Where I differ from the holier than Mike crowd

Where I differ from the many ministers, many my friends, on the subject of Mike Bickle's sins, is that I do not believe most of the accusations against him have been proven. The sins he has admitted to - with light petting, not sexual or oral intercourse - Mike has said it happened over 20 years ago, he repented and it was he thought under the blood. To repent doesn't just mean confessing he was sinning, it means turning from that sin. Bickle indicated that he had and had been walking free of it in the 20+ years since.

For me, that means God forgave him, and scripture says that the things God forgives He remembers no more, they are dropped into the "sea of forgetfulness" - Micah 7:18-19

18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? 19 He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

People are the ones who cannot let past sins go and believe that people should be set aside forever, even for a sin that is in the past and under the blood. I cannot tell you how that bothered me in the beginning of all this, because if Bickle was honest in his admission, and people could still drive him from ministry by exposing his forgiven sins, where does that leave the rest of us who have repented of sins that we no longer walk in but have overcome? It means we are fair game for unforgiving Christians to destroy us, pull us from further ministry, slander us far and wide.

As far as I am concerned Mike Bickles' word is just as acceptable as the words of those who have accused him. Since sexual accusation became a weapon of Feminists, I am not swayed by multiple 'support accusers' with no-evidence accusations.

I look at the array of accusations that have multiplied and spread like wildfire throughout the body of the Messiah/Christ and I see people willing to ignore what Bickle exactly confessed to willing to conflate them in wild assertions that are magnified, overblown and embellished. Conflated is the word I'm searching for and is the problem in all of this. His confessed sin has been conflated to every sexual sin that ever took place at IHOP by any other people. Bickle is charged now to the point that he is held responsible for every other sexual sin. The original accuser is not even held responsible for her choice, dismissed as a child, not the young adult she was. The accusation dump-it-all-on-Mike have so enflamed people to the point they are ready to burn Mike at the stake and raze the IHOP ministry as well.

This tells me THE Accuser of the brethren is very much attached to one side of this. It makes me recoil from the lot of them. How can I trust them when they approve of the rampant portrayal of Bickle and IHOP as a predator haven for the sexual grooming and exploitation of girls.

I think that everyone is turning a blind eye to how many young church going women (and men of course) are secretly sexually active Christians. What if every pastor of every church where this was the case was held responsible for their sins, saying it was the spiritual climate that the pastor fostered? Well in fact, because the contemporary church does not preach about sins very much, social media standards do dictate a lot of the sinful choices that even Christian young people choose. They even deny the sins are sins.

Also, the Advocacy Group are all about blaming Mike for the sins of young people in the IHOP arena. Why didn't they do anything about the misgivings they had over how things were handled? Did holding onto their jobs mean more to them than pleasing God?

Mike has remained silent in the face of all these accusations by friends - close and not so close. He is doing what I have seen others do in the face of accusation against them. If he truly has long ago repented and turned from walking free of the sin before God, than God will arise for him at some point, but God will also allow the due judgments to fall on false accusers too.

When King David sinned with Bathsheba, sending her husband who was faithful to the king into a position that mean certain death for Uriah so David could have her as his wife, God confronted David. First by David's counselor telling him he was doing wrong by Uriah, and after the fact by sending the prophet Nathan, to tell him God's displeasure and how David would pay for it.

Yes, David did repent and God did forgive, and the consequences were borne by David. 2 Samuel 12:

13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”

We all have to pay for our sins - even believers - when we repent we are forgiven by God but there are consequences we will pay personally and we "HAVE GIVEN GREAT OCCASION TO THE ENEMIES OF THE LORD TO BLASPHEME". That is exactly what the enemies of the LORD are doing in this case, and don't think a legal civil or criminal case against Mike will not result in more of the same: more enemies of God given occasion to blaspheme.

That is the real tragedy here - blown far out of proportion to Mike's actual sin because of the days we are in. unproven accusations are now the standard of evidence.

 

A Warning to the Shebna's of Today from Isaiah 22

 

In his article The Nail of theLord, Garris Elkins brought a great insight about Shebna from Isaiah 22:19. I couldn't place the name, so I did a search and see he was in Hezekiah's time.

