus that such a people has never been seen before. The glory of the latter House of the LORD will be greater than the former. (Haggai 2:9)

Our marriage made in Heaven of Messianic Jews and Christians in these last days is the same principle as when a man and woman enter into marriage. Their union produces a whole new family unit. From two distinctively different families marriage makes them an unprecedented, new family unit. That is what the profound mystery is all about.

That is what God is doing to us. He is bringing the Jewish believers and the Christians in all the nations together to form an unprecedented family of God never found before in the annals of human history. It's a marriage between Jewish believers and Christians in the nations and only after that 'marriage' will the full expression of what God is bringing forth from humanity in His Son be realized, manifested, operational!

Many Christians believe they are already experiencing the fullness of God's gifts to us, but the fullness only arrives as the marriage made in Heaven becomes reality - for those who have entered into the purpose God has for us together. We will be a blessing to each other far beyond what any of us imagine even now. 

God is Speaking . . . Even in the Riot

This video was shot by an Israeli Tour Guide who was drawn to the site by the sound of the shofar being blown on the southern steps of the temple, called the Davidson Center. The captions are narrative comments by Zahi Shaked who said he was asked why he uploaded videos like this to his YouTube channel. He answered that he did because it is also a part of Israel. He also comments that he is not for “missionaries” in Israel but sees what is happening here as “extremist.”  The name he gave this video is:
Extremist Jewish Minority tries to prevent
the Pentecost ceremony of the Evangelicals in Jerusalem.

God Is Speaking . . .Even in the Riot
by Donna Diorio

May 30, 2023: The first time I went to Israel in 2003 I traveled with 2 other women. We were all older ladies but we rented a car and drove all over Israel. We wanted most to visit Israel ministries and sites where terror attacks had recently taken place – like the 2001 Sbarro Pizza attack site. We wanted to demonstrate our solidarity with Israel and that we were not afraid either.

[The day after I wrote this, I read a news report that a mother who has been in a coma 22 years since the Sabarro Pizza bombing has just died of her wounds. She is the 16^th fatality of this terror attack affecting mostly mothers and their children.]

We there in the midst of the 2nd Intifada, yet we traveled high and low across Israel by ourselves. We did avoid some places as we were warned by Israeli friends to avoid. But we felt perfectly safe.

    Then just days before we were to fly home, we were driving down the old Highway 1 between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv when traffic came to a complete stop. People were very agitated. The other side of the highway also had no thru traffic.
We began to see Israeli military trucks and personnel driving in on the shoulder of the road, then after them, we began to see cars backing up as fast as they could on the right shoulder of the highway. It would be a way to back up on because there were no on and off ramps. They had to back up all the way to the highway we left to merge onto the old highway. To the right of the highway was Palestinian area and to the left was Israeli. I remember smugly thinking at how terribly impatient Israelis were to back up all that way.

     After a long time waiting in a line of cars as far as the eye could see, I saw Israelis in their vehicles looking around anxiously checking out the people in the other cars, or so it seemed to me. Eventually the line of cars slowly started going forward. When we finally drove by the chokepoint that was causing the commotion, we say a car that had broken down or run out of gas and abandoned on left center wall. Military vehicles had surrounded the car creating a barrier and a robotic bomb zapper was on the scene. It had apparently been used to probe the vehicle to see if it was rigged with explosives. It wasn't… but only then did it really begin to sink in to me how much danger Israelis live with on a daily basis. Even a seemingly mundane thing like an abandoned car on the highway triggered an all out security situation where bomb squads rushed to assess what could have been a serious threat to many lives.

     I have thought about that incident many times since then. I know God did not want me to leave Israel feeling spiritually smug, and never having a sense of the threat that grips Israelis in their daily lives. He didn't want me to leave without a heart understanding of the fears. I had a head understanding of the threat but I needed my heart touched to really know what Israelis are dealing with just to exist. The threat can break into their lives at any time. It’s a sword dangling overhead.

     I believe that is also what happened on May 28th when the anti-Messiah riots broke out against the prayers when the Isaiah 62 prayer event merged into the Global Watch prayer for Israel. God did not want all of the Christians praying to go back to their lives without grasping the threats of our brothers and sisters in the Israeli body of Messiah. This violent religious opposition is also a threat that pops up against them spontaneously. It is the cost they all know well for doing what they are doing as Yeshua's witnesses in the Land of Israel.

     Christians come and go as tourists to Israel. We see Israel idyllically. But to pray for Israel's salvation we must see what the opposition to those Jewish believers who live in Israel bearing the witness. We need to know in order to pray for them as we ought. They are key to the harvest.

Enemies of the Gospel for your sakes

What do these three have in common? Learn more:

by Donna Diorio

* this post has been updated to clarify 3 facts. 