Garris was talking about how Shebna was such a high up person in Hezekiah's reign that he considered himself in a sure position...but the word of the Lord came that although he thought he was a nail in a sure place, he was going to removed and the Lord would raise up another of Hezekiah's governmental leaders Elikim, son of Hilkiah. Shebna is referred to as the "treasurer" and consequently, this is a common reason for men to fail, for the love of money. Judas was the treasurer for Yeshua and His apostolic team.

In Isaiah 21 God is speaking a prophetic word the defeat of all the enemies of Israel: Babylon, Edom and Arabia.

Then in Isaiah 22 God gives a prophetic word to the Valley of Vision (hizzayon, vision properly means prophecy or revelation)

God speaks of an enemy that comes against His people: Elam. In Isaiah 11:11 Elam is called the abode of dispersed Israelites (many Persian Jews have returned to Israel since Israel became a modern state.

In verse Isaiah 22: 8 God says that, "And he (Elam) discovered the covering of Judah, and thou did look in that day to the armour (weapons) of the (bayit ya'ar') house of the Forest."

Bayit ya'ar can also mean House of the "honeycomb" and in a spiritual sense, this speaks to me of the House of the Remnant (Jewish believers in Yeshua) in Israel whose "armour" is the prophetic Word of God. This is the opposite of what God is about to take exception to when dealing with Shebna.

Shebna is a "major domos" of Hezekiah (One definition of Shebna's position is a "majordomo is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge FOR ANOTHER ...the highest person...acts on behalf of the owner (KING)....oversees the day-to-day responsibilities." This was Hezekiah's right hand man in the palace and in governing the nation. This is the role Shebna played.

God says of this Shebna, "On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest. 9 You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool. 10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall. 11 You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, BUT YOU DID NOT LOOK TO THE ONE WHO MADE IT, OR CONSIDER HIM WHO PLANNED IT LONG AGO.

Then God says, verse 12-13: 12 On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth. 13 But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

God was looking for sorrowing, for fasting and prayer, but instead what He saw was them looking to the arm of the flesh to defend Jerusalem, and the fatalistic, "Party on Garth, because we will be dead tomorrow."

Now God addresses Shebna by name and remember this man ran things in King Hezekiah's stead. ..his job that was entrusted to him by King Hezekiah: 15 This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace: 16 What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?"

The Tombs of the Kings in Jerusalem

In his pride and ambition, Shebna presumed to carve a sepulcher out for himself in the place where the kings of the City of David were buried: "a collection of tombs in the form of chambers in the rocks" on the "east of Jerusalem, on the western slope of the Mount of Olives, and in the wall of rock to the west of Jerusalem."

God rebukes Shebna: "17 Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, 18 roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain—a disgrace to the house of your master. 19 I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position." (See The Saga of Shebna about an interesting archaelogical find)

Shebna was to be taken captive and would die in a foreign land, called by God "a disgrace to the house of your master."

20 On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
(Eliakim means "God raises" or "God sets up")

21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

Shebna failed because of his ambition and having his head turned by the amount of money he had control over as the King's treasurer. He came to regard the large sums of money as belonging to him.

That's not what God was looking for - someone who spent huge amounts on misguided building of the City of David, not according to the plans God had given. Also spending a huge amount on his own "legacy" burial place among the kings of David. What God was looking for was a man to act as a "father" to the people living in Jerusalem and the house of Judah.

22 I will place on his (Eliakim's) shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.b

23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father.

This promise of "the key to the house of David" is the same key that Yeshua-Jesus was given by God, and in turn, the keys that He gave to His apostles, and by extension all who follow him.

The gaping mouth of the Gates of Hell

As Yeshua was preparing the apostles for His coming death in Jerusalem, he took them up to Caesarea Philippi, near the southwestern base of Mount Hermon. There looking upwards one sees the gaping hole in the mountain known as Banias, or "the gates of hell." It was a place of idol worship and human sacrifice in Israel. In the view of this place is where Yeshua told His apostles that He was going to give them "the keys of kingdom" based on the revelation that He is the Messiah.

The key to the house of David - that which opens doors no man can close, and closes doors no man can open is a prophetic foreshadow of the key that would be laid on Yeshua, as the Messiah of Israel. When He passed the key to His apostles, He called it keys - keys that would restrict things from hell on earth and release things from Heaven on earth. The key became multiple and was given by revelation of who Jesus is.

Matthew 16:18-19 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock (revelation) I will build My church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

I see applications of this some current situations, but it is not for this post, except to say that these keys to the kingdom are certainly for the Remnant of Israel, the believers in Israel, and also for those who will stand with them in these times - binding the hell coming against them, and loosing the will of HEAVEN toward the salvation of all Israel.

A Thyatira Moment

 

A Thyatira Moment | by Donna Diorio

My thoughts in the early morning hours. Yesterday I was online searching and was exposed to a great deal of Christians speaking bitterly against someone. Later I watched a British movie called The Victim that again highlighted the self-destructive path of seeking our own vengeance instead of doing as Jesus told us about in Matthew 18, especially how He lays it out in parabolic form in the last half of chapter 18.

Christians don't realize the damage they do to themselves by failing to forgive others and leaving judgment at the Cross. In the world of unbelievers, we are seeing how bitterness and unforgiveness is literally driving people mad and plunging them into illness, both physical and mental. Christians think that because they are saved they are safe from this happening to them. Sadly they are wrong, and Jesus told us this exactly in Matthew 18. We are forgiven by our Master, but we still need ongoing forgiveness as we walk out this life that is fraught by betrayals, woundings, sins and trespasses against us. 

Our most intense failing after we come to the LORD is not forgiving others, knowing how much God has forgiven us. Jesus said after we are saved, when we don't forgive then God stops forgiving our ongoing need for forgiveness, especially the bitterness that starts forming in our hearts because of those we refuse to forgive and release for the "debts" we feel they owe us. A debt to apologize for what they did, how they treated us, stole from us, marked us for disregard - whatever it is. 

Automatically those begin to fill our cup, and as they do, demons are attracted to our vulnerability to sin. Many begin to fall ill and can't figure out why their health is so terrible, never considering what Jesus said in the Matthew 18 parable applies to them. Many begin to suffer various forms of mental illness. We cannot hold bitterness in our hearts without it corrupting all of our mental capacity. Demons flock to wounds that we refuse to release to the LORD completely. Wherever the dying body is, there the vultures gather. (Luke 17:36)

In Revelation 2:21, in the letter to Thyatira, Yeshua tells them He is aware of the praiseworthiness of their lives living for Him, but He has against them that they "tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess." We are talking about in the congregations of the saints the spirit of Jezebel is greatly tolerated. Jezebel is the "patron demon" not only of our sexually-saturated society, but sex is only a tool for power-hungry control. 

Yes, it forms in women and men who have felt powerless, but they did not process this wounding at the Cross. They did not lay that down at the altar, but kept it locked up in their heart. We do that easily. We think we deserve to hang on to this one bitter unforgiveness...but it just attracts more demons to us. Feminism in this country is the spirit of Jezebel and Cancel Culture is her weapon of revenge. Accusation is the tool to get what we want ourselves. God has no part in it, no matter how religiously we frame it for public consumption.

But Jesus said to the church, verses 21-23: "Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling. 22 Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds. 23 Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds."

The immorality of Jezebel is not only sexual. The Church is held responsible for allowing those with a Jezebel spirit to teach. This is not about women teaching, it is about allowing those with controlling Jezebel spirits to teach without discerning it and disallowing the woman or man to teach the congregation. It's not so hard to recognize, but many have become dependent upon those operating in a Jezebel spirit. They fill roles that leadership does not want to have to fill with someone else. Highly capable people, gifted with manipulating others' support, deceptive enough to keep their own influence hidden under the radar...except from those who exercise discernment.

Jezebel in the leadership of the congregation will instruct others in her devious ways, her immorality will be duplicated in others - immorality that is not always sexual - and to spiritually consume "food sacrificed to idols" - that which is passed off as the prophetic from the throne of God, but is not. "Prophecy" that turns people into following a spiritual life full of idolatry. What is idolatry but following fake signs, wonders, and parlor tricks instead of focus on the one thing that protects us against such things: being transformed into the likeness of Yeshua, who is the express image of God in the flesh. 