May 20, 2023: I want to first make note of this passage so every Christian knows the tight rope we walk in pursuing God's purposes for the Jewish nation. Romans 11: 26-28 spells it out perfectly and we find ourselves in that emotionally complex path to walk out in God's full pleasure with our choices.
     First the promise of God to Israel is, (v.26) And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob."
     Using the name Jacob instead of Israel is purposeful because it represents Jacob before he was transformed into a man of God, Israel. It was more than God simply renaming him, God saved Jacob by turning him into a man of God. That what the difficulties in Jacob’s life and the wrestling with "the Man" all night long. Until “the Man” touched Jacob's thigh, broke his strength and in humbling Jacob, then God was able to change Jacob’s name to Israel. When God takes away the veil from all unsaved Jews today, represented by the name of Jacob, then the Man, Yeshua, will remove godlessness from all Israel.
     Verse 27 says: "And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
     BUT WE CANNOT FORGET THE CURRENT STATE OF ISRAEL AND ALL UNSAVED JEWS AT THIS POINT: verse 28 "Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but regarding election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs."
     This reality is the one that is so emotionally difficult to navigate and the less we have been transformed into the spiritual likeness of Jesus, the less we are able to navigate the reality of keeping our heart like God's for the Jewish people while at the same time not dismissing the reality that they are often INTENSE enemies of the Gospel.  
    The second part of that is “enemies of the Gospel for your sakes.” Obviously, the setting aside of God’s “Chosen People” in order to make a way for all the nations to be brought into relationship with God by faith in Jesus is a major part of understanding that phrase “for your sakes.” But there is a secondary meaning that kicks in right now in our time, as God is bringing Jew and Gentile into a oneness in the faith of Yeshua/Jesus, that will bring everything God desires from us all to fruition. (Eph 2:15)

     In our day we are moving deeper and deeper into this reality that unsaved Jews are “enemies of the Gospel” and as Christians we are going to face their final challenge of how to keep that in balance with the fact that God loves the Jews, chose the Jews and desires that “all Israel shall be saved.”  As Christians, we have certainly failed that challenge time and time again as history is littered with Christian mistreatment of the Jewish people.
     It is not just the Holocaust because Jews have been chased out of just about every nation they fled to after exile from Israel. In fact, God says through the prophet Zechariah, (1:14-15) ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, 15 but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they (the nations) have multiplied their (the Jews) distress/affliction/adversity.’
     Many Christians do not know the facts about Christian mistreatment of Jews over the past 2,000 years, so God, I believe is giving a final challenge to the international body of Christ to finally get it right, meaning finding the balance between God’s heart and the still current reality of Jews being "enemies of the Gospel for your sakes." This is part of the “fullness” (maturing) of the Church before “all Israel” is saved. (Romans 11:25)
      This week I have personally faced that challenge once again because two pieces of information I learned. One is concerning the controversial religious zealot in Netanyahu’s government, Ben Givr, whom I wrote about in my Arrows from Zion last week.
     The second piece of information, which I find quite ironic in light of all the things I just laid out about Christian mistreatment of Jews in the last 2,000 years, is hearing that several days ago Dr. Michael Brown, the Messianic Jew who wrote, “Our Hands Are Stained With Blood” chronicling the distressing Christian mistreatment of Jews in history, was arrested at the Israeli airport accused on entering Israel for "missionary activities."
     It is ironic to me that the Messianic Jew who has probably done more than any other to awaken Christians to our deep, deep failures by just what God said in Zechariah 1:15. Considering Jews to be cast of by God forever, Christians hated the Jewish people in their nations and multiplied their distress/affliction/adversity’ as they purged them from one nation to the next.
     I have written all that as a background to the current events, because the rise of a religious hater like Ben Gvir to such a high place of authority in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is a grave situation. And the arrest of an internationally acclaimed Messianic Jewish scholar at the Israeli airport shows exactly how Ben Gvir’s status has emboldened religious haters of Jewish believers in Jesus throughout Israel.
     Make no mistake about it, the whole estimated 25,000 Messianic Jews in Israel are in great danger from this point on, and we Christians in the nations have to get an understanding of that, as well as an understanding about how God wants us to proceed. It is not to proceed in hating Jews who aren’t saved, and it sure is not in ignoring the saved Remnant in Israel. They are “the living stones” of the Temple which is not made with hands, but the spiritual Temple that God is raising up in Israel by faith in Messiah Yeshua. (Mark 14:58)
     I have confirmed in Israel that Michael Brown upon arrival with a small tour group he was leading, refused to immediately re-board a plane to return to the United States. Brown reserved his right to be in Israel (I took that to mean Michael Brown has dual US-Israeli citizenship, but have been informed, not necessarily. Brown could also have taken a stand of not being refused entry based on the US-Israel Treaty of Friendship that gives us the right to practice our faith in our respective countries). Brown was still arrested on the accusation that he intended "missionary activities."
     Understand: It is not against Israeli law for Israeli citizens to share the faith in Yeshua with other Israelis, and apparently, US citizens under the Treaty of Friendship agreement DOES cover Christians sharing their faith which is part & parcel of our faith.
     Brown was held for 7 hours in jail before making his bond. This is likely a legal battle that could go all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court. It is important to fight this legal battle because it is also a loud statement by religious activists that they coming for Messianic Jews in every way they believe is open to them. That won't be only by legal means, I can assure you. 
     If you missed what I wrote about Ben Gvir in Arrows last week, in a nutshell it was the revelation that Ben Givr, Netanyahu’s powerful cabinet head of National Security – including statewide law enforcement agency and oversees the Israel Police, the Israel Prison Service and the Israel National Fire and Rescue Services, Israel Border Police, National Headquarters for the Protection of Children on the Internet, National Authority for Community Safety and The Authority for Witness Protection — — was ALSO on the legal team who represented Jack Teitel, the terrorist who bombed the home of a Messianic pastoral family in 2008 almost killing their 15-year old son. It was only by miracles of God that Ami Ortiz survived.  I covered that incident in my weekly prayer letters and then in 2009 wrote an exhaustive article, “ex po sé | The Terror Bombing of Israeli Messianic Teen Ami Ortiz”.
     The new thing I learned last week is that Netanyahu’s National Security head, Ben Givr, on the legal team (Honenu) who represented Jack Teitel in court, and apparently frequently said in court, “We are all Jack Teitel” meaning Ben Givr and his ilk are fine with the attempted murder of a Messianic Jewish family. This, to me, is a bold declaration of what everyone can expect from the religious anti-Messianic fanatics in Israel: nothing is off the table, included attempted murder and false arrests to eradicate Jews who believe in Jesus from their midst.
     How many times have we seen this same type of thing in history? Often it has been Jews who were targeted but that does not make it justified now. What is happening is that Jews have become the very thing they hated. It is a spiritual principle that the thing we harbored hatred for, we often justify becoming ourselves.
     Only God has the path for us to walk these things out, but I know one thing for certain: Christians must arise on behalf of our spiritual family in Israel with no more hesitation and nothing held back from supporting them in every meaningful way. If you want to make Jews jealous, finally LOVE the Israeli Messianic Jews as God has called us to.