The whole prophetic movement is having a Thyatria moment. Only those who lay bitterness at the Cross, who forgive as they have been forgiven, will come out of this still walking with God. Those who stand accused by the Jezebel spirit will not all be like Naboth who was murdered so Jezebel could give her weak husband King Ahab Naboth's vineyard. It was Naboth's inheritance she stole by manipulative, deceptive means. 

Jesus means us to course correct from what He told the church at Thyatira. If we will not, He has told us illness and even death await.

 

Captives in Gaza

Isaiah 52:5 And now what have I here? declares the LORD. For My people have been taken without cause; those who have power over them taunt, declares the LORD, and My name is blasphemed continually all day long.
6 Therefore My people will know My name; therefore they will know on that day that I am He who speaks. Here I am!” (*Is 8:17-19)
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
8 Listen! Your watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing. For they shall see eye to eye when the LORD shall bring again Zion. GOD WILL DO THIS FOR HIS OWN GLORY

Our support of Israel should be wrapped up in God's intent that "all Israel shall be saved" and our support should express itself FIRST with the Israeli Body of Messiah who live in Israel, are Jewish believers in Jesus, His feet as spoken of as beautiful in Isaiah 52:7

* Isaiah 8:17-18 17I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him. 18 Here I am, and the children the LORD has given me as signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of Armies, who dwells on Mount Zion.

 

Gideon's 300 at IHOPKC

 

Lapping water with abandon

On February 22nd I posted on Facebook the word I had been getting in relation to what has been happening at IHOP. This morning it has returned to me. Again, I see Gideon's 300. Those that stay, who do not flee to please the crowds who want more to please their outraged friends, but the ones who stay, these are going to dig deeper wells of their own salvation.

Feb 22: GIDEON's 300. That is the word I keep getting since yesterday for IHOP.

There has been a separation there, like in Gideon's story when he was about to go into a major battle against "the Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other people of the east who had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts."

The Amalikites, to this day are seen as the spirit of the archetypal enemy of the Jews.

The Medianites were the who God specifically referred to that He was leading Gideon in to defeat. The meaning of Medianites is "strife" and they were a nomadic group.

Gideon has 22,000 fighters with him, but at the En-Charod, "the fountain of trembling," where Gideon was encamped 10,000 turned back because they were "fearful and trembling."

Afterwards God told Gideon there were too many people still, but to take the men down to the water, where God said, "I will sift them for you there."

I have never understood why the sifting process was to choose the ones who lapped up the water with their tongues like a dog and to dismiss the ones who just knelt and cupped the water in their hands. But now I see it speaks to the abandon to their thirst for the water.

Because the word of the LORD for our day is sifting out the enemies of Israel, and choosing those who are thirsty enough to receive God's "water of the word" about our spiritual battle related to Israel, there has to be a Divine sifting process.

Out of 22,000 fighting men to start, Gideon ended up with only 300 to fight that great camp in the valley. But God assured Gideon it was enough. Better to go into spiritual battle without the fearful, without the nomads of strife, but only with those who thirst for God's direction and assurance that, verse 9

“Get up and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand."

What's in a name?

 

What's in a Name? 
by Donna Diorio

March 3, 2024: As I read through my morning emails, I was quite riveted by the comment made by a Messianic rabbi in Ukraine who wrote the following: 

"HOW DOES GOD UNITE THE TRIBE OF KINGS AND THE TRIBE OF SLAVES? How was the very first Temple built?  At the head of the building of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) were Betzalel (in the shadow of God) and Oholiav (My Father's tent). Betzalel was from the Messianic tribe of Yehudah, the tribe from which our Savior shone, and Oholiav was from the tribe of Dan, the tribe of slaves. God brings them together! 

     "In the One New Man, all are essential to building the Kingdom on earth: Jew and non-Jew, man and woman, rich and poor, noble and common! "... "BUT EACH MAN SHALL SEE HOW HE BUILDS." 
-end-

Names are very important in the Scriptures. There is meaning and significance to the names. This is not like astrological signs or numerology where numbers supposedly write your future, those are demonic imitations of the Divine process and intention. 

"What's in a name?" Much if the name appears in Scripture, because even the names given are messages from God. There is also a Divine principle involved in the name of persons and places in Scripture that does spill over into our lives today.  We see that when God takes a particular hold on someone in scripture, there is often a name change. Examples are how God took Jacob in Genesis 32:22-23 and changed his name to Israel. Then in Matthew 16:17-18 Yeshua gave Simon bar Jonah, the fisherman, a name change too.  

     What was the thing that prompted the name change to Peter? The fact that Yeshua saw His Father had given Simon a spiritual revelation, which is just to say that God had spoken understanding into Simon's mind which he had no capacity to understand otherwise. No human being could have made Simon Peter understand what God had revealed to him in a thought directly from His Throne in Heaven: that Yeshua, Simon Peter's own teacher, was Israel's Messiah in the flesh, sent from God.

     As for Jacob, who wrestled with "a man" all night in Genesis 32:24-32, and had his name changed in that night of wrestling with the pre-incarnate Yeshua, we see that name-changing is a major intention to Jesus. As Jacob wrestled with "the man" he told the man that he would not let Him go until he got His blessing.  When we 'wrestle' with God in our lives, we should not let of Him until we get His blessing either. 

     After Jacob spoke that to the man he had been wrestling through the long, dark night, the man told him that from that point on Jacob would be called Israel. Then Jacob, now Israel, asked the man His name, and the man answered, "“Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” 

      Peniel means "face of God." Yeshua, in the form of a man, had asked Jacob a rhetorical question when he asked Him his name, because like Simon Peter thousands of years later, Jacob had already been given a revelation of who it was He wrestled with. That is why Israel knew to name the place Peniel, meaning the face of God. Israel knew he had looked into the face of God in the flesh of the man he had wrestled throughout the night.

     These things are shouting so many spiritual things to us: one that we can hear God for ourselves but it will take wrestling in the long dark night to receive that blessing of God. When it does happen, our own names are changed. Whatever name the enemy of our souls tried to make our names mean - Loser, Liar, Addicted, Afflicted, Sin-Laden, Murderer, Thief whatever you have had to wrestle with God for to get His blessing and name-change - the release is what we get when we contend, wrestling with God for that breakthrough. It will always be Yeshua/Jesus who gives us His blessing and He will re-name us Overcomer, a Champion over the sins that tried to destroy our lives. This is the blessing of the LORD.

     That is individuals, but there is so much more here, because it is also a peek into the Divine mystery of how Jacob is STILL going through a long, dark night of wrestling with JESUS, but they will receive Divine understanding that this, Yeshua IS the Face of God in a man, Israel's Messiah made flesh. 

     One of my favorite prophetic verses that always causes me to smile is Psalm 24:6 "Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob." I have understood that "all Israel" are now known in this verse as "Jacob" but they will come to know Yeshua and it will be IN A GENERATION (or a season of a generation of Israelis) who seek the face of God as Jacob did. That season has already begun.

     Psalm 24: 3-6 speaks of this generation: "3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob."

     These are the conditions to the generation of Jacob who gets the revelation from Heaven that Yeshua is Israel's Messiah. It is the same thing we go through as individuals, but it is also what STILL lies ahead for Israel. We come closer to it every day because that season of the generation has already begun. In 1948 Israel had only 23 known Jewish believers in Yeshua; today estimates range from 20 to 30 thousand and increasing more rapidly.

     In the beginning of writing, the rabbi from Ukraine, Vlad Nagirner wrote how God was able to take from the tribes of Israel, greatly diverse into one: "Betzalel was from the Messianic tribe of Yehudah (Judah), the tribe from which our Savior shone, and Oholiav was from the tribe of Dan, the tribe of slaves." (Exodus 31:1-11 

     He relates how it shows that God can make "One New Man" from Gentile Christians and Messianic Jews. 

     There things that the Messianic Jews are going to bring into this building of the Spiritual Temple, that is not made with hands. It will take humility by Christians because we have been in the majority so long that too many of think we are far advanced compared to the smaller Messianic Jewish part of the body of the LORD. We Christians tend to think we already have it all spiritually, and the Messianic Jews are just trying to catch up to our spiritual stature. That is misreading the reality.