A Supernatural Awakening as Christians Fast & Pray for Israel for 21 Days

Emmaus Way Prayer Letter for May 16, 2023 

written by Arni Klein

How thankful we are for what the Lord is doing in these days. Five million brethren have registered to pray for Israel for 21 days. Who can imagine what this could accomplish in the spirit realm? Along with many other brethren in the Land, we personally have waited over 30 years for the Body in the nations to lay hold of the truth concerning Israel.  This is a supernatural awakening even as there had been a supernatural blinding. To everything there is a time and a season.

We truly hope that the thoughts and perspectives following will be helpful in aligning our minds and hearts such that at the end of the appointed 21 days, something new will arise and continue to the full dawning of the glory of God. 

When asking Gentile brethren why they love Israel, the answer most often given is, “Because God loves Israel.”  When asking, “Why does God love Israel?”, the most common answer is “Because He chose them.” To the question of why He chose them, some will say that it all began with Abraham and end there. In our experience, not many seem to realize there is quite a bit more to the story. Though Abraham’s love and obedience was the cornerstone element in God’s choosing, what would then unfold over the three ensuing millennia explains the depth of passion God carries for this people. Seeing the fullness of this picture from God’s perspective produces in us a degree of commitment like the determination Jacob expressed when wrestling with the Lord. Laying hold of this dimension will do much to keep us engaged when our emotions naturally fluctuate. We have distilled the fullness of what we have seen and heard into a 10-session discussion course which can be found at www.Israelrevealed.org.  

A well-known verse central to the moment is Psalm 122:6. It translates to read, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” However, the Hebrew word translated as “pray” means “ask” or “inquire.” The common understanding, being rather general, leaves us without clear direction. But following the actual meaning would in fact lead us to something specific, timely and relevant. God directs us to ask about the peace of Jerusalem.  What is the necessary process of events to bring forth the desired end? Where are we in the process? What is next on the list? How right, how logical, that we would know His thoughts and strategies before we begin to pray. His promises and declarations concerning Israel each have their appointed time. They are generally contingent on the nature of Israel’s relationship with God. Everything God has spoken, every word written in Scripture will come to pass. We just need to hear from God as to how we are to engage with what He has spoken. Do we really think He needs to be reminded about what He has spoken? Does He really need for us to ask Him to complete what He has set out to do? Perhaps the purpose of our praying is more to get us in line with Father’s heart and mind, even for the sake of our relationship with Him. The matter of Israel is central in His heart. If we don’t get it, if we don’t see, if we are not moved as He is, how close can we actually be with Him? How intimate can we really be? It will be interesting to see what remains and continues after the designated 21 days are completed. Beloved, God’s promises to Abraham and His descendants are an unconditional eternal covenant. Consider Isaiah 59:16, “He saw that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him.” 

Romans 11:11 is a striking revelation. It reveals to the Gentile world a primary purpose in making them the stewards of the revelation of salvation for the last 2000 years. Paul writes, “To provoke them to jealously, salvation has come to the Gentiles.” The ramifications of ignoring this fact would seem to be along the same line as not ministering to Yeshua’s brethren (the Jews) as laid out in the end of Matthew 25. The consequences are eternal.

Romans 11:25 adds another important piece to the puzzle, “…blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. and so all Israel will be saved, as it is written.”  How fervent are the prayers for God to open Israel’s eyes and remove the veil! In so praying, are the Gentiles in effect waiting for God while He is actually waiting for them? Oy. That could be a long wait. According to the original Greek, the reference to fullness here is qualitative, not quantitative. It’s not a number. It’s something of the heart. The dynamics and conditions here hearken back to what God told Abram in Genesis 15:16, “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Now, as then, the manifestation of God’s plan for Israel is connected to the state and actions of the Gentiles. 

Most know Psalm 22:3 as “God inhabits the praises of His people.” However it actually says, “You are holy, You who are enthroned on the praises of Israel.” As God has placed His name in Israel alone and chosen Zion as His dwelling place, if there is no praise in Israel, where on earth would God dwell? What if there was a dwelling place for God in Israel? What would do more to open the eyes of Israel than that? And so we come to Romans 11:15 which tells us that what happens to and in Israel affects the whole world. The acceptance of Yeshua by Israel will be life from the dead for the world. In light of this revelation, it follows that that the believers in the nations would do well to see that there was continual praise in Israel. The only people that can offer praise to God by the Spirit are the believers. Let the Aarons and Hurs arise to help “Moses” keep His hands lifted to the Lord. 

The great divisions currently showing up in the streets all over Israel did not just happen overnight. They reflect the true inner state of the nation that is only now being made visible by various critical situations. Beloved, we are not okay. Spiritually, on a national level, we have not changed since the day the elders gathered (1Sam.8:4-7) to tell God they did not want Him as their king. We didn’t care about God then and as a nation we don’t now, or we would not have returned the Temple Mount to our enemies in 1967.

There is much to know about the state of our nation and the Israeli Body of Messiah. Knowing where we are is helpful only if we also know how we got here and how to go forward.  Beyond quoting God’s eternal promises, the true current reality will mostly be heard only from local Messianic believers. A Gentile saying such things would likely be labeled as anti-Semitic. Thirty years ago, when we saw the essence of the current prayer emphasis, we along with many others gave up our lives and immigrated to Israel. It’s been said and we agree that to live here is 24/7 intercession.

Many brethren in the land are sharing good clear perspectives on how to pray in these days. Donna Diorio puts out a weekly compilation of thoughts, insights, testimonies and needs of believing congregations and ministries from all over the Land. We know of no other such source where so much information can be accessed. You can subscribe at: ArrowsFromZion@israelprayer.com.

One other important point of perspective is Israel’s experience after leaving Egypt. God promised Abraham that He would give the Land to His descendants, and they would be His people. As a people they made it to the Land of Canaan, but not before God caused a whole generation to be lost in the wilderness.

So then, as we declare Romans 11:26 that “All Israel will be saved,” let us not miss the next four words…”as it is written” and consider what else is written. In Romans 9:6 it is written, “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.” vs.8 “…those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” Romans 2:28-29, For he is not a Jew. who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart....”

In closing, as we pray, let us take to heart the subtle essence of Romans 11:17, “And you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree.” As the Gentiles have been called to be among them, and with them partake of the blessings and calling of the Israel of God, those being prayed for are no longer them but are now us…one Body…One New Man. 

May we truly live all our days on earth…

For the Glory of His Name, 

Arni and Yonit Klein

 

EMMAUS WAY IS ABOUT LIVING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

OUR GOAL IS TO GIVE HIM A PLACE ON EARTH…

WHILE ON THE WAY TO BE WITH HIM IN HEAVEN