The Messianic Jews have many important things from God, as Christians also do but neither of us have ANYthing that God didn't give us. It is also like the marriage of a man and a woman - each bring distinctively different things into the union that makes the marriage work. It is a mystery, Paul said, and is humbling when we take it to heart. But when we do take it to heart we no longer feel competitive when our elder brother in the the faith, the Messianic Jews how up to bring there gifts into the "one new man" marriage. The final great harvest of souls will only begin when both Christians and Messianic Jews receive each other in taking our places in God's building of the Heavenly Temple as described above in Exodus 31.

     We both must make room for each other's gifts to build God's spiritual temple.  "He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God" (Revelation 21:9-10).

The Origins of Israel's Presence

The Word of God

* I searched for an online source to be able to share a link to the instructive article by Eitan but did not find one. So in order to share this with my mailing lists, I am uploading it here. We need to be equipped to answer the accusations and questions that are being posed about Israel. This will help many to do that.- DDiorio

The Origins of Israel's Presence
by Eitan Shishkoff
Founder of Fields of Wheat
Northern Israel

“Aren’t the Israelis just colonizers, imposing their imperialist, racist designs on the poor Palestinians?” This is a version of what’s been posed around the world as historically accurate “analysis” of what’s been happening since October 7 and ever since the Jews declared statehood in 1948. In this update we felt it timely to step back from our “on the ground reports” to look at the origins of Israel’s presence on the narrow strip of land at the east end of the Mediterranean Sea. As ambassadors of the God of Israel, whose sacred truth stretches from Genesis to Revelation, we must equip ourselves to answer the question posed above.

     Understanding the eternal purposes of the King of all the Earth regarding Israel is essential in these days of grueling, complex war on the ground—and the deceptive war of international opinion. Is it legitimate and just for us to say that this is the divinely granted home of the Jews?

     Is God Sovereign? | Before reviewing the biblical basis for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob having “title deed” to the land of Israel, a foundational issue must be addressed. That is, the sovereignty of God. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the people and all who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). Is the Almighty really almighty? Does He actually have all authority in heaven and on earth? “Yeshua said to them…’All authority has been given to me in heaven and on the earth…”(Matthew 28:18).

     Way back in Genesis, we see God choosing one man. After Adam blew it, the LORD needed another human son who would be truly faithful. He found Abraham. And all history has been impacted by their first recorded conversation. “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  (Genesis 12:1-3 emphasis added)

     Israel’s Calling = To Serve All Mankind | The key here is that Abraham’s family has a calling to serve every family in the world. God guarantees that through him He will bring redemption to ALL humanity. This profoundly consequential promise is emphasized again in Genesis 18:18, 22:18 and Galatians 3:16. Here is our response to the false claims that we Jews want genocide. Our purpose is in no way to destroy, but to serve all mankind. Oddly, perhaps this explains the resentment against us. The Father set us apart to reveal Himself in His dealings with us throughout history. We were not chosen to lord it over others, as anti-Semites think. But to serve every nationality in humility. (In this, we have often failed and are certainly still being tested!) Later, at Mt. Sinai, the LORD tells Moses that the children of Israel will be a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6). This defines our role of securing atonement for all the other nations, which was forever fulfilled through the ultimate High Priest, Yeshua our Messiah.

     But whose land is it really? | Nearly 4000 years ago Abram dwelt in Canaan. In another divine encounter the LORD set in motion an everlasting covenant, changing his name to “father of many nations.” | “…the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him ‘I am Almighty God (El Shaddai); walk before me and be blameless…And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also, I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’ “  (Genesis 17:1,7-8 emphasis added)

     Clearly, the Almighty is emphasizing the “forever” nature of His relationship with Abraham’s heirs. This eternal covenant contains a specific “land grant.” Appearing also to Abe’s son, Isaac, and his grandson, Jacob, the LORD carries His promises through to the Tribes of Israel in perpetuity (see Genesis 26:3 and 35:12). Our stewardship of the land must include gracious relationships with those NOT of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21;23:9). The word “stranger” can also be translated “resident.” And while the treatment of the 2,000,000 Arab Israeli citizens living peacefully within Israel’s borders is not perfect, they are entitled to equal rights under the law, are represented in the Knesset, and have full access to higher education and every profession. (We were cared for by an Arab Israeli doctor this very morning.)

     Are we imperialistic colonizers who dispossessed an indigenous Palestinian nation? Are these charges historically accurate? | Briefly, we have to look at the basic history of the 20th century. When Jews began returning to Palestine in the late 1800s and first decades of the 1900s they were called Palestinians. That’s right! Because there was no such Arab-speaking nationality then defined with that term. We honor the Arab families who have lived for centuries, tilling the land between Lebanon in the north and Egypt in the south, between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. However, when protesters chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” they fail to realize that (1) this territory has been inhabited by the Jewish people since the time of Abraham, a presence of some 4000 years.

     And (2) the name Palestine (Palestina) was given to this real estate by the Romans after conquering Jerusalem and the Jewish nation in 70 CE. It was never used exclusively to describe a local Arab-speaking population until September,1948 when the so-called “All-Palestinian Government” was formed (in Cairo) in reaction to Israel’s independence. “The institutions of a Palestinian nationality emerged slowly in the Palestinian refugee diaspora” (Wikipedia, “Palestinian Nationalism”). Yasser Arafat and others popularized the term from 1954 on with the formation of the Fatah and PLO movements

     Please know that we do not begrudge our Arab brethren who want to self-identify as Palestinians, given the broad acceptance of the term in today’s vocabulary. However, the charge is patently and historically false that we are colonizers imposing a foreign government upon the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria, Gaza, the Galilee, and Jerusalem.

     We were exiled from this land nearly 2000 years ago after living here the previous 2000 years. We began returning, legally purchasing land in order to resettle in fulfillment of God’s promise to the Hebrew prophets. Then, after the murder of 6,000,000 Jews for the “crime” of being Jewish (1939-1945) we declared that our ancient homeland was once again a sovereign nation. We were immediately attacked from every direction by six Arab countries, determined to destroy the Jewish state at its rebirth.

     Modern Israel: A Miracle, not a Menace | Beloved readers, we confess that as a modern nation we have imperfectly governed the land divinely granted to us. Thousands of Arab residents were expelled from their homes during the War for Independence. Nineteen years later, left with the perplexing dilemma of territory captured in the 6 Day War of 1967 (the Gaza Strip, Judea-Samaria), a significant number of Arabs came under Israeli rule. Our government’s intention was not to be an “occupying force,” but to assist them in establishing a good life. Tragically that intention has received the response of pre-meditated terror and slaughter ever since.

     We hate the notion of being a “menace” to our Arab-speaking neighbors. This is a conflict Israel sought repeatedly to avoid. Yet the appalling events of October 7 left no choice but to take solemn measures. Yes, there is continuing opposition to the Jewish people living in the land where God instructed us to live. But the miracle is that we are back in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob so long ago. Truly, God’s promise was and is “to all our generations.”

In the words of His prophets, “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:37). “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one passed through you, I will make you an eternal majesty, a joy of all generations…and your people shall inherit the land forever.” (Isaiah 60:15,21 emphasis added)

     Planting a Seed for A Different Harvest | We are simultaneously living out two realities rooted in God’s covenant dealings with mankind. First, our very existence as Jewish disciples of Jesus living in Israel is the fulfillment of His eternal covenant with Abraham. Second, we share equally the New Covenant of Yeshua with our Arab brothers and sisters. We are one in Messiah!

     That is why Fields of Wheat is determined to establish a Messiah-centered young adult discipleship experience for both Jewish and Arab believers. We are convinced that all the political and historical analysis will not overcome the personal experience of individuals. The future will be shaped by relationships forged in love and trust by God’s Spirit and His word.

     Please pray with us that on the one hand Israel may defeat the wickedness of Hamas and Hezbollah. That their attempts to destroy us with terror and continual, unprovoked rocket/drone/missle attacks will fail. And on the other hand, we are praying earnestly that we may respond with Yeshua’s answer, bringing together Arabs and Jews in His love, learning to serve the King’s purposes in true brotherhood. So that in the very part of the world where hatred and strife are trying to rule, the heavenly Kingdom of God will be seen. - Eitan Shishkoff, Fields of Wheat Founder

